#zero-based budgeting

[personalone1]

How to Track Every Dollar You Spend (Without a Spreadsheet)

Basics of budgeting: US Financial Literacy & Education Commission Why zero‑based budgeting matters: New York Times article App comparisons: Business Insider review of Monarch Internal: FinTech Budgeting Apps Gen Z Swears By: Must-Have Tools for Financial Success on PersonalOne.org How to Use Emergency Loans When You Need Them? on PersonalOne.org 🧾 Closing Summary To track every dollar you…

[kc22invesmentsblog]

Budgeting 101: The Simple Steps to Take Control of Your Finances

Written by D. Marshall Jr Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck, feeling stressed about money, or wondering where all your hard-earned cash goes each month? If so, you’re not alone. I’ve learned that many people struggle with managing their finances, but the good news is that budgeting can empower you to take control of your financial future. In this guide, we’ll explore the essentials of…

[trexalicious]

An excellent explanation of what President Trump and his cabinet are doing. ZBB is a method that helps businesses ensure that their spending is aligned with their goals and that they're using resources efficiently...It's basically an audit

[djsangos]

//begging literally anyone on the planet to please fucking play splatoon 2 salmon run i am dying

[l8in]

Cyngor Gwynedd held a Governance and Audit Committee on Thursday, 6th February, 2025. Dafydd Meurig was in attendance after concerns were raised to his absences at the last meeting.

The January meeting heard mention that a balanced budget need not be set by councils and a 'zero based budget' could be used instead. This may work better for many councils and would give more insight in to how public money is used by departments within local government. 

No minutes were presented of the previous meeting on January 16th...

Reports presented to the meeting can be found in the agenda pack here -  https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5293/Public%20reports%20pack%2006th-Feb-2025%2010.00%20Governance%20and%20Audit%20Committee.pdf?T=10

Dewi Morgan, head of finance reported that £1,868k of underspend on corporate budgets was transferred to the council's financial strategy reserves. Nearly two million pounds not spent on services now in the bank. 

Savings and cuts were discussed... Gwynedd council report the increase in employer's National Insurance contributions will add £4.5 million to staff costs. The government aims to provide funding to cover the increased NI costs for council employees. 

There will also be a further increase in fees to the public for services provided as well as the increase in council tax.

An Internal Audit Plan by the Audit manager, Luned Fon Jones, was presented. She gives limited assurance in respect of schools transport, whistleblowing, homeless prevention grant and the housing support grant. 

The 'Out of County' placements are of particular concern in light of the comments made by the director of SS at the January meeting as to costs. 

A work improvement group (task and finish) was set up to look at the council owned smallholdings in 2023. Why this has not yet been completed is not known. Mention has been made, in a different council meeting, that costs of repairs to the smallholdings are to be paid for out of the council tax premium. Exit interviews do not appear on the list. Are staff now being asked their reasons when leaving the council's employment?

On page 138, Jones presents her audit on cyngor Gwynedd's Whistleblowing policy. She gives 'limited assurance' on the policy but on reading perhaps 'no assurance' would be more accurate...

Instead of an anonymous form, the council emailed just over 2,000 of its 6,000 employees.That only 817 responded is concerning but not a surprise. Jones gives no information to which departments these people work in...

More concerning is that 81 staff (who responded) would NOT blow the whistle on something that is - 'unlawful, fraudulent or corrupt' nor the - 'sexual, physical or emotional abuse of clients' 

Some staff gave their reasons for not whistleblowing - 

Their fears may well be justified...

Garem Jackson, the former head of education, 'outed' the teacher who whistleblew on Neil Foden in 2019. The council's safeguarding officer who advised Jackson to simply have a word with Foden about his behaviour has still not been named by the council and is presumably still in post. The staff responses show a toxic culture of fear and mistrust of senior managers.

Dafydd Gibbard, Geraint Owen and the former leader of the council, have all raised concerns with the culture that exists and the need for change... From March, 2023 - ...This is all rooted in a change of culture, behaviours and mind-set and its aim of realising the ambition across all parts of the Council's activities is acknowledged as a substantial challenge and one which requires a comprehensive programme of support... https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/g4839/Public%20reports%20pack%2007th-Mar-2023%2013.00%20The%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10

Yet it is executive officers that are responsible for a council's culture and behaviours. Cabinet members and councillors of scrutiny committees turning a blind eye has only embedded the culture. Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council...

[neona]

game prices increasing is such a weird topic since like.. obviously I get why people are mad, prices increasing sucks and wage stagnation is real

but also it's extremely unusual for the price of something to stay the same for 20 years?

doubly strange given how game budgets have increased over the years, meaning the need to sell progressively more and more copies... the fact that that math mostly worked out for so long is kinda crazy tbh!

