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batboyblog · 3 months

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Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #7

Feb 23-March 1 2024

The White House announced $1.7 Billion in new commitments from local governments, health care systems, charities, business and non-profits as part of the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities. The Challenge was launched with 8 billion dollars in 2022 with the goal of ending hunger in America by 2030. The Challenge also seeks to drastically reduce diet-related diseases (like type 2 diabetes). As part of the new commitments 16 city pledged to make plans to end hunger by 2030, the largest insurance company in North Carolina made nutrition coaching and a healthy food delivery program a standard benefit for members, and since the challenge launched the USDA's Summer EBT program has allowed 37 states to feed children over the summer, its expected 21 million low income kids will use the program this summer.

The US House passed a bill on Nuclear energy representing the first update in US nuclear energy policy in decades, it expands the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and reduces reducing licensing fees. Nuclear power represents America's single largest source of clean energy, with almost half of carbon-free electricity coming from it. This bill will boost the industry and make it easier to build new plants

Vice President Harris announced key changes to the Child Care & Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program. The CCDBG supports the families of a million American children every month to help afford child care. The new changes include capping the co-pay families pay to no more than 7% of their income. Studies show that high income families pay 6-8% of their income in childcare while low income families pay 31%. The cap will reduce or eliminate fees for 100,000 families saving them an average of over $200 a month. The changes also strength payments to childcare providers insuring prompt payment.

The House passed a bill making changes to the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program. The 8(a) is an intensive 9 year program that offers wide ranging training and support to small business owners who are socially and economically disadvantaged, predominantly native owned businesses. Under the current structure once a business reaches over 6.8 million in assets they're kicked off the program, even though the SBA counts anything under $10 million as a small business, many companies try to limit growth to stay on the program. The House also passed a bill to create an Office of Native American Affairs at the SBA, in order to support Native-owned small businesses.

The White House and HUD announced steps to boost the housing supply and lower costs plans include making permanent the Federal Financing Bank Risk Sharing program, the program has created 12,000 affordable housing units since 2021 with $2 billion and plans 38,000 additional units over ten years. As well as support for HUD's HOME program which has spent $4.35 billion since 2021 to build affordable rental homes and make home ownership a reality for Americans. For the first time an administration is making funds available specifically for investments in manufactured housing, $225 million. 20 million Americans live in manufactured housing, the largest form of unsubsidized affordable housing in the country, particularly the rural poor and people in tribal communities.

The Department of Energy announced $336 million in investments in rural and remote communities to lower energy costs and improve reliability. The projects represent communities in 20 states and across 30 Native tribes. 21% of Navajo Nation homes and 35% of Hopi Indian Tribe homes remain unelectrified, one of the projects hopes to bring that number to 0. Another project supports replacing a hydroelectric dam in Alaska replacing all the Chignik Bay Tribal Council's diesel power with clear hydro power. The DoE also announced $18 million for Transformative Energy projects lead by tribal or local governments and $25 million for Tribal clean energy projects, this comes on top of $75 million in Tribal clean energy projects in 2023

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg put forward new rules to ensure airline passengers who use wheelchairs can travel safely and with dignity. Under the planned rules mishandling a wheelchair would be a violation of the ACAA, airlines would be required to immediately notify the passenger of their rights. Airlines would be required to repair or replace the wheelchair at the preferred vendor of the passenger's choice as well as provide a loaner wheelchair that fits the passenger's needs/requirements

The EPA launched a $3 Billion dollar program to help ports become zero-emission. This investment in green tech and zero-emission will help important transportation hubs fight climate change and replace some of the largest concentrations of diesel powered heavy equipment in America.

the EPA announced $1 Billion dollars to help clean up toxic Superfund sites. This is the last of $3.5 billion the Biden administration has invested in cleaning up toxic waste sites known as Superfund sites. This investment will help finish clean up at 85 sites across the country as well as start clean up at 25 new sites. Many Superfund sites are contained and then left not cleaned for years even decades. Thanks to the Biden-Harris team's investment the EPA has been able to do more clean up of Superfund sites in the last 2 years than the 5 years before it. More than 25% of America's black and hispanic population live with-in 5 miles of a Superfund site.

Bonus: Sweden cleared the final major barrier to become NATO's 32nd member. The Swedish Foreign Minster is expected to fly to Washington to deposit the articles of accession at the US State Department. NATO membership for Sweden and its neighbor Finland (joined last year) has been a major foreign policy goal of President Biden in the face of Russian aggressive against Ukraine. Former President Trump has repeatedly attacked NATO and declared he wants to leave the 75 year old Alliance, even going so far as to tell Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" with European NATO allies

#Thanks Biden #Joe Biden #Politics #US politics #Democrats #Climate change #end hunger #hunger #proverty #disability #native Americans #tribal rights #clean energy #child care #housing #housing crisis

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noodleblade · 7 months

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soundstar 19. talking late into the night

(GOD IM FINALLY ANSWERING SOME OF THESE PROMPTS. IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER). I also gave myself the personal challenge to keep this under 1k. I'm proud of myself:3

Anyways, uhhhh I'm obsessed with the idea of Starscream being able to have full-fledged conversations with Soundwave without Soundwave saying a word so that's the premise of this fic<3333 enjoyyy!

AO3 Link xx

“Do you ever recharge?”

Soundwave did not jump. Nor did he move in any such way to signify his surprise. Not that he’d ever admit Starscream got the drop on him.

He remained in his still, rigid stance in front of the central console, helm directed at the various screens despite no longer paying attention to them. Rather than turn and face his midnight visitor, Soundwave pulled up one of the surveillance cameras on the bridge to his internal HUD and watched Starscream posture at the doors.

Soundwave watched as Starscream’s expression dulled from his sneer, clearly put out by Soundwave’s lack of response. Curiously enough, those sharp optics darted to the exact camera Soundwave was monitoring.

“It’s rude to ignore your superior officer.”

Soundwave swiveled his neck enough to have his visor directed at Starscream.

There. No longer ignored.

“Glad you are putting in the effort to appear professional,” Starscream grumbled as he stalked forward. Without his usual audience of the vehicons, Knock Out or Megatron, Starscream approached him quietly, subdued. He knew his usual antics would not garner him any reaction from Soundwave so the effort was simply not needed. It wasn’t a sight Soundwave was granted often. Suspiciously, he kept his guard up. Something was off.

Soundwave tilted his helm to the side, his visor glinting off the dim lights.

“I’m fine,” Starscream muttered. “I appreciate the concern.”

Soundwave gave one nod, before turning back to his work. Peripherally, he could feel Starscream saddle beside him, his wings nearly touching him as the seeker flexed and stretched.

“Of course you’re working.”

Soundwave didn’t bother to respond to that and continued to type away. Starscream leaned closer, optics squinting to read the code.

“Are you rerouting earth tech surveillance to our main housing?”

It was a bit more complicated than that. But, Soundwave had no interest in explaining so Starscream’s simplified version would be suitable. He inclined his helm, a bit pleased with Starscream’s mouth ticked up in a smile.

“Impressive as always. Maybe we should withhold recharge from you. You don’t seem to need it.”

Despite his teasing words, Soundwave took note of the formality of his words. There was no jeer, none of his typical bravado. Quiet was the only way Soundwave could describe it. Perhaps even concerned, which Soundwave was even more perplexed by.

It wasn’t like Starscream to be considered with others, let alone Soundwave’s recharge patterns. He cocked his helm curiously, biolights pulsing.

“I’m not concerned,” Starscream snapped, though it was light. “I’m merely observant. Wouldn’t you consider that an admirable quality?”

Soundwave found himself amused with Starscream’s deflection. It seemed in his tiredness, his typical insults became softened. That being said, Soundwave noted it was well into Starscream’s scheduled recharge slot. It wasn’t often the seeker was roaming about at this hour.

He brought up the hour to his visor and directed it fully at Starscream.

“I’m aware of the hour, thank you,” Starscream sneered. “No need for you to be concerned either. I just…” Starscream let the sentence die, his gaze turned back to the central console screen.

Despite his words to not be concerned, Soundwave could not help the matter. While it was rare for Starscream to be up at this hour, it was even more rare for him to lose his words. The quiet was now disquieting. Starscream was not one for quiet. He liked the sound of his own voice too much to not fill the gaps of peace with it. Soundwave felt on edge, waiting for the silence to end.

Awkwardly, Soundwave shuffled slightly to his right, opening up the space at the console. For them to share.

Starscream huffed a mildly unamused laugh but didn’t say anything still. For a few kliks, nothing happened and Soundwave felt the tricking of dread. Perhaps his gesture of kindness was rather that of foolishness.

Slowly, Starscream leaned closer. Soundwave made no move to notice it, continuing to type away. Another klik passed before Starscream stepped closer, helm bowed to look at the screen.

“You know,” Starscream started again, his usual cadence back, “if you are so desperate for my assistance, you could just ask.”

Soundwave turned his visor to Starscream unamused, but relieved by the smirk cropping up on the Air Commander’s face. His field was warmer as his vile grin covered his face.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you company.”

Unexpected words, but Soundwave found them to be not completely unpleasant.

#soundstar #soundwave #starscream #tfp #transformers #my fics #anonymous #asks #macadam

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local-lamppost · 9 months

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Homura's Silencing Sayaka

As we know from the end of Rebellion, Sayaka is aware of what Homura has done and even when Homura enforces her will on Sayaka, some part of her still is adament about things not being right (like Homura in Rebellion).

As I've mentioned before, the dynamic between Homura and Sayaka is one of the aspects I am looking forward to the most. To restate, I basically want Homura to use Sayaka as something of a confidant, or someone to go to to gloat about this new paradise she has created for Madoka. Sayaka would be, not necessarily a conscious or angel on the shoulder, someone who argues on behalf of what the law of cycles, on behalf of Madoka's wish.

So then this image happened...

and yeah.

Now, I'm gonna base this theory on a detail not from Madoka Magica-not that I'm aware of this symbolism being used anywhere in the series-but from Nier Automata.

In Automata the main characters, 2B and 9S, wear blindfolds. The in game explanation for this is that it's actually a pair of goggles that acts as a hud for them. There are also characters called operators who are also masked, but these masks are shaped like veils that covers their mouths; in game explained as microphones/communicators.

Symbolically, and spoilers for Nier Automata, the veils and blindfolds represent the forbidden truths of their world. 2B and 9S are blindfolded, not allowed to see the truth. The operators' mouths are veiled, not allowed to say the truth.

