#First term

[deadpresidents]

Would you say Biden has been a better president (so far) than Obama?

That's an interesting question. Obama had a really tough first three years. He inherited two raging wars that were not going well at all and an even worse economic crisis than the pandemic's aftermath. Sometimes, I think people forgot how scary the Great Recession got between 2008 and 2010. All Presidents are forced to hit the ground running on Inauguration Day, but the Obama Administration had a five-alarm economic fire to put out from the moment he took the oath. It required expending a ton of political capital just to get things steady and heading in the right direction. And then the Democrats got slaughtered in the 2010 midterm elections.

So almost all of Obama's first term was spent climbing out of a deep hole and despite the fact that he had some major legislative accomplishments from pretty early on in his Presidency, he really didn't start finding his footing until 2011. I was highly critical of the Obama Administration's communications strategy during his first term because he had some massive legislative victories (the Recovery Act, repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell, the 2010 tax reform bill, Dodd-Frank, S-CHIP, and, obviously, the Affordable Care Act), but they fumbled some of the rollouts and did a lousy job promoting the impact of those accomplishments and their successes in implementing TARP. That started to improve after the 2010 midterms and as Obama became more comfortable in the White House. Remember, when he was elected President in 2008, he had only had three years of experience in Washington as a junior Senator -- and, quite frankly, he spent a lot of that time building a Presidential campaign and running for the Presidency. No one is ever completely ready to be President on day one, but Obama needed a lot more on-the-job training about Washington politics than, say, George H.W. Bush or Biden. After President Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and started diving into the 2012 reelection campaign cycle, he was on a roll. He also seemed to do a better job arguing his points when he had the foil of an opposing party in control of a Congressional chamber after the 2010 midterms. But it was rough for most of that first term, even though it seems like he was chalking up legislative victories at first glance.

Biden had the advantage of eight years as an influential Vice President and nearly 40 years as a powerful U.S. Senator. There are few Presidents in all of American history who had more Washington experience than Joe Biden did on Inauguration Day. He also was succeeding the worst President in history; someone who had bungled the biggest health crisis in modern memory, been impeached twice and had just incited an insurrection that attacked the U.S. Capitol and tried to overturn an election. It's not that he had an easier task -- not by any means -- but Biden would have really needed to fuck up right out of the gate in order to have done worse than his predecessor.

The Biden Administration has clearly had its struggles, as well, but I think his team was far better prepared to tackle those problems than Obama's was during Obama's first term. Of course, most of the Biden Administration had worked in Obama's Administration, so they knew what they were doing by that point, and they communicated far more effectively. I think the biggest individual legislative victories and policy accomplishments of Obama's first term were probably bigger than any of Biden's individual achievements, but Biden's may have been more immediately impactful to more people, if that makes any sense. I also think that the fact that President Biden’s party performed so well in his first midterm election will also be remembered as a big victory because that just doesn't usually happen historically, and future historians will see it as even more impressive in contrast with the political climate in which it occurred.

After all of that, I recognize that I still didn't really answer your question! I honestly don't know. It always requires time to be able to properly judge Presidencies, especially when comparing them to others, so it's just too difficult for me to give a clear answer while we're still in the middle of Biden's first term. And I believe a President's job performance has to be rated on more than just legislative achievements, so other aspects of the job should be factored in. Did they inspire change? Did they provide moral leadership? How did they respond to the crises unique to their specific times? Did they have a certain vision or an agenda and how much of that mission did they accomplish? How did they meet international challenges and did they provide the global leadership that the rest of the world has sought from American Presidents since World War II? Did they fulfill their oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution? Was the country in a better place on the day their term ended than the day they were sworn in? It requires much deeper thought and a closer examination of how the Presidents led the country within the context of the times they presided over. I understand that I ended up asking more questions than answering, but it's just never quite as simple as looking at a scoreboard of legislative victories and policy failures.

#Presidents #History #Presidential History #Barack Obama #President Obama #Obama Administration #Joe Biden #President Biden #Biden Administration #Presidential Leadership #Presidential Performance #Politics #Political History #First term

[todaywestudy]

things i learnt during my first term at uni

have a system to classify and organise your notes!

whether you type or handwrite your notes or write them digitally, make sure you work out a labelling system to keep all your documents in order.

i have google drive folders for every year and class and label things by week, lecture slides and notes/seminar notes/reading document/reading notes using abbreviations.

