#I can see the case for third-party candidates. I can't see the case for not voting.

[horizon-penblade]

ok maybe they're the same amount of usefulness in terms of harm reduction or whatever but if nothing else, I have infinitely more respect for people who are planning to vote third-party or write-in than those who are trying to... make a statement by not voting? Like the only statement you're making with that is that you don't care anymore. Voting for a third party candidate at least says that you're voting against both options.

I'm not saying this in a 'voting third party is the way to go' sense, I'm just saying that if you're going to throw away your sway in who wins to make a point anyway, there's an option that actually communicates your point and it sure as heck isn't refusing to vote.

[left-reminders]

People who will be voting for Harris as a vote against Trump, people who will be voting third party (Green, Socialist, Communist, etc), and people who will not be voting for anti-hegemony philosophical reasons need to stop strawmanning each other. The case can be made for each of these, and I am not going to begrudge principled individuals who arrive at different conclusions from me.

I mostly wanted to make this post because I get annoyed when I see people in the first camp condemn people in the latter two camps — accusing them of "valuing their abstract moral purity over domestic lives" (because most actually-principled first-campers will concede that lives abroad are destroyed either way). There's always this strawman of a white, straight, middle-class brocialist/anarchist who refuses to vote for the establishment candidate out of some privileged crusade, rather than the reality of the situation (people of all demographics having valid and nuanced opinions on the topic of not voting or voting third party). In order for the strawman to work, you need to ignore the millions of people — of diverse backgrounds and identities — who don't fit the mold of a sheltered obstinate brocialist non-voter.

By the same token, most people in my life fall into the first camp and I'm not comfortable assuming that they (and everyone else doing the same) are just shills capitulating to imperialism. People are free to vote defensively (especially in a heavily-constrained "democratic" system where voting offensively so rarely bears fruit) and I don't think that compromises their anti-capitalist principles. So long as they're not spending their energy blasting people in the latter two camps, people in the first camp ought to be respected.

Whatever the case, I hope we can all recognize the flaws in the camp that enthusiastically votes for Harris and the Democratic Party. The camp that acts like they're The Resistance™ and yet can't be bothered to conceive of a world beyond the limits of the neoliberal imagination. The camp that will sweep genocide-enabling and corporatism and climate change acceleration under the rug if it means Their Team can win the next election. The camp that thinks Trump is some aberrant force outside of the American system, rather than a natural outgrowth of its injustices and imperial histories.

Let's all at least agree that that shit is worth condemning. This bullshit, and this bullshit, in other words.

This bullshit ☝️👆 is neoliberal brain rot

[haunted-xander]

Finished the 6.55 MSQ so here's my (very positive) thoughts:

‌Love love LOVE Wuk Lamat she's so fun and her dynamic with Erenville is hilarious. Very excited to see more of her in Dawntrail.

‌Krile is already getting some nice scenes and I'm very happy she's finally gonna get the spotlight in dt. My girls been side-lined for 4 expacs it's about damn time she gets to shine.

‌The inventor of Pictomancy is literally Relm. Like they name drop her. Obv not the same Relm as in VI but still! Relm is real! And she was an Archon! tbh them naming an important character related to this type of magic after her isn't surprising- I just expected it to be something in the job quests rather than the MSQ.

‌Zero made super-spicy dishes popular in Thavnair lol. Wuk Lamat trying to toughen it out was hilarious. God I love her.

‌Wuk Lamat & Erenville being childhood friends was not something I expected! Very fun.

‌The catboy from the dawntrail promotional artwork is probably Wuk Lamat's brother, Koana(Was that his name? tbh I forgot. But she has a Miqo brother that's what's important). He looks smart, and it's possible he's gonna be another candidate claiming for the throne.

‌Based on the artwork, I had figured our main group was gonna be WoL, Krile, Thancred and Urianger, as they are the only Scions featured, but based on the quest it'll probably be Wol, Krile, Alphinaud and Alisaie. G'raha is allegedly staying behind, but since he's shown in Tural in the trailer I think he'll find an excuse to come along anyway lol.

‌Thancred and Urianger are going to be competing against us, which will be interesting. I think it'll be fun to see some of the Scions take on a more rival-y role, if only for a bit. It looks like they were petitioned by someone else participating in the Rite of Succession, so maybe they're working for Miqo boy? They're on his side of the artwork after all 🤔

‌(Also I think the writers know how popular those two have gotten together lol they're like making it a point to have them with each other at all times)

‌Estinien is going to Tural just for the hell of it which I think is hilariously in character. Literally going there at the same time as us purely by coincidence. He really can't escape us can he.

‌Y'shtola is neither seen nor heard of which tbh I think is fair given how much screentime and focus she got during the whole Zero arc. I do wonder why she's going to Tural tho, she's in the trailer too so I'm certain she will be there.

‌(Also, since G'raha, Estinien and Y'shtola aren't aligned with any particular side as of now, I think they'll be a neutral third party in the Succession rivalries going on. That, or they'll end up siding with the 3rd sibling that isn't the Obvious Villain (based on Wuk Lamat and Erenville's accounts) somehow. Will be fun to see in any case.)

‌The little memory dialogue from Emet was nice :) just a reminder of the adventures yet to be had. Also he's finally in the unending codex which I think is nice (ngl I kinda forgot about the codex until he got added to it)

ALSO I almost forgot to include it BUT we have a nice heart-to-heart scene with G'raha alone on a bridge and if the writers weren't COWARDS (and/or worried about romance ambiguity, at least for those relating to the WoL) he could've proposed to us then and there. You know he wants you. Do not hold him back writers let him do what he wants. (I'd have said yes ofc)

‌Backpack :)

[glareraw]

Accelerationists are pathetic

Accelerationism is a range of revolutionary and reactionary ideas in left-wing and right-wing ideologies that call for the drastic intensification of capitalist growth, technological change, infrastructure sabotage and other processes of social change to destabilize existing systems and create radical social transformations, otherwise referred to as "acceleration". “Accelerationism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Aug. 2024. Link

Let's be so fucking for real.

We are in a hopeful political landscape right now. Trump looks more and more like he will lose, and Kamala Harris alongside her VP pick Tim Walz are winning over the hearts of Americans, and increasingly beating Trump in the polls as he rambles on about how Kamala changed her race or something. And we are learning how to parse the alarmist claims of news media, and deny them ad revenue from scaring us.

But there is a thorn in side of the Democratic Party. A small group of very loud accelerationists who claim to be leftist online act like Kamala is the antichrist. Their two main claims are that she imprisoned over 1,500 people for smoking weed during her time as a prosecutor, and they still act like she fully supports the genocide in Palestine, despite the first claim being a lie told by Tulsi Gabbard in the 2020 presidential race, and the second claim a case of "I pretend I do not see it" in terms of the truth.* (see footnote) They seem to forget that a Trump presidency would be FAR worse for Palestinians.

But let's be real. The originators of this argument are cishet white people who live in major cities of coastal blue states and whose parents pay their rent. They have a feeling of emptiness in their life because they have everything given to them, so they argue with LGBTQ+ people and POC online instead of making an actual difference in the real world. They sit behind their screens and convince unsuspecting netizens of their delusions that we could have a viable 3rd party candidate come out of nowhere in less than 3 months, and completely ignore the fact that a candidate with their ideology would absolutely tank in an election. They don't care that the American people are not ready for the nation they want to make.

One of the talking main strategies these accelerationists are trying is to get people to abstain from voting --if they don't get their third party candidate. Their goal is to get less votes for Kamala to make Donald Trump win so the world will go to shit and they can remake society from the ashes how THEY want.

They think that their lives are sheltered from the blatant danger of the republican platform, to hell with the women and LGBTQ+ and POC of the red states! They are totally fine with sacrificing the safety of women and minorities in service of their unrealistic headcanon. They simply do not, or refuse to understand the severity of the situation we find ourselves in. If Trump wins 2024, there's a pretty strong chance there won't be an election --at least a real one-- in 2028 or ever again.

