#sage vs the law of attraction

[sagendipity]

the law of attraction: de minimis

a quackity x reader law school au

part one, chapter one

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The first myth about law school is that everyone is the same.

In movies, in TV shows, in books- everyone in law school is a certain type of person. Dangerously smart, hardworking to a fault, and absolutely cutthroat.

Now, that is true. To get this far, to get into a competitive law school and make it to your final year, you have to be all of the above. Smart, hardworking, and just a little cunning. It’s impossible to get a leg up unless you’re standing on someone else’s knee.

Or neck.

However, the fact that everyone here has to have a certain few traits in order to survive does not mean that they cannot have other traits.

Some are louder, exuberant, and competitive- the type to yell out the answer to a question before raising their hand, the type to go back and forth with the professor when they’re sure they’re right (and they’re not). There’s the introverts, the sly ones you never see coming, who you barely notice next to you all year until you glance over at the grade on their final and it’s a 110%, somehow.

Of course, there’s also the in-between. The respectable ones, the students that are just there to get through the classes they need and get a respectable job at a respectable law firm and make something nice out of their lives.

Or the hero type, the ones that are convinced they can fix any injustice they perceive in the world- the environmental lawyers, the criminal defense lawyers, the civil rights lawyers. They might be right, too, which is why it seems like a never-ending flow of them are pouring into the school at each orientation.

It’s not always as simple as that, of course. You, like many students, are a mix of a few types. You lie somewhere between the exuberant and introverted sides, not shy about answering questions in lectures, but not jumping the gun to cause discourse, either. A bit of a hero type, you must admit, but you do pride yourself on being reasonable when it comes to your life’s expectations. You don’t expect to become some William Kunstler. You work hard, you get shit done, and like law school has a tendency to do, it seems to become your whole entire life.

The type of person you never quite got a read on is Alex.

He’s been sitting next to you in your upper level criminal procedure class for the entire semester. A whole semester’s worth of lectures means you have plenty of time to observe and analyze the people in your classes- its not like there’s anything else to do when the professor is going over voir dire for the third hour that week.

You pegged the kid in the third row as a die-hard businessman. He’s not going into law to help people, he’s going into law to make the most profit off of the most vulnerable clients he can find. The girl in row six, however, is definitely the hero type, judging by her “save the oceans” stickers on her giant re-usable coffee cups.

Alex, though, you can’t read. He dresses down compared to the other students. They dress up to hide their shortcomings, like their fancy coats can stop them from feeling bad about their less-than-adequate qualifications for the internship they just applied for. Others just like to lean into the New York City aesthetic and dress like they’re already lawyers, even despite failing their last midterm. You fall into that category- you can’t help it, it’s a fun look- but hey, you definitely didn’t fail your midterm, and you’ve lived in New York your whole life, so you think you have the right to dress like that.

Alex dresses like he has nothing to hide. He dresses like the young, high-level professor who is always cracked out on Redbull and hasn’t graded a paper in his life; like the cute, fascinating barista at the local hipster coffee shop you can barely afford. He dresses like that one guy you’d see on the subway one day and never manage to forget because of how his eyes met yours for a split second.

To be fair, that is kind of how it’s gone. It’s not exactly like the two of you met on the subway, and you’ve definitely interacted more than just a passing glance, but goddammit is Alex stuck in your head.

You convince yourself it’s just because he’s such a mystery. It’s not because he has really sweet brown eyes, or the most charming, unruly hair you’ve seen this side of the Midwest. It’s not because he whispers a joke under his breath whenever your professor says something stupid, or because he bumps your ankles together and shares an amused glance with you when that one really annoying kid pipes up with an opinion no one wanted.

It’s just because you don’t know why he’s here, and you don’t know what he wants, and you don’t know how to read him.

It bugs you. It gets under your skin- not like an itch, more like a hum. He’s on the back of your mind constantly, like you’re trying to subconsciously figure out what’s up with him, but to this day you’ve had no success.

It’s not like you think about anything substantial in regards to him- every time your traitorous brain brings him up, you put it down quicker than it came up. Getting attached to people is dangerous in the best of circumstances, but getting attached to the absolute enigma of a guy in your criminal procedure class who you can’t even confidently say is named Alex would be equivalent to signing up for heartbreak.

“Don’t date law boys,” your roommate had lamented after she had done just that, laid across her rose-pink bedspread with a sleeve of crackers clutched in one hand and a tissue in the other. She had then blown her nose unattractively. “Lawyers have a reputation for being soulless for a reason. They’re only here for themselves. Fuck them.”

Despite that, you find yourself friends with Alex. As if you’d be able to resist the self-satisfied grins he flashes at you when the professor praises him for a particularly poignant answer, or the way he holds his hand out under the table for a high-five after you nail the answer to a cold call. You barely know anything about him, and yet, you know enough to decide he’s a good person.

“Alex”, whose name you’re only about 80% sure of- maybe it’s short for Alexander, but you thought you’d heard someone he was on the phone with call him Q, so maybe he’s a Quinn or a Quentin?

“Alex”, who shows up looking more comfortable than you’ve been in your entire life, and still manages to hold an air of confidence around him that you’d not be able to master even in your finest long coat and shirt.

“Alex”, who seems determined to wiggle his way into your heart in any way he can.

“Alex”, who you seem to be powerless to resist.

.

This growing attachment to Alex of yours is only strengthened with each lecture. You share this class three times a week, two hours each on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It’s a focus class, meaning that anyone who wants to go into criminal work should take this course. It’s challenging, it’s competitive, and it’s cutthroat.

And it’s only February.

A cold Monday morning in February, in fact, with the clock above your professor’s desk ticking obnoxiously as the big hand nears the 8. Outside, it’s downright miserable: windy and foggy. The outside of the paneled windows of the classroom are glazed in a sticky frost, reducing the figures of passing students to dull blobs as they hurry through the whipping wind to get to their classes.

The big doors at the back of the classroom close with a bang that reverberates throughout the lecture hall, cutting through the murmuring chatter of the students who are already here. Out of the corner of your eye you catch a flash of green- as you suspect, it’s Alex. He always takes the seat on the very end of the row, and you the one immediately to his right. You look up at him with what you hope is a casual smile, but the one he returns is so bright it could probably melt the frost off of the windows.

“Hey!” he says, too awake for 8 in the morning, and sets his binder down on the desk with a clatter. The whoosh of air rustles the paper of your notebook, which you smooth back down habitually. You watch Alex longer than you should, only tearing your gaze away after you notice the smattering of tiny snowflakes that have gathered atop the beanie he’s wearing.

You stifle a little laugh. This guy wears a beanie to law school.

Out of the corner of your eye, you watch as he settles into his seat. He shrugs off his hunter green jacket, leaving him in just a gray hoodie, dotted with darker spots from melting snowflakes that’d been blown into him. He drops his outer jacket across his lap just as the room goes silent, your professor walking up to his desk.

As the last tails of conversations die off, you turn to Alex, unable to help yourself, “You have… snowflakes, on your head.”

He glances at you, a little huff of laughter escaping him as he brings up a hand to smooth over the beanie. The snowflakes are swiped off, melting on the heat of his hand- you wonder how it would feel held in yours, probably warm, he looks like he runs hot- and you pry your eyes away as he straightens out his beanie and tucks his hair up into the brim of it. He misses a strand, and the black swoop stands out sharply against the frost-paled skin of his face.

“Happy February,” your professor begins, his microphone crackling to life. “The month of love, is it not? Just two weeks until Valentines day.”

He swings his bag up onto the stool next to him, the sound echoing through the microphone. He turns to face the lecture hall, arms spread as if welcoming you all to a talk show.

“I’m about to ruin all of your Valentines Day plans. Welcome to the start of your final project: the mock trial.”

.

[babysfirstpentagram]

Witch Tips pt 3

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List of Closed Practices: 

A list Of Closed Or Semi-Closed Practices, Objects And Religions

White sage: A sacred herb used in Indigenous American practices and currently endangered. Used in smudging rituals.

Palo Santo: An aged wood that is burned in South American practices and currently endangered. Palo Santo is important to Hispanic/latinx culture and is currently endangered. Commercial buying of this wood is generally looked down upon by those not belonging to this group of people.

