#latest information from ap

[utilitycaster]

…so I decided to check out Polygon’s D20 coverage, and frankly I think you were entirely too kind to them. Good. GOD, some of that stuff read like they’ve never watched AP that *wasn’t* CR, D20 or the first season of TAZ. And have somehow made it thru the 2010s without encountering urban fantasy…

Anyway, to further nudge you towards your destiny of AP journalism (and with the understanding that you have a Real Job and a life outside TTRPGs and the internet); can you please expand on what you think D20 brings to the table?(pun unintended, but I stand by it) Because speaking as someone who has watched a handful of eps and enjoys the concepts, the praise PG were offering was damningly faint.

Hi! Thank you, and for what it's worth I don't think most of them have listened to the first season of TAZ either, given the way they talk about WBN as inventing the actual play longform podcast. I do want to note: I like writing longform stuff about actual play but I am adamantly not a journalist. I am not investigating or interviewing or reporting; I'm doing analysis and editorial. Amateur critic is the most I can claim to and that's a stretch (and even there I have a particular privilege in that I'm writing all this for free, anonymously, by choice, and don't need be be nice or maintain relationships with actual play performers within the space because I could burn every bridge and still make rent.)

Anyway. I think a major flaw of Polygon is that it's so focused on novelty and subversion that it forgets a well-worn concept, executed with skill, is actually great and for many people, preferable. Brennan, from everything I have heard him say and from how he actually runs games, has a deep respect for fantasy as a genre, and the stories he tells in D20 are ones he is clearly familiar with and loves. I also think to subvert things you must be a fan, and when D20 does successfully subvert or twist a genre, it's coming from a place of respect and understanding.

Anyway, just covering a few Intrepid Heroes seasons: I think Fantasy High (and I haven't gotten to the latest episode of Junior Year) is actually increasingly a brilliant deconstruction of D&D as a game by making the world aware that it's in a D&D game. What does it mean to be in a D&D party and be an adventurer and have that be a significant part of who you are? What does it mean to be a commoner in this world? What do you do when you're sort of a broke teen in generic suburbia but also you need the loot that an adventurer would theoretically get from dragon hoards? Why do you have to know what your life's calling will be when you're 14? One of my personal favorite things, as a lover of mechanics and TTRPGs as a system of storytelling and more generally as someone who believes that your medium of choice should be informing the story you tell, is when people engage with character roles and classes instead of treating them as just a set of cool things you can do, and Fantasy High very much pushes the players to do this. I also mentioned elsewhere that the downtime stress mechanics are a brilliant addition to one of the genuine gaps in D&D, namely, while downtime is a time for open RP, there's not a good way to handle things like stress or crafting or prioritizing well.

The Unsleeping City is one I like, honestly, just because I lived in New York for a few years and Brennan lived there far longer (as did much of the cast, though not all) and his love for it is apparent. I don't think it's groundbreaking; I just think it's really good. The characters are excellent and the story is fun. It's true that, for example, it allows you the satisfaction of making Amazon's and its attempted move into Long Island City the BBEG and smiting its ass instead of having to harangue your senators and councilpeople (as I did, and I wasn't even living in Queens) but really it's just a good story. It doesn't need to be more than that. It did not invent urban fantasy or the idea of a secret magical version of a real city or "most myths are real"; it's just a good story!

I think A Crown of Candy is also just a fun setting and, by making everyone food, emphasizes how petty and arbitrary the alliances in a Game of Thrones-esque milieu can be. It casts a scathing eye on religious interpretation as a tool for conquest without clumsily proclaiming the mere concept of religion is the problem. It has one of the best explorations of character death I've seen and Brennan's acting as Caramelinda remains a tour de force for him. Bringing the entire story of succession and war down to a final choice between two half-sisters remains a brilliant decision, the setting is supported by the mechanical limits Brennan imposed upon character creation, and it's overall beautifully done.

Even Neverafter, which I think have openly said didn't live up to its initial promise, had that promise with the fantastic handling of the TPK; I have a love for metanarrative and honestly my issue is that it was the wrong place to do metanarrative, but it was a bold choice to do in the unpredictable medium of actual play.

That's really only covering a fraction - I think some other standouts are Mentopolis, A Court of Fey and Flowers, Coffin Run, and Escape from the Bloodkeep, and while Shriek Week is just not a genre I'm personally super drawn to, I think the Mythic system is a great system for the story being told and Hicks does a great job running it.

Really what it comes down to is that D20 falls in between what a lot of shows are. It doesn't have the freedom but also the burden of a very long-running campaign (indeed, WBN exists because its performers, all of whom have featured in D20, wanted to be able to do longform actual play), nor is it quite as rushed as an all-miniseries or one-shot show. It has space to explore one or two things really well without having to carry a thousand different threads (and believe me, Brennan tries to put in as many as he can in that space - I actually wonder if the reason Fantasy High Junior Year feels a little more streamlined to me is that WBN was by that time in full swing). But it's not the first edited actual play, it mostly uses very widespread systems, the production values are high but not unheard of elsewhere (and I think that production values in AP beyond the basic 'can you hear and, if relevant, see things clearly and does the set look nice' are overrated though that's a personal preference), the cast is strong but not the first group of professionals or even comedians, and they didn't invent the concept of filming remotely or scrims or having an anticapitalist message.

My issue with the journalists, to reiterate that, is that they're not really doing much journalism, actually; and that their bias is horribly apparent. There's little analysis - just shallow reviews that show little understanding of actual play as a medium, fantasy as a genre, or TTRPGs as a system. And while being entirely free of bias is unavoidable - we are people, and we will bring our own interpretations and experiences in, and there are people who will love D20 and dislike Critical Role without doing so in bad faith - the fact that several of the journalists have openly crowed and preened about their special access to the D20 cast really makes it apparent that they like D20 because Dropout gives them early access and says nice things about them. And it's a feedback loop; Critical Role is going to keep saying "well, you constantly shit on us, so no, you don't get early access" and they'll keep writing bad reviews because they don't get early access.

But to return to the point, D20 is legitimately great and yeah the bias in my mind is only hurting them because, speaking only for myself, if there's two things I like and people heap fawning and inaccurate praise on one and nitpick the other? I'm going to start looking into that praise and find more flaws, and I'm going to start defending the nitpicked one. I really love Fantasy High Junior Year but the Polygon article is so bad I have to remind myself that it's just because the person who wrote it is an idiot. I probably would have gone into Kollok much more neutrally if people didn't act like it was the fucking invention of television. Do give D20 a try if you can! Don't read the articles.

[anteroom-of-death]

Teacher's Pet part 8

Synopsis: Truths are revealed, jeopardizing what lies between these two lovers. Why? And how?

A/n: Angst! Angst! And in this chapter, I personally will relinquish a grudge, Sophia I forgive you now, sorta. I swear things may improve! Also, Petronella is a girl's girl and alive. Fuck what the Canon says.

You never expected the tables to turn that quickly. You never wanted to have an affair. You just subconsciously wanted him. Maybe more than subconsciously.

How dumb.

You left his office and went off to your tutoring. Your chest still ringing from beating too hard. Your ears were tingling.

You figured one would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to not notice your obvious puppy dog. (Or how did he put it just now? “A fawn separated from it’s mother too early”…?) Crush you were developing on him.

Was it desperation and he was merely scratching an itch? Something to warm his bones after a dry-spell since his wife died? If not, why not just go see an escort? (You shuddered at an accidental outing.)

You doubted it was a crush, like you held. Do men in their upper fifties (Your best guess at his age…) get crushes? You also doubted that.

And why did it seem like he had twice the amount of pulse in his body. If you didn’t know anatomy, you would swear he had two hearts in his chest.

You shook your head and left silly thoughts and trying to define this experience.

Whatever it was, it began to happen fast. You would meet up between classes in his office for a quick fuck. Or if he saw you on campus he’d guide you to somewhere secluded for a kiss on your cheek and a remark about your latest diatribe in class.

You still met up every Monday for some actual tutoring on his class.

Once he took you out to park at the edge of town for a little coffee date.

He respected your work schedule and always never asked questions.

You were dearly grateful.

The term was coming to an end, and you were in the library. It was late and you covered in highlighter ink and were approaching clinical insanity. You felt a now-familiar set of hands on your shoulders.

“Burning the candle at both ends? I see.”

“Hey.” You broke out of your reverie and statistics-essay informed stupor. It might have been a tad bit louder than you intended.

“Play hooky from work this weekend. I’ve got to go to London for my other job.” First time he ever mentioned a second job. Did the university really pay it’s professors that little? You heard a few, more junior ones kvetching once. But him? He was definitely tenured.

“Another job?” You questioned.

“Yeah, I made a bad choice in the 70’s. It’s followed me around since then. Do come. I’ll do us somewhere special.” So your calculations on his age were wrong. He was maybe just a tad bit older than upper fifties…

Probably lower sixties.

“Sounds fine by me. It’s been slowing up.” You remarked.

He leaned down and kissed your cheek.

“Do ditch the energy drink. They’re ever so bad on human’s guts.”

A weird quirk. He’d always say humans or apes. As if he was above or different. Maybe it was the fact he was an old white guy.

Yeah, that was it. Old white guy brain rot.

“Meet me at that park… Friday, around three PM.” He instructed.

“Okay…”

“I’ll let you go back to your studies. I know how much you value them.” A final kiss and he faded out as quickly as he appeared.

You texted your manager and explained that you weren’t able to do the weekend shift, but definitely Thursday night. If you were to go to London, you’d proceed some mad money to spend on your own if his second job left you hostage for too long to your own devices.

And you canceled on a few regulars.

“Family issues.” Always a surefire way to get out of these things. Vague enough to not garner questions and would gain some sympathy. You hoped some other girl wouldn’t nab them, but you knew how people were. That one girl, Sophia, once stole your biggest tipper who saw you on both Friday nights and Sunday evenings because she’d do oral without a condom.

Damn that stomach flu you had that weekend.

You worked that night, slow but a big tip had materialized. Perfect.

