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anexplanationofunfortunateevents · 3 years

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democracy was on the ballot and it won

I am a slow-boring-of-hard-boards realist about politics. I am delightedly surprised when I get what I want AT ALL. Months and months ago, I said that my number one issue in this election was the desperate need to put the brakes on democratic backsliding in the United States. I’m not sure how to process the fact that I’ve started to get what I wanted even before the transition.

There is a real path forward for democracy reform in this country. EVEN WITH an aspiring autocrat doing everything he could to rig this election, EVEN WITH a pandemic raging, EVEN WITH malicious foreign actors still trying cause problems, EVEN THOUGH we still have not restored the Voting Rights Act, EVEN WITH all the structural imbalances built into our creaky eighteenth-century constitutional system:

Voter participation went way up! People voted over the course of several weeks from the comfort of their own homes, or on weekends, or on Election Day. And because people took responsibility and spread out their votes like that, it was safer to go to polling places. That was a huge collective choice to prevent a lot of suffering and even some deaths.

A big part of why they could do that is the enormous number of citizens who rallied to work at the polls so that the retirees who usually do the job could sit this year out.

Cities and states around the country took the time they need to count carefully.

Media gatekeepers, for the most part, had the discipline and the patience to be helpful to users about what we knew and what we didn’t. If anything, they’re erring on the side of being too cautious. This is after weeks of most media gatekeepers having the discipline to debunk a disinformation campaign by Trump’s allies and Russian backers, instead of aggressively participating in it.

Social media companies took the most aggressive countermeasures yet against election misinformation.

The person who got the most votes is also the person who won the election, which is pretty cool!

That is a huge improvement from EVERY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY. Just in terms of how well the election itself was administered, my only major criticism is that we still did not do something called risk-limiting audits. In the case of an election, audits are basically a carefully calibrated statistical smell test. They’re not a recount. They are a reliable and cost-effective way of figuring out if a recount or some other type of scrutiny should be done for the sake of public confidence in the results – and that makes them a cost-effective deterrence against any bad actors who are considering sabotage. Audits are important whether an election goes your way or not, just like smoke detectors are important whether your building catches fire or not.

But that absolutely should not take away from the fact that we overcame all the new problems that were introduced this year and took some big steps toward solving a lot of old ones – despite the best efforts of Trump and all his enablers. Imagine what we could do under an administration that is helping democracy revitalization instead of aggressively hindering it.

The easiest way for us to make the most comprehensive change would be to win the Senate, which would allow a Biden administration to pass a revitalized Voting Rights Act and restore legitimacy to the federal courts. If you have any time or money to spare in the next few weeks, consider sharing it with the two excellent Democratic candidates in the Georgia Senate runoffs.

We should be realistic about the situation: we’re probably not going to get to do it the easy way, at least, not until after the midterms. But we’re not going to be doing it the hard way any more. The hard way is what we’re doing now. We’re about to get a Department of Justice that opposes civil rights violations and enforces what’s left of the current Voting Rights Act. The intelligence and military cybersecurity units are going to be able to work with the administration instead of around it. And we aren’t going to have to deal with a 24/7 fusillade of lies and voter intimidation coming from the Oval Office. To spin out the “it’s a marathon, not a sprint” metaphor: we’ve been running a marathon uphill carrying forty-pound backpacks. We’ve reached the top where the path levels out, and someone just took our bags and gave us protein bars.

And while we have our protein bars, let’s look around, because the view is as clear and as beautiful as it’s going to get. Donald Trump had every intention of wrecking American democracy, and the entire Republican party had every intention of supporting his aspiring dictatorship. And, while Trump himself is and always has been a clown, the person occupying the Oval Office is the most powerful person on the planet. Actually, that’s an understatement. Since Truman gave the order to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, our technology has grown stronger and our government has concentrated more and more power in the executive branch, which means that every holder of that office has arguably been the most powerful person in the history of the world. Every other holder of that office has at least wanted to think of himself as using that power for the advancement of democracy and humanity. Donald Trump affirmatively tried to use all that power to entrench himself there permanently.

We stopped him. We stopped him peacefully. We stopped him without further harming the many vulnerable people he holds hostage in a hundred different ways. We stopped him not by elevating an equal-but-opposite charismatic demagogue for a two-men-enter-one-man-leaves smackdown, but by building a vibrant, heterogenous coalition and finding competent, experienced, principled leaders who respect that coalition in all its raucous power. We stopped him, in short, by choosing to do democracy.

