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cellophaine · 3 months ago

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Chapter IV: Entrechat

Masterlist

Pairing: Matt Murdock x F!Reader

Warnings: Fluff, description of injuries and blood, short and simple medical procedure, toxic environment.

Word Count: 5.9k

Author's Note: This is the longest chapter of the series to date! (by only 600 words but still). I ended up having to cut a chunk because time wasn't on my side and also I kept adding more stuff to the chapter and complicated the process. But here it is! I hope you will enjoy it 🫶

GIF Source – The GIF is extremely relevant!!

Your dance bag used to be indicative of your day. The heavier the bag, the longer the day, the more exhausted you'd be at the end of it. The bag would be strewn with multiple pairs of pointe shoes, two wrap skirts of different lengths, a practice tutu, warmup layers and tools, water and food. You would spend most of the day inside. Class in the morning, rehearsal for your part, and more often than not, understudy for Christine. You were only allowed to take your lunch break when the director was satisfied with your work, so it gave you an incentive to dance well and to perform perfectly every day. Every time. Some days, you didn't get a break until mid-afternoon. Despite your frustration and exhaustion, it was hard to find fault in Roger's teaching method as it clearly worked. A few passionate critics called you 'Roger Emerson's artistry crafted in a human form, and the true successor to Christine Lambert's illustrious career'. Jo and Amy shared a look of concern when you told them about the behind-the-scenes stuff, so you learned to sugarcoat the reality for them. You figured that they wouldn't get it. The harsh environment simply was something you had to live with in order to thrive. To be the best performer you could be.

In preparation for a new season, the stage calls could be as late as 10:30 PM. On performance days, you'd stay at the theatre, getting ready with your hair, makeup, and costume before helping others. You would often leave the theatre very late, walking fast with your head slightly down, a pocket knife clenched in your fist, hidden in the full bag.

Your bag is still a reflection of your day. It holds a single pair of soft shoes, a water bottle, and the keys to your apartment and mailbox. Its inconsequential weight on your shoulder speaks for what you think of yourself – aimless, unmoored to a real and substantial purpose. No ballet class, no performance. No adoring audience who cheers for you as you take your bow at the end of the night. There are over eight million people in New York. No one cares that you used to dance for a mid-tier ballet company, and now working as a secretary for a mid-tier law firm. You have nothing except for the self-imposed helplessness. And it holds you motionlessly at the entrance to Jo's new gym.

You're torn between two opposite points of the axis – the yearning to go back to the one thing you've done your whole life, and the fear that your moment was gone the night of your injury. You know that you can't stay away from ballet for too long as the fleeting nature of your youth and the tragically short career you chose, and still love, pull at the back of your mind. They tell you the more you spend away from the art, that’s more time you don’t have wasted. But when you finally decided tonight was the night you finally made a tepid return to ballet, you're still scared. What is the point? You can never be as good as you used to be. The thought has been exhaustingly persistent. But seclusion has provided you with a comforting contemplation that you can accept. There is no audience that you have to perform for tonight. There is a sense of self-assurance that even if your dancing is mediocre, no one else will be around to witness it, except for you. You don't even have to dance if you don't want to. You quickly insert the key into the lock and turn, the door opens to your newfound determination.

Upon entry, you can already see why Jo bought this place. It has an old-school vibe, and of course, the boxing ring to the left of the room. New lockers spread along the wall near the entrance, breaking up by a hallway and Jo's office from what you can see. A couple of towel carts gather below the window looking out into the gym. The back of the sign Fogwell’s Gym is prominent even in the low street lights, each letter red, big and bold in their respective glass pane. Sandbags spread sporadically throughout the room, but you’re not here for them. You keep straight and reach the new addition to the gym as Jo instructed on the right, opposite the boxing ring. You wave at Leon – the night cleaner – before entering the room.

The studio is small and separated from the open space, and more narrow than the room you used to dance in at Lady Liberty, but it works better than your apartment. A large floor-to-ceiling mirror covers the length of the wall, reflecting the empty room except for a standard moveable barre on the opposite side. The window blind is drawn on the view of the boxing ring and the rest of the gym, and you keep it that way. You bring the barre to the middle of the room, vertically to the mirror, and put on the shoes. You didn’t bother putting on a leotard and tights, settling for a pair of leggings and a fitted shirt. The simple and form-hugging outfit is enough to see your lines.

The music playing through your phone speaker is loud enough for you to follow in the stillness of the building. Plié, tendu, ronde de jambe à terre. You go through each exercise with ease. Balançoire, fondu, ronde de jambe en l'air. Your mind and muscle memories work in tandem, guiding your movements. Frappé, petit battements, relevé. Every day for five, sometimes six, days of the week for years. Adagio, grand battement, arabesque penché. Your body is warm, your alignment refined and you find yourself not too concerned about the predicament you're wrapped up in as you move onto centre work.

After a couple of simple combinations, you recall the Cupid variation from Don Quixote. It was nowhere near the hardest variation you'd done, but with the level you're on at the moment, the agility and quick footwork required would be a challenge. But you want to feel the satisfaction of successfully executing a complete piece. So you search for the music, and mark it out with your hands and feet.

Music fills the room, a little louder this time, but doesn’t mute the sound of pressure every time your feet touch the floor. You can’t land as softly as you used to, but you try your best to hold your weight. You feel a pinch in your leg on a piqué turn, but you push through to the flow of the music. As the variation almost nears the end, the door to the main area of the gym creaks loudly, and whoever enters inadvertently takes away your focus with them. Your feet knock together clumsily on an assemblé, making you lose balance when you come back to the floor. You stumble, letting the notes float past you and eventually end. The muffled conversation in the other room announces the unmistakable presence of another. Jo let you know about Leon, and you haven't expected the company of anyone else during the gym's off hours. You peek through the blind to find the familiar shape of a person your eyes perpetually search for throughout the workday. You open the door but stay at the threshold. And call out hesitantly.

“Matt?”

He turns to your direction and says your name. He's surprised to see you, but there is a moment of delay as if he already knew you were here.

“What are you doing here?”

“I'm here to work out.”

He’s wearing a black tank, grey sweatpants, an old pair of trainers and a gym bag by his side. Your eyes trail over the stretch along the arm holes, noticing how worn the shirt looks, and how his arms look so much bigger than you've imagined. Not that you want to admit you have thought about his arms, but you can acknowledge that the dress shirts and suit jackets he usually wears are quite deceiving.

You course correct at his plain answer.

“But the gym is closed.”

“I can say the same to you.”

“My friend gave me the access. She owns the place.”

He thinks for a moment.

“Ahh. That explains the new equipments.”

You cross your arms over your chest, aware of his attempt at redirecting your attention.

“You still haven't answered my question.”

He huffs out a soft laugh, amused at your directness.

“Right, well, I also get after-hours access because of Leon.”

The man mentioned has already gone home, it seems.

“Oh yeah? You bribed him, didn't you?”

You lean against the door. Matt puts both hands up, feigning innocence.

“I admitted to no such thing.”

Your conversation has taken on a playful edge, and you allow yourself to lean into it.

“It’s clear to me that that’s what happened.”

“Are you conducting a cross-examination on me?"

"It doesn't have to be, but since you insist …"

He shakes his head in amusement.

"Can't believe it's only been two weeks since you started working for us. If I didn't know any better, I would think you'd been with us from the day we opened the practice.”

“Thank you. I’m just a quick learner. You’d know that if you came to the interview.”

Matt wets his lips with a quick swipe of his tongue. You were only joking, but when he speaks, you can hear a touch of seriousness in his voice.

“I’m glad I missed it.”

“Why?”

The question was only a notch above a whisper, but he heard it.

“That led us to here. You're working with us. And I get to see you more often.”

His admission draws a soft intake of air from you. You feel the skin on your cheeks and ears grow warm as your heart quickens its pace.

“Flirting with me won’t distract me from the fact that you’re trespassing.”

He turns his head to curse softly under his breath in a slightly exaggerated manner. You chuckle at his attempt to make you laugh.

“You’re good.”

He says, shaking his head, the smile on his lips widens.

“Don’t worry, I’m just joking. I won’t tell Jo about this.”

Jo is already on the fence about Matt. Knowing about his trespassing will only aggravate her.

“What about you? What are you doing here?”

Matt asks. You straighten up from where you’re standing, suddenly feeling defensive despite the question being innocuous.

“I’m here to … dance. I want to slowly get back to ballet. My apartment is too small for what I want to do so … here I am.”

His face brightens.

“That’s great. I’m glad you’ve decided to give it another chance. You told me how much you missed it."

You're surprised to see he still remembered what you told him on the first night you met.

“You'll regret that when I play the same music over and over.”

“Go ahead. I don't mind. I need to expand my playlist.”

“Let me guess. All you listen to is emo, broody music that fuels your tenancy in court.”

His head tilts slightly to the side at your poking fun at him.

“Broody? Is that what you think of me?”

“A little bit. Sometimes. It’s just that … you have that air about you. Like you’re suppressing something, all the time.”

A flash of something you can't name crosses his face. But it's gone as he puts on an easy smile.

“Hm, I didn’t expect to be cross-examined on top of a psychoanalysis coming to the gym tonight.”

“Maybe I really have spent too much time with you three.”

You share a laugh. The banter is nice. You get to talk freely to one another, and your overthinking ceases to make an appearance in this moment. The air is not laden with dread, frustration or misunderstanding like two nights ago. You have thought about the situation since after that night, and you feel like you owe Matt honesty.

“I should apologize to you. For the other night.”

Matt’s brows furrow as you keep going.

“I misconstrued your words and intention.”

"You don't have to apologize. I could've handled it better. I should've addressed you properly–"

You interrupt with a call for his name.

“Thank you for doing that, but it was mostly my fault. I was overly sensitive, and frankly, in way over my head about a similar situation. I was just worried that you … might have changed your mind."

“Changed my mind about what?”

Honesty, you remind yourself.

“… About me. With all of that stuff that happened with my old company, I thought you might think that I’m more trouble than I’m worth.”

Understanding dawns on his features. He softens.

“What happened at your old company is not your fault. I meant it the first time, and I still mean it now: anything happened between us will stay between us."

You know that now.

"And I enjoy having you around the office. I really do.”

You can't tame the happy smile on your face. You let it mirror Matt's own.

“I enjoy being around you, as well.”

A quiet understanding makes the air between you lighter. The knot in your stomach unravels. You clear your throat, bringing both of you out of the comfortable quiet.

“I’ll … let you get back to it.”

“Me, too.”

“I’ll close the door so the music won’t be too loud for you.”

“I really don’t mind either way.”

“Accommodating, as always.”

With a final remark and one last look at Matt, you retreat into the room and close the door anyway. As the night goes on, you can hear the rhythmic punches on the sandbag next to your own classical playlist. The melodies blur into one another, making up their own unique existence in an unlikely place.

