#having polls just increase my annoying levels

[galacticonejos]

[redjennies]

people on this website really want to imagine non-voters as smug white leftists who just hate the system, man, and not like poor and working class people whose schedules don't allow for it, black and latino communities who are intentionally targeted for voter suppression, people who live in heavily gerrymandered areas or states where their vote straight up won't count, people whose politics don't match up with the increasingly partisan party lines, or any other reason and/or combination of aforementioned reasons.

and the reason tumblr continues tilting at these windmills of "leftists are the real problem" (even though everyone was a "leftist" in December) is that all the reasons people don't vote are systemic problems that require intentional and organized solutions. there are real and material ways to put people in poll booths (or mailing their ballots), but they require work. they require making sure polling places are more accessible to voters in ways that range from making sure the polling place is ADA compliant to better signs so drivers know where they're going and better parking so they don't leave. they require voter registration drives and helping eligible felons restore their voting rights. they require educating the community on mail-in ballots and early voting opportunities. they require getting people who maybe disillusioned with federal level candidates excited about local or state level candidates where they could make a difference because if you can get them to polls for something they do feel strongly about they might go ahead and vote for the federal candidate anyway because they're already there. they require holding the fucking democrats accountable for their actions after the election to stop fucking going out of their way to alienate their voting bases, Joseph Goddamn Biden, and not sweeping those concerns under the rug as "not that bad" to make your candidate look better.

there are so many different ways to help increase voter turn-out, but they all require reaching out to your community and finding the way you can help to the best of your personal abilities. I know this because the examples I've listed above are things I've either personally done or my friends, who have different skills than I do, have done. what does not help voter turnout in the fucking slightest is taking the easy out of whining on the internet about how leftists are a threat to democracy like a goddamn conservative because you think the anarchists you see online are annoying. it's not only internet activism at its fucking laziest, and as i've said many times before, it actively stokes reactionary sentiments among moderate liberals. you are not being the measured and nuanced voice of reason for contributing to this shit. you are being lazy in hopes to sound like the smartest voice in the room and giving credence to something that is more inherently dangerous to long-term progress than the tiktok teens joking about terrorism or whatever you've decided to froth at the mouth about because you're falling for inflammatory Fox News-level propaganda tactics.

[bvannn]

Weekly Update March 8, 2024

I didn’t do as much as I had hoped over spring break due to still being sleep deprived, but tomorrow and the next night I should be able to catch up. I’m making a good deal of progress on stuff.

I figured out animation with Clip Studio enough to make a little gif of Romeo playing piano, to go along with his theme. I’m really happy with how it came out. That’s the biggest song I have ready, but I’m really close on another (unless I decide to get more ambitious, which I might), and I do have a smaller one scheduled to go up Tuesday. I’m feeling surprisingly good about music.

The main problem I’m having is kind of a ‘just finish it’ thing, where I’m just not motivated to go record melodies or melody parts for whatever reason. That’s what’s holding back a couple pieces now, but I’m hoping that I can do some tonight or tomorrow. I’m thinking tonight because I got hit with inspiration for another character theme melody, and I don’t want to lose it while I sleep tonight, but I’d feel bad starting in that when another character theme and some other miscellaneous pieces are also awaiting melodies and recordings. I’d like to knock a whole bunch out tonight, because theoretically they shouldn’t be that bad, the annoying part is dressing them up for use which doesn’t need to be done tonight. Im not sure if I want to tonight because I also want to draw, at a minimum I’ll record that character theme melody.

The other big music thing is a vocaloid cover of a song that I’m using to test out how vocaloid works. I got the audio back from the friend with the voicebanks, and it sounds a lot better than expected! There’s a couple things I do want to tweak, but I don’t think I’d be able to do it from within the program, it’ll probably be more me fiddling with the wav file. Idk song is going surprisingly well, shouldn’t be very complicated to round up instruments, I already got all the plugins set up it’s just a matter of recording. I’ve also managed to find a guy in my area who offers Guitar lessons for cheap, which I’ve been taking and I do think the two I’ve been to are helping. Maybe if I get really brazen I can record organic guitar instead of using a vst, since it should be mostly or entirely power chords, but it’s not the end of the world if I can’t.

I do want to figure out visuals to go with it. I was a little hesitant to really put in a big effort with it, until I heard that buying a license for cover rights is ‘not actually that expensive’. I don’t know if that means 10 or 200 bucks but worst case I can hold onto it until I’m comfortable enough to drop money if it’s really that expensive. I’d like to do a simple music video with the vocaloid character, since the original song’s video is also really simple, although I need to figure out character design. Might throw a few together and put up a poll.

I’ve been trying to get more drawing stuff done too, some miscellaneous animations mostly. I’m really trying to push myself to finish up the timings I need for my commission sheet, and honestly I’m pretty close. I feel bad because I probably will have to increase prices after all, but I’m also offering other options, which can still be cheap. I’m trying not to undercut myself for my level of work, but art commissions are so expensive that I don’t want to be overcharging either. Most of the comms I have done have come with tips, so I guess people are willing to pay a bit more than I was charging anyway, but even then I don’t want to crank the prices high just because a few people are willing to pay more. I’m charging based on time, I just need to sort out how long things take.

Final point, comic writing/thumbnailing is going well, I’m at 25.5/32. Unsure how bad editing is going to be, but I’m kinda editing as I go along so I don’t anticipate it’ll be that bad. I’m expecting to be able to actually start making pages soon. What comes next could either be a continuation or a pitch for the other story. I get more questions about the other story, so I’m tempted, but I also feel like it’s a harder sell than the first. Whatever I need to finish the first one first, and that’s what I’ll do.

I’m still messed up on sleep and flareups are also picking up pretty bad, but only in the mornings, so I bet if I get more sleep they’ll go away too. Either way I do have a consult for the next surgery to deal with that in a couple months, so I should hopefully be okay. Plan tonight is to either draw some more or record some stuff

[mars-the-4th-planet]

October electoral college polling map + an explanation of my stance on the election!

It's been a while since I posted an election polling map, but here it is!

Biden seems to be hitting a high point in the campaign after it was stagnating for a while, and it couldn't come at a better time (the election is just next month!). He is breaking previous records and outpacing where Hillary Clinton was at this point by over five percent nationally and doing better than her in several swing states. And that was before the email scandal got reinvestigated!

Since I've done so many already over the course of 2020, and since then I've learned more about it, I've worked very hard to make it as accurate as possible. Such as differentiating Maine's districts and omitting polling sources that are reputed for being consistently about 7+ points off of every other source due to oversampling and poor methods. I don't really understand why anyone would try and make their data off on purpose. Making your side look like they're doing better than they are is not helpful to anything. It doesn't make your side more likely to win after all.

But remember, these polls only show how people feel about the candidates and say nothing about voter enthusiasm/determination to vote. Who actually wins depends on people going and voting for them. And with the voter surpression by the GOP, that may not be super easy. So please, if you want to see trump lose, do not assume that your state is a guaranteed win! Go and vote! (I assume you want to see trump lose if you are following me, I'm pretty consistently left wing.)

Why should you consider voting for Joe Biden if you're a leftist and wanted a different candidate like Bernie Sanders, (I know I did) or prefer the green party? Let's go over a few things that Joe Biden will improve.

First and most importantly to me, the environment. I don't want climate change to be accelerated. I want it to be combated to prevent an ecological collapse that would ruin my life, if not outright take it. If you care about the futures of young people, that's a pretty big plus to Biden... He may not be at the same level as AOC or Sanders in that regard, but he will do anything that is economically viable to help the environment which is more than we can say about the Incumbent.

Secondly, his policies for people with disabilities are much better than trump's. He wants to raise the financial ceiling for when one loses their disability benefits, he wants to end the marriage penalty, and increase protections. The lives of Americans with disabilities will be tangibly better under a Biden presidency. If you care about people with disabilities, it's something to consider. I say this as someone with a disability and in a relationship with someone else with a disability.

Thirdly, his policies towards working class families are better. He is offering affordable and in some cases even free daycare and preschool for families where both parents need to work. He also wants to keep the food stamps program. If you care about struggling poor families, its something to consider. I say this as someone who has relied on food stamps when I was little.

Forth, Biden has a better temperament. This means he is more likely to keep a steady mind during situations where we need a leader who is able to remain calm. Trump has been in charge of the nuclear arsenal and our entire military for four years, and people have lost their lives because of it. We cannot trust trump with these powers any longer.

Fifth, democrats are trying to pass legislation on making our elections more free and fair. It will never pass under trump. Biden is simply better for preserving our democracy and improving it to make it more actually democratic.

Sixth, Trump is trying to bring in more conservative judges who threaten the rights of the lgbt, women, and racial minorities. And they serve for life. It could severely set back the United States and undo even more progress if trump is re-elected and gets his way.

Seventh, he will manage Coronavirus better by actually listening to experts and scientists. Trumps politicizing of the virus has gotten a lot of Americans killed and could get a lot more killed. Including himself and his family. Things have gotten completely out of control, and it's mainly trump and his supporter's faults.

Lastly, trump is out to get people. Worryingly so. He weaseled out of condemning white supremacists and practically endorsed them by deflecting that they weren't the real problem and that their goals were good. He agreed that someone needs to "do something" about antifa and the left in general. Not only that, but he has retweeted a video of his supporters going "white power!" and another tweet saying "the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat". He has also refused aid to states with left wing governors such as Michigan, making things worse in that state solely because he has beef with the governor. And one of the most blatent examples is his militaristic attack on peaceful protestors because they were in the way of his bible photoshoot. His behavior has been far right of some kind for sure, many would call it fascist. Trump himself identifies as a Christian Nationalist, which is practically the same as a Fascist but more religious. I would easily take a Liberal over a Christian Nationalist if it were up to me.

I hope you enjoy looking at my little graph. Would appreciate feedback to it and the argument I made, and would especially like to know what @atheistforhumanity @feelingbluepolitics and @acabats think about it. (note that my views do not represent theirs so if I said something here that annoyed you, don't go bug them about it.)

[amazonlogistics01]

Amazon Com, Inc.

Engineers, who usually make more than $a hundred thirty,000 a yr, plus profitable choices, also welcomed the news. I don't know of one other firm with an invention monitor report nearly as good as Amazon's, and I consider we're at our most inventive proper now.

I'm excited to announce that this Q3 I'll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon info Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO. In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and a spotlight on new products and early initiatives. Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon nearly as long as I even have.

Amazon's chief financial officer, Brian Olsavsky, mentioned on a media name that the manager change was determined in session with Amazon's board of directors. He said Bezos will stay very involved and have his fingerprints on lots of totally different elements of the corporate.

Customers use the Amazon Go cellular app to realize entry to the store by way of a turnstile. When they exit the store, the Just Walk Out know-how routinely debits their Amazon account for the gadgets they take after which sends a receipt to the app. Nearly 60% of greater than 30,000 U.S.

adults polled online this past weekend by Piplsay wish to have an Amazon Go in their space and see the idea as a menace to big meals retailers corresponding to Walmart and Kroger. Less than a 3rd of respondents have visited an Amazon Go location, however over half suppose the checkout-free format might be successful.

He had rapidly found that he had less employees assist than he anticipated, and he was deeply annoyed by Amazon’s “coach solely” coverage for firm travel. Leah says she bought, “Smart watches, walkie-talkies.” While she bought toys for herself, Leah additionally received some presents for her cousins and she or he ordered two refrigerators for her grandparents on accident.

