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argumentl · 3 years

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The Freedom of Expression Ep 14 - The Party To Protect The People From The NHK (N Koku Party) commences "Same sex, same name stealth operation".

K: Hi this is Dir en grey's Kaoru, starting this episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe san, Tasai san, welcome....Well, recently, who knows whats really happening?

J: Yeh, its troubling. I've been spending a lot longer looking at my phone and computer. I've been getting a lot of coupons. My favourite shops or brands are all going online...well, no ones going into the shops, so they can only sell online. So i've been getting coupons like, if you spend over a certain amount, you'll get 20,000yen off.

T: I see.

J: I think like, 'Waa, I wanna spend!'..but then I think, actually since April, I've had less work so I need to restrain myself. I experience this conflict every day for about 15mins. Like, whats wrong with me?

T: I see.

J: Thats thier strategy.

K: If you have free time...

J: Thats it.

K: You'll end up spending money.

J: Normally, they have expirations, and I just think 'Aghh', so its really...

K: You can't help buying stuff, right?

J: I do end up buying stuff!

K, T: *laugh*

J: I really do! I bet there are people out there addicted to coupons! Aren't you? Are you ok?

K: Well, im ok. I just shop by mail order.

J: Ahh

T: I see

J: People are shopping like that a lot right now.

T: Hiranabe san, who works at our place, he's got a lot of offers from night time establishments, and he's troubled as to what to do.

J: Oh, to get him to go there?

T: Yeah. He got an unprecedented amount of messages.

K: (quietly) Unprecedented?

T: Like, 'please come, please come, please come'.

K: He only gets them now? Cause he'll be quick to spend.

J: How is Hiranabe san doing?

T: Well, as expected, he seems scared. He's in his 50s, it looks like he finally understands that his life might be in danger if he caught the virus. He wears a mask, he wears pollen protection glasses. When he goes outside he's like..'the virus won't get in my eyes'.

J: Sounds like a terrorist! Thats just like him.

T: He flipped 180°. He used to be the guy who says, 'Im not wearing a mask'.

J: Oh, really?

T: He's that different now.

J: Well, Im a similar age to Hiranabe san...

T: I can't believe it!

K: I can't believe it.

J: So, what was it?..Its risky, if you are over 50 its more dangerous?

K: Ohh right, yeah.

J: If you catch it, there's a higher death rate at this age?

T: Also, men are more at risk, right?

K: Yeah.

T: They are saying the death rate is higher for men.

J: Well, we are among that group. Shall we get on with the main topic? I thought we'd go with a topic that is unrelated to corona this time.

' "N Koku Party's 'same name, same sex' stealth strategy for Shizuoka no.4 district Lower house by-election". With the death of Mochizuki Yoshio, the LDP's former environment minister, candidates standing for election are the LDP's Fukuzawa Youichi, an independent group of the unified opposition's Tanaka Ken, independent candidate Yamaguchi Kenzo, and the Party Against the NHK (N Koku Party)'s Tanaka Ken, whose name is the same as the unified opposition's candidate. N Koku's Tanaka Ken uses the same kanji, and has the same reading as the unified opposition's Tanaka Ken. The opposition parties, electoral commission, and local media are racking thier brains about it. If a vote is for 'Tanaka Ken', there will be no way to distinguish between the two. Its a proportional division system, so ambiguous votes will be split according to the overall percentage of votes. The electoral administrative committee have taken measures to change the rule that makes a ballot paper invalid if it includes anything other than a candidate's name, to allow a candidate's age to be written aswell. As a result of this, with the aim of reducing ambiguous votes, the unified opposition are promoting 'Tanaka Ken - Age 42' in thier election cars, posters, and online in order to attract votes. On the other hand, N Koku's Tanaka Ken surprisingly hasn't taken any action. He has refused pre-election interviews with the media, hasn't published an campaign bulletin, he doesn't appear in election posters, he has no plans to visit the area. There are expected to be people voting who are unaware that two Tanakas are standing for election. As for N Koku's aim, their leader, Tachibana, had this to say.."We want to test how the votes will be split when there are candidates with exactly the same name. We are not appealing for votes either online or on the ground. We are a weak political party, and want to know how we stand *1'.

There's also suggestion of running another female candidate named Koike Yuriko for Tokyo governer. I thought we could talk about this kind of same name/sex disturbance strategy which the N Koku party has set up.

T: Its amazing, isn't it?

K: So are they doing it to siphon votes?

J: It seems like it, yeah. Especially, that would be the aim if it was for Tokyo Governor.

T: They said they wanted to test how the votes would be split, so like you said Joe, for Tokyo Governor, if it was someone else called Koike Yuriko, they would want to get the data of how the votes are split.

J: Well, its not about freedom of expression, but there is nothing illegal about what they are doing in terms of the election, so its totally ok for them to do this. What do you think, Kaoru?

K: Well..*laughs*, even if you ask.....its interesting but...how will it end up? But, well, hmmm...its fine, isn't it?

J: As it happens, I've been on a radio event with Tachibana san once. And also...well, in this kind of election, a candidate who no one is expected to vote for is called a bubble candidate, the most famous example is Mac Akasaka. I've worked with Mac Akasaka before, so I've listened to what these kind of guys have to say. I mean, certainly, these guys are laughed at and made fun of a lot, but apart from the question of what Tachibana Takashi is doing, to be a candidate for Tokyo Governor, you have to pay a deposit of at least 3 million yen. And if you recieve under a tenth of the total valid votes, you have to forfeit your deposit. The Tokyo Governor elections get about 5 million votes, so if you get under 500,000 votes, you will lose your deposited 3 million yen. As for national elections, the deposit is 6 million yen. So you can call it a prank all you like, but they are spending a lot of money to do this. What a lot of bubble candidates will tell you is, its not free, so they are doing this with the intention to win, they do think thier ideas will improve the country, improve thier party. If there was no financial risk, it would end up at the level of annonymous postings on SNS. But after they've actually paid money, most of them will start electoneering. Making election posters costs money, and there's the cost of gas to run a car to go handing out flyers, and all sorts of things like that. It will end up costing another huge chunk of money in election costs. So in doing this, there is another side to these guys other than, 'they are just idiots'. Maybe they are trying to get people to change the way they see elections, instead of just routinely voting for the faces they know.

T: Well this case has great advertising effectiveness.

J: It does, yeah.

T: Tachibana san's name has really been sold with this.

J: It has.

T: Like, with his own business, and on you tube and stuff *2.

J: Well, as for my personal opinion, I remember Uchida Yuuya running for Tokyo Governor. You can still find his political broadcast on youtube, its great. If you compare Yuuya san to Tachibana san, honestly, Tachibana san seems to have more of a knack for it.

T: Its interesting seeing that kind of political broadcast on NHK. ????*3

J: Well, even in times such as these, we are still having elections. From now on, due to corona we'll probably see new ways to vote and new ways to do all sorts of other things.

K: Its created a need to re-think things, like with the custom of personal seals...in Japan there's a big custom of 'You have to do it this way', or 'You need it on paper'.

J: Yeah, as you mentioned Kaoru, the custom of using personal seals...in the end, even Japan's IT minister also stands as the head of the organization to retain personal seals. Somehow in Japanese society, one of the things companies insist on is the personal seal. There are those who ask why they can't just settle things digitally, but if the minister responsibile for advancing IT is also the head of a group advocating to retain the personal seal, there is a clash going on now. This is the kind of time to think about changing the political system.

T: Things would change a lot if we switched to online voting.

J: They would change, yeah. If young people started voting a lot online...

K: Yeah, right now, in the situation we have now, I think people are starting to think about future.

J: Yes, in that respect, although its very difficult with corona around, I feel like we are starting to wake up to the things we have just put up with till now. I mean, what comes next? In particular, with coronavirus, a lot of countries' governments have taken on huge powers, and in some countries its almost like a corona dictatorship. So, its very difficult, but we really need to slightly re-think the way we carry out elections and the way the state operates from now.

T: We, ourselves are a part of it, right?

J: Yes, yes...Yep, so, same sex, same name...it even hard to search for him. I wonder what this candiate actually intends. ?????*4

K: He's not showing his face much.

J: What will he do if he wins? ...Eh? Hello??

K: Is he sleeping?

Kami: Yes, yes.

J: Were you asleep, Kami?

Kami: No, I was waiting till you called on me.

J: Oh, you were waiting? Oh, sorry.

Kami: I've had a thought.

J: Oh, have you?

Kami: I have...Um, Joe should run for the N Koku Party.

J: *laughs*

K, T: Ohhh

J: Me?!

T: Thats a good idea.

J: Would it be ok, though?

T: In the Tokyo Governor election.

J: In the Tokyo Governor election? Which election?

Kami: It would be ok, yeah.

J: Would it?

Kami: Yeah, anything is ok.

J: *laughs* You couldn't participate in the election could you, Kami? You don't have voting rights?

Kami: No, I don't, but instead, I can make myself into substance.

J: What?

Kami: By pretending to be a citizen.

T: Prentending to be a citizen?

J: Oh, is that it?

K: So that means you could pile up votes for someone?

J: Right?

Kami:...No, I can only do it once.

J: Oh, so you can only take on substance once?

Kami: Yeah, yeah...a bit like Devilman.

T: Ah, like Devilman.

J: But if you could do that, surely you'd be able to do it will two or three people? I feel as if you've just made that up.

*K laughs*

J: Did you just make that up, Kami?

Kami:...Yes, I did.

K: *laughs*

J: He did.

K: I feel like his heart hasn't been in it for a while now.

T: *laughs*

J: Kami, has your mind been elsewhere?

Kami: Ye...uh, no no no.

K: He said yes!

J: *laughs*

Kami: Crush the NHK.

J: Yes, crush it.

K: Well, on that note, I think we can finish here. Thank you, please tune in next time. Please subscribe, thank you very much.

J: Please do.

Kami: Vote for Joe!

*1 I think the confusion arises here, because rather than ticking a box, Japanese voters have to actually write down the name of the person they are voting for.

*2 Think thats what he meant.

*3,4 Couldn't catch these bits.

#dir en grey #the freedom of expression #tfoe #kaoru #薫

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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years

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Pluralistic: 24 Mar 2020 (Nebula Awards move online, Make America Well Again stamps, Data is the new toxic waste, Stock Jump, Grandparents Optional Party, Quarantine Book Club, the Party of Death, financial stability vs economic stability, quarantine vs workforce automation, bailouts and moral hazard, MIT's open source ventilator)

Today's links

This year's Nebula Awards will be held online: It's $150, and raising funds to bail out corona-shattered writers.

