#yes I plan on starting a media co-operative one day

[georgeshutcheson]

How To Start A New Business And Make It A Success

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How To Start A New Business And Make It A Success

In this article we’re going talk about how to start a new business! All right, so we want to start a business, hooray! When it comes to starting a business, you want to get organized, and first things first, figuring out what your business name is. So now once you have that name, you really want to figure out and create your business plan. This is just a simple document that’s going to go over what your business is all about, what you do, who your market is, who your customers are, everything that you need to potentially show to investors to give you the money to start the business. You have to have a clear action plan with all the details. Plus it’ll help you to really flush out what you need and the goals you should keep top of mind in order to succeed. And it keeps you kind of grounded so you’re not going in a million different places, as we all do, I know I do it a lot. If you don’t have that business plan written out, you will be everywhere and nowhere. After you get organized, and you’ve committed to what you want to do with your business, what comes next? I’ve seen my entrepreneurial friends and I went through it myself, is determining whether you want to operate as a Limited company or sole trader. You definitely have to register your business in some shape or fashion. What most people do is the limited company but there’s also the partnership if there is more than one of you starting the business together. Why Limited Company? Well, it helps you really protect yourself from your business. So if your business was ever sued, they can’t come after your personal assets. It’s going to keep you and your business separated. Once you have that, the next thing will be to register your business with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). That’s really going to help you when it comes time to creating a business bank account. Next up you need to check if your business needs a special license in order to operate. For example, if you are thinking of opening a business that involves the sale of alcohol in the UK you will need a license. The next thing you need to do with starting your business, is figuring out where you want to work. Now with some businesses such as a cafe, you can’t really do that at home, you have to have a shop, but some businesses you can do at home. A good example will be online survey. You can also do a co-working space which is super popular these days. If you don’t know what a co-working space is, you essentially rent out part of a building, or you rent out a desk, where there are tons of other entrepreneurs just like you, doing the same thing. It can be advantageous to get out of the house and operate around people just like you with the same mindset. I love working from home, but I need to kind of mix it up every now and then. So it’s that or a shop. The co-working space can have its advantages. Think about it, you’re in such an exciting time, you’re starting a business. You might meet someone that could help you network, or help you with that next step, because there’s a lot of like-minded people hanging out there, doing productive things like you. Money management is important when you are running a business. So, get a business bank account, don’t use your personal account, especially when you’re paying your employees, and everything else. Also open up a line of credit just in case something happens and you need some quick funds. Next, talk to an accountant to help you keep everything organized. That has been very helpful for my other local heroes out there, my business friends recommend that. Another big essential is insurance! Whatever you do, you need to cover your business with insurance. Check out all the different insurances, and do your research to make sure you’re fully covered, because you never know what might happen. Someone might hurt themselves at your business premises or you might pick up a tussle with one of your suppliers. You need insurance to cover these things. Next thing is branding your business. Start with your email address and your logo. There is also social media and all the marketing. What are you are going to do with your website? So think about your branding. Those are pretty important essential things. Let’s start with a domain name and your email address. Your domain name has to be something that will get people to your website. You don’t want to have some random URL. You want it to be your business. And with that, you’ll have that professional email. Compare .com to gmail.com. If you have the ending not be your domain name, it doesn’t look as professional. I love Gmail, but as a business, have it your domain name. You can still do Gmail for business, there’s Office 365, lots of email providers that you can use to really make your business look professional and credible. Now lets jump into your website. That’s the whole point of having an online presence. It’s something that you control. You need to have some kind of website, even if it’s just basic information on what you do, or some videos of your product. You could even add an option for people to spend money on your website. Another important thing to bring up, make sure you have contact info on your website.

Now for you business social media! That is where you want to go and really take the logo that you have and be consistent with it across all of your platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Make sure to set up business pages not personal pages. This is very important. And finally what are your policies? What are the policies in place for your business? With almost any type of business, you need a terms of service. Depending on the type of business you run, you should probably consult a lawyer with this. The important thing is that you should have something. Like what is your return policy? What’s your privacy policy? Do you keep customer information? What does all this look like? Have some kind of terms of service to help protect you and your business. Make a copy of your policies available for all of your employees. Most companies will usually have it on their website. Usually down at the bottom where there’s a little link to the terms and service and the privacy policy. Be accessible! – Yes. – And also have some social proof. That is definitely today’s word of mouth. So be easily accessible. Make it easy for me to contact you, and definitely make sure I can find you readily. Make yourself easily available on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The social proof is basically just testimonials and reviews of other customers. You want them to say hey, Mary’s hair studio is awesome, or Jimmy’s take away is awesome, or whatever that looks like. It really helps people identify with you and trust you. A pro tip for you all, do not be just a cave dweller, go out into the open and be social. Talk to people on social media, talk to people in real life, and really put your business and yourself out there. You can’t expect them all just to come to you. That will not happen. I know that it’s a famous quote, “if you build it they will come”, they won’t! You have to go to them and show them what you’re all about. Be proactive and add the human element to your online presence.

#a business idea #business idea #business start #How to start a business #how to start a new business #how to start business #start a business #starting a business #starting business

[atruththatyoudeny]

Monthly Reads | June 2020

Another 28th, another fic rec for you. Here are all the fics I read and loved this month. Happy reading!

✸ Caves End | jacaranda_bloom | famous/not famous - slow burn - hurt/comfort - angst - minor injury - miscommunication - fluff - 40k When a recurring injury cuts short Harry’s time as the Captain of the English Football Team, he needs to rethink his career and his future. His best mate and manager, Niall, decides that what Harry really needs is a change of scenery, time to relax, and to get some perspective on his life. What Harry doesn’t expect is for them to end up in Australia, on a farm, with the most gorgeous man he’s ever laid eyes on. OR the one where Harry has lost his future, Louis has lost his past, but maybe together, they can find a way through the dark.

✸ Just for Tonight (I can be yours) | SadaVeniren | a/b/o - royalty - secret identity - secret realtionship - arranged marriage - mpreg - 42k Harry, prince of Cestrescir, has been betrothed to Ludvic, prince of Yorvik, since birth. He'd accepted a loveless marriage as his duty to his country, until an accident threw him in the path of a gentle alpha

✸ Falling in the Wrong Direction | FallingLikeThis | past character death - grief/mourning - homophobia - internalized homophobia - secrets - angst - fluff - hurt/comfort - emotional hurt/comfort - enemies to friends to lovers - 25k When Harry’s fiancé, Liam, passes away just before their wedding, he doesn’t know how to cope. As time goes on, Harry learns to heal, but is left living in the house his fiancé used to share with his best friends and Harry is uncovering a lot of secrets he didn’t know Liam had... while possibly falling for the one person who helped Liam keep them from him. Harry never quite got along with Louis, but maybe he’s the one person who can help Harry bridge the gap between the life he thought he would have and the one he is now living. A Catch and Release au

✸ we can only look behind | hereforlou | growing up together - childhood friends - slow burn - friends to lovers - friends with benefits - pining - internalized homophibia - Coming Out - 66k His mum said there was no getting an idea out of his head once it was stuck in there and Harry thought she was right. It wasn’t like he did it on purpose - his ideas were just really sticky. (Or, the one where Harry fixates through the years.)

✸ somewhere in between lightning | jassy117, nauticalleeds, shiningdistractionwrites | Love Island Au - exes to lovers - angst - pining - miscommunication - fluff - reality show - 99k As Louis took another bite, he thought back to how he had once believed that the hardest thing about being on Love Island would be Liam handling his social media. He had been wrong. It was Harry Styles, peeking over at Louis as he forked a pancake into his mouth, and gauging his reaction. It was having to quench the swelling of his heart, which felt simultaneously like hope and the breaking of a thousand pieces. --- A summer gone wrong (or very right) when, under Liam’s persuasion, Louis finds himself drunkenly applying for Love Island, and getting accepted. Oh, well. A summer spent on an island paradise couldn’t be all that bad, right? Imagine his surprise when Louis arrives in sunny Majorca to find that his first love and ex-boyfriend, Harry, is another contestant, about to capture the hearts of everyone in the villa. Most normal people don’t have to face their ex on an otherwise straight TV show. Most normal people don’t fall for their ex again in front of the whole nation, either. Too bad this whole situation isn’t normal.

✸ Dreams Once Remembered | Chelsea Frew (chelseafrew) | rape/non-con - kidnapping - mpreg - unplanned pregnancy - angst - emotional hurt/comfort therapy - child loss - kid fic - rape recovery - 78k 16-year-old Harry Styles is on the verge of a life-changing moment. He has been put in a band on The X-Factor and he and his new bandmates are about to get ready for a glorious adventure together. In one terrible moment, all of that is stolen from Harry. Kidnapped, Harry spends the next seven-and-a half-years in a twelve-by-twelve shed, suffering repeated assault at the hands of his captor. One of these assaults results in a daughter Harry has raised entirely on his own in the small space they call Room. Now that Darcy is five, Harry is determined that she be allowed to experience the real world, and he devises a plan for them to escape. Should they escape, there are many questions. Can Darcy adjust to the outside world? Can Harry start over? What kind of relationship, if any, can he have with the band that moved on without him? Even with success far from assured, Harry knows he has to take a chance. For him, and for his little girl.

✸ No Friends and An Empty Heart | Maelstrom_Roots | Fleabag AU - mentions of suicide - attempted sexual assault - therapy - sex addicition - angst - grief/mourning - 36k When Louis Tomlinson gets an invitation for dinner with the family he's been estranged from for a year, he has only one goal: to get his sister to talk to him again. But when an unexpected guest in the form of a hot priest is also at the dinner table, Louis may have to accept that the universe has other plans for him. A Fleabag Season 2 AU featuring Fleabag Louis Tomlinson and Hot Priest Harry Styles.

✸ Still the One | dandelionfairies | kid fic - past cheating - post-divorce - 54k Harry was 15 when he met Louis, 17 when they made love for the first time, 19 when they got engaged and married. One would think he has a perfect life, right? It’s what he thought. He was 21 when he learned that Louis had an affair. It was only one time. That’s what Louis had told him. Harry tried to forgive him. He tried to move on from that horrible moment, but he couldn’t. It was his 22nd birthday when he signed the divorce papers, leaving England behind. After finding himself living in a small town in Nebraska, Harry learns to live on his own. He becomes a preschool teacher at the local school and spends his free time continuing his own painting. He’s even been lucky enough to sell a few pieces. He’s 25 when his life is turned upside down once again by the single father who has moved into the house on the property he just happens to park his trailer.

✸ You Left all your Dreams on the Threshing Floor | LadyLondonderry | fashion - journalism - bullying - past sexual assault - 27k Marcel will go home after work and he’ll clean his vest and he’ll bleach his shirt and tomorrow will be a new day. He’s got other things that he can spend his time focusing on. How to fit in a third quote onto the cover of the fall issue of Mod Mag without covering any details in the model’s face, for instance. Maybe he’ll switch to gluten-free banana bread for the meeting on Friday. He knows some co-workers likes to eat gluten free, at least. Someone will have to accept his friendship advances eventually. They’ll have to. Right? - Louis Tomlinson gets a job at Mod Magazine. He’s quickly drawn to the one person in the office who won’t give him (or anyone) the time of day; Marcel Styles, Senior Layout Editor.

✸ Shadows Come With The Pain That You're Running From (Love Was Something You've Never Heard Enough) | Anonymous | a/b/o - emotional hurt/comfort - angst - fluff - pack dynamics - mutual pining - secrets - slow burn - 51k “Thanks, Ni, I guess I needed to hear that,” Harry sighed and wrapped his own arms around Niall and squeezed him tightly not caring if Liam would be mad. He missed Niall so much. “Does it really come as a surprise to you that I’m right? Shaking my head, Haz. You should know me better,” the brunette teased. Harry giggled again. “You know Hazza, you really are so different to all the other alphas out there. You’re soft, caring, cuddly and sweet and those damn dimples. So freaking pretty, it’s almost annoying. I would hate you if you weren’t my best friend. You’d really be a brilliant omega. Nature really did a number here,” Niall mumbled. It was his turn to smash his nose into Harry’s neck and Harry was extremely thankful for that because he wasn’t sure he had his facial expression in check at all. Or a Band AU in which Harry isn't allowed to be who he really is and the North American Tour might bring some unexpected truths into the web of lies and also a bit of heat that has very little to do with the summer in the US.

✸ Confessions of a Fabricated Alpha | Anonymous | a/b/o - non-traditional a/b/o - secret identity - famous/not famous - fake/pretend relationship - rape/non-con - public humiliation - anxiety - depression - sex work - 18k Hearing it now almost made Harry hang up the phone, but he sighed and pressed one to be connected to one of their alpha operators. He’d already committed to this low point in his life and hanging up meant he couldn’t wallow in it and he was in a wallowing mood. “You are being connected to alpha operator number forty-four. Rogue will be with you shortly.” The name was said in a different voice like a voice mailbox someone might have on their office phone. It made him snort out a laugh at how stupid it all was. It felt like a budget sex line. or famous alpha Harry Styles has a secret and paying an alpha to roleplay a relationship with him over the phone is the only way he can be himself.

✸ Iron Hearts, Fire Souls | hopelesswriter | a/b/o - non-traditional a/b/o - alpha/alpha - co-workers - fluff - 26k "Lou..." “I know, Harry! I know what you’ll say, we can’t right? We can’t help each other’s needs? We can’t be what the other needs? But fuck, what about what we want?! And I say we because you’ve been saying yes to all of our dates and you've been flirting back all this time and-“ He took a deep breath. “And there is nothing that I want more right now than to kiss you.” Or the one where Harry and Louis are two single and unmated Lawyer Alphas that have to share an office and even though they shouldn't be that attracted to each other's scents, it sure isn't a big deal, right? I mean, what could go wrong?

✸ last blues for bloody knuckles | creamcoffeelou | a/b/o - strangers to lovers to strangers to lovers - mob au - religious themes - pregnancy - angst - 34k “Hi, love,” A too-familiar voice greeted him from the other side of the door. He had a cigarette dangling from his lips that he brought between two fingers as his eyes raked over Louis. All Louis could do was stare, wide-eyed at the alpha that he’d left behind so many years ago. “Harry?” His voice felt far away, like it wasn’t him that was speaking. On the other side of the door stood the one man he never thought he’d see again, and maybe the only man he never wanted to see again. A few steps behind him stood Liam and someone else he didn’t recognize, with guns tucked into their front pockets. “I need you to come with me.” OR Styles was a name everyone knew. It had evolved into something of a fairy tale, a far away problem that normal people didn’t have to deal with. Louis never thought he’d find himself falling in love with him. When he finds himself pregnant with Harry’s child, he knows he has to leave the life, and Harry, behind. For her sake. He never expected Harry to show back up on his doorstep five years later. A mob au.

✸ It Feels Different When You’re With Me | Rearviewdreamer | sign language - slow burn - 45k Harry fell in love with sign language as a kid. He never imagined the first love of his life would lead him straight to his second.

✸ let me carry your weight | soldouthaz | trainer Harry - insecure Louis - pining - smut [check tags for specific smut tags] - 28k louis is fresh out of a bad relationship with someone who made him feel awful about how he looked. on his journey to better himself, he meets harry - the ridiculously attractive and fit personal trainer.

#28th appreciation #fic rec #monthly reads #my reads #larry fics #completed fics

[merinnan]

first lines of your last 20 fics!

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favourite authors!

@jenwryn said everyone was tagged, and this seemed like an excellent way to procrastinate.

I’m gonna include WIPs here if there is almost a chapter or more written. Multi-chapter fics are only having the first chapter counted.

Following jenwryn’s lead and tagging whoever else wants to do it!

--

1. Untitled fic being co-written with @xantissa (WIP) (DMBJ, probably PingXieSang, AU, demon!Xiaoge). Liu Sang shifted on the cold ground, trying not to make it obvious how much he ached.

2. Untitled fic being co-written with @xantissa (WIP) (DMBJ, PingXie, mistaken identity. Explicit): It was a Wednesday.

3. Cats and Dogs (co-written with xantissa) (DMBJ, Liu Sang & Jiang Zisuan, sequel to Cat’s Paw. Liu Sang and Jiang Zisuan’s weird-ass friendship):  Liu Sang huddled further underneath the chassis of the car he was pressed up against, shaking his head in an attempt to clear the ringing from his ears.

4. Ears and Other Related Calamities (co-written with xantissa) (DMBJ, PingXieSang, shifter AU. The boys get lost in a tomb. Mildly explicit): Wu Xie wasn't exactly sure what to feel as he watched the far too large camp take shape.

