#Consolidating power

[infernal-lamb]

some rushed doodles of our new goat darling........I have so many plans for them

[queen-mabs-revenge]

found 'the way' a really interesting piece of speculative fiction exploring the idea of anti-migrant xenophobic violence being turned inwards towards 'legitimate citizens' when interests of capital are threatened by struggle, but this sequence in the last episode def stood out to me as a neoluddite.

feels connected to this quote from dan mcquillan's 'resisting ai - an anti-fascist approach to artificial intelligence':

Bergson argued that if one accepts a ready- made problem in this way, "one might just as well say that all truth is already virtually known, that its model is patented in the administrative offices of the state, and that philosophy is a jig- saw puzzle where the problem is to construct with the pieces society gives us the design it is unwilling to show us." (Deleuze, 2002, cited in Coleman, 2008) In other words, however sophisticated or creative AI might seem to be, its modelling is stuck in abstractions drawn from the past, and so becomes a rearrangement of the way things have been rather than a reimagining of the way things could be. AI has, in effect, an inbuilt political commitment to the status quo, in particular to existing structures that embed specific relations of power. The absence of different concepts leaves out the possibility of conceiving that things could be arranged differently.

[joeey-dee]

Unpopular opinion but Felicity didn't deserve the career she had and didn't work for it, it was just handed to her by men she was involved with. She was severly underqualified and had no understanding of a company's hierachy and zero respect for anyone, including her superiors. It wasn't badass, it was cringe.

She was promoted from simple IT worker to EA of the CEO not for talent, not because of her experience, not because of her degree, not because of her professionalism (which she was entirely lacking) but simply because Oliver was an idiot who didn't realize the issue of "If I'm going to be Oliver Queen CEO, then I can't very well travel down 18 floors every time you and I need to discuss how we spend our nights." could've been easily taken care of by the CEO requesting she travel up the 18 floors to come see him at his office, where they could privately discuss how they spent their nights. You're the boss, have the employees come to you, not the other way around. No need to give her one hell of a promotion she didn't even appreciate.

It was absolutely no surpise Isabel and most of QC drew the conclussion she was sleeping with Oliver and got the job because of that. Her wardrobe changed from professional to too short, colorful and tight dresses, she openly disrespected her boss every chance she got, in front of other employees, his business partner (who was trying to take the company from him), and even clients. Why should anyone respect Oliver in is role as CEO if not even his EA showed him any respect and tried to demean and ridicule him any chance she got? And regularly pointed out that he'd dropped out of college? She was so ungrateful and acted as if the job was beneath her, not understanding just how important an EA for the CEO and their work is. People spend years to reach that position and it was handed to her for nothing while she was in her early twenties, overgoing more qualified personal in senior positions. It's no wonder QCs employees harbored animosity towards him. His choice was very unprofessional and the way Felicity behaved made Oliver look like a joke and not someone to be taken seriously and knew what he was doing.

Also, she was then responsible for Oliver losing the company. Showed zero loyalty towards him by taking the job his rival who took the company from him offered, then sleeping with said man to get back at a grieving Oliver and a rise out of him. (And can we just take a minute to dissect the fact she got mad at him for 'not caring about Sara, his Sara's death' but then expected him to get over it right this second and jump in a relationship with her, make it make sense! Do you want him to grieve the woman he'd loved for eight years or do you want him to pretend he doesn't care and get involved with you right away? Make up your mind woman!) Using Ray to get what she wants. Ray hands the company over to her even after the shitty and disrespectful way she treated him, used him really, while she had zero qualifications to run it. She got the company because she was sleeping with Ray. And Ray later on in Legends regrets that choice after she ran it to the ground.

