Safe harbor recovery portsmouth virginia
Not Portsmouth England
2012.02.13 18:25 Davada Not Portsmouth England
2016.07.09 22:15 danny_b87 Pokémon Go in the Hampton Roads Area
Subreddit for members of the Hampton Roads area Pokémon GO community! The Hampton Roads area consists of: Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, and Williamsburg.
2023.06.02 20:28 Mooncrab719 15 Minutes of Seizures Back to Back
background info -
medications: keppra 500mgXR, 2 pills once daily. Cyclobenzaprine 10mg once daily. Ramelteon 8mg once daily. Estradiol Valerate .1ml (40mg/mL) once weekly.
medical history: TS (tourrettes syndrome), CPTSD (complex post traumatic stress disorder), DID (dissociative identity disorder), dissociative amnesia, ADHD, ASD, somataform disorder. Microdiscectomy 1.5 weeks ago (recovery going well).
the event: A couple days I had a scary experience where my family almost had to call 911 to get me medical attention. I was in the middle of eating my lunch when I felt my aura coming on. I was able to get myself to the bedroom and into the bed so I was in a safe place. I had my first seizure. I came out of the room asking my partner for help getting me back to the couch (from this point on I lose consciousness / awareness, and this is all recounts from my partners observation and my best assessment). I had a hard time walking, stumbling and almost falling to the couch. Once they got me onto the couch, they gave me 50mg of CBD tincture mixed with water to help combat the seizures. Over the next 15 minutes I proceeded to have seizures back to back. I was unaware through all of these seizures, except for tiny blips in between where all I could feel was this immense pain in the right side of my brain, almost near where my temples lay. Full convulsions through all of these events. The only reason they did not call 911 is because I stopped having seizures at 15min and 26sec. Once I was on the other side of the seizures, all I could feel was this crazy intense pain in my brain. I usually get headaches after my seizure events, but this was the most amplified pain I have ever felt. I was unable to speak for 30 minutes afterwards according to my partner. At this postictal stage I am dealing with my usual symptoms (confusion, aphasia, headaches, derealization / jamais vu). I was aware of them trying to communicate with me, but when I was prompted to speak it was almost as if my own body forgot how to communicate. It was like I didn't even have lips to open in the first place. I was able to communicate with short grunts and alike sounds at the 15 minute mark. And then all of a sudden I was able to communicate again, still dealing with my postictal symptoms at this point.
I don't know what to do and I am so scared and alone through all of this. My first seizure was February 14th, and my neurologist team is still helping me figure out the accurate diagnosis through all of this. My initial EEG months ago read normal, I have 2 full weeks between now and my 72hr EEG, and another week after until I go back to my neurologist. I am so scared that something like this is going to occur when I am alone, and the thought of going status is scary enough without the rest of my current medical complications. I called and informed my neurologists PA of this event just to cover my ass but I haven't heard back from them. I don't know if this is a vent, a cry for help or support, or what. But I am scared, confused, and alone. I don't know what to do.
submitted by Mooncrab719 to Epilepsy [link] [comments]
medications: keppra 500mgXR, 2 pills once daily. Cyclobenzaprine 10mg once daily. Ramelteon 8mg once daily. Estradiol Valerate .1ml (40mg/mL) once weekly.
medical history: TS (tourrettes syndrome), CPTSD (complex post traumatic stress disorder), DID (dissociative identity disorder), dissociative amnesia, ADHD, ASD, somataform disorder. Microdiscectomy 1.5 weeks ago (recovery going well).
the event: A couple days I had a scary experience where my family almost had to call 911 to get me medical attention. I was in the middle of eating my lunch when I felt my aura coming on. I was able to get myself to the bedroom and into the bed so I was in a safe place. I had my first seizure. I came out of the room asking my partner for help getting me back to the couch (from this point on I lose consciousness / awareness, and this is all recounts from my partners observation and my best assessment). I had a hard time walking, stumbling and almost falling to the couch. Once they got me onto the couch, they gave me 50mg of CBD tincture mixed with water to help combat the seizures. Over the next 15 minutes I proceeded to have seizures back to back. I was unaware through all of these seizures, except for tiny blips in between where all I could feel was this immense pain in the right side of my brain, almost near where my temples lay. Full convulsions through all of these events. The only reason they did not call 911 is because I stopped having seizures at 15min and 26sec. Once I was on the other side of the seizures, all I could feel was this crazy intense pain in my brain. I usually get headaches after my seizure events, but this was the most amplified pain I have ever felt. I was unable to speak for 30 minutes afterwards according to my partner. At this postictal stage I am dealing with my usual symptoms (confusion, aphasia, headaches, derealization / jamais vu). I was aware of them trying to communicate with me, but when I was prompted to speak it was almost as if my own body forgot how to communicate. It was like I didn't even have lips to open in the first place. I was able to communicate with short grunts and alike sounds at the 15 minute mark. And then all of a sudden I was able to communicate again, still dealing with my postictal symptoms at this point.
I don't know what to do and I am so scared and alone through all of this. My first seizure was February 14th, and my neurologist team is still helping me figure out the accurate diagnosis through all of this. My initial EEG months ago read normal, I have 2 full weeks between now and my 72hr EEG, and another week after until I go back to my neurologist. I am so scared that something like this is going to occur when I am alone, and the thought of going status is scary enough without the rest of my current medical complications. I called and informed my neurologists PA of this event just to cover my ass but I haven't heard back from them. I don't know if this is a vent, a cry for help or support, or what. But I am scared, confused, and alone. I don't know what to do.
2023.06.02 20:18 jimbobbypaul Ranking the Top 131 FBS Programs of the Last 40 Years: 84. Iowa State
Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
For all the Cyclone fanatics out there, I see you guys. For the 6th worst Power 5 team on this list, Iowa State has had incredible support, averaging 50,000+ fans a year even during their lows. Finally, after years of struggling minus a few nice Dan McCarney years, Iowa State’s found a coach that’s brought them consistent success in Matt Campbell. Outside of Campbell’s first year in which he went 3-9 and the latest 4-8 season in 2022, the 5 years in between (2017-21) all place in my top 7 ISU seasons over the last 40 years. Whether last year was an outlier or if Iowa State will regress to their historical mean remains to be seen, but the last 6 years have been great compared to what fans have been accustomed to.
Remember how good Troy Davis was, especially after I described him above? Well, his teams weren’t very good, going 3-8 in 1995 and 2-9 in 1996. So you can imagine how 1997 went after he had left for the NFL. Iowa State didn’t stand a chance in Dan McCarney’s 3rd year as head coach, and it’s honestly a miracle the Cyclones let him stay for so long, as it took 6 years for him to get his first winning season. The gamble paid off though, as he was eventually inducted into the Iowa State Hall of Fame. Still, 1997 was his worst year. They had a talented freshman QB by the name of Sage “Helicopter” Rosenfels on the roster, but he wouldn’t start for another 2 years. QB was not a big issue though, as Todd Bandhauer had a respectable year, completing 48% of passes for 2514 yards 20 TD 9 INT, leading the Big 12 in passing yards and TDs. Bandhauer was a 2-time All-Academic Big 12 selection, and is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State. WR Tyrone Watley led the Big 12 in receiving yards with 827, and RB Darren Davis had 1000+ yards in just 9 games. Offense wasn’t a huge issue, but the defense gave up 44.8 PPG. The lone win on the year was 24-17 over 2-9 Baylor, and losses included 14-77 to #3 Nebraska and 20-63 to #13 Iowa, losing their 15th straight against the Hawkeyes.
5. 2021 (7-6 overall, 5-4 Big 12)
For this season to be a disappointment but also top 5 on this list tells you how far Iowa State’s come under Matt Campbell. Make no mistake, it was a disappointment, finishing 7-6 after a preseason #7 ranking, but they were still the best 7-6 team in 2021 (out of 17 teams) by my metric. Iowa State returned 4th year starting QB Brock Purdy, consensus All-American Breece Hall, 2x 1st Team All-Big 12 TE Charlie Kolar, and Big 12 Defensive POTY LB Mike Rose, so the preseason expectations weren’t unfounded. A typical ISU slow start saw them barely beat Northern Iowa, and a classic Brian Ferentz Iowa performance had the Hawkeyes take a 27-10 lead (27-17 final) despite getting outgained 173-339 in yardage. 2 weeks later, a trap game 31-29 loss in Waco all but ended the Cyclones’ playoff hopes, despite outgaining Baylor by nearly 200 yards. However, in true Iowa State fashion, they rebounded to mess up Oklahoma State’s season a few weeks later, beating the #8 Cowboys 24-21 to improve to 5-2. A 2-4 finish was mostly because of location, going 2-0 at home and 0-4 in road/neutral sites. It was a squandered year for Iowa State, outscoring Big 12 opponents by an average of 12 PPG but going just 5-4. 8 starters on offense made 1st/2nd Team All-Big 12, by far the most in the conference. Breece repeated as consensus AA/Big 12 OPOTY with 1774 yards and 23 TD from scrimmage, while Rose earned 1st Team all-conference again.
4. 2018 (8-5 overall, 6-3 Big 12)
For the first time since the Big 12 moved from divisions to a round robin format in 2013, Iowa State wasn’t picked in the bottom 2 with Kansas. Big 12 media picked them 7th, this time coming above Texas Tech, Baylor, and of course Kansas. But after starting QB Kyle Kempt went down in the season opener, and backup Zeb Noland went just 1-3, Matt Campbell gave a shot to a freshman by the name of Brock Purdy. In a sort of foreshadowing for names in the NFL, Kyle became a mentor to Brock, and Purdy exploded onto the scene, throwing for 4 TD and rushing for another in a 48-42 win at #25 Oklahoma State. He’d top that a week later, beating #6 West Virginia and Will Grier 30-14, this time the defense stepping up big to hold Grier to just 67 total yards. ISU never looked back with Purdy, and nearly made the Big 12 title game if they had beaten Texas. They finished the regular season 8-4, 3rd in the Big 12, and nearly beat 11-2 Washington State in the bowl. Campbell won Big 12 Coach of the Year for the 2nd straight season. Purdy was 6th in the nation in passing efficiency, completing 66% of passes for 2250 yards 16 TD 7 INT, on 10.2 YPA. RB David Montgomery had another 1000+ yard rushing season and has gone on to have a productive NFL career. WR Hakeem Butler was 3rd in the nation in yards per catch (22.0), getting 60 passes for 1318 yards and 9 TD.
3. 2017 (8-5 overall, 5-4 Big 12)
Before Brock Purdy and Iowa State could run, the 2017 team had to walk. Years of effort from give-it-their-all players like Allen Lazard and Joel Lanning culminated in a magical 2018 season that might just be the fondest on this list. ISU had gone just 11-37 over the previous 4 seasons, so a 2nd to last place Big 12 finish was expected. After a 2-2 start, ISU pulled off maybe the biggest win in school history, beating #3 Oklahoma 38-31, who’d go on to make the playoff with Baker Mayfield winning the Heisman. LB Joel Lanning, who was the team’s starting QB the previous 2 seasons, was the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week, logging 8 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, as well as 9 rushes for 35 yards and 2 completions for 25 yards on offense. A few weeks later against Oklahoma State he’d become the 1st player in the last 10 years to record a pass TD, rush TD, and half sack in the same game. After the win over OU though, just a few weeks later Iowa State would ALSO beat #4 TCU 14-7!!! A few one possession losses later and ISU finished 7-5, but would beat yet another top 25 team in the bowl in #20 Memphis.
Lanning was named a 1st Team All-American by FWAA, racking up 114 tackles, 6 sacks, 5 TFL, 1 INT, 135 rushing yards, 47 passing yards, and 3 TD. Not bad for a former QB. QB Kyle Kempt was one of the most underrated stories of the season, emerging as the starter in the 5th game and going on to throw 15 TD to just 3 INT. Kempt was a 5th year walk-on who had only thrown 2 passes in his career prior to the Oklahoma game. By the time the season was over, he had 2 wins over top 5 teams, and today is still on the team as a coach.
2. 2000 (9-3 overall, 5-3 Big 12)
Like the 2017 team, the 2000 Cyclones came out of nowhere, a dormant program that had gone just 27-80-3 the previous decade. ISU players knew the talent they had though, led by future NFL QB Sage Rosenfels, one of 9 players that would go on to make NFL rosters. Another would go on to join the Iowa Senate, and the late LB Justin Eilers would fight in the UFC. They played a very favorable schedule, going 8-3 in the regular season with 0 wins over Power 6 teams with a winning record, but did beat 7-4 Ohio, 8-5 UNLV, and rival Iowa for the Cy-Hawk. ISU put any “soft schedule” talk to rest when they beat the Big East’s 3rd placed team, Pitt, in the bowl 37-29. Rosenfels had a nice curtain call, winning offensive POTG with 23/34 passing for 308 yards and 2 TD. Rosenfels did what he had to during the year, with deceiving stats of 2298 passing yards 8 TD 12 INT. He was a solid runner though, and would become known for his patented “helicopter” move in the NFL, rushing for 381 yards and 10 TD. RB Ennis Haywood and C Ben Bruns were ISU’s two 1st Team All-Big 12 selections, as Haywood ran for 1237 yards and Bruns led the way. The 5’6(!) JJ Moses led the team in receiving with 775 yards, and was named team MVP.
1. 2020 (9-3 overall, 8-1 Big 12)
Ahh, but it had to be the 2020 team at #1. Even my algorithm places this team way above 2000 even though they had the same record, with the 2000 team finishing ranked 27th and 2020 finishing ranked 7th. After a typical ISU slow start, losing 13-30 to UL Lafayette, the rest of the year couldn’t have gone much better. In the 3rd game they beat eventual B12 champion Oklahoma 37-30. Later on they beat #17 Texas in Darrel K Royal 23-20, essentially ensuring Tom Herman would be fired after the season, and stomped 6-4 West Virginia 42-6. ISU entered the Big 12 championship game against Oklahoma as the 1 seed, and had an opportunity at the end to win, but came up short 21-27. A 34-17 Fiesta Bowl win over Pac-12 champion Oregon was pretty satisfying though, and Iowa State finished with their highest ever postseason ranking at #9. They cleaned up in the Big 12 accolades, taking up 9 of the 22 1st Team all-conference slots. Breece Hall was Big 12 Offensive POTY and a consensus All-American, with 1752 yards and 23 TD from scrimmage. LB Mike Rose won Big 12 Defensive POTY with 99 tackles, 10.5 total TFL, and 5 INT. Campbell won Coach of the Year, and WR Xavier Hutchinson and DB Isheem Young won Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year and Defensive Freshman of the Year, respectively. Shoutout to 1st Team All-Big 12 TE Charlie Kolar as well, who was a consistent force making 1st/2nd Team all-conference in each of his 4 seasons.
If you appreciate the effort, please consider subscribing on substack!
submitted by jimbobbypaul to CFB [link] [comments]
For all the Cyclone fanatics out there, I see you guys. For the 6th worst Power 5 team on this list, Iowa State has had incredible support, averaging 50,000+ fans a year even during their lows. Finally, after years of struggling minus a few nice Dan McCarney years, Iowa State’s found a coach that’s brought them consistent success in Matt Campbell. Outside of Campbell’s first year in which he went 3-9 and the latest 4-8 season in 2022, the 5 years in between (2017-21) all place in my top 7 ISU seasons over the last 40 years. Whether last year was an outlier or if Iowa State will regress to their historical mean remains to be seen, but the last 6 years have been great compared to what fans have been accustomed to.
Best Seasons and Highlights
1. 2020: 7. Iowa State: 9-3 (30.160) 2. 2000: 27. Iowa State: 9-3 (13.294) 3. 2017: 32. Iowa State: 8-5 (12.780) 4. 2018: 37. Iowa State: 8-5 (8.477) 5. 2021: 40. Iowa State: 7-6 (5.442) 6. 2005: 37. Iowa State: 7-5 (3.574) 7. 2019: 43. Iowa State: 7-6 (1.761) 8. 2004: 42. Iowa State: 7-5 (-2.644) 9. 2001: 51. Iowa State: 7-5 (-3.334) 10. 2002: 57. Iowa State: 7-7 (-4.723) 11. 2012: 65. Iowa State: 6-7 (-7.162) 12. 2009: 63. Iowa State: 7-6 (-7.233) 13. 2011: 62. Iowa State: 6-7 (-8.169) 14. 1989: 56. Iowa State: 6-5 (-10.057) 15. 1986: 56. Iowa State: 6-5 (-10.436) 16. 1990: 58. Iowa State: 4-6-1 (-11.929) 17. 2010: 69. Iowa State: 5-7 (-13.761) 18. 1985: 60. Iowa State: 5-6 (-17.317) 19. 2022: 84. Iowa State: 4-8 (-18.173) 20. 1988: 66. Iowa State: 5-6 (-18.197) 21. 1992: 79. Iowa State: 4-7 (-21.249) 22. 1999: 79. Iowa State: 4-7 (-23.653) 23. 1993: 75. Iowa State: 3-8 (-23.926) 24. 1983: 79. Iowa State: 4-7 (-25.659) 25. 1991: 75. Iowa State: 3-7-1 (-26.248) 26. 2006: 92. Iowa State: 4-8 (-30.444) 27. 2007: 93. Iowa State: 3-9 (-31.101) 28. 2015: 97. Iowa State: 3-9 (-31.892) 29. 1998: 84. Iowa State: 3-8 (-31.989) 30. 1984: 85. Iowa State: 2-7-2 (-32.012) 31. 2016: 97. Iowa State: 3-9 (-32.276) 32. 1995: 84. Iowa State: 3-8 (-32.441) 33. 2013: 98. Iowa State: 3-9 (-34.411) 34. 1996: 94. Iowa State: 2-9 (-37.584) 35. 1987: 91. Iowa State: 3-8 (-37.886) 36. 2014: 115. Iowa State: 2-10 (-42.981) 37. 2008: 111. Iowa State: 2-10 (-48.885) 38. 2003: 107. Iowa State: 2-10 (-50.450) 39. 1994: 101. Iowa State: 0-10-1 (-53.566) 40. 1997: 105. Iowa State: 1-10 (-56.575) Overall Score: 9649 (84th)
- 184-283-5 record
- 0 conference titles
- 5-8 bowl record
- 5 consensus All-Americans
- 42 NFL players drafted
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 1997 (1-10 overall, 1-7 Big 12)Remember how good Troy Davis was, especially after I described him above? Well, his teams weren’t very good, going 3-8 in 1995 and 2-9 in 1996. So you can imagine how 1997 went after he had left for the NFL. Iowa State didn’t stand a chance in Dan McCarney’s 3rd year as head coach, and it’s honestly a miracle the Cyclones let him stay for so long, as it took 6 years for him to get his first winning season. The gamble paid off though, as he was eventually inducted into the Iowa State Hall of Fame. Still, 1997 was his worst year. They had a talented freshman QB by the name of Sage “Helicopter” Rosenfels on the roster, but he wouldn’t start for another 2 years. QB was not a big issue though, as Todd Bandhauer had a respectable year, completing 48% of passes for 2514 yards 20 TD 9 INT, leading the Big 12 in passing yards and TDs. Bandhauer was a 2-time All-Academic Big 12 selection, and is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State. WR Tyrone Watley led the Big 12 in receiving yards with 827, and RB Darren Davis had 1000+ yards in just 9 games. Offense wasn’t a huge issue, but the defense gave up 44.8 PPG. The lone win on the year was 24-17 over 2-9 Baylor, and losses included 14-77 to #3 Nebraska and 20-63 to #13 Iowa, losing their 15th straight against the Hawkeyes.