Dream catchers: A hand-made woven willow hoop adorned with sacred items made by Indigenous Americans. Any that are not made by an indigenous American is not a true dream catcher.

Sweetgrass: Considered sacred to Indigenous Americans and is used in smudging rituals. Also is currently endangered.

Practices:

Smudging: A sacred, elaborate, exclusively Indigenous American ritual using smoke. Very different from smoke cleansing an area.

Spirit Guides/Spirit Animals: A purely Indigenous American belief/ part of the religion of certain tribes. Nobody not belonging to this group simply does not have one.

Egg Limpia: A South American practice to cleanse oneself  using an egg.

Karma: A Hinduism belief/concept that the energy someone builds in their life (good or bad) affects how their later lives turn out.

Chakras: A term specific to Hinduism and Buddhism referencing various focal points on the body used in meditation practices. Within Kundali yoga breath exercises, visualizations, mudras, bandhas, kriyas, and mantras are focused on manipulating the flow of subtle energies through chakras

Sour Jars: A spell belonging to hoodoo and vodou and various other closed practices using a jar to hex.

Haitian Vodou: A polytheistic, syncretic religion coming from west African (Yoruba and Fon) Roman Catholicism. Developed among Afro-Haitian communities amid the Atlantic slave trade and the main religion in Haiti as well as Catholicism.

Hoodoo: A syncretic religion created by enslaved Africans, this religion is practiced in the Caribbean and in southern America, an amalgamation of spiritual practices, traditions, and beliefs that were held in secret away from white slaveholders.

Santeria: a polytheistic, syncretic religion originating in Cuba and combines Yoruba and Roman Catholic beliefs.  Also developed during the Atlantic slave trade.

Many Native American cultures

Many African cultures

Saami (in Finland)

Religions

Shinto (There are branches of Shinto practice that are open, but this kind of practice should be approached with a high level of respect, and some branches are definitely closed. Jinja Shinto would be to most prominent example of an open denomination)

Druidism (proper not neo)

Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca

Haitian Vodou

Hawaiian

Some parts of African Vodou (It depends on the section/group/family etc.)

Hinduism (There are denominations of Hinduism that are open and available, just as there are sects that are closed. Some of the “open sects are highly problematic, and so it does one to be very careful when looking at joining a sect of Hindu faith. Dharmic law is part of what makes this a little sticky to navigate, so best to be approached with deference and caution. )

Hopi

Inuit

Judaism (You must earn the right to be called Jewish)

Raastafari Movement

Tribal (almost all)

Voodoo (Dependent on the group which you decide to learn from)

Voudon

Zoroastrianism

Practices Requiring Education

Kemetic Orthodox- This does not require an initiation per say, but does require a rite of passage of sorts and there is a series of coursework that should be completed.

Tibetan: closed

Hindu: closed

Semitic: closed

polynesian: closed

Indian: closed

Russian: closed

Aztec: closed

Aryan: closed

Maori: closed

Lapp: closed

Voodooloa: closed

Etruscan: closed

Native American: closed

Stregheria: closed

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The only difference between a pentacle and a pentagram is there is a circle around the star in a pentacle. That’s it. Both give you protection, both are used in rituals. 

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Both burry spell jars, its bad for the environment.

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When writing your spells, be very specific. Don’t just put “I want happiness.” 

Instead put: “I wish to be happy, surrounded by friend and family that love me.” or “I wish to be happy, living comfortably in my easy going job.” The more detailed, the better.

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Some crystals bleach in sunlight, some crystals dissolve in water. Please research before buying expensive crystals and letting them lay around. 

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wiccan/witch sabbats are not real, the word they should've use is "solar holidays" or "wheel of the year"

Esbats, wheel of the year/solar holidays are real and fine!! Though, sabbats aren't. Their origins are anti-semetic. https://twitter.com/honeybeebuggy/status/1373334936225075203?s=21 https://www.jewitches.com/post/witch-history-jews-and-the-witchcraze 

Except for: the Christian Sabbath which is a day of 'religious observance and abstinence from work'.

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A few things you can start researching once you begin your journey:

- meditation - grounding - basics of energy - cleansing - charging - crystals - herbs - oils - wicca vs witchcraft - history of witchcraft - the elements - intentions - color magic - divination (tarot, pendulums etc.) - altars - altar tools - astrology - numerology - types of witches - runes - the wheel of the year - protection - warding - spells

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The more you keep hyping up my witch tips posts, the more witch tips posts I make. Inbox is open for questions and suggestions for posts. Remember, you are loved and important and very very handsome/pretty/attractive (platonically, of course!) Now go kick some bigoted ass and drink water. 

[mythgirlimagines]

Now that today is Tuesday, I’ve conjured up a fresh new talentswap! Give a warm welcome to Myth, Former Ultimate Child Caregiver!

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BACKSTORY AND TALENT

Myth’s parents work at an orphanage, and as such, she was born and raised around little kids. She may have 3 biological sisters, but emotionally, she has close to 53 siblings. Myth bonded especially with a rough-and-tough street rat the same age as her. However, when Myth started to get older, the orphanages funds began to falter. Myth’s parents had no choice but to send their strongest orphans to ”aikido training” in order to earn them money. And sadly, Wyre was amongst the strongest orphans. Myth was deeply hurt by the loss of her childhood friend, but she had to remain strong for the rest of the orphans. Many other Ultimates also visit Myth’s orphanage in order to assist her in caring for the children. She claims she can do it all by herself, but deep down, she appreciates the extra helping hands.

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RELATIONSHIPS

Wyre Anon, Former Ultimate Assassin Aikido Master

Wyre has been Myth’s friend ever since Wyre was first brought flailing and screaming into the orphanage. Myth is only one able to calm a little Wyre down from her outbursts, even to the present day. Myth is also the only one who knows of Wyre’s secret identity as “Ryuuken”, a highly dangerous and violent assassin, and regularly controls Wyre in case she can’t fight her violent nature.

Anon Scar, Ultimate Adventurer

Scar, or “The Crusader Of The Mortal Realm” as she refers to herself, is well-known for traversing across dangerous terrain and through precarious situations. Scar is also a big hit amongst the kids at Myth’s orphanage for her bombastic anecdotes regarding her travels, abliet with Myth and Fusion translating the more complex parts of her speech. Scar will never admit it, but she has a soft spot for the ”Spawn of Heart”, as she calls them.

FU5-10N (aka. Fusion Anon), Ultimate Robot

Originally built for the purpose of being a science museum’s tour guide and mascot, FU5-10N has since being upgraded to look after little kids as well. While some more skittish kids may be a bit unnerved by this 6,3 metal man, the fear quickly dissipates when said 6,3 metal man starts telling dad jokes and science trivia. Myth quickly got along with the metal man for their shared love of puns. However, FU5-10N is also the only one besides Myth who knows of Wyre‘s true talent.

Fusion Anon II, Ultimate Cosplayer

Fusion II is well-known across conventions for her impressively accurate craftsmanship regarding her costumes. Fusion II regularly acts sarcastic and ”too cool for school”, but Myth and the kids quickly busts down her snarky exterior to reveal a massive nerd deep down. Because of Fusion II’s talent, she can not only repair the orphan’s torn clothes and plushies, but she‘ll improve them and make them at least “20% cooler”. She’ll never admit it, but she lives for the orphan’s smiles and words of gratitude.

Just Anon, Ultimate Artist

A natural prodigy when it comes to all sorts of art forms, Janon very quickly establishes himself as a cynical and lazy jerk. Or at least, around adults and kids his age. When around people younger than him need his help, he’d always there for them in a pinch. Unfortunately for him, Myth regularly teases and praises Janon for his soft spot towards the orphans, claiming that he should start working here full-time. This usually earns her paint splashed in her face.

Sparkle Anon, Former Ultimate Magician

Sparkle, or “THE SPECTACULAR SPELLCASTER, SPARKLE“ as she refers to herself, might just hold the record for the most bombastic and elaborate magic tricks ever performed on stage. Myth’s relationship with Sparkle goes back more than half a decade. In fact, Sparkle got her start entertaining the kids at Myth’s orphanage. Myth regularly volunteers herself to assist Sparkle in her magic shows. Even as an adult, Sparkle still hasn’t lost her sparkling and eccentric charm. She lives for the thunderous roar of applause and the tsunami of smiles from her loving audience.

