tobedestroyeduponmydeath

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“Musk hasn’t been confirmed by Congress. His “department” was never authorized by Congress. No one other than Trump has given Musk any authority. No one knows exactly who Musk’s goons are; they have not been vetted yet are handling some of the most sensitive personal information in the government. Not even Trump has the authority to stop your Social Security payments, let alone your Medicare or Medicaid or unemployment insurance or your food stamp benefits. Yet Musk and his goon squad assert they’re able to do so if they believe those payments are illegal. Musk boasted on his social media site X that he was “rapidly shutting down … illegal payments.” But who is Musk to decide that a payment is illegal?”

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Why the world’s richest man is messing with your religion, your Social Security and everything else

I realize Democrats are out of power and can’t do much with legislation to stop this. 

I also realize this all happened in 3 days and appears to have caught them flatfooted (though I struggle to accept that nobody knew this was going to happen – DC leaks like wet cheesecloth).

Okay. So what can they do?

Off the top of my head:

1. Members of Congress get the the bus and go to one of these agencies where Musk and his unvetted goons are installing rootkits, stealing our private information, and breaking the law. Tell the press they’re going to be there, and make a whole lot of noise. Force media to pay attention to this.

2. Stop everything in Congress. No unanimous consent, no approval of nominees, absolutely no help. Republicans uniformly opposed President Obama’s popular agenda, it shouldn’t be this difficult for Democrats to uniformly oppose Trump’s unpopular agenda.

3. File lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit. Force them into court to defend and justify their plainly illegal actions. Force them to defy judges. Force them to take this all the way to the corrupt SCOTUS.

4. Trump and Musk are weak little boys with fragile egos and this unholy alliance will eventually fracture. Speed that up by talking a whole lot about President Musk.

5. Tell Chuck Schumer to shut the fuck up forever for a minute because his communications team is maybe the worst I have ever seen in my adult life.

I don‘t know that any of these things will actually stop this attack on America from these fascist scumbags, but I am pretty confident it will force the national conversation to be about the coup that was accelerated this weekend, instead of the fucking Grammys.

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The introductory “Hate” monologue from I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, with AM voiced by the TikTok TTS

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If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

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As Above, So Below

Kinda surprised I haven't used that as a title before. It's an idiom we've referenced before here, even with this ongoing story between Loki & Shamrock as Luffy literally learns sides of it up above. But we talked a lot about how Wano used the structure and how it ties in with the Magician tarot card. The cliche actually traces its origin to The Emerald Tablet. An Arabic (maybe Greek) text that is seen as sorta the philosophical foundation for alchemy back when that was a serious academic discipline. Worth a read, especially after this chapter. It's pretty short and has similar vibes to another text we'll decipher today.

Still, we have to get there. Remember these chapters are showing us these scenes together for a reason. And with Shamrock we do confirm what most suspected. He and Shanks are brothers raised apart. But we get some interesting flourishes. Shanks has gone to Mariejois. Was it actually him at Reverie or was this a different point? We see Shamrock's Cerberus sword which maybe breaks an old theory about Blackbeard. But also the pair of God's Knights are moving on and calling in reinforcement to do whatever they plan to with Elbaf. Starting with the kids. Jerks. Meanwhile...

This is honestly pretty cute from Luffy given everything else going on. Refusing to believe Shanks would rough up these giants. Did not have a Bellemere nickname on my bingo card and while I know Mori-mere is probably Mori as in Japanese for forest I can't help but think of Mori as in Latin for dead. "Oh yeah Nami? How'd you feel if someone was talking shit about Dead-Mom?" Even this little unnecessary jab at Buggy.

And oh my...our mystery man who was drinking with Crocus at the cape is drawing near as we're talking about the Roger Pirates? Of course the old theory is that he's Scopper Gaban. Looks like we'll get our answer soon. Since the figure is so Wano coded though and because I saw a fair few people independently talking about this notion though, we do need to note something. For one, if Shanks knows he has a long lost brother like we imply it makes all that potential with split siblings he may have met more resonant. But also just, what if Luffy ran across Shamrock in the wrong context? Would he freeze up, have an unfortunate moment of hesitation like a certain samurai with her liege lord? Given how much some old cover serial elements are finally paying off here I'm definitely watching the current one closely.

That said, what's a single thread stretching across a few New World arcs to an "as above, so below" element encompassing the entire series? I assume you've read the chapter before a post like this, so you probably know what I'm building to. But think about it all together. We have Franky seeing a mural from the Void Century on the Treasure Tree. Meanwhile Robin reads the titular sacred texts we know inspired the Giants to have clashing views on the Sun God. A concept we've seen play out in action with Road and others.

