#vt josh

[lunadreamscaper]

god i really hate the way some people treat Katrina and Mary Toast. people can be fyuckin NASTY when it comes to the female/girlypop competition to people's favorite ships.

like u don't have to like the characters but jesus. its always the women that people will depict cruelly or treat cruelly specifically because their competition and its gross.

not to mention the obvious misogyny lol

but tbf every fandom has this problem. i reblogged a post how if Castiel was a girl people would've HATED them lol. that post explains this problem better than i do. but you get the point.

anyways. women existing wont cause your ship to sink, calm down./lh

also the way people dogshat on Ghost x Josh too for similar overlapping reasons lol.

[offbrandorangedrink]

Hello I know nothing about Josh, I remember watching the video where she appeared the day it came out and then immediately forgetting about her and every time she showed up I'd always think wait is this another new character? Until they'd make some sort of references to twenty one pilots and I'd be like oh yeah that's Josh, the Josh (unrelated to twenty one pilots), and then I'd forget her again and the cycle would repeat. I have no object permanence for Josh so that means I can make her a cowboy. Forgive me for the lack of hat I am bad at hats and I cried trying to draw one. I love making things that werent cowboys into cowboys and now Josh is one. Isn't she beautiful? I gave her a sort of semi beard it's really more like super long sideburns but at what point does a side burn become a beard I don't know I'm not an expert I just thought it looked pretty

[riddlelenz]

Spooker, Colon and Josh for the soul!

After a long while of procrastination I finally finished this, enjoy, ignore the bad anatomy please-

[nyxx-nth]

I WANNA DO POLLS ON LAST NAMES

So if you have any last name ideas for:

Ghost

Toast Family

Aimée

Katrina

Spooker

Colon

Maddie

Josh

Mary

Then…

PLEASE REBLOG OR COMMENT WITH THEM SO I CAN ADD THEM TO THE POLLS

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Molly Redden at HuffPost:

In his Democratic primary challenge to Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Wesley Bell, the St. Louis County prosecutor, is raising money hand over fist — and not all of it from Democrats. Bell’s latest campaign finance filings include donations from notable sources such as Steven Tilley, a GOP former Missouri House speaker who’s now a lobbyist, and Daniel Loeb, the billionaire founder of the hedge fund Third Point, who has donated millions to Republican causes.

David Steward, a billionaire tech CEO from St. Louis, has also supported Bell. Steward recently served as the finance chair of a super PAC that supported Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) run for president. All told, Bell raised more than $65,000 from donors who also gave to one of Missouri’s two Republican senators, Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, in their most recent campaigns, or Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, the leading Republican candidate for governor. The influx of money for Bell from donors who normally back Republicans comes after the prosecutor abandoned a Senate campaign against Hawley in order to challenge Bush. Bell jumped races in late October, a decision he partly credits to Bush’s stance on Israel’s military action in Gaza. Shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Bush introduced a resolution for a cease-fire and condemned Israel’s retaliatory military action as an “ethnic cleansing campaign.”

Around that time, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the deep-pocketed pro-Israel lobbying group, unveiled a plan to spend up to $100 million to unseat Bush and her fellow Israel critics. The group endorsed Bell in February. “Wesley Bell is a progressive prosecutor who will stand up for President Biden’s agenda and oppose MAGA extremists and Donald Trump ― and everyone who supports or donates to his campaign knows that’s exactly what to expect from Wesley,” said Anjan Mukherjee, an adviser to Bell’s campaign. “Cori Bush has proven she would rather get headlines and protest than do the work of getting progressive results for St. Louis.”

[...] Bush, a nurse, became a political activist after the 2014 police killing of Mike Brown and the Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson, Missouri. In 2020, with support from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and progressive groups that helped elect other left-wing Squad members, Bush pulled off a shocking upset of longtime incumbent Rep. Lacy Clay Jr. She has become an advocate for Black maternal health, abortion rights and diverting money from law enforcement to public services. Bell’s political career was forged in Ferguson, too, where he became a city councilmember after the unrest. In 2018, Bell rode a wave of enthusiasm for progressive prosecutor candidates to become the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney. Bell is campaigning on elements of his record, such as his efforts to reduce the number of people jailed for minor offenses. But some activists who helped elect him claim he failed to differ much from his predecessors, starting with when he declined to seek charges over Brown’s death.

If you thought that Wesley Bell was going to primary incumbent Rep. Cori Bush (D) a year ago and raising money from Republicans and pro-Israel Apartheid folk, you'd been laughed out the room.

In the #MO01 Democratic Primary, a pair of politicians who had their rise fueled by the Ferguson protests in the wake of the killing of Mike Brown nearly 10 years ago are facing off against each other.

Bell initially was gonna run for #MOSen, but switched instead to the Congressional set currently occupied by Bush due to her resolutely pro-Palestinian stances on the Israel/Hamas War and Gaza Genocide.

[kp777]

By Jessica Corbett

Common Dreams

Aug. 3, 2024

"I hope very much that the vice president selects a running mate who will speak up and take on powerful corporate interests, and I think Tim Walz is somebody who could do that."

Ahead of a Saturday rally in Minneapolis, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders signaled support for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential candidate for the November election.

Sanders (I-Vt.) did not immediately endorse Harris last month after President Joe Biden dropped out of the contest against Republican former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio). Sanders explained that "I just want to make sure that her campaign understands that for too many people in this country, when they look at Washington, D.C., they feel ignored. They feel insulted that people are not understanding what is going on in their lives."

As Harris on Friday officially secured enough delegates to get the Democratic nomination, Sanders attended a town hall in Mankato and spoke with Minnesota Public Radio host Tom Crann, who asked him about his positions on Harris and Walz—a vice presidential contender backed by a growing number of progressives and Democrats.

