#up election 2022 date announcement

[waynewifey]

dear mr. wayne — b.w

part one: dear mr. wayne

part two: aftermath

part three: aporia

epilogue

summary: it’s not easy being a politician’s wife. it’s even harder to love a vigilante. months of negligence make you an easy target to his enemies.

pairing: bruce wayne/battinson x reader

genre: angst romance & dark action

warnings: swearing; smoking; kidnapping; violence; a bit of gore; “you” is she/her; bruce is the worst husband ever btw

word count: 2.8k

A/N: i wrote this back in january 2022 when the batman movie had just premiered, so kinda off the hype here. i hope you enjoy it anyway. already working on part 2, let me know if you guys would like it! also, this has taken a path way darker than i had in mind so i’m sorry if it’s too much. comments are appreciated!

gotham city, USA.

it's late.

you have no clock nearby, but you feel it in your bones. in your muscles too. it's too late and bruce should be home already. laying in the sofa, only half conscious, you regret telling alfred to go to bed. at least you wouldn't be alone. of course, being married to the batman you knew he would patrol at night often. you were okay with it. but lately bruce had been too focused on his other, and recent, goal: running for mayor. at first it seemed out of character, he was never good with the public or the press. but he stared at thomas wayne's painting in the hall in such painful façade, it made sense all off sudden. you were supportive of it. you showed up to every event just to stay by his side, to show the people the lovable man he was. the man you loved. the man who couldn't even be home for dinner.

the penthouse's elevator dings, opening its doors at the end of the hallway you see perfectly from your seat. your head doesn't lift instantly, like in the first week. instead, a long sigh escapes from your lips as bruce reaches the living room.

"hello, darling." he says, still in motion as he walks the stairway up to the room you shared. not a single kiss, or a hug. you follow him, because what else is there to do? you need to go to bed anyway. by the time you get there, slowly, his suit is already on the floor and he's taking a shower.

"how was the meeting?" you ask, knowing he usually did his Wayne Enterprising meetings — which consisted of hanging out long hours in bars with business men — at night. recently, he started a complicated relationship with a real estate company he wanted to invest in.

"the usual." he stopped fully answering these questions three weeks ago, making the only time you ever talked even shorter. the city has gotten more violent than ever since his batman duties were put on standby.

"any closer to sealing the deal?" you sit on the bed, watching the open bathroom door.

"probably." it's not like he's being rude. well, maybe a little bit. he just doesn't want to talk any more, it's clear on his tone. but it's 2am and you brain isn't working too well.

"when is this gonna end, bruce?" you finally say, as he puts his boxers on. "when are we ever having dinner again? or going on a date? when are you gonna stop treating me like i'm some sort of home decor?" you almost vomit out the words that have been stuck on your throat for days. surprisingly, the heartache doesn't softens. instead, it gets worse. it's like admitting your abandonment.

six months ago, you started trying to get pregnant. it hadn't always been a dream of yours, but the idea of having an heir to all you've spent your life building is charming. you realised you were in the right time to do so, you had just turned 28, bruce was 32, and both had stable careers. a month later, bruce announced his candidacy. and so soon you gave up. you told yourself once he won the election everything would be fine. you would try again. but, realistically, being a mayor was already a lot of work on itself. he wouldn't want a pregnant wife or a child to take care of. after the four years, who knows? he might as well have a new life project. and your family would always stand on the side.

"i don't know what you're talking about..." he doesn't look into your eyes. hell, he barely looks at you. that feeling, the negligence, is enough to trigger the tears. you take a deep breath, making an effort to look composed.

"don't you, though?" your voice is shaken. look at me. look at me. look at me. look at me. he doesn't. "bruce." you call, finally getting his attention. however, the boredom on his face knocks you off your feet, legs trembling in pain and anger. "i just want you to make an effort on us..."

"really? cause that's all i ever done." he's leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed in a way you would find attractive in other circumstances. but now he's yelling and you fight back the urge to shrink into the mattress. "do you think i wanna have a kid on this fucked up town? i'm tryna fix this. fix everything!" his faces turns red-ish. something inside of you makes you want to leave the room. you've always been an avoider, that is one of the reasons you hadn't really had couple fights. so, basically, this is very new. "i've got the weight of the fucking world on my back."

"let's leave then" you manage to say, replacing the you chose this. it was true, however, that he was the one to put himself in this position. bruce wayne could've gotten his entire life without working if he wanted to. but he always needed to save everyone, to suffer for other's happiness. he was a giver. sometimes you wondered if he needed to be saved instead.

"you know i can't do that." he mumbles, in a defeated tone. a sigh escapes from his lips, suddenly the tiredness takes over his face. it's almost enough to make you let it go, to internalise your distress again. he really can't, you know that. he feels that the city is his liability, because it was the only thing he had since he became an orphan. but he had you, too. he just didn't acknowledge that.

"and i can't stay like this." it sounds like an whisper, but it's a plead. choose me. please. he seems to read it in your eyes, face contorting in agony when he realises what you're asking for. me or gotham? it's stupid to think he would ever choose you. but you hoped, so desperately, because you would choose him. always.

"let's not do this tonight, okay? i have to be in the office by the morning." tears instantly fall as he turns off the lights and lays on the bed, turning his back to where you slept. for a moment, you're static. his words were final. were you ever in control of something in your life? why were all of these decisions being made for you? mechanically, you stand on both feet and walk to the door. you don't even notice your movement until you're on the elevator. your husband didn't intervene either. this neighbourhood is one of the safest in town, which honestly isn't much but you had to get out. anyway, nowhere is totally safe at 3am.

you walk two blocks, clinging to the fluffy sweater you wore. the depressing air of gotham slows your pace, to a point you start wondering if it was really necessary to be aware. you could feel the city devouring you, starting with your hope. the blue 24h sign lights up the street, in a way that isn't welcoming, but you know the place well enough to not be scared to get in. a bell sounds over the door and wakes up the male behind the counter. he's got long black hair and seems to haven't seen a good night of sleep in weeks. same,you think.

"hi. can i get the blue one?" you point at the camel's behind the man. he nods, quickly putting a pack on the wooden board. the prices pops up on the cashier's display. you pay and go outside. smoking was an bad habit from your college days, when pressure got too excruciating. every now and then you would treat yourself to some cigarettes, for the confidence it gave you. the sense of control to be the one, for once, ruining yourself. the smoke burns your throat on the first inhale and you hold back a cough. you're too entertained by the cigar to notice the black van approaching. it stops right in front of you, and everything happens too quickly for your brain to process. it's all dark.

he's in a meeting, the boring kind.

the kind that has him seated in silence while a representative talks to his employees, who never get to listen to their actual boss. there's a chart being shown on a large tv on the other side of the room. he's not listening, though. he's writing down ideas for a thanksgiving speech. a head pops into the conference room.

"mr. wayne." it's one of the new assistants, hired especially for the election season. he didn't care to memorise her name, because temps usually don't last long. if she hadn't called him, he might've not even looked up. but the room is silent, expecting eyes on him. the girl at the door looks terrified. "you're urgently required outside, please."

he sighs as he gets up from his leather chair. the second the door closed behind him, chatter is heard again. in the corridor, the woman conducts him to his office and they get in. there's a bit of a commotion, four men lounge around his table, all their faces tense.

"mr. wayne, i'm afraid we don't have good news." the head of the marketing team speaks, a man called robert vance. he's probably said the same phrase to bruce about seven times this month, so that doesn't do much. the assistant approaches with an ipad, unpausing a video. "we received this from an anonymous email about forty minutes ago. we weren't able to get the ip address just yet."

the video starts with a black screen, zooming out to show a woman with a bag over her head. she has her hands on her back and is kneeling on the ground. bruce's heart skips a beat noticing the hair falling down her shoulders.

"bruce wayne..." an eerie voice whispers from behind the camera, breathing heavily. "i've robbed an egg from your basket, and you haven't even noticed!" there's a disturbing chuckle and the video shakes a bit. bruce doesn't move, eyes stuck on the screen. no one in the room has done anything other than breathing. someone gulps. "it's been long hours, but we're having fun, aren't we, darling?" a gloved hand reaches for the bag, pulling it out. her face - your face - is dripping blood. you're biting on a fabric, still in your home clothes. bruce's jaw clenches. you're crying, face beaten, in this degrading situation. your eyes pierce the screen right into his. suddenly, a gun is tapped on your forehead and you close your eyes into a sob. your lips mouth please. "i'm running out of patience here, you're running out of time. let's do business, shall we?" he laughs, knocking the pistol on the side of your head, making you fall laying on the floor, unconscious. the spot bleeds. "here's my proposal: you come clean about your father's deal with carmine falcone and maybe i don't shoot little mrs. wayne... or i do both. it's your choice, really. the clock is ticking. tick tock, wayne."

the video stops, the sight of a gun pointed at your unresponsive body burns into his mind. bruce is panting, the adrenaline rushes into his brain. there's a million of plans being built, but none of them seem viable.

"don't let media get this." he managed to say. one of the men in suits says it's too late. the tv flicks on showing a news report on the video. he kicks the side of his table, the contents being thrown across the room. "FUCK! you bastards wait forty fucking minutes to show me this?" he screams, no one can look him in the eyes. a hand runs through his black hair. "meanwhile my wife is out there with a gun on her head! and what have you done? i swear to god, if i don't find her alive and well i'm killing everyone in this goddamned room with my bare hands."

he storms out of there, reaching to his phone to call alfred and noticing the multiple missed calls. fucking silent mode. the sun is setting.

