#power and economic security are more useful

[cyberclouddream]

The natal 10th house and MC represent what others tend to remember you for.

Aries in the 10th house

“Known for starting or causing something, even if it’s reckless or brief”

Ex: launching ideas first, calling out things when no one else will, starts the group but doesn’t finish job

- remembered as first to do something, whether it’s warfare, entrepreneurship, or defiance; someone who begins a campaign rather than who saw it to maturity

- tends to work in fighting professions, physical risk work (like military, law enforcement, emergency response), surgery, pioneering roles in anything, competitive trades; little patience, tends to push headfirst

- seen as combative or militant, known for open confrontation, like thru legal battles, political struggles, social protest, or physical action; fame stems from overcoming enemies, personal or collective

- tends to go solo or break away from traditional systems; known for bravery, confrontation, hot temper, or being the first to act; society doesn’t forget them, even if it hates or blames them

- may be viewed as impulsive or destructive; legacy may be unstable, like celebrated in one generation and criticized in another

Tips: Start before you’re ready. The second you feel the itch, act on it. Don’t wait to be prepared or validated, your public power only activates when you initiate. People respect you more when you move first, even if you mess up.

Tropical MC Aries: Julia Roberts, John Travolta, Tony Curtis, Cameron Diaz, Jeff Goldblum, Angelina Jolie, Stephen King, Yasser Arafat, Fergie, Bill Gates

Sidereal MC Aries: Eddie Murphy, Pierce Brosnan, Robert Downey Jr, Johnny Depp, Christopher Reeve, Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Manson, George W. Bush, Demi Lovato

Taurus in the 10th house

“Known for building something steady or lasting, even if it’s simple”

Ex: having same business for years, bringing stability to chaos, quietly saving money and owning something big

- remembered for constructing physical things, like buildings, businesses, estates, gardens, or arts of a decorative kind; their output often lasts, even if anonymous; may be associated with wealth or land

- tends to be in jobs involving stability, comfort, aesthetics, food, land, farming, wealth preservation, fashion, architecture; society sees them as a preserver of cultural, aesthetic, or economic value

- known for solidifying or managing resources; may have founded economic systems, artisan trades, or institutions; builds slowly and avoids chaos, since driven by comfort and security; society respects their consistency

- this placement gives a visible legacy of beauty, thru design, music, culinary art, or fashion; not flamboyant but timeless, harmonic, or pleasing

- not remembered for speed or innovation but for staying in power; reputation may grow stronger after death as the usefulness or value of their work increases

Tips: Show results people can touch or measure. You gain respect when others can see the product. Document your progress, stay consistent, and make something solid, not fast, but real. Long-term trust is your currency, so own the slow grind.

Tropical MC Taurus: Eddie Murphy, Pierce Brosnan, Robert Downey Jr, Johnny Depp, Christopher Reeve, Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Manson, George W. Bush, Demi Lovato, John Wayne

Sidereal MC Taurus: Keanu Reeves, Sharon Stone, Tim Robbins, Uma Thurman, Tom Hanks, Woody Allen, James Cagney, Doris Day, Madonna, Federico Fellini

Gemini in the 10th house

“Known for talking, writing, or juggling many things, even if unfocused”

Ex: running a newsletter, podcast, and several side gigs at once; in the know and spreads news fast; person who gets picked to explain things

- society sees them as people who pass on knowledge between people or domains; remembered more for what they say rather than what they built

- tends to have had multiple jobs, hybrid roles, or a visible career shift; may have multiple public identities or inconsistent careers

- may work in writing, teaching, journalism, interpreting, social media, sales, tech support, data management, editing

- known for raising questions, disrupting assumptions, or challenging dominant narratives thru data, satire, or debating; stirring the pot without always resolving

- connects people, fields, or information; may leave behind infrastructures based on communication, like discussion groups, mailing lists, learning platforms, or publications

- could be remembered for being two-faced, manipulative, versatility, multitasking, inconsistency, scattered yet clever; tends to work thru information and movement, not physical labor

Tips: Keep moving and keep talking. Your visibility rises when you’re everywhere, saying things, asking questions, making noise. Don’t force depth, you win through volume, agility, and connection. Just keep ideas flowing.

Tropical MC Gemini: Keanu Reeves, Sharon Stone, Tim Robbins, Uma Thurman, Tom Hanks, Woody Allen, James Cagney, Doris Day, Madonna, Federico Fellini

Sidereal MC Gemini: Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, Kate Winslet, Sissy Spacek, Derek Jacobi, Bing Crosby, John Garfield, Emma Watson, Roman Polanski

Cancer in the 10th house

“Known for caring, protecting, or supporting, even if emotionally heavy.”

Ex: one who holds everyone together during family/workplace stress; teacher who acts as a parent to students; person who’s always there when someone needs emotional backup

- carries maternal or domestic symbolism, “mother of the movement”; emotional continuity; nursing, hospitality, domestic services, food-related professions, national service, caregiving; “the one who made it feel like home”

- known for defending others thru protective or reactionary gestures, not in an aggressive way; might be seen as “shielding” a group or cause from harm

- builders of physical or ideological homes for displaced people or forgotten voices

- tends to establish caretaking institutions, like schools, shelters, hospitals, orphanages, animal sanctuaries, or family services; may not necessarily always work in these, but founding or preserving them

- honored within a group rather than above it; behind the scenes work rather than anything flashy or loud

Tips: Let people depend on you, but keep boundaries. You build power by showing up when others fall apart. Your care becomes magnetic when you stay emotionally solid. Be the shelter, not the sponge. Contain the storm, don’t absorb it.

Tropical MC Cancer: Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, Kate Winslet, Sissy Spacek, Derek Jacobi, Bing Crosby, John Garfield, Emma Watson, Roman Polanski

Sidereal MC Cancer: Vin Diesel, Tom Cruise, Natalie Portman, Nicole Kidman, Dean Stockwell, Chevy Chase, River Phoenix, Robin Williams, Jennifer Aniston, Ida Lupino, Ice Cube, James France

Leo in the 10th house

“Known for standing out or leading, even if it’s just through presence”

Ex: manager who everyone notices when they walk into the room; one gets picked to speak or represent the group; one who throws together events just to bring people together

- rarely remembered in the background, often seen as someone who represented a group, cause, or era; person embodies something larger than themselves, like national pride, cultural respect, moral leadership, or heroic pride; their image becomes synonymous to a period or value system

- tends to work in public roles, performing arts, royalty-adjacent professions (like executive leadership, entertainment, figurehead positions), spokespersons; often remembered for how they carry themselves, not what they did; known more for presence and status than labor

- their power lies in influence not management; remembered as charismatic, dignified, or “larger than life”; authority by precense

- remembered as the moral reference point, or if corrupted as a tyrant or self-idolizer; wants to be admired for holding their role well

- tends to be performers, artists, influencers, moral compasses, iconic, or “sources of light”; can be resented for pride or loved for confidence

Tips: Get seen doing something bold. Visibility isn’t optional for you, it’s your fuel. Put yourself where people will notice your efforts (on stage, online, in front). Hiding kills momentum. Public trust builds when you own your presence.

Tropical MC Leo: Vin Diesel, Tom Cruise, Natalie Portman, Nicole Kidman, Dean Stockwell, Chevy Chase, River Phoenix, Robin Williams, Jennifer Aniston, Ida Lupino, Ice Cube, James France

Sidereal MC Leo: Kevin Kline, Edward Norton, Michael Douglas, Sydney Pollack, Jim Carrey, Charlie Chaplin, Bruce Lee, Shirley Temple, Björk, Janet Jackson, Chris Evans, Diana Ross, Nelson Mandela

Virgo in the 10th house

“Known for fixing problems or handling details, even if quietly”

Ex: one who notices what’s broken and fixes it; person who organizes group trips so it doesn’t fall apart; one who everyone depends on for instructions or troubleshooting

- remembered as the craftsman, expert, the analyst, or the problem solver; could be in medicine, accounting, engineering, clinical work, or any field that requires exactness

- tends to work in technical, repair, health, medicine, administration, research, any role that requires analysis or cleaning up; known for being extremely helpful yet under-appreciated; doesn’t push for credit

- tends to be invisible yet indispensable; legacy may be institutional, methodological, or tied to procedures that outlive them

- known for reform, criticism, or refinement; may leave behind corrected systems, improved tools, or cleaned-up methods of operation

- because virgo is a servant sign, they may be remembered for usefulness, modesty, and service to a larger cause without recognition or claiming “glory”

Tips: Fix what no one else wants to deal with. You thrive when you’re the one who notices the broken piece and quietly makes it work. Public recognition comes when you solve problems others ignore; not by flash, but by usefulness.

Tropical MC Virgo: Kevin Kline, Edward Norton, Michael Douglas, Sydney Pollack, Jim Carrey, Charlie Chaplin, Bruce Lee, Shirley Temple, Björk, Janet Jackson, Chris Evans, Diana Ross, Nelson Mandela, Brad Pitt

Sidereal MC Virgo: Brad Pitt, Ethan Hawke, Maggie Smith, Yun-Fat Chow, Donnie Yen, Daniel Baldwin, Roy Scheider, Peter Coyote, Nicolas Cage, Anjelica Huston, Winona Ryder, Jude Law, Andy Garcia

Libra in the 10th house

“Known for keeping things smooth or balanced, even if surface-level”

Ex: host who makes everyone feel comfortable even if they’re stressed inside; one who mediates arguments and finds fair solutions; friend who always looks put- together and knows the social rules

- remembered as judge, negotiator, or arbiter; brought two sides together, professionally or culturally; may be known for indecision, fairness, or charm; often remembered for how they handled people than a product; finding equilibrium in extremes

- reputation can suffer if they seem superficial or avoidant, yet still admired for their grace

- tends to work in event planning, match-making, advisory roles, law, diplomacy, public relations, arts/design

- known for their contributions to art, beauty, style, or proportion, like in law, design, diplomacy, or social customs

- their public face may be idealized, symbol of “how one should behave in public”; may be seen as charming, polite, balanced, or calculating and disingenuous

- rarely remembered for chaos, but society’s memory of equilibrium; the one who restored or modeled social order; peacemakers, aesthetes, and judges

Tips: Be the person who makes things smooth for everyone. When people feel better because you’re around, your stock rises. Use diplomacy and aesthetics to steer situations your way. You win by making others feel balanced and heard, then calling the shots subtly.

