#Charter (Fallout)

[arimabari]

Can we hear about your fallout ocs? 👀

Yes, yes you can

-wiggles fingers- these are my lovely ladies

Fair warning for those reading, the Fallout universe can get EXTREMELY dark. A handful of my ocs experience very intense things involving heavy drug use and sexual assault (though I won't be going extreme detail on either), so please bear that in mind before reading on.

TW for mentions of drug use, rape, forced prostitution

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Millie Dubrovhsky - Fallout 1

The og vault dweller! Millie was a teacher in Vault 13, married with a little girl of her own. She's incredibly naïve and woefully optimistic, choosing to blot out any negativity or danger that crosses her path rather than face it head on (this does not last).

She also has the bloody mess perk. If you know, you know.

Ruthie - Fallout 2

Millie's grandbaby. She's big and buff and powerful, but also not very bright. Most everyone thinks her mother came up with the Chosen One prophecy to hide the fact that she had a fling with some wandering vagrant that visited the tribe.

Ruthie's hard and reckless, but she tries her best

Annie Soo - Fallout 3

My lone wanderer, and the one who's arguably been around the longest! She's a brat and a prodigy and a daddy's girl who falls in love with every boy she meets. After her girlfriend breaks up with her and she loses her home, she decides to let loose in the worst ways possible (lots of sex and hard drugs like jet)

There are zero consequences to her actions (turns out there were many consequences to her actions)

Charter - Fallout New Vegas

My courier six. Real name is Sofia Rivera. She moved from her hometown of Arroyo in order to become a famous singer in New Reno, but was trafficked into prostitution by her "manager." After being arrested by NCR on drug charges, she escapes their women's correctional facility and returns to Reno in order to slaughter the men who put her there.

After fleeing Reno, she finds a dead mojave express courier on the side of the road. Decides to take his name and his job. Anyone who questions this has a habit of winding up dead the next day.

Maryann Wallace - Fallout 4

My sole survivor. She's a hardened perfectionist and an absolutely ruthless lawyer who rarely ever loses a case. It's evident that she cares more about winning than upholding the law when she helps a man who very clearly murdered his wife and brother and got off with a light sentence (and then she marries said man).

She's the definition of a cold-hearted bitch, even in the wasteland.

Roelyn Foster - Fallout 4

Originally my courier six before she got shelved for Charter, now she's just a side character I keep for 4. A really kind and down-to-earth gal with a mysterious past. She showed up on Piper's doorstep one day and now she just sort of lives there, babysitting Nat whenever the journalist is away from home.

-

anyways thank u for asking about my girls, I love them all very much

#Fallout #Fallout 1 #Fallout 2 #Fallout 3 #Fallout New Vegas #Fallout 4 #vault dweller #chosen one #lone wanderer #courier six #sole survivor #fallout oc #Millie Dubrovhsky #Ruthie (Fallout) #Annie Soo #Charter (Fallout) #Maryann Wallace #Roelyn Foster #doodles #anonymous #ask

[bellaphomet3]

My brother recently got a job at a charter school owned by Hillsdale, the super conservative college that inspired Ron DeSantis’s educational policies. Now you may think “damn that sucks, he must be a super homophobic fundamentalist Christian” and you’d be wrong, he’s a bisexual neopagan who loves playing fallout new Vegas and hates Ronald Reagan. He only works there cuz he’s fresh out of college with a history degree.

#fallout new vegas #trans #neopaganism #trans memes #bisexual #bisexual memes #lgbtq #lgbt memes #lgbtqia #196 #196 rule #r/196 #r196

[gothicprep]

last spring, i was peripherally involved in something that can only be described as "transphobic onlyfans steakhouse drama". the long and short of it is, some onlyfans model who can't go a day without tweeting something transphobic opened a steakhouse across the street from a charter high school with performance art centric curriculum. it's basically known as the high school that's gay and trans friendly in a way that many aren't. my wife saw red when she made this connection, went on a very public online tirade about how wrong it was for it to be in the proximity and inevitably siphon money from lgbteen's families. in the nearly six years i've known her, i've never seen her this angry. fallout included an impromptu pride festival in april in the park a block down and multiple local journalists asking the transphobic onlyfans steakhouse owner for comment. oh, the places you go...

anyway, her main experience with business ownership is something that's social media focused. in other words, it's a setting where it's permissible to just block naysayers and move on. this is not how you run a restaurant! it's also not a good idea as a small business owner to be outspoken about social and political issues. you don't want potential customers to be put off by what you're saying.

i thought this was in my past for a while, but i was just talking to my mom, and apparently a TA was ranting to her about transphobic onlyfans steakmonger sharing antisemitic israel takes on facebook. and we're not talking "israel's government is corrupt and bad" takes, which are reasonable, we're talking lizard people adrenochrome level stuff. i'm so ready for this place to go out of business.

#highlights of her posts include 'taylor swift looks like a 9 y/o boy so no wonder democrats like her' #personally i have never seen a 5'11'' elementary schooler but life can always surprise you

[fereldanwench]

Valerie Powell Master Post

જ⁀➴₊⊹ This is a refresh of my previous master post for Valerie (available here).

✧ BASICS ✧ Full Name: Valerie Irene Powell Pronouns: She/her Date of Birth: 12 Oct 2041 Place of Birth: Charter Hill, Night City Height: 5'10" (178 cm) Weight: ~150 lbs Body Type: Athletic, curvy Eye Color: Dark blue-gray Hair Color: Blue (cerulean or sapphire) (brown-black naturally)

✧ PERSONALITY & SKILLS ✧ MBTI: ISFJ Lifepath: Corpo-rat Combat Style: Pistols, long-range rifles, tech attacks/hacking Languages: - English (native) - Japanese (full professional proficiency) - Spanish (elementary proficiency)

✧ RELATIONSHIPS ✧ Father: Sebastian Powell (deceased) Mother: Ava Powell (née Mercan; deceased) [tag] Siblings: None Other Relatives: - Edward Powell (uncle; estranged) - Nicolas Mercan (uncle; estranged) Closest Friends: - Jackie Welles - Viktor Vektor Notable Partners: - Kristen Hughes (ex; committed relationship) - Viktor Vektor (ex; fling) - Goro Takemura (married in 2081)

✧ NOTES ✧ - Although in-game she has the corpo lifepath, Valerie's career history is pretty varied before she joins counter-intel: Biotechnica data analyst, a slew of random service jobs, hostess (with a side hustle helping Jackie con some of her more notorious clients), and Arasaka security (which is how she met Jenkins). - Valerie doesn't dye her hair blue--She did when she first made the change, but she uses a cosmetic nanotech implant to alter the color of the strands at the root. - She had a very non-traditional education: Valerie was in the Night City public school system for elementary school, but she was pulled out when her maternal grandparents insisted on funding extensive private tutoring until she was 18. Learning Japanese was a part of that curriculum. - Her father was also very steadfast about the right to bear arms, and she was just 7 years old when she first learned how to handle firearms. - Valerie doesn't drink alcohol or do drugs. Addiction runs in both sides of her family, and she made the choice to go sober when she was about 27 years old. (Caffeine is the one exception--She needs several strong cups of coffee to get through the day.) - She doesn't have any tattoos, but she does have multiple piercings in both ears and a naval piercing. - A more comprehensive character sheet is available at Pillowfort!

