#ny new addiction

[zznsthetic]

THESE TROPES FIT SO WELL?!???!?!?!?

VAMPIRE JJUN WHO CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF YOU-?!(!*@**@,@,# LIA STOP GIVING IDEAS

BEOMGYU AND YANDERE ALWAYS THE BEST TROPE AND COWBOY TYUN?!?!?!??!?!?

VIRGIN SOOBIN?!!??!?

KAI AS A WEREWOLF!??!?! RAWRRRRR

sexy cowboy tyun or obsessed yandere prince beomgyu or dark romantic vampire yeonjun or gentle sweet werewolf kai or blushing nervous virgin incubus soobin

[fotographee]

keeping my heart open

center for arts — UB North

june 6, 2023 // 12:35 \ 7:32 \ 8:51 PM

click for higher resolution .-.

[thatsorand-o]

Kith

New Era

New York Yankees

Floral Fitted Caps

[rehabilitation-and-nursing]

Jamaica Rehab Center

The skilled physical therapists at the clinic collaborate closely with patients to enhance their general physical function, strength, and mobility. Whether the goal is managing chronic conditions, recuperating from surgery, or addressing other particular goals, personalized therapy programs are created to meet those needs.

The center's occupational therapists concentrate on assisting patients in regaining their independence in daily tasks. This could involve making changes to the living space to improve accessibility and safety as well as help with self-care activities like dressing and grooming.

The institute offers specialist speech therapy treatments for those who struggle with swallowing or communicating. Speech-language pathologists assist people with swallowing difficulties and helping them communicate more effectively.

The Jamaica Rehab Center treats each patient's physical, mental, emotional, and social requirements as part of a comprehensive approach to recovery. With the help of an all-inclusive treatment approach, patients are guaranteed a diverse network of support throughout their recuperation process.

Each patient at the Jamaica Rehab Center has a customized care plan made to meet their unique requirements and objectives. The multidisciplinary team at the center collaborates closely with patients and their families to create a plan that takes into account their particular goals and obstacles.

Selecting the appropriate rehabilitation facility is a crucial phase in the healing process. People and their families can make wise decisions that result in positive outcomes by being aware of the qualities and advantages of these centers.

When it comes to treating addiction, mental health conditions, and physical rehabilitation, rehabilitation centers in Jamaica are essential. They offer a secure, encouraging setting where people can get all the care they require and learn the skills necessary for long-term recovery. These facilities provide individuals in need with hope and healing via individualized treatment programs, expert medical care, and a holistic approach.

[danielleurbansblog]

Review: The Summer Escape

Synopsis: Secrets are revealed and forbidden sparks ignited in this sizzling Sunrise Cove tale of enemies to lovers, redemption, missing treasures, and love. Anna Moore didn’t just wake up one day and decide to go on a wild quest — especially since her life no longer lends itself to wild anything — so how in the world does she end up racing against the clock with Owen Harris, a sexy, enigmatic…

[bad-entertainment]

First time travelling alone: boom flight canceled you gotta stay at the hotel for the night also we rebooked you the 1h30 flight in 7h cuz you gotta go to Toronto and wait for another to get to Montreal

[umadosedepascal]

P E D R O P A S C A L

O N L Y

__ FIC REQUEST OPEN __

SERIES

(Banners are here)

NEW MEXICO(PART IX)- Pedro asks you to spend his birthday together with you. You just go.

W I N N E R(PART VIII) - You couldn’t attend SAG awards but Pedro meets you late in the night to celebrate.

O U C H (PART VII) - You are at the Golden Globes and meet Pedro over there, he didn’t win unfortunately but still, he is a winner in bed.

B O A T (PART VI) - Today is your last day in Malta. Pedro will be back to work, and you also need to return to your routine. Pedro wants your last day to be wonderful, nothing like a surprise with a perfect end. The three most intense days of your life.

COME FIND ME (PART V) - Pedro promised you a weekend, but an unforeseen event changes everything. Maybe he's a fan of surprises, maybe he can find you.

72 HOURS WITH HIM (PART IV) - The shooting in Malta keeps going, all Pedro needs is a weekend off, well…he got it. Would you go meet him for only three days? Hmmm yes!

PEDRO SOLO (PART III) - The days are long and exhausting, Pedro has a huge hotel room, hot tub ... But he is missing something, could you help him?

LOSING GAME (PART II) - You meet Pedro again not just to take back your panties. He wants to play a game, who’s going to lose?

HIGH MILES CLUB (PART I) - After partying hard at Met Gala making out with you in the bathroom and later taking you to his hotel room in NY, he finds something inside his red overcoat pocket in the middle of the airport. But it doesn’t stop, more unexpected and hot things happens during his flight back home.

ONE SHOT

(Banners are here)

🔥MEET ME AT THE SET - Pedro is THE GENERAL, babe!

CORONA, MEXICO - You got invited by Corona to be an extra on the new “La vida mas fina” campaign at the beach. Even if was only one single scene, maybe just 10 seconds of screen you would be more than happy because the main reason was him…Pedro.

MASTERCHEF FAIL - With a busy schedule, Pedro finds some time to spend with you. You promised him to cook his favorite food. Maybe things get out of hand and dessert comes before dinner.

PURPLE IS THE HOTTEST COLOR - After having a difficult day, Pedro meets you, no patience, no time for conversations.Pedro only has one desire in mind: you here and now, no matter if anyone will see you.