By the time you had gotten home and napped for a few hours, you had a dilemma. Obviously you didn’t want your work knickers and robes mixing in with your real life clothes. Taint the divide you had.

You stared at your open suitcase. It was a little carry-on one. Yet the empty inside could swallow you whole. You threw in the most fancy of your basics in. It seemed the best idea. You pressed your hand to your mouth and let out a nervous scream.

Why was picking out what clothes you’d wear to probably just stay in a hotel all weekend stressful?

And were you entering kept whore territory?

Your situationship was dreadfully unlabeled.

You definitely knew he wasn’t your boyfriend. That word was horribly trite and evoked images of teens and young adults running about to dinner dates and cuddling each other on the bus. Or feeling each other up behind the seats in a cinema.

Not that you had particularly a detailed actual history with long-term or healthy relationships.

That’s life.

Did he even drive? How were you two getting to London? You just sat there on the bench after going to the park. It was nearly three.

You scratched at your eyelid, fighting the urge to tear off your lower lip with your fingernails.

Checking your phone, you didn’t see the big black Range Rover pulling up in front of you. The back passenger side door popped open, startling you a bit. “Hey you, get in. Apparently I’m very late.” You saw him in the back, a few soldiers in it with him. (They looked like soldiers. You decided they were.)

You grabbed your little carry-on suitcase and went in. An anxiety attack was bubbling up. What was his other job? You slid in and clenched your suitcase and purse between your legs.

You were going to London, so you chose a classy, sleek, small black number. You made the right choice. It was positively crowded in here.

There was a cute, disgruntled looking girl with an oversized knit scarf and some hipster glasses on in the front passenger seat.

“Hi! I’m Osgood!” She stretched back and offered you her hand. “You’re his...assistant?” She seemed confused by your general existence, but pleased you were another girl in this car of men. You couldn’t blame her! You took it and shook.

“She’s my companion.” The bastard finally labeled your situationship. Companion, very old timey. He let out of beaming smile, and continued on, “Petronella Osgood, (y/n's full name). (Y/n’s full name), Petronella Osgood. The new lead scientific advisor and assistant to the Head of UNIT!” His hand nearly swiped one of the soldier’s faces. “You’re both clever and don’t think like a normal human. You’ll be friends by Sunday night…”

If you could have balled yourself up and rolled away like a pill bug of you could.

“Do you like Costa? I’m trying to convince these people to stop by on our way home! Usually he just shows up, you know how he is with that TARDIS of his. But the Doctor said this would be best for him to do today…” She battered you with information and words.

You’d discuss this all with him further in private. Right now, you had to play a role.

“Yeah, I could go for…a Cortado.” You choked out. Coffee would help this all be absorbed a lot quicker.

She began fiddling with the vehicle’s GPS.

They all began talking about whatever techno-babble and such. It was over your head. You felt yourself getting heart burn and a migraine.

Petronella asked you something. And like a baby with dribble on it’s shirt, you said sluggishly: “What?”

“Do you think that we should do a frontal advance?”

“Maybe not?” You just started making things up on the fly. Filling it in ad-lib style!

You wanted to kill yourself.

“I mean, if… you go… from the front…all in. They’ll be…able to see you?” You heaved. “If you go from the…sides…and like, guerilla style…whatever is happening will…be a surprise …you remember like, the Germans against Rome or Boudicca, also against Rome…yeah.” You ended. You deserved a little chewing on the inside of your cheek, as a treat.

Soon enough, you pulled up to a Costa, Petronella seemed very eager to order in-shop. And to drag you in.

You collected the soldier’s and Professor Smith (Oh! Yeah, they called him Doctor…you’d demand the truth later.) Orders.

You were so eager to leave the car for a breath of fresh air.

“Hey, mind if I smoke real quick?” You had quit, but there was a lose one in the purses pocket, and the situation called for one. If ever there was a time to start smoking, it’d be now.

“I have asthma! But sure! I can wait.” She went into the weird little room that’s neither inside nor outside that commercial spaces tend to have. She got a phone call.

You could use this as an opportunity to get information about the man who you had been fucking. She’d be more helpful here. She clearly knew him better. Sure you had seen him naked. But she knew him on a more intimate level it seemed.

You finished up your cigarette and crushed it under the heel of your shoe. You got a bottle of perfume out and began dusting it on a heavy layer. You took one big inhale and rolled your neck around. It cracked and you relaxed a bit.

Entering the Costa, she hung up her phone and smiled.

You both ordered. You got yourself one of their fruit biscuits and went to get out your cash.

“Oh no! I got it! All of it.” She whipped out a black card and tapped it to the reader. “Perks of the job.”

You nodded your head. You had heard of UNIT, but couldn’t be arsed to care.

“So, the Doctor.” The name sounded foreign coming out of your mouth. “How long have you worked with him?”

“Oh! Five years now!”

You placed a hand on your throat and rested your jaw on it.

“What’s his deal?”

“Wish I knew, but we should all be glad he exists, he’s the best we got.”

Oh!

You let out a little “mmhmm.”

Before you could get your next question, the drinks and your snack came.

She grabbed her milk babyccino and handed you your Cortado as you left the Costa. You didn’t want to get back in the Range Rover. This all seemed like a very bad idea. You should have never agreed to this.

But here you were, so you had to deal with it.

You got back in the back, the solider driving said they’d have to speed along, no stops.

You shrunk in the seat. You felt his one hand stroke your upper arm. He was trying to comfort you. You wish you could recoil, but you had grown too addicted to his touch. Against all instinct, you leaned into him and sipped your coffee. Just sat an observed, chiming in when people would outright ask you for your input. More sipping your coffee and staring glumly out the front windshield. You felt like a caged beast.

Soon enough you were in London and you could get out of the car. Sadly, it pulled into an underground military-style bunker.

You were very proud of yourself for keeping your cool and now having a major breakdown in there.

You entered a lift, still carrying your suitcase.

It went all the way to the top.

Some woman in a very impressive suit and a silk scarf met you all there.

More introductions.

The Doctor – Professor Smith- whatever his real title or honorific was, took your suitcase and told someone to take it to a place. You didn’t retain or hear. You were positively swimming. You hated how good this artificial, florescent lighting made the hollows of his face looked. He was a bit more formal in his dress than he ever was at the university. In this moment you hated how you were reacting to him. Obviously he had to confess things to you.

Obviously, there was a bit of a double standard, but this outweighed your little evasions and white lies.

There was a meeting and grand plans were drawn. Choices were made.

And you had to make choices for yourself.

It was close to midnight when you finally got out of the meeting. Tomorrow apparently they’d denote a device, after it was programmed and set up during the night. Apparently that’d save the Earth.

He was swanning along like he owned the place. Everyone was reverent. His word was law and his advice was the loudest.

Maybe you shouldn’t have smoked that cigarette beforehand. Maybe you needed several shots of vodka. Maybe you just were way out of your depth.

Soon enough you had an escort of two soldiers for him and you to a suite with the bare essentials of comfort. Your stupid suitcase was there. Like a fancy barracks.

The door locked and you were alone with him.

“It’s time I tell you some truths.” He said, sitting in a chair at the desk.

You threw your hands up, “You fucking think so?” It came out as a screech. You clapped your hand to your mouth.

“What the fuck?” You clapped your hands together as you leaned over and down to face him. “What the fuck was all that?” You crouched into a squat.

“Let me tell you.” His tone was silencing. Like you were in the wrong for this reaction.

“Fine!”

“Firstly, this changes nothing about the past months. But I am an alien from a planet far away and long since gone. I am over two-thousand years old. My name, my title, is the Doctor. Well the closest translation to any Earthling's language.”

You leaned back, gesturing with your hands in the “okay” position.

“I may be a little fucking slow, I may have a few learning disabilities, but I’m not fucking stupid. Are you…aware…of how incredibly far-fetched that sounds?” Your body swaying with the position of your hands. The hands quickly moved to press into the center of your forehead.

He undid a few buttons on his shirt.

You groaned.

He grabbed at your hands and you tried to escape. He flattened the palm of one and pressed it against his chest. You felt two hearts pumping. Your little observation after the first time you hooked up on how it seemed like he had two pulses wasn’t so stupid suddenly...

“Two hearts, fawn.” He said, using his pet name for you. “I’m alien.”

Your lower lip quivered.

No wonder he felt different than any other man you’d fucked previously. His body was different. He was.

Hot tears burned at the corners of your eyes, starting to splash out. You pulled yourself free and slunk onto the closest wall.

Figures that your first big infatuation that actually seemed to value your life was a fucking ancient alien. You felt like a total freak, were you really that screwed up that the only way you’d get anything resembling a healthy relationship was with an alien!

Your head found its way between your thighs.

“Nothing changes.” He repeated.

“How many others have you done this to?” You spat out. Pure venom.

“Rarely like you.”

“Oh, so I’m just the latest and greatest girl you’ve lured into submission! How kind! I was chosen! I feel special!” You raged out. Giving a little sarcastic bow from your sat position.

He joined you against the wall. You skittered yourself away from him.

“You’re special. Trust me. I had stopped. You met me in a different way. No danger, no trauma-bonding. No Nothing. If not for duties I neglected here for too long, I would have keep you safe. Continued to be your Professor John Smith. Existed…but I couldn’t bear not seeing you for as long as this will take here. Separate. Not my traveling assistant, not anything. Just my little fawn and our perfect microcosm of the universe.” He slid forward and looked you dead in the eye.

He cocked his head, “Remember when I was talking about what the universe owed us? I figured this was my long-awaited, pleaded for reward. To have you, for as long as this little life of yours could allow this fling to last.”

He was very good with words and you could feel them echoing pure and true in your head. Something made you relax and let your guard down.

You hoped it wasn’t some alien superpower he had.

You began openly weeping. Loud, a total cacophony. You started choking on your tears and having a hard time breathing.

He wiped the tears.

You let our a hiccup. He started rubbing small circles on the middle of your back.

“I planned on seeing a West End play with you, a proper date, like a human man would take a human woman to. If you don’t want to, I can order a car and you can go back to Bristol.” He offered.

You started crying even harder.

