The common thread with any definition of voter suppression is that it reduces voting. Being encouraged to vote and in such a way as to increase its power is as close to the opposite of voter suppression as you can get.
Call it something else if you like, but it ain't voter suppression.
Braxton assumed office by default in 2020 when he filed for office and no one else, including the incumbent, did the same.
The defendants, listed as former mayor Haywood “Woody” Stokes III and his town council, held a secret, special election, preventing Braxton from appointing his town council. During their special election, the previous town council re-elected themselves, and ultimately reappointed the previous town mayor.
[Rechecks the year] ...WTF??
Some of us buy printers because we have abuse and humiliation fetishes. My OfficeJet is the kinkiest product I own.
For too long have Americans been a victim of its political parties putting party loyalty over governance. Together let’s send the message to Washington and say, ‘You will represent or be replaced.’
"I'm suspicious of any plan to fix unfairness that starts wtih 'step one, dismantle the entire system and replace it with a better one,' especially if you can't do anything else until step one is done. Of all the ways that people kid themselves into doing nothing, that one is the most self-serving." --Walkaway (by Cory Doctorow)
I think I'll be saying this a lot in the near future, but please don't throw away your vote. As revolutions go, "not voting" is the 0 value on a scale of impotent to effective. If you care about change, do it at the local level. There are candidates in your city and county with radical ideas and plans for your communities. You can make a massive impact all on your own in those elections. You can change things. You have real power there.
And that power grows when it joins with other communities across the country. That's when your voice is loud enough to catch the ear of establishment power.
It's idealistic I know, but no less so than trying to catch the ear of power through abstainment. "Do nothing" does not stoke the fires of discontent to organize collective power. Please do something, and start with voting. Please.
I like some punishing games (Returnal, Demon's Souls Remake, Hollow Knight). Someone convince I'm likely or unlikely to enjoy Remnant From the Ashes. I've been on the fence for a while.
Funny that you mention Demon's Souls and Returnal together. My first foray into soulsbornes was Bloodborne, and it did not work for me. Too punishing, too stressful, and I could never figure it out. My successes were owed exclusively to luck.
I took that as a sign that the hardcore, challenging game type wasn't my style. But Returnal's setting and style caught my attention bad, so eventually I gave in and bought it. I loved it from the start. Something clicked for me and I started naturally treating it like a puzzle game. Learned to stay calm, accept defeat and learn from it, and try again. I played the hell out of that game.
So then I wondered if I might like the Demon's Souls remake and...hell yeah I did. Couldn't get enough of it. And when Elden Ring came out, I was all about it too. If it wasn't for Returnal, I don't think I ever would have reopened that door.
I never did go back to Bloodborne though. Feel like I gave it the best shot I could already.
I read today on wikipedia that the co-creators of the comics have both praised the film, with Kevin Eastman saying it will always be the best Turtles film adaptation. I don't know anything about it's development, but it strikes me that the production team must have been making a deliberate effort to incorporate some of the source comic's DNA beneath the more family-friendly, commercial surface.
I sobbed at 6 years old to the scene where Splinter is talking to the turtles through the fire. To the point my parents had to stop the movie and frantically explain that it's not real, it's just a story, the story will get happier, etc.
Just scanned some of the posts and that is a quality community you've got! Subscribed.
I'm a...moderate soulslike fan, not a huge devotee by any stretch, but this trailer strikes me as really bland. The soulslike gameplay style has become so rote that showcasing a series of short combat clips is essentially advertising that you've made an arguably cheap-looking copy of a >decade-old formula. In my opinion, if these games want to capture customers' attention (mine at least), they should be evidencing: (1) compelling level design, (2) tight mechanical tuning, (3) unique boss encounters, and (4) cool creature designs. Plus anything else that's a core differentiator. At best, Enotria got maybe halfway there on the fourth point in this trailer, and that's it.
Great song though.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer spoilers.
The opening scene of The Body. It's not the first time the show intentionally subverts its own identity, but it's certainly the most powerful.
For a show that has by this point in season 5 shown it's fair share of dead bodies, even just the unglamorous, undramatic image of Joyce's body spilled across the couch is off-putting. Then the brief fantasy of Buffy imagining that she saves her mom's life, and the stark transition of fantasy Joyce expressing relief at being saved snapping back to to a shot of her llifeless, expressionless face. The overstaurated color in the cinematography, the unnatural emphasis of atmospheric sound as Buffy's senses short circuit under the mental strain of processing the moment. The childlike fear and uncertainty when she accidentally breaks Joyce's rib administering CPR under the 911 operator's instruction. It's brutal reality manifested in a world that has trained it's viewers to expect (quality) melodrama even at its most sincere.
It's important to note that the episode follows one of the silliest episodes of the entire show (though not without its own gross implications), wherein a lifelike sex robot tears through Sunnydale looking for her creator. The first few seconds of The Body overlap with the last few seconds of the previous episode, intentionally creating a major tonal whiplash.
I think Drew Goddard once described The Body as 45 minutes of the best TV ever filmed and I still think that stands.
Edit: found a short clip on YouTube. Can't believe I forgot about "Mom?...mom?........mommy?"