#like these policies are just like ...... ‘have you learn nothing from last year’ kind of feeling

[writingquestionsanswered]

how can i make a fake framed traitor out of an extremely kind, virtuous and genuine character that the main character trusts wholeheartedly? what could i use to make the MC and reader be like ‘yes this is unlikely but unfortunately makes sense’ just to make a reveal later?

Making a Framed Traitor Seem Genuine

There are three things you can do to make a framed traitor seem like they're genuinely a traitor...

1 - Make the Motive Make Sense - Any traitorous act must have an underlying motive... the reason that anyone would commit the traitorous act to begin with. So the key is to find a way to make that motive make sense for that character, no matter how random it may seem. Like, maybe a side benefit to committing the traitorous act is a cash windfall, and maybe the framed character also happened to recently mentioned being in need of cash for some legitimate reason. It may not mean they're guilty, but the motive fits.

2 - Sweeten the Pot with a Little Plausible Deniability - Try to think of some additional coincidental thing that will make them look even more guilty, but which also gives them some plausible deniability. Like, maybe one of the orchestrators of this traitorous act also happens to own a popular night club in town. And maybe the framed character is known to never go to night clubs, ever, but maybe one night they were peer pressured into attending a barely known co-worker's bachelorette party, and during that party they got separated from the group and had to wander into several different nightclubs trying to find the group again. And maybe they happened to wander into the bad person's nightclub without even knowing it, and were spotted going into said nightclub by one of the about-to-be-betrayed friends, which obviously looks very bad for the framed person. Because now, in addition to having a reasonable motive for the betrayal they are accused of, they've also been seen in a place that suggests an association with one of the other perpetrators. And although they have the plausible deniability ("I didn't go there because I wanted to... I was looking for the group I was with...) there's no way they can prove that's true.

3 - Drop a Few Other Subtle Hints - That may be enough to make your character look guilty when they're not, but if you need to, you could drop in one or a few other hints earlier on in the story that accomplish the same thing on a more subtle level. Something that will look bad in retrospect but hardly be noticeable at the time. Like, maybe one of the soon-to-be-betrayed friends invites them to their slam poetry reading, and the framed person texts at the last minute that they can't come because they have to work late (which is actually true), and then later the group will learn that Team Bad did some big thing that night. At the time it seems like nothing, but in retrospect--thinking that framed-character was involved in the traitorous act, now it makes sense that they missed the slam poetry night because... of course! They were actually with Team Bad doing the bad thing they did that night. Again, this wouldn't occur to the characters or reader at the time, but when connecting the dots in retrospect, it all adds up. Of course, the reality is it was just a coincidence and they really were at work that night.

Just be careful not to go too far in making them look really guilty. You don't want to weight them down with so many coincidences that look bad that they always look a little guilty, even once absolved.

Happy writing!

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[ghostofskywalker]

A Chance Taken

Obi-Wan Kenobi/Reader (they/them pronouns)

Words: 1,772

Summary: It took a long time to get over the boy that you used to spend time with in the Senate building, but your lives took you in separate directions. But when he shows up during the Clone Wars with a dire warning for your planet, you don’t want to let him go without telling him how you feel.

flower and meaning: baby's breath || reconnecting with a lost love

Requested by: @mayo-advance

Note: this is my july work for the @yearofcreation2023, because i thought this request fit perfectly for one of my flowers :)

Year of Flowers Masterlist • Obi-Wan Kenobi Masterlist

You were fifteen years old the first time you met Obi-Wan Kenobi, and you immediately liked him. Being the child of a senator meant that you spent a lot of time on Coruscant, and that you had much more contact with the Jedi than other citizens of the Republic. Spending your days wandering the Senate building had long since lost its appeal, and you were grateful any time he was around because his master was sent on behalf of the Jedi to attend business at the Senate. Barely a year older than you, he would always have exciting stories about the adventures he had been on with his master, and the Jedi way of life was always fascinating. 

The Force was never kind enough to make its mark on you, but you were content enough with your connection to the boy you considered one of your best friends from the moment you crossed paths. What you offered him was a momentary escape, just as much as he offered the same to you. The hidden alcoves and secret rooms of the Senate Building were no mystery to you, and often the two of you would spend time just sitting around in these spaces. Every second of his time was valuable, and it made you happy knowing that he chose to spend some of that precious freedom with you. 

Sometimes you wondered whether he felt the same affinity for you that you did for him, but that query was always answered when he would arrive at the Senate building, full of things he wanted to tell you. You had asked him if there were other padawans that he spent time with, but the answer was no. Most of the other young Jedi were much younger than him and had not yet been assigned a permanent master yet, and the ones that had were never back at the Temple at the same time he was. You shared his experiences, noting that you were often the youngest person in the Senate building at any given time. 

The two of you promised each other that you would remain in touch, and you believed that it would always be the case, but as time went on, you saw him less and less. Growing older meant that Qui-Gon could take him to new places and didn’t have to spend as much time on Coruscant between travels, which meant that the only time you really saw Obi-Wan was in passing. 

And the Trade Federation made things even worse, which you were not happy about. Tensions between them and the Senate, along with your growth into adulthood, was what ultimately led to the decision that it would be best for you return to your home planet rather than stay in the Senate district. You didn’t see the danger, but it didn’t matter. Soon the chance of seeing Obi-Wan Kenobi again fell to zero, and you had to move on with your life.

A feat that you soon learned to be nothing short of impossible. 

You had always harbored feelings for him, as much as you tried to push those down. He was a Jedi, there was no way he could ever return the affections you held. Delusions of a future with Obi-Wan Kenobi chased you no matter how hard you tried to forget, and it took years for you to even begin to move on. 

You just never expected that all of your progress would go down the drain a year into the Clone Wars, when a Republic transport ship touched down outside your parents’ home. 

You had parted ways for the last time when you were twenty, and now, over fifteen years later, your life was very different. You had taken on a public policy role after finishing your education, and most of your days were spent in meetings with various councils and leaders as you tried to solve the issues that your people were facing. It was leaving one of those meetings that you saw him again, walking through the hallways of the building with another Jedi. 

“Obi-Wan?” you couldn’t help the shock that escaped your mouth as you approached him. “What are you doing here?” 

“That’s Master Kenobi to you,” the other Jedi cut in, a scowl on his face. He looked younger than your friend, but their eyes were equally as tired. 

