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jymwahuwu · 7 months ago

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I love and think about Emperor Jing Yuan a lot. Like a servant girl getting called in to be the emperor Jing Yuan's Concubine 😋

I love ancient China like the history, art and clothing. when I think about Chinese Emperor Jing Yuan I think of Cinderella Chef (animated version) it's so cute and romantic. I also think about the fic series I used to read in 2020 or 2019 when the reader is the selected tailor for the emperor and the emperor falls in love.

It was such a good story, with many good different story elements to it even though it's was an yandere x reader 😭 and I'm not even exaggerating how good it is. It was slow burn yandere yet sooo good and worth it

I have to read it again cause it's sooo good.

There's sooo many good art of Jing Yuan in ancient Chinese clothing and I love and appreciate it sm 🤤

Jing Yuan kept a servant girl as his concubine, wanting her by his side every moment. As emperor, he faced countless threats and worried constantly for her safety. Yet, he couldn’t resist making her his bride, even though the public and his family disapproved. How could a servant girl from a humble background become empress alongside the emperor? But he paid no attention to their criticisms, choosing instead to live in his Fantasies with her. She was the only woman he’d ever met who cared for him beyond his wealth and title, and he was determined to keep her close forever. 😇

Wow, I also like Chinese palace stories actually!! What you said made me imagine a lot. It turns out that Jing Yuan is so suitable for the palace AU🥰✊

Have you watched "Story of Yanxi Palace"? It was a popular palace drama in 2018, and social media was all about it at that time. The historical prototype of the female protagonist is Empress Xiaoyichun (孝儀純皇后). She first started as a concubine. During her lifetime, she was the "Imperial Noble Consort" (皇貴妃), which was the highest position among the concubines after Empress. The core of its story is about a confident servant woman who starts from the bottom and moves up through the ranks with wisdom and courage.

A negative example is "Ruyi's royal love in the palace". The show still gets a lot of negative criticism in China today (yes, that's happening in 2024) - for its slut-shaming and superiority theories. The lower class people must be loyal to the noble people, otherwise they will be severely punished. There are a lot of torture scenes of women, never criticizing the mistakes of the misogynistic system, vilifying all historical figures just to beautify the female protagonists, advocating that women must be loyal to one man throughout their lives or else they are sluts, vilifying and torturing ambitious women, etc.

Oh, I'm sorry I really hate that TV show so I'm talking too much about it, but to get back to the point, it occurred to me that if Jing Yuan were the emperor, he would be very - very infatuated and dedicated. There was an emperor in Chinese history called "Emperor Xiaozong of Ming"(明孝宗) who insisted on living a monogamous life with only one empress. The same is true for Jing Yuan! Jing Yuan has only married you from beginning to end! You are one of his servants. No matter what your personality is, witty and lively/shy and kind, or even arrogant, Jing Yuan finds you really cute🥰💖He is very happy that you entered the palace and were assigned to serve him. He will sometimes sleep on your lap and ask you to feed him. He was like a big sleeping lion. But no one in politics dares to underestimate Jing Yuan because he always predicts everything.

Jing Yuan built a fruit garden in the palace, as well as a place to raise cats and birds. He got to pet cute cats and birds every day. The kittens purred around him. Maybe you were the servant who took care of the cats here. And he discovered you💖You are so suitable to be the mother of cats. And maybe he's hiding his identity and you care about his health and happiness before his status.

Politics and the harem are closely related. Those ministers petitioned Jing Yuan to marry a girl who matched his status, but he would not marry any girl except you. This is his own business! There was an emperor named "Emperor Gaozong of Tang"(唐高宗) in Chinese history. Despite the objections of his ministers, he insisted on marrying his father's concubine (named "Wuzhao"- 武曌) as his queen and sharing power with her. This is a very real love among emperors! After her husband's death, the queen became the only female emperor of China. The expression of the emperor's love for someone is to give them the best at all costs, including power, fame, wealth, and status. Jing Yuan wants to give it to you. He married you. Based on your status as a maid, you start as a concubine but work your way up. And he will also give birth to kitty babies with you. Those little princesses and princes running happily are all of your blood and his.

And he also decided to discuss politics and decide national affairs with you, collectively called "two saints" (based on Wuzhao's history haha), and share power with you. Because he knows how smart and cute you are, able to sharpen your claws and handle government affairs💖He is also ready to build a royal mausoleum, where only the two of you are buried together (it may be a bit scary, but this is how the Chinese emperors express their love haha). Even after Wuzhao became the empress, she didn’t build a mausoleum independently because she loved her husband. No matter what, you are always together, with sweetness and honor forever💖

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gakucchis · 10 months ago

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how would mephisto's route look like?

so, i already got it all planned out. i was actually very very active in the fandom back in early 2020-mid 2021, where i was drawing and writing headcanons of mephisto when he was still just a mentioned character (see my pinned if you’re interested, thought it’s really old!). i got into it again because of nightbringer, but oh my god, my disappointment when after two years i looked up if mephisto was finally dateable… i’m actually slowly losing hope because nb is already on season 3 but who knows!! :') the devs hinted on reddit that they should be dateable at some point.. ANYWAY

i do have this potential story line, which i’m pretty sure could actually become reality some day, especially because of this post

here it is!!

- obviously, because of his noble status, we'll have to go for the route that could probably only be used for diavolo as well: arranged marriage (i hate this trope)

- two possibilities:

1. mephisto comes to RAD, looking really pale, worried, anxious, just not at all his usual self. after some prodding, he reveals his parents want to set him up for an arranged marriage with another noble demon

2. MC and the others catch wind of it themselves, e. g. through the news (obviously not the newspaper) because it’s a huge thing in the noble society

- mephisto, even though having been prepared for this his whole life, seems totally unready, and he’s secretly dreading it — he doesn’t want to talk about it either

- after some closer moments, he reveals that something is holding him back. he knows it’s his duty, he has known this for his whole life, yet something in him is screaming no

- MC can try all they want, but it’s not easy to convince someone to do what their heart tells them to do when they’ve been told they will have to do it one day

- it’s actually pretty weird, since he always wanted a suitable demon to marry one day, and was very picky with who he’d consider having around

- diavolo is just as worried for him, asking MC to keep an eye on him and support him, even if he says he doesn’t want any help

- this could also lead to some tension! like mephisto being even more rude and hostile towards MC, shutting them out of everything

- mephisto doesn’t understand why he’s so irritable, why he’s acting this way at all, he feels guilty for pushing MC away, but he has to

- but why does he feel this way? he was always a bit rude towards them, but now he feels like something else is there, like he’s building a wall up — but why would he need a wall for you when he never cared about you?

- days go on, and there’s no sign of the arranged marriage stopping. everyone is getting more and more worried, even the brothers, but the more MC tries to help, the worse it gets

- there was only one last plan, one that could ruin it all, especially for mephisto; it’s to infiltrate a ball hosted by mephisto's family, because since he can’t be emotionally reached… maybe his parents can be?

- (this would also make for some funny scenes too, because you’d have to sneak in and all lol)

- at some point, as mephisto‘s parents marvel about their son and how he’ll be married soon, one of the brothers (mammon…) will probably trip and direct attention to himself, and mephisto will be outraged to see them, and especially MC

- but before he can say anything, MC will chime in and say how distraught mephisto has been, and how they can feel he doesn’t want this, he doesn’t want to marry someone or even be with someone he doesn’t love, just because it’s his „duty“ he was assigned to doesn’t mean he has to fulfill it for the sake of his status

- mephisto is completely stunned, but he knows you’re right, so he stays silent

- now this can go two routes again:

1. the literal „but daddy i love him!“ way of the parents hating MC, thinking that they’re the cause for mephisto‘s recent development, commanding to throw MC and the brothers out; mephisto could chime in and be honest, though his parents would not approve

2. the slightly comedic and not so overly used choice way: his parents recognize MC (since there are only two humans around, both being powerful sorcerers), being confused at first… before being understanding?? and then even… suggesting that MC is the one mephisto actually loves? mephisto would of course deny it, the brothers would be furious, but the parents are actually gushing about the cuteness of the situation, how MC tries saving her „lover“. it would end with the parents being like „alright! when are you gonna marry them then?“ and mephisto being like „MARRIAGE?“

- obvvvv i like the second way more, the first trope is so so overused. yes, his parents are strict as hell but it would be funny and cute to see them naming reasons why MC would be perfect for mephisto, that they should arrange the marriage soon, etc.