Tags and relevant links updated under the cut:

Last updated: 24 May 24

✧ VALERIE'S TAGS ✧

💙 oc: valerie v powell

💖 fave: valerie v powell

🖼️ art: valerie v powell

🔖 fic: valerie v powell

✨ oc inspo: valerie v powell

💑 ship: goro x valerie

💖 fave: goro x valerie

🖼️ art: goro x valerie

🔖 fic: goro x valerie

🎬 outtakes: goro x valerie

🪄 muse fuel: goro x valerie

✧ ALTERNATE UNIVERSES & TIMELINES ✧

🐺 au: cyber witchers More or less a "retired" AU--This was born out of learning how to mod and putting Goro in the Witcher jacket

🌊 au: corpo naiad Also a retired AU--Just experimenting with some new locations and mods

🛡️ au: corporate loyalty An alternate timeline in which Valerie turns on Jenkins and sell him out to Abernathy, resulting in Valerie becoming head of counter-intel

🏜️ au: the open road An alternate timeline in which Valerie seeks refuge with the Aldecaldos rather than following Jenkins' orders to kill Abernathy

🧭 au: i only play for sport An alternate universe inspired by Tomb Raider in which Valerie is an intrepid treasure seeker and Goro is the bodyguard for a powerful kumichō

☢️ au: no gods no monsters A Fallout crossover--Details pending!

✧ CHARACTER SHEETS & MEMES ✧

Valerie Character Sheet

Valerie and Goro Ship Sheet

Valerie's Style Evolution (2060-2079)

Valerie's Corpo Lookbook

Valerie's Speech Mannerisms

Valerie's Character Influences

Valerie OC Profile

Valerie Aesthetics I

Valerie Aesthetics II

OC Tarot Card

OC Tag: Song Challenge

Unusual Muse Associations

Valerie's Affiliations

Valerie + Goro Relationship Card

Valerie's Name Meanings

Late Summer Aesthetics

Valerie's Rage Language

✧ META & PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ✧

Valerie and validating my sobriety

Valerie if she was a canon character

Valerie as an ISFJ and how she expresses love/sexuality

Valerie and being "Goro's thief"

Valerie and marriage

Valerie and not trusting Johnny

Gushing about Valerie!

Valerie on Evelyn and "straddling worlds"

On sex in the corpo world

Valerie and Jenkins' relationship

Valerie and being sensitive & honest in a cruel world

She's Valerie, not V (also BTS lore about her surname)

No love at first sight here

Musing on Valerie's background in Arasaka security

Summary of counter-intel events and Valerie's career history

Valerie's ability to read people

No one is ever free in Night City

Wanting to play more "pro-corpo" as a corpo

Valerie does think being with a corp is her best choice

Thoughts on my first experience with the Devil ending

Giving Goro and Valerie a happy ending

Early musing on the endgame options and being an engram

Valerie taking in the early morning views

✧ VIDEOS & CLIPS ✧

Valerie leaving a voicemail to Jackie post-heist

Valerie's In-Game Playlist on YouTube

"See a woman here with blue hair?"

#cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk 2077 oc #cyberpunk 2077 v #oc: valerie v powell #g: cyberpunk 2077 #t: oc lists

[duskyashe]

NaNoWriMo Day #18

[masterlist] [part two]

=============‹«⟨··•|^^^|•··⟩»›=============

If there was one thing Danny wasn't expecting when he ascended the ghostly throne, it was having to worry about a freaking line of succession. For one thing, he was under the impression the only reason he was the new ghost king at all was because he'd defeated Pariah Dark in single combat. For another, what did they expect him to do, find a nice ghost girl and settle down? He was fifteen, no way was he ready for that kind of commitment! Nevermind the fact none of us even know if being a halfa effects the ability to have kids, Danny thought grimly.

He'd brought all those points up with his advisors before, but the only one with any real advice he could actually use was Pandora. "You need an heir, but it doesn't have to be the same being the entire time. Be warned, however. Some obsessions fare better in royal positions than others do. Those with freedom related obsessions like your Ellie's would be driven mad within short order." Much more useful than Clockwork's cryptic words of, "Time is the wise King's friend."

After some deliberation and careful study of the Infinite Realms' bylaws and charters, he'd made Jazz his heir with Ellie the "spare" in case Jazz wasn't in a position to succeed Danny. This sort of solution was a stopgap one at best, but it would at least give him a few years, a decade at most, to figure out a more permanent solution. If Jazz's inherent liminality wasn't enough to satisfy the bylaws for more than a few years, then they'd switch Jazz with Ellie and have Ember take up "spare" status, but again, no one knew anything about this kind of situation, it was so new territory. Jazz might be able to give Danny ten years to figure out a more appropriate heir, or she won't be able to give him more than a few months. The variables were different enough from the norm in this situation that no one was happy with how things were at that point in time.

He really needed a better solution, though, and soon, because Ember's obsession wasn't any less freedom based than Ellie's was...

=============‹«⟨··•|^^^|•··⟩»›=============

Nearly five years after Danny's ascension to kinghood, the foundations of the Infinite Realms shifted ever so slightly, almost as though a mostly unstoppable force had tried its hand against an almost immovable object. Six months after that, Danny suddenly nearly collapsed in his applied physics class as he felt the creation of a new halfa. It was sudden, it was painful, and it was familiar. But the cry of a newly formed core, so perfectly in sync with his own, being brutalized nearly made his eyes flare green. Instantly, he knew exactly where this newborn halfa was (—halfway across the world—?), he knew exactly what was happening to them (—they're hitting him with tasers—!), and he knew that if he didn't get there as soon as possible, he'd lose something precious (—they'll ruin him, his obsession, his core—!). It was a good thing Jazz had been his emergency contact on file ever since she turned eighteen, she'd understand what he didn't say, what he couldn't say, over the phone.

Danny was excused from the rest of his classes for the day and his sister picked him up from his physics teacher's office.

"What do you need?" No nonsense, straight to the point. Jazz had grown a lot since his accident, since he became the king of an entire dimension.

Danny released an anxious breath. "I need the Infinity Map." Another breath. "And Frostbite. There's a new halfa, and he's being tortured as we speak." Just keep breathing. "His core cried out to my own, Jazz. From halfway across the world." Jazz's breath hitched at that, and he almost snorted. Exactly. Later. First, he had to save the kid, get him treatment, and deal with the idiots who dared play with things they didn't understand. Then he could deal with the fallout of him hearing the newborn halfa's cry. Deep breaths. That's it, just keep breathing.

"Do you have any more information than his location and current situation?" His sister was a blessing, truly.

"I have a name," he offered. Deep breaths, stay calm, just keep breathing. "Jason Todd." His core sang with protective fury, his obsession crying for blood. That was one of his that those assassins were trying to break. His son, that was his son.

Over my half dead body.

=============‹«⟨··•|^^^|•··⟩»›=============

So. What happens when you're so into a fanfic that you lose all track of time? Well, I end up frantically trying to write a ficlet in two hours that makes sense and doesn't leave too much hanging (⁠^⁠～⁠^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞdid I succeed?

I was originally going to use this prompt to continue one of my previous ficlets, but I also really wanted to write something new, so my muse fought me tooth and nail until I finally gave in (⁠´⁠-⁠﹏⁠-⁠`⁠；⁠) that's part of the reason why I'm writing ficlets instead of a full story this month lol I knew my muse was going to be fickle and wouldn't let me stick with one, or even two storylines lol it's happened before (⁠^⁠_⁠^⁠メ⁠)

Y'all rock, honestly. Like, I know I say that every day, but I genuinely mean it every day (^⁠‿⁠^⁠)

Have a good morning/day/night!

#danny phantom #batman #dc x dp #fanfic #dp x dc #dp crossover #dp au #fanfiction #nanowrimo 2022 #NaNoWriMo Day 18 #yes the Infinite Realms felt superboy's punch to reality #it unsettled many of the residents #the Observants wanted to do something about it but Clockwork stonewalled them lol #and yes Danny DID just adopt Jason Todd right after he was dipped in the pit! #no Danny doesn't know this baby halfa from Adam #do you think he cares? #this kid's newly formed core somehow singled his out and managed to resonate with it well enough to cry for help #FROM HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD #like hell Danny's gonna leave this kid alone! that kid's his now #oh he's Batman's kid? #tough luck buddy he's mine now #finders keepers losers weepers #shoulda kept a better eye on him #maybe shouldn't have let him die in the first place #what's that Jay? you wanna visit him? #... you're lucky the kid likes you Bruce #you can have him for the weekends #maybe every other major holiday #maybe #only if you teach me that cool move you did the other day when fighting that one villain

[specialagentartemis]

franziska von karma for the ask meme? i recently redownloaded a ds emulator partly to get back to playing AA2 with my sibling so shes on the mind

for the character ask meme

Ooh fun. It's been a while since I've played the Ace Attorney games but they have a special place in my heart always

First impression

lol. Abrasive but entertainingly so. I was accustomed to the over the top zaniness so sure! This teenager is an Experienced Prosecutor who whips people. Why Not. Actually I think Franziska is the first character we're introduced to as the Absurdly Young Professional and I think I did think this was funny.