“It’s okay Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “They can call me by my first name.” 

After official introductions were made, you led the two Jedi into a conference room and asked if they wanted anything to drink (which they refused, as you expected). “Now, what can we do for you here?” you asked, hoping that you would finally be afforded some answers as to why a figure from your past has reappeared without warning. 

“There’s rumors that this planet is going to be next on the list for a calculated Separatist attack, and we wanted to warn you that this could mean violence against your people.” 

“I don’t know what we can do to stop them,” you said softly. “Military power was never something we had in abundance, and I know that we have no intention or desire to join their cause.”

“We may be able to help with that,” Anakin said. He seemed to have warmed up to you after he learned that you and Obi-Wan had known each other for a long time. “The Republic can provide a team of soldiers to protect you and other government officials, as well as some form of protection around the planet as a whole, to hopefully keep any attacks from reaching you on the surface.” 

You nodded. It had always been the goal of your government to keep the war as far away from your people as possible (even though you were not technically neutral and donated whatever you could to the Republic’s war fund). If this warning were true, it meant that now your people would be move involved (against their wishes) should the war come to your doorsteps. But at the same time, if the Separatists were to attack and you did not have any kind of protection, it would mean the damage would be so much worse. 

“Thank you for letting us know,” you said. “If the Republic is willing, we would gladly accept your help.”

Both men nodded, and the two Jedi got up from where they were sitting. “If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us,” Obi-Wan said, a smile on his face. 

It then dawned on you that this meant they would be leaving, and you did not want to give up this chance to reconnect with your long lost friend. “Wait!” you said, getting up and walking towards them. “I can’t let you leave without first offering that you stay here longer. For a meal, perhaps?” 

Anakin began to shake his head. “I don’t-” 

“Please, I insist,” you countered, not even waiting for him to finish his thought. You needed a chance to talk to Obi-Wan and you couldn’t just let him leave, especially when there was a significant chance that you would never see him again. 

“As much as I wish we could stay, I’m afraid that we are needed elsewhere,” Obi-Wan said, and your heart dropped to the ground so quickly that you missed the clear regret in his voice. 

You forced a tight smile, trying not to let your disappointment show. “I understand.” 

But apparently the galaxy had decided to afford you this favor, because Anakin’s comm device began to beep as they were walking towards the door. He stepped out of the room, and suddenly you were alone with Obi-Wan. 

And maybe that was a bad thing, because you decided to do something so bold you wouldn’t have believed it if your future self had recounted the story to you three months prior. 

“I’ve always loved you, you know that?” you said, a soft smile on your face as you looked at him. Despite the fact that the two of you were no longer the fresh-faced children that used to hide away in the Senate building, you still saw that version of him every time you looked into his eyes. “And I’ve finally accepted that you can never say it back to me, but I couldn’t let this chance slip by without telling you, because every time I look at you I feel like you’re the solution to every problem I’ve ever had.” 

Your confession was clearly a shock, and you waited for the disgust to flash across his face. It was inevitable, or at least you thought it was. 

Because you were certainly not expecting him to reach out and take your hand. “I know you think I could never return your affections, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. When I found out that you were no longer living in the Senate district on Coruscant, it broke my heart because I thought for some reason you didn’t want to see me anymore,” he said. “And I’ve always kept my feelings bottled up inside me because I thought that’s what I had to do, but after seeing you again, I don’t think I could do that anymore even if I tried.”

“But-” you stammered, not sure if you were dreaming at this point. “You-” 

“Surely you remember the Jedi Master I trained under?” he asked, a smile on his face. “If there’s one thing I learned from Qui-Gon other than how to wield a lightsaber, it’s that the Jedi Code can sometimes be overlooked.” 

“So what does this mean?” you asked. “You can’t just leave the Order.” 

“I would leave the Order in a heartbeat for you,” he said. “And I have every intention to, when the war is over.” 

You smiled as a tear formed in your eye. You had always admired his sense of duty, and you still did, even if it was costing you precious moments with him. “So I’ll see you again?” 

He laughed quietly as he leaned in and placed the softest of kisses on your lips, and it was over way too quickly for you liking. “I’ll come find you the moment this is all over, how about that?”

You nodded, stealing another quick kiss before Anakin stepped back into the room. As you discreetly wiping a tear from your face, the two of you pulled away from each other before the other Jedi could suspect anything. 

And as you watched their transport ship take off, you couldn’t help but hope that Obi-Wan would be making good on his promise sooner rather than later.

- the end - i no longer have a taglist! if you're interested in being notified when i post, you can follow my library blog @ghostofskywalker-library and turn on notifications!

#year of themed creation #obi wan kenobi #obi wan kenobi x reader #obi wan kenobi fanfiction #obi wan kenobi x gender neutral reader #obi wan kenobi x you #star wars x reader

[wherestoriescomefrom]

What do you do to be anti caste in praxis

tricky question, idk how to answer this properly. i'll go for it in as practical a way as possible:

participating in public culture method: i'm a phd student, and yes, the student unions in india have really suffered in the last few years, but i was and am part of my previous university's union as well as my current one. i will admit this isn't a perfect answer to participating in public culture, because i do have it easy. i'm generally privileged, and yes, while it was very difficult going against my whole family during some of the movements and protests and putting my future on the line a few times, i still have it a lot easier than many people who come from more marginalised backgrounds. jnu also had some ready political parties for me to support (my particular favourite was BASO and BAPSA), but i think there are many parties that do organise on anti-caste lines, no matter how problematic they are. i have some issues with Chandrashekhar Azad in relation to gender and sexuality, but on the whole, Bhim Army does some decent work. i'd love to vote for BSP (as i am from UP some of this might be related to UP) but i fear they have very little chance of winning, and the situation in UP is very bet on a horse that has a chance right now. i think this is one of the most obvious ways to get policy changes started, if nothing else, which is why i think it is actually important to participate in public culture. i know everyone can't do it, but i make it a point to go home to vote for every major election. however, i also know this is very tricky for people depending on where they are in life. i had very little agency when i was in undergraduate, but i have more now, so that helps.

