#chief cortez

[laf-outloud]

Kat tweets

Farewell, Chief Taza! We'll miss you!

[justdealingwithsomeissues]

This is a PERFECT example of what I mean by things just jumping around almost at random, like they are trying to fit to much story in one book... We just saw Rogue get shot, and the then the Nuke went off... on the next page Magneto is back in his asteroid, and then  almost a page later we are back down on earth with the X-Men looking to find Rogue, only to have it wind up that she landed in Hammer Bay in Genosha where she wakes up just in time for the Acolytes to show up and demolish the whole hospital to find her...

[dandenbo]

tagged by @breadedsinner, thank you!

tagging @clericofshadows, @messydiabolical, @threewhiskeylunch, @finchmarie, @ferindencadash and anyone else who'd like to make a poll, no presh

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Daniel Marans at HuffPost:

Last Friday, a senior political aide to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) convened a group of progressive pro-Palestinian groups on a Zoom call to discuss strategy. The list of participants included representatives of the political arm of Jewish Voice for Peace, the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, IfNotNow and Americans for Justice in Palestine Action. The call took place less than two days after President Joe Biden confirmed on CNN that his administration had paused an offensive weapons shipment to Israel and would withhold additional transfers if Israel launched a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the city in southern Gaza where 1 million Palestinians are taking refuge. The Ocasio-Cortez aide appealed to the activists on the call to give Biden appropriate credit, given the historic nature of the step, and noted that Biden was already receiving fierce pushback from Israel supporters furious about the news. “It’s important we make clear to the White House that when the president moves in our direction, we’re willing to say so,” said Mike Casca, Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, who was not the aide present on the call.

On the whole, advocates for Palestinian rights and a cease-fire in Gaza — inside Congress and out — were already marching in step with Ocasio-Cortez. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) joined her in praising Biden’s announcement. So, too, did the “uncommitted” movement, which had sought to pressure Biden through the Democratic primaries; Arab American Institute founder James Zogby; the Muslim group Emgage; the Center for International Policy; the liberal pro-Israel group J Street; the Jewish Democratic Council of America; the Center for American Progress; and Indivisible. Even IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace offered Biden qualified credit, though JVP did not post its statement on social media.

But the praise was not unanimous, with plenty of pro-Palestinian groups unwilling to give the president credit while the war’s horrific toll on Palestinian civilians grows and U.S. weapons and aid continue to flow.

The pro-Palestinian faction of the Democratic Party is mostly applauding President Biden's moves toward their position, even it if feels too little, too late.

[dosesofcommonsense]

Accurate summation from #TruthHammer Telegram

From Anon: 40_head

Summarizing the past 48 hours:

1 of 2

https://x.com/thereal40_head/status/1815647586721911275?s=46

BREAKING: According to multiple sources, the following message is circulating the internet.

"A verified source has informed the Global Press team that Joe Biden is currently in hospice care and is unlikely to survive the night."

Never forget, 1 week ago an assassination attempt was made against Donald Trump. The Secret Service was complicit, the FBI was complicit, and as Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said in the Congressional investigation today, Sheila Jackson Lee was heavily involved in controlling the Secret Service. Jackson Lee suddenly died days after the failed attempt on Trump.

For months, Biden was adamant about continuing his presidency and refusing to drop out of the 2024 election. Then, staunch liberal democrat Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and several other high profile liberals proclaimed yesterday that Obama's shadow presidency and elites in the democrat party are mounting a massive coup against Joe Biden. Some in the media repeated these claims. Shortly afterwards, we hear that Biden has COVID-19 and has been isolated in his home and all future appointments are cancelled.

Then, on ordinary white paper, with no presidential, white house, or campaign letterhead or seals, an apparent resignation alleging to be from Biden, says he is resigning from the 2024 campaign, appears on Biden's social media page on X. His sole support for Kamala Harris to take over the campaign also appears in this letter on Joe Biden's Twitter (X) page. There is nothing in the letter about the current presidential administration.

What's even more shocking is, not one single Biden staffer, including his own chief of staff, was aware of Biden's intentions to drop out of the race. They collectively flood social media in shock saying they had no idea Biden was going to drop out and they only found out with this letter on Biden's social media account. What's more is, Biden's signature on the letter has been compared to his actual signature and it has publicly been called a forgery. It's a bad forgery at that. Multiple media personalities and politicians have said they don't believe the letter is real and are demanding proof of life from Joe Biden before they accept this alleged resignation from the 2024 campaign.

