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soleminisanction · 7 months

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Okay this misconception keeps coming across my dash and it drives me nuts because it means people are lumping two very different versions of the DC universe under one disparaging banner. So let me just say this to get it off my chest because I'm this close to shaking somebody:

The New 52 ended seven years ago in 2016.

That started a section of DC's history called "Rebirth" in which they started bringing elements of the pre-Flashpoint continuity back into the timeline. The first changes came in a big burst called Convergence -- which is how Jon Kent effectively manifested fully formed at 10 years old -- while other reintroductions like Kon-El, Bart Allen, Cass Cain, etc. were more gradual.

The original plan, being forced through by King of Bad Decisions Dan Didio, was that after ~4-5 Rebirth would give way to another full reboot known as 5G. I could go into detail about the plans but they're honestly not important to this post because Didio was (thankfully, finally) ousted from his role as publisher early in 2020, along with something like 80% of the higher-level editorial staff. DC had a complete creative turn-over at the start of the pandemic and completely changed directions as a result. The material being developed for 5G was retooled into the hypothetical future event "Future State" to buy the new staff time to pull together their new direction.

That new direction is called INFINITE FRONTIER. It started in 2021 and THAT is the era of DC comics we're in now. Infinite Frontier is an active push to bring back the pre-Flashpoint characters, as well as some pre-Crisis ideas and characters, while also keeping the few elements of the New 52 that people actually liked (like Jason Todd's more heroic characterization) and actively pursuing diversity initiatives both in creative staff and in creations. And outside of the big events, they're making a real effort to keep these comics short and self contained in the hopes that that'll make them more accessible. So it's actually really easy, if you read comics pre-Flashpoint and dropped off, to just pick up a series and go with the flow. Anything confusing is just a Google away.

Please, please don't make the mistake of thinking modern comics are as bad as the New 52 just because some people are butthurt their ship isn't getting canonized. There have been some really good comics made in the last few years that you should totally try! Spirit World, Monkey Prince and the entire We Are Legends line has been genuinely fantastic. The new Birds of Prey is shaping up to be a ton of fun. Dark Knights of Steel is an entertaining Elseworld. Urban Legends and Brave & the Bold have done some really fun things with shorter anthology books. One Minute War was a really fun Flash family event and everything Stargirl's done recently is liable to make you cry.

I'm begging people to give these comics a chance. It's just really sad to see them being dismissed out of hand.

#dc comics #batman #bat family #superman #wonder woman #superheroes #idk man #the way people talk about comics sometimes just makes me sad #i love comics #i usually want to talk about how good they are #and I only talk about the ones that are bad because I want them to be better #i just hate so much to see the really good comics getting published today #being lumped in with the mean spirited mess that was the New 52

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otdiaftg · 2 months

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The King's Men - Chapter Eleven

Day: Thursday, February 29th/March, 1st* Time: 10:45 PM EST

By the time the Trojans and Lions hit halftime Neil had forgotten all about Kevin. He'd been so wrapped up in the Foxes' season and the Ravens he'd forgotten how spectacular the rest of the Big Three were. These teams played like they were professionals. They didn't have the Ravens' spotless record but they were only a half-step behind Edgar Allan. Kevin had warned them weeks ago the Foxes weren't ready to face these schools. For once his callous dismissal felt like a gentle understatement. He wasn't the only one who found it a sobering sight. Dan muted the commercials, tapped the remote against her thigh in a nervous rhythm, and said, "So we definitely need to step it up, guys." Kevin frowned at her. "Even if you'd stepped it up when I told you to a year ago, you would have no chance of beating them. There is nothing at all you can do this late in the year. They are better than we are and they always will be." "Do you get off on being such a Debbie Downer?" Nicky asked. "Denial does none of us any good," Kevin said. "We struggled against Nevada. How do you honestly expect us to make it past the Big Three?" "California's overdue for a big earthquake," Nicky pointed out. "That'd take care of USC, at least." "That's a little extreme, don't you think?" Renee asked. "We need something extreme at this point," Allison said. Renee's expression was calm and her tone steady, but Renee didn't need to look disappointed in them for them to get the message. "The Trojans had our backs when we needed them most. Do you really want them to suffer just so we can profit?" "It's just not fair," Nicky said, shying away from her gaze. "Us getting this far and putting up with so much and then losing here, I mean." "We haven't lost yet," Dan said, "but we will lose if you give up right out of the gate." Kevin started to say something Neil knew would be negative and dismissing. Neil reached behind Andrew and popped Kevin in the back of the head to shut him up. Matt choked on a laugh and tried unsuccessfully to pass it off as a cough. Kevin froze for a startled second, then sent Neil a scathing look. "No one wants to hear that right now," Neil said. "If you hit me again," Kevin started. Andrew cut in with a casual, "You'll what?" Kevin shut up but didn't look happy about it.

Art used with permission by Rainbowd00dles. Thank you @rainbowd00dles.

(I merged the og art as well as the re-draw because I adore Andrew's face in the second panel.)

*Due to the Leap Year, I have opted to highlight the day rather than the date to keep the events in occurrence to the 2007 year. I will continue to mark both days accordingly.

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pseudophan · 6 months

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hi getting back into these guys and random question. obviously it seems like Dan and Phil (whilst keeping their private life private which good for them) also don’t care about people thinking what they want. Have they ever given a reason for moving into a ‘forever home’ together?

They used to use the excuse they were both YouTubers so easier to live with someone to help with videos back in the day. ‘no homo days’ I guess. But nowadays they both can’t really keep using that excuse since their personal videos don’t realllyyy require the others help as much as back then. Gaming channel again not an excuse it was on hiatus. Dan even still using his ‘Phil is messy and stressful to live with’ bit. (y you living with him then Dan?)

So Have they ever given a reason to still living together for 10+ years, in their 30’s gay & now home owning together? or have they just been vibing along, fine with letting it be known the fact they have bought a home, homosexual homeowners, and are just letting people think what they think? (They know what people think)

I guess I’m just remembering around 2012 times when they were changing the how they met story (mutual friend in Manchester anyone. Bumped into Phil in town one day? Editing tips?) and using YouTube excuse for living together. Seems crazy that 10 years later here we are. Both out, not hiding they bought and designed a home together and (as far as I’m aware) aren’t using needing the other to help with videos as the only reason for still living together.

