#the republic is a dumpster fire

[aroaceslut]

okay but like is anyone ever going to talk about the parallels between hitler's and palpatine's rises to power??

I take history gsce and we're currently doing Germany during the world wars, specifically hitler's rise to power, how he kept that power and his general rule and to simplify it for those who don't know as much-

•Hitler founded the n*zi party

•n*zi party gained popularity (via very iffy ways)

•eventually n*zi party was really big in the Reichstag (the German parliament) and Hitler was super close to the then chancellor's (Hindenburg)

•Hitler convinced Hindenburg to let Hitler be chancellor and that if that happens Hitler would change Germany for the better

•Hindenburg was like 'yeah okay that checks out' and boom Hitler was chancellor

•Hitler as chancellor then enacted the emergency powers that meant the current chancellor would gain even more power and no one in the Reichstag would be able to oppose him or stop him from passing whatever laws he wanted (can you see where I'm going with this?)

•using these emergency powers Hitler was able to ensure that he could mold Germany into how he wanted it to be and no one could stop him

Now before anyone gets offended by my simplified version, yeah it's not entirely accurate and there's definitely more to it but we don't have time for that.

Back to my point, as I'm sure you all know there is a lot that contributed to palpatine being able to become the emperor, but one major one (at least in my opinion) was the fact that during TCW palpatine convinced the senate to give him emergency powers by telling them that if he gets these emergency powers he will end the war and fix the republic (lie) and they all were like 'yeah okay, I trust you and I'm sure you have our best interest at hand'.

These emergency powers then let him pass laws without the agreement of the senate and basically have more power to control the war from both sides. This is also why he was able to announce himself 'Emperor' and just get rid of the senate as a whole.

There is actually quite a lot of parallels between the politics of the two's reigns but I just wanted to specifically discuss this.

!! before anyone comes for me, I am NOT comparing palpatine to Hitler, Hitler is way worse and an actual historical figure, I just wanted to point out the parallels between the two !!

thank you for listening to my infodump :)

[clonememesfrikyeah]

In the gc:

Boss: “Hey.”

Scorch: “Såłámĩ”

Fixer: “Hi!”

Sev: “Give me back my hÂmpster.”

Advisor: “Uhhhh.”

[valorums]

RELATIONSHIP DYNAMIC TAGS

╰──➢  ⠀the crowning jewel of the republic ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑽𝑰𝑺𝑼𝑨𝑳𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀songbird trapped in a gilded cage⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑫𝑪𝑨𝑵𝑶𝑵𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀all i ask of you⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑨𝑺𝑲𝑩𝑶𝑿 𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑷𝑶𝑵𝑺𝑬

╰──➢  ⠀wishing you were somehow here again⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑨𝑺𝑲𝑩𝑶𝑿 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑴𝑷𝑻𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀this is the queue of no return⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑸𝑼𝑬𝑼𝑬

╰──➢  ⠀far too many notes for my taste ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑺𝑪𝑹𝑰𝑷𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑬𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀why have you brought me here? ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑫𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑩𝑶𝑨𝑹𝑫 𝑮𝑨𝑴𝑬

╰──➢  ⠀it’s over now; the music of the night ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑨𝑹𝑪𝑯𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑫

╰──➢  ⠀a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a trainwreck ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑶𝑼𝑻 𝑶𝑭 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹

╰──➢  ⠀gaslight. gatekeep. girlboss. ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑶𝑹𝑰𝑮𝑰𝑵𝑨𝑳 𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑲

╰──➢  ⠀we’ll go from there ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑫𝒀𝑵𝑨𝑴𝑰𝑪 𝑴𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀i make my own sunshine ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀𝑴𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀press conferences with secretary valorum⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑷𝑼𝑩𝑳𝑰𝑪𝑰𝑻𝒀

╰──➢  ⠀some things never change ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑪𝑨𝑳𝑳

( 𝑬𝑿𝑪𝑳𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑽𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / dooku’s protégé ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀even the shadows are worthy of love ⠀⠀—⠀⠀fallesto

( 𝑬𝑿𝑪𝑳𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑽𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / house serenno’s lost heiress ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀once upon a december ⠀⠀—⠀⠀fallesto

( 𝑬𝑿𝑪𝑳𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑽𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / prophetic and dyadic ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀the redeemer and her chosen one ⠀⠀—⠀⠀forcenexus

( 𝑨𝑳𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / force sensitive ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀force suppressed⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon divergent

( 𝑨𝑳𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / modern ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀first daughter of the united states⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon divergent

( 𝑴𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / the phantom menace ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀first daughter of the galactic republic⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon compliant

( 𝑴𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / the clone wars ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀the republic’s greatest hope⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon compliant

( 𝑴𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / rise of the empire ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀architect of the republic’s demise⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon compliant

( 𝑴𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / rebellion sympathizer ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀the twice condemned traitor⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon compliant

( 𝑴𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / resistance general ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀never underestimate the elderly⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon compliant

[sepdet]

I hate to be That Guy, but it was Pompey who cleared the Mediterranean of pirates.

You should indeed be That Guy. My grey matter is turning to garum.

I'm sure you know what I was misremembering: young Julius Caesar drumming up a posse to avenge himself on the pirates who had kidnapped him. At the time, he was the Roman equivalent of a tween going off to college.

He didn't yet have the clout, backing or experience for a Mediterranean-wide anti-piracy campaign. His elders had it sewn up before he was ready to veni, vidi, vici.

I need to go back and reread Colleen McCullough. (What did grad students do before those books came out? I know, I know, Suetonius, Tacitus, et alia, but boy did she do her homework.)

[jaskierx]

republic of pirates dashboard simulator

thanks to @sherlockig for the screencaps 💕

part 2

👃ilostmynoseatspanishjackiez Follow

has anyone else heard this rumour that @managainstbeast is actually blackbeard's alt account??

🎣managainstbeast

that's ridiculous, please stop spreading this, fishermen and pirates are nothing alike and my beard isn't even black

#ffs #posts from the fishing boat

2,037 notes

🇸🇪officialswede

i got tagged by @iamsteakknife to share my top 3 types of fruit :)

oranges

more oranges

enough oranges to never get scurvy again

tagging all of jackie's other husbands and also @bloodbucketbill 💕 (no pressure guys)

#tag game #cw scurvy

7 notes

⛵️gentlemanprivates

hhhhhhhhhhh i neeeeeeeed him 🥵

🏝️republicofbirates Follow

he literally just set a man on fire.....

⛵️gentlemanprivates

don't care didn't ask getting his dick tattooed on my leg as we speak

#fucking antis

1,398 notes

🏴‍☠️hoistthemainsail

spotify wrapped is out and my top genre is sea shanties again loool some things never change

2 notes

🍻spanish-jackiez

SPECIAL OFFER - ONE NIGHT ONLY - STEDE BONNET SPECIAL

2 for 1 on nose jar juice

🎸catsarewitches

as well as an EXCLUSIVE SALE on 100% GENUINE commemorative planks, autographs, and Gentleman Pirate tattoos!!

187 notes

🥪rop-snack-shack

fuuuuuuck i wish people would stop dining and dashing. i run a small business and there's a cost of living crisis. i can't afford this

🥪rop-snack-shack

blocking everyone in the notes who is condoning not paying for food btw. i don't care if you're a famous pirate i need to pay my fucking bills

76 notes

🌊keeptheseaclean Follow

smh just fished this up...does anybody know who it belongs to. I want to talk to them about how the ocean is not a dumpster for their crap

⚔️swashbuckled Follow

looks like blackbeard's?? @blackbeard

🎣managainstbeast

not mine mate

👃ilostmynoseatspanishjackiez Follow

forgot to switch to your sideblog? 👀

🎣managainstbeast

blocked

#posts from the fishing boat

55 notes

[absolutebl]

Wedding Plan Trash Watch!

You ready to snuffle-kiss the burn? 

Before I start...

Find out about Mame and the Mameverse here.

Find my other trash watches of her and others here. 

We all know what we are getting in for, 7 episodes of BLduggery. To crane your neck as you drive by the car wreck or not... that is the question. Me? I'm wallowing in the guts. 

