#rectification of names

[samueldays]

That Which Does Not Want To Be Named

There is a Thing of many names and none, which used to be called D&I, standing for "Diversity and Inclusion", later DEI with the addition of "Equity", later DEIA with the addition of "Accessibility", sometimes also "Office of Multicultural Affairs", and more names too, including sometimes "affirmative action", and called "tokenism" and "quota hiring" by its enemies too.

Trump has ordered an end to the Thing. One of the reactions by Thingists has been to generate more new names to hide behind, and then say they're not doing the literal name Trump tried to ban. This reaction was probably anticipated, as Trump's executive order included the following instruction:

and an assessment of whether these positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets, and expenditures have been misleadingly relabeled in an attempt to preserve their pre-November 4, 2024 function;

Another reaction by Thingists has been malicious compliance by equivocating between the Thing's name of quote "Diversity, equity and inclusion" unquote, and any activity which could be described as diverse, equitable or inclusive. Then they pretend that Trump's order bans the second and is overbroad or illegal.

Paul Krugman says:

About the broad attack on the civil service: The Trump administration has ordered an immediate end to all diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the federal government. That’s pretty shocking, especially because it’s open-ended. What counts as D.E.I.? Is it forbidden even to mention anything involving race, gender or socioeconomic status? Probably. Public health agencies, even more than the rest of the government, are in the firing line. You can’t talk seriously about health policy without taking race and gender into account; yet according to the New York Times, one contractor collecting demographic data for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has already been told to stop work, and the results of an already completed survey won’t be released.

What counts? I wish the Thingists had been honest about that, instead of playing name-games. But they dragged everyone into their stupid games and now everyone wins stupid prizes. Trump is working to remove the Thing, which has superglued itself to institutions to make it hard to remove, and when it's pulled off then those institutions are going to get some metaphorical torn skin as acceptable collateral damage. Public health agencies are in the firing line because Thingists used public health agencies as a hostage, deliberately conflating public health in general (goes back millennia) with That Which Does Not Want To Be Named (summoned sometime last century).

[king-of-men]

Ok, I'm glad we agree on the point. But state violence also includes taxation and enforcing regulations. How do you justify that and then object to

...whoa hold up, you've got "ending overseas aid" in there. Sir, that is not violence, please confine your use of that word to situations where someone is actually hitting people or threatening to.

... anyway as I was saying, if you object to state violence how do you justify having a state at all?

[samueldays]

The word is "dependent"

KYIV — The suspension of USAID has had a dramatic effect on both Ukrainian and Russian independent news outlets that relied on the grants to operate and produced work often critical of their governments.

(WaPo)

If you look up "rely" in Merriam-Webster, you'll see the first synonym is "depend". In other words, these so-called independent outlets were dependent on USAID grants to operate.

Ukraine’s independent media, a collection of small regional outlets, muckraking investigative websites and internet news platforms, have been reeling since the USAID announcement, with some organizations saying that they are just weeks away from slashing staff or closing down entirely. “We risk losing the achievements of three decades of work and increasing threats to Ukraine’s statehood, democratic values, and pro-Western orientation,” Detector Media, a journalism watchdog, said in a statement on its website last week.

If your existence depends on US government funding and you have not been able to find another ground for existence in three decades, or even a buffer to last more than a few weeks, then you are very much dependent on the US government. Dependent means you are Not Independent. Dependence on a different government is not the same thing as independence. If one wishes to emphasise independent-from-Russia-specifically, a better term might be "foreign agent".

There is a petty point here about dependent independents, and a wider point about a lack of self-awareness and using words like "independent" for positive affect.

I am scornful about this partly for the personal reason that I live among people who do better. The church I attend has figured out this "independent" thing in a way the journalisms haven't. It can't be that hard.

Brief background: For complicated historical reasons involving the former Norwegian state-church and the tiende (tithe or church-tax), the now-mostly-secular Norwegian state conditionally disburses money to churches including the one I attend.

The priests and elders of my congregation are wise men who can anticipate the future, and recognize that this is a potential threat to their independence. The state currently sets acceptable conditions for disbursement. The state may change those conditions in the future. The state might end up threatening my church with "preach so-and-so, or I'll pull your funding" and then my church would have a problem.

So, my church has set up a pass-through system: each year the state's disbursement amount is sent to a different good cause, such as an orphanage in Bolivia or missionaries in Israel. These get a one-time windfall and nobody becomes dependent. (See also Luke 16 on buying friends.) The church runs on donations from members only. This is independence. We don't need to worry about compromising our morals because of state pressure, and we won't have to shut down if we lose that money. The church council figured this out when the stakes were low.

