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tickle-her-senseless · 4 years

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Important

Hey all. Just wanted to respond to questions from members of a couple of Discord servers run by the same person following a chaotic couple of days. I’m putting all the info and screenshots (minus names, pics and locations) here, so I can just direct people to this post if they have questions.

I had been intending to just head back here to Tumblr and let the situation lie, but unfortunately the reason given by the automated bot for my ban mentioned “crossing consent multiple times”. Today, friends have been sending me worried questions relating to this, so I’m concerned that the server owner may have made a similar claim in public. Now I pretty much have to say something as that’s such a serious thing to say about someone, particularly on any kind of kink scene.

The mention of consent actually relates to the server owner. Near the beginning of the lockdown, she and I were speaking a lot, she began to tease me in DMs, I responded with a piece of writing dedicated to her, we exchanged pictures - and eventually confessed a mutual attraction. We made plans for the end of lockdown, she talked about driving through Europe and showing me her favourite places. Although her English is perfect, I began learning her language through an app as I wanted to make the effort (Brits are renowned for being lazy with languages), and kept it up every day for months, amusing her with my clumsy pronunciation on calls. Sometimes she would send me explicit comments/thoughts, although I was always nervous to initiate that kind of thing.

One day she sent a message saying that she was still coming to terms with the end of her last relationship and would need to take things more slowly, as she was finding romantic sentiments (as opposed to kinky ones) hard to deal with. Naturally I replied “Of course, in that case I’ll wait for you to initiate that stuff once you’re ready”. At some point afterwards, she sent me a message out of the blue saying “I want cuddles ❤️” and I thought “oh, this is a level she’s OK with” and responded. I think it was the following day when I tried to pick up where we’d left off (without going any further, just cuddling in bed type stuff). She reciprocated and we continued. I also (in an attempt to consider her feelings) asked her if the idea of me posting an old session video on my blog for an American friend would upset her at all. Intending to reassure her about my intentions, I mentioned ”...not wanting to tickle anyone except you and saying no to all of the other UK people on the servers who are asking about post-lockdown sessions”. I also said “I do feel a commitment to you”, which (with hindsight) was probably a foolish or misleading word to use in a purely ler/lee sense.

A week later she sent a message I didn’t immediately understand along the lines of “I thought you were going to let me initiate romantic stuff, you don’t seem to have understood me at all”. I wasn’t sure what she was referring to - the recent story I’d written for her? Use of the word “commitment”? Something else? I tried to talk with her on the phone as some wires had clearly become crossed via text, but she refused for five weeks (citing not being in the right headspace), before finally calling when I sent a message explaining that anxiously waiting to mend the friendship in lockdown by myself for over a month was having a terrible effect on me mentally, and I was going to have to “throw in the towel”, wishing her luck and every happiness.

During our phone call, she claimed that the main issue had been the fluffy cuddle messages which she took to be a serious and repeated boundary/consent violation (citing her wish to avoid romantic talk). This was the last thing I expected and really shocked me. Of course I apologised frantically, repeatedly and profusely. I also said I hoped she could see how I’d made the mistake innocently and honestly when:

- she initiated it the first time, so I assumed it was something she was happy to talk about.

- when I picked up where we left off, she didn’t say “Actually, d’you mind if we don’t today?” and continued the cuddle talk instead.

She said that because she initiated it one day didn’t mean that she wanted to continue the day after - fair enough. The difficult thing to accept was the idea that she felt so violated by the attempt to carry on the next day that she found herself frozen to the point of not being able to say “actually I’m not in the mood just now” and carried on with it, and that I was at fault regardless. She even used the word “harassing” to describe it, which I found very harsh considering my inability to read minds over hundreds of miles. Especially when I couldn’t see or hear her to pick up on body language, tone of voice etc to guess that she was saying one thing but feeling a different way. She said, word for word, “It’s like when someone’s choking you and you can’t speak, you’re literally choking me!” As someone who, as a teenager, was once choked on the ground by my own father until I blacked out and lost bladder control, I did see that as a stretch at best, but chose not to challenge it as she was upset.

I also suggested that, looking back, we probably should’ve clarified exactly what was meant by “romantic stuff” when we almost certainly had different takes on it eg. I’ve cuddled after every 1:1 session I’ve ever had, even platonic ones, purely from the angle of aftercare and a sense of having shared an experience. I was told that despite our different ages and experiences of romantic love, there was only one objectively correct definition of “romantic” - hers.

We went around in circles for over four hours - I apologised over and over while explaining how I got the wrong idea and asking her to understand and forgive, while she tearfully called me a gaslighter, a consent violator, an excuse-maker, a harasser ... eventually I collapsed into tears myself (I’m ashamed to admit), totally worn down, and she softened a bit. She finally said she didn’t believe I’d done anything intentionally, and she still wanted to spend time together in the real world. We made up, spoke warmly as friends for an hour, and I left the call exhausted but relieved. After a few days’ reflection, though, I decided against ever travelling to meet her for real, as the experience had shaken me considerably - and I figured it’d be risky to meet someone in real life when I didn’t trust her completely not to accuse me over either nothing or an innocent misunderstanding. I was still wondering how to explain this to her when things got wild on the server.

A few days ago, a Tumblr user with a stated age of 18 contacted me to say nice things about my blog, which (I hope this doesn’t sound conceited) isn’t out of the ordinary. When she told me she was English and totally new to the scene, I suggested the Discord server as a place where she might make some friends (given the large UK membership) and sent her an invite link. The rest is set out in the mega screenshot saga below, which begins in the staff chat. I’m “SwiftX”, my real name is in teal, the server owner is in blue and her friend and co-moderator is in purple. All other names and locations are in black:

Before sending the last message, I actually typed out five different versions of a counter-argument before eventually deciding to step back. Being totally dismissed and lectured by two people about British labour laws and pub ID measures by two non-Brits nearly a decade my junior was irritating, yes, but the baseless suggestion that maybe I’d done something in private with the new member and was somehow “arguing against” ensuring she wasn’t a child because of that horrified me. As if I’d allow a child access to explicit content to cover my own discomfort - and anyway, I’d done no more than exchange greetings with the girl and point her towards the server, where she was actually verified and granted access to all channels by the guy in purple, not me! After a couple of hours’ contemplation, I politely asked to be removed from the moderator staff, but a disdainful response to my request prompted me to explain it, and why I was upset. Not all of what I said was necessary to say, but all of it was true:

She immediately muted me for 48 hours - “staff disrespect and degrading comments”. Not a problem, I had work to be getting on with. Late that evening, however, her friend arrived in my DMs:

Him: ...it’s creepy that a 32 year old man is potentially teasing a minor

Me: Well I can prove I haven’t teased her, her profile says she’s 18, and the person who exposed her to explicit content was you when you verified her - despite admitting to having had doubts about her age.

Him: ...I’ll drop that subject

Moderator of the year, ladies and gentlemen 🙄 Anyhoo, later that day I received a ban notification from both servers run by this owner, citing “crossing consent multiple times, guilting and being degrading along with causing several conflicts”. I was surprised to feel a flood of relief, but the consent mention really disturbed and worried me, as I’d been under the impression that the server owner had fully accepted that the earlier stuff had been an innocent misunderstanding. Later that day, good friends of mine began sending me worried DMs questioning my record and asking if I’d been inappropriate with a bunch of people, so I’m concerned that the staff may have said something that (deliberately or not) has encouraged speculation. This post is intended to be a landing page to which I can direct anyone concerned about my character so that they they can form their own opinions.

When my follower count began to take off, I became determined to avoid any kind of rift with another prominent member of the community. It’s so frustrating to watch an already niche subculture splinter into factions over needless disputes. This is why I’ve kept names etc. out of this post. If anyone suspects they might know who the server owner is, or actually knows who she is because they’re here from Discord, I would implore them not to out or target her in any way. There are two reasons:

- I don’t want to start a flaming war, I’m desperate to move on and begin improving my mental health after an awful couple of months ... I just need to protect my reputation first.

- I don’t actually think she wanted drama ... I think her genuine perception is that I’ve said something horrible to her. That’s more upsetting than the idea of her trying to smear me, to be honest. I suspect she feels like crap too, and I don’t want to add to her mental load. I honestly hope she’s OK.

Hopefully this will reassure my friends and anyone else questioning my character because of whatever’s been said in that server. I’d also hope that my history of positive interaction here, including being on great terms with everyone I’ve ever had a session with, supports what I’m saying further. It’s a shame this had to happen, but I’m trying to think positively about what lies ahead and trust in my real friends. I’d also like to thank the other members of the server staff who’ve privately sent me messages of support and sympathy having already seen the entire exchange.

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wotnahq · 3 years

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ROUND ONE

Zane Practar vs. Kya Johnson-Smith

Fabi Anderson vs. Finn Winchester

Aleister Frankenstein vs. Persephone Ivanoka

Lucy Cage vs. Kara Brookes

The tournament has officially begun!

All players may begin reaching out to their fight partner this round to discuss their fight’s winner. This round’s winners must be submitted to the main by 12pm EST on Wednesday, December 2nd. Players may start the actual fight threads on the dash whenever they can this week. Threads written on discord and transferred to the dash are also acceptable if players prefer! Just remember the actual thread must be started on the dash before December 5th. Please remember to play fair and true to each of your characters’ skills and strength levels.

Now that we’re jumping in the ring, we ask all fighters to remember the rules:

Avoid maiming and killing your opponent. There will be top healers on standby tending to injured fighters. Bruises, cuts, broken bones, and other injuries are expected, but we advise our participants to remember this is all for sport.

No lethal weapons allowed. Again, this is meant to be for sport. Guns and large blades will be forbidden from the ring. However, Metas with non-projectile abilities are welcome to bring things like bo staffs, small daggers, nunchucks, stun guns, and other gadgets to aid them in combat. The Madhouse requires any weapons to be pre-approved before joining the tournament.

FIGHTER POINTS

If you haven’t done so already, we ask all players to calculate their characters’ “Fighter Points” here. These scores should hopefully help players in determining winners of each round. A reminder on this calculation system can be read underneath the cut below. NOTE: Please keep these scores anonymous from the whole group – they should be shared with only your partner(s) when discussing event threads. If players are uncertain they are calculating correctly, please reach out to an admin and we’ll be happy to assist!

Here are all the accounts for players to message each other about their fight threads:

For characters not throwing themselves in the ring, there are plenty of ways to get involved in the event! See below for a few ideas, though feel free to ask an admin if you have another idea on how you’d like to get your character(s) involved.

BETTING

Players can have each of their non-fighting characters take part in betting on fighters. Bets can be placed per round or predicting the whole tournament. To submit a bet from your character, please make a post on the dash with your character’s bets and tag it as #wotnaevent AND submit the post link to the main for us to save. At the end of the event, we’ll announce who wins the betting pool for predicting the most accurate final results.

Fighters cannot place bets while involved in the tournament. However, if a fighter is kicked out of the tournament after losing a round, they may place bets on the rest of the tournament.

MEDICAL ASSISTANCE

While our fighters are getting beat up and bloodied, the tournament will need some volunteers on the sidelines for healing/tending to injuries. Whether your character has healing abilities or just excellent medical experience, we invite them into the arena, ready and available to fix up the fighters after their rounds.

EVENT STAFF / SECURITY

The Madhouse Tournament is one of the biggest events of the year in Pansaw. With the recent reports of missing Metahumans in the last few weeks, C.A.R.M.A and PPD have both agreed it might bode well to have a little extra security this year. C.A.R.M.A agents and police officers may be working the event as guards. Members of the vigilante Hero Squad may discreetly be on the lookout as well, either as an attendee to support their fellow hero Finn in the ring, or lurking outside in uniform.

ATTENDEES / OUTSIDE VIEWERS

Event attendees can always interact with each other and discuss the tournament, favored fighters, bets, and what else. If your character isn’t situated inside the arena, they can always interact with characters in a bar, a cafe, or another location that would be airing this event on TV. Many places in Pansaw would have their televisions tuned into this channel.

OOC RULES:

All event open starters MUST be tagged as #wotnastarter AND #wotnaevent. Please do not use these tags for closed starters.

Fight fair! This is in our rules as well. Please remember no godmodding or powerplaying which would involve controlling a character that is not yours without the player’s permission, (Ex: Writing the reaction of another player’s character in your post) or giving your characters powers, abilities, or skills that give them an unseen advantage (Ex: A character with zero fight experience suddenly becomes an expert martial artist overnight against the obviously stronger character).

This event will rely heavily on OOC communication between players. Given that this event will be moving quickly, we realize most players might not be able to complete threads in the span of a few days. Before any fight thread begins, discuss the general idea of how the thread will go and what the outcome will be. We will need to know the winners of each round in order to move onto the next.

Players must be somewhat active during the event. It’s incredibly disruptive and disappointing when participants don’t show up for an event. If Player A doesn’t show up to communicate with Player B about their fight thread, Player B’s character will automatically be declared the winner once it’s time to move onto the next round since Player B was active. All players may take their time with threads so long as they are started during the event.

If a player is paired with someone who isn’t responding back, please contact the main after 24 hours of no response. We understand real lives are important, so we ask everyone to be respectful of players’ times before running to an admin. Screenshots must be provided as proof of reaching out.

Be respectful. We understand that no one likes when their character loses a fight. If your character loses their round, please be polite and respectful about it. We don’t want to see any sore losers or sore winners as this is meant to be a fun for everyone.

Fighter Points System. In order to assist the decision process for each fight, we’ve created something that we feel might help. This system uses calculations for each character’s ability, age, experience, and fighting style, which we think are all key characteristics for fighters. Consider each result like video game character levels – the higher number will have a higher chance of winning. However, if there is a two point difference between character scores, if a player can defend the lower score winning because of more experience, older age, powers, etc., then that is definitely a possibility.

#wotnaevent #madhouse tournament 2020

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rookieskrp · 4 years

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ROOKIES, WE’RE HIRING!

Here we are again with our old friend the mod application! This is Carly coming to you, milking my ability to make these announcements while it’s still my job. This time...we’re looking for my replacement! I’m (half) kidding; I have a lot of responsibilities in Rookies and have been here for a very long time, so we don’t expect anyone new to take over that role. Lari will largely be stepping up as far as the relations role goes, but we need someone to help fill that space I’ll be leaving come the 2nd of April. More than that, we need to get Lari some help with her current responsibilities so she can take over mine with as little stress as possible. We’ll cover what exactly we’re looking for below!

We’re looking to add at least one more person-- possibly more -- to the team.

Want to help? Here are a few requirements:

You have to be willing to work with the current team. The admod team is a group effort and it will fall apart if we’ve got in-fighting. If the idea of working with any of us doesn’t really sound good to you, then this probably isn’t the job for you. If you don’t have a problem with any of us and are just nervous, we’re all understanding and excited to expand the team, so we’d encourage you to apply! You’ll also need to be okay with one of your ideas getting turned down. We’ll never turn down/change ideas without a good reason and we’ll always be happy to explain why we think things may not work, but if you’re going to get offended over us saying “no” or asking you to change something or put something on hold, then we’re going to have a hard time working together.

New mods will have a HUGE impact on RK, but won’t be reforming the RP. Whoever’s on the admod team will, of course, have a large effect on the RP. However, there are certain aspects of the RP that won’t change. If you’re trying to become an admod to remold the RP into something it isn’t, it’s not going to work out.

Drama is inevitable in RP, and RK admods field more of it than the average leadership team because of points and auditions, etc. Applicants need to be able to remain levelheaded in the face of conflict or problems arising. RK operates on a strike system, and in order to hand out strikes, all active staff members vote on whether something brought to our attention is strike-worthy or not. Applicants need to be willing to look over collected evidence of conflict and drama presented, and vote at the very least, if not screenshot and diffuse drama themselves. On top of this, they need to be able to stay calm and reasonable even when they get the same question 50 different times from 50 different members, and no matter who approaches them, and they need to be self-aware enough to know when to step back and hand an issue over to another member of the team. Don’t worry; we won’t throw you to the sharks when you first start off, and you’re welcome (and recommended) to point any drama out to one of the more experienced mods and let us handle it until you learn the ropes. Regardless, any potential admods need to remain collected and as unbiased and kind as possible in conflict, no matter who they’re dealing with, and be willing to act and maintain the peace in Rookies as things come up. They also must refrain from addressing any drama publicly, because the way an admod acts in drama influences the atmosphere of the roleplay very directly. We’re very serious about this-- any admod vague-tweeting or anything of the like will be subject to removal from the team.

Obviously, applicants need to be able to set their own personal biases aside for auditions and things like that. Because we’re a group, we can easily check each other on this, but if we see that someone is consistently pulling just for their own and/or their friends’ characters, it’s not going to fly.

Availability is important. You won’t need to be on every single day- however, you’ll need to be able to dedicate at least a few hours each week to mod duties. Keep in mind that the main and two of the staff team are currently in the GMT-5 (EST) timezone. Bianca is in GMT-3, Ume is in GMT-7, Lari is in GMT+1 and Keith is in GMT+8, so clearly we’ll consider people from any timezone as potential mods, but sometimes timezones can make communication complicated. It would be most convenient if any potential mods could be online when at least one other staff member is for easy communication and accessible assistance, but we usually read through any chats we miss due to timezones, and we’ll be able to make anything work.

Reliability! We’re looking for people who plan on being here for the long haul.

You’ve got to be able to keep a secret. As a mod, you’ll often know about stuff that’s coming down the pike before the rest of the directory, and you can’t tell anyone- even your friends. You’ll also need to keep how decisions were made a secret unless the team agrees to share details with the public, no matter how many people hound you for answers.

You’ve got to have a pretty good grasp of the RK rules. If you don’t already know them super well, don’t worry- you’ll learn quick. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to get familiar with them if you aren’t already.

So, what kinds of tasks will new mods be accomplishing?

It depends! On the current team, we all have our own roles and cover all the bases pretty well, though we’ve also done some rearranging based on the roleplay and the team’s present needs. Because this system has worked so well for us, it’s something we intend to keep up. The tasks new mods will complete largely depend on what you want to help with, and what tasks we feel will suit you best after reading through your application. It’s also possible that you may need to pitch in to help on tasks you wouldn’t normally complete if a certain mod needs help with their usual responsibilities, so some willingness to be versatile would be a great quality! Here’s what we do as mods and will be enlisting your help in, though no single mod should have to do all of this at any given time (that’s why we’re expanding the team!):

MONITORING THE DASH: This includes keeping an eye out for any rule-breaking (both IC and OOC) and reporting it to the mod chat as needed, as well as keeping an eye out for any good gossip for rknetizens/idolators! You also might have the opportunity to write gossip articles from time to time, or help with the many articles that go up on rknetizens weekly. With a dash as active as Rookies, and with as many characters as we have in a roleplay, we’re in desperate need of more eyes. This is always a hard job to keep up with, especially with Tumblr recently breaking so you can’t easily go forward and backward on pages of the dash anymore (Mod Carly’s preferred way of doing things.) The more people that can help with this, the better, as it’s something we always end up sacrificing for the sake of other aspects of the roleplay and something we think Rookies would really benefit from.

DISCIPLINE: As mentioned earlier in the post, at the very least, you’ll be voting in what we call “strike trials” to determine when we need to take disciplinary action or not. We’ll also likely have you take screenshots of any drama you spot to aid in this process, and to let the mod chat know of any issues ASAP. To start off, the more experienced mods will do the disciplinary heavy lifting. As time goes on and you gain more experience we’ll probably share the responsibility of confrontation with you, and may even ask you to write up a dreaded strike message based on who’s available. We’ll never force you to do this if you aren’t comfortable unless you happen to be the only mod around in the face of a drama emergency, but if you’re willing to do this, it’ll put you ahead of the rest of your competition for this position. Lari will take charge of this when Carly leaves, but this is undoubtedly the area Carly had the most involvement in and the area we’ll be lacking the most once she leaves. It’s really important that we at least have someone willing to collaborate on the right course of action to take in dealing with drama, and important that you’re willing to help field some of this alongside Lari eventually, even if it’s not all the time.