The facility can open access to an even bigger variety of products for residents in the Interior, however it could possibly additionally affect local businesses, Jinnel Choiniere, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, wrote in an e mail to the News-Miner. Sadeghi is now suing the company for disability discrimination, failing to provide a reasonable lodging, and wrongful termination.

Published reports even have said Amazon Go might pop up in new types of areas similar to airports and increase to thousands of similar websites. “Amazon’s entry into the brick-and-mortar section obtained an enormous enhance amid the pandemic, with its cashierless technology set to turn out to be the subsequent massive thing in retail,” Piplsay stated within the survey report, launched yesterday.

By gender, 54% of males said they'd be excited to have Amazon Go or similar know-how-enabled stores near them, in contrast with 46% of women. Meanwhile, 57% stated they might be “excited” if an Amazon Go or similar cashierless, synthetic intelligence-pushed store opened of their neighborhood.

Of the 26% not interested in having an Amazon Go of their area, half stated they like regular shops and half favor online buying. Powered by Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology, the Go shops use overhead cameras, weight sensors and deep studying know-how to detect merchandise that consumers take from or return to shelves and hold monitor of the objects chosen in a digital cart.

Sadeghi flatly denied the costs of misuse of firm funds, saying he may provide documentation for consumer dinners and the like. He alleges that she conducted a “outcomes oriented” investigation, was biased against him, and did not give him a fair alternative to defend himself.

In particular, Sadeghi had instructed the assistant to have the company pay for an upgrade to “premium financial system” for the 14-hour flight to New Zealand. The day earlier than Thanksgiving break, he had caught his assistant secretly recording him, in accordance with the go well with.

He didn’t know the way long this had been going on, however suspected there could possibly be many recordings. Sadeghi was settling into his job as global head of visual effects for Amazon Studios, based mostly on the streamer’s Culver City workplace.

“In the afternoon, a few of the boxes got here and then the subsequent day, much more bins got here, and the following day much more packing containers got here,” Leah says. Blackburn is the second high-level executive to leave Amazon this 12 months; Jeff Wilke, the top of Amazon’s client enterprise, retired in January.

"I wish to thanks all on your friendship, teamwork, and help," Blackburn, who had been on a yearlong sabbatical, wrote in a memo to employees. "What an incredible 22 years it has been together — I will cherish it, forever." Similarly, Kostecki mentioned that early on in the pandemic, many workers had pay bumps and different incentives that have now been eliminated.

Pay prospectsOverall, there seems to be hope that Jassy might improve pay for those at the backside end.This web site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG.

Registered in England and Wales. Shares of the tech big gained on a strong earnings report and a broader wave of bullishness. On a day when one of its transport companions received an improve, buyers were extra enthusiastic in regards to the e-commerce large.

Amazon.com is just about synonymous with online retail, promoting its own inventory while additionally offering third-party gross sales and success. It additionally has fast-rising operations in subscriptions, promoting, and Web hosting.

Wages currently start at $15 per hour, more than twice the federal minimum wage. For 2019, the median annual complete compensation for all U.S. full-time Amazon workers was $36,640, according to Levandowski. Some staff, like Kostecki, categorical concern about Covid-19 publicity at work.

Kostecki estimated that there have been “nicely over 200” cases reported at his work site. Amazon did not publicly release detailed Covid-19 infection charges till October, and has not updated those figures since, which signifies that teams of present and former staff on Facebook continue to try to discern that info. Another engineer who has been with the company for five years and was also not authorized to talk publicly by Amazon, shared related views.

[bedlamgames]

Q&A #106

Today we’ve got humans masquerading as dwarves, learning to dance, bimbos, girly goblins not being girly enough, an extended digression on titles, and more.

[ Anonymous said:] Bug for NH 0.912: The Female Fallen Dwarf portrait shows the Female Fallen Human portrait when selecting your slaver. I downloaded the 3 times and checked it is was on a fresh start or just because of quick restart, but it always appears this way.

- That’s because there currently isn’t one for that combo so the current fallen lady human portrait is needing to work overtime. Do have some good news on that front. I’ve been trying to work out for ages what I was going to do with the portaits that need all these variants as it’s a lot of content needed. However I think I’ve found someone now though who might be up for taking on the challenge and they’ve started work on their first set of portrait+variations. 

[ Anonymous said:]  [no haven 0.912] so I have the harmony trait, and just had a start with 3 normal humans and 1 centaur, I thought harmony was supposed to make the field of starting slavers broader?

- It does increase the variation however humans are still relatively common so you’re still going to see more of them than many of the other races. 

[ Anonymous said:] [no haven 0.912] would it be possible to make the strict supervision(sub) and its dom counterpart able to assign slavers to the MC? I kinda want to just have slavers as my personal subby bitches for dual assignments etc., also a bug seems to still exist where I enslave and sell the owner of a draki maid, but she still stays flagged as owned and spawns her "former" own in as a new slaver or slave occassionally and takes them on assignments with them causing the influence of that "ghosts" traits. (There were several more follow ups as things got more and more broken)

- You can do that right now without needing the aspect if you assign them to be your bedwarmer. Other one should be fix for this update. 

[ Anonymous said:]  [no haven 0.912] I kinda forgot if there is an assignment where the MC slaver can get the dancer perk, was there one or am I confused?

- Imperial Muses currently. Sure there will be others in future. It’s also possible to get it through corruption so theoretically you could get it from any assignment result that can apply corruption. Not something to be  counted than though as corruption.  

[ Anonymous said:]  [no haven 0.912] would it be possible to get bimboborn as a crit result from advanced bimbo training if other requirements (like exquisite fellatrix etc) are met as well? kinda annoying that I can't get myself a bimboborn stack anymore cause corruptions almost never trigger it

- Given the mystical element to the way the aspect works I’d prefer to keep Bimboborn as a rare corruption result. Saying that review of the training results is doing well in the current patreon direction polling so if that wins I’ll see about giving that an additional reward that will hopefully be just as appealing. 

[ Anonymous said:]  [no haven 0.912] so I remember you saying that once you get the golem from tyrannical legacy the quest shouldn't trigger again, well, it did, and I'm currently attempting to get a 2nd copy imgur /QoSPzHE

- Will check. Thank you!

[ Anonymous said:]  Ground forced encounters for an hour with five max-gold slavers, one of which was a Dominator. Couldn't get puppet leader to fire. Think it's still busted.

- You’re right. Is fixed for the upcoming update. 

[ Anonymous said:] Is there any reason that the "Trade Prince" portrait for male goblin can't take feminine, or is that just an oversight?

-  Was indeed an oversight. I’ve made that available for him and some others for the update. 

[ Anonymous said:]  Any chance to add potion or something to cure Cum Addict? Sometimes Orc slavers tend to go hard on single slave that you may want to promote, and there is still a problem with slavers joining with that thing on (may or may not be related with them appearing during/at the end of Orc Cum Addict, or maybe I am getting really unlucky rolls...)

- Not outright cure it once having been through the full training however likely sure when I do potions properly for the increasing levels of cum thirst. In the update there’s also a encampment upgrade which can help (or possibly hurt) with that. 

[ Anonymous said: ] "Outfit: Wrought Extra-padded Iron Mercenary Wear (Decorated with Lots of Lace, Greaves, Reinforced Spike-heeled Boots, Shiny Stockings, Cloak with Hood - quality) +46" Bugged description, does not show type of quality

- Thanks for the spot. 

[ From the Discord:]  Idea: Since XP stops being useful for Supreme-level slavers, maybe every 1000 additional XP or so, they could get a temporary crit buff for a few days? Could call it "experience insight" or something.

-  I'm still thinking about doing that level above with the super aspects

[ From the Discord:]  hey, quick question, how does one get a mystic troll slaver? (which spun out into a discussion about those titles)

- yeah the idea was to give alternate more thematic titles to slavers  on generation other than well slaver to give a quick hey this is what this slaver is good at prompt. 

Any with a * won't apply to those races which would always have those traits:

Terrifying* - Chosen

Were - Lycanthrope

Flying* - Skybreaker

Trainer - Master/Mistress

(M:Co) - Warlock / Fel-Mistress (Succubi) 

(M: Na) - Hedge-Wizard / Hedge-Witch 

(M:Bt) - Blightomancer 

(M:Ar) - Mage 

(M:Il) - Trickster 

(M:Bi) - Shaper 

(M:Su) - Spirit Singer 

Monster* -  Vanquisher (Golem) / Goliath / Hellion 

(E:Ea)/(E:Wa) - Mystic 

(E:Li) - Spark Thief 

(E:Fi) - Pyromancer 

(E:Ai) - Wind Twister 

Dominator - Thrall Binder 

Hypnotic - Entrancer 

Healer - Acolyte 

Psionic - Psion 

Tracker+Trapper - Hunter 

Tracker - Tracker (Such an obscure out there choice) 

Fleet - Outrider 

Loner+Seductive - Agent 

Beastmaster - Beastmaster (Again so obscure) 

Thug - Mook 

Bimbo - Bimbo (Which could mean anything really) 

Fel Tainted+Tentacles - Abomination 

There's also all the uniques who tend to have their own alternatives to Slaver

[7-wonders]

Human Nature

Summary: What’s supposed to be a relaxing, tech-free weekend goes off the rails when Duncan has to deal with a ‘crisis’ over the phone. You’re not too happy about that, and you have just the plan to distract him. 

Word Count: 1979

Warnings/Notes: THIGH RIDING, choking, rough sex, dirty talk, Duncan Shepherd

Your eyes flutter open, the soft late-morning light filtering through the windows serving as your alarm clock today. The translucent curtains billow inwards from the light wind blowing outside. Groaning as you rub your eyes, you move your hand to the other side of the bed to check on Duncan. When you’re only faced with the now-cool sheets, you snap your eyes open and look over to the side that your boyfriend is supposed to be sleeping on. There’s nobody there, and you frown when you can hear Duncan’s voice, still rough from sleep, floating upstairs.

Today was supposed to be relaxing. Duncan’s been working nonstop the past two weeks, the upcoming election (that’s still a year and a half away) causing the Shepherd Freedom Foundation to try and gain as big of a head start as possible in helping ‘their’ candidates win their races. You’ve seen how stressed he’s been, so when you suggested a weekend away, he was all for it. After a quick scroll through Airbnb and quite a few rejections from the picky mogul you’re so fond of, you finally found a large cottage/cabin in the Appalachians only a couple of hours away from D.C. It had been difficult to convince Duncan to give up his electronics, and you eventually compromised, letting him have his work phone on him. From his tone, you’re guessing it’s his uncle on the line.

Shifting up so that you’re sitting on the end of the bed, you manage to find your shirt and panties from where they were so carelessly thrown on the floor last night. Duncan can be described in many different ways, and impatient is at the top of that list. You had barely gotten settled in before he was all over you, with those large hands caressing your thighs and his teeth leaving marks that are already turning delicious shades of purple all over your neck. The night had turned extremely long, and it made sense that you had only just now woken up at--you check your phone quickly--11:30 a.m.

You shiver slightly at the cold floor against your bare feet, making your way down the large wooden set of stairs. Coffee’s already been brewed, the sharp smell permeating through the levels of the house. You detour quickly, grabbing a cup from the kitchen before setting out to find wherever Duncan is. When you finally find him, you can’t help but to lean against the doorway and savor the sight that is currently before your eyes. He’s clad only in a pair of low-slung gray sweatpants, legs propped up on the ottoman that’s pushed up against the couch. His hair is still mussed, and he’s visibly annoyed at the person on the other end of the call.