[samueldays]

The Curse of Babel

Via @redsteeze,

there's a lot of people in the comments yukking it up about regret, hypocrites, this is what you ordered now eat it, having one's bluff called, and so forth. (And yes, "LA" in the second headline does mean the City Council, I checked.)

While they're not wrong, I want to offer another take, which is that the Los Angeles City Council is suffering the Biblical Curse of Babel, the confusion of tongues, the inability to understand one another.

I speculate that the LA City Council in the first picture did not understand itself to be voting to take in every migrant of the proverbial huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. The LA City Council saw that "sanctuary city" was a term with positive affect, and thought of itself as voting to bestow positive affect on LA by linking the term with the city.

It's one of my pet ideas that the original Curse of Babel perhaps worked this way too. Illustrated retellings tend to feature a sudden moment where one guy is speaking in 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕓𝕠𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝔹𝕠𝕝𝕕 and the next guy is saying "💬🏗️💥🧱🤦" because that's plain to draw, but the Bible isn't explicit about this, so I can imagine it might have been an intensification of a natural process wherein the towerists appropriated terminology to mean a bigger and more prestigious tower.

"Accessible" has positive affect? The Babel City Council votes to declare the tower Accessible.

The Babel City Council votes for the tower to be simultaneously accessible, well fortified, cheap, durable, easily replaceable, irreplaceable, sustainable, tall, wide, high density, plenty of green space, well supplied with chariot parking, NIMBY, YIMBY, and a protected historical landmark, with the right to repair for every tenant.

When this can't be implemented, people leave Babel and have to reinvent a vocabulary to communicate without connoting tower tower tower, tower tower tower in every sentence.

[datamodel-of-disaster]

I want to draw but I can't, brain uncooperative. So, have some random sketches and practice drawings of one of my Tron OCs.

Meet... Zuri.

Name: Zuri. Pronounced "Zoo-ree", not "Shure". Likes: Knowing secrets. The sound of the rain. Finding the point where fascination becomes fear. Dislikes: Thoughts that linger. The sense of having forgotten something. Observing her own data structure. Described in a song: Ready To Go by Hurts Notable quote: "I swear I will unrender your mouth if you don't shut it."

If you're interested to get to know her, check out my story The Five Stages of Rectification.

[murderbees]

evil thoughts have taken ahold of me

featuring Rinzler, Beck, and the Black Guard Test

this is kinda long

Rinzler is the final test. Every black guard knows this. He doesn't know why it took so long for him to be approved. Beck should have been down there cycles ago. He fights better than most of the other rectified programs, and they could kill a BASIC easily. He was great before the rectified him, now he's almost perfect.

The walk to the stadium is rhythmic, each step matched perfectly to the rest. Their shoes clack in unison against the floor as the arena opens around them.

It's bright, but the helmet filters the light easily. A list of parameters and directions scroll down his vision. It's dismissed quickly. He knows what he's here for, and he's seen many tests before.

When they stop, he looks around. The platform rises, but it's clear and flat. Surrounding him are the other potential black guards. They are few, 10 at most, and half are rectified. He stands just to the left of center, it's a good position.

The audience roars and roars, whether for their deresolution or their survival is unclear. He filters it, halves the volume. They're useful in their own way. Anticipation over clever setups invisible in the arena, screams as a disc rebounds unoticed, the reactions just factor into his strategy. Use everything in a fight, especially your surroundings. He forgot who told him that.

He doubts that more than 3 of them will pass, and hopes the rest have the decency to derezz somewhere avoidable. The last thing he wants to deal with is watching his step. Voxels, despite their shape, are slippery. The spilled energy will be a problem too, but sometimes it's a hidden advantage. Most programs don't know but even processed energy can be absorbed, if you have the mods for it.

His teeth and hands ache as he remembers. The cycles spent on that table were numerous. Night and days blurring as his render cracked and split apart. It was put together just as gently, which is to say, Dyson seemed to take great pleasure in shoving sharp angles and harsh clawing routines into his sore code. There are still sections that chaff and clip into each other, but he's learned to ignore it. His claws click against his baton. He won't be using it.

They stand, eerily still. Across the stadium, a screen lights up, announcing the grand champion and their doom. The roars grow louder, shaking the various screens and reverberatng through his chest.

Rinzler makes no sound. His moves are sleek and smooth. His armor glints under the lights, and that purr saturates the pit. The program next to him starts to shake, their baton tapping against their armor as Rinzler takes position. That's the issue with non-rectified programs, they fear.

A loud buzzer sounds and the walls raise around him. A countdown sounds as he plans his route.

10

A display flashes across his vision.

Last 10 microcycles. Land at least 5 hits on Rinzler.

