#Interim President

[youthchronical]

Over 300 Alawite civilians killed amid Syria’s post-Assad turmoil - The Times of India

Security forces and their allies have killed over 300 Alawite civilians in recent days, amidst confrontations with militants supporting former president Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to Syria war monitor report on Saturday.Following the Islamist-led forces’ swift removal of Assad in December, Syria’s new leadership has struggled significantly with maintaining order, particularly facing…

[khiphop-discussions]

Korea impeached Han Duck Soo too

[i-want-to-be-spaghettified]

legitimately going insane

[sinnerista]

Jannik santo subito

[foxiapp]

Rajeev Shukla set to become BCCI’s interim president as Roger Binny set to leave due to age-cap rule | Cricket News

Veteran administrator Rajeev Shukla is set to become the interim president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), taking over from former India cricketer and incumbent Roger Binny, who will have to vacate the post due to an age-cap rule. Binny will turn 70 on July 19, which will trigger the BCCI’s age-limit clause. According to the board’s constitution, no person can hold any post…

[a2zsportsnews]

TC Names Simon as Interim President after Solomon Ouster

By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Wednesday, September 25, 2024Photo credit: Fred Mullane for Tennis Channel Facebook Tennis Channel has turned to a familiar face as its new leader. Bill Simon has been named TC Interim President, Tennis Channel announced today. TN Q&A: Roger Federer on RF Collection and Best Match Simon joined the network as CFO in 2005 and has served a variety of executive…

[luulapants]

Some of you are falling hard for the Trump/Musk anti-federal worker propaganda. I think part of the problem is that a lot of people genuinely don't know how the federal government works, so here's an overview on the intended and current state of the so-called fourth branch of government, the federal bureaucracy:

Executive agencies are considered to be within the executive branch, officially, but can only be created, disbanded, funded, and have new leadership appointed through congressional approval. Well, in theory that is.

The majority of staff in federal agencies are called "career staff" who are nonpolitical civil servants who do every kind of work you can imagine, from IT to accounting to scientific field work to livestock inspections to nursing at VA hospitals. They do not, typically, change from one administration to the next, which is essential to ensure the government is able to continue functioning without interruption. These individuals of course can and do hold their own political opinions, but there are stringent rules on how, when, and where they can express them. It is arguably the most racially diverse workforce in the country. Many are veterans, and many are disabled.

Each agency is headed by a political office appointed by the president and confirmed by Congress. This includes a Secretary or Administrator and all of their hand-picked office staff, who are called "politicals." However, even before Congress confirms the president's nominee, the president can appoint an interim leader with no approval, who has essentially all the same powers but can't hold the position for very long. In short, even in those offices where a leader has not been confirmed by Congress, they are being led by Trump appointees.

When Trump makes an Executive Order, those orders are immediately dispensed through the executive agencies, who must abide by the letter of the order. I saw someone say NPS was "complying in advance" by taking the T off LGBT, but these changes were made across all agencies in direct response to Trump's "Defending Women" order. Any career who did not follow this order would have immediately been fired with cause, no unemployment eligibility, and in the current environment we also know their position would be permanently dissolved.

This is what we're dealing with right now. Trump (and his puppet master Musk) do not have the authority to dissolve government agencies, but they are trying to gut them, harassing careers and making the public turn against them, conducting illegal firings, threatening them into resigning. When people leave, their positions will disappear. Their intent is to diminish the staff until the agencies are non-functional. That's why careers are picking their battles. We're holding on by our fingernails to keep federal agencies alive and functioning. We're in the midst of a hostile takeover, a literal coup of the US government.

Yes, it's awful the T was removed on the website. We don't want this. But I promise that is small potatoes compared to the other battles being fought. I have trans coworkers being forced back to the office and they don't know what bathroom they can use. Our personal information is being leaked to hate groups. Careers are getting threats and spam to their work and personal emails. Most of us expect to be illegally fired. Soon. Last week was the largest layoff in American history, and it's just the beginning.

Please support federal workers. We are under attack.

[robertreich]

Combine this with Trump’s attacks on higher education — his gutting the funding of the National Institutes of Health (which provides a large portion of biomedical research) and the National Science Foundation (engineering and computer research) and his effective closure of USAID (which underwrites research in global diseases). Put this together with Trump’s attacks on the freedom of speech of university students and professors. And with Trump’s (and RFK Jr.’s) attacks on vaccine science. With Trump’s and right-wing governors’ attacks on teaching the truth in our schools about America’s history of slavery and Native American genocide. Combine this with Trump’s attack on America’s libraries — last week’s executive order mandating cuts in the funding of libraries around the country — which will jeopardize literacy development and reading programs, reliable internet access for those without it at home, and homework help and other resources for students and educators. And his attacks on America’s museums (the same executive order cut their funding, too). And his attack on the arts, as illustrated by Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center (last month, he announced himself its new chair, replaced 13 board members, and inserted a new interim president). What’s the larger picture? Not an “attack on the liberal state,” as I keep reading. Not “the culmination of Trump’s culture wars.” Certainly not that Trump is seeking “small government” over “big government” or advancing traditional conservatism over traditional liberalism. What’s really occurring is an attack on the American mind.

