#immigration priority dates

[nationallawreview]

October 2024 Visa Bulletin – New Fiscal Year, Mostly the Same Old Story

The State Department has published the much-anticipated October Visa Bulletin, the first issue of Fiscal Year 2025. Although the new year brings a brand new allotment of visa numbers in all categories, not much has changed since last month, with one exception in the All Countries category. Below is a summary that includes Final Action Dates and changes from the previous month, but first – some…

[warrenlawfirm-sanfrancisco]

Your green card priority date is an enormous milestone in your green card process. This blog post will explain what a priority date is, how they are used, and why so many people focus on them during their process of becoming a lawful permanent resident. Plus, we will go over some frequently asked questions about priority dates.

[heartshapedconchas]

everlong

chapter 1: patrol | ellie williams | 

summary — You knew Ellie Williams. You weren't close with her by any means, but you knew her. You knew that she had been dating Dina for 5 months when you arrived, and you also knew that you were fairly interested in her. One night after a day of patrol together, the two of you talk during a get-together. And not just about the normal trivial things you'd say every now and then to break the almost comfortable silence during patrols. You actually talked.

pairing — ellie williams x reader

warnings — femme-based reader, slight violence? reader is a lesbian, dina & ellie are dating (she doesn’t cheat dw)

word count — 1.8k

author’s note — Hello Hello, I have not written since about middle school so i’m so sorry if this is just horribly written (　ﾟдﾟ) Also I apologize if there are any mistakes/inconsistencies or anything like that. I was raised by an immigrant who’s English wasn’t perfect when he had/taught me so mine isn’t perfect either! So much for Eng being my first language LOL.

7:15 AM. The bright red numbers from your shitty alarm clock burned into your eyes as you decided to actually open them and make an attempt to wake up and start your day. You didn’t just wake up now though, you had been awake for the past hour or so; listening to the sound of Jackson slowly coming to life. Your body is still on its usual sleep-wake cycle from traveling on your own. Before you came across a few people and were welcomed into this community, your sleep wasn’t exactly a priority. Sleep was a luxury, you only got a few hours of sleep so you naturally woke up early even though you didn’t exactly need to. Which of course, was miserable but unfixable so far.

Deciding to actually function, you sit up with a sigh; and internally groan at the feeling of the frigid air compared to the warmth of your bed sheets. “Fuck that,” you mumble to yourself, and wrap one of the blankets around you and stand up. After dressing yourself in the appropriate kind of clothing for the mid-December weather, which was beautiful but fucking miserable, you head out to start your day.

Ellie’s coming with you on your patrol today, which wouldn’t be the first time. You two weren’t usually paired up, but you remember her from a few of your first non-group patrols. Actual conversation never really occurred between the two of you, you said hello when meeting up and all that shit; and talked about how to take out the infected that were in the area. But it was never more than that. Not a big deal though, it didn’t make a huge difference to you. Although, a part of you longed for more. Just a little bit more, even if she just asked you how you were feeling that day or if you had any plans. One time during one of your very first patrols you attempted to shoot and ride at the same time; which evidently failed as you got knocked off by a runner. Ellie took care of the infected that had knocked you off, but she had pulled you to safety before doing that. She was grabbing you by the arm, yanking you behind her. After that, for some reason, you couldn’t stop thinking about her grabbing you. Her touching you. You replayed that moment in your head over and over again, even after arriving back in Jackson that day.

But Ellie had been with Dina for 5 months at that point. You had just gotten there, you didn’t already want to tarnish your image with the idea that you’re going after a taken woman. That would fucking suck. That and the fact that it's just plain wrong. So you just took those feelings and shoved them deep down inside you so they would never see the light of day.                                          

“Hey {name}, you signing in? I grabbed Lady from her stable for you already! ” someone else getting ready for a patrol said as they saw you. “Oh, thank you! And uh yeah, just waiting for Ellie. Have you seen her, she's usually the first one here?”

Almost as if on cue, Ellie walked in. Her face was slightly red, and it looked as if she was frowning; her eyebrows furrowed as she mumbled something to herself that you couldn't hear. “Maybe she’s not a morning person,” you thought to yourself, “maybe we have that in common. God, I hope it doesn’t affect her attitude on this patrol, I really don’t feel like dealing with that shit right now.”

You gave her a small wave and a slight smile, and she gave you a nod of acknowledgment as she grabbed Shimmer from her stable.

“You ready? This shouldn’t take too long, this area never really has any infected.” She handed you a map of the route since you’ve never been on it before, and she didn’t want to deal with you getting lost along the way.

As you saddled your horse you took a quick glance over the route, “Hm, yep. Seems easy enough!”

She gave you a small smile, finally. “Alright, let's go then. I just wanna get it done quickly.” And with that, you mounted your horses and headed for the gate to leave.

 The ride was quiet for the most part, aside from a few comments about the weather or a random animal one of you saw. It was really pretty too, you were kinda upset you had never come along on this route before. No infected to take out and good scenery? It was perfect, completely serene.

There were, however, buildings you had to clear of course. And this one seemed rather large and broken down, it almost looked like some sort of gas station or store like that. All of the entrances were blocked by something so you had to figure out a different point of entry.

“Hey,” Ellie motioned towards an open window with her head, “over here. I’ll boost you up and you can help me get in.”

You silently nodded and jumped off Lady, patting her on the side once before jogging over to said window.

She bends down, links her hands together, and nods up towards the opening, “Okay, up you go.”

Stepping onto her hands, she pushes upwards and you’re able to grab onto the very edge of the window. “Fuck, I think I need a little bit more help—it’s a little too high for me to reach.”

Another touch. This time she grabbed onto your leg to help boost you up more. It wasn’t your lower leg though, it was like—The directly below your ass leg area.

Your breath hitched and you were finally up through the window; standing on what you assumed was some sort of storage unit. After helping Ellie up, you turn on your flashlight and start looking around. There wasn’t much really, you found a few extra bullets and some supplies. Plus an old corpse, which wasn’t too pleasant of course.

“So..” Ellie suddenly interrupted the comfortable silence that you two usually experienced during your patrols, “you coming to that party at the church tonight?” Oh. Oh. That's more than the usual small talk.

“Ah, yeah actually. I planned on at least stopping by if I wasn’t too tired. Why? Did you get ditched by Dina?” You said with a slight laugh.

Ellie bit her lip, almost as if that was partially true, “Mn no, was just wondering.” she shrugged and turned to open another door to see if the room was clear. You raised an eyebrow at her before turning to do the same and see if your room was clear.

It was definitely not clear. As soon as you creaked open the door, a clicker rushed out at you. You stumbled back, grabbing your gun from your leg holster and pointing it at its fungi-overtaken head. But you couldn’t aim steady, so much was happening so fast and you were shaken from being jumped by a fucking clicker.

“{reader}, watch out!” Ellie screamed as she ran towards you and the clicker, who was on top of you now. You were barely able to keep it away from your face, its mouth biting down on air as it failed to reach your skin; loud screeches disorienting you even more.

“Fucking— get it off!” Jesus christ this thing was fucking strong. You weren't weak but you’d have a hard time if you were rushed suddenly like this. Ellie grabbed the clicker off of you and shot it once in the head, and it fell to the floor beside you limply.

“{reader} , {reader} are you okay? You’re not bit are you?!” she said panicked, her voice urgent and unstable; and she kneeled down in front of you so you were face to face. “Yeah…yeah, I’m fine.” but you winced. Your face felt..wet? Reaching up to your left cheek you touched where it felt damp, and when your hand drew back you found your fingertips smeared with blood. Were you bit? Maybe you don’t feel it when it happens, and that's why there’s always that dramatic moment in the cheesy old zombie apocalypse movies where the side character realizes they’ve been bit later on.

“Shit, it’s just a scratch but you’re bleeding pretty heavy,” she paused for a second, “I have stuff in my bag for that, you’ll be fine.” She shrugged her backpack off and rummaged around in it before finding a package of first aid supplies. She grabbed cotton balls and hydrogen peroxide before she began dousing them in the liquid.

“Alright this is gonna sting a bit.” she leaned in close and started cleaning your cheek. You know how when you would fall and hurt your knee when you were a kid? And your parents would pull out the rubbing alcohol and tell you it wasn’t gonna hurt at all. But it actually ended up burning really badly? That’s what it felt like, the stinging making you flinch and almost whine.

“I’m sorry, I know it hurts.” she looked at you with sympathy and continued cleaning, apologizing sweetly every time you would wince or groan. A minute later she was done, and she threw the used cotton balls to the side. “Alright, you’re all done. Feel better?” She got up after pausing to stare at you for merely a second and grabbed her backpack from the floor. “You okay to continue? I wanna get through this as quickly as possible now, I don't want that happening again.” She laughed a little, before reaching out her hand to help you get up.