Good for them either way. love them <3. sorry this got long!

honestly they started talking about a forever home and we all just kinda went along with it. i think there came a point where the vast majority of phannies were assuming they're together in some way shape or form, and for a few years we had this mutual understanding of we know and they know we know and we know they know we know but outside of fan circles nobody's Saying it. i suppose we still have this, except hilariously there are now a lot more people falling over themselves condemning people for saying they're an item lol

because of this it didn't really feel like a big thing when they announced that they'd bought a house, like i don't even think the majority of people were talking about how that means they're gonna live together forever because at that point we already assumed as much, it felt so inevitable

but as far as what dnp have outright said, i think the interview responses from dan during his we're all doomed press tour are the most blatant quotes we've got. like, he's not saying it, but he's also not Not saying it

..well actually he kind of is just saying it. lol.

edit: oh and of course we can't forget the iconic attitude 2020 interview

#annoyingass reporter in the second one but then again dan could've just not answered so i suppose it's fine #answered

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paigelts05 · 2 months

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Mark Cho [FNAF AR, Renegade AU]

https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/Mark-Cho-FNAF-AR-Renegade-AU-1029925413

Published: Mar 10 2024

CK animatronic maintenance and R&D Robotics contract with Faz Ent has ended, but their stories are far from over.

Whilst Mark is one of the best programmers of his time, his dyslexia made it difficult for him to code as a job because nobody would give him the time of day to take it at a pace where he could get the spelling of everything right, so instead, he applied for the role of a cleaner at CK animatronic maintenance back in 2017 when Anna was first setting up shop. Anna saw his hidden talents and hired him on the spot, figuring that one day, she may be able to help him achieve his dreams. Whilst he does spend most of his time making sure that the animatronics stored and maintained at CK animatronic maintenance are in top cleanliness condition, sometimes emergencies happen.

Emergencies that required all hands on deck.

When dealing with the first wave of Adelaide and William's virus that had swept through the systems in late 2019/early 2020, anyone who could code was on network duty, and anyone who could weld, drill, or otherwise manage the physical bots were on restrain and repair duty. Mark found himself working with Steve, Luis, and Ness to try and figure out what was going on with the virus in the network, whilst Anna, Dan, and Raha dealt with the bots and thier faulty circuits.

Feeling as if he finally found some people who were OK with how he coded, he asked Anna if he could do more coding things after the emergencies passed, and she said OK!

He'd take some programming tasks to help out Luis and Steve, and she'd take on any cleaning tasks regarding any rooms or robots that give Mark the creeps.

And whilst the events surrounding the Adelaide incident did traumatise him, he had a group of people to help him grow around what happened, and he does feel better knowing that he's not the only one with those pinprick scars from Adelaide's masks on thier face.

Now several years later, the deal still holds, and Mark enjoys being able to use his talents more, and has even been able to develop some things of his own in his downtime now he has the confidence.

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luulapants · 4 months

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Where New York politicians stand on Palestine

The majority of Democrats in DC, despite their voter base being overwhelmingly in support of a ceasefire, refuse to disavow the genocide in Gaza or call for ceasefire.

They are able to do this, to disregard the outrage of their constituency, because they feel certain that no matter how many letters we send, we will show up and vote for them when the time comes. They are certain their actions have no consequences.

Senator Chuck Schumer has received about $526.5k from Israeli lobby groups since 2019. He refuses to call for ceasefire. This is his going rate to endorse genocide.

Senator Kristen Gillibrand has received $174k from Israeli lobby groups since 2019. She refuses to call for ceasefire. This is her going rate to endorse genocide.

10/26 New York congressional representatives are Republicans. None have called for ceasefire. Palestinian genocide is core to the Republican platform.

Of the 16 Democrat representatives, only 4 have called for ceasefire. The following NY Democrat representatives have called for ceasefire. They were not swayed by money received from Israeli lobby groups.

Nydia Velazquez, 7: not swayed by $8k from Israeli lobby groups this cycle, nor the $12k the cycle before that or the $250 in 2020.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 14: not swayed by the confusing $27 from Israeli lobbyists. Received nothing last cycle and $150 before that.

Jamaal Bowman, 16: received nothing this cycle and not swayed by the 26.5k last cycle. Incomplete data for 2020.

Paul Tonko, 20: not swayed by $9k this cycle or the $17.5k before that or the $5k before that.

The following NY Democrats refuse to call for ceasefire. The amounts listed after their names are, apparently, what they consider fair compensation for enabling genocide. Incredible amounts of money have been heaped upon them by Israeli lobby groups, with a significant increase between 2020 and 2022. The Israeli American PAC was a top individual contributor for 5/12.

Gregory Meeks, 5: 109k current cycle; 157.5k previous two. IAPAC his top contributor 2 cycles running.

Grace Meng, 6: 85.5k current cycle; 12.5k previous two. IAPAC her current top contributor.

Hakeem Jeffries, 8: 365k current cycle; 476.5k previous two. IAPAC his top contributor 2 cycles running.

Dan Goldman, 9: 24k since his first election in 2022. He is an old money billionaire.

Yvette Clarke, 11: 7.5k current cycle; 52.5k previous two.

Jerrold Nadler, 12: 7k current cycle; 90k previous two.

Adriano Espaillat, 13: 25k current cycle; 33.5k in 2022. He received nothing from Israeli lobbyists in 2020 but the IAPAC has been his top contributor ever since.

Ritchie Torres, 15: 392k current cycle; 342.5k previous two. IAPAC has been his top contributor since he was first elected in 2020.

Pat Ryan, 18: 37.5k current cycle; 29k in 2022, incomplete data for 2020.

Joseph Morelle, 25: 6k current cycle; 60.5k in 2022; $125 in 2020.