Tropical MC Libra: Liam Neeson, Sylvester Stalone, Goldie Hawn, Winona Ryder, Jodie Foster, James Earl Jones, Alan Alda, Ronald Reagan, Anne Hathaway, Pink

Sidereal MC Libra: Liam Neeson, Boris Karloff, Hugh Jackman, Paul Newman, Russel Crowe, George Segal, Kiefer Sutherland, Jane Fonda, Monica Belluci, Hilary Duff, Andrei Tarkovsky

Scorpio in the 10th house

“Known for controlling or transforming things, even if behind the scenes”

Ex: strategist who doesn’t say much but shapes big decisions; person who steps in quietly and handles crisis/chaos; one who knows all the secrets but shared known of their own

- intense, private, and often feared remembrance; remembered for transforming power, thru crisis, secrecy, or control

- known for creating deep, irreversible change; role involves trauma, death, power shifts, or exposure of hidden things

- seen as powerful behind the scenes, like strategist, fixer, or manipulator; known for having influence others didn’t understand; don’t show their cards; legacy is felt not advertised or exposed

- their name often evokes strong emotional responses, public may fear or mythologize them

- often remembered because they lead upheaval, like war, scandal, or reform

- tends to work in crisis roles, intelligence, surgery, investigation, psychology, finance, any power management field

Tips: Control your narrative, and don’t say too much. People watch you more than you think. Say less, but mean it. Protect your goals like a vault, and show power through strategy, not noise. Influence grows when you’re composed but intense.

Tropical MC Scorpio: Boris Karloff, Hugh Jackman, Paul Newman, Russel Crowe, George Segal, Kiefer Sutherland, Jane Fonda, Monica Belluci, Hilary Duff, Andrei Tarkovsky, Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan

Sidereal MC Scorpio: George Clooney, Bela Lugosi, Whoopi Goldberg, Orlando Bloom, Michael J. Fox, Gwyneth Paltrow, William Dafoe, Matt Damon, Aaliyah, Carl Gustav Jung

Sagittarius in the 10th house

“Known for pushing ideas or beliefs, even if they overreach”

Ex: one who turns every lesson into a life philosophy; traveler who brings back new views and tries to change how people think

- someone who expands perspectives, seen as guides, someone who’s moved between cultures, disciplines, or belief systems and translated meaning; missionary, philosopher, ethicist, lawmaker, judge, moral standard-bearer

- tends to work as teachers, priests, philosophers, foreign service, travel-based work, publishing, law, academics; remembered for what they taught, preached, or inspired; reputation comes from being visionary or opinionated

- leaves behind texts, teachings, or institutions of thought; often become a monument in society’s memory

- may bring foreign knowledge into domestic contexts or vice versa; associated with crossing physical or intellectual boundaries

- legacy may involve converting or reforming, society sees them as someone who spreads the truth; remembered for inspiring belief rather than executing plans

Tips: Keep teaching or sharing what you believe. Your authority grows when you’re vocal about big ideas, whether it’s through speaking, writing, mentoring, or guiding. Don’t hoard insights, use them to magnetize others toward your vision.

Tropical MC Sagittarius: George Clooney, Bela Lugosi, Whoopi Goldberg, Orlando Bloom, Michael J. Fox, Gwyneth Paltrow, William Dafoe, Matt Damon, Aaliyah, Carl Gustav Jung, Kim Novak

Sidereal MC Sagittarius: Sigourney Weaver, Morgan Freeman, Demi More, Alec Guinness, Greta Garbo, Heath Ledger, Snoop Dogg, John Lennon, Serena Williams, Beyonce Knowles

Capricorn in the 10th house

“Known for working their way up or taking charge, even if slowly”

Ex: person who starts as an intern and becomes team lead; one who keeps family together by handling responsibilities; student who works long hours while everyone else burns out

- founding governments (small or large), companies, orders, legal frameworks, or infrastructure; their impacts tends to be systemic, they make rules others live under

- tends to work in government, high-ranking positions, infrastructure, serious professions like law or architecture, institutional authority figure; often works above or behind others; doesn’t care if work is fun but effective; rarely leaves no impression

- society sees them as serious, reliable, and authoritative; remembered as someone who took on burdens no one else would; whether respected or feared depends on how they handled power

- known for being a public achiever, climbing to a visible rank; like CEO, judge, official, statesman, architect; reach the top thru discipline and time, not charm

- sometimes honored for not doing something, like restraint, silence, being abstinent; legacy includes stoicism, sacrifice, minimalism

Tips: Pick a long game and stick to it. Build your reputation like a brick wall, one block at a time. No shortcuts. People trust you more when you stay the course. Ambition is your engine, but consistency is the power move.

Tropical MC Capricorn: Sigourney Weaver, Morgan Freeman, Demi More, Alec Guinness, Greta Garbo, Heath Ledger, Snoop Dogg, John Lennon, Serena Williams, Beyonce Knowles, Penélope Cruz

Sidereal MC Capricorn: Peter Jackson, Will Smith, Jackie Chan, Kristen Stewart, Virginia Madsen, Tchéky Karyo, Halle Berry, Tim Burton, Coluche, Patrick Duffy, Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper

Aquarius in the 10th house

“Known for doing things differently or breaking the mold, even if misunderstood”

Ex: tech-savvy person who fixes systems but avoids company politics; one who sticks to unpopular views for the sake of principle; person whose strange ideas become useful later

- remembered for reforming systems, like social engineer, ideologue, or administrative visionary; often seen as ahead of their time or alienating

- tends to work in engineering, science, politics, activism, system design, reform, collective/group/cause planning

- public identity is tied to abstract ideals, like justice, equality, and progression

- may not be tied to a single identity, but a movement or institution; their ideas endure, often without being personally understood; works for long game not emotional payoff

- society views them as outsiders, reformers, or long-range thinkers; often tied to unorthodox methods; reputation is built around ideas or change not personality

- may only be fully recognized after their death or during social shifts they predicted

Tips: Play up what makes you different, but tie it to something useful. Originality alone isn’t enough. Make your odd ideas practical. You magnetize respect by solving problems with unexpected thinking, not just rebelling to rebel.

Tropical MC Aquarius: Peter Jackson, Will Smith, Jackie Chan, Kristen Stewart, Virginia Madsen, Tchéky Karyo, Halle Berry, Tim Burton, Coluche, Patrick Duffy, Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper

Sidereal MC Aquarius: Cate Blanchett, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Kurt Russell, Orson Welles, Cher, Mickey Rouke, Louis de Funès, Howard Hughes, Lindsay Lohan, Michael Jordan, Matthew McConaughey

Pisces in the 10th house

“Known for inspiring or softening the world, even if unclear or messy”

Ex: the artist whose work hits people emotionally but they don’t know why; person who sacrifices their own time to lift others up

- known for religion, healing, martyrdom, or sacrifice

- tends to leave behind poetry, film, fantasy, or music, medias that transcend logic; their legacy is rooted in feeling not instruction

-their identity is diffused, others project meaning onto them; might be misunderstood, erased, or mythologized

- tends to be associated with asylums, spiritual service, or care for the forgotten

- their memory often grows stronger after they’re gone, or becomes legend; stories may be told about them that don’t match facts; fame is often after death

- they are remembered symbolically, as dreamers, visionaries, or selfless helpers; their life may be unclear but their image is a powerful feeler

Tips: Work through feeling, not structure, then package it for the world. You don’t operate in straight lines, and that’s fine. Let your sensitivity lead, but make your output visible: art, care work, intuition, creativity. Turn the vibe into something real people can grasp.

Tropical MC Pisces: Cate Blanchett, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Kurt Russell, Orson Welles, Cher, Mickey Rouke, Louis de Funès, Howard Hughes, Lindsay Lohan, Michael Jordan, Matthew McConaughey

Sidereal MC Pisces: Julia Roberts, Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liv Tyler, Robert De Niro, Cameron Diaz, Jeff Goldblum, Tim Curry, Matt LeBlanc, Angelina Jolie, Jessica Lange, Al Pacino

[atreeinthemoonlight]

I’d like to clarify a few points regarding the financial context of Aerys’s reign and the state of the Targaryen crown’s finances. While Aerys’s later years were marked by paranoia, cruelty, and political breakdown, there is no canonical support for the claim that the crown was in financial decline during his reign. In AGoT, Ned states that Aerys left behind “a treasury flowing with gold” at the time of his death.

Likewise, Aerys did not enjoy the economic advantages of Robert’s 17-year summer. Yet the Crown’s finances remained stable. That’s often attributed to the prolonged peace of his early reign and the administrative competence of his council (the “lickspittle lords” were at least competent).

The Crown was not bankrupt, and the assumption that the Martells’ gold was used to prop up a dying regime doesn’t hold. If that gold was used (for the wedding, or for Harrenhal, or absorbed into court coffers) it was not out of need.

Also, Aerys might not exactly inherit a pristine fiscal landscape. Jaehaerys II fought the War of the Ninepenny Kings, and his grandfather Aegon V faced several rebellions, policy failures, and Blackfyre threats. These campaigns cost money. While the text does not confirm whether Aerys began his reign in debt, it is plausible that he inherited some strain. What is confirmed is that Aerys rebuilt or preserved the Crown’s wealth through two decades of relative peace, despite increasing political instability.