Egg Anon, Former Ultimate Supreme Leader, and Wet Sock Anon, Former Ultimate Astronaut

While Myth normally would allow anyone to help out at the orphanage, these two are the exception to this rule, and it’s not hard to see why. Egg has but one goal; to brainwash children with cursed thoughts and indoctrinate them into their cult. Their twin, Wet Sock‘s main goal is to extend the reach of their cult to outer space. Myth speaks for everyone at the orphanage when she says that Egg and Wet Sock’s cursed images and concepts  are hazardous to a child‘s mental health.

Curious Anon, Jr. Ultimate Anthropologist 

Just like with Scar, Curious’s stories of their worldly travels entice the children of Myth’s orphanage. And Curious as a person is an equally pleasant experience, for they are tranquil, mild-mannered and easy to get along with. Myth regularly tries to set up Curious with Janon, knowing that Janon has fallen hood-over-heels for them. But despite Curious’s knowledge on the foreign aspects of humanity, romantic feelings seem to be foreign even to them. 

Anon Nerd, Former Ultimate Tennis Pro

Unlike other Anons, who frequent the orphanage for the kids, Nerd is after the adorable caretaker, not that he’ll ever admit it. However, Myth knows her romance and would stop at nothing to get Nerd to admit his feelings for her. Not even getting her lip busted by a Mach 2 tennis ball or getting bashed in the head with a tennis racket would stop this girl. She can and will get this tsundere tennis champion to confess, even if she has to suffer scouter burns in the process.

Eldritch Anon, Ultimate Detective

Years of working in law enforcement has left this diminutive detective panicky, hostile and distrusting of just about anybody. Ever since Eldritch heard of an assassin hiding out in the orphanage, Eldritch will stop at nothing to find the assassin hidden among the orphans. But in the meantime, Eldritch has to shake off pesky kids who think he’s one of them. Myth has to save Wyre‘s bacon on the daily from this paranoid detective who wants her incarcerated. 

Dream Anon, Ultimate Pianist

Having been attracted to music ever since she was a baby, Dream dominates piano competitions year after year with her energetic and triumphant tunes. She regularly wheels her piano around town looking for places to perform at, which is how she happened upon Myth’s orphanage. Performing for the orphans gives Dream a rush of euphoric feelings that winning competitions could only hope and dream to achieve. And the cute detective that frequents the orphanage with her isn’t half-bad either.

Iris Anon, Jr. Ultimate Inventor

Despite her clumsy and goofy demeanour, Iris has a 7-year winning streak at her hometown’s regional science fairs. Famous for inventing and marketing a new and improved version of Moon Shoes called Astro-Uggs, Iris regularly shows off her inventions to the children of Myth’s orphanage and even donates some of her inventions to Myth in hopes of improving the living conditions of the orphanage. Iris hopes that her inventions would make the world even better and more awesome then it already is.

Purple Anon, Ultimate Maid

With a selfless attitude and an overly formal vocabulary, Purple regularly comes to the orphanage to assist Myth in caring for the children. Despite Myth claiming that she doesn’t need the extra help, Purple insists that it’s the least she can do. Purple always tries her best to help the kids, but most of the children have no idea what she is saying due to her old-fashioned and complex vocabulary, which requires Fusion to translate for her.  

This series revolves around Myth and Fusion trying to prevent the other Anons, Eldritch in particular, from finding out about Wyre‘s true talent. However, Wyre doesn‘t do a very good job at hiding her true nature and soon, everyone else but Eldritch finds out. So now, it’s Everybody Else vs. Eldritch.

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APPEARANCE

Myth wears glasses and has undyed hair in two low and long pigtails, held up by green scrunchies. She has a matching green headband with yellow stars and pink hearts and a heart shaped ahoge, designating her as the protagonist. She wears an oversized pink hoodie with yellow details and a smiley face on each pocket, over a blue shirt with multicoloured shapes on it. She also has a necklace with a green clover in the center. She wears a red belt that holds various stuffed animals and a yellow belt that holds a first aid kit. Her long and light blue skirt has various patches sewn in and on her feet, she wears red Mary Janes.

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PERSONALITY

Despite what ChildCaregiver!Myth’s fashion sense would suggest, ChildCaregiver!Myth is more serious and almost monk-like in her tranquilty. Being surrounded by children since birth has caused ChildCaregiver!Myth to grow into a caring, calm and empathetic soul. She is also known to offer sage-like advice on how to deal with loss and abandonment, having dealt with abandoned and parentless children. However, ChildCaregiver!Myth has a bad tendency to overexert herself and spread herself too thin, something also caused by being surrounded with kids. She can be a bit stubborn on insisting that she doesn’t need help and can deal with this all by herself, much to the concern of the volunteers. If I had to compare ChildCaregiver!Myth to a canon character, I’d compare her to Kirumi.

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Finally! I’ve finished ChildCaregiver!Myth! Let me know what you think of this talentswap!

-Fusion Anon

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Well the kids I babysit sure seem to like me, so this is a good talent haha!

[anniesculturalartifact]

Sexuality and Gender in Legally Blonde

Sex, gender, and sexuality all play a major role in the film “Legally Blonde”. Though the film has an empowering message, this does not mean that it is perfect in terms of representation. Through evaluation, some of the women can be labelled as one of Diana Meehan’s “images of women” stereotypes in media. Vivian is cold, judgmental, and powerful, but still listens to what the men in the film say, giving her the stereotype of “the witch”, who has “extra power, but [is subordinate] to men” (Barker & Jane, 2016, p. 379). Elle, the protagonist of the film, can be considered “the decoy”, who is “apparently helpless, [but] actually strong” (Barker & Jane, 2016, p. 379). To the audience, Elle appears weak and unfit for Harvard until she utilizes her inner strength to overcome her hardships. While these stereotypes are less than desirable, the film redeems itself in that it flips the script on what is expected. Though many other examples of media would imply that Vivienne and Elle should hate each other because of their differences, this is not the case. By the end of the film, Elle and Vivian reconcile and develop a genuine friendship and mutual respect for one another, fulling subverting the “girl vs. girl” trope that is so commonly seen. 

           Obviously, a major part of the film is the sexism that Elle faces as a feminine woman. Simply because she is a woman who identifies with more feminine styles and characteristics, she is not taken as seriously as her male counterparts. Consider Elle’s acceptance into Harvard Law: though she aced the LSATs and had an impeccable GPA, she is only admitted under the guise of “diversity” (read: the admissions panel are attracted to her). Though it is eventually revealed that her ex-boyfriend Warner was only admitted to Harvard due to his money and connections, he is the one in shock that she got into law school. Eventually, as Elle works harder than ever, she receives a spot in Professor Callahan’s coveted internship. She is the key player for success in the case, as she develops a bond with the defendant – Brooke Wyndham – and gets her alibi out of her. When Professor Callahan calls her into his office, he tells her that she is incredibly smart, and that she is going to make an amazing lawyer – and then he puts her hand on her knee. She immediately rejects him and leaves, but then spirals, wondering if she really is smart or if she was simply chosen because of her good looks. With this moment, “Legally Blonde” depicts an instance of sexism and sexual harassment that many women unfortunately relate to.

Sexuality is also a major aspect of this film. “Legally Blonde” was released in 2001, so unsurprisingly, the attitude and stereotypes surrounding sexuality are not great. Enid Wexler, a minor character who is one of Elle’s classmates, is portrayed as the basic stereotype of a lesbian. She has a PhD in Women’s Studies, organizes LGBT marches, and is an “over-the-top” feminist. In one scene, she tells everyone that she is petitioning for the word “semester” to be changed to “ovester”. In the few scenes she is in, she completely falls into a stereotyped role, until she completely disappears about halfway through the movie. Then, there is the stereotypes about gay men. During Callahan’s internship, the big case they are working on is about Brooke Wyndham being accused of killing her elderly husband. Enrique, the pool boy, is the star witness for the case, claiming that he and Brooke were having an affair, and therein lies the motive for the killing. All hope for Brooke’s case seems lost – until Elle meets Enrique at the water fountain. She is irritated with him for taking too long, so she impatiently taps her shoes. In response, Enrique tells her not to tap her “last season Prada shoes” at him. Elle is annoyed until – gasp – she realizes what this means. She tells the rest of the legal team that Enrique is gay, therefore blowing the motive and eventually revealing that he was bribed by the real killer, Brooke’s stepdaughter. This stereotype is harmful for a multitude of reasons. First of all, it plays into the assumption that all gay men must ascribe to so called “feminine” behaviors, such as loving shopping and fashion. Playing into this stereotype encourages the idea that there is only one way to be gay, which is absolutely untrue. Additionally, utilizing this stereotype in film is damaging in that it encourages toxic masculinity. By insinuating that fashion is only for women or gay men, it pushes the idea that it is not an acceptable interest for straight men. Not allowing men to have “feminine” interests, or women to have “masculine” interests, is damaging for everyone, as it locks everyone into social gender roles. A hobby or interest has nothing to do with neither gender nor sexual identity.