Make America Well Again stamps: from the artist who brought you the Trump Zero Cents stamp.

Data is the new toxic waste: It never was the "new oil" (my latest podcast).

Stock Jump: A ski-game that lets you play the stock charts of cratered businesses.

Murdering 20% of elderly Americans is bad strategy for the GOP: Terrified old people are the turkeys who vote for plutes' Christmas every four years.

Join me on the Quarantine Book Club: April 1, 3PM Pacific.

The Party of Death: It's a good time to buy exterminism futures.

Financial stability vs economic stability: Debts that can't be paid, won't be paid.

Quarantine reveals the falsity of the automation crisis: Augmentation isn't replacement.

Bailouts and moral hazard: If we never teach big business, it won't ever learn.

MIT's ingenious manual/automatic open source ventilator: Now in FDA testing.

This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

This year's Nebula Awards will be held online (permalink)

This year's Nebula Awards weekend is moving online, thanks to decisive action from SFWA and Mary Robinette Kowal.

https://www.sfwa.org/2020/03/22/announcing-the-transformation-of-the-2020-nebula-conference-and-covid19-relief/

It'll include "panels, solo presentations, conference mentorships, workshops, forums, chats, and virtual room parties (including a dance party hosted by John Scalzi)." Part of the proceeds will go to relief for sf writers who are in covid-related financial distress.

It runs May 29-31, including a livestream of the Nebula Awards banquet. Registration is $150 and comes with a year of access to archived materials and the SFWA Bulletin.

Make America Well Again stamps (permalink)

I bought some of Ben Hannam's Trump No Cents stamps in 2017 and never looked back. I still put 'em on letters.

Now he's got a Make America Well Again stamp, which you can lick (if you dare) and stick for the duration. Remember, USPS is profitable and unsubsidized and Trump's swamp-dwellers want to shut it down and replace it with donors like Fedex and UPS!

Data is the new toxic waste (permalink)

My latest podcast is a reading of "Data – the new oil, or potential for a toxic oil spill?" — a column arguing that data was never "the new oil" – instead, it was always the new toxic waste: "pluripotent, immortal – and impossible to contain."

https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/secure-futures-magazine/data-new-toxic-waste/34184/

Data breaches are inevitable (any data you collect will probably leak; any data you retain will definitely leak) and cumulative (your company's data breach can be combined with each subsequent attack to revictimize your customers).

Identity thieves benefit enormously from cheap storage, and they collect, store and recombine every scrap of leaked data. Merging multiple data sets allows for reidentification of "anonymized" data, and it's impossible to predict which sets will leak in the future.

These nondeterministic harms have so far protected data-collectors from liability, but that can't last. Toxic waste also has nondeterministic harms (we never know which bit of effluent will kill which person), but we still punish firms that leak it.

Waiting until the laws change to purge your data is a bad bet – by then, it may be too late. All the data your company collects and retains represents an unquantifiable, potentially unlimited source of downstream liability.

What's more, you probably aren't doing anything useful with it. The companies that make the most grandiose claims about data analytics are either selling analytics or data (or both). These claims are sales literature, not peer-reviewed citations to empirical research.

Data is cheap to collect and store – if you don't have to pay for the chaos it sows when it leaks. And some day, we will make data-hoarders pay.

Here's the podcast:

https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/23/data-the-new-oil-or-potential-for-a-toxic-oil-spill/

Here's the MP3:

https://ia801406.us.archive.org/9/items/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_334/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_334_-Data-_the_new_oil_or_potential_for_a_toxic_oil_spill.mp3

And here's the link to subscribe to the podcast:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast

Stock Jump

Stock Jump (permalink)

Last week, those of us lucky enough to have retirement savings joined the rest of the world, because our 401(k)s all cratered and all the promising stocks (teleconferencing, guillotines) are all way, way overpriced thanks to panic buying by Republican Senators.

But when life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla.

Enter Stock Jump, a ski-jump game whose courses are procedurally generated by the stock charts of shares from around the world.

It's really fun! If you can see through the tears.

http://stockjump.sos.gd/

Murdering 20% of elderly Americans is bad strategy for the GOP (permalink)

A thread by Patrick Nielsen Hayden on Making Light crystallized a thought that literally had me tossing and turning all night, about Trump's decision to risk the lives of ~20% of elderly Americans to goose the stock market.

https://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/016643.html#4402672

The thing I find baffling is how short-term this thinking is.

Not for Trump, of course, who is legendary for his view of life as a game of running across a river hopping from the back of one alligator to another before he can get his leg bitten off.

But for the right-wing establishment, whose whole schtick is "rationality" and "long-term thinking" and "self-control" (think of the gleeful repetition of the discredited Marshmellow Test and the rhetoric about the "poor life choices" that lead to single parenthood, addiction, and inadequate retirement savings or health insurance).

How is it that these self-congratulatory long-game-players can't see that murdering one in five American seniors is a self-limiting move when frightened old white people are the primary source of turkeys who can be counted upon to vote for Christmas every four years?

The right has an antimajoritarian, elitist agenda. Right-wing thought is essentially the belief that some people are destined to rule, and others are destined to be ruled over by their betters, and the world is best when the right people are atop the pyramid. Splits in the right are about who should rule: Dominionists want Christian men in charge; libertarians want bosses in charge, imperialists want America in charge, racists want white people in charge, etc.

Antimajoritarian projects struggle in democracies, for obvious reasons. When your platform is "only 1% of us should be making decisions" it's hard to win 51% of the vote. That's why the right focuses so hard on gerrymandering and voter suppression, and why the otherwise untenable coalitions — finaciers and young-Earth Creationists, say — persist.

But the biggest source of ballots in support of rule by elites is frightened people, especially frightened bigots who think that the elites will promote their interests ahead of the disfavored minorities (think: Dixiecrats).

So murdering 20% of the most reliable source of votes for elite rule is a farcically shortsighted thing to do.

I am terrified of a Biden candidacy not merely because I think his policies are poor, but because I think he is really bad at being a candidate, and will struggle to win.

But Trump murdering 20% of his base might just be enough to make him lose. It may be that while he could murder someone in the middle of 5th Ave and get away with it, he can't sentence 20% of US pensioners to gruesome deaths and get away with it.

I'm not gleeful at this prospect. I am totally aghast. I barely slept last night, waking up dozens of times with this genocide playing out in my imagination.

But I am incredibly surprised. How does the self-declared Party of the Long View not see that this is going to destroy it?

The stock market is circling the drain and obviously this is very distressing for the donor class, but almost no Americans own any significant stocks, because most Americans have NO savings. The idea that rescuing share prices by killing the elderly will get the turkeys out to vote for Christmas is clearly wrong.

For more on antimajoritarianism and the right, read Corey Robin's outstanding book, "The Reactionary Mind."

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1234117673316782082

Join me on the Quarantine Book Club (permalink)

I'm going participate in a session of the Quarantine Book Club on April 1 at 3PM Pacific, where we're discussing my book Radicalized. Tickets here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/quarantine-book-club-cory-doctorow-tickets-100931360416

If $5 is a burden for you, you can get in free with the code ALLAREWELCOME.

Hope to see you!

The Party of Death (permalink)

In his 2017 book Four Futures, Peter Frase uses science fiction to sketch out four ways our society could go as capitalism ruptures, from communism to exterminism, this being the expression of bosses' fear and dependence on workers.

https://boingboing.net/2017/01/06/four-futures-using-science-fi.html

Frase posits a possible mass-automation event that makes workers superfluous (I'm skeptical of this: climate change guarantees 2-3 centuries of full employment, e.g., relocating every coastal city).

But in light of the Current Situation, he imagines a different form of exterminism.

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/03/coronavirus-economy-public-health-exterminism/

It's not just the GOP's willingness to murder 20% of seniors in the hopes of rescuing the Dow.

Plutes and their bootlickers have been calling for mass-deaths as a preferable alternative since the crisis first manifested, as when Tea Party founder Rick Santelli suggested "Maybe we'd be just better off if we gave it to everybody."

And of course, there was Boris Johnson and Dominick Cummings' plan to infect all of the UK to create "herd immunity." As Cummings said, "if that means some pensioners die, too bad."

Now Trump wants to potentially murder 20% of American seniors to rescue share prices, and the GOP is going along with him.

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1242444277264740353

The Republicans have become the Party of Death, with establishment figures like Thomas Friedman providing ideological cover (""let many of us get the coronavirus, recover and get back to work").

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/opinion/coronavirus-economy.html

Frase: "The ghoulishness of this strategy will become apparent when it is too late, when the hospitals fill and the health care system and the economy both collapse."

"Those in power will be held blameless, and those with wealth will sadly lament the foolishness of the lesser orders."

"Socialists have always insisted that human needs should take precedence over profit, that the stock market is not the economy, and that we need to utterly transform an economy that is immiserating working people and destroying the planet. That message will only become more urgent as our opponents across different parts of the ruling class come to the conclusion — mournfully for some, gleefully for others — that in the contest between loss of profit and loss of life, they choose death."

Financial stability vs economic stability (permalink)

Michael Hudson is a fascinating thinker, an expert in the history of debt and debt-forgiveness. See, e.g., this:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/23/tacocat-vs-dog-prostates/#jubilee

In a new interview, Hudson delves into that history: interest-bearing debt was invented in the third millennium BCE, and quickly kings learned that they had to have periodic debt forgiveness, or compound interest would render all debts unpayable.

https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/debt-and-power-with-michael-hudson/

Greeks and Romans did away with the practice, and so had to live with six centuries of debt-revolts, as ever-larger fractions of their populace ended up in a form of debt slavery.

Greek Democracy was created to allow commoners to serve in government and so vote to cancel debts. Roman emperors conquered Greece and did away with debt-cancellation, creating an increasingly unstable oligarchy.

That's not far off from where we are today. 90% of debts are held by the richest 10%, and these oligarchs own the political process and refuse to countenance debt-cancellation.

Obama promised to write down mortgages, but instead he bailed out finance, who kicked us all out and bought our houses out from under us, and then rented back to us. Since then, the Fed "has created $4.5 trillion of credit to support prices for real estate."