5. 2021 (7-6 overall, 5-4 Big 12)
For this season to be a disappointment but also top 5 on this list tells you how far Iowa State’s come under Matt Campbell. Make no mistake, it was a disappointment, finishing 7-6 after a preseason #7 ranking, but they were still the best 7-6 team in 2021 (out of 17 teams) by my metric. Iowa State returned 4th year starting QB Brock Purdy, consensus All-American Breece Hall, 2x 1st Team All-Big 12 TE Charlie Kolar, and Big 12 Defensive POTY LB Mike Rose, so the preseason expectations weren’t unfounded. A typical ISU slow start saw them barely beat Northern Iowa, and a classic Brian Ferentz Iowa performance had the Hawkeyes take a 27-10 lead (27-17 final) despite getting outgained 173-339 in yardage. 2 weeks later, a trap game 31-29 loss in Waco all but ended the Cyclones’ playoff hopes, despite outgaining Baylor by nearly 200 yards. However, in true Iowa State fashion, they rebounded to mess up Oklahoma State’s season a few weeks later, beating the #8 Cowboys 24-21 to improve to 5-2. A 2-4 finish was mostly because of location, going 2-0 at home and 0-4 in road/neutral sites. It was a squandered year for Iowa State, outscoring Big 12 opponents by an average of 12 PPG but going just 5-4. 8 starters on offense made 1st/2nd Team All-Big 12, by far the most in the conference. Breece repeated as consensus AA/Big 12 OPOTY with 1774 yards and 23 TD from scrimmage, while Rose earned 1st Team all-conference again.
4. 2018 (8-5 overall, 6-3 Big 12)
For the first time since the Big 12 moved from divisions to a round robin format in 2013, Iowa State wasn’t picked in the bottom 2 with Kansas. Big 12 media picked them 7th, this time coming above Texas Tech, Baylor, and of course Kansas. But after starting QB Kyle Kempt went down in the season opener, and backup Zeb Noland went just 1-3, Matt Campbell gave a shot to a freshman by the name of Brock Purdy. In a sort of foreshadowing for names in the NFL, Kyle became a mentor to Brock, and Purdy exploded onto the scene, throwing for 4 TD and rushing for another in a 48-42 win at #25 Oklahoma State. He’d top that a week later, beating #6 West Virginia and Will Grier 30-14, this time the defense stepping up big to hold Grier to just 67 total yards. ISU never looked back with Purdy, and nearly made the Big 12 title game if they had beaten Texas. They finished the regular season 8-4, 3rd in the Big 12, and nearly beat 11-2 Washington State in the bowl. Campbell won Big 12 Coach of the Year for the 2nd straight season. Purdy was 6th in the nation in passing efficiency, completing 66% of passes for 2250 yards 16 TD 7 INT, on 10.2 YPA. RB David Montgomery had another 1000+ yard rushing season and has gone on to have a productive NFL career. WR Hakeem Butler was 3rd in the nation in yards per catch (22.0), getting 60 passes for 1318 yards and 9 TD.
3. 2017 (8-5 overall, 5-4 Big 12)
Before Brock Purdy and Iowa State could run, the 2017 team had to walk. Years of effort from give-it-their-all players like Allen Lazard and Joel Lanning culminated in a magical 2018 season that might just be the fondest on this list. ISU had gone just 11-37 over the previous 4 seasons, so a 2nd to last place Big 12 finish was expected. After a 2-2 start, ISU pulled off maybe the biggest win in school history, beating #3 Oklahoma 38-31, who’d go on to make the playoff with Baker Mayfield winning the Heisman. LB Joel Lanning, who was the team’s starting QB the previous 2 seasons, was the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week, logging 8 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, as well as 9 rushes for 35 yards and 2 completions for 25 yards on offense. A few weeks later against Oklahoma State he’d become the 1st player in the last 10 years to record a pass TD, rush TD, and half sack in the same game. After the win over OU though, just a few weeks later Iowa State would ALSO beat #4 TCU 14-7!!! A few one possession losses later and ISU finished 7-5, but would beat yet another top 25 team in the bowl in #20 Memphis.
Lanning was named a 1st Team All-American by FWAA, racking up 114 tackles, 6 sacks, 5 TFL, 1 INT, 135 rushing yards, 47 passing yards, and 3 TD. Not bad for a former QB. QB Kyle Kempt was one of the most underrated stories of the season, emerging as the starter in the 5th game and going on to throw 15 TD to just 3 INT. Kempt was a 5th year walk-on who had only thrown 2 passes in his career prior to the Oklahoma game. By the time the season was over, he had 2 wins over top 5 teams, and today is still on the team as a coach.
2. 2000 (9-3 overall, 5-3 Big 12)
Like the 2017 team, the 2000 Cyclones came out of nowhere, a dormant program that had gone just 27-80-3 the previous decade. ISU players knew the talent they had though, led by future NFL QB Sage Rosenfels, one of 9 players that would go on to make NFL rosters. Another would go on to join the Iowa Senate, and the late LB Justin Eilers would fight in the UFC. They played a very favorable schedule, going 8-3 in the regular season with 0 wins over Power 6 teams with a winning record, but did beat 7-4 Ohio, 8-5 UNLV, and rival Iowa for the Cy-Hawk. ISU put any “soft schedule” talk to rest when they beat the Big East’s 3rd placed team, Pitt, in the bowl 37-29. Rosenfels had a nice curtain call, winning offensive POTG with 23/34 passing for 308 yards and 2 TD. Rosenfels did what he had to during the year, with deceiving stats of 2298 passing yards 8 TD 12 INT. He was a solid runner though, and would become known for his patented “helicopter” move in the NFL, rushing for 381 yards and 10 TD. RB Ennis Haywood and C Ben Bruns were ISU’s two 1st Team All-Big 12 selections, as Haywood ran for 1237 yards and Bruns led the way. The 5’6(!) JJ Moses led the team in receiving with 775 yards, and was named team MVP.
1. 2020 (9-3 overall, 8-1 Big 12)
Ahh, but it had to be the 2020 team at #1. Even my algorithm places this team way above 2000 even though they had the same record, with the 2000 team finishing ranked 27th and 2020 finishing ranked 7th. After a typical ISU slow start, losing 13-30 to UL Lafayette, the rest of the year couldn’t have gone much better. In the 3rd game they beat eventual B12 champion Oklahoma 37-30. Later on they beat #17 Texas in Darrel K Royal 23-20, essentially ensuring Tom Herman would be fired after the season, and stomped 6-4 West Virginia 42-6. ISU entered the Big 12 championship game against Oklahoma as the 1 seed, and had an opportunity at the end to win, but came up short 21-27. A 34-17 Fiesta Bowl win over Pac-12 champion Oregon was pretty satisfying though, and Iowa State finished with their highest ever postseason ranking at #9. They cleaned up in the Big 12 accolades, taking up 9 of the 22 1st Team all-conference slots. Breece Hall was Big 12 Offensive POTY and a consensus All-American, with 1752 yards and 23 TD from scrimmage. LB Mike Rose won Big 12 Defensive POTY with 99 tackles, 10.5 total TFL, and 5 INT. Campbell won Coach of the Year, and WR Xavier Hutchinson and DB Isheem Young won Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year and Defensive Freshman of the Year, respectively. Shoutout to 1st Team All-Big 12 TE Charlie Kolar as well, who was a consistent force making 1st/2nd Team all-conference in each of his 4 seasons.
5th Quarter
Iowa State fans, what do you look back more fondly on, the Matt Campbell years with expectations of competing for a Big 12 title, or the Paul Rhoads years with a win over #2 Oklahoma State and some other fun upsets? Do you think Brock Purdy was always as good as he played for the 49ers in 2022, or is he mostly propped up by a stacked San Francisco offense? Who was better, Troy Davis or Breece Hall? Does David Montgomery take the 3rd spot or does that go to someone like Darren Davis/Alexander Robinson? Aside from going there, what makes someone choose to follow Iowa State? And how’d I do on your guys’ history?If you appreciate the effort, please consider subscribing on substack!
2023.06.02 20:11 sheabuttered AA or good 12 step meetings?
Hi! I am looking for some safe and comfortable AA meetings in Tucson. Would love to hear some feedback if anyone is in recovery and has some favorite meetings they go to. Thanks in advance!
submitted by sheabuttered to Tucson [link] [comments]
2023.06.02 19:46 NoAcanthopterygii361 Getting there… 90% better
I haven’t listed this as a recovery because I’m not yet fully recovered, but will make that post when it does happen. I started a new job this week and have been feeling good for approx 2-3 weeks now. I know 2-3 weeks is not long but I’m being careful. Here is a list of the symptoms I had since the beginning (not all at the same time, but acute infection and month 1-2 were the worst for me):
Can’t think of everything right now but please feel free to message or comment and I’ll try my best to answer well :)
Staying off this sub also helped a lot, and I will continue to visit you guys once a week, but I wanted to come and give some good news. Stay safe! I love you. You’ve got this.
submitted by NoAcanthopterygii361 to covidlonghaulers [link] [comments]
- Headache
- Eye pain
- Eye fatigue
- Peripheral eye strain
- Head tingling
- Dizziness (some random moments)
- Acid reflux
- Lack of appetite
- Nausea
- Chest pain
- Palpitations
- Tachycardia
- Shortness of breath
- Supra-ventricular tachycardia SVT
- Shortness of breath
- Sensitivity to light
- Sensitivity to sound
- Low grade fevefeverish but no fever
- Stuffed ears feeling
- Anxiety
- Depressed
- Dry skin
- Weak hands
- Dysautonomia symptoms (e.g., difficulty showering without getting tired, dark vision when standing up multiple times a day, etc.)
- Touch sensitivity (pain/aches around my head when touched, specifically on nose from glasses or headphones on scalp).
- Back pain
- Toe pain
- Hand tremors
- Brain fog (not remembering words, speaking slowly)
- Muscle weakness
- Tinnitus
- Neck pain
- Nausea
- Acid reflux
- Lack of appetite
- Headache (side effect from the esomeprazole)
- Light sensitivity (only some days)
- Noise sensitivity (only some days)
- Dizziness (when I spend too much time on my devices)
Can’t think of everything right now but please feel free to message or comment and I’ll try my best to answer well :)
Staying off this sub also helped a lot, and I will continue to visit you guys once a week, but I wanted to come and give some good news. Stay safe! I love you. You’ve got this.
2023.06.02 19:39 CryptoWithCD Fireblocks faces lawsuit over deleted keys to $72M Ether wallet
 | Fireblocks faces lawsuit over deleted keys to $72M Ether wallet submitted by CryptoWithCD to u/CryptoWithCD [link] [comments] Crypto-custody firm #Fireblocks is facing a #lawsuit from StakeHound, a #crypto staking platform, over the loss of $72 #million worth of #cryptoassets . StakeHound claims that negligence by a Fireblocks employee led to the deletion of #privatekeys , rendering the assets inaccessible. Fireblocks argues that it was the client's responsibility to back up the keys and denies any negligence. They state that the client stored the keys outside the platform, contrary to their guidelines. Fireblocks conducted a disaster recovery drill in April, discovering that the backup could not be decrypted, indicating that the keys were never backed up. Fireblocks assures that no production keys were affected, and all customer funds are safe. The situation is under investigation pending a response from the District Court. #cryptocurrency #cryptonews #cryptowallet #cryptocurrencies #cryptoexchange #cryptocommunity #cryptocurrencynews Fireblocks faces lawsuit over deleted keys to $72M Ether wallet |
2023.06.02 19:30 xNeyNounex I dropped my brother off at the 28 day program this morning
I am new here. I have never reached out to any al-anon. I just heard of it from my boss, who has had experience in loving someone with a sobriety issue. He told me that it would be a good place for support for me.
I almost lost my brother 15 days ago. Today is day 15 of his recovery. This is the first time he has gone through it willingly (before he got sober via jail). He reached out to me just over 2 weeks ago, saying he wanted to change. That he wanted his life to be different. That he knew he had a problem with alcohol and he wanted his life back.
He has been homeless for the last 2 years. I didn't exactly know the extent of his living situation. Whenever I would ask, he would be kind of dodgy about the answer. I am beating myself up for not being more pushy in getting info from him. I was under the impression he was staying with friends / family / girlfriend through that period.
I told him that I was willing to help him if he was serious about wanting to be sober. I have 2 kids now, and I cant bring someone who is struggling like that into my kids lives. it would hurt too much. He totally agreed. He met my daughter when she was a baby, but they haven't seen each other since. She is 6 now, and I have a 3 year old son who reminds me so much of my brother.
He said he was serious. We talked about it more and made a plan for me to drive the hour to get him.
He said he was waiting outside, but by the time I got there he had stopped responding. It was late and dark out. I thought he was at a friends house, probably fell asleep on the couch. So I went back home to wait for him to text me the next day.
He did. He said he fell asleep. We arranged for me to come back, not that night, but the next morning. We texted all day, and I left about 10 am to pick him up the next morning.
When I got there, I knew something was wrong. I'm sure you can guess what was going on, but I had no idea. I asked him if he was drunk, and I believed him when he said *no*. I couldn't smell alcohol. He had been homeless for 2 years and I don't know when he had taken a bath last...
I got him in my car, and he started to fall asleep. I thought.
By the time I got home, he was unresponsive. I called the ambulance. I tried to get him to come around. He would open his eyes and stare right through the top of his eyelids past me. i will never forget that. I have never seen him like that. His skin was reddish purple, his eyes were bugging out. He looked like a zombie. Going in and out of consciousness.
The EMT arrived, and said his BAC was off the chart. I didn't find out the details till later. His serum levels were over 800 when he was in my car. When they finally got him settled in the ER after the car ride and took another serum several hours later, he was still well over 400. It took almost 24 hours for him to be lucid enough to understand what was going on and where he was and how he ended up there.
They told me if I had not found him, he would have died in that clearing he crawled out of when I picked him up. It was a 10x10 foot space of trees and uncut bushes hidden behind a library. No one could see him when he was in there. He would have died in there...
We had some hard conversations in the hospital,. This is when I found out the extent of his homelessness and alcohol abuse. He agreed to go through detox there. He has seizures, which may be from withdrawal, they are unsure. But it was not safe for him to detox in my apartment. He was there for 4 nights detoxing.
Then he has been on my couch since he left the hospital. He has been coming with me to work. We are talking about training him to run a printer here when he gets out of the 28 day program. I have made it very clear to him that he can not work with me or live with me if he is not 100% sober, and told him the arrangements I would make for him if he didn't stay sober. (I will get him a tent and drop him off at a place that is safe for him to setup camp, and I will stay in touch with him to make sure he has food and clean clothes every week, and whatever else I can reasonably do for him, but he wont be allowed in my house or at my work not sober). He hasn't had any alcohol since I picked him up. He has had the opportunity to leave to get it if he wanted (except my apartment is clean, I just don't drink so we don't have anything).
I was able to get him a bed at a local Behavioral Change Center for 28 days. We are both super nervous about it. Some of the beds there, like his, is paid for by public funding and some of them are paid for by insurance. Since he was homeless and hasn't had a job for a month or so (he got fired for being drunk at work) they are providing him a bed for the program.
I know hes nervous about the program even though he doesn't talk a ton. He hated being in jail, and he is afraid it will be very similar (i have heard this place kind of is, except he is obviously free to quit at any time). And also the religious aspect of the program is off-putting. We spent some time last night looking up resources for agnostic and atheist people going through AA and these kinds of programs. We have religious trauma (Christianity) from when we were growing up. So we were trying to ease some worries by reframing the situation to make him (and me honestly) more comfortable.
I don't know exactly why I am typing this or what I am expecting. I guess I am just here for support and to share what is going on. We only have each other (I am no contact with our entire family except him, and he is now realizing that being in contact with them may not be good for his sobriety as well). I am just going through some emotions that I abandoned him. I know he felt alone for the last two years while he was struggling. He told me he would wish for the seizures to finally kill him, so he would just not wake up anymore. I don't know what I would do if that happened. So, I just don't want him to feel like I abandoned him at this sobriety-jail and that he is still alone. he cant have visitors or his phone. He can make calls in his "free time." There are just so many unknowns about this program at this point, I am panicking. He has been safe on my couch for the past couple of weeks, and i know its not my job to protect him, and he is taking such big steps on his own with this. I know he can do it, I'm just afraid.
I almost lost my brother. And that is some trauma I am going to have to carry for a while.
submitted by xNeyNounex to AlAnon [link] [comments]
I almost lost my brother 15 days ago. Today is day 15 of his recovery. This is the first time he has gone through it willingly (before he got sober via jail). He reached out to me just over 2 weeks ago, saying he wanted to change. That he wanted his life to be different. That he knew he had a problem with alcohol and he wanted his life back.
He has been homeless for the last 2 years. I didn't exactly know the extent of his living situation. Whenever I would ask, he would be kind of dodgy about the answer. I am beating myself up for not being more pushy in getting info from him. I was under the impression he was staying with friends / family / girlfriend through that period.
I told him that I was willing to help him if he was serious about wanting to be sober. I have 2 kids now, and I cant bring someone who is struggling like that into my kids lives. it would hurt too much. He totally agreed. He met my daughter when she was a baby, but they haven't seen each other since. She is 6 now, and I have a 3 year old son who reminds me so much of my brother.
He said he was serious. We talked about it more and made a plan for me to drive the hour to get him.
He said he was waiting outside, but by the time I got there he had stopped responding. It was late and dark out. I thought he was at a friends house, probably fell asleep on the couch. So I went back home to wait for him to text me the next day.
He did. He said he fell asleep. We arranged for me to come back, not that night, but the next morning. We texted all day, and I left about 10 am to pick him up the next morning.
When I got there, I knew something was wrong. I'm sure you can guess what was going on, but I had no idea. I asked him if he was drunk, and I believed him when he said *no*. I couldn't smell alcohol. He had been homeless for 2 years and I don't know when he had taken a bath last...
I got him in my car, and he started to fall asleep. I thought.
By the time I got home, he was unresponsive. I called the ambulance. I tried to get him to come around. He would open his eyes and stare right through the top of his eyelids past me. i will never forget that. I have never seen him like that. His skin was reddish purple, his eyes were bugging out. He looked like a zombie. Going in and out of consciousness.
The EMT arrived, and said his BAC was off the chart. I didn't find out the details till later. His serum levels were over 800 when he was in my car. When they finally got him settled in the ER after the car ride and took another serum several hours later, he was still well over 400. It took almost 24 hours for him to be lucid enough to understand what was going on and where he was and how he ended up there.
They told me if I had not found him, he would have died in that clearing he crawled out of when I picked him up. It was a 10x10 foot space of trees and uncut bushes hidden behind a library. No one could see him when he was in there. He would have died in there...
We had some hard conversations in the hospital,. This is when I found out the extent of his homelessness and alcohol abuse. He agreed to go through detox there. He has seizures, which may be from withdrawal, they are unsure. But it was not safe for him to detox in my apartment. He was there for 4 nights detoxing.
Then he has been on my couch since he left the hospital. He has been coming with me to work. We are talking about training him to run a printer here when he gets out of the 28 day program. I have made it very clear to him that he can not work with me or live with me if he is not 100% sober, and told him the arrangements I would make for him if he didn't stay sober. (I will get him a tent and drop him off at a place that is safe for him to setup camp, and I will stay in touch with him to make sure he has food and clean clothes every week, and whatever else I can reasonably do for him, but he wont be allowed in my house or at my work not sober). He hasn't had any alcohol since I picked him up. He has had the opportunity to leave to get it if he wanted (except my apartment is clean, I just don't drink so we don't have anything).
I was able to get him a bed at a local Behavioral Change Center for 28 days. We are both super nervous about it. Some of the beds there, like his, is paid for by public funding and some of them are paid for by insurance. Since he was homeless and hasn't had a job for a month or so (he got fired for being drunk at work) they are providing him a bed for the program.
I know hes nervous about the program even though he doesn't talk a ton. He hated being in jail, and he is afraid it will be very similar (i have heard this place kind of is, except he is obviously free to quit at any time). And also the religious aspect of the program is off-putting. We spent some time last night looking up resources for agnostic and atheist people going through AA and these kinds of programs. We have religious trauma (Christianity) from when we were growing up. So we were trying to ease some worries by reframing the situation to make him (and me honestly) more comfortable.