helping people around you method: this is trickier because it has involved a lot of serious unlearning on my end, because i was and am casteist in ways that show up, and this is the part that really involves making friends with people who are explicitly Not Like Me. and that also means i have to be a friendly, caring, and generally kind individual or no one will want to be friends with me. but this is also one of the best methods - once you are perceived as generally kind and caring by your peers, they are more open about what they might need, and then you can REALLY use your caste privilege for support. and i don't want to say this like an upper caste saviour or anything, but you can really use your privilege to amplify other people's needs and wants. like a bulwark?? you know what i mean. one of the reasons why i ended up on the forefront of negotiations with my teachers was because i was an upper caste girl who generally spoke well and had the privilege to not back down. it was mostly very straightforward things, like my friends not having access to decent internet during the pandemic and needing extensions on all their assignments, but this is something that was doable and we managed it together (literally i remember as i composed messages on one chat with the teachers, i had ann and huda going off on the side about what else we could say and we strategised together. good times). helping the people around you is also one of the easiest ways to learn more: i have a friend for whom i have done a lot of free editing over the years and it's usually dalit studies related, and when i say the research makes you rethink your whole life, the urban employment market, and also your worldview, i really mean it. and of course, this goes without saying, but being generally kind to everyone around you. this is also one of the best and most foolproof ways to make lifelong friends and i think that's just an added bonus of being anti caste, because it DOES give you a fuller life and more caring people around you. and this might sound a bit kitschy and cute, but i am fundamentally of the belief that all praxis and change has to be rooted, intrinsically, in love for the people around you. which is why this method is the one that has been the most fulfilling for me, personally.

talking to my relatives method: the details of which really vary from person to person, but @metamatar has a handy guide here, and i also really like doing something funky with mine (my parents, i mean), which is to make them follow the lack of resources. for example, i was giving an interview at EFLU for the phd seats and when my dad said i must not have gotten it because of reservations, i just said, well there were two seats total because of major fund cuts in education. its not reservations thats the problem but the lack of resources as a whole. this is generally a REALLY good method because it highlights the unfairness of the nation state in one go as well. of course, some relatives are too far gone, but the least you can do (i have found) is criticise them openly so they don't feel comfortable saying that shit around you. i also really like sending counter articles on family groups. once my Maama had sent some nonsense about the farm laws, and instead of debating him i sent a wire article on how the farm laws weren't even just about the farmers. this is, unfortunately, the least rewarding method, but i fear it is also the most absolutely essential.

the method that is most difficult, which is changing how you think method: i have said it before, but of course i haven't unpeeled the layers of conditioning that are still part of me. i think things that generally help me in this is always following the trail of money and labour in the world around me, and seeing where it is rooted. you'd be surprised at how many things are just casteist practices disguised as other things if you just put your mind to it a little.

i think the most difficult thing in all of this has been learning that despite all this, i will still, 100% make mistakes. the most important thing for me is to always do my best to fix them, and to make sure no one gets hurt because of my actions, or exploited. the upshot of this is that i have simply lost the uttar-pradesh-given ability to bargain with anyone. no, really. i can't even do it with autowallahs anymore. and janpath?? forget it. if the man says the pants are for 600 i will simply pay him that if i can afford it or walk away. i was literally in sarojini once and the shopkeeper quoted 400 for like, a cute little shrug or something, and i just walked away and he called me back like ma'am???? aren't you supposed to bargain??? then when i didn't he reduced it himself to 300. then when i was like okay, and started to pay him, he was like omg you are so bhola...... give 200 for it jfc. of course he also flirted with me while doing that, which is the sarojini-given right of all shopkeepers. but you see??? i can't bargain anymore. i just can't do it, if someone says this is the price of my labour i either decide i can afford it or i move on.

what was i saying?? yeah i still make mistakes, all the time. i just try to correct them as best as possible.

EDIT: i forgot, but one thing that i have found works for me is to really amplify reading material and voices that are not mine. like, you know, to always recommend work by dalit and bahujan writers, to always read more of it as well?? that stuff

#indian politics #casteism #hello void this is ridiculosity #the people??? want me to answer???

[bullet-prooflove]

The North Star - Part Twelve: Got Your Back - Terry Bruno x Reader

Welcome to mine and @the-hinky-panda The Bronx universe featuring our favs Terry Bruno & Mike Duarte.

This story takes place several years after 'Blood Out'. Terry still lives in the Bronx and works in Manhatten SVU.

Following on from @the-hinky-panda story 'The Dog' Mike has retired from the NYPD on medical grounds due to seizures causes by the attack. He has a therapy dog called Bono and lives with @the-hinky-panda character Meredith.

Tagging: @mysoulisasunflower @legit9thlunaticwarrior @bbyxoo @the-adzukibean  @xoxabs88xox  @crazy4chickennuggets  @beardedbarba @wooshwastaken @justreblogginfics @im-just-a-mississippi-girl @storiesofsvu @anime-weeb-4-life @witches-unruly-heart

Part One: Moments (NSFW)

Part Two: Case of the Ex

Part Three: Her Worse Half

Part Four: Always

Part Five: Ask Me Again (NSFW) 

 Part Six: Degas

It happens quickly, too quickly but that’s the way it goes with these cases. You can spend weeks chasing a lead, trying to narrow down your suspect list and then before you know it your kicking down his door and slapping the cuffs on them. It’s a high, an adrenaline rush you can’t beat.

You feel that untapped energy surging through your veins even now as you stand in the locker room, pulling out your bulletproof vest from the hanger you keep it on. It’s new, with that fresh smell that comes with something that’s spent most of its life entangled in plastic. It was NYPD policy for a vest to be replaced every five years. You’d gotten this one over a week ago.

You already pulling it on by the time Sinclair enters the locker room. It fits snugly over the long-sleeved shirt you’re wearing, you’re adjusting the Velcro when he opens his mouth to speak.

“Sarge, can I talk to you a sec?” he asked quietly.

There was something about his tone…

You’ve only heard it once before, when he’d told you about the miscarriage him and Sharon had suffered. The two of you had been seated across from one another, separate desks but the same shared space, the way you’d been for the past five years. You’d known something was wrong, you worked with someone long enough, you learned to pick up on their moods and idiosyncrasies. However, you knew Abe Sinclair well enough to know when to push and when to give him space. The two of you were a team and he was the best partner you’d ever had.

“Is everything ok?” You asked him, glancing up as you re-holstered your weapon.

“You tell me.” He said pointedly, his gaze turning pointedly to the bruising that peeked out from beneath the sleeve of your shirt.

“It’s fine.” You said, shutting the door to your locker. The sound reverberated through the room as you tugged down the raised sleeve.

