#Trade Federation script

[sw5w]

Reverse Grip

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 00:06:23

[heartavenue]

જ⁀➴ Things To Script: Politics Edition

Yes, this is an American aesthetic. Yes it is because I am American.

Elections are completely fair, not rigged, no scandals, fair.

There are no two of the "lesser evils" all candidates are genuinely good people and they want nothing but the best for the country.

All candidates represent the American people, if the American people find that the elected official is unfit they will be REMOVED (yes this is Trump shade.)

There is separation of church and state.

Americans are more open-minded about candidates from parties other than the Democratic and Republican party

(should I just say script out conservatism in general? I mean this is your reality you can if you want!)

We have no official language and ALL languages, cultures, backgrounds are represented and have the ability to be taught.

DEATH to the electoral college.

Fake news, propaganda, lies, non fact checked information cannot make it's way towards journalism.

News outlets have to report TRUE, unbiased information (I'm looking at you FOX)

No trade wars...

America does not involve itself in colonialism, imperialism, militarism, etc (mainly because those things do NOT exist.)

Supreme Court Justices do not rule for life.

There is an age limit to the presidency (this is subjective but personally I don't want an 80 year old president)

The minimum wage is increased from $7.25 (can you believe it's still that) to $20 (or whatever you prefer)

Free healthcare across ALL fifty states.

Planned Parenthood is in every state, providing safe abortions, sex ed, contraceptives, etc to everyone who is in need.

Abortions can NEVER be banned.

Free childcare across ALL fifty states.

Our politicians are civil, cordial, respectful, kind, intelligent (another dig on...let's just say a few people)

World peace

All oppressed/colonized people are FREE and live without any colonial influence.

Affordable prescription drugs.

Baby formula is affordable (this isn't really political but no formula should cost FIFTY BUCKS?)

Gay marriage is legal across all states and can NOT be revoked.

No fascism, Nazism, white supremacy, zionism, any bigoted idealogy in general does NOT exist.

Books are not banned/ can't be banned.

No fracking.

Free college.

No discrimination against ANYONE no matter their race, ethnicity, nationality, origin, sexuality, gender identity, etc.

Rape, sexual assault, pedophilia does not exist.

Crime in general doesn't exist.

Free therapy across the country.

The government actually WORKS to make this country better.

ICE does NOT exist.

Federal assistance programs can NOT be cut.

No wealth gap (no top 1% and the struggling 99%)

No homelessness.

No poverty.

Maternity leave is LONGER (isn't it like 2-6 weeks? come on now...)

Court rulings that have been passed can NOT be overturned (think roe v. wade)

No pink tax!

First time homeowners receive a grant from the government to help them with payments.

Credit scores isn't an issue, anyone regardless of their wealth can purchase a new car/home/rent an apartment.

Native Americans are seen as the true indigenous people of the Americas an they are incredibly respected, the land is returned back to them.

Follow up: Columbus Day does not exist.

The KKK doesn't exist...or MAGA or TRUMP!

No anti-vaxxers (get vaccinated, no they don't cause autism and no they aren't chipping you or whatever right wingers think)

They are laws put in place to protect our planet, nature reserves, recycling is MANDATORY, wildlife parks, etc.

History is NOT erased and is actively taught/encouraged in schools.

Guns...do I even need to explain at this point...

Immigrants are WELCOME and there is no stigma, discrimination or stereotypes about them either!

This country is extremely diplomatic we are on good terms with all countries, every meeting with them goes well and can only strengthen our allyship.

DEI EVERYWHERE!

everyone is WOKE, I mean unprecedented woke, profoundly woke EVERYONE GET MORE WOKE NOW!!!

No wars.

There is RESEARCH done on women's health (why don't we know anything about endometriosis fr...)

Mount Rushmore doesn't exist

Okay that's all I could come up with for now! Buh bye my loves!

[odinsblog]

UnitedHealth Group is charging patients a markup for key life-saving drugs that could easily exceed their cost by a factor of ten or more, according to findings from the Federal Trade Commission.

The report, which levels the same allegations at CVS and Cigna, is the latest indictment of America’s broken healthcare system and comes on the heels of last month’s shocking murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The U.S. is notorious for incurring the highest costs per capita of any wealthy nation, yet failing to achieve an even remotely equivalent improvement in patient outcomes versus Europe’s social market-based economies.

Critics argue that is due largely to the highly opaque manner in which needless markups are hidden to conceal inefficiencies that serve various vested interests. These include, but are not limited to, the big three drug middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).

According to the FTC report, UnitedHealth’s OptumRx, along with Cigna’s Express Scripts and CVS Caremark Rx, were able to collectively pocket $7.3 billion in added revenue above cost during the five year period of the study through 2022.

“The Big 3 PBMs marked up numerous specialty generic drugs dispensed at their affiliated pharmacies by thousands of percent, and many others by hundreds of percent,” it concluded.

A thousand percent increase in the price of a drug that costs $10 wholesale would result in a retail price of $110.

This markup rate applied to 22% of the specialty therapies examined, including Imatinib, a generic used to treat leukemia, or non-oncological Tadalafil for pulmonary hypertension. Others such as Lamivudine needed by HIV-positive patients were nearly quadruple the price of their acquisition cost.

Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has been conducting Congressional hearings in an attempt to shed light on the problems posed by these drug middlemen as well as drugmakers themselves.

(continue reading)

[intermundia]

"Anyone sitting down to write a screenplay on November 1, 1994, as Lucas apparently did, would have been interrupted eight days into the writing process by one of the most seismic midterm in postwar American history. Republicans took the House and the Senate for the first time in 40 years. A resurgent GOP under House Speaker Newt Gingrich started pushing its tax-cutting, regulation-slashing 'Contract with America.' Democrats, whose messaging had improved since Ted Kennedy's 'Star Wars' flub, started calling it a 'Contract On America.' It was perhaps no co-incidence, then, that Lucas started writing about a 'Trade Federation,' aided and emboldened by corrupt politicians, embroiled in some sort of dispute over the taxing of trade to the outlying star systems. We never learn what the dispute is about — whether the Trade Federation was pro- or anti-tax. But what we know is that the name of the leader of the Trade Federation — never actually spoken in the movie, but noted in the script from the start — was Nute Gunray. By 1997, when the GOP Senate leader was Trent Lott, Lucas named the Trade Federation's representative in the Galactic Senate: Lott Dodd. We're a long way from the subtlety of his [George Lucas's] [North] Vietnam metaphor here." Taylor, Chris. How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchisen. Basic Books, 2014.

