#Pipeline Acceleration

[abhibaj]

The Power of Field Marketing: Deepika Vani’s Guide to Revenue Success

In the dynamic realm of B2B marketing, field marketing stands out as a pivotal strategy for driving revenue growth and fostering direct customer engagement. Deepika Vani, Senior Manager of Field Marketing at Whatfix, offers a comprehensive blueprint for achieving success in this arena. Her approach integrates data-driven initiatives, strategic event planning, and innovative engagement techniques to enhance brand visibility and accelerate pipeline growth. ​

The Evolution of Field Marketing in B2B

Field marketing has undergone a significant transformation, shifting from traditional event-centric tactics to a more integrated, data-driven approach. This evolution reflects the changing behaviors of B2B buyers, who now demand personalized and meaningful interactions. Modern field marketing focuses on creating experiences that resonate with target audiences, fostering trust and facilitating informed purchasing decisions.

Get full insights@ https://itechseries.com/interviews/field-marketing-success/

By aligning field marketing strategies with the contemporary B2B buying process, companies can enhance customer engagement and drive substantial revenue growth. This alignment necessitates a departure from broad-based approaches, emphasizing targeted, measurable, and integrated strategies that address the specific needs of potential clients. ​

Strategic Event Selection: Quality Over Quantity

One of the cornerstones of Vani's blueprint is the emphasis on strategic event selection. Rather than participating in numerous events, she advocates for focusing on those that align closely with the company's objectives and target audience. This selective approach ensures that resources are allocated effectively, leading to higher engagement and better returns on investment. ​

By prioritizing quality over quantity, businesses can create more impactful interactions, fostering deeper relationships with potential clients and partners. This strategy not only optimizes marketing expenditures but also enhances the overall effectiveness of field marketing initiatives. ​

Integrating AI for Enhanced Customer Engagement

Incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into field marketing strategies can significantly enhance customer engagement. AI-driven tools enable marketers to analyze vast amounts of data, uncovering insights into customer preferences and behaviors. This information facilitates the creation of personalized marketing campaigns that resonate with specific segments, increasing the likelihood of conversion. ​

Moreover, AI can automate routine tasks, allowing marketing teams to focus on strategic planning and creative endeavors. By leveraging AI, businesses can deliver more relevant content, anticipate customer needs, and build stronger, more personalized relationships with their audience. ​

Aligning Marketing and Sales for Cohesive Strategies

A cohesive strategy between marketing and sales teams is vital for the success of field marketing initiatives. Vani emphasizes the importance of this alignment, as it ensures that both teams work towards common goals, share valuable insights, and present a unified message to potential clients. ​

Regular communication and collaboration between these departments can lead to a more streamlined approach, where marketing efforts are directly supportive of sales objectives. This synergy enhances the efficiency of the sales funnel, reduces friction in the customer journey, and ultimately contributes to increased revenue growth. ​

Leveraging Data-Driven Insights for Decision Making

Data-driven decision-making is at the heart of effective field marketing. By analyzing data from various touchpoints, marketers can gain a comprehensive understanding of what strategies work best, which events yield the highest engagement, and where improvements are needed. This analytical approach enables continuous optimization of marketing efforts, ensuring that resources are invested in the most impactful activities. ​

Furthermore, data insights can help identify emerging trends, customer pain points, and opportunities for innovation. By staying attuned to these factors, businesses can adapt their strategies proactively, maintaining a competitive edge in the market. ​

Explore the latest marketing and tech insights@ https://itechseries.com/gtm-library/

Embracing Virtual and Hybrid Event Models

The shift towards virtual and hybrid events has opened new avenues for field marketing. These models offer increased accessibility, allowing businesses to reach a broader audience without the constraints of physical location. Additionally, virtual events can be more cost-effective and provide valuable data on attendee engagement and behavior. ​

By integrating virtual components into traditional field marketing strategies, companies can create more flexible and scalable engagement opportunities. This approach not only caters to the preferences of modern buyers but also enhances the overall reach and impact of marketing initiatives. ​

Personalization: The Key to Customer Engagement

Personalization is a critical element in Vani's field marketing blueprint. Tailoring content and experiences to meet the specific needs and interests of target audiences can significantly enhance engagement and conversion rates. This strategy involves understanding the unique challenges and goals of potential clients and addressing them directly through customized marketing efforts. ​

Implementing personalization requires a deep understanding of customer data and the ability to translate insights into actionable strategies. By doing so, businesses can create more meaningful interactions, build trust, and position themselves as valuable partners in their clients' success. ​

Measuring Success and Continuous Improvement

To ensure the effectiveness of field marketing strategies, it is essential to establish clear metrics for success and regularly evaluate performance. This process involves setting specific, measurable goals, tracking progress, and analyzing outcomes to identify areas for improvement. ​

Continuous improvement is achieved by learning from past experiences, adapting to changes in the market, and implementing innovative approaches. By fostering a culture of ongoing evaluation and refinement, businesses can maintain the relevance and impact of their field marketing efforts, driving sustained revenue growth. ​

In conclusion, Deepika Vani's blueprint for field marketing success offers a comprehensive guide for B2B marketers aiming to enhance customer engagement and drive revenue growth. By focusing on strategic event selection, integrating AI, aligning marketing and sales, leveraging data-driven insights, embracing virtual events, personalizing interactions, and committing to continuous improvement, businesses can navigate the complexities of modern field marketing and achieve lasting success.

[ivoryratdoggerythethird]

HIS LIL SMILE EVOLVED LOOK AT THIS SMUG LITTLE BABY I LOVE HIM SO MUCH

it's the same smile 😭😭 don't ever let them dull your glow king the trauma only makes you hotter 🙏

kept finding this iconic and cursed one so, bonus:

[reasonsforhope]

Although dam removals have been happening since 1912, the vast majority have occurred since the mid-2010s, and they have picked up steam since the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provided funding for such projects. To date, 806 Northeastern dams have come down, with hundreds more in the pipeline. Across the country, 2023 was a watershed year, with a total of 80 dam removals. Says Andrew Fisk, Northeast regional director of the nonprofit American Rivers, “The increasing intensity and frequency of storm events, and the dramatically reduced sizes of our migratory fish populations, are accelerating our efforts.”

Dam removals in the Northeast don’t generate the same media attention as massive takedowns on West Coast rivers, like the Klamath or the Elwha. That’s because most of these structures are comparatively miniscule, built in the 19th century to form ponds and to power grist, textile, paper, saw, and other types of mills as the region developed into an industrial powerhouse.

But as mills became defunct, their dams remained. They may be small to humans, but to the fish that can’t get past them “they’re just as big as a Klamath River dam,” says Maddie Feaster, habitat restoration project manager for the environmental organization Riverkeeper, based in Ossining, New York. From Maryland and Pennsylvania up to Maine, there are 31,213 inventoried dams, more than 4,000 of which sit within the 13,400-square-mile Hudson River watershed alone. For generations they’ve degraded habitat and altered downstream hydrology and sediment flows, creating warm, stagnant, low-oxygen pools that trigger algal blooms and favor invasive species. The dams inhibit fish passage, too, which is why the biologists at the mouth of the Saw Kill transported their glass eels past the first of three Saw Kill dams after counting them...

Jeremy Dietrich, an aquatic ecologist at the New York State Water Resources Institute, monitors dam sites both pre- and post-removal. Environments upstream of an intact dam, he explains, “are dominated by midges, aquatic worms, small crustaceans, organisms you typically might find in a pond.” In 2017 and 2018 assessments of recent Hudson River dam removals, some of which also included riverbank restorations to further enhance habitat for native species, he found improved water quality and more populous communities of beetles, mayflies, and caddisflies, which are “more sensitive to environmental perturbation, and thus used as bioindicators,” he says. “You have this big polarity of ecological conditions, because the barrier has severed the natural connectivity of the system. [After removal], we generally see streams recover to a point where we didn’t even know there was a dam there.”