"i got the address." the butler says, instead of hello. a 'ding' sounds in his ear.

there has been pain for so long. you try to remember before the pain. but all is pain. he has to make it stop.

the floor is cold cement and you feel so small in this huge warehouse. the man in the mask knows you can't run. not only you're tied up, but the will had left you long before getting dragged into that van. he sees it in your eyes. so he strolls around, always in that ridiculous dark green overall. then he beats you up for fun. no cameras. just you and the devil himself. you find yourself praying, after all these years. you don't pray to get out, no. you pray so that it ends soon. you pray that the stab wound in your abdomen will get you an infection. you pray that when you close your eyes, you never have to open them again. but the divine has left you in the cold cement.

there's an explosion. your eyes open. there's smoke and dust taking over one of the walls. you're seeing everything horizontally, cheek on the floor. the man in green is just as scared as you were.

bruce wayne busted that fucking wall down. he expected a full team of psychopaths and maybe some more security. there was just one coward in the warehouse. the thing stares at him coming out of the smoke, fingers fidgeting. the batman steps forward. the freak steps back. then turns around, runs to a half broken wardrobe and grabs a gun from it. bruce walks slowly. there's a struggle loading the gun. he takes the opportunity to run and throw the thing on the floor. he bangs his head on it. the vermin screams. he takes one punch. two. tries to reach for the fallen gun. bruce steps on his hand and the loud crack echoes in the room. he screams again. three punches. the mask is taken off. his nose is bleeding. more punches. he holds the neck. the head is turning purple. oh how he wants to kill this little shit. bruce wayne will kill him. it will just take a few more seconds...

"baby, no" at first he thinks he's imagining it. it's so soft, so weak. but he looks up and there she is. his hands loose. right on the corner, chains on her legs. her face is ruined from blood and dirt. her wrists bleed too. the motherfucker chained her. hell is too good for this thing.

bang. on his shoulder. he looks down and the blood is dripping on the freak's face. he’s pushed to the side, holding the wound. tiny white dots obstruct his vision. he grunts through the pain. the man gets up and runs towards you. bruce can’t move. he arches his back, trying to roll and lay on his chest. it feels like he can’t move his arm anymore, like his bones had detached. when he finally does so, the man is escaping through a window. his hand searches for the adrenaline-boost in his belt, grabs it and quickly injects on his leg. it takes a second to get his blood rushing again. he crawls up and jumps through the window, which leads him to a metal balcony.

you’re almost standing, but he holds your chains and a gun to your face. the shooting sound had scared you awake. you can’t believe how close to bruce you finally are, but the conditions couldn’t be worse. you can hear water running below your feet, you don’t need daylight to show you the violent river you’re standing above. this is not good.

bruce has his hands up in the air and is holding himself back to not do anything stupid. the man’s face is contorting into the creepiest smile. no.

everything happens so slowly, yet he’s not quick enough to grab you in time. you’re falling in the air and he jumped after you. for a moment, the world is air. you can’t hold out your hand. your hair is flying in your face, he does not want to die without seeing you one last time. his cape holds him back and the distance between you only increases. you’re gone. the impact comes.

part two

[aroceu]

what's been happening at the otw?

so it seems that on twitter and possibly tumblr, people have been hearing things about the otw board/election stuff without really knowing what's going on. a lot of the different issues get conflated and confused with each other, and things that aren't related get connected while things that are related don't. i'm making this post to make things clear, since i've been following some of it (primarily the otw board stuff) from the outside so that people know exactly what is going on, and to reduce the spread of misinformation.

a lot of this information comes from this dreamwidth journal, which has been documenting many testimonies and receipts, for full context.

an earlier timeline of the csem and insensitive treatment of policy and abuse committee volunteers is documented at @221loislane, on this post.

the election season

every year — for anyone out of touch with how the organization of transformative works (otw) politics go, yes this occurs every year as seats can be held for 3 years maximum but resignations happen, leading to staggering — the org has an election season for the main board of directors. they oversee all of the otw's fan projects, including ao3 and fanlore. there are 7 seats, one of whom is the president (kari dayton).

if a chair resigns, then their seat may remain empty to the end of the term or to the next election season, depending on when they resign. if they resign early, a runner-up from the previous election may take their seat.

elections generally take place every summer, but the actual changing of hands occurs in in the fall. board directors are known by their real life name; this has always been the policy. prior to this year, when candidacies were announced, it was with their full name. however, due to the csem attack emails that were targeting volunteers last may, it seems that they added a layer of protection for the candidates this year, and initially announced them with their first name and last initial.

this election season, there were originally 4 chairs that were going to be vacant and needed to be filled. there were also originally 7 candidates, some of whom applied for candidacy last minute. one of the candidates withdrew early (mid june), so this came down to 6.

in order to vote in an election, you must donate a minimum $10usd prior to a certain date in june (this year being june 30) and tick the box that says you want to become a member.

the republican candidate

on july 24, people started spreading the fact that one of the otw board candidates, audrey richards, is a republican. this is true: she ran for a republican seat for the us house of reps in 2022 (and prior to that, as an independent in 2020.) this can be seen on her ballotpedia. we know that she is the same audrey richards, because her ballotpedia page also connects her with the otw.

let me be clear: this is still in line with org policy, in terms of her real name getting released. their full names were going to be released to the public at some point, and as far as i know the org did not state that they would hide their full names until after the election.

many people, especially americans on the ao3 (full disclosure: i am one of the americans on ao3) were very wary about this, because the republican party has been endorsing increasingly dangerous laws and policies along the lines of fascism and transphobia. audrey running as a republican does not necessarily mean that she agrees with these values; however, because she, as a white woman, felt comfortable enough to align herself with a party that does, many lgbt people and people of color had every right to have reservations about her. her statements about ukraine (disagreeing with biden sending arms) and her involvement with "children and screens" was also brought under scrutiny: see this post by discluded. (i am not endorsing discluded's post; it simply cites some concerns with audrey)

due to claims of harassment (i am also not saying whether or not they occurred), she resigned from candidacy and from the org as a whole on july 25, declaring "congrats on the witch hunt." (x)

the otw then released a statement dissuading people from harassing board candidates. this was not taken well, as they were completely silent last year regarding unsubstantiated rumors about tiffany g, a previous election candidate who's chinese, with views that many were not comfortable with, to the point of saying that she might be a spy for the chinese government. this was spread by chinese- and english-speaking users alike. the otw was silent about this. however, this year, many volunteers internally have said that the otw's silence towards harassment is damning, and in any case, even in audrey's, they should speak up against it, resulting in their public statement.

reprimanding a volunteer of color

also on july 24, coincidentally enough, a volunteer of color made a post about receiving a letter about constructive corrective action procedure (ccap) from the tag wrangling team, due to making volunteers uncomfortable by speaking up about racism in the org.

the tl;dr of why they received the letter boiled down to:

talking about the org's racism in a ~certain way~ in public channels where volunteers could not leave made some vols uncomfortable

sharing internal chatlogs and correspondences to the public. EXCEPT THE THINGS SHE SHARED WERE HER OWN MESSAGES. and before july 25, the only OTHER thing she had shared to the public was the otw's direction on how volunteers should approach getting csem, from the spam attack last year, on a comment in a news post - which is an email that ALL VOLUNTEERS GOT. because none of that was public! no one knew what the org's approach to the spam attack in order to protect the volunteers was! she disclosed it so randoms who are not volunteers would know!

"outing" a volunteer, except she DIDN'T, because the volunteer had outed THEMSELVES in the chat program previously and repeatedly, then changed their icon at some point to indicate they didn't want to link the identities anymore. but there had never been a formal announcement or request not to link the identities, and who was supposed to take an icon change as an indicator of that, so IN THE CHAT PROGRAM (not in public!) kutti made a reference to something that person (under their real name) said in public (under their fannish handle/icon) and got reprimanded for it

emyn a has since made a post about how kutti's general behavior in the chat has made him uncomfortable and was one of the reasons why he withdrew his candidacy, and that he supported the fact that she received the ccap. he stated that alex tischer's abrasiveness (see below) was probably because of where alex is from, in europe. he also said that kutti outed a withdrawn candidate (probably audrey) in the chat program, which was not public information prior to his post. the rest of his claims are presently not substantiated, and most of what i have read about his accusations boil down to tone policing.

EDIT: kutti clarified that emyn got her mixed up with another volunteer of color in one of these claims. she says that she has never talked about audrey either internally nor externally, and does not know what other handles she would link audrey to. she also specified that emyn's accusation of her using "provocative descriptors, such as 'disgusting'" was in context of her criticizing the org's handling of azarias — a volunteer who handled many csem tickets last year, then got their account suspended without warning, and then got implicated for distribution in an org-wide letter, which, yeah, is pretty fucking disgusting!

the alex problem

i mentioned the ccap above because kutti references it in her post about alex tischer here, and when i linked to it on twitter people were confused as to what ccap meant and why it was significant. and i don't think kutti's treatment should go ignored either, because i think it signifies a larger problem that the org has.

and one of these very glaring problems is alex tischer. alex tischer was on the board this year, being their last year of their current term. they were on the board previously too, from 2015-2018. tischer has been called a "missing stair" by multiple volunteers, and a huge problem in the org's function.

more specifically, and as confirmed by a former volunteer i talked to on an ao3 post (wherein they corrected me for conflating two incidents), some incidents that occurred with tischer were:

in 2020, when mainland chinese vols were encouraged to do more recruitment for volunteers on weibo (a mainland china site), the otw had added two new language tags on ao3: tai-gi (taiwanese) and cantonese. the vols were also encouraged to endorse this — not specifically by alex — on weibo. china and taiwan have VERY high geopolitical tensions, and the vols endorsing the addition of the taiwanese language on a mainland chinese site could potentially put them in danger. when they expressed this, alex had told them to "not appease a shitty government," or something along those lines — indicating alex did not care for their safety in a heavily censored country, over sticking it to the man or whatever. (alex is white/german and lives in the uk.)