And if they think they will actually be able to start a revolution against the federal government? If they can get past the SWAT team arrests at their peaceful protests and CIA assassinations of their movement's leaders, they will have the honor of battle with the most powerful and overfunded military on Earth. Good luck with that! But these people would be lucky to even have leadership to begin with, because none of them actually have a viable plan or real knowledge of how to make their maladaptive daydreams real and govern their dream society.

If you read all of this and look at the facts and still believe Kamala Harris is a horrible person and you don't WANT to vote for her, then fine. I don't feel the need to argue with you further. But you NEED to vote. Change will have to be made gradually, it can't happen all at once this time. As I said, the country isn't ready for that. But if enough leftists don't vote, and Trump actually wins, it will set us back decades, if not a century or more. The government will not collapse, it will just become stronger under fascist rule. They will not get the chance to make the change they want.

I don't think the ideology of accelerationism poses a huge threat in this election. The overwhelming amount of support for the Harris Walz campaign, combined with the long-expected downward spiral of Donald Trump makes it more and more likely that we will see Kamala in the White House. And the media fear mongering about insubordination from the electorates --and Kamala's defeat in the Trump-appointed federal courts after the election-- is largely overblown. They forget how we won in 2020. AFTER Trump was ousted.

But as I said, overall, I don't think accelerationists will be successful in causing a Trump victory. They just really piss me off.

*She supports a ceasefire and the two-state solution, but can't make that happen just yet as she is just the VP but that's a whole can of worms and a conversation for another time. Just know I personally support a ceasefire and understand that what is happening in Palestine IS a genocide.

[tarotofbadkitties]

Third Parties in the US

The reason they can't win is because not enough people vote for them. If you want them to win, vote for them. If someone gives you some song and dance about how it's "really a vote for the other side" they're full of shit. They're trying to pressure you and gaslight you and the reason we have the right to a private ballot and it's a federal crime to try to intimidate someone at the polls is that the right to vote for whomever you please is sacrosanct. Don't fear telling a bitch to mind their business.

Once a third party gets 5% of the vote, that triggers eligibility for increased federal funding and less effort the next election with getting full ballot access. So if you want to support a party, vote for their candidate. Even if that threshold isn't hit, the two main parties still have figures to look at to see how many people they lost to what third party and if the numbers are big enough, they have incentive to consider parts of that third party's platform to try to lure voters. A significant number of third party votes can also help lend energy to campaigns for ranked choice voting, which will be more beneficial for third parties than the current system. You don't want to vote for someone pledged to AIPAC? Don't. You don't want to vote for someone funding a genocide? Don't. You don't want to vote for someone pledging unconditional support to the military industrial complex? DON'T VOTE FOR THEM. You know what most people who don't like candidates for either party do? They stay home on election day. If you were considering that, why not consider instead offering material support in building the future case for a party you DO support.

You know what two parties are both against the military industrial complex and genocide in the US? The Libertarians and the Green party. You wanna vote for one of them, do it. If people hopelessly wedded to the duopoly get in your face, tell em' I say "have a nice day."

[wuxian-vs-wangji]

The (Public) Media in an Election Year

I see more and more lately people accusing public media journalists and employees of being biased towards one political party or another. I don't mean network journalists, these are specifically public media employees usually funded by government grants and public donations.

I just thought you guys might find it interesting to learn some of the rules I'm required to live by as a producer of a political discussion show, all designed to avoid even a perception of bias. These rules apply to all of our reporters as well:

General

Cannot do voiceover work for any campaign materials- no matter if it is for a major political office or even something as small as a person running for county coroner.

Cannot provide any video recording or editing work for any campaign materials.

The above rules also apply to things like school funding referendums or other questions on the ballots.

No volunteer work for any partisan political activity or organization.

Cannot wear red or blue on election day or during any political debates we cover (purple is generally encouraged).

Specific to My Show

Any time a story includes 2 political candidates (or more, we have an active Libertarian party), their names must be on the screen for the exact same amount of time. I prefer to leave names up for 5 seconds, but if a bite is short and we only have 3 seconds of the last person, all names are down to 3 seconds.

Lower third fonts and story bylines must be strictly neutral to the topic. No opinions or judgements allowed.

In any weekly poll questions, metadata, print materials, show advertisements, or use of soundbites and quotes in a story, the candidates must be referred to in alphabetical order by last name.

We sometimes lower the volume of other microphones during the show just for sound quality sake (too many open makes the room sound big), but the republican and democrat representatives on the show always have their microphones at the same level.

Alternate which party representative gets the first question each week. Last week it was the republican, so this week it will be the democrat.

Videos used in packages must follow the script closely, avoid inflammatory video clips unless that is what is being addressed. Basically you can't just pull footage of someone looking bad to make them look bad. No shadow-commentary.

Try to get video of equal framing to any republican or democratic candidates (This can get kind of hard when one sits down in front of a camera and the other does like a zoom meeting).

Balance all discussions to give the republican and democratic representatives equal chance to make their points. Try to avoid anyone steamrolling the other. If we have a new person from either party on the show, we will get one of our milder commentators for the other party, and they always discuss beforehand cues and such they'll offer each other to balance the discussion (it really is that they fight like cats and dogs on TV but are good friends who try to help each other IRL).

There are times I'm like "Fuck yes, say it!" when we have a quote, and there are people I want absolutely nothing to do with and hate even knowing the sound of their voices.

But my job is not to have an opinion. It's to produce a discussion/debate show. Opinions are for the audiences.

That being said, there are some areas where we might feel there is no moral "other side" to balance the discussion with. For example, we don't have particularly balanced discussions around issues involving abuse, assault, or the demonization/denigration of LGBT people (especially ESPECIALLY kids). Both sides still get to make their case, we don't cut anyone off, but the host will not be neutral in his opinion like usual, and I won't make him get back in line.

I just think people should know that nearly every step of producing a show, election year or not, we do try to keep it balanced, and it's extreme circumstances where we show personal opinions. Even then, it's revealing our opinions, not silencing the ones we disagree with.

[yeetspace]

This gets the idea across pretty succinctly right? Like the whole point of it is that there's this desperate clinging need to argue for a better candidate. The problem being that it's argued for no matter the given circumstances. To the extent where it's just this blind thought of "It is not to the standards that I've set So it's the absolute worst (while completely obscuring their view from the thing that's screaming loudly about how it's going to kill everyone if it gets power, Cuz it's really loud and scary and we don't want to think about that right now because we have more important things to make you feel bad about)".

Because like it feels like they just fully attached all of their emotion to their politics and so genuinely cannot comprehend the idea that just because you vote for someone doesn't mean you 100% agree with them on every ideological stance possible and in fact, when Red actively says they'll make things worse, it doesn't really matter if there's the prospect the blue is arbitrarily deciding to lie and will too, but the problem is there's that hypothetical situation and then there's what's happening in reality which is the other candidate SAYING so. We can magically what if about what if it did happen but we also know it won't be a question if if the other option happens. With one it's a speculation of what if we've been lying to the entire time with the other one it's what if people just don't fucking care. Cuz like as much as you want it to be the case you voting third party doesn't do fucking anything especially when we just saw what happen with the other guy it's almost as if weirdly enough the government's corrupt it's almost as if like when it tells you it's giving you a lifeline you should usually never fucking grab it cuz it's usually electrified or something like that.

It's it's almost as if when the government says you should trust them about something and how it will definitely work this time you should never do that ever in any capacity if you want to keep fucking breathing? A thing that's been the case since the establishment of organized government as it exists now? Like and I know for a fact that it's because I'm autistic I feel is the least thought processes come much more basic to me, like obviously someone with an exorbitant amount of power is at some point going to do something shitty with it you don't get that WITHOUT being shitty to begin with. Humans are all inherently equal we're just just meat and shapes and people want to make a fucking problem about that to the extent of making up politics in the first place to fucking murder people over it like that's all this is we're just a bunch of fucking meat-shapes with electricity on a fucking DUST BALL Basically playing The universe's most extreme game of kite flying because we're just being fucking swung around in 14 centrifugal directions away from like 14 other pulling forces that are all individually just incrementally larger forces of absolute and abject destruction. Like how the fuck did we get here to make politics a thing when there are plants on this plant that make you see colors that you can't even comprehend otherwise? How did we fucking get here

[ambelle]

WHY do I have to explain these things?

