#Margaret Halsey

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Today, President Joe Biden signed the continuing resolution that will give lawmakers another week to finalize appropriations bills. Lawmakers will continue to hash out the legislation that will fund the government. 

Republicans have been stalling the appropriations bills for months. In addition to inserting their own extremist cultural demands in the measures, they have demanded budget cuts to address the fact that the government spends far more money than it brings in. 

As soon as Mike Johnson (R-LA) became House speaker, he called for a “debt commission” to address the growing budget deficit. This struck fear into the hearts of those eager to protect Social Security and Medicare, because when Johnson chaired the far-right Republican Study Committee in 2020, it called for cutting those popular programs by raising the age of eligibility, lowering cost-of-living adjustments, and reducing benefits for retirees whose annual income is higher than $85,000. Lawmakers don’t want to take on such unpopular proposals, so setting up a commission might be a workaround.

Last month, the House Budget Committee advanced legislation that would create such a commission. The chair of the House Budget Committee, Jodey C. Arrington (R-TX), told reporters that Speaker Johnson was “100% committed to this commission” and wanted to attach it to the final appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2024, the laws currently being hammered out.

Congress has not yet agreed to this proposed commission, and a recent Data for Progress poll showed that 70% of voters reject the idea of it. 

This week, a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit think tank that focuses on tax policy, suggested that the cost of tax cuts should be factored into any discussions about the budget deficit. 

In 2017 the Trump tax cuts slashed the top corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and reined in taxation for foreign profits. The ITEP report looked at the first five years the law was in effect. It concluded that in that time, most profitable corporations paid “considerably less” than 21% because of loopholes and special breaks the law either left in place or introduced. 

From 2018 through 2022, 342 companies in the study paid an average effective income tax rate of just 14.1%. Nearly a quarter of those companies—87 of them—paid effective tax rates of under 10%. Fifty-five of them (16% of the 342 companies), including T-Mobile, DISH Network, Netflix, General Motors, AT&T, Bank of America, Citigroup, FedEx, Molson Coors, and Nike, paid effective tax rates of less than 5%.

Twenty-three corporations, all of them profitable, paid no federal tax over the five year period. One hundred and nine corporations paid no federal tax in at least one of the five years. 

The Guardian’s Adam Lowenstein noted yesterday that several corporations that paid the lowest taxes are steered by chief executive officers who are leading advocates of “stakeholder capitalism.” This concept revises the idea that corporations should focus on the best interests of their shareholders to argue that corporations must also take care of the workers, suppliers, consumers, and communities affected by the corporation. 

The idea that corporate leaders should take responsibility for the community rather than paying taxes to the government so the community can take care of itself is eerily reminiscent of the argument of late-nineteenth-century industrialists. 

When Republicans invented national taxation to meet the extraordinary needs of the Civil War, they immediately instituted a progressive federal income tax because, as Representative Justin Smith Morrill (R-VT) said, “The weight [of taxation] must be distributed equally, not upon each man an equal amount, but a tax proportionate to his ability to pay.” 

But the wartime income tax expired in 1872, and the rise of industry made a few men spectacularly wealthy. Quickly, those men came to believe they, rather than the government, should direct the country’s development. 

In June 1889, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie published what became known as the “Gospel of Wealth” in the popular magazine North American Review. Carnegie explained that “great inequality…[and]...the concentration of business, industrial and commercial, in the hands of a few” were “not only beneficial, but essential to…future progress.” And, Carnegie asked, “What is the proper mode of administering wealth after the laws upon which civilization is founded have thrown it into the hands of the few?”

Rather than paying higher wages or contributing to a social safety net—which would “encourage the slothful, the drunken, the unworthy,” Carnegie wrote—the man of fortune should “consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer…in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community—the man of wealth thus becoming the mere trustee and agent for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves.”  