“Can I shower first? Before I can make a choice. On anything. Even you...” You admitted, needing to revise on your end if you even wanted to be with him in any capacity anymore.

“Understandable, (y/n).” The Doctor helped you up, and gave you your suitcase. You found your toiletries bag and shuffled in. You swore you heard him mutter, “Well, don’t overthink.” But you left that be. You had enough to think about, just add that to the list.

After getting undressed, you turned the water on the hottest it could go.

You began to wash away the day…

So much to think about…so little time to do so.

[fandomtrashbag]

I am aware this isn't a Destiel meme but the shitty memes grab enough attention and that's all I need. It's been a long day.

Hi! It's trashbag again. I've got a migraine but I'll power through with a more detailed summary about the Job Quota Protests in Bangladesh.

Currently Bangladesh has 56% quota allocated for govt jobs. 30% of this is for the descendants (children/grandchildren) of freedom fighters. In comparison, ethnic minorities have 5% and the disabled have 1%. It's nearly impossible to get into the govt jobs without inside connections due to rampant corruption and nepotism.

Students have protested for this before, back in 2018. It was bad, university students got tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets.

July 1st the public universities began the protests for the job quota reform again. Coincidentally this also coincided with public university faculty going on strike because of the Prottoy Pension Scheme, which does not provide enough of a financial safety net and also takes a significant chunk out of the faculties' income. So, students did not have any classes to worry about when they went to the streets.

July 14, PM of the country let us just call her Granny because I don't want to raise red flags on my blog. Granny came back from a visit to China, and of all the statements she gave, one said "if there is no quota for the freedom fighters, who will there be quota for? The Rajakars?"

For context, Rajakars were the paramilitary force that were against the independence of Bangladesh. They did their best to thwart liberation. They're national traitors. They've done concentration camps, genocide, murder of intellectuals, rape, torture.

So, the leader of the nation just called us the local equivalent of a Nazi for demanding to lower the freedom fighter quota. She did not want more merit based people working in the government, which as a leader of a nation is absolutely wild to me.

There was a considerable amount of outrage. Students of Dhaka University (DU) who have been protesting since July 1, took the streets at midnight to chant slogans. The chants lose a lot of weight in translation, but they're essentially calling themselves Rajakars (ironically) for wanting equality.

July 15. We've had student protests erupt around the country. The ruling party sent their student wing, BCL, to suppress. Students occupied the dormitory halls and barricaded. People were beaten and attacked in broad daylight. Rajshahi University (RU) had a raid attempt by BCL at 11PM. Jahangirnagar University (JU) had an attack at 3AM.

July 16. Nationwide protests surge. Private Universities - BRAC, NSU, AIUB, IUB, UIU and so on took to the streets and occupied the roads. There's been blockades. The police got involved today, there was an attack on Primeasia University. The first martyr for the movement, Abu Sayed, 25, died by police gunfire. The video of his murder has been all over Facebook. BCL brought in reinforcements. RU had arson. There was open gunfire in DU.

Come evening, there's been a massive misinformation campaign ongoing. There is fear being incited wherever you look. The latest was 27 rapes at Dhaka University, proven false. The main source of communication is Facebook, and they've slowed that right down. There's now confusion on if there will be protests tomorrow. False information that tomorrow's protests were cancelled on the occasion of Ashura spread too far.

Local media isn't reporting shit. Al Jazeera, AP, Reuters, the diplomat have but there needs to be more.

6 officially dead. One is a highschooler.

At least 200 injured. Real numbers are close to 400.

All hope is not lost - 5 DU halls have pledged to ban student politics. But there is a lot left to be done. Please boost this before we spiral into a much worse situation.

[sabrsiren]

IMPORTANT ARTICLE (link)

“Israelis” and current/former IOF are writing America’s news and approving stories for air — if you get your news foremost from sources like CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, AP, Axios and others… they commit heinous journalistic malpractice in falsifying information and orientalist, imperialist speculation.

From the article:

“Unit 8200 is Israel’s largest and perhaps most controversial spying organization. It has been responsible for many high-profile espionage and terror operations, including the recent pager attack that injured thousands of Lebanese civilians. As this investigation will reveal, Ravid is far from the only Israeli ex-spy working at top U.S. media outlets, working hard to manufacture Western support for his country’s actions.

[…]

Most of these stories consisted of simply printing anonymous White House or Israeli government sources, making them look good, and distancing President Biden from the horrors of the Israeli attack on Palestine. As such, there was functionally no difference between these and White House press releases. For example, one story the judges picked out was titled “Scoop: Biden tells Bibi 3-day fighting pause could help secure release of some hostages,” and presented the 46th President of the United States as a dedicated humanitarian hellbent on reducing suffering. Another described how “frustrated” Biden was becoming with Netanyahu and the Israeli government.

Protestors had called on reporters to snub the event in solidarity with their fallen counterparts in Gaza (which, at the time of writing, comes to at least 128 journalists). Not only was there no boycott of the event, but organizers gave their highest award to an Israeli intelligence official-turned-reporter who has earned a reputation as perhaps the most dutiful stenographer of power in Washington.

Ravid was personally presented with the award by President Biden, who embraced him like a brother. That a known (former) Israeli spy could hug Biden in such a manner speaks volumes about not only the intimate relationship between the United States and Israel but about the extent to which establishment media holds power to account.

This relentless whitewashing of the Biden administration has drawn widespread mockery online.

“AXIOS EXCLUSIVE: After selling Netanyahu millions of dollars worth of weapons, Biden played —loudly — Taylor Swift’s ‘Bad Blood.’ ‘Everyone could hear it,’ a source close to Biden says,” tweeted X user David Grossman. “Continuing to hand over big piles of cash and weapons, but shaking my head so everyone knows i sort of disagree with it,” quipped comedian Hussein Kesvani, in response to Ravid’s latest article suggesting that Biden has become “increasingly distrustful” of the Israeli government.

Throughout this supposed split between the U.S. and Israel, the Biden administration has continued to voice enthusiastic support for Israeli offensives, block ceasefire resolutions and Palestinian statehood at the U.N., and has sent $18 billion worth of weapons to Israel in the past 12 months. Thus, no matter how questionable these Axios reports are, they serve a vital role for Washington, allowing the Biden administration to distance itself from what international bodies have labeled a genocide. Ravid’s function has been to manufacture consent for the government among elite liberal audiences who read Axios, allowing them to continue to believe that the U.S. is an honest broker for peace in West Asia rather than a key enabler of Israel.

Ravid does not hide his open disdain for Palestinians. In September, he retweeted a post that stated:

“That’s the PaliNazi way…they pocket concessions without giving anything in return and then use those concessions as the baseline for the next round of negotiations. PaliNazis don’t know how to tell the truth.”

Less than one week later, he promoted Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s highly dubious claim that Israeli Defense Forces had found a picture of the children al-Qassam Brigades leader Mohammed Sinwar celebrating in front of a huge picture of planes hitting the World Trade Center. Gallant stated that they had found this picture – clearly trying to falsely associate Palestinians with 9/11 – in a tunnel “where the Sinwar brothers were hiding like rats.”

AN INFAMOUS SPY AGENCY

Founded in 1952, Unit 8200 is the Israeli military’s largest and most controversial division.

Responsible for covert operations, spying, surveillance and cyberwarfare, since October 7, 2023, the group has been at the forefront of the world’s attention. It is widely identified as the organization behind the infamous pager attack on Lebanon, which left at least nine dead and around 3,000 people injured. While many in Israel (and Ravid himself) hailed the operation as a success, it was condemned worldwide as an egregious act of terrorism, including by ex-CIA director Leon Panetta.

Unit 8200 has also constructed an artificial intelligence-powered kill list for Gaza, suggesting tens of thousands of individuals (including women and children) for assassination. This software was the primary targeting mechanism the IDF used in the early months of its attack on the densely populated strip.

Described as Israel’s Harvard, Unit 8200 is one of the most prestigious institutions in the country. The selection process is highly competitive; parents spend fortunes on science and math classes for their children, hoping they will be picked for service there, unlocking a lucrative career in Israel’s burgeoning hi-tech sector.

It also serves as the centerpiece of Israel’s futuristic repressive state apparatus. Using gigantic amounts of data compiled on Palestinians by tracking their every move through face recognition cameras monitoring their calls, messages, emails and personal data, Unit 8200 has created a dystopian dragnet that it uses to surveil, harass and suppress Palestinians.

Unit 8200 compiles dossiers on every Palestinian, including their medical history, sex lives and search histories, so that this information can be used for extortion or blackmail later. If, for example, an individual is cheating on their spouse, desperately needs a medical operation, or is secretly homosexual, this can be used as leverage to turn civilians into informants and spies for Israel. One former Unit 8200 operative said that as part of his training, he was assigned to memorize different Arabic words for “gay” so that he could listen out for them in conversations.

Unit 8200 operatives have gone on to create some of the world’s most downloaded apps and many of the most infamous spying programs, including Pegasus. Pegasus was used to surveil dozens of political leaders around the world, including France’s Emmanuel Macron, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, and Pakistan’s Imran Khan.

The Israeli government authorized the sale of Pegasus to the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as some of the most authoritarian governments on the planet. This included Saudi Arabia, who used the software to surveil Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi before he was assassinated by Saudi agents in Türkiye.

A recent MintPress News investigation found that a large proportion of the worldwide VPN market is owned and operated by an Israeli company headed and co-founded by a Unit 8200 alumnus.

Leaving aside Ravid’s comments, the question arises: is it really acceptable that members from a group designed to infiltrate, surveil and target foreign populations, that has produced many of the planet’s most dangerous and invasive spying technology, and is widely to be behind sophisticated international terror attacks, are writing Americans’ news about Israel and Palestine? What would the reaction be if senior figures in U.S. media were outed as intelligence officers for Hezbollah, Hamas, or Russia’s F.S.B.?