Back to Madoka Magica, here Sayaka is half blinded, mouth covered. Unless this is just bait-which it very well may be-I can't help but wonder if this is a sign of Homura trying to gag Sayaka. Sure, Sayaka is without bandages in other parts of the trailer, but she also isn't a magical girl in those scenes. Homura wants Sayaka mute and blind when she has access to power, but one eye is uncovered. Sayaka is still seeing the truth.

One unblinded eye grants Sayaka the ability to perceive half the truth, but her covered mouth will prevent her from talking of this truth.

#pmmm #puella magi madoka magica #madoka magica #madoka kaname #homura akemi #sayaka miki #walpurgisnacht rising #pmmm theory #all roads lead back to nier for me #please let there be heaps of passive agressive conversations between homura and sayaka in front of the others

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witchofthesouls · 3 months

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Tbh Star Saber’s reaction is justified. Sentinel just claims this random bot as a bride (probably doesn’t even know their name too) I’d be miffed too if I was his protector. But what about said bot’s reaction? You wake up after passing out and suddenly your hitched, I’d be backing up Star Saber in the background as he yells at Sentinel.

(You're going to be busy trying to deal with alien biology to start yelling. If anything you're yelling at whatever drop-kicked you into this timeline that's the dumpster fire that makes up Bayverse.

Get ready for misunderstandings and failed negotiations:)

Consciousness doesn't gently trickle back. It kicks you in the teeth without any warning. One moment, darkness. The next moment, you're heaving up and accidentally slamming into something hard.

That something yelps.

While you have the grace of facial protection, Sentinel isn't as lucky. You still have a throbbing headache, though. It flares whenever there's the incomprehensible electronic noise of their native tongue is being spoken.

Your head pulses to an excruciating degree when suddenly it clicks. The noise becomes words.

And you don't like them.

"Look, it can't even speak. Let alone understand us." Star Saber - your HUD factually pings, rapidly scrolling all of his positions, achievements, strengths, and possible weaknesses - says like an absolute cunt.

"Oooooo. Cooon-tuh." The High Lord Protector sounds out the English your ass of a mouth that not even a supercomputer brain could leash have shot out. The Seeker is unamused, and you don't even resist the urge to stick your tongue out since you're wearing the visor and he can't see.

You have a vague sense that you're forgetting something important. The wisps of a strange dream linger in the periphery edges of your mind, but a hiccuping wail interrupts everything.

Nearby and attached to the berth (fanon terminology don't fail you now!) are the infants. You immediately pick up the crying one. The tiny face warps from the force of their distress. Something compels you to cradle it up to your chest, and they settle down to snuffly whistles.

Of course, the other one starts up when your hands are full.

Sentinel picks the second infant to maneuver them to you. You never expected this asshole to have gentle hands, but he does. At least for the babies.

"They're split-spark." He explains as both of them grab a hold of each other, whistling and chirping between a songbird and a hot kettle. "They have to remain close together until they're third in-star."

There's a moment of silence in the room, only interrupted by the newsparks' chirping babbling and fretful meeping.

"Not to be rude," you slowly test out the digital language, and Star Saber doesn't snort or move his expression, but he definitely disproves. Fucker. "But why am I here?"

"Yes, Prime," the Seeker knows how to turn a soft voice into an assassin's thread. "Why do we have such a guest here?"

The words he chose have so many insulting undertones and stresses that if you didn't have your arms full, you might as well slap him. High Lord Protector be damned.

He wants you far away, and you want to be farther than Star Saber could dream of.

Of course, neither you nor Star Saber gets those desires granted.

"You're here," Sentinel’s tone shifts. Formal. Very formal. A strange mix of anticipation and... duty? "In the privacy of my household and in the presence of my most trusted-" Star Saber's expression is set in stone and just as cold "-to declare our sparks together in front of Primus."

Unlike fanfics where Sam Witwicky has the Allspark to handily act as a translator, you only have the equivalent of a more sensible Google translate with all of the additional kinda-helpul-but-not-really dings of subharmonics and underlying glyphs to provide more context. It sounds like a marriage proposal, but the way Sentinel emphasized it is more akin to a 'Guardian seek out an equal partnership in a (business) venture.'

Thanks, Google. Great help as always. Never change.

Unless you've taken over the body of a noble with capital to buy out galaxies or some sort of daring pirate/elite assassin with that ghostly possession of hidden skills, you have no idea why he's asking you for this kind of proposition.

You need to bite the bullet because you don't know what you're walking into, and maybe you can jump out another window and speed away.

You start searching the lexicon for the right words. Hopefully.

_____________

Even with the visor eclipsing your face, you're refreshingly honest and it's something Sentinel profoundly misses ever since he's been taken from the Guiding Hand's Towers.

And right now, they know your possible intention to jump again beneath the tangle of confusion and worry.

The windows here are reinforced and capable of withstanding artillery blasts and extreme heat resistance as well.

:: The foundlings are completely attached to this one. :: Hard and unforgiving Star Saber may be, but there are a few things that soften the mech. It may be the Seekerkin-coding in him that invokes protective feelings towards the very young.

You and the newsparks have sealed a guardian/parental bond. They can't separate them from you. The strain will most likely kill them, and possibly you with your recent recklessness. You may have a powerfully dense spark -a hallmark of mecha with Primal heritage- but you're still young, barely past the ninth in-star, and still developing towards an adult frame.

Ratchet had been torn between absolute fury and begrudgingly impressed by the one that had done your frame-schematics. It's a remarkable mix of stealth modifications, hidden components, and security. Your systems had literally chewed up suppression codes and medical overrides and spat them out.

Either you have a creator that's a fiend of a weaponsmith or you have ties to the legendary War-Forged, too. Unbelievable, but no one expected any frames out in the Wastelands to be blessed by Primus, and yet here they are with not one, but two individuals.

And Sentinel is asking the mechling for a formal courtship with the intention of bonding.

"Are you-" you speak carefully, testing out the glyphs, and he wonders what kind of dialect the Wilders speak "-asking me to bond with you?"

The phrase makes logical sense. However, Sentinel can't help but choke at the subglyphs you used. Instead of 'unity of wedlock between two parties,' you attached something akin to sponsoring a courtesan for an exclusive relationship. An explicitly sexual one.

Star Saber doesn't budge. The Seeker's body langauge is impeccable and beyond reproach to stand as a witness to this mess, but Sentinel feels the icy talons of their shared bond flare to a vicious burning grip.

:: If you say any sort of agreement to that poorly worded question, Sentinel Prime. :: Star Saber's terrible words cut into Sentinel's spark. :: I will personally make the rest of your limited time on this planet a new level of Unicron's Pits. ::

Sentinel had to lock his joints to keep himself upright and not sprawled on the floor. After a long moment, he manages to grapple with the bond to sear away Star Saber's influence. :: I wasn't! ::

Slag all those that deify their partnership as the original split-sparks Prima and Megatronus, it's a slaggen mockery of a marital bond.

Sentinel gathers every scrap of his intentions to make it work with the newly found Primal-descended and throws it at Star Saber's end. It's still a raw wound. He finds it deeply discomforting to be intimately tied to the Seeker upon the confirmed demise of an unmoored Zeta Prime. Just barely after the Temple's blessings to establish suitable compatibility as a Prime and a new Protector.

(If Sentinel thinks too much about it, he will scream until he burns out and -)

Star Saber quirks a plate at his efforts and releases the onslaught. :: Look at that. Perhaps there's a warrior underneath that softness, librarian. Correct your Intended before the Wilder escapes with the newsparks. ::

During their internal spat, you pressed your back against the wall, plating closed to minimize noise. You've silenced your biosignature as well. Even the foundlings are silent -a natural defense that's driven by terror of the sudden tensions and your own reaction.

Fan-fragging-tastic.

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darkeagleruins · 4 days

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ILLEGAL ALIEN WELFARE:

Federal agencies under the Biden Administration, consider illegals aliens paroled into the country to be “QUALIFIED ALIENS” This designation opens the welfare state to them. Here is what you pay for:

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

Emergency Medicaid (includes labor and delivery)

Full-Scope Medicaid

Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

Medicare “Premium-Free” Part A (hospitalization)

Premium “Buy-in” Medicare

HUD Public Housing and Section 8 Programs

Title XX Block Grants

Social Security

This is the tip of the iceberg. You also pay for NGO and FEMA funding that also pays for:

Housing, utilities, and food

Transportation

Health and medical

English language training

Social adjustment and other services

America is 34.5 Trillion dollars in debt.

How do you explain this?

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catiuapavel · 3 months

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I completed every main mission and sidequests in Cornia (excluding the forbidden level 40 area)

This game is so fun and refreshing to play. When I played Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen a few years back, I dreamt of a game in the same vein that could grant you more control over how battles play out and Unicorn Overlord is a far more layered iteration of the timid concept I imagined. Going through all these menus and setting all these conditions, testing them out, doing it all over again to optimize them... This is so thrilling. I love micromanagement.

The more gameplay devices are introduced (like watchtowers, catapults, balistaes, rams, units to rescue in the middle of nowhere), the more fun it gets. Thanks to these elements coming into play one at a time, the stages never feel dull or the same.

I'll say Cornia on expert mode was hardly that difficult. It provided fun challenges so I don't mind. I'm just surprised that the highest level of difficulty feels like a normal mode. That being said I'm not a good judge of strategy games difficulty because I'm pretty much like that:

The presentation of the game is sooo beautiful. The hud, style and environments all fit so perfectly together. So few games seem to understand the value of these things nowadays and it's refreshing playing such a well-crafted one. I just wish there were more parity in character design: men with sillier outfits and animations and (a handful more) women with... let's say more pragmatic ones.

The soundtrack has been alright so far but I'll say: BOY am I glad to get out of Cornia. I think the area could have used 1 or 2 more songs for diversity (even if they kept a similar style or leitmotiv). Drakenhold is delivering in terms of music already!

Unfortunately the only tar so far is that the story is just so very... mid. At best, It's simple and serviceable even though you feel like you've seen it a hundred times before. At worst it's... mind control to handwave morality and responsibility away. However, I don't want to judge it too hastily and I hope to be surprised eventually.

Mostly, I'm genuinely, desperately, hopeful that recruiting everyone merrily will have dire consequences at one point or another. As much as I enjoy collecting every little guy on the continent, defeating a boss set on murdering you and/or terrorizing the countryside and having Alain choose between executing them or recruiting(/releasing) them after hearing their tragically lukewarm backstory (and everything ends well and fine) is becoming jarring. I want to feel regret, I want to feel pain. I want my decisions to come back to haunt me. I want to be crushed under the weight of my actions.

