#hostile takeover

[xrafstar]

from me and vich's yuri horror VN

[mani-e]

New chapter got me thinking about my old AU - Hostile Takeover. Thought I'd give it a revisit after all this time :) Destin the Starwalker is no more, say hello to Mercedes - the Star-Walker (as her name is made so in the prophecy.

THREE HEROES APPEAR AT WORLD'S END

A MAIDEN, HEART PURE AND WHITE,

A MASTER, MIND CLEAR AND BRIGHT,

A DARKNER TO LEAD THEM THROUGH THE NIGHT.

I love the design of the Knight. The Dessign hehe. I thought I'd revisit this au because of the fact the new Knight design actually makes the starwalker design kinda make sense because of the MASSIVE pauldrons.

[sadieadlr]

𓍯𓂃𓂃𓂃 FROM BEYOND: Hostile Takeover : don't starve together . . . png pack ༘⋆ ( trailer + in-game! )

𓂃 𓈒𓏸 all pngs are mine + edited from the trailer on youtube or from the don't starve wiki! haven't played the update yet, but super excited :-)

[ravenfleesfire]

“It’s obviously valid to be bugkin but you also can’t just expect people to get over it when they have a genuine fear!”

I’m afraid of dogs.

Dogs put me extremely on edge. I avoid them while outside and if one’s in a room with me I’ll try to leave or else start to panic. Especially medium-sized and larger breeds. Mere images of dogs may not give me a panic attack, I will admit that, it's not a phobia. But if you want to talk hypocrisy, if you're opening up that discussion:

Hey dog therians, dog otherhearted folks and clinical cynanthropes, what if everywhere you went, the unspoken attitude of the alterhuman community was—

Don’t post dog photos or talk about being a dog in the main alterhuman tags. Don’t talk about your shifts, your instincts, or your kind in the main tags. If you’re a CZ, don’t talk so openly about your biological reality. It’s extremely triggering for people with cynophobia. The idea of physically being or becoming a dog grosses them out to briefly think about, so try not to discuss your literal existence. If you must, at least trigger tag yourself with #tw dogs or #tw dog mention so people can stay safe by censoring things that will hurt their mental health. It’s okay if you’re dogkin but in my DNI I'm going to write something like, don’t follow me if your blog hosts too many graphic close-up images of dogs doing dog things, even if you censor them. Don’t add dog photos to open posts in the alterhuman tags, you have no idea who might be sent into a panic attack by images of yourself so you should play it safe and only put them on your own posts. And stop being so offended by people who comment on posts about pet dogs or dog facts saying they want to bleach their eyes or kill it with fire, they can’t help having a phobia.

Not great, is it? Fortunately, and I do genuinely mean that, this is a sentiment you will only see once, on this post, completely satirically. Except it’s just a real sentiment for bug therians/hearted and other invertebrate alterhumans. Of course what I said was satire. But if it pissed you off when you thought it might not be, please, contemplate on that reaction, really spend some time on it.

Also, if you're wondering what I mean by "other invertebrate alterhumans", (and I'm sorry for how heated I got when I was writing this part last night even after editing it down)

You know I’m a bug zoanthrope too, not just a bird? And see above if you're wondering why I never said shit about it, just said I was a centipede therian and even then said I was just questioning and didn't really talk much about it. Am I allowed to talk about it without tagging it #tw body horror, even though I obviously don’t fucking find my own body to be horror? Can I talk about it without tagging it #tw bugs like just the very thing that I am needs to be censored for people's well-being? I'm sorry if I come across judgmental. Offline I constantly interact with people saying they’re a nature lover but centipedes are the only thing on Earth that they still hate. And I have to come online knowing that any of those people could be bloggers in the alterhuman tags and it’s my responsibility to tiptoe around them. “Because centipedes are scary and disgusting.” Because I’m scary and disgusting. My brain is not capable of hearing a difference and I can’t change that. It is so much my reality that it's the same emotional mix of anger and anxiety and hurt that would be (has been, lol) triggered by someone ranting about how much they hate Jews or trans people to me.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Jesse Duquette

* * * * *

Resisting while in political exile.