NEWS ABOUT ISRAEL, BROUGHT TO YOU BY ISRAEL

Ravid is far from the only influential journalist in America with deep ties to the Israeli state, however. Shachar Peled spent three years as an officer in Unit 8200, leading a team of analysts in surveillance, intelligence and cyberwarfare. She also served as a technology analyst for the Israeli intelligence service, Shin Bet. In 2017, she was hired as a producer and writer by CNN and spent three years putting together segments for Fareed Zakaria and Christiane Amanpour’s shows. Google later hired her to become their Senior Media Specialist.

Another Unit 8200 agent who went on to work for CNN is Tal Heinrich. Heinrich spent three years as a Unit 8200 agent. Between 2014 and 2017, she was the field and news desk producer for CNN’s notoriously pro-Israel Jerusalem Bureau, where she was one of the principal journalists shaping America’s understanding of Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza that killed more than 2,000 people and left hundreds of thousands displaced. Heinrich later left CNN and is now the official spokesperson of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

CNN’s penchant for hiring Israeli state figures continues to this day. Tamar Michaelis, for example, currently works for the network, producing much of its Israel/Palestine content. This is despite having previously served as an official IDF spokesperson in the Israeli Defense Forces.

The New York Times, meanwhile, hired Anat Schwartz, an ex-Israeli Air Force Intelligence officer with zero journalistic experience. Schwartz co-wrote the infamous and now discredited “Screams Without Words” expose, which claimed that Hamas fighters systematically sexually violated Israelis on October 7. Times staff themselves revolted over the lack of evidence and fact-checking in the piece.

Multiple New York Times employees, including star columnist David Brooks, have had children serving in the IDF; even as they report or offer opinions on the region, the Times never disclosed these glaring conflicts of interest to its readers. Nor has it disclosed that it purchased a Jerusalem house for its bureau chief that was stolen from the family of Palestinian intellectual Ghada Karmi in 1948.

Social media companies, too, are filled with former Unit 8200 agents. A 2022 MintPress study found no fewer than 99 former Unit 8200 operatives working for Google.

Facebook also employs dozens of ex-spies from the controversial unit. This includes Emi Palmor, who sits on Meta’s oversight board. This 21-person panel ultimately decides the direction of Facebook, Instagram and Meta’s other offerings, adjudicating on what content to allow, promote, and what to suppress. Meta has been formally condemned for its systematic suppression of Palestinian voices across its platforms by Human Rights Watch, which documented over 1,000 instances of overt anti-Palestinian censorship in October and November 2023 alone. A measure of this bias is highlighted by the fact that, at one point, Instagram automatically inserted the word “terrorist” into the profiles of users who called themselves Palestinian.

Despite the widespread claims by U.S. politicians that it is a hotbed of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic racism, TikTok also employs many former Unit 8200 agents in key positions in its organization. For example, in 2021, it hired Asaf Hochman as its global head of product strategy and operations. Before joining TikTok, Hochman spent over five years as an Israeli spy. He now works for Meta.

CNN staff are under similar pressure. Last October, new C.E.O. Mark Thompson sent out a memo to all staff instructing them to make sure that Hamas (and not Israel) is presented as responsible for the violence, that they must always use the moniker “Hamas-controlled” when discussing the Gaza Health Ministry and their civilian death figures, and barring them from any reporting of Hamas’ viewpoint, which its senior director of news standards and practices told staff was “not newsworthy” and amounted to “inflammatory rhetoric and propaganda.”

Both the Times and CNN have fired multiple journalists over their opposition to Israeli actions or support for Palestinian liberation. In November, the Times’ Jazmine Hughes was forced out after she signed an open letter opposing genocide in Palestine. The newspaper terminated Hosam Salem’s contract the previous year after a pressure campaign from pro-Israel group Honest Reporting. And CNN anchor Marc Lamont Hill was abruptly fired in 2018 for calling for Palestinian liberation in a speech at the United Nations.

Large organizations like Axios, CNN and the New York Times obviously know who they are hiring. These are some of the most sought-after jobs in journalism, and hundreds of applicants are likely applying for each position. The fact that these organizations choose to select Israeli spies above everybody else raises serious questions about their journalistic credibility and their purpose.

Hiring agents from Unit 8200 to produce American news should be as unthinkable as employing Hamas or Hezbollah fighters as reporters. Yet former Israeli spies are entrusted with informing the American public about their country’s ongoing offensives against Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and Syria. What does this say about the credibility and biases of our media?

Since Israel could not continue to prosecute this war without American aid, the battle for the American mind is as important as actions on the ground.

And as the propaganda war wages, the lines between journalist and fighter blur. The fact that many of the top journalists supplying us with news about Israel/Palestine are literally former Israeli intelligence agents only underlines this.”

[emphasis my own]

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ellen Ioanes at Vox:

Come Tuesday night, millions of Americans will be glued to their TV screens or refreshing their browser windows to see the latest election returns, all in anticipation of a final race call. (Though we might not know the next president until days later.)

Counting ballots can take a while, but news organizations don’t necessarily need to wait for every cast ballot to be counted before announcing a winner. They’re often able to declare who won without the full returns, thanks to the work of teams colloquially known as “decision desks” — groups of political scientists, statisticians, pollsters, and reporters who use mountains of data, statistical models, and on-the-ground reporting to understand which candidate is up where, and how likely a candidate is to win a given precinct, county, or state. Given the doubt that former President Donald Trump has sown over the past eight years, both about the election process and the media, it’s worth understanding in detail how the processes of projecting and calling election results work, and why consumers of news should trust those results. “Remember that we don’t elect anybody,” Anthony Salvanto, who as CBS News’s executive director of elections and surveys, oversees the network’s decision desk, told Vox. “The voters do that. Elections officials are reporting the vote, and what you’re getting from us and the networks is our analysis of what they’ve reported, as well as our first-hand reports from talking to voters.”

How exactly do news organizations figure out who’s winning?

To figure out who won an election, news organizations like Fox News, CNN, the Associated Press (AP), and others use a combination of data from election officials, statistical modeling, and polling and surveys of voters. Raw vote counts come in at the precinct, county, and state levels, and these help decision desks both ensure voting is in line with their expectations and to make decisions on tight contests. Those expectations are shaped by statistical models based on history and other voter information, like geographical location, gender, age, and more.

This year, there are two main systems that news media will rely on for their projections. The AP and Fox News use a system called AP VoteCast, which debuted in 2018 and has been used in every national election since. In a shift from past practice, VoteCast doesn’t rely on exit polling, and instead uses large-scale online surveys of registered voters who are chosen randomly from a probability-based sample, in an attempt to get the most accurate information from the most representative sample.

A different method is used by the National Election Pool (NEP), which provides data to ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and NBC News. The NEP relies on Edison Research to conduct three types of surveys: Election Day exit polls, in-person early voting exit polls, and polls of likely voters to capture data from those likely to vote by mail, Rob Farbman, executive vice president at Edison Research, told Vox. (AP and Fox News used to be part of this group, but left after the 2016 election.) (Decision Desk HQ, a private company that contracts with news organizations including the Economist and The Hill — and Vox.com in 2020 — doesn’t use voter surveys, and instead it relies on a proprietary statistical methodology to project winners.) Each outlet and agency creates their own criteria for interpreting these results.

News organizations have their own decision desk teams that determine when a state or a district can be called to determine that the leading candidate is 100% assured of winning.

In 2020, the Presidential election winner was called on Saturday after the election at just before 10:30AM CST.

How long do we have to wait for a winner to be officially declared this time? Who knows, but hopefully within a couple of days.

[foreverlogical]

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Rifle Association and its former longtime leader were found liable Friday in a lawsuit centered on the organization’s lavish spending.

The New York jury found that Wayne LaPierre, who was the NRA’s CEO for three decades, misspent millions of dollars of the group’s money on pricey perks, and it ordered him to repay the group $4,351,231. Jurors also found that the NRA omitted or misrepresented information in its tax filings and violated New York law by failing to adopt a whistleblower policy.

LaPierre, 74, sat stone-faced in the front row of the courtroom as the verdict was read aloud. The jury actually found him liable for $5.4 million, but it determined he’d already paid back a little over a million.

The verdict is a win for New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who campaigned on investigating the NRA’s not-for-profit status. It is the latest blow to the powerful group, which in recent years has been beset by financial troubles and dwindling membership. LaPierre, its longtime face, announced his resignation on the eve of the trial.

NRA general counsel John Frazer and retired finance chief Wilson Phillips were also defendants in the case. Phillips was ordered to pay $2 million in damages to the NRA. Frazer, meanwhile, was found to have violated his duties, but was not ordered to pay any money.

The penalties paid by LaPierre and Phillips will go back to the NRA, which was portrayed in the case both as a defendant that lacked internal controls to prevent misspending and as a victim of that same misconduct.

James also wants the three men to be banned from serving in leadership positions at any charitable organizations that conduct business in New York. A judge will decide that question during the next phase of the state Supreme Court trial.

Another former NRA executive turned whistleblower, Joshua Powell, settled with the state last month, agreeing to testify at the trial, pay the NRA $100,000 and forgo further involvement with nonprofits.

James sued the NRA and its executives in 2020 under her authority to investigate not-for-profits registered in the state.

She originally sought to have the entire organization dissolved, but Manhattan Judge Joel M. Cohen ruled in 2022 that the allegations did not warrant a “corporate death penalty.”

The trial, which began last month, cast a spotlight on the leadership, organizational culture and finances of the powerful lobbying group, which was founded more than 150 years ago in New York City to promote rifle skills and grew into a political juggernaut that influenced federal law and presidential elections.

Before he stepped down, LaPierre, had led the NRA’s day-to-day operations since 1991, acting as its face and becoming one of the country’s most influential figures in shaping gun policy.

During the trial, state lawyers argued that he dodged financial disclosure requirements while treating the NRA as his personal piggy bank, liberally dipping into its coffers for African safaris and other questionable expenditures.

His lawyer cast the trial as a political witch hunt by James.

LaPierre billed the NRA more than $11 million for private jet flights and spent more than $500,000 on eight trips to the Bahamas over a three-year span, state lawyers said.

He also authorized $135 million in NRA contracts for a vendor whose owners showered him with free trips to the Bahamas, Greece, Dubai and India, as well as access to a 108-foot (33-meter) yacht.