People have to understand that Trump = the end of Democracy. A third party candidate has no chance of winning. It's Trump or Kamala. You really want to change the two-party system? I don't believe you. Here's an explanation as to why I don't believe you along with a lesson on how our government actually works.

People always wait until the election year to TALK about a glorious revolution but this energy is nonexistent before and after the election. It's performative showboating. Protest voters have no plan for a revolution because they don't actually want one. They talk shit on twitter for a few months then November comes along and they move on with their lives suddenly no longer pumped up to ~Dismantle the System~. Right back at work paying taxes that fund wars they don't agree with like the rest of us robots they are so much smarter than.

If Jill is serious why isn't she and her followers even attempting to start small? Run for mayor or governor or something...anything to grow your platform. Instead, it's crickets from these people right until the election comes up and they want "campaign funding" then they vanish into thin air for 3 years. Why can't she win even on a local level is it because she's not even trying? She is an agent of chaos who accepts money from shady rich people with ties to Israel just like everyone else + thinks genociding Ukraine is fine. Are we picking and choosing which genocides are okay or is the idea itself morally corrupt? I can't keep up. Should the Ukraine babies be blown up?

Real change isn't just putting a third party candidate in office. If you truly want to dismantle the way things work you have to know how the government works. You really want third parties to have a chance? Cool then you need to be having conversations about getting rid of the Electoral College. I don't ever see third-party supporters doing that. Instead they say "well if we split the vote then next time they'll take 3rd party more serious." Next time? You mean the time after the Dictatorship? This shit is so unserious. WTF were y'all doing the past 3.5 years instead of talking about the Electoral College issue?

You want the President ( or in Kamala's case Vice President) to have more power than they actually do? Cool then you have to get rid of Congress. That's how it'll be 100% up to the president whether or not we fund Israel. Because as of now CONGRESS decides that. Meaning not even President Jesus would be able to stop the aid to Israel. When a bill has passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate, it is sent to the President for review. The President has 10 days to sign the bill into law or veto it but guess what happens when he vetos...it goes right back to them and they vote to make it law. What plan do 3rd party voters have to get rid of Congress and checks and balances? How would their presidency play out any differently if the system itself is exactly the same???

If you do happen to like Democracy and checks in balances then guess what you have to do. Vote...that's right LMAO vote for the state reps who will be in Congress. Vote in all elections so you have more control over ALL three branches. The problem isn't voting for the President. The problem is forgetting to vote for the other elections and then being confused why the president can't get anything done. Congress passed the bill and Biden signed it. That's what happened.

Mind you historically black people were killed fighting for the right to vote. White supremacists were passing Jim Crow laws and doing the absolute most to suppress the black vote. If it doesn't matter then why do that? Why is Georgia secretly unregistering people who signed up on their websites as Democrats?

Voting IS power.

Below are visuals of the bill Congress passed, a breakdown of their vote (and if you look you can see by name to know for the next elections who needs to go), and a REMINDER that the Vice President has nothing to fucking do with this process whatsoever.

[itsallpoliticsstupid]

The ‘perfect’ democracy – Why America’s system is broken beyond repair

The past few days have been difficult for any observer of American politics. Two candidates who are, quite frankly, inept and shouldn’t be able to run.

The Democratic candidate, a man who unquestionably seems to be struggling with his mental faculties to the extent he is underperforming, not only in debates, but on the world stage. No amount of experience matters now, because all he will be remembered for is the man who will lose to Trump. Because that seems to be the way things are heading now.

On the other side, we have a felon. Convicted of falsifying business records, and is awaiting three criminal court cases that haven’t been heard yet. A man who is believed to be linked to the highly concerning ‘Project 2025’ that would ultimately strip away the rights of many Americans, as well as the rights of the federal powers. A man who looks to win a second term due to a combination of Biden’s troubling campaign run, and the younger generation refusing to vote for Biden due to the war in Gaza and Israel.

But the issues we see are only on the surface, the American political system is broken and needs major reform if it is to continue as a democracy.

Here’s why.

The partisan politics – Due to the two-party nature of the system there is no real choice. It means that when we have two poor candidates, you have to vote for one of them or it will be a waste. A third party candidate is unlikely to get into power (and quite frankly, who would vote for Robert F Kennedy Jr with his current views on vaccines).

The ‘checks and balances’. Political – In theory, the separation of the judiciary and political systems is a good thing in principal. The problem is, in America, it cannot work properly when they only have two natural parties. You can be left with a situation whereby one party will either hold all the power. Or, power will be split in a way that makes the president a lame duck, and no legislation able to get through.

The ‘checks and balances’. Judicial – The Supreme Court is broken. Again, good in principal, but executed poorly. To be effective, the judiciary should be impartial. Working towards the views as set out by law, rather than the views of their own political party. Of course ultra-conservative justices will try and strip away rights, whilst those who are liberal will help to bring in legislation that protects the rights of all. You can't provide an effective check on the Government, if your political views align.

The fact a felon can run for president - I don't have to go into this. It's self-explanatory. No felon should be allowed to run for President, especially if they haven't served their time.

There is more but this is only my quick thoughts. It isn't eloquently or perfectly put. But it's a start.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 25, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

Pundits struggle to decide whether Trump’s rise represents something new in the United States or whether it is a continuation of the growing anti-democratic politics of the Republican Party. As a card-carrying Libra, I’m going to suggest it was both.

If yesterday’s letter was about how Trump’s turn to authoritarianism is unprecedented among major party political leaders, tonight’s is about how the Republican Party prepared the way for this moment in part by rigging the system through gerrymandering so that their politicians no longer need to appeal to voters. Those extreme gerrymanders threaten to skew the 2024 election and are contributing to the Republican Party’s inability to perform the most basic functions of government.

Gerrymandering is the process of drawing legislative districts to favor a political party. The practice was named for Elbridge Gerry, an early governor of Massachusetts who signed off on such a scheme (even though he didn’t like it). Political parties can gain an advantage in elections by either “packing” or “cracking” their opponents’ voters. Packing means stuffing the opposition party’s voters into districts so their votes are not distributed more widely; cracking means dividing opponents’ voters among multiple districts so there are too few of them in any district to have a chance of winning. 

The Constitution requires the government to take a census every ten years to see where people have moved, enabling the government to draw districts that should allow us to elect politicians that represent us. Political operatives have always carved up maps to serve themselves when they could, but today’s computers allow them to draw maps with surgical precision. 

That created a big change in 2010. Before that midterm election, hoping to hamstring President Barack Obama’s ability to accomplish anything by making sure he had a hostile Congress, Republican operatives raised money from corporate donors to swamp state elections with ads and campaign literature to elect Republicans to state legislatures. This Operation REDMAP, which stood for Redistricting Majority Project, was a plan to take control of state houses across the country so that Republicans would control the redistricting maps put in place after the 2010 census. 

It worked. After the 2010 election, Republicans controlled the legislatures in the key states of Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan, as well as other, smaller states, and they redrew congressional maps using precise computer models. In the 2012 election, Democrats won the White House decisively, the Senate easily, and a majority of 1.4 million votes for House candidates. And yet Republicans came away with a thirty-three-seat majority in the House of Representatives.

The results of that effort are playing out today.

In Wisconsin the electoral districts are so gerrymandered that although the state’s population is nearly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, Republicans control nearly two thirds of the seats in the legislature and it is virtually impossible for Democrats ever to win control of the state legislature. In April, voters elected Janet Protasiewicz to the state supreme court by an astonishing margin of 11 points, in part thanks to her promise to reject the extreme gerrymandered maps. 