Felicity never considers offering the company to Thea, after she and Oliver broke up. Oliver might not have wanted it but Thea may have and she'd been a great choice. Felicity uses the company's scientific discoveries for her own personal needs, does a really bad job with the board who obviously neither like nor respect her, she hasn't earned her position, she might have gone to MIT but she doesn't have a business degree, any understanding of how an international company like QC is being run and lacking the people skills to potentially make up for her lack of knowledge nor is she willing to listen to and learn from other people because she feels she knows best, she graduated from MIT! What do those people with their business majors and years upon years of experience in the field know compared to her IT knowledge from MIT?

Felicity literally slept herself into the position she was in and it was no wonder she wasn't respected by the company's board and employees. She'd done nothing to earn that position or their respect.

Let me know what you guys think and if I'm alone with this opinion on the matter. It just always bugged me how little respect was shown for the position of an EA and how unrealistic Felicity's rise in the company was. One degree isn't interchangable with another and it doesn't matter how prestigious the college you graduated from was if your degrees aren't in the field you now work in. You might be the most knowledgable about computers but that doesn't mean you know how to run an international billion dollar company and she obviously didn't.

[the-last-dillpickle]

So sad that people nowadays can look at Kai Winn and yet can't recognize a #girlboss when they see one 😔

[althaeaofficinalis]

a day of fallen night really goes hard on "monarchy is a chain of poisoned links, it is trauma, it is dangerous for those who live under it and traumatic for those who embody it," and if the only one you get is the inysh queendom you haven't been paying attention. kediko onjenyu is frustrating beyond belief, refusing to listen to wisdom and converting those who stay in his realm to his comfortable materialism. noziken pa dumai will have to be married to a man and bred to continue the line, something she has never wanted to do. every single one of these monarchical founders is exactly as bad as the rest - galian berethnet is just the most recent.

like how is suttu the dreamer better than galian? the founder of house noziken? when the results are always, always the same? queernorm won't save you from the inherent lack of bodily autonomy found in a monarchal system, and THAT'S THE POINT that shannon is making! that's why cleolind left! that's why the prioress is elected, and a munguna isn't a shoo-in for the role! as chained as glorian is, so too is dumai. we just know about the lie of the berethnets. it's all about gathering their own power.

[maya-kholin]

thanks to the resurrection of the dragon age fandom I'm once again stewing in my bullshit about bioware's commitment to both-sidesism and wondering what smelly new version we'll get in veilguard

[humanimalgam]

fucking hate when online artists are like "one fully colored illustration with a simple background takes me 2-3 hours haha i'm so slooooow" the same thing takes me at least 8–12+ hours don't you dare call yourself slow until you're on my level. where are my real snail's pace illustrators at where are my people!!!

[goated33]

Cult of the lamb au…….,.. Narinder is Lucifer and instead of freeing him so he can take over Charlie’s borrowing his power to free their former people from the bishops. (And ultimately, him as well) (he’s super depressed and has given up on this) (keeps trying to talk Charlie out of all of it)

Razzle and Dazzle are Aym and Baal. Lil guys

Vaggie’s the first sacrifice she saves- she’s actually a former acolyte/would-be miniboss of Adam’s sector that betrayed her cult.

[venus-is-in-bloom]

i wonder if labour-based organising is lionised a little too much in leftist spaces.

[americankimchi]

i played the heretic route in rogue trader and it's very fun but be warned you will lose some companions at a certain point cause they disagree with your evil actions lol

i wish the game had options where you're lying bc i'd love to be like (DECEPTION) yes, of course i'll help you out!!! come onto my ship where i will definitely help you free of charge <33

bc that's what my character would say at the time to get people to do what we want but like. idk. i guess the outcome is the same but it makes me a little.... ehhhhhhhhh

[asharaks]

uhhhh 2 and 11 and 17 for kasi? :3c

are they skilled in The Grand Game?

haha. no<3 he doesn't have the patience he doesn't have the respect for it. in some ways his particular brand Works - undisguised Disdain can be what you want, in certain situations, but on the whole... not his thing<3

what are their religious beliefs, if any?