"I'm gonna do everything that I can to see that Donald Trump is defeated and that Kamala Harris will become the next president of the United States," Sanders said. "I think she has a strong record to run on along with President Biden and I think and believe that she is going to be speaking out not only on issues of climate change, not only on issues of women having the right to control their own body, not only protecting our democracy, but the needs of working families."

As for Harris' vice presidential pick, Sanders said: "Well, I had the opportunity to talk to your governor a few days ago and I am very impressed by him. I think you have an excellent governor who understands the needs of working families. So I hope very much that the vice president selects a running mate who will speak up and take on powerful corporate interests, and I think Tim Walz is somebody who could do that."

The Associated Press reported Friday that Harris' weekend interview list includes Walz, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Govs. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, JB Pritzker of Illinois, and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. Shapiro's record on climate, school vouchers, and Palestine has provoked impassioned warnings from progressives.

According to CNN, "renewed focus is being placed" on Walz, who is set to meet with Harris on Sunday.

Walz is a former teacher and coach who served in the Army National Guard and U.S. House of Representatives. Last year, he and state lawmakers with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party passed nearly every item on a "transformational" agenda, including measures on free school meals at public and charter schools, marijuana legalization, and paid family and medical leave.

"There's a lot of pain out there. Working people are struggling and they're seeing massive levels of income and wealth inequality, and what they want is political leadership in Washington and all over this country to start paying attention to their needs," Sanders said Friday. "And that means, to my mind, a bunch of pieces of legislation that we've got to pass."

"The time is long overdue for Washington to stop worrying about the billionaires and their campaign contributors and start worrying about the needs of working families," he added, pushing for improvements to Medicare and Social Security.

After the interview and Mankato event, Sanders headed to Minneapolis for a get-out-the-vote rally with two Democrats who represent Minnesota in Congress—Sen. Tina Smith and Rep. Ilhan Omar—in anticipation of the state's August 13 primary.

Omar is facing a primary challenge from Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis City Council member. Sanders told MPR that "I think in Ilhan you have a member of Congress who really is one of the outstanding members. She's a woman of courage."

Sanders praised Omar—who earlier this year spoke on Sanders' podcast about coming to the United States as a refugee from Somalia—for her work to improve the lives of children and her criticism of the U.S.-backed Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

Highlighting Omar's record of "representing the needs of working families in general," Sanders—who is up for reelection in Vermont this year—added that "I'm a strong supporter of Ilhan. I look forward to being with her tomorrow."

Minnesota-based Bring Me the News reported that during the Saturday event, "Sens. Sanders and Smith emphasized how important it was to encourage community members to vote in the presidential and primary elections."

"I am begging you this afternoon to remember that our struggle is not over when Kamala gets elected. We are taking on the greed of a billionaire class," Sanders said. "If we stand together as working-class people, we can win this thing."

[faith-nerd]

I may be about to do something crazy.

So, I've been following the Villain Song Showdown by @its-to-the-death , and while there are some underapprecited gems in there (I am so glad Barbie Villains are getting some recognition), there was a lack of VeggieTales Villain Songs.

I tried to think of any that I might have submitted if I'd known about the tournament during submissions, and well... there were a few.

Do I want to be crazy enough to try to run a VT Villain Song Tournament?

So this is my putting it out there to see if anyone would be interested.

Hypothetical Details:

I've got 16 songs that would for sure be in this hypothetical tournament, should there be one. They're not necessarily all equal in my eyes, but they're all what I consider to be villain songs from VeggieTales episodes:

Oh no, what're we gonna do? (Where's God when I'm Scared: Daniel in the Lion's Den)

Busy, Busy (Are You My Neighbor: Tale of Flibber-o-loo)

The Bunny Song (Rack Shack and Benny)

Keep Walking (Josh and the Big Wall)

The Rumor Weed Song (Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed)

Salesmanz Rap (Madame Blueberry)

I Must Have It (King George and the Ducky)

Haman's Song (Esther, the Girl Who Became Queen)

What is up with Lyle? (Lyle the Kindly Viking)

113 Years Ago (An Easter Carol)

Temptation (Larry-Boy and the Bad Apple)

You Know Enough (Pistachio: the Little Boy that Woodn't)

The Prince of Ham I Am (Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men)

Freeze, Freeze, Freeze (League of Incredible Vegetables)

I'm Gonna Tear it Down (Celery Night Fever)

Good for the Grabbing (Veggies in Space: The Fennel Frontier)

And I've got 8 that either I'm not sure if they're really villain songs, or that episode has another song in the 16 For Sure. While I wouldn't have a real "Submission Period," I would accept propaganda on why these or any others I forgot should be included:

I'm so Blue (Madame Blueberry)

I Love My Duck (King George and the Ducky)

It's Laura's Fault (Larry-Boy and the Fib from Outer Space)

We're Vikings (Lyle the Kindly Viking)

Our Big Break (Star of Christmas)

I'm Blue (Ballad of Little Joe)

No Strings Attached (Pistachio: The Little Boy that Woodn't)

Jolly Joe's (The Pirates Who Don't do Anything)

I will say to keep this small (There's a reason I'm considering doing a VeggieTales Villain Songs Tournament and not an All Types of VeggieTales Villain Songs Tournament), this would only be direct-to-video/dvd episodes or feature length films. No VeggieTales in the House, nothing made for tv, nothing from 3-2-1 Penguins or Cartoon Adventures of Larry-Boy (although I don't think there's any from eny of those anyway... maybe there's a VT ITH).

So, yeah, throwing it out there, seeing if anyone's interested, and we'll go from there.

[danglovely]

Regrading Taskmaster: S01E04 Down an octave.

*Score changes in parenthesis.

Prize Task: Most beautiful item.

