#but also like most of that rep is new properties

[turtleblogatlast]

Thinking about the Don Suave scene and what it means in terms of LGBTQ+ representation because my brain does nothing if not torment me with random topics to ramble about on the regular.

Anyway, I just wanted to ramble about why I like the scene but to get it out of the way - the scene can very easily be interpreted in so many different ways, and all of them are valid. I personally see it as Leo having at least some attraction to a man. And the following is an explanation of my own interpretation and thoughts on it and what it means especially for Leo’s portrayal in the grand scheme of things.

Long-winded interpretation under the cut!

Now, to start with, it’s important to me that in the scene Leo looks at Don Suave in the very beginning and then for the entirety of the rest of the time the man is on screen, Leo’s eyes are closed. Yet, in the end, he is still visibly enamored with Don Suave, happily cuddling up to him as he’s being carried away.

You can very easily interpret this as Leo being spellbound and that’s honestly super valid and I believe he likely was at least somewhat in the beginning, but considering how fast he looked away and how he never looked again, I personally think it makes more sense to read it as Leo just finding the man attractive, at least somewhat. (For the record, I personally headcanon Rise Leo as bisexual with a heavy preference for men, but I want to be blunt when I say that any interpretation is valid. Literally any. Ace, pan, gay, bi, none of the above or a mixture of something new literally all of it is more than okay and fair. Hell you could even interpret this entire scene as more romantic attraction than physical and it would still work. Anything goes!! Don’t bother people, guys, really.)

The main reason I take this scene to be at the very least LGBTQ+ adjacent isn’t just because of how it’s portrayed, but because of who Leonardo is. Not in terms of Rise of the TMNT, but in terms of the entire Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™️ franchise.

Leo’s a character who, while changing with each iteration, has still at his core been around for decades upon decades as “the blue one”. One fourth of the team. He’s the one most are going to look at as the Leader, and oftentimes he is the one closest to having the title of Main Character. Not to say the others aren’t just as important, but Leo’s presence in the A plots of basically all TMNT media is often something very main character-esque.

And that’s very, very important to note. Here we have a Main Character of a prolific and decades long-running franchise distributed by a children’s television network. You can play around with his and his brothers’ characters all you like, but there is always going to be challenges to dodge around, especially since this was still in 2018-2019.

For example, you can play around with their designs so long as they’re color coded turtles, but their sexualities? Now that’s tricky.

“But what about Hypno and Warren?” Not main characters and also they’re Rise originals. They have a lot more room to play around with than a character like Leo does. But even talking about main characters in the franchise, you could arguably have an easier time playing around with Donnie or Mikey’s sexualities than Leo or even Raph, as (unfortunately) the former two tend to get more B plots, so they’d likely have had a little more leeway (still not a lot though.)

So, where does this leave us?

It leaves us in a place where outright stating and/or showing undeniable proof of Leo’s attraction to men is very, very difficult. So, workarounds!

Workarounds like the entire Don Suave situation.

To be honest, as left up to interpretation and lowkey and deniable as it is, this whole scene means a lot to me because of who Leo is as a character. It’s just nice when we get so see even the bare bones of representation with characters that have been such a large part of pop culture for decades, y’know? Even if more would be so much nicer, this is better than I thought we’d ever get for these boys.

And, again, literally nothing I’ve said is the only way to interpret it, I’m more than happy when people interpret media on their own honestly, it’s just something I’ve been thinking of lately and I was wondering if others felt the same way.

Whatever you think when you interpret this scene or Rise Leo as a whole, I just thought this would be interesting to think about, even if it was ramble-y, haha.

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt headcanons #rottmnt leo #rise leo #rise don suave #rottmnt don suave #I lied I’m back to ramble because I’m just #so bad at keeping my mouth shut #or uh #not typing word vomit #anyway- yeah this is my personal interpretation #I believe Leo was legitimately mesmerized by Don Suave’s powers…in the beginning #but even the series’ creator says it was ‘at least PART of what was going on with Leo’ so #idk it’s something that’s been on my mind and I was wondering if anyone else felt the same?? #may delete this later who knowssss #pleaaaase feel free to disagree I just like to talk lol #but yeah sometimes I look around at how much media has LGBTQ+ rep in it now and it honestly makes me emotional?? #(we always always ALWAYS could use more but) #we did not have even a crumb of this as kids #but also like most of that rep is new properties #and I just was thinking about what that could mean #idk man idk #once again please don’t take this as facts it is VERY MUCH NOT #man I was looking around for good images to use and found jack all #anyway tho did you know Donnie often has bi colors around him and Leo is often dressed in the colors of the trans flag- #okay anyway back to the caves I go this comic won’t draw itself #I gotta spray myself with water any time I go to type long winded essays because they’re not great for the mental health fr

[pumpkinrootbeer]

Not enough Avatar fans recognize how good of a bender Bolin is bcuz he's mostly busy being played as comic relief. But even just at the end of TLOK he's praised by his personal hero Toph Beifong and is one of 3 known lavabenders, has gone toe to toe and bended alongside Toph's talented daughters and displays similar feats.

And he's shown to practice bending seriously and improve between time jump, b/c have you noticed that he observed and mastered the Red Lotus lavabender's lava glaive trick and uses it to cut through platinum in Book 4? That and Toph said that she'd be willing to teach Bolin metalbending b/c she brags about being able to teach anyone metalbending (Toph's metalbending school comics reference yay) & in the TLOK comics Toph is shown to go out of her way to leave the swamp & head to Rep. City to hang out with her granddaughter and her future grandson-in-law, so I'm betting Bolin's been getting some tutoring in and officially become one of Toph's students.

TLDR I hope Bolin shows up in the new Avatar series and shows up how strong he is at old age, b/c half his canon appearances so far are him at 16 and he's underratedly really good.

no because Bolin is genuinely an unparalleled bender. he has sheer power on the level of avatars, see how catches an entire building dropped on a room full of earth benders before anyone else and then was the only one holding it up despite TOPH BEING IN THE ROOM? for one.

he also has the drive to be good at his bending that we don't really see with mako or even really korra in the show. sure, we see korra learn air bending but then she's just frustrated it's not coming naturally. with Bolin we see him struggle with his bending and still become the best. see how quickly he mastered an element with No One to teach him or him throwing himself at metal bending over and over. Which I'm honestly torn if I want him to learn it? On one hand, literally op earthbender which is amazing yes please. On the other, I kinda like that metal bending, something that is traditional earthbending techniques taken to the extreme, is what Bolin struggles with.

It's pretty heavily implied Bolin and Mako had no formal bending teacher and are completely self taught. In fact, the times we see Bolin do the most traditional earthbending moves are in season 4, which takes place after the 3 year jump. This is also when he's working for Kuvira and is probably the only time he did get formal training in earthbending, so it would make sense he would incorporate that more.

and ive talked about this before but, Bolin is the quickest earthbender in the entire show. he is incredibly talented in his craft and no one else in the entire show bends like he does. like, okay. This?

that move? that spin kick he's doing? That's a fire bending move.

he's doing a fire bending move with earth. kinda like iroh's move for redirecting lighting, bolin's entire bending style is this quote "when you take (wisdom) from only one place it becomes rigid and stale. understanding others, other nations, will help you become whole" Bolin is an earth bender who grew up learning to bend by watching fire bending. and that is a huge part of why Bolin is such a unique and talented fighter.

tbh I hope he never learns metal bending because the contrast between him and toph is nice. Toph is someone who excels at traditional earthbending, to the point of inventing a new type of sub-bending. whereas Bolin is so skilled at adapting and integrating different bending styles that he's able to master a volatile element that is eath that behaves like water with properties of fire at 17 with no teacher.

so yeah I agree 100% I would fucking love to see Bolin older because he would be a fucking powerhouse.