LaPierre claimed he hadn’t realized the travel tickets, hotel stays, meals, yacht access and other luxury perks counted as gifts, and that the private jet flights were necessary for his safety.

But he conceded that he had wrongly expensed private flights for his family and accepted vacations from vendors doing business with the NRA without disclosing them.

Among those who testified at the trial was Oliver North, a one-time NRA president and former National Security Council military aide best known for his central role in the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s. North, who resigned from the NRA in 2019, said he was pushed out after raising allegations of financial irregularities.

After reporting a $36 million deficit in 2018 fueled largely by misspending, the NRA cut back on longstanding programs that had been core to its mission, including training and education, recreational shooting and law enforcement initiatives. In 2021, it filed for bankruptcy and sought to incorporate in Texas instead of New York, but a judge rejected the move, saying it was an attempt to duck James’ lawsuit.

Despite its recent woes, the NRA remains a political force. Republican presidential hopefuls flocked to its annual convention last year and former President Donald Trump spoke at an NRA event earlier this month — his eighth speech to the association, it said.

[beardedmrbean]

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Special prosecutors are seeking to recharge actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie in 2021, describing Tuesday their preparations to present new information to a grand jury.

New Mexico-based prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis said they’ll present their case to the grand jury within the next two months, noting “additional facts” have come to light in the shooting on the set of the film “Rust” that killed Halyna Hutchins.

Baldwin, a coproducer of the film, was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal inside a rustic chapel on a movie-set ranch near Santa Fe when the gun went off on Oct. 21, 2021, killing the cinematographer and wounding director Joel Souza.

“After extensive investigation over the past several months, additional facts have come to light that we believe show Mr. Baldwin has criminal culpability in the death of Halyna Hutchins and the shooting of Joel Souza,” Morrissey and Lewis said in an email. “We believe the appropriate course of action is to permit a panel of New Mexico citizens to determine from here whether Mr. Baldwin should be held over for criminal trial.”

They declined to elaborate on the additional information they may present to the grand jury.

Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired.

Attorneys for Baldwin said the latest move by prosecutors is misguided.

“It is unfortunate that a terrible tragedy has been turned into this misguided prosecution. We will answer any charges in court,” Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in an email.

Special prosecutors initially dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in April, saying they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned. They later pivoted and began weighing whether to refile a charge against Baldwin after receiving a new analysis of the gun.

The recent gun analysis from experts in ballistics and forensic testing based in Arizona and New Mexico relied on replacement parts to reassemble the gun fired by Baldwin — after parts of the pistol were broken during earlier testing by the FBI. The report examined the gun and markings it left on a spent cartridge to conclude that the trigger had to have been pulled or depressed.

The analysis led by Lucien Haag of Forensic Science Services in Arizona stated that although Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, “given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”

An earlier FBI report on the agency’s analysis of the gun found that, as is common with firearms of that design, it could go off without pulling the trigger if force was applied to an uncocked hammer — such as by dropping the weapon.

The only way the testers could get it to fire was by striking the gun with a mallet while the hammer was down and resting on the cartridge, or by pulling the trigger while it was fully cocked. The gun eventually broke during testing.

Authorities have not specified exactly how live ammunition found its way on set and into the .45-caliber revolver made by an Italian company that specializes in 19th century reproductions.

The weapons supervisor on the movie set, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the case. Her trial is scheduled to begin in February.

In March, “Rust” assistant director and safety coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to unsafe handling of a firearm and received a suspended sentence of six months of probation. He agreed to cooperate in the investigation of the shooting.

In the revived case against Baldwin, first reported by NBC News, a grand jury would “determine whether probable cause exists to bind Baldwin over on criminal charges,” special prosecutors said.

Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who provides legal commentary as head of West Coast Trial Lawyers in Los Angeles, said prosecutors reserved the right to reopen the case by dismissing charges “without prejudice,” and that he’d be surprised if a grand jury didn’t return an indictment.

Unlike a jury trial in which guilt must be proved “beyond a reasonable doubt,” the standard on possible charges before a grand jury is a lower “probable cause” finding, Rahmani said.

“It’s just a one-sided presentation by prosecutors,” he said.

The 2021 shooting resulted in a series of civil lawsuits centered on accusations that the defendants were lax with safety standards. The cases have included wrongful death claims filed by members of Hutchins’ family. Baldwin and other defendants have disputed the accusations that they were lax with safety standards.

The company Rust Movie Productions has paid a $100,000 fine to state workplace safety regulators following a scathing narrative of safety failures in violation of standard industry protocols, including testimony that production managers took limited or no action to address two misfires on set before the fatal shooting.

The filming of “Rust” resumed this year in Montana, under an agreement with the cinematographer’s widower, Matthew Hutchins, that made him an executive producer.

[wolven91]

Slugs & Apes - Chapter 1

"Have you heard? We're getting a Human representative!" Called a familiar voice behind Blarah.

Blarah retracted her eye stalks all the way back into herself in a slower-than-normal moistening as she sighed deeply. A fresh headache had just blossomed in the centre of her ‘head’. 

"No, we aren't." Blarah responded offhandedly to Pleppany. Turning to face her long standing friend who, whilst Pleppany was undeniably annoying at the best of times, she still meant the world to the young sluggat.

"This is a backwater, tail end of nowhere dust bowl. Why, in the deepest salt-mines, would a human come here?" She demanded. “They can live in the lap of luxury wherever they go.”

Whilst she doubted Pleppany, Blarah would have loved to see one of the new species that had recently joined The Galactic Community, but being realistic, there were far nicer places to go than the edge of space on a station that orbited an awful double star system. The Edge wasn’t liked by non-molluscs.

She sighed, her sides bubbling. She moistened her eye stalks again and looked at Pleppany, who, now she was paying attention, was visibly undulating. She wasn’t joking; Pleppany believed what she was saying.

"... you're not kidding are you? You know something!" Blarah realised, eyes ‘ploping’ as Blarah blinked. Pleppany was practically bouncing on the spot at this point as she began her long, winding way to the point, as usual.

"You know how I've been hanging out with one of the Captain's secretaries? The tall one with the green tinge? Well he let slip that his girlfriend had said, you know his girlfriend, the one that made a fool of herself at the party last year, yeah her. Well she said that her dad had said that he had to put in a ton of human acquisition requests to ready a diplomatic suite for one on the second floor north section and… that it had to be done by today at the very latest!"

Blarah stared at her friend for a moment as her mind quickly worked its way through her tale before latching onto the meat of the story, realisation washing over her.

"There's a big freighter due to dock later today..." Blarah mumbled aloud as the implications made themselves clear "But it'll be a diplomat, not goods, won't it?"

"That's the best bit, I heard that humans have been sliding over each other to get off Dirt! They chose to come here. They want to see every part of the Community, even this dump!"

A human, willingly choosing to come here and maybe even one that wasn't some dusty old political type? Blarah would believe it when she saw it. But… there was a moistening of hope.

Pleppany gave a smile and a seductive undulation, exaggerating her already undeniably attractive self, cocking an arm against her hip, just above where her body lay against the ground. 

"I intend to get an interview with him. The station's news centre has to keep on top of these new developments after all..." Pleppany said with a hungry tone.

Any Sluggat with working eye stalks couldn't deny Pleppany had every desirable trait going for her. If she intended to use her 'strengths' to get to the alien, she would likely succeed.

As for Blarah, she just might see him from the spaceport’s admin offices, but otherwise would have to settle for pictures and whatever information Pleppany put on the station's local network. Pleppany eventually slid away and out of sight, leaving Blarah alone.

Once Blarah was at her desk, she looked up everything she could on the Humans.

It began with the usual history lesson; The Galactic Community was a federation of the vast majority of the various species across the stars that had been found and contacted. Any smart mollusc understood the benefits of working together rather than going it alone so regardless of the various cultural differences amongst the gathered races, they ultimately all agreed to the same goal of cooperation and exploration to seek out new friends and allies.

The Galactic Community had countless sluggat races as part of their collection. Sluggats came in a vast variety of colours and construction, but were found exclusively around The Edge, the perimeter of the known galaxy. Sluggats did make their way inwards, but their home worlds were outward. 

It didn’t take much to decide to join The Galactic Community and for the most part sluggat kind was left to its own devices thanks to their choice of uncontested territory. The Community’s disapproval at their constantly warring ways was shown, but they never actually did anything to stop or prevent the various skirmishes. Nothing to adjust the status quo. 

Then these creatures appeared. Humans. Bipedal like most of The Galactic Community races, but smaller, closer to slaggat size, much to their joy. There had been some kind of issue during their rapid uplift. Sluggats being limited to The Edge only really learnt of the event after it had been and gone. Whatever happened, the humans rapidly spread out amongst the stars and were immediately a hit amongst all if not most of the sentient races for various reasons. 

On average, they stood as tall as the tallest sluggat, roughly the same in width, but instead of securely travelling across the ground with the use of mucus and their lower body, they perpetually fell forwards, catching themselves with two appendages of dense meat and bone like the other races.

Bipedal, warm blooded, even their blood was bright red when exposed to the air. Everything about them was strange and screamed "Alien" and they enraptured sluggats just as they had everyone else. The video Blarah was watching had a human male and female standing side by side as the information was given as a voice over. 

Their skin didn't move unless they chose to move themselves. She wondered how the hell they saw behind themselves without being able to extend their eye stalks, unless they were constantly retracted in? There was a class of Sluggat that did that, she was sure of it.

Blarah grasped the fast food drink cup in one hand and while slurping it loudly, trying to get the last of the delicious sugar water at the bottom, a deep voice washed over her, the deep vibrations rippling her flesh subtly.

"Excuse me, I'm a bit lost."

Blarah’s eyestalks snapped up from the video, getting locked onto the Human's in front of her. Her free hand slammed down on the keyboard in an attempt to shut the voice up. After an awkward few seconds and several brutish slaps the computer was silenced as it began an in depth explanation on the differences of their genders.

