#it's not your job to dictate what people can and can't ship

[vickorydickorydock]

For the record, there is nothing wrong with shipping Leo and Usagi. “bUt UsAgi iS oLdEr--” no. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 is a separate universe from the Usagi Yojimbo comics, and Usagi in the cartoon is a different character from comics canon. Usagi’s age is never mentioned in 2003. If someone wants to extrapolate his age and history from the comics, they’re welcome to, but it’s all conjecture. 

[sals-sonic]

"Aren't you aware of what this ship says about you as a person?"

No? Because my shipping habits and what I enjoy in a fictional context have nothing to do with my actions irl?

"But the ships condones/romanticizes abuse!!"

If you let fiction dictate your morality, then that'd be a problem. Thankfully though most people have enough braincells to distinguish bad things that happen in fiction, and real actual abuse that happens irl. The fact that some people can't, has nothing to do with the piece of fiction's existence.

"But what if children see it!!"

It's not my job to look out for people who can't distinguish reality from fiction, plus why the fuck would it be my fault that these children's parents aren't doing their job? The internet has never been a safe space, and it's never going to be. I tag my ships, so if they didn't filter them out, it's safe to say that they searched them up themselves. Note that they can still filter them out any time.

"I kin a character and it makes me uncomfortable that nsfw art gets made of me/them!"

Filter it out. You're not entitled to gatekeep a whole character from a certain part of the fandom just because you don't like their content. It's not anyone's responsibility to make you feel comfortable, especially if they don't even know about your existence. Block them if you have to.

"It triggers my trauma!!"

Again, filter it out or block the user. It's not the author's or artist's responsibility to cater to you. Also, remember that what makes you feel comfortable, could be someone else's trigger. Your trauma and triggers aren't more important than theirs. If they can filter out what makes them uncomfortable, then so can you.

[ot3]

can i please hear your thoughts about franema. blease. i know they have something going on between them

oh yes yes.... franema happy to talk about it. for starters just everything about how ema behaves herself in aa4 makes me believe that would be some excellent yuri because bitch4bitch femslash is always so important.

in general though i think they're two people whose lives are very centered around their work (as much of the main ace attorney cast is) but they center their work extremely differently in a way i think would cause the other person to question a lot about their own perspective. I think a situation where two characters can really ruffle each others feathers just by existing in proximity has a lot of good ship fodder.

i think in many ways franziska is what ema wanted to be. she's a child prodigy, competent and excelling in her field and earning respect from a very young age. meanwhile when she's several years older than fran was passing the bar ema is still just a high school student just dipping her nose into forensic science for the first time. by the time she's in her mid 20s ema still isn't at the level of career success fran reached in her teen years, being stuck as a detective after failures to pass the forensics exams. and i think it's really worth paying attention to the fact that Detective was specifically the job that lead to her sister's life turning to shit, so i think the longer and longer she stays trapped in that position the more she's gonna start feeling like the walls of her life are closing in on her. i know we don't know where fran is at career wise during this point in the timeline but my personal headcanon is that she ends up doing a lot of work with interprol and primarily specializing in prosecuting cases that take place across various countries' jurisdictions, and has had good success doing so.

Then on the flipside I think Fran see's ema's fully self-motivated passion for forensics as something enviable and admirable. Fran is i think someone who has spent her entire life running through a treadmill of carrots and sticks that dictated what her life was going to be like since she was born. Obviously prosecuting is the family trade and she was started extremely young, then pitted against someone much older for the majority of her childhood. I think the ebb and flow of validation or disinterest from her peers and family was such an overwhelming motivator that she never had the chance to even consider whether or not there's anything she's passionate about. As an adult, i think she does come to find an honest passion in her career but it's nothing like what ema has, it can't be decoupled from external validation, and that's something she's come to understand as a bit of a weakness.

Then interpersonally i feel like since ema is much more personable and socially adjusted than fran, i could feel that being something she instinctively kind of leverages against fran to try and level their playing field. like, okay, franziska may be this bigshot famous prosecutor (just like edgeworth, who ema wants sooo bad to impress) but ema can find ways to embarrass, frustrate, or otherwise fluster her in social settings so that's totally the same as being intellectual equals right. right. right. (<- thoughts of a girl who is definitely being normal about the situation). but i feel like fran could kind of learn to be grateful for the lack of deference ema treats her with and it could be a real first step to them actually getting to know each other better.

i feel like they'd have a lot of similar opinions on the broader aspects of life. i think they'd both be fine with a more casual relationship that involves a lot of traveling for work and isn't particularly romantic by a lot of people's standards. and i think it would be fun for them to fuck each other. overall it just works imo. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[fangirltothefullest]

hey! i’ve seen you reblog a few posts from proshippers/posts tagged as proship and i just wanted to let you know in case its not on purpose!

I need some of you youngsters to please listen carefully to what I'm about to say because it might open your eyes to a very important concept- when I say ship and let ship I mean I don't give two fucks about what people read in fanfiction because it's all fake. Made up characters in a made up scenario with made up things happening.

Your christian-based concept that thought is equal to action isn't true. You can THINK whatever the hell you want do long as your actions don't cause a problem. A creepy old man can look at a young lady and THINK all the nasty things he wants. So long as he does not take those thoughts and turn them to actions, he's fine. He might want to go see a therapist but at the end of the day thoughts are just thoughts. Standing on the edge of a cliff and thinking "wow if someone pushed someone off this they'd die" doesn't mean you want to push someone off a cliff.

PLEASE separate the concept that thought and action are the same thing.

Even if the topic is a taboo topic, even if it's something you would never in a million years agree with, it's still fake at the end of the day.

I don't personally want to read about canibalism, but its not my job or my right to force other people to never write about that stuff. Policing other people's writing and policing the "goodness" or "badness" of the content they write is not my job and it's not anyone else's. Your morality is yours and yours alone. What you find taboo and never want to think about might just be a weird enjoyable read to someone else. Just like kinks or even random topics, you cannot cater to everyone and trying to force a moral purity in written fiction is just ailly. They're made up. No matter how much you want Azirphale and Crowly to be real no matter how much you are desperate for Percy Jackson to have real feelings, they aren't and he can't. They're not real and they never will be so nothing that happens to them, no matter how fucked up, really matters.

And that's all it is and all they will ever be. A bunch of taboo topics and events done to made up people.

I don't want to read about incest but I'm not going to stop people from writing fanfics about the supernatural brothers doing the nasty. I'm also not going to go out of my way to look for it or tell people to stop because it's all fake. Its not supporting it. It's made up pretend space.

I sit here throwing made up characters into Bad Situations that would be horrible if they were real people. But they're not. They're fake people with fake things happening to them and it's fun to write and fun to read. I torment my characters all the time. I made Virgil go through so much emotional trauma in APP and no one bats an eye because it's fake. Please apply the same critical thinking to the rest of written everything.