[financialinsights-in]

Unlock the power of Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) to revolutionize your organization's financial management. This comprehensive guide explores ZBB's principles, benefits, and step-by-step implementation strategies for Indian businesses and individuals. Discover real-world case studies, expert insights, and practical tips to optimize resource allocation, control costs, and achieve your financial goals.

[cost-masters]

Everything about Should Cost Analysis Software

Bid farewell to uncertain costs! Learn how Should Cost Analysis software helps you make smart decisions, lowers risks, and finds hidden savings.

[themoneysavvyblog]

Planning Your Personal Finances (part 2)

In part 1, we talked about setting goals and objectives, as well as determining your current situation. Let’s continue on the next steps to planning your personal finances. Figuring Out Your Net Worth As you work on your financial plans for today and the future, you’ll want to know where you stand on the basics too. Knowing the true situation with your assets and liabilities is the first step…

[lackadaisycats]

I hope you know that literally nobody is going to be able to live up to the standard you, V*v, and Glitch have set and your arrogance and exploitation of your fanbase and connections has screwed millions of creatives out of their dreams because Hollywood is a joke that isn't worth telling and wealthy e-celebs like yourself have claimed the indie scene all to yourselves and moved the goalposts into the stratosphere.

Nope. This isn't a zero sum game. There is not some limited, prescribed number of indie trophy slots that a few studios greedily filled up, blocking everyone else out. That is not how it works. Nothing any other creator is doing - short of personally sending hired goons to your doorstep or stealing your credit cards - is taking anything away from you or preventing your success. In fact if an indie creator can manage to demonstrate that they've got something viable going, it may help to map out a pathway for others.

I think I'm not going to bother trying to address whether or not cartoons in return for support from fans - an entirely voluntary exchange - constitutes exploitation. And I'm living in the Midwest driving a 2007 economy car with 200k+ miles on it, but let's just skip past the assumptions that I'm wealthy and connected too.

Instead, let's get to the weirdly myopic notion that the indie scene is held captive by three studios. Maybe YouTube algorithms or Twitter bubbles are somewhat to blame, but in actuality there are so, so many individual people, friend groups, and small production houses out there making independent animation, I cannot possibly name them all.

Here are some anyway:

Far-Fetched Worthikids Satina | Scumhouse Noodle and Bun Punch Punch Forever Ramshackle Noodle Papajoolia | Pipi Angel Hare | The East Patch Jonni Peppers Salad Fingers Monkey Wrench Studio Heartbreak Felix Colgrave JelloApocalypse Odd1sout (started indie, got picked up by Netflix) Allie Mehner JaidenAnimations Lumi and the Great Big Galaxy Cloudrise | The Worlds Divide Telepurte RubberRoss James Lee ENA Godspeed | Olan Rogers Ollie and Scoops Meat Canyon Port by the Sea Kekeflipnote Boxtown Kevin Temmer Weebl Joel Haver CircleToons Long Gone Gulch Atlas and the Stars Animist Skibidi Toilet A Fox in Space Alex Henderson Talon Toniko Pantoja Sr. Pelo Hullabaloo Kane Pixels (started indie, picked up by A24) Homestar Runner Fennah Gods' School Alan Becker Dungeon Flippers JazLyte Psychicpebbles (started indie, Smiling Friends picked up by AS) Piemations vewn Metal Family Dead Sound chluaid Jacknjellify Betsy Lee | No Evil My Pride Cranbersher GeoExe | Gwain Saga Horatio the Vampire Mech West Playground | Rodrigo Sousa The Brave Locomotive Finchwing (+ many other Warrior Cats animators) Quazies SamBakZa Kamikaze: Trial by Fire

By no means a full list. That's just YouTube, and mostly just English language stuff, and I didn't even get to the multitudes of Warrior Cats animation collabs.

The point is, the indie landscape is vast and populated by creators new and old, making all kinds of animated media from skits, to shows, to ARGs, to films. Audience sizes vary as much as the content, stylistic approaches, subject matter, and budgets do. There are no compliance standards, no gateways to entry, no goalposts. There's not even any preset definition of success except what you decide for yourself.

Anyway, instead of nurturing your resentments, consider making something. I assure you, it's a far more rewarding use of your time and energy, and pretty much no one can stop you. ------------- EDIT- Made some additions to the list based on comments. Thanks!

[pandemic-info]

UPDATE: a judge blocked this for now: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-pause-federal-grants-aid-f9948b9996c0ca971f0065fac85737ce

—

This is a huge fucking problem.

These grants account for more than 10% of the GDP. 3 trillion – wiped out.

