#apr 27 2021 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fatliberation · 7 months

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they have a point though. you wouldn't need everyone to accommodate you if you just lost weight, but you're too lazy to stick to a healthy diet and exercise. it's that simple. I'd like to see you back up your claims, but you have no proof. you have got to stop lying to yourselves and face the facts

Must I go through this again? Fine. FINE. You guys are working my nerves today. You want to talk about facing the facts? Let's face the fucking facts.

In 2022, the US market cap of the weight loss industry was $75 billion [1, 3]. In 2021, the global market cap of the weight loss industry was estimated at $224.27 billion [2].

In 2020, the market shrunk by about 25%, but rebounded and then some since then [1, 3] By 2030, the global weight loss industry is expected to be valued at $405.4 billion [2]. If diets really worked, this industry would fall overnight.

1. LaRosa, J. March 10, 2022. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Shrinks by 25% in 2020 with Pandemic, but Rebounds in 2021." Market Research Blog. 2. Staff. February 09, 2023. "[Latest] Global Weight Loss and Weight Management Market Size/Share Worth." Facts and Factors Research. 3. LaRosa, J. March 27, 2023. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Partially Recovers from the Pandemic." Market Research Blog.

Over 50 years of research conclusively demonstrates that virtually everyone who intentionally loses weight by manipulating their eating and exercise habits will regain the weight they lost within 3-5 years. And 75% will actually regain more weight than they lost [4].

4. Mann, T., Tomiyama, A.J., Westling, E., Lew, A.M., Samuels, B., Chatman, J. (2007). "Medicare’s Search For Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not The Answer." The American Psychologist, 62, 220-233. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2007.

The annual odds of a fat person attaining a so-called “normal” weight and maintaining that for 5 years is approximately 1 in 1000 [5].

5. Fildes, A., Charlton, J., Rudisill, C., Littlejohns, P., Prevost, A.T., & Gulliford, M.C. (2015). “Probability of an Obese Person Attaining Normal Body Weight: Cohort Study Using Electronic Health Records.” American Journal of Public Health, July 16, 2015: e1–e6.

Doctors became so desperate that they resorted to amputating parts of the digestive tract (bariatric surgery) in the hopes that it might finally result in long-term weight-loss. Except that doesn’t work either. [6] And it turns out it causes death [7], addiction [8], malnutrition [9], and suicide [7].

6. Magro, Daniéla Oliviera, et al. “Long-Term Weight Regain after Gastric Bypass: A 5-Year Prospective Study - Obesity Surgery.” SpringerLink, 8 Apr. 2008. 7. Omalu, Bennet I, et al. “Death Rates and Causes of Death After Bariatric Surgery for Pennsylvania Residents, 1995 to 2004.” Jama Network, 1 Oct. 2007. 8. King, Wendy C., et al. “Prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders Before and After Bariatric Surgery.” Jama Network, 20 June 2012. 9. Gletsu-Miller, Nana, and Breanne N. Wright. “Mineral Malnutrition Following Bariatric Surgery.” Advances In Nutrition: An International Review Journal, Sept. 2013.

Evidence suggests that repeatedly losing and gaining weight is linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and altered immune function [10].

10. Tomiyama, A Janet, et al. “Long‐term Effects of Dieting: Is Weight Loss Related to Health?” Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6 July 2017.

Prescribed weight loss is the leading predictor of eating disorders [11].

11. Patton, GC, et al. “Onset of Adolescent Eating Disorders: Population Based Cohort Study over 3 Years.” BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 20 Mar. 1999.

The idea that “obesity” is unhealthy and can cause or exacerbate illnesses is a biased misrepresentation of the scientific literature that is informed more by bigotry than credible science [12].

12. Medvedyuk, Stella, et al. “Ideology, Obesity and the Social Determinants of Health: A Critical Analysis of the Obesity and Health Relationship” Taylor & Francis Online, 7 June 2017.

“Obesity” has no proven causative role in the onset of any chronic condition [13, 14] and its appearance may be a protective response to the onset of numerous chronic conditions generated from currently unknown causes [15, 16, 17, 18].

13. Kahn, BB, and JS Flier. “Obesity and Insulin Resistance.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Aug. 2000. 14. Cofield, Stacey S, et al. “Use of Causal Language in Observational Studies of Obesity and Nutrition.” Obesity Facts, 3 Dec. 2010. 15. Lavie, Carl J, et al. “Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: Risk Factor, Paradox, and Impact of Weight Loss.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 26 May 2009. 16. Uretsky, Seth, et al. “Obesity Paradox in Patients with Hypertension and Coronary Artery Disease.” The American Journal of Medicine, Oct. 2007. 17. Mullen, John T, et al. “The Obesity Paradox: Body Mass Index and Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Nonbariatric General Surgery.” Annals of Surgery, July 2005. 18. Tseng, Chin-Hsiao. “Obesity Paradox: Differential Effects on Cancer and Noncancer Mortality in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.” Atherosclerosis, Jan. 2013.

Fatness was associated with only 1/3 the associated deaths that previous research estimated and being “overweight” conferred no increased risk at all, and may even be a protective factor against all-causes mortality relative to lower weight categories [19].

19. Flegal, Katherine M. “The Obesity Wars and the Education of a Researcher: A Personal Account.” Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 15 June 2021.

Studies have observed that about 30% of so-called “normal weight” people are “unhealthy” whereas about 50% of so-called “overweight” people are “healthy”. Thus, using the BMI as an indicator of health results in the misclassification of some 75 million people in the United States alone [20].

20. Rey-López, JP, et al. “The Prevalence of Metabolically Healthy Obesity: A Systematic Review and Critical Evaluation of the Definitions Used.” Obesity Reviews : An Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 15 Oct. 2014.

While epidemiologists use BMI to calculate national obesity rates (nearly 35% for adults and 18% for kids), the distinctions can be arbitrary. In 1998, the National Institutes of Health lowered the overweight threshold from 27.8 to 25—branding roughly 29 million Americans as fat overnight—to match international guidelines. But critics noted that those guidelines were drafted in part by the International Obesity Task Force, whose two principal funders were companies making weight loss drugs [21].

21. Butler, Kiera. “Why BMI Is a Big Fat Scam.” Mother Jones, 25 Aug. 2014.

Body size is largely determined by genetics [22].