UPDATING LISTS/GENERAL UPKEEP: This includes idol rosters, as well as the secret (not so secret now…) lists we have for muns and potential scandal information we collect. Aside from that, we also run advertisements for Rookies in the KRP tags from time to time, and you can help fill up that queue too. These are incredibly easy to forget about and can be monotonous work, and both the mun list and gossip list are currently quite out of date and in desperate need of help. This is one of the top responsibilities we need help in!

GENERAL OPINIONS, IDEAS, AND LOTS OF COMMUNICATION: The most important (and hopefully easiest) thing for a new mod to do is contribute lots of ideas, and give the current staff feedback on their ideas. Just having you present as someone to bounce ideas off of and having another perspective around is a huge help to us, so we’ll often ask you what you think about something, and how you think the best way to go about something is, and we want you to be honest! I’m an incredible vocal mod, talking in our chat all the time, and the chat will likely be a lot more quiet without me. I really want somebody willing to communicate a lot so it feels like the other mods aren’t missing a person on the team in this regard at all!

HELPING WITH CASTING DECISIONS: A lot of times, the current staff members in charge of casting events may go through it without enlisting your help, but sometimes you’ll be able to help! This might mean we’ll need you to read a bunch of solos and tell us your thoughts, other times this means we’ll just need you to go around and put all the contestants’ points into a Google Doc to speed up the process, or do some math. Other times, we may talk it out as a group the whole way through, and conspire on the best way to make a decision together. Because we have lots of staff members available to pitch in here, we won’t often need your help with this, and if you have a muse participating in the auditions or would rather not be part of the decision-making process for any reason, that’ll always be optional. This is an area we don’t need help in, but it’s listed here just in case!

WRITING AND SENDING OUT PROMPTS: Sometimes, we’ll send prompts out from rkevent to characters. This can be for a variety of reasons; most commonly, it’s for disciplinary action for trainees IC, though it can also be for special opportunities, including street casting or feedback from the judging panel about auditions. There was even a time that 50 prompts were sent out during evaluations, and a set of auditions where we sent out around 50 total prompts as well. Naturally, these things can take a lot of time, so we may have you help in writing these, especially if we have a lot to get to! More commonly, though, we’ll just have you do some of the monotonous work of sending out the prompts to everyone. Any prompts you do write will have to go through a more experienced staff member first, at least while you get the hang of writing from the perspective of the RK companies! This is once again a task that isn’t that important for you to do, given how many others we have available to write these.

And what kinds of things are new mods less likely to handle?

FINAL CASTING DECISIONS: As mentioned above, while we might enlist your help in the casting process, the more experienced staff members will make the final call here. This may change in the future, but to start out, you won’t be doing any casting on your own.

COMING UP WITH RK-APPROPRIATE EVENTS: Gab and Bianca do a great job of covering this as our event team, and you shouldn’t need to help with this beyond pitching any ideas you’d like and reading some things over for them or offering any input they might need from you.

THEME AND GRAPHICS: Since we currently have a graphics mod, everything that falls under this area is a job largely accounted for, though more experience on the team certainly wouldn’t hurt! You can definitely offer graphics and theme suggestions as well, and may even get a chance to do some, but don’t expect to be the main theme or graphics maker on the team!

DEALING WITH THE MAIN: This is a bit of a strange task to list as something new mods are unlikely to handle, but our current team has this on lock, so you don’t need to focus your energy on this at all unless there’s an emergency and no one can handle a queue.

VERIFYING POINTS: This means checking each of those verification forms the trainees turn in to make sure they’re properly filled out and that nobody’s cheating, properly tagging the submissions, and posting them in a timely fashion, however, Kyle and Keith handle this currently and don’t need any extra help.

Anyone who’d like to apply should send a submission to the main.

This is what we want to know, in as much or as little detail as you think is applicable (and if you know us, some of us write a lot, so don’t worry about boring us):

1. Do you meet all the requirements? (Any area you’re a little worried about or particularly confident in? Feel free to let us know) 2. Is there anyone you would be uncomfortable working with? (Currently on staff or otherwise. Please be honest! The last thing we want is to accidentally hire two new mods that don’t get along.) 3. Of the mod tasks listed, which are you most interested in taking on? Which ones would you rather not do? 4. Do you bring anything else to the table that isn’t listed above? 5. Is there anything else you’d like to say about why you want to be a mod and why you’d be good at the job? 6. Imagine you’ve been tasked with messaging someone who hurt another member in the group. This deed wasn’t deemed severe enough to warrant a strike, but the team agreed someone should talk to them about it so they know they were in the wrong. Take a stab at typing up your message to them. Feel free to make up specific details of this case, or be as vague as you’d like. Don’t worry about being perfect with this if you aren’t particularly comfortable dealing with drama; just do your best. 7. Extra credit: Imagine you’ve been put in charge of planning an RK event. It can be any kind of event from a monthly eval to an audition to a holiday celebration to a vacation/retreat (such as the language camp back in the day or the summer camp, more recently)- whatever you think of! Write up everything that would be needed for the event, start to finish. This includes both public posts as well as behind-the-scenes information (for example, if there’s a contest element to the event, how will we choose a winner?) If events aren’t really your thing, feel free to think outside of the box here and write up a potential rknetizens or rkidolators post, or come up with some other kind of suggestion. In fact, since our event mods are in tip top shape, we’d rather something out of the box! 8. That’s it; thanks for applying! Now, tell us your zodiac sign (sun, rising and moon) and MBTI type, or another fun fact about you. (This won’t affect your chances of getting the job, Mod Carly is just nosy and will never have a better opportunity to ask than this.)

Please send your mod applications in by midnight at the end of March 25th. We’ll be taking our time to go through everything, to decide, and to prepare to have you on board, so we can’t give you an exact date for when we’ll announce the new staff. If you’re chosen, however, we’ll let you know before the announcement goes up. Thanks for all of your support and interest in advance!

#rkannouncement

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twelvedreamsfortheredqueen · 5 years

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Observations on the Hierarchy Of the Guard of Priwen

The Guard of Priwen largely remains a mystery to us as the player throughout Vampyr. No matter how openly we see them patrol the streets as some form of underground night watch, we only see glimpses of their true, and supposedly resurrected power, let alone witness the history of what they were before the schism from their “cowardly” brothers, the Brotherhood of St. Paul’s Stole. As Lady Ashbury parts with us, the Guard of Priwen is a secret society, one of many in the dreary and eerie vampire underworld.

I have other plans to delve deeper into the militaristic madness that is the Guard of Priwen’s inner workings and possible historical backgrounds, but I first wanted to share this small piece regarding the one detail that is most obvious in the game: the several Mobs we encounter with their logos splattered all across it. Therefore, this will be a shorter analysis solely dedicated to the possible hierarchy within Priwen, combining datamined research, the lore, and some fun historical notes behind each and every rank!

As per usual, this analysis will have spoilers, this time all the way through! All parts of this post will discuss Vampyr’s lore in detail, so please skip if you do not wish to be spoiled!

Tagging @comfycheesecakes, @orionali, @cursedbethechoice as I imagine some of this may be to each of your interests.

To preface a starting point point: Usher elaborates on the history of Priwen’s conception when Jonathan speaks to him in the West End inside his crypt:

Usher also writes of them in the Collectible “Laughing at the Guard”, explaining their origins and beliefs from a historical point. The Collectible helps to detail the inner turmoils that founded the Brotherhood as well as the detailed purpose behind its creation:

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This gives us a starting point to Priwen’s possible background and development. 1801 places the birth of the Guard of Priwen in the Georgian Era, beginning from 1714 to circa 1830 - 1837.

You will also see a militant trend following Priwen which is also an obvious fact in game but characters like Archer Woodbead in The Docks or Dorothy Crane in Whitechapel, both in Districts with the highest concentration of Priwen, this is a very visible trend for those around them:

Dorothy’s exchange occurs if you Spare her as Jonathan, revealing a harrowing fact about Priwen’s encroaching behaviour in their fanatical fear of keeping any sign of vampire activity eradicated. Beforehand, Priwen guards burst in to the Dispensary regardless of your Pillar Choice as Jonathan, with the patients downstairs being shot to death should you check again with Senses. The bodies no longer have visible heartbeats.

When Jonathan begins to gain access to the rich streets of the West End, it, too, struggles to avoid Priwen’s influence with not only their guard presence, but also their criminal presence!

Inspector Charles Jerome Albright will speak to Jonathan about the recent happenings and murders in London, claiming that there are:

Jonathan has the option to then report a possible suspect, one of these being Geoffrey McCullum, the current leader of Priwen:

If you choose McCullum, Jonathan calls Priwen a group of “vigilantes”; a vigilante is someone, or a group, who attempts to enforce laws (or their ideas of what is law) without the authority to do so.

With this very worrying trend now established, let us fully move onto dissecting Priwen’s inner workings!

GUARD OF PRIWEN

What’s interesting to note is that a lot of the current enemies in GoP have different names depending on where you look—from either the canonical versions in the game themselves, to the game files, or even the concept art. I will be looking at all three sources for any comparisons!

PRIWEN

To begin dissection—I will first begin with the titular names of each organisation for each of their respective sections, beginning with the Guard of Priwen. “Priwen” is a reference to Geoffrey of Monmouth’s (Latin: Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, Welsh: Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy) Arthurian legend titled “The History of the Kings of Britain”, or “De gestis Britonum” (On the Deeds of the Britons) or Historia regum Britanniae”, written circa. 1136.“Priwen” is the name of King Arthur’s shield, hence, the Guard of Priwen:

“Without a moment’s delay each man present, inspired by the benediction given by this holy man, rushed to put on his armour and to obey Dubricius’ orders. Arthur himself put on a leather jerkin worthy of so great a king. On his head he put a golden helmet, with a crest carved in the shape of a dragon; and across his shoulders a circular shield called Priwen, on which there was painted a likeness of the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, which forced him to be thinking perpetually of her.” — Legends of Arthur, Richard Barber, 2003.

Arthurian myth utilized in several aspects of Vampyr, with this being one of the more prominent examples. The symbol of Priwen is also referencing this myth, as it resembles a Latin cross with a circle to represent a shield:

LEADER

This is relatively standard, but we do know that the head of the Guard of Priwen is always referred to as “leader”, as the notes done by Geoffrey McCullum and Carl Eldritch thus far are denoted by “leader”; the only exception is reserved for Kendall Stone who is also denoted as “Founder”. “Leader” is rather self-explanatory, as it simply means “someone who leads a group”. Interestingly, it also seems to be used for those who are not the head of Priwen either, as we see in the scouting note during Thelma’s side-quest: a female “team leader” who went by Amanda Tilton. This seems to indicate there is no specific or official title to discern the head of Priwen, perchance making “leader” more of slang or casual terminology that merely stuck through the generations. The below are either written manuscripts by the leaders themselves, or copies from another.

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Kendall Stone’s denotation and signature:

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Carl Eldritch’s denotation and signature:

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Geoffrey McCullum’s denotation and signature:

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CHAPLAIN/SHEPHERD/PREACHER

(For the purpose of relevancy, I will mostly be focusing on the Chaplain terminology as that is the canonical one we see in-game, but will still be examining the Chaplain’s alternative terms and their origins.)

Chaplains are curious. You do not see them until much later in the game (other than certain exceptions regarding side-quests), there are two versions of them according to the game files, that being the Shepherd_Preacher and the Shepherd_Fanatic, but only one model, the Fanatic, remains in the game. Shepherd_Preacher is the first version of the Chaplain which we see in the E3 2017 Trailer. Their enemy busts are below; the model shown in the game files is only of the Fanatic:

Concept art also reveals them being originally labelled as “Preacher”, with a single exception being that sometimes, the loading screen within the game will use the title:

Florent Auguy

The word “chaplain” is borrowed from Old French “chapelain”, which in-turn stems from the Medieval-to-late Latin “cappellānus” that also hails from a Medieval Latin to Late Latin word read as “cappella”. Notably, “cappella” is defined as a chapel or a choir. The story of chaplains themselves hail from a 4th-century practice:

In the 4th century, chaplains (Latin cappellani) were so called because they kept St. Martin’s famous half cape (cappella, diminutive of cappa). This sacred relic gave its name to the tent and later to the simple oratory or chapel where it was preserved. To it were added other relics that were guarded by chaplains appointed by the king during the Merovingian and Carolingian periods, and particularly during the reign of Charlemagne, who appointed clerical ministers (capellani) who lived within the royal palace. In addition to their primary duty of guarding the sacred relics, they also said mass for the king on feast days, worked in conjunction with the royal notaries, and wrote any documents the king required of them. In their duties chaplains thus gradually became more identified with direct service to the monarch as advisers in both ecclesiastical and secular matters.

In modern usage, a chaplain holds a strange position within the religious circle they reside in, most notably because the definition of a “chaplain” is a cleric who is assigned to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military forces, universities, and so on.

n. A member of a religious body (often, but not always, of the clergy) officially assigned to give pastoral care at an institution, group, private chapel, etc. A person without religious affiliation who carries out similar duties in a secular context.

…

Clergy and ministers appointed to a variety of institutions and corporate bodies—such as cemeteries, prisons, hospitals, schools, colleges, universities, embassies, legations, and armed forces—usually are called chaplains.

Often they are considered a religious leader or some form of a figurehead, with some chaplains previously being leaders of a chapel before their assignment to a different institution. Given Priwen’s circumstance of being an underground militia, the usage of the word makes perfect sense as the Chaplains of Priwen seem to hold the same responsibilities of real-life, in this case, military chaplains (as they are called) who serve in the armed forces (the concept of allowing religious figures into battle, to this day, still holds much controversy), or we can at least assume they do some of the following which are:

A chaplain performs basically the same functions in most armed forces. A chaplain in the U.S. military must furnish or arrange for religious services and ministrations, advise his commander and fellow staff officers on matters pertaining to religion and morality, administer a comprehensive program of religious education, serve as counselor and friend to the personnel of the command, and conduct instruction classes in the moral guidance program of his service.

Beyond that, a “shepherd” has a variety of religious messages but to keep it short: “shepherd” stems from the Middle English word “schepherde” to the Old English “sċēaphierde” which is a mixture of the two words “sċēap” (”sheep”) and “hierde” (”herdsman”). A female version of the word is a “shepherdess”. The word itself has multiple sorts of definitions, with a rather funny one to think about at times:

n. A person who tends sheep, especially a grazing flock. (figuratively) Someone who watches over, looks after, or guides somebody. (figuratively) The pastor of a church; one who guides others in religion. (poetic) A swain (”young man”); a rustic male lover.

A “preacher” is as it sounds: someone who spreads their worldview or philosophy. In this case, it would be perhaps a gospel or a sermon. From the Old French “preecheor” (”prêcheur”), to Latin “praedicator” (”public praiser”, “proclaimer”). A female preacher is known as a “preacheress”.

EXECUTIONER/TRAPPER

Executioners, or Trappers as the concept art referred them as (see above), are the crossbow snipers wearing red, hooded garbs, able to throw gas grenades and flaming bolts, bereft of any melee resistance whatsoever. According to the game files, there are three types of Executioners. Here are the files:

Alongside their respective busts labelled Chemical, Fire, and Wood, their models are instead labelled CrossBow, FireCrossbow, and Sniper:

The word “executioner” is a combination of the words “execution” , which is borrowed from Old French “exécution” (c. 1360) of the Latin “executio”, an agent noun (a word deriving from another word that denotes an action of some sort), of “exequi” (”to follow out”) which stems from “ex” (out) and “sequor” (”follow”) and of course, “-er”, from Middle English “-er” and “-ere”, as well as Old English “-ere”, and Proto-Germanic “-ārijaz” used as a suffix. “Executioner” is also a fairly self-explanatory definition; it literally means “one who executes”, but to ensure that we are being thorough:

n An official person who carries out the capital punishment of a criminal. (archaic) Executor (one who conducts a task). A hit man, especially being in some organization.

An “executioner” was historically seen as a “hangman” or “headsman”—a reference to the practice of execution via. means of public decapitation. This, alongside the file name of “Sniper”; the fact that the Executioner is only ranged, defined as “hit man, especially being in some organization” and that beheading would often result in instantaneous death, the choice of title is very distinct. Like beheadings, a sniper aims to kill with a single action—an underleveled Jonathan will easily be one-shot by an Executioner from afar, making their name strikingly fitting. The fact that they are a part of Priwen, an “organization” of sorts that specializes in executions of the undead, is simply a fond, bloody coincidence.

In comparison, a “trapper” is, well, one who “traps” something, often animals for their hides or other precious materials. This may be an insinuation that literal traps of some kind were going to be added to the final product but were inevitably cut out. It does, however, fit Priwen’s perception of vampires—that they are feral animals to entrap and be rid of.

INVESTIGATOR

This will be short, as it is a term used in the game files and concept art for three ranks od Priwen, which happen to be the most squishy of mobs: Priwen Rookies (Rookie), Priwen Cadets (Veteran), and Priwen Gunners (Range).

“Investigator” is also self-explanatory: “one who investigates”, which is to say:

v. (transitive) To inquire into or study in order to ascertain facts or information. to investigate the causes of natural phenomena (transitive) To examine, look into, or scrutinize in order to discover something hidden or secret. to investigate an unsolved murder (intransitive) To conduct an inquiry or examination.

Said to have derived from the mid-1500s, from Latin “investigator” which hails from “investigare”. Interestingly, we know that female versions of each of these models exist in the game files apart from NPCs, confirmation of a female “leader” as shown above, as well as hearing female voices in the Prologue of Vampyr when Jonathan must escape the mass grave at dawn. Women were shown in the Alpha iterations of the game. Elwood confirms the presence of women in Priwen if you speak to him soon after Edgar’s kidnapping:

The feminine usage of this word is known as “investigatrix”, from Latin “investīgātrix”.

ROOKIE

Rookies are the most numerous types of enemies within the game as well as the first one you encounter within the Prologue. They only use melee weapons and hold resistance to Ranged Attacks. The sheer amount of them you find are most likely a reference to the Guard’s revitalized state in the wake of the Skal Epidemic. Ashbury mentions that Priwen was “almost gone” before Priwen began its new wave of mass recruitments:

Jonathan will frequently hear references to this mass recruitment when wandering around idle Guards:

“Rookie” is also a rather simple word to dissect: an altering of the word “recruit” and “-ie”. There is also a possibly Dutch origin from the word “broekie”, short for “broekvent”, lit. meaning “a boy still in short trousers”, which explains why “rookie” is often used as a sort teasing term. To be technical:

n. plural “rookies”

An inexperienced recruit, especially in the police or armed forces. A novice.

As the first definition shows, it does have some bearing to Priwen’s overall trend of having a nomenclature relating to militaristic forces.

The Rookie’s respective enemy UI portrait and model:

CADETS/VETERANS

Cadets, or Veterans as the game files name them, are essentially Rookies with guns or flaming torches, only being somewhat tougher than fresh-blooded Rookies. This can be inferred as a progression in rank—a Rookie that’s survived their first couple of nights on patrol. They certainly look more well-garbed, and the term “veteran” also fits with this idea of experience alongside surviving the dreary, vampiric-ridden streets.

The Cadet’s enemy UI and model:

An interesting feature to note at this point about each of Priwen’s enemies is that the majority of them seem to have an undercut. At the time (and even now), undercuts were done on men deployed to the war as the militaristic style of the era—Jonathan and McCullum share ones of their own. This hints to Priwen’s military connections that many NPCs remark on (as shown above) and that some of Priwen’s members do hail from military backgrounds which are demonstrated in their extreme firepower and access to various parts of the city.

“Cadet” stems from French “cadet” from a southwestern French known as Gascon Occitan “capdet”, further back into the Late Latin “capitellum” (”headling”) shortened version of “caput” (”head”), sharing English form by 1634. “Cadet”, unsurprisingly, is also a term with military usage. The female version would be spelt “cadette”. It also holds a definition for “junior”:

n. plural cadets

A student at a military school who is training to be an officer. (largely historical) A younger or youngest son, who would not inherit as a firstborn son would. (in compounds, chiefly in genealogy) Junior. (See also the heraldic term cadency.) a cadet branch of the family

“Veteran” is borrowed from Middle French “vétéran”, of Late or Vulgar Latin “veterānus” of the word “vetus” (”old” or “aged”). It is a rather official word referencing one who has served in the military or armed forces, most specific to older soldiers or those who have seen long years of service. While the age of Priwen’s Guards can certainly be up for debate—Cadets, while relatively squishy, seem to be what Rookies advance to should they survive their first nights at the mercy of patrols, facing whatever awaits them during it.

