#at this point might as well commission someone to make a dupe

[nightmareinfloral]

Zimmermann Fall 2020 RTW eye shoes you will always be famous

#the way i’ve scoured the internet trying to get my hands on these #they’re so good. #i would pay obscene amounts of money for them #at this point might as well commission someone to make a dupe

[imakeficrequestsandthendisappear]

The post where I try to fix Klaus’ arc in TUA season 2

(((I guess I just am an umbrella academy blogger now)))

OKAY, so we all can agree that Klaus’s arc in season 2 (mostly with dave) was....not great. the intentions i think were good, but misguided. It started pretty good, the acting was great, but it didn’t have the lasting power. Here’s 10 things the writers should have done differently, or should do in the future (as told by me, a nobody). Yes most of this is a long Klaus x Dave shitpost 

1. Learn Basic Math:   Idk why this is so hard to fucking grasp, but Dave’s baby-faced teenager age doesn’t make any fucking sense. according to the wiki, he was born in 1939, so in 1963 he is 24 years old. the actor who played young Dave is currently 20, so was probably 19 when they filmed. 

Why? why. *instert why vine*

like yeah he’s younger, but he doesn’t need to look like a infant. The baby-est gay that ever did baby gay. it puts a weird dynamic into the whole season with Klaus. and it’s not like there isn’t someone else who can play dave....

2. Hire Cody Ray Thompson again:  ....like, I’m baffled. they’ve baffled me. This guy had one(1) job, fall in love with Klaus, and he did it with so much charm and chemistry that the whole fanbase is still quaking. he had like 2 lines. like less 3 total minutes of screen time. And we all fell in love with him cause he did so good. ((he’s also a klave stan check out his twitter))

Whyyyy couldn’t they just get him in for season? “hE’d LoOk ToO OlD” well the other kid looked too damn young. do his hair different, have him lose some bulk in the arms and shoulders, get him a k-pop skin care routine, I don’t care.

Imagine if he got to have multiple scenes with Robert Sheehan, when they had so much chemistry in just a short montage in season 1.

3. Knock it off with the homophobia: i’m not gonna talk about when Dave punches klaus it’s literally the worst part of the season. it’s not what i came here for. I want a refund. (see point 7 for notes)

4. Actually make the cult a useful part of the season: like we have hundreds of adoring klaus fans ready to do anything he tells them… could that have served a plot purpose at any point? Could that have been useful in a conflict, or some character development? No?

5. Establish the Ben possessions much earlier: probably one of the most interesting plot points from season 2 is that ben had more agency. And then 5 minutes later he didn’t. I know we have 7 main characters but did we need this many scenes with the Handler while Ben got diddly fuck until the last 2 episodes? 

6: Why Doesn’t Klaus see ghosts anymore?: like, he sees Ben. but, what about all the other ones? He got sober, does he just ignore them now? ((guys what if he conjured the spirit of JFK)) 

7: (this one’s long) Make Klaus’s arc about internal conflict, not an external conflict between him and Dave:  

Klaus is established in season 1 to be selfish, but in like a fun way. he thinks of self satisfaction before literally anything else. this comes to a head when he comes back from Vietnam and says “He was the only person I’ve ever loved more than myself” 

After this Klaus’ growth is kind of put on the back-burner for the apocalypse stuff. We never really get to see him put someone else first after that. Even when he gets sober to see Dave, it’s to fulfill his own desires. 

By season 2 his world view has shifted, he gets sober, but we need more actions toward change. he gets bored of the cult and ditches them, and he barely does anything for Ben.

(selfish but lovable)

Enter tall hunky texas boy Dave, (((who is an adult man))) who is in the closet from his homophobic family, but it’s not spelled out for us. It could be as subtle as a look, or saying a coded phrase. The audience isn’t interested in the macro-drama of 1960’s homophobia, we are interested in the micro-drama between these two characters.

Anyway, Klaus is excited to see Dave, and they like meet and have a normal conversation, where it is eventually revealed that Dave is already planning on joining the marines soon. Klaus wants to stop him but then he realizes (or Ben tells him) that if Klaus says the wrong thing (like telling Dave not to go to war) it would change the timeline and they would never meet in 1968. And for the next couple EPISODES i want Klaus to have to think about this, like it’s an actual hard decision to make. He’s a creature of habit, his instincts are selfish because he’s always been selfish, but he loves this guy so much. 

Maybe he tries bargaining, like maybe he can subtly tell Dave just enough to keep him alive, but not stop him from going to Vietnam. And Dave is rightfully confused that this person knows a lot about him, but also like… he’s kinda cute. I want weird coffee shop dates and long walks through the texas fields in the setting sun.  

But right at the deadline of “we gotta stop the apocalypse again” Klaus realizes that he can’t let Dave go to Vietnam, even if it means they never meet. Cause he loves dave like way too much to even risk it, even if it means putting his own happiness second. It’s the first truly selfless act of love Klaus does for someone. So he tells him everything, but it sounds fucking bat-shit insane and Klaus has to leave right then and there. Leaving Dave standing there like “Wtf”

Later on after the Kennedy assassination, klaus and all the hargreeves’ are named as suspects, so Dave wonders if he’s just been duped by a cult leader this whole time (but also is kinda sad about it). He enlists in the marines anyway, and this is where we stay on the season one timeline.

But speaking of time-lines…….

8. Use season 3 to retcon timeline issues: like obviously they are going to fuck around with the timeline, because of the fucking bird school and emo ben. So take this opportunity, dear writers, to figure out how Klaus’s (and everyone else’s) lives make any sense, and cut some stuff from the season 1 and season 2 timelines. (and no, Klaus and Dave never falling in love in Vietnam is not a valid choice. It’s a garbage way to make me cry.)

9: Set a whole (or most of an) episode in 1968 Vietnam: maybe this is when they are trying to fix the timeline. Idk it’s just for fanservice. They have a whole 10 episodes and they can’t give just one to klaus? bullshit.

10. (Fan Theory) Reveal that Dave was killed by the commission: the true tragedy of this romance is that if Dave lived Klaus probably wouldn’t have gone back to 2019. They might have actually lived a happy life together. But the timeline needs Klaus in 2019, to be part of and die in the apocalypse, so the commission sends someone (.....maybe not Five) out to kill his boyfriend. 

Anyway it took me so many braincells to write this post and i do not accept criticism for free, so dm for my paypal if you want to tell me this was stupid.

#the umbrella academy #tua #klaus hargreeves #klaus x dave #klave #tua season three #tua season 2 #dave katz #fix-it #fan theory #ben hargreeves #robert sheehan #cody ray thompson

[mcheang]

2 sperate fics: 1 with after Lila got exposed Alya is bitter and resentful at Mari for cutting ties with her former classmates and Mari's thriving career and Mari and new friends confront her on this angry grudge she's holding. the 2nd is similar but Marinette asking Lila why she did what she did and why she tried so hard to ruin Marinette for just trying to expose her

Part 1: Grow Up

I am so excited. This is my first request! Normally I post one fic per day, but I actually have a (spoiler!) double feature tmr, so what the heck. I hope this satisfies you. I will warn you that I will only answer half of your request in Part 2 because I already wrote a fic for why Lila lies, which I will post tmr. 🙂

It all came to a head at the next class president election.

The previous semester, the majority of the class had decided to vote for Lila to be class president after she expressed interest in it.

Alya ignored Marinette’s warnings and agreed to be that liar’s deputy.

Chloe and Sabrina played dirty of course. But a surprise came when Adrien supported Marinette as her deputy. Alya had been surprised then because she didn’t think he could spare the time. She didn’t know he knew Lila was a liar and that her reign would be intolerable at best.

Lila won, of course. Despite Sabrina providing evidence that Lila was a liar. The class believed it was all fabricated.

It wasn’t until later that Mrs Rossi forced Lila to tell the truth. Apparently Chloe managed to get the last laugh after all.

After that, the class pleaded for Marinette to take up her old post but she declined because she already made commitments to her new commissions on her website.

Apparently with Lila as class president and Alya as her deputy, Marinette had more free time, which she chose to spend with Adrien since he had also avoided Lila like the plague.

Life became worse. Lila would not be graduating at the end of the year and had detention for the rest of it besides. And all her promises about fabulous class trips and easy fundraising was false.

Without Marinette, the class field trips became commonplace museum tours. Fundraising was hard without her families’ free pastries.

To rub salt in the wound, Aurore had started her own blog. She interviewed Ladybug who finally expressed relief that someone questioned Lila’s interview.

After that, Rena Rouge and Carapace were replaced.

As Alya’s blog support dropped, MDC.com flew up the charts. Celebrities kept name dropping Marinette.

Audrey even gave her a raving review.

Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale hires Marinette to design their outfits for their joint tour.

Whenever Alya tried to talk to Marinette or get some time with her, her own deputy duties got in the way, or Marinette was busy with something else.

Alya wasn’t blind. She knew Chloe and Aurore had replaced her as Marinette’s BFF.

While the rest of the class had supported Lila, Marinette had her own clique: Adrien, Chloe, Sabrina, Alix, Nathaniel, Marc, and Aurore.

When the elections came up again, Alya wondered if Marinette would let her be her deputy again. But to her surprise, Chloe was the only candidate.

That was the last straw. Alya’s bitterness finally overflowed.

All she had wanted was her Best Friend back. To go back to the way things were. She wanted her blog to be popular again, she wanted to be a hero again, and she wanted Marinette to be her bestie again.

She didn’t know who this popular designer girl was.

Alya protested Chloe’s victory. Why should the class bully be nominated. It should be Marinette. They had done such an awesome job last time.

To Alya’s surprise, it wasn’t Chloe who shut her down. It was Ms Bustier.

She gently admonished Alya for not giving Chloe a chance.

Marinette even piped up that she was too busy. Besides, she believes Chloe will make a good class rep.

Alya wanted to scream. Instead, she sat back down next to her embarrassed Boyfriend. Ugh, couldn’t he be more supportive?

At lunch, as Alya sat with Nino, Kim, Ivan and Mylene, Marinette and her posse came over.

“Alya, what’s gotten into you?” Marinette looked so disappointed. Ha. She’s got some nerve. “How could you say those stuff about Chloe?”

Alya snapped back, “How could I? How could you? How can you all stand there and forget all the mean things Chloe has done.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “I’m standing right here, you know.”

Adrien said gently, “people change, Alya. And Chloe has changed for the better.”

“But Marinette has changed for the worse!” Alya finally yelled, causing even her own table to stare at her.

While Marinette looked stunned by the accusation, her friends looked furious.

“Excuse me?” Alix demanded.

Alya finally let loose the tirade Caline had build a dam over. “Last time, Marinette was the kind of girl who made time for everyone, who helped everyone, who stood up to bullies. But you...” she shook her head at Marinette. “I don’t even recognise you anymore, girl.”

Sabrina made the first defense. “Marinette doesn’t have to help everyone. It is her decision. You do not get to pressure her like that.”

Marc added, “Yeah, besides she still helps us when she can. She helped us to come up with costume designs for our comics.”

Nathaniel nodded. “And she does spend time with us. Sabrina’s right, Alya. Marinette is free to choose how to spend her time and with which friends she chooses to hang out with. Just because she doesn’t hang out with you anymore doesn’t mean you aren’t friends.”

Chloe sniffed, “Though with how you’ve been treating her, it’s no wonder Marinette moved on. Honestly Alya, you’re a crow. The moment you see something shiny, you fly away. And that’s what you did. When Lila came along in all her glitter, you had a choice to support 2 candidates and you made your choice.”

Aurore stared Alya down. “We all know why you want Marinette back. You want the security of your first year here. You want your blog back. But have you even thought about Marinette’s own feelings? Did you ever apologize for doubting her once Lila was exposed, without asking for anything in return? Did you ever ask her what she wanted before speaking for her? Did you even congratulate her for her success?”

No. Alya swallowed. No, she had not.

Marinette looked at Alya pityingly. “I had hoped you would adapt Alya, that you could see the good in others and let go of the past. But it’s time to face the facts. We can never go back to what we used to be. It’s time to grow up, Alya.”

And with her final word said, Marinette led her clique away. They were going to eat lunch at her place.

And they left Alya behind to pick up the scraps of what had remained of her life.

Part 2: here we are again

Lila was in the toilets again. This was her new haunting ground. Not the star of her entourage, sitting as if she were on a throne. Not with a trail of admirers following her to class. Here, in this stinky cubicle, listening to all the gossip.

Ever since Chloe outed Lila, the class had treated her like a pariah. Alya only talked to her when necessary, mostly to discuss their duties as president and deputy.

Honestly, Lila wished that goody 2 shoes would have replaced her. Hell, even Chloe would have been acceptable. At least then she would be left alone to stew in peace.

But no. Marinette was too busy now with her flourishing business. And Chloe refused to accept the position as second choice.

When Lila had snapped at Alya to just manage without her, Alya had growled back, “No way in (swear word) hell. You ruined my blog, and I’d sooner carry bowling balls to school than do your work for you.”

Lila had rolled her eyes then. “Like it’s my fault you’re a tabloid writer.”

“What did you say?!”

Long story short, Alya had called Mrs Rossi who threatened Lila with military school and no allowance unless she did her duties.

Lila did them. Her class was unappreciative of her hard work. She didn’t blame them. She had been on one of Marinette’s organised trips. She knew her own were mediocre.

Class funding had reached an all new low, too. No one wanted to support the lying president’s fundraisers.

Lila bore her class’ hatred with grace. Sure she had her time with an akuma but Hawkmoth can only keep targeting her so much before he moved on to Alya or some other dupe.

Besides, it was only a matter of time before she moved anyway. Lila could hold on until then. She just needed to be patient.

“Lila?” A knock on her cubicle door.

Lila had patience.

“What do you want?” Lila called back bitterly. “Here to finally gloat?”

“No,” Marinette answered calmly. “Just to get answers, and closure.”