in 2023, separate from this issue, the otw had decided to shut down the transformative works weibo page without consulting the chinese volunteers. the chinese vols were very pissed and protested, first in english. and then, when their concerns weren't being heard, they started in protesting in chinese. this prompted alex to reply to them, in german, "We can throw all sorts of things at each other, but if we don't agree on a lingua franca, we won't achieve much" (Wir können uns gegenseitig alle möglichen Dinge an den Kopf werfen aber wenn wir uns nicht auf eine Lingua Franca einigen erreichen wir nicht viel.) which, in my opinion, is pretty fucking irrelevant to chinese volunteers not getting their voices heard for something that they had every right to get their voice heard on, and basically told them to "speak english" when they had been speaking english previously and getting ignored!!!

a discussion from the otw slack in 2020 was leaked, wherein a black volunteer asked a question and expressed interest in knowing the diversity of the board of directors. not the diversity of all volunteers. they immediately got dogpiled on by multiple volunteers, alex included, saying that asking for such a thing could endanger the safety of volunteers (which is pretty fucking ironic considering alex's treatment of the chinese vols), the black volunteer should've backread a day's worth of chatlogs, saying that asking about diversity was chilling, etc. i cannot summarize in full how furious this chatlog makes me, so if you are capable i do recommend you to read it to see how utterly defensive everyone got at a simple question about diversity.

these things are relevant because on july 25, kutti made a post about alex — because other volunteers had been asking in the otw slack about kutti's situation, and a volunteer compared how kutti was treated, for speaking up about racism, to how alex was treated, who was consistently xenophobic and as far as anyone knew, did not receive a reprimand for it. alex then doubled down on their previous comments.

this prompted kutti's post, both to publicize this incident and to call for alex's immediate suspension.

board directors resign

there were, at the time, five chairs on board, due to the fact that two had resigned previously (heather in may 2023, jess in nov 2022; neither were replaced). after this incident, volunteers were furious and backed kutti up and also called for alex to resign, or for the other chairs to kick alex out.

two chairs in particular, antonius and natalia, were already on hiatus. they were also pressured to kick alex out, due to the fact that they were only standing chairs, not active, so volunteers wanted them to either come off hiatus and start the process to get alex out, or if they could not do their chair duties, resign. i believe the board needs a 2/3rds vote to kick someone off as a chair, which is why they were brought into the conversation — 2/5 chairs would not be enough.

on july 26, natalia did reprimand alex's behavior in the chat according to some sources. an anonymous source said that both natalia and antonius had started their resignation process prior to the alex-kutti incident; they made this public and official after/during this conversation.

on july 27, alex also said that they had resigned "yesterday." it is unclear if they only resigned from the board, or the org as a whole, considering they were still the webs chair, a tag wrangler, and on the translation and support committees.

all three board resignations were made public in an official announcement on july 27; natalia and antonius's were made first, with alex's as an add-on shortly afterward. however, as alex and antonius's spots were already outgoing, this has only opened up ONE slot for the election: a fifth one. and there are five candidates.

what happens next?

with five vacant seats and five candidates, this means that the election is uncontested. however, two of the five candidates will serve partial terms (the ones who get less votes; 2 years each), while three of the five candidates will serve full terms (3 years each.) if you've donated at least $10 to the otw in the past year, you're eligible to vote. a comprehensive schedule can be found here.

all candidate platforms/q&as can be found here in individual posts, and here as a spreadsheet.

by the way, this is not the first time most of, if not a full board has resigned almost all at once. this occurred previously in 2015, due to some of the following incidents (these may not be all of the reasons for the mass resignation, but definitely for many of them):

insanely incompetent financial handling wherein they had donations up to six figures held in paypal accounts

the removal of sanders, a candidate during that election season, because she had resigned from her role as treasurer recently, thus supposedly making her ineligible to run (candidates must have served as a volunteer in any position for 2 years), even though she was still on the dev committee. she did not resign from the candidacy herself. the election committee had objected to this but was overridden by the board. sanders is black.

a board chair had gone under a sockpuppet account during multiple candidate chats asking questions "as a concerned member," even though she was board chair, indicating a conflict of interest.

during the open board meeting in november (after the election), without warning the board decided to appoint andrea, the candidate who got the least number of votes that election year, to a spot that was vacated a whole year before. it was hard for me to find context around this situation but from what i've gathered, andrea was already friends with the present board and the newly appointed board had not yet settled in. when this was met with appropriate backlash and accusations of power grabbing, this is when the entire board at the time — minus the new elects — resigned.

i bring this up to show that the otw has never been a perfect organization — rather, it has always had its problems. i did not pay much attention to these incidents previously, but considering how the current election season has become more and more prominent on my social media, i feel that it's important for me to be in the know now, and to spread this information to others.

i am not a volunteer (although i used to be a tag wrangler for a brief time.) i am not speaking on behalf of anyone mentioned or linked in this post except for myself. i strongly believe in making an organization's policies public and for as much information to be accessible as possible, for a site that i'm an active member on and love to use. i believe in ensuring the safety, comfort, and consideration of volunteers of color. i am making this post because i believe the otw deserves to be transparent like any other organization. please feel free to share and discuss as you see fit; and if any of this information is incorrect, please let me know asap!

edit: follow-up incidents

this post by @fandomantiracism writes a detailed timeline of the mishandling of chinese volunteers (including the below incidents), and explains exactly why the environment in which otw volunteers in china must be handled with a modicum of more care than they do currently. please read it to fully understand the cvols' situation! (disclaimer: i am not affiliated with this blog.)

during the candidate chats, a chinese candidate got an extremely inappropriate question from a present chair/former or present board member, breaching on org privacy (even though kutti got a ccap for less), a clear attempt to attack the candidate by making them appear unsafe and immature, and with a lie that put their ACTUAL SAFETY at risk. see this post, and this thread on twitter

an aforementioned former volunteer detailed another incident where the treatment of chinese volunteers was severely mishandled; see here

[mariacallous]

There are few circumstances under which inflation can be comforting. But in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the U.S. presidential election, one of them appears to be when it serves as an alibi for an electorate’s sharp turn toward meanness, selfishness, and a hard-edged type of identity-centered nationalism.

Many Americans have used inflation to explain away the country’s embrace of radical political change. Yet this ignores basic facts about the U.S. economy. Before the election, I wrote a column highlighting some of these remarkable statistics, noting that the country has recently far outpaced its G-7 peers in economic growth and brought unemployment down to nearly historic lows; that inflation, after briefly surpassing 9 percent in 2022, has plunged to 2.6 percent; and that gasoline prices, one of the most important pocketbook issues for Americans, are relatively low.

Even George F. Will, a dean of conservative columnists in Washington, indirectly laid bare the ridiculousness of this explanation. As he wrote this week, Trump “ran promising to increase living costs” due to the large tariffs he has vowed to impose on imports.

But to fully understand why the inflation explanation doesn’t add up, one must examine the broader nature of Trump’s program—specifically, its retrograde racial politics. After all, Trump was explicit about his policy priorities during the campaign, and the president-elect’s staffing moves and statements since Nov. 5 have reaffirmed his intentions.

Trump has quickly announced a prospective team of hard-liners to execute his priorities on the border and immigration. This includes Stephen Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy; Tom Homan as his so-called border czar, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. By all indications, Trump will rely on this team to carry out a sweeping expulsion of millions of undocumented migrants.

Pulling off such a feat would disrupt the economy and everyday life on a scale with few comparisons in U.S. history. Trump’s zealous associates have pledged to carry out workplace raids and suggested deporting whole families to meet their goals. Given the small size of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accomplishing deportations on this scale would probably require using the National Guard—including by dispatching units from Republican-led states to Democratic-governed ones, a move of dubious legality.

Trump has long devoted himself to laying the groundwork for this. Since his first presidential campaign, he has denounced Mexicans as “rapists,” alleged that countries such as Venezuela have emptied their prisons to inundate the United States with “criminals,” and amplified vile and baseless claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are preying on the community’s pets.

More overtones of white nationalism and nativism can be found in Trump’s infamous 2018 disparagement of what he called “shithole countries,” which in his definition are home to Black and brown people. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, a top Trump ally and now formal advisor to the president-elect, has called for women to have more babies—calls that conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, another prominent Trump backer, has echoed while also casting the issue in explicitly racial terms.

Hinting at a much broader anti-immigration agenda, Trump and his surrogates have also repeatedly inveighed against birthright citizenship, a provision of the U.S. Constitution. Trump’s efforts to call into question who “real” Americans are date back to 2011, when he started saying that he had “real doubts” about Barack Obama’s citizenship and demanded that the then-president produce his birth certificate. Couple this with Trump’s other comments suggesting a preference for immigrants from Nordic countries, and a sense of racial purpose running through many of his fondest projects begins to emerge.

This racial agenda also lurks in the Trump movement’s designs on remaking the country’s education system. In Florida and other states, Trump allies have launched a wholesale attack on books that are frank about the country’s history of slavery and its aftereffects as well as those that discuss gender and sexuality in anything but heteronormative ways.

Meanwhile, Trump couches his hostility toward diversity and inclusion initiatives in higher education as a way to protect the country’s white population from discrimination. In July, for instance, he said, “I will direct the Department of Justice to pursue federal civil rights cases against schools that continue to engage in racial discrimination. And schools that persist in explicit unlawful discrimination under the guise of equity will not only have their endowments taxed, but through budget reconciliation, I will advance a measure to have them fined up to the entire amount of their endowment. A portion of the seized funds will then be used as restitution for victims of these illegal and unjust policies—policies that hurt our country so badly.”

Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth as his secretary of defense appears to have been made in a similar spirit. Hegseth, a veteran Fox News host with no policy background, has made a name for himself attacking diversity efforts in the military, saying that Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be fired for his support of “woke” programs. Trump’s transition team is reportedly considering creating a “warrior board” of retired military officials that, some analysts fear, would be able to purge military officers who are not loyal to Trump. If he is confirmed by the Senate, Hegseth could be essential to carrying out that board’s recommendations.

All of this fits with a pattern of stoking culture wars based largely on white resentment in the interest of sustaining political support. As historian David W. Blight wrote in an astute New York Times column, “Trump exploited our social fissures to make them deeper, uglier, ever more bitter and therefore useful. We were reminded that culture wars are won by fueling them, not by seeking harmony. Unity coalitions and kindness and joy don’t win elections in a bitterly divided society where neighbors and family members are not on the same team.”

As perceptive as Blight’s assessment is, it misses the important global dimensions of Trump’s strategy and appeal. By pledging to abandon international climate agreements at a time of dangerous levels of warming (which even the head of Exxon Mobil says is a mistake), by opposing wind power and vowing to “drill baby, drill,” by threatening to impose unilateral tariffs on other countries as a core economic strategy, by pretending that the United States can prevail through tough guy optics and bluster, Trump is engaging in an elaborate fantasy that is both pedigreed and dangerous.

It is an approach to politics that is based on nostalgia for a time when, as the historian Greg Grandin has written, the world seemed for many Americans to be an open frontier—that period in the 19th and 20th centuries when it was permissible to pretend that “America” essentially meant “white,” and that with sufficient will, Washington could bend the rest of the globe to its whims.

There were elements of this ethos in past administrations—notably, in the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush—but even those leaders knew that going it alone and humiliating allies was not smart, and that appeals to racial identity carried political dangers. Trump, however, fully taps into chagrin over the loss of that unquestioned privilege.

What is more, Trump’s brand of voluntarism—his vision of a United States that can say no to whatever displeases it—arrives at a time of relative decline in Washington’s standing in the world compared with its principal rival, China, and even with a larger set of rising middle powers. The United States is about to learn that in order to succeed, it will need strong cooperation with others and more internal harmony of its own. Four years on the path that Trump is setting could be an expensive learning process for the entire nation.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Good morning RTA, I understand that during this time, the institution make decisions about what they are going to do for this coming year…. I dont know if was about this time that they decided to give to archie and lilibeth the prince and princess title.(I'm not sure about the dates). So, my question about this last trip to Colombia is ¿H&M changed the the dates because something is going on and they are going to loose something during the month of October or November? my question goes because the VP announce Harry and Meghan where going to Colombia on November, not August. And I don't know if the change was because something else is happening, or a decision is going to take place during that time… The where so lucky to be in the Petronio Festival, I'm sure they didn't know about that festival in Cali (which is going to be perfect to use their PR as they please)

is a long ask, sorry for my english

So first (and most important), don’t ever apologize for your English! Your English is wonderful! Everyone who speaks/learns English as a second language speaks English wonderfully! It is most impressive that anyone has any grasp of English as a second language because of how f**ked up English spelling and grammar can be. I might offer corrections from time to time (like the whole Colombia/Columbia mixup) but that’s only because I want to do my little part to help anyone learn who wants to learn. You are doing great, anon.

I dont know if was about this time that they decided to give to archie and lilibeth the prince and princess title.(I'm not sure about the dates).

To put it simply, Archie and Lili have prince/princess titles by their birthright as grandchildren of a future monarch, but they didn’t get the titles or became eligible to use them until their grandfather actually became the reigning monarch. So Archie and Lili became prince and princess automatically on September 8, 2022 when Queen Elizabeth died and Charles became King. They just weren’t acknowledged by the BRF as Prince/Princess until March 2023, after Meghan told People Magazine that the kids had Royal titles.

(There’s a rumor that it took so long to confirm the kids had the titles because the Sussexes wanted the BF to announce it but they refused to so the Sussexes did it themselves in a story they gave to People Magazine about Lili finally being christened, which forced the BRF to acknowledge the titles.)

So, my question about this last trip to Colombia is ¿H&M changed the the dates because something is going on and they are going to loose something during the month of October or November? my question goes because the VP announce Harry and Meghan where going to Colombia on November, not August.

If you go back and look at the VP’s announcement, she doesn’t actually say that they will be visiting in November. What she actually says is that the Sussexes’ visit would be sometime before this conference being held. We assumed that meant they would travel in November, even though the Sussexes themselves said they would be traveling “later this summer,” which was understood to mean either August or September (summer in the northern hemisphere where they/most of their audience live).

Was that intentional? Did something change? I don’t really know.

But there is a new rumor that Meghan already has plans for something happening at the end of October and didn’t want to travel so closely in November to overshadow whatever this October thing is. Some of the gossip is saying that she might finally launch ARO then or she might have a magazine photoshoot to take Archie and Lili trick-or-treating, but there’s also gossip that she plans to be available to campaign in the presidential election as that is the last week/weekend before the election.

And I don't know if the change was because something else is happening, or a decision is going to take place during that time…

It’s just gossip for now, but there are several tarot readers and astrologists seeing a big decision involving an ending that takes place in October/November for the Sussexes, according to their charts and cards. Speculation (based on interpretation of their tarot cards) is divorce or the BRF taking titles or more excluded/exiled.

Again, it’s just gossip based on tarot and astrology, which is always subjective as everyone reads and interprets differently.

But the interesting thing about this is that since we know Diana was big into tarot readers and saw several/had her own. Because of that, and because we know the Sussexes likes to model themselves on Diana, it would not be unreasonable to think that they have their own tarot readers/astrologists to guide them and if they do have their own tarot readers or astrologists, it’s very possible they also see something happening to them in October/November and they rescheduled the Colombia visit for earlier to avoid whatever they think might be happening.

The where so lucky to be in the Petronio Festival, I'm sure they didn't know about that festival in Cali (which is going to be perfect to use their PR as they please)

I don’t think anyone in the US not of Colombia descent or from a Colombian community even knows what the Petronio Festival is. The only festivals that most Americans know (generally speaking) is Edinburgh Fringe, Glastonbury, Coachella, and Bonnaroo. Chronically online folks also probably know about the Fyre Festival. But Petronio? No idea and not anywhere close to our radar.

Which is unfortunate, because it sounds fantastic. Harry and Meghan could have done great work raising awareness of the festival and engaging more with participants but instead they just…randomly appeared with a children’s choir and Meghan wore a ball gown?

But yes, I agree with you on your last point - we’re going to see them promote the heck out of going to the festival and they may even try to leverage it for other travel. After all, they’re festival-going “royals” who love meeting and mixing with the local people, instead of the uppity hoity toity real royals who segregate themselves from the locals by chain-link fences.

[queenwille]

is it finally time to reveal that one of the main reasons hamas took the chance on october 7th was a political crisis in israel?

i’ll try to make it short for my ADHD sibs in the crowd:

israel had a really tough political crisis between 2019 to 2022, where no elected leader was able to gather a government (men) under the israeli democratic requirements, so it led to 5 elections in 4 years 🫨

when finally netanyahu managed to build a coalition by selling his dignity and the israeli soul to religious extremists (as he always does since he only cares about being on top, no matter what) the very large secular and left public in israel were having non of that.

forward a few months, the extremist criminal members of the coalition tried to pass an absence law that takes the grand jury’s power to overrule the government if needed, which fired up protests and manifests literally EVERYWHERE. public facilities closed down as an act of rebellion, roads were blocked and much more. Galant, the minister of defense, said publicly that the gov really needs to freeze the passing of that law due to valid concerns about the country and its citizens’ safety. due to that comment, netanyahu publicly announced that he’d be firing galant for going against the government’s current agenda. oh boy, the night that happened, all hell broke loose. people literally shot the country down until the late late hours of the night. the lack of freedom of speech was a serious deal breaker (reminder: they have been protesting HARD for W E E K S). many were on reserved duty (it’s when they complete their mandatory service, but come every once in a while for a few days of duty like training or backup and in case of a war, they need to report back to duty when they’re up to date and well trained) said they wouldn’t come to their scheduled duty days under a government that is extremist, not equal (ultra orthodox don’t have to serve as the rest) and doesn’t allow freedom of speech. it was a whole thing, netanyahu changed his tune real fast. you need to understand that for israelis to rebel against their duty is extreme af. military service in israel is mandatory and a valuable part of the soldiers’ culture and identity, it’s not a just job they chose like in many countries.

BACK TO THE AGENDA. hamas documents and recordings revel that they were very much aware of the ongoing civil (and military) crisis and mentioned it as a perfect opportunity to hurt israel.

many of you think that when we identify with the word zionist, it means we agree with everything. the main thing y’all cancel when you call israelis white colonialists, it’s first the rich and diverse population it has. are all christians alike? do all muslims think the same? why is it that when it comes to the jewish people, everyone is so quick to assume we’re all clones? judaism itself has a few ethnicities which is very much a topic on the israeli agenda since like forever. and then you have, as any other religion, religious people and then secular and then people who are in between. that’s all before you mention the 2.5m non jews living in israel.

TL;DR no, not only not all israelis support netanyahu, but you’d actually be surprised how many oppose to his egocentric regime. take the time and ask, don’t just take the easy way out of goysplaining.

