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mcrane21ahsgov · 4 years

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Political Party Action

Blog post 3:

Criminal Law Reform: Mass Incarceration: Drug Law, Bail, Sentencing, and Parole Reform

Republican:

PLATFORM: The Republican party believes in “law and order”. They do not believe in the decriminalization of marijuana, and they promote states following the feudal law. They believe in capital punishment in prisons, including the death penalty. They call on the rest of the country to make feudal courts a model for Americans, protecting victims and their families.

AGREE/DISAGREE: I do not agree with the republican party's stance on criminal law reform. I do not believe in capital punishment and I believe states should be able to make laws for each state and do not necessarily need to follow federal laws.

Democrat:

PLATFORM: Democrats believe that police brutality is a very pressing issue in America and that the high incarceration rate, specifically among BIPOC, is something that we as a country need to address. Democrats also believe that defunding the police and allocating funds to places like mental health professionals and rehab facilities will decrease the deaths and incarceration rates among BIPOC. Something the Democrats are very much for is the decriminalization of marijuana and eliminating the use of cash bail as it is very unfair to people in a hard financial situation. Overall the Democrats would like to lower the incarceration rates for everyone and help people stay out of jail.

QUOTES: “America is the land of the free, and yet more of our people are behind bars, per capita, than anywhere else in the world”

“It is past time to end the failed “War on Drugs,” which has imprisoned millions of Americans—disproportionately Black people and Latinos—and hasn’t been effective in reducing drug use. Democrats support policies that will reorient our public safety approach toward prevention, and away from over-policing—including by making evidence-based investments in jobs, housing, education, and the arts that will make our nation fairer, freer, and more prosperous.”

AGREE/DISAGREE: I very much agree with democrats on this topic. I believe being addicted to drugs or being poor is not a reason for you to be in jail. While this issue of mass incarceration has been growing for many many years and is not one person's fault, I believe that if Joe Biden is elected he and his team will do something about this and aid to help those in need in our criminal justice system.

Green:

PLATFORM: The green party wants to reduce the prison population, invest in rehabilitation, and end the failed war on drugs. Their priorities include efforts to prevent violent crime and address the legitimate needs of victims while addressing the socio-economic root causes of crime and practicing policies that prevent recidivism. Their solutions include treating substance abuse as a medical problem, not a criminal problem, free all non-violent incarcerated prisoners of the drug war, increase funding for rape and domestic violence prevention and education programs, and never house juvenile offenders with adults. Their stance on parolees involves, providing incarcerated individuals the right to vote by absentee ballot in the district of their domicile, and the right to vote during parole.

QUOTES: “The negative effects of imprisonment are far-reaching. Prisoners are isolated from their communities and often denied contact with the free world and the media. Access to educational and legal materials is in decline. Prison administrators wield total authority over their environments, diminishing procedural input from experts, and censoring employee complaints.”

“Greens also call attention to the fact that more than forty percent of those 2.3 million locked down come from America's black one-eighth.”

AGREE/DISAGREE: I mostly agree with the green party's stance on criminal justice. I agree that we should allow no violent criminals to vote, and the right to vote during parole. I also agree with releasing anyone in prison there for marijuana or nonviolent drug charges. I do not entirely know where I stand on a few issues they stand for like never housing juvenile offenders with adults.

Libertarian:

PLATFORM: The Libertarian party believes that the government is creating laws that only pertain to “life liberty and property”. They are not in favor of punitive damages, designed to punish the wrongdoer. They oppose the prosecutorial practice of “overcharging” in criminal prosecutions to avoid jury trials by intimidating defendants into accepting plea bargains.

QUOTE: “Therefore, we favor the repeal of all laws creating “crimes” without victims, such as gambling, the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes, and consensual transactions involving sexual services.”

AGREE/DISAGREE: I do not agree with most of the libertarian party's views, as I believe they do not better our criminal justice system. I believe most of their “rules' ' are one-sided and don't take into account others. I do agree with how they want to make marijuana legal and decriminalize sex workers.

Peace and Freedom:

PLATFORM: The peace and freedom party or otherwise known as the “feminist socialist party”, wants to repeal the Patriot Act, abolish the Department of Homeland Security, stop state-sponsored spying on and violence against progressive organizations, democratically-controlled police review boards with powers of subpoena and discipline, abolish the death penalty, repeal the Three Strikes law, stop trials and imprisonment of juveniles as adults, decriminalize victimless activities including drug use and consensual sex, legalize marijuana, end the "war on drugs," which is primarily directed against poor and working-class people, abolish all torture in prisons, uphold prisoner rights, among other things.

QUOTE: “The bosses use laws against victimless activities, "legal" and illegal expansion of police powers, military and paramilitary occupation of poor and minority communities, and diversion of resources to police and jails, to keep workers intimidated and dependent.”

AGREE/DISAGREE: I agree with some of their positions like the legalization of marijuana, the abolishment of torture in prisons, and abolish the death penalty. I do not agree with abolishing the Department of Homeland Security or stopping trials and imprisonment of juveniles as adults in certain cases.

REFLECT:

I agree with the democrat party the most, which is not surprising as i identify as a democrat. I believe the Democrat party will do the cost to reform prisons and they have a solid plan to deal with mass incarceration in America. If i was 18 I would vote for Joe Biden.

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE:

My issues were somewhat addressed. They address the looting and rioting going on in cities and how police officers are not held to the same standards as citizens in terms of the law. During the debate it seemed like Biden carried a lot more about these issues, than Trump. As Biden does not condemn the violence going on in our cities he does not believe that we should send in the national guard like Trump does. Biden believes in de escalating the situation, not making it worse.

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thelightofthingshopedfor · 5 years

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@kiwimeringue replied to your post “I know it’s generally rude and very unwise to reply to a fandom...”

ok I'm super curious now, feel free to message me if you want to talk about it all stealthy-like~

@veliseraptor replied to your post “I know it’s generally rude and very unwise to reply to a fandom...”

i'm so curious

apparently I did want to talk about it, because this got looooong (also please do not add more discourse to this post, it’s probably kind of shitty of me but I don’t super want to have a dialogue about it, I just want to barf out my thoughts and defend my own faves on my own post, so if you want to argue with me I would really rather you didn’t and just made your own post instead)

(I also only just realized that I only put “tony stark negative” and “tony stark critical” in the tags, not anywhere before the cut, so here’s your warning now if you didn’t see the tags that this is me being frustrated with a lot things about how Tony is written)

I can't find the actual post now to screenshot or link because I just came across it on my dash, got annoyed, scrolled past, and then made my post when I couldn't stop grumpily thinking about it (so at this point I also don't remember who the OP was or who reblogged it onto my dash, which is probably just as well), but the gist was that almost all MCU title characters have storylines establishing that they're wrong about something and they show growth by accepting that and working to improve...except Steve, who never acknowledges that he might ever be wrong about anything, with the implication that this makes him a bad, self-righteous character who is basically incapable of growth. several other characters--Tony, Thor, Dr. Strange, Peter Parker--were mentioned, but the state of fandom discourse makes me assume any Steve-negative post exists at least in part to show how much better Tony is, which...may not always be a fair assumption on my part, but I do think it's fair to say that's still a relevant context. and of course Steve is one of my favorite characters, so anything even mildly Steve-negative puts me at least somewhat on the defensive right away, which again is not necessarily fair. (the other post that’s already sitting in my notes is about Ragnarok, which is probably even less surprising.)

anyway the post made me grumpy to begin with and then doubly so because I couldn't think of a good way to refute it aside from "yeah well maybe Steve's just a better person than your faves and he doesn't need a whole character arc about realizing he's been an asshole and needs to change because he didn't start out as an asshole to begin with, bet you didn't think of that huh" which is of course VERY unhelpful. but then I started thinking about how I don't think OP is right about the changed characters to begin with, given that a) it's not really fair to compare a character who's only had one solo movie (Dr. Strange) with characters who've had more, b) Spider-Man is kind of an edge case because he's a teenager and a lot of the problems in his movies stem from a combination of him being a fucking teenager and Tony dumping him with tons of dangerous tech that he doesn't have the training or adult impulse control to use safely and then blaming him when disaster inevitably results, and c) the characters who have had multiple movies and arcs focused on realizing they were wrong about something (just Thor and Tony, really) are...maybe not actually great examples because like 75% of that character development seems to reset after each movie and, actually, the narrative still operates under the premise that these characters are basically right even if some other characters don't agree. like...I mean, the only lessons Thor really, consistently seems to learn are "humans are at least not totally worthless (but lbr they're mostly silly and cute)" and "Odin is extremely wise and probably right about almost everything despite mountains of evidence--that grow with every single film he's in--to the contrary".

and Tony, well--yeah, that's his arc, in theory, and in theory I don't have a problem with flawed characters who keep making the same mistakes because let's face it, that's a very human thing to do. but with posts like this, it's like...you're effectively arguing that he doesn't really make mistakes overall, though, because it’s really just an opportunity for growth? and that when he does, the narrative shows he's wrong, he admits he's wrong, and he makes consistent efforts to change? which...again, obviously I have my own biases, but I have to see this as a weird interpretation because he's basically been the main character of the entire MCU thus far, which means he's likely to get sympathetic treatment and justification from the narrative even if he's ostensibly being called out for fucking up, and that's something I've definitely seen. his entire first movie is about him realizing how wrong he was and working to do better, definitely, but he ends up being his own worst enemy half the time and other people suffer for it. like...he wants to protect the world, okay, that's a reasonable goal. you can argue that the vision Wanda gave him made things worse, and that's possible, but I don't know how much that might be true given that I'm pretty sure he was working on Ultron before that too (and her mind-magic mostly seemed to work by emphasizing something that was already there, not planting new ideas). so he ends up creating a murderbot, with good intentions but he still does it and he keeps it secret from the other Avengers, and now-sentient murderbot immediately reaches the conclusion that humanity is awful and they won't need protecting if they're all gone, and everything breaks very bad, and then Tony...basically does the exact same thing again, without telling anybody else, in hopes that it'll work out better this time because JARVIS? and it does but that seems like mostly luck? and everybody manages to defeat the murderbot, barely, but a not-insignificant number of civilians die anyway because that tends to happen when a sentient murderbot goes on a rampage, and Tony feels really guilty about this when it's shoved in his face, so he deals with his guilt by kind of...spreading it around and allowing the possibility of other major problems down the line so they can hand over some of that responsibility and he can feel less guilty. (that’s not the most charitable interpretation, yeah, but I also don’t think it’s an unreasonable one, based on what’s there in the text.) and then of course things blow up and other problems get dragged in and it's a huge mess and half the Avengers are fugitives, and the general consensus sort of seems to be that nobody was completely right or completely wrong but Steve is the only one who actually apologizes for any of it (no wait, I guess Wanda and Vision apologized but just to each other) and Rhodey reinforces the idea that the Accords were a good idea with no major drawbacks...and then Thanos shows up and things get SO VERY MUCH worse.

and Tony is once again stricken with grief and guilt (not to mention half dead), so lashing out at Steve is understandable, but what he actually says is basically that this is all Steve's fault because he wasn't there (even though he immediately sent Tony that phone, which means Tony could have contacted him at any time but hesitated to do so even when monsters were basically falling from the sky), and he was right about the Accords and Ultron even if the latter didn't work out so well in ways that probably could have been predicted, and...that's what we're left with. nobody else has a meaningful opportunity to say "now hold on a second, you cannot possibly be arguing both for accountability and for your right to decide for the entire world that exchanging some freedom for some potential security is a good trade, and also how are you saying you were essentially right about Ultron when Ultron is what kicked off the desire for the Accords" or, like, anything. (does the world need a security blanket? going by the evidence...yeah, probably? but again. Tony. you tried that and you made a sentient murderbot instead so like, your track record is not great!!)

and then it all culminates with Tony sacrificing himself to save the universe, which I do at least think was a climactic, thematically resonant send-off for such a major character--for the final time, in the most final possible of ways, he reaches a point where there's no more clever tricks and he reacts by selflessly taking the entirety of the consequences onto himself. I can't say I'm happy with it, because I'm not a fan of character death in general even when it doesn't involve my top faves, and it absolutely would have been possible for the filmmakers to keep him alive if they hadn't gone into this with the specific intention of ending Tony's arc with his death. (ditto on all the other major character deaths, which is a big part about why they make me mad--none of them really, honestly had to happen, some even less than others.) but regardless of my feelings on whether it had to happen, it's inarguable that his entire arc from Iron Man to Endgame is that of a brilliant but selfish manchild who changes and grows until he doesn't hesitate to make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of the entire universe.