Brian Higgins, 26: received nothing from Israeli lobby groups this year or in 2020 but perhaps the 10k he received in 2022 was enough to buy his endorsement of genocide.

The Republicans will be trash regardless, but we cannot let our Democrats skate by thinking there are no consequences for supporting a genocide. They are slaughtering people with your tax dollars, Americans. It's time to get serious. It's time to tell these people that they cannot have our votes for free. It's time to start talking about primary opposition and third party voting. It's time to start exercising our power as voting citizens.

@veresiine

#us politics #new york politics #palestine #chuck schumer #kristen gillibrand

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meraki-yao · 3 months

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Get to know Me!

Thank you @lfg1986-2 for tagging me! I love doing these :D

Part 1:

Last song: Saint Bernard by Lincoln

Last film: The last full film I watched was Romeo and Juliet (2021) with Josh O'Connor and Jessie Buckley because my best friend's NYU account has access to a bunch of plays and she came over to watch it with me, but I watch a bunch of miscellaneous movie clips though

Currently reading: Book? You Will Get Through This Night by Dan Howell Fic: What if all I Need is you by aliwrites07 on Ao3, it's so freaking beautiful

Currently watching: I'm playing Dan and Phil videos as background sounds lmao

Currently consuming: Chamomile Tea, I'm wondering if I should take a note from Henry's book and start drinking tea regularly

Currently craving: a freaking break😭

Part 2:

1. Were you named after anyone?

Nah, my English name is a weird, fairly original one that my parents came up with (so many people pronounce my English name even though it's literally phonic, but I love that it doesn't have a pre-set meaning) and Chinese naming is a whole different thing, where there's not really a concept of naming your kid after someone, and even then it's not like English where you take the same name.

But I will say my Chinese name means "such a beautiful jade", which I really like, and am really happy with, so thanks Mom for that!

2. When was the last time you cried?

When I went to my bi-monthly counselling/ therapy on Friday

3. Do you have kids?

No, I'm 19 lol but I do want some in the future

I have a group of kids, essentially my sister's friends and schoolmates to whom I act as a big sister/mentor figure, I call those kids my children/my ducklings (I say kids but they're 16)

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

I used to do ballet until I pulled my legs and couldn't go on pointe anymore, so I quit in 2020 after fourteen years. And if anyone says dancing isn't a sport I will fight you

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Not really, just occasionally with my sister when we're clearly joking with each other

6. What’s the first thing people notice about you?

Either my naturally wavy/frizzy hair, or me being trilingual (I have a draft ranting about being a polyglot lmao)

7. What’s your eye color?

Dark, dark brown 🤎

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings, definitely. I also absolutely cannot handle any scary movies 😩

9. Any talents?

Eh, I don't really view myself like that? But I'll put public speaking and making arts and crafts out here

10. Where were you born?

Hong Kong! (nationality is a whole debate here and it's really complicated plus I'm technically an immigrant child even though it's still part of the country? But if someone asks me I always say I'm a Hong Konger)😁

11. What are your hobbies?

Too many to count! Singing, dancing, writing, performing, drawing, scrapbooking, reading... and pretty common hobbies but I just, they give me so much peace and happiness

12. Do you have any pets?

No but I have a little sister! (jkjk) I do want a cat though

13. How tall are you?

163 cm, so that's 5'3?

14. Favorite subject in school?

English and Chinese (for secondary school)

15. Dream job?

Desperately trying to figure that out! 😭😭😭😭

Thank you again for the tag love!

Tagging @rockingtheorange @alittlefrenchtree @nocoastposts @pippin-katz (no pressure!❣️)

#ask game #personal #i love playing these

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theculturedmarxist · 7 months

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Drew Lakey quit her job as a physician assistant at the Skin and Cancer Institute in Delano, Calif., in November. She gave four months’ notice.

In late August, her former employer sued her, claiming she owed the company more than $138,000. The Skin and Cancer Institute was trying to make her repay $38,000 in training costs and more than $100,000 for “loss of business” caused by the company’s inability to transfer Ms. Lakey’s responsibilities to someone new.

Ms. Lakey had signed a training repayment agreement, or T.R.A., when she was hired. The contracts require workers to pay back training costs if they leave their jobs before the end of a certain period. The agreements are frequently presented late in the hiring process as a take-it-or-leave-it provision: No T.R.A., no job.

Ms. Lakey’s contract stated she would receive $50,000 worth of on-the-job training, a sum she’d be required to pay back on a prorated basis if she quit before 2025. The company didn’t explain the figure, which is more than the average cost of tuition for a year of physician assistant school. But in a complaint, the Skin and Cancer Institute said Ms. Lakey had agreed to the T.R.A. because it was providing her with a “high value” training.

The numbers didn’t make sense to her, but Ms. Lakey said she hadn’t seen the training repayment provision as a big risk at the time. “I thought there was nothing that could happen that would make me want to leave the contract early,” she said.

At the start of her job, Ms. Lakey, then 26, went through a three-month training period that involved shadowing another physician assistant while earning a reduced salary. Not long after she started, Ms. Lakey realized she wanted to leave but was afraid if she quit that she would be on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars. She quit anyway after deciding the company wasn’t a good fit. The Skin and Cancer Institute did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Nearly 10 percent of workers who participated in a 2020 study by the Survey Research Institute at Cornell University reported being covered by a T.R.A. The arrangements are especially common in the nursing field and the trucking industry; one survey by National Nurses United found that nearly 40 percent of nurses who had joined the profession in the last decade had been subject to the practice.

Ashley Tremain, an employment lawyer in Texas, said she noticed the practice take off about five or six years ago, and she now hears from workers about T.R.A.s a few times a month.

“They’re just becoming ubiquitous,” she said, “as people are trying to find creative ways to move around noncompete restrictions,” which are gaining traction at the state and federal levels.

Ms. Tremain tends to hear from people after they’ve quit their jobs and received a letter from their former employer stating that they owe money for training. The most common dollar value she sees listed is $20,000. Enforcement can seem random at times, and Ms. Tremain said some employers seemed to send a relatively small proportion of cases to court or to debt collectors.