[ilhoonftw]

Fjfjfjfjfjfjf what!?!?

let me explain the gyuri boyfriend lore

they started dating in 2019, broke up in 2021

he is the grandson of guy who was once in charge of major construction business so the whole family is rich

they were known for being a noona - dongsaeng couple bc of 7 years age gap.... officially. but then after his car accident he was exposed for ageing himself up 5 years because 'young people aren't treated seriously in business' so in reality they have 12 years age gap 🫣

you'll be the judge. him at 21:

the news about his age came out loong after they broke up, when he announced he's gonna take part in elections and... gyuri subposted him on ig story

On January 12th 2022, KARA Park Gyu-ri posted six letters with an ambiguous meaning on her Instagram story. What she wrote was “loss of humanity”. Some people speculate that she might have written this after knowing about the recent issue related to her ex-boyfriend Song Ja-ho. However, this is just speculation, and there is a possibility that it was written as she wanted to express an opinion on social issues or her personal matter.

june 2021 ... dui

According to media outlets, Gyuri’s boyfriend Song Ja Ho, also known as the eldest grandson of Dongwon Construction founder Song Seung Hun, was caught drunk driving in Cheongdamdong. He reportedly fled the scene after hitting another vehicle in the parking lot. At the time, his blood-alcohol level was high enough for the cancellation of his license. Song is also accused of confinement as he allegedly confined a woman in the car even when she requested to be dropped off.

september 2021 official breakup confirmation (to be fair a lot of korean celeb couples not rarely release breakup announcements late, to the point you have actors talk about their ex on variety shows like they are still dating bc officially they are... all while their new partener co-star promoting the same drama on the same show is watching 🫣 jiyeon's ex did that. there's a whole i think happy together episode that's super awkward to watch... later he married the co-star but they are now divorced and co-parenting)

official reason was 'oh we are both having busy schedules, it's hard to meet'

they both deleted all photos of each other etc from ig right away. and they were a very public couple, they did charity stuff together and were pretty known

before i start the fraud part, gyuri did post on ig that she was unaware of what he was up to 🧐

If I did something wrong, my biggest mistake was not ending things earlier. As I stated in my official position, I am not involved, so I hope everyone writes based on the facts that have been revealed. — Park Gyuri

so basically 2 weeks ago he was released on bail after 7 months of detention

The Seoul Southern District Court’s Criminal Agreement 12th Division granted Song’s bail application on February 5, setting the stage for a trial that involves nearly 14,000 victims and a scam amounting to approximately ₩33.9 billion KRW (about $25.5 million USD).

Song Ja Ho, who ran a shared economy art company, was arrested last July. The charges against him were severe, involving violations of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Song was accused of recruiting investors to put money into artworks that he had not secured and then manipulating the market price of a virtual asset known as PicaCoin. Alongside brothers Lee Hee Jin and Lee Hee Moon, Song is suspected of a massive embezzlement scheme that has left thousands defrauded.

The court has set stringent conditions for Song’s bail, including a 200 million won bail bond, a prohibition on leaving the country, the requirement to wear an electronic device for real-time location tracking, and restrictions on his residence. These measures reflect the court’s attempt to mitigate the risk of flight, given the gravity of the accusations. This case is particularly notable because of Song’s high-profile connections and ambitions. Prior to his arrest, Song declared his candidacy for the Seoul Seocho Gu National Assembly by-election, signaling his interest in entering the political arena.

[thisweekinfandomhistory]

Oil of Olay?! This week, V and Emily take a short trip through fandom history to 2022, when the most controversial OTW elections to date* announced its candidate roster. The controversy turned out less to be about the OTW than about the 227 Incident that got AO3 banned in China -- and holy moly, was it an incident. Your cohosts do not speak Mandarin, so apologies for ALL of the pronunciations in this episode. Have you ever had RPF drama in one of your fandoms? Have you ever bought a product because of the celeb who repped it? * This episode was recorded two months ago, before the whistleblowing of the OTW's abuses of its volunteers, lack of TOS/COC framework, and absolute skirting of legality with regard to CSAM. The opinions expressed in this episode with regard to the OTW do not necessarily hold true today, the date of release. *

This Week In Fandom History is a fandom-centric podcast that tells you… what happened this week in fandom history!

[ashadowofburnedoutstardust]

Chris Evans Life path days 2022

Apparently CAA/Narrative are big followers of numerology like I am, either that or they've been reading my posts in the private group on LSA for a year and a half and have been using it to plot this PR shitshow

His "11" days are technically what I've been tracking

"2 days" & CE related events 2022

13/01/2022 (11)

shared ASP story from Mark Kassen

First Ghosted production update with shooting dates announced

Mila IG troll went down for the first time

31/01/2022 (11)

Replies “Interesting” to Gray man Review on Twitter

Priestesses big Tarot read on CE showing first indication of Tower moment

02/02/2022 Pluto (8)

12/02/2022 (11)

mila creates new account

(Alba IG location changed to us on 9-10 feb)

CE trends on twitter

Teachers friend sends tweet

Teacher decides to take down IG account

20/02/2022 (8)

Plutonic Chaos hits thread

21/02/2022 (11)

Mila tweets about Teacher video, tags Ghosts director, make IG public

CE follows Interior design pages on IG

First examination of Porto trios finsta accounts

Teacher replies to Mila on Twitter

02/03/2022 (11)

Scott posts "Theatre as a kid" TikTok

03/03/2022

Pluto fucks off again

Filming at Inman Park Atlanta

Union Strike rumour?

Photos from Ghosted set by pap

11/03/2022 (11)

Posts "fluffy hair" selfie to IG

DM blind about interior design follows

Teacher deletes comment, no response was given

Sugar baby page changes name to Seduction Secrets

Clout chasing TikTokers post le Mesa lounge/Doheny club video

Ok magazine article

10/04/2022 (11)

Thread notices SE followed back JA,

reportedly happened on Thursday, unfollowed again on the following Tuesday

Scott posts siblings day photo on IG

AB turns her comments back on

Scott ups price on Cameo,

gets trolled for JA follow back

09/05/2022 (11)

NZT - DM mention of Georgetown gym on Sunday spotting

Scott targeted by CE fan and video posted to Twitter to troll him claiming he was an asshole

Follows Mike Birbiglia on IG

Posts TGM moustache removed selfie to IG, pics determined to be taken December 2021 after end of TGM reshoots

Night shoot of Taxi scene in London for Ghosted

08/06/2022 (11)

Follows Jamie Foxx and Rita Oras Sister and Manager Elena Ora

Lightyear premiere red carpet

Posts pic of Dodger (turned foot) to IG story

Livestream on Tiktok for LY Premiere

Retweets LY reviews on twitter

07/07/2022 (11)

Deuxmoi Ballgag DMs story post

Posts June 18 dated video of Dodger to his IG story

Posts pic of Dodger to IG "New phone new pics"

Blahblah has live interview flooded with troll comments

Hits 17 million followers on IG

06/08/2022 (11)

Andrew Garfield DM blind

Posts pic of Dodger on IG

05/09/2022 (11)

Nothing occured

04/10/2022 (11)

Carly refollows Alba

Alba deactivated IG

Followed NE Pat's and NatGeo on IG

03/11/2022 (11)

#Pumpkingate

Follows Matthew McConaughey on IG

Variety article about TGM

Cosmo article about Pumpkingate

Various Gossip site articles about Pumpkingate

DM blind featuring screenshot of Tweet about Lisbon video

Another CE family member follows AB

Chris likes AB WN post

ASP app of the day on Apple retweet

Midterm elections retweet

02/12/2022 (11)

DM blinds

1 about Aly

1 about babytrap getting ditched for leaking stuff

C-Dawg emerges

Dex Fletch post about Ghosted

Random Shipper account requesting playlist ideas

Tara and Scott looking at CE hate accounts due to being tagged

11/12/2022 (11)

AB fan account posts old baby IG story pic

AB deactivated IG after accidentally posting nudes to stories, dark room thread created

Chris team continues to block Alba tags and name from comments section

Chris like Violas Star post

Chris likes Rocks R1 post

Justin's twitter goes public again

Shampoogate hits Reddit

Minor articles about Alba nude leaks

20/12/2022 (11)

Mentioned on BuzzFeed Celeb couples article

Posts a pic of Dodger to IG

Mama Lisa liked comment calling AB a racist in CEs comment section

And that ladies is his Life path days for 2022

🤍🪽✨

[nancydrewwouldnever]

Can you please make one of your master post break down from Pumpkingate up until the Disney trip. So much has happened in the past month and I’m just trying to keep up with all of it and trying to separate fact from fiction. It would be nice to see all the facts in order of how it came out.

Oh god, I can try, but I haven't really been writing down dates for this as much as I did for other things. (Because I find Alba completely boring. Like, at least Jenny inspired hatred in me.)

Here's a rough pass. Please comment with things I missed:

Oct. 3, 2022 - Carly follows Alba

Oct. 4, 2022 - Alba suspends her IG account

Oct. 6, 2022 - Jinx ad drops on YouTube

Oct. 12, 2022 - Chris photographed on set of Red One in ATL; works on same set all week

Oct. 13, 2022 - Alba reinstates her IG account; Elsa posts the "pumpkins" up as pfp on her social media [is this also the day the WN trailer dropped?]

Oct. 19, 2022 - Chris IG selfie post from Red One set, ATL

Oct. 23, 2022 - Chris records ASP chat with Tim Storey, ATL

Week before Halloween - The People SMA photoshoot and interview in ATL (we know from Jenn Streicher SM post of trip to ATL)

Oct. 29, 2022 - Tara Halloween party in MA, no Chris (or was there?)