————————————————

PEDRO I M A G I N E

It’s 3 in the morning…

Hey, I’m looking at you…

What a smile…

You wearing his purple shirt…

Pedro eat pussy drawing

Pedro eat pussy part II

————————————————

Who are Santa Trindade

Gringa is on her late 30’s totally addicted to Pascal for the latest years (she doesn’t know what happened) although she’s following his work since 2019 because she is a Star Wars nerd and fell in love with a mandalorian 🤷🏻‍♀️. Her favorite Pedro boy is Javi Gutierrez because he is chubby and funny (Pedro vibes almost 100%).

What makes her wet is when Pedro: slide his finger on his lips while giggling.

Good vibes: if she had a date with Pedro she thinks she wouldn’t be able to walk the next day 🥲

——

@missyorkswhore is on her late 20’s and noticed Pedro when her uncle was watching Narcos, she saw Javier and asked him “wow, who’s that stach guy?”. A couple years later she finally got into Narcos and you know…she still want to marry Peña.

She loves when Pedro raises his eyebrow, and when he speaks Spanish [she thinks she can get wet in a fraction of seconds if he speaks like that to her in bed] ah and of course when he screams WHAT TOWN!!! as Joel.

Fave character obviously: DAVE FUCKING YORK (killer king)

[kodiescove]

So

I just looked into something that.... Essentially explains my life.

If you are not from Buffalo NY, you've probably never heard of a doctor named Dr Gosy. I do not know how far this case spread.

In 2020, Dr Gosy, a neurologist who prescribed pain killers, was convicted of conspiring to distribute controlled substances and health care fraud. This is like, a HUGE case here in Buffalo. Dr Gosy (I really hate calling him doctor) was like THE doctor to go to if you were in pain, because, well... He handed out opioids like they were Altoids.

I just read the department of justices article on the case, and to sum up how horrific this man contributed to the opioid epidemic , they say that he prescribed more opioids than any other prescribers, INCLUDING HOSPITALS, in the ENTIRETY of New York state. Not just the city of Buffalo, the whole fucking state.

This isn't even getting into the other atrocities he committed to line his pockets while endangering people's lives with opioid prescriptions.

Now, I am angry about this because of course I would be angry about a doctor caring more about money than the safety of their patients.

However

This man was my step dads doctor.

This was who was giving my step dad his opioids.

This is who my step dad went to for help, and instead of giving him help he saw my step dad as a check, a dollar sign.

We can talk about personal responsibility, but it is proven in a court of law that that man was knowingly over prescribing people pain killers, and even when either patients or patients family members were going to him about concerns of abuse he did nothing but write another prescription for more opioids, not even lessen the dosage or the quantity of pills, not even recommended or referring the patient to an addiction specialist.

Six people died under his care. Six people.

If a street drug dealer was linked to the overdose deaths of six people, that dealer would be in prison for the rest of their life.

Gosy is serving just under six years.

That man ruined my fucking life. Ruined my family. Ruined countless of lives, countless of families, on a scale that a single drug dealer could never manage.

And he barely gets six fucking years in prison.

His life is stopped for six years, and I have a ruined life, my step dad has a ruined life, my mother has a ruined life, my sister has a ruined life, and so many other of his patients and his patients families have ruined lives.

SIX PEOPLE ARE DEAD.

And all he has to do is sit his ass in prison for six years while we try and survive the mess he made because he decided that making money was more important than actually treating people in an appropriate and ethical way.

He ruined lives and killed people, and all he gets is six years.

[lactoseintolerentswag]

Spider-Man Noir: The Timeline Part 1 (2009, issues #1-4)

Okay so Noir is a wild ride considering how Quickly everything happens, so I took a dig at tracking the time passed through each plot point. Obviously Heavy spoilers if you haven't read the Spider-Man Noir (2009) run. Go read that now if you want to keep digging here. If not that's fine, this is like. For me and 4 other noir heads in my notes.

Spider-Man Noir begins with a flashforward with Noir in a particularly incriminating scene with "JJ" in January 1933.

However Noir's story starts three weeks earlier in December 1932.

Now it's unclear in the shift to Urich's perspective when he says "three weeks ago", whether he meat three weeks prior to his murder or three weeks prior to where the flashforward took place. I'm operating off the belief that it's the former.

So, our notes start:

All within the same night Ben Urich meets Aunt May (who he has never seen in person, but is aware of her reputation) and Peter, takes Peter to the Black Cat speakeasy, and sets Peter up with a job at the Bugle

Within the first week of working under Urich, Peter opens up to Urich about what happened to his Uncle

Two weeks later, Urich and Peter's photo of the fire makes it to the late edition of the Daily Bugle. Btw the late edition of a paper is published in the evening, and can cover breaking news that wasn't covered in the morning edition

Within this same night Peter discovers Urich's drug addiction, takes a call meant for Urich's "Spider" alias, witnesses Goblin's goons move around boxes of artifacts meant for the Metropolitan Museum, and gets bitten by one of the spiders from the broken statue

The next morning Urich has a meeting with the Goblin, Peter attacks the Goblin, and retreats upon the discovery of Urich's involvement

That night Urich plans to spill all his collected black mail to the Bugle, but is killed by the JJ imposter, in which Felicia secretly witnesses. This same night Peter sews together his suit, and is the one to find Ben's body

Interrupting the flow here to poke at this. This bit of inner monologue gives us an estimate to when Uncle Ben was murdered. Six months ago from an unspecified time in January is about the middle of summer, but only if Peter is being straightforward about how much time it would take to save Uncle Ben.