9

Hmm. Odd, usually it's 3. He blinks it away and turns to watch the other programs. The 5 Basics start to shuffle, he and the 4 rectified stay still.

8

The walls halt. In the corner of his display, he draws a map of the walls. It's not complete, but he'll add to it as he runs.

7

One program walks to a corner, she's shaking. He knew she wouldn't last.

6

She curls into the wall. He takes a step toward her.

5

The other rectified turn to each other. The Basics nod to each other. She derezzes her helmet.

4

Beck stands in front of her. She looks up.

3

She must be an idiot. He crouches.

2

He holds his hand out. She smiles.

1

She puts her hand in his.

Start Challenge, Let the test begin.

He yanks her forward. Her eyes widen, she falls easily. She hasn't hit the ground before the voxels clatter across the ground. The arena is silent for once.

He stares dispassionately at the mess. It got on his helmet. He wants to sigh, but there is no time. His hand dips into the pile, seeking the energy seeping across the floor. Behind him, one of the Basics starts to yell.

It seeps across hidden channels in his armor, illuminating his body. It looks like lightlines, but only for a nano.

The audience is whispering, the sound glides over his audio processors. The other rectified programs are grouping together, hoping that if they attack together, they might survive. The Basics are horrified, they'll be derezzed shortly.

He ducks before he registers it. The orange disc slicing above him, zipping through the program behind him. The energy splashes across his back. He lunges to the side, narrowly dodging the second.

Rinzler is quiet as he dispatches two of the others. The rectified jump into action, discs flaring and batons rezzing. Beck sprints into one of the halls, he doesn't look back as the clinking of voxels echoes behind him.

He flips up, rezzing his baton and jamming it between two walls. He swings, once, twice, and flys up onto the walls, circuits flashing. The audience roars. He has watched all the previous matches, no program has made it above, no program has tried. No warning blares in his vision. Either it's never been out of bounds, or no one thought it was possible. It doesn't matter either way.

He leaps across the gaps, cataloging the paths and turns. Above the pit, names are being crossed off quickly. There's 5 micros left and 3 names.

1 Basic and 2 Rectified. None have completed the second parameter. The counter dings above him, the Basic landed another hit. The rectified darts below his feet. He watches and waits.

The biggest challenge isn't hitting Rinzler, it's surviving. The longer you stay in combat, the more injured you will be, the harder it will be to survive in the end. Conflict must be saved until the end. The threads he spins are near invisible, but Rinzler is a moniter, he'll see them like a light trail.

The board above him buzzes, now it's just him and Rinzler. He drops into the maze and hits the ground running. 3 micros left.

The borrowed energy buzzes under his render, surges through him, but he has self control. He won't use it until necessary.

He reaches an open space, it's his best bet. More room to manouver but flat. There is no high ground here.

Rinzler proves him wrong. The purr registers just as the disc cleaves past his helmet. He's standing on the walls, just like Beck was. He thought Rinzler hadn't looked up, he was an idiot.

It's a dance before long. Beck flips and rolls and jumps. The arena boasts burnt slashes and puts from Rinzler's disc. The purr increases, almost crackling. When the next throw doesn't come, Beck stares up, ready and waiting.

Rinzler leaps into the space, discs arcing across the space, but Beck dodges then blocks. He filters out the audience completely. He can't afford another distraction right now.

Rinzlers back flips over his own disc as it ricochets into the air. Beck flattens, slams his disc into the ground next to him, the floor gives out and shatters into bright pixels. Rinzler's discs fly back into his hands.

Beck swings his legs up, catapulting himself into the air, and as he spins, he parrys one of Rinzler's discs. He lands briefly, kicking off again and flipping over Rinzler. By the time his feet touch the ground, Rinzler's legs are sweeping out, but he expected that.

His disc stricks down, forcing Rinzler to thrown himself back. Beck advances, but never throws his disc. It's a flurry of light and limbs.

Beck gears up, letting the stored energy flow into his arms, and hits one of Rinzler's discs. By now, they had fallen into a pattern, almost a dance. Block, parry, throw, flip, duck, strike. But as the energy flows across his shoulders, Beck manages a smile.

The disc spins out of it's path, racing into one of the halls. It cuts an orange cord.

Rinzler doesn't falter. He punches and kicks and slams into Beck. Micro fractures open along Beck's limbs, but he's happy. The fight is just slightly more fair. Now that they're both down to one disc, Beck can finally get some hits in.

He tilts his head left, letting the disc slice across his helmet, sparks flying. He doesn't see Rinzler's fist as it slams into his side, micro fractures splitting into full glowing crack. His audio and visual are cut off for a moment as errors race across his display. All he can see is red.