Proshipper literally means that a person should have the freedom to write what they want and read what they want because morality has nothing to do with fiction. It does not make you morally a bad person to enjoy a taboo subject in written form. This goes for ALL taboo subjects. People reading greusome murder mysteries don't go out and murder people. The same thing applies to the other taboo subjects. People writing about weird incest ships aren't going to go out and do the incest thing.

If they are it has nothing to do with the fiction and everything to do with that specific person.

Thought and action are not the same thing.

Allowing everyone to write what they want without gatekeeping based on morality is a good thing. We would not have lgbtqia+ stories if the morality policing of Christian values dictated what we are allowed and not allowed to write.

Please understand that I saying all this as a teaching tool. You might be super icked out by certain topics and that's natural and normal and ok. I am too! Everyone is! But what we have to do is be tolerant of the ideas that writing taboo subjects and being a proshipper isnt a bad thing. Also enjoying taboo subjects in written form doesn't make you somehow evil, ok?

[chubs-deuce]

Hello!!! Love love LOVE your Charlastor and Hazbin artwork; your art is amazing!!

I have a feww questions if you’re comfortable with answering them (no worries if not) :D

I love hearing people’s music recommendations, so I was wondering if you listen to music whilst you draw and if there’s any songs in particular that make you think of the characters and/or the ship?

Also, I get a bit nervous posting about Charlastor because of some of the hate it gets in the fandom and because some of my irl classmates who follow me don’t like the ship (and don’t know I like it), so I was wondering what your general mindset is when you post your art online, but also what your mindset is like when posting Charlastor art, knowing what the fandom can be like?

Finallyy, I wanted to ask if you’ve read Under My Skin by whamagram on AO3 and if you have, what are your thoughts on it? It’s a mature slowburn Radiobelle fic and only has a few chapters out so far, but it’s updated pretty regularly and has become my new favourite at the moment! I highly highly recommend it because it’s super well-written, really witty, and really understands the characters. It’s all about Charlie nursing Alastor back to health after the final battle in season 1 and it’s just so well done!!

Again, just want to say that I really really love your work and thank you for sharing it! I especially love how you draw expressions and the way you draw characters and their emotions feels so real. Seeing your illustrations inspires me to keep practicing with my own art!

Omg thank you so much for this lovely ask?!!

I'd be more than happy to answer all of these actually! :D

I am, in fact, the kind of person who looooves finding songs that fit certain characters or ships and make whole playlists over time if I find enough of them, so here's some that made me think of Charlastor (links are all spotify):

- Glass Piano, by Kathleen

- Daisy Bell, and specifically this scuffed computer sung version bc it hits better

- bored like me, by dodie

- Ended with the Night, by Caravan Palace

- I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire, by The Ink Spots

- I Can't Decide, by Scissor Sisters

I have yet to really find more songs specific to the characters as individuals tho lol

----------

As for your next question...

This isn't my first rodeo in the unpopular non-canon het presenting ship club, so there's a few things I like to remind myself of when I feel that people pleaser anxiety sneaking up on me:

1)

if people truly wanted to avoid content of the ship, they'd block the tags. Maybe kindly ask your friend to block the charlastor and radiobelle tags bc you want to post about them? This way they're not forced to see what they dislike and you get to have your harmless fun. If they're opposed to this, question why. It's not your job to curate *their* online experience, they do have all the necessary tools at their disposal.

2)

I consider the source material like a toy box. You can play with the dolls in it like the packaging intended for you to, but there's no rules dictating that you can't play *your* way if that's more fun to you.

Canon is in my eyes the preferred suggestion, but not the law - don't we all just smush the heads of dolls together making kissy noises in our minds at the end of the day?

A lot of people sadly treat shipping like it's a battle for author validation, when in reality it was always just a way to playing with hypotheticals and exploring the world and characters canon offered us in new and interesting ways... I hate the attitude some people have about canonicity. Imo, as long as you're not acting like your non-canon ship should be canon and shit on other ships in the process, you're not doing any harm.

Now... Canon sexualities and having contrary headcanons are a tricky road to travel because there's so much emotional investment in the canon representation of often overlooked or mishandled minority groups, and this is the biggest anti argument I've seen get thrown around, since Charlastor as a ship not only splits up the canon lesbian pairing, but also alters Alastor's canon sexuality to make the ship work.

What's important here is that you handle it respectfully - i.e. don't be a dick and go around acting like your preferred ideas are better and should be canon or whatever. Attitude is important, respect canon for what it is and embrace the fact that your ship is not. It's not a detriment! It just means we have to make all of our own content lol.

I personally headcanon Alastor as demisexual/demiromantic not only because it still fits under the aspec umbrella, but also because I myself am both of those things and enjoy messing with the characters and narrative using a dynamic I have a lot of personal experience with! It's fun to hit someone as haughty and stubbornly emotionally detached as Alastor with a flurry of unexpected, unwanted feelings and struggling to navigate them.

Do I want that to be canon? Absolutely not! I'm just having fun with my imaginative toys in my own corner of the internet lol.

Also for the record, I think Chaggie is cute and they should absolutely stay together, I just don't find them interesting enough to explore further in the realm of fanfiction and art :'D

Ultimately I'm a strong believer of "I can post whatever I want forever", if anyone has an issue with it and the given tools at their disposal aren't enough to deal with it, they're free to unfollow and/or block me! I don't need anyone's approval to have harmless fun with my artistic and writing skills where I don't bother anyone, and that's imo always what should be at the core of creating just about anything.

----------

OH ALSO I KNOW THAT FIC AND IT'S SOO GOOODDDD I DROP EVERYTHING TO GO READ IT WHENEVER A NEW CHAPTER DROPS

I try my best to leave comments under it wherever I can too bc it genuinely scratches like every itch I have about this ship so well-

The comedy is on point, the dialogue feels so solidly in-character and the pacing and the overall concept just work perfectly!!

10/10 concur as a great recommendation lol

----------

QWQ again, thank you so much for taking the time to type out this lovely ask, I really do appreciate it and the compliments also absolutely made my day!!

I hope you keep having as much fun with this ship as I am, take care!! <3

[vladdyissues]

(I should ask it anonymously from the first time, shouldn't I?)