The two of you finished the patrol, not finding any other infected aside from a few runners that you took down easily.  It started snowing at some point while you were scavenging for supplies in some small building and hurried out of there before it would get any worse. She didn’t ask any more questions as she did before on your way back through the route, she was quiet and almost nervous. She’d glance at you every few minutes or so, and just as quickly as she would look she would turn away from you.

The entire trip back home, you dreaded that party. Pulling your horses into the stable, Ellie hesitated before finally speaking for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

“So uh… you said you are going to the party tonight, right?” She looked almost hopeful as if she’d be disappointed if you said no.

“Oh, yeah!” You smiled, a bit too awkward for your own liking, “Uh.. see you there?”

She smiled and nodded, before handing Shimmer off to the stable handler. As you watched her walk away, you felt that same anxiety bubble up in your stomach again. The same anxiety you felt when you first saw the girl before you were informed that she was in a committed relationship. It almost made you feel sick to your stomach, it was that kind of excited anxiety that made you so giddy you could jump up and down and scream. But you couldn't. "Man I'm delusional" you mumbled to yourself as you followed Ellie's actions and handed Lady off, "She's just being friendly. No need to get excited."

No need to get excited.

Right?

[marketfreshfics]

OC: Paisley Gallos

Basics:

Full name: Paisley November Gallos Nickname: Pais Gender: Female Species: Witch / Vampire Date of birth: December 14th, 1874 Nationality: Spanish-French, born in the Americas Blood status: Muggleborn Wand: Walnut, dragon heartstring, 11”, unyielding

Appearance

Hair colour: Dark brown / mahogany Hairstyle: Short, wavy Eye colour: Hazel Skin tone: Medium Height: 5’2” Body type: Average, slight muscle definition

Clothing style: Functionality takes priority; light-medium, but durable fabrics such as cotton and leather for ease of movement. Prefers more fitted clothing, especially when travelling or exploring outside the castle walls. Fond of worn denim; often wears her brother’s hand-me-down pairs when out of class.

Accessories:

Often carries a harmonica in her back pocket

Her father’s wristwatch, despite it always running a few minutes ahead

Other distinguishing features:

Three diagonal scars on the left side of her jaw (obtained while trying to escape from a vampire)

Two small birthmarks below her bottom lip

Personality

Traits: Intelligent, resourceful, clever, determined, crass, blunt, intuitive, curious, decisive, quick to anger, observant, goal-oriented, remorseful Likes: Early morning hikes, writing in a new notebook, solving problems, the ocean, strong coffee (with two sugar cubes), stargazing, foraging for minerals/rocks Dislikes: Perfume, wet socks, the afternoon sun, formal attire, dishonesty Hobbies: Fishing, metalsmithing (when out of school) Fears: The unknown, her own thirst (once she becomes a vampire)

MBTI: INFJ-A Zodiac: Sagittarius sun, Aquarius moon, Libra rising Temperament: Choleric Archetype: The Rebel Similar characters: Remus Lupin, Albus Dumbledore, Sam Winchester, Harry Callahan, Lisa Simpson, Han Solo, Max Mayfield, Jon Snow

Family/Friends

Father: Pierre - Muggle, Fisherman Mother: Rosalyn - Muggle, Teacher (Died in 1882 from scarlet fever) Sibling(s): Mathieu (age 19) Pet(s): Barred Owl, “Crispen” Friends: Sebastian Sallow, Ominis Gaunt, Garreth Weasley, Amit Thakkar, Natsai Onai

Magic

Boggart: Extremely thick fog, accompanied by a foghorn Patronus: Colossal squid Polyjuice: Turns crimson, tastes like spring water and copper Amortentia: Smoke, bergamot and clean, starched cotton Special abilities:

Fire-based offensive spells and charms

Non-verbal magical spells

(Once transformed into a vampire) can sometimes "absorb" a person's abilities after consuming their blood

Backstory

Born in Nova Scotia, Canada to immigrant muggle parents, Paisley grew up in a small fishing village just on the outskirts of a port city. Because of this, she spent many days on fishing vessels with her father and older brother, while her mother worked as a teacher at the schoolhouse in town. When she was eight, her mother fell gravely ill and unfortunately passed away from complications of scarlet fever. Her father, Pierre, often struggled to balance work obligations with raising Paisley and Mathieu, and more often than not her older brother was left responsible, which caused her to develop a great deal of independence.

Being from a non-magical family, Paisley's magic was a startling discovery. It revealed itself when, while arguing with her brother, she made a milk bottle spontaneously explode in frustration. The following morning, two members from the Ministry for Magic arrived, explained magical abilities to her and her family, and promptly enrolled her in the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

She was sorted into the Horned Serpent house, based on her high level of intelligence and ambitious, goal-oriented mindset.

Paisley excelled in her studies, her hunger for knowledge consistent, and while graduating from her fifth year she was recognized for her advanced magical comprehension. She was hand-selected by the Minster for Magic himself to take part in an accelerated graduate program at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, and with great excitement she transferred at the start of her sixth year. Having researched the Hogwarts houses before her arrival, she anticipated being sorted into Ravenclaw... however the mysterious rumours about the Slytherin house fostering several dark wizards in history captivated her curiosity, and thus the sorting hat placed her there instead.

Soon after arriving at Hogwarts, she was captured by a well-known criminal, who subsequently bit her and changed her into a vampire against her will. The details around this, and why she was selected specifically, are still unknown...

Academics

Best subject: DADA Favourite subject: Astrology Favourite teachers: Professor Fig, Professor Sharp Worst subject: History of Magic Least favourite subject: Divination, Theory of Magic Least favourite teacher: Binns Quidditch: N/A

As a student:

Prioritizes her studies as much as possible; she is aware of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study at Hogwarts and does not take it for granted.

Sometimes misses classes without explanation, particularly on sunny days.

She is always happy to help fellow classmates, however, she is wary of many. This only increases once she has been turned.

Mostly keeps to herself; has few, close friends, with whom she places a great deal of trust.

Future

Career: Researcher or Archivist Naturally, Paisley is drawn to a career path that allows her the opportunity to further her education and learn something new. Her ambitions focus on filling her brain with as much information as possible, so taking up a job as a Researcher or Archivist for the Ministry is very much in her wheelhouse.

Spouse: TBD Children: TBD

Special thanks to @hazyange1s for letting me follow their OC layout 🤍

[warping-realities]

A Better Familly I

Melissa was furious but she couldn't show her feelings, not there in her workplace, although it was precisely because of her work that she felt that way. She was a daughter of Mexican immigrants and had encountered her share of asshole rich men in her life. But she wasn't expecting to find an arrogant boy lying completely naked waiting for her in the dorm she would have to clean. It was a tremendous shock, as the place should have been empty and suddenly she was facing a… a… she preferred to forget. At that moment she wanted to finish off the boy with her broom. But she needed that job to support herself while she attended nursing school at night. Her father could have helped her of course, his auto repair shop was doing well, but she refused on principle to bother him about it. And there was that other reason too… Henry, though in there he was Professor Roberts. Here's a rich and influential man who broke the mold, she thought as her eye was caught by a glow in the corner of the hall.

"What do we have here?" She murmured to herself, holding a small metallic disc in her hand.

As she admired the Reality Warper someone snuck up behind her and hugged her around the waist. "Hijo de la …" She started to curse thinking that the cheeky boy had decided on a new type of advance, but she controlled herself when she saw who was actually grabbing her. "Henry… I mean, Professor Roberts, don't do that here."

"Ah, Mel, where then? We never have time for ourselves." "I know, but this is my job and yours too, it could get us into trouble." "It won't if the relationship is official." "Henry, don't play with this." "No kidding, I know your classes don't start until next week. How about I drop by your house tonight so we can make things official with your dad? You told me he's the traditional type, so I want to start from a right way." "Oh Henry!" She responded with a smile on her face, followed by a quick kiss. As she tucked the small metallic disk into her uniform, not paying much attention. And there it stayed until Melissa got home and inadvertently knocked it to the living room floor as she pulled the uniform out of her bag. ….

Henry put on his best suit and put on his biggest smile for the difficult battle he knew would lie ahead. Diego Huerta, Melissa's father, would be a difficult opponent, he had crossed the border illegally carrying Melissa as a child in his arms, shortly after the death of his wife in Mexico, the trigger for the small family to come to the USA. He faced all kinds of humiliating work and over time managed to establish his own business, a car workshop that became a reference in the entire Latino community in the region, just like Diego himself. Soon he found himself surrounded by options of women who would love to be his new wife, but from what his daughter commented, he never took any of them into the house he shared with his daughter. Melissa was his top priority, all of his focus and dedication on her. He had authorized his daughter to work outside the home only after much insistence. Henry suspected it would take a lot more insistence to get the man to accept that his little girl was dating someone like him, that in her father's eyes he represented the white privilege the man so detested.