“...surely can’t be dropping that much already, right? Besides, it’s an early Reuters poll, we’ve seen how wrong those have been in the past.” Duncan smiles when he notices you, motioning for you to join him on the couch.

You bite your lip before pushing yourself forward, choosing to curl up into his side to savor how warm he is. Duncan’s arm automatically wraps around you, pulling you flush against him.

“Who is it?” You whisper, taking a careful sip of your coffee.

“One of my mom’s lackeys.” Duncan covers the bottom of the phone, making sure that whatever low-ranking employee is chattering away doesn’t hear him.

You frown, pouting over exaggeratedly. Sure, it might be a little lowbrow, but this was supposed to be an unplugged weekend. “You promised you wouldn’t.”

“I know baby, but as soon as I’m done with this call I’m all yours.” His attention is drawn back to the phone call, leaving you seething next to him.

It’s not like his office didn’t know he would be gone this weekend. You had made sure that his mother (however much you hated to talk to that horrible woman) knew he was not to be disturbed unless it was an absolute emergency, so leave it to her to presumably fabricate an emergency that Duncan just had to respond to. Watching his jaw clench in anger, an idea pops into your head. It’s risky, sure, but it’s almost guaranteed to work.

Placing your coffee mug on the side table, you stand up so you can climb onto Duncan’s lap. The position is one you’re both used to; Duncan likes to have you as close as possible, and neither of you are shy about showing your affection for each other. You rest your head against his neck, laying soft kisses against his scratchy skin. Before Duncan, you had never been too fond of men with facial hair. Now though, you’re pretty sure you’d shed a few tears if he ever decides to shave. Duncan starts to run a hand through your hair, skilled fingers carefully untangling any knots he comes across.

It’s nice, but not nearly enough.

He shoots you a confused look when you shift on his lap again, legs straddling one of his large thighs, but brushes it off as you just trying to get comfortable. You sit still for a minute, not wanting him to get suspicious before you’ve had the chance to tease him to your liking. Your thin panties do little to hide your clit from the rough material of Duncan’s sweatpants, and you already have to stop yourself from shuddering at the feeling. You start slowly applying pressure against his thigh, enough to send small jolts of pleasure up your spine without Duncan catching on. A sigh accidentally slips past your lips, and your eyes widen when Duncan looks down at you. Has he finally caught onto your game?

“Ridiculous, right?” He mouths, and you realize that he believes your sigh was directed towards the phone call. Nevertheless, you nod in agreement.

“You nearly done?” You mutter into his ear. He shrugs, shaking his head to indicate that he really doesn’t know before returning back to the call. Your fingers start to work out the knots that have been made of the muscles in Duncan’s neck, a last-ditch effort to get him to hang up his phone and actually relax. He stifles a content groan, appreciating the massage. Right when he seems ready to hang up and pay attention to you, his eyes widen and he sits up, placing his feet on the floor.

“No, absolutely do not do that! Are you fucking stupid?” The sudden movement of his leg against your pussy spurs you on in your plan. Rocking your hips back and forth, you start to make it obvious what you’re doing.

“(Y/N), stop.” Duncan hisses through his teeth, hand tightening on your hip. It’s meant to serve as a warning, but you take it as encouragement instead.

“I don’t know what-oh!-what you’re talking about.” You say coyly, burying your face against his neck to hide your smirk. Your smirk only widens when Duncan lifts his leg up to meet your clit.

Duncan’s obviously distracted now, staring down at you with his bottom lip pulled between his teeth. His light blue eyes are hooded, lust making them look like the sea after a storm. Every so often he makes noises of encouragement, partially to remain in the conversation but mainly directed towards you. He rhythmically taps his foot against the floor, your movements quickly turning to frantic humping as you chase your release on Duncan’s thigh. You’re trying to be as vocal as possible without being too loud since you know that it drives Duncan wild when you voice just how good he’s making you feel. Sure enough, his eyes roll into the back of his head upon hearing your moans in his ear.

“I don’t-just figure it out, okay? Don’t call me again!”

Bingo.

He tosses his phone towards the edge of the couch, and if you weren’t so enthralled at finally getting him to yourself you’d cringe at the harsh sound of the device bouncing onto the floor. You think he’s going to throw you onto the couch and absolutely wreck you, but to your shock and surprise he only increases the tapping of his foot against the floor.

“Are you that needy that you can’t even wait for me to finish my phone call?”

“I just didn’t want you to stress, this is supposed to be a relaxing weekend.” You gasp against his neck. Duncan’s hands find your hips, gripping tightly and increasing the rhythm of your thrusts.

“You wanted my attention so bad, now you’ve got it.” His tongue darts out to lick at his lip, pulling you back and forth along his thigh. “Come on then, cum on my fucking thigh.”

You whine, face burning as your rapid thrusts finally lead to your release. Your hips stutter and your mouth hangs open as you cum with a loud moan.

“Fucking beautiful.” Duncan mutters, hands lifting your shirt above your head while you’re still trying to catch your breath.

In a matter of moments, Duncan’s flipped you over on the couch, easily removing your panties. When you glance over your shoulder, he’s already gotten rid of his sweatpants and is giving his cock a few quick strokes. He catches you looking at him and smirks, lining up with your dripping entrance.

“You ready?” Duncan asks, waiting for you to nod before he enters you with a slow thrust.

Loud groans escape from both you and Duncan as you pause to adjust. Duncan has a hand in your hair, preventing you from turning around to see him, but you can almost guarantee that his eyes are clenched shut as he tries desperately not to cum too early. Finally he starts to move, wrapping his other arm around your waist for some leverage.

“Duncan, yes!” You call out as he roughly thrusts into you, setting a quick and brutal pace.

“You’re insatiable, (Y/N). You just came and you already want more?” You nod, nails digging into the fabric of the couch.

The sound of skin slapping against skin fills the room, mixing with the noises of pleasure you’re both voicing. Your eyes water with just how well Duncan fills you, and you bury your face further into the cushions to help ground you. Duncan doesn’t appreciate this, and uses the hand tangled in your hair to yank your body up against his. The new angle, which allows Duncan to reach the spongy walls deep inside you, has you seeing stars.

“You’re so good to me, always caring about me.” He mumbles into your ear, letting go of your hair to wrap his hand around your neck.

Gasping excitedly, you roll your hips back against him in an attempt to reach your orgasm. Duncan comes loudly, leaning down and biting your shoulder to muffle his screams. The combination of pain, lightheadedness, pleasure, and the feeling of Duncan filling you with his release has you coming right behind him.

You both fall to the couch, Duncan bracing his arms around you so as not to crush you. Your chests heave, sweat dripping down your foreheads while you try to catch your breaths.

“Is that enough to convince you to stay off your phone for the rest of the weekend?” You ask, smiling when Duncan pulls you into his arms and lays a kiss on your head.

“Even if it wasn’t, there’s a good chance my phone’s broken.” He references how cruelly he got rid of his phone, making you both giggle. “If the rest of this weekend goes how the past day has, we’ll be lucky if we get out of here without having a pregnancy scare.”

“Would that be such a bad thing?” You say suggestively, raising your eyebrow. Duncan groans deeply, pulling you closer to him.

“Don’t tease me like that, or else we’ll really have a problem on our hands.”

Tag List: @khaleesimel @sammythankyou @sloppy-little-witch-bitch26 @langdonslove @heda-mikaelson @readsalot73 @jimmlangdon @sebastianshoe @let-me-try-mom @trimbooohgodplsnoooo @pastel-cloudz @nana15774 @queencocoakimmie @lichellaw @ultragibbycentralworld @grim-adventures58 @dolceandchalamet @dandycandy75 @alexcornerblog @everything-is-awesomesauce @ccodyfern @wroteclassicaly @lvngdvns @venusxxlangdon

[xukunstellation]

Fantasy Fest Series: By Your Side || Mu Ziyang [Werewolf!AU]

Title: By Your Side Pairing: Reader x Ziyang Genre: Werewolf!AU + fluff Word Count: 2,774 words Summary: Walking in the dark is always scary, but at least you had your new canine friend to be with you every step of the way.

A/N: Fourth installment of Fantasy Fest, which ranked third in the poll. I struggled a bit on deciding who to choose for this particular fic, but I finally settle on Werewolf!Ziyang thanks to some lovely followers! Ziyang is my bias wrecker in Oner (can you guess my actual bias) despite him being so underrated. So, this one goes out to you Ziyang! 

okay can we talk about how HANDSOME ziyang looks in that gif?

a straight up GOD

still shocks me to this day that he didn’t rank in top 10 for ip visuals

world’s greatest mystery

let’s start, shall we?

you lived in a relatively small village where everyone seemed to know each other

businesses thrived, everyone was healthy and children ran around freely 

the crime rate was also relatively low, especially since everyone seemed to always be looking out for each other and helping one another

for example you were well acquainted with the butcher’s daughter, the seamstress’ son, the woman who ran the local inn, etc

you felt lucky to call this safe haven of yours your home

so where did you fit in this picturesque image?

you were the village herbalist

at your cozy cottage located near the outskirts of the village, you planted and harvested medicinal plants, roots and herbs 

your services often worked hand in hand with the village’s apothecary ran by a close friend of yours

hint hint nudge nudge wink wink

speaking of apothecary, you were headed there now after your friend had requested you via letter

entering the dainty shop, you saw your friend whispering angrily to an unknown presence behind them that you couldn’t see. when they noticed your presence, they coughed in surprise before awkwardly hurrying to the front counter to greet you

“hi (y/n)! glad to see you again”

“it’s good to see you, too. it’s been a while. is everything alright? you seem a bit flustered” you asked in concern

“ah no, i’m fine. don’t worry about it. some... things can be very annoying”

as if some presence was offended by their words, a jar unceremoniously was knocked off of the counter on its own. if it weren’t for your fast reflexes, it would have shattered on the floor

as you placed the jar back on the counter, you missed the way your friend’s eye twitched in annoyance 

“sorry i’m really clumsy today” 

you saw with your own eyes that they hadn’t even touched the jar, but you chose not to question it since you understood that they were secretive about certain things and you didn’t want to pry

“it’s okay. did you need something? you didn’t specify in the letter”

“oh, that’s right! i was wondering if you had any moonflower petals?”

thinking back to your garden at home, you couldn’t recall growing the said plant mainly because they were so delicate and hard to maintain, even for an experienced herbalist like yourself

“sorry, i don’t believe i have any” you apologized sadly

your friend looked disheartened, “i was afraid you’d say that. i desperately need some to make a cure for goblin cough”

like a switch going off in your head, you remembered that moonflowers were in season and if you were lucky, you’d be able to find some in the surrounding woods of the village

“i can go try and find some in the woods for you. i know exactly where they tend to grow and i’m probably the only one who knows how to harvest them correctly” you offered

“will you be okay? the woods can be very dangerous if you’re out there on your own” they questioned in concern

