#Interpreting Financial Statements

[noragaur]

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[ranjith11]

How we can use Code interpreter to enhance reporting | financial report | management report

In this video we talk about how we can use Code interpreter to enhance reporting. In this captivating video, we delve deep into the world of reporting enhancement through the innovative use of code interpreters. Discover how these interpreters can transform raw data into actionable insights, revolutionizing the way you approach reporting. From decoding complex patterns to uncovering hidden trends, the possibilities are endless. Join us on this journey to amplify your reporting prowess with the magic of code interpreters!

[slitheringghost]

Snape’s home life

These endless debates about the Blacks’ abuse (whether it existed or how severe it was) are interesting because you know which character we actually have no evidence of being abused by a parent, and especially not physically? Severus Snape.

(Which, for the record, I personally think he was, but I’m just trying to make A Point about fandom interpretations of abuse).

There was apparently a Pottermore article saying Tobias whipped Snape, but that’s completely extracanon, and iirc the article wasn’t even written by JKR. This is what is in actual canon:

Snape staggered; his wand flew upward, away from Harry — and suddenly Harry’s mind was teeming with memories that were not his — a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner. . . . A greasy-haired teenager sat alone in a dark bedroom, pointing his wand at the ceiling, shooting down flies. . . . (OoTP)

This is his dad verbally abusing his mother while Eileen cowers, and Snape cries watching them.

“How are things at your house?” Lily asked. A little crease appeared between his eyes. “Fine,” he said. “They’re not arguing anymore?” “Oh yes, they’re arguing,” said Snape. He picked up a fistful of leaves and began tearing them apart, apparently unaware of what he was doing. “But it won’t be that long and I’ll be gone.” “Doesn’t your dad like magic?” “He doesn’t like anything, much,” said Snape. (DH)

Here again, the focus is on the conflict and fighting between his parents rather than Tobias’s treatment of Snape.

Snape’s response and agitation here certainly indicates a bad home life - but witnessing your father constantly scream at your mother is still extremely scary and traumatizing. And would lead to the child feeling unsafe in the household, regardless of if it was directed towards him. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these are the only canonical allusions to Tobias's abuse that we have. (I suppose Snape's hatred of Muggles is another, but that could happen with far less severe abuse too - i.e. with Tom Riddle).

But there is no confirmation that Tobias’s abuse extended to Snape. (And we don’t even have evidence of Tobias physically abusing Eileen, much less Snape.) “He doesn’t like anything much” does indicate a bad relationship between Severus and Tobias too, but the actual severity of it is ambiguous. And it’s not always necessary that the abuse is inflicted on both spouse and child, and we have a very glaring example of this in canon - Barty Crouch Jr.

Crouch was abusive to and hated his son but deeply loved his wife. We have Barty Jr. saying “He loved her as he never loved me”, Crouch Sr. risking his job and reputation and even the possibility of being sent to Azkaban himself to give Mrs. Crouch her dying wish of freeing Barty Jr., Winky’s ability to guilt trip Crouch Sr. into letting his son attend the Quidditch match using his love for Mrs. Crouch, etc. We even have Mrs. Crouch crying as she witnesses her husband’s cruelty towards her son, just like Snape was crying while he witnessed Tobias abuse Eileen.

While Lily asks "doesn't your dad like magic?", Snape doesn't really confirm that as being true; magic clearly wasn’t banned in the house the way it was for Harry (due to the Dursleys’ hatred of it as much as the Statute), since Snape came into Hogwarts knowing a lot of magic, and it seems like Eileen had taught Snape a lot about the wizarding world as a child, and we see him use it to shoot down flies in his bedroom.

And “He doesn’t like anything much” is MUCH tamer and much less violent of a statement than “My mother had no heart, she kept herself alive out of pure spite”, “How she hated him, what a disappointment he was”, everything Walburga’s portrait says, the abuse getting to the point that Sirius ran away and then was blasted off the tapestry, Walburga blasting her brother off the tapestry for merely helping Sirius financially, Walburga being textually compared to Umbridge, Walburga’s portrait stretching clawed hands as though to tear at people’s faces (a clear allusion to physical violence), etc etc. We have MUCH more detail about the Blacks’ abuse than Snape’s.

So where exactly are y’all getting “Snape’s abuse was worse than Sirius’s/Tobias beat Severus/Tobias was physically abusive and Walburga and Orion weren’t/Walburga and Orion were better parents than Tobias, etc” from? Because it sure as hell isn’t canon!

As I said, I personally view Snape and Eileen as being physically abused by Tobias and think it’s implied in the text, but this shows the double standards for Snape vs. Sirius / view of the Black family as a whole.

(And this matches fandom's constant tendency to portray privilege and abuse as mutually exclusive, and framing severe domestic violence as Something Only Poor People Do And Aristocrats Would Never Because They're Above That. This is not the hot anti aristocracy take that y'all seem to think it is, lmao)

[oblivionbladetd]

Learning from Lorch (and hazcrit): Very Reasonable Demands.

Seeing as hazcrit is doing to Sai exactly what Sai pointed out that they are doing to vivzie, I feel now is a good time for this post. For what is Hazcrit other than SUcrit that was reheated in the desk microwave? The desk microwave of none other than Lily Orchard, of course! Memes aside, the SU is garbage vid was a prized by the SUcrit community and like... that says a lot more than it should.

Now, to preface my ensuing info dump, one question I ask myself in the myriad of questions I use to formulate my critique is, "How could I have done this better?" Though not as what I am currently. I am an independent hobbyist writer with no oversight, no team to manage, no deadlines, the full script of Steven Universe, nearly a decade of knowledge about every shortcoming and controversy both intentionally and not, and most of all no financial or creative incentives to reach as many people as humanly possible. Could I make a better Steven Universe special for me with all that in my pocket? Short answer: yeh. Long answer: Of fucking course I could, stupid. Rebecca and vivzie had few to none of these benefits. In fact, they had about the opposite in most ways. I'll admit that they are still 6/10 shows because this is by far from the only metric, but what many of the crits seem to think are the most important.

Now, I could bring up the infamous lines of SU is garbage where Lily calls the show both not gay enough and too gay, but I feel like pointing that out has been both been done better by others, and is Lazy since even in Lily's own words those statements are from an embittered lily a decade ago... so I brought this!

Lightly edited, but I am not watching the video to get the unedited one. Either way on the surface, this shit doesn't seem to be a tall ask, but you know your boy will break it down clean how it really is, step by step.

1. Must be a healthy relationship. Doesn't sound like a tall ask at all, right? Let's just hope that the story isn't about say, I dunno, working on a relationship at all. Or in a setting where maintaining a healthy relationship might be hard.... I'd bring up that not every person has the same definition of healthy, but there's a lot of these to chew through.