You start going to Fogwell’s every other day. You find yourself looking forward to the visit for more than one reason. Every time you push through the discomfort that your old injury brings, the experience invigorates you, and you feel like you’re gaining a fraction of the old you back. You retrieve fragments of your old balance, strength, and flexibility. You're not confident enough to practice in pointe shoes yet, content with dancing in soft canvas shoes. You've been looking into ballet classes for adult dancers. A structured class with lesson plans can bolster your own framework and accelerate your improvement. You used to have classes at least five days a week, but for now, once to twice a week would be sufficient. Ballet classes are plentiful in New York, you just need to take the plunge.

You see Matt on and off throughout the nights you go. Seeing him is the other reason, but you can never admit it out loud to anyone. The delicate balance between you is restored, and you don't want to overcomplicate it. But there is no harm in innocuous talking that often veers on the side of flirting when both parties are willing participants. You chat and rehash about what happened at work before going back to your own things. You don't like staring at Matt, the act is too desperate, but your gaze does linger from time to time. The sandbag shakes from Matt's exertion, and you find yourself wondering if that's how he got the scars on his knuckles. The size of his arms, which are corded with muscles, fluster you when you've stared for too long.

You have been avoiding Jo's invites to hang out. Not to keep Matt's trespassing a secret, but you don’t like the way she tries to overshadow your thoughts and opinions with her own. The last time you saw her, she only said what she said because she was looking out for you. But you also know how once she has formed an idea about someone in her head, it’d be hard for her to let it go. If you agree to meet up, you know that she'll ask you about Matt again, and even worse, if you tell her about the misunderstanding, she'll only double down and urge you to quit your job at the firm. No matter what, you can't win. For right now, no one needs to know. Your connection with Matt remains as yours and his alone.

Time goes by, and the most accurate measure of it is your growing closeness with Karen, Foggy, and especially, Matt. To be more specific, it has been a little over a month since you started working for the firm. It’s not enough time for you to comfortably get drinks with them yet, but enough to be included and tag along on coffee runs and lunch breaks.

Therefore, you notice that Matt is late this morning, even though technically speaking, he was late on the day of your interview as well. He's always early or on time, so for his office to still be empty by the time the clock hits 10:45 is not like him. You pretend that you’re not even glancing at the time every five minutes, but you do. When you're even just a little restless, your mind takes over and forms an unpleasant thought. Matt must've spent the night with a woman.

The sudden delivery of the notion feels like a sharp sting on your cheeks. Your heart clenches, and what feels awfully similar to jealousy flares in your chest, making your stomach churn. You try to push the bitter feelings out, but it's too late. The silent acknowledgement is enough for your mind to helplessly dive deeper into the hole the invasive idea has dug. You don't have the right to be jealous, you're only Matt's colleague. What he chooses to do outside of work is none of your concern. With anyone is none of your rights to even question. Still, as much as you try to pretend that it doesn’t affect you, it does. Did he treat her nicely like the way he did with you? Did he kiss her with the same vigour? Same softness? Did he listen to her problems? Did he make breakfast for her this morning and that’s why he’s late? Maybe he's kissing her goodbye right now, with the promise of more whispered on her lips as he pulls away. The mental image of Matt kissing someone else pulls and cuts into your increasingly sensitive disposition. You look away from the document you weren’t really reading, willing your mind to make the words make sense again.

You haven't made much progress when Matt comes through the door a few minutes later, looking quite pale and dishevelled. He says good morning to you and quickly crosses the space to go to his office. Your response fades on your lips as he closes the door behind him. The cold demeanour is enough to spark a disappointment ember. It grows hot in your chest and along your skin as the conclusion clicks in place: he did spend the previous night with a woman. You look at the computer, hoping a vision change will help you forget quickly.

Matt often observes quietly, heedful of every little thing. He chimes in when something doesn't make sense, or when a question needs an answer. But in today's meeting, he is unusually silent. You notice the way he pushes his glasses up on his nose every other minute, the way he touches a particular part of his torso more often than not, and when you angle yourself in a way that grants you a view under the unbuttoned suit jacket, you find red spots that look like blood on his white shirt. You can't help but blurt out.

“Are you bleeding?”

Ms. Carrero turns to you, as do Karen and Foggy. You don’t care the way their bewildered gazes as you pull on Matt's hands, the ones that are trying to button his jacket up.

“It’s nothing.”

You part the material to find the small splotches of blood seeping through the cotton. Foggy’s voice is alarmed when he asks.

“What happened?”

Matt stumbles over his words, trying to smooth out his explanation.

“Oh, uh … kitchen … accident. I ran into a knife that I forgot I put there.”

“Are you okay?”

Ms. Carrero asks with concern laced in her scrunched brows. Matt nods, giving her a tight smile.

“You should probably get that taken care of.”

“It's not that bad. I can wait until the meeting is over.”

You know what Matt is trying to do, and you refuse to let him slide this under the rug. You say without giving him another chance to make up an excuse.

“Karen and Foggy can take care of the meeting. I can help you clean up.”

Karen nods while Foggy agrees with you. Matt hesitates. You lower your voice, almost pleading with him.

“Please, before you bleed out in front of Ms. Carrero.”

Matt concedes after a brief moment. You excuse yourselves as you stand up and walk to the door, holding it open for Matt to step through. The meeting reconvenes while you lead Matt into his office. You pull out the chair so he can sit and ask him to unbutton his shirt.

“Aren’t you going to ask me out to dinner first?”

Despite the cheeky remark, he listens to you, shrugging off the suit jacket.

“That’s a great idea considering how your kitchen skills don’t seem to be that great. Let’s keep you away from those knives for a while, yeah?”

You pull the chair on the opposite side of the desk and set it up next to Matt's.

“Ouch. Here I was, thinking we were having a good thing going on.”

You roll your eyes at him even though he can’t see it. Your voice softens.

“I’ll be right back.”

You search for the first aid kit in the kitchen before moving to your desk. In your bag, you find the tin of all-heal ointment balm and a Tide pen. You return to Matt’s office to find him leaning back on the chair with the few buttons unfastened from the bottom of the shirt. You set the kit on the desk, settle into the chair and ask.

“Can you hold your shirt up for me?”

This time, he listens without a sly remark. Your knees knock together as you get closer, and he accommodates you by parting his thighs. You slot in between, trying to calm your nerves at your proximity. He folds the material and holds it to his chest, revealing the expanse of smooth skin, well-defined abs, and a bloody bandage at his side. You're distracted by the sight momentarily before informing him of what you're going to do, and he nods. The wet patch comes off slowly under your careful fingers. The cut is much deeper than you thought, and the way Matt’s playing it off like it’s nothing alarms you. When you voice your concern, he only shrugs.

“I’ve had worse.”

“How? I’m very worried about your worse if this is nothing.”

The knot in your stomach tightens. You observe the wound, and it looks deeper than a simple kitchen knife cut.

“It looks a lot worse than it feels, trust me.”

“It also doesn't look like a simple accident.”

“Just my luck.”

"Did you try to impress someone? A woman you met at the bar, perhaps?"

You hope the joke didn't come off as forced as it sounds in your head. Matt gives you an easy, playful smile.

"No, there was no one to impress. My kitchen wouldn't be a mess if that was the case."

You release a disbelieving hum, and Matt holds the free hand up.

"I swear. This was a one-off incident."

"Right."

You shake your head, the corner of your lips involuntarily curl into a grin. You dip your head to take a closer look. Even though the wound is small and manageable, it still has a gaping opening, so slapping fresh gauze and bandage on top won't hold the edges close. You look into the first aid kit and are surprised to find the basics of what you need to properly clean and seal the injury. You put on a pair of gloves and grab a packet of anti-bacterial wipes.

“I will have to give you a couple of stitches so the wound can stay close, okay?”

His brows raise above the red glasses.

“Do you know how to stitch up a wound?”

He hisses softly as you clean the area with the wipe.

“Of course I do. I’ve darned shoes before. Can’t be that hard to stitch you up.”

You chuckle when his expression betrays him. He looks worried and on edge.

“I’m just joking. I know enough to take care of a simple wound like this.”

You clean the needle with an antiseptic cloth and prepare the thread.

“If I hurt you, let me know, okay?”

The smirk on his lips is cocky, yet simultaneously endearing.

“I’m a big boy. I can handle a needle.”

“But not a knife, apparently.”

That draws a deep chuckle from Matt. The room gradually falls into silence as you pour all of your focus on steadying your hands and making sure you don't pierce his skin too deeply. He takes the pain exceptionally well with only a few sharp breaths and soft gasps here and there.

“Did you have to do this a lot? Back when you were still dancing?”

His voice is as gentle as your hands. You take a moment before responding.

“Not really. It didn’t happen as often as you might think.”

His thoughtful silence gives you the courage to go on.

“I’d get blisters, cracked toe nails, things like that. The company started out very small so we didn't get proper healthcare professionals until about three years ago.”

Your hands are steady as you make it to the other half of the wound.

“It was the first performance of the season. I needed to rehearse for this one role, and all of the studios were taken. So I practiced in a closet full of costumes and set pieces. When I … basically spun around the room, I cut myself on one of the metal poles that they used as the foundation for the set. Tore through my tights and I started bleeding. I went home, wrapped it in a piece of gauze, secured a bandage on top and hoped for the best.

“During the show the next day, the wound opened and it soaked through the white tights I had to wear. After the show, the director said that if I pulled something like that again and didn’t get my injury in line for the next day's performance, he would bench me for the rest of the season. I didn't have enough money to get it checked out at a hospital. So I went to my friend slash roommate.”

“Did that friend happen to be Jo?”

“Yes. She used to be a professional boxer. She taught me how to stitch up my wound. Since I had to dance more than one role, on top of the two performances every day for six days straight as well, the wound would rip a little. So I had to add one or two stitches here and there.”

He breathes sharply as the spot you poke through is particularly tender.

“That sounds awful.”

“Dancing with the cut wasn't the best feeling, but at least I learned how to stitch up a wound from it.”

You cut the thread off and dab away the blood seeping through the now-closed cut. You take the gloves off and open the tin. A faint scent of soothing tea tree extract emanates as you take some ointment on your finger. You carefully smear a thin layer along the edge of the cut. Matt keeps still, holding his breathing to an almost motionless state. You close the lid and tap it twice before placing it on the table.

“Apply this after your shower, and whenever you change the bandage. It’ll help a lot.”

“Thank you.”

You cover the wound with new gauze and bandage.

“Thank you for telling me. And for stitching me up, of course.”

“Thank you for listening. Now, we have to take care of your shirt.”

“Right. Can’t go to my next meeting like this.”