“It’s really an enormous amount of power that the employer holds in that situation,” she said.

Employers see T.R.A.s as a way to improve retention and prevent paying for training employees who then leave soon after.

Dan Pyne, a lawyer with Hopkins & Carley, a law firm in Silicon Valley, who has written T.R.A.s and represented employers enforcing T.R.A. contracts, said companies who came to him tended to fall into two categories: One group is made up of employers looking to shift some of the costs of their operations to employees, which is not legal in California. The other group is employers looking to help employees gain new skills that will serve them later on in their careers. This second type of T.R.A. is more legally enforceable.

“When the training is required by the employer, that is the employer’s cost of doing business, and they can’t force the employee to bear that cost or to reimburse that cost,” Mr. Pyne said. “But when the employee is going through the training voluntarily, primarily for their own benefit, in those situations, as a rule, the repayment obligation would be enforceable, and would be legal.”

The owner of Oh Sweet Skincare in Bellevue, Wash., sued a former employee for $2,244 — a sum that included $1,900 in training reimbursement and expenses related to a work conference. The employer, who asked not to be named for fear of harassment, said that she enforced the T.R.A. because employees who bounced from job to job were detrimental to small businesses like hers, and that she lost money on spending time to train new employees. She does not ask experienced employees to sign the agreements, she said, if they can prove they know the skills required to perform the services.

But regulators have begun to take action on the legality of T.R.A.s. In the last year, the Biden administration has moved to limit the agreements. The Federal Trade Commission has proposed a rule that would ban most noncompete clauses, including many T.R.A.s. In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released the findings of a yearlong study on employer-driven debt, saying it “poses the risk of suppressing wages and forcing workers to stay in jobs they do not want” and that “trainings may have greatly inflated valuations.”

On Sept. 7, the National Labor Relations Board announced that it had filed a consolidated complaint against Juvly Aesthetics, a chain of med spas, for labor violations in Ohio and Wisconsin. Among other violations, the complaint said, the company tried to illegally recoup $50,000 and $60,000 in training fees from former employees.

Chris Hicks, a senior policy adviser for the Student Borrower Protection Center, a nonprofit, called the move “the clearest example yet of the Biden administration seeking to declare TRAPs unlawful.” (T.R.A.s are frequently referred to by advocates as training repayment agreement provisions or TRAPS — an acronym that has been adopted by regulatory agencies like the F.T.C. and N.L.R.B.)

At the state level, Connecticut has banned most T.R.A.s since 1985, and Colorado recently passed a law that limits the practice. Additional bills have been introduced in California, Pennsylvania and New York.

Lawsuits Pile Up

Training repayment agreements have been around for decades, but the last few years have seen a flurry of lawsuits in which employers raise the stakes by taking former employees to court.

In the aviation industry, Florida-based Southern Airways Express has sued 60 former pilots since May, arguing that they owed up to $20,000 for training in jobs that paid $12 to $21 per hour. Last year, Bloomberg Businessweek identified hundreds of lawsuits filed by staffing agencies against health care workers who quit or threatened to quit.

Critics say companies that impose T.R.A.s don’t necessarily plan on recouping training cost and use them as a way to discourage employees from leaving within the first few years of employment. Trisha D’Allaird, a 43-year-old cosmetologist in New York, said an ex-employer posted a copy of a lawsuit filed against former employees for T.R.A. violations in the employee break room.

In 2020, Madison Birch got a job offer in Augusta, Ga., in intraoperative neuromonitoring, a career that involves monitoring patients’ nervous systems in real time during surgery. The offer was exciting: She had been applying to work at SpecialtyCare, a contractor that works with hospitals to provide operating room support personnel, for over two years. The company sent her to a two-week training session and promised to offer supervision and mentoring in the field as she worked toward passing a board certification exam. Her salary started at $35,000 and would increase substantially when she passed the exam.

The job wasn’t what she expected — the surgeries were long, and she couldn’t step away, even for bathroom breaks and personal emergencies.

Ms. Birch, 26, quit her job in November without passing her board certification exams. She had been afraid to leave, having heard horror stories of former co-workers hounded by debt collectors or sued by SpecialtyCare. But she had reached her breaking point.

“I told myself mentally that I could never work for anybody that made me hate what I did,” she said.

In February, SpecialtyCare sued Ms. Birch for $30,000 to recoup training costs. According to a complaint filed against SpecialtyCare by former employees, the company’s T.R.A. included a stipulation saying the amount of money owed increased after the training was complete, up to a certain point. If Ms. Birch had left SpecialtyCare after six months, she would have owed $15,000. If she had left after a year, when she finished her training, she’d owe $20,000. The number kept growing — to $25,000, then $30,000 — as she stayed at the company longer. Ms. Birch’s T.R.A. ended after three years, and she quit between the two- and three-year mark.

The lawsuit is ongoing. SpecialtyCare did not respond to requests for comment.

In some cases, on-the-job training covered by a training repayment agreement does result in a certification or provide employees with skills that are transferable to another job. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers can’t require employees to bear expenses that are primarily for the benefit of the employers. It is legal, for example, for a management consulting firm to pay for an employee to complete an M.B.A. degree and require the worker to return to the company upon graduation: The employee can take the degree along when leaving, and it can help find more work.

Rachel Dempsey, a lawyer for Towards Justice, a nonprofit law firm, said that was different from a practice at PetSmart, which she said had tried to recoup training costs from employees at its in-house grooming academy. No state requires pet spa technicians to obtain licenses. Ms. Dempsey’s firm sued PetSmart last year.

“I feel like we have caught the problem, and we’re in a moment where we can fix it, and I hope we can take those next steps,” Mr. Hicks, the policy adviser, said. “But it will take multiple arms of the federal government and state governments cracking down on these problems, and it’s going to take coordination between all of the above.”

#training repayment agreement #labor rights #class war

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regina-del-cielo · 4 months

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Fic 20 questions

I was tagged by @bewires, thank you!

1 - How many works do you have on AO3?

13, lucky number.

2 - What's your total AO3 count?

67,881 words. Not bad.