[felassan]

SAG AFTRA news update:

"SAG-AFTRA Members Who Work on Video Games Go on Strike July 25th A.I. Protections Remain the Sticking Point SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, acting under the authority delegated by the SAG-AFTRA National Board, and with the unanimous advice and counsel of the Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee, called a strike of the Interactive Media Agreement, effective July 26 at 12:01 a.m. Today’s vote to strike comes after more than a year and a half of negotiations without a deal. The convenience bargaining group with whom SAG-AFTRA is negotiating includes Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Llama Productions LLC, Take 2 Productions Inc., VoiceWorks Productions Inc., and WB Games Inc. Any game looking to employ SAG-AFTRA talent to perform covered work must sign on to the new Tiered-Budget Independent Interactive Media Agreement, the Interim Interactive Media Agreement or the Interim Interactive Localization Agreement. These agreements offer critical A.I. protections for members. Negotiations began in October 2022 and on Sept. 24, 2023, SAG-AFTRA members approved a video game strike authorization with a 98.32% yes vote. Although agreements have been reached on many issues important to SAG-AFTRA members, the employers refuse to plainly affirm, in clear and enforceable language, that they will protect all performers covered by this contract in their A.I. language. “We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse A.I. to the detriment of our members. Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate,” stated SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher.   “The video game industry generates billions of dollars in profit annually. The driving force behind that success is the creative people who design and create those games. That includes the SAG-AFTRA members who bring memorable and beloved game characters to life, and they deserve and demand the same fundamental protections as performers in film, television, streaming, and music: fair compensation and the right of informed consent for the A.I. use of their faces, voices, and bodies. Frankly, it’s stunning that these video game studios haven’t learned anything from the lessons of last year - that our members can and will stand up and demand fair and equitable treatment with respect to A.I., and the public supports us in that,” said Crabtree-Ireland. “Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable A.I. protections, but rather flagrant exploitation. We refuse this paradigm – we will not leave any of our members behind, nor will we wait for sufficient protection any longer. We look forward to collaborating with teams on our Interim and Independent contracts, which provide A.I. transparency, consent and compensation to all performers, and to continuing to negotiate in good faith with this bargaining group when they are ready to join us in the world we all deserve." said Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh.  For more information and to search whether a video game is struck, please visit sagaftra.org/videogamestrike."

[source]

[flanarchy]

my school had an inauguration for its new president and it felt very satisfying when she was speaking and was like i’m gonna quote shirley chisholm and my friend in front of me and i both immediately said with her “if they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair!”

[youthchronical]

HRW says Syria must protect civilians after 'killing spree' - The Times of India

Representative image (Picture credit: AP) BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called on Syria’s new authorities to ensure accountability for the mass killings of hundreds of civilians in recent days in the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority.Violence broke out Thursday as security forces clashed with gunmen loyal to former president Bashar al-Assad, who is Alawite, in areas along the…

[liillyliilly]

tape me up, please? sugawara koushi x reader content; taping suga up- aka pure fluff 970 words

It was like any other day as Kiyoko’s friend really, dropping off your bag in the library for book club and then going to check on her- making sure your plans to hang out at your house after her volleyball stuff and your meeting as vice president of the Karasuno Literary Society.

So you bounded over to the gym, swinging your arms happily from side to side with a hum. When you peeked your head in, Kiyoko grabbed you by the hand and pulled you into the gym entirely. Harsh, and unusual, but you accepted the nudge and entered into the sweaty palace of the volleyball idiots.

“I need you to do something really quick for me, gotta run and grab my notebook from my locker, just stand here and wait for Yachi to take over.” Kiyoko is holding her hands out as if to prevent you from running away, soothing you and emphasizing how soon she’d return.

You just nodded.

Once Kiyoko had evacuated, you waved at your contemporary Japanese literature teacher, Sensei Takeda. Takeda smiled, holding up a book that you had recommended to him, and you throw him a thumbs up in return. You two were always exchanging books, and he always made sure to give you books that actually challenged you- instead of giving you the regular course books, you were getting literature he had read during University. With appropriate assignments and preparation for your third year final exams of course.

The watch on the wall started to taunt you, and you thought you could probably just leave. But Yachi still hadn’t appeared. Someone else had appeared instead.

“Tape me up, please?”