Oct. 31, 2022 - PUMPKINGATE

Nov. 1, 2022 - Guillermo IG stories from studio lot and freeway, ATL

Nov. 3, 2022 - Chris spotted filming on location with The Rock, ATL

Nov. 4, 2022 - On location filming with The Rock, ATL; probably also day "sash skit" for Colbert filmed

Nov. 7, 2022 - IG story post of election resources from ASP, ATL house; Colbert announces SMA

Nov. 8, 2022 - SMA news breaks wide; Chris makes IG post about SMA title (Alba likes); Alba posts IG story from 'Wicked,' NYC

Nov. 9, 2022 - Likes and emoji comments on Alba Mrs Harris portuguese post; Late night IG story from stage of 'Book of Mormon,' NYC

Nov. 10, 2022 - People.com article about dating Alba; NYC PAP WALK

Nov. 11, 2022 - Alba posts IG story of her mom's age, seemingly in response to fandom discussion

Nov. 14, 2022 - ASP chat preview for Iran chat; Chris reposts the People 'PDA' question to IG stories (trolling asshole)

Nov. 18, 2022 - Chris IG stories about tattoo fan art and stars

Nov. 18-20, 2022 - Pics across IG accounts show Alba taking part in yoga teacher certificate classes, teaches class on Nov. 20th

Nov. 21, 2022 - Alba follows two Yonder Yoga ATL teachers on IG, thus letting the fandom know she did the 200-hour certificate program (program ran Sept. 17 - Nov. 20); Alba posts IG story of her yoga teacher certificate

Nov. 22, 24, 25 - Sightings of Chris with fam at WDW Orlando; morning of 25th, video captured with him and Alba at WDW

So, that's what I can remember. I know I'm missing some date when she made an IG post about WN and he liked it.

[theinconvenientlifestyle]

“You voted for all these things, and it is now this government – this people's government – it is now our solemn duty to deliver on each and every one of those commitments.”

Those were the words of Boris Johnson the morning after the Conservative Party’s landslide election win in December 2019. Standing at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in central London, Johnson promised a range of policies on everything from schools to net zero, and vowed to “rise to the challenge and to the level of expectations”.

Johnson’s biggest election pledge was to leave the EU. But alongside ‘Get Brexit Done’, he also promised to Get 40 New Hospitals Done, and made a host of other commitments to improve healthcare, reduce inequality and improve the UK’s infrastructure.

As we approach a 2024 general election in the UK, it is Rishi Sunak, not Boris Johnson, who will be held accountable for any broken promises.

Will the Tories have lived up to their manifesto commitments? We look at some key promises that remain unfulfilled.

Build and fund 40 new hospitals over the next 10 years

The government is likely to fail on this manifesto pledge – even after cutting back its target from 40 to 32 hospitals. A report from the Public Accounts Committee in November found “extreme concerns” over the “lack of progress” and said it was “highly likely” that the pledge won’t be met.

A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) also found that project delays and an aim to complete hospitals at the lowest possible cost were hindering the process. The NAO found that, of the 32 projects announced in 2020, only 11 qualified as “whole new hospitals”. Other definitions of “new hospital” used by the Department for Health and Social Care included “major new buildings at existing sites” and “major refurbishments of existing buildings”.

Target of 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s

The Tories’ 2019 manifesto pledged that the party would “continue” its work towards building 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s. In practice, this likely referred to England only, as housing is devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In the years 2021-22 and 2022-23, England gained just under 235,000 new homes a year. That figure (called “net additional dwellings”) includes actual new builds (the majority of the total), converting offices and other commercial buildings into homes, and splitting existing houses into multiple flats.

In May 2022, former housing minister Robert Jenrick said: “The government will miss [its] 300,000-homes-a-year manifesto pledge by a country mile.” And last year, the cross-party Levelling Up, Housing and Communities committee said it was “difficult” to see how the government would hit the target of 300,000 after scrapping mandatory housebuilding targets for local councils.

The original pledge was a curious one as the government itself is not primarily responsible for building: that duty largely falls to private developers, local authorities and housing associations. Instead, central government can incentivise new homes being built, and punish councils for failing to greenlight enough applications.

The Tory Party is fighting a war on two fronts when it comes to housebuilding that dates back at least as far as the early 1990s. The wealthier Tory constituencies that form the bedrock of the party’s electoral support are typically resistant to development and want neighbours and councils to have more power to say no to new homes, but the party has taken up to a fifth of its funding from property businesses who want regulation as lax as possible.

What’s more, the difference between homes that are designated for social rent (which directly help bring down housing wait lists) and those that are intended for private sale (which largely don’t) is enormous. Political parties of all colours usually steer clear of talking about social housebuilding, which allows them instead to trumpet the much larger figures of overall housing supply without addressing issues such as landlordism, empty homes, gentrification and homelessness.

In reality, just 9,561 additional social homes were built in England last year. In 2021/22, so many social homes were demolished or sold that England saw a net loss of 14,000 – despite waiting lists topping a million.

Reduce health inequality

Multiple reports have found health inequality is rising in the UK, in part due to the pandemic, and in part due to the chronic underfunding of the NHS.

A 2022 study by the Institute for Public Policy Research found people in the UK were getting “sicker and poorer” and that there was a huge and increasing regional divide in health and wealth.

And a 2020 review by the Institute of Health Equity found that ten years on from a landmark study in health in the UK, “health inequalities have widened overall, and the amount of time people spend in poor health has increased since 2010”. It also found that life expectancies were worse in deprived areas with mortality rates rising for men and women aged 45 to 49.

End rough sleeping

The Tories promised to end the “blight of rough sleeping” by the next election with Johnson claiming he would “work tirelessly” to do so.

They haven’t. Rough sleeping has been rising again since 2021 and is on track to reach 2017 levels. Many of the key policies hoping to tackle this type of homelessness are still in pilot stages.

Ban no-fault evictions

Although the Renters Reform Bill is currently going through Parliament, even if it did become legislation before the next general election, it is unclear when these ‘no-fault’ section 21 evictions will be banned. This is the most common form of eviction.

A report from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said the ban on section 21 evictions would not be introduced until reforms to the court system have taken place – which could take years.

Reach net zero by 2050

A 2023 progress report from the Climate Change Committee raised concerns about the target, saying there is a “hesitation to commit fully to the key pledges”.

Green Alliance analysis last year found that “the UK remains off track to meet its net zero climate commitment by 2050”.

Sunak has U-tuned on multiple green policies, such as the delay in banning petrol vehicles. He instead unveiled a ‘Plan for Drivers’, saying: “The clamp down on drivers is an attack on the day to day lives of most people across the UK who rely on cars to get to work or see their families.” The plan repeated a conspiracy theory about so-called 15-minute neighbourhoods that the government itself had previously debunked.

[usafphantom2]

China releases new images of its next-generation aircraft carrier

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 04/01/2024 - 11:00 in Military

Chinese state media released new images of China's most advanced aircraft carrier to date, including next-generation launchpads that can catapult a wider range of aircraft from its deck.

First displayed to the public in June 2022, the Fujian was entirely designed and built in-house.

However, to carry out its first tests at sea, the aircraft carrier is larger and technologically more advanced than the Shandong, commissioned in 2019, and the Liaoning, which China bought second hand from Ukraine in 1998 and remodeled internally.

On state television on Tuesday night, the Fujian was seen being towed by a smaller vessel with all three rails of its electromagnetic catapult system visible on its deck.

“In the new year, we will take advantage of every minute, work with determination and strive to be ready for combat as soon as possible,” state television said, citing a Fujian official.

Fujian has been conducting tests, including mooring tests, before the tests at sea, which some observers expected to take place until 2023. The aircraft carrier began the launch tests of its electromagnetic catapult system in November, according to the state-controlled Chinese newspaper, Global Times.

In addition to the Ford Class aircraft carriers, a new class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers that is being developed for the U.S. Navy, the Fujian will be the only aircraft carrier in the world equipped with the latest Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS). The new images also show a model of the Shenyang J-15 fighter on the back of the flight deck.

The Chinese version of EMALS can launch more types of aircraft than Shandong or Liaoning, and will also be more reliable and energy efficient, a milestone in the modernization of the Chinese armed forces.

President Xi Jinping repeatedly called for greater combat readiness and technological advances before the 100º anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (ELP) in 2027. Some senior U.S. military officials previously said that China would launch a military takeover of Taiwan during that year.

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In the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections of January 13, Taiwan reported that China continued its daily military activities in the Taiwan Strait and around the democratically governed island.

Chinese fighters also occasionally crossed the midline of the strait, which previously served as an unofficial barrier, but which Beijing says it does not recognize.

Source: Reuters

Tags: Military AviationChinaFujianPLAN - People's Liberation Army Navy / People's Liberation Army Navyaircraft carrier

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[warningsine]

More than three years after Chilean lawmakers took on the task, the country is still working on a new constitution. The initial push ended in failure last September, when voters overwhelmingly rejected a draft that many saw as too radical. While the latest rewrite attempt includes safeguards aimed at avoiding past blunders, it still faces no shortage of challenges.

1. Why is Chile writing a new constitution?

The current one dates to the military dictatorship that ruled from 1973 to 1990. Though it’s been amended several times since Chile returned to democracy, many view the document as illegitimate because of its origins during the reign of General Augusto Pinochet, a violent dictator whose rule featured arbitrary arrests and political executions. Critics have also argued that elements of the constitution have entrenched inequality. When mass street protests began on Oct. 18, 2019, triggered by an increase in Santiago subway fares, demonstrators expanded their grievances to include problems with the pension, health care and education systems. In an effort to diffuse tensions, then-President Sebastian Pinera agreed to hold a 2020 referendum on whether to rewrite Chile’s charter and, if so, how. Almost 80% of voters said yes, and a large majority favored doing so by appointing a Constitutional Convention. 

2. What happened in the first attempt?

Electing members of the Constitutional Convention in May 2021, voters delivered a massive surprise by spurning traditional political parties in favor of left-leaning independents. Rightist members failed even to secure the one-third of seats necessary to block articles. The body rushed to finish the draft after a year of work, writing and then re-writing clauses and going as far as holding weekend and late-night sessions. In doing so, it incorporated proposals that some viewed as radical change, such as the eliminating the senate — the upper house of Chile’s bicameral legislature — and creating a parallel justice system for indigenous communities. On Sept. 4, 2022, voters overwhelmingly rejected that document, 62% to 38%. It was a huge blow to leftist President Gabriel Boric, who had publicly supported the new charter.