Impression now

I love Sibling Tragedy and Sibling Drama and Sibling Relationships and she DELIVERS. Tied with Edgeworth for Favorite Prosecutor.

Favorite moment

When she gets fuvking shot outside the courthouse and Edgeworth has to drag her, protesting all the way, to the hospital. And then she left the hospital Still Bleeding From A Bullet Wound to deliver the crucial bit of evidence to the courthouse anyway.

Idea for a story

I had a WIP a long time ago about Franziska teaching Adrian Andrews how to use a whip to feel powerful and confident. And they were slowly bonding and falling in love over that. I'm a Fradrian truther

Unpopular opinion

I don't see her liking or getting along with Maya at all, sorry.

Favorite relationship

Her weird sibling deal with Edgeworth! Ace attorney has so many excellent fraught sibling relationships but these two are my favorite. They were pitted against each other as kids. Franziska is the true von Karma but she felt like her dad gave more attention to Edgeworth. She needs to beat him in court. She was heartbroken and livid when she thought he died and came to America to take it out on the person she blamed for his death. She's the person he calls when he needs a prosecutor he can trust, and she charters a private jet across the Atlantic immediately and then insults him to his face when she arrives. They are both dealing with the fallout of the way Manfred raised them.

Favorite headcanon

When Edgeworth took the bar exam at age 20, Franziska was 13 and was SO INCENSED that he would get to be a full-fledged prosecutor BEFORE her and that would be UNACCEPTABLE so she demanded to sit the bar too. The same one as him. Yes she's 13. She can do it. SHE'S BEEN TRAINING HER WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS!

Whoever administers the bar in Germany tried to explain that 13-year-olds aren't allowed to be legal professionals but Manfred von Karma loomed and glared so threateningly that they let her.

#Ace Attorney #I love Franziska she's so fun #deathofthetext #ask game #perpetual perpetual ladies night

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #37: Avengers Disassemble!

October, 1988

The team is TORN APART -- and this MYSTERY WOMAN is about to make matters WORSE!

Dammit, Mantis!

Stop throwing gas on the fire, apparently?!

And stop ripping the cover and unsettling the issue box! What will happen if the Comics Code seal of approval falls out?

I’m guessing the fallout of Mockingbird/Hawkeye’s divorce is gonna fall out here and they’re going to split up the kids.

Last time in West Coast Avengers: due to secret Russian internet chatter, Hank Pym became convinced his dead deceased wife Maria Trovoya was actually alive. When the West Coast Avengers were ambushed by a bunch of old Ant-Man villains and Quicksilver when they went to Hungary to investigate, I assumed that it was a ruse to lure the Avengers into a trap. Because Scarlet Witch and Vision had also been baited into a trap.

BUT IT TURNS OUT THAT HANK PYM’S FIRST WIFE IS ALIVE AND HAS A MASSIVE BRAIN. Hank is going to quit the team to try to help reverse the giant braining of his first wife.

ALSO: When the West Coast Avengers went to the past times, Mockingbird got kidnapped by a cowboy who drugged her into being his girlfriend. When other cowboys helped her fight off the drugs, she pursued the first cowboy, Phantom Rider, and confronted him. This resulted in Phantom Rider falling off a cliff and Mockingbird not attempting to save him. Because: fuck that guy.

Except it turns out that he became a real phantom and has decided to haunt Mockingbird for rudely manslaughtering him. And when it looked like Mockingbird would come clean to Hawkeye about what happened, Phantom Rider spilled the beans himself, and framed the story to make Mockingbird look really bad.

Hawkeye was Big Mad that Mockingbird killed manslaughtered someone because Avengers Don’t Kill Or Through Inaction Allow A Person To Die and also because she hid it from him. Both Hawkeye and Mockingbird are stubborn, prideful people so the discussion immediately escalates into an argument where Hawkeye fires Mockingbird from the Avengers and Mockingbird fires him from the marriage.

It be like that.

And even after a long flight back from Hungary, they’re still fighting.

Geez, you two, not in front of the teammates!

Look at Tigra! She’s agitated!

Wasp is trying to play peacemaker. Trying very hard.

Hawkeye: “She admits she let the Phantom Rider die, Jan!”

Wasp: “That’s not the same as killing him! Besides, he’s a ghost, so he’s not dead!”

Mockingbird: “He is dead! I let him fall because he deserved it and I don’t apologize!”

Wasp: “I’m trying to help you, Bobbi!”

See. Both stubborn, both prideful.

Hawkeye even says that Wasp has nothing to do with this. She’s just a special guest star, not a West Coast Avenger and definitely not the chairman.

He IS the chairman so he makes the decisions!

(Maybe its different in the West Coast Avengers but the East Coast Avengers used court martials, not just uncontested decree from the chairman. According to the original Avengers charter, it requires a two-thirds vote to expel an Avenger - I’m pretty sure Mockingbird has the support but then Hawkeye would probably rage-quit.)

Mockingbird: “This isn’t because I let a creep pay for what he did to me -- something most husbands would hate, too --”

Hawkeye: “I hate it -- you bet I do -- but I don’t condone death as any answer for anything!”

Mockingbird: “But death isn’t the issue! It’s the fact that I didn’t tell you about it!”

Hawkeye: “You didn’t just not tell me -- ! You lied about it, to my face --”

At this point, Hank jumps in and says okay you, Bobbi, go over there out of yelling range. Me, Hank, will take Hawkeye over here and bum him out with divorce stories.

Oh my god, Hank.

Vision joins this weird huddle to go tell Hawkeye how much marriage rocks, actually. Scarlet Witch and Tigra go to talk to Bobbi.

Scarlet Witch is currently married. Tigra was married but her husband Bill died. So everyone has opinions here.

Well, Wasp, Wonder Man, and Moon Knight hang out in the middle. I assume Wasp is tired of people not listening to her and isn’t joining either huddle. Wonder Man and Moon Knight aren’t married... as far as I know. Hell, maybe Wonder Man did have a wife before he did crime and then died. But he was dead long enough for the relationship to be legally over.

But I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t married.

Wonder Man: “Wasp -- Jan -- is it written down somewhere, this rule about not killing?”

Moon Knight: “Yes! I am new to the Avengers! How serious is Mockingbird’s infraction?”

Wasp: “Well... it is written down, in a charter we drew up years ago...! But Bobbi’s right, Simon -- Clint’s reaction is more his wounded pride than anything else! If I were your chair, I’d let it go!”

As far as I can tell, the Avengers charter doesn’t explicitly say Thou Shalt Not Kill. It says that Avengers won’t take upon themselves any aspect of the punishment process.

I really don’t know where manslaughtering a cowboy falls into that.

But it doesn’t really matter because Hawkeye is just deciding things and Mockingbird is loudly also deciding to gtfo because fuck that guy.

Anyway, the separate pep talks didn’t work.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird get back to yelling at each other and then Mockingbird decides to g t f o.

And she’s taking half the team in the divorce.

I thought I was joking about that but it turns out that I wasn’t.

Tigra decides to go with Mockingbird because even though she decided against doing a murder in the ‘Tigra too horny’ story arc, she cat nature tells her that sometimes killing is necessary.

Moon Knight also decides to stick with Mockingbird. He doesn’t explain himself but he has already expressed support for the idea that sometimes killing is necessary and his god (i.e. him) is the god of vengeance.