There is one main point noticed in the following hours. Many democrats fall in line to support Harris. However, Obama DOES NOT support a Harris campaign and publicly states THEY will decide who the candidate for the democrats will be for the upcoming election.

Then, a video surfaces showing someone that looks like Joe Biden but has several distinct differences, claiming he is stepping down from the 2024 election campaign. It is obviously pre-recorded as it does not address several key questions about the legal process to turn over a heavily funded campaign for Joe Biden to Kamala Harris that were raised immediately after the letter appeared on his X account. And Kamala is hundreds of miles away, already on her own campaign trail, when she gets an alleged phone call from what sounds like Joe Biden. It is aired at the campaign event for the audience to hear.

In that call the conversation doesn't quite match up, there appears to be friendly banter between Harris and Biden but then the truth comes out in a slip from Harris. She says she knows Joe is still there in the "recording"...then catches herself halfway through the word and says "the call". She acts all lovey dovey but they talk over each other for a moment then the "call" ends. The audience goes nuts and they believe Joe has given his blessing to Kamala.

But...another incident occurred yesterday that set all of this up. We found out yesterday morning, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) had received paperwork from Kamala Harris during the last few days changing the 2024 Biden Presidential campaign to the 2024 Harris Presidential campaign. The entire $46 million in Biden's campaign funds were taken over by Harris and her campaign.

Summarizing the past 48 hours:

2 of 2

https://x.com/thereal40_head/status/1815647586721911275?s=46

Biden's 2024 campaign account on Twitter was changed to being a Harris campaign. Elon Musk immediately suspended the account, apparently because no legal documentation was presented to show the right to change the account.

All this time, with all of this activity, there has not been one personal appearance of Joe Biden. Then, just hours after the alleged phone call to Harris' campaign event, Biden's doctor announces Joe is just fine, healthy as ever, and only self-isolating as a precaution. Meanwhile, nobody is in charge of the country. Nobody is in the oval office. And then, just an hour later, reports emerge that Biden has been placed on hospice care and is so ill that he is not expected to make it through the night.

Somebody or a lot of somebody's, are flat out lying. Joe Biden is either dead or close to it according to numerous staff rumors. Harris takes over the campaign but it's not legal because donations were being made to Biden, not to Harris. If Biden drops out the funds are either supposed to be returned to the donors or taken into a Democrat party fund. They are not allowed to just immediately go to Harris. And, there appears to be an internal power struggle between Harris' group and the Obama shadow presidency. No matter how you look at it...

...there is currently a coup in place to take over the office of the president of the United States by elites in the democrat party. I doubt we'll see the actual Joe Biden again. What's more is, there's been no talk of any emergency sessions of the House or the Senate to decide on the 25th amendment proceedings, no talk of swearing in Kamala and again...nobody is in charge at this very moment.

There's multiple other issues going on. All air space over Delaware was temporarily closed. Communications from Deleware have been restricted and certain cell phone communications in the area were temporarily cut off. And then there's the surfacing of a 2022 presidential executive order apparently signed by Biden that is now circulating that shows Joe Biden delegated numerous aspects and authorities invested solely in the President, to members of his cabinet and chief of staff which would effectively prevent anybody from taking over if something actually happened to Biden. Top it all off with the fact that Hillary Clinton is being seen as the most likely candidate that the Obamas will appoint to take over the democrat bid for president.

Kamala is illegally using democrat party funding to campaign with right now and has illegally taken control of the FEC filing for the Biden campaign. No democrat party meeting and decision has been made by the party to grant Harris the right to use the money donated to Biden, nor have they given Harris permission to take over the resources that were set aside for the Biden campaign.

It's a huge mess folks. The democrat party is imploding. At least one very real coup is in taking place as I write this post. And Americans are not being told the truth by anybody at this point. It's only been by leaked information and by people just like you and me, searching the FEC database and looking at the act being played out by Kamala's team and Obama's team. And the whole time, Joe Biden is completely absent with word that he is not expected to live through the night which also means he will not be able to inform the American people about what's true and what's not, who will be running in 2024 and more importantly, who is actually in control of the country right now.

Is that really what you approve of? Is that what you really voted for? Are you ok with your party plotting coups against its own? Are you ok with democrats hiding the president of the united states from public view and presenting pre-recorded and even faked AI videos and pre-recorded faked phone calls?

When is enough going to be enough?