#:v #Bolin #lol

[huynun]

So since I’m basically rewriting the show, I sort of know in general terms how I would want to lay out the first two seasons and part of the third

Season 1

- setting things up

- very episodic, you can watch most of them out of order (like a lot of shows seem to start)

- Chloe is the stereotypical mean girl

- setting up the friendships between Alya & marinette and adrien & Nino

- also setting up a friendship (and soon one sided crush) between adrien and marinette

- at some point, they have the hotel work study episode (with changes like the akuma won’t be quite the same and Chloe isn’t quite as obvious about giving the bad jobs to the people she doesn’t like) which is the beginning of marinette’s ties with jagged stone

- marinette also becomes class rep despite Chloe’s efforts

- some identity shenanigans but not too many since Lila is on the same school schedule as them

- Lila isn’t really a threat as a civilian but does make some comments and if you look closely, she does benefit a fair amount from the attacks, getting more effective as time passes

- don’t reveal who has the butterfly miraculous until the finale

- speaking of the finale

- adrien fully cuts off his friendship with Chloe after she does something horrible to his friends (after a season of them teaching him that it’s okay to set boundaries etc etc)

- obvs a more intense akuma

- marinette also gets a good win against Chloe when she lashes out about losing her friendship with adrien which does not help Chloe’s mood/vibes

Season 2:

- starts with Lila beginning to make herself a bigger name in the class and start trying to get an in with adrien

- she makes up lies that are somewhat out there but not easily provable

- however, she does say something that tips marinette off that she’s lying but has something to do with being ladybug so she can’t prove it

- Alya hears her say that this girl is lying and listens but doesn’t put much stock into it (like canon but actually hears her out and tries to alleviate some of her concerns even if not necessarily well)

- no one truly turns against marinette but they do brush her concerns off for the most part

- throughout the season, it’s still pretty episodic but things do escalate

- Chloe is still causing problems but fewer and less on purpose, beginning a redemption arc

- Lila makes more subtle digs at marinette and does things to try and isolate her (with varying amounts of success)

- Lila also becomes more blatant and cocky with her use of the butterfly miraculous

- meanwhile, Gabriel and Nathalie have been investigating the use of the miraculi, they can’t just figure it out because there are glamours over them but they can figure out that the butterfly holder is from the school since lila has been getting over confident and cocky about her use of it, thus they can survey the school and catch her

- when they see lila transform, it’s the second to last episode

- ladybug and chat noir have been investigating as best they can too in spite of their many responsibilities

- in the last episode, they figure out lila (not sure how yet) and try to set up a plan to catch her and take the butterfly miraculous

- they end up being just too late, seeing lila upset on the floor and Gabriel transformed into Hawkmoth leaving

Season 3

- starts with stoneheart

- when lila had it, she was bound to the children’s limits and only ever really did akumas with mind control and other things that didn’t result in property damage or real injury

- immediately, Hawkmoth comes in hard with something big that affects the city instead of just a small area

- ladybug only had the lucky charm power and since lila was on limits (and just didn’t know she could) they never had to actually catch the akuma after breaking the object

- though both ladybug and chat noir gain new powers (haven’t yet decided what I want chat’s second power to be) they don’t know how to use them yet (ladybug needs to capture the akuma and use the energy she gets from purifying it along with her own to cast miraculous ladybug) so things go similarly to canon stoneheart

- since it ramped up so suddenly and combined with the failure to get the butterfly from lila before, marinette really feels like she needs to give up, that she can’t do this, and tries (and fails) to give her miraculous to Alya

- an episode or two later, ladybug and chat noir are really struggling to face the butterfly without limits so fu releases the fox and turtle

- even with the help, marinette begins to buckle under the pressure of her responsibilities

That’s all I got for now

#you can add or question or critique if you want #these are just the main ideas I’ve come up with #probably will add more later #anew au #mlb #mlb au #miraculous ladybug #lila rossi #gabriel agreste #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #chloe bourgeois #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe

[colorisbyshe]

It upsets me how asexuality became mainstream and accepted in a decade. I wish it didn't, but it does. Aces became a protected class in NY before trans people. In only a decade ace characters started popping on mainstream media. Asexuality became a topic of conversation in mainstream news and academia. It took centuries for LGBT people and we're still not seated at the table. Why? How did this happen? Is it bc the cissexist, heterosexist, ableist, white patriarchy isn't threatened by asexuality?

I don't know if I hate that it has become mainstream and accepted. I don't think that's the problem.

I think it is good for all types of experiences nad identities to be represented and I think it is good to push back romance and sex as the end all, be all of human experience and provide other perspectives. I think it's good to tighten up laws to avoid any prejudice, even if that prejudice isn't happening regularly. I think there are a lot of non-ace and non-aro peopel who ALSO benefit from a lot of these considerations--lots of romantic loveless, sexless people who are perpetually single or more interested in other things or whatever who also get rep.

This also does challenge the nuclear family construction. As more people forgo marriage or typical family units, showing more ways to live is ALWAYS good. Creating more legal considerations for say... people outside of romantic relationships who want to adopt or own property or rent or whaevr is great!

I just think the haste in which asexuality got acceptance (INCLUDING a lot of harmful elements of the ace community like the split attraction model and rhetoric that you can enjoy sex without attraction in a longterm relationship) just sort of highlights the point I have been making this entire time--asexuality is not discriminated against in any meaningful way.

And I think asexuality and aromanticism do tend to fit into the largely white, (culturally) christian societal norms.

We live in a society that shames sex, that wants sex to either sell shit (which isn't about the sexual object feeling atttraction, just having people being attracted to THEM) or for children (so, again, no sexual attraction required) or for outrage/shock (which... again no attraction needed). Throwing in sexless rep wasn't... a shift?

There are lots nad lots and LOTS of sexless characters in media and there always have been. We can now just slap a label on them and it counts as diverse rep. Which IS less threatening than having like... horny (or even textually sexless) gay rep. Or trans rep.

And legally... "protecting" ace people requires... almost zero shift in like... any behaviour. If there was no massive form of legal prejudice (and there asn't, there has been little to no documented LEGAL discrimination against asexuality), there's no... people to pushback against asexuals becoming a protected class.

Asexual representation--in media, in the law--is an easy slamdunk. Because... there is no powerful discriminatory class to say no.

And it's also because most discrimination people class as "aphobia" really has no basis in asexuality and is broader social concerns like... mostly misogyny. So, when you have these legal protects for the ace part, all the bad behaviour that aces are concerned about still gets to happen to everyone else and probably still quite a few aces.

No change is actually required.

#ive said it amny times #i think if the ace community teamed up with feminists #and like.. got over themselves #they'dbe a GREAT force to combat rape culture #unfortunately #aces would rather contribute to rape culture than fight it #w hich sucks but i'm not wrong #ace discourse

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

So shit like this, shows me how inept people that vote blue are. You all think, "Well this thing is called "x" so it must be so". It's literally this meme in a nutshell:

Then there was the, "Inflation Reduction Act" which itself did almost nothing to reduce inflation and the only projected loss of inflation would be by a % and only by 2027. Trump was a New York Democrat. And he explained why he didn't run as one several times. And the reasoning was because the Dems would not have let him win. The same way they didn't let Bernie win. And policy wise, Trump and Bernie were not super far off. It's why when Bernie got gutted during the primaries, a lot of Bernie voters went Trump.

And just because Trump doesn't align with the new socialists doesn't mean he's not still a Dem at heart. Just means the modern Dem party keeps moving further and further left. Which if you want tyranny then keep voting for them. You'll get it soon enough. Oh and the prospect that I am "Only critical of Dems" and I "Promote Reps" is fucking stupid. I'm far less critical of Reps because I KNOW they are mostly stupid. But I will let the right criticize their own, and when Reps do something I'm very much slighted by I talk about it. Like when I complain about Abbott. And the only Reps that I promote are more libertarian party members while only being republican in name. And that's both Rand Paul and Ron Paul. Also Tulsi is a Dem I like. But I guess she's not Commie enough for your tastes. Because she's anti war and the modern dem party is extremely pro war.

Fact is. I only like Trump in so far as he protected our borders, pushed the Abraham Accords, and did his best with LYING generals at his side to pull us out of wars and bring our troops home. Of which I am ALL for because I'm a prior. Get my brothers and sisters out of these pointless wars. And out of these dangerous war torn countries that never stop fighting. Trump is a crass man who's self important to a fault. I'd never deny that. He has done some not great things in his past. But did he fly to Epstein's island dozens of times? Not according to flight logs. Bill Clinton on the other hand took several trips to said island. Bill Gates took several trips to his properties and I believe the island once or twice.

If you are going to come at me saying, "TRUMP'S RUNNING AS A REPUBLICAN SO HE"S NEVER BEEN A DEMOCRAT!", Well sorry just proves you can't parse words. Just because you don't see him as one doesn't mean he isn't one. He's not currently threatening to ban abortion. Most Reps would be. He's not threatening to ban Gay Marriage. Some Reps would be. Hence you miss the point. IE: You miss the forest for the trees. Reps are voting for Trump because the economy was good under him and he didn't want communism or socialism. And if you believe that there was no election meddling going on, you clearly didn't read Time Magazines, "The shadow campaign to save the election". In which they outline a number of things they did behind the scenes to make sure Trump could not win.

Many of which would be LEGALLY considered election meddling. Like IDK. Hiding the Biden laptop under "Misinformation". Which is funny because most modern "Misinformation" as reported by Dems and Mainstream Media just means, "4-6 months until proven true". Like the machines that DID flip votes. But the "Fact check" websites will tell you, "Well yes it did happen but we caught it and fixed it". Ok.......so it happened, meaning it could have happened to other machines, and no investigation was allowed to happen on those machines beyond, "Here you can look at it physically sitting on a pallet in shrink wrap and that's it". Yeah that's "Investigating" surely.