           While Legally Blonde is obviously not perfect in its portrayal of gender and sexuality, the film still gets a lot right, especially considering when it was released. Its faults should be acknowledged, but its accomplishments should also be lauded and celebrated, as the film pushed a message of empowerment and self-love for thousands of women across the world.

Reference: 

Barker, C., & Jane, E. A. (2016). Cultural studies: theory and practice. Sage Publications.

[swifterm]

Wine DTC opportunities to take advantage of

Wine DTC opportunities to take advantage of. Reading the stats and data from the wine industry of sales so far this year, you could be forgiven to believe it is anything but gloriously successful to be in the wine retailing business right now. Of course apart from those still loitering under the misapprehension that retail alone will prevail, the big winners are those heavily into ecommerce sales, those that are on the bandwagon already. Lockdown provided the perfect opportunity for consumers to sample, develop or diversify their tastes and preferences across country, vineyard, grape and vintage, changes which would have unprecedented otherwise. If you haven’t yet taken advantage, then to quote Elisa Doolittle “move yer blooming arse”, the future is here, and it will only get better.

Globally, still wine volume is forecast to remain short of pre-Covid levels by 2024, while sparkling wine is predicted to experience good health throughout the recovery, with parity likely to be restored by 2023. Despite the difficulties facing still wine, the total wine category is expected to experience growth between 2020 and 2024, with volume CAGR up 1.8% and value CAGR up 2.4%. You don’t have to be dictated to by global predictions. your customer is sat at home approached only by those retailers to whom they currently subscribe, waiting to be tempted, persuaded and cajoled into ever more personalised selections.

In the year ahead, a number of key trends stemming from the Covid-19 lockdown will shape the global wine market, presenting a number of opportunities for growth.  

Ecommerce and digital engagement

The last year has spurred an exponential increase in alcohol ecommerce and digital engagement – and the high level of investment into the space over the past year means its success will not be restricted to the short term.

With its ability to allow consumers to compare, review, and discover, ecommerce is particularly well suited to the wine segment, which is fragmented by nature. As such, the category heavily over indexes online; wine has a 14% value share of the total drinks market vs. a 40% share online.

“Wine is exceptionally well placed to take advantage of the burgeoning move towards online purchases. Having relaxed its online buying and shipping laws for alcohol during the pandemic, the US is set to drive wine’s ecommerce growth, as will Brazil, China, the UK and Australia,” says Daniel Mettyear, research director for wine at IWSR. See your article, on winery ecommerce reveals keys to growing sales.

New Challenges

Changes in shopping and drinking patterns during the pandemic have led to a shift towards large packaging formats, such as bag-in-a-box, and small packaging formats, such as cans. Canned wine in particular has been moving towards broader consumer acceptance for some time, and this trend has been hastened by the pandemic. But don’t be dictated too by the statistics; the lowest common denominator for purchases are led by grocery and mass-market sales, where the general public assuage stats, individual selection and choice still rule the day, and always will in our opinion. There will always be consumers who are discerning and appreciate quality, no matter where their preferences take them. Likewise the stats will always be dominated by economic attractions, cheapness prevails as there are always more people without less than more cash, but the sage among you will appreciate that refinement of taste and appreciation comes with age.

Broader range of occasions

In many markets, consumption of wine has transitioned well from the on- to off-trade during the pandemic, in large part thanks to the category’s inherent attributes.

“Although wine suffered heavily from the economic and on-trade downturn, the low-tempo nature of lockdown, more time for meal preparation, digital meet-ups and a propensity to treat oneself more often sparked a rediscovery of the category,” says Mettyear.

This sense of rediscovery has opened wine up to new at-home occasions, a trend that looks set to remain in the year ahead. A broader set of trends has been exposing wine to new occasions over a number of years.

Sparkling wine, and Prosecco in particular, has spearheaded the diversification of wine’s consumption occasions. The category has steadily moved away from its one-dimensional image as a special celebratory drink to align with more regular occasions, such as the aperitivo hour.

With its glamorous lifestyle associations and refreshing taste profile, the booming rosé category works across a number of social situations. More generally, lighter style wines are attracting new consumers with their accessibility and versatility.

Engagement with consumers is imperative to being better able to personalise offerings and thereby sustain growth, increase the average order value of each shopping basket, and capitalise on the customer lifetime value available from each consumer. tastes change over a lifetime and the customer loyal to you will waiver if you don’t spot his appetite for change and or variety quickly enough. SwiftERM personalises product selection for each consumer personally, using predictive analytics to identify and capture wandering sales and nurture loyalty.

We hope you enjoyed this article, intended to help improve our client’s profitability. It reflects the care SwiftERM offer. If you haven’t already done so, then please enjoy a FREE month’s trial and let us know what you think.

Register https://www.swifterm.com/wine-dtc-opportunities-to-take-advantage-of/

[endenogatai]

Most EU cookie ‘consent’ notices are meaningless or manipulative, study finds

New research into how European consumers interact with the cookie consent mechanisms which have proliferated since a major update to the bloc’s online privacy rules last year casts an unflattering light on widespread manipulation of a system that’s supposed to protect consumer rights.

As Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in May 2018, bringing in a tough new regime of fines for non-compliance, websites responded by popping up legal disclaimers which signpost visitor tracking activities. Some of these cookie notices even ask for consent to track you.

But many don’t — even now, more than a year later.

The study, which looked at how consumers interact with different designs of cookie pop-ups and how various design choices can nudge and influence people’s privacy choices, also suggests consumers are suffering a degree of confusion about how cookies function, as well as being generally mistrustful of the term ‘cookie’ itself. (With such baked in tricks, who can blame them?)

The researchers conclude that if consent to drop cookies was being collected in a way that’s compliant with the EU’s existing privacy laws only a tiny fraction of consumers would agree to be tracked.

The paper, which we’ve reviewed in draft ahead of publication, is co-authored by academics at Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, and the University of Michigan in the US — and entitled: (Un)informed Consent: Studying GDPR Consent Notices in the Field.

The researchers ran a number of studies, gathering ~5,000 of cookie notices from screengrabs of leading websites to compile a snapshot (derived from a random sub-sample of 1,000) of the different cookie consent mechanisms in play in order to paint a picture of current implementations.

They also worked with a German ecommerce website over a period of four months to study how more than 82,000 unique visitors to the site interacted with various cookie consent designs which the researchers’ tweaked in order to explore how different defaults and design choices affected individuals’ privacy choices.

Their industry snapshot of cookie consent notices found that the majority are placed at the bottom of the screen (58%); not blocking the interaction with the website (93%); and offering no options other than a confirmation button that does not do anything (86%). So no choice at all then.

A majority also try to nudge users towards consenting (57%) — such as by using ‘dark pattern’ techniques like using a color to highlight the ‘agree’ button (which if clicked accepts privacy-unfriendly defaults) vs displaying a much less visible link to ‘more options’ so that pro-privacy choices are buried off screen.

And while they found that nearly all cookie notices (92%) contained a link to the site’s privacy policy, only a third (39%) mention the specific purpose of the data collection or who can access the data (21%).

The GDPR updated the EU’s long-standing digital privacy framework, with key additions including tightening the rules around consent as a legal basis for processing people’s data — which the regulation says must be specific (purpose limited), informed and freely given for consent to be valid.

Even so, since May last year there has been an outgrown in cookie ‘consent’ mechanisms popping up or sliding atop websites that still don’t offer EU visitors the necessary privacy choices, per the research.