Tumblr resembles the old Rich History pairing. It returns me to the thought of how dark this pairing must be if it was a background. I mean, if Vlad wanted to be loved for whole series then CW must be secretly in love with this man (if we see this pairing as bg canon), Vlad didn't knew about it. But CW should know better how Vlad tortures in his loneliness, there's no reason to keep your feelings secretly only unless you do your best to your crush was left alone. That's the great and insidious plan: Clockwork let Vlad first find out how wonderful to be in love (let him to have a crush on Maddie), but then has been doing his best for loneliness, torture and, at last, desperation devoured the whole Vlad, abstract any potential partner using your Time-control power, so, at the end, when CW reveals his feelings to Vlad, he would 100% accept it. And even if their relationship would be a little abusive to hold Vlad, there wouldn't be any person around Plasmius to help him. Even his little badger.

I know, it's too dark and most in phandom sees CW as absolutely good guy but I always have seen him as true neutral (good guy for the whole reality but still can be a little egoistic)

I agree; characters and relationships are more interesting (to me and in general) when they're not 100% good or 100% evil. True neutral characters run the same risk of being flat and boring, unless there's an element of omniscience and/or omnipotence, like Clockwork. Then it gets interesting.

Let's examine canon: Clockwork is charged with keeping the flow of time in order and making sure things happen as they should—which would have to include terrible events. Terrible events that happen to innocent people. To do his job, he must be truly impartial*. He's like a force of nature or an element—the same rain that nourishes the earth also causes destruction and loss of life, but it's neither wicked nor divine.

(*He violated his neutrality in The Ultimate Enemy and intervened to give Danny a second chance, clearly showing favoritism. But this is a kids show, and cartoon logic dictates the good guy never loses.)

Maybe Clockwork is compassionate and capable of loving others, but he can't let it interfere with his job. And his job is perhaps the most important one in the universe.

But my question is this: What would Clockwork possibly find attractive about Vlad? What could Vlad, a half-mortal man who's only existed 40-some years, a mere blink of the eye in the scope of eternity, possibly have in common with the Ghost of Time?

Loneliness. That's my theory. The curse of the overpowered (Clockwork) and the overzealous (Vlad). I would argue that it's more likely for Clockwork to take an interest in Vlad because of their mutual loneliness rather than any kind of perverse desire to manipulate someone he happens to find attractive. (For that matter, what's so attractive about Vlad? What could Vlad have to offer someone as omnipotent as Clockwork? Nothing—except maybe companionship.) They would understand each other, perhaps Clockwork more than Vlad, since he's omniscient and has been living alone much longer.

Being understood is, in my opinion, better and more important than being loved. For this reason, and the fact that canonically we never really saw any indication of Clockwork being selfish or egotistical (a little mischievous, but nothing malicious), I just don't see him using/abusing his powers to manipulate Vlad into loving him. Why would he? Boredom? Self-indulgence? The thrill of enjoying his absolute power? That's something villains do, not neutral characters. If anything, Vlad seems more likely to try to manipulate Clockwork into loving him just so he'd have a powerful ally who might bend time as a little favor.

But Rich History is definitely a ship with potential for a lot of really good angst and "darkness", and the more I'm in this fandom, the more attractive it becomes to me.

[bluephoenixdruidicprincess]

The Vaxleth Album Part 1 -- Feat Keyleth

I thought this would be a cool thing to do and a good outlet for sharing my favorite music with others. With the end of TLOVM season 2, I am inspired to not just create playlists for my favorite ships but to essentially create an album that dictates the relationship of these ships.

Of course I'm going to start with Vaxleth, they were my first love starting in TLOVM season 1 which lead me to watching the Critical Role campaign. (warning to the TLOVM-Only folks, the below may give away certain aspects of the future of Vaxleth so read and listen at your own risk).

For this one, its more of an album of songs from the perspective of Keyleth as she's grown throughout the time she started her Aramente and having been part of Vox Machina and Vax's life and what comes after when he's so terribly ripped out of her life. I plan to also make one for Vax and possibly if this is received well, go onto all of the other ships in the show/CR campaign.

Who You Are by Lunatica -- This one I chose because I feel like it exemplifies Keyleth's mindset and of where she was at when she first started off on her Aramente. All of the hopes of her people were put squarely on her shoulders, everyone expects her to do great things and she's crumbling under that pressure and that persona that her people hope for her to become is crippling her and she's losing her sense of herself from that persona that both she and her people want from her.

The Grey by Icon for Hire -- sort of continuing on with the idea that Keyleth is suffering through her own identity and the identity she feels she needs to be for her people. After journeying from her home she finds that she might be losing who she once was and wants to go home to that place in her head of who she used to be but she's so far lost in her head of her duty and what she means to her people that she can't find her way back to who she was. But she's also not this other persona, the person the people and her father want her to be. She's just meandering trying to find something, caught in between who she can't be anymore and who she feels she needs to be but she doesn't know how to get back to the old her or how to move forward to get to the Her she needs to become, she's caught in The Grey.

Sirens by Cher Lloyd -- I thought of this song as a way of even though Keyleth is drowning under all of this pressure, she's kind of starting to find her footing, she's not there yet but if she only wades and keeps herself in the shallow water, maybe her and this seemingly unachievable persona can find their way to each other.

Let It Fall by Emmelie de Forest -- Keyleth has been on her journey for some time, worked a few jobs with Vox Machina and at this point, she's finding that even though she had set expectations for herself and how she felt she needed to complete her Aramente, maybe there are different paths to completing it. Maybe she needs to smash her crystal ball that holds these expectations of what she thought her Aramente was about and to follow this new path...with Vox Machina.

Sinners by Lauren Aquilina -- this is carrying onto Keyleth's shattered expectations of what she needs to do and coming to terms that even though she feels she needs to make the right decisions sometimes, maybe making the wrong decisions leads her to the same thing anyway.

Misfit by High Dive Heart -- I just think this is a fun song for Vox Machina in general but can also apply to just Keyleth in coming to terms of maybe the real her and who she strives to needs be is a Misfit.

Hollywood Ending from Anna and the Apocalypse -- again, another song that is just fun but I feel it has certain aspects that apply to Vax and Keyleth in the beginning of their relationship turmoil before their relationship began. Vax wants this thing with Keyleth but Keyleth can only allow herself to think about her Aramente and what she needs to be ultimately for her people. And meanwhile in the background you have people around them watching this turmoil and responding with openheartedness about the nature of love which these two just can't bring themselves to.

So In Love With Two by Mikaila -- just a fun song I thought I'd slip in for the short-lived love triangle with Vax/Keyleth/Kash. Absolutely should not be taken seriously.

Search Inside from Monster High -- I felt like this is a nice song for Keyleth to come to terms of she can complete her Aramente and be who her people need but also finding herself and coming to accept her own feelings for Vax.

Come Closer by Delain -- this I felt really only pertains to the state of Vaxleth in TLOVM season 2. Where Keyleth feels like she's losing Vax and she just wants to hold onto him as tight as she can but also feels like she can't stop him from slipping out of her grasp.