(DON'T tell me whether that's the case or not)

But so far the characters are just bad until they're good and once they join your ranks, they are unconditionally loyal. It lacks conflict and makes everyone far less interesting as a result.

(side note: this one isn't recruitable (thankfully) but Gaston in "Province of Famine" was one of the worst parts so far. You've got a tyrant pillaging his subjects' reserves, depriving them of food while bragging he's enjoying several lavish meals in a row with the most episodic cartoon villain presentation, but when you defeat him suddenly he wasn't actually that bad and was just keeping a reserve in case of famine. Surely... There was a way to write this with a bit more nuance and with less contradictions. The worst part? I called that one as soon as the stage began so it wasn't even shockingly bad, just disappointingly so.)

Still, the characters themselves feel engaging enough. The writing is decent when it comes to interpersonal relationships. I've set one foot in Drakenhold and I was delighted to see Travis and Aubin come into the picture once again. It makes me hopeful the greater cast will develop outside of rapport conversations. And if the narrative truly doesn't deliver later on... I will have these lively and diverse characters to fall back on at least.

#lou plays unicorn overlord

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watcheraurora · 2 months

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Monsters

I'm having angsty thoughts. Back to regularly-scheduled programming later 5.2k words

—

Tango joined the game

Tango faceplanted spawn, is what he did. Slipping in mud and splatting. He cursed, shoving his hands into the mud until they had enough purchase to peel his face out of it. Grumbling half-baked curses under his breath, he straightened up.

"What in the... where am I?"

The world was dark. The sun was definitely overhead, but the sky was black, the clouds were grey, and stars were visible.

He tapped a button on the HUD that clung to the underside of his left arm and pointed to a block.

Light level 0.

All the way around. There was no light here.

Wiping mud from his skin, he deactivated the window over his HUD and squelched through the mud until he reached water. Mangrove swamp for spawn? Whose idea was this?

Granted, the more pertinent questions were, actually:

Where am I?

And,

How did I get here?

Neither of which Tango had any answer for.

He shoved vines out of his way as he dunked himself into the water, using it to get the rest of the mud off. His clothes shouldn't stain—the Void only knew how much redstone had been caked into the fibers over the years, and yet they stayed the same—but he didn't want to be moving around covered in dirt when the mud invariably dried.

He scrubbed at his face and hair too, for good measure.

There was no one around. The spawn chunks were untouched. Not a social hub, then. Lot of spawns weren't, but most worlds with more than a few players set up some level of infrastructure at spawn. At least a sign welcoming new players to the world. Sometimes stocked with food and basic tools.

There was nothing here.

He raised his arm and flexed his left ring finger. A list appeared over the HUD on his arm.

The only active player in this world was him. He saw several spaces for more, but they were all... redacted. He couldn't see faces or tags. That was different. Usually residents of a world who weren't active were at least displayed.

He washed himself off again and climbed out of the water and kept moving, having chosen a random direction and moving in it.

He heard the bamf behind him of an Enderman's teleport. He whirled. If he could get an Ender Pearl... But, gah, he didn't have an axe or a sword—

He didn't need one, but he'd rather use one.

There was nothing there. The Enderman was probably blocked by the thick trees and vines.

"Come on out, skippy!" Tango challenged, frustration heating his blood. "Promise I don't bite." That was a lie and the row of sharp teeth he bared in a sneer proved it.

The Enderman bamfed again after a moment, but no more visible than before.

Tango growled and stalked to the nearest mangrove tree. An utter waste of a beautiful block to make tools out of, but apparently this swamp was plentiful.

The tree did not break.

"What the—?" He peered around the tree, looking toward the Tango-shaped hole in the mud where he'd, well, landed.

How big was the no-touchy zone around spawn? He knew some worlds had them, but not all. Hermitcraft didn't—they had community builds to help players who died without a bed or anchor within a few hours of hopping to the new seed.

Tango didn't remember what the no-touchy zone around spawn that prevented building, breaking, and PvP was actually called and he didn't care. It wasn't normally useful so he'd never bothered to remember.

He kept moving. The light level zero of the world with its black sky and muted sun and stars meant that he'd soon be faceplanting into mobs that spawned outside the player radius when he appeared.

He splashed through more water. He hated swamps. Mangrove or otherwise. They spawned slimes and drowneds and navigating the water and land and mud was an absolute headache. Maybe he didn't normally hate swamps, but he certainly was hating one now.

He used a propagule to haul himself out of the water—and it broke off from the tree in his hand and popped into his inventory.

"Finally," he muttered, approaching the trunk of the tree to start getting geared up.

The Enderman in the distance teleported again.

Tango grumbled under his breath. "Stupid Endy mocking me," he muttered.

Bamf! "I'm not mocking you."

"WAH!" Tango whirled, slipped in the mud, and fell back into the water. This time, he didn't even care. He scrambled back and away. No armor, no tools, no weapons—royally screwed—

"Whoa, whoa! Hey. It's okay," the feminine voice said as though soothing a startled and skittish horse. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Peering through the vines were a pair of vibrant violet eyes.

The girl pushed the vines out of the way with her shoulder and carefully approached Tango. She put her hands in front of her, again as though trying to soothe a horse. "It's okay. You're okay. I'm sorry for scaring you."

The skin of her face was fair—freckled, even—but her hands were as pitch black as the sky. They only faded back to fair up near her shoulders. She had on a light, lavender tank top and grey shorts. Her feet were bare, and black. Also fading back to fair, though Tango couldn't see the end of the transition with her shorts in the way. Her long hair was black, and faded to violet on the ends.

Violet particles drifted off her.

"Who—what—how—" Tango spluttered.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm Eclipse." She glanced at the underside of her left arm and flexed her left ring finger. "Are you Tango?"

"Yeah."

"That just your tag or is it your name too?"

"No, it's, uh, it's my name."

Eclipse crouched, letting her knees sink into the mud slightly. She extended a hand to help him out of the water. "Nice to meet you, Tango." Her eyes swept him up and down as she said it, never quite meeting his.

"You too."

He took her hand and let her haul him out of the water. He shook his head hard to get some of the water droplets out of it and felt the fire spurt back to life in his hair, warming his whole body down his spine. Goosebumps rose on his arms. "Was that—did you—you were the one teleporting?"

Eclipse nodded.

He looked at his HUD, flexing his ring finger. "I don't see any other active names."

"Oh shoot. Sorry." She tapped on her own arm for a moment. The Tab List pinged and one of the redacted blocks hiding a name fell away. Tango saw her face and ForeverEclipse16 a few slots down the roster of resident players. "I forget that setting is on a lot. You can only see names if you've been allowed by that person after you know they're part of this world. Folks here like their privacy. Some don't care, but most like to keep to themselves here."

"Where are we?" He looked around the mangrove swamp, then deliberately looked Eclipse in the eyes, hoping it would spook her into giving him an answer. Most Players tended to be a little unnerved by his completely red eyes.

She cringed away, squeezing her eyes shut. "Please don't do that."

"Why?"

"I'll get to that. For now, to answer your other question."

Her screwed up face relaxed and her vibrant violet eyes opened again, but refused to meet his. Instead looking just below them.

"Welcome, Tango, to the World of Monsters."

—

"Okay, so, let me get this straight," Tango said, hiking up a hill that Eclipse was leading him up. They'd finally left the mangrove swamp and had found plains. His companion had been fairly silent the whole time. "Just to make sure I'm brain-ificating correctly. Which I might not be." He broke some grass and scooped up the seeds. So far he had a set of wooden tools and no armor. Eclipse wore none either; and hiked with bare feet no less. "When you say World of Monsters, you mean the name of this place, right?"

"Sure," Eclipse replied, flinging some hair off her shoulder.

Tango rolled his eyes. His sclera, iris, and pupil were all the same shade of red. She wouldn't even notice if she was looking. Which she wasn't. "Care to actually elaborate on that? This place has constantly had a light level of zero yet I haven't seen a single hostile mob spawn. How can this be the world of monsters if there are, oh I don't know, no monsters?"

Eclipse huffed a laugh out her nose, smiling but trying to hide both behind her hair and shoulder. "Hostile mobs don't spawn here," she said.

"Oh, great. That explains everything. Thank you." Tango knew his dry sarcasm was often found to be abrasive, but he couldn't help it. The attitude was in his nature. "Apart from how you teleported, how I ended up here, why the sky is dark—oh, and also where exactly am I."

Eclipse stopped at the top of the hill and swept an arm out, looking across the landscape. Tango pulled to a stop beside her.

No hostile mobs within render distance, but there were pockets of skulk.

"The World of Monsters," Eclipse said. "It's a unique place. Only Players with hostile mob code in their strings can enter this place. Some of us burn if the sun is allowed to shine properly. So the sky is kept dark." She fidgeted. There was a Bamf and she was several blocks away. Then another and she was on Tango's other side. No Chorus Fruit to be seen.

"I don't have hostile mob code," Tango said.

Eclipse snorted. "Sure you don't." Her eyes flicked up to his burning hair. "Blaze."

She turned and started marching off again. Tango squawked in protest and followed after her. "So, wait. Why this place?"

"Because hostile mob hybrids are often feared. This is a place where we can be ourselves without worrying about how other Players will react to the monstrous parts of us. We've got one guy—Creeper-code—who shows up here just to blow up when he's mad before going back to his usual world." She smiled. "That's why there's a large zone around spawn that prevents breaking blocks. So he can spawn in, blow up, and leave without leaving pockmarks all over."

"And you're an Enderman hybrid."

Eclipse nodded. "Human enough that water doesn't bother me. Ender enough that looking me directly in the eye does." She cleared her throat. "But that's because Endermen communicate telepathically by looking one another in the eye. But Players have a lot more to process. Complicated thoughts and emotions. If a Player looks an Enderman in the eye, they attack because they get overwhelmed by the amount of information they try to process from a Player. It's a defense mechanism. But they count as hostile. So here I am." She placed a dirt block to make a two-block gap climbable. "When you look me in the eye, I can read your mind. All of it. Having a mostly human brain and mostly human intelligence means I can handle Player thoughts and emotions. But that doesn't mean I want to see everything. So I don't recommend looking me in the eye."

"Noted," Tango said. "No looky-looky." He cleared his throat and kept climbing behind her. "How did you guess I have Blaze code?"

Eclipse raised a brow and eyed his hair again. "Gee, I wonder," she remarked sarcastically before continuing her hike.

"No one else has ever guessed," Tango argued, trailing along. He wasn't entirely sure where she was taking him. She said she'd bring him someplace safe, and for the most part, he believed her.

"Well, how many of your 'no one' is also a hostile mob hybrid?"