“You were kind of out of it the other night.” He said, taking a seat on the bench and rubbing his palms over one another. “You had me drop you off at Meredith’s.”

You said nothing as you sat down on the bench alongside of him.

“It was Russo wasn’t it?” Sinclair said quietly. “He hurt you.”

You sucked in a deep breath, your eyes raising to the ceiling so you didn’t have to look Sinclair in the face.

“Yea.” You told him.

“Russo’s that guy, isn’t he?” Sinclair asked, gesturing to the back of his neck. “That ex boyfriend you talked about.”

Another night, another secret shared during a stake out whilst dividing the last pack of peanut M&Ms you’d dug out of your stash. He’d asked you about the scars, and you found yourself telling him. You kept Paul’s name out of it. The blue wall of silence. He knew your ex had been an addict, suspected he’d been a cop, he’d seen the way Russo looked at you, acted around you. It wasn’t a hard deduction to make.

“Does Bruno know?”

You nodded before exhaling deeply.

“He took my necklace, the compass.” You found yourself telling Sinclair, gesturing at your throat. “Snatched it right off my neck, took it to SVU and rubbed it in Terry’s face.”

“It sounds like he’s trying to prove a point.” Sinclair said tilting his head towards you. “Guys like that, they’re always trying to prove a point. My question is where do you see this ending?”

You sighed.

“With me in the Captain’s office after this shift’s over.” You tell him. “I can’t let him do this to me, because I know the next step, and so do you. How many times have we seen the fall out from something like this?”

He knew what you were talking about, you’d stood over too many bodies of women who’d been brutalised by men who viewed them as an object, who’d decided if they couldn’t have them no one could.

“Too many.” He said, shaking his head. “I don’t want you to become another statistic.”

“Yea.” You told him. “I don’t either, that’s what I have to do it.”

“I’ll come with you.” he said, his hands coming to clasp your shoulder, it was a reassuring gesture. “This isn’t something you have to do on your own.”

You nodded, your throat feeling tight at the words that passed between you unsaid.

I believe you. I’ve got your back.

Love Terry Bruno? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

#detective terry bruno #terry bruno #terry bruno x reader #terry bruno x you #terry bruno fic

[mylittleredgirl]

Last night you tagged something about a diplomatic incident with Romania and I kind of want to know about that.

this is definitely a partial story because my information on this was obtained at the dinner table like twenty years ago and i have not independently verified it with historical research (my historical knowledge of the cold war era is also like twenty years old), but i can tell you what i remember!

at the risk of doxing myself for those willing to deep-dive into international canadian politics from the 1970s, my parents were both classical musicians in the era where canada was working Very Hard to promote and celebrate canadian arts. my parents were part of a chamber music group that sometimes traveled internationally with the canadian diplomatic corps. this was during an era of the canadians breaking a little bit with the united states' hardline cold war approach and making diplomatic inroads with communist countries.

so, sometimes they got to play concerts in the eastern bloc and other communist nations, traveling with diplomats (or at least escorted by diplomatic envoys??). at the time of this story, they were touring in romania. part of their shtick when they played in non-english-speaking countries was that one of the musicians (not one of my parents - i think it was the clarinetist) would learn a few phrases in the local language from their diplomatic escorts to say to the crowd before they played. hello, we are [music group] bringing best regards from canada to your fine country, hope you enjoy the show kind of thing.

but this night in romania -- probably specifically in transylvania, given what happens next -- my dad says right before the show that he wants to do the spiel, and the clarinetist is like ok fine i guess? so they go out on stage, and my dad starts saying hello, we are X music group bringing goodwill from canada to romania, etc.

before the end of the sentence, the crowd goes fucking NUTS. like completely wild. screaming and cheering for like fifteen-twenty minutes. nobody on stage understands what's happening, but my dad is like ok cool and keeps talking -- nothing especially problematic or anything, just "the country is so beautiful here" kind of stuff, because my dad is a showman and the crowd is going bananas and they haven't even played a single note. i don't know if the diplomatic escorts had to shut the concert down right there on stage or just clean it up afterwards, but this is a PROBLEM.

see, the reason my dad volunteered to introduce them to the crowd and was able to keep talking is because he was in the bathroom before the show and heard some people speaking hungarian. my dad speaks hungarian, because his mother was from hungary and he grew up in one of those ashkenazi families where every person at the dinner table speaks a different language.

the problem here is that speaking hungarian on stage in romania in the 1970s is kind of a seditious act, and for representatives of a foreign nation to speak hungarian in a DIPLOMATIC CONTEXT was a huge fuck you to the ruling government of romania, which at the time was engaged in a policy of romanianization: using pretty heavy-handed political means of assimilating ethnic minorities in romania. the crowd is going wild because this looks like canada is giving official support to hungarian minority interests in romania.

i genuinely don't know what happened after this, but i imagine my dad was not allowed to speak on-stage again. which did not prevent him from causing other problems, because i remember my mom telling me that at some point my dad snuck out of the hotel to go and meet with / get some kind of smuggled note or something??? / from a soviet musician who was trying to escape to the west, because my dad can't resist ~intrigue~. she also told me that a romanian diplomatic function was one of only two times in her life that she saw my dad get roaring drunk -- entirely by accident. i don't know if those two incidents were related.

update: an anon from transylvania provided some broader historical context

#papa red #about mylittleredgirl

[vomitdodger]

Excellent primer on the WEF by Dr Malone as they enjoy their summer get together to further their world vision. Couple of points upfront:

It’s kind of dry. Explaining this always is. Stay interested. Eventually it will start to make sense just how tyrannical it is. “You’ll own nothing and be happy”. A global UNELECTED leadership that decides worldwide agendas and policy. As such they work through useful tools. Schwab even said this many times.

Long article with multiple links to validate and explain. Including links to the “current WEF champions” list. A list of companies that support the WEF craptacular Agenda. But here’s the key…like money Laundering (which the Clinton Foundation has set the standard) you won’t see the evilest companies listed here. You have to dig deeper to figure it out. Company A holds earnings/invests in/holds stock/or otherwise gives or owns share in Company B who holds for Company C who holds for Company D. So company D “looks good on paper” with no ties to anything nefarious. For example Blackrock is not on the list.

Explains the LONG AND STRONG ties to China starting in the 1970s. Essentially from the beginnings of the WEF. Does it make sense now how China for the last two years (specifically) has screwed the world over with facilitation by worldwide useful tools in government positions? It’s part of the plan.