Protasiewicz’s election shifted the court majority away from the Republicans. Even before she was elected, one Republican senator suggested impeaching her, and now, because she has called the district maps “rigged” and said, “I don’t think you could sell to any reasonable person that the maps are fair,” Republicans are calling for her impeachment before she has even heard a case. (After saying the maps were rigged, she added: “I can't ever tell you what I’m going to do on a particular case, but I can tell you my values, and common sense tells you that it’s wrong.”)

Voters are also evenly split in North Carolina—illustrated by the fact that a statewide race elected Democrat Roy Cooper as governor—but there, too, gerrymandering has rigged the maps for the Republicans. After a Democrat switched sides to give the Republicans a veto-proof majority in both houses of the legislature, the House of Representatives last week passed laws taking away the governor’s power to make appointments to state and local election boards and removing the tiebreaker seat the governor appointed to the state board. 

Instead, the legislature has taken over the right to make those appointments itself, meaning that election rules could become entirely partisan. At the same time, the legislature exempted its legislators from complying with the state open-records law that requires redistricting documents be public.

In Ohio, almost 75% of voters agreed to amend the state constitution in 2018 to prohibit political gerrymanders. Nonetheless, when the Republican-dominated legislature drew district maps in 2021, they gave a strong advantage to Republicans. The state supreme court struck the maps down as unconstitutional, but the U.S. Supreme Court permitted them to stay in place for the 2022 election. The court will now revisit the question, but it has moved further to the right since 2022.

In Alabama, in June, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision that the maps in place in 2022 were likely unconstitutional and must be redrawn to include a second majority-Black district. But when the state legislature drew a new map the next month, it defied the court. The court was shocked at the refusal to comply, and appointed a special master, who today offered three options. Any of them would offer the Democrats a chance to pick up another seat, and the state is challenging the new maps.

Tennessee shows what gerrymandering does at the state level. There, Republicans tend to get about 60% of the votes but control 76% of the seats in the House and 82% of the seats in the Senate. This supermajority means that the Republicans can legislate as they wish. 

Gerrymandered seats mean that politicians do not have to answer to constituents; their purpose is to raise money and fire up true believers. Although more than 70% of Tennessee residents want gun safety legislation, for example, Republican legislators, who are certain to win in their gerrymandered districts, can safely ignore them. 

Tennessee shows the effects of gerrymandering at the national level as well. Although Republican congressional candidates in Tennessee get about 65% of the vote, they control 89% of Tennessee’s congressional delegation. In the elections of 2022, Florida, Alabama, and Ohio all used maps that courts have thrown out for having rigged the system to favor Republicans. The use of those unfair maps highlights that the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives by only the slimmest of margins and explains why Republicans are determined to keep their gerrymanders.

Because their seats are safe, Republicans do not have to send particularly skilled politicians to Congress; they can send those whose roles are to raise money and push Republican ideology. That likely explains at least a part of why House Republicans are no closer to agreeing on a deal to fund the government than they have been for the past several months, even as the deadline is racing toward us, and why they are instead going to hold an impeachment hearing concerning President Joe Biden on Thursday. 

Michigan was one of the Operation REDMAP states, redistricted after the 2010 election into an extreme gerrymander designed by Republicans who bragged about stuffing “Dem garbage” into four districts so that Republicans would, as one said, stay in power for years. In 2016 a Michigan woman, Katie Fahey, started a movement to get rid of the partisan maps. In 2018, despite a Republican lawsuit to stop them, they successfully placed an initiative to create an independent redistricting commission on the ballot. It passed overwhelmingly. 

After the 2020 census the commission’s new maps still slightly favored Republicans because of the state’s demographic distribution—Democrats are concentrated in cities—but the parties were competitive. In 2022, Democrats took control of the state government, winning the House for the first time since 2008.

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[nokingsonlyfooles]

No Tagbacksies...

But I want to talk about this part:

Conservatives argue that Section 3 could apply to Vice President Kamala Harris, for example — it was used to block from office even those who donated small sums to individual Confederates. Couldn’t it be used against Harris, they say, because she raised money for those arrested in the unrest after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020?

I got sucked into info-dumping about needing to look at intent and results along with method yesterday, and this is why that's so freaking important. "No u" is not just for arguing with strangers on the internet, it's for political action.

The above is a threat, an attempt to make Democrats back down from invalidating Trump off the ballot. Specifically Democrats, because if they don't play nice with Republicans, Republicans won't play nice with them. (Ha-ha, sure wish I knew why Dems are always so willing to believe the GOP will play nice!) Will they actually back down because of this? I don't know. Will Republicans actually follow through on it whether they back down or not? I don't know that either!

But I do know that this is only a viable threat because we're looking at method over results and intent. If we oversimplify to the point that we're willing to accept doing violence to resist the government is wrong, no matter who or why or how much, this is a perfectly cromulent argument. The January 6 "rioters" did violence to resist the government and so did the BLM "rioters." Insurrectionists! We'll have to bar everyone associated from office! Wow, but that's a lot of people. Maybe we're all being a little overzealous about this "insurrection" thing, eh?

Okay, say it with me so you don't forget: Violence in support of a wannabe dictator does not equal violence in support of people who keep getting murdered by police. And if you've got room for a little extra credit: Property damage does not equal showing up with a scaffold and demanding to hang the Vice President.

I've mentioned the Machine that Dispenses Justice before.

It's a unicorn because it's not real. We can't build a legislative structure that coughs up justice every time without any human imperfection to guide, interfere with or mitigate it. The complex interplay between method, results and intent is only part of why.

Neoliberals (among others who buy their rhetoric) really want that that Justice Machine. The messiness and conditionality of real justice bothers them. Conservatives DGAF, but they're willing to pretend in order to get Democrats to shoot themselves in the foot. See above. Oh noes! The Justice Machine won't work every time if you add a piece that requires a human being to detect nuance! Violence is always wrong, isn't it? Maybe, if we just agree that the threat of violence was overblown in this case, we can leave this broken gear aside and get back to building the machine for real? (As soon as it's politically expedient, we're going after that Black woman, aren't we? Oh, yeah. Totally.)

While we're gearing up to blame voter apathy, poor white trash and privileged Progressives for whatever the election might bring, the folks in the Room Where It Happens are busy making deals that will bypass the voters altogether. Does the current Machine that Dispenses Justice (justice pending) say a man who wants to end democracy is allowed to run in a (theoretically) free and fair democratic election? I don't know yet, but your input will not be required for this aspect of our "democracy." Don't call us (or do, we have plenty of volunteers and form letters for dealing with you!), we'll call you when it's time to pick a candidate. NO! DON'T VOTE THIRD PARTY! ARE YOU MAD?!?

But with Republicans willing to forgive people who want to hang them for the sake of winning a few more elections, and Democrats elevating compromise above self-preservation, even if Biden wins, you might not get that peaceful transfer of power you want. You might not get that safety you want. We have yet to generate consequences that will take Trump (or another man like him) out of the game, although we swear up and down that the system we've built is meant to do that. The Machine that Dispenses Justice (justice pending) just can't process someone with that level of power and privilege. And that's not justice... or democracy. That's a fucking emergency, we are about to have a fucking election, but I don't hear any candidates willing to admit it yet.

So what are we fighting for?

I know you have an answer. You're a human being with a human brain; you can think when you want to. But, no matter what your answer is, are you sure that's what the folks on your ballot are fighting for too?

[dumbestthingiveeverheard]

Dumbest Thing I've Ever Heard: 7/31/2023

Fifth Place: Erick Erickson

On 7/30/2023, Mr. Erickson tweeted the following:

Starting to see more and more progressives demand public swimming pools. Get ready for the next entitlement program.

Not public swimming pools! Anything but public swimming pools!