"The aim has been to make housing more expensive, enabling the banks to collect on their mortgages and not go under. Credit keeps the debt overhead in place, thereby keeping the financial system afloat instead of facing the reality that debt needs to be written down."

Trump's gonna do it again, giving $50b to airlines/Boeing. Since 2008, Boeing has spent $45b on buybacks. Trump's message: "Spend 92-95% of your income to buy your own hares, and the government will print money so you can do it again, because our priority is stock prices."

"Financial stability" is incompatible with "economic stability." Financial stability means never writing down debts so that the bad loans oligarchs made never turn into bad debts. Economic stability requires debt write-downs so that people can be productive.

Obama's bailouts increased big banks' Too Big to Fail status. That's why since 2008, "GDP per 95 percent of the American population is actually shrunk. All the growth in America's GDP has occurred only to the wealthiest 5% of the population."

Today, plutes "hope to use the crisis not to revive the economy, but to just pound it into debt deflation, leaving the debts in place while bailing out the banks and the landlord class."

Here's what "financial stability" looks like: "you have to pay this exponential growth in debt, [and] have less and less to buy goods and services."

Quarantine reveals the falsity of the automation crisis (permalink)

Automation-based unemployment has always been overhyped. Any work that robots take over merely frees up human workers for the 2-300 year project of climate remediation, including relocating every coastal city in the world.

But automation is also vastly overhyped. Take the oft-repeated claim that "truck driver" is the most common job in America, and first in line to be automated. It's just wrong.

First, because the BLS "truck driver" category includes long-haul truckers, delivery drivers, couriers, and dozens of other subprofessions, most of which are far, far away from being automatable.

https://hbr.org/2019/09/automation-isnt-about-to-make-truckers-obsolete

(More importantly, though: the most automatable category is long-haul driver, and an automated long-haul truck in its own dedicated lane is just a shitty train).

The overhyped nature of technological displacement is on perfect display during the pandemic quarantine. As many "low skilled" (which is to say, "low waged") workers withdraw from the workforce, the economy has ground to a halt.

So much so that the right is now prepared to throw 20+% of seniors into the volcano to appease the market gods.

The category error committed by automation-fretters is to confuse "automating a job" with "augmenting a worker."

"We know that robots are great at repetitive work. they can do that forever. What's not so great is anything with a human-centered context, a cultural context." -Julie Carpenter

https://www.wired.com/story/robot-jobs-coronavirus/

Bailouts and moral hazard (permalink)

It's been barely a decade since the USG bailed out big businesses and the fact that we're here again reveals some of the glaring failures in the last bailout. Any new bailout should correct those errors by putting restrictions on bailed-out companies.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/19/gb-whatsapp/#peoples-bailout

There have been some good proposals on these lines, like those from AOC and Stephanie Kelton:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/21/most-dangerous-ghost/#peoples-bailout

(whenever I write about this in public, I'm inundated with angry tweets from sociopaths with "investor" in their bios)

We're running out of time to get this right. DC is so filled with money-hungry lobbyists that they can't practice adequate social distancing, and they're collectively seeking trillions in string-free public money for their paymaster.

https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/rule-number-1-for-government-bailouts-of-companies-make-sure-voters-and-taxpayers-share-in-the-upside

At a minimum, any bailouts should come in exchange for convertible corporate bonds that let the USG take an ownership stake in any business that fails to repay its public debts. That's a minimum, as is a ban on stock buybacks for bailed out companies.

We need very strict limits on lobbying by bailed out firms: "If we are not to finance our own bamboozlement, any company receiving bailouts must be required each month to file full reports on political contributions and lobbying expenditures to candidates and parties."

This goes for dark money contributions, including 527 funds, and corporate/exec contributions to trade associations and other lobbying fronts, think-tanks, and other political influence vehicles.

"Unlike last time, when Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner, and Ben Bernanke failed to give the public a serious share of the upside, the bailed out firms should be compelled to issue convertible bonds to the government."

"Those bonds should make the government the senior creditor to the firm for the value of the principal as long as the debt is unpaid…As firms and the economy recover, the shares can be sold on the open market, yielding a handsome return to the Treasury."

The right likes to harp about "moral hazard" as an excuse for cutting aid, to, say, single mothers ("It only encourages them"). But what about businesses that needed trillions in 2008 and now need trillions more? What lesson are we teaching them?

(Image: Alex Proimos, CC BY)

MIT's ingenious manual/automatic open source ventilator (permalink)

At the end of last week, a crowdsourced design for an open-source hardware ventilator entered testing with the Irish regulator, a week after work began on the project.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/20/pluralistic-20-mar-2020/#oshw-breathing

Now, hot on its heels, an MIT open source hardware ventilator team has submitted its design to the FDA for testing and approval, under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) authority.

https://e-vent.mit.edu/

It eliminates many possible sources of failure by replacing an electric pump with a manual one, which can, in turn, be operated by a separate, very simple, Arduino-controlled system (which can be readily swapped out for a human hand if it fails).

As Hackaday points out, "Almost as interesting as the device itself is the comments people are leaving about the design."

https://hackaday.com/2020/03/23/mit-ventilator-designed-with-common-manual-resuscitator-submitted-for-fda-testing/

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago Record sales up, P2P sales up — RIAA's story doesn't add up https://web.archive.org/web/20050822053404/http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5631698.html

#15yrsago Octopuses dressed up as sea coconuts sneaking on two legs https://www.nature.com/news/2005/050321/full/050321-14.html

#10yrsago Pooh vs Alien: Webcomics realize their full potential at last http://godxiliary.com/alienvspooh/

#10yrsago Airport worker caught photographing screen as female worker passed through naked scanner https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/mar/24/airport-worker-warned-body-scanner

#10yrsago UK record lobby: democracy is a waste of time https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2010/corporate-lobbyists-no-need-for-democracy

#5yrsago How medical abortion works https://www.ohjoysextoy.com/medical-abortion/

#5yrsago ACLU sues TSA to make it explain junk science "behavioral detection" program https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/nyclu-and-aclu-sue-tsa-records-discredited-behavior-detection-program

#5yrsago Randomized dystopia generator that goes beyond the Bill of Rights https://www.harihareswara.net/dystopia/

#1yrago Man stole $122m from Facebook and Google by sending them random bills, which the companies dutifully paid https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lithuanian-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-100-million-from-google-facebook/

#1yrago Chelsea Manning is being held in prolonged solitary confinement, a form of torture https://xychelsea.is/?page_id=28

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: Tor.com (https://tor.com), Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/), Slashdot (https://slashdot.org/).

Currently writing: I'm getting geared up to start work my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last month, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs"; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: Data – the new oil, or potential for a toxic oil spill? https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/23/data-the-new-oil-or-potential-for-a-toxic-oil-spill/

Upcoming appearances:

Quarantine Book Club, April 1, 3PM Pacific https://www.eventbrite.com/e/quarantine-book-club-cory-doctorow-tickets-100931360416

Museums and the Web, April 2, 12PM-3PM Pacific https://mw20.museweb.net/

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583

#pluralistic

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aktionfsa-blog-blog · 3 years

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6. Bulletin der FRA zu Corona-Maßnahmen

6. FRA-Bulletin zu sozialen Problemen in der Pandemie

Als Organisation, die in der Fundamental Rights Agency (FRP) der EU mitarbeitet, berichten wir immer wieder über ihre Veröffentlichungen, wenn sie unsere Themen betreffen. Die aktuelle Stellungnahme betrifft das 6. FRA-Bulletin über die Coronavirus-Pandemie in der EU. Im Augist hatten wir über das 4. Bulletin berichtet. Bulletin Nr. 6 konzentriert sich auf die sozialen Rechte

"Nachrichten über erfolgreiche Impfstoffversuche mit COVID-19 bringen Hoffnung, aber die Pandemie ist noch lange nicht vorbei. Sie trifft nach wie vor unverhältnismäßig viele gefährdete Gruppen. Dazu gehören Menschen mit Behinderungen, ältere Menschen oder Migranten und Flüchtlinge. Die EU-Länder haben aus der ersten Welle gelernt und versuchen, die Auswirkungen der neuen Einschränkungen der Rechte der Menschen so gering wie möglich zu halten. Es ist jedoch von entscheidender Bedeutung, dass sie sich um schutzbedürftige Mitglieder unserer Gesellschaften kümmern und ihnen bei der Suche nach Lösungen eine Stimme geben", so Michael O'Flaherty, Direktor der FRA.

Das jüngste Bulletin der FRA "Coronavirus-Pandemie in der EU - Auswirkungen auf die Grundrechte: mit Schwerpunkt auf den sozialen Rechten" verdeutlicht die Bedeutung der sozialen Rechte. Sie bieten Schutz in vielen der Bereiche, die unser tägliches Leben am stärksten prägen. Das Bulletin hebt die Auswirkungen in vier Bereichen hervor:

Gesundheitsversorgung - steigende Zahlen von COVID-19-Infektionen schränken den Zugang zur Gesundheitsversorgung ein und verzögern andere Behandlungen. Die Pandemie beeinträchtigt auch weiterhin das Wohlbefinden des Gesundheitspersonals, insbesondere dessen Gesundheit und Sicherheit am Arbeitsplatz.

Bildung - Da viele Schulen wieder zum Fernunterricht übergegangen sind, sehen sich Kinder aus benachteiligten Verhältnissen weiterhin mit Herausforderungen konfrontiert, wenn sie online Kurse besuchen müssen. Dies verschärft die Ungleichheiten im Bildungsbereich.

Arbeit - der wirtschaftliche Abschwung und die steigende Arbeitslosigkeit in der gesamten EU trifft vor allem junge Menschen und Frauen.

Wohnen - Obdachlose Menschen haben ein höheres Risiko, sich mit dem Virus zu infizieren. Sie haben oft Schwierigkeiten beim Zugang zum Gesundheitswesen. Außerdem werden sie bestraft, wenn sie die Ausgangssperren brechen und Besuchsverbote in Notunterkünften nicht einhalten.

Das Bulletin zeigt auf, wie die Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung der Ausbreitung des Virus weiterhin die sozialen Rechte der Menschen beeinträchtigen. Es macht auf die Auswirkungen auf bestimmte Gruppen aufmerksam, wie z.B. Menschen, die in Heimen leben, ältere Menschen, Menschen mit Behinderungen, Roma und Fahrende sowie Migranten, Asylsuchende und Geflüchtete.