“Given the legal requirements for explicit, informed consent, it is obvious that the vast majority of cookie consent notices are not compliant with European privacy law,” the researchers argue.

“Our results show that a reasonable amount of users are willing to engage with consent notices, especially those who want to opt out or do not want to opt in. Unfortunately, current implementations do not respect this and the large majority offers no meaningful choice.”

The researchers also record a large differential in interaction rates with consent notices — of between 5 and 55% — generated by tweaking positions, options, and presets on cookie notices.

This is where consent gets manipulated — to flip visitors’ preference for privacy.

They found that the more choices offered in a cookie notice, the more likely visitors were to decline the use of cookies. (Which is an interesting finding in light of the vendor laundry lists frequently baked into the so-called “transparency and consent framework” which the industry association, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), has pushed as the standard for its members to use to gather GDPR consents.)

“The results show that nudges and pre-selection had a high impact on user decisions, confirming previous work,” the researchers write. “It also shows that the GDPR requirement of privacy by default should be enforced to make sure that consent notices collect explicit consent.”

Here’s a section from the paper discussing what they describe as “the strong impact of nudges and pre-selections”:

Overall the effect size between nudging (as a binary factor) and choice was CV=0.50. For example, in the rather simple case of notices that only asked users to confirm that they will be tracked, more users clicked the “Accept” button in the nudge condition, where it was highlighted (50.8% on mobile, 26.9% on desktop), than in the non-nudging condition where “Accept” was displayed as a text link (39.2% m, 21.1% d). The effect was most visible for the category-and vendor-based notices, where all checkboxes were pre-selected in the nudging condition, while they were not in the privacy-by-default version. On the one hand, the pre-selected versions led around 30% of mobile users and 10% of desktop users to accept all third parties. On the other hand, only a small fraction (< 0.1%) allowed all third parties when given the opt-in choice and around 1 to 4 percent allowed one or more third parties (labeled “other” in 4). None of the visitors with a desktop allowed all categories. Interestingly, the number of non-interacting users was highest on average for the vendor-based condition, although it took up the largest part of any screen since it offered six options to choose from.

The key implication is that just 0.1% of site visitors would freely choose to enable all cookie categories/vendors — i.e. when not being forced to do so by a lack of choice or via nudging with manipulative dark patterns (such as pre-selections).

Rising a fraction, to between 1-4%, who would enable some cookie categories in the same privacy-by-default scenario.

“Our results… indicate that the privacy-by-default and purposed-based consent requirements put forth by the GDPR would require websites to use consent notices that would actually lead to less than 0.1 % of active consent for the use of third parties,” they write in conclusion.

They do flag some limitations with the study, pointing out that the dataset they used that arrived at the 0.1% figure is biased — given the nationality of visitors is not generally representative of public Internet users, as well as the data being generated from a single retail site. But they supplemented their findings with data from a company (Cookiebot) which provides cookie notices as a SaaS — saying its data indicated a higher accept all clicks rate but still only marginally higher: Just 5.6%.

Hence the conclusion that if European web users were given an honest and genuine choice over whether or not they get tracked around the Internet, the overwhelming majority would choose to protect their privacy by rejecting tracking cookies.

This is an important finding because GDPR is unambiguous in stating that if an Internet service is relying on consent as a legal basis to process visitors’ personal data it must obtain consent before processing data (so before a tracking cookie is dropped) — and that consent must be specific, informed and freely given.

Yet, as the study confirms, it really doesn’t take much clicking around the regional Internet to find a gaslighting cookie notice that pops up with a mocking message saying by using this website you’re consenting to your data being processed how the site sees fit — with just a single ‘Ok’ button to affirm your lack of say in the matter.

It’s also all too common to see sites that nudge visitors towards a big brightly colored ‘click here’ button to accept data processing — squirrelling any opt outs into complex sub-menus that can sometimes require hundreds of individual clicks to deny consent per vendor.

You can even find websites that gate their content entirely unless or until a user clicks ‘accept’ — aka a cookie wall. (A practice that has recently attracted regulatory intervention.)

Nor can the current mess of cookie notices be blamed on a lack of specific guidance on what a valid and therefore legal cookie consent looks like. At least not any more. Here, for example, is a myth-busting blog which the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) published last month that’s pretty clear on what can and can’t be done with cookies.

For instance on cookie walls the ICO writes: “Using a blanket approach such as this is unlikely to represent valid consent. Statements such as ‘by continuing to use this website you are agreeing to cookies’ is not valid consent under the higher GDPR standard.” (The regulator goes into more detailed advice here.)

While France’s data watchdog, the CNIL, also published its own detailed guidance last month — if you prefer to digest cookie guidance in the language of love and diplomacy.

(Those of you reading TechCrunch back in January 2018 may also remember this sage plain english advice from our GDPR explainer: “Consent requirements for processing personal data are also considerably strengthened under GDPR — meaning lengthy, inscrutable, pre-ticked T&Cs are likely to be unworkable.” So don’t say we didn’t warn you.)

Nor are Europe’s data protection watchdogs lacking in complaints about improper applications of ‘consent’ to justify processing people’s data.

Indeed, ‘forced consent’ was the substance of a series of linked complaints by the pro-privacy NGO noyb, which targeted T&Cs used by Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Google Android immediately GDPR started being applied in May last year.

While not cookie notice specific, this set of complaints speaks to the same underlying principle — i.e. that EU users must be provided with a specific, informed and free choice when asked to consent to their data being processed. Otherwise the ‘consent’ isn’t valid.

So far Google is the only company to be hit with a penalty as a result of that first wave of consent-related GDPR complaints; France’s data watchdog issued it a $57M fine in January.

But the Irish DPC confirmed to us that three of the 11 open investigations it has into Facebook and its subsidiaries were opened after noyb’s consent-related complaints. (“Each of these investigations are at an advanced stage and we can’t comment any further as these investigations are ongoing,” a spokeswoman told us. So, er, watch that space.)

The problem, where EU cookie consent compliance is concerned, looks to be both a failure of enforcement and a lack of regulatory alignment — the latter as a consequence of the ePrivacy Directive (which most directly concerns cookies) still not being updated, generating confusion (if not outright conflict) with the shiny new GDPR.

However the ICO’s advice on cookies directly addresses claimed inconsistencies between ePrivacy and GDPR, stating plainly that Recital 25 of the former (which states: “Access to specific website content may be made conditional on the well-informed acceptance of a cookie or similar device, if it is used for a legitimate purpose”) does not, in fact, sanction gating your entire website behind an ‘accept or leave’ cookie wall.

Here’s what the ICO says on Recital 25 of the ePrivacy Directive:

‘specific website content’ means that you should not make ‘general access’ subject to conditions requiring users to accept non-essential cookies – you can only limit certain content if the user does not consent;

the term ‘legitimate purpose’ refers to facilitating the provision of an information society service – ie, a service the user explicitly requests. This does not include third parties such as analytics services or online advertising;

So no cookie wall; and no partial walls that force a user to agree to ad targeting in order to access the content.

It’s worth point out that other types of privacy-friendly online advertising are available with which to monetize visits to a website. (And research suggests targeted ads offer only a tiny premium over non-targeted ads, even as publishers choosing a privacy-hostile ads path must now factor in the costs of data protection compliance to their calculations — as well as the cost and risk of massive GDPR fines if their security fails or they’re found to have violated the law.)

Negotiations to replace the now very long-in-the-tooth ePrivacy Directive — with an up-to-date ePrivacy Regulation which properly takes account of the proliferation of Internet messaging and all the ad tracking techs that have sprung up in the interim — are the subject of very intense lobbying, including from the adtech industry desperate to keep a hold of cookie data. But EU privacy law is clear.

“[Cookie consent]’s definitely broken (and has been for a while). But the GDPR is only partly to blame, it was not intended to fix this specific problem. The uncertainty of the current situation is caused the delay of the ePrivacy regulation that was put on hold (thanks to lobbying),” says Martin Degeling, one of the research paper’s co-authors, when we suggest European Internet users are being subject to a lot of ‘consent theatre’ (ie noisy yet non-compliant cookie notices) — which in turn is causing knock-on problems of consumer mistrust and consent fatigue for all these useless pop-ups. Which work against the core aims of the EU’s data protection framework.