W1L1 - Pol0004 is Week 1, Lecture 1 for HSPS004 et cetera

don’t be afraid of office hours!

to me office hours seemed super scary, as with many new things at uni i didn’t know what the exact procedure would be and thus shied away at first.

the office hours i actually attended were genuinely useful and in case you also feel a bit iffy about going, i recommend sticking to a few key points to get the conversation started

1. why are you there? - easy but prepare to talk about a) the class, b) the assignment, c) the readings, d) the workload, e) the professor’s research, f) further materials, g) …

2. what help would you benefit from? - assignments, extracurriculars in a specific field, internship ideas, how to access or find out about certain services on campus, ... etc.!

TRY. don't be afraid to fail, you might even succeed.

instead of holding yourself back because you either don't like being amazing at something first try or because you are afraid people might be better than you at something and you would feel "out of place", just show up! go and try out for this really random thing, run in that election for this cool society you wanna hold a position in, go to castings and submit your writing to competitions, don't be afraid to try new stuff! i went from being afraid to participate in a selection trial to being offered a really amazing opportunity and from committing to a debate tournament (fully expecting to bomb) to actually ending up in the finale. and even when things don't go amazing and you rank last, you tried, and that's worth a win.

last but not least: give yourself breaks and don’t be afraid to ask questions!

#todaywestudy #uni advice #college advice #first year #first term #university #uni #college #advice #office hours #study advice #professors #things i learned #things i learnt #studyblr #studyspo #study aesthetic #studyinspo #study motivation #studying #freshman #incoming freshman #freshmen

[fieriframes]

[Everybody here really respects the fact that I'm giving them the chance. FIERI: and first term of the series was given me quite by chance]

#s27e10 from pied to fried #guy fieri #guyfieri #diners drive-ins and dives #first term #everybody #fact #chance #fieri #series

[oobbbear]

I want to post this here too because I’ve seen it happen a few times

Please understand that there are cultural differences and language differences, if you see this happening let the person clarify what they meant, that person might just not be familiar with words the western side of the internet use

#bearz rambling tag #no it’s not really possible to let everyone who uses this term to change #because as far as I know this is the most common word with use on Chinese websites #I didn’t know that pairing are called ‘ship’ here #like why would I even know that #‘ship’ makes zero sense to me #it took me a while to learn the fandom language people speak here #it’s hard #give people time #shipping culture is very different too #Like on Chinese site you HAVE to clarify the Top and the Bottom of this ship in the ship name #it is very very important to them #people who like the same ship but with different Top Bottom preference will fight till no end #imagine how confused I was when I first got here #where there’s no top bottom differences #it’s not really a smut thing #it’s more a dynamic thing #AxB and BxA is very different #oh I can talk so much about the differences on fandom cultures #if ya are interested in more please feel free to ask #it’s very interesting to me #I wanna talk about it

[ski-ip]

the passage of time

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #falin touden #marcille donato #farcille #falin #marcille #dungeon meshi fanart #what if they had never encountered the dragon in the first place #marcille outliving everyone she loves but has yet to come to terms with deaths and partings

[astralpenguin]

self care is writing a fic that you’re literally the sole target audience for

#nobody was asking for a spn pmmm crossover fic focusing on claire at 14 #who by this point has already been manipulated into agreeing to something without knowing all the terms and conditions first #and it was awful and the worst day of her life #so when kyubey approaches her she doesn't go for it #but the people around her do and so claire gets to watch people she loves die horribly AGAIN #like there is nothing in spn canon that contradicts any of this #but literally nobody is wanting a fic like this to exist #nobody except for me #so i guess i have to do everything myself around here #el talks

[pinkcanvasdreams]

Amidst the breathtaking backdrop of our first term interior exhibition, our group's artistic synergy shone brightly, transforming our collective vision into a stunning reality that left both of us and the viewers enchanted. The gallery buzzed with awe and admiration and as we reflected on the journey, it was clear that this experience had ignited a lifelong passion for creating immersive spaces that captivate the soul. #Firsttermexhibition