I'm Glad You're Evil Too by Rachie and PalmMute -- I feel like this is a fun song to document the coming together of Vaxleth. Its quirky and weird like them. And also a good way to highlight that they're not perfect people and that they accept these flaws in each other.

The Last Time by Hudson Henry and Lisa Cimorelli -- for me this is like the ultimate love song for Vaxleth. Keyleth coming to terms of the true depth of her feelings for Vax and why she's fallen for him.

Hoodie by Hey Violet -- now we're into the Vaxleth territory where Keyleth has lost Vax to the Raven Queen. This song documents that feeling of loss and just needing to feel like Vax is still with her somehow.

I Want You Here by Plumb -- another song that just delves deeply into Keyleth's feelings of loss for losing Vax.

I Am Only One by We Are The Fallen -- this I feel like speaks for Keyleth years after her loss, successfully leading her people, finding herself in countless wars, and wishing for the life she once I had where everything was much more simple.

At War by Letters From The Fire -- again continuing on with this idea of continuing to lead her people throughout they years and just feeling this overwhelming sense of loss for what has long died, her beloved Vax, the loss of Vox Machina. Keyleth is just suffering through this depression of living for so long and having lost nearly everything that once meant so much to her and wondering when she'll find the peace she wants, but knows she can't, she has to keep fighting for her people.

War by Poets of the Fall -- as Keyleth continues her fight, she sees a raven fly by and realizes ultimately however long her destiny calls for her to fight, the ones she loves may be gone but are by her side forevermore through every fight she must fight, just as Grog learned his lesson about friends, so to has Keyleth, her friends are her power and even if they're gone, they will always be with her, fighting with her at her side.

And here lies my Vaxleth Album feat Keyleth.

I hope you all enjoyed this. This turned a little bit more into less of Vaxleth and more of a character study of Keyleth. But that's the nature of shipping, I suppose. We feel drawn to characters and their relationships because we have an understanding of who these people are. So I can't describe a ship without first studying who the members of the ship are first and foremost.

[sharkface-daydreams]

i don’t know dragon age so give me. either your favorite or most niche dragon age ship

🥺🥹💜 ask dragon age for me.... 💜💜💜💜

well my favorite of all time is a pc/canon ship but not a canon romance but i did think of a niche npc/npc ship that has recently made me feel like eating glass lmao so i did two

i attempted to give some context but not completely infodump >< idk if that was achieved lol

My Grey Warden who has to go save the world after being recruited from a no-caste nothing on the underbelly of dwarven society fell for a guy you can't romance bc his culture is the Qun, which dictates basically your role and existence since you're born. They don't do like romance or marriage or whatever bc genetics are dictated by people who manage that. (Although some people do escape and live outside of that) His name is his job title. But he's a good man, a good soldier and a good friend and Torani Brosca respects the shit out of him so she keeps her feelings to herself. But yes she'll fight by his side and find his missing sword and stay as close as she can 🥺 and she never ever thinks of herself and her wants bc everything went towards her sister's chances of getting the family married up out of poverty so she really doesn't examine the feelings either it's just. I want to be close to you. Always. 😭

Uuuuunfortunately in my canon playthrough she takes the final hit in the last boss fight to kill the big bad and dies :( Beforehand she asked Sten to return her sword to her sister in Orzammar so Rica could have something to remember her by. She technically could have lived but that involves a mage party member fucking someone so she could have a baby and uh. suck the undying soul of the Arch demon into the unborn vessel instead of requiring a Warden to essentially cancel it out by killing it and... i don't actually remember the specific mechanics but a Warden specifically has to die in order for the big bad to STAY dead bc they have a like. half vaccinated version of the blight that kills them extremely slowly. But dorfs have such a low reproduction rate and the only way for them to get out of castelessness was for Rica to have a nobles baby and marry up... so Tor was like no i am not forcing anyone into that I'll just take the hit. 😔 so there's glass snack #1.

glass snack #2 is from the Dragon Age Inquisition DLC The Descent so this'll be spoilery lol but omg Renn and Valta

Ok. Dwarves live underground, are immune to magic and the magic ore only they can dig up bc it kills anyone else. There's a group called Legion of the Dead who are socially dead, they literally have a funeral for them when they leave, and they go into the old deep roads and protect the city from the Dark spawn until they die out there with their boots on. This is what Renn does. Valta is an archivist who's been essentially put on bitch work bc she pissed off a higher-up by not erasing something really trivial from their records. And we're down there helping them figure out why the earthquakes are suddenly nuts. It seems like they've been working side by side for years and Renn either has a specific task or personal obligation to defend her while she's in the dangerous tunnels and old roads, I'm not sure which. But while they bicker a LOT there's soooooo much fondness underneath all that and they care about each other so fiercely and honestly we don't get a whole lot of conversation and banter even but what we do get is just fucking LOADED with meaning and I'm just *eats drywall* about it

ough and when he dies defending us from some threat we've never faced before she's even more determined to figure this out so he hasn't died in vain auuuurghh god so many things ending in tragedy but in the meanwhile.... the meanwhile is so good 😩 and that dichotomy of already being 'dead' but still having reason to live, to fight for and protect someone. ough...

[indefatigablepaths]

Lil Debbie Bitches Clinton Sparks Remix 1 hour loop

Ok. I'm doing this. While I get all nippy, and I speak. I bark I bite. I do all those things because I have to. These things happen. Oh, and now we wan'na talk.

Ok. I'm not done with this, but they did find - a little - more money. The money doesn't matter inside the system, ok.

This talk is all a scene, more money. Every building in the country, and every job - while you're inside. That runs on a percentage.

I think they call the money fraud official wise a COLA percentage. They just say 30 percent all more money ever given out is still mine forever.

The system literally just plays pretend and hands itself more money. Except it uses little people.

So the system has never had an inflation adjustment for citizens one time. In all of history.

Before my history I can't even find a document.

0 dollars

I am leaving the system because of complete corruption.

That means maybe like 9 million new homeless people by next month.

You can't even pretend to live on this much money without special training.

My favorite song from A Perfect Circle is Blue.

I don't dictate the rules of a dream. I just don't die. Despite your dreams.

I told you they had a ghost army on ghost ships.

Ya. I think you can buy your tax returns back, from online too. I've worked here my entire life.

Ya. I had to get so high to do this. I had to get fired from my job probably forever.

The guy with the hair. Why is she standing with Summer in that house.

No.

I had to take the maximum amount of adjustments to my bills, next month. Or I would have bailed early.

Every time I contact the new land lord I get the same story.

500 apartments in this city. You go next door.

The property line is supposed to matter.

Although I never knew how that feels in strip malls or parking lots, complex buildings. I used to think about it a lot. I'm also barred by Summer there anyways. I can't do that.

Do you really think you can't grow algae in some storage shed that doesn't even afford one power outlet?