I kind of feel like making this about whether or not murder is okay sometimes misses the point that it was a) manslaughter at best, and b) not even really about the killing, its about Hawkeye’s hurt pride that Mockingbird didn’t confide in him and his decision that means that he can’t trust her and his unilateral decree kicking her off the team.

Hawkeye protests that they can’t just split up the team but Mockingbird shoots back that HE is the one who split the team.

She kinda has a point.

I think that’s probably why the East Coast Avengers do the court martial process with 2/3rds vote required to boot someone for bad behavior. It makes sure that half the team won’t split because they think the bad behavior wasn’t so bad.

You fucked this up, Hawkeye.

Mockingbird offers anyone else the opportunity to join team Mockingbird.

Dr Pym... I don’t know why he has an opinion. He’s leaving the team either way. He’s not going with Mockingbird but he also offers a kind of support. Reflecting on how he formed the Avengers and helped form the rules and then broke the rules and got thrown out (actually, he quit before he could be judged but it didn’t look good for him). And that he came back. “Not because I made the Avengers, but because the Avengers made me!”

Wonder Man also says no. He was ready to leave the Avengers recently and focus more on being a movie star. But the movie star life is shallow and he’s happy that he’s doing good, real work with the Avengers.

Hawkeye, who has an opinion, of course he does, reflects that he killed someone as an Avenger. Remember that time? He killed Egghead? But it was an accident and that’s an important distinction! (Kinda like how Mockingbird didn’t murder the cowboy, just didn’t save him. Which feels like a distinction too. But whatever.) He wants the team to stay together but he’s not willing to budge. Avengers should never kill!

-laughs in hindsight-

Wasp says she understands where Mockingbird was coming from because Phantom Rider was a dangerous, obsessed cowboy and saving his life is not required behavior. But she’s also not going to undermine Hawkeye. He’s the chairman, she’s a guest star.

Vision says that he’s not an Avenger currently but he doesn’t doubt that one day he and Scarlet Witch will return to duty. But he says that if it were up to him, he’d call this a leave and not a firing. And he’s willing to nag Hawkeye a lot until he agrees.

(You’re a character, Vision.)

Scarlet Wanda just speaks of marriage. “Some marriages run smoother than others -- I can’t give you any advice -- but marriage -- joining male and female -- is an ancient and sacred ceremony precisely because neither one alone is as good as the couple! And both sides have to give!”

Feel like she’s calling someone out on being stubborn.

Also feels like gay marriage would have blown her mind but she’s a lot more mellow these days.

Ha. Awkward.

Hank can’t let the awkward moment hang because he’s got places to be. He taps Hawkeye on the shoulder and tells him he’s gonna mosey on. Gotta get started on debrainifying his super wife.

He offers to come help if Hawkeye ever needs a two-fisted science adventurer but Hawkeye tells Hank to take all the time he needs because he’s paid his due to the Avengers and deserves a chance at happiness.

-laughs in different hindsight-

Because it seems like the time for it, Wasp also announces that she’s leaving. Or ending her guest starring, I guess.

She came to help the team during the rough period of Iron Man leaving and becoming an international incident but she feels like maybe she hasn’t helped out.

(I suspect that its also because nobody is listening to her. She might as well go on vacation)

Hawkeye: “You’re really let what Bobbi did go -- ? Including the part where she lied to me?”

Wasp: “I would! She’s not you, Clint! She never will be you! That’s not a wife’s -- or an Avenger’s -- job!”

Hawkeye kinda admitted that the real problem was Mockingbird not confiding in him.

So I don’t think focusing on the do Avengers kill/manslaughter is the way.

Get out of here, Wasp, you nut!

Hank walks her out.

Wasp reiterates that they weren’t legally married (-angry noises-) and finally gives Hank that hug he’s been wanting.

Wasp: “It’s easier being friends now, isn’t it -- with the past wiped away?”

ITS NOT WIPED AWAY

GAH!

Anyway.

Inside the West Coast Avengers Compound, Mockingbird tosses her Avengers communicator, defense grid deactivator, and ID card on the couch.

She’s not giving Hawkeye any reason to come after her, claiming she broke rules by not turning them in.

Moon Knight decides to share his thoughts on whether Avengers should do a murder.

Moon Knight: “It is stupid, Mockingbird -- this prohibition against killing! The history of man is the history of murder!”

Tigra: “That’s a little heavy, Moonie! I just think you have to go with the laws of nature! Some of the people we fight are really dangerous! Like that guy we just faced -- the Voice! Maria silenced him, but what happens if her mental block wears off someday?”

Mockingbird isn’t really interested in olde West Coast Avengers business. Instead, she asks Moon Knight and Tigra to form a team with her.

Moon Knight agrees because he wants to help her if Phantom Rider comes back.

Tigra suggests they call themselves the Ex-Whackos, which Mockingbird laughs off as sounding like a mutant group.

She tables the name and Phantom Rider for now.

Mockingbird has another thing she wants to address. She snatched an incoming message from the Fantastic Four forwarded by the East Coast Avengers off the computer.

Master Pandemonium showed up at the South Pole in Fantastic Four #314-315. His first appearance since that whole arc with the cat people in West Coast Avengers. Turns out he got trapped on Arcturus IV after doggy piling out on the demonic river.

As it happens, Steve Englehart is also writing Fantastic Four, thus explaining why Master P showed up in that book.

Anyway, Mockingbird wants to check it out.

Tigra: “We may be Ex-Whackos, but we’re still heroes, no matter what anybody says!”

Meanwhile, outside Hawkeye is grappling with now having a team consisting of just himself and Wonder Man.

Resignedly, he assumes that Scarlet Witch and Vision will be leaving too, what with the kids.

They surprise him by saying that they don’t want to leave him with just Wonder Man. Two people isn’t a team.

Wanda suggests that she and Vision will take turns being the superhero parent and the stay-at-home parent.

Hawkeye is really excited and proclaims that this is what the Avengers spirit is! He’s not wrong to uphold those standards!

(We’ve established though that your real problem was more about wounded pride but whatever.)

Wonder Man is also excited that he’ll get to spend more time with Vision. They haven’t gotten a chance to really bond after coming to the conclusion that they’re brothers, actually.

Wanda opportunistically jumps in and suggests that maybe sometimes Wonder Man can watch the kids so both Scarlet Witch and Vision can be with the team.

Good hustle, Wanda!

This is all good. I love Scarlet Witch and Vision. But Hawkeye can do the math.

Hawkeye: “Still -- that’s only three or four of us! When I had five I used to worry about not being powerful enough! I know me an’ Wanda, Cap an’ Quicksilver were the whole team once, but that was when there weren’t many Avengers!”

He muses about finding Iron Man but is interrupted by the arrival of the Real Star.

IIIIIIIIITS MANTIS!

She’s green, she’s wearing a tassled skirt, and she doesn’t believe in shoes!

It’s Swordsman’s Girlfriend, Mantis!

Y’know, the one who married a tree.

Most of these guys haven’t seen her since she flew off into space on her tree honeymoon and Wonder Man has never met her but has heard a lot.

She got into the grounds when Mockingbird et al were leaving.

And Hawkeye is thrilled to see her because he is going to recruit the hell out of her. And Wanda is annoyed because she remembers Mantis trying to be a homewrecker between her and Vision.

I’m really only surprised that it took this long for Englehart to try to bring Mantis back into things. He has a habit of taking her wherever he goes.

Anyway, Wonder Man introduces himself and shakes her hand, saying he’s glad to meet Mantis.

Upon which she tosses him on his ass and starts jump kicking everyone.

If you were wondering why I didn’t have an image of her showing up, its because a page later there was an image of her kicking people. And I liked that one better. Because of the kicking.

Hawkeye: “What the ding-dong blazes?!!”

Hah, just say what the fuck, Hawkeye.

He asks her if she’s under mind control or something but she doesn’t answer. He shoots some arrows at her but she just catches the smoke and tear gas arrows out of midair and then uses them to blind Wonder Man when he tries to tackle her.

Wonder Man: “My eyes are filled with ionic energy, but they’re still eyes!!”