You know, I've read the names of the Trade Federation leaders Lott Dod and Nute Gunray a thousand times, and never really processed the fact that Lucas named them openly after conservative American politicians. Senator Trent Lott and Senator Christopher Dodd, and Newt Gingrich and Ronald Reagan.

[follow-up-news]

The three largest drug middlemen inflated the costs of numerous life-saving medications by billions of dollars over the past few years, the Federal Trade Commission said in a report Tuesday. The top pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — CVS Health’s Caremark Rx, Cigna’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx — generated roughly $7.3 billion through price hikes over about five years starting in 2017, the FTC said. The “excess” price hikes affected generic drugs used to treat heart disease, HIV and cancer, among other conditions, with some increases more than 1,000% of the national average costs of acquiring the medications, the commission said. The FTC also said these so-called Big Three health care companies — which it estimates administer 80% of all prescriptions in the U.S. — are inflating drug prices “at an alarming rate, which means there is an urgent need for policymakers to address it.”

[padawan-snack-packer]

Hi hello!! I saw you had 0 slots taken, can I request a Senator Aide!Reader x Commander Cody please? If you don't want to write it it's okay!!

"Of Dinners and Blasters", a Commander Cody x Senator Aide! Reader Ficlet

Anon, sweet chaotic soul — I saw this and immediately blacked out and woke up clutching a datapad, drenched in secondhand embarrassment and thirst.

So yes. You may have this ridiculous, flirtation-disaster, Senate-holo-map-humiliation, slow-burn hot mess. 🫡

✨ Featuring: - One (1) overworked and underqualified Senate aide - A tragic arrow-related incident - A very patient (but also slightly vindictive) Commander Cody - “Virile” used in a completely inappropriate tactical context - And the slow realization that maybe you like being bossed around by a clone commander just a little too much

You said Senator Aide x Cody and I said yes, but make it spicy (a bit) and deeply unprofessional 💅

Hope it makes you laugh/scream/melt into the Senate floor!!💖

Title: Of Dinners and Blasters Pairing: Senator Aide!Reader x Commander Cody Tags: teasing, slightly spicy (bestie it's very VERY light), fluff kinda????

The gala had started off fine.

The lights were low and warm, casting everything in soft gold and polished chrome. The kind of upscale Senate event where the champagne never stopped flowing and everything smelled faintly of artificial florals and expensive cologne. Strings of orchestral music drifted from the corner where a live quartet was tucked behind a fountain, and every third person in the room looked like they’d rather be anywhere else — which was how you knew it was going well.

You’d even managed to make it through your senator’s speech without a nervous breakdown. A miracle in and of itself.

Sure, the speeches had dragged on longer than expected — as they always did — and your senator had once again gone wildly off-script halfway through his address. Something about how intergalactic cooperation was like a "complex stew of root vegetables" that required careful seasoning or it would become "politically mushy." He got stuck in a metaphor loop for nearly seven minutes. At one point, he compared the Trade Federation to a "bitter yam."

You were pretty sure the Chandrilan ambassador was still trying to figure out if that was an insult.

But that was normal. That was fine. You were used to finessing damage control with a polite smile and a data pad. You could handle a rogue tuber analogy or two.

What you hadn’t anticipated was the wine. Or the open bar. Or the holoprojector set up at the center of the room, slowly rotating through a set of clone commander-authored tactical models as a display of military "transparency" and cooperation. Or the fact that, after your second glass of wine and a particularly brutal round of small talk with three senators who still thought clones were grown from “military potatoes,” you found yourself standing beside the holo-display next to a very stone-faced Commander Cody and saying—

“Wow. That is a lot of arrows.”

He didn’t look at you at first. Just a small hum of acknowledgment, eyes still tracking the red and blue troop patterns as they flickered across the air between you.

“They’re kind of... big,” you added. You were gesturing vaguely now. “Like, absurdly big. Not very subtle. These look less like troop movements and more like... well... compensation. Very hum... phallic.”

There was a pause.

A beat.

Then—

“Oh no,” someone muttered behind you.

You glanced back. Fives — because of course it was Fives — was already halfway through snorting his drink up his nose. General Kenobi looked like he’d started coughing purely out of self-preservation. You thought you heard someone choke on an hors d’oeuvre in the corner.

And Commander Cody...

...turned his head toward you.

Slowly.

Methodically.

With all the solemn judgment of a man internally reviewing every poor decision that had brought him to this precise moment in time.

You smiled at him, sheepishly. “I was joking,” you said. “Just a little... strategic satire.”

He blinked once.

“Humor,” you clarified, too quickly. “I was making a humorous observation. In jest. About the arrows. It was a joke.”

Silence.

You could hear the silence. Taste it, even. Somewhere in the background, the quartet shifted into a minor key, like the universe itself was soundtracking your descent into public disgrace.

Cody's gaze was unreadable. Not cold — he wasn’t angry, exactly — just... mildly horrified. In that very calm, quiet way that made it so, so much worse. The kind of expression that screamed: “I have seen battlefields and unspeakable violence, but this. This is a new kind of pain.”

“I didn’t mean it like that!” you blurted, because your brain had clearly decided to betray you completely. “I just meant they’re very... uh... bold. The arrows. Bold and thick. And... and virile?”

Virile?!

You wanted to die. Instantly. Right there.

To fling yourself into the rotating holo-map and be consumed by its shame-glow.

“I mean—not virile, obviously,” you backpedaled, waving your hands. “That’s not a military term. Probably. I’m not an expert on clone tactics, which you know, because if I were, I wouldn’t be making jokes about the—about the—thick arrows.”

General Kenobi had turned fully around now, face in his hand, shoulders shaking silently.

You considered diving under the hors d’oeuvre table.

Cody was still watching you. Still perfectly still. The tiniest twitch of one eyebrow, like he was experiencing an emotion but choosing to file it under "classified."

You smiled again, helplessly. “You know what? I’m gonna go stand over there now.”