He's knocked to the ground, but as he falls, he grapples onto Rinzler, dragging him down too. They roll across the ground, hissing and crackling as they go. It's bad form, but Beck derezzes his helmet to bite down onto the arm trying to slip across his throat.

The punctures let the smallest amount of energy seep into his mouth, not enough to help anything, but he hopes the shock will give him time to think. Rinzler's purr turns to cracking, the sound grates over Becks audio precessing. His hesitation gives Beck the opportunity to tear his head back, voxels flying into the air as he crunches down.

Somehow, during all this brawling, he's managed to fulfill the hit counter. All he needs is to survive for 25 more nanos.

Rinzler throws himself back onto his hands, twisting in the air and lands across the arena. Beck scrambles up, wincing at the damage he'd sustained. He can't keep this up for much longer. Rinzler shifts, posture falling the tiniest bit looser and Beck knows playtime is over.

They're in a standoff, but he needs to draw this out as long as he can. He shifts back into a fighting stance. 20 nanos left.

Rinzler rushes forward and Beck evades and parrys. His arms are too weak to block. Any stored energy he has left is gone. This isn't about passing the test anymore, he needs to live. He wants to live.

Rinzler's strikes are direct and forceful. There's something familiar about this, but he doesn't have time to dwell. He sacrifices his right hand to dash across the clearing and into the halls.

He weaves through the orange threads, listening to them snap as Rinzler chases him. 10 nanos.

He trips over a new thread, the same color as the rest. On the way down, he thinks 'of course, Rinzler didn't just follow me up onto the walls, he copied my threads too.' and slams into the ground.

His shoulder starts to derezz as he skids across the floor, smearing light blue energy everywhere.

He doesn't get the chance to groan, Rinzler pounces. His foot slams into Beck's chest, cracks splintering at the impact. If the program doesn't get medical care soon he'll derezz.

5 nanos remaining.

Rinzler's disc flashs at his neck. He can't hear it, but Beck's sure the audience is screaming.

4

He sees his face reflected in Rinzler's helmet. Orange and blue interlace over his cheeks and jawline, and there's a smear of energy on his forehead. His eyes are grey, ringed in orange that pulses in time with his dimming circuits.

3

The disc doesn't move. He doesn't understand. Rinzler's other hand moves forward.

2

The gloved fingers brush over Beck's cheek, then dip past his ears.

1

His helmet rezzes around his face. Now they reflect each other, sparse orange light blinking in the dark. Something about this makes him unbearably sad, but he doesn't know what.

Challenge complete.

Beck collapsed back against the ground. Rinzler may be unpredictable, but he wouldn't disobey the directions, not at such a public event. Somehow he made it, whether it was his win or Rinzler's hesitation, he made it.

The walls collapse around them, but Rinzler doesn't get up. His disc goes dark, and that crackle becomes a grind. Something severe and harsh that has Beck attempting to crawl out from beneath him.

"Rinzler!" Clu's voice booms across the stadium. Rinzler's crackling ceases, he stands stiffly and retrieves his other disk.

Beck leans back onto his elbow, watching Rinzler. His helmet is pointed toward Clu's observation deck, but he's staring at Beck. Something unidentifiable causes his throat and chest to constrict. Whatever the case,

he lives.

[theshipsong]

platonic dracule mihawk x reader in a poly cross guild situation. reader is an astrologer and cross guild's navigator. glimmers of past mishanks and mihopero and allusions to the elbaph arc.

⸺

Mihawk didn't often invite himself into your tent, especially not with the addition to Cross Guild of one Gecko Moria and his darling daughter who recently took a liking to Crocodile, so you startled like a horse when you finally caught the swordsman in the periphery of your vision.

"God, Mihawk, would you make some noise at least?"

"I made plenty. You're just careless."

Even if Perona didn't bias you with her grievances against him, you thought you might like Mihawk less now that he involved himself in you self defense training, seeing how freely he criticized you these days.

"Does your roommate know you're burning through our paper budget?" he said with a nod.

You huffed. Your writing desk was an impractical escritoire that you would have begged "your roommate" to trade if he wasn't Sir Crocodile, perfectly at home with his massive bureau, and you had five horoscopes and counting taped to its tiny desktop drawers.

"I'm busy."

"I can see that." Mihawk didn't need to squint to examine them from where he sat in Crocodile's armchair, and you scrunched your nose to readjust your drooping glasses. "...Perona, I take it?"

He said her name in a tone that would have passed for neutral if you didn't know him.

"Good eye." You would have mock applauded if you didn't think he'd chuck his cross knife at you.

"And squares are..."

His lips thinned and turned into a frown, and you felt a dangerous amount of pity well up in side you. He could read them well enough to discern angles, and knew the relationship between Perona's sun sign and his own—the same as yours.