BUT THEN THERE'S SPIDER-MAN AGAIN.

spoilers if you haven't seen Spider-Man: Far From Home but like, the entire conflict of that movie was based on two major things: a bunch of disgruntled Stark Industries employees, at least some of whom had to have legitimate, recent grievances (and frankly that whole mess demonstrates--among other things--that Stark Industries must have unforgivably lax security around its arsenal of world-ending weapons); and Tony's decision at some point to essentially REMAKE ULTRON AND THEN DUMP THAT RESPONSIBILITY ON A FUCKING TEENAGER WITH ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN THE WAY OF WARNINGS, TRAINING, OVERSIGHT, OR EVEN BASIC FAILSAFES, like holy shit my computer spends more time making sure I definitely want to delete that file than EDITH does about confirming that yes this random teenager is a legitimate target for IMMEDIATE DEATH. all the other adults involved in this clusterfuck bear a good share of the responsibility for this too, given that not one of them ever seemed to think either "hey, maybe saddling a smart and very good but basically normal sixteen-year-old boy with the power and responsibility (but not the resources or experience) of a grown-ass adult with unlimited resources is not the smartest move here, and yelling at him when he inevitably fucks up this power and responsibility we dumped on him with no training whatsoever is not actually fair or reasonable" or even "maybe before giving a piece of massively powerful and dangerous tech to a sixteen-year-old boy, we should spend at least 15 minutes going over the device's major functions and how to not accidentally kill someone, even if we figure things like ethics and privacy rights and knowing when not to use this tech aren't that important".

but, but, Tony still made the decision to give it to him, and he did so without building in any precautions at all, which is the exact same thing he did in CW/Homecoming with Peter's new suit (yes, the Training Wheels protocol was a good step, but the fact that it could just be turned off that easily--and that Tony isn't shown even trying to tell Peter to use the training programs or safely practice with the suit--shows that it really, really wasn't good enough) except even worse because EDITH is about 100 times more invasive and destructive than the suit. and he pretty much scolded Peter in Homecoming for getting ahead of himself, but then the second Peter did well in a bad situation Tony was right back to making this teenager an official Avenger and giving him all this power and responsibility he'd just decided Peter hadn't really earned, and Peter turned him down because at that point he had a better idea of his own limits and need for growth than Tony did, and then!! in what must have been one of his last acts alive!! Tony dumped an even bigger, more dangerous power/responsibility combo on him!!! way way bigger than the one he'd already turned down and maturely decided he wasn't yet experienced enough to handle!!! without even giving him a chance to say no!!!! and did not take any of that (or the mess with Ultron and the lessons he theoretically learned there, or the mess with the Accords and the lessons he theoretically learned there, or for that matter the lessons he theoretically learned in his three solo movies about treating his employees well and making sure he knows exactly what his company is doing at all times) into account when designing it, handing it off to other adults who also should have been more responsible about it, and leaving it to a teenager against that teenager's stated wishes, thereby ensuring that this teenager will follow Tony's footsteps in being unable to have a normal life!!!!!

...................but, okay, the point of the original post was that Steve is generally deemed to be Always Right and therefore he never has to change, and that makes him unrelatable at best and also not a great character. which...well, that's part of the point, that's why he was picked for Project Rebirth in the first place because he's a good dude dedicated to doing what's right; even before the serum, he was literally willing to die to protect a few people he barely knew (the grenade scene, remember). he was already starting from a point of selflessness and an understanding of responsibility that the others lacked, so it would be tough to give him a similar character arc without undermining or ignoring the whole point of the character. sure, though, even a character like Steve is imperfect and human and bound to be wrong sometimes, and when that happens he should acknowledge he was wrong and take steps to make amends, and if he's never shown doing any of that, it's true that it's not great even if part of the issue is that he's never really put in a position to do so.

except, except DID YOU ALL COMPLETELY FORGET THE ENDING OF CIVIL WAR

like, sure, if what you wanted was to hear Steve say "I was wrong about everything and Tony was right about everything, and I will humbly submit to whatever you think is best regardless of my own convictions, my very good reasons for having those convictions, and my personal concerns for my friends, or at the very least I will humbly ask for forgiveness and accept whatever you throw at me, because Tony Was Right About Everything," then...yeah, I'm sure it was a disappointment, especially if you figure Tony was right about the Accords and at least the intentions behind Ultron. it's true Steve doesn't really address any of that, which indicates he definitely still believes he’s right about those parts. but...look, the last time he saw Tony, he was fighting to save his lifelong friend from being murdered from a crime he didn't necessarily remember and really wasn't responsible for. once again I don't blame Tony for reacting emotionally and lashing out at the nearest targets instead of the people who were really at fault, but that doesn't change the facts of the situation, which are, Steve was fighting to save Bucky's life. and when he did that by incapacitating Tony, he didn't go any further; he took Bucky and left. and then he almost immediately sent Tony a letter of apology and a means of contacting him in return if an emergency comes up--and again, yes, his apology wasn't "I'm sorry for everything because I was wrong about everything," but it was a genuine, compassionate apology for the ways he'd hurt Tony even if his intentions were basically good. (this of course assumes that he really did know for a fact that Bucky killed the Starks and consciously chose to hide the knowledge from Tony, and frankly I'm not convinced that's true, but it's not really the issue here.) honestly, I thought his letter was kind of funny because it so closely followed the format of the apology-note meme--you know, "I was trying to do X, but I see now that I hurt you because Y" and everything. he didn't apologize for opposing the Accords or protecting Bucky or fighting in Germany so he could get to Siberia in time to stop what he had every reason to believe was a much bigger threat, because all those actions stemmed directly from his convictions and sense of morality and he wouldn't be Steve Rogers or Captain America if he was willing to compromise his most foundational convictions--but he absolutely did apologize for hurting Tony and recognized that he'd made at least one big mistake where Tony was concerned.

Tony...didn't. even before doubling down on the Accords and Ultron, I don't think he ever really said, hey, at least some of this was my bad; most of what he said boiled down to "okay this situation isn't ideal but I'm sure if I throw more money at it things will work out fine, more or less". in the Raft and in Siberia he got close to saying that maybe he'd been wrong about a few things, but that all went out the window pretty quick, and I don't think there's ever a point where he--just for instance--at least apologizes for trying very very hard to kill Bucky. and by Endgame, apparently he’s pretty much walked back what little he did kinda sorta think he was maybe wrong about. so.

that's...basically what I've got, OP’s interpretation is wrong because their facts are actually wrong and I was apparently annoyed enough to barf out all these words when I could’ve been doing anything else, the end

#tony stark critical #tony stark negative #I mean I think I'm being reasonably fair here but just to be safe #conversations #veliseraptor #kiwimeringue #marvel cinematic universe #steve rogers #meta #my meta #captain america: civil war #avengers: endgame #spider-man: homecoming #spider-man: far from home #avengers: age of ultron #avengers: infinity war

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iamtrashforash · 5 years

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“Problematic” Fanworks, i.e. Re: Last Reblog

A particularly prolific and highly talented artist-writer duo in the Banana Fish fandom has been getting aggressive messages that toe and occasionally cross the line to harassment, on top of actual hate messages. The common grievances are that their fanworks often feature “controversial” pairings, e.g. Max/Ash and Foxx/Ash, and are sexually explicit in nature.

@silverquillsideas wrote a lengthy response to an anon ask regarding the matter, which I would highly recommend people to read. I am mostly interested in the responses to @silverquillsideas post, which I find to echo similar sentiments (or “arguments”) found on Twitter and Tumblr.

[Fiction affects reality. These fanworks contribute to the normalisation and/or romanticisation of rape, abuse, and pedophilia. Hence, they are not allowed to exist.]

To “normalise” these things, I argue that the works have to present them in a normalised manner. However, this is simply not the case. The fanworks are conscientiously put behind age and NSFW filters (in this case, Privateer) and well-tagged with trigger warnings. At one point, the artist even made a separate, viewable upon approval account for the more NSFW pieces, so that people who are interested only in the SFW or “sanctioned to be non-problematic” artworks need not be notified of the existence of the “non-sanctioned” artworks. The experience is highly opt-in, and is by no means normalising. The multiple filters and warnings highlight the paraphilic, outside-the-norm nature of the artworks.

Personally, I think this normalisation argument is patronising: it underestimates the ability of adults (especially -- let’s be honest here -- female adults) to distinguish between reality and fiction, and between safe, consensual sex and fantasy materials.

[Think about the children!]

This argument is often attached to the normalisation argument. It is heavily undermined by the presence of the age filters. Age filters are put up precisely because, in general, younger consumers lack the critical thinking to properly compartmentalise fiction/fantasy from reality. When you click through an age filter, you are, in effect, declaring that you have the critical thinking and maturity to properly digest whatever awaits beyond.

[Fandom is a safe space!]

And still it remains, as long as we keep up the standards of proper age filters, NSFW filters, and trigger warnings.

[Why would you have these unhealthy fantasies when healthier fantasies exist? What is wrong with you?]

Sometimes, people ship things because they think it looks good. It appeals to an aesthetic side of them. Sexual arousal by visual cues is, unsurprisingly, greatly rooted in the aesthetics. It does not need to go deeper than that. An anecdote: I am, technically speaking, a Shingeki no Kyojin Eren/Levi shipper. Since I neither read nor watch SnK, for a long, long time, I did not realise Eren’s age and the age gap between the two. Even after finding out, I could not stop aesthetically liking the ship. When I ship them, I am not consciously and actively shipping a teenager with a middle-aged man. I ship them because they appeal to me aesthetically: I like their visuals and the fandom’s depictions of their interactions in doujinshi. I fancy that, for a lot of people, this compartmentalisation of aesthetics and age of the characters involved happens often. Some people, however, seem incapable of internalising the idea that other people are capable of this mental separation -- a failure of the imagination.