GUNNER

Gunners are another frequent, early mob of Priwen that you encounter. They are about as numerous as Rookies and equal in their frailty, only they seem to be Rookies with more additions to their design and opt to only use Ranged Attacks, much like their fellow Executioners. The portrait shows no difference as it is a reused UI bust, but their outfits differ slightly.

“Gunner” sounds straightforward but does hold a military usage. One can literally define “gunner” as “someone who uses a gun”, but the word itself is a rank used in the British Army Royal Artillery. It is abbreviated as “Gnr”, and is equivalent to the military rank of a “Private”, which makes sense. They hold similar stats to Rookies, Rookies are stated to essentially be new recruits—privates usually act as the lowest, entry-level rank in the military after training has completed, which means that Gunners, too, are on par with Rookies in terms of Priwen’s hierarchy.

BRAWLER/ENFORCER

Brawlers are quite the mixed bag of things. There are three different variations of them in the game files, are seen relatively early in the game, and serve as the brutish powerhouses Jonathan has to face when running into more of Priwen’s hordes. We seem them with heavy guns, a shield on their left arm, gas, and flames. A wide assortment of anti-vampire materials is cast onto a single kind of member, which proves interesting. In the game files, they are known as Enforcers with three names: Flamer, Ram, and Shield (”Tank” seems to be used generally amongst all of them for clothing files).

“Brawlers” is defined as “one who brawls”, which is to say: “fight or quarrel”—of Middle English “braule” and “brall” (”brawl, squabble”) of earlier “braulen” and “brallen” (”to clamour, boast, quarrel”). Similar words from Middle High German (”prālen”; “to boast, flaunt”)), Low German (”brallen”; “to brag”), Dutch (”brallen”; “to boast”), and Danish (”bralle”; “chatter, jabber”) have also been considered, whose meanings make sense. Priwen’s guards hold no shortage of leech-related insults, but the Brawlers have quite the large assortment of them out of every other Guard member. A show of their imposing sizes and statures, I would wager. However, their large array of weapons, brute force, and usage of miniature bosses imply that Brawlers are quite high on the ranking list. Chaplains are the only thing larger than them, and it has been established that Chaplains are sort of seen as pious, leading figures. Consider this when taking a look at the game files term for Brawlers: Enforcers.

“Enforcers” is a combination of “enforce” and “-er”, with “enforce” coming from Old French “enforcier”, of the Late Latin “infortiāre”, from “in-” and “fortis” ((physically)“strong”)). I emphasize this word for the Brawler for one definition in particular:

One who enforces. The member of a group, especially of a gang, charged with keeping dissident members obedient.

Ram is also a reference to a battering ram (and the ability in which they charge at you) used in the British Police Forces. The second definition is specific to a Mob Enforcer. Priwen has access to multiple parts of London, with heavy access to firepower, large numbers, and seemingly free reign once night comes, kept entirely away from law enforcement. This is what discerns Priwen from a gang per say—their power and influence put them upwards to that of a Mob, or a “traditional gang” which is essentially a gang with overarching influence upon a region, to the point that they nearly act as the local law enforcement. Multiple mobs/traditional gangs existed, some of notable fame, throughout the Victorian Era well into the World Wars, many of which centred in the East End much like Priwen is: Peaky Blinders, Birmingham Boys, the “Sabini” gang, Hoxton Gang, The Yiddishers, and several others.

Brawlers essentially being Mob Enforcers must mean they hold a lot of trust within Priwen to both be given the position of watching the other men, as well as proving they can also follow through with said position.

With all of what we know of Priwen now defined, here is a chart of what I believe to be the hierarchical structure within the Guard of Priwen from what we have gathered:

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As Ashbury says: like all good societies, Priwen is still very much a secretive one even with such open recruitment. There may be inner workings we are unaware of, and what we have been revealed to may only be scratching the surface of what truly hides within the esoteric, fanatic-hunting organised Mob that Priwen has built itself into. Worse more is the mystery behind their schism with the Brotherhood: a once united group, now a duality that remains incessantly at odds. The way the current Brotherhood organises themselves is much more esoteric and theological than that of militaristic Priwen, a further representation of their dichotomy being at odds.

CREDITS:

None of this data collection would have been possible without the informative help of @wolfsirius and @orionali. Of course, I will never write a post without thanking @cursedbethechoice for their initial, contributive works to the lore of this fandom and for continuing to inspire me throughout.

The tool I used to view these files was from Gildor’s Umodel Viewer.

EXTRA COMMENTS:

This essay is exactly 3,724 words long!

It’s been quite a long while since I’ve written anything despite being active on the blog. Nearly a year now! I’m hoping this small introduction allows me to ease my way back to the projects I wanted to share (which are a lot) both here in full, and show peeks of on Twitter! Thank you to those who have continued to follow this blog despite the time gap. I hope to be much more frequent with Lore posts here!

You may notice a tag at the bottom labeled “secret societies series”. That is because I intend to have a small series of analyses dedicated to the three major factions we witness in Vampyr: The Guard of Priwen, The Brotherhood of St. Paul’s Stole, and The Ascalon Club. This will be the catch-all tag for any analyses relating to those topics! …With a possible mention of the Druid Order (mentioned in the “Blood Goddess Heresy” Collectible).

Other “series” are still in the works!

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ALL SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY (in no particular order):

Legends of Arthur, Richard Barber, 2003 “GANGS”, Bill Sanders, February 2016 — Oxford University Press Chaplain, ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA Oxford English Dictionary Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary Wiktionary Online Etymology Dictionary The British Army Website’s British Army Structure London Metropolitan Police’s Article of the Enforcer Wikivisually’s Article on the Enforcer (battering ram) Etymology of “Chaplain” – Traditional & Professional, Rev. Dr. Michael G. Maness, 1998, revised 2015, formerly published as “Meaning of Chaplaincy” The etymology of “rookie” in Wikitionary The etymology of “chaplain” in Wikitionary The etymology of “brawl” in Wikitionary The etymology of “enforce” in Wikitionary Online Etymology’s Dictionary’s Page on “enforce” The Mob Museum in Las Vegas—National Museum of Organized Crime & Law Enforcement Online Etymology’s Dictionary’s Page on “veteran” Online Etymology’s Dictionary’s Page on “shepherd” Online Etymology’s Dictionary’s Page on “preacher” The etymology of “shepherd” in Wikitionary. “investigate” in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911 “investigate” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913 King Arthur: The Mystery Unravelled By Chris Barber Journey to Avalon: The Final Discovery of King Arthur By Chris Barber, David Pykitt The Welsh Academy Encyclopædia of Wales. John Davies, Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg. 668

#vampyr #vampyr game #guard of priwen #dontnod #essay #secret societies series #it's been a while #good to be back!#mine

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dorkery · 4 years

Link

BEIJING — China is pushing a new theory about the origins of the coronavirus: It is an American disease that might have been introduced by members of the United States Army who visited Wuhan in October.

There is not a shred of evidence to support that, but the notion received an official endorsement from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose spokesman accused American officials of not coming clean about what they know about the disease.

The intentional spreading of an unfounded conspiracy theory — which recirculated on China’s tightly controlled internet on Friday — punctuated a downward spiral in relations between the two countries that has been fueled by the basest instincts of officials on both sides.

The insinuation came in a series of posts on Twitter by Zhao Lijian, a ministry spokesman who has made good use of the platform, which is blocked in China, to push a newly aggressive, and hawkish, diplomatic strategy. It is most likely intended to deflect attention from China’s own missteps in the early weeks of the epidemic by sowing confusion or, at least, uncertainty at home and abroad.

Mr. Zhao’s posts appeared to be a retort to similarly unsubstantiated theories about the origins of the outbreak that have spread in the United States. Senior officials there have called the epidemic the “Wuhan virus,” and at least one senator hinted darkly that the epidemic began with the leak of a Chinese biological weapon.

“The conspiracy theories are a new, low front in what they clearly perceive as a global competition over the narrative of this crisis,” said Julian B. Gewirtz, a scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard.

“There are a few Chinese officials who appear to have gone to the Donald J. Trump School of Diplomacy,” added Mr. Gewirtz, who recently published a paper on China’s handling of the AIDS epidemic, after a similar disinformation campaign. “This small cadre of high-volume Chinese officials don’t seem to realize that peddling conspiracy theories is totally self-defeating for China, at a moment when it wants to be seen as a positive contributor around the world.”

The circulation of disinformation is not a new tactic for the Communist Party state. The United States, in particular, is often a foil of Chinese propaganda efforts. Last year, Beijing explicitly accused the American government of supporting public protests in Hong Kong in an effort to weaken the party’s rule.

The old tactic has been amplified by more combative public diplomacy and a new embrace of a social media platform that is blocked in China to spread a message abroad.

Victor Shih, an associate professor at the University of California at San Diego who studies Chinese politics, said that while the campaign was very likely an attempt to distract and deflect blame, a more worrisome possibility was that some officials fabricated the idea and persuaded top leaders to believe it.

“If the leadership really believes in the culpability of the U.S. government,” he warned, “it may behave in a way that dramatically worsens the bilateral relationship.”

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has faced sharp criticism for the government’s initial handling of the outbreak, even at home. Public anger erupted in February when a doctor who was punished for warning his colleagues about the coronavirus died, prompting censors to redouble their efforts to stifle public criticism.

Chinese officials have repeatedly urged officials in other countries not to politicize what is a public health emergency. Conservatives in the United States, in particular, have latched on to loaded terms that have been criticized for stigmatizing the Chinese people. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referred to the “Wuhan virus,” while Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, called it the “Chinese coronavirus.”

In response, Chinese officials and state news media have stepped up their criticism of American officials’ comments.

Only days before Mr. Zhao’s latest post, the Xinhua news agency published a commentary denouncing “Washington’s poisonous coronavirus politics” and warning that spreading rumors simply encouraged “fear, division and hate.”

“Their dangerously irresponsible statements are highly counterproductive at this drastic hour that demands solidarity and cooperation,” the commentary, written by Gao Wencheng, said, “and could be much more menacing than the virus itself.”

The coronavirus, according to all evidence, emanated from Wuhan, China, in late December. Scientists have not yet identified a “patient zero” or a precise source of the virus, though preliminary studies have linked it to a virus in bats that passed through another mammal before infecting humans.

A senior official of China’s National Health Commission, Liang Wannian, said at a briefing in Beijing last month that the likely carrier was a pangolin, an endangered species that is trafficked almost exclusively to China for its meat and for its scales, which are prized for use in traditional medicine. The first cluster of patients was reported at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, and studies have since suggested that the virus could have been introduced there by someone already infected. Wuhan and the surrounding province of Hubei account for the overwhelming amount of cases and deaths, so there is no scientific reason to believe the virus began elsewhere.

Mr. Zhao’s assertion began with a post linking to a video of the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert R. Redfield, testifying before the House on Wednesday and suggesting that some flu deaths might have been caused by the coronavirus.

“When did patient zero begin in US?” Mr. Zhao wrote on Twitter, first in English and separately in Chinese. “How many people are infected. What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your date! US owe us an explanation.”

Mr. Zhao appeared to refer to the Military World Games, which were held in Wuhan in October. The Pentagon sent 17 teams with more than 280 athletes and other staff members to the event, well before any reported outbreaks. The Pentagon has had confirmed cases in South Korea and Italy and is bracing for more to emerge, but no illnesses have been tied to American service members from October.

Mr. Zhao’s remarks were spread on China’s most prominent social media platform, Weibo, under a hashtag: #ZhaoLijianPostedFiveTweetsinaRowQuestioningAmerica. By late afternoon on Friday, that hashtag had been viewed more than 160 million times, along with screenshots of the original Twitter posts.

The State Department summoned the Chinese ambassador on Friday to protest Mr. Zhao’s comments, officials in the Trump administration said.

At the regular briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday, another spokesman, Geng Shuang, sidestepped three questions about whether Mr. Zhao’s suggestion had politicized the crisis and reflected official Chinese policy.

He instead noted the statements made by American officials and lawmakers to “smear and attack” China.

“We are firmly opposed to this,” he said. “In fact, the international community, including the United States at home, have different views on the source of the virus. What I have been saying in recent days is that the Chinese side always believed that this is a scientific issue and requires scientific and professional opinions.”

#WOW #covid-19 #coronavirus #the new york times

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lizzybeth1986 · 5 years

Text

Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1 Chapter 5

• Now that we are five chapters into this story, now seems like a good time to get the masterlist of this series out! 😁 Which I will be doing shortly after this QT is up. If you've missed the other chapters, you'll be more easily able to find them all there! I'll also be reblogging my TRR series masterlist sometime this week, since my TRR Book 1 Chapter 5 chapter is close to getting finished as well.

• I'm hoping to get this one out early, it's an extremely light chapter for the most part. It's practically filler, filled with little vignettes between the characters here and there and mostly diamond scenes. The heavy stuff inevitably seems to be left for the actual Walker Ranch (sigh).

• Here are the tags to block if you don't want my QTs to clog up your dash: #long post, #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs. For now a friend of mine is helping get the read-mores on the main posts, until Tumblr actually does something to make them work on a phone again.

• TW: Brief mentions of the Dr Ramirez scene in Hana's playthrough, and infertility.

• Screenshot Credits:

Hana - @pixieferry

Maxwell - Abhirio's YouTube channel

Drake - @thefirstcourtesan

Liam - Well, me

• Besides being mostly filler stuff, this chapter had a lot of diamond scenes. Two outfit changes (one OOTD and one lingerie for the LI), a group scene and the book's first character scene (Liam).

• A few people I know have been asking me about the differences between "character scenes" and "LI scenes" (and indeed a lot of people were confused by my use of these terms in my Book 3 QTs). So once I get to my general thoughts section, I'll elaborate on those.

• Title: The Open Road

Alternative Title: Enjoy The Fillers, Dear Fans, Coz You Got A Walker-Storm Comin'!

• We're now on our way to the States, barely days after we got back to our own estate. The Council is looking after stuff in exactly the way they have since we left for our honeymoon, except that now it's lost all its core group members besides Olivia. Her, Hana and Kiara must probably share whatever few brain cells exist in that Council between each other.

• If you've unlocked the "casual clothing" scenes for the LIs in Book 2 (Liam's t-shirt, Hana's crop top, Drake's Henley and Maxwell's muscle shirt and Bubbles necklace), that's what they'll be wearing on their journey this chapter.

• Maxwell is now the self-appointed Royal Entertainment Committee.

• Bertrand WOULD be freaking out about spoons.

• Our OOTD today is an off-shoulder crop top with floral designs, and ripped shorts - paired with a blue and pink statement necklace and a few bracelets. Esther DuPont and literally every other MC is more confident about pulling this outfit off than I will ever be.

• Maxwell suggests the outfit in the Liam, Drake and Hana playthroughs, and Hana suggests it in Maxwell's.

• First Stop: Our old workplace in NY! Our manager is no longer around (probably got fired lol) but Daniel is! Or as I still like to call him, Not-Henney 😂

• Hana is so cutely excited about visiting the place where it all begin, a place she must have till now only heard about in the other LIs' stories. Sigh. Wish we'd brought her here earlier.

• Not-Henney has issues with how little attention Maxwell gave to the MC's origins. @callmetippytumbles points out that there's not much you can expect from an author who put his face on the cover of a book about you. Cmon, Not-Henney.

• Told you "Things are Great" would become a meme.

• He now asks what the experience of being an actual Queen/Duchess is like. You can go for the funny route (glam parties that'll make Beyonce jealous. Oh idk, does Beyonce like an overabundance of apples?), the realistic route (speaking about everyone's expectations weighing on you), and the romantic route, which brings out some cute responses in both Not-Henney and the LIs, ranging from delight to awkwardness.

• Oh snap. The paps are here.

• We make a run for it (in two options, with Daniel's help), and keep driving. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, the MC mentions a motorcycle when speaking about Drake, which makes me wonder in we will end up having a motorcycle scene in Texas itself. I mean, the writers did mention being excited about a scene featuring one in their livestream.

• Maxwell picks the next stop, and it's that engagement barn we built for Liam, apparently. Or the house of Robert, Steve Tennyson's (PM) dad. Where he has found the "biggest ball of string". Only Joy and Hope, my corgis, seem even remotely happy about this.

•

...Okay Maxwell.

Hana needs to roast people more. Roast EVERYONE in that friend group and EVERYONE in that court!

• Fun Fact: This chapter was released on the 50th anniversary of the historic 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing 😁

• As proven from this scene, the few brain cells this group collectively has, all belong to Hana.

• It's now time to check out what the group brought as provisions:

MC: Nothing, she's only here to ask what everyone else brought

Drake: Jerky

Maxwell: Tequila (!!)

Liam: IDK Esther I thought a four-course meal would just fall upon our laps from the heavens

Hana: ME! Bring cookies that I've NOT warmed by the fires wrought from the bowels of the deepest hells??? BLASPHEMY.

As always Hana saves everyone's ass this fine day. I actually quite like this bit with Hana, because it veers a tiny bit more towards "perfectionist" than just simply "perfect". Hana would be the kind of person to worry excessively over being a good hostess, since that's something she's been learning since she was a little girl (remember the tea scene in the flashback).

• We now stop by at Washington DC - Hana's suggestion - because she wanted to look at the cherry blossoms. I was quite chuffed about this when I found out coz I always used to have her down as more of a "plum blossom" girl, and this is pretty close 😁

• That little bit in DC where speaks of the area as "a marvel of both nature and civic engineering" is a nice touch, since Liam has always been associated with monuments and national legends.

• THE PAPS?? AGAIN????

• ...If my spouse and I have to spend ALL our time answering questions about babymaking, where are we going to find the time to babymake, mediapeople? Ever thought of that? Huh? Huh??

• This option is hands down the best fucking option in this chapter lol:

YOU'RE ALL SUCH DORKS ISTG

• We're now in a small town where Liam wants to mingle and be one with the locals. He's not been very successful in doing this in Cordonia (where people can literally look at his face and figure out who he is), but because it's the US and not many people might recognize him here, his chances of not being caught are better.

• This is the first character scene in the new series. It's pretty alright, not a lot of insights or anything, just a simple scene where Liam gets to not worry about acting like a royal, occasionally acknowledge his privilege, be charmingly naive, order milkshakes, and listen to the MC's insights on how she will bring up her/their kid. He does mention it opens some new perspectives on understanding his people, but I'm not sure we'll get to see much of what learnings he will put into action because, yknow, Cordonian commoners are practically invisible.

• This scene is also proof that you can take Liam out of the court but you can't take the court out of Liam.

• It begins with what the MC calls "a sidewalk hello", where she can either guide or massively troll him. The first two options are awkward as hell (I did like the bowing one though lolol coz she tells him he's probably made someone's day with his "courtly manners"), and the third is for Liam to simply ignore the other person and stare at his phone.

• Next scene involves getting Liam to buy groceries...coz he's never brought groceries. Why would he Esther he has a staff.

• They have a choice between fruit, nachos with everything on them (and they weren't kidding about "everything") and chocolates. I chose fruit.

• You also get some cute tidbits about Liam's life growing up in the palace. Here are the important ones:

- Constantine and Eleanor agreed they wanted Liam to be self-sufficient but "disagreed on how far to take that principle" (given what Liam says about her in one of the other options, I'm guessing Eleanor wanted to take it a lot more further).

- Liam can make spaghetti carbonara!!!

- Laundry: So there was this one time Leo and Liam played tag close to a champagne tower at an event, and it fell down. Eleanor insisted they "clean up the mess [they] made. A reasonable lesson in decorum and consequences". I kinda like this little crumb of info considering there is so little we know about her.

- Eating leftovers: Liam used to have sleepovers at Jackson and Bianca's quarters, and he tells us he was "proud to help Drake's mother microwave the leftovers" coz to his little mind he thought that was cooking 😁 I know, I know, I believed my mom when she put a tiny bit of coffee powder in my milk and told me it was actual coffee haha.