“i’ll be fine. you know how strong i can be. i’ll try not to wander too far in and i’ll bring my dagger with me for protection just in case”

although they seemed reluctant, they agreed to your offer. you knew they seemed to be in a hurry, so you made quick note of heading out to the woods tonight since that’s when it was easiest to find the flowers

when night fell, you set out to the woods with your trusty woven basket linked on your left arm and a lit lantern in your right hand

hearing the crunch of leaves and sticks under your boots, you used the light of your lantern to scour the area

moonflowers were a special species of flowers; they grew only during the night. like the moon it was named for, the petals were uniquely shaped into crescent moons. the flower also emitted a soft white glow that resembled moonlight

as you walked deeper into the woods, you heard the howl of an unknown creature in the distance that sent shivers down your spine

you were well aware of the numerous creatures that lurked in the forest at night so you were determined to make quick work and gtfo of there

in the corner of your eyes, you spotted that soft white glow you were anticipating for

walking past a few more trees, a huge smile grew on your face when you saw an entire patch of moonflowers growing under a cedar tree

as you carefully plucked the previous flowers and placed them into your basket, you heard a loud crunch behind you

you froze 

you then heard the low grumble of a growl permeate through the air

fuck 

slowly turning around, you dropped your basket and a squeak left your lips as you saw a massive wolf standing right in front of you

it was easily almost twice your size. its mouth was opened slightly, revealing sharp rows of teeth within. despite how dark it was out, you could still make out the wolf’s golden irises staring straight at you

falling on your butt, your body was wracked with tremors as you cowered in fear. your mind went blank and you completely forgot about the dagger that was hidden in your boot

the wolf took a few steps closer to you and you knew you were done for

clenching your eyes, you began to cry as you braced yourself for your impending death

imagine your surprise when instead of an agonizingly painful chomp, you felt a large smooth tongue lap away at your tears on your cheeks

even in your fear-induced state, giggles bubbled out of your mouth at the ticklish sensation 

at the pleasant sound of your voice, the large canine happily increased in its ministrations and licked at your face more enthusiastically  

“well you aren’t very scary after all, huh?” you mused as you scratched its neck. “you’re just one big cuddly puppy, aren’t you?”

the wolf playfully loomed over your form and nipped at your fingers as if indicating to you that it was far from being a puppy

you chuckled, wiping away the slobber off of your face “sorry, i know you’re a big boy... or girl?”

the animal growled lowly in protest as you mentioned ‘girl’ to it

“okay, boy for sure. you scared me half to death!” you scolded in which the canine licked your cheek once again in apology

as you ran your hands through its thick fur, you admired how silky smooth his fur was as well as its pretty shade of ash blonde 

“are you out here on your own?” you asked it

he shook his head

“that’s a relief to hear. you have someone to keep you company,” you said wistfully more so to yourself then to him

for as long as you remembered you lived alone, so you imagined what it was like to live with several others

you felt him nudge his muzzle into your neck in a comforting manner, making you smile softly

“well i have to head back home now. it’s not safe for me to be out this late and i’ve already gotten what i needed”

standing up, you picked up your fallen basket filled with your bundle of moonflowers

relighting your lantern with a spare match, you smiled at the wolf in goodbye and walked away to head back home

a few minutes in of walking, you heard rustling and you looked to see your new wolf friend trailing behind you

you tilted your head in confusion, “did you need something?”

he only walked towards you and nudged you forward, urging you to continue on your path. confused, you went back to walking but this time with him walking right beside you. then you understood what we was doing.

“ah, keeping me company and making sure i get out safe? thank you.”

you scratched behind his ears in gratitude, holding back a laugh as he struggled to keep his eyes open as you did so

when you saw the edge of the forest approaching, he halted to a stop, making sure he was well hidden in the shadows

“i’ll make sure to visit you again” you promised him, crouching down to his level. “in the meantime, what shall i call you?”

you were caught off guard by a masculine voice echoing in the back of your head

“ziyang” you repeated the voice in a whisper

the wolf barked in response, seemingly pleased that you referred to him by his real name

but how the hell did you know that? 

you didn’t have any time to question it further because ziyang had ran back into the forest and out of sight

when you went back to the apothecary the next day to deliver the moonflowers, your friend was thrilled and paid you accordingly for your efforts

“thank you, (y/n)! you’re a lifesaver”

“it’s no problem. let me know if you need me to gather anything else for you”

you were all too eager when your friend indeed had a list of ingredients that they were running low on stock on, all of which were grown in the forest 

something strong pulled at your chest at the thought of seeing a certain wolf

returning to the forest a few days later, you tried to follow the same path that you did the first time hoping it’ll lead you to ziyang again

while gathering a bunch of pygmy mushrooms, you heard a familiar low grumble and smiled brightly when you saw ziyang enter through the bushes

“i was hoping to see you again” you grinned, dropping everything to cradle his face and pet him affectionately

ziyang returned the affection with a lick to your cheek, rubbing his entire body into you and almost knocking you completely over causing you to laugh

“i see someone missed me too” you chuckled. “i brought something for you to thank you for escorting me out the other day”

looking into your basket, you took out a separate container and opened it to reveal a large raw steak you got from the butcher. holding it out to him with your hand, ziyang carefully pulled it away from your fingers and scarfed it down 

you were pleasantly surprised by how gentle he was considering he looked like he could devour you in one bite

just like before, ziyang stayed by your side the entire duration 

and so this became a regular thing for you and ziyang

every time you had to head back into the forest for ingredient scavenging, ziyang would always guard you throughout the process and walk you back to the entrance of the forest but never stepping out of it

you enjoyed talking to the large wolf, even though he never said anything back to you

however you suspected he understood every word you were saying judging by his body language

“the mason’s son is definitely fooling around with the merchant’s son, don’t you think?” *ziyang nods*

“i might have to skip dinner tonight if i want to make sure i plant the sapplings in time” *ziyang nips at your hand and shakes his head in disapproval*

“if you wore trousers, would you wear it only on your hind legs like a human or would you need custom pants to wear on all four legs?”

*ziyang has left the chat*

although no real words were exchanged, it was like you were talking to another human being no matter how silly it may have looked from the outside

you were once again walking through the forest to gather some more roots and plants for the apothecary 

however, after fifteen minutes of being on your own (ziyang usually found you within five minutes of you entering the woods), your furry companion was no where in sight

you were beginning to grow worried when more time passed and he still hadn’t shown up

you heard rustling come from beside you. using your lantern, you held it out in front of you and just briefly caught ash blonde locks duck behind a set of trees

“ziyang? is that you?”

the male whimpered in response, making your eyebrows furrow in worry

why did it look like he was hiding from you? 

“are you hurt?” you asked, taking a step forward towards him

you were astonished when the male growled at you in warning. however, it wasn’t in a threatening manner. it sounded like he was afraid

why would he suddenly be afraid of you?

“sweetie, it’s okay. it’s just me. you know i would never hurt you. come out, please?”

there was a moment of silence as ziyang contemplated your words before coming to a decision

however, you were astonished once more when instead of the four legged companion you expected, an unfamiliar male stepped out from behind the trees

the stranger was very tall and you had to lean your head up to look him in the face, which was framed with long light blonde hair. aside from a pair of trousers, he was devoid of any other clothes

but what caught your attention more was the fact that his entire upper body, hands, and feet were entirely covered in fur. your eyes trailed to the claws at the ends of his hands

moving your gaze to meet his eyes, you saw golden eyes looking at you with a mix of guilt, fear and a bit of hope

you could recognize those golden eyes and fur color anywhere

“...ziyang?”

ziyang looked physically relieved that you recognized him, but he made no move to step towards you

“it’s me...” he said, and you realized it matched that same voice you heard in your head a few weeks ago

“so this in entire time, you were a...”

“werewolf. i’m a werewolf and belong to a pack who rule these woods”

that explained why he understood everything you said and knew exactly how to find you each time you came

he wasn’t just a wolf

he was a wolf wolf

a diggity dang werewolf

while trying to process that thought in your mind, ziyang sighed sadly and took a tentative step towards you

“please don’t be afraid. i promise it’s still me. just in a different form than you’re used to” he explained and stopped a respectable few feet away from you 

you should have been afraid of him, but you weren’t. just like he said, he was still the ziyang you knew and adored

slowly walking towards him, you gently placed a hand over his heart, feeling it beat rapidly against your palm

“it really is you. i was scared something happened to you tonight,” you lightly slapped his bare chest and he winced in mock pain

“sorry, sweet. to be fair, you scare me as well”

you cheeks tinted pink at the sudden pet name. “s-sweet? and how can someone like me scare someone like you?”

“how can you not? whenever you’re around, i feel this innate need to protect you. i get excited at just the mere thought of seeing you again. you look at me with those pretty little eyes of yours and i lose all focus. one smile from you and i’m completely at your mercy. what have you done to me? you’re absolutely terrifying”

you felt that same strong pull tug at your heartstrings again, overwhelming your entire being but you welcomed the warm sensation

his words only made your heart beat even more

“i still find the idea that a big wolf like yourself has fallen for an ordinary human like me”

“you better get used to it because i intend on courting this ordinary human as my mate”

“m-mate?”

“mhm”

now that he knew you weren’t afraid of him, ziyang seemed to have made a full 180. instead of the timid being a few minutes ago, he stood charismatically in an almost alluring manner. his eyes though still held that same playful and soft gaze you realized he always looked at you with

“you sure you won’t regret it? courting me isn’t an easy feat”

“for you, i’ll do anything”

at this rate, you had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before you fell for him too

fin

okay but werewolf!ziyang is hella sexy

and anyone who disagrees is lying to themselves

i love ziyang

stan oner

stan mu ziyang 

[trailsandturbulations]

Why I voted for Trump again

A few months ago I received an email from Ola, a friend in Poland whom I have known for over 40 years, informing me that she is officially breaking up with me forever because she had found out that I support Trump. “I don’t understand how you can!” she wrote. Had she asked, “I can’t understand why,” she would have left a gate for dialogue and potential understanding at least slightly open. But “how can you!” disqualified my morality and thus my right to defend my political stance. There was no point in replying, so I removed Ola from my list of friends, as was her wish, forever.

Ola was not the only one among my friends and acquaintances who have kicked me out of polite society. After all, declaring myself openly as a Trump supporter revealed my racism, xenophobia, transphobia, white supremacy, parochialism, ignorance, lack of understanding of my own best interests, my utmost stupidity. Perhaps also my religious fundamentalism, bigotry, over-attachment to firearms, as well as hostility towards political correctness, globalism, science, and alternative sources of energy. If I knew myself as well as some of those friends of mine appear to know me, I, too, would sever all social contacts with myself.

Fortunately, I know myself from a different perspective. I also know Trump and his followers from the angles that the media such as CNN or the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza prefer not to explore.

My demographic profile, my professional career, and my charity activities indicate that I rightly belong on the side of the Democratic Party. I’m a woman with a graduate degree, a house in a suburb, a new car of a good make and model, and annual income that puts me squarely within the upper-middle class range. In addition, I’m an immigrant married to a refugee who is a Person of Color. I’m a retired college professor who volunteers with foster children and with refugees and immigrants, those legal and those not quite so, who need free English lessons. I give money to environmental organizations such as the Nature Conservancy. The only magazine with a regular subscription in our home is Science News.

It would thus seem incomparably easier for me to fit myself ideologically into the group to which I already demographically and culturally belong. It would cost me nothing. The tax-rate raise for the rich, who apparently don’t pay their fair share, promised by the Democratic Party, would not apply to me since I never achieved that level of affluence. Supporting the Democrats would not detract from my social standing. Quite the opposite: I would avoid conflicts with “my kind of people” and could, like them, look down at those ideologically challenged. Ola would still be my friend. My kids would “like” my social media posts instead of hiding their accounts from my view lest I leave a politically incorrect comment under their posts. 