[kp777]

By Edward Carver

Common Dreams

Sept. 12, 2024

"We all agree on a simple but powerful principle—that polluters should pay to clean up the mess that they have caused, and those that have polluted the most should pay the most," Sen. Chris Van Hollen said.

United States Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Jerry Nadler on Thursday announced the introduction of legislation that would require Big Oil firms to pay into a damages fund used to address the climate crisis.

The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act, which Van Hollen first proposed in 2021, would levy charges on the largest companies that extract and refine fossil fuels in the U.S., based on a Superfund model. It would create a $1 trillion fund to "address harm and damages caused," with a significant proportion of the money spent on environmental justice in affected communities, Van Hollen said.

"We all agree on a simple but powerful principle—that polluters should pay to clean up the mess that they have caused, and those that have polluted the most should pay the most," Van Hollen said at a press conference.

Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media, indicated that the proposal was groundbreaking.

"We're thrilled to be supporting the first ever federal bill that would make polluters pay for climate damages!" Henn wrote on social media.

The new bill targets only the "heaviest hitters," as Van Hollen put it: companies responsible for at least 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the period between 2000 and 2022. The levies they face would be directly proportional to the amount of oil, gas, and coal extracted or refined, as determined by the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In addition to Van Hollen and Nadler (D-N.Y.), the bicameral legislation was also introduced by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.). It has five co-sponsors in the Senate, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and more than a dozen co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Many state legislatures have considered "polluters pay" climate bills in recent years, and Vermont passed one in May. Van Hollen said a federal bill "would be a big, big step forward."

The bill has the backing of many dozens of environmental organizations around the country, several of which had representatives at Thursday's press conference.

"The fossil fuel industry has known about climate change for decades," Sara Chieffo, a vice president at the League of Conservation Voters, said at the event. "It's time they face the consequences of their deception and are held responsible for their actions that are destroying both lives and a livable, safe climate."

Phil Radford, Sierra Club's chief strategy officer, added that "for way too long, these companies have poisoned communities, spilled oil, polluted our air, caused all sorts of health problems, and gotten away with it."

"Today is an incredible moment where we are saying: No more," he said.

Advocates indicated that at least 40% of the funds would go toward environmental justice.

[simply-ivanka]

Why the Left Is Throwing Biden a Lifeline

AOC and Bernie Sanders are betting the President will reward their loyalty in a second term.

Wall Street Journal Editorial July 11, 2024

President Biden is phoning friends across his party to rally support, so pay close attention to who is answering the call. His staunchest defenders are on the left, while moderates in swing districts are asking the President to withdraw from the race. There’s more than 2024 electoral calculation behind this highly revealing political turn.

No one outside the Biden family has been more fiercely pro-Biden since the President’s debate flop than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Queens firebrand promised reporters that Mr. Biden won’t leave the race and pledged to campaign for him through Election Day. This show of faith came after she said she “spoke with the President extensively” over the weekend. A Commander in Chief pleading for support from an often critical House backbencher is something to behold.

Another stalwart for the President is Sen. Bernie Sanders, who says he believes Mr. Biden can still win—if he campaigns on the Bernie agenda. Even Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has been denouncing Mr. Biden’s Israel policy for months, is now in the Save Biden camp. This week she said “he’s been the best president of my lifetime, and we have his back.”

There’s an ideological method to this loyalty. Ms. Omar has a point about Mr. Biden’s first term. While the President campaigned as a moderate uniter, in office he has tried to be the second coming of FDR.

Despite losing the 2020 primary to Mr. Biden, Sen. Sanders gave his endorsement in return for Mr. Biden signing up to the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force. The agenda included drug price controls, an expanded child tax credit, massive green energy commitments, and Build Back Better entitlement expansions. Only Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema stopped him from delivering on more or less the entire Bernie Sanders policy wish list.

If progressives save Mr. Biden now and he goes on to win re-election, the left will be well positioned to cash in again. Mr. Sanders is clear about what he expects in return for sticking with Mr. Biden. In his statement defending the President, he urged Mr. Biden to support a national “living wage,” a payroll tax hike, medical debt cancellation and much more. “Biden and Democrats can win this election if they address the needs of the working class,” he said.

The desperate President is turning to the left because he knows these Democrats don’t face electoral challenges. Progressives are running in safe seats or in Democratic states where Donald Trump has no chance to win. But in his desperation, Mr. Biden is also making a possible second term even more hostage to the left. Bernie and AOC have plenty of unfinished policy business they hope to get done if Democrats control the White House and Congress.