No one believes you can get picked up for property lines in a cab.

I think you're really in the wrong business if you think you can argue about what I do with my keys.

Yeah I got so mad about this. I started thinking Id go all guerilla and flush it down porta toilets.

Do you really think a bottle across a city is gonna hit me for algae?

I haven't used a garbage truck for five months.

Ya. I can't even pay my rent. She is a bundle of nerves that swerve. I would crash my plane.

You know the projects stay broken forever. As far as I know. You can't fix the bathroom. You can't fix your room. That space is illegal property.

Ya he thinks that's funny. He's not living.

An hour with you is almost up and the police had to knock on my door.

See I'm not asking anyone. Wasn't that Metallica.

I ask no one. That's a joke.

You all go insane all the time. Days, weeks whatever. You keep telling me the internet is illegal.

I'm being told again this is the way things will be. I've snapped out of this every other time.

Getting caught up in a psycho imagination.

Though I do see the mind needs time to rearrange itself. Not sure where the mind thinks it believes itself.

If you don't go completely green the rats will eat your internet connection. Like it was food.

As far as I see this is an order. So feel free to tell me it's not. What. You said. I can't tell you it's not an order.

They keep sweeping these buildings. I'm still waiting to see if they sweep regular apartments.

If I don't let these "people" stay crazy and eat all our time. I can't find the documents they forget.

Judas is who the police think they are.

Whiz Khalifa was trying to make this clear that there's no circumstance where a land lord can enter my room.

I already met Mark Horvath from invisible people. They were so blind at the other property they are starting to think I was watching someone who thought they were you.

[the-firebird69]

There's a huge number of people for massively annoying today they're massively annoying and they're idiots their numbers are teeny and they're running around praising everybody saying they did a great job just a few hours what a terrible bunch of people terrible there's no clue at all. So he says the leprechaun shrunk your beer cuz they're saying a leprechaun came by and took our beer then she goes I hate him it's politics and our son said well that's why it disappearing f****** moron. Is one reason among many and Biden says that but it's true you're a bunch of huge assholes why the f*** would anybody not go after you so I guess they're hanging out samples or something they're too cheap to buy beer. Really killed you b**** you're f****** snow nosed a****** you're a retard okay your face is dictated by whatever's in your brain for blood. And nasty nasty people hey you don't have much time left you're going to be at 1% globally and here in Florida it's going to fluctuate and you're going to do the islands choking. One out of 100 b**** and you can already not hide there's a whole bunch of you think about it for a second how wonderfully well you're doing with all these asinine comments rude looks dumb gestures stupid talk and butt f****** crap you went from 60% of the world's population to 1%, and less than a year and a half almost most of the most the population drop was there about 40% of it because of you assholes here right here in Charlotte county you have no program that means anything that's ridiculous you can't you can't program your f****** day or balance your f****** checkbook your goddamn f****** idiots anytime my face cuz you're so f****** mean and dumb and stupid. Why would I want to date any of you and end up with some demented crackhead for a kid especially Trump trumpsters garbage okay. It's absolute trash even compete the jet compared to Jenna she didn't act as a child she did a pretty good job she even became spoiled but by doing dance I'm going to a better school going to a really good school I mean would you become spoiled by doing drugs everyday f****** around getting ready sick I mean that's disgusting what a a pig. So keep human and I'll tell your friend to f*** off and don't do that gain control of yourself.

Zues Hera

You can't get this idiot often we can't get ourselves to stop saying stupid s*** or dying rapidly and he's right 60% a few years ago to 1% today is nothing and the islands are probably going to be toast and we're all going to end up going there he didn't try and get rid of us that much and he didn't try and save us that much you know he's telling us the right thing we didn't do it stop telling us because he thought it him telling us to make it worse then he saw us in the blender and he figured it all out has to do the Titanic I do know what it means it means that Billy z was not going to build the ships right and he had no spine and he really has no spine that's what they're saying well it's good to expose it to the foreigners you said you have jobs for the dildo baggins CIA guy if he wants to go out and do it trying to rewards doing but without telling everybody he sucks what a piece of s***

Alicia

There's enough time in the world to say it we're all screwed it's because those two assholes and the third is sat there doing it and didn't try and recover now I just slamming us against the wall and see idiot doing it to us and he's going to lose all his matrix stuff and there's no Army to take over so Trump said he's going to take over his army it hasn't happened yet

Tricia reversed but okay

The saying I suck in all this but I don't care what should I care I walk around it's like living with a pile of zombies I don't know anybody I can't say a joke without any stupid s*** coming out of people it's always a slight or to put me down or is that threat it's like f*** you and I punch your f****** head off I don't care if you're a f****** b**** or not that guy is getting singled out there's not enough of them here will be soon cuz you stupid f******** it's like don't don't say that s*** to me I'll punch your f****** head off you don't think I will I can't stand you

Zues Hera

I'm sorry but you can't see. Actually I see something he left the apartment and blew up the f****** hell and his granddaddy put a new one down and now the max are doing it cuz he's valuable and we're stupid people he knows we're stupid and he can't stand us we don't have a life at all Brian showed up in a girl's bike and it was f****** hell and the guy's an idiot his mom is using cover and stuff and he thinks it's a f****** insult and vice versa and nobody does anything right and this is jackass what a f****** jackass

Alicia

Well I guess I'm selling a****** beer up here

Zues Hera hahaha of course it's me I have to talk for these idiots it's kind of funny cuz the beer works that way sometimes it's got a lot of alcohol and no they don't have a non-alcoholic version for Christ's sake I've never seen so many people with little beer things in my life and come here and they don't buy anything they're very cheap.

Okay I'm going to do the largest beer sampling in history and give it to these assholes wherever they are a****** beer here we come is little cups too so you can get more than one cup

Hera

I'm sending this out now we're going to do that

Thor Freya

You going to get out of here and go eat something Olympia said

It's Olympus snow is to fix the verbiage

Olympus

[hyperfresh]

A frustration on procrastination.

In 2016, Linus Torvalds talked about not being a visionary. As an engineer, he looks at the ground wanting to fix the pothole right in front of him before he falls in.

As an aspiring software engineer myself, I can't blame him - but I find it hard to put myself in those shoes. I can't call myself a visionary either.

It's all about procrastination.

I have many coding projects that I've always wanted to get back to. For example, I want to redevelop my custom Discord bot that I made for my own private server. I want to continue building that application that can inform people about fires near them and whether they should evacuate.

I end up never touching those. Yet, I aspire big to where I have all the money in the world and I wouldn't even spend it foolishly. If anything, 100% would go back to the planet. I dream of making a positive impact to the world around me as a person who lives on it and I do not take it for granted.

