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Almalexia - Sotha Sil - Vivec - Dagoth Ur

"In the final analysis, it doesn't matter what you crazy people in California do, because I got smart guys who can always figure out how to make money." - Kenneth Lay, CEO of Enron, 2000

I want to talk to you about a chapter of California history that tends to get overlooked. And it’s important for people to remember this because it’s an example of the worst excesses of capitalism, specifically the California Electricity Crisis that happened in 2000 and 2001.

Basically what happened was that in 2000 and 2001, California was facing severe electricity shortages and blackouts. And it wasn’t because they didn’t build enough power plants either.

It traces back to the Republican Governor Pete Wilson, who ran the state from 1990 to 1998. In 1996, Pete Wilson, in collaboration with his Enron (yes, that Enron) buddies in Texas decided that the California electrical grid was too regulated and that it needed to be fisted by the invisible hand of the free market. So they deregulated the electricity supply and made all the power suppliers buy what they think they’re going to need the next day.

This scheme didn’t kick in until 2000, when Pete Wilson had been termed out and Gray Davis (D) had been elected Governor, the people selling electricity discovered that they could make a lot more money by turning off power plants for a little but and then selling it back once the price went up. And since people have no real choice about electricity providers, they just had to sit back and take it.

And that’s literally what they did. Enron was literally shutting down power plants during times of peak demand to raise prices, and the power utilities weren’t able to meet that demand, so they’d have to have rolling blackouts just to prevent the entire grid from going down.

And Enron, they were literally laughing about it.

At no point in 2000 and 2001 did the electrical demand in Calfornia exceed the supply of power available. These deregulated vulture companies that had come in because of Pete fucking Wilson had set up entirely artificial shortages because it made them money.

So next time somebody talks about privatization or deregulation as the end-all be all solution, run. Vital utilities like power, and water should never be in the hands of unaccountable private companies, but need to be accountable to the public and should be focused first on providing service before being focused on making money.

squeeful

I REMEMBER THIS AND I AM STILL FUCKING PISSED AND BITTER

boychik-art

thecollectibles

Secret Lovers by Mahdieh Farhadkiaei

marcheriest

guess who finally got their mlm media punch card filled in and played yakuza kiwami for vday

mossworm

picture day

thedeaditeslayer

The Evil Dead - Sam Raimi’s low budget camera rigs

kelgrid

I’m at my dog sitting job in a pretty old countryside farm and the lady who does the cleaning up here told me this morning that there are old tunnels (now closed up) running from the house to the church (1km) and I did not want to know that

kelgrid

Imagine what could come from there? Ghouls, ghosts, vampires?

kelgrid

genma-shiranui-deactivated20210

All the kids being so extra during the Chūnin exams and the procters are just like “what the fuck”

genma-shiranui-deactivated20210

comradebungle

this is just what being in middle school is like

volgin

every holocaust memorial day, i always ask people to keep romani people in their thoughts, but this year i’d like to clear up some misconceptions that i see every year w/ a psa

romani people are not white. we’re south asian (from northern india), and each subgroup has a unique racial makeup of asian/white/etc, in different amounts. this is also why we vary wildly in physical appearance/skintone

we still face oppression. what we face, especially in europe, can still be constituted as attempted genocide, as we’re forced to live in hazardous conditions or to give away our children, be sterilized, etc just for the crime of being roma

the ‘g slur’ isn’t just an american issue. the reason some european roma prefer the slur is because, in many countries, there is no term for roma that isn’t a slur, and it’s either the g slur or the literal translation of the n word. i’m romanian, and if you used the slur in my hometown, you’d get slapped, since we just use ‘roma’.

we live in every continent across the world. some of the largest romani populations exist in south america, predominantly in brazil. they are no more and no less roma than their european counterparts, and they, like romani in asia, africa, etc all face unique challenges and oppression.

we’re the largest ethnic minority in europe, and yet have almost no political power, no land ownership power (in some places, we’re forbidden from owning land entirely), etc. with very few reputable charities- a lot of us reject charity by principle, as well as there being a general lack of education about us- the best thing you can do to help romani people is to just spread information, and help individuals when you can.

yidquotes

“Ruth was un-Jewish by birth. Moses was un-Jewish by upbringing. But both knew that when they saw suffering and identified with the sufferer, they could not walk away. Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik called this a covenant of fate, brit goral. It lies at the heart of Jewish identity to this day. There are Jews who believe and those who don’t. There are Jews who practise and those who don’t. But there are few Jews indeed who, when their people are suffering, can walk away saying, This has nothing to do with me. Maimonides, who defines this as “separating yourself from the community” (poresh mi-darkhei ha-tsibbur, Hilkhot Teshuva 3:11), says that it is one of the sins for which you are denied a share in the world to come. This is what the Hagaddah means when it says of the wicked son that “because he excludes himself from the collective, he denies a fundamental principle of faith.” What fundamental principle of faith? Faith in the collective fate and destiny of the Jewish people. Who am I? asked Moses, but in his heart he knew the answer. I am not Moses the Egyptian or Moses the Midianite. When I see my people suffer I am, and cannot be other than, Moses the Jew. And if that imposes responsibilities on me, then I must shoulder them. For I am who I am because my people are who they are. That is Jewish identity, then and now.”

— Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

bunniope

obi-wan: the jedi council says marriage is a sin

anakin: what about all your grindr hook-ups

obi-wan: im not marrying them

e-seal-deactivated20210319

The xmen r like "magneto please do not kill this evil person" nd magneto says that he won't and 15 minutes later he kills the person in full view of everyone just for the drama