- afterwards mephisto would of course pull MC outside, talking to them honestly and thanking them for saving them even after he pushed them away so much

- this would, of course, also be the moment where he’s actually honest, revealing that the thing that was holding him back and that was making him dread the thought of being in an arranged marriage… was his love for you, which he desperately tried to hide away and didn’t even realize for months

- he'd also apologize for his parents, because now they keep on asking him about MC and how their love is blossoming

- he'd of course end it by saying he knows how many rivals he has, but he’s sure that a noble and handsome demon like him is sure to sweep you off your feet!!

please i love him so much, just give me any route i am sick of collecting memory cards for devilgrams where i can’t even romance him

id love to hear your opinions, corrections, suggestions, love for mephisto <\3, just anything !!

#obey me #obey me!#obey me shall we date #obey me! shall we date?#obey me headcanon #obey me mephistopheles #obey me mephisto #mephisto x reader #mephisto x mc #obey me mc

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bcacstuff · 6 months ago

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The ™ Files

Already a bit ago I was checking for some updates in the trademark files, I just didn't get to write about it. So let's see what's going on at the trademarks.

Some updates

Of course The Sassenach in the class for alcoholic beverages was already filed and registered years back. But there are some updates on it. Not all that exciting though it might depend on the country you live in and how much you're eager to get it.

Since October 2024 the trademark is approved and the brand protected in Australia. So, I don't know if they already found a distributor other than the 'smuggler'. But the smuggler most likely can retire soon, and perhaps some 'sassy' events are in the works in the (near) future for the Aussie fans... 🤷‍♀️

Brazil has been filed as well, but is awaiting decision,

No changes for the European Market (EM). Germany as we know has filed opposition succesfully, which means the brand is not protected in the EM as a whole. For the other EU countries protection of the brand is individually granted though. (which means technically they can sell it in other EU countries but need to protect their brand in every country separately as it can not be protected under the flag of the EUIPO).

Something New

Remember his story after Beyonce launched her ow whisky brand?

Jokingly? Hmm or maybe not so jokingly! Clearly someone got the task consulting the attorney about it. Now you can not trademark a bottle (of course) and we all know how 'his' design wasn't that original to begin with. But the smart attorney came up with a satisfying solution by filing a Logo Mark for the bottle.... 🤭

Filed just a couple of weeks after his sarcastic story and awaiting to be assigned to an examiner.

Beyonce's attorneys wont lose a second sleep over it though, it's only a logo and not the bottle design itself that has been filed for a trademark. Now if they were to print T-shirts or caps with that drawing...

Although the logo has been filed in class 33 (alcoholic beverages, except beer) so not even in the class for clothing!^^

More Brewing

Talking about beer! That was actually the trademark I was more curious about and made me look up what was going on.... and that one made me scratch my head a couple of times (and chuckle as well)

Remember this post where I informed you about the filing of the SS trademark in the class 'Beer', while the trademark they already had in that class (but combined with the class for travelguides) was abandoned.

Also note the Serial Number: 88244818 (read on to learn why)

Now the status for the new trademark filed on 20 Feb 2024 (this date is important) in the class beer... see for yourself:

The trademark has the status 'On hold'. Which means there is an issue that ceases further actions by the office and needs to be resolved first.

So time to investigate the issue at hand! Which can be found in the suspension letter received by the owner (and listed in the documents of the USPTO). It told me that:

USPTO database searched; prior-filed potentially conflicting pending application(s) found. The trademark examining attorney searched the USPTO database of registered and pending marks and found no conflicting registered marks that would bar registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d). 15 U.S.C. §1052(d); TMEP §704.02. However, a mark(s) in a prior-filed pending application(s) may bar registration of applicant's mark.

And the mark that was filed prior that may bar registration is:

Right a registration filed by the Angry Scotsman Brewing on 29 May 2020 - 3 months after GGC filed their registration for the mark in the class Beer (serial number 88244818) and therefor the status for the Angry Scotsman's mark got rightfully on hold! Even though the Angry Scotsman opposed the decision (there has been correspondence going on between this applicant and the examiner) at the end the Angry Scotsman's application was put on hold and checked periodically.

Reason for their suspension was the 'prior filing by the application with serial No. 88244818. But as we now know, that application was abandoned since March 18, 2024. GGC filed a new mark in the class beer.... which is now on hold because.... right, the Angry Scotsman's application was filed prior than the new application of GGC....

Do you see why it made me scratch my head? If GGC had not abandoned their mark, there would have been no issue. But as they already reached the maximum extensions for submitting the Statement of Use, I figure they had no other option here.

What makes me wonder now is how this will end, as both applications seems to be stuck in an impasse. The last suspension check for the Angry Scotsman's mark is listed on February 1, 2024, a month before the trademark of GGC was abandoned. So theoretically it should be not be in the way for their mark anymore, though I think there might still be an issue of likelihood of confusion even though the original trademark The Sassenach owned by GGC now isn't filed in the class for beer, only the new one that is filed after the Angry Scotsman's mark.

Note that a mark with the status 'On Hold' is not a refusal for the mark. It means the mark is pending as the office will not proceed until the issue at hand is resolved. In fact it is even recommended to use the trademark while it is pending, as this helps trademark owners demonstrate commercial use of the mark and helps solidify their rights to it.

Which is exactly what the Angry Scotsman Brewing did, and demonstrated to the USTPO as evidence.

source

Though visiting their website I don't see the Sassenach Beer listed anymore nor does it come up in a search on their website.

To be continued I guess? I will keep an eye on it.

Anyway, to be complete, the mark was filed in Europe and Australia as well in the beer class. In Europe all countries except Germany protection is granted. Germany (and with that the EM) is 'Provisionally Refused'. Which means, there is still time to oppose the decision, but imo it will go the same way as the mark registered in the alcoholic beverages class. Australia granted protection though.

To top it all off, while searching things you always stumble on other things, right! Did you know there is already a Sassenach Beer?

Yes, there is. It's a company from Argentina selling this. Even have an IG (since June 2020) and FB account advertising frequently

Not very expensive though, according to their website 🤭

I'll leave it here, I think you got enough for the weekend! 😂

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halcyon-deluxe · 6 months ago

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18, 26, 37, 71, 99, 100

18. Phobia:

Honestly I'm not afraid of much, but I really hate bugs, statues, and the ocean.

26. What's one thing you regret?

I regret not staying with my grandmother longer. I vividly remember the last time I saw her before she passed. I remember seeing her face, seeing how happy she was to see me- because she had just woken up and I was the first thing she saw- and I kept thinking how I hated that I had to say goodbye to her. I really regret leaving.

37. Have you ever been dumped?

Nope!

71. Have you ever been lost?

Honestly I don't know, I'm great with directions and I'm relatively good at familiarizing myself with my environment quickly. Unless you mean emotionally lost, because I was VERY lost and confused emotionally in 2020-2021.

putting these last 2 under a readmore cuz they are long af lol

99. Have you ever met someone who didn't seem real?

Yeah, in college 2021 I was in a weird situationship with a straight boy named August and he was like, text book perfect. Dirty blonde hair, deep green eyes, kind of lean and hunky, like he was muscular but in a "this is a product of my naturally playful and athletic lifestyle, not the gym" kind of way, and he was just unfathomably gentlemanly. 2021 was first semester coming off of a traumatic break up, and due to my minor I had to take an extra semester of college which meant my entire graduating class had finished school the semester prior. I didn't have any friends on campus due to this, but it was cool because despite the break up, I was able to use that freedom to kinda reinvent myself. August was the first friend I made, but we became friends because he had seen me give a speech in our philosophy class about Kesha for an assignment (I don't remember what the fuck I said though) and he thought it was the most interesting part of class. We ended up becoming really fast friends and throughout the year he would seek me out and idk just validate a lot of expressive decisions I made (things that I would usually be insecure about) that were a product of trying to be more authentic in spite of my break up, and it just felt like the perfect gift from the universe. Like, I remember a day where I was looking relatively nice and was feeling good about myself, so I decided to walk to a coffee shop on campus to pass the time. Out of no where, August shows up, in a gray hanes tank top (drenched in sweat) and extremely tight black running shorts. He walks up to me (he reeked from a run he was just on) backed me into a wall while placing his hand over my head (his pit is right above my face mind you) and did that very seductive "leans over your crush while looking down at them" number and just started talking to me like this wasn't the most homoerotic sequence out of a gay hallmark movie... He complimented my outfit, and we chatted for like 30 minutes EXACTLY LIKE THAT until his girlfriend showed up and then they left. Shit like that happened for 5 straight months until I graduated. I just kept thinking what the actual fuck is happening with every interaction. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. So much other almost-gay shit happened. To this day I think I hallucinated him. It was also very eerie that Folklore by T*ylor Sw*ft came out this same year and the song "August" is nearly 1-to-1 with my experience. It's almost uncanny.

100. Give us one thing about you that no one knows.

When I was 13 I submitted a drawing of Amy Rose to the Archie Comics writers for a Sonic The Hedgehog art contest and my drawing won despite it being done on notebook paper with pencil. It's where I peaked btw.