Lila barked out a laugh. Why not? She might as well put an end to their feud. Lose with dignity.

“Ask away.”

There was a pause. Then, “Why? Why did you try so hard to bury me? Even when I stopped trying to point out the holes in your story, you still targeted me.”

It was a fair question.

Lila answered. “You were always a target, Marinette. No matter what you did, you would always have been.”

The ensuing silence was a request for more information.

Lila continued, “At every class I’ve been to, there is a leader. Someone with influence over the school. Someone to knock off their throne. Chloe may be the queen, but her only entourage is Sabrina. You’re the president and the class practically sings you praise. You were real competition. I targeted you before I even met you.”

And she had temporarily succeeded. Before, the classmates that would have once listened to Marinette, had hovered around Lila to answer her every beck and call. The power she had felt back then had felt so good.

“And this doesn’t have anything to do with Adrien?” Marinette was skeptical.

“Oh, I saw how close you were. And yes, you were my main competitor then too. Kagami was the other one. But thanks to Ladybug, he saw through me. You know he was the one to get me to make up that lying disability.”

“Yes, I know. Your story was very moving,” Marinette recalled with annoyance. Even her own Mother had easily forgiven Lila. “Is that all there was to it? Crush me so you could rule my class and win Adrien?”

Lila leaned back. “No, there’s one last thing. I don’t like loose threads. Adrien had something to lose because he let me manipulate the class. But I knew that as long as the class had faith in you, eventually you would come up with some proof that would plant the seed of doubt in my stories. I had no hold over you, so there was no way you would have escaped my plans even if you weren’t class president or into Adrien.”

There was silence once more as Marinette absorbed this.

“Satisifed?” Lila called through the stall door.

“Not exactly,” Marinette admitted. “But i got what I came for.”

Lila nodded, even as she knew Marinette couldn’t see. “Then I’ll see you in class.”

More like Marinette will see her. When Lila became president, Alya suggested they switch seats so they could make plans more efficiently. Adrien had stubbornly followed Marinette to the back. When Lila was exposed, Alya sat in front with Nino, leaving Lila with her own table once again.

As the main door opened, Marinette paused. “One more thing. Do I have anything more to worry from you?”

Lila laughed, a genuine laugh that actually sounded pleasant to hear. “Even if I said no, would you believe me?”

They both knew the answer to that.

But it was the truth, Lila had no vendetta left for Marinette. It was Chloe who had earned her ire, but she was too powerful. Lila was through with Françoise Dupont College. It was no longer worth her effort.

#miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous ladybug fic #ml fanfic #ml fanfiction #ml fic #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #alya salt #lila salt #chloe redemption #ml salt fic #lila gets exposed #lila is exposed #lila bashing

[terrascookiejar-archive]

Terra has a Chat with a REAL Moderator this Time

In lieu of my original post that gained a lot of traction, and me talking about being “contacted” by someone claiming to be a mod.

An ACTUAL mod from the Official Cookie Run discord managed to contact me and  set the record straight on a few things, as well as discuss a few things regarding what happened. So it seems that this whole situation has indeed caught the attention of the mods of the Cookie Run Official Discord, and even MicMac himself. So what’s been done?

I do wanna talk about it in greater detail, so I’m gonna put everything in a cut, starting now. If you want the TL;DR version, skip to the second picture of Chestnut with Walnut at the end.

First things First, the person who I talked on the moderation team was someone by the name of Zayder, who contacted me on anon with their details. Using some help from friends We were able to background check and confirm, yes this person is actually legit. So I was reassured I wasn’t walking into some kind of trap.

(The photo given to me to prove authenticity by a friend. I blurred out their Discord number myself just for the courtesy of privacy)

What’s Being Done to Protect Artists on the Discord, Moving Forward?

I think this is the big question on everyone’s mind since I made my original post and all eyes are on the moderators and MicMac to make the change.

There seems to be a genuine admittance to the fact that the previous way fanart was moderated was ineffective and caused issues such as the theft and reposting to happen. 

So they’ve gone ahead and added stricter measures to prevent this from happening again. Including preventing new members from posting until they get the “Cookie” role, a cooldown on the channel to allow for easier moderation and viewing of said artwork, and heavier infractions laid down for art theft. 

I mentioned that the cooldown also allows for time for people to appreciate genuine artwork posted. So considering the magnitude of its members I’d say that’s a great first step in moving forward towards protecting community fanartists. I got confirmation from members in my own discord that the cooldown IS indeed already enacted and even increased from 10 to 30 minutes, so I have reassurance that what’s being told to me is true. 

They DO have a report system on their bot, but it seems most people prefer just messaging mods so that system in itself is rather flawed, but only so much you can do there. 

(^ This one’s my own artwork, btw!! ^) Zayder also asked me for my own feedback on what could be done to help protect artists, since I am an artist myself. It seems most of the moderation team are not artists and this probably lent itself to making moderation there so weak. 

In summary my main suggestions that were noticed were being mindful of traced art, and a dedicated section or post explaining art theft and how it harms artists and the importance of crediting artists. As not everyone understands how it hurts us, some people genuinely are uninformed. Which Zayder stated he would forward to Mic Mac. (Not sure how I feel about my own suggestions going directly to MicMac himself, but you know!!)

Fawn’s Situation happened so Long Ago that most of it is Lost (or worst case scenario, was deleted by a member of the moderation team) 

While the general consensus now is indeed “Yes, Fawn created Nutmeg Cookie,” there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of evidence towards who the perpetrator was (We had their username, hazbinalastor666, but not their ID and they’ve since changed it to cover their tracks) and the moderators involved with Fawn’s “Ban” to be found on the Official Cookie Run Discord. At least not anymore.

Zayder has confirmed that Fawn “left” the server in December of 2019, which lines up with Fawn’s own statements on the situation. However Zayder stated that whoever kicked her didn’t actually put her on the banlist. So either they kicked her manually, or they used the bot and then used it to erase all evidence of it and pretend nothing happened (which he certainly HOPES is not the case, and I do as well). It did not help that Trial Mods were not a thing yet by this time (They were not introduced until February of 2020), according to what Zayder told me. So things on that Discord were essentially pretty gun-ho. It’s not as simple as looking up a term and going to “Oldest” to track down stuff from the time.  Plus a good chunk of it seemed to have happened through DMs so... Good Luck getting that evidence.

Zayder informed me that Fawn is welcome to come back at any time. Though speaking with her she’s chosen not to, and considering her situation I don’t think anyone can blame her. I would like to believe that the version of the Discord that Fawn had to go through is not the same as the one we have now but something like isn’t essentially going to wash away what happened.

As for evidence that Fawn created Nutmeg first? Yes I do have it. The original incident,  hazbinalastor666 claimed that they created Nutmeg in November of 2019, However there’s evidence in our own discord showing Fawn creating Nutmeg as early as September of 2019.

As well as the day Fawn came forward on our discord about the situation after keeping quiet out of fear of backlash, ignited by seeing the thief get a commission of Nutmeg. However, I don’t plan to post that publicly unless I have Fawn’s okay. 

Yes. The First “Mod” That tried to Contact Me was Pretty Undeniably Someone Posing as a Mod From the Official Discord

“I'm also really curious on what you found false on what the "moderator" said to you. Nobody on the mod team ever told us they were gonna contact you, so I wouldnt know who that is.”

So that was my first sign that clearly the original person who contacted me at least wasn’t doing so without the consensus of the other mods, and neither did they consult the mods afterwards... So very, very likely they were a fake from the start. Some of the things that were off that I told to Zayder, and that we found through conversation were as follows:

The first person contacted me on a throwaway and refused to disclose who they were. Zayder gave me the ID of his personal discord and we could verify who they were easily.

The first person blew off my own suggestions for helping improve the fanart channels with statements like “We’re already cracking down on it.” Zayder asked me for my own suggestions as an artist without even being asked.

The first person kept trying to get me to get Fawn to use a VPN in order to get back into the Official Cookie Run Discord. Despite being told repeatedly that’s not how a VPN works. That’s just fucking weird. 

The first person couldn’t track anything down regarding Fawn’s situation years ago, Zayder was at least able to actually pinpoint the date in which Fawn was kicked, and rather quickly too I might add.

Zayder had pretty proficient knowledge on the bot the Discord uses for moderation and how it works. Which he explained to me a few times. The first person said to me at one point, and I quote, “For all I know the bot gives messages when infractions are laid.”

So seeing how talking with a real Moderator like Zayder was, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that someone was trying to dupe me here for some reason. Was it revenge? Did they want some sort of blackmail? Did they want me to proverbially “back off?” And if they ARE a mod why wouldn’t they give the info and such that I gave them to the other mods? Who knows. 

TL;DR:

Long Story short, it does appear as if the Moderation Team and Mic Mac have heard the artists of the fandom and are going to be working hard to lay down stricture rules regarding posting and doing their best to make sure credit goes where credit is due.

Fawn’s incident happened so long ago there’s not much evidence to be found on the Official discord, but we DO have proof that Nutmeg Cookie belongs to UpsetFawn!

The First Person who claimed to be a Mod was a fake and talking with Zayder proved it.

Overall, my talk with Zayder was very pleasant and enlightening and I believe Zayder would say about the same! I never meant to cause such an uproar, but I’d like to think things will change for the better now that we’ve all spoken up on behalf of our fellow artist. 

What we need to do now is watch how the Cookie Run Official Discord moves forward and if they’ll stick to their word towards protecting fandom content creators from theft and uncredited reposts. Though after my talk I’m certainly optimistic they will.

Always have your back for your fellow fandom artist, TerraTerraCotta

#Mun Updates #Mun Posts #Cookie Run #Cookie Run Official Discord #Cookie Run Ovenbreak #PSA #Signal Boost #Be sure to pass this along!!

[realityhelixcreates]

Lasabrjotr Chapter 58:Hysteria Drive

Chapters: 58/? Fandom: Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Teen And Up Warnings: none Relationships: Loki x Reader (There We Go) Characters: Loki (Marvel), Thor(Marvel), Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, Stephen Strange Additional Tags: Post-Endgame: Best Possible Ending (Canon-Divergent), Brains Are A Hell Of A Thing, Cultural Differences, Thor Isn’t Stupid Tho?, There’s A Bit Of A Spectrum Between Genius And Dumb

Summary:  Some things just never go away.

The world felt distant as your heavy breathing slowed, the adrenaline thudding in your ears. You withdrew your hand, so slowly, from pointing at Steve, who poked at his chest in bemusement.

“Huh. That was weird.” He said.

Then the babbling began. You couldn't apologize enough. You didn't know what you had been thinking, why you automatically assumed that the tiniest flash of light meant murder. The thing on the ground wasn't even a knife; it was a key, like the one you wore hanging from your chatelaine. He hadn't thrown it at you, he had tossed it to Mr. Rhodes, who wanted to go back to their rooms to retrieve something.

It had all been nothing. And you had reacted with possibly lethal force. If that had been a knife, it would have stuck right in his chest. It would not have killed him, you didn't think, but if it had been someone else...

Yes, if this whole situation had been different, but it wasn't, and you were panicking now with no way out, and the other trainees were surrounding the group of you, uncertainty on their faces, but weapons in their hands. They knew you, knew your association with Loki, but they also knew that these other human visitors had associations with their king.

Andsvarr broke ranks, removing his helmet and pushing past Steve, who barely reacted to stop him, and knelt beside you with Natasha.

“My Seidkona, what ails you?” He asked. “Do you need water? Do you need space? Do you need to be taken to a shaded area?”

“I just-I'm sorry, I didn't-I mean I should have known, but I thought-I just thought that-I'm sorry-” You gabbled. You needed all those things, but you couldn't make yourself say it.

“Can you stand?” He asked. “We can lead you away from here. We can take you back to your room for now.”

It sounded good. Andsvarr was trusted, and his even tone was more helpful than Natasha's, being much more familiar. Neither Steve, nor Mr. Rhodes had approached, which was probably for the best.

You stood at Andsvarr's gentle urging, unable to bring yourself to meet anybodies eyes.

“There, everything will be all right now.” He said, just as strong arms circled you from behind.

You screeched in terrified surprise, and drove your heel down on the top of your assailant's foot with all your might.

“Ah.” Loki's voice murmured in your ear, dryly amused. “I see we have been learning new things.”

The gibbering apologies resumed. You needed to be removed from the area. You were hurting people! Well, not actually hurting them; phenomenal luck had directed your violence against those you would have a very tough time actually causing harm to, but the fact remained that you had tried.

Loki lifted you up in his arms and carried you away from the sunny training yard, murmuring calming platitudes on the way. But you just kept seeing blood on the potato leaves, the way the mans body jerked, even after you had split his head open. Why now? Why were you remembering now?

You hadn't even buried him. You'd just taken all the potatoes home, and never gone back to that field. Just left him there, murdered in the dirt.

You were babbling about it, without realizing, bloody leaves dancing in your minds eye.

You would never get the chance to apologize.

“What is going on? Is she going to be all right?” Steve asked.

“You know exactly what this is. Do you pretend not to suffer in the same way?” Loki said in a clipped tone, then amended himself to a more gentle sound when you squirmed in discomfort in his arms. “It's alright my dear. You are sheltered now. None can reach you.” He jerked his head at the Avenger escort. “Go. She won't calm with so many eyes on her. Give us time.”

Bucky nodded and helped Natasha to shoo the others away.

Loki cradled you in his lap, rocking gently until you went quiet and still, and then he just waited.

“Think I'll be okay now.” You mumbled. He didn't let go, but he did loosen his grip to allow you more movement.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Loki asked. “Was there too much dust? I'll have the courtyard swept-”

“No, I thought there was a knife! I thought someone else was trying to kill me again.”

“Oh darling. Of course, who wouldn't be afraid of that? I think some of the armor I commissioned for you should be finished by now; shall I have it brought to you tonight?”