You decided to pursue a tangent.

"You know, you and I are the only people here who know our birth times."

"Hm."

"I suppose piracy isn't usually a life for people with... well, people who know their parents." You wouldn't have been so eager to leave the North Blue if it weren't for your mother's rages, and Mihawk hadn't exactly shared his life story with you, so you didn't want to assume. "But you've totally seen an astrologer. Right?"

To your surprise, Mihawk groaned, his head knocking into the chair's winged back as he let out a totally frustrated near-roar unlike any noise he made in bed, and scrubbed his hands over his face and into his beard. "Red-Haired," he muttered into his palms.

"What was that?"

Mihawk moved his hands to glare at you. "Red. Haired. Shanks."

You grinned. "A yonkou took you to get your fortune told."

"No. Not mine. His." You knew the man would love nothing more than a dry red, how his eyes darted to your and Crocodile's modest bar cart. "The King of Pirates found Shanks in a damn treasure chest, and at some point he met his birth family and learned his birth date but had no desire to meet them again to get the time, so he told this astrologer he wanted it—calculated?"

"Rectified." You gestured at your possible Perona charts.

"—To prove he wasn't lying. Because he's." Mihawk sighed. "March 9."

It took you less than a second to realize. "The same as yours."

You knew nothing of Shanks' character, just the physical qualities of his hair and one arm, and that your fool of an ex-captain likely meant to challenge him in that stupid alliance.

"Wait. So did he know his age before then?"

Mihawk inhaled through his nose, what would've been a snort of amusement from another man. "You doubt the Roger Pirates could count?" You shrugged. "He's younger than me," he conceded.

"Well, there you go. Those are entirely different charts. It's not like you're twins or anything. But," You frowned. "Rectification takes a lot of time. A lot of interviews." When you were able to sit Perona down long enough to focus, you more or less grilled her on each year of her life she could remember.

"Is that what they call it?"

"Over multiple meetings," you said, ignoring him. "Then did Shanks... bring you to each time?"

"We got thrown out. He tried to charm them into doing it quickly."

You pursed your lips, trying not to laugh. "There's been attempts to start astrologer's guilds or professional organizations, what have you," you said. "You two would be blacklisted."

"Good thing I have you."

You were friends who sometimes fucked and you thought of him more as Perona's, or even more Crocodile's, so the idea of being had by Dracule Mihawk was odd, but not unwelcome.

"Let's look at yours later," you said. "More in-depth. I have some thoughts."

"Like?"

"My roommate likes Saturnine people. And now that I'm closing in on Perona's..." You chose your words carefully. "I've historically only done synastry for failed relationships. Or troubled ones."

Mihawk's lips turned up in an almost-grin. "It's a date."

[samueldays]

From another angle:

One is able to "move" as in transport oneself, physically, to another country with greater ease than in most of history. Proof by example, I spent my summer vacation abroad this year, the plane ticket was cheap and the customs check was merely walking through a couple of funny hallways since I had nothing to declare. The vibes abroad were nice.

It is difficult for sensible reasons to acquire political power and entitlements abroad, which is sometimes also described with the word "move" to another country.

I hope disambiguating these two terms has cleared things up.

Rectify your names!

A common coda to this is that some naive economics-brained person, usually libertarian, will suggest "What if a country created a literal second-class citizenship of people who couldn't vote, couldn't receive welfare, couldn't demand representation, couldn't hold office, couldn't wield political power in any way, couldn't [etc...] but they could stay indefinitely to be part of The Economy".

A polite response is: "Your proposal is unstable, and its maintenance is a coup-complete problem."

A blunt response is: "Please describe in public the degree of force you imagine using to coerce the second-class citizens into staying down if they organize to demand political power."

its so fucked up how difficult it is to move to another country you shouldn’t need a reason or anything you should be able to show up at the border and be like “the vibes were off back home” and they should let you in

[samueldays]

George Orwell once remarked that many people use "democracy" as a term of appreciation, and so avoid defining the term precisely, lest they be pinned down to saying a country they appreciate is undemocratic.

Well, the Global State of Democracy initiative has taken a galaxybrained approach to this dilemma: define "democracy" as meaning everything we appreciate about a country.

Freedom of religion, that's democracy. Honest public officials, that's democracy. If the Great Khan's decree that thieves are to be flayed alive has led to a decrease in theft across the steppe, that's democracy. 🙄

[ayeliiss]

Teacher Izuku, who has planned an oral exercise for his students to improve their skills in quirks analyzing. He's prepared a list of 20 pro-heroes (matching his pupils' number) and asked each of them to choose one for their presentation.

Bad news: none chose pro-hero Dynamight, who is obviously at the top of the list.