Hi bestie thanks for the ask these were fun!!

#mutuals #answered #ramblings

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meggannn · 8 months ago

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mel invited moros on their first date and they literally just talked about their anxieties. valid

more serious tangential ramblings: i think this could be another hint that some gods or incarnates might learn to change their nature or become different than what they are. after moros arrived in the crossroads and immediately told mel “fates aren’t looking let’s break some family curses,” i tend to be on the lookout in moros’s conversations for any hints of “are they setting up something else now.” after all, he is our only insight for how the fates work, and turns out the fates' executor and bodyguard chafes under them and wishes he were something different.

it could be the grass is always greener, but moros is almost universally reviled or feared (partly his own fault but mostly not) to the point he envies the guy getting his liver picked out on the daily because at least he has fans. so it’s unsurprising he daydreams about a different life with different responsibilities, and i suspect mel has too. i suspect he would welcome a world where he was not forced to be the bad guy just because of a job assigned at birth. after all, moros’s line in the very first 2020 trailer was “this is an opportunity for you to create a better future for us all.” i even feel strongly now he means both gods and mortals.

eris routinely calls mel out for subscribing to one way of thinking, that the gods' rule is stifling. she can’t help being who she is, and she blames nyx for that (though mel presses her and she casually admits hasn’t really tried). i don’t know if strife will ever change her nature/personality, but maybe they can change her, like… job?

moros naming “fear you’ll never be as capable at other things” is maybe why some gods who are a bit more self-aware they aren't perfect might resist change; they know they're imperfect but they're so settled in their ways they don't know what else they could do. hades is a prime example of this (“we're gods, boy. killing each other is our lot”), but persephone and zagreus manage to convince him otherwise. melinoë herself is proof hades can change. meanwhile, prometheus calls mel an agent of change. this feels significant.

especially after this latest update with prometheus, i think as the story progresses and mel learns more sides to the conflict, she’ll shake up the status quo even beyond the war. if she succeeds in restoring the “old order” (if it will even look like the old order by the end), one way i see a solution to the problem of gods mistreating mortals is by the gods themselves evolving or changing. i don't know how far supergiant is willing to shake up the greek pantheon, but with multiple gods calling out how the current “assigned x at birth” system is failing them, i think it is setting up for something different.

#hades 2 #hades 2 spoilers #and this is my theory of how moros will become the gods’ first librarian and historian

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justinspoliticalcorner · 3 months ago

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Brian Stelter at CNN:

CNN — In the Trump administration’s latest assertion of power over the press corps, the White House intends to take over the seating assignments in the press briefing room, according to a senior official. The plan may cause a tug-of-war with the White House Correspondents’ Association, the independent group that currently assigns seats and manages the relationship between the White House and the press corps. When Axios reported on the potential seating chart changes on Sunday morning, some Trump allies cheered the news as yet another way to constrict the mainstream media establishment and elevate explicitly pro-Trump opinion outlets. “Yes to this – keep it going @PressSec,” the first press secretary from Trump’s first term, Sean Spicer, wrote on X to his counterpart Karoline Leavitt. A senior White House official confirmed the plan to CNN but did not add any details. Several correspondents said a shakeup to the seating chart has been expected since the changes would be full of symbolism and would be celebrated by pro-Trump media outlets. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by their employers to speak publicly. “It doesn’t really matter where people sit,” a White House correspondent said. “But it does matter when the White House tries to impact what questions are asked, and how stories are covered, by taking control away from an elected group.” That group is the correspondents’ association, which is governed by a rotating group of journalists who are elected by their peers. The current president of the group, Eugene Daniels, did not respond to a request for comment about the status of the seating chart. The association is said to be considering a range of possible responses.

One big unknown is whether the administration intends to remove some big news outlets from assigned seats or merely rearrange who sits where. Even a seemingly minor reordering, though, could change the dynamic during Leavitt’s briefings. Right now, under the association’s seating chart, journalists from the country’s biggest TV networks, newswires, newspapers, and radio networks sit toward the front. A wide range of other well-established news outlets also have assigned seats, with some taking turns in order to fit more than 60 outlets into 49 seats. Every few years the association updates the seating chart to reflect changes across the media landscape. It also assigns “all booths and desks” in the news media’s White House workspace, its website notes.

[...] A Trump-controlled seating chart at briefings would likely add right-wing podcasters and online content creators, though the White House may run into some practical constraints. Many of the pro-Trump personalities who command big online audiences with conservative opinion shows don’t live in Washington, DC, and have little desire to drop in for press briefings. During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when briefing room capacity was reduced for health reasons, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins was told to move out of her first-row seat and switch with a reporter in the back row. Both reporters refused, and the White House backed down.

The White House under 47 is planning to shake up the press briefing room seating chart to make it more favorable to MAGA-friendly propagandist outlets.

#Trump Administration #White House Press Corps #War On The Press #The White House #White House Correspondents Association #WHCA #Karoline Leavitt

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daily-table21 · 11 months ago

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Video: The Statehouse ep. 2: Room Assignments

Status: Public

Link: The Statehouse ep. 2: Room Assignments - YouTube

Date Posted: October 2nd 2020

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teriwrites · 3 months ago

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November 2020: Beneath Alder Creek

Synopsis

When Winifred Pewitt's younger brother gets kidnapped by the fae, she does what she can to rally their hometown of Bildenbey to join her in getting him back. But superstition runs deep in the town, and despite her efforts, Winnie finds herself searching for the treacherous faerie ring alone. But she discovers more than just the ring. Standing within it, a mysterious golden man offers promises to help her bring back her brother, for the price of helping him, in turn, bring ruin to the fae who stole the child. With all the warnings ingrained in her from childhood swirling through her mind, Winnie takes the deal.

First Line

They were going to bury an empty casket at little Bran Pewitt's funeral.

Characters

Winnie Pewitt - 19, headstrong, Eldest Daughter, one-track mind meets a trackless world, self-sacrificial, very Human for better and for worse, control freak Taliesin - the mysterious golden man himself, by 'golden man' I mean he's literally like a golden statue come to life, is it 'arrogance' to simply recognize you're way better equipped to handle every scenario than your idiot human companion?, no right?, pest (affectionate), smug, pest (derogatory), Courtless Pryderi, Lord of the Undernell - one of the most powerful fae in the Dusk Court, their allies are everywhere, you'd better hope you're one of them, the most put-together being you've ever seen, also the most terrifying Enid - one of the least powerful fae in the Dawn Court, assigned against her will to help out Winnie and Taliesin, this is what she gets for sticking her neck out, sees the world purely through the lens of opportunities Bran Pewitt - 9, literally did not ask for this, does not deserve this, leave the poor boy alone

Pre-Reading Thoughts

Ah, a fan favorite! The fan being me. It's my favorite. The Alder Creek novel has definitely held most of my attention through the past few years. Which, of course, means the idea started out as a very silly, unserious thing. Most of my writing at the time was more entrenched in 'what if?'s. Through college, the novels I was writing were asking questions about fame and corruption, developing ideas of politics and coping with the divide between family members, mental health, stepping into adulthood and what that meant. But when 2020 came around, I was done asking questions. I was tired. I just wanted to write a silly little story about a silly hard-headed young woman becoming allies and accidental friends with a silly member of the fae. Bran's abduction wasn't even initially a part of the concept. It was literally about a girl who convinces a fae to let her go on an adventure. But then I needed an actual 'plot' with some actual 'stakes', so off went Bran. So of course, giving myself the space to just go back to having some fun and escapism in my writing accidentally roped me back into loving what I was doing. Not that I don't love the other stories I wrote during college, but Alder Creek's claws have been embedded in the back of my mind ever since. Also, just as a fun fact, all of the names in this draft are of Welsh origin, because I sort of spontaneously decided that I would be basing my folklore loosely on Welsh tradition. Not having given myself the time to actually research it before November, I figured I'd write first, research later. Upon later research, I realized the differences between what I was doing in this story and actual Welsh folklore were too great to justify keeping the ties. But I simply couldn't rename Winnie, Bran, or Taliesin at that point, so there they are.

#teriwrites down memory lane #wip intro #writeblr #my wips #my writing #bac

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joslincox · 1 year ago

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The Alpha Bitch Trope in Cartoon

Tricia Holmes from 6teen is well known by the gang as the most popular girl at their school and is the snooty archnemesis of Caitlin Cooke, who used to be a member of her Girl Posse.

Subverted on American Dad! where the "hottest girl in school" and head cheerleader Lisa Silver appears willing to go out with the nerdy Steve and is surprisingly understanding when the show's antics keep messing up the planned dates. In another episode, it looks like she and her Girl Posse did something terrible to Steve's unpopular girlfriend... but it turns out it is actually Steve's friends who are responsible, once again subverting what you'd expect from Alpha Bitch behavior.