And you did.

You absolutely fled across the floor like the world's most flustered diplomatic gremlin, cheeks burning, stomach plummeting, a full-body flush of mortification clinging to your spine like static electricity.

You spent the rest of the evening hiding behind a decorative pillar and pretending to answer emails.

It was fine.

Except for the part where you were now fully certain Commander Cody was going to have you court-martialed despite the fact that you were, technically, not even in the military.

And also, possibly, he might be planning your tactical execution.

With bold arrows.

Gods help you.

Which brings us to… now.

“Wait, you’re actually serious about this?” you ask, laughing nervously as you scurry after Commander Cody down the polished hallway inside GAR Command.

“Oh, absolutely,” he replies, not even bothering to look over his shoulder. His voice is too calm. Suspiciously calm. Like a man who has made a decision and will not be swayed by mere mortal things like logic or dignity. “If you’re going to critique a tactical formation, you’d better know what it’s for.”

“I wasn’t critiquing!” you protest, stumbling slightly as you dodge a protocol droid. “I was—teasing. There’s a difference.”

“Mm.”

“Joking! You know, that charming kind of banter that builds morale?”

Cody finally glances back at you, expression bone dry. “I think you wounded morale.”

“You mean your morale,” you mutter.

He doesn’t answer. Which is rude, frankly. He just keeps walking like he’s on a mission. Which, technically, he is. A very petty, extremely personal mission of honor reclamation and holo-map revenge.

You try not to look at his back. Or his shoulders. Or the way his dress blacks fit just a little too well for someone who allegedly doesn’t care about appearances. It’s a war crime, honestly. The sleeves are rolled to his elbows, and it’s making you feel things that are absolutely inappropriate for someone being marched to their death-by-target-practice.

The door to the GAR firing range hisses open.

Cody steps inside without preamble. You hesitate in the doorway.

“This is a little dramatic,” you say, gesturing broadly at the empty training bay. “Dragging a civilian to a military shooting range to prove a point? Bit much, don’t you think?”

Cody sighs. Loudly. The kind of sigh that sounds like it’s been passed down through generations of clone commanders specifically for dealing with your flavor of chaos. “You’re not just a civilian,” he says. “You’re a Senate aide. You give briefings. You sit in on tactical overviews. You know how the chain of command works.”

“Yes, but I’m also just a little aide-,” you say sweetly. “A tiny, harmless, flirty little bureaucrat.”

“You mocked a Republic deployment pattern in front of members of the Jedi Council,” he says flatly.

“Okay, that was—technically true.”

“‘Technically’?” He gives you a look.

You wince. “...I didn’t know the hologram was live-streamed.”

Cody closes his eyes. You watch his soul briefly try to leave his body through the ceiling. Then he turns away, muttering something that might be a prayer or a threat.

“Grab a blaster,” he says.

You blink. “I—what?”

He gestures at the weapons rack. “Training model. Stun only. Go on.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” you say, edging toward it. “This isn’t like... you’re not going to shoot me, right?”

“No,” he deadpans.

You narrow your eyes. “That wasn’t very convincing.”

“I’m not going to shoot you.”

A pause.

He adds, “Unless you say something about ‘phallic arrows’ again.”

You hold up your hands in surrender. “No arrows! Got it. Blaster acquired.”

You grab the training model. It’s heavier than you expected, and slightly cold to the touch. You immediately drop it.

Cody watches this entire performance in unimpressed silence.

“Okay,” you mutter, finally managing to hold it upright. “But just so we’re clear — if I die of embarrassment, that’s on you. You’ll have to notify my next of kin. Probably the janitor who sees me crying in the Senate hallway every week.”

“Noted,” he says, stone-faced.

You shuffle into place at the firing line. Cody follows, stepping in beside you like an instructor — or a very put-upon older brother who has absolutely been called in by someone’s senator to fix your diplomatic disaster with a hands-on pop quiz.

Targets begin to slide into place on the far end of the range. Glowing. Mocking you.

“I won't totally humiliate yourself, you know?” you murmur hopefully. “I’ve shot a blaster before. Once. At a senator’s retreat team-building event. There were moving targets and everything — though those targets were holographic fruit. And I may have missed most of them. And accidentally shot one of the catering droids.”

Cody makes a noise like he regrets knowing you.

“Elbows up,” he mutters. “You’re leaning back too far. Square your shoulders. You look like a drunk twi’lek in a wind tunnel.”

“That’s very specific.”

“I have experience.”

You manage to hit one target. Barely.

You spin to him, triumphant. “Ha. Got one.”

“Congratulations,” he says blandly. “Try hitting the other fourteen.”

“Oh my gods, Cody.”

He smirks.

You shoot again. Miss. Again. And then—suddenly—you feel him shift behind you, stepping close.

Your breath catches.

“May I?” he asks, voice low, warm.

You nod.

He’s gentle — carefully adjusting your stance, one hand guiding your elbow, the other settling lightly at your waist. You’re painfully aware of how close he is. Of the smell of soap and leather and something a little warm and electric underneath.

“Keep your eye on the target,” he murmurs.

You try.

The next bolt hits dead center.

You blink. “Did I just—”

“You did,” he says, sounding absurdly smug.

You turn toward him a little too fast. He’s right there.

“Are you proud of me, Commander?” you say with mock sweetness.

He raises a brow. “I’m proud you managed to shoot the target instead of a bystander.”

You gasp. “That was one time!”

He huffs a laugh, warm breath brushing your temple. “And it’s now permanently part of your training record.”

“You made a training record just to log that?!”

“Commander’s discretion.”

You glare. “I hope you trip over your own boots.”

Cody leans in a fraction closer. “That’s not very diplomatic of you.”

“I’m not feeling very diplomatic right now.”

The silence stretches.

You’re still holding the blaster.

He’s still not moving away.

“I’m not wrong, though,” you say, tilting your head. “About the arrows. They really do look like—”

“If you finish that sentence,” Cody says, deadpan, “you’ll be assigned to the 212th’s ‘unspecified terrain’ campaign for three weeks.”

You raise an eyebrow. “You’re bluffing.”

He leans in again, voice dropping just enough to make you swallow. “Try me.”

Your heart does a very stupid flutter.