(A tangent: I mean no harsh judgment on those who fail to separate character age from fantasies, but I think one does have to accept the personal limitations of one’s own tastes. Personally, I find it hard to separate biology from shipping; hence, A/B/O fanworks are simply Not My Thing. The common trope of feminising male omega characters tends to make my eye twitch. But I am not leaving comments of how disturbed I am on A/B/O fanworks for their dissemination of wildly inaccurate biological facts and/or their tendency to reinforce a masculinity-femininity binary in MLM relationships.)

Regarding depictions of rape, assault, abusive relationships, etc., ravishment fantasies are very common; this is a fact. Sexual arousal, fear, pain, and pleasure are incontrovertibly linked: they all belong to the response pathways of the “primitive brain”, having existed long before our ancestors began developing the cortex of higher thinking. The arbitrary categorisation of “healthy” and “unhealthy” fantasies means nothing to something as basal as sexual responses.

[Still, these fantasies are disturbing.]

Some of them do disturb me. However, again, the content creators have done their utmost to make sure the experience is opt-in by nature, with big warning signs attached. If you think the content will disturb you, please do not engage with it. Think of it as not buying pickle-flavoured ice cream when you know it won’t be to your taste and/or you are allergic to pickles. The presence of pickle-flavoured ice cream might weird you out, but you have no obligation to consume it. In the same way, it is unreasonable for you to demand the ice cream company to withdraw their product because the thought of pickle ice cream disturbs you, or to complain to the convenience store for allowing the pickle ice cream to be stocked on their shelves. They released the flavour because they believe there is an audience for it out there, and that the release would bring some people delight and/or money.

[I have the right to announce how disturbed I am by these fanworks.]

I agree. You do not, however, have the right to harass people over them, especially when -- I reiterate -- the creators have made the entire experience highly opt-in.

Also, I implore you to think of the practical consequences of your actions before you decide to send strongly worded messages to content creators:

No real person is harmed in the creation of fanworks.

On the other hand, your strong words may dampen the mood of a real live person who has decided to share their talents with the world.

In consequentialist terms, when you send messages like, “You disgust me,” to a content creator, the net result of your actions is....negative. In other words, I am asking you, “Aren’t there better things to do with your time?”

[To depict Ash, a sexual abuse survivor, in sexual situations is highly damaging/insensitive/triggerring to CSA survivors.]

I have a very personal, by-no-means objective reaction to this particular extremist view. Please just skip this entire section if rationality is what you seek. I will even give you a TL;DR; it reads, “Fuck off.”

I had an entire essay planned on this for my own benefit -- think of it as bloodletting -- but I might as well say it now. Banana Fish and Ash made me realise that I was the victim of a systematic pedophile, almost twenty years after the fact. Ash and I had our fateful encounters at roughly the same age, in startlingly similar scenarios.

The realisation came more as a shock than I could ever have expected. I struggle (note the present tense) with the endowment of the mantle of a victim. I don’t know why Ash became the final piece to the jigsaw puzzle -- I mean, I had read Lolita cover to cover multiple times -- but I hypothesise that it is because his trauma does not consume most of his identity. So many stories of abuse survivors are heavily focussed on how their experiences, well, fucked them up, but I -- I was so young that I got out without any visible mental and physical scars; all that is left are grimy fingerprints on a pane of glass, visible only when you breathe on it. Specific parts of my body are weirdly off-limits in sexual situations, but I managed to ascribe those to “just how my body is” instead of “the parts he touched”. Stories about trauma are certainly needed, but what my memory needed was representation in the manner of Ash’s.

Reading about Ash exploring his sexuality, especially in a healing manner that I will never experience due to my odd lack of apparent trauma, helped me a lot with coming to terms with the realisation. I was devastated when an author abandoned an R18 fic of Ash reclaiming his sexuality with the help of Eiji, due to people messaging her with the argument above and claiming to speak for all CSA survivors. Thankfully, the author returned to finish the fic, but the experience overall had been marred, and the author was clearly uncomfortable with having posted the fic at all. It feels terrible to know that something that has helped me tremendously is regarded as disturbing by its own creator.

In other words, if you have used the above argument to harass content creators, please stop.

CLOSING REMARKS

I have none. It is currently 02.30 a.m. in Japan. Please feel free to comment with your own opinions and experiences; I will try to reply after I get some sleep. I may edit this piece tomorrow, should my morning self violently disagree with my 02.30 a.m. self.

#Banana Fish #discourse #fandom #I am trash for ash #long post

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s-3-3-s · 6 years

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Hello! regarding your post about how Tatsuya and Jun's relationship is treated in P2: IS I'd like to present my thoughts on it. In first place about the way people react, I didn't see anyone react to it actually beside the demons (and Lisa whose reaction stems from being rejected rather than any homophobic thoughts in my opinion) but I might just have missed it so tell me if I did please (The biggest reaction I saw was Eikichi whistling which wasn't even negative). [1/?]

Concerning the demons though you have to remember that they are shards of humanity more specifically shards of their unconscious which itself is filled with every thought and concept we don't want to share with the world, our deepest thoughts and secrets and that is exactly the reason the shadows react like they do in IS. This game takes place not only in Japan (which right now hasn't even legalized gay marriage much less attempted to fight the stigma against gay relationships) [but also in the year of 1999 where this kind of relationship was even less accepted than it is now, so in a way everything the demons say and every reaction to their relationship ends up reflecting in one way or another the way that the masses look at their relationship which again is rarely in a good way considering the setting of the game. That being said I don't think that representing the collective unconscious with this consensus is a bad way to represent it for a very simple reason. Every single time a demon asks about your relationship you can say that you are lovers and every time you are called out for being disgusting or for breaking a "taboo" you can tell them to their face that what you two have isn't a "taboo" or disgusting and it's not like that response is always the wrong one, which if anything spreads the message that you shouldn't give up on your relationship despite everything, that you can do whatever you want and that the masses, the demons, are just an obstacle in your way that you CAN defeat with ease, it tells you that no matter how loud their voices are you don't have to listen to them. If Atlus really had a problem with LGBTQ+ people they wouldn't have included the relationship at all in my opinion or they would have made jun way more effeminate (popular practice in a lot of yaoi media) and yet while he might be described as such the only effeminate thing about him are his looks because his voice gives him immediately away has a male, his clothes consist simply of his school uniform, and his actions aren't in any way feminine. Sure he might be a hopeless romantic (things like flower language, the French dinner and even to a certain extent his fixation on astrology certainly give that vibe) but that's not necessarily feminine behavior and does not erase the fact that Jun is for all matters and intents an average guy that happens to like Tatsuya or even guys in general (although we are not given any alone time with him to confirm this it is a possibility). As for the fact that this relationship was used as a way to attract Yaoi female fans and not put there for gay man to enjoy I'll have to both disagree and agree. Yes, I don't believe that this game option was made with the intention of offering gay man a way to engage in a gay relationship inside of the game BUT I don't think that the reason it was included was to attract yaoi fans either for two reasons. The first being that in the year this game came in 1999 the number of women who played video games on consoles when compared to the total number of players was of just about 30% without even accounting for the fact that Persona 2 was a very niche game in a yet pretty niche (even if it was starting to grow) genreso appealing to a small audience such as female yaoi fans would have just been a bad marketing decision specially considering how little effect it had on the overall plot of the game (being mostly just a little fun detail for people to have fun with and not something actual Yaoi fangirls would be that excited about). ________________________________________________________________Okay, I hope I got all of your asks here and didn’t leave any out. Sorry if I did! I haven’t deleted them so Ill go back through and add it in if one got left out. So, the first thing I wanted to say (sorry, these are gonna be all out of order) is that it was actually confirmed in an interview in the Persona 4 strategy guide that the reason Innocent Sin was the only game to have a gay relationship was in an attempt to try and appeal to fans of yaoi as that was a popular at the time. They wanted to gauge the reaction to it to see if it was worth continuing to include to appeal to these fans. Considering there hasn’t been a gay option since I think the outcome of that is self-evident. However, judging by how much emphasis I have seen people put on the relationship in more recent years (after PSP release in the US) and how much people have hung on to it even though it’s such a small detail I actually can see how they would think throwing in such a small insignificant thing like that would draw in a new demographic to the game. You can actually see a little bit of this in Persona 4 as well (the close, intimate friendships between same sex characters that I have seen many people go crazy over as ships, etc.) though I’m not sure if any of that was intentional or just fan interpretation. Regardless, the outcome was the same even if they were smaller details compared to the over all plot of the game. As for the demon responses, I half agree with you there. As someone who reads quite a bit of BL manga homophobia is often present (especially in older ones) usually to create isolating atmosphere (ie. secret lovers, people risking it all to be together, etc.) or just as a joke because yaoi isn’t geared towards gay men so it’s not like they are offending the target audience by doing this. Which one of these did persona intend? Maybe a bit of both. I do like your outlook on it thought, even if that wasn’t the main intention, and will try to incorporate that into my next play through of the game (not that I ever really had an issue with it to begin with but it’s just an interesting way to look at it).Also I feel the reason Jun wasn’t made more effeminate than he was was a.) He fits the “uke” role pretty well which does a much better job in appealing to women than an over the top campy stereotype would and most importantly b.) he is a very serious character involved in a very serious situation (which I will not get into for spoiler reasons) and that would severely detract from general atmosphere and the severity of the situations surrounding him. I don’t think either would have necessarily been horrible since gay stereotypes are a common thing and that was nothing compared to the two rape-y dudes from persona 5 but at the same time, given the type of character Jun is and who he is meant to appeal to it makes sense that they made him so feminine. As for the reactions of their friends at Tatsuya’s declaration, that’s never been a part I’ve seen any issue with. I mean, after all they are all friends and remain so for the entirely of the game so it wouldn’t make a ton of sense for them to have an adverse reaction. Lisa does give an awkward response to this compared to her response to choosing Maya and I do think it’s implied she thinks it’s a bit weird but it willing to brush it off for the sake of Tatsuya’s happiness. Do I think this is a bad thing? Of course not. I actually think that’s very realistic handling of the situation compared to outright supporting it or opposing it without question.

To wrap this up I don’t think the game is homophobic nor do I think any Persona, mainline SMT game, or any other Atlus game is homophobic and it was never my intention to imply that. However, my issue is with people praising the game as being “gay positive” and the other games as “homophobic” when I feel this game and other games are on the same level and it was never the intention of any of the games to portray a pro-gay message or appeal to gay fans. I don’t think what they have done is a terrible thing, but I don’t think it’s worthy of all the praise it’s been getting or that it warrants being called progressive. While I do like and agree with many of your view points on the matter, I do think we will have to agree to disagree over all. Thank you very much for sharing your opinion, btw! -Mod Eikichi

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ronaldmrashid · 5 years

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The Importance Of Feeling Uncomfortable For Personal And Financial Growth

With the racism and sexual assault allegations that have befallen the Governor of Virginia, the Attorney General of Virginia, and the Lt. Governor of Virginia, I was reminded of all the racist altercations I experienced growing up in Virginia for public high school and public university in the mid-to-late 90s.