"At least three. One of my friends is part zombie. It's in her tag. The other is part slime. The last has Creeper code."

"Maybe they were just too polite to say, since your hybrid traits are more subtle and you can pass for a normal Player with some fire powers. But you couldn't access this world otherwise. So it was easy for me to guess." Eclipse fidgeted, teleporting several blocks ahead and then back to where she'd been. "Sorry," she muttered. "I do that. I don't usually mean to. It's kind of a side-effect."

"It's fine." Tango really couldn't care less that she was a nervous teleporter. "Why don't hostile mobs spawn here?"

"Because we turned off those spawns. We wanted a place where we could be ourselves without... looking at what makes us different. It's nice to have one peaceful world where we can just live." She cleared her throat. Bamfed away and back. Kept hiking. "My base is just on the other side of that mountain. I didn't want to be too far away from spawn in case I accidentally broke my bed."

"You can teleport. Isn't that, like, not a big deal?"

"Well sure but 'porting still takes energy. I'd rather save it." She cleared her throat. "Speaking of." She turned and held something out for him. "I forgot. You'll probably be getting hungry."

Tango peeked at his HUD as he took the golden carrot from her. His hunger was, in fact, getting really low. He ate the carrot and then the next one she offered him. He considered his meter high enough after that and politely declined a third.

They hiked for a while longer, crossing the plains biome and into a mountainous one. Goats bleated high above. They seemed to be circling the base of the mountain, rather than going directly over it. The day was getting on, the muted sun crawling ever closer to the horizon. "So you can't farm Blaze here," he said.

"Can't farm a lot of things. Skeletons for bones and arrows, zombies for rotten flesh for clerics, zombie piglins for gold, Endermen for Pearls and XP, creepers for gunpowder, Blaze for Blaze Rods, shulkers for shells. We don't do a lot of brewing here. And, actually, without zombies, iron farms don't work either. Let me tell ya, Jevin was bummed when he first got here and there was no way to make an Ender farm."

Tango froze. "Did you just say Jevin?"

"Yeah. Blue slime guy. He's actually pretty chill."

"I know him. He lives on my main residential world with me."

"Oh. He's the one you mentioned earlier?"

"Yeah!" Tango peeked at the Tab List again. iJevin had appeared on the roster, though the name was greyed out and [Off-World] was next to it.

"Interesting." Eclipse shuddered like an aggravated Enderman and after shaking her head hard, continued onward.

"What about spiders?" Tango asked. "Since they're passive but also hostile depending on the light?"

Eclipse gestured around her. "Light level zero," she reminded him.

"Right. So no string or spider eyes either."

"Nope." She cleared her throat. "Anyway. Home sweet home." She extended an arm out.

Tango paused.

She'd built a whole village out of End Stone variants and Purpur blocks. Like if an End City and a normal village had weird hybrid children houses.

Apart from the castle—that appeared to be made out of Purpur and studded with Amethyst. It was gorgeous, reaching toward the sky. Eclipse smiled at him and started hopping down the mountain to the village at the base of it.

"That's gorgeous," Tango said, following her.

"Thanks. Let me get you kitted out and then you can do what you want. Come and go as you please."

He hopped down the mountain after her. "So... how did I end up here?"

"Eventually every hostile mob hybrid just gets brought here. Most of us don't stay here full-time. We just come here for vacations. To be how we are with no fear of scaring normal players. You could turn into a bonfire right here and no one would bat an eye. If anyone was even here at the moment. Since no one's really a full-time resident. Except—" She cleared her throat. "Except me. I live here."

"Why did you choose to live here?"

She eyed him sarcastically, her gaze just off from his eyes. With a Bamf noise, she was almost the entire way down the mountain. This time, she didn't come back. Tango pursued her faster, catching up upon realizing she hadn't started moving again.

"I live here because being on public residential worlds is overwhelming. People look me in the eyes without meaning to. I teleport randomly and have broken redstone circuits by accident just by getting stuck in one. Here, I can just do what I want. I can wander and 'port and build and not worry about someone dumping their entire brain into mine because they happened to be curious about my eyes." She blinked. "At least here, everyone knows what I am and are polite enough not to look me in the eye."

"What about a more private world? Like a whitelisted one with only a handful of people?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. I don't need the headache of people finding out about me. Based on my experience, it doesn't end well when normal players realize you've got hostile mob code."

"My zombie friend has been accepted well, on our world. So has Jevin."

"Then your world is kinder than most." She pushed open a door to a large, rectangular house—that was absolutely filled with chests. There were signs attached to each one detailing what was inside. Her storage hut. "Let me get you some things." She lifted the lid of a chest.

"If you can't get Ender Pearls or Blaze Rods, you can't get to the End, can you?"

"I never said that we can't get Ender Pearls. We just can't farm them. I can make them. It's part of my Ender code." She gestured to a double chest labelled Ender Pearls. Tango, at her nod, peeked under the lid. It was absolutely chock full of Ender Pearls. "Why? What's so important in the End?"

"Well... how do you get Purpur and End Stone? How does everyone here fly?"

"I don't. I 'port. I can get to the End."

"Where's the Stronghold?"

She shrugged. "Dunno."

"Wait, wait, wait. You mean you can teleport directly to the End?"

"I can teleport to the Nether, the End, and the overworld at will."

Tango stared, blinking. "What?"

"Just part of my code. I can only really hop to the Nether directly corresponding to where I am in the overworld. But the End I can, y'know. Get wherever. So I harvest my blocks there. But I've got a crop of Chorus plants too that I can turn into Purpur."

"How does everyone else fly?"

"Most of them don't." She snuck a look at him out of the corner of her eye. "But Blaze fly naturally."

"Yeah. I just made a habit of using an Elytra so the other Hermits didn't think I was weird." His Blaze Rods burned into being, orbiting his head. He lifted a few inches off the ground and touched back down. The Blaze Rods vanished.

"No wonder your friends never guessed you were Blaze code." She reached deeper into the chest, short enough that her feet came off the ground, kicking the air to maintain her balance. "If you keep your Rods hidden, why would they assume?"

"I don't... mean to keep them hidden. They just get in the way."

"Mmhmm." She didn't sound convinced.

Particles drifted off Eclipse as she rummaged in a chest labelled Food.

She pulled out several stacks of golden carrots, handing them over. Tango let them pop into his inventory. "That should be enough to last you a while. I've got lots of crops here and a handful of villagers with golden carrot trades so let me know if you need more. You can just ping me in the chat or send a whisper or whatever. You could also, uh, stop by. If you want. Just whenever. I don't mind unexpected company."

Tango eyed her. The way her shoulders curled forward as she opened a different chest. "You're lonely," he said. Not a question.

"I'm fine," she replied, passing over a set of diamond tools. None of it was enchanted, but it was diamond.

"Wait, hang on. What is this?" Tango demanded.

"What?"

"You're just handing me diamond tools like it's no big deal!"

She shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

"How is it not a big deal?! It's diamond! This set must have taken you hours of mining to get—and you're not even wearing armor!"

"I don't need armor. There's no hostile mobs here and fall damage is easily mitigated by teleporting. Besides, the tools are nothing." Her own set of diamond tools—gleaming with the magic of enchantment—spun through her hands from her inventory. "I traded for them. I didn't mine. I built a village. I have villagers."

"Still, that's a lot of trading."

"Tango, look in this chest and tell me I don't have tools to spare."

He peered over her shoulder. The double chest was full of diamond tools. All unenchanted, but all diamond. "Wow."

Eclipse continued searching her storage room. "Let's see what else I can give you... Oh! A bed. Hang on. I think I've got some wool and planks..." She crossed to a different chest—labelled Wool—and ducked into it.

ZombieCleo joined the game.

Tango stared at the chat over his hub for a moment.

Then his hand flew to it.

<Tango> CLEO?!

<ZombieCleo> Tango?

Eclipse straightened out of her chest with some wool in her hands, reading the chat on the underside of her arm. "Oh. You know each other?"

"Cleo also lives on my homeworld!"

<ZombieCleo> Where are you, Tango? How did you get here?

<ForeverEclipse16> He's at my base

She went to a crafting table and started assembling a bed.

<ZombieCleo> Stay there. I'm on my way

<Tango> Roger, roger *thumbs up*

"There you go!" Eclipse said, turning around. "I have lots of dye if you want to pick a color."

"I don't really care. Plain is fine. A bed is a bed." Tango took it from her and put it in his inventory. "This is more than generous, Eclipse. Thank you."

"Sure thing. We don't get new Players often. Least I can do is help you out." She smiled. "Let's go out and wait for Cleo. They tend to move pretty quick."

"Yeah. Sure thing."

—

When Cleo emerged from the tree line on a horse, they looked slightly cross. Eclipse had been Bamfing around the houses of her base, up on the rooftops, waiting for their arrival. When she caught sight of them, she waved.

Cleo followed the directions Eclipse gave and rode straight up to Tango. "And just what have you been keeping from us, Tek? How are you here?" they demanded.

Tango knew that a lot of Cleo's intimidation was bravado and bluffing. That didn't stop his pointed ears from flattening to his head and his hair simmering low. He was still intimidated by them when that angry voice came out. Cleo could probably wipe him in PvP and he didn't want to trek all the way back here to pick up the bits Eclipse had given him.

"I, uh..." Tango started, rubbing the back of his neck. "I have hostile mob code?"

"Why do you say that like a question?" Cleo glowered down at him. "You can't get in here otherwise. Out with it."

"I'm part-Blaze, okay?!" Tango snapped, his temper, hair, and Blaze Rods flaring. Cleo blinked in surprise at seeing the Rods manifest around his head, their eyes tracking the orbit. "I'm Nether-spawn! I didn't tell anyone because Nether mobs are—they're—" He cut himself off with a huff, his fists clenching. His Blaze Rods spun around him faster.

"Tango." Cleo's frustration had vanished. They slid off their horse, tied it to a post, and approached him. They were taller than him and ducked down enough to force him to meet their eyes. Vibrant green, and now full of affection. "Tango, you know none of the Hermits care. Doc's got Creeper code. I've got zombie. Jevin's a slime. X is a code-shifter. Who knows what the hell Mumbo is. You never needed to hide anything from us."

"It's different," Tango muttered. "You're all overworld hybrids."

"Were you scared that the Hermits would reject you?"

"No! ... Yes? ... Kinda?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's different for me."

"Enlighten me," Cleo said flatly, eyes narrowing to a bit of a glower.

"I'm going to assume you didn't say that as a fire pun," Tango muttered. Eclipse had Bamfed away somewhere, apparently out of earshot, and was sitting up on a tower of her castle.