Cody pulls back after a beat, watching you like he knows exactly what he just did.

And he does.

Smug bastard.

You click the safety on the blaster and set it down. “Well. I think this was very educational.”

“For both of us,” he says, nodding once.

“Next time I critique your arrows, I’ll bring a laser pointer.”

“You’re never getting near my deployment holograms again.”

You grin. “Scared I’ll redesign them in front of the Chancellor?”

“I’m scared you’ll make further anatomical comparisons.”

“Tempting,” you murmur, shooting him a sideways look. “But I think I got the point.”

He sighs. “Stars help me.”

You start walking toward the exit, and he follows. Just before you reach the door, he speaks again — quieter, almost casual:

“You shot better than I expected.”

You glance back, grinning. “You say that like you expected me to fail spectacularly.”

“I did.”

You fake a gasp. “And after everything we’ve been through.”

Cody gives you a look. “You’ve been through a single tactical incident and three glasses of wine.”

“And now a heartwarming bonding experience at the firing range,” you add.

There’s a pause.

Then Cody says, voice low and bone-dry:

“...Maybe next time I’ll just arrest you.”

You smile wider. “Kinky.”

He blinks. Actually blinks. For a half-second, his brain stalls — like a datapad buffering in real time — and that is your new favorite moment of the entire day.

“Goodnight, Commander,” you chirp sweetly, and saunter out the door like you didn’t just completely derail his thought process.

Behind you, you swear you hear him mutter:

“Force help me.”

[david-talks-sw]

"Bring in the flamethrowers!"

The above moment from The Clone Wars gets brought up a lot to illustrate Ki-Adi Mundi or the Jedi's moral decadence, a fall from grace caused by the war.

Figured I'd point out a couple of things in support of Ki-Adi!

1) Simple answer: the situation called for it.

The Geonosians attacking Ki-Adi were:

enemy fighters

with the element of surprise

who could fly and were thus harder to hit with the clones' blasters, hence why more wide-ranging weapons like flamethrowers were called for, as the clones were getting picked off one-by-one.

Time was of the essence, men were dying, Ki-Adi made a choice.

Wanna know what Jedi choose when a Geonosian isn't actively trying to kill them? They save its life (and get praised for it by their peers).

2) In-universe, the Geonosians are assholes.

From Attack of the Clones - The Illustrated Companion, 2002:

"Geonosians are a physically intimidating race conditioned to live and work in caste-segregated hives. The vast majority of Geonosians are subservient to the ruling caste, and throughout Geonosian society, there is evidence of a biologically engineered class system. Some Geonosians have wings, while drones do not. [...] The blind obedience of menial Geonosians makes them an easily exploitable workforce for the upper classes, who have built a highly profitable business manufacturing Battle Droids, Super Battle Droids, and Droideka Droids for the Trade Federation and its allies."

"For unusually intelligent Geonosians unlucky enough to be born into the lower castes, participating in the games provides the only chance they will ever get to escape the misery of their downtrodden lifestyles and the rigid social expectations of the upper classes. Triumph in the arena is often a hollow victory, however; while lower- and middle-class Geonosians may win the right to talk to their superiors, they can never earn their respect."

Okay, so the winged upper class are obviously elitist bastards, but how is that even remotely relevant--

-- oh. But hey, two of them don't have wings! Those are members of the drone caste, and they're all begotten underdogs, so--

"If there is one thing that unites Geonosians of all classes, it is their xenophobia. A traditionally isolationist species, they fear espionage attempts by rivals eager to learn the secrets behind their latest droids."

-- oh. Huh.

Bottom line: yes, they're sentient... but they're xenophobic, have an elitist caste system, and earn their living by forging weapons that melt your insides or blow up planets.

Now sure, this notion has been explored and deconstructed in Star Wars: Rebels...

... and I'm not entirely sure if the quoted info still holds true in current Disney canon (the lore is from 2002, after all), but if you ask me?

On a normal day, ol' Klik-Klak would be actively trying to murder the entirety of the Ghost crew for daring to even step their dirty non-Geonosian feet on his pure red planet.

3) Out-of-universe, the Geonosians are just "bug aliens". Nothing more.

The production team of Attack of the Clones referred to them as the "termite people". The script describes them as "winged creatures" who are heard "chuckling" once Anakin and Padmé are sentenced to a gruesome death. At some point, the storyboard artists considered introducing the Geonosian workers like you would a horror monster.

Hell, the whole Lucas decided to base them on termites is because his house was besieged by them.

They're not people, which is why they're not designed to look like people. They're purposefully dehumanized so that when one of them gets killed by our heroes, it's ethically "okay" and the audience doesn't need to stop and think "oh my God, that's murder!" or "hey! that's racist" whenever a clone calls one of them a "bug."

A similar logic is applied to the stormtroopers, who have face-covering helmets that dehumanizes them.

Functionally, a stormtrooper is a fascist goon, nothing more.

Same goes for the Geonosian. It's a bug alien, that's about it.

4) The flamethrowers were probably just added because they're cool.

Dave Filoni described how the decision to add flamethrowers came up, and it doesn't sound like George had deeper storytelling motives:

"You know, we're going through the tunnel with the Geonosians and George is like: “Yeah, well, here, we'll have the-- the tunnel and the flamethrowers. Yeah. How about that? ‘Bring in the flamethrowers!’ have Ki-Adi Mundi say ‘bring in the flame throwers!’” And it's like “flame—- What? Flamethrowers?!”" - Dave Filoni, “Return to Geonosis” Featurette, 2010

It sounds like he came up with it on the spot.

The flamethrowers aren't indicative of "the moral degradation of Ki-Adi and the Jedi Order." They're likely just in there 'cause they're cool (and if you've played Team Fortress 2, you know that's true)!

At the end of the day, when it comes to the Geonosians, I think that there's a certain irony to how their story ends.

They gleefully created the battle droids that tore the galaxy asunder and the Death Star, a weapon that enables the Empire to commit genocide... but fell victim to genocide themselves, at the hands of an even bigger monster.

They reaped what they sowed. They're not meant to be mourned.

And it's nice to see this aspect of the narrative doesn't get ignored as much as I would've expected.

I came across this video that basically rips into Ki-Adi for using flamethrowers, and I was ready to roll my eyes when I scrolled down to the comments section...