You nodded. “Yeah. That's not all though. I just...reacted. I used my magic to send it back, but it was just a key, and it was just Steve. It wasn't even a danger, but I was totally willing to hurt someone. Just ready to react with violence, and then I couldn't stop thinking about that guy I killed...I murdered a man, and I just left him there-”

“That was self defense, my dear, anyone-”

“I just left him there!” You cried, voice raising again. “I knew him, but I just left him on the ground and dug up potatoes! Like he was nothing! I just left him and took a bunch of food home, and didn't tell anyone! Just left him there for the coyotes.”

Loki was stroking your hair now, just letting you vent.

“I thought it was over, you know? When it all went back to the way it was, but I never got past it. I'm still so angry at him, and at myself. I knew I shouldn't have gone out there alone, but I did it anyway. But it's still with me, and it's coming out more; that willingness to get violent, to kill even. I tried to hurt Steve, I tried to hurt you. I'm just damn lucky the two of you are so resilient, but other people aren't so lucky. Am I going to get worse? Will I end up killing someone again?” You looked up into his face, but his gaze was distant. “Loki?”

“I...feel we differ in attitude about this subject, my dear.” He said softly. “Asgard was always at war. Even after Father ceased conquering, the realms that now depended upon us still had to be protected. I have lead armies, fought, and bled, and killed for Asgard and the safety of the realms. And for far less noble reasons as well. Violence is...normal. Even here, it is normal. There are countries at war on this world, right now, as I hold you. All you did, both then and now, was try to protect your own life against someone unfairly trying to harm you.”

“But Steve didn't try to hurt me! It was a mistake!”

“Of course he didn't. But that slime out in the country did, and that has stayed with you. How could it not? Humans may try to convince themselves that violence is primitive and beneath them, but you need it, if only to keep yourself safe. It seems the cultural dichotomy does not allow you to reach equilibrium with your nature and your noble ideals. But my dear, you have caused no tangible harm. No one was hurt. You were not hurt. Let your heart be calmed. You have done nothing wrong.”

It didn't help, not really. His voice soothed, and his touch warmed, but his words didn't settle the unease. He didn't seem to understand why this rising trend of violence within yourself troubled you, even though he had been victim to it before! You had used your magic then too, to strike him in the bath when...you thought he was going to attack you. But even then, you had allowed your anger to take you a step farther. You could have demanded to leave after you found out he had been messing with you. Instead, you punched him. You could have run away after you had knocked that man down in the potato garden. Instead, you had chopped him. And you could have done anything else with that key-that-was-not-a-knife. You could have teleported it across the field, or into your hand, or onto the ground. Instead, you had directed it at the throwers heart. Your temper was dangerous now; it had the power of magic behind it.

It must be a cultural difference. Asgard prized warriors, gloried in battle. Even Saldis could use a sword. Not well, by her own admission, but she could. And 'not well' by Asgardian standards, might mean something very different than 'not well' by your standards.

To Loki, to everyone around you, your occasional outbursts were normal. If you weren't careful, it might become normal to you too.

                                                                               *****

Steve spent a few extra minutes asking certain questions of various Asgardians before heading back to Thor and the others. By the time he returned, they were discussing Asgardian architecture, Thor regaling them with stories about what Asgard used to look like, and how they planned to incorporate classic Asgardian styles into stable, Icelandic buildings. It was surely an interesting conversation, but something had been bothering Steve for over half a year now. Something about you, something about the occasional thing you said, the way you reacted every now and then. Something that didn't add up. Or rather, something that added up too well with something it shouldn't.

Tony scooted to the side to make room for Steve, as Thor continued in his excited way about pressing mosaic into concrete, using glass and tile, rather than gems or other stones no longer available to them. They would each have a mural-he insisted-they were all part of Asgard's history now; Asgard's first official Midgardian allies.

There was a great honor in that, Steve knew. Asgard's unique, animated paintings were reserved for important events only. It didn't stay his tongue.

“Your Majesty, I have some questions regarding your...royal ward. And I'm gonna need you to play it straight with me this time.”

“Yes, of course.” Thor said, face open and innocent. He would stay that way, even as he lied to Steve's face, he knew that now. He would think it was impressive how Thor had duped them for all these years, but that would probably be narcissistic. The man was not human; he was centuries old, with godlike powers, though Steve was still not convinced he possessed true divinity. He was a prince as well, and Asgard seemed to take the whole 'divine right of kings' thing pretty literally. Thor would have been schooled in diplomacy, in deception, in the etiquette of multiple worlds...and they had all allowed themselves to be convinced that Loki was the smart but evil one, and Thor was the good but dumb one. He wasn't, but that narrative suited him at the time. It garnered him trust.

But Steve saw it now, and was torn between being impressed, and being uneasy. He sighed, and spread his hands.

“She remembers, doesn't she?” It was more a statement than a question. The big, friendly expression remained on Thors' face, but those bi-colored eyes were inscrutable. All eyes turned to him.

Steve watched him open his mouth, expected the lie to come-

“Yes.” Thor said. “She does.”

“Are you referring to what I think you're referring to?” Sam asked. “Because if you're referring to what I think you're referring to...”

“_____ remembers the events of the Snap. It has left an indelible mark upon her...as it has on all of us. She did not know the causes behind it, but she remembers living through it.”

“She 'did not know'? Past tense?” Tony demanded. “You told her?”

“Of course I did.” Thor admitted. “She had spent all the time since the Reversal believing that she was insane. If I could give her at least some small peace of mind regarding that, of course I would. How did you figure it out?”

“Some of the things she said, some of the ways she acts.” Steve said. “I took a peek at her birth records after we got into a conversation about birthday traditions, and realized she remembers being a year older than she should.”

“And you didn't think this was worth mentioning to anyone?” Rhodey accused. “This one thing we were trying to avoid happening, and you didn't have anything to say?”

“Did your brother have something to do with this?” Tony demanded. “Is that why he's all lovey-dovey? Trying to keep this under wraps?”

“No, no. Please, friends, remain calm. There's no sinister reason behind this. It's just that _____'s mental state was very fragile when she first came to us-”

Tony snorted.

“-And in some ways, still is. She was very paranoid when it came to this subject, full of self doubt, and worried about how she would be treated if other people found out. I didn't want anyone coming here with prying questions, not until she was more comfortable. As for Loki...Well, that's just what he looks like when he's happy. I know you've never seen him like that, but I remember.”

“Is she the only one?” Bucky asked.

Thor shook his head. “She said there were forums. Like small, electronic secret societies. None of them knew why they remember, what the connection is.”

“It's the magic, naturally.” Strange interjected. “You know? She has magical capabilities, these other people likely do as well. The stones are the source of magic, so it stands to reason that those that have it might not be affected by the spell.”

“You knew?” Tony snapped.

“You didn't?” Strange asked.

Then the shouting began.

#lasabrjotr #loki x reader #loki (marvel) #thor (marvel) #tony stark #natasha romanoff #Steve Rogers #Steven Strange #bucky barnes #sam wilson #james rhodes

[imagine-loki]

disturbance

TITLE: disturbance CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: ONE SHOT AUTHOR: hiddlemediddles ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine you had a bad day at your job, from rude customers to men giving you looks that made you feel uncomfortable in their presence. When you get to the apartment you share with Loki, you break into sobs. Hearing you from another room, Loki approaches you and asks you what is wrong, but you don’t say anything, not wanting to trouble him..

RATING: M NOTES/WARNINGS: Rated as mature as the wonderful man does end up unclothing you.. but not for that reason! I’d say it is a strong -M rating ;) Other than that, enjoy the Loki fluff!  x

“I’m sure I could - ”

“No, thank you, Miss. I will be just fine with the order that I initially placed.” The woman that had arrived at the Law firm you worked for was complaining rather briskly concerning the order she had made to an adjacent company. You had endeavoured to appease her anger, yet she insisted upon shouting the odds and making your life trickier by the second.

On top of that, as the woman shouted, you found the male members of staff staring rudely across at you. You could almost read their thoughts. It wasn’t unknown to you that they often talked about women being unable to control situations under pressure, especially in the legal sector. You gazed coldly back at them as the woman stormed towards the manager’s office.

“Your employee is insufficient to my legal requirements. Get me someone else” she said angrily, opening the door without making her presence known. The manager ushered her out and told her that she could see another worker immediately, his eyes directed frustratingly at you as you stood rather impotently beside your desk.

Your cheeks flared red as the entire workplace seemed to be staring at you. Their possible thoughts pricked at your conscience but you ushered them away as you looked down at the stacked paperwork on your desk to avoid their stares. One co-worker, a man who had offered critique on your legal documents, was particularly staring at your shrivelled form. You felt like a wilted flower, your bloom fading as their eyes directed themselves upon you.

You sat down and collected yourself. Tears were beginning to form in your eyes, but you refused to allow them to gush out. A disturbance had taken a hold of your gut as your head remained dipped from the stares of your co-workers. Why did it have to be me? You pleaded this question inwardly, the tears beginning to form all over again. Your mind and the thought of other people’s opinions of you were clouding your conscience, they always held a power over you which you could not fathom. Why did a small fragment of someone else’s imagination take hold onto you so readily? Why did other people always seem to get you down? Your mind turned to the first stable thing, along with your family, of course, which gave you the most security imaginable.

Loki had been your partner for well over a year now, and the image of him cropped into your mind as this adversity was hounding down onto you. Fake people would always make their way into your life, but Loki seemed to be the complete opposite. Granted, he did have a reputation for mischief, as did his past indicate, yet he was the only solid being which gave to you the happiness and joy any partner could hope to offer to you. You stared at your laptop, gazing blankly at the home page as you heard the woman shouting loudly at another employee, yet within minutes she had piped down and her co-worker had managed to appease her. You felt duped, you felt hounded down. Your mind turned to all the possible results which could come from this: dismissal, public humiliation (which had been ticked off of the list) and last, but not least, the alienation which you would undoubtedly face from your co-workers.

It didn’t bother you too badly, but you found sobs beginning to rise up to your throat. They had once been your friends, but now they seemed to ignore you completely. What had you done wrong to deserve such treatment? You knew they spoke about you, as did they likely complain about your lack of participation in certain events. You weren’t obliged to do anything with them, least of all social events, then why did they manage to make you feel so inadequate?

You worried now that your troubles would find their way back to Loki. You forced your sobs back down to where they belonged, in the pit of your stomach, as you began typing frantically on your laptop the work you needed to complete for the day. You had completely messed up your appointment with the lady in question, then why not polish up your written work? It was the only thing you enjoyed, alongside Loki’s smiles as he read it.

You found yourself drafting a letter of resignation. Did it really need to come this far? Did this adversity, which had been evident ever since you had began working at the firm, drive you towards packing it all in already? You wondered whether or not the manager was planning to tell you you were dismissed, so you thought you might as well beat him at his own game.

What would Loki say? You hated the thought of ignominiously describing your day to him, which would only lead to an unnecessary emotional outburst. You had decided, in your own mind, that you hated people quite generally. Other than the genuine, you decided you had no time for the fake people that constantly buzzed around, like pests, in your environment. If only you could identify, once you met a person, whether or not they would stay true to you and remain as genuine as they would obviously at first appear once meeting them. Then again, where would the fun be in that? Life always had its turns, why not reveal people who you had once trusted in the workplace to in fact be a bunch of uptight snobs? You smiled inwardly at knowing now who you could trust and who you couldn’t. True colours began to arise, and you felt somewhat satisfied by it all.

Your co-workers were slowly exiting the offices as the day came to a close. You, however, had decided to empty your entire desk. Nobody had seemed to noticed. You stacked your belongings, which were little, onto the desk and began to box a few things. Paperwork, clips, general stationary of the sorts. It was all boxed in around an hour.

You had printed your resignation letter and was planning on handing it as soon as you had placed your boxes into your car. You smiled inwardly, knowing that there was really no turning back now. The thought of Loki pricked at your conscience, knowing that you would need to explain to him everything. It would seem to him rather rash, perhaps.. but in reality this alienation, the stares and the rude customers had been a characteristic of your job as a solicitor ever since you had started at the firm. It was only today that you had decided that you had endured enough.

You placed the letter onto your manager’s desk and left the room. He was on the phone anyway, having not registered you had even walked in. That was the case most of the time, which was rather sad considering you worked the hardest out of all of the buffoons in that workplace. You hated to think back at the thought of all of the time you had wasted at this workplace, but it was forwards that you had decided to look now. 

You had successfully packed your car and entered the driver’s seat, your cheeks red with the exertion of having carried two heavy boxes filled with your work belongings. You had left your work space barren, even the filing cabinet you had empty of everything you had worked on. You couldn’t believe how little you had there, but then again it had only been a matter of months that you had worked there.

“What will Loki think?” You mumbled, turning up the radio and backing out of the drive. You realised that not a single person had noticed your departure. Then, with horror, you realised your manager would likely leave you a horrific reference with your quick exit, but at that point in time you couldn’t think of anything that would move you out of the calm reverie that had befallen you. Alienation and loneliness had given way to true contemplation. You felt wiser somehow, but it was only as a result of how you had realised your true worth so quickly. 

The radio, on high volume, sounded through your car as you hammered down the motorway home. You lived in a small apartment block with Loki, but in time you had both planned to permanently move into a house. Arrangements were being made for you both to live in a small neighbourhood in a cottage near the countryside. You grinned at the thought of Loki in the countryside, it was almost unreal. You remembered meeting him for the first time. He had been ‘undercover’ in some way or another, which you discovered to have been due to his past. You had both met while you were doing work for the government, funnily enough. He had been commissioned to oversee foreign relations, while you were sorting out the legal side of things.

From there on, you had known your relationship was nowhere near the 'friendship’ type. He had admitted, early on in your relationship, that he could not imagine setting eyes on any other woman other than yourself. He was the charmer, no doubt, but it was his charm, wit and kindness which had drawn you to him. His looks were obviously another component. His attractiveness was uncanny, his raven black hair and his luminous, pale skin.