Tim's trip to Cologne is beautiful, both because the cathedral is stunning and because they actually ended up taking the trip. Romesh's statute might be the only other thing that is actually aesthetically pleasing (depending on your taste for Roisin's cardigan). I can't do magic eyes, but reports are that Josh lied about his prize task because of course he did.

Tim: 5 (0) Romesh: 4 (+3) Roisin: 3 (+1) Frank: 2 (-1) Josh: 1 (-3)

VT 01: Make this ice block disappear as fast as possible.

A task rife with pedantry because it uses the word "disappear" rather than "melt." This leads to the natural question "disappear from existence or sight?" and in the case of the latter, "whose sight?"

Tim throws the thing in the river which is a similar tactic to what worked for Paul Sinha and Iain Stirling in a Series Eight eraser task. I'm inclined to defer to the studio scores because even if we take Tim's definition of disappear, it would have been more elegant to actually conceal the ice from Alex rather than chucking it in the river.

Josh: 5 Frank: 4 Roisin: 3 Romesh: 2 Tim: 1

VT 02: Get to 11 points as fast as possible.

The debut of team tasks and the start of inconsistent scoring. The team points were originally meant to be a split of five. Greg never does this, much to Alex's chagrin. Both teams achieve the task and Frank/Tim solve the puzzle. It's all about time though, so a 3-2 split in favor of the team of three feels right.

Roisin, Romesh, and Josh: 3 (+1) Frank and Tim: 2 (+1)

VT 03: Fill an egg cup with as many tears as possible.

There is an argument that Roisin and Tim should get zero points for not getting any tears into the cup. However, within the four corners of the task, that might just have been the most tears possible for them and they should actually get 2 points for coming in joint fourth.

Frank: 5 (0) Romesh: 4 (0) Josh: 3 (0) Roisin: 2 (+1) Tim: 2 (+1)

Solo Task: Count the beans/rings/grains of rice.

Josh did this one by himself and it infamously won him the series. Solo tasks are inherently unfair but Taskmaster is never about being fair. That said, Josh's efforts were never actually evaluated for accuracy, so no points.

Josh: 0 (-1)

Live Task: Memorize the names of an Australian rules football team.

Everybody got one so everyone was awarded one point. It's purely academic, but because everyone came in joint first, everyone should have received five.

Frank: 5 (+4) Josh: 5 (+4) Roisin: 5 (+4) Romesh: 5 (+4) Tim: 5 (+4)

Final

Frank: 18 (+4) Josh: 17 (+1) Roisin: 16 (+7) Romesh: 18 (+8) Tim: 15 (+6)

Josh originally won the episode largely because he lied about his prize task. I have Frank and Romesh tied with the break going Frank's way for finding Alex faster.

[huntersapprentice]

GROWLS

hi, so uhm, yeah, here’s the VeggieTales episode tier list I said I would do

putting my thoughts under the read more if y’all wanna read that

So like I did with my Silly Song tier list, I’m going to go in order of bottom to top. I’ll try to be a little more organized about it this time.

Yellow-green is, as the image says, just episodes I haven’t seen in full or at all. I will say though, I want to see The League of Incredible Vegetables really badly. Also Celery Night Fever. I’ve heard that episodes pretty good.

NOW! Let’s go on to what I have seen.

YELLOW:

So these are the episodes that I went like “Oh these were okay... whatever” and then barely ever touched them again. Yes, the second movie’s on there, and I saw it once. It was alright, I liked bits of it, but it didn't stick with me enough. That’s also how I feel about Merry Larry a bit. I gladly took the Bob and Mr. Lunt dynamic in this episode, but I wouldn’t go back and see the entire thing again just for it.

With Moe and the Big Exit, it was just kinda iffy to me. Fine on first watch, but I don’t entirely feel like revisiting it again. Duke and the Great Pie War just didn’t grip me all that much, but the part where Otis gets shot from a slingshot was really funny.

Fennel Frontier and Big River Rescue I did watch more than once, but then not much. Mr. Spork(Bob’s character in Fennel Frontier) gulping down an entire half of a sandwich like it was nothing was kinda the highlight for me. I think out of the rest of the group, I revisit Gideon: Tuba Warrior a bit more, but not by all that much.

YELLOW ORANGE:

OKAY, the more or less general enjoyment category! Some of them I don’t revisit all that often, but I like them more and am more willing to go back and watch them again. So I only just watched It’s a Meaning Life, and this was only a day after watching the original It’s a Wonderful Life, so maybe I’m biased in the way that this episode was an immediate pallet cleanser from that. It was a pretty cute episode, plus it introduced sexyman Larry.

I haven’t revisited the End of Silliness? as a full, but everything about the ending scene just stuck with me since the first time I saw it. I liked Penniless Princess a bit more than I expected to, which was also the same deal with Pistachio; which I extra appreciate for having Bob go from not really understanding the Countertop redesign until he sees Qwerty and starts crying. I felt that.

Sheerluck Holmes was fun, especially the “Call On Us“ reprise. I love that part. Dave and the Giant Pickle I don’t revisit often, but again, a single musical number in it is what grips me the most in it: I really fucking love “Big Things, Too.“ The Little House That Stood honestly got this placement just because of Good Egg of Gooseville. (assuming that’s what the segment’s called) Whole episode is alright, but Bob is Humpty Dumpty, who’s literally cracking from work stress. Plus, he and Junior(as Baby Bear) hug near the end of the segment and it’s really sweet. Also, it reminded me of the Hello Kitty Furry Tale Theater episode of Mother Goose, so that’s really cool.

I like Josh and the Big Wall. It’s really cool, but I don’t watch it often. It’s a very once-in-a-while episode that I’d need to have some overwhelming reason to watch. I’m not super attached to Lyle the Kindly Viking, but I like it. It’s cute to watch Archibald try real hard to make a fancy and sophisticated episode. They do both a Hamlet spoof about the last eggs in the kingdom and a story about vikings in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan. It’s just a fun episode.