2. Needs to be human/human adjacent. Well, there goes any story about being loved for who you are and not what you look like, right out with the bathwater. Also what about two monsters and/or aliens being gay? I know that's not the point,but that's why we word carefully.

3. Relationships must be present before finale. Doable.... unless you are doing something where them meeting is far more fun and tumultuous than when they get steady. So, like... many sitcoms, romcoms, and a lot of romance in general. Like this is one of the most doable, but the amount you can miss out on is quite humbling.

4.No burying. I know she means the trope bury your gays, but I will point out that this clobbers tragedy with a steel chair.

5. MUST be main characters. So, no solo adventures. Honestly, this isn't the worst either, but I do love the implication that side characters just do not count anymore. Nobody likes characters that don't have top billing anyway, I'm sure.

6. No pussyfooting. I see what she means, but as somebody that can see past my own nose, this catches stories about closeted gays or any sexual awakening stories in the crossfire easy.

7. It's hard to define, but I'm going to interpret that any lore reasoning, positive or negative, affecting the character's relationship is bad. Which... oof to any high fantasy.

It's not fucking impossible, but just look at what is left on the table after this!

Now, if you are like Lily, a hobbyist vignette writer. It's not that hard. Incredibly doable. Easy work even!... but we now have to add conditions.

Take whatever vignette you cooked up. And now it needs to be a full product. 300+ page book, 26 episode show, respectability sized graphic novel, whatever poison you desire. I still think it could be done, but if you put a gun to my head, my confidence in anything I just planned sunk like a tungsten cube through air.

So let's do that metaphorically! That is how the industry works, after all. You gotta sell this idea to a guy whose only God is the almighty dollar. Unshakable if you can't convince them that publishing your crap is worth the investment. Like shit it ain't even have to be gay anymore. Knock the rep off, and that's still a BIG ask. I wouldn't say it just isn't possible. I just know anything I came up with initially certainly isn't something I'd pay for.

This is a statement I tend to blanket over the haz and SU crit when I see it. More often than not, they are asking for things that only sound reasonable in hindsight, or if it was an independent production that answers to no-one, or it just wasn't your speed and that's somehow not your problem... Nothing less than the vision of perfection that's specifically in my head? Right?

That's why I tend to believe Sai when she calls it misogyny. I've seen male creators do worse to DEAFENING silence. Was SU perfect? Obviously not. Was it good enough to communicate some heavy stuff to its audience of 14-17 year Olds? You betcha. Is Hazbin that great? Not incredible, but I'd argue it's better than 80% of adult animation currently being made.

But hey, I'm pretty sure there's a term for tying a less than perfect woman to a poll and burning them.

[racefortheironthrone]

BOE, the Messenger(s), and the Trillionaires

Introduction

I’ve been doing a re-read of the Locked Tomb - although technically it’s a re-listen, because I like the audiobooks - and I stumbled across a particular passage that hadn’t stuck in my memory before that made me rethink my understanding of the origin of Blood of Eden. Ever since Harrow the Ninth and especially since Nona the Ninth, there’s been this common interpretation that the BOE are descendants of the trillionaires who abandoned Earth and that’s why John is at war with them. I’m not so sure that’s true any more. 

Here’s why. In Nona, when the whole business with Crown/Corona infiltrating the barracks kicks off, there’s an interesting exchange between Camilla and We Suffer about the Oversight Committee that includes this statement:

“Hect, what you must understand about Blood of Eden is that we own things in common, we share responsibilities and resources in common. She could have moved these resources at will...but I must make one move at a time. And above all, I must place the safety of...Blood of Eden’s continuity...even above the mission.” (Emphasis mine.)

This took me aback somewhat, because the emphasis on militant communal ownership doesn’t really fit with the idea of “descendants of trillionaires.” I suppose one could say that it’s been ten thousand years, cultures change and drift over time...except that, as I’ll get into later, the BOE seems very very insistent on cultural preservation, so it would be a bit out-of-character if they changed that stance on this one particular issue. 

And that’s what made me think: what if the BOE aren’t the descendants of the trillionaires? What if they’re the descendants of the non-trillionaires on the FTL ships?

East of Eden: A Theory About What Happened After the FTL Ships Jumped

So here’s the question that’s been percolating in my mind: once you’re out in space, why keep listening to the trillionaires, especially about the vital question of who owns the precious resources brought from Eden and who gets to decide happens next? There would probably be some residual cultural deference to the visionary disruptors, but the traditional answers of property law backed up by the state or men with guns paid to enforce the orders of the capitalists kind of break down when you consider that:

In John’s chapters (and verses) in Nona, we get an account of what happened leading up to and during the Resurrection: according to John, the trillionaires pulled a con job on the planet with their FTL ships, pretending that a fleet of twelve ships, each carrying a few thousand people (made up of “hand-picked guys” and “two hundred nominated people”), was merely the first wave of a planetary evacuation. As Mercymorn and others worked out, there were no future waves, no plan to come back and pick up more, the trillionaires had liquidated their cash and financial assets in favor of buying up material resources they’d need in space, and everyone else was being left for dead.

These twelve ships (possibly minus one, it’s not clear whether John managed to destroy the one he grabbed before it jumped) and the 20-odd thousand people on them must be the ancestors of exo-humanity as it exists in the myriadic year. But we know that of those 20-odd thousand people, only a “half-dozen” were the trillionaires. Everyone else was staff they’d selected to do the work of planetary colonization, plus a tiny group of people chosen by the governments of Earth Eden. 

other than 200 randos who are likely to be recruited from the ranks of elected officials and upper management bureaucracy rather than Special Forces, the forces of the state are not only light-years away but also just got eaten by John Gaius.

it’s a bit harder to pull off the Jay Gould method when you’ve turned all of your cash into raw materials, there’s nowhere to spend cash in space, and it doesn’t take long for men with guns in that scenario to decide that the resources belong to them actually, because they have the guns. 

While we know that some form of a market economy exists on New Rho and the other exo-planets, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of an oligarchical ruling class based on ownership of capital. Rather, we see a state of anarchy where there is no hegemonic entity but duelling centers of power. This suggests to me that the trillionaires’ power did not last very long after human settlement outside the solar system, possibly due to a (potentially bloodless) revolution in which the only surviving members of humanity just decided not to listen to six old (white) men and took their shit in order to survive.

In that scenario, I could see it being the case that the collective memory of communal ownership of property in the midst of a crisis could linger among a certain sub-population and provide the origin for this aspect of BOE’s internal culture. 

So where did BOE come from?