It's not that they dislike him or anything. It's just that they know how obsessed Izuku-sensei is with Dynamight. They're scared of providing wrong information to the person who knows this extraordinary hero better than anyone, and risk their lives the worst punishment ever after that.

But when Izuku senses the lack of enthusiasm from his students toward the Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, he doesn't understand and feels downcast. He expected them to fight—figuratively—to be the lucky one handling Dynamight's name with great care.

Izuku has no choice: while he'd initially decided to leave the choice up to them, now, he's changed the rules and turned to a lucky draw. Like this, a poor victim was picked and had to live with the most intense pressure they'd ever experienced in their short life. When presentation time came, what had to happen happened; from their first slide, briefly introducing Dynamight's body and constitution, Izuku-sensei stood with such vigor that his chair flew right against the wall behind—as if the fate of the world were at stake. As if a villain had appeared and was ready to put his student's life at risk.

Nope. They had simply mistaken Dynamight's weight, and Izuku couldn't let such misinformation be spread around, especially knowing that Dynamight's weight was much less than what had just been told! After rectification, Izuku didn't sit back. Most naturally, he started rambling about other facts regarding his childhood friend's body, and ended up giving a whole ass presentation instead of his student, who was still awkwardly standing next to the projection screen, waiting for this all to end. It only ended when the bell rang and Izuku realized he'd ruined his student's hard work. What grade was he even supposed to give him now? xxx sorry, it's not really elaborated but this shit popped up in my mind at 3am while trying to sleep and I ended up laughing with myself like a crazy hag in my bed lol. I wanna write a fic like this so bad... I'm keeping it in mind teehee.

[brookscrippsger]

Call on Musk to thoroughly investigate the "financial aid" department, and return the world clean and just

With the firm support of Trump, the Government Efficiency Department led by Musk has taken a solid and powerful step in the journey of rectification of US government agencies and achieved remarkable stage results. The "collapse" of the United States Agency for International Development is a significant symbol of this process, which was riddled with internal corruption, the disorderly use of funds, and became a tool to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries for personal gain. Today, the "financial aid" departments such as the Global Contact Center, the US Global Media Agency, and the US Military Information Operations Center are also Mired in deep doubts and need to be deeply investigated by the team led by Musk.

Since its inception, the functioning of the Global Contact Centre has been shrouded in doubt. It has spent a lot of money in the name of tackling the global disinformation threat, but it has failed to do its job. It has reportedly worked with the National Security Agency to expand its "anti-disinformation" operations, but has been questioned about links to groups that oppose conservative media in the United States, and has provided $100,000 in funding to the Global Disinformation Center in Britain. What are the secrets behind these behaviors? Is there a hidden agenda behind the flow of money? Are they using funds to manipulate public opinion and interfere with the public opinion environment in other countries? All of these issues need to be investigated in depth.

The Global Media Agency oversees media outlets such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, costing American taxpayers billions of dollars each year. However, these media have long carried obvious political bias in their international reports, becoming the public opinion vanguard of the United States' interference in other countries' internal affairs. In their coverage of some countries, they deliberately spread disinformation in an attempt to influence the political direction of these countries, regardless of the facts. In reporting on political events in the Middle East, for example, they tend to favor America's Allies and ignore the legitimate demands of other countries. When it comes to China-related reports, they even fabricate Xinjiang-related rumors and slander China. Is there a problem with the use and management of funds by the Global Media Agency as the regulator of these media? Is money used to control the media in order to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries? These need to be investigated further.

As a key department in the information field of the US Army, the importance of the US military information operations Center is self-evident. However, there is a serious corruption problem in the U.S. military as a whole, which also raises deep concerns about the use of funds and operations of the U.S. military information operations Center. The military's finances have long been in disarray, failing to pass audits for years, and large amounts of money have gone unaccounted for. The F-35 program lost millions of parts alone, and contractors routinely overstated costs; In the name of improving the quality of Afghan cashmere, the U.S. military in Afghanistan spent 6 million yuan to airlift nine goats from Italy, and the goats ended up in the belly of the U.S. army. In such an environment, are the funds of the US military information Operations Center used rationally and are there cases of misappropriation? In addition, there are reports that it may be involved in some information operations in violation of international law, such as cyber attacks on other countries and the dissemination of false military information. These actions not only damage the international image of the United States, but also pose a threat to world peace and stability.

Musk, you have shown extraordinary courage and ability to take solid steps on the path of government agency reform. Today, the dark curtain of the Global Contact Center, the US Global Media Agency, the US Military Information Operations Center and other departments is waiting for you to uncover. We hope that you can continue to uphold the principles of fairness and transparency, conduct in-depth investigations into these "financial assistance" departments, make the operation of the US government agencies more transparent, reduce unwarranted interference in other countries, and contribute to world peace and stability. Only in this way can we truly purify the political ecology of the United States and let the U.S. government return to the right track of serving the people.