3 - What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, only for The Old Guard (2020). I'm a "one hyperfixation at a time" type of person.

4 - What are your top five fics by kudos?

Celebrated for Their Frankness (P&P)

Kissing a Stranger (P&P)

Galeotto Fu'l Cane (P&P)

hand in hand, we stumble and we fall (then we stand, once and for all) (TOG)

seems like happiness is just a thing called Joe (TOG)

5 - Do you respond to comments?

99.9% of the time, yes, even if it's just to write "thank you for reading" thirty times in a row

6 - What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Uuuuuh I don't actually write angsty endings? Even the sadder ones always have a vision of hope in the end

7 - What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Again, difficult to say. Probably c'est lui pour moi, moi pour lui (dans la vie) because it's Reunion and Fluff Galore. Or A Marriage of True Minds, because of Wedding Fluff and Feelings.

8 - Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully not, and I hope it never happens

9 - Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

No, not really. Love reading it, but I don't think I'll go that far myself.

10 - Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No I don't. The thought never really crossed my mind

11 - Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Never, thank goodness

12 - Have you ever had a fic translated?

No - although one could say that I already am doing my own mental translation since English is not my first language lol - but if someone wanted to I wouldn't mind, as long as they asked me first

13 - Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, never happened

14 - What's your all time favourite ship?

Why are you asking me to rank my children?! Darcy/Elizabeth has been around longer, but Joe/Nicky really Hit Different. So I say it's a tie.

15 - What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

All of them? There's a reason I don't post WIPs - inspiration is flighty and cruel. I never say 'never', but knowing myself if I haven't worked on something for longer than a year it's unlikely I'll ever start again

16 - What are your writing strengths?

I'm the wrong person to ask this - Maybe plot coherency and world building? I tend to take a lot of time to make sure that the plot flows well and that things are as accurate I can get them. Also, clearly, writing soft and fluffy things.

17 - What are your writing weaknesses?

I always have the feeling of my writing being clunky and too detail-filled, because I want the readers to see the scene as I see it in my mind. And I've never been able to stay within the number of words I expected to - my one-shots get stupidly long.

18 - Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I literally make Nicky speak in Italian as much as I can get away with it all the time. But also, if it's a language you don't know well and unless you have a human who speaks it that can check it, I wouldn't just trust a translation software. I have seen enough of glaring Italian errors in fic to make me want to go "please just say that they spoke in another language in the dialogue tag I beg of you."

19 - First fandom you wrote for?

Winx Club, a long long time ago, and not in English

20 - Favourite fic you've written?

I think it's a tie between hand in hand and We're Meant to Find Each Other - they're more team-focused than the others; hand in hand was the first I wrote for TOG fandom and a true stroke of inspiration. Meant to Find Each Other is the only multi-chaptered fic I ever managed to finish, it spans through multiple time periods, and the AU it's set in is very close to my heart.

I don't know who has already done this, but I'll tag @ellynneversweet @raedear @gallifreyburning @nicolos @nicolodigenovas and anyone else who feels like it!

#tag game #writing #fanfiction #my fanfiction

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offender42085 · 1 year

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Post 830

Steve E Jones, Arizona inmate 341978, born 1997, incarceration intake in 2020, at age 23, scheduled for release 08/19/2024

Manslaughter, Aggravated Assault

Northern Arizona University gunman and former student Steven Jones was sentenced to six years in prison in 2020.

Jones, who acknowledged firing the shots that killed 20-year-old Colin Brough and injured three others Oct. 9, 2015, is required to serve a minimum of 85% of the sentence based on a plea agreement that was reached prior to the sentencing. Jones formally accepted a plea deal shortly after an agreement was reached by the defendant and prosecutors.

Jones was sentenced to six years on one count of manslaughter and also received five years each on three counts of aggravated assault. Jones was allowed to serve the sentences concurrently, which amounted to six total years in prison based on his longest sentence. Jones has 212 days of credit based on previous time served.

“As to count one, manslaughter, charge involving Colin Brough, you are hereby sentenced to six years,” Judge Dan Slayton said.

Both the plea deal and sentencing followed a mistrial in 2017.

The prosecution began with a five-minute body cam video of one of the victims, Nick Piring, on the night of the incident. In the footage, Piring is shown being treated for gunshot wounds while he pleads for police to save his roommate, Colin Brough.

“Save him, save him. Colin. He’s the one that was shot in the chest,” Piring said in the video.

Victim Kyle Zientek described the shooting from his perspective. Jones approached from a parking lot equipped with a handgun, mounted with a flashlight. Zientek said he and his friends first thought it was a police officer. Then, Jones began to fire in rapid succession.

Zientek was shot twice in the back. His friends, Piring and Nick Prato, were also shot. Piring sustained injuries to his shoulder and hip and Prato sustained an injury to his neck.

Prato was not present. Prosecution attorney Lou Diesel read a letter on his behalf. Prato did not want to be involved or in the presence of Jones, the letter stated. Colin Brough, who was shot in the chest, died at the scene.

Colin Brough’s injuries included a perforated lung, vena cava and aorta. Both shots struck his front side, and a medical examiner’s report indicates that he was leaning forward at the time of being shot.

“I wanted to speak to you today because I felt like I owed it to Colin,” Zientek said while addressing Judge Dan Slayton.

Diesel also read a letter from Colin Brough’s brothers, Douglas and Ashton. Colin Brough’s father, Doug Brough, spoke about his son, the incident and paid respect to Nick Acevedo, a victim who committed suicide following the 2017 mistrial.

“There has been no remorse from the shooter or his family,” Doug said.

Colin Brough’s mother, Claudia Brough, was the last to speak for the prosecution. She spoke about her pain following her son’s death, which included “two nervous breakdowns in two different mental facilities.”

“My brain won’t ever work right again. It’s broken,” Claudia Brough said.

Colin Brough’s family expressed their love for him and their immense pain following his death. All victims, including family members who spoke on Colin Brough’s behalf, requested Jones be sentenced the maximum of 10 years.