You pulled into the drive of the block of apartments, your tears beginning now to stream down your face. You locked your car and made it to the elevator, pressing your finger hardly on the 3rd floor. The door closed and the elevator slowly began to lift. Your eyes were red as you beheld them in the large mirror of the elevator. Luckily, you were the only one on it. Otherwise, your neighbours would have seen the evidences of your distress and the disturbance of your mind. You made it to your apartment door, fumbling at the keys to open it. As you walked in, as stealthily as anything, you saw Loki sitting in a chair on the balcony of your apartment with a large book in his hand. A strand of black hair had escaped its confines, concealing his left eye slightly. His skin was illuminating beneath the sun, which was lowering slowly beneath the horizon of the far-off hill you could distinguish from the balcony.

You placed the keys on the kitchen top as carefully as you could, but the key made a clang against the granite and Loki was awoken from his reverie in the book. His eyes lifted immediately to your own. His eyes, filled with anticipation, were now fraught with concern as you now had no control whatsoever over the tears which ran down your face. Loki put down his book abruptly and lifted himself from his seat on the balcony over to you quicker than anything you had ever seen. He embraced you quickly, his strong arms enveloping you. His black hair mingled with your own, the loose strand against your neck as he buried his head into the crook of it.

“Are you hurt? What on earth happened?” his husky voice was at the skin of your neck at once. He moved his head to face you, his hands wrapped tightly around your shoulders. He was skimming his eyes over your face, detecting anything that may betray the reason for your distress. You didn’t even manage to reply. You burst into tears, your cheek finding its way to his chest. You rested your entire form onto him, his arms wrapping themselves around you in concern. He led you to the couch and sat you down. 

You were sobbing into his chest, your tears creating a puddle on his shirt which didn’t stop spreading. He was embracing you tightly as you rested upon him. 

“Are you hurt?” he whispered quickly. You managed to croak out a 'no’ and the tension in his chest had lessened slightly. He lifted you slightly and embraced you properly once more. He left the couch to briefly fetch you a glass of water. He handed it to you and you drank it, feeling the liquid soothe your dry throat. He gently rubbed your back and you realised you hated the thought of confiding in this tumultuous situation with him. You didn’t speak a word, but once you finished the glass of water you decided, as his partner, he deserved to know what had happened.

“I quit my job” You said briefly. Loki wrapped his arm around you, as though he had saw the entirety of the events that had unfolded throughout the day. He kissed you endlessly, his lips moving along your neck and across the lines of your collarbones. 

“Any particular reason, darling? I’m sure I could pay a nice visit to those offices" 

You laughed lightly, still croaky. "Rude customers, annoying co-workers and one big idiot of a manager" 

"What happened today?” he asked soothingly. He made sure not to press for answers, asking his questions as naturally as possible.

“A woman came in, huffing and puffing about something she bought and how it didn’t meet legal regulations” You said. “I tried to handle it but she just.. dismissed me and talked to someone else.. she just made a big fool out of me really”

“Annoying co-workers?” he whispered in your ear, his hands soothing your tense muscles.

“They kept staring at me, as though it were my fault that I didn’t handle the situation properly - ” You said. Loki kissed you quickly. The desolate words vanished from your lips as his own lips brushed against your own. He moved his hands across your body, soothing you of the pain inflicted upon you during the day.

“Then they have no idea what you are capable of.. nor what people can truly be like” Loki said, his hands at your waist as you rested your head against the top of his chest. How could one person be so understanding? Did he possess some kind of supernatural abilities which you were completely oblivious of? He was perfect in every sense, his soothing words and actions melding into your body like honey. 

“I love you” he whispered softly as your head lay upon his chest. You lifted your head and kissed him softly, mumbling a sincere 'I love you too’ against his wet lips. You grinned and kissed his nose, your hands running through his black hair as he kissed you repeatedly across your neck. You shivered in delight, smiling widely as his hands moved up your work shirt, his teeth grazing against your skin as you tightened your grip on his shoulders. 

Slowly, but surely, Loki was lifting you up. You wrapped your legs around his waist and he carried you towards the bathroom.

“What are you going to do?” You asked him, laughing as he teased you, pretending to drop you onto the floor but lifting you up quickly as you came close to the floor.

“Treat you as you should be treated every day for the rest - of - your - life - ” he said slowly, deliberately. He was mincing his words, you knew all too well. You smirked as he slowly began to unclothe you. “They have no idea how to treat a queen - ” he whispered against your neck, teasing you relentlessly.

“A queen? Is that what I am, now?” You whispered back. 

“To me, yes.. you shall always be just that” Loki replied, adjusting the shower head and pressing the buttons indicating the moderately hot temperature. The water began to cascade across the shower floor, Loki leading you towards the water. You allowed it to fall across your body, washing away the pain of the day. Loki had rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, his eyes remaining upon your own. He could have, if he had wanted to, gazed upon your bare form, yet his entire attention remained on your eyes. They were still watered with tears, yet as you closed them to allow the healing mist of the shower to envelop you. The warmth of the shower was heaven, yet it was Loki’s warm hands upon your body, rubbing in the soap across your shoulders and down the crook of your back. The water was the perfect temperature.. Loki always knew.

As Loki rubbed in the shampoo in your hair, you could feel each finger pressing against your scalp, completely calming you down. As the water washed the bubbles away, you felt as though you would fall into his arms from the calmness which had befallen you. The entire ordeal which had happened earlier that day was completely forgotten. You focused solely on Loki and the way he made you feel.

The water stopped running, which wasn’t surprising as you had heard Loki reach out for the towel. The white, warm towel was wrapped around your form. Loki lifted you, his clothes likely becoming wet from the entire process. You regretted slightly that he had not joined you, but you instinctively knew that he wanted to focus on you tonight. 

Loki carried you towards the couch once more, drowning you in kisses as he made his way towards the living room. 

“Do you feel refreshed?” Loki asked, anticipation fraught within his voice. 

“Yes” You whispered back. You were resting against him once more. He kissed you softly against your temples and felt as his hands rested carefully on the edges of your neck. You noted each and every move he made, the feeling of his lips upon your skin like bliss. He occasionally dragged his lips against the crook of your neck and your collarbone, moving down towards your waist and sucking here and here at the spots where you would shiver in delight.

“You wash me, only to devour me now?”

“Devour, you say?” Loki inquired. You could feel the smirk against your skin, a laugh now vibrating against your skin. It was sheer delight. It was as though you were feeling all of these sensations for the first time all over again, yet in reality you had felt them ever since you had met Loki. 

“I suppose you wouldn’t mind it” You said, with mock indifference. Loki playfully ran his teeth against your skin, sending a delightful shock against your skin.

“No, I would not, my queen” Loki said, his head lifting up to meet your eyes playfully. And without another word, his head was down again upon your skin, sending sweet sensations across the length of your body. You grinned as Loki, in all his attentiveness, showered you with the most blissful kisses and caresses imaginable.

#Loki #Lover #Imagine #Submitted one shot #submission #hiddlemediddles #disturbence #bad day #job #rude #customers #uncomfortable #apartment #share #sobs #trouble #cheer #queen #shower #kisses

[buzzdixonwriter]

Social Justice Warrior Snowflake

All the unimaginative neo-nazis and their alt-right fans glom onto certain catch phrases the way anxious middle schoolers glom onto the latest slang in a desperate attempt to pass for one of the cool kids.

Catch phrases and slogans are a great way to avoid thinking, and when you avoid thinking you dupe yourself into believing you are also avoiding responsibility, that if anything goes wrong the “they” are responsible and not “me” because “I was only following orders” or “they said it was okay”.

Neeps.  Nope.  Sorry.  We allow none of that bullshit here.

Here we do the math, we show the work, we follow things through to their logical-even-if-painful conclusions…and we live with the results.

So let’s look at two phrases the neo-nazi propagandists and their stooges like to bandy about.

The first is “social justice warrior” or SJW.[1]

Let’s break the phrase down into its three components.

First, ”social”.  From the Latin socialis "of companionship, of allies; united, living with others; of marriage, conjugal"; in this context it means “of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society.”

In particular, relating to an orderly, peaceable culture among people who follow basic principles that reduce friction and maximize benefits to as many people as possible.

A society adheres to certain codes / morals / taboos / ethics so as to maintain order.

Clearly, not all societies are the same, and what might fly in an Irish pub might not pass muster in a Moroccan coffee house.

However, both societies, Irish and Moroccan, possess certain standards they subscribe to, and woe to those who violate said standards by either acts of omission or commission.

If you deny a patron of either pub or coffee house their due rights in those environments, you can expect someone to stick up for them.

So “social” in the SJW context means a person who recognizes no one is an island, and that all of us owe one another basic rights and courtesies.

To be opposed to “social” means by definition to be anti-social, or to live one’s life only for one’s own benefit.

Not all anti-social people are destructive psychopaths, but by definition all destructive psychopaths are anti-social.

So to use “social” as part of a derogatory insult is pretty much declaring one is at odds with what society stands for.

This is not necessarily a good thing.  Hunter S. Thompson wrote extensively about Hell’s Angels and other outlaw motorcycle clubs, and while he took a sympathetic view of them and pointed out the numerous times they had been framed or set up by the establishment, he also noted their isolation from society fueled their animus against it, a truly self-fulfilling / self-defeating prophecy.

The Hell’s Angels, a surprisingly conservative and authoritarian group on their own terms, at least possess a live-and-let-live attitude where they will not actively seek out confrontation if left alone.

Not so the neo-nazis, who see any gain by any non-neo-nazi as a loss for them.

Which brings us to the second part of the phrase, “justice”.

Bad movies and TV shows and comic books obliterate the original meaning of “justice” and replace it with retribution.

Retribution is not justice.  Retribution is merely…retribution.

Justice is what happens before any wrong occurs; justice is not about returning pain for pain.

The neo-nazi mindset scorns the idea of justice while embracing the concept of punishment.

Punishment is what those in authority mete out to those who dare disobey them, and this is the rationale behind the alt-right’s scorn of justice.

“Justice” in the SJW context means taking pro-active steps to avoid harm or injustice falling on someone.

Justice is served if a store isn’t robbed, it is not served if it merely punishes those who committed the crime.

This is why the neo-nazis mock the concept of justice, frequently linking it to a straw man of their own devising:  Political Correctness.

“PC” is nothing more / nothing less than the golden rule -- threat others as you wish to be treated -- writ large.  It is an open and above board effort to forestall problems and injustice and harm by rephrasing issues so all sides are treated fairly,

I have yet to hear an anti-PC argument that does not boil down to some variant of “I can’t call people [slur of choice] anymore without being criticized for it!”

Anti-PC rhetoric is the mark of the coward and the bully, not of fearless persons who can defend their ideas.

As noted previously, the neo-nazi / anti-PC mindset is incapable of tolerating anything that challenges its authority, despite such authority often being unearned.

When they hear an oppressed group should be treated with the exact same dignity and respect them demand for themselves from others, neo-nazis respond with anger and resentment that their “right” to treat others unilaterally without fear of accountability or reprisal is being challenged.

Their argument against “Political Correctness” and their argument against “justice” are one and the same, and knowing that an open and honest assessment of their arguments would demonstrate their intellectual and ethical bankruptcy, they lash out in pre-emptive strikes (literally and figuratively) to prevent themselves from ever having to live up to the standards established by America’s founding fathers.

Their claims that “PC culture” squelches the free expression of ideas is simply further proof of the paucity of their own arguments.

Ideas can be expressed in a vast array of means, and if so-called “PC culture” requires a certain vocabulary, then intellectually fully engaged people can make their ideas known -- and known clearly! -- in any number of ways.

Neo-nazis fancy themselves as people of action, not intellect, and as noted do not want a genuine discussion of ideas but only acquiescence to a system that benefits them at the expense of others.

They refuse to embrace any system in which they are not the dominant group but instead are one of many.[2]

The final sneer from the neo-nazis’ lips is aimed at “warrior” which they use with deliberate irony, denigrating SJWs as impotent whiners while they are people of action.[3]

They hurl this epithet at those who stand up and voice support for people who have received a raw deal by society and want to see them treated fairly under the law.

This is where one must pause and scratch one’s head at the number of military and law enforcement personnel who support neo-nazi beliefs.  They are either woefully ill-informed on who and what they are supposed to be defending, or else they are deliberately and willfully betraying the nation that has trusted them.

And I write this as a military vet.  Even in the post-Vietnam era we were all acutely aware we had sacrificed certain rights and privileges guaranteed our fellow citizens in order to serve our country by protecting those rights and privileges for those fellow citizens.

Too many military and police today do not see themselves as servants of their nation and what it stands for, but rather as self-justified authority, might made right by application of force.

It’s easy to grasp why this appeals to the neo-nazi mindset -- inarticulate action aimed at others to force them to obey simply for the sake of obedience.

And it is a well documented fact that in many jurisdictions the police have indeed been infiltrated by crypto-fascists -- klansmen, neo-nazis, and white supremacists -- who subvert the mission of their own departments in order to wage war n those they consider “undesirable”.[4]

Thus, whenever one hears the term “social justice warrior” used as an insult, one is very clearly hearing the speaker rejecting all sense of society and justice in order to claim unearned power and authority over others.

There is no escaping this truth.

In the case of the military and the police, this attitude besmirches the huge sacrifice made by others in order to protect the weak, the poor, the powerless, the defenseless, and the oppressed.

The military and police who support neo-nazis and their alt-right followers are for all intents and purposes wiping their asses with the Constitution and turning Arlington into a vast cesspool.

If that image offends thee, soldier / sailor / airman / officer, ask yourself why.

As stated earlier, there is no dodging unpleasant truth here.

Finally, the neo-nazis’ use of the term “snowflake” to denigrate SJWs.  Again, the all too literal neo-nazi mindset fails to grasp the irony of their use of the term.

To them a snowflake is weak and ineffectual, melting at the first sign of trouble.