22. Wardle, J. Carnell, C. Haworth, R. Plomin. “Evidence for a strong genetic influence on childhood adiposity despite the force of the obesogenic environment” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 87, No. 2, Pages 398-404, February 2008.

Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index [23].

23. Matheson, Eric M, et al. “Healthy Lifestyle Habits and Mortality in Overweight and Obese Individuals.” Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 25 Feb. 2012.

Weight stigma itself is deadly. Research shows that weight-based discrimination increases risk of death by 60% [24].

24. Sutin, Angela R., et al. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality .” Association for Psychological Science, 25 Sept. 2015.

Fat stigma in the medical establishment [25] and society at large arguably [26] kills more fat people than fat does [27, 28, 29].

25. Puhl, Rebecca, and Kelly D. Bronwell. “Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity.” Obesity Research, 6 Sept. 2012. 26. Engber, Daniel. “Glutton Intolerance: What If a War on Obesity Only Makes the Problem Worse?” Slate, 5 Oct. 2009. 27. Teachman, B. A., Gapinski, K. D., Brownell, K. D., Rawlins, M., & Jeyaram, S. (2003). Demonstrations of implicit anti-fat bias: The impact of providing causal information and evoking empathy. Health Psychology, 22(1), 68–78. 28. Chastain, Ragen. “So My Doctor Tried to Kill Me.” Dances With Fat, 15 Dec. 2009. 29. Sutin, Angelina R, Yannick Stephan, and Antonio Terraciano. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality.” Psychological Science, 26 Nov. 2015.

There's my "proof." Where is yours?

#inbox #fat liberation #fat acceptance #fat activism #anti fatness #anti fat bias #anti diet #resources #facts #weight science #save

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mostlysignssomeportents · 23 hours

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Antitrust is a labor issue

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me SATURDAY (Apr 27) in MARIN COUNTY, then Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

This is huge: yesterday, the FTC finalized a rule banning noncompete agreements for every American worker. That means that the person working the register at a Wendy's can switch to the fry-trap at McD's for an extra $0.25/hour, without their boss suing them:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes

The median worker laboring under a noncompete is a fast-food worker making close to minimum wage. You know who doesn't have to worry about noncompetes? High tech workers in Silicon Valley, because California already banned noncompetes, as did Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington.

The fact that the country's largest economies, encompassing the most "knowledge-intensive" industries, could operate without shitty bosses being able to shackle their best workers to their stupid workplaces for years after those workers told them to shove it shows you what a goddamned lie noncompetes are based on. The idea that companies can't raise capital or thrive if their know-how can walk out the door, secreted away in the skulls of their ungrateful workers, is bullshit:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/02/its-the-economy-stupid/#neofeudal

Remember when OpenAI's board briefly fired founder Sam Altman and Microsoft offered to hire him and 700 of his techies? If "noncompetes block investments" was true, you'd think they'd have a hard time raising money, but no, they're still pulling in billions in investor capital (primarily from Microsoft itself!). This is likewise true of Anthropic, the company's major rival, which was founded by (wait for it), two former OpenAI employees.

Indeed, Silicon Valley couldn't have come into existence without California's ban on noncompetes – the first silicon company, Shockley Semiconductors, was founded by a malignant, delusional eugenicist who also couldn't manage a lemonade stand. His eight most senior employees (the "Traitorous Eight") quit his shitty company to found Fairchild Semiconductor, a rather successful chip shop – but not nearly so successful as the company that two of Fairchild's top employees founded after they quit: Intel:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/24/the-traitorous-eight-and-the-battle-of-germanium-valley/

Likewise a lie: the tale that noncompetes raise wages. This theory – beloved of people whose skulls are so filled with Efficient Market Hypothesis Brain-Worms that they've got worms dangling out of their nostrils and eye-sockets – holds that the right to sign a noncompete is an asset that workers can trade to their employers in exchange for better pay. This is absolutely true, provided you ignore reality.

Remember: the median noncompete-bound worker is a fast food employee making near minimum wage. The major application of noncompetes is preventing that worker from getting a raise from a rival fast-food franchisee. Those workers are losing wages due to noncompetes. Meanwhile, the highest paid workers in the country are all clustered in a a couple of cities in northern California, pulling down sky-high salaries in a state where noncompetes have been illegal since the gold rush.

If a capitalist wants to retain their workers, they can compete. Offer your workers get better treatment and better wages. That's how capitalism's alchemy is supposed to work: competition transmogrifies the base metal of a capitalist's greed into the noble gold of public benefit by making success contingent on offering better products to your customers than your rivals – and better jobs to your workers than those rivals are willing to pay. However, capitalists hate capitalism:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/18/in-extremis-veritas/#the-winnah

Capitalists hate capitalism so much that they're suing the FTC, in MAGA's beloved Fifth Circuit, before a Trump-appointed judge. The case was brought by Trump's financial advisors, Ryan LLC, who are using it to drum up business from corporations that hate Biden's new taxes on the wealthy and stepped up IRS enforcement on rich tax-cheats.

Will they win? It's hard to say. Despite what you may have heard, the case against the FTC order is very weak, as Matt Stoller explains here:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/ftc-enrages-corporate-america-by

The FTC's statutory authority to block noncompetes comes from Section 5 of the FTC Act, which bans "unfair methods of competition" (hard to imagine a less fair method than indenturing your workers). Section 6(g) of the Act lets the FTC make rules to enforce Section 5's ban on unfairness. Both are good law – 6(g) has been used many times (26 times in the five years from 1968-73 alone!).

The DC Circuit court upheld the FTC's right to "promulgate rules defining the meaning of the statutory standards of the illegality the Commission is empowered to prevent" in 1973, and in 1974, Congress changed the FTC Act, but left this rulemaking power intact.

The lawyer suing the FTC – Anton Scalia's larvum, a pismire named Eugene Scalia – has some wild theories as to why none of this matters. He says that because the law hasn't been enforced since the ancient days of the (checks notes) 1970s, it no longer applies. He says that the mountain of precedent supporting the FTC's authority "hasn't aged well." He says that other antitrust statutes don't work the same as the FTC Act. Finally, he says that this rule is a big economic move and that it should be up to Congress to make it.