Yeah, if that had happened to Dems you'd still be shrieking to this day about a stolen election. But because you won, any and all funny business is reasonable and fine and shouldn't be investigated. Which tells me you don't care about fair elections you care about power. Because if you did care about fair elections, you'd have voted against policy changes that were against constitutional law. But unlike me (not a rep) you don't have morals. So long as you win and wield power like a weapon you don't care how you get there. And if that's the Democrat party I want nothing to do with it ever. Real things happened in 2020 that never got investigated. You don't give a fuck. Trumps voted blue most of his life. But in no true scotsman fashion, he's "Not a Democrat because he's not aligned with my idea of modern Dems". Spare me.

All communists should be purged. You aren't people so much as I'm concerned. You're a cancer on this earth. And modern Dems are basically Communists. Certainly not all. But far too many.

Oh and "Our enemies are trying to get Reps elected. Oh so Reps like Bernie Sander and Jill Stein?

And this is only one report. Several others actually claim that Hillary was in fact aided by Russia herself. Sadly the MSM doesn't care about it and buries it because it's damaging to their narrative of "Trump is Super Hitler". Get over yourselves. Your party is currently flooding the US with illegals and putting US citizens on the back burner.

#discourse #discussion

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Steps from the Capitol, Trump allies buy up properties to build MAGA campus | The Washington Post

At first glance, the flurry of real estate sales two blocks east of the U.S. Capitol appeared unremarkable in a city where such sales are common. In the span of a year, a seemingly unrelated gaggle of recently formed companies bought nine properties, all within steps of one another.

But the sales were not coincidental. Unbeknown to most of the sellers, the limited liability companies making the purchases — a shopping spree that added up to $41 million — are connected to a conservative nonprofit led by Mark Meadows, who was Chief of Staff to President Donald Trump. The organization has promoted MAGA stars like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

The Conservative Partnership Institute, as the nonprofit is known, now controls four commercial properties along a single Pennsylvania Avenue block, three adjoining rowhouses around the corner, and a garage and carriage house in the rear alley. CPI’s aim, as expressed in its annual report, is to transform the swath of prime real estate into a campus it calls “Patriots’ Row.”

The acquisitions strike some Capitol Hill regulars as puzzling, considering that Republicans have long made a sport of denigrating Washington as a dysfunctional “swamp,” the latest evidence being a successful GOP-led effort to block local D.C. legislation to revise the city’s criminal code.

“So you don’t respect how we administer our city and then you secretly buy up chunks of it?” said Tim Krepp, a Capitol Hill resident who works as a tour guide and has written about the neighborhood’s history. “If it’s such a hellhole, go to Virginia.”

Reached on his cellphone, Edward Corrigan, CPI’s president, whose name appears on public documents related to the sales, had no immediate comment on the purchases, which were first reported by Grid News and confirmed by The Washington Post. “I’ll get back to you,” Corrigan said. He did not respond to follow-up messages.

Former senator Jim DeMint, CPI’s founder, and Meadows, a senior partner at the organization, did not respond to emails seeking comment. Cameron Seward, CPI’s general counsel and director of operations, whose name appears on incorporation documents related to the companies making the purchases, did not respond to a text or an email.

As Congress’s neighbors, denizens of the Capitol Hill neighborhood are accustomed to existing in close quarters with all varieties of official Washington. Walk the neighborhood and you might catch a glimpse of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) or former Trump strategist Stephen K. Bannon, among those who own homes near the Capitol. The Republican and Democratic national committees both have offices in the neighborhood.

But it’s rare, if not unprecedented, for a nonprofit to purchase as many properties in such proximity and in so short a period of time as CPI has assembled through its related companies, a roster with names like Clear Plains Holdings, Brunswick Partners, Houston Group, Newpoint and Pennsylvania Avenue Holdings. The companies list Seward as an officer on corporate filings, as well as CPI’s Independence Avenue headquarters as their principal address.

Now, in what may be an only-in-Washington vista, a single Pennsylvania Avenue block is occupied by Public Citizen, the left-leaning consumer advocacy group, the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank, and CPI, which bought four properties through its affiliates.

In addition to the nine D.C. parcels CPI’s network has bought since January 2022, another affiliated company, Federal Investors, paid $7.2 million for a sprawling 11-bedroom retreat on the Eastern Shore. In 2020, CPI, under its own name, also spent $1.5 million for a rowhouse next to its headquarters, which it leases, a few blocks from the Capitol.

DeMint, a former Republican congressman from South Carolina, started CPI in 2017, shortly after he was ousted as Heritage’s leader amid criticism that the think tank had become too political under his direction. Meadows joined in 2021, after working as Trump’s Chief of Staff. He was by Trump’s side during the administration’s final calamitous days, before and after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and as the President’s allies were seeking to overturn election results.

On its 2021 tax returns, CPI reported $45 million in revenue, most of it generated through contributions and grants, and paid DeMint and Meadows compensation packages of $542,000 and $559,000, respectively. Its current offices, a three-story townhouse at the corner of Third Street and Independence Avenue SE, is a hub of GOP activity. During the chaotic lead-up to Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s election as House Speaker, dissident Republican lawmakers were observed congregating at CPI.

CPI also provides grants to a cluster of nonprofits headed by Trump allies. Former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, for example, leads America First Legal, which received $1.3 million from CPI in 2021 and bills itself as a check on “lawless executive actions and the Radical Left.”

Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who was on the call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger seeking to reverse votes in the 2020 election, runs what the organization bills as its “Election Integrity Network,” which has cast doubt on the validity of President Biden’s 2020 victory.

“The election was rigged,” EIN tweeted last July. “Trump won.”

CLOSE TO THE CAPITOL

At an introductory meeting in December, recalled Gerald Sroufe, an advisory neighborhood commissioner on Capitol Hill, a CPI representative said the group planned to move its headquarters to a three-story building it had bought on Pennsylvania Avenue, next to Heritage’s office. Until the pandemic forced it to close, the Capitol Lounge had occupied the 130-year-old building. The bar had served a nightly bipartisan swarm of congressional staffers and lobbyists for more than two decades.

The CPI official, Sroufe said, indicated that the group planned to use the new Pennsylvania Avenue properties to “expand” its offices and “provide new retail.” But the official made no mention of Patriots’ Row, Sroufe said, or the three rowhouses the group’s affiliates had bought around the corner on Third Street SE. All of the properties are in the neighborhood’s historic district, which protects them from being altered without city review.

“This is much grander than what we were talking about,” Sroufe said after learning from a reporter about the other purchases. “On the Hill, people are always talking about how wonderful it is to be close to the Capitol and Congress. It’s kind of like a curse.”

As in many commercial corridors hit hard by the pandemic, businesses along Pennsylvania Avenue have struggled over the past couple of years. Tony Tomelden, executive director of the Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals, said CPI could energize a strip pocked with vacant storefronts.

“I welcome any business because the only thing opening right now are marijuana shops,” said Tomelden, an H Street NE bar owner who helped open the Capitol Lounge in 1996 and, as it happens, instituted a rule that patrons could not talk politics while imbibing. “If they’re going to pay a lot of money and raise property values, I’m all for it. I don’t care about anybody’s politics as long as they pay their tab.”

In an overwhelmingly Democratic city, finding those who are less sanguine about CPI’s growing footprint is not exactly difficult.

Yet politics is only part of the issue, as far as Krepp is concerned. CPI’s purchases, he said, threaten the area’s neighborhood vibe, as would be the case if any group, no matter its ideological leaning, bought as many properties. “I don’t want to create another downtown on Capitol Hill,” he said. “There’s a glut of available office space downtown. You don’t have to buy up neighborhoods.”

Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), a regular commuter to the Capitol from his home in Montgomery County, sees CPI’s acquisitions in terms more political than geographic.

“It just seems like a massive real estate coming-out party for the extreme right wing of the Republican Party,” Raskin said. “This is a very explicit and well-financed statement of intent. They set out to take over the Republican Party and they’re very close to clenching the power.”

Instead of Patriots’ Row, Raskin suggested an alternative name: Seditionist Square.

“Maybe Marjorie Taylor Greene can be their advisory neighborhood commissioner,” he said.

A ‘PERMANENT BULWARK’ IN D.C.

On its 2021 tax return, CPI said its mission is to be a “platform” for the “conservative movement,” and to provide “public policy” training for “government and nonprofit staffers” and meeting space for gatherings and policy debates.

Although not required to identify donors, CPI reported seven contributions in excess of $1 million, including one of more than $25 million. Trump’s Save America political action committee gave $1 million in 2021, according to campaign finance records. Billionaire Richard Uihlein, a major Republican donor, gave $1.25 million a couple of years ago through his foundation, records show.