Episode 1 - In which I craft an ode to Dumpster Fires Everywhere 

I am sorry, but they opened with Battle Hymn of the Republic for PrapaiSky’s wedding? I busted out laughing. 

Also, you KNOW I can’t just let that go. 

Ready?

LET’S SING! (Bet you’d never thought I’d type those words). 

Battle Hymn of BL Tumblr

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the trash This is barely even BL it’s just Mame writing slash  She hath set ablaze such garbage in pursuit of all our cash But the trash watch must go on! 

 (Buh buh ba buh) 

Glory, glory hallelujah!  Mame hit us with a sewer.  Spoiling all our fun, Oh the shit storm has begun, But the trash watch must go on! 

I have seen the dumpster-fires of a hundred BL tropes She will sacrifice her ukes ’til they’ve lost all of their hopes We will watch in righteous anger while the refuse burns and smokes But the trash watch must go on! 

 (Buh buh ba buh) 

Glory, glory hallelujah!  Life’s rough for a BL reviewer.  When OG BL fans run afoul of Mame stans  But the trash watch must go on! 

 Buh buh buh buh! 

Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here for the next 7 weeks. Yes some of my rhyming conventions are awkward af but I never claimed to be a filker. Now where was I?

Oh YES, 

STILL AT THE VERY BEGINNING. 

Where have I seen this seme before? Oh! Top Secret Together. 

Micky D sponsorship? Nice. I’m impressed. 

Too many sound effects, abort! Is that the sound tech from Lovely Writer I sniff? Someone please fire his ass. Yes, it must be him. Only a straight dude misuses buttons like that. 

I feel Nuea’s pain I too hate the gym. 

This better not be in one of those situations where after instalove our seme arranges for the wedding planner boy he likes to plan his own wedding so that he can marry him at the end. 

Lots of pronouns going astray in that sentence, but you get my meaning. 

Drag baby around. Locker room. Kabeldon 

Honestly? And this is not usually a criticism I lob at Mame ( I know is there anything I have lobbed at her?) but the leads seem a bit stiff and uninspired. 

It is just me? 

Episode 2 - What’s this? Oh is that boredom? 

What are these boys in these office BLs doing behind their desks on those computers? They never actually seem to be working at all. They’re like brochure stock art ads for boys on computers. 

I had to skip most of the humiliating stuff with the food in the car and whatever was going on because… aargh. 

They keep ordering food in this episode of nobody’s eating it. And it looks really good and I’m hungry and this is very upsetting to me. 

Lom is just totally jerking Nuea around. Just tell him what your relationship is with the bride. 

There’s no need to be so fucking coy about it. 

I love the flaming yelling fit from Nuea tho.  

It was also a good kiss. 

But that’s what we expect from a Mame. 

Mame giveth and mame taketh away. 

Somewhat dull episode frankly. Even with the kiss.

Sigh. What have I become?

Episode 3 - WHAT IS THIS? There is nothing about this episode that pleased me even a tiny bit. Except Noel’s hair. But that wasn’t part of the script. 

Buckle up, I got A LOT to say. 

It’s a pleasure to welcome you back to your normal and expected ABL meets Mame interface where... ABL LOSES THEIR TINY MIND. 

Right on schedule it feels like. 

Ready?

Oh who am I kidding, you sadists life for this shizz. And you can’t tell me you don’t. 

Lom is so frustrating. 

I wanna punch him too. Sing it, sister! 

Random water sports. (And not of the kind one might expect from Mame. Stop it. You know she would go there. She’d think it was edgy.) 

Peeps! 

We need a name for when a BL reviews itself. 

It keeps happening. 

Should you tell him everything? 

Yes. 

1000 times yes. 

I’m basically screaming it at the screen. 

TELL HIM!!!! 

You tricked him into a date without telling him a single thing about what’s actually going on. Are you insane? 

What the hell. 

You keep kissing him but he is planning your wedding. How fucked up are you? You monster 

A Mame show calling out its own exploitive sexism is so fucking awkward. 

Mame. Sweetheart. Snookums. Sugarbeans. Shaken-baccon. You don’t have enough fucking talent to go meta. Leave it to the better BLs to follow trends. Your shizz is old fashioned and that’s why people like it. Don’t try to be classy, it makes this whole shit show just look even more shabby. 

Poor baby. 

Now he’s doubting himself completely. 

What are these assholes doing to you? 

Come with me. 

I’m going to transport you to this other terrible BL trash watch happening right now, where there is a LOVELY adorable boy named Max and I think you would be perfect together. 

So it’s basically just Narnia-level closet cases we are dealing with here? 

THAT’S IT?

THAT’S THE EXCUSE FOR THIS LEVEL OF MANIPULATION?

WHAT IS GOING ON? 

Nuea is such a cutie.

I want to punch Lom all over again.   

Noel looks v pretty as a blond. 

The proposal sequence was unnecessary. But at least I don’t wanna punch anyone. 

THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE for lying. For manipulation. For not understanding how you’re betraying another person’s faith in himself. 

Especially not if you’re in the position of power: social, cultural, employer. 

Why doesn’t Mame EVER understand this? 

You can’t have a character that is sincere and earnest in love and yet entirely lacking in all forms of integrity. 

This is driving me crazy. 

No one is in the show is as crazy as this show is making me.

I started this episode wanting to punch Lom, and I’m ending this episode wanting to punch Lom.

That’s a mame plot for ya. 

No character development at all, on any side of the screen. 

And someone, mostly me, is always left with a mad desire to punch something. 

Frankly, I kinda want to punch the screen.

Episode 4 - I Am Going to Start Drinking

I like consent especially when “no” is activated. But this being Mame she shoe horns it in and then the seme ignores it. 

It’s so awkward. She’s actually incapable of making any non-problematic tropes sexy. It’s like there is only one lane for her shows and that lane is...

the WORST 

My “Punch Lom in the face 2023” campaign continues.

I don’t see how he can ever become a sympathetic character. He just trundles along lying by omission (when speaking up would make everything better). I hate him. 

I’m glad we get to see Nuea suffering, now show Lom what he has done and make him lose the boy. 

No? No.

Instead Lom gets rewarded with sex for being a sleazy lying gutless jerk? Well terds to both you fine gentlemen. 

I mean, very gay of you, Nuea sweetie. 

“Because just SOOOO hot” being the #1 excuse in my personal “I slept with WHAT?” experience. (Heh, to be fair I’m often the WHAT? in that equation. I live to be someone’s bad mistake... just not Lom-level-bad. 

Where was I? 

Oh yeah, Gaga has the sex scene. FYI. Came outta nowhere, that sex scene did. Very disjointed... not that kind of joint. Not that kind either.

It’s not a particularly impressive sex scene, which is disappointing. Because WHY ELSE WOULD WE BE WATCHING?

I mean, if you’re going to have your characters (and by extension us) forfeit all integrity and taste in order to watch your stupid show, the least you could do is give us decent chemistry. 

I’m not saying this is worse than LITA but at least LITA was hot.

It wasn’t anything else. But it was hot.

This this is 

not hot. 

In conclusion: if Nuea’s baby bro doesnt’t punch Lom in the face next week I will have to start drinking on Weds...

oh wait!

BMF ends this Friday! I can switch to drinking mid week!

YES

(I have a new rule: only one BL a week is allowed to drive me to drink in any give rotation.) 

Imma preemptively point out that I am aware that bearding and lavender marriages are still quite common all over the world. I would whole heartedly support a good depiction of it. (Even one where it stays fix in the beard position.) This is NOT a good depiction. 

I shall draw your attention to 2017′s rarely discussed (not really BL) We Are Gamily out of... you guessed it... Taiwan. You can argue with me about this only AFTER you have watched that. 

Okay, back to the trash watch. 

Episode 5 - I Neglected to Drink and that was a Mistake

Ate a lot of crap traveling home today (feel gross) + tumblr new desktop UX has me pissed + Mame & alcohol? I’m not sure I’d survive. So no alcohol. 

Here we go. 

Poor Nuea feels so guilty. 