#first term #art exhibition #installation #immersive #space design #interior design #university #group work

[just-your-average-tangerine]

The line between binary and nonbinary trans people is nowhere near as clean as some of yall think it is

#transgender #trans #nonbinary #like i guess i would be considered a 'binary' trans man #i wouldnt consider myself that for two reasons #first because the idea that gender is binary is bullshit to begin with so why would i identify within it #and second because i am a man only in that i am a gay man #i dont identify outside of manhood im terms of gender #but my gender is so linked to my sexuality that it cant be neatly tracked onto a binary view of 'man' #but because i am a man other consider me 'binary' regardless of how i feel about it #and yet will still refuse to use he/him pronouns in favor of exclusively using they/them #but thats a different discussion #op

[ofswordsandpens]

This Kid's Not Alright

perseus // unknown // The Battle of the Labyrinth, Rick Riordan // unknown // The House of Hades, Rick Riordan // unknown // @ vialjarhorn // The Last Olympian, Rick Riordan // The House of Hades, Rick Riordan // @ dying-dog // The House of Hades, Rick Riordan // brutal, Olivia Rodrigo // The Mark of Athena, Rick Riordan // unknown // The Gods Show Up, Michael Kinnucan // The Chalice of the Gods, Rick Riordan

#my first attempt at web weaving(?) #I believe that's the term #this took way too long lmao #anyways this me connecting the dots in the saddest way possible #the boy is angry he's spiraling he's deranged no one is helping #pjo #percy jackson #mine #web weaving #powerful percy jackson #dark percy #words

[radiance1]

The Ghost Prince does not, under any circumstances, answer a summoning after it was made aware he existed. None know why he doesn't, some are bitter and hateful of it while others are thankful that it's one less bloodthirsty manic to deal with.

The Ghost King meanwhile hasn't been seen in multiple eons, so the magical community who wanted to use his power just, stopped, trying to summon him for a long time.

Most magic users knew that the Ghost Prince never answered a summons, and that the Ghost King just dropped off the radar.

So could you really blame Constantine for not taking it that seriously when some wannabe hotshot cultists try to summon both of them in the middle of a city to wreak havoc?

He'll give them some credit though. Points for doing it in broad daylight and actually being somewhat of a threat with not relying on just summoning the Ghost royalty and figuring out what to do from there.

The area they were in was somewhat destroyed, then the cultists manage to complete the summoning circle to summon both of them and Constantine, well he just light up a smoke.

It isn't going to work anyways so what does it matter?

...

Is that a fucking Ice cream truck he hears? Who the fuck is driving an Ice cream truck while their city is being under attacked with cultists trying to summon eldritch ghost royalty?

He'll give them some points for dedication, though.

Then he looked at the cultists and nearly had a goddamn heart attack to see that the summoning circle is actually fucking lighting up and working.

The Bat is so gonna give him a headache over this.

----

Danny Phantom, crown prince of the Infinite Realms. Does not answer summons.

For one, it is annoying as shit, whenever someone interrupts his day just to ask for infinite power (that he can't give), world domination (that he won't do) or infinite riches (which he also can't do).

It just got annoying being summoned all the time so. One day he just, well, no. And hey, it worked out well enough for him to not continue doing it.

Then he also learned that Pariah Dark is basically the same, after he got out the coffin and stopped trying to take over the world for whatever reason. He was actually a pretty swell guy!

He was just with him too, with him being not so swell at the time for making him go through lessons about Ghost etiquette, rules, stuff that's expected of him as the crown prince.

And don't even get him started on the engagement and marriage proposals.

Overall, he just wanted to find an excuse to leave. Then he felt the familiar suggestive pull of a summoning and, instead of rejection as he usually does in a second. He thought for a bit if he wanted to go with that or crown prince duties.

It was tempting, but dealing with cultists seemed worse than this so he was about to reject.

At least, before he heard an Ice cream truck playing in the background. He doesn't even know how the hell that popped up through the pull but by the gods has it been a while since he's had Ice cream.

So he answers and is gone with a pop.