“[T]his wealth, passing through the hands of the few, can be made a much more potent force for the elevation of our race than if distributed in small sums to the people themselves,” Carnegie wrote. “Even the poorest can be made to see this, and to agree that great sums gathered by some of their fellow-citizens and spent for public purposes, from which the masses reap the principal benefit, are more valuable to them than if scattered among themselves in trifling amounts through the course of many years.”

Here in the present, Republicans want to extend the Trump tax cuts after their scheduled end in 2025, a plan that would cost $4 trillion over a decade even without the deeper cuts to the corporate tax rate Trump has called for if he is reelected. Biden has called for preserving the 2017 tax cuts only for those who make less than $400,000 a year and permitting the rest to expire. He has also called for higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, which would generate more than $2 trillion. 

Losing the revenue part of the budget equation and focusing only on spending cuts seems to reflect a society like the one the late-nineteenth-century industrialists embraced, in which a few wealthy leaders get to decide how to direct the nation’s wealth.   

[LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN: MARCH 1, 2024]

Heather Cox Richardson

+

“The crucial disadvantage of aggression, competitiveness, and skepticism as national characteristics is that these qualities cannot be turned off at five o'clock.” —Margaret Halsey, novelist (13 Feb 1910-1997)

[elegantzombielite]

"The crucial disadvantage of aggression, competitiveness, and skepticism as national characteristics is that these qualities cannot be turned off at five o'clock."

Margaret Halsey, novelist (13th February 1910-1997)

[linusjf]

Margaret Halsey: National characteristics

“The crucial disadvantage of aggression, competitiveness, and skepticism as national characteristics is that these qualities cannot be turned off at five o’clock.” —Margaret Halsey.

[texaschainsawmascara]

HADES: Tell me the journey down to Hell was worth it. - Things They Want to Hear, L.H.Z

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn / Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Fredrich Nietzsche / I AM ANGRY BECAUSE OF MY FATHER - Halsey / echo - Paris Paloma / Laura Palmer Graduates - Amy Woolard / Unknown / get him back! - Olivia Rodrigo / Things They Want to Hear - L.H.Z / You / Decode - Paramore / The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde / Start Here - Caitlyn Siehl / Carry On - Rainbow Rowell / Guillermo del Toro at the Golden Globes / Caitlin Conlon / Monster - Lady Gaga / Cut - Catherine Lacey / The Coldest Girl in Coldtown - Holly Black / Hair Jewellery, Dancing Girls and Other Stories - Margaret Atwood / From Persephone - Kiki Rockwell / the fruits - Paris Paloma

[tuppencetrinkets]

Sorted caps from Halo, seasons 1 & 2.

Pablo Schreiber - Master Chief ~19,000

Shabana Azmi - Margaret Parangosky ~4,500

Natasha Culzac - Riz ~2,300

Olive Gray - Miranda Keyes ~6,000

Yerin Ha - Kwan Ha ~9,000

Natascha McElhone - Catherine Halsey ~12,000

Bentley Kalu - Vannak ~500

Kate Kennedy - Kai ~5,000

Charlie Murphy - Makee ~7,000

Danny Sapani - Jacob Keyes ~2,500

Cortana ~1,800

Bokeem Woodbine - Soren ~4,000

Fiona O'Shaughnessy - Laera ~2,500

Tylan Bailey - Kessler ~400

Joseph Morgan - James Ackerson ~5,000

Cristina Rodlo - Talia Perez ~2,500

Bronte Carmichael - Julia ~500

Ryan McParlan - Adun ~1,500

Burn Gorman - Vinsher Grath ~1,400

This content is free for anyone to use or edit however you like; if you care to throw a dollar or two my way for time, effort, storage fees etc you are more than welcome to do so via my PAYPAL.  Please like or reblog this post if you have found it useful or are downloading the content within.  If you have any questions or you have any problems with the links or find any inconsistencies in the content, etc. please feel free to drop me a politely worded message via my ASKBOX (second icon from the top on my theme!

