#Debt-Based Financial System

[sokolygrandaananeva]

Exploring the Saturn Death Cult: Myth and Modern Influence

[reality-detective]

MON. 10 MARCH 2025: UNSTOPPABLE! 300,000 Military Troops Deployed as the EBS Countdown Begins—Unleashing the Greatest Revelation in Human History!

�� The final chapter is here. The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) is set to detonate a truth bomb so massive it will shatter the Deep State’s (DS) grip on humanity. The global takedown is in motion.

· Trump and the Military Execute the Final Phase: Under Donald J. Trump and a worldwide military coalition, 300,000 troops are executing the most decisive operation in history. March 2025 marks the moment the DS feared most. There are no escape routes left. Every move has been countered.

· The DS has tried false flags, financial collapses, and new pandemics to stop what’s coming. But every plan has been intercepted. The EBS activation is no longer a possibility—it’s inevitable.

· Deep State Strongholds Raided Globally: The military’s worldwide operations are exposing the darkest secrets of the DS:

· Ukraine: The Real Battlefield – Coalition forces uncovered underground bioweapon labs designed for mass extermination.

· U.S. Underground Bases Neutralized – From Denver Airport to Dulce, NM, DS trafficking networks and experimental labs have been eliminated.

· The Vatican’s Hidden World – Ancient tunnels beneath Vatican City reveal centuries of ritualistic abuse and financial corruption.

· Star Link: The DS’s Worst Nightmare: Elon Musk’s Star Link AI “Prometheus” has gained full control of global communications. DS assets attempting cyberattacks and retaliatory strikes have been intercepted and neutralized.

· EBS Will Reveal: Robotic Impostors: Evidence proving world leaders were AI-controlled puppets. Secret Space Program: Military raids on DS bases on the Moon and Mars have seized hidden spacecraft. Weather Manipulation Proof: Devices used to orchestrate hurricanes, earthquakes, and droughts have been seized.

· High-Profile Arrests Underway

· Rothschild and Rockefeller Dynasties – Their global financial empire is being dismantled.

· Hollywood Elites – High-profile figures vanishing from public view.

· Media Executives – CEOs arrested for coordinating DS propaganda.

· GESARA Begins: The People’s Wealth Restored

· Debt forgiveness has begun. Student loans, mortgages, and credit card balances are vanishing.

· Stolen DS wealth is being repatriated to fund GESARA initiatives.

· The Federal Reserve is DEAD. The Quantum Financial System (QFS) takes over.

· Final Countdown: The Storm Is Here

· The final power outages and internet blackouts will soon begin as the last security measures are implemented. When the EBS activates, the world will never be the same.

· The DS is falling. Humanity is rising. Prepare for the moment that will redefine history. 🤔

[licorice-and-rum]

SOC and Neoliberlism

So, as promised, here it is my analysis of Six of Crows and how neoliberalism is amazingly portrayed in Ketterdam, and how the city is an example of what happens in a community that is not provided for.

Before we begin, I wanted to say that English is not my first language, and, considering I read SOC in Brazilian Portuguese, I might translate some names literally or differently from the English version but I think it's manageable to read and understand my point. If not, I'll edit the text.

The first thing we have to understand is how neoliberalism works and the theory behind it, and then we'll talk about how it's portrayed in Ketterdam.

So neoliberalism is a theory born more or less at the end of the 20th century (70s-80s), and it finds its roots in laissez-faire capitalism, meaning that it's a political current that tries to suppress and/or eliminate the State's influence from the market. The neoliberalist view understands that the market can supply by itself the population's needs without help or limitations imposed by the State.

The thing here is that most people listen to this and think neoliberalism is about electronics, cars, and other stuff. The truth is, that neoliberalism aims to suppress the presence of State-run facilities in ALL corners of society, such as health care, housing, water access, electricity, etcetera.

So, we can use the American and Brazillian health systems to understand it better, for example:

In the US, the ones providing health care for the population are great corporations - they decide the price of care, they work together with pharmaceutical companies to define medicine prices, and the laws that bind them are pretty much only offer and demand. There is almost none State intervention to provide the population with accessible health care.

However, this brings problems, of course: not everyone (actually, most people) has real access to health care simply because they can't afford it, or they can't afford it without taking a big financial hit, which threatens their other basic needs, such as food, housing, water, electricity, etcetera. Not everyone can provide for their medical needs, such as diabetic and disabled people.

That leads to:

(a) an increase in poverty;

(b) a decrease in educational levels - if you don't have the means to pay for higher educational levels because of health care debt, or if you're sick and need to go to class and tough through it but you're not really learning anything, and so on, which leads to a major workforce in base level production and a minor class who has access to this education;

(c) an increase in overworking people - meaning that we have a lot of people taking on several jobs to be able to pay for things like health care, which increases the competitiveness between people, making individualism levels go up and breaking up human beings' natural sense of community.

I could also talk here about how this breeds isolation and increases the potential for mental health problems but I think you got what I was saying.

On the other hand, we have the Brazilian health care system (SUS), which is a universal gratuitous medical care service through the whole country. Its purpose is not profit, it's providing health care for the community, so therefore, any SUS unit is bound by State law and run by the State. By law, every SUS unit must provide for anyone who enters its premises in need of medical care. Everyone, Brazillian and foreigners, poor or rich, must be treated if they need to. It's the law.

Of course, that doesn't mean it's all rainbows and flowers, there are definitely many problems in SUS. However, what I'm trying to showcase here is that, when the needs of a population are met, the population itself is more resilient, their life quality goes up and so does their participation in their community.

On the other hand, in neoliberalism, when the State is absent from these areas of community service, the market is, in theory, the one providing for the community. In practice, however, what we observe from neoliberal policies in cities with a great poor population in Latam for example, is that when the State doesn't provide for the community, the market is unable to step up for them because of their obscene prices.

The poor population that doesn't have their needs met by the State or the market sees a great boom in criminal activities within their spaces. That's mainly why criminal organizations are so present in slums and favelas throughout Latin America: criminal organizations are a way for the community to provide for themselves and, as a means to become more powerful, they provide for the community in exchange for their services (not to say they do that for the good of their hearts, of course not).

It's why it's so common, for example, that criminal organizations such as PCC in Brazil pay for kids from favelas to undergo Law school, for example.

And that's is where I wanted to go to start the conversation in SOC: one of the main traits of Ketterdam is the Barrel and, in the Barrel, we have the presence of many criminal organizations, such as the Dregs, the Dime Lions, the Menagerie staff (not the girls, ofc), etcetera.

This, as observed by Kaz himself, is one of the only ways to survive on the Barrel - you filiate yourself to a gang because you need to be able to provide for yourself and, more times than others, for your family as well.

Kaz's story is actually a perfect example of how Ketterdam is the representation of America in the early 20th century in full policies of laissez-faire (neoliberalism): as we can see in Titanic and many other historical fictions, the said American Dream had people believing the US to be this economical paradise where they could all enter the market and become millionaires.

The result of it is the Great Depression, of course, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

When Kaz and Jodi leave Lij for Ketterdam, Jodi believes he'll become a merchant - which is a pretty common belief of those who arrive at Ketterdam, as Pekka Rollins and Kaz himself state in Crooked Kingdom.

The reality of it, though, is much harsher, because the truth is that when you have a market that controls everything, as we see in Ketterdam with the Merchant's Guild (I think that's how it's translated?) and the Stadwatch as a police force, you see perfectly how neoliberal policies really work in real life:

You have a higher class who controls the market and the riches (question: who do you think got the money Shu Han sent to Ketterdam at the beginning of the first book: the people of the city/country or the merchants in the "government"?), and a lower class that, without support from the State or the market to have their needs met will turn to their own means to do so.

So you have the trafficking that brought Inej to the island, the unlimited gambling that Jesper was trapped in, the cons Jodi and Kaz fell for - it's all product of liberal policies.