Other tid bits about Uncle Ben:

Served as a pilot in the first WWI, but was ashamed of his part and refused to take out his uniform (in which Peter will transform into his suit)

A year ago, Uncle Ben helped organize demonstrations that shut down 3 of Adolfus Crane's (an industrialist we see at the Black Cat) sweat shops

Anyway back to our regularly scheduled bullet points.

Peter was plucked off the streets into the Black Cat, "The day after Urich was rubbed out." As per Urich's wishes, Felicia entrusts Peter with all the black mail files he had complied of the Goblin's inner workings.

Two days after Urich died they threw his funeral.

For an unspecified amount of time Peter began working on crumbling the Goblin's influence in NY. Long enough for news articles to be made about "The Spider-Man", and long enough for the Goblin to be given a week's deadline to get rid of him. I would estimate between one to two weeks in consideration of the later time skip

Interrupting the flow again to poke at this specific file here. It's labeled "Freak Show Coney Island 1928". It's unclear whether this is the date Urich complied these documents, or the date in which the freak show took place. If it was the latter, that would mean the Goblin's entourage has only been serving him for about five years. Since there's no indication of how long Goblin has been terrorizing this city, I can't confirm either case.

Something that can also be considered about the length of Goblin's hold on the city is that he's been there long enough for Felicia to leave Ben for, and for Felicia to eventually leave the Goblin himself.

Anyway back to our regularly scheduled bullet points.

The night that Peter goes to confront JJ after the publishing of the first paper smearing Spider-Man, he finds the fake JJ already shot (later revealed to have been shot by Felicia, who had already fled the scene)

Just hours after JJ's death, Peter breaks into the city's morgue to discover the JJ who died was actually the Chameleon. Within these hours Felicia is also captured and brought to the Goblin's "torture house" where the real JJ has been kept

And again within these few hours, Peter saves Aunt May from the Vulture by killing him with Uncle Ben's gun, rushes over to the "torture house", and has his final scrap with Goblin and his men

And now to finally consider this two month time skip. We're given some context clues into what time this could be. It's no longer winter, so it has to be in Spring.

And then we're given real political events to draw on. President Franklin D. Roosevelt has been inaugurated into office at this point, so it has to be past March 4, 1933. Then we have the mention of "The Enabling Act" in the Daily Bugle's newspaper, which was passed on March 23, 1933.

So from all this little background detail we can deduct that Noir took place from late December 1932 through January 1933, with the time skip taking place in the late March of 1933.

Anyway yeah. That all happened. That fast. I will! Do a separate post on EWAOF (which takes place in September 1933, only 6 months later!!!), and the other runs beyond that even if I have personal beef with them. Later skaters

[megumimania]

london boy eren, jean and connie hcs!!

a/n: back on my connie bs again after @westcinny said he gave central cee vibes i’ve been obsessed . also snuck eren and jean here cuz why not 🤭 the format changed when it got to eren and jean it was 3am when i was writing this and i got lazy sorry 😭

warnings: slight connie x reader if you squint! v brief mention of weed

mini glossary:

bump- to get on public transport without paying

bait- someone who is well known.

leng- means beautiful or attractive

CONNIE

londoner!connie who is from south and is always repping it to the point where people are sick of him like bro we get it!😭

londoner!connie who is a trapstar/techfleece warrior even when it’s hot asf outside, he refuses to take if off

but when he does take it off trust you’ll see him in a white tee, grey shorts combo with a gold chain and af1s

londoner!connie who always bumping train despite him having an oyster card with money on it (tfl be charging extortionate prices for the train tho😔)

londoner!connie who has several tattoos, (with one dedicated to you ofc) also has a shit ton of piercings

londoner!connie who’s playlist mostly consists of drill music (both uk and ny cuz he doesn’t have a preference) but is always on the hunt for new genres of music

londoner!connie who has deffo taken his birthday pic at canary wharf once 😭 (its a rite of passage for us londoners i swearrrr)

londoner!connie who used to use his e scooter to get around everywhere cuz he failed his driving test a couple of times. but now he’s driving a benz so progress ig!

londoner!connie who rarely goes to motives but when he does its because you ask him to, he always stands to the side with his drink watching you dance with your friends, before you drag him in to catch a whine from you

londoner!connie who is more of a smoker than a drinker, trust that he always has a blunt behind his ear but sometimes you’ll catch him sipping a magnum

londoner!connie who is ALWAYS at the chicken and the chip shop its gotten to the point where bossman already inputs his order without saying anything

londoner!connie who pops up to your ig stories with either ‘😍😍’ or ‘you’re looking leng icl’

londoner!connie who despite his cold demeanour is loved by the little kids on the estate like hes always spoiling them buying them sweets, toys all that shit

londoner!connie who calls girls darlin’ or babe

EREN

he would be from north or northwest london

eren would be bait like he prob has half of london on snap

he knows connie from mutual friends

fellow tech fleece warrior like he owns so much in so many colours omg

eren refuses to drive, he rides his e scooter everywhere or he ubers most of the time

he got banned from tfl after trying to bump train and got caught by the ticket officer

he’s always at motives like every week no matter how far they are

has several girls in rotation, london boys are not loyal sorry 😔

you can catch him at westfields tryna chat to girls

he got rich from crypto so he’s always at the shard or the ivy or at hakkasan

but he does fraud on the side always doing refund methods sigh

eren’s ig stories consist of him smoking, him thirst trapping with drill in the back or him flexing with stacks of cash

has an insane watch and jewellery collection

JEAN

Jean would not be from london lmao

but if he did he would probably live in like wimbledon or some shit

Hes one of those guys who claim london but they live in surrey

He’s a corteiz/stussy warrior he’d never be caught dead in anything else

Always talking about uk undergroud rap but only knows knucks or sainte

He forces the slang so hard 😭 when he knows that he had never spoken like that in his life