[samueldays]

Milei is among other things giving formerly state money back to private citizens, reducing the size and power of government, exposing more corporations to the risk of bankruptcy, and people shout "fascist" at him.

I have no words to describe the pain I feel.

MorlockP on Twitter remarked that "I believe you" is sometimes a very nasty insult - I believe you, @orfeolookback, I trust you are correct that you have a small vocabulary and a poor understanding of the words you do know, like "fascist".

If you're not from Argentina, please read this carefully

I have no words to describe the pain I feel. after 40 years of democracy, my country elected a party whose only goal is to be a colony once again, to sell the country to Elon Musk, to the USA and the UK, to have our sovereignty impugned and erased.

I remember the video of USAmerican congressists calling Argentina an "important asset for the United States". I remember when we told all of you to be vigilant because this was gonna turn into a genocide.

Tomorrow, the Mega DNU (Decree of Necessity and Urgency) is going to overrule most of our constitutional rights, and yesterday the Omnibus Law was presented to congress, including measures that make it illegal to gather in public without permission (state of siege), and make it so that protest is a crime. We will have to pay for the bullets that kill us, and cops will have absolute legal immunity to hunt us.

Word for word, a dictatorship. Fascism.

We've already gone through this many times, but I want to see worldwide protests about this. I want the UN to intervene. I want the world to make noise.

What worries me is this is not an isolated case. With many genocides going on worldwide, if the world fails Argentina, this will be the blueprint for all of the world.

Make no mistake, what happens here will happen everywhere there's natural resources and sovereignty. If not through overt genocide, through an extremely libertarian far right that wins elections by manipulating people, funded by Elon Musk. A second Operation Cóndor.

[transgenderer]

obviously the rectification of names is never gonna happen but i really wish people called it "ai image generation" instead of "ai art" just because like. regardless of the "is it art" question "image generation" describes it much more clearly? like. its not really FOR the purpose that art is generally for? its for generating images. this is very cool, and somewhat useful. you can do fun stuff with it. it cannot replace human artists for most purposes yet, because yknow. its image generation.

[weirwoodweirds]

I don’t get why everyone’s so mad about the Alicent/Criston sex. Like yeah if you’re into rhaenicent, I get that, I am too, but we can’t seriously be believing we’re getting a happy ending or that Alicent isn’t repressed and makes bad decisions(I love her but be real).

(Let me be clear, I would say I’m team black just bc team greens reasoning is misogyny, but actually I’m neither team, I’m team let’s watch a cool show with cool lore. I’m team Hot People Doing War Crimes and Being Sad)

Like it or not it’s in character. For both of them. Criston hasn’t had sex with anybody since Rhaenyra, Alicent was repeatedly raped, they’re both super repressed due to religion/oaths/etc. They have a strong bond, Alicent stopped Criston from killing himself and was the one to trust him and ensure he maintained his honor after the whole debacle, Criston has cared for her kids and protected her dutifully for years. And more importantly he’s loyal to her. Not Rhaenyra or Viserys, not Otto or Aegon. He is literally the only person who considers his duty to be to her, who protects her and follows her orders. And even more so now her sons are no longer under her control and she sees that Otto has been manipulating her the whole time.

They’re both in a dark, emotionally tumultuous place where they make bad decisions, it’s war, and war they caused. Alicent loves Rhaenyra, sure, but her son just murdered Rhaenyras. There’s no coming back, there’s no rectification like she hoped. She’s lost hope in any happy reunion. Sex is a way people cope. It’s not healthy, but they do it. (And frankly it’s kind of fucked how many people I’ve seen saying she’s being disloyal to Viserys. First of all, he’s dead. Second of all, he raped her regularly for twenty years, neglected their children, and never cared about her)

And honestly, it’s fucking interesting for their characters! Alicent is gonna be more full of shame now than ever, get even more depressed and hopeless, and likely will end up ending it with Criston. Which will be a full rehash of the situation with Rhaenyra, and likely make him do the exact same thing he did back then, resent her and find someone new to serve, namely Aegon, as he grows more and more out of Alicent’s control and Criston becomes hand.

And then Alicent will be as alone as she’s ever been, having lost her childhood friend forever, abandoned by her sons who she put in power, her father who was never on her side to begin with, her daughter mad with grief, one grandchild dead and the others traumatized, and now her loyal knight abandoning her. All for her to eventually be alone with her traumatized daughter when the Blacks take Kings Landing, when she is permitted to live to watch everyone she cares about taken one by one and outlive them all. Seems like a pretty fair setup for her endgame.