This line from Ripley though...I don't think this huge lore dump is just facts about the world in this story. I think of it as a commentary on the story, the journey to get to this point over 25+ years and 1100+ chapters. Same logic as how I see Wano, a Kabuki show that summarized where we've been and where we're going. From that perspective, is Harley wrong here? Anyways, enough framing...

...Where do you even begin with something like this? I guess there's the basic level. It isn't hard to see where at least part of the overarching plot of One Piece has headed all along. Poneglyphs tend to pop up with oppressed races. Their arcs tend to give us the nuggets of deep lore. The banded together against the emerging World Government in the Void Century and will again under Nika's Luffy's banner. You see it here. Giants, Merfolk, a robot like Emeth, Minks, samurai all allying against the spooky demon. Crazy how this one chapter had such big other shoes dropping for two of our big cover serial whammies. Obviously this is so reminiscent of the murals Enel saw on the Moon.

For the story, I feel like the texts are pretty open to interpretation. I'm sure they'll matter more as we unfold the proper forgotten history and probably will make some amount more sense in the near future with the mysterious figure from the cape. But for now, just on a first pass I do feel one thing. The Ark at the start, the imagery of the serpent kinda makes me think of Skypiea and the early stages of the story. Though the lines of the Second World remind me a lot more of the stretch from the end of Wano into Egghead. A Forest God unleashing demons while the Sun God stands by and spreads embers of war. The people of the moon and both Lunarians & the Kozuki. The part about humanity killing the sun and ascending to divinity as a metaphor for scientific progress and especially Vegapunk's reckless kind of that. Even the Sea God's wrath as oceans rise.

Of course that motif. "They could never meet again." "They could never meet again." & "They will surely meet again." is so ominous. Not to mention something that ties to both Luffy's long-awaited reunion with Shanks and this growing trend of separated siblings. Something that also echoes one of the other most prophetic aspects of this series in Bink's Sake. "Beneath the moon we'll meet again the wind's our lullaby." I absolutely adore this chapter top to bottom, so much to turn over and ponder. So much we'll likely keep coming back to this one as we get closer and closer to the end. We're really getting there aren't we? After all this time?

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Warning: Major major one piece spoilers of wano and egghead!!!!!

Tw: death & blood

The idea of luffy’s vivre card flash-banging sabo in that pitch black bilge is making me laugh so much

Bonuses:

Full pic of that last page👇

Here’s the full pic of this since it being a gif absolutely tanked the quality of the image.

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My least favorite things about anti- UBI discourse is always the techbros whining that "nobody is going to work anymore! People will just watch Netflix all day!" and I have 2 responses:

1) Who the fuck cares. Who the fuck cares what people do with their time! That's kind of the fucking point!

2) People aren't going to stop laboring. Housework (look, it's right there in the word!) will still need to be done. So will maintenance on our homes and personal spaces. Children will still need carers, as will the elderly and disabled. There are millions of examples of ~work~ that we do all the time, uncompensated, that won't suddenly stop because we aren't forced to sell our labor to provide corporation's profits.

I'm not surprised that what is traditionally women's work is invisible to these dipshits, but it never fails to anger me.

Anyway. Join the IWW.

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i hauve a cold

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I gotta say I'm obsessed with what Luffy does to the typical "sunshine" character trope, in that he's an exception to the usual portrayal but perhaps the most true to it of anyone. He's not "sunshine" as in pure niceness and sweetness and innocence. He's sunshine as in The Sun.

He's joy and light and warmth, illuminating all the beauty of the world, but he's also powerful enough to kill and blind and burn. He's an everyday annoyance. He's the strongest force of nature that exists. His happiness shines bright for miles. So does his rage. You could look at him wrong and be screwed up for life. You never want to live without him.

I can't get over this.

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highly recommend keeping a small portrait of a historical figure who met a grisly end on your work desk. for perspective.

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THE SWIMMING PIC HAS ME SOBBING 😭😭

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Ok I am once again liveblogging the Word of the Year vote

• For informal word of the year, multiple people have gone up to the mic announcing themself as “team rawdog”

• One respected professor threw his support behind “W”, saying (I’m paraphrasing) “double the u, double the pleasure”

• In lieu of an institution, one person announced themself as a “tumblr shitposter”. That person? Was me.

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YOU COULD SPELL "FISH" AS "GHOTI" AND IT WOULD BE PRONOUNCED THE SAME

THIS IS NOT TRUE.

FOR THOSE UNAWARE OF THIS, UH, “FACT,” THE IDEA IS THAT “GHOTI” COULD BE PRONOUNCED “FISH” IF YOU PRONOUNCE THE GH- AS IN “LAUGH,” THE -O- AS IN “WOMEN,” AND THE “TI” AS IN “AMBITION.”