5. Shine a little light (co-written with xantissa) (DMBJ, PingXieSang, sequel to Those who fear darkness. Huli jing!Liu Sang gets added to the mix. Explicit):  As far as Liu Sang was concerned, the only good thing about this whole sordid business was that he could order himself increasingly complicated, sweet beverages while he watched his prey.

6. Silent Graves (DMBJ, Zhang Qiling, outsider POV. Ficlet set after Wu Xie’s eventual death):  When the grave was first built and occupied, it was very busy.

7. Those who fear darkness have never seen what light can do (co-written with xantissa) (DMBJ, PingXie, AU. BB!Wu Xie gets lost in a tomb, and then weird things keep happening around him):  Wu Sanxing crouched down beside the new hole that his people were digging out despite the pouring rain and darkness.

8. Big Bang fic to be revealed in April! (co-written with xantissa) (DMBJ, PingXie, assassin AU. Explicit): For all that the bright streetlights weren’t that far away, it was dark where he staggered, burning with pain and the desperate need to get away from his followers.

9. Cat’s Paw (co-written with xantissa) (DMBJ, PingXieSang, Reboot/Chongqi canon divergence where Liu Sang was originally working for Jiao-laoban. Explicit): Liu Sang hated the jungle.

10. It's a lovely day in the tomb, and Yóu is a horrible shibie (DMBJ. Time Raiders from the perspective of a troublesome shibie): It's a lovely day in the tomb, and Yóu is a horrible shibie.

11. The Ballad of Bugnado (DMBJ. Filk): Bug!

12. Stars fall like diamonds (DMBJ, PingXie, a Reboot/Chongqi scene from Xiaoge’s POV): The first time it happened, Zhang Qiling wasn’t entirely surprised.

13. The Cats Travesty (general Guardian, which ofc means some WeiLan. Zhao Yunlan subjects people to the Cats 2019 movie):  It all started because of the reviews.

14. Untitled Guardian fic (WIP) (WeiLan, Zhao Yunlan & Ye Zun, Shen Wei & Ye Zun. Post-canon fix-it fic feat. reincarnation): It was hurting again. 

15. Operation: Make Lan Zhan Remember (WIP) (MDZS/CQL, WangXian, modern AU/reincarnation fic): Supervising a day trip for a busload of five-year-olds had not been Lan Wangji’s plan for the day when he woke up this morning, and yet, here he was.

16. Blanket Forts are the Best Wingmen (MDZS/CQL, NieLan. Modern AU. After having an argument with his best friend, Lan Xichen tries to apologise with a blanket fort): Not for the first time that day, Lan Xichen looked around the utter disaster area that was his living room and wondered just what the hell he was doing.

17. The Rescue Job (Guardian, WeiLan, Leverage AU. WIP. A job gone wrong means Shen Wei needs rescuing): If anyone had asked Zhao Yunlan this morning how he thought this day would go, kissing Shen Wei would not have even been suggested.

18. Nevermore (MDZS/CQL, XiCheng, Pacific Rim AU. WIP.): Humanity always thought alien life would come from the stars…but it came from beneath the sea.

19. Qinghe Jue (CQL, Nie Mingjue. NMJ’s spirit visits his brother just after his death): Pain. His entire world was pain.

20. Do You Want to Have a Blanket Fort? (MDZS/CQL, Nie Mingjue & Nie Huaisang, modern AU. After his brother had a fight with his best friend, Huaisang builds him a blanket form to help cheer him up):  It looked like it had been a bright, beautiful day – at least, that’s what was promised by the golden sunlight that crept around the edges of the curtains on his bedroom window.

--

Wow, I hadn’t actually realised how much I wrote in this past year. These are all from the last 12 months.

Patterns. Hmmm. I tend to start in media res a lot, I suppose. And often name the POV character in the first line.

Favourite line out of all of these, that’s a hard one. I do like It's a lovely day in the tomb, and Yóu is a horrible shibie, because it’s just such a perfect summary of the entire fic, as well as riffing off a game I really enjoyed playing (and which formed some of the inspiration for the fic, too). And Not for the first time that day, Lan Xichen looked around the utter disaster area that was his living room and wondered just what the hell he was doing is a line that resonates with me on a regular basis, because, like, mood, Xichen. Mood.

#fanfic #meme #dmbj #mdzs #cql #guardian

[popculturebuffet]

OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes!: You’re Everybody’s Sidekick Review

OK KO was easily one of the best animated series of the 2010′s and i’ll stand by those words. The brainchild of Ian Jones Quartlery, voice of Wallow in Bravest Warriors and more importantly former head writer for Steven Universe, and current longtime romantic partner of that series creator Rebecca Sugar. That part isn’t AS important, but I still find it sweet.  Anyways OK KO was the story of K.O., a 6-11, not my own laziness for once but the show’s own way of doing age, year old boy who wants to be the best like no one ever was. In this case i’ts being a hero in a world that’s basically like if someone took the marvel universe and smashed a retro game collection and a pile of manga on top of it and then blended up the result and shot it full of gamma rays. Full of heroes of all kinds ranging from those fighitng crime to those who just want to loiter outside strip malls or cut hair.  To achieve this goal KO gets a job at Gar’s Bodega, the combination of your average bodega (for those unfamiliar with the term, i’ts a convience store) and a video game item shop, so the slurpee machine is right next to the power ups and ninja stars, and everything from skateboard polish to Spread Guns is avaliable. The bodega is owned by Mr.Gar, a mustachiosed muscle man whose basically a shoutier mexican version of MIke Haggar but with shades and a mustache. So a somehow better version of him, though with him being busy watching over the plaza itself, doing secret hero missions and what not the day to day operations are left to two teens: Rad, a muscle bound dude bro alien with telekenisis and a secret heart of gold and Enid, a cynical, slacker ninja whose also bilogically a witch because her parents are a vampire and a werewolf. So the series follows these three as they run the boedega, grow as people and fight the robots that frequently attack the plaza sent by the evil Lord Boxman who hates the place literally because it’s there and it’s existance annoys him. This is the canon explination and it is utterly hilarious.  The series was funny, had great character work, decent ongoing stories, great jokes and a fun tone that could go from meaningful and well thorught ot utterly batshit from episode to episode and was sadly canceled after 3 seasons because Cartoon Network is kinda stupid right now and dosen’t know how to handle a superhero show that still makes action a priority, but it did get a solid ending, a slew of great crossovers and a decent amount of representation under i’ts belt.  WHich brings us to today and the start of RED ACTION WEEK: A week dedicated to the series most prominent gay character and the bisexual ninja witch who loves her. I’m covering all 5 of Red’s more prominent apperances... I was just going to do the red/enid episodes but decided this was a better introduction to the series itself, as well as the fact it allows her character arc to better tie together by her final episode, which directly uses this one as a major plot point. I also threw Plaza Prom in there since, even if she’s only a supporting character, it’s still one of her few major apperances, is part of her final major episode, is one of my faviorites, and the climactic dance fights is one of the most intentionally homoerotic fight scenes i’ve seen in some time. With all that out of the way, let’s do this after the cut. 

We start at Gar’s Bodega, just after the opening two parter, with KO starting his first day of work, part of the reason this episode is a fairly smooth introduction into the show. Not even in the door he accidently shoryukyn’s joe cuppa, a stand up comedian with a cup of coffee in the big time for a head... I told you anything goes and I meants it.  After that accident, we find Enid at the counter, ignoring the customers before shooing them away and when KO asks for work, plays along with his enthusasim and tells him to clean the store.. which he does in minutes, before being told to sort the penny dish, and while he does the two discuss KO’s love of helping people: KO just genuinely thinks that’s part of his job, the right thing to do and feels good while Enid.. dosen’t feel it’s worth the effort and people are just generally ungreatful and not worth it.  I really like this scene for showing off their character dynamic beautifully: It starts showing that while at this stage Enid is largely an asshole, she does care about K.O. and while he’s cleaning, despite usually turning customers away, still let’s Ginger, an elderly patron and one of KO’s mom’s dojo customers, not only check out but pay in freaking pennies. It shows that try as she might, Enid really isn’t a cyncial or heartlesss as she claims. It’s also nice setup for later in the season as, and as i’m sure Ian Jones Quartlery and crew were preparing for, we later DO see why Enid hates people so much: her best friend, possibly more, Elodie, who i’ll certainly be covering eventually, betrayed her for a spot at Point Prep, basically UHA or Xavier’s for this world and claimed their friendship was just a ploy (It wasn’t, but again, story for another time), while her one date with Rad went terribly due to him acting like a huge jackass at the advice of his even bigger jackasses of friends. It’s easy to see why she stopped carring: When she opened up in the past it only lead to her being hurt and alone. K.O.... is the opposite. He genuinely belivies in everyone and tries to help them because, as said above, it’s just what he does and what he belivies a hero should be... he hasn’t been hurt or influenced by assholes like his friends, and thus is able to get them to open up. It’s a wonderful dynamic and I love it.  And naturally, KO is determined to help Enid see the light, with Enid responding with the wonderful line “You’ll never melt my icy heart”... give him a few more episodes Enid, give him a few more episodes.  So K.O. Decides to set out helping people, shouting about it to enid back at the store as he does because he’s 6-11 and kids in that age range are many things, but subtle is not one of them. He starts with Geoff and Nick Army, a monk and gay duke nukem reflectivity who despite having polar oppositie personalities, are both a couple, as confirmed by the creative team and then the finale, and a crime fighting duo who are having a dispute over opening a pickle jar with the good old ultra violence or non violence, which KO solves by letting both do it once, which results in a pickle jar explosion, both men in their underwear and everyone happy, especially the shippers.  KO continues his quest, going to Logical Cuts where we meet Mr.Logic, a robot who has a rather moving and well done backstory we’ll certainly get to, and is voice by James Urabanik, aka the voice of Rusty Venture on the venture bros, to my utter delight. And yes i’ll be covering the venture bros eventually, and might be this month. His customer, another one of KO’s mom’s regulars, is upset because her haircut isn’t right while Mr.Logic is upset, well as upset as a monotone robot can convey, that his usually 100% mathmatically perfect haircuts are off. KO pitches in and the new result is perfect, with both being greatful. 

KO’s next stop on his good will help people crying for help tour, after the above bit of wonderful art shift as that version of ko moveds like a south park character for some reason. Anyways, it turns out best friends, co workers and the dante and randal of this show, i.e.two best friends working a dead end job who despite arguing a lot need each other, A Real Magical Skeleton, self explaintory and Greg, a bear, are having an argument because RMS is trying to do their job and frame a baseball for a guy while Greg is being a dickhead and playing the drums constantly. As you can probably wager, I do not like Greg, probably more than rusty, partly because a future episode has him making KO doubt his macaroni art gift for his mom so he can eat it, yes really,and partly because he’s less intresting than his buddy and yet the two are shipped frequently despite my honest assumption they’d kill each other.. much like if dante and randall finally banged. However if you do ship them, I have no hostility with you. Unlike say loudcest or shipping sam with lincoln over at the loud hosue, there's nothing wrong with RMS X Brandon, it’s just not for me.  Anywho KO solves it in the hilarious and awesome manner of just putting Brandon inside one of those baseball cube things... it’s a shame he apparently gave him air holes but whatever. Proud of himself, K.O. plans to head back when he runs into the Ally Teens: Red Action, rude teen warrior from the future who just had a bad haircut, Drupe, a sentient strawberry because of course, and Greg, Drupe’s nonbinary best friend and combination of one of the bone cousins and Woodstock. K.O. offers to help and , with the trio being huge steaming bowls of elephant piss at this point, they instead trick him into waiting in a lava flow and then have drupe whip him every time the lava causes him to cartoonishily jump in the air.  Yeah despite both Red Action and Drupe going on to having supporting roles, like our good pal tom, who I will get back to this month, there isn’t nearly as much wiggle room in their first apperance. With Tom Lucitor, he was a dick.. but you could make the case, even just off that ep that he genuinely dosen’t know HOW to be a good person or that what he’s doing is sketchy at best. Here, it’s fairly obvious the ally teens know setting a child on fire and using vine whip on him super effectively is wrong, that’s why their doing it. Red, being that special brand of asshole, posts it on social media. I mean posting a video of yourself hurting a child, that’s Tucker Carlson level’s of dickery right there. Stone cold. Enid sees it and is understandably concerned, and goes over to see if KO’s allright when he returns and is forced to explain to him that no they weren’t laughing with him, they were laughing at him and were just being dicks. Also he wasn’t in lava, it was magma. It was above ground. 

K.O. glumly wonders why and Enid reitrates this kind of shit is why she dosen’t help people. K.O. also wonders how she saw it and we find out Enid is basically facebook stalking red action on her social media, as you do, and that Red’s been on a bit of a tear lately, smashing up shit and farting in Geoff’s face all because she got a bad haircut, with K.O. , likely going thorugh more of her posts, realizing theirs a pattern: When bad things happen to her she lashes out at others.. just like Enid. I do like the parallel there: Enid likely has a crush on her because the two are fairly similar.. but Enid runs cold and tens to be standoffish as a result of her past, while Red tens to take out her anger and frustration on everyone else and runs red hot. But they come together because opposities attract... it’s what noble laurite MC Scat Kat taaught us after all.  K.O. however, having Steven Universe level’s of empahty and an equal sense of wanting to help, and just as few boundries as he had as a tween, decides that it’s clear the ally teens have underlying issues to adress and gets Enid help to look at their social media. Returning to the ally,and seemingly unphased by earlier, K.O. sets out helping them, starting by helping red get her haircut fixed by Mr. Logic. Red is adorably delighted. Moving on K.O. notes that Drupe basically just follows Red’s lead but has a fashion blog and clearly an identiy of her own and we soon learn she believes no one reads it. K.O. showed it to the not at all ambigiously gay duo and Geoff and Nick thank her> That’s two blushes and two wins in K.O.’s court.  Finishing up, K.O. realizes Gregg stays quiet because they have low self esteem and feel they have nothing to be proud of. K.O. however found lots to be proud of and framed Gregg’s valdectorian certificate for him, again with some help from earlier.  Instead of graditude red just calls him weird and leaves and KO slumps back depressed. I’ts a good lesson though: people DON’T change just because you did one weirdly kind thing for them. That takes time.. as we’ll see with Red and as we see with Drupe, who has less of an ons creen journey but is far nicer after her next apperance. While Enid is grossed out over having helped someone, Gregg comes in.. and after some great deranged animation thanks K.O. and Enid admits after some prodding that it does feel good to help, and K.O. is happy to have helped her int he process. The two playfully mess around as the episode ends. Final Thoughts: This was a really good one. Reaching back this far into the series, I didn’t think it’d would be nearly as good as it ended up: It serves both as a good proper introduction for a lot of the plaza regulars, a good setup for Enid’s character arc, and was also really funny with great animation. LIke Tom, I don’t think the creators knew exactly what they were going to do with the Alley Teens and thus take the two they end up focusing on in opposite directon: Red keeps her assholishness for her next apperance and grows from it, while Drupe’s drops off by the end of this season, likely due to her fashion blog taking off, but we’ll get into Red more in a review or so and Drupe more later this month.For now this episode was good and next up we have their next apperance in Plaza Prom. Until then, follow this blog for more reviews and nonsense, like and reblog it if you enjoyed this, hit me up with asks for review suggestions or comssions and until next time, later days!

#ok ko let's be heroes #you're everybody's sidekick #enid #red action #rednid #drupe #gregg #ko #geoff #nick army #mr.logic #ginger #lbgtq+ #pride month #happy pride

[artificialqueens]

Revelation Sunshine, Chapter 1 (Courtney/Vixen) - Veronica

A/N: Oh hi. Welcome to the Galactica sequel that I’ve been planning FOREVER. Like...literally since the time these two started interacting on Twitter, during season 10. Thanks to @artificialpuddle for the beta help, and @aqcitrus for brainstorming with me. <3

And of course, a HUGE thanks to @theartificialdane, for humoring me the whole way through and letting me explore this ship in the Galactica verse. It is mostly fluffy, fluffy shit, which is a bit out of my wheelhouse, but I love them so much and I just want them to be happy.

I think it can easily be read as a stand-alone story. The only thing you need to know from Galactica is that at this point in the story, Courtney is a wildly successful queer pop star and star of a fictional Disney franchise called ‘Glimmer,’ which costars Honey Mahogany as her love interest.