[miladygeek]

Fotos de Halo (S2E3 - Visegrad) 💥✨

[reginasbread]

Shabana Azmi and Natascha McElchone making morally questionable decisions and looking good doing so ('Halo', ep. 1)

[bloodgulchblog]

Alright I’m like 70 pages into Glasslands and can talk some. Gonna save big plot descriptions until later, but for now:

The thing about Glasslands is it shows some pretty deep canon familiarity. Traviss thanks Frank O’Connor and Kevin Grace for being a resource to her while writing, and that collaboration shows. Glasslands has a thoroughly documented section on the inconsistencies page on the wiki but like, in terms of content I don’t think a lot of it is much worse than what a lot of side story writers have done in comics and stuff.

(You know. As far as I recall in the meat of Glasslands itself. It’s been a while.)

The writing itself also has a lot more personality than is typical for average Halo works, which is also killing me because a lot of Halo writing is so impersonal and I want this kind of thing.

The problem is that a lot of what is extrapolated here is kind of dumb, she has the biggest hateboner for Dr. Halsey, and she seems to be making excuses for the Spartan-III program and it’s kind of insane. (This in particular shows when she has Chief Mendez, you know, the man who trained the S-IIs and the S-IIIs, treating her like satan when he is no less culpable and last time we saw him was pretty at peace with the whole thing.)

Anyway, for posterity before I get further into talking about Glasslands later, here’s Parangosky signing off on the S-IIIs and calling Halsey a bleeding heart from Ghosts of Onyx. You know. For posterity.

[pigeonriot]

Bibble in Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia (2006) for @gaym3bo1 <3

Natalie Díaz, Postcolonial Love Poem // Susan Sontag, Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963 // Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale // Franz Kafka // Albert Einstein // Anne Carson // Halsey, Lilith // Anne Sexton, A self portrait in letters // Jonny Bolduc, Ending

[bromcommie]

Forgiveness is a form of love, and I do not love you. Yes you do.

Kings (2009) + ocean vuong // margaret atwood // ocean vuong // chen chen // leila chatti // emery allen // nimmieamee (ao3) // elizabeth lindsey rogers // richard siken // susan sontag // halsey // fatima aamer bilal // honeytuesday (tumblr) // ocean vuong // sophokles

[stitchlingbelle]

Watching Halo, Episode 6

We kick off with the immediate aftermath of the battle, and they do a good job of showing the human cost here—my baby Kai screaming in pain, the long, long lines of the injured and dead being carried into the base. The Master Chief claims that he’s fine and Cortana tells him he’s full of shit, which I appreciated. Makee is unconscious—sedated? I assume she couldn’t just sleep through this—and speaking Sangheili (I finally looked up how to spell it).

As everyone but Halsey is off the ship, Master Chief locks her in and gets TALKY as he threatens to murder her. I’m not gonna lie, I adored this scene. There have been throwaway lines about the Spartans’ intelligence, but this is the first time we really see Master Chief show off his specialist knowledge and problem-solving skills. He’s positively chatty in a very unnerving way as he explains how Halsey will die—if Cortana doesn’t take over his body and stop him, which she doesn’t. He doesn’t go through with killing Halsey (unfortunately, though I very uncharitably enjoyed listening to her panicked screams. A+ acting). I’m not entirely convinced that his test actually proved what he wanted it to—we know Cortana is programmed to take him over completely if needed. Is her access to that function still blocked by Halsey, or did Cortana choose not to use it? If it’s still blocked, was Halsey unable or unwilling to give that access in time to save herself? (She, or her clone, has already shown herself willing to die for her vision if necessary.) Chief seems to assume Cortana would do anything to save Halsey because she’s her creator—but is that true? What does Cortana want?