Pictured: Quassaick Creek flows freely after the removal of the Strooks Felt Dam, Newburgh, New York.

American Rivers estimates that 85 percent of U.S. dams are unnecessary at best and pose risks to public safety at worst, should they collapse and flood downstream communities. The nonprofit has been involved with roughly 1,000 removals across the country, 38 of them since 2018. This effort was boosted by $800 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. But states will likely need to contribute more of their own funding should the Trump administration claw back unspent money, and organizations involved in dam removal are now scrambling to assess the potential impact to their work.

Enthusiasm for such projects is on the upswing among some dam owners — whether states, municipalities, or private landholders. Pennsylvania alone has taken out more than 390 dams since 1912 — 107 of them between 2015 and 2023 — none higher than 16 feet high. “Individual property owners [say] I own a dam, and my insurance company is telling me I have a liability,” says Fisk. Dams in disrepair may release toxic sediments that potentially threaten both human health and wildlife, and low-head dams, over which water flows continuously, churn up recirculating currents that trap and drown 50 people a year in the U.S.

Numerous studies show that dam removals improve aquatic fish passage, water quality, watershed resilience, and habitat for organisms up the food chain, from insects to otters and eagles. But removals aren’t straightforward. Federal grants, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the Fish and Wildlife Service, favor projects that benefit federally listed species and many river miles. But even the smallest, simplest projects range in cost from $100,000 to $3 million. To qualify for a grant, be it federal or state, an application “has to score well,” says Scott Cuppett, who leads the watershed team at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Program, which collaborates with nonprofits like Riverkeeper to connect dam owners to technical assistance and money...

All this can be overwhelming for dam owners, which is why stakeholders hope additional research will help loosen up some of the requirements. In 2020, Yellen released a study in which he simulated the removal of the 1,702 dams in the lower Hudson watershed, attempting to determine how much sediment might be released if they came down. He found that “the vast majority of dams don’t really trap much sediment,” he says. That’s good news, since it means sediment released into the Hudson will neither permanently worsen water quality nor build up in places that would smother or otherwise harm underwater vegetation. And it shows that “you would not need to invest a huge amount of time or effort into a [costly] sediment management plan,” Yellen says. It’s “a day’s worth of excavator work to remove some concrete and rock, instead of months of trucking away sand and fill.” ...

On a sunny winter afternoon, Feaster, of Riverkeeper, stands in thick mud beside Quassaick Creek in Newburgh, New York. The Strooks Felt Dam, the first of seven municipally owned dams on the lower reaches of this 18-mile tributary, was demolished with state money in 2020. The second dam, called Holden, is slated to come down in late 2025. Feaster is showing a visitor the third, the Walsh Road Dam, whose removal has yet to be funded. “This was built into a floodplain,” she says, “and when it rains the dam overflows to flood a housing complex just around a bend in the creek.” ...

On the Quassaick, improvements are evident since the Strooks dam came out. American eel and juvenile blue crabs have already moved in. In fact, fish returns can sometimes be observed within minutes of opening a passageway. Says Schmidt, “We’ve had dammed rivers where you’ve been removing the project and when the last piece comes out a fish immediately storms past it.”

There is palpable impatience among environmentalists and dam owners to get even more removals going in the Northeast. To that end, collaborators are working to streamline the process. The Fish and Wildlife Service, for example, has formed an interagency fish passage task force with other federal agencies, including NOAA and FEMA, that have their own interests in dam removals. American Rivers is working with regional partners to develop priority lists of dams whose removals would provide the greatest environmental and safety benefits and open up the most river miles to the most important species. “We’re not going to remove all dams,” [Note: mostly for reasons dealing with invasive species management, etc.] says Schmidt. “But we can be really thoughtful and impactful with the ones that we do choose to remove.”

-via Yale Environment 360, February 4, 2025

[stealingyourbones]

Short DPXDC Prompts #957

Wes is a worker at STAR labs working on maintaining The Pipeline on it’s first start up. Everything goes well… for a minute. Then the particle accelerator explodes. A piece of rubble hits a corner of his temple and everything goes white.

[mtnman451]

Another One:

I've made no secret that I have a fondness for "Old Sayings." I like them because there's so much truthfulness in them. Here's one I really love. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. One thing we should understand when dealing with Leftists, Liberals, and Democrats is that they will rabidly support causes vocally but when it comes right down to it their actions show they don't really support those causes they're just using those causes per se and are using those causes in an attempt to control us. Let's examine some of their actions concerning "Climate Change." As we know they vehemently support the assertion that Climate Change is real and accelerating every day no action is taken against it. They're against any proliferation of anything that has to do with the promotion or use of Fossil Fuels. If that truly was the case then why, after protesting against The Keystone XL Pipeline and losing in 2017, did most ALL the protesters there leave a Toxic Waste Dump behind? It would stand to reason, if they have such a reverence for The Environment, it should be for ALL of the environment not just one part of it, correct? That's what I thought but I guess I'm wrong.

Now fast forward to what's happening in The US now. Elon Musk, due to the success of his Electric Car Company, Tesla, used to be the darling of the Left and Climate Change supporters. Now, since Musk has supported President Trump and his helping him in his quest to slim down our government, Leftists, Liberals and Democrats have made him Public Enemy Number 1. They're selling their Teslas, Vandalizing Tesla dealerships, charging stations and, in fact, trashing and destroying Tesla's that belong to other people. Now here's the rub. Everyone knows that the batteries in Electric Cars are filled with, yep, Toxic Heavy Metals which when introduced into our environment from a ruptured battery of a vandalized Electric car would contaminate the environment but it would seem that Leftists, Liberals and Democrats are good with that as long as they're the ones doing it. Strange, huh?

If you don't think EVERYTHING they do is about Controlling You, Think Again.

Btw, the saying "Actions Speak Louder than Words" can also be applied to what Leftists, Liberals and Democrats are doing in the areas of Law & Order also. They SAY they're all for The Rule of Law and Law & Order but at every turn they cause nothing but chaos as their DA's release violent criminals without bail, they violently protest in support of people that hate our allies, support Terrorist Organizations, and they go "Judge Shopping" to find sympathetic Judges to stop the deportation of violent international Narco/Terrorist Gang members. If you ask me, those are some strange things for people who say they value The Rule of Law and Law & Order in our country to be doing, don't you think?

[bnhaobservation]

Technological progress in BNHA

So, this post was inspired by how, in replay to this post @donquixotehomura said:

And the fact that it was stated that the appearance of quirks had caused society’s science to be slowed down due to the chaos “we would have been able to take interstellar trips/travel by now” or something among those lines, yeah the initial chaos would have caused that but then using quirks and such science should have been catapulted into very advanced levels, like with the damn technology for hero support and the science fiction technology levels in UA (honestly they can move buildings, have force fields, the robots etc).

There are people with intelligence quirks, people with technology quirks, and many quirks that could seriously advance science really quickly, I guess no one thought of it cause… We have super powers now… Ig

Also like the century or two is a long enough time for technology to advance fast if we use the same rate technology advances in our modern day world (the more science advances the easier/faster it is for more science to advance) then yeah in this amount of time there should have been much more science and most certainly much more quirk based science…. What I’m saying is someone would have invented a way to nullify quirks if even temporarily on top of putting regular science back on track.

Like here I’ll reference the meta dampeners from the Flash TV series (Arrow Verse, CW) the meta humans appeared only in one city, and while we’re never given a solid count of how many there are we know that there are about 200 give or take that choose to become criminals and about 10 or 20 of the revolving door of meta heroes that work with the Flash, all that and Cisco and the Government (well ARGUS) invented a ton of shit to counter Meta Humans, Meta Dampeners that can be put all over facilities, the “boot” a device Cisco invented, basically a meta cuff bazooka (I can’t really explain it but you can look it up), the meta cuffs that were a thing given to the Flash in star laps from like, basically month one, Meta Prisons I mean there is the repurposed Pipeline for the Particle Accelerator in Star Laps that was used but then apparently Iron Heights now has their own Meta Wing with Meta Dampeners in the walls, cells and everything.