A CPI-related entity, the Conservative Partnership Center, rented space to two political action committees as of early January, the House Freedom Fund and Senate Conservative Fund, according to campaign finance records. CPI also received $4,000 from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who has recorded his “Firebrand” podcast at the group’s studio, as has the host of the “Gosar Minute,” Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.), according to the group’s annual report. Greene paid CPI $437.73 for “catering for political meetings” in 2021, the records show.

“No one stood up to the Left as courageously as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene,” CPI declared in its 2021 annual report, hailing her as a “hero” who “endured sexist fury that always lurks just beneath the progressive surface.” The report described Boebert as a “gun rights advocate” who “wants to protect our environment more than anyone else.”

It was in CPI’s 2022 annual report that the group briefly referred to its expansion plans, writing that it has strengthened “its ability to serve the movement by beginning renovations to Patriots’ Row on Pennsylvania Avenue.”

“In 2022, the Left tried to drag America further into a dark future of totalitarianism, chaotic elections and cultural decay,” the report asserts in an introduction from DeMint and Meadows. “The Washington establishment, per usual, did nothing to stop them. But neither the Left nor the establishment could stop the culture and community we’re building here at the Conservative Partnership Institute.”

“With our expanded presence in D.C.,” they add, “we’re launching CPI academy — a formal program of training for congressional staff and current and future members of the movement.”

“Even if we can’t change Washington, we can create a permanent bulwark against its worst tendencies.”

A SPATE OF SALES

CPI began its expansion in 2020, purchasing the rowhouse next door to its headquarters and christening it “The Rydin House” for Mike Rydin, a construction magnate and prominent conservative donor. When Federal Investors bought the Eastern Shore property, the group named it “Camp Rydin.”

On Capitol Hill, several property owners who sold their buildings to CPI-linked companies were surprised to learn that the buyers were connected to a group led by Meadows and DeMint.

“I did not know,” said Jacqueline Lewis, who sold a townhouse on Third Street SE to 116 Holdings for $5.1 million in July. The company’s officer, according to its corporate filing, is Seward, and the principal address it lists is the same as CPI’s headquarters. A trust document related to the transaction is signed by Corrigan, CPI’s president.

Brunswick Partners, which lists CPI and Seward as contacts on its corporate filing, bought the neighboring rowhouse for $1.8 million in January, according to property records. Brian Wise, the seller, said he did not know of the company’s CPI connection. An attorney who approached him and his wife, he said, “asked if we were willing to sell and we agreed on a price. It was a business sale.”

Keith and Amanda Catanzano also were unaware of CPI when they sold a garage in the alley behind Third Street SE to Newpoint for $1 million in June. Newpoint lists Seward as an officer and the same mailing address as CPI. “We had no idea,” said a woman who answered the phone at a number listed for the Catanzanos before hanging up.

Eric Kassoff, who sold the former site of the Capitol Lounge to Clear Plains, said he knew of the company’s CPI ties before the $11.3 million deal was finalized in January. He also sold the group a carriage house behind the building for $400,000.

Kassoff said he did not want to lease the space to a fast-food restaurant or a convenience store. He said CPI’s political leanings were not a factor in his decision to sell to the organization.

“Why would I have any issue selling my property to proud Americans?” asked Kassoff, who described himself as an independent. “We need to get past the labeling and demonizing and talk to each other, and that’s true in politics as well as commerce. If we were all to take that position we wouldn’t have much of a country left, would we?”

Although the Capitol Lounge closed more than two years ago, vestiges of its past remain on the building’s exterior, including a rendering of Benjamin Franklin beneath a quote concocted by the bar’s founder, Joe Englert: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

James Silk, the bar’s former owner, said he left behind memorabilia when he vacated the building that could be suitable for the new owner: Richard M. Nixon campaign posters still hanging on the walls of what the owners cheekily dubbed the Nixon Room (located across from the Kennedy Room).

“Nixon is finally with his people,” Silk said. He laughed and added: “Nixon was a Republican, right?”

#us politics #news #the washington post #republicans #conservatives #gop #mark meadows #Conservative Partnership Institute #political action committees #washington dc #Patriots’ Row #Jim DeMint #Cameron Seward #heritage foundation #capitol hill #America First Legal #Election Integrity Network #steve bannon #Cleta Mitchell #Capitol Lounge #Save America pac #Richard Uihlein #Conservative Partnership Center #House Freedom Fund #Senate Conservative Fund #Rep. Matt Gaetz #firebrand podcast #Gosar Minute #rep. paul gosar #Mike Rydin

[beardedmrbean]

EAGLE PASS, Texas – Migrants have killed pets, stolen from shops and knocked on doors late at night in a Texas border town, prompting some residents to arm themselves, locals told Fox News.

"I don't feel safe," Laura Ramos, an Eagle Pass business owner, told Fox News. She said she keeps "several weapons" at her store for defense.

Griselda, another local business owner whose employees are all female, said she used to close her business at 9 p.m.

"We now close at seven because it gets dark, people are walking around, all girls, you just never know," she told Fox News.

700+ MIGRANTS CROSS INTO TEXAS IN 1 DAY; REP SAYS GUATEMALA PRES OFFERED TO HELP BUT BIDEN ‘WON’T EVEN CALL'

Vice President Kamala Harris, who President Biden had tasked with tackling the migrant crisis, recently said in an interview that "the border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system."

"I live far from the downtown, but in that area, it's a lot of ranch[es], a lot of big properties," Cindy told Fox News. She said migrants went onto one property, "and in order to steal something, they killed the dogs."

"They are like robbing stuff or killing animals to eat," Cindy continued. "So that's what concerns me."

Eagle Pass has three official border crossings, but the most popular course is to illegally cross the Rio Grande, according to locals. The large influx of migrants into the border city has stressed local resources, and residents said they believe the town is not as safe as it used to be. 

The Del Rio sector of the southern border, which includes Eagle Pass, has seen over 376,000 migrant encounters since October 2021, averaging out to nearly 1,100 per day, according to Customs and Border Protection. That's more than double the 183,000 encounters seen the year prior.

LATEST MIGRANT DEATHS IN RIO GRANDE HIGHLIGHT EXTREME DANGERS FACING BORDER CROSSERS

Ramos said she taught her children how to handle tasers and other weapons to defend themselves in case there's an incident while they're working.

"I already taught them how to use these weapons," Laura told Fox News. "They're teenagers. They're 14 and 15 years old."

"It's something that has had to be done because we don't know what can happen," she continued. "We don't know these people or where they come from."

One longtime Eagle Pass resident, Rosie, said: "It's not safe, especially for a lot of the ranchers."

Cesar, who works downtown, also said migrants are "leaving a lot of trash" on ranches.

"A lot of migrants are dying in the river, too," he added. "All those things are affecting the city," he continued.

Migrant drownings in the Rio Grande have flooded Eagle Pass mortuaries, forcing the city to request refrigerators to preserve bodies, according to the town's fire chief.

DC, NEW YORK CAN HANDLE MIGRANT BUSES IF BORDER TOWNS SURVIVED THOUSANDS OF MIGRANTS DAILY, TEXAS MAYOR SAYS

"So the situation, it's not under control," Ricardo, who owns a food truck business in Eagle Pass said. "My understanding is that we need to close off our borders because if we don't do nothing, more people will come, and those people are suffering."

Armando told Fox News that he sees new groups of migrants walking alongside the road "pretty much every day." 

"You always hear on the internet that there's immigrants walking around neighborhoods, to lock your doors and stuff like that," Armando said. "Even the local law enforcement, they tell us to do that." 

Recently, Armando said his sister heard a knock on her bedroom window around midnight.

"I'm pretty sure it was" migrants, Armando said. "It's pretty scary."

"We're getting used to it already because, unfortunately, nothing is really being done." he continued.

"And of course, we're grateful for all law enforcement to help us keep protecting and stuff," Armando said. "But I mean, with no laws and rules changing, it just stays the same."

#nunyas news

[ausetkmt]

Donald Trump is a very violent man. He is the leader of an increasingly violent political movement.

Last week, Trump threatened Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley with death. Trump's death threat is part of a much larger pattern where he has made similar threats, directly or implied, against President Biden, Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Special Counsel Jack Smith, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and his other "enemies."

Trump's MAGA cultists have been radicalized by him. Several MAGA people have gone so far as to have attempted or publicly threatened to assassinate President Obama and President Biden, respectively. And of course, Trump's followers launched a lethal attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 as part of the ex-president and dictator in waiting's coup attempt.

Trump and his allies and other spokespeople and influentials in the Republican fascist party and larger neofascist movement and white right are at the epicenter of a social environment in America were hate crimes and other political violence against Black and brown people, the LGBTQI community, Muslims, Jews, and other targeted groups is at historic levels.