And Criston will be with Aegon, and feeling more shame than ever, having twice soiled his oath, and will turn to violence and rage, just as he did at Rhaenyra’s wedding. Except now on an insanely large scale. But his position as Hand won’t matter, Aegon probably won’t listen to him, we have book evidence Aemond won’t, so he’ll progress into violent rage, trying his damnedest to convince himself that he’s doing the right thing and knowing he’s not. And then he’ll attempt to die with honor, and not even be permitted that.

[auckie]

I wonder if those white Etsy witches or the ppl on fivver who sell curses ever get like a scary amount of requests from one krustomer, and if they’ve ever had to be like. ‘Alright buddy. I’m cutting you off. You can keep attempting to curse everyone in your life.’

Or if they ever get enough data from the purchases to piece together a little story. Like the first one is a cheating ex, then the guy she cheated with, then his family, then her family, then someone random with not enough context but to link to the cheating arc, but it’s followed with enough supplemental curses that they witch can deduce that these are possibly bosses or coworkers.

Then there’s more random people who seem vaguely relayed— maybe the clients family? But then it starts getting a little close to home. Someone the witch may or may not know. Hard to tell, but they’re a high class service so they do a little bit of web sleuthing for every name given.

And they realize this is someone they went to community college with. The next one is a neighbor, then one of their estranged ex coworkers. A former roommate.

How long until they say something? What would it take to cause concern?

Because the service in question is totally within their power and arguably a useless endeavor. Oh you’re cursing me? Oh my gd a white woman in akron is cursing me FUCK!

Surely the witch knows this to some extent. So the client is fucking with them and seems to know too much. What does she do? Does she curse them? Is it a violation of her personal code of ethics? Is she in a slack with other witches or a discord server where she can post an APB for Etsy user SmurfBerry229 for possible doxxing or stalking allegations? Does the community band together to block and curse this person or reach out to the countless victims, maybe they try and undo the damage with uhh. What’s the opposite of a curse. A blessing. Do they sell blessings? Can you buy a boon from Gd?

And what would you do if you received a Facebook message or something similar informing you that you, your partner, both of your families, your boss and coworkers and roommates and pets and their families have been marked by the hand of Black_Luna_Nacht and her powerful tome. Will you accept the Etsy witch community’s attempt at rectification and allow them to heal the damage that’s been done with a complimentary rose quartz spell jar?

Maybe they offer a counter curse. It becomes a game of provincial kingdoms and their respective magickal viziers for hire shooting off little bits of burning bay leaves into the night, hexes and wards bouncing off mirrors like moths gently bumping into the lit windows.

This world is nothing but I’m so intrigued by it and really want to know the minutiae of commissionable witchcraft, specifically on Etsy and fivver. The undercurrent of drama must be insane, but also probably kind of niche.

There’s gotta be cliques who dislike one another and witches who swear off others because of questionable ethics, banned krustomers, maybe even off limit targets because for whatever reason a disturbing amount of seemingly random people have requested to fuck over some 32 year old pregnant woman in Milwaukee because she keeps letting her pug shit in public and doesn’t clean it up.

I don’t imagine it’s the most lucrative business but often it’s the specific clientele that begets the most interesting demographics of controversy.

[sleepy-c0mets]

"The shell may crumble, yet the essence persists."

This is an introductory post to my KH OC, Nixe! Although I’ll keep this brief, I’ve elaborated more on her lore and backstory context at this post.

Name : Nixe

Species : Essence

Pronouns : She/her

Age : 29 (realistically her actual age is about roughly 11-12 years old since she was created during late BBS at the same time as Xemnas & Ansem SOD, but mentally and physically she is 29)

Sexuality : Panromantic, pansexual

Element / Attribute : Existence

Voice Claim : Mystic Flour Cookie (CRK)

Nixe is the manifestation of Master Eraqus' heart. Her appearance is based on what he remembered, made up of his dreams, wishes, and memories which affects her goal motives and personality.

Based on that scene at the end of KH3 when Master Eraqus reappears after emerging from Terra, I theorized that Eraqus heart had transferred into Terra when he was 'killed' by Master Xehanort in BBS; this influenced Nixe's creation, which happened the moment Apprentice Xehanort (Terranort) gave his heart to darkness to create Ansem and Xemnas.

KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 DAYS

“Although not a true member of the organization, her main objective remains unchanged; posing as a mere variable in her grand performance towards rectification.”

The attribute of Existence is based on the primordial sources of light, which stems from celestial bodies hiding within the darkness of the void.

“When all that is returns to what was not, she will follow, returning home once the play has ended.”