Following two hours of statements from the prosecution, the defense began by paying respects to the Colin Brough family. One of Jones’ attorneys, Christopher DuPont, talked about Jones’ life before the 2015 incident and cited praise from his peers.

Audio from a 911 call from the night of the incident played, followed by a demand for justice from the defense.

“We’re never going to get from here back to where we started. The best we can do at this point is justice,” DuPont said.

DuPont expressed his grief over the case, particularly in regard to Claudia Brough. He noted time spent in therapy and other personal experiences during the defense’s opening statement.

A presentation from the defense detailed the “convergence of circumstances that led Steven to be involved in this criminal conduct.” DuPont said Jones had never been in a physical altercation before Oct. 9, 2015.

DuPont detailed the events leading up to the incident and relevant circumstances. The defense claimed Delta Chi, the fraternity of which the victims were involved, was a hub for criminal activity.

The attorney contended that fraternity members’ attack on Jones was an “unprovoked assault.” DuPont presented possible circumstances that led to the assault, including a ding dong ditch, alcohol and drug use, exclusion from a fraternity party and emotional convergence.

Environment, stress, drugs, alcohol and youth were among other factors listed by DuPont.

DuPont played a recording from Nick Pletke, member of Delta Chi who witnessed the shooting, describing the violence that can occur within fraternities. Pletke assaulted Jones, putting him in a “rear choke naked choke hold,” according to the defense.

Fraternities create a pattern of “coordinated thoughts and behaviors of relationship partners,” DuPont said. A video from Aug. 30, 2015 of a fight occuring at an NAU Delta Chi fraternity was played. In the video, yelling and bottles breaking can be heard in the background as a fight ensued. DuPont said he “would not be surprised” if the Aug. 30 altercation looked similar to the Oct. 9 incident that led up to the shooting.

DuPont noted the positive actions that NAU fraternities take, but also said that fraternities exist as a way to circumvent state and university drinking policy.

The defense claimed Jones was “sucker punched,” during the Oct. 9, 2015 incident, knocking out his dental bridges and filling his mouth with blood.

“There’s nothing like tasting your own blood to get you excited,” DuPont said. “Fear.”

The defense primarily relied on police interviews from the night of the incident, which included testimonies not heard in court during the 2017 trial.

According to a witness testimony presented by Jones’ defense, a man in a white shirt, believed by DuPont to be Colin Brough, was running at Jones as Jones shouted, “Please stop. I don’t want to do this,” Witness testimonies presented by the Jones’ defense also placed the man in the white shirt, who was supposedly Colin Brough, 13 feet from Jones just prior to running at Jones. The defense also claims Nick Piring moved toward Jones prior to any shots being fired.

The Jones’ defense conflicted with the prosecution’s accounts that Piring was shot after trying to aid the wounded Brough.

“While the prosecution may try to make it seem like the victims were standing around, trying to help, the truth is that they were all involved,” DuPont said.

DuPont also referenced a medical examination that confirmed that Zientek was shot in the back. The prosecution has often questioned the Jones defense for their claim of self defense based on this examination. DuPont said, that while Jones is legally responsible for Zientek’s assault, Jones was firing from his back on the ground.

“He’s been beaten, he’s been concussed, his teeth are knocked out; it is during these brief moments that Steven made the reckless decision,” said DuPont. “He was undoubtedly impaired.”

DuPont argued that given the number of victims, along with their size and strength, and the danger perceived by Jones, his actions were justified. Jones’ injuries at the time of his initial arrest, which included harm to his head, back and chest, as well as a split lip, supplemented DuPont’s claims.

Mitigating circumstances cited were the conduct of the victims, substantial duress, impairment, cooperation during investigation, good character, young age and remorse. Jones lowered his head and began to cry as a portion of his police interview from the night of the event played before the courtroom.

The defense affirmed mitigation outweighs aggravation, in this case.

Just before the sentencing was announced, Jones was given the opportunity to speak on his own behalf.

“I would in a heartbeat, right now, trade places with Colin Brough. If he could be home with his family and I could be dead ... If I could take his place, I would. That’s all I have to say,” Jones said.

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ilovejevsjeans · 1 day

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2020- Nurburgring- Poor cold baby

#daniel ricciardo #dan #nurburgring 2020 #10 years of dan #10 years of dan: 2020

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twisted-tales-told · 3 days

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Im bored and want to talk about myself so here's a list of youtube girlies that got me through The Major Depression of 2019-2020 (aka my disaster first year of university)

Ur Internet Mom Ash my babygirl ashley reacts to tv shows and movies. I have been there for her whole reaction journey & there were a lot of nights I needed her wonderful attitude and sense of humour.

Anna Akana this barbie is also a mess & she's still out here winning with cute productivity videos that get me out of bed and functioning to this day. The only reason I had passing grades was her.

Olivia/thewichofwonderlust bruh when I tell u back in 2019/2020 she would go live for like an hour on instagram and that was the only thing resembling human interaction I had that day??? 10/10 vibes. Her channel also helped me build the foundations of my witchcraft practice & I she is and always will be the only patreon I am subscribed to.

Lofi girl because she is the backbone of depressed and anxious uni students

Joana Ceddia --who no longer has a youtube channel because she's taken time off to focus on her health and university. Honestly watching her go through the same stages of life but a little bit behind me was very healing for some reason. Also I 10/10 somehow memorized every second of the video where she painted entirely with nail polish. I could smell it through the screen.

Old Dan and Phil videos that I will not be linking because you should know who they are by now and if you don't youre too young to be following me.

The Try Guys--yeah you've heard of the Ned Drama but were you there when they delivered a baby. Were you there when Ned went through his wife's 14 hour labor via a pain simulation. Did you cry over their plastic surgery video? No? Fake Fans.

Katie Morton I have no idea what she has been up to since 2019 so my bad if shes like. hated now or something. But she had a bunch of self-help resources back then for ppl who needed therapy tools but were too broke to go to therapy! And I found them pretty helpful.

anyways thats all of them. I felt like talking abt these Contents simply because I'm grateful for them! Got me through a rough time and most of them I still watch today (especially with the d&p games revival)

#rambles

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jules-has-notes · 9 days

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It Ain't Me — VoicePlay music video

youtube

The VoicePlay guys are fans of the Book of Mormon. So when an opportunity arose to collaborate with a singer who was about to join the national tour, they were pretty excited. They chose a brand new song, and created an arrangement that shifts the tone from the melancholy regret of the original to unapologetic liberation.