“Consent fatigue and mistrust is definitely a problem,” he agrees. “Users that have experienced that clicking ‘decline’ will likely prevent them from using a site are likely to click ‘accept’ on any other site just because of one bad experience and regardless of what they actually want (which is in most cases: not be tracked).”

“We don’t have strong statistical evidence for that but users reported this in the survey,” he adds, citing a poll the researchers also ran asking site visitors about their privacy choices and general views on cookies. 

Degeling says he and his co-authors are in favor of a consent mechanism that would enable web users to specify their choice at a browser level — rather than the current mess and chaos of perpetual, confusing and often non-compliant per site pop-ups. Although he points out some caveats.

“DNT [Do Not Track] is probably also not GDPR compliant as it only knows one purpose. Nevertheless  something similar would be great,” he tells us. “But I’m not sure if shifting the responsibility to browser vendors to design an interface through which they can obtain consent will lead to the best results for users — the interfaces that we see now, e.g. with regard to cookies, are not a good solution either.

“And the conflict of interest for Google with Chrome are obvious.”

The EU’s unfortunate regulatory snafu around privacy — in that it now has one modernized, world-class privacy regulation butting up against an outdated directive (whose progress keeps being blocked by vested interests intent on being able to continue steamrollering consumer privacy) — likely goes some way to explaining why Member States’ data watchdogs have generally been loath, so far, to show their teeth where the specific issue of cookie consent is concerned.

At least for an initial period the hope among data protection agencies (DPAs) was likely that ePrivacy would be updated and so they should wait and see.

They have also undoubtedly been providing data processors with time to get their data houses and cookie consents in order. But the frictionless interregnum while GDPR was allowed to ‘bed in’ looks unlikely to last much longer.

Firstly because a law that’s not enforced isn’t worth the paper it’s written on (and EU fundamental rights are a lot older than the GDPR). Secondly, with the ePrivacy update still blocked DPAs have demonstrated they’re not just going to sit on their hands and watch privacy rights be rolled back — hence them putting out guidance that clarifies what GDPR means for cookies. They’re drawing lines in the sand, rather than waiting for ePrivacy to do it (which also guards against the latter being used by lobbyists as a vehicle to try to attack and water down GDPR).

And, thirdly, Europe’s political institutions and policymakers have been dining out on the geopolitical attention their shiny privacy framework (GDPR) has attained.

Much has been made at the highest levels in Europe of being able to point to US counterparts, caught on the hop by ongoing tech privacy and security scandals, while EU policymakers savor the schadenfreude of seeing their US counterparts being forced to ask publicly whether it’s time for America to have its own GDPR.

With its extraterritorial scope, GDPR was always intended to stamp Europe’s rule-making prowess on the global map. EU lawmakers will feel they can comfortably check that box.

However they are also aware the world is watching closely and critically — which makes enforcement a very key piece. It must slot in too. They need the GDPR to work on paper and be seen to be working in practice.

So the current cookie mess is a problematic signal which risks signposting regulatory failure — and that simply isn’t sustainable.

A spokesperson for the European Commission told us it cannot comment on specific research but said: “The protection of personal data is a fundamental right in the European Union and a topic the Juncker commission takes very seriously.”

“The GDPR strengthens the rights of individuals to be in control of the processing of personal data, it reinforces the transparency requirements in particular on the information that is crucial for the individual to make a choice, so that consent is given freely, specific and informed,” the spokesperson added. 

“Cookies, insofar as they are used to identify users, qualify as personal data and are therefore subject to the GDPR. Companies do have a right to process their users’ data as long as they receive consent or if they have a legitimate interest.”

All of which suggests that the movement, when it comes, must come from a reforming adtech industry.

With robust privacy regulation in place the writing is now on the wall for unfettered tracking of Internet users for the kind of high velocity, real-time trading of people’s eyeballs that the ad industry engineered for itself when no one knew what was being done with people’s data.

GDPR has already brought greater transparency. Once Europeans are no longer forced to trade away their privacy it’s clear they’ll vote with their clicks not to be ad-stalked around the Internet too.

The current chaos of non-compliant cookie notices is thus a signpost pointing at an underlying privacy lag — and likely also the last gasp signage of digital business models well past their sell-by-date.

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[everettwilkinson]

More Signs The Dollar Is Weakening…

Good day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to you! I’m going to leave the Tub Thumpin’ to you today, as I’m having infusion confusion this morning. Hopefully by noon, it wears off, but right now, my head feels like it weighs 50 lbs. and is full of fog… But that won’t stop me, no sirree Bob! The FOMC Meeting Minutes were what I expected them to be, and we’ve got a couple of doves flying today… This and more for this Tub Thumpin’ Thursday for you today! The Allman Brothers greet me this morning with their song: Dreams… Which I can sheepishly say that I was having some strange ones last night!

Well, the currencies fought back against the dollar’s attempted move higher yesterday, and by the end of the day, things were as they were the previous day… The euro was trading over 1.12, the Aussie dollar (A$ ) was back to 75-cents, Gold headed back toward $ 1,260, and the 10-year Treasury yield dropped back to 2.25%… And what was the cause of this turnaround Wednesday? The Fed’s FOMC Meeting Minutes… Once again they proved to be disappointing to the markets. Instead of giving the markets clues on “how” their balance sheet would be unwound, they instead gave them the “when”, but even the “when” was a little sketchy, but the markets seem to have figured out that the Fed will tell them all they need to know at the June meeting…

Hmmm, of course had the markets just listened to me they would have been able to go about their business today without stopping everything to hear what the Fed has to say in their minutes… For I said, right here in this letter, that the Fed would wait until June when they hiked rates again, to give any clues on their unwinding of the economy an opportunity to sneak through the alley with Sally. Really to diffuse the effects of the unwinding…. Right now, it looks like, to me that is, that the Fed will give the skinny on the “Great Unwind” or GW, in June, and defer the start of the unwinding until Sept or October.. Even though the Fed continues, as a group that is, to believe that the slowdown in the first quarter was just “transitory”, they want to wait-n-see before they commit to the GW!

So… there you have it! All wrapped up in a nutshell, what happened, and why, and what I think about it! What else do you need to start your day? Have a Great day…

Gotcha! Hey! even in my fogged brain status, I can have some fun! Well, overnight, the euro held its gains above 1.12, but the A$ fell back below 75-cents once again, as the fallout of the Moodys ratings cut of China’s debt came back to haunt the A$ … The euro-lites of Norway and Sweden are seeing their respective currencies (krone and krona) on the rally tracks, with the Norwegian krone leading the way, as the krone is in a good situation right now, that I explained the other day, regarding how the krone was getting love from the its status as a Petrol Currency, and in addition, the love is coming from being a euro-lite, with the euro on the rally tracks..

I don’t know if you noticed yesterday or not, but in the currency roundup, the S. African rand had moved below the 13 handle… And it moved further into the 12 handle yesterday and last night… The rand is a European Priced currency, which means as the number goes down, the more value to returns VS the dollar, as it takes less of the currency to equal a dollar. I’ve always said that the rand was too volatile for my blood, and that I wouldn’t touch it with “your ten foot pole”. But, I would always say that when the rand was good it was very good, and when it was bad it was very bad… And for the longest time now, the rand has NOT been very good… But I feel a rallying rand is an indication that the dollar is weakening, for if the rand is allowed to rally VS the dollar, then the dollar is weaker! Gov’t corruption, strikes, and interest rates that should be higher to attract foreign investment, have been the bugaboos for the rand, but as I said, if the rand is allowed to rally VS the dollar, as it is right now, then it could be a very good indicator that the dollar is weakening…

And there has been some confusion lately relating to the two pricing conventions used in currencies… The American Style: is simply as the price goes up, the value is increased… the euro, the A$ , kiwi, and sterling are the main American Style priced currencies. For readers who requested it many years ago, I also convert the loonie and franc to American priced currencies.. But if you called the trade desk they would quote you in European Style for these two currencies.

European priced currencies take in all the other currencies… So, don’t be confused!