Please save me from ever feeling that way after sex. *shudder* 

Before you ask, to the best of my knowledge, I have never slept with a married person. I’ve slept with married people... married to each other mind you... but I hope that makes it clear everyone was consensual. (I recommend it, by the way. Being a unicorn is lots of fun.) 

Where was i? 

We were dealing with punching Lom not my misspent youth. 

(looks at calendar. wait, that was last month.) 

PUNCH LOM 2023! 

Queen! 

I love her.

It wasn’t a physical punch but a verbal one is almost as good. (And can be more damaging in the long run.) 

Could we please still have an actual punch?

Pretty please?

Mame punches her characters all the time. And no character ever deserved a punching more than Lom. 

I do wish there was a nice boy back home to scoop Nuea up. 

That line of boys wanting him, could we see it, not be told it? 

I do like the random sinshine hyung side couple. 

Omg. COLD MICKY D?! 

That might just be the most objectionable moment in this whole show. 

And that’s a tall order. 

Pun intended.

(straight, HA! pun not intended but still very much THERE) 

Was I pleased we got multiple characters who are just outright gay? Yes. 

But representation has not been one of Mame’s issues. 

I mean Tharn was one of the first openly gay seme leads in a Thai BL, and she also had rep for lube and condoms in that show. That’s not the issue with TharnType. Or Mame. 

Her issues tend to revolve around story structure and audience manipulation. 

Was I pleased that Nuea knew what was going on? Yes, I’m glad he’s not totally clueless. 

I still want Lom to be punched in the face and I’m still mad at this show. 

Episode 6 - Too hot to drink, still a Mistake

I finally figured out my real problem with Lom. It’s not that he was closeted and manipulative without good reason (although he is). It’s not that he lied and strung Nuea along for a lot longer than was necessary (because he did). It is that he basically does everything for himself and his own ends. Even when he’s confessing his love it comes off as flat because it isn’t about Nuea and what Nuea wants or needs, it’s about Lom wants.

Hanging a lampshade on it doesn’t make it right. 

It was good bridge kiss. And car kiss. And sex kisses. 

There is something corrupted grunge romantic asking the person you love most in the world to hide that love and climb back into the closet with you for the sake of your nasty arse family (is that a queer taboo, hum). I’m not saying lavender marriages are necessarily wrong, I’m just saying it’s an interesting plot twist in a BL. 

I think we HAVE to hold this up and examine it in stark contrast to the final ep of Bad Buddy. It’s interesting how the closet retreat didn’t bother me at all in BB, and I thought it was quite a clever and elegant ending twist. Whereas here it’s just annoying. It’s not making me as angry as it probably should. But it is annoying as a narrative conceit and denouement.

Can I ask a question.

 It’s not a serious question, of course. 

What is up with all of the shows this year having dates on lakes featuring that thing where you ride a funny little floaty-boat while being dragged behind a fast boat. I’m sure it has a name, but I could not care less. New sponsor? 

The sex scene was fine. But I have to say, I wish they had leaned into the fact that Lom is a virgin and Nuea has more experience. It would’ve been a really interesting dynamic to see honestly represented on screen.

In conclusion, Nuea is a saint and next week everything comes to a head that didn’t already get head this episode.

Episode 7 - Finally I’m drinking! 

I am having a tiki beverage this evening to round out this show. Coconut rum and mango popping Boba are involved. Don’t judge. I have the alcohol palate of a 7 year old. 

I’m ready! Let’s shave this beard!

And, well, that was a pink saturated drama of the mothers in law. Enjoyable lakorn style scenery chewing. The ladies seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Lom pretending to be sad and pitiful. Also funny. 

Using his evil against his mom is acceptable. Suddenly his manipulative lying ways are working in the right direction. 

Honestly? 

This was a fine ending, I’m not mad at it. 

They managed to keep Lom in character until the end, he remained deceitful.  I would never trust him, but clearly Nuea is willing to ride that dragon. 

I guess 7/10? 

If you can tolerate Mame and liars (kinda the same thing) you’ll be fine with this show. 

But, frankly? Lom as a character would sit better amongst the drama bananas of Only Friends.

In summation: 

A lackluster Mame offering with less of her usual stellar chemistry, but all of her usual manipulation. An innocent wedding planner falls haplessly and hopelessly in love with a groom who relentlessly pursues him, even though he’s about to marry someone else. 

(source) 

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Stephen Robinson at Public Notice:

A near-majority of American voters willingly reelected Donald Trump. This harsh reality is a collective moral failure, but it’s also not a choice made in sound mind. Consider that voters believed Trump’s first presidency was a roaring success and Joe Biden’s only term a Carter-level catastrophe. It’s an upside-down Bizarro World view that ultimately played a key role in dooming Kamala Harris.

Trump’s 2024 platform was rooted in an obvious lie — that the nation under Biden’s leadership is a flaming dumpster fire and everyone was much better off when Trump was president. Democrats challenged this false reality with facts, but they ultimately lost the messaging war. Their best efforts were no match for the most powerful weapons in Trump’s propaganda arsenal — a timid press and a right-coded social social media environment. Greg Sargent reports in the New Republic that the Harris campaign’s own internal polling revealed an alarming trend: “Undecided voters didn’t believe that some of the highest profile things that happened during Trump’s presidency — even if they saw these things negatively — were his fault.” According to exit polls, Trump decisively won the questions “who do you trust more to handle the economy?” and “who do you trust most to handle a crisis?” Of course, in reality Trump utterly botched the 2020 pandemic response, which researchers concluded resulted in 40 percent more deaths than necessary. And yet swing voters are willing to risk it all again in hopes of cheaper eggs and cruelty against outgroups.

Disinformation on demand

Legacy media shoulders significant blame for their “sanewashing” of Trump’s incoherency and deteriorating mental state. Voters believed Trump could fix a steadily improving economy despite his promotion of inflationary tariffs. The media even presented Trump’s rants as cogent discussions of economic theory.

It’s worth noting, however, that an NBC poll from April revealed that voters who received news primarily from legacy media (newspapers, cable news, etc.) still overwhelmingly supported Biden. Trump owes his victory in great part to low-propensity voters of all races, including young men, and those voters don’t necessarily form their views based on mainstream media reporting. Rather, far too many are stuck in an online social media bubble where they are delivered a steady diet of rightwing propaganda. The median age of a Fox News viewer is 68, and liberals have joked about the network “brainwashing” their conservative parents. But rightwing social media content has effectively targeted and radicalized younger people, who — unlike the typical Hannity-obsessed grandpa — can vote for the next several decades. TikTok, which Trump joined in June, has 170 million users in the United States, and according a Pew Research survey, more than half of them said they regularly get their news from the platform. That’s up from just 22 percent in 2020. This is a serious concern because the far right uses TikTok to advance unfounded conspiracy theories and outright lies.

[...]

Lower income Americans, particularly young people, do spend more of their income on groceries, rent, and gas. That’s why Republicans were so laser focused on the price of eggs. Unfortunately, there’s a dearth of liberal content countering the negative vibes. Of course, explaining the post-pandemic economic recovery is complex and requires more than a punchy one-minute video can convey. Although people might idly scroll TikTok all day, consuming 60-second quick hit videos like potato chips, they will balk at reading an extensive, well-reported news article. That’s too filling a meal.

According to a University of Oregon study, 40 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of Republicans surveyed said they’d become more conservative from their TikTok usage. Half of the Democrats surveyed said they’d grown more liberal, but a lot of far-left content on TikTok is downright alienating and can sound like MAGA’s idea of a strawman leftist. For instance, one user boasted that she “didn’t care” if liberal economic and social policies “hurt the economy,” thus conceding that those policies are in fact harmful to economic progress. TikTok’s artificial “vibecession” dominated the discourse, while abortion-related content was actively suppressed even while pregnant women were bleeding out in parking lots. Users of the platform resorted to disguising the word “abortion” as “aborshun” or “ab0rti0n” in order to reach an audience. TikTok has a longstanding policy against promoting abortion services, which it classifies as “unsuitable businesses, products or services.” However, TikTok, YouTube, and Meta have allowed users to spread and monetize anti-abortion misinformation. Studies have shown an interesting gender gap in where young people receive their news on social media: For most women, it’s TikTok, while most men learn about the world from YouTube, X, and Reddit, all of which have become havens of crude masculinity.