So why did I find myself on the wretched side? Maybe because I’d rather not be on the side of accusatory hate that would command me to break off contacts with a friend in another country for supporting a political candidate who has nothing to do with my life. Or the red-hot hate that makes a person put on a black mask, pick up a baton, and beat unconscious a diminutive, gay Asian journalist for writing from the wrong perspective. Or the bigoted hate that attempts to cancel out of existence anyone who holds the incorrect values. The dangerous hate that brings to mind genocides like the Holocaust and Rwanda. The hate that prides itself on tolerance and believes that love conquers all.

My husband and I used to be Democrats. We both voted for Obama. Alas, the eight years of Obama’s presidency brought us only deep disappointments in all fields of government activity. Race and class divisions deepened, trust in the government diminished, corruption increased, the wave of hope that had brought Obama to the top of political popularity receded. Early in 2016 I knew I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton, but I didn’t expect that I would end up voting for Trump. I did so without enthusiasm, with a smidgen of shame, choosing the lesser of two evils. Four years later, this November, I voted for Trump with full conviction, and if he chooses to run again in 2024 I’m fairly certain that I will vote for him again.

Despite unrelenting demonization, harassment, sneer, false accusations, and plots (amply documented) to deprive him of the presidency, some of which had started before he took office, and above all, contempt with which Trump and his followers had been treated by the liberal elites, the support of the regular people for their unorthodox leader not only held, but grew by millions. In the November 2020 elections, Trump received nearly 72,7 million votes: close to 10 million more than in 2016, and 3 million more than Obama at the peak of his popularity in 2008.

Contempt is one of the key factors that motivate chunks of the traditional electorate of the Democratic Party to switch camps. Hillary Clinton’s undiplomatic “basket of deplorables” comment cost her lots of precious votes, if not the presidency itself. The ridicule that Trump received for saying that he loves “the poorly educated” pitched the Democrats against those diploma-less, hardworking Americans, who then decided to support the man who was not embarrassed to stand by them. Alas, those lessons appeared wasted on Joe Biden, who didn’t hesitate to call Trump’s supporters “chumps” and “ugly folks.” Biden may have won the presidency–perhaps honestly, perhaps through massive fraud–perhaps we will never know. However, the “blue wave” predicted by the polls did not materialize.

Low- and medium-income, undereducated, working Americans have pride and do not allow themselves to be insulted. Pride is one of the few luxuries they can afford, especially in hard times. They recognize Trump as one of their own, who fights for their wellbeing. Trump is not a politician; he’s a street fighter who will not turn the other cheek, but will hit back twice as hard. He has no filters, only a strong tendency towards exaggeration, a loose treatment of facts, and a disregard for details. Like many other Trump supporters, I’m thoroughly annoyed by his antics, and put off by his crude comments and his total lack of diplomacy; because of that, I don’t follow his tweets and have never “liked” his Facebook page. I don’t approve of all his moves. However, I appreciate that he calls a spade a spade, and that he talks directly to the people, not to the cameras, media, or other politicians. And time after time, Trump’s outlandish statements ridiculed by his enemies and treated with skepticism by his followers somehow turn out to be true. Trump approaches all his tasks with boundless energy and the force of a Soviet tank. In his famous rallies, he invariably uses the pronoun “we”–in stark contrast to Obama, whose favorite pronoun was “I”. Trump renders to Cesar what is Cesar’s, giving ample credit to local politicians and activists as well as regular folks who have distinguished themselves in the process of making America great again.

Trump’s enemy is the Swamp: corrupt government agencies (including the FBI and CIA), the media, the "Big Tech" that rules the internet (the likes od Google, Yahoo, or Facebook), the entertainment industry, and institutions of higher education, that latter overzealous in propagating the ideologies of Marxism, theories of gender identity, and the critical race theory, according to which each member of the society is assigned to one of two groups: the oppressed and the oppressors. Trump has promised to drain the Swamp and restore dignity to average, much denigrated Americans.

Trump is the first president in the history of our collective memory to live up, at least in large part, to all the promises he had made to his supporters. "Promises Made, Promises Kept": Reduced corporate tax rates allowed bringing industrial plants from overseas, primarily from China, back to the States. The driving force of the economy was amplified by new international trade agreements coupled with relaxing a host of domestic regulations. Activity returned to the coal mines of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, fracking production of oil and gas heated up, closed oil pipelines reopened, and suddenly we reclaimed our energy independence from the Middle East, for the first time since 1957.  All these measures improved the labor market and caused the unemployment rate to drop to a historically low level of 3.7% in 2019 (i.e. just before the pandemic). Black and Latin unemployment has fallen to its lowest rates in the country's history.

In the Middle East, Trump dealt quickly and effectively with the Islamic Caliphate, moved the US Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, and has already mediated three peace agreements between Israel and Islamic countries. As a pragmatist who doesn’t believe in spending our money to make other countries happy against their will, Trump is withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan. Because it's not our war.

Our war is the one on our southern border, through which thousands of illegal immigrants, emboldened by friendly policies in the Democrat-run cities, have crossed with impunity. A steady stream of undocumented migrants not only from Latin America, but from all over the world, poured into our country in numbers exceeding a hundred thousand a month; not only work seekers, but also gang members, smugglers of fentanyl and young girls destined for prostitution, as well as individuals with criminal record, some previously deported back to their home countries. The wall, or rather the border fence, the agreement with Mexico, and changes to the procedures for granting political asylum have reduced the chances of criminal elements crossing our border without consequences. (Regarding children separated from their parents: the photos of children in cages circulating on the Internet date back to Obama's second term, when trainloads of children from Latin America were sent out alone, under the supervision of paid "coyotes", and let loose at our border crossings. The 500-plus children separated from adults, who were not necessarily their parents, during the Trump presidency, are remaining in the protective custody of the American government because their biological parents refuse to take them back, hoping to reunite with them on their next attempt to cross the border.)

It is impossible to enumerate all of Trump's achievements here because the list is too long. The gains for the country and the society are not advertised in the media because they contradict the narrative of the cultural elites who are no longer concerned with achieving the American Dream that Trump had promised to restore because they or their parents have already reached it. Recently, I got a phone call from a Polish friend who, together with her husband, fled from the Polish socialist poverty, from a squalid one-room rental with mold-covered walls, with no chance for a better future. They did hard manual labor for many years, cleaning smelly motels and lifting bricks on construction sites during the day, studying English and earning professional certifications at night. Krystian, their grown-up son, for whose studies they paid thirty thousand dollars a year with their capitalist savings and loans, announced right before the elections that he was going to vote for Biden because only socialism would guarantee equality for all Americans. “You Boomers don’t get it,” he dismissed the reactions of his shocked parents who had spent half their lives in socialism. I nodded with understanding because my own kids, when told that I voted for Trump in 2016, first growled at me, and then restricted my freedom of family speech to non-political topics.

As I write these words, I occasionally look out of the window, where Alejandro, Krystian's peer and also a son of immigrants, is laying out the boards of our new deck. It snowed last night and the morning is frosty, but the construction work does not stop because of the weather if there are paying customers. Alejandro, in a quilted coat and a hat pulled over his ears, keeps rubbing his freezing hands, but continues working. Alejandro did not go to college because he has to earn a living and help his family; besides, he didn’t do well enough in his Mexican ghetto school. He did not vote in 2016, but last week he joined the growing number of “Latinos for Trump” voters. Alejandro believes Trump's policies will help him achieve the American Dream. Krystian, on the other hand, is already used to living in comfort, and can therefore afford himself the luxury of theorizing about socialism.

"If Trump loses, we're totally screwed," says James, co-owner of a small, somewhat struggling company that employs Alejandro. If James's business goes under, Alejandro will lose his job. "All the small-business entrepreneurs and their employees in Reno are for Trump," says James. Robert, our electrician, independently confirms James' words. "We’d never had it so good before Trump," he adds. "We fear that our prosperity will end if the Democrats win.”

While the Democratic Party chose the so-called "identity politics" that divides people into groups according to race-and gender-based demographic indicators, Trump's politics began to unite people of average economic status–those whose income is not guaranteed, whose material comfort is not stable, but depends on fluctuations of the economy. The rich can afford to support the Democrats because they don't have to fear economic downturns; the rich can also afford the luxury of isolating themselves from the pandemic because they generally have a choice of earning money from home, and getting whatever they need delivered to their doors by peons like Alejandro. Those living on welfare have nothing to fear, either, especially if Democrats come into power. It’s the working people whose livelihoods are at stake if the economy flounders.

Two weeks before the elections, my husband David and I offered our services as canvassing volunteers, going door-to-door and reminding residents to vote. An appropriate phone app showed us party affiliations of households in the neighborhoods we canvassed: Republican houses were marked in red, and Democratic houses, in blue. The posher the neighborhood, the bluer the maps appeared. “Gated communities” turned out to be predominantly blue; as Republican volunteers, we were not even allowed beyond the gate. The generational division was also apparent: in many conservative homes, the parents complained that their adult children had changed their political affiliation in college or right after they graduated. "Universities have completely brainwashed them. Now we regret paying their tuition,"  they expressed exactly the same sentiment I’d heard from Krystian’s mother.

Our canvassing activity didn’t afford us any insight into the political views of racial minorities in our area as the suburbs of Reno are inhabited mainly by whites, with an occasional Asian or Latino family. However, on the national scale, the support for Trump among the racial minorities has increased significantly: 26% of minority voters chose Trump this time around. Among the Blacks, Trump secured the votes of 18% of men (by comparison, only 5% of Black men voted for a Republican candidate in 2008) and 8% of women (compared to 4% in 2016). 35% of the Latinos, such as Alejandro, cast their votes for Trump. Trump was even more successful with the indigenous populations: 59% of the Native Hawaiians and 52% of the continental Native Americans voted for him; perhaps they had never got the message that he’s a racist. Among the non-race based minority groups, Trump received electoral support from 28% of the LGBT community–so much for the claims of his homophobia. (The above calculations are based on exit polls). The Blacks and Latinos who cross over to Trump’s camp want to be treated as regular Americans, not as persecuted minorities and victims of “systemic” racism, courted every four years by the Democrats as dependable election fodder. “What do you have to lose?” Trump called out to them during his 2016 campaign. The People of Color began looking around and noticing that, in reality, they won’t be losing anything by abandoning the Democratic Party.

Neither the dilemmas of the People of Color who feel they’re being used by the Democrats, nor the uncertainty of James’s business future and Alejandro’s job situation would necessarily motivate me to vote for Trump. As the Polish expression goes, those are not my monkeys. I could easily and comfortably stand with Krystian, who has a double major in business and political science and counts on a good job for some corporation, in a fully air-conditioned office, with an income several times higher than Alejandro’s. I have earned my place among the elites, whose members would surely stop insulting me at every turn if I carried my club membership card. My children, not much older than Krystian, have also chosen the political and social comfort of the elites. Had I chosen to vote for Biden, I could have had redeemed myself from my fall for Trump four years ago, and maybe would regain the full member rights in my own family. Oh well.

