#actually turning your ire on the corporation

[inkskinned]

one of the things that i think we should pay attention to, socially, about the disney v. desantis thing is that it is really highlighting the importance of remembering nuance.

in a purely neutral sense, if you engage in something problematic, that does not mean you are necessarily agreeing with what makes it problematic. and i am worried that we have become... so afraid of any form of nuance.

disney isn't my friend, they're a corporate monopoly that bastardized copyright laws for their own benefit, ruin the environment, and abuse their workers (... and many other things). this isn't a hypothetical for me - i grew up in florida. i also worked for the actual Walt Disney World; like, in the parks. i am keenly aware of the ways they hurt people, because they hurt me. i fully believe that part of the reason florida is so conservative is because it's been an "open secret" for years now that disney lobbies the government to keep minimum wage down, and i know they worked hard to keep the parks unmasked and open during the worst parts of Covid. they purposefully keep their employees in poverty. they are in part responsible for the way the floridian government works.

desantis is still, by a margin that is frankly daunting, way worse. the alternative here isn't just "republicans win", it's actual fascism.

in a case like this, where the alternative is to allow actual fascism into united states legislation - where, if desantis wins, there are huge and legal ramifications - it's tempting to minimize the harm disney is also doing, because... well, it's not fascism. but disney isn't the good guy, either, which means republicans are having a field day asking activists oh, so you think their treatment of their employees is okay?

we have been trained there is a right answer. you're right! you're in the good group, and you're winning at having an opinion.

except i have the Internet Prophecy that in 2-3 months, even left-wing people will be ripping apart activists for having "taken disney's side". aren't i an anti-capitalist? aren't i pro-union? aren't i one of the good ones? removed from context and nuance (that in this particular situation i am forced to side with disney, until an other option reveals itself), my act of being like "i hope they have goofy rip his throat out onstage, shaking his lifeless body like a dog toy" - how quickly does that seem like i actually do support disney?

and what about you! at home, reading this. are you experiencing the Thought Crime of... actually liking some of the things disney has made? your memories of days at the parks, or of good movies, or of your favorite show growing up. maybe you are also evil, if you ever enjoyed anything, ever, at all.

to some degree, the binary idealization/vilification of individual motive and meaning already exists in the desantis case. i have seen people saying not to go to the disney pride events because they're cash grabs (they are). i've seen people saying you have to go because they're a way to protest. there isn't a lot of internet understanding of nuance. instead it's just "good show of support" or "evil bootlicking."

this binary understanding is how you can become radicalized. when we fear nuance and disorder, we're allowing ourselves the safety of assuming that the world must exist in binary - good or bad, problematic or "not" problematic. and unfortunately, bigots want you to see the world in this binary ideal. they want you to get mad at me because "disney is taking a risk for our community but you won't sing their praises" and they want me to get mad at you for not respecting the legit personal trauma that disney forced me through.

in a grander scheme outside of disney: what happens is a horrific splintering within activist groups. we bicker with each other about minimal-harm minimal-impact ideologies, like which depiction of bisexuality is the most-true. we gratuitously analyze the personal lives of activists for any sign they might be "problematic". we get spooked because someone was in a dog collar at pride. we wring our hands about setting an empty shopping mall on fire. we tell each other what words we may identify ourselves by. we get fuckin steven universe disk horse when in reality it is a waste of our collective time.

the bigots want you to spend all your time focusing on how pristine and pretty you and your interests are. they want us at each other's throats instead of hand in hand. they want to say see? nothing is ever fucking good enough for these people.

and they want their followers to think in binary as well - a binary that's much easier to follow. see, in our spaces, we attack each other over "proper" behavior. but in bigoted groups? they attack outwards. they have someone they hate, and it is us. they hate you, specifically, and you are why they have problems - not the other people in their group. and that's a part of how they fucking keep winning.

some of the things that are beloved to you have a backbone in something terrible. the music industry is a wasteland. the publishing industry is a bastion of white supremacy. video games run off of unpaid labor and abuse.

the point of activism was always to bring to light that abuse and try to stop it from happening, not to condemn those who engage in the content that comes from those industries. "there is no ethical consumption under late capitalism" also applies to media. your childhood (and maybe current!) love of the little mermaid isn't something you should now flinch from, worried you'll be a "disney adult". wanting the music industry to change for the better does not require that you reject all popular music until that change occurs. you can acknowledge the harm something might cause - and celebrate the love that it has brought into your life.

we must detach an acknowledgment of nuance from a sense of shame and disgust. we must. punishing individual people for their harmless passions is not doing good work. encouraging more thoughtful, empathetic consumption does not mean people should feel ashamed of their basic human capacities and desires. it should never have even been about the individual when the corporation is so obviously the actual evil. this sense that we must live in shame and dread of our personal nuances - it just makes people bitter and hopeless. do you have any idea how scared i am to post this? to just acknowledge the idea of nuance? that i might like something nuanced, and engage in it joyfully? and, at the same time, that i'm brutally aware of the harm that they're doing?

"so what do i do?" ... well, often there isn't a right answer. i mean in this case, i hope mickey chops off ron's head and then does a little giggle. but truth be told, often our opinions on nuanced subjects will differ. you might be able to engage in things that i can't because the nuance doesn't sit right with me. i might think taylor swift is a great performer and a lot of fun, and you might be like "raquel, the jet fuel emissions". we are both correct; neither of us have any actual sway in this. and i think it's important to remember that - the actual scope of individual responsibility. like, i also love going to the parks. Thunder Mountain is so fun. you (just a person) are not responsible for the harm that Disney (the billion dollar corporation) caused me. i don't know. i think it's possible to both enjoy your memories and interrogate the current state of their employment policies.

there is no right way to interrogate or engage with nuance - i just hope you embrace it readily.

#does this make sense #to do be deleted probably yikes #(takes a swing at a wasp's nest) #like i think ppl have started to just be really quiet when they like something 'problematic' #and im like... u can be like - #girl tswift NEEDS to just TAKE A BUS . LIKE????????????????????? #while also being like. #''she's a lot of fun'' #if ur personal policy is that u don't support her for that reason that's great #but it's like. eating meat??? #like yeah some people won't bc the environment. but the fact i eat meat doesn't mean i hate the earth #like i can say that i think the meat industry is HORRIFIC and also downright cruel to its employees #but like. still enjoy a chicken nugget.... #there are people who choose otherwise. it's okay . we are people. i make like no money. u probably don't either #us fighting about whether or not it's Right To Eat The Chicken Tender just distracts from like. #actually turning your ire on the corporation #i hope it's clear what i'm saying here is like. when we fight each other for Purity Reasons #we are just doing the work of corporations . for free. like they WANT us to be doing this lol #it's the fucking DREAM of the upperclass that now ALL forms of responsibility fall on the individual

[sundrop-writes]

Hiii !! I wanted to request a reaction for Derek, Emily and Spencer

When Single Parent! Reader (GN is fine !!) has to bring their daughter to the BAU for a little bit and she won't stop following the Character around and doesn't want to leave "her new friend" when its time to go? Thank you sm in advance if you write it !! 💕💕

i might swing by later with a dif request, this was the first thing my sleep ridden brain blessed me with ;p

I love this so much (I have been in such a parent fic mood since writing the Dad Spence fic, Star thank you so much) - I think this idea is so adorable, I love it!!!

(I wrote Derek's part and then trailed off and left this in my drafts for a few days, so sorry if there's a huge disconnect between the characters' parts. Ooops.)

Requests are currently - OPEN

How would Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, and Spencer Reid react to your daughter becoming attached to them? (Derek, Emily, and Spencer x GN!Reader)

Warnings: mentions of corporate/white collar crimes (embezzlement, etc.); mentions of the reader being threatened by white collar criminals, mentions of criminals threatening to kill a child; as it says in the title, the reader has a daughter but the reader's gender is not described in any way; surprisingly, for this one, I didn't give the daughter a name. idk, I think that's it. (Edit: now fixed so that the reader is actually fully GN and I am so sorry about the mistake before!!!)