Jean probably drives a range rover

Hes’s always at hyde park

Jean is a vape addict like ik he has a collection of vapes LOOOL

he always shops at harrods and waitrose none of that tesco, lidl stuff for him

[eatmangoesnekkid]

In my early child hood years, I remember some of the girls used to try to bully me but something would interfere like a teacher would be walking down the hallway right as one of the girls tried to start a fight and would make us break up the circle and get to class. Because I didn’t fit in with the girls I really wanted to be friends with but was smart and a “teacher’s pet,” and thereby an easy target, I discovered refuge in music, sometimes skipping school to go to the local music store to listen to and bury my whole self into ( punk) music, like Bad Brains, before “Afropunk” became cool and a popular alternative “quasi-pop” thing. In fact, I went to the very first Afropunk show back in NY in 2005, when it was still underground in dirty luminous basement type venues and seen as “weird.” Listening to the frequency of “punk” helped me to process big emotions and release unconscious pent up frustrations—which I do believe saved me from turning to alcohol and drugs for belonging, which was very present all around me and would have been easy to do. In other words, listening to music and moving my hips, neck, back, shoulders, and feet, being allowed by my parents to shake vigorously in my bedroom and scream to loud music without too much shame or judgment, was a kind of under-documented shadow work that helped me to release stored cultural trauma living in my tissues and not become victimized by my circumstances. I did have a sugar addiction I will say—most people did or continue to do, but what I also know is that the right kind of music can help us to process our shadows as long as we are mindful to not be taken over by intensity of the music that we need to turn to socially-acceptable, socially-encouraged, toxic coping mechanisms for a semblance of grounding. We simply self-initiate ourselves into allowing the medicine of the music to move our bodies —as a kind of “somatic body work” —in ways that deeply evolve us and not keep us stuck and hyper-focused on the trauma around us as dopamine hits, where we gain a willingness to see and experience something new, different, and uncommon about reality than what we were taught or saw modeled. —India Ame’ye

[desultory-novice]

Marionettes' Pavane, Chapter 5 Part 2

"The Sweet Taste of Home" (conclusion, 10 pgs)

-

"MariPav" is a strangers to friends to......... fan comic about Marx and Magolor's meeting and their zany adventures in the days before Return to Dream Land. It was written before RtDL DX came out, so expect inconsistencies with current game lore!

[Previous] [Main]

-

...After :cough: over a year of real-world time :cough: Magolor finally got a teeny, ti~ny taste of delicious, homemade cake - and a large taste of what his life of withered dreams was missing all this time.

Could his inescapably annoying jester companion be bringing something more than just chaos into Magolor's world...?

Up Next: Chapter 6 Part 1 "Let Me Play Amongst the Stars" ...Where the two go sphere hunting in earnest!

[Previous] [Main] [Next - coming soon] [Chapter Bonus: "Style Savvy"]

-

A/N: So, fun story, when I was first drafting the plot of MariPav, for the longest time, this chapter was just the phrase, "Space Boyfriends Cooking Chapter! XD" I was constantly re-arranging story beats to figure out what scenes should even go here. In the end, it turned into a somewhat significant chapter despite starting out as a joke / lighthearted story tucked in between more serious events.

While MariPav isn't (and can't ; _ ;) be canon to the Magolor of DX, I did think it was funny how several aspects of his character actually do mesh pretty well with DX!Magolor, one of them being Magolor's soon-to-be obsession with preparing food! (At least, I saw Helper Magolor bringing Kirby a constant supply of healing treats to be indicative of him actually kind of liking food prep!) MariPav Magolor has definitely caught the fever for baking after this adventure!

By the way, most of the script you're seeing here is completely unchanged from my pre-remake final draft but I did end up adding the line, "...a delicacy favored by the wizard kings of ancient Halcandra" (and "Your monarchy ate rocks?!") after seeing the role the gem apples played in the Magolor Epilogue and their ties to the Master Crown. Gem apples sure seem to be made of / grown with magic, yet we know they can be eaten too! If such a food existed, it would be no surprise that wizards would love to dine on highly sweet, concentrated magic power! (The "concentrated magic" part is why they explode, of course. That stuff is pretty volatile!)

...Oh, and also, this is canonically when Marx first coins the nickname "Mags" for Magolor. I know it's confusing because I've used that nickname a lot in side material already, but it starts here!

-

Lastly, for the eagle-eyed readers who noticed the cook book uses the New World Font and thus, ought to legible in English, I'll spare you the trouble by copying the text I used here:

So we're finally here. The end of the cooking chapter. Has it really been a whole year? Amazing. Anyway, I'm finally learning how to implement 3d models successfully. Like that cake.  The one in the book is the defeault.  I modified it a bit for the one they make... Uh, what else can I fill this space with? Oh yeah. I was really proud that I wrote about Magolor quickly becoming addicted to sweets before he showed up in DX always dropping cakes and other food on you. There's a few things I felt MariPav predicted despite all that it got wrong.