Amphibia has Sasha Waybright, Anne's snobby and manipulative Toxic Friend who has a strong desire to rule over and control others; she even says herself that she ruled her school back on Earth. Anne starts the show off as her unwitting minion, being encouraged to engage in delinquent behavior and the like. As the series progresses, Sasha ultimately drives Anne away from her, especially after the latter realizes how bad of a friend she really is. By the third season, however, Sasha comes to realize how horrible she was and grows out of this behavior to become a better person.

Nanette Manoir from Angela Anaconda, also a Fauxreigner French Jerk and something of a teacher's pet. Angela has had many an Imagine Spot where she gets thoroughly humiliated and/or maimed.

Priscilla and Penelope Pinkpaws from Angelina Ballerina.

Cora, the daughter of the CEO Nora Rita Norita, in the Animaniacs (2020) short "My Super Sour 16" is an arrogant, spoiled Rich Bitch who wants her Sweet 16 to be absolutely perfect.

Muffy from Arthur used to be this and occasionally still has shades of it, particularly in the episode where Arthur starts acting like her. However, she has a Hidden Heart of Gold.

As Told by Ginger:

Miranda Kilgallen is the second-in-command and the Girl Posse leader to Courtney Gripling. She also defrosts a little. She never exactly becomes friendly, but she's a lot worse at the start than she is at the end.

Courtney Gripling is an inversion — Lovable Alpha Bitch. She's the queen bee; pretty, rich, popular, and more than a little narcissistic, a (self-proclaimed) snob, but she's a genuinely sweet person who doesn't seem to harbor any malice towards anyone — unlike her friend Miranda. While her sidekick Miranda is quick to insult the unpopular girls, Courtney is friendly with them.

Penelope Lang in Atomic Betty. Her two lackeys are a pair of sycophantic nerds, and she is infamous for referring to people as "losers" often.

Barbie:

Raquelle from Barbie: A Fairy Secret, although once the plot gets into motion, it's mostly pushed by the wayside.

Violet Nylund and Ashlynn Torescu from Barbie Presents Thumbelina.

Formerly Sloane, Hallie, and Dua for Camp Pop and Olivia and her friends for Camp Royalty from Barbie In Rock N Royals.

Tammy Bounceaway from Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures.

Tanya Butaire from LEGO Friends.

Batman Beyond has Blade and Chelsea. Blade is actually fairly apathetic, but has the look down pat, and is more than content to do things such as throw most of a school assignment on Terry, or manipulate a classmate to make another guy jealous. Chelsea, is usually a lot more sympathetic; she's actually a rather nice person, as seen in "The Last Resort," and except for being dismissive of Howard Groote, doesn't really do anything bad. Though she sometimes tries to get Dana to see other guys, it's because she thinks Terry isn't good for Dana, due to him always brushing her off.

Claire Brewster in Beetlejuice who is still the "stuck-up, shallow yet very pretty girl" type.

The Benedict Express

Madison, while technically a protagonist, is essentially the Beta Bitch to Alpha Bitch Erica Green and has often participated in her schemes against less attractive girls. Her status as the daughter of a professor allows her to get away with anything. Of course, their rival Sarah who is rarely shown is an even bigger Alpha Bitch.

Ciara Toler, when she was in high school and before she was brutally raped as a consequence of her bitchiness. While she showed strong Alpha Bitchy traits partly because of her status as "Barbee Creek Barbie" and "the princess of the projects" - the most attractive girl in her 'hood - her snobbishness is portrayed somewhat sympathetically as arising from her impatience with living in a community filled with people who preferred to wallow in poverty and being the only person (even in her own family) with a drive to improve herself. In fact, she often tried to act more like a Cute Sports Club Manager and uplift the spirit of her friends and neighbors before becoming exhausted with the fact they were only interested in drug dealing and violence.

Khalil Wooten from Bébé's Kids definitely fits the bill as a rare male example. He becomes frienemies with Robyn and is the leader of his titular popular clique, Bebe's kids.

Tammy Larson from Bob's Burgers is something of a subversion in that she thinks she's an Alpha Bitch and assumes she's super popular. The thing is, she doesn't have anywhere near as many friends or followers as you think she would if she were that popular. The only person who hangs around her on a regular basis and actually seems to like her is her Beta Bitch Jocelyn, and even she doesn't seem to like Tammy that much. The only other people who could possibly be considered her friends are Jimmy Jr., Zeke, and the Belcher siblings, and that should tell you something about her popularity level since they don't seem to actually even like her.

Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese: Girl has a nemesis called Lila, who mockingly calls her "the queen of nerds" and threatens to shut down Girl's after-school cosplay club if elected school president, just to be mean.

Nina Harper from Braceface. Interesting, though, in that she and the protagonist, Sharon Spitz, were actually best friends when they were little. But a mishap with one of Nina's dolls that got its head popped off ended their friendship when she accused Sharon of being the culprit (even though she had no proof that Sharon did it). So her bullying Sharon is more or less out of spite. They do somewhat reconcile as the series goes on. Especially by season 3 when it's revealed that Sharon was indeed innocent of the doll incident; Nina's cousin was the cause of that.

Suzi from Camp Lakebottom is McGee's vain and bossy sister, a former pageant queen, and a huge Attention Whore.

Cleo from Clone High. She is a very selfish, snobby, cynical, vain, manipulative, pretentious, and materialistic stereotypical school diva who cares only about her social image, beauty, and popularity. Like in many a high school story, protagonist Abe has a hopeless crush on her despite the fact she's clearly more interested in Jerk Jock JFK.

Come the revival series set in 2023, Cleo expects she'll still be the most popular girl in school and is utterly horrified to learn she's been replaced by Frida Kahlo, an artsy skateboarder with a slight mustache and a giant unibrow. In fact, Frida and Harriet Tubman think Joan of Arc is cooler than Cleo.

Elisabeth "Sissi" Delmas in Code Lyoko is a strange version of this. In the first season, this is played straight, with the exception of a few scenes in only a few episodes. However, her assistance to the heroes in later seasons, particularly the second and fourth, is often offered without a second thought or a specific request for a reward, though this can happen quite a bit in a life-or-death situation. It seems that her personality alternates between seasons, from a straight Alpha Bitch with several Pet the Dog moments in Seasons 1 and 3 to a more Jerk with a Heart of Gold Lovable Alpha Bitch in Seasons 2 and 4.

Paulina from Danny Phantom. The most popular girl in school and loves to rub it in people's faces.

The show also had Valerie Grey, who early in the show ends up losing her wealth and becoming a Fallen Princess. She still retained some bitchiness before completely mellowing out and becomes a villain towards Danny’s ghost half.

Played with on Daria. You'd think the title character would have one as an arch-nemesis, but no, girls like Brittany are generally nice (if condescending) to her. Daria's sister Quinn, however, is part of the Fashion Club, the popular Girl Posse of their grade...and is in constant competition with its leader Sandi for dominance. Essentially, the two never have time to torture less popular girls because they're torturing each other instead. Quinn is generally the more sympathetic of the two, if only because she doesn't abuse poor Stacy, the group's least popular member.

The longer the show went on, the more it seemed like Sandi was a Deconstruction of the Alpha Bitch. While the boys of Lawndale all see Sandi as hot, there was nothing to indicate Sandi truly was as popular as she believes she is. Since she spends far more time battling Quinn for supremacy in the Fashion Club, Sandi's supposed popularity only ever was apparent within the confines of the club. Furthermore, when she decides to quit in "Fat Like Me" only Quinn appears sorry that Sandi's leaving while Tiffany and Stacy seemed overjoyed at the thought of Sandi no longer breathing down their necks. Considering Sandi is repeatedly shown to be an egotistical and manipulative Attention Whore, it's no wonder she's desperate to maintain what little foothold of popularity she has in a space she has total control over.

Andrea Davenport from The Ghost and Molly McGee is a snooty tween "influencer" who tries to make Molly a pariah on her first day at school just because she kept mispronouncing Andrea's name (which she insists is pronounced "AHN-dree-ah" and not "ANN-dree-ah").

Pacifica Northwest from Gravity Falls, which is later deconstructed in season 2 when it's suggested she's only this way because her rich parents are even worse and raised her to be stuck up. She begins to defrost as of "The Golf War", then "Northwest Mansion Mystery" reveals that she wasn't raised to be a bitch, she was mentally abused into being one. To put things in perspective, Pacifica was nothing more than a bully and a brat, but she isn't a sociopath. Dipper convinced her that there is still redemption for her.

"The Golf War" had Mabel lampshade this by calling her a "walking one-dimensional bleach blonde Valley Girl stereotype".