That’s a mighty weaksauce weakness, sir.

Sitting on his back, she steers him with his belt jets and rams him into Hawkeye.

An interaction that Hawkeye comes off the worse for, by far.

His eyes clear, Wonder Man tries to get her for making him look like a fool chump but she punches him in the solar plexus and then baits him into knocking a tree down on himself.

While he’s pinned, she uses a nerve jab to paralyze him.

Sure!

Apparently nerve hits even worked on Thor so why not!

This just leaves Scarlet Witch and Vision.

Wanda asks what Mantis’ deeeeeeal is? Why is she here? Why isn’t she hanging out with her plant husband that she married and went to space with?

Mantis doesn’t know though.

Also, she kicks Scarlet Witch so her hex bolt hits Vision, knocking him out of the air.

Mantis is really making fool chumps out of this entire small group of Avengers.

Scarlet Witch yells at Mantis, asking where her empathy is for a robot man that she once claimed to love.

Kinda weird angle to take on things but okay.

Mantis: “Empathy is denied this one -- it is one of the reasons she came to you! But now, her victory must not be denied!”

Wonder Man unparalyzes and tries lunging at Mantis again. But she hops on top and knocks him to the ground.

Hawkeye finally recovers his senses and dazedly thinks that this is similar, sorta, to the situation in Hungary where one Avenger had to fight the rest.

And from there, he just jumps to an incredibly bizarre conclusion based on zero supporting evidence. I’m so, so mad that he turns out to be right.

Like in a fever dream, Hawkeye speculates an insane situation where the Voice escaped Maria Trovoya’s mental block against using his powers, followed the West Coast Avengers to California, and happened to mind control Mantis when she happened to show up.

I am livid that this is the actual plot to this comic.

While Mantis continues to beat seven kinds of hell out of Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Wonder Man, Hawkeye wanders off, hops the wall, sneaks through the forest surrounding the compound, and does, indeed, find the Voice lurking outside.

God dammit.

The Voice: “Maria Trovaya’s control of her mind was almost infinite -- but she was new to its use, and I’ve honed control of my voice to its sharpest edge! Every night since the Hungarians gave me back my power, I told myself again and again to throw off any attempt at brainwashing! All those nights I thought I was protecting myself from a falling out with them -- but when Maria struck, and Quicksilver had to go meekly back to the Inhumans on the Moon -- the Voice alone could see his way clear to final victory! I was free to leave Hungary -- free to fly to California and wait for my chance to turn Avenger against Avenger -- which came sooner than I could have hoped, with the arrival of an unsuspecting, and even distracted, Mantis!”

OKAY.

SO THAT IS APPARENTLY THE PLOT WE’RE GOING WITH.

Two things: why are we going with this plot?

Yeah, it’s good to have an excuse to have Mantis show her stuff. I presume that she’s about to join the team. But there’s so many ways to justify it.

Two: how did he know that Mantis could solo the team? He doesn’t know the team was breaking up. Sure, he might have seen Mockingbird, Moon Knight, and Tigra leaving. Mantis did say she saw them on the way out.

But that still leaves Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Dr Pym, the Wasp, and MARIA HERSELF possibly inside.

Thing the third, yes, I did add another one: the dude lucked out with Mantis showing up. Instead of having her try to beat up an indeterminate amount of Avengers, why didn’t he just have her lure them out to him? Where he could mind control them all?

This guy is an idiot.

Didn’t even bring anyone to watch his back. He can literally control randos to stand lookout for him and he doesn’t think of it.

Hawkeye tries to talk up what a terror this guy is despite all the grumbling I just did about nuh uh.

Hawkeye, to himself: “How can anybody ever beat this guy? His power is absolutely irresistable if he gets a chance to use it on ya!”

You, specifically, Hawkeye, could turn your hearing aids off. In fact, you’re an idiot if you haven’t done that for this encounter.

Hawkeye, to himself: “I could solve the problem by killing him, of course -- but whatever his power, it ain’t a capital crime! Bobbi’s wrong, darn it! Besides, if I killed him, I couldn’t use him for my purposes...!”

Why are you still relitigating this??

And that wasn’t even the debate that you were supposedly having! She killed ONE cowboy that did something unforgivable to her. And she didn’t even kill him. She manslaughtered a cowboy! It’s not like she became Wolverine and started advocating murder as the first and only solution to all of her problems!

Don’t bring up the topic if you don’t have anything relevant to say!

Back at the fight, Wonder Man solves a problem like Mantis by just grabbing her wrists while she’s beating the shit out of Wanda and then hoisting her into the air so she has no leverage.

She can kick his shins all she likes but he’s a break outhouse of ionic energy and without the nerve pinches, she can’t do much about it.

We barely need Hawkeye to arrive with the solution at this point, even though he does anyway.

Hawkeye forces the Voice to say “Mantis, return to normal” and nothing else. And then Scarlet Witch scarlet witches him so he can’t say anything else for a while.

They’ll call the Vault later where the prison scientists there can figure out how to safely hold him.

Mantis apologizes to Hawkeye for all the trouble. Just like Hawkeye’s random guess, the Voice did mind control Mantis when she happened to show up. And she’s bummed about it.

And when Hawkeye says he’s just glad she’s back to normal, she bursts out that no, she’s not normal, and she needs the Avengers to tell her what normal is!

So the plot thickens, on the last page.

Mantis woke up two days ago in a house that she apparently owns and no memory of anything since she saw the Avengers last.

Her magical superpower of empathy with people and plants has also vanished so she couldn’t even interrogate the houseplants!

So she went to Avengers Mansion to talk to them, only find out that Avengers Mansion is gone.

A police officer on scene tells her that it’s been moved to Hydrobase, which Mantis is like whatever that means.

This is a really well-informed police officer too because he brings up the West Coast Avengers’ recent Zodiac adventures and that Mantis’ dad Libra was killed by the robot Zodiac.

(It’ll turn out that he survived, he’s just having a snooze.)

Since Mantis isn’t going looking for whatever a Hydrobase is, she decides might as well get on a plane, fly to California, and ask the West Coast Avengers for help!

Hawkeye responds by yelling AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!

Which, I think, in his mind means ‘no sweat, when you’re here, you’re family.’

Okay. So a lot of changes here.

A lot of changes that I don’t really know how to feel about.

It’s not an Avengers book if things aren’t being shaken up. And in fact, the West Coast Avengers roster has felt a little static up until Hank and Moon Knight joined.

And now Hank and Moon Knight have left! As have Tigra and Mockingbird.

I will say that after the secret has hung over Mockingbird for so long, the fallout was sufficiently big. She split the team up!

And her little group is apparently going to stay together as a splinter team. Fun!

I kind of wish Hank wasn’t going. For one thing, I’m still annoyed at ‘oh your first wife isn’t dead and that means nothing that happened in our marriage counts!’ But for another, he’d only recently reinvented himself and joined the team. I don’t think he stayed out long enough to wear out his welcome. And his fighting style of pulling random stuff out of his pocketses was fun.

Alas.

I’m not going to complain about Scarlet Witch and Vision being on the team. I like them. I’m not going to complain about Mantis. Against all reason, I like her too.

And not surprised that Englehart brought her back to the Avengers. Guy brings her wherever he goes.

Follow @essential-avengers​. Do it. It’d be a nice thing to do. Like, reblog, and comment too. Also nice things to do.