kasimir is a Devout andrastian: he was raised that way, with huge swathes of his family in the templar order. it's never really been a question for him, but even by trevelyan standards, i think he's Committed to it. there's an element of Burden to it, for him: as a trevelyan, he always felt he had a responsibility to the chantry, a duty to demonstrate faith and respect for the church. it's very much, for him, tied in with ideas about family and duty and rulership: they go hand-in-hand, inextricable, and he wouldn't want to separate them. merging of church and state babeyyy.

on a personal level, i think he finds a lot of comfort in the Routine of it: prayer & meditation & ritual all work to keep him centred, balanced, and in control:)

what were they like as a child?

i think he was a BOSSY child - he's a lot younger than his siblings, so he'd have been raised as the only child in the household, and i think . with his parents being older and busier . he was largely raised by Staff. which is where a lot of his feelings about Proper Behaviour come from, a lot of that ironclad composure and inability to show feelings, from having been raised by a succession of basically-strangers. hand in hand with that, a Private child: not really willing to share, or keen to make friends. i think he wanted to grow up too fast, especially as a teenager, and for a time certainly had a chip on his shoulder about living up to his brothers' examples.

[bonebabbles]

with the disclaimer that I don't know all the context since I haven't read it, how WAS he supposed to handle a contagious illness in a society that doesn't have any form of masks or sanitation? Temporarily quarantining contagiously sick cats away from healthy ones just seems like a completely different and much more reasonable thing than kicking out cats permanently for a disability because they would be a "burden".

@halogenwarrior

Ok, going with you having no context for this, he wasn't suggesting a 'temporary quarantine' for sick cats. There is already a quarantine, with only the medics approaching the sick. Following everyone having a Hearty Chuckle that Clear Sky 'cares about other people' now by saying we're "all in it together," Clear Sky shares his full plan;

He nonsensically believes that no sick prey is living in the burnt part of his woods and the fire "cleansed it", so all of the healthy cats will abandon the sick to die in their camps and come live on his territory and 'wait it out.'

His plan is that all the cats who become sick will die. It's not quarantine in the sense that they will 'help the sick but keep a distance', he is essentially suggesting a reverse leper colony where everyone who displays symptoms gets kicked out to fend for themselves.

And, in the past, illness was always part of his talking points for throwing cats out of his clan. It was why he tried to throw Frost out, where he would die alone. I went back to Thunder Rising to grab the passage,

This is after he shoves Thunder's face into it and tells him to lick it.

So, it's wholly inappropriate, imo, that Thunder essentially does a little eye roll and a cutesy sigh at this suggestion. "Ohh that's my dad and his ruthless streak." His dad has historically been a monster towards the sick and infirm when they "stop being useful" with this rhetoric. Burdens, disease, weakness. In this moment, he is proposing that they do to an unknown number of cats exactly what he commanded Thunder do to Frost.

Additionally, at this point in time, they don't know how the illness spreads. They're guessing that it's via contact with sick prey, and using leaves as rudimentary tissues/gloves. Clear Sky DOES know, though, these two things;

One Eye knows how it spreads and is not telling.

Many of his cats have been exposed.

He has no idea which cats have been exposed, or how many, or even how long it takes between infection and first symptoms. All they DO know is that symptoms are rapid onset and debilitating. By the time you know a cat is sick, they're covered in sores, have a bloated stomach, and are unable to hunt for themselves. The only thing that is for sure is that turning them out is a death sentence.

And yet he is confused at the idea that Thunder has an objection about leaving Morning Whisker, Wind Runner's kitten who isn't older than a month or two, alone to die.

The solution that the groups eventually come up with is that the clans will remain isolated from each other as to not spread illness, though it doesn't seem to work because infected prey still moves around freely.

Also note that the first time Clear Sky actually gives a damn about an infected person is when Jagged Peak's pregnant wife catches it (After Jagged Peak 'proves' he's useful now by leading a medicine-seeking patrol thanks to Gray Wing). Wind Runner's an "ex-rogue," a group Clear Sky has disdain for, and he doesn't think to have compassion about her baby.