3. What’s different this time around?

Lawmakers went back to the drawing board. In December, following weeks of intense negotiations, they announced an agreement on a new process that divides power and responsibilities across different groups. A Commission of Experts elected by Congress has been outlining new articles since March. On Sunday, voters will elect a Constitutional Council, which will have the ability to accept, reject or modify the proposals from the experts. An Admissibility Technical Committee will oversee the work and ensure that articles do not violate a set of constitutional pillars on Chile’s territorial integrity, the right to property, branches of government and autonomous institutions including the central bank, among other entities. The idea of the structure is to ensure that the end product reflects the will of voters and the guidance of distinguished specialists, all while limiting odds of extreme change.

4. What’s been the reaction from voters and investors?

Rising voter apathy after months of political twists and turns poses a challenge to the latest rewrite effort. Only 31% of people are interested in the new campaign, according to a Criteria public opinion survey published in April, down from 60% two years prior. “There’s high risk of disengagement,” said Criteria founder Cristian Valdivieso. In a Pulso Ciudadano poll published April 30, roughly 61% of respondents said they don’t trust the process, up from 55% in January. Public attention has been more attuned to problems such as crime and inflation, with relatively little buzz on the new constitution on social networks and in the streets. Most investors are brushing off those woes, as they now see the threat of radical changes to the nation’s pro-business rules as next to nil. Since the September referendum, the peso has gained roughly 10% as uncertainty has cleared. The design of the latest charter rewrite prevents unorthodox and radical initiatives from going through, analysts at JPMorgan wrote in a May 1 research note, adding that they are overweight on local stocks. In a Bloomberg survey published on May 2, only 14% of investors cited the constitutional process as a top local political concern, versus 64% who cited debate over pension fund withdrawals.

5. Where do things stand now?

In Sunday’s election, Chileans will select the 50 members of the Constitutional Council. The election is obligatory, meaning that all registered voters will have to submit ballots or else risk paying a fine. They will choose contenders from a total of five different lists — one from the left, one from the center-left, one from the center-right, one from the right and one featuring candidates from a populist party. All eyes will be on whether any political block gets close to 30 of the 50 seats. “The elections will likely result in a fragmented body that tilts right but in which none of the competing lists has the three-fifths majority needed to pass norms on their own,” Eurasia Group analysts including Maria Luisa Puig wrote in a May 1 note. The vote will be held at a time when Boric’s approval ratings are low, likely undermining the performance of his leftist coalition, according to the note.

6. What happens after Sunday’s vote?

The Constitutional Council will start work in June and will have four months to complete its tasks. After the council produces a text, the Commission of Experts will write a report that may include observations aimed at improving the document. Those recommendations will consequently be put to votes in the Constitutional Council; if there’s disagreement, they could be put to a committee consisting of representatives of commission and the council. Ultimately, Chile will hold a referendum on the final draft on Dec. 17. If approved by a simple majority, the new charter would become law, coming into effect upon publication in the Official Gazette. 

The Reference Shelf

Legislation that lays out the rules for the latest attempt at a constitutional rewrite.

Recent Pulso Ciudadano poll with questions on the new constitutional rewrite.

Bloomberg News coverage of the September referendum on the prior attempt to write a new charter.

[consultingsister-a5]

In 2013, after the funeral of her daughter, Cecelia moves to New York City. 

For one year, Cecelia Holmes becomes almost impossible to reach. However, for the sake of her daughter, she gives up drinking; she starts therapy; she even begins writing the novel she always planned to.

In 2015, she accepts a job at American Vogue as a freelance fashion editor, and slowly but surely makes her way back into society. She dates a politician with his sight set on the presidency, followed by a New York University psychology professor who had very recently left her husband of forty years and come out as gay (the two still keep in touch, but they eventually broke up due to the professors wish to mess around with her newfound freedom).

Much like many Brits before her, she begins a new life in America.

However, in 2017, her father invites her out for dinner in the city. It’s not entirely unusual. Out of all his children, Morland Holmes is closest with his daughter. Cee knows though, from the outset, that it was a business meeting. The popular 5-star restaurant being completely empty on a Friday night was enough.

Morland states his intentions clearly; his sons have no desire to join the family business. That leaves him with two options; hand the business to someone outside of the family, or begin to prepare Cecelia for the role of CEO of Holmes International Consultants.

He does however also make clear that if he believed Celia was incapable of the work, he would not be making this offer. Out of his three children, her resilience, persistence, and ambition has impressed him the most.

Although not strictly evil, the organisation Morland runs prides itself on being able to solve any problem for any client. These clients include governments, businessmen, and criminals. Through methods such as bribes, blackmail, and well places contacts, Holmes International Consultants retains its God-like power.

Despite her own reservations, and Sherlock’s please to decline the job, Celia accepts her father’s offer and leaves Vogue in early 2018.

Her first job is to create contacts within the Chinese government and spends the majority of 2019 and 2020 in Hong Kong. She then returns to London, mission accomplished and shadows her father until 2021 when she is announced as the new CEO of Holmes International Consultants.

In 2022, Celia begins her greatest endeavor. Using some of the greatest minds in the world, Celia begins to design a computer system that is used for the social engineering of whole populations. The machine will nalyze the patterns of history, as well government and online information, and chart a course for the future. In the beginning, it’s simply used to predict things like stock market changes, terrorist threats, worldwide recessions, and election results. The system is soon so powerful that Cee is able to threaten the president of Brazil to bring down his government and to talk with the president’s replacements within 6 weeks. Every company in the near future will need the computer’s assistance for their business.

Cee names the machine “Eurus” after her father’s sister, who died young but had an unexplained ability to know when it was about to rain.

In 2023, Celia wants to take Eurus further. Currently, the system works on the basis of information > output. Cee wants to be able to feed desired outcomes into the computer and for it to output the step-by-step process on how to achieve it. It’s an ambitious goal and begins to overstep the line as to where a stable world begins and personal freedom ends.

[kudosmyhero]

Transformers: Robots in Disguise (Phase 02) #1: The Autonomy Lesson

Read Date: September 19, 2022 Cover Date: January 2012 ● Writer: John Barber ● Penciller: Andrew Griffith ● Inker: (Andrew Griffith, also?) ● Colorist: Josh Perez ● Letterer: Shawn Lee ● Editor: Carlos Guzman ●

Synopsis: As a ship carrying the newest group of NAILs to return to Cybertron comes in for a landing over the primordial planet, the substance of the world itself comes to life, reacting primitively to the presence of the "intruders" and lashing out at their craft. Although damaged, they are able to set down, and are greeted by Bumblebee and Metalhawk, though the conversation that follows is a terse one, as Metalhawk takes every opportunity to blame the Autobots for the current situation and foster distrust for them in the new arrivals.

Elsewhere, Tappet is caught in the act of graffitiing a building by Needlenose and Horri-Bull, who are acting as enforcers of the peace following the implantation of inhibitor/deterrence chips in the Decepticons that prevent them transforming or using their special powers. Unfortunately, the pair elect to enforce the peace upside Tappet's head, but are caught before the situation escalates by Prowl, Blurr, and Sideswipe. While Blurr takes Tappet into custody, Prowl and Sideswipe return Horri-Bull and Needlenose to the Decepticons' "home", where self-appointed leader Ratbat makes demands for equal treatment that fall on deaf ears. After the Autobots depart, however, Ratbat turns on the two troublemaking Decepticons for their willingness to serve the Autobots' government, and announces that he has a plan…

While Ironhide and Wheeljack are attempting to map the full extent of the changes to Cybertron, Bumblebee and Prowl clash over the Decepticon problem, and over Prowl's opposition to holding a memorial for the believed-dead crew of the Lost Light, since most of the planet's population are hostile or indifferent towards the idea. Leaving Bumblebee to deal with matters of state, Prowl receives a visit from a mysterious co-conspirator, who is aiding him in carrying out the unpleasant tasks necessary to keep the peace.

Metalhawk arrives and arranges for Tappet's release, following which he and Bumblebee talk about the memorial. Rather than actually give an answer, Metalhawk volunteers the fact that rumours are starting to spread that Bumblebee had the Lost Light blown up, which drives the little yellow 'bot into a fury. Before he can really lay into Metalhawk, though, they are distracted by a scuffle nearby: Horri-Bull and Needlenose are at it again, beating up Zetca. Bumblebee threatens to detonate Horri-Bull's I/D chip if he doesn't back off, but Horri-Bull calls his bluff, preparing to kill Zetca… and Bumblebee doesn't blink, triggering the explosive and blowing Horri-Bull's head off. And watching nearby is Skywarp, who reports Horri-Bull's death, and despite supposedly having an I/D chip, teleports away…

(https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Autonomy_Lesson_(issue))

Fan Art: jazz and prowl by m343m

Accompanying Podcast: ● Married with Comics: Rod Pod - episode 01

[head-post]

German vice-chancellor announced collapse of ruling coalition

Germany’s coalition collapsed on Wednesday as Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked his finance minister and paved the way for snap elections following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck announced.

Scholz is expected to lead a minority government with his Social Democrats and the Greens, the second largest party, after sacking Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats (FDP). The move means that Scholz’s government no longer has a majority in parliament.

Scholz said he would call a vote of confidence in his government on 15 January, a prerequisite for holding elections by the end of March. Meanwhile, the Greens, the second largest party in the original tripartite coalition, will remain in government. Lacking their own parliamentary majority, they will have to organise special support for individual votes from other parties.

Scholz said he would ask Friedrich Merz, leader of the opposition conservatives, to back urgently needed budget measures. He said Germany’s crisis-ridden economy could not wait until after the election for the government to take action.