HOWEVER, THIS FAILS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT THE PRONUNCIATION OF LETTERS IS DEPENDENT ON THEIR POSITION WITHIN THE WORD.

AT THE END OF A WORD OR SYLLABLE, “GH” CAN BE PRONOUNCED LIKE THE LETTER F. THIS IS WHY IT’S PRONOUNCED THAT WAY IN “LAUGH” AND “LAUGHTER” AND “ENOUGH” AND, DEPENDING ON WHO YOU ASK, “VAN GOGH.” AT THE BEGINNING OF A WORD OR SYLLABLE, “GH” IS PRONOUNCED AS AN EXTRA-HARD G-SOUND, AS IN “GHOST” AND “GHOUL” AND “GHASTLY.”

LIKEWISE, “TI” IS NOT PRONOUNCED AS “SH” AT THE END OF A WORD. IN “AMBITION,” IT IS ONLY BECAUSE “TI” IS FOLLOWED BY “O” THAT THERE IS AN “SH” SOUND IN THE WORD AT ALL. THIS IS WHY “RATIO” IS PRONOUNCED WITH AN “SH” SOUND, WHILE “MANTIS” IS PRONOUNCED WITH A “T” SOUND. 

IT’S ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT, IN WORDS LIKE “AMBITION” AND “NATION,” IT’S NOT THAT THE “TI” IS PRONOUNCED LIKE “SH.” “TION” IS A COMPLETE SYLLABLE, PRONOUNCED “SHUN” OR “SHEN.” IF YOU REMOVE ANY OF THE LETTERS, THE PRONUNCIATION WOULD CHANGE.

“ION” DOESN’T HAVE AN SH- SOUND IN IT. “TIN” DOESN’T HAVE AN SH- SOUND IN IT. “TI” DOESN’T HAVE AN SH- SOUND IN IT. “TON” DOESN’T HAVE AN SH- SOUND IN IT. “TIO” ONLY HAS AN SH- SOUND IN IT IF IT’S PRECEDED BY A VOWEL, AS IN “RATIO,” AND EVEN THEN, IT’S PRONOUNCED “SHYO” OR “SHI-O,” DEPENDING ON YOUR ACCENT. 

“O” IS RARELY PRONOUNCED AS IN “WOMEN,” EXCEPT WHEN IT’S IN THE MIDDLE OF A SYLLABLE. 

THAT’S THE THING. “-GH” IS ONLY PRONOUNCED “F” AT THE END OF A SYLLABLE. “O” IS ONLY PRONOUNCED AS IN “WOMEN” IN THE MIDDLE OF A SYLLABLE. “TI-” IS ONLY PRONOUNCED “SH” AT THE BEGINNING OF A CERTAIN SYLLABLES, AND NEVER BY ITSELF.

WHEN ASSEMBLED IN THAT ORDER, NONE OF THOSE PRONUNCIATIONS WOULD APPLY. IF THEY HAD SPELLED IT “GHOTION,” IT WOULD BE PRONOUNCED “GOSHEN.” IF THEY HAD IT “LAUGHOTI,” IT WOULD BE PRONOUNCED “LAFF-OH-TEE.” 

HOWEVER, SPELLED “GHOTI,” THERE’S NO WAY TO PRONOUNCE IT “FISH” UNLESS YOU PRONOUNCE EVERY LETTER INCORRECTLY, IN WHICH CASE YOU’RE NOT PRONOUNCING “GHOTI” AT ALL, YOU’RE PRONOUNCING “FISH.” “GHOTI” IS PRONOUNCED “GOATY.”

NOW, THE ORIGINAL IDEA BEHIND “GHOTI” WAS MAKING FUN OF THE LACK OF RULES GOVERNING ENGLISH SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION. THIS IS STUPID AS HELL, BECAUSE THEY HAD TO IGNORE A BUNCH OF THE RULES GOVERNING ENGLISH SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION IN ORDER TO MAKE FUN OF THEIR NON-EXISTENCE.

THEY LITERALLY PRETENDED THE ESTABLISHED PRONUNCIATION CONVENTIONS DIDN’T EXIST JUST SO THEY COULD MAKE FUN OF ENGLISH FOR NOT HAVING ESTABLISHED PRONUNCIATION CONVENTIONS, WHICH IS ESPECIALLY AGGRAVATING BECAUSE THIS COULD EASILY BE ACCOMPLISHED WITH THE EXISTING WORD “COLONEL.” 

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Not only are the Comedy Wildlife Photo Award winners all excellent, the banner announcements are glorious when taken out of context.