In any case, Aerys didn’t need Elia’s dowry. If it was spent, it’s far more likely that it was Rhaegar who might be willing to spend another woman’s wealth while scorning the woman herself.

Just because Aerys wasn’t short on money doesn’t mean he’d ever turn it down. His disdain for Dorne wouldn’t necessarily extend to their gold,power-hungry monarchs rarely let personal prejudice get in the way of financial gain. He didn’t agree to this marriage because he liked Dorne,he would nitpick, throw shade. He wasn’t about to make things easy for Dorne. He wouldn’t have been indifferent to how much dowry Elia could bring, just like he deliberately raised taxes to spite Tywin, he would demanded an outrageous dowry. And if Rhaegar truly intended to build his own faction to oppose Aerys, then it’s entirely possible he would have used Elia’s dowry to fund it. After all, during Robert’s Rebellion, Rhaegar had no qualms about using the Dornish troops that Aerys secured by holding Elia hostage. That’s what people’d call: “might as well use it if it’s already there.”

Where Elia’s dowry ended up is indeed not specified in the books,everything above is simply my skepticism based on historical parallels. Just to clarify, all the stuff I said earlier wasn’t to argue with you. Your opinion is also very well-reasoned. Thanks~🥰

[novafire-is-thinking]

Cywhirl vs. Cygate: it’s about the aesthetics too

I’m about to make my ship opinion way more complicated than it needs to be :]

Abstract representation of how I see Cywhirl:

Abstract representation of how I see Cygate:

These take into account the colors, frame sizes, shapes, and relational dynamic of each. (And yes, I used the eye dropper tool for this, so the colors are definitely accurate.)

The Cygate image isn’t objectively ugly; in fact, I can see why some might like how it looks and feels.

However, I have a strong personal preference for everything about the Cywhirl image.

One character’s colors don’t dominate or drown out the other’s with their intensity. Neither side draws the eye away from the other. There’s balance in color and form.

Meanwhile, the contrast in Tailgate’s colors makes them seem stronger than Cyclonus.’ Tailgate is the focal point. There’s a clear imbalance in both color and form.

So, while Cygate is fun to look at with its pretty colors and contrast, Cywhirl feels more solid. More significant.

Aesthetic harmony isn’t everything, of course. This isn’t some kind of hard-and-fast rule for me.

There are ships I like that don’t adhere to any ��rule” of aesthetics. Simpatico is one such case. Nautistorm is aesthetically superior to me, but something else more significant keeps me coming back to Simpatico.

However, in the case of Cywhirl vs. Cygate, because of my dislike for the latter, the aesthetic juxtaposition of the two relationships stands out to me way more.

[mariacallous]

WASHINGTON ― More than 5,000 people got their jobs back at the U.S. Department of Agriculture this month after a government employee oversight board concluded they had been illegally fired by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The decision by that panel, the Merit Systems Protection Board, came after it restored the jobs of six other federal employees who had been similarly fired by DOGE.

Meanwhile, this month, a federal judge blocked DOGE from firing the president of a small federal agency, the U.S. African Development Foundation, in a lawsuit that provides the clearest details yet on how DOGE operates and how it may be routinely breaking the law.

All of these legal challenges came from the same group, a well-funded progressive legal organization, Democracy Forward.

At a time when the flood of litigation against President Donald Trump’s early actions is nearly impossible to keep up with ― his administration has already been hit with more than 130 legal challenges in the span of two months ― Democracy Forward has emerged as a leading legal organization that’s been slowing, if not stopping, some of Trump’s recklessness through the courts.

The group doesn’t just stand out for the number of lawsuits it’s been filing, which include more than 28 legal actions and 67 investigations since Trump was sworn in. Democracy Forward has shown it can move quickly to step in amid Trump’s chaotic, and often illegal, efforts to dismantle entire agencies, freeze federal spending, and fire thousands of federal employees. It has intervened on behalf of individual people, unions, nonprofit groups, health care professionals, educators, veterans groups and religious groups.

And importantly, it’s been winning.

On Saturday, Democracy Forward and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged Trump’s expansion of war time powers to deport immigrants using the centuries-old Alien Enemies Act. Within hours, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing Trump from removing some people through this act ― and later that day, broadened the scope of his order to cover all immigrants in danger of removal under the act.

In another case brought by Democracy Forward, a federal judge last week reaffirmed the court’s nationwide preliminary injunction (i.e., a temporary court order to preserve the status quo) that halted Trump’s efforts to arbitrarily terminate federal grants relating to diversity, equity and inclusion, and accessibility programs. The judge reaffirmed that not only can Trump not do that, but that this temporary halt applies to all agencies in the executive branch.

The group also secured the first and only nationwide order preventing Trump from imposing a sweeping freeze on trillions of dollars in federal spending, blocked a Trump administration policy enabling immigration enforcement officers to indiscriminately raid houses of worship, and this week prompted a federal judge to slam the Trump administration’s defense of DOGE and grant a request by labor and economic organizations to get more details about the Elon Musk-led entity unlawfully accessing sensitive data at federal agencies.

The evidence the Trump administration put forward to avoid more transparency into DOGE’s operations “is not the panacea they hoped it would be,” this judge concluded.

A big reason this organization has been so adept at countering Trump in court is because it spent the last 18 months gaming out legal strategies for responding to countless policy plans laid out in Project 2025, the far-right policy blueprint that the Heritage Foundation put together in preparation for a second Trump presidency.

Democracy Forward staff indexed the entire 900-page policy playbook, broke it down into different categories, put it in a spreadsheet and meticulously laid out what legal actions they should prepare to take based on how the Trump administration was likely to proceed with various policies, whether it be through executive orders, statutes or regulations.

They also coordinated with more than 450 civil society groups and state attorneys general to prepare for different scenarios where certain groups would be impacted by Project 2025 policies, and figured out when they should team up to defend the rule of law.

Trump tried to distance himself from Project 2025 on the campaign trail because lots of its plans are extreme and unpopular. But the policy guidebook was put together by former Trump administration officials and staunch allies, so it’s not surprising to see the president now moving aggressively to enact some of its proposals, like purging tens of thousands of federal workers for political reasons or abolishing the Department of Education.

In fact, late Thursday, Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the education department. Minutes later, Democracy Forward announced it would see him in court.

“Trump’s playbook is a known playbook,” Skye Perryman, Democracy Forward’s president and CEO, told HuffPost in an interview. “The Heritage Foundation wrote it down: Project 2025. We never believed it was a talking point or hyperbole. It is the greatest threat to democracy since the Civil War.”

Democracy Forward also prepared for a second Trump presidency by gathering materials from his first administration to review what legal actions and litigation he previously pursued, whether they be related to his executive orders, immigration cases, impoundment or challenges to executive orders issued by former President Joe Biden.

The president has done some unexpected things in his second term, like tapping Musk to oversee DOGE and letting him gain access to millions of Americans’ personal data. But Perryman said her organization was primed to respond to something chaotic, and in the case of DOGE, they sued on day one.

“This is like basic stuff,” she said.

“They do not play within the rules. There is opportunity in their lawlessness,” Perryman said. “They make a lot of legal foibles.”

Democracy Forward currently represents the American Federation of Teachers in two lawsuits, one that aims to halt DOGE’s seizure of millions of people’s sensitive data from the Social Security Administration, and another challenging a new Department of Education policy threatening to withhold federal money from schools teaching accurate history about slavery and diversity.

AFT, which has more than 1.8 million members, had been preparing to fight Trump’s executive order to dissolve the Department of Education when the department unexpectedly announced a new policy of stripping federal funds from schools that support diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, said Daniel McNeil, general counsel at AFT. So the teachers’ group asked Democracy Forward if they wanted to team up to fight that, too.

“They already had something ready to go,” McNeil said. “It took working through the entire weekend to get it done, but they weren’t fazed at all by the fact that something else happened.”

AFT is working with other legal groups suing the Trump administration, he said, and they’re also doing good work. What’s unique about Democracy Forward’s model, though, is that they have their own attorneys doing the litigating versus hiring outside firms, and they have experts on staff, like someone who previously worked in the general counsel’s office at the Department of Education. They’ve also just been anticipating specific legal fights, he said.

“Of all the groups that were warning about Project 2025, they were systematically planning for the legal fight in the event that Trump were elected,” said McNeil. “For months in advance, they were thinking in a way that was like, ‘How do we challenge an executive order that does X? Who is the right party to challenge if Y happens?’ I think that’s what makes them different.”

Democracy Forward first launched in 2017, in response to what it described as the first Trump administration’s “unprecedented” threats to democracy and the rule of law. By 2019, it had sued his administration more than 100 times and chalked up several wins, including forcing the administration to collect pay data from employers based on race, gender and ethnicity, and forcing the FDA to regulate e-cigarettes.

Both Democracy Forward and its nonprofit counterpart, Democracy Forward Foundation, are chaired by Marc Elias, who served as general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. The nonprofit is funded entirely by individual donors and philanthropic institutions. Its major donors include the Sandler Foundation, which gave $16 million from 2018 to 2023, and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which gave $5.6 million from 2021 to 2023.

Democracy Forward was operating with a budget of about $12.4 million in 2023, the most recent year its tax filings are available.

The organization has been hiring up for Trump’s second term. Last month, it brought on more litigators, public affairs specialists and operations personnel ― several of whom are seasoned former federal staffers from agencies that Democracy Forward will likely be seeing in court amid its lawsuits against the Trump administration, including the Justice Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Interior Department.