By the way, the top reply is somebody pointing out that the city Erickson lives in--has multiple public swimming pools:

I'm sorry, I can't get over this: Erickson is seriously concerned that progressives are going to--what exactly? Use tax payer dollars to make the community better? That's really something you view as a concern? As one Twitter user put it:

i like that the worst thing this guy can imagine is americans collectively deciding to use the wealth they produce and the taxes they pay to give themselves something nice

Fourth Place: Stephen Strang

Right-wing watch posted a clip of him on Friday talking about allowing drag queens to read to children, he says "They would not let someone dressed up in a Nazi uniform go in and read stories to children."

First off, who exactly is the "they" in this case? Second off, there is obviously no comparison between the ideology of the most genocidal and murderous regime of the twentieth century and people dressing in drag, and the fact that you think these two things are on even remotely the same level shows there is something wrong with you.

Third Place: Donald Trump

NBC reached out to forty-four of Trump's former cabinet officials to see how many of them would support his 2024 run for re-election--only four did. Those four, for those curious, are Mark Meadows, Ric Grenell, Matthew Whitaker, and Russ Vought. A Tea Party holdover who played a key role in the Freedom Caucus until he was made Trump's Chief of Staff and who appeared in a debunked creationist propaganda film, a small time ambassador who once got into a fight with Nick Fuentes over if he was immoral for being a homosexual, a failed Congressional candidate turned Attorney General, and a man who is only known for hindering Biden's transition to the Presidency, respectively.

What I find funny though is not that this group of nitwits have endorsed Trump's re-election, but that they are the only ones who worked with Donald Trump to have done so. If so few of the people who were around Donald feel comfortable giving him a second term, what should that say to the rest of us?

Second Place: Jonathan Chait

What's wrong with this picture?

If you said the fact that it implies the corruption of a Supreme Court Justice is on the same level as the corruption of the son of the President despite one actually having the power to impact people's lives and the other not, you'd be correct. However, this false comparison is the entire basis of New York Magazine's article "The Sleaze Problem: How Democrats can clean up the Supreme Court and address the Hunter Biden affair." Why Democrats need to address the Hunter Biden affair--which is little more than trumped up charges against a private system--I'm not sure.

The column even sees its author admitting that nothing Hunter Biden did was illegal while also accepting the incorrect notion that nothing Clarence Thomas did was illegal.

The article proposes that Democrats should propose an ethics code for the Supreme Court while aiming for Republican support through also creating a stricter ethics code around the actions of family members of politicians. Of course, Chait admits this wouldn't actually work because doing so would indict the Trump kids even more than Hunter Biden--but on the bright side, at least the Democrats now have an answer for the irrational and nonsensical charges against Hunter Biden. If only Democrats would play into GOP talking points, that would show them.

Winner: Samuel Alito

Did you know that nothing in the Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate the Supreme Court? Well that's what Samuel Alito thinks--of course, it isn't actually true. Congress specifically has the power to stop courts from ruling on specific issues, to determine who is on the Supreme Court, and various other forms of regulation--but Alito doesn't want to mention that, because that could get in the way of his power grab.

Samuel Alito, you've said the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

[academy13]

Alright, here's the deal people who are finally coming of age to vote. Folks born in 96 voted in their first presidential election in 2016, except not everyone in the 18-29 age bracket went out to vote. Registering is well and good, but if you don't actually go out to vote you won't do much of anything. For some folks this year will be their third, some their first presidential election. Register, then go out to vote for fucks sake. If you want to keep fascists out of power, go vote. They don't want you do vote because it means they lose power because they can't scare their aging base (the average age of all registered voters is 50, and more than half of Rebublican and GOP leaning voters are 50 and older. They use very old fears to get this base to vote to keep them in power, and tear away our education because education = knowledge. And knowledge = power) into handing away fundamental rights. That older base largely isn't paying attention to the fact they're being manipulated, heavily. Yes, propaganda features everywhere on all sides, but fear related propaganda means the facts are very hard to hear. The point is to make the facts uncomfortable to hear, no matter how good those facts are.

And there's never ever going to be a perfect candidate, don't hold out for that. Life just doesn't work that way, the best we can do is damage control. I saw somewhere vote your conscious in the primaries, vote damage control in the general. That's accurate, because if you want your candidate to have a shot at the general you vote for them. Then come primaries you have to look and see what's the lesser of two evils. So in this case this year, yeah Biden ain't great, the entire mess with Israel ain't great, but Orange Biff has been VERY vocal of his support for dictators. He wants to be like them... 34 felony counts wants to be like Nentenyahu, Putin, Kim Jong Un... he literally wants to run the country the same way they do. He looks up to them. Biden is the lesser of two evils in a very shit situation. You have to vote to keep the MAGAts out of power, you have to. Fascists don't make things easy at all, but if you want to keep your fundamental rights you have to swing to get to first base. You have to swing to keep in the game because then you can go out to protest and sign petitions and force your representatives to represent YOUR INTERESTS, not the interests of corporations. Our system of government is far from perfect, but we have to fight to keep it so that we can MAKE IT BETTER.

And for fucks sake, think for a second about the platform of each party. What do they stand for? And if they stand for nothing, what will they fall for?

[emperorblargus]

Why Blargus thinks you should Vote Democrat

Why you should vote Democrat.

I posted this on one of my other accounts, but this is closely connected to Twitter so I decided to repost it under my Twitter Handle.

I'm not an American, if I were I decided (long ago) if I were, I'd probably be an "independent" because political parties can and do go bad, but I also didn't see an election in living memory I wouldn't have preferred the (D) candidate save for a few cases where a third party or actual independent candidate might win, and had a decent platform.

Fact is this election is going to affect all of us on the planet because of the influence of American politics (despite everything else), and one option should clearly be better than the rest. And it concerns society and civilization in general.

First of all, regards democracy (small-d): whatever you want to call "this system", it's supposed to run with a constitution of sorts and it also requires standards for structural reasons.

Not all standards are enforced legally, some of them you have to impose yourself. Think, I DO NOT WANT THAT HAPPENING IN MY HOUSE. Just that.

On this metric alone, Republicans should not be elected in.

Because their standards of behavior aren't going to allow supporting a democratic society. Or a society, for that matter.

There's a lot that Republican politicians, and many connected to them, claim to think is destroying society. I'll just lay down the facts, which of course represent what's going on in reality, and reality has a well known checks notes furry, transgendered, liberal, leftist, socialist bias among other things.

-Trans people aren't destroying society. -Homosexuals and bisexuals aren't destroying society. -Polyamory isn't destroying society as long as there is respect for people. -Smoking weed doesn't destroy society, if you moderate.

-Abortions aren't destroying society. -Renewables aren't destroying society. -Immigrants aren't destroying society. -Other races aren't destroying society. -Many religions aren't destroying society

-"Edicating" people isn't destroying society. -Basic reading comprehension, writing, and arithmetic isn't destroying society.

And, I'll just stop at this one: -That it costs $50k to diesel up your yacht, isn't destroying society.

The environmental damage though, maybe, as well as your selfishness.

Now also, society isn't just "having children" it's about having and maintaining the whole thing, contributing, having respect for "other people" (that's a term you'll hear a lot).

It also shows that the Republican "agenda" doesn't seem to have a point to it. On the other hand… -Forcing women to give birth and have children they don't want, and refusing to support those kids from the state end afterwards, IS destroying society.

-Destroying the foundation of common truths IS destroying society. -Attacks on folks fueled by lunatic conspiracy theories IS destroying society. -Climate change denial prevents action required to maintain a liveable planet, and that IS destroying society.

-Disenfranchising folks just because they have a differing amount of skin melanin, IS destroying society. -Tossing people in jail over absolute bull[BLEEP] IS destroying society. -Mass surveillance enables a lot of the above damaging behaviour and IS destroying society. -Starting a bunch of wars, IS destroying society. Will cover later.