Yeah I know the writing in that show is also fucked and in need of divine help at this point but the in the show it all takes about a YEAR OR TWO!!! for all the anti meta human weapons and devices (I’m pretty sure I missed a few, like some energy guns that basically shock the metas, the specific ones such as speedster weapons etc)… Like… Two years…..BNHA world had 100x that amount of time and NO ONE CAME UP WITH A QUIRK DAMPENER DEVICE?!!!

I do remember the ‘Maidens’ but there are just glorified cuffs

So many things to say...

Let’s start with the Doylist explanation for why Horikoshi had characters claiming that without Quirk age starting they would be enjoying interstellar travels.

It’s clear Horikoshi wanted his story to be placed in the future but, at the same time, he wanted the future to look like present time so people dress like we do and use technology that we use.

For him it’s practical as he doesn’t have to create a futuristic setting and it helps readers to better identify with the characters in the BNHA world because, apart for the Quirk, they’re like them.

Only... he could have just said it wasn’t the future, the characters were also in 2014 but the one OF A PARALLEL REALITY in which, instead than world war 2, humanity had to deal with the birth of Quirks.

Why this would have been a better option?

Because the birth of Quirk wasn’t the equivalent to a worldwide nuclear war sometime in the 1990s has resulted in the destruction of most of civilization like in “Hokuto no Ken”, no it was merely the equivalent of a civil war.

And an ongoing war has NEVER slowed up the technological progress, it has HURRIED it up because both parties try to use improvements in technology to win over the other party. Hell, even in middle age people would invent new things when a war was starting, even if it were just a siege, even in ancient Roman age.

We even see it in the story after Japan becomes nobody’s land and the coffin in the sky and All Might’s armor are created.

Of course the losing/minority side might have had more trouble to access technology but the idea all of sudden progress is halted is ludicrous because it would require humanity to lose access to technology, as in scientists, energy sources, machineries and this doesn’t happen.

Short after Yoichi was kidnapped with see AFO in a building and all around there are artificial lights, a sign electricity is working. Bruce can run a computer and tell Kudo he now has two Quirks, meaning he also has some freshly invented machine that can tell him so.

On the other side, progress continuing doesn’t mean in 100 years we’ll enjoy interstellar travels like we do with a fly between America and Europe.

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) had plans for the plane and the helicopters but the first heavier-than-air flying machine, considered the invention of the airplane, occurred on December 17, 1903, while the first manned, free flight of a helicopter occurred on November 13, 1907. The first man went to space on April 12, 1961 but currently we’re at around only 721 people him included who managed to also travel in space.

Progress doesn’t happen simply because time passes by but because someone discovers something that allows it to happen.

Men had to depend FOR CENTURIES on fire only to light their houses until someone came up with a way to use electricity, FOR CENTURIES we had mails and messages that needed to be carried from a place to the other, then someone came up with the telegraph and the phone and now we’ve email and video calls.

So no, Quirks wouldn’t halt progress, but we’ve no way to know how far progress would have gone. Maybe it would have never been to the point of granting interstellar travels because humanity would have still missed the key invention/energy source/material needed to archive them.

So the best Watsonian explanation we could offer to the words of that ‘important guy’ Midoriya speaks about in chap 59 is that he’s a misinformed moron or that aims to spread discontent toward people with Quirk, so maybe he was one of those guys who were racist toward them.

The Doylist explanation though is that Horikoshi didn’t plan well his past which is something that occurs way too often in the story.

Now… why no one came up with a Quirk suppressing device and would it be possible to come up with one?

Quirks are fictional, it’s possible to create a Quirk suppressing device only if Horikoshi says it’s possible to do so.

It’s not a matter of science, it’s a matter of fiction, fiction that allows drugs like Trigger that give a boost to a Quirk regardless of the type of the Quirk or Quirk erasing bullets or a Quirk that erase Quirks, or a Quirk that steals Quirks but doesn’t allow for suppressing Quirk cuffs, so that people with strong Quirks once arrested are wrapped in bindings and then closed in tubes (the Iron Maidens) and then they’re kept always tied and immobilized in Tartarus with machine guns aimed at them and ready to shoot if they do so much as scratch their back.

THIS IS A NARRATIVE CHOICE, it’s not something that had to be done because there was no other way around it. I’ve a hard time thinking it never dawned on Horikoshi to create such devices (true, storywise it would have stopped a jailed AFO from communicating with his other self outside of prison but did we really need that?).

And it’s hard to explain it in a Watsonian way because we can’t claim people/governments wouldn’t be interested in having Quirk suppressing cuffs as it would be much easier and much more human to manage Villains with them… and Villains too would likely be interested in a way to suppress other people’s Quirks, and since we’ve drugs that boost Quirks, it’s hard to think they couldn’t come up with a drug that has the opposite level but can only keep people unconscious or tied.

[mariacallous]

What would a force hostile to the United States—a nation whose power has been the envy of the world for more than seven decades—do if it were able to set up an influential pipeline for policy ideas directly to the White House? Or, better yet, if it could somehow burrow into the mind of its president?

With so many points of U.S. strength, it is hard to know where to begin. One might start by fanning a backlash against the long-standing, if halting, trend in U.S. society toward inclusiveness, which has gradually sought to bring disfavored groups into the fold of the country’s prosperity. This might include waging a war against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives—one that, in its most Orwellian dimension, would extend to policing the use of words such as “bias,” “privilege,” and “equality” in government agencies.

One might pull the rug out from under a country sitting on the doorstop of Washington’s long-standing European allies, which has suffered invasion and continued assault from a revanchist autocracy bent on expansion. For instance, one might shy away from identifying Russia as the aggressor in Ukraine and sometimes blame the latter for the conflict, all while conceding major Russian war aims even before the start of peace negotiations.

One might criticize European democracies such as Germany for not providing more space to extreme-right political parties that have openly flirted with ideology reminiscent of the Nazis. Or one might disparage longtime friends and democratic allies, from Canada to Japan, saying that they are cheating the United States, imposing high tariffs on them, and demanding that they pay for the security protection they get from Washington.

One might ravage the staff and budget of the Internal Revenue Service, the body that collects the taxes that fund the government, while passing budget resolutions that will provide large tax breaks to the wealthy—all but ensuring massive increases in future budget deficits. While doing so, one might insinuate that Social Security—a pillar of the U.S. political compact since the Great Depression—is being fleeced by millions of phantom super-centenarians, whose relatives cheat the system by collecting benefit checks long after their deaths.

One might withdraw from United Nations bodies such as the Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization, thus ceding influence to countries that make no pretense of respecting human dignity and freedom, and ending U.S. leadership in combatting diseases that threaten people worldwide.

One might try to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development, which provides technical assistance and funding to much poorer countries to boost their economic development while also bolstering U.S. soft power.

One might liquidate the country’s international broadcasting capacity, ending the delivery of relatively objective news to hundreds of millions of people who live under dictatorships, including in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.

One might seek to hinder the development of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind while pushing the acceleration of fossil fuel production, not only ensuring huge environmental damage, but also ceding U.S. leadership in a sector that is vital to future wealth and competition.

Why stop there, though? One could move to weaken a body such as the National Institutes of Health, which has long been a major force in the United States’ world-leading medical research, or even take a swipe at one its biggest recent triumphs: the breakneck development of the mRNA vaccine technology that helped the United States become a global leader in limiting the death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are so many ideas for how to sap Washington’s strength that one could imagine fatigue setting in among those charged with manning the pipeline to the president imagined at the outset of this column. But it turns out that U.S. President Donald Trump does not even need such a unit. And there is little sign of his administration slowing down its efforts to sap the country’s vitality. His team’s other ideas involve hindering nuclear safety and research for nuclear energy and weapons, degrading the country’s ability to monitor or even discuss global warming, and defunding weather forecasts. There are many more.