Given the revelations at the senior levels of Virginia government today, you know racism in Virginia wasn’t unusual decades ago. Racism wasn’t a constant ubiquity, but I did experience some type of racist encounter about every 10th time I went out of the house.

One of the more milder examples I remember was while waiting in line to go to the bathroom at a gas station off I-95 heading south. A white guy behind me said, “Hey, don’t you understand English? What are you waiting for? The bathroom is open!“

I turned around and said, “There’s actually someone in there. They just didn’t lock the door. Do you understand the English that’s coming out of my mouth?”

He backed down with an “Oh, never mind.” But I was ready to rumble.

The amazing thing about all these racial experiences is that it’s all I knew after coming to America for high school.

I thought it was normal to be on the receiving end of racial slurs or racial innuendos every so often. I just endured and fought back as hard as I could each time.

Yes, I got suspended from school multiple times for fighting, but it was worth it to defend my honor. Kids stopped messing with me once they felt my fists of fury.

After I got a job in 1999 in New York City and again when I moved out to San Francisco in 2001, I realized that being a minority in America felt so much more comfortable in a diverse city.

My racial conflicts dropped from every 10th time I went outside to maybe every 25th time I went outside in Manhattan. In San Francisco, I can’t remember my last racial conflict because we are a minority majority city.

The Positives Of Discomfort

Looking on the positive side of racism, I thank my past racial altercations for having given me the extra strength I needed to endure those long work hours in banking for so many years. Racism gave me tremendous motivation to prove that I could succeed in America.

Yes, it is harder in the workplace when so few in management look like you and no one wants to mentor you. But screw that, I always told myself. Being a minority working in a smaller business in a satellite office was simply a great challenge to get ahead by being more energetic and entrepreneurial.

When I got promoted to VP at age 27, it was one of the greatest feelings ever. All of my contemporary colleagues were still Associates, one level down, and would stay Associates usually until 30-32 years old.

Getting the promotion was when I first realized the allure of meritocracy. It was also my first taste of power. When you need consensus from a committee to get promoted, you don’t mess with your senior colleagues.

Despite being gone from the workforce since 2012, I still have the energy and motivation as I did when I was a teenager.

It’s like having Ironman’s arc reactor, pulsating in my chest, driving me to keep going no matter what thanks to all the hate I experienced growing up.

And to be honest, this energy feels wonderful! I remind myself every day that it is this energy that has enabled both my wife and me to leave work behind at age 34.

And it is this confidence that has fortified me to take big risks in my career, in my investments, and in our online business.

Without this energy, I would not have been able to regularly get up by 5am for the past two years work on Financial Samurai for three hours before my wife and son woke up to then get to work as a dad. Instead, I would have probably slept in until 7am because taking care of a toddler is exhausting.

Hardship makes us better appreciate the good times.

Let’s Move To Virginia Instead!

Given how much racism and bullying has given me, I think it’s best for us to move back to Virginia and rejoin a 5.5% minority.

To survive in a less comfortable situation forces you to adapt. Learning things like self-defense, conflict resolution, self-deprecation, positive thinking and humor are all useful skills through our adult lives. What wonderful skills to teach our son.

Hawaii just seems like too comfortable a lifestyle to get motivated to do more than the average. When it’s 79 degrees and sunny, only the most disciplined individual would stay inside and study for three hours instead of go to the beach and play.

Virginia, overall, is a wonderful state with a strong economy and good people. People are products of their time, and I don’t blame a minority of Virginians for thinking the way they do about minorities.

In general, I look back upon my eight years there with fondness. The good outweighed the bad. Virginia was my rite of passage into adulthood.

It’s just the recent racial incidents involving Virginia’s political elite that have triggered forgotten memories.

Norther Virginia is about 50% cheaper than San Francisco in terms of housing. Meanwhile, there are plenty of solid public schools, where we’d probably end up as opposed to southern Virginia, where I went to college.

With each difficult encounter, his mother and I will mentor him by teaching him about hate and ignorance. And perhaps with each encounter, our boy will also develop a chip on his shoulder and a FIRE to prove the haters wrong that he cannot become somebody great.

By shunning a diverse environment for a more homogenous environment, my son will have a chance to experience more racial discrimination than if he were in San Francisco or Honolulu.

I fear that if we shelter our children too much, they’ll grow up to be ignorant, unmotivated individuals who will whine at the slightest of inconveniences.

I have three immediate neighborhood households that all have adult sons still living at home with their parents because life is too easy. When your parents pay for everything as an adult, there’s no longer an incentive to try.

Taking away a person’s ability to provide for themselves is so sad because it feels so amazing when you establish your independence.

My hope is that by putting our son in an environment where he will have to struggle more to get ahead, he’ll gain a tremendous amount of satisfaction and self-esteem as he grows older.

Besides, my mother-in-law lives in Virginia, my sister and nephew live in Manhattan, and my sister-in-law and family live in North Carolina.

Related: A Massive Generational Wealth Transfer Is Why Everything Will Be OK

Examples Of Uncomfortable Situations

When life becomes too easy, nothing really happens. Besides experiencing racism growing up, here are some personal examples of uncomfortable situations that helped me grow:

Being the new kid at school all the time. I was the new kid every 2-4 years growing up and I hated it. But I grew to have no fear chatting up anybody in a new environment, which made a big difference in my professional growth.

Having to get into the office at 5:30am. Getting in by 5:30am for two years at my first job, and then by 6am on average at my second job for 11 years, never felt natural. But after about 10 years, I no longer needed an alarm clock. I was conditioned to naturally wake up earlier than my peers to get things done. This productivity accelerated my path to financial freedom.

Confronting my boss for a severance. Without a manual, not many people have the confidence to argue their case for a severance. But I knew my worth, and I knew what would happen to the business if I suddenly left, or worse, went to a competitor. This confidence came from having to repeatedly stand up for myself growing up.

Writing mind-benders that may offend. I go through a process every six months which I call, “The Culling.” The Culling entails publishing an article that enrages a subset of undesirable readers who are unwilling to read beyond a headline or unable to understand the nuances of what I’m trying to say. My goal is to reduce the accumulation of easily triggered readers and grow a community of intelligent readers with well-argued rebuttals.

Now that I’ve shared such convincing arguments about the importance of consistently being uncomfortable for personal and professional growth, it’s clear that we should move to Virginia and not to Hawaii.

Oh, but wait. With important geoarbitrage moves, unless a divorce is what you want, it’s a good idea to have a consensus between spouses and partners.

Let’s see what my wife has to say. She spent 20 years growing up in Charlottesville, Richmond, and Williamsburg, Virginia.

The Choice Is Obvious

Hi everyone! Sam and I are fortunate to be quite a balanced couple. Opposites attract as they say.

He’s mostly an extrovert; I’m a total introvert. He’s very athletic; I’m a total klutz. He’s super efficient and fast at most things; I tend to be slow and cautious.

So what are my thoughts on Sam’s idea to move to Virginia? Absolutely not. My answer is, Hawaii of course!

Here are just a few of the reasons why.

1) I grew up in Virginia and although I agree that it is a beautiful state with plenty to offer, I booked a one way ticket out of there after college graduation faster than Quicksilver in X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Virginia: Been there, done that. I’ve never looked back.

2) Racism is terrible. Plain and simple. Does it exist more in less diverse places? Probably. But sadly it exists everywhere. Our son will likely experience some encounters of racism no matter where he grows up. I also do not want to intentionally expose our son to unnecessary negativity and hatred. I do plan to teach him to respect people of all sorts through travel, reading, volunteering, and having many open discussions wherever we live.

3) I do not believe our son needs to experience racism and be a minority in school in order to be a driven, hard working individual. His personality is unique and definitely a blend of both Sam and me, although I see Sam’s focus and determination in our son as clear as day. My motherly instinct already tells me our son is going to be a good student who wants to succeed. I know he will need coaching and a supportive environment to get past obstacles and we’ll be there for him.

For example, when our son can’t do something, like get a block to fit into his shape sorter toy, he yells out in frustration and throws the block to the ground. He has daddy’s fire.

That’s my cue to pick up the block, put it back in his hand, help him wiggle it into the right spot, and then share in his excitement. Seeing the ear-to-ear grin on his face when he pushes the block in followed by him immediately try another shape by himself says it all.

Fight Or Flight

Growing up as a multiracial kid, I was at the top of the minority list in school. I was literally the only one of my “kind” – Japanese mother, Caucasian father. I didn’t look Asian; I didn’t look white. Our town was almost completely 50% white, 50% African American.

I looked “weird” as some girls said. “What ARE you?” was another question I’d often get. Fortunately, I had a few friends who looked past my appearance and the shock that I had an Asian mother.

I didn’t “belong” in Japan either. Everyone stared at me wherever I went in Japan. Some whispered look at the gaijin; this word for foreigner has a bit of a negative connotation.

Others said I was so lucky to be half because I had pale skin and big eyes. Thank you, I guess. But what are they saying about people who are tan with small eyes?

Fortunately, I didn’t experience frequent bulling or racist remarks, but I still had my share. That didn’t make me want to fight back like Sam though.

The hurtful comments made me want to leave. The rest were just annoying distractions. I knew they didn’t define who I was and that my racial background made me unique and wasn’t something anyone could take away.

I don’t like confrontation; I never have. When kids and adults have said mean things to me I don’t talk back; I usually stay silent and walk away. Sam sees this as letting them walk over me. Perhaps, but I don’t give people like that any power over me.

I’m just the type of person who doesn’t want to waste any energy or time on disrespectful people who just don’t get it.

That doesn’t mean I wasn’t hurt. I felt sadness, isolation, and frustration especially growing up. But, I really don’t like to dwell on negativity. I have so many better things to do!

Finding Motivation From Within

The one thing I’m certain of is that we are all motivated by different things. I remember someone telling me that during management training at work and it’s totally true.

You might be motivated by adversities, or discrimination, the desire to be the best, money, family, power, financial freedom, a better lifestyle, countless other things and likely a whole combination of things.

Growing up, I was self motivated to get good grades. Perhaps it was my perfectionist personality or the desire to be like my smarter sister. Who knows. What I don’t remember though is my parents ever pushing or telling me I had to get straight A’s.

In middle school and high school, I was motivated to be the best violinist in school and to get the lead part in every theater production. I think a combination of wanting recognition and enjoying those activities were my main motivators.

In my career, I was definitely motivated by power, gaining autonomy, earning money, and recognition for my niche skills and efforts.

As a parent, I’m motivated by an immeasurable amount of love, and wanting to see our son happy, develop and succeed.

Ultimately, I believe motivation is very personal and has to come from within. I think it blossoms in supportive environments.

Some people get motivated in harsh environments, but definitely not all. I probably would have been mentally crushed over time if I was in a worse situation growing up. So I’m thankful my experiences weren’t much worse.