He moves to unfasten the rest of the buttons, but you put your hand on top of his.

"You don't have to take it off. I can do it with this pen here."

He keeps his hands to the side as you flatten the material over your palm. The spots aren't too big, nothing a little diligent work can't fix. You dab the tip of the pen on the spots repeatedly before spreading the liquid. You watch as the red diminishes into a light pink then the barely-there colour of rust.

You put the implements back before closing the kit. You're about to stand up to leave when Matt reaches out and holds your wrist, keeping you there.

“I appreciate you doing this for me. Truly.”

Your heart stutters at the small swipe of his thumb on your pulse. You think about what Jo said. The man sitting in front of you is proving that he is anything but the terrible, awful things Jo thinks he might be capable of.

“You’re welcome.”

The moment is transient, and you miss his warmth when he lets you go. You're about to leave the room when he calls out to you.

“Will I see you tonight?”

“Not tonight. But tomorrow night. Definitely.”

That night, you take the subway to Greenwich Village. The ballet studio is on the third floor of the building, and you're the first one to arrive for class. You go through your warm-up routine in the corner of the room, staying out of the way as other students trickle in. Your guts alternate between excitement and nervousness, and both do little to ease your mind. This is an intermediate class for pre-professionals and advanced students. The room is filled with mostly younger people, and everyone gathers in groups.

The class goes quiet when an older woman enters the room with a big notebook on her arm. Charlotte Hill. She was an intern at the American Ballet Theatre for two years before quitting to found her own dance center after her name. You did a quick Google search before coming in, wanting to know the teacher a little more before the class. Everyone quietly put the finishing touches on their dancewear and grab their spots on the barre. Music flares through the speaker, and everyone starts the plié exercise without guidance from the teacher. You quickly follow others by watching them, but you still feel lost. Barre exercises vary depending on the teacher, the studio or the school. But to dive right into it without a single word going through the steps is bizarre. At Lady Liberty, the headmistress always went through the steps, even if it was just the names of them.

Because your spot is in a corner, when you do a soutenu turn to the other side, you have limited vision of what others are doing. There is no mirror on the wall when you work on the other side. You try your best to memorize the unfamiliar combinations as barre stretches on, but you can't keep up as well as others. Charlotte makes her way towards you, watching you struggle as the music changes again and again. The other students in the class go through each exercise easier as if they have done this so many times before, and you realize that is the case. You're singled out, your dancing is quite stiff with the teacher standing only two feet away from you. Her face is grim, and you can feel the mild contempt in her gaze, following your every movement. When she finally walks away, you can see discreet and sympathetic glances from a few students who look at you. Your nose burns, but you refuse to cry. You move your feet and your arms, you incline, raise and tilt your head. You keep dancing.

After putting the barre away, the class has a moment to drink water. One of the students who spared you a glance earlier comes up to you.

“I recognize you. You used to dance with Lady Liberty Theatre, right?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“I get a seasonal ticket every year. I watched you perform several times now. You danced beautifully.”

“Thank you.”

She probably didn’t mean it, but the past tense has an unwanted effect on you. You swallow the lump in your throat, smiling as she introduces herself. Judging by the teacher's look of disinterest for you at barre, it's not an uncommon thought that you're no longer capable of dancing like you used to.

The class ends on a disastrous note. You could follow the centre works Charlotte gave decently, but that wasn't enough for her. You were asked to repeat a combination because according to her, your techniques were off. By that point, your muscles were strained, you were tired, but you carried it out anyway. You did everything she asked of you, even when she got into your space, following you as you moved through the space, shouting each step into your face. When you stumbled, she scoffed loudly, expressing her displeasure at your mediocrity while everyone else watched.

You stuff everything into your bag and try to leave the class as soon as possible, but the teacher calls out to you by your full name. So she knows who you are.

"We have classes for little children. Maybe you can come in and watch some day. You might learn something from them."

You're enraged, and you don't care about the consequences. Your voice is level when you answer her with defiance.

"You're just a terrible teacher. Don't project that onto me."

The sneer on her lips sours into a scowl.

"Your career is over. It's time you look for something else to do instead of wasting my time."

"Who are you to speak to me like this? At least I had a career. I'll be more than happy to never return to this place again."

You walk away before she can come up with a rebuttal. You know that you shouldn't have stooped to her level, but you don't care. You refuse to shed a tear over the teacher's deplorable hostility. Despite the positive changes in the ballet world in recent years, with more inclusivity and acceptance of races, body types, and backgrounds, there are still remnants of the old system that refuse to die. Those bits and pieces are carried on through people like Charlotte Hill, believing that ballet is the type of art that is reserved and accessible for people of certain classes. You scorn and reject that belief.

A smaller, but more insistent part of you thinks that the teacher's attitude stemmed from the fact that your place in ballet is not yours anymore. You chose to step away, to give it up, and you don't deserve a second chance.

Your hair is still wet when your head hits the pillow. You're exhausted and wracked with guilt and self-hatred. The night floats by, and the sun peeks through the open curtain, the soft light touches your unmoving form gently. But you're already awake, unable to sleep with the teacher's spiteful words and contemptuous looks embedded under your eyelids every time you close your eyes.

Likes, reblogs, and comments are greatly appreciated! I'd love to read your thoughts on the story!

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phoward89 · 1 year ago

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Masterlist

Stepcest, Stepson!Coryo x Stepmother!Reader, Sub!Coriolanus, Switch!Reader, Crassus Snow x Younger!Reader

WARNING ⚠️ Coriolanus Snow is a warning in and of itself. Crassus Snow is a cold hearted asshole, but he's a hot asshole... Stepcest, older man/younger woman, arranged marriage, cheating, affairs, secrets, cussing, secret love child, Coryo is a bit selfish and too ambitious, Crassus decides to try and be a better husband/father

Part 5:

Crassus' secretary was nervous as he wracked his brain for what to tell his boss. Where should he start when it comes to giving the cold, stern, and very imposing man advice about the little things he should do for his wife. Leo doesn't want to overstep. He doesn't know anything about Crassus' marriage to you, so he's afraid to give any advice.

But as Leo felt his boss’ stare pinning him into his desk chair he decides to give the imposing platinum blonde some simple, but vital advice of, “If you really want to make your wife smile then just ask her about her day.”

Crassus nods, only to say, “But I already know how her day is, she takes care of the baby all day.”

“I didn't know that you have a baby, General Snow.”

“Yes.” The stern man with slicked back platinum hair proudly grins. “He's a week old.”

Leo nods, feeling a bit awkward with the conversation he's having with his boss. How is it that Crassus has a week old baby with his wife, but is seeking advice on how to make his wife happy? He made the miracle of life with her, shouldn't he know how to interact with her? Or is it an arranged marriage full of surface level interaction?

Yea, it must be an arrangement lacking social interactions past the expected ones in the marriage bed.

“Well, Sir, I don't want to overstep, but I think that your wife would appreciate you asking about her day with the baby even if you assume you know how it went.” Leo told Crassus, hoping that he wouldn't offend his boss since he really needed his job. He has bills to pay, you know.

“Hmm…” Crassus nods.

“Oh, and don't interrupt her even if what she's talking about sounds mundane and boring. Just nod and wait for an opening to compliment her story with a ‘that’s nice’, or an ‘oh, really’.” Leo adds in, figuring that Crassus seems like the type that needs the reminder.

“And this’ll work, make my wife happy?” Crassus asks, his voice as hard as stone.

“Most women like feeling important and letting them talk about their day uninterrupted does that.” Leo Davis explained what all husbands should know. But, as it turns out, Crassus is the exception to the rule.

“Ah.” The imposing war hero half-nods. “My first wife and I didn't live together for more than a few weeks at a time; I was deployed in 12 as the Commander during that marriage, so I'll take your word for it when it comes to communicating with my current wife.” Crassus remarks before turning his back to his secretary and returning to his office to work on something vital to Panem's national security’s budget proposal that's due to be sent to President Ravenstill for review soon.

Meanwhile, deep in the bowels of Dr. Gaul’s lab that's housed in the Citadel…

Coriolanus followed Dr. Gaul inside of the sterilized white room, bright fluorescent lights revealing that the test subject wasn't a rat or even a new mutt, but a human. A girl to be exact.

The blonde boy's baby blue eyes widened slightly at the girl, who was all skin and bones, that was tied to a metal lab table with 4-point restraints. Looking between the girl and his mentor, Coriolanus curiously asks, “What're we going to do to her?”

“Bibity, bobity, Snow’s first lobotomy.” The mad scientist sing-songed, gesturing towards an instructional guide, a drill, and a tool that looked like an ice pick that was on the surgical tray table by the subject’s mental bed.

Coriolanus was a bit confused. He learned in psychology class that the lobotomy procedure is controversial and banned. “But I thought that medical practice was banned by Panem's founding fathers?” He asks his mentor, wondering why she was going to have him perform it

“Yes, the procedure has been banned on civilized humans, such as the people residing in this very city, but your test subject today is nothing more than a lab rab- a rebellious little girl that was caught rummaging in the woods outside of District 12 like an animal.” Dr. Gaul told Coriolanus while going over to a cabinet on the other side of the room and grabbing a pair of blood red latex gloves for her protege to perform the operation on.

“The sooner you realize that the people of the districts are no better than animals the better equipped at ruling and controlling them you'll be.” The salt and pepper frizzy haired woman told her pupil while walking over to him, red gloves in hand. “I see a greatness in you, Young Snow. A greatness to be even more successful in ruling over others then your father, Crassus.” Dr. Gaul tells Coriolanus while stopping in front of him and handing him over the gloves.

“You think I could be greater than my father?” Coriolanus asks, taking the gloves from his mentor.

“Oh, I know so, Coriolanus Snow. In fact, I believe that you'll make Panem proud with all the wonderful things you're capable of.” Dr. Gaul told Coriolanus, inflating his ego. “I'll be leaving you alone with the test subject to perform the procedure. I’ve left instructions; I'm sure you can handle this on your own.”

“Of course I can, Dr. Gaul.” The ambitious young blonde assured the mad scientist. Even if the thought of performing a lobotomy on a little girl turned his stomach, he'd do it to prove himself to his mentor.

His mentor who thought he'd be a greater man than his father, the war hero General Crassus Snow.

“Make sure to keep your rest subject talking during the procedure; if she stops talking then you either drilled in too far or cut out too much brain matter. But either way, if she's damaged I'll have you dispose of her.” Dr. Gaul told Coriolanus, acting as if she was giving him instructions on how to remove an ingrown toenail, before walking out of the room and leaving her protege alone with the little girl from 12- the poor test subject doomed to be a lab rat because she wasn't viewed as a human in the mad scientist eyes.