The Bank of Canada (BOC) met yesterday, as scheduled, and as I thought, they left rates unchanged at 0.50%… I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, Canada has a housing bubble in Toronto and Vancouver, they are in dire need of rate hikes to stop the bubbles from growing larger. But the Gov. of the BOC , Poloz, is not going to hike rates until he absolutely needs to, because he’s a “trade guy”, and “trade guys” always want a cheaper currency to facilitate, trade… And rate hikes would not give him a “cheaper currency”… I’ve always like Canada because of the stable banking system, plethora of raw materials that other countries will always want, and a steady Gov’t… There are some cracks in the Gov’t’s foundation right now, and the BOC is losing their grip on the economy… I’m so ticked that this has been allowed to go on in Canada this long! The Canadian dollar/ loonie though is resilient, and because of those raw materials it is underpinned, as long as the raw materials are priced right!

The OPEC meeting and NON-OPEC Oil Producing countries, meetings begin today in Vienna, Austria.. I’ve already told you a couple of times now that these meetings could very well, show the unification of extending the Oil production cuts, and in addition, I wouldn’t be surprised to see additional cuts announced! If that would happen, the price of Oil would be underpinned for sure, at least short-term… And with a stronger Oil Price, the Petrol Currencies should really be receiving some love!

I’m sitting here this morning thinking that Gold Traders read the Pfennig yesterday, and decided to listen to me, and began to mark up the Gold price… (Hey! don’t laugh! It could happen, right? Oh, come on Chuck, if that happened, you wouldn’t be sitting here in your basement at 0-dark 30 writing the Pfennig. Instead you would be celebrated as the sage of the Mississippi!) So, back on earth and reality, Gold added $ 7.90 yesterday, to close at $ 1,258.60, and is up another $ 3.90 in the early morning trading today!

Hey! remember when I featured a FWIW section story about how Arizona lawmakers had sent a bill to the Gov. for signing, that would eliminate the capital gains tax on Gold & Silver that was bought at the mint… Remember the reasoning? It was the same as exchanging one nickel and two dimes for a quarter! Well, bust my buttons! The Arizona Gov. signed the bill and it’s now a law in Arizona! WOW! Now, if we can get other states to follow, eh? Talk about a way to get physical Gold & Silver to overtake the paper trades! Think about that for a minute… Municipal Bonds are usually exempt of taxes in the state it’s issued in, and some even have Federal tax exemptions. And they’ve always been popular… But if Gold & Silver doesn’t have capital gains taxes they could become as popular with the moms and pops I’m just saying…

The price of Oil slipped back below $ 51 in the past 24 hours, but only to $ 50.95, so still trading within’ spittin’ distance of $ 51… So much weight has been put on the Oil meetings today, that the risk here is that they disappoint, and that would spring the trap door on the price of Oil… Just something to think about, given the history of the OPEC meetings, a disappointing meeting is not out of the question! But, I’m betting a Krispy Kreme to a dollar that the Oil producing countries don’t disappoint today…

The U.S. Data Cupboard today has only the Trade Balance (read deficit) for April today. The usual Tub Thumpin’ Thursday fare of the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims is always there on Thursdays, so that too will print, but the more important print is the Trade Balance.. The dollar was a bit weaker in April, and so I think we’ll see the Trade Deficit back off the $ 64.8 Billion print from March…

Yesterday’s Data Cupboard had the April Existing Home Sales in addition to the FOMC Meeting Minutes, and like I said yesterday would happen, Existing Home Sales dropped from 5.7 Million per year, to 5.6 Million per year… So, we saw both New Home Sales and Existing Home Sales drop in April… Hmmm, isn’t springtime one of the best times to be home shopping? I’m just throwing that out there..

Well, I’ve beaten around the bush enough the last two days regarding the Trump Budget, so I might as well bite the bullet and get to talking about it… So, here goes my attempt to make some sense from it…

Well, the Trump Budget was presented to the masses on Tuesday… I was shocked to see actual cuts to spending programs, and he says that if we stay the course with his cuts, that the U.S. would have a balanced budget by 2027… It’s been a long time since the Republican Party could even get those words out of their collective mouths… However, by the time the lawmakers on both sides of the aisle get their hands on this, the final Budget won’t look anything like the one Trump presented to them on Tuesday… I find this process to be good, but the results awful…

One thing in the budget that I did have to laugh about, well, I guess it wasn’t funny ha-ha, but , well, I’ll let you decide… The Budget makes the assumption that the U.S. economy will grow at 3% per year for the next 10 years… Hmmm… Does he know that the U.S. hasn’t achieved 3% annual growth since 2005? And that this assumption of growth would mean that the U.S. economy expanded for 222 months, consecutively… Economist are saying that this current expansion, what little this is, has become long in the tooth (since 2009)… So, I found this “assumption” to be a bit funny, in that it’s never going to happen!

The markets have shrugged off the Budget, because they know that it will come out of the lawmakers’ gauntlet with a completely different look… So, why react now, when the final product will determine their reaction? Remember the games the lawmakers tried to play a few years ago, when we had a debt ceiling debacle here in the U.S. and they came up with a plan to “cut spending over 10 years, of planned increases?” So, they planned to spend money in the future, but then decided to not spend it, or at least so much, and they call that a “cut in spending” I shake my head in disgust.. .

To recap… The FOMC Meeting Minutes were disappointing to the markets yesterday, and the dollar’s rally was cut off at the knees. From there, the currencies and metals took over and have held the conn through the overnight and morning sessions… Gold regained its mojo and rallied yesterday, and again so far this morning. The BOC left rates unchanged, which was no surprise to Chuck, who bangs on BOC Gov. Poloz, and points out the resiliency of the loonie, given all the hits that Canada is taking on these days. Chuck also points to the S. African rand as a good indicator that the dollar is getting weaker, as the rand has been allowed to rally…

For What It’s Worth… Thanks to Ed Steer who highlighted this article on Barrons in his daily letter this morning (www.edsteergoldandsilver.com ) And it’s about the Markit PMI reports yesterday that I’ve explained the markets don’t pay too much attention to, but maybe they should? You can read the article here: http://www.barrons.com/articles/markits-u-s-flash-pmi-still-looks-somewhat-underwhelming-1495549467?utm_medium=email&sslid=M7G0NDc0NDMxNzexAAA&sseid=MzM1NDAwsDA2AwA&jobid=238a56db-d950-4376-aa94-037384c6d5bb

Or, here’s your snippet: “Growth of US business activity gained a little momentum for a second successive month in May, but the upturn still looks somewhat underwhelming…

May saw an encouraging upturn in service sector growth to the fastest so far this year, buoyed by rising domestic demand. Manufacturers, on the other hand, reported the smallest rise in production since last September amid lackluster export sales.

Peter Boockvar of The Lindsey Group had this to say…

We will certainly see a Q2 economic rebound with only the degree in question. The Atlanta Fed estimate has a 4 handle which if the case would lead to around a 2.5% first half run rate if Q1 is revised up to .9% as expected. Historically though according to Markit, a 53.9 composite index in their model equates to a 1.5% annualized rate of growth.”

Chuck again… this crack in the armor of U.S. Manufacturing comes at an interesting time, given all the disappointing data… And like I said, maybe the markets should be paying more attention to this data…

Currencies today 5/25/17… American Style: A$ .7470, kiwi .7023, C$ .7440, euro 1.1220, sterling 1.2063, Swiss $ .9729, … European Style: rand 12.88, krone 8.385, SEK 8.6749, forint 274.50, zloty 3.7258, koruna 23.5620, RUB 56.35, yen 111.90, sing 1.3849, HKD 7.7915, INR 64.58, China 6.8903, peso 18.41, BRL 3.2677, Dollar Index 97.15, Oil $ 50.95, 10-year 2.26%, Silver $ 17.15, Platinum $ 947.40, Palladium $ 765.82, Gold, $ 1,259.50, and SGE Gold… $ 1,256.93

That’s it for today… Well, my beloved Cardinals saw their bats arrive from St. Louis, and they hit the ball last night, winning in L.A. Good pitching will beat good hitting, that’s an old adage my dad taught me about the game years ago… I remember telling him that if that’s the case, then it’s better to have a good pitching and hitting team! He called me a genius, which at the time I thought was a compliment… HA! Stopped by the office yesterday afternoon after my infusion and lunch with Frank. It was great to see a couple of the people there. I really wanted to just get in and out without anyone seeing me, as I was not presentable, given my 3 hour adventure at the infusion center! Well, I need to get this out of here, so I can get the response, and then send it off to you. Then I can go back to sleep! But not too long, as I have a visit with the heart doc this morning! Steely Dan takes us to the finish line today with their song Kid Charlemagne… And with that, I’ll send you on your way to having a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday! Do some Tub Tumpin’ for me, will you? And Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler Managing Director EverBank Global Markets Creator / Editor of: A Pfennig For Your Thoughts 1-800-926-4922

http://www.everbank.com

The post More Signs The Dollar Is Weakening… appeared first on Daily Pfennig.