-Environmental decay IN GENERAL (be it climate change or dumping garbage in rivers) IS destroying society. -Being unable to maintain critical infrastructure, be it electrical, communications, roads, bridges, ports, airports, spaceports, farming, IS destroying society.

-People having to sleep on the street IS destroying a society, because those people can't think beyond their basic needs for survival. -Destruction of education, be it K-12 or university up to the professor level, IS destroying society. -Destruction of arts IS destroying society.

-Rampant sexism IS destroying society. -Rampant racism IS destroying society. -Rampant bigotry IS destroying society. -Rampant transphobia IS destroying society. -Rampant hatred for other religions IS destroying society. -Rampant hatred for other people, IS destroying society.

On this whole metric, Republicans SHOULDN'T be in charge. At all. They're the party of destruction and decay. At some point you have to kick that out… else you won't have a society of any kind, or civilization.

Note, I did not add "democratic" before "society".

This kind of "Bec Noir" behavior is not conductive to society however you organize it.

In a democracy, you need to vote that out. Completely. Which is supposed to be the advantage of the system.

It means there's supposed to be a level of respect, so you don't need to have a decision taken at the level of some Earl to raise an army and replace someone.

This also preserves institutions between changes of government so you don't start from square 1.

So, yeah, this "democracy" thing is kind of important as is making sure the Republicans, AKA GOP, really the "GQP" don't get a hold of power. Ideally, this should settle the matter 100%.

For the sake of finishing the "other matters"…

The economy IS doing gr8. There's some consequences that come with full employment, but if full employment is the goal you need to deal with them.

Employment is pretty much "full", lower than ever. This also means it's hard to hire people, because now for the first time in 40 years the employer has to compete and nobody wants to work for $10/hr (or for that matter, $15/hr) when they can earn more elsewhere.

And, there's also quality of life stuff so people might take a dollar cut per hour to not be moving stuff around unless they absolutely have to, and that's "state of emergency" level of an event. It means you're invaded and there's a draft, and this is so you keep your freedom or a country in order.

Maybe those whining about the lack of workers should hire immigrants, eh? But that would mean… working with other people, and they absolutely do not want to do that for some other reason. So what DO they want? Put that in your pipe and smoke it. And then answer that question. You won't like what you realize when you work it out.

Hint: They don't like "other people".

Next up, inflation, which has MANY causes. Democrats have done what they can, and what they can WITH the level of control they have.

In part this is because conservatives tried to offload manufacturing to other countries with more authoritarian regimes, overseas at a high rate to avoid having to negotiate with unions.

And that it was cheaper, but then you don't want to put all your eggs into one basket in case something goes wrong, or in case the Chinese people don't want to do that work anymore. Which is quite the privileged take, don't you think? Who'd have thought that, Chinese (and Korean, and Indian, and Vietnamese, and Singaporean people, and Thais…, you know, the other people I keep mentioning) are… people, with their own desires and the ability to go up in life one way or other, individually or collectively?

Guess what the "folks in charge" did, and remember who they are or where the roadblocks came from in America. Mostly: Republicans, who had a stranglehold over government (they used their power as such).

It's almost as though the modern "conservative" (and self-professed centrist, and self-professed moderate) thinks that those people have an obligation to serve the top 10-20% of society (includes middle-class westerners) for the rest of all time with cheap goods, and that social structure should be fixed. It's a neufeudal issue.

And this is completely contrary to any post-enlightenment thought. America isn't supposed to work that way, it's supposed to be a land of opportunity.

COVID came a-knocking, and then China decided not to sacrifice the lives of their citizens and that supply of cheap goods was cut off. Not just that… but also Chinese people (and Indians, and Koreans) were "going up in life", and eventually they have to answer the question why shouldn't they pursue other jobs instead of "supplying the west with an endless quantity of disposable plastic forks and cheap goods".

So there's your long-form, inflation answer. Much likes folks in the west are resigning en-masse, or have been, from jobs that aren't great, in favour of higher-paid jobs (or jobs that have a better quality of life and won't wear you out by the age of 40-50 leaving you at the mercy of underfunded social security systems), Chinese people are thinking the same thing. And the rest.

So the west now has to pick up the slack. Who has a plan to solve this? Only Democrats do.

Democrats' attempts to rebuild industries will solve that… as fast as those industries can be rebuilt. Or built. That takes a long time - more than 2 years. People will have to "stick with the program" proverbially.

Republicans don't seem to have any other solutions to the supply chain issue, except forcibly detransitioning trans people by fascistic means and yelling at women to get back in the kitchen. Sorry, that's just how I'm seeing it, and that's what we're literally seeing.

On top of this you have greedflation. Companies are jacking prices up in lockstep, and reaping profits. This is a "market failure" situation and one where government should step in, and is supposed to, to curb "anticompetitive behaviour" for one.

Normally you'd issue a warning and then use price controls as a last resort, BUT you're dealing with a huge well of bad faith here. These companies just might squeeze the supply, to create artificial shortages. Don't bet against it.

Ultimately, you'd have to use a combination of defense production act, price controls, and establish a whole government agency to oversee this. It requires more democrats in power, not less, to address that.

Regards the price of petrol (gasoline), the US has mostly been able to cope by releasing supplies of crude from the strategic reserve.

Republican commentary on Keystone XL has been utterly irresponsible and contains way too many falsehoods to be even contemplated.

For example: That Keystone XL was intended to supply Americans. It wasn't. The point was to get low-quality oil, which couldn't be handled in American refineries or cost far more (4 times as much), to ports in America and to export it. Not a drop was intended for American consumption, and using it would drive up the price anyway due to the far-higher cost of refining (and retooling refineries to use it, mayhaps).

The last cause of this is the war in Ukraine, and to be honest we didn't start that. The chips had fallen down after Maidan in a certain way, Russia decided to try to disrupt that and it created the Z-war situation with mass-murder of civilians and all kinds of war crimes. This can't be fixed on our end - it's on the aggressor to withdraw.

And Ukraine does have a functioning democracy, for example with Poroshenko stepping down when Zelenskyy won.

These people will continue to fight on with or without western support, the USA should support them as they are the ones being attacked here.

So I don't see much happening that ways besides Republicans ruining America's reputation further.

Regards "progressive issues", it should be self-evident that Republicans withdrawing rights from "other people" (read: LGBTQIA+ community, other races, other religions) isn't good, particularly for them, and it's flat out wrong. Actually this should not be considered such a progressive issue. You're destroying the lives of these people and destroying their ability to partake in our society. This is just wrong.

Hey, I covered that already.

Further points:

Biden has acted on student debt, at least with a stopgap measure. You're getting stuff delivered from the guy.

Biden passed several reconstruction bills with the help of a Democratic congress, mostly. And the Inflation Reduction Act.

Biden has backed the rights of trans people and other minority groups.

Unionization is up, that's been promoted by Biden, much of the action is grassroots, and Democrats have not gotten in the way of the process.

Lastly… you're going to have to make some sacrifices and what's being asked… isn't a lot. Much is being delivered, and is yet to be delivered if you get more Democratic control. I don't see any good outcomes of any period of Republican control of even one house of Congress.