... but then, a happy surprise!

Most of the comments disagree with the video's stance! For once, logic prevails over anti-Jedi bias.

So yeah, that put a smile on my face.

[electronickingdomfox]

Star Trek TOS ships. Part 2

Continuation of this other post. I list here the TOS alien vessels, as well as ships from the Animated Series. Ships from the movies are here.

Romulan ship

Introduced in Balance of Terror, it appears in The Deadly Years as well. The Romulan ships from The Enterprise Incident, however, are of Klingon design (see below), though the remaster replaced one of these with the properly Romulan ship. They're equipped with cloaking devices and plasma cannons. Although this design is popularly known as a Bird-of-Prey, this name was never used in TOS for the Romulan ships. The early outline of The Search for Spock, where the villains were still Romulans, refers to their ship as a Bird-of-Prey, but it wouldn't be until "Voyager" that this design was named on-screen.

Klingon ship

It makes its debut in Elaan of Troyius, and reappears in Day of the Dove. The Romulans seem to have been using them as well (The Enterprise Incident). Earlier versions of this script specified that this was due to an alliance between the Klingons and Romulans. The remaster introduced Klingon ships in episodes where none was seen originally: Errand of Mercy, A Private Little War and Friday's Child. This model is popularly known as a D7, but this name wasn't canonized until "Deep Space Nine".

Fesarius

The gigantic First Federation vessel, commanded by Balok in The Corbomite Maneuver. It could dispatch smaller pilot ships, as well as tamper with the Enterprise systems.

Tholian ship

Appears in The Tholian Web. Commanded by Loskene, this ship along a second one start weaving an immobilizing web around the Enterprise.

Eymorg ship

Piloted by Kara in Spock's Brain, this vessel used an ion propulsion system. It looks very different in the remaster.

Orion intruder

The ship that follows the Enterprise in Journey to Babel. It also looks quite different in the remaster.

Gorn ship

Only seen in the remaster of Arena, and barely.

Medusan ship

Again, only visible in the remaster of Is There In Truth No Beauty?. Ambassador Kollos' ship.

SHIPS FROM THE ANIMATED SERIES

Bonaventure 10281 NCC

According to Scotty, this was the first ship ever to have warp drive (something that later series obviously retconned). It must have been at least 100 years old, considering the Horizon and Archon had already visited distant planets by that time. It was lost inside the Delta Triangle and thrown into a parallel universe, as seen in The Time Trap. Looks just like a fat Enterprise, if you ask me...

SS Huron NCC-F1913

A freighter commanded by Captain O'Shea, attacked and raided in The Pirates of Orion.

Ariel

A ship commanded by Lt. Commander Markel, and found in orbit around Lactra Seven, in The Eye of the Beholder. Never seen on-screen.

Robot grain ships NCC-61465 and NCC-G1465

Two automated cargo ships that the Enterprise escorted to Sherman's Planet in More Tribbles, More Troubles. They were attacked by Koloth. This design was the inspiration for the remastered Antares and Woden in TOS.

Several Enterprise shuttlecrafts

The animated format eliminated budget problems when it came to showing more ships, so the Enterprise was given a ton of new shuttlecrafts. Among these, there are the ones seen in Mudd's Passion: NCC-1701/4, 9 and 12. Four and twelve seem to be a new model. Also notice the new tubular shuttle in the first image.

Strangely enough, the shuttle Copernicus from The Slaver Weapon is also numbered NCC-1701/12, yet it's not the same as the previous one.

The aquashuttle from The Ambergris Element can sail on water and under it, as well as flying. The registry appears to be NCC-1701/A5 (the "A" probably stands for "aqua")

In the same episode, there's also a scouter-gig sent to rescue the crew, after the aquashuttle is destroyed. Its number appears to be NCC-1701/R6 (the "R" for "rescue"?)

Winston's trading vessel

The ship, apparently piloted by Winston Carter, that sends a distress call in The Survivor.

Cyrano Jones' scout ship

The ship that Cyrano used to escape from the Klingons, in More Tribbles, More Troubles.

Klothos

A Klingon battle cruiser commanded by Kor, that becomes trapped in a parallel universe along the Enterprise, in The Time Trap.

Dramian patrol ship

The ship that Demos (a Dramian alien) uses to pursue the Enterprise, in Albatross.

Traitor's Claw

A Kzinti police vessel from The Slaver Weapon, used to imprison the Enterprise crew.

Orion vessel

The ship that attacks the SS Huron in The Pirates of Orion. Quite different from the one that appears in Journey to Babel.

Phylosian ships

Strange plant-like ships intended to impose peace by the Phylosians, in The Infinite Vulcan.

Pod ship

An insectoid massive ship, destroyed 300 million years ago by an evil entity. Appears in Beyond the Farthest Star.

Antimatter universe ship

Piloted by Karla Five at impossibly high speeds, in The Counter Clock Incident. Originally from an antimatter universe, Karla Five was trying to escape the positive universe by driving this vessel into a supernova.

[baebeylik]

The First Turkic Khaganate, 576 CE. Image credit to Ktrinko on Wikimedia Commons.

Göktürks depicted in Mongolia, 6th-8th Century CE. Source https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/museums/ubhist/ubhist15a.jpg

The origin of Turkic culture is as mysterious as the lands from whence they came from. Due to the very nature of nomadic peoples it can be difficult to get concrete answers as to their origin. At times Turkic speaking peoples lived in what is now Mongolia. In others they shared borders with Korea, China, Armenia and the Middle East.

They migrated as far as Eastern Europe and caused other nomadic cultures to migrate as well. They roamed the steppes of Asia during the birth of ancient China, the fall of the Western Romans, and the rise of the East Romans(Byzantines). Their culture can be difficult to pin down simply due to how nomadic governance functioned. At times Turkic speaking peoples would united into shared confederations. In other times their federations would shatter into countless splintered tribes. On rare occasion they would incorporate non Turkic nomadic tribes into their ranks, or the ancestral tongues of the Turkic language would simply be used as a language for trade, making it difficult still to track down what was part of a shared Turkic empire and what was simply an outside peoples looking inward.