Sugawara Koushi, with his bare chest and hands holding rolls of pink and blue athletic tape.

You could feel the heat settle within your ears, burning like when the sun got particularly bad during the summer heatwaves.

“You should probably wait until Kiyoko or Yachi gets here,” You bit down on your lip seeing him bring his tongue out to swipe at his bottom lip slightly, “Or better yet, have someone on the team help you!”

Your feigned enthusiasm for a different solution to his problem caused him to roll his eyes.

“Everyone else is busy, see? Asahi and Noya are busy stretching. The first years are still changing, and the rest of the team is finishing a quick running drill outside. Just tape me. I’ll guide you, so you do it just how I like it.”

He shoved the rolls of tape into your hands and you swallowed thickly, feeling the dense stretchy tape in your hands.

“Are you sure this is how you like it?” You try to catch his eye, but he’s still lifting the back of his hair up with his hand and tilting his head down- trying to avoid getting hair in the strips of hot pink tape you were attaching from near his nape to across the back of his shoulder blade.

“Yes. Definitely.”

You get another strip of blue tape this time, following his instructions. This would curve around his rotator cuff, from the top of his shoulder to his mid-bicep. One piece for the front section and one piece for the back section, creating a sort of oval around his shoulder.

The lack of Kiyoko and Yachi was still an anomaly to you, in the next ten minutes, you would definitely have to leave to get back to your own club instead of acting as some sort of interim manager for Karasuno’s pretty boy Sugawara.

“Okay, can you get my lower back too?”

“Hmm?!” The sound you make is muffled, but not unheard by Sugawara- who’s fumbling over his words trying to avoid embarrassment.

“Just like from my mid-torso to my hip to like, the, uh, start of my volleyball shorts.” He traces his hand where he can reach, trying to illustrate where he wants the tape. His hand ends up right at the back of his shorts, at the small of his back.

His ears are red, his cheeks are pink, and his neck is the same salmon color as the tape you had applied.

“How many slices of tape do I need?”

Soon, Sugawara’s all taped up, and you think his skin is more plastic bandage than actual human flesh at this point.

“All good now?” You ask, standing up from how you’d kneeled off to the side of him to get the tape around his torso.

“Really good, like 100% better than anyone else could’ve done.” He reaches out and touches the side of your arm, squishing you a little.

“Thanks. I really should be heading out now,” You jut a thumb in the direction of the entrance and Sugawara nods furiously.

Later in the day, after practice, when Sugawara is handing two drinks from the vending machine to Yachi and Kiyoko, Kageyama asks Daichi a question.

“Sugawara never wears that much tape for a practice match, and he never has problems with his hips, why does he have support there?” Kageyama downs the rest of his water bottle. 

Daichi wipes sweat off his forehead as he shakes his head with some astonishment.

“Suga just wanted a certain someone’s hands all over him.”

Hinata pops into the conversation, “Ah! Takeda-sensei’s student yeah? The really nice third year who tried to help us with our reading Kageyama.”

Kageyama nods in understanding. “So, he pretended to need to get overly taped so he could have them touch him?”

Daichi pats Kageyama on the back, “Bingo.”

[unsolicited-opinions]

3/16/25 Reality Check: Mahmoud Khalil

1. Mahmoud Khalil is a spokesperson, organizer, and leader of CUAD.

2. CUAD is not a peace activist organization. It has repeatedly endorsed Hamas, violence towards Jews, and the destruction of Western civilization.

- CUAD endorsed Khymani James saying "Zionists do not deserve to live."

- Said CUAD: "We support liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance."

- CUAD says it is "fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization" which must "continue to escalate until the empire crumbles," citing the violent takeover of a prison in Bangladesh by Islamists as a model of escalation. It endorsed Casey Goonan's attempt to firebomb federal buildings in Oakland, CA and Goonan setting fires at UC Berkeley.

- This week, CUAD proudly painted the triangular target on the residence of Columbia's interim president Katrina Armstrong and threatened her. The same target has been painted on many US synogogues...by people who dishonestly claim their beef is with Israel, not Jews.

3. Khalil has not been "disappeared," his location is quite public.

4. Khalil does not need to have been convicted of a crime to be deported. Endorsing terrorism is more than legally sufficient grounds for deporting a green card holder.

§1227(a) states:

Any alien (including an alien crewman) in and admitted to the United States shall, upon the order of the Attorney General, be removed if the alien is within one or more of the following classes of deportable aliens...

And section 1227(a)(4)(B) states:

Any alien who is described in subparagraph (B) or (F) of section 1182(a)(3) of this title is deportable.

Section §1182(a)(3)(B)(i)(VII) extends deportability to any alien who:

...endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization

This is not a first amendment issue.