Stoller makes short work of these arguments. The thing that tells you whether a law is good is its text and precedent, "not whether a lawyer thinks a precedent is old and bad." Likewise, the fact that other antitrust laws is irrelevant "because, well, they are other antitrust laws, not this antitrust law." And as to whether this is Congress's job because it's economically significant, "so what?" Congress gave the FTC this power.

Now, none of this matters if the Supreme Court strikes down the rule, and what's more, if they do, they might also neuter the FTC's rulemaking power in the bargain. But again: so what? How is it better for the FTC to do nothing, and preserve a power that it never uses, than it is for the Commission to free the 35-40 million American workers whose bosses get to use the US court system to force them to do a job they hate?

The FTC's rule doesn't just ban noncompetes – it also bans TRAPs ("training repayment agreement provisions"), which require employees to pay their bosses thousands of dollars if they quit, get laid off, or are fired:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/04/its-a-trap/#a-little-on-the-nose

The FTC's job is to protect Americans from businesses that cheat. This is them, doing their job. If the Supreme Court strikes this down, it further delegitimizes the court, and spells out exactly who the GOP works for.

This is part of the long history of antitrust and labor. From its earliest days, antitrust law was "aimed at dollars, not men" – in other words, antitrust law was always designed to smash corporate power in order to protect workers. But over and over again, the courts refused to believe that Congress truly wanted American workers to get legal protection from the wealthy predators who had fastened their mouth-parts on those workers' throats. So over and over – and over and over – Congress passed new antitrust laws that clarified the purpose of antitrust, using words so small that even federal judges could understand them:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/14/aiming-at-dollars/#not-men

After decades of comatose inaction, Biden's FTC has restored its role as a protector of labor, explicitly tackling competition through a worker protection lens. This week, the Commission blocked the merger of Capri Holdings and Tapestry Inc, a pair of giant conglomerates that have, between them, bought up nearly every "affordable luxury" brand (Versace, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, Coach, Stuart Weitzman, etc).

You may not care about "affordable luxury" handbags, but you should care about the basis on which the FTC blocked this merger. As David Dayen explains for The American Prospect: 33,000 workers employed by these two companies would lose the wage-competition that drives them to pay skilled sales-clerks more to cross the mall floor and switch stores:

https://prospect.org/economy/2024-04-24-challenge-fashion-merger-new-antitrust-philosophy/

In other words, the FTC is blocking a $8.5b merger that would turn an oligopoly into a monopoly explicitly to protect workers from the power of bosses to suppress their wages. What's more, the vote was unanimous, include the Commission's freshly appointed (and frankly, pretty terrible) Republican commissioners:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-moves-block-tapestrys-acquisition-capri

A lot of people are (understandably) worried that if Biden doesn't survive the coming election that the raft of excellent rules enacted by his agencies will die along with his presidency. Here we have evidence that the Biden administration's anti-corporate agenda has become institutionalized, acquiring a bipartisan durability.

And while there hasn't been a lot of press about that anti-corporate agenda, it's pretty goddamned huge. Back in 2021, Tim Wu (then working in the White wrote an executive order on competition that identified 72 actions the agencies could take to blunt the power of corporations to harm everyday Americans:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/party-its-1979-og-antitrust-back-baby

Biden's agency heads took that plan and ran with it, demonstrating the revolutionary power of technical administrative competence and proving that being good at your job is praxis:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

In just the past week, there's been a storm of astoundingly good new rules finalized by the agencies:

A minimum staffing ratio for nursing homes;

The founding of the American Climate Corps;

A guarantee of overtime benefits;

A ban on financial advisors cheating retirement savers;

Medical privacy rules that protect out-of-state abortions;

A ban on junk fees in mortgage servicing;

Conservation for 13m Arctic acres in Alaska;

Classifying "forever chemicals" as hazardous substances;

A requirement for federal agencies to buy sustainable products;

Closing the gun-show loophole.

That's just a partial list, and it's only Thursday.

Why the rush? As Gerard Edic writes for The American Prospect, finalizing these rules now protects them from the Congressional Review Act, a gimmick created by Newt Gingrich in 1996 that lets the next Senate wipe out administrative rules created in the months before a federal election:

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-04-23-biden-administration-regulations-congressional-review-act/

In other words, this is more dazzling administrative competence from the technically brilliant agencies that have labored quietly and effectively since 2020. Even laggards like Pete Buttigieg have gotten in on the act, despite a very poor showing in the early years of the Biden administration:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/11/dinah-wont-you-blow/#ecp

Despite those unpromising beginnings, the DOT has gotten onboard the trains it regulates, and passed a great rule that forces airlines to refund your money if they charge you for services they don't deliver:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/04/24/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-rules-to-deliver-automatic-refunds-and-protect-consumers-from-surprise-junk-fees-in-air-travel/

The rule also bans junk fees and forces airlines to compensate you for late flights, finally giving American travelers the same rights their European cousins have enjoyed for two decades.

It's the latest in a string of muscular actions taken by the DOT, a period that coincides with the transfer of Jen Howard from her role as chief of staff to FTC chair Lina Khan to a new gig as the DOT's chief of competition enforcement:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-04-25-transportation-departments-new-path/

Under Howard's stewardship, the DOT blocked the merger of Spirit and Jetblue, and presided over the lowest flight cancellation rate in more than decade:

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/2023-numbers-more-flights-fewer-cancellations-more-consumer-protections

All that, along with a suite of protections for fliers, mark a huge turning point in the US aviation industry's long and worsening abusive relationship with the American public. There's more in the offing, too including a ban on charging families extra for adjacent seats, rules to make flying with wheelchairs easier, and a ban on airlines selling passenger's private information to data brokers.

There's plenty going on in the world – and in the Biden administration – that you have every right to be furious and/or depressed about. But these expert agencies, staffed by experts, have brought on a tsunami of rules that will make every working American better off in a myriad of ways. Those material improvements in our lives will, in turn, free us up to fight the bigger, existential fights for a livable planet, free from genocide.

It may not be a good time to be alive, but it's a much better time than it was just last week.

And it's only Thursday.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/25/capri-v-tapestry/#aiming-at-dollars-not-men

#pluralistic #labor #antitrust #trustbusting #noncompetes #indenture #ftc #matt stoller #david dayen #tapestry #luxury fashion #capri

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creativepromptsforwriting · 2 years

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Top 20 Most Popular Post

I love statistics, so here are the top 20 most popular writing posts from my blog.