"Tango," Cleo warned.

He sighed. "Look. It's different for me, okay? I'm not overworld-hostile-mob. I'm Nether-hostile-mob. And more than that, I'm Blaze code. Nether mobs are the worst and the Blaze are... they... I... I couldn't let that part of me show."

"Why?"

"Because if the Hermits knew I was Blaze code, they'd be fine with it. They'd tell me I didn't have to hide. They'd encourage me to be open about myself."

"And that's a bad thing?" Cleo challenged.

"Yes!" Tango threw up his hands. "Because if I let myself be open about my Blaze heritage, I'd get lax about controlling it."

"Fire spread is off."

"That's not what I mean." Tango's hair flicked faster. "I know that. I like having fire in my builds as much as the next guy. More, even. It's the other parts that I have to keep down. You think my temper is bad and explosive now? Imagine how much worse it would be if I embraced the monster in my code." As he spoke, his teeth bared in a snarl. Their white, sharp points flashing in the starlight. The sun had truly gone down, but no mobs spawned. The End Rods that kept Eclipse's farms at the right light level to grow plants were the only light in the area.

Cleo considered him. "Am I a monster?"

"Don't," Tango said softly.

"Is Doc a monster? Is Jevin? Is Mumbo?"

"It's different for me!" Tango shouted. His hair burst into a massive plume of flame, his Blaze Rods flaring with light and heat and shooting around his head like meteors. The fire crawled down from his hair, consuming his head. Neck. Shoulders. Arms. Torso.

"How?!" Cleo retorted with equal gusto.

"Because I'm from Hell!" he roared. "The Nether is a hellscape and that's where my code comes from! I'm not like the overworld hostile mobs! You can survive in extreme conditions and just stitch yourself back together! Doc can release all his emotions in one quick explosion and carry on. Everything literally slides off Jevin. I'm not like you guys. I'm from the place no one actually likes going. People go to the Nether out of necessity. And you know what they do? They break through the damn ceiling and build up there so they don't have to deal with the rest of it!"

The fire had crawled to Tango's knees.

"Jimmy never thought you were a monster," Cleo said.

Tango's fire vanished, leaving only his hair burning low. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Cleo leaned back, folding their arms. "You won't listen to me. You wouldn't listen to Impulse if he was telling you this. You won't listen to the Hermits who believe that you're not a monster. You know us too well. You're like a child who won't listen to their parents but if someone else suggests the same idea, you do listen. So if you won't believe me when I tell you that you're not a monster, maybe you'd listen to him."

Tango stared. "He doesn't know the real me."

"He held your heart and soul in his hands, and you held his. He knows you well enough. You nearly burnt him alive when he tried to hold you back after Scar caught the ranch on fire. And he held onto you anyway. Would he do that for a monster?"

Tango's whole body felt like Cleo had thrown a bucket of ice water over his temper and dropped an ice cube down his spine.

"I don't care what your relationship with him was like behind closed doors," Cleo continued. "I don't care if you were romantically involved or just good friends having fun in a death match together. It doesn't matter. What matters was that it was obvious he cared about you, and you cared about him. And he held you through one of the worst rages I've ever seen you in. So what are you so afraid of with the Hermits? Why do you think they'll see you as a monster? You're not one."

"I'm not now. Anymore. But I was and I could be again if my control slipped." Tango's hair was flickering fast.

Cleo reached out and set a hand on his arm. "Don't beat yourself up so much. You're more than the sum of all your code. We all are." They looked around. "Come on. I'll take you to my base here and then you can find a spot for your own. Then you can pop in and out of here whenever you need to."

Tango looked around the End Stone and purpur village.

<Tango> Eclipse? Pop back down?

Bamf! "What's up?" Eclipse asked.

"Cleo's taking me to her base and from there I'm gonna find a little plot of my own. But first I wanted to say goodbye. And thank you. Since you've been so kind."

"Oh, no problem." Eclipse smiled, her eyes flicking to his for a split second before blinking hard and looking away. "Happy to help. If you ever need anything while you're here, let me know. I'll probably be here," she said. "I have a Creative world I mock up builds on for the village when I need to, but more likely than not I'll be here." She put out a hand. Purple particles drifted off the black skin.

Tango shook her hand. Her skin was cold compared to his, but everyone's was. "Thanks again."

"Sure thing. Enjoy your stay. The World of Monsters is a haven for you now. Whenever you need to Blaze away from the eye of your friends."

"Yeah." Tango turned to Cleo. "Lead the way."

Cleo hopped back on their horse. "Try to keep up."

Tango just laughed, his Blaze Rods spinning around his head and lifting him off the ground. "I think I'll be fine."

Cleo laughed that infectious laugh of theirs and urged their horse into a gallop. Tango shot off after them.

Eclipse watched them all go, a small smile on her face.

#Hermitcraft fic #Aurora Writes #Rory Writes #TangoTek #Tango Tek #ZombieCleo

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shamandrummer · 4 months

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Climate-Endangered Tribe Sues Louisiana

By now, you're likely well aware of the climate crisis and its significant dangers to Indigenous communities the world over. The problem is especially magnified on islands and in coastal regions, where sea level rise can wipe away traditional homelands and make climate refugees of those who have been displaced. That's true even right here in the United States, where hundreds of Native communities -- in South Dakota, Alaska, Florida, Hawai'i, Washington, and Louisiana -- face existential threats.

And now, the first community to supposedly be moved from harm's way -- the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation -- is facing a new set of problems. Just before the new year, the tribe filed a landmark civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) against the state of Louisiana. In 2016, HUD granted Louisiana $48 million in aid to resettle the tribe. But, its complaint asserts, Louisiana failed to properly implement the grant and has ethnically and racially discriminated, violated tribal sovereignty, excluded cultural components central to a proper relocation program, and provided poor replacement housing.

The Jean Charles Choctaw Nation has resided on the Isle de Jean Charles for five generations, since the ancestors of its citizens escaped the Trail of Tears in the early 1830s amid President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act. Its homelands and burial grounds are located in a region facing perpetual devastation and erosion by storms and sea level rise. Since 1955, the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation has lost over 98 percent of its lands to the encroaching ocean.

It's also worth noting that the tribe is located in Terrebonne Parish, a region notorious for oil extraction, high pollution rates, and environmental justice violations. The Parish and over 90 percent of its property are largely controlled by non-local fossil fuel and chemical companies. The infamous "Cancer Alley" is just upstream.

By filing its complaint with HUD, the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation is looking to the federal agency to investigate the grant-funded resettlement program, currently run by Louisiana's Office of Community Development (OCD). The tribe hopes HUD will order OCD to respect tribal needs and authority as the program's implementation proceeds. The lawsuit is also significant in that, while the tribe has state recognition from Louisiana, it does not have federal recognition, which would extend access to more grants, disaster assistance, and various legal powers -- including constitutional protections and self-governance recognized by the United States.

#climate change #indigenous cultures #indigenous rights #climate refugees #native americans #choctaw nation

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minniethemoocherda · 11 months

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Iridescent: Chapter 1

Summary: When Jazz is promoted to Head of Special Operations, the last thing he expected was to have to work with a face from his past.

A/N: I have never written a mult-chapter transformers fic nor a Jazz/Prowl one before so we will see how this turns out...

Ao3

Jazz strolled down the corridors of the Ark, ignoring the warnings flooding across his hud not to put any more pressure on his broken leg struts.

He was once again grateful that his job in special operations granted him the mods to turn off his pain receptors otherwise he would have probably shut down long before he'd even arrived at the trek that he'd ran across the acid plains.

Not that Ratchet wasn't going to blow a gasket when he found out anyways. But from a certain point of view it really was Optimus' fault for calling him back from his mission early. And escaping from the remains of Vos' central tower wasn't easy. Sure Jazz could have not jumped out the top floor window. But then that would've meant he'd miss the opportunity to jump out of a stained glass window and for that first free falling minute it had felt as cool as it looked in the holo-films that he'd seen as a sparkling.

Jazz continued his way along the corridors to Optimus' office, putting on a smile and greeting everyone he walked past, most of whom were already quick to welcome him back. He made plans to see people in the rec room and caught up on local gossip, figuring that with whatever reason OP had called him back, their troupes could use some cheering up.

It had emptied out by the time Jazz arrived at the command corridor. He was grateful for the momentary respite until he heard a shuffling from above.

That was all the warning Jazz got when someone dropped out of the vents on top of him.

He grabbed the weight from where it had landed atop his shoulders, rolling with it until the offender was pinned beneath him, a vibro-blade aimed at their neck.

"Gotcha!" Bumblebee cried with his usual cheer from where he had been sprawled onto the floor.

"I think you'll find I got you kid." Jazz said, catching his breath, thanking Primus he'd been able to hear the kid coming as he still was coming down from post-mission jitters. Accidentally killing the Prime's ward would not have been a good start to his stint back at the Ark.

Although looking at his new yellow armour, Bumblebee couldn't really be considered a kid anymore. He must've gotten his final upgrades since Jazz had been away.

The bot was still tiny, whether that was due to his natural sizing or the curse of being born and raised during a war, Ratchet had yet to give a definitive answer. But he had clearly nearly mastered his training if he'd been this close to getting the drop on Jazz. Not many bots could sneak up on him and live to tell the tale.

"Missed you my little mech." Jazz said, a genuine smile crossing his face as he put the blade away.

"I'm not little anymore." Bumblebee pouted as he scrambled up Jazz's arm like a cyber-possum to sit back on his shoulders. Jazz didn't bother to hold back his snort, grabbing the kid's stubby legs and leaning back on his knees until he fell onto his back, squishing Bee underneath him again with an ouff. The kid squirmed and protested but they both knew that he was alright. Bee had taken a lot worse during his training.

Life had shown Jazz that he would never be the type to settle down, never get conjunxed or have a sparkling of his own. But he was more than happy to play the fun uncle to Bumblebee and to show him how to survive in the fragged up world he'd had no choice to be born into.

Of course that was when Optimus decided to open the door to his office, raising an optical ridge of the sight of his top spy and ward play-fighting on the corridor floor.

"Hey OP!" Jazz said with a cheeky salute as Bee's pedes continued to kick him in the face.

"Jazz inside." Optimus ordered as though Jazz was the sparkling in this situation.

Still Jazz got up, finally letting Bumblebee free.

"See you later my little mech!" He called out as he strolled past OP into his office, not missing the young bot stick his tongue out behind him.