Despite all this Henry was confident that he would manage to win the man's trust, the feelings he had for Melissa were true and once her father realized that things should become easier. At least that was what he longed for. With a last breath he rang the doorbell of the Huerta house, willing to do anything to show Diego that he would be the perfect son-in-law given the opportunity.

As soon as the front door opened and Henry found himself in front of Melissa beaming with beauty, he was absolutely sure that any argument, dispute or injury would be worth it to keep her forever. She was stunning wearing a simple floral dress that enhanced all her beauty, from the cheerful face with the luminous smile that would warm the coldest hearts to the long and shiny black hair.

"You're perfect." He said looking dumbfounded at her.

"I think that was the best good night I've ever heard in my life."

"I'm sorry, but I got totally lost when I saw you!"

"So it's time to find your way back, my father is on his way and we need to talk before he arrives." She said opening the way for him to enter the house.

He tried to kiss her as he walked through the door, but she dodged and directed him straight to the couch.

"Please sit down, mi amor. I'm afraid my father will have a harder time accepting our relationship than I thought. He's furious."

"But why?" Henry asked sitting on the couch and staring back at her with a questioning look.

"He expected me to meet someone from our community. Don't get me wrong, my dad loves America and his greatest pride is that we got our citizenship. But we've been through a lot before that, and when it comes to me he's like even more... defensive."

"Then let me prove to him that my intentions are good. I come from a good family, I have a steady job in a prestigious place, not to sound arrogant, but I'm a great catch, he can't possibly refute someone like me."

"Not only is it possible, it's why he was against our relationship. My father is convinced you're going to take advantage of me and dump me like a used object."

"Melissa, never say that again! I would never do that to you… I… I… I love you!"

"Henry!"

"It's true, I've wanted to tell you this for weeks, but I was afraid of scaring you. But now I see that I can't hide it anymore, I love you and I'll do anything for you!"

"Oh Henry!" Melissa said with tears in her eyes as she threw herself on him and kissed him passionately.

And it was precisely in this position that the two were found by her father.

"Hija, ¿qué está pasando aquí?"

"Papá, puedo explicar..."

"No hay nada que explicar, ¡tenía claro que no quería a este tipo cerca de ti!"

"Papá, no es como piensas, Henry me ama y yo lo amo".

"¡Déjate de tonterías! Y tú, maldito sea, sal de aquí antes de que lo mate".

Not fully understanding the altercation, Henry tried to intervene.

"Mister Huerta, please let me explain..."

"Don't speak to me, otherwise I'll kill you." Said the older man being prevented from advancing by his daughter.

"Papá, no, por favor, cálmate, vamos a otra habitación. Henry, please go away, I... I'll try to calm him down."

"Exactly boy, get the hell out of here and don't you dare come back." She added Diego letting himself be carried away by his daughter. Leaving behind a stunned Henry, who, without realizing it during the discussion, placed his hand on a small metallic disk that completely altered his future when he uttered the following words:

"Damn it, I just wanted to be the son-in-law he expected."

When he finished speaking those words, he got the biggest scare of his life. The small disk expanded, enveloping him in a metallic cocoon, without him even having time to think about running away or calling for help. If anyone else had been in that room, they would have seen the front part of the structure liquefy and solidify again, demonstrating on its surface the image of a young man very similar to Henry, to then liquefy and solidify again, demonstrating the image of a completely different man.

Finally, the metallic cocoon retracted back into the small disk that originated it, leaving a man who was certainly not Henry Roberts sitting on the sofa in the Huertas' living room.

This new man was a fine example of what the Latino community and the male gender itself has the best to offer, a handsome square face, with a well-trimmed dark beard accentuating an already marked jawline, almond-shaped brown eyes and stylish hair, all this accompanied by an enviable physique, wide pecs and big arms, wrapped in a blue button-up shirt that didn't do much to hide all that musculature. That man's picture could be placed next to the word sexy in any dictionary.

Unfortunately for those (many) who showed some interest in him, disappointment would be the only answer. That big fish had already been hooked and it was the voice of his fisherwoman that woke him up:

"Rico, can you help me with the table while Papá gets ready for dinner?"

"Of course. I'll be there in a second." Answered the man leaving the small metallic disc on top of the table in the living room. As Henry himself inadvertently wished to be changed without knowing what he was doing, reality readjusted itself around him in a way that his wish was possible. Henry Roberts was now Enrique - Rico - Ramirez, Melissa Huerta's longtime boyfriend, whom he intended to propose to her father that night.

Rico worked as a Physical Education teacher at Saint James Prep School. An active member of the local Latino community and the neighborhood's golden boy, he played baseball in high school and won a college scholarship, though he never made it to the professional level. But he didn't care about that, being back where he belonged and next to the love he had cultivated since adolescence was more than enough for him.

Rico’s relationship with Diego couldn't be better, he was the son that Sr. Huerta never had. So much Diego supported Melissa's boyfriend throughout his life. He hoped for a few years that Rico would take over his business, but when it became clear that the boy had talent, he buried those dreams and supported young Ramirez in his new job, allowing Melissa to work in St. James just knowing that he would be around. The girl had applied for a job as a cleaner there, but with the help of her boyfriend, she ended up with the position of secretary in the sports department. For which her father was extremely grateful, he doubted any spoiled brat would dare with the coach's girlfriend.

Which made that marriage proposal just a formality. But Rico knew how important such formalities were to his future father-in-law. Therefore, before dinner is served, with everyone already seated at the table, he begins his speech.

"Mr. Huerta, you have been like a second father to me my whole life, some of my earliest memories are running through the equipment in your car workshop when I was so little that you could lift me up with only one arm. Because I've known you and Melissa my whole life and because you know me so well and know that I'm the only person who will love your daughter with as much love and care as you do, I humbly ask you to her hand in marriage." Concludes the young man, his voice trembling with anxiety and expectation as he faces the serious face of the father of the woman he loved. Only to see that face break into a bright smile.

"It's about time, boy! I thought you two would never give me grandchildren. You know I always wanted a big family! Of course you have my acceptance and my blessing. And, I ask this even though I know the answer in advance Is this what you want, Mel?" Diego concludes with a voice as shaky as his future son-in-law's, looking adoringly at his daughter. Which in turn opened a smile as bright as his father's.

"Si, papá. It's all I want in the world!"

"So let's toast to the beginning of a new family" Said a proud Diego raising a glass and being followed by his daughter and son-in-law.

.....

The following morning, Diego Huerta watched through the window with a smile on his face at his daughter and son-in-law, whom he loved as if he was his son, thinking that finally his family would grow the way he always wanted.

Possessing an enviable physique and a handsome face, maybe he could finally get back on the market, he thought, with the image of a specific woman coming to mind. As he absently held a small metallic disk in his hand.

....

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, in the same St. James as the Reality Warper's new journey began, another young man glared at his car, unaware that very soon his history would also be permanently altered...

...

[beardedmrbean]

A new lawsuit from a local conservative group seeks to force election officials in Arizona's most populous county to take extra steps to verify the citizenship status of about 26,000 voters.

The suit, filed against Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer by Trump-aligned America First Legal on behalf of Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, is the latest in a series of legal challenges regarding voters who register to cast ballots in federal races without providing documentary proof of citizenship. It comes weeks after the law group sent out demand letters to counties statewide and hits during a key period for voter registration before the high-stakes presidential election in November.

Nationwide, registration forms generally require voters to attest that they are American citizens. Voters do so under the penalty of perjury, meaning they can be held criminally liable if they are found to have provided false information. But Arizona also requires voters to hand over a birth certificate, a passport or one of a handful of other documents proving their citizenship.

Of the state's 4.1 million registered voters, about 42,000 haven't provided that proof, creating a unique, two-track system. Federal courts have repeatedly ruled that state lawmakers can block voters who have not shown citizenship documents from participating in state and local races, but must allow so-called "federal-only voters" to cast ballots in federal contests. That includes the upcoming presidential race, U.S. Senate contest and congressional matchups.

These voters still go through checks.

State law mandates that county recorders "use all available resources to verify the citizenship status" of those registering to vote, including checking the citizenship status of federal-only voters against an immigration status verification service provided by the Department of Homeland Security when practicable. That system requires specific identification numbers that county officials don't have for every federal-only voter.

Voter rolls are also routinely checked with information from the U.S. Social Security Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, the Arizona Department of Health Services, the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Maricopa County Jury Commissioner’s Office.