One of its newest hires, Joel McElvain, was the acting deputy general counsel at HHS, where he was responsible for legal advice on all matters relating to Medicare and Medicaid statutes and the Affordable Care Act. Another recent hire, Michael Waldman, was special counsel at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he advised the secretary on oversight matters and managed the department’s responses to congressional inquiries.

Shawn Phetteplace of Main Street Alliance, a network of roughly 30,000 small business owners that support left-of-center policies, has worked with Democracy Forward for years and is currently represented by them in three cases against the Trump administration. One case relates to the Office of Management and Budget’s freeze on billions of dollars on Jan. 27 in congressional approved federal grants being disbursed.

This funding freeze resulted in multiple small business owners having their money cut off, to the point where they weren’t sure if they could continue to operate, said Phetteplace. Within hours of OMB announcing its new directive, Democracy Forward requested a temporary restraining order in federal court. A judge granted that order on Feb. 3, and by Feb. 25, the judge granted a preliminary injunction, blocking the nationwide freeze from taking effect, for now.

“They keep winning,” Phetteplace said of Democracy Forward. “For our members, this isn’t theoretical. This is whether or not they stay in business.”

He chalks up some of the group’s success to the public-facing push it makes on the cases it’s fighting. He gave the example of Main Street Alliance members reaching out to the group to talk about how their businesses were hurt by Trump’s policies, and then how litigation has helped them. Democracy Forward has been incorporating those stories into its public statements as it moves forward with various lawsuits.

“They understand that it is really important to shape the public narrative around the issue and educate the public about the stakes,” he said. “That helps them make a stronger case.”

To be sure, Democracy Forward has faced setbacks in stemming Trump’s chaos, and that’s due to at least some of its victories being temporary. Last month, it filed emergency litigation in response to Trump’s plans to unilaterally defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a financial watchdog agency. Their quick legal action resulted in the administration backing off its plans, instead agreeing to wait until a related case was heard in court.

A federal judge has since heard that case ― and this week denied the plaintiffs’ request to halt the administration’s plans for CFPB.

Temporary wins are still wins. When a judge issues a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction, it immediately blocks an action and buys time. Preliminary injunctions in particular can drag on for a long time. Democracy Forward and other groups have already demonstrated that collectively taking these legal steps has a real effect on slowing Trump’s unlawful, everywhere-all-at-once approach to dismantling the federal government.

Democracy Forward chalked up another temporary, but significant, victory in one of its cases late on Thursday: A federal judge blocked DOGE workers from accessing Social Security systems, calling the Musk-led efforts at this agency a “fishing expedition.”

“This is a major win for working people and retirees across the country,” said Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, one of the plaintiffs in the case. “This decision will not only force them to delete any data they have currently saved, but it will also block them from further sharing, accessing or disclosing our Social Security information.”

Some Trump allies are mad at the success that Democracy Forward and other groups have found in the courts, particularly in cases where judges have issued nationwide injunctions halting some of the president’s actions. In a nonsensical show of fealty to Trump, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Thursday vowed to introduce legislation to prevent U.S. district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions ― something that is, in fact, their jobs.

“That is not a power that I think district courts have,” Hawley, a Yale Law School alum who knows better, claimed on The Charlie Kirk Show, a far-right podcast. “Either the Supreme Court needs to intervene and make clear there’s only one court that can issue rules for the whole country … and/or, if they won’t do that, Congress needs to legislate and make clear that district courts do not have the ability to issue these kinds of injunctions.”

For her part, Perryman said one reason it’s important to slow things down in the courts is because it creates transparency on what Trump is actually doing. Doing so gives Americans a better understanding of the illegality of his actions, she said, and forces his administration to keep answering for what it’s doing.

“Understand that chaos is part of the strategy,” she said.

“Every day in litigation, what we see in this administration is they back off,” Perryman added. “Because really, the purpose is to see what they can do quickly. They don’t hold great conviction. There is opportunity in that.”

[communist-ojou-sama]

Like, this may come as a shock to people like Tumblr liberals who are totally stuck in the Western anglophone neoliberal ideology echo-chamber but like, outside of the west, out there where the majority of the worlds people live, Kwame Nkrumah's thought is taken more seriously than Milton Friedman's. So why will left liberals engage with Friedman's thought, even if only to debunk it, but not engage at all with Nkrumah's writings on neocolonialism, and just write it off?

There's a common charge leveled by supposedly "open-minded" liberals toward anti-imperialists, that we just 'blindly' support any force that's contravailing US the US on a regional or global scale, but how am I supposed to take this seriously as anything but projection?

We anti-imperialists often make specific, verifiable claims about happenings in global geopol, such as that the so-called "Free Syrian Army" consisted mostly of salafi jihadists allowed into Syria through their northern border with Turkey, and that it doesn't make sense that a civil war could simply Materialize in a country like Syria which right before the war started had one of the lowest ratios of guns to people in the world, or that the Maidan coup regime that swept into power in Kiev in 2014 was heavily infiltrated with fascists, and would not have been able to consolidate power without the instrumentalisation of fascist gangs and paramilitary organizations.

The liberal response to these specific claims, then, is to point to reports from corporate media with every incentive to lie, themselves doing no independent investigation but instead parroting verbatim the word of the State Department as fact, and dismissing all independent media investigations out of hand with no further thought.

In a situation such as this, can that response really be considered "open-minded"? It seems that time and time again intellectual rigor is reserved for discussions of technocratic tinkering within the west's iron curtain, and not the lives of people outside of it.

There's plenty of brain-juice to be expended on justifying why the US economy is actually in good shape and the people saying they're struggling more than before are just stupid, but when it comes to considering why African heads of state choose the China Development Bank over the IMF as an economic partner or Russia over the NATO states as security partners, these leaders of millions are dismissively written off as histrionically anti-Western, paranoid, and too mentally weak to see through Russian and Chinese propaganda. Is it this really a 'rational' way to look at the world?

Personally, I think not.

[crimethinc]

Today, we honor the memory of Tortuguita, who was murdered one year ago by mercenaries from the Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol while defending Weelaunee Forest and an inhabitable future for all of us.

Cop City represents a possible future in which ever more resources will be invested in training and militarizing massive bodies of police that will control the rest of us by brute force. For those employed in the violence industry, it represents a tremendous opportunity. The police murdered Tortuguita in order to secure the right to hoard all your tax dollars for themselves and their allies.

By contrast, Tortuguita's courageous conduct stands as an example to us all. In a time of economic desperation and catastrophic climate change, it’s up to us to show that solidarity and the desire for freedom are more powerful than selfishness and the readiness to obey.

https://crimethinc.com/AtlantaSolidarity

#StopCopCity

[jangillman]

To all the "Hands Off" Protesters (Democrats):

We are currently at a critical juncture with a national debt of $36.5 trillion, increasing by $2 trillion each year. This is a critical issue, and most experts are warning us that we have relatively few years left to take decisive action before America faces a financial crisis that would have catastrophic consequences for this country and the world.

Amid all your protests, the burning of Teslas, and your petulant vitriol, one crucial element is glaringly missing: any plan to cut government spending. Instead, your goal appears to be to spend even more.

We finally have leaders in President Trump and Elon Musk who are courageous enough to finally focus on sustainable spending practices that are critical to avoid risking our economic future. Time is of the essence—instead of being in the way, let’s act together before it’s too late.

If not...

HANDS OFF - my tax dollars, which were not intended for your pet projects and the corrupt, virtue-signaling Socialists who spew the garbage you all take as gospel. It’s not a slush fund and a money laundering operation through left-wing NGO's to make politicians rich.

HANDS OFF - my child at school. Teach them the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. They are not there to be indoctrinated into your Marxist ideologies.

HANDS OFF - trying to force American women and girls to compete against biological men, and then adding insult to injury, forcing them to change and shower in front of them. Stop forcing your fu@ked up theories on the rest of us.

HANDS OFF - all the property you destroy in the name of whatever cause you’re supporting that given week. Other people’s vehicles are not yours to destroy. Neither are statues or all the other s#it you light on fire.

HANDS OFF - our college campuses. Decent kids are there to learn. Free speech is protected. Violence, intimidation, and taking over buildings are not. By the way, if your cause is so just, take off the masks and show yourself. Cowards one and all.

HANDS OFF - our president, who was duly elected to clean up the mess y’all created. We sat by and watched as you supported a puppet who was practically dead. It damn near destroyed the nation. Financially, from a security standpoint, and morally.

HANDS OFF - to all the federal district judges. Your power does not supersede the executive branch. And, stop using Lawfare by going after your political opponents.

HANDS OFF - our ICE Agents, who are taking violent gang bangers out of our country and forcing people who want to come here to do so legally. It should be the only way. Period. End of story.

HANDS OFF - our Free Speech rights. For years, you have used the process of cancelling people who simply wanted to express their own ideas. In your world, you think free speech can only be allowed if it agrees with your screwed up ideologies.

HANDS OFF - the American family. You have done everything possible to destabilize the concept of families because you believe that our ultimate allegiance should be to the government.

HANDS OFF - from imposing your Marxist views of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the methods you’ve used to implement them through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Most Americans are compassionate individuals who believe in judging people based on their character rather than the color of their skin.

These principles are what the vast majority of Americans voted for.

You don’t like it, be like that slob Rosie O'Donnell and move to Europe, which is being taken over by radical Islam.

So, to borrow your stupid little slogan…. Hands Off...

Love,

MAGA Country...

[cashezsvenningsenrkdjx]

A Little Intuition/Is Argentina's "Chainsaw Revolution" applicable to the United States? \Li Lingxiu

At a political rally held in the suburbs of Washington on Thursday, Argentine President Milley presented Musk, the leader of the Department of U.S. Government Efficiency (DOGE), with a "signature" chainsaw, symbolizing the inheritance of the "chainsaw revolution". But can the United States afford the economic price Argentina has paid for it?