As with the fasces, the symbol they use belies their own philosophy.

A snowflake by itself is weak and fragile; every human being is.[5]

You know what you call a bunch of snowflakes moving in the same direction?

AN AVALANCHE

And nothing stops an avalanche:  You either get out of the way or you let it roll over you and hope you survive.

By their words ye shall know them.  The neo-nazis and their alt-right supporters are incapable of recognizing how badly their own words portray them.  They do not lack the intellectual capacity to grasp such ideas -- indeed, in technical fields they often easily grasp far more complex subjects -- but they lack the introspection to see how “social justice” is in fact a true measure of a person.

They lack introspection because they fear responsibility.

They love exercising authority over others, they loath exercising mastery over themselves.

. . .

[1]  Another sign of weak minded neo-nazis is not only a fondness for reducing everything down to simplistic slogans but then boiling those slogans down even further into abbreviations.  What this does is remove all intellectual thought and rational articulation from the equation, suspends critical thinking, and renders complex, profound, and often nuanced and complicated issues down to pure visceral emotional reactions -- reactions often totally at odds with the subject they are directed towards.  Eventually even the abbreviations are discarded and replaced by a symbol designed to stir up violent emotion and spur unreflective action guided by others who are doing the thinking for those doing the work.  “SJW” is always used in a sneering, derogatory, to ridicule and belittle those whom the neo-nazis and their alt-right sycophants have slapped this label on.

[2]  Ironically, the very symbol of fascism -- the fasces, or axe with the handle reinforced by a bundle of sticks -- was co-opted by Mussolini and his crew of thugs despite the fact it symbolized the very thing they were opposed to! (i.e., trust, loyalty, and cooperation among all people).

[3]  Yeah, I know, I’ve seen pictures of them, too.  Irony is not one of their strong points.

[4]  And the great tragedy -- the great betrayal -- is that honorable police officers, exhibiting loyalty to their own, allow the normalization of such treacherous behavior, and in doing so actually undermine their own real authority as well as the authority of the society that grants them that authority in order to protect the society itself.

[5]  Though neo-nazis and their ilk live in a mental comic book where they are great invulnerable superheroes who can do no wrong and make no mistakes.

© Buzz Dixon

#politics #social justice warriors #morality #ethics #culture #society #justice

[polarwandersea]

MEGA POST: proof of a right wing conspiracy: Bill’s accusers

1. Kathleen Willey 

her claim to fame: Kathleen Willey is a former White House volunteer aide who, on March 15, 1998, alleged on the TV news program 60 Minutes that Bill Clinton had sexually assaulted her on November 29, 1993, during his first term as President in the Oval office. 

Analysis: FALSE (Bill most likely did kiss and embrace her in some way but it was consensual and she had planned for it to happen.) 

Facts:

 1. Linda Tripp–who became friends with Willey when they both worked at the White House–told Starr’s grand jury that Willey plotted for months about how to start an affair with Clinton. 

2. Willey’s former friend Harolyn Cardozo told the grand jury that Willey speculated she might become the President’s mistress.

3.  Another person who knew Willey at the White House, Marlene MacDonald, a former press-office employee, told Starr’s investigators that Willey was attracted to the President and that she had mentioned a welcomed encounter long after the incident allegedly occurred.

What Linda Tripp said: As Tripp testified in vivid detail, Willey’s sudden claims of indignation didn’t remotely resemble the truth about her feelings about Clinton in 1993. Not only had she been “happy” after the president’s alleged embrace but she and Tripp had been scheming for months to stage her seduction for him. Tripp claimed that Kathleen’s marriage to Ed Willey was loveless, and on the verge of divorce. Kathleen wanted to move to Washington and have an affair with Clinton. Well before the Oval Office incident, Willey had taken on Tripp as her secret romantic adviser, calling to chat in the evenings of her obsession with the president. Tripp admitted to helping Willey since she believed that both Willey and Clinton were “stuck in not very good marriages and it seemed to be consenting adults.” Tripp also enjoyed the intrigue of helping Willey gain access to the president’s daily schedule so that Willey could bump into him, always dolled up “to catch his eye.” The two friends would talk about creating the conditions for a tryst, escaping the Secret Service, and the “logistics of how this could work,” Tripp testified. They had even discussed a specific location. Debbie Siebert, a mutual friend who husband had been named ambassador to Sweden had offered Willey to use their empty house on the water in Annapolis. 

After Willey had her encounter with the president, she raced to find Tripp. Willey dragged her outside the parking lot and told her about Clinton’s embrace in graphic terms. Willey praised him, Tripp recalled as a “great kisser,” and said she kissed him back despite her fear that someone would walk in on them.

When Tripp heard that Willey had begun to tell reporters at Newsweek that the President had assaulted her, Tripp called Willey and accused her of lying to the Newsweek reporters.

“Kathleen what are you doing?”

Tripp recalled that Willey rebuffed Tripp’s objections. “You must be misremembering, Linda.. Of course it was sexual harassment. I don’t know why you’re now saying I wanted it.” 

“Kathleen, because we talked about it for months before it happened, because you chose your outfits, because you positioned  yourself, because you flirted, because you looked for every reason to get in {to see Clinton privately},” Tripp remembered saying when she recalled their conversations later. “Why are you now saying that this came as a huge surprise and he assaulted you?”

Why what Tripp says matters:  At this point in time, Tripp wanted to write a tell  all book to profit from what she knew was happening within the White House. If Kathleen Willey came out with this new story, then this jeopardized Tripp’s idea of a book because then Tripp would be left out of the loop of Willey’s new false story and be reliant on the other woman for details. Tripp also was no fan of Bill Clinton’s and the fact that she said he did NOT sexually harass Willey should be taken as fact since Tripp had no reason to defend him. 

So why would Kathleen Lie?:  The Day after her encounter with Clinton, Willey learned her husband had committed suicide and was dead. Tripp, who spoke to Willey during the days after her husband’s death said that Willey seemed disengaged in the aftermath of his suicide and practicalities of arranging the funeral. She “didn’t cry, she didn’t dwell or even speak of Ed,” Tripp said in her testimony. Instead Kathleen talked obsessively about her encounter with the president. Willey worried that her husband’s suicide would be enough to spook the president from having anything to do with her on a personal level. Willey’s financial situation was also a clue to why she would lie. Her late husband’s Richmond law practice had provided what prosecutors often called a “big lifestyle”: designer clothes, luxury sports cars, first class travel, and exciting political and social events. Her husband had embezzled $250,000 from two clients a brother and sister named Anthony Lanasa and Josephine Abbott. Her husband had confessed this to her a few days before he died. He left his widow to fend of the litigation that ensued when Lansa and Abbott moved to recoup their losses. His total debt the day he died was nearly $1 Million. Kathleen was then laid off in 1995. 

conclusion: She and her lawyer Daniel Gecker (a known Clinton hater)  started to play the Jones camp against the Clinton camp. She had decided by the spring of 1997 that her old and unconsummated filtration with Clinton might yield financial gain after all.  She was desperate to pay off the $1 million debt and having taken menial jobs at a bakery and beauty salon in Richmond, she decided to make up the story of sexual assault in order to sue for damages. 

2. Dolly Kyle

Her claim to fame:  Kyle alleges that she and Clinton had an affair for nearly 20 years, from 1974 until 1992. She was a childhood friend of Clinton’s, meeting him in school when she was 11 years old.In her book Hillary the Other Woman, Kyle says that she dated Bill Clinton all throughout high school, having sex with him for the first time after graduation and continuing to sleep with him on and off throughout his time in law school, while he was governor of Arkansas, and while he was running for president, according to The Daily Mail.During her deposition in the Paula Jones case, Kyle said that Clinton suddenly stopped returning her calls in January 1992 in the midst of the Gennifer Flowers scandal. She says that Clinton was worried about her recording their conversations like Flowers had done. She claims that Clinton at one point had slept with over 2,000 people and admitted to being a sex addict.

Facts and holes in her claim: 

1. She was a childhood friend of Bill’s but they did not have an affair. 

2. If they had an affair that long it would overlap with the Gennifer Flowers affair (which was already proven to be over exaggerated.) It makes no sense since men who have affairs do not typically continue the affairs for several years. Kyle’s claim seems faulty because if Bill could supposedly carry out and be “faithful” enough to have affairs with both Gennifer and Dolly for years why couldn’t he be faithful to his wife who he had more in common with? Sex addicts do not typically continue long lasting affairs with the same women.This defeats her whole claim of Bill having 2,000 sex partners since in order for that to happen he would have to be very mobile and not continuing an affair with two women for several years. 

3. It makes sense that Bill would stop calling her out of fear that she would begin to record their conversations the way Flowers had. Flowers had made tapes taking what Bill said out of context and Larry Nichols had been reaching out to any women he could find to lie about Bill so it makes sense that he would stop talking to women on the phone even if they were only friends. 

Here’s what Bill said about her in the Paula Jones deposition:

Conclusion: Dolly seems like a lovesick childhood friend who felt betrayed because she was duped into thinking Bill and Gennifer had a relationship and she felt cheated not knowing. She probably also had an unrequited crush on the president and felt led on so she turned against him. 

Fun fact: Both Kathleen and Dolly were on infowars so that tells you what type of credibility they have. 

Info wars is listed as being actual fake news and is listed under CBS’s list of Fake news sites to watch out for.  

3. Paula jones

her claim to fame:  Paula Corbin Jones is a former Arkansas state employee who sued U.S. President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment. She claims that he sexually harassed her in the Excelsior Hotel. 

analysis: FALSE. It is possible Bill met Paula but they were not alone and he did not sexually harass her. 

background on Paula: She had grown up quite poor in a rural country outside of Little Rock, under the strict religious guidance of her father Bobby Gene Corbin. Her father was a Christian fundamentalist and many modern pleasures such as dancing, television, fashionable clothes, and makeup were prohibited in the household. When she was 19 her father died of a heart attack leaving her mother, Delmer Corbin unable to control Paula and her two older sisters. Suddenly Paula could wear short skirts and date men staying out as late as she pleased and sometimes not coming home at all. Her brother-in-law, Mark Brown, with whom she and her mother lived with for several years after her father’s death, worried about her flirtatious sexuality and her choice of boyfriends. Quite rightly since one of them eventually sold nude photos of Paula to Penthouse magazine. In an accompanying article, several of Paula’s former boyfriends described her as what southerners call a “wild child,” promiscuous and bold. Paula graduated high school but dropped out of a local community college before completing her first year there. She went through a series of clerical jobs until she began to work for the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission. 

Important: She met Steve Jones, a Northwest Airlines ticket agent and aspiring actor. By the spring of 1991 and her encounter with Bill Clinton they were already living together. They married in 1992. Former coworkers of Steve remembered his animosity towards Clinton and his equally strong support of the Republican ticket in 1992. Jones put Bush-Quayle stickers on his locker and his gymbag. He had to be told to take off a Bush-Quayle button from his Northwest uniform. But none of his colleagues had ever heard him say anything about his wife being harassed by Bill Clinton. “Steve would have been screaming bloody murder if something happened to Paula,” a friend told People magazine. “He would have let us know that Clinton was a scumbag.” People who knew Paula and Steve thought that he had pushed her into pursuing a vendetta against the president, to promote either his political views or his acting career or both. 

Facts: 

1. Around May 23, 1994, Newsweek interviewed several people around the Arkansas capitol who scoffed at her claims. Jones was described as an unreliable, self dramatizing person who had made a pest of herself hanging outside the governor’s office prattling on about Clinton’s sex appeal like a starstruck teenager.

2. Charolette Brown (Paula’s sister) said that before Paula left for Washington, she boasted that “either way it (the trial) went, It smelled like money.” 

3. Paula Jones has repeatedly lied about her past, claiming that she had never posed for nude photos ( photos which ran repeatedly in Penthouse when discovered) and that she was sexually naive when the alleged harassment took place (even though her own family states that she proudly proclaimed that she had slept with 15 men before she turned 17).

4.  the attorneys who  represented Paula Jones  (in1998) are from the conservative Rutherford Institute. This institute, which proclaims that it exists to defend religious freedoms from government interference, was unable to honestly answer the question as to why they are involved in so obviously a secular dispute as the issues which Paula Jones' case raise.

5. John W. Whitehead, founder of the Rutherford Institute, is author of the book "The Second American Revolution", an instruction book for fundamentalists which describes how Christians can take over the government and force their beliefs on the rest of the nation. His foundation also continues to distribute the so-called "Clinton Chronicle" videos. These videos, created by the Rev. Jerry Fallwell, accuse Clinton of everything from drug and gun running to cocaine abuse and corruption and even murder. It has already been mentioned in my previous text post that Paula jones received $1,000 for her appearance in the Clinton Chronicles.

6.  "Paula Jones Legal Fund" had collected over $250,000 in contributions purportedly for her legal defense, the "Fund" is actually a for-profit, sole proprietorship run by Susan Carpenter-McMillan. This "Legal Fund" has been used for, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, purchasing Jones a personal home computer, merchandise at Nordstrom's, appointments at various beauty salons, a membership to a health club and to board her dog, Mitzy, in a kennel.

7. Daniel Traylor (one of Paula’s first lawyers before she changed like she always did) cited his client’s story to  George Cook, a little Rock businessman and Clinton supporter. Traylor told him that “if she (paula) did not get money, that she would embarrass him (Clinton) publicly.” The lawyer suggested that for $250,000 Paula would go away. He also added that an acting job for Steve Jones provided by successful Tv producer Harry Thomason, a close Clinton associate “would help.” Cooks rejected this idea and said it was preposterous and reported it to Clinton’s lawyers. 