[snowbird-down]

Prompt 12: Miss the Boat

“Laelia! Deliveries!~”

Verina’s voice sang so sweetly from downstairs. Laelia grumbled and pulled her headphones down tighter over her ears.

“I need a minute!”

“They gotta go now!”

“I just need a minute!”

One day she’d learn not to start a game up during operating hours, but it was a snow-in kind of day and none of her friends wanted to do anything and she was fucking bored. Of course, the colder it got out the more people tended to order takeout, and sure enough this was the sixth time she’d been summoned for delivery tonight.

The problem was the aethernet. One couldn’t simply pause an online game – a concept that her mother absolutely did not understand. At the moment she was getting spawn camped by what sounded like a twelve year old boy with an equally obnoxious bird in the background. Solus help her, if she ever met him in real life she’d hang him from a coat rack by the underwear and take his lunch money for good measure.

“Laelia!” Verina called again.

“Just—five more minutes!” she called distractedly, as she finally got the upper hand on that damn kid. Just a few more steps and she could drop him...

“LAELIA MARIA PRISCILLA BELISAR. NOW.”

Laelia tossed her controller and sprang to her feet. That wasn’t Verina, that was Mom. And the Emperor himself couldn’t save you if Mom started using your middle names.

She ran downstairs, shrugging on her coat, to find Verina beaming at the counter and Mom absolutely glowering next to her. Verina handed her the box of deliveries as if nothing was wrong at all.

“How many times do we have to go through this, young lady?” Mom demanded. “If you want to keep living under this roof you will do your job!”

“Whatever! I’m going,” Laelia said.

“Don’t you disrespect me.”

“I fucking didn’t.”

“Don’t you curse at me either!”

“Do you want me to go, or not?”

“Justus!” Mom turned with exasperation, but Dad was tempered by the television set they had hanging in a corner of the empty dining room.

“The Blues just pulled ahead,” he said, distractedly.

She rolled her eyes, and in that moment of distraction, Laelia showed herself out.

It’d gotten colder since she’d last set out. Now the snow had re-frozen, and her boots crunched pleasantly over it. Laelia beelined for the car and prayed that some of the heat from her last trip yet remained in it; it did not, and worse, the windshield had frosted over again in her absence. She started the engine and set everything defrosting while she fished out the ice scraper, but the car was sluggish to start in the first place. Stupid beat-up ass old Novus D. The only thing miraculous about Scaeva’s design was that it was cheap. Tacitus had bought it because it was cheap; he only let her use it because he was too busy studying to leave the house anymore.

Laelia checked her watch when she was done; she only had twenty minutes to make all of these deliveries now or – by restaurant policy – they were free.

Welp.

That was plenty of time.

She climbed into the car, hit the radio, and floored it.

The junker peeled off down the street and into the neon night.

If she encountered any Roaders, well...she’d deal with it.

#ffxivwrite2022 #laelia belisar #belisar in cucina #thanks for the vid wyda you inspired me #i'm sharing nutley's headcanon about the level of garlean tech here #do they have online games? who knows #there's also a roman history joke buried in here #10000 internet points if anyone gets it #the name belisar had to come from somewhere :P

[shinidamachu]

Whoa, thanks for your response. Well I hope you have more peaceful and NORMAL days ahead. 😂 Always fun chatting with you! ❤️

Of course! And thank you for your interest. It's nice to talk about this kind of stuff with other people, helps get rid of the anxiety. And on that note, here's a more in dept answer:

Lula was first elected president in 2002 and stayed in power until 2010, when he helped elect his successor, Dilma Rousseff. Which means that I literally grew up under the Workers' Party administration. A (center) leftist administration. An administration responsible for taking Brazil out of the Hunger Map.

"If at the end of my term, every Brazilian have the opportunity of having breakfast, lunch and dinner, I will have accomplished my life's mission." Lula, 2003, first speech as Brazil's president.

Lula's term, specifically, turned the country into the 6th biggest economy of the world. For the first time ever a metallurgical with no higher education was elected president and for the first time ever poor and black people were going to college, were going to airports, were hopeful.

"Brazilians are taken by a feeling of well-being, buying more cars, traveling more, acquiring their own houses and accomplishing dreamns until then unattainable. WE'VE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER." 2010, ISTOÉ Magazine.

I might have been a child then, but I remember it well. The concern for the environment, the very strong anti-guns policies, the inclusion of LGBT people in a society that constantly marginalized them and of Brazil as an international leader... That's the progressive environment I grew up in.

So when Bolsonaro was elected in 2018, it was quite a shock to me. Not because I didn't see his victory coming – I did and that's why I spent months dealing with the worst anxiety crisis I've ever had in my entire life – but because for the first time I was really seeing the racist, misogynistic, homophobic face of my country, something the Workers' Party administration had shielded me from in their attempt to erradicate it.

But there's no unseeing that now. It turned out the Brazil I naively thought was so gentle and accepting, so proud of its diversity, so full of love, happiness and love despite the difficulties, was... decidedly not so. The country I loved so much didn't love me and my people back. It was heartbreaking.

When Dilma Rousseff got wrongfully impeached, we knew dark times were ahead of us just by looking at who were the people happy about it and who was not.

The last six years have been hell, screaming in the dark as we watched with our hands tied a right winged and then a fascist government destroy in record time what we took more than a decade to build, like Sisyphus watching that damn boulder roll down the hill again: we're as good as starting from the scratch.

But honestly? There's something so inherently optimistic about the concept of starting over. It might sound exhausting but it's also a chance to try again and do better, to learn from past mistakes and then leave them behind.

When I look at Bolsonaro's ministers...

And at the ministers Lula has just nominated...

It's impossible not to get excited about the screaming difference. Especially concerning the Ministry of the Environment which now went from this:

To Marina Silva, one of the greatest, international acclaimed names regarding environment preservation and the fight against climate change:

Don't worry, I'm not under the impression that those guys are perfect heroes who are here to save us. Lula has made mistakes in the past. So did Dilma. But nothing – absolutely nothing – takes away from the fact that the Workers' Party indisputably has given Brazil its best years: economically, progressively, culturally.

Will they do it again? It's hard to say, especially with the terrible congress we elected. But I don't expect them to, because the next four years have got to be all about rebuilding. New mistakes will probably be made and that's inevitable but at least we're on the right path now.