That feels good today and it’s enormously consequential. It is also proof of concept. It is something that can happen, because it has happened.

Something that political scientists and democracy advocates have been saying for the past few years is that Trump has been a propaganda gold mine for dictators. They use him as a cautionary tale against liberal democracy or even against hoping that things can ever get better: see, even the Americans are no better than we are! Dictators can artificially insulate themselves from accountability in the short term, which makes them ill-equipped to think about backfire. Train your people’s eyes on the aspiring American autocrat, and they can all see his humiliating fall.

To our sisters and brothers around the world, from Idlib to Hong Kong, from São Paolo to Moscow, and along every wide country road in between: this is the only true thing your oppressors have ever told you. We are no better than you are. We are no more suited for or entitled to liberation. Look what we have done. Imagine what you can do.

There’s kind of a false dichotomy going on where people swung from “Trump is going to successfully rig the election for himself” pessimism to “oh, Biden only ousted an incumbent by a freakishly large margin, it wasn’t an immediate electoral college landslide, why did Trump get so close.” This take has set in before deep blue California and New York have come close to completing their mail-in ballot counts, which tells you that it isn’t serious, but it’s also beside the point. Trump succeeded in making the election unfair. If he hadn’t illegitimately put a whole lot of thumbs on the scale in his favor, if we’d actually had the free and fair election we deserved, I think he probably would have lost in a landslide. We did the work and showed up in numbers that were ultimately too big to rig. That led to victory, although not a victory you can quantifiably measure against the dozen or so American elections that were more or less free and fair. That doesn’t mean the rigging didn’t happen or have any impact. It means we beat the spread. As the world’s most prominent train enthusiast once said, that is a big fucking deal.

A government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the earth. One day soon, it may even exist. That is our charge. That is our choice.

So take a moment to recharge. Enjoy the view. Breathe. We got work to do.

#2020 election #democracy

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frstbiitten · 4 years

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Before, the world didn't offer a notion about the future, every day was different and nothing was planned beforehand, there’s no preparation for what could come next. Now, it was different, she had found a good source of interest and source of money, it was arguably a possible source of income, it was very risky by how brutal and insane it sounded. Beating each other for money, who could do such a thing to have some coins in their pockets? Well, it's unthinkable in a way, but despair is what moves one to do something they never thought possible. There were more people sharing the same shoe and none of them felt lucky to be breathing, it was an obligation to be able to breathe properly. Living, that's what everyone wants, to be able to see the lights of dawn.

She was no exception. If she is alive now it was for something, now there is a reason to not die from hunger or the weather, for she had more will in her spirit. Although, without lying, there were days that preferred to be consumed by worms, to turn into dust in the most painless way possible, that could be considered a gift from fate. Thinking about the death terrified her, knew that one day death will come for her, the indicated day when her body would collapse imminently, her bones, every artery, her own blood, everything will become useless objects without any use. She didn't want that for her, though she doesn't feel exactly alive at all either.

For now, her body was still functional, she could do what almost anyone else could do, but after the first night at "The Box" as some people called it, her muscles begged to rest. The first thing she did with the money she had gotten the first night was to buy a cheeseburger, although what she had won was not too much and she left the rest to manage it in the upcoming days -she had some hope that could get out of this situation in the future, one day-. It has been years since the last time she ate a cheeseburger, something that could placate with the hunger she was constantly feeling, maybe it wasn't the best food or the most nutritious, but at least it felt like a reason to go on long enough until she could continue and rebuild her life from scratch -but had no idea how.

This time she had some company, Lewis accompanied her and worked as a good moment for her sister Clarissa to meet the new girl, they were almost identical, almost the same light skin and they had the same mole under the left eye, although her features were softer. She was almost as tall as him, something that led her to think that they might be twins. Something that she could notice about Clarissa was her muscles, they were firm and accompanied the rest of her anatomy in balance with the rest of her body, she had slightly thicker arms and wide shoulders, she felt some intimidation from such anatomical structure. Such was the intimidation that she later saw in a broken portion of a mirror she had kept in her 'place’. The girl barely had enough muscles to look menacing and the skin on her face seemed too thin as well as pale, as if it were going to break.

"Mmm... I can't believe that a girl like this could have beaten a veteran like she did, can you explain well what happened?" The sister hadn't finished her glass of soda yet and kept insisting with the straw, watching the girl eat the burger somewhat uncomfortable with her presence itself, as if she was from another world and didn’t even know how to look like a human being.