Conclusion: Paula Jones was an opportunist who wanted money and got it. Today her net worth is $700 thousand despite her claims of not wanting money.

so the next time a trump supporter calls Bill a rapist you’ll be better armed with this knowledge but I’m sure it will just go over there head and they will be like:

sources:

http://www.anotherperspective.org/advoc160.html

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/537262.The_Hunting_of_the_President

http://heavy.com/news/2016/10/dolly-kyle-bill-clinton-sexual-history-accuser-accusers-women-affair-juanita-broaddrick-paula-jones-hillary-partner/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/pjones/docs/clintondep031398.htm

#proofofarightwingconspiracy #politics #the clintons #Bill Clinton #hillary clinton #Hillary Rodham #billary

[hermanwatts]

L. Sprague de Camp’s “Pusad” Series

This is a guest blog post from Richard who has contributed a few items over the years. I looked at L. Sprague de Camp’s “The Stronger Spell” a few weeks back. Richard has recently read or re-read the stories in the series and has an opinion:

L. Sprague de Camp’s discovery of heroic fantasy through reading Gnome’s CONAN THE CONQUEROR in 1950 had two distinct consequences. The first was of course the Gollum like pursuit of his precious Cimmerian loot, an endeavour which would keep him happily occupied for the rest of his days. But the second was the inexplicable urge to write something of his own in the same vein. I say inexplicable because nothing in either his character or his previous work advocated itself to an artistic expression of that nature. The result, as Morgan has already explained in a previous post, was THE TRITONIAN RING and the smattering of related Pusâdian stories which he published in various periodicals during the 1950s, with a couple of belated additions appearing twenty years later during the sword and sorcery revival of the mid 1970s. The novel has been much reprinted over the years but the short stories have hitherto never been collected. It isn’t particularly difficult to understand why. Simply put they are god-awful.

The only reason the stories remain relatively easily available to read is because De Camp’s obliging old cohort Lin Carter demonstrated an indefensible fondness for them and conserved four of the travesties in the otherwise admirable series of fantasy anthologies he compiled throughout the 1970s. The lame humour and daft and doddering characters found therein being very much in keeping with Carter’s own inane brand of fantasy.

   Each one of the stories is a shambolic mishmash of absurd and contrived situations, slapstick action – pole-vaulting with pikestaffs for example – inconsistency, coincidence and self-contradiction, all undertaken in the company of a cast of dim, venal and unsympathetic characters; all of whom incidentally are either con-men, chancers or charlatans. The urge to debunk prevailing notions appears to have been so  deeply ingrained in De Camp’s nature that he was incapable of treating heroism seriously even in fiction.  For him the hero might well wear a thousand faces but he only ever had the one pair of feet and they were made of clay.

      The Pusâd stories centre mostly around the antics and misadventures of two different characters, a workshy court magician called Derezeng Tâsh and a wandering huckster named Gezun Lorska. Gezun is ostensibly the Conan surrogate for the series but a Conan reflected in the distorted mirror of De Camp’s own scepticism. So even though Gezun looks the part he is a hollow effigy of a hero; one with Conan’s craftiness, belligerence and rude ethics substituted with gormlessness, ineptitude and cowardice. Gezun occupies his time by attempting to fleece the gullible, impregnating love struck women or fleeing from his creditors, all the while essaying a blithe deluded optimism that would put even Mr Micawber to shame.

Gezun is a character so stupid that he snoops on another man’s mail even though he is unable to read and so deluded that he believes a haircut renders him unrecognisable in a hostile city where he towers head and shoulders over the natives. De Camp clearly intended these character defects to be the endearing affectations of an amiable oaf. But they aren’t remotely endearing and are instead relentlessly irritating. Gezun is one of those characters whose exploits one follows in the fervent hope of seeing him beaten to a pulp at some point.

But societies breed the heroes they deserve and on the evidence De Camp provides the Pusâdian world appears to be entirely populated by imbeciles. In the story “The Eye of Tandyla” a duplicitous royal consort cannot recognise the famous jewel of the title even though it is found in her homeland and she is the one who has connived to have it stolen. In the same story sentries are lured away from guarding regalia by someone pretending to strangle themselves. In “Ka the Appalling” an entire city is duped into believing a hitherto unknown god is returning to the world by the excavation of a fabricated prophecy.

Clearly, whatever their inspiration, these are not slavish imitations of Robert E Howard and equally evident is the fact that De Camp had no intention of them being taken very seriously. But even qualifications of this sort do not excuse how badly written the stories are. The plots are farcical and crudely constructed, the fight scenes risible with swords literally going “Clang! Clang!”, while the texts are replete with cod archaisms and facetious word usages like “bronzen” and “coolth”. Rather than convey the intended sense of antiquity contrived language of this sort merely feeds the impression of a writer for whom English is a second and uncomfortable tongue.

And what on earth is one supposed to make of clumsy metaphors of this ilk:

“The cold in the room was as if an iceberg had walked in….”

Er; I hate to have to break it to you, Sprague old son, but…..

The irksome thing is that if Howard had ever generated such a crude example of ham-fisted prose De Camp would have been the first to seize upon it as further evidence of Howard’s supposed haste and carelessness and slapdash style, all of which he was wont to do in his sweeping Olympian judgements upon Howard’s perceived deficiencies.

Credibility and consistency, both qualities De Camp prided himself upon, are in strangely short supply in these efforts. Take the rings forged from meteorites for instance which act as sorcery repellents in the Pusâdian world: artefacts so scarce and potent according to one story that they are the preserve of kings, but in another so innocuous and commonplace apparently that the magician Sancheth Sar can afford to gift a spare to a slave boy.  In the story “The Owl and the Ape” we are asked to swallow the idea that a building project could be commissioned purely in order to distract a passing Gezun so that his pocket can be picked. And don’t ask me to explain why a cannibal should choose to take up residence in a ruined wizard’s tower. Or how the cul-de-sac Gezun flees down just happens to have a secret tunnel required for him to escape a hostile mob. Artifice and contrivance of this sort abounds in the series and each instance seems to trump its predecessor in preposterousness.

Perhaps none of this would matter very much if even one of the stories was half as witty and amusing as De Camp believed them to be. But with the exception of some acerbic laughs provided by ancillary characters such as King Vuar’s most insolent page the supposed humour is forced, flat and feeble. Never more so than when Gezun’s personality is transferred into the body of a bull with predictably slapstick consequences.

When all is said and done the Pusâd stories amount to little more than a silly and inconsequential footnote in the development of modern fantasy. But for anyone with an interest in understanding why the De Camp/Carter Conan compotes are quite so indigestible then herein may be found their stewed ingredients.

L. Sprague de Camp’s “Pusad” Series published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[christineamccalla]

Folole Muliaga Case Study: A Management or Ethical Strategy Analysis, by McCalla, Christine Ann, MBA, MS, CBME, CAHR, CBDE, CTW, CPA

See Link.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vkdm1plgs5EOAAYm09XkJ5WunVG8WcJFmBmEHmeBNP4/edit?usp=sharing

Elaborate on the effects of Ethical Behavior

MGT7019-4

Christine Ann McCalla

Dr. J. Scott

07/30/2017

Using the Folole Muliaga case study as a basis, evaluate alternative actions and consequences to Mercury Energy. In your paper, be sure to specifically address the following:

Briefly summarize the Folole Muliaga scenario

Assess the consequences/outcome.

Elaborate on whether the actions by Mercury Energy were illegal.

Explain whether you agree with the police and coroner’s decisions.

Determine which reforms/guidelines were adopted as a result of this tragedy, and then explain their importance as supported by the research.

Support your paper with a minimum of five scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including older articles, may be included.

Length: 5-7 pages, not including title and reference pages

Your paper should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University's Academic Integrity Policy.

Upload your document and click the Submit to Dropbox button.

This analysis of ethics versus the criminal can only provide a solution through a thorough examination of all the facts, and with appropriate research an excellent lesson can be taught that Mercury Energy learnt later. Take the time to investigate, examine all facts, and then disclose conclusions.

Folole Muliaga, a 45-year-old Samoan woman (Bridgman, 2010), had her electricity / power supply disconnected by a Mercury Energy contractor from VirCom Energy Management Services. The contractor failed to address the critical issue of Folole’s disability presented with prongs attached to her nose as he had done with other clients, as he was unaware of the issues associated with it including oxygen machines, or any tubes on the floor, (Bridgman, 2010). The contractor also did not hear the alarm which was triggered when power supply to the oxygen machine was cut, (Bridgman, 2010).  

Folole’s death was sensualized by the media, but Mercury Energy and VirCom Energy Management Services escaped blame. Furthermore, Mercury Energy’s empathy expressed through the coverage of funeral services provided a helping hand given the family’s financial situation. Subsequent to Folole’s death, the Electricity Commission set forth new guidelines including assistance for low-income customers.  In voluntarily adapting the guidelines provided to Mercury Energy by the Electricity Commission, Mercury Energy created some measure of self-rescue without again being criminal.

The consequences / outcome of Folole’s death was, (1) a display of lack of corporate social responsibility; (2) unethical management bordering on the criminal although the judicial system disagreed; (3) lack of application of the regulations regarding low income energy assistance; (4) determination of the consideration of privacy and secrecy over the opportunity to preserve life; (5) inappropriately applied and probably designed corporate policies; (6) optional regard for regulatory matters; (7) revision of the Electricity Commission’s guidelines to include lower income classes; (8) a substantial test of theories of agency relationships and stakeholders’ theories, and (9) a death ruled other than murder.

Wu, Fang, Liao, Xue, Li, and Wang (2015) argued that a corporation's CSR perception and performance can significantly influence its reputation and its relationship with various important stakeholders such as employees, customers/clients, investors, governments, suppliers and the community at large. Mercury Energy did not exhibit social responsibility with their quick denial of Folole’s death, lack of policy in regards to terminally ill patients, and absence of communication in regards to the reason an overdue was not paid. Welsh,  Ordóñez, Snyder, and Christian (2015) noted in their research that as one’s degree of moral disengagement increases, so does one’s sphere of permissible conduct in contrast to Eweje and Wu (2010) who argued that stakeholder accountability reduces the misconduct and its impact.  Eweje and Wu (2010) also argued that consumers, citizens, pressure groups, governments and the media are making the link between the products (or services) of industries and the way they have been extracted or produced, and are subsequently calling for proactive responses to the behaviour and impact of business enterprises.

While Mercury Energy engaged in ‘techniques of neutralization’ such as denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of the victim, and appeal to higher loyalties, (Ferrito, Needs, and Adshead, 2017), Cooney (2015) argued several points in committing a murder which indicates in the direction of Mercury Energy and their contractor although the coroner and police ruled differently. Cooney (2015) points were, (1)  shift the blame by setting up someone else as an innocent dupe or, best of all, an enemy, to be caught and punished as the culprit, (2) social science’s interaction with the neglect of the victim, and (3) include the attributes of the perfect murder including (a) be of as high status as possible, (b)  select a low status victim who is, ideally, socially close as well, (c) have extensive strong partisanship and the victim none at all, (d) be significantly closer, socially, than the victim to those making the crucial decisions in the case.

Baker (2016) argued that to suggest how murder narratives might be understood as potentially ethical gestures that are caught up in the potentially unethical economy of capitalism, as was the case with Folole. She couldn’t pay, her electricity was turned off, she died, the cessation of oxygen therapy and stress from the disconnection caused her death, she was not murdered, and ill health is responsible for her death and not murder. Furthermore, Baker (2016) argued a man’s life, as unique as his death, will always be more than a paradigm and something other than a symbol, which is what Folole had become. A reason to modify best practices, policies and procedures, to ensure that Mercury Energy’s customers are able to continue service as long as possible particularly those with chronic disabilities with socio-economic challenges.

Explain whether you agree with the police and coroner’s decisions

Bridgman (2010) stated Folole’s cause of death was arrhythmia caused by morbid

obesity and that ‘the cessation of oxygen therapy and stress arising from the fact of the disconnection (as opposed to the way in which the power was disconnected) have contributed to her death. I disagree. With proper maintenance regimen in regards to intensive and critical care, Folole did not have an expiration date. But for the disconnection of the power, she would still be alive. Although as a consequence and outcome to Folole’s demise, Mercury Energy did not practice social responsibility but there are other factors on the ethical spectrum to be considered regarding social responsibility. Sebhatu and Pei-lin (2016) addresses this controversy resulting from the agency problem, which arises within a firm whenever managers have incentives to pursue their own interests at the shareholder expense. In this case, employment, brand image, reputation, and character reputation could have been adequate incentives for the management and the firm itself.

Sebhatu and Pei-lin (2016) covered other areas of social responsibility that did not impact Folole, including bribery, extortion, buying influence, nepotism, favouritism, and fraud.

Eweje and Wu (2010) described Mercury Energy’s new initiatives as, (1) to improve its ability to identify and assist vulnerable customers who are medically dependent or suffer from financial hardship; (2) the inclusion of stakeholders in the new processes, designed in consultation with a number of community groups and social agencies, built in a greater level of proactive communication; (3) new checkpoints to avoid unnecessary disconnections; (4) customers with overdue accounts will benefit from a greater level of communication from Mercury Energy; and (5) a number of new safeguards and more flexible systems to ensure where there is medical dependency or genuine financial hardship we have taken every possible step to avoid disconnection.

Ferrito, et al. (2017) argued that human beings have the capacity to reflect and make meaning of environmental stressors, including events that threaten or change the way they live their lives or relate to others as was the case with Folole and family. The financial and socio-economic situation being what it was created hardships, but we must function within our dysfunction. There was no indication Folole and her family responded in entirety to the environmental stressor of her dependence on oxygen / oxygen machine for life. It is indeed odd that the family didn’t notify Mercury Energy of Folole’s probable terminal outcome, that the utility company had no policy to provide assistance regarding disability, but worse yet is the utility company’s offer of an unmentioned amount to assist in funeral expenses.

Mercury Energy and related party, its contractor, were only guilty of shortcuts in the implementation of the Electricity Commission’s guidelines, which were subsequently resolved without criminal consequences in their favor. However, the consequences to such actions, unethical or not, could have been disastrous financially and could have resulted in extreme actions including litigations and boycotts. Mercury Energy certainly gained the understanding and implementation of social responsibility and stakeholder accountability in a favorable manner.