Well, in large part it emerged as an organic response to John Gaius’ imperialist campaign against exo-humanity. As I noted elsewhere, John’s revenge against those who abandoned Earth in her hour of need is essentially a re-enactment of colonialism - the Cohort shows up with their overwhelming military might, forces the local population into subjugation with unequal treaties, imposes its language and customs, destroys the natural environment in a drive for short-term resource extraction, and then forces people into an endless cycle of being resettled on reservations over and over again - which makes a certain sick sense, in that it’s probably the worst thing that a Kiwi of Maori heritage could think of doing to their enemies. 

He even goes to the extent of modelling the Cohort uniforms on 19th century British Army uniforms with the colors reversed, and coming up with his own gloss on the Christianity that was imposed on indigenous populations in the name of “civilizing” them. This campaign is only mystifying to outside observers like Augustine and Coronabeth because they don’t have the cultural context to know what John’s up to (in no small part because he’s used his necromantic powers and political position in order to suppress all knowledge of that context). 

And thus, it’s not that surprising that John’s imperialism provoked anti-colonial resistance: when his Empire made contact with exo-humanity, to the extent that anyone still remembered him, it was as the horrific necromantic cult leader who murdered the ten billion and destroyed Eden, and now he’s come to finish the job in the name of collective punishment for the sins of six dead men, and by the way he’s bringing death and the defilement of the dead and the destruction of everything you’ve ever built with him. There probably have been dozens and hundreds of resistance movements - some local, some planetary, some multi-planetary - that rose up and got crushed over thousands of years. 

So what makes BOE different from all other resistance movements?

The Messenger(s)

I want to go back a few thousand years and talk about what happened when the FTL ships managed to escape the solar system. While interplanetary colonization would always be an incredibly stressful experience even without a revolution, the fact that all of this was happening in the wake of John nuking Earth and killing the ten billion, then devouring the solar system, and their narrow escape from his wrothful grasp would have added an entirely different level of terror to the event - but also a new sense of responsibility. 

Because - regardless of whether people on the FTL ships knew about the trillionaires’ supposed plan to abandon humanity on Earth or believed John’s accusations - they were now the sole survivors of humanity, the carriers of all culture and history. The ao3 author Griselda_Gimpel has a really good series of fics imagining the development of exo-humanity from the FTL ships onwards, and in one scene they mention the enormous sense of cultural loss that people on those ships would have felt when they realized that the internet was gone forever. 

And this got me thinking: what if some nerds on those ships had that kind of profound reaction and decided to preserve as much of Earth’s heritage as possible? How would you do that with limited access to computer storage and humanity potentially scattering across multiple planets, and knowledge being lost forever with the march of time as the original settler generation died off and was replaced by new generations born outside the solar system? I think the answer is:

Oral tradition. See, one of the things that fans of the series have been talking about for a while is the implications of the myriadic duration of the Empire, what that would have done to language and culture in the Nine Houses and among BOE, how is it that people can still be speaking the same language or reading the same writing as from the time of the Resurrection, let alone remember memes and cultural references from the 21st century? This is a fair reaction from a Western perspective - after all, ten thousand years ago would be roughly 8000 BCE or smack dab in the Early Neolithic. Surely it would have been impossible for the memory of Earth to have survived that long. 

But, as people have said, Tamsyn Muir is writing a very Kiwi series. And one of the things that is very distinctive about the culture of Aotearoa is the oral traditions of the Maori and Pasifika cultures more generally. While Maori oral histories go back to the 13th century CE when Aotearoa was settled, Australian Aboriginal oral tradition goes back as far as potentially 30,000-40,000 years. Oral tradition is not perfectly reliable, it undergoes drift and change over time, it can experience loss and disruption (from colonization, for example), but it can endure across millennia. 

My theory is that these nerds on the FTL ships or their descendants dedicated themselves to the mission of cultural preservation through oral tradition, and thus the Messengers were born. And at some point, the Messengers met up with Blood of Eden and explained that John Gaius’ colonial campaign wasn’t just an unjustified act of aggression and imperialism, but an act of cultural genocide stretching back 10,000 years:

“I charge you with...the utter disintegration of institutions political and social, languages, cultures, religions, all niceties and personal liberties of the nations, by use of-”

“...they’re dead words--a human chain reaching back ten thousand years...how did they feel?” (Harrow the Ninth)

Somewhere around this point, then, BOE took as its mission the preservation of the Messengers, which is why they are given BOE bodyguards, why discharging a weapon in their presence is grounds for execution, and why they are both deeply respected and honored by BOE but kept away from sensitive missions and not necessarily kept in the loop on critical intel. 

Why AIM is “They”

This part of my theory suggested an explanation for why AIM is called “they” by Blood of Eden, and why Palamedes Sextus sensed a necromantic implant when they “stumbled” into AIM at the school. We know that the Sixth House has been in contact with Blood of Eden for a very long time, and that Cassiopeia was not only responsible for the Sixth’s “break clause” but also was BOE’s “Source Gram.”

My theory is that Cassiopeia and the Sixth, being a bunch of librarian nerds obsessed with the preservation of cultural knowledge, would never have been entirely comfortable with taking John Gaius’ word for what happened during the Resurrection and what life was like on pre-Resurrection Earth. The natural place to look for an alternate source of documentation would be exo-humanity, and I think she/they went looking clandestinely and came across the Messengers and BOE. Somehow, they avoided killing each other and came to a modus vivendi.

I think part of this modus vivendi was an offer by Cassiopeia/the Sixth to provide the Messengers with an improved means of preserving their oral tradition: namely, a necromantic implant that would preserve the ghosts of dead Messengers and let them communicate with their successors, ensuring that the oral tradition could be passed down perfectly from generation to generation. After all, not only are the Sixth House spirit magicians, but they are specialist psychometricians who know better than anyone else how to pull information about and from the past from material objects, and it was Doctor Sex who gave Palamedes the idea for preserving revenant spirits after death by giving them a physical anchor. 

Hence, AIM is they because they are a collective “human chain” of all the Messengers who came before them - they have the voices of hundreds of cultural preservations in their heads, telling them of all that was lost with the fall of Eden. No wonder they want to play school teacher and be “she” for a while. 

Conclusion

TLDR: BOE aren’t trillionaires, they’re commie terrorists with a fetish for cultural preservation. So I guess this makes the whole war a case of leftist infighting, considered in the long run?

[darkmaga-returns]

STATE OF EMERGENCY means the existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state caused by conditions such as an epidemic or animal disease.

Karen Kingston

Dec 22, 2024

December 22, 2024: Before I decimate California Governor Gavin Newsom’s H5N1 fraudulent bird flu STATE OF EMERGENCY, I want to mention some positive news… the Financial Times reported today that the Trump administration will be withdrawing the United States from the WHO (World Health Organization) on day one, January 20, 2024, the day of President Trump’s inauguration.

WHO is the Organization Behind Fraudulent Pandemics

The WHO (in collaboration with the CCP and deep state actors) are the cornerstone organization behind the deployment of biosythenetic pathogens that create ‘global pandemics,’ including COVID-19 and the upcoming H5N1 bird flu plandemic.