Keep in mind nomadic horse cultures had a habit worldwide of incorporating other horse-peoples into their ranks. Fast forward a thousand years and the Mongolians did the same thing, absorbing Turkic speaking peoples into their empire from the Golden Horde all the way to the Ilkhanids. The confederation of Turkic tribes that made up the Göktürks would have likely behaved in a similar manner.

That tangent aside let us discuss the Göktürks. As mentioned earlier there is some semantic debate about whether the first Göktürk Khaganate was actually an empire or rather more akin to a confederacy of tribes. There is precedent for both, seeing as nomadic cultures in later centuries flip-flopped from federation to empire. Regardless the Göktürks are to most scholars credited with the formation of the First Turkic Khaganate.

From the 500s to 700s CE the First Turkic Khaganate united various Turkic speaking peoples into an alliance that made them a threat to their more urbanized neighbors. China and Persia both had troubles with this "horde" of wild horsemen. Despite their infamous reputation they were not afraid of trade when it suited them. They had good relations with the ancestral kingdom of modern day Korea, the Goguryeo. Various tribes in Bactria were brought under their heel. When they weren't fighting China they were receiving Buddhist missionaries from them. They also received many Manichean and Nestorian missionaries.

Despite their multiculturality they typically were adamant believers in Tengri, the leader of their nomadic pantheon who later found himself a member of the Mongolian pantheon. They were among the first in written history to refer to themselves as some variant of the word "Turk". Names such as KökTürk, Kök-Türks, Kök türü̲k̲, Köktürkler, and Tujue are among the many earlier names given to these nomads going back as early as the 500s in Chinese writings and orkhon script.

Under the leadership of pseudo-mythical Bumin Khan they overthrew another nomadic peoples known as the Xiongu around modern day Mongolia and Central Asia and established what is considered the First Turkic Khaganate around 552 CE. They quickly established trade routes that stretched from the Middle East to the borders of Korea.

There is some belief that orkhon script, the writing system of the Göktürks, descended directly from cave markings from thousands of years prior to the empire's formation. While this is a hotly debated and unproven theory it is among the most fascinating potential candidates for the script's origins. (Şaban Taş).

Orkhon table: Thomsen, Vilhelm. Inscriptions de l’Orkhon déchiffrées, Suomalais-ugrilainen seura, Helsinki Toimituksia, no. 5 Helsingfors: La société de literature Finnoise (1893).

Photo credit to Vilhelm Thomsen on Wikimedia Commons.

While the Göktürks(First Turkic Khaganate) remained a threat to urbanized China for a few centuries its very loose nature was eventually its undoing. The Khaganate kept only rudimentary control of its many tribes, usually only banding together for conquest or defense against its more established neighbors. A civil war in the 580s and early 600s caused the empire to split in half into a Western and Eastern empire. The Göktürks fought against other Turkic speaking peoples such as the Huns, Khazars, and Uyghurs. For a short time they gave the Byzantines aid against its Sassanian Persian rival. But the civil war permanently weakened the Turks to the point that they became easy prey to their neighbors.

Through the remaining centuries the two remaining halves, the Western and Eastern empires, became victim to further civil infighting, Chinese invasion, and ironically war with their cousins the Uyghurs that did them in. The Turks that remained were either absorbed into enemy empires or fled outward. Descendants of this empire, the Oghuz, formed a new federation of their own. Descendants of the Oghuz went westward for trade, raiding, and mercenary work within the Arab and Persian world. In the 700s the survivors of this nomadic ethnic group came into contact with Islam and Christianity.

The Oghuz later gave birth to the Seljuks who conquered Iran as a launchpad into Anatolia. The Seljuks formed the Sultanate of Rum(Rome) in Anatolia much to the detriment of the Byzantine empire in 1071 CE. These Turks combined their own Turkic culture with Persian and Arabic. While the Seljuks themselves eventually dissolved their descendants the Ottomans survived well into the modern world and their child, Turkiye/Turkey, survives to this day.

Sources:

Şaban Taş. (n.d.). Historical Documents on the Origin of the Gokturk Alphabet. https://openaccess.yeditepe.edu.tr/yayinaea/%C5%9Eaban%20Ta%C5%9F_65d462c34436f.pdf

[mariacallous]

Lucas’s obsession with the taxation of the Republic can be seen less as a creator losing themselves in the minutiae of their own creation, and more as a warning of how trading systems can be weaponised. The stranglehold that the Trade Federation places on Naboo is similar to the one the current American government is threatening over the economies of developing countries like Lesotho and Vietnam. In this context, previously weak lines take on new meaning. Early on, before the negotiations turn violent, Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn murmurs, “I sense an unusual amount of fear for something as trivial as a trade dispute” – deftly pointing out that when trade disputes are used to impoverish and starve one’s enemies as a proxy for war, there’s nothing trivial about them.

The more you ignore the terrible parts of the film (and believe me, there are lots of terrible parts), the more parallels with our own terrible time become apparent. The Trade Federation’s own rapacious desire for profit over all else – and the deal that they do with the Dark Side, despite their own unease – feels worryingly similar to how the CEOs of Amazon, Meta and Google have all bent the knee to the Trump Administration. The increasing political power of the Trade Federation, and the way that they have stymied the Galactic Senate, brings to mind the way that the legislative arm of the United States has been hollowed out by lobbying and neutered by the richest and most online man in the world.

The fact Princess Amidala thinks the Senate will save Naboo, despite all evidence to the contrary, reflects the unfounded belief of many Americans that Republican senators will grow a spine, and the checks and balances will suddenly revive themselves to constrain Trump. There’s even something in the way that Senator Palpatine (who will later become the evil emperor, complete with lightning hands and bathrobe) is treated by everyone as a stand-up guy despite the fact that he is very obviously evil – I was half expecting Keir Starmer to turn up and offer him a state visit.

So is George Lucas some kind of modern day Cassandra? One who envisioned the horrible rise of Elon Musk through the creation of Viceroy Gunray, a small grey alien who sounds a bit like my impression of Jose Mourinho after four pints? Should we be combing through the prequels to work out how to deal with the current rise of the far right? Well … no, obviously. Most of George’s solutions involve getting space wizards to blow up conveniently placed air vents - which, as wildly fantastical plans for combatting authoritarianism go, is about as good as Chuck Schumer’s.