- Doesn't know how to do dishes. He knows soap and water is involved lol.

• The final part of the scene involves Liam treating himself at a diner with (what else!) a milkshake, while casually chatting with the MC about how she feels about the simplicity of her past life, and the way she plans to bring up her (or their) own child.

• Liam not immediately understanding that utensils are self-serve reminds me of Hana's confusion at the idea of a McDermots not having wait-staff.

• The MC has options for how to respond to Liam's question about bringing up a child - 1. I'd like my child to be practical and aware of their role, they don't need to learn how to fold a bed sheet or do dishes. 2. I want my child to have a bit of both worlds so that they're more flexible in their approach. 3. My child should be acutely aware of what the common person in Cordonia goes through if they're going to have to rule fairly over them. These three options in some way allow you to imagine what the MC would be like as a mother, and what upbringing this 'heir' might have.

•

I've never actually seen YOU make much of an effort to find out in Cordonia.

• There's also a tiny bit about Regina that follows this optional dialogue if you're married to him, which I really like: Liam states to Esther that those are "wise words from the wisest queen I know", following which she points out that he's lucky Regina hasn't heard it. Liam's response to that is: "after all this time, I think she'd agree with me". Regina's kinda grown on me over the series, and I do hope we see her again!

• Overall the scene's alright. It's there, it's cute, it's filler like the rest of the chapter. Only time will tell if it will actually result in anything in the future, which kind of leads me to wonder what Character Scenes are going to look like going forward (now that the LI scenes mostly perform the function for both characterization and romance). But the biggest takeaway right now for me is what Liam has to say about his parents, and optionally about his mother. I think that may point towards something later on.

• LMAO @ the random stranger in the diner optionally thinking Liam's brother might be Thor. Leo would be pleased 😂 Also a nice touch to see her recognize us again at the lingerie store if we buy both scenes!

• We now have a scene featuring the couples in their hotel bedroom, where the LI and MC have either had a bit of a wild night, or where the MC has just finished her at-home fertilization procedure (if the LI is Hana). There's a little chit-chat here and there about the moments they have now and about privacy, but it's different in the case of Hana.

• You finally get the chance to ask about how she feels, and this is the response:

• That's it then, I guess 😒 I'm honestly not surprised, given how much in a hurry they were to have Hana concentrate on the MC in the doctor's office itself. I'll expand more on this later.

LIAM. YOU FOOL. I'M WEARING IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.

• Honestly I don't see the point in having the MC suggest the lingerie in Liam's playthrough (the others basically make the suggestion instead, and they say "well, you're wearing that", instead, implying that they're talking about what she has on already) if they're not going to code it properly.

• The actual lingerie scenes are pretty cute! And fun! And comes with cool dialogues options, and this:

• NOW I know why Hana's lingerie was head and shoulders above the rest. SHE WAS THE ONE WHO CHOSE IT.

• So here's a rundown of all four LI scenes:

- Liam: The clerk from the store (who was also the girl who noticed Liam in the Incognito Scene if you bought that) recognizes Liam and the MC, freaks out and closes the store so they can shop in full privacy. The rest of it is cute playful banter, like expressing surprise at this being Liam's first time at a lingerie store. She then chooses black silk boxers with a golden baroque design. LMAO trust the MC to get him a Versace. 😂

- Drake - Tells the MC he likes it when she takes the lead. The MC then gets to ask him whether he would be down to wearing handcuffs or pink feathers. To the second option, Drake claims that he would "wear a tutu and crown if you told me you had a thing for the sugar fairy". LMAO they really are desperate to show us how much they learned from the "pink cake" fiasco. Pity how they couldn't teach themselves to treat their one female LI with respect. Anyway, the MC chooses red silk boxers with polka dots (!!)

- Maxwell - This scene is a fever dream from start to finish. Maxwell is happy and excited and SUPER SUPER enthusiastic, asking the MC to drop a beat so he can break into a dance at the store. The MC chooses blue silk boxers with squid designs on them. EVEN MAXWELL CANNOT CONTAIN HIS SHOCK. (PS: This scene marks the third appearance of "release the kraken!" 😄).

- Hana - Hana has apparently seen shops like these from the outside but has never been to one (same sis same). She speaks of how she never had anyone to do it for, which is why she is so happy about it now coz she can do it for the MC. A sweet, simple conversation. The difference here is that Hana knows what she wants, and chooses the lingerie herself: a beautiful lace and fishnet number with garter belt and stockings. She looks amazing and part of that is because unlike her friends, she realizes that her wife has deplorable fashion sense.

• It's now the next day, and Drake tries really hard to hoodwink everyone into making his "next stop" the Walker ranch, but the Royal Entertainment Committee threatens him with an "intimidating interpretive dance performed by me" (is he going to jump out the car and sing Kiki Do You Love Me too?). It's enough to scare Drake into picking a nicer stop.

• It's now time to listen to some tunes!! Everyone squabbles a little over what music to choose and the MC gets to pick either of them:

- Hana's Choice: A piano concerto that Liam loves, makes Drake cry and Maxwell go all happy-sleepy.

- Liam's Choice: Chartbusters. "Top 40s". Drake is surprised coz the last time they drove together, Liam made him listen to 52 versions of a single Bach sonata, to which Liam cheekily responds that doing so made him figure out which one was Drake's favourite.

- Maxwell's Choice: Some song that Maxwell did a deejay mix to, and apparently Liam (and presumably Drake) lent backing vocals to. Going by Liam's advance apology it must be pretty fucking terrible.

- Drake's Choice: Classic rock tunes that he can do air-guitar to. Liam concedes it has rhythm, Drake responds that it has rhythm and attitude. He tries to do air guitar in the car but Hana, panicking, reminds him that he's the one driving.

- What Would Have Been Bertrand's Choice/We Shall Drive In Silence!: Apparently when the MC says this, Maxwell says that she channeled Bertrand so hard "he flashed before my eyes". The MC reasons that if no one wants to listen to anyone else's music they might as well be quiet. Maxwell tries to bring up other alternatives such as playing his kazoo-tar, at which point EVERYONE agrees that silence is golden.

• This bit is one of my favourites in the chapter. Probably the second after "say cheese" haha.

• It's Hana's turn to drive and Maxwell is helping her by asking she carve that path from her heart. Which she does, even though she has mentally memorized the next twelve steps she needs to take.

• Liam drives, explaining when the MC asks that Drake was his first driving instructor (Drake had his licence already and they may have used a royal golf course or two for practice runs).

• Maxwell finds a new waypoint: Thrilltown. His reasoning is quite poignant (everything is changing, the MC and LI - in some cases him - will be having a child soon and everyone will be busy in their respective roles, when will everyone be together like this again?). The rest of the group comfort and reassure him, stating that they will probably see more of each other now. In any case...perhaps to Maxwell this is like a last hurrah to the carefree life he used to have.

• We start with choosing rides. Maxwell and Drake choose The Accelerator, which Maxwell describes as "fast. furious. and it uses gravity at speeds that Thrilltown can't legally release to the public!". Hana and Liam choose the "gentler" option - the carousel - which has you ride unicorns, griffins, dragons and other fantastical beings.

• I'm surprised the writers don't have him react even a little to the carousel, considering one of his scariest experiences took place on one (Book 1 Chapter 16). Just show him say "yeah...I'll pass" or show some emotion or other. It's like that armoury scene in his playthrough of Book 3 Chapter 11 where Madeleine could mock Liam about his feelings for the MC and Maxwell is pretty much sitting there not reacting. It's so lazy. I can't.

• Carousel with Liam and Hana: I loved this one, very cute. The carousel has fantasy elements and mythical animals, things that both Liam and Hana love. The MC gets to sit on a phoenix (like her optional Valtoria sigil!), Liam on a dragon (like the royal family's old crest! Dom would be proud) and Hana on a unicorn (which suits her particular style of whimsy). It's cute and fun and sounds exactly like the kind of thing Liam and Hana would enjoy.

The Accelerator with Maxwell and Drake: They call it EXTREME, and it lives up to its name. Maxwell is ecstatic obviously because he's a thrill-seeker and a ride like this is completely in his wheelhouse. Drake gets caught red-handed handed actually enjoying the ride.

• We try out something called The Vortex of Terror, where Liam challenges his friends to not scream up until the end of the ride. Ironically he's the first one to cave 🤣🤣

• "I accept your terms, Liam...as long as you're prepared to lose". Badass enough to challenge the king of the country xD (considering the way that ride goes, I think she was right haha).

• I need more Competitive, Sarcastic Hana outside of cute group scenes.

• One of two people can win this challenge: either the MC or Hana. If the MC wins, she gets to hoist herself on the LI's shoulders towards the next ride. If Hana wins, she perches herself on top of Drake's because he's pretty damn tall.

• Our last ride is called "Lover's Leap" and it's pretty much the romantic portion of the group scene, really.

At the end of it, the LI brings you a green candy drink, and then lets you know how this trip to Thrilltown is representative of their journey together and the change the MC has brought to their lives.

• Both Hana and I have no freaking clue what Liam means when he says "I call shotgun" before they head out.

• Lol @ Cordonia having its own version of "Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall". And of course it's going to feature Cordonian Rubies 🤣

• We now reach the ranch, where those of us who didn't marry Drake meet his mother Bianca for the very first time (in every other playthrough she is called "The Rider" and in Drake's her sprite is addressed by name).

• There ends the chapter, on a 'suspicious' note, the kind that seems to sound like things are suspicious but they're probably not. Bertrand's head must be exploding from the lack of spoons.

General Thoughts:

• It's a good thing this filler chapter exists, even if it's mostly inconsequential fluff, because at least that's one chapter less to deal with BertVannah and Drake and his family.

• It's also pretty expensive because the writers knew their crowd by now and know that that crowd is willing to spend.

• The scenes were in keeping with the mood of the chapter - light and fluffy, lots of friendship and some amount of romance. I ended up liking the free short scenes more than any of the diamond ones this chapter honestly.

• So...on the outset, it seems good that the MC is able to check on Hana, post the visit to Dr Ramirez. Hearing Hana's answer, however, brought back every issue I've ever had with the way they've written Hana.

I mean, sure, not everyone reacts the same way to such painful news. I understand that. But here the writers are basically using Hana to minimize what she's going through. They use her to dismiss her own pain with "oh that's okay, I'm just happy that at least you can carry that baby". All that proves is that the female LIs' experiences and pain mean nothing in front the MC's needs.

I've spoken before about the numerous times Hana's pain had been brushed aside or her space eaten into, to favour particular characters, and this just happens to be a repeat of the same formula. This is especially bad because it proves that the only reason they put Hana through this kind of hell in the first place is so that only the MC can carry the child. Her condition isn't allowed to be anything else other than a plot convenience: not an opportunity to open a conversation on this, nor to help develop her as a character. It's merely a narrative device meant to make coding easier. It's dismissive, lazy and reeks of a deplorable lack of care. And again I have to ask, why put her through this if you're so desperate to ignore it afterwards??

• The other big problem is that considering the gravity of that situation, why is checking on her an option rather than actual default dialogue?? If you choose the option to continue talking about playlists instead, the topic just never emerges again. Again I have to ask, what the hell kind of wife is the MC? I mean even before they got the news, the MC was pretty much doing nothing. She wasn't planning for Hana, she wasn't thinking much in terms of what to do for her, everything seems to just revolve around her even in a scenario where either one could have been a mother.

• The lingerie scene seems to me to have elements of a type of diamond scene in the flagship series - the ones where we could buy new casual clothing for our LIs in NY. The LI requires a new look, the MC suggests for a change and often picks out something that she thinks would work (some of her choices - like Liam's pants or Drake's sunglasses are...questionable 😅), and from then on this would be their option for ultra-casual occasions. The one casualwear scene that is different from all these is Maxwell's: he gets his sleeveless shirt and Bubbles necklace at a shop in Coney Island, during the group scene (I think part of this was that they were attempting a step-by-step LI-upgrade because they were a new couple at that point...which was why his first 30 diamond scene was during the Gala, after they'd been together for a little while. Still doesn't excuse all the ways they ignored his background and history though).

The main difference between the casualwear scenes and the lingerie ones is that the first dealt put the MC and LI in different situations and dealt with different issues (therefore was a scene of its own) and the second really just revolved around the lingerie. Perhaps the lingerie scene would be what you'd call an 'extended outfit option'? As opposed to something that's a scene all on its own?

• I was actually quite surprised we got a character scene in this series. Given how much they'd drastically cut down on them in favour of beefing up their LI scenes more, I was fully expecting not to see them. I do prefer them to the LI scenes sometimes, because my LI is not the only one I want to be keeping tabs on, and I do want to know what's happening in their lives.

• What is the difference between the two? I hear some of you ask. Well, good question because I'm about to launch into one of my long-winded explanations again.

• Diamond Scenes in TRR/H: I've been holding off on writing about these, since I believed that the series probably had done away with character scenes and preferred to use LI scenes for both romance and development. With this chapter, I now understand that's not the case.

• So...simply put, the difference between an Character Scene and an LI scene, is that the first focuses on the same character in all playthroughs (eg. no matter who you are romancing, if you buy these scenes it's Hana who will play Snow Angels with you, or Drake who will go fishing with you), and the second focuses on who you are engaged/married to (eg. If I'm romancing Hana, I will not be going to the movies with Liam. If I'm romancing Maxwell, I will not be having a cake testing session with Drake).

During Books 1 and 2, when the MC wasn't altogether exclusive with any LI as such, each character would have their own specific scene which expanded further on their characterization and gave the MC a chance to learn more about them. Most of the romance in these scenes were by choice, with the exception of a few lines here and there. The writers tried to continue this way of formatting diamond scenes even beyond Liam's proposal, but the amount of backlash from the portions of the scenes that involved the MC cheating on her confirmed LI...kind of made them backtrack on this plan quite a bit.

Book 3 switched the format up a little. It was similarish in a lot of ways to RoE, except that unlike that book (where the other two would disappear once you got engaged to one), we were also friends with the other LIs. Besides outfits and plot development scenes (such as the one in the Nevrakis replica armory with Olivia and Gladys) and group scenes, the book also offered two types of scenes for the reader to connect with the characters they liked:

1. LI Scenes: These scenes are meant for the LI the MC is marrying, and are coded differently based on that. This kind of scene was first used in the series in the first chapter of Book 3, where the MC and LI could comfort each other in the safe house. The initial chapters had a similar approach to the scenes as RoE Book 3 (where Mr Sloan, Leo and Dean all ended up sounding like each other), in that the dialogues sounded pretty cut-and-paste, with little to no actual variations beyond a few things (an example of this was how - in the Book 3 Chapter 6 Spa Scene in Applewood - all the LIs spoke of being "dumb in love" with the MC - which suited certain LIs, but sounded extremely jarring on others.

During Book 3, a high number of complaints about the series revolved around this copy-paste routine for the LIs, mostly because the characters were so different from each other, and wouldn't speak the same or even have the same experiences. Around Book 3 Chapter 8, major shifts began to happen in the way these scenes were written, starting with the Movie-going Scene in Castelserraillian. Post that chapter, and the hiatus, there was a significant decrease in the number of individual character scenes, and an increase in both number and quality of the LI scenes. It is very possible that they found juggling both stressful and dialed back on one to personalize the other further.

2. Character Development Scenes: These were scenes with the LI that you got regardless of whether you were marrying them or not. This scene would be viewed over all playthroughs, with differences based on whether you were marrying them or not. If you were not marrying them, these scenes would appear neutral and the romantic options would simply not be there, or be replaced by more neutral ones. Examples of such scenes include Drake's Cordonian Waltz Scene in Fydelia (Book 3 Chapter 3), Liam's Gastrodiplomacy Scene in Castelserraillian (Book 3 Chapter 7), Hana's Polo Scene in Portavira (Book 3 Chapter 5) and Maxwell's Armoury Scene in Lythikos (Book 3 Chapter 11).

The most important thing to remember is that these scenes are expected to be coded differently (according to your relationship with said LI), not only by adding romantic options for the MC to choose, but also in the actions of the characters by default. For instance, the Fydelia Cordonian Waltz scene in Drake's playthrough incorporates - by default - all the sensuality you should be finding in this waltz, while his friendly playthrough is merely the MC teaching him the basics so they have an edge over Neville. By default, if you buy the Gastrodiplomacy scene as Liam's fiancée, the chocolate souffle you sampled with him would feature at your wedding reception.

I say the scenes were expected to be coded differently, because very often they were not. In a lot of cases the only proof you'd have in those scenes that the LI and MC were even together were from the MC's actions. For instance, even though Hana was going to be a duchess on marriage to the MC, the same as Drake - only Drake got to speak in detail about it. This opportunity came for Hana very briefly only by Chapter 14, well past the midpoint of Book 3.

• So when Book 3 began the formula was mostly "leave the character scenes for developing the LI's issues or getting them to teach something, and concentrate on nothing else but the romance for your LI scenes". However this wasn't exactly workable given how different each LI was and therefore how odd some of their dialogue sounded. The dial back is understandable (though, as someone who has looked through various playthroughs in this book, I can tell you the imbalances found across character scenes were on a whole different level).

• Why I've elaborated on this is to give context to a question I now have about the narrative: what are the Character Scenes going to look like from here on out? Post the hiatus, they would vary - they could be mostly plot-driven, or fun and light but not much depth or variation, or fun and light, and also opening up diverging conversations based on your relationship. Now that they seemed to have locked down some format in this book at least, what's it going to sound like?

The Liam Character Scene today was fun, light, had default differences based on whether you were marrying him or not, but ultimately had very little to give to the story other than a few facts about Liam's home life and (in a way that expands on what we already know about her and her dynamic with Constantine) his mother. What exactly does he learn? What new insights is he getting as a King who self-admittedly exists and operates in a "statesman's bubble"?

It also remains to be seen whether buying this scene will have any effect of future events - like Liam's Applewood Tour Scene, where his retelling of King Fabian's story had an impact on our conversation with Kiara's mother Joelle. I'm probably going to keep track on how these character scenes are being written in this series, considering that we already have a pretty good idea of how their LI scenes are done.

• Twice I've seen Eleanor associated with pasta. In Book 1 Liam mentions simple tomato pasta as a childhood dish that reminded of his mother, and here shortly after he speaks about his parents he mentions knowing to cook spaghetti carbonara. IDK what that's supposed to mean but I'm bringing it up anyway. I'm mean, what if it's a part of Auvernese cuisine 😂

• I guess that's it for this week! Time for me to scram and finish my Book 1 Chapter 5 QT too before the next chapter drops!

#long post #the royal heir #anti the royal heir #trh quick thoughts #trh qts #infertility tw

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evieyuzukaisabigot · 5 years

Text

I want to preface this post by saying that I struggled on if I should write it or not. I don’t think callout posts are entirely useful in changing someone’s behavior and, more often than not, end up making them feel as if they are still in the right. It is not my intention for this person to be harassed. It is my intention to warn other players about them so that those players can avoid this person.

That being said, you could have avoided this, Evie. But you decided to make logs public on Reddit in order to attack <EMBER>. You posted those logs in three separate threads under the username FlayFlag. So, here we go.

This is a post about Evie Yuzuka, also known as Narumi Malaguld and Ellie Amor.

On June 2nd, 2019 you joined The Order of Ember roleplay free company (also known as <EMBER>). Less than two hours later, an individual that led another roleplay free company whispered one of the officers to warn them about your behavior. When the officer in question brought this up to you, you said that you had changed and that you hoped you could start with a clean slate. You then proceeded to whisper your previous free company leader to harass them for warning <EMBER>. Screenshots here, though I’ve edited out the name of the person Evie whispered since I don’t have their consent to post their name.

Trust me when I say that this level of harassment is not uncommon from Evie, as you will soon see.

At the same time that this warning took place, multiple members of <EMBER> mentioned knowing of you or having a problem with your attitude. Still, the officer staff decided to give you a chance, seeing as you had claimed that you were trying to better yourself.

Five days later, you spent the early morning of June 7th, 2019 being a transphobe. Yikes.

I was not a witness to this exchange, as I personally would have taken screenshots rather than a text log. Still, I will post the text log here. Please keep in mind that some of the language used here can be upsetting, so proceed at your own risk. While Evie is not on their main, they are on an alt (named Narumi Malaguld). I have taken the liberty of highlighting Narumi/Evie’s responses so that the log is easier to read.This took place in Ul’dah shout chat.