Daily Pfennig

from CapitalistHQ.com https://capitalisthq.com/more-signs-the-dollar-is-weakening/

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the law of attraction: de minimis

a quackity x reader law school au

part one, chapter two

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.

“Now turn to your left and say hi to your partner, the person your significant other will hate, after you blow them off on Valentines day to do voir dire.”

Alex chuckles, the sound drawing your gaze right over to him. You sigh dramatically, but can’t help yourself from letting a fond smile take over your features.

“Figure it’s time to introduce myself,” Alex quips, holding out a hand invitingly. “Alex.”

“Yeah,” you say, as you take his hand and shake it. He is warm, and your hand fits perfectly in his. “I picked up on that.”

“You will each work in teams of two within larger groups. I will assign you into a group. Each group will have a defense and a prosecution. You do not get to choose which side you represent. You do not get to choose your client. You do not get to choose the crime.” The professor rakes his eyes across the room of students. They all, including you, are silent and sitting attentively. “The only thing you get to choose is how well you represent your client, whether your client be the accused, or the state.”

Beside you, Alex lets out a low sigh, almost a whistle. His knee is bouncing, the black fabric of his track pants bunching up around his knee with the movement. You want to reach out and straighten it, fix the three white stripes running parallel down the side.

“You may know this: the university is granted a courtroom at the William Kunstler Courthouse for academic use. When you leave this room in a few moments, you’ll find informative packets on my desk.” The silver-haired man grabs a heavy stack of papers, and spreads them out on his desk like a dealer spreading a stack of cards. “Take one. It contains all the information you need to win your case, and pass this class.”

Your breath catches in your throat- you had a feeling this was coming.

“If you lose your case,” your professor says. “You will receive a maximum of a B+ in my class. If you win, you are guaranteed an A.”

The static sound of unsettled murmuring steadily rises in the echoey lecture room. You glance over at Alex, who is leaning back in his chair, legs crossed casually. He’s fiddling with one of the hoodie strings that hangs from his collar.

“This mock trial will work as any other real case. Your jury consists of freshmen students in a jury studies elective. They have no knowledge about this case, and you should treat them not as students, but as ordinary citizens when you go through voir dire.”

Alex huffs a laugh again, a little noise that is quickly becoming very familiar to you. “Explains why he went over voir dire for three hours last week.”

Despite the anxiety thrumming through your veins, you nod in accordance. Your fingers thread and twist through each other, the poor ring on your index finger falling victim to your fiddling. You pull it off your finger and twirl it around in your lap, the metal warmed from your body heat even if you feel more frigid than not.

“A real judge will be presiding over your case. Kissing up to them by bringing them a gift basket and ‘thanking them for their time’ is not frowned upon, but it is not effective. They are the only truly impartial ones in that courtroom, most of the time.”

With every word out of your professor’s mouth, you feel your exhaustion growing.

Isn’t this what you want to do? Isn’t this what… everyone here wants to do, for the rest of their lives?

You look to Alex. He’s looking at the professor with bright enough eyes, but the bags underneath them tell a different story, the skin taking on a bluish tint. His relaxed posture, his crossed arms with his fingers tucked into his own sides, the confident yet also unreadable expression he tends to wear still constant as ever. He looks like he knows something you don’t, and that should scare you.

You slide the ring back onto your finger and fold your hands atop your desk.

“The only difference from a real trial is that you have more prep time, and that you have your partner to help you with your side of the case. Both of you will be present in court, choosing jurors, delivering opening arguments, questioning witnesses, presenting evidence and arguments, and, yes, delivering your closing statements. You better get comfortable with your partner. Your futures rest in each other’s hands.”

You think you feel a headache coming on. You’re about to put your entire future, the fate of your entire career, in the warm hands of someone who is, at this point, just this side of total stranger. That should scare you.

“Everyone take a packet on your way out. I suggest you get coffee or a meal with your partner in the time you would spend in this class on an ordinary day. Information about Wednesday’s class is in the packet. We are meeting at the courthouse.” The professor spreads his arms wide, an enthusiastic grin suddenly spreading over his face, looking as out of place as a daisy on a sidewalk full of snow. “Welcome to real criminal procedure. Class is dismissed.”

.

“Here, before I go.” Alex’s voice pulls you out of your stupor with a gentle hand on your upper arm. You think you can feel the warmth seeping into your chilled skin through the thick fabric of your coat. You look down at where his hand rests on you, his skin a beautiful contrast to the dark red of your coat. Then, you notice his other hand- holding out a post-it note. “My number. I’m really sorry, I have to go- I have a thing to do for a friend- but, are you free this afternoon for lunch, maybe? We can get to know each other a bit before we start spending hours together each day.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” you force out, the teasing normally coming naturally, but today it feels like speaking around a rock in your throat. “Um- you have to go?”

“Yeah, sorry, it’s a- work thing.”

“I thought you said it was for a friend?”

“It is- look, it’s complicated, I’m sorry. I promise, you can have me as soon as I’m done, I’ll call the minute we’re done.” His furrowed brows stab at your resolve, the questioning facade you put up disappearing like a melted snowflake.

Taking the post-it from his outstretched hand, you carefully fold it into quarters and slip it into the pocket of your slacks. Before you do, you catch a glimpse of a little :] scrawled at the end of the string of numbers.

“What makes you think I want you?” you quip back after a moment.

His face falls for a moment, before he gets the joke and his brown eyes spark back up with the intensity of a firework. An unapologetic laugh bubbles up from his chest, an addicting sound that you feel echoing in your own chest, as well throughout as the high-ceilinged lecture hall.

“I’ll grab you a packet,” you say, nodding your chin at the table at the front of the room that has assembled a bit of a crowd around it. “Go, get your thing done.”

“You- thank you!” Alex grins, his hand on your arm squeezing in some sort of a thank-you before he leaps to his feet and grabs his binder. “I’ll see you soon- promise.”

“Promise,” you nod seriously, holding up your pinky.

You don’t expect him to turn on his heel and link his own finger with yours, pulling your hand tight against his for a moment before nodding with an enthusiasm entirely inappropriate for the situation. Then, he is actually gone, with his green jacket slung over an arm and the papers in his binder fluttering as he whisks out the door.

You notice that the frost in the windows had cleared when you see him jog across the street. He crosses just in time for a gust of wind to threaten to tear off his beanie- he slaps a hand down on top of his head, unruly black strands curling around the edges of the hat as he disappears around a crowded street-corner.

.

You sit yourself down in the library with a pen, a highlighter, and a steaming cup of coffee from the campus coffee shop. For midmorning on a Monday, the library is packed. Most of the students are windblown and dusted with snowflakes, their jackets pulled tightly around their shoulders as they seek out shelter from the horrible weather to chat with friends, classmates, and partners.

One of the only open tables rests right in the corner, sandwiched between two wide windows. You find why it’s empty very quickly, the thin glass doesn’t do much to stop the icy air from leaking in. Regardless, you shoulder your messenger bag onto an empty chair before setting yourself up in the chair farthest from the window. The packets you’d grabbed from your professor had taken a bit of a beating in the trek here, both dotted with little spots of water from stray, melting snowflakes.

Wincing as you smooth the packets out with your hand, you carefully wipe away an ink smudge that one particularly big snowflake had created. The words “de minimis” are smudged out, at least you think that’s what had been there, considering the following sentence.

A court of law is focused on the smallest things. Arguments are described as de minimis, as in, having their foundation built upon the smallest of things. One partial fingerprint is enough to seal someone’s sentence. One word misspoken is enough to cause a mistrial. One sentence too far is enough to get yourself held in contempt. The smallest things seal fates and shape lives, in law as in life.

You take your pen and carefully scrawl in de minimis onto the dampened paper.

.

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the law of attraction: de minimis

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