Image of the WHO’s global influenza surveillance labs from the FDA’s October 10, 2024 meeting.

These well-orchestrated, global WHO pandemics are not only global attacks on human beings’ health, but are used to manipulate citizens into forfeiting their individual human rights under the guise of “public health safety” and submit themselves to authoritarian, fascist regimes at the state, country and/or global level.

What is a Fraudulent Statement?

According to the archives of US Department of Justice, “A fraudulent statement or representation is an assertion that is known to be untrue and that is made or used with the intent to deceive,” (Id.; 2 E. Devitt, C. Blackmar & K. O'Malley, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions, § 37.08 (1990) and ‘the statements only need to be proven false ‘under a reasonable interpretation.’” (United States v. Adler, 623 F.2d 1287, 1289 (8th Cir. 1980)

US Federal Agencies and Gavin Newsom Are Suspending Constitutional Rights via a Fraudulent H5N1 “STATE OF EMERGENCY”

On December 18, 2024, California Governor signed a fraudulent and unlawful proclamation alleging that the detection of H5N1 bird flu virus in California dairy cows is a STATE OF EMERGENCY.

[mariacallous]

The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights declared all race-conscious student programming, resources and financial aid illegal over the weekend and threatened to investigate and rescind federal funding for any institution that does not comply within 14 days.

In a Dear Colleague letter published late Friday night, acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor outlined a sweeping interpretation of the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which struck down affirmative action. While the decision applied specifically to admissions, the Trump administration believes it extends to all race-conscious spending, activities and programming at colleges.

“In recent years, American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students,” Trainor wrote. “These institutions’ embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination have emanated throughout every facet of academia.”

The letter mentions a wide range of university programs and policies that could be subject to an OCR investigation, including “hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”

“Put simply, educational institutions may neither separate or segregate students based on race, nor distribute benefits or burdens based on race,” Trainor writes.

Backlash to the letter came swiftly on Saturday from Democratic lawmakers, student advocates and academic freedom organizations.

“This threat to rip away the federal funding our public K-12 schools and colleges receive flies in the face of the law,” Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, wrote in a statement Saturday. “While it’s anyone’s guess what falls under the Trump administration’s definition of ‘DEI,’ there is simply no authority or basis for Trump to impose such a mandate.”

But most college leaders have, so far, remained silent.

Brian Rosenberg, the former president of Macalester College and now a visiting professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed that the letter was “truly dystopian” and, if enforced, would upend decades of established programs and initiatives to improve success and access for marginalized students.

“It goes well beyond the Supreme Court ruling on admissions and declares illegal a wide range of common practices,” he wrote. “In my career I’ve never seen language of this kind from any government agency in the United States.”

The Dear Colleague letter also seeks to close multiple exceptions and potential gaps left open by the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action and to lay the groundwork for investigating programs that “may appear neutral on their face” but that “a closer look reveals … are, in fact, motivated by racial considerations.”

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that colleges could legally consider a student’s racial identity as part of their experience as described in personal essays, but the OCR letter rejects that.

“A school may not use students’ personal essays, writing samples, participation in extracurriculars, or other cues as a means of determining or predicting a student’s race and favoring or disfavoring such students,” Trainor wrote.

Going even further beyond the scope of the SFFA decision, the letter forbids any race-neutral university policy that could conceivably be a proxy for racial consideration, including eliminating standardized test score requirements.

It also addresses university-sanctioned programming and curricula that “teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not,” a practice that Trainor argues can “deny students the ability to participate fully in the life of a school.”

The department will provide “additional legal guidance” for institutions in the coming days.

That wide-reaching interpretation of the SFFA decision has been the subject of vigorous debate among lawmakers and college leaders, and in subsequent court battles ever since the ruling was handed down. Many experts assumed the full consequences of the vague ruling would be hammered out through further litigation, but with the Dear Colleague letter, the Trump administration is attempting to enforce its own reading of the law through the executive branch.

Even Edward Blum, the president of Students for Fair Admissions, doesn’t believe the ruling on his case applies outside of admissions.

“The SFFA opinion didn’t change the law for those policies [in internships and scholarships],” he told Inside Higher Ed a few days before the OCR letter was published. “But those policies have always been, in my opinion, outside of the scope of our civil rights law and actionable in court.”

What Comes Next

The department has never revoked a college or state higher education agency’s federal funding over Title VI violations. If the OCR follows through on its promises, it would be an unprecedented exercise of federal influence over university activities.

The letter is likely to be challenged in court, but in the meantime it could have a ripple effect on colleges’ willingness to continue funding diversity programs and resources for underrepresented students.

Adam Harris, a senior fellow at the left-leaning think tank New America, is looking at how colleges responded to DEI and affirmative action orders in red states like Florida, Missouri, Ohio and Texas for clues as to how higher education institutions nationwide might react to the letter.

In Texas, colleges first renamed centers for marginalized students, then shuttered them after the state ordered it was not enough to comply with an anti-DEI law; they also froze or revised all race-based scholarships. In Missouri, after the attorney general issued an order saying the SFFA decision should apply to scholarships as well as admissions, the state university system systematically eliminated its race-conscious scholarships and cut ties with outside endowments that refused to change their eligibility requirements.

“We’ve already seen the ways institutions have acquiesced to demands in ways that even go past what they’ve been told to do by the courts,” Harris said.

The letter portrays the rise of DEI initiatives and race-conscious programming on college campuses as a modern civil rights crisis. Trainor compared the establishment of dormitories, facilities, cultural centers and even university-sanctioned graduation and matriculation ceremonies that are advertised as being exclusively or primarily for students of specific racial backgrounds to Jim Crow–era segregation.

“In a shameful echo of a darker period in this country’s history, many American schools and universities even encourage segregation by race at graduation ceremonies and in dormitories and other facilities,” Trainor wrote.

Harris, who studies the history of racial discrimination on college campuses, said he finds that statement deeply ironic and worrying.

“A lot of these diversity programs and multicultural centers on campuses were founded as retention tools to help students who had been shut out of higher education in some of these institutions for centuries,” Harris said. “To penalize institutions for taking those steps to help students, that is actually very much an echo of the segregation era.”

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Tokyo court orders dissolution of ‘Moonies’ Unification church

Assassination of former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe spurred official request for closure of South Korea-based sect

Associated Press in Tokyo Tue 25 Mar 2025

A court in Japan has ordered the Unification church to be dissolved after a government request spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of the former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

The church, founded in South Korea and nicknamed the “Moonies” after its late founder, Sun Myung Moon, is accused of pressuring followers into making life-ruining donations, and blamed for child neglect among its members, although it has denied any wrongdoing.