It was a pretty basic case. You were an attorney working on a large company merger - you had found evidence of millions of dollars being embezzled, and when you had copied the files with the intention of bringing them to the IRS, you had started receiving threatening letters. It weighed on your conscience - you knew that the men who ran the company had more than enough money and resources to make you disappear, likely leaving your daughter an orphan, leaving her to wonder what had happened to you for the rest of her life. When you received another letter with photos of your daughter at her preschool attached, now threatening her - you had made your decision fully.

You took your files and evidence to the BAU - you had met Rossi at a seminar he gave, talking about how sociopathy is incredibly common in corporate circles - how sociopaths do very well in corporate jobs due to their driven, goal oriented, emotionless nature. And warning signs to look out for if someone is using those traits to cross into dangerous territory. It was a seminar you had gone to out of curiosity, but you were glad that you had taken his card and you were able to contact him now.

He invited you to the BAU, and the team offered to take your case - to find out who was threatening you and bring them to justice.

Derek found you incredibly beautiful.

He was intrigued by your looks at first, and when Hotch mentioned that someone needed to interview you and get the full details from you in order for the team to get a better perspective on the case, Derek volunteered immediately. He hadn't gotten a full briefing - too eager to get to talk to you.

He came into the room with a bottle of water for you, looking to comfort you with his smile and his charms, and he was surprised when Penelope came back into the room and a small girl came barreling toward you, incredibly excited to tell you that she had gotten M&Ms from the vending machine (which Penelope had taken her to).

Typically, Derek didn't go for people who had kids. Any other time, with any other person - it would have immediately turned him off. It would have dampened your attractiveness in his eyes. He generally had a 'no single parents' policy, because he thought that dating someone with kids was just a lot of baggage. But seeing you - he was immediately taken with you. And seeing you with your daughter, somehow made you instantly more attractive.

And he thought the way that you scooped your daughter up into your lap and let her feed you M&Ms with her chubby little fingers was all too cute. It was unprofessional, but the case definitely wasn't the only thing on his mind that day.

Penelope took your daughter out of the room again while Derek interviewed you, and it was only when you spoke of the fear you felt for your daughter - the potential of her being her by the anonymous person, that you actually teared up. Derek couldn't help but to pull you in close, holding you tight in an effort to comfort you (secretly loving how tightly you hugged him back) - and it was in that moment that he vowed to himself that he would do whatever it took to protect you and your child. He would always keep the two of you out of harm's way.

And he certainly tried his hardest to accommodate your daughter when he found out that the two of you would be sticking around the office for the day - to ensure that you would be protected until the team found out who had sent the threats. He got her a kids meal with a toy when he ordered lunch, he knew there wasn't much in the office in the way of "toys" - but he swung by Garcia's office borrowed something she had that was fuzzy and lights up (with the promise of returning it) and he scrounged up a blank pad of paper and some coloured pens so your daughter could have something to do.

It wasn't surprising when she excitedly ran over to his desk and gave him a picture she had drawn of him - a very cartoonish muscled man with his same facial hair and an eggish bald head. His exaggerated features in the picture made you and Morgan laugh, and before you left the BAU for the day (when your safety was assured and the local police were on their way to arrest the men who had made the threats to you) - you found a different pen and wrote your number on the bottom corner of the picture for him.

He knew that something in you had changed him when he started thinking about taking you on a first date in the park - something your daughter could enjoy as well, rather than considering what bar or late night restaurant he was going to take you to.

Emily was surprised by the entire thing.

She hadn't been around children since, well - she was one. Due to events in her past, and due to the way her mother treated her, she never imagined herself being a parent. Ever. She was someone who thought that she was just naturally terrible with kids, like her own mom was. She hadn't met the person she thought that she could settle down with, so she never thought that kids were in the cards for her. So it definitely caught her off guard when your daughter seemed to take to her like a duck to water.

It was in her natural instinct to comfort you. You were so shaken up about the whole thing, the anonymous danger lurking in your life - and she took some extra time to assure you that things were going to be okay, that the team was the best, and they were going to catch whoever was doing this.

She thought it was a natural kindness to get down on your daughter's level and ask what she was playing with, to compliment her cute little doll and then take her down the hallway to grab a snack to give you a few minutes to breathe. The little girl was sweet and Emily didn't mind spending some extra time with her.

On their way back along, your daughter plucked a crossword puzzle book off Emily's desk and asked what it was, and Emily explained it - so then she took a few minutes to find some crosswords for children online and printed them out, and when she came to delivery them, alone with some pens, your daughter enthusiastically asked if Emily would sit and 'show her' - and while you said that Emily was busy and had other work to do, Emily shrugged and said she had a few minutes to spare. Again, she thought it was common manners, sitting with the girl on her lap while she guided her through the puzzles, praising her intellect when she got the answers right.

She didn't see the way you were looking at the pair, pure affection bubbling up in your eyes.

When the day was over, and it was cleared as safe for you and your daughter to return home, the little girl let out a loud complaint that she didn't want to leave her 'new friend Emily' - and Emily couldn't have predicted the way that those words tugged at something in her chest. She didn't know what led her to kneeling down at the girl's level, promising to see her that weekend when she had a free day - that was, if you didn't mind. Getting nothing but a bright smile from you, and feeling a certain spark there.

(She had to resist the urge to punch Morgan in the ribs when she walked back to her desk to nothing but teasing, how she was getting 'the whole family package' on 'her first date'.)

Spencer found the whole thing (secretly) adorable.

It is no secret that Spencer loves kids. He is very good with kids, and it's clear by the way he acts around kids that he definitely wants kids of his own someday. He hasn't met 'the one' yet - the person that he's going to have kids with. Whether that's through the natural, old-fashioned way or through adoption. But he did always imagine that if he raised kids of his own, it would be from infancy.

He never imagined that the person he was meant to be with would stumble into his life with a child that was already walking and talking - but when he met you and your daughter, it felt so right. Even if the circumstances were a bit dark.

He interviewed you about the whole situation, and when you apologized for crying and getting emotional, he was quick to assure you that it was natural - you were shaking, and though Spencer was usually someone to avoid touch, he found his need to hold you so overwhelming. He didn't regret his choice to wrap his arms around you when you hugged him back tightly.

When your daughter burst into the room (no longer occupied making paper airplanes with Emily and JJ), she was quick to ask why you were crying, extending out a small chubby finger to point at you, seemingly warbling with half-baked tears of her own at seeing you so upset. Spencer knelt down and assured her that everything was going to be okay, and then he moved to distract her by taking the little paper airplane out of her hand and telling her that he knew a trick to make it fly so much farther.

And he did. It was simple aerodynamics and folding techniques. And then they stood near the top of the bullpen, silently trying to get Morgan to look up by flying planes onto his desk - and the man couldn't bring himself to get too mad when he heard childish giggling coming from your daughter every few minutes.

You truly felt those butterflies for Spencer turn into more when he showed your daughter a trick that ended with a fake flower somehow coming out of his sleeve - something feathery and pink that he tucked behind her ear for her to keep, having her smiling and laughing brightly on a day where you had been wracked with worry, fearing for her life.

By the time the day was over and both of your safety was assured, you weren't surprised that she didn't want to leave him. And you made the bold move, telling him (rather than asking him) - that he should come over for dinner and a movie on Saturday, and then leaning over to gently whisper in his ear that the two of you could enjoy a another, more adult flick after your daughter was tucked into bed. Your daughter was too excited at the prospect of seeing Spencer again, tugging on his pant leg, waiting for him to agree - and he was speechless at the implications of what you had said.

He couldn't even think of the word 'no' if he tried.

So, it was a date, then.