Ultimately though, there was something that The Phantom Menace’strade war premonition missed – just how stupid all of this is. There isn’t a scene where Darth Sidious starts talking about how he invented the idea of grocery bags, or another where the Trade Federation tried to tax an uninhabited planet filled with penguins. Lucas filled the script with tense technical jargon and slick politicians engineering crises to justify a collapse into totalitarianism. It turns out he didn’t need to bother. He could have just had a crawl at the start that said “the Emperor has lost his mind, Viceroy Gunray’s son is wiping snot on the walls of a Coruscant palace, and everyone is basically fine with it. Now get ready for two hours of pod racing!”

The good news, in the end, is that The Phantom Menace wasn’t right all along. The bad news? It’s because our world is too wrong for The Phantom Menace to have predicted. And that’s much worse.

[darkmaga-returns]

COMMENT: Martin,

I am extremely concerned about what is going on in Canada. Max Carnage has called an election in 30days!

Elections Canada now needs to find an estimated 285,000 temporary workers. What could possibly go wrong?

This is completely insane for what will be arguably the most import election in Canadian History!

So many Canadians are distracted by their Trump Derangement Syndrome, that they can’t think clearly.

You would think that Trump was running for Prime Minister of Canada as all Federal party leaders are all campaigning on this 51st State non-sense,

And not focusing on how Canada has lost its way and Bankrupt.

If a Uni-Party was to write a script for creating mass confusion, all in the efforts to control people, what we are witnessing is it.

In the 2021 federal election, the number of polling stations in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) decreased significantly compared to 2019. (57 Ridings out of a total of 338)

Eleven GTA ridings saw more than a 50% reduction in polling stations, with some, like Toronto Centre, experiencing an 84% drop (from 91 stations in 2019 to 15 in 2021).

And no one is asking questions.

When we elect clowns expect a circus.

Time for a Direct Democracy!!

This really confirms that Canada can no longer avoid splitting.

What is Socrates predicting for Canada?

Jim M

REPLY: Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has called a snap election to be held on April 28th, 2025, primarily to address the ongoing trade war with the U.S. and to seek a strong mandate for his government. This election comes shortly after Carney took office following Justin Trudeau’s resignation. What I find really interesting is that Socrates targeted the week of April 28th as the strongest turning point in the C$ BEFORE Carney called a snap election. I believe that the way things unfold confirms Socrates, as some economic pressure behind the scenes compelled Carney to call the election for April 28th, conforming to Socrates’ preordained forecast. People wrongly look at this backward rather than this is the chicken or egg scenario. There is pressure first that causes the reaction.

In this case, you are correct. Carney has made Trump his opposition to creating the distraction as Europe is doing with Putin. Then, the people are pointed in the opposite direction. Carney, like Trudeau, is also indoctrinated by Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum. He was one of the key figures behind Net-Zero Climate Change. I would not expect a reverse of his views, and he has even proposed joining the EU, which is anti-free speech and authoritarian. So, joining the EU is better than the USA? They have restrictions and tariffs that will never replace US trade, and the regulations will drive companies out of business; there goes Alberta, and Free Speech will no longer exit. Perhaps you will be thrown in prison for saying you are tired of your tax dollars going to illegal immigrants, as the UK sentenced a man to 20 months for that comment.

Why is he issuing Canadian debt in US dollars when he hates everything Trump stands for? Does he understand that taking Canada down this path means that there will be a decline in the confidence in Canadian debt? As a result, like emerging markets that cannot sell their debt in local currency, so they, too,  sell it in US dollars.

[wariowaretrans]

The year is 2400. The Romulan Star has collapsed,

and taken with it the Romulan Star Empire. The great boogeymen of the Alpha Quadrant have been scattered to the winds, and their formerly iron borders are now segmented into three interplanetary states:

- The Romulan Republic, nestled a ways into Romulan space, a quasi-Federation Council government of Unificationists and progressives who are more than happy to work with the Federation and Starfleet.

- The Romulan Free State, a loose alliance of supernova survivors, colony worlds, and border states. They keep to themselves, and generally expect the Federation to do the same, but as long as you aren't waging war in their borders you're free to do as you please. The Federation is happy to exploit this policy grey areaa...as is what remains of the Tal Shiar.

-the "Romulan Empire", highly conservative isolationists. They have made more explicit the fascism of the empire, and patrol their section of the former Neutral Zone with a rigor bordering on bloodthirst.

Into this tangled web of intrigue, uncharted space, and sworn enemies, Starfleet has sent the U.S.S. Saraswati- a gorgeous Sagan class cruiser, fully equipped with colony support replicators, a vehicle fabricator, and....four completely empty decks.

The official explanation is that space has been reserved for oncomers during the expedition. The rumor around the dry dock is that Starfleet can't find a full thousand people willing to serve under the Saraswati's new Captain- the last member of the Maquis to be repatriated into Starfleet, the woman the Cardassians call the Butcher of Volnar, alleged war criminal Captain Clementine V Hind.

Exploring the uncharted areas of the Neutral Zone, bringing resources to neglected colonies, boldly going in the backyard of the Alpha Quadrant...it's the explorer's dream job. But is the Starfleet rank and file willing to face down Romulan supremacists under the command of a woman who spent the last three years in mandatory treatment for a shot at that dream job?

Currently the Saraswati has a Captain, an XO, and Chiefs for Engineering, Science, and Security. There are loads of postings still to fill- Helm, Ops, Tactical, Head Chef, Medical, Ensign Who's At All The Bridge Meetings For Some Reason...

Well, are you?

The U.S.S. Saraswati

is a discord RP using a combination of live sim and logs. The live sim format means every two weeks or so, everyone in the sim (who can make it) is in a thread in the sim for about two hours or so, roleplaying their hearts out, moving the plot forward.

In between those two weeks, feel free to log like crazy in whatever format you want. Script, trading paragraphs with a crewmate, weird poetry, go at it.