The church said it was considering an immediate appeal against the Tokyo district court’s revocation of its legal status, which would take away its tax-exempt privilege and require liquidation of its assets.

The order followed a request by Japan’s education ministry in 2023 to dissolve the influential South Korea-based sect, citing manipulative fundraising and recruitment tactics that sowed fear among followers and harmed their families.

The Japanese branch of the church had criticised the request as a serious threat to religious freedom and the human rights of its followers.

The church called the court order regrettable and unjust and said in a statement that the court’s decision was based on “a wrong legal interpretation and absolutely unacceptable”.

The investigation into Abe’s assassination revealed decades of cosy ties between the church and Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic party. The church obtained legal status as a religious organisation in Japan in the 1960s during an anti-communist movement supported by Abe’s grandfather, the former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi.

The man accused of killing Abe resented the church and blamed it for his family’s financial troubles.

The church, which officially calls itself the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is the first religious group subject to a revocation order under Japan’s civil code. Two earlier cases involved criminal charges: the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, which carried out a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system; and Myokakuji group, whose executives were convicted of fraud.

Seeking the church’s dissolution, the education ministry submitted 5,000 documents and pieces of evidence to the court, based on interviews with more than 170 people.

The church used manipulative tactics to make its followers buy expensive goods and donate beyond their means, causing fear, harm and seriously deviating from the law on religious groups, officials and experts said.

The cultural affairs agency said the settlements reached in or outside court exceeded 20bn yen (£103m) and involved more than 1,500 people.

The church, founded in Seoul in 1954, a year after the end of the Korean war, by Moon, a self-proclaimed messiah who preached new interpretations of the Bible and conservative, family-oriented value systems.

It developed relations with conservative world leaders including the US president, Donald Trump, as well as his predecessors Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush.

The church faced accusations in the 1970s and 1980s of using devious recruitment tactics and brainwashing adherents into turning over huge portions of their salaries to Moon. In Japan, the group has faced lawsuits for offering “spiritual merchandise” that allegedly caused members to buy expensive art and jewellery or sell their real estate to raise money for the church.

The church has acknowledged excessive donations, but says the problem has lessened since the group stepped up compliance in 2009.

Experts say Japanese followers are asked to pay for sins committed by their ancestors during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula, and that most of the church’s worldwide funding comes from Japan.

________________________________

However, the Church will still be able to continue religious practices, lawyer Katsuomi Abe said. "Its reputation will decline, and the number of followers will decrease", said Abe, who represents former believers seeking compensation after making huge donations.

"I don't think any other organisation has caused such damage" to Japanese society, he told AFP.

________________________________

A huge Moon Church scam in Japan is revealed

Shocking video of UC of Japan demanding money – English transcript

Top Japanese ex-UC leader, Yoshikazu Soejima, interviewed

Moon extracted $500 million from Japanese female members

Court: "UC/FFWPU of Japan used members for profit, not religious purpose

How Sun Myung Moon bought protection in Japan 1a. The LDP’s Tangled Ties to the Unification Church (2022) 1b. NNLASS press conference held in Tokyo on FFWPU/UC “spiritual sales” (2022)

Richard J. Samuels – Kishi and Corruption:  An Anatomy of the 1955 System (2001)

Parents Form Organization Against New-Religious Sect (1976)

John Roberts – Earth-conquering Moonies (1978)

Kishi wrote a letter to President Reagan to get Moon sprung from jail. (1984)

[soulofjuche]

Press Statement of Spokesperson for Korean Jurists Committee

Pyongyang, April 24 (KCNA) -- A spokesperson for the Korean Jurists Committee on Wednesday issued the following press statement titled "No one can infringe upon the sacred right of Koreans in Japan to democratic national education":

April 24, 1948 is recorded in the history of the movement of Koreans in Japan as the day when the Koreans in Japan defended the right to democratic national education at the cost of their blood, resolutely countering through a massive struggle the fascist suppression by the U.S. and the Japanese reactionaries to wipe out the Korean schools in their cradle.

Even after its defeat in August 1945, the Japanese reactionary government persistently forced the Koreans in Japan to receive "assimilation education" in the period of the Japanese imperialist colonial rule and, at the instigation of the U.S. imperialists, issued the "closure order" to Korean schools in January 1948.

Moreover, it issued to all the prefectural governors of Japan a brigandish order that the Koreans' independent school establishment can never be recognized and the Korean children in Japan should enter the Japanese school without fail.

Enraged by this, many Koreans in Japan turned out in a protest campaign to defend the democratic national education, but the Japanese reactionaries, ignoring their just demands, declared the "emergency situation" on April 24, 1948 and ran amuck in such bloody suppression as firing water cannon and bullets and arresting and detaining them by mobilizing huge police force.

It has been nearly 80 years since the defeat of the Japanese imperialists, but there is no slight change in the Japanese authorities' extreme national chauvinism and unethical discrimination policy to obliterate the national education of Koreans in Japan.

A typical example is that in August 2019 the Japanese authorities, with kindergartens under the Korean schools in mind, issued an instruction to all local autonomous bodies not to receive the application for licensing of childcare facilities but to dismiss all the applications they received.

It is quite natural for Koreans in Japan to teach their children the Korean language and it is the basic requirement of international law that the children should be provided with the best interests and financial assistance.

Article 28 of the Convention on Children Rights adopted by the United Nations stipulates that states parties shall recognize the right of the child to education, and achieve this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity.

However, the Japanese authorities are foolish enough to interpret the Convention on Children Rights in conformity with their chauvinism-stained law, and they have not kept even their commitment to equitably apply the "Child Rearing Support Act" to all the children.

It is a hideous violation of human rights that can never be found in the history of any country to deprive people of even their elementary right to teach the rising generations their mother tongue.

The Japanese authorities are imposing the same tax-paying obligation as the Japanese on Koreans in Japan, but they are excluding only the Korean schools for their children from various educational assistance systems including the application of "tuition-free program for senior high schools" and "free education and upbringing of children" under the unreasonable pretext, thus wounding the innocent children in their hearts.

The enforcement of democratic national education by Koreans in Japan is a natural exercise of their rights which fully conforms to international human rights conventions including the Convention on Children Rights, the Convention against Discrimination in Education of UNESCO and many other international laws accepted by Japan and Japan's national laws such as the Constitution and the Fundamental Law of Education of Japan.

The Japanese government has a legal obligation as well as moral responsibility to provide the Koreans in Japan, the direct victims of the Japanese imperialists' colonial rule over Korea and their children, with national rights such as the right to education and the right to life.

The legitimate right to national education of Koreans in Japan is a sacred one which can neither be denied on all occasions nor infringed upon by anyone.