Mindy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy is a much younger Alpha Bitch, as well as an incredibly obsessive one. For example, she loses her head cheerleader position to Mandy (who just shouts the game plans to the team) and, after consulting the "patron saint of cheerleading" (a trophy she thinks is talking), decides the best solution is to incapacitate her in some way in the middle of a match, or, failing that, blow her up. If she sees Mandy with anyone aside from Billy or Irwin or the like, she walks up to them, puts on an obscenely perky face, and says "You're my best friend!"

Trina Riffin from Grojband acts this way, even though she only has one dedicated underling, her much put-upon childhood friend Mina. Nonetheless, her official bio states her to be the most popular girl at her school (although since we rarely ever see the characters at school, this never pops up in the series).

Paige Logan from Grossology. She is a popular but very snobbish girl.

Harvey Street Kids:

Frufru, the local rich girl. She's depicted as being haughty, self-absorbed, and into fashion, but lacks a Girl Posse, indicated to be simply because she's so distant from the other kids.

Zoe, Audrey's abusive older sister, is a more obvious example, being a head cheerleader and the leader of a trio composed of her and her two friends.

Rhonda Wellington Lloyd comes between this and Rich Bitch in some episodes of Hey Arnold! However, she actually is shown to have a friendly side, since her best friend Nadine actually is implied to be a middle-class girl (and with almost completely different interests than Rhonda—Nadine loves arthropods, Rhonda loves fashion). Her romantic interest in Harold, who actually is fat and less popular, is another redeeming feature.

Miraculous Ladybug:

Chloé Bourgeois. Her father is the Mayor of Paris and spoils his 'little angel' rotten. She hits all the marks for personality, but she is not very popular at all, with only one friend, Sabrina, who she treats more like a servant and also doesn't understand what friendship might actually be. She thinks everyone adores her (they don't), and can rarely accept she made a mistake. Among her most heinous acts is locking an emotionally insecure girl in the bathroom so she could be next to Adrien, who Chloé has a crush on (and said insecure girl does not) in a class photo. She is responsible for most cases of people becoming sad or angry and getting brainwashed into supervillains, to the point that Hawk Moth once created an akuma with no specific victim in mind and had it follow her around since he figured she was bound to piss someone off eventually. Unfortunately, he caught her on the day she was specifically trying to be nicer to people, so it took a little while, but she eventually delivered.

Lila Rossi. She convinces the rest of the class, who adores her, to do whatever she wants and manipulates people to try and turn them against Marinette (the only person who doesn't like her). She also torments people for petty reasons, such as sending a picture of herself kissing Adrien to Kagami, or the aforementioned turning people against Marinette because Marinette refuses to believe her Blatant Lies. She also acts spiteful and horribly rude, insulting people behind their backs.

Audrey Bougeois is one of these all grown up — she's a snobby, rude, and narcissistic fashion critic who belittles and threatens to fire anyone that doesn't meet her impossibly high standards. Her own family isn't exempt from this; her treatment of her husband is flat-out Domestic Abuse, she alternates between belittling her daughter while misremembering her name and encouraging her to follow her example (said daughter being Chloé), and while she treats Zoé slightly better, she doesn't really pay attention to her unless she puts up a Jerkass Façade.

Monster Buster Club gives us a subversion of the Always Female rule. Resident Alpha Brat Mark is a male Spoiled Blond Rich Kid who delights in insulting and generally being less than pleasant with the four kid heroes, apparently for no reason.

Cleo from Monster High is popular, vain, and frequently tries to manipulate situations to be about her. However, she does love her boyfriend and her friends, and occasionally displays redeeming qualities, becoming more of a Lovable Alpha Bitch as time goes on. Deconstructed in that her popularity is the result of her need for positive attention, which comes from her father and older sister treating her coldly and telling her about the importance of power, both of which went to Cleo's head.

Cleo: "I'm Cleo De Nile, and I've got to give the people what they want."

Tiff and Brit, the Crust cousins from My Life as a Teenage Robot, who continually plot to keep Jenny/XJ-9 unpopular.

Diamond Tiara from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, with Silver Spoon as the Beta Bitch, are a pair of spoiled brats who tease Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle about not developing cutie marks yet, and taunt Scootaloo about the fact that she can't fly. The episode "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" reveals Diamond was raised to be mean by her mother Spoiled Rich, who's far worse than she is, prompting her to stand up to her near the end and become nice.

Neo Yokio: Arcangelo is a male example. He leads the "east side gentlemen" who look down on Kaz for being Nouveau Riche.

Mayor Paul Spryman from Ozzy and Drix. He is a 14-year-old brain cell who has absolutely no business being in charge of the city and bullies Ozzy for being an Emo Teen and Drix for being a Nerd.

In Pixel Pinkie, Suzi is the school's alpha bitch who immediately marks Nina as a target for her strange clothes and Amazingly Embarrassing Parents.

Amity Blight in The Owl House, although she is technically more of the academic variety and grows into a lovable one fairly quickly. Her friend Boscha, while a Beta Bitch in status, is a more straight example in regard to attitude. Following Amity taking a level in kindness midway through Season 1, Boscha becomes the new Alpha Bitch in her place.

Princess Morbucks on The Powerpuff Girls (1998). She's a rich, spoiled Prima Donna that thinks she's better than the girls. Nobody at her school likes her. She even wants to become a member of the girls, which they turn down because she lacks any qualities of the team. Taken up notches in the 2016 reboot; she no longer wants to be the fourth Powerpuff Girl, she wants to be the only Powerpuff Girl.

Princess Natasha: Greg's girlfriend Kelly is this, at least as far as Natasha is concerned. She is totally self=absorbed and her 'crimes' include wearing too much makeup and cheating off her fellow students.

The Ashleys in Recess. Despite having some moments where they aren't a bunch of Rich Bitches, they spend the majority of the series wanting to screw with everyone for the sake of being mean.

Vana Glama from Sidekick is a classic case, a popular and self-centered primadonna who gets the best grades at the Sidekick Academy, has all the boys (especially Eric) drooling over her, and is served by the beleaguered nerd Kitty Ko.

In The Simpsons episode "Eight Misbehavin'", the family describe what happened to them during a nine-month mid-episode Time Skip. Lisa reveals that she became the most popular girl in school, "but then blew it by being conceited". Whilst the details of this are never revealed, it is probable that she became an Alpha Bitch during that period.

Gemini Stone from Sabrina: The Animated Series, a stand-in for the original Libby on the live-action series.

Also Portia from the friends forever movie.

The Spectacular Spider-Man

Liz was introduced as one, mocking Peter as much as everyone else, until a boost of Character Development after seeing him in different light turned her into his love interest.

Sally Avril is the most abusive girl of the group, even mercilessly mocking fellow clique-member Flash Thompson when his hero, Spider-Man, appears to be committing robberies. Slightly subverted when Peter's aunt has a heart attack as Flash mentions that even Sally feels sorry for him, although she is not as forthcoming with her sympathies as his friends are. Both she and Flash have gone through a bit of Character Development. When she thinks that Peter's been killed, Sally is horrified. She does say it's because she'll have to tell Liz and Liz "looks awful in black", but when she sees that Peter's okay, she performs a textbook Anger Born of Worry. A bit later, she tells him that no, she doesn't care, but she doesn't want him to be blown to bits, she's not a monster. In the last episode, she's glad Liz broke up with Peternote .

Gretel from Staines Down Drains is the arch-enemy of Mary-Jane. She is a spoilt girl who usually bullies the Staines with her friends, the Lupe brothers.

Brittney Wong from Star vs. the Forces of Evil hits all the typical beats: she's a bratty, selfish Rich Bitch who became captain of the cheer-leading squad at Echo Creek Academy "on her own, and not because her dad made a generous donation to the school." Naturally, Brittney hates Star for being one of the few kids she can't intimidate and for stealing attention away from herself

Strawberry Shortcake: Angel Cake has moments of such in the 2003 series, especially in the final season, to the point of playing the villain in "Sleeping Beauty".

Peppermint Fizz was this in her early appearances but outgrows such behavior following her redesign.

Raspberry Tart/Torte becomes one in the 2021 series, with the addition of Adaptational Villainy. She drops this after Season 1, when she warms up to Strawberry and becomes one of her closest friends.

Melody from Teenage Fairytale Dropouts is a mean girl in that she's constantly looking down on Fury for the latter being a fairy who still hasn't grown her wings yet.

Total Drama: From the first generation, Heather and Courtney. Heather is a classic queen bee whereas Courtney revealed herself to be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing with her bossy and overly competitive personality as the series progressed. Both were the Alpha Bitch on their respective teams in the first two seasons with Heather serving as the show's main Alpha Bitch in Island and Courtney in Action. However, in World Tour, both girls clash for the position.