And so, you have Ketterdam and its neoliberal policies (:

(I really love to make this kind of analysis, please, if you have something you want me to talk about, don't hesitate to ask)

[website-enjoyer]

if i understand it right, nations with heavy neocolonial debts denominated in US dollars still need a trade surplus with the US in order to get dollars to make payments on those debts. this is particularly punishing given the "reciprocal tariff rate" being set based on the US's trade deficit with a given nation. in the case of small export-dependent imperialized nations, the tariffs are a chaotic strong-arm threat: renegotiate trade with the US immediately or start defaulting on loans. still, the tariffs are a bluff with a time limit, given the US's limited influence over global supply chains.

the other option for these countries, barring any supposed legal route, will be to find other export markets in US dollars. this will be a political and economic test of the BRICS financial system (particularly its capacity for trade denominated in USD), and of consumer markets in global south nations—both developed in a planned way with an eye towards the eventual need for this kind of quasi-de-dollarization. economic because how much of this trade surplus can really be absorbed? how much of a recession will there be? and political because will the US even let this happen? there is still the military realm. and because the creation or acceleration of any trade deals between these nations and the BRICS countries will merely be competitive with the US's degree of exploitation to the degree that this process is controlled by the interests of capitalists in any nation.

the only other option is for something even more politically radical to happen to these nations' debts but i don't think we're there

[starvows]

Hiii! Hope you're having a good day. For your scripting ideas post, would you mind doing one for the DC universe? Thanks! <33

DC Universe Scripting Ideas

Safety

You are very good at one-on-one and physical hand combat and don't take full reliability on your power/s or anyone else's.

You never find yourself lost or off-track when it comes to certain missions nor are you forced or expected to go on solo missions.

None of the evil leagues or villains can track you or your team, and you always have a clear advantage when fighting against one.

Neither you or your team members are targeted or subject to endangerment, nor do villains take sadistic interest in you.

Paparazzi are never a danger to you. They never find themselves in your buisness and they respect both your privacy and your boundaries. You are never caught up in fan battles or rivalry.

Your ability drawbacks are never severe to the point of injury or ability fatigue. On that note, you can never lose control over your power and don't have any fatal weaknesses (such as Superman with kryptonite or if you have any cyborg attachments, water)

You recharge as you move. You never feel tired for long nor do you lose your stamina quickly if at all. If you want it to be realistic and don't want to accidentally send yourself into burnout when training, your stamina isn't lost during dangerous situations or fighting.

Damage isn't severe when fighting in public vicinities and can easily / quickly be rebuilt and paid for within wage.

You are not prone to manipulation or mind control such as Trigon trying to get inside your head, and you never feel tempted to use your ability for evil or harm.

You have a sustainable and efficient mental and physical support system and you have a dependable therapist. Don't shift to DC if you can't recognize that you will need emotional help after certain situations.

General

You never fall into debt with anyone — financially, or emotionally

Your hero name is well known and you never regret the name you chose.

Members of your teams or even your overall co-workers / friends who are usually known for their spitefulness are kinder to you. (Raven, Jason, John, et cetera.)

You can easily comprehend and communicate in Starfire's language.

You have multiple hero suits that are clean when you have to use them. They cannot tear and they never become stuffy or claustrophobic.

Cities, especially Gotham, don't smell fatal. Alternatively you can handle the odor that comes with visiting or living in it.

Ability Ideas

Photonic Constructs — The ability to create solid constructs out of light. These constructs can be used for offense, defense, or utility, like creating temporary shields or bridges of light.

Cartography — The ability to sense and navigate through ley lines and energy pathways in the world. This can lead to hidden places, portals, or ancient sites.

Aetheric Vision — The ability to see and perceive supernatural or hidden energies, including magical auras, psychic impressions, and other invisible entities.

Quantum Duplication — The ability to create temporary duplicates of oneself at different points in time and allowing the user to collaborate with past or future selves.

Elemental Fusion — The ability to combine different elemental powers, such as fire and water, to create new effects (for example, steam for obscuring vision or magma for offensive power).

Auditory Manipulation — The ability to create auditory illusions by manipulating sound waves, causing opponents to hear things that aren’t there or masking sounds for stealth. This can be actively introduced into other music-based abilities.

P.S. — I don't know much about DC so forgive me if these traits aren't very specific. I tried to do research on the main points to see if I could narrow them down a bit. I also wasn't sure what base you wanted me to cover, whether Titans, Gotham, Justice League et cetera, so I tried to cover all of them.

If you want a specific DR covered, just request from bio :3

[cyberclouddream]

Mars-Ruled through the Houses

Where we seek to dominate and transform.

[ :based on Whole Sign house system & traditional rulership ]

Mars represents power dynamics. It shows how we assert ourselves, take initiative, and handle conflict. It rules over Aries [desire to assert individuality] and Scorpio [desire to understand the hidden & forbidden]. The traditional rulership makes sense because Mars represents our urge to assert dominance, which comes when we initiate profound changes and uncover hidden truths.

Houses ruled by Mars indicate challenges, competition, or the desire to assert oneself. There’s also a sense of urgency to confront difficulties bravely—or recklessly.

Note: Mars in Retrograde [Rx] delays the assertiveness; the will becomes more contemplative.

Mars Dominance Qualifications [ at least one ]

- Mars in angular houses: 1st house [ personal identity ], 4th house [ emotional foundation ], 7th house [ close relationships ], and 10th house [ public identity ]

- 10th house is Mars’ Joy; in alignment with Mars’ ambitious, goal-oriented, and leadership qualities.

- Mars as chart ruler [ Aries & Scorpio Risings ]

- Mars strong aspects [conjunctions, square, opposition ] to personal planets [ sun, moon, ascendant ]

- Mars domicile [ in Aries & Scorpio ] or exaltation [ in Capricorn ]

- Mars is involved in a major planet configuration, like a T-square or Grand Cross

Interpretations

1H Aries & 8H Scorpio [ Aries Rising ]

You come off as headstrong and bold, quick to act and eager to make an impression. You approach deep, hidden issues with force, which often lead to major life changes or power struggles.

- to be seen as independent

- to confront and transform fears & vulnerabilities

Prone: iniate conversations, lead group activities, negotiate loans, handle inheritances, manage a family member’s health issues, friction with those who prefer collaboration, perceived as overly-dominant, complex tax issues, hidden debts, power struggles in intimate relationships

Advice: Think before you act.

[ Cusp Dignities: Success in your professional life comes from taking bold actions and asserting yourself confidently, which can lead to rapid career advancement, public accolades, or a high-profile position. Your professional success and public image are significantly influenced by your partnerships and interactions with others, meaning you can achieve professional success through embracing collaborative ventures or partnering with influential individuals. Issues here can be resolved by inner work and understanding subconscious patterns related to your relationships. You struggle with how to project your professional image or face difficulties in asserting yourself in a way that aligns with your career goals. ]

2H Aries & 9H Scorpio [ Pisces Rising ]

You pursue material stability and personal values with bold and assertive actions, often taking financial risks or facing fluctuations in income. Your quest for knowledge can be obsessive and intensely personal.

- to fearlessly maintain material security & stability

- to address & transform core beliefs and ideals

Prone: initiate business ventures, negotiate salary increases, study abroad, intense debates on beliefs, impulsive investments, aggressive negotiation tactics, strong views on personal values leading to unrealistic expectations, rigorous academic environments, difficult subjects, cultural challenges

Advice: Invest with foresight, not impulse.

[ Cusp Dignities: You have a strong potential for social influence and gains through collective means, yet these gains come through complex, transformative, or shared financial dynamics rather than straightforward efforts. These gains aren’t always easily converted to personal security or stability; you may excel at obtaining resources from others or through alliances but struggle with direct financial security or managing personal resources effectively. You can come off influential socially but your personal financial situation may not reflect the external success. This can be due to how your creative expression was nurtured as a child. ]

3H Aries & 10H Scorpio [ Aquarius Rising ]

Your communication style is blunt and direct, and you’re quick to anger or assert your ideas. Your public image and arenas are shaped by fierce and sometimes obsessive vibes.

- to dominate conversations & learning

- to deal with harsh realities about success

Prone: initate problem-solving, initiate conversations, major career changes, power struggles in workplace, misunderstandings or arguments with peers/siblings/neighbors, challenges in educational pursuits or local projects, tendency to rush or be confrontational about learning, dealing with corporate politics, major shifts in professional roles, career achievements or failures may be subject to public scrutiny or criticism

Advice: Communicate with both vigor and finesse.