The Korean Jurists Committee strongly demands that the Japanese authorities immediately withdraw all illegal institutional and administrative discrimination measures encroaching upon the democratic national rights of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan and Koreans in Japan and fulfill their legal and moral obligations.

[beardedmrbean]

Prices for goods and services moved up less than expected in February, providing some relief as consumers and businesses worry about the looming impact tariffs might have on inflation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.

The consumer price index, a wide-ranging measure of costs across the U.S. economy, ticked up a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.8%, according to the Labor Department agency. The all-item CPI had increased 0.5% in January.

Excluding food and energy prices, the core CPI also rose 0.2% on the month and was at 3.1% on a 12-month basis, the lowest reading since April 2021. The core CPI had climbed 0.4% in January.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 0.3% increases on both headline and core, with respective annual rates of 2.9% and 3.2%, meaning that all of the rates were 0.1 percentage point less than expected.

Stock market indexes were mixed after the release after initially moving higher. reasury yields rose. Markets have been highly volatile as the Dow Jones Industrial Average has slipped 6% over the past month.

“A lot of this inflation data does not incorporate what is to come and what already has happened for tariffs,” said Kevin Gordon, senor investment strategist at Charles Schwab. “The vagaries and uncertainties associated with policy are still a much stronger force in the market than anything CPI-related or in terms of one data point.”

Shelter costs moved up 0.3%, less than in January but still responsible for about half the monthly increase in the CPI, the BLS said. The annual increase of 4.2% was the smallest since December 2021. The category makes up more than one-third of the total weighting in the CPI, with particular focus on a measure in what homeowners estimate they could get in rent for their properties, which also increased 0.3%.

Food and energy indexes both increased 0.2%. Used vehicle prices jumped 0.9% and apparel rose 0.6%. Within food, egg prices soared another 10.4%, taking the 12-month increase to 58.8% and pushing a broader measure that also includes meat, poultry and fish up 7.7% on the year. Beef prices also climbed 2.4% in February.

Motor vehicle insurance posted a 0.3% increase on the month and was up 11.1% annually. However, airline fares slipped 4% in February and were down 0.7% from a year ago.

Inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings increased 0.1% for the month and were up 1.2% from a year ago, the BLS said in a separate release.

“The market’s interpretation is appropriate. We still don’t know anything about how inflation is going to work with the new tariff regime,” said Thomas Simons, chief U.S. economist at Jefferies. “At least for now, the momentum is moving in the Fed’s favor.”

The report comes at a potentially critical juncture for the U.S. economy and financial markets, which have been shaken lately as President Donald Trump escalates a trade war and concerns rise of a growth scare.

In the latest developments, Trump’s 25% duties on steel and aluminum took effect Wednesday, prompting retaliatory measures from the European Union. Trump also has slapped 20% levies on goods from China.

“Today’s CPI report shows inflation is declining and the economy is moving in the right direction under President Trump,” Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, said in a statement. “This inflation report, much like last week’s jobs report, is far better than the media predicted and the so-called ‘experts’ expected.”

Federal Reserve officials also are watching the developments closely. Central bank policymakers generally consider tariffs to have modest impacts on inflation and often are viewed as one-off measures that don’t have lasting impact on longer-term gauges.

However, a broader trade war could change that if the pace of increases becomes more ingrained in the economy. Markets currently expect the Fed to resume cutting interest rates in June, with a total of 0.75 percentage point in reductions by the end of 2025.

“The February CPI release showed further signs of progress on underlying inflation, with the pace of price increases moderating after January’s strong release,” said Kay Haigh, global co-head of fixed income and liquidity solutions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “While the Fed is still likely to remain on hold at this month’s meeting, the combination of easing inflationary pressures and rising downside risks to growth suggest that the Fed is moving closer to continuing its easing cycle.”

The Fed meets next week and is widely expected to hold its key borrowing rate in a target range between 4.25%-4.5%.

Economic growth is trending negative in the first quarter, according to the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow tracker of incoming data. The measure has pegged Q1 growth at a 2.4% decline, which would be the first negative growth quarter in three years.

[the-eeveekins]

I know a lot of people who stopped buying Gundam and Bamco stuff in the wake of the "Up to Interpretation" statement and I 100% stand by those that do.

I ultimately decided I want to keep buying stuff from G-Witch, especially the Sulemio merch. This show was so popular and was cited as the main reason Gundam had record sales numbers last fiscal year. But because of the fact it stumbled at the finish line and "Up to interpretation" (both of which I blame on the same group of people), it really feels like there's a push within the fandom to write the series off as unpopular and a failure and see it buried. And honestly it wouldn't surprise me if there are some within Bandai who feel the same.

So I'll keep buying G-Witch and Sulemio if for no other reason than to help keep sales strong so Bandai can't possibly ignore it. I won't let the sexist and homophobic pockets of the fandom bury the fact that G-Witch was a massive financial success that was one of the most popular Gundam series ever, and Sulemio played a major part of that.

[loredwy]

may i have a crumb of knowledge about what the actual fuck went down in niji recently

(I know you already got to the post explaining the context, but I may as well leave here some links for the ones still needing it LMAO)

Everything about this topic will have the #sink the yacht tag btw, so if more info appears it will be there.

It pretty much started with Selen uploading a music video without Nijisanji's approval, which they privated and she told people to just reupload because of the company's treatment towards her.

In this case it apparently was because of copyright issues... with themselves.

They suddenly terminated Selen.

She then posted about her situation.

Her fans started boycotting.

Anycolor posted a notice saying that it wouldnt affect the company.

She sued them, probably because of emotional and financial damage.

They answered by making some of their active livers defend the company, mentioning info from the lawsuit. <- fans interpretation: by saying their livers were in risk, they implied some of them were part of the bullying problem.

Guess what, sharing the info was immoral. And illegal.

They made more official notices.

Nijisanji actions made them known outside of the Vtuber side of the internet.

New Doki statement.

And as an extra: Vtubers that have graduated from Nijisanji this year, just for additional info. And it seems like more terminations will be happening after this... probably.

[mmenvs3000w25]

Prompt 4: Who are you to interpret nature through art? How do you interpret “the gift of beauty”? (Your readings – specifically Chapter 5 of the textbook – will be helpful for this!)

I don’t typically consider myself an artist. I’ve never been particularly skilled at drawing, painting, or other traditional visual art forms. However, we don’t need to be artists to appreciate and interpret art. Art is meant to evoke emotion in the viewer, spark discussion, and maintain interest. This makes it a powerful tool for interpreting nature. Nature-inspired art can help viewers feel more connected to the natural world by sparking emotional responses. Additionally, art can serve as an educational tool. For instance, a painting depicting countless tree stumps could effectively illustrate the devastating impact of mass deforestation. As a visual learner, I find that this approach is especially impactful for individuals like me.