From the third generation, Amy and Sugar. Amy treats her twin sister Samey with absolutely no respect, and pretty much acts like a Jerkass towards her other teammates as well, particularly Jasmine. Sugar is a pageant brat who asserts herself as the dominant female, especially over Ella and Sky.

From the fourth generation, Julia. She starts as a fake Granola Girl social media influencer, but Beneath the Mask, she's as self-absorbed as one can get. MK eventually exposes Julia's real personality to the world, but Julia's popularity doesn't suffer for long— she gets thousands of new followers who enjoy her real personality, and she's relieved that she no longer has to act nice to be popular.

Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race:

Taylor treats her mom Kelly like shit, and she is often rude to the other contestants.

Josee is a rare adult version, given how she regularly bullies her partner Jacques and belittles other teams, primarily the Cadets and the Sisters.

Mandy from Totally Spies! is a textbook case of this trope. Extra points for being shallow. Her cousin Mindy is also shown to be this, but it takes five seasons for her to show up.

It's spin-off show The Amazing Spiez! also has this with Tami.

Coral from Trollz is the head cheerleader, perpetually stuck-up, and is mean to the BFFL. She gets a case of Break the Haughty when Simon temporarily takes over and makes her his servant, and when Amethyst helps her she thanks the cast before returning to her usual ways.

Winx Club

A girl from Bloom's old hometown named Mitzi definitely fit the bill, despite appearing only a few times. In the Halloween episode, she invited Bloom and her friends to a party—which turned out to be an elaborate scheme to humiliate the girls. She bought and rigged a house, made up an elaborate legend, hired actors to pose as party guests (complete with scripts), and set up elaborate special effects around the house, just to pull a prank on someone she had barely seen in two years, along with four girls she had never met. Mitzi gets a more prominent role in some episodes of the fourth season: she lays her eyes on Brandon and wants to take him from Stella. Later, the Wizards of the Black Circle temporarily turn her and two friends into evil fairies. After that, she's practically Put on a Bus. She appears again in Season 5, and whatever time she's not playing fangirl to the Trix involves her being a bitch to her little sister.

The Trix themselves qualify. They bully others in school and generally boss others around before getting expelled. After episode nine, they get much, much worse, what with the multiple attempted homicides, turning The Cutie into a pumpkin for ruining one of their plans, removing the heroine's powers in a needlessly sadistic way after threatening her parents and revealing her backstory, and attempting to take over the universe. They're like Regina George, only with magical powers.

Christie Wilson from The Weekenders. She's a snooty jerk.

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stevishabitat · 2 months ago

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Why We Let White-Collar Criminals Get Away With Their Crimes - The New York Times

BIG DIRTY MONEY

The Shocking Injustice and Unseen Cost of White Collar Crime

By Jennifer Taub

Donald Trump is not the ostensible subject of “Big Dirty Money,” Jennifer Taub’s polemic against America’s failure to curb the destructive criminal tendencies of the very rich. Yet the president, his friends and former Trump campaign and administration officials parade through these pages. The latest example may be Steve Bannon, Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, whose arrest in August on fraud charges came too late for inclusion in Taub’s book.

Trump is very rich, although how rich remains a subject of investigation, given the wildly varying and self-serving values he’s assigned his many real estate assets. He has escaped the consequences of what amounts to a lifetime of dubious business dealings. As Taub, a law professor at Western New England University, writes, “Trump took advantage of a system that gives first, second, third and seemingly infinite chances to the elite.”

As president, he has been investigated, impeached, tried and summarily acquitted for high crimes and misdemeanors over his dealings with Ukraine and attempts to impede Congress. Trump also oversees the Justice Department and its investigations of white-collar crime, including cases involving many of his friends and associates. It should thus be no surprise that white-collar prosecutions on his watch have plummeted. He hasn’t hesitated to enlist his compliant attorney general, William P. Barr, in the effort to gain leniency for friends like his former campaign adviser Roger Stone and his former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Both were accused of lying under oath — one of the most common crimes committed by the wealthy and well connected.

The president wields the power of the pardon, and Trump has freely used it on behalf of wealthy white-collar criminals. He did so earlier this year for Michael Milken and Eddie DeBartolo Jr., sending a powerful message that white-collar crimes don’t really matter, even though white-collar crime in America “costs victims an estimated $300 billion to $800 billion per year,” Taub reports, while “street-level ‘property’ crimes, including burglary, larceny and theft, cost us far less — around $16 billion annually, according to the F.B.I.”

Trump is a stark illustration of why so few wealthy malefactors are held accountable. Like other members of the .01 percent, he can act with seeming impunity, able to buy or influence his way out of trouble. He empathizes with rich people who run afoul of the law. He minimizes their guilt, suggesting white-collar crimes aren’t really crimes, especially when the accused are white men, as the vast majority of all rich white-collar criminals are. Yet Trump is a symptom, not the cause.

Taub is hardly the first author to call attention to the American justice system’s curious indifference to white-collar crime, apart from occasional spasms of attention triggered by populist indignation. Brandon L. Garrett’s “Too Big to Jail” (2014) and John C. Coffee Jr.’s “Corporate Crime and Punishment: The Crisis of Underenforcement” (2020) are excellent examples.

But Taub explicitly and persuasively places the breakdown of enforcement and accountability in the context of money and class. She notes that the phrase “white-collar crime” was coined in 1939 by the sociologist Edwin Sutherland to describe an offense committed by “a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.” This association with respectability manifests itself throughout the justice system. Prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges are largely white, well-educated, affluent men and, increasingly, women, who, consciously or not, Taub suggests, identify with the white-collar defendants who come within their purview.

Asked about the startling lack of high-profile criminal cases after the 2008 financial crisis, Lanny Breuer, who served as the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s criminal division during the Obama administration, told “Frontline” that the department looked “hard” at potential cases but couldn’t prove intent. “That’s the old standby excuse in any white-collar case,” Taub maintains.

Attorney General Barr identified lack of intent as a key factor in his swift exoneration of President Trump on obstruction of justice charges, an issue the special counsel Robert Mueller had said he couldn’t resolve.

Intent is a subjective standard, and usually must be inferred: Hardly any accused criminals admit they acted intentionally, with a guilty state of mind. Yet the jurors in the 2004 trial of Martha Stewart, to cite just one of Taub’s case studies, had no trouble inferring intent in finding Stewart guilty of lying to federal officials in connection with her suspiciously timed stock trades. (That case was brought by then United States Attorney James Comey, who was fired by Trump as the director of the F.B.I. after he turned up the heat on the investigation of the Trump administration’s contacts with Russia.)

Taub poses a simple question and a provocative thesis: Why don’t more prosecutors just lay out the facts about intent and let juries decide? Isn’t it because on some level their empathy with the affluent, high-ranking executives they’re investigating prevents them from doing so?

Needless to say, such delicate issues of intent rarely arise in petty street crimes.

A defendant’s social and economic status is even more obvious at sentencing. One might think that a person with all the wealth and advantages that society confers might be deemed more, rather than less, culpable than ordinary street criminals. On the contrary, many judges seem to believe that a fall from grace is punishment enough, especially since white-collar defendants (often older white men) pose little danger to society, at least with respect to committing violent crimes.

Some judges seem to shudder at the thought of people like themselves in prison. Taub suggests that they feel the prison environment is tougher for white-collar criminals than the presumably more streetwise non-white-collar ones.

Although the conviction and sentencing of Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen happened too recently for Taub to mention, Cohen seems a classic beneficiary of judiciary deference. Sentenced to three years in prison for campaign finance violations and lying to Congress, Cohen was released early to home confinement out of concern he might contract Covid-19. Soon after, he was photographed dining at the posh Le Bilboquet restaurant near his Park Avenue apartment.

Paul Manafort, another Trump crony, faced 19 to 24 years in prison in one of two cases against him, for an array of crimes including tax fraud and money laundering. After noting Manafort’s “otherwise blameless life,” the judge in the case gave him just four years in prison. (He was sentenced to an additional three and a half years in the second case.) But no matter: Like Cohen, Manafort was released early over Covid-19 concerns. Trump has said repeatedly that Manafort’s prosecution was unfair.

Or consider Taub’s account of Deborah Kelley, a broker who admitted to paying more than $100,000 in bribes to a portfolio manager with New York’s giant state pension fund and then lying about it. She faced up to five years in prison, but instead was sentenced to home confinement and probation because the judge thought she was “a good person.”

“Such empathy rarely extends to the burglar or the small-time drug dealer,” Taub notes. “The lack of similar concern for poor offenders is astonishing,” she says. By this juncture, readers’ blood may have reached the boiling point. They’re unlikely to cool down after Taub turns to a list of six possible solutions — from creating a new Justice Department division focused on “big money criminals” to extending protections for investigative journalists and whistle-blowers. These are earnest and well intentioned but small bore given the scope of the problem she so vividly illustrates.