#avengers #west coast avengers #essential avengers #the Voice #Hawkeye #Wonder Man #Scarlet Witch #the Vision #Mantis #Hank Pym #Dr Pym #the Wasp #Mockingbird #Tigra #Moon Knight #mantis beats everyone up for a while #and even beats up the front cover #does her bloodlust know no bounds? #Mockingbird takes half the team in the divorce #stupid villain comes back stupidly and acts stupid

[eddieydewr]

I think what people forget, ignore or probably in the case of most younger fans, just don’t know, is that a two state solution has been offered multiple times in the past. One time so much as to give the Palestinians like 90 percent of what they wanted or more, and every single time they refused. At a certain point we have to be more critical of the Palestinians as well for having the option of peace multiple times and rejecting it every single time it was offered. And I don’t think we can or should ignore the fact that they elected Hamas, who stated in their founding charter they want all jews everywhere dead. To me this shows a fundamental incapability for these two groups of people to ever live peacefully in the same region until that ideology ends. because while the Israeli govt and military has a laundry list of problems they should be called out on, and the regime needs to go, and crimes they have committed need to be brought to justice, you also can’t make peace with a government/people whose ideology wants you dead full stop. Until that changes, there is no solution because what can be done? This is why this conflict has raged for so long with no solution and is considered insanely complicated, and why the simple bad guys vs good guys binary that gen z has ascribed to the situation doesn’t work.

Jews have indigenous claims to the land and even if they didn’t, realistically millions of jews are not going to up and leave because 1) where would they even go? where would we put them? whose land would we have to take so that they could have somewhere to go and what would be the fallout and other potential problems caused from that? the logistics of that are a nightmare and many jews live in Israel because other places of the world did not want jews or it was unsafe for them there (we also need to recognize most of the arab countries had lots of jews in their countries but have expelled all or almost all of them over the years so Israel was the best place for them to go) and the whole they are just white europeans and have other passports and can just up and leave to their other homes is not applicable to most of fhe people there and insulting to isrealis who have a long lineage in the middle east 2) as we have only been shown even more this year, the world is not a safe place for jews, the quickness in which so called liberal minded western people devolved into nazi like rhetoric is alarming, and they definitely deserve a place to protect themselves …. so yea this has no solution until hamas is gone and the palestinian people decide for themselves and through who they elect to lead them, that peace is more important than hating jews cause at this point that’s the only thing stopping a 2 state solution which can be the only solution to this. Cause israel is not going to be dissolved and the jews and palestinians can not live together in one state in harmony as the history of the middle east has shown us

(And I sure hope all the people who want Israel to be dissolved because they are “white colonizers” are willing to give up their home and land if they live in north america and give it back to the. native americans , if not then they need to shut up, stop grandstanding and think of actual solutions )

This post might sound like I am laying the issues all on Palestines feet and that I am some Israel bootlicker, I am not, both sides are at fault here, and both sides need to be active in trying to make peace and stop killing, however it can’t be ignored that at least Isreal has tried many times to give them what they want and end this but they always refuse and instead elected terrorists. And then they attacked and slaughtered hundreds… Like I support their right to want to have their own land but I do not support their actions so far and inability to accept any compromises and i can’t with the “noble savage” cliched trope that the internet has given to Hamas.

omg i don’t think i have much to add because you are right lol and i agree re. palestinians having their own land. young people also don’t realise that even the jews who never left were treated like second class citizens during the ottoman empire and the british mandate. when it fell into the UN’s hands, the arabs and palestinians didn’t even want 99% of the land because they hated the idea of living next door to jews. and now, 70 plus years later, one of the hamas leaders the other day reiterated that he doesn’t want a two state solution and wants the jewish ppl gone. so… the conflict isn’t going to be solved overnight, no matter how hard american college students scream for a ceasefire and boycotting businesses/brands that aren’t necessarily explicitly linked to israel.

lol btw, yesterday i saw an irish guy on twitter who is very radical and his bio said ‘refugees always welcome’. a lovely sentiment but i know he wouldn’t extend his welcome to israelis if they were to be displaced. 🤪

#anyone else who is offended by this pls read up on stuff and not rely on info from tiktok #hamas and houthis are not your friends. it is not islamophobic to say so #beth answers

[girlsexbattle2]

okay im going to be bitter

1.) Stutter

sounds like highschool musical.

2.) Who Do You Love

the backing track is like the song they play in charter add reels

3.) Havent Heard Enough

also just like 2000 boy band sound like that one gravity falls episode core

4.) Desperate Messures

okay i vibe with this one but thats a vice of mine not a win for them

5.) Fallout

This is christian rock. i would know i was raised on that shit

conclusions NONE OF THESE BITCHES HOLD A SINGLE GLIMMER AGAINST THE KILLING KIND. HOW HAVE WE FAILED THIS BADLY

Go Fix This

#marianas trench #angery #Spotify

[p0lygondust]

I’m making a Fallout-themed D&D campaign set in the Wisconsin Driftless region, and as part 2 of the factions,meet the leader of the Unstoppables, Alexander Klein! The Unstoppables got their name from the Hubris Comics series of the same name, and primarily operate out of the remains of Chicago (Although they have set up some new territories in the Driftless Wasteland. The Unstoppables primarily attempt to rebuild the old world and will charter expeditions to rebuild settlements. They also act as a bit of a pseudo police force for the Driftless.

#dungeons and dragons #d&d #fallout #fallout oc

[kspp]

NEP 2020 : How can India become center for public policy education in next five years?

Instead of looking at public policy professionals to be anchored in just arts and humanities, India must create a new generation of nation builders trained in Public Policy and learn from diverse disciplines such as law, management, technology, economics, and humanities.

India is a desirable destination in the global higher education space. Our demographic dividend will allow us to have the highest population of young people globally over the next decade. We need to reset our higher education offerings that will be in sync with our nation’s emerging needs and our region and the world.

When we take a closer look at the arena of public policy, specifically – India’s Act East policy has far-reaching implications in entire Southeast Asia. Over the years, China’s policies ranging from greater engagement with ASEAN, the formation of the Shangai Cooperation Organisation, debt diplomacy, and the recent Belt Road Initiative, show a reordering of the regional dynamics.

The US-China standoff, changing relations between countries in the middle east, etc., will lead to the emergence of new world order.

Domestically speaking, the repealing of close to 1500 acts during the 2014 to 2019 Lok Sabha tenure is an impressive feat considering that less than 2000 acts were repealed over the previous six decades. The emphasis on “Minimum Government Maximum Governance” and attempts to increase the “Ease of Doing Business” all point to a fresh impetus to change the way governance was done in India till recently.

As the 2012 article by CommonWealth Foundation says – “Governance is too important and complex to be left to governments alone.” Good governance will be brought about only when Society, Businesses, and Government come together and explore ways of working together to usher in more citizen-centric governance mechanisms. For a long time, in India and many other countries, public policymaking has been the domain of mainly the bureaucracy. What began in the UK under John Major, the “Citizen Charter” movement, has over the last decade resulted in various states starting to deliver the “Right to Public Services.”

Innovation in different fields: Further innovation by multiple states like Delhi, Karnataka, and other states, many public services are being offered at the doorstep. Other stakeholders’ inputs and opinions are rarely sought in a welcoming manner, and even if suggestions are received, they are less likely to be incorporated. The journey of “Changing the way we govern ourselves” demands the best and the brightest to be involved in nation-building and continue to become more citizen and business-friendly.

NEP aims to increase gross enrollment ratio: The National Education Policy 2020 rightly identifies the need to double the Gross Enrollment Ration to 50 percent by 2035 from the GER of 2018, which stood at 26.3 percent. The higher educational institutions across disciplines will have to add over three crore seats.

New generation of nation-builders: Instead of looking at public policy professionals to be anchored in just arts and humanities, India must create a new generation of nation builders trained in Public Policy and learn from diverse disciplines such as law, management, technology, economics, and humanities.

In addition to the reconfiguration of geopolitics, innovation in public services delivery, rapid advances in technology, and its implications necessitate progressive regulation to protect the privacy and thwart the threat of a jobless future. All of this adds to the need for professionalizing public policy. NEP rightfully encourages holistic and multidisciplinary education.

Emphasis must be to provide lifelong learning as compared to the long-standing – “finish college” and then “start working” mindset.

The logical fallout from NEP should lead well-functioning higher educational Institutions to dream big and move away from centrally controlled by cumbersome and lengthy Government regulations. NEP implementation should encourage them to become board-administered autonomous institutions that will respond to the country’s diverse needs and beyond.