"Well, she, Snowflake, not only struck her skull, but she literally froze her arms out of nowhere and broke them into a thousand pieces, it was like seeing a wild wolf with rabies attacking a moose." yes, that's how it happened, even though the girl still hasn’t reached for the memories of that night, beyond all the blood that had to be removed and the wounds she had to clean, there still are bruises on her stomach and legs.

"Well... I find it hard to believe, she hasn’t reached adulthood yet and she’s so short, maybe it was just beginner's luck."

"I owe.. nothing... to luck." She mentioned between bites and with a full mouth, observed both before finishing with her burger. Well no, it wasn't beginner's luck at all, and it never would be, she didn't believe in such a thing as luck as it could never prove that it was on her side. In any case, luck owes her more than one could think.

"Okay, valid, let's forget beginner's luck for now."

Lewis' real intentions were that his sister could train Snowflake as soon as she could and have her ready for the next encounter, which gods know when it was going to be but it wasn’t going to be soon. Neither Clarissa nor Snowflake were excited about the idea of receiving such orders, Clarissa wasn’t aware of her brother's decisions. They decided to start as soon as possible with the training so they could have some notion as to how much she could hold, Clarissa seemed to have mastered the concept of throwing someone down, made a demonstration with Lewis - which was surprising and almost leaves him very confused-, she flexed her knees and advanced as fast as she could to wrap his brother's waist with her own arms, she then proceeded with lifting him a few inches above the ground and pushing him down to the hard ground.

"AAAHHHH SHIIIT, FUUUUCK!!!" Lewis's screams frightened the girl, asked if he would be okay after taking such an intense blow directly the spine, he could only turn on his body and keep screaming in pain, there were even tears in his eyes and began to cry.

"He’s going to be okay, when you least expect it, he’s going to be doing his thing again like nothing has happened."

"Good, because I don't want to kill him with a movement like that."

Between those weeks of training, sometimes she felt that her body could not bear it and they had to stop, the level of sugar in her blood could lower suddenly, feel dizzy or not feel physically strong enough. Years of poor nutrition were doing its effect when she least needed it, from now on she wouldn't have to look into disgusting places for some food. Clarissa was stronger than one could tell at first, was able to lift her brother who was somehow slightly heavier than her, and she had no issue with lifting him off the ground. She was careful when it came to teaching the girl a few new moves, a way to make the opponent lose access to the air stream, such as making the other fall on their back and other techniques as well. The place they chose was what was once a warehouse a few decades ago, this part of the city is suffering from the decline that the country was going through, there were many conditioning factors for such an increase in poverty, even if she did not understand them completely.

The good news is that she could live in a small abandoned apartment, and won’t be too far from the siblings at least, although this one lacked many things. Obviously, the paint was flaunted and there was debris on the ground, the smell of isolation and dead was the first thing that made her regret leaving her lair between the rocks, but it was better to have a roof than have nothing. There were rules: whatever she earned every night, both Lewis and Clarissa would get 15% each, meaning that 30% would be for both of them, while 'Snowflake' would get the rest. There weren't many guidelines to follow, just that she didn't die in the middle of the fight for her own obvious good, and she couldn't try or dare to do business with anyone else who volunteered to help her.

"Good... So ... this is where I'm going to stay?" She looked around, at least the bathroom was still working, it was something, and she would have to search for the exact spot from where such a hideous smell came from.

"Yes, I know it's not a 5-stars hotel, but it's what we could afford." Clarissa mentioned without paying much attention to the girl's discomfort, usually, she didn't often care about anyone but herself.

"Also, if you need anything, we have a phone to give you, it's not the big deal but it was cheap and is supposedly very resistant to falls and all that." From inside a paper bag, Lewis pulled out a small cardboard box, had no image or inscription that could catch the attention, could it be stolen or a smuggled product? The girl preferred not to ask questions on the subject, maybe it could have some connection to the mob or something. "You have our numbers if you need something from us, we'll also let you know when we come to pick you up."

Inside the box was a phone which model was a hit a few years ago, the first models that went on sale after those that looked like portable bricks were smaller, the screen had only two colors - gray and black or blue and black-, and this was one of them. With the press of a single button the small device came to life and lit a light gray color, the keys were not divided between each other but were joined by a soft-touch material and easy to press. Better than nothing, she had to remember that everything she would have from now, even though it was almost useless, old or in bad shape, was better than having nothing. She appreciated it.