Jazz watched as OP sent a pointed look in Bumblebee's direction. The kid smiled an apology before scampering off to whether he had come from. He also didn't miss the way OP's eyes crinkled with the tells of a smile under his mask.

Not much had changed since the last time Jazz had been in Optimus' office. Neat and organised if you didn't count the stack of datafiles mounted on his desk with most of the back wall taken up with rows of databooks, because underneath the new Matrix infused frame he was still the same archivist Orion Pax that Jazz had met all those years ago.

"I call dibs on Bumblebee for spec opps when he signs up!" Jazz cried as straddled the chair in front of the desk.

He caught Optimus flinch as the big bot took his place behind the desk.

"That is not what we are here to discuss." Optimus told him, decisively changing the subject.

"Well I figured you didn't call me back just because you missed my good looks." Jazz said, sitting himself properly in the chair at the serious tone in his friend's voice.

"No." Optimus said with a grave pause. "Blackout is dead."

Fuck.

"How?"

"We believe her identity was discovered whilst she was undercover on the Nemesis. Communication was lost and soon after Megatron taunted me with her demise during a recent battle."

Jazz grimaced. He had expected as much when Prime had been the one to call him back instead of the head of special operations, even if a part of him had hoped that Blackout was injured or missing in action. It hurt to hear the words spoken out loud. However, that didn't explain one thing.

"Why do you need me here?" He asked.

"Because I need you to be our new head of Special Operations."

That Jazz had not been expecting.

It made sense. He has the most experience as a spy and he was the second ranking officer under Blackout's command. However...

"You know I'm not a leader, Optimus. I work better alone."

"You are well respected and liked amongst the Autobots."

Jazz held back another snort. Sure Jazz liked people and people liked him. But that didn't mean that he trusted them to put other peoples lives in their hands. He had made that mistake before.

"What about Mirage?" Jazz asked, although even as he said those words aloud, Jazz dismissed the idea. 'Raj was a good mech and his best friend. And though he could handle it, Jazz couldn't allow himself to force that weight onto someone else.

"I trust you." Optimus said with those big old blue optics that had previously convinced him to join the war in the first place.

Jazz sighed.

"I don't want to but I'll do it."

"Those who desire power should rarely be trusted with it." Optimus stated with his usual wisdom.

Jazz rolled his eyes.

"I still can't figure out if you have a list of one liners saved or if you come up with them on the spot."

Optimus' only response was the slight crinkle of his eye.

"I'll formally introduce you to the command team tomorrow. For now, get some rest."

Jazz took the casual dismissal for what it was and started making his way to the door when OP called his name.

"And Jazz, go see Ratchet."

#transformers #jazz #tf jazz #transformers jazz #jazzprowl #prowljazz #jazz x prowl #optimus prime #bumblebee #mirage #ratchet #fanfiction #iridescent #blackout #Jazz is bumblebee's fun uncle

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mechwarrior-rose · 1 month

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HOWLING VALLEY VINTON CLAN HOMEWORLDS 8 NOVEMBER 3047

The night sky of Vinton's northern continent was exceptionally clear. Stars were not only visible, but appeared to fill the heavens like iridescent grains of sand. Rose's Shadow Cat was nestled into a crack in the canyon's sloped wall, its upper body nosed out just enough to let her sensors scan the area. And enough to give her an incredible view.

MechWarrior Rose had never seen a sky like this. She was used to the nearly opaque clouds of Bearclaw, where she had spent her whole life before this tour of duty began. Even on Paxon, Rose had only seen pink daytime skies. The Ghost Bear 68th Striker Cluster had been engaged in training exercises prior to their departure for Vinton; Rose had spent nights on Paxon in the barracks or carousing with her starmates in the covered promenade in Thermopolis.

A soft blip in her ear and a faint point on her tactical display alerted Rose that her active probe was picking up a fusion engine beginning its warm-up cycle. She activated her radio to send a tightbeamed message to her Star's commanding officer, Star Captain Stunner Tseng, in his Mad Dog tucked away in another niche just a few dozen meters up the canyon. "Star Captain, the Smoke Jaguars are readying to move. I see one, now two units firing up."

"Affirmative." Tseng offered no further acknowledgment. He had always been taciturn in the field. Rose knew that he was now sending a low-power confirmation signal to Bravo Striker Star. Star Commander Noelle would meet the Jaguars on the field, but well ahead of the Jaguars' anticipated site for the conflict, giving the second-line 'Mechs of Bravo Striker the advantage. Once the Jaguars' second star began nearing the fight, Alpha Ranger Star would power up, sweep up the canyon to a washout that granted access to the ridgeline road, and strike the Jaguars from the rear.

In the night sky, a beacon was suddenly lit. Was it a DropShip's engines? No, it was unmoving. Rose realized it was the Theta Phyxidis nova beginning its flare period. An eager merchant on Paxon had told her about the event, only visible every seventeen years or so, which was celebrated locally with a week-long festival. At the time, Rose had dismissed it as lower-caste foolishness. Now, alone in her powered-down cockpit, she could see how one might get caught up in the romanticism of it. It would be even more brilliant on Paxon than on the more distant Vinton.

The Jaguar Star had fully powered up. It took several moments for her probe to sort out their models and configurations, cycling through multiple possibilities before settling on a final determination: Lynx C, Stormcrow A, Nova B, Griffin IIC, and Ebon Jaguar Prime. The 'Mechs made good speed up the ridgeline road, approaching Alpha Ranger's hiding spot none the wiser. Rose sent the data to Tseng and waited for the second Star of 'Mechs to appear on her display, but the screen continued to show no further units. Only when the Jaguar Star passed directly overhead did Rose understand: the second Star was a full Star of Elementals, each Point hitching a ride on a 'Mech. That had been what had briefly confused her sensors.

"Star Captain, every one of those 'Mechs is loaded with Elementals," she tightbeamed. "Bravo Striker will be overwhelmed while they wait for us to arrive."

Tseng's reply was immediate. "Just the data, Warrior; leave the tactical analysis to your commanders."

"Aff, Star Captain."

"But I agree with your assessment." Tseng switched to the regular radio on the Star's frequency. "Alpha Ranger, we are moving early. Form up on me. We will intercept the Jaguars on the ridge. Bravo Striker will reinforce us. Sending tactical data now."

Rose recognized her cue and instructed her tactical computer to share its information with the rest of the Star. Then she engaged the engine power-up sequence and watched her HUD cycle go through its boot cycle.

Tseng's Mad Dog finished coming to full power at the same time as Rose's Shadow Cat. She stepped into place beside him and a little back, echelon right formation. Aster's Crossbow A, Deman's Conjurer, and Susan's Ice Ferret B followed suit. Rose loved the Shadow Cat's low-slung lope, its hunter's stride, weapons high and ready. She loved seeing her starmates to either side, loved the beauty of the formation before battle broke its measured lines.

The engines' signals had caught the Jaguars' attention. They were beginning to turn about to face Alpha Striker. Tseng's voice crackled through the radio. "Susan, Aster, make for that washout. I will be right behind you. Rose, Deman, bring up the rear and keep an eye on those Elementals. If they begin hopping off their rides, jump to the ridge and hold them in place as best you can. Let us keep their attention until Bravo Striker arrives."

"Aff, Star Captain," Rose said in chorus with her starmates.

Susan spoke up. "I wager the next round of drinks that I will take two points by myself before Bravo Star gets here."

"Keep it down, cubs," Tseng said, affably.

Rose settled her fingers on her triggers and grinned in anticipation.

++++++++++

The Shadow Cat wasn't heavy enough to completely crush the final Elemental warrior under its foot. Two squeezes of the laser interlock finished the job. HarJel poured in vain over the empty space where the warrior's upper torso had been. Sparks fell from a short in the Cat's active probe, showering through its rent cowling to sizzle in the black mess below.

Deman's Conjurer lay peeled open, a victim of the powered infantry's quick work; four Elemental corpses lay in the wreckage of the second-line 'Mech. Though given just how tough Elemental warriors were, perhaps dismissing them as dead was a foolish conclusion. Deman himself had been dragged out of his cockpit and torn apart. Rose didn't let herself think about it. File it as an honorable death and move on.

Next target. The Nova and Griffin IIC had leaped down into the canyon and were harassing Tseng. As was expected from combined-arms combat (and from Jaguars in general), zellbrigen had been a formality that had been quietly and hastily ushered off the field. Both 'Mechs peppered the Mad Dog with fire, trying to keep Tseng pincered between them. But he was wily and knew how to use the terrain to his advantage.

A shriek of anger snapped Rose's attention to the remainder of her Star. The Stormcrow and Ebon Jaguar were both focusing their fire on Aster's Crossbow; it was already missing both arms. Susan loped her Ice Ferret into the fray, SRMs firing as fast as they would cycle, blind to the enemy Lynx closing on her flank.

Tseng could handle himself. Aster and Susan were less seasoned and had fallen into a trap. Not that I am any more battle-hardened than they, Rose thought. They needed Rose's help more than her commander did.

Rose pushed her Shadow Cat to flanking speed and ran for the fracas. She twisted slightly, alpha striking into the Lynx's already damaged right torso without slowing her pace. The superstructure of the entire torso-hip assembly melted away, and the engine flared before engaging emergency shutdown, crumpling the 'Mech into an immobile pile of limbs on the ground. She kept running, turning now to fire another Gauss slug into the Stormcrow, crushing its LRM launcher.

Rose snapped her radio to wide-band. "Pilot of the Ebon Jaguar, I am Warrior Rose of Clan Ghost Bear, and I challenge you to single combat."

All firing stopped. The Ebon Jaguar twisted to face Rose, moving like a living thing. They're good, whoever they are, Rose thought.

"Very well, brave little bear cub," the pilot replied. The Stormcrow began stepping back. After a moment's hesitation, Aster limped her Crossbow to the side, and Susan followed suit. Not quite a Circle of Equals, but good enough.

Rose opened the Shadow Cat's throttle and took off running on a slanted approach vector. The Ebon Jaguar let off a full salvo. An autocannon slug caught her 'Mech's left shoulder, damaging the actuator. Laser fire stitched up one leg, and the Gauss round slammed into the other, but the missiles went wide. Rose fired her lasers, barely aiming; she was counting seconds and tracking the enemy pilot's own tracking of Rose. The torso stayed locked onto Rose's approach, but the arms were a little slower in following. That meant the pilot was focusing on obtaining a missile lock over aiming their direct-fire weapons. Or so Rose was betting. Her life was the ante for that wager.