She moistened her eyes with a quiet 'plop' as she struggled to figure out what to say. He was huge, he was solid and he was leaning right over her desk and his eyes had entranced the poor unsuspecting Blarah completely and utterly.

[hashtagloveloses]

hey there klaudia. I have one of those questions that's sort of googleable but also sort of hard to google because really I just want someone's opinion, and as I did get your anti-doomscroller emails, and vaguely recall you did/do some sort of media or journalism thing, and I've been following you since idk the dawn of time or 2016, somewhere in there, so you're sort of someone I know, I thought I'd ask you. Anyway. I do not read the news. I need this to change. I know I should read (not watch, I simply cannot) the news regularly. Specifically for my life I need to know about international politics, wars and the threat thereof and such, but knowing about US domestic stuff is also good. And I need to not get my information from destiel screencaps/my mother worriedly explaining her Fox News misinformation to me. genuinely somehow I am an adult now and I don't know where to do this. I used to get the NYT daily email for a few years but idk I've heard so much against the NYT now I'm not sure I can go subscribe to them. is there any chance you've got a source to recommend? a newspaper or journal? I just get so hung up on where to get my information I can't even start. I know that in theory I would read critically and can compare whatever it is I do read regularly against other sources. But it's just hard to find a starting point so. anyway if you have one I'd appreciate it. If not no worries, as I said this should be googleable I'm just overwhelmed. you just seem like a good person to ask but for all I know I'm way off base there lol, sorry I've followed you a long time but I know like two facts about you, you're just a cool and consistent feature of my dash to me.

whew this is a complicated question but you're going in the right direction (not watching televised news and staying the FUCK away from the NYT are a good start). my best advice, is to get to know local papers/magazines near you. they may be owned by a larger corporate parent (hence the dwindling of alt weeklies and independent sources), but if you follow them on each of your preferred social media (or if they have a newsletter, or an RSS feed or apple news or something you can do that too), they should cover both aggregated world/national news and local news. also look at your local public radio station - public radio, like the entire nonprofit industrial complex, has its own issues as well, but it's another good place to start.

the other best place to start is the library. your library should have electronic resources (aka access to press reader apps and such) that allow you to look at the latest articles and magazine editions, etc for free. you can get a feel for what news sources you like and don't like that way. any library system usually has a large selection, both electronically, and in person (and a lot of them subscribe to the same apps).

the way to make this sustainable is that as you browse, if there are articles (or if its radio, reported stories) that you particularly enjoy, IE: they were rigorous and thorough, had credible sources, did good service journalism, etc, find that journalist/producer and follow their social media. most journalists, regrettably, are on twitter, some have 0 social media presence, and many have their own newsletters. since journalism is a sketchy industry rn, following the reporters and producers themselves is a good way to keep trusted professionals in your feeds rather than the news brands that exploit them.

another thing to keep in mind - make sure you aren't just consuming US news sources. yes, it is harder to know what is credible for cultures that are not your own, but US-based (and in general Western based) large news sources really do not cover international shit well unless there are reporters with very specific beats (and even then they may come with their own cultural issues). there are also a lot of major news sources that just aggregate from the newswires (the AP, Reuters, etc), and sometimes I don't love them either. be vigilant when looking for international news.

all this being said, don't stress yourself out over this. it took a career in journalism (that i'm now thankfully out of), too much time on twitter, a degree in political communication, and lots and LOTS of unlearning for me to find sources I trust and build feeds. but even now it can be hard. and no, this is not easily google-able on purpose, bc google is now just made of who has the most money to pay them for ads and an expert in SEO to get higher ranking.

my biggest advice is to build SKILLS for yourself. learn to recognize biases that major outlets might have (if a news source just wholesale quotes cops or "authorities" only, if they scaremonger about China, if they have an opinion section full of questionable takes for clicks). learn to spot clickbait and rage bait, question how data is presented, etc.

also while i do think supporting independent journalism is good, major outlets like the NYT or corporate owned shit do not need your help, despite all the pleas they put on their websites. get an adblocker (on desktop, ublock origin, on mobile iOS the free versions of Disconnect's apps are great - if a website on either isnt working properly just turn it off and refresh, then turn it back on), because the ads in news articles are ATROCIOUS. get a paywall bypass extension (i use Bypass Paywalls Clean which has versions for every browser, and on iOS i use this shortcut), because you should never have to even make a free account and give these fuckers your email either.

i hope this helps at all!!!!

[eliteprepsat]

Elite Open School Achieves Outstanding Niche.com Rankings and Earns A+ Overall Grade

Elite Open School (EOS), a pioneer in personalized education, is proud to announce its remarkable rankings and exceptional "A+" Overall Niche Grade in Niche.com's latest assessment of the Best Private K-12 and High Schools in America and California.

Elite Open School National Rankings:

#55 of 3,142 – Best Private K-12 Schools in America (Top 2%)

#116 of 4,990 – Best Private High Schools in America (Top 3%)

Elite Open School has also climbed the ranks significantly in the past year, securing the #8 spot in the list of the 214 Best Private K-12 Schools in California, up from #36 the previous year. This remarkable jump underscores EOS's ongoing commitment to improvement and innovation in the field of education.

Elite Open School California Rankings:

#8 of 214 – Best Private K-12 Schools in California (Top 4%)

#26 of 454 – Best Private High Schools in California (Top 6%)

In addition to being named one of the Best Private K-12 and High Schools in America and California, EOS has garnered outstanding individual Niche Grades across various categories:

Elite Open School Niche Grades:

Overall Niche Grade: A+

Academics: A+

Teachers: A+

Clubs and Activities: A+

Diversity: A

College Prep: A+

These exceptional grades reflect EOS's unwavering commitment to academic excellence, a dedicated faculty, and a comprehensive college preparatory program that equips students for success.

Elite Education Group Founder and CEO Jonghwan Patrick Park expressed pride in Elite Open School's accomplishments, stating, "Earning an 'A+' Overall Niche Grade and excelling in various categories is a testament to our dedication to providing a world-class educational experience. We are honored to have been ranked in the top 2% of Private K-12 Schools in America, and we remain committed to raising the bar for educational excellence."

Elite Open School continues to make waves in the education landscape by delivering personalized learning experiences that empower students to excel academically while pursuing their passions and interests outside the classroom.  With more than 95 Advanced Placement, Dual-Credit, and Honors courses in Computer Science & Technology, Esports, Business, Art and many more subject areas, EOS gives students the opportunity to take a range of fully accredited courses far beyond those offered at most high schools. Additionally, Elite Open School has been newly certified by the College Board to offer the AP Capstone Diploma™ program and AP with WE Service program.

For more information about Elite Open School and its innovative personalized learning programs, please visit eliteopenschool.org.

About Elite Open School:

Elite Open School (EOS) is an accredited private school specializing in blended learning for students in grades 5-12. EOS offers a certified American education with cutting-edge, adaptive curriculum, empowering students to excel academically while pursuing their passions and opportunities beyond the classroom. With a commitment to personalized learning, EOS offers full-time and part-time enrollment, providing a superior educational experience for families worldwide. Elite Open School's Learning Resource Centers include the 45 physical campuses of Elite Prep, where students are able to take advantage of not only the space and mentorship, but also Elite Prep's 35 years of experience in academic planning, college admissions counseling, and test preparation.

[mlmvoreconfessionals]

not sure if you're into it, but overwatch 2 is super fun and has some really hot guys, masked and not masked, so any vore prompts for any of them?

So O.verwatch is a lot like superhero stuff for me, where I have a general understanding of the characters and their relationships and they're understandable enough to write for but I'm not aaaactually keeping up with it. Like I don’t play the game at all or anything. But given that I've written tons of superhero stuff already, and I do like a lot of the O.verwatch characters, I'll give it a shot.

A belch passes through W.inston's lips like a roar, catching even the gorilla by surprise. He gives his chest a few thumps as it ends and clears his throat. "Ah, excuse me," he says to no one in particular. Well, he might have been speaking to the person shifting around in his guts, who was also the cause of that belch, but it would be hard to tell given how little attention he's actually giving to his meal. He wouldn't dare to tell anyone about this but the gorilla had made a...discovery as of late. One that involved using other people as a food source that provided energy unlike any normal food could. He's been doing tests with it, and so far, this is his fifth 'subject' in the past week. He knows he can't tell the others about it, not yet at least, but he has to fully understand this ability and its meaning. Another belch rumbles from him as his prey kicks harshly. It makes his stomach clench down with some wet groans and squelched. The ape slurps over his teeth and adjusts his glasses. "Excuse me," he says again, still to no one. He's barely bothered by his rambunctious meal as he writes down his findings on a sheet of paper. For now, he was just keeping track of basic metrics--information about his prey that could determine how they are as food, how they act during and after consumption, and how his body handles it. He needs enough data to begin actually compiling it all into something meaningful. His guts bubble and churn wetly, clenching again, and he can feel his meal breaking apart in his stomach. He gives it a few pats and writes down some more notes. Subject 11 struggled longer than rest, caused gassiness and mild indigestion. My body reacted with contractions in the stomach to process the subject at a faster rate. Try to replicate contractions for faster processing time? W.inston smiles as he underlines his latest idea. His guts are sitting in his lap now, bubbling and churning thickly. He gives it a testing rub as he feels how much softer its become now that his prey is quickly falling apart on him. Somewhere deep down, he felt a little bad, but he still loves humanity...he's just also found that they're rather delicious. He sets his work aside and rubs over his gut some more, feeling it processing all the slop inside. His next deep belch sends a skull flying from his jaws and bouncing off the floor. He'll have to put that one away with the next...then he can go secure Subject 12 for further testing. His stomach is starting to rumble for more.