Speaking of fun, here’s a fun fact: Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie was the first home media thing I owned of VT. I saw it in bits before on youtube, but yeah. Jonah’s cool. I like that the ending of the movie itself is just the gang going “The main character didn’t learn anything! What kinda story is that?“ and then Mr. Lunt has to go and tell them “The point is that you learned from the fact that he didn’t learn, dumbass. Learn media literacy“ and then they have one last big musical number for the fuck of it. Oh yeah, and there’s also a celebrity guest song for the credits which oddly enough gives me a lot of nostalgia for the credits of the first Spongebob movie. Actually this whole movie always kinda reminds me of Spongebob Squarepants Movie for really no reason other than there’s nonhumans going somewhere at the behest of a higher figure and there’s the ocean at some point. They’re both the first movies of their respective series. Oh yeah, and the characters being snagged away and almost getting killed once they get to said destination. Cool stuff.

LarryBoy and the Bad Apple has the Bad Apple. Oh yeah, Bob also stomps on the ground in a fit of annoyance and then stands there in shame for the next minute while Larry and Archibald talk about the lesson, which has to be up there in the top most huntercore things he’s ever done. I enjoy watching Esther: The Girl Who Became Queen from time to time. It’s definitely different from the usual VT style, aside from this episode being the first time that a unique character was created to be main character for the episode (out of Penniless Princess, Saint Nick, and Beauty and the Beet, as some examples). I think it’s a nice change of tone, especially since The Rumor Weed was kind of the same way.

The Toy that Saved Christmas is also another once in a while watch. Mr. Nezzer is up to some business schemes again by basically selling weaponry to children. A toy with a buzz-saw. I’m assuming it’s meant to be commentary on the thing of “violent toys” being sold to children, but in a vacuum, it’s funny that Mr. Nezzer’s just selling buzz-saws in dolls just to make the toy look cool and no one calls him out on this aspect at all. “I can excuse a safety hazard, but I draw the line at promoting rampant consumerism”. This episode is also just fun, especially seeing it tailored with the VT Christmas Spectacular bit. Mr. Nezzer also tries to kill Bob, Junior, and Larry indirectly again for being meddling kids.

Finally, here’s Where’s God When I’m Scared, first episode of the show. It’s good. I’m partial to “Tales of the Crisper,“ but I also enjoy the Daniel retelling. Favorite thing in it though has to be the “God is Bigger than the Bogeyman“ number, if mainly for the first half of the first half of the song. Yes, mainly because of Bob. Small factoid, because my first proper exposure to this series was through “x being that and so for y minutes” compilations on youtube, the “what are you gonna do?“ clip has been burned into my subconscious, so I’m a bit more attached to the number because of that.

ORANGE:

King George and the Ducky is good. Being the episode after the Rumor Weed and Esther, it’s back to the good ol’ countertop in this one. So Larry’s the king, The World is His, and he really wants a kid’s rubber duck. To get it from him, he sends him to the Pie War, hoping it maybe gets rid of him so that he can have the duck to himself. Oh yeah, Jimmy and Jerry are hosts... for like eight minutes before Bob tells them off for being bad at it. This and Madame Blueberry are episodes I’ll just put on casually to have in the background.

Madame Blueberry is also pretty good for being in my radius of “episodes I’m a little more partial to". I did go and seek out Madame Bovary at my college’s library because of it, just to see how much (aside from time setting) they changed from the book. The answer is a lot. So yeah, it’s a good episode to just lounge through. Now for A Snoodle’s Tale. So this the first episode animated by a different animation group. Having thought on it for a bit now, I think DKP’s model style for VeggieTales is just really cute, especially B-- Also, I just love the Snoodle creatures.

The Ballad of Little Joe has the jailhouse reprise of “Oh Little Joe“ and “Belly Button“, so that automatically puts it high on the tier list. And the countertop banter. Always love the countertop banter. Larry’s “a WESTERN, BAHB“ and Bob’s “yahoo“ have to be up there on a list of favorite things the VT characters have ever uttered. LARRYBOY AND THE RUMOR WEED is really great and cool. “I’m the Rumor Weed“ is one of my favorite songs from the series. I don’t watch it often, but when I do, I remember that they literally let Larry get the shit beaten out of him. OH I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION THIS. Larry being so legitimately relieved to see that he didn’t die from plummeting into the ground, and fucking Alfred just goes “Yes, isn’t it lovely? :3“ Also on the top tier for one of my favorite interactions in this show.

Finally, it’s Are You My Neighbor? time. So I’m kinda in a similar place with this one like I am with Where’s God When I’m Scared, as in I’m way more partial to the original story content than I am in the bible retelling bit. I do like the parable bit, but I just like the story of Junior getting whisked away by two spacemen (Bob and Larry) so he can help them save an entire ship of people from a meteor made of popcorn a lot more. So this is Jimmy and Jerry’s introduction episode, and in the end, they end up saving the day because Junior figures their hungry asses could probably eat the incoming meteor. They did. They dance and have a musical number, and that’s how Junior learns that you shouldn’t be dismissive of someone just because they’re different than you. The set-up of the episode was that Junior didn’t feel like inviting a kid to his birthday party. Just thought I should mention that.

RED:

LET’S GO, RED ZONE!