July 23, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

The last 24 hours have been among the most chaotic, outrageous, and perilous in Trump's second term. That is saying a lot! Before turning to the details, we need to step back and take a breath. We will make it through this moment even though we may feel like a government in exile watching our country being destroyed from within by an invading power.

History teaches us that those who fight to preserve their country will outlast those who capitulate in a futile attempt to preserve their wealth, power, and privilege. During World War II, the members of the Vichy regime sought to protect France (and themselves) by surrendering to and collaborating with Nazi Germany. Other French citizens resisted Hitler by organizing an underground armed resistance (the French Resistance), a government in exile (Free France), and an army in exile (the Free French Army).1

History remembers the Vichy collaborators and capitulators as traitors to France. Members of Free France, the French Resistance, and the Free French Army are rightfully remembered as the saviors of France. They resisted in exile for four long years.

Initially, the forces in exile lacked support from most French citizens and the country’s territories. Those in exile watched in horror as France’s political, social, and military elite collaborated with the Nazi regime, including the deportation of French Jews to Nazi concentration camps. Under the Vichy regime, collaborators continued to live lives of privilege, power, and affluence while those in exile lived in tent encampments for four years.

Support for the French resistance grew over time as the resistance and the Allies made advances against German forces. Eventually, the French resistance prevailed because they were fighting for France while the Vichy regime fought to preserve their power, wealth, and privilege.

There are parallels to our present position and that of France in World War II. For inexplicable reasons, vast swaths of America’s social and political elite have capitulated to Trump.

They have entered into corrupt settlements of sham lawsuits as a way of funneling money to Trump.

They have changed their programming and fired on-air personalities as a quid pro quo for governmental approval of mergers.

They have agreed to change their curricula and fire faculty to settle sham claims of institutional antisemitism.

They have offered hundreds of millions of dollars in pro bono legal services to settle sham claims challenging efforts to promote diversity in the legal profession.

They have patronized his private clubs, resorts, and cryptocurrency scams to ingratiate themselves by transferring hundreds of millions of dollars to the businesses of a sitting president.

They write headlines, articles, and editorials that normalize the president and the party seeking to destroy democracy while holding the party seeking to preserve democracy to unreasonable standards of perfection.

Candidly, it feels bad to watch the unfolding capitulation from a place of political exile. However, we should take heart from the lessons of history and our conviction that we are on the right path for the right reasons. Likewise, those who have abandoned democracy to save themselves know what they have done and carry that guilty burden in the smoldering remains of their hearts and souls.

The tide is shifting in our favor. Trump and the Republicans know and fear that truth. They are trying to inflict as much damage and extract as much profit as possible during their shrinking time in power.

Trump's actions over the last 24 hours viewed as an effort to distract from the Epstein scandal

The actions of Trump and his Republican collaborators over the last 48 hours have been unprecedented. At one level, they are inflicting real damage to the rule of law, democratic norms, and the Constitution. At another level, they are signs of desperation of a man trying to create distractions for his base and the media.

Whatever is in the Epstein files about Trump, it must be worse than we imagine.

Trump is also attempting to create a flood of news that drowns out the Epstein scandal with volume and velocity. In such circumstances, less is more. Below, I set forth the major developments that can be viewed as manufactured distractions—“anti-Epstein” stories. While some of the developments may be more than mere distractions, they are at least part of the frenzied response to Trump's inability to control the Epstein narrative.

Some outlets (like the NYT) are declaring that Trump's strategy is working (based on quotes from Steve Bannon.). See Slate, Trump Epstein: There's a funny pattern in the latest coverage. (“The same assemblage of words, more or less, in the four most important outlets in town. . . . .It seems as if the real “story” here might be that [Steve] Bannon is easy to get a response from via text message.]

Here is a partial list of what Trump and his defenders have done over the last forty-eight hours to distract from the Epstein scandal:

Forced the House into an early recess to avoid having to vote on amendments that call for release of the Epstein files. The Guardian, US House calls early summer recess to block voting on release of Epstein files.

Called a former president and his secretary of state “traitors” and referred them to the DOJ for criminal investigation. NYTimes, Trump Escalates Attacks on Obama and Clinton as Questions Swirl About Epstein (Accessible to all) and ABC News, Trump accuses Obama of 'treason' in the Oval Office.