[ Cusp Dignities: You may be good at working tirelessly in solitude or may be prone to having your efforts go unseen. You can resolve or cope with these internal battles through traveling, higher education, and spiritual exploration. Your hidden strengths and challenges may push you towards teaching, publishing, or deep spiritual/religious studies. You may have trouble expressing your deeper thoughts clearly, feeling misunderstood by those in your immediate environment, or lack the skills to articulate your spiritual or philosophical viewpoints effectively. ]

4H Aries & 11H Scorpio [ Capricorn Rising ]

You’re fiery and confrontational about home and family matters. Your friendships and social groups can be full of intense, or even toxic dynamics.

- to have a powerful & self-sufficient home

- to navigate intense social dynamics & pursue impactful goals

Prone: initiate resolving domestic issues, starting renovation projects, family relocation, changed in living situation, intense group dynamics, major changes in friendships and personal ambitions, reevaluation of social causes or group projects

Advice: Embrace flexibility within the home.

[ Cusp Dignities: You naturally come off as bold, ambitious, and willing to take charge, yet this same power presence can also make you come off as aggressive, overly competitive, or domineering. Your drive and identity [ sense of self ] are strongly tied to your public achievements and professional success. You may excel in your career and public endeavors but struggle with establishing a sense of comfort, stability, or emotional fulfillment at home. You may prioritize professional over personal matters. ]

5H Aries & 12H Scorpio [ Sagittarius Rising ]

You’re bold in romance and creative pursuits, seeking attention and taking risks. Your private life and subconscious are probably charged with with intense yet hidden emotional struggles.

- to be fiercely creative & passionate

- to explore & expand your subconscious and belief systems

Prone: iniatate dating and creative endeavors fearlessly, taking risks that lead to highs-and-lows [like projects being publicly scrutinized or facing creative burnout], intense drama or power struggles in romance, unseen opposition or challenges that hinder personal growth or spiritual development

Advice: Keep your enthusiasm for romance and creativity from being overbearing.

[ Cusp Dignities: You tend to be highly motivated when jt comes to generating income, building resources, and asserting your values. Issues with impulsive spending and conflicts over money matters can occur. You are likely to find growth, opportunities, and expansion supported by your involvement in social networks. You have natural inclination towards leadership or influential roles. You may face challenges with creative expression, recreational activities, and romantic relationships due to your self-confidence and personal fulfillment levels. Issues can stem from past issues with intimate connections or shared resources. ]

6H Aries & 1H Scorpio [ Scorpio Rising ]

You approach work and health aggressively—and impatiently—your daily routines marked by a desire to improve and control. You come off as intense or secretive to others, your personal identity shaped my powerful emotional currents.

- to tackle daily routines & health issues with intense focus and determination

- to understand one’s self

Prone: overwork leads to health issues or burnout, rigorous workout regimen, initiate challenging projects at work, strong presence in social situations, disputes over job roles/deadlines/projects leadership, overly ambitious health routines, clashes either established routines, personal reinvention, non-transparent personal intentions in social dynamics

Advice: Realize that pushing too hard in your daily routines can lead to burnout.

[ Cusp Dignities: You’re drawn towards intellectual pursuits, learning new skills, and pursuing your interests in your local environment. You tend to take the lead in intellectual or spiritual conversations and activities. Your intellectual and communicative efforts are deeply influenced by psychological and hidden insights, which you find best in solitary study. You may struggle with maintaining productivity, managing time or health effectively, or dealing with work-related issues. Issues may occur because of emotional attachments to beliefs or education. ]

7H Aries & 2H Scorpio [ Libra Rising ]

You’re direct and confrontational in partnerships, which often attracts or creates power struggles. You prefer partners who are dynamic and straightforward.

- to have intense & stimulating partnerships

- to confront uncomfortable truths about personal values & finances

Prone: seek challenging relationships, contentious partnerships, major financial upheaval [debt or inheritance], profound shifts in material value, disputes over mutual goals, intense dynamics in business partnerships, unexpected debts, re-evaluation of financial strategies, reassessments of personal values and possessions

Advice: Focus on finding harmony rather than creating discord.

[ Cusp Dignities: You have strong determination to create a comfortable home environment, pursue real estate ventures, or deal with family issues. Your upbringing or family experiences place a crucial role in shaping your identity and how you present yourself to the world. You have a disciplined approach and sense of authority when it comes to home and family. You may face issues when it comes to establishing or maintaining stable, committed relationships or feeling supported in partnerships. This is due to conflicts with shared resources, financial management, and differing values.

8H Aries & 3H Scorpio [ Virgo Rising ]

- to be bold with shared resources & transformation

- to achieve clarity & efficiency in communication and mental processes

You’re not afraid of facing crises or dealing with issues of power and control. You communicate in an intense and probing way, often involved in complex exchanges with others.

Prone: psychological research, investigative journalism, confidence with complex financial dealings, confront difficult issues with intimacy head-on, transformative experiences that impact sense of security and control, perceived as probing and confrontational, conflicts or misunderstandings with siblings/neighbors/educational settings, explore complex settings, significant shifts in cognitive abilities [due to learning experiences]

Advice: Acknowledge the limits of your influences over other’s lives.

[ Cusp Dignities: You have a strong desire to excel in artistic endeavors, pursue hobbies, and approach romance relationships with intensity, though this can turn into tendencies to be overly competitive in these areas. Your ability to maintain financial stability contributes to your success in artistic and personal endeavors. There may be issues with managing joint financial ventures or the financial consequences of partnerships. You struggle with trusting others in financial or intimate matters, and you may face obstacles in achieving stability or control over shared resources. Creative endeavors that involve others may be complex or require careful handling. ]

9H Aries & 4H Scorpio [ Leo Rising ]

- to expand personal beliefs & education

- to create a stable home environment that supports personal & creative growth

You’re driven to pursuing higher education, travel, and philosophical interests with enthusiasm and a pioneering spirit. You may face deep-seated emotional issues related to family and home, with a need for profound personal changes.

Prone: confronting deep family issues, major changes in domestic life, new academic program, reevaluation of roots, challenging academic environments, disputes with teachers, aggressive competition in scholarly fields, logistics issues or cultural misunderstandings in trip or studying abroad, emotional adjustments in living space

Advice: Check your tendency to impose your views onto others.

[ Cusp Dignities: You tend to approach work with a strong desire to achieve, taking the lead on tasks and demonstrating significant energy and commitment in daily activities and health. This intense drive can lead to conflicts in your work environment or burnout due to overwork. You may be good at work-related details, organizing your environment, or managing tasks that require communication, but may struggle with being overly critical or inflexible in communication. You may face setbacks when it comes to advanced studies, long-distance travels, and differences in philosophical beliefs. ]

10H Aries & 5H Scorpio [ Cancer Rising ]

- to achieve & authority in career and public life

- to express & channel emotional intensity into creative outlets

You aggressively pursue career goals and public recognition. You may experience significant changes in how you approach creative pursuits and deep, impactful romantic connections.

Prone: take on high-stakes projects, assertively seek promotions, intense competition or conflict with authority, significant career changes [like restructuring within job or shift in professional path], criticism from colleagues, high-expectation roles

Advice: Recognize the cost of letting your career dominate your life.

[ Cusp Dignities: You tend to actively pursue or initiate connections with others, having a strong desire to establish and maintain significant personal or professional relationships. You tend to experience power struggles or disagreements with partners, especially if one of you are overly competitive or dominant. You value stability and structure in your home, often taking on significant responsibilities, but may struggle with balancing this with your career demands. You may face issues with authority or receiving recognition for your efforts. ]

11H Aries & 6H Scorpio [ Gemini Rising ]

You tend to have a proactive role in social groups and causes. Your work and health routine might involve m deep, transformative processes.

- to lead & innovate within social networks

- to confront hidden problems in daily routines & health

Prone: lead community initiatives, push for innovative changes, complex job dynamics [like challenging work conditions or transformative health journey], disagreements with group members, conflict or power struggles within social circles, challenges or disruptions with long-term goals, intense health issues that require deep, personal adjustments or lifestyle changes

Advice: Dial back your tone, because your relentless push for change can alienate others.