So starting off the “episodes that drive Hunter nuts” category, here’s God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! I know people rag on this episode for... everything about the visuals, but being entirely honest; the weird animation is kinda why I like this episode so much. Aside from that, this episode is just so different from the entire catalogue in a way I can’t really put my finger on. This episode doesn’t even have a Silly Song in it. Not even as a creative choice like how the LarryBoy episodes don’t have them(aside from League of Incredible Vegetables), but because the creators didn’t think anyone actually expected more after the first one. So the feeling could be chalked up to “duh, this is the second episode after all, so they were kinda experimenting with this one.“

There are so many face close-ups in this one, and I mean A LOT. Pa gets up in the audience’s face twice while addressing an entirely different person... for dramatic effect I guess. Bob gets up in the audience’s to ask a fucking math question. Junior’s dad has one. Junior has three close-up shots; again, dramatic effect I think. Scallion 1 has one during his attempt to scam people. In the Gilligan’s Island spoof, Bob and Larry get one as they scream in terror because their boat is about to crash into a fucking rock. Bob then has another on for dramatic effect. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the first story is based on The Grapes of Wrath, by which I mean only based on the title, because I’m pretty sure the book isn’t about two old people and their two kids bullying a random five year old for no reason other than they don’t know its a bad thing to do that until said five year old’s dad intervenes and tells them to stop.

Then there’s the Gilligan’s Island spoof where Larry accidentally crashes the boat that he and Bob were just navigating out to who knows where with Archibald, Lovey(Archibald’s wife), and Junior’s dad. He daydreams about saving whales, but then the boat crashes into the rock, and everyone’s mad at Larry for it. Bob tells him off in the moment while they’re in their hammocks. Larry takes this as Bob and the others not liking him anymore and that they’d be better off without him, so he flees during the night. The day after, everyone else realizes that they shouldn’t have reacted that way to Larry and then seek him out to apologize to him. They do that and then they reconcile. A palm tree comes out and sings about forgiveness. Junior’s dad comes out with an entire helicopter made of bamboo, and the gang all make it back home. Long story short, I think God Wants Me to Forgive Them is pretty cool.

I’ll try to be a little more concise with this next one, but I’m not making any promises when I get to The Star of Christmas. I really like Larryboy and the Fib from Outer Space. The first LarryBoy episode and it’s about Junior lying about breaking his dad’s plate because a little alien freak creature encouraged him to. Larry almost gets eaten in this one, by the alien freak creature, who grew really big because of Junior’s fibbing. The scene where Alfred is trying to solve who can stop is also another scene that’s been etched into my mind.

*cracks my knuckles*

Okay, it’s British time. So starting off with An Easter Carol; It’s an alright episode, plot-wise. It’s a Christmas Carol, but about Easter, and the main conflict centers around our Ebenezer Scrooge, played by Mr. Nezzer, who wants to build an Easter theme park over the local church because he wants to appease his grandma’s wish about the true meaning of Easter. It also has a heist B-plot where the two motherfuckers from the prior installment of this British AU try to steal the plans for the theme park so that Ebenezer doesn’t tear down the church. There’s a super long monologue song about his plans, a super short one about his grandma(as a vision) chewing him out for completely misunderstanding what she meant, then another normal-sized one where an angel sings about Jesus and his resurrection. There’s also a big explosion climax near the end. It rains plastic eggs from said explosion.

I think this sits in the same camp as GWMTFT where I don’t really mind the story much as I’m just paying attention to literally everything else. Oh yeah, this was the last episode done in-house by Big Idea’s animation department. I know what you might be asking: if I’m not that into the story, why is it ranked so high? BECAUSE ITS LIKE GWMTFT IN THE WAY THAT EVERYTHING ELSE IS CHAOS. Animation-wise and visually, this episode looks really good, but I love the expression work in this episode. I love that the heist subplot is even a thing because it’s probably the most seemingly unnecessary thing to have added to this Easter version of A Christmas Carol, except its not (to me). There’s no reason there needed to be a factory explosion, except to add salt on the wound to the consequences of Ebenezer’s actions, I suppose. But I’m so glad the factory explosion exists anyway. Also I just really love the semi-song the grandma does to chew out Ebenezer. I really enjoy high energy music. Also Cavis(Bob) says “y...your eggs“ as it’s raining eggs and it’s inexplicably the funniest thing in the movie to me. Love this episode.

But there’s one I love more.

THAT’S RIGHT FUCKERS, STAR OF CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!!!! So I don’t know how obvious it is that Cavis Appythart is my favorite character Bob has done ever. He literally steals from an artifact from the local church and tries to lie to the face of his show partner that its not stealing. Then he’s accidentally complicit in burning down the theatre that Ebenezer Nezzer let him and Millward(Larry) use to put on the Mario play. Oh yeah, this is meant to be a Gilbert and Sullivan spoof too. So Cavis really really wants to make a play that will “teach London to love” because the city is a mess. Millward just goes along with it because yeah. Pa’s character, Seymour, is contracted to just stick light-bulbs all over the place. He also has a sick rocket car. I should mention that the general British AU story is set in the late 19th century. Cavis tries to get the Prince of England to come to the show but he doesn’t want to after learning that the church is presenting an artifact he’s really interested in, which was kind Cavis’s fault for revealing to Archibald’s character, a journalist. So then after getting refused, he gets the bright idea to go steal the artifact to put it in his show. This leads to wacky hijinks, arson, and then Cavis and Millward are arrested.

They meet an old guy in jail who chews Cavis out for trying to spectacle London into not being so mean anymore. Through this, he ends up realizing that love is about what you do for others and so on. The the two are then let out by the Reverend and his son, but they sacrificed the Christmas pageant in order to do it because... they walked the whole way over. All is not lost though, because Seymour shows up in his sick car and then lends it to Millward so they get rocketed all the way to the church. They do the pageant and everything’s la-di-da from there, except for Ebenezer finding out about the church and making Millward and Cavis work in the egg factory to pay off the debt (SET UP!!!). Anyhways, they thought the stole the star artifact at first, but it turns out they stole an entirely different thing, so now everything’s la-di-da. But then Cavis remembers the guy in jail who set him straight, and decides to go give him some cookies and a hot liquid I couldn’t identify. The episode then ends. So yeah, there’s a reason why I call this the sister episode to King George and the Ducky. Guys who acted selfishly in some way or another get told off by an old man for what they did, and then commit an act of giving to make up to it to the person they wronged. It’s Bob and Larry’s trans wrongs episodes, if I may put it that way. The trans part has nothing to do with anything, I just like putting it that way.