Things will work out for progressives even if Mr. Biden wins but doesn’t make it through the entire four years. Their dream scenario would be for President Biden to win, then retire and pass the Oval Office on to Vice President Kamala Harris, who ran as a whole-hearted progressive in the primaries in 2020.

Mr. Biden’s political vulnerability, and his turn to progressives for a lifeline, raises the policy stakes even higher for the November election. Bernie Sanders may believe social spending is free, but his political fee is steep.

[trickricksblog08]

HAPPENING NOW‼️

Fury as Republican

Rep. Paul Gosar calls for Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley to be 'HUNG' because he is a 'traitor' and 'sodomy-promoting'

Gosar, who was censured and stripped of his committee seats in 2021 after posting a violent animated meme about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez but then got them restored when Republicans took back control of the House, issued the attack in a newsletter titled 'This Week with Gosar' that he posted on his official House account.

DailyMail

[aptericia]

OC intros! 😊

POV you can choose to side with a) corrupt politicians who hate war so much that they’re willing to kill a lot of innocent people to avoid it, b) warmongering rebels who hate corruption so much that they’re willing to kill a lot of innocent people to take it down, or c) bitches who don’t care about anything beyond saving their own skin. And you have no idea who’s who :)

Here are the 5 prominent characters for the graphic novel I’m (very slowly) working on! I posted a bit of info at the beginning of last month for OCtober art challenges, but now I’m finally giving them a proper introduction! Keep reading for info about each of them~

TRACE he/him age: 31 Tech assistant at Sandoval, a police station and prison at the edge of a vast, unexplored marsh. Unfulfilled with his lot in life, he is eager to exceed expectations and fix problems where he finds them. His probing leads him into an investigation that others are desperate to keep him from completing.

SIGNE she/her age: 32 An undocumented immigrant who was arrested at the edge of the Marsh and is being held at Sandoval. Has a violent, unstable demeanor, yet appears to be free of the curse that crushes the will of others those who cross through the Marsh. Somehow, she knows secrets about Sandoval that even Trace doesn’t.

OFFICER CORTEZ she/her age: 50 Chief Officer in charge of the police station side of Sandoval. Determined to protect it from the mysterious attackers that have been targeting the country’s law enforcement institutions.

NOÉ he/him age: 29 A security officer at Sandoval’s prison, and Trace’s friend. Although more carefree than the latter would prefer, he’s less afraid to speak his mind.

OFFICER EMIRA they/them age: 38 Moved to Sandoval to take charge of its guard force after the mysterious disappearance of the previous captain. Friendly with Trace and the other staff.

[worddevourer]

So I was thinking about Baldur's Gate, and then I was thinking about Road to El Dorado, because of the Annapantsu covers of some of the songs, and then I was thinking about it being Shadowheart and Karlach, because really, they're the most logical picks for Tulio and Miguel, and I realized some things.

This almost certainly means Chel is Astarion. Found on the run, holding stolen goods, trying very hard to twist things to his advantage.

El Dorado is probably the Druid Grove, because Halsin as Chief Tannabok and Kagha as Tzekel-Kan works too well to pass up.

Cortez probably has to be Ketheric Thorm. Conquering general with a powerful voice is pretty much required to be him.

The odd knock-on effect of this is that while there are no horses in Baldur's gate, we do have a loyal servant to the evil conqueror, who provides deadpan reactions to the chickanery of the main cast, and who can be recruited into the party.

Altivo is Minthara, and I have been coasting on how funny that thought is to me all day.

[antidrumpfs]

U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, one of the most MAGA of MAGA Republicans, went on an outrageous and homophobic rant against Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in his newsletter, calling Milley “sodomy-promoting” and a traitor, and even urging his execution.

"In a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung," Gosar wrote.

Far-right politicians and commentators, including Gosar, have often claimed the January 6 insurrection was a setup by anti-Trump forces to make Trump look bad. The riot temporarily interrupted the joint session of the U.S. House and Senate to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, with Joe Biden prevailing over Trump.

But Gosar has spun other narratives about the events of January 6 that conflict with that version. He has called the participants “peaceful patriots” and claimed that Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was fatally shot by Capitol Police, was “executed.” At other times, he has seemed to take credit for the insurrection; last year he told a Republican club in Arizona, “I started the revolution.”