I think I can speak for us all when I say: gross.

During or immediately after this conversation, Evie was pulled into a chat with <EMBER>’s officers. These screenshots are presumably taken by Evie, as they were posted to the aforementioned Reddit threads.

Here is a link to the imgur.

Here is a backup link in case the first one gets deleted.

The officers attempted to be reasonable. You had been warned already not to start drama and yet you did. You decided to be a transphobe in the middle of Ul’dah in a public channel while representing <EMBER>. On a roleplay server, you are often as good as your reputation. It’s fine if you want to throw your reputation in the gutter – that’s your prerogative. But as a representative of the free company, you might as well have been screaming that <EMBER> held the same beliefs you do. When you found out that what you did was not okay, you pitched a fit.

And then you got kicked.

You have this bizarre need to constantly be on a crusade, Evie. If you feel you’ve been wronged, you need to be vindicated. While I don’t have the context of this exchange, here is another set of screenshots of Evie starting drama with what appears to be a Coeurl roleplay group. The language used by Evie alone was enough to raise my eyebrows when I first read it.

Here’s the thing: I don’t care about the drama concerning <EMBER>. What I care about is that fact that you’re transphobic, Evie. Final Fantasy XIV has an amazing LGBTQ+ community. You said during your argument in shout chat and during your conversation with the officers of <EMBER> that it is just your opinion and that thoughts are different than actions. What you fail to realize is that by normalizing your highly bigoted opinion, you are making it okay to commit acts of violence against the people you say those things about.

Frankly, you should be ashamed of yourself.

I said in the beginning of this post that I was conflicted about writing this. That was, of course, until your Reddit post. You could have kept quiet. You could have slinked away to lick your wounds. You don’t know who I am but I’ve been watching this unfold from the beginning. In the words of a very old copypasta from the internet, with some liberties:

“What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know that I graduated top of my class in Limsa Lominsa. I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Bahamut and I have over 300 confirmed wipes. I am trained in PvP warfare and I’m the top roleplayer in the entire Crystal data center. You are nothing to me but just another bigot. I will wipe you the fuck out with DPS the likes of which has never been seen before in Eorzea, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to my friends over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak, I’m contacting my secret network of spies and your various accounts are being tracked right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your roleplay character. You’re fucking ruined, Evie. I can be anywhere, anytime, and screenshot you in over seven hundred ways and that’s just me alone. Not only only am I extensively trained in /random combat but I have access to the entire catalog of custom combat systems on Crystal and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little comment was going to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You will drown in it. You’re fucking ruined, kiddo.”

That’s all I have to say about that. Thanks for reading.

Wait, one more thing: don’t use the same username across your different accounts.

The Links

Lodestone links:

Evie Yuzuka lodestone (main character), ID #20466185

Narumi Malaguld lodestone (alt #1). ID#23056294

Ellie Amor lodestone (alt #2), ID#18928985

Social media:

Evie’s Twitter (Confirmed via the discord link in which Evie is the owner of the server)

Evie’s Twitch (Linked in the twitter)

Evie’s Steam (Private but the same logo as the twitter is present)

Evie’s REAL Reddit profile (Confirmed by being linked to the Twitter)

While I can’t link it, Evie’s discord username is Evie#1000

Imgur links/logs:

The conversation with <EMBER>’s officers

The Coeurl conversation

The Ul’dah log

A picture from this thread that I thought was funny. Why do you have such a problem with authority?

Miscellaneous:

Evie’s Wildstar character names, just in case anyone recognizes them: Kiarri Shimizu (if you google this, Evie Yuzuka’s lodestone profile pops up), Evie Miura. Evie might also have been Azami Starflower, but I’m not absolutely positive of that.

PS: I’m not an officer of <EMBER>. They are my friends and I’m just nice enough to stand up for them since they’re all too nice to say anything.

#crystal data center #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #balmung

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cuddleslutloki · 5 years

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I have a genuine question. How often do you actually deal with antis? I've been following you for a bit now and it seems every so often you bring up antis. I've certainly kept my interest about thorki shut and locked away in a box from my friends for the simple fact that all of them think it's incest. It's not an easy topic of conversation but you just seem to handle all the antis so well? Also on an off note about beast!Thor, his favorite pass time must just be rutting into Loki 24/7 🤔

when someone tells you that you're romanticizing abuse [bc i made a stockholm moodboard for a fic] I don't know what I'm supposed to say other than I don't condone it but I write about it? Is writing about abusive relationships bad in writing??? you're the only person i ask for advice so thank you for anything in advance

i’m honestly really glad you came to me. i really do like discussing this topic in this kind of way bc i’ll never reblog an anti or answer an anti ask. even if you’re arguing against them, i don’t think it’s worth it to argue against them if it means also spreading what they’re saying

the basic premise of all anti behavior and ideology is censorship. that’s all it is.

“i don’t like this topic, you need to stop writing it and making art for it. if you don’t stop there will be consequences.”

that is censorship and that is the kind of shit fandom has had to fight ever since there’s been fandom. women, poc, lgbt+ folks have been dealing with people telling us what we can and can’t write and enjoy for... well, probably forever. but we’re still here, creating the kind of content we want to see and indulge in.

as far as how to deal with antis, my advice is to ignore, ignore, ignore. they want what any bully wants: attention

you stop paying attention, you stop giving them time they don’t deserve from you, they’ll die off. there’s no point in fighting them directly. produce the content you want to see and enjoy what you want to enjoy. drown them out. you don’t owe them a response just because they come to you. they don’t have any qualms about being rude to you, so be rude back and just ignore them. i love blocking antis, personally. take out the garbage, y’know?

antis use the words ship and support as synonyms because they think that shipping is some radical call to action for lgbt rep instead of entertainment

shipping is not activism. shipping is about entertainment and enjoyment, nothing more

so this is why i have this very blasé attitude about antis. i just don’t give a fuck about them beyond making posts trashing their idiocy. because that’s what it is. it’s idiocy, but going deeper it’s puritanism at its finest. antis use fox news scare tactic logic under the guise of some pseudo feminist agenda because they don’t understand and don’t want to understand that enjoying dark fiction as entertainment isn’t equivalent to some greater moral stance

they use the same argument about shipping and fanfiction that WASP moms use against video games and loud music: that enjoying and consuming it will make you think it’s normal and there’s nothing wrong with it irl

okay, well, vlad the impaler never played CoD or far cry and caligula never watched hentai but we know why i’m bringing them up in this context without even heading over to wikipedia, don’t we?

they use the words abuse and pedophilia waaaaaayy too liberally and they’re doing more harm than good because they’re twisting and warping words that should have very specific meanings by using them so goddamn vaguely and irresponsibly

my own personal theory is that these people are terrified that if they don’t yell in opposition to these topics 24/7 and actively attack content creators that they’d probably enjoy it, and they’ve been so programmed by the echo chamber of tumblr and twitter that they think this means they’re bad people.

spoiler alert: that’s not what it means

i literally watched a circle jerk on twitter where screenshots of some mafia starker au got tweeted and retweeted w/ pictures of someone pouring bleach into cereal and people had asked to see more of the post. if you really don’t like something, you shouldn’t hate-read about it. it’s not productive, it does more harm than good if that’s the actual issue rather than some reverse psychology-style enjoyment they’re probably getting out of it.

they claim to hate this shit so much, but they’re reading hundreds and thousands of words and putting these images in their heads of their own free will. i don’t do that with shit i genuinely dislike. i avoid it.

i see antis say they enjoy thorki fanart because they think it’s cute, then they see it’s tagged thorki and they have an over the top reaction because the nature of anti ideology states you should never enjoy something like that, so if you do then you have to make the excuse of ignorance to prove that you’re still innocent and pure. enjoyment is apologism to them because they aren’t content to simply attack fan creators, they want to try and drive away the people who consume our art as well because they know you’re the cornerstone of fandom. consumers are why creators create. yeah, i write because i enjoy it, but i also write to connect to my readers and have people commenting on my fics when they like them.

it’s also worth noting that antis only ever talk about shipping. they only talk about sexual and romantic ships. i’ve never seen an anti talk about (often extreme) levels of violence in canon source material for the ships and characters they want to froth at the mouth over.

seeing someone bleed out and choking on their own blood after being stabbed or shot or bludgeoned? meh

seeing a character who was once a child have a sexual thought about a character who was also once a child and is also their close friend? omg why are we trying to make fandom unsafe for people?

personally, i’ve also noticed that fandoms with darker canon material tend to have more chill fandoms most of the time. i think it also depends on the average age in a given fandom. there’s a major difference between fannibals and steven universe fans, let’s just say that.

creating a moodboard for a dark fic is not “romanticizing abuse” and at this point antis honestly have no fucking idea what that phrase is. they use those words the way a bored CEO uses social media buzzwords and hashtags in a staff meeting

if antis want to see true romanticizing of abuse then they can go to serial killer thirst tags and spot the fucking differences between shippers and people who forget that ted bundy was weak, flaccid, cowardly piece of shit

writing something dark or violent or whatever else and condoning the act or doing the act are different. this is why stephen king isn’t under government surveillance or in prison.

make no mistake, this anti shit only applies to fandom. they’re attacking creators here because creators out at the professional levels don’t give a fuck. they’ve tried, and they’ve failed.

creators at the professional level understand something antis don’t: that being able to reconcile your enjoyment of dark media can be a sign of emotional intelligence and good emotional health. it’s cathartic. it’s allowed to be cathartic.

the most common consumers of dark fiction are members of minority communities and people who’ve been emotionally and/or sexually repressed for one reason or another.

antis want to say that fiction doesn’t exist in a vacuum and they are 100% correct! because writing fanfiction and original fiction that relates to parts of my life that nearly killed me gives me control over something that was beyond me in the original context. writing about fucked up codependent, violent romance allows me to process my shit in a way that’s healthy and produces something fun and enjoyable.

my therapist knows i ship thorki, she knows i write thorki. i’ve had her read pieces of fanfiction i’ve written in addition to pieces of original fiction. y’know what she said? “wow, baylen, that’s vivid. you have a way with words!”

i read her a line out of smart boy and told her what the story was about and this trained professional said “well it’s a productive way to process some emotion that you clearly need to let out”

but you know what? if someone doesn’t have the trauma i have? let them write it, too! let them create and enjoy the fictional content they want! more cake, y’all!

finally getting around to one of the first parts of your ask, lol. thorki is incest. thor and loki are brothers. they were raised believing they were blood brothers, even. loki being adopted doesn’t change a thousand years of personal history where thor looked at loki and thought that they came out of the same woman, y’know?

that’s his brother and in the comics his attachment to loki is even more intense. the mcu nerfed that shit. loki’s life has been intrinsically tied to thor’s ability to feel a full sense of joy.

enjoying an incest ship isn’t some sign of moral depravity. writing abusive relationships isn’t bad. gone girl was made into an award winning movie. art should look like life, and sometimes life fucking sucks. dark stories, sad stories, fucked up holy shit idk if i can go to sleep after i read this stories exist for a reason. we need them. we have to have an outlet for our frustration, our anger, and especially our fear.

so which is the healthier option of these

to write up a piece of fanfiction where two siblings are in love in a way that might be cute and soft or might be destructive, depending on your mood?

attacking strangers you don’t know online and threatening violence against anyone who doesn’t think like you do?

i know what kind of person i want to be.

ship and let ship, thanks for reading my doctoral thesis office hours are always

#anon #baylen chats

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daiyanochat-blog · 5 years

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Due to the incident mentioned in our previous post having hurt and distressed many of our server members, we're supplying various screenshots and explanations in hopes of clearing our members’ names and resolving any further misunderstandings.

Firstly, the issue regarding Chi took place a year ago. Although it is regrettable that discomfort was caused because of her actions, it is not fair to bring up such a complaint when Chi left the server nearly a year ago, and therefore should not have to be dragged into this when she is no longer a part of our server.

Concerning Bard, had they known that their friendliness was making a user uncomfortable, they would have stopped. The problem is that they never knew that it was causing someone distress. In fact, this closeness is how many users on our server act and it creates a warm atmosphere for everyone. However, neither Bard nor any of the mods were informed of someone being uncomfortable by this, so it is unreasonable to criticize them when they were never given the chance to change nor apologize. Additionally, the mods did not and could not act due to not being communicated that it was an issue.

We understand that not everyone is comfortable giving out their age over the internet. In fact, many of our server members’ ages still remain anonymous. However, expressing one’s refusal to give that personal details and insinuating being an age which they are not are different. The following screenshots demonstrate one of the occasions in which our server members were misled. They are not to blame for making conclusions that they were speaking to a teenager older than Luciel is.

With regards to the use of the word “loli”, we messaged GDV and Emilio directly and privately on 10/21, asking them to stop using the term and they agreed. Since then, they have not used the word again.

Additionally, the following screenshot shows that the word was not used to reference members after 10/21, the date of our direct messages.

This, however, was reported to us by Vanna, another member of the server (who was also accused of wrongdoing later), who was worried about the usage of the word even though it was not aimed at them. This proves that we were not alerted to this issue by the person concerned and it was, in fact, Janet, our admin who reached out to confirm the situation first.

Similarly, the case of server members being shipped together was only brought to our attention by an observer and not directly from the members of the ship. This issue was addressed publicly as an announcement and it has greatly reduced the server shipping since then.

Again, we do prioritize the well being of our server members but it is unreasonable for us to act if we are not alerted to know that it is a problem in the first place.

The post about Usagi Drop by GDV was to compare the height difference between two individuals. GDV was not insinuating anything to do with the content of the manga so it is unfair to assume that when even he has expressed his disapproval of the manga ending (in that same conversation).

Every anime has its own fandom and within each fandom are a variety of fans. Fujoshis are a part of the fandom and it is only right to respect them for what they enjoy even if those interests don’t align with yours. It is unsurprising that opinions differ and clash sometimes so if something is not your cup of tea then either step away from it or report it. Members such as TsukkiMonsta and TeddyJp have been spoken to about their behavior and they are doing better to adapt to our rules while still being able to discuss what they enjoy. In fact, we reinforced this as a reminder to everyone in the server by making a public announcement.

In addition to this, their discussion about certain topics was taken from our nsfw channel. This channel has an age restriction thus minors are unable to access it unless they lie about their age.

This proves that mods were indeed lied to and not only is this violating our rules, but it is also against the law. When we tried to approach this issue, this was the response we received.

We tried to communicate but no further discussion could have been made.

Furthermore, the use of the term “fujoshi” has extreme negative connotations just like the word “loli,” and was used incorrectly in the post. Describing Dawn and Vanna as something they are not is simply disrespectful. Sometimes it is difficult to separate art from the artist, but this does not mean we cannot appreciate quality art despite our qualms about the topic presented or the artist’s personal likes, behaviors, or tastes. To paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart, “we know so-called obscene art when we see it,” and the art in question was placed in a channel where people were restricted access to unless legally of age and interested. It ought to be the bare minimum to be able to separate the enjoyment of the art from the artist’s views and the themes they choose to present. Otherwise, we are no better than the sort of people whom would try to stifle creativity and the right of free expression which everyone on the internet should hold in high regard. As shown below, Dawn is well aware of this and emphasized the fact right after the original screenshotted conversation about liking the “problematic” artist.

Related to these two server members, we would also like to clarify that both Dawn and Vanna are not, and have never been, a part of Staff in our server. The moderation team is clearly stated in the Rules and given how only two mods out of nine Staff members were mentioned, we would like to express how misleading the claim is that all mods are problematic. Furthermore, there was an accusation that mod Bhav is an “Endeavor apologist,” which he is not. The server and it’s mods do not condone nor excuse abusive behavior in any form, but anyone is free to like a character even if they have made mistakes in the past.

We hope this resolves any misunderstandings and has cleared the names of some of our server members. We do not appreciate people talking ill of our members, especially when their conversations have been taken out of context, twisted and placed in a negative light, especially without their consent. This is a violation of privacy and we are not about to stand by and let it happen.

#daiya no chat #discord #daiya no ace #daiya #official response #admin and staff #discourse

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apptg554 · 3 years

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astraeawrites · 7 years

Photo

A Guide to Residential/Rehab For Minors

This guide will go over some vocabulary/slang terms often used, the process in which you get brought into the residential, and what it’s really like there. This was requested by an anon.

Disclaimer: This guide was not made to support the use of mental illness as a cheap storyline. This guide was made to provide accuracy for those who wish to utilize this subject maturely and truthfully. This is mainly based on my own experience as well as a collection of some of my friends’ experiences, used with the permission of those individuals. This is also based on the residentials based in California and laws will vary place to place. If there is anything I’m missing or anything you found to be incorrect, feel free to message me. This guide is also subject to change and revision; updates will be labeled as such.

Triggers: General mental health issues (ex: self-harm, eating disorders, depression, suicide attempts, drug use, drinking).

The following information is broken up into varying chapters/sections. If you would like to know what to expect or skip ahead, use the following titles as a reference point. ( CTRL + F and copy and paste the desired chapter/section to be brought there; you can also use this method to search for any key words you may be looking for ).

Basic Information

What Determines Treatment

Entering the Residential Life

Important Rules

Contraband and Other Banned Items

Key Points to Everyday Life

Staff Responsibilities

The Level System

The Points System

Another Thing to Note

Common Vocabulary

Basic Information

Before we get too deep, I think it’s important to go over the basic outline of the mental health system. Usually, the steps you take would include the following: hospitalization, residential/rehabilitation, partial hospitalization program, intensive outpatient program, and typical therapy. Let’s take some time to analyze each step so you can understand where your character/story would fit in.

Hospitalization is the highest level of care. It is the stage in which you are a danger to yourself or others. Since I’ve already done a guide to this, I won’t get too into it, but the primary difference between these two things is that residentials do not lock the doors while hospitals are full-lockdown. If you want to read more about mental hospitals for minors, please redirect yourself HERE.

Residential treatment center (RTC) is the second level of care. This can vary place to place, but it my experience, the doors are not locked and the staff is not allowed to touch you. Residential tends to allow a person more freedom while still maintaining a safe place to stay. I’ll talk more about this later since the guide is about RTCs.

Partial hospitalization programs (PHP) are the third level of care. Usually, teens and adults that are released from a residential program go to a partial hospitalization program. In most cases, this is a five-day program (Monday-Friday). You live at home, or at a sober living if you are an addict, and it will normally take place from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM; however, mine took place from 12:30 PM to 6:45 PM, which is unusual.

Intensive outpatient programs (IOP) are the level of care that can sometimes come directly after residential or simply after PHP. If a person skips PHP and goes straight to IOP after residential, it is usually because they are going back to school or already have a job. But really, this is rare since residential to IOP is still a huge step-down. Anyways, in this stage, you go to the program about three days during the week. Some places let you pick any three days out of the week, but most will have you come in on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. IOP hours vary but are almost always about 4 hours long. Mine was from 3:00 PM to 6:45 PM.

Typical therapy is simply the usual one day a week. I don’t know what to call it since most people just call it therapy, but I wanted to differentiate it a tad. Anyways, this is pretty straight forward so I won’t get into it.

What Determines Treatment

As seen in my timeline above, you will usually come into a residential after coming out of the hospital. However, this isn’t always the case. Some people come in from PHP, IOP, or therapy. As long as it has been determined that you are safe enough to go straight to residential, you’re in.

Since we have an understanding of the timeline, let’s discuss what would qualify a person to end up in residential. To give you an idea, click HERE to see a screenshot of some questions from the website of my old residential. Now, this was for a dual-diagnosis program and was geared toward clients with drug use and mental illness so take it with a grain of salt. The general idea remains, though. It is for teens who need help and need to get that help away from home with 24-hour supervision, but not in a lockdown facility.

The type of people in these facilities vary. Without getting too into it, the first time I went into a residential, I was there for depression and anxiety. The second time, I was there for depression, anxiety, drug abuse, and excoriation disorder. This is just to give you a vague idea of the type of disorders you will see. Some facilities cater to specific issues like drug abuse, depression, or eating disorders. Others are there for a more broad approach and are typically referred to as dual-diagnosis programs. Trichotillomania, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, schizophrenia, antisocial personality disorder, Asperger's syndrome, and court ordered rehabilitation are just a short list of diagnoses I have come across in my time as a patient. It is not limited to these disorders, however, and can sometimes be something as simple as overprotective parents that over exaggerate their child’s issues.