With a list as prodigious as this, it has taken me too long to get to perhaps the brightest, and most insidious, idea of all for bringing the United States down to the status of an average power: pursuing a campaign of destruction against the country’s world-leading universities. The Trump administration is already carrying this out on several fronts, with little sign that most Americans are concerned about or even aware of what is happening.

This campaign was signaled in advance by hostile rhetoric from conservatives such as Vice President J.D. Vance. Even before he was elected, Vance, himself a product of elite education, spoke of U.S. higher education as “the enemy.” Since Trump returned to office, his government has acted accordingly. It has moved to undercut federal support for university-based research, tightened visa access for international students, and made U.S. campuses a priority area in its war against diversity. Potentially most damaging of all, it has weaponized the idea of antisemitism as a tool to extend the government’s political control into university departments and classrooms.

Full disclosure: I have been a professor at Columbia University—ground zero for much of this campaign—for nearly two decades. Protests on my campus over Israel’s offensive tactics in Gaza have been the pretext for much of this; now, the Trump administration practically equates criticism of Israel with legally punishable antisemitism.

I lived and taught through the period of campus protests, and it is my sense that they were overwhelmingly peaceful, but I would never rule out the possibility that Jewish students were sometimes made to feel uncomfortable by the signs, slogans, or even taunts of some individual protestors. However, this should not be used to justify restricting one of the most vital U.S. freedoms and the essence of the country’s culture of excellence in higher education: free speech.

By arresting and seeking to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate and legal permanent resident of the United States, for participating in these protests, the administration has revealed its hand and shown that its war on education and war on speech are fundamentally intertwined. Not only has Khalil never been charged with a crime, but in interviews, Department of Homeland Security officials have been unable to clearly explain his alleged offense.

The punishments and supposed remedies run together. The Trump administration has canceled $400 million in government funding to Columbia unless the university fulfills a series of wildly unreasonable demands. This includes the requirement that Columbia’s department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies be placed under “receivership,” which would remove oversight of the department from its faculty.

“We’re in the midst of an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government. It’s been coming and coming, and not everybody is prepared to read it that way,” Lee Bollinger, Columbia’s longtime former president, said last week. “Our problem in part is a failure of imagination. We cannot get ourselves to see how this is going to unfold in its most frightening versions. You neutralize the branches of government; you neutralize the media; you neutralize the universities, and you’re on your way.”

Although routinely unacknowledged as such, the country’s universities are the crown jewel in its entire democratic system. Some, such as Harvard University, are considerably older than the nation itself. But more than that, the United States’ sense of itself—of law, of science, of the humanities—flows from its campuses and their great tradition of academic freedom, including free speech. This is also true of the United States’ economic, technological, and military prowess.

Universities have been able to buttress U.S. leadership largely because of their pull on ambitious people from all over the world, many of whom have fervently embraced U.S. ideals, becoming naturalized as citizens or spreading democratic values overseas. The powerful force that attracts them is built on more than individual hopes of wealth, or even of personal achievement. It is built on freedom, and once that ultimate value—practically an American brand—is destroyed, it may never be restored.

[fezwearingjellybananas]

Cisco as Killer Frost AU for the 5+ headcanons :D

That seems like an interesting idea, thank you for that one, there's a few points that could happen? Post Flashpoint it's the fall out from Dante's death? Or maybe...

The Cold Gun core was never intended to be a weapon. It was a fast-acting super-cooling mechanism meant to be part of the accelerator's failsafe measures. Hartley had been the one to give Cisco the task of improving the existing cooling method and Cisco was pretty sure this was meant to be a test, so he was definitely using it to make Hartley eat his words.

2. It's not a test, though Hartley's not going to trust Cisco with that. He managed to weasel back into Harrison's good graces about the accelerator once already- clearly it was his own calculations that were wrong, he'd only been inside to check and of course that was what happened, of course Harrison Wells couldn't possibly be wrong, of course he knew so much more than Hartley- but he knows it won't happen again. He knows no one else will take his word over Harrison's, he knows his job is already on thin ice. But he also knows if Harrison won't listen to him, it's better for him to be at S.T.A.R. Labs where he can sneak his own additional failsafes into the accelerator to at least mitigate the damage Harrison is about to unleash on the city.

3. Eobard is distracted in the few days before. Barry Allen decides to choose now to run off to Starling City, where he's away from Eobard's cameras for the first time in a long time, where Eobard tracking his phone shows he's at Queen Consolidated, and now Eobard has to at the very last minute find a way to make sure Barry Allen of all people actually gets to where he needs him to be on time. He can't run and get him himself, not yet, he can't get there and back himself, why is Barry so frustrating all the time. And because Barry has been causing problems yet again, now he only has a few hours to undo whatever it was Hartley just slipped into his accelerator under the guise of doing his final checks on the mechanics. This is all Barry's fault.

4. Ronnie Raymond isn't a physicist. He's a structural engineer. His job isn't to make the accelerator work, that's Doctor Wells and Hartley, his job is to make sure that whatever happens, the building stays standing. That everyone in that building is as safe as they can possibly be from any failures within the accelerator. Ronnie Raymond does his job that night. But he can do more, he knows every failsafe, he knows how to shut the accelerator down manually if every other system fails, except he brought Cisco down with him and now Cisco's saying something about something he made and gave to Hartley and, before Ronnie can stop him, Cisco is the one running into the Pipeline that night. Cisco is the one who doesn't make it out the Pipeline that night.

5. There are parts in the accelerator that were not on Eobard's original plans. Cisco told Ronnie Hartley put at least one of them there. Jax, Hartley's new intern- meant to keep him occupied and out the accelerator, so much for that plan- has disappeared, Hartley has some figures that line up with what the accelerator did instead of Eobard's calculations he made sure would show it working, and Hartley trusted no one with his suspicions and now seems to be lying low, he makes it so easy for Eobard to pin the failure on him.

6. The first thing Cisco feels when he wakes up is cold. He doesn't know where he is, doesn't know what happened, all he can feel is this incredible cold.

7. There's a man next to him, shivering, and Cisco reaches a hand to help him up and watches him cry out and pull back, away from Cisco, away from where Cisco sees ice forming as he draws the man's body temperature into himself. He pushes himself back, falls off the table he seems to be lying on, out the room he's in, the morgue he's been put in, and Cisco runs.

And he doesn't stop.

8. Barry Allen wakes up in S.T.A.R. Labs nine months after he was struck by lightning, right on schedule. He wakes up to two people standing over him, Doctor Caitlin Snow, and her fiancé, Ronnie Raymond.

9. The first time Barry hears Cisco Ramon's name, it's the first day he wakes up. Caitlin gives him the suit Cisco made, designed for firefighters, never finished, and by some miracle (or rather, by Eobard's interference), it fits Barry perfectly. Barry has a few ideas, and Caitlin doesn't think Cisco would mind at all.

10. The second time Barry hears Cisco Ramon's name, it's the day he faces Leonard Snart and the Cold Gun. Ronnie recognises the device Cisco designed, the one meant to protect and the one that killed him. It could only have killed him, the body they pulled from the Pipeline was frozen solid, and part of Ronnie still thinks it should have been him.

11. The first time Barry meets the man they call Killer Frost he doesn't find out his name. He runs Bette's body out onto the water, watches her sink and glow, and runs back to shore. Eiling is leaving, packing his soldiers up like nothing had happened, and Barry plans on confronting him there and then, but before he can get close a blast of ice freezes his feet to the floor. He recognises him- the short, spiked white hair like frost, Barry saw him with Eiling earlier. He braces himself for a fight, but the man just warns him to stay away from Eiling and a circus, and leaves him trapped just out of sight while he heads back to the soldiers.