Pariah Dark just stares for a good second or two, before breathing out and deciding to also answer. Fright Knight is just there, off to side, questioning what he should do now.

Danny wastes no time with the cultists on the other side and in fact, he pushes them out of the way and goes diving for that Ice cream truck he hears. Only to realize he doesn't, have any money on him.

Fuck.

Pariah Dark is less inclined to follow the rules imposed by humans like money, but he does know it can be important. Once in a while. Not that often, but it has its times.

So when he sees his adopted son being sad over being unable to pay for some kind of human delicacy, he digs around in his hair (yes, his hair.) and pulls out some money and puts it on the counter as payment.

The man inside the tiny vehicle had shrieked before getting what they wanted. Which is good. Fear is a good motivator, Pariah thinks.

Unknown to him, it wasn't out of fear (Well, mostly) but because the Ghost King placed down a coin made of pure, solid gold on his counter.

The two then go about their business in the human realm, completely forgetting about the fact that they were summoned here for something.

Constantine is both relieved and about to have an aneurysm at seeing Infinite Realm royalty only answering a summon because of Ice cream.

#dc x dp #dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #pariah dark #john constantine #The Ghost King and Prince are known to not answer summons #both for different reasons #But Danny instantly answers one because he heard an Ice cream truck in the background #Pariah followed because he at first wanted to get Danny back to Crown Prince lessons #Only to be swayed by his puppies eyes and the absolute delicacy that is Ice cream #Pariah Dark is stuck in the medieval times in terms of money #He would literally pull out gold coins and pay for shit that way #He is rich rich #Like basically a neigh infinite supply of gold coins he keeps in his hair #Don't ask him how just ghost logic #They then spent the day going around to Ice cream shops and taste testing them #Poor Fright Knight is left alone wondering what he should do #Word spreads in the magical community about this and everyone tries it out #It does work #But if there isn't actually Ice cream you'll have an angry Ghost Prince to deal with #And an angry Ghost Prince leads to a less than cordial Ghost King

[bet-on-me-13]

The First Supervillain

So! A Typical "Early Start" AU where the events of The Show happen early in the Timeline. Like, in the 70's or 80's.

Danny never quite managed to fix his Public Perception, and even years into his career people still saw him as the Villain.

Coincidentally Valerie was seen as a Hero because of how often they were seen fighting. Even after they revealed their Identities and got together, they still had the occasional Battle. It was their love language.

His role as the Villain was Cemented when Pariah launched his Second Invasion of Earth after some dumbass accidentally freed him, and Danny took the Blame for it. Instead of being seen as the Hero who battled Pariah and stopped the Invasion, he was seen as the Tyrant to launched the Invasion in the first place, with Red Huntess being the one to defeat him in one final Ultimate Battle.

And honestly? He was fine with that. Now that he was the King of the Ghost Zone, he had the Authority to Regulate the Portal so villains stopped getting through. And that meant that he wasn't needed to stop random Ghost Attacks anymore. He could finally focus on College and his own Life, instead of sacrificing everything to act as the Protector of the Human Realm.

Val continued to be a Hero for a few more years, eventually retiring when it became Clear that the new generation of Heroes could pick up the Slack.

He went to College, got a Job as an Aerospace Engineer, and eventually proposed to Valerie.

About 20 years since his initial Accident, and he was doing great! He had moved into a humble home on the edge of town with his loving wife Val, his beautiful daughter Ellie, and his cute dog Cujo.

Yeah, life was good.

Until the day Danny accidently caused a Mass Crisis.

...

Superman was having some extreme trouble in dealing with his current Opponent. He had just been flying around the City, patrolling as Usual, when all of a sudden he had been attacked by a Flying Mech Suit.

At first he had assumed that Lex was giving it another Go, but he quickly realized that was not the case when the Armor seemed to Phase though solid matter in the middle of the battle. Lex had never made Tech advanced enough to do that on the fly.

This opponent was tough too. Strong enough and Durable enough to go blow for blow with him, and seemingly able to pull Advanced Weaponry from out of nowhere whenever he wanted. As tough as it was to admit, Superman as losing the Battle.

Then, without warning, the battle stopped. His opponent was staring at the space just behind him, with a look of pure dread. He turned around, and his heart stopped.