From the article:

The funding freeze by the Republican administration could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

(Use of that language, that entire segment, "Marxist equity ... policies" is disgusting. If you think you're wary of propaganda and you do not see the enormous red flags in that statement, I do not know how to help you. If you're not beyond it, maybe pick up a history book — the 1930s are particularly pertinent.)

The average person may not understand just how far-reaching this is, how many programs and services are covered by grants, that regular people rely on all across the US and globally.

Not to mention how many people just had their livelihood demolished.

Researchers, for example, spend months and years writing grant proposals, their work and income relies on these cycles. So even if this is "temporary", a lot of people are going to struggle.

This is not just a few people in lab coats somewhere, working on something you don't care about. Government-funded research is released to the public, since we paid for it, and is very typically about things the public will want to know:

Is this product safe or deadly?

Is this medication actually a "wonder drug" or does it harm you in the long term?

Is this pollution going to affect us long-term?

Etc.

Seriously, if you wanted any of those things to get better — you wanted lower rates of cancer and other deadly and disabling disease? You worry about trusting public health guidelines because you're concerned about bias and vested interests in research? You want "small government" that doesn't interfere with people's bodies based on a small group's religious dogma, with zero basis in factual, verifiable reality?

Then you should have voted to keep this administration out of government.

Because their idea — which is outlined in Project 2025, and they are following it closely — is that research will be required to rely 50% on private funding.

Guess what private funding introduces a ton more of: private interests, private bias. The interests of stakeholders who do not give a shit if you are being killed by their product, as long as line goes up in the short run.

But even beyond scientific researchers — and those who rely on that work, e.g. journalists, science communicators, public health advocates, scientific artists —

grants fund others like: teachers, police, farmers, women's and homeless shelters, native orgs, medical workers, and on the list goes.

All pending "review" by a thoroughly unqualified gang of convicted criminals and cronies.

[inthefallofasparrow]

People are up in arms about 'The Acolyte' season 2 being cancelled and I can't help but feel that, with this current trend of the TV industry immediately cutting their perceived losses and deleting every show that doesn't become top viewing within its first season, the only positive step forward that writers and showrunners can take is to kill the franchise mindset in its sleep. No more end-of-season cliffhangers, no more loose threads to be tied up, no more slow burn multi-season planned setups for the narrative. We tell enclosed self-contained one-season stories now. Beginning, middle and end with a satisfying conclusion for all the characters within one season. There's no confidence that you'll ever get a chance to tell any more. So, find a way to tell it all now. Similar story with 'Andor' being originally supposed to go for five seasons, but when the writers realised that wasn't going to work, rather than blowing up the budget and pushing forward until it fell apart, they actively decided to just tell the story in two seasons and then end it on their own terms.

When a show is based on a book series, you'll sometimes see these benefits too, if 'one book' equals 'one season', given those individual books have there own self-contained conclusion that carries over. This is also why anthology shows have been so effective. You get the nostalgia of coming back to an old show, alongside the intrigue and excitement of starting a new story. The best of both worlds. And if an individual season is more poorly received than others, it doesn't matter as much when you start again from zero next season.

One season stories. That's the only answer. Then, if a show does well and gets green-lit for a second season, you get to tell a whole new story that follows on the natural progression of the same characters, but again, it ends with all the new questions answered and everything wrapped up at the end of the season. That's how you make this blunt corporate oversight, at least function in a somewhat fulfilling way for the audiences and fandoms.

[witch-of-snow-and-stars]

Some Advice for Beginner Witches/Advice I Wish I Got

I'm by no means an expert in anything magical or an expert witch, this is mostly just advice/tips that I wish I had had when I was first starting my practice OR advice that I think a lot of beginners could benefit from. Resources will also be linked at the end.

This is a rather long post so everything else is under the cut, but I've divided everything into general advice, spiritual practice advice, and community-oriented advice. Links to applicable sources are under Miscellanea.

General Advice/Things to Keep in Mind

Consider the mundane stuff first! Use naturally-sourced/biodegradable and ecologically safe offerings/magic components when working outside or if you're going to return something to the earth (ex. salt will kill plants/damage soil so don't do a salt circle- use crushed eggshells instead and don't bury anything non-biodegradable/naturally sourced), practice good fire safety (ffs every witchy person I've run across has at least 1 'fire incident'), make sure not to expose crystals to things they'll react negatively to (ex. pyrite in water will form sulfuric acid), etcetera etcetera.

You don't need to get all new specialty equipment or a ton of things to start your spiritual practice. You may want to but you by no means do you have to. A lot of everyday items that you may already have can perform magical uses, so just use the things you have until you run into specific items you may want to add to your practice (ie you might make an alter out of things you already have and then switch out elements with new preferred items as you get them). Honestly things might work better if you use older/mundane items you have a close connection to.