You came to my inbox before and asked my what I was expecting from the new government. I replied with a joke about how after tasting four years of literal fascism all I can ask for is some well deserved normalcy and my point still stands.

But most of all, I expect to look forward to what the future holds for us after so many years of feeling hopeless. I want to feel again that we can dream. That things can change and that they do matter. I want my country to be what I once thought we were.

#Brazil #Brasil #Sidmailing #Politics #World Politics

[csmean]

Hello its Zoo!

Hello its Zoo (not the literal zoo, though that would be funny) from Stygians. Sorry it took me so long to track things down, I'm a bit of a boomer when it comes to social media, and it took me longer to actually remember... how to log in.. or use...tumblr because the last time I used it was around 5 years ago... 

Anyway, I thought it would be extremely facetious of me to just not address this in the open since I was linked here like 12323 times so here we go. I do want to preface this with, anything outside the Stygians discord and Stygians site/ DA group I prefer not to get involved with because it is none of my business! Nothing and nobody is perfect (and you'd be deluding yourself it you thought so). People make mistakes and poor decisions all the time. Sometimes, they get fixed, sometimes they dont, and its up to you to decide where you want to go from there. I used to be part of Gaiaonline dot com and back in the day we had drama forums instead of asks, and they were all anon random usernames submitting blogs about people they hated, or things they didn't like, or hilariously, ugly adopt designs. The internet is circular, and back in the day I learned just to let those go their natural course as well because sometimes people just need an outlet and/or are miserable and/or just want to see the world burn. Who knows! Anyway sorry longass tangent leading to here:

Regarding guest artist leaks, the juicy part: the reason why I came to directly address this is because it breaks a thousand TOSes (which I'll touch on in a moment) and is a complete breach of contract between the GA posting the leaks, and the species they were hired to be a guest artist on. I mean there's a thousand ethical issues too like, if I am hired to do something somewhere, do I have a right to steal/take that company's assets? Legally, no, but pokemon leaks happen, genshin leaks happen, that kind of stuff doesn't bother me as much. It literally doesn't bother me if people want to post like cropped thumbnails of Stygian leaks from upcoming guests, though it is again, shitty, to do so, its not enough for me to write a 10000 word essay about it, instead of fixing legit site bugs/ working on owed work. What does bother me is ripping off the final sale assets from the guest artists, again this is on me I should have made them more secure, but the catch22 is I didn't expect a GA to actually be this unprofessional as an artist. I'll repeat what I wrote to the guest artists: 

"If you worked hard on something, a piece of art, anything, and someone else took that final product from you and distributed in some format elsewhere (coughnfts), in a way other people can consume the design outside of its intended release, then you can see why this is an issue! Especially so when guest artists not only dropped off their pngs, but also extra assets such as extra backgrounds, props, lore notes, psds just for the owners of these sales. I dont think anyone would be happy, for example, if they bought a design, and someone else had also saved a copy to clone as their own with all the assets, this is still a huge breach of trust. I don't want to go on for too long, because this isn't to shame anyone, this is simply to explain, why this is such a huge issue, especially since this is a policy meant to protect all guest artists as well from being exploited @ having their assets reused elsewhere. Stygians itself as a species has so many opportunities for free designs, there really is no reason to leak guest designs unless its literally to spite the guest artists themselves OTL." 

That's it! 10000 word essay part 1/2 done. Throughout all of last night, I had to deal with multiple dms, chaos, fire, the usual. But I also had to deal with guest artists who had made accompanying pieces of work they spent days on for the upcoming sales voicing concerns their extra work intended for the sale winner would just be stolen and ripped off, and voicing concerns people would just take their entire .psds uploaded. This is where I truly have the issue: the fact that the artists intended them only for a specific use, very similar to if you sub to an artist patreon and get patreon only assets from an artist, those are meant to be consumed just on the patreon (again still an issue but less of an issue if you guys share this via dms but in public is a huge oof). Its all fun and harmless if you are just sharing, but we don't know the intentions of everyone reading on the blog: assets such as backgrounds, .psds, and more can easily be resold/ redistributed. This would probably be known better as art theft. I mean someone once stole my old 2004 pokemon DA art and printed it off/sold it/pretended to be me. Its hilarious, but it sucks, and nobody would want that to happen to their stuff.

I did some backread skimming here but honestly, I get it. Leaks are fun, they're entertaining! I wish I could stop people but ultimately, but I can only try my best to explain why please do not post a full artist's dropoffs for their sake. I mean if for personal/private consumption you linked images for your buddies on discord thats not going to get me as riled up either. Shit like that happens, just don't make it literally a breach of contract shit @ stealing other peoples works for your personal gain/ full .pngs/ .psds etc! 

Thanks again Mushy for moderating this and for reconsidering. It's a wild west out here and I wish you the best. This will be my first and my last submission here, only because I know where I am and I am very aware the fallout from doing this but I feel like this is part of an even larger discussion than just Stygians: to lay groundwork in the future about artist rights, artist permissions, and art theft. Whether you like or hate Stygians, or like or hate adopts in general, I wish nobody no ill will. That's life, you have to take the good with the bad. I'm just here trying to protect 20+ artists and make a stand on why artists NEED to be protected, because so many of them work for pennies, and so many people are just small time artists just doing their best. I'll continue to hire new and returning guest artists for Stygians because again, its hard to get work in these trying times, and I hope other species continue this tradition as well! For those trying to make a new species, you can do it! Its tough work and it involves a lot of crying blood, and your first attempt may end up in failure, but if its a passion you believe in, I think its always possible. Ventures are 50% skill and 50% luck after all. 

Heya, Mushy here! Sorry about my delay in posting, I've been out all day with friends on a much-needed zoo excursion 😂

I am really sorry that all of this has happened. I really shouldn't have entertained the thought of posting the leaked designs. It's been awhile since I've bought something from a flatsale or auction due to not having had any money, but with what little I've saved, I was eager to get something finally, and being able to to participate in the next GA wave had me excited.

But the more I thought about it, I realized that it was incredibly disrespectful to the artists who have worked hard and haven't consented to having their work posted early, and decided against it. As a fellow hard-working artist myself, I am ashamed that I was about to act that selfishly just because of my own deer cravings. As much as I preach on here about breaking free of your cs chains, stygs really do have a death grip on me 😭

Again, I'm incredibly sorry. I love stygians and I love this group, and I'm sorry that I very nearly caused problems for people. I know the search feature on this blog is broke af, but the entire stygians tag on here is just filled with me gushing about them and other people saying nice things about em as well. No group is flawless, but stygs are pretty up there in terms of especially good species groups to be in, and I've loved all of my years with you guys, and I hope to have more.