On YouTube, 56 percent of users are between the ages of 18 and 44. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based nonprofit that researches extremism, conducted a four-part research project this year that determined YouTube’s algorithm consistently steers users to rightwing and Christian content. The algorithm does this even with seemingly apolitical search terms, like “male lifestyle guru,” which YouTube reflexively associates with conservative ideology. Rightwing news content was also more frequently recommended, including anti-vaxxer videos. As far back as 2019, both YouTube and Facebook’s autofill search boxes would return content that promoted anti-vaccine misinformation.

[...]

Why rightwing content has the edge

When Kamala Harris appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast, host Alexandra Cooper told her listeners, “I do not usually discuss politics or have politicians on the show because I want Call Her Daddy to be a place that everyone feels comfortable tuning in.” Left-leaning podcasters/social media content creators often avoid politics for fear of turning off their right-leaning fans. Joe Rogan and Dave Portnoy at Barstool Sports don’t bother with such apologies when they have rightwing guests because it doesn’t compromise their brand. They are rightwing cultural influencers. Liberal podcaster Hasan Piker recently commented on the impact rightwing influencers have on young men of all races.

“There is a massive amount of rightwing radicalization that has been occurring, especially in younger male spaces. Everything is completely dominated by rightwing politics,” he said. “If you’re a dude under the age of 30 and you have any hobbies whatsoever, whether it’s playing video games, whether it’s working out, whether it’s listening to a history podcast or whatever, every single facet of that is completely dominated by center right to [the] Trumpian right. Everything they see is rightwing sentiment.”

Rogan and Portnoy might not present as overtly political as Walsh and Shapiro, but their edgy, hyper masculine personas are pure MAGA. Even billionaire CEO Elon Musk likes to present himself as a “disrupter,” an agent of change who boldly confronts the status quo. Anyone who’s seen the more popular indie films of the 1970s would realize how compelling this narrative is to young men. The subtle way that Rogan and Portnoy infuse politics into their personas presents a contrast with left-leaning social media content. The liberal TikToker or YouTuber who releases videos about home makeovers might endorse Democratic politicians during election season while wearing their “just voted” sticker, but rightwing influencers prime their audience on a daily basis. Young men marinate in a stew of rightwing sentiment and end up resenting the libs.

Stephen Robinson wrote in Public Notice a very valid case that a right-coded media environment gave Donald Trump the decisive boost to get elected, such as praising the disastrous Trump reign as a “success.”

Social media algorithms heavily favored right-coded and pro-Trump content, despite the never-ending whining about “censorship” from conservatives.

[solarbird]

Trump’s loser stench is getting stronger and stronger, and it’s not just Republicans distancing themselves anymore, like you’ve been seeing in the federal Senate – Harris just picked up a popular Georgia Republican’s endorsement.

Try not to hold it against her.

It’s for the obvious reasons, of course; they’re starting to think he’s going to go down hard, and he’s going to drag a lot of them down with him. If they’re hedging this hard with three months left in the campaign, they either have some incredibly strong sinking feelings in their stomachs, or some really remarkable numbers from polls they trust.

So this isn’t really about the Presidential race, this time. Everything I’ve said before is still critical; get to your Trumpy family and friends. Use Vance as a lever to open their eyes; he’s just as venial and bizarre as Trump is, but with no charisma and more importantly no celebrity, so lacks the shielding it brings. Talk about climate change (real), talk about the threat to the Republic (very fucking real), talk about just how goddamn weird it is that they want to demand genetic tests to make sure women who were assigned female at birth and grew up as girls and then women are actually women by some racist misogynist standard they just made up. Talk about all of it, chip away at them one day after another, tick tick tick tick.

Do all of that, but also, this is about voting downballot, which is to say, all the way down to not just Senate and not just House, but state and local races.

Lower level Republicans are starting to taste their own fear, and that’s good. This can’t be just about the fascist on top, but all the chibi cheeto mussolinis who bought into this nightmare.

The Republican Party has to fucking hurt for putting us all, and this country, and the entire world, through this hell. And it has to hurt for a while.

Tuesday is the last day of voting here in Washington State. It’s a primary election; we’re picking the final two candidates on the November ballot. Because of our history and reasons, we don’t have guaranteed partisan elections in November; some of our ballots then will be between two Democrats, or two Republicans, or one of each, or one of a major party and a minor party or an independent. It’s not the ranked choice voting system I think we need, but it’s better than the usual way.

Have you voted yet? If not, get it done.

Many of you may have primary elections soon as well. Get that done, because this is where you do vote your absolute conscience, should you so choose.

But then in November, remember – the Republican Party must pay for this, and not just Trump. It has to hurt all the way down. So get familiar with your Federal representatives, get familiar with your state and local elections, figure out what popular initiatives you might have on your ballot, because all of it matters, and all of it will keep mattering for years to come.

Not that it didn’t matter before, of course. But local elections are how you get cops browsing for books to ban, how you get libraries declared “18 and over only”, how you get women charged with murder for taking an abortion pill. The Federal is where this evil shit has been unleashed, but it’s at the state and local where it gets enforced.

(E.g., this year, the rightists are trying to undo our efforts to fight climate change in order to boost and gas companies, via Initiative 2117; they’re trying to wipe out the capital gains tax and give the wealthy a huge tax break, via Initiative 2109; they want to throttle long-term health care, via Initiative 2124; a very predictable “parent’s bill of rights” which is substantially about raising the same sorts of racist and anti-LGBT hell they’ve been raising elsewhere, via Initiative 2081. All these will be on our ballot in November.)

So keep your eye on the big prize, of course. The number one job is driving “day one dictator” Trump into the dumpster fire of history. But the number two job, and only slightly less important, is the repudiation all the way down to school board and – if you have such an elected position – dogcatcher.

Every elected Republican has to take the hit. Every single one of them. Even if it’s just by winning by meaningfully less than they’re used to winning. Whatever you can do, this is the year to do it.

92 days remain.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Nick Anderson

* * * *

SOTU DEBRIEF - DARK BRANDON BRINGS IT!

TCINLA

MAR 8, 2024

The Party of Class and Integrity celebrates another ass whipping - look at all those around the Dumbest Congressional Bimbo Ever as they realize how bad they got their asses kicked

Last night’s State of the Union was a punch in the face not only of the heckling MAGAT Morons, but the Otherwise-Unemployables of the DC Press Corpse. As well, the Democrat’s Professional Pearl Clutcher’s Caucus can join the others in officially retiring “He’s too old” once and for damn all. The Press Corpse stands today beside their MAGAt buddies, trying not to admit to the exact nature of the material covering their faces.

Over.

Done.

Finished.

The official Democratic response to this collection of clucks from now to November is, “You saw that State of the Union speech. Joe Biden is sharper than Donald Trump will ever be and is ready for the fight.”

You can tell November’s Losers saw their coming loss clearly when their majority criticism of President Biden was “He was too mean and talked too fast!” You know he left a mark. That was the most perfectly tuned-in SOTU speech I have ever seen, delivered with fire and energy by a man as far from the Press Corpse’s concept of a doddering old man, diminished in drive and energy as possible. The New York Times Opinion Section got hit in the face by a freight train of ideas and energy.

Joe was Old Man Strong. Dark Brandon. Killer Joe.

Biden delivered.

It was the best center-left populist presidential speech ever. Less technocratic than Obama; less curated than Clinton - a solid knock-it-over-the-outfield-fence.

As many Republicans feared, Biden was more than able to “spar with the disruptors,” as one observer reported, using their jeers to make his own policy points. (“Sparring with MAGAts” is also known as “shooting fish in a barrel”). It’s hard to believe the GOP could be so stupid with their heckling that they walked straight in to a second SOTU trap, that went off when Biden maneuvered them perfectly into taking their proposed $2 trillion dollar tax cut off the table. But then again, they are Republicans, and it’s well-known you have to score an IQ lower than ambient room temperature to get your party card there nowadays.