Making The Right Choice

Now that you’ve heard from both sides, we’re curious to hear what you would do if you were us? Your vote will help determine our family’s fate.

Would you move to warm and sunny Honolulu, where life is even more comfortable than it is in San Francisco? The majority of the Honolulu population will look like our boy, either Asian or multi-racial. He’ll grow up in an environment that is much more chill because most people in Hawaii are working to live, not living to work.

Or, would you move to somewhere in Virginia, where it is very hot or very cold for half the year. Such temperature will help him appreciate the other half of the year better. Our boy will feel the discomfort of being a 5.5% minority. As a result, he’ll better learn how to deal with difficult situations like racism and bullying. He’ll also get a quicker taste of how cruel the real world is so he can hopefully be more motivated to study and work hard.

In conclusion, what a blessing it is to grow up as a minority in America. If all I experienced was love and acceptance, I’d probably still be working at my soul-sucking job wondering what else is there to life. There would be no Financial Samurai.

Experiencing the bad has really helped me appreciate the good. I hope we can all realize this juxtaposition one day.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Silent Threats In The Night: My Charlottesville Story

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Beware Of Financial Blind Spots On Your Road To Financial Freedom

Readers, what were some uncomfortable situations you experienced growing up that helped make you stronger? How much real world hardship should we subject our children to before they enter the real world? Are people simply a product of their times, and as times change, people change?

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dashing-donna-blog · 7 years

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Blog Entry # 3

Part I

The test result that I got was ENFP-T. I agree with my test results first because almost a year ago, I took the same MBPT and got the exact same results. In, addition I agree with my results because I reflected on how I work on a task alone and as a team. People with my personality type are usually called people-centered who focuses on possibilities and new ideas rather than follow conventional ways. I can say that I am this way especially when it comes to my work ethics. I noticed that whenever I try to plan my tasks, I end up not following the plan, rather I jump from one unfinished task to start another. I do not have a concrete flow when working and I have the messiest workplace whenever I am stressed. On the other hand, when I am put with a team, I do not decide alone with the tasks even if I am the one in charge. I always ask first what my group mates think and most of the time would ask them to vote for the alternative that everyone wants. In a way this is beneficial because I feel like I do not offend anyone since we have all mutually agreed to the task on hand but most of the time, this comes off as a disadvantage because we are not able to start on the task on hand because most of the time people are unresponsive in group chats.

The recommended careers based on the infographic does not appeal to me because I have a different vision about my future. The careers that appeared were recreational therapist, restaurateur, preschool teacher and travel writer; all of these are careers that I am disinterested in. In addition, I believe that I have an innate creative side, however, by the way I was brought up, I think that I was not able to deepen these skills and it is too late to focus on them now. Growing up, becoming a lawyer was the path planted by my parents in my mind, I was interested in it, however, as I got older, I realized that maybe I am not fit for it for I do not have the discipline that lawyers do and I am easily affected by my emotions which can hinder me in creating fair judgements. This was also affected because I started to build a subtle interest in arts to be specific in film. Right now, I am in a flexible course that will help me decide in the future if I want to pursue my childhood dream or pursue a future in the unknown, exploring my capabilities.

Albert Einstein once said, “If you force a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree, it will live it’s whole life believing that it is stupid.” This is similar to leadership style. If you expect yourself to conform to a certain type of behavior in order to be an effective leader, then you may never get the chance to attain the best version of yourself. Knowing your personality type correlates to knowing your strengths and weaknesses, which in return would help you identify the most effective leadership style that you can implement.

Part II

The top 3 characteristics from my R-I-A-S-E-C test showed that I am most interested in Realistic, Social and Enterprising types of jobs and I think it is pretty consistent with my ENFP-T personality type. I just disagree with realistic and conventional since I think I am leaning more on the investigative type than realistic. My personality type involves jobs that should not be consistent or should not follow definite steps in order to reach a goal. I like being around the place and finding other ways in solving different problems.

Based on the level of preparation prescribed in the O*Net profile, I am currently in Job Zone Two, having attained a high school diploma. With this, I think I would be mostly interested in being a Customer Service Representative for this type of job fits my extroverted personality type. Although I am not interested in becoming one since I plan to attain higher Job Zone requirements in the near future, for now this is the job I’m most capable of doing for my personality type and the Job Zone requirement.

I have always set my mind to be in the field of business or having my own business, none of which appeared in my R-I-A-S-E-C results. Therefore, I believe that if I take one of the suggested jobs in my results, I may be able to fund for myself or earn money, however, I would not attain the feeling of fulfillment due to the aforementioned goal that I have in life.

On the other hand, I agree with the level of extroversion in my results. My highest result is enterprising which holds that I like to work with other people. This is true because I honestly cannot function without having friends, or I may be able to function but with friends around, I work better. In addition, I always consult my groupmates first and make sure that everyone has agreed to a consensus and is involved whenever I get assigned to be a leader. These characteristics, I think expresses my extroversion clearly.

Part III

By doing the selfstir assessment, I learned that in general, the people I surround myself with noticed that I am not really good at giving out feedback and I also saw and realized that I tend to judge people too quickly. I also saw that there are some negative qualities that I think I have, however, people have different opinions about it.

I guess my greatest strength is making sure that everyone is involved and my greatness weakness is that I don’t really give out feedback. I am however aware of these things already. For the feedback part, it is for the reason that I have this tendency to always want to be liked by others, therefore I tend to sugarcoat it if ever I do give feedbacks. I hate having to tell other people what I think they lack and I am always scared of hurting their feelings. On the other hand, I am also aware that I make sure that no one gets out of place.

The idea of other people rating me honestly scared me because as I have mentioned I have the tendency to always wanting to be liked. Some impressions have surprised such as not being vulnerable being one of my bottom five, but most have not since maybe it is due to the fact that the people who have rated me are people who I am close with, therefore I know how they see me already.

A 360 assessment increases a person’s self-awareness, address incompetencies and overall help a person improve his/her habits. In our everyday lives, we cannot really determine what are the bad habits that we are forming without the feedback of others. When you become aware of the “bad” habits that you have developed in the workplace, there is a higher chance of us being able to change these habits in order to be better. It provides us opportunities to develop as better persons.

In line with this, I believe that a good leader is not the perfect leader, rather the leader who is most open for change and development. Getting feedback from other people would play a huge role in helping you develop as a leader. A good leader is the type who knows how to adjust his/her leadership style based on the people he/she is working with and not the one who makes people adjust for him/her.

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arookiebookie-blog · 7 years

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Captive Prince Trilogy, CS Pacat

So, as always, I am obviously late to jump onto this bandwagon, but better late than never, right? Anyway, this is a book that I started reading based on the rating over on goodreads and also because I wanted to read something with not-hetero characters and this book was number on one of the “Listopias” that they have. I had no idea about the craze it had (and some of the not-craze) nor did I know that it was originally written for a forum and then subsequently published as a book (though the summary did seem a little fanfic-y to me, which was actually one of the reasons I decided to give it a go.) I did this mainly because I didn’t want any of the hype/negativity to influence my reading and also because I had to get out of a reading slump that I had been in, or should I say reading-only-fanfic slump. Anyway, this is the end of me blabbering and the start of the review! Also, I am a newbie to reviewing and photoshop, so if you have any suggestions, please don’t hesitate to tell me! x

Captive Prince (Book 1) - 4/5

What the hell is this book about? : Prince Damianos of Akielos is the rightful heir to the throne. In the wake of their father’s death, he is betrayed by his half-brother and shipped away to serve the Prince of Vere as a slave. In the story that follows, Damen not only has to figure out how to escape his enslavement, but also make sure that his identity is never revealed, because being the the Prince of Akielos in Vere will only mean one thing--death. But nothing is as it seems in Vere, and how long will Damen be able keep up his facade in front of the beautiful and manipulative Laurent?

Goodread’s synopsis

Review: This book was very different from what I had expected, with a synopsis that makes it sound more like a guilty pleasure read, this book kind of surprised me. Some of the aspects of the books were hard to get through and should definitely have some TW for some of the readers out there, but over all I was surprised by it. The writing was really good, I completed this book in one sitting because I was so eager to find out what happens to our character. A few of the scenes made me cringe, put down my book due to extreme second hand embarrassment and even groan in frustration. All in all, I did really like the first book, and wasn’t much affected by some of the questionable scenes because, mostly, I expected them. Though, I very strongly suggest that you make sure that you are aware of the warnings that this book has as , some of the times, this book does go into details.

Prince’s Gambit (Book 2) 3/5:

What the hell is this book about? : Following the events in Captive Prince, Damen and Laurent must now face the intricacies of War and slowly realize that they are just pawns in a game that is much bigger than they could have imagined. They must learn to trust each other as they each try to save their countries from war. But will that be enough?

Goodreads synopsis

Review: The general consensus seems to be that the second book was much better than the first one, however, this was not true for me. I really enjoyed reading the first book, but the story and narrative seemed to be dragging in this book. I felt that the author was trying to make up for the lack of world building in the first book by trying to describe much of the landscapes and customs in this book, which made for a very slow read. I did like some of the twists and “oh shit” moments of this book, but it took me a very long time to get through this book (at one point I put it down and didn’t pick it up for WEEKS). I had to sort of power through some of the portions and my rating is mostly based on the later half of the book, where I slowly started to re-gain interest. As with the first book, I very strongly suggest that you make sure that you are aware of the warnings that this book has as , some of the times, this book does go into details.

Kings Rising (Book 3): 4/5

What the hell is this book about?: On the brink of a momentous battle, . Laurent and Damen must unite in order to save their country and themselves. This may be a lot harder than it sounds when Damen’s true identity is revealed. Can Laurent and Damen forgive and forget?

Goodreads synopsis

Review: This book. Seriously. I think, out of all the three, I enjoyed this the most. Firstly, the title, ah, I love it when the title is so heavily significant to the book. It gives me a thrill to know that the title will make the most sense only to the readers. This book neatly ties up the story, but also leaves some possibilities open. The ending had me wanting more, though, I was not extremely satisfied by it and found it a bit abrupt. But overall, I enjoyed this book! Again, I very strongly suggest that you make sure that you are aware of the warnings that this book has as , some of the times, this book does go into details.

REVIEW FOR ENTIRE SERIES AT A GLANCE:

This book, while lacking a little in the world building, plays out an amazingly written story about royalty and the price you pay for it. The twists were unexpected and sometimes not so unexpected, yet shocking in the moment. It is a story that is extremely character driven, and each character has many different layers to them. This book, to me, is definitely more of a “guilty pleasure” as I have seen some of the negative reviews about this book and can’t help but agree to some of their points. I do love this story, and will want to revisit the characters sometime soon. The books might require you to power through some aspects of it, but it is quite enjoyable if you want a quick romance read, but also love the slow burn.

But, and I cannot stress this enough, if you want to give it a go, I strongly suggest you inform yourself of what you’re getting into. If you are someone who cannot handle reading about gore, manipulative tendencies, pedophilia, non-con, rape, dubious-consent, slavery, details of injury, gory descriptions of severe injuries, animal injury, etc at ANY level, THIS IS NOT FOR YOU. Please, take care of yourself and steer clear of this series.