Challenge Notes:

Story is told mostly from Vixen’s POV

Her BFFs: Asia, Monet, Monique, Mayhem (who show up in person in Chapter 2)

The title is a song by Cree Summer. I’ve also made a playlist for this story, which can be found here.

#Vixney4Eva

TW: vague reference to past transphobia, sexual apprehension/nervousness that should in NO WAY be construed as dubcon

***

It was Honey who introduced them. Or, rather, Honey who handed Courtney the book that started everything, on the set of Glimmer 3.

BEWARE WHITE TEARS: Performativity and Racial Justice, by Toni “Vixen” Taylor enthralled Courtney so much that she barely slept for 3 nights, devouring it twice. And then she read the whole thing again, slowly, highlighting the parts that blew her mind the most.

On set, when she just couldn’t stop raving about it, Honey laughed at her.

“So...you liked it?”

“Omigod, yes!” Courtney exclaimed. “I mean, obviously I feel very called out. But in a good way? Like...this is making me rethink everything.”

“That’s good! I thought maybe you’d be offended,” Honey said, adjusting her crown.

“Offended? How long have we known each other?” Courtney giggled, bumping Honey with her hip. It was true: they’d been co-starring in the Glimmer franchise for 8 years at that point.

“Still.”

“But god, Honey, it was just...I mean, I don’t even have any words for how amazing it was. She’s so fucking smart and passionate, and so funny, and everything she says is like…” Courtney shook her head, starry-eyed.

“You should tell her,” Honey said with a saucy wink. “Send her a tweet or something.”

“She’s not gonna care what I think,” Courtney said. “I mean, hello? Chapter 4?”

“Okay, but she’s a professor. She’ll be thrilled that someone learned something. Besides, even if she doesn’t respond, maybe you’ll encourage your fans to read it.”

“That’s true…”

“And maybe get more people to listen to her podcast-”

“She has a podcast?!!” Courtney shrieked excitedly, then whispered, “Sorry,” when she saw the boom operator cringe.

Maybe Honey was right...but what should she say?

***

Vixen felt absolutely silly. There was really no reason for attention from a celebrity to make her so giddy. True, there’d been a phase when she hung on Courtney Act’s every word--but that was years ago. Early in her transition, when she felt like nothing she did was right. When she was desperate for any voice telling her that who she was was okay.

It was different now. She was 30 year old, for fuck’s sake. She didn’t need validation from anyone anymore, especially not a pop-star-come-Disney-princess. At least, that’s what she would have told anyone who asked.

But to herself, she couldn’t deny the thrill she got when she saw that first notification on her phone. The mild anxiety all day as she taught two lectures and graded a handful of thesis proposals--a nagging thought in the back of her mind wondering how she should reply. It wasn’t until late into the evening, after 2 glasses of wine, that she allowed herself to read it again, slowly typing out a reply.

Courtney Act @courtneyact ∙ 15h Just read @professorvixtaylor’s “Beware White Tears” and my mind is BLOWN. Everyone needs to read this game-changing book. E V E R Y O N E!!!! It’s so good, so informative, so powerful. AND I just found out that she has! A! Podcast!! #obsessed <3 <3 <3 <3

Dr. Vixen Taylor @professorvixtaylor ∙ 1m Replying to @courtneyact Glad you found it interesting! Thanks for the plug.

That was fine, right? Very chill. She went to sleep feeling pretty satisfied with herself. It wasn’t until the following morning when she saw Courtney’s response.

Courtney Act @courtneyact ∙ 6h Replying to @professorvixtaylor That is the understatement of the year!!! I LOVED it! You are BRILLIANT. I just listened to the first episode of your podcast and holy shit...it’s phenomenal.

Vixen put down her phone, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. It was shallow and cheap--being this enchanted by obviously exaggerated praise. But still...not a bad way to start the day.

***

Vixen was used to fighting. All of her life, it seemed, she’d had to prove herself. Scrape and claw for her voice to be heard. Shout into the void over and over, praying that someone would eventually listen. Demand attention and bang down doors and yell until she was hoarse.

Having someone at Courtney’s level of fame pay attention to her--emphatically describe her as brilliant, incisive, powerful, mind-blowing--Vixen’s impulse, in the beginning, was to lie. To say she didn’t need that kind of validation from anyone, especially a rich, famous, beautiful white girl. The embodiment of privilege. Someone whose coming out was celebrated in the media like a massive human rights achievement. Because how could someone like that ever really get it?

But on the other hand…she had to hand it to Courtney. She had excellent taste in podcasts.

And there was something soothing about a person who didn’t expect her to prove anything. Someone who respected her from the jump, who engaged with her book and her podcasts from a place of dignity, assuming that she knew what she was talking about. She didn’t demand back-up or further explanations when she came across material that was confusing. She did the work herself, looking up the articles and studies Vixen cited, posting them with a quote when something in particular caught her attention.

So reluctantly, over the next month or two, Vixen found herself warming to the idea of a real dialogue. It was January 1st, sitting on her grandmother’s plastic-covered sofa, when Vixen finally bit the bullet and slipped into Courtney’s DMs, so to speak.

Courtney had been tweeting up a storm over the holidays. Gobbling up her podcasts rapidly and hungrily, heaping her and her guests with praise and incidentally, making her subscriber numbers climb. She opened a direct message window, typing out a message that she hoped would make Courtney laugh.

@professorvixtaylor: Alright, already. This is getting embarrassing...

The response came within minutes.

@courtneyact: LOL! Listen, nobody ever accused me of a lack of enthusiasm.

@professorvixtaylor: I bet not ;)

It took one afternoon of DMs before Courtney gave Vixen her phone number. “Twitter’s great, but it’s probably easier to just text, right?”

Well.

Vixen had to admit, she had a point.

***

“So listen,” Latrice said, heaving a deep sigh. “I hate to be the one to tell you this. Like, I really, really hate it.”

“Oh shit,” Courtney said, wrapping herself in a blanket and preparing herself for whatever horrible news her manager was about to deliver. “Go ahead…”

“This isn’t coming from me, okay? It’s coming from Disney.”

“Just tell me, Latrice. What? Is the tour cancelled? Do they hate the new video? Do we need to do reshoots? What?”

“No, all that’s fine. They just...they’re a little uncomfortable about your interactions with this Vixen person.”

“Why?” Courtney sat up, ready to get extremely annoyed, extremely fast.

“Well, it’s just...she’s apparently got some very radical ideas, and-”

“So? Maybe they’re amazing ideas? Have you read the book?” Courtney countered.

Latrice sighed.

“Courtney, listen. It’s just...not what they want while they’re trying to promote this last movie.”

“It’s a movie that ends with a gay interracial marriage!” Courtney exclaimed. “So why the fuck do they have a problem with me complimenting a Black political science professor on Twitter?! This is beyond idiotic, Latrice, you have to admit that! And by the way, I’m not gonna stop. She’s amazing and her book is important and more people should know about her, and if they want to fire me, then fine!” Courtney’s heart was racing as she tried to catch her breath.

There was a pause before Latrice spoke again.

“I assumed this would be your response.”

“Yeah, so. Now what?!”

“Now, I tell them that you feel very strongly about this, and that you’re not breaching any contract, and if they try to silence you on this issue, you’re prepared for a very public, very embarrassing fight,” Latrice said.

“Okay…” Courtney waited for the catch.

“I’m pretty sure they’ll drop it.”

“Just like that?” Courtney asked, confused. She’d gotten herself well and riled up, prepared for a real battle.

“Yeah, baby,” Latrice said. “Just like that. Chalk it up to white privilege.”

Courtney couldn’t help but laugh at that, head falling back on the sofa cushions.

“Good one, ma’am.”

After they hung up, Courtney opened Instagram, delighted that Vixen had updated her story. It was just a casual picture, her and two other professors getting ready to speak at a round table discussion. Courtney smiled, replying to the picture with heart eyes and the question, ‘Is that top from my collection?’

She responded a little while later, while Courtney was on the elliptical, saying, ‘I was hoping you’d notice. ;)’

Courtney giggled to herself, wondering when she’d get to meet this amazing, glowingly beautiful woman. All she wanted was to finally talk, face to face. Maybe in the spring, when her tour hit Chicago? Which, as far as Courtney was concerned, couldn’t happen soon enough.

***

It may very well have been a love letter, Vixen thought, finding her cheeks blazing hot at the thought. She’d woken up to a video posted on Courtney’s Twitter feed. “How To Be a Race Ally.”

Vixen watched the whole video with a healthy amount of skepticism. It was great, actually. Humble and informative. Cleverly incorporating some of the points from her podcast (with proper credit given) and even some things she’d said over text recently (also with credit, and a wink straight into the camera that made Vixen feel things she wasn’t prepared for at 7:30 in the morning).

Dr. Vixen Taylor @professorvixtaylor ∙ 1m Replying to @courtneyact Okay fine, you can come to the cookout.

As usual, Courtney's response was lightning fast, an emoji wearing a party hat and about 10 exclamation points. Vixen couldn’t resist teasing her a little bit more.

Dr. Vixen Taylor @professorvixtaylor ∙ 1m Replying to @courtneyact I don’t know how vegan-friendly it’ll be, though.  

Courtney Act @courtneyact ∙ 1m Replying to @professorvixtaylor You really think I’m there for the food? ;P

Vixen rose from her bed, an almost giddy feeling filling her chest. She really needed to calm the fuck down. What was with this silly schoolgirl behavior? And on a public platform? Every interaction ran the risk of absolutely ruining the street cred she’d spent years building up. (Monet was already making it her personal mission to screenshot every exchange and then tease her mercilessly, and Asia had begun to join in.)

Besides, what were the odds that it would ever be anything but a short-lived flirtation? Courtney was bound to become captivated by something else soon. An animal rights group, perhaps. Or funding for the arts in public schools. There were a billion issues competing for her attention. How long would Vixen’s moment in the sun possibly last?

And yet, when Courtney tweeted that she was on her way to New York, Vixen found herself taking a shot of liquid courage and then sending a text.

VIXEN: Hey...how long are you gonna be in New York?

COURTNEY: A couple of weeks, why?

VIXEN: Well, I have a conference at Columbia on February 23, and then I’m gonna stay for a few days. Maybe we could meet up?

COURTNEY: YES

COURTNEY: I mean, sure. Sounds lovely. Tell me what day you’re free. <3

***

It was strange, seeing Courtney in person after all this time. As much as Vixen enjoyed chatting with her, and as validating as it was to get so much attention, she had reminded herself over and over again that this was all just friendly banter. A bit of lighthearted flirting, maybe, but the possibility of a genuine romantic connection was absolutely out of the question.

But then.

When Courtney first emerged from the elevators, smile bright, it was like time ceased to be linear. Nothing...not pictures, not video, not even that concert she’d attended all those years ago, prepared her for how heart-stoppingly beautiful she was in person.

Vixen stood, in slow motion, knees shaking a little, suddenly hugely aware of her height. Was Courtney always this little? Why had Vixen worn heels?

It must have taken Courtney less than 10 seconds to cross the lobby to where Vixen stood, but for some reason, it felt like 10 years. Excruciatingly slow, and yet somehow, Vixen was still caught off guard as she bounded up and grasped both of her hands.

“Thank you so much for coming!” Courtney exclaimed, that dazzling smile still on her face. “It’s amazing to finally be in the same room!”

“Yeah, it’s…” Vixen offered a smile of her own, swallowing hard. Her hands were warm and soft, and as Vixen gazed down at her, she could feel her heart racing faster than ever. “How was your day?”

“Crazy…” Courtney linked an arm through Vixen’s, leading her towards the hotel bar.

It took a concerningly short time for all the weirdness to dissipate, for Vixen to forget that she was across the table from a celebrity, a person she’d been following for years, a person that she’d idolized at one point in her life.

She was just a girl. Granted, she was a beautiful girl, but one who seemed incredibly excited, even honored, to be talking to Vixen—about her book, her podcast, her life. Where she came from and what she cared about and who she looked up to. A girl who wanted to get to know her.

After awhile, when Vixen was finally relaxed enough to really open up, she told Courtney about hearing ‘Kaleidoscope’ for the first time. How, at that point in her transition, it made all the difference in the world to see Courtney so open about the fluidity of gender and sexuality. To hear those magical words. ‘This is who we are.’

Courtney nodded along, listening to her, tears filling her eyes. She covered Vixen’s hand with her own, and said, “I needed it too.”

As the hours ticked by, they talked about everything. Passion, art, travel, identity. She wanted to know when Vixen began to question her own gender, how she knew that she wanted to transition. She was delighted by the story of her brief foray into drag during the early college years, the source of her now permanent nickname. In spite of all the questions (or maybe because of them), for once, Vixen felt like she wasn’t on the defensive. She found herself being more sincere and honest about all of it than she’d been in a long time.

“I’m not usually this open,” she admitted at one point.

Courtney laughed, eyes glittering, and said, “I’m usually too open.”

“I think you’re just right,” Vixen replied, giving her a generous smile.

They talked about their childhoods. How much she loved pretend and fantasy as a kid.

“I went through a phase—that’s generous, it was like 3 years—where I really wanted to be a dragon. I had this dumb...dragon hoodie, that I wore all the time. And when I finally grew out of it, I cried.”

“Aww,” Courtney said, reaching for her hand. “I bet you were adorable.”

“I think I just really, really didn’t want to be me.”

Courtney took in a slow, deep breath, and then let it out even slower.

“I’m not gonna pretend that I really get it. Everything you’re talking about. I don’t know if I ever could. But...I get that part.”

Vixen raised an eyebrow.

“You? How do you get it?” Vixen let out a chuckle. “I’m not trying to judge you, but I just...look at you. You’re this perfect, sparkly princess. Everything the world wants a girl to be.”

“Yeah...I see what you’re saying. But...sometimes it feels like that’s all the world wants. Is the sparkly princess part. And I’m more than that. Or, I hope I am. But…” Courtney trailed off, wrinkling her nose. “Do I sound really dumb?”

“You don’t sound dumb. You sound like a very intelligent, thoughtful...sparkly princess.”

Courtney threw back her head and laughed.

“I can’t believe you laughed at that,” Vixen said with a shake of her head. “It was such a cheap shot.”

“Well, I’m an easy laugh,” Courtney said, shrugging unapologetically.

“Yeah I’ve heard that about you,” Vixen couldn’t help saying, and Courtney’s giggles continued.

They stared at each other for a few moments, eyes burning in the dim light, with matching, goofy grins decorating their faces, until Vixen broke, shaking her head.

“This is so surreal…”

“How so?” Courtney asked, voice lilting in a way that felt almost like a tease, resting a chin on her hand.

Vixen hesitated. It felt so cliché to say that it was because Courtney was famous, or because she once cried at her concert when she was 23.

“I mean...you’re not even really my type,” she finally answered with a small shrug.

“Oh yeah? What’s your type?”

“Ummm...I normally go for curvy Latinas,” Vixen said, lashes fluttering.

Courtney’s eyes widened, smile deepening, as she exclaimed, “Oh my god, me too!”

They both started laughing again, clinking glasses for good measure.

“So, um...do you have to go back to Chicago tomorrow?”

“Actually, no. I decided to stay a few more days,” Vixen replied. “See some shows, meet up with some friends. There’s this museum in Brooklyn that I’ve been dying to check out for years.”

“What museum?” Courtney asked.

“It’s, uh, called the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts,” Vixen said. “Kind of a mouthful but-”

“Sounds great. I wish I could see it.”

“You wanna come? I’m going tomorrow after lunch.”

“Ugh, I wish!” Courtney said, stretching her neck. “But the press tour schedule is insane. I’m doing two more interviews tomorrow, and then I fly to LA to kick off the tour.”

“Tough breaks.” Vixen tried, unsuccessfully, not to sound sarcastic.

“Listen, I’m not complaining. I’m very lucky.” Courtney smiled, tilting her head. “But it would’ve been cool to see that museum.”

“Next time,” Vixen promised.

“I’m holding you to that,” Courtney said, gaze fixed on Vixen’s face as she downed the rest of her drink.

Vixen gave a small nod, finding her eyes hypnotic. Surreal indeed.

They ordered yet another round as hotel patrons trickled out, crowd thinning, closing time approaching. By the time they stood up to leave, they’d knocked back quite a few--more than Vixen realized at the time. She grabbed Courtney’s arm to steady her as the blonde swayed in her heels.

“You alright?”

“Mmhmm…” Courtney gazed up at her, lashes fluttering.

“Do you want me to help you upstairs?”

“Okay…”

In the elevator, Courtney wrapped her arms around Vixen’s waist, leaning a head on her shoulder. Vixen’s heart hammered in her chest, one hand gripping the railing for support.