Baker, C. (2016). The Grift of Death?: The Ethics of Murder Narratives. Parallax, 22(1), 51. doi:10.1080/13534645.2015.1135513

Bridgman, T. (2010). Beyond the Manager's Moral Dilemma: Rethinking the 'Ideal-Type' Business Ethics Case. Journal Of Business Ethics, 94311-322. doi:10.1007/s10551-011-0759-3

Cooney, M. (2015). How to commit a perfect murder. International Journal Of Law, Crime And Justice, 43(The Pure Sociology of Right and Wrong: New Directions in Donald Black's Theory of Law and Social Control), 295-309. doi:10.1016/j.ijlcj.2015.05.006

Eweje, G., & Wu, M. (2010). Corporate response to an ethical incident: the case of an energy company in New Zealand. Business Ethics: A European Review, 19(4), 379-392. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8608.2010.01596.x

Ferrito, M., Needs, A., & Adshead, G. (2017). Unveiling the shadows of meaning: Meaning-making for perpetrators of homicide. Aggression And Violent Behavior, 34263-272. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2016.11.009

Sebhatu, S. P., & Pei-lin, L. (2016). What is Governance? The Ethical Dilemma for Leaders and Managers: Multiple Case Studies of Corruption from China. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences, 224(IRSSM-6 The 6th International Research Symposium in Service Management), 467-474. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.422

Welsh, D. T., Ordóñez, L. D., Snyder, D. G., & Christian, M. S. (2015). The slippery slope: How small ethical transgressions pave the way for larger future transgressions. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 100(1), 114-127. doi:10.1037/a0036950

Wu, C., Fang, D., Liao, P., Xue, J., Li, Y., & Wang, T. (2015). Perception of corporate social responsibility: the case of Chinese international contractors. Journal Of Cleaner Production, 107185-194. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.04.143

[ggdbshoesforsale-blog]

Golden Goose Sneakers Sale Online Galleries might Not place Golden ova

In 1992, Schilling altered into starting rotation of the best Phillies specialists that are going to play within the Market Series, only of usually the teams on which it played that may made the program to that this Fall Established. This could be described as the magnificence of that this Internet. Around are services and group systems out doors there that do can improve a entire lot of that tasks during you really you consider yourself offered of which the equation so much due to the fact possible. This particular way, maybe you really are present and / or not and it could be if you'll are worries home probably on holiday, the model still is working and continues to hard work 24/7. This excellent is your current wholesale golden goose that many will create you more compared with you most likely will with unquestionably the traditional mode of currency trading your a Golden Goose Superstar Sneakers Sale oment for fund as if you happen employed. You skipped out unquestionably the banks in addition now style what all the people are undertaking to those American others. You choose to talk about putting up for sale Fords in addition , Chevrolets for other countries, why not too help we in The actual buy added of these types of here really then the particular foreign your? You bailed out these auto firm as well didn't you and your family? Unfortunately, a large amount of people typically find my articles to the point where after many have already duped. That they gave a gift and got forwarded to general training calls. Let's chitchat about these people 'training' in addition I application the ms word as freely as possibly. I think that that considering that there is also NO Work out on the entire calls. Someone are muted, yes Quiet and have definitely no means to contact questions. These do this because there would is so pretty people inquiring about for realistic help whom they simply can't provide truth they make no hint as to how some internet actually works. They want you to Happy and Face. By implementing an setting on a new website up to collect subscriber addresses, everyone can take up that has leads at the time of sending another newsletter. A substantial eNewsletter creates you of a commissioned information get and is giving you our chance that would offer totally free of charge tips while discounts on the way to your Golden Goose Sneakers Sale Online appy Golden Goose Shop Online lientele and customers. Why is generally it that, according so as to the Applicable Press, in an article, Howard Ok. Stern features been per practicing legislation since 1994 but a search regarding the legit databases made not verify any predicaments for this also he bought been your lawyer for Golden Goose Superstar Sale Online ecord? About how has Howard been holding up himself if perhaps not of living off of Garcia? Make a real Commitment to Don't reach your business venture with an casual posture to 'see what .' You will want to set outdoors with a person's determination into accomplish all your objective. You may must signify it! Your attitude supports direct our own universal drives that does indeed materialize ones goals.

[cathrynstreich]

The 4 Most Common Mortgage and Real Estate Scams and How to Stop Them

(TNS)—The last thing consumers should have to worry about is being scammed when they buy or rent a home, or consider refinancing options. Unfortunately, criminals are getting more creative in how they target their victims, leading to major financial headaches for their unsuspecting victims.

In 2017 alone, 9,645 victims reported real estate fraud, resulting in losses of more than $56.2 million, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Many people are too embarrassed to file complaints, making it harder to catch the scammers who repeatedly victimize unwitting homeowners and homebuyers, says Melinda Opperman, executive vice president of Community Outreach and Industry Relations with Credit.org, a nonprofit credit counseling agency and member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, or NFCC.

“It’s a huge problem,” Opperman says. “A lot of the time, people don’t realize that using public WiFi connections where they conduct personal business through email or websites opens them up to (these scams) because the communications are not secure.”

Here are four common real estate and mortgage scams to keep on your radar—and tips to avoid becoming a scammer’s next victim.

Escrow Wire Fraud What It Looks Like: You get an email, phone call or text from someone purporting to be from the title or escrow company with instructions on where to wire your escrow funds. Fraudsters set up fake websites that appear similar to the title or lending company you’re working with, making it seem like the real deal. Scammers use spoofing tactics to make phone numbers, websites and email addresses appear familiar, but one number or letter is off—an easy thing to miss at first glance, Opperman says.

So you follow the wire instructions and assume all is well when, in fact, you’ve just become the latest victim of escrow fraud. The scammers? They’ve withdrawn the funds from an offshore account somewhere and are sailing into the sunset with your hard-earned money. Meanwhile, you have few options for retrieving it.

How to Protect Yourself: Before you send money to a third party, go back to the original documents you received from your lender and call the phone numbers listed there to verify the wiring instructions you received. Never click on email or text links, or send money online, without verifying wire instructions with a live person on the phone from a number that you’ve called and verified, Opperman says.

Be wary of any email or text requesting a change to wiring instructions you already have, says Odeta Kushi, senior economist with First American Financial Corporation. Always confirm the escrow account number before wiring money, and call your settlement agent to verify the transfer of the funds immediately after you’re done, she advises.

Loan-Flipping What It Looks Like: Loan-flipping is when a predatory lender persuades a homeowner to refinance their mortgage repeatedly, often borrowing more money each time. The scammer charges high fees and points with each transaction, and homeowners get stuck with higher loan payments they can’t afford after being duped into borrowing most of their home’s equity, Opperman says.

Seniors with memory impairment are especially vulnerable to these scams because they have significant home equity and may not realize they’re being taken advantage of, Opperman says. Predatory lenders convince homeowners they can help them find a better loan product or use a cash-out refinance to pay for home renovations to make their homes more accessible as they age in place, Opperman says.

How to Protect Yourself: Elderly homeowners who have cognitive issues should involve a trusted relative or friend in any key financial discussion, especially about tapping home equity. If you’ve recently completed a mortgage refinance, it’s usually not in your best interest to do another transaction right away, Opperman says.

If predatory lenders are actively seeking you out and you haven’t requested their help, that’s another warning sign that something is off. Work only with known banks or lenders, and question all fees and penalties presented to you, Opperman says. Lenders are required to provide loan estimates and closing disclosures that list all fees and third-party costs; review these documents carefully, or have a trusted advisor do this, if you are refinancing your mortgage.

Foreclosure Relief What It Looks Like: People who fall on hard times and get behind on their mortgage payments can become desperate to save their homes. That’s when scammers, who have access to public records of homes in pre-foreclosure, swoop in with offers of foreclosure relief to capitalize on homeowners’ vulnerability, Opperman says.

“Scammers will claim that they can help homeowners save their homes and reduce their mortgage payments for a large, upfront fee,” Opperman says, “but they often leave our clients in worse financial shape.”

Some fraudsters claim they’re affiliated with the government or government housing assistance programs, and can swindle homeowners out of hundreds or even thousands of dollars in fees, according to the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC.

How to Protect Yourself: The best way to avoid foreclosure is to work directly with your loan servicer to modify your existing loan, request forbearance, or make some other arrangement. Homeowners can first enlist the help of a HUD-accredited housing counselor to see what options they have, then include their counselor on a three-way call to their lender to find solutions, Opperman says.

“A scammer will tell you not to talk to your lender, and that’s a huge red flag,” Opperman says. “It’s hard to speak to your lender when you’re in imminent default or become delinquent because you’re afraid it might speed up (losing your home), but you have to open the lines of communication with your lender.”

Rental Scams What It Looks Like: Scammers post property rental ads on Craigslist or social media pages to lure in unsuspecting renters, sometimes using photos from other listings. The scammers, who have no connection to the property or its owner, will ask for an upfront payment to let you see the property or hold it as a deposit. In reality, they’re just looking to get quick cash through nefarious means.

Rental scams are alarmingly common. An estimated 5.2 million U.S. renters say they have lost money from rental fraud, according to a recent survey from ApartmentList. Younger renters are the likeliest victims, with 9.1 percent of 18- to 29-year-old renters having lost money on such a scam, compared with 6.4 percent of all renters, the survey revealed. Of those who did lose money to scammers, one in three lost more than $1,000, likely after paying a security deposit or rent on a fake rental property, ApartmentList found.

How to Protect Yourself: Be suspicious of anyone who asks for a cash deposit upfront to see a property, says Nicole Durosko of Warburg Realty in New York City. Ensure you’re dealing with the real property owner before negotiating rental terms or seeing a property in person. You can search the local property appraiser’s website to find out who the current property owner is and look for contact information online.

“Avoid doing transactions via email or on the phone,” Durosko says. “It’s best to be face-to-face to confirm the property ownership, sign any required documentation, and (make a) payment.”

Use a check (never cash) to make a payment so you have an automatic receipt of it, Durosko advises. Finally, always insist on speaking with the property owner before signing a contract or making a payment if someone says they’re representing the owner. If someone claims to be a real estate agent, ask to see their license and take a picture of it so you can confirm the information online through your state’s division of real estate licensing, Durosko says.

Next Steps to Take If You’re Targeted Trust your gut if something doesn’t feel right or seems too good to be true. Work with only professional lenders associated with local and/or national trade associations, and ask for referrals from family members and friends. If you’re an older homeowner (or a caregiver to someone who is), be on your guard when companies pressure you to tap your home equity.

If you suspect a scammer is trying to target you, don’t open any email links or respond to any messages. Instead, report the activity to your local police department. To report fraud, identity theft or financial scams, visit the FTC’s complaint website, click on the FTC Complaint Assistant icon, and answer the questions.

©Bankrate.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

The post The 4 Most Common Mortgage and Real Estate Scams and How to Stop Them appeared first on RISMedia.

The 4 Most Common Mortgage and Real Estate Scams and How to Stop Them published first on https://thegardenresidences.tumblr.com/

[digitalareva-blog]

THINGS YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE BUYING A NEW CONSTRUCTION HOUSE IN KERALA

 shopping for a house in Kerala could be a major investment and it's terribly required to contemplate sure things before creating such an enormous investment. these items area unit as follows: Tips for purchasing a brand new Construction Home:1. realize a good agent before booking a brand new construction web site, continually make certain that you just area unit hiring associate agent United Nations agency has smart expertise with new constructions and isn’t somebody United Nations agency is connected with the builder. Most of the model homes area unit sometimes staffed by realty agents United Nations agency have a decent reference to the builder. it's thus necessary to possess an agent with none association to the builders in tripunithura as a result of then he/she are going to be standing up for your best interests, can offer you valuable recommendation on the way to gift your provide to be most appealing to the builder and additionally at the same time offer you the most effective potential suggestions to heighten your home’s marketing price. an associate agent with connections to the builder would continually keep the builders best interests in mind whereas obtaining his own commission which is able to leave you feeling duped at the tip of it. a number of the developments need a web site registration policy wherever your agent has to accompany you to the location on the primary few visits. 2. Be inventive throughout negotiationsWhile negotiating with a builder you have got to be inventive since most builders don't prefer to drop their costs. rather than lowering the {costs} you'll approach a deal basking a builder to pay the closing costs or actingupgrades at no extra charges. Builders area unit largely reluctant to convey out precedents whereas negotiating costs out of the concern that future consumers would possibly expect an equivalent discount, furthermore most consumers prefer to negotiate ‘on the back-end’ since it's less obvious for them to sweeten deals on closing prices or acting upgrades. thus it's necessary to analysis upon the builders previous comes or have your agent do an equivalent so you'll proceed with an efficient means of negotiating. 3. Get everything in writing is important to not sign something unless all the small print of the negotiation has been prescribed and properly being written into a contract. Verbal communication isn't binding and thus it's important to urge everything during a written contract and be signed by all the parties before a call is reached. thus if someone is considering shopping for an unfinished home it's important for all the small print concerning however the house are going to be finished, {what can|what is going to|what's going to} happen if the home is not completed in step with the point and every one the opposite deadlines and method of however things will progress has to written down during correct contract before continuing to buy the house and seal the deal. it's important to possess a previous review of the builders to copy before sign language the papers. 4. What you see isn’t continually what you getThe complete and finished model home isn’t essentially an equivalent because the one that you just can get within the commonplace. largely the model homes area unit equipped with a mix of upgrades and commonplace options, thus it's important to stay in mind whereas moving a model home that you just have a good data of that is that and add the associated prices with the upgrades. Once {you do|you area unit doing} think about shopping for a house it's important to grasp what the items that area unit accessible are and what belongings you can get and clearly the price related to them. You got to confine mind that the prices can vary with time which all the worth that may are quoted to you within the starting won't be an equivalent with the one you get at the tip of it.  5. Do your analysis on the builders is important to analyze your builder before creating a sale of the house in Kerala. ensure to go to different homes that the builder might need exhausted the past and sit down with the householders. it's terribly potential for householders to possess each happy and sad customers within the past and it's equally necessary for of these problems to be addressed and taken care of before sign language the acquisition agreement document. on-line property search can save the United States of America from extortionate rates during this method. 6. Get a guarantee most of the days {you area unit|you're} shopping for a house that is incomplete. What area unit the guarantees that the project would end on time? What area unit the guarantees that when the home is not completed on time there won’t be any further charges? Most of the days the development of a building gets delayed because of unfinished approvals from the municipality or inaccessibility of raw materials for building the house. you would like to urge all the small print of what happens just in case such a state of affairs will take place written within the contract document. 7. Get the house inspectedNew homes don't seem to be such they're innocent of issues. they will have issues too and thus it's equally necessary for your house to urge inspected before shopping for them. The native municipality clearly needs new homes to pass the allow scrutiny, but hiring an associate freelance inspector to examine whether or not the home is code compliant or not is additional cash well spent. it's necessary to say here that almost all of the builders have a provision of the shoppers choosing associate freelance house scrutiny and therefore the builders creating repairs if the building doesn't code compliant however don't enable them to require back their initial deposit if the shoppers' area unit left discontented with the work. thus it's important to create provisions for the scrutiny rights of the client and therefore the right to request repairs or terminate the agreement within the contract document at the terribly starting of the acquisition. 8. decide what’s coated many of the new homes go with a guaranty from the builder however it's equally necessary to grasp that comes with what, what's coated and what's not and for a way long. several builders additionally use third-party warrant firms to seem when the warrant of the house. several elements within the house just like the windows or doors or materials utilized in creating the house go with separate warranties and therefore the builder would possibly refuse to figure on them if any issue concerning an equivalent ever arises. thus it's important {to recognize|to understand|to grasp} what's coated by what and you need to raise the agent to urge the warrant info early and direct from the builder United Nations agency would be able to know these details so you'll address any concern within the provide documents beforehand. 9. scrutinize the longer term it is important to seem at the longer term aspects of a building before opting to shop for one. for instance, if you're having a read close to your house at this moment, can an equivalent be gift 5 years from now? it's left to the shoppers by most builders to determine the neighborhood dynamics of the building, thus it's equally necessary to deal with these issues and appearance into them before creating a sale. And if you don’t have funds to buy a brand new home, you'll think about home loans. MPS Builders & Developers, one among the luxurious builders near info park offers residential flats and residences in KOCHI