Gosar has frequently made other bigoted comments – racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-LGBTQ+ –and has posted images of himself killing liberal Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking Biden. Even Gosar’s siblings have denounced him for various actions, including his role in the January 6 riot. “There is no one member of Congress more responsible for the attack on the Capitol than Congressman Paul Gosar,” his sister Jennifer Gosar said in an ad in 2021.

[neechees]

That constant fancast with Pedro Pascal and Oscar Isaac with El Dorado got me thinking of a potential remake idea: they’re modern-day Latinos who time-travel back to colonization era while escaping capture like the original, end up in El Dorado, reconnect with their forgotten Indigenous roots and do in fact end up as a couple. Also the main villain is Cortez, not Tzekel Kan, who may stir initial conflict because of his overzealous personality but gets over his issues and becomes part of the country AND comes out as aroace (because with all the queer headcanons involving Tulio, Chel and Miguel I always felt like he was being left out and I always saw him like that anyway).

The fancast doesn’t have to involve either Pascal or Isaac, it’s just their heritage that got it clicking.

Unrelated but tumblr assigned your ask MY icon instead of the usual anon icon in my notes for some reason & I got really confused lol

And oh yeah ugh I hated that fancast. I feel like they only picked those two actors too because they are literally some of the ONLY Latino actors they know & it's because they're both from Star Wars. Also I generally think it'd be a bad look with iffy implicatioms to cast them as Spaniards in a White savior movie regarding the rest of the plot as well lol

And tbh I like his zeal, I think Tzekel-Kan was cool. I always thought he was fascinating as a kid. It's weird because the movie is both demonizing Mesoamerican culture & practices as bad, but also trying to imply that Tzekel-Kan is the only one who fully participates in it and thats what makes him bad. It's really stupid. In real life, Tzekel-Kan would be a very respected person and the Chief himself also would've worked with him in leasing religious events & ceremonies.

And anyway, I actually really like the time travel concept in particular, time travel is fun :) I've attempted rewrites myself, and yeah its hard to come up with something without completely changing it lol

[mankillercalledbunny]

About Scholar: do they have a favorite out of the crew? How does the first meeting with someone who isn’t already chill with them go? When they’re not observing do they have a default room like the characters in game? I wanna know more, Scholar’s such a cool concept and I love them

Hi thank you so much this is so sweet? Also SUCH good questions!! These are all answered in an Everyone Lives AU context with a Paragon run, just for clarity. It's a long one, so I'm dropping it under another cut.

Do they have a favourite out of the crew?

Of the human crew members I think they enjoy hanging out with Cortez the most, he seems to find their quirks and mannerisms amusing and their innate technical know-how means they can help with fixing things up (XO or not, those shuttles are still his babies). They're also very fond of EDI, synth solidarity.

Bonus: They obviously have a great respect for Shepard and Kaidan but they also know of these two in a "friend of a friend" way from Tali and Liara, and the first time Scholar references something one of those two (or Garrus even) mentioned that Scholar wasn't there for Kaidan and Shep do a double take

How does their first meeting with someone who isn't already chill with them go?

Not great lbr. Like Scholar did come from the Quarian home world, so they've already dealt with the wide range of reactions. It has been ~2 years since the Reaper invasion and ~5 since Saren's attack on the Citadel, and the Geth's assistance in that fight is pretty widely known because it would've gone VERY differently without assistance, but that doesn't change the fact that at least for the Quarians there's still going to be a lot of generational trauma no matter what the Geth have done to help so far and for anyone who was around for the Citadel Attack that shit is going to still be relatively fresh. There's also a lot of inherent distrust of synthetics after the Reaper War, which doesn't help. Plus the obvious freakiness of a fuck off tall metal being with lights for a face, never mind all the other shit, means Scholar can take some getting used to.

Their first incident is actually on the Normandy with a Citadel Survivor crew member who joined post-War (and therefore had no experience with Legion). Scholar is introduced to the officers and section chiefs in person, and a memo goes out to the full crew basically explaining who they are, what their position is, and that they're allowed to be here and go places, that they'll be studying the crew, etc, co-signed by the Captain and the Admiral. Scholar is actually having a tour of the ship with Kaidan, and this crew member pulls a gun on them on instinct. Scholar's safety protocols kick in and they retreat and cloak, which is an understandable (and frankly sensible) response to someone pointing a gun in your face. The only reason they do not immediately get shot is because Kaidan orders the crew member to stand down.

C: "You and the Admiral are allowing this?"