But attorneys with America First Legal said that isn't enough and raised concerns about growing numbers of federal-only voters in recent months. Their suit accuses Richer of failing to perform required voter list maintenance — a claim his office denies.The lawyers say county officials should take extra steps to verify the citizenship of federal-only voters, such as directly requesting citizenship information from the Department of Homeland Security under provisions of federal codes that requires government entities to exchange information about a person's citizenship status for purposes mandated in law.

"This lawsuit seeks to restore public trust in our State’s electoral system by holding Recorder Richer accountable for his failures and to ensure that the list maintenance required by the law — and common sense — is performed," the suit reads.

Sierra Ciaramella, a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Recorder's Office, said the agency maintains "accurate, up-to-date voter rolls."

"Under Recorder Stephen Richer, voter list maintenance has remained a top priority, removing more than 400,000 voters from the rolls since January 2021," she said. "As an administrative office, we will continue to follow the letter of the law."

Ahead of election, conservatives raise concerns about federal-only voters

The lawsuit against Maricopa County comes on the heels of several dizzying swerves in an ongoing legal appeal that ultimately aims to require all Arizona voters to show proof of citizenship to register to vote.

The appeal, brought by GOP legislative leaders and national Republicans, challenged a federal judge's decision to block portions of two laws passed in 2022. Last month, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily stayed that decision and said voters registering on state forms could see their applications rejected for not providing proof of citizenship. The court determined voters could continue to register to vote in federal races if they used federal voter registration forms.

It then swiftly reversed its decision, ruling last week that Arizonans would again be allowed to register to vote in federal races with state forms without having to prove citizenship. Republican officials have since vowed to seek an emergency stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ciaramella said at least 200 voter registration requests were rejected in the time period between the two court decisions. She said the most recent ruling didn't include a retroactive reconsideration of those registration attempts, but county officials are in the process of sending letters to rejected voters informing them of the new ruling and how they can register to vote.

[going-to-ikea-for-the-fries]

WIP List

It's finally TIME for me to make one of these because I'm very excited about the things I'm working on/planning.

I'll update this page basically every day! Come back often!

A reminder:

LEGEND

👀 -> Coming out soon!!! (current Priority!) 🏃‍♀️ -> Rushing to complete (very excited/passionate!) 🙏 -> Please be patient, I'll get there eventually (need inspo/research/be in the mood) 🫶 -> Stuff I'm writing in my own time and have no timeline to post.

ASKS

🙏 American Dream (shitty husband!Graves x Immigrant!Wife)

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👀 Genderbent!141 HCs

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DRAFTS

🙏 It's a Match! - Chapter 34

🏃‍♀️ WW2!141 x MI6!Spy!Reader

👀 "Ghostbuster" - Serial Killer fic (Part 2)

🙏 "Don't cry." - Nikto fic (Part 2)

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🏃‍♀️Something with Soap ;)

OTHER BRAINROT

🫶 Hospital Benefactor!Ghost x Nurse!Reader

🫶 After MW3!Amnesia!Johnny x Florist!Reader

[mariacallous]

The NATO alliance turned 75 this year. For some, this milestone proves how important the trans-Atlantic alliance is to U.S. and global security. More than seven decades of alliance coordination to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges is nothing to sneeze at, after all. But for others, the alliance’s age is evidence of NATO’s increasing irrelevance—the international security equivalent of a senior citizen shaking a cane at the state of the world and missing the boat on the questions that really matter, such as Gaza or Chinese economic coercion. Not to mention the long-standing perception that Europe isn’t pulling its weight when it comes to defense spending.

For any number of geopolitical reasons, pundits have wrongly predicted the demise of NATO for decades. Yet recent polling suggests that there is something deeper at work when it comes to how different age groups think about the alliance. The German Marshall Fund’s 2023 Transatlantic Trends survey discovered that younger respondents view NATO as less important, and Chinese and Russian influence more positive, than older generations do. In other words, Gen Z is not necessarily buying the assumptions that many of us older, crotchety folks make about the enduring importance of NATO.

Google “NATO and Gen Z,” and you’ll discover that NATO is now a dating term that, for some, means “Not Attached to an Outcome.” In the complex jungle (hellscape) that constitutes the social media and online dating world, NATO is a way to say that one is OK with the dating journey and not dedicated to any particular relationship destination, such as marriage. It is mindfulness and living in the moment applied to meeting and getting to know another person and potential romantic partner.

Now, the NATO alliance is very much wedded to certain strategic outcomes: deterring Russia, tackling climate change, advancing democracy, and countering authoritarianism being some of the alliance’s key priorities. But taking a step back and thinking about what it will take for the alliance to have another 75 years ahead of it, NATO and its member states might usefully consider applying a “Not Attached to an Outcome” philosophy to its way of doing business:

Setting up good options. A positive dating experience is often contingent on having sizable and flexible resources; you never know when you’re going to meet someone, and those dinners don’t pay for themselves. Applied to NATO, countries need to think about how to build themselves robust, flexible capabilities that give current and future decision-makers the ability to jump on critical opportunities. While defense spending is a critical component of future-option building, so is developing NATO’s capability to respond to broader challenges that are not strictly military, such as enhancing civilian infrastructure and resilience building.

Build resonance in order to build relevance. One-sided lectures are a great way to bring a first date to an abrupt end. Talking at our publics and saying NATO is working on Very Important Things is necessary but not sufficient; people know when they are being messaged to, and ultimately, a few words in a summit declaration have very little practical meaning for the overwhelming majority of the trans-Atlantic public. Rather, NATO, with its member states in the lead, should better, and more actively, engage diverse stakeholders in their polities to understand how they view the world and how NATO can be relevant to grappling with those challenges. What challenges resonate with our communities? What role can NATO play in addressing those challenges?

How can we build resonance in practice? Many in the United States are rightly concerned with illegal immigration on the southern border, a view that many are quite vocal about. The part of the argument that is not often articulated is that failure to support Ukraine will almost undoubtedly lead to a broader conflict in Europe that will embroil the United States and send economic shockwaves around the world. Tackling the southern border under those strategic conditions would be exponentially more difficult.

Be open to connection—but be prepared to walk away. Not being attached to an outcome means being ready to pursue a relationship for as long as it runs its course—but no longer. As the alliance looks to the future, it should pursue its institutional partnerships for as long as the vibes remain good. For example, right now NATO is building connections with Australia, Japan, and South Korea because they are like-minded democracies that have useful insights and capabilities to help the alliance grapple with difficult global challenges. Yet the alliance must also move more quickly when circumstances change; NATO was arguably slow to recognize the emerging threat from Moscow, and many of its member states are finding it difficult to insulate themselves against the risk of Chinese economic and political coercion. Enhancing early warning and intelligence-sharing capabilities can usefully help the alliance understand when it’s time to walk away and pursue other options.

Focus on the benefits, not the burdens. Another good way to get ghosted: focusing conversations on one’s drawbacks rather than strengths. For decades, under the moniker of better burden-sharing, the United States has been pillorying European allies about defense spending and the continent’s collective inability to deliver military effects. It should hardly be surprising, therefore, that many policymakers—particularly in Washington—are convinced that NATO allies are free-riding on U.S. military largesse. Yet a recent study I co-authored for the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that at least 25 NATO allies are spending more than 3 percent of their GDPs on programs that have utility for national security programs. In other words, allies are shouldering collective security responsibility. It’s a good news story and highlights that NATO has a lot to offer.

Be authentic. Many conversations about NATO are inherently technical: what work the allies are doing on a particular issue or who has spent what on military capabilities or advanced technologies. But at the end of the day, alliances are made of people. They are multifaceted pacts among and between citizens and governments to build a better world. Ultimately the alliance must be about, and focus on, the people it serves and the people who work for and serve the alliance.

Ultimately, NATO’s duration and continued relevance is not a foregone conclusion. Perhaps it never was. So if NATO is to make it to 150 years, new generations need to come to their own understanding of why the alliance is—and will remain—a useful national security partnership. And in this, what matters is the journey, the process of the discourse, and the process of continual, open engagement. The process is, in many ways, the product because it is how a renewed understanding of the values and strengths of the alliance gets rooted in our democracies—and will make NATO the partner of choice for global security leadership for decades to come.

[sk-lumen]

Hi

Im a 20year old immigrant who moved independently for uni to the Uk at 17. After, I started working and met someone long distance who I felll in love with and after things went bad, I went into a streak of depressive phase and chasing cheap dopamine. We have come back to one another multiple times but he stands on the notion that we are too young and he doesn’t want us to impress the effort meant for our career into a relationship but it was something I was willing to do. It seems like a silly excuse and although I know I want to move on but a voice in my head says what if he’s ready to try again and put in the required effort tomorrow? Also, it’s been more than a year x. Help meee

Hi darling, This is a truth that you're yet young to believe, but experience proves it to be a fact with time: when a person shows you, even better, tells you, that he doesn't want to be with you... believe him! And stop trying to "fix" him! He's literally telling you his priorities and feelings. He's not interested. If he wanted to, he would. It's that simple. It's not your job to psychoanalyze him and create a strategy to "win his heart" back.