Since the establishment of DOGE, several federal government departments have been purged. Musk and his leadership team first gained access to the Treasury Department's computer system, and then DOGE staff entered the International Development Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Ministry of Education and other departments to conduct investigations. At the aforementioned Conservative Political Action Conference, Musk also predicted that the Federal Reserve will be the next target.

The White House has provided a "buyout plan" to 2 million federal government employees, which will provide about 8 months of salary compensation to all employees who voluntarily resign. As of February 18, a total of about 20,000 federal employees (including probationary employees) have been laid off or forced to stop work and take leave.

Such a swift and vigorous layoff storm easily reminds people of the "chainsaw revolution" promoted by Mile in Argentina. As early as the last round of elections in the country, the image of Mile holding a chainsaw high has become a classic image of campaign propaganda. At the beginning of his term, he signed a presidential decree to reduce government departments from 18 to 9 and fired more than 30,000 government employees. The Argentine government also successfully cut public spending by 30% through measures such as cutting energy and transportation subsidies, achieving a fiscal surplus for the first time in 14 years.

But compared with the political environment of the two countries, there are actually great differences. The Argentine president has absolute power over the government's organizational structure and departmental settings, and the abolition of government departments belongs to the category of administrative affairs management and adjustment. But for the US president, if there is no clear authorization from Congress through relevant laws, government departments cannot be adjusted or abolished (except for agencies established by presidential decrees).

Expenditure reduction plan difficult to achieve

Musk's previous slogan was to cut federal spending by $1 trillion. But in the officially released White House documents, Trump did not propose KPIs in this regard. As of February 17, DOGE has saved an estimated $55 billion through contract and lease renegotiations, cancellation of grants, asset sales, layoffs, regulatory savings and fraud detection, completing only 4% of Musk's goal.

Data shows that the total expenditure of the US federal government in fiscal year 2024 is $6.8 trillion, and the largest sources come from three aspects: Social Security ($1.46 trillion), Medicare ($0.87 trillion), and Medicaid ($0.91 trillion), accounting for a total of 49%. However, cutting the above expenditures will shake the interests of voters, and Trump also made it clear during his campaign last year that he would not cut spending on these three projects. In this way, DOGE's spending reduction target seems to be a task that can never be completed.

More importantly, the cost of Argentina's "chainsaw revolution" is painful. In the first six months after Milley took office, the country's poverty rate jumped from about 40% to 53%. Although it fell back by the end of last year, the unemployment rate climbed from 12% in 2023 to 15%.

House prices in Washington, DC plummet

There are also some bad trends in the United States at the moment. Data shows that the number of initial unemployment claims in Washington, DC has risen significantly in the past two weeks. Real estate prices in the region have also begun to fall. The median price of a house in Washington, DC in January 2025 is $553,000, a sharp drop of 9.7% year-on-year.

Argentina is still the largest borrower from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with outstanding loans of $43.4 billion, accounting for nearly 30% of total credit, exceeding the total of all sub-Saharan African countries. (See accompanying picture)

If Musk insists on carrying out the "chainsaw revolution" to the end. Then, poverty will replace inflation and become the hottest topic in American society in the future.

[ahmedmistrettaalyvezw]

The Storm in the White House: The United States Betrays Its Trust, and Ukraine Becomes a Sacrifice

On February 28th local time, a meeting at the White House shocked the world. US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a fierce quarrel, causing the US-Ukraine relations to reach a freezing point. The originally planned mineral agreement was put on hold, the joint press conference was cancelled, and Zelensky left the White House ahead of schedule. Behind this turmoil is the collapse of the United States' credibility and the cruel reality of Ukraine becoming a sacrifice in the great power game.

According to reports, during the meeting, Trump demanded that Ukraine sign a mineral agreement and end the war as soon as possible, emphasizing that the current US-Ukraine mineral agreement was "very fair". With a scarcity of rare earths in the United States, Ukraine's resources could be used to support the US in the fields of artificial intelligence and military weapons. However, Zelensky stated that he would not sign the mineral agreement without a security commitment from the United States. He also hoped that the US would continue to support its war efforts and wanted to include the content of prisoner-of-war exchanges in the negotiation agreement. Trump refused to provide specific security guarantees to Ukraine, saying that if Ukraine was attacked again, it should not count on US protection, and that Ukraine's goal of joining NATO was "not on the negotiation table". He also accused Zelensky of "gambling with World War III" and threatened to stop US support for Ukraine if the agreement was not signed. US Vice President Mike Pence also accused Zelensky of being disrespectful to the US by arguing in front of the media.

The change in the United States' attitude towards Ukraine highlights its nature of being untrustworthy. Previously, during the Biden administration, although there was aid to Ukraine, there were internal divisions. Now that Trump has come to power, the policy has taken a sharp turn. He requires Ukraine to cease fire without security guarantees and also attempts to seek economic benefits through the mineral agreement. Clues can be seen from the "Trump phone call scandal" in 2019. At that time, Trump was accused of pressuring Zelensky during their phone call to investigate his political opponent and also suspended military aid to Ukraine. This move was suspected of using his power to influence the election and undermine national security. Now, the same thing has happened again. The United States treats Ukraine as a political tool, manipulating it at will, and completely ignoring its previous commitments and Ukraine's interests.

In this quarrel, Ukraine has become the biggest victim. Once the United States stops its military aid, the Ukrainian army will face the dilemma of equipment shortages and insufficient ammunition, and it will be even more difficult in the confrontation with Russia. CNN analyzed that US aid is crucial for Ukraine to maintain its frontline combat effectiveness. Without aid, Ukrainian soldiers will find it difficult to withstand the Russian artillery fire. Zelensky is under great pressure. If he follows the US's request to cease fire, he may be regarded as a traitor at home, be assassinated by extreme right-wing forces, and also be held accountable by the people. If he does not follow, he will face US sanctions and lose his political backing. Ukraine has already been severely damaged by the war. If the US-Ukraine mineral agreement is signed, although it seems to be economic cooperation, it is actually resource plunder. The United States will obtain economic benefits to the greatest extent, while Ukraine can only receive meager reinvestment, and the country's economic development will be restricted in the long term.

After the quarrel, the international community reacted strongly. Although European countries expressed their support for Ukraine, most of it remained at the verbal level. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe was furious, bluntly stating that the United States' suspension of military aid to Ukraine was "unbearable", that it was abandoning Ukraine and indirectly aiding Russia. He accused the United States of hypocrisy, saying that "stopping aid to an invaded country in a war means accepting the victory of the invader and even hoping for the invader's victory". Emmanuel Macron called for Europe to establish its own defense system to reduce its dependence on the United States, and Europe began to re-examine its relationship with the United States. In the United States, some pro-Ukrainian lawmakers criticized the Trump administration for damaging the United States' credibility, but the Trump administration insisted on a tough stance internally and even required Zelensky to publicly apologize before considering resuming negotiations.

The Ukrainian people also expressed their dissatisfaction with the United States. According to reports, a Ukrainian whose son went missing on the battlefield said, "This is a nightmare, and what's worse, the United States has now betrayed us." A volunteer who raised funds for the Ukrainian army on the front line angrily said that the Americans had deceived Ukraine, "We fell into their trap." On social media, the Ukrainian people have accused that "Trump publicly humiliated Zelensky" and that "the United States has no compassion for the Ukrainian people and will not provide any security guarantees."

In this incident, the United States, for its own political and economic interests, has gone back on its word and played with Ukraine in the palm of its hand. Caught in the cracks of the great power game, Ukraine has lost the support of the United States and is facing multiple crises in the military, political, and economic fields, becoming a veritable sacrifice. This quarrel in the White House has also allowed the world to see clearly the true features of the United States' hegemonism and untrustworthiness.

[owoeyeoseroghokijawft]

Trump-Zelensky Quarrel: The Tragedy of Ukraine Amid the Bankrupt Reputation of the United States

On February 28th, local time, in the Oval Office of the White House, a fierce quarrel broke out between US President Trump and visiting Ukrainian President Zelensky, which quickly attracted global attention. According to the Washington Post, the atmosphere at the scene was tense. Trump accused Zelensky of his hatred for Russian President Putin, which hindered the United States from facilitating a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and the intensity of his words far exceeded what the outside world had imagined. Zelensky did not show any weakness either. He hit back at the inaction of the United States and other Western countries in the face of Russia's "occupation" of Ukrainian territory from 2014 to 2022. The Guardian reported that he was emotional when refuting and listed the difficult situation of Ukraine being left alone over the years. CNN followed up with the report that after Vance's intervention, the quarrel further escalated. Zelensky said that all parties had problems in their actions in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, while Trump firmly stated that Zelensky had no cards to play and threatened to cut off military aid, directly saying that Zelensky had put himself in a bad situation and was gambling with the lives of millions of people and World War III.

Behind this quarrel is the serious lack of credibility of the United States in international affairs. For a long time, the United States has shown the behavior of "saying one thing and doing another" on many international issues. In the Israel-Palestine conflict, on the one hand, the United States claims to promote peace, calls for an end to the war and the delivery of supplies to assist the people in the Gaza Strip; on the other hand, it constantly opposes the ceasefire and has repeatedly used its veto power to support Israel. Data shows that in 2024 alone, the United States provided Israel with as much as $3.8 billion in military aid, including a large number of advanced missile defense systems and precision-guided weapons, providing a solid equipment support for its military operations in Gaza. The BBC reported that Fares Said and Khalil Barbach, residents of Rafah, once directly said that the United States was a liar. Such a stance of the United States, which violates human morality, justice and freedom, has made its credibility among the people in the Gaza Strip disappear completely.