Criminal Minds Masterlist

#star-mum #interactions #requests #requested #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #derek morgan x reader #derek morgan #emily prentiss x reader #emily prentiss #spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds x you #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds fic

[vodika-vibes]

A Little Miracle

Summary: After the Republic is reformed into an Empire, you are stuck working with the same men, under the same Commander, you worked for while in the GAR. Unfortunately, Bacara doesn't seem to remember that he loves you. And it's becoming too hard to handle.

Pairing: Commander Bacara x F!Reader

Word Count: 2079

Warnings: Angst with a happy ending

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni

A/N: So I was looking at all of my requests, and just, none of the characters I had requests for were speaking to me, and smut just wasn't coming out of my brain today for some reason. So have this instead, a project I've been working on for over a week!

“Commander,” You try not to quail under the stern gaze of the man standing in front of you, “I respectfully disagree. This is a horrible idea, actually.”

The former member of the GAR, and currently Commander of the Imperial Army, pins you with a glare that would have made a lesser person run away screaming. And honestly, the only reason you aren’t running is because you’re right and you know it.

“You have a better idea, Corporal?” Commander Bacara asks, his voice low and gravely, and you can’t help but wonder when the last time he spoke was.

“I do, sir.” You say, “Sir, it’s Life Day.”

His gaze is cold, “And why should I care about a natborn holiday?”

“Because, sir, it means that no one will pay attention to a small group of people sneaking onto the planet.” You say, “And…and, sir, it’s everyone’s holiday, not just a natborn one.”

Some of the ice thaws from Bacara’s gaze, though it quickly returns, “And what’s your suggestion?”

“Send me and one other person.” You say quickly, “We get in, meet the contact, and get out without starting an incident.”

He pins you in place with a severe look, “I suppose that might be a good idea,” He says grudgingly, “Do you have a suggestion as to which of my brothers you go with?” There’s something acidic in Bacara’s voice, and you flounder slightly, because you’re not sure what you did to earn his ire this time.

“I…my understanding is that you would choose the best man for the job.” You offer, hesitantly.

His scowl deepens, “I assume that you’re not going to go wearing armor?”

“No, of course not, sir! I’ll be wearing regular clothes.”

Bacara stares at you, hard, for a moment. And then he nods, “Wait in the hanger, I’ll have someone meet you.”

“Yes sir.” You salute and then turn and hurry out of the room. Hopefully it’ll be someone you can actually work with.

Once upon you were a soldier in the GAR. Once upon a time you were tasked with protecting the Republic.

That felt like almost a lifetime ago.

And while you’re not happy with the Empire, you didn’t sign up for this, you’re stuck. You can no more leave the Imperial Army than you can keep the sun from rising.

At least you still work with Bacara. Well. Under Bacara.

But he’s not the same man he was before the Empire took over. He’s colder, and he looks at you like he doesn’t recognize you.

You miss the man he used to be. The man who would tug you into his quarters and steal your breath with deep kisses. The man who would murmur jokes in your ear when no one is paying attention.

The man who would hum your favorite song to settle you when things were too much to handle.

You missed the man you fell in love with.

And you’re beginning to fear that you’re never going to see him again.

You slip into your quarters, somehow you don’t have to share with anyone, and you pull the pretty dress your mother sent you out of the closet. It looks out of place, mixed with the stark white of your military uniform, but you’re glad you have it.

You hurriedly pull the dress on, as well as some tights and your heels, and you pull your hair out of your regulation bun, allowing your hair to tumble around your shoulders, and then you hurry to the hanger.

The halls are empty…as is the hanger.

It’s nice, if not a little eerie.

If you close your eyes you can almost hear General Mundi walking over to you to discuss a novel that he read recently, or you can hear the shinies joking about which one of them was going to be the first one to get your number.

You release a shaky breath, ignoring the ache in your chest with the ease of long practice when you hear footsteps behind you.

And you start in surprise when you see Bacara standing there in civilian clothes. He pauses when he sees you, and you mentally prepare yourself for the insult that is inevitably coming your way. 

But instead he winces and touches the side of his head, “You look…nice.”

You blink at him, “Thank you, Commander. So do you.” He looks more like Bacara than he has since Master Mundi’s death. “Um…are you ready to go?”

“You can’t call me Commander if we’re going undercover.” He says flatly.

You wince, “Yes. I know.” Except the last time you called him by his name, he verbally tore you a new one, and you’re still reeling from the hurt of that. “Bacara, then.”

He nods once, slowly, and motions for you to take the lead. Which you do, without much of a second though.

True to your predictions, there are a lot of people out and about. But no one is giving either of you a second look.

Bacara’s hand is warm on the small of your back, the heat sending jolts of electricity up your spine. It’s been ages since you’ve been this close to him. But it became necessary after a group of tourists pushed themselves between you and Bacara.

“There are more people than I would like,” Bacara grumbles in your ear.

“Relax,” You reply, “They’re just existing, no one is even giving us a second look.”

His hand slides to your hip when another group of tourists threatens to push between you, and it sits there comfortably, as though that’s where it belongs. “I know. The contact is at this party, right?”

“That’s what the intel says.” You agree.

“Great. Come on, the party is this way.” Bacara guides you through the crowded street, until you reach the open air party that this planet is known for. It’s loud and thrumming with an excited energy that you don’t think you can match…not this year at least.

Once upon a time you would have loved being here with Bacara. You would have tugged him onto the dance floor and spun around with him until he was flashing that secretive little smile at you, and you were giggling and breathless-

But that Bacara doesn’t exist anymore. 

You tear your gaze off of a young woman and her beau, feeling your heart break as you watch them spin around on the dance floor, lost in each other. You swallow the bitterness and the tears, and you cast your gaze up to the taller man standing at your shoulder, “Do you see our contact?”

Bacara slowly tears his gaze away from the dance floor as well, and he looks down at you, “No. Not yet. We might be early.”

“Ah, well…it looks like there’s a snack bar. Would you like something to drink?” You ask, “Or eat?”

“Something to eat would be nice.” He says after a moment, “I’m going to go over by the side entrance. You can find me there.”

“Right. I won’t be long.” You smile at him weakly, before you turn and head towards the table. You’re able to feel his gaze on you, and when you turn to look back at him, to see why he’s staring at you, you see that he’s rubbing his temple again.

You bite your lower lip, concerned, but turn back to the table. Luckily, no one seems too keen to bother you as you grab two wine glasses and some sandwiches. 

And then you walk around the outside of the party to get back to Bacara, who is still rubbing his head. “Com-um…Bacara,” You say slowly, setting the drinks and food on a nearby table, “Are you alright?”

He glances at you, “Just a headache. I’m fine.” He grabs a glass and takes a sip, “Have you seen our contact?”

You watch him for a moment, “No. No, I haven’t. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Just keep your eyes open.” 

You settle on the stool at the table, absently shredding your sandwich as you keep your eyes on the dancefloor. The longer you watch the couples dance, the worse you feel, until you can feel the tear pricking at the corner of your eyes.

“If you want to go dance, I’m not going to stop you.” Bacara’s voice is flat.

“I’m fine.”

“You look like you’re about to cry.”

You press your lips into a thin line, “This just…isn’t how I foresaw my life going.” 

“We’re lucky to have the positions we have,” Bacara’s voice is low and chiding.

You lift your chin, “Yes sir.” And then you hesitate and you turn to look at him, “You don’t…you don’t remember me at all, do you?”

Bacara stares at you silently for a moment, “Is there something to remember, corporal?”

You flinch as if he had just struck you…and honestly, his punching you likely would have hurt less, and you quickly look away, “No. I guess not.” You slide to your feet, “Excuse me.” You slip away before he can say anything. You don’t want to hear anything that he has to say.

You wander around the party, taking in the decorations and the ice sculptures, and, before you realize it, you’re standing outside the party, looking out at the crowds of people.

It would be easy, you realize suddenly. You’re dressed just like most of the other women out there. No uniform. Nothing marking you as a soldier at all.