New research by Rachel Kleinfeld, who is Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict and Governance Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, provides much-needed insight(s) into the growing danger(s) that political violence and polarization poses to American democracy and the future of the country. In this conversation, Kleinfeld provides context for the relationship between extremism, polarization and violence in America. She also explains why right-wing political violence is a much greater threat to the country than political violence by "the left". Kleinfeld highlights the news media's continued failure(s) to understand the realities of the country's democracy crisis in the Age of Trump.

At the end of this conversation, Kleinfeld warns that whatever the outcome of the 2024 Election, that America's democracy crisis is likely to get worse not better.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

How are you feeling given the state of American politics and society and the country's democracy crisis and other great troubles?

I'm feeling sad. I want to give my daughters – and other kids – a better country than the one I grew up in. I don't feel like we are doing that, and I want all of us adults to start acting like adults and to do better.

What are you "seeing" as you survey American politics and society right now? What gives you the most concern?

Americans remain rhetorically attached to democracy, but when you ask them what they mean, large majorities are quick to give up basic rights, oversight, and even non-violence when their side holds power. And the idea of a loyal opposition is disintegrating. I'm deeply concerned by that impulse towards unchecked majoritarianism, and also worried about hypocritical alterations of those feelings when the other side is in power.

What are some of the blind spots, misconceptions, and outright ignorance that the mainstream media, the political class, and everyday Americans have about the realities of political violence in this country?  

People seem to underestimate how much political violence has risen, and how lopsided it is. There are vastly more incidents on the right, and they are targeting people. That is the major political violence problem faced by the country. That said, on the left, too many partisans are loathe to acknowledge that their side's violence, though largely against property, has also doubled since 2016. It has just grown from a much lower point.

I get constant calls from reporters asking if Donald Trump is going to start another January 6 style riot – and when I speak about political violence, my mail fills with people asking why I don't speak more about the overwhelmingly (but not entirely) peaceful Black Lives Matter protests.

But Trump is not currently able to draw out large crowds – his followers are afraid of the FBI and believe people who goad them to violence on list serves are false flag operations. Instead, we are seeing people kill neighbors over politics or murder business owners who display a pride flag. In other countries, when someone runs a car into a peaceful crowd, it's almost always a rare international terrorist event. In America, that has happened over 150 times since Heather Heyer was killed at the Unite the Right rally. Political violence and credible threats have become small scale, hyperlocal, across the nation, and extremely frequent

Premeditated political violence against people has skyrocketed on the right, and premeditated political violence on the left has also grown - though from a much lower point, and more often targeting property. Hate crimes are at their highest point in the 21st century, even higher than the spike after 9/11. Local officials who were barely targeted before are now receiving significant numbers of threats – in San Diego, 75% of county officials report threats or harassment, for instance. Threats against Members of Congress rose tenfold from 2016 to 2021, though they fell slightly last year.  In the 1960s and 1970s we faced high levels of political violence, but it was largely against property, or involved foreign terrorists. We haven't seen Americans targeting other Americans politically like this since Confederates reversed Reconstruction and used violence and threats to return to power after the Civil War.

The news media and the political class tend to have a crisis frame that is very immediate and focused on the now. What would the news media – and by extension the political class and public — better understand and see in terms of political polarization and violence if they had a longer view and more time to digest what is happening or not?

America has faced political violence at many points in its history. It is usually used as a method alongside elections to try to win power by intimidating people. That is how it was used by the Know Nothing Party in the early 1800s, by Confederates after Reconstruction, and by Southern Democrats under Jim Crow to maintain single party dominance in eleven Southern States.

Right now, the threat of violence is being used to destroy pro-democracy Republicans and allow a non-majority faction to take over the Republican Party. While there are more threats overall against Democratic constituencies, women, and minorities, those threats are a spill-over from attempts to build Republican base intensity through highlighting a white Christian male dominant identity. The targeted threats are occurring largely to win power and are often targeted very intentionally – against certain election officials who will matter in swing states, or against the judges and DAs involved in cases against former President Trump. 

The spike in violence is helping an anti-democratic faction of the Republican Party overcome a pro-democratic faction. The media framing violence as largely about Republicans versus Democrats misses that crucial part of the story.

What does the actual data tell us about political violence and extremism in the Age of Trump and where we are potentially going as a country?

Political violence and criminal violence are highly connected.

The best study of murder in America back to our Revolution found that the strongest variables predicting a rise in the murder rate was trust in fellow Americans and trust in government – especially among young men (the demographic that commits most violence everywhere). In the 1960s when political violence rose, America also saw a doubling of the murder rate, and homicide kept rising until the 1990s. When people normalize violence and lesser forms of anti-social behavior, such as Lauren Boebert's obnoxious vaping and groping at a theater, oafishness on airplanes, or "rolling coal" – blowing car exhaust in the faces of bicyclists – it reduces the sense of social propriety and impulse control. Society and civilization are actually very fragile things – as anti-social behavior gets normalized and people "let it all hang out", as it were, all forms of violence tend to rise. We are probably on the verge of that again, and this MAGA political faction and left-wing illiberalism pushing people towards it will be to blame for the deaths and dystopian cities we are going to have for the next few decades.

When I write articles or interview experts who are trying to sound the alarm about right-wing political violence by Trump followers and other such malign actors, one of the common responses in emails and comments is that this is all so much hysterics. The MAGA movement threat is exaggerated. These right-wing extremists and others who are violent are being put in jail. The danger is also so much talk as there won't be a second civil war, etc. How would you intervene and push back?

I just provide the numbers. It's not that these levels of political violence are unprecedented – America is an unusually violent democracy compared to countries with similar levels of wealth and democratic history. The United States has seen violence at these levels before. But New York in the 1970s, or the post-Reconstruction South which had a lynching every 36 hours at its height, would not be the periods of our past I most want our country to revisit.

Is the American public "polarized" or are they "sorted"? That distinction is very important.

American politicians are highly ideologically polarized – members of Congress now hold virtually no policy beliefs in common across the aisle. Regular Americans, on the other hand, are not very ideologically polarized – they hold a lot of policy beliefs in common, although Republicans and Democrats care more intensely about different issues. But regular Americans do really dislike partisans from the other party – which is known as affective, or emotional, polarization. That level of affective polarization is likely to be caused, at least partially, because we are highly sorted as a country. When multiple identity characteristics, such as religiosity, geography, gender, and race, are the same for members of the same party, it is easier to feel that any of one's many identities are threatened by members of the other party, and when people are geographically separated so that they don't socialize, those misunderstandings get even larger. However, sorting alone just sets the kindling - politicians are lighting the flames by using that latent affective polarization to further inflame sentiment, in order to use that voter intensity to win power. So, it is unlikely to be possible to reduce Americans' polarization until we change the incentives that are allowing politicians to win seats by furthering polarization.

Most journalists and reporters assume that the public follows politics closely, is ideological, and has a real understanding of the details and facts. Decades of political science research shows that mostly to not be true. Unfortunately, the mainstream media, for a variety of reasons including intellectual laziness and careerism, is clinging desperately onto those fictions of folk democracy even when the evidence is abundant and obvious to the contrary. This translates into a news media that still does not fully appreciate — and is in willful denial about — the realities and the depths of the country's democracy crisis in this moment of ascendant neofascism and illiberalism.

Americans share a large number of policy beliefs in common. But they also, by and large, really, really don't care about politics. They don't want to think about politics, they don't want to talk about politics, they want it all to go away. That means that Americans also hold a very tenuous understanding of the basics of what it takes to maintain a democracy – such as the importance of a free press, or the role of a civil service. In America, as in many countries where democracy has slipped away in recent years, we see significant pluralities willing to support anti-democratic behavior when their party is in power. Fear of the other side doing just that is one of the main forces that empowers a party to act first to undermine democracy in order to, in their minds, prevent the other side from doing it first.

Is "consensus" and "bipartisanship" across lines of political difference just a type of fetish for the political class and news media? The public generally does not care.

I have my own strong policy beliefs – but I understand that as a country, we have about half the voting population who are conservative, and about half who are more liberal. Both sides need politicians who can represent them in a pro-democratic way, where we disagree on policy, not on whether we will allow the system of peacefully settling our disputes to disintegrate. Liberals need to give some support to pro-democracy Republicans or both will be overrun by the anti-democracy faction that is gaining control over that party. Liberals should also pay more attention to how their own illiberal wing in cultural and academic institutions is driving more conservatives, independents, and minorities to support their own anti-democratic faction. The problem in the political realm is clearly a faction of the Republican Party – but it has not grown on its own, there is a call and response with cultural forces on the left.

What are some interventions that can be made to make the country's political institutions and culture more durable and healthier in the face of the type of extreme polarization – which is asymmetrical and more on the right— that we are now seeing in the Age of Trump and the decades that got us to this crisis?

