#joint operations

[basedhighsenberg]

You now remember

[mrcformoso]

Double upload today coz I finally got around to editing this!

CC11 with my partner, trying to finish R18 within two hours of event start because we're crazy like that. Alongside that is a continuation of my road to Chongyue series where I pull in Joint Operations 8!

[guerillas-of-history]

Palestinian fighters from the Joint Operations Room, comprised of the armed wing of various factions in the Gaza Strip, including Islamists, socialists, nationalists and others.

[livwritesstuff]

So I’ve made a few references to Steve being an Excel guy as an adult (because someone had to be in charge of Steve and Eddie’s money and it certainly wasn’t going to be Eddie).

He’s got the classic spreadsheets – monthly budget, college savings projections, income tracking because he and Eddie both work jobs with variable incomes (Steve is a counselor and Eddie is an author), the whole nine yards.

Steve also has some “extracurricular” spreadsheets. I’ve talked about how Steve has a spreadsheet tracking the combinations of Mario Kart racers/vehicles he tries out (there’s a ranking system involved, it’s very complex). He’s got one for his fantasy football league, obviously, and he and Moe put money on their March Madness brackets so there’s a spreadsheet for that too.

Eddie’s personal favorite is the one comparing monthly expenses by kid, which isn’t exactly a necessary metric per se, but from it stems a game Steve and Eddie secretly play: who is the most expensive Harrington daughter?

The winner tends to rotate throughout the year, but Hazel is usually their least expensive child in the long run. She does ballet, which isn’t too bad when she’s little but then she graduates to pointe shoes, and Steve had no idea that not only do pointe shoes set you back $100 minimum, they also wear out ridiculously fast, and, as he’s been told many times, you can’t wear the dead ones.

Moe usually takes that top spot in the winter – elite basketball teams aren’t cheap by any stretch of the imagination, and then in high school she gets into snowboarding, which is somehow even more expensive. She’s also consistently the reason they hit their health insurance deductible every year. 

Robbie is their overall most expensive kid by a mile. She drove up their car insurance by getting into an accident a month after she got her driver's license, had braces for five years, and the prescription on her glasses has changed every eighteen months since she was seven. She’s notorious for breaking her phone, so she racks up quite a tab in that regard too (the one year they got a protection plan was also the one year she had no phone-related incidents, so they didn’t even bother renewing it – they just make her suffer with a cracked screen for a few months before they finally drag her to the mall to get it fixed). There’s also the year Eddie bought her an electric violin which was, naturally, not cheap (Eddie argues it shouldn’t count because he was the brains behind that operation).

[voidedjuice]

you can also call Five Uta, however she doesn't like it as much because it's the name of all of her model of robots. Unlike her serial number, it's not unique to her, so she would prefer to be referred to as just 5

[01a057]

your shield <3 or whatever

[midnight-els]

For All Mankind - Margo Madison & the littered conference room of international (un)co-operation

2x06 - Best Laid Plans 3x08 - The Sands of Ares

[downtherabbitholewithlucy]

|| S E X Y - S E X Y - S E X Y ||

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Republican state legislators In North Carolina are establishing a new investigative body that Democratic critics have aptly compared to a “secret police force.”

This new entity, formally known as the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations, or “Gov Ops” for short, will be chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R). It grants the state the authority to investigate various matters, including “possible instances of misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, mismanagement, waste, abuse, or illegal conduct.”

Gov Ops, a product of North Carolina’s most recent state budget, was established via a comprehensive bill passed in late September. Despite Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s refusal to sign the legislation, the Republican majority in the state legislature pushed it through just 10 days later, thanks to their veto-proof majority and the state’s laws restricting the governor’s ability to make line-item vetoes. Gov Ops is slated to take effect next week.

Any way you slice it, Gov Ops seems like a recipe for government overreach and abuse. If you find yourself under investigation by Gov Ops, you won’t be allowed to publicly discuss any alleged constitutional violations or misconduct by the investigators. All communications with committee personnel would be treated as “confidential.” Shockingly, you’d also be denied the right to seek legal counsel regarding your rights if Gov Ops were to search your property without a warrant, irrespective of whether it’s in a public or private space.

Nora Benavidez, a senior counsel with the nonprofit advocacy group Free Press, told The Daily Beast, “This is a question for the courts ultimately. But the powers granted to the Gov Ops appear to give them overreaching investigative authority, which invokes constitutionality questions.”

A critical aspect of Gov Ops development lies in the language within the statute itself. The key phrase, as highlighted by Republican state legislators, is the investigation of “possible instances of misfeasance.”