Solving it will require a broad shift in an American culture that celebrates the accumulation of wealth and too often turns a blind eye to — or even glorifies — the success of the white-collar criminal.

James B. Stewart is a columnist at The Times and the author of nine books, most recently “Deep State: Trump, the FBI and the Rule of Law.”

BIG DIRTY MONEY

The Shocking Injustice and Unseen Cost of White Collar Crime

By Jennifer Taub

298 pp. Viking. $28.

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cityof2morrow · 2 years ago

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Pictorial: Setting Up The Lifestyles Mod

Published: 9-23-2023 | Updated: 11-21-2023

SUMMARY The Lifestyles Mod (alongside earlier versions of the religions mod on which it is based) can be tedious/annoying to install and set up – but I promise its worth it! Here is a quick walkthrough for setting up the mod. If you’re skeptical, generate a new ‘Neighborhoods’ folder in your game and use it to test the mod first. Before we get started, make sure you’ve downloaded the Lifestyles Mod (Simmons, 2023) and gameplay PDF. Finally, re-read the info related to compatibility, load order(s), and troubleshooting. DOWNLOAD THIS PICTORIAL (PDF) INSTALLATION 1. When starting a new save, setup this mod BEFORE adding The Globe/Global Overrides (Meduza, 2023; Hatch, 2017-2019) if you also use that mod. 2. Place all package files in a folder and move that folder to your Sims 2 ‘Downloads’ folder. 3. Load them AFTER The Globe/Global Overrides (Hatch – excluding Home YAs), Taxi/Vehicles Cost Money (Dhurt). *If you receive errors try loading this mod (and any add-ons for the Lifestyles/original religions mods) BEFORE them instead. 4. Load them BEFORE Annoying Games Suite (Simlogical/Inge Jones), Baby Personality (Episims, 2020), Fight Club (Pescado), Inteen/Inteenimator, Less Belching/Farting (TwoJeffs), Mood Swings/Midlife Crisis (Piqiwi, 2018 – see the additional notes on this under Troubleshooting and Conflict With), Single Slap Only (Squinge), Zombie Apocalypse (Pescado). ADDING THE FIRST LIFESTYLE(S) TO YOUR SAVE 1. Testing Cheats ON Please! While in the neighborhood screen and BEFORE entering a residential lot, turn testing cheats ON (do this manually because Start-Up cheats don’t always kick in). If you have conflicts/issues they will pop up as error messages here. If your lot won’t load but you can hear it running, the game is paused on an error message – that you won’t be able to see if testing cheats aren’t turned on. See the Troubleshooting section of the gameplay PDF for solutions.

2. Setup Dialogue: Enter any residential lot and wait ~10 sim-minutes for a set up dialogue. Choose between 1 and 5 initial lifestyle groups – the first FIVE will be townie-enabled and sims can be manually/randomly added to these. Any additional lifestyles (the sixth one created and so on) are “exclusive” – you must manually add sims to these with the Lifestyle Manager. We’ll get to that part…keep reading You can add/edit (but not delete) groups later using the Lifestyle Manager object (a fairy statue formerly called the Heaven & Hell Fairy). Find it in Misc > Misc.

3. Background NPCs: Choose the gender of the NPC character that will act as a controller for each group. They will generate off-screen and remain permanently out of sight during gameplay. If you want to include them in your gameplay, they are safe NPCs and can join playable households - but try not to let them die in-game

4. Name the Lifestyle: You’ll be prompted to “enter a name for this person…” (“person” = lifestyle for the purposes of this mod). Using proper nouns, enter a name for the individual, place, or idea that defines each lifestyle (18 characters max, including spaces). Names can be generic (i.e. Happiness, Power, Science, Law & Order – great for the general population) or more specific (i.e. The Grim Reaper, Fate, The Wiz, The Watcher) I like to think of sims i’m not invested in and likely will never play as part of a “general population.” Since all playable households must have a lifestyle group assignment, I usually make two “general population” groups for playables (or for sims whose lifestyles I haven’t figure out yet).

-Law & Order: Generally nice, law-abiding people who don’t steal, fight, etc.

-Fate: They retain free will – the equivalent of how sims would behave without this mod in-game. This is for villains, fight-club members, General Buzz Grunt, the Beakers, most of the Landgraabs, and other butt-headed sims 5. Allow/Ban Behaviors: Sims express their lifestyle via behavior and social interactions. Customize each lifestyle by banning or allowing behavior in the following categories. You can only ban or allow whole categories.

Wrath = routing failure tantrums are replaced by a calm notification to the player.

Theft = newspapers, gnomes, and hotel towels Violence = poke, slap, shove, attack, red hands, punch game, cops/robbers game

Indiscretion = belch, gossip, tell secrets, gross out, brag Disrespect = nag, annoy, insult. New behavior categories aren’t possible but new interactions can be added to existing categories with mods such as: G-Rated Religion Expansions and Side Mods (Almighty Hat, 2016). Instructions for adding even more behaviors are available with this mod. In my testing, non-violent sims would never defend themselves when violent sims attacked them. They would just cry or take the beat down (and then cry again). Whenever this got too annoying, I would just move the violent sim to a non-violent lifestyle group. Keep this in mind if you play with fight club mods which prolong fights or making fighting/attacking others fun for meaner sims. This is also a good reason to have meeting spots (explained below). Sometimes your sims needs to be among friends…*sings* where everbooody knows their naaaame! *takes bow**exits stage left

MANAGING YOUR LIFESTYLES

1. After Initial Setup: Sims can only be in one lifestyle group at a time. At unassigned households and households which recently gained/lost members, you’ll be prompted to choose a lifestyle for sims living there after ~10 sim-minutes. Townies and some NPCs are randomly assigned by default. You can assign members of the same household to different groups using the Lifestyle Manager but this will impact behaviors, relationships, and more importantly - group devotion and zeal.

2. Lifestyle Manager: Use this object to view, change, or randomize lifestyle assignments and check neighborhood statistics. Playables/townies can be randomized into the first five groups with this object. 3. Playing 6 or more Lifestyles: You can create more than five lifestyles but remember: 1) townies can only join the first five groups, 2) sims can only be randomized into the first five groups, and 3) only the first five groups get a separate line on the census – the rest will be totaled together under “Lifestyle > 5.”

To assign groups 6 and up, go to a playable residence. For each sim:

-Select "Change lifestyle to..." on the lifestyle statue. Only the first five will show at first, choose any of these. -Re-select "Change lifestyle to.." again. Groups 6 and up should be available in all appropriate menus now. -Save your game. The census should reflect these changes when you enter the next lot.

DEVOTION, ZEAL & INTERACTIONS (aka ‘how this mod changes the social scene in your game’)

1. Devotion: Devotion refers to a sims’ commitment to their lifestyle (out of 100). Sims with high devotion will observe their group’s values but defy them if devotion falls below 30-ish. 2. Zeal: Sims with high zeal (out of 100) may be judgmental towards others. Sims with high zeal and low devotion may even become hypocrites. They’ll scold or hit others for defying values they themselves are no longer observing. Worry not, these behaviors improve as their devotion increases.

3. Ask About Lifestyle: Sims can ask others about their lifestyles and receive a range of replies. This social, along with talking, chatting, and hanging out with fellow group members will increase devotion/zeal. Devotion/zeal will NOT change attraction/relationships, but relationships with non-group members may decrease devotion/zeal.

4. Conversions: Repeated interactions between sims with exceptionally high devotion and those who are unassigned or low in devotion to their own group may result in the latter being convinced to join the more committed sim’s lifestyle. CREATING/MANAGING MEETING SPOTS (OPTIONAL)

1. Meeting Spots: Places of worship are now called meeting spots – they’re not required but make lifestyles even more interesting. Designate any vacant community lot as a meeting spot using the Lifestyle Manager (Misc > Misc). Live mode will activate, and The Friend/Aneeta Friend will appear – ignore this sim and continue setting up the lot. Save and exit when done. Autonomous visitors will be limited to those assigned the corresponding lifestyle. If you send other sims to this lot, their own group devotion and zeal decrease, or they may convert.

These are the New Peterans of Strangetown (test hood) and they hang out at a church/community kitchen on the weekends. Devotion/Zeal improve faster at meeting spots for appropriate members (and has the opposite effect on non-members – but non-members won’t show up unless you manually send them there). Meeting spots are especially handy if you want to play a private social group with exclusive membership. You don’t want the general population/authorities to know about certain groups, right? Good thing they’re only vaguely referenced in the census as “Lifestyle > 5.