[ Cusp Dignities: You have a strong desire to understand and control complex issues related to joint assets or psychological depth. You may have confrontational or risky behavior, especially when it comes to financial dealings or intimate connections. You channel your intense energy into structured pursuits or long-term projects, having an enhanced ability to focus and achieve results in creative and romantic endeavors. You may struggle with letting go or fully embracing playful or spontaneous experiences, perhaps due to overly critical upbringings. You can face issues with forming or maintaining social connections or achieving broader goals and aspirations, due to trying to balance personal desires with group dynamics or wanting to feel supported in long-term goals. ]

12H Aries & 7H Scorpio [ Taurus Rising ]

You confront hidden fears and internal struggles with a confrontational approach. Your relationships are likely to be intense and transformative.

- to break free from internal limitations & hidden fears

- to have deep, intense connections and control in relationships

Prone: partnerships that involve emotional challenges and transformative shifts, changes to how you approach and experience close relationships, psychological issues or deep fears that require confrontational methods, unseen forces or subconscious barriers impact well-being, emotionally intense relationships

Advice: Face your inner fears and quit dodging your problems.

[ Cusp Dignities: You have a strong desire for educational and exploratory pursuits, though you may overextend yourself when it comes to your studies or travel plans. When you have an organized or disciplined approach to your daily responsibilities your broader aspirations tend to be supported more, though be wary of rigidity. Your internal struggles or psychological issues can affect your ability to pursue higher aspirations or long-term goals, so work on resolving subconscious barriers. These internal struggles probably stem from childhood issues with nurturing, emotional security, or communication within your family or local environment. ]

[matrix-fairy]

💫 MATRIX OF DESTINY COURSE

At home, on the go, during a break…

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📘 Course Structure

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• Communication with participants will take place via Telegram, and all questions will be answered in writing.

• Periodic checklists and supporting materials will be shared to help track your progress.

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• To support this goal, a final project will be required: you’ll conduct a full Matrix analysis based on a selected birth date.

• The course is conducted exclusively via Telegram — no additional apps or platforms are necessary.

• You will have lifetime access to all materials. You can revisit and review the content anytime you wish.

During the course, you will learn to:

• Understand what the Matrix system is, its origins, and how it works

• Explore the meaning of the 22 energies and their roots in Tarot, numerology, and esoteric systems

• Convert numbers into energy and reduce values above 22 using the Matrix logic

• Analyze a person’s innate talents and spiritual potential

• Discover past-life karmic debts and how to resolve them

• Identify the root causes of current life challenges

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• Spot financial blocks and unlock abundance potential

• Analyze recurring relationship patterns and karmic ties

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• Determine ideal career paths based on energetic signatures

• Interpret ancestral karmas from both maternal and paternal lineages

• Examine inherited emotional patterns and family cycles

• Dive deep into the positive and negative traits of all 22 energies

• Apply behavioral tools to balance each energy

• Distinguish between personal, generational, and daily karma

• Recognize karmic patterns in parent–child and partner dynamics

• Calculate your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th life purposes and what ages they influence

• Align with your life path, social role, and soul-level contribution

• Understand 10-year energetic cycles and how they shape transformation

• Track 5-year rhythms that support change and realignment

• Calculate your yearly Matrix and read the energetic tone of the year

• Track month-by-month and day-by-day energetic influences

• Prepare for crisis years and major turning points

• Check energy suitability for events like marriage, separation, or new beginnings

• Analyze money flow, career direction, and earning potential

• Work on wealth expansion by unlocking supportive energies

• Build your personal health matrix and assess energetic blocks in the body

• Map Matrix points to chakra imbalances and spiritual wellbeing

• Read your own chakra-energy alignment through Matrix calculation

• Learn how to read a full Matrix from start to finish

• Recognize patterns, number repeats, and symbolic codes in the chart

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• Reinforce your knowledge through weekly practical assignments

• Receive one-on-one feedback and ask personalized questions to your mentor

DM or mail me matrixkaderharitasi@gmail.com to learn more!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The surveillance advertising to financial fraud pipeline

Monday (October 2), I'll be in Boise to host an event with VE Schwab. On October 7–8, I'm in Milan to keynote Wired Nextfest.

Being watched sucks. Of all the parenting mistakes I've made, none haunt me more than the times my daughter caught me watching her while she was learning to do something, discovered she was being observed in a vulnerable moment, and abandoned her attempt:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2014/may/09/cybersecurity-begins-with-integrity-not-surveillance

It's hard to be your authentic self while you're under surveillance. For that reason alone, the rise and rise of the surveillance industry – an unholy public-private partnership between cops, spooks, and ad-tech scum – is a plague on humanity and a scourge on the Earth:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/16/the-second-best-time-is-now/#the-point-of-a-system-is-what-it-does

But beyond the psychic damage surveillance metes out, there are immediate, concrete ways in which surveillance brings us to harm. Ad-tech follows us into abortion clinics and then sells the info to the cops back home in the forced birth states run by Handmaid's Tale LARPers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/29/no-i-in-uter-us/#egged-on

And even if you have the good fortune to live in a state whose motto isn't "There's no 'I" in uter-US," ad-tech also lets anti-abortion propagandists trick you into visiting fake "clinics" who defraud you into giving birth by running out the clock on terminating your pregnancy:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/15/paid-medical-disinformation/#crisis-pregnancy-centers

The commercial surveillance industry fuels SWATting, where sociopaths who don't like your internet opinions or are steamed because you beat them at Call of Duty trick the cops into thinking that there's an "active shooter" at your house, provoking the kind of American policing autoimmune reaction that can get you killed:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/14/us/swatting-sentence-casey-viner/index.html

There's just a lot of ways that compiling deep, nonconsensual, population-scale surveillance dossiers can bring safety and financial harm to the unwilling subjects of our experiment in digital spying. The wave of "business email compromises" (the infosec term for impersonating your boss to you and tricking you into cleaning out the company bank accounts)? They start with spear phishing, a phishing attack that uses personal information – bought from commercial sources or ganked from leaks – to craft a virtual Big Store con:

https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/safety-resources/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/business-email-compromise

It's not just spear-phishers. There are plenty of financial predators who run petty grifts – stock swindles, identity theft, and other petty cons. These scams depend on commercial surveillance, both to target victims (e.g. buying Facebook ads targeting people struggling with medical debt and worried about losing their homes) and to run the con itself (by getting the information needed to pull of a successful identity theft).

In "Consumer Surveillance and Financial Fraud," a new National Bureau of Academic Research paper, a trio of business-school profs – Bo Bian (UBC), Michaela Pagel (WUSTL) and Huan Tang (Wharton) quantify the commercial surveillance industry's relationship to finance crimes:

https://www.nber.org/papers/w31692

The authors take advantage of a time-series of ZIP-code-accurate fraud complaint data from the Consumer Finance Protection Board, supplemented by complaints from the FTC, along with Apple's rollout of App Tracking Transparency, a change to app-based tracking on Apple mobile devices that turned of third-party commercial surveillance unless users explicitly opted into being spied on. More than 96% of Apple users blocked spying:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/96-of-us-users-opt-out-of-app-tracking-in-ios-14-5-analytics-find/

In other words, they were able to see, neighborhood by neighborhood, what happened to financial fraud when users were able to block commercial surveillance.

What happened is, fraud plunged. Deprived of the raw material for committing fraud, criminals were substantially hampered in their ability to steal from internet users.

While this is something that security professionals have understood for years, this study puts some empirical spine into the large corpus of qualitative accounts of the surveillance-to-fraud pipeline.

As the authors note in their conclusion, this analysis is timely. Google has just rolled out a new surveillance system, the deceptively named "Privacy Sandbox," that every Chrome user is being opted in to unless they find and untick three separate preference tickboxes. You should find and untick these boxes:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/09/how-turn-googles-privacy-sandbox-ad-tracking-and-why-you-should

Google has spun, lied and bullied Privacy Sandbox into existence; whenever this program draws enough fire, they rename it (it used to be called FLoC). But as the Apple example showed, no one wants to be spied on – that's why Google makes you find and untick three boxes to opt out of this new form of surveillance.