As mentioned before, there are different places that can sometimes specialize in one specific disorder so it is important to determine whether a dual-diagnosis program would be better than, let’s say, an eating disorder residential.

Entering the Residential Life

Arrival to a residential is nothing like arriving at a hospital or being transferred. You are almost always driven by your parents. The only case I’ve seen where the parent didn’t drive their kid, was because they lived far and needed a police escort. The times that I’ve been on my way from a hospital to a residential, I’ve gotten food to eat and used my phone. It’s up to the parents to make stops and whatnot, but usually, they will not. Stopping makes it easier for a teen to not comply and try to escape, which is not what we want.

When you arrive, you are faced with a basic interview. Usually, the first day is the worst. You’re tired and are suddenly thrust into this new world with about five other teens. You’re being dragged in and out of milieu to do interviews with your therapist and say goodbye to your parents. Any belongings you have are given to a staff member and they check in your things. However, bras with underwire, thongs, shoe laces, jacket/sweatshirt/sweatpants strings, sharp items, phones/computers/anything you can use to communicate, and inappropriate clothing are not allowed. Typically, for the first 24 hours of arriving, you are not allowed to make any phone calls because people usually try to persuade their parents to take them out of the residential. You also start out on level one, but I’ll get into that later. Lastly, a folder is given to you that contains the rules, levels, and treatment goals. Again, this will all be explained soon.

Also, you’ll learn who your roommate is. It’s broken up by gender and normally, there’s two boys and four girls. However, in some occasions, the roles are reversed. Of course, this is only for a co-ed house. Some are specifically for females and some are specifically for men. Please note that transgender clients tend to have to room with the gender they were assigned at birth. I’ve only known one person who was allowed to room with a male (he is a female to male), but just know that cases like these are difficult. This isn’t across the board, but typically this WILL cause tension for the other roommate. Just because you are in a treatment facility, don’t expect everyone to be tolerant and politically correct. Remember that these treatment facilities are not just for people that have depression, anxiety, or an eating disorder. These places are also for teens that have behavioral problems so physical altercations can be expected.

Important Rules

The rules are also very basic. Unfortunately, I no longer have that paper so all of this will be based on memory, common sense, and research. They normally don’t have a list of rules they pass out, but they do give you a welcome packet that briefly goes over expectations. In short, the main idea is to avoid triggering topics. This is something that is huge, especially because you never know what’s going to set someone off. There’s also a big no-touch rule. Hugs are not allowed since some people are uncomfortable with that. Blankets are usually not allowed since it’s easy to do inappropriate things with them. No relationships because they can cloud your judgment and stunt your growth. Profanity is also not allowed. Nails should be cut short to avoid self-harm and no contraband at all.

The next big thing is the kitchen. Knives and sharp objects, in general, are locked up. The staff also has to keep count of them to assure that no clients have stolen them. In my last one, literally, EVERYTHING was locked. Only the fridge was unlocked, and this brings us to the next rule! Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and the snack time in between meals are the only time you can eat. However, if you are hungry even with all of that, you are allowed to eat fruit or cheese and crackers. Those were the only things we could eat in between meals. Everything you eat or don’t eat is recorded in a binder as well.

This rule isn’t really for drug-related residentials since it’s more for the depression/eating disorder ones. After eating/meal times, the bathrooms are locked for 20-30 minutes. If you really need to use the bathroom, the staff may use their judgment to allow you to go; however, if they let you, it’s uncomfortable. You need to constantly sing or talk whilst doing your “business” so that they know that you are not purging or anything like that.

I know earlier I stated that the doors aren’t locked, but one door that is, would be the bathroom doors. This is just to ensure that clients don’t go in there and smoke or do anything eating disorder-related. This also goes into the line-of-sight rule. At all times, you must be in the line-of-sight of at least one staff members. This means you cannot go wondering off on your own. Doing so will result in consequences and can be considered an AWOL. If you AWOL and while you are in a residential under a court order, you can be arrested. One of my friends did this and he was arrested and taken away for breaking his probation.

Now, this is a part that I don’t particularly love talking about since it has some bad memories attached, but it is important. A 5-foot-rule can be implemented when a person is being inappropriate around you. It can either be requested by you or issued as a punishment for two clients. With me, I had a 5-foot-rule against all the males in the house. One of them was because we were getting too close too fast and the other was because the guy was not respecting personal boundaries. I shit you not when I tell you he whispered sexual things in my ear while rubbing his foot on my leg. Yikes. Anyways, those can be issued and if things improve, they can be revoked. It’s all up to how you and the other person act.

Your room also needs to be clean. You can’t have clothes lying around and your bed needs to be made. If it isn’t you do get taken back to your room so that you can clean it. You are also responsible for doing your laundry on your assigned laundry day. Everything gets a day. Monday through Saturday are usually reserved for each client and Sundays are house cleaning days. That’s basically when towels, sheets, and other things are washed.

Body checks are by far the MOST annoying thing, in my opinion. Every time you leave the house and come back, you are not allowed to do ANYTHING until you get a body check. This consists of going to the bathroom with a staff member, stripping down to your underwear, doing one or two squats, and holding out your arms while you spin in a circle. Then, they check your clothes. This is to ensure that you are not bringing any contraband into the house. This also needs to be done anytime you go back to your room since they want to make sure you’re not hiding things. It’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, and I hate it. Also, girls can only get checked by female staff members and boys can get checked by females or males, though, they prefer to match gender.

Transportation is usually in a van. It’s your stereotypical mom van and the rules are cut and dry. You usually alternate who gets to sit shotgun. This is a highly envied spot since you get ALL radio control. Now, we all know how a van is set up, right? Two front seats, usually three middle seats, and three back seats. Click HERE for a better visualization. I labeled it with numbers to help you understand this. So, basically, a boy and a girl can’t sit next to each other. That’s pretty easy to understand. Now, here’s the kicker: a male staff member cannot sit next to a female client. Yep. For example, if a female client is sitting in seat 6 and a male client is sitting in seat 8, a male staff member CANNOT sit it seat 7. Only a female staff member can. However, a male staff member could sit in the driver’s seat (1) and a female client could sit in the passenger seat (2).

Any physical altercations will result in isolation. This is basically when a client is removed from the group and a staff member sits with them in an isolated setting. In this time, the client may not speak to anyone at all. Failure to comply results in your time resetting. The standard isolation times are anywhere from 7 to 9 hours, but I have seen them go on longer than that.

Contraband and Banned Items

To expand on the contraband subject, let’s go over some things that you can expect to be banned, seized, or used at certain times. In your initial intake, your belts, shoelaces, drawstrings, and any other long strings will be taken away or cut from your clothing. This normally only lasts for a short period and you will eventually get your laces/drawstrings back within a week or so depending on your behavior. Until then, slip-on shoes or sandals are normally what you would wear.

Any sharps are banned. This includes but is not limited to knives, razors, pins, needles, and broken pencils/pens. Even normal pencils or pens are usually contained to a certain room. In my first residential, which was more focused on depression and/or self-harm, the pencils were to be checked out by a staff member. They had a log that they recorded the pencils with and they used this to keep track of them as well. Pencils were not allowed in rooms at all, though, they did give me an exception since, at the time, I was struggling with something that they believed warranted the use of pencils/pens to occupy my time. In my other residential, which was more focused on dual-diagnosis issues, they did not keep track of pens and pencils. They primarily didn’t do it because only two clients were there for suicidal and self-harm reasons.

Outside food/drink/opened containers are prohibited. It doesn’t matter if you have a face wash that was expensive. You need to buy a new bottle and make sure that it is still sealed. Otherwise, they can’t allow it in for the simple reason that they do not know if the contents match the label. Some people could be sneaking in alcohol. Since we’re on the topic of alcohol, no perfumes or hairsprays are allowed either. They are usually locked up in the staff office, along with the rest of your contraband. While they aren’t allowed out on the milieu, you are allowed to ask the staff to use both items. They just need to be supervised and locked up after. Cigarettes are also not permitted, though, I’m not certain how it is with other states. I just know that California's legal age to buy cigarettes is 21.

Room searches are conducted on a daily basis. A staff member will search your room from top to bottom for any contraband. Let me tell you that these are thorough. People do not just get away with hiding razors under pillows. That is ridiculous and simply not a hiding place that would go undetected. Please, for the love of God, do NOT have your character get away with hiding shit like that. More importantly, admins, do NOT let the players get away with that shit. You can’t hide anything in your bedroom, especially if it’s an even mildly decent facility. It’s incredibly hard to do.

If the staff suspect that a client is in possession of contraband, they have the right to do a room toss. This is different from a room search because room tosses are 10x more thorough and rude. You stand by the door while the staff literally destroy your room looking for contraband. Even if you don’t have anything and it's your roommate being accused, your stuff gets tossed. One time, the staff thought my roommate was stashing cigarettes and we watched as they tore apart our room. By the end of it, the room will look like a tornado. The shitty part? Even if they don’t find anything, you have to clean up the room. Luckily, I already knew that my roommate was innocent of the aforementioned accusation and we got along great so cleaning up wasn’t too bad. We mainly joked around and shaded the staff members.

Lastly, razors used for shaving. The rules for this vary place to place. In the last one I was in, they allowed razors under the supervision of a staff member. In the previous one, they only allowed electric razors. Of course, all of the razors, electric or not, do have to be locked up in between use.

Key Points to Everyday Life

A key part of residential programs is that they are located in ordinary suburban houses. Yes, a residential could be right down the street from you. That’s the beauty of it. While a hospital focuses simply on leveling out, Residential focus on trying to get you adjusted to a somewhat regular lifestyle. A lot of chores are a part of this. They differ day to day and there’s always a chore schedule placed somewhere in the kitchen or on the wall in the living room. Doing your chores tend to be very important since failure to comply will result in a level drop or a staff member not giving you points for the day.

Life in a residential is relatively strict. You are not allowed to take naps unless you have been ordered to by a doctor or you are basically about to die. I kid you not, the staff there are tough and take no bullshit from people. They do not let you sit down on your bed to rest AT ALL. A big part of it is learning to be responsible and not sit around all day. They try to keep you busy throughout the day. The daily schedule for most of these places is relatively similar. Exercise, breakfast, school, etc. It all goes the same. I have an example of a schedule that you can find HERE.

Note that weekdays are MUCH busier than weekends. This is because weekends are when you are allowed to have visitors. Only family members are allowed to visit you. Night and morning routines are similar. You can choose to shower in the morning or the night, your choice. Usually, they do base who gets to go first on who is the highest level so just remember that. Your toiletries are kept in a small plastic box that is roughly the size of a shoebox. All of that stuff is locked up so you do need to ask/wait for a staff member to unlock it.

Staff Responsibilities

Since I was a client, I’m not an expert on what the job entitles. However, I do have a therapist who was a staff member at a residential, and because of this, I do know a few more things than the average client.

One main thing is that they need to be observant. This is fairly obvious since the clients rely on staff to maintain safety. Throughout the day, they need to take notes on the clients. There’s usually a computer system in which this happens. In most cases, they are going to write down how you appear to be feeling. This is when “check-in’s” are important because these allow clients to actually speak up for themselves and talk about how they are actually feeling. In some facilities, clients initiating the check in can result in them being leveled up. Check in’s are simply the clients telling the staff how they are doing. These are also usually done in private, so the staff has to have time to talk to the client.

The shifts for the staff are usually broken up into 3 different times. From 5AM-1PM, 1PM-9PM, and 9PM-5AM. This is a very broad idea, but it’s usually morning, afternoon, and night shift aka graveyard shift. The graveyard shift is the one that is least convenient for people because of the time it’s at. During this time, you still need to keep notes and keep track of the clients, even if they are sleeping. You can’t fall asleep, and trust me, if you do, things can go wrong really fast. Clients are sneaky so do not put it past them to wait until a staff member falls asleep. Still, the graveyard shift does have a whole new list of responsibilities. Theirs usually consists of laundry and chores instead of taking the clients to and from their daily activities. They also end up getting a lot of free time, which can sometimes be ideal for college students who work there since they can stay up and study/do homework.

Another big thing is that since this is not a lockdown facility, they are not required to chase after or follow runaway clients. Yes, they should definitely follow them, but they do not have to. They can choose to follow, or choose to call the cops immediately. Again, this may not be the same policy for all facilities, just the ones I’ve been.

Perhaps the biggest thing, though, is that you need to avoid giving full names. Some kids in there are stalkers, so staff members emphasis the importance of avoiding sharing their personal details. You also have to avoid sharing to much about yourself in general. I know a while back, a bunch of people at this one residential got fired because they were oversharing with the teens. Even if you believe that your harrowing story may be relatable, you need to be careful. Don’t stack one problem on top of the other. Just avoid getting too attached to the kids.

The Level System

The level system directly correlates with the point system, but I’ll get into this more in the next section. For now, let’s cover the basics. There are typically 5-6 levels. Each level comes with its own perks, so leveling up is something that is a great achievement.

Level One: This is the level that all clients start out at. It is the most basic one and therefore, has the most basic rewards. The main, and most disappointing, is that you will usually be last when it comes to body checks and showers. This means you will have to wait in the hall until it is your turn, and trust me, by the end of the time, you do not want that. You also get 5 minutes of phone time each day to talk to your parents. If your parents are divorced, you get two 5 minute phone calls each. You also do not get outings with your family, just visits.

Level Two: Alright, this level barely has anything different than the first level. You get the same amount of phone time and you are still relatively low on the list of who goes first. However, this is when you do get to have outings with your family. This means you can leave the residential when your family visits, but you must be brought back immediately.

Level Three: Not gonna lie, this is also pretty similar. You get the same amount of phone time and the same rule applies to the showers and body checks. You also get to have off-site visits with your family.

Level Four: Level four is actually not that bad! You get to have a 5-minute phone call with your parents as well as a 5-minute phone call with an approved friend. Your friends must be approved by a therapist.

Level Five: At this level, you are allowed 10 minutes per day to parents/guardians and a 10-minute call to a friend. In the facility I was at, this was pretty much the highest level you could get since most people didn’t stay long enough to reach the next one.

Level Six: At this level, you are allowed 20 minutes of phone times which can be split up as you want it. This is the highest level and if you reach this, it means that you are trusted by the staff. You are the leader, and therefore, need to act like one. It is super hard to reach this level, and often times you need to petition in order to reach it. A petition is when you speak to the milieu and the staff, usually during treatment team meetings. You describe to them how you have changed and why you deserve to get to level six and they decide.

In short term facilities (4-6 week programs), there is no waiting period. You can level up each week. In longer ones (anything beyond 6 weeks programs) there may be waiting periods between levels. In my facility, you could move from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 each week. However, moving from 3 to 4 and so on, you usually need to wait a week or two before you can move up. I hope that made sense. You can also be level dropped for bad or innappropriate behavior.

The Points System

The points system is the main part of residential that slips my mind, and this is simply because it is so different in each facility. The main the that stays the same, though, is that each level represents a number of points you get each day. If you are on level one, you get one point each day. If you are level three, you get three. If you are level six, you get six. You can also earn extra points for doing extra work. For example, I had a pretty unique connection with the chef at my last facility and because of this, I enjoyed being in the kitchen. We made an arrangement that I could earn points by helping him clean the oven and organize things when I had free time. You can also earn points by displaying good behavior or, sometimes, making bets with staff. It isn’t too professional, but some cool staff would make bets with me during basketball season. It was always something small, like earning one point if I could correctly guess who would win the upcoming game.

In the place I was at, they didn’t take away points, but they would withhold them from you. If you displayed bad or inappropriate behavior, they could simply tell you that you didn’t earn any points for the day.

Now, let’s get into what the points are actually used for. Each level brings in a new list of things that you can buy with points. Here is a short list of simple things you could buy with points for each level:

Level One: Nothing.

Level Two: For 10 points - cup of soda (you normally only get juice or water), for 15 points - an extra snack (candy).

Level Three: For 50 points - haircut, for 25 points - time to shave your legs (monitored), for 25 points - time to apply makeup.

Level Four: For 100 points - bubble bath (monitored and done in a bathing suit), for 150 points $10 to spend on Amazon (not a gift card, has to be approved by a therapist).

Level Five: For 250 points - Dinner with a staff member of your choice to a restaurant of your choice, For 275 points - $25 to spend on Amazon (not a gift card, has to be approved by a therapist).

Level Six: For 1,000 points - Mini-golfing, for 500 points - $50 to spend on Amazon (not a gift card, has to be approved by a therapist).

Now, I know the prices seem high, but that’s the whole point. You pay a lot of points for something, but the high number of points means you worked your ass off for it. When I was in my last residential, I was there for a little over 90 days and by the end of it, I had about 1,500 points. That’s a lot, okay, and you don’t just magically get there. Plus, by the time you do get that many points, they don’t even matter. Between you and me, they never mattered to me. In the end, I only spent about 250 points just so I can go out to eat with my favorite staff and look at pictures of her daughter. It was fun and I did it at the end of my treatment, so I knew I deserved it.

Another Thing to Note

While this isn’t something that is a law, most people do not return to the same facility more than once. Yes, it does happen, but clearly, the first time didn’t work and often times insurance companies or the therapists will try to avoid placing someone in the same facility twice. Just keep this in mind and don’t have your character returning to the same residential over and over again.

Common Vocabulary

AWOL: Also known as “absent without leave.” This is basically when you leave the premises of the hospital/treatment facility.

Contraband: Items that are not approved, but are in the possession of a client. Examples of this include cigarettes, knives, drugs, inappropriate clothing, perfume, etc.

Milieu: A person’s social environment or the peers around them when they are out in shared spaces such as community rooms.

PET Team: Psychiatric Emergency Teams (PET) are mobile response teams based in and operated by psychiatric hospitals approved by the Department of Mental Health to initiate applications for 5150 and 5585 evaluations.

Treatment Team Meetings: There are two different treatment team meetings. The first one is when the staff and the therapists get together and discuss how are you doing. The second is when you are with the milieu, the clients, and one or two staff members. There, you discuss treatment goals and what you can approve upon.

If you have any questions/comments/concerns, please feel free to ask!

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go-redgirl · 5 years

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Kompromat: Nude Photos of Democrat Katie Hill, Multiple Affairs Swirling Around Congresswoman Threaten to Undermine Impeachment

The burgeoning scandal surrounding freshman Democrat Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) threatens to cause serious repercussions for Democrats throughout the House of Representatives as they move forward with an effort to impeach President Donald Trump.

Last week, Red State published an explosive piece exposing that Hill had multiple simultaneous sexual relationships with at least two different staffers.

At least one of them worked in her official congressional office, which is a plain-letter clear violation of the House’s rules for members, forbidding sexual relationships between members of Congress and their official office staff. The other was at least a campaign staffer, who is as of-yet-unidentified but may have been an official office staffer as well.

Hill, who has been married to her now-estranged husband Kenny Heslep for years, brought a 22-year-old woman who was on her campaign staff into their marriage to create a three-way “throuple” relationship during her run for Congress in 2018.

Red State’s Jennifer Van Laar reported:

Photographs and text messages obtained by RedState show that Rep. Hill was involved in a long-term sexual relationship with a female campaign staffer. The woman, whose name is not being released, was hired by Hill in late 2017 and quickly became involved in a ‘throuple’ relationship with Hill and her estranged husband, Kenny Heslep. Heslep and the staffer, according to text messages provided to RedState, believed the polyamorous arrangement to be a long-term, committed relationship.

The piece includes several salacious photographs of the now-congresswoman with the female staffer, including one of the congresswoman in the nude brushing the young staffer’s hair. Apparently, according to the report, the congresswoman earlier this year ended the relationship with the female staffer and with her husband, saying she wanted to focus on her work. Red State’s story also uncovers that Hill allegedly had a separate intimate relationship with her legislative director Graham Kelly, a male staffer of hers who worked in her official congressional office.