Art is often called a “universal language,” one that transcends the barriers of spoken and written words. Beck et al. (2018) emphasize that cultural and language barriers can sometimes prevent minorities from fully accessing nature interpretation. Last week, we reflected on this and I realized that as a native English speaker, I have the privilege of easily understanding and accessing most forms of nature interpretation. However, I’ve also experienced moments when art, which transcends language, resonates with me more deeply than spoken descriptions.

It’s not enough to merely describe nature’s “gift of beauty.” The gift of beauty must be experienced—it must be felt (Beck et al., 2018). Art facilitates this by sparking emotion and offering a window into aspects of nature that we might not otherwise encounter. For example, while it may be unrealistic for someone to travel across the globe to witness a distant ecosystem, they could still experience its beauty through photographs or paintings. This accessibility is especially important for individuals with financial constraints, as it allows them to engage with the "gift of beauty" without the need for costly travel.

Earlier, I mentioned that I don’t typically consider myself an artist. I’d like to amend that statement. While it’s true that I don’t usually express my creativity through visual arts, there are many artistic ways to interpret nature beyond drawing or painting. Beck et al. (2018) highlight various art forms that can be used in interpretation, including theatre, music, dance, storytelling, and poetry. These forms can even be combined to create multimedia experiences (Beck et al., 2018). Though I may not use visual arts to express myself, I have certainly employed poetry and storytelling to share my emotions and perspectives.

So, who am I to interpret nature through art? I am a poet. To illustrate this, I’ve written a quick poem dedicated to the “gift of beauty” I have experienced in the Arboretum.

Through the quiet rustling of the leaves, Shaking contentedly in the wind, Lies a sanctuary of life and wonder, A heart of biodiversity. Can you hear it beating, As the crickets chirp for companionship? Can you see its warm glow shining, Through sunlit paths that stretch so long? Can you appreciate its gift of beauty? It’s waiting for you. — The Arboretum by Michelle Masood

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage for a better world. Sagamore Publishing.

[monroeszabkaii]

JOHNNY LAWRENCE - CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Part Two

────────────

Picturing a life with a replaceable father came with unearthed emotions. Although, Johnnyʼs birth father absconded, his own witness of events; a verbal rembrandt spiel inside his mind, the concept of a new father figure in his life felt unnatural. The bitterness and trepidation was unyielding.

Tying the knot solidified Sid’s presence. His heels firmly dug into the abode, just like the claws that clung to Johnnyʼs mother. It is a statement that leaves room for realistic interpretation.

He couldn't help but feel the surge of emotions bubbling to the surface.

Laura, his mother, simply moved on and just allowed another gentleman to pick up the loose threads his birth father left unfastened. She let him into their lives, his prestigious hold in society and between them behind closed doors a strong yet unwelcoming factor. Sid would toss money at them from all angles, assuming that it would fix the issue; fix Johnny.

The donations perceived by Johnny as charity flooded and shaped their lives. He came from a newfound place of wealth, dealt with a better upbringing in terms of financial status. To outsiders that life appeared flawless. Beneath the exterior often painted by societal belief that being cushty came with little to no struggle. That fell short.

Sid threw money at every obstacle insisting it would solve all of life's problems. Granted, money troubles became less apparent than a mere fleeting concern. But what did burn a hole in their pocket wasn't the fulfilment Johnny ever desired.

He longed for acceptance, unconditional love and importantly nurturing.

Acceptance came in fits and starts, the majority of it only apparent when Laura twisted Sid’s arm to play less harshly. Johnny, as much as he was young by age, picked up on the deceit and facade. His stepfather barely harbored enough love for him. In his eyes, Johnny was a troubled kid, jumping from one interest to the next, burning holes in his pocket and racking up a mountain of supposed debt.

In truth, each and every activity Johnny felt drawn to came from a place of wanting to feel something. He wanted to feel something other than disregard and numbness. Johnny wanted a chance for someone to believe in him, see his successes as an attribute that continued to peak. And in reflection, Johnny would do exactly that, fleeting from one thing to another. His mindset would shift and when given a chance to pursue a hobby or interest, it felt like a dead cert; until it shifted again.

There appeared to be an undertone of indecisiveness, Johnny unable to commit to something and see it through. His interest dwindled and although to outsiders it appeared fleeting and as though he was merely a kid that couldn't make up his mind, Johnny truthfully could not fathom who he happened to be. Flitting from one thing to the next became a continuous cycle of finding a fix of positive reinforcement. Johnny needed to feel a wave of identity, lost within the undisclosed trauma and acknowledgment of emotions.

It was a tangled mess of interests, the most prominent one an impact that Johnny hadn't felt before:

“Old School Karate.”

Discipline became second nature just like the rest of the spiel that became drummed into him. Then the literality of it tainted the world around him, filling Johnny's glass only halfway. His teacher, better referred to in those circumstances as a ‘Sensei’ oozed authority in every sense of the word. The harshness and boldness of the words he spoke, became tinged with importance. It laced around the syllables and heightened the need for obligation from those before him that stood in line.

Acceptance. Johnny found this within the four walls that became induced with teenagers that pushed their anger into fighting beyond boundaries they ever thought necessary or capable of. Though its embodiment, the driving force between the needs Johnny desired and longed for in the depths and weaving of charisma, confidence and charm was his Sensei; Kreese.

The hold knew little to no boundaries. Johnny was utterly captivated. John Kreese expressed belief on more than one occasion. It was fuelled with acceptance, care and understanding. The territory was foreign and yet, welcoming. Johnny felt heard and seen. His ability to thrive and bathe in the acceptance only drove him to become blindsided by the reality of the situation.

It was no fault of their own. Kreese battled his own emotional turmoil and redirected it in the only way he truly knew how. All while, Johnny happened to be craving the things John was offering to him on a plate; the buffet was endless.

Unconditional love became woven into Johnny's actions. His mistakes on the mat came with consequences as a given, but Kreese soon put those worries to bed with an overturn of verbal beliefs. It rectified the unbalance in Johnny's mind and in turn obliterated any lingering doubts. Kreese turned the occasion on its head, providing Johnny with all that he needed. Their dynamic, one that satisfied each other's unmet needs.

Nurturing came in the pushing of striving to succeed. Putting Johnny to the test derived from a place of love, belief and ultimately comfort. Kreese was plaguing him with all Johnny desired and longed for. It wasn't necessarily conscious for neither parties, yet it only cemented their importance to each other.

Johnny became a son in the eyes of John Kreese. And that is all he ever wanted, a father figure to aid in navigating his life, offering support without question and in turn fatherly love that seemed to know no boundaries.

It was ultimately unconditional.

At least primarily.

[saiyanprincefiregod]

Keiji Inafune is a Narcissist and not the real creator of Mega Man.