Similarly, you don't need to go and get the most expensive things for your craft either. If you're wanting to splurge on anything, splurge on safety supplies (fire safety supplies or anything that will make your practice more safe practically are good places to start) and workhorse items that you will be able to use frequently long-term. This doesn't have to be a major strain on your budget and shouldn't be a financial burden to you.

Magical/Spiritual practitioners DO NOT all believe the same things. Spiritual practices/Spirituality is more of an umbrella category that encompasses many different practices (or practitioner communities) rather than a specific belief system/community and most practitioners ascribe to schools of practice or systems of belief and combine those systems with their own unverified personal gnosis (typically called UPG). Overlaps in beliefs or practices happen fairly regularly, but will be different for different practices.

You can learn something from most practitioners, even if they come from a different belief system or practice (disclaimer: do not take from/try to practice closed practices/religions, I am not telling you to do that). By this I mean that other practitioners will probably have different bases of knowledge and perspectives that may be of help to you even if they come from a different type of practice. Personally, if I'm struggling with understanding a specific concept or I'm having issues linking something up within the rest of my practice, hearing someone else's viewpoint or seeing how they link/incorporate different aspects of their practice can be a catalyst for working through those issues

Take care of yourself. Look into spiritual psychosis and what to look out for, and and try to not fall down the rabbit hole of convert fervor. Most people are not expecting you to have your entire practice nailed down within the first week (tbh your practice will probably change and evolve throughout your life), so take your time and go at a pace that's sustainable for you. You'll probably even have rest/break periods of low/zero engagement in your practice, and if that happens that's fine too!

Magic Advice & Spiritual Practice Tips

I would recommend starting where you are most interested or start working with what you're most inclined towards. For example, don't start with candle magic if you're more interested in plant magic just because it's more recommended for beginners. You're more likely to be able to genuinely engage with and enjoy your practice if you have a connection with what you're doing. Personally I started with astrology and crystals, and then got into divination work with pendulums and tarot before expanding into everything else I do because that was the path my interests aligned with. Your path is probably going to be different, and that's great!

However, if you're looking for easy places to start, I do have recommendations based on how easy they are to access and incorporate into your everyday life. Kitchen witchcraft is pretty easy to start with assuming you already cook (or would like to learn how) and can become very intuitive once you have a good grasp on cooking and magic. Small bits of glamour magic or sigil work can also be easy to do since you're already bathing/clothing yourself (charming clothing and toiletries is fairly easy and beginner friendly). Cartomancy can also be a solid way to go, since a cheap or DIY'd tarot deck or a playing card deck can be fairly accessible for most people. Pendulums, runes, and bone throwing kits/magpie oracles can also be DIY'd easily or bought depending on your preferences.

Incorporate the knowledge and skills you already have! A lot of practical skills you may already have can be of practical application to your practice. I've also found that my magical understanding of concepts is deepened when I understand how things work on a mundane level.

Going along with that last point, I think skill building/skill use can have devotional applications (if devotional actions are part of your practice). Ex. if you worship a deity that is associated with craft or a particular skill, you can absolutely dedicate your pursuit of knowledge in that skill or dedicate a project to a deity/spirit of your choice. Alternatively, dedicate that skill building to yourself or your practice (for example, dedicate the creation of a homemade alter cloth to an alter or towards the growth of your craft/practice)

I have found that there's a lot of advice regarding cursing and doing magic when your experiencing heightened emotions. Personally, I'm curse neutral I don't really do them (I've just never felt the drive to) but I have no issue with them. Do as you will, but be prepared to deal with whatever consequences may arise (tbh this is good general advice for your practice). Regarding doing a working when you're in a heightened emotional state, I would just say in my experience that doing magic in that state can lead to impulsive actions or not thinking something through. Do whatever you're going to do, but maybe calm down or proceed with caution for best results is all I'm saying.

Sometimes the best thing to happen with a working is for it to fail. Maybe you were working with something you shouldn't (like a closed practice that wouldn't pertain to you), or it's something you wouldn't be able to handle, or maybe it's something that would end up being regrettable if it actually worked. There are a lot of reasons why something not working can be for the best, but that is sometimes the best outcome for a working (even if you don't realize it in the moment).

Look for ways to evolve your practice and think outside of the box! Experiment with new applications of different working (like glamour magic to be forgettable/unnoticeable instead of noteworthy), involve new components if they make sense (ex: enchant some ink if the working has a written component), or make your own correspondences based on how things work for you

I have found that location can effect a working quite a bit (and effect you if it backfires). One of the more helpful pieces of advice I've gotten is if you're planning on doing a bainful working/cursework/negative working, don't do that where you live/exist regularly (like your job). Like, if you're wishing bad luck towards someone you don't want to have it backside on you where you sleep and live (working off property at least or at a crossroads world be ideal in this case). Similarly if one was to do a beneficial spell regarding sleep, do that at your home in your bedroom.