It’s unsettling that North Carolina’s Republican state legislators are poised to wield unchecked partisan authority, devoid of any form of accountability, to determine what qualifies as “possible instances of misfeasance.” This newfound investigative power threatens to have far-reaching repercussions on fundamental civil liberties, particularly those closely intertwined with the state legislature—such as voting rights and abortion.

Consider the 2020 election aftermath. Following the election’s conclusion, several North Carolina Republican lawmakers—mirroring Trump and other far-right figures nationwide—demanded access to voting machines, relying on dubious sources and unfounded claims of voter fraud.

Initially, North Carolina Republicans asserted that they would work with police to obtain warrants for such inspections. However, with the advent of Gov Ops, committee leaders could now allege “possible instances of misfeasance,” eliminating the need for a warrant and keeping the public in the dark.

With the 2024 election looming, Republicans in the state legislature will redraw voting maps after the new conservative majority on the state’s Supreme Court legalized partisan gerrymandering. (The Princeton Gerrymandering Project called North Carolina one of the most gerrymandered states in the country.)

The redistricting process in the state has been grueling; since 2011, six different versions of maps have been drawn. The process has been conducted mainly behind closed doors, and North Carolinians continue to express frustration over how they’ve been locked out of the process.

A provision of Gov Ops will likely permit lawmakers drawing the maps to bypass public records requests: “lawmakers responding to public records requests will have no obligation to share any drafts or materials that guided their redistricting decisions.”

Now, let’s look at abortion. During a legislative hearing, state Sen. Graig Meyer (D) asked lawmakers, in a hypothetical scenario, if Gov Ops could access personal health records (like ultrasounds) that are required by the state to receive abortion pills. Sen. Meyer found that Gov Ops, with its widespread ability to investigate with zero oversight, could release information like this “to the public in a hearing” if it wanted to.

Benavidez explained, “At the end of the day, Gov Ops actions and requests for information are all protected as confidential, adding a layer of opacity which means people in North Carolina will have largely no idea what the Gov Ops entity is really doing.”

The consolidation of power by Republicans in North Carolina through Gov Ops is not just a cause for concern; it is a stark warning sign. The ability of state legislators to wield unchecked authority—shielded from the scrutiny of the voters they are obliged to serve—strikes at the heart of democratic principles.

Transparency and accountability are not optional in a democracy; they are its lifeblood.

When the process of drawing voting maps becomes cloaked in secrecy, when mechanisms to hold our elected officials accountable are dismantled, we risk losing our most cherished rights to our legislators, who should be our staunchest defenders.

Government powers like Gov Ops can potentially erode the very foundations of our democracy—which can’t work if politicians refuse to work for the people and have any accountability.

[burstfoot]

Stealing kiwi's idea bcuz I'm indecisive... Reasons for both (and possible cons)

Irene: I'm sparking for Specalter and I don't want to separate them, but I already have Guard Ch'en so I don't really need a second 6 star swordmaster. However I REALLY like her kit and would use her way more than I use Ch'en and I like the skin she's getting with LT from Ambience Synethesia

Dorothy: Dorothy is so cute and I love her story and also she's really good with mumu clones, but her banner should be rerunning with the DV rerun and she's set to be on standard headhunting relatively soon. If I get her here though I can save pulls for Jessica alter & Viviana (and I'll only be missing Ifrit and Mayer for my RL squad)

[qroier]

liz i was scrolling through your blog for bloodhounds posts and i just noticed im in ur pinned:3🫶🫶🫶🫶hiiii helloooo❣️❣️❣️❣️

i had completely forgotten about that post but its a banger.

PIX hellooooooooooo 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶 and of course it is infinitely true and relatable, when I updated my pinned I made extra sure it stayed in a spot of honor

[guerillas-of-history]

حبيبنا اللزم

"Our Beloved One," a song dedicated to Gaza and its resistance. Performed by Shadi Al-Bourini in 2014.

[curewimdy]

when Heropre was just getting started my hope was that Sora+Mashiro and Tsubasa+Ageha would sort of function as separate teams at first who would come together as the story progressed and obviously that isn't how things happened, but i'm delighted that Wanpre is kind of doing that with Team Cat and Team Dog here, even though i'm sure they'll wind up all working together pretty quickly lol, especially since Yuki is the only one who doesn't want to play nice. i like the mild drama and friction of it and i LOVE having two duos who compliment each other on a thematic and design level

[tomeiame]

I finally got Irene! * - * Waa! I didn't got her during SN last year, so I'm really happy! Like, seriously... I pulled like 60 times on Joint Operation banner only to get 2 Dorothy copies, now I have her like pot 3... Then I just went "Random roll goooo" and boom, she appeared, probably not out of Arknights pity, but like her actual pity xd

Now watch me listen to her EN voicelines like it's some kind of podcast. That accent is a blessing.