Keiji Inafune, a prominent figure in the gaming industry, has faced criticism for his actions and statements. A lot of people, like myself, perceive him as narcissistic due to his outspoken nature and controversial decisions. For instance, Inafune has been vocal about his dissatisfaction with the Japanese gaming industry, calling it "finished" and criticizing developers for creating "awful games". This kind of sweeping generalization can come across as self-important and dismissive of others' efforts. Additionally, Inafune's push for a more Western approach to game development at Capcom led to some unpopular decisions, such as delaying the development of certain games. His insistence on his vision, despite its negative impact, might be seen as a sign of narcissism.

Moreover, Inafune's resignation from Capcom and his subsequent statements about wanting to prove his worth outside the company suggest a strong desire for personal recognition. This focus on his own legacy and achievements can be interpreted as narcissistic behavior.

Here's an explanation focusing on behaviors that might suggest narcissistic tendencies in Keiji Inafune:

Grandiosity:

Inafune is known for his strong personality and outspoken nature.   

Some of his statements about the gaming industry and his own projects could be interpreted as grandiose, emphasizing his own importance and vision.

For example, his ambitious Kickstarter campaign for "Mighty No. 9" and subsequent comments about its development might reflect an inflated sense of self-importance and an expectation of unwavering support.

Lack of Empathy:

Inafune has faced criticism for his handling of the "Mighty No. 9" project, including delays and perceived lack of transparency with backers.

Some critics argue that his responses to these criticisms lacked empathy for the disappointed fans who had supported his project financially.

and last but not least

Need for Admiration:

Inafune's public persona often centers around his role as the creator of Mega Man.   

This constant association with a beloved franchise could be seen as a need for external validation and admiration.

and that my friends is why Keiji Inafune is narcissistic sociopath.

Keiji Inafune is often credited as the creator of Mega Man, but the reality is more nuanced. The original concept and pixel art for Mega Man were created by Akira Kitamura, who was the director and planner for the first game in the series. Kitamura designed the original sprite of Mega Man to ensure it could be properly seen against the game's backgrounds. When Inafune joined Capcom, he took Kitamura's pixel art and refined it into the detailed character illustrations that became iconic. Inafune himself has acknowledged Kitamura's role, stating that he only did half the work in creating Mega Man. Despite this, Inafune's contributions to the series, especially in character design and promotion, have led to him being widely recognized as the face of Mega Man.

Inafune didn't create Mega Man. Akira Kitamura is the real creator and the real father of Mega Man. Once again, Keiji Inafune is a narcissist sociopath.

[hollowuprisingshambler]

How Company Directors Can Secure the Best Deals in 2025

In 2025, the financial landscape for limited company directors and business owners continues to evolve. While opportunities to build wealth through homeownership remain strong, many entrepreneurs still struggle to get mortgage approvals that accurately reflect their income potential. This challenge doesn't stem from a lack of earnings, but rather from how those earnings are structured—and how lenders interpret them.

Whether you're applying for a mortgage as a limited company director or a self-employed professional, understanding the nuances of mortgages with company profit, net profit mortgages, and other specialised options is essential.

Why 2025 is a Turning Point for Company Director Mortgages

As lending regulations modernise, there’s a clear shift away from "one-size-fits-all" underwriting. Many lenders embrace flexible assessment models, designed to serve applicants with non-traditional income. This is especially true for:

Limited company directors

Business owners with retained profit

Self-employed individuals

Directors are drawing low salaries/dividends for tax efficiency.

Previously, these groups were forced to take out lower mortgage amounts based solely on declared personal income. Now, lenders are more open to assessing broader financial indicators, like company net profit and retained earnings, to determine borrowing capacity.

The Rise of Net Profit and Retained Earnings Mortgages

Net Profit Mortgages

Instead of focusing on salary or dividends, net profit mortgages use your company’s bottom line to measure affordability. If your business earned £100,000 in profit last year—even if you only drew £30,000 personally—a net profit-based lender may assess your affordability based on the full figure.

This approach benefits:

Directors reinvesting in growth

Those planning for retirement

Entrepreneurs keep income within the business for stability.

Mortgages with Company Profit

Some lenders go one step further by considering mortgages with company profit, including retained earnings over several years. This allows for higher borrowing limits without forcing business owners to restructure their income or draw larger dividends.

Specialist advisers at The Mortgage Pod note that more clients are now approved using their profit figures, allowing them to borrow what they can truly afford, not just what they’ve withdrawn on paper.

Why Standard Brokers May Not Be Enough

Mainstream mortgage advisers may not have the tools or knowledge to effectively present a director’s income. Many company owners are turning to brokers specialising in business owners' and self-employed mortgages.

According to Strive Mortgages, the ability to interpret tax documents, understand company structures, and liaise with lenders who offer manual underwriting makes a substantial difference in approval rates.

Documents You’ll Need in 2025

Lenders in 2025 still require documentation, but open banking and digital account sharing have streamlined the process. Here’s what most lenders will ask for when evaluating directors or self-employed applicants:

1–2 years of company accounts (certified)

Tax calculations (SA302S) and tax year overviews

Business bank statements

Details of retained profits and dividend schedules

Accountant’s confirmation of income

Even if revenue dips during a past tax year, a strong current year or a clear explanation may help mitigate lender concerns, especially with brokers who know how to present the data correctly.

Two Trusted Specialists for Business Owners

We’ve seen a clear shift in how lenders treat business owners, and that’s good news for our clients, says Steve Humphrey, founder of The Mortgage Pod. His team focuses exclusively on helping professionals with complex income structures find the right mortgage solutions.

Likewise, Jamie Elvin, Director at Strive Mortgages, adds, “Too many directors are being held back by systems that don’t reflect modern income realities. Our job is ensuring their applications tell the full financial story.”

Both firms emphasise education, transparency, and lender-matching to increase the chances of approval and the size of the mortgage available.

2025 Opportunities: Business-Friendly Lenders & Better Terms

As competition among lenders increases, some are actively seeking to grow their business customer base by offering:

Lower deposit options (as low as 10% in some cases)

Flexible affordability criteria

Faster underwriting using open banking

Cashback incentives for company directors

These new products are designed to help business owners compete in a fast-paced property market, especially in regions where demand still outpaces supply.

Conclusion: Take Control of Your Financial Narrative

In 2025, company directors have more power than ever to shape their mortgage outcomes—if they know where to look. Whether you're considering your first property or remortgaging for expansion, it’s essential to find advisers who understand the language of business.

By working with experienced mortgage brokers like The Mortgage Pod and Strive Mortgages, you can access lenders who recognise your company’s full financial strength, not just your payslip.

For business owners ready to invest in their future, the path to homeownership is no longer blocked by rigid income definitions. It's paved with tailored advice, strategic presentation, and financial partners who truly get it.