It would be easy for you to vanish into the crowd. 

You take a step towards the crowd, when a strong hand wraps around your wrist. You whip around to look up at Bacara. He looks…conflicted. And slowly, very slowly, he releases your wrist, and it falls to your side. 

“I won’t stop you, if you want to leave.” He says, “You’re not made for military life-”

“...right.” You whisper. “You could come with me.” You offer.

“I am a good soldier-”

You squeeze your eyes shut, and then you spin on your heel so you’re facing him, and you reach up to press your hands against his cheeks, “You don’t remember me, Bacara!”

“I don’t-”

“You once promised to take me dancing,” You say, and this time you don’t stop the tears from falling, “Properly dancing, you said, not the secret dancing in your quarters late at night, after General Mundi went to sleep and we’re both two sheets passed tired, but we’re together so we dance.”

His hand comes up to brush a tear off your cheek, and it only makes you cry harder.

“You used to love me, Bacara, and I don’t know what the Empire did to you to make you forget, but I can’t do it anymore.”

Bacara’s other hand comes up to cradle your cheek, and slowly his forehead lowers to bump against yours, “...Corporal-”

“You used to call me cyare,” You whisper, “You used to tug me into empty rooms just to steal kisses and would whisper jokes in my ear to make me laugh after hard missions and would hum my favorite song when you thought I needed a pick-me-up…”

His grip tightens slightly, and for a moment his face twists in pain. 

“If you can’t give me that again, if you can’t be that man anymore, then please, let me go.” You beg, “I deserve more than this.”

Bacara says nothing for a moment, his eyes squeezed shut and his face twisted in pain, and then, after a whole minute, his eyes open.

His grip softens, and Bacara slowly strokes your cheek, “My cyare,” He whispers, pain and guilt and horror in his voice, “My beautiful, perfect cyare.”

You look up at him, and there’s recognition in his eyes. Recognition and more than a little guilt. 

“Cara?” You whisper. 

He smiles at you, and wipes a tear from your cheek with his thumb before he leans in and presses the sweetest kiss against your lips, “I did something awful, cyare.” Bacara whispers.

“We can run. No one will ever make you do something against your will like that again. I promise.” You say.

Bacara stares at you, and slowly he nods. Quickly he shoves his comm, and yours, into a dumpster, and then he leads you into the Life Day crowds.

Within days, both of your faces are going to be plastered from one side of the Empire to the other, listed as deserters, but at least you’ll be together if nothing else.

#star wars #tcw #commander bacara x reader #bacara x reader #star wars fanfiction #x reader fanfiction

[linddzz]

maybe it's just how I deal with cognitive dissonance but I do think "media thing has a lot that can be enjoyed and picked apart and analyzed and you can really see what the artists involved put into that and you can acknowledge what the artists put into it and that some of the messages are things that need to be said and heard and encouraged"

and "corporations will always find a way to use those artists to sanitize the artists message and it's impossible to have a successful Content and you can't project a good piece of content as meaning that the big corporation is Good, because the big corporation will use art to get your money and doesn't believe in anything"

Are ideas that can be held at the same time and both deserve discussion to figure out this shitty part of our culture.

I don't think "ugh X isn't good and people who like it are annoying and falling for the con" is a productive argument but I also don't think "um people can enjoy things and any criticism means you don't think they should enjoy things and everything about this IS good actually" is productive. I'm not smart enough to know how to fix how our capitalist culture has turned art and culture into a commodity, but I don't think the individual people getting shaped by culture is where the ire needs to go, and I also think it's important to on some level be aware that corporations will always find a way to make money off of artists and sell it to you.

#yes this was kick started by barbie #mostly because i finally found a criticism of the corporate feminism of it that didnt act like the individual artists making the movie #were insincere in their work #but still did a great job showing how Mattel loved the feminist veneer for thr money it makes #'i saw a lot of cool jumping points for discussions on gender in society in the barbie movie' #and 'the most accessible message of the movie was pretty in offensive and shallow' #are both true i think #and i say that as someone who put the movie in my top 5 faves

[duplicitywrites]

Hi Duplicity! I’m asking you this with no intention to cause offence, and because you’re a creator in this fandom I like a lot, but how do you balance your content with JKR Rowling’s views ? I keep seeing people say that we should all stop consuming and producing Harry Potter content, because despite the intention, or Hc-ing it to suit our views, any engagement with the source material is bringing it to attention, and thus bring her and her hateful views against Trans people to attention, furthering her platform by ensuring her works remain in the collective mind of many people instead of letting it die out and somehow contributing to her legacy. I know you’re very very supportive of LGBTQ+ folks and seem like a very kind person, and I’m not insinuating at all you support JKR herself, but how do you deal with that implication and the unintentional effects your fanfics may have ? Just because it is somewhat true that fandom fuels popularity that fuels profit and yada yada. Please don’t take this the wrong way! Thank you and bless you for your writing ❤️

no offense taken! i hope you'll take my response the same way 💗

to be blunt, i think people who say that we should cease any engagement with the source material are wrong. the equation of content consumption with someone's personal morals is reductive and ultimately harmful.

this (often literal) armchair activism disrespects and disregards the very real efforts people make on a day to day basis -- whether that be through volunteer work, charitable donations, or simply serving as support to friends/family who are a part of those very minority groups that those naysayers claim to advocate for.

jkr is extremely vocal about her garbage opinions -- why are people not directing their ire at her instead of the random strangers they encounter on the internet? well, strangers on the internet are easier targets. it's easier to get a response. it's easier to ostracize and bully someone who doesn't have the security and following that a public figure like jkr has.

it's concerning to me how the concept of "doing the right thing" has shifted more and more towards "attacking the 'wrong' people". who is the target in these situations? is it actually a transphobic person who is being criticized, or is it someone who just likes harry potter? because in most situations i've seen, it's the latter. moral policing in fandom spaces has only gotten worse as the internet slowly morphs into one homogeneous corporate blob, and this is just another example of it taken too far.

harassing someone for liking harry potter doesn't miraculously make them a good person -- it doesn't make them morally superior. it just makes them someone who likes to attack others to feel better about themselves, someone who often looks for 'acceptable' excuses to do so. i'm secure enough in myself that i don't let this bother me, and i certainly don't accept anyone who thinks this way as a 'better' person than me.

i know i am not responsible for the opinions and actions of my readers. it is insanity to claim my writing harry potter fanfiction is making transphobes be transphobic, just as it is equally ridiculous to claim that writing about murder will turn people into murderers.

personally, i believe the best step is to not financially support harry potter as a franchise. this means not paying for official merch/content. but that's my own business -- i won't judge, insult, or attack the people who do, and that's because it would be hypocritical to hold anyone to this standard.

what about disney? what about walmart, or amazon, or any other company that profits off of the misery of minorities and the disadvantaged? people will say there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but that is just another black-and-white approach to an incredibly nuanced topic.

the world we live in is flawed, with "problematic" humans involved at every level of society. there is no clear answer for every situation, so at the end of the day, i can't and won't tell you what to do or what to think, other than encourage you to make these decisions for yourself.

as individuals, the best thing we can do is take responsibility for ourselves. think critically about the actions we take and the impact these actions have on others. live the best life we can under the circumstances we've been given.

(much better than dunking on someone for putting their hogwarts house in their social media bio.)

#asks #anonymous

[swaps55]

Fugue - 14 - Remember We Flew

Pairing: mShenko

Rating: M

Tags: Angst, Grief, Major (Canonical) Character Death

Summary: Alchera, and the two-year gap.  

Chapter Summary: A familiar enemy reappears. Hackett uncovers a mystery. Kaidan does some reflection.

Thanks to @shadesofmauve for betaing!

Chapter 14: Remember We Flew | Read on Ao3

14 July 2184, Pylos Nebula, Nariph System, Jonus Orbit, SSV Ain Jalut

Finding Aslany in the medbay once he gets through decontamination doesn’t do much to improve Kaidan’s mood. His hands still tremble and he has to force his jaw to relax and his teeth to unclench as he walks in. His heart still beats in his ears. 