All that is required of you is this: be 17 or older and bring your best self! Join the Saraswati today, and explore the unexplored at your leisure!

https://discord.com/invite/M7XsYXnvXV

[elizabethwydevilles]

Some quotes from The Star Wars Archives, 1999-2005

George Lucas: Our central characters — Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Padmé, and Anakin — are all trying to do the right thing, but they're completely overwhelmed by the forces that are way bigger than they are. The Jedi Council and the bureaucrats in the Senate are the inactive forces working against them: while unbeknownst to them the active one is Palpatine. (Page 81)

George Lucas: No. They're not like cops who catch murderers. They're warrior-monks who keep peace in the universe without resorting to violence. The Trade Federation is in dispute with Naboo, so the Jedi are ambassadors who talk to both sides and convince them to resolve their differences and not go to war.

If they do have to use violence, they will, but they are diplomats at the highest level. They've got the power to send the whole force of the Republic, which is 100,000 systems, so if you don't behave they can bring you up in front of the Senate. They'll cut you off at the knee, politically.

They're like peace officers.

As the disruption develops in the Clone Wars they are recruited into the army, and they become generals. They're not generals. They don't kill people. They don't fight. They're supposed to be ambassadors. There are a lot of Jedi that think the Jedi sold out, that they should have never been in the army, but…

Paul Duncan: Do you think that?

George Lucas: It's a tough call. It's one of those conundrums, of which there's a bunch of in my movies. You have to think it through. Are they going to stick by their moral rules and all be killed, which makes it irrelevant, or do they help save the Republic? They have good intentions, but they have been manipulated, which was their downfall. (Page 147-8)

George Lucas: If we have enough midi-chlorians in our body, we can have a certain amount of control over our Personal Force and learn how to use it, like the Buddhist practice of being able to walk on hot coals. Some people can't because they just don't have as many midi-chlorians — that's just genetics. So the more midi-chlorians we have, the more accessibility we have to the Force. So we have to be trained how to use it. (Page 209)

George Lucas: People are upset by the fact that the whole series started out with a blockade over a trade dispute. Well, that's how wars start. That's how they lost the Republic. The whole Republic went under because the bad guys took advantage of the fact that the Senate couldn't come together about what they were going to do. It was encouraged by the commerce guilds, which wanted to make money. That's all they wanted to do, make money.

Paul Duncan: There's a cut line from Episode II where Padmé tells Dooku that businessmen are becoming the government.

George Lucas: Yeah. That's how a democracy dies. It's true.

Paul Duncan: Padmé tries democratic means to curb Palpatine's power, but they fail, and she realises that democracy is not going to work.

George Lucas: That is when Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Padmé started the Rebellion. […] Padmé's a key player, but Mon Mothma is the one who's leading it. (Pages 467-9)

And some script pages (mostly deleted scenes)

[proseotube]

Our stock futures remain little different and are waiting for more testimony from the Fed chair US stock futures have largely remained unchanged, with the wide S&P 500 within impressive distances from record highs. At about 7:08am ET, futures linked to the S&P 500 increased 0.02% (1.25 points) to 6,147.50, while Blue Chip Dow Futures soaked 0.08% (35 points) to 43,389.00. And the high-tech Nasdaq futures scored 0.15% or 33.75 points to 22,446.50. The benchmark’s 10-year financial yield remained flat at 4.293%. The oil slides have ended and the price rose 0.99% at $65.01 per barrel. Oil prices fell for the second day in a row as Middle Eastern oil supply appeared to remain unchanged. Stocks progressed daily after Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire. Fragile – Both sides accused each other of breaking the agreement within hours of its effectiveness, but investors seem to believe it will be held, or at least help to keep the conflict down and keep the global oil supply intact. As a result, oil prices have slipped for the second day in a row. Once tensions in the Middle East are eased, investors will turn their attention to the second day of Federal Reserve Chairman Germaum Powell’s Congressional testimony. In his first appearance, he stayed in the script and repeated his “waiting” approach to cut back. He said the economy is now stable enough to see how tariffs affect inflation before deciding on any fee cuts. Corporate News FedEx results exceeded analyst estimates over the past three months of the fiscal year, but the current quarterly outlook was weaker than expected. Stocks fell 5.82% in pre-market trading. Worthington Enterprises’ fourth quarter results are better than forecasts. Stocks rose 11.39% over the opening bell. Tesla sold just 13,863 vehicles in Europe last month, down 28% from the previous year. It is the worst major manufacturer in Europe, according to sales data from the ACEA Regional Automobile Manufacturers Association. Elevated vehicle manufacturers’ stocks have risen slightly in pre-market activity. Aerovironment results beat Foreacsts in the last three months of the fiscal year, but annual revenue guidance was below expectations. Stocks rose a little before the opening. QuantumScape has announced a breakthrough in the process for creating solid batteries. The stock spiked Pribel at 34.87%. BlackBerry raised its annual sales guidance after reporting quarterly results that exceeded expectations. Stocks rose 9.24% in pre-market trading. Cryptocurrency The New York Stock Exchange has applied for a rule change to allow it to list true social bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. Bitcoin last rose 0.85% at $106,942.90. Medora Lee is a money, market and personal finance reporter for USA Today. mjlee@usatoday.com and Subscribe to our free daily money newsletter Personal finance tips and business news every Monday to Friday. The post Our stock futures remain little different and are waiting for more testimony from the Fed chair appeared first on US-NEA. Tags and categories: Economy via WordPress https://ift.tt/gqHM4JY June 25, 2025 at 03:06PM

[follow-up-news]

The Federal Trade Commission said Friday that it is suing three drug middlemen, accusing them of inflating insulin prices. The FTC accused the "Big Three" pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — UnitedHealth Group's Optum Rx, CVS Health's Caremark and Cigna's Express Scripts — of "engaging in anticompetitive and unfair rebating practices that have artificially inflated the list price of insulin drugs, impaired patients’ access to lower list price products, and shifted the cost of high insulin list prices to vulnerable patients." Around 8 million Americans rely on insulin in the U.S., per the FTC. PBMs work with insurance companies to negotiate discounted prices from drug companies in exchange for including the drugs in their coverage. In theory, they are supposed to save patients money. Also included in the lawsuit are the PBMs' group purchasing organizations, which include Zinc Health Services, Ascent Health Services and Emisar Pharma Services. The "Big Three" oversee around 80% of all prescription drug plans in the U.S., according to the complaint, which alleges that they created a rebate system prioritizing high rebates from drug manufacturers, which led to the inflated insulin prices.