"Do you think you can fight again tonight? Some people are talking about you since the first night." The girl had not paid much attention to Lewis' voice for being more interested in the new phone, he sighed exhaustively and placed both hands on his hips, while his sister kept her arms crossed and turned her eyes.

"What? Fight tonight?... I think I could do it, although I don't know how it's going to end." Despite the training she received, she still had doubts about whether she could use her powers in the midst of the fight, at some point the ice would come to the rescue from the depths of her cells, it would not be long before the adrenaline took effect and she becomes a real threat t the other rival.

It had been almost two months since the first fight, she would lie if she said that had confidence in her own strength now that her body has begun to change in respect to the muscles, it was an almost imperceptible change to the naked eye, but her arms began to harden and the grip of her hands became firmer than before. She could win, she had the strength necessary and the power to win. That night there was tension in the air, the atmosphere was different, as Clarissa's presence there alerted several spectators, her name is already a well-known one among them, and just by seeing her, memories and rumors came out afloat without saying a single word.

#novel #((I tried to write less buuuuuut))#((I gotta accept that none of these chapters will have less of 15 paragraphs or show consistency))

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wazafam · 3 years

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Kaguya Otsutsuki, also known as Princess Kaguya, is the main antagonist of the anime Naruto. Despite having appeared towards the very end of the anime series, she established herself as a force to be reckoned with, owing to dastardly evil schemes and an exhibition of insane god-like powers. She is also by far one of the most intelligent villains that the show has had, deftly manipulating events for many centuries.

RELATED: 10 Naruto Filler Episodes That Don’t Deserve The Hate

To facilitate the foiling of her plans, it was necessary that Kaguya faced enemies who were close if not equal to her abilities. Irrespective of her short stint on Naruto, Kishimoto ensured that Kaguya gets to face some impressive opponents that allow her to establish her own abilities and powers. While some of these opponents were successful in defeating the tyrannical princess of the Otsutsuki clan, others were not so lucky.

10 Land Of Ancestors & Land Of That

Having arrived on Earth almost a millennium before the start of the main storyline, Kaguya and her clan wanted to harness the Chakra fruit from Earth’s God Tree. However, Kaguya developed a fondness for the planet and its people and, instead of destroying the planet, started to live amongst its people as the concubine of Tenji, the emperor of the Land of Ancestors.

When the Land of That threatened Kaguya over an ongoing border conflict, Kaguya went against Tenji’s explicit orders and attacked a representative from the Land of That. This resulted in her being excommunicated and hunted by both countries. Tired of human conflicts and heartbroken at Tenji’s betrayal, Kaguya fought them both using the Infinite Tsukuyomi, a power she awakened after consuming the Chakra Fruit.

9 Isshiki Otsutsuki

Kaguya came to Earth along with her partner Isshiki Otsutsuki. He was a high-ranking member of the clan and part of the main family. He also went on to become the leader of the secretive and powerful Kara. The original plan upon arrival on Earth was to sacrifice Kaguya to harvest the fruit from the Chakra Tree. However, Kaguya's fascination for the planet resulted in her turning against Isshiki and almost killing him in the ensuing confrontation.

Regardless, Isshiki was a higher-ranking member of the clan, and in that regard quite daunting as an Otsutsuki, Furthermore, he did not die from his battle against Kaguya in spite of the lower half of his body being completely destroyed. Capable of controlling the Kama, Isshiki has been described by Amado as capable of destroying entire planets if he can manage to harness the entirety of his power.

8 Sakura Haruno

Regardless of the many memes that surround Sakura Haruno, she is a talented medical ninja who has proven her skills time and again, eventually even surpassing her own sensei Lady Tsunade. While it is true that Kishimoto did not allow Sakura enough scope to truly reach her potential, her prowess as a ninja has never been underplayed.

Therefore, when Team 7 finally faces Kaguya Otsutsuki, Sakura Haruno undoubtedly becomes one of the toughest foes that the princess has had the chance to battle. In fact, it was her decisive punch that allowed Naruto and Sasuke to initiate the Chibaku Tensei, and seal Kaguya once and for all.

7 Obito Uchiha

Despite being a villain for the most part of the anime, Obito Uchiha redeemed himself towards the end by standing opposite Kaguya Otsutsuki and even sacrificing his own life to save the lives of his friend Kakashi and the protagonist of the show, Naruto. While he struggled as a ninja during his years as a child, Obito, under the tutelage of Madara Uchiha, developed into one of the strongest shinobis in the Ninja World.