At the door, Courtney looked up at her, eyes bright, breathing out, “You know, we don’t have to be up until 10 tomorrow…”

“What are you…‘we?’”

It took Vixen a moment to catch on to her train of thought, a wave of nerves washing over her.

“Listen. Um. I think you’re great,” she began, wincing as she saw Courtney’s blissful expression crumble. “But...I just, I never hook up with girls who’ve been drinking. It’s just…”

Vixen didn’t want to explain the whole story. The girl in the lesbian bar, years ago, who danced with her all night, flirting and rubbing against her, inviting her back to her apartment. Only, when they began to undress, and it became clear that Vixen’s body was a little different, the girl flipped a switch. Went from a delightful buzz to drunken rage. Accused her of taking advantage, called her...Vixen didn’t even want to think about that. Or about how she’d left her apartment as fast as possible, terrified and choking back tears. How at home, she’d collapsed into Asia’s arms and sobbed most of the night, wondering if she’d ever fit in, anywhere.

Courtney wasn’t that girl in the bar—Vixen knew that. But she was clearly tipsy, and some things, some decisions, required a clear head.

“It’s not you,” she finished lamely. “You’re amazing.”

Courtney nodded, swallowing her disappointment like a champ and saying, “You’re amazing.”

Before she left, Vixen leaned in and brushed her lips against Courtney’s cheek.

She walked toward the elevator, regret stinging the back of her throat. She had no idea how long it would be before they saw each other again, and suddenly her arbitrary rules based on one shitty asshole in a bar 7 years ago seemed...absurd. She turned back around. Courtney was still leaning in her open doorway, watching her walk away.

“Hey, how drunk are you, actually? Can you recite the Pledge of Allegiance?” Vixen asked.

“No—” Courtney said, brow furrowed.

“Oh.” Vixen’s heart deflated a bit.

“—Because we don’t have the Pledge of Allegiance in Australia.”

“Right,” Vixen laughed.

“But what about, um, okay...so...here's a story from A to Z. You wanna get with me, you gotta listen carefully. We got Em in the place who likes it in your face. You got G like MC who likes it on a. Easy V doesn't-”

Vixen strode forward and silenced her with a kiss, soft and sweet, almost chaste at first, both of them giggling. As the kiss deepened, Vixen grabbed Courtney around the waist and pushed her backward into the room, letting the door slam shut behind them.

Vixen was so enamoured that she barely registered Courtney’s massive hotel suite, the entry hall or huge living room that Courtney led her through on the way to the bedroom. Guiding her by her hips to the bed, Courtney pushed her into a seated position and stood between her legs, chasing her lips as she took hold of her collar, fingering the little pearl buttons down the front of her shirt dress.

“Is this okay?” she asked, and Vixen nodded.

“Yeah.” She watched Courtney’s heavy-lidded eyes as she quickly opened the buttons, skin prickling as she pushed it off Vixen’s shoulders. She kissed Vixen again, deep and messy, sucking on her bottom lip.

Panting, Vixen reached around, fumbling for Courtney’s zipper. Once she pulled it down a few inches, the cotton dress easily came off over her head, and then there she was, standing in front of Vixen in nothing but a pair of baby blue panties.

Vixen swallowed, eyes sweeping over Courtney’s body, dying to touch her but nervous as all fuck.

“Listen, um...I should tell you…”

Courtney paused mid-way through opening Vixen’s belt to look at her curiously, face earnest and alert. The perfect student.

Vixen sighed. The fact that Courtney was so willing to listen, so considerate, should have been a bonus. But in this moment, it just made her feel startlingly inadequate. She hated this. The feeling of not being enough, or being too much. She didn’t even know anymore. All she knew was that she was about to make herself more vulnerable than she’d ever been, and she was terrified.

“So...Okay, um. I guess...it’s just been a long time since...I was with a girl.”

“Tell me about it,” Courtney said, grinning.

“No. A really long time,” Vixen said.

“Okay. Does that mean you don’t want-”

“No!” Vixen burst out, a little too emphatically, and then lowered her eyes bashfully, adding in a calmer voice, “No, I want to be with you, I just...might be a little out of practice.” It was an understatement, a lie of omission that unsettled Vixen’s stomach a bit. But it was all she felt comfortable with revealing at the moment, and she hoped that she’d be forgiven later.

“Hmm…” Courtney took Vixen’s face in her hands, tilting her chin up. “I think I can work with that…”

She bent down to kiss her again, soft as a whisper, fingers stroking Vixen’s cheekbones, before pulling back and gazing down at her.

“God,” Courtney breathed, “You are so beautiful.”

Vixen took in a shaky breath, her hands finally lifting to slide around Courtney’s hips. Something about the way Courtney looked at her was different than anything she’d ever experienced. She’d been the object of lust before, and sometimes very much enjoyed it. But this was more than that. She felt more than sexy, more even than beautiful. She felt seen.

But for once, rather than get all wrapped up in anxiety about what it meant, Vixen acted on instinct. She gripped Courtney's waist and pulled her forward, flinging her onto her back on bed. Courtney squealed delightedly, pulling her along.

Courtney smiled up at her, reaching a hand out but then pausing, letting her fingers rest on Vixen’s shoulder.

“Am I allowed to touch your hair? ‘Cause I’ve heard...”

Vixen couldn’t help laughing as she nodded and said, “That rule doesn’t really apply here.”

“Okay,” Courtney giggled, fingering her twists gently.

Vixen turned her head, pressing a kiss to Courtney’s wrist, then slowly moving up her arm, and finally nuzzling into her shoulder. Her skin smelled fresh and almost sweet, like she’d recently been in a doughnut shop. It wasn’t sugary like some kind of food-based perfume or soap, just a gentle, vague deliciousness that Vixen became addicted to immediately, burying her face into her neck to inhale deeply.

She found a soft, tender spot, just below Courtney’s ear, that made her sigh when kissed, and began to suck. Courtney inhaled sharply, hips thrusting up against Vixen’s, hands tightening in her hair.

“You like that?” Vixen asked, emboldened, hands sliding up from her waist to scratch gently at her ribcage.

“Uh huh,” Courtney breathed, arching up again as Vixen kissed her, thumb brushing over her hardened nipple. A whimper fell from her lips.

Vixen’s dress was half off at this point, pushed down around her waist, and when Courtney’s fingers began to trail lightly up and down her back, she shivered. Courtney pushed the dress further down, wriggling it over Vixen’s hips to her thighs, and Vixen pulled it off the rest of the way.

She was expecting to feel uncomfortably exposed, both of them now just in their panties—a situation she hadn’t found herself in with a woman is a very fucking long time. Especially a woman she liked this much. But instead of feeling awkward, she found her pulse racing with excitement, nearly breathless in anticipation of what might come next.

She realized that she’d been frozen for a few moments when Courtney raised herself up on her elbows and asked, “Are you alright?”

Vixen nodded, and Courtney sat up further, reaching out to touch her cheek.

“You want to take a break? Slow things down?”

“No,” Vixen said simply, slipping her fingers under the sides of Courtney’s panties. Her hips lifted, allowed Vixen to slide them off easily, heart in her throat when she saw how glistening wet she was already. She knew that she was potentially in over her head, but there was also a strong urge to keep going, pulse racing with desire.

“Come here.” Courtney stretched out her arm, pulling Vixen in for a kiss, tongues tangling together. She rolled Vixen over, onto her back, grinding down against her.

As much as Vixen wanted to please her, ceding control to Courtney felt liberating. She watched through heavy-lidded eyes as Courtney lavished her with affection, layering kisses against her skin. When a warm tongue swirled over her nipple, her hips jerked up, a stifled moan escaping from her throat.

Courtney sucked harder on her nipple, hands sliding down her torso, lips following as they trailed over Vixen’s tense abdomen. She hooked her fingers into the sides of Vixen’s panties and then looked up questioningly.

“Can I...?”

“Go ahead,” Vixen replied, straining to raise her hips, finding her core muscles in a weakened state, skin so flushed and hot that for a moment, she barely remembered to be self-conscious. Until Courtney began to slide her panties down, and suddenly she remembered exactly what she’d been dreading. When the reality of who she was would confront Courtney, more than theoretical, more than an idea.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she watched Courtney’s face. If she had any qualms about a girl with a dick, she certainly didn’t show it. She simply continued to suck soft kisses into her skin, warm hands resting on her thighs.

Vixen finally relaxed backwards, eyes falling shut. She let go of all her worries, all her stupid insecurities. At least for now. At least while Courtney took her dick into her mouth, tongue flicking delicately at her. Vixen’s hips thrust upwards, hands gripping the comforter tightly, moans dripping from her lips like honey.

It had been so achingly long since anyone had touched her this way. Maybe no one ever had, she realized as she arched into the soft caresses. She’s certainly never experienced this kind of loving attention from a woman, a woman treating her like she was precious and beautiful, turning her into a gasping, quivering mess. Vixen felt herself falling apart quickly, losing control, nearly gone before she had the wherewithal to choke out a pained warning.

“I’m-I’m gonna-”

“Mmhmmm…” Courtney made no move to stop, swirling her tongue again, then taking her deeper, sucking harder.

“Oh fuck,” Vixen moaned, hips pumping uncontrollably as she came, gasping for air.

The way Courtney’s hands stroked her thighs, continued to suck softly as she melted backwards into the pillows, every muscle in her body going slack--the small part of her that was still conscious shivered with delight, thrilled with the feeling of being spoiled.

It wasn’t until her body was completely still, bones feeling like jelly, when Courtney began to work her way up her body once again, hands sliding over her skin until she came nose to nose with her once again.

Courtney smiled, kissing her cheeks, down along her jaw, the corner of her mouth. Lips rousing her from a state of sheer exhaustion into warm, sleepy affection. Her hands circled Courtney's waist.

“How are you feeling, baby?” Courtney murmured.

“Uh huh.”

Courtney giggled, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger as she pressed more kisses against her.

Vixen sighed contentedly, pulling her in close, not caring how clingy and pathetic she might seem, just wanting the warmth of Courtney’s body against her own. Courtney snuggled into her arms, slipping to the side of her, legs still tangled together.

After a few slow, lazy kisses, Vixen started to sense a shift. Courtney’s breath grew hot and ragged, hips rutting against her. She cautiously moved a hand down, working it in between her thighs, fingers seeking out her wet heat.

“Show me what you want,” she urged, desire to give Courtney pleasure finally outweighing her fear of looking like an amateur.

Courtney lifted her head, giving her a sleepy grin and reaching down to guide her. She patiently showed Vixen exactly where to touch her, what to do to tease her, when to speed up and circle her clit, how deep for her fingers to go and exactly how to curl them to make her tremble. Vixen followed her breathless instructions, guided by Courtney’s own hand, thrilled at the way her body responded.

Soon, Courtney’s eyes were rolled back, muscles straining, tits brushing against Vixen’s chest as she thrusted against her fingers, fucking down into them, breathy moans music to Vixen’s ears. Her hips moved faster and faster until she stopped, whimpering, just barely grinding against the heel of Vixen’s hand, lips pressed to her neck.

Vixen had never made a girl come before, and it was so much more beautiful than she’d imagined, from the way her lashes fluttered against her cheeks to the slick sheen of sweat on her forehead, to her ass flexing, muscles still twitching against Vixen’s fingers. And the best part, the way she looked up at Vixen at the end, eyes locked with hers as the waves of pleasure radiated through her body, fingers wound tightly into her hair.

“Fuck,” Courtney sighed, collapsing against Vixen’s body, trapping her hand for a few moments before realizing it and letting her wriggle free with a sleepy laugh. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Vixen said, tilting her chin up for a kiss. Her whole body had suddenly become soft and pliant, and all Vixen wanted was to wrap her into an embrace. She wasn’t expecting it to feel this intimate. A part of her had even worried that this whole affair would be wrapped up in a one-night stand. But as Courtney cuddled against her, heart still hammering, she felt closer to her than ever. “I should probably tell you…”

“Mmm?”

“What I said earlier, about not being with a girl in a long time?” Vixen swallowed. “I uh...I haven’t really had a girlfriend since high school. And I guess I’ve come close since then, but never really went through with it...as me. The real me.”

Courtney lifted her head, fingers trailing down Vixen’s arm, a smile playing on her lips.

“Thank you for trusting me with the real you,” she said softly.

Vixen nodded, not sure what more there was to add, when a clap of thunder outside scared the living shit out of her, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. So much for a warm and fuzzy moment.

Courtney laughed, pulling up the covers and cocooning them both, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” she said, snuggling tight against Vixen’s body.

“You better,” Vixen replied.

#rpdr fanfiction #the vixen #courtney act #honey mahogany #latrice royale #courtney x vixen #trans!vixen #fluff #smut #mild angst #lesbian au #galactica au #fic challenge #black girl magic fic #diversity fic #revelation sunshine #veronica #trans character #tw mention of past transphobia

[cemilenin-gezileri]

How to fuck Bolsonaro and save the planet

“Unless you have already found a nice comfy cave up high in a mountain and stacked it up with canned food enough to last for decades, Jair Bolsonaro’s promised attacks on environment has to be stopped immediately!”

So it happened. Despite our crossed-fingers and before-bedtime prayers, world’s 5th largest country and 8th biggest economy is handed over to another misogynistic, homophobic, gun-loving arsehole. Jair Bolsonaro, rightfully nicked the Tropical Trump, won majority of the votes in the second round of the presidential elections in Brazil. It’s another dark day for us all.

Dear reader,

At this point, you might be saying “why the fuck should I care about Brazil’s new president”. You may not care about the women’s or LGBT rights in Brazil or let the relaxation of gun laws be Brazilians’ own problem (for all of which I might say, you`re completely wrong), but please know that on one important issue, Bolsonaro has promised to fuck not only Brazil, but the whole planet including your own pink arse: the environment.

With 450 million m3, Brazil is already the world`s 11th biggest CO2 emitter. On the plus side, Brazil is home to 3.3 km2 of Amazon rainforest, by far the biggest in the world. What Bolsonaro has been promising in his campaign was to go wild on the CO2 emissions, while wildly destroying the already threatened Amazons. Here’s a list of his campaign promises on environmental issues:

Withdrawal from the Paris agreement which has set targets for limitation of CO2 emissions to combat climate change

Shutting down the Ministry of Environment

Building a new motorway right through the Amazons

Opening up new areas on indigenous territories to mining

Relaxation of environmental law enforcement and licensing

Beefing up the alliance with the beef lobby which is already responsible for cutting down thousands of km2 of rainforest to open farmland.

Banning international environmental NGO’s like Greenpeace and WWF to operate in Brazil

In a time when scientists are already ringing the alarm bells at the highest level, actualization of even half of these campaign promises will be disastrous for all of us living on this planet. We can discuss for days the bad policies that has led Bolsonaro to power or write volumes on the rise of alt-right across the globe, but unless you have already found a nice comfy cave up high in a mountain and stacked it up with canned food enough to last for decades, Bolsonaro’s promised attacks on environment has to be stopped immediately, before they even start. Let’s discuss a few ways how.

We already know that, despite all the Jesus-praising, family-values-loving bullshit they talk non-stop about, guys like Bolsonaro care for and understand from one thing much more than anything else: Money. 

Brazilian economy is already very fragile, trying to recover from years of recession, making it the Achilles’ (or in this case, Bolsonaro’s) heel  If we can make this arsehole hear loud and clear that for any detrimental action he takes on the environment, we will strike back with our combined economic force, we can push him back to the hole he sneaked his miserable head out of. Below, I tried to list a few things you can easily do without losing your comfort too much. 

Don’t Go

Brazil receives more than 6.6 million international tourists each year, leaving a revenue of more than 7 billion dollars. So, unless you’re planning to go and stand in front of the bulldozers chopping down the rainforests, postpone that tropical visit to another time.  Or if you really want to see the rainforests and white sandy beaches that bad, try Costa Rica perhaps, where they are very close to becoming the first carbon neutral country in the world (and don’t forget to find ways to off-set your carbon footprint from that long intercontinental flight :)).

Eat Less Meat

I’m not saying go full-on vegan -not that it hurts- but eating less meat may be the most efficient way to hit back at Bolsonaro. Brazil’s biggest exports by far are animal agriculture related items (beef and poultry meat, soybeans and corn used as animal feed, etc.). By reducing the demand for Brazilian beef, chicken and soybeans, you will not only throw a punch at the Brazilian economy, but also take away the reasons for opening up more farmland in the Amazons.