This also applies to community advice but: if you come across someone else's working, I would advise that you not tamper with it unless you have to. Beyond not knowing what it's for/affecting, the working may have hazardous components you aren't aware of (sharp bits, mold, toxic/allergic reaction causing substances, etc)

Community Advice & Relationship Building

Like any group of people, magic/spiritual communities can have bad/malicious actors within them, typically in the form of grifters, different types of alt-righters, and cults. I would recommend learning to spot and avoid alt-righters and nazis quickly as the alt-right loves magic & occult spaces and they will try to recruit or radicalize you if they get the opportunity. Familiarizing yourself with ways to spot grifters, red flags for cults, and common symbols/red flags of by the alt-right in magic/ occult spaces is important (learn quick and early and then stay up-to-date on that information for the safety of yourself/others).

You can make your practice as private or collaborative as you'd like, but having friends or community connections is nice! Being friendly and polite will generally go a long way to meet people and see if you would want to try to form connections within different practitioner communities online and offline.

In person locations/events might be a good but unreliable venues for meeting local practitioners, getting supplies, and learning new skills for your practice. Your local shops (depending on availability in your area) will probably have a mix of customers, but there's a decent chance there are regulars that you can meet and maybe form relationships with as well. Metaphysical shops, independent groups, and even areas/towns will also sometimes put on events/meet-and-greets/workshops that can be a fun way to connect with practitioners in your area.

Being friendly and respectful will get you pretty far with creating relationships in different magical spaces/communities. Reaching out to other people (online or irl) can be a good way to network and learn new things

Miscellanea

The Witch of Wonderlust's offering cardigan video here. She also has a plethora of educational videos on her youtube channel

Frankie/ChaoticWitchAunt on youtube also has done good educational content. They primarily do Italian-American folk magic and tarot and I've learned quite a bit from them

@breelandwalker and her show Hex Positive are also wonderful resources.

@friend-crow and @windvexer are also two great witchcraft bloggers

thetarotguide.com has some great guides for the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot cards, the card guides are quite detailed and well written. There is also a small but not insubstantial community of tarot/oracle reviewers on YT that is a nice resource if you are wanting to get a new deck

I've also found the work of Jason Miller to be quite informative. Miller had published multiple books and what I've read of his work had been quite enlightening.

Not to plug my own stuff, but my #tarot musings tag, my witchy recipes, a workshopping correspondences post, charm necklace post, and star jar workings might be some fun and easy places to experiment. I also quite liked my

For more experienced people, please add any advice you'd want beginners to know! For beginners, I hope this helps a bit! Thanks for reading💜

[mtnman451]

Musing for The Day:

Ever since Trump threw his hat in the ring and decided to run for the office of President back in 2016 those of us who have supported and voted for him have been accused of being in a Cult or being Cult Members. Now there are several ways to recognize a Cult. Here are a few.

Cults display an absolute authoritarianism without accountability. Zero tolerance for criticism or questions. Lack of meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget. Unreasonable fears about the outside world that often involve evil conspiracies and persecutions. A belief that former followers are always wrong for leaving and there is never a legitimate reason for anyone else to leave. Abuse of members Records, books, articles, or programs documenting the abuses of the leader or group. A belief that the leader is right at all times A belief that the leader is the exclusive means of knowing “truth.”

Now, if y'all don't mind and have a moment, I'd like y'all to take a look at the video in the link I provided below. Now, I'm not correct on everything nor do I agree with President Trump and The Republicans on everything. That being said, I don't know about y'all but I'm pretty sure based on the criteria I just listed above and this clearly disturbing video, The Democratic Party of The United States IS a Cult.

https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/united-states/puppets-democrats-roasted-for-posting-nearly-identical-antitrump-videos/video/f63803141ce03572362e48744d9a6f93

[emakataken]

Controlled Burn

Idea: Buck tries to keep his fellow academy recruits from disrespecting a sacred firefighter bar and catches the attention of Tommy Kinard, an off-duty Air Ops pilot... I also can't get Navy Seal Evan Buckley out of my head. So.. yeah.

…

The bar’s quiet, just past the dinner rush. Warm light spills over old brick and burnished wood. Firehouse patches cover nearly every inch of wall space, layered like battle scars some faded, others framed in reverence. The air smells like beer, sweat, and stories too heavy to tell sober.

Tommy’s nursing the second half of his pint near the end of the bar, half-listening to some guy from Station 42 complain about budget cuts.

When the door swings open loud, careless and his head lifts automatically.