12. Frost is the codename of one of A.R.G.U.S.'s agents. Barry finds that one out in Starling City after the Captain Boomerang adventure. They call him Killer Frost because, well. He's very good at his job.

13. He shows up a few other times too, usually to offer a hand at a moment Barry needed it. There's no Pipeline this time around, something was already happening at Iron Heights, and Barry finds Frost there too. He doesn't trust Frost's employers, but something about the man himself seems sad, and just seems to draw Barry in.

14. Without a Pipeline, Hartley has to break into the lab the old-fashioned way. He's met with anger from Caitlin and Ronnie, who blame him for their friend's death, and curiosity from Barry.

15. Hartley was telling the truth- they find Jefferson Jackson merged with Professor Stein. They manage to separate them, Jax doesn't think Hartley would have sabotaged anything, and Hartley tells Barry he needs to be careful of something called the Circus, just like Frost did.

16. And Jax has something else to tell Barry- just Barry, he doesn't know if anyone else would believe him- but Frost was there when Eiling took Professor Stein. Frost helped them get away again. And Jax just got a glimpse, but he's certain Killer Frost is Cisco Ramon.

17. Barry has spent over half his life with people not believing him. He knows what it's like for no one to listen to you, even when you're right. Jax he knows he can trust. He's already asked Felicity and she's found a file about an A.R.G.U.S. project called the Circus, and she's working on getting him more about what that is. But if Barry can trust Hartley, then he can't trust Doctor Wells.

18. He's pretty sure he can trust Caitlin and Ronnie. They're his friends. He's been given a wedding invitation now they've finally set a date. But Cisco is their friend and Barry followed up on Jax's theory by tracking down Dante Ramon who is adamant his brother is still out there somewhere, that they never got given his body and there was a reason, he's so sure he's seen Cisco, but he's still not sure about telling them, not until he's got proof. Joe is Joe, Barry knows he's had some doubts about Wells before, and there's one person Barry knows without a shadow of a doubt he can trust with everything, one person who will believe him without question.

19. Iris is not impressed it's taken Barry this long to confess he's the Flash, but she does know her mentor at Picture News is working on something about Wells, and she might be able to ask him some questions. And Eddie- Barry reasoned he probably shouldn't ask Iris to keep a secret like this from her boyfriend, and Eddie's his friend, he trusts him too- admits Joe asked him to sneak around Wells' house after Hartley smashed that skylight to see if there was anything suspicious.

20. Eddie also has a politician for a father. He might be able to get Barry some more answers about what exactly the Circus is too.

21. Caitlin keeps getting these weird dreams about Doctor Wells murdering her. And also about Cisco trying to save her.

22. The Circus is where A.R.G.U.S. keeps dangerous metahumans and aliens. And ones they can use. And when they found Cisco, running and scared and alone, they thought they could use him. His powers hurt people, that's all he can do now, but if he stays loyal, if he acts like one of them, if he only hurts the people they want him to, then he stays out of those cells. He can do that. He can follow all the orders Agent Gunn gives him.

23. Cisco knows why they're interested in the Flash. He could either be very dangerous, or very useful, or both. He could be another agent just like him, and he doesn't deserve that. The Flash seems so earnest about wanting to help people, he seems so good, and his new orders to bring him in feel wrong. But someone with the Flash's powers made Eiling disappear, someone with the Flash's powers is behind Simon Stagg's disappearance, and it was only a matter of time before they found an excuse to bring him in, and it was always going to be down to Cisco, he's the only one with the powers to do that. He can't stall forever. But he could disobey an order. His first one. He could talk to the Flash, get his own answers.

24. Barry Allen first meets Cisco Ramon at Jitters. He has some questions, ones Barry can only answer by telling him about the Man in Yellow. He's less forthcoming about his own answers, but Barry has his friends, he's managed to piece together enough, and Cisco denies none of it. He just goes to leave, leaving Barry with a coffee and a faint smile, and Barry grabs his hand and tells him one last thing before he goes.

25. Cisco disobeyed an order. He's still refusing to bring the Flash in. He knew what that would mean. He knew they've had a cell ready for him since the moment he arrived here. Maybe before. He knows no one has ever left the Circus, not alive. He knows no one knows where it is, and everyone he loves thinks he's dead, they would never know to look for him. He should be scared of this. Six hours ago, he was. He's not now though. The metal closes closes in front of him and Cisco just closes his eyes and remembers what Barry told him.

"I'll save you, Cisco. I promise."

And Cisco, without hesitation, believes him.

[5+ headcanons for an AU]

[covid-safer-hotties]

Preserved in our archive

A research letter from 2022 highlighting the effects of even "mild" covid on the brain.

Dear Editor,

A recent study published in Nature by Douaud and colleagues1 shows that SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with longitudinal effects, particularly on brain structures linked to the olfactory cortex, modestly accelerated reduction in global brain volume, and enhanced cognitive decline. Thus, even mild COVID-19 can be associated with long-lasting deleterious effects on brain structure and function.

Loss of smell and taste are amongst the earliest and most common effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection. In addition, headaches, memory problems, confusion, or loss of speech and motility occur in some individuals.2 While important progress has been made in understanding SARS-CoV-2-associated neurological manifestations, the underlying mechanisms are under debate and most knowledge stems from analyses of hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19.2 Most infected individuals, however, develop mild to moderate disease and recover without hospitalization. Whether or not mild COVID-19 is associated with long-term neurological manifestations and structural changes indicative of brain damage remained largely unknown.

Douaud and co-workers examined 785 participants of the UK Biobank (www.ukbiobank.ac.uk) who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) twice with an average inter-scan interval of 3.2 years, and 401 individuals testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection between MRI acquisitions (Fig. 1a). Strengths of the study are the large number of samples, the availability of scans obtained before and after infection, and the multi-parametric quantitative analyses of serial MRI acquisitions.1 These comprehensive and automated analyses with a non-infected control group allowed the authors to dissect consistent brain changes caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection from pre-existing conditions. Altogether, the MRI scan processing pipeline used extracted more than 2,000 features, named imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs), from each participant’s imaging data. Initially, the authors focused on IDPs involved in the olfactory system. In agreement with the frequent impairment of smell and taste in COVID-19, they found greater atrophy and indicators of increased tissue damage in the anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex and insula, as well as in the ventral striatum, amygdala, hippocampus and para-hippocampal gyrus, which are connected to the primary olfactory cortex (Fig. 1b). Taking advantage of computational models allowing to differentiate changes related to SARS-CoV-2 infection from physiological age-related brain changes (e.g. decreases of brain volume with aging),3 they also explored IDPs covering the entire brain. Although most individuals experienced only mild symptoms of COVID-19, the authors detected an accelerated reduction in whole-brain volume and more pronounced cognitive declines associated with increased atrophy of a cognitive lobule of the cerebellum (crus II) in individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to the control group. These differences remained significant when 15 people who required hospitalization were excluded. Most brain changes for IDPs were moderate (average differences between the two groups of 0.2–2.0%, largest for volume of parahippocampal gyrus and entorhinal cortex) and accelerated brain volume loss was “only” observed in 56–62% of infected participants. Nonetheless, these results strongly suggest that even clinically mild COVID-19 might induce long-term structural alterations of the brain and cognitive impairment.

The study provides unique insights into COVID-19-associated changes in brain structure. The authors took great care in appropriately matching the case and control groups, making it unlikely that observed differences are due to confounding factors, although this possibility can never be entirely excluded. The mechanisms underlying these infection-associated changes, however, remain to be clarified. Viral neurotropism and direct infection of cells of the olfactory system, neuroinflammation and lack of sensory input have been suggested as reasons for the degenerative events in olfactory-related brain structures and neurological complications.4 These mechanisms are not mutually exclusive and may synergize in causing neurodegenerative disorders as consequence of COVID-19.