As women, we don't chase, and we don't take sloppy seconds, and we're not in beggar or mother theresa energy. We are in receiving energy, knowing that what's meant for us will find us. The right, healthy relationship won't require you to sacrifice yourself, or bend over backwards in order to be chosen. I know it's tempting to do anything to be "chosen", but that's operating on scarcity mindset, and from a survival mode.

I promise you, a real man that cares about you will show and tell you that he wants you and he will actively fight for you and your relationship.

For heaven's sake, don't waste your most precious years fretting and chasing unavailable people! That's one advice I would've loved to receive when I was in your position. Instead, decide what you want, maintain high standards, and in the meanwhile focus on your self improvement (develop hobbies, follow your passions, educate yourself, read books, try new sports, etc). The right one will come along at the right time.

But chasing unavailable people will only keep you in a pattern of your love interest running away from you (energetically, that's the dynamic you're volunteering for - you can't chase unless the other is running), and validating your toxic belief that you're not worthy of love or being chosen. Get off the hamsterwheel altogether. You can either do it in your 20s, or you can waste another 10, 20+ years on toxic dating until you're fed up and decide you deserve better - your choice.

Hope this helps. 🕊

Much love,

-Lumen

[nokingsonlyfooles]

More Conservative than Reagan

“But I also refuse to believe that for us to continue to be America that embraces immigration, we have to give up securing our border. They’re false choices." -Joe Biden

😐

OK.

For reference, here's Ronald Reagan's asylum program. He updated the Registry Act of 1929, which has been done four times. We haven't done it since. It's "discretionary" which means you can dropkick anyone to the curb for no real reason if you must. However, this is a preexisting law that applies to all immigrants residing in the US who arrived before a given date, not just kids or spouses. And you don't have to wait three years, you just apply. Slightly under 3 million people got "legalized" in this way and my grandfather was one of 'em.

And here's what we know about Biden's plan, although they haven't hammered out the details - like how it's actually going to work or be funded. They can still reject you for no real reason, but there are lots more hoops to jump through. The AP is crowing about "half a million" when an update to the existing law resetting the year to, say 2009, would open the doors to five-and-a-half million. Jesus! Five-and-a-half million people could stop clogging up the broken system and living every day of their lives with deportation hanging over their heads.

Are Republicans still screaming and shitting about it anyway? Yes. Yes, they are. So what's the point of penning new legislation that does the same thing Reagan did, but less? You don't even have the luxury of saying, "You losers are upset by REPUBLICAN POLICY?" like when Obama adopted Romneycare.

I mean, it's winning. The point is to win. We know this. Many are willing to forgive it, or at least play along.

This is a carrot-and-stick approach. We started with the stick, and here's a carrot, for those who care about immigration but are willing to compromise and throw some immigrants under the bus. If Trump gets into office, you won't even have this! You need to wait THREE years, so if you don't want this taken away, you NEED to Vote Biden!

A lot of people need help. If this actually gets help to some people, I'm glad. But the blatant political calculus makes me sick. These are human beings, not chess pieces. We need audible voices from the actual left to prevent this kind of thing, or at least call it out. But we don't want Trump to win and take away whatever bone Democrats are willing to throw us, so we sit down and shut up.

We can't keep doing this. We can't keep expecting the people in power to help us when their main priority is votes, and all they need to get votes is point at the other guy and go, "He's WAY worse!" This is the level of commitment that gets us: we'll only help you if you hand us the next election... or the next one, or the next...

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

So I watched Elemental....

And...

It was surprisingly good, and WAY more mature then I actually expected it to be.

Which, was par for the course. I knew a long time ago not to trust Pixar's marketing team when it comes to their movies. (cus this idiot gave Brave and Good Dinosaur and Lightyear a chance in theatres... what's one more pixar movie under my belt I'm disappointed by...)

But I was not disappointed in this one. And I'm grateful for that.

I'm not sure if it's worth it to see it in theatres. The whole thing is available to watch in 3D now, and the constant motion of the water and the fire does look impressive but I'm not sure if I would spend the extra money to see it with 3D glasses. But the visual effects and lighting was stunning!

Ember being reflected in Wade's face while he's looking at her is a nice touch and I loved those composition shots.

Although, I would NOT call it above Spiderverse this summer. lol. Not by a long shot. Like if you only have money to see one animated film this summer, make it Spiderverse, for sure.

The little short about Carl from Pixar's UP getting ready to go on a date is actually pretty cute. And I'm glad this was Ed Asner's last recorded role as Carl and I thought it was a cute send-off for the character. (I kinda wish the credits of the short acknowledged it) Also, I love that the short actually talks about finding love after your soulmate dies. It's rare it's not seen in Children's animation more, because it DOES happen. (my mom being a testament to that)

Anyway, about Elemental.

The movie is not really a "by the numbers romance" as the trailers would have you believe... just kinda showing that Disney did not fucking know how to market this thing.

Sure, it is a romance story between a fire girl and a water guy, and they do interact, solve a small crisis and get closer as time goes on and a good amount of time is done building their relationship and it's actually solid and cute. and there is a 'elements don't mix' but it's more of a saying between their people and not an actual rule or "law" as the trailers would have you think. It's a lot smaller, more intimate stakes then that. And I think for a romance story, intimate stakes work better.

But honestly, did you know that this movie is 100% a story about First World Immigrants that settled down in Element City which isn't built for them in mind so that their daughter could have a better life? And how Family Obligations and a sense of responsibility and love for your family can sometimes make you feel trapped and unable to explore different faucets of your life that you don't even know about until other people point them out to you but your terrified of pursuing something new and different with your life cause you feel like you would be too far away from your family and neglect your responsibilities and feel like a bad daughter because something that you worked for your whole life became the end goal and you didn't know what would come after because you didn't know these things about yourself until now and now you feel the priorities and goals and responsibilities you worked so hard for are now shifting into different responsibilities and priorities and you don't know what to do and feel like you let your family down

Yeah... me neither

LOL sorry that was a bit of a run-on sentence, but Ember is really relatable to me as a protagonist. So if any of that rambling run-on sounded interesting or relatable to you, I recommend you go see it when you get a chance, and I think I sold it far better then Pixar's marketing team, or Disney, or whoever did it.

The movie isn't laugh out loud funny, but there are a few sensible chuckles and puns in there. No real belly-laughs, but there were a lot of "AWWS" from the audience, which indicates everyone was loving the cute romance story. And there was a few scenes that made my sister cry (not me tho cus im dead inside. LOL)

Anyways, some spoilers under the cut and a few scenes I just thought would make the movie stronger

There is this stupid kid dirt child called Clod. He only appears a few times in the movie. Like... a total of two? Maybe three times? about a three minute scene each or so? to be annoying and flirt with Ember who is like... 10 times his age.

And it's supposed to be cute... and Ember does reject him gently... kiiiinda... like.... if rolling your eyes and groaning when he shows up counts as telling him "no" .....(it doesn't and he's like ten and some kids are bad at emotional ques cus kids are in their own head a lot. depends on the kid, but Clod is DEFINATELY one of those kids who only sees the world through HIS lens.)

but honestly...

I kinda wish Ember was more firm with this kid. And told him to stop. Just cus it's a kids movie and it is 2023. Can we stop the cliche of "far younger kid flirts with female lead" it was never funny in the 80s... and it sure isn't funny now... And I just kinda wanted a line or two from Ember, showing kids that this behavior is not okay. Rather then her just kinda rolling her eyes, and shaking him off.

I'm not expecting a full grown lecture moment to stop the movie in it's tracks, cause you can honestly write dialogue that is funny that works.

Like Ember Never tells this little casanova the words "STOP." she just kinda... burns his flowers he gives her and rolls her eyes like 'elements don't mix bud' I know she might be trying to let him down gently, but the kid isn't getting the message, cus he keeps waiting outside the shop every day to hit on her.

Just tell the little dirtclod to stop or ask him if he has school or if she has to tell his mom what he's doing. Like honestly, a small aside line like "I really need to talk to him about personal boundaries"

idk.. give me something... just tell him to stop. lol

Another scene, there's this thing, that if water touches fire, or like... a lot of water, it extinguishes part of their body, and they need to eat wood to repair it.

We got to see Ember and her mother do this to themselves on separate occasions

But Wade never got to see it. :(

Wade and Ember know the danger of dating eachother, and they are scared of touching, and a lot of times, Ember is put into terrifying situations where there is a LOT of Water.