K: "They're a member of the Admiral's personal staff and will be joining him as a diplomat. They're also an academic and have been given leave to observe the workings of the crew to help build organic/synthetic relations."

C: "But they're a Geth! I'm sorry, Captain, EDI is one thing, she's the ship, but those things are dangerous!"

S: *decloaks and holds hands up in surrendering gesture* "You are the one holding the weapon. We apologise for causing distress. You will see clearly that we are unarmed. We understand that the tensions between our people and yours are strongly founded, and we regret past actions taken and all casualties from previous conflicts between peoples."

C: "You're letting a robot help with diplomacy?"

K: "Shepard thinks they'll be important. So do Admiral Zorah and Doctor T'Soni. If humanity wants to be able to work with the Geth, we need to understand each other as more than enemies."

S: "Indeed. Our duty here is to work to repair those relationships, and try to learn whatever we can to help further development in future. We will of course respect established boundaries, and if one such boundary is to avoid contact with yourself we will endeavour to respect it. We ask only that our position and academic pursuits are respected in turn. We mean no harm in any capacity."

EDI: "If it is any reassurance, I will be tracking any movement Scholar makes within the ship regardless of their cloaking function, and can prevent them accessing any area they should not be in or alert the commanding officers to their activities if there is cause for concern, the same as anyone else on this ship."

C: *finally puts weapon away* "Fine. But I don't want this thing around me if I'm working, and I'm not talking to it if I don't have to. And it sure as hell better not spy on me when it's invisible."

S: "We will respect this and maintain as much of a perimeter as we are able. It is a crucial element of research involving other beings that one may remove themself from the study and withdraw consent for the use of their data at any time."

Their first meeting as Cultural Attaché does unfortunately go similarly. Shepard's great, but he does assume that since he's chill with them, and even Tali has come around, everyone will be fine with Scholar's presence. This is not the case. A couple people do reach for weapons (which they're not carrying because it's a diplomatic function) before Shepard makes introductions. Before Shepard having a Geth on his staff becomes common knowledge, the first couple meetings Scholar attends with him are a little bit tense. Hackett just sighs.

When they’re not observing do they have a default room like the characters in game?

They like the shuttle bay because that's where they help Steve with stuff, and it also sees a decent amount of activity, but it's a different kind of comfortable from the mess because it's less busy. It's a nice, relatively quiet place to work and chill. They'll also hang out in the AI core, but only if EDI says it's okay, as they don't want to step on her toes, as it were. The AI core reminds them of home, a little bit.

In terms of observation, Scholar's favourite place to hang out and study is the mess, because it's the best place to observe cultural customs and human interactions. There are a few non-human crew members, of course, plus a rotating cast of old friends, refugees, visiting officers, and other random appearances just from the Normandy's usual travel. They get a lot of notes on various goings on that way, but it's also just a nice central place to be and it's comfortable. They probably have somewhere else they rest, analyse their data, work on their reports and do their Admiral Staff work, but their favourite place to hang out is definitely the mess. People will say hi and chat, and they get to make friends.

Also bonus thing from my partner which I'm immediately onboarding because it's delightful:

Someone witnesses the confrontation during the tour, probably Donnelly, and decides to help Scholar be less intimidating by... Putting a party hat on them, because "no one's intimidating with a party hat on." Shepard has no idea who started this but Scholar doesn't take it off until told to for presentability after arriving wearing it to meeting with Hackett (who looks both mystified and amused). Shepard promises to get Scholar a Formal Hat for meetings to allow them to maintain approachability, which they find acceptable.

This results in the crew just... Getting Scholar hats. Any hats. All kinds of hats. They wear them in rotation, and it does seem to genuinely make them more approachable. They keep a catalogue of all their hats with who gave it to them, its material, its culture of origin, the occasion, and any features of note, and keep them as carefully maintained as possible. The paper party hat has a slightly crumpled tip from Scholar bumping it on doorways and low ceilings, but they have not straightened this as Daniels described it as "endearing".

[beardedmrbean]

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., took a shot at Democratic strategist James Carville on social media Sunday after he went viral for saying that his party's problem was with a predominance of messaging from "preachy females." 

"A suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females," Carville said in an interview with a New York Times columnist on self-defeating messaging that he claimed was prevalent in his party. "’Don’t drink beer. Don’t watch football. Don’t eat hamburgers. This is not good for you.’"

He continued: "The message is too feminine: ‘Everything you’re doing is destroying the planet. You’ve got to eat your peas.’"