Masterpost: How to write a story (Nov 5 2020)

Shout-out to all the stories (Oct 9 2022)

Master Prompt List (Feb 12 2021)

good traits gone bad (Apr 27 2023)

To all the writers who haven't written in a while (Jul 9 2022)

Touches Ask Game (Apr 7 2021)

You are allowed to like your own writing (Oct 18 2022)

Touching (Mar 25 2021)

The amount of creativity I possess (Jul 15 2023)

Romance Masterpost (Dec 3 2020)

Your writing will always feel awkward to you (May 7 2022)

What I hate about writing (Jul 2 2023)

I never had people draw fanart (Jul 10 2023)

Hand-holding (Feb 17 2021)

Another kind of diversity (Dec 30 2022)

Kisses (Feb 25 2021)

For anyone worried (Jun 11 2023)

Fanfic and fanart are bonus content (Apr 28 2023)

Advice for writing relationships (Aug 27 2023)

Deepest apologies for the well-thought out characters (Jun 25 2023)

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asukaskerian · 4 months

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monthly word count + year total

TOTAL FOR DECEMBER: 3 844 words. ..hhghgb i thought it was moooore

POSTED: nothing.

IN PROGRESS: -madatobiizu ABO cherry wine verse (979 words) -bleach pack fuckening ABO verse, baby cuteness (450 words) -bleach suburban ot4 (1 414 words) -bleach psychic wolves (377 words) -bleach bloodsport (624 words)

YEARLY TOTAL:

jan: 4 700 feb: 6 014 mar: 4 512 apr: 4 889 may: 1 719 jun: 1 184 jul: 2 271 aug: 1 615 sep: 3 026 oct: 2 109 nov: 4 272 dec: 3 844 TOTAL: 40 155 AVERAGE: 3 346.25

yeah so the downward trend is getting obvious. HHHHHH.

2010: 136 235, average: 11 353/month. ... :X :X :X 2011: 167 675, average: 13 973/month. :X 2012: 332 396, average: 27 700/month. eeeeeeee. 2013: 396 917, average: 33 076/month !!!!!!!! 2014: 315 332, average: 26 276/month ... :X 2015: 206 403, average: 17 200/month. 2016: 127 495, average: 10 625/month. >:( 2017: 80 828, average: 6 736/month. .__. 2018: 128 033, avergage: 10 669/month. FUCK YOU 2017. 2019: 159 609, average: 13 300/month. huh! 2020: 105 791, average: 8 816/month. ... hhghhrhhhhhhhhhhhhhh flops. 2021: 101 776, average: 8 481.33/month. =__= 2022: 73 461, average: 6 121.75/month. hhAHHJZVB WORSE THAN 2017 2023: 40 155, average: 3 346.25/month. this used to be three months' worth. hgh.

FICS I POSTED THIS YEAR:

-Howling Outside Your Door : Grimmichi pack fuckening : Chapters 5, 6 and Epilogue -Cherry wine chapter 8 (madatobiizu ABO) -Ichigo centric sequelette to Howling Outside Your Door (grimmichi pack fuckening ABO)

I did work on suburban ot4 and STILL don't wanna post it in public but otherwise it's still all half-dying fics trying to crawl back to the surface. no new ideas or anything. this *sucks.*

have some teasers anyway.

-- cherry wine --

"Don't joke. The cheeky omegas are already coming out of the woodwork as it is."

"Ah… Yes? Your fault for reacting to that girl the other day. Now they think that's your type."

Madara didn't truly change his posture but suddenly he looked a little more tired. "I thought that was why Raiha's niece seemed to have had a personality transplant."

"Aheh." Izuna hadn't even been sure he had noticed. "Mmh. Yes."

Huffing, his brother leaning on one elbow, fist mashed against his mouth grumpily, and glowered at the Lightning envoys who were doing nothing to ask for it.

"I didn't even want her, I just thought she was amusing. Who even wants to take someone to bed that they could break in two sneezing too hard?"

Izuna tried not to look too amused as the Lightning envoys went to sit and the Water ones started up the alley, lest they take it personally.

"Hm, yes, let's not tell people you like dangerous shinobi better, if that's all the same to you. They'd have a much better chance of assassinating you."

Madara threw him an irritated glare that became a watchful glance over Izuna's shoulder. Izuna fanned himself absently and took his time turning to see which of the Water Country envoys had --

Hm.

Why was this little blond brat dragging behind to grin at Tobirama.

bleach pack fuckening ABO

Ichigo feels so stupidly nervous watching Grimmjow's pack investigate his apartment. His apartment with the huge bath he never uses and the sunken living room-couch area and fuck, all his pillows and blankets are in the cupboards after the grueling wash they all needed last time his pack stayed over. Renji makes a mean cocktail but by god they stain.

He's going to look like he's trying too hard if he gets out the cushions now, isn't he.

"You, uh. Need--"

"You going to close the wards, Shinigami?"

Ugh. Ichigo makes a face at the blond one. He seems to remember he's an asshole.

Wait, they're all assholes. They hang out with Grimmjow. Have to be just to survive him, no doubt.

As he turns to seal the wards again, he catches a glimpse of the man himself, standing wih shoulders loose and hip cocked as he surveys the place. In the crook of his arm is the b-- his -- Ichigo does up the wards.

suburban ot4

"Ichigo made a pretty big decision on his own, and he didn't talk to me. He shared it with this other person as a, a done deal thing, and he didn't even talk to me about it."

Grimmjow whistles low and quiet between his teeth. "Yeowch. I'll dig a hole behind the gazebo."

Orihime blinks. "To put his--"

"Corpse, yeah, I'll make it square so it doesn't pop up too much, we just gotta fold him up a bit."

"… Pff."

"Plant some flowers on top to make it look legit with the loose soil. Gorgeous blooms."

Orihime presses both hands against her mouth, and still cackles. "Mean!"

"Or hey, tomatoes, some peppers. Delicious."

She giggles some more. Ah, it fixes nothing, and yet it's like being tickled out of a heavy coat. Freeing, like she can breathe a bit better as it drops around her feet.

"Sounds -- hehe, sounds good. Adzuki beans? Mm, I could make my own paste."

He smirks, just a little bit.

"… Haaaaa. I should probably try talking with him before the… gardening."