Floating behind him, staring right past him and directly at the Mech Suit, was the First Villain Phantom.

He looked much the same as when he had last been seen, although he was definitely Older. He had snow white hair, and glowing green eyes that seemed to stare right past him and into his very soul. He was wearing what seemed to be a costume of sorts, with an all black suit, white gloves, and white boots. Over his Shoulders sat a Cloak made of Stars, and above his head sat a Crown made of an Icy Blue Fire.

The Mech tried for a greeting, "Er- Hello t-Lord Phantom. How do you d-"

"Skulker."

"Y-yes?"

"What are you doing here? I thought I gave you explicit orders to stay in the Ghost Zone until further notice. You disobeyed me."

"Okay look. I got excited, that's my fault. It's just, I got anxious waiting. Can you really blame me? I've been waiting 20 years to take another Crack at the Human World, what's it matter if I left a few weeks Early?"

"I told you. You were supposed to wait exactly 20 Years, and you left Early. This calls for punishment."

"No wait!"

"Let's see how you feel after a few days as Soup."

The Villain pulled out a Thermos, and in a flash of green light, Skulker was gone, and the King was capping the Thermos. He then turned to Superman.

"I apologize for him, he decided to leave ahead of schedule." The King addressed him. "Now, Kryptonian. Rest and tend to your wounds, you will need to be in your best health if you want to continue saving the lives of those people below us."

With a dramatic flare, the King reached up and Tore a hole in Space. Through the Hole, Superman could only see an infinite Green Void, with the sound of screams cheering being heard through the rift.

The King departed through the Tear in Spacetime, and it closed behind him.

Superman tried to collect himself, and activated his League Emergency Comms.

"Attention All Founding Members, and Justice League Dark Members. This is Superman calling for an immediate Emergency Meeting."

He took a deep breath.

"Phantom is Back."

#Dpxdc #Dp x dc #Dcxdp #Dc x dp #Danny Phantom #Dc #Dcu #Phantom is the first Supervillain #Red Huntress is the first Superhero #Danny/Valerie #Danny x Valerie #When Valerie and Danny battled against Pariah Dark they both managed to beat him #So they both became the King and Queen of the Zone #But nobody knows this and thought that Hero Red Huntress had defeated Villain Phantom #Danny went along with this since if was just easier and he didn't plan to ever break out the Phantom Persona again #Until Skulker decided to break the terms of his Parole #Skulker was supposed to be released in a few weeks but he got excited when he learned that a new Rare Species had become a Hero #He violated his Parole and left to the Human Realm Early #Misunderstandings #Now Superman thinks Danny is planning an Invasion of the Human Realm #They need to find Red Huntress #she would know how to defeat Phantom #Too bad for them she never let her identity be revealed

[kagoutiss]

pelican town, ‘72

#stardew valley #stardew valley spoilers #sdv #sdv spoilers #grandpa #mister qi #mr. qi #idk how dates work in stardew universe im just bullshittin #i love qi’s huge fucking eyebrows you dont notice them at first but theyre there #(gives our collective grandpa a ponytail) i think he had one. whatever #’why isnt mister qi blue’ my hc is he is blue from long-term iridium supplementation #and was originally just a regular person #but also it’s nice to see ur fav be like a normal human color #if u read tag essays tho consider this: #qi discovers secret to immortality (consuming iridium in a specific manner) #wants to share discovery with his farmer (player’s grandpa) and in that way. they will have all the time in the world to build #a perfect farming/business empire whose legacy will last forever and ever and theyll be 2gether forever #but it turns out. like a lot of normal people would. his farmer does not want to live forever #and obv he doesn’t #in an attempt to try not to ever lose the thing that means more to him than anything else in the world. qi inadvertantly ensures he will #because his farmer is dead. and he’s going to live forever #but. it’s kind of ok. because he has infinite money and was able to figure out how to talk to his dead bf #and now YOU help them fulfill their joint goal of making the farm’s legacy last forever #smile. heart #sobbing

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

i have a Scene - a Plot if you will - that backs this as context. y'all are gonna have to trust me on this one <3 or read the tags...