The study participants became infected between March 2020 and April 2021, before the emergence of the Omicron variant of concern (VOC) that currently dominates the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time period, the Alpha and Beta VOCs dominated in the UK and all results were obtained from individuals between 51 and 81 years of age. It will be of great interest to clarify whether Omicron, that seems to be less pathogenic than other SARS-CoV-2 variants, also causes long-term brain damage. The vaccination status of the participants was not available in the study1 and it will be important to clarify whether long-term changes in brain structure also occur in vaccinated and/or younger individuals. Other important questions are whether these structural changes are reversible or permanent and may even enhance the frequency for neurodegenerative diseases that are usually age-related, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or Huntington’s disease. Previous findings suggest that cognitive disorders improve over time after severe COVID-19;5 yet it remains to be determined whether the described brain changes will translate into symptoms later in life such as dementia. Douaud and colleagues report that none of top 10 IDPs correlated significantly with the time interval between SARS-CoV-2 infection and the 2nd MRI acquisition, suggesting that the observed abnormalities might be very long-lasting.

Currently, many restrictions and protective measures are relaxed because Omicron is highly transmissible but usually causes mild to moderate acute disease. This raises hope that SARS-CoV-2 may evolve towards reduced pathogenicity and become similar to circulating coronaviruses causing mild respiratory infections. More work needs to be done to clarify whether the current Omicron and future variants of SARS-CoV-2 may also cause lasting brain abnormalities and whether these can be prevented by vaccination or therapy. However, the finding by Douaud and colleagues1 that SARS-CoV-2 causes structural changes in the brain that may be permanent and could relate to neurological decline is of concern and illustrates that the pathogenesis of this virus is markedly different from that of circulating human coronaviruses. Further studies, to elucidate the mechanisms underlying COVID-19-associated neurological abnormalities and how to prevent or reverse them are urgently needed.

REFERENCES (Follow link)

[jackoshadows]

Just a reminder that the US administration under Jimmy Carter increased and accelerated the weapons supply and military assistance to Indonesia for their massacre, ethnic cleansing of the indigenous people and occupation of East Timor.

In other words, democrats like Genocide Joe are only following in the footsteps of democrats like Jimmy Carter in funding and providing the weapons for wiping out indigenous populations in the grand American tradition of being pro-genocide.

All the praise for Jimmy Carter makes me sick. No doubt in another ten years we will see the same for Genocide Joe as liberals praise him and eulogize him.

The US played a crucial role in supplying weapons to Indonesia.[84] A week after the invasion of East Timor the National Security Council prepared a detailed analysis of the Indonesian military units involved and the US equipment they used. The analysis revealed that virtually all of the military equipment used in the invasion was US supplied: US-supplied destroyer escorts shelled East Timor as the attack unfolded; Indonesian marines disembarked from US-supplied landing craft; US-supplied C-47 and C-130 aircraft dropped Indonesian paratroops and strafed Dili with .50 calibre machine guns; while the 17th and 18th Airborne brigades which led the assault on the Timorese capital were "totally U.S. MAP supported," and their jump masters US trained.[91] While the US government claimed to have suspended new arms sales to Indonesia from December 1975 to June 1976, military equipment already in the pipeline continued to flow,[89] and the US made four new offers of arms during that six-month period, including supplies and parts for 16 OV-10 Broncos,[89] which, according to Cornell University Professor Benedict Anderson, are "specially designed for counter-insurgency actions against adversaries without effective anti-aircraft weapons and wholly useless for defending Indonesia against a foreign enemy." Military assistance was accelerated during the Carter administration, peaking in 1978.[92] In total, the United States furnished over $250,000,000 of military assistance to Indonesia between 1975 and 1979.[93]

In the cities, Indonesian troops began killing East Timorese.[40] At the start of the occupation, FRETILIN radio sent the following broadcast: "The Indonesian forces are killing indiscriminately. Women and children are being shot in the streets. We are all going to be killed.... This is an appeal for international help. Please do something to stop this invasion."[41] One Timorese refugee told later of "rape [and] cold-blooded assassinations of women and children and Chinese shop owners".[42] Dili's bishop at the time, Martinho da Costa Lopes, said later: "The soldiers who landed started killing everyone they could find. There were many dead bodies in the streets – all we could see were the soldiers killing, killing, killing."[43] In one incident, a group of fifty men, women, and children – including Australian freelance reporter Roger East – were lined up on a cliff outside of Dili and shot, their bodies falling into the sea.[44] Many such massacres took place in Dili, where onlookers were ordered to observe and count aloud as each person was executed.[45] In addition to FRETILIN supporters, Chinese migrants were also singled out for execution; five hundred were killed in the first day alone.[46]

The 'final solution' campaigns involved two primary tactics: The 'encirclement and annihilation' campaign involved bombing villages and mountain areas from aeroplanes, causing famine and defoliation of ground cover. When surviving villagers came down to lower-lying regions to surrender, the military would simply shoot them. Other survivors were placed in resettlement camps where they were prevented from travelling or cultivating farmland. In early 1978, the entire civilian population of Arsaibai village, near the Indonesian border, was killed for supporting Fretilin after being bombarded and starved.[55] During this period, allegations of Indonesian use of chemical weapons arose, as villagers reported maggots appearing on crops after bombing attacks.[55] The success of the 'encirclement and annihilation' campaign led to the 'final cleansing campaign', in which children and men from resettlement camps would be forced to hold hands and march in front of Indonesian units searching for Fretilin members. When Fretilin members were found, the members would be forced to surrender or to fire on their own people.[56] The Indonesian 'encirclement and annihilation' campaign of 1977–1978 broke the back of the main Fretilin militia and the capable Timorese President and military commander, Nicolau Lobato, was shot and killed by helicopter-borne Indonesian troops on 31 December 1978.[57]

[duckiemimi]

i’ve recently come across an insightful video analysis that was reposted on tiktok, explaining the Gaza situation in depth and touching on the geopolitical and economic motivations that background it, along with the potential impact from the ethnic cleansing and the active genocide of Palestinian people by zionists. here’s a summary with some links to more-reputable news articles:

-roughly around a month ago, netanyahu declared his plan for a “new middle east,” an economic corridor stretching from India to the European continent, through the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and “israel.”

-due to the weakening of the US Dollar, this “new middle east” corridor serves as a hopeful (on their part) counter to China’s new ongoing “silk road.” it’s essentially a move for leverage on world economics, trade, and politics.

-Russia is the country with the largest proven reserves of natural gas. in 2022, Nord Stream 1 and 2 (Russia’s gas pipelines) were both blown up. sanction packages from EU ban Russian gas. no more Russian gas coming into Europe.

-Iran, the country with the second largest gas reserves, signs the Nuclear Deal in 2015-2016. the US backs out of the deal and reimpose harsh sanctions on Iran. Iran is barred from selling its gas and oil to Europe and others.

-with Russia and Iran out of the picture, “israel” (US-backed) proposes itself as a solution to EU’s gas shortages. in 2010, they find the Leviathan—a giant gas field in the middle east (Mediterranean Sea), off the coast of Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.

-Syria initially declines offers over its gas reserves; the US now controls 1/3 of Syria and all its oil fields, and “israel” regularly bombs it’s most vital port (Latakia). another major port is in Beirut, which mysteriously exploded in 2020. both Syria and Lebanon’s maritime activity are limited, including in trade and gas exploration.

-Gaza, also having its own unexplored gas fields, has been under siege, under naval blockade since 2007. the only working port left in the coast is haifa port in “israel.” “israel” is now the only one able to explore gas and implement an economic corridor, like the proposed “new middle east.” what the US and “israel” have essentially done is killed off the competition, stole their goods, and cornered the market.

-in light of Europe’s gas shortages, to get them gas before winter, “israel” attempts to “stabilize” the region by solving “the Palestinian question”—more than displacement, they’ve resorted to ethnic cleansing and genocide. basically an acceleration of their plan.