Screams and hungry snarfing are the only sounds that come out of the bar for some time, only occasionally broken up by the sound of something crashing. After some time, it goes quiet for several seconds before a deep belch shakes the very foundation of the building. With a few heavy stomps, a massive gut slams the door open R.oadhog waddles his way out. His usually large stomach is even bigger than before, at least three times its normal size, with the only reason its not dragging on the ground being how massive the man himself is. He lazily licks his fingers, his tongue poking out from between the stitching of his mask as he enjoys the last bits of flavor the bar patrons had to offer. He'd been trying to lay low due to some...trouble he got into recently but he couldn't resist giving this bar a visit. Evidently, some drunkard there knew him a bit too well and was a bit too loud about it. R.oadhog didn't hesitate to pull the man in with his hook and scarf him down like the snack he was. Though that also meant eating the rest of the bar patrons and the bartender himself...again, not hesitation in that feat. R.oadhog gives his gut a few slow smacks, hitting it hard enough to make it shake back and forth with heavy sloshes. Bulges of the various men he ate stretch out his tank, only muted somewhat by how fat he is. The wastelander chuckles to himself as he pats his stomach again. Well, at least they'll get to figure out how he manages to stay so fat out here. And they're learning it the same way everyone else does, too. A man has to keep his secrets, after all. If every freak and weirdo knew the best way to eat well, he'd be fighting for food all over again. Another booming belch roars out of him as he waddles down the empty road, his stomach bouncing and sloshing with every mighty step he takes. He can barely make out anything his meals are saying. They're all talking over each other, not to mention how muffled they are by his thick fat and the sounds of his belly working hard on them. Ah well, it's not like they're saying anything of importance anyway. Food never really does. R.oadhog meanders along, not in any real rush to get anywhere. He's perfectly content as is, only moving on in case someone stops by the bar while he's trying to process his meal. By the time he does action run into someone or finds a place to rest, he doubts there'll be anything recognizable in his gut anyway. Maybe some muck sloshing around but nothing someone could point out as human. They'll just think he's a big, fat beast of a man like everyone else. Just a real pig. R.oadhog chuckles again and smacks his gut hard, letting out a belch that he's sure travels on for miles. He loves being a pig.

"Mmf...for your own sake, you should stop that" G.enji huffs out to his stomach. The cyborg is standing stock still, his feet firmly planted on the ground, with the exception being his stomach, which is hanging out before him and sloshing back and forth with his rather lively prey. He's practiced this many times before and has become rather skilled in housing men of various sizes and...ferocity without being thrown around by the weight. Even as his current meal thrashes as much as he can, G.enji hasn't moved an inch. He used to hate that he needed to eat like this--in order to keep his cybernetics working at full capacity, he has to eat live meals to provide enough energy to his body. But he's long since gotten used to it, especially when Z.enyatta helped him in finding ways to make the experience smoother and easier. Currently, the ninja has stashed himself away in a dark alley, far away from any prying eyes who might have seen him take his meal. He's never had an issue with catching men unseen--after all, those skills have always been part of his teachings. But now they've found themselves with a new use. And he has new skills as well. His prey is still thrashing around, yelling and cursing at him, but G.enji is silent as he concentrates. His stomach flexes once and it shrinks down, the man inside screaming for only a brief moment as his entire being is compacted down into a third the size, snaps and crunches and wet squelches replacing his voice. A meaty belch erupts from G.enji, his breath laced thickly with the taste of his prey now. G.enji didn't particularly like doing that to still living prey, but when they refuse to settle down, it's the best way to deal with them. At least it's quick...and feels good. Now his stomach is taut around the meat slurry inside of it, bubbling and groaning noisily as it begins the now easy process of pumping it all away. "Thank you for the meal," G.enji says to his silent stomach, bowing his head slightly. By the time anyone would come by to investigate the strange sound they head, the alleyway was empty, other than the strange lingering stench of meat.

[bokujou-monogatari]

do you mind explaining why you like island of happiness over sunshine islands and tree of tranq. over animal parade?

Disclaimer 1: this is not my full answer because I want to provide more than just my ramblings and have actual tangible evidence to my reasonings. Which, I do have, but my schedule has been very limited recently and I just haven't gotten around to digging things up.

Alright, it's about time I answered this, just because it's been sitting here in my inbox and I don't want to keep you waiting too long.

Disclaimer 2: I don't know what the hell happened in 2007 to 2010, but something tells me there was a Too Many Cooks situation in the dev/production line; may have been what contributed to the creative differences and why Wada was ushered to leave after the AQL Merger. But again, this is one thing I -don't- have the specific insight to.

Disclaimer 3: long post, I'm sorry 😭

Tree of Tranquility was created 2004 (preproduction) to 2005-2006 (production, commitment, release candidate) and released in 2007. The person spearheading direction was Yoshifumi Hashimoto, the acting director for many games after he was brought to the team when Victor merged with Marvelous in 2003. He was purely Marvelous staff at the time, and was not part of the initial team that came with Victor/Toy Box. He was given the role for Tree of Tranquility in order to innovate gameplay on the latest Nintendo system - the Nintendo Wii. He had support in the way of Yasuhiro Wada and Hikaru Nakano. To a degree, Nakano was more closely involved than Wada, who at the time, was more oversight than development.

Hashimoto wanted to use the success of A Wonderful Life to make a more intuitive, iterative title that followed similar successful principles while in a whole new setting. Thus, Tree of Tranquility did its best to be its own thing while still trying to be a knock on of the preceding console game.

In this article I translated years ago (which frankly needs an update, but the general information is There), Wada was interviewed for the release of Animal Parade; he stated that when he finally took a look at the final product, Tree of Tranquility did not capture the feeling of being a true successor to A Wonderful Life, and that he was largely unhappy with how things turned out. As such, he ordered the team to create a turnaround version of the title which stripped characters down to bare stereotypes, rewrote original relationships and changed them, and changed functionality of gameplay systems - all within a 9 month period from the release of Tree of Tranquility to Animal Parade.

As to why I like Tree of Tranquility so much:

I am just not a fan of the antiquated rural ideals and stereotypes Wada mixes very well in all of his games.

He added those into Animal Parade, and also just pretty much turned Tree of Tranquility into a depressing hot mess with plotholes.

I had already been so used to the (then) complexity of the character narrative in Tree of Tranquility that coming to Animal Parade felt like the characters had been body snatched. I have a whole dissertation on my blog about the character narrative of Maya, and I could write about every single character of the game and the ways they stand out in ToT compared to AP. Between the two, for what the story was supposed to be, it also felt less impactful when playing Animal Parade, than when you literally got told how much of a difference you were making throughout the story of Tree of Tranquility.

(Of course, this isn't to say Tree of Tranquility doesn't have its own problems, it does! But you can't escape narrative bias in any media - it takes critical analysis.)

I think Animal Parade holds its own as a game, and I can see why so many people enjoy it. However, narrative wise I will always choose Tree of Tranquility.

Island of Happiness is also the same in this regard. Hikaru Nakano was not satisfied and felt that the game could be iterated on further, and thus Sunshine Islands was created. For me, Island of Happiness felt more tight knit but also diverse- what with the single community island, branching heart events instead of linear ones, and overall feel. I just couldn't attach myself to Sunshine Islands despite the fact it was supposed to have "enhanced" the story presented in that generation.

Feel free to hit me up about this more, I love talking about this topic specifically :)

[jfk-blown-away-blog]

fully operational x japan Full Cassette Rip

police line do not cross

naveed

la tarea

homo sapiens

castro

for the last time

me, a raygun

tropic of cancer

moon chute

out

i am a taco

various figurines of greco-roman wrestlers

all we'll need

i hate goodbyes

fully operational x japan

charlie wilmoth: guitar, vocals, bass, viola, tamberine.

peter wilmoth: drums. maracas.

all songs by charlie except "all we'll need" and "for the last time" by charlie and peter. copyright 1996. recorded at home, march - august 1996

(Tape Also Including A Hand Written Letter) Dear Mr. Santo, Here is a tape we thought you might enjoy. We have worked pretty hard on it, and we're proud of it. People seem to think that #6, #8, #12, and #14 are the best. Anyway, I would probably call it a pop/indie/rock type thing (not indie-pop, and mostly not indie-rock). I know a review of this will be on the Demo Universe or in AP eventually, so I should probably make writing it easier for you by giving you some information. Here's the deal. We're two kids from West Virginia. I'm 16 and Peter's 11 (this is not a joke). In West Virginia all there really is to do is join the football team or play music, and we both picked music because we're too scared of getting the crap kicked out of us. Obviously, West Virginia is not the most progressive place music - wise - most kids have been too caught up in Bush's latest to notice us, so we were hoping that with positive reviews from influential people like you, we could get some attention, either at home or in Pittsburgh. Thanks, and please listen to the entire album before you review this - each song is reasonably different from all the others.

Sincerely, Charlie Wilmoth FULLY OPERATIONAL X JAPAN 4 Highland Park Wheeling, WV 26003 (304) 242 - 6325

[obeymemctrash]

AP farming for ObeyMe

All the info is for sure out there but I still want to make a guild myself. The Obey Me Wiki has all the information you'll ever need, and it's better than the Fandom wiki.

Using this guide you can potentially earn 498 AP per day, +400 AP from flash sales by spending Devil Points (DP)

Here are all the ways you can gain AP for free and for a discount.

AP regeneration

MAX AP is 100 and 120 for VIP and the regeneration rate is 1 AP every 5 minutes. Everyone can generate 288 AP per day, Even if you're a new player and your max AP is low. Just make sure you use your AP on tasks when it's full at the latest so it's always regenerating and you waste as little time as possible. If you want as much AP as possible and you're actively playing DO NOT HOARD AP. Trust, you earn more by regeneration than by trying to save it.

Fridge Missions

Twice a day at 12:00 - 14:00 and 18:00 - 20:00 Beelzebub raids the fridge and if you stop him you get 30 AP and 60 AP for VIP, for a total of 60 AP OR 120 AP respectively. You have the whole 2 hours to log in, complete the mission (which is just clicking "check" in the fridge missions tab on the left when you enter the to do app) and collect your free AP.

Missions

There are 3 missions in the to do app that give you 10 AP each that you can do everyday for an extra 30 AP a day. Meet with 3 surprise guests, send AP to friend(s) 3 times, and complete 3 orders in Akuber.