Biden’s speech was combative and sharp, the solid punch in MAGA’s face they’ve been asking for every day for so long. The “senile” narrative went flying into the dumpster fire. Once again, Republicans set the bar too low, and got knocked on their collective fat ass.

Joe argued forcefully from the strong side about America’s destiny, security, and purpose, laying down a fierce bright line against Putin and the forces of autocracy.

He more than made it through the SOTU address. That moment his supporters always fear never came. Politico, demonstrating that most real political knowledge is 20/20 hindsight, called the speech the “turn-the-tables SOTU.” They go on to report that the Biden campaign had their best two hours of fundraising so far in this cycle from 9 to 11 p.m. last night. A CNN flash poll finds that 62 percent of viewers thought the policies Biden laid out would move the country in the right direction.

The New Republic’s Osita Nwanevu wrote: “That overall impression—of a vigorous president, strong enough to take the fight to his detractors —will linger more deeply in the minds of most who watched than the substance of anything he said.”

But what was really interesting to me was watching the political midget behind Biden’s left shoulder. Mike Johnson’s histrionic facial expressions demonstrated everything wrong, idiotic, dangerous and treasonous about MAGA Republicans.

Johnson was both ridiculous and politically smaller than he actually is. He did applaud Biden’s call for aid to Ukraine early in the speech, which he does seem to support personally, even though doing so demonstrated how he’s too afraid of his crazy caucus to allow a straight-up vote. He is likely to go down in history as the one person who more than any other handed Ukraine to Vladimir Putin.

His mugging for the camera was more obviously overdone than what passed for “emoting” in silent movies. He nodded that solemn “more in anger than in sorrow” nod. He rolled his eyes more than a teenage girl listening to her elders.

What was really sad was noting what he rolled his eyes at! The most important was January 6 (of which he is a noted participant in the attempted coup). When Biden said: “We must be honest. The threat to democracy must be defended. My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about Jan. 6. I will not do that.” MAGAMike gave his most sustained eye roll. Close runner-ups were his responses to abortion rights and freedom, and the border bill that he killed when told to by Dear Leader. And he did that last one while Senator James Lankford - the chief GOP negotiator on the bill - listened to Biden lay out its provisions and nodded on camera, clearly mouthing “That’s true.” Mikey even shook his head at “buy American”!

His eye roll over “The very idea of America is that we are all created equal, deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either,” was the real demonstration of just how dangerous he really is.

The MAGA Republican Party doesn’t believe we’re all equal. MAGA, and MAGA Mike, knows that if you’re not a right-wing Christian, you are not a good American.

Of course, there was also Marjorie Traitor Goon, whose ridiculous getup and MAGA hat elicited a “WTF?” look from Biden when he first saw her - and which was in apparent violation of House rules (but then, she IS a violation of House rules). Lindsey Graham’s pasted-on embarrassed smile at least demonstrates he has more self-awareness than his fellow MAGA cockroaches, as he considers how far he has fallen. Watching the MAGA screamer in the gallery get arrested was nice. It came down to just how dumbstruck the Republicans were as this man who - according to the Volkischer Beobachter, er, I mean Faux Snooze - can’t remember his own middle name or string two sentences together, zingered them repeatedly as he publicly exposed their un-American extremism.

Overall, Biden’s speech showed how he can win, and how MAGA, being on the wrong side of history, will lose.

And then, savoing the speech, just when I had forgotten there was going to be an Official Response, there was “America’s Mom,” sitting on a stool in her kitchen, there in East Buttfuck, Alabam-bam. Katie Britt had the most scenery-chewing response to a SOTU speech I’ve ever seen, and given that her competition was the ever-thirsty Marco Rubio and the ever-hapless Bobby Jindal, that was quite a win. Just another example of The Rising Young GOP Star, Cursed Forever by the SOTU Response.

The kitchen setting was the perfect metaphor for what MAGA intends for women: put them back in their place - “Kinder Kirche Kuche,” as their wonderboy Adolf put it.

I’ve spent enough time in Hollywood to be completely conversant with serious failure in public, and Britt’s performance didn’t even rise to the local-dinner-theater overacting you see from those who never had talent to begin with. With a Republican candidate for governor in her state of Alabambam campaigning on revoking women’s right to vote, and all the other MAGA moves to make the Handmaid’s Tale a documentary, delivering her speech in a kitchen was…

A choice. One of those tiny moments that completely illuminate the larger reality.

And then…

Appropos of nothing other than I love it when a Real Asshole gets punched really hard in the face, the news this morning that Doctor Feelgood Ronny Jackson has “Gotten His” brings a smile to my face that might last the weekend:

After the Defense Department Inspector General report on the White House Medical Unit found “Doctor Feelgood” had engaged in “inappropriate conduct” when he was the top White House physician for Presidents Obama and Trump, the Navy removed him from the Rear Admiral list last June. Yes, Jackson, who was a rear admiral when he retired in 2019, is now listed as a captain.

A spokesperson for the Navy stated that the “substantiated allegations in the DoDIG investigation of Rear Adm Ronny Jackson are not in keeping with the standards the Navy requires of its leaders and, as such, the Secretary of the Navy took administrative action in July 2022.”

Hurrah!

The losers just keep on losing. It’s what losers do.

[justgottafinishthischapter]

How do I go about fleshing out a city and making it feel lived in? Especially when the main protagonists are royal/wealthy and don't see the city from the ground level

A character arc is identified by a few key character elements: namely the Lie and the Truth. The Lie is the false reality they believe at the start of the story, and the Truth is the true reality they discover. This can be an internal lie and truth, such as they are worthy of being loved, or an external truth, like the war is not a way of spreading their nation's greatness to other countries. The revelation from the lie to the truth is the turning point in the character arc, when they start to shift from their Want to their Need. When it comes to building a city, the lie is the glitz and glam they can see from their ivory tower. The truth is the scum and muck that they've never noticed before but was always there. Using LA as a great example, it's a city that looks like a paradise of celebirites, hot people, movies, television, music, and everything else. But LA also has low income housing too. Many flock to LA to chase their dreams, only to end up working minimum wage jobs. Artists successful and failed have higher drug usage percentiles in a big city like LA than other cities. So you need to ask yourself: what is the idealized image of the city. How do those outside the city look at it? Then ask yourself: what is the grim reality of the city? 19th Century london had work houses, child labor, people worked in extremely hazardous work environments where carelessness could lead to getting mangled in a machine, or going home with a lungful of soot. Charles Dickenson famously had a problem with 19th Century London's classism, which is why he often focused on poor working class protagonists.

I would suggest looking at movies and television that involve noble and/or royal characters and take notes on how their old world views get torn down by other characters. Zuko had to defect from the Fire Nation entirely and slum it through the Earth Kingdom to truly see the faces of the people hurt by the Hundred Years War. Amity had to meet Luz in order to realize there was a path forward that didn't involve joining the Emperor's Coven. By season 2, she doesn't even want to join it anymore because she's now searching to find what she wants to make of her own life. Weiss Schnee is a pampered spoiled heiress that was taught to be racist toward Faunus. But by the time she returns to her homeland of Atlas, she flings a random guy into a dumpster for saying racist comments about Faunus. By learning about these characters and how they make these kinds of changes can help you in writing your own characters.

As for designing the city: every memorable location needs a landmark or something about it that makes it recognizable. If it's a fantasy, you definitely want to think about defensibility. A huge seat of power for a royal family needs high walls to defend itself. Even if you're in more of an 19th century Victorian-styled setting, there could still be walls from long ago. Look at other fantasy cities. The Northern Water Tribe resembles an arctic venice, using channel locks to raise and lower the water levels to keep out outsiders, and ice doors to let allied ships in and out of the city. Ba Sing Se is instantly recognizable by its ring structure and its 100 foot high walls. Republic City is most recognizable for the giant statue of Aang in Yue Bay. The towns and cities in Attack on Titan have high walls for necessity to keep out the Titans. Likewise, any medieval fantasy world with ogres and trolls running around is going to want walls to protect the everyday commoners from harm.