Van Laar wrote:

According to the text messages reviewed, after Hill left the throuple Heslep was told ‘by numerous sources’ that Hill had been involved in a sexual relationship for a year with her then-finance director, now Legislative Director, Graham Kelly. In a post on his now-deleted F.B. account, Heslep posted a screenshot of a text message between himself and a friend of the couple in which the friend admits that he now knows about the Hill/Kelly affair.

Members of Congress are forbidden by House rules to have sexual relationships with staff members in their congressional offices. The rule, first passed by the GOP majority in February 2018 as part of a broader effort to tamp down on sexual misconduct on Capitol Hill amid revelations that taxpayers funded millions of dollars worth of sexual harassment settlements during the broader #MeToo scandals that rocked America’s elites, has remained in House rules under the new Democrat majority.

A senior congressional aide told Breitbart News:

If Congresswoman Hill is engaged in a romantic relationship with one of her paid staffers, that is a clear cut ethics violation. These rules are in place to ensure Congress is a workplace free from abuse and sexual misconduct. The reports paint a troubling pattern that deserve a full investigation.

Roll Call reported on the rules change on Feb. 6, 2018, which details how the rules in the House now expressly prohibit members from having sexual relationships with aides:

In the wake of high-profile resignations over sexual harassment claims, the House on Tuesday approved sweeping changes to its internal rules intended to protect staffers, including a prohibition on sexual relationships between members and their aides.

That rule remains in place even under the new Democrat majority, under H. Res. 6, which expressly bans “sexual relationships between Members and committee staff.” H. Res. 6, offered by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, passed the House in early January right after Democrats took the majority.

It remains to be seen if the House Ethics Committee will launch a formal investigation of Hill’s behavior, and if so, what it will find and how it will handle the matter. Offices of several members on the House Ethics Committee declined to comment on Monday. Some other offices of both Republicans and Democrats say this problem is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s issue, and that she must step up to handle it personally—and that her silence speaks volumes as of now.

Top Democrats like Pelosi are remaining deliberately silent. Pelosi’s office has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Breitbart News on this matter, and has not answered a set of detailed questions sent to the Speaker, including whether she thinks it is acceptable for members of Congress to have sexual relations with their staff members.

What’s more, Hill is the Vice Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and for a brief moment was the committee’s highest ranking member when its now former chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) passed away late last week. Since Cummings’ passing, Pelosi quickly named Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) to replace Cummings atop the committee as its new acting chair, but Hill announced she will remain the committee’s vice chairwoman.

The House Oversight Committee is one of six committees that Pelosi has charged with conducting the so-called “impeachment inquiry” into President Trump, and Pelosi’s decision to allow Hill to stay there despite these revelations—a decision she alone can make—potentially puts the broader impeachment effort at risk because of compromising photographs and information about one of the leaders of the investigation being used as potential “Kompromat” against the Democrat congresswoman.

“RedState was also provided with intimate photographs of the women, which we have chosen not to publish,” Van Laar wrote in the Red State story.

In other words, there exists somewhere out there literal “Kompromat”—compromising information and images—on a Democrat congresswoman. Van Laar’s report notes the possibility of this information and these images being used to damage the country’s national security by a bad actor seeking to blackmail a powerful Democrat congresswoman.

Van Laar wrote:

In addition to the legal and ethical issues raised by allegations of a congresswoman having not one, but two extramarital affairs with people on her staff, concurrently, there are issues of national security. Hill serves on two influential committees in that regard: Oversight and Reform and Armed Services. She has access to extremely sensitive national security information. If people who don’t have our nation’s best interests at heart had access to the photographs, text messages, and other information provided to RedState, Rep. Hill would be an easy blackmail target.

The Cambridge English Dictionary defines “kompromat” as: “information or reports that could damage someone’s reputation.” The irony here is that Democrats have been claiming for the past few years that the Russians, including President Vladimir Putin, have “Kompromat” on Trump. Hillary Clinton suggested it just the other day, and House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)–chairman of another of the committees leading the “impeachment inquiry”–used the term when he thought he was speaking to Ukrainian leaders who were actually Russians prank calling him.

Democrats have, despite their best efforts over the course of several years, uncovered no “kompromat” on Trump while constantly investigating salacious allegations against the president. But, now one of those top investigators–the Vice Chair of the House Oversight Committee–has actual “kompromat” being discovered about her, partially published in a Red State report that for now top House Democrats seem to be ignoring.

A spokeswoman for Maloney, now the acting chair of the House Oversight Committee, has not on Monday replied to a series of questions from Breitbart News on the matter:

1.) Does Rep. Maloney have any general comment on the revelation that Rep. Hill was having multiple affairs with several of her staff members?

2.) Does Rep. Maloney think it is acceptable for members of Congress to have sexual relationships with staff members?

3.) Since she is acting chairwoman of the Oversight Committee, does Rep. Maloney believe it is acceptable for Rep. Hill to continue to serve as vice chair of that committee?

4.) Does Rep. Maloney think the House Ethics Committee should investigate this matter?

5.) Does Rep. Maloney think these revelations distract from the broader work that the House Oversight Committee is doing, in particular on the “impeachment inquiry” into President Trump?

Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill has not replied to a series of similar questions sent to the Speaker of the House through him.

Similarly, Hill has not denied the allegations or refuted them in any way. Her office has not replied to a series of questions from Breitbart News, including about the rules change. The questions, sent to Hill’s press aide, that she currently is not answering include:

1.) I haven’t seen any denial of any kind from the congresswoman or her office in response to this. Do you deny the allegations?

2.) Why does the congresswoman think it is appropriate for a member of Congress to have sexual relationships with staff members? Is she not concerned that said relationships may be inappropriate?

3.) Has the congresswoman discussed these matters with House leadership including with Speaker Pelosi in any way? What about with the House Oversight Committee’s new acting chairwoman Carolyn Maloney?

4.) I also see the congresswoman is the vice chair of the House Oversight Committee. Do these revelations–including the fact that according to Red State there are many more compromising photographs of the congresswoman, in other words literal “Kompromat”–threaten to undermine the congresswoman’s work and the Oversight Committee’s work on the “impeachment inquiry” into President Trump?

5.) On that note, the Red State story said they published this story out of concern that the congresswoman could be blackmailed or that this information could be used against her by bad actors. Does the congresswoman fear she may be blackmailed? Is there a national security risk to her engaging in these types of relationships? Has she ever been blackmailed?

6.) It is unclear if the House Ethics Committee will launch a formal probe of these revelations, but if they do–or if other official entities launch investigations on this matter–does the congresswoman intend to fully comply? Will she direct her staff, including the ones with whom she has had sexual relationships, to comply with any investigations as well?

Breitbart News also asked Hill’s office, after supplying evidence that the House rules expressly forbid sexual relationships between members of Congress and their staffs, if they believe she has always followed the House rules. Hill’s press aide has not replied.

Hill represents California’s 25th congressional district, a true battleground district that Republicans lost to her in the 2018 midterm. Its Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI), published by the Cook Political Report, which rates how solidly Republican or Democrat each congressional district is nationwide, rates the district as EVEN–meaning it could break towards a Republican or a Democrat at any time.

If Hill ends up in serious political trouble as a result of this story, it could be a boon for Republicans given the fact that this district is not one of the 31 districts currently represented by a Democrat in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton in his 2016 victory.

Of those 31, 13 of them are districts that Trump won by six percent or more–and Republicans only need to take back a net 19 seats to retake the House majority. Losing districts outside of that core 31, as Hill’s battleground in the 25th is for Democrats, would endanger Democrat chances of holding the majority even more than they already are.

READ MORE STORIES:

Politics#MeToo California Carolyn Maloney Democrat Donald Trump Elijah Cummings House Ethics Committee impeachment Katie Hill Kenny Heslep Nancy Pelosi sex scandal

_____________________________________________________________

OPINION: Well,well, well! The truth usually have its way of coming to light! The Democrats have always taken the focus off of themselves as they try to incriminate others. But, in reality they are less honorable by a landslide than those they try to persecute, always putting up a ‘smoke-screen’ so others can’t see their sins!

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thefunksoldiers-blog · 7 years

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Drue’s Drama II: The Truth Experience

Dave and LyNNette can’t seem to decide exactly where you draw the line at truth and defamation:

So, we are going to help them out. We were going to narrate the story and post all the screenshots, but it is best to just let the dialogue speak for itself.

NOTE: We would like to interrupt this Truth Experience to interject the law regarding how many pets a non-registered kennel, like Mayte’s Rescue, can have on site at a residence (notice 6 is nowhere on this list). But Mayte claims to NOT skirt the law:

We now return to the Truth Experience:

NOTE: We are omitting the next screenshot in the sequence where Drue provides the couple Josh’s phone number. Unlike Dave and others in Mayte’s realm, we would never expose anyone’s personal information that way. If Dave decides to lie about what this screenshot contains, we will post with the phone number blacked out. For now, we have taken the stance that contact information not made public is off limits per our own integrity as a group and as individuals. The screenshot with the address is allowed as Mayte refers to this as the “Haven” (definition: place of safety) and has told people they can visit; this information is on her Facebook account.

Rosie was fostered out to another family who also returned her within a week citing a move out of state, something that clearly they had to have known prior to taking her, but Mayte’s Rescue allowed it despite their claims of rigorously screening potential “furever homes.”

How dumb is Dave defending a man who is telling people not to talk to him as if Dave has no clout with Mayte or with the rescue? Then LyNNette chiming in like she’s a member of the Donner Party ready to feast upon the first soul he throws in her direction. Dave wants to talk about “the crazies coming out since Prince died,” when Mayte was the FIRST one! Strung out over a man who shipped her off to Spain nearly 20 years ago, filed for divorce and married another woman, divorced and dated a number of other people, never looking back in Mayte’s direction--- and he’s dead, she’s STILL strung out. Whatever he had with Bria Valente lasted longer than he wanted to be married to Mayte. Remember, he started talking divorce and annulments two years after the marriage (1998), to her surprise and without even discussing it with her privately first (as she wrote in her own book). So don’t call anyone not slobbering on Mayte’s cheek crazy, Dave. Crazy is her believing that BS a fired employee told her about Prince being in love with her until he died. He almost died a week before he actually did. You search her call list daily, Dave. Did he call her? No? He must have really been in love (yes, that’s sarcasm). Even Cuba called President Obama to let him know Fidel Castro was on his deathbed and U.S./Cuba relations have been frosty since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Crazy is still you, Dave, chasing after this woman who has never given you the hint of wanting to be with you romantically. Even the blind can see that’s all this is about for you: trying to win the girl of your dreams. Keep dreaming! What you need to do is worry about your girl over there sitting in the corner, rubbing her hands and licking her lips because you have once again seized upon the wrong thing. Watch! Here’s you moaning and groaning about someone saying something that hurt Mayte’s middle aged, grown woman feelings, meanwhile Kim is making comments of support under your post, but reading our links, downloading the paperwork to file registration in CA and NY on behalf of the rescue. She’s not just playing you, she’s outplaying you. Again, you are in the front yard watching this while the devil is sneaking in your backdoor. You have known Mayte 20+ years. By now you should know if you aren’t bringing her the bank, you are useless and can be replaced.

So, step it up big boy, do your JOB before Kim does it for you. We were going to lay off of you because you were so quiet and seemed to have found some semblance of behavior. We even did you a favor. But, no more. We are #DroppingJewelsInJuly and there is so much more to come. We see you, we know you and we are not afraid of you. You talk too much, Dave, to anyone who will listen and that is why we have every vile thing you have said on social media in the last 15 months screenshot and locked away. You acted like a jerk to enough people who want to see you buried and then turned around and lied about them while trying to get other gullible souls who just wanted to appreciate Mayte to spread the lie. You used them to build you up because after years of having Mayte belly dance around your heart, your self-esteem is in the gutter and the only recognition you get in life is through your connection to her. That’s the most pitiful place for a 45 year old man to be.

We would “feel for you,” except everything you post has been a lie. The truth can stand on it’s own. People don’t constantly have to defend themselves against the truth. You are forever in defense mode, and we know it. So you, know this now: we will challenge you at every turn. Every lie you tell, we have proof it is a lie. We’ve been fairly conservative in what we post in terms of screenshots, but we are discussing the possibility of letting them all out. People have consistently shared with us interactions they have had and continue to have with you. We always advise anyone dealing with you to take screenshots before you delete it or record any phone exchanges and we have them. They have long since given us permission to expose you and the other frauds in your circle. Early on, we erred on the side of caution, but we have our own army now, so there’s no reason to protect anyone; they are emboldened, empowered, and ready to be heard. They found their voices and we are going to provide this forum for them to speak.

As general information, it should be said that we take pride in getting our information from as many first-hand sources as is possible. How do you know Drue was not the source?! Do you think he would admit to your face he implied to a potential foster that you were a big, fat bowl of nothing soup with a biscuit (Spider Toes LyNNette) and bag of chips (Krazy Kim) on the side? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Let us clarify that our Tumblr is public and we stand by everything we post here as the truth and we verify and PROTECT all of our sources. We only post what we post with the explicitly stated permission of each source. If it appears elsewhere, we can do little to curb that as anyone can download things from this site, however, we do not believe it is always done in malice.

That said it is shameful the way certain people would seize on someone who wanted to do nothing more than to help an animal in a home where many other animals are loved and cared for. We published this, so come after us, but step lightly because we have so much more on tap in terms of resources, as stated earlier. What you are doing to these people constitutes bullying and after our July 3rd post about Spider Toes and Mayte’s people and their anti-bullying bull, we can do nothing but expose your hypocrisy. Don’t you ever dare say again you or Mayte are being bullied when it is clear that you are the bully here, even lying that this person said she would take the dog to the pound. The screenshot doesn’t lie (re: “I am not home”), but you do!

Although it is getting exhausting having to repeat ourselves, here, we feel we must: NO ONE IS REQUIRED TO LIKE MAYTE! This is not the United States of Mayte Garcia. Dave, LyNNette and Kim are not the Founding Fools. The first amendment does not say: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” unless you are discussing Mayte Garcia.

There is a difference between exposing the truth (”that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality”) and bullying (”use of superior strength or influence to intimidate [someone], typically to force him or her to do what one wants”). LEARN IT!

ADDENDUM:

Proof is the best way we know to out Dave’s stupidity! He must think we are all talk and no action here. Dave tried to make it seem like the woman in the texts with Drue is the one who threatened to put the dog in the pound. Look at his first post, that’s what he says, but if you read the actual screenshot that HE posted, it was her husband telling Drue this after several discussions of how to handle having their home and belongings destroyed. It was discussed, as you see, that they (Mayte’s Rescue staff) would arrange to pick the dog up, but continued to flail on their responsibility, leaving this couple with few options, despite growing attached to her (we have the pics of them bonding with their foster, the ones sent to Drue). Here’s the actual screenshot that Dave attempted to blame someone else for. No one is hiding anything and no one has to lie. Mayte, Dave just gets you in more hot water with his lies. He’s being exposed. Seems you need to have another sit down and tell him “NEVER AGAIN”, can this type of thing happen. Smooches, Dave, and oh, #StayMad.

See how easily Dave lies?

#maytesrescue #prince #maytegarcia #davebuchansky #spidertoesLyNNette #KrazyKim #maytescrusaders #DroppingJewelsInJuly #TheTruthExperience #StayMad

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confessionsofalionholic · 7 years

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The RMA Fiasco & Staff / Userbase: My Two Cents

First, let's get a few things straight.

Disclaimer: This is based on what I remember based on Jackster's and these blog posts, LD threads, screenshots and other stuff. I'm not Jackster or the staff so I can't have a 100% clear view of both perspectives and I haven't covered everything 100%, but I tried to be objective. All my arguments are based on the assumption that Jackster's screenshots, quotes, post claims and facts from their blog are all true ( and I have no reason at the time to doubt them as of now. ) They could be withholding or warping information, but I highly doubt it. My opinion can be subject to change as information changes. Also, I hope my arguments make sense as I'm kinda distracted writing this. If anyone actually cares about this I'd love to debate open-mindedly and courteously and clarify things.

***************************************

Here is the RMA intro excerpt from the news post when it was introduced to the game:

"This awesome 1 GB oasis item is something entirely new! As you pick a slot, a random marking will fill it up with a random opacity. It's of course to be expected the marking will be a common or a custom one, HOWEVER, there is an extremely rare chance to get a Raffle marking, Event marking or Applicator marking, and even rarer chance that a Rosette marking will pop up!

Notes: *Future markings will automatically be affected by this item in proper rarity types *Mane Markings are included *Markings can duplicate, as it's completely random *Mottled Rosette or any future mutation related markings are excluded"

Posted on 2016-06-24 13:53:44 | ( No edits to news post visible )

We can nitpick and throw words and definitions and technicalities around all we want but there's no refuting this evidence. Jackster and Locust chose to invest the money in LD for an item that doesn't guarantee special marks and the news intro and item description, seen every time the item is used ( though the description alone explains well enough ) clearly state what it does and definitely don't claim or imply there is an equal chance for a special or event marking to appear.

Furthermore, here is another definition of random from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

"adj. Mathematics & Statistics

Of or relating to a type of circumstance or event that is described by a probability distribution"

Based on THIS definition, the item truly is random. As Abbey / Kitty confirmed, there are different percentages for the rarity tiers but still, this would be the "probability distribution." Anyways, it's already obvious there isn't an equal chance for the non custom or NCL / Oasis markings, those are "super rare" outcomes.

As far as I know the description of the RMA hasn't changed; it's always been:

"You can choose a slot and have a chance at it filling up with any random common or custom marking at random opacity. BUT! There is a super rare chance for a rare type marking such as raffle, event or even a rosette!"

The issue is that a few users claim the percentages should be public in the description as they only purchased the item thinking it was more likely for rare markings to appear. I don't see a need to divulge the exact percentages different marking pool outcomes as that would kind of take the fun out of it, and the item itself explains it adds a random common or custom marking BUT there is a "super rare" chance for rare markings.

As an example, would exact percentages for random mutations popping up in breeding be publicized, or, say, the chances of certain breeding items of producing each type of mutation tier we would all likely be discouraged. We already know mutations are rare with the less common ones being even rarer as they should be to preserve "specialness", but despite these small chances, people have gotten leopons and lethals and other super rare mutations from both item and natural breedings. GMO cows, for example, often produce common mutes and fails but some have gotten pons and other specials from them.

When I saw the rare marking percentages publicized myself all thoughts of purchasing a couple to try for project / rare mark disappeared, however, even if they implemented RMA only special markings.

"This Week's Game Poll:

Would you like Random Marking Applicator to have markings that are exclusive entirely to the Applicator itself?

877: Yes! Gamble will bring a unique reward!"

Personally, I think upping the chances of the RMA applying rare / event markings just a liiiitle bit would promote more RMA sales as those who purchase them for projects and customization goals would be willing to spend more if they see results at least more often. Either that or maybe an item extra you could purchase to slightly up the percentage for a certain marking of your choice since the odds are so against you?

It's kinda like egg yolks. Some people purchase them in bulk from the TC with GB purchased from the site, supporting LD. Upon use they sometimes fail and give little to no stats, "wasting" the purchaser's money, but the risk is worth it as sometimes they give up to 15 stats (?) and even if they don't work that well they give a decent amount of stats if you purchase a decent amount which is relatively attainable during the event due to their relatively cheap price and they don't give you 0 stats more than a few times in a row. It depends on your budget, stat goal and how many yolks you get but you're pretty much guaranteed at least some stats from using a couple of yolks so most people are satisfied and purchase more, though some bulk buyers say it is a bit expensive in the long run.

The staff had no responsibility to "refund" this oversight, as the item explains itself clearly in its description in my opinion, a description visible every time you use it, mobile or not. I've defended it further above.

What's more of an issue in my opinion is why they revoked the offer to Jackster, which there is no solid evidence for. We can't see what Jackster said and if it warranted the staff's removal of the offer and can only rely on incomplete, personal accounts of what happened. From what I see Jackster sees polite, reasonable and courteous, but then again people here have said they're rude and brag often in chat, so I don't know. I do think it would be a nice touch to give Locust and Jackster, who have both contributed to the community a little freebie for the trouble if the likelihood percentage is implemented, and even if not it would be a nice gesture. Staff just has to be careful that other members don't see this as an opportunity to beg and guilt trip them into other favors which is the difficult part.