America should give serious thought to voting reforms that would allow the anti-democratic faction to have representation without letting them take over one of our two major parties. Proportional representation is the best way to achieve that, though ranked choice voting and primary reform might be less radical and cause fewer governing headaches. Both would likely allow MAGA Republicans to have control in some states and localities (which, of course, they do now), while still allowing the majority of Republicans to support a pro-democracy party. Campaign finance reforms that empower small dollar donors also empower extremists, who are better at raising anger that gets those small dollar donations flowing. Big money in politics is also problematic, of course, but the problem of small dollar donors pushing our politics towards extremes has not been recognized or discussed. Finally, we need better anti-trust enforcement to break business monopolies. Part of the distrust in America since 2008 has as much to do with the way elites keep making money, and is economic as much as political in origin. There is a reason Aristotle and Jefferson both recognized the dangers to democracy of large concentrations of wealth.

As Trump's criminal trials and the 2024 Election approach, how do you think that will impact the dynamics of violence and polarization?

There is no good way out of the 2024 Election. No matter how the election turns out, it will harm faith in democracy – but the worst future damage is likely to be inflicted if Trump wins and takes power, given the signals he has already given about how he will misuse his department of justice against his enemies, attack the civil service, and otherwise damage the institutions that keep our democracy tethered to the rule of law.

#“Highly connected”: How the right's political violence relates to a rise in criminal violence #white nationalism #white supremacy #white hate #american hate #homegrown terrorism #maga #trumpers

[transformationsproject]

Trans rights are still under attack in the United States. Today Mississippi drops several bills on us. Please visit our website linked below to learn about your state and contact your reps. Here's a thread of today's updates

Minnesota SF933 intro'd & sent to judiciary and Public Safety committee, standard drag bill with vague definitions, public property restrictions, and prohibitions to being anywhere where it could be seen by a minor. Arkansas SB43 get's an amendment and is now in final draft form. It adds language that tries to make it look like it only targets performance that offends children, but still leaves everything vague Drag bans restrict access for folks who are gender non-conforming in any way. They loosely define drag as any public performance with an “opposite gender expression”, as sexual in nature, and inappropriate for children. This also pushes trans individuals out of public spaces.

West Virginia files a health Care bill, HB3097 and sends it to health and human services committee. It defines biological sex and targets gender affirming care by prohibiting Medicaid and CHIP coverage Healthcare bills go against professional and scientific consensus that gender affirming care saves lives. Denying access will cause harm. Providers are faced with criminal charges, parents are threatened with child abuse charges, and intersex children are typically exempted.

Two updates on school / parents rights bills. Arkansas HB1156 covering multi-occupancy areas has been amended and is on the house floor and Iowa's HF9, a "parents rights" bill moves to the education committee Schooling bills force schools to misgender or deadname students, ban instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, and make schools alert parents if they suspect a child is trans. They remove life-saving affirmation and support for trans youth.

Two new sports bills. Hawai'i SB1429 requiring sex-designated teams intro'd and sent to education committee and Texas SB649 targeting trans people in sports from Kindergarten all the way into college Most sports bills force schools to designate teams by sex assigned at birth. They are often one-sided and ban trans girls from playing on teams consistent with their gender identity. Some egregious bills even force invasive genital examinations on student athletes.

It's not too late to stop other hateful anti-trans bills from passing into law. YOU can go to http://transformationsproject.org/ to learn more and contact your representatives

#minnesota #arkansas #west virginia #iowa #texas #hawai'i #trans #transgender #trans rights #transgender rights #lgbtq #lgbt #lbgtq+ #activism #politics #political #nonprofit community justice #US news #news #protect trans kids #protect trans lives #trans formations project #queer activism #trans is not a crime #trans joy #nonprofit

[sophieinwonderland]

Ooo we just saw your ask on our dash (we're up early!!) and maybe you already answered this but, what kinds of stories do you like?

When we started to we reas for real we tended to like Warrior Cats and Watership Down. We had a small interest in Tokyo Mew Mew that never got anywhere and when we ran into Shugo Chara! it seemed dangerous and still piqued our curiosity somehow (we don't like everything about how they portray it but it's the closest we ever got to how we've seen our systemhood if we hadn't gotten fucked up psychologically around that time period anyways). We think we also may have been interested in Witchcraft Works because of the art or something. There was also this encyclopedia if cat breeds we always checked out? We can't remember anything specific about it besides the fact we learned about the snowshoe, exotic, munchkin, american curl, and scottish fold from it.

We're pretty sure it was Silva that used to frontnfor school and honwwork-related stuff and Hailey was front for mostly everything else which...explains why we guess.

I haven't found much I'm into in the way of books.

But one thing I appreciate a lot is modern Western Animation and its ability to tell complex, emotional stories with fun and whimsical characters who manage to be surprisingly deep.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Steven Universe, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Infinity Train, Bee and Puppycat. Not to mention a lot of animated movies like Inside Out, Soul, The Mitchells ve The Machines, and Frozen. (I also just realized that my host likes Anna better than Elsa... now I want to do a rewatch this winter and then argue about who the best character is! 😁)

And of course, there's The Owl House, which I've insisted on fronting to watch every episode of!

Speaking of which, Eda turned out to be a surprisingly solid system rep! Sure, the Owl Beast starts off as aggressive and dangerous, but Eda learns to build communication with it, and they ultimately learn to co-exist as a team. And they have an inner world to boot!

Host: for myself, any story needs good characters, obviously, but I read to be taken away to another place and so the author can convince me it's real. This is why I love so much of Brandon Sanderson's works. No one does a better job at building complex, intertwined worlds and magic systems.

Worldbuilding is also why I prefer animated fantasy series over live-action. Unless your live-action property is based on books that had consistent worldbuilding already, expect the worldbuilding in most live-action shows to be shit with rare exceptions.

Did anyone here watch Once Upon A Time? It was a show that would establish new rules for how magic worked every episode, and then break those rules a few episodes later. For every rule, there was an equal and contradictory rule. It wasn’t that the writers made exceptions to the rules either. They just seemingly refused to read the scripts other people wrote, and didn't care if there was any consistency. This is true of most live-action magic systems.

The only fantasy shows that respect their audiences are animated, based on other properties, or Motherland: Fort Salem. That last one came as a complete shock because Freeform. The show itself isn't that great, but the world building is incredible and you can tell they put a lot of heart into it.

Back to books... The Discworld books are fantastic. I liked the first Shannara books I read, but then realized several into it that Brooks was just retelling slightly different versions of the same story over and over again in a stagnant world.

As a kid, I loved the Percy Jackson series and related book series like The Kane Chronicles. TKC is the only series I have read that was written from a 1st person perspective while alternating between multiple viewpoint characters, which is an interesting concept enough on a technical level for me to give it my seal of approval.

And Soph mentioned that I read The Hunger Games but what she didn't mention is that I knew the author before she was famous, from a little-known series called Gregor The Overlander. Both of these stories are great at giving you the classic narrative of the child forced to become a kid hero... and then pulling the rug out from under you at the end, telling the audience, "now these child soldiers are traumatized for life, don't you feel bad for cheering this on, you sick fuck?"

(Steven Universe did this pretty well too.)

And I unironically think that's fantastic. The Hunger Games is a criticism of humanity drawing pleasure from watching violence while you're doing just that. The villain in The Hunger Games was never President Snow, but a society that watches children hurt each other for sport. You, the reader, who was drawn to this story by the idea of seeing kids forced to kill each other, are the villain of the story.

The Hunger Games isn't the type of thing I normally read but I'm very glad that I did.

#ask box #hunger games #the hunger games #the owl house #owl house #toh #eda #the owl lady #harpy eda #shows #series #fiction #review #tv #television #books #literature #novels #reading #motherland fort salem

[levinletlive]

My roommate and best friend is moving in with her boyfriend soon (I'm v happy for her), and any time there is even a hint of financial risk my mom starts looking at houses and rent on Zillow and bombarding me with links. I closed one of the links and looked around the area and was immediately like "landlords need to fear for their lives". I mean seriously, look at this shit:

All of the fucking houses in this area (which is bum-fuck nowhere an hour out from SF) are these fucking mcmansions even though most of the people who need homes are single or 2-3 individual family units. And $3300 is "income-restricted affordable housing"?? If that's supposed to mean Section 8, this is a very blatant scam intended to rob government funds. Which I wouldn't care about, if they weren't also funds that the government appropriates from us to pay for things like roads and public service programs.

I have a theory that property management companies and landlords know that the housing bubble is going to burst soon when people can't afford the homes and more of them start sitting empty. My theory is based on what happened with cryptocurrency; specifically, the part where values went up and people played hot potato with the currency knowing it was going to crash, with the goal being to sell it off to some patsy just beforehand to maximize their own profits. I feel like that's what's going to happen here. As the land gets eaten up and people start living in their cars or leaving the state en masse because they cannot afford "market rent" for even the cheapest available units, landlords will start selling the properties off to stupider landlords who are coming in too late in the game just before the hammer falls on the housing market.