Magic or technology can also change how a city is structured. Think again about how Earth Benders are imprisoned on a metal tankard in the middle of the ocean to rob them of their power. Public transportation like a bus or blimp is going to radically change how one gets about town. How many and how quickly can get from one side to the other. Are there hard restrictions on who is allowed where? Is a petty cobbler going to be carried out of Wellington Park by the police so the rich don't have to look at him? In Howl's Moving Castle there is both magic and technology. We see steam powered locomotives, but there's also flying machines powered by magic and the eponymous castle itself uses a fire demon as a power source.

Does your city have to protect itself from flying enemies like faeries, dragons, witches, demons, vampires, griffins, or anything else like that? Walls are great at stopping armies, but stopping a gargoyle from just flying over your walls is another thing entirely.

What about your city's economy? A city on the water is going to rely on shipping, sailing, fishing, and trade. A city in the mountains is going to rely on mining and smithing. An old city likely started as a fort or military outpost, like Paris or London. Other times, cities pop up because a resource was discovered there, or a bunch of people had to migrate all at once and all chose to settle in one area. That's how you end up with a city named Swedesville in the middle of the United States. And a big city especially is going to need to be extremely rich, and probably needs something to lure more people to it. But large cities also cause their own problems, such as traffic jams, higher rent, and crowded streets.

You also should ask yourself your city's backstory and history. Both the glorious stuff the state WANTS you to learn in history class, and the not so pretty stuff that also happened. For instance, my city was named after a lesser-known hero of the Revolutionary War. He was propped up as pretty important when I was in middle school, but aside from his role in the war, we weren't taught much about his personal life. I'm willing to bet he has a skeleton or two in his closet. Every city has a past. What defines yours?

I hope this helped you piece together an idea of what you want to do or where to start looking. And good luck with your writing!

[qqueenofhades]

US-centric racial bullshit is even a problem in Canada. We LOVE pretending that we’re so much better than the United States and that our prejudices aren’t nearly as bad, but the way we’ve treated indigenous peoples has been abysmal for centuries, and most Canadians who aren’t Gen Z weren’t even aware of the worst of it until 2021. I’m not sure how many people outside of Canada know this but in 2021 they found a mass grave of 215 indigenous children outside an old residential school in Kamloops in BC, and everyone was scandalized for approximately two weeks. They’ve since searched like maybe five more schools out of over a hundred and found thousands of more bodies, and the initiative to even look has kind of fizzled out. This was my parents’ first exposure to the idea of residential schools, we’ve been sweeping this shit under the rug for decades, and we still get off to “not being the US”.

All this to say that Canadian history isn’t as flashy as the US but is still worth taking a look at. There’s a lot of harmful institutions still in place left over from like 1873 that symbolize incredibly tense political situations that continue to this day. And even our black history gets boiled down to “Underground Railroad”, oh aren’t we nice, when that’s really not all that happened.

Because I read international news and follow international politics, I am personally aware of the Canadian residential schools scandal, but it absolutely is something that fizzled out after a few weeks and was attempted to be covered up with a few boilerplate apologies and nothing in the way of real change or action. I would therefore gently question your phrasing of "US-centric racial bullshit," since the whole point of your ask is that while Canada pretends to be better than the US, it has its own specific racial and cultural blind spots relating to its own practice of racism. So would this not be more accurately called "Canada-centric racial bullshit?" After all, you're talking about something that happened in Canada, was perpetrated by Canadians, is directly related to the modern Canadian state, and as such as has been denied by white Canadians. After all, the big Trucker March of right-wingers that shut down Toronto took place in Canada, not the US. So yes, there's definitely a need to talk about Canadian racism in and of itself, and not just Canadian racism as a corollary of the US.

Canada is likewise a white settler-colonial state founded by Europeans (English and French, a split still prominent in modern Canada), and that therefore involved equally horrendous legacies of displacement and genocide against the First Nations people. Because Canada is so much smaller population-wise (300 million+ in the US vs just 38 million in Canada), it has thus to some degree been forced to expand its population by relying on immigrants and refugees. And to its credit, it has been more proactive about accepting refugees than the US. But there are still plenty of right-wingers who think that a geographically enormous and empty country like Canada, with only 38 million people, is getting too "crowded" with "foreigners." Likewise, Canada is still officially a part of the Commonwealth, aka the lightly rebranded British Empire, so its formal head of state is the UK monarch. And to the best of my knowledge, there haven't been any serious conversations about breaking that link and reorganizing as a republic, the way there have been in Caribbean Commonwealth countries like Jamaica and Barbados (which in fact just did it). That is because white first-world Canadians can see association with the British Empire as a "prestige," instead of the legacy of slavery and exploitation that was the British Empire against majority-black countries in the Caribbean.

Anyway: Canadians are always stereotyped as the nice people who apologize for everything and mind their business, and yes, the flaming dumpster fire of America would make anyone feel superior about not being that. But it doesn't mean there's no problems or that it's a perfect society free of its own flaws and failures, and Americans are also definitely guilty of treating it as some magical escape valve: witness the "I'm going to move to Canada" refrain when something political goes wrong here. In some ways, yes, that would be preferable, viz. free healthcare and strict gun laws. But yeah.

[direwolfrules]

3 Mandos and a Baby AU: The Republic

For the first part of this AU things go according to canon for the wider Republic. Listen, they are four time traveling dumbasses who can barely manage to fix one sector, they’re not even going to attempt to touch that dumpster fire. When the Clone Wars break out they’re more than okay with hunkering down and trying to fortify Mandalore. Honestly, the survivors of the Siege of Mandalore could do with never seeing another plastoid covered clone in their lives.

Unfortunately for them Korkie’s a bleeding heart with a passionate hatred for slavery. He was partially raised by the force ghosts of Jaster Mereel and Myles the Mandalorian, two people who spent half their time screaming about the bastard slaver cowards who really killed Jango, long before Mace Windu’s lightsaber ever entered the picture, and 99, who tells Korkie such terrible stories about Kamino that he gets nightmares.

Korkie fucks off to Coruscant to deliver an address to the Senate. Everyone’s all tense because last they heard from the Mandalore system was there was a coup. Quite a few people are worried about whatever this barbaric, savage warlord is going to say. And what has he done to poor Duchess Satine?! (He gave her a “sorry for overthrowing your government” card, that’s what he did)

Korkie rolls up to the Senate dome in full armor, calls them all slaving monsters, and then pledges Mandalore to fight with Republic on the condition that they get at least partial control of Kamino’s security. They’re not going to be fighting for the Republic, Korkie says, they’re gonna be fighting for all the Mandalorian citizens they’ve enslaved for this war. (Clone freedom underground go brrrrr)

The Senate’s going crazy. One guy, maybe the Senator from Nemodia, questions what he’s done with good Duchess Satine and why should they entrust the source of their army to an illegitimate ruler? Korkie responds with “Honestly, do you all think I killed my aunt?” and sets the record straight but like, everyone comes away feeling nervous and with the impression that the Kryze family needs serious therapy.

Obi-Wan lets out the world’s tiniest sigh of relief upon hearing the news that Satine was okay. And also kinda surprised that she has a nephew because last he checked her and Bo-Katan didn’t have any siblings? Eh, she probably just adopted a more distant clan member or something.

Anakin’s not sure how to feel about the new Mand’alor. Like, the guy said he’d fight with them, and he made it really clear he hates slavery. Two massive pluses in his book. But he had rubbed the Chancellor the wrong way. Anakin’s knows this because Palpatine stopped Padme to chat about how much of a power grab Mandalore was making with these demands and how much of threat this was and stuff. And Anakin trusts the Chancellor. Plus, Obi-Wan’s been super freaked out since news of the coup hit the holo. Anakin is supposed to be the biggest source of stress in Obi-Wan’s life!

The Senate quickly comes to anticipate Korkie’s visits with a healthy combination of fear and awe. It seems like every time he shows up another dozen or so Senators are arrested for corruption related reasons. One time he just pops in to read off Orn Fre Taa’s crimes for over three hours. Each individual offense is read out, and when he gets to the slaving he reads out every name. Every goddamn name.

Bo can’t help but be proud and also a little sad, When he’s up there giving his passionate speeches about tyranny she’s reminded of another Korkie, one who may have lived had he not kept running back into the fires that night.