Dieses Bulletin deckt 27 EU-Länder vom 1. September - 31. Oktober 2020 ab.

FRA - FRP European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights Schwarzenbergplatz 11, 1040 Vienna, Austria

Mehr dazu bei https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2020/covid19-rights-impact-november-1

und https://www.aktion-freiheitstattangst.org/de/articles/7470-20201201-6-bulletin-der-fra-zu-corona-massnahmen.htm

#Corona Grundrechte Menschenrechte soziales Bildung Flucht Wohnen Ausnahmezustand Distanzregeln Maskenzwang Kindererziehung Gleichberechtigun

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ritu78-blog2 · 4 years

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Corona Vaccine Updates

China leads in vaccine development Britain and the United States may be the lead in development and trials, but China is the country that has put many vaccine candidates on trial in different countries. Eight of the world's top 20 Covid-19 vaccines are from China. There are three vaccines in the last stage of the trial. Germany is currently in the second stage of developing its vaccine, while Australian companies are in the first stage. The trial of the corona vaccine on humans in Malaysia has started two days ago. Bangladesh gives green signal to vaccine trial program Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) has approved Phase 3 trial of Covid Vaccine, a Chinese company. The trial will start from seven months in seven hospitals. 4,200 health workers have been created by the Chinese company Sinovac Research and Development Co Ltd. Its Phase 1 and 2 trials have been conducted in China. Record increase in covid cases in southern states: rapid growth in UP, Bihar and Gujarat New Delhi / Chennai, 19 July (Language) In many southern states of the country, new cases of corona virus increased on Sunday, while the number of Covid-19 cases across India reached close to 11 lakh. The situation continues to improve in Delhi, which is ranked third in the epidemic-affected states and union territories, but Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have recorded a sharp increase in infection cases. Maharashtra had the highest number of 9,518 new cases of #Covid-19 in a single day, bringing the infection cases to 3,10,455 in the state, while 258 more people died of the disease, with 149 people in Mumbai metropolitan area. Has occurred in In Tamil Nadu, 4,979 new cases of Covid-19 were reported, which is the highest one-day increase. With these new cases, the total cases in the state crossed 1.70 lakh. Tamil Nadu is the second most affected state in the country after Maharashtra. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Covid-19 prevention measures. An official statement said that during a phone conversation, Palaniswami told Modi that 48,000corona virus probes are being done every day in Tamil Nadu. A record 5,041 new cases of Covid-19 were also reported in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, bringing the total cases to around 50,000, while 56 patients died in the state due to infection, taking the death toll to 642. 4,120 new cases of Covid-19 in Karnataka brought the total number of infections to 63,772 and 91 deaths to 1,331. The number of infected in Kerala crossed 12,000 on Sunday. The national capital Delhi saw 1,211 new cases of corona virus, its lowest in a month and 31 deaths due to the disease in the last 24 hours. According to a bulletin issued by the Health Department of Delhi, the death toll from corona virus infection has increased to 3,628 and the total number of people infected has increased to 1,22,793. According to the bulletin, a total of 1,03,134 patients have been cured so far. Presently, 16,031 patients are being treated in the city. In Bihar, two more people have died during the last 24 hours due to Corona virus infection, the death toll has so far reached 179. With this, the total number of cases of Covid-19 has increased to 26,379 with 1,412 new cases of infection reported during this period. 38 more people died of corona virus in Uttar Pradesh. 2,211 new cases of infection have also been reported in the state. At the same time, 1181 patients have also recovered. Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Medicine and Health Amit Mohan Prasad told here on Sunday that 38 more people have died due to corona virus infection in the last 24 hours in the state. With this, the death toll has increased to 1,146. Gujarat recorded the highest number of 965 new cases of corona virus infection in a day, with a total of 48,441 cases of Covid-19 here on Sunday. The state health department said that with the death of 20 more infected patients, the number of people who died due to infection in the state rose to 2,147. The total number of infected people increased to 42,487 with 2,278 new cases of Corona virus infection reported in West Bengal. Comments Powered by Blogger