JAMES CARVILLE'S COMMENT ABOUT 'PREACHY FEMALES' REFLECTS HOW DEMOCRATIC PARTY DOESN'T STAND FOR 'MASCULINITY'

"Maybe he should start a podcast about it," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a post on X. "I hear men are really underrepresented in that space." 

The far-left congresswoman is often not shy to criticize other Democrats she perceives as insufficiently progressive.

The moment underscored the tensions in the party, as the Democrats' hard-left flank is often accused by figures like Carville of favoring ideological purity over pragmatism and results. Carville rose to fame as Bill Clinton's chief campaign strategist in 1992.

Carville also slammed elites in the party and the media for ignoring male Democratic voters, stating, "If you listen to Democratic elites – NPR is my go-to place for that – the whole talk is about how women, and women of color, are going to decide this election."

Rebuking this stance, he told Times columnist Maureen Dowd, "I’m like: ‘Well, 48 percent of the people that vote are males. Do you mind if they have some consideration?’"

Carville criticized the Democratic Party's concern with woke politics, calling it a "giant, stupid argument" that will hurt the party at the polls and in elections. 

JAMES CARVILLE SLAMS WOKENESS PUSHED BY DEMOCRATS AS A ‘GIANT, STUPID ARGUMENT,’ BLAMES ‘PREACHY FEMALES’

Carville, who Dowd described as "blithely un-P.C," claimed that "no one" wants to live according to woke principles and that they’re a fast track to conservative political victories.

Dowd described Carville's general attitude to far-left identity politics, writing, "He complained that ‘woke stuff is killing us,’ that the left was talking in a language that ordinary Americans did not understand, using terms like ‘Latinx’ and ‘communities of color,’ and with a tone many Americans found sneering."

Noting how this wokeness provides more of an ego trip for its proponents rather than political results, Carville told Dowd, "There are a lot of people on the left that would rather lose and be pure because it makes them feel good, it makes them feel superior."

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Joan McCarter at Daily Kos:

The conservative Supreme Court has gone rogue. It has “cemented its place in history as the most radical Supreme Court ever,” in the words of historian Kevin Kruse. It handcuffed all federal regulatory agencies last week, and elevated the president to king on Monday. They’ve done so on behalf of the American oligarchs who have bankrolled the lavish lifestyle of at least two of the justices. They have also done so on behalf of twice-impeached convicted felon Donald Trump. If there is any hope of salvaging our republic out of this mess, President Joe Biden and Democrats have to fight back, immediately, in the campaign and in action. That means setting aside the trust institutionalists like Biden and Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin have in the system and in the basic decency of people like Chief Justice John Roberts. It means directly taking on the corrupt court and making the case to the American people that it has to be stopped. Biden made a start Monday evening, giving a short prime-time address to the nation to point out the “dangerous precedent” of placing “virtually no limits on what a president can do.”

“This decision,” Biden said, “has continued the court’s attack in recent years on a wide range of long-established legal principles in our nation, from gutting voting rights and civil rights to taking away a woman’s right to choose to today’s decision that undermines the rule of law of this nation.” In perhaps the most chilling words a president has uttered since the Civil War, Biden starkly defined where we’re at as a nation.  “[I]t will depend on the character of the men and women who hold that presidency that are going to define the limits of the power of the presidency,” he said, “because the law will no longer do it.” 

[...] There are plenty of good ideas for reshaping the court from expanding it to imposing term limits to create a stable of justices that rotate in and out of the court. The solutions are there—Democrats need to embrace them. And run on them. That can start with rallying around Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s impeachment resolution against the justices who perpetrated this “assault on American democracy.” No, it won’t move forward in a Republican-controlled House, but it can help unite Democrats for an immediate course of action should they regain the House.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries echoed that, saying Democrats plan to “engage in aggressive oversight and legislative activity” to determine that “extreme, far-right justices in the [Supreme Court] majority are brought into compliance with the Constitution.” The Senate has to take the lead in the coming months, and it has to come from Durbin, who failed in his first task of responding to the devastating ruling. He complained over spilled milk, that Thomas and Alito “brazenly refused to recuse themselves from this case.” He scolded Roberts for not using “his existing authority to enact an enforceable code of conduct.” It’s a lot too late for that. Durbin and his colleagues need to get on the same page as House Democrats, because they actually are in an oversight position and need to start using it. No, they can’t fix the Supreme Court now, but they can start building the case for it. 