There is no consensual basis for mass commercial surveillance. The story that "people don't mind ads so long as they're relevant" is a lie. But even if it was true, it wouldn't be enough, because beyond the harms to being our authentic selves that come from the knowledge that we're being observed, surveillance data is a crucial ingredient for all kinds of crime, harassment, and deception.

We can't rely on companies to spy on us responsibly. Apple may have blocked third-party app spying, but they effect nonconsensual, continuous surveillance of every Apple mobile device user, and lie about it:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

That's why we should ban commercial surveillance. We should outlaw surveillance advertising. Period:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/03/ban-online-behavioral-advertising

Contrary to the claims of surveillance profiteers, this wouldn't reduce the income to ad-supported news and other media – it would increase their revenues, by letting them place ads without relying on the surveillance troves assembled by the Google/Meta ad-tech duopoly, who take the majority of ad-revenue:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-ban-surveillance-advertising

We're 30 years into the commercial surveillance pandemic and Congress still hasn't passed a federal privacy law with a private right of action. But other agencies aren't waiting for Congress. The FTC and DoJ Antitrust Divsision have proposed new merger guidelines that allow regulators to consider privacy harms when companies merge:

https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FTC-2023-0043-1569

Think here of how Google devoured Fitbit and claimed massive troves of extremely personal data, much of which was collected because employers required workers to wear biometric trackers to get the best deal on health care:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/google-fitbit-merger-would-cement-googles-data-empire

Companies can't be trusted to collect, retain or use our personal data wisely. The right "balance" here is to simply ban that collection, without an explicit opt-in. The way this should work is that companies can't collect private data unless users hunt down and untick three "don't spy on me" boxes. After all, that's the standard that Google has set.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/29/ban-surveillance-ads/#sucker-funnel

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[blackstarlineage]

Dependence on External Economic Systems Controlled by Non-Black Entities: A Garveyite Perspective

Introduction: The Economic Chains of Neo-Colonialism

One of the greatest barriers to Black self-determination is the continued dependence on external economic systems controlled by non-Black entities. Despite having vast natural resources, a large consumer base, and an innovative workforce, Black nations and communities remain financially subordinate to foreign powers.

From a Garveyite perspective, this is not just an economic issue—it is a continuation of colonialism by economic means. Black people and nations are still:

Reliant on Western, Asian, and Arab-controlled banking and financial institutions.

Trapped in debt cycles dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

Forced to use foreign currencies, foreign industries, and foreign technology instead of developing their own.

If Black people do not break free from economic dependency and build self-sufficient Black-led financial systems, they will never achieve true liberation. Political freedom without economic power is an illusion.

1. The Historical Roots of Black Economic Dependency

A. Colonial Exploitation and Resource Theft

European colonizers deliberately structured African and Caribbean economies to:

Extract raw materials (gold, oil, diamonds, timber) while keeping local industries underdeveloped.

Make Black nations dependent on European trade, rather than intra-African trade.

Destroy pre-colonial African economic systems that were self-sufficient.

Example: During colonial rule, Africa supplied Europe with resources but was not allowed to develop its own industries, ensuring permanent economic dependency.

Key Takeaway: Colonialism was never just about land—it was about economic control.

B. The Role of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Creating Black Economic Disempowerment

The enslavement of African people created:

Massive wealth for European nations while leaving Africa and the diaspora economically crippled.

A system where Black people became labourers instead of owners and investors.

A mentality of economic dependence, where Black people were conditioned to rely on white-owned economies for survival.

Example: The Atlantic slave trade generated billions in profits for Britain, France, and Portugal, while African nations were left underdeveloped and divided.

Key Takeaway: The economic foundation of the Western world was built on Black labour and Black suffering.

2. The Modern Consequences of Economic Dependency on Non-Black Entities

A. The Stranglehold of Western Financial Institutions (IMF & World Bank)

Many African and Caribbean nations rely on loans from the IMF and World Bank, leading to:

Debt traps that prevent real economic growth.

Harsh loan conditions that force privatization and foreign control over local industries.

Continued Western economic control disguised as “development aid.”

Example: The IMF forces many African nations to sell state-owned enterprises to foreign investors, making them permanently dependent on outside capital.

Key Takeaway: As long as Black nations rely on foreign loans, they will never be economically independent.

B. Dependence on Foreign Currencies and Banking Systems

Many Black nations and communities do not control their own financial infrastructure, leading to:

Reliance on Western and Chinese banks to finance projects.

Use of foreign currencies like the U.S. dollar, Euro, and CFA Franc instead of African-led financial systems.

Foreign ownership of major African and Caribbean banks.

Example: The CFA Franc, used by 14 African countries, is still controlled by the French government, meaning France dictates monetary policy for African nations.

Key Takeaway: A people who do not control their own currency are still economically colonized.

C. Exploitation by Non-Black Corporations

Because Black nations and communities do not own their industries, they remain economically weak due to:

Chinese, European, and American corporations controlling natural resources in Africa.

Black consumer dollars supporting non-Black businesses instead of Black-owned enterprises.

Foreign investors extracting wealth while Black workers receive low wages.

Example: African countries produce 70% of the world’s cocoa, yet European companies like Nestlé and Hershey make billions while African farmers live in poverty.

Key Takeaway: Resource wealth means nothing if it is controlled by foreign corporations.

3. The Political and Social Costs of Economic Dependency

A. Foreign Control Over Black Political Systems

Because Black economies are weak, foreign powers:

Interfere in African elections to protect their financial interests.

Use economic sanctions to punish Black nations that resist foreign control.

Manipulate Black leaders through financial incentives and corruption.

Example: When Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, pushed for economic independence, the CIA and Western banks sabotaged his administration to maintain neo-colonial control.

Key Takeaway: Political independence means nothing without economic independence.

B. Black Communities Trapped in Poverty

Because Black economies are externally controlled, Black communities face:

High unemployment and reliance on white-owned businesses for jobs.

Lack of access to business loans and investment capital.

Generational poverty with little opportunity for wealth accumulation.

Example: Despite spending billions on luxury brands, Black Americans have the lowest levels of wealth accumulation compared to other racial groups due to lack of investment in Black-owned institutions.

Key Takeaway: A consumer-driven economy without wealth-building will always keep Black people at the bottom.

4. The Garveyite Solution: Building an Independent Black Economic System

A. Creating Black-Owned Banks and Financial Institutions

Black nations and communities must:

Establish Black-owned banks that provide fair loans to Black businesses.

Adopt a Pan-African currency that is not controlled by Western financial systems.

Develop local stock markets that fund Black enterprises.

Example: Marcus Garvey’s Negro Factories Corporation was an early attempt to create Black-led economic institutions, proving that financial independence is possible.

Key Takeaway: Black banking is essential for economic liberation.

B. Developing Intra-African and Pan-African Trade

Black nations must:

Trade more with each other instead of relying on Europe, China, or the U.S.

Prioritize Black-owned businesses in the global supply chain.

Invest in African-based manufacturing and technology industries.

Example: The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a step toward Black economic unity, but it must be fully implemented and prioritized.

Key Takeaway: Economic power comes from self-reliance, not dependence on foreign trade partners.

C. Shifting from Consumerism to Ownership

Black individuals must:

Invest in land, businesses, and financial assets instead of luxury goods.

Support Black-owned businesses and financial institutions.

Teach financial literacy and economic strategy in Black schools and households.

Example: If Black consumers redirected just 10% of their spending toward Black businesses, it would generate billions for Black communities.

Key Takeaway: Economic liberation starts with individual and collective financial responsibility.

Conclusion: Will Black People Build Their Own Economic Future or Remain Dependent?

Marcus Garvey said:

"A race that is solely dependent upon another for its economic existence sooner or later dies."

Will Black nations continue borrowing from foreign banks or build their own financial institutions?

Will we support Black businesses, or keep enriching non-Black corporations?

Will we control our own industries, or let outsiders control our economies?

The Choice is Ours. The Time is Now.

[kakiastro]

Money in Astrology

Hey yall! I’m back today with a new post that’s going to discuss all things about your money! Yes, you can use astrology to help better your financials and what you can do to live a comfortable life that suits you!