2. The Friend: An NPC named Aneeta Friend will visit community lots, including designated meeting spots. Talking/Hanging Out with her will boost devotion and zeal regardless of group membership. She’ll generate with default looks, but her name and appearance can be altered with mods. Do NOT add her to playable households or age her down. The Lifestyle Manager can summon Aneeta Friend at any time. Selecting the object from the catalog on an empty lot will always summon this sim. If you click the statue by accident, you can ignore her – she only appears in case you want to designate a meeting spot. It is safe to save/exit the lot 3. Renaming Lifestyles: To rename a lifestyle, shift-click and use the “Spawn” option OR use another mod to teleport the Background NPCto a residential lot andrename them. If you can’t remember which NPC this is, select “Learn About the Ways of…” on the Lifestyle Manager and choose the group you want to rename. When the dialogue pops up in the corner of your screen, hover over the NPC’s photo to see their name. This is the NPC you should summon UNINSTALLING/UPDATING THIS MOD 1. Uninstalling: To safely uninstall, 1) place, then shift-click, the Lifestyle Manager on a residential lot. 2) Use the available options to remove the mod data. This will remove the NPC number from the Background NPCs and move them to the orphan townie pool. 3) Afterwards, delete the package file(s) from your downloads folder from your downloads folder – but leave the NPC file for Aneeta Friend in your downloads folder (“simmons-ah-cjh-lifestyles-thefriendNPC”). 4) You do not need to include the friend file in new saves (i.e. for completely new “Sims 2/Neighborhoods” folder) 2. Updating: If you haven’t removed the NPC file or renamed any files from this mod, you should be able to replace the main file for updates without having to remove/reset data. This has been tested several times, but your game setup may function differently. DOWNLOAD THIS PICTORIAL (PDF) CREDITS Thanks: ChocolateCitySim for testing. Sources: Beyno (Korn via BBFonts), EA/Maxis, Offuturistic Infographic (Freepik).

#ts2mods #ts2tutorial #co2testcenter

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fadeintolight · 8 months ago

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Hey! I have a question that I've been sort of curious about for a while. So I've noticed that a lot of people have been annoyed by Harry post 2022 and have made their disinterest?distate? in him known. But those same people have absolutely no problem with Louis and his involvement in BG (post 2020) and basically exploiting an innocent kid to protect his own butt. They keep singing his praises and act like he's the best. Harry has definitely been CRINGING AND YIKESING hard over the last couple of years but I seem to have a harder time moving past Louis' actions. Anyway, it's not a big deal. I guess I just went off both of them at the same time and a handful of others have as well, but the majority of people just went off Harry and it's always been a bit ??? for me.

hey so this is long and 100% a personal take, so proceed with caution.

totally get where you're coming from. first off, I think we all have to accept that we don’t really know anything for sure about these people. we all just build the lore in our heads based on small cues and glimpses, and I'm definitely not an exception to that.

from my perspective, a lot of what louis is doing now seems like it was a continuation of circumstances that were forced on him back in the 1d days. the babygate situation is a prime example— we never knew if there was supposed to be an ending point or what that would even look like. what protects louis in the eyes of so many louies is this uncertainty. he was told that he would be a father—how, we don’t know; how long, we don’t know. but it's impossible to imagine him ever getting a real chance to walk away from it, and for him to say 'actually no, let me stay close to this rachet family and exploit this kid some more.' the whole situation is so horrible that our minds just can't go there and accept that. mine included. this unknowing of the details ends up protecting his character in many fans' minds.

in contrast, harry seems to have more freedom and agency over his solo career. he’s carefully cultivating this air of sexual ambiguity and mystery, leaning into an a-list celebrity status that keeps fans at arm’s length. his team /him want to project him as an enigma—someone who can’t be fully understood?? as opposed to his 1d self who was a bit more chatty, a bit more present? that has changed the dynamic of how some fans (on my dash i guess) perceive him. its just harder to see what his true intentions are?? why are you with these rancid people man. why are you being silly in a parking lot on main. but then again, I fully get that he could just be playing the long game, navigating his own path and experiences.

all in all with harry, the stunting never really hurts him- or at least he has something to gain from it—it helps move his career ahead. whether it's transitioning into movies or providing context for his music, these moments seem to push him forward, even if we hate them. while louis' stunts keep him stuck, harry's seem to be part of the narrative that builds his legacy.

on the other hand, I know I’ve bought into the ‘louis as the underdog’ persona and that’s also partially some good marketing on their end. I want to support him on the path he’s paving for himself, especially since it feels like he’s doing it without the massive backup that harry has. the story of his career fascinates me, his constant gratitude to his fans and the presence he has in his fandom feels unique and therefore the parasocial bond is stronger with him.

it’s all just psychology and character play, really. after 2020, I think a lot of us experienced some form of disillusionment when it comes to harry and louis. and then that’s just the way people work—we cope by creating narratives. often, this involves villainizing one while assigning the 'hero's journey' to the other. idk to me it makes sense from a psychological standpoint, people holding on to these preferences based on what resonates with them.

also, let's not forget that tumblr is definitely not a representative sample of the fanbase. we’re just a small village of burnt-out people. I'm sure there’s a similar 'village' on the other side that feels the same ick towards louis and is more protective of harry, and they’re allowed to see things the way they want to too. at the end of the day, we’re all just dumbass stans warping reality to suit our own narratives.

#im so sorry if this hasnt answered any of your questions i really tried tho😩#answered

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sage-nebula · 5 months ago

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Book Reviews: 1984 - George Orwell

Rating: 4/5

1984 is a book that is, at this point, considered both a classic and a meme. Any time anyone has a criticism of the government or current social climate, they relate it back to this novel. Ironically, most of them have never read it. But as someone who has read it, both as a summer homework assignment for AP Literature seventeen years ago and now once again, I can say that it definitely deserves its status as a classic, and most people would benefit from giving it a proper read-through today.

Make no mistake, 1984 is not a perfect novel. Apart from period-typical misogyny and Orwell's own antisemitism showing through in both the language used within the book and the attitudes of its characters, there is a huge chunk about midway through the novel that falls into the same trap that plagues the entirety of Orwell's professor's book, Brave New World. Partway through the book, main character Winston is given a book-within-the-book to read as an assignment for a rebel group. This would be fine, except the reader is then made to depart from the narrative (and actual novel) to read this book, which is essentially just an explanation of how the authoritarian regime of the world within 1984 operates. There are two major problems with this: one, this information an attentive reader already knows (and Winston himself even remarks that he knows it already!), and two, it is dreadfully boring. Whereas the rest of the novel has prose that is excellent at both delivering on its character work and keeping you engaged, "the book" (as it is so called) is dry, repetitive, and a waste of page space. Orwell was so desperate to explain his ideas on how a totalitarian regime could take over the world that he brought the whole novel to a grinding halt. It's the primary reason this cannot get five stars from me.

Despite this, however, I feel that the overall theme of the novel (that totalitarianism can sprout from any group interested in power, regardless of what they call themselves or initially claim their motivations to be) is an important one that still rings true today. Likewise, there were many times when reading when I had to put the book down for a moment, because the ideas presented therein are ones that we can easily see existing in our world today. Examples:

1.) 1984 was partially inspired by the invention of the television, which was new in Orwell's time. But while television in Orwell's time was only used to project shows, the telescreens in Oceania also recorded information and transmitted it to a third party. Now here we are in the 2020s, and Smart TVs often come with cameras and microphones in them that have been proven to record private conversations and transmit them to third parties.

2.) The concept of doublethink, which is holding two contradictory ideas in your head simultaneously and believing both to be true, is one you can see in practice in right-wing ideology. They believe that citizens need firearms in order to protect themselves from hostile government takeover, yet simultaneously believe that the military is wholly devoted to the people and would never follow the government's orders to oppress. They believe that leftists are easily offended, soft, and weak people, yet simultaneously believe that leftists are capable of utterly destroying the country and everyone inside. So on and so forth.

3.) The action of self-policing arising naturally from a surveillance state that also employs censorship. In recent years, social media sites such as Tiktok and YouTube have cracked down on the language people can use to discuss "taboo" topics. Words like sex, kill, murder, suicide, and rape are not allowed, along with your basic profanities. Now, you will see people on sites that DON'T restrict those words still using euphemisms for them instead, self-censoring "just in case" censors do exist on those other websites without their knowledge. Not only does the censoring of those words make it difficult to discuss those topics (which was the reason behind Newspeak in the book — to ultimately control thoughts by making it impossible to express certain ideas via lack of vocabulary to do so), but it goes to show the ultimate power a surveillance state can have.

There are more examples that I could name. Ideas espoused about the constant state of war and the purpose that serves in maintaining control over the populace, the idolatry of one political figure to represent a movement, and so on. But rather than list all of them here, I would simply recommend that one give this book a read for themselves. It's still timely, and presents ideas that are worth marinating in your mind as you look at today's political climate.

#book reviews #1984 #george orwell #bookblr #date reviewed: Dec 19th 2024 #crossposted from goodreads

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