A group of recruits spills in. Too clean, too loud, all baby faces and swagger. Academy shirts still creased down the middle, like they haven’t been broken in yet. Tommy exhales through his nose.

“Jesus Christ,” he mutters, more to his glass than anyone else. “Again?”

But something’s off.

One of them the youngest-looking, sharp-jawed, sun-bleached hair isn’t strutting. He’s trailing after the group, clearly mid-argument.

“Guys, come on,” he says. “This isn’t some college bar crawl. You can’t just walk in here like you belong.” His tone isn’t loud, but it’s tight. Controlled. Like he’s used to being listened to, even when he’s not in charge.

The others ignore him. One’s already circling the pool table like a shark. Another punches buttons on the jukebox with the kind of intensity usually reserved for defusing bombs.

Tommy watches the kid, Buck, based on the half-yelled name someone throws over their shoulder follow reluctantly, jaw tight. He’s not scared, Tommy realizes. He’s watching. Clocking exits. Reading the room like someone expecting this to end badly.

There’s a tension in the way he moves. Coiled, but quiet. Like he’s halfway between fight and freeze and doesn’t trust either.

He’s younger than the rest. Brown hair lighted by the sun, skin still raw with that too-clean edge of someone trying too hard to look like they don’t care. But his blue eyes, they’re older. Watchful.

Tommy doesn’t peg him as a follower. Not with that jaw. Not with the way he keeps scanning the room, subtly placing himself between his group and the memorial wall like he’s already accepted what he’ll need to do if someone crosses a line.

And then someone does.

The tallest of them, all broad shoulders and zero sense reaches toward a framed patch in the center of the memorial. Fingers lifted, joking with the guy beside him, clearly not reading the tone of the place.

Tommy’s breath catches. He’s already pushing his glass away when it happens.

Tommy's moving to stand when Buck’s voice cuts through the bar. “Don’t touch the memorial wall,” he snaps. Sharp. Clear. “McDaniel,” Buck adds, lower now, voice a warning. “Don’t even breathe near it.”

His buddy pauses mid-reach, startled. Looks at him like he just got scolded by an instructor. “Dude, chill,” he mutters, hand dropping immediately.

Tommy watches as Buck’s shoulders stay tense, eyes still fixed on the wall. Not the guy. Not the group. Just the wall, the names and patches and stories nailed into it like bones. His hands are clenched into loose fists at his sides, and there’s something in his gaze, reverent, maybe protective.

Like he’s stood guard before.

Like he’s already lost people.

Tommy leans back in his stool. Something cold prickles down his arms, chased by the burn of curiosity curling in his gut. “You always the designated conscience?” Tommy asks, voice low, amused.

Buck blinks, startled. “What?”

“You’re not drinking. You’re not letting your guys be idiots. You’re either the best friend ever… or the guy who’s gonna get blamed when they get tossed out on their asses.”

Buck shifts, straightening a little. “I’m just trying to make sure nobody gets kicked out of the academy for acting like a dumbass their first weekend off.”

“That’s noble.” Tommy tilts his head. “Also, pointless."

“I know,” Buck mutters, glancing over his shoulder at the others. “But I figured someone should at least try.”

There’s a beat. The jukebox blares something too loud for the room, too fast for the mood. Buck winces.

Tommy offers a hand. “Kinard. Air Ops.”

Buck takes it, his grip firm. “Buckley. Academy Class 312.”

Tommy nods toward the door. “You wanna keep them out of trouble?”

“I’m trying.”

“Then buy them one round and get them out of here in thirty. That way they feel like they won, and the regulars don’t feel disrespected.”

Buck studies him, eyes narrowing just slightly. “You come up with that yourself?”

Tommy grins. “Nah. I was your idiot once.”

Buck huffs a quiet laugh, low and unguarded. Tommy feels it hit somewhere low in his gut. He hadn’t expected that sound to mean anything but there it is. And now he wants to hear it again.

Tommy watches him herd them. Buck was the kind of man you don’t want to underestimate. The kind that lingers in your head long after the conversation ends.

Buck disappears down the hallway toward the bathrooms, and Tommy’s on his feet before he makes the conscious choice to follow. His boots move before his brain does. Something under his ribs says go. He slips down the hall, casual, unhurried, until the bathroom door swings open under his hand.

Buck’s at the sink, hands braced on the edge, head bowed like he’s catching his breath. He sees Tommy’s reflection in the mirror and freezes.

Neither of them speaks.

Tommy steps forward slowly.

Buck turns to face him.

And then they crash

Mouths collide, no soft lead-up, no hesitation, just heat and need and the sudden crack of control breaking. Tommy pushes him back into the stall, the metal door banging behind them, and Buck’s hands are already at his collar, dragging him down like this is the first inhale after surfacing from too long underwater.