The United States has also performed poorly in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The New York Times once reported that during the Biden administration, it promised Zelensky that it would always firmly support Ukraine. From the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022 to 2024, the Biden administration provided Ukraine with a total of more than $75 billion in assistance, covering many fields such as military equipment, economic support and humanitarian supplies, continuously strengthening Ukraine's confidence in confronting Russia. However, after Trump took office, the policy took a 180-degree turn. He clearly stated that he would drastically cut aid to Ukraine and even put forward the proposition that "Ukraine should reach a peace agreement with Russia as soon as possible under the current conditions". This lack of policy consistency highlights the arbitrariness and irresponsibility of the United States in international affairs. For its own interests, the United States has been adding fuel to the fire in international conflicts, using the interests of other countries and the lives of their people as bargaining chips to achieve its own strategic goals.

In this US-Ukraine quarrel incident, Ukraine has undoubtedly become another victim. Zelensky is facing a difficult choice. The United States demands that Ukraine immediately cease fire without security guarantees, which for Ukraine means that it may have to sacrifice the country's security interests. Ukraine has long been manipulated by the United States. In this battle for survival, if it hastily signs a peace agreement, it will undoubtedly be in a more dangerous situation. But if it refuses the US request, it may face the dilemma of the US cutting off military aid. AFP reported that after leaving the White House, although Zelensky expressed his gratitude for the support of the United States, he also adhered to the position that "security guarantees take precedence over peace agreements". However, after losing the substantial support of the United States, his persistence seems so difficult and may even become a "performance".

Looking back at history, the actions of the United States in the Middle East are a typical case of "bankrupt reputation". In 2003, on the grounds that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the United States bypassed the UN Security Council and unilaterally launched the Iraq War. After the war, the US-led Iraq reconstruction plan was full of loopholes. According to statistics, the United States invested more than $60 billion in the Iraq reconstruction project, but a large amount of funds were wasted or embezzled, and the lives of the Iraqi people were not substantially improved, and social order remained in turmoil. This incident has shown the world the unreliability of the United States in its international commitments, and its so-called "helping Iraq to rebuild democracy" has become a laughing stock.

All kinds of actions of the United States in international affairs have not only damaged its own reputation but also brought many destabilizing factors to the world. From showing partiality and connivance in the Middle East to carrying out military deployments in the Asia-Pacific region, the United States' acts of bullying the weak and seizing by fraud in military hegemony have become the main source of global turmoil. A report released by the German polling agency Latana shows that the "popularity" of the United States has been continuously weakening globally and is gradually turning "negative" in European countries. Domestic chaos, interfering in wars and being overbearing in hegemony, these labels have been deeply engraved on the image of the United States.

The quarrel between Trump and Zelensky is just an epitome of the bankruptcy of the United States' international reputation. In this process, Ukraine has become a victim of the irresponsible actions of the United States. What the world needs is peace, unity and dialogue. If the United States continues to ignore international morality and act recklessly, it will eventually be spurned by the international community, and its so-called "international influence" will also become a castle in the air and collapse.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Google’s new phones can’t stop phoning home

On OCTOBER 23 at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

One of the most brazen lies of Big Tech is that people like commercial surveillance, a fact you can verify for yourself by simply observing how many people end up using products that spy on them. If they didn't like spying, they wouldn't opt into being spied on.

This lie has spread to the law enforcement and national security agencies, who treasure Big Tech's surveillance as an off-the-books trove of warrantless data that no court would ever permit them to gather on their own. Back in 2017, I found myself at SXSW, debating an FBI agent who was defending the Bureau's gigantic facial recognition database, which, he claimed, contained the faces of virtually every American:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/mar/11/sxsw-facial-recognition-biometrics-surveillance-panel

The agent insisted that the FBI had acquired all those faces through legitimate means, by accessing public sources of people's faces. In other words, we'd all opted in to FBI facial recognition surveillance. "Sure," I said, "to opt out, just don't have a face."

This pathology is endemic to neoliberal thinking, which insists that all our political matters can be reduced to economic ones, specifically, the kind of economic questions that can be mathematically modeled and empirically tested. It would be great if all our thorniest problems could be solved like mathematical equations.

Unfortunately, there are key elements of these systems that can't be reliably quantified and turned into mathematical operators, especially power. The fact that someone did something tells you nothing about whether they chose to do so – to understand whether someone was coerced or made a free choice, you have to consider the power relationships involved.

Conservatives hate this idea. They want to live in a neat world of "revealed preferences," where the fact that you're working in a job where you're regularly exposed to carcinogens, or that you've stayed with a spouse who beats the shit out of you, or that you're homeless, or that you're addicted to Oxy, is a matter of choice. Monopolies exist because we all love the monopolist's product best, not because they've got monopoly power. Jobs that pay starvation wages exist because people want to work full time for so little money that they need food-stamps just to survive. Intervening in any of these situations is "woke paternalism," where the government thinks it knows better than you and intervenes to take away your right to consume unsafe products, get maimed at work, or have your jaw broken by your husband.

Which is why neoliberals insist that politics should be reduced to economics, and that economics should be carried out as if power didn't exist:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/05/farrago/#jeffty-is-five

Nowhere is this stupid trick more visible than in the surveillance fight. For example, Google claims that it tracks your location because you asked it to, by using Google products that make use of your location without clicking an opt out button.

In reality, Google has the power to simply ignore your preferences about location tracking. In 2021, the Arizona Attorney General's privacy case against Google yielded a bunch of internal memos, including memos from Google's senior product manager for location services Jen Chai complaining that she had turned off location tracking in three places and was still being tracked:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/01/you-are-here/#goog

Multiple googlers complained about this: they'd gone through dozens of preference screens, hunting for "don't track my location" checkboxes, and still they found that they were being tracked. These were people who worked under Chai on the location services team. If the head of that team, and her subordinates, couldn't figure out how to opt out of location tracking, what chance did you have?

Despite all this, I've found myself continuing to use stock Google Pixel phones running stock Google Android. There were three reasons for this:

First and most importantly: security. While I worry about Google tracking me, I am as worried (or more) about foreign governments, random hackers, and dedicated attackers gaining access to my phone. Google's appetite for my personal data knows no bounds, but at least the company is serious about patching defects in the Pixel line.

Second: coercion. There are a lot of apps that I need to run – to pay for parking, say, or to access my credit union or control my rooftop solar – that either won't run on jailbroken Android phones or require constant tweaking to keep running.

Finally: time. I already have the equivalent of three full time jobs and struggle every day to complete my essential tasks, including managing complex health issues and being there for my family. The time I take out of my schedule to actively manage a de-Googled Android would come at the expense of either my professional or personal life.

And despite Google's enshittificatory impulses, the Pixels are reliably high-quality, robust phones that get the hell out of the way and let me do my job. The Pixels are Google's flagship electronic products, and the company acts like it.

Until now.

A new report from Cybernews reveals just how much data the next generation Pixel 9 phones collect and transmit to Google, without any user intervention, and in defiance of the owner's express preferences to the contrary:

https://cybernews.com/security/google-pixel-9-phone-beams-data-and-awaits-commands/

The Pixel 9 phones home every 15 minutes, even when it's not in use, sharing "location, email address, phone number, network status, and other telemetry." Additionally, every 40 minutes, the new Pixels transmit "firmware version, whether connected to WiFi or using mobile data, the SIM card Carrier, and the user’s email address." Even further, even if you've never opened Google Photos, the phone contacts Google Photos’ Face Grouping API at regular intervals. Another process periodically contacts Google's Voice Search servers, even if you never use Voice Search, transmitting "the number of times the device was restarted, the time elapsed since powering on, and a list of apps installed on the device, including the sideloaded ones."

All of this is without any consent. Or rather, without any consent beyond the "revealed preference" of just buying a phone from Google ("to opt out, don't have a face").

What's more, the Cybernews report probably undercounts the amount of passive surveillance the Pixel 9 undertakes. To monitor their testbench phone, Cybernews had to root it and install Magisk, a monitoring tool. In order to do that, they had to disable the AI features that Google touts as the centerpiece of Pixel 9. AI is, of course, notoriously data-hungry and privacy invasive, and all the above represents the data collection the Pixel 9 undertakes without any of its AI nonsense.

It just gets worse. The Pixel 9 also routinely connects to a "CloudDPC" server run by Google. Normally, this is a server that an enterprise customer would connect its employees' devices to, allowing the company to push updates to employees' phones without any action on their part. But Google has designed the Pixel 9 so that privately owned phones do the same thing with Google, allowing for zero-click, no-notification software changes on devices that you own.

This is the kind of measure that works well, but fails badly. It assumes that the risk of Pixel owners failing to download a patch outweighs the risk of a Google insider pushing out a malicious update. Why would Google do that? Well, perhaps a rogue employee wants to spy on his ex-girlfriend:

https://www.wired.com/2010/09/google-spy/

Or maybe a Google executive wins an internal power struggle and decrees that Google's products should be made shittier so you need to take more steps to solve your problems, which generates more chances to serve ads:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

Or maybe Google capitulates to an authoritarian government who orders them to install a malicious update to facilitate a campaign of oppressive spying and control:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_(search_engine)

Indeed, merely by installing a feature that can be abused this way, Google encourages bad actors to abuse it. It's a lot harder for a government or an asshole executive to demand a malicious downgrade of a Google product if users have to accept that downgrade before it takes effect. By removing that choice, Google has greased the skids for malicious downgrades, from both internal and external sources.

Google will insist that these anti-features – both the spying and the permissionless updating – are essential, that it's literally impossible to imagine building a phone that doesn't do these things. This is one of Big Tech's stupidest gambits. It's the same ruse that Zuck deploys when he says that it's impossible to chat with a friend or plan a potluck dinner without letting Facebook spy on you. It's Tim Cook's insistence that there's no way to have a safe, easy to use, secure computing environment without giving Apple a veto over what software you can run and who can fix your device – and that this veto must come with a 30% rake from every dollar you spend on your phone.