Makee, like the sledgehammer she is, is going straight past subtle and demanding to speak to the Master Chief and no one else to give up Covenant secrets. How does she even know who he is, gang? If this weren’t a 9-episode season I would have enjoyed them screwing with her by trotting out every other Master Chief in the UNSC before finally letting her talk to John, but we gotta keep things moving, instead. His tough-guy act lasts all of thirty seconds before she drops the term “blessed one” and he crumbles. If she’s so important, Chief, how did she get away? (Also, did she have star charts memorized as a kid and access to nav data as a prisoner? How does she know what the human name of this star system is? I know, if she didn’t we wouldn’t have a show, blah blah blah.) She also gets a cool new human outfit this episode, which I assume is a standard-issue thing, but appears conveniently fashionable, well-fitted, and cleavage-revealing.

Meanwhile, there’s politics and the brass backstabbing each other because their brainwashing & slavery program isn’t running as smoothly as they hoped. (No one reads history OR scifi around here.) (Are the Spartans even paid? What do they spend it on? They need a union.) Consequences are catching up to Halsey in the form of some sort of interrogation (mar dhea, as we say in Irish—as if! I’m certain she’ll wriggle out somehow). Aaaand John interrupts thirty seconds in, which is probably not how the military or the law usually works and in the real world would almost certainly be enough to get her off scot-free, to question her while Parangosky and Keyes watch virtually. “He’s going to think we’re complicit!”/ “Margaret, we ARE complicit!” made me laugh in a very dark way. Miranda slips in at one point, too.

Villain monologue! I have to say, I HATE this sort of villain more than any other. Humanity is too violent, so I, supergenius, had the ~unprecedented~ idea to make a group that’s even MORE violent! No one’s ever thought of that before! Babe, you just reinvented the military and cops, except now they have bigger guns and less connection to their home communities. When we say in PoliSci that one of the definitions of a state is “the entity that maintains a monopoly on violence”, this is literally what we mean. So other groups are now incentivized to create their own Spartan programs to compete with you, or some other arms-race solution? (And this is leaving out all the child abuse, fascism, and “who decides?” of deploying a hyperviolent solution.) Dear Halsey, your ideas are unoriginal, inefficient, do not scale well, and are ultimately ineffective. Please see me after class.

Speaking of the child abuse, holy God, the rest of her explanation was truly horrific. Flash clone kids, created just to die in pain? That’s just sick.

I feel for Miranda, who just got her entire vision of her mother as anything other than a monster ripped from her, and I appreciate that her response isn’t to make it about herself, it’s to offer sympathy to John and then snap to when he asks her for help. How much of this is also a revelation for Cortana, given that she keeps saying that Spartan records don’t exist? Whether she knew and is having that knowledge recontextualized, or whether she’s hearing all this for the first time, she’s about to have choices to make herself. John wonders how much control Cortana has over him, and I’m over here wondering how much control Halsey has over her. The other person who gets to learn all of this is poor Kai, who gets the less-than-comforting reassurance from Master Chief that they’re still Spartans, and the even-less-comforting words, “Get better, 125. I’m gonna need you.”

Back with Halsey, she faces her first-ever consequences when Parangosky reassigns her and has her kicked out, giving her lab, the Spartans, and the artifact over to Miranda. I still don’t trust it will last, but it’s nice to see her outmaneuvered at least once. (Referring to John’s very real anger and anguish as “theatrics” and laughing over the idea that anyone could possibly arrest her? Someone push her into a volcano. Preferably right after she watches Miranda comes up with some brilliant breakthrough that leaves everything she did in the dust, and more, shows it for the flawed bullshit it is.) (Can you tell I am starting to REALLY dislike this woman.)