Joan McCarter of Daily Kos has a solid banger of a piece on why Democrats must run a campaign against the ethics-challenged MAGA Majority on SCOTUS.

[commiepinkofag]

American Alternate Reality of the Gaza Genocide

Adnan Ahmed / Unicorn Riot

Looking at our social media feeds, it appears as if some of us are existing in a Pleasantville-esque parallel universe where a genocide… is not being livestreamed. People are posting vacation pictures and influencers are bragging about eating endless shrimp inside the White House amid a hunger strike happening outside to protest the killing of Palestinians. 

Beyonce and Taylor Swift are screening their movies in Israel while Gazans are digging their family members out of rubble and carrying dismembered remains of their loved ones in plastic bags.

…

Meanwhile, across the U.S., institutions and politicians have been busy pledging allegiance to the ideals of Zionism and mislabeling criticism of Israel as antisemitism. when the number of killed Palestinians was in the tens of thousands — the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 888, which effectively attacks any form of organizing for Palestinian liberation and ignores the fact that Israel defines its existence in the ongoing brutal occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. The resolution was passed 412 to 1 and was supported by several members of The Squad, including U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY14), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN5). It was a thinly veiled attempt at equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. 

But it obviously did not go far enough for some members of the House and just days later they passed another resolution (House Resolution 894) that explicitly states, “anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”

The new resolution, apparently too blatantly racist to be supported by The Squad and a handful of Democrats and one Republican, still passed with a clear majority. Ninety-five Democrats voted to support HR 894. 

Legislation against pro-Palestinian organizing has seen an uptick in recent years. Just four years ago, Democrats overwhelmingly voted for a resolution that passed the U.S. House rejecting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. BDS is an international peaceful movement seeking to end support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. As of August 2023, over 30 states have passed anti-BDS legislation. …

President Trump signed an executive order that expanded Title VI of the 1964 Civil Right Acts to include discrimination based in antisemitism. The order directed institutions to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism which cites criticism of Israel as an example of antisemitism. …

President Biden, upon taking office, did not undo this executive order. Trump’s executive order — adopted by the Biden Administration as its policy — is now bearing fruit and Jewish students across the country are suing universities for Title VI violations, against the backdrop of increased campus activism opposing Israel’s atrocities.

This “moderate racism” is a clear example of how the Democratic Party tends to position itself just to the left of the Republicans. Democrats are experts at this game of creeping rightward while shifting focus from their own ineffectiveness and racist and discriminatory practices to highlighting the awfulness of their opponents — opponents that they often covertly support. 

The Democratic Party actually spends money to bolster far-right candidates to make themselves seem palatable. They do this while cracking down on movements for Palestinian liberation, Black Lives Matter protests, trans rights, undocumented immigrants and unions to protect corporate interests. 

The modern day Democratic Party has a legacy of racism in this country. President Roosevelt  sent over 125,000 Japanese-Americans into internment camps. Decades ago, Biden himself crafted legislation that allowed the U.S. to lead the world in its population of prisoners. President Obama was nicknamed the “deporter in chief” for authorizing a record number of deportations. Just in his first year in office, Obama authorized more drone strikes than his predecessor, George W. Bush, during his entire presidency. Despite voicing opposition to it while on the campaign trail, Biden has waived 26 federal laws, including environmental laws, to complete construction of Trump’s racist border wall. Unsurprisingly, the Democrats, staying true to their fundamentally rightwing nature, have largely supported Israel in its most recent attacks on Palestinians. …

Politicians, academics, institutional heads and celebrities too often only speak up for human rights when it benefits them. We don’t need to hold our breath waiting for them to do the right thing and we don’t need their permission to speak up. The victim-blaming ruling class alternate reality survives on our docility and obedience. It thrives on the conviction that we can be exploited and intimidated into submission.

We tend to either look the other way by willing ourselves to not see what is happening or are afraid of facing repercussions for speaking out. At the core of our silence lies a false belief that we are powerless and alone. That all we can do — and should do — is shut up, go to work and vote every few years for a new oppressor. This myth is being shattered by the massive support for Palestinians from regular people across the globe despite ongoing repression to deter us. The cause for Palestinian liberation is an opportunity for us to recognize our collective strength and realize that our silence is not worth allowing a genocide to continue.

…

Maghazi Massacre: Israel Kills Over 100 Civilians in Christmas Eve Bombing

US-Israeli war crimes