I don't know exactly why I am typing this or what I am expecting. I guess I am just here for support and to share what is going on. We only have each other (I am no contact with our entire family except him, and he is now realizing that being in contact with them may not be good for his sobriety as well). I am just going through some emotions that I abandoned him. I know he felt alone for the last two years while he was struggling. He told me he would wish for the seizures to finally kill him, so he would just not wake up anymore. I don't know what I would do if that happened. So, I just don't want him to feel like I abandoned him at this sobriety-jail and that he is still alone. he cant have visitors or his phone. He can make calls in his "free time." There are just so many unknowns about this program at this point, I am panicking. He has been safe on my couch for the past couple of weeks, and i know its not my job to protect him, and he is taking such big steps on his own with this. I know he can do it, I'm just afraid.
I almost lost my brother. And that is some trauma I am going to have to carry for a while.
2023.06.02 19:27 OmegaAndRising All "But Here We Are" digital lyric sheets
 | submitted by OmegaAndRising to Foofighters [link] [comments] |
2023.06.02 19:15 FlaxNorb What does it mean to be recovered
Just curious about the different interpretations of what recovery and recovered actually looks like.
I thought me and my WP were doing fairly well with R but in the last few months it feels like we've hit a rut. Sometimes I read posts on here that make me realise our relationship is still quite unhealthy.
It got me thinking about recovery and what it actually means. At the start, I wanted to jump straight into saving the relationship but now that I'm almost 2 years out from D Day I feel like we've majorly stagnated. The affair is a decent enough distance in the past and we don't really talk about it anymore but at the same time it's still this massive elephant in the room.
I think I'm still waiting for my WP to have an ephiphany moment where he actually brings it up and discusses why he strayed but as of yet, that hasn't happened. Because of this I don't think I ever got closure and therefore never properly started a "new" relationship with him.
Just wondering does anyone remember a specific moment when things suddenly shifted. When you thought to yourself "finally they get it" or "finally I feel safe again".
Just to add, my WP has come on leaps and bounds in his behaviour but ultimately he never gave me a reason and I'm beginning to think that that is the key component of R.
I apologies if this has been asked a thousand times before.
submitted by FlaxNorb to AsOneAfterInfidelity [link] [comments]
I thought me and my WP were doing fairly well with R but in the last few months it feels like we've hit a rut. Sometimes I read posts on here that make me realise our relationship is still quite unhealthy.
It got me thinking about recovery and what it actually means. At the start, I wanted to jump straight into saving the relationship but now that I'm almost 2 years out from D Day I feel like we've majorly stagnated. The affair is a decent enough distance in the past and we don't really talk about it anymore but at the same time it's still this massive elephant in the room.
I think I'm still waiting for my WP to have an ephiphany moment where he actually brings it up and discusses why he strayed but as of yet, that hasn't happened. Because of this I don't think I ever got closure and therefore never properly started a "new" relationship with him.
Just wondering does anyone remember a specific moment when things suddenly shifted. When you thought to yourself "finally they get it" or "finally I feel safe again".
Just to add, my WP has come on leaps and bounds in his behaviour but ultimately he never gave me a reason and I'm beginning to think that that is the key component of R.
I apologies if this has been asked a thousand times before.
2023.06.02 19:11 FangGrip [Offline][Woodbridge VA][LGBTQ+ Friendly][21+][6 PM EST Every Other Saturday][5e] GM looking for 1 Player for existing 5E Midgard setting
Introduction
I am an experienced game master looking for one additional adult player (21+) to join an existing D&D 5e Midgard campaign in the Woodbridge / Dale City area. We will be meeting from 6 PM to 11ish every other Saturday (Next Session is June 17th). The game is a local tabletop game hosted at my home.I will be making my final decisions by the 9th of June.
It is very likely with all of the stupidity Hasbro has been doing of late that our campaign will transition to the Tales of the Valiant 5e variant being created by Kobold Press once it becomes available. This will be discussed as the campaign continues.
As a way to keep things interesting, I like to have a short adventure that is not related to the campaign when the characters hit a level milestone. We generally have a two or three session experience with a different system each time. This includes a homebrew system we are creating and playtesting.
Rules & Expectations
I hope to have a laid back and inclusive game where all levels of gaming experience, genders, cultures, races, and sexuality are welcome. All that I ask is that you are polite to each other, engaged in the campaign, and try to be proactive. If you are not LGBTQ+ friendly, please do not apply.- We are a non-smoking household with a young child, so there is no smoking in or around our home. This includes vaping and all other tobacco products.
- We are a drug free home so please no illegal substances nor marijuana.
- Alcohol is allowed in small quantities for those of legal age. Please do not become intoxicated and absolutely no driving under the influence. I am the final judge of intoxication.
- We have no pets to be concerned with if you are allergic.
- There is on-street parking, but please be considerate to the others on our cul-de-sac
- Once our child has gone to bed profanity is allowed. Please be considerate beforehand.
- Outside game chatter is welcome in a balanced mix, but please don't let it get too distracting. We are here to have fun, socialize, and create a collaborative story. That works best when everyone participates.
Requirements
We will be using D&D Beyond for character creation and management. You will not need to purchase any of the source material as I have an account that will share them with you, once you have joined the campaign. If we do transition to Tales of the Valiant, we will be changing this management to Demiplane as their 5E nexus becomes available. They will have the same sharing ability as D&D beyond , so don't worry.- My games are always free. I don’t mind donations to help defray costs, but they are in no way expected. Just appreciated.
Setting & Campaign
The setting will be Midgard from Kobold Press, but the themes and goals will be player and character oriented. My play style leans towards plot and narrative driven gaming, with an entertaining amount of puzzles, exploration, and combat. I love getting player input and creativity to help shape and propel the campaign forward. My games have a solid narrative thread that binds them but I never have any qualms about improvising or allowing players the freedom to make the story their own.The campaign so far deals with an evil book called the Umbral Codex which was split into three parts and hidden away. So far one villain has a third, and a former player character was corrupted when she found the second. Now the third is up for grabs and the party must fight two villains to keep the Codex safe until they can destroy it.
- I have the Kobold Press books in PDF to share with players once you join the campaign
- The characters are currently at 5th Level.
- We already have a Kariv Griffon Knight, a Half Elf Wizard, and a Trollkin Priest of Thor. That leaves a lot of other species / class options available.
- Good and neutral alignments are preferred and will work best with the story. Other alignments are allowable if the character retains a compelling reason to continue working with the party. Once that reason ends, expect the character to be retired from play.
- A well written character will not be at odds with the rest of the party
- Character materials from the official 5E line and Kobold Press’ Midgard line of books are allowable. Other third-party materials are not allowable.
- There will be a mix of premade adventures and homebrew adventures leaning on the side of homebrew
Optional Rules
- Magic items should have a greater mystique, so we are removing the ability to identify the properties of a magic item during a short rest, and require the identify spell, experimentation, research, or a combination to reveal what a magic item does. A short rest may give hints as to the nature of the item from a visual and visceral level of magical understanding.
- Flanking gives combatants a simple way to gain advantage on attack rolls against a common enemy. A creature can't flank an enemy that it can't see. A creature also can't flank while it is incapacitated. A Large or larger creature is flanking as long as at least one square or hex of its space qualifies for flanking.
- Reaching zero hit points will inflict a level of exhaustion.
- Story Based Advancement (DMG pg. 261)
- Feats, although this hardly seems like an optional rule.
Experience
I am experienced in quite a few games including D&D (Classic Boxed, 1st Edition, 2nd Edition, 5th Edition), Fate Core, Dresden Files, Alpha Chronicles, FFG Star Wars, World of Darkness (oWOD & nWOD), Aberrant, Palladium Megaverse, Cypher System, Cyberpunk 2020, Shadowrun, Hackmaster, Top Secret SI, and quite a few others.Contact Info
Please feel free to contact me on discord ( FangGrip#7572 ) if you are interested in joining or if you have any questions. I would like to have a conversation with all prospective players. This conversation does not guarantee you a slot in the game but will help keep you in mind in case a player chooses to resign or ghost us. There is no impersonal form to fill out, but I will need some basic information.- Name
- Your age (21+)
- How far away you are from Dale City Virginia
- Experience in gaming, D&D 5E, and the Midgard Setting
- Types of characters you like to play most
- Any character concept you may have
- Style of play you prefer
- Goals and hopes for a campaign
- Things you don’t like in a game
- Why do you think you would be a good match?
Thank you for reading this post. I know it's fairly long, but I want to save people time by giving you all the information I can think of to help you determine if we are right for you.
2023.06.02 18:51 gingernymph69 I’m realizing I was probably drugged
(TW)
This happened a few years back and I’m just starting to process what happened and feel that I need to get this out because it’s really weighing on me lately.
I struggled with substance use as a teen/young adult and was in and out of recovery all the time (I found my way finally don’t worry). This happened one night when I was pissed off at my then-partner for driving my car high and crashing it. We had promised each other abstinence and he did that, so I decided I’d go have a few drinks at the bar across the street.
This was a college town so there were a lot of people out. I didn’t have friends at the time so I went alone (unfortunately not safe for a woman). I had a few mixed drinks, chatted with some people, and went out for a smoke. All of a sudden I started to feel REALLY drunk. I’m blacking in and out a little bit, but I’m good at faking sober so I’m still chatting with the people outside.
Next thing I knew, some guy grabs my arm and starts walking me down the street. I thought he wanted to chat or something but I realized the purpose with which he was walking and we were starting to go way farther from the group than I was comfortable with. I turned myself around to try to go back but he keeps dragging me, now backwards. In my confusion I finally realize what’s happening and I start saying “I don’t know you, I don’t want to go with you, I don’t know you,” trying to muster up enough strength to get away but realizing there’s no way, so I just try my hardest to say these words loud enough for the group to hear. He had started pulling me toward a car.
I don’t remember all that ensued after that, but a man got between us and started to walk me the other way. I’m very confused and blacking in and out but I tell him I don’t know that guy and I don’t want to go with him. He said he saw me from inside the bar and whatever was going on didn’t look right. He kissed me (this was fucking annoying, I think he wanted to play out some hero arc or something) but I was just happy to have gotten away from the scary man. He offered to walk me home, and knowing my bf was up and I couldn’t walk I said yes.
When we got there my bf was on the couch and I remember not having the strength to stand up by myself so I just crumpled to the ground. I had to crawl to the bathroom but (TMI) I didn’t have the strength to pull my pants down so I just peed myself. Like I said earlier, I was a frequent substance user. I’d been to the hospital and treatment multiple times for alcohol use at that point. Never in my life had I been so drunk I couldn’t get my pants down, never in my life have I peed myself, never in my life have I had to crawl because I couldn’t walk. My bf at the time was so mad at me for drinking like that so I blamed myself for the whole thing. It didn’t occur to me until recently that I was probably drugged by the man who dragged me down the street.
I’ve had a lot of bad shit happen to me so I think it took me this long to really process this because I was busy processing everything else. My now friends don’t really have the capacity to listen to all my trauma so I don’t feel comfortable telling them about it, which is why I posted here. I don’t really know what the scary man was planning and I’m glad I didn’t find out this time.
submitted by gingernymph69 to TrueOffMyChest [link] [comments]
This happened a few years back and I’m just starting to process what happened and feel that I need to get this out because it’s really weighing on me lately.
I struggled with substance use as a teen/young adult and was in and out of recovery all the time (I found my way finally don’t worry). This happened one night when I was pissed off at my then-partner for driving my car high and crashing it. We had promised each other abstinence and he did that, so I decided I’d go have a few drinks at the bar across the street.
This was a college town so there were a lot of people out. I didn’t have friends at the time so I went alone (unfortunately not safe for a woman). I had a few mixed drinks, chatted with some people, and went out for a smoke. All of a sudden I started to feel REALLY drunk. I’m blacking in and out a little bit, but I’m good at faking sober so I’m still chatting with the people outside.
Next thing I knew, some guy grabs my arm and starts walking me down the street. I thought he wanted to chat or something but I realized the purpose with which he was walking and we were starting to go way farther from the group than I was comfortable with. I turned myself around to try to go back but he keeps dragging me, now backwards. In my confusion I finally realize what’s happening and I start saying “I don’t know you, I don’t want to go with you, I don’t know you,” trying to muster up enough strength to get away but realizing there’s no way, so I just try my hardest to say these words loud enough for the group to hear. He had started pulling me toward a car.
I don’t remember all that ensued after that, but a man got between us and started to walk me the other way. I’m very confused and blacking in and out but I tell him I don’t know that guy and I don’t want to go with him. He said he saw me from inside the bar and whatever was going on didn’t look right. He kissed me (this was fucking annoying, I think he wanted to play out some hero arc or something) but I was just happy to have gotten away from the scary man. He offered to walk me home, and knowing my bf was up and I couldn’t walk I said yes.
When we got there my bf was on the couch and I remember not having the strength to stand up by myself so I just crumpled to the ground. I had to crawl to the bathroom but (TMI) I didn’t have the strength to pull my pants down so I just peed myself. Like I said earlier, I was a frequent substance user. I’d been to the hospital and treatment multiple times for alcohol use at that point. Never in my life had I been so drunk I couldn’t get my pants down, never in my life have I peed myself, never in my life have I had to crawl because I couldn’t walk. My bf at the time was so mad at me for drinking like that so I blamed myself for the whole thing. It didn’t occur to me until recently that I was probably drugged by the man who dragged me down the street.
I’ve had a lot of bad shit happen to me so I think it took me this long to really process this because I was busy processing everything else. My now friends don’t really have the capacity to listen to all my trauma so I don’t feel comfortable telling them about it, which is why I posted here. I don’t really know what the scary man was planning and I’m glad I didn’t find out this time.
2023.06.02 18:45 gloobledoob Help... want to stop T, doctor won't listen.
Hello all. I am new to reddit. I am a 24 year old who has been on T (ftm) for about 2 years. I would have been content never having started T except I was unable to receive an insurance-covered double mastectomy if I wasn't on Testotserone for 1 year prior where I am and with my insurance. I have, thankfully, had said procedure and could not be happier. All of the changes have been WONDERFUL, however, I was almost killed by a complications exacerbated by testosterone. I had a terrible reaction to the second dose of the Pfizer Vaccine and had myocarditis. I was hospitalized for days and was in critical condition. I had the most medically horrifying experience of my life. I nearly died, had to have a cardiac catheter, had countless tests and machines and morphine and medications hooked up and in me for DAYS. I even internally bled during a procedure and had unbearable heart pain from the swelling heart walls and abdominal pain from the blood in my cavity. My doctor told me, a wonderful cardiologist who was immensely supportive, that the reason a lot of the myocarditis cases for the Pfizer Vaccine was in young boys was due to their hormone levels, as high T is directly correlated to viral induced mycocarditis (the kind of myocarditis associated with the bad reactions to the shot). As you can imagine, this was terrifying. I was in perfect shape, still am, athletic, lean, hike for hours on end, run, climb, jump, eat clean (I have celiac disease and cook all of my meals on my own with clean ingredients), haven't had blood pressure issues, haven't had any problems with, well, anything related to T until that point. I spend months in recovery, amd I had to be off of T for a few weeks about 2 months before I could start again as the T would (according to the cardiologist at the hospital) cause the inflammation again. I have since recovered but have to take it easy. I THANKFULLY can be athletic again but for safety reasons take it very lightly and listen to my body.
With all of that out of the way, I have had my mastectomy, I am comfortable in my appearance pre-T (I don't need comments telling me what to expect with appearance, as that isn't my concern).
My problem lies here: my ONLY concern is my long term health. If in only 2 years I've nearly kissed death (granted a freak occasion, but not one I am happy with), I am uncomfortable continuing this treatment. It is not meant for me anymore and that's fine. That said, when I bring this up with my endo, he keeps telling me if I'm on T forever I will be fine-- which... isn't what I ask him. When I ask about weaning off he does not know what to do, amd just dances around it and instead insists I will be on T for life. He seems to not listen to me, and I am about to move states. I'm going to be over 800 miles away from the practice come August. I want to stop T but he won't tell me ways to wean. I have a final appointment with him end of July, but until I find another endocrinologist in my new state that might take months...
I was wondering what medical research or anecdotal experiences anyone else has had stopping T, how you did so SAFELY, how long it took, and how your health is now. Any help would be immensely appreciated, thank you in advance for anything in response. I greatly value the time in reading this. Thank you.
Edit: I do weekly sub-c injections. Has 2 years been long enough to damage the ovaries? I fear boneloss.
submitted by gloobledoob to asktransgender [link] [comments]
With all of that out of the way, I have had my mastectomy, I am comfortable in my appearance pre-T (I don't need comments telling me what to expect with appearance, as that isn't my concern).
My problem lies here: my ONLY concern is my long term health. If in only 2 years I've nearly kissed death (granted a freak occasion, but not one I am happy with), I am uncomfortable continuing this treatment. It is not meant for me anymore and that's fine. That said, when I bring this up with my endo, he keeps telling me if I'm on T forever I will be fine-- which... isn't what I ask him. When I ask about weaning off he does not know what to do, amd just dances around it and instead insists I will be on T for life. He seems to not listen to me, and I am about to move states. I'm going to be over 800 miles away from the practice come August. I want to stop T but he won't tell me ways to wean. I have a final appointment with him end of July, but until I find another endocrinologist in my new state that might take months...
I was wondering what medical research or anecdotal experiences anyone else has had stopping T, how you did so SAFELY, how long it took, and how your health is now. Any help would be immensely appreciated, thank you in advance for anything in response. I greatly value the time in reading this. Thank you.
Edit: I do weekly sub-c injections. Has 2 years been long enough to damage the ovaries? I fear boneloss.
2023.06.02 18:02 Quick-Diet-4615 Advice on possible future dog.
Hey guys tomorrow I should be picking up a 4 month old puppy and it's a unique looking kind of dog I just wanted to get anybody who might have experience advice on it. The mother is a Siberian husky Anatolia shepherd mix at 130lbs. The sire is a catahoula Hound a bit passed 90 lbs. They are 4 months old and we are getting one not just to act as a pet but also as a guardian for my wife and autistic daughter.I work a lot and I don't live in a safe neighborhood at all we're trying to move to a nice house with lots of land in West Virginia but that's about a year away until then we're stuck here in Florida any advice would be welcomed thank you
submitted by Quick-Diet-4615 to MixedBreedDogs [link] [comments]
2023.06.02 17:27 UMass_IPO Scam Alert: International Students, Beware of New "Robert Daniels" Scam
Phone Scams: It happened to us!
A person claiming to be Officer Robert Daniels from Customs and Border Protection contacted a staff member in the IPO office and informed her that she was facing criminal charges in Texas (drug trafficking and identity theft) and that she needed to confirm personal information to verify her identity. The person provided the following information to verify his identity as a CBP officer:
What is was remarkable about this scam is that, when we Googled "CBP 15109", the search results brought us to the Customs and Border Patrol page for Officer Robert Daniels. When we asked about this, the (real) CBP officer confirmed that these scammers are increasingly using sophisticated methods to scam their victims. This scammer was also using high pressure tactics to try to get the staff member's Social Security Number.
Tips to protect yourself from scams (from the UMPD website):
When you get a call from a telemarketer, ask yourself:
Stay safe, UMass!
submitted by UMass_IPO to umass [link] [comments]
A person claiming to be Officer Robert Daniels from Customs and Border Protection contacted a staff member in the IPO office and informed her that she was facing criminal charges in Texas (drug trafficking and identity theft) and that she needed to confirm personal information to verify her identity. The person provided the following information to verify his identity as a CBP officer:
- Badge #15109
- Telephone #783-503-0955
- Case#
What is was remarkable about this scam is that, when we Googled "CBP 15109", the search results brought us to the Customs and Border Patrol page for Officer Robert Daniels. When we asked about this, the (real) CBP officer confirmed that these scammers are increasingly using sophisticated methods to scam their victims. This scammer was also using high pressure tactics to try to get the staff member's Social Security Number.