#the song is 'in your eyes' by peter gabriel #boombox serenade lets GO!!! #in my mind immediately after this the others came over to say hi (or in sallys case tell him off) #and at first howdy's like 'oh ofc wallys there that makes sense. sally too? strange but alright' #then eddie appears and ohhhh boy its Jealousy Central Babey and howdy's train just pulled into the station #scribble salad #laughingstock #welcome home #barnaby x howdy #howdy x barnaby #OK CONTEXT I PROMISED CONTEXT #so in my mind howdy is an oblivious dumbass when it comes to his own romantic feelings. #he's so in love with barnaby (its very obvious) but Doesnt Realize It. despite being a god tier flirty fruity motherfucker #so when barnaby - thinking theyre on the same page - confesses #howdy's all like 'ohhh um. gee barn im flattered truly but - i just dont like you like that' #yk breaking barnaby's heart right down the middle #so barnaby shuts himself in his home and wally is hovering. yk Worried #and eddie - who's been helping barnaby come to terms w/ his own feelings & gauge if howdy feels the same - asks sally to check in for him #& sally goes over and Immediately involves herself. she takes personal offense on barnaby's behalf #also she lives for the drama and wants every juice detail Hot Off The Press #so while howdy is having a lil crisis as he slowly realizes Oh My Fucking God I DO Love Barnaby Like That- #barnaby / sally / wally / (eventually) eddie are all having a sleepover where they just play card games and chat #a good ol bitch n' stitch night #and howdy shows up to try and talk to barns (obvs in my head he doesnt have a boombox he just Knocks) #only to get RE-RE-RE-REJECTEDDDDDD!!!! thats how it feels you wormy mf! #bc barnaby is a) having a girls night & b) needs to emotionally prepare for That conversation #aaaaand THATS the context <3

[thebrainrotsreal]

Freeing myself from the shackles of an organized comic format to get this idea out of my head!! Also, just follow the numbers if the layout is too confusing otherwise, but basically I want Spectra to be Jazz's Nemesis so bad. It just makes sense.

SO: the hypothetical episode's showdown would be them battling, and no Danny, he's already got beef with a packers obsessed billionaire. Now, Spectra's got the high ground with overwhelming power, but she's sloppier and easily irritated because of it! Jazz then outsmarts her, getting her angry enough to make enough mistakes to be corned and canned by the thermos.

Also minor spelling error ugh, meant to put "no one could", not "no could".

#also mad kudos to ectoblastic for the idea of jazz and penni being friends (but particarly penni using her) !! i saw the tags and GASPED #also i will never draw danny the same way but i've selected the colors i will use for him until i die #first and last panel of spectra were my fav to draw because she looks feral and unhinged. as she should always be. #jazz: figures out “penni” spectra and her whole deal #spectra: and i took that personally #she fully means killing jazz btw she has SO much power right now and she is READY to use it #the brainrotsreal's art tag ✧˖°:*♡ #digital art #dp spectra #penelope spectra #spectra phantom #danny phantom fanart #jazz fenton #danny fenton fanart #danny fenton #LET SPECTRA AND JAZZ HAVE ETERNAL BEEF #THEY WERE MADE TO BE EACH OTHER'S NEMESIS #the way vlad is like a stronger/smarter/older verison of danny in terms of physical ghostly capabilities but selfish #and thus the way spectra is a stronger/smarter/older verison of jazz in terms of manipulation and pysch but selfish #DO YOU SEE THE VISION??????? #if anyone's reading the tags feel free to ask me about this idea PLEASE #I CAN RAMBLE FOR HOURS

[aromanticduck]

#trans humour #trans jokes #polls #organic home grown content #joke explanation: the first four are genuine transgender terms and the rest are initials for unrelated stuff that uses similar letters

[fierifiction]

Everybody here really respects the fact that I'm giving them the chance. FIERI: and first term of the series was given me quite by chance. It got me excited just to take a chance and just just get to know what this game will be like, so I hope to start to see a better future for me, and it will really make this game a better place. How can fans know how good this game will be, though? It's a huge, huge responsibility, and people here are super supportive.

#s27e10 from pied to fried #guy fieri #guyfieri #diners drive-ins and dives #first term #everybody #fact #chance #fieri #series