Grimmjow-san scoffs. "Quitter."

"Grimmjow-san!"

"Yeah, yeah, maybe. I mean, you're giving up an occasion of growing his namesake on the corpse of the guy who wronged you, which is the coldest, most badass shit, but you do you. Tch'."

… She'll feel a little bad in a minute that she laughed, because strawberry jokes are the lowest of -- hahaha -- hanging fruits.

bloodsport (ichigo, charlotte, luppi)

"… What's your names, anyway," he mumbled a fifteen minutes' bullet train ride later. "And do I, um. Pronouns."

Being laughed at was almost more of a relief than it was embarrassing.

"Listen, home is just kinda -- hngh. I mean? Gay people exist--"

The small one's face spasmed; their emotions -- yeah, Ichigo didn't want to notice that howling disbelief or the edge of hysterical hilarity that went with it, thanks.

"They still have to marry and have children. I mean, if they're echt. Duty to the blood. Whatever. So gender stuff is, uh. Yeah. Not really. Fuck."

Askin concealed a grimace a beat too late. The tall one grinned genially, leaning toward Ichigo and Askin with their hands linked sweetly behind their back. "You poor deprived chickies! You confused sweethearts. I am going to open your minds so wide--"

"Ugh," the small one cut in, rolling their eyes, and got a toothy, brilliant smile aimed their way along with a sharp threatening I-will-cut-your-neck gesture.

"To start with! Arrancars have been known to reproduce asexually. In the first couple generations, or maybe when the blood is very strong, but!"

"Didn't Starrk bud out a little girl ten years back."

"That guy's a freak though. Leading to! Two, the gender binary is for squares. Still with me, chickies?"

"Uh. Yeah."

"Three, I'm the womanest woman who has ever womaned."

"Oh." Yeah, good thing Ichigo had asked. Her voice was, uh. Deep. And the contrast between her mannerisms and makeup and her T-shaped frame, thick with muscle--

"But also, transcending the restrictive gender binary inherited from our caveman ancestors back on Earth is excellently beautiful and I am, naturally, first place at it."

grimmichi psychic wolves

"So he just… decided to ditch us."

Yylfordt said nothing for a few seconds, and then all at once grabbed a chair and flung it to the floor, along with the clothes and books piled up on it. Nakeem watched the books scatter, sliding along the linoleum.

"What the fuck! What the fuck?! Why would he do that? We're the best, baddest fucking squad, we're fucking black ops at the top of the game, what fucking reason would he have to fucking leave?"

More silence, out loud. Inside their minds everyone was buzzing incoherently, tidbits of denial blurring past.

Makes no sense, what about his pride, we were gonna be so great--

"He hated the sex," Nakeem said.

He got stared at.

"… The heat sex?" Di Roy asks eventually. "But he always said it was the best sex of his life."

Nakeem considered it. Not wrong, but. "Also the worst."

#teaser #ABO quest #writing woes

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the-moon-devi · 1 year

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🍨What Flavor Cookie are you based on the BAKER ASTEROID? PT.2 🍡

🧁BAKER ASTEROID◇◇ 《2549》🧁

🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮🥮

DESCRIPTION: The baker asteroid is said to be the bakers asteroid for baked goods and even bakers themselves.

🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁

Baker in Libra/7th house: I just get a loving vibe from this placement, either baker in libra likes to bake for their partner or your partner bakes for you( especially if it's in the 7th house) you could sell baked foods because libra does rule over merchandise and businesses. Venus influencing this y'all could have very beautiful techniques when baking especially if you decorate your cakes, cookies,etc. this placement has the ability to get very creative as well. I feel like y'all baking can be very good but kinda on the healthier side as well. Also y'all could actually have a bakery store

Cookie: canestrelli cookies// madeleine cookies

Baker in Scorpio//8th house: imma keep it real this could go 1 of 2 ways y'all might either be a good or bad baker that's just what I was called to say. Or you could be good but you guys might add some sort of knowledge that you have leared abou/ baking or edgy touch into your baking. This could be a hidden talent you have. Unless this is in a certain house or sign it could vary. In the 8th house, I would definitely say like a hidden talent. A gift you inherited from your ancestors this could get really spiritual or occultic. Also you could constantly be burning your baked goods. But don't get me wrong here y'all food definitely could be very good just a little over cooked . I have this placement in the 8th house and I like baked sweets soft but a tad burnt. Y'all cookie will be interesting to come up with.

Cookie: white chocolate red velvet cookies/ brown butter Carmel cookie

Baker in Sagittarius/9th house: its kinda giving foreign baking vibes like y'all take recipes from foreign cultures. Very adventurous with your baking style. Exspansive flavourrrrrr 🤤, y'all give me professional chef/ baker vibes here . Blessed in baking, might even go to school for baking or travel to learn about baking. I feel like y'all can become experts in baking. My little alchemists got the perrrrfect recipes to make your tastebuds explode!

Not really a cookie but they're good asf : Galab jamun/Big Blue Monster stuffed cookie (he he he he 😉)

Baker in Capricorn/10th house : now if baker is in the SIGN Capricorn I feel like y'all baking can be good but very old school if you look at your cookie you'll see what I mean. If it's in the 10th house this could be your career or just something your known for. Baker here it may have taken you some time to master baking. But I feel like Capricorn/10th house could make some good bakers. Depending on aspects,degrees,house,signs it will vary. But like I said very old fashion but good. If it's badly aspected, I feel like the baking might be a little dry or brittle. But all in all you could be a professional baker.

Cookie: oatmeal raisins/loornadoone/ snicker doodle

Baker in Aquarius/11th house: Eccentric, creative, different. Aquarius can blow some minds away or may be horrible. (depending on aspects don't beat me up😓) . I feel like y'all a little spicy/tangy it's giving lemon meringue or like y'all the type to mix pb&j into a cookie or sum like that. This placement as well could make you very popular for your cooking online. Friends may know how to bake. Baking may even be a dream. You guys as well could have a bakers blog or just be popular on social media for that.