The present-day, low-trust, high-touch regulatory approach needs to be replaced with a trust-but-verify mode, giving the better performing institutions greater autonomy to develop long-term roadmaps for emerging areas like public policy.

Different public policy courses: Public policy courses designed to keep Indian ethos with the western public policy frameworks will be essential ingredients to move towards a better-governed nation given the above set of conditions. Our students and faculty must blend ancient wisdom from texts like Kautilya’s Arthashastra, Bhartrihari’s Niti Shatakam, and others that capture the local realities and cultural context.

These texts cover various aspects of governance, ranging from ethics, economics, law, politics, military, spies, intelligence to logistics when combined with proven western governance mechanisms that have given excellent results.

With every crisis comes an opportunity to leapfrog to a new normal. Many lessons from India are relevant to the Commonwealth countries, South and Southeast Asian countries that share similar governance mechanisms.

As cooperative federalism is taking more center stage, many more opportunities will open up at the state level along with the national level for bringing in these reforms in the government sector. Many new areas are getting deregulated and opened up.

Many businesses will look out for public policy specialists who can advise them during this transitionary phase. India’s CSR spends from BSE 100 companies itself crossed 10,000 crores in FY19-20. Also, many not-for-profits raise large grants nationally and internationally will benefit from professionals with a good grounding in public policy education.

All the above aspects augur well for India powered by the National Education Policy to become a hotbed for public policy education. India will become a powerhouse for innovations that will usher in a citizen-centric and inclusive future for all.

#public policy #policymakers #Kautilyaschoolofpublicpolicy

[global-initiatives]

COVID Policy Comparisons: USA vs Australia For International Students 

The COVID pandemic caused unprecedented disruptions for overseas students amidst shifting travel barriers, campus closures and lost working hours. Evaluating the impacts across key destinatiprovides crucial insights on how universities managed support throughout crises.

 Within the USA, inconsistent federal leadership meant mitigation policies varied widely across different states causing confusion. While Ivy League and other reputed colleges tried restricting campus spread by continuing classes online, international students faced massive uncertainties around stays, travel permissions and hybrid learning barriers that could have led to deportations if not for immigration policy lawsuits eventually preventing worst case scenarios.

 In contrast, Australian institutions adopted clear communication channels with overseas students as the government coordinated with universities ensuring continuous virtual degree progression was enabled while fast tracking over 100,000+ offshore students return through sustained charter flights once conditions improved. Dedicated financial assistance covering emergency housing, telehealth access and academic fee reliefs further mitigated COVID stresses that overseas students faced through responsibly framed national policies. 

 Therefore, Australia’s unified efforts minimizing COVID fallouts for international students through proactive wellness initiatives, two-way communications and balanced travel provisions emerged a benchmark other mature destinations can emulate, creating templates to manage overseas enrolment vulnerabilities better if future black swan disruptions appear. 

#unprecedenteddisruptions #travelbarriers #campusclosures #lostworkinghours #inconsistentfederalleadership #confusion #ivyleague #onlineclasses #uncertainties #deportations #travelpermissions #clearcommunicationchannels #virtualdegreeprogression #financialassistance #nationalpolicies #telehealthacess #Australiaunifiedefforts #twowaycommunications #balancedtravelprovisions  #EnvoyOverseas #EthicalCounselling #EnvoyStudyAbroad #EnvoyEducation #Envoystudyoverseas #EnvoyStudyVisa #envoystudyinAustralia #envoystudyinUSA

-Akshitha 

Disclaimer: The perspectives shared in this blog are not intended to be prescriptive. They should act merely as viewpoints to aid overseas aspirants with helpful guidance. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research before availing the services of a consultant. 

#envoyoverseas #studyinusa #ethicalcounselling

[mariacallous]

When Citibank locked trading platform Swan Bitcoin out of its corporate bank account in October, it did so without warning or explanation. The only confirmation of what had happened came in the form of a paper check for the account balance, delivered to an old home address of Cory Klippsten, Swan’s CEO.

“There was absolutely no notice,” says Klippsten. “We got no phone call, no email, no snail mail letter—nothing. They just shut it down.”

Swan had a secondary account at another bank and so could still make payroll, but for a smaller firm this could have been an “existential threat,” Klippsten says. Citibank did not respond to a request for comment.

The crypto industry needs banking; it needs it badly and always has. Without a banking partner, crypto companies cannot accept dollar deposits in return for services or in exchange for tokens, nor can they pay their employees or vendors. That means the quest to build a parallel financial system free of intermediaries is dependent, inconveniently, on an accord with those same intermediaries—the banks. 

Wall Street has often been reluctant to work with crypto companies, so many in the industry came to rely on just two US banks—Silvergate and Signature—which made themselves invaluable to crypto clients by offering real-time payments outside of traditional banking hours. Over the past week, both banks have closed, Silvergate because of overexposure to the ailing crypto sector and Signature due to a liquidity crisis triggered by a sudden flood of withdrawals. That has left many crypto businesses—particularly smaller ones—back where they began: unbanked and with few alternatives at hand.

“Overwhelmingly, banking is the challenge for crypto companies,” says William Quigley, cofounder of stablecoin issuer Tether. “A lot of people in crypto are denied access to banking services. It’s a real problem.”

When the crypto space began to grow in the early 2010s, mainstream banks were often hesitant to work with a sector they saw as inherently risky. But as the industry began to move closer to the mainstream over the past few years, Wall Street’s level of comfort grew. Big banks such as JPMorgan and BNY Mellon started banking crypto exchanges and letting their clients store and trade coins. Regulators kept an eye on the sector, but besides a few “policy sprints,” they did little. 

Then in 2022, crypto collapsed in spectacular fashion. In May, the failure of the Terra-Luna stablecoin wiped out an estimated $60 billion, prompting a chain reaction that later took down crypto lender Celsius, hedge fund Three Arrows Capitals, and others. This was followed in November by the implosion of crypto exchange FTX, whose founder has since been charged with 12 criminal offenses, including bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

The fallout from the destruction of major pieces of the crypto ecosystem didn’t really spread into the mainstream financial sector, but regulators felt compelled to make sure it stayed that way. In a joint statement on January 3, the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the agencies responsible for the stability of the US banking system, claimed that crypto represents a “significant risk” for banks. “It is important that risks related to the crypto-asset sector that cannot be mitigated or controlled do not migrate to the banking system,” the agencies wrote, although they also made it clear that US banks are “neither prohibited nor discouraged” from servicing crypto businesses.

Since the start of the year, statements by the regulators and White House have further warned banks to limit their exposure to crypto. In late January, the Fed also announced that it had denied Custodia, a state-chartered bank that offers cryptocurrency custody services, applications to join the Federal Reserve System and open a master account, which would have made it possible for the firm to compete on a level footing with large national banks. 

Almost all of the household names in crypto—and many smaller ones—gravitated to the two institutions that remained friendly to crypto: Silvergate and Signature. 

Silvergate fell first. The bank had been struggling since the collapse of FTX and its sister company Alameda Research—both of which were also clients—which led customers to withdraw billions of dollars. On March 8, the bank announced it was being wound down. The US Department of Justice is reportedly conducting an investigation into Silvergate over services provided to FTX and Alameda.

The situation at Signature was different. The bank had been attempting since December to diversify its customer base to avoid the same concentration risk that afflicted Silvergate. But it appears that its reputation as a crypto bank, combined with panic in the wake of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), was enough to drive another fatal run on deposits, leading the FDIC to take possession of the bank on March 12. 

In an interview with Bloomberg on Sunday, Signature board member Barney Frank, the former congressman responsible for US banking reforms in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, said that the bank could have survived, but that regulators “wanted to send a message to get people away from crypto.”

The US Treasury did not respond to a request for comment. The Federal Reserve and FDIC declined to comment on the record. Stephanie Collins, media relations manager at the OCC, noted that the agency does not have oversight over Silvergate or Signature but did not address questions around coordination between US banking regulators. But in a statement provided to Reuters, the New York State Department of Financial Services, which handed Signature over to the FDIC, said “the decisions made over the weekend had nothing to do with crypto.”