To understand your money situation, you need 3 different charts to look at, Look at this like a cake, there’s 3 charts which means 3 layers:

First layer is your Natal Chart: this is the base on how to gain money. It’s the abilities you were born with and what you’ve learned from past lives

2nd layer is your Progessed chart: this is the 2nd layer to how to gain money. Progressed chart is the stage you are in life currently

3rd layer is your Solar Return Chart: this is the final layer to gain money. Solar return aka “your birthday” is the overall energy of that year for you.

The frosting of the cake is you putting this all together.

For one example: let’s say in your natal chart you have a Gemini 2h, Progressed has Cancer 2h and Solar has Aquarius 2h. Let’s put it all together.

So let’s say you’re a writer for a journalism company because Gemini rules over writing and Journalism. This is what you were naturally drawn to do to make a living. Now let’s say 10 years has passed by and now your 2h is in Cancer in your progressed chart. You’re still a writer because that’s still your natal placement, but now you want shift things up so instead of working for a company, you work from home (Cancer 2h)writing from a blog/website you created, something like Patreon. Instead of the regular 9-5, you make your own money but still doing what you original love which is writing. Now let’s say you want to know how your upcoming year financial will be. So you see you have an Aquarius 2h in your solar return chart which is perfect if you have an internet type of job that you’re trying to grow. Aquarius rules online and groups of people so your subscribers may grow that year which means more money.

Now planets in the 2h, and aspects if you have planets in the 2h influence this as well. Like if you have Aquarius moon in the 2h, you may feel alienated from you family during this time because you’re so focused on your blog. Your subscribers may start to feel more like family to you etc.

I know that was a long example but I want you all to really understand how to interpret this in your own lives and charts. I have Virgo 3h so I’m all about the details 🤪

Now that we got what kind of charts to look for and how to interpret them, let’s discuss what to actually look for in these charts!

1. The 2nd House + Planets in the 2h(if you have any), if not look for the 2h ruler + planetary degrees and house degrees (if your using Placidus house system)

-the 2h rules over physical money in general so this is is where you first look to get an idea to see what you can do to make it. This house is where you will start to build your wealth. 2h also rules over our values and assets. How you value and see money based on your upbringing can be seen here as well.

2. The House where Taurus rules in your charts

-Taurus rules the 2h naturally so wherever it rules in your charts, that’s an area where you can make money from as well.

3. Your Venus sign + degree + house placement + aspects to Venus

-Venus rules over money because it rules over Taurus. So even if you don’t know what to do by just looking at your 2h or Taurus house, look at your Venus placement

4. The 8th house. Use the same process for this house as you did the the 2h.

-the 8h is the opposite of the 2h. The 2h is physical money but the 8h is the power of money. It’s how you use your money in your life. 8h also rules other people money such as your partner. You can gain money through inheritance, you can have lots of debts too. 8h rules over loans as well.

5. Scorpio. Use the same process as Venus

-Scorpio is ruled by modern ruler Pluto and traditional ruler Mars. Pluto means “wealth” . I personally think it shows the power of wealth. Mars rules over action, Passionate and drive. You can make money and build wealth by using your Scorpio placements and house. What are you passionate about, what the thing that lights your soul on fire? That’s what you can make money from. Scorpio rules over alchemy, you can turn your passion into a goldmine. Money can change and end lives which is very Scorpio energy

6. 11th house

-not many people talk about the 11th house when it comes to money but it does play a role. It rules over “collected wealth” because it’s what you’ve been saving during your working career years. Using derivative houses (counting the houses) STARTING from the 10th house, it’s 2 spaces away from the 11h. So 10, 11=2 because we only counted 2 spaces over. The 2 represents the 2h.

If you’re confused about the derivative house method, go to my pinned post and scroll to learning tools and scroll down to derivative astrology post to get a better idea.

-The 11h also rules over connections and networking. You can literally make money based off of who you know and who knows you.

7. The house Aquarius sits

-like I said above, Aquarius rules over groups of people and networking. We are in a digital age now so making money off the internet is easy to do now compared to 20 years ago when technology was just coming up. Social media influencer is an actual career now that comes with lots privileges if you stick with it and meet the right people. Also look and see where Uranus and Saturn sits because aqua is ruled by both of these planets.

Thank you all for reading and if you need a birth chart, I’m open to help ya! Look at my pinned post for more details

[whencyclopedia]

The Economy of Ptolemaic Egypt

Ptolemaic Egypt rapidly established itself as an economic powerhouse of the ancient world at the end of the 4th century BCE. The wealth of Egypt was owed in large part to the unrivalled fertility of the Nile, which served as the breadbasket of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Egypt's economy underwent numerous radical changes during the Ptolemaic period, including the introduction of Egypt's first official coinage, the cultivation of new crops, and the growth of international trade. Corrupt bureaucratic practices, droughts, military expenditures, and political unrest plagued the economy of the Ptolemaic dynasty as the kingdom went into a period of decline in the 2nd century BCE. Nevertheless, Ptolemaic Egypt remained one of the largest economies in the Mediterranean until the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE.

Managing the Egyptian economy

Instead of uprooting Egyptian tradition, the Ptolemaic dynasty incorporated pre-existing administrative practices when they assumed control of Egypt in the late 4th century BCE. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (c. 285 BCE – 246 BCE) laid the foundation of Ptolemaic economic policies by introducing new revenue and property laws and new taxes. Ptolemy II also began the distribution of 'instruction texts' describing ideal governmental behaviour to officials as an attempt to create some kind of bureaucratic standard.

The chief economic minister in Ptolemaic Egypt was the dioiketes, who was appointed by the ruling monarch to set Egypt's economic policies. All of the offices dealing with finances, agriculture, and record-keeping were under his auspices. As a matter of practicality, ancient Egypt was divided into administrative provinces known as nomes. At the nome level, officials dealt with municipal and village authorities to handle economic issues like land management, taxation, and the circulation of currency.

On the surface, Ptolemaic Egypt appears to be a highly organised bureaucracy, which early modern historians characterised as the product of a highly centralised despotic state. The Ptolemaic crown may have directed economic policies but these could only be enforced by local authorities who sought to increase their own power and prestige. To complicate the issue, the Ptolemaic government lacked a clear chain of command, and areas of responsibility frequently overlapped. The independent initiative of farmers and merchants should also not be discounted. The economy of Ptolemaic Egypt was therefore never the product of state-direction, but the result of overlapping fiscal, agricultural, and social influences. Sitta Von Reden in The Ancient Economy and Ptolemaic Egypt concisely summed this up

The transformation of a system into one based on coinage and contract, however, was not achieved by force or centralisation as previous scholars have argued; rather, it was a system carefully devised as a balance of state and local power, royal patronage and private initiative, as well as indigenous agrarian patterns and Greek innovation. (175)

Corruption plagued all levels of government and gave way to predatory bureaucratic practices. This condition persisted in spite of royal decrees forbidding the financial exploitation of Ptolemaic subjects by officials. As a result of the broken fiscal system, Ptolemaic rulers frequently began their reigns by providing blanket forgiveness on all debts owed to the government to help undo past damage from state corruption.

From the 3rd century BCE onwards, social and economic inequality caused uprisings and civil unrest, which further strained the Egyptian economy. The largest uprising occurred between 205 BCE and 185 BCE when Upper Egypt temporarily seceded from the Ptolemaic Kingdom with Nubian support. Upper Egypt was reconquered during the reign of Ptolemy V (204 BCE – c. 180 BCE), but the effects of this insurrection rocked Egypt and prompted the Ptolemaic dynasty to reform many aspects of its rule.

Continue reading...

[mariacallous]

Student loan borrowers can no longer apply for income-driven repayment plans after the Trump administration paused applications—the Education Department’s first substantial action on student loans under the new president. But it’s unclear whether the pause is a temporary response to court orders or part of a broader Republican plan to remake the student loan system, financial aid experts say.

The application freeze came just days after an appeals court once again enjoined the Education Department from carrying out a new income-driven repayment option for borrowers. That plan, commonly known as Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, was put in place by the Biden administration and was intended to give borrowers lower monthly payments and quicker pathways to debt relief. 