You want to know why the older generation was called "The Greatest Generation"? Because they'd put their self interests aside and come together for the good of the nation. A concept so foreign to most of you, that when you call yourselves patriots, I laugh hysterically.— Melo "Super 8/Evil Institute Director" Dotty (@MeloDotty) January 3, 2022

[xiu21chen99]

hxh headcanon/imagine.

again... still about hisoillu but about their engagement instead of illu's influenced fashion choice.

also this is more of... idk it gave reason why they chose to marry instead of uh other ways i guess??

i've seen so many fanarts where illu would break the news to the zoldycks or how killu would react to having hisoka as his brother in law- like srsly it's meme worthy at this point- and lotsa ones that showed how hisoka proposed as a joke or smtg but... I've been overthinking abt it these past few days sO i present to you how i think "the big question aka the proposal" happened... (manga spoilers??)

it's after hisoka resurrected himself obviously, and def after he killed kortopi and shalnark (so he knew there was gonna be empty slots in the spiders' lineup)

i imagine illu went back to the zoldyck estate after the whole fiasco and only heard of hisoka's "death" from rumors while he was on a mission

and then when he was idk maybe contemplating on whether or not he should visit the body(?) to pay respects or something, he gets a text message from the devil himself

their text went like this probably:

hisoka: hey~ where are you right now?♠️ (and no u can't tell me hisoka doesn't text w card suits u just can't-)

illumi: who are you and how did you get the phone you are currently using?

hisoka: ooh~ illu~ i feel betrayed, did you delete my number?♣️

illumi: hisoka is dead

hisoka: *image attached*

illumi: oh

illumi: hello hisoka, how are you still alive?

hisoka: you sound disappointed~♦️

illumi: i kind of am...

hisoka: rude, just tell me where you are♥️

...and that's how they met up?? ngl i think illu has a know-it-all syndrome where he just has to,,, k n o w everything

he's curious so he agrees to the meetup ofc

he's also surprised when he sees hisoka is in good shape when they meet (idk at a bar in an unknown city?)

they drink whiskey on the rocks because... you know...

hisoka explains how he survived and his next plan of action (which is terminate the spiders)

illumi makes a mental note of nen after death bc he's heard and seen it all before but... not to this extent,

this is gonna be,,, bland but i think this is the logic behind why hisoka chose to get married/engaged instead of just paying up front (reference to the ten dons' commission to get chrollo killed and chrollo's commission to get the ten dons killed)--

anyways here's how their conversation goes:

i: "why did you want to talk in person?"

h: "oh y'know, for old times sake."

i: "...right"

hisoka laughs, "okay so maybe i want to ask you for a favor..?"

confused, illumi asks, "why could you not have just texted if you wanted me to kill someone for you?"

h: "no, no- wait, actually, you're not too far off."

i: ~mOrE cOnfUsiOn~ "huh?"

h: "how do contracts for assassination work in your... family business?"

i: "half the promised pay before, the remaining half afterwards. should the target be eliminated by a third party, the assigned zoldyck still gets the pay and should the employer die, then the contract is terminated and the zoldyck will report back immediately."

h: "and has anyone made a contract to have themselves terminated?"

i: "i beg your pardon?"

h: "what complications will arise should your employer's target be... themselves?"

i: "i believe... i have never encountered such circumstance before. the people who hire us are those who have enough money and resource to have their enemies killed quickly. no one's tried to test the zoldyck assassination prowess."

h: "so... how will that work?"

i: "are you implying this is the reason why you have contacted me today?"

h: "yes~ ♥️" (how he said a heart emoji out loud is up to you, reader)

i: "it will be a pointless paradox. logically, the zoldyck will only get the employment bill. and i, myself, do not find pleasure in going for the kill like you lest i get my reward, so you will not get a contract out of me, hisoka."

h: "is there no leeway?"

i: "a zoldyck stands up to their word. so no."

h: "even for a friend?~ ♦️"

i: "we are not friends, hisoka-"

hisoka raises his glass of whiskey along with his eyebrow.

i: "oh..."

h: "didn't you tell dear killua that a zoldyck didn't need friends?"

i: "you... are an associate, someone reliable in the killing world. it's different."

h: "hypocrite"

i: "i ask you for favors and you make me return them. it is not like we spend our time together leisurely like killu with that island boy..."

hisoka clinks their matching glasses of whiskey even though his is already empty, a shit-eating grin on his lips.

i: "you suggested we meet here."

h: "this isn't the first time we went out to drink, right illu?"

i: "regardless!! i will not kill you just for half the money. i do not like wasting efforts on fruitless missions."

h: "as i said, is there no exception, to make sure you get my money if you were to succeed in killing me?"

i: "are you doubting my skill, hisoka?"

h: "that's not the point right now~ ♠️"

i: "wait, why do you want me to get all of your money?"

h: "haven't we just gotten over this subject? because you're my friend, of course."

i: "i... we are not friends, hisoka."

hisoka claps, "that's it! illumi!! ♣️"

i: "eh?"

h: "marry me! that way in our prenup I'll make sure you get all of my money, and even without a prenup you'll still get it since you'll be my only relative! that solves it!"

i: "hisoka, are you sure death did not took a toll on your brain? you did say you used Bungee Gum only on your heart and lungs..."

h: "i'm being serious, illumi!! and doesn't this solve your earlier conflict? we don't have to be friends, we'll be husbands!"

i: "do not use that tactic with me, you manipulative bastard. stop joking."

h: "this is purely beneficial for you, honestly i don't get why you just won't accept it."

i: "then humor me this first, why now?"

h: "dear illu, i've been to literal hell and back. i think it's time to leave my mark in case i fail to escape death again."

i: "was it that bad?"

h: "you'll love it there, illu~ ♥️"

h: "on a more serious note, though, i do plan to marry you. out of everyone i've encountered, you're the most eligible candidate. you're powerful, fully capable and extremely pretty to boot! you're the ideal husband!"

(blushing obviously, illumi downs the remaining whiskey in his glass) i: "death has changed you, hisoka."

h: "so?"

i: "fine."

h: "excellent!"

and in one fell swoop, illumi has a pin against the curve of hisoka's jugular, wrist held tightly by hisoka- a card matching against his own neck.

"not yet, dear husband." hisoka whispered into his ear, "we have to manage the papers first. and i've a request before you do."

they let each other go at the same time, not even breathing an unnecessary breath in the other's personal space (well, they're nearly pressed thigh to thigh anyways, what's the point of personal space anymore-)

"a condition rather than a request, really."

"what?" hisoka orders them refills, and downs his when it arrives.

"join the ryodan first."

glass already pressed on thin lips, illumi's confused hum resonates softly into the concave utensil. "why?"

"so things can get more interesting. i assume you know of the dark continent expedition that's soon to take place?"

"father has advised i take part on it, since kalluto told me the ryodan plans to rob some cliches who'll join the expedition- to look after him. you want me to join them?"

"yes, and i plan to board as well, don't fret."

illumi's eyes turn to slits, "how should i know you would be there? i can't take your word when you might just disappear when we've all boarded."

hisoka grins, wide then wider, "you should know by now illu, i plan to avenge my wounded pride. that damned chrollo didn't even fight me properly."

tilting his head, illumi stared at the man beside him, "is that not contradictory? i thought you did not mind your opponent using whatever means necessary to win?"

"magicians use tricks and misdirection to awe the audience," hisoka says almost thoughtlessly, "chrollo's a narcissistic hypnotist who used the audience as a damned shield because he knew he couldn't handle me face-to-face."

he groans, tinged in regret. "i shouldn't have picked heaven's arena, if i'd chosen a more discreet location then maybe the damage won't be this bad."

"damage?" illumi rests his chin on his palm, facing his husband.

hisoka swipes a hand over his face, and the glamour comes off. the picture he sent illumi now present in front of him. he was missing a nose, his left hand didn't have any finger left and dried blood chipped on his white skin. "oh."

with another swipe, everything's made correct again. hisoka was grinning again. he downs the remaining alcohol and leaves jenny bills under the emptied glass.

"come, lovely husband. we're to elope and legalize our union!"

illumi follows suit after downing his own glass, "i think there might be another loop hole, if you were to join the family. zoldycks do not kill family."

"so if i were to wed you, here and now, you'd think me more of a family than alluka?"

"alluka is not family."

"are those your words, illumi? or silva's?"

"i..."

"wow, you're really just as fucked up as i am."

"where do you plan to take me? i've just said i cannot kill family."

hisoka chuckles, "then you're the one to take my name, of course."

"preposterous!"

"who the hell still uses that word?"

"i am and will always be a zoldyck-"

"exactly. it's just legal papers, if you kill me then you'll just be a widow and even get your name back! see how everything'll work out in the end?"