Cookie: churro chocolate stuffed cookies/ pb& j cookies

Baker in Pisces/12th house: it's either lost or it's found here, y'all have it all or nothing. You either can bake your a$$ off or not. If you happen to be a good one then I feel like your really good you definitely could have the ability to heal others through your baking. But also since Neptune is here and Neptune rules 🍷🍺🥃💊🚬 there's a possibility of **cough cough** (edib----🌿🌿) im just being mindful if there's any kids reading this. These bakers could make comfort foods. Maybe even holistic,chemical free baked foods. I feel like this placements food could taste good and take your your taste buds to outerspace. 🤗😇

Cookies: raspberry swirl cream cheese cookie/ cosmic brownie cookies

#asteroid #astro notes #natal chart #astrology posts #occult #baker's #foodstrology #astro community #libra #capricorn #sagittarius #scorpio #aqaurius #pisces

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eviestevie-nametaken · 7 months

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eviestevie’s old rwby one shots collection!!

Alright I’m just quickly putting this together to have all my separate one shot fics from when I began writing up to now all put together in one place because I was originally going to do it as a Twitter thread but then I changed my mind

All my one shots from now on will be put together on my “one shot shenanigans” series which you can see on my ao3

Some of these old fics are requests, my own ideas and other random things. Some I still like, some I hate and regret 💀 The only things that aren’t included on this list are ship weeks, big multi chapter stories and commission work so other than those I hope you enjoy this list! :]]

From Earliest to Latest:

(Looking at these dates how did I ever manage to write so quick once upon a time lmao)

Breaking the Silence (28 Sep 2020)

How Icarus Lost his Wings (30 Sep 2020)

Sunshine and The Sheriff (7 Oct 2020)

Eye of the Beholder (12 Oct 2020)

This Dragon needs Love Too (17 Oct 2020)

Maidens of Fire and Iron (7 Nov 2020)

Late, Lonely Nights (7 Nov 2020)

Snitches Get Stitches (9 Nov 2020)

Her Rose (14 Nov 2020)

Human and Faunus (15 Nov 2020)

Why Help a Foe? (17 Nov 2020)

Breakdown at My Scars (23 Nov 2020)

Breaking Out and Breaking Free (24 Nov 2020)

Come Home (24 Nov 2020)

Nora’s in Charge (27 Nov 2020)

A Night to Remember (28 Nov 2020)

The Lowest Point (30 Nov 2020)

Reunion (1 Dec 2020)

What Now (5 Dec 2020)

You Left Me? (8 Dec 2020)

New Beginnings (15 Dec 2020)

Who Am I Without Her? (16 Dec 2020)

Helping Hand (29 Dec 2020)

Family At Last (1 Jan 2021)

Our Days (17 Jan 2021)

Old Home, New Allies (6 Feb 2021)

What Would You Do? (8 Feb 2021)

Pyrrhic Victory (15 Feb 2021)

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head (13 Mar 2021)

Take The Fall (22 Mar 2021)

A Hatred for Red (27 Mar 2021)

If We Had Five More Minutes (28 May 2021)

My Place on the Team (And What it Means to You) (8 Aug 2021)

Comforted By You (16 Sep 2021)

One Little Question (7 Dec 2021)

Dance All Night (1 Jan 2022)

Lonely Without Your Touch (21 Jan 2022)

When You Wish Upon a Star (4 Mar 2022)

Freeze This Moment (15 Mar 2022)

First of Many (5 Apr 2022)

Bright Young Boy, Fading Away (13 Apr 2022)

Warm Eyes (6 Jun 2022)

Impulse (22 Aug 2022)

#rwby #rwby fanfiction #my writing #spicecream #emercury #bumbleby #springthyme #nuts and dolts #rosebird #renora #schneewood forest #arkos #Rosegarden #crosshares #whiterose

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jesse-eisenberg-interview · 3 months

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A list of Jesse Eisenberg's writing

I made a list of Jesse Eisenberg's writing.

2009

NOV 30 Manageable Tongue Twisters.

2010

FEB 24 Marxist-Socialists Jokes

2011

JUL 21 A Post Gender Normative Man Tries to Pick Up a Woman at a Bar

DEC 07 ACTOR & PLAYWRIGHT JESSE EISENBERG ON THE THRILL OF THE STAGE

2012

JAN 25 Courage Is Just an Act

FEB 15 Jeremy Lin Has Helped Me Through Some Pretty Tough Times

MAR 12 Jesse Eisenberg on His Lifelong Aversion to Youth Culture

MAY 24 Sushi Nozawa

JUN 06 Masgouf

JUL 09 The Whiskey Blue Bar at the W Hotel

AUG 01 TCBY

AUG 20 Robert Frost Elementary School Cafeteria

OCT 02 Organix vs. the San Gennaro Street Festival

NOV 21 Thanksgiving With Vegans

DEC 11 Body Rituals Among the Lauxesortem

2013

FEB 22 Matthew’s House

MAR 17 Marv Albert Is My Therapist

APR 15 The League, Passed Down

APR 17 I Didn’t Win Any Pulitzer Prizes This Year

APR 25 A Marriage Counselor Tries to Heckle at a Knicks Game

JUN 03 Fuddruckers and an Unreliable New Friend

JUN 24 Separation-Anxiety Sleepaway Camp

AUG 06 A Crawfish Boil and Dad’s New Family

SEP 09 A Bully Does His Research

OCT 02 A Post Gender Normative Woman Tries to Pick Up a Man at a Bar

OCT 07 Final Conversations at Pompeii

NOV 01 The Museum of Natural History and Making Compromises

NOV 12 Alexander Graham Bell’s First Five Phone Calls

DEC 12 The Ashram and Mom

2014

JAN 20 If I Was Fluent in . . .

JUN 10 Carmelo Anthony and I Debrief Our Friends After a Pickup Game at the Y.M.C.A.

2015

MAY 25 Men and Dancing

SEP 01 My Nephew Has Some Questions

SEP 09 My Spam Plays Hard to Get

NOV 22 THE GUY WHO HATED NOW YOU SEE ME, A SHORT STORY

NOV 23 An Honest Film Review

2016

JAN 27 What Do You Do When Your Mother Won’t Shut Up at The Ballet?

FEB 04 Act Like You Know

FEB 12 Why I Broke Up with the Little Mermaid

MAY 19 My Cousin Recently Became A Realtor

NOV 04 SELF-DEPRECATING HEROES

DEC 11 LOW TALK IN HIGH PLACES

2017

JAN 23 YOU NEVER REALLY KNOW

JAN 25 My Very Good Friend

FEB 01 发现肉——致中国读者

MAR 04 HAVE YOU DINED WITH US BEFORE?