Tips to protect yourself from scams (from the UMPD website):
When you get a call from a telemarketer, ask yourself:
- Who’s calling…and why? The law says telemarketers must tell you it’s a sales call, the name of the seller and what they’re selling before they make their pitch. If you don’t hear this information, say “no thanks,” and get off the phone.
- What’s the hurry? Fast talkers who use high pressure tactics could be hiding something. Take your time. Most legitimate businesses will give you time and written information about an offer before asking you to commit to a purchase.
- If it’s free, why are they asking me to pay? Question fees you need to pay to redeem a prize or gift. Free is free. If you have to pay, it's a purchase — not a prize or a gift.
- Why am I “confirming” my account information — or giving it out? Some callers have your billing information before they call you. They’re trying to get you to say “okay” so they can claim you approved a charge.
- What time is it? The law allows telemarketers to call only between 8 am and 9 pm. A seller calling earlier or later is ignoring the law.
- Do I want more calls like this one? If you don’t want a business to call you again, say so and register your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry. If they call back, they’re breaking the law.
- Resist pressure to make a decision immediately.
- Keep your credit card, checking account, or Social Security numbers to yourself. Don't tell them to callers you don't know — even if they ask you to “confirm” this information. That's a trick.
- Don’t pay for something just because you’ll get a “free gift.”
- Get all information in writing before you agree to buy.
- Check out a charity before you give. Ask how much of your donation actually goes to the charity. Ask the caller to send you written information so you can make an informed decision without being pressured, rushed, or guilted into it.
- If the offer is an investment, check with your state securities regulator to see if the offer — and the offeror — are properly registered.
- Don’t send cash by messenger, overnight mail, or money transfer. If you use cash or a money transfer — rather than a credit card — you may lose your right to dispute fraudulent charges. The money will be gone.
- Don’t agree to any offer for which you have to pay a “registration” or “shipping” fee to get a prize or a gift.
- Research offers with your consumer protection agency or state Attorney General’s office before you agree to send money.
- Beware of offers to “help” you recover money you have already lost. Callers that say they are law enforcement officers who will help you get your money back “for a fee” are scammers.
- Report any caller who is rude or abusive, even if you already sent them money. They'll want more. Call 1-877-FTC-HELP or visit ftc.gov/complaint.
Stay safe, UMass!
2023.06.02 17:15 MrArmageddonTTV One-Shot-Kill Threaded Specter PVP Build for Strand Hunter! (+video inside)
Hello Guardians,
Ever since the Stompees nerf, I've been on an exploratory journey of the soul trying to find other lesser-known Hunter exotics that may now have a time to shine in the sun!
Obviously we already know about some of the usual suspects like Wormhusk, Geminis or the dreaded Ahamkaras... But I was genuinely surprised to find out how effective the new Strand aspect, Threaded Specter is when paired with Bombadiers or Sixth Coyote.
Now, I know what you're thinking... Bombadiers?
Well, honestly at first, it started out as a meme. I thought it was just going to be a fun little build to share. But after I used it in Trials, I got a super easy solo flawless while simultaneously battling one of the worst hangovers of my life. I was playing at maybe 60% of my usual capacity and cruised pretty easily to the golden chest.
Anyway, you can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/rApk5RGho-4
Or if you prefer to read, I'll summarize everything below.
---
- Ensnaring Slam; - Widow’s Silk; and the newest Aspect added with Season of the Deep - Threaded Spectre, which we’ll be focusing on today.
But to quickly recap, the Ensnaring Slam is the aerial slam movement that suspends your opponents and Widow’s Silk gives you two Grapple charges.
I’ve previously spoken in depth about using Ensnaring Slam and Widow’s silk in my last Hunter Strand video, focused on suspending but for today’s build, I want to focus on the newest aspect to the Strand kit: Threaded Spectre and pairing it with the usual movement tech you have from Widow’s Silk.
Threaded Spectre means that: Activating your class ability leaves behind a decoy woven from Strand that draws the attention of nearby enemies.After taking significant damage or when enemies approach, the decoy detonates, dealing damage and releasing Threadlings that seek out and attack nearby foes.
In other words, when you dodge, you leave behind in your place a dark green mannequin in the shape of a hunter.
Your Decoy will show up on the radar like a real enemy, it also shows a health bar and your name tag when an enemy hovers their crosshair over it, and it has roughly the same amount of HP as a typical Guardian.
And yes, people fall for this decoy ALL THE TIME. Until you have it used against you, you actually don’t realise how easy it is to get fooled by the decoy when you’re in the thick of combat.
Now, much like a land mine, if an enemy gets too close to the decoy - the decoy will explode and do approximately this much damage in the process. It will also spawn two threadlings that will kamikaze themselves into the enemy.
You or your teammates can also detonate a decoy just by shooting it, which will proc the explosion and also cause 2 threadlings to spawn and chase the enemy. So the decoy, in some ways, also doubles up as a remote-triggered threading grenade.
Now, to be clear, the decoy explosion and two threadlings will not insta-kill a full health Guardian but will leave them with very close to 1 HP. So even the slightest damage done before the decoy explosion or a little bit of chip damage done after, is more than enough to finish a Guardian.
And this, of course, is where The Bombardiers Exotic leg armour comes in.
—
Previously, Stompees offered you a universal speed boost - sprint faster, slide longer, jump higher, without any activate trigger. It was always on. Now, Bungie have nerfed Stompees so that you only have those benefits IF you have an unused dodge charge.
Now as you can imagine, it doesn’t feel so good having a pair of exotic speed boots that become useless the second you use your class ability and this has led to many Hunter mains looking for worthy alternatives to the formerly mighty Stompees.
And for this particular build, I’m going to recommend several Exotic armour alternatives that I think you will enjoy very, very much.
Firstly, let’s talk about The Bombardiers.
Dodging leaves behind an explosive that detonates after a short delay, damaging targets around it and creating a secondary effect based on your subclass energy type.
But here’s the thing, the explosive parting gift that Bombardiers leaves behind when you dodge does about 120 damage over a 7.5m radius. That’s HUGE. And more than enough damage to finish off anyone that gets tagged by the decoy explosion and threading damage.
Not only that, the bomb also severs targets, so if they die, they also leave behind a tangle. So the basic playloop when using bombardiers is, bait your opponent around a corner, dodge backwards and walk them into a Bombardiers explosive, strand decoy and 2 threadlings - resulting in an insta-kill. An insta-kill that’s literally available every 15 seconds or so.
It’s also great for shotgun apes, as you can dodge directly backwards as they push at you and kill them outright.
And before anyone asks - yes, this is more than just a “fun build”. It’s surprisingly and frighteningly effective. In fact, I actually used this build last weekend and went solo flawless in about an hour - while also battling possibly the single worst hangover of my life after a friend’s birthday party.
Alright now, an alternative exotic you can try is: Sixth Coyote. Sixth Coyote basically gives you two dodge charges, which means that you’re quite literally able to create two Strand Decoys back to back.
Lastly, you absolutely can’t go wrong with Frostees either, which massively increases the regeneration of all of your abilities, especially your class ability. Using Frostees will give you more decoys and additional sprint speed after you dodge.
Basically, while I’m very much against the Stompees nerf, what you’re going to see is that it opens up a massive trove of Hunter exotics that now are going to see use because Stompees is no longer anywhere as dominant. After all, the argument used to be why use anything else but Stompees but now you’re going to start seeing a lot of underrated Hunter exotics start entering the meta.
—
Make sure that you use Marksman’s Dodge as your class ability. That’s because Marksman’s Dodge has a much shorter cooldown than Gamblers Dodge and we really want to maximise the amount of decoys that we’re able to create.
—
Thread of Ascent is mandatory. Thread of Ascent means activating your grenade ability reloads your equipped weapon and grants bonus airborne effectiveness and handling for a short duration, while also granting +10 mobility. This one is a no brainer.
Thread of Evolution is also mandatory and means that threadlings will travel farther and deal more damage. It also gives a nice +10 to intellect.
Now the last two fragments are actually kinda optional. But personally, I recommend using Thread of Finality and Thread of Binding just for the stat boosts to Recovery and Resilience, both of which are important in PvP.
—
Immortal is still the best gun in the game, although at least now thankfully you can get the “Immortal At Home” version by farming the new Dungeon instead of losing your will to live, farming Trials on weekend.
So here’s the thing. If you’re using the Bombadier’s build, you’ll be playing very close and aggressive. It’s actually an amazingly fun play style because you literally play like how you imagine a hunter would.
Moving rapidly in and out, baiting your opponents, and literally tricking them into falling for pre-made traps. It’s like you’re on the hunt, stalking your prey, and I really love the gameplay loop.
So if you’re going to be playing tight and close, I recommend close-range primaries and there’s not much better than the Immortal SMG right now or the alternative from the Dungeon called No Survivors. If you run either, you’re going to want to get a max-range rangefindetarget lock roll for maximum effectiveness.
Now as for the special weapon, I also recommend a good shotgun of your choice, be it a precision frame like Matador or an aggressive frame like Found Verdict.
But a slightly off the wall choice might actually be a wave frame grenade launcher. You can quite literally stand back a little bit and just wave frame the floor as your enemy rushes in - that way the chip damage from the GL + the spectre explosion and threading damage will be more than enough to secure the kill in case the bombardiers parting gift blows too early.
And I mean come on, we’ve all blown a bit too early at times right? Nothing to be ashamed of.
—
Alright Guardians, got a bit more info in the vid but this post is already too long, so I hope that helped and I'll see you all in the Crucible!
- MrArmageddon
submitted by MrArmageddonTTV to LowSodiumDestiny [link] [comments]
Ever since the Stompees nerf, I've been on an exploratory journey of the soul trying to find other lesser-known Hunter exotics that may now have a time to shine in the sun!
Obviously we already know about some of the usual suspects like Wormhusk, Geminis or the dreaded Ahamkaras... But I was genuinely surprised to find out how effective the new Strand aspect, Threaded Specter is when paired with Bombadiers or Sixth Coyote.
Now, I know what you're thinking... Bombadiers?
Well, honestly at first, it started out as a meme. I thought it was just going to be a fun little build to share. But after I used it in Trials, I got a super easy solo flawless while simultaneously battling one of the worst hangovers of my life. I was playing at maybe 60% of my usual capacity and cruised pretty easily to the golden chest.
Anyway, you can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/rApk5RGho-4
Or if you prefer to read, I'll summarize everything below.
---
Aspects
Strand Hunter has three aspects, from which you can equip two:- Ensnaring Slam; - Widow’s Silk; and the newest Aspect added with Season of the Deep - Threaded Spectre, which we’ll be focusing on today.
But to quickly recap, the Ensnaring Slam is the aerial slam movement that suspends your opponents and Widow’s Silk gives you two Grapple charges.
I’ve previously spoken in depth about using Ensnaring Slam and Widow’s silk in my last Hunter Strand video, focused on suspending but for today’s build, I want to focus on the newest aspect to the Strand kit: Threaded Spectre and pairing it with the usual movement tech you have from Widow’s Silk.
Threaded Spectre means that: Activating your class ability leaves behind a decoy woven from Strand that draws the attention of nearby enemies.After taking significant damage or when enemies approach, the decoy detonates, dealing damage and releasing Threadlings that seek out and attack nearby foes.
In other words, when you dodge, you leave behind in your place a dark green mannequin in the shape of a hunter.
Your Decoy will show up on the radar like a real enemy, it also shows a health bar and your name tag when an enemy hovers their crosshair over it, and it has roughly the same amount of HP as a typical Guardian.
And yes, people fall for this decoy ALL THE TIME. Until you have it used against you, you actually don’t realise how easy it is to get fooled by the decoy when you’re in the thick of combat.
Now, much like a land mine, if an enemy gets too close to the decoy - the decoy will explode and do approximately this much damage in the process. It will also spawn two threadlings that will kamikaze themselves into the enemy.
You or your teammates can also detonate a decoy just by shooting it, which will proc the explosion and also cause 2 threadlings to spawn and chase the enemy. So the decoy, in some ways, also doubles up as a remote-triggered threading grenade.
Now, to be clear, the decoy explosion and two threadlings will not insta-kill a full health Guardian but will leave them with very close to 1 HP. So even the slightest damage done before the decoy explosion or a little bit of chip damage done after, is more than enough to finish a Guardian.
And this, of course, is where The Bombardiers Exotic leg armour comes in.
—
Exotics
OK, anyway, if you didn’t already know, the most popular Hunter PVP exotic in D2 history was recently nerfed this season - and by that, of course I mean Stompees.Previously, Stompees offered you a universal speed boost - sprint faster, slide longer, jump higher, without any activate trigger. It was always on. Now, Bungie have nerfed Stompees so that you only have those benefits IF you have an unused dodge charge.
Now as you can imagine, it doesn’t feel so good having a pair of exotic speed boots that become useless the second you use your class ability and this has led to many Hunter mains looking for worthy alternatives to the formerly mighty Stompees.
And for this particular build, I’m going to recommend several Exotic armour alternatives that I think you will enjoy very, very much.
Firstly, let’s talk about The Bombardiers.
Dodging leaves behind an explosive that detonates after a short delay, damaging targets around it and creating a secondary effect based on your subclass energy type.
But here’s the thing, the explosive parting gift that Bombardiers leaves behind when you dodge does about 120 damage over a 7.5m radius. That’s HUGE. And more than enough damage to finish off anyone that gets tagged by the decoy explosion and threading damage.
Not only that, the bomb also severs targets, so if they die, they also leave behind a tangle. So the basic playloop when using bombardiers is, bait your opponent around a corner, dodge backwards and walk them into a Bombardiers explosive, strand decoy and 2 threadlings - resulting in an insta-kill. An insta-kill that’s literally available every 15 seconds or so.
It’s also great for shotgun apes, as you can dodge directly backwards as they push at you and kill them outright.
And before anyone asks - yes, this is more than just a “fun build”. It’s surprisingly and frighteningly effective. In fact, I actually used this build last weekend and went solo flawless in about an hour - while also battling possibly the single worst hangover of my life after a friend’s birthday party.
Alright now, an alternative exotic you can try is: Sixth Coyote. Sixth Coyote basically gives you two dodge charges, which means that you’re quite literally able to create two Strand Decoys back to back.
Lastly, you absolutely can’t go wrong with Frostees either, which massively increases the regeneration of all of your abilities, especially your class ability. Using Frostees will give you more decoys and additional sprint speed after you dodge.
Basically, while I’m very much against the Stompees nerf, what you’re going to see is that it opens up a massive trove of Hunter exotics that now are going to see use because Stompees is no longer anywhere as dominant. After all, the argument used to be why use anything else but Stompees but now you’re going to start seeing a lot of underrated Hunter exotics start entering the meta.
—
Class Ability
Alright, now before I go into the fragments you want to use for this build, let me start by giving you a quick tip:Make sure that you use Marksman’s Dodge as your class ability. That’s because Marksman’s Dodge has a much shorter cooldown than Gamblers Dodge and we really want to maximise the amount of decoys that we’re able to create.
—
Fragments
As for the fragments, this is what I recommend using:Thread of Ascent is mandatory. Thread of Ascent means activating your grenade ability reloads your equipped weapon and grants bonus airborne effectiveness and handling for a short duration, while also granting +10 mobility. This one is a no brainer.
Thread of Evolution is also mandatory and means that threadlings will travel farther and deal more damage. It also gives a nice +10 to intellect.
Now the last two fragments are actually kinda optional. But personally, I recommend using Thread of Finality and Thread of Binding just for the stat boosts to Recovery and Resilience, both of which are important in PvP.
—
Weapons
The Season of the Deep brought about a bunch of weapon nerfs and buffs, which I can very safely tell you have changed virtually nothing about the weapon meta.Immortal is still the best gun in the game, although at least now thankfully you can get the “Immortal At Home” version by farming the new Dungeon instead of losing your will to live, farming Trials on weekend.
So here’s the thing. If you’re using the Bombadier’s build, you’ll be playing very close and aggressive. It’s actually an amazingly fun play style because you literally play like how you imagine a hunter would.
Moving rapidly in and out, baiting your opponents, and literally tricking them into falling for pre-made traps. It’s like you’re on the hunt, stalking your prey, and I really love the gameplay loop.
So if you’re going to be playing tight and close, I recommend close-range primaries and there’s not much better than the Immortal SMG right now or the alternative from the Dungeon called No Survivors. If you run either, you’re going to want to get a max-range rangefindetarget lock roll for maximum effectiveness.
Now as for the special weapon, I also recommend a good shotgun of your choice, be it a precision frame like Matador or an aggressive frame like Found Verdict.
But a slightly off the wall choice might actually be a wave frame grenade launcher. You can quite literally stand back a little bit and just wave frame the floor as your enemy rushes in - that way the chip damage from the GL + the spectre explosion and threading damage will be more than enough to secure the kill in case the bombardiers parting gift blows too early.
And I mean come on, we’ve all blown a bit too early at times right? Nothing to be ashamed of.
—
Alright Guardians, got a bit more info in the vid but this post is already too long, so I hope that helped and I'll see you all in the Crucible!
- MrArmageddon
2023.06.02 17:12 MrArmageddonTTV One-Shot-Kill Threaded Specter Build for Strand Hunter! (+video inside)
Hello Guardians,
Ever since the Stompees nerf, I've been on an exploratory journey of the soul trying to find other lesser-known Hunter exotics that may now have a time to shine in the sun!
Obviously we already know about some of the usual suspects like Wormhusk, Geminis or the dreaded Ahamkaras... But I was genuinely surprised to find out how effective the new Strand aspect, Threaded Specter is when paired with Bombadiers or Sixth Coyote.
Now, I know what you're thinking... Bombadiers?
Well, honestly at first, it started out as a meme. I thought it was just going to be a fun little build to share. But after I used it in Trials, I got a super easy solo flawless while simultaneously battling one of the worst hangovers of my life. I was playing at maybe 60% of my usual capacity and cruised pretty easily to the golden chest.
Anyway, you can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/rApk5RGho-4
Or if you prefer to read, I'll summarize everything below.
---
- Ensnaring Slam; - Widow’s Silk; and the newest Aspect added with Season of the Deep - Threaded Spectre, which we’ll be focusing on today.
But to quickly recap, the Ensnaring Slam is the aerial slam movement that suspends your opponents and Widow’s Silk gives you two Grapple charges.
I’ve previously spoken in depth about using Ensnaring Slam and Widow’s silk in my last Hunter Strand video, focused on suspending but for today’s build, I want to focus on the newest aspect to the Strand kit: Threaded Spectre and pairing it with the usual movement tech you have from Widow’s Silk.
Threaded Spectre means that: Activating your class ability leaves behind a decoy woven from Strand that draws the attention of nearby enemies.After taking significant damage or when enemies approach, the decoy detonates, dealing damage and releasing Threadlings that seek out and attack nearby foes.
In other words, when you dodge, you leave behind in your place a dark green mannequin in the shape of a hunter.
Your Decoy will show up on the radar like a real enemy, it also shows a health bar and your name tag when an enemy hovers their crosshair over it, and it has roughly the same amount of HP as a typical Guardian.
And yes, people fall for this decoy ALL THE TIME. Until you have it used against you, you actually don’t realise how easy it is to get fooled by the decoy when you’re in the thick of combat.
Now, much like a land mine, if an enemy gets too close to the decoy - the decoy will explode and do approximately this much damage in the process. It will also spawn two threadlings that will kamikaze themselves into the enemy.