-what Palestinian resistance groups have done in response was because they were backed into a corner. tooth and nail, life or death. it did not happen in a vacuum.

it has always been a move for natural resources; Palestine, Syria, Congo—every move for destabilization framed as intervention. it has always been greed for capital.

update:

it’s come to my attention that the video in question might have some more pro-Russian leaning stances, and so i’ve deleted the google drive link to the reposted tiktok and the link to the actual tiktok as i do not wish to platform the denial, partial or in whole, of the atrocities done to Ukrainian people. i will keep the summary up with some parts omitted because i still do think it is an insightful analysis in general and i do think the knowledge is still useful and relevant.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

CNN 4/28/2025

WorldAmericas• 4 min read

Canadians vote in election overshadowed by US tariff and annexation threats

By Max Saltman, Paula Newton and Hira Humayun, CNN

Updated: 2:57 PM EDT, Mon April 28, 2025

Source: CNN

Canadians hit the polls on Monday in an election overshadowed by tariffs, economic uncertainty and annexation threats from the United States.

Voters will decide whether to grantPrime Minister Mark Carney a full four-year mandate or give the Conservative Party a turn at the wheel after more than nine years of Liberal Party government.

Canadians begancasting their ballots in the country’s easternmost province, Newfoundland and Labrador, at 8:30 a.m. local time (7 a.m. ET) Monday.

Canada’s uneasy relationship with the US has deeply influenced the tenor of this year’s campaign. US President Donald Trump’s tariffs against Canadian exports pose a grave threat to the country’s economy, and his threats to absorb Canada as “the 51st state” have enraged Canadians of every political persuasion.

“I reject any attempts to weaken Canada, to wear us down, to break us so that America can own us,” Carney told reporters in late March. “We are masters in our own home.”

Though Canadians have a diverse array of parties to choose from on their federal ballots, the main contest is between the incumbent Liberals, led by Carney since March, and the Conservative opposition, led by longtime parliamentarian Pierre Poilievre.

Carney became prime minister in March after his predecessor Justin Trudeau resigned from office in the wake of dire polls that suggested a stunning loss to come in a federal election.

A political newcomer and former governor of both the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, Carney assumed the premiership just as Trump began to apply numerous tariffs on Canadian goods.

The new prime minister took a defiant stance toward Washington, continuing Trudeau’s reciprocal tariffs against the US. As the trade war and annexation threats accelerated from Washington, the Liberals saw their polling numbers drastically reverse, quickly closing the gap with their Conservative rivals.

Carney has pitched himself as an experienced professional from the political center who can steward Canada’s economy through a period of profound economic turbulence.

“I understand how the world works,” Carney told podcaster Nate Erskine-Smith in October. “I know people who run some of the world’s largest companies and understand how they work. I know how financial institutions work. I know how markets work…I’m trying to apply that to the benefit of Canada.”

Carney has pledged to “build things in this country again” to make Canada less reliant on the US: new homes, new factories, and new sources of “clean and conventional energy.”

“My solemn promise is to stand up for Canadian workers, to stand up for Canadian businesses,” Carney said in March. “We will stand up for our history, our values and our sovereignty.”

Meanwhile, Conservative leader Poilievre has cast the election as a battle between everyday Canadians and the “Ottawa elites” who have run the country for the past nine years.

“The same people who ran Justin Trudeau are now running Mark Carney,” Poilievre told supporters shortly after Carney became prime minister. “Liberals are trying to trick Canadians into electing them for a fourth term in power.”

Running on a platform to put “Canada first,” Poilievre wants to slash government funding, streamline the country’s bureaucracy and strip away environmental laws to further exploit the country’s vast natural riches.

“Conservatives will axe taxes, build homes, fix the budget,” Poilievre said in March, pledging to “unleash our economic independence by building pipelines, mines, [liquified natural gas] plants and other economic infrastructure that will allow us to sell to ourselves and the rest of the world.”

Though Poilievre shares a populist style with Trump, he has sought to distance himself from the president over the course of the campaign. Poilievre even told Trump in a social media post to “stay out” of Canada’s election on Monday after the president urged Canadians to vote for him rather than the country’s political parties.

In the days leading up to the election, a record number of Canadians voted early, with long lines at polling places .

“I voted on the first day of advance polls and I waited 45 minutes,” said Kristina Ennis of St. John’s, Newfoundland. “I know people who waited over an hour.”

Elections Canada said in an April 22 news release that at least 7.3 million voters chose to cast their ballots before election day, a 25% increase from the 2021 federal election.

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We're sorry, Canada.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from DeSmog Blog:

The Canadian government quietly approved a staggering $20 billion loan to support the Trans-Mountain Expansion (TMX) pipeline. According to Canadian environmental advocacy organization Environmental Defence, this raises the Canadian government’s total financial commitment to the pipeline to $50 billion, drawing sharp criticism from environmentalists and economists.

“At a time when Canada should be accelerating its clean energy transition, providing $20 billion in public financing for the TMX pipeline is a step in the wrong direction,” Laura Cameron, a policy advisor with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) who specializes in fossil fuel subsidies, told DeSmog in an email. 

Cameron said the Trudeau government’s TMX loan places more long-term financial risk on taxpayers and further subsidizes a profitable industry amid an affordability crisis. 

The pipeline, which the Canadian government purchased in 2018 for $34 billion CAD and began operating in May 2024, moves diluted bitumen from Alberta through the Rocky Mountains to terminals on Canada’s Pacific coast. The new loan comes on the heels of Donald Trump’s threats of a trade war and internal pressure for Canada to be less economically dependent on trade with the United States. Despite that, the loan was, in fact, authorized by the Trudeau government in December 2024. 

Export Development Canada’s Canada Account is providing the funding. Environmental Defence notes that the crown corporation administers the account, but the federal government oversees it.

“[The loan is] a violation of the federal government’s promise not to provide further public money to the project,” Julia Levin, associate director of National Climate with Environmental Defence, said in a statement. 

According to Levin, this brings the total amount of the Canadian government’s financial support to the oil and gas industry last year to $28.5 billion.

“This newest massive loan will only benefit CEOs from the oil and banking industry, while Canadians – already struggling with an affordability crisis – will be left on the hook to cover the costs,” said Levin. 

[kitkatt0430]

for the AU 5+ headcanons ask game, Cisco takes a leap of faith and tells Barry he's in love with him somewhere in the middle or second half of season 1. i hope it's a prompt that works for you?

I do love a good Barrisco headcanon. This'll be cute. ^_^

So Cisco tags along to karaoke night with Barry and Caitlin and instead of Linda showing up to hit on Barry, Cisco takes the opportunity while Caitlin is singing to tell Barry how he feels. And Barry is surprised - not necessary blind sided, but he's definitely having a 're-evaluating events' moment. Caitlin calls them up to sing with her before Barry can really respond. So Cisco just kinda assumes that they're gonna leave things as friends and be a little awkward about it at first.

However, Barry is aware that being left hanging sucks and so as soon as they've squared away drunken Caitlin on Cisco's couch for the night, he asks Cisco on a date. And apologizes for not responding earlier. He was surprised and taking care of their drunk friend was kinda the priority, but he likes Cisco a lot and the idea of going on a date with Cisco is giving him all the butterflies, so... Cisco cuts him off with a chaste kiss before Barry can get too into rambling mode and agrees to the date.

Their first date they start off both trying a bit too hard because they're nervous but once they realize that's why things are a bit stilted, they both laugh and unwind and it's a wonderful date.

Barry realizes that something is up with Cisco with regards to Hartley and it's more than just Hartley being a jerk to Cisco in the past. So Cisco loops Barry into the whole thing about Ronnie maybe being alive and how guilty Cisco feels about being the one who closed Ronnie into the pipeline in the first place. So Barry gets to be a supportive BF both in helping Cisco deal with his survivor's guilt and with getting info out of Hartley regarding what really happened to Ronnie the night the accelerator exploded. Hartley still winds up escaping somehow but Cisco doesn't have to bear that weight alone this time.