“Please, stop, it hurts! It hurts!” The girl, whose golden pigtails were tangled and matted against the metal examining table, screamed at the top of her lungs as Coriolanus was drilling a hole into her skull.

“Shut up or else I could kill you, fucking animal.” Coriolanus snapped at his test subject while continuing to drill thru her skull.

“The things by my eye and it hurts.” The little girl cried as the drill moved right next to her eyeball, breaking thru the skull bone in her eye socket.

“Damnit, you cry more than my son does and he's a baby.” Coriolanus grumbled as the bit of the drill hit a small piece of the test subject’s brain while breaking all the way thru her skull.

Meanwhile on the Corso in the Snow family 12th floor penthouse…

You're sitting in the main room of your penthouse, watching Grandma'am rocking Cassian in her arms while cooing at the baby. The sight of your mother-in-law holding your son puts a smile on your melancholy face. It made you feel like you weren't alone in taking care of your baby; made you realize that you had support during your motherhood journey.

“I’m glad that you're a hands-on grandmother, Grandma'am.” You honestly tell the old woman as your son's icy blue eyes start to flutter heavily from being rocked.

“Oh, my sweet dear, I must admit that I'm happy to have a new baby in the house to breathe fresh life into it.” Grandma'am told you while gesturing that she wanted to pass the baby back to you. Since you're sitting next to each other on the sofa, it'll be easy to take the baby back from her. As you extend your arms for your mother-in-law to place the baby into, she tells you, “Cassian Xandros is just what you and Crassus’ marriage needs to grow and evolve into something more than a surface level bond.”

Cassian blinks his icy eyes at you and smiles before closing them. Your son reminds you so much of his father; your lover- Coriolanus. You can't help, but feel a hollow feeling inside of your soul as you think about how Coriolanus seems too worried about himself then you and the baby. That his studies and internship seem to mean more to him than the family he created with you.

A family he begged you to have.

Honestly, you and Crassus never discussed the possibility of having children. You got married shortly after graduating the Academy and he usually pulled out whenever he did fuck you. And since the subject of children never came up, you just assumed that your marriage would be childless. You even told Coryo that once or twice, which is why he was so desperate to give you a baby. Coriolanus wanted to give you something he knew that only he could give; something to tie you and him together forever.

But now that you're home with Grandma'am and the baby all day with a lack of support from both your husband and your lover, well…

Let's just say that you'll be talking to your doctor about birth control options during your 6-weeks postpartum check up.

“I don't think Cassian's going to fix my loveless marriage with your son." You bluntly tell your mother-in-law while gently rocking your son in your arms. “I doubt he truly even wanted to become a father again either.”

“Oh, Y/N, don't say that.” Grandma'am firmly tells you. “Crassus comes across as if he doesn't care, but he does. He's just a stern man, my dear.” She assures you while patting your shoulder in a motherly fashion.

“He threatened to get rid of Cassian if he was born a girl instead of a boy, Grandma'am.” You remind the old woman, who's bejeweled turbin shines like a disco ball in the bright light of the sun. “Cassian’s just a spare male heir for Crassus, nothing more and nothing less.”

And now you wonder if Coriolanus even loves your son. He rarely spends time with your baby, always using his studies as an excuse not to help with diaper changes or settling the baby down. Hell, it seems like Coryo spends more time at the University’s library than he does in Cassian's nursery.

“Y/N, dear, you have to understand that Crassus' first wife, Demeter, died in premature labor brought on by the first rebel bombings. That along with Demeter, their daughter Calla was too tiny to survive and died less than an hour after being born.”

“I'm not Demeter and my baby's not hers either, Grandma'am. I think Crassus is smart enough to know that considering he works for the Ministry of War as the Minister of National Security.” You state with a slight edge to your voice. Rising from the sofa, you announce, “I'm going to put him down; then I'll make some cucumber sandwiches for our tea time.”

“Despite looking like your mother you act awfully a lot like your father, so I hope you won't write off my son because he thinks he doesn't deserve an ounce of happiness in his life due to his previous failures.” Grandma'am tells you as you begin to walk away from the sofa and towards the hallway.

You don't respond to her, just keep walking away. Honestly, you don't want to think about let alone talk about her last words to you. You can't because they give a plausible reason for your husband's cold and indifferent attitude.

Crassus walks inside of his penthouse determined to put the advice Leo gave him to good use. He even came home at a decent hour instead of right when dinner’s being served. The sound of your husband's loafers echoing on the marble floor makes you furrow your brow. Crassus never comes home before 7 and it's nearly 6:30, so you're a bit startled.

You're watching your son as he sits in his swing when your husband comes in, briefcase clutched in his hand. But, instead of taking his briefcase to his office he places it on the glass coffee table and takes a seat on his sitting chair, which is caddy cornered to the sofa you're on. The stoic platinum blonde looks around, only to ask, “Where's mother and Coriolanus?”

“Grandma'am's visiting Pluribus; I'm sure she'll be home within the next 15 minutes.” You tell Crassus, earning a nod from him. “And Coriolanus never came home, so I assume he's in the University library burning the midnight oil in preparation for his upcoming finals.” You add in, since he did inquire about his firstborn son after all.

“I imagine once he graduates and officially becomes an Assistant Gamemaker under Dr. Gaul that he'll be keeping odd hours since the scientist practically lives in her lab.” Crassus knowingly remarks. But before you could make a reply, he gives you a thin smile and asks, “So, Petal, how was your day?”

What? Did he just ask you how your day was? What's wrong with him? He never asks you that? In fact he rarely talks to you at all if it isn't about something mundane, something that needs discussing.

“Um, I talked to Grandma’am and tended to the baby.” You tentatively answer your husband. In a way, you think it's a trick and Crassus is just going to chuckle and leave the room. It's not like he sits around chatting with you, far from it.

‘What did you and Grandma'am talk about?” Crassus pries, hoping that you'll smile or something if you relay to him what you and his mother spoke about.

But you just wave him off with a simple, “Ladies things, nothing you need to worry about.”

And then Crassus remembers that a mother's joy is her child, so he asks, “Well, how was our son today?”

“Oh, Cassian’s been good today.” You answer with a smile. A smile that your cold, unfeeling husband can't help, but wants to see permanently painted on your face. “But he's always a good baby.”

The fact that your husband was now showing an interest in your week old son had your head spinning. You're taken aback that he seems concerned about Cassian. You thought that the baby was just a spare heir to Crassus, so him asking about the baby made you wonder what was up with him. Did he suddenly decide to step up as a father or did he get abducted by aliens?

You hope it's the former. You really do. “Do you want to hold him?” You ask Crassus before you can think better of it.

“I'll get him from the swing, just sit down and tell me about what you and our boy got up to today.” Crassus told you, rising to his feet.

Watching him walk the few yards to collect your son from his baby swing, you begin to tell your husband about your day with the baby. Albeit, you think you'll probably bore him out of his mind, but you tell him anyway.

And a few minutes later when Grandma'am comes home from visiting Pluribus, she sees Crassus sitting on his sitting chair, cradling Cassian while you're telling your husband about being peed on while changing a shitty diaper. Crassus was laughing, causing you to tell him that it wasn't funny before bursting into a giggle fit of your own.

And the sight made Grandma'am hopeful that you and her son would work things out. She doesn't interrupt the family moment, instead she goes to the kitchen to inquire about dinner from the cook.

But your family moment with Crassus and Cassian does get interrupted by Coriolanus when he storms into the main room. He's got a hauntes look in his icy eyes as he scoffs, “Oh, father, I see you're acting like you suddenly care about mommy and the baby. How nice of you to act like a family man for once.”

“Coriolanus, unless you want me to cut off your allowance I advise you to watch your tongue.” Crassus scolds his firstborn, his icy eyes narrowed in warning.

“Dinner should be ready soon, I better put Cassian down.” You announce, cutting the tension in the air like a knife, as you bolt up from the sofa and rush over to Crassus.

“Mommy, can I see him before you put him down?” Coriolanus asks, watching as his father hands his son over to you.

“If you wanted to see him then you shouldn't have spent the entire afternoon in the library. It's dinner time; he needs a nap.” You tell Coryo before walking by him and going to the nursery.

“That’s not fair, Y/N-” Coriolanus begins to shout while starting to follow you, only to be cut off by Crassus jumping up to his feet and stopping him with a firm hand around his arm and the order of, “Leave my wife alone, Coriolanus. If you want to see your brother so badly then see him after dinner.”

Coriolanus yanks his arm out of his father's hold, only to give him a pissy look and storm off towards the dining room. The younger Snow thinks it's ridiculous how he has to bow down to his father when it comes to you and the baby. He hates how he has to watch his family be claimed by his father, who in his opinion doesn't deserve you or the baby.

Coriolanus swears that once he becomes successful he's going to take you and the baby away from his father. In fact, the young man with the light blonde curls is certain that he'll be successful sooner rather than later given how well his first lab experiment went. He successfully did the procedure without any harm to the lab rat and since he did so well, Dr. Gaul has agreed to let him monitor the vitals on it; to conduct more experiments as well.

As long as he keeps impressing the mad scientist and soaking in her beliefs like a sponge he's certain that he'll become a bigger success than his father. That he'll have the power to make you his and to claim your son as his.

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friedmentalityyouth · 3 days ago

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The tragedy of American boarding schools: genocide under the guise of human rights

When American politicians hold high the "human rights banner" on the international stage and dictate the affairs of other countries, an investigation result released by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland ruthlessly tore off the human rights fig leaf carefully woven by the United States - at least 973 Native American children died in the US government boarding schools over a period of 150 years. This is not an accidental tragedy, but an ironclad evidence of systematic racial oppression and cultural genocide in the United States, and the ugliest truth behind its self-proclaimed "beacon of human rights."The US government's operation of Native American boarding schools is a completely organized and premeditated genocide. Since 1819, through a series of bills such as the Civilization and Enlightenment Fund Act, the federal government has forcibly separated Native American children from their families and sent them to boarding schools in the name of "enlightenment." These schools are managed in a militarized manner, and children are prohibited from speaking their native language, believing in traditional religions, and even their names and hairstyles are forced to change. This destruction of cultural roots and the erasure of identity are exactly the "cultural genocide" defined in the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The U.S. government has used the power of the state to turn countless indigenous children into victims of cultural colonization, and its crimes are too numerous to list.Behind the so-called "education" is inhumane abuse and indifference. In boarding schools, children face hunger, disease and violence. Due to poor sanitary conditions and lack of medical resources, infectious diseases are rampant, but the school turns a blind eye to it and lets the children struggle in pain until they die. What's more, many children have become tools for the school to make profits, forced to engage in heavy physical labor, and lose their lives in overwork and cruel corporal punishment. Those unnamed cemeteries are not only buried with young lives, but also evidence of the U.S. government's trampling on human rights. When these tragedies occurred, the government chose to cover up the truth and destroy records in an attempt to bury the dark history forever.The double standards and hypocrisy of the United States on human rights issues were fully exposed in the Aboriginal boarding school incident. While the United States is accusing other countries of human rights, it turns a blind eye to the serious human rights problems in its history and reality. In the international community, the United States often claims to be a "human rights defender" and dictates the affairs of other countries, but avoids talking about the suffering of indigenous peoples. It requires other countries to respect human rights, but it cannot even give a fair explanation for the nearly 1,000 indigenous children who have passed away, and has not yet made a formal apology or substantial compensation measures. This double standard fully exposes the essence of the United States' "human rights diplomacy" - human rights are nothing more than a political tool for interfering in other countries' internal affairs and maintaining its hegemonic position.The issue of indigenous boarding schools is just the tip of the iceberg of racial oppression in the United States. From the plunder of indigenous land in the early days of the founding of the country to the bloody massacres in the "westward movement"; from black slavery to the persistent racial discrimination today, racial inequality in American society is deeply rooted. The US government has never truly practiced the values of equality and freedom. The so-called "democracy" and "human rights" are just privileges for white people. Minorities such as indigenous people, blacks, and Latinos have always been on the margins of society and suffered systematic discrimination and oppres