I also found this amazing post which goes into a little more details about the warnings and such, and also links/talks about a post that has marked pages which includes the page numbers where all the warnings occur, however, I, personally feel that some of the aspects are extremely difficult to avoid. Click here.

BONUS! Review for “The Summer Palace” ( A Captive Prince Short Story: Can you review a 30-page story? I sure as heck will try to. This short story satisfied my need for more of Laurent and Damen. What was left wanting at the ending of the third book, was deeply satisfied by this short story. This is just shameless pure fluff. I highly recommend.

Wow, that was lengthy AF, but anyway this was my first review, it would mean a lot if you guys put forward any suggestions/asks so that I can improve! And also, help me out with formatting text posts for tumblr? Cause it is not very user friendly!

#captive prince book review #book reviews #arookiebookie reviews #first review #captive prince trilogy #captive prince #cs pacat #i hope this was okay #do input your suggestions #i just want friends #what do i tag #read me #please?#the summer palace #prince's gambit #kings rising

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johnmauldin · 7 years

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10 Things I learned From Meetings With Trump’s Transition Team

I was in Washington, DC, on Inauguration Day.

That gave me the opportunity to set up a few meetings with members from Trump’s transition team (many of whom read my free weekly letter, Thoughts from the Frontline).

During those talks, I gained some insight into what the first 100 days, the first six months, and the first year of the Trump administration might look like.

Here’s a summary of my impressions.

Let’s dive in.

Everything is planned out in detail

If you listen to the media, you might have the impression that the Trump transition team is in complete disarray. But my talks with leaders of the transition team certainly didn’t leave me with that impression.

They have broken the transition process down into over 30 departments and have created a “landing document” for each department. The analogy they are using is that this process is like planning an invasion... they’re going to hand the landing document off to the “beachhead teams” who will then execute the plans.

I was briefly allowed to look at (without actually being able to read) the plan for one cabinet-level department. It appeared to be about 100 pages plus of serious detail as to exactly what executive orders would need to be removed and added, what personnel would have to be replaced (both appointees and regular staff), what policies would need to be changed, and so forth.

I was told that this level of planning was being done for every department. My impression is that there are a lot of people from various think tanks and others with experience in the presidential transition process who are involved in directing the plan for each department.

That level of detailed planning doesn’t happen in less than two months. My guess is that some of that thinking has been going on for years, and now it can be implemented.

When I asked a key person how much of the overall plan would likely come to fruition, I got a rueful smile and a shrug. “If we even get half of this done in the first few years, that will be major reform.”

There seem to be two general types of agency plans

First, there are those where the culture of the department has to be changed, and then are those where the current staff seems to be doing its job, but the culture surrounding the department has to be dealt with.

Those are entirely different issues. The first can be handled to some degree by the executive branch, but the latter needs to be dealt with by congressional action.

Trump’s management style is going to drive the world nuts—until we get used to it

One person who has worked closely with Trump during the transition says it is a lot like the HBO show Entourage and not at all like the British sitcom Yes, Minister.

Trump will have people in his entourage competing to give him the pieces of information he needs. In his business organization, he sets the vision and hires people to execute that vision. He then goes back to doing what we have seen him do so well, which is to create the brand and image.

He is bringing in people to execute his vision, and he’s going to expect them to get it done. He will jump in when he thinks he’s needed or when he can add something to the process, but he will mostly be paying attention to his team’s performance.

One assessment suggests that there is going to be more than the usual amount of personnel turnover in the first six months. The media will be writing about how Trump can’t keep people and about all the chaos in the White House and other parts of government. But from Trump’s perspective, and given his management style, that’s not necessarily bad in terms of his longer-term goal of changing things.

We have not had a president with this type of management style in my lifetime. Since it’s not something that any of us are going to be familiar with, it is going to make some of us uncomfortable until we get used to it (and some people never will).

Everyone in the new administration and Congress agrees there is going to be significant tax reform

That is where the agreement ends. There is absolutely no consensus on what that tax reform should actually look like. Among members of the US Congress (and others that you’d think should know), the universal answer is “I have no idea.”

I will candidly admit that some of the tax ideas I’ve been reading about make me nervous. The wrong type of tax reform can do serious damage to the economy. One of the few things that nearly all economists can agree on is that getting the incentive structure correct is critical.

I am not sure that some of the people who seem to be in a position to influence the proposals really understand the importance of incentives and the impact they could have on trade and business.

Part of the reason the market is up and that optimism levels are up in all the polls is that people have high expectations about the nature and depth of the tax reform we’ll get.

Failure to deliver on something that at least comes close to meeting those expectations is going to have a significant negative impact,, not just on the economy but also on the markets. I don’t know how long the new administration will have to “stand and deliver.”

Everyone is convinced that Obamacare will be repealed—but no one knows how

There are considerable differences in the plans that would replace Obamacare. (I wrote a few ideas about this back in October in "How to Build Healthcare Right.") My guess is that we are going to get substantial relief for small businesses and move towards more significant health savings accounts.

There will not be a single mandate for an insurance company to cover all sorts of things. A 55-year-old woman is not going to have to purchase insurance that has prenatal care in it. People will have much more ability to tailor insurance to their own personal needs.

This should help a great deal on costs to individuals and businesses, but it doesn’t deal with the overall cost of the system.

Dodd–Frank is going to be restructured

It is also very likely that the new DOL rule on fiduciaries and ERISA plans will at least be will be postponed... if not significantly changed.

On a personal note, there are parts of the DOL fiduciary rules that make sense, and I support them. But it appears to me that DOL was trying to make a one-size-fits-all rule that was just a bridge too far.

Trump can withstand more resistance than we think

Steve Moore passed on a story to me. He and my friend Larry Kudlow were meeting with Trump, and Trump asked them if they would like to be part of his economic advisory team during the campaign.

They looked at each other and back at Mr. Trump and said something to the effect of, “You can’t use us. We believe in free trade.” And Trump then said, “But we agree on nearly everything else. Let’s agree to disagree on trade and figure out where we can work together.”

Not many presidents are willing to have that level of disagreement from the outset. That is somewhat comforting to me. I will admit that, having asked a few questions of people who have interacted with Peter Navarro, he still makes me very nervous.

The biggest problem will be bureaucracy

There is a general understanding on the part of nearly everyone I talked to that the biggest problems are going to be in dealing with the entrenched bureaucracy.

It is highly likely that Congress will pass legislation that requires any department making a ruling that could cost over $100 million to get congressional approval for that rule.

There are literally thousands of presidential appointees that don’t have to be approved by the Senate

But the proper procedure is to wait until the cabinet-level officers and senior management are in place so that they can have input on those appointments. If you expect appointees to run a department or agency, you need to give them the people they want.

We’ll see a lot of legislation passed in the first six months

Congress has been passing literally hundreds of pieces of legislation, knowing full well they would be vetoed and never see the light of day. Not all of these will be brought back up, as the Republicans were counting on Obama vetoing them.

But I think we will see a great deal of legislation passed in the first six months to one year. These are bills that have already been through committee and have enough support to get action.

Final thoughts

On Monday, some 538 people who are the initial members of the transition beachhead teams will show up in offices all over the country, but mostly in DC.

It is going to be quite some time before we begin to see much change and can begin to figure out what that change will actually look like.

I’m not going to offer my thoughts on the inaugural speeches and events, as my political leanings are really not the focus of Thoughts from the Frontline (subscribe here for free). But in the areas where politics and economics intersect—an intersection that seems to be expanding—we may have to revisit the political arena again.

Watch my exclusive video about Trump's inauguration (3:16) below and don't forget to subscribe to our Youtube channel for more fresh analysis and insider information.

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Get a Bird’s-Eye View of the Economy with John Mauldin’s Thoughts from the Frontline

This wildly popular newsletter by celebrated economic commentator, John Mauldin, is a must-read for informed investors who want to go beyond the mainstream media hype and find out about the trends and traps to watch out for. Join hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide, as John uncovers macroeconomic truths in Thoughts from the Frontline. Get it free in your inbox every Monday.

#trump #economics #inauguration #us economy #economy #finance #investing #donald trump #potus trump

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preciousmetals0 · 4 years

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Market FOMO Rising; Disney Plus Ultra

Market FOMO Rising; Disney Plus Ultra:

Mr. FOMO Risin’

If you ever needed clear proof that the stock market does not represent the U.S. economy, today provided it.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced that 6.6 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. The latest data bring the total of new claims to more than 16 million for the past three weeks.

That’s 10% of the U.S. workforce gone. Poof. Vanished into the novel coronavirus tainted air.

How did Wall Street react to this economic travesty? With a rally, of course.

But, in Wall Street’s defense, it was distracted by shiny objects — $2.3 trillion worth of shiny objects, to be precise.

To keep investors from looking behind the curtain, the Federal Reserve announced a $2.3 trillion lending package to support the economy. Fed Chairman Oz — er, Jerome Powell declared that the central bank will “provide as much relief and stability as we can.”

You can read all the nitty-gritty details here — including the Fed’s plan to buy junk corporate bonds. (This literally can’t go belly up, right?)

But Powell wasn’t alone in defending the U.S. economy. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC’s Squawk on the Street that the U.S. could open back up in May. Mnuchin noted that the Trump administration was doing “everything necessary that American companies and American workers can be open for business and that they have the liquidity that they need to operate their business in the interim.”

The Takeaway:

I want to believe, dear readers. I truly do.

I want to believe that, once the COVID-19 threat passes, everything will magically return to normal … that businesses will quickly rehire 16 million Americans and get us all back to work.

I want to believe that the Fed’s $2.3 trillion announcement, the Treasury Secretary’s appearance on a major financial TV show and the revelation of 6.6 million new jobless claims happening on the same day is just a coincidence. (Hint: It’s not.)

I also want to believe that the recent market rally is the start of a new bull market … that there’s no more risk left in the system … and that rainbows and monkeys will fly out of my … well, you get the picture.

Right now, if you’re following Great Stuff’s recommendations, you’re likely experiencing a heavy dose of “fear of missing out,” or FOMO. You’ve got that FOMO risin’. And it’s gonna keep on risin’.

But you and I, we didn’t just get into town about an hour ago. We know which way the wind blows.

We know that the economic bill for the COVID-19 shutdown has to come due sooner or later. Wall Street can ignore weekly jobless claims. It can ignore a trickle of economic data here and there — especially when the Fed chair and the Treasury Secretary are giving stump speeches.

What Wall Street can’t ignore is the flood of bad economic data that’s coming … or the wave of horrendous corporate earnings reports that will follow.

It will be interesting to see how much ammunition the Fed has left when the inevitable comes.

Editor’s Note: With the whole biotech sector screaming “pandemic!” there’s never been a better time to find undiscovered biotech diamonds. Today, expert Jeff Yastine has his eye on one biotech stock that he believes is set to soar. Click here now to learn more!

The Good: Disney Plus Ultra

My wife jokingly refers to The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) as a “people trap built by a mouse.” Judging by how crowded the company’s theme parks were before the COVID-19 shutdown, she’s not wrong.