NOV 14 Mongolia

2018

JAN 15 Sad Stuff on the Street

MAR 20 Thanks, Giving

MAY 14 My N.B.A. Knowledge Comes In Handy

MAY 18 One Small Blow Against Encroaching Totalitarianism: The Natural Order of the World Depends On It

MAY 31 Jesse Eisenberg on the Relentless Work Ethic of Philip Roth

DEC 05 The Cast Members and Their Crew

2019

JAN 03 MY SISTER PUSHES THE LOBSTER

NOV 21 My Two-Year-Old Requests Just One More Song Before Bed

NOV 23 Jesse Eisenberg: Recommends four contemporary plays

2021

MAR 02 Writer Courtney Zoffness and Jesse Eisenberg on the Radical Compassion of Art

2022

NOV 07 Content Warning

2023

FEB 20 A G.P.S. Route for My Anxiety

#jesse eisenberg #writing

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allthecanadianpolitics · 7 months

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Pamphlet by Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) - 29/09/2023

Searches for unmarked graves at Royal Victoria Hospital: McGill & SQI deny scientific evidence and breach court order

Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) return to court Oct.27, as McGill and SQI keep violating Superior Court Injuction and agreements

On Sept. 11, 2023, Christopher Manfredi wrote to McGill community that "the first phase of the investigative work on the site of the New Vic Project comes to a close". Please be aware that this "conclusion" was forced unilaterally by McGill, and it does not align with the panel of archaeologists' report nor with the Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers), for whom the investigation is far from complete - let alone that the searches done so far were not done adequately (see below). The Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) for McGill then pretends that "this stage of the work has not produced any evidence of human remains or unmarked graves." Considering that three HHRD (Historic Human Remains Detection Dogs) alerted in the exact same area next to RVH building, and that a study by Grebenkemper et al. (2021) states that the "probability that two dogs would have a false positive at the same box is less than 0.06%", Manfredis' assertion is outright denialism of scientific evidence.

As the Kahnistensera's court files will show, McGill and the Société Québécoise des Infrastructures (SQI) have been violating the court-ordered injuction (Oct.2022), the settlement agreement (Apr.2023) and the temporary agreement (Aug.2023) in several manners:

Non-archeological drilling & excavating in the absence of the Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers): Despite the absence of the Kahnistensera and Mohawk cultural monitors, and despite the fact that the court-ordered archaelogical investigation is far from complete, McGill and SQI have been heavy drilling and excavating on site since Sept.11, flagrantly violating the court-ordered injuction and the temporary agreement between all parties involved, and putting the archaeological searches for human remains at extreme risk.

McGill's unilateral control over data interpretation: McGill and SQI kept refusing to share GeoScan's data with the Kahnistensera, the Panel of archaeologists jointly selected by all parties, and the Canadian Archaeological Association, even though this was required per the Panel's report. This means that McGill is unilaterally interpreting data, possibly overlooking vital evidence - voluntarily or not - and violating the letter and spirit of all agreements.

Potential child graves ignored: Anomalies in the Ground Penetrating Radars (GPR) data suggestive of children's graves have been silenced, directly violating the settlement agreement's principles of transparency and collaboration. The Mohawk Mothers insist on a thorough examination of these "unknown anomalies." The area excavated by McGill on Sept.11 and 12 is immediately next to several anomalies detected by the GPR.

Inadequate excavation practices: The few anomalies examined this far were excavated hastily using invasive heavy machinery without sifting the soil as required by the Panel of experts. This disregard for careful examination endangers the integrity of this sacred site.

To learn more: www.mohawkmothers.ca

To donate: https://fundrazr.com/e23JRc

#cdnpoli #genocide #child death #McGill University #Montreal #Québec #colonialism #Indigenous persecution #Mohawk

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shouta-edits · 10 months

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"Hey could I have a Self-care Kit with my blorbo Cody Burns from Rescue Bots? With a green color theme. Could it have stuffed animals like frogs, chocolate mint ice cream, blankets, coloring books, basketball balls, and family photos?" -anon requested

#self care kit #cody burns #transformers: rescue bots #green aesthetic #anti harassment #proship #proship safe #request fill #proship edit blog #[assignment passed back... /requested finished]#proshippers please interact #antis dni #hate will be blocked

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waifuwutori · 4 months

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#s pulled from my edtwt acct

Sometime in Nov/Dec 2021 - 210 (on purpose cause why not have a high SW) Dec. 16 2021 - 205 Feb. 27 2022 - 190 Apr. 21 2022 - 185 Jul. 13, 2022 - 160s Nov. 9 2022 - 160s again Dec. 26 2022 - 150 to 155 Apr. 28 2023 - 143 (my new lw at the time) Jun. 11, 2023 - 140s Jun. 20 2023 - 143 Jun. 23 2023 - 142.9 Jul. 9 2023 - 139 Nov. 26 2023 - 137.7 Dec. 25, 2023 - 134.4 (my younger sister told me shes never weighed over 136) I have lost 74 pounds in 2 years. I still have 18.4 pounds to lose I would like to lose 4.5 pounds before the new year but Im not gonna push it Im gonna try and locate non filtered photos of my body from around my hw and recreate them at my current weight. Cause I know logically there is a difference but I still dont see the change in my thighs. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#tw ana diary #tw disordered eating #trigger warning ed #ed not ed sheeran #weight loss #need to lose more weight #i wanna lose weight #skinnii #i wanna be skinnier #skinnyyy #tw weighloss

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 2 months

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By: Michael Mohr

Published: Apr 3, 2023

The Democratic Party has very slowly seen their grip on Asian, Hispanic and Black voters slipping as of late. There are many nuanced, complex reasons for this. Here’s some fascinating data from Pew Research:

66% of Black Democrats believe sex is immutable and assigned at birth.

62% of Black Americans believe race should NOT be a factor in college admissions.

38% of Black Americans believe police funding should be INCREASED; 38% believe funding should remain as is; only 23% want it decreased.

In 2021, 65% of Black Americans believed that increased attention given to inequality had NOT led to changes for the better for Black Americans.

64% of Black adults feel that the ‘racial reckoning’ and focus on identity has NOT led to positive changes.