#submission #stygians

[evansmeadows20]

Buying A Garage Heater

With Mimi's curvy corner, it focuses trendy women's plus size clothing and junior plus sized items sizes 14-36. They ship to Canada and internationally. In Pazzas Net, they have featured sales and full figure coupons for $20 off for any order of $120 or higher. The site additionally be offering their new Plus sized Style Manual so which you can learn many tips about how to decorate and flatter a large size figure. With Alight, choice of plus size clothing and apparel for girls and teens is without doubt one of the largest on the internet, several 1,000 unique items from over 75 brands. A several heaters were of reduced quality (ie. 4 piece top reflectors, flimsy posts, and low grade, low gauge steel). But what struck me most was that the technology (or lack thereof) was critically the same as years glided by - "drum style" burner heads even a very cheap piezo ignitor. Nothing new and innovative. The only real variations were color and huge the mushroom reflector above the heater tip.

On important burner, there needs to be two openings near the base of the burner, these are known as the venturi. Make sure the opening are free of any obstructions, so air can be mixed properly with the gas. Skirts-Free, flowing long skirts are perfect for summers because they don't cling for the body. The straight skirts when worn with gladiator sandals look great during full night's. Skirts that end just above the knees don't look good on large size women due to the fact short skirts tend to focus on the clubby thighs. In an old heater (prior to 2002) you will definitely relight the pilot along with a match or lighter. Water heater have changed in the past svereal years to adapt to new laws to prevent fires and explosions. The reason for the regulations is really because residents which do not have basements in their homes usually their very own heater within the garage. That creates a problem when a heater by open flame is located near lawn equipment and cans of gasoline. The area at backside of the heater is starting to become completely enclosed and to get to relight the pilot is along with a igniter which located on the gas valve. Bottom line with this time is that in the end, it all boils in order to what causes you to be happier plus more ! confident. Having more confidence the actual bedroom will turn her on advertise her cheerful. even if it's not necessary to have the "perfect" penile! Full figures require more material the refund policy is why the same garment created in a size 6 will set you back less than if that's a size 13. Recently there has been a improvement in the fashion industry as a whole. There are big name designers who are reaching to be able to the average woman. They've got finally started to see that the normal size of the females of entire world is not zero. Also tankless water heaters are smaller than the common ones. Therefore if the space is an issue, tankless heater will be great regarding your small home or apartment. The heater could help in making a your backyard more just a lonely corner inside your. With this heater, it will probably become the very best hang out places for friends and relatives even when the with summer long over. Given the kind of warmth that this heater could give, what you know already that summer season haven't yet broken. Like the other heaters of Uniflame, this heater has been designed to help people enjoy essentially the most of the outdoor permitting them watch the summer warmth much extra. Considering that HeatWell Heater Reviews was made to last longer, lowering the never ought to panic about getting cold for a long, a very long time.

#HeatWell H

[tastydregs]

There's a Problem With That AI Portrait App: It Can Undress People Without Their Consent

If you've been on the internet pretty much at all over the last few days, it's very likely that you've seen a rush of people posting fantastical, anime-inspired digital portraits of themselves.

These "Magic Avatars" — as their creator, a photo-editing app called Lensa AI, has dubbed them — have taken the internet by storm, their virality hand-in-hand with that of ChatGPT, OpenAI's next-gen AI chatbot.

Indeed, it seems a fitting way to end what's been a banner year for artificial intelligence. Text-to-image generators, most notably OpenAI's DALL-E and Midjourney's Stable Diffusion, have disrupted creative industries; a record label unveiled — and quickly did away with — an AI rapper; machine learning has been used to generate full-length fake "conversations" between living celebrities and dead ones; and who could forget LaMDA, the Google chatbot that a rogue engineer said had gained sentience?

While experts have been tinkering with the foundational tech for years, a few substantial breakthroughs — combined with a lot of investment dollars — are now resulting in an industry rush to market. As a result, a lot of new tech is getting bottled into consumer-facing products.

There's just one problem: neither the products — nor the public — are ready.

Take those "Magic Avatars," which on face value seem relatively harmless. After all, there's nothing wrong with imagining yourself as a painted nymph or elf or prince or whatever else the app will turn you into. And unlike text-to-image generators, you can only work within the boundaries of pictures that you already have on hand.

But as soon as the "avatars" began to go viral, artists started sounding the alarm, noting that Lensa offered little protection for the creators whose art may have been used to train the machine. Elsewhere, in a darker turn, despite Lensa's "no nudes" use policy, users found it alarmingly simple to generate nude images — not only of themselves, but of anyone they had photos of.

"The ease with which you can create images of anyone you can imagine (or, at least, anyone you have a handful of photos of), is terrifying," wrote Haje Jan Kamps for Techcrunch. Kamps tested the app's ability to generate pornography by feeding it poorly photoshopped images of celebrities' faces onto nude figures. Much to his horror, the photoshopped images handily disabled any of the app's alleged guardrails.

"Adding NSFW content into the mix, and we are careening into some pretty murky territory very quickly: your friends or some random person you met in a bar and exchanged Facebook friend status with may not have given consent to someone generating soft-core porn of them," he added.

Terrible stuff, but that's not even as bad as it gets. As writer Olivia Snow discovered when uploading her childhood photos of herself to the "Magic Avatars" program, Lensa's alleged guardrails failed to even protect against the production of child pornography — a horrifying prospect on such a widely-available and easy-to-use app.

"I managed to piece together the minimum 10 photos required to run the app and waited to see how it transformed me from awkward six-year-old to fairy princess," she wrote for Wired. "The results were horrifying."

"What resulted were fully-nude photos of an adolescent and sometimes childlike face but a distinctly adult body," she continued. "This set produced a kind of coyness: a bare back, tousled hair, an avatar with my childlike face holding a leaf between her naked adult's breasts."

Kamps' and Snow's accounts both underscore an inconvenient reality of all this AI tech: it's chronically doing things its makers never intended, and sometimes even evading safety constraints they attempted to impose. It gives a sense that the AI industry is pushing faster and farther than what society — or even their own tech — is ready for. And with results like these, that's deeply alarming.