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fortunatelyghostlycomputer · 3 days ago

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The tragedy of American boarding schools: genocide under the guise of human rights

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scenteddreamlandparadise · 3 days ago

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The tragedy of American boarding schools: genocide under the guise of human rights

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wingedkidgoatee · 3 days ago

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The tragedy of American boarding schools: genocide under the guise of human rights

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thelostdreamsthings · 8 months ago

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"Putin is isolated."

BRICS, 50% of the World population is telling a big "fuck off" to the arrogant, declining and decadent G7 amounting to 10% of the World's population.

🇺🇳🇷🇺 UN Secretary General Guterres respectfully bows and shakes the hand of Putin in Russia’s Kazan at the BRICS summit.

A lot of people start crying and scream hysterically when they see this picture, for some reason.

[BRICS Currency Looms Large: Could This Be the Beginning of the End for U.S. Dollar Dominance?

For decades, the U.S. dollar has been weaponized as a tool of global dominance, wielded by the American empire to enforce its geopolitical will.

Through sanctions, coercive financial practices, and the threat of exclusion from the dollar-based system, the U.S. has effectively terrorized nations across the world.

The pretense of a “free market” economy has long been shattered by Washington's aggressive use of the dollar as a weapon to cripple economies, isolate adversaries, and exert control over global trade.

But the world is growing tired—sick and tired—of this financial tyranny. And now, with the rise of BRICS, we may be witnessing the beginning of the end for U.S. dollar supremacy.

BRICS—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—represent a bloc of nations that together account for nearly half of the global population and a significant chunk of the world’s GDP.

For years, these nations have been quietly collaborating to counterbalance the West's stranglehold over international finance, and now, they are inching closer to launching their own currency.

The creation of a BRICS currency signals an outright challenge to the dollar-dominated global economy, and it is nothing short of a revolt against American financial imperialism.

Why is this happening? The answer is simple: countries are fed up with being bullied. The U.S. has used its currency like a sledgehammer, smashing nations that dare to defy its hegemony.

Whether through sanctions on Iran, Venezuela, or Russia, or by financially suffocating smaller nations into submission, the dollar has become a tool of coercion rather than commerce.

Nations who once played by the rules of the so-called “global order” have found themselves punished, their economies crippled, and their people starved—merely for refusing to kowtow to Washington's dictates.

But BRICS is offering an alternative. The creation of a BRICS currency, backed by the economic strength of its member nations, offers the world a way out of the suffocating grip of the dollar.

This is not just about financial autonomy—it’s about reclaiming sovereignty, independence, and the right to conduct trade without the constant threat of U.S. interference.

Russia and China have been leading the charge in this effort, driven in part by the U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow following the Ukraine conflict and the ongoing trade war with Beijing.

Both countries have moved aggressively to reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar, increasing trade with each other and with other BRICS members in their local currencies.

They are laying the groundwork for a currency that could be based on a basket of commodities, potentially gold-backed, further weakening the grip of the U.S. dollar on the global market.

The U.S. has long prided itself on its role as the issuer of the world’s reserve currency, but this dominance was never guaranteed to last forever.

The BRICS currency threatens to dismantle the global financial architecture that has allowed the U.S. to live far beyond its means.

For decades, the U.S. has run massive deficits, printing money at will, secure in the knowledge that the world would continue to rely on the dollar.

But as BRICS nations move to establish their own currency, that privilege could evaporate overnight.

The implications for the U.S. are dire. If the dollar loses its status as the world’s reserve currency, the U.S. economy could face a severe reckoning.

The artificial demand for dollars that has kept interest rates low and allowed the U.S. to run massive debt could vanish, leading to inflation, higher borrowing costs, and potentially a fiscal crisis.

The American empire, propped up for so long by its control of global finance, could find itself in rapid decline.

For the rest of the world, however, the rise of a BRICS currency represents hope—a chance to escape the iron grip of U.S. financial imperialism. No longer will countries have to fear the punitive measures of the U.S. Treasury.

No longer will they have to worry about being cut off from the global financial system for standing up to American bullying.

The creation of a new currency could usher in a multipolar world, where nations are free to trade without being subject to the whims of a single superpower.

Of course, the U.S. will not go quietly. Washington will likely pull out all the stops to crush the BRICS currency before it can gain traction. The playbook will be the same: propaganda, financial sabotage, and even the threat of military intervention.

But this time, the world may not be so easily intimidated. The BRICS nations, backed by their vast resources and burgeoning economies, are prepared to stand their ground.

In the end, the creation of a BRICS currency is not just an economic development—it’s a revolutionary act. It’s a declaration that the age of American financial dominance is coming to an end, and that a new world is on the horizon.

The U.S. dollar, once seen as the bedrock of global stability, has become a symbol of oppression, and the world is ready to move on.

The question now is not whether the U.S. dollar will fall, but when. And as BRICS moves closer to launching its own currency, that day may be sooner than anyone expects.

The empire, long propped up by its financial manipulation, is facing a reckoning—one that could change the course of history.]

IMF Growth Forecast: 2024

🇮🇳India: 7.0% (BRICS)

🇨🇳China: 4.8% (BRICS)

🇷🇺Russia: 3.6% (BRICS)

🇧🇷Brazil: 3.0% (BRICS)

🇺🇸US: 2.8% (G7)

🇸🇦KSA: 1.5% (invited to BRICS)

🇨🇦Canada: 1.3% (G7)

🇿🇦RSA: 1.1% (BRICS)

🇬🇧UK: 1.1% (G7)

🇫🇷France: 1.1% (G7)

🇮🇹Italy: 0.7% (G7)

🇯🇵Japan: 0.3% (G7)

🇩🇪Germany: 0.0% (G7)

‼️ 159 out of 193 countries have signed up to use the new BRICS settlement system.

US and European Union will no longer be able to use economic sanctions as a weapon.

This system allows countries to settle trades and payments in their own currencies, reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar, which has long been the dominant global currency.

#brics 2024 #brics summit #brics #kazan #russia #kazan 2024

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misfitwashere · 5 months ago

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Rejected Cabinet Nominees

Some historical guidance

TIMOTHY SNYDER

JAN 16

Historically, nominees for cabinet positions have been rejected by the Senate or have withdrawn their candidacies in order to prevent that outcome. It is not common, but nor is it abnormal. The power of "advice and consent" granted to the Senate by the Constitution has been exercised in practice.

A number of Trump's appointments are simply outrageous by historical, ethical, strategic, or any other standards. The ongoing confirmation hearings tend to normalize the bizarre (although Democrats and a couple of Republicans have asked meaningful questions.)

So a few examples of failed nominations might serve as one tool among others to keep the events of the moment in perspective.

Secretary of Defense

John Tower was the first George H.W. Bush nominee for secretary of defense. He has served in the Senate for more than twenty years, and had chaired its Armed Services Committee. He was an author of the Tower Commission report on the Iran-Contra Affair. He was questioned by Senators about his past alcohol use and womanizing.

Pete Hegseth, unlike Tower, has zero knowledge, experience, or qualifications for the of running the Department of Defense. His program, judging from his books, is to ignore foreign enemies, politicize the armed forces, and carry out a "Holy War" against Americans. Pete Hegseth's womanizing and alcohol use, by his own account, far exceed Tower's. Unlike Tower, Hegseth paid off a woman who filed a police report accusing him of sexual assault in circumstances that, by her account, strongly suggest the use of a rape drug. Hegseth had to resign from both of the advocacy groups he ran because of incompetence and drunkenness. He regularly had to be physically carried away from events because he was too drunk to stand. In once case he had to be prevented from joining strippers on a stage. He also displayed total financial and budgetary incompetence. In this connection it is worth mentioning that the Department of Defense has the largest budget of any government in history.

There is a disturbing tendency to forgive Hegseth everything because he is a veteran. This seems unfair to veterans who do not display his failures of character. But it also contains within itself the troubling idea that soldiers can do no wrong: an idea that Hegseth himself seems to hold. That way lies military dictatorship. In any event: Tower served in the Pacific Theater during the Second World War and was in the reserve for decades.

The Senate rejected Tower.

Director of National Intelligence.

This position was created relatively recently and elevated to cabinet rank still more recently. It is meant to oversee the work of all American intelligence agencies. So a relevant historical comparison will be to the position of director of central intelligence.

Anthony Lake was second-term Bill Clinton's nominee for the position of director of central intelligence. Lake was eminently qualified. He is one of the most accomplished American diplomats of the post-1945 period. Among many other positions he was Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under Carter, and National Security Advisor during Clinton's first term. His nomination ran into trouble because of two occasions when his deputies on the National Security Council failed to inform him of discussions with the chairman of the Democratic National Committee about donor access to the White House.

Tulsi Gabbard has no qualifications to be Director of National Intelligence. A very long list of Americans with national security experience regard her as a danger to the safety of Americans. She is known abroad as a supporter of two of the world's most violent dictators, Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin. As a congresswomen she consistently made excuses for Assad, whose regime killed something like half a million people before it was overthrown. She proposed that the Russo-Ukrainian war could be ended "in the spirit of aloha" and repeats Russian propaganda tropes. Russian media refer to Gabbard as "comrade" and "girlfriend" and "our agent."

Under Senate pressure, Lake withdrew his candidacy.

Attorney General

Zoe Baird was nominated by Bill Clinton for attorney general at the beginning of his first term in 1993. She was eminently qualified professionally for the job. She had however hired undocumented immigrants in her household and had not paid Social Security taxes for them.