"hisoka-"

"are you doubting your skill of assassination, my dearest husband?"

"... i better get the most expensive ring in this damned city."

"that's the spirit! now let's go get married!"

"wait, hisoka. what is your last name?"

later that night, when they leave a chapel, something gold glimmers on hisoka's bungee gum/texture surprise ring finger. a matching one around illumi's finger.

unlike hisoka, though, illumi had an extra red glimmer right under that gold, in the dead center of a silver band of intricately designed pattern. hisoka had foregone the traditional diamond in favor of a 16 carat ruby engagement ring, such a curious choice but illumi accepted it all the same...

(much later on, hisoka took both rings as collateral and reminded illumi that he would get them back even if he died bc it was in their damn prenup- and bc it was technically bought under illumis name and that's how hisoka assured illu that he'd be on that black whale,,, bc he had the rings and planned to give them back to him there)

"I thought a red gemstone was better suited for the rather bloody and murderous ending that our relationship will inevitably come to, wouldn't you agree?"

-Hisoka Morow whenever someone mentions his preference of proposal ring...

"I disagree with most of his ideals, our relationship has always had a fragile foundation, and I knew from the start that we'd eventually end up killing each other."

-Illumi Morow, nee Zoldyck when asked about his thoughts on his husband...

[sirthisisa-wendys]

The Enforcers: Part 4 (Geto Suguru x Fem!Reader)

synopsis: You're propelled to the heights of fame with your constant success with Suguru, but what goes up... must come down.

wc: 1.3k

tw: none (next part will be different)

masterlist

Success.

Your name and the word "success" are intertwined by the third month of your Kitsune career. With the help of Suguru, you're practically unstoppable, sniffing out criminals all over the city and bringing them out to face justice. Even the Leviathans come to admire Geto, who stands tall as redeemed and a big brother to many of the new recruits.

But even as you reach the height of your fame, there's a nagging feeling that sits in the back of your mind.

Same misery, but with a paycheck.

Same misery, but with a paycheck.

Same misery, but with a paycheck.

It's like a chant that haunts you in the middle of the night, and you lay awake most nights, thinking of escaping. But then the sun comes up, you rise from your bed, and you pretend that everything is okay for another eighteen hours.

Suguru notices your despondency and even mentions it over dinner, but you snap at him, telling him you were "fine", and leave him alone with the others. As you stalk off, you grumble to yourself and rub your temples, wondering when the feelings would subside. When you reach your barrack, you slide into your chair and begin your research for your current mission when you frown at your computer screen.

You always closed out the network of files when you left the room.

So why was the finder open?

And why was there a file sitting on your computer labeled "For Y/n"?

You click on the file hesitantly, knowing any wrong move could open a virus on your desktop, but your scanner doesn't pick up anything odd, and the file opens, revealing four documents, two videos, and two audio files.

All of them are labeled with your first and last name except for the audio files, which are labeled "One" and "Two".

You hesitate again. What is this pandora's box, you wonder internally. Should you even... your mouse drags to the first audio file and you click on it. Your sound is too low to hear the first part, so you rewind it and play it again. You hear the following words first:

"Hello, y/n," a robotic voice says, its tone flat and unmoved, and goosebumps break out across your skin. "You have shown great promise in your field as a Kitsune, and we know you feel empowered by your success. But there are some things you should know about the men and women you work for." You pause the audio file, heart thumping wildly in your chest as you consider the idea that this is either a test of loyalty or a cruel prank. Either way, you'd had enough.

You stand from your computer and walk around your room, covering your prickly flesh with clammy hands. Someone broke into your room to put files on your computer, addressed them to you, and made it seem like you were being watched by some outside source. But who would want to scare you? Who would--

"Y/n?" Suguru opens your door and gives you a look of deep concern, but you try your best to mask your look of fear. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm okay; I haven't been sleeping well," you admit, and Suguru nods, rubbing his neck nervously.

"I have something that could help you if you want. Just a sleep aid. We're given it when we start training to calm us before--"

"Sure." Geto disappears, then reappears with two pink pills.

"Take these right before bed. You'll be off to sleep in no time."

"Thanks," you reply, setting them on your bedside table and stretching. Suguru stands in your bedroom, looking at you for a second more. "I should get off to--"

"Right," he mutters, then leaves you in the room by yourself again.

_____________________________________________________________

But you don't take the pills.

Instead, you stay awake, looking at the computer screen from your bed, wondering just who would be daring enough to come into your space uninvited and place those... things on your desktop.

Curiosity eats at you for three more hours until finally, at sunup, you crack.

Keys rattle furiously under your fingertips as you type in your password and click on the first audio file yet again.

"Hello, y/n. You have shown great promise in your field as a Kitsune, and we know you feel empowered by your success. But there are some things you should know about the men and women you work for. If you wish to proceed in this endeavor, click on the first video. We know you have no reason to trust us, but we hope you will see this as a show of good faith and use the information for good. Reveal, don't conceal."

You drift over to the first video file, and a black screen comes up, the title words popping up moments later:

L/N, W. May 23. Project Kudzu Debrief.

Your father appears on the screen right after, his eyes looking dead into the camera. He's in his standard, antiquated Kitsune attire, with more hair and brighter eyes than you've ever seen. He's much younger; that you recognize instantly.

"Okay, Mr. L/n, go ahead and state your rank and case for the CSB."

"Mr. W. L/N, Kitsune, Project Kudzu."

"Thanks," a man offscreen mutters, then the sounds of flipping paper can be heard. "Now tell us about your project and what the results of it were."

"Um..." Your father shifts in his chair then rolls his neck around. "Project Kudzu is... or was, my bad." Laughs. "Project Kudzu was a ten-year effort concerning the relocation of lower-class citizens into rougher areas to produce Leviathan recruits. I spearheaded the effort with my research, and my partner, Leviathan C--" The name is bleeped out. "helped with the evictions and relocations."

"Okay," Rustling papers again. "And what were the results of this?"

"Exponential growth of the Leviathan enlistment, sir." Your father adjusts his glasses, nodding stiffly.

"Were those the desired results?"

"Yes, sir."

The screen goes black, and you stare at your open-mouthed reflection, shock flooding your veins. "Please watch the next video" pops up on your screen, and you click on it instantly, instinctively knowing who's next.

L/N, F. May 31. Project Redroot Debrief.

Your mother appears on screen, her cheeks plumper and figure fuller than it currently is. She's youthful, with long hair pinned into a bun and also in an antiquated Kitsune uniform.

"Name, rank, project," a female voice mumbles off-screen.

"Ms. F. L/N, Kitsune, Project Redroot."

"What were the aims of your project?"

"To relocate potential candidates for Kitsune potions into areas where large populations of Kitsune already reside."

"And your goal?"

"To increase Kitsune families and potential enlistment."

"How successful were you?" Your mother smirks at the camera, propping her chin upon her palm.

"How successful do you think I was?"

When the screen goes black, the taste of bile rushes into your mouth, and you rush to your bathroom, shoving a mouthful of toothpaste and your toothbrush onto your teeth. Something you can control, something you can control. But even your toothbrushing - which is normally a soothing habit - can't wipe away the look on your mother's face at her triumph. Project Kudzu... Project Redroot...

How could your parents be a part of something so sinister? Making the poor poorer and the elite... more elite?

These videos have to be fake, you tell yourself, circling back to the computer. But when you look up the metadata- which is neatly scrubbed of any trace of third parties - you see that they are in fact originals of the interview.

Finally, you take a look at the documents, the insignia and red letters "CONFIDENTIAL TS_CO" watermarked on the endless pages. TS_CO= Top Secret Clearance Only. This is above your paygrade, and exponentially so. But as you skim the redacted information, you see names, dates, your parent's names, their information, metrics, graphs, everything that you need to know that Project Redwood and Kudzu aren't fake.

They're real.

And they both happened right before you were born.

_____________________________________________________________

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