Anyway, Korkie’s always wearing armor and the helmet mic + they fact that this boy is tall makes him seem older than he is. The first time anyone outside of Mandalore sees him without his helmet he’s on the Coronet, escorting his Aunt Satine to go speak on his behalf on the issue of clone rights. The cast of who’s on the ship changes only slightly, Padme joins in place of Orn Fre Taa and Mandalore’s new senator is Vel Batin, who’s honestly just so cool and may or may not have adopted like seven vode.

Korkie takes off his helmet for dinner and everyone just kinda chokes cause that is a child. Well, except Obi-Wan. He chokes cause that is teenage him sitting across the way. Well, except the ears, but seriously what the hell? Anakin pulls a pro-gamer move and says something like “Huh, I didn’t know Mandalore had child politicians too. How old are you?”

And Korkie being a cheeky little shit answers 17 while putting on his best Kenobi smile, and then immediately goes back to texting Fenn about the new ad Bo totally isn’t adopting. Obi-Wan proceeds to have a mental breakdown over the salad, Satine is just left sitting there awkwardly, and Anakin and Padme are left sipping martinis while everyone else is confused what just happened and still reeling from the revelation that the Mand’alor is a teenage boy. Orn Fre Taa was thrown in prison by a teenage boy. The senate was read for filth by a teenage boy. Suddenly a lot of things make a lot more sense.

The GAR love Korkie. Like, when he shows up to the Senate every brother who’s able tunes in to watch his speeches. The Coruscant Guard have named him their official vod’ika. The 212th contest this on the grounds that he is their general’s biological son. The 501st just likes that he sent the Children of the Watch to the Kamino system just in time to save those stationed at Rishi base.

Palpatine’s attempts to discredit the kid or paint him as a savage monster Mando of old keep getting derailed by the fact Korkie’s just a genuinely nice kid with an excellent PR team (our favorite nameless theater kid found his calling). A holo recording of him giving Satine the “sorry I overthrew your government” card goes viral, people love that sheepish smile he has on. A whole news segment is dedicated to times he’s saved children/clones/government officials. Not to mention the cadre of animals that always follow him around.

[censored-the-redacted]

Hrng colonel, it is time, for more flags

Part 3, The Royals, Regents and Republicans

These are the two main goverments save for the socialists for most of the war, and also the royalists.

This flag is the flag of the Regency. The regency, despite the name started its reign as a democratic system established by the last king of Esclaria. This king, Antonio Reverina, established a system of electing a regent, removed all heirs and abdicated so that the goverment would be in a odd legal state of perpetual regency, essentially transitioning into a democratic system. However this tenuous transition into democracy would not end well, as the regent would slowly have their few checks eroded and the final Regent, Marco Valentino created the position of "Lord Protector" in a bid to retain his power and implement his ideology of "Guided Democracy". This, was very unpopular, though just enough of the military's and goverment backed him up for a civil war to properly break out. The Regencys only safe lands were in middle Esclaria and they had a number of separated groups of either towns that were pro regency or military's units that remained loyal. The Regency would hold bloodily onto the Esclarian River Delta, and would play a significant role in the first half of the war, fighting primarily with the Socialists and Republicans. At arround the halfway point of the war the Regent would be assassinated and his successor, Umit Batkar would hold only the Capital for the rest of the war, sustaining his city off of deliveries from Apakyie sympathizers across the sea, at the end of the war the PRA and the Republicans would sign a temporary armistice before storming the Capital. Regent Batkar would later be a major part of the Truce between the Peoples Kingdom and the Republic as his trial would be before a tribunal from each nation. The Last Regent would face

"The Standard for a United Nation" or more commonly known as the Regency Flag was the flag established by the last king of Esclaria, it represents unity within Esclaria between the Esalians (Black) the Khitabans (Red) and the Apakiye (White) while having the double meaning of unity between the Army (red) the Regent (black) and the People (white). The Circle within the Triangle in the Center, known as the Esalian Sposare represents Unity while the Laurel represents victory though unity. However this flag promoting unity is very controversial, not least of witch because it does not represent the Cordonians, Turalians or the Lyanans. Nowadays this flag has a awkward stance as those who use it are while not facist per se, they generally disregard the Existence of nations with in Esclaria in favor of stating that Esclaria is one singular nation. Alright next up, the dumpster fire that is the Royal Army Flag. So, when the king removed all his heirs, that wasn't exactly true, see what he had actually done is disinherited all of his heirs that had a clear argument or line of succession for the throne then left the the regency in legal control of determining who the next heir should be with a unlimited amount of time to maintain the regency while they choose. Now, this meant that when the inevitable monarchist faction rose up, they had many, many claimants to choose from. Now, problem was, all 16 of these candidates had roughly equal legal claim and to add onto that the Royalists had very little support since most of the religious clergy and conservatives had already went on to support another candidate. Add onto that that there were 16 candidates and, frankly there was little hope for the crowning movement to survive. Most of the time the forces with the royalists didn't even use the Royal Army flag, rather using their preferred candidates personal standard. Due to this division the Crowning movement would flounder, most of the candidates would end up dead, leaving or joining another faction. The Crowning movement would hold its position south of the Esclarian River Delta for a short while before the Regency began a significant push, The Red Royals in this time split off from the Crowning movement and consolidated enough territory to attract much of the Monarchists whos favored Canidates ran off or died, sapping much of the power from the remaining monarchists. The Peoples Royal Army and the Regency would march into the capital and have a short truce while the two remaining relevant heirs were both shot. Nowadays the Crowning movements legacy is as a ideology for edgy 14 year old's who aren't insane or attracted to orcs/humans enough to be a Sublimist and disgruntled Esclarian nationalists that dont like democracy or socialism.

The Flag of the Crowning Movement, is, notably, quite shit. The Blue Crown of the King is featured with a sideways spear cross that represents a united front. The Words on the flag are Esalian for "The Army of the Crown of the Empire of Esclaria". The White represents how hastily this flag was made and most Crowners have a different explanation on it, from it representing God, Purity, Virginity, Esalia, Esclaria, the Waterfall near the Traditional Coronation Area and so, so many more.. This flag is rather obscure in the modern day as the Crowning Movement uses a Stylized Blue Crown on a White Background over a Black Shield. This next one is the Flag of the Republican Army as well as the later Republic, Also known as the Black Star Movement and the protagonist's faction, the Republican Movement is a rather diverse group made up of most everyone who figured that Traditional Democracy was pretty nice. The Republican Movement was one of the First factions to unite under a provisional command structure and has had a rather diverse cast of ideologies from the start. The First months of the Republican movement seeing everyone from Liberals to Magocrats uniting under the leadership of one Zainab Al-Ozani, the Provisional President who would begin the Republicans winning strategy, assimilation. The Republicans had three main advantages at the start, first they had the most Wizards and Artificers of every non Regency Faction; Second they had one of the most agreeable positions of every faction in the Civil war; Third, they had undoubtedly the best propaganda machines in the civil war if not in the world, with most newspapers having a pre-existing bias towards them and with posters, speeches and radio broadcasts being pumped out on the regular. All of those advantages made assimilation exceptionally easy, ending up absorbing the entirety of the Antonians, the Labour Front and the Army of United Freedom while accepting hundreds of Defectors from the Regency, Red Royals, Constituent Front and the Maroon League. Eventually the Republicans would establish themselves as one of the Two winners of the Civil War and would sign a armistice with the Peoples Kingdom. After Victory Zainab set up elections and stepped down from office, rather amazingly not letting the Republic Spiral into another Dictatorship.

(Apologies for it looking rough, i had the finished version stored on my phone and dropped that bitch in a pool so this is the only one i have) The Flag of the Republican Movement, also known as the Black Star flag, it is a much more pluralistic flag than the Regency, with the Greyish blue representing a varied Democracy and the six White Stars representing the Esalians, Cordonians, Khitabans, Turalians, Lyanans and Apakyie of Esclaria while the Black Sun or Black Star is a old Symbol used by Two Slave revolts from the Old Empire of Oscan that notably had people of every ethnic group within the lands of Esclaria who would eventually come to be the modern Cordonians, Esalians, Khitabans, Turalians, Lyanans and Apakyie of Esclaria. The Black sun Represents a united Esclaria supporting and raising up the Six peoples within it.