...two, one, now! The moment Rose figured the heavy weapons had cycled on the Ebon Jaguar, she dug in with one leg, pushed off to the side, punched her jump jets, and streaked into the air on a plume of blue plasma. Her juke worked, and ammunition flew fruitlessly beneath her. She wasn't entirely lucky; half the flight of LRMs and both SRMs connected with her legs as she flew, stripping the remainder of the armor and damaging a foot actuator. Rose's landing was rough, but she wrenched herself upright through sheer will. There was the Ebon Jaguar's untouched rear armor, begging to be attended.

The Gauss round flew first, tearing into the Ebon Jaguar's left torso and setting off the LRM ammunition stored within. The lasers went into the center torso and scored deep gouges in the 'Mech's engine shielding. The enemy pilot tried to turn their right side to face Rose and bring their own Gauss rifle to bear, but the Shadow Cat was inside the rifle's minimum range. Rose easily slid under the shot and went back to work on the enemy 'Mech's exposed rear. Two more pulls of the laser interlock trigger, and the Ebon Jaguar went down.

Riding high on adrenaline, Rose turned to face the Stormcrow. As she activated her mic to issue another challenge, however, another voice came through on the radio. "Bravo Striker is here, Star Captain. Ready to receive target assignations."

Sure enough, there was Bravo Star coming down the ridgeline road, pristine and looking to raise hell. The Stormcrow thought better of taking on seven 'Mechs at once and signaled the power-down of its weapons.

After a few moments, Star Captain Tseng came through on the radio. "Bravo Striker, the enemy has surrendered. The Elemental manufacturing facility is ours." He was out of breath, and static interference from what was likely a damaged engine threatened to overwhelm his radio, but he was still alive.

The lead 'Mech of Bravo Star, a Rifleman IIC, stepped forward to survey the field. Star Commander Noelle let out a low whistle. "You have left nothing for us, Alpha Ranger. What are we supposed to do here? Take potshots at birds?"

Rose finally relaxed her grip on her sticks and let herself slump in her command couch. "You could always indulge in a little stargazing, Star Commander," she said. "Theta Phyxidis is lovely tonight."

#battletech #mechwarrior #oc fiction #ghost bear #bearclaw rose

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fenrislorsrai · 6 months

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The Biden administration has previously said it wants all of the nation’s roughly 9 million lead pipes to be removed, and rapidly. Lead pipes connect water mains in the street to homes and are typically the biggest source of lead in drinking water. They are most common in older, industrial parts of the country. Lead crises have hit poorer, majority-Black cities like Flint especially hard, propelling the risks of lead in drinking water into the national consciousness. Their impact reaches beyond public health. After the crises, tap water use declined nationally, especially among Black and Hispanic people. The Biden administration says investment is vital to fix this injustice and ensure everyone has safe, lead-free drinking water. “We’re trying to right a longstanding wrong here,” said Radhika Fox, head of the EPA Office of Water. “We’re bending the arc towards equity and justice on this legacy issue.” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., representing states that have faced lead crises, agreed in a joint statement, citing both the new rule and the Biden administration’s infrastructure investments. “We can make a lead-free future a reality for all, no matter the color or their skin or their zip code,” it said. The proposal, called the lead and copper rule improvements, would for the first time require utilities to replace lead pipes even if their lead levels aren’t too high. Most cities have not been forced to replace their lead pipes and many don’t even know where they are. There are some exceptions to the 10 year lead pipe replacement deadline. A few cities like Chicago with lots of lead pipes may get longer. Water utilities with dense networks of lead pipes — as many as 2,000 of them — could also get more than 10 years, the proposal says. The push to reduce lead in tap water is part of a broader federal effort to combat lead exposure that includes proposed stricter limits on dust from lead-based paint in older homes and child-care facilities and a goal to eliminate lead in aviation fuel. The EPA enacted the first comprehensive lead in drinking water regulations in 1991. Those have significantly helped reduce lead levels, but experts have said they left loopholes that keep lead levels too high and lax enforcement allows cities to ignore the problem.

overall estimate is $30B over ten years. that's nothing. I expect this was also fall under Justice 40 rules via HUD's Lead Hazard Reduction and Healthy Homes Grants. So that means 40% of the program money should go towards the most disadvantaged census tracts. and this should speed up the timeline AND put more money into it.

#biden administration #environmental justice #lead #water safety #infrastructure

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batboyblog · 16 days

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Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #18

May 10-17 2024

The Justice Department endorses lifting many restrictions on marijuana. Since the 1970s marijuana has been classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, the most restrictive classification for drugs that are highly addictive, dangerous and have no medical use, like heroin. Schedule I drugs are nearly impossible to get approval for research studies greatly hampering attempts to understand marijuana and any medical benefits it may have. The DoJ recommends moving it to Schedule III, drugs with low risk of abuse like anabolic steroids, and testosterone. This will allow for greater research, likely allow medical marijuana, and make marijuana a much less serious offense. President Biden welcomed DoJ's decision, a result a review of policy he ordered. Biden in his message talked about how he's pardoned everyone convicted of marijuana possession federally. The President repeated a phrase he's said many times "No-one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana,"

The Department of Interior announced no new coal mining in America's largest coal producing region. The moratorium on new coal leases has been hailed as the single biggest step so fair toward ending coal in the US. The Powder River Basin area of Wyoming and Montana produces 40% of the nations coal, the whole state of West Virginia is just 14%. The new rule is estimated to reduce emissions by the equivalent of 293 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, the same as taking 63 million gas powered cars off the road.

Vice-President Harris announced that the Biden-Harris Administration had broken records by investing $16 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Harris, a graduate of Howard University, is the first President or Vice-President to have gone to a HBCU. The Administration's investment of $900 million so far in 2024 brought the total investment of the Biden-Harris administration in HBCUs to $16 billion more than double the record $7 billion. HBCUs produce 40% of black engineers, 50% of black teachers, 70% of black doctors and dentists, and 80% of black judges. HBCUs also have a much better record of helping social mobility and moving people out of generational poverty than other colleges and universities.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $30 billion dollars in renewal funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program. The program supports 2.3 million families that are in need of housing with vouchers that help pay rent. This funding represents a $2 billion dollar increase over last year.

The Department of Agriculture announced $671.4 million in investments in rural infrastructure. The money will go to project to improve rural electric grids, as well as drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure. The money will go to 47 projects across 23 states.

HUD announced a record breaking $1.1 billion dollar investment in Tribal housing and community development. HUD plans just over 1 billion dollars for the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program. This is a 40% increase in funding over 2023 and marks the largest ever funding investment in Indian housing. HUD also is investing $75 million in community development, supporting building and rehabbing community buildings in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

The Department of Transportation announced $2 billion in investments in America's busiest passenger rail route, the Northeast Corridor between Washington DC and Boston. This is part of a 15 year, $176 billion plan to rebuild the corridor’s infrastructure and prepare for increased ridership and more trains. So far investments have seen a 25% increase, 7 million riders, over figures last year. a fully funded plan would almost double Amtrak service between New York City and Washington, D.C., and increase service between New York City and Boston by 50%. It would also allow a 60% increase in commuter trains.

HUD announced plans to streamline its HOME program. Currently the largest federal program to help build affordable housing, the streamlining of the rules will speed up building and help meet the Biden Administration's goal of 2 million new affordable housing units. HUD announced last week $1.3 billion dollars for the HOME program, which built 13,000 new units of housing in 2023 and helped 13,000 families with rental assistance

The Department of Interior announced $520 million in new water projects to help protect against drought in the western states. The funding will support 57 water related projects across 18 western states. The projects focus on climate resilience and drought prevention, as well as improving aging water delivery systems, and improving hydropower generation.

The Departments of Agriculture and HHS have stepped up efforts to wipe out the H5N1 virus prevent its spread to humans while protecting farmers livelihoods. The virus is currently effecting dairy cattle in the Texas panhandle region. The USDA and HSS are releasing wide ranging funds to help support farms equipping workers with Personal Protective Equipment, covering Veterinary costs, as well as compensating farmers for lost revenue. HHS and the CDC announced $101 million in testing an monitoring. This early detection and action is key to preventing another Covid style pandemic.

The Senate confirmed Sanket Bulsara to a life time federal judgeship in New York and Eric Schulte and Camela Theeler to lifetime federal judgeships in South Dakota. This brings the total number of judges appointed by President Biden to 197. For the first time in history the majority of a President's judicial nominees have not been white men.

Bonus: The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that transgender health insurance exclusions were illegal. The ruling came from a case first filed in 2019 where an employer refused to cover an employee's gender affirming surgery. The court in its ruling sited new guidance from the Biden Administration's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that declared that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects trans people in the work place. These kinds of guidelines are often sited in court and carry great weight.

#Thanks Biden #Joe Biden #democrats #american politics #marijuana #marijuana legalization #climate change #climate action #HBCU #howard university #affordable homes #native american #Trans rights #judges #h5n1

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basicsofislam · 6 months

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ISLAM 101: THE HOLY QUR’AN: Part 2

HOW DOES THE QUR’AN INFORM US OF THE UNSEEN?

The Qur’an contains the knowledge of the unseen, or the ghayb, which is beyond any sort of perception; it also presents much of the history of bygone nations and predictions about the near or distant future.

As the exact knowledge of the unseen belongs to God exclusively, neither the Prophets nor any other people have knowledge of the future and cannot acquire true knowledge of the past or even of the present except through the Revelation.

If we look at such information and knowledge of the unseen in the Qur’an, we can see that the majority is concerned with the people living in the past. Even if some of this information is found in other heavenly books, we can see that their Qur’anic equivalents differ in many aspects and are sometimes quite the contrary. As for information about the time period when the Qur’an descended, or that of later periods, there are many facts that would have been impossible for a human being to know revealed in the Qur’an. God, Himself states that each of these is a miracle of the realm of the unseen:

With Him are the keys to the Unseen; none knows them but He. And He knows whatever is on land and in the sea; and not a leaf falls but He knows it, and neither is there a grain in the dark layers of earth, nor anything green or dry, but is (recorded) in a Manifest Book. (An’am 6:59)

An evaluation of Qur’anic information pertaining to the Unseen under three headings, past, present, and future, will help us to better understand this matter.