I dream of things that may not be realistic now, but when I have a stable job. Unfortunately, I'm not there yet. I've got years to go. It hits hard in adolescence with all those ideas in your head, playing pretend with different names, building rocket ships and flying to outer space, and reality yells at you to make money. Sounds familiar?

I find it frustrating that in today's world you can continue to go around in circles and not get anything done. It's bureaucracy at best, corruption at worst. Even with some semblance of employment, it's a nagging cycle between a job provider who doesn't seem to be interested in the best interests of me or my current employer. There's worse examples I know of, but it's just depressing.

It's all about procrastination. Scheduling time in has worked, and even works for my Twitch streams, yet I can't get back to doing what I want to work on because I'm continuously floating up and down on how I want to make a difference to the world and people around me. It sucks that reality would like to stop my plans and glue me back onto the ground.

If only it wasn't that way. Less work, more play, isn't that what they say? And yet, it seems we're going the opposite direction. It's as if the world doesn't care, because it ain't broke until your world is at peril.

If only things were different and you could clap your hands and the world would be united. Yet, a dictator sends troops on a special operation, two superpowers argue over a balloon and the world stands on their feet wondering why there's no way to prevent mass shootings in the only nation where it regularly happens.

Perhaps I'm not the only one who procrastinates to a minor scale. There's people like me, probably more stubborn like me, who don't want to stand up because it doesn't benefit anyone. Well, it's easier to say "have you tried?" than to actually try.

It's about how the world goes around in something humanity should really fix. And yet, incompetent politicians around the world can't get shit together. So the world goes nowhere. And we all procrastinate over it and we stand still. We're back to square one, and I think that's where we will be unless something changes.

Knowing the world, it won't. After two years of a pandemic, political bullshittery and climate crisis, humanity got so tired and went "idgaf anymore".

And who can blame ourselves? It's all about procrastination.

[matan4il]

Hello! I'm currently reading all of your meta posts and i just really have to say THANK YOU. Not only they are very entertaining to read, but they're so well written and so detailed and they're truly a joy to read. So thank you, you've done an amazing job! I still haven't finished but I'm slowly going through all of them!

Having said this, I have kind of a loaded question for you. Maybe it's something other people have already asked you, in which case I apologize, i still haven't read those answers (so feel free to not reply, but):

Do YOU think buddie will eventually happen, canonically?

I see so many wonderfully excited people in your asks and ot warms my heart to see so much hope, but I personally cannot help but be very dubious and rational about the whole thing. I've been in fandoms for too many years and seen way too many ships be queerbaited/detroyed for the sake of no homoing the whole thing, and the situation with buddie is eerily similar to some of those ships. I don't really want to get my hopes up, especially since even the actors, for as professional as they might be, don't seem to have a good relationship anymore. Between them and Tim Minear being Tim Minear, I don't really see it going anywhere and it makes me sad + it kind of makes not really want to watch the show because i don't want to suffer though it shipping something that just makes me sad.

Essentially, what I'm looking for, is reassurance. You know way more than I do and you've analyzed every episode (and i'm guessing you've also watched a lot of interviews). What is your guess? I really want to hope, but i'm hesitant because i don't want to get my heart broken all over again, if that makes sense.

In any case, thank you for your time and, again, for all of your hard work, it's truly incredible! It had been a long, long time since the last time i saw meta posts so well written and so detailed in a fandom!

Have a great day 💕

Awwww, hi hon! :D Thank you so much for reading my meta and letting me know you're enjoying it, that makes my heart grow three sizes (at the very least)... And your words are so kind, I'm so grateful and will cherish your compliments! I hope the rest of my meta posts will bring you just as much enjoyment! *hugs*

I totally get the hesitance to invest emotionally in a non-canon same-sex couple. I've been there too, and I know what it feels like. I can tell you that in the past, I've had the weird (and lucky) experience that most ships of this kind that I liked, but suspected won't ever go canon, indeed didn't, and a few couples that I thought might, did. There's no doubt that there are way more ships of the former kind, but I think something that has always helped me is that I had a good sense of when a show won't go there, no matter how hard it would hint at the ship. 911 doesn't feel like one of those shows. It feels like one of the shows that could actually follow through on its own promises and narrative regarding Buddie.

Does that mean it def will happen? No. And I don't wanna promise that, because I can't. But I can tell you that I personally have hope. The very fact that I believe Eddie's whole introduction even back in s2 was meant, IMO, to make us entertain the possibility of this ship, I think that says it is very possible that it will happen. I'm not saying that back in s2 the show was def gonna go there, but I think it was gonna fly those sails and see where the wind might take this ship... and there's no doubt that the response was overwhelmingly positive, and that no other possible LI for either guy so far has been able to offer even a bit of competition. And I do think Tim has more experience than some producers with same-sex ships going canon (he was a part of the Buffy verse which had the iconic Tara and Willow, and the shooting scene in 413 very much parallels them), plus he's shown before that he listens to his fans and takes their wishes into consideration. I'm not saying it's the only thing dictating his decisions, but I do believe it informs them.

I also think Oliver and Ryan probably get along much better than people realize. We know that Oliver doesn't have to ever refer to Ryan or Eddie on his personal social media accounts, for example I think he's never explicitly referred to Megan West or to Taylor outside of interviews. Even when he was asked about them. And he has talked about Ryan supportively, even quite recently. But even if they hated each other, I do think they can be professional and give the audience an amazing onscreen couple (I'm not sure, but I think that was the case with the main ship that went canon on Castle, I believe the actors didn't get along in rl, but they still did a great job portraying lovers). Oliver and Ryan have both expressed support for Buddie in the past, and I'm sure they know what a positive effect Buddie going canon can have on their careers, so I'm pretty sure if it were up to them, Buddie would have gone canon already...

I hope this helps, lovely! Thank you again, so much! And may you have a gorgeous day! xoxox

And if you or anyone else are looking for other replies of mine, you can find them in my ask tag. xoxox

[meidozangetsuha]

Meanwhile you, a grown ass adult, is a die hard shipper of a child and her cherished adult guardian, using the excuse of sHe GreW UP, well, ofc children grow up and get married, have kids, but not when it’s with a trusted adult they know and relied on who saved their life multiple times. Yall hide behind IT’s a CaRTooN, keep deflecting and reaching and ignoring, fiction does affect reality And this terrible anime is being targeted at kids in Japan, not to AdUlts.