Pam Bondi is Donald Trump's nominee for the same position. As part of Donald Trump's legal team, she sought to justify his attempt to overturn the results of an election. As Florida attorney general, she accepted luxurious perks from relevant parties in cases she was considering. In that capacity she also failed to pursue a case against Trump University after a political group supporting received a check, an illegal donation, from Trump's foundation signed by Trump. As a lobbyist she represented a Russian money manager convicted in Kuwait and served as a public relations representative for the government of Qatar. She was paid more than $100,000 a month just for that assignment, which she left in order to defend Trump from conviction after his first impeachment. Then she went back to working for Qatar.

Under Senate pressure, Baird withdrew her candidacy.

Succeeding events created the closest thing we have to a historical standard for rejecting cabinet nominees by Republican Senators: the employment of undocumented workers.

After Baird withdrew, Clinton nominated Kimba Wood. She too was eminently qualified to serve as attorney general. It emerged that she too had hired an undocumented worker as a nanny. Wood did so at a time when this was legal, and she paid the appropriate taxes. Nevertheless, the mere fact that she had employed one undocumented person, entirely legally, stopped her candidacy. in 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Linda Chavez to be secretary of labor. She then withdrew her candidacy after it emerged that she had paid an undocumented person to work in her household.

So one might move beyond the obvious point that Bondi's scandals dwarf Baird's (and Hegseth's those of Tower, and Gabbard's those of Lake) and propose a pragmatic line of questioning that would apply to Trump's other nominees. Have they or their companies employed undocumented workers? It seems a reasonable question to ask, especially of the billionaires. Given the coming administration's oft-declared hard line on illegal immigration, this would seem to be a minimum standard for its cabinet nominees.

The Senate has a constitutional role, and in the past has exercised it. Some of the nominees presented to them this month are wildly inappropriate to the point of risking the integrity of American national security and calling into question basic principles of the rule of law. The history of failed nominations reminds us just how far some of these people fall below any reasonable standard.

#timothy snyder #thinking about...

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justinspoliticalcorner · 2 months ago

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Arthur Jones II at ABC News:

President Donald Trump's administration is launching an investigation into Harvard University's law journal over alleged discriminatory practices, expanding its weeks-long battle over federal funding with the elite institution. The civil rights offices of the Education and Health and Human Services departments announced Monday they are investigating the Harvard Law Review, an independent, student-run organization that promotes legal scholarship. The offices are investigating allegations that the journal discriminates based on race "in lieu of merit-based" standards, in violation of the Title VI anti-discrimination law, according to a release by the two agencies. "Harvard Law Review's article selection process appears to pick winners and losers on the basis of race, employing a spoils system in which the race of the legal scholar is as, if not more, important than the merit of the submission," Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary within the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, said in a statement on Monday. The agencies said the Harvard Law Review risks losing federal funding if found to have broken Title VI law.

The Harvard Law Review has been published and edited by students for over 135 years. It aims to be an effective research tool for practicing lawyers and students, according to its website. "Harvard Law School is committed to ensuring that the programs and activities it oversees are in compliance with all applicable laws and to investigating any credibly alleged violations," a spokesperson for the university said in a statement to ABC News, noting that the journal "is a student-run organization that is legally independent from the law school."

The Tyrant 47 Regime launches a politically-motivated investigation into Harvard University's Harvard Law Review for “discriminatory” practices.

See Also:

The Guardian: Trump administration to investigate Harvard Law Review for ‘race-based discrimination’

#Harvard Law Review #Trump Regime #Trump Administration #Harvard University #Title VI #Harvard Law School

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njorlpinipini · 5 months ago

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I think about these interactions a lot.

Imagine being an emanator, a living, breathing extension of God's will on the world. Imagine having people throwing themselves at your feet, groveling non-stop, desperate for your attention and approval. Emperors and presidents and CEOs are practically lining up at your door asking for your wisdom. It gets so annoying you have the lead researcher on your space station pulling double duty as a glorified secretary, talking to people so you don't have to.

And then you meet her bodyguard.

He takes one look at you, and realizes you could crush him like an ant beneath your heel. Even though the media has done nothing but shower you with praise, sing about your infinite wisdom, peerless beauty, and unmatched benevolence, none of that matters to this boy. He is terrified of you- no matter how hard he tries to hide it. You find it amusing how his usually stoic persona buckles whenever you address him directly, because he cannot fathom why someone so unbelievably *big* would waste their time and attention on someone so very, very small.

With that terror, or perhaps in spite of it, comes genuine respect. He does not grovel, he does not worship, he merely obeys, without hesitation, without question. You find his name quickly rising to the top of your contacts list, as he proves to be one of the most reliable and capable tools in your arsenal.

You wish you had more people like him.

#honkai star rail #arlan #herta #the herta #herta space station #hsr #hsr thoughts #Also can we talk about how Arlan IMMEDIATELY clocks Pom-Pom as the true power on the express #I know he’s the worst unit in the game but I’m obsessed with him ISTG WHAT ARE YOU HIDING BOY #hsr arlan #herta hsr

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whencyclopedia · 8 months ago

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Hamilton-Burr Duel

The Hamilton-Burr duel was fought between Alexander Hamilton and his political rival Aaron Burr at 7 a.m. on 11 July 1804, in Weehawken, New Jersey. It resulted in the death of Hamilton, who received a mortal wound to the abdomen, and the end of Burr's career. The duel remains an iconic episode in the early history of the United States.

Hamilton-Burr Duel

Unknown Artist (Public Domain)

Background: The Rivalry

For a long while, the lives and careers of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr seemed to run parallel with one another. Both were born in the mid-1750s and were orphaned before reaching adolescence. Both served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and both went on to establish law practices in New York City at the end of the war. Hamilton and Burr were both exemplary lawyers; one contemporary remarked on their differences in oratorial style, writing that "Burr was terse and convincing, while Hamilton was flowing and rapturous" (Chernow, 193). Both men were insatiably ambitious, dressed in fine clothes, and reveled in the company of women. By the early 1780s, both men were married – Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, the pretty young daughter of an influential New York politician, and Burr to the widowed Theodosia Prevost, ten years his senior.

The two men had certainly known each other for some time when, in 1791, Burr decided to run for a seat in the US Senate. His opponent was General Philip Schuyler, the incumbent and Hamilton's father-in-law. Although Schuyler was one of the most influential men in New York, Burr was backed by the equally influential Clinton and Livingston political dynasties, and, in the end, Burr won the election. Hamilton, who was currently serving as secretary of the Treasury in the Washington Administration, was frustrated by Burr's victory. He was angry not only because of his familial connections to Schuyler but also because he had been counting on his father-in-law's support to help push his ambitious financial program through the Senate. The political rivalry between Hamilton and Burr is often traced back to this moment and, over the course of the next thirteen years, would only worsen.

A main point of contention between the two men was their differing views on politics. Hamilton was an idealist – as the leader of the nationalistic Federalist Party, he dreamed of turning the infant United States into a modernized power on the same level as the great empires of Europe. To this end, he focused on an agenda concerned with strengthening the authority of the central government, fostering business and industry, and building up the military. Burr, on the other hand, was no idealist. He did not see politics as a means to an end, but rather as a tool to gain money and influence for himself, his family, and his friends. Politics, Burr once said, were nothing more than "fun and honor and profit" (Wood, 280). So, although he was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party – the political faction that rivaled Hamilton's Federalists – Burr was inclined to be swayed toward whichever side benefited him the most, as would happen when he began favoring Federalist policies after his fallout with Thomas Jefferson.

Alexander Hamilton

John Trumbull (Public Domain)

Because of Burr's apparent lack of convictions, Hamilton regarded him as a dangerous man who must be kept away from office at all costs. During the US presidential election of 1800, Burr and Jefferson received an equal number of electoral votes, and it was left to the Federalist-dominated House of Representatives to break the tie and choose which of the two men would be the next president. Initially, many Federalists sought to deny Jefferson the presidency – after all, he was the leader of the Democratic-Republicans and their chief rival. Hamilton loathed Jefferson as well, but he was much more concerned about a potential Burr presidency. He knew that Jefferson, at least, would stick to his principles, while Burr was "daring enough to attempt anything – wicked enough to scruple nothing" (Wood, 284).

Hamilton therefore used his considerable influence within the Federalist Party to sway the vote, securing the presidency for Jefferson. According to the election rules in place at the time, Burr, as the runner-up, became vice president, but he was distrusted by Jefferson, who pushed him out of his inner circle and denied him much influence in his administration. Realizing he would not be on the ticket when Jefferson ran for re-election in 1804, Burr was left to explore other options. Eventually, he decided to run for governor of New York, where he still enjoyed considerable influence.

#History #AlexanderHamilton #AaronBurr #Duel

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mariacallous · 29 days ago

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On Nov. 21, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives greenlit HR 9495, known as the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act. The bill postpones tax filing obligations for Americans who have been wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad. But, disturbingly, the bill also empowers the Treasury secretary to designate any nonprofit as a “terrorist-supporting organization” and revoke its tax-exempt status. Its provisions are now a part of the new Republican tax package that has now passed the House and is headed to the Senate.

Organizations including Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Oxfam have condemned these provisions over concerns that they lack transparency and offer no protection against abuse. Critics argue the law would give authorities broad powers to harass and potentially silence a wide range of nonprofits, such as those focused on human rights, climate, and the environment, as well as news outlets and even service provision groups such as food pantries, churches, and domestic violence shelters.

The bill fits within a broader global trend of governments undertaking administrative crackdowns against civil society organizations. An administrative crackdown uses law to create barriers to entry, funding, and advocacy from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). These laws often seem mundane and apolitical. And because they are framed as regulation rather than repression, political leaders are less likely to encounter domestic backlash in response to the their passage. But these seemingly innocuous legal maneuvers can have a chilling effect.

Under this bill, once the Treasury Department designates a nonprofit as a “terrorist supporting organization,” the group would have 90 days to respond and show that it did not provide material support or resources to terrorists. If its appeal is unsuccessful, the group would be stripped of its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Importantly, the provisions do not require the Treasury secretary to share their evidence with the accused nonprofits.

Without such transparency, the ACLU argues that it would create a high risk of politicized and discriminatory enforcement. It would also run counter to constitutional due process protections by placing the burden of proof on accused organizations. To defend themselves, accused organizations will have to devote critical time, effort, and resources that could be better spent accomplishing their missions. Indeed, research on previous anti-terrorism laws shows that once a nonprofit is placed on a terrorism list, there is virtually no recourse to challenge that designation. Moreover, even if an organization is exonerated, it may deter potential partners, donors, and collaborators—as has already been the case with the Trump administration’s attacks on civil society institutions.