Now, you might argue that you only eat local meat, not any of that Brazilian stuff, so this does not apply to you. Here’s a few counter arguments then: For starters, in many cases, cattle are transported live (in horrendous conditions, often from Brazil) and slaughtered locally, making its `country of origin` the land where the slaughterhouse is and not where the animals were raised. So, you often don’t really know whether that entrecôte you bought from the supermarket actually comes from Farmer Joe’s ranch or the Amazons.

Secondly, it is very likely that your country raises not enough chicken or cattle to meet the local demand, therefore even if you’re eating local meat, you are pushing others to eat imported stuff. By reducing the demand, you will force your local animal farmers be more competitive against Brazilian exporters. We all know that no politician wants to stand up against farmers, so goes up the tariffs against Brazilian beef and chicken.

And even if that is not the case and there is no Brazilian beef or chicken sold where you live, those animals were probably still fed on soybeans grown in Brazil. Soybeans alone account for more than 19 billion dollars (yes, billion with a ‘B’) of Brazilian exports. So, by just eating less meat, not only will you drop those cholesterol levels you’ve been worrying about, but also fuck Bolsonaro with a healthy smile :).

Use Less Fuel

Funny hey, what seems to be already good for the environment is bad for Bolsonaro. 5% of Brazil’s exports income comes from crude oil. Simply by cleaning up your old bike and pedalling to work, you  will both reduce your own carbon footprint and also help drop the global demand on oil. Lower demand means lower prices, which in return results in a stick up Bolsonaro’s arse (plus the Saudis’, double good :)).

Consume Less Sugar

Equally funny, what seems to be already good for your health is also bad for Bolsonaro. Raw sugar accounts for 5.7% of Brazil’s exports. Cutting down on those pop drinks as well as pedalling to work will do wonders on that belly of yours. Another fine strike at Bolsonaro (with an added bonus hit at Coca-Cola :)).

For any arguments about consuming locally produced sugar, see the counter arguments for meat. The same principals apply and those love handles have got to go :).

Quit Smoking

Did you know that Brazil is a major tobacco exporter? I won’t even bother to elaborate further :).

Drink Less umhh... Coffee

Okay, this one hurts me the most. I am not going to preach anything I cannot follow myself, but you can check out the country of origin mark on this one. Unlike meat and sugar, the `Product of Brazil` mark has an added economic value when it comes to coffee. Yes, you get good coffee from Brazil, but not all good coffee comes from Brazil. So, next time you reach for the black stuff, make sure they originate from a better place (and is fair-trade). Costa Rica? Hey, you can even start an online petition to Starbucks on this one.

The same principal applies to pretty much everything. Whatever you’re looking to buy, make sure it is not `Made in Brazil`. That private jet you want to buy so much for example, don’t buy it from Embraer - bikes are way cooler anyway :).

Contact the NGO’s

Call your local Greenpeace and WWF office -since they have been promised to be silenced by Bolsonaro- and ask what their plans are (and if they can’t answer back, ask why the fuck they cannot). Try to get involved in their efforts to combat the evil. This is a global problem that will require global cooperation. Be part of it.

Contact Your Politicians

If you, by any chance, live in a country where the politicians give a rat’s arse to what the voters think, contact them and explain your concerns. Ask them to take measures against the guy who promises to destroy the future of your kids. And if they don’t listen, vote them out in the next elections and bring in those who will.

Inform Others

There is a good chance that your media have not given the deserved attention to what is happening in Brazil and you have heard of it only by pure luck. For every person who is informed about the issue, there are hundreds of thousands who is not. Use every social and antisocial media you can find to tell them about the great danger and urge them to take action. We cannot solve this problem on our own. Group up and combat together.

Reach Out

Bolsonaro is Brazilian, but not all Brazilians are Bolsonaro – just like not all Americans are Trump, not all French are Le Pen, not all Dutch are Wilders. Half of the country voted against the bastard. And out of 210 million Brazilians in the world, there’s a chance that you might have befriended one or two. If so, reach out to them. Local knowledge is golden - ask how you can help them further to stop the devil reincarnate. Make them feel your support at these troubling times in their country because you will need their support when the same shit happens in yours.

So, shall we samba?

#international #politics #brazil #bolsonaro #global warming #climate change #environment #action #greenpeace #wwf #amazon

[dweemeister]

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)

Over the last hundred years, the Presidency of the United States has grown in scope and responsibilities. For a newborn nation founded (and yes, I know I’m radically simplifying things) due to the legislative and taxation imposed by a tyrannical sovereign, America’s Founders crafted an executive with limited power. That power, independent from and counterbalanced by the federal government’s legislative and judicial branches, remained limited for most of the nineteenth century. Turn the page to the twentieth and twentieth-first centuries, and the office has become gargantuan. Starting from Herbert Hoover’s single term, fifteen men have presided over the Oval Office, representing the longest uninterrupted run of the Presidency accruing power – despite campaign slogans from mostly conservative presidents promising to rein in an expanding office. Over those fifteen presidential administrations, the American people, once suspicious of being ruled by monarchical fiat, have, through mass media, developed increasing expectations for their head of state and government.

These expectations are oftentimes not explicitly outlined by the U.S. Constitution, and are the constructions of politics or the public. They include, and are not limited to: reinvigorating the national economy by execution of monetary policy, introducing a blueprint for and compromising with Congress over the federal budget, managing the vast bureaucracy existing within the White House, and comforting those who have lost their loved ones after a disaster. Presidential scholars sometimes deem the burgeoning power of the office as the “Imperial Presidency” – a term that may have been first used during John F. Kennedy’s administration. That administration is at the heart of Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment, directed by Robert Drew for ABC News, and released a month before Kennedy’s assassination.

In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States, in their decision for Brown v. Board of Education, ruled that the “separate, but equal” justification for racially segregating black and white children in public schools was unconstitutional. Opposition in the American South meant that enforcement and adherence to the Court’s decision proved elusive. The University of Alabama began accepting applications from black students after Brown v. Board, denying admittance from all except for one exception (the university’s administration found, after some effort and rioting, an excuse to expel the student). But in 1963, three students – Vivian Malone and James Hood for the flagship campus in Tuscaloosa; Dave McGlathery for UA Huntsville – applied for and, by federal court order, were admitted to the University of Alabama system.

Crisis follows the efforts of the Kennedy administration – mostly through Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (JFK’s brother) – over two days, to ensure that Vivian Malone and James Hood could register for classes. Fears of rioting and violence, though unrealized, hung over the Kennedy administration. The stiffest resistance came from Alabama Governor George Wallace – who advocated for “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” – who vowed to physically block the doorway of the university’s Foster Auditorium to prevent Malone and Hood from registering. The President, Attorney General, and Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach (who is sent to Alabama) work, with their staffers, to formulate a plan on how to allow Malone and Hood to register for classes as painlessly as possible.

The film, co-produced by Drew’s production company Drew Associates, is shot with minimal voiceover narration by James Lipscomb (a producer for various documentaries for National Geographic); Drew’s team also included Drew Associates regulars like D.A. Pennebaker (1967’s Don’t Look Back, 1993’s The War Room) and Richard Leacock (1966’s Monterey Pop and four episodes of Omnibus). All these filmmakers have been noted for their innovation of cinéma verité – which Crisis is an excellent example of. Cinéma verité, in its most basic form, is documentary filmmaking where the filmmakers allow the audience to observe what is happening. In cinéma verité, insights about people, places, and events are revealed through the images alone – not through interventions by the filmmakers like narration (which in Crisis only serves to identify the key individuals; note the passage of time; and explain the context of a scene after a cut), superimposed text, or talking head interviews. Narration and superimposed text can exist within a cinéma verité documentary, but they can only be factual in nature.

Drew Associates’ access to the White House, Department of Justice, and RFK’s residence was thanks to the company’s work in filming Primary (1960), which followed Kennedy and his Democratic Primary opponent Hubert Humphrey as the contested the Wisconsin Democratic Primary. How they received access to Governor Wallace’s residence and the Alabama Capitol is not clear. Before President Kennedy’s inauguration in 1960, he agreed with Drew that presidential decision making in a crisis would be a fascinating documentary topic: “What if I could see what went on in the White House during the twenty-four hours before FDR declared war on Japan,” JFK mused. Agreeing to give Drew access when such a crisis (not of top-secret military importance) came, President Kennedy believed that the film would hopefully serve for future presidents as an example of how critical presidential decisions are made. To reach the Resolute desk, the issue must be laden with controversy. Indeed, the crisis of Governor Wallace’s refusal to allow black students to register for classes with the University of Alabama generated a lot of discussion in Washington and across the South. Filmed on June 10 and 11, 1963, Crisis captures the mechanics of the tough decisions that President Kennedy and his brother, the Attorney General, make: how to use the National Guard if at all, the optics of escorting the students onto campus, anticipating worst-case scenarios, discussing electoral consequences of enraging the Southern segregationist vote, telephone calls, meeting after meeting.

For Wallace, the narration does not refer to his pro-segregation views, nor his betrayal of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) after garnering their endorsement for his first failed run for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1958 (his opponent then was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan). If one knew nothing about Wallace prior to Crisis, the opening minutes of the film might make you think he is a dedicated family man and a diligent worker. But his rhetoric during the film makes transparent his racism. Snippets of Wallace walking among the public exemplifies his popularity among Alabaman whites, who extol him for his pro-segregationist broadsides against an overreaching federal government. When cinéma verité is applied with as little authorial editorialization as possible (there will always be some degree of such editorializing, but the aim in cinéma verité is to minimize it), what is murky in days past, over time, rises above the fray, revealing truth. Wallace’s actions are indefensible, and the fact that so many supported his actions reveals the stain of racism that continues to infect American politics for the foreseeable future. And yet, this is as fair a treatment as George Wallace could have hoped for in a documentary film.

One of the unsung individuals in Crisis is Deputy Attorney General Katzenbach, who is the one who briefs the National Guard on what is to be done the day they escort Malone and Hood on campus. His discussions with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in person and over telephone calls encapsulate their professionalism and mutual respect for the other. Katzenbach, the first person to confront Governor Wallace in the doorway – with both men reading prepared statements to the other, with Wallace clearly not listening as he interrupts the Deputy Attorney General – outmaneuvers the Governor, a tribute to his strategizing in the lead-up to this confrontation.

An executive order from President Kennedy federalizing the Alabama National Guard is what makes Wallace stand down. Since Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency (1901-1909), the executive order has become a tool for a president to help federal agencies and officers manage operations of the federal government. Though executive orders are not legislation nor specifically mentioned in the Constitution, they do not require Congressional approval (though Congress can pass legislation that makes the executive order difficult to perform). The regulations created through executive orders can have a sweeping effect on life in the United States – most notably Franklin D. Roosevelt’s authorization to force German-Americans, Italian-Americans, and especially Japanese-Americans into concentration camps and Donald Trump’s suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and suspension on entries from several Muslim-majority nations in January 2017. Executive orders have played a growing role in the lifespans of American presidential administrations. Most recently, the uptick of executive orders under Barack Obama’s last years in office served as inspiration to his successor in how to handle the tools of the presidency.

The basis of Kennedy’s invocation of executive order is clear-cut, even though Crisis barely mentions it: Brown v. Board of Education. Kennedy’s actions, however, might have been unthinkable earlier in history even with a corresponding Supreme Court decision. The growth of the Imperial Presidency and the public’s desire for stronger central government – in contrast to how Americans perceived their constitutional republic in roughly the first century of its existence – create all the drama in Crisis. The film, curiously, does not seem terribly interested in questioning how the process of this decision – using the Attorney General and federalizing a possibly sympathetic portion of the National Guard – might play to Alabamans after it has happened. Given the changes in how the U.S. Constitution is interpreted, this same dynamic made possible FDR’s New Deal and the internment camps that detained thousands of American citizens and nationals, Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and Donald Trump’s efforts to decrease immigration and refugee arrivals as much as possible. In addition to providing insight to what is a credible use of executive order, Crisis – if contextualized by noting how the American presidency has and now operates – can illuminate how expansive the American presidency has become.

Debuting on ABC stations nationwide on October 21, 1963*, Crisis prompted viewers to flood ABC and its affiliates with furious calls venting about the fact cameras were given permission to roll in the Oval Office. Americans and, by extension, anyone who interested in what is happening in America, now take for granted how much access they have to their executive, legislative, and judicial branches – even if this comes at the expense of metastasizing confirmation bias in the nation’s politics. Many considered this a debasement of the office, a distraction from the agonizing work they expected their president and his officials to be performing (even though President Kennedy and those officials act as if they barely noticed the cameras). This outrage, however, would not last, due to Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas several weeks later.

Crisis was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry in 2011, noting that the film, “has proven to be a uniquely revealing complement to written histories of the period, providing viewers the rare opportunity to witness historical event from an insider’s perspective.” It remains a singular document in which presidential crisis management and deliberation are central. Running under an hour, it is a compelling work of early cinéma verité (which has receded in the new century) that will prove intriguing even outside history and civics classes. More than enough time has passed, with the film’s truths seen in full.

My rating: 8/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

*Despite debuting on television, Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment is almost always treated as a cinematic film. It has been considered as such here.

#Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment #Robert Drew #JFK #George Wallace #RFK #Vivian Malone #James Hood #Nicholas Katzenbach #Gregory Shuker #ABC News #ABC #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

[bitcoincodereview-blog]

In Wake of ‘Major Failure,’ Bitcoin Code Review Comes Under Scrutiny

“Shock” is perhaps the word that best describes the mood ever since one of bitcoin’s most severe bugs was discovered and patched last week.

As the community reels over the vulnerability that was hiding in the code for two years, and that could have been exploited to print more bitcoins than the 21 million is hard-coded to be produced, developers are wondering: Is there a way to prevent such a severe bug from being added to the code again?

Bitcoin Code Review

Days after the discover, there hasn’t been any formal proposals. But that’s not to say the event hasn’t prompted discussion about how bitcoin works and how similar bugs in the cryptocurrency’s most popular software implementation, Bitcoin Core, can be identified and resolved in the future.

It’s an important question, too – What if a malicious actor had found the exploit first? What if there are other hidden bugs in the code right now?

To this point, pseudonymous bitcoin subreddit moderator ‘Theymos’ urged the community not to forget the bug.

He argued it was “was undeniably a major failure” in a widely-circulated post, adding:

“If all of Bitcoin Core’s policies and practices are kept the same, then it’s inevitable that a similar failure will eventually happen again, and we might not be so lucky with how it turns out that time.”

That said, there’s an argument to be made that Bitcoin Core, powered by an open network of global participants, now has a more robust process for code review than at any time in the technology’s history.

Right now, the implementation has more developers than ever contributing to the open-source codebase. And it is tested quite a bit; by one estimate, tests make up nearly 20 percent of the codebase.

The community’s ‘fault’ Still, developers argue more could be done to make sure the digital money works smoothly.

Theymos thinks one avenue would be to build “more sophisticated” tests tailored at locating severe, but hard to find bugs, like the one last week. “Perhaps all large bitcoin companies should be expected by the community to assign skilled testing specialists to Core,” he continued, adding:

“Currently a lot of companies don’t contribute anything to Core development.”

Bitcoin Core contributor James Hilliard stressed much the same, suggesting that developers can increase the “amount” and “quality” of testing. Though, this might be easier said than done. Bitcoin Core contributor Greg Maxwell agreed in Theymos’s thread that testing is important, but the quality and detail of the tests is important.

“Directing more effort into testing has been a long-term challenge for us, in part because the art and science of testing is no less difficult than any other aspect of the system’s engineering. Testing involves particular skills and aptitudes that not everyone has,” Maxwell said.

This sort of expertise is hard to find.

“Bitcoin development is largely bottlenecked by code review and there are not a large amount of people out there who are able to do that,” Hilliard told CoinDesk.

Yet, many others believe the responsibility shouldn’t only rest on developers. A common sentiment shared was that as a decentralized project with no leaders, keeping bitcoin free of errors is a shared responsibility.

“My main problem with a lot of the backlash is people pointing at specific developers to assign blame. The entire project is open, there is no ‘membership’ and users have just as much of a responsibility to audit code as developers actively contributing,” pseudonymous bitcoin enthusiast Shinobimonkey told CoinDesk.

Such a sentiment was shared by Bitcoin Core maintainer Wladimir van der Laan who tweeted, “It was wrong that the buggy code was merged. Yes, we screwed up but the ‘we’ that screwed up is very wide. The whole community screwed up by not reviewing consensus changes thoroughly enough.”