5. It is 100% valid to demand due process for Khalil and oppose any attempts by the Trump administration to skip, subver, or deny die process. Due process must always take place. Without it, we delegitimize our legal system and erode civil rights for all. I'm very glad Khalil is getting his due process.

6. Trump is using antisemitism as an excuse to attack individuals and institutions he opposes.

Trump is also using antisemitism in this way as a political wedge and to deepen the left's growing antisemitism. Hence the "Shalom Mahmoud" social media posts from the White House.

It's working because the leftist antisemites are about as gullible and intellectually lazy as their mirror-image opposites on the right, the MAGA/QAnon/Jan 6 crowd.

Leftist fears about Trump's desire and efforts to turn the US into a Turkey-style autocracy are valid and I share them- but it would have been 100% legal for Biden to enforce these laws. I dearly wish he had done so.

Trump's doing it immediately projects vibes of wrongdoing, worsened by his godawful philosemitic messaging.

[gwydionmisha]

This May Look Small, But Trump is seizing control of the judiciary, persecuting political opposition, and removing checks that prevent Autocracy.

He is calling openly for political prosecutions.

Donald Trump demands 'accountability' for his pursuers in Justice Department speech

They are criminalizing non-violent political speech.

Luckily, push back is having an effect.

Because what Ed Martin's doing is illegal and unethical.

They need to do this because Ed Martin is in danger of being disbarred for all the illegal and unethical things he is doing to persecute people Trump doesn't like.

[iamacolor]

the political mess that is France at the moment became even more messy when yesterday the leader of the historical right wing party called the Republicans announced on TV that he would consider an alliance with the main far right party for the next parliamentary elections to oppose the new alliance of the left (even though his party has historically been against any alliance with the far right - which he has said himself several times over the years - given that it was created to follow the ideology of Charles De Gaulle, who led the resistance army during ww2). But then most of his party said "we are absolutely not doing that", when the vice president reacted on TV she said "we're going to fire him, I don't know yet how we can do that since he's the head of the party but we'll find a way " and then the far-right leader confirmed the alliance while most of the republicans were saying no and some were even quitting. then today they tried to organise a council meeting to fire the president but he locked the doors of the headquarters so that no one could come in and he's inside while the rest of the party's leaders are outside and the main secretary announced he's fired and they've picked another interim president. so he posted about how the party's status don't allow the decision and so he's still the president. but now they apparently got a key and they're forcing the doors open. there's a new twist every 10 minutes

[beezhives]

thinkin' about ;;

post-war Hawks, now head of the crumbling Hero's Public Safety Commission, having very little free time anymore. it's ironic really, the man who preached about wanting heroes to have too much free time now has not nearly enough.

it was fine, at first. long days were to be expected immediately following the end of the war. they had cities, a whole nation, to rebuild, laws to rewrite, heroes and villains(?) to take care of. Hawks was okay not having free time, not having a second to breathe.

but, then you came along.

the HPSC needed restructuring, needed to rearrange the hierarchy and positions of its employees to better serve the people of Japan. and there, among the stack of personnel folders on his desk, sat your file.

"interim head of interpersonal– jeez, I don't like this job position already." what a mouthful, he thought while thumbing through your file one late summer evening. a job title that long surely meant it was an important position (it wasn't, not anymore.)

"we need a new head of marketing," Mera Yokumiru drawled from his spot on the other side of Hawks' desk. "or at least an interim one."

marketing. making the heroes look good, showing the public who they are and why they should be supported. hell, why not you? you've an impressive file, one full of accomplishments dating back years with plenty of good graces to boot.

of course, you're the perfect person for the position!

"no, thanks."

Mera all but begged the floor to swallow him whole at your immediate dismissal, the sound of Hawks' surprised squawk not helping.

"what d'ya mean, no thanks?" the head of the commission asked, leaning over the desk you sat behind. "it's a promotion! one that gets you, and your pretty face, out of this dim office for good."

not even looking up, far too focused on your current position's work, you wave him off dismissively. "I'm good where I'm at," you said. "I don't need to be in the light, I'll live. find someone else."

he didn't. well, he tried to the best of his ability but no one was you. Hawks made it his mission then, when he wasn't busy being President Hawks, to convince you to take the promotion.

he tried gifts (they sat on your desk unopened or distributed to your coworkers), conversations (you frequently dismissed him), and even bribes! (Mera had to drag him away.) but, as time went on Hawks had a hard time making time for you.

it was frustrating, honestly. Hawks wanted nothing more than to find a way to get you to listen, to get you to pay attention and hear him out, but there was just no time.

he was going to change that.

who knew that it would take finding your file in a stack of a hundred that would finally make him fight for free time again.

♡ any likes or shares would be appreciated. thank you for reading, see you later. ☁︎