More than eight million borrowers signed up for SAVE when the Biden administration rolled the plan out in summer 2023, but its run was short-lived. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals first blocked some provisions of the plan with an emergency injunction in August 2024. Then, just last week, the same judges put out an expanded order that halted the entire SAVE rule and declared that the Education Department can’t forgive any loans via income-driven repayment plans.

Now, the lawsuit has been sent back to the district court for review, and millions of borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment and banking on forgiveness are once again in the lurch.

The Department of Education has yet to comment on the ruling aside from a small banner on the application website that acknowledges the injunction and says, “As a result, the IDR and loan consolidation applications are currently unavailable.”

It remains unclear how long that pause will last and whether the department is just implementing the freeze on new digital applications or if it has also stopped accepting paper copies and processing existing requests.

Some higher ed policy experts, like Preston Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, speculate that the department’s move was truly driven by the injunction and is simply a move made out of caution.

“I would imagine that while the Office of Federal Student Aid is working through the legal ramifications of that ruling,” he said. “They’re taking the application down temporarily, just while they work out exactly what the legal requirements [are] on the Department of Education.”

But others, including the Student Borrower Protection Center, don’t buy that shutting down IDR was what the court ordered.

“The administration’s cruel choice to cut off access to affordable repayment options passed by Congress and enshrined in millions of borrowers’ loan contracts comes at the same time as they are wreaking havoc on communities and families across our nation,” Persis Yu, SBPC deputy executive director, said in a statement Monday. “None of this is by accident.”

Loan experts do agree, however, that the pause is concerning and could have massive implications if it becomes permanent.

Borrowers, they say, would likely see higher monthly payments. For instance, about four million borrowers are eligible for zero-dollar payments under the enjoined SAVE plan. The department would have to make significant operational changes to transfer loans from one repayment plan to another.

“A lot depends on how long the application is down for,” said Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. “But the whole purpose of the income-driven repayment plans is to help struggling borrowers stay in a satisfactory repayment status … so to not have any of those income-driven repayment plans available would definitely remove that large safety net.”

‘Going to See Chaos’

Congress first passed a law allowing the education secretary to base repayment plans on a borrower’s income in 1993, and the first plan launched in 1994. Under the plans, borrowers make payments for 20 to 25 years and then see their remaining balances wiped out. When Joe Biden took office in 2021, only 50 borrowers had completed the program and received forgiveness on any remaining balance. That number jumped to 1.45 million by the time he left office in January, according to a Biden news release.

But the Eighth Circuit court ruled last week that Congress’s underlying statute doesn’t explicitly authorize loan forgiveness.

“The power Congress gave the secretary … to create repayment plans means the secretary must design [income-contingent repayment] plans leading to actual repayment of the loans,” the panel wrote in a 25-page opinion. “The secretary has gone well beyond this authority by designing a plan where loans are largely forgiven rather than repaid.”

Adam Minsky, a lawyer who specializes in student loans, says, however, that although the court clearly bans loan forgiveness at the end of an IDR plan, there’s “absolutely nothing” in the appellate court’s order to suggest the department is required to stop accepting applicants and allowing payments to be based on income.

He noted that the IDR application website is the platform where borrowers access a whole swath of repayment plans beyond just SAVE and where they can apply to consolidate multiple loans. So by freezing access to the application portal, the department is overreaching the requirements of the injunction.

“In fact, the Eighth Circuit reiterated that one of the four income-driven plans—Income-Based Repayment, or IBR—is not covered by the injunction,” Minsky said. “And while the court has blocked loan forgiveness at the end of the term for ICR and the Pay As You Earn plan … borrowers can still enroll in those plans.”

There are even borrowers who are trying to switch to an IBR plan because SAVE is stuck in litigation and almost certainly will not come out alive, he said. Comparatively, IBR should be a safe and steady repayment plan because it is written into statute, but as long as the application portal remains closed, millions of borrowers are stuck.

“Just repealing SAVE alone would have huge implications because borrowers would then see a spike in their payments,” Minsky said. “But if you take away the ability to even enroll in any of these programs, including ones that are not blocked by the court, I think we’re going to see chaos.”

The legal fight is still ongoing and likely won’t be resolved for months. Cooper from AEI said the pause and/or a final ruling may prompt Congress to step in and more clearly define what the actual terms of income-driven repayment plans are.

But that would require bipartisan agreement and enough interest to push it to the top of an ever-growing priority list during an incredibly busy session. So until then, NASFAA is just hoping the Education Department will provide more clarity on whether the pause is permanent, and if it is, what other avenues are available for borrowers.

“That’s always a big area of concern for us … just the general confusion and how to mitigate that to the maximum extent practicable,” McCarthy said. “And if we’re having a hard time keeping track of what’s happening, I imagine that borrowers are as well.”

[reality-detective]

Kamala Harris’s Campaign Implodes in $20 Million Debt: Begging for Donations After Her Crushing Loss, Exposed Links to Hollywood, Dark Money, and Dirty Political Sabotage!

Kamala Harris’s campaign isn’t just in debt—it’s a smoking wreckage of corruption, deceit, and manipulative power plays that expose the Democrats’ true agenda. Her humiliating defeat to Donald Trump wasn’t just about a flawed candidate; it was about America rejecting the dark forces trying to hijack democracy.

A week after her crushing loss, Harris’s campaign is groveling for donations, but this isn’t about covering debt—it’s about funding underground operations that reek of political sabotage, media collusion, and elite control.

The Harris Fight Fund: A Smoke Screen for Political Subversion

Emails from Harris’s team show their frantic attempts to rally funds under the so-called “Harris Fight Fund”. It’s not about recounts; it’s about deploying legal warfare to destabilize Trump’s victory and undermine democracy itself. The language used is a psychological weapon designed to manipulate her base into funding a losing cause.

Dark Money, Celebrity Puppets, and the Globalist Agenda

Where did Harris’s billion-dollar campaign fund go? The truth is shocking. Behind concerts and celebrity endorsements, lies a web of financial chaos. Oprah Winfrey received $1 million for a single endorsement. Why? To legitimize Harris in the eyes of the global elite, solidifying her as their puppet.

The $20 million spent on swing-state concerts wasn’t just a spectacle—it was a propaganda machine funded by dark money from Silicon Valley and Hollywood elites. This wasn’t about rallying votes; it was a distraction to cover up Harris’s incompetence and the sinister plans brewing behind the scenes.

The Real Purpose Behind the Debt

The $20 million debt is no accident—it’s a strategic calculation. By ending the campaign in debt, Harris’s team creates a pretext to siphon more money from donors. This money is being funneled into black budget initiatives aimed at destabilizing not just Trump’s administration but the entire American electoral system.

The Pennsylvania Power Grab

Bob Casey’s refusal to concede his Senate seat is part of a broader strategy to keep swing states under Democratic control. Whispers suggest that Casey’s fight is being bankrolled by foreign interests seeking to dismantle national sovereignty.

Trump’s Calculated Counterpunch

In a masterstroke of political strategy, Trump has offered to pay off Harris’s debt using his surplus funds. This move not only exposes Democratic incompetence but underscores the contrast between his success and their failure.

The Bigger Agenda

Harris’s campaign wasn’t just about losing an election—it was a testing ground for a much darker agenda. The spending, the manipulation, the covert operations—it’s all part of a coordinated effort to erode trust in the electoral process and prepare for even more insidious moves in the future.

Harris may have lost, but the fight for America’s soul is far from over.

Stay vigilant. 🤔

[breadandlottery]

Hi so I wanted to ask about your Gihun/Inho analysis post if that’s ok? Curious if you don’t see Inho as the antagonist as it says in the last bit he’s adversary but not antagonist? Sorry if this will not make sense English is not my first!

Your English is great, don’t apologize! This is an excellent question, anon, and something that I’ve thought a bunch about. Sorry I’m about to ramble a bit here.

So. From an in-universe Watsonian perspective, I think sure, In-ho/Frontman can be viewed as an antagonist, especially in season 2. He’s the one that our hero is trying to get to, the one that he faces off with, etc.

From an outside Doylist perspective (in my opinion) he’s definitely not capital "T" The villain or The antagonist.