[dailyanarchistposts]

F.6.3 But surely market forces will stop abuses by the rich?

Unlikely. The rise of corporations within America indicates exactly how a “general libertarian law code” would reflect the interests of the rich and powerful. The laws recognising corporations as “legal persons” were not primarily a product of “the state” but of private lawyers hired by the rich. As Howard Zinn notes:

“the American Bar Association, organised by lawyers accustomed to serving the wealthy, began a national campaign of education to reverse the [Supreme] Court decision [that companies could not be considered as a person]… . By 1886, they succeeded … the Supreme Court had accepted the argument that corporations were ‘persons’ and their money was property protected by the process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment … The justices of the Supreme Court were not simply interpreters of the Constitution. They were men of certain backgrounds, of certain [class] interests.” [A People’s History of the United States, p. 255]

Of course it will be argued that the Supreme Court is chosen by the government and is a state enforced monopoly and so our analysis is flawed. Yet this is not the case. As Rothbard made clear, the “general libertarian law code” would be created by lawyers and jurists and everyone would be expected to obey it. Why expect these lawyers and jurists to be any less class conscious then those in the 19th century? If the Supreme Court “was doing its bit for the ruling elite” then why would those creating the law system be any different? “How could it be neutral between rich and poor,” argues Zinn, “when its members were often former wealthy lawyers, and almost always came from the upper class?” [Op. Cit., p. 254] Moreover, the corporate laws came about because there was a demand for them. That demand would still have existed in “anarcho”-capitalism. Now, while there may nor be a Supreme Court, Rothbard does maintain that “the basic Law Code … would have to be agreed upon by all the judicial agencies” but he maintains that this “would imply no unified legal system”! Even though ”[a]ny agencies that transgressed the basic libertarian law code would be open outlaws” and soon crushed this is not, apparently, a monopoly. [The Ethics of Liberty, p. 234] So, you either agree to the law code or you go out of business. And that is not a monopoly! Therefore, we think, our comments on the Supreme Court are valid (see also section F.7.2).

If all the available defence firms enforce the same laws, then it can hardly be called “competitive”! And if this is the case (and it is) “when private wealth is uncontrolled, then a police-judicial complex enjoying a clientele of wealthy corporations whose motto is self-interest is hardly an innocuous social force controllable by the possibility of forming or affiliating with competing ‘companies.’” [Wieck, Op. Cit., p. 225] This is particularly true if these companies are themselves Big Business and so have a large impact on the laws they are enforcing. If the law code recognises and protects capitalist power, property and wealth as fundamental any attempt to change this is “initiation of force” and so the power of the rich is written into the system from the start!

(And, we must add, if there is a general libertarian law code to which all must subscribe, where does that put customer demand? If people demand a non-libertarian law code, will defence firms refuse to supply it? If so, will not new firms, looking for profit, spring up that will supply what is being demanded? And will that not put them in direct conflict with the existing, pro-general law code ones? And will a market in law codes not just reflect economic power and wealth? David Friedman, who is for a market in law codes, argues that ”[i]f almost everyone believes strongly that heroin addiction is so horrible that it should not be permitted anywhere under any circumstances anarcho-capitalist institutions will produce laws against heroin. Laws are being produced on the market, and that is what the market wants.” And he adds that “market demands are in dollars, not votes. The legality of heroin will be determined, not by how many are for or against but how high a cost each side is willing to bear in order to get its way.” [The Machinery of Freedom, p. 127] And, as the market is less than equal in terms of income and wealth, such a position will mean that the capitalist class will have a higher effective demand than the working class and more resources to pay for any conflicts that arise. Thus any law codes that develop will tend to reflect the interests of the wealthy.)

Which brings us nicely on to the next problem regarding market forces.

As well as the obvious influence of economic interests and differences in wealth, another problem faces the “free market” justice of “anarcho”-capitalism. This is the “general libertarian law code” itself. Even if we assume that the system actually works like it should in theory, the simple fact remains that these “defence companies” are enforcing laws which explicitly defend capitalist property (and so social relations). Capitalists own the means of production upon which they hire wage-labourers to work and this is an inequality established prior to any specific transaction in the labour market. This inequality reflects itself in terms of differences in power within (and outside) the company and in the “law code” of “anarcho”-capitalism which protects that power against the dispossessed.

In other words, the law code within which the defence companies work assumes that capitalist property is legitimate and that force can legitimately be used to defend it. This means that, in effect, “anarcho”-capitalism is based on a monopoly of law, a monopoly which explicitly exists to defend the power and capital of the wealthy. The major difference is that the agencies used to protect that wealth will be in a weaker position to act independently of their pay-masters. Unlike the state, the “defence” firm is not remotely accountable to the general population and cannot be used to equalise even slightly the power relationships between worker and capitalist (as the state has, on occasion done, due to public pressure and to preserve the system as a whole). And, needless to say, it is very likely that the private police forces will give preferential treatment to their wealthier customers (which business does not?) and that the law code will reflect the interests of the wealthier sectors of society (particularly if prosperous judges administer that code) in reality, even if not in theory. Since, in capitalist practice, “the customer is always right,” the best-paying customers will get their way in “anarcho”-capitalist society.