I kinda wanted a scene to happen where.... maybe her leg gets extinguished, and Wade cries heavily, and freaks the fuck out.. and thinks that he SERIOUSLY hurt her. And Ember tells him to calm down, and she has a firestarter kit, and she just needs to eat some firewood, and she'll be okay. Or it could have happened at Wade's family's house...

Like I feel it would be a little cute bonding moment, and it will give Wade a moment of clarity at realizing the gravity of their relationship a little more early

Wade is definitely a "heart on your sleeve" "follow your heart" "be honest with your emotions" character.

Which is great, and I do love how cute their contrast is. But there are a few moments, where Wade just doesn't understand the severity of their relationship, or sometimes just doesn't understand the importance of Ember's people's culture sometimes.

And to be fair... Ember doesn't explain this to him, at least not fully, or properly. So Wade, not having all the facts... Her abandoning everything in her life to pursue an internship far away from her family makes sense to him.

I feel just... having a scene where he SEES Ember get hurt... instead of it being a possible threat of "oh they might get hurt" or just constantly telling the audience "OOOH THEY COULD GET HURT" would actually bridge some gaps in miscommunication, and have him understand the gravity of their relationship sooner.

I mean, it's not like he EVER does... he definitely does and it's not like Wade is stupid. He knows their relationship has problems. And I actually command the guy for getting mad that Ember is NOT telling him or helping him understand some things that she values. Cause he wants to help and get to know her, but if she's constantly on guard he can't do that.

Idk.. I do think that Wade finding firesticks for Ember and helping her after she got hurt would have been a cute bonding experience Maybe I'm just a Wumpy and I want to see it. eghoahef Ember got hurt plenty times by water, so it's not like they're scared to show a woman be venerable... It's just that..... Wade never gets to see that. And it was a shame.

I wanted to see him see it and his reaction to it.

Idk... those were just the things I kinda wanted to see.

Other then that, I enjoyed my time... and Wade is a class Himbo... and Ember is just... super relatable to me, and I understand her so much. I love her.

OH YEAH ONE MORE THING I FORGOT!

I feel the conclusion wraps up a little too cleanly????

Like... it's a super happy ending, and everyone has their cake and eats it too.

Ember's Dad gets to retire, and Ember gets to get her intership, and the Dad just lets some fireguys who are at his shop all the time who feel like family to run the shop in his retirement instead of his daughter?

Idk... it feels like it wrapped up way too cleanly and it never works that way in real life... Especially complex issues between family responsibilities and pursuing new passions in life that might take you far away from your family

I don't mind the super happy ending and having your cake and eating it too... idk I just feel their could be a better written solution that didn't involve her Dad handing over the keys to his shop to essentially some background characters we barely know....

seems off... but yeah, idk how else I would make everyone happy in the ending lol

Good solid movie

[ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm]

wip something somewhere

more from my draco in mundane apocalypses universe. draco works as ground crew at vienna airport. please imagine him in a little red suit. this draco really likes droney post punk

4:45pm, Mazur Parking Lot

All disasters start a little bit before the moment they occur on paper, not in the sense of a chain of misfortunes and oversights that lead to some offending spark, but at the atomic level, as some unspeakable but tangible ghostly drawback of energy, trailing ahead of the wave that will inevitably surge up and cover the shore. The air really does crackle, birds do fly the other way. Draco's little Citroen, which had been brought to some mundane level of sentience as a byproduct of his magical core, felt the change inside its little banged up french-made chassis, something tightening, something bracing. The Vienna sky hung gray and perpetually unimpressed overhead, the smokestacks from the refinery reaching up to meet the thick, pillowy mesh of contrails and exhaust fumes and mist. Draco dug around the cupholder for the other end of the aux cord, thumbed at the wheel of his iPod until Godspeed joined the rumble of the engine, a chorus of real and recorded mechanical sounds at war with the silent world. The rear view mirror catches his eye, a flock of black birds surging up from the field and over the highway signs.

7:56am, G gates, Vienna Airport

The days Draco has to work the G gates are the hardest. Being part of the ground airline staff at any airport is a swift and effective way to take the magic out of air travel, particularly when one is doomed to a uniform so bright red it messes with the sensors on the automatic doors. But there's just something particularly dreary about this corner of Vienna Airport, hidden behind three sets of escalators and passport control, reserved for budget lines to non-European countries and extreme long haul flights. The sleepy passengers who needed to be nudged into action are enough to deal with, as are the secondary document checks and nonsensical codes he's forced to scribble on boarding passes, but when supplemented with an immeasurable range of national particularities and quirks, the entire experience becomes unbearably meaningless. From the impotent divination of picking a seat in advance, to the arbitrary membership cards and priority lines that get people to the same nowhere fast, the tyranny of this muggle, modern world weighs on Draco like a mountain on his chest while he rattles off the boarding script. There, too, lies more tyranny - his melodic, nasaly German, his precise, aristocratic English, both of which he is instructed to use as a kind of impenetrable and impatient barrier against passengers who more often than not consist of foreign workers and elderly immigrants and refugees, when they aren't diplomats and backpacking kids. He spends his G gate days turning away grandmothers with misspelled names on their documents, wrenching his arm out of the grip of elderly passengers in wheelchairs sent off to go home from various hospitals on their own. He's not entirely clear on the math, but he's fairly sure that when the Ministry banished him to the continent and snapped his wand in half, the idea wasn't that he should ever find himself in any position of power again, not in the least one so mundane. The airport safety alert chimes for the third time this hour - they play it more often up here. A teenage boy dressed in dirty clothes sits next to an armed federal policeman on the black plastic bench by the giant glass window facing the direction of the Danube. The sky is always hazy on this side, the smoke from the refinery by the airport rolling lazily both downstream and up into the sky.

7:56am, OMV Schwechat Refinery, Vienna

Crude Oil Distillation Unit Operations Log

Status: Normal

Output: 8333.333 barrels per hour

Steam (kg/h): 700

Kerosene Boiling Point: 207

Date and Rating of Most Recent Water Pressure Test: 23/11, Satisfactory

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

BY TIMOTHY NOAH

For years we’ve been hearing about Republican strategies to displace the Democrats as the party of the working class, but conservative efforts to define what that means have always faltered. The main strategy, dating to the Nixon years, has been to use racial and religious prejudice to drive a wedge into what’s left of the New Deal coalition. But “working class” is an economic designation, not a cultural one. In their 2008 book Grand New Party, Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam tried to argue that social issues were economic issues, but that’s too facile and sometimes plainly wrong. (What do working-class women gain by losing abortion rights?) In 2021, Representative Jim Banks wrote Representative Kevin McCarthy a memo on how to make the GOP “permanently … the Party of the Working Class.” But apart from hawkishness on trade and immigration, to which Trump had converted the GOP, Banks was silent on economic matters, relying instead on waging culture war.

American Compass was created three years ago to change that. Founded by Oren Cass, a fortyish former Bainie and domestic policy adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, American Compass is a conservative nonprofit that fashions itself pro-worker. It just produced a manifesto titled Rebuilding American Capitalism: A Handbook for Conservative Policymakers that attempts to define a set of conservative economic policies to help the working class. It will host a conference to discuss these on Wednesday afternoon in the Russell Senate Office Building, with remarks from Senators Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio, J.D. “Hillbilly Elegy” Vance, and Todd Young.

Rebuilding American Capitalism acknowledges wage stagnation, decries stock buybacks, bemoans financialization, and rejects “market fundamentalism.” It knocks libertarians for disdaining government and mocks Glenn Hubbard, President George W. Bush’s chief economic adviser, for stating that “the goal of the economic system [is] optimizing consumption.” It recognizes the serious problem of growing economic inequality. Except for progressives, whom it denounces cartoonishly as disdainful of the private sector and overly “eager to use public programs to provide whatever the market does not,” the manifesto is against the right things. The trouble arises when it’s called upon to be for something—specifically, labor unions.

You can’t be serious about empowering the working class unless you want to strengthen organized labor. Does American Compass want to do that? Yes and no.

Give American Compass credit for including in its manifesto a chapter forthrightly titled “Labor.” Congressional Republicans are so nauseated by this word that whenever they regain control of the House they change the name of the Committee on Education and Labor to the Committee on Education and the Workforce. This revulsion does a disservice to the roughly one-third of union members who reliably vote Republican. Indeed, there’s a conservative argument to make in favor of labor unions, and I’m pleased to see American Compass make it:

“Especially for conservatives, who cherish the role of mediating institutions, prefer private ordering to government dictates, and believe prosperity must be earned rather than redistributed, reforming and reinvigorating the laws that govern organizing and collective bargaining should be an obvious priority.”

Amen. I would add only that Republicans show their true colors by relying, whenever they control the White House, on government power to impede the growth of private-sector unions at the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB.