Only 29% of Black Democrats identify as ‘liberal’ within the party. (Compared with 55% of Whites.)

Currently, there has been a roughly 11% drop in Black voter support of the Democratic Party, dropping from 90% to 79%.

55% of Black Americans believe Democrats should work hard to find common ground with Republicans, versus only 41% who feel Democrats should proceed with their agenda no matter what.

***All this data seems to make one thing clear: White lefties are turning Black voters off, big time. If white liberals keep being paternalistic and keep ignoring what Black voters actually want, and how these voters think and feel, Dems are going to be in trouble.

Of course what I’m presenting here is only one angle on a complicated story. 63% of Black adults, according to Pew (source #9 below) still feel that racism is a major problem, and 60% feel that police brutality is. And there’s more in this vein. I’m not trying to oversimplify the case or cherry-pick or be one-sided. In general, Black Americans still vastly favor the Democratic Party broadly (though they’re generally more moderate).

I’m simply pointing out that this demographic seems to clearly *not* like the direction the Democratic Party is moving. We should pay attention to this.

Resources:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2023/01/04/black-democrats-differ-from-other-democrats-in-their-views-on-gender-identity-transgender-issues/

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/02/25/most-americans-say-colleges-should-not-consider-race-or-ethnicity-in-admissions/

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/10/26/growing-share-of-americans-say-they-want-more-spending-on-police-in-their-area/

https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2022/08/30/black-americans-are-pessimistic-about-their-position-in-u-s-society/

https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2022/08/30/black-americans-are-pessimistic-about-their-position-in-

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/27/5-facts-about-black-democrats/u-s-society/

https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-black-voter-problem-only-getting-worse-opinion-1749500?amp=1

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/27/5-facts-about-black-democrats/

https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2022/08/30/black-americans-are-pessimistic-about-their-position-in-u-s-society/

People forget that black Americans tend to be more conservative on average, slower to leave religion, less likely to subscribe to the fashionable, postmodern ramblings of the privileged, elite class.

#Michael Mohr #black americans #african american #democratic party #republican party

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mostlysignssomeportents · 11 days

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How to screw up a whistleblower law

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me THIS WEDNESDAY (Apr 17) in CHICAGO, then Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

Corporate crime is notoriously underpoliced and underprosecuted. Mostly, that's because we just choose not to do anything about it. American corporations commit crimes at 20X the rate of real humans, and their crimes are far worse than any crime committed by a human, but they are almost never prosecuted:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/12/no-criminals-no-crimes/#get-out-of-jail-free-card

We can't even bear to utter the words "corporate crime": instead, we deploy a whole raft of euphemisms like "risk and compliance," and that ole fave, the trusty "white-collar crime":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/07/solar-panel-for-a-sex-machine/#a-single-proposition

The Biden DOJ promised it would be different, and they weren't kidding. The DOJ's antitrust division is kicking ass, doing more than the division has done in generations, really swinging for the fences:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/22/reality-distortion-field/#three-trillion-here-three-trillion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Main Justice – the rest of the DOJ – promised that it would do the same. Deputy AG Lisa Monaco promised an end to those bullshit "deferred prosecution agreements" that let corporate America literally get away with murder. She promised to prosecute companies and individual executives. She promised a lot:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/22/reality-distortion-field/#three-trillion-here-three-trillion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Was she serious? Well, it's not looking good. Monaco's number two gnuy, Benjamin Mizer, has a storied career – working for giant corporations, getting them off the hook when they commit eye-watering crimes:

https://prospect.org/justice/2024-04-09-reform-groups-lack-of-corporate-prosecutions-doj/

Biden's DOJ is arguably more tolerant of corporate crime than even Trump's Main Justice. In 2021, the DOJ brought just 90 cases – the worst year in a quarter-century. 2022's number was 99, and 2023 saw 119. Trump's DOJ did better than any of those numbers in two out of four years. And back in 2000, Justice was bringing more than 300 corporate criminal prosecutions.

Deputy AG Monaco just announced a new whistleblower bounty program: cash money for ratting out your crooked asshole co-worker or boss. Whistleblower bounties are among the most effective and cheapest way to bring criminal prosecutions against corporations. If you're a terrified underling who can't afford to lose your job after narcing out your boss, the bounty can outweigh the risk of industry-wide blacklisting. And if you're a crooked co-conspirator thinking about turning rat on your fellow criminal, the bounty can tempt you into solving the Prisoner's Dilemma in a way that sees the crime prosecuted.

So a new whistleblower bounty program is good. We like 'em. What's not to like?

Sorry, folks, I've got some bad news:

https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/stephen-kohn-on-the-justice-department-plan-to-offer-whistleblower-awards/

As the whistleblower lawyer Stephen Kohn points out to Russell Mokhiber of Corporate Crime Reporter, Monaco's whistleblower bounty program has a glaring defect: it excludes "individuals who were involved with the crime." That means that the long-suffering secretary who printed the boss's crime memo and put it in the mail is shit out of luck – as is the CFO who's finally had enough of the CEO's dirty poker.

This is not how other whistleblower reward programs work: the SEC and CFTC whistleblower programs do not exclude people involved with the crime, and for good reason. They want to catch kingpins, not footsoldiers – and the best way to do that is to reward the whistleblower who turns on the boss.

This isn't a new idea! It's in the venerable False Claims Act, an act that signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. As Kohn says, making "accomplices" eligible to participate in whistleblower rewards is how you get people like his client, who relayed a bribe on behalf of his boss, to come forward. As Lincoln said in 1863, the purpose of a whistleblower law is to entice conspirators to turn on one another. Like Honest Abe said, "it takes a rogue to catch a rogue."

And – as Kohn says – we've designed these programs so that masterminds can't throw their minor lickspittles under the buss and collect a reward: "I know of no case where the person who planned or initiated the fraud under any of the reward laws ever got a dime."

Kohn points out that under Monaco, the DOJ just ignores the rule that afford anonymity to whistleblowers. That's a big omission – the SEC got 18,000 confidential claims in 2023. Those are claims that the DOJ can't afford to miss, given their abysmal, sub-Trump track record on corporate crime prosecutions.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/15/whistleblown/#lisa-monaco

#pluralistic #whistleblowers #doj #false claims act #finance #bezzles #crime #dodd-frank act #lisa monaco

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