For example, in chapter 29 of The Machinery of Freedom, David Friedman presents an example of how a clash of different law codes could be resolved by a bargaining process (the law in question is the death penalty). This process would involve one defence firm giving a sum of money to the other for them accepting the appropriate (anti/pro capital punishment) court. Friedman claims that ”[a]s in any good trade, everyone gains” but this is obviously not true. Assuming the anti-capital punishment defence firm pays the pro one to accept an anti-capital punishment court, then, yes, both defence firms have made money and so are happy, so are the anti-capital punishment consumers but the pro-death penalty customers have only (perhaps) received a cut in their bills. Their desire to see criminals hanged (for whatever reason) has been ignored (if they were not in favour of the death penalty, they would not have subscribed to that company). Friedman claims that the deal, by allowing the anti-death penalty firm to cut its costs, will ensure that it “keep its customers and even get more” but this is just an assumption. It is just as likely to loose customers to a defence firm that refuses to compromise (and has the resources to back it up). Friedman’s assumption that lower costs will automatically win over people’s passions is unfounded as is the assumption that both firms have equal resources and bargaining power. If the pro-capital punishment firm demands more than the anti can provide and has larger weaponry and troops, then the anti defence firm may have to agree to let the pro one have its way. So, all in all, it is not clear that “everyone gains” — there may be a sizeable percentage of those involved who do not “gain” as their desire for capital punishment is traded away by those who claimed they would enforce it. This may, in turn, produce a demand for defence firms which do not compromise with obvious implications for public peace.

In other words, a system of competing law codes and privatised rights does not ensure that all individual interests are meet. Given unequal resources within society, it is clear that the “effective demand” of the parties involved to see their law codes enforced is drastically different. The wealthy head of a transnational corporation will have far more resources available to him to pay for his laws to be enforced than one of his employees on the assembly line. Moreover, as we noted in section F.3.1, the labour market is usually skewed in favour of capitalists. This means that workers have to compromise to get work and such compromises may involve agreeing to join a specific “defence” firm or not join one at all (just as workers are often forced to sign non-union contracts today in order to get work). In other words, a privatised law system is very likely to skew the enforcement of laws in line with the skewing of income and wealth in society. At the very least, unlike every other market, the customer is not guaranteed to get exactly what they demand simply because the product they “consume” is dependent on others within the same market to ensure its supply. The unique workings of the law/defence market are such as to deny customer choice (we will discuss other aspects of this unique market shortly). Wieck summed by pointing out the obvious:

“any judicial system is going to exist in the context of economic institutions. If there are gross inequalities of power in the economic and social domains, one has to imagine society as strangely compartmentalised in order to believe that those inequalities will fail to reflect themselves in the judicial and legal domain, and that the economically powerful will be unable to manipulate the legal and judicial system to their advantage. To abstract from such influences of context, and then consider the merits of an abstract judicial system.. . is to follow a method that is not likely to take us far. This, by the way, is a criticism that applies…to any theory that relies on a rule of law to override the tendencies inherent in a given social and economic system” [Op. Cit., p. 225]

There is another reason why “market forces” will not stop abuse by the rich, or indeed stop the system from turning from private to public statism. This is due to the nature of the “defence” market (for a similar analysis of the “defence” market see right-“libertarian” economist Tyler Cowen’s “Law as a Public Good: The Economics of Anarchy” [Economics and Philosophy, no. 8 (1992), pp. 249–267] and “Rejoinder to David Friedman on the Economics of Anarchy” [Economics and Philosophy, no. 10 (1994), pp. 329–332]). In “anarcho”-capitalist theory it is assumed that the competing “defence companies” have a vested interest in peacefully settling differences between themselves by means of arbitration. In order to be competitive on the market, companies will have to co-operate via contractual relations otherwise the higher price associated with conflict will make the company uncompetitive and it will go under. Those companies that ignore decisions made in arbitration would be outlawed by others, ostracised and their rulings ignored. By this process, it is argued, a system of competing “defence” companies will be stable and not turn into a civil war between agencies with each enforcing the interests of their clients against others by force.

However, there is a catch. Unlike every other market, the businesses in competition in the “defence” industry must co-operate with its fellows in order to provide its services for its customers. They need to be able to agree to courts and judges, agree to abide by decisions and law codes and so forth. In economics there are other, more accurate, terms to describe co-operative activity between companies: collusion and cartels. These are when companies in a specific market agree to work together (co-operate) to restrict competition and reap the benefits of monopoly power by working to achieve the same ends in partnership with each other. By stressing the co-operative nature of the “defence” market, “anarcho”-capitalists are implicitly acknowledging that collusion is built into the system. The necessary contractual relations between agencies in the “protection” market require that firms co-operate and, by so doing, to behave (effectively) as one large firm (and so resemble a normal state even more than they already do). Quoting Adam Smith seems appropriate here: “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” [The Wealth of Nations, p. 117] Having a market based on people of the same trade co-operating seems, therefore, an unwise move.

For example, when buying food it does not matter whether the supermarkets visited have good relations with each other. The goods bought are independent of the relationships that exist between competing companies. However, in the case of private states this is not the case. If a specific “defence” company has bad relationships with other companies in the market then it is against a customer’s self-interest to subscribe to it. Why subscribe to a private state if its judgements are ignored by the others and it has to resort to violence to be heard? This, as well as being potentially dangerous, will also push up the prices that have to be paid. Arbitration is one of the most important services a defence firm can offer its customers and its market share is based upon being able to settle interagency disputes without risk of war or uncertainty that the final outcome will not be accepted by all parties. Lose that and a company will lose market share.