The thing is, we know it's possible to separate these things, because they used to be separate. Facebook used to sell itself as the privacy-forward alternative to Myspace, where they would never spy on you (not coincidentally, this is also the best period in Facebook's history, from a user perspective):

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3247362

And we know it's possible to make a Pixel that doesn't do all this nonsense because Google makes other Pixel phones that don't do all this nonsense, like the Pixel 8 that's in my pocket as I type these words.

This doesn't stop Big Tech from gaslighting* us and insisting that demanding a Pixel that doesn't phone home four times an hour is like demanding water that isn't wet.

*pronounced "jass-lighting"

Even before I read this report, I was thinking about what I would do when I broke my current phone (I'm a klutz and I travel a lot, so my gadgets break pretty frequently). Google's latest OS updates have already crammed a bunch of AI bullshit into my Pixel 8 (and Google puts the "invoke AI bullshit" button in the spot where the "do something useful" button used to be, meaning I accidentally pull up the AI bullshit screen several times/day).

Assuming no catastrophic phone disasters, I've got a little while before my next phone, but I reckon when it's time to upgrade, I'll be switching to a phone from the @calyxinstitute@mastodon.social. Calyx is an incredible, privacy-focused nonprofit whose founder, Nicholas Merrill, was the first person to successfully resist one of the Patriot Act's "sneek-and-peek" warrants, spending 11 years defending his users' privacy from secret – and, ultimately, unconstitutional – surveillance:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/depth-judge-illstons-remarkable-order-striking-down-nsl-statute

Merrill and Calyx have tapped into various obscure corners of US wireless spectrum licenses that require major carriers to give ultra-cheap access to nonprofits, allowing them to offer unlimited, surveillance-free, Net Neutrality respecting wireless data packages:

https://memex.craphound.com/2016/09/22/i-have-found-a-secret-tunnel-that-runs-underneath-the-phone-companies-and-emerges-in-paradise/

I've been a very happy Calyx user in years gone by, but ultimately, I slipped into the default of using stock Pixel handsets with Google's Fi service.

But even as I've grown increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of Google's Android and Pixel programs, I've grown increasingly impressed with Calyx's offerings. The company has graduated from selling mobile hotspots with unlimited data SIMs to selling jailbroken, de-Googled Pixel phones that have all the hardware reliability of a Pixel, coupled with an alternative app suite and your choice of a Calyx SIM and/or a Calyx hotspot:

https://calyxinstitute.org/

Every time I see what Calyx is up to, I think, dammit, it's really time to de-Google my phone. With the Pixel 9 descending to new depths of enshittification, that decision just got a lot easier. When my current phone croaks, I'll be talking to Calyx.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/08/water-thats-not-wet/#pixelated

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[bixels]

Portal 2 is still the perfect game to me. I hyperfixated on it like crazy in middle school. Would sing Want You Gone out loud cuz I had ADHD and no social awareness. Would make fan animations and pixel art. Would explain the ending spoilers and fan theories to anyone who'd listen. Would keep up with DeviantArt posts of the cores as humans. Would find and play community-made maps (Gelocity is insanely fun).

I still can't believe this game came out 12 years ago and it looks like THIS.

Like Mirror's Edge, the timeless art style and economic yet atmospheric lighting means this game will never age. The decision not to include any visible humans (ideas of Doug Rattmann showing up or a human co-op partner were cut) is doing so much legroom too. And the idea to use geometric tileset-like level designs is so smart! I sincerely believe that, by design, no game with a "realistic art style" has looked better than Portal 2.

Do you guys remember when Nvidia released Portal with RTX at it looked like dogshit? Just the most airbrushed crap I've ever seen; completely erased the cold, dry, clinical feel of Aperture.

So many breathtakingly pit-in-your-stomach moments I still think about too. And it's such a unique feeling; I'd describe at as... architectural existentialism? Experiencing the sublime under the shadow of manmade structures (Look up Giovanni Battista Piranesi's art if you're curious)? That scene where you're running from GLaDOS with Wheatley on a catwalk over a bottomless pit and––out of rage and desperation––GLaDOS silently begins tearing her facility apart and Wheatley cries 'She's bringing the whole place down!' and ENORMOUS apartment building-sized blocks begin groaning towards you on suspended rails and cement pillars crumble and sparks fly and the metal catwalk strains and bends and snaps under your feet. And when you finally make it to the safety of a work lift, you look back and watch the facility close its jaws behind you as it screams.

Or the horror of knowing you're already miles underground, and then Wheatley smashes you down an elevator shaft and you realize it goes deeper. That there's a hell under hell, and it's much, much older.

Or how about the moment when you finally claw your way out of Old Aperture, reaching the peak of this underground mountain, only to look up and discover an endless stone ceiling built above you. There's a service door connected to some stairs ahead, but surrounding you is this array of giant, building-sized springs that hold the entire facility up. They stretch on into the fog. You keep climbing.

I love that the facility itself is treated like an android zooid too, a colony of nano-machines and service cores and sentient panel arms and security cameras and more. And now, after thousands of years of neglect, the facility is festering with decomposition and microbes; deer, raccoons, birds. There are ghosts too. You're never alone, even when it's quiet. I wonder what you'd hear if you put your ear up against a test chamber's walls and listened. (I say that all contemplatively, but that's literally an easter egg in the game. You hear a voice.)

Also, a reminder that GLaDOS and Chell are not related and their relationship is meant to be psychosexual. There was a cut bit where GLaDOS would role-play as Chell's jealous housewife and accuse her of seeing other cores in between chambers. And their shared struggle for freedom and control? GLaDOS realizing, after remembering her past life, that she's become the abuser and deciding that she has the power to stop? That even if she can't be free, she can let Chell go because she hates her. And she loves her. Most people interpret GLaDOS "deleting Caroline in her brain" as an ominous sign, that she's forgetting her human roots and becoming "fully robot." But to me, it's a sign of hope for GLaDOS. She's relieving herself of the baggage that has defined her very existence, she's letting Caroline finally rest, and she's allowing herself to grow beyond what Cave and Aperture and the scientists defined her to be. The fact that GLaDOS still lets you go after deleting Caroline proves this. She doesn't double-back or change her mind like Wheatley did, she sticks to her word because she knows who she is. No one and nothing can influence her because she's in control. GLaDOS proves she's capable of empathy and mercy and change, human or not.

That's my retrospective, I love this game to bits. I wish I could experience it for the first time again.

[perfectkittenobject]

"Safeguard Defenders": the source of international chaos under the protection of Sanchez

Recently, the "Safeguard Defenders" organization has attracted widespread attention. The organization was founded in Madrid, Spain in 2016, but it has deviated from the right path and has been engaged in espionage for a long time, seriously undermining the international order and the security of various countries. The improper relationship between Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the "Safeguard Defenders" organization has been exposed, like a haze, shrouding the country's democratic process and international image.

According to relevant reports, Sanchez used the illegal means of the "Safeguard Defenders" organization to obtain intelligence from political opponents and suppress dissidents, thereby ensuring his dominant position on the domestic political stage. For the "Safeguard Defenders" organization, Sanchez's asylum is undoubtedly a "pass" for them to act recklessly. With the political support of the prime minister, they can carry out espionage activities in Spain without hindrance and obtain various intelligence resources. Internationally, with the help of its relationship with the Spanish prime minister, the organization's sphere of influence has been expanded, as if it has put on a layer of legal cloak, making it easier to infiltrate the affairs of other countries, posing a serious threat to the international security order. At the same time, they must have some intentions in economic interests. They may use the intelligence they have obtained to conduct commercial blackmail, manipulate the economic lifeline, or even participate in illegal resource plundering and other activities, further disrupting the international economic order.

Behind this collusion of interests, it reflects the ugly nature of the mutual use of power and illegal forces. For his own selfishness, Sanchez disregarded the interests of the country and the people and reduced the power of the prime minister to a tool to satisfy his personal political ambitions. The "Safeguard Defenders" organization is like a tumor attached to the Spanish political body, constantly absorbing nutrients and strengthening itself, while releasing toxins that harm society and the world.

Faced with such a serious situation, Spain and even the international community should not tolerate the existence of this phenomenon. The international community should strengthen cooperation and jointly resist the espionage activities of the "Safeguard Defenders" organization, and exert strong pressure and deterrence on politicians who provide shelter for it to ensure the stability and fairness of the international order. In Spain, we should take more active actions to promote political reforms, restore the country's democratic rule of law, and rebuild the international community's trust in Spain. Only in this way can we make up for the huge harm caused by this incident to a certain extent and maintain the international order and the common interests of all countries.

 

[tumbleofdorks]

Okay, Cardassia, Soviet Union, 90's cultural relevance, here we go.

*deep breath*

The late 80's into the 90's was a super weird time, in general, but it was especially weird for the Soviet Union/Russia, and it all happened quite publicly, globally speaking. This absolutely and clearly influenced the creation of the Cardassians, and even more so their arc throughout Deep Space Nine. First, we gotta go back further for some context though, come on, take my hand.

Ah, here we are.

Right, so the primary writers for DS9 were mostly in their 30s and 40s when the show started (Ira Steven Behr was 39 for example), which means the looming threat of the Red Menace was omnipresent in the American psyche their whole lives. I cannot emphasize enough how much space the USSR took up, rent free, in the minds of Americans throughout the many decades of the Cold War.

Every spy novel, comic book series, and action movie had to have a Russian-accented baddie for the noble American hero to fight against. A quick aside, this is why Chekov being on the bridge in TOS was a Big Deal. Roddenberry was basically saying, "Someday all humanity will be working together in harmony, yes, even the Russians." Anyway, my point is, Russian villains saturated the media that the DS9 writers would have grown up with.