So my Bob bias plays big part in why I’m so attached to this episode. I think he should get to be a piece of shit at the risk of falling hard on his face due to his own folly more often, which I guess happens in the VTShow more often but whatever. Also, I love the background music of this episode and I wish that there was a way I could just have it on its own. The only place it really plays is in the credits and the menu screens. The background music in VT in general is so good sometimes. Uhm. Yeah. Cavis Appythart babygirl moments. I like this episode.

WOOW. That’s the end of it. Congrats for making it down here! Here’s a cookie 🍪 And thanks for reading this

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

UPDATE: DECEMBER 1, 2022

On Thursday, the Senate voted 52-43 in favor of a measure that would have ensured rail workers were granted seven days of sick leave in a tentative agreement brokered and enforced on the workers and their employers by President Joe Biden. But the measure needed 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Democrat Joe Manchin voted no on the sick days, while a handful of Republicans — Sens. Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio, Mike Braun, John Kennedy, and Lindsey Graham — voted in favor.

The rejection of the measure means that Biden’s version of the tentative agreement, which passed the Senate 80-15 shortly afterward, will be imposed on workers after Biden signs the bill, averting a looming strike. The new agreement, which represents a marginal improvement on the tentative agreement rejected by workers in late October, ensures only one new paid day off for workers. The companies had furiously opposed even a single additional day off, as it runs in conflict with their strategy to keep staffing as minimal as humanly possible.

Over the past three years, railroad executives have taken over $200 million in compensation as workers attempted to force their hand for sick pay during a bargaining process that has stretched on for years.

The Senate showdown came after progressives in the House successfully demanded a vote on the sick days to accompany approval of the tentative agreement. The strategy was criticized by some on the left, who saw it as selling out workers, arguing instead that the contract should have been amended and sent to the Senate as one piece of legislation.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., defended the strategy, saying that unions in her district and nationwide supported the effort to pass additional sick leave in lieu of a viable option to actually sink the proposed tentative agreement. The options available to the unions and to progressives in Congress were extremely limited by the time Biden moved to force the agreement on the workers. The Railway Labor Act allows Congress to enforce collective bargaining agreements in order to avert railway strikes.

“Tanking wasn’t an option bc of GOP votes,” she wrote on Twitter, “we moved to keep sick leave alive.”

A railway union source said that the next phase of the fight would be a demand that Biden include rail workers in a coming executive order that would mandate 56 hours of paid sick leave for federal contractors. The bipartisan support in the House and Senate for the sick days, even though it fell short of 60, could boost the argument for including such workers in the order.

A showdown over a looming railroad strike heads to the Senate floor this week, after a group of progressive Democrats, led by Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., pushed to modify a tentative agreement to include seven days of sick leave. The expanded agreement passed the House 220-206 on Wednesday, and the fight now moves to the Senate, where it remains unclear if there is enough Republican support to overcome a filibuster and send the agreement to President Joe Biden’s desk.

The original agreement was approved by a bipartisan majority, 290-137, with the extra sick days added as an “enrollment correction.” With a strike deadline approaching, Senate Democrats have the choice of insisting Republicans approve the expanded agreement, or folding and allowing the original agreement, which includes just one sick day, to move through. Aside from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and a handful of allies, there appears to be little appetite for such a fight.

The tentative agreement was brokered by Biden and has been publicly rejected by the rank-and-file members of the union. Federal law, however, allows Congress to impose labor agreements in the rail industry to avert strikes. The single day of sick leave itself represented a breakthrough. Time off is an especially contentious issue because the companies have stripped the number of staff on a single train well below the bare bones. With often just two staff for an entire train, if one calls out sick, the entire system is threatened, leading to draconian attendance policies in order to maximize profits.

On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had told her caucus that there would be an up-or-down vote on the tentative agreement between the companies and the unions, with no amendments allowed. “This week, the House will take up a bill adopting the Tentative Agreement — with no poison pills or changes to the negotiated terms — and send it to the Senate,” she said.

But Bowman introduced a measure to give seven days of sick leave, joined by the other five members of The Squad and Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Ill. In the Senate, Sanders floated a companion version. Public pressure quickly led Pelosi to say she would, after all, allow for a vote on changes to the deal, sending out a new letter on Tuesday night amending her approach. On Wednesday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus announced it had reached a deal to support the new floor strategy, which creates two separate votes that would allow the Senate to reject the expanded agreement and pass the original agreement without it needing to come back through the House.

The Senate vote puts pressure on a Republican Party that has increasingly positioned itself as a champion of the working class. Sen. Marco Rubio, symbolic of that attempted transformation, said Tuesday he would follow the lead of the workers.

On Tuesday, Sen. John Cornyn, the influential Republican from Texas, signaled openness to expanding sick days to seven, but on Wednesday walked it back. “I just think it’s a bad idea for Congress to try to intervene and renegotiate these collective bargaining agreements between labor and management,” he said.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman she was fighting “tooth and nail” for the seven days of leave, calling it a “showdown.”

With agreement in the House and a deadline for a strike looming, the dynamics put Senate Republicans in the awkward position of forcing a rail strike in order to block workers from getting an extra six days of sick leave, a position that might be difficult to defend politically amid the economic pain that would be caused by a strike — and that could be ended simply by Republicans agreeing to allow modest time off. But if and when they block the expanded agreement, pressure will be on Democrats to pass the weaker deal and avert the strike.