Decked with immense intelligence, Obito could also easily harness the Mangekyo Sharingan, utilize Kamui, and even gain access to other dimensions if he focuses hard enough. This is how he was able to rescue Sasuke from the desert-dimension during the battle with Kaguya. He further has access to the Rinnegan, and he even completed a ten-tails jhinchuriki transformation, making him immensely powerful.

6 Kakashi Hatake

The sixth Hokage is undoubtedly one of the toughest opponents that Kaguya had to face. One of the brightest shinobis in the Ninja World, Kakashi had proved himself to be somewhat of a genius since an early age. His dexterity with almost every type of Jutsu owing to his copy-ability courtesy of his Sharingan, makes him further dangerous.

RELATED: Naruto: 35 Crazy Details About Kakashi’s Body

He is also one of the few non-Uchihas who could use the Sharingan with ease and perfection, even gaining access to the Mangekyo. After Obito grants him the use of both his Sharingan, Kakashi is also able to create a complete body Susanoo. Furthermore, it is a plan devised by him that finally defeats Kaguya.

5 Madara Uchiha

Although Kaguya and Madara do not face off against each other directly; it is Kaguya’s sinister plans and usurpation of Madara’s body that finally results in the revival of the Otsutsuki princess. The co-founder of Konohagakure, Madara was arguably one of the strongest, if not the strongest Uchiha to have ever existed.

He is immensely fluent with the use of chakra and possesses unparalleled expertise in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. He is also able to manifest a jhinchuriki transformation, has access to the Sharingan, as well as the Rinnegan, and finally the Rinne Sharingan, which allowed him to successfully perform the Infinite Tsukuyomi, a feat only Kaguya has successfully achieved previously.

4 Hamura Otsutsuki

One of the first two people capable of using chakra, Hamura Otsutsuki is immensely powerful and is one amongst the only four people who successfully defeated Kaguya Otsutsuki. Being the son of Kaguya, Hamura inherited chakra controlling abilities from his mother. However, upon realizing her true nature, he trained day-in-and-day-out with his brother to become strong enough to fight their mother.

RELATED: Naruto: 10 Evilest Naruto Villains, Ranked

He is someone who is an adept physical combatant and has access to the dojutsu Byakugan. He was further able to develop his Byakugan into the advanced Tenseigan while also being capable of destroying it. He also has access to Truth-Seeking Balls and could also utilize the Six Paths Senjutsu, a trait he used to seal the Ten-Tails transformation of Kaguya Otsutsuki.

3 Sasuke Uchiha

One of the most intelligent characters of Naruto, Sasuke Uchiha is immensely powerful and also one of the few people who were able to defeat Kaguya Otsutsuki. He is the reincarnation of Hagoromo’s son Indra and therefore possesses extremely powerful chakra, which is only made stronger with the strengthening of his Curse of Hatred.

A prolific user of the Sharingan, Sasuke even awakened the Eternal Mangekyo. He is also adept at using Nature Transformation, and also awakened the Rinneggan after Hagoromo gifted him half his chakra. The Rinnegan further allows him to have access to the various Six Paths Technique, which he ultimately uses with Naruto to seal Kaguya.

2 Naruto Uzumaki

Naruto is by far one of the toughest opponents that Kaguya has ever faced. Apart from his massive chakra reserves and jhinchuriki transformations, Naruto also happens to be the direct reincarnation of Hagoromo's younger son, Asura Otsutsuki.

After gaining half of Hagoromo’s chakra, Naruto is further able to wield the Six Paths Technique. His cunning and spontaneity in battle make him even more formidable, which is only enhanced by Naruto’s will, determination, and unflappable attitude. He along with Sasuke successfully defeats Kaguya at the end of the anime.

1 Hagoromo Otsutsuki

Undoubtedly the most formidable and toughest opponent that Kaguya faced was her own son Hagoromo Otsutsuki. The progenitor of the Six Paths Senjutsu, Hagoromo could combine the Yin and Yang chakras within himself and create mass from absolutely nothing. He was further attributed with powerful dojutsus like the Sharingan and Rinnegan and could use both without suffering any noticeable drawbacks.

His immense control over the Rinnegan provided him access to all the paths of the Six Paths Technique. He was also the person who created the initial version of ninjutsu, known as ninshu at the time. It was because of his chakra sharing abilities, that Naruto and Sasuke were finally able to defeat Kaguya for the second time, while it was him along with his brother Hamura, who defeated the Otsutsuki princess the first time around.

NEXT: Naruto: 10 Reasons Shikamaru Would Make A Great Hokage

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