Also on the plus side, Rebuilding American Capitalism calls for sectoral bargaining, in which labor unions negotiate wages across industry sectors. The United Auto Workers and the United Steelworkers established a variation on sectoral bargaining called pattern bargaining back in the 1940s, though its efficacy diminished with the rise of foreign competition. The idea, which is a good one, is that competition within an industry (or its absence) shouldn’t drive down wages.

The section heading “Guarantee Workers’ Legal Right to Organize” got me very excited. But on closer inspection, the manifesto avoided any mention of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act, the only serious vehicle right now to shore up labor rights, which has two Republican co-sponsors in the House (Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick and New Jersey’s Christopher Smith), though none, alas, in the Senate. The PRO Act would reverse key anti-labor provisions in the 1947 Taft-Hartley amendments to the National Labor Relations Act, or NLRA, voiding, for instance, state “right-to-work” laws that allow union nonmembers to enjoy the benefits of collective bargaining without paying union fees, and legalizing secondary boycotts like the supermarket boycotts that the United Farm Workers’ Cesar Chavez organized during the 1960s to bring grape growers to heel. (Chavez was allowed to target supermarkets that sold grapes only because agricultural workers weren’t covered by the NLRA, and they still aren’t.) The PRO Act would also for the first time allow the NLRB to impose serious monetary penalties on businesses that violate the NLRA; right now all it can do is require payment of back wages and reinstatement of a fired employee, which is why companies violate the act routinely.

How would Rebuilding American Capitalism guarantee workers’ right to organize? By doing, to quote Jake Gittes describing his instructions as a cop patrolling Chinatown (in the great 1974 film of that title), “as little as possible.” The PRO Act would require the NLRB to seek a court injunction to reinstate immediately any employee fired for union organizing. Rebuilding American Capitalism merely advises the NLRB to give its general counsel authority to seek such injunctions—authority the general counsel possesses already, and, under General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, is applying aggressively. Under a Republican president, the energetic pursuit of injunctions is a lot less likely to occur, and a polite request from American Compass will have no effect.

Even worse than its Chinatown approach to protecting workers’ right to organize is Rebuilding America’s section titled “Get Worker Organizations Out of Partisan Politics.” Organized labor’s political influence, even in its current greatly diminished form, is pretty much the only thing it has going for it at a time when private-sector union membership is down to 6%. Unions have always been a force in politics, and it would be suicide for them to withdraw now.

Or perhaps Rebuilding America means only that unions should withdraw from spending directly on political campaigns, something they were barred legally from doing before the Supreme Court turned corporations (and labor unions) into people in 2010’s Citizens United case. “The United States should prohibit political spending by worker organizations,” the manifesto says, “comparable to the prohibition on political spending by 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations.” Spending by affiliated PACs would still be permissible. Fine by me—but only if corporations (which take much greater advantage of Citizens United than unions do) are similarly barred from political spending. Which of course would require the Supreme Court to overturn Citizens United. Good luck with that. Rebuilding America makes much of the fact that the AFL-CIO and SEIU don’t allow members to dictate how they allocate lobby resources, but neither do corporations allow stockholders to do the same. The prospect of unions disarming unilaterally and leaving politics to corporations doesn’t seem to worry American Compass.

Ultimately, Rebuilding American Capitalism, for all its proletarian posturing, can’t muster much enthusiasm for labor unions. After its very good review early on of the data on growing income inequality, and a less-good section accusing liberals of not supporting apprenticeship programs (not remotely true), the manifesto gives the game away by stating that “although most Americans … wish they had more opportunities for their voice to be heard” in the workplace, “the traditional labor union is not the model they prefer.” Oh, please. Anybody who’s paid the slightest attention knows that labor unions enjoy more public support today than they have in half a century. It’s inconceivable that the authors of Rebuilding American Capitalism don’t know this.

To justify its claim that workers don’t especially like unions, Rebuilding American Capitalism cites polling data (from a poll conducted by American Compass) that says 63% would prefer a “worker organization” (whatever that is) to be run by labor and management, as opposed to 37% who would prefer it to be run solely by workers. This is a testament not to any wariness of unions on the public’s part but to the public’s naïveté about American management’s willingness to cooperate with labor. It’s different in Europe, of course, where they have works councils and other organizations where these things get hashed out by labor, management, and the government. American corporations rejected this model after World War II, when Walter Reuther and other union leaders proposed it. If they could now be persuaded otherwise, that would be lovely. But after reading American Compass’s manifesto, I wouldn’t trust any conservative to write the enabling legislation. Rebuilding American Capitalism has some good ideas about what ails America, but it balks at furnishing the means to fix it.

[ruthlesslistener]

📓📓

Alright, since there's two here and I've got Thoughts(tm) on Lurien and Soul Master rivalry again, here's a couple fic concepts that have been living rent free in the back of my brain:

1.) Longfic, rough Ao3 summary:

The new head of the Soul Sanctum had always been an ambitious sort, pushing his way up the ranks with his charisma, ambitions, and overflowing pockets- even Lurien was aware of his infamy, though he had long ago put his schooling days behind him. When he rose to power as headmaster, none were surprised. But what was once an unsavory rumor quickly became an unpleasent reality for the Watcher as the conniving bug set his sights ever higher- by openly announcing his desire to court Lurien himself, drawing the eyes of everyone rich enough to run within his social circles. Even his reputation for reclusion and his mysterious power can't pull Lurien out of this one.

But the Watcher did not earn his title for talent alone, nor is he entirely incapable of trickery in turn. And the longer he plays into the Soul Master's plans, the more horrors lie in wait.

My summary: an au where the Soul Master tries to gain power in the Pale Court by announcing his desire to court and marry Lurien in a party of bored rich assholes with their claws in lots of funding projects. Lurien, trapped by social conventions and political intruigue, has no choice but to accept. However, he's not entirely powerless, and decides to play the game back at him so that he may gain insight into what the Soul Master wishes to achieve. What follows is a long game of fake courting where each tries to win the other, the Soul Master so that he may blind Lurien to the experiments he wishes to commit, and Lurien so that he can figure out his secrets and expose him as a power-hungry maniac. It's enemies fake-dating but instead of them going to lovers, they remain enemies and a lot of murder and blackmailing happens on the side. Also Palewatcher is the endgoal relationship with this one.

Would probably earn an E title for coercion, possible sexual content, and explicit violence (I planned to have Lurien lure SM in by pretending he was receptive and then used that lapse in judgement to kill him). PK luckily was oblivious to this entire mission, otherwise it would have turned into an even greater bloodbath

2.) Shortfic (1-3 chapters or very long drabble), rough Ao3 summary:

Songstress Marissa was not one for tempting fate. She came to Hallownest because she heard of the sore lack of singing talent present in the depths, and profited off said lack where she could get it. She never forgot her humble origins, or how far she wandered before she found her fortune.

So when her dresser-bug goes missing after a concert at the Soul Sanctum, she turns to the most powerful authority that her fame can buy- the mysterious Watcher Lurien.

My summary: Is exactly how it sounds- one of Marissa's team members vanishes after a concert at the Soul Sanctum, and even though she's terrified of him, she decides to use her newfound fame and pretty wings to sneak in a high-priority appointment with Lurien. Her assumptions that he's some omnipotent godlike being (driven by city myths) are, however, quickly shattered once he actually opens his mouth.

Most of the appeal for this fic was honestly just having Lurien meet Marissa, bc Marissa was the reason why I ended up sticking with the butterfly headcanon for him, and I thought it would be funny if they ended up as awkward immigrant buddies bc their species is so rare in Hallownest (Lurien's parents having fled there before he hatched, Marissa arriving herself bc she needed a job and her family's caravan reached a bad streak). The revelation that he was a butterfly would probably come from him recognizing her wing-fluttering patterns as butterfly-specific courtship behaviors (that Marissa used only bc beetles were oblivious and just thought Wing Pretty) and then messing up the deflecting so bad that any doubts he misinterpreted it or was interested in women just flew completely out the window.

[nimuetheseawitch]

⬆️ fake dating!

🗣️ noir!

🃏 crow~

Fake Dating ⬆️ What is the first line of dialogue in this WIP? (it's long because it's Woolsey speechifying a bit)

"Congratulations are in order, gentleman. As you are both aware, the elimination of the Wraith threat and the ongoing declassification of the Stargate program have prompted the IOA to turn the Atlantis Expedition into a colony. My initial conference with the representatives of the Pegasus Coalition and the IOA was a resounding success. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done to work out the details of immigration to Atlantis from both Earth and the worlds of Pegasus, but existing Expedition members and our Athosian allies have been given priority status. Before we continue, are you planning on staying on as we transition? This is completely voluntary, and the IOA and SGC are willing to find new placements for or give temporary contractor status to anyone who doesn't want to be a long-term colonist and are offering you the roles of Chief Scientist and Military Commander of the colony. I will be staying on as the colony's initial leader until we can set up an elected government." 