“Put up or shut up,” said Sanders on MSNBC. “If you can’t vote for this, to give workers today, who really have hard jobs, dangerous jobs, if you can’t guarantee them paid sick leave, don’t tell anybody that you stand with working families.”

As lawmakers scramble to pass a deal before the December 9 deadline when workers are allowed to strike, unions have hailed lawmakers’ efforts to add sick days into their contract.

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes “applauds the representatives in Congress and any Senators that will stand in support of Railroad Workers receiving paid sick leave,” Peter Kennedy, a spokesperson for BMWED, which represents tens of thousands of union rail workers, told The Intercept. “The additional legislation needs to pass so that Railroad Workers will have basic protections against illness, and protection from punishment from the railroads when workers are most vulnerable.”

Railroad companies have spent years softening legislators in preparation for such a moment. As the fight moves to the Senate, it will do so under a Congress whose members have been the recipients of at least $20 million in campaign cash from the rail industry over the past decade.

A coalition of over 400 trade groups signed a letter to congressional leaders on Monday, calling for Congress to act to avert a rail strike. “While a voluntary agreement with the four holdout unions is the best outcome, the risks to America’s economy and communities simply make a national rail strike unacceptable,” they wrote.

A review of campaign finance records shows 19 members of Congress who have received at least $10,000 each from railroad companies in the past election cycle. Another 130 members each received at least a $1,000 contribution from either rail operators or the Association of American Railroads, the largest industry trade group. According to OpenSecrets, AAR has spent over $3.5 million on lobbying this year, consistent with past trends.

Since 2020, the rail companies Union Pacific and BNSF — which have both been locked in tense negotiations with the unions — spent nearly $1.5 million each in direct contributions and donations to congressional campaign political action committees. The two massive employers, along with rail operator Northern Southern, have spent the past decade scaling back their workforces, refusing to give sick days to workers, and operating dangerously understaffed trains.

The Teamsters, which absorbed the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees in 2004, donated just under $1.5 million to political candidates during the 2022 election cycle. BMWED and two other unions — the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalman and the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Union — also lobbied Congress this year to the tune of $55,000. The PAC for SMART contributed over $1.5 million to political candidates this cycle, while the PAC for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen gave $260,000.

Recipients of Union Pacific’s cash infusion include $30,000 donations to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the National Republican Congressional Committee. Union Pacific also contributed $10,000 to Sens. Patty Murray, Tammy Duckworth, John Hoeven, John Boozman, and made slightly smaller contributions to Sens. Joe Manchin and Marco Rubio. In the 2022 cycle, the rail company also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on over 120 House candidates from both parties.

Following Union Pacific’s lead, BNSF contributed $30,000 donations to the National Republican Congressional Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. It also gave contributions of $10,000 or more to the PACs affiliated with Sens. Patty Murray, Jerry Moran, Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, John Thune, James Lankford, Marsha Blackburn, Ben Sasse, Dan Sullivan, Mitch McConnell, John Hoeven, Jon Tester, John Cornyn, Gary Peters, Jack Reed, Debbie Stabenow, and Mark Warner, alongside Reps. Jim Clyburn and Kay Granger.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern often compete for the first and second-lowest ratings on Glassdoor for any employer in the U.S. In February, BNSF — which is controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway — began penalizing workers taking time off for “fatigue, family emergencies, or illness.” At the same time, a federal judge ruled a rail strike illegal.

“This should not be a political issue,” said Kennedy, the BMWED spokesperson. “This is an issue about protecting our workers who ensure the nation’s rail infrastructure and supply chain function as best as possible. Representatives on both sides of the aisle should unanimously support paid sick days for railroad workers because it is good for the railroads, it is good for their customers, it is good for the American economy, and it is good for the long-term stability and vitality of the railroad industry.”

[majaloveschris]

Okay, so it has been seen often that Chris/his team post old pics that he has stored in his phone. And the quality of this pic is not the quality of an IPhone 13 pro(the phone he currently has) and it’s more similar to the quality of his old Iphone 6. Also this pic is a screenshot. It’s very likely these might be Justin’s feet/shoes, but not from this recent VT trip. I think it’s from the VT trip they took in 2021/2022. And he has had these pics chilling in his phone, his team- Meg or Josh, ask for a Dodger pic, and he screenshots(because he doesn’t know how to work his phone) and sends this one.

I'm not sure about the quality thing, however, the picture definitely could be older; we have no way of knowing when it was taken. Even if it was from this year, we know they were in Vermont, so this is not surprising at all. But this picture could've been taken in 2021. We don't know for sure.

People say it was intentional; others say it wasn't. Either way, it won't change the situation or my mind. I still think it's PR. They were sent home after this on a commercial flight, and we haven't seen them in his orbit. If this was intentional, than it's part of the PR plan or whatever; however, maybe it's far-fetched to say his team knew people would analyze the shit out of the picture, but considering what's been going on in the past year, they definitely could've expected it. For me, it feels like he and his team always try to find a loophole so they don't have to be seen with them. Was he stupid to get into this? Yes. But saying he enjoys this situation or being around her, I think, is a far-fetched statement.

[lunadreamscaper]

Pony Town and P.I.E. Posting because

Here’s the P.I.E. Team. (I’m not giving them pants that’s stupid/j)

Here’s Gavin and Jimmy.

Also I know Allicorns are like special in the original show but just pretend that this is just a special au where VT world is just a bunch of ponies and being an allicorn means your royal bc I’m bad at choosing also it looks cool.

Also here’s Josh because she’s a P.I.E. Member in my heart. (Her cutie mark is a pumpkin bc she used to be a pumpkin farmer in her home dimension)

I might share more of these… later. Soon. Who knows.