I think Barry would turn down the bowling double date here, citing that it's still early in his relationship with Cisco and he wants their date that evening to be just the two of them. Since Cisco is well aware of Barry's feelings for Iris, Barry wants to make sure Cisco feels secure in their relationship before doing any double dates with Iris.

During the day that wasn't, Barry and Iris do not kiss (hate that kiss anyway, any reason to throw it out) but Barry does call Cisco for help with the oncoming storm problem that's poised to decimate both Central City and Keystone. Only EoWells answers Cisco's phone because, um... Cisco cannot come to the phone right now. Barry doesn't think hard on it at the time because DANGER ahead is more pressing. But after resetting time it definitely sticks out to him as strange.

Lisa does not manage to honey trap Cisco because Cisco is flattered, but not interested and this is his boyfriend right here, isn't he so cute? Which means that the Snarts + Rory go with plan b which is kidnapping both Cisco and Barry. Cisco stalls for time until they're down to just Mick watching them and when Mick isn't paying attention Barry knocks him out and rescues Cisco and Dante. Dante comes out of the ordeal shaken but otherwise unscathed and impressed with his brother's courage. It's the first step towards mending their relationship and moving them more towards being the close & supportive brothers Cisco and Dante are in the comics.

Somehow Len does figure out Barry's identity from this (hidden camera?) and thus Barry does still have to make his deal with Len. But Len's outta luck if he wants Cisco to build him new guns. Good thing Len made blueprints off the original guns in case he had to make new ones the hard way. (Barry - that is not in any way a good thing >_<)

The experience is still traumatic enough for Cisco that it triggers his nightmares/early manifestation of his vibes of the timeline where he died. Good thing Barry is there in bed with Cisco to hold him after startling awake from that. Barry soothes Cisco back to being calm and listens to Cisco talk about the nightmare afterwards and while he doesn't know what to make of Cisco's subconscious associating Dr. Wells with the Reverse Flash, he does know that the idea of losing Cisco terrifies him. And, huh, for some reason he's reminded of how weird it was for Dr. Wells to answer Cisco's phone in the day that wasn't...

Being with Cisco mellows out Barry's 'don't tell Iris' reflex so when Eddie finds out about Barry being the Flash and wants to tell Iris the truth, Barry agrees over Joe's protests, noting that keeping her in the dark hasn't actually protected Iris the way Joe insisted it would. So the whole situation actually makes Iris & Eddie closer instead of causing the relationship drama from canon.

Finding out that Cisco's nightmare actually happened for real? Infuriates Barry. Cisco has to talk Barry down from going after Wells immediately, but Barry is just done with Wells taking away the people he loves. Killing his mom, framing his father, and now killing Cisco in another timeline? Which might also be when Barry realizes that he's fallen in love with Cisco and doesn't want to be without him.

The Iris West-Allen newspaper byline is explained by Gideon to be from the OG timeline, but it still shakes Cisco, who doesn't quite realize Barry is relieved that's not from this timeline. Eddie questions his decision to propose to Iris afterwards, but Barry pushes him to go forward regardless of what Joe might think. That timeline is gone and they should focus on living their lives for themselves, not live up to the destinies of people who lived entirely different lives from them.

Eobard still tries to break up Iris and Eddie while he has Eddie kidnapped, but Gideon nonchalantly updates the by line to West-Thawne and Eobard takes the psychic damage instead.

Eobard tries dangling the whole 'save your mother, reset to the real timeline' carrot in front of Barry but Barry talks things over with his dad and admits he doesn't want to give up the life he's building with Cisco for the life he could have had with Iris, but he wants to save his mom so much... Henry is able to talk Barry out of the time travel this time.

Cisco is of course very surprised when Barry comes back from Iron Heights and puts an end to any time ship building. They're not helping Eobard Thawne in any way. They wind up talking through everything and Barry tells Cisco he loves him.

Cisco - *heart eyes* I love you too, Barry.

Eobard escapes and tries to force Barry to cooperate anyway, but Cisco uses his vibe blasts instinctively to protect Barry. Eobard swears he'll be back, but he's concerned about risking Cisco accidentally severing him from his speed entirely - made easier by Eobard's speed still being so unstable - so he hoofs it out of town, faking his death in the process. The Harrison Wells identity is well and truly burned, so he might as well give Barry something he wants. That way it'll hurt all the more the next time Eobard takes something - someone - away from him.

Thus Ronnie and Eddie survive the S1 finale, but there's a lead in for a Rogues centered S2 with Snart getting the gang together - not just the metas from the pipeline that he rescues from Team Flash, but Hartley as well - pushing the Earth-2/Zoom story line to Season 3.

[vexicwrites]

factum fieri infectum non potest

Warnings: none

"You never loved me."

Hartley's voice was quieter than it had been but no less harsh as he glared at the older man through the glass. He knew it was well after hours - that was the only time Harrison bothered to come speak to him, when he could shut off the security cameras and talk openly without worrying about his team hearing their conversations. So Hartley didn't feel it necessary to hide his emotions either. The man had seen him naked, after all, it was hard to get more vulnerable.

"No. I didn't."

Hartley had expected some more bullshit lies about how he had loved Hartley, would always love Hartley, or something similar. The blunt statement hit him like a physical punch and he looked away, fighting the lump that formed in his throat. He'd cried enough over this man, he definitely didn't want to cry in front of him. He let out a forced, miserable, pained laugh.

"So, what, I was just...just stress relief? An easy fuck?"

"Yes."

Hartley felt like the air had been sucked out of his lungs. He couldn't breathe, couldn't speak. God, it hurt. The rejection, the cruel dismissal, it hurt so damn much. He knew it was true, but he'd still thought…he'd thought maybe there had been something real between them. That Harrison cared about him, even just a little. But of course that was too much to ask for, far too much to hope for.

"Hartley." God, that condescending tone was grating. "Does that really upset you? You knew it wasn't anything more. I cared about you, as one of my best employees. You were my guy. Not my partner."

"Who's your 'guy' now? Ramon?" Hartley spat, trying to override the overwhelming grief with venom and anger. It didn't quite work, his voice shook and his hands were trembling, but at least the tears stayed back.

Harrison removed his glasses, completely unbothered. "I'm not sure what you want me to say. I got what I needed and now we're done."

Another knife straight to the heart, Hartley wasn't sure how much more he could take. But he managed to not crumble right then and there, breathing through the pain.

"Does your pet Flash know this side of you?" Hartley sneered, his tone bitter. "How long until he figures out who you really are now that he knows I warned you about the accelerator?"

Harrison's face hardened a bit, the first sign of real emotion he'd seen from the man...maybe ever. But the flicker of emotion was gone as quickly as it had come.

"Nemo mortalium omnibus horis sapit. I made a horrible mistake but Barry will see that it was just that - a mistake."

Hartley tsked. "Factum fieri infectum non potest."

"Indeed." Harrison replied, turning away from him. "Goodnight, Hartley."

The moment the door to the pipeline closed, Hartley fell back against the wall of his cell and slumped to the ground, feeling broken and empty as he choked on a sob. Harrison Wells had taken everything from him - his future, his career, his heart - and for what? Nothing. Harrison had given him nothing. He was nothing to Harrison.

-----

translation:

Nemo mortalium omnibus horis sapit. No man is wise at all times.

Factum fieri infectum non potest. It is impossible for a deed to be undone.

[girl-lostconnection]

hello hello

just came to say that your writing is stunning! i found your account through the acceleration AU and then got hyperfixated on your hybrid AU

can’t wait to see what else you end up coming up with :>>

also, i hope you’re having a wonderful day!

-sharky

Hey hi, thank you so much! It’s very nice to hear that, I appreciate the compliment. Also yeah, acceleration au to fruit bat Reader pipeline is something that apparently happened to a lot of people here.

Anyways, hello and welcome. Thank you for reading fruits of my thought process (or lack of it in some cases)!

You have a great day as well, sharky🌟