It is nevertheless my concern for children that motivates me the most to support Trump. Not my own children, but other people’s. Not those from elite families, like my grandchildren, attending private schools or top public ones in gated community catchment areas, but those from families struggling to survive in poor neighborhoods or ethnic ghettos, attending schools which are intellectual deserts. Having worked with, or for, underprivileged children for most of my professional life, I know such schools only too well.

One of the prominent items on Trump’s political and social agenda is school choice: the right of families to send their children to schools best suited to their needs, interests, and abilities. The US is the only one among highly developed countries in which children are tied to their neighborhood schools like feudal peasants to land. There is a marked difference in the quality of schools in rich and poor areas: not only in the physical structures and equipment, but also in the breadth and depth of curricular offerings and the standards of instruction. Needless to say, graduates of excellent schools achieve higher test scores and better chances of admission to top universities than those from the schools in the ghettos; in some of the latter, not a single student achieves the lowest required threshold of academic performance (e.g., thirteen Baltimore City high schools achieved zero proficiency in mathematics; Baltimore has been a bastion of the Democratic Party since the 1960s).

Access to good schools is important to Americans. The quality of its public schools affects a neighborhood’s property values and apartment rent rates. People on limited incomes cannot afford to move, but they have no right to send their children to schools offering better educational perspectives. Thus the children of the less affluent are sentenced not only to years of academic mediocrity, but also to the influence and effects of drugs and crime in their school environments, perpetuating the patterns of failure and poverty.

The Trump administration has been battling the Democratic opposition to allow the money designated for the education of a child to follow each student to a school of his/her choice. All the highly developed countries, in which children and adolescents achieve high levels of academic performance, allow school choice; in some countries, school choice is a constitutional right. Only equal access to the same educational opportunities can erase the glaring economic imbalances by creating paths to prosperity and social equality for the future generations of Americans.

The Democratic Party and its ardent supporters, the teachers’ unions, are fiercely opposing all political and administrative efforts to guarantee the right to school choice for all citizens. The multi-million dollar financial contributions from the teachers’ unions to the Democratic Party’s Political Action Committees are to ensure that no school choice proposal will never be approved by the Congress. One has to wonder why the liberal elites so vehemently deny poor children access to good education; why they don’t consider those children as deserving of the same opportunities as their own offspring. Two words come to mind: control and contempt. Because the Swamp sucks you in.

And that’s why I voted for Trump.

[maryannbraman]

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[easyfoodnetwork]

The Race to Feed Voters at the Polls

Chefs for the Polls feeding voters in Orlando. | Photo: World Central Kitchen

Voting is often a long, frustrating, and hungry process. What if it didn’t have to be?

When Juliette Vincent arrived at her polling place — a public library branch in Antioch, Nashville — on October 14, the line for early voting already stretched out the door and along the wall of the ice rink next door. It was close to noon, and she hadn’t eaten anything all morning, despite being awake since 6:30. As temperatures crept up and the sun rose higher in the sky, she was thankful she had brought a bottle of water, unlike many others she saw around her in the line.

By the time Vincent, a nonprofit worker, had cast her ballot and walked back outside with her partner, nearly two hours later, she was ravenous. They beelined for a food truck they had spotted earlier in the parking lot, hoping to buy a belated lunch. Instead, they were handed meals for free. To Vincent, a self-described picky eater, the chicken and chorizo arepa that she received tasted amazing, and was a welcome gift after the wait at the polls.

“It definitely made my voting experience better,” says Vincent. “Our budget was tight before the pandemic and has definitely gotten worse since, so a free meal was a moment of extra happiness that day.”

Night has fallen, but voting lines continue in Marietta, Georgia. The @WCKitchen team just finished serving dinner. They met someone walking out who arrived at 8am — he waited 12 hours to vote today. We must do better! Until then, #ChefsForThePolls will try to keep everyone fed. pic.twitter.com/RcnG8BFSWW

— Nate Mook (@natemook) October 13, 2020

The food truck, Delicias Colombianas RR, was serving food as part of Chefs for the Polls, one of several initiatives that have sprung up this year with the mission of feeding people at the polls. By providing free snacks, water, and hot meals at polling places with extensive lines — Chefs for the Polls, which is operated by José Andrés’s nonprofit World Central Kitchen, has used social media to document early voting waits as long as 12 hours — the organizations say they hope to use sustenance as a way to address food insecurity, improve upon a frustrating voting experience, and celebrate civic engagement and the democratic process.

“Elections are something where our whole country is participating in something together. Food is similar; food is about sharing a table and dishes with other people,” says World Central Kitchen CEO Nate Mook. “The idea was: How do we make this a little more uplifting and positive?”

Technically, efforts like World Central Kitchen’s aren’t specifically or exclusively for voters: Rewarding voters with discounts or food quid pro quo is illegal when federal candidates are on the ballot. Accordingly, generally, these kinds of freebies are advertised as being for everyone in the general vicinity, whether or not they cast a ballot.

Mook is careful to note that Chefs for the Polls’ fundraising is separate from World Central Kitchen’s disaster relief efforts: feeding areas affected by hurricanes and earthquakes, and, more recently, the people who have lost their jobs during the pandemic. “I certainly wouldn’t categorize our elections as a disaster, but there are a lot of problems,” he admits. “When we see a huge turnout — especially coupled with the restrictions around COVID, because you have fewer polling places and poll workers — you end up with long lines. And so that’s where this idea came from: Let’s tap into this incredible network of chefs, restaurants, and food trucks that we’ve built to respond to the pandemic, and support some of these communities where we’re going to see long lines now.”

There is evidence that events like free food near polling places can get more people in line to begin with, and thus help increase voter turnout. Donald P. Green, a political science professor at Columbia University and the co-author of Get Out the Vote: How to Increase Voter Turnout, has studied the effects of “election festivals” — featuring attractions like food, music, and games — held near neighborhood polling sites during early voting or on Election Day. In four randomized experiments held between 2016 and 2018 (building off earlier work in 2005 and 2006), the events drew in a higher average turnout increase of 2 percentage points. “These festivals do seem to attract crowds,” Green says. “They pull in people who would have otherwise sat it out.”

Food could play a significant role in that, depending on where the festival is held. During a trial held between 2005 and 2006, Green noticed that in lower-income urban areas, “there were legitimately hungry people,” and food did seem to draw more people. One reason, Green suggests, is “the instrumental value of the food itself”; another is “by making the election site more attractive socially.”

Encouraging voter turnout is an implicit part of many current feeding-the-polls efforts, although some organizations shied away from explicitly naming that as the primary goal. For some, addressing hunger is a major motivation. While food insecurity isn’t a new issue in this country, “the pandemic has obviously accelerated a lot of those problems,” says Chris Stang, the CEO of Infatuation and Zagat, which has partnered with nonprofit the Migrant Kitchen on the initiative Feed the Polls. The group plans to serve 50,000 people on Election Day by paying local restaurants, caterers, and food trucks to prepare thousands of meals each, at the cost of around $10 per meal.

“It’s important for us to make sure we’re fighting hunger and allowing you to continue your constitutional right to vote,” says Nasser Jaber, co-founder of the Migrant Kitchen. Hunger relief organization Feeding America estimates that 17 million people in the U.S. could become food insecure as a result of the pandemic, on top of hunger levels that were already at 37 million people in 2018. High-income earners often don’t understand the struggle of working for $10 an hour, as a lot of kitchen staff — including large numbers of undocumented immigrants and people of color — do in New York, says Jaber. “The idea is to encourage people to come out, to register, to take food home, and to make that grueling process, especially on a cold November day, much more tolerable.”

Photo: World Central Kitchen

Chefs for the Polls distributing free food and water at a Louisville polling location.

Bad experiences at the polls can affect whether or not voters keep turning out to cast their ballots year after year. A recent study by Stephen Pettigrew, director of data sciences at the University of Pennsylvania’s Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies, found that “for every additional hour a voter waits in line to vote, their probability of voting in the subsequent election drops by 1 percentage point.” He also notes that long lines disproportionately depress turnout among minority voters, particularly Black voters, who are much more likely to face lengthy wait times at the polls.

“Long lines have a negative impact in many real ways, besides being annoying. We know that they’re limiting, especially in majority-minority precincts,” says Adelaide Taylor, co-founder of local grassroots coalition the Georgia 55 Project, which seeks to increase voter accessibility in Metro Atlanta. In Georgia, employers must provide workers with at least two hours of paid time off to vote, but that often isn���t enough time, even during early voting, especially in a state that has been called a “hotbed for voter suppression tactics.”

The Georgia 55 Project — which owes its name to the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as well as to the 55,000-vote difference that lost Stacey Abrams the gubernatorial race to Brian Kemp in 2018 — plans its line-warming initiatives as part of a holistic effort to improve the overall voting experience, in the hopes of encouraging people to stay in line and to keep showing up. The group began as a handful of people raising money to bring pizza to Atlanta voters in 2018, and recently expanded its focus to encompass all phases of the voter registration and election process. But food still remains key to its outreach methods. “Not only because it’s a facet of Southern hospitality and culture, but we believe … that it’s one of the best ways to find common ground with others throughout the community,” says Taylor. “It’s about having someone walk away feeling like they participated in democracy, and they’re excited to vote the next time, and it was a fun experience.”

“It’s about having someone walk away feeling like they participated in democracy, they’re excited to vote the next time, and it was a fun experience.”

What that looks like in practice differs slightly for each initiative. For Chefs for the Polls, it means first using data to identify geographical areas where there could potentially be long lines. Next, World Central Kitchen reaches out to local restaurants, food trucks, and chefs — including high-profile names like Hugh Acheson, Ashley Christensen, and Ed Lee — in order to mobilize people on the ground who can prepare meals in the hundreds and be ready to report to polling locations as needed. (Mook notes the best food options are “handheld,” things like tacos or sandwiches.)

It’s a lot of complicated logistics, but for World Central Kitchen, the whole operation — including scouting, constantly monitoring, and adapting in real time — is practically second nature, says Mook. “In a place like California, a wildfire might break out, and we have 12 hours to get a kitchen up and running and food out the door. So this is very normal for us.”

Pizza to the Polls, an established presence compared to the relative newcomers on the block, is trying something different this fall. In addition to the polling-place pizza deliveries it has been facilitating since the 2016 election, the volunteer-run organization has hired a handful of staff and is working with foundations, consultants, Uber Eats, and restaurant partners to launch a food truck program for the first time. Between October 24 and November 3, more than 250 trucks will be “deployed as roving voter support wagons,” stopping by poll sites across the U.S. to dispense free food and promote voting rights resources, according to Pizza to the Polls co-founder and director Scott Duncombe.

But just like it did in 2016 and 2018, the organization will still accept reports of long lines at polling places. Those submissions go to volunteers (there will probably be 50 to 100 this election, Duncombe estimates) who then validate the claim, look up pizza places around the poll site, and place an order for approximately six to 15 pizzas to be delivered. “I try to order a variety because you never know what people will like,” says Los Angeles resident Erin Haglund, a Pizza to the Polls volunteer since 2018. “Always classics like veggie, pepperoni, and plain cheese, but if the place has unique specials, I get one of those, like a white pizza or Buffalo chicken or super meat lovers. And if they have vegan options, [I] definitely throw a couple of those in.” More than 15 pizzas per drop, though, Duncombe says, and the pizzeria often can’t produce the order in time.