Miranda gets the lab, which is stark and huge with giant screens, much more glamorous than her previous cluttered, normal-monitor-filled premises. Nice set design there. I’m not sure if she realizes it’s also her invitation to become as complicit as her parents. (The Spartan program is being questioned, but if it’s not shut down, how do you get more Spartans? How will she justify keeping  those pellets in the other Spartans’ backs? Or is she about to start a little rebellion of her own?) But of course, her access is immediately compromised by her mom demanding to see her. *insert Admiral Ackbar gif here*

It absolutely is a trap, as expected. I assumed it would be a bug planted on Miranda to take back to the lab, but it seems Halsey used a high-tech contact lens to copy her daughter’s retinal data. 1. I am surprised she didn’t have that already, weirdo that she is, and 2. This is why biometric data is a disaster. It sounds super fancy and science fiction-y and unhackable, but the problem isn’t your body being hackable, it’s the MACHINE being hackable. It doesn’t know where the data is coming from, just that it IS the correct data, and you can change your passwords BUT YOU CAN’T CHANGE YOUR EYEBALLS.

Ahem. Meanwhile, in terms of character work, Halsey pulls this all off by pretending to get emotional, but does it in such a weird and off-putting way that it’s believable for her. I have so many questions about this woman. Why and how did she even end up with Keyes? Why did she even HAVE a kid? (Oh god, she didn’t originally have Miranda for the Spartan program, did she? Is that why she’s so hostile towards her, because she washed out and is therefore ‘flawed’?) Telling Miranda “I’m sorry that you’re upset that I’m a sociopath” was a hell of a move.

Eventually Cortana breaks through to Halsey (who is debuting her new line of loungewear, incidentally). Interesting that Halsey takes credit for Adun’s work. Cortana, you really, really need to consider your life choices right now…

Meanwhile, there’s some drama around finding the planet Makee told them about, which gives me a bit more of the worldbuilding—they’re using telescopes to find it, not relying on previous charting missions or sending a ship in person. Humanity is still limited in its explorations and knowledge of the greater galaxy. (Could they find friendly aliens at some point? Allies against the Covenant?)

The doubt is enough to send Master Chief and Miranda running to the artifact, fortunately not with Makee in tow just yet. (John’s level of suspicion is pleasantly surprising.) Clearly Kai’s humanizing of the team worked, because Miranda is obviously worried about John as a person as they argue over him touching the artifact again. Halsey, Adun, and Cortana all watch as John nearly fries his brain—and Makee’s as she goes into an instantaneous, identical medical crisis. He inevitably remembers her words and is able to accept the power and suddenly they’re both having a vision of a ring planet of some kind. Aaand it immediately turns into a “We See Each Other” moment. Of course it does.

[halobirthdays]

Happy birthday to Captain Thomas Lasky!

Today is his -487th birthday!

Lasky was born on Mars to a military family. His mother, Audrey Lasky, was a colonel in the UNSC, and was largely absent from the lives of Tom and his older brother, Cadmon.

Cadmon also enlisted in the UNSC and was an exemplary soldier, setting records at Corbulo Military Academy, which both Tom and Cadmon attended, albeit at different times. Despite living in his older brother's shadow, the two enjoyed a healthy relationship and communicated often. This would end when Cadmon died in an Insurrectionist attack on Andesia.

After Cadmon's death, Lasky struggled to keep up with his brother's legacy at Corbulo. His Insurrectionist sympathies, despite the circumstances of his brother's death, marked him as a pariah among his peers. He was offered a medical discharge due to his sensitivity to required cryosleep drugs, but the choice would be made for him when the Covenant attacked Corbulo Academy.

During this engagement, he was rescued by John-117 and Blue Team, and learned of the Human-Covenant war for the first time. Shortly after his rescue, he commissioned into the UNSC Navy.

After the war, he rose to the rank of commander, and was assigned to the UNSC flagship Infinity as its executive officer. CINCONI Margaret Parangosky thought highly of him, and only approved of the assignment of Captain Andrew Del Rio because Lasky was assigned as XO.

During the Requiem campaign, Infinity became trapped in a gravity well which prevented it from leaving the shield world. He activated a distress signal, which was answered by Master Chief. Once Infinity was freed and they returned to the ship, Captain Del Rio ordered Infinity to flee, and for Master Chief to surrender Cortana, who was showing signs of rampancy. When he refused, insisting that pursuing the Didact was too important, Del Rio intended to have him arrested. Instead, Master Chief disobeyed orders and left to pursue the Didact himself, with Lasky quietly assisting his old rescuer by having a Pelican readied.