Friends

Everyday you may be able to receive a max of 50 AP from your friends. You gain 1 extra friend slot eveytime you level up so if you're new or just at a lower level the number of friends you have can be lower than 50. Just keep grinding I believe in you. Its better to have more active friends so that you get as much AP as possible everyday. You can add the people who ranked in the last pop quiz as they're likely very active players. Make sure you send AP to your friends as well.

You can also add me 2283481831 <3

Surprise Guests

When you Battle there's a chance to get a surprise guest and if you get perfect interactions with the boys there are 6 gifts you will receive. 2 of these gifts are 10 AP for a total of 20 AP from surprise guests. To find out what combinations will give you perfect interactions consult the Obey Me wiki.

AP Recovery Set Flash Sale

Every 12 hours when you run out of AP it will trigger a flash sale where you can get 5 000 Grim and 200 AP for 10 Devil Points (DP). 10 AP usually costs 1 DP, so you're getting 200 AP half off, plus some grim. I usually do this once a day only when I need to, like when an event has 3 - 4 lessons so I can be sure to finish.

Ads

When you run out of AP you'll get the option to watch an ad for 10 AP. You can do this 5 times per day for an extra 50 AP per day. You must not have enough AP to complete a task to get the ad option.

Login Bonuses/Gifts/Ranking Rewards

There will be login events that may give you AP on top of the normal daily login, so make sure to log in everyday. You can also receive AP as a gift from the current event, it may expire after a day or it may have no expiration date. If it has no expiration date feel free to hold onto it until you need it. Lastly the higher you rank in an event the better rewards you get, AP is usually included, so try your best :)

[civildisorderstream]

Good Guy vs Bad Guy is a lie

EDIT NOTE: This is a long post about Israel and Palestine. But here's a summation: If you can't figure out a way to protect Israel without doing war crimes and crimes against humanity, you need to rethink things.

We grow up these days seeing story after story, be it through TV or film or video games, that go through painstaking effort to frame the plots and characters as good guy vs bad guy. With enough conditioning, we're taught that's the way the world works. And the conditioning is reinforced in our adult lives with how news media tends to frame situations, regardless of outlet you go to. Every one of them is guilty of it at some point or another, and you have to really scour for which outlet is allowing what journalist to break that mold in order to get proper perspective, if not proper information.

And all of that is what makes the Israel / Palestine situation A COMPLETE HOT MESS TO SO MUCH AS MENTION ON THE INTERNET. It's been like this for decades, and the dismissal of nuance has been so frustrating.

"Nuance? What's that taste like?" Nuance is that thing where you can look at independent pieces of information within a larger framework and give them consideration, instead of trying to do a sweeping judgment. For example,

Hamas killing civilians is bad

Israel Defense Force killing civilians also bad

Israeli government denying humanitarian conditions to Gaza is bad

Hamas using people as human shields is REALLY BAD

Israeli government targeting international institutions like the AP and after the fact claiming with zero evidence "but Hamas" is bad

etc etc etc

People looking for the "who to blame" in the latest round of conflict are having the wrong discussion. They're justifying awful things while dismissing things the side they champion to be guilty of.

The key thing in this conflict, which has been true for many decades, is that Israel holds all the leverage in bringing a peaceful resolution to this. Israel simply has to decide to give the territory it has annexed back to Palestine. Israel has to decide to stop kicking Palestinians out of their homes. Israel has to decide to stop using Gaza as an open air prison. Why does Israel have the leverage? Because it has all the international backing and has all the official policy deciding power. Palestinian people are left with peaceful protests (which gets them shot) or some resorting to the "well my life sucks I may as well join Hamas" option. There is no compromise; that requires Palestine to give things up willingly to make peace. It has nothing TO give, and has only ever been taken from. Not just by Israel, but by the Allied Nations / UN when Israel was first founded (because they took the land from Palestine and said "too bad").

Another thing I want to say is, I take great strides to separate Israeli government from Israeli people. I do this with basically all political situations these days, because even in democracies governments do things that the people they govern are against. I wish this was a more mainstream thing people understood and participated in. It should also be noted that the Israeli government is the government of the people of Israel - it is not the government of all Jewish people on the planet. There are some, particularly Republicans, who try to frame Israel in that manner and MY GOODNESS that is wildly racist.

That likewise applies to Palestine. Hamas is an entity separate from the Palestinian officials which is separate from the people of Palestine. Anyone who lumps all three together is being no less racist than the above example. And they sure as hell wouldn't like it if that sort of thing was done to them. Imagine as an American being told "well you're a member of the Tea Party," or the NRA, or worse told you're a Kid Rock fan, simply on the basis of living in America. Countries and the factions thereof are incredibly diverse, and a government in power at any given time is only reflective of one particular faction having the power at that time - it does not mean all people have willingly conformed.

Hamas is making things worse with its terrorism / war crimes. But that is not justification for the Israeli government to continue its also war crimes.

[beardedmrbean]

MARION, Kan. (AP) — A small newspaper and a police department in Kansas are at the center of a dispute over freedom of speech that is being watched around the country after police raided the office of the local newspaper and the home of its owner and publisher.

Officials with the Marion Police Department confiscated computers and cellphones in the Friday raid, prompting press freedom watchdogs to condemn the actions of local authorities as a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution’s protection for a free press. The Marion County Record's editor and publisher, Eric Meyer, worked with his staff Sunday to reconstruct stories, ads and other materials for its next edition Wednesday.

A search warrant tied Friday morning raids, led by Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody, to a dispute between the newspaper and a local restaurant owner, Kari Newell. She is accusing the newspaper of invading her privacy and illegally accessing information about her and her driving record and suggested that the newspaper targeted her after she threw Meyer and a reporter out of her restaurant during a political event.

While Meyer saw Newell's complaints — which he said were untrue — as prompting the raids, he also believes the newspaper's aggressive coverage of local politics and issues played a role. He said the newspaper was examining Cody's past work with the Kansas City, Missouri, police as well.

“This is the type of stuff that, you know, that Vladimir Putin does, that Third World dictators do," Meyer said during an interview in his office. "This is Gestapo tactics from World War II.”

Cody said Sunday that the raid was legal and tied to an investigation.

The raids occurred in a town of about 1,900 people, nestled among rolling prairie hills, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, making the small weekly newspaper the latest to find itself in the headlines and possibly targeted for its reporting.

Last year in New Hampshire, the publisher of a weekly newspaper accused the state attorney general’s office of government overreach after she was arrested for allegedly publishing advertisements for local races without properly marking them as political advertising. In Las Vegas, former Democratic elected official Robert Telles is scheduled to face trial in November for allegedly fatally stabbing Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German after German wrote articles critical of Telles and his managerial conduct.

Meyer said that on Friday, one Record reporter suffered an injury to a finger when Cody wrested her cellphone out of her hand, according to the report. The newspaper's surveillance video showed officers reading that reporter her rights while Cody watched, though she wasn't arrested or detained. Newspaper employees were hustled out of the building while the search continued for more than 90 minutes, according to the footage.

Meanwhile, Meyer said, police simultaneously raided his home, seizing computers, his cellphone and the home’s internet router.

But as Meyer fielded messages from reporters and editors as far away as London and reviewed footage from the newsroom’s surveillance camera, Newell was receiving death threats from as far away, she said. She said the Record engages in “tabloid trash reporting” and was trying to hush her up.

“I fully believe that the intent was to do harm and merely tarnish my reputation, and I think if had it been left at that, I don’t think that it would have blown up as big as it was,” Newell said in a telephone interview.

Newell said she threw Meyer and the Record reporter out of the event for Republican U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner at the request of others who are upset with the “toxic” newspaper. On the town's main street, one storefront included a handmade “Support Marion PD” sign."

The police chief and other officials also attended and were acknowledged at the reception, and the Marion Police Department highlighted the event on its Facebook page.

LaTurner's office did not immediately return phone messages left Sunday at his Washington and district offices seeking comment.

Newell said she believes the newspaper violated the law to get her personal information as it checked on the status of her driver's license following a 2008 drunken driving conviction and other driving violations.

The newspaper countered that it received that information unsolicited, which it verified through public online records. It eventually decided not to run a story because it wasn’t sure the source who supplied it had obtained it legally. But the newspaper did run a story on the city council meeting, in which Newell herself confirmed she'd had a DUI conviction and that she had continued to drive even after her license was suspended.

A two-page search warrant, signed by a local judge, lists Newell as the victim of alleged crimes by the newspaper. When the newspaper asked for a copy of the probable cause affidavit required by law to issue a search warrant, the district court issued a signed statement saying no such affidavit was on file, the Record reported.

Cody, the police chief, indicated that probable cause affidavits were used to get the search warrants. When asked for a copy, Cody replied in an email late Sunday that the affidavits would be available “once charges are filed.”

Cody defended the raid, saying in an email to The Associated Press that while federal law usually requires a subpoena — not just a search warrant — to raid a newsroom, there is an exception “when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.”

Cody did not give details about what that alleged wrongdoing entailed.

Cody, who was hired in late April as Marion’s police chief after serving 24 years in the Kansas City police, did not respond to questions about how police believe Newell was victimized.

Press freedom and civil rights organizations said that police, the local prosecutor's office and the judge who signed off on the search warrant overstepped their authority.

“It seems like one of the most aggressive police raids of a news organization or entity in quite some time,” said Sharon Brett, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, adding that it seemed “quite an alarming abuse of authority."

Seth Stern, director of advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement that the raid appeared to have violated federal law, the First Amendment, “and basic human decency.”

“The anti-press rhetoric that’s become so pervasive in this country has become more than just talk and is creating a dangerous environment for journalists trying to do their jobs," Stern said.

Meyer said he has been flooded with offers of help from press freedom groups and other news organizations. But he said what he and his staff need is more hours in the day to get their next edition put together.

Both he and Newell are contemplating lawsuits — Newell against the newspaper and Meyer against the public officials who staged the raid.

Meyer also blames the home raid for stressing his 98-year-old mother enough to cause her death on Saturday. Joan Meyer was the newspaper's co-owner.

As for the criticism of the raid as a violation of First Amendment rights, Newell said her privacy rights were violated, and they are “just as important as anybody else’s.”