For this election, the Georgia 55 Project has come up with a model in which businesses and companies “sponsor” a local restaurant, which will then be able to use the funds to prepare meals for Election Day; the food is then picked up by volunteers, who bring it to a centrally located hub from which the food can be distributed. Taylor says her fellow organizers realized early on that restaurants wouldn’t be able to donate food for free, given the difficult financial position that the pandemic had put them in: “A lot of restaurants are financially strapped, but now more than ever, they want to be more involved with voting rights.”

According to Mook, these efforts not only help support restaurants, but can also highlight the crucial spot that restaurants can occupy in a community, especially in times of crisis. “The restaurant industry is so important to our communities,” he says. “I hope this can be another example of how important that industry is and the role it can play in supporting our neighbors.”

Photo: World Central Kitchen

Chefs for the Polls in Nashville

None of these initiatives, which brand themselves as “nonpartisan,” were particularly keen to directly name President Donald Trump as a raison d’être behind their efforts. (As Mook puts it, somewhat ironically, on behalf of Chefs for the Polls, “No politics involved, just tacos.”) Yet the specter of his presidency is difficult to extricate from the context behind issues like long lines, voter suppression, and the COVID-19 response, and from organizers’ explanations for why this election, why now?

“This has been a really hard year for all of us, with the pandemic … and people losing their jobs, it feels like a lot of people can’t sit on the sidelines,” says Duncombe, pointing out the number of people — as well as corporate brands and businesses — that appear to be more civically engaged this year. Another organization he’s involved with, Power to the Polls, has far surpassed its goal of signing up a quarter of a million people to volunteer as poll workers for this election. He can’t accredit the momentum he’s seen — from the ongoing protests against racial injustice to intensity surrounding local mayoral races — to the top-ticket race alone. “Everyone wants to make sure they’re part of this,” he says.

Stang attributes the mobilization this year to the pandemic and what may be “a heightened sense of empathy,” as people have seen colleagues, friends, and family members suffer and lose their jobs. Moreover, he says, “I think more and more you increasingly understand how your elected officials and the policies that are in place affect the outcomes for all of us.” What remains important, he adds, is making sure that “this isn’t just about November 3.” Beyond the election itself, he says, Feed the Polls is thinking about how it could potentially help effect legislation in the future.

Taylor concedes that the Georgia 55 Project’s efforts and the public’s broader involvement can’t necessarily be divorced from “the current political climate,” but she believes that it was inevitable that people would start to demand more from their elected officials. “We rarely talk about the president when we’re organizing and planning for our efforts; we are just so focused on helping Atlantans, people in Georgia, and our community vote, especially because voter suppression is so bad,” she says.

While her organization is still all volunteer run, and she and her co-organizers all have day jobs, she says she can’t imagine “just now tuning out,” after ramping up so much this year. Even beyond this election, there will be local races, as well as other efforts to reduce voter suppression. Per Taylor, “That is a goal and a mission that will withstand the latest vote, sweatshirt, or messaging from advertisers.” Where there are lines, there will always be hungry voters.

Eater is part of Vox Media. Find more coverage of the 2020 election across its other 13 networks: how to vote, in-depth analysis, and how policies will affect you, your state and the country over the next four years and beyond.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2HL4I4u https://ift.tt/3oByZ6E

Chefs for the Polls feeding voters in Orlando. | Photo: World Central Kitchen

Voting is often a long, frustrating, and hungry process. What if it didn’t have to be?

When Juliette Vincent arrived at her polling place — a public library branch in Antioch, Nashville — on October 14, the line for early voting already stretched out the door and along the wall of the ice rink next door. It was close to noon, and she hadn’t eaten anything all morning, despite being awake since 6:30. As temperatures crept up and the sun rose higher in the sky, she was thankful she had brought a bottle of water, unlike many others she saw around her in the line.

By the time Vincent, a nonprofit worker, had cast her ballot and walked back outside with her partner, nearly two hours later, she was ravenous. They beelined for a food truck they had spotted earlier in the parking lot, hoping to buy a belated lunch. Instead, they were handed meals for free. To Vincent, a self-described picky eater, the chicken and chorizo arepa that she received tasted amazing, and was a welcome gift after the wait at the polls.

“It definitely made my voting experience better,” says Vincent. “Our budget was tight before the pandemic and has definitely gotten worse since, so a free meal was a moment of extra happiness that day.”

Night has fallen, but voting lines continue in Marietta, Georgia. The @WCKitchen team just finished serving dinner. They met someone walking out who arrived at 8am — he waited 12 hours to vote today. We must do better! Until then, #ChefsForThePolls will try to keep everyone fed. pic.twitter.com/RcnG8BFSWW

— Nate Mook (@natemook) October 13, 2020

The food truck, Delicias Colombianas RR, was serving food as part of Chefs for the Polls, one of several initiatives that have sprung up this year with the mission of feeding people at the polls. By providing free snacks, water, and hot meals at polling places with extensive lines — Chefs for the Polls, which is operated by José Andrés’s nonprofit World Central Kitchen, has used social media to document early voting waits as long as 12 hours — the organizations say they hope to use sustenance as a way to address food insecurity, improve upon a frustrating voting experience, and celebrate civic engagement and the democratic process.

“Elections are something where our whole country is participating in something together. Food is similar; food is about sharing a table and dishes with other people,” says World Central Kitchen CEO Nate Mook. “The idea was: How do we make this a little more uplifting and positive?”

Technically, efforts like World Central Kitchen’s aren’t specifically or exclusively for voters: Rewarding voters with discounts or food quid pro quo is illegal when federal candidates are on the ballot. Accordingly, generally, these kinds of freebies are advertised as being for everyone in the general vicinity, whether or not they cast a ballot.

Mook is careful to note that Chefs for the Polls’ fundraising is separate from World Central Kitchen’s disaster relief efforts: feeding areas affected by hurricanes and earthquakes, and, more recently, the people who have lost their jobs during the pandemic. “I certainly wouldn’t categorize our elections as a disaster, but there are a lot of problems,” he admits. “When we see a huge turnout — especially coupled with the restrictions around COVID, because you have fewer polling places and poll workers — you end up with long lines. And so that’s where this idea came from: Let’s tap into this incredible network of chefs, restaurants, and food trucks that we’ve built to respond to the pandemic, and support some of these communities where we’re going to see long lines now.”

There is evidence that events like free food near polling places can get more people in line to begin with, and thus help increase voter turnout. Donald P. Green, a political science professor at Columbia University and the co-author of Get Out the Vote: How to Increase Voter Turnout, has studied the effects of “election festivals” — featuring attractions like food, music, and games — held near neighborhood polling sites during early voting or on Election Day. In four randomized experiments held between 2016 and 2018 (building off earlier work in 2005 and 2006), the events drew in a higher average turnout increase of 2 percentage points. “These festivals do seem to attract crowds,” Green says. “They pull in people who would have otherwise sat it out.”

Food could play a significant role in that, depending on where the festival is held. During a trial held between 2005 and 2006, Green noticed that in lower-income urban areas, “there were legitimately hungry people,” and food did seem to draw more people. One reason, Green suggests, is “the instrumental value of the food itself”; another is “by making the election site more attractive socially.”

Encouraging voter turnout is an implicit part of many current feeding-the-polls efforts, although some organizations shied away from explicitly naming that as the primary goal. For some, addressing hunger is a major motivation. While food insecurity isn’t a new issue in this country, “the pandemic has obviously accelerated a lot of those problems,” says Chris Stang, the CEO of Infatuation and Zagat, which has partnered with nonprofit the Migrant Kitchen on the initiative Feed the Polls. The group plans to serve 50,000 people on Election Day by paying local restaurants, caterers, and food trucks to prepare thousands of meals each, at the cost of around $10 per meal.

“It’s important for us to make sure we’re fighting hunger and allowing you to continue your constitutional right to vote,” says Nasser Jaber, co-founder of the Migrant Kitchen. Hunger relief organization Feeding America estimates that 17 million people in the U.S. could become food insecure as a result of the pandemic, on top of hunger levels that were already at 37 million people in 2018. High-income earners often don’t understand the struggle of working for $10 an hour, as a lot of kitchen staff — including large numbers of undocumented immigrants and people of color — do in New York, says Jaber. “The idea is to encourage people to come out, to register, to take food home, and to make that grueling process, especially on a cold November day, much more tolerable.”

Photo: World Central Kitchen

Chefs for the Polls distributing free food and water at a Louisville polling location.

Bad experiences at the polls can affect whether or not voters keep turning out to cast their ballots year after year. A recent study by Stephen Pettigrew, director of data sciences at the University of Pennsylvania’s Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies, found that “for every additional hour a voter waits in line to vote, their probability of voting in the subsequent election drops by 1 percentage point.” He also notes that long lines disproportionately depress turnout among minority voters, particularly Black voters, who are much more likely to face lengthy wait times at the polls.

“Long lines have a negative impact in many real ways, besides being annoying. We know that they’re limiting, especially in majority-minority precincts,” says Adelaide Taylor, co-founder of local grassroots coalition the Georgia 55 Project, which seeks to increase voter accessibility in Metro Atlanta. In Georgia, employers must provide workers with at least two hours of paid time off to vote, but that often isn’t enough time, even during early voting, especially in a state that has been called a “hotbed for voter suppression tactics.”

The Georgia 55 Project — which owes its name to the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as well as to the 55,000-vote difference that lost Stacey Abrams the gubernatorial race to Brian Kemp in 2018 — plans its line-warming initiatives as part of a holistic effort to improve the overall voting experience, in the hopes of encouraging people to stay in line and to keep showing up. The group began as a handful of people raising money to bring pizza to Atlanta voters in 2018, and recently expanded its focus to encompass all phases of the voter registration and election process. But food still remains key to its outreach methods. “Not only because it’s a facet of Southern hospitality and culture, but we believe … that it’s one of the best ways to find common ground with others throughout the community,” says Taylor. “It’s about having someone walk away feeling like they participated in democracy, and they’re excited to vote the next time, and it was a fun experience.”

“It’s about having someone walk away feeling like they participated in democracy, they’re excited to vote the next time, and it was a fun experience.”

What that looks like in practice differs slightly for each initiative. For Chefs for the Polls, it means first using data to identify geographical areas where there could potentially be long lines. Next, World Central Kitchen reaches out to local restaurants, food trucks, and chefs — including high-profile names like Hugh Acheson, Ashley Christensen, and Ed Lee — in order to mobilize people on the ground who can prepare meals in the hundreds and be ready to report to polling locations as needed. (Mook notes the best food options are “handheld,” things like tacos or sandwiches.)

It’s a lot of complicated logistics, but for World Central Kitchen, the whole operation — including scouting, constantly monitoring, and adapting in real time — is practically second nature, says Mook. “In a place like California, a wildfire might break out, and we have 12 hours to get a kitchen up and running and food out the door. So this is very normal for us.”

Pizza to the Polls, an established presence compared to the relative newcomers on the block, is trying something different this fall. In addition to the polling-place pizza deliveries it has been facilitating since the 2016 election, the volunteer-run organization has hired a handful of staff and is working with foundations, consultants, Uber Eats, and restaurant partners to launch a food truck program for the first time. Between October 24 and November 3, more than 250 trucks will be “deployed as roving voter support wagons,” stopping by poll sites across the U.S. to dispense free food and promote voting rights resources, according to Pizza to the Polls co-founder and director Scott Duncombe.