So there's this concept called the myth of meritocracy or the meritocratic illusion, that argues that in capitalist systems, the ability of those on the lower rungs of the social/economic ladder to move up or jump to a higher social class based on merit is not attainable for most people. This myth benefits the ruling class in several ways:

it implies that they have earned their place at the top.

it upholds the belief that those that are struggling economically are in that position due to their own failures and not because the ruling class is exploiting their labor and hoarding resources.

it gives people the illusion of opportunity if they just "work hard enough", which pushes people to devote their labor and resources to the system, ultimately benefitting the ruling class more than themselves.

it sows division among those not in the ruling class, and gives people permission to look down on anyone lower than themselves as lazy, unworthy, etc.

Given the benefits of upholding the myth, the ruling class propagandizes. In order for the propaganda to work and maintain the myth, some people from the lower rungs do need to move up, so the ruling class can tokenize them, and say “Look, it IS possible”, and so those that move up, even a little, pledge loyalty to the ruling class and help maintain the myth.

That’s what happened with In-ho (and the recruiter to a lesser extent), and In-ho was a prime candidate for tokenizing for two reasons:

He was in law enforcement. Without going all acab on here, law enforcement generally exists to maintain the assets and safety of the wealthy, even though those who work in law enforcement are not from a wealthy background. (If you hear cops call “class traitors” or the like, this is why)

His financial trouble was a result of his wife’s illness. Even though he himself was in the same predicament as the players he calls trash, he really believes that he is better than them, because he didn’t gamble away his money or go into debt because he was lazy, stupid, unemployed, etc. This is because he believes in the meritocracy, but believes that his circumstance was different and special and unfair and everyone else's was their own fault.

So In-ho believes the myth, and he upholds the myth and the oppressive system that perpetuates it. BUT, sadly, so do many many many people who are suffering under the same system. He’s ultimately a victim of capitalism, just like the other players, the guards, the recruiter, basically everyone who is *working* and not *watching*.

From out here in the Doylist world, none of those characters are the antagonists except the game creators and the VIP/game watchers.

I believe Gi-hun understands this-- this is what he meant in telling the recruiter that he is nothing more than their dog. So if he learns how In-ho became the Frontman, he'll see that In-ho is the same. Maybe the top dog, but still a dog.

This is also why I think In-ho will have some kind of, if not redemption, at least tragic epiphany, where he realizes that the way he's justified his actions and touted the "fairness" of the games is all bullshit, and that he's ultimately no better than the people he called horses and human trash. I want an Inspector Javert soliloquy from him, to be honest. Some redemption would be nice because I like him as a character and would want that for him, and the subplot with his brother kind of sets up the opportunity for him to sacrifice himself… but we’ll see.

(I’ve considered that this perspective on the antagonists could be taken even further to make the argument that those in the ruling class are ALSO just victims of the system, and the system itself is the antagonist that we need to overcome, but I honestly don’t have coherent thoughts on that, it’s kind of a nebulous idea to me that *feels* like it might be correct but I don’t have the words/knowledge to go into depth.)

Anyway yeah sorry for the dissertation, I think this is such a great question and something I thought A LOT about after watching season 2 for the second time. It has actually pushed me to be a lot more cognizant of this concept in the real world as well (and given the current climate in the US right now it’s been VERY hard to see some of the opposition as victims of the system and not villains… but I am trying because I believe that’s the only path to a better system).

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Controversial take:

Bruce Wayne is bad at being a socialite (he mostly just fakes being one) but good at being a bilionare (he knows some practices are wrong but doesn't think being a bilionare is inherently wrong and tries to be an ethical one to mixed results cause you can't bro) while Oliver Queen is great at being a socialite but bad at being a bilionare (he knows being a bilionares is inherently wrong and he tries his best to not be one but the system is flawed and the money keeps returning and it drives him insane).

And like Bruce is not a bad person he just doesn't have the same level of political awareness than Oliver.

For example on the socialite thing: Bruce hates galas and he feels very unconfortable in interviews even if his Brucie persona doesn't show. He thinks is all too shallow. Oliver on the other hand does feel the slightly unconfortable sensacion of being the only leftist there in most galas but he does love the events, he'll dance his lil heart away, adores the gossip, the fast cars, before Dinah (and Hal) he also adored the attention from all the man and woman there and being fully a slut.

But on the bilionare thing:

Bruce Wayne pays the college debt of everyone in Gotham City. You subscribe in a Wayne Enterprises website shows your financial records and grades and if you can go to an Ivvy League but can't pay for it Bruce will do. Oliver will pay for the college debt of someone if asked to but is not an organized project instead Star City has the best comunity colleges of the country able to compete with even Ivvy League universities because Oliver donates a lot of money to comunity colleges and funded a social group to make sure the money was going to the right places, like hiring good professord and paying them very well, having well equiped labs and confortable rooms and good dorms. Oliver fully belives that all education should be free and high quality comunity free education is the type of thing tax payer money should be focused on (Star City also the best public schools on general).

Also Bruce pays his taxes. Oliver comits tax fraud to pay extra taxes (he also fights HARD to try to implement less taxes for the poor and a lot of more taxes to the rich, Bruce agrees but he does not support it to the level Oliver does).

So yeah. That's my take on them. I also think people tend to see Bruce who hates being a socialite and has way more charity work and think he fits more the "being against bilionares and political bill" while Oliver who likes being a socialite and instead of charities mostly finances social groups, unions, govermental projects or even other people charities gets the "classical bilionare *rolls eyes at his anthics*" treatment.

P.S: I'm not from the US and am assuming based on how they are showed on media that comunity college is free. If it's not. It is in Star City cause of Ollie.

[thedreadvampy]

Even, or perhaps especially, when everything is turbofucked, I think it's important to try to imagine realistic proposals for how things COULD be NOT shit. To that end I have a few policy proposals:

Housing: All housing becomes rent-to-own by default, with sale to the council incentivised.

Why: Funding social housing, tackling unaffordable rents, lowering house prices, improving tenant's rights, discouraging commercial landlords and the financialisation of housing.

How?

The rent is set at home value + X (for private landlords, up to 10% of that to cover admin, repairs etc, or for social landlords the average cost per household of finding and matching tenants to homes) divided by the length of the lease.

That is then rent-locked for the duration of the lease.

At the end of the lease, you own the home.

If you don't want to own the home, you can at any time take back the capital you invested as cash (so if you're halfway through the lease, you subtract the amount that you paid to cover costs (X) and get half the original home value in liquid capital.) You can also pay it off early or readjust the terms of the lease, by mutual agreement.

All funds collected in this way by social landlords are ringfenced for spending on increasing the housing stock (buying or building property).

Additionally, increases in high-end marginal income tax will cover other costs of social housing (short term emergency accommodation, upgrading housing stock, covering grants and loans, increased admin costs, casework, outreach, etc)

To discourage commercial landlording, council tax on additional properties increases exponentially (so you pay regular council tax on your home, double tax on a second property, 4x tax on a third property etc), with additional amounts due from the landlord, not the tenant. In lieu of payment, you can sell on your additional properties to the council in exchange for a 6-month pause on your main property council tax.

If your property is found to be left unused for over 3 years, you have a grace period of up to 6 months to begin repairs/find an occupant; if you do not, the council can force a sale of your house for an amount equivalent to the estimated sale value of the property/land following work, minus the cost of repair/demolition. That bottoms out at zero (ie at worst you lose the property you weren't losing and get no recompense) so people who can't afford to fix up a property aren't being financially punished - however, there may be fines for serious repeat offenders.

All this will result in the price of housing dropping significantly, which is good and what we want but does negatively impact existing mortgage holders who may be dealing with negative equity and no way to recoup the price of their house if they need to move. So if people need to default on a mortgage, their personal debt is written off, the bank claims the property, and the bank is then required to consider an offer from the council (probably for the current sale value of the house) before taking their chances on the open market. As the transition is the key thing, there's a 6-18 month amnesty after introducing these policies where defaulting on your mortgage does not affect your credit rating. Beyond that point, the idea of rent-to-buy is to effectively have a non-interest-based mortgage system which cuts out the banks, so hopefully the issue of negative equity goes away as the new system establishes itself.