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brajeshupadhyay · 4 years

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23:25 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Odisha Latest Updates Toll climbs to 34 in Odisha The COVID-19 death toll in Odisha climbed to 34 with five more patients succumbing to the disease, while the tally reached 8,601 after 495 fresh infections were detected, a health official told PTI on Saturday. While Ganjam district reported three deaths, Bhubaneswar (Khurda district) recorded two fatalities, he said. 23:18 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in UK Latest Updates Toll in UK rises to 44,198 The United Kingdom’s toll from confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus has risen by 67 to 44,198 in the last day, the government said on Saturday, reports Reuters. 23:07 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Bihar Latest Updates Nitish Kumar tests negative for COVID-19 Bihar chief minister has tested negative for the novel coronavirus infection, reported ANI. The chief minister's swab samples were sent for testing as a BJP leader he had attended an event with on 1 July had tested posiitve for the infection, 22:58 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Uttar Pradesh Latest Updates Gautam Buddh Nagar reports five deaths, CMO tests positive Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar on Saturday recorded five more deaths due to COVID-19, while 83 more people,including the chief medical officer, were found positive for the infection in the district, official data showed. The death toll due to the novel coronavirus has now reached 28, while the tally of positive cases rose to 2,646, the highest for any district in the state, according to the data released by UP Health Department. 22:48 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates Cabinet Secretary holds review meeting Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Saturday held a meeting with top officials of 15 States and Union Territories on the COVID-19 situation and the way forward for graded reopening of activities in the 'Unlock 2' phase, officials told PTI. During the meeting with Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of the 15 States and UTs, the cabinet secretary is learnt to have stressed on the need for strict implementation of the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs for the 'Unlock 2' phase and strict vigil on the COVID-19 situation in their respective jurisdiction. The cabinet secretary is also learnt to have made it clear that economic activities as allowed under the guidelines should be expedited so that normal life could be resumed, an official privy to the meeting said. 22:28 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Odisha Latest Updates Father, brother of groom arrested for violating safety protocols The father of a groom and his brother were arrested on Saturday in Odisha's Ganjam district, a COVID-19 hotspot, for violating safety protocols during the marriage function, police said.The district administration has also imposed a penalty of Rs 50,000 and registered FIR against other family members of the groom and bride in this connection, they said. PTI 21:48 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Maharashtra Latest Updates 1,180 new cases, 68 deaths recorded in Mumbai today 1,180 COVID-19 cases, 1071 recoveries and 68 deaths were reported in Mumbai today. Total number of cases in the city is now at 82,814, including 53,463 recovered/discharged, 24,524 active cases and 4,827 deaths, reports ANI quoting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). 21:35 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Maharashtra Latest Updates Maharashtra records 7,074 new cases, toll mounts to 8,671 Maharashtra reported 7,074 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the total number of cases to 2,00,064, said a state health department bulletin. The toll rose to 8,671 with 124 deaths reported in the last 48 hours and 171 added from the previous period. Over 1.98 lakh patients have been discharged till date and the recovery rate stands at 54.02 percent, said the bulletin. Maharashtra reported 7,074 COVID-19 cases and 295 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking total number of cases to 2,00,064 and death toll to 8,671. Number of active cases stands at 83,295: State Health Department pic.twitter.com/1khzthSUgi — ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2020 21:17 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Goa Latest Updates Goa's active cases climb to 853 Goa recorded 108 fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, taking the number of active cases in the state to 853, reports ANI quoting the state health department. Goa recorded 108 fresh COVID-19 cases today, taking active cases to 853: State Health Department pic.twitter.com/akjPsJGZyk — ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2020 21:06 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Jammu and Kashmir Latest Updates Amarnath Yatra to be conducted in 'restricted manner' Asserting that the upcoming annual Amarnath Yatra would have to be undertaken in a "restricted manner" due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday said only 500 pilgrims would be allowed per day by road from Jammu to the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine. It also said the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for testing of persons entering the Union Territory would also be applicable to the intending Amarnath pilgrims. PTI 20:51 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Gujarat Latest Updates Gujarat records 712 new cases, 21 deaths in 24 hours 712 fresh COVID-19 cases and 21 deaths were reported in Gujarat in the last 24 hours, taking total cases to 35,398 including 25,414 recoveries and 1,927 deaths, reports ANI quoting the State Health Department. 20:35 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Punjab Latest Updates College, University exams cancelled in Punjab University and college examinations in Punjab have been cancelled in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Saturday.The students will be promoted on the basis of their previous years' results and will also have an option to take the exams later, Singh announced in his weekly 'AskCaptain' Facebook live. However, the online exams being conducted by some universities will continue uninterrupted. 20:32 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Karnataka Latest Updates Karnataka reports 1,839 new cases, 42 deaths today Karnataka reported 1,839 new cases, taking total number of cases to 21,549. Of these, 11,966 cases are active while 9,244 people (including 439 people today) have been discharged. According to a bulletin issued by the state health department, 42 people succumbed to the disease on Saturday, taking the toll to 335 while four patients have died of non-COVID causes. Covid19 Bulletin: 4th July 2020 Total Confirmed Cases: 21549 Deceased: 335 Recovered: 9244 New Cases: 1839 Other information: Telemedicine facility, Corona Watch Application and Helpline details.#KarnatakaFightsCorona#Covid19Karnataka@BSYBJP pic.twitter.com/sUoAhmpEut — CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) July 4, 2020 20:01 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Bihar Latest Updates Nitish Kumar takes COVID-19 test, results expected tomorrow Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday sent his swab sample for COVID-19 test after he shared the dais with Legislative Council Acting Chairman Awdesh Narayan Singh, who has been found to be infected with the contagious virus, officials told news agency PTI. The sample has been sent to Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), they said. Besides the chief minister, samples of 15 staffers of the Chief Minister's Office have been collected for COVID-19 test, the sources said, adding results are expected on Sunday. Kumar had shared the dais with the Council Acting Chairman during the oath ceremony of newly elected MLCs on 1 July. 19:44 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Mizoram Latest Updates Two BSF jawans test positive in Mizoram Two Border Security Force (BSF) jawans posted in Mizoram's Lunglei district have tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, taking the northeast states tally to 164, an official said. The two jawans aged 50 and 53 have returned from Kerala recently, the official said. PTI 19:30 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Maharashtra Latest Updates Pune Mayor tests positive Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol said he had tested positive for COVID-19 after feeling feverish. Taking to Twitter, Mohol said that his condition was stabel and he would continue to remain in touch with authorities while undergoing treatment. थोडासा ताप आल्याने मी माझी #COVIDー19 टेस्ट केली असता, ती पॉझिटिव्ह आली आहे. माझी प्रकृती स्थिर असून लवकरच बरा होऊन पुन्हा तुमच्या सेवेत असेल. उपचारादरम्यान सर्व यंत्रणांच्या संपर्कात राहून परिस्थितीचा आढावा घेत राहील. आपला, मुरलीधर मोहोळ, महापौर — Murlidhar Mohol (@mohol_murlidhar) July 4, 2020 19:25 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Delhi Latest Updates Delhi records 2,505 new cases Delhi recorded 2,505 fresh coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the tally in the city to over 97,000, while the death toll from the disease mounted to 3,004, reports PTI. Fifty-five fatalities have been recorded in the last 24 hours, the Delhi health department said in a bulletin. It also said that 26 earlier deaths have been included in the cumulative figure. The bulletin said the death toll from coronavirus infection has risen to 3,004, and the total number of cases mounted to 97,200. 19:18 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Maharashtra Latest Updates Only two new cases reported in Mumbai's Dharavi Only two new coronavirus patients were found in Mumbai's Dharavi on Saturday, taking its case tally to 2,311, a senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official told news agency PTI. The area, known as Asia's largest slum cluster, has recorded such a small rise in COVID-19 cases for the first time since the first week of April. The BMC did not reveal if any fresh virus-related death has been reported in the area. The slum area now has 519 active COVID-19 cases with 1,704 patients having been discharged after recovery 19:03 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Kerala Latest Updates Kerala's case count up by 240 to 5,204 Kerala's COVID-19 case count went past 5,000 on Saturday with 240 fresh cases being reported, the highest single- day surge so far.Of the positive cases, 152 had come from abroad and 52 from other states, Health minister K K Shailaja said in a press release. The total case count has now touched 5,204. According to the release, there have been 209 recoveries today. The hotspots as of today have touched 135. PTI 18:52 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Tamil Nadu Latest Updates Tamil Nadu reports 4,280 new cases, 65 fatalities Tamil Nadu on Saturday reported 4,280 fresh COVID-19 cases and 65 deaths, taking total cases to 1,07,001 and the toll to 1,450. Number of active cases stands at 44,956, reports ANI quoting the State Health Department. Tamil Nadu reported 4,280 fresh COVID-19 cases and 65 deaths today, taking total cases to 1,07,001 and death toll to 1,450. Number of active cases stands at 44,956: State Health Department pic.twitter.com/Tnpdev9fkk — ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2020 18:49 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Bihar Latest Updates Narendra Modi addresses Bihar BJP workers "Some believed that COVID-19 will spread more in east India due to high poverty but they have been proved wrong," said Narendra Modi while addressing Bihar BJP workers. "Several of our workers despite knowing the danger, kept working in the service of people and lost their lives. I pay my tributes to all of them and express condolences to their families," ANI quotes him as saying. 18:13 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Tamil Nadu Latest Updates Tamil Nadu CM announces relaxations in Chennai from Monday Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced that relaxations in Chennai lockdown will come in effect from 6 July, reports ANI. Vegetable and grocery shops will be allowed to open from 6 am to 6 pm, textile and hardware shops from 10 am to 6 pm, and restaurants from 6 am to 9 pm for takeaway services, he said. Chennai and its suburbs have been under an intense lockdown from 19 June. 17:59 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates Mizoram postpones re-opening of schools indefinitely The Mizoram government has postponed the opening of schools for the 2020-21 academic session for an indefinite period as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, said state education minister Lalchhandama Ralte. The government had earlier decided to open educational institutions for the current academic session from 15 July. PTI 17:44 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Maharashtra Latest Updates COVID-19 patient kept in ambulance for one day for want of bed, alleges family The family of a 64-year-old man who succumbed to the coronavirus infection in Navi Mumbai has alleged that he had to be kept in an ambulance for a whole day before he could be admitted to a hospital. They said that the man developed symptoms on 20 June but could not be admitted to Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation's (NMMC) COVID hospital at Vashi as there was no bed with with oxygen supply available. The man's son said he continued approaching private hospitals and in the meantime his father was kept in a cardiac ambulance as he required oxygen support. When he was finally admitted the next day, the family did not have the money to buy an injection that cost Rs 32,000. The man, who performed in a music band, died on 25 June. PTI 17:12 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Tamil Nadu Latest Updates Lockdown extended in Madurai, surrounding areas till 12 July, announces CM The lockdown has been extended till 12 July in Madurai and area limits of adjoining rural civic bodies of Paravai and Thiruparankundram panchayats, ANI quotes Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami as saying. The lockdown imposed to control the spread of COVID-19 amid rising number of cases in Madurai was slated to end on 5 July. 17:03 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates Process for trials of COVID-19 vaccine being expedited in accordance with global norms, safety remains top priority: ICMR The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday issued a release stating that the process to expedite the human trials for a potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Bharat BioTech, NIV and ICMR, were being carried out in accordance with global norms. "In the larger public health interest, it is important for ICMR to expedite clinical trials with a promising indigenous vaccine. Faced with the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, all other vaccine candidates across the globe have been similarly fast-tracked," new agency ANI quotes the country's top medical research body as saying."The ICMR’s process is exactly in accordance with globally accepted norms to fast-track the vaccine development for diseases of pandemic potential wherein human and animal trials can continue in parallel," states the release while adding that ICMR remains committed to the safety and interest of the people of India. The announcement that a vaccine would be made available by 15 August had come under criticism from many quarters, with political leaders alleging that the process was being expedited so that the announcement could be made on Independence Day. In the larger public health interest, it is important for ICMR to expedite clinical trials with a promising indigenous vaccine. Faced with the unprecedented nature of the #COVID19 pandemic, all other vaccine candidates across the globe have been similarly fast-tracked: ICMR https://t.co/gJiGKjZ2ku — ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2020 16:40 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Arunachal Pradesh Latest Updates Total lockdown in Arunachal Pradesh's Capital Complex from 6 to 12 July The Arunachal Pradesh government on Saturday announced that a week-long total lockdown will be imposed in the Capital Complex, comprising Itanagar and Nagarlagun, from 6 July in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases, said Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar. The total lockdown will be imposed at 5 am on 6 July and will be in place till 5 pm on 12 July,the official said.There will be certain exemptions which would be announced on 5 July, Kumar said. Itanagar capital complex will be under lockdown from 6th July (Monday) till 12th July (Sunday). Detailed Guidelines and SOP for compliance will be issued shortly. #StayHomeStaySafe — Pema Khandu (@PemaKhanduBJP) July 4, 2020 16:15 (IST) 237 Maharashtra Police personnel test positive in 72 hours 237 personnel of Maharashtra Police were found COVID-19 positive in the last 72 hours, taking active number of cases in the force to 1,040. A total of 64 police personnel have succumbed to the infection: Maharashtra Police pic.twitter.com/jMVSbqKV7B — ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2020 16:05 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Kolkata Latest Updates Kolkata bans flights from coronavirus hotspots like Delhi, Mumbai Kolkata Airport announced on Saturday that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad from 6th to 19th July 2020 or till further orders are issued. The West Bengal government had been requesting Centre to susoend inbound flights to Bengal from COVID-19 hotspots. 15:37 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Bengaluru Latest Updates Bengaluru to go under lockdown over weekend "Complete lockdown to be imposed from 8pm today till 5am on Monday in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits, as per instructions by Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in view of, COVID19," BBMP Commissioner Anil Kumar said. He added that sale of essential items will be allowed during the lockdown, including meat shops. "Police action will be taken against people found roaming outside unnecessarily," he said, 15:22 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates Scientists strike note of caution as govt plans to fast-track 'Made in India' vaccine, covaxin India's COVID-19 vaccine programme has gained sudden traction but it is imperative to strike a balance between giving it high priority and rushing into a process that takes months, even years, several scientists said on Saturday, a day after the ICMR announced it envisaged a preventive by next month. "Fast tracking a vaccine trial in four weeks for safety, immunogenicity and efficacy is just not possible if things are to be done correctly," Shahid Jameel, virologist and CEO of the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance, a public charity that invests in building biomedical sciences and health research framework, told PTI. 15:07 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Himachal Pradesh Latest Updates Another COVID-19 death in Himachal Pradesh takes toll to nine With one more death reported in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday, the COVID-19 toll in the state rose to nine. However, no new positive cases were reported. With this, the total number of cases in the state now stands at 1,033 including 332 active cases. So far, 677 patients have recovered, said the state health department. 