With the launch of Disney+ last year, the mouse now has a digital trap as well. And boy, is it effective. According to Disney, its new streaming service now has 50 million paid subscribers, up from just 28.6 million in February. That’s a 75% jump in roughly two months!

The surprising growth even put the most bullish of analyst projections to shame. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) predicted 40 million subs by the end of 2020. The end of 2020.

Disney is now on pace to easily top its original estimate of 60 million to 90 million Disney+ subscribers by 2024.

What’s more, the service just launched in India in February, and it expanded heavily across Europe in late March. That means more subscriber growth will come this year — especially with launches in Japan, Western Europe and Latin America coming later in 2020.

While Disney+ revenue won’t replace lost park revenue due to COVID-19, it puts the company in a leading position in the streaming market heading into a post-quarantine world.

DIS is high on Great Stuff’s list for a potential buy once things settle down.

The Bad: Not Enough Panic-Buying?

The COVID-19 outbreak was initially illustrated with images of shopping carts filled to the breaking point — mostly with toilet paper. Retailers clearly stood to benefit from the panic-buying, and today, we got a glimpse at one of panic-buyers’ biggest targets: Costco Wholesale Corp. (Nasdaq: COST).

Sales skyrocketed for Costco in March, with same-store sales spiking 12.1% on the month.

But analysts had their hopes set higher … much higher. The average consensus estimate for Costco’s March sales growth sits at 24.1%. So, despite seriously impressive sales growth, Costco still missed expectations.

Furthermore, Costco said that sales of non-essential products, such as electronics and apparel, hurt overall sales figures. Store hours and store closures due to COVID-19 also negatively impacted sales.

Now, if COST stock was down just because it missed some overinflated analyst figures, I’d say the shares are a bargain on today’s sell-off. However, we all know that 12.1% sales growth isn’t sustainable.

This is doubly true when you consider that 16 million Americans have now filed for unemployment. Costco will likely see sales growth decline — slowly due to stimulus efforts, but they will still decline.

In fact, we may have seen the peak for consumer spending this year, and that doesn’t bode well for COST.

The Ugly: Grounded

Airline stocks soared today. Investors likely banked on hopes that the U.S. will be open for business by next month — thanks Mnuchin!

But, if investors think that there won’t be plenty of turbulence ahead, they’re sorely mistaken.

Right now, airlines such as Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL), American Airlines Group Inc. (Nasdaq: AAL) and United Airlines Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: UAL) are all counting on a government bailout. They’re losing tens of millions of dollars a day due to COVID-19 quarantines and travel bans.

Roughly $29 billion was earmarked for the airline bailout, but none of that cash is flowing. According to reports, the Department of the Treasury is asking for more financial information before letting the spice flow.

In fact, the data requested appear more akin to a loan process than a cash grant application, according to sources.

There are two takeaways here: First, bailout cash for airlines isn’t flowing out right now, and it probably won’t for a while longer. Second, that cash will come with more strings attached than airlines and investors expect.

This isn’t a carte blanche bailout. And with traffic expected to remain low even after the all-clear sounds, airline stocks will certainly get hammered once again.

It’s that time again! Today, we dive headfirst into the Great Stuff inbox and see what you and your fellow readers are pondering this week.

Are you pondering what I’m pondering?

I think so, Mr. Great Stuff, but if they called them “sad meals” no one would buy them.

Let’s get right to it:

Quick Climbs for Fast Times

Just a quick thought- If it’s the fastest time to reach a bear market, what is stopping it from turning into the fastest time to reach a bull market? After the virus issues subside of course. Everything appears to be happening at such a faster pace these days.

— Bill M.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Bill! Now, as time has lost all meaning and distinction since my kids started staying home from school, everything’s passing faster and slower at the same time.

Anyway, here’s the one thing that can prevent an even faster leap back into a bull market: uncertainty. It’s a day trader’s delight but an investor’s kryptonite. We just hit 10% unemployment at the end of a supposed “relief rally” that included a 50% Dow retracement.

If that doesn’t scream “uncertainty” ahead, nothing does.

On Idiots and Followers

We have alot of idiots fallowing the leader of the idiots.

— Tom D.

The best part is that I can’t tell which political, economic or health figure you’re talking about … and yet, I’m still strangely inclined to agree with you, Tom.

Crown Castles Made of Sand

Hello. Some of my most recession resistant stocks: AMT and CCI are holding steady … at least so far. Both also pay dividends.

— Brent J.

I want to hark back to an older email, dated March 17. Back in the thick of March madness, we were talking about crash-proof stocks and how to weather the storm.

Don’t worry, I won’t spoil the rest of your ultra secret picks, Brent! (They’re good dogs, Brent! It’s an old meme, sir, but it checks out.) Though, I see you have the 5G trend covered from the cell tower side of things. And I sure hope you held on — if not added to your position!

Both American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT) and Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) have already bounced back to February’s pre-devastation levels. If any of you readers out there timed that rebound, nicely done! If not, you might want to wait for more volatility (and oh, it’s a-comin’) to find a better entry price.

(Not sure where to start with investing in 5G? Click here now!)

Thank you to Bill, Tom, Brent and everyone else who wrote in!

Have you written to us yet? If not, what’s stopping you?! We always look forward to hearing your market takes, stock ideas, rants, raves, recipes, conspiracy theories and whatever else you’ve been cooking up while quarantined.

Drop us a line at [email protected] and feel free to speak your mind.

As always, remember that the Great Stuff action never ends. You can also find us on social media: Facebook and Twitter.

Until next time, be Great!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

0 notes

goldira01 · 4 years

Link

Mr. FOMO Risin’

If you ever needed clear proof that the stock market does not represent the U.S. economy, today provided it.

That’s 10% of the U.S. workforce gone. Poof. Vanished into the novel coronavirus tainted air.

How did Wall Street react to this economic travesty? With a rally, of course.

But, in Wall Street’s defense, it was distracted by shiny objects — $2.3 trillion worth of shiny objects, to be precise.

You can read all the nitty-gritty details here — including the Fed’s plan to buy junk corporate bonds. (This literally can’t go belly up, right?)

The Takeaway:

I want to believe, dear readers. I truly do.

I want to believe that, once the COVID-19 threat passes, everything will magically return to normal … that businesses will quickly rehire 16 million Americans and get us all back to work.

But you and I, we didn’t just get into town about an hour ago. We know which way the wind blows.

What Wall Street can’t ignore is the flood of bad economic data that’s coming … or the wave of horrendous corporate earnings reports that will follow.

It will be interesting to see how much ammunition the Fed has left when the inevitable comes.

The Good: Disney Plus Ultra

The surprising growth even put the most bullish of analyst projections to shame. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) predicted 40 million subs by the end of 2020. The end of 2020.

Disney is now on pace to easily top its original estimate of 60 million to 90 million Disney+ subscribers by 2024.

While Disney+ revenue won’t replace lost park revenue due to COVID-19, it puts the company in a leading position in the streaming market heading into a post-quarantine world.

DIS is high on Great Stuff’s list for a potential buy once things settle down.

The Bad: Not Enough Panic-Buying?

Sales skyrocketed for Costco in March, with same-store sales spiking 12.1% on the month.

In fact, we may have seen the peak for consumer spending this year, and that doesn’t bode well for COST.

The Ugly: Grounded

Airline stocks soared today. Investors likely banked on hopes that the U.S. will be open for business by next month — thanks Mnuchin!

But, if investors think that there won’t be plenty of turbulence ahead, they’re sorely mistaken.

In fact, the data requested appear more akin to a loan process than a cash grant application, according to sources.

This isn’t a carte blanche bailout. And with traffic expected to remain low even after the all-clear sounds, airline stocks will certainly get hammered once again.

It’s that time again! Today, we dive headfirst into the Great Stuff inbox and see what you and your fellow readers are pondering this week.

Are you pondering what I’m pondering?

I think so, Mr. Great Stuff, but if they called them “sad meals” no one would buy them.

Let’s get right to it:

Quick Climbs for Fast Times

— Bill M.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Bill! Now, as time has lost all meaning and distinction since my kids started staying home from school, everything’s passing faster and slower at the same time.

If that doesn’t scream “uncertainty” ahead, nothing does.

On Idiots and Followers

We have alot of idiots fallowing the leader of the idiots.

— Tom D.

The best part is that I can’t tell which political, economic or health figure you’re talking about … and yet, I’m still strangely inclined to agree with you, Tom.

Crown Castles Made of Sand

Hello. Some of my most recession resistant stocks: AMT and CCI are holding steady … at least so far. Both also pay dividends.

— Brent J.

I want to hark back to an older email, dated March 17. Back in the thick of March madness, we were talking about crash-proof stocks and how to weather the storm.

(Not sure where to start with investing in 5G? Click here now!)

Thank you to Bill, Tom, Brent and everyone else who wrote in!

Drop us a line at [email protected] and feel free to speak your mind.

As always, remember that the Great Stuff action never ends. You can also find us on social media: Facebook and Twitter.

Until next time, be Great!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

#Timor Invest

0 notes

spjm04 · 5 years

Text

Review: Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald - Magical or Mediocre?

IMDB: 7.1/10 METACRITIC: 53/100 ROTTEN TOMATOES: 40% (CRITIC CONSENSUS) 69% (AUDIENCE CONSENSUS)

While "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" feels hollow in terms of genuine story, some excellent scenes, world-building and the introduction of some excellent characters save it from being a completely pointless romp. Director David Yates continues to darken the Wizarding World to mostly intriguing effect. Mostly.

Spoilers ahead.

SYNOPSIS: In an effort to thwart Grindelwald's plans of raising pure-blood wizards to rule over all non-magical beings, Albus Dumbledore enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.

This is the official plot synopsis which does a great job in exciting audiences, but unfortunately the plot of this story falls short. As the credits rolled, I realised that this movie, aside from properly introducing Grindelwald and Dumbledore, only exists to introduce new storylines and set the foundations for the next 3 Fantastic Beasts movies, leaving it feeling hollow. Aside from that, Grindelwald is an excellent character and the climax is as intense and suspenseful as Harry Potter gets.

CHARACTERS: Eddie Redmayne plays the awkward protagonist Newt Scamander to a tee once again. His wonder and delight at his Magical Beasts felt genuine and thus reflected into the audience. He is a very different protagonist then we're used to, but the change is welcome. Jude Law came in as Dumbledore to cautious optimism from the general audience. He captures the wit and charm of the Dumbledore we know and love, yet he almost feels like a new character. He isn't able to quite catch the magic and strength brought to the role by Richard Harris and Michael Gambon. Newcomer Zoe Kravits plays Leta Lestrange, who is completely pointless apart from giving Ezra Miller's Credence a conflict, which ends up having nothing to do with her. We were likely intended to feel something bad after her death, and it could've potentially succeeded, had the movie not just portrayed her as a baby murderer, literally in the scene right before her death. Ezra Miller had such little development, aside from one line spoken by Grindelwald at the very end, which (based on Grindelwald's previous manipulation of Credence) is more than likely false in the first place. This makes 3 exciting new characters, including Nagini, completely pointless. Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) manages to be fantastic once again. He brings genuine emotion to what was seemingly a comic relief character. He receives perhaps the most development apart from a certain new character. There was a lot of doubt about Johnny Depp playing Grindelwald but it seemed to be for naught in the end. Grindelwald shows he is different than Lord Voldemort in the fact that he has genuine passion and feeling. However, we see his mercilessness and power through the movies climactic scene.