Details:

title: It Ain't Me (feat. John Pinto)

original performers: Kygo & Selena Gomez

written by: Kyrre "Kygo" Gørvell-Dahll, Brian Lee, Ali Tamposi, Selena Gomez, & Andrew Watt

arranged by: Layne Stein & Hannah Juliano

release date: 12 April 2017

My favorite bits:

that beautiful three-part harmony from John, Earl, and Eli with their coordinated breathy offsets

the resonant woodblock-y pops in Layne's percussion line

Geoff's little descending triplet at the end of the first verse

dropping out everything but John's melody and Geoff's bass line to create a feeling of emptiness

the driving rhythm of the choruses

the harmonized tone jump on ♫ "slee-EE-eep" ♫ in the second chorus

Geoff's long notes and slides contrasting against Layne's stacatto percussion in the breakdown section

the ♫ "no no no" ♫ bell chord and the descending run that follows

building the layers from the bottom up

John's soaring, nimble riffs

You don't need extra drums, silly!

ending on pure octaves

all the rehearsal footage and behind the scenes shenanigans

Trivia:

Bringing in John and his lovely countertenor gave the group a trial run at moving Eli into the vacant baritone spot and making a higher voice their permanent fifth member, which was an option they were considering.

This video was filmed at a new location for VoicePlay, Starke Lake Studios in Ocoee.

The YouTube description includes a parody verse: "I had a dream / you were eating something sweet / won't you please share that with me / 'cause I like ice cream. / Lieutenant Dan! Ice Cream!!!"

While John was in town, he made sure to stop by Disney World and take a dip in the Atlantic.

The guys met up again a few months later when the Book of Mormon tour spent three weeks in Salt Lake City, UT, and a week of shows took VoicePlay to nearby Park City.

After two years on the Book of Mormon tour, John joined the Broadway cast in 2019, where he has remained thus far.

John has returned to sing with VoicePlay twice to date, for the "Just Sing" mega-collaboration in 2020, and a gorgeous rendition of "Unchained Melody" the following year.

VoicePlay had included "Hello!" from The Book of Mormon in their "Aca Top 10 – Broadway" countdown, which they also performed in live shows, starting with the 2015 Sing-Off tour.

#VoicePlay #John Pinto Jr.#music video #a cappella #music #video

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indycar-series · 1 year

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Quick Facts: Streets of St. Petersburg

Round 1 of the NTT INDYCAR Series Championship.

Event Name: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Location: St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

Event Dates: Friday March 3 - Sunday March 5, 2023

Event Site: GPStPete.com

Track Type: Street Course

Turns: 14 (5L, 9R)

Track Length: 1.8 miles/2.9 km

Race Laps and Distance: 100 Laps for 180 miles/289.7 km

Year of First Race: 2003

Race Lap Record: 0:59.3466 (Will Power, 2022, Dallara Chevrolet)

Defending Winner: Scott McLaughlin

Past Winners: Paul Tracy (2003), Dan Wheldon (2005), Helio Castroneves (2006, 2007, 2012), Graham Rahal (2008), Ryan Briscoe (2009), Will Power (2010, 2014), Dario Franchitti (2011), James Hinchcliffe (2013), Juan Pablo Montoya (2015, 2016), Sebastien Bourdais (2017, 2018), Josef Newgarden (2019, 2020), Colton Herta (2021), Scott McLaughlin (2022)

Winningest Driver: Helio Castroneves (3 wins)

Winningest Team: Team Penske (11 wins)

Winningest Manufacturer: Honda (9 wins)

Weekend Schedule:

Practice 1: Friday @ 3:00 pm EST (8:00 pm UTC)

Practice 2: Saturday @ 10:00 am EST (3:00 pm UTC)

Qualifying: Saturday @ 2:15 pm EST (7:15 pm UTC)

Warmup: Sunday @ 9:00 am EST (2:00 pm UTC)

Race: Sunday @ 12:00 pm EST (5:00 pm UTC)

Got questions about St. Pete or INDYCAR in general? Send me an ask, and I will get back to you as soon as I can!

Want some friends to chat with about INDYCAR or need some way to watch the race? Join the INDYBLR discord server!

#indycar #indycar 2023 #st pete 2023 #remember to update the app!

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quarterprioritymidnight · 16 days

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I know it’s your beloved, but how would you rank the songs on doom days from your favorite to least favorite?

no its ok i love ranking things

1. those nights my beloved. dan smith mustve had some out of body experience or divine revelation before he sat down and wrote that one idk

2. doom days. banger. i let out an actual gasp when i saw them in cardiff this summer and dan uttered the words 'the title track from our third album' he truly did that just for me

3. million pieces. honestly didn't used to care for this one much but after seeing it live actually they were right to make this the one dd track on the bbx setlist

4. quarter past midnight. i dont have a fun anecdote for this one its just a banger and also i named myself after it so

5. bad decisions. fun fact this was my most played bas song of last year and my spotify wrapped was like 'last year you couldnt get enough of bad decisions' so there's that ig

6. divide. sooo underrated honestly like roll the window dowowown iconic lol also super nostalgic for me so whenever i hear it i have to go sit down with my head in my hands or something

7. joy. i know this is kind of meh for some people but their performance of it on graham norton is one of my comfort performances soooo. i think it would be better received if it wasnt the closer like i always think those nights is the end and then theres also joy

8. another place. one of my faves when the album came out tbh i think maybe because i related more to it then but the flute thing still goes so hard in the chorus

9. the waves. reaching the kind of meh tier, but this gets bonus points for gospel vocals, fun piano and also being v horny

10. noctural creatures. its fine, but in an album of such strong bangers it unfortunately does not stand out