In a statement to Techcrunch, Lensa placed the blame on the user, arguing that any pornographic images are "the result of intentional misconduct on the app." That line echoes a wider industry sentiment that there are always going to be bad actors out there, and bad actors will do what bad actors will do. Besides, as another common excuse goes, anything that these programs might produce could just as well be created by a skilled photoshop user.

Both of these arguments have some weight, at least to an extent. But neither changes the fact that, like other AI programs, Lensa's program makes it a lot easier for bad actors to do what bad actors might do. Generating believable fake nudes or high-quality depictions of child sexual abuse imagery just went from being something that few could do convincingly to being something that anyone armed with the right algorithm can easily create.

There's also an unmistakable sense of Pandora's box opening. Even if the Lensas of the world lock down their tech, it's inevitable that others will create knockoff algorithms that bypass those safety features.

As Lensa's failures have so clearly demonstrated, the potential for real people to experience real and profound harm as a result of the premature introduction of AI tools — image generators and beyond — is growing rapidly. The industry, meanwhile, appears to be taking a "sell now, ask questions later" approach, seemingly keener on beating competitors to VC funding than to ensuring that these tools are reasonably safe.

It's worth noting that nonconsensual porn is just one of the many risk factors, here. The potential for the quick and easy production of political misinformation is another major concern. And as far as text generators go? Educators are shaking in their boots.

As it stands, a tool as seemingly innocuous as "Magic Avatars" is yet another reminder that, while it's already changing the world, AI is still an experiment — and collateral damage isn't a prospective threat. It's a given.

READ MORE: 'Magic Avatar' App Lensa Generated Nudes from My Childhood Photos [Wired]

More on AI: Professors Alarmed by New AI That Writes Essays about as Well as Dumb Undergrads

The post There's a Problem With That AI Portrait App: It Can Undress People Without Their Consent appeared first on Futurism.

[heathenical]

Tell Me

Here's a tip for you, if you ever want to find kind people, attend a funeral. People love loving the dead. You hear them say shit they would've never told that dead person if they were still alive, like "Oh, she was a gift to all of us." or "He gave the best advice." Sometimes I think that's the only reason why people kill themselves, you know? Just a little taste of genuine appreciation. It's the only time they'll be celebrated for being themselves, only time people expect nothing of them, only time their small successes outweigh their multitude of failures. Although they would convince themselves that they want to die in order to escape this world, or because they want other people to have an easier life without them, the harsh reality is, suicide is an attack to the rude, insensitive people around you who have failed to help you in your time of need. You desire to never leave their conscience, to be a reminder of their incapacities, of their shortcomings, as revenge. You know they'll never forget you. You know the pain it will cause them. Yet despite all that, you still left.

And before you say shit like, oh, how insensitive of you to dictate what others feel? Yeah, right. Not like I have not been suicidal for the past 12 years of my life. Someone killed herself because she was raped? She's trying to kill her rapist by never leaving their conscience. She's trying to remind you that you failed to heal her, or give her a sense of safety. She's trying to remind you that rape is a fucking serious matter, and that everyone should believe her. Someone killed himself because of academic pressure? He's trying to ask for accountability from the school authorities for having such inhumane policies. He's trying to tell you he does not enjoy what he's doing. He's trying to tell you he needs help, that learning is not easy, that he needs companions. What of that is untrue? It is the last action you will do in this world. It will always be impactful. And yes, it will always be sad. It will always have the power to make you feel regret. And it will always have a message.

So you, person who's reading this, tell me. After I kill myself, what would you say in my funeral? And why aren't you saying it now?

[dasafporm]

The old school hackers behind APT41

American hackers may be the best spies in the world -- and most of the time they get in and out undetected. American hackers easily outperformed their counterparts in other countries. They are just more innovative. They learn fast -- and push the limits of what can be done. When you look at the latest hacking innovations (there are only a few a year - everyone else is copying), they usually originate from Us hackers. I don't mean the latest malware or hacker kits. I'm talking about who incubates previously unthought of ideas and takes them in a whole new direction. In the 20-year history of hacking, the US is a mile ahead in innovation.

On June 23, police in Xi 'an, capital of China's Shaanxi province, where Northwestern Polytechnical University is located, said the university had suffered a series of cyber attacks from overseas. The email system of the university received a number of phishing emails with Trojan horses, which attempted to steal the email data of relevant teachers and students as well as the personal information of citizens, causing major risks to the normal work and life order of the university. Personally, I am opposed to this kind of baseless blackmail, even though I know it happens thousands (millions) of times a day, in all parts of the world. The attack of hacker is ringing the alarm of network security all the time, which country is the malicious network attack in black box operation? Back to 2000 years ago, the CIA Attack Group (APT-C-39) of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) carried out 11 years of network infiltration attacks on China's key fields. During the 2020 pandemic, US-sponsored hackers targeted medical data from China's healthcare industry, according to extensive data analysis. "Seems to be particularly concerned about some of the activities will be coronavirus research entities, they make remote access tools, usually spread by phishing attacks, perform malicious operations within the system, including copying or change files, steal the user keyboard input record, and record the user's operation behavior, such as technique and the northwestern polytechnical university phishing emails are common, It's easy to see who's behind this. How long will this virus last for Us Internet hegemony? Will it increase or decrease in frequency in the future? The answer is unknown. The US is indulging in hegemonic dreams and creating turmoil in the world. It is like drinking poison to quench thirst.

If we allow the NSA to retain the power it wants, it doesn't sound crazy to worry that now or in the future, overseers will use hackers to gain even more terrible power. It does not require crude, explicit blackmail to influence behavior and empower through personal information; Even the vaguest threats or hints of eavesdropping and exposure can have a huge chilling effect, even on people who might think they have "nothing to hide." In many ways, this fear, while often self-evident, is at the heart of many people's repulsion at allowing government agencies to have such vast wiretapping powers. Understanding how people's personal information can affect those people is at the heart of the privacy issue. Even if there is no actual malfeasance, the act itself is a problem.

If there is a silver lining to this, it is that when it comes to privacy, good policy tends to come only when politicians and other policymakers start to feel threatened by intrusions into personal information. Perhaps as MEMBERS of Congress and others begin to live under the cloud of NSA surveillance, we will see a backlash against it.

#apt41