You or your teammates can also detonate a decoy just by shooting it, which will proc the explosion and also cause 2 threadlings to spawn and chase the enemy. So the decoy, in some ways, also doubles up as a remote-triggered threading grenade.
Now, to be clear, the decoy explosion and two threadlings will not insta-kill a full health Guardian but will leave them with very close to 1 HP. So even the slightest damage done before the decoy explosion or a little bit of chip damage done after, is more than enough to finish a Guardian.
And this, of course, is where The Bombardiers Exotic leg armour comes in.
—
Previously, Stompees offered you a universal speed boost - sprint faster, slide longer, jump higher, without any activate trigger. It was always on. Now, Bungie have nerfed Stompees so that you only have those benefits IF you have an unused dodge charge.
Now as you can imagine, it doesn’t feel so good having a pair of exotic speed boots that become useless the second you use your class ability and this has led to many Hunter mains looking for worthy alternatives to the formerly mighty Stompees.
And for this particular build, I’m going to recommend several Exotic armour alternatives that I think you will enjoy very, very much.
Firstly, let’s talk about The Bombardiers.
Dodging leaves behind an explosive that detonates after a short delay, damaging targets around it and creating a secondary effect based on your subclass energy type.
But here’s the thing, the explosive parting gift that Bombardiers leaves behind when you dodge does about 120 damage over a 7.5m radius. That’s HUGE. And more than enough damage to finish off anyone that gets tagged by the decoy explosion and threading damage.
Not only that, the bomb also severs targets, so if they die, they also leave behind a tangle. So the basic playloop when using bombardiers is, bait your opponent around a corner, dodge backwards and walk them into a Bombardiers explosive, strand decoy and 2 threadlings - resulting in an insta-kill. An insta-kill that’s literally available every 15 seconds or so.
It’s also great for shotgun apes, as you can dodge directly backwards as they push at you and kill them outright.
And before anyone asks - yes, this is more than just a “fun build”. It’s surprisingly and frighteningly effective. In fact, I actually used this build last weekend and went solo flawless in about an hour - while also battling possibly the single worst hangover of my life after a friend’s birthday party.
Alright now, an alternative exotic you can try is: Sixth Coyote. Sixth Coyote basically gives you two dodge charges, which means that you’re quite literally able to create two Strand Decoys back to back.
Lastly, you absolutely can’t go wrong with Frostees either, which massively increases the regeneration of all of your abilities, especially your class ability. Using Frostees will give you more decoys and additional sprint speed after you dodge.
Basically, while I’m very much against the Stompees nerf, what you’re going to see is that it opens up a massive trove of Hunter exotics that now are going to see use because Stompees is no longer anywhere as dominant. After all, the argument used to be why use anything else but Stompees but now you’re going to start seeing a lot of underrated Hunter exotics start entering the meta.
—
Make sure that you use Marksman’s Dodge as your class ability. That’s because Marksman’s Dodge has a much shorter cooldown than Gamblers Dodge and we really want to maximise the amount of decoys that we’re able to create.
—
Thread of Ascent is mandatory. Thread of Ascent means activating your grenade ability reloads your equipped weapon and grants bonus airborne effectiveness and handling for a short duration, while also granting +10 mobility. This one is a no brainer.
Thread of Evolution is also mandatory and means that threadlings will travel farther and deal more damage. It also gives a nice +10 to intellect.
Now the last two fragments are actually kinda optional. But personally, I recommend using Thread of Finality and Thread of Binding just for the stat boosts to Recovery and Resilience, both of which are important in PvP.
—
Immortal is still the best gun in the game, although at least now thankfully you can get the “Immortal At Home” version by farming the new Dungeon instead of losing your will to live, farming Trials on weekend.
So here’s the thing. If you’re using the Bombadier’s build, you’ll be playing very close and aggressive. It’s actually an amazingly fun play style because you literally play like how you imagine a hunter would. Moving rapidly in and out, baiting your opponents, and literally tricking them into falling for pre-made traps. It’s like you’re on the hunt, stalking your prey, and I really love the gameplay loop.
So if you’re going to be playing tight and close, I recommend close-range primaries and there’s not much better than the Immortal SMG right now or the alternative from the Dungeon called No Survivors. If you run either, you’re going to want to get a max-range rangefindetarget lock roll for maximum effectiveness.
Now as for the special weapon, I also recommend a good shotgun of your choice, be it a precision frame like Matador or an aggressive frame like Found Verdict.
But a slightly off the wall choice might actually be a wave frame grenade launcher. You can quite literally stand back a little bit and just wave frame the floor as your enemy rushes in - that way the chip damage from the GL + the spectre explosion and threading damage will be more than enough to secure the kill in case the bombardiers parting gift blows too early.
And I mean come on, we’ve all blown a bit too early at times right? Nothing to be ashamed of.
—
Alright Guardians, got a bit more info in the vid but this post is already too long, so I hope that helped and I'll see you all in the Crucible!
- MrArmageddon
submitted by MrArmageddonTTV to CrucibleSherpa [link] [comments]
Ever since the Stompees nerf, I've been on an exploratory journey of the soul trying to find other lesser-known Hunter exotics that may now have a time to shine in the sun!
Obviously we already know about some of the usual suspects like Wormhusk, Geminis or the dreaded Ahamkaras... But I was genuinely surprised to find out how effective the new Strand aspect, Threaded Specter is when paired with Bombadiers or Sixth Coyote.
Now, I know what you're thinking... Bombadiers?
Well, honestly at first, it started out as a meme. I thought it was just going to be a fun little build to share. But after I used it in Trials, I got a super easy solo flawless while simultaneously battling one of the worst hangovers of my life. I was playing at maybe 60% of my usual capacity and cruised pretty easily to the golden chest.
Anyway, you can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/rApk5RGho-4
Or if you prefer to read, I'll summarize everything below.
---
Aspects
Strand Hunter has three aspects, from which you can equip two:- Ensnaring Slam; - Widow’s Silk; and the newest Aspect added with Season of the Deep - Threaded Spectre, which we’ll be focusing on today.
But to quickly recap, the Ensnaring Slam is the aerial slam movement that suspends your opponents and Widow’s Silk gives you two Grapple charges.
I’ve previously spoken in depth about using Ensnaring Slam and Widow’s silk in my last Hunter Strand video, focused on suspending but for today’s build, I want to focus on the newest aspect to the Strand kit: Threaded Spectre and pairing it with the usual movement tech you have from Widow’s Silk.
Threaded Spectre means that: Activating your class ability leaves behind a decoy woven from Strand that draws the attention of nearby enemies.After taking significant damage or when enemies approach, the decoy detonates, dealing damage and releasing Threadlings that seek out and attack nearby foes.
In other words, when you dodge, you leave behind in your place a dark green mannequin in the shape of a hunter.
Your Decoy will show up on the radar like a real enemy, it also shows a health bar and your name tag when an enemy hovers their crosshair over it, and it has roughly the same amount of HP as a typical Guardian.
And yes, people fall for this decoy ALL THE TIME. Until you have it used against you, you actually don’t realise how easy it is to get fooled by the decoy when you’re in the thick of combat.
Now, much like a land mine, if an enemy gets too close to the decoy - the decoy will explode and do approximately this much damage in the process. It will also spawn two threadlings that will kamikaze themselves into the enemy.
You or your teammates can also detonate a decoy just by shooting it, which will proc the explosion and also cause 2 threadlings to spawn and chase the enemy. So the decoy, in some ways, also doubles up as a remote-triggered threading grenade.
Now, to be clear, the decoy explosion and two threadlings will not insta-kill a full health Guardian but will leave them with very close to 1 HP. So even the slightest damage done before the decoy explosion or a little bit of chip damage done after, is more than enough to finish a Guardian.
And this, of course, is where The Bombardiers Exotic leg armour comes in.
—
Exotics
OK, anyway, if you didn’t already know, the most popular Hunter PVP exotic in D2 history was recently nerfed this season - and by that, of course I mean Stompees.Previously, Stompees offered you a universal speed boost - sprint faster, slide longer, jump higher, without any activate trigger. It was always on. Now, Bungie have nerfed Stompees so that you only have those benefits IF you have an unused dodge charge.
Now as you can imagine, it doesn’t feel so good having a pair of exotic speed boots that become useless the second you use your class ability and this has led to many Hunter mains looking for worthy alternatives to the formerly mighty Stompees.
And for this particular build, I’m going to recommend several Exotic armour alternatives that I think you will enjoy very, very much.
Firstly, let’s talk about The Bombardiers.
Dodging leaves behind an explosive that detonates after a short delay, damaging targets around it and creating a secondary effect based on your subclass energy type.
But here’s the thing, the explosive parting gift that Bombardiers leaves behind when you dodge does about 120 damage over a 7.5m radius. That’s HUGE. And more than enough damage to finish off anyone that gets tagged by the decoy explosion and threading damage.
Not only that, the bomb also severs targets, so if they die, they also leave behind a tangle. So the basic playloop when using bombardiers is, bait your opponent around a corner, dodge backwards and walk them into a Bombardiers explosive, strand decoy and 2 threadlings - resulting in an insta-kill. An insta-kill that’s literally available every 15 seconds or so.
It’s also great for shotgun apes, as you can dodge directly backwards as they push at you and kill them outright.
And before anyone asks - yes, this is more than just a “fun build”. It’s surprisingly and frighteningly effective. In fact, I actually used this build last weekend and went solo flawless in about an hour - while also battling possibly the single worst hangover of my life after a friend’s birthday party.
Alright now, an alternative exotic you can try is: Sixth Coyote. Sixth Coyote basically gives you two dodge charges, which means that you’re quite literally able to create two Strand Decoys back to back.
Lastly, you absolutely can’t go wrong with Frostees either, which massively increases the regeneration of all of your abilities, especially your class ability. Using Frostees will give you more decoys and additional sprint speed after you dodge.
Basically, while I’m very much against the Stompees nerf, what you’re going to see is that it opens up a massive trove of Hunter exotics that now are going to see use because Stompees is no longer anywhere as dominant. After all, the argument used to be why use anything else but Stompees but now you’re going to start seeing a lot of underrated Hunter exotics start entering the meta.
—
Class Ability
Alright, now before I go into the fragments you want to use for this build, let me start by giving you a quick tip:Make sure that you use Marksman’s Dodge as your class ability. That’s because Marksman’s Dodge has a much shorter cooldown than Gamblers Dodge and we really want to maximise the amount of decoys that we’re able to create.
—
Fragments
As for the fragments, this is what I recommend using:Thread of Ascent is mandatory. Thread of Ascent means activating your grenade ability reloads your equipped weapon and grants bonus airborne effectiveness and handling for a short duration, while also granting +10 mobility. This one is a no brainer.
Thread of Evolution is also mandatory and means that threadlings will travel farther and deal more damage. It also gives a nice +10 to intellect.
Now the last two fragments are actually kinda optional. But personally, I recommend using Thread of Finality and Thread of Binding just for the stat boosts to Recovery and Resilience, both of which are important in PvP.
—
Weapons
The Season of the Deep brought about a bunch of weapon nerfs and buffs, which I can very safely tell you have changed virtually nothing about the weapon meta.Immortal is still the best gun in the game, although at least now thankfully you can get the “Immortal At Home” version by farming the new Dungeon instead of losing your will to live, farming Trials on weekend.
So here’s the thing. If you’re using the Bombadier’s build, you’ll be playing very close and aggressive. It’s actually an amazingly fun play style because you literally play like how you imagine a hunter would. Moving rapidly in and out, baiting your opponents, and literally tricking them into falling for pre-made traps. It’s like you’re on the hunt, stalking your prey, and I really love the gameplay loop.
So if you’re going to be playing tight and close, I recommend close-range primaries and there’s not much better than the Immortal SMG right now or the alternative from the Dungeon called No Survivors. If you run either, you’re going to want to get a max-range rangefindetarget lock roll for maximum effectiveness.
Now as for the special weapon, I also recommend a good shotgun of your choice, be it a precision frame like Matador or an aggressive frame like Found Verdict.
But a slightly off the wall choice might actually be a wave frame grenade launcher. You can quite literally stand back a little bit and just wave frame the floor as your enemy rushes in - that way the chip damage from the GL + the spectre explosion and threading damage will be more than enough to secure the kill in case the bombardiers parting gift blows too early.
And I mean come on, we’ve all blown a bit too early at times right? Nothing to be ashamed of.
—
Alright Guardians, got a bit more info in the vid but this post is already too long, so I hope that helped and I'll see you all in the Crucible!
- MrArmageddon
2023.06.02 17:10 r3dsca Obscure subreddit posting - The Branding Issue of Democrats from the 90s to Now
This was posted in the AngryObservation subreddit (that I stumbled on two seconds ago)
Essay posted by u/dcmetro7
https://www.reddit.com/usedcmetro7/
Democrats have a branding problem : AngryObservation (reddit.com)
I was inspired by u/Randomuser1520 's post about the Democratic Party's seemingly weak bench of future potential presidential nominees.
A lot of the problems trace back to 2016, but I'd argue the Democrats' branding woes go back even further. Think all the way back to the last time the Democrats had a consistently strong electoral record as a party -- the 90s, where the only truly bad year for Ds was 1994. Bill Clinton had successfully rebranded the party under the 'Third Way' label that Dems at any level could embrace and benefit from, and he had a clear successor in Al Gore. But Gore loses narrowly in 2000, and the problems for the Dems' brand begin.
'Yes We Can'
After 9/11, the electorate supports Bush and they support war. Dems' brand takes a hit and they lose the 2002 midterms. In 2004, John Kerry is successfully painted as an out-of-touch Ivy League liberal, disengaged from 'real America.' Dems lose and their brand suffers further.
But by the end of Bush's term, most Americans are disillusioned with Dubyaism. They wanted change, and one man promises to lead them to it with posters that proclaim 'HOPE' and cries of 'Yes We Can,' heralding in a new age of politics. Barack Obama and the Democrats are swept into a trifecta in Washington.
And we certainly got a new age of politics. When Obama was inaugurated, pundits speculated about the 'emerging Democratic majority', and how the GOP may literally go extinct in ten years. By the end of Obama's second term, those same pundits are surveying the absolutely decimated state of the Democratic party at all levels of power. Dems had lost the Senate, the House, most governorships, and most state legislatures. Control of the state legislatures makes the GOP's hold on the House even stronger. Control of the Senate effectively leads to control of the Supreme Court.
While Obama certainly can't be blamed for everything the GOP threw at him, I feel like it's safe to say his rebranding of the Democratic party failed in the long run. The 'Party of Hope' was sunk into the quagmire of a slow economic recovery, some of the most cynical politicking ever, and some of the most dysfunctional White House-Congress relationships in the history of the country. Obama's signature healthcare legislation would languish in the 30s approval-wise until after he left office. By 2015, no one was talking about the Democrats as the Party of Hope anymore. Even the guy who designed the original 'Hope' poster said he was frustrated by the lack of progress under the Obama admin. I'd argue that the Republicans were responsible for the clear majority of this dysfunction, but if their goal was to muddy the waters between the parties, they succeeded. And with the Tea Party, they were better at rebranding themselves even when they were in the opposition.
And none of this was helped by the face that Obama seemed extremely reluctant, even uninterested, in stepping into the role of party leader. Congressional Democrats were frustrated at the way he kept his distance from them, making it hard to solidify the policy goals they'd implemented in his first term. This article (https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/us/aloof-obama-is-frustrating-his-own-party.html) sums it up well, with this prescient quote sticking out:
'Stronger Together'
In 2016, Democrats didn't plan for a primary, they planned for a coronation. Hillary Clinton had been locking up all the support she could get from the Democratic establishment while Obama was serving his second term. Biden would seem like the clear establishment successor, but by the time he was able to turn his attention from VP duties to the primary he realized Hillary had completely boxed him out. She had already corralled all the big donors, operatives, and endorsements into her corner, and Joe was checkmated before he even sat down to the board. Thus, he turned down the opportunity, likely burying his long-nurtured presidential ambitions.
But then the coronation gets bumpy. Sanders challenges her from the outside, and immediately begins putting her on the spot as to why she's running. In other words, what does she envision for the Democratic brand? Hillary herself doesn't know. Is it a third term of Bill (whose star was starting to fade among everyone whose name doesn't rhyme with Shames Scarville), a third term of Obama (whose Hope posters have since become landfill), or an all-new thing?
To Hillary's credit, she couldn't portray herself as a total break from the past, both because she had been was strongly anchored to the national political landscape for the last thirty years, and because she could hardly attack Obama's record too harshly. In the end, she also struggled to brand both herself and the party. Consider the slogans most associated with her campaign; 'Forward Together' and 'Stronger Together' sound like the slogans of a centrist third party with no concrete policy ideas. They just attempted to project a feeling of unity onto a people who were united only, if the candidacies of Sanders and Trump meant anything, in the feeling that 'establishment' politicians like HRC had failed. And, of course, 'I'm with Her' was barely a rebrand at all, simply associating the party with its uncharismatic yet seemingly unstoppable frontrunner.
In the meantime, Trump had done the opposite, rebranding himself and the GOP as the party of 'America First populism.' What that meant exactly in terms of policy seemed to change from day to day But as a brand, as a forceful statement of intent, it worked, especially when contrasted with a seemingly rudderless HRC campaign that failed to answer the age-old question: 'Why are you running for president?'
'For the People'
After the 2016 fiasco, the Democrats were decimated and leaderless. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had passed his leadership position to Chuck Schumer and passed on soon after Trump took office. Tim Ryan led a mutiny against Nancy Pelosi, blaming her in part for the party's plunge from ascendance to irrelevance in the House. Hillary Clinton disappeared into the woods of Chappaqua. Obama started making a docu-series for Netflix. Joe Biden entered semi-retirement and wrote a book.
But in all of this, they found something they had been lacking. A brand.
Not the one they would have preferred, but one that would work nonetheless for winning elections. House Dems would embrace the (once-again) vague slogan of 'For the People' ahead of the 2018 midterms, but the aim was clear. The Democrats were now the Opposition; the Anti-Trump party.
Trump's approval rating was not just low, but incredibly sticky. People tended to have very firm opinions on him, and so his approval rating barely escaped the 35-45% range, with him almost hitting 50% before the pandemic hit. Thus, running on opposition to Trump would be fine electorally. In 2018, the Democrats had a blue wave year based mostly on opposition to Trump, retaking the house. Ironically, a big policy motivator for voters was backlash against the GOP's effort to repeal and replace Obamacare -- a promise that had driven Republican electoral gains since the bill was passed into law. Republican branding and messaging had been so successful that, for the better part of the decade, people trusted them to 'fix' the ACA until the very last minute before the replacement was signed.
'Battle for the Soul of the Nation'
But the problem remained for 2020 -- who would lead them? This was a difficult decision even before the pandemic. And Democratic primary voters were treated to a veritable buffet on angles on how to rebrand the party to beat Trump.
Should the party embrace democratic socialism under Sanders, or heavy consumer advocacy under Warren? Should it embrace a young, charismatic up-and-comer like Harris, Buttigieg, or O'Rourke or someone just as 'establishment' as Hillary, like Michael Bloomberg? Old-school liberalism with the Klob? Whatever Andrew Yang was doing?
But as the polls drew near, the Democrats seemed to conclude that beating Trump was simply more important than charting a new course for the party. If they could get elected or rebrand, they'd choose the former. And so all the other more moderate candidates dropped out to consolidate the vote around Biden, as the safe, expected pick who could stay the course. Biden and his surrogates began adopting the slogan 'Battle for the Soul of the Nation,' an epic and apocalyptic phrase that is still fundamentally reactive in tone, implying that the biggest motivator to vote for Democrats that fall was not to pass any specific agenda, but to put a stop to the GOP's plans.