Opened negotiations with convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell about a possible pardon in exchange for testimony (presumably favorable to Trump). HuffPo, Trump Administration 'Reaching Out' To Ghislaine Maxwell: 'What Do You Know?'

Released the entirety of FBI files on Martin Luther King, Jr., knowing that the FBI was part of a smear campaign orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover. See PBS, Trump administration releases FBI records on MLK Jr. despite his family’s opposition.

Announced that late-night comedians Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon were “next” to be canceled. See Seeking Alpha, Trump says Kimmel and Fallon 'next to go' days after Colbert's show gets nixed.

Provoked a constitutional crisis by firing an interim US Attorney appointed by district court judges in New Jersey pursuant to a congressional statute and Article II of the Constitution authorizing such appointments. See Law & Crime, A court had the legal authority to boot Alina Habba from top prosecutor role, but Pam Bondi didn't waste any time blasting 'rogue judges'.

The EPA announced that it would rescind a 2009 landmark legal opinion stating that greenhouse gases pose a risk to human health. See WaPo, EPA drafts rule to strike down landmark climate finding

Announced that SkyDance had entered into a secret side deal to provide the Trump administration with $20 million in free “public service announcements” after the merger with Paramount / CBS is completed. See Daily Beast, Trump Touts Secret Paramount Side Deal After Colbert Ouster.

There is more, but you get the point. Perhaps the most egregious action is forcing Congress to shut down all legislative activity to prevent the people’s representatives from introducing measures to force disclosures relevant to possible criminal culpability by the president. With the cooperation of Republicans, Trump has effectively engineered a “hostile takeover” of Congress.

The above actions inflict real damage on the rule of law and democratic norms. But they reek of desperation and fear. Democrats must continue to push for complete transparency and accountability for the perpetrators of the decades-long sex trafficking of girls by rich and powerful men.

Kudos to Rep. Ro Khanna, who has been at the forefront of bringing a discharge petition to the floor of the House. And a great big Bronx Cheer for Hakeem Jeffries’ performative pearl-clutching-do-nothing leadership on this issue. And if anyone knows where Chuck Schumer is, send up a flare. Democrats deserve stronger, more decisive action from their congressional leaders.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[snugglesquiggle]

are any of the OG juzi fans still here? this isn't at all a Hostile Takeover update, but here's a little morsel i was prompted into digging up at the behest of someone on discord

(i may have spent most of today cleaning it up)

i've often bragged that i outlined HT from start to finish in one day, but i haven't talked about what that original draft of the story looked like.

well... here it is!

This is a proofread and lightly edited version of the first draft of Hostile Takeover which was completed in a single day: 31 October, 2023.

i did quote from it, once, in an essay last year - but only the very beginning, which still resembles what was eventually published.

immediately after that it starts to diverge, so much that i had honestly forgotten how it originally went; my active planning had long since moved to a different document, and it's likely been a year, maybe closer to two, since i'd read the back half of this doc. (my attempts to reread it for old time's sake sake always tend to stall out around act 2 - but it turns out that's when it starts getting good!)

so yeah. today, i finally sat down and reread it, and surprised to find... it's actually fire? it's all kinds of rough, but there's are bits of dialogue and narration that shine through.

i may not have followed this outline much, but it is amusing seeing ideas and phrases i'd use crop up much earlier than i expected, drawing from the same aquifier albeit a different well.

(it also reminded me of what HT is really about - that J/Uzi i dynamic i had spent so long carefully building toward. it's only present for a few short scenes in this draft, but that's still more than i've ever published - and god it makes me foam at the mouth for more. forgive the self-congratulation, but god. nobody does it like me)

anyway, at this point, you should view this as yet another juzi sketch, an AU like so many others of mine, which happens to share some similarities in premise to HT.

i enjoyed reading it - maybe you will too

[immortalseaqueen]

Is it wholesome or a hostile takeover of your bed? Either way we don’t deserve dogs!

[does-an-animal-look-like-my-wife]

coming out of my cage and ive been doing just wife. im mr wifeside