[quietcontradictions]

The thing about the legend of Korra book/season 2 is that it has all the worst character arcs and all the best world building.

Like they broke the avatar cycle. The thing that's canonically supposed to give the avatar the massive bending increase in the avatar state. Plus all the guiding wisdom of previous avatars.

Then they also introduced the possibility of an evil* avatar. Like can you imagine growing up and all this terrible stuff starts happening around you. Spirits going crazy for no reason. Possibly hearing voices in your head. And then your parents take you to a guru to be fixed, and the gurus just like, "Sorry your the literal incarnation of evil. Anything you learn in this life will just make future incarnations more powerful.

And then they were like the portals are open so the spirits can fuck around as much as they want. Like of the 7 named spirits we know of, 5 have attempted murder or other crimes like stealing your face.

And yet the only major repercussions was a swamp in Republic City and new airbenders. Not to say that season 3 was bad, it was the best in the series, just saying that they left gold in the dumpster fire that was season 2.

[sineala]

Tagged by @halotolerant!

Last song: They Might Be Giants, "Metal Detector." I have been playing TMBG Heardle a lot and it has made me want to listen to Factory Showroom on repeat. My performance on TMBG Heardle is basically a bimodal distribution because either it's an obscure song I've never heard or I can identify it in one second. There is no in-between, except for the ones where the song doesn't actually start at the beginning.

Last show: Game Changer. I subscribe to Dropout solely for Game Changer and Um Actually and it is totally worth it. Hey, no one said I had to list a show with a plot.

Last movie: Like approximately 50% of the internet, Glass Onion. It was really good! I keep thinking about it! It was so good. I feel like it has combined my childhood love for the movie Clue with everyone's distaste for late-stage capitalism (which has been made even more topical with the Twitter dumpster fire), and also you have to like any movie that has Stephen Sondheim and Angela Lansbury playing Among Us.

Currently watching: I realize this is not what this question had in mind but I am really enjoying LIDOM (Dominican Republic winter-league baseball), which I have been watching all season and it is now at the Final Series. I don't know Spanish so now all the Spanish I know is completely random baseball words. But it is actually a whole lot of fun to watch.

Currently reading: Eric Cervini, The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America. It's nonfiction about pre-Stonewall gay activism in the fifties and sixties (e.g., the Mattachine Society) and is mostly a biography of Frank Kameny, who I knew nothing about before I started this, but apparently he got into activism because he was an astronomer in the Sputnik era who couldn't get a government job because no one would give him a security clearance after he got caught being gay. I have to say it's actually a really interesting look at the underpinnings of assimilationism and respectability politics as strategies, which I wasn't expecting.

Current obsession: Hi yes it's me still a Marvel Comics Steve/Tony fan. I think the comic I am currently having the most fun reading is the Secret Invasion miniseries, with the Strange series as a runner-up, and I am really hoping the new Iron Man run will continue to be good.

Tagging: @lysimache @teatotally @iheartallthethings

[bllsbailey]

Biggest Traitors to the Conservative Cause – the McCain Family or the Cheney Family?

The Kamala Harris campaign has been actively courting some of the biggest Republican retreads they can find to earn their endorsement. The race has led them to scrape the bottom of the barrel with once revered political family names.

Earlier this week, the son of late Republican Senator John McCain, Jimmy McCain, offered a voice of support for the Vice President.

"I feel that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz embody a group of people that will help make this country better. That will take us forward. That's really what matters at the end of the day," he said.

Not to be outdone was the dynamic Cheney duo – Liz and Dick – who came out of the closet as full-throated Harris supporters as well.

In doing so, the former vice president issued a statement nearly indiscernible from something you might expect from an AOC or an apoplectic Rashida Tlaib. It’s shameful, frankly.

“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” he said in endorsing Kamala. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”

Delivered with all the fervor of a Squad lunatic.

Read related: 

Dick Cheney Follows Liz's Lead and Endorses Harris for President

Trump, of course, didn’t do any of those things. And Harris, despite Jimmy McCain’s claims, has had nearly four years to try and move the country forward, and instead helped turn the economy, the border, and the world into a dumpster fire.

So questions abound – Which of these family endorsements is the more embarrassing attempt to keep a political family name relevant? And better yet, based on their actions since Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, which family has been the biggest traitors to their own beliefs?

It’s a tough call. Two families once espousing conservative values, completely broken by a man whose bombast and hyperbole have dropped them into a fetal position in fear of what might come next, while ignoring the real threat coming from the left.

Aside from Jimmy, you had Cindy McCain actually working for the Biden-Harris administration as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. She endorsed Biden in the critical swing state of Arizona in 2020.

endorsement story

“I think my husband would be very pleased,” Mrs. McCain gloated after Biden’s victory. “We were good friends with the Bidens. And I just know he is looking down and going, ‘You did the right thing.'”

‘Doing the right thing,’ as Cindy stated, apparently involves selling out every one of your principal beliefs because Trump was personally unpleasant to you.

Imagine pretending to be a Republican while working on behalf of an administration that supports government funding of abortions, destroys the personal finances of the American people, and has created a humanitarian crisis at the border – including in Arizona.

Then there is Meghan McCain, famously more juvenile in her handling of Trump and his supporters, once referring to the former President as “Cheeto Jesus” and more recently, telling his ally, Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake, “No peace, b----“ when the latter made a joke about McCain supporters.

Meghan has a child’s mind while masquerading as a serious political pundit.

McCain’s ‘Cheeto’ comments were in defense of the perpetually indefensible Liz Cheney:

Liz is perhaps one of the more tragic examples of Trump destroying an individual’s entire career based on his being a big, bad, meany.

Ms. Cheney, once the third-highest ranking Republican in the House, sacrificed her career on the alter of Democrat puppets, serving as a dancing monkey for the J6 committee and ultimately losing her House seat by a staggering 37-plus points in the deep red state of Wyoming.

Cheney is so terrified that Trump could win the 2024 election that she claims his return to the White House would be evidence that Americans are “sleepwalking into dictatorship.”

She said that, while actually watching the country walk into a dictatorship – as evidenced by the Biden-Harris administration’s jailing of political opponents and authoritarian use of executive orders subverting the checks and balances of Congress – the past four years.

She has alternately referred to the GOP nominee as “the single most dangerous threat we face” and mocked his supporters for believing “the big lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Cheney falsely accused Trump of using “Nazi propaganda” by calling his political opponents “vermin,” a term that aptly describes Liz herself.

And speaking of vermin, she dragged her father out on the campaign trail to try and save her doomed re-election bid, just as Harris is doing in using Dick to try and save her flailing effort to defeat Trump.

Read related: 

Bush, McCain, and Romney Aides Made a Move in Presidential Race That Didn't Get Reaction They Hoped

Dick Cheney is probably the most fascinating of all these members of the "Island of Misfit Toys" that Democrats are trotting out.

Prior to Trump, nobody was more vilified as a ‘literal Nazi’ or the leader of ‘the Evil Empire’ than Richard Bruce Cheney.

The Democrats and the media have alternately criticized him as being a warmonger or even to some extent – a war criminal who enjoys torture – and yet today, he is playing right into the Resistance party’s hands.

These people would rather see the country overrun by illegal aliens, the economy destroyed, the average American family buried in poverty, abortion legalized up until birth, and the world dragged into a nuclear war. Why?

The Cheney and McCain families are prime examples of selling out your principles based solely on one’s personal distaste for the personality of a single man. That is weakness. That is screwing over an entire country because your feelings have been hurt.

One has to wonder if the above individuals sit on the end of their bed sobbing and poking needles into a Trump voodoo doll each night.

What kind of jelly-spined individuals act like this? What kind of people sell out the moral fiber of their beings over decades of their lives because one person lives rent-free in their heads?

Traitors to the conservative cause. Who is more guilty – the McCain family or the Cheney family?

Perhaps it doesn’t matter. Neither one will ever be relevant on the political stage again. And that’s great news for the country.