Biden wouldn't govern in this way, but he would campaign this way -- as the normal, capable candidate who could lead the country's post-covid recovery in opposition to Trump's perceived incompetence. Biden won, but Democrats didn't get nearly the boost they wanted from covid, and House candidates underperformed Biden nationally, leading to a surprising loss of seats in the House. And after the effort to throw out the election failed, Trump left office with severely damaged standing with independents. The anti-Trump brand had delivered Dems a trifecta; now it was time to use it; hopefully to establish a new brand for a new decade.
'Building Back Better'
Upon taking office, Biden and the Dems lay out their agenda; the 'Build Back Better' plan, which centers on a three-pronged approach; a pandemic relief bill, an infrastructure bill, and a social policy bill. Passing such plans will involve all 50 Senate D's on board in some cases, and a bipartisan filibuster-proof majority of 60 senators in other cases.
People laugh, think back to 2010, and begin arguing whether a prediction that the GOP will control 55 Senate seats by 2023 is too conservative. Nancy Pelosi is trying to manage a mere five-seat majority in the house. Mitch McConnell, who once feasted on the Democrats' lost hopes the way a hungry turtle devours a plate of juicy strawberries, still held enough sway in the Senate to hold up any significant policy not related to budget reconciliation. Even then, Schumer must wrangle mavericks like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Dramatic divisions still rip across the fabric of American society. But then, something truly strange happens.
The 117th Congress ends up being one of the most productive sessions ever.
Whether or not you think any or all of the 117th's acts were good policy, it's undeniable that this was an unusually politically efficient session, especially considering the last decade of hardball politics. Bipartisan majorities drive the infrastructure act, a gun control act, a tech-manufacturing promotion act, and even a somewhat-legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide. Plus, Schumer and Pelosi navigate their tiny majorities toward passing partisan priorities, like the pandemic relief act and the scaled-down Build Back Better social policy bill, rebranded as the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA. McConnell drops his trademark stonewalling and collaborates with Biden on the bipartisan bills, and 'Yea' votes roll in even from deep red states -- Republican senators from Mississippi, West Virginia, and North Dakota get these bills over the line. Bipartisanship returns to Congress in fleeting glances -- something that I feel confident in arguing absolutely no one expected Biden or the Dem leaders to be able to do.
Of course, no one has forgotten 2010, and 2022 looks to be another rough year. Inflation soars, and Biden's approval rating drops. Dems brace for impact. The Dobbs ruling happens, but polls repeatedly suggest that the economy is the top issue on voters' minds, and they don't like Biden's handling of it.
But while these things are true, they ignore a crucial factor -- the GOP is embroiled in an identity crisis of its own. The leader of the party is claiming to be the legitimate president of the United States, which is a bit of a hard issue to ignore. Trump loyalists beat out 'establishment' Republicans in the primaries, and bring their hard promotion of the MAGA brand to the general elections. And they lose.
I think it's fair to say that the GOP lost most of the key races of the 2022 midterms, rather than Democrats winning them. Swing state Republican parties chose candidates who adhered so closely to a brand so toxic that independents still chose the Democrats, even in some cases where they were dissatisfied with the party. Republicans who have managed to establish a brand for themselves -- DeSantis, Kemp, and DeWine among them -- soar, while the Trumpiest candidates fall flat. McConnell remains in the minority, and McCarthy becomes the head of a very, very dysfunctional family.
Will Brandon's Rebrand Stand?
So, coming off an unusually strong midterm, where does the party go in 2024? Probably, as u/Randomuser1520 said, back to Biden. When your party wins one of the most fiercely contested elections in American history, has a productive legislative session, and then massively overperforms in the midterm, you don't usually change horses regardless of what approval polling says. If Biden were just 10 years younger and the health concerns were off the table, there would be no question in anyone's mind who to nominate.
The establishment and progressive wings of the party seem to be behind him if he runs, meaning challenges will only come from real outsiders like Marianne Williamson and Robert Kennedy Jr. The DNC will probably work to make those challenges as unviable as possible.
2024 is tricky to predict. Trump is favored on the Republican side, and as said before, his brand is so toxic that Biden can probably glide to reelection barring any massive economic downturns or serious health problems. I won't get too much into 2024, because it seems pretty clearly on the path to becoming another referendum on the GOP's brand, not the Democrats'. Biden's second term (and the rest of his first term) may be defined as much by implementation of the legislation they passed during the 117th as much as by new legislation, if not more.
So the question becomes this -- where does the party go in 2028? Or, in other words, what will Democrats take away from the Biden presidency, and how will Biden shape the party's brand going forward? Who they choose to lead the party next will tell, and Biden's presidency may already be laying out a blueprint.
In his 1996 State of the Union address, Bill Clinton declared 'the era of big government is over,' essentially conceding that Reagan and his vision of a small role for the federal government in domestic affairs had won out for the time, and that Democrats would need to work within that political reality in order to win elections. Obama's efforts to change that status quo resulted in an avalanche of backlash from Tea Partiers, self-proclaimed champions of fiscal conservatism. Hillary Clinton's failed campaign strategy arguably rested more on that understanding of the political climate than anything else, causing her to miss a series of growing frustrations with Reaganism at times channelled by Sanders and, at times, Trump -- at decimation of the manufacturing sector, at the growing gap between rich and poor, at China's seemingly unstoppable three-decade rise at the expense of the U.S.
Biden's approach to American industry and government is a strong repudiation of Reaganism, based around the idea that it is the government's job to fortify and guide the economy in ways that are necessary where the free market has little incentive to. It argues that the issues of infrastructural decay, manufacturing decline, and the growing need for green energy in the face of climate change will only be solved if the government directs the power of the private sector towards those goals at great upfront cost. And free trade, long held as the unassailable source of America's prosperity, must now only be employed in moderation -- if the U.S. has to arguably break international law to lure foreign investment into the U.S. through generous subsidies, it will be worth it, even if it earns the fury of our economic partners. This may be the groundwork of Bidenism.
These plans may fail. The money may be wasted by incompetent or corrupt administrators and the American people may become even more jaded at the thought of big government. But movement within the GOP may suggest a broader shift in the American mind towards this kind of economic interventionism is already in progress. Promising to reverse the decline of manufacturing through tariffs and other measures would have been political anathema twenty years ago, but it has become a core Republican plank. Florida Republicans' punitive measures towards Disney and the GOP's growing support for government action against Big Tech companies suggests openness towards not just using state power to guide the economy, but also to reshape the social landscape by manipulating the private sector. It may well be that the era of small government is over.
I've sorted some potential 'brands' and some of the people who might be nominated in 2028 / become party standard-bearers should the Democrats go in that direction. These lists aren't exhaustive; I'm just trying to establish a general vibe.
The 'Biden Blueprint': Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Gina Raimondo
These are members of the Biden admin who have been given great power (and great piles of money) to enact the legislation of the 117th. If American sentiment towards big government changes as quickly as I think it could, a Cabinet secretary could have a decent shot in 2028. Harris would be the natural successor as the VP, but Transportation Sec Buttigieg and Commerce Sec Raimondo, who were empowered to implement much of the Infrastructure Act and the CHIPS Act respectively, could become standard-bearers for this new vision of technocratic governance if they administer these programs well (and in a way that makes headlines). If Energy Sec Granholm were a natural-born citizen, she would definitely fit here as well, considering how much power the IRA gave her department.
The 'New New Deal': Amy Klobuchar, Catherine Cortez Masto, Mark Kelly, Tammy Duckworth, Raphael Warnock
Liberal senators who are capable of working across the aisle to achieve compromise could be a strong bet if Democrats want to recreate the success of the 117th Congress in the future. There's always an argument that effective legislators won't necessarily make for effective executives, but these choices would help with Democrats' goal of rebranding the Democratic party as the party you vote for if you want Washington to function properly and anticipate constituents' needs. Such a ticket could brand itself as the path to bipartisan yet assertive solutions on familiar and emerging issues like immigration reform, federal protection for abortion, the housing shortage, and the drug crisis.
The 'Bulwark': Roy Cooper, Laura Kelly, Andy Beshear
I'll admit that when I began writing this post, I had a more favorable opinion of the above three governors and politicians like them as presidential nominees and the potential 'future of the party.' I no longer feel as strongly about them, however, because I don't believe they do enough to change the brand of the Democrats and the political environment as a whole. These governors are best known for winning races in red states; for holding the line against the most conservative policies while finding areas of compromise, especially on kitchen-table issues.
But this brand of Democrat is fundamentally reactive, even defensive -- it assumes that most of the job will be obstructing right-wing legislation from a red legislature. In other words, it is a kind of strategy you use when you're trying to hold ground, not gain it. It works well when your opponent's brand is toxic (as the GOP's has been since 2016), but this I suspect this brand of 'competent normality' will struggle if the opposition ceases to actively repel voters. If Trump and his acolytes continue to hold a strong grip on the party through 2024 and beyond, this brand may not be a bad bet short-term, but long-term Democrats want to be the ones establishing the rules of the game, not just beating your opponent at theirs. That's what a successful political brand does. While Dems in similar situation should definitely look to these governors for guidance in running their campaigns (and hopefully, their administrations), I would caution at this point against basing the national party's brand on their model.
I think somewhere between these three groups lies a successful path forward for the Democrats that towards becoming the dominant party in U.S. politics at the federal level. There are some other interesting currents in the party; like how Democratic governors like Whitmer, Evers, and Walz have rebuilt D strength the Midwest after a rough 2010s, and how Western Dems like Jared Polis, Mary Peltola, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez have found unexpected electoral stength by embracing a form of libertarianism. However, these currents may be regional, and Democrats shouldn't necessarily try to nationalize every idea that works in one part of the country. Creating different regional 'flavors' of Democrat would be necessary to keep the party relevant in all parts of the country.
Regarding the 2020 primary runners-up, I don't think most of the visions laid out then work post-2024, and for this reason I tend not to give too much weight to current Democratic primary polling, because it assumes these same people would be running again.
Assuming Biden ends his term without catastrophe, I don't think the party needs to place all their faith in a young, charismatic Obama wannabe like O'Rourke or Swalwell, nor does it need to drastically pivot to the center, nor does it need to proclaim itself the party of 'outsiders,' nor does it need to give the reins to the progressive wing. If everything goes right, they can remain ideologically where they are now (roughly) and establish a solid brand for the first time in a generation.
The Democrats been losing the branding war since the days of Nixon. They may currently have all the tools they need right now to change that, and set the expectations for the next fifty years of politics. Let's see how they do.
This is my first big write-up, so I almost certainly missed some stuff and made some assumptions. Let me know what you think.
submitted by r3dsca to redscarepod [link] [comments]
Essay posted by u/dcmetro7
https://www.reddit.com/usedcmetro7/
Democrats have a branding problem : AngryObservation (reddit.com)
Democrats have a branding problem
😴 Long Observation 😴I was inspired by u/Randomuser1520 's post about the Democratic Party's seemingly weak bench of future potential presidential nominees.
A lot of the problems trace back to 2016, but I'd argue the Democrats' branding woes go back even further. Think all the way back to the last time the Democrats had a consistently strong electoral record as a party -- the 90s, where the only truly bad year for Ds was 1994. Bill Clinton had successfully rebranded the party under the 'Third Way' label that Dems at any level could embrace and benefit from, and he had a clear successor in Al Gore. But Gore loses narrowly in 2000, and the problems for the Dems' brand begin.
'Yes We Can'
After 9/11, the electorate supports Bush and they support war. Dems' brand takes a hit and they lose the 2002 midterms. In 2004, John Kerry is successfully painted as an out-of-touch Ivy League liberal, disengaged from 'real America.' Dems lose and their brand suffers further.
But by the end of Bush's term, most Americans are disillusioned with Dubyaism. They wanted change, and one man promises to lead them to it with posters that proclaim 'HOPE' and cries of 'Yes We Can,' heralding in a new age of politics. Barack Obama and the Democrats are swept into a trifecta in Washington.
And we certainly got a new age of politics. When Obama was inaugurated, pundits speculated about the 'emerging Democratic majority', and how the GOP may literally go extinct in ten years. By the end of Obama's second term, those same pundits are surveying the absolutely decimated state of the Democratic party at all levels of power. Dems had lost the Senate, the House, most governorships, and most state legislatures. Control of the state legislatures makes the GOP's hold on the House even stronger. Control of the Senate effectively leads to control of the Supreme Court.
While Obama certainly can't be blamed for everything the GOP threw at him, I feel like it's safe to say his rebranding of the Democratic party failed in the long run. The 'Party of Hope' was sunk into the quagmire of a slow economic recovery, some of the most cynical politicking ever, and some of the most dysfunctional White House-Congress relationships in the history of the country. Obama's signature healthcare legislation would languish in the 30s approval-wise until after he left office. By 2015, no one was talking about the Democrats as the Party of Hope anymore. Even the guy who designed the original 'Hope' poster said he was frustrated by the lack of progress under the Obama admin. I'd argue that the Republicans were responsible for the clear majority of this dysfunction, but if their goal was to muddy the waters between the parties, they succeeded. And with the Tea Party, they were better at rebranding themselves even when they were in the opposition.
And none of this was helped by the face that Obama seemed extremely reluctant, even uninterested, in stepping into the role of party leader. Congressional Democrats were frustrated at the way he kept his distance from them, making it hard to solidify the policy goals they'd implemented in his first term. This article (https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/us/aloof-obama-is-frustrating-his-own-party.html) sums it up well, with this prescient quote sticking out:
In interviews, nearly two dozen Democratic lawmakers and senior congressional aides suggested that Mr. Obama’s approach has left him with few loyalists to effectively manage the issues erupting abroad and at home and could imperil his efforts to leave a legacy in his final stretch in office.And sure enough, Obama's legacy was in peril before he even left office.
'Stronger Together'
In 2016, Democrats didn't plan for a primary, they planned for a coronation. Hillary Clinton had been locking up all the support she could get from the Democratic establishment while Obama was serving his second term. Biden would seem like the clear establishment successor, but by the time he was able to turn his attention from VP duties to the primary he realized Hillary had completely boxed him out. She had already corralled all the big donors, operatives, and endorsements into her corner, and Joe was checkmated before he even sat down to the board. Thus, he turned down the opportunity, likely burying his long-nurtured presidential ambitions.
But then the coronation gets bumpy. Sanders challenges her from the outside, and immediately begins putting her on the spot as to why she's running. In other words, what does she envision for the Democratic brand? Hillary herself doesn't know. Is it a third term of Bill (whose star was starting to fade among everyone whose name doesn't rhyme with Shames Scarville), a third term of Obama (whose Hope posters have since become landfill), or an all-new thing?
To Hillary's credit, she couldn't portray herself as a total break from the past, both because she had been was strongly anchored to the national political landscape for the last thirty years, and because she could hardly attack Obama's record too harshly. In the end, she also struggled to brand both herself and the party. Consider the slogans most associated with her campaign; 'Forward Together' and 'Stronger Together' sound like the slogans of a centrist third party with no concrete policy ideas. They just attempted to project a feeling of unity onto a people who were united only, if the candidacies of Sanders and Trump meant anything, in the feeling that 'establishment' politicians like HRC had failed. And, of course, 'I'm with Her' was barely a rebrand at all, simply associating the party with its uncharismatic yet seemingly unstoppable frontrunner.
In the meantime, Trump had done the opposite, rebranding himself and the GOP as the party of 'America First populism.' What that meant exactly in terms of policy seemed to change from day to day But as a brand, as a forceful statement of intent, it worked, especially when contrasted with a seemingly rudderless HRC campaign that failed to answer the age-old question: 'Why are you running for president?'
'For the People'
After the 2016 fiasco, the Democrats were decimated and leaderless. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had passed his leadership position to Chuck Schumer and passed on soon after Trump took office. Tim Ryan led a mutiny against Nancy Pelosi, blaming her in part for the party's plunge from ascendance to irrelevance in the House. Hillary Clinton disappeared into the woods of Chappaqua. Obama started making a docu-series for Netflix. Joe Biden entered semi-retirement and wrote a book.
But in all of this, they found something they had been lacking. A brand.
Not the one they would have preferred, but one that would work nonetheless for winning elections. House Dems would embrace the (once-again) vague slogan of 'For the People' ahead of the 2018 midterms, but the aim was clear. The Democrats were now the Opposition; the Anti-Trump party.
Trump's approval rating was not just low, but incredibly sticky. People tended to have very firm opinions on him, and so his approval rating barely escaped the 35-45% range, with him almost hitting 50% before the pandemic hit. Thus, running on opposition to Trump would be fine electorally. In 2018, the Democrats had a blue wave year based mostly on opposition to Trump, retaking the house. Ironically, a big policy motivator for voters was backlash against the GOP's effort to repeal and replace Obamacare -- a promise that had driven Republican electoral gains since the bill was passed into law. Republican branding and messaging had been so successful that, for the better part of the decade, people trusted them to 'fix' the ACA until the very last minute before the replacement was signed.
'Battle for the Soul of the Nation'
But the problem remained for 2020 -- who would lead them? This was a difficult decision even before the pandemic. And Democratic primary voters were treated to a veritable buffet on angles on how to rebrand the party to beat Trump.
Should the party embrace democratic socialism under Sanders, or heavy consumer advocacy under Warren? Should it embrace a young, charismatic up-and-comer like Harris, Buttigieg, or O'Rourke or someone just as 'establishment' as Hillary, like Michael Bloomberg? Old-school liberalism with the Klob? Whatever Andrew Yang was doing?
But as the polls drew near, the Democrats seemed to conclude that beating Trump was simply more important than charting a new course for the party. If they could get elected or rebrand, they'd choose the former. And so all the other more moderate candidates dropped out to consolidate the vote around Biden, as the safe, expected pick who could stay the course. Biden and his surrogates began adopting the slogan 'Battle for the Soul of the Nation,' an epic and apocalyptic phrase that is still fundamentally reactive in tone, implying that the biggest motivator to vote for Democrats that fall was not to pass any specific agenda, but to put a stop to the GOP's plans.
Biden wouldn't govern in this way, but he would campaign this way -- as the normal, capable candidate who could lead the country's post-covid recovery in opposition to Trump's perceived incompetence. Biden won, but Democrats didn't get nearly the boost they wanted from covid, and House candidates underperformed Biden nationally, leading to a surprising loss of seats in the House. And after the effort to throw out the election failed, Trump left office with severely damaged standing with independents. The anti-Trump brand had delivered Dems a trifecta; now it was time to use it; hopefully to establish a new brand for a new decade.
'Building Back Better'
Upon taking office, Biden and the Dems lay out their agenda; the 'Build Back Better' plan, which centers on a three-pronged approach; a pandemic relief bill, an infrastructure bill, and a social policy bill. Passing such plans will involve all 50 Senate D's on board in some cases, and a bipartisan filibuster-proof majority of 60 senators in other cases.
People laugh, think back to 2010, and begin arguing whether a prediction that the GOP will control 55 Senate seats by 2023 is too conservative. Nancy Pelosi is trying to manage a mere five-seat majority in the house. Mitch McConnell, who once feasted on the Democrats' lost hopes the way a hungry turtle devours a plate of juicy strawberries, still held enough sway in the Senate to hold up any significant policy not related to budget reconciliation. Even then, Schumer must wrangle mavericks like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Dramatic divisions still rip across the fabric of American society. But then, something truly strange happens.
The 117th Congress ends up being one of the most productive sessions ever.
Whether or not you think any or all of the 117th's acts were good policy, it's undeniable that this was an unusually politically efficient session, especially considering the last decade of hardball politics. Bipartisan majorities drive the infrastructure act, a gun control act, a tech-manufacturing promotion act, and even a somewhat-legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide. Plus, Schumer and Pelosi navigate their tiny majorities toward passing partisan priorities, like the pandemic relief act and the scaled-down Build Back Better social policy bill, rebranded as the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA. McConnell drops his trademark stonewalling and collaborates with Biden on the bipartisan bills, and 'Yea' votes roll in even from deep red states -- Republican senators from Mississippi, West Virginia, and North Dakota get these bills over the line. Bipartisanship returns to Congress in fleeting glances -- something that I feel confident in arguing absolutely no one expected Biden or the Dem leaders to be able to do.