Noir 🗣️ Other than "said/says," what is your most-used dialogue tag in this WIP?

So, apparently, I barely use dialogue tags in this one. I don't often anyway, but there were literally only 3 and none of them were said/says. 2 were asked/asking, and one was yelled. I think that's incredibly appropriate, knowing our main character.

crow!John 🃏 Wildcard: share your thoughts on dialogue in general, particular concerns for a piece, or just post a snippet with your favorite line of dialogue in it!

So far there is no dialogue because John is still a crow without a name. BUT, I've gotten to the point where I want McKay to just get used to talking to the crow like he's a person, and the crow squawks back intelligently. Been doing some research on crows' ability to solve puzzles because wouldn't it be great for crow!John to solve a puzzle and for McKay to tell him he's smarter than any of his previous lab assistants? I'm also looking forward to some really awkward dialogue once an Ancient device turns John human.

[endlessly-cursed]

HL- Adonis Demiurgos

"𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙪𝙙𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨, 𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙤."

Name: Adonis Androcles Demiurgos 

Nicknames: TBD 

Birthdate: 15th of February, 1881 

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius 

Personality Type (MBTI): ESFP 

Blood Status: Half-blood 

Nationality: Greco-British 

Physical Appearance

Hair: Black

Eyes: Blue 

Height: 1.89m 

Weight: 86kg 

Body Type: Strong, tall and lean 

Skin Tone: Fair 

Distinguishing Marks (scars, birthmarks, etc.): Several scars on his back, chest and upper back 

Background

Hometown

Adonis grew up in the old city of Thebes in Greece. He had a fairly great childhood. He also grew up a Greek Christan Orthodox, though practised it very little. He has some rituals of it that he keeps to himself, but has never pressured anyone for it. He grew up a modern and ahead-of-his.time boy. 

At the age of 11, his paternal grandmother, who was a seer, due to age and untrained magic, attacked young Adonis, telling him that his beauty was sinful and no one would love him, always wanting his beauty. This traumatised Adonis, showing signs of growing into a handsome young boy. He closed himself off since then. 

Family

Mother: Agatha Sofía Demiurgos, neé Galanis 

A fair beauty, local from Thebes, she grew up in a house of Ottoman ancestry, which made her an outcast in a place where they hated the Ottomans for 400 years of invasion. She met Apollonas when he defended her because a drunken man had tried to take unwanted advances towards her. They hit it off, and despite Agatha being on a girl’s night, she was encouraged to pass some time with this new beau. They courted for a while before he proposed to her and had Adonis. Two years later, their daughter Irene would be born. 

Father: Apollonas Gregorius Demiurgos 

First generation to be born in England, with both Greek parents who immigrated to England 20 years ago, he was a student of Hogwarts, Ravenclaw alumni and who worked as a magical diplomat between England and Greece. He had an hero complex and it peaked when he saved the beautiful woman on the beach who was being accosted by a drunk of the name Agatha Galanis. They both it off and went on multiple dates before he proposed months later. They both married and none of them converted to either Anglicanism or Greek Orthodoxy. They moved, however, to England for better chances in 1876 and in 1881 they had their son Adonis. Two years later, in 1883, they had a daughter, Irene. The birth was difficult and the marriage declared that they’d have no more children, happy with a daughter and a son. 

Sister: Irene Zoya Demiurgos 

Two years younger than Adonis, she is painfully shy and introverted, always with her nose on a book -hence being sorted into Ravenclaw- and very quiet, though when she warms up to somebody, she rambles nonstop. She is aware of her beauty but prefers to nurture her mind and think that she is far too young to pursue romance, wanting to be mature and wise, unlike the naive heroines she reads about. 

Hogwarts

House: Gryffindor 

Best Class: Flying, DADA, Ancient Runes 

Worst Class: HOM, Astronomy and Transfiguration 

Boggart: His grandmother telling him he’ll never be loved by anyone

Riddikulus: His grandmother wear the ugliest clothes and honks every time she tries to talk

Patronus: TBD 

Patronus Memory: Playing cards with his family and laughing 

Mirror of Erised: Genuinely loved and happy with his loved ones

Amortentia (what he smells like): Greek yoghurt, salt, woodsmoke, earthy cologne, lavender

Amortentia (what he smells): parchment, drying ink, lilies and wintergreen mint 

Career

𝟏𝟏-𝟏𝟖: Hogwarts student

𝟏𝟗-𝟐𝟒: Newbie dueller trainee

𝟑𝟓-𝟒𝟎: Professional Dueller

𝟒𝟎-𝟓𝟓: Dueller Champion

𝟓𝟔-𝟔𝟓: Charms Professor at Hogwarts

𝟔𝟓+ : Retiree

Personality & Attitude

Priorities: His family, his training, his loved ones’ safety 

Strengths: Brave, outgoing, athletic, brave, gentlemanly and charismatic 

Weaknesses: A bit cocky, prone to teasing and closed off (though not very much) 

Stressed: During first year when he couldn’t pick up on English (he was mainly raised in Greek language and culture) 

Calm/Comforted: Flying, duelling and oddly enough, when Minerva’s around 

Favorites

Colors: Red, blue, green, brown, white and black 

Weather: Sunny with a light breeze 

Hobbies: Practising duelling and flying techniques, reading about his country and martial arts 

Fashion: Adonis dresses lazily and cares little for fashion, but does try to dress neatly when called for. 

Relationships

Significant Other/Love Interest: Minerva Aileen Kennedy ( @unfortunate-arrow​ ) 

When they first met, Adonis was a shy boy who couldn’t speak English and upon hearing Minerva’s extensive vocabulary, decided to ask her to help him find the Flying lesson they were headed to. However, this wouldn’t last. Upon making friends who weren’t the best company, they decided to target Minerva by stealing her prized notebooks and reading them in front of the class. Adonis thought they’d mess with it and not fully embarrass her, and before he could defend himself or explain Minerva, he had grated her and earned detention. He was then too shy and insecure of his English to explain himself to Minerva, and when he started to grow courage, the year had ended. 

On second year, he cut ties with that group and instead befriended his dormmate and Minerva’s twin brother, Grant. He soon explained the situation and he understood and became water under the bridge. Adonis instead tried to gain her attention in the academic ambit and soon a rivarly formed. She was restless, meanwhile he was laid-back and always answered correctly even while missing some lessons or falling asleep in class, which annoyed Minerva even more. All of this lasted until the end of sixth year. 

During summer, Grant invited Adonis for a weekend at his home, and told him that he’d accept the invitation only if Minerva was alright with it. He was surprised when he was told she didn’t mind it. During those days, he realised that he had always fancied and admired her deep down, but Minerva was oblivious to it, but made small gestures to slowly win her affection, such as leaving her notes with quotes from Greek poets, flowers that reminded him of her, Greek words with their meaning that he knew she’d love, and perfumes that, to him, smelled like Minerva. 

Sadly, before he could confess his feelings, he was accepted in his dream work on a duelling program for future duellists. He’d travel across Europe for nearly two years to countries like Romania, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Montenegro, Cyprus, Greece, Georgia, the Ottoman Empire (much to his chagrin), Finland, Hungary, and finally France, where he’d reunite with Minerva, who had heard that the famous champion Adonis would be, fighting. He dedicated her his victory and the two of them had their first official date as someone courting. They also had their second kiss on the top of the Eiffel Tower at midnight. He then retired as a dueller after being declared Champion Duellist and settled in England, where he courted and married Minerva and had three children: twins Atticus and Daphne and a son years later, a surprise baby. 

They lived a happy, fulfilled life and he passed away at 108 years of age, with his children and grandchildren with him. 

Friends: Edmund Kennedy ( @unfortunate-arrow​ ) 

He did not befriend him until their second year. They were opposites, but found a way to get along nicely enough. Their relationship was also good enough when he asked him for permission to court his sister, which ensued in a ‘if you hurt her I’ll kill you’ speech. He also corresponded with him during many years and asked for his permission to ask his sister’s hand in marriage. They remained good friends until the end. 

Rivals: Minerva Kennedy 

For years, he and his future wife were at odds (more on her part than his) and it stayed on the academic field up until seventh year. They’d eventually fall in love and marry. 

Trivia

He was one of the options for Lady Gray’s grooms

Wherever he went, the girls always chased him because of his looks 

His grandmother was tortured by Dark Wizards to cause something similar to dementia and tried to kill Adonis because of his ‘dangerous beauty’ 

He’s afraid of falling in love with the wrong person 

He’s an accomplished gentleman in Muggle sense 

He has a tattoo of a caduceus (symbol of Hermes) on his collarbone that he acquired at 23 

He has a puffskein named Hermes