There is also the slim chance that public pressure will force our reps to take emergency legislative action (this should already be a state of emergency in California tbh) to reduce rents, either with rent control or with housing credits for renters, which will also crash the housing market and cause the landlords still holding property to hemorrhage money and go into mountains of debt. At which point, new landlords/companies (mostly born from the old companies who sold off before the crash and made millions) will step in and buy those properties at a fraction of the value the last landlords/companies paid and still have a racket of a housing market, but at significantly lower prices. If it's with government credits to renters, they'll still be robbing the government, but at least individuals will be able to afford shelter. At that point, the number of units will matter more than the size and businesses might push for more apartments and condos--which we desperately need.

Either way, this shit is unsustainable and landlords are basically cannibalizing each other the way all capitalists do.

#housing crisis #housing market #market crash #us politics #us economy #california #east bay #antioch ca #pittsburg ca #oakley ca #brentwood ca #it's even more expensive closer to the city #unsustainable #housing bubble #corporate greed #market rent #free market #capitalism #late stage capitalism #housing is a human right

[leftussilent]

whoaaa.... have I been wrong this entire time?! 

I think I have. I have never been afraid to admit im wrong, i dont think lol but i kept on insisting that Ryan and Blake didnt own 27 Old Oscaleta Rd and i think im wrong LMAO.

so back in June of this year, there was a meeting with the Planning Board for the town of Lewisboro and they were discussing the subdivision of land and buildings at the 27 Old Oscaleta Rd, South Salem. as we know that is part of the property were Taylor did the Folklore photoshoot.

I'll save you from reading the 47 page document and pull out the parts relevant to the post.

this is part of transcript of the meeting and I believe Blake was a part of that meeting, although her name wasn't used, the name was listed only as "JJE33 Holdings LLC representative, owner"

please take the time to read what she said, its beautiful the way she talks about the history of the town and the previous owner John Eckerson which ive highlighted using those break lines.

Transcript:

[JJE33 Holdings LLC representative, owner; Ed Delaney, Bibbo Associates; and Michael Sirignano, Esq. were present.]

Janet Andersen: OK, the next item on our agenda is a subdivision. This is calendar number 10 - 22 PB, this is JJE33 Holdings LLC, this is at 27 Old Oscaleta Road, South Salem, New York. It's an application for a lot line change, and I believe Michael are you?

Michael Sirignano: Okay, so Ed Delaney is here, and also one of the homeowners, [JJE33 Holdings LLC representative] is with us, and before I turn it over or introduce her and turn it over to Ed I want to basically explain this project. Ed’s got it up on the screen and working the cursor. So, I want to show the Board Ed the current configuration of tax lot three which currently contains 68 acres.

So, [the homeowners] will continue to own both parcels one and two. Because they cherish their privacy and very much love these lands this, these properties, so we're before the board be to seek only to adjust the lot lines of lot three and 12, eliminate line 11 entirely, so that we can build a new home one parcel one. As I said, [the homeowner] is joining us on the meeting and she's asked to just briefly address your board tonight....

_______________________________________________________

"JJE33 Holdings LLC rep.: Yes, I think I’m unmuted right. Can you hear me? Good evening Chairwoman Andersen, and planning board, it's so nice to meet you all and and to hear, I was texting Michael during this, I was like Is this a volunteer role because the work that you guys put into this and the care is really been amazing and also the care from the community. I’ve never you know, been a part of this before so just to hear how prepared everyone is and. Anyway, so thank you, thank you all for spending your time improving our lands and I think that's why. This is the most beautiful place in the world, I mean I had someone asked us recently. You could live anywhere why here and I was like why, why not? Why would anyone want to live anywhere other than here, I really believe that, like it's just heaven.

So, I don't have anything technical to say except that we love this land so much, we're so grateful to to have this land and to have such space and such privacy. I don't know if any of you know, this property from the Abrams or Eckersons, but it really is just so so special and you know, our goal is only ever to be additive to the community and never take from it. To be additive to the land, and never take from it, we have a giant field of solar panels. We also you know, want to build this home in an incredibly sustainable and thoughtful way, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it's something that we're both passionate about. I’m also like a huge fan of history. I’m just trying to find Maureen. I’ve been asking everyone how to find Maureen to learn more about like the history of the land, and that's part of the reason that we didn't want to take down the cottage or the other structure, even though they're only two-bedroom structures, the the accessory building that would be a part of the main building. Or the main house doesn't even have a kitchen has a half bathroom, it doesn't have closets it's it's a great lodge it used to be this big beautiful home, I have no idea why they cut it down to like a fourth of the size of what it was, I mean that home was great as it was. But you know I look at the old photos and the history of it, I mean the cottage that's here that we're proposing to make a part of parcel 12 used to be on the lake, which I’m sure some of you knew that, 1920 they moved it up onto the land, so you know we wouldn't never take any of those down, we respect the history and the story so much, but also we have three children. And we're probably not done having kids. I just love having kids so much, but I’m just saying, oh I love my babies so much, um but um but you know I’m also one of five children, my husband's one of four. Our family drives us insane but, yet we always have them here, we always have them around. The goal is to have them visiting as as much as possible. So yeah, we actually do use these accessory buildings, but you know, two-bedroom buildings aren't enough for us and our and our children. And don’t I know if you guys are familiar, John Eckerson who lived at the property before, lived in a different house on Old Oscaleta Road and for us to have all this land and to buy that house didn't make any sense privacy wise, not because of anyone within the town, everybody's not only respectful but incredibly protective.

It just didn't make sense, because if we didn't want to bring anyone from outside of the town to be sort of wandering around and you know, because our profession, sometimes you know, it calls that attention if it's accessible people might kind of you know, start to linger. So, you know, and he had a plan to build a big home on this land, but he ended up buying that big white house, but it wasn't private enough for us, so we bought this land and thought Oh, this is incredible we ultimately have 110 acres here. He's talking, Michael’s been talking about 60 acres but the whole thing is 110, but we thought amazing we have 110 acres and we don't have a house. So, this is us just saying like we're just so excited to live here, our kids are growing up way too fast, which is none of your problem, but definitely ours. We've had this property for four years now and I’m just desperate to get shovels in ground and be living on this land and enjoying it and. You know our neighbors will never see us, in the best way you know, with all of our plans, it's very much a part of the earth and and you know we're not cutting down we're literally like flagging trees to save, half the trees we're trying to reuse for lumber. Which is actually more cost effective these days to because of what's happened since you guys already know all this stuff but anyway. We only ever wanted to be additive to the community, and you know we're, I feel you can say that we're good people and we're good neighbors and like we're just and we've been surrounded by that. What we've seen in our in our bit of time in the town of Lewisboro so anyway, thank you for hearing us, thank you for hearing everyone tonight, and I just wanted to speak on behalf of myself and my husband who's in the south of France working right now, he was going to set an alarm to get up in the middle of the night, and I was like my darling, I got this, I got us. He would have no idea what he's talking about anyway, but he'd be so charming doing it, but anyway, thank you all for the time and I’ll let everyone else speak."

_______________________________________________________

Michael Sirignano: Okay, so let's go back to the driveway, because we're going to utilize this existing driveway, we’re not proposing or have any plans whatsoever to have a new driveway for the new house or for the existing cottage. So, the the home, the new home will utilize this existing driveway which is as-of-right because it's part of the bigger 50 it won't be 59 acres but parcel parcel two we're going to give an easement, I’ll draft an easement and we're going to give parcel two an easement to utilize the existing driveway, we have no interest in having multiple driveways. So, in summary, parcel one is will end up being 59 acres and have a new large single-family home for [the homeowners] and and daughters, and there's a an indoor pool proposed as well, which is here and a gym as those are accessory buildings, the main house will be here and I’ll turn it over to Ed now. Because he's done all the soil testing and percs and and has found the septic area and the well and, and I’ll have him describe what septic systems and wells serve what buildings and what proposed septics and well will serve the new main residence. Ed. Okay you're managing. Your me to take down my. All right, I’ll stop sharing.

……..

Michael Sirignano: Oh, can I can I just make that clear, there is no no, there's no way they're going to sell off parcel two or the Huntington lots which they own, or or the lot over here which Doctor Mercurio (which is 73 Old Oscaleta Rd) used to own and now they own that as well. So, no they're there they're going to, and they own some land across the street as well and they're not it's going to remain a family compound.