Chaincode engineer John Newberry agreed. Even though he didn’t write the buggy code, he argued that as a developer in the bitcoin world, he played a role in the error, too, by not looking closely enough.

He went as far as to say that the code in question had looked funny to him. Yet, he assumed others had already checked.

“Instead of verifying for myself, I trusted that people smarter and wiser than I am had it covered. I took it for granted that someone else had done the work,” he stated.

Multiple Bitcoin Cores Still, some argue there will always be a risk of bugs.

“There’ve been bugs in bitcoin before and there’ll be bugs again. It’s just software. There’s nothing magical to it,” tweeted Blockstream COO Samson Mow.

Along these lines, there’s another popular idea floating around.

Today in bitcoin, there’s one main bitcoin software, Bitcoin Core, run by 95 percent of bitcoin nodes. (At least that’s according to one count – interestingly, there’s no way to see every bitcoin node, because some nodes want more privacy and don’t advertise their existence to the rest of the network.)

One idea, then, is to make more bitcoin code implementations. That way if one implementation has a disastrous bug that crashes the network, the other implementations could still be fine, keeping bitcoin as a whole running.

And to a certain degree, this already exists. There are lesser-known code implementations, such as Bitcoin Knots and Btcd. Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency world, this is becoming the norm. For instance, ethereum has two dominant implementations, geth and parity, each of which can be used by anyone running the software.

Still, many bitcoin developers worry that adding more than one implementation could introduce problems that would be even worse than last week’s vulnerability.

“What many people do not realize is that having people run different implementations makes it easier for attackers to partition the network,” Bitcoin Core contributor Andrew Chow argued in a conversation outlining the pros and cons.

As such, developers don’t necessarily agree on exactly what needs to be done.

Theymos perhaps put it best when he said:

“I don’t know exactly how this can be prevented from happening again, but I do know that it would be a mistake for the community to brush off this bug just because it ended up being mostly harmless this time.”

Metal shield image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

SecurityBitcoin CoreBitcoinBug

Staking Isn’t Just a Way to Earn Crypto Money – And It Shouldn’t Be Jake Yocom-Piatt Jake Yocom-Piatt Jun 22, 2019 at 09:30 UTC  Updated Jun 22, 2019 at 09:32 UTC OPINION Jake Yocom-Piatt is the project lead for Decred and the creator of btcsuite — an alternative full-node Bitcoin implementation written in go whose source code has been used in several notable projects.

Staking is money you don’t want to miss out on — simple as that, right?

While most cryptos today are trading 70 -90 percent below their all-time highs, staking is making what looks like easy money, scoring coin holders up to 30 percent rewards. More and more people are paying attention, with staking touted as the best way to make semi-passive returns in a bear market.

Coinbase is launching staking support, and new staking coins are cropping up to compete with the established players like Tezos, Dash and Decred.

It’s not really that simple. Staking is getting attention for all the wrong reasons, and it’s time to re-examine its role.

Misconceptions around how it works and why it exists will have lasting consequences if expectations aren’t set now. Projects that implement any form of proof-of-stake (PoS) need to plan for long-term sustainability, not just the immediate future.

If You’re Going to Stake, Stake Right Staking is evolving from being a semi-passive reward, to becoming a powerful incentive for participating in governance. Projects that plan for the future will figure out how to incentivize active participation, while those who elect a set of governors based on the quality of their kickbacks won’t last.

Choosing to stake on the right projects for the right reasons is the best way to earn rewards.

Proof-of-Work (PoW) was introduced on bitcoin as a block validation method to timestamp transactions without the need for a trusted third party. PoW has an established track record with bitcoin securing its network using energy. People began exploring PoS as a way to use less energy to do validation “work.”

PoS is more accessible and decentralized, empowering coin holders, who “stake” coins to “forge” blocks by maintaining an online wallet or node.

Staking started as just another method for recording transactions securely, but it’s constantly evolving. Some implementations are a hybrid with PoW, while others add delegates who either receive votes from, or are empowered to act on behalf of, the group.

Staking for Rewards vs. Staking for Participation As Zaki Manian, co-creator of Cosmos, pointed out in an interview with CoinDesk, “[P]art of the dynamics of proof-of-stake is how frequently do people just vote to give themselves more money?”

In this scenario, coin holders collect exorbitant rewards without putting in any work.

Staking has been erroneously portrayed as the crypto version of a bond. While there are projects that don’t require any more work than staking funds for a reward, this approach is ultimately unsustainable and will get participants who thought they could “park and earn” into trouble.

It’s not unusual for projects to employ a toothless charade for centralized parties to claim they’re not in control. These systems are often overly complicated and characterized by confusing procedures and non-binding voting, which in practice discourage voter participation and lead to voter apathy.

When it comes to participation, several staking projects have voting on treasury spending — projects like Dash, Decred and PIVX are paving the way in governance where the community participates in project-level decision making. Decred’s participatory voting feature, for example, allows token holders to vote on everything from protocol decisions to choosing to hire its PR firm.

Today, staking spans a gamut of implementations beyond locking up funds, from ensuring the security of a blockchain to changes in consensus rules. PoS doesn’t necessarily imply governance, but its incentive structure combined with governance has radical implications for participation.

Staking for Rewards and Power With the right incentives, staking can not only return rewards, but also give you input on a project’s future direction. When staking your coins, they usually go through a lock-up period while voting — rules on this vary from project to project.

After voting, you get your coins back as well as a staking reward.

If you vote against the project’s interests, while you’ll still get the immediate staking reward, over time you’ll feel the negative market effects of bad decisions like an all-expenses-paid stakeholder’s ski trip to Switzerland. In a system that gamifies decision-making and other processes, voting on decisions has a longer-lasting effect beyond earning an immediate staking reward.

Staking governance is powerful because it embodies a philosophical underpinning of the crypto movement: the belief humanity’s accepted forms of large-scale decision-making aren’t working well.

Staking aims to put that into practice — in crypto in the near term and on a societal scale in the distant future. This means eliminating corrupt intermediaries in favor of peer-to-peer interaction, and shirking representative democracy in favor of direct voting.

Individual sovereignty is tantamount; if you have skin in the game (i.e. are financially invested), you should help determine the direction of that game. But with that comes the responsibility of making informed decisions, and not necessarily trusting anyone else is going to make them for you. If you want to participate in staking long-term, you need to understand a project well enough to stake it.

If you want to have a say in how a project is run, you need to stake one that incorporates your sovereignty as a user. To participate, you need to keep up on changes to its consensus rules and actively vote for what you believe is best for it.

Staking can yield significant rewards, but to simply receive compensation for voting sets up a poor alignment structure. Coin holders must understand the responsibility that comes with locking up their coins and use it wisely — and only then enjoy the fruits of their labor.

[darlachavers-blog]

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[illustratedvancouver]

I’ve always wanted to cover the legacy of Fraser Wilson with more depth, and I’ve never been able to crack the case. I recently learned of The Fraser Wilson Collection at heritageburnaby.ca. Fraser Wilson was one of the founding members of the Burnaby Historical Society, and his role establishing the society was covered in the media last fall when the society disbanded:

Created in 1957, the Burnaby Historical Society was the brainchild of Barry Mather, a columnist for the ​Vancouver Sun​ and ​Province​ newspapers. In the summer of '57 he phoned his friend Fraser Wilson, a ​Sun​ cartoonist, to suggest they form a Burnaby historical society.

There’s precious little about Fraser Wilson on the Interwebs, so here’s the best overview we’ve got from the Fraser Wilson chapter in the book Pioneer Tales of Burnaby which can be read online here: 

Although Fraser Wilson was born and raised in the Grandview district of Vancouver and was not to move to Burnaby until he had reached adulthood, his kin was connected to the municipality in what surely must have been its most critical years. The municipality was not even a municipality, in fact, when various relatives of his arrived in 1891 to help build the rail line which was to become the B.C. Electric Railway Co.'s Central Park interurban. It was this interurban, the super-efficient transportation system with the folksy touch, which hastened incorporation of Burnaby as a municipality on Sept. 24, 1892. The original single line, opened in late 1891, was double tracked 20 years later for even greater capacity. The BCER, which inherited the line from the bankrupt Westminster & Vancouver Tramway Co., did indeed encourage and abet the development of the rural municipality by offering so-called settlers' tickets for years. They cost $3.50 for 50 rides and entitled the rider to transfer onto the street car system. The BCER did not feature this special for wholly altruistic reasons, granted, but more to help fill the company coffers. A well-populated municipality was insurance for a healthy bottom line, especially after a second interurban was built along the south side of Burnaby Lake. Greater ridership, in turn, would utilize more electricity produced by the company's new hydro-electric projects at Buntzen Lake and Stave Falls. Fraser Wilson's grand-uncle, Roderick Sample, was the road foreman during construction of the Central Park interurban and was named its first roadmaster in 1897. The BCER later promoted him to track inspector. He cut an impressive figure what with his six-foot-plus height and magnificent white beard. Mr. Sample also built a 15-room boarding house beside the Westminster & Vancouver Tramway Co.'s steam power house and car barn on Griffiths near Kingsway. The company had decided at the last minute to use electricity over horses to mobilize the interurban trams. The boarding house was run single handedly at first by Mr. Sample's wife, Minnie, who soon summoned her widowed sister, Catherine McRae, from Everett, Wash. So Mrs. McRae arrived in Burnaby with her daughter, Alexandra, who was called Allie; she would become Mr. Wilson's mother. The boarding house was the centre of both social and business activity for the Westminster & Vancouver Tramway Co. and its successor, the BCER. Gandy dancers, many of them Chinese, would eat their lunch on the veranda on rainy days. Adney James Wilson, called Ab, started with the BCER as a machinist in 1898. An ingenious man who had a number of inventions to his credit, he became BCER inspector of rolling stock in 1916. He established the company's original medical insurance plan. Ab Wilson married Allie McRae, the newly-weds moving into a house at 1648 Graveley Street in east Vancouver. Here their son, Fraser, was born and raised; his interest in the BCER, avid to this day, was understandably instilled in him at an early age. The Wilson family connection with the BCER goes even further. The grandly named Eli Egriphan Sampson Joseph Jeffrey Maneer, his cousin Eli, was a gifted sign writer who designed the gold leaf script used on all BCER street cars, trams and freight rolling stock. Cousin Eli, who talked with a decided stutter, also applied the numbers and logos by hand. Fraser Wilson and other children in the family delighted in chanting Cousin Eli's name over and over; he can do so without hesitation today. Mr. Wilson learned the skills of sign writing from Cousin Eli and continues in the business as an octogenarian. Some years ago, Mr. Wilson painted a portrait of Robert Burnaby and donated it to Burnaby; it still hangs in a place of honor at Municipal Hall. As a postscript to his story, Mr. Wilson points out that many historians, those from the B.C. Electric Co. included, have misspelled his grand-uncle's name as Semple. He thinks the error can be traced to Roderick Sample's signature in which the 'a' can easily be mistaken for an 'e'.

"I was born in Vancouver in 1905, growing up in the Grandview area right next to Burnaby. But it wasn't until 1944 that I actually moved there. Many members of our family, though, including my father Adney Wilson, were connected in some way with the interurban which ran through Burnaby. Dad became a working machinist for the B.C. Electric Railway in 1898, and was promoted to rolling stock inspector in 1916. He started the Medical Attendance Association, which was like an insurance plan. Father was also an inventor but never marketed his inventions. He did hold the patent, however, for a device which elevated a platform for a truck or wagon, inventing it before the First World War. He also invented a draftsman's rotating table and a roller coaster which used man power rather than machine power. My mother, Alexandra McRae Wilson, was one of the first switchboard operators for the B.C. Telephone Co. Around 1891 when the Central Park interurban was being built, my great-aunt Minnie Sample and grand-uncle Roderick Sample - their name has incorrectly been spelled Semple by some - built a 15-room boarding house beside the B.C. Electric Company's power house and car barn on Griffiths Avenue close to Kingsway. Roderick Sample was the interurban's first roadmaster in 1897, and later became track inspector for the BCER. The boarding house was used by the personnel of the B.C. Electric Railway, and was often the site of various meetings. It lasted only as long as the construction of the Central Park line did, closing in 1902. When the boarding house became too much for Aunt Minnie to handle all by herself, she sent for her widowed sister, Mrs. McRae, who came to Canada from Everett, Wash. with her daughter. The daughter, Alexandra, was to become my mother. Many of the gandy dancers, or railroad construction workers, were Chinese who had worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway. Aunt Minnie had them eat lunch on the veranda of the boarding house when the weather was poor. She and my grandmother would put out towels, soap and bowls of water so the workers could wash up. One particular morning, Grandmother was leaning against the door when the Chinese workers were filing onto the front porch. Just for some conversation, she said to one of them: 'Heap lainy day today, eh, John?' The young man replied: 'Yes, ma'am, it sure is an inclement morning.' Well, she never spoke pidgin English to them again. Out of the 50 or 60 Chinese men, the one she had spoken to had been born in Victoria. His name was Cumyow, and he was working there only so he could earn his tuition fees at Victoria College. He later became a lawyer in Vancouver. I would often visit my dad in the car barns. What could well have become my last visit there was the time I climbed into the cab of an electrical locomotive and touched the controls, causing the engine to move backwards. In a few moments the coupler broke, so through the barn door I went, a motorman for the B.C. Electric Railway for all of two minutes. It was a thrilling moment for me whenever I could ride at the front of a street car with my dad. My parents were quite keen on lacrosse games, so we often rode through Burnaby on our way to a game in New Westminster. We'd sit on benches on a flat car which was pulled by the tram to Queens Park. Sometimes, we'd visit a family by the name of Cleghorn; they lived on Jubilee Avenue in Burnaby, just north of Jubilee Station. At that time, Burnaby was a small group of stores and houses on Kingsway, with another such grouping on East Hastings. The population was perhaps 500 or 600 until the 1920s, concentrated mainly in the corners but not at the centre. Burnaby had a ward system with the administration over in Edmonds. My cousin, who taught me the trade of sign writing, was a very interesting man. Cousin Eli had a decided stutter, and on Sunday afternoons, his visit with us would begin with 'h-h-h-hello' and end with 'g-g-g-got to go'. During his visit, he would light up his pipe and nod his head at the comments made by my father. His name was about the only thing he could say without a stutter or stammer. That was some feat in itself, because his full name was Eli Egriphan Nimrod Sampson Joseph Jeffrey Maneer. Eli himself not only liked telling people what his full name was, but got some pleasure out of us chanting it over and over again. Cousin Eli enjoyed hearing it, and we enjoyed saying it. Eli Maneer was a fine craftsman, and had developed the familiar and distinctive script used in the B.C. Electric insignia. He numbered and applied the BCER signs on all the street cars by hand in gold leaf. The growth of Burnaby, even the relatively little I've seen, has truly been staggering. From such a small farming community to a flourishing residential area - the progress has been magnificent."

If you ever come across more info about Fraser Wilson, or find more original signed artwork by the cartoonist, please let me know!

#Fraser Wilson #cartoon

[coopdigitalnewsletter]

29 Apr 2022: Amazon as a service. Cultured meat. Corporate raids: Twitter and Beanstalk.

Hello, this is the Co-op Digital newsletter - it’s about what the internet is doing to retail businesses, people, communities and society. Thank you for reading - send ideas and feedback to @rod on Twitter. Please tell a friend about it!

Image: Future Meat

On the high street

Supermarkets are rationing cooking oil - Ukraine exports a lot of the world’s supply.

The shifting sands of shopping: High street shopping numbers are returning to pre-covid levels, but not evenly. Many challenges remain.

Wales' hospitality businesses struggle to recruit staff - rising costs, dropping footfall and shortages of staff are increasing pressure on hospitality businesses.

'Sip and shop': The retailers tempting you in with alcohol - a growing number of stores are offering customers a glass of wine. The wider trend is experiential retail.

The wider picture: UK government is considering forcing landlords to rent out commercial property that has been empty for 6 months. This is an interesting idea, and may push landlords otherwise inclined to sit on empty property to avoid marking them down in value on the books. But there will probably be many unintended consequences, so maybe reforming business rates would be better, or making it easier to change the use class to residential?

Amazon as a service

Amazon announced Buy with Prime: if you have an ecommerce site you can use Amazon’s fulfilment/logistics/returns operation, without having to be on amazon.com with its 2003 design and irritating algorithms etc. The announcement is being spun as bad news for Shopify (which makes an ecommerce platform one of whose selling points is that you don’t have to be on the Amazon site), but it is possible that Amazon’s plans will encourage existing customers to leave amazon.com.