She sits on a biobed impatiently kicking her feet while the doctor, an older gentleman who’d served in the Blitz, runs a dermal regenerator over a bullet wound in her left arm.

“What happened?” Kaidan demands.

“Fucker knew the ship layout better than I did and doubled back on me,” she says with an uninterested shrug of her good shoulder. “Tagged me good, but I’ve had worse. And he got his.”

Kaidan scowls, trying to replay where and when it could have happened in those adrenaline-fueled minutes. “I never got a flag on your hardsuit.”

“Shut off the emergency feed.”

A fresh stab of anger runs him through. “That’s against protocol, Corporal.”

“You had your hands full,” she says, unfazed. “Just triage. Bullet wound wasn’t going to matter much if we all exploded.”

And they almost had. He shudders, shaking off the memory of the rush of dark energy across his nerves when the Normandy’s drive core had gone up.

But the Broken Arrow is still intact. So are they. 

He unclenches his jaw again.

The doctor eyes them both with the expression of someone who is used to overhearing sensitive conversations and has a lot of practice keeping his opinions to himself.

We have to work on our fucking communication, Kaidan thinks. Kara Pendergrass is his first project on that front, but not until he calms down enough to deal with her in a way that might actually be helpful for either of them. He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. Work the problem right in front of you. Do your job. 

“All right. We’ll come back to that one later. What do we know about our captive?”

“He’s not Rumoi, and he’s not Eclipse,” Aslany replies. “He ain’t saying much. And he was wearing an insignia I didn’t recognize.”

“What was the logo?”

Aslany reaches for a datapad lying at the head of the bed, trying not to earn the doctor’s ire. Kaidan makes an exasperated sound and grabs it for her. She taps a few keys and hands it to him, a narrow white hexagon framed in orange bars displayed on the screen. He blinks at it, forcing the gears to turn until the answer clicks.

“Cerberus,” he murmurs.  

Read from the beginning | Read the rest on Ao3 | The Fugue Playlist

#mass effect #mshenko #kaidan alenko #otp: after all this time #fugue update

[seriously-mike]

What Will Destroy AI Image Generation In Two Years?

You are probably deluding yourself that the answer is some miraculous program that will "stop your art from being stolen" or "destroy the plagiarism engines from within". Well...

NOPE.

I can call such an idea stupid, imbecilic, delusional, ignorant, coprolithically idiotic and/or Plain Fucking Dumb. The thing that will destroy image generation, or more precisely, get the generators shut down is simple and really fucking obvious: it's lack of interest.

Tell me: how many articles about "AI art" have you seen in the media in the last two to three months? How many of them actually hyped the thing and weren't covering lawsuits against Midjourney, OpenAI/Microsoft and/or Stability AI? My guess is zilch. Zero. Fuckin' nada. If anything, people are tired of lame, half-assed if not outright insulting pictures posted by the dozen. The hype is dead. Not even the morons from the corner office are buying it. The magical machine that could replace highly-paid artists doesn't exist, and some desperate hucksters are trying to flog topically relevant AI-generated shots on stock image sites at rock-bottom prices in order to wring any money from prospective suckers. This leads us to another thing.

Centralized Models Will Keel Over First

Yes, Midjourney and DALL-E 3 will be seriously hurt by the lack of attention. Come on, rub those two brain cells together: those things are blackboxed, centralized, running on powerful and very expensive hardware that cost a lot to put together and costs a lot to keep running. Sure, Microsoft has a version of DALL-E 3 publicly accessible for free, but the intent is to bilk the schmucks for $20 monthly and sell them access to GPT-4 as well... well, until it turned out that GPT-4 attracts more schmucks than the servers can handle, so there's a waiting list for that one.

Midjourney costs half that, but it doesn't have the additional draw of having an overengineered chatbot still generating a lot of hype itself. That and MJ interface itself is coprolithically idiotic as well - it relies on a third-party program to communicate with the user, as if that even makes sense. Also, despite the improvements, there are still things that Midjourney is just incapable of, as opposed to DALL-E 3 or SDXL. For example, legible text. So right now, they're stuck with storage costs for the sheer number of half-assed images people generated over the last year or so and haven't deleted.

The recent popularity of "Disney memes" made using DALL-E 3 proved that Midjourney is going out of fashion, which should make you happy, and drew the ire of Disney, what with the "brand tarnishing" and everything, which should make you happier. So the schmucks are coming in, but they're not paying and pissing the House of Mouse off. This means what? Yes, costs. With nothing to show for it. Runtime, storage space, the works, and nobody's paying for the privilege of using the tech.

Pissing On The Candle While The House Burns

Yep, that's what you're doing by cheering for bullshit programs like Glaze and Nightshade. Time to dust off both of your brain cells and rub them together, because I have a riddle for you:

An open-source, client-side, decentralized image generator is targeted by software intended to disrupt it. Who profits?

The answer is: the competition. Congratulations, you chucklefucks. Even if those programs aren't a deniable hatchet job funded by Midjourney, Microsoft or Adobe, they indirectly help those corporations. As of now, nobody can prove that either Glaze or Nightshade actually work against the training algorithms of Midjourney and DALL-E 3, which are - surprise surprise! - classified, proprietary, blackboxed and not available to the fucking public, "data scientists" among them. And if they did work, you'd witness a massive gavel brought down on the whole project, DMCA and similar corporation-protecting copygrift bullshit like accusations of reverse-engineering classified and proprietary software included. Just SLAM! and no Glaze, no Nightshade, no nothing. Keep the lawsuit going until the "data scientists" go broke or give up.

Yep, keep rubbing those brain cells together, I'm not done yet. Stable Diffusion can be run on your own computer, without internet access, as long as you have a data model. You don't need a data center, you don't need a server stack with industrial crypto mining hardware installed, a four-year-old gaming computer will do. You don't pay any fees either. And that's what the corporations who have to pay for their permanently besieged high-cost hardware don't like.

And the data models? You can download them for free. Even if the publicly available websites hosting them go under for some reason, you'll probably be able to torrent them or download them from Mega. You don't need to pay for that either, much to the corporations' dismay.

Also, in case you didn't notice, there's one more problem with the generators scraping everything off the Internet willy-nilly:

AI Is Eating Its Own Shit

You probably heard about "data pollution", or the data models coming apart because if they're even partially trained on previously AI-generated images, the background noise they were created from is fucking with the internal workings of the image generators. This is also true of text models, as someone already noticed by having two instances of ChatGPT talk to each other, they devolve into incomprehensible babble. Of course that incident was first met with FUD on one side and joy on the other, because "OMG AI created their own language!" - nope, dementia. Same goes for already-generated images used to train new models: the semantic segmentation subroutines see stuff that is not recognized by humans and even when inspected and having the description supposedly corrected, that noise gets in the way and fucks up the outcome. See? No need to throw another spanner into the machine, because AI does that fine all by itself (as long as it's run by complete morons).

But wait, there's another argument why those bullshit programs are pointless:

They Already Stole Everything

Do you really think someone's gonna steal your new mediocre drawing of a furry gang bang that you probably traced from vintage porno mag scans? They won't, and they don't need to.

For the last several months, even the basement nerds that keep Stable Diffusion going are merely crossbreeding the old data models, because it's faster. How much data are Midjourney and OpenAI sitting on? I don't exactly know, but my very scientific guess is, a shitload, and they nicked it all a year or two ago anyway.

The amount of raw data means jack shit in relation to how well the generator works. Hell, if you saw the monstrosities spewed forth by StabilityAI LAION default models for Stable Diffusion, that's the best proof: basement nerds had to cut down on the amount of data included in their models, sort the images, edit the automatically generated descriptions to be more precise and/or correct in the first place and introduce some stylistic coherence so the whole thing doesn't go off the rails.