Of course, no one has forgotten 2010, and 2022 looks to be another rough year. Inflation soars, and Biden's approval rating drops. Dems brace for impact. The Dobbs ruling happens, but polls repeatedly suggest that the economy is the top issue on voters' minds, and they don't like Biden's handling of it.
But while these things are true, they ignore a crucial factor -- the GOP is embroiled in an identity crisis of its own. The leader of the party is claiming to be the legitimate president of the United States, which is a bit of a hard issue to ignore. Trump loyalists beat out 'establishment' Republicans in the primaries, and bring their hard promotion of the MAGA brand to the general elections. And they lose.
I think it's fair to say that the GOP lost most of the key races of the 2022 midterms, rather than Democrats winning them. Swing state Republican parties chose candidates who adhered so closely to a brand so toxic that independents still chose the Democrats, even in some cases where they were dissatisfied with the party. Republicans who have managed to establish a brand for themselves -- DeSantis, Kemp, and DeWine among them -- soar, while the Trumpiest candidates fall flat. McConnell remains in the minority, and McCarthy becomes the head of a very, very dysfunctional family.
Will Brandon's Rebrand Stand?
So, coming off an unusually strong midterm, where does the party go in 2024? Probably, as u/Randomuser1520 said, back to Biden. When your party wins one of the most fiercely contested elections in American history, has a productive legislative session, and then massively overperforms in the midterm, you don't usually change horses regardless of what approval polling says. If Biden were just 10 years younger and the health concerns were off the table, there would be no question in anyone's mind who to nominate.
The establishment and progressive wings of the party seem to be behind him if he runs, meaning challenges will only come from real outsiders like Marianne Williamson and Robert Kennedy Jr. The DNC will probably work to make those challenges as unviable as possible.
2024 is tricky to predict. Trump is favored on the Republican side, and as said before, his brand is so toxic that Biden can probably glide to reelection barring any massive economic downturns or serious health problems. I won't get too much into 2024, because it seems pretty clearly on the path to becoming another referendum on the GOP's brand, not the Democrats'. Biden's second term (and the rest of his first term) may be defined as much by implementation of the legislation they passed during the 117th as much as by new legislation, if not more.
So the question becomes this -- where does the party go in 2028? Or, in other words, what will Democrats take away from the Biden presidency, and how will Biden shape the party's brand going forward? Who they choose to lead the party next will tell, and Biden's presidency may already be laying out a blueprint.
In his 1996 State of the Union address, Bill Clinton declared 'the era of big government is over,' essentially conceding that Reagan and his vision of a small role for the federal government in domestic affairs had won out for the time, and that Democrats would need to work within that political reality in order to win elections. Obama's efforts to change that status quo resulted in an avalanche of backlash from Tea Partiers, self-proclaimed champions of fiscal conservatism. Hillary Clinton's failed campaign strategy arguably rested more on that understanding of the political climate than anything else, causing her to miss a series of growing frustrations with Reaganism at times channelled by Sanders and, at times, Trump -- at decimation of the manufacturing sector, at the growing gap between rich and poor, at China's seemingly unstoppable three-decade rise at the expense of the U.S.
Biden's approach to American industry and government is a strong repudiation of Reaganism, based around the idea that it is the government's job to fortify and guide the economy in ways that are necessary where the free market has little incentive to. It argues that the issues of infrastructural decay, manufacturing decline, and the growing need for green energy in the face of climate change will only be solved if the government directs the power of the private sector towards those goals at great upfront cost. And free trade, long held as the unassailable source of America's prosperity, must now only be employed in moderation -- if the U.S. has to arguably break international law to lure foreign investment into the U.S. through generous subsidies, it will be worth it, even if it earns the fury of our economic partners. This may be the groundwork of Bidenism.
These plans may fail. The money may be wasted by incompetent or corrupt administrators and the American people may become even more jaded at the thought of big government. But movement within the GOP may suggest a broader shift in the American mind towards this kind of economic interventionism is already in progress. Promising to reverse the decline of manufacturing through tariffs and other measures would have been political anathema twenty years ago, but it has become a core Republican plank. Florida Republicans' punitive measures towards Disney and the GOP's growing support for government action against Big Tech companies suggests openness towards not just using state power to guide the economy, but also to reshape the social landscape by manipulating the private sector. It may well be that the era of small government is over.
I've sorted some potential 'brands' and some of the people who might be nominated in 2028 / become party standard-bearers should the Democrats go in that direction. These lists aren't exhaustive; I'm just trying to establish a general vibe.
The 'Biden Blueprint': Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Gina Raimondo
These are members of the Biden admin who have been given great power (and great piles of money) to enact the legislation of the 117th. If American sentiment towards big government changes as quickly as I think it could, a Cabinet secretary could have a decent shot in 2028. Harris would be the natural successor as the VP, but Transportation Sec Buttigieg and Commerce Sec Raimondo, who were empowered to implement much of the Infrastructure Act and the CHIPS Act respectively, could become standard-bearers for this new vision of technocratic governance if they administer these programs well (and in a way that makes headlines). If Energy Sec Granholm were a natural-born citizen, she would definitely fit here as well, considering how much power the IRA gave her department.
The 'New New Deal': Amy Klobuchar, Catherine Cortez Masto, Mark Kelly, Tammy Duckworth, Raphael Warnock
Liberal senators who are capable of working across the aisle to achieve compromise could be a strong bet if Democrats want to recreate the success of the 117th Congress in the future. There's always an argument that effective legislators won't necessarily make for effective executives, but these choices would help with Democrats' goal of rebranding the Democratic party as the party you vote for if you want Washington to function properly and anticipate constituents' needs. Such a ticket could brand itself as the path to bipartisan yet assertive solutions on familiar and emerging issues like immigration reform, federal protection for abortion, the housing shortage, and the drug crisis.
The 'Bulwark': Roy Cooper, Laura Kelly, Andy Beshear
I'll admit that when I began writing this post, I had a more favorable opinion of the above three governors and politicians like them as presidential nominees and the potential 'future of the party.' I no longer feel as strongly about them, however, because I don't believe they do enough to change the brand of the Democrats and the political environment as a whole. These governors are best known for winning races in red states; for holding the line against the most conservative policies while finding areas of compromise, especially on kitchen-table issues.
But this brand of Democrat is fundamentally reactive, even defensive -- it assumes that most of the job will be obstructing right-wing legislation from a red legislature. In other words, it is a kind of strategy you use when you're trying to hold ground, not gain it. It works well when your opponent's brand is toxic (as the GOP's has been since 2016), but this I suspect this brand of 'competent normality' will struggle if the opposition ceases to actively repel voters. If Trump and his acolytes continue to hold a strong grip on the party through 2024 and beyond, this brand may not be a bad bet short-term, but long-term Democrats want to be the ones establishing the rules of the game, not just beating your opponent at theirs. That's what a successful political brand does. While Dems in similar situation should definitely look to these governors for guidance in running their campaigns (and hopefully, their administrations), I would caution at this point against basing the national party's brand on their model.
I think somewhere between these three groups lies a successful path forward for the Democrats that towards becoming the dominant party in U.S. politics at the federal level. There are some other interesting currents in the party; like how Democratic governors like Whitmer, Evers, and Walz have rebuilt D strength the Midwest after a rough 2010s, and how Western Dems like Jared Polis, Mary Peltola, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez have found unexpected electoral stength by embracing a form of libertarianism. However, these currents may be regional, and Democrats shouldn't necessarily try to nationalize every idea that works in one part of the country. Creating different regional 'flavors' of Democrat would be necessary to keep the party relevant in all parts of the country.
Regarding the 2020 primary runners-up, I don't think most of the visions laid out then work post-2024, and for this reason I tend not to give too much weight to current Democratic primary polling, because it assumes these same people would be running again.
Assuming Biden ends his term without catastrophe, I don't think the party needs to place all their faith in a young, charismatic Obama wannabe like O'Rourke or Swalwell, nor does it need to drastically pivot to the center, nor does it need to proclaim itself the party of 'outsiders,' nor does it need to give the reins to the progressive wing. If everything goes right, they can remain ideologically where they are now (roughly) and establish a solid brand for the first time in a generation.
The Democrats been losing the branding war since the days of Nixon. They may currently have all the tools they need right now to change that, and set the expectations for the next fifty years of politics. Let's see how they do.
This is my first big write-up, so I almost certainly missed some stuff and made some assumptions. Let me know what you think.
2023.06.02 17:03 MrArmageddonTTV One-Shot-Kill Threaded Specter Build for Strand Hunter! (+video inside)
Hello Guardians,
Ever since the Stompees nerf, I've been on an exploratory journey of the soul trying to find other lesser-known Hunter exotics that may now have a time to shine in the sun!
Obviously we already know about some of the usual suspects like Wormhusk, Geminis or the dreaded Ahamkaras... But I was genuinely surprised to find out how effective the new Strand aspect, Threaded Specter is when paired with Bombadiers or Sixth Coyote.
Now, I know what you're thinking... Bombadiers?
Well, honestly at first, it started out as a meme. I thought it was just going to be a fun little build to share. But after I used it in Trials, I got a super easy solo flawless while simultaneously battling one of the worst hangovers of my life. I was playing at maybe 60% of my usual capacity and cruised pretty easily to the golden chest.
Anyway, you can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/rApk5RGho-4
Or if you prefer to read, I'll summarize everything below.
---
- Ensnaring Slam;
- Widow’s Silk; and the newest Aspect added with Season of the Deep
- Threaded Spectre, which we’ll be focusing on today.
But to quickly recap, the Ensnaring Slam is the aerial slam movement that suspends your opponents and Widow’s Silk gives you two Grapple charges.
I’ve previously spoken in depth about using Ensnaring Slam and Widow’s silk in my last Hunter Strand video, focused on suspending but for today’s build, I want to focus on the newest aspect to the Strand kit: Threaded Spectre and pairing it with the usual movement tech you have from Widow’s Silk.
Threaded Spectre means that: Activating your class ability leaves behind a decoy woven from Strand that draws the attention of nearby enemies.After taking significant damage or when enemies approach, the decoy detonates, dealing damage and releasing Threadlings that seek out and attack nearby foes.
In other words, when you dodge, you leave behind in your place a dark green mannequin in the shape of a hunter.
Your Decoy will show up on the radar like a real enemy, it also shows a health bar and your name tag when an enemy hovers their crosshair over it, and it has roughly the same amount of HP as a typical Guardian.
And yes, people fall for this decoy ALL THE TIME. Until you have it used against you, you actually don’t realise how easy it is to get fooled by the decoy when you’re in the thick of combat.
Now, much like a land mine, if an enemy gets too close to the decoy - the decoy will explode and do approximately this much damage in the process. It will also spawn two threadlings that will kamikaze themselves into the enemy.
You or your teammates can also detonate a decoy just by shooting it, which will proc the explosion and also cause 2 threadlings to spawn and chase the enemy. So the decoy, in some ways, also doubles up as a remote-triggered threading grenade.
Now, to be clear, the decoy explosion and two threadlings will not insta-kill a full health Guardian but will leave them with very close to 1 HP. So even the slightest damage done before the decoy explosion or a little bit of chip damage done after, is more than enough to finish a Guardian.
And this, of course, is where The Bombardiers Exotic leg armour comes in.
—
Previously, Stompees offered you a universal speed boost - sprint faster, slide longer, jump higher, without any activate trigger. It was always on. Now, Bungie have nerfed Stompees so that you only have those benefits IF you have an unused dodge charge.
Now as you can imagine, it doesn’t feel so good having a pair of exotic speed boots that become useless the second you use your class ability and this has led to many Hunter mains looking for worthy alternatives to the formerly mighty Stompees.
And for this particular build, I’m going to recommend several Exotic armour alternatives that I think you will enjoy very, very much.
Firstly, let’s talk about The Bombardiers.
Dodging leaves behind an explosive that detonates after a short delay, damaging targets around it and creating a secondary effect based on your subclass energy type.
But here’s the thing, the explosive parting gift that Bombardiers leaves behind when you dodge does about 120 damage over a 7.5m radius. That’s HUGE. And more than enough damage to finish off anyone that gets tagged by the decoy explosion and threading damage.
Not only that, the bomb also severs targets, so if they die, they also leave behind a tangle.
So the basic playloop when using bombardiers is, bait your opponent around a corner, dodge backwards and walk them into a Bombardiers explosive, strand decoy and 2 threadlings - resulting in an insta-kill. An insta-kill that’s literally available every 15 seconds or so.
It’s also great for shotgun apes, as you can dodge directly backwards as they push at you and kill them outright.
And before anyone asks - yes, this is more than just a “fun build”. It’s surprisingly and frighteningly effective. In fact, I actually used this build last weekend and went solo flawless in about an hour - while also battling possibly the single worst hangover of my life after a friend’s birthday party.
Alright now, an alternative exotic you can try is: Sixth Coyote. Sixth Coyote basically gives you two dodge charges, which means that you’re quite literally able to create two Strand Decoys back to back.
Lastly, you absolutely can’t go wrong with Frostees either, which massively increases the regeneration of all of your abilities, especially your class ability. Using Frostees will give you more decoys and additional sprint speed after you dodge.
Basically, while I’m very much against the Stompees nerf, what you’re going to see is that it opens up a massive trove of Hunter exotics that now are going to see use because Stompees is no longer anywhere as dominant. After all, the argument used to be why use anything else but Stompees but now you’re going to start seeing a lot of underrated Hunter exotics start entering the meta.
—
Make sure that you use Marksman’s Dodge as your class ability. That’s because Marksman’s Dodge has a much shorter cooldown than Gamblers Dodge and we really want to maximise the amount of decoys that we’re able to create.
—
Thread of Ascent is mandatory. Thread of Ascent means activating your grenade ability reloads your equipped weapon and grants bonus airborne effectiveness and handling for a short duration, while also granting +10 mobility. This one is a no brainer.
Thread of Evolution is also mandatory and means that threadlings will travel farther and deal more damage. It also gives a nice +10 to intellect.
Now the last two fragments are actually kinda optional. But personally, I recommend using Thread of Finality and Thread of Binding just for the stat boosts to Recovery and Resilience, both of which are important in PvP.
—
Immortal is still the best gun in the game, although at least now thankfully you can get the “Immortal At Home” version by farming the new Dungeon instead of losing your will to live, farming Trials on weekend.
So here’s the thing. If you’re using the Bombadier’s build, you’ll be playing very close and aggressive. It’s actually an amazingly fun play style because you literally play like how you imagine a hunter would.
Moving rapidly in and out, baiting your opponents, and literally tricking them into falling for pre-made traps. It’s like you’re on the hunt, stalking your prey, and I really love the gameplay loop.
So if you’re going to be playing tight and close, I recommend close-range primaries and there’s not much better than the Immortal SMG right now or the alternative from the Dungeon called No Survivors. If you run either, you’re going to want to get a max-range rangefindetarget lock roll for maximum effectiveness.
Now as for the special weapon, I also recommend a good shotgun of your choice, be it a precision frame like Matador or an aggressive frame like Found Verdict.
But a slightly off the wall choice might actually be a wave frame grenade launcher. You can quite literally stand back a little bit and just wave frame the floor as your enemy rushes in - that way the chip damage from the GL + the spectre explosion and threading damage will be more than enough to secure the kill in case the bombardiers parting gift blows too early.
And I mean come on, we’ve all blown a bit too early at times right? Nothing to be ashamed of.
—
Alright Guardians, got a bit more info in the vid but this post is already too long, so I hope that helped and I'll see you all in the Crucible!
- MrArmageddon
submitted by MrArmageddonTTV to CrucibleGuidebook [link] [comments]
Ever since the Stompees nerf, I've been on an exploratory journey of the soul trying to find other lesser-known Hunter exotics that may now have a time to shine in the sun!
Obviously we already know about some of the usual suspects like Wormhusk, Geminis or the dreaded Ahamkaras... But I was genuinely surprised to find out how effective the new Strand aspect, Threaded Specter is when paired with Bombadiers or Sixth Coyote.
Now, I know what you're thinking... Bombadiers?
Well, honestly at first, it started out as a meme. I thought it was just going to be a fun little build to share. But after I used it in Trials, I got a super easy solo flawless while simultaneously battling one of the worst hangovers of my life. I was playing at maybe 60% of my usual capacity and cruised pretty easily to the golden chest.
Anyway, you can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/rApk5RGho-4
Or if you prefer to read, I'll summarize everything below.
---
Aspects
Strand Hunter has three aspects, from which you can equip two:- Ensnaring Slam;
- Widow’s Silk; and the newest Aspect added with Season of the Deep
- Threaded Spectre, which we’ll be focusing on today.
But to quickly recap, the Ensnaring Slam is the aerial slam movement that suspends your opponents and Widow’s Silk gives you two Grapple charges.
I’ve previously spoken in depth about using Ensnaring Slam and Widow’s silk in my last Hunter Strand video, focused on suspending but for today’s build, I want to focus on the newest aspect to the Strand kit: Threaded Spectre and pairing it with the usual movement tech you have from Widow’s Silk.
Threaded Spectre means that: Activating your class ability leaves behind a decoy woven from Strand that draws the attention of nearby enemies.After taking significant damage or when enemies approach, the decoy detonates, dealing damage and releasing Threadlings that seek out and attack nearby foes.
In other words, when you dodge, you leave behind in your place a dark green mannequin in the shape of a hunter.
Your Decoy will show up on the radar like a real enemy, it also shows a health bar and your name tag when an enemy hovers their crosshair over it, and it has roughly the same amount of HP as a typical Guardian.
And yes, people fall for this decoy ALL THE TIME. Until you have it used against you, you actually don’t realise how easy it is to get fooled by the decoy when you’re in the thick of combat.
Now, much like a land mine, if an enemy gets too close to the decoy - the decoy will explode and do approximately this much damage in the process. It will also spawn two threadlings that will kamikaze themselves into the enemy.
You or your teammates can also detonate a decoy just by shooting it, which will proc the explosion and also cause 2 threadlings to spawn and chase the enemy. So the decoy, in some ways, also doubles up as a remote-triggered threading grenade.
Now, to be clear, the decoy explosion and two threadlings will not insta-kill a full health Guardian but will leave them with very close to 1 HP. So even the slightest damage done before the decoy explosion or a little bit of chip damage done after, is more than enough to finish a Guardian.
And this, of course, is where The Bombardiers Exotic leg armour comes in.
—
Exotics
OK, anyway, if you didn’t already know, the most popular Hunter PVP exotic in D2 history was recently nerfed this season - and by that, of course I mean Stompees.Previously, Stompees offered you a universal speed boost - sprint faster, slide longer, jump higher, without any activate trigger. It was always on. Now, Bungie have nerfed Stompees so that you only have those benefits IF you have an unused dodge charge.
Now as you can imagine, it doesn’t feel so good having a pair of exotic speed boots that become useless the second you use your class ability and this has led to many Hunter mains looking for worthy alternatives to the formerly mighty Stompees.
And for this particular build, I’m going to recommend several Exotic armour alternatives that I think you will enjoy very, very much.
Firstly, let’s talk about The Bombardiers.
Dodging leaves behind an explosive that detonates after a short delay, damaging targets around it and creating a secondary effect based on your subclass energy type.
But here’s the thing, the explosive parting gift that Bombardiers leaves behind when you dodge does about 120 damage over a 7.5m radius. That’s HUGE. And more than enough damage to finish off anyone that gets tagged by the decoy explosion and threading damage.
Not only that, the bomb also severs targets, so if they die, they also leave behind a tangle.