No news whether Shopify will allow Buy with Prime on its platform, but a smaller rival BigCommerce is going to say yes. Related: Shopify is looking at buying Deliverr to beef up its own logistics capability. What Shopify probably needs is reach as well as capacity: maybe theory should start an advertising network.

Climate/change

Internet payments company Stripe announced a plan to speed up the development of long term carbon reduction technology.

“Frontier is an advance market commitment (AMC) that aims to accelerate the development of carbon removal technologies by guaranteeing future demand for them. The goal is to send a strong demand signal to researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors”

Obvious questions: 

Why not just plant trees? Because carbon removal will be needed as well.

Would aggregating supply of carbon removal/mitigation be better than aggregating demand? Maybe that’s phase 2.

Why aren’t governments doing this, and on a much bigger scale?

Elsewhere, climate changing the world: 

Heat wave in India leaves millions struggling to cope. 

'We're making wine in Norway'.

the Financial Times released a climate change policy game. It’s pretty good. And it’s no spoiler to disclose that the way to do well in this game is to act boldly - you already knew that.

Two corporate raids: Twitter and Beanstalk crypto

Elon Musk is buying Twitter. It was a semi-hostile takeover that played out over a fortnight or so like a season of Succession by text message. Elon bought some Twitter shares (and then notified the SEC late), Twitter announced Elon’s joining the board, the next day Elon decided not to, Twitter’s board set up a “poison pill” to make a hostile takeover harder, Elon said he had funding and asserted “I have moved straight to the end”, Twitter said Go on prove you have the funding, Twitter probably failed to find someone who wanted to pay more for the business, Elon proved he had funding (loans from banks secured against his Tesla shares), the board said OK fine yes.

Why does any of this matter? Because Twitter is an important social media platform - it and some other social media platforms have become critical global infrastructure. So whether this ends up being good or bad for free speech, for online abuse and content moderation, and the company itself is all TBC. Elon has a history of being quite impetuous and fighty online, and sometimes quite casual on the details and legals, so watch this space.

But that isn’t the only way to do a corporate raid these days. You can also compress that season of Succession down to a 13 second movie by using computers and crypto. 

Last week, someone took $182m from a crypto project called Beanstalk (warning: some salty language). They noticed a loophole in the governance protocol, got a $1 billion “flash loan”, used the loan to get a majority of governance tokens which gave them power to change the rules, voted that the project’s reserves should be sent to their wallet, sent the reserves, paid back the loan 13 seconds later. Job done. While they were doing it, the attacker donated $250,000 of the estimated $75m proceeds to Ukraine.

Why does any of this matter? Because it reminds you that if finance becomes more software-is-codey, more blockchainy, there will be a clear need for more regulation and redress (and security!).

Vending machines

A day in the life of (almost) every vending machine in the world - good, long read.

“There is a logic that underpins the will to vend to other people. It’s that allure of passive income. The operator of a vending machine gets to experience the idle fancy of exhausted shopkeepers everywhere, selling their wares without getting up early in the morning, without necessarily getting up at all. But what is behind the will to be vended to? This is more complicated. I think it has something to do with the proffered combination of convenience, novelty and nostalgia.”

Cultured meat?

In western supermarkets, shoppers are getting used to seeing plant-based meat substitutes - veggie burgers and so on. But over the horizon might be “cultured” or “lab grown” meat: real meat that is grown in a lab from cells taken from live animals, rather than cut from an animal raised for food. There’s a big list of the methods, considerations, issues and the participants on Wikipedia.

The separation of “meat” from “animal” raises many interesting questions. Newsletter’s first half dozen:

Does it feel weird to talk about meat grown in a lab? Is that a temporary reaction because it’s a new thing? Is a fungi product that simulates meat different/better/worse?

Could you call it vegetarian or even vegan? - strictly, no, because it contains animal cells, but you might argue that meat without suffering has some or the same qualities as vegetarian food?

One reason food producers highlight their organic/free range/parsley-fed credentials is that the living conditions mean happier animals and better taste. Can you get that taste in a vat?

Would cultured meat farming require less land and water? - maybe: Cultured Meat Is Coming Soon: Here’s What You Need to Know. 

It is ethical? - from an animal suffering perspective, probably yes? In terms of access to technology and cost - unclear yet. 

Is it greener? Maybe: it might require less land and water, but it is unclear about the carbon footprint. 

Is it viable? - very unclear: Lab-grown meat is supposed to be inevitable. The science tells a different story. 

Will it be approved by regulators? Singapore approved lab meat in 2020, no-one else yet. 

Would you eat it?

Interesting. 

Anyway, WTFood?! Here’s a food startup that’ll be a litmus test for your feelings about cultured meat: Primeval Foods says it’s about to start selling lab-grown tiger steaks to restaurants.

“Today, we consume beef, chicken, fish, and pork not because they are the tastiest, healthiest, or most nutritious species; they are just the easiest to domesticate. Since a lot has happened since our last domestication of an animal (we went to the Moon-yeah!), we can now discover what is beyond domestication through technology. [...] Our cultivated lion meat tastes like lion, because it is cultivated from lion. The cells and tissues that form the animals grow the same way, except outside the animal. It's a copy and paste of the taste without slaughtering the animal.”

If it’s ok to eat cultured tiger meat because it doesn’t involve the suffering of an endangered species, then are other kinds of meat are also ok? You can imagine all manner of controversial meat.

Co-op Digital news

The similarities and differences between content design and other content disciplines.

Thank you for reading

Thank you friends, readers and contributors. Send ideas, questions, corrections, improvements, etc by replying or to @rod on Twitter. If you’ve enjoyed reading, please tell a friend! If you want to find out more about Co-op Digital, follow us @CoopDigital on Twitter and read the Co-op Digital Blog. Previous newsletters.

[orbemnews]

Fact, or Corporate Fiction? Facts and foolishness Announcing phony news on April Fools’ Day is one of corporate America’s favorite occasions for shameless publicity stunts. But when stonks, Dogecoin and $69 million JPG files are real things that warrant serious business coverage, the risk of jokes being taken seriously could hardly be higher. Some say that’s a good reason to skip them, not to mention the gravity that a pandemic has cast over things. With that in mind, can you spot the prank among these recent announcements? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.) A: To celebrate National Burrito Day today, Chipotle is giving away $100,000 worth of Bitcoin. B: Volkwagen’s U.S. operation is changing its name to “Voltswagen” to emphasize the company’s push into electric vehicles. C: Robinhood is nixing a confetti animation when app users make a stock trade to reduce “distraction.” D: Krispy Kreme is giving anyone who shows proof of Covid-19 vaccination one free doughnut per day for the rest of the year. E: Managers at Goldman Sachs are giving junior bankers gift baskets with fruit and snacks in response to complaints about burnout. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING Business groups challenge President Biden’s proposed corporate tax increases. The Business Roundtable and U.S. Chamber of Commerce were among those that praised Mr. Biden’s plan to spend trillions on infrastructure. But they rejected his idea to pay for it by raising taxes, saying that doing so would endanger the economic recovery. The latest setbacks in quelling the pandemic. Johnson & Johnson said it would delay future shipments of its vaccine after a mix-up at a manufacturing plant. A top E.U. official said the bloc would allow “zero” shipments of AstraZeneca’s vaccine to Britain until the drugmaker fulfilled its commitments to Brussels. And France announced a third nationwide lockdown as its cases mount and inoculation efforts lag. A tough day for initial public offerings. As Deliveroo had “the worst I.P.O. in London’s history,” other offerings also struggled. In the U.S., the SoftBank-backed real estate brokerage Compass priced at the bottom of a reduced range, while the low-cost airline Frontier sold at the low end of expectations. And in Canada, the space tech company MDA priced below its range. Microsoft wins a huge contract to make augmented-reality headsets for the U.S. Army. The tech giant will receive up to $22 billion for equipping soldiers with sensors based on its HoloLens technology. It’s another big defense contract for Microsoft, which beat out Amazon to provide a $10 billion cloud computing system for the Pentagon. Executives get a ‘sense of urgency’ in Georgia A day after 72 Black executives signed a letter calling on companies to fight restrictive voting bills more forcefully, executives have begun speaking out more directly about laws that limit ballot access. But their statements came too late to affect a sweeping law passed last week in Georgia that added new requirements for absentee voting, limits on drop boxes and other restrictions that have an outsize impact on Black voters. Today in Business Updated  April 2, 2021, 3:58 p.m. ET Delta and Coca-Cola reversed course. Ed Bastian, Delta’s C.E.O., told employees, “I need to make it crystal clear that the final bill is unacceptable and does not match Delta’s values.” James Quincey, Coca-Cola’s C.E.O., said he wanted to be “crystal clear” that “the Coca-Cola Company does not support this legislation, as it makes it harder for people to vote, not easier.” The statements by the Atlanta-based companies angered local politicians, including Gov. Brian Kemp. In the past, corporate stands on controversial issues have led to political retribution: In 2018, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle stripped a tax break proposal from a bill that would benefit Delta after the airline ended a promotional discount for N.R.A. members. The State House passed a similar measure yesterday, but the Senate didn’t take it up before the chambers adjourned for the year. Retaliation also goes the other way: In an interview with ESPN, President Biden said he would “strongly support” moving Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game from Atlanta, scheduled for July. “It is regrettable that the sense of urgency came after the legislation was passed and signed into law,” said Darren Walker, the Ford Foundation president, who is a board member at Pepsi, Ralph Lauren and Square. Others companies based in Georgia remained circumspect. A UPS spokesperson said the company stood “ready to continue to help in ensuring every Georgia voter has the ability to vote.” A spokesperson for Home Depot reiterated the company’s stance that it believes “all elections should be accessible, fair and secure.” A spokesperson for Inspire Brands, the owner of Dunkin’ Donuts and Arby’s, said that it “values inclusivity” and believes that “every American should have equal access to their right to vote.” “The argument is they are recruited, they’re used up and then they’re cast aside without even a college degree. So they say, how can this be defended in the name of amateurism?” — Justice Samuel Alito, assessing the “stark picture” painted by college athletes in an antitrust case against the N.C.A.A. that the Supreme Court heard yesterday. The Red Sox sold a stake to private equity. Now what? RedBird Capital Partners confirmed its deal to buy a stake in Red Sox parent Fenway Sports Group, a transaction that values the company at $7.35 billion. DealBook spoke with RedBird’s founder, Gerry Cardinale, and Fenway’s chair, Tom Werner, about what happens next. Buy and build. RedBird plans to acquire more teams: Mr. Cardinale noted that his company doesn’t own teams in the N.B.A., N.H.L. or M.L.S. For its part, Fenway plans to tap new opportunities in ticketing, sponsorship and media. (As part of the RedBird deal, the N.B.A. star LeBron James bought a stake in Fenway.) In media, Fenway controls NESN, and RedBird owns a stake in the YES network. “You should expect that we’re going to continue to look for ways to innovate in that area,” said Mr. Cardinale, who helped create the YES network. Deepening ties with online gambling is also on the table. “We do have an excellent relationship with DraftKings,” Mr. Werner said, “and we’ve already had some conversations with them about partnerships.” The deal was a better fit for the private market instead of a SPAC, the executives said, after talks to take Fenway public via a blank-check firm fell through. “In the middle of Covid, with the mandate to re-underwrite the next wave of growth for Fenway Sports Group, we probably would be better off doing that privately and then give ourselves the option down the road,” Mr. Cardinale said of going public. He also called the current SPAC market “very frothy.” What worked at WeWork WeWork was founded in 2008, rose spectacularly, reached a $47 billion valuation and famously crashed before a planned I.P.O. in 2019. (It announced a deal last week to go public by merging with a blank-check firm that valued it at roughly $8 billion.) A new documentary, “WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn,” tries to find lessons among the ups and downs. It streams on Hulu, starting tomorrow. Jed Rothstein, the director, told DealBook that he believes what’s most compelling about WeWork isn’t what went wrong, but how it initially succeeded by turning strangers into a kind of tribe. “We still need that,” he said. “The core idea of WeWork met a real need for community,” Mr. Rothstein said. “The voids people were trying to fill have only become more real.” After a year of social distancing, he likes the notion of curated communal spaces, which is what WeWork offered. Talking to early WeWorkers who bought the vision and later felt betrayed, he was surprised to find how much the company gave its devotees, notably a feeling that they were part of something bigger. That is worth acknowledging in a world where people will increasingly work remotely and for many different companies in their careers, Mr. Rothstein said. WeWork’s co-founders, Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey, both had communal childhood experiences. Mr. Rothstein said he thought they sincerely wanted to replicate the good in group life and inspired people who hadn’t seen that before. But Mr. Neumann also focused on what he didn’t like — sharing equally — and emphasized an “eat what you kill” mentality. Ultimately, his hunger turned the community dream into a nightmare for many. After the director talked to people who followed the initial vision, his perspective changed. “People in the film experienced real growth and fulfillment mixed with their anger,” he said. “I realized the story is much more nuanced.” THE SPEED READ Deals The media conglomerate Endeavor filed to go public for a second time, while raising $1.8 billion to buy full control of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It also added Elon Musk to its board. (WSJ, CNBC) Vice Media is reportedly in talks to go public by merging with a SPAC. And the S.E.C. issued two notices for companies looking to go public via SPAC. (The Information, S.E.C.) Junior bankers aren’t the only ones feeling burned out. Young lawyers are, too. (Business Insider) Politics and policy New York became the 15th state to legalize recreational marijuana. (NYT) Efforts by aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo to hide New York State’s Covid-19 death toll coincided with his efforts to win a multimillion-dollar book deal. (NYT) An accidental disclosure by the I.R.S. revealed a $1 billion tax dispute with Bristol Myers Squibb. (NYT) Tech Best of the rest The ad agency Deutsch is doubling referral bonuses for Black job candidates. (Insider) Amazon wants its employees mostly back in its offices, while the Carlyle Group and IBM favor hybrid working models. (Insider, Bloomberg) Paul Simon is the latest musician to sell his entire back catalog: Sony Music Publishing will buy the collection, including classics like “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” for an undisclosed amount. (NYT) Feeling burned-out? As more workers consider a return to the office, our colleague Sarah Lyall is writing about late-pandemic anxiety and exhaustion. Tell her about how you’re coping. April Fools’ Day quiz answer: B. If you were fooled by Volkswagen’s prank, you’re in good company. Volkswagen reportedly told journalists that a draft of the announcement was not a stunt. It later called the stunt just “a bit of fun.” Source link Orbem News #corporate #fact #Fiction

[thefootballlife]

Glasgow’s Green and S***e - As Celtic’s season continues to spiral, where do they go from here?

The last time I wrote something on this site was 9 November. Neil Lennon was on the brink. Shane Duffy wasn’t very good. Celtic were paying the price for short term loyalties overwhelming long term strategy.

As I start on this, it’s 16 January and all of those things still apply except a bit worse. In fact, the only difference now is that, amongst much of the Celtic support, anger is turning to apathy.

The reason I revisit it now isn’t because I’ve something worthy to say, it’s because someone actually took the time to email me and ask me to write my take with an outlook onto the medium term. So, here is that take and I hope it’s an interesting one because, more than anything, Celtic’s issues at the moment are in basically every department of the club from the boardroom to the bootroom.

They’re hardly unique in that. But what is unusual is that Celtic have cracked under pressure this time. Even when Ronny Deila was publicly having it out with Kris Commons on a bench in Norway, Celtic still appeared a generally well run club that had their head screwed on. Few would credit the club with that now. The recent communications farce around the Dubai trip is perhaps the greatest example of this - Celtic just plain wouldn’t have had it be such a big deal prior to this season.

What are the individual issues that have beset the club this term?

The first is, of course, recruitment. Up until the first season of Brendan Rodgers, the club maintained a reasonably successful buy low, sell high policy. That’s how the club came about Virgil van Dijk, Stuart Armstrong, Ryan Christie, Fraser Forster, Kristoffer Ajer and many more.

Was it always successful? No. Was the cost of those that didn’t work out lower than the profit on those that did? Definitely. And, to be entirely fair, when Celtic deviated from that policy for certain players, they rarely worked out (Carlton Cole, Tyler Blackett, Derk Boerrigter).

When Brendan Rodgers came in, that policy went because you don’t attract a manager like Rodgers to the club on the pretence of “hey, you’ll get some players to improve that we got on the cheap”. In two years of Ronny Deila, Celtic spent more than £2m on players twice (Scepovic and Simunovic). In the same time of Rodgers, that was four times (Edouard loan being confirmed, Eboue Kouassi, Ntcham, Sinclair) with expensive older players brought in too. In one summer, Celtic essentially changed what the club was about. Rangers did so a year later in bringing in Mark Allen.