#flats #real estate #builders #builders in kerala #flats near info park

[hellofastestnewsfan]

What is bitcoin? An investment? A technology? A bubble? What is even happening?

All of these questions seem like reasonable ones to ask, as its price has surged and plummeted. Bitcoin is many things: a proxy for more stable units like the dollar and the euro, a speculative investment, a payments mechanism, a means of hiding transactions from various governments and tax collectors, and a monetary innovation that might legitimately transform the world.

Yet cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, are also a bubbly, frothy, and overhyped phenomenon—a latter-day version of a penny stock, boosted by drug dealers, digital evangelists, Wall Street types, and a large twinset of Harvard rowers. Sure, sophisticated investors are pouring money in. But neophyte investors are charging bitcoins to their credit cards. A company called Long Island Iced Tea, purveyor of virgin lemonades and steeped drinks, added “blockchain” to its name and saw its stock price jump as much as 500 percent. Companies are raising vast sums on the public markets via initial coin offerings. The prices of various currencies are spiraling around like a loose tab of acid lost in a dust storm at Burning Man. It is getting weird out there.

Regulators are taking notice, concerned that beside the explosion of legitimate investment in digital currencies lurks a whole lot of old-fashioned consumer fraud, self-dealing, market manipulation, and false advertising. Among them is Joseph Borg, the director of the state of Alabama’s securities commission, who recently voiced his concern that people were mortgaging their homes to get in on the hype. I spoke with him as the price of bitcoin was in the midst of plummeting 30 percent in a day, to a point at which it still would have grown tenfold in a year. The interview that follows has been lightly edited for clarity.  

Annie Lowrey: What’s your 50,000-foot view on what’s been happening with bitcoin?

Joseph Borg: From our office’s point of view, we have money transmitters and securities. If bitcoin is being used as a transmission vehicle for money, those businesses have to be licensed. We’re concerned about encryption, how they’re transmitting money, the security of wallets, that kind of thing. It’s just like Western Union. If you’re sending money via Western Union from New York to California, they have to be licensed to transmit the money. But they’re not creating the money. That’s one aspect.

The whole cryptocurrency area is getting looked at closely by regulators, for that money-transmitter aspect. There’s a group that’s come up with a cryptocurrency-transmission law to be used as a model. We’re studying that, and New York has been pushing out some regulations on cryptocurrency as well. But it’s such a new phenomenon. And any time you have regulators looking at something new, we’re behind the curve. The folks who developed it understand it and we have to learn it.

Lowrey: Got it, so that’s one side—the money-moving side.

Borg: Right, then there’s the securities side. We’re concerned about the companies doing initial coin offerings. We’re also concerned about the companies using bitcoin as a basis for people to speculate, or creating technology off of the blockchain. They’re raising money to develop other companies, raising money to get into business. That’s an investment, not a money-transmission business.

Right now, my message is: This is just like the dot-com bubble, tulips in the 1600s, and oil and gas speculation. Things get to be a mania. The retail market gets hits with advertisements and media pitches: You’re going to miss out on the next Microsoft! You’ve got to get in now, because it’s going up and up and up! It’s the same sort of thing that you see in any type of mania. When oil was $4 a gallon, everyone was pitching this new technology to drill old oil wells, that kind of stuff.

The difference with the cryptocurrencies, the bitcoin mania, is that the technology ramps up quicker and so the mania goes faster. The mania on oil and gas took two years—this is taking two months. It’s tech-driven and instant.

Lowrey: But the mania is the same?

Borg: You just go do a Google search for “make money on bitcoin.” It’s page after page of it, hyping it to the whole retail market. Bitcoin’s making new millionaires! Get in before it’s too late!

The thing is that the market has done well, but the average Main Street–type person hasn’t participated in it. They got burned by the micro-cap stocks in the 2000s, then burned by foreclosures and the real-estate collapse. They’re concerned about Washington deregulating everything, and Social Security going broke, and health-care costs going up. And they haven’t had a salary increase in years.

You’ve got a family making $60,000, $100,000 a year. They don’t have a lot of money for retirement. Then, someone comes along and says, “Make $13,000 in 24 hours, guaranteed!”—got to get the “guaranteed” part in there. It’s like you’ve got a fuel pump at a pump station, where the pump is stuck and the fuel is spilling out all over the street. And there’s people lighting matches. And someone says, well, let’s pour more fuel on it!

At some point, there’s going to be a huge correction, when the bubble breaks. I can’t tell you when that would be. It could go on for a while. There’s a lag time between when people invest and when they realized they got duped. We’re in the middle of the frenzy. It’s going to be 24 months, maybe longer, before we know. Sometimes it’s 8 or 10 years.

Lowrey: Are there people you’re especially worried about, in terms of getting ripped off?

Borg: Well, if these folks are seniors, often we don’t even hear about it because they’re embarrassed. They figure if they let people know, the family will figure that they cannot handle their affairs anymore. Seniors will tell us, “I lost the money. I got taken. But my kids would say I cannot manage things anymore if I told them that.” They don’t want to lose their way of life.  However, I don’t think there are a whole lot of seniors invested in this.

Lowrey: Who is, then? Because that matters a lot for who would get hurt by a collapse.

Borg: The way I hear about it is that we do 80 to 90 public events a year. We talk a lot about protecting people from fraud, and I’ll ask people if they’ve heard of bitcoin or invested in bitcoin. If I ask, “Do you know what a bitcoin is?,” four or five hands out of 60 go up. And maybe two or four are invested. I’ll follow up during a break, when we’re serving lunch or breakfast. I’ll say, “This is risky stuff!” That’s a good way to hear about the exposure.

Most folks are doing it out of savings, maybe by selling off part of a mutual fund. They aren’t betting everything on it. A few said they took $10,000 out on credit cards to buy bitcoin. Some took out $10,000 in a home equity line of credit. That’s like a credit card on steroids, a second mortgage.

Lowrey: Right, your home is at risk if you can’t pay it back. I guess the question is whether these people can be said to know what they’re doing, and if they’re being exposed to fraud.  

Borg: Remember back in the dot-com era, that ad with that orange-haired kid telling the CEO to buy Kmart stock? Or there would be ladies at the social club playing canasta, talking about how they bought this or that mutual fund and made $300 in four hours? The water-cooler conversation at the office went from football and baseball to what so-and-so bought today—that kind of hype.

Now, with cryptocurrency, the numbers are higher, the technology is quicker, and instead of television commercials, it’s all done on your phone. It’s a frenzy. But it’s not as big as it was back then.

Lowrey: Part of what matters is who’s distributing what money to whom. If it’s all fairly rich people, maybe you’d worry less about that as a regulator.

Borg: The bigger it gets, the more the pool widens out. People say everybody loses in a Ponzi scheme, but that’s not true! The bigger it gets, you have more winners and more losers. At some point, we’re going to run out of folks willing to pay $19,000 for a bitcoin. Then, we’ll see.

We’re not saying bitcoin is illegal or bad, or that cryptocurrency is bad. We’re saying, don’t misunderstand what it is. Don’t, because of the hype, talk yourself into putting yourself at risk of losing your house. I always say, if you want to invest in this, ask yourself if you would take $10,000 and put it on black in Las Vegas. If you would, maybe invest in bitcoin.

from The Atlantic http://ift.tt/2C8qoCN

#Blogger

[myfinanceblog]

New Post has been published on My Finance Blog

New Post has been published on http://princefinance.princefamily33.com/2017/10/30/use-these-ideas-and-increase-your-gold-knowledge-today-6/

Use These Ideas And Increase Your Gold Knowledge Today!

TIP! All gold buyers are different, so it is important to look around and find someone that you feel comfortable doing business with. Check online reviews, BBB.

If you’re looking to jump into the gold market but haven’t yet done so, then you’ve come to the right place to start. You don’t have to be intimidated, but you should know enough to get into the fray. Investing in gold carries many advantages, and you must learn what they are.

TIP! Consider selling gold online. There’s no reason to confine yourself to brick-and-mortar stores when selling your gold.

When you sell gold, make sure to get multiple appraisals. From pawn shops to jewelry stores, each location will charge a different premium on gold. Getting multiple estimates helps you get a fairer price on your gold when selling it.

TIP! Before you buy gold from a dealer, get a guaranteed delivery date. If the person selling you the gold does not deliver the product right away, it is necessary for you to obtain a written estimate of when your items should arrive.

If you’d like to leap into the world of gold investing without having to pony up a large amount of money at the start, buying scrap gold may be the right tactic for you. This can be done over time, maybe some each day so that you can get some valuable gold in about a year. Be sure to stash your gold safely away until you decide to sell it.

TIP! The cost of gold may put you off. However, you can still find a deal now and then, which you can turn around and sell for a profit.

Get an appraisal to find out the exact value of your jewelry. This may cost a small fee, however it is crucial if you want to know the true value of your item. Find a reputable appraiser, however, to visit. Remember, though, that you won’t get the appraiser’s price for your gold.

TIP! When you buy gold jewelry as a gift, be sure to understand the return policy and get a gift receipt. You have no idea if the person for whom you are purchasing the piece will like it or if it will fit.

Anything with gold can be sold to a good dealer. It could be a broken jewelry item, table settings, home decor items or anything that is in the house. Even things that are not pure gold can have value. Plated gold will do. You’ll end up with some money in your pocket.

TIP! Take your old gold that you want to sell to a number of different gold-buying companies before settling on one. The “spot” price for gold is determined by a constantly fluctuating market, so not every store is going to pay it.

As exhilarating as gold gets, don’t run your mouth about it. You may not know who is overhearing you, or who is trustworthy. Keep your investment private and secured, preferably in a safe. This is the best way to protect yourself and your gold investment.

TIP! Find out the spot price for gold on the day that you’re planning to buy. This information is available on a number of websites.

Ask what method is used to determine the purity or karats of your jewelry. Is it based on the stamp? Sometimes, however, there is no visual sign, so many representatives have other methods of figuring it out. Acid testing is a very simple method, so if a representative is using this, they might be new.

TIP! When sending off your jewelry, you need to consider the shipping cost to you if you’re not satisfied with the offer given. Many companies offer free shipping; however, they may charge shipping for returns.

Carefully read and check the small print in the sales contract. If you sell gold through a mail-in purchaser, make sure you understand the terms of the deal. You can then ascertain the amount of fees and commissions you will be charged.

Solid Gold

TIP! You should rely primarily on independent, personal research to learn about the market for gold before investing in it. Some individuals pretend to market experts but who are in fact just trying to dupe you into investing through them.

Sometimes an item will have solid gold backing; although, the jewelry is not solid gold. Necklace clasps and ring bands are usually real as well. You can sell these small pieces together. That means they are collected into an assortment that can bring a better price together.

TIP! Mail-in options exist for those wanting to sell gold. Many sellers enjoy this method due to how simple it is.

Do not sign anything from a gold dealer without fully understanding what it implies. This business has its hands in a great deal of money. You need to completely understand the contract you are signing. If you’re not happy with the specific terms, then you need to keep moving along. At the end of the day you are the one who stands to lose financially.

TIP! Don’t just sell your gold on a whim. Gold is always increasing in value, so don’t sell it unless you really need the money.

By this point, you should feel more confident in your ability to make smart investing decisions. Now is a great time to start investing in gold, and the tips and techniques in this article are your prime starting point. Soon you will see how your investments pay off.

#sell gold #solid gold