Adviser Wolfgang Schmidt, the minister in charge of Scholz’s office, or Habeck, the current Economy Minister and Vice-Chancellor, could replace the outgoing Lindner. Scholz, himself a former Finance Minister, could also take up the post alongside the Chancellor.

Crisis of trust

Scholz claimed that his former finance minister “betrayed [his] confidence” and put the interests of his party base ahead of the interests of the country. He added that Germany needs to show that other countries could rely on it, especially after the election of Donald Trump in the United States.

The crisis within the coalition plunged Europe’s largest economy into political chaos hours after Trump��s election, creating deep uncertainty about the future of the continent’s economy and security. When the coalition between the chancellor’s Social Democrats, the environmentalist Greens and the economically liberal FDP was formed in 2021, each party planned to spend heavily on its own core interest groups.

However, the war in Ukraine in 2022 pushed up energy prices and left Germany facing increased defence spending as well as the cost of hosting 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees. Germany is now in its second year of no economic growth.

Scholz and his Green partners want to solve the issue by loosening constitutional rules on public debt to allow for increased spending. However, Lindner planned to pay for the tax cuts by slashing social security and welfare budgets and pushing back environmental targets.

If MPs vote against the government, the country will hold new elections within weeks, rather than on the scheduled date in September.

Read more HERE

[epacer]

San Diego Unified School District              

‘I can understand why people are angry': San Diego Unified Board president

Less than three minutes. That’s how long the news conference announcing the scandalous exit of San Diego Unified’s superintendent lasted.

A four-month-long independent investigation found former SDUSD superintendent Lamont Jackson sexually harassed at least two former school district administrators. He walked away from the job with six months severance and his full pension benefits.

Since then, multiple internal warnings about Jackson have been made public. Those warnings date as far back as three years. In two instances, San Diego Unified didn’t investigate allegations that Jackson was exploiting the top job in the district to try to sleep with female employees. When the district did investigate an accusation, it didn’t share that information with key decision-makers.

For the first time since that became public, and since the district fired its superintendent after a sexual misconduct investigation, Board president Shana Hazan sat down for an on-camera interview about what went wrong.

“I can understand why people are angry,” Hazan said. “I can understand that people are frustrated. I can understand that people are disappointed. And they have every right to be.”

Redacted school district records released to NBC 7 Investigates and other journalists reveal a lengthy timeline of sexual misconduct accusations. School board members only got copies of them one day before the district shared them with reporters.

“It’s clear that we did not have all the information that other members of the staff were aware of,” Hazan told NBC 7. “I was disappointed that that information did not come forward sooner.”

The first alarm

On Aug. 19, 2021, while Jackson was the interim superintendent, anonymous staff members at Bethune K-8 sent a letter to the San Diego Unified School Board. The letter accused Jackson of having an affair with the school’s principal, who the accusers said was unfit for her job and urged the board not to pick Jackson as the next superintendent.

The main author of that letter told NBC 7 Investigates they sent a copy of the letter to each school board member. Hazan wasn’t elected to the school board until the following year. However, at the time, Hazan was on the superintendent-selection committee. That committee, tasked with picking the school district’s top leader, never received a copy of the Bethune letter or any indication the district had hired an independent investigator to look into Jackson’s alleged sexual misconduct.

A district spokesman confirmed that San Diego Unified did not share the Bethune letter or news of the sexual misconduct investigation into one of the finalists with the selection committee.

Seven months later, in March 2022, the school board named Jackson as San Diego Unified’s new superintendent. At the time, Jackson was still under investigation for allegations of sexual misconduct detailed in that Bethune K-8 letter.

Hazan

A couple months after Jackson’s promotion, a district lawyer sent him and the school principal accused of having an affair with him an email saying the investigation into the Bethune allegations didn’t turn up anything. 

That the school board president is only now learning of serious, relevant allegations from three years ago is not lost on Hazan.

“I wish I would have asked the question when I came on the board, ‘Is there anything I should know? Is there anything that happened before I was elected that I should be made aware of?’ ” Hazan said.

Alarm bells within the district only grew louder after Jackson took the helm. In June 2023, San Diego Unified got an anonymous hotline report alleging the superintendent had sexual relations with two workers he then promoted.

The following month, the district received another letter, this one signed by a group of anonymous school principals. They accused Jackson of sexually harassing women he supervised and exchanging sex for promotions and job security.

The district neither investigated nor shared the hotline report, nor the principals’ letter, with the school board.

In a statement, a spokesman said at the time the district determined the allegations were based on rumors and speculation from third-party anonymous sources. He also said there was an assumption the principals’ letter was shared with the board, though the district now concedes that assumption was wrong.

“Moving forward, I will not assume that all the information is being proactively shared with me,” Hazan said.

Some school board members did know about the 2021 Bethune letter, but the district claims no one on the board knew about the hotline report or prinicpals’ letter until last month.

“I can’t speak to why or how the information did not come to the board more recently than two weeks ago, but what I know is that we now have processes and procedures in place to ensure that will never happen again,” Hazan said.

Specifically, Hazan points to a new district office tasked with investigations and accountability. In an email sent to NBC 7 Investigates following Hazan’s interview, she said the district has hired staff with Title IX experience and increased employee education surrounding sexual misconduct reporting.

“What has changed is that no one is assuming things anymore,” Hazan said, "that if there is a concern related to a senior leader that the board is made aware. And what I have noticed in recent weeks is the board is being made aware of those things in a way that we were not before.”

Questions about transparency from the district

Even after the district launched its latest misconduct investigation of Jackson, it hasn’t been particularly forthcoming.

San Diego Unified told NBC 7 the district had hired a law firm to investigate a personnel matter back in May but wouldn’t confirm that matter involved the superintendent until he was fired four months later.

The entire time he was under investigation, Jackson was allowed to stay on the job as superintendent. He was never placed on paid administrative leave, which is a recommended practice for investigations into workplace sexual harassment.

“We at no time had any concerns about keeping the superintendent on in his capacity as superintendent during the investigation period,” Hazan said.

And after the investigation found Jackson sexually harassed at least two former employees, the state’s second-largest school district was tight-lipped. San Diego Unified invited reporters to the district office for the school board’s announcement that it fired Jackson but officials did not take any questions. Also, that press conference was held on the Friday evening heading into the Labor Day holiday weekend.

During that news conference, Hazan raised some eyebrows when she expressed gratitude to Jackson for his leadership.

“Superintendent Jackson served this district for 30 years … and it was important to the board to recognize that service,” Hazan told us. “And we also needed to communicate that he was no longer fit to serve, and that it was no longer in the best interest of the district to move forward with him as superintendent. Both of those things were true to the board.”

Jackson

Despite the findings from the independent investigation, the board fired Jackson “without cause,” enabling him to collect a six-month severance package of more than $260,000.

“It was really important to us that we could move forward through this transition as quickly as possible, stay focused on our top priorities and not get distracted by an issue that we believe is in the past,” Hazan said.

Jackson vehemently denied all allegations of sexual misconduct in a statement he sent to NBC 7. He said the characterization of him is “completely inaccurate” and that people who know him best know he would never behave in the manner alleged.

The district won’t release the full investigation

Board members and San Diego Unified spokespeople have repeatedly stressed the district’s commitment to transparency. However, the district has refused to release a copy of the entire independent investigation into Jackson.

“So there’s pending litigation related to that investigation so we have been able to share as much as we possibly can,” Hazan said.

There is no law prohibiting the district from making the full investigation public. In fact, earlier this year, the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) Board of Directors released the full report from an independent investigation into the firing of a former MTS employee who claims she was sexually harassed by former MTS Board chair Nathan Fletcher.

Like MTS, San Diego Unified is facing two potential lawsuits tied to Jackson’s behavior. At least two former district administrators filed legal claims against the school district. Both women allege sexual harassment, discrimination, negligent hiring and retention.

Accusations against interim-superintendent Bagula

Those claims also make troubling accusations against the person the district put in Jackson’s place, interim superintendent Fabiola Bagula. The women allege Bagula made racist anti-white remarks in front of coworkers. Even more distressing, they claim Bagula knew about Jackson’s behavior, protected him, and harassed and bullied those women who rejected his sexual advances.

Despite the accusations, Hazan said, the board stands behind Bagula.

Bagula

“I know that she is exactly the person that we need right now to lead our district,” Hazan said. “She’s not perfect. Nobody is perfect. She’s the first person to apologize if she makes a mistake. And as it relates to these claims, she has accepted responsibility. She has been accountable. I am so confident in her leadership.”

The independent investigation found no evidence Bagula mistreated employees, according to a statement sent to NBC 7 by the district spokesman. The “white-womaned” remark was “taken out of context,” but nonetheless Bagula has apologized to those offended.

And despite serving under Jackson as his No. 2, Bagula claims she never saw him act inappropriately. In a statement, she wrote, “When I became aware of the serious allegations against Dr. Jackson … I was deeply troubled.… I share the anger and outrage over these actions, which are completely intolerable.”

On Tuesday, Bagula signed a contract to lead the district as interim superintendent through mid-March. Hazan said the board hasn’t decided whether or not it will conduct a national search for a permanent replacement.

Earning back the trust

Hazan said she’s aware San Diego Unified has lost trust with the families it serves.

“I’m a mom," Hazan said. "I have two daughters in our school. There is nothing more personal to me than the education of our children.”

Hazan said the community can expect noticeable changes in how the board shares misconduct and sexual abuse investigation findings from now on.

“Actions speak louder than words,” Hazan said. “So I would say: Don’t take my word for it. Hold us accountable. Watch our board meetings. Watch the reports we provide.”  *Reposted article from NBC 7 by Alexis Rivas, Mike Dorfman and Andi Dukleth on October 10, 2024