Tommy grunts, low in his chest, as Buck kisses like he’s desperate not to feel alone. It’s all teeth and breath, mouths opening against each other, hungry, almost reckless.

They don’t say anything. They don’t have to.

Tommy presses Buck against the wall, hands sliding up under the edge of his academy-issued t-shirt, dragging fingers over warm skin. Buck gasps into his mouth, fingers curling in the collar of Tommy’s jacket like he needs something solid to hold onto.

And Tommy is solid, all heat and weight and intent, pressing in like he can read the fault lines in Buck’s bones and wants to learn them by feel.

Their hips grind together, and they break apart just enough to breathe.

Buck’s panting, pupils blown wide, jaw tight.

Tommy leans his forehead against Buck’s. “You okay?” he asks, voice rough but steady.

Buck nods and swallows as Tommy undoes his pants. “Yeah. Just don’t stop.”

Tommy doesn’t.

Later, when their hands finally slow and Buck’s shirt is mostly back in place, he exhales hard and slumps against the wall like it’s holding him up.

Tommy lingers in the quiet, watching the way Buck doesn’t move to leave. Doesn’t laugh it off. Doesn’t bolt. He pulls out his phone, taps the screen, and holds it out.

“Your number.”

Buck hesitates for a half-second, then takes it. His fingers fly over the screen, entering digits, then pause just long enough to type: Evan.

No last name. Just Evan.

He hands the phone back.

Tommy taps out a single word: Hey.

Buck’s phone vibrates in his pocket a moment later. He doesn’t look at it.

But he knows what it means.

He meets Tommy’s gaze, and for a second, neither of them smiles. They pause in the hallway.

Tommy jerks his chin toward the door. “There’s a place two blocks down. Daley’s. Still lets recruits feel cool, but it doesn’t have a wall honoring fallen firefighters, so it’s a little harder to piss people off.”

Buck shifts, glancing toward the main room where one of the guys is now doing an exaggerated dance to the beat of some early 2000s throwback.

“Go,” Tommy adds, brushing his fingers lightly against Buck’s wrist before stepping back. “Get them out before the bartender call and you’re all scrubbing engines for the next three weeks.”

Buck turns back to him, eyes a little softer now. “You always this helpful?”

Tommy lifts an eyebrow. “Only when someone’s trying hard not to be an asshole.”

Buck considers that, then gives a small, sharp nod, like he’s tucking Tommy away in the same place Tommy’s already filed him. “Thanks,” he says.

Buck steps back into the main room, jaw set, spine straight. His crew is halfway through another round of terrible decisions when he puts himself in their orbit.

“I swear to fuck, none of you have any goddamn life experience whatsoever,” he mutters, more to himself than anyone but loud enough for the older firefighter sitting at a booth next to them to look up.

Buck catches his eye. “My apologies.”

The man just grunts, “You’re a goddamn infant.”

Buck laughs surprised by it, a little breathless from everything and that earns him a second glance. A slower one. Assessing.

“But you’ll make the cut,” the man says finally, like a verdict. “Now get outta here, kid.”

Buck nods, still smiling, then turns to his crew and claps his hands once. Loud. Sharp. “Alright, dumbasses. That round was it. There’s another place two blocks down that doesn’t require me to beg forgiveness from half the LAFD.”

Groans follow by they all head on out.

Tommy watches from the hall, just out of sight. Buck lead his classmates out the door. The way he pauses on the threshold, looks back just once, gaze flicking toward the hallway.

Just for a second.

Then he’s gone.

Part 2

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Reality-Based Communities

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in CHICAGO with PETER SAGAL next WEDNESDAY (Apr 2), and in BLOOMINGTON next FRIDAY (Apr 4). More tour dates here.

Remember the Global War on Terror? I know, it's been a minute. But there was a time when we were all meant to take terrorism – real terrorism, the knocking-down-buildings kind, not the being-mean-to-Teslas kind – seriously.

Back in the early oughts, I remember picking up a copy of the Financial Times in an airport lounge and flipping through it, and coming across an "advice to corporate management" column in which the question was, "Should I take out terrorism insurance for my business?" The columnist's answer: "The actual risk to your business of a terrorism-related disruption rounds to zero. However: a) your shareholders don't understand this, an b) your insurance company does. That means that you can buy a very large amount of terrorism insurance for a very small amount of money, making this a cheap price to pay to mollify your easily frightened investors."