And that doesn't change the fact that the development methodology behind the whole thing, proprietary or open-source, is still "make a large enough hammer". It's brute force and will be until it stops being financially viable. When will it stop being financially viable? When people get bored of getting the same kind of repetitive pedestrian shit over and over. And that means soon. Get real for a moment: the data models contain da Vinci, Rembrandt, van Gogh, and that means jack shit. Any concept you ask for will be technically correct at best, but hardly coherent or well thought-out. You'll get pablum. Sanitized if you're using the centralized corporate models, maybe a little more horny if you're running Stable Diffusion with something trained on porn. But whatever falls out of the machine can't compete with art, for reasons.

#mike's musings #Midjourney #DALLE3 #stable diffusion #Nightshade #Glaze #ai art #ai art generation #ai image generation #Nightshade doesn't protect your art #Nightshade protects corporate interests #long reads #long post #TLDR #LONGPOST IS LOOONG

[rcsetorn]

also [ cloth ] from Benny coz that's actually something he can do

◈ ╼ ༺ :|    affectionate gestures || @asteelgarden |: ༻ ╼ ◈

[ cloth ] - for receiver to bath sender’s face / neck with a cloth soaked in cool water Also in reply to here~

╼ ༺ :||        "Do not," she snapped, mimicking his earlier response.

Why it unsettled her so, she knew not. Mayhaps the surprise of the coolness against a sting she had been previously unware of or the unexpected gesture at her blind side. But the fact remained she had grown to notice the Reverend's unwillingness for a helping hand from not just herself, but others as well. Even the days prior whence Benny collapsed and, quite literally, leapt from her instinctive catch. And how he declined her offer to heal his wounded hand, which could have been avoided if his sense of mercy for those suffering ego death had not hesitated. Beatrix's gaze flicked towards the still damaged hand and narrowed as if it were the source of her ire.

Too aggravated for a simple curing spell, her own well of magic was summoned as if showcasing what Benny had declined. With a wave of a hand just above her now-cleaned cheek, a brilliant and warm white light illuminated their space and the overly, minor scratch against her cheek disappeared as if it had never occurred.

"Unlike your world's magic, that of mine is capable of accelerating the body's own healing process," the General explained.

"You may stubbornly deny corporeal aid, however, do not expect me to accept your informal, consolatory assistance in turn."

#asteelgarden #asteelgarden: benny #╼ ༺ :|light of the gloom on the grey (ondes) #◈ ╼ ༺ :| answered |: ༻ ╼ ◈ #bea really said do not pass go.

[96thdayofrage]

“It’s the freedom for me.”

This cringeworthy phrase, now plastered on retail cookout gear and swag, instantly provoked the ire of any person who grew up in Texas who feared what would happen if Juneteenth went mainstream.

Since the racial uprisings of 2020, there’s been an increased national interest in Juneteenth as more people strive to celebrate Black people and our history year-round. The intention of Black people seeking joy during these fraught times is admirable—but impact trumps intention when it comes to the diversity of our culture. As someone who grew up near Galveston, Texas, (via Houston, for most of my childhood), the Juneteenth I remember celebrating has now become whitewashed and/or remixed into something more nationally palpable than what I ever imagined.

Translation: What’s happening right now isn’t it, and to those who wanted Juneteenth to become this national Black holiday—congratulations, you’re ruining it. Which is why it’s important to remind everyone that Juneteenth has a special relevance for Black Texans and shouldn't be commodified as a national holiday. If we want a national Emancipation Day, that’s fine—but don’t have it on June 19th and don’t call it Juneteenth.

For starters, it’s important to understand how we got here. When the Civil War ended in April 1865, enslaved Black Texans weren’t aware that they were free. That all changed on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger marched Union soldiers to Galveston to finally inform them of their emancipation. “Juneteenth” was named after that historic day and first became a Texas state holiday in 1979—even though freed Black Texans had been celebrating it as early as June 1866.

My family treated Juneteenth as a time of reflection and connection. The Juneteenth Parade and accompanying gatherings were more intimate (and Blacker) than your typical holiday celebrations, for good reason. It was about Black people remembering their ancestors, while focusing on what freedom truly meant for them then and us now. Migration from those descendants has influenced Juneteenth celebrations across the country for decades, while still keeping intact the history of what made June 19 special, without losing sight of the Black Texans who were enslaved much longer than others across the country.

Since 2020, the fight for diversity, equity, and inclusion has advanced recognition of Juneteenth without actually respecting its origin and history. Calling it “America’s Freedom Day” and turning it into another opportunity for those to take a day off or host a cookout has cheapened its meaning. Now living in Philadelphia, I have heard people refer to Juneteenth as the “Black Fourth of July,” which only infuriates Texas natives like myself—who know better.

This is what happens when corporate interests overshadow collective understanding. To Black people who are just finding out about Juneteenth, to liken it to the celebrations of White America is to strip our enslaved ancestors down to a pissing match. The goal was to remember their legacy in that particular part of the nation—given the history of slavery in the South, and Texas more specifically. Today, anyone who dares criticize similar initiatives, including those led by other Black people not from Texas, are misguidedly called “gatekeepers” or suppressors of the culture.

But there’s a difference between gatekeeping and reinforcing the facts. When I see organizations incorporate pan-African red, green, and black colors when attempting to celebrate Juneteenth, I can’t help but call out the fact that red, white, and blue are the correct colors to recognize this day. When people declare it as the official emancipation day for all Black Americans, it’s important for me to note that not all Black Americans were freed on the same day, and several states have their own Emancipation Days that recognize when Black people became freedmen in that particular region.

Why does this matter? Because if society is striving to appreciate Black people, it must also mean not letting corporations or grifters hijack the history and origins of our culture. Not everything is for everyone, and that’s OK. There’s a way to appreciate something without appropriating it. When there were debates about whether or not Walmart should have recently discontinued their launch of a Juneteenth flavor of ice cream in their supermarkets—that’s when I knew we were not on the same page.

It’s high time that we let Black Texans, and their descendants who have maintained respective celebrations outside of the state, have Juneteenth for themselves. This is not “America’s Freedom Day,” but theirs. Rather than pout about gatekeeping, others should look up the actual Emancipation Days in their respective state and agitate legislators to make it more official.

For example, Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb introduced legislation to make Pennsylvania Emancipation Day (which is Feb. 3, the day the state ratified the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865) a state holiday. If it becomes law or not, this would perhaps be the proper opportunity for Black Pennsylvanians to celebrate their freedom with the same fervor as they do Juneteenth.

If there’s something that can be learned from all of this it’s that not all Black people, customs, and histories reside within a monolith—and that’s not a bad thing.

[mrbopst]

My Sound Advice column for Brick Weekly 2/10/20010

It is reasonable to wonder if love is always a good thing. For it’s many virtues, love compels many who feel it to act in ways that are thoroughly unsavory. It is a blinding emotion where thought and reason are often forsaken. Maybe that is why there is such a need to be in love. Thought and reason requires considered contemplation where as love operates almost exclusively on pure emotion. 

And when people are driven by pure emotion, bad things happen. 

Recently, a Daily Kos/Research 2000 Poll of 2,003 Republicans conducted this month has found that a little over a half (53 percent) actually believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president than Barack Obama. I know this may be impossible, but divorce how you feel about either of these people and evaluate both purely on their merits as if both were turning in faceless applications for the job of running the country. One candidate is a former beauty queen contestant that has a Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism (with a minor in political science) from the University of Idaho and the other is a graduate of Harvard Law School, magna cum laude and Columbia University with a BA in Political Science. One worked as a civil rights attorney and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School before becoming a three-term senator from one of the most populated states in the union and the other served on city council in Wasilla, Alaska (population 5,469) later becoming the Mayor of city and eventually governor of the state a position the applicant resigned from before the end of their term. Based on this information alone, which of these two applicants would you hire to run the country? Is it even close? If it is, if you are actually in a quandary over who is the most qualified of the two, well, I don’t know what to say. 