[offbrandorangedrink]

I love it its yellow my favorite color is yellow it's a sentient item I love sentient item it's dating Josh and that's wonderful and I love drawing sentient yellow items that are dating Josh it's got a little Johnny signature on the bottom of it's foot like woody and Andy and yes I could've had it signed toast instead of Johnny but I think the generalness of Johnny in a world full of johnnys is much funnier and also it adds to the fact it wasn't important enough to toast to be properly labeled as his despite being his creation and we love angst I love angst I love sentient item vs creator angst thank you crash test dummy if you can hear me save me crash test dummy save me

PS THE GREEN VIAL IS NUCLEAR WASTE ITS POWERED BY NUCLEAR WASTE (not canon but I think that makes it funnier)

[riddlelenz]

Doodle page cuz I wanted to say I uploaded today

[rosyrosie-e]

Can I point something out about those pictures that Chris and his team dumped into a video montage?

Did anyone notice how the majority of them were in the car or in a house aka a private indoor setting where no one would see him with her? Or how when they were physically out together it was in the freaking woods where they likely wouldn’t cross paths with other people? Or how when they were somewhere that would have people around, he was wearing a mask- like at the orchard? And the other time he was wearing a mask was also convenient and not as suspicious was at VT because people who Ski wear masks, so it doesn’t look that odd.

Also going back to the NYC pap walk and WDW Chris was super masked up with sunglasses and a hat- trying to be in a “disguise” and basically didn’t want to be seen with her Are y’all seeing what I’m seeing? This just adds to another reason why it’s pr- homeboy doesn’t want to be seen out with her!

Yeah, for whatever the reason is, he's not comfortable to be seen with her out in public.

And may I just say that's one of the things that is kinda saving his face rn SO JOSH OR MEGAN IF YALL ARE READING THIS DONT YOU TRY PUTTING THEM OUT IN THE PUBLIC AGAIN

[kp777]

By Jessica Corbett

Common Dreams

July 16, 2024

"Let's see which politicians are for unions and which ones are all talk," said the Texas Democrat.

As former U.S. President Donald Trump's new running mate and a union leader's speech spark discussions about the Republican Party and organized labor, one Democratic congressman on Tuesday suggested a test to see who is actually pro-worker.

Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat with a history of advocating for workers, called for holding a vote on the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act when his colleagues in Congress return to Capitol Hill next week.

"If Republicans wanna talk like they're pro-worker, then let's have a vote on the PRO Act next week," Casar said on social media. "Let's see which politicians are for unions and which ones are all talk. Dems are ready to vote, how about you guys?"

Introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the PRO Act "expands various labor protections related to employees' rights to organize and collectively bargain in the workplace." The vast majority of its co-sponsors are Democrats.

"Dems are ready to vote, how about you guys?"

Casar specifically called out House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who on Tuesday wrote for Compact Magazine about International Brotherhood of Teamsters general president Sean O'Brien's Monday night speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC), acknowledging that it "came as something of a shock."

Hawley called the speech "a watershed moment" and said that "Republicans have a chance to turn the corner on labor." He also took the opportunity to highlight some of his own positions, such as more sick days for rail workers. The senator left out that he has backed "right-to-work" laws that ban union security clauses in collective bargaining agreements and opposed the PRO Act.

O'Brien—who responded by saying that Hawley "is 100% on point"—had, as The Washington Post's Lauren Kaori Gurley put it, "showered praise" on the senator during his speech. The Teamsters leader also stressed the need for pro-worker reforms.

"Labor law must be reformed," O'Brien said. "Americans vote for a union but can never get a union contract. Companies fire workers who try to join unions and hide behind toothless laws that are meant to protect working people but are manipulated to benefit corporations. This is economic terrorism at its best. An individual cannot withstand such an assault. A fired worker cannot afford corporate delays and these greedy employers know it. There are no consequences for the company, only the worker."

He declared that "we need corporate welfare reform. Under our current system, massive companies like Amazon, Uber, Lyft, and Walmart take zero responsibilities for the workers they employ. These companies offer no real health insurance, no retirement benefits, no paid leave, relying on underfunded public assistance. And who foots the bill? The individual taxpayer. The biggest recipients of welfare in this country are corporations, and this is real corruption. We must put workers first."

O'Brien was invited to speak at the RNC by Trump, who on Monday secured enough delegates to become the Republican nominee and announced U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate—creating a ticket that Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, called "a corporate CEO's dream and a worker's nightmare."

Teamsters spokesperson Kara Deniz told the Post that the union leader requested to speak at the Democratic National Convention next month but has not yet received an invitation.

Unlike the Teamsters, several major labor groups endorsed Biden for reelection over a year ago. The Democrat describes himself as "the most pro-union President leading the most pro-union administration in American history"—and he has mostly avoided angering organized labor, other than working with Congress to block a national rail strike in December 2022.

Biden became the first sitting president in history to walk a picket line when he rallied with United Auto Workers members in September. The UAW endorsed him in January, when the group's president, Shawn Fain, sharply criticized Trump and warned that "rarely as a union do you get so clear of a choice between two candidates."

O'Brien struck a much different tone on Monday, praising the ex-president and "characterizing both parties as ambivalent about unions with room to improve," as Post reporter Jeff Stein pointed out on social media. In addition to Sanders, Stein highlighted, "there are 48 Senate sponsors of the PRO Act. They all caucus with the Democratic Party. Zero are Republicans."

Only Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.)—who ditched the Democratic Party shortly after the 2022 election—have joined with the chamber's Republicans to oppose the PRO Act. In the GOP-controlled House, the bill is backed by every Democrat but just three Republicans: Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Ore.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), and Christopher Smith (N.J.).

"On June 21, 2023, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders passed the PRO Act 11-10," Warren Gunnels, the panel's majority staff director, noted Tuesday. "Every Democrat on the committee voted yes. Every Republican on the committee voted no."

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said, "To the Republicans at the RNC who want to appear to support American labor, here's an idea: Come join us to pass the PRO Act."