POSITIVES: The Beasts were the most magical thing we saw in this movie, with new and interesting beasts being introduced. Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Dan Fogler and especially Johnny Depp put in some great performances. The much darker tone is welcomed for this series after the light Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and it works very well in balancing the lack of story by adding suspense and excitement. The final battle was intense, and we finally got to see the extent of Grindelwald's power.

NEGATIVES: The obvious one is the lack of story, yet other problems stand out. For example, the many plot holes that appear thanks to the established Harry Potter canon, i.e Professor McGonagall appearing despite her not being born. Many new characters were pointless and the character development was generally subpar. Some moments were needlessly dark and assuming the series continues in this direction some comic relief will be needed and Yates will have to balance the grim nature this movie contains.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.5/10

#harry potter #eddie redmayne #johnny depp #magic #fantastic beats and where to find them #movie review

0 notes

michaeljtraylor · 5 years

Text

Advisers warn Trump about border closing

Editor’s Note: This edition of Morning Money is published weekdays at 8 a.m. POLITICO Pro Financial Services subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 5:15 a.m. To learn more about POLITICO Pro’s comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, click here.

Advisers warn Trump on the border — Donald Trump’s senior advisers, per our Nancy Cook and Andrew Restuccia, are strongly warning the president about the potentially dire course of attempting to shut down the southern border

Story Continued Below

“Both the White House’s Kevin Hassett and Larry Kudlow have shared economic papers and data with Trump over the last 36 hours, illustrating the way economic growth could slow down even if the president shut down the border for just one day — not to mention the effect on the flow of goods, raw materials, and the U.S. supply chain.”

Inside the White House — Officials frantically spent the day Tuesday “searching for ways to limit the economic impact of shutting the border, according to two senior administration officials and one Republican close to the White House. One possibility involved closing the border to cars but allowing commercial trucks to continue to pass through. Officials stressed, however, that no final decisions had yet been made.”

Trump not swayed — Trump did not seem swayed by his advisers’ economic arguments: “Sure, it will have a negative effect on the economy,” Trump told reporters … “But to me, trading is very important, the borders are very important, but security is what is most important. I mean, we have to have security.”

Inside Biden-world — Per a source close to former vice president Joe Biden’s inner circle: “Joe told them yesterday to put out the word that it’s full steam ahead and yes, they expected this and expect more to come … They thought they were ready but know now that they were not. They are a bit overwhelmed but very clear headed and self aware.”

** A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets: At the 13th Annual Capital Markets Summit, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness released their Financing Main Street report based on the responses of more than 300 businesses of various type, sizes, and revenue to better understand how Main Street uses the financial system, and to measure the impact that financial regulation was having on the overall economy. Read the report here. **

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING — Email me on [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @morningmoneyben. Email Aubree Eliza Weaver on [email protected] and follow her on @AubreeEweaver.

ADP jobs report at 8:15 a.m. expected to show a gain of 175K … ISM Non-manufacturing Survey at 10:00 a.m. expected to dip to 59.0 from 59.7 … CBA Live closes with remarks from FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams Consensus and Comptroller Joseph Otting at 9:15 a.m.

SHARES RISE ON ASIA HOPES — Reuters: “European shares rose for the fourth straight session on Wednesday, as investors took heart from further signs of recovery in China and progress toward a possible trade deal between Beijing and Washington. …

“Also helping sentiment was reports that British Prime Minister Theresa May might seek another Brexit delay to try to agree an EU divorce deal with the opposition Labour leader.” Read more.

CRUNCH TIME FOR CHINA TALKS — Via Bloomberg: “Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will resume negotiations with his U.S. counterparts in Washington on Wednesday as both governments push for an agreement to end their protracted trade dispute.

“The latest round of talks follow discussions last week in Beijing, where Liu met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Outstanding issues include protection for intellectual property and how to enforce any broader trade agreement

MORE ON THE BORDER IMPACT — Via our Rebecca Morin and Caitlin Oprysko:

“Trump …. acknowledged Tuesday that shutting down the U.S.-Mexico border could have a dire impact on the economy, but contended the move was about national security, and ‘that’s more important than trade.’ …

“Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike have expressed concern over Trump’s proposal to close the U.S.-Mexico border, arguing such a move could have a disastrous impact on the economy. An estimated $502 billion in goods — about $1.4 billion a day — crossed the border through trucks and trains last year, according to the Commerce Department.” Read more.

DEMS LOOK TO JAM GOP ON THE BORDER — Via our Sarah Ferris and Laura Barrón-López: “House Democratic leaders are considering a vote to condemn … Trump’s calls to shut down the southern border, in a clear attempt to force Republicans into a difficult political spot …

“Top Democrats discussed the measure at a meeting in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office Tuesday evening. The measure — which would formally reject the White House’s repeated threat to halt all traffic along the U.S.-Mexico border — could come up for a vote as early as this week.” Read more.

STOCKS POST MIXED FINISH — AP’s Alex Veiga: “A day of listless trading on Wall Street ended with an uneven finish for stock indexes as the market lost some of its momentum after a three-day winning streak.

“After a brief early slide, U.S. stocks mostly wavered between small gains and losses through the rest of the day, as gains for some big technology companies were offset by losses in other sectors. … The S&P 500 ended essentially flat, having eked out a sliver of a gain, which was still good enough to extend the benchmark index’s winning streak into a fourth day.” Read more.

TRUMP BLASTS POWELL OVER ECONOMY — WSJ’s Nick Timiraos and Alex Leary: “Trump is blaming the Federal Reserve for holding back the economy and stock market despite the central bank’s recent decision to do two things he wanted—halt rate increases and stop shrinking its asset portfolio. …

“The president blasted the Fed and Chairman Jerome Powell at three meetings in the past week alone, telling Republican senators, supporters and staffers that if it wasn’t for the central bank’s past rate increases, economic output and stocks would be higher and the U.S. budget deficit would be rising less.” Read more.

And remember when stocks slid last month? — Bloomberg’s Craig Torres: “Powell received a call from … Trump on March 8 as concerns that day about the U.S. job market helped send stocks to their biggest weekly drop of the year. For months, Trump has been pointing the finger at Powell and the Fed’s interest-rate increases for restraining the economy and spooking the stock market.” Read more.

MOORE HAS NO PLANS TO STEP ASIDE — NYT’s Alan Rappeport and Jim Tankersley: “Stephen Moore … Trump’s presumptive nominee for a seat on the Federal Reserve board, said on Tuesday that he had no plans to withdraw from contention for the job despite ethical and financial problems that have surfaced in recent days. ‘It’s full speed ahead,’ Mr. Moore said in a brief interview before an event he was attending at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.” Read more.

U.S. WON’T SEND SENIOR OFFICIALS TO SILK ROAD SUMMIT — Reuters’ David Brunnstrom: “The United States will not send high-level officials to attend China’s second Belt and Road summit in Beijing this month, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday, citing concerns about financing practices for the project.

“China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, said on Saturday that almost 40 foreign leaders would take part in the summit due to be held in Beijing in late April. He rejected criticisms of the project as ‘prejudiced.’” Read more.

TRUMP ON THE BORDER – NYT’s Jim Tankersley and Ana Swanson: “Trump acknowledged … that closing the southern border with Mexico could damage the United States economy, but said protecting America’s security was more important than trade.

“In remarks from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump reiterated his threat to shut the border if Mexico, America’s third largest trading partner, cannot restrict a flow of asylum seekers trying to cross into the United States. But the president’s economic team, concerned about the damage from such a move, said it was looking for ways to limit the fallout if Mr. Trump does do so.” Read more.

IS THIS TIME DIFFERENT FOR THE YIELD CURVE? — Bloomberg’s Vivien Lou Chen: “‘This time is different.’ That famous line, which mutual-fund legend Sir John Templeton once called “among the four most costly words in the annals of investing,” is back in fashion these days when it comes to the Treasury yield curve.

“Skeptics from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Morgan Stanley Investment Management say the curve’s recessionary signals may be distorted now as a result of central-bank policy that’s kept interest rates exceptionally low since the financial crisis. Is it deja vu all over again?” Read more.

IMF MANAGING DIRECTOR SAYS ECONOMY IS AT ‘DELICATE MOMENT’ — AP’s Martin Crutsinger: “The head of the 189-nation International Monetary Fund said Tuesday the global economy is at a ‘delicate moment’ with a hoped-for rebound in growth later this year being threatened by a variety of factors such as rising trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the IMF does not forecast a recession in its updated economic outlook to be released next week, but she called the current situation ‘precarious’ and vulnerable to policy mistakes.” Read more.

** A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets: This week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness released a new report at their 13th Annual Capital Markets Summit. This report, “Financing Main Street: The State of Business Financing in America,” was based on the responses of more than 300 businesses of various type, sizes, and revenue. It shows that in order to promote sustainable economic growth, our financial system must be as vibrant and diverse as the businesses it serves. And though more optimistic, 82% of companies reported taking some action as a result of changes to banking regulations, up from 61% in 2013 and 79% in 2016. Read the full report here. **

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garkodigitalmedia · 5 years

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Advisers warn Trump about border closing

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GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING — Email me on [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @morningmoneyben. Email Aubree Eliza Weaver on [email protected] and follow her on @AubreeEweaver.

“Also helping sentiment was reports that British Prime Minister Theresa May might seek another Brexit delay to try to agree an EU divorce deal with the opposition Labour leader.” Read more.

MORE ON THE BORDER IMPACT — Via our Rebecca Morin and Caitlin Oprysko:

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garkomedia1 · 5 years

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Advisers warn Trump about border closing

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GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING — Email me on [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @morningmoneyben. Email Aubree Eliza Weaver on [email protected] and follow her on @AubreeEweaver.

“Also helping sentiment was reports that British Prime Minister Theresa May might seek another Brexit delay to try to agree an EU divorce deal with the opposition Labour leader.” Read more.

MORE ON THE BORDER IMPACT — Via our Rebecca Morin and Caitlin Oprysko:

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from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8312273 https://hashtaghighways.com/2019/04/04/advisers-warn-trump-about-border-closing/

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nicholerestrada · 5 years

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Advisers warn Trump about border closing

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GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING — Email me on [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @morningmoneyben. Email Aubree Eliza Weaver on [email protected] and follow her on @AubreeEweaver.

“Also helping sentiment was reports that British Prime Minister Theresa May might seek another Brexit delay to try to agree an EU divorce deal with the opposition Labour leader.” Read more.

MORE ON THE BORDER IMPACT — Via our Rebecca Morin and Caitlin Oprysko:

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from Garko Media https://garkomedia1.wordpress.com/2019/04/04/advisers-warn-trump-about-border-closing/

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