I never forgot that little piece of writing. It was a powerful reminder that successful large-scale enterprises must attend to the world as it is, not as ideology dictates that it should be. This was – and is – a deeply heterodox position among the ideological defenders of capitalism, who continue to uphold Milton Friedman's maxim that:

Truly important and significant hypotheses will be found to have "assumptions" that are wildly inaccurate descriptive representations of reality, and, in general, the more significant the theory, the more unrealistic the assumptions (in this sense)

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/17/caliper-ai/#racism-machine

These ideologues – who often cross over from boardrooms into governments – are with the GW Bush official who dismissed a journalist as a member of the "reality-based community":

When we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community

But ultimately, someone has to make investments and plans that take accord of the world as it is, the adversaries they face, the real and material emergencies unfolding around them. When the Pentagon announces that henceforth the climate emergency will take a prime place in its threat assessments and budgets, that's not "the military going woke" – it's the military joining the reality-based community:

https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2021/10/26/the-pentagon-has-to-include-climate-risk-in-all-of-its-plans-and-budgets/

This explains the radical shear between the Wall Street Journal's editorial page – in which you'll learn that governments can't solve any problems and markets solve all problems (including the problem of governments) – and the news reporting within, in which the critical role of the state in regulating and fueling markets is acknowledged.

The tension between the right's ideologues in boardrooms and governments and the operational people in charge of keeping the machines running has only escalated since the War on Terror days. There's an important sense in which leftists – as materialists – are playing the same game as these operational managers of capitalism. Take Thomas Piketty, the socialist economist whose blockbuster 2013 book Capital in the 21st Century argued that rising inequality threatened capitalism itself:

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/06/24/thomas-pikettys-capital-in-the-21st-century/

By analyzing three centuries' worth of capital flows, Piketty showed that when inequality reached a certain tipping point, the result was societal upheaval that continued until so much capital had been destroyed that inequality was reduced (because everyone had been pauperized). Piketty appealed to capitalism's technocrats to institute redistributive programs. His point was that building hospitals and schools was ultimately cheaper than paying for the guard-labor you'd need to keep people from building guillotines outside the gates of your walled estate.

The rise and rise of surveillance tech, and its successors, such as lethal drones and offshore gulags, can be seen as a tacit acknowledgment of Piketty's thesis. By lowering the cost of guard labor, it might possible to stabilize a society with higher levels of inequality, by identifying and neutralizing the people who are radicalized by the system's unfairness before you get an outbreak of guillotines:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/13/better-to-have-loved/#less-lethals

But reality is stubborn. Capitalism's defenders can insist that society will continue to function while wages stagnate and greedflation stokes the cost of living crisis, but ultimately, the military can't afford to have a fighting force that's in hock to payday lender usurers who are tormenting their families with arm-breaker collection calls:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/03/payday-loan-apps-cost-new-yorkers-500-million-plus-new-study-estimates.html

As Stein's Law – a bedrock of finance – has it, "anything that can't go on forever eventually stops." The ideologues of capitalism can insist that Luigi Mangione is a monster and an aberration, an armed freeloader who wants something for nothing. But privately, their own security forces are telling them otherwise.

Writing for The American Prospect, Daniel Boguslaw reports on a leaked intelligence dossier from the Connecticut regional intelligence center – a "fusion center" created as part of the War on Terror – wherein we learn that the American people sees Mangione as a modern Robin Hood:

https://prospect.org/justice/2025-03-27-intelligence-dossier-compares-luigi-mangione-robin-hood/

Many view Thompson as a symbolic representation of both as reports of insurance companies denying life sustaining medication coverage circulate online. It is not an unfair comparison to equate the current reaction toward Mangione to the reactions to Robin Hood, citizens may see Mangione’s alleged actions as an attack against a system designed to work against them.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hM3IZbnzk_cMk7evX2Urnwh5zxhRHpD5/view

The Connecticut fusion center isn't the only part of capitalism's operational wing that's taking notice of this. Today, Ken Klippenstein reports on an FBI threat assessment about the "heightened threat to CEOs":

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/fbi-becomes-rent-a-cops-for-ceos

The report comes from the FBI's counter-terrorism wing, which (Klippenstein notes) is in the business of rooting out "pre-crime" – identifying people who haven't committed a crime and neutralizing them. As Klippenstein writes, Trump AG Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have both vowed to treat anti-Tesla protests as acts of terror. That's the view from the top, but back on the front lines of the Connecticut fusion center, things are more reality-based:

[The public] may view the ensuing manhunt and subsequent arrest of Mangione as NYPD, and largely policing as a whole, as a tool that is willing to expend massive resources to protect the wealthy, while the average citizen is left to their own means for personal security.

Any good investor knows that anything that can't go on forever eventually stops. The only question is: will that halt is a controlled braking action, or a collision with reality's brick wall?

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

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/27/use-your-mentality/#face-up-to-reality

Image: Lee Haywood (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/leehaywood/4659575229/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/