This isn’t a criticism of what Celtic did in bringing in Rodgers and reacting with recruitment to match - merely to note that it was a definite change in tack and, what time has shown, is that it wasn’t the right call. The prospects brought in were for more money and from different markets and there didn’t appear to be that much though behind it all - Celtic paid the best part of £2m for Marian Shved, a player whose stats just plain old were unsustainable and whose personality (as shown with issues in Belgium this season) doesn’t appear to have been a fit for the club.

Let’s pause that for a second to talk about how I scout. On my desktop, there’s a spreadsheet. That spreadsheet covers football in the former Yugoslavia and Albania and on there I have about 10-15 players per position that I’m keeping an eye on. They’ve been looked at a lot by me, they’re there on merit, there has been a check on stats to make sure everything underlying backs it up and there’s been a check on social media and news to make sure that there’s nothing there that suggests that the player is a liability. And all of that is alongside contract data, potential values and basically what sort of budgetary information is required. In short, if someone comes and asks me what I think of a player on there, I can provide data, whether I think they’ll be a good fit and, crucially, whether or not they’re actually a realistic target or not. From a club perspective, the reality is that every club should be working three windows out.

The point is this - if I asked Celtic who they’re tracking for Summer 2022, they should know. I know who I’m tracking for it and I’m doing it in my spare time. Other clubs will know too. If you’re a Celtic fan reading, I’d ask if you honestly think that Shane Duffy was tracked for that length of time and if that sort of due diligence outlined above was done on him.

Short term recruitment can work - it is, inevitably, hard work to identify targets and rush them through a vetting process quickly, but it can work. For Rangers, without a doubt it was of help to keep the recruitment process pre-Gerrard in place because the data and groundwork was there. You look at the fees paid in Steven Gerrard’s first window and, save for two players who had fitness issues in Grezda and Murphy, they were all successes. If you asked Rangers who their back-ups were if those players hadn’t come in, you’d note they were all successes also.

Take my word for it, they were.

Celtic’s recruitment policy has changed and the personnel have been more fluid. Does that mean Celtic need a sporting director to provide continuity?

Yes. I’d argue that every club does. Celtic are an outlier in having what is a fairly traditional structure behind the scenes when it comes to clubs their size and having such involvement from the football manager in it. Ideally, you have clear barriers between the commercial bit of the club, the recruitment bit of the club and the coaching bit of the club. Everyone works closely with people they are comfortable working with and someone at the top co-ordinates things to make sure everything is going harmoniously. The CEO should be, in effect, a team leader making sure the money is used efficiently.

Of course, that’s currently Peter Lawwell and you are unlikely to find many Celtic fans behind him, who would generally take him as overpaid and overstayed his welcome. The former is certainly true from any cursory glance at football executive pay, the latter is likely inevitable for anyone, never mind in the light of agreeing to continue with a mid-season trip to Dubai in the middle of a pandemic in the middle of losing a title race by a distance. If nothing else, from the perspective of remaining the best custodian of the club, the best person to ensure shareholders achieve their dividends, Lawwell is having a season that is seriously taking apart his reputation. Lawwell has always been a bit of a pantomime villain who took flak over the cheap policy of the first half of the 2010s and is now taking flak over the splurges of the second half of the decade proving, if nothing else, that being a football executive isn’t the sort of job you want to get into if you have thin skin.

To be fair to Lawwell, if you reduce his job to just the “company” aspects as opposed to the “club” aspects, then any issues this season can probably just have the word “coronavirus” added as an excuse and him given a free pass. The sheer optics of the thing (Dubai, keeping Lennon on after protests) is as much a Dermot Desmond thing as it is a Peter Lawwell thing. After all, if Desmond says Lennon stays, Lawwell is hardly about to go against the man who heats his driveway.

On the pitch, things have been a mess and, to be honest, have been talked about more eloquently and with more data and proof than I could offer. Some of this is standards based - I find it hard to find an explanation how a club renowned for improving goalkeepers, as it did last season, suddenly loses the magic touch and sees an expensive goalkeeping recruit in Barkas (who was a target from the Rodgers days) go so badly wrong so very quickly. You would argue much the same about a defence which is, on paper, perhaps as talented as has been seen at the club at any point look so utterly hapless - in a way, such is the evolution of Neil Lennon as manager from the Strachan disciple of tight football in his first spell to the eventually self-destructive attacking of his Hibs spell. Some of this is no longer being smarter than the smarties - when would you say this season that Celtic have reacted to a situation well? Plan B is often Plan A but a bit more of it - an accusation often labelled at Mark Warburton - and when Celtic do change things, it often looks like it goes all plan nine from outer space. One need only look at the new year game vs Rangers for proof - 60 minutes of being on top without a goal followed by a red card and a collapse. Where in the past, adversity has galvanised this Celtic side and many of these players, this season it merely sticks their heads down further.

The other thing the person who emailed me asked was me to look at the following:

“A sort of stand back view as if the club had brought you in as a consultant to review operations and set out 5 and 10 year targets. “

All the above are the issues to tackle and the why I’d do what I’d do. So, to put out a few bullet points

Hire a young manager with a strong track record of improving players and give them a three year contract (ideally, this’d be Simon Rozman of Rijeka who has seen the past season end any accusation that he couldn’t get it done on the big occasion)

Return to the business model of the Deila era (That period bankrolled and provided a fair portion of the invincibles)

Accept it will take a while (up to three seasons) to return back to the top of domestic football

Coaches may change but the sporting director doesn’t - in short, the on the pitch philosophy should always be the same even if the manager changes

Recruit from markets you can make a profit from (ie NOT BLOODY ENGLAND)

Accept that striking gold from the youth system is essentially random and ensure there is a good pathway from 18-23 for these players to get game time somewhere

Buy Ernest Muci, improve him, make loads of money.

This, of course, has no guarantee of working and will differ for everyone depending on what your own footballing philosophy is. I’m also not including wider decisions that should happen (such as the introduction of Colts into the league system).

Celtic’s issues are, of course, a far cry from the far more serious issues impacting many clubs in Scottish football. Any fan of a club who has wage cuts and the potential for existential peril would surely swap that for Celtic’s problem of merely being a bit crap.

I accept my take on things is a bit different because of the experiences I have and the sort of football I watch. I also accept that a buy low sell high policy around identifying markets and players that can be worked on and turned into very, very good players has an inherently lower strike rate than paying more and getting successful players at prime age but that policy isn’t exactly working at the minute so may as well save money for the same results!

To conclude, if Celtic ask (which they won’t), this is broadly what I’d do.

But it ignores the one key rule of working in football - building relationships. You cannot hope to build a successful outfit without doing the hard yards and speaking to everyone and making a reputation as someone people can do business with. That’s possibly the biggest bridge Celtic need to build - with the fans and with the people who can help across Europe because certain relationships have been neglected and certain relationships have been supplanted.

Design your structure, build your structure and stick to your structure.

[arcticdementor]

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like 2020 has scoured me from the inside out. I swear this year is at least a thousand years as experienced. The person who started this year was tired, a little down. My rights being caught in the maw of a very bad contract and the company not deigning to respond to my requests for reversal were part of it. The rest was the toll of 10+ years of severe illness. You can fix it, and I’d been fixing it for the last three or four, but the scars remain. In my mid to late fifties I’m not as flexible and do not heal as fast. And I was tired.

Which of course is why looking back I smile at the earnest naivete of that summer child. Because since then I’ve seen my country put under house arrest, its citizens stripped of the rights that were the very reason of the founding. I’ve seen dubiously elected governors and mayors clamp down on the citizens who pay taxes, while freeing the criminals and letting the ferals run rampant. I’ve seen the deliberate destruction of the best nation on Earth, mankinds last and best hope.

And our internal traitors, knowing and unknowing (a lot of them are just being mean girls because it’s fun and it’s always worked before. The same with virtue signaling. And many are doing it because they’re afraid) have turned the right into painted devils, while unleashing destruction on us.

…

Even if our courts — snort — and our judges — snort giggle — manage to find a shred of non-corruption, we are what is technically known as “fucked.” Because the media is busily convincing our dunderheads and assholes that Trump is a dictator, who will take power by force, which this win will “sort of kind of” give the appearance of, while in fact their steal is the real grab, combined with destroying our elections forever.

The enemy is within the walls, and worse, it is in a position of command.

…

But it puts us in a pickle, because our mentally deficient would-be elites will destroy us without even realizing they’re doing it, and will do anything to keep the fact they’re massively corrupt and hypocritical hidden.

That’s what they have on all the tech lords, and btw, I suspect it’s why they hate Trump so much. His peccadilloes are banal and almost endearing compared to the raw moral sewage of the Bidens, the Obamas, the Clintons, and let’s not even think of what Harris has in her closet, if what’s known is that she climbed up in the world by sucking cock. So he didn’t fall into the trap. Which means the entrapped ones hate him even more.

But even with the BEST intent in the world, and if they weren’t in China’s pay and employ (they are) these people would kill us all, because they have no idea how the western economy works, or how free people work.

I’m not actually making this up, please believe me, I’m as serious as I can be: They will start with an engineered famine, but they have no clue how any of this works, and before they are done, people will die for other reasons and of other things or what makes this country live and thrive. If they get full control, within two years, I suspect more than half of America will be dead. Mind you, they might not manage it. None of their plans work as planned, because they’re not good at people and specifically they’re not food at America. But the unintentional destruction — though in spots — will be at least as bad as the intentional.

So we need to fight back. More specifically, I need to fight back.

Look, guys, I know this makes no sense whatsoever, and is not objectively true, but I’m broken in very specific ways. One of those is that in this type of situation I feel guilty for it having happened at all, like I should have prevented it. And I feel responsible for protecting everyone in its path. Which is …. on its face insane.

I bet a lot of you, by nature or training sheep dogs are feeling the same. We know what we are. We’re not good people. Frankly, we’d rather eat the flock, and be muzzle-deep in blood.

But we or something in us knows better. Something in us chose to harness the predator to defend the flock. It’s our flock. And though the predator still howls for blood, it’s wolf blood.

And we’ve been tearing ourselves apart since the lockdown happened, because we sensed the wolves rounding in that move. We sensed the threat to the flock. But we had no idea how to fix it, how to protect “ours.”

…

When we think about it, we think in terms of the fourth box. Because we’re Americans, and we have the power.

But the fourth box is not the only box. And if used, it catapults us into a completely different world. More importantly, it’s not up to any of us to start. It will start — or not — at some point, at some flare instance. What I’m afraid of is that those are being “spiked” somehow.

And the sheepdogs are going crazy. The smell the wolf and they can do nothing.

I woke up this morning thinking of Poland. When they’d had enough, the communists were brought down with a general strike.

Um…. Sure. UNTOLD damage and pain. But guys, less than where we’re headed with or without the fourth box.

To work it would need to be like the tea party. I don’t know how to do that. But I know some people reached by this do. They were part of and instrumental in the tea party.

And as horrible as a general strike is, it’s better than slavery to China, or CWII and better than the utter destruction of our republic and its institutions. If done, it should be done for two things “A stop on the infringement on our constitutional liberties, no matter if in the name of a virus. And a new election, free and fair. One day, purple fingers, in person, with ID. AND the ballots counted in front of everyone who desires to attend. By hand. No shenanigans.”

…

And in that spirit, there’s things you each can do to turn this around. They’re smaller, they take a long time, and each of you will have very little impact. Some of you will recoil from them, because they imply fighting in our own circle, and some of you will scream “we become like them.” No. We do not. This is defensive. Shooting at those who are shooting at you is not “you become like them.” It’s defensive. This is the same. If we don’t do this, they WILL win, because they’re attacking and we’re not defending.

Will it tarnish your soul? Likely. All war does, whether lethal or not. But we didn’t choose this. We’re under attack from an enemy without who has activated an enemy within. And we have to win this. We have to win it for us, for the free men and women in the world. Or we all live under the boot of China, who make Nazi Germany seem cuddly and gentle (Note to the inevitable idiots: and yes, they were pretty horrible monsters.)

So, operation Swamp Fox (a) because an American Hero b) because we’re fighting the swamp).

I’m going to give you the basics. You’re my people. you’ll improvise, innovate and imagine new ways to make things work, ways I never even thought about. So the basic maneuvers (and you’ll need to dislocate your mind a little to do some of them.)

1- Tit for tat Many of you work embedded in the liberal world. You know what these people think of us, and how they behave if they have a chance to get back at us, including a million little acts of sabotage and defiance. Well? Tit for tat. If there’s a way you can make the life of your liberal co-worker a living hell, sabotage their career, make them feel incompetent? Start now. IF you can do it without it coming back on you, do it. And do it as hard and as often as you can. “But they’re a good person” you’ll say. Oh, are they? What would they do to YOU if they knew your politics and had the chance? That’s all we’re asking for. Tit for tat. What this will do: make the organization shakier; make the leftists anywhere come across as putzes (they sabotage, belittle, etc. any out conservative which is how they’ve managed to project that “conservatives are not very smart or creative.” This is JUST pay back.); put them on edge so they make mistakes, and make themselves seem less competent. If we have to do this for four years it’s going to hurt like a mother, but we’ll make sure it hurts them more.

2- Be the Uber Karen What is that I hear? Oh, yes. You see…. Karens don’t follow their own rules very well. Have you considered walking up to the mask police and LOUDLY telling them they’re wearing their mask wrong? Same with ANY liberal you know to be so in public. MAKE them live by their rules. While you’re at it, make them live by ALL their rules. They’re writing a letter? Well, using paper is Chinese appropriation! They’re doing/wearing something sourced to another continent? Come down on them like a ton of bricks on the flimsiest excuse. They drive a car? Oh, dear. What about global warming? They have kids? But the OVERPOPULATION! Chase them around and preach their own gospel at them at the most inconvenient and bizarre times. Publicly. Loudly. What this does: the stupider ones will crack. The brighter ones might end up red pilled. 3- Bangs arm on chest “He’s OUR leader.” Go on and on about the wonderfulness of your local petty tyrant, and how they totally deserve to get the best. And how great was it — tee-he — that the election was rigged, uh? Those votes just pulled from under the table in Atlanta! (Eyes wide with admiration) There’s even video! How great is it that now our great leaders will have power forever? Notice Obama is in charge again? That’s what I mean. Isn’t it wonderful? Look at all the HEALING he managed in his time. Etc. Be as fullsome as you can. What it does: those with a shred of humanity will revolt inside and eventually it will bring them around. This works best if you are under deep cover. Seriously. They won’t know what hit them.

4- Be the ditsy aunt

This also only works if you’re deep under cover, but find all the things they don’t want the rank and file to know, and say them, with the deepest and greatest possible approval. Hunter Biden’s laptop? “Well, of course it’s true, but the media was so right in covering it up. The poor poor boy. Very difficult, all those addictions, and of course Joe took what payments he could from where he could. The poor boy needed help.” “China is so wonderful. They control their population. Oh, sure they have camps, but really, if they need to reduce population, how else to do it?”

5- NOT ONE red cent I confess my dad is responsible for this. When he turned eighty and retired he announced “My life is too short to read communists.” This one is the one that will hurt most of us. We have gotten used to consuming entertainment from the assholes. Because for a while it was all you could get. It’s time to cut back. And I feel like a total hypocrite saying this, because I read from Amazon and sell on Amazon. But I’m not saying to do it in everything, only where you have a choice. If you have a choice of whom to do business with, do it with people you know to be conservatives. Grow our own. The reason we don’t have money on the right is that asymmetrical economic warfare has been waged on our people for decades. It’s time to return fire. If you have a chance, buy from your own, and give breaks to your own. One easy thing you can do, on Amazon even, is read your own, and as much as you can avoid things from China. Starve the beast.

6- Make connections. Find the other conservatives in your circles. Make connections. This might be needed in the future. In fact, it will probably be. I don’t need to explain how or why, right?

7- Make them live up to their claimed ideals. This can be used even if the liberal is your nearest and dearest. You might think it makes no difference but a comment like “How very Hitlerian of you!” when they talk about punishing political opponents or how some people are inherently bad from birth can fester and eventually bring about a crisis of conscience. And hell, it’s worth a try.

Now go and make with it. And spread the idea to anyone you can trust. The effect of one of us doing it is minimal (though often satisfying, particularly tit for tat) but the effect of all of us doing it, much less anyone else, will be noticeable and leave a mark. And maybe weaken their position until those bigger than us take action.

#sarah hoyt