14:48 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Bihar Latest Updates Bihar's COVID-19 toll climbs to 84 after six more die The COVID-19 toll in Bihar increased to 84 on Saturday after six more patients succumbed to the viral infection. While 197 fresh cases have pushed the state's total to 11,111, according to the state health department. The state has 2,816 active coronavirus cases, while 8,211 patients have recovered from the disease. This takes the recovery rate to 73.89 percent. 14:28 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Andhra Pradesh Latest Updates 765 fresh COVID-19 infections in Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh registered 17,699 coronavirus cases on Saturday after 765 more people tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The COVID-19 toll reached 218, said the state health department. Of the total positive cases, there are 9,473 active cases in the state. 13:52 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Gujarat Latest Updates Vijay Rupani visits Surat to assess COVID-19 situation Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy chief minister Nitin Patel arrived at Surat on saturday to assess the COVID-19 situation, PTI reported. Surat has reported 5,461 COVID-19 cases, including 198 deaths, so far. 13:51 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in China Latest Updates WHO team to visit China next week to probe origin of COVID-19 Amid global concerns that China delayed giving information regarding the novel coronavirus outbreak, a team of World Health Organisation (WHO) will visit the country next week to investigate the origins of the virus and its spread to human beings. The visit will take place more than six months after the WHO's Country Office in China picked up a statement from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission on cases of 'viral pneumonia'. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke in January about an agreement with China for sending a team of international experts "as soon as possible" to work on increasing the understanding of the outbreak. 13:36 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates Forcing development of COVID-19 vaccine fraught with horrendous human costs: Sitaram Yechury CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Saturday alleged that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is trying to expedite the production of an indigenous COVID-19 vaccine so Prime Minister Narendra Modi can announce the cure for the infectious disease on Independence Day. "Scientific advances can never be 'made to order'. Forcing the development of an indigenous vaccine, bypassing all health and safety norms, to be announced by Narendra Modi on Independence Day is fraught with horrendous human costs," tweeted Yechury. But...scientific advances can never be ‘made to order’. Forcing the development of an indegenous vaccine as a cure for Covid-19, bypassing all health & safety norms, to be announced by PM Modi on Independence Day is fraught with horrendous human costs. #Covid_19 #Vaccine #ICMR pic.twitter.com/x2xbPFvRyy — Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) July 4, 2020 13:19 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Delhi Latest Updates Jama Majid reopens for public today Jama Masjid reopens for the public from today. The mosque will remain open from 9 am to 10 pm and everyone will have to follow physical distancing norms, said Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the shahi imam of the mosque. Delhi: Jama Masjid reopens for the public from today. Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Shahi Imam of the mosque said that it will remain open from 9 am to 10 pm while following social distancing norms. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/hEtvux9GB5 — ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2020 13:16 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Jharkhand Latest Updates Six police personnel in Ranchi test COVID-19 positive Six personnel of Ranchi Police have tested COVID-19 positive on Saturday. "They have been quarantined and are receiving treatment. Their contact tracing within and outside the department is being done," said Surendra Kumar Jha, SSP Ranchi 12:13 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates I-T department further extends ITR filing deadline The extension on income tax return filing date comes just a couple of days after the I-T department on Thursday extended the deadline for tax saving investments/payments for the financial year 2019-20 up to 31 July. As a result, taxpayers will now be able to make investments for claiming deductions under the Income Tax Act for the financial year 2019-20 up to 31 July. 11:59 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates ITR filing deadline for FY 2019-20 extended till 30 Nov The Income Tax Department has announced a further extension to the deadline for filing income tax return (ITR) for the financial year (FY) 2019-20 to 30 November. The department, in a tweet, said that the move has been taken "understanding and keeping in mind the times that we are in" and hoped it will help taxpayers "plan things better." 11:32 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Mizoram Latest Updates Mizoram postpones opening of schools for 2020-21 academic session The Mizoram government has postponed the opening of schools for the 2020-21 academic session for an indefinite period as a part of the containment measures to curb the coronavirus outbreak, a minister said. The government had earlier decided to open educational institutions for the current academic session from 15 July. 11:30 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Karnataka Latest Updates No public transport to operate in Karnataka from 8 pm today Public transport - buses, autos and cabs will not operate in Karnataka during the curfew, which will be enforced from Saturday at 8 pm. Places of worship, malls and dine-in service at hotels and restaurants, shops selling non-essential commodities, including liquor, will remain shut. 11:28 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Karnataka Latest Updates Karnataka to enforce curfew from 8 pm today A curfew in Karnataka will be implemented from 8 pm on Saturday til 5 am on Monday. It will not be any different from the restrictions imposed during previous curfews and lockdowns, said BH Anil Kumar, Commissioner of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to The Hindu. "The restrictions that were in place then will be imposed now also," said Kumar. 11:19 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Odisha Latest Updates Odisha reports 8,601 COVID-19 cases with 34 deaths After five more people die of the novel coronavirus in Odisha, the COVID-19 toll in the state climbed to 34 on Saturday. The total number of confirmed cases increased to 8,601 after 495 more individuals tested positive, said the health department. 10:58 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Rajasthan Latest Updates 204 new cases, three deaths in Rajasthan As per the Rajasthan health department, there were 204 new COVID-19 positive cases and three deaths reported till 10:30 am. The total number of cases stands at 19,256, including 3,461 active cases and 443 deaths, as per the health department 10:36 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates Over 95 lakh COVID-19 samples tested: ICMR At least 95,40,132 COVID-19 samples have been tested so far, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), adding that 2,42,383 samples were tested on Friday alone. 10:27 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates India's COVID-19 recovery rate at 60.80% Of the total 6,48,315 positive cases, as many as 3,94,227 COVID-19 patients have so far been cured of the virus, said the health ministry on Saturday. This takees the COVID-19 recovery rate to 60.80 percent. 10:22 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates India's COVID-19 mortality rate at 2.88% after 18,655 patients die With the death of 442 more individuals in the past 24 hours, the COVID-19 toll jumped to 18,655 on Saturday, according to the latest data released by the health ministry. The COVID-19 mortality rate is now at 2.88 percent. 10:18 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates India records over 6.48 lakh COVID-19 infections India registered 22,771 new coronavirus cases for the first time in a single day, taking the total count to 6,48,315 on Saturday. As many as 442 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, said the health ministry. Coronavirus Updates: Maharashtra reported 7,074 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the total number of cases to 2,00,064, said a state health department bulletin. The toll rose to 8,671 with 124 deaths reported in the last 48 hours and 171 added from the previous period. University and college examinations in Punjab have been cancelled in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Saturday. However, the online exams being conducted by some universities will continue uninterrupted. Delhi recorded 2,505 fresh coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the tally in the city to 97,200, while the death toll from the disease mounted to 3,004. Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced that relaxations in Chennai lockdown will come in effect from 6 July, reports ANI. Vegetable and grocery shops will be allowed to open from 6 am to 6 pm, textile and hardware shops from 10 am to 6 pm, and restaurants from 6 am to 9 pm for takeaway services, he said. Responding to criticism over its 15 August deadline for COVAXIN, which is being developed by Bharat Biotech, the ICMR said that all COVID-19 vaccine trials across the world are being similarly fast-tracked, while adding that the safety and interest of the people of India remain its topmost priority. Kolkata Airport announced on Saturday that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad for two weeks starting from Monday Bengaluru will go under complete lockdown from 8 pm today until 5 am on Monday, city's municipal commissioner told ANI. The COVID-19 toll in Bihar increased to 84 on Saturday after six more patients succumbed to the viral infection. While 197 fresh cases have pushed the state's total to 11,111, according to the state health department. The state has 2,816 active coronavirus cases, while 8,211 patients have recovered from the disease. This takes the recovery rate to 73.89 percent. Amid global concerns that China delayed giving information regarding the novel coronavirus outbreak, a team of World Health Organisation (WHO) will visit the country next week to investigate the origins of the virus and its spread to human beings. The visit will take place more than six months after the WHO's Country Office in China picked up a statement from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission on cases of 'viral pneumonia'. The Jama Masjid will reopen for the public from Saturday. The mosque will remain open from 9 am to 10 pm. "Everyone will have to follow physical distancing norms," said Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the shahi imam of the mosque. A curfew in Karnataka will be implemented from 8 pm on Saturday til 5 am on Monday. It will not be any different from the restrictions imposed during previous curfews and lockdowns, said BH Anil Kumar, Commissioner of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to The Hindu. As per the Rajasthan health department, there were 204 new COVID-19 positive cases and three deaths reported in the state till 10:30 am. The total number of cases stands at 19,256, including 3,461 active cases and 443 deaths, as per the health department India registered 22,771 new coronavirus cases for the first time in a single day, taking the total count to 6,48,315 on Saturday. As many as 442 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, said the health ministry. At least 11,300 'Make In India' ventilators have been dispatched so far under Centre's 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat' mission, said the Union health minister on Saturday. Of the total ventilators, 6,154 have been delivered to hospitals. Ministry of Health is also supplying 1.02 lakh oxygen cylinders across India; 72,293 have been delivered, said Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. Telangana reported eight more COVID-19 deaths on Friday, taking the toll to 283. After 1,892 fresh cases were registered for the first time in a day, the state's tally was pushed to 20,462. Maharashtra registered 6,364 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday for the first time in a single day taking the total number of positive cases to 1,92,990. The toll due to the pandemic rose to 8,376 with 198 new deaths reported in the past 24 hours, a health department statement said. Even as India's COVID-19 recovery rate crossed 60 percent on Friday, the number of confirmed cases soared by over 20,000 in a day for the first time, data from the Union Health Ministry showed. The contrasting figures emerged even as the country's apex medical body ICMR announced its plan to launch the world's first COVID-19 vaccine, the indigenously developed COVAXIN, by 15 August. Experts, however, said such a timeline may not be realistic. In the meantime, Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal aannounced that the JEE and NEET exams have been postponed to September in view of the coronavirus pandemic, while the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) decided to suspend all the international flight operations in the country till 31 July. Friday also saw Goa re-opening its doors for domestic tourists and Himachal Pradesh said that it would allow entry of tourists with conditions such as a test report showing negative for COVID-19 and a prior hotel booking of at least five days. The hilly state had imposed a ban on tourism three-and-a-half-months ago to check the spread of the novel coronavirus. COVID-19 cases and deaths as of today India has confirmed 6,25,544 COVID-19 cases so far while 18,213 have lost their lives since the virus made its first appearance in Kerala's Thrissur in January. The number of recoveries stands at 3,79,891, while one patient has migrated. There are 2,27,439 active cases of coronavirus infections currently in the country. Most of the 20,903 coronavirus infections reported in a 24-hour span till Friday 8 am came from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana and Karnataka, PTI said, adding that 379 people died during the same period. Tamil Nadu crossed one lakh COVID-19 cases with the state reporting 4,329 fresh infections and 64 fatalities, pushing the toll from the deadly virus to 1,385. Of the total 18,213 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 8,178 fatalities followed by Delhi with 2,864 deaths, Gujarat with 1,886, Tamil Nadu with 1,321, Uttar Pradesh with 735, West Bengal with 699, Madhya Pradesh with 589, Rajasthan with 430 and Telangana with 275 deaths. The COVID-19 death toll reached 272 in Karnataka, 251 in Haryana, 198 in Andhra Pradesh, 152 in Punjab, 115 in Jammu and Kashmir, 77 in Bihar, 42 in Uttarakhand, 27 in Odisha and 25 in Kerala. Jharkhand has registered 15 deaths, Chhattisgarh 14, Assam and Puducherry 12 each, Himachal Pradesh 10, Chandigarh six, Goa four and Meghalaya, Tripura, Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry. More than 70 percent deaths took place due to comorbidities, it said. According to health ministry's 8 am data, Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 1,86,626, followed by Tamil Nadu at 98,392, Delhi at 92,175, Gujarat at 33,913, Uttar Pradesh at 24,825, West Bengal at 19,819 and Rajasthan at 18,662. The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 18,570 in Telangana, 18,016 in Karnataka, 16,097 in Andhra Pradesh, 15,509 in Haryana, and 14,106 in Madhya Pradesh. It has risen to 10,471 in Bihar, 9,013 in Assam, 7,849 in Jammu and Kashmir and 7,545 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 5,784 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 4,753 cases. A total of 3,013 have been infected by the virus in Chhattisgarh, 2,984 in Uttarakhand, 2,584 in Jharkhand, 1,435 in Tripura, 1,482 in Goa, 1,279 in Manipur, 1,014 in Himachal Pradesh and 990 in Ladakh. Puducherry has recorded 802 COVID-19 cases, Nagaland 501, Chandigarh 450 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 230 COVID-19 cases. Arunachal Pradesh reported 195 cases, Mizoram has 162 cases, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 109, Sikkim has registered 102 infections so far, while Meghalaya has recorded 56 cases. The ICMR said that a total of 92,97,749 samples were tested for COVID-19 up to 2 July, with 2,41,576 of those tested on Thursday. Representational image. AP COVID-19 vaccine by 15 August, says ICMR India's apex medical body ICMR said Friday that it has identified 12 clinical trial sites, including medical institutions and hospitals, and has asked their principal investigators to ensure that the subject enrolment is initiated no later than 7 July. The trial sites included AIIMS, New Delhi, AIIMS, Patna and SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre in Tamil Nadu. In its letter to principal investigators of the 12 sites, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava noted that the clinical trial of Covaxin is one of the "top priority projects which is being monitored at the top-most level of the government". However, it is not clear how the clinical trials can be completed and the vaccine released on 15 August when the normal period for a vaccine to be approved is 12 to 18 months. Several experts have questioned the ICMR's timeline, asking if the efficacy of the vaccine is "pre-decided" and cautioned it from applying "excess pressure". Over seven vaccines are being researched in India and only Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN and Zydus' ZyCoV-D have got the go-ahead to start human clinical trials, just this week. Globally, over 100 candidates are being tested on humans but no vaccine has yet been approved. Speaking to Firstpost, Bharat Biotech chairman Dr Krishna Ella, said said that COVAXIN was reported to be safe and immunogenic in all animals. "We have now moved forward towards the clinical development of this vaccine," he added. Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of Covaxin in COVID-19 patients will begin this month. According to PTI, Zydus said that is planning to initiate the clinical trials in July 2020 across multiple sites in India in over 1,000 subjects, however, the company did not say when the vaccine will be ready for commercial use, unlike Covaxin, which is targeting for release on 15 August. The vaccine candidate, ZyCoV-D, showed a "strong immune response" in animal studies, and the antibodies produced were able to completely neutralise the wild type virus, Zydus said. With inputs from agencies