Once on Earth, Del Rio was removed from duty, and Lasky took over as captain of Infinity . Six months later, Lasky returned to Requiem to secure the planet for the UNSC with the help of Commander Palmer and her Spartan-IVs. While they shared some ideological differences, the two regularly protected the other from consequences from the brass.

Requiem would prove to be more than anticipated, and he would be forced to call in the help of war prisoner Catherine Halsey. This would unfurl into a series of events wherein Halsey assisted Covenant leader Jul 'Mdama as a means to a end--the UNSC was holding her prisoner, and 'Mdama intended to follow the trail to the Absolute Record--a catalog of all Forerunner technology and devices. This lead to disagreement between Lasky and Palmer, as Lasky wanted to spare the doctor, and Palmer wanted to carry out orders to execute her.

Eventually, Fireteam Osiris would rescue Halsey, just in time for Lasky to call on her once again to assist them in stopping Cortana and her Guardians. In 2560, Lasky and Infinity pursued Cortana to Zeta Halo, but were ambushed by the Banished. Infinity was under heavy assault, and Lasky commanded the crew to abandon ship. He escaped on a lifeboat to the surface, but his current status is unknown.

In canon (~2560), he is turning 50!

[elegantzombielite]

"In some circumstances, the refusal to be defeated is a refusal to be educated."

Margaret Halsey, novelist (13th February 1910-1997)

[past-shaped]

traci brimhall - the fate of my seven husbands, from saudade / yves olade - bloodsport / halsey - easier than lying / haruki murakami - norwegian wood / florence and the machine - what kind of man / margaret atwood - speeches for dr frankenstein / lana del rey - cinnamon girl / yusef komunyakaa - the thorn merchant / yves olade - belovéd / iamx - i come with knives / richard siken - litany in which certain things are crossed out / venetta octavia -  i set it in stone / mary shelley - frankenstein / richard siken - wishbone

[texaschainsawmascara]

She stands before him, clothes in garments of flaming fire, inspiring terror & making body & soul terrible, full of frightening eyes (…) - The Book of Lilith - Barbara Black Koltuv

Delta Of Venus - Anaïs Nin / Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing - Margaret Atwood / 'Fire No 1', 2013 - Logan White / The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volume IV (1944-1947) / Fantasia / Old Me - 5 Seconds of Summer / not angry - Ikumi Nakada / Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings - Jorge Luis Borges / Candle 2000 - Vladimir Kush / Angel On Fire - Halsey / unknown / A Burning Hill - Mitski / Liability - Lorde

[thevelaryons]

NEW RELIGION, or AU WHERE ADDAM SURVIVES TUMBLETON AND CHOOSES A DIFFERENT PATH FOR HIMSELF GOING FORWARD

Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk // Captive Prince, C.S. Pacat // Cat’s Eye, Margaret Atwood // Fire & Blood, George R.R. Martin // The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom // Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud // Angel on Fire - Halsey // Sun Bleached Flies - Ethel Cain // Adonis: Selected Poems, Adonis (tr. Khaled Mattawa) // The Sun Is Also a Star, Nicola Yoon // Three - Sleeping At Last // How’d Your Parents Die Again?, Fatimah Asghar // @tagdevilish // The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom // Gusty Island by Listening Point Foundation // Prayer, Jorie Graham // Loss, H.D. // Crush, Richard Siken // H of H Playbook, Anne Carson // Fifteen - Taylor Swift // The Art of Drowning, Billy Collins // unknown // TOUCH (2019) by Alina Pronskaya // Crush, Richard Siken // In A Week – Hozier // Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out, Richard Siken // Solve for Desire: Poems, Caitlin Bailey // @ghuolboy // Truce - Twenty One Pilots