Therefore, the market set-up within the “anarcho”-capitalist “defence” market is such that private states have to co-operate with the others (or go out of business fast) and this means collusion can take place. In other words, a system of private states will have to agree to work together in order to provide the service of “law enforcement” to their customers and the result of such co-operation is to create a cartel. However, unlike cartels in other industries, the “defence” cartel will be a stable body simply because its members have to work with their competitors in order to survive.

Let us look at what would happen after such a cartel is formed in a specific area and a new “defence company” desired to enter the market. This new company will have to work with the members of the cartel in order to provide its services to its customers (note that “anarcho”-capitalists already assume that they “will have to” subscribe to the same law code). If the new defence firm tries to under-cut the cartel’s monopoly prices, the other companies would refuse to work with it. Having to face constant conflict or the possibility of conflict, seeing its decisions being ignored by other agencies and being uncertain what the results of a dispute would be, few would patronise the new “defence company.” The new company’s prices would go up and it would soon face either folding or joining the cartel. Unlike every other market, if a “defence company” does not have friendly, co-operative relations with other firms in the same industry then it will go out of business.

This means that the firms that are co-operating have simply to agree not to deal with new firms which are attempting to undermine the cartel in order for them to fail. A “cartel busting” firm goes out of business in the same way an outlaw one does — the higher costs associated with having to solve all its conflicts by force, not arbitration, increases its production costs much higher than the competitors and the firm faces insurmountable difficulties selling its products at a profit (ignoring any drop of demand due to fears of conflict by actual and potential customers). Even if we assume that many people will happily join the new firm in spite of the dangers to protect themselves against the cartel and its taxation (i.e. monopoly profits), enough will remain members of the cartel so that co-operation will still be needed and conflict unprofitable and dangerous (and as the cartel will have more resources than the new firm, it could usually hold out longer than the new firm could). In effect, breaking the cartel may take the form of an armed revolution — as it would with any state.

The forces that break up cartels and monopolies in other industries (such as free entry — although, of course the “defence” market will be subject to oligopolistic tendencies as any other and this will create barriers to entry) do not work here and so new firms have to co-operate or loose market share and/or profits. This means that “defence companies” will reap monopoly profits and, more importantly, have a monopoly of force over a given area.

It is also likely that a multitude of cartels would develop, with a given cartel operating in a given locality. This is because law enforcement would be localised in given areas as most crime occurs where the criminal lives (few criminals would live in Glasgow and commit crimes in Paris). However, as defence companies have to co-operate to provide their services, so would the cartels. Few people live all their lives in one area and so firms from different cartels would come into contact, so forming a cartel of cartels. This cartel of cartels may (perhaps) be less powerful than a local cartel, but it would still be required and for exactly the same reasons a local one is. Therefore “anarcho”-capitalism would, like “actually existing capitalism,” be marked by a series of public states covering given areas, co-ordinated by larger states at higher levels. Such a set up would parallel the United States in many ways except it would be run directly by wealthy shareholders without the sham of “democratic” elections. Moreover, as in the USA and other states there will still be a monopoly of rules and laws (the “general libertarian law code”).

Hence a monopoly of private states will develop in addition to the existing monopoly of law and this is a de facto monopoly of force over a given area (i.e. some kind of public state run by share holders). New companies attempting to enter the “defence” industry will have to work with the existing cartel in order to provide the services it offers to its customers. The cartel is in a dominant position and new entries into the market either become part of it or fail. This is exactly the position with the state, with “private agencies” free to operate as long as they work to the state’s guidelines. As with the monopolist “general libertarian law code”, if you do not toe the line, you go out of business fast.

“Anarcho”-capitalists claim that this will not occur, but that the co-operation needed to provide the service of law enforcement will somehow not turn into collusion between companies. However, they are quick to argue that renegade “agencies” (for example, the so-called “Mafia problem” or those who reject judgements) will go out of business because of the higher costs associated with conflict and not arbitration. Yet these higher costs are ensured because the firms in question do not co-operate with others. If other agencies boycott a firm but co-operate with all the others, then the boycotted firm will be at the same disadvantage — regardless of whether it is a cartel buster or a renegade. So the “anarcho”-capitalist is trying to have it both ways. If the punishment of non-conforming firms cannot occur, then “anarcho”-capitalism will turn into a war of all against all or, at the very least, the service of social peace and law enforcement cannot be provided. If firms cannot deter others from disrupting the social peace (one service the firm provides) then “anarcho”-capitalism is not stable and will not remain orderly as agencies develop which favour the interests of their own customers and enforce their own law codes at the expense of others. If collusion cannot occur (or is too costly) then neither can the punishment of non-conforming firms and “anarcho”-capitalism will prove to be unstable.

So, to sum up, the “defence” market of private states has powerful forces within it to turn it into a monopoly of force over a given area. From a privately chosen monopoly of force over a specific (privately owned) area, the market of private states will turn into a monopoly of force over a general area. This is due to the need for peaceful relations between companies, relations which are required for a firm to secure market share. The unique market forces that exist within this market ensure collusion and the system of private states will become a cartel and so a public state — unaccountable to all but its shareholders, a state of the wealthy, by the wealthy, for the wealthy.

[rehabilitation-and-nursing]

What types of specialized rehabilitation services do the Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in New York offer?

The foundation of the best nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities in New York is a dedication to a multidisciplinary, holistic approach to treatment. Teams of highly skilled medical experts, including doctors, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and social workers, work in these institutions to create individualized treatment regimens that are specific to the needs of each resident.