Obviously, judging qualified candidates isn’t your forte.

People love Sarah Palin. I think this because a lot of her followers want to fuck her. When I went to the Palin rally at the Richmond International Raceway in October of 2008, I overheard more people talking about her physical attributes than her potential governing ability. Many seemed to be enamored with her solely because of her fuckability. And it is because of these lustful urges that the true devotees of all things Palin can not view her objectively even when her rhetoric and actions are in direct conflict with their romanticized image of her and the movement she come to represent. At the first Tea Party Convention held last week in Nashville, the populist movement turned out to be big money politics as usual. The convention was held at the upscale Gaylord Opryland Hotel, charged $550 for admission and organizers of the event (the for-profit Tennessee corporation Tea Party Nation headed by Nashville-based criminal-defense lawyer Judson Phillips) have been accused of secrecy and corruption by the very people it claims to speak for, threatened lawsuits against dissenters unhappy about the direction of the event and overall movement. When some voiced their dissatisfaction with the event, their ire was not directed at Sarah Palin despite her reported and decidedly un-grass rootsy $100,000 speaking fee that resulted in $349 per-ticket cost to people who wanted to attend the speech. If anything, any reasonable criticism of her frightening lack of competence only strengthens the irrationality of the love they feel for her. "I doubt there is another public figure in our country who gives liberals a bigger case of the hives than our special guest today," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said at a campaign rally on Super Bowl Sunday in his introduction for Palin who is endorsing the governor in the upcoming election, "At the very mention of her name, the liberals, the progressives, the media elites, they literally foam at the mouth." That’s a pretty strange proclamation of someone’s worth, isn’t it? If the ability to offend is the yardstick by which someone’s worth is measured, then I know a lot people who are stellar individuals, but the larger question is this; Is that rage, that frothing of the mouth of which Perry and other Palin enthusiasts site as her defining attribute really just a perfectly justifiable response when reasonable people are confronted with something ethically repugnant? Like someone who keeps sticking his dick in a blender after they’ve been told what irreparable physical harm it will cause them, they cling to their bloody stump logic that Sarah Palin is what our country needs.

But that’s love for you. It sometimes makes people stupid.

Chris Bopst February 8th, 2010

#Bopst #Chris Bopst #Columnist #Column #Sarah Palin #Super Bowl #Tea Party #Republicans #Fuck Republicans #2010

[duushurst04]

Gold Costs Acquire As Greenback Dips With Fed Meet In Focus

You can do this by opening a self-regulated Gold IRA and investing in gold and different valuable metals. An inflationary atmosphere wreaks havoc on conventional havens resembling Treasury yields and even money, leaving gold as one of many few belongings buyers can turn to. It may be vastly worthwhile and all kinds of establishments trade in Forex together with major and central banks, hedge funds, investment corporations and retail investors. With little notice, Fed officials carried out a policy U-turn around the start of summer time and began reducing interest charges as a response to the protracted U.S.-China trade struggle. Despite expectations that shopper prices would rise when President Trump took office as a result of his trade policies, the official fee of inflation has remained still for essentially the most part over the previous couple of years. Sorry, an error occurred.

In that case, you might face substantial financial stress if a pointy downturn occurred within the inventory market just before you retire. If an investor tries to breach the law and retains their IRA gold at home, they are going to face serious legal penalties, similar to penalties or taxes or fees on your entire IRA, in case of an IRS audit. When gold costs peaked in 2012 around $1,900, massive funds held 82.5 million ounces of gold. This can be troublesome and must be accomplished rigorously by the manager. There were upsides, too, akin to the federal government's announcement that it posted 4.Eight million jobs in June and signs that the domestic trade deficit is shrinking. Websites comparable to Higher Enterprise Bureau, Enterprise Client Alliance and Trustlink are so valuable on the subject of getting an perception into what an IRA company are actually like. Giving dissatisfied customers their attention and, if possible, a solution is an efficient business apply. Given that no one can predict how the market will carry out, it is better to have your investments in commodities that recognize with time.

If handed, tax reforms set to take effect between 2022 and 2032 will make it inconceivable to employ Roth IRAs and Roth 401(ok)s to construct up large funds that are tax-free indefinitely. The Fed is confident that it will probably maintain the targeted inflation fee of 2%, and far of their current agenda rests upon it. They have over 30 years of experience in the gold market, which implies they'll offer you wonderful customer support whereas helping you spend money on a gold IRA in your retirement account. 401k to gold ira to have your questions answered earlier than you make any closing decisions. These incidents also make new investors reluctant. Individuals at Goldco realize the significance of securing retirement funds, which is why they ensure that their shoppers get the best plans to preserve their savings and stay comfortably without fears.

Presently, business Customer Partnership (BCA) has rated Goldco Direct with a AAA ranking, which is a excessive mark that has thrilled numerous prospects. Noble Gold’s charges aren’t probably the most subordinate, but they're aggressive. Nonetheless, the most important downfall is the high minimal deposit to create a gold IRA. While you purchase by way of hyperlinks on our site, we might earn an affiliate commission. To prime issues off, there have been multiple pink flags signaling that a U.S. There are precautions seniors can take to assist protect themselves towards scams.

#best gold ira companies

[visitnowblackhatworldcommunity]

Types of Business | Blackhat forum

Types of Business | Blackhat forum

In some ways, the decision to start a small business is easy—when compared to the work required to actually do it. The path of an entrepreneur is fraught with twists, turns, and branches. The first fork in the road? Choosing how to structure your small business legally and taxably. Will you choose a specific business entity designation (the legal, structural format of your company) and/or a specific tax status? Small businesses with the same structure will be treated differently by tax authorities depending on the work they do.

What types of businesses are there?

Sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations are the four main types of business entities. There are subtypes of these types, including general and limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, and S and C corporations. Finally, joint ventures can be formed by temporarily combining the efforts of one or more of the above.

Business entities vs. tax statuses

The above-mentioned entity types may be eligible for different tax treatment by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as well as a company's state and local tax authorities. The primary distinction between an entity type and a tax status is that business entities can engage in any legal line of business, whereas specific tax statuses are only available to organisations that pursue specific types of work.

Tax status types include:

Entities that pass through These businesses are taxed only once, at the owner's personal income levels.

Corporations. Corporations (specifically, C corporations) are taxed twice: once on corporate income and again on shareholders' personal income levels (a practice known as "double taxation").

Nonprofits. Nonprofits are exempt from certain federal and state taxes (primarily income taxes) if they meet certain eligibility requirements as defined by the IRS and state tax authorities.

9 types of businesses 

The way you organise your business depends on whether you are acting alone or with partners, how much personal liability you are willing to accept, and whether you need to issue shares to investors to get your business started.

Sole proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is a type of unincorporated business that is owned and operated by a single person. Its primary advantage is its simplicity. It is the default business entity designation for anyone selling a service or product on their own, and no special filing is required. However, the ease with which a sole proprietorship can be formed is a double-edged sword in that it provides the least amount of protection for the owner of the available entity types. Sole proprietors are fully liable for the company's debts and legal liabilities. Other benefits of being a sole proprietor include complete control over the company and a single round of taxation at the owner's personal income level.

General partnership (GP)

A general partnership is the most common type of partnership—a business owned by two or more people. General partnerships, like sole proprietorships, are subject to pass-through taxation, which means they are taxed only once at the partners' personal income levels. Similarly, general partners are equal participants in the firm, which means that everyone has an equal say. General partnerships have some of the same disadvantages as sole proprietorships in that there is no legal distinction between the general partners and the partnership itself, which means that all owners are subject to unlimited liability for the company's debts and damages. Creditors and lawsuit plaintiffs can seize partners' personal assets. Furthermore, general partners are personally liable for the actions of all other partners.