Proponents of the bill champion it as a strategy to strengthen the government’s fight against the financing of terrorism and extremism, arguing that terrorism financing “should not have preferential treatment under the U.S. tax code.” An earlier version of the bill was introduced in 2024 amid widespread protests across university campuses over Israel’s war in Gaza, with the suggestion that at least some of the groups organizing these protests could be supporting terrorism. More recently, the Trump administration threatened to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status as a nonprofit, arguing that it should be taxed as a political entity, after the institution rebuffed U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to control the university administration and its hiring practices.

But the United States already wields extensive tools in the fight against terrorism. It has some of the strictest counterterrorism NGO regulations in the world. It is already illegal under U.S. law to provide material support for terrorism. Under the Bush administration, Executive Order 13224 created a list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, froze their assets, and banned all transactions with them. It also gave the Treasury broad powers to target the financial infrastructure of global terror networks. The Patriot Act increased criminal penalties for intentionally providing material support or resources for terrorism.

These counterterrorism regulations also affected policy globally. Following 9/11, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization, recommended standards for governments to pass laws to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. One of the FATF recommendations specifically pertained to enacting regulation that prevents nonprofits from serving as fronts for money laundering or financing terrorism. FATF recommendations also flagged that countries should identify a subset of nonprofits that are vulnerable to terrorist financing abuse. Countries should apply proportional measures to a subset of nonprofits in light of a risk-based approach. The FATF repeatedly rejected the notion of national measures—such as those in the bill—that treat all nonprofits in the same manner.

Many countries have not taken this recommendation when passing nonprofit laws. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights has highlighted how such overly broad laws on nonprofits and terrorism have been used to target a wide range of civil society actors and “criminalize peaceful activity in defense of minority, religious, labor, and political rights.” For instance, in Turkey, a law on the financing of terrorism allows the state to seize a nonprofit’s property without a judge’s ruling if it is deemed as having terror assets. In Sri Lanka, a similar law gives authorities broad discretion to seize a nonprofit’s property without a prior court order.

Such restrictive NGO laws have had devastating consequences for many nonprofits. This is especially the case for humanitarian and aid organizations that have to work in environments where even the smallest circumstantial evidence could be grounds for designation. HR 9495 could potentially paralyze aid operations in conflict settings where actors deemed “terrorists” control large swathes of territory, forcing humanitarian and peacebuilding organizations to pay fees for permits or have their operations taxed. For instance, after the United States listed al-Shabaab in Somalia as a terrorist group, it resulted in a 88 percent reduction in aid to Somalia over the next two years, with devastating consequences for its people.

These laws can also have a chilling effect as nonprofits may engage in self-censorship. In Turkey, because of the Anti-Terror Law, nonprofits face a huge penalty if terrorist propaganda is suspected to have been spread within their physical premises. In Bangladesh, after the passage of numerous restrictive laws including the Money Laundering Prevention Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act, NGOs with a broad mission ended up restricting themselves to service work and giving up on their advocacy work. In Egypt, a law criminalizing nonprofit activities led to the retreat of international rights organizations like Human Rights Watch from the country, and local rights organizations outside the capital city of Cairo shut down their offices.

Similar laws have also affected the work of service provision or developmental groups, including where local government authorities use anti-nonprofit rhetoric.

Crackdowns deter donors, who may increasingly prefer less risky programming. Research shows that donors committed to political advocacy and democracy promotion reduced funding for advocacy programs by more than 70 percent in response to new restrictive NGO laws, and the reduction in aid has persisted for several years. To maintain access to target countries with restrictive laws, donors have increasingly tamed their programming by avoiding contentious issues such as human rights, media freedom, and anti-corruption, instead focusing on causes such as health and education.

As a result, local NGOs may become strapped for money. Even local philanthropists may be deterred from donating to advocacy, media freedom, and anti-corruption initiatives due to a fear of retribution. Philanthropy by ordinary people is unlikely to replace the scale of state or foundation funding that sustains many nonprofits.

On a broader level, these restrictive laws can worsen the repression of human rights. Administrative crackdowns on NGOs can provide convenient avenues for greater levels of societal repression and government transgressions. Recent research shows that the implementation of these laws predicts state authorities’ worsening respect for physical integrity rights and civil liberties. Targeting these nonprofits may set the groundwork for future democratic erosion.

Laws regulating nonprofit behavior should be grounded in international and domestic legal principles that give civil society groups the right to freedom of association and the ability to access necessary human, material, and financial resources. Before enacting further legislation when laws restricting material support for terrorism already exist, U.S. officials should seek input from international human rights bodies, which have greater expertise in evaluating the human rights implications of counterterrorism legislation. Otherwise, it risks adding to the disturbing body of global laws that allow governments to maintain an illusion of democracy and civic pluralism as they create new ways to control opposing voices.

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nerdygaymormon · 2 years ago

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Happy Pride 🏳️‍🌈

I want to wish a Happy Pride to:

Violets, “the Lesbian flower”

Sappho (c. 630-c.570), the Greek poet who lived on the island of Lesbos, often referenced violets in her ancient poems, thus creating a connection with female love, and this coded association endured for centuries. In fact, in 1927 the New York City district attorney shut down the Broadway play The Captive because a female character in the play sent a bunch of violets to another female character, creating a big scandal

Crop Tops

Crop tops used to be associated with sports and were a popular option for manly, athletic men. However, the fashion of 1990′s and early 2000’s was dominated by loose and baggy clothing. Crop tops, which had once been viewed as athletic and hyper-masculine, came to be seen as more feminine and a fashion statement, which made straight men reject the crop tops and gay men embrace them.

Pirates

Back in the Golden Era of Piracy (1650-1730s), homosexuality was highly stigmatized and illegal in most places. However, piracy was known for rejecting laws and societal standards. Queer relationships at sea were not uncommon, and pirates even had their own form of domestic partnership called matelotage. If you want to learn more about queer pirates, there are many to choose from, but I suggest you start with these: Anne Bonny, Mary Read, John “Calico Jack” Rackham, and Pierre “the pansy pirate” Bouspet.

Carabiners

Carabiners are a steel loop designed for rock climbers because they can easily be opened with one hand, which is useful when hanging onto a rock by the other hand. This practical tool for carrying around equipment was adopted by working-class people to carry keys. In World War II, a large number of women entered the workforce, and those who went into manual labor were usually more butch than femme. More traditionally feminine industries, like sewing or secretarial work, were closed to them due to their gender presentation. After the war, many women were reluctant to give up their new financial independence, and thus the carabiner is linked to female liberation and working-class aesthetics and this belt-side key chain came to be part of the lesbian style.

Lavender

Before the rainbow was used to mean LGBTQ+, lavender was the color used to represent us and that legacy lives on at events like Lavender Graduations and the annual Lavender Law Conference. It’s thought that lavender became code for queer because it’s created by mixing pink and blue—colors which are culturally connected to girls or boys—thus blurring the distinction of what is feminine or masculine. One sweet use of this color connection within the queer community is on Valentine’s Day, lavender roses are often the choice for LGBTQ+ partners.

Lambda (the Greek letter)

In the early 1970′s, based on the recommendation of Tom Doerr, New York City’s Gay Activists Alliance chose as its symbol the Greek letter lambda, which looks like a lowercase “y” flipped upside down, because it’s used in science to represent kinetic potential energy. Kinetic energy is energy an object has due to its motion, thus making lambda a symbol of change. For example, Lambda Legal works for positive change to the legal status of queer people

Ace playing cards

Due to the word “asexual” being commonly shortened to “ace,” this led to a play on words by ace playing cards coming to represent asexuality. The ace of spades for those who are both ace & aro, and the ace of hearts for ace & romantic

Undercuts

Queer people find ways to challenge heteronormativity, such as the association of long hair with womanhood. Short hair has become associated with lesbians, whether it’s a bob, a close crop, and most iconically the undercut which is a hairstyle that leaves the top part of the hair medium length or long but has one or both sides and/or the back of the head shaved closely

Brunch

Brunch is THE gay meal and for a number of reasons. There was a time that brunch wasn’t viewed as respectable, but rather was a meal for those who’d stayed out late partying. On Sundays, brunch exists at a time many people are at church, and it’s a great use of that time for queer people who chose to leave churches that rejected them. Gay spaces are generally bars and clubs which are usually nighttime spaces, but brunch was radical as a place gays could gather and be themselves in the daylight. Historically, queer people found it more difficult to secure gainful employment, and brunch is a bargain, usually half the price of dinner, so it makes sense the queer community flocked to a meal that was more affordable. Brunch is more casual than a proper breakfast or dinner and therefore is often accompanied by fun conversation and gossip. Brunch offers a greater variety of food options than the typical meal, there’s something for everyone.

Ms. Frizzle

In the 1990s, the popular children‘s television show “The Magic School Bus” featured a teacher, Ms. Frizzle, who was never confirmed to be queer, but she was definitely queer coded, such as her quirky fashion style of mismatched brightly-colored patterns & those big earrings. She bucked gender norms by being a woman teaching STEM topics and having a love of adventure. Another clue is she wasn’t married at a time when gay marriage was not legal. Also, the character was voiced by lesbian actress Lily Tomlin.

Women’s Hockey

Women’s hockey has a joyous history of visible lesbian players. In 2017, Caroline Ouellette and Julie Chu—former captains of the Canada and US ice hockey teams—welcomed their newborn daughter into the world. The following year Meghan Duggan, the captain of the US women’s Olympic ice hockey team, married her girlfriend Gillian Apps, who played for Team Canada, and they had faced each other in the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympic finals. Dating & marrying your opponents, lesbians are setting the example for World Peace

BLÅHAJ

Blåhaj—pronounced blaw-high—translates simply as "blue shark" in English, and is a toy introduced by IKEA in 2014. The blueish body, white underbelly, and pink mouth are the trans flag colors. There’s so few things designed and marketed for trans people that they latched onto this delightful plush shark

Keith Haring art

Keith Haring was an American pop artist who advocated for safe sex and AIDS awareness through his images. In 1988, Haring designed the logo for National Coming Out Day, which is still used today. A year later, he established the Keith Haring Foundation to provide funding to AIDS organizations. He died in February 1990 of AIDS-related complications. His distinctive and instantly recognizable style came to define the 1990′s

#happy pride 🌈#lgbtq+#happy pride to:

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sankhla · 4 days ago

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Corporate Compliance Services in India: Streamlining Success in 2025

India’s regulatory landscape in 2025 is more dynamic than ever, with evolving laws, digital mandates, and sector-specific requirements shaping the corporate environment. The introduction of the four Labour Codes, the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, and updates to tax and environmental regulations have heightened the need for robust compliance frameworks. For corporates, navigating this complex web of regulations is critical to avoid penalties, enhance operational efficiency, and maintain stakeholder trust. Corporate compliance services have emerged as a vital solution, offering expertise and tailored strategies to ensure adherence. This blog delves into the role of these services, their key offerings, and their importance for businesses in India.