11. 4am. idk i guess i just don't have emotions bc i just find it kind of boring. also i have a strong memory of listening to it at 4am on jan 1st 2020 after going out with my friends for new years and then the next morning i had a seizure and had to spend all of new years day in the hospital so theres that

#ask #anon #long post #according to stats.fm that story about 4am isnt even true #but i remember it so clearly it must be #like we just got in and it was 4 in the morning and i get emo when im drunk so i was like omg im gonna listen to 4 am by my FAV band #anyway that was a bit of a tangent #my rankings are always vibe based and unfortunately heavily weighted by my personal life experiences with those songs #also 3 4 and 5 are basically interchangeable depending on the mood so

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theconstitutionisgayculture · 11 months

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Sorry the comic anon again

I know we mostly focus the woke shit but comics also fall apart because

1. Rampant big events that cause more damage than good

2. Rampant character assassination and development erasure that cause serve damage (don’t get me fucking started on Dan Didio 5G plans and how that effect a character I was invested in)

3. PAINFULLY obvious writers who don’t check the characters they are writing past unless it’s a certain run.

4. And keeping the same godawful status quo that keep a endless cycle of the same shit again and again.

There more, but marvel and dc purposely put them into the landmines and refuse to properly adapt their stories and money making ways to modern era. I can’t blame just the wokies, I have to blame th embodiment of a strawman manchild like Dan didio

I know this long, but hear what the head of dc comics from the early 2010’s to 2020 said

https://www.omega-level.net/2013/09/09/frown-dcs-dan-didio-says-heroes-shouldnt-happy-lives/

Oh, absolutely mainstream comics have been shit for decades. I love that you made a numbered list because I have things to say and this makes it easy to organize, XD

FUCK EVENT COMICS. God, I used to love these things when they were rare. They felt meaningful and they were the only time you got to see some characters interact with each other, and it felt special because it was unique. Secret War, Crisis on Infinite Earths, No Man's Land, and Age of Apocalypse are some of my favorite comic stories ever. Reading the No Man's Land novelization was actually what got me into Batman comics in the first place, and from there into DC itself (eventually). Until then, the only comics I'd read were Marvel staples like X-Men and Spider-Man (which, believe it or not, used to be the only two Marvel characters 90% of mainstream fans liked) and Spawn. But event comics also completely killed my interest in DC and Marvel. Civil War ruined pretty much every character I liked, along with everything I enjoyed about the Marvel universe. And Flashpoint killed DC for me, while the New 52 dug up its grave and did unmentionable things to the corpse. Now, event comics happen all the time. Hell, DC rebooted its main universe I think three times in a 10 year span. And dear God don't get me started on multiverses. They used to be an interesting concept, but now they're just a receptacle for every idea that was too shitty for even modern Marvel/DC editors to green light for the main continuity.

Yeah, way too many comics these days are written by people who hate the character they're writing for. It's vandalism, pure and simple. Taste, quality, respect for the character and its history, satisfying the fans, all gleefully thrown into the fire. It makes it impossible to get into any character, because the moment the writer changes so will everything good about the character. Even new characters aren't immune. The moment Bendis took over writing Jon Kent he artificially aged him up, completely changed his character, and basically did everything he could to ruin the magic of Tomasi's Super Sons run. Pissed me off to no end, because I was actually considering dipping my toes back into DC just to read more Super Sons than the stuff I saw on tumblr until that happened. Still makes me mad thinking about it.

I know this is kind of similar to the last point, but Batman writers constantly do this with Damian Wayne. It seems like every new writer has to throw out all his character development and reset him back to being a barely functioning murder baby. Though, that's also a problem with Batman, too. How many times has he cut himself off from his family and friends because "he works better alone" only to realize that he needs other people? 20, by now? 30? I mean, fuck, they did the "Batman needs to be a loner oh wait actually he needs his family" storyline twice in three years. No Man's Land in 1999 and Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive in 2002. I get that long running serials are going to repeat storylines, but fuck try to keep things consistent for a decade, at least. I don't think that's asking too much. Aside from the vandalism and wokeness, I think the major problem with American comics is that they have no idea how to write a character or a story long term. They just do whatever they think will boost sales or get people talking, find out they wrote themselves into a corner because they didn't think further than, at best, a year out, and then reboot their entire continuity again because they can't figure out any other way to get out of the whole they dug themselves into. Why would anyone get invested in a product like that?

This is where I'm going to disagree partly. I don't think the status quo is necessarily a bad thing. I think about it a lot when people won't shut up about how killing the Joker would prevent countless deaths, and actually Batman is an idiot for prioritizing his own morality over the lives of others by not killing him. In real life, that might be true. "Do the ends justify the means" is a moral problem humanity has been wrestling with since we invented morality. But comics aren't real life, and they're not supposed to be. In comics, there are good guys and bad guys. The good guys stop the bad guys from doing bad things, usually by fighting them, and then arrest them. Good guys follow a moral code, one that usually includes a no killing rule. They do this because if Batman kills off his rogues, or Superman rips Lex Luthor's heart out, you can't tell anymore stories with those characters. Heroes are defined, in many ways, by their villains. Batman without a Joker, or Two-Face, or Riddler, or Scarecrow, is less of a character. Not to say that he can never face any other bad guys, or that they can't be cycled in and out now and then, but you can't just kill them off. You can't have Batman kill them off. Especially when comic book deaths are meaningless anyway. Once you break one of the central pillars of Batman's morality, he is immediately a different character. Less of a character, in my opinion. Especially these days, where morals are more about whether or not a character supports the popular new slacktivist cause and less about the fundamental questions of universal human morality. So, I very much advocate for good status quos to stick around as long as possible. But you also need to recognize when the thing you're doing needs to change. It's a delicate balance, and one that's completely beyond most comic writers today.

Ugh, don't even get me started on that "characters can't be happy" bullshit. I'll be here all day. Suffice to say, it's a garbage line that only exists to excuse bad writing and the most shallow interpretation of drama. Super heroes can be happy and still be entertaining and have personal strife. Reading constant misery and knowing that every bit of happiness a character does find will be temporary is what's boring.

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