But just like it did in 2016 and 2018, the organization will still accept reports of long lines at polling places. Those submissions go to volunteers (there will probably be 50 to 100 this election, Duncombe estimates) who then validate the claim, look up pizza places around the poll site, and place an order for approximately six to 15 pizzas to be delivered. “I try to order a variety because you never know what people will like,” says Los Angeles resident Erin Haglund, a Pizza to the Polls volunteer since 2018. “Always classics like veggie, pepperoni, and plain cheese, but if the place has unique specials, I get one of those, like a white pizza or Buffalo chicken or super meat lovers. And if they have vegan options, [I] definitely throw a couple of those in.” More than 15 pizzas per drop, though, Duncombe says, and the pizzeria often can’t produce the order in time.

For this election, the Georgia 55 Project has come up with a model in which businesses and companies “sponsor” a local restaurant, which will then be able to use the funds to prepare meals for Election Day; the food is then picked up by volunteers, who bring it to a centrally located hub from which the food can be distributed. Taylor says her fellow organizers realized early on that restaurants wouldn’t be able to donate food for free, given the difficult financial position that the pandemic had put them in: “A lot of restaurants are financially strapped, but now more than ever, they want to be more involved with voting rights.”

According to Mook, these efforts not only help support restaurants, but can also highlight the crucial spot that restaurants can occupy in a community, especially in times of crisis. “The restaurant industry is so important to our communities,” he says. “I hope this can be another example of how important that industry is and the role it can play in supporting our neighbors.”

Photo: World Central Kitchen

Chefs for the Polls in Nashville

None of these initiatives, which brand themselves as “nonpartisan,” were particularly keen to directly name President Donald Trump as a raison d’être behind their efforts. (As Mook puts it, somewhat ironically, on behalf of Chefs for the Polls, “No politics involved, just tacos.”) Yet the specter of his presidency is difficult to extricate from the context behind issues like long lines, voter suppression, and the COVID-19 response, and from organizers’ explanations for why this election, why now?

“This has been a really hard year for all of us, with the pandemic … and people losing their jobs, it feels like a lot of people can’t sit on the sidelines,” says Duncombe, pointing out the number of people — as well as corporate brands and businesses — that appear to be more civically engaged this year. Another organization he’s involved with, Power to the Polls, has far surpassed its goal of signing up a quarter of a million people to volunteer as poll workers for this election. He can’t accredit the momentum he’s seen — from the ongoing protests against racial injustice to intensity surrounding local mayoral races — to the top-ticket race alone. “Everyone wants to make sure they’re part of this,” he says.

Stang attributes the mobilization this year to the pandemic and what may be “a heightened sense of empathy,” as people have seen colleagues, friends, and family members suffer and lose their jobs. Moreover, he says, “I think more and more you increasingly understand how your elected officials and the policies that are in place affect the outcomes for all of us.” What remains important, he adds, is making sure that “this isn’t just about November 3.” Beyond the election itself, he says, Feed the Polls is thinking about how it could potentially help effect legislation in the future.

Taylor concedes that the Georgia 55 Project’s efforts and the public’s broader involvement can’t necessarily be divorced from “the current political climate,” but she believes that it was inevitable that people would start to demand more from their elected officials. “We rarely talk about the president when we’re organizing and planning for our efforts; we are just so focused on helping Atlantans, people in Georgia, and our community vote, especially because voter suppression is so bad,” she says.

While her organization is still all volunteer run, and she and her co-organizers all have day jobs, she says she can’t imagine “just now tuning out,” after ramping up so much this year. Even beyond this election, there will be local races, as well as other efforts to reduce voter suppression. Per Taylor, “That is a goal and a mission that will withstand the latest vote, sweatshirt, or messaging from advertisers.” Where there are lines, there will always be hungry voters.

Eater is part of Vox Media. Find more coverage of the 2020 election across its other 13 networks: how to vote, in-depth analysis, and how policies will affect you, your state and the country over the next four years and beyond.

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[sirwigglygames]

Fight Fund Forge Dev Update #4

After a bit of time away from the game and getting back to it, things are really coming together and I’m enjoying play testing.

I keep saying the game is done and then adding a little more. At this point I’m just trying to do some final balancing and maybe some promotion before pushing the game out. I also need to throw a credits page in somewhere for a few of the free assets used that want attribution. Pay what you want on itch.io is the plan along with probably throwing it onto mobile devices as a freebie(and maybe directing people to itch). 

I’m still bad about updating here and on reddit, so Twitter is definitely the best place for news and info about the game. https://twitter.com/SirWigglyGames

As of today, I’ve started a tournament of daily polls on there so people can vote on their favorite enemy names. See my twitter link above for the current poll and full bracket.  As of posting this, the toothiest meatsack is in the lead with a colossal cobra  in second and no one voting for the great hare or fangy fuzzball.

As for specifics regarding the game’s progress:

* Numerous changes to balance, how demand changes, how reputation and skill points are earned and spent

* character is animated per weapon

* stat differences between weapon classes have been magnified to make them feel less similar

* help screen overlay works

* music and sound are in and volume levels are adjustable

* a report for recent market stuff(items sold and exported, imports, demand changes, gold earned) is view able and updates frequently 

* more clear notifications of what has leveled up 

* various bug fixes including the ever annoying tab spamming issue where the player could cause a variety of problems by rapidly swapping between the games different windows

* save and load works by dumping a bunch of variables into an ini file. It’s easily edited if anyone wanted to cheat and/or ruin their save file I guess.

* player can take a more active role by clicking on the the blacksmith, hero, and merchant tabs to speed up the forging(build speed), fighting(search and combat speed), and funding(increasing demand) respectively.

* probably other stuff that isn’t coming to mind. It’s been WAY too long since I did an update like this.

Twitter | Twitch | Blog | Reddit

[osberend]

On not adding insult to injury when making omelettes

Reposting here because guild chat is ephermal; I’m not sure if my guild chat post will be deleted for length, tangentialness to the guild’s subject, arguing with mods, or any other reason, and because it’s applicable to more than far more than just Habitica anyway:

Context: I made a snarky aside about the phrase “ran out of health,” as a euphemism for “died” (that was not always used) when reporting a bug involving duplicate death notifications. One of the mods replied:

@osberend : The "ran out of health" message was added to replace the death message when we received a lot of feedback that "death" was unmotivating and was causing some users to abandon Habitica. It's not intended as a euphemism but as a way of making more people more comfortable with using Habitica. For those of us who weren't bothered by the death message, it's not a significant disadvantage to read "ran out of health" instead. If you'd like to suggest changes, Help > Request a Feature would be the best place. For the trouble with the death behaviour, please report it to the app developers through the app's menu at About > Report a Bug.

This was my response (not blockquoting because it’s long, and runs through the end of the post):

I'm not going to try to argue whether the change was on balance a good one or not here. I know that it's useless, it's either banned or close to it, and, in any event, doing it properly would depend both on statistics that I don't have, and knowledge priorities that I have never seen explicitly laid out.

I've stopped posting messages just to complain about that sort of thing, although I do occasionally put a mildly snarky aside in a fundamentally informative message, like I did in my last post. If necessary, I can try to stop doing that too.

But even if it is the right decision, I still find the "there are no real costs to this"--type rhetoric very off-putting and, well, demoralizing. You say "For those of us who weren't bothered by the death message, it's not a significant disadvantage to read 'ran out of health' instead." And I'm sure that's true for you. It's very likely true for a sizeable majority of people who weren't bothered by the death message. But it's not true for me.

Every time I see that "ran out of health" message, it annoys and repels me. Every. Single. Time. (And my combination of playstyle and level of executive dysfunction means that "every single time I die" is *a lot*.) It actually makes me less likely to promptly open up Habitica in the morning if I know that I took lethal damage at cron, which is of course a very bad thing, in that it means that being badly unproductive on one day increases my chances of being badly unproductive on the next.

I have a very strong negative reaction toward the use of euphemism in an attempt to avoid upsetting me, or to avoid upsetting anyone who may be upset in an audience that includes me. (That last isn't quite optimally phrased, but I'm not sure if there's a terse way to express the intension of what I'm reacting to. If you actually want me to elaborate, I will.)

And it is a euphemism: The mechanism is a fairly typical RPG "character death" mechanism. It was called "death" initially, and how it works was not changed when its name was. You describe it as "death" yourself in some other posts on this page. Etc. I understand that it's meant to avoid demoralizing players (which is a commendable goal!), but that's kind of what a euphemism *is*: Not calling something what it really is, to avoid listeners having some sort of negative reaction, whether that's anger, offense, fear, or anything else, including demoralization.

I'm autistic, and I suspect that that's connected to, but not the sole element of, my reaction. I used to get angry back in pre-school when the teacher would say "I need you to sit down," in an attempt to soften what was effectively a command to sit down, when I didn't want to. Because she didn't (at least absolutely) *need* me to sit down, she just *wanted* me to sit down, and she was *lying to me* in an attempt to get me to do what she wanted. I'm told that the phrasing she used tends to *mollify* most children. That baffles me.

Again, my purpose in this post is not to argue that the change was bad on balance, really. The fact that it was bad for me doesn't necessarily mean that. You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, and in this case, you can't *not* make an omelette without breaking (a different set of) eggs, either.

But as one of the eggs getting broken (or at the very least a bit bashed-around; it's not like this is making it impossible for me to use Habitica at all, but it does genuinely make Habitica less useful for me), I find it offensive and upsetting when people react to complaints by saying "This helps some people, and it's not like it really hurts anyone." It hurts *me*. And just switching to a justification more along the lines of "There were a lot of people who found the old message deeply upsetting and/or demoralizing, and who are fine with the new message. While we recognize that there are some people who were fine with the old message but are deeply upset with and/or demoralized by the new message (either the message itself, or the decision to switch to it), it is our belief, based on number of comments received, that there are many fewer of them than there are of the other group" would at least avoid adding insult to injury. (Actually doing a poll to try to establish the truth of that would be even better, as would adding some sort of toggle to allow people to choose between a softer, fuzzier Habitica, and a harsher, blunter one. If and when I ever get around to setting up a local installation of Habitica (executive dysfunction, again), seeing about adding a "language" ("blunt English?") to at least approximate that is on my long list of changes and subsequent pull requests to make.)

This same sentiment also applies (at least for me) to a number of other changes meant to make Habitica friendlier to new users (and to plenty of things unrelated to Habitica at all; this is a broad social trend that is very upsetting to me): It may very well be the case that the the number of people you're seriously helping is substantially greater than the number of people you're seriously hurting. But don't dismiss the latter's existence out of hand, just because there are fewer of them, or because it's harder for you to imagine *how* you're hurting them than it is to imagine how you're helping the others. Don't add insult to injury.

And especially please don't, as I see happen a lot on other sites (I haven't seen it happen here, though a few responses I've seen from other mods to various complaints have gotten kinda close for comfort), declare that anyone who's hurt must be a gatekeeping elitist who wants to keep others out, and that their pain is just them getting butthurt about efforts to be more inclusive.

(For extra fun, stick one or more of "cisgender," "heterosexual," "white," and "male" (even if none of those four demographics are actually relevant to the changes being made in any way) in front of "gatekeeping elitist," and "of [the corresponding minority groups]" after "inclusive," so [generic] you can declare their pain to be evidence not just that they're *bad*, but also that they're *bigoted*. I haven't seen that at all on Habitica, but I've seen it a ton elsewhere.)