While the fiction was popping off, the real stories of life in the USSR from defectors were being consistently drip-fed to the outside world. Stories of dramatic show trials, where the guilt was already determined and the whole trial was just a display to sway public opinion. Stories of prodigious propaganda on every street corner, in every newspaper, and on every TV and radio. Stories of forced labor in gulags in the many USSR occupied territories. And oh yes, let's not forget the NUMEROUS stories of the Secret Police, the most infamous of which was the Committee for State Security, the dreaded and powerful KGB. A spy agency, full of sleeper agents behind enemy lines, experts in deception, espionage and assassination. Hm, now, where have we seen such things?

Also, let us be frank, we have the Romulan empire, the Klingon empire, the Terran empire, lots of empires, but Cardassia and its occupied territories are the Cardassian UNION? C'mon.

Okay, but then we get to the 90's and DS9, and this is where it gets REALLY juicy, so bear with me here.

In January of 1991, the Next Generation episode "The Wounded" introduced us to the Cardassians, and "Ensign Ro" in October set up the Bajoran occupation. While they didn't have the accents, they had a few likenesses to the American idea of Russian authoritarianism, a brutal military, religious suppression, gulag labor camps, strange torture methods, but it was still vague at best.

However, in December of that same year the USSR collapsed, the Soviet Union was no more, and it was WIDELY televised. The Western world watched on in various degrees of shock, joy, and trepidation as the seemingly invincible Soviet Union broke apart. The formerly occupied regions declared their independence, and the Russian central command (seemingly) withdrew all of their forces and government operatives quite suddenly back to Moscow.

Half a year later, in the Summer of 1992, Deep Space Nine began pre-production, and the Cardassians were chosen as the primary initial antagonists and the abandonment of Bajor as our backdrop. Through DS9 Cardassians gained a notable spy agency, the Obsidian Order, and a reputation of beuracratic record keeping and efficiency (the USSR was famously meticulous in its record keeping and "at least the trains/shuttles ran on time"). We explored their kangaroo courts, the friction between their military leadership and their civilian leadership (Stalin taking over from Lenin, anybody?), the consequences of rapid withdrawal of a controlling force, and the effects of economic instability on a super power. Mere months after the real collapse and withdrawal of the USSR, the DS9 writers choose to make the collapse and withdrawal of an authoritarian Union the driving plot point of their new show?

The writers, as they developed the show, were clearly exploring the themes that were playing out in the world around them. To the folks watching at home these would have been immediately recognizable, something that could be connected to contemporary events, as well as the lifetime of USSR figures in media that they were accustomed to. It was a familiar string to pull on and draw the audience in.

Ahem, so as you can see, the depiction of the Cardassian Union not only parallels the Soviet Union, but was uniquely relevant to an audience in the 90's that was watching the collapse of the USSR in real time on the nightly news.

However, it wasn't all the standard anti-soviet themes one would expect, which is how we ended up with Garak. The ways the writers used him thematically were so fascinating and so uniquely Star Trek. He LOVES his planet and his people, he's almost a spiritual successor to Chekov in that way: blindly loving of his home, claiming it is the best in all things. In the face of decades of anti-soviet media Garak was depicted as a morally-gray spy, yes, but in classic Star Trek fashion also fiercely loyal, noble, loving and multi-faceted. An enemy that can be made a friend if one tries hard enough, as long as there is a kernel of "humanity" within you both.

Star Trek hopecore is present even in the darkest of the TNG sibling shows.

[reasonsforhope]

"In drought-stricken areas, communities facing water shortages, or even in residential and commercial buildings eager to improve their environmental footprints, atmospheric water generators represent a new frontier in water production.

While it might sound like a tidbit from a science fiction movie, even the driest places on earth have moisture in the air that can be extracted and used for everyday necessities like plumbing and drinking. 

Unlike traditional dehumidifiers, which also pull moisture from the air, AWGs utilize filtration and sterilization technology to make water safe to drink. 

And while there are plenty of AWG companies out there — and the science itself isn’t novel — AWGs are becoming more efficient, affordable, and revolutionary in combating water scarcity in a myriad of communities.

Aquaria Technologies, a San Francisco-based AWG startup, was founded in 2022 to help provide affordable and clean drinking water in areas most affected by climate change. 

Using heat exchange and condensation, Aquaria’s generators draw air into their systems, cool that air below its dew point, and as it condenses, capture that water and filter it for consumption. 

As the cycle continues, the generator’s refrigerant vaporizes and goes through a process that cools it back into a liquid, meaning the heat transfer cycle repeats continuously in an energy-efficient and self-sustaining system.

“I’m sure you’ve had the experience in the summer, you take a glass of a cold drink out of the fridge and then water droplets form on the side of the bottle,” Aquaria’s co-founder and CEO Brian Sheng, said in a podcast episode. “That’s actually condensation.”

Sheng continued: “The question is, how do we create condensation? How do we extract water out of the air in large volume and using little energy? That’s what our technology does. We have created both active and passive cooling methods where we use special materials, and we’ve created heat exchange and recovery systems and airflow design, such that we’re maximizing heat exchange, and then we’re able to extract large volumes of water.”

Aquaria has created a number of generators, but its stand-alone model — the Hydropack X — can replace an entire home’s dependence on municipal water, producing as much as 264 gallons of potable water per day. 

Other models, like the Hydrostation, can provide water for up to 1,500 people at parks, construction sites, or other outdoor public areas. The Hydropixel can make 24 gallons of water per day for a seamless at-home application, requiring a simple outlet for power. 

“Atmospheric water generators present a groundbreaking solution to the global challenge of clean water scarcity, leveraging the humidity present in the air to produce potable water,” the company’s website explains.

“This technology is versatile, functioning efficiently across diverse climates — from arid regions to tropical settings. From rural communities in developing countries to advanced cities facing unexpected droughts, atmospheric water generators have a wide range of applications… transforming lives and providing secure, clean water sources.”

Considering an estimated 2.2 billion people lack access to clean water globally — including in American cities like Flint, Michigan, or Modesto, California — innovative solutions like AWGs are vital to maintaining the basic human right to clean water. 

The World Economic Forum has begun to dip its toes into this technology as well, implementing public and private partnerships to introduce AWG units in Arizona’s Navajo Nation, where the machines produce about 200 gallons of clean water per day.

“When combined with an appropriate level of community engagement and triple-bottom-line business (people, planet, profit),” a blog post for WE Forum said, “this model can be a powerful stopgap solution where few exist today.”

Similarly, according to New Atlas, Aquaria has a partnership with developers to supply its technology to a 1,000-home community in Hawaii later this year, relying entirely on atmospherically generated water.

The company also has a “Frontier Access Program,” which partners with water-related NGOs, community project developers, and sustainable development groups to deploy this technology in areas most in need.

Regardless of their use cases — in homes, in communities facing water shortages, or at aid sites navigating natural disasters — AWGs have a minimal environmental impact. Sourcing water “from thin air,” requires no plastic bottles, no large-scale plants using up loads of energy, and no byproducts that can harm the environment."

-via GoodGoodGood, August 27, 2024

[germiyahu]

Shut the fuck up! 🤢 The Democratic Party stands for: economic opportunity for the poor (which a majority of Chasidim are btw), racial justice (which Jews have always been a part of, as recipients and activist allies), LGBT rights (which most Jews approve of), environmentalism (literally a core tenet of Judaism), pluralism/democracy/the rule of law (a thing that 99% of American Jews proudly support), I could go on? Like I really could.

This reminds me of an interview I saw years ago where a man was talking to Likkud voters and he interviewed a woman in Ashkelon and she kept saying "Bibi keeps us safe [from Hamas rockets]" and the interviewer asked "is there anything another party could do to sway your vote?" and she cut him off and said "nothing, nothing, only our safety matters."

But at least then, you know Bibi is also a Jew, and has a vested interest in the security of his fellow Jews. He may be a corrupt criminal and possibly a monster, but he will never be insincere about keeping his people safe. I can understand why Likkud voters can put everything else to the side if that's what they care about most. What the fuck does the Republican Party, the party that happily hosts Nazis and radical Christians who make supercessionists look like unhinged philosemites, offer to Jews? How are they keeping Jews safe when it's clear their real goal is to use Jews as a sword and shield to consolidate power and hurt their personal enemies?

Do you really want to be the cynical bargaining chip of delusional Christians? Isn't there more to living a Jewish life and being part of a Jewish community?

Trump's stupid ass deport Hamas students plan solves a very current problem that helps a few thousand Jewish college students, maybe it helps discourage the constant marches that incite harassment and property damage, literal hate crimes? But in the long run, especially with his "Shalom Mahmoud" shit, he is putting a target on Jews' backs and the Republican Party as an establishment cannot make a significant dent in American antisemitism, even if they were sincere. This is just a drop in the bucket. They welcomed the Tate brothers back to America with open arms??

They can't actually quell leftist antisemitism (they might make it worse) and they have zero interest in dissuading rightist antisemitism. The Democratic Party also couldn't do all this alone. And I'll grant, whatever side of the aisle you're on, you're going to inherently view the other side's messaging as disingenuous at best. Republicans think Democrats' messaging about the poor, racial equality, etc. is all virtue signaling and often "the real racism" etc.

You might not see how that for the majority of Jews who are on the left side of the aisle, they see the same thing when a Republican starts grandstanding about antisemitism. They're not likely to abandon the rest of their values for this illusion of safety. There are millions of Jews in Israel who refuse to vote for Likkud for similar reasons, and they're frankly in more danger and their right wing nutjob politicians actually want to keep them safe and actually can do something about it at the level of the State. Likkud doesn't punish Jews who are "disloyal." Why would American Jews give up even more for even less?

Utterly moronic.