Information pertaining to the past: Life stories of many Prophets, starting with Prophet Adam, the first man and ending with Prophet Muhammad, the seal of the Messengers, and the incidents that occurred between them and their communities, the stories of tyrants who lived in the past and the people who were tortured by them are all narrated in the Qur’an. God Almighty informs us in the following verses that the majority of such narrations were not known by those who lived in the Arabian Peninsula before the revelation of the Qur’an:

Those are accounts of some exemplary events of the unseen (a time and realm beyond any created’s perception) that We reveal to you, (O Messenger). Neither you nor your people knew them before this. Then (seeing that there is no substantial difference between the conditions in which the Messengers carried out their missions and the reactions they encountered) be patient (with their reactions and their persistence in unbelief). The (final, happy) outcome is in favor of the God-revering, pious. (Hud 11:49)

(All that We have told you about Moses and the Book granted to him is a Revelation We reveal to you, O Muhammad, for) you were not present on the spot lying to the western side (of the valley) when We decreed the Commandment (the Torah) to Moses, nor were you a witness (to what happened there). But (after them) We brought into being many generations and long indeed were the ages that passed over them. (The information you give about them is also that which We reveal to you, just as what you tell about what happened concerning Moses in Midian is also a Revelation. For neither did you dwell among the people of Midian so that you are conveying to them (the Makkan people) Our Revelations (about what Moses did in Midian).

Rather, We have been sending Messengers (to convey Our Revelations). And neither were you present on the side of the Mount Sinai when We called out (to Moses), but (We reveal all this to you) as a mercy from your Lord so that you may warn a people to whom no warner has come before you, so that they may reflect and be mindful. (Qasas 28:44-46)

(O Messenger:) that is of the tidings of the things of the unseen (the things that took place in the past and have remained hidden from people with all their truth), which We reveal to you, for you were not present with them when they drew lots with their pens about who should have charge of Mary; nor were you present with them when they were disputing (about the matter). (Al ‘Imran 3:44)

The information which the Qur’an provides concerning the past is only the kind of information that can be known by way of an oral tradition over the generations, but not through reason or intelligence. Such narration is something that can only be attempted by literate people. The Prophet to whom the Qur’an was revealed could neither write nor read, but what he recited sounds as if he had participated in these events and was well acquainted with all these incidents. In fact, these incidents were all narrated by God with Whom all secrets of the realm of the Unseen reside and they were not the personal knowledge of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

Information pertaining to the present: The Qur’an provides information about some facts that pertain to the time period of its revelation. These are regarded as unknowable for both the Prophet and his people. Matters pertaining to God Himself, the angels, jinn, Paradise, and Hell may be considered to be examples in this regard. The Qur’an speaks of matters like the Attributes and deeds of God Almighty, His Essence, the features of the angels and the characteristics of Paradise and Hell. All these matters cannot be comprehended with the eye or the senses, but are rather realities conceivable only via Revelation.

In addition, we can see that the Qur’an relates certain incidents that pertain to the time of the Prophet. Such incidents were perceptible only after being mentioned in Revelation. The following verse, which discloses some secrets of the hypocrites, is an example of this:

Among the people there is he whose conversation on (the affairs of) the present, worldly life fascinates you, and he calls on God to bear testimony to what is in his heart, yet he is most fierce in enmity. When he leaves (you) or attains authority, he rushes about the land to foment disorder and corruption therein and to ruin the sources of life and human generations. Surely God does not love disorder and corruption. (Baqara 2:204-205)

This verse is said to have been revealed about Ahnas ibn Sharik. This hypocrite was a person with whom the tribe Banu Zuhra had made an alliance. He came to the Prophet declaring that he had converted to Islam. He spoke politely to the Prophet, in a kind and affectionate manner, swearing that he had converted to Islam. But, after he had left the presence of the Prophet, he went to the farm of some Muslims and burned their harvest and destroyed their animals. Similarly, the Masjid al-Dhirar (the small mosque near Medina built by the hypocrites at that time to distract the early Muslim community; it was demolished on the order of the Prophet) is another example of this. We find the following statements in the Qur’an about these hypocrites and their mosque, which was used as a base for fifth-columnist activities:

Some among the hypocrites – who have adopted a mosque out of dissension and unbelief, in order to cause division among the believers, and use as an outpost to collaborate with him who before made war on God and His Messenger – will certainly swear: “We mean nothing but good (in building this mosque)”, whereas God bears witness that they are surely liars. Do not stand in that mosque to do the Prayer. The mosque that was founded on piety and reverence for God from the very first days (in Madinah) is worthy that you should stand in it for the Prayer. In it are men who love to be purified (of all spiritual and moral blemishes). God loves those who strive to purify themselves. (Tawba 9:107-108)

Information pertaining to the future: Many predictions concerning important future incidents are one of the miraculous aspects of the Qur’an; whatever is predicted in the Qur’an either has come true or will come true when its time is due. This means that the one who is relating the words must be the All-Knowing Supreme Being. The following samples related to this matter clearly show this:

The prediction that the Byzantine Romans would be victorious:

The Byzantine Romans have been defeated in the lands close-by, but they, after their defeat, will be victorious within a few (nine) years – to God belongs the command (the absolute judgment and authority) both before and after (any event) – and at the time (when the Romans are victorious), the believers will rejoice because of God’s help leading them to victory. He helps whom He wills to victory. He is the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Compassionate (especially towards His believing servants). (Rum 30:1-4)

The Eastern Roman and Persian empires were the two superpowers during the early years of the Revelation. The Eastern Romans were People of the Book and the Persians were fire-worshippers. In 614, the Roman lands of Jerusalem and Palestine had been occupied by the Persians and they had even come down to Alexandria and advanced as far as the capital city of Constantinople, present-day Istanbul. Due to this victory, both the Persians and the Meccan polytheists were extremely pleased. Since the Persians’ victory had been so great no one thought it possible that the Byzantine Romans could turn defeat into victory in only nine years.

Now, the above verse predicted not only the victory of the Byzantine Romans over the Zoroastrian Persians in just a few years, but it also predicted that the Muslims would be victorious over the polytheists and would consequently be pleased. When the above verses were revealed, Abu Bakr told the polytheists who were pleased by the defeat of the Byzantine Romans:

“God’s Messenger has informed us that God will not enlighten your days. I swear by God that within a couple of years the Byzantine Romans will certainly be victorious over the Persians.”

Uayy ibn Khalaf bet Abu Bakr ten camels that the Byzantine Romans would not be victorious within three years. When the Prophet came to know of this, he said:

“The Qur’an has used the word Bidh, which applies to a number up to ten. Therefore, make the bet for ten years and increase the number of camels to a hundred.”

When Abu Bakr met Ubayy ibn Khalaf once more, he asked Abu Bakr:

“I presume you are unhappy with your bet.”

Upon this Abu Bakr bet a hundred camels for ten years. And Ubayy accepted the deal. Finally, the Byzantine Romans became victorious over the Persians, and this was the very year when Muslims had achieved a decisive victory against the Meccan polytheists at Badr. Later, Abu Bakr demanded and received those 100 camels from the heirs of Ubayy and took them before the Prophet who ordered,

“Give them a way in charity.”

The narration that the Prophet would be guarded against his enemies: Many people, primarily the Meccan polytheists, were ferocious enemies of the Prophet after he announced his Prophethood. All of them wanted to kill him. They soon began laying traps and making plots against him. However, none of these plots, traps or attacks yielded any result, as the Prophet was under the custody of the Supreme Creator and because God had guaranteed the Prophet’s safety. The polytheists could not harm the Prophet and could not touch him with their evil intentions. The following verse explains this fact:

O Messenger (you who convey and embody the Message in the best way)! Convey and make known in the clearest way all that has been sent down to you from your Lord. For, if you do not, you have not conveyed His Message and fulfilled the task of His Messengership. And God will certainly protect you from the people. God will surely not guide the disbelieving people (to attain their goal of harming or defeating you). (Maeda 5:67)

The narration that the Muslims would be victorious: The Qur’an declared that Muslims, even though they were very weak and few in number, particularly in the early periods, would eventually become stronger and finally become victorious over their enemies. Such Qur’anic declarations were made in a period during which the majority of the early Muslims were exposed to a number of forms of torture, while others were forced to migrate from Mecca or their property was confiscated by the polytheists. In fact, under normal circumstances to tell people who find themselves in such a position that they would soon be victorious would be nothing less than ridiculing them. But, God, with His all-encompassing Knowledge, informed the believers of the consequence and of this Qur’anic miracle that would occur in the future; events turned out exactly as written. The following verse predicts and declares the soon-to-be future state:

God has promised those of you who believe and do good, righteous deeds that He will most certainly empower them as vicegerents on the earth (in the place of those who are in power at present), even as He empowered those (of the same qualities) that preceded them, and that, assuredly, He will firmly establish for them their religion, which He has (chosen and) approved of for them, and He will replace their present state of fear with security (so that they can practice their religion freely and fully and in peace). They worship Me alone, associating none with Me as partners (in belief, worship, and the authority to order their life). Whoever turns ungrateful after that, such indeed are the transgressors. (Nur 24:55)

The narration that the Qur’an will never be challenged:

As far as the issue of having something similar to itself created, as seen above, the Qur’an laid out a challenge for all times and places, openly discussing this matter in its verses.

The Qur’an displays its miraculous authenticity in the following verse:

Say: “Surely, if humankind and jinn were to come together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they will never be able to produce the like of it, though they backed one another up with help and support. (Isra 17:88)

The narration that the Prophet and the Companions will peacefully enter Mecca: Both the Prophet and his Companions who migrated to Medina never were able to forget Mecca, the city where they had been raised. But, the dangerous circumstances made them despair of returning there one day. Moreover, they were not able to even imagine being able to safely return there or to be able to circumambulate the Ka’ba to their hearts’ content. Yet, the Qur’an informed them that even under such extremely unpromising circumstances that one day they would enter Mecca in great serenity and safety. The prediction became a reality with the Treaty of Hudaybiya, which in time proved to be a manifest victory. The Prophet’s vision came true when Muslims entered Mecca and completed their minor Pilgrimage in full security:

God has assuredly confirmed the vision for His Messenger as true (and will certainly fulfill it) in reality: you will certainly enter the Sacred Mosque, if God wills, in full security, with your heads shaven or your hair cut short, and you will have nothing to fear. But He always knows what you do not know, and (therefore, without allowing you to enter the Mosque this year,) granted you a near victory before this. (Fath 48:27)

The narration that the corpse of the Pharoah would be found: The Qur’an declares in the following statement that the body of the Pharaoh, who drowned pursuing Prophet Moses, would not be lost forever, but rather would be found later:

So this day (as a recompense for your belief in the state of despair which will be of no avail to you in the Hereafter), We will save only your body, that you may be a sign for those to come after you. Surely, a good many people among humankind are heedless of Our signs (full of clear warning and lessons). (Yunus 10:92)

This prediction is an explicit Qur’anic miracle, yet at the time of the Prophet, there was no knowledge about this matter.

6 notes · View notes