-remembers watching School Days when i was young and that time i became a crazy deranged stalker and murdred a guy when i was 15 bc, except i didn't bc my parents raised me with morals-

-remembers that i used to really like a student/teacher ship when i was a high schooler, but never found anything appealing about that real life and knew it was bad when that shit happened bc my parents actually raised me to understand right from wrong and what predatory adults are-

man i just like it because it's like, straight out of a fairy tale. ya know, down on her luck orphan gets saved by an immortal monster, forms a bond with them, falls in love later? that's why i like it! that's all! and because it's canon and produced one of my favorite characters ever! ok it's good now that we have

i know this might be hard for you to understand, but:

Children are not as stupid as you are.

i do not necessarily agree with many other proshippers about the extent of fiction never affecting reality (propaganda specifically, things that are specifically meant and designed to install morals) because it's take i can't fully agree with; when cartoons intentionally try to install morals about race, sex, gender, etc.

and then there's a cartoon that has a ship as backstory. it's not even the main focus. nor do even i wish for it to be, because this is a story about the yashahime, not their parents. i do not fear people will watch Fruits Basket and think such relationships in the real world are OK either.

kids are smarter than you give them credit for. as long as they are raised properly, with love and guidance, instead of just letting the internet and tv dictate everything they should feel and do. people's very hearts and feelings can change of things they read and become attracted to, yes- such things are what authors and writers strive for! for words to become so impactful they can even touch people's very hearts! and of course, many install our own emotions and beliefs into our words.

But, it is not their job to teach you and your children right from wrong.

Children, teenagers, are smarter than you give them credit for. They are capable of enjoying things while knowing that real life does not reflect this way. I understand this might be hard for terminally online idiot who let their morals be determined solely by whatever you've read or watched, but I'm fairly confidant no girl is going to grow up thinking they should fuck a 900 year old dog demon that saved their life when they were like 9 because they happened to watch Yashahime as a teen.

I'm sorry you lost all your brain cells growing up. Fiction can affect our perceptions in reality when efficiently used and utilized to this purpose, indeed! But not in this way you think it is. Not in this sense of "Oh, someone watched an anime with an agegap once, now they'll think it's OK forever!"

I'm sorry you lost all your brain cells growing up, ooooor your parents are doing a shit-ass job at passing on morals to you. Regardless; it's not this cartoon's fault for that.

[rottensalty]

WW II Battleship sailor tells Obama to shape up or ship out !

This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaii

for his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causes

all over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body,

he has never spoken out before about a government official, until now.

He dictated this letter to a friend, signed it and mailed it to the president.

Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don't believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.

I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos'n Mate. Now I live in a "rest home" located on the western end of Pearl Harbor, allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.

One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.

So here goes.

I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do, but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.

I can't figure out what country you are the president of.

You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:

" We're no longer a Christian nation"

" America is arrogant" - (Your wife even

announced to the world,"America is mean-

spirited. " Please tell her to try preaching

that nonsense to 23 generations of our

war dead buried all over the globe who

died for no other reason than to free a

whole lot of strangers from tyranny and

hopelessness.)

I'd say shame on the both of you, but I don't think you like America, nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do, for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said," America hasn't lived up to her ideals."

Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man, that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn't mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around, because we stand for freedom.

I don't think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.

Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don't, I'll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue. You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don't want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts, who was putting up a fight? You don't mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don't want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.

One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you're the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you're not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you're thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.

You're not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That's not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now.

And I sure as hell don't want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.

Sincerely,

Harold B. Estes

When a 95 year old hero of the "the Greatest Generation" stands up and speaks out like this, I think we owe it to him to send his words to as many Americans as we can.

[xtruss]

With Nearly Half of U.S. Farmworkers Undocumented, Ending Illegal Immigration Could Devastate Economy

— By Meghan Roos and Alex J. Rouhandeh | April 21, 2021 | Newsweek

As heated conversations about U.S. immigration focus on migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, a quiet scenario plays out on farms across the country—thousands of undocumented workers tending and picking the crops put food on American tables and fill cargo ships that supply the world.

America's reliance on migrant agricultural workers is a secret hiding in plain sight.

In New York's Hudson Valley, a historic apple farm utilizes a legal process for hiring migrant workers—the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers program. It enables Minard's Family Farm to legally hire migrants on a seasonal basis, and includes protections for both migrant and domestic workers that can result in fines if violations occur.

Jason Minard, whose family has run the farm since 1906, said he believes in the program despite its up-front costs and the risk of penalties.

"I don't look down on the program, I look at it as an asset," Minard told Newsweek. "It's a cost of doing business. It's an asset because of the bottom-line reality: Without these H-2A workers, these apples would not get picked."

H-2A workers prune Pink Lady apple trees at Minard's Family Farm.

A bill to reform the H-2A program, H.R. 1603, called the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021, passed the House on March 18. It includes a path to citizenship for H-2A workers. Until or unless it is approved by both houses of Congress, agricultural employers are left to decide how best to employ workers for physically-demanding work that typically does not appeal to U.S. workers.

According to a 2018 report by the U.S. Department of Labor, 49% of the U.S. agricultural workforce is undocumented —a significant statistic for a country that along with China and India ranks among the top three agricultural producers in the world.

In 2019, U.S. agriculture contributed about $136.1 billion to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Agriculture alone makes up about 0.6 % of the country's GDP, but that number rises to about 5.2% when combined with related food industries, according to a 2019 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service report.

Agriculture and related food industries are also credited with providing nearly 11% of the country's jobs, according to the USDA's report, an estimated 2.6 million of which involve working directly on American farms.

Minard told Newsweek he realizes there are employers who don't take the same legal steps he does, and said that the complex legal process required, coupled with potential fines employers face for contract violations, may provide an explanation.

Fines for violations can range from $1,700 to $6,000. Fines for layoffs and improperly rejecting U.S. workers can reach $17,000. Violations of housing and transportation agreements can be as high as $59,000. The fines are based on individual workers, and are multiplied by the total number of workers whose contractual rights are deemed to have been violated.

These fees may deter some farms from getting involved with the program, especially when, by comparison, fines for hiring undocumented workers range from just $600 to about $4,000 for first-time offenders.

Muzaffar Chishti, the director of the Migration Policy Institute at New York University School of Law, described the penalties as a "slap on the wrist."

"Hiring unauthorized people has become part of the business model for a lot of employers," Chishti told Newsweek. "The consequences are so minimal that it is worth taking the risk."

From the migrant workers' point of view, U.S. agricultural employment serves as what former President Donald Trump's Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau described as a "pull factor." Migrants from Central America comprise a large percentage of those traveling to the U.S. in the hope of starting a new life, and while factors like violence at home and climate-driven weather events can serve as a "push" to seek refuge elsewhere, job opportunities also draw them to the U.S.

Agricultural workers from Bud Farms harvest celery for both American and export consumption on March 26, 2020 in Oxnard, California.

Landau told Newsweek he believes the U.S. should address some of those pull factors before trying to change the push factors in other countries, which he said would likely require a "multi-generational effort."