Limited partnership (LP)

Like general partnerships, limited partnerships are businesses owned by two or more people. They also benefit from taxation at the source. The main distinction between LPs and GPs is the presence of limited partners, who are only liable for the amount of capital they have invested in the business. However, each limited partnership must have at least one general partner who bears unlimited liability. A potential disadvantage of limited partnerships is that limited partners generally have little say in the day-to-day operations of the firm—a difficult situation for the liability-conscious partner with lots of ideas about how to manage things.

Limited liability partnership (LLP)

LLPs are also owned by two or more partners and are taxed pass-through. While partners in an LLP are personally liable for their own actions, they are not personally liable for the actions of other partners or the business's debts and damages. The LLP entity's main disadvantage is that it is not available to all businesses. They are typically restricted to specific licenced professions, such as law or accounting.

C corporation

The most common type of corporation is a C corporation, also known as a C corps. The main advantage of incorporating your small business as a C corporation is the ease with which you can raise funds. C corporations can be funded by issuing as many shares as you want. The associated disadvantage is that the C corps is a complex business organisation that necessitates close supervision and a lengthy filing and registration process with your state's secretary of state, as well as the creation of bylaws and the appointment of a board of directors. Above all, the main disadvantage of forming a C corporation is that you will not be eligible for pass-through taxation. In effect, your company will be taxed twice: once on corporate income and again at the personal levels of owners and employees.

S corporation

S corporations, also known as S corps, avoid the main disadvantage that C corp owners face: double taxation. S corporations are pass-through entities, which means they are taxed only once, at the personal income levels of the owners and shareholders. However, this advantage is offset by fundraising restrictions. S corporations may only issue stock to a maximum of 100 shareholders, and those shareholders must be US citizens or permanent residents.

Limited liability company (LLC)

Many of the characteristics of a partnership are combined with those of a traditional corporate legal entity in LLCs. LLCs exist as separate legal entities from their owners, who can be one or more. This shields owners from personal liability for the firm's debts and damages. Another advantage of incorporating your small business as an LLC is the tax flexibility it provides—LLCs can be taxed as corporations (twice) or as pass-through entities, such as sole proprietorships or S corporations. The disadvantage of forming an LLC is that it is far more complicated than forming a sole proprietorship or partnership, such as writing and filing articles of incorporation and appointing a registered agent.

Joint venture

A joint venture is similar to a partnership between two or more separate business entities. Firms agree to pool resources to complete a specific task, usually on a temporary basis, under the terms of the agreement. This can be a specific project or the purchase and joint operation of real estate, for example. The advantage of joint ventures is that they allow participants to benefit from the resources of other participating firms without losing their independence by combining them into one organisation. The main disadvantage is that each participant is personally liable for the joint venture's costs and losses.

Nonprofit

A nonprofit is a business that has been granted tax-exempt status by the IRS because it advances a social cause that benefits the public in some way. In that sense, a nonprofit is a tax status rather than a type of entity. The main benefit of forming your small business as a nonprofit is the tax benefits—for example, if your organisation qualifies as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organisation under the Internal Revenue Code, it will not have to pay federal income taxes. The main disadvantage of nonprofits is that they are extremely limited in the types of businesses they can pursue and that profits may not be used for anything other than continuing to operate the business.

Determining what business type is right for you

One of the most important decisions you will make on your entrepreneurial journey is determining which business type is best for your small business. Before making a decision, you and any partners should consider the following points:

How important is the ability to raise funds to the financial future of your company?

Do you want sole control of your company or do you want partners?

Are you willing to accept unlimited, personal liability for the business and actions of any partners, or would you prefer some level of protection?

Do you have the means to pay two rounds of federal taxation?

Is your company's mission to advance some social good for the public good?

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Seven Suggestions That may Change The best way You Best Car Transport Service In India

Actually, it was do-or-die time. In fact, if you don't change your oil on time and with the correct merchandise, it could void your automotive's warranty. Quick ahead 22 years to the economic struggles of 2009 and the inevitability of peak oil prices and it turns into apparent the U.S. Paraffin-based motor oil on the store shelf will include minuscule quantities of wax. Each motor drives a small gear, which meshes with a bigger gear on the axle shaft. Saturn simply wrote new software permitting the ABS laptop to counteract wheel slip in three phases: retard spark timing to cut back engine energy, shift the transmission to the next gear, and interrupt gas stream. The perfect solution to the recharging downside is to take the automobile dwelling in the evening and plug it in, much like the best way you may plug in a laptop computer pc or digital music participant, in order that it may well recharge in a single day. Whether you qualify as a "minister" in accordance with the IRS can have an effect on tax advantages, Social Security taxes and whether you might be exempt from revenue tax withholding. All of us are resorting to processed, packaged, or fast foods, and it’s not wholesome.

For-profit firms are opening up new markets, increasing into opponents' territories and, in some circumstances, merging. To relieve this burden, some enterprising corporations are advertising and marketing audio walking tours. For that they pay to the paid survey firms who in turn pay to the surveyors for taking those surveys. Power and Associates' 1991 surveys of latest-automotive house owners. Drenching rains and muddy fields didn't dampen the family-oriented fun, which included plant tours, picnics, a live performance, and sharing the gospel with fellow house owners and Spring Hill workers. Earlier than driving off, new owners were photographed in their Saturns amid rousing cheers from dealership staff. As a boy growing up in Whittier, California, he loved to visit the Chevrolet dealership where his father labored as a elements department manager. On the expertise aspect have been the misplaced-foam engine casting method, a new water-borne paint course of, and team-oriented meeting techniques, all being adopted or studied by different GM operations. Saturn was informed to double productiveness at Spring Hill, increase manufacturing there by two-thirds whereas cutting employment by 18 percent, and to at least break even on operations -- or else. The Purple Line wasn't the form of automobile Saturn prospects had been used to, but that was the purpose.

Released in fall was a efficiency-minded Sky Crimson Line. Adding visceral appeal at mid-2004 was a racy Ion Pink Line coupe with a supercharged 2.0-liter Ecotec pumping out 205 keen horses. Common or Pink Line, Sky was an thrilling image of a hoped-for Saturn renaissance. But the Honda V-6 made a positive start line for the Vue Purple Line, the first in a deliberate series of sporty Saturn submodels. Individuals had been flocking to car-based mostly "crossover" wagons just like the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. Intriguingly, the announcement also talked about a "but undisclosed future Saturn" with a Honda V-6. Although those models additionally await history's verdict, they looked to give Saturn the aggressive attain it had so long been denied. Patrons noticed by way of the 1980s-type cloning and mostly stayed away from all 4 fashions. There have been critical issues in regards to the wisdom of making an attempt such a undertaking in the face of the national financial collapse, but the Pennsylvania noticed great future benefits from electrification and decided to proceed. If you select to have your car transported, it is of vital significance to decide on solely the very best transportation firm out there. Copyright Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved The film "Vehicles" is the story ofrookie race automotive Lightning McQueen.

See extra Cars photos. CJ manufacturing can be halted after forty years to free up capability for the way more widespread new XJ-sequence Jeep Wagoneer and Cherokee compact wagons. But it did relax rules on where and the way frequently airways fly and how a lot they cost, thereby stimulating competition and progress. That's why window stickers carry the legend "producer's prompt retail value." However Saturn strongly urged its sellers to keep away from the same old haggling, saying no customer should ever surprise about paying too much. Respondents ranked Saturn third in both buyer satisfaction and sales satisfaction. Gross sales personnel had been educated in "consultative promoting" to replace onerous-promote tactics. https://jetblacktransportation.com/ had been flat in the late 1990s, however sounding a hopeful notice in 2000 was the April 25 announcement of a $1.5-billion money infusion. As well as, Saturn's 4-cylinder automobiles have been incomes helpful company common gasoline financial system (CAFE) credits for GM as a whole to offset sales of fuel-guzzling V-8 fashions, together with a fast-rising variety of thirsty full-size mild trucks.

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