JJE33 Holdings LLC rep: Also, to be clear, we bought it with all of them, but the Mercurio house we don't have a plan to like be tyrannical and try to just buy up every bit of land available like we we have more than enough beautiful buffer and like we've had opportunities for some of the other plots around us that we we haven't, because there's been no need for it, so anyway, I also just wanted to say that, like there's no"

[end of relervent transcript...] if you would like to read the whole thing the link is here, scroll to page 28: https://www.lewisborogov.com/sites/default/files/fileattachments/planning_board/meeting/18561/lewisboro_planning_board_appd_minutes_062122.pdf

so to sum up, does that information match Blake and Ryan, she mentions 3 kids and that they are not finished having kids, she would have been pregnant at the time, she is one of five siblings and her husband is one of four, her husband was working in the south of france at the time, June 21 2022?

also included in the transcript was these applications and maps showing the parcels of land and i believe the name listed as Paul M Zukowsky, as manager of JJE33 Holdings LLC is also Ryan's manager?? can someone confirm for me?

anyways, for those that have said all along its blake and ryans house, i did ask for proof and I wasn't ever able to find any or no one ever sent me any lol but if i have been wrong all this time, I sincerely apologise for saying you were wrong.

im very embarrassed right now lol

[slothklein09]

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[fyhnpatterson05]

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[bllsbailey]

What Happened to Catherine Herridge's Files: Sources Dish, CBS Responds

Americans were shocked when CBS fired one of their best journalists, Catherine Herridge,

as part of hundreds of blood bath layoffs. 

That was bad enough. But then when the news broke that they'd seized her files, records and computers, the concern hit an even higher pitch as this not only put her sources at risk, but the precedent it was setting was very troubling for all journalists contemplating the consequences of a company doing something like this. 

Many suspected there was more to the Herridge layoff than just money because of her Biden investigations. 

Reports were that she had roadblocks from higher-ups over her Hunter Biden coverage and had also clashed with CBS News President Ingrid-Ciprian Matthews,

On Thursday, Catherine Herridge posted an update from SAG-AFTRA who represents broadcast journalists and who condemned CBS' actions. SAG-AFTRA said that CBS was responding to them so they hoped that this could be resolved and she could get her files back. 

READ MORE: 

Catherine Herridge Posts Important Update on CBS' Seizure of Her Files

CBS Blasted for Seizing Catherine Herridge's Files, 'Information From Privileged Sources' After Firing

I don't think that CBS thought that there was going to be such a huge backlash to their actions. 

But now sources are dishing on what happened to Herridge's things.

“It’s so extraordinary,” a source familiar with the situation told The Post, noting that the files — which are presumptively now the property of CBS News — most likely contain confidential material from Herridge’s stints at both Fox and CBS.  The source said the network boxed up all her personal belongings except for Herridge’s notes and files and informed her that it would decide what — if anything — would be returned to her.  “They never seize documents [when you’re let go],” a second source close to the network said. “They want to see what damaging documents she has.”

The speculation runs from Biden documents to anything that she might have on her sources in her First Amendment court fight. Or perhaps as one of the sources speculated that she might have information that could be relevant to a wrongful termination action. 

Meanwhile, CBS is weighing in with a statement of their own, hoping to calm the anger. 

We have respected her request to not go through the files, and out of our concern for confidential sources, the office she occupied has remained secure since her departure,” the rep told The Post. “We are prepared to pack up the rest of her files immediately on her behalf – with her representative present as she requested.”

Now if I compare what the sources say to what CBS is saying, the obvious question to me is that, assuming what the sources are saying is true, how do you determine what her "personal belongings" are unless you're going through her office/things? And forgive me if I don't feel too assured by CBS' statement that they haven't gone through her files. Why do this to begin with? They haven't explained why they took such an unprecedented action. 

The thing is they just made everything worse with this action and threw whatever reputation they may have had left down the trash heap. They put more focus on the whole question. And they also might have just put themselves in the middle of the First Amendment case. 

Insiders said that there are concerns that CBS could be subpoenaed to reveal her source’s identity, which would threaten free press principles.  “This is a company that only plays checkers. They don’t play chess,” the second source said.  “They don’t understand the ramifications of their actions.”

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

Its been a busy week at the day job. We’ve been working on some new stuff due to go out the door soon. I’ll be working over the weekend doing some testing to help wrap up our sprint.

I also managed to drop a new Beta of Stream this week. I haven’t heard anything positive or negative about it, but I also haven’t checked to see if anyone has installed it. 🤣

I’m hoping I can put a nice bow on this release soon. 🤞🏼

Evan Hurst • Wonkette

He’s just trying to warn us all. Be careful what you wish for. If you put Donald Trump in prison for massive crimes he committed while in office — the ones he’s indicted for involve plotting to overthrow the literal fucking Republic in order to stay in power after he lost re-election — then it just stands to reason that Barack Obama will go to jail and George W. Bush will go to jail and Crooked Joe Biden will go to jail.

Our Republic is 246-years old. We’ve had 46 Presidents in that time. Never had a President tried to overturn the results of an election. Until The Orange Menace arrived on the scene.

He’s a narcissistic rapist with authoritarian tendencies whose only pursuit is his own power and wealth at the cost of everything else.

He’s a master manipulator who projects his every mistake and crime on others.

He doesn’t deserve immunity from his crimes. The President is not above the law and it’s high time he’s held to account.

The sad thing is, if he becomes President again, all of his crimes will be swept under the rug and our great 246 year experiment will end.

If he loses? He most likely goes to prison.

Molly White • Citation Needed

Attempts to create alternatives have all failed, he says, before going on to describe several projects that are very much still in use, such as the RSS and ActivityPub protocols, or federated social media projects like Mastodon. RSS is dead, he repeats endlessly throughout the book.

I listened to Dixon on a recent episode of the Pivot Podcast and he seems somewhat disconnected from reality about certain things. Like his insistence RSS and other open protocols are “dead.” He sounds like a man trying to shoehorn solutions into web3 and blockchain.

Can someone explain to me how blockchain is going to replace my RSS feed and somehow make it better? I’m serious, I don’t get it, and maybe I should?

Anil Dash

You’ve heard the call to action at the end of nearly every podcast you’ve ever listened to: “Listen to us on your favorite podcast app”, or in the phrasing of podcaster extraordinare Roman Mars, “…wherever you find podcasts”.

Podcasting is a prime example of an existing — “old” — technology working perfectly to keep an entire ecosystem out of the hands of the VC’s and BigCo’s. Sure, VC’s and BigCo’s can have podcasts and podcast networks, but so can a nobody like me with the ability to record my voice, make an MP3, and make it an attachment to an RSS file.

Heck, chances are you’re reading this via my “dead” RSS feed.

Brent Simmons

Why NetNewsWire Isn’t Available for Vision Pro

Brent is a pretty pragmatic fellow and his reason for NetNewsWire not supporting Vision Pro are spot on. If you don’t have the hardware to support the effort, don’t risk making a poor product or experience for your users. Even if it’s open sourced and free.

John Calhoun

Tom Dowdy was a software engineer at Apple back in 1995 when I was still writing Macintosh games in Lawrence, Kansas.

Shannon Liao • Inverse

Disney Buys A $1.5 Billion Stake in Fortnite Maker, Plans for New Game Universes

Is this Disney’s foray into the Metaverse? It has such interesting intellectual property and we know they’re making content for Vision Pro. What are they really up to? 🤔

Casey Newton • Platformer

Within days, Bluesky was home to both Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Dril. It wasn’t clear what Bluesky was for exactly, but most people there seemed to be having a good time, and that was enough to convince more than 3 million people to at least try it.

I have a Bluesky account, I mean, of course I do. I love me some Twitter-like social media. I also have a Threads account. For me, however, I’ve found Mastodon more to my liking. I have great conversations on Mastodon and I’ve been there since 2018, at least (I was on a different instance way back but I forgot which one. 😂)

I use Threads because the few famous people I like to follow are there and I can’t find them here, which is a real drag, but that’s how it is. If Threads ever federates I’ll happily follow Threads folks on Mastodon.

As for Bluesky, a lot of the folks I followed on Twitter have settled there, so I’ve followed a few I can’t find elsewhere.

One thing I really love about Bluesky is being able to use my own domain to identify myself. I’m @fahrni.me there.

NASCAR

Rajah Caruth to drive Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Chevrolet full-time in Truck Series

I couldn’t be happier for Rajah. He’s one of my favorite Truck Series drivers and he lost his ride at the end of the 2023 season. I’m happy to know he landed at Spire.

Evan Martin

Cross compiling Rust to win32

Looks mighty painful to get cross compiling working, but once you’re done I’m sure it feels good.

If you’re interested in using Rust for Windows development you can get language support right from Microsoft.

Frank Morris • NPR

The Kansas City Chiefs are undefeated at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, and Gerard DeCosta, a construction worker who lives in Hawaii, says that may have something to do with him.

Believe in curses? Sports folks are prone to believing them. This is a great story and good for a laugh.

I’m taking the 49’ers this weekend but according to this article they don’t stand a chance. 😆