The Growing Need for Compliance Services

India’s regulatory framework spans labour laws, taxation, environmental standards, data protection, and corporate governance, with frequent updates adding layers of complexity. The Labour Codes, set for nationwide implementation in 2025, consolidate 29 central labour laws, requiring businesses to overhaul HR and payroll systems. The DPDP Act imposes strict data privacy obligations, while GST compliance and environmental regulations demand precision. Non-compliance risks fines, legal disputes, and reputational damage. Compliance services provide corporates with the tools and expertise to stay aligned with these evolving requirements, ensuring seamless operations across industries like manufacturing, IT, healthcare, and retail.

Core Offerings of Corporate Compliance Services

Compliance service providers offer comprehensive solutions to address India’s multifaceted regulatory landscape. Key services include:

1. Labour Law Compliance

The four Labour Codes—Code on Wages, Industrial Relations Code, Code on Social Security, and Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code—introduce uniform wage definitions, social security for gig workers, and safety mandates. Compliance services assist with payroll alignment to minimum wage standards (Rs. 783–1,035 per day in 2025), EPFO and ESI contributions, and adherence to the 12-hour daily work cap. They also support the transition to new rules, ensuring compliance for large enterprises (500+ employees) and smaller firms with extended timelines.

2. Data Protection and Privacy Compliance

The DPDP Act, effective in 2025, regulates personal data processing, requiring consent-based frameworks for employee and customer data. Compliance services help corporates implement secure data handling practices, conduct audits, and ensure cross-border data transfers align with regulations. This is critical for IT, e-commerce, and BPO sectors handling sensitive information.

3. Taxation and Financial Compliance

GST compliance remains a cornerstone, with services ensuring accurate filing, input tax credit reconciliation, and adherence to e-invoicing mandates. Corporate tax compliance, including transfer pricing and advance tax payments, is streamlined to meet deadlines. Providers also assist with audits under the Companies Act, 2013, ensuring financial transparency for listed and unlisted entities.

4. Environmental and Sustainability Compliance

With stricter environmental norms under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, and extended producer responsibility (EPR) rules for waste management, corporates face increased scrutiny. Compliance services guide businesses in obtaining environmental clearances, implementing sustainable practices, and filing mandatory reports, particularly for manufacturing and energy sectors.

5. Corporate Governance and Secretarial Services

The Companies Act, 2013, and SEBI regulations mandate robust governance practices, including board compliance, shareholder reporting, and annual filings. Compliance services manage statutory registers, ensure timely AGM/EGM filings, and align with CSR obligations, reducing risks for directors and promoters.

6. POSH and Workplace Compliance

The Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act requires Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs) for workplaces with 10+ employees. Compliance services facilitate ICC setup, employee training, and policy drafting to foster safe and inclusive workplaces, critical for employee retention and legal protection.

7. Industry-Specific Compliance

Sectors like pharmaceuticals, banking, and IT/ITES face unique regulations. Compliance services tailor solutions, such as RBI compliance for NBFCs, FSSAI adherence for food businesses, or IT-specific exemptions in states like Karnataka, ensuring sector-specific alignment.

Benefits of Engaging Compliance Services

Outsourcing compliance offers strategic advantages:

Expert Guidance: Providers stay updated on regulatory changes, ensuring accurate and timely compliance.

Cost Efficiency: In-house compliance teams are resource-intensive; outsourcing optimizes costs.

Risk Mitigation: Regular audits and proactive measures reduce legal and financial exposure.

Technology Integration: Automated tools for payroll, tax filing, and data management enhance efficiency.

Scalability: Services cater to startups, SMEs, and large corporates, adapting to business growth.

Selecting the Right Compliance Partner

Choosing a reliable compliance service provider is critical. Corporates should look for:

Expertise in Indian regulations and sector-specific laws.

Technology-driven solutions, including cloud-based compliance platforms.

Proven track record with client testimonials and case studies.

Customized offerings to address unique business needs.

Strong communication and support for ongoing compliance needs.

Preparing for 2025’s Regulatory Landscape

As India’s regulatory environment evolves, corporates must prioritize compliance to thrive. The Labour Codes’ phased rollout, DPDP Act enforcement, and sector-specific mandates demand proactive preparation. Compliance services enable businesses to update policies, train staff, and leverage technology for seamless adherence. Regular audits and employee awareness programs further strengthen compliance frameworks.

By partnering with expert compliance services, corporates can navigate India’s regulatory maze with confidence, ensuring legal adherence, operational excellence, and stakeholder trust in 2025 and beyond.

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innomaxstartup · 14 days ago

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How to Start a Business from Scratch in 2025 – A Step-by-Step Guide for New Founders

Thinking about launching your own business but don’t know where to begin? You’re not alone. In 2025, starting a business from scratch is more accessible—and more competitive—than ever before. Here’s how to do it right.

🚀 Introduction: Why 2025 Is the Perfect Year to Start a Business

The rules of entrepreneurship are changing fast. Thanks to AI tools, digital platforms, and remote work, building a business from scratch has never been more possible—or more exciting.

But with opportunity comes complexity. The startup world in 2025 is competitive, fast-paced, and constantly evolving. If you’ve got an idea and the ambition to bring it to life, this guide will walk you through how to start a business from scratch—step by step.

Whether you’re launching a tech startup, a local service, or a creative venture, this practical roadmap will help you move from dream to launch with clarity and confidence. Importance of Startups for India’s Economy

Startups play a pivotal role in shaping India’s economy by creating jobs, fostering innovation, and contributing significantly to GDP growth. As of 2022, startups accounted for about 2.64% of employment in the Indian market, highlighting their importance. The government of India has recognized this potential and launched various initiatives, such as the Startup India scheme, to support startup growth through funding, mentorship, and favorable policies. This ecosystem has propelled India into the ranks of top global leaders in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Step 1: Validate Your Business Idea

Don’t build before you validate.

Many new entrepreneurs fall in love with their idea before checking if people actually need it. In 2025, with customer attention at a premium, market validation is non-negotiable.

Here’s how to validate:

Talk to potential customers (online or offline).

Use tools like Google Trends, Reddit, and Quora to check demand.

Launch a quick landing page with tools like Carrd or Webflow and collect signups.

Offer a pre-sale or pilot to gauge interest.

If no one bites, pivot or refine.

Step 2: Do Market Research

Understand your customers, competitors, and trends.

Before spending time or money, study the landscape. What’s trending in your industry? Who else is offering similar products or services?

Use:

Google & YouTube for trend spotting.

SEMrush or Ubersuggest for keyword and competitor analysis.

Statista, CB Insights, or even Instagram/TikTok for emerging consumer behavior.

Find your edge. Your unique value proposition (UVP) is what will separate you from the noise in 2025.

Step 3: Write a Simple Business Plan

This isn’t corporate homework—it’s your action blueprint.

In 2025, your business plan doesn’t have to be 40 pages long. Keep it lean, focused, and useful. Include:

What you’re selling

Who it’s for

How you’ll reach customers

Cost to build/operate

Revenue model (how you’ll make money)

Short-term and long-term goals

Tools like Notion, LivePlan, or Canva Business Plan templates can help make it painless.

Step 4: Choose a Business Name & Register It

Your brand starts with a name.

Make it:

Easy to remember

Easy to spell

Relevant to your offering

Available online (domain + social handles)

Use tools like Namechk, GoDaddy, or NameMesh to check availability. Once chosen, register it in your country or state. In India, use the MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) portal. In the US, check with your Secretary of State’s website.

Don’t forget to buy the domain and secure the social media handles.

Step 5: Handle Legal & Financial Basics

Yes, it’s boring—but skipping it can cost you.

Choose a business structure (sole proprietorship, LLP, private limited, etc.)

Apply for licenses or permits based on your industry.

Open a business bank account.

Set up accounting tools like Zoho Books, QuickBooks, or even Excel if you're bootstrapping.

Separate personal and business finances from day one.

If unsure, talk to a startup consultant or accountant. Step 6 : Choose the Right Business Structure

In 2025, many new founders prefer flexible setups that protect their personal assets and allow easy growth. You can choose from:

Sole Proprietorship (easy, but less protection)

LLP/LLC (more legal protection, preferred for small businesses)

Private Limited Company (ideal for startups looking to raise funds)

Each country has its own rules, so check your local regulations or consult a business advisor.

Step 7 : Build Your Online Presence

If you’re not online, you’re invisible.

In 2025, your digital presence is as important as your product. Get started with:

A clean, responsive website (WordPress, Wix, or Webflow)

Active social media profiles (LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, depending on your audience)

A basic Google Business Profile if you’re local

Email marketing tools like Mailchimp or Beehiiv

Build credibility through consistency, not perfection.

Step 8: Create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Start simple, launch fast.

Whether it’s a physical product, digital service, or mobile app, launch with the minimum set of features needed to test real demand.

Your MVP might be:

A no-code app built with Glide or Bubble

A service offered through DMs and GPay

A prototype product made by hand

Speed is your friend. Launch. Learn. Improve.

Step 9: Start Marketing Early

If you build it, they won’t come—unless you market it.

Use cost-effective methods to start:

Organic social media content

Blogging and SEO (try ChatGPT to draft posts!)

Influencer partnerships or product seeding

Referral programs or giveaways

Cold outreach (emails, DMs, calls)

In 2025, community is currency—build yours early and nurture it.

Step 10: Explore Funding Options (If Needed)

If your startup requires capital, explore:

Bootstrapping (your own savings)

Friends & family

Crowdfunding (Kickstarter, Ketto, etc.)

Angel investors or venture capital

Startup accelerators or incubators

Pro tip: Even if you’re not raising money yet, create a pitch deck. It clarifies your vision and makes you look investor-ready.

Benefits of Government Schemes for Startups1. Financial Support: 2. Tax Exemption 3. Simplified Compliance 4. Easier Public Procurement 5. IPR Support 6. Access to Funding 7. Incubation and Mentorship 8. Mentorship and Skill Development 9. Networking Opportunities 10.Promotion of Innovation

Conclusion: 2025 Is the Best Time to Build. So Start.

Starting a business from scratch isn’t about waiting for the “perfect” moment. It’s about taking the first small step, validating, building smart, and learning fast.

In 2025, you don’t need a million-dollar idea. You need clarity, a problem to solve, and the grit to keep going.

✅ Ready to launch your startup?

At Innomax Startup Advisory, we help first-time founders go from idea to impact with mentorship, incubation, funding support, and everything in between. Don’t do it alone—get expert help that actually moves you forward.

👉 Visit https://innomaxstartup.com/ to get started. Your business starts now Let’s build it—step by step.

#startup #entrepreneurship #founders #startuplife #startuptips #businessideas

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