However, the idea that regulators have it in for crypto carries weight in some parts of the industry. Even before Silvergate and Signature were shut down, members of the crypto community—including the CEO of US crypto exchange Kraken—were crying conspiracy and calling it “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” or a coordinated attempt to cut crypto off from the banking system.

The term, coined by Nic Carter, general partner at VC firm Castle Island Ventures, refers to a program launched by the Obama administration, under which US officials were said to have pressured banks into severing ties with disfavored industries like pornography and payday lending. 

Proponents of the Choke Point 2.0 theory say these moves are a renewed attempt to regulate by stealth—to use influence over the banking sector to create de facto policy without requiring the approval of Congress. “For now, most banks are petrified of serving crypto, so the policy has been a success without requiring a ban,” Carter says. “The objective is to do as much as possible without requiring new laws to be passed.”

A group of Republican senators, led by Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, penned a letter to the banking regulators on March 9, supporting this interpretation. The statements issued by regulators have “caused banks to reevaluate their decision to provide banking services to the crypto sector,” the letter claimed. “This coordinated behavior seems disturbingly reminiscent of Operation Choke Point.”

“Operation Choke Point 2.0 is very real,” says Caitlin Long, CEO at Custodia, the spurned bank. “Many banks have stepped way back in their crypto activities … and a lot of [crypto] companies ranging from small to very large are looking for bank accounts.”

Since January, Custodia has been inundated with enquiries from crypto companies looking for a banking partner, Long says, but without federal supervision it can only offer a limited selection of US dollar services. Custodia is suing the Fed over the denial of its application for membership.

Others are less convinced by the Choke Point theory. Economist Frances Copolla, who worked in risk management for HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland, says she doesn’t think there has been a “coordinated attack on crypto,” but that the failure of Silvergate and Signature is a reflection of fragilities in their operating models. Caleb Franzen, a corporate banking analyst at research firm Cubic Analytics, says talk of underhanded tactics among regulators is “purely speculation.”

But whether by accident or design, crypto is facing a banking crisis in the US.

The closure of Silvergate and Signature has sent crypto businesses hunting urgently for new banking partners. Circle Internet Financial, whose USDC stablecoin was knocked temporarily off its peg to the dollar by word of exposure to Silvergate and SVB, arranged over the weekend to expand an existing relationship with BNY Mellon. But not everyone is home and dry; crypto investment firms MaiCapital and Digital Asset Capital Management have taken the search for new banking partners offshore, while trading platform LedgerX has been forced to find a new bank for a second time, after switching initially from Silvergate to Signature. None of the firms responded to a request for comment.

By virtue of the value they represent to banks, larger crypto businesses are likely to be able to hold on to their existing accounts in the US, says Carter, which means US residents will still have access to crypto exchanges. But smaller firms are “scrambling,” he says. The result is likely to be that some businesses will migrate to countries with more favorable regulatory regimes; some will struggle to raise venture capital, which is contingent on access to banking; and others won’t be started in the first place, says Carter.

With the fall of Silvergate and Signature, the only two banks to offer real-time payments at any hour and on any day, the 24/7 crypto industry will have to get used to operating at a different pace. For traders, this means an inability to exit bets outside of regular banking hours, which is likely to create an additional level of volatility.

Swan Bitcoin’s Klippsten does not buy into the idea that US regulators have initiated a coordinated assault on the crypto industry, driven by “a man behind the curtain pulling the strings.” He’s also more sanguine about the prospects of the companies “orphaned” by Silvergate and Signature finding new banking partners, saying “banks are usually glad to take your money.” 

Klippsten is also sympathetic to regulators’ ambition to defend against fraud in the crypto sector. But the frustration, he says, is that legitimate crypto companies will be collateral damage. 

“Because crypto is so shady and some of the businesses are so poorly run, the whole category is toxic—it’s a pile of dogshit on average,” he says. “So it’s hard to ask a bank with hundreds of thousands of accounts to differentiate between good crypto businesses, run by mature adults, [and bad ones]. We’re stuck being painted with the same brush.”

[meanwhileinstasiville]

Another one of these days. Charter bus with words on it for proselytizing. Relative worth, you know, of the “someone can care about you that’s not us” variety. Even though its money and time and other peoples stuff marshalled to this end. Support for hoist connotes a religious symbol; pulls up next to me on a bridge that turns green right when I get to where it had stopped? I hope they’re on the way to somewhere. A fallout colored merchandising semi pulls up and parks, where I have coincidentally stopped for a drink. Having habitually snacked there most days, seems a little odd. But all crime is organized and we live in the technological future of that here.

(I saw Marcie where she’d been parked by Peppermint Patty, on the sidewalk flanked by a couple heavies outside a restaurant. Pretend caring is as good as real caring when living that kind of a life, right Patty?)

[deadlinecom]

[squalus-and-squilla]

FALLOUT: THE RIVER OF GLASS

The breeze was strong, blowing strands of hair onto your face. The winds and the currents conspired to make what should have been a two day’s trip down the River of Sant Juan a week-long journey.

Everyone onboard the ship was weary, none more than the four oarsmen who seemed to receive rations fit for perhaps a cat. You made a note to leave a review of this charter when you returned to Jacksonville; plenty of other captains offered this trip, and you doubted any of them let conditions get this bad.

Speaking of the captain, he was teetering anxiously near the bow, as if hoping he would spot the destination sooner. Your entourage of six men sat further amidship. Each one was closely clutching their guns, deeply aware of the dangers that awaited as you made your way south through the river and into the marsh. Despite the whole ship being hungry and sleep-deprived, the men you hired held fast to their job. This relieving thought had given you comfort over the past two days. It was your first time making the journey south, and you were not going to let the desire to scrimp coins overcome the common sense of having some extra protection for your caravan.

After all, the locals weren’t so fond of anyone from the north after last year’s war.

Still, communication lines remained open and couriers were able to transmit messages. Last month, a request arrived from Andytown; a politician wanted a birthday gift for his daughter, requesting a sapling of a white-colored rosebud for her garden. As your network had much trade in lumber to the more devastated regions further north, it took little for you to acquire such a thing. You kept the sapling in a wet bag on your back, too embarrassed to explain such a petty reason for a dangerous journey.

Now, you made the trek in hopes of perhaps reopening the trade routes south. A little networking can sometimes be such a big task.

Suddenly, the captain cried out. Around the bend, the swamps widened again into a lake. You were almost to your second stop of Fort San Ford. The ship had almost made it past the outlet and into the lake proper when you spotted a gar rolling around and some birds flying above it. You hurriedly yelled at the oarsmen to stop, and two of your men sat up, one aiming his gun and another readying a noisemaker to lure the beast away. They’d heard the warnings, but unfortunately it proved too late. The gar must’ve heard the oars slapping the water, as it turned and rushed down upon the boat. Your men opened fire and shot pellets and bullets ricocheted off the fish’s scales.

With a loud crash, the gar rammed the boat. A split second before you could even register what happened, you felt weightlessness then the forceful splash of water. You quickly righted yourself to the surface and sputtered out the liquid in your throat, only to witness the terrible scene of the gar shaking the small boat. The captain, somehow having held on, was desperately trying to spear the beast.

Knowing the commotion could only cause further trouble, you began to kick to shore. You noted some fins rising and joining the frenzy, blood painting the water as you heard the screams of one of your hired guns.

Stepping out of the lake and onto the soft ground, you turned back to see if anyone else survived. What you saw was a gruesome sight, certainly more than you bargained for when you set out. The current was pushing the blood back into the swamps as a tangled mess of scales, fins, and swooping caracaras fought for scraps of human meat.

Clutching your revolver and shaking in the breeze, you said a silent prayer, infinitely thankful that you were still alive and that you could see the fort’s docks in the distance.

Alone, soaked, and perhaps a bit traumatized, you began to walk across the shoreline. You hope you can make it before dusk.