So to answer your question directly, he was 'supposed' to handle it the way the Moor cats did and were, with some basic safety precautions. Not regress to trying to use the illness to get all the cats into a single Clan in his own territory where he could continue to throw "useless/dangerously ill/disabled" out into the wilderness "where the maggots will find them".

[the-badger-mole]

It's so funny to me that there was a whole hearing about aliens this month and everyone just kind of shrugged. Personally, I not only shrugged, I rolled my eyes. I scoffed, snorted and guffawed. Then I silently mocked everyone who was instrumental in making this hearing happen in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I'm not mocking anyone for believing in aliens, or believing that aliens would care enough about us to make contact. I'm mocking the people in charge for such a transparent attempt to distract the public from what's happening.

Don't you think the timing is interesting? Inflation is out of control; the wealth gap is at least as bad as it was before the Great Depression; labor unions are making noise with the nation's prettiest and most famous leading the charge; I, personally, am seeing more and more allusions to the benefits of the return of guillotine justice. And that's just a snapshot of what's happening in the States alone. It seems awfully convenient that Congress is giving a public platform to a veteran who claims that the Pentagon is hiding crashed UFOs and performing actual Alien Autopsies with no real evidence except the fact that he's saying this under oath. As if being under oath is some metaphysically binding contract where breaking it is punishable by instantaneous death. I'm not saying he's lying necessarily. I could at least believe that he believes what he's saying is true. All I'm saying is that this is a whole lot of noise and not a lot of scientifically verifiable evidence that's coming out at a time when our dear leaders have a lot of reasons to distract the general public. Did you hear about Project 2025? Because I started hearing that news around the same time as the aliens story, and has a much bigger potential effect on our day to day lives.

[maxdurden]

73, 94, and 100 for the unusual asks!

73. do you want to get married?

i have,,,, no idea. we simply cannot get into my nitty gritty queer feelings about the institution of marriage as a tool of oppression and upholding the Ideal Of Whiteness (you often hear about the whole 'marriage is about owning women' which like yeah,, its primarily concerned with property rights which can get icky, but it's also an often racist, not to mention hetero/cissexist, institution). this of course!! isn't me dogging on people who want to get married! i might get married someday, i don't know, i just know that right now i have very complicated feelings about it and some of those feelings are probably chronic commitment issues but for sure a lot of those feelings are deeply political! there's an article i read during my last semester of college that really shaped a lot of these feelings and opinions (that for some reason i can't get my annotations off of soooo enjoy those if you decide to take a look rip). but anyway!!! yeah!!! marriage is a whole can of worms to me! who knows! maybe some day i'll get married but i can't imagine doing it before the age of like,,, 30 if i ever do wanna do it (sorry for rambling soo much woah)

94. favorite lyrics right now

"depollute me, pretty baby / suck the rot right out of my bloodstream / oh dilute me, gentle angel / water down what i call being grateful / oh you kissed me, just to kiss me / not to take me home" (we'll never have sex by leith ross)

"fear on my fingers and hate on my tongue / i trace words in cursive hoping they could be enough / condemn me in my most righteous form / for i have been weak in the eyes of the lord / the devil's known to tempt angels with apples and nothing more" (broken wing by evil)

"in your car with your head in your hands / at far end of the walmart parking lot / trying not to buckle under the strain / striking a bargain with the imp in your brain / prepared to take another knock for the short game / but you can ask any veteran running back / eventually your joints complain" (same as cash by the mountain goats)

100. who was the last person you cried in front of? 

probably my therapist lmaoo

[gotyouanyway]

s5 chancellery guard sexy

[in-sightpublishing]

Don’t be fooled: Project 2025 isn’t going away

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014 Publisher Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada Publication: Freethought Newswire Original Link: https://ffrf.org/news/releases/dont-be-fooled-project-2025-isnt-going-away/ Publication Date: July 30, 2024 Organization: Freedom From Religion Foundation Organization Description: The Freedom…