**** As for staff, I think people have gotten too ...jaded with their presence. They may claim "Oh, so and so is an ___, they ___." but they offer no proof. People interpret things differently and can share this opinion anywhere, even here. Some people may believe hearsay from this blog and hate staff with no real evidence of their character. Some users can be overly defensive or entirely misinterpret gentle reminders from staff and go here to complain. Pretty sure one user even said this months ago on this blog about a mod, taking back their original claims that X member of staff was rude saying they were upset at the time and the mod was actually super sweet.

I don't know any of them personally, but all of my dealings with staff & admins have been courteous and given the opportunity a few have gone out of their way to help me out with tickets & questions on their own time, and I've seen almost if not all of them be kind, friendly and helpful in general to others. Staff are humans too, and though they may not always be objective they do their best. They're all humans with lives and worries and forgetfulness and downfalls every now and then, just like you and me. That doesn't excuse any unfair behavior, but they do make mistakes and overlook things. We all do.

Likewise, Jackster seems to be a notorious LD member, yet I don't see why. They seem interesting, intelligent, well articulated, courteous and even generous, though then again I don't follow the community or chat 24/7 or even that closely at all. I could say much the same for all the staff members I have seen in forums and such and talked to personally - they've always been courteous, helpful, interesting, and a few, given the opportunity, have even gone out of their way, taking time out of their busy days to help me out in a pinch.

Tl;dr: There's too much animosity and baseless accusations of staff and also between the general userbase itself. No, it's not always rainbows and unicorns, sometimes some staff may do unfair things but if there is no proof then take those claims with a grain of salt. Many complain about other users or staff here but provide no evidence. If there is proof, courteously confront them if you can. Kindness can go a long way, and often if you don't go causing trouble you never get into it. If you're afraid of being silenced, you could find someone who will help you here.

As for the RMA, maybe for website profit and growth best interests and for users to get more out of the item it would be a good idea to up chances of rarer marks, and maybe an additional item could up the chance of a certain mark and / or pool. Furthermore, a "compensation" gift for the trouble could be given to those heavily impacted who have helped the community out as a kind gesture such as Locust and Jackster as long as staff doesn't turn into a freebie machine.

#submission #staff #players #community #anon response

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bountyofbeads · 4 years

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THE BATTLE FOR THE CONSTITUTION

The Disintegration of the American Presidency

The president’s job is to oversee the whole of the executive branch, but under Trump the inverse is happening.

By Susan Hennessey, Executive editor of Lawfare and Benjamin Wittes, Contributing writer and editor in chief of Lawfare | Published January 21, 2020 | The Atlantic | Posted January 22, 2020

On January 13, 2020, a political scientist named Daniel Drezner tweeted a screenshot of a Washington Post article, along with a cheeky comment: “I’ll believe that Trump is growing into the presidency when his staff stops talking about him like a toddler.” The screenshot showed a quotation about handling the president from a former senior administration official: “He’d get spun up, and if you bought some time, you could get him calmed down, and then explain to him what his decision might do.”

Drezner’s tweet was part of a lengthy thread. A very lengthy thread. The tweet, in fact, was the 1,163rd entry in a thread that began back in April 2017, with the same comment appended to a screenshot from The Washington Post: “Trump turns on the television almost as soon as he wakes, then checks in periodically throughout the day in the small dining room off the Oval Office, and continues late into the evening when he’s back in his private residence. ‘Once he goes upstairs, there’s no managing him,’ said one adviser.” Drezner had highlighted the quotation from the adviser.

The “toddler-in-chief thread” is surely the most quixotically lengthy Twitter thread in the history of the American presidency. Every time a White House adviser or a Republican member of Congress speaks about Trump in a news story as though he or she were talking about handling a small child, Drezner tweets the relevant passage with the same sentence, adding it to the thread.

Each entry separately documents a news story in which someone—usually a member of the executive branch—talks about managing the president, not the other way around, and talks about doing so in an explicitly infantilizing fashion. The collection is now the subject of a forthcoming book.

The thread is a source of humor, but Drezner is onto something profound. Whereas the president’s job is to supervise the White House staff and the executive-branch agencies that report to the White House, in the Trump presidency the inverse is what’s really happening most of the time, and people don’t even bother to pretend otherwise.

Yes, when Trump gives an actual order in a form directed to a subordinate person or agency, that order has to be carried out—or something has to happen that can be said to count as carrying it out—on pain of possible dismissal. But until the moment of an actual order—and even afterward, for those willing to take risks with their jobs—Trump can be avoided, evaded, cajoled, patronized, manipulated, or misrepresented in public by underlings who purport to serve him.

Infantilizing the president is a natural adaptive response to circumstances—if an entirely extra-constitutional one. Staffers and officials have reason to question the integrity of the president’s oath of office or his mental stability. Confronted with a president who rejects traditional executive-branch processes and management in favor of unfiltered personal expression and a merging of the office with his own personality, they have to do something.

But, of course, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Constitution creates a unitary executive branch in which, in the pure version at least, the president supervises the staff and they actually do what he tells them to do—or are removed if they do not. Constitutionally speaking, notwithstanding the internal processes that have built up over time, the executive branch is run by the president, and the president at some level supervises the entire branch.

The federal courts are divided regionally and stratified by the three layers of the judicial system—district courts, appeals courts, and the Supreme Court. Congress has two chambers, each with its own formal rules. But the American presidency is a single person. And the executive branch is little more than the people who work for him. There is a debate, of course, about how unitary the “unitary executive” really is, and that debate is wrapped up in a larger set of arguments about the scope and nature and limits of presidential power. But there is a core to the unitary-executive theory that is not in dispute: There is only one president, and he appoints the leadership of the executive agencies, who serve at his pleasure and thus must follow his direction or risk being fired.

Historically, this core unity has always tolerated some degree of fractiousness within the executive branch. One extreme example from early in the republic’s history is that of Thomas Jefferson, who funded and ran an opposition newspaper while serving in George Washington’s cabinet. Lower executive-branch officials often have statutory responsibilities of their own delegated to them by Congress, and civil servants are not appointed and removed at will by the president. The unity fiction became a bit more strained as the executive developed into an immense series of interlocking bureaucracies, including the supposedly independent federal regulatory agencies, over the course of the 20th century. Presidential lack of control over the State Department has long been a source of some consternation. And, of course, regardless of the president’s status as commander in chief, the military is a world of its own. The question of unity has always been one of degree; it is not absolute. That said, the idea of unity remains true in important respects.

When Trump took the oath of office, he assumed certain powers, all of which Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution vested personally in him: He became commander in chief of the military; he became responsible for appointing and supervising all heads of agencies and cabinet departments—including having the power to remove them from office; he was empowered to pardon criminals and those being prosecuted, to reprieve sentences, and to remit fines; he was empowered to make treaties with foreign governments, and thus to withdraw from them; he was given the power to appoint ambassadors and judges with the Senate’s advice and consent; he was given the power to veto legislation. All these powers came to Trump personally—not to his cabinet officials, not to his staff, not to Republican congressmen, but to him.

Alexander Hamilton’s “Federalist No. 70” is the essential starting point in a discussion of the executive branch. “Energy in the Executive,” wrote Hamilton, “is a leading character in the definition of good government. It is essential to the protection of the community against foreign attacks.” The reason? “A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government.” Translation: If you want government to do things, you have to have an executive capable of it. Designing the executive branch in this fashion was controversial, with many of the opponents of the Constitution arguing that the president’s broad powers too closely resembled the monarchical power the colonies had only recently shaken off.

The modern presidency has powers Hamilton surely never imagined. In particular, the war powers have migrated—to what degree is a matter of debate, but certainly to some degree—from the legislature to the presidency, bringing unity of action and decision making to the powers of war and peace to a degree the Founders certainly did not envision. Similarly, the rise of informal international agreements that are not subject to the demands of the treaty power has concentrated a great deal of foreign-policy authority in the hands of the president. And the growth of the standing, institutional military transforms the commander in chief’s power in peacetime into something much bigger than it was in Hamilton’s time. What’s more, in many areas, Congress has delegated huge swaths of authority to the executive branch.

The basic structure, however, remains more or less as it was in Hamilton’s day, albeit much larger and with important exceptions that limit presidential control over independent agencies and lower-level officials across the government. The executive branch remains, broadly speaking, a vertically integrated organization with a single person at its apex.

The American presidency, in its unity, is profoundly dissimilar from nearly all other executives in democratic systems that have persisted over time. The founders of other democracies have, quite intentionally, decided differently from the founders of this one. For example, in Israel—another democratic country that faces ongoing security issues and fights wars semi-regularly—the power to take the country to war is generally vested not in the prime minister but in the government, a collective body. What’s more, although the government has legislative powers that in this country the president does not have, the government—and the prime minister himself, for that matter—serves at the discretion of the legislature. So not only is Israeli executive power not unified, but the executive can be dismissed for policy reasons alone. Most parliamentary democracies align far more closely with Israel on these points than with the American separation of powers.

In normal times, the American system has a lot to recommend it. It generates not just decisiveness of action but also political accountability for that action—what Hamilton called “a due dependence on the people” and “a due responsibility.” Divide up the executive authority, and nobody really knows who gets the credit for success and who gets the blame for failure.

But the American system gets sticky when you contemplate vesting the executive power in one person who cannot be easily removed when that person is as mercurial and peculiar as Trump. In such situations, the structure can start to seem downright reckless. In concentrating power so that this person directs the federal government to do things—and in making this person exceptionally difficult to depose for a protracted period of time—one has to have a certain amount of confidence in that person’s intentions and abilities.

The result has been that the executive branch’s unity has dissolved before the public’s eye. As the toddler-in-chief thread showed, in important respects the president ceased to be at the helm of the executive branch and instead became its mascot. Trump represented such a massive and radical change that the rest of the executive branch could not simply continue with business as usual; it had to adapt—and resist. Its response was in equal parts understandable and destructive of important constitutional norms.

Consider only a few of the countless examples of the breakdown in the president’s control over the executive branch. He said repeatedly that he wasn’t convinced that Russia had attempted to interfere in the U.S. election in 2016. He said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denial of any involvement, regularly calling the allegations a “hoax” and the resulting investigation a “witch hunt.” All his top intelligence officials, however, contradicted him—at a single conference, the 2017 Aspen Security Forum. Indeed, over the first two years of Trump’s presidency, not a single one of his senior national security officials publicly backed his claims on the subject.

The FBI contradicted him on electronic surveillance. Asked about Trump’s claims that President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower, then FBI Director James Comey testified, “With respect to the president’s tweets about alleged wiretapping directed at him by the prior administration, I have no information that supports those tweets and we have looked carefully inside the FBI.” The Justice Department later declared in a court filing that both its National Security Division and the FBI “have no records related to wiretaps as described by [Trump’s] tweets.”

When the White House lent its support to the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar, the State Department and the Pentagon openly contradicted it on the subject. Then Defense Secretary James Mattis quickly reassured the Qatari government that it had the United States’ backing, knowing that U.S. military aviation in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen relies on an airfield on the outskirts of Doha. Mattis signed a $12 billion arms deal with the Qataris days later.

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won a referendum granting him new powers, Trump called to congratulate him. This happened even as the State Department noted “irregularities on voting day and an uneven playing field during the difficult campaign period” and used the occasion to call on Turkey “to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all its citizens.” Trump also extended his congratulations to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on the success of his controversial anti-drug campaign. The State Department nonetheless released its human-rights report finding the campaign to be rife with human-rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and basic disregard for human rights.

When Vladimir Putin won another presidential term, the intergovernmental Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe released a report criticizing the election as irregular and unfair. Perhaps sensing a theme, White House staffers warned Trump against appearing to endorse the election, writing “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” on the notes for his call with Putin. Trump ignored them and congratulated Putin anyway. While reporters noted the discrepancy between Trump’s apparent position and the OSCE report, the State Department spokeswoman at the time, Heather Nauert, said, “We have every reason to believe that the [report’s] conclusions are correct.”

Perhaps the most dramatic example came in the wake of the white-supremacist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, that killed a peaceful protester. Trump infamously said that “both sides” were at fault for the violence and refused to treat the entire march as a white-supremacist endeavor. In a highly unusual move, the military chiefs took to Twitter to condemn the attacks and the underlying racism, though they didn’t refer to Trump directly. Meanwhile, then UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Attorney General Jeff Sessions likewise condemned the attacks without rebuking the president. But Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state at the time, was more direct on the matter. When pressed on whether Trump’s “both sides” comments about Charlottesville reflected American values, Tillerson said, “The president speaks for himself.”

Pause for a moment over those words. A subordinate officer of the U.S. government declared—in public and without consequence—that the president of the United States did not speak for the country, the government, or the officer himself. Trump later fired Tillerson, but not for this.

As the scandal over the president’s interactions with Ukraine unfolded, executive-branch officials openly defied his direction to not testify before Congress. Not only did these officials ignore their boss’s instruction by appearing in the House, they went on to contradict the White House’s account of the facts. They then returned to their posts, carrying out the regular business of the executive branch.

In the American constitutional structure, this sort of executive defiance of the president is akin to a body’s rejection of a transplanted organ. The consequences may be a presidency that will be much harder to manage in the future. Trump complains of a “deep state” that operates independently of the president. The slander has a quality of self-fulfilling prophecy. One of the consequences, after all, of Trump’s mismanagement is a presidency with less control over the government; the bureaucracy today is far from a “deep state,” but its actions are less transparent than before. None of this is good.

It might be temporary. If the presidency returns to the mean, the executive branch may snap back toward unity too. There is some reason to expect this. After all, the formal authorities of the president have not changed. A future president could restore the executive to unity by being intolerant of executive freelancing. The executive has fractured only because Trump has let it fracture, because he tolerates a chaotic disunity that other presidents have not allowed and that future presidents can choose not to allow. It’s hard to imagine, in fact, future presidents tolerating the kind of insubordination Trump experiences daily, from which he seems to benefit so little and suffer so much.

But there is an alternative possibility, which is that Trump’s highly expressive presidency, a presidency that has the president in the role of entertaining and engaging the public, may have staying power, and that lessened presidential control over the executive branch is, to one degree or another, an organic feature of the expressive presidency.

There’s a quieter side to the breakdown of the unitary executive—one that is less visible than the public defiance. That’s the daily efforts to manipulate the president and maneuver around him by staff and cabinet alike. The comic side of this is the sort of infantilization that shows up in the toddler-in-chief thread. But there’s a less comic side, too.

In the summer of 2018, The New York Times reported on the machinations of John Bolton—the president’s then national security adviser—to get NATO countries to agree on their joint communiqué before the NATO summit in Brussels, which Trump was planning to attend. The reason? “To prevent President Trump from upending a formal policy agreement” by throwing the kind of tantrum at the summit that his own staff suspected he might. The feverish diplomacy to get an agreement before the summit event began, the paper reported, was “a sign of the lengths to which the president’s top advisers will go to protect a key and longstanding international alliance from Mr. Trump’s unpredictable antipathy.” Bolton, a highly controversial figure, at the time faced little public criticism for shielding U.S. alliance policy from the personality of the president he served.

Other examples of this tendency are legion. Perhaps the most famous came in the anonymous September 2018 op-ed in The New York Times, “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.” By a writer who claimed to be “a senior official in the Trump administration,” the article asserted “that many of the senior officials in [Trump’s] own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.” The author described how “many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.” Most, he or she said, “are working to insulate their operations from his whims.” And while sometimes “cast as villains by the media … they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful.” The anonymous author went on to publish a book-length account, entitled A Warning.

The journalist Bob Woodward’s book Fear is replete with other examples. It opens with Gary Cohn, then Trump’s chief economic adviser, stealing off the Resolute desk (the main desk in the Oval Office) a one-page letter that would have terminated the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. Cohn was worried that if Trump saw the draft letter, which was dated September 1, 2017, he would sign it. So he removed it and placed it in a blue folder marked “KEEP.”

“I stole it off his desk,” Cohn later said. “I wouldn’t let him see it. He’s never going to see that document. Got to protect the country.” Trump didn’t notice. And when then Staff Secretary Rob Porter discovered that there were other copies, he and Cohn made sure all of them were removed. “Cohn and Porter worked together to derail what they believed were Trump’s most impulsive and dangerous orders,” Woodward wrote. “That document and others like it just disappeared.”

The defiance wasn’t limited to trade deals or White House staff. Early in his presidency, Trump—horrified by the gas attack by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that killed large numbers of civilians—got on the phone with then Defense Secretary Mattis and declared, “Let’s fucking kill him. Let’s go in. Let’s kill the fucking lot of them.” Mattis agreed and said he would get right on it. When he hung up, however, he said to staff, “We’re not going to do any of that.” The real policy? “We’re going to be much more measured.”

This sort of subterfuge of presidential will is perhaps inevitable when, as Tillerson put it in one argument with then National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster, “the president can’t make a decision. He doesn’t know how to make a decision. He won’t make a decision. He makes a decision and then changes his mind a couple of days later.” Such subterfuge has undoubtedly saved the country from policy disasters. But it’s also poisonous stuff. Nobody elected these men to run the government, after all. One big piece of the argument for the unitary executive is that it creates clear accountability for policy and policy outcomes. But if the president’s staff and cabinet officers openly contradict him and gleefully undermine him internally or just ignore him entirely, who is accountable for what?

The stakes in this question are high. Years ago, while speaking on a panel, Brad Berenson—who served in the White House counsel’s office under President George W. Bush—made an arresting statement about the American presidency. The presidency, Berenson argued, is an office of terrifying power. There is no question, at least as a matter of domestic constitutional law, that the president has the legal authority under some circumstances to order a preemptive nuclear strike on Tehran or Beijing—or any foreign capital of his choosing, for that matter. That decision, and the ensuing consequences for our planet, rests with a single individual.

Berenson observed that there is only one thing more frightening than an American president who has such power in his sole command. And that is an American president who does not have that power. Imagine trying to reach a decision on a nuclear launch by committee in the moment of gravest emergency, the theory goes. The possibilities range from a reduction in flexibility and agility to outright paralysis.

The nuclear-launch power is the ultimate expression of the personal presidency that lies beneath the modern layers of process that have built up around the presidency. By virtue of sheer destructive force, nuclear weapons have a clarifying effect on conversations related to presidential power, unitary command, process, and the conduct of military and foreign affairs.

At noon on January 20, 2017, Trump very personally came into control of the nuclear arsenal. And suddenly a system designed to combine operational effectiveness with accountability—and designed to maximize security benefits—started to seem like not such a great idea after all. The former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper put it succinctly in a television interview: “In a fit of pique, [if] he decides to do something about Kim Jong Un, there’s actually very little to stop him. The whole system is built to ensure rapid response if necessary. So there’s very little in the way of controls over exercising a nuclear option, which is pretty damn scary.”

Reasonable minds will differ on whether Berenson’s argument is generally correct and personal presidential launch authority is the worst idea in the world except for all of the others. But Clapper’s suggestion raises the question of which is scarier: the personal presidency with launch authority in the wrong hands or a non-Hamiltonian executive with its hands tied in a crisis. Clapper’s sentiment was echoed by the commentators and members of Congress who, within weeks of Trump’s taking office, began discussing curtailing the president’s unilateral powers. Some commentators tried to mute the reality that Trump had personal launch authority, speculating that military officers would refuse an illegal or deeply imprudent order to launch a nuclear weapon. Hope springs eternal that process—any process—will save us, after all. But the reality is that the more fateful the decision, the more personal and less process driven the presidency is, or can be.

At least it’s not how the traditional presidency is supposed to work.

But Trump is proposing something new here, even if it’s wholly un-theorized and not thought through. He’s proposing a presidency that does not enforce unity, in which the president imposes no discipline on agencies, staff, or cabinet secretaries—even while demanding unswerving personal loyalty. The executive is characterized less by energy than by mania; meanwhile, the president tolerates the propagation of multiple policies and the undermining of his own authority, thus eroding the core value of accountability that executive control is supposed to bring.

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This article was adapted from Hennessey and Wittes’s upcoming book, Unmaking the Presidency: Donald Trump’s War on the World’s Most Powerful Office.

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