Facilities such as the Upper East Side Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in New York provide stroke rehabilitation programs that can be beneficial to residents who have suffered a stroke. These programs include speech, occupational, and physical therapy to assist patients with regaining their mobility, enhancing their communication abilities, and relearning daily life skills.

Personalized exercise regimens are designed by physical therapists (PTs) to enhance balance, strength, mobility, and coordination. For people healing from fractures, joint replacements, or strokes, this may be essential. Consider a patient at an RNC undergoing physical therapy following knee replacement surgery. In order to assist the patient walk independently once more, the PT would create a program that progressively increases weight-bearing activities and strengthens surrounding muscles.

The goal of occupational therapists (OTs) is to assist patients in regaining the ability to perform activities of daily living. This covers things like getting dressed, taking a shower, preparing meals, and taking medications. OTs can also assist people in modifying their living spaces to take into account their restrictions. Consider an RNC patient whose fine motor abilities are affected by a stroke.

At Highland care center, specialized nurses offer professional care for long-term wounds such as pressure sores or diabetic foot ulcers. Debridement (the removal of dead tissue) and specialist dressings may be necessary for this. In order to ensure that patients heal more quickly and with fewer complications, wound care management is essential for preventing infection and promoting recovery.

[aralisj]

Pas de Deux || The Bear Ballet AU

It is highly unlikely that I'll write anything - this is just a random concept that came to me in a daydream. Enjoy some loose thoughts under the cut though.

Donna as a Dance Mom™ would be perfectly in character. She's constantly reviving her glory days as a ballerina on the corps of Chicago ballet. She resents her children for making her give up her career, potentially giving Nat body image and self esteem issues, and pushing Mikey and Carmy past their breaking point… Also her whole aura screams cunty ballet teacher cursing and smoking during class.

Mikey takes over Donna's studio after a career ruining injury (and subsequently gets addicted to painkillers).

Carmy gets a scholarship to study ballet in Europe, then returns to climb the ranks and eventually become a principal dancer in the New York ballet. The plays on his name and the ballet Carmen are fucking exhausting and end in a shouting match more than once.

New York asshole boss is an old school ballet master. I'm picturing Vincent Cassel in The Black Swan, vicious and overbearing, giving Carmy shit for his height, and being a "Sergei Polunin wannabe" with his tattoos and his smoking.

Sydney dances from a young age, inspired by her mom. She gets very badly injured and steps aside for a while. She followed Carmy's career closely and saw him dance on her trip to New York. After a miraculous recovery from her injury, she takes up dance again and joins the studio - Carmy sees her as the only one on his level. Her dream is being a prima ballerina (and dancing a pas de deux with the Carmy Berzatto wouldn't hurt either).

Tina is a self taught dancer and Mikey brings her in to teach beginners classes and ballroom dance.

Richie is just there (canon compliant lmao). He picks up some stuff over the years but not enough to teach. He eventually becomes essential to running the place, booking venues and running social media for the studio as it grows into a high level academy (think Eva Nys on TikTok)

Nat abandoned dance completely right as she could have turned professional (Donna never forgives her) but she returns as a manager for the studio once things start to get serious after Carmy's return.

Pete LOVES ballet but can't dance at all.

[emma-dennehy-presents]

Celebrating Black Queer Icons:

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

Born on October 25, 1940, Major is a trans women well known as a leader in the broader trans community and an activist, with a particular focus on black and incarcerated trans women. Major grew up in Chicago's South Side and participated in the local drag scene, during her youth. Major described the experiences as glamorous, like going to the Oscars. While she did not have the contemporary language for it, Major has been out as a trans women since the late 1950s. This made her a target of criticism, mistreatment, and violence, even among her queer peers. Majors transition, especially getting her hands on hormones, was largely a black market affair. Given the lack of employment opportunities for black trans women at the time, she largely survived through sex work and other criminalized activities. At some point Major moved to New York City and established herself amongst the cities queer community, despite the prejudice against trans women. She participated in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Later, after getting convicted on a burglary charge, Major was imprisoned with men at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY. There she met Frank "Big Black" Smith, a participant in the 1971 Attica Uprising at Attica Correctional Facility. He treated Major, and her identity as a woman, with respect and the two built a friendship. Smith also taught Major a good bit about advocating for herself and other trans women being mistreated by the US Justice System. Major was released from Dannemora in 1974. Major moved to San Diego in 1978 and almost immediately began working on community efforts and participating in grassroots movements. Starting by working at a food bank, she would go on to provide services directly to incarcerated, addicted, and homeless trans women, and would provide additional services after the AIDS epidemic started. In the 1990s Major moved to the San Fransisco Bay Area, where she continued her work, alongside organizations like the Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center. In 2003 Major became the Director of the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project, shortly after its founding by attorney and community organizer Alexander L Lee, a trans man. The group works to end human rights abuses in the California Prison System, with a focus on trans, intersex, and gender variant POC. The position has since been passed on to Janetta Johnson, a previously incarcerated trans woman who mentored under Major. She is the focus of the 2015, award winning, documentary Major!. Major has five sons, two biological and three runaways she adopted, after meeting them in a California park. Her oldest son, Christopher was born in 1978, and her youngest, Asiah (rhymes with messiah) in 2021. At 82 years old Miss Major Griffin-Gracy continues to be an active member of her community and an advocate for our rights as trans people.

Haven't settled on which yet, but Willmer "Little Ax" Broadnax or Victor J Mukasa will be next!