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Kingdom Hearts 3: Final Thoughts

Ok well not really final thoughts cause I’m sure I’ll be internally screaming over this game for the rest of time, but I figured I’d leave my thoughts about the game in a more... coherent manner than what my screaming during the liveblogging conveyed. And so, here we go with me basically talking about everything I liked, loved, and maybe wasn’t so ok with (cause the game wasn’t perfect lol) and yeah there will be spoilers aplenty so I’ll tuck it away under the cut cause I have a feelin this is gonna get long. So... here we go:

First I’ll start off wit the easy stuff, the presentation. By GOD is this game fucking beautiful to look out. All of the graphics are so crisp and clean and everything just BURSTS with color. Never before have the Disney worlds felt so alive in a KH game and now they’re JAMMED back with detail. I first noticed this while wandering around Galaxy Toys in the Toy Box and I gasped at just how many little minute details there were to be found, from price tags for toys, to sticky notes on bulletin boards, and so on. Every single place you visit in this game looks like its actually been lived in as opposed to just being another set piece. They were all so much fun to explore and I’ll go into detail about each Disney world at least later on. As for everything else, so much effort was put into just about EVERYTHING! From the ways environments are lit (Corona especially had some nice lighting effects, as did San Fransokyo), from enemy designs, to characters expressions oh god the expressions. KH games in the past tended to rely on stock expressions in some scenes because hey, its easy when ya don’t need to put your whole foot forward, I get it. But here? There are no stock facial expressions, everyone, everyone emotes in such vivid and realistic ways so that you can just see how characters are feeling/what they’re thinking just through their body language and expressions alone (Sora especially aslkdjasld I’ll go on about my son in a bit tho). In terms of other visual stuff, I LOVED how flashy this game could get in terms of attacks (Attraction Flow especially oh my god), some say it might have gone over the top, but to me, it just made me so excited to use everything I had in my arsenal just to see how things looked!

Next the music oh GOD the MUSIC. From the moment this game’s version of Dearly Beloved started playing I knew I was in for a DAMN pleasant listening experience. But what I loved even more was how this game went above and beyond with is score. Yeah ya have your basic level and battle background themes (my personal favs among those include Arendelle’s and Corona’s themes), but then most cutscenes are scored with individual little musical cues, almost like scenes right out of a movie instead of just the same theme playing on repeat in the background! That honestly added such a neat little touch to the game that I instantly noticed and loved IMMEDIATELY (this game also improved Sora’s theme SO much and used it a lot and I fucking LOVED that) and other returning songs were great too (Mysterious Tower’s theme is spectacular now, and even though they didn’t really change Hundred Acre Woods’ theme, they added more orchestration to it to make it sound even prettier!) And of course, don’t even get me started on Face My Fears and Don’t Think Twice, both of those are such AMAZING songs, probably my fav Utada songs out of the entire series (Don’t Think Twice especially lol)

Next up, gameplay. So I kinda suck at KH games but honestly? I didn’t really have THAT hard of a time with this one. I played it in normal mode (cause I aint about to punish myself with proud mode alskdjalksdja) and I only started dying towards the end of the game and even then I didn’t die that much. But don’t get me wrong, the game isn’t stupidly easy either. The enemies will fuck you up if you’re not careful. I always made sure to reserve my magic to use cure like... fucking constantly because better safe than sorry! As for attacks, I favored using formchanges a lot because I always felt way more powerful with them (I beat the game using the BH6 keyblade imo that’s a good one) and Attraction Flow was also really useful and fun to use! Summons I... didn’t really use that much lol (same old story as other KH games) and team attacks I did use pretty much whenever they were offered to me (the ones with Disney companions were always a lot of fun!). Outside of battle, exploring in this game is SO much fun! Even aside from all the stuff to look at, there’s a lot to find! From ingredients (oh god the game wouldn’t fucking let me forget about ingredients), to hidden Mickeys (laskdjalskdjsad fuckin hell could never find any when the game outright told me there was one in front of me I’m stupid as hell), to the usual chests and whatnot, searching around was always a fun time (unless it was for fucking crabs, but we’ll get to that). Plus can I just say that I adore how smooth it is to control Sora in this game? Like seriously the boy actually runs at a decent pace for a change, his jump doesn’t feel like he’s wearing goddamn cement shoes, and the fucking tricks he can pull off with the whole running up walls and shit? fantastically fun to do. Special gameplay elements in the game were also usually always welcome, but I’ll get to those for each individual world when I go through em.

But before I do that, I’ll briefly speak on all the extra stuff this game offers for you to do because by god is it packed with content. I didn’t really explore a ton of what it had to offer cause I wanted to beat the main story as quickly as I could, but what I did explore of it was a lot of fun! Cooking with Remy is adorable and even though I didn’t really use any of the dishes I cooked up I still had fun finding ingredients and doiing the little minigames for each dish. Hundred Acre Woods minigames were all kinda samey but tbh it was a fun game nonetheless. I only played one of the Classic Kingdom games but tbh next time I visit the game, I really do wanna try more of them, they’re super cute. The camera function was a delight askdjskd such a cute touch to add, taking selfies with Disney characters is my new favorite thing oh my god and... ugh guess I’ll talk about the Gummi ship here too... I never liked it in 1 or 2 but god they really fucked it up here imo. I know some might disagree with me on this, but by god this game could not get me to care about customizing my own ship. I pretty much kept with the basic ship the whole game, avoided every single enemy I could and mostly just bit the bullet so I could get to new worlds as quickly as possible. And most of the time I didn’t really mind it, UNTIL THE LAST GUMMI MISSION. The way the camera controls and the vertical and horizontal controls fuck each other up is so fucking stupid and trying to navigate that damn ship through tight and tiny corridors only for the camera to have a piss fit every time I so much as skiff by a wall made me so fucking mad why did they do this the rest of the game the missions are in wide open space plains so why force me into a bunch of tight corridors at the very last minute laskdjsldsd oh my god it was terrible

ANYWAY moving on to much more fun stuff to talk about, how about them Disney worlds, huh? Might as well talk about my thoughts on each one of them, since they all offered such unique experiences that came together SO damn nicely:

Olympus was, in my opinion, an excellent way to kick off the game. You get plenty of room to explore and see exactly what’s new in terms of gameplay and the game gives you chances to learn those moves and practice them in a nice, controlled environment. The world itself is lush and lovely and quite varied, with Thebes as an entire city environment to explore, the mountain to climb up and avoid Titans on (excellent first real bosses in the game btw I was so hype throughout that entire fight) and the beautiful environment of Olympus itself to slide and glide through). I was also pleasantly surprised in just how much the world set up for the rest of the game, kicking off Sora’s whole arc of having to get stronger throughout the game (more on that later), showing what Pete and Maleficent are up to (again more on that later), showing us that the Organization is still kickin and a threat, and basically getting us hype for everything else that’s to come! I’ll give Olympus an 8/10 I’d say if I had to score it lol

Next up in terms of full worlds to explore is the Toy Box and DAMN this world was impressive. They really did a GREAT job making you feel like a toy exploring a much larger world around you. Most of this level did take place at Galaxy Toys but I really don’t see that as a restriction since the place is MASSIVE and so much fun to navigate and pick out all those little details I mentioned above. Controlling the robots in this level as a BLAST in every way possible, and I do love all the little nods and references they make back to Toy Story itself in this world. Buzz and Woody were great to have along for the ride and I really appreciated how they were actually involved in the plot points of the world (like seriously, Woody fuckin telling Young Xehanort off will forever be one of my favorite KH moments oh my god). Imo this one was for sure one of my favorites, 9/10

After that, we have Corona and I was really excited about this world and I do think they did a great job with it. The environments are lush and absolutely beautiful (as is, again, the level’s music), and there are so many fun little moments in this level (having a splash fight with Rapunzel was PURE as was the entire dancing minigame imo adorable and so much fun). Its just... idk, for some reason i feel like I wasn’t as... engaged in this world as I was with some of the others? Its more or less just the story of Tangled imo, but Sora, Donald, and Goofy are just sorta... there. Hell, there are points where the trio just up and disappears from the Tangled plot and don’t even come into play until much later on which is sorta... why? I get that ya have a lot to convey in a short amount of time, but damn if Tangled wasn’t the perfect world for a KH game and it just felt like the story of it was... not as great as it should have been? Idk maybe I just wanted more bonding between the trio and the Tangled characters, and what we got was fine but I still wanted... more . So yeah, this one gets a 6/10 from me.