So the basic playloop when using bombardiers is, bait your opponent around a corner, dodge backwards and walk them into a Bombardiers explosive, strand decoy and 2 threadlings - resulting in an insta-kill. An insta-kill that’s literally available every 15 seconds or so.
It’s also great for shotgun apes, as you can dodge directly backwards as they push at you and kill them outright.
And before anyone asks - yes, this is more than just a “fun build”. It’s surprisingly and frighteningly effective. In fact, I actually used this build last weekend and went solo flawless in about an hour - while also battling possibly the single worst hangover of my life after a friend’s birthday party.
Alright now, an alternative exotic you can try is: Sixth Coyote. Sixth Coyote basically gives you two dodge charges, which means that you’re quite literally able to create two Strand Decoys back to back.
Lastly, you absolutely can’t go wrong with Frostees either, which massively increases the regeneration of all of your abilities, especially your class ability. Using Frostees will give you more decoys and additional sprint speed after you dodge.
Basically, while I’m very much against the Stompees nerf, what you’re going to see is that it opens up a massive trove of Hunter exotics that now are going to see use because Stompees is no longer anywhere as dominant. After all, the argument used to be why use anything else but Stompees but now you’re going to start seeing a lot of underrated Hunter exotics start entering the meta.
—
Class Ability
Alright, now before I go into the fragments you want to use for this build, let me start by giving you a quick tip:Make sure that you use Marksman’s Dodge as your class ability. That’s because Marksman’s Dodge has a much shorter cooldown than Gamblers Dodge and we really want to maximise the amount of decoys that we’re able to create.
—
Fragments
As for the fragments, this is what I recommend using:Thread of Ascent is mandatory. Thread of Ascent means activating your grenade ability reloads your equipped weapon and grants bonus airborne effectiveness and handling for a short duration, while also granting +10 mobility. This one is a no brainer.
Thread of Evolution is also mandatory and means that threadlings will travel farther and deal more damage. It also gives a nice +10 to intellect.
Now the last two fragments are actually kinda optional. But personally, I recommend using Thread of Finality and Thread of Binding just for the stat boosts to Recovery and Resilience, both of which are important in PvP.
—
Weapons
The Season of the Deep brought about a bunch of weapon nerfs and buffs, which I can very safely tell you have changed virtually nothing about the weapon meta.Immortal is still the best gun in the game, although at least now thankfully you can get the “Immortal At Home” version by farming the new Dungeon instead of losing your will to live, farming Trials on weekend.
So here’s the thing. If you’re using the Bombadier’s build, you’ll be playing very close and aggressive. It’s actually an amazingly fun play style because you literally play like how you imagine a hunter would.
Moving rapidly in and out, baiting your opponents, and literally tricking them into falling for pre-made traps. It’s like you’re on the hunt, stalking your prey, and I really love the gameplay loop.
So if you’re going to be playing tight and close, I recommend close-range primaries and there’s not much better than the Immortal SMG right now or the alternative from the Dungeon called No Survivors. If you run either, you’re going to want to get a max-range rangefindetarget lock roll for maximum effectiveness.
Now as for the special weapon, I also recommend a good shotgun of your choice, be it a precision frame like Matador or an aggressive frame like Found Verdict.
But a slightly off the wall choice might actually be a wave frame grenade launcher. You can quite literally stand back a little bit and just wave frame the floor as your enemy rushes in - that way the chip damage from the GL + the spectre explosion and threading damage will be more than enough to secure the kill in case the bombardiers parting gift blows too early.
And I mean come on, we’ve all blown a bit too early at times right? Nothing to be ashamed of.
—
Alright Guardians, got a bit more info in the vid but this post is already too long, so I hope that helped and I'll see you all in the Crucible!
- MrArmageddon
2023.06.02 17:03 NASDQplayer97 Greene Concepts Increases Purchase Order Numbers and Bottling Plant Activity
Jun 02, 2023 (ACCESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- MARION, NC / ACCESSWIRE / June 2, 2023 / Greene Concepts Inc. (OTC Pink:INKW) is pleased to announce it is experiencing significant growth and increased activity at its Marion, NC bottling plant. The company continues to make positive strides and increased marketplace reach.
At the end of May (2023) Greene Concepts received additional purchase orders from KeHE Distributors®. The company also had two large pickups recently at its bottling plant. One pickup by Merchants Distributors (MDI) and the other by Frozen Food Express. These pickups, with more on the way, satisfy the many retail obligations the company has been receiving for its BE WATER™ branded beverage products.
Lenny Greene, CEO of Greene Concepts, states, "2023 is shaping to be an incredible year for Greene Concepts. The majority of our success centers around the significant expansion of our retail outlets and that number is growing. In 2023 alone we've expanded by over 650 stores nationally thanks to our partners at KeHE Distributors® and Merchants Distributors (MDI). We have also expanded to dozens of local businesses throughout North Carolina and around the bottling plant. A big thanks goes to our national, regional, and local distributors."
Mr. Greene continues, "These purchase orders and tractor trailer pickups help us supply our BE WATER bottled water brand to multiple retail outlets nationwide as noted previously in our April 20, 2023 press release. We are also gearing up for our forthcoming orders from major warehouse club retailers. To support this increase, we've hired multiple leadership staff members within the Marion, NC bottling plant in anticipation of this 2023 long-term growth. We anticipate even greater activity around the bottling plant over the upcoming weeks and months and are excited to be sharing this news with you."
Follow Greene Concepts Inc. on Twitter as well as BE WATER™
Submit investor questions to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
About Greene Concepts, Inc.
Greene Concepts, Inc. (http://www.greeneconcepts.com) is a publicly traded company whose purpose is to provide the world with high-quality, healthy and enhanced beverage choices that meet the nutritional needs of its consumers while refreshing their mind, body and spirit. The Company's flagship product, BE WATER, is a premium artesian bottled water that supports total body health and wellness. Greene Concepts' beverage and bottling plant is located in Marion, North Carolina, and their water is ethically sourced from seven spring and artesian wells that are fed from a natural aquifer located deep beneath the Blue Ridge Mountains. Greene Concepts continues to develop and market premium beverage brands designed to enhance the daily lives of consumers.
Safe Harbor: This Press Release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a few uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission and OTC Markets, Inc. OTC Disclosure and News Service. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, because of new information, future events or otherwise.
submitted by NASDQplayer97 to smallstreetbets [link] [comments]
At the end of May (2023) Greene Concepts received additional purchase orders from KeHE Distributors®. The company also had two large pickups recently at its bottling plant. One pickup by Merchants Distributors (MDI) and the other by Frozen Food Express. These pickups, with more on the way, satisfy the many retail obligations the company has been receiving for its BE WATER™ branded beverage products.
Lenny Greene, CEO of Greene Concepts, states, "2023 is shaping to be an incredible year for Greene Concepts. The majority of our success centers around the significant expansion of our retail outlets and that number is growing. In 2023 alone we've expanded by over 650 stores nationally thanks to our partners at KeHE Distributors® and Merchants Distributors (MDI). We have also expanded to dozens of local businesses throughout North Carolina and around the bottling plant. A big thanks goes to our national, regional, and local distributors."
Mr. Greene continues, "These purchase orders and tractor trailer pickups help us supply our BE WATER bottled water brand to multiple retail outlets nationwide as noted previously in our April 20, 2023 press release. We are also gearing up for our forthcoming orders from major warehouse club retailers. To support this increase, we've hired multiple leadership staff members within the Marion, NC bottling plant in anticipation of this 2023 long-term growth. We anticipate even greater activity around the bottling plant over the upcoming weeks and months and are excited to be sharing this news with you."
Follow Greene Concepts Inc. on Twitter as well as BE WATER™
Submit investor questions to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
About Greene Concepts, Inc.
Greene Concepts, Inc. (http://www.greeneconcepts.com) is a publicly traded company whose purpose is to provide the world with high-quality, healthy and enhanced beverage choices that meet the nutritional needs of its consumers while refreshing their mind, body and spirit. The Company's flagship product, BE WATER, is a premium artesian bottled water that supports total body health and wellness. Greene Concepts' beverage and bottling plant is located in Marion, North Carolina, and their water is ethically sourced from seven spring and artesian wells that are fed from a natural aquifer located deep beneath the Blue Ridge Mountains. Greene Concepts continues to develop and market premium beverage brands designed to enhance the daily lives of consumers.
Safe Harbor: This Press Release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a few uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission and OTC Markets, Inc. OTC Disclosure and News Service. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, because of new information, future events or otherwise.
2023.06.02 16:36 jluiscolon Drug Testing in Sports and the Workplace: Challenges, Controversies, and Implications
 | submitted by jluiscolon to u/jluiscolon [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/n8zfu6be8m3b1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=274e74b7d26983b17bb98548ca1fd5498a30cfcd Drug testing has become a critical aspect of maintaining integrity and fairness in both professional sports and the workplace. In this article, we will delve into the challenges and controversies surrounding drug testing in these two domains. We will explore the impact of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), the effectiveness of current testing methods, and the ethical implications of doping. Additionally, we will examine the policies, privacy concerns, legal aspects, and the effectiveness of different testing methods in ensuring a drug-free work environment. https://preview.redd.it/59z5422f8m3b1.jpg?width=996&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=32e0788e67b96018d706b3810a9902b848a0c265 Drug Testing in Sports: Performance-enhancing drugs have posed significant challenges to the world of professional sports. Athletes seek these substances to gain a competitive edge, which undermines fair play and the integrity of the game. The impact of PEDs is not only limited to enhancing physical abilities but also includes improving endurance, recovery, and reducing fatigue. Consequently, drug testing has become essential to maintain a level playing field. Current testing methods, such as urine and blood tests, are commonly used to detect PEDs. While these methods have proven effective to some extent, they are not foolproof. Some substances may be difficult to detect, requiring more advanced testing techniques. Moreover, athletes and their trainers continually explore new ways to evade detection, pushing the boundaries of current testing capabilities. https://preview.redd.it/vxcdsxpf8m3b1.jpg?width=777&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d3a16ac7bcf7a0aa15401f9c6b309846666fd623 The ethical implications of doping are profound. Athletes who resort to using PEDs not only compromise their own health but also set a poor example for aspiring athletes and undermine the trust of fans. Doping also raises questions about fairness, as those who adhere to the rules and compete cleanly may find it impossible to succeed against their drugged counterparts. Workplace Drug Testing: In the workplace, drug testing serves to ensure a safe and productive environment. Employers have a duty to protect their workforce and mitigate risks associated with impaired performance, accidents, and potential liabilities. However, drug testing policies in the workplace raise concerns about privacy, legality, and effectiveness. https://preview.redd.it/q05zfdbg8m3b1.jpg?width=777&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e635a74ef07e2c34eb0885bf03b2bd4c256ca73 The legal aspects of workplace drug testing vary across jurisdictions. Some countries require employers to have a reasonable suspicion before conducting a drug test, while others permit random testing. Striking the right balance between ensuring safety and respecting individual privacy is crucial. https://preview.redd.it/v6qap3zg8m3b1.jpg?width=996&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7237fff6d5299332134156cf8bf2677f17005dbf Privacy concerns arise due to the invasive nature of drug testing. Employees may feel their personal lives are being encroached upon, leading to potential resentment and a negative work environment. Employers must handle drug testing with sensitivity, ensuring confidentiality and clear communication regarding the purpose and process of testing. Different testing methods are available for workplace drug testing, including urine, hair, saliva, and breath tests. Each method has its advantages and limitations. Urine tests are most used, but they may not detect recent drug use accurately. Hair tests can provide a longer detection window but may not detect recent drug use. Saliva and breath tests offer quicker results but are better suited for detecting recent drug use rather than long-term drug use. Conclusion: Drug testing in sports and the workplace is essential to maintain fairness, safety, and productivity. However, challenges and controversies persist. The impact of performance-enhancing drugs on sports integrity and the ethical implications of doping cannot be ignored. Similarly, workplace drug testing must navigate legal and privacy concerns while employing effective testing methods. Continued research and development of testing methods are crucial to stay ahead of the ever-evolving landscape of drug use. Striking the right balance between maintaining integrity, ensuring safety, and respecting individual privacy is key. Ultimately, drug testing serves as a tool to foster fairness, protect individuals, and uphold the values of sportsmanship and professionalism. #IntegrityInSports #CleanAthletes #Workplace #Wellness #drugtesting #legalaspects #privacy #testingmethods #safety #productivity #drugfree #work #WorkplaceDrugTesting #SafetyFirst #peds #HealthyWorkplace #medicaldisposablescorp |
2023.06.02 16:34 moshpitrocker Updated List - Partially Energized GPA Feeders/Circuits as of Friday, June 02, 2023
 | Updated List - Partially Energized GPA Feeders/Circuits as of Friday, June 02, 2023 submitted by moshpitrocker to guam [link] [comments] In an effort to continue to keep the public updated with our progress, we are providing a list of feeders/circuits that are Partially Energized in various areas around the island. GPA crews have continued to work through the night with overlapping shifts to continue recovery efforts and energize as many feeders/circuits in each village around the island. As mentioned, this weekend our team will launch the next phase of recovery. GPA will divide crews into three or more sectors (north, central and south) to begin concentrated efforts in restoring as many customers as possible in parts of the feedecircuit with minimal damages. For those areas with more extensive damages, the crews will assess the feedecircuit and return at a later time to make repairs and restore power. GPA crews will continue to work around the clock as quickly and safely as possible until the last customer is restored. GPA continues to ask for the public’s patience and understanding as we work on restoring power to the entire island. # |
2023.06.02 16:26 madinvestorofficial New video on the channel! Recently, Ledger introduced a recovery option that involves storing your security phrase in three different places.
 | submitted by madinvestorofficial to u/madinvestorofficial [link] [comments] |
2023.06.02 16:25 teh_mooses Fleeing rural texas for my own safety
For those of you that don't know me from DA and CA, I'm a transgender woman living in north rural Texas. To say things have become bad here since 2018+ is a understatement. Last night was my third beating, this time resulting in broken fingers from where my car door was closed violently on my hand and a concussion from being kicked and screamed out by the local cleetus and bubba's of the area. I'm married to a wonderful trans man, we've both been on hormone therapy for over four years (at least that's one thing in this crazy world that's affordable!)
My mistake, I went out after dark, without my husband, to pick up a take out order of fast food. I guess I should know better and never leave the house or something :( The first two beatings mostly ruined me. The PTSD is out of hand, I have shitty insurance but at least they cover therapy and generic medication, and I've been using that to it's fullest.
I've had my ear literally cut nearly off with a knife, multiple broken ribs, local businesses refusing to service me but of course never explaining why, local landlords raising my rent refusing to help when anything is broken, cops that laugh at me and promise they will 'look into things' after each beating and of course, they do nothing and make snide remarks about how it's my fault and I should carry a gun (ewww.)I realized last night I just can't do this anymore. It's unsafe unless I hide in my place 24/7 or take my husband with me everywhere I go, and even then it's dicey.
I am getting the fuck out, by any means needed.I swallowed a lot of pride and created a fundraiser for a private friends group I am in, and - damn, 6% met in the FIRST DAY. I cried a lot, that's just so amazing. I'm skipping on any luxury including simple things like nicotine for my vape thingie and like 5$ in alcohol a day to keep the nightmares and shaking at bay.
I have two very close friends in MI who are more than happy to give me a safe landing pad and take me in for a few weeks while I get things settled in a new and more tolerant and safe place. I cannot put them in a situation where after I get there, a month later, I cannot afford to start my life over. I need enough for first and last month rent + deposit of a cute little apartment I found, rental of a large u-haul to get me there, a couple quality cat crates for moving them safely and with love, food and hotel for 2-3 nights during the long drive, and the ability to start over.
I'm not safe here anymore, and at this rate - I fear this is targeted and it's just a matter of time before I end up in a ditch or hurt so badly that I end up with lifelong physical health issues.It really dings and fucks with my pride to ask, but - if you are in a position to help, or even share with your groups of friends and loved ones - I would be eternally grateful, and of course - once I get settled my #1 goal will be to pay it forward to get someone else out. I have one good thing going for me - I work for myself doing video editing for youtubers and the like, basic server / domain setups, and I can do this from anywhere. I don't make much, but I'll make enough to at least cover the basics when I am out, and my husband will actually have a boat load of options finally and can put his masters degree to use.
Here he could not even get a job at a local fast food place if he wanted, due to also being transgender (female to male). We've both been on hormone therapy for over 4 years (at least that's free, insurance covers it!) We've both just hit the point where it's swallow the pride and ask our communities for some help and crowdsource our GTFO, or risk our lives and stay where while things get worse and worse and more hateful for people like us.If you are considering helping me and need more, you can DM me. I'm happy to provide hospital bills, disturbing pictures of me missing an ear for a day and the nasty recovery of having that put back on (ewww), some broken fingers and awful stuff if you need it :)
Thanks in advance, and special thanks to zapopi for telling me it's okay to post my story here.
Link to the fundraiser is @ https://ko-fi.com/teh_mouses - feel free to share. Thank you ever so much! Every little bit helps!
submitted by teh_mooses to randomactsofCA [link] [comments]
My mistake, I went out after dark, without my husband, to pick up a take out order of fast food. I guess I should know better and never leave the house or something :( The first two beatings mostly ruined me. The PTSD is out of hand, I have shitty insurance but at least they cover therapy and generic medication, and I've been using that to it's fullest.
I've had my ear literally cut nearly off with a knife, multiple broken ribs, local businesses refusing to service me but of course never explaining why, local landlords raising my rent refusing to help when anything is broken, cops that laugh at me and promise they will 'look into things' after each beating and of course, they do nothing and make snide remarks about how it's my fault and I should carry a gun (ewww.)I realized last night I just can't do this anymore. It's unsafe unless I hide in my place 24/7 or take my husband with me everywhere I go, and even then it's dicey.
I am getting the fuck out, by any means needed.I swallowed a lot of pride and created a fundraiser for a private friends group I am in, and - damn, 6% met in the FIRST DAY. I cried a lot, that's just so amazing. I'm skipping on any luxury including simple things like nicotine for my vape thingie and like 5$ in alcohol a day to keep the nightmares and shaking at bay.
I have two very close friends in MI who are more than happy to give me a safe landing pad and take me in for a few weeks while I get things settled in a new and more tolerant and safe place. I cannot put them in a situation where after I get there, a month later, I cannot afford to start my life over. I need enough for first and last month rent + deposit of a cute little apartment I found, rental of a large u-haul to get me there, a couple quality cat crates for moving them safely and with love, food and hotel for 2-3 nights during the long drive, and the ability to start over.
I'm not safe here anymore, and at this rate - I fear this is targeted and it's just a matter of time before I end up in a ditch or hurt so badly that I end up with lifelong physical health issues.It really dings and fucks with my pride to ask, but - if you are in a position to help, or even share with your groups of friends and loved ones - I would be eternally grateful, and of course - once I get settled my #1 goal will be to pay it forward to get someone else out. I have one good thing going for me - I work for myself doing video editing for youtubers and the like, basic server / domain setups, and I can do this from anywhere. I don't make much, but I'll make enough to at least cover the basics when I am out, and my husband will actually have a boat load of options finally and can put his masters degree to use.
Here he could not even get a job at a local fast food place if he wanted, due to also being transgender (female to male). We've both been on hormone therapy for over 4 years (at least that's free, insurance covers it!) We've both just hit the point where it's swallow the pride and ask our communities for some help and crowdsource our GTFO, or risk our lives and stay where while things get worse and worse and more hateful for people like us.If you are considering helping me and need more, you can DM me. I'm happy to provide hospital bills, disturbing pictures of me missing an ear for a day and the nasty recovery of having that put back on (ewww), some broken fingers and awful stuff if you need it :)
Thanks in advance, and special thanks to zapopi for telling me it's okay to post my story here.
Link to the fundraiser is @ https://ko-fi.com/teh_mouses - feel free to share. Thank you ever so much! Every little bit helps!