"I think, ultimately, the United States is making a terrible mistake by thinking that the answer for our country lies in trying to fix other countries," he told Newsweek. "We don't have a great track record in terms of nation-building. It seems to me the answer is much closer to home. I don't see how we can't get our own employers to stop hiring people illegally."

The H-2A program employers like Minard use today has a history dating back to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which created the H-2 temporary visa program for foreign workers, and was refined in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which created the H-2A and H-2B programs for agricultural and nonagricultural workers, respectively.

Before the H-2A program existed, the Bracero program was used widely among agricultural employers between the 1940s and 1960s. The Bracero History Archive estimates that about 4.6 million temporary worker contracts were signed during that time period. But the archive notes the program was riddled with problems rooted in employers' unwillingness to abide by its worker protection rules, which contributed to its demise and eventual replacement with the H-2 program.

Despite the existing legal options, the avenues for attaining these visas remain tight.

The H-2A visa process requires employers to follow a three-step process dictated by U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). It starts with employers filing a temporary labor certification with the U.S. Department of Labor. Then, they must file an I-129 petition to hire a "nonimmigrant worker" to USCIS. Once completed, the prospective worker then applies for the H-2A visa at a U.S. embassy before journeying to the United States.

Though the steps sound simple, each part contains multiple sub-steps, which can be time-consuming and confusing. Minard's farm has experienced the complexity of the process firsthand.

"It's costly, there're a lot of regulations, a lot of record keeping," Minard told Newsweek. "For your average farmer, it may seem like a lot.

Because jobs requiring H-2A workers must also be offered equally to American workers, employers like Minard need to advertise the job opportunity locally, and must continue to do so until the H-2A workers complete at least half the time on their contract.

Minard says the American workers at his farm generally last only a few days. Nonetheless, he must hire eligible Americans when they apply.

Along with this regulation, Minard says a mandate requiring employers to offer paid hours during 75% of the duration of the H-2A contract, known as the "three-fourths guarantee," presents a logistical risk. On apple farms, for example, a frost might wipe out portions of the crop, calling for increased hours one week and virtually no hours the next. Farms who hire workers through the H-2A program must be equipped to pay their workers through the duration of their contract, even if weather conditions reduce the expected revenue yield from a crop.

"I think a lot of employers say, 'Well, what the heck, why should I bother to comply with the law, if my competitor down the road is hiring illegals and getting away with it?'" former-Ambassador Landau told Newsweek. "This is basically a way to get around a lot of the laws we put in place to protect workers in this country."

Undocumented agricultural workers face multiple forms of exploitation. In some cases, they encounter unsafe, dirty workplace conditions. In other cases, they face high productivity expectations that may result in long days under the sun with few breaks. However, even if the conditions and schedule mirror a law-abiding U.S. workplace, there are further risks.

Employers may tell undocumented workers their wages will be less due to their lack of legal status. Workers may feel compelled to stay silent after facing harassment by their supervisor. Workers who are qualified for full-time staff positions may be contracted for freelance or temporary work, devoid of employee protections and insurance options, due to their status.

Agricultural workers from Bud Farms harvest celery for both American and export consumption on March 26, 2020 in Oxnard, California. These agricultural workers are mostly migrant Spanish-speakers. They earn just above minimum wage, and in a good six-day week working 10 hours a day, they can earn around $1100.

"Are (those examples) as bad an exploitation as a sweatshop worker being chained to the assembly line?" Chishti said to Newsweek. "No, but it's exploitation made only by the status of the worker. All these things have been happening on the side while Congress has been vacillating on immigration reform."

The Farm Worker Modernization Act could provide a key step toward change in the agricultural sector. However, Chishti said for immigration policies to realize their full potential, they must coincide with comprehensive reform. He said in order for the country to have a successful immigration system, new avenues toward legal immigration, mandatory E-Verify, and overhauls to the H-2A program must be implemented together.

One element of the proposed legislation suggests expanding and requiring use of E-Verify, which cross-references an employee's I-9 form with records available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to confirm employment eligibility. The program was created in the mid-1990s, and has evolved to enable U.S. employers—about 967,000 of whom use it—to check a worker's employment eligibility online within seconds.

"E-Verify to me is the lynchpin of an effective immigration reform proposal," Chishti told Newsweek.

Chishti warns that if the nation cannot implement these reforms together, both employers and immigrants will find ways around the missing components. Without a reformed H-2A program or alternate legal method for employment, people will continue to illegally cross the border in search of work.

They may bring fake documents to prove their qualification for the job, and these qualifications may be approved without a mandatory, improved employment verification system. And without a clear path toward citizenship, those workers who do make it through are likely to face exploitation and miss out on the chance to and fully participate in American society.

"What I see as our choice is: Do we want as a country to have the people who live and work here be here legally, or illegally?" Landau told Newsweek. "I don't think that should be a hard choice."

[thethiefandtheairbender]

You seem to be the person who understands the intricacies of fandom and fandom history. I was once looking through the comments of Rayllum fics on AO3 and one of them actually had someone saying 'if you won't finish this, orphan it so the people who want it to continue can finish it.' The thing was, the author took, like, a three month break, not ten years and had a pretty solid update schedule before that. That seems in super bad taste to me, but I can't articulate why besides 'not your fic'

i am a fandom old (9+ years) in a fandom young’un’s (20) body, which is good because legit fandom young’uns tend to have the worst opinions (aka fandom policing), so thank you. 

the same issue that underpins all fandom policing, that i think you’re also finding here, is entitlement. what makes people go “how dare someone ship / make something that i don’t like in their free time?” also makes people go “how dare this person not create content for my consumption in a schedule that works for me?” aka “how dare this person not make something i like?”

which also operates under the misunderstanding that fanfiction authors do or should write for anyone but themselves, inherently. like, trust me, i get it, i’ve read fics that got 200k or 20k in and are incredible and never get updated or finished. it sucks. but i’m grateful i got to read any of it at all, tbh. for free, too. that someone took their time, talent, and hard work to make anything that i remotely enjoyed.

i also think the assumption that somebody else could complete the story the way the author could is bold, particularly after only 3 months. especially because like, things are always going on in people’s lives and in the world, and you never know what. illness? death of a family member? job stuff? mental health? lack of inspiration? the list is endless.

it’s also an entirely different thing when the author is like “hey is anyone interested in picking up where i left off bc i’m choosing and articulating that i wanna leave it” vs someone else telling them that’s a route they should consider because the speaker wants it.

aka i have stories for other fandoms that regularly go through month or year long hiatuses, or are still on one but i know i’d like to get back to it someday (although whether i actually will, we’ll have to wait and see).

but yeah 9/10 issues in fandom come down to entitlement, unfortunately, and trying to dictate what other people should do in ways that aren’t constructive, compassionate, or actually useful, imo.