Next up I went to Monstropolis and this one was also a pretty great time. Exploring the factory is a lot of fun and though it is kind of standard in terms of gameplay, everything else here is really great. The humor in this level is especially sublime and I love how the trinity trio plays off Mike, Sully, and Boo imo its pure as can be. And once again we have the Disney characters taking active engagement in the plot of the world (seriously Sully just yeeting Vanitas through several doors like he’s the lil piece of goth trash that he is is right up there with that scene of Woody and YX) So yeah not a ton to say about it, but I liked it a lot. 7/10.

After Monstropolis, I went to Arendelle and by god this world was way more than I was expecting it to be. Seriously I LOVED how the plot of Frozen worked so naturally into this level, this was honestly much better than how Corona did it if you ask me. We actually got to see moments of connection between Sora and characters like Elsa and Anna and so on and it was great. Plus oh my god that Let It Go sequence was INCREDIBLE the animation on that was simply STUNNING! As for gameplay, I gotta say it was another fun one. The ice labyrinth was sorta meh, but exploring the mountain was a great time (and led to a lot of fun snark between the Trinity Trio imo) and the snowy environments here were just beautiful. Sledding down the mountain was a blast, and having Marshmallow to help out as a brief companion was unexpected but adorable. So yeah this was another one of my absolute favs. 9/10.

After Arendelle though... things... fuckin tanked. The Caribbean was the goddamn worst part of this game for me, and not just because I haven’t seen the movies and therefore can’t really get a ton of enjoyment out of the characters and the story. Even beside that this world was just damn tedious. I thought the whole ship thing was gonna be fun at first, but then it just turned into an absolute shitshow, with enemy ships unfairly disappearing and reappearing and then completely blasting your ass (btw the ship is fuckin slow as hell so its hard to navigate (and yes I get that its a big pirate ship, but I don’t fucking care this was supposed to be fun so why isn’t it fun???) And don’t even get me started on that whole collecting white crabs bullshit imo that was just about pretty fucking pointless tbh so yeah suffice to say I didn’t have a fun time with this one. It had nice music tho I’ll give it that. And the swimming controls weren’t that bad so yeah. That’s about all the nice things I can say bout it. 3/10.

But GOD did the game ever make up for it when I got to San Fransokyo. I already really love Big Hero 6, so getting to explore the world of it was just GREAT. The fight on the bridge was a great introduction and exploring the city was AMAZING. Everything felt so HUGE and there was SO much to see (so many buildings to run up!!!). Plus the boss battle against Evil Baymax or whatever was the SHIT in this level, seriously it was so much fun. And hey, it had a really solid original story to it too! I love how the game went out of its way to give each member of Big Hero 6 so much of their original personality from the movie, and it allowed them all a chance to interact with Sora, Donald, and Goofy to really make it seem like unique and engaging bonds were being formed. This world honestly had me so invested and I loved it so much, I’d say its probably my favorite of the entire game. 10/10.

And yeah so those are all the Disney worlds. Gonna not really talk about the last two worlds cause they’re more story heavy than gameplay heavy and speaking of which... guess its about that time.

First of all, I gotta say that one of my favorite things about this game was its dialogue. Most of the VAs did a pretty damn solid job but the main characters especially so had a lot of emotion put into them. This game has so many fun little chatty moments, and the writing here is probably the most natural its ever been in a KH game. There’s so many fun little moments of sassy banter (between Sora, Donald, and Goofy in particular, seriously I could listen to those three yap at each other all goddamn day its excellent). SO much personality leaks through every character in just about every word they say and I really appreciate it and the effort put into it all!

Now with that out of the way, the story oh god the story. So I should probably say that, for a preexisting KH fan like myself, this is the KH game that was actually the easiest to understand what’s going on in? Crazy, I know, but this game actually explains most of the off the wall things that happen in it in a way that anyone could readily understand, and personally I really think that benefits it. I think the plot only really derailed itself for me like... once (the whole explanation behind Repliku jfc what a mess). But there were still a few things that the game didn’t explain that I’ll again, talk about later. As for the story itself...

One of the things i REALLY Loved about it was the character arc Sora had in this game. Riding off of DDD, the game really does set him up as the defeated underdog at the start of it and he feels bad about that and as a result you feel bad and wanna help this sad lil twink bb son get stronger!!! He just wants to help people but he can’t because he doesn’t have the power of waking but the great thing is he forces himself past that handicap and helps them anyway just by being himself and that’s beautiful. I already loved my precious sunshine son already, but this game made me absolutely adore him like seriously, he’s skyrocketed to one of my favorite characters in any fictional medium as a result of this game. He’s such a silly dork who is clearly having fun in all these Disney worlds as he’s off makin new friends, but its clear there’s a certain... anxiety lingering behind all of that. The kid as a lot of pressure on his shoulders and eventually it breaks him and that fucking scene broke me. But in the end, he still fuckin rises above it and kicks ass and then he fuckin disappears but that’s another point to bring up later on cause oh my god but basically the gist is, Sora is my absolute precious son boyo and I would gladly die for him oh my god

Donald and Goofy are also a TON of fun to watch in this game. I may crack jokes about Donald bitching at Sora a lot but you can tell he does it out of a true place of caring. Tbh there were a few Trinity Trio moments in this game that honest to god choked me up a bit, especially near the end. Mickey is sorta downplayed in this game, which is sorta whatever, but I did appreciate Riku in this game a lot (the brief spots where i got a chance to play as him were great). Kairi was... under fucking utilized again and I can’t deny that’s disappointing, and honestly same goes for Axel, though he DID have his moments, especially towards the end. And imo It was a delight to get all the other returning KH kids. Reuniting Aqua, Terra, and Ventus was beautiful, as was the reunion between Roxas, Xion, and Axel. Kinda wish we had gotten more Namine, but I’m glad she got her happy ending all the same. I also appreciate the Twilight Trio in this game, that one scene were they annoy the shit out of Ansem was the best. As for the baddies, same old same old though the game did sorta make them more interesting here and there. Xehanort’s “redemption” is sorta whatever to me, I kinda didn’t really care about what happened to him as much as I did my kids all coming together and being happy together and for the most part that’s what i got so I can’t say I didn’t walk away (mostly) happy as a result. I really fuckin do think the game could have done more with a handful of its bad guys, like they could have maybe implied more about the whole Xigbar=Luxu thing, and imo god did poor Vanitas get the short end of the stick I was expecting so much more on that front and I was sorely disappointed. But for the most part, I liked how this really was a huge KH reunion of heroes and villains alike. In that sense, it felt like one big tribute to the series’ entire history and for that, I love it.

So I guess that means the only thing I can talk about now is the ending. Oh god that ending. Fuckin thing kept me up all night long last night and had me stressed as fuck this morning while I was at work but honestly? I think I’m over it now. Yeah it is certainly a cliffhanger (especially now that we have that secret movie which raises so many more questions but at the very least it does establish that Sora isn’t dead so I can appreciate that). And hey, it implies that more Kingdom Hearts games are to come, so I can’t really be mad about that since I’m pretty much absolute KH trash at this point. But yeah, that ending got me shook and tbh I think that’s what it was supposed to to, be incredibly bittersweet and all and imo it completely succeeded in that regard.

Anyway before I go, just a few more points of disappointment I suppose that I haven’t touched on. Pete and Maleficent might as well not have even fucking been in the game for as few times as they appeared imo and the game also sorta just dropped the whole thing with Demyx and Vexen in a similar manner, as well as the whole thing about Larxene, Marluxia, Luxord, and Demyx “unlocking their inner keyblade heritage” or whatever imo game fuckin had too much KHX baiting if you ask me (that one scene where you use a bunch of KHX keyblades to murder a fuckton of heartless was really cool tho). Tbh I feel like the game had several moments of intrigue that it kinda more or less dropped the ball on, like for instance three examples in particular include that bit in Corona where Marluxia straight up knocks Sora the hell out and yeah that’s all he does, imo why even fucking bother with that when the kid just wakes up like nothing’s happened to seconds later? (to get the Trinity Trio out of the plot of Tangled, that’s what jfc), similar thing in Arendelle during the scene where Elsa freezes Anna’s heart, Sora for some reason gasps in pain and clenches his own heart at that exact same moment and the game never fucking bothers to explain why and that’s frustrating. Same thing goes for why Sora disappeared from the cover of Pooh’s book (lol guess that was fuckin foreshadowing the ending) the game offers a non explaination for it that is just... really not that conclusive so why even bother making a big deal out of it in the first place if you’re just gonna drop it? Plus there were a lot of other... smaller moments that I thought the game was gonna do so much more with but didn’t; the moment when Ven and Roxas see each other for the first time and realize they look basically the same but at no point do we actually see them exchange dialogue; Terra and Riku actually having a fucking conversation imo; same thing with any real interaction between Xion and Kairi; or how about the game not actually fucking explaining how the organization brought Xion back at all like wasn’t she a part of Sora how the hell did you do that game you have to EXPLAIN

Sigh... but anyway, even despite those frustrations, i still absolutely adored my time with KH3. Yeah like I said it wasn’t perfect, but by god was it worth the wait. The game was pure, sheer, fun and its story got me so damn emotional that I actually CRIED at several points of it even though KH has never made me legit cry before. And really? If this stupid as hell game can make this brittle old heart do that, then you know its a good one.

TLDR: Kingdom Hearts 3 is hella good, it made me cry like a little bitch, kinda fuckin dropped the ball on some points but whatever, and kept me up all goddamn night in existential dread over my precious son’s ambiguous fate. Imo fuckin 10/10 right there I love it and can’t wait to pick it up and play it again

#there's still so much more i could say but i just cant collect myself to say it all #kh3 saved my life ya'll it was so fucking great #so fucking worth the wait #goddamn #jen plays #kingdom hearts 3 #kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts 3 spoilers #kingdom hearts #long post

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