Zasplach

I'm loathe to speak for everybody, but I'm presumptuous, so I will. Your own mental health is a million, billion, some unimaginable adjective more times important than us having to wait for you guys to do the high quality work you've all done. Anyone with an eye for quality work can see how well this has been orchestrated and anyone with any decency can understand real life happens. I'll speak personally and say I'm sorry to hear you've had such a difficult go at it and am heartened to hear you are doing better, God-speed in that endeavor and I hope for continued better tidings health-wise. You guys have done excellent work so far on this project and it's quiet an undertaking, so don't feel rushed, it's just fun to see what you all put out. I know we are all looking forward to future chapters, but patience is a virtue, so we may as well all have it.

Eh, the Republic is always simultaneously in need of systemic changes and in a state of being fine, it's a pretty flexible beast all things considered. This memo is really just a statement to how mouth-foamy partisan Washington has become. The House Intelligence Committee has released memos like this before, now they've tended to be bipartisan and not so controversial, but this is mostly controversial because the President has pitted it as his salvation from the Mueller investigation. In terms of the content, it's mostly going to say that at times the FBI and the CIA violate the civil liberties of American citizens by obfuscating the truth when they apply for FISA warrants. Is anyone really surprised by that admission or statement? I'm not, of course the most powerful law enforcement agencies in the world violate civil liberties, that's the very nature of their existence. Now, this is gonna be a whole bunch of noise because Fox is gonna say, 'this violation of civil liberties is unparalleled in it's political scope' and CNN is gonna say 'this seems pretty much par for the course', so it's mostly uninteresting. In terms of President Trump getting indicted, I still don't see it; I'm not even sure he can be indicted in the traditional sense, but I still have yet to see him do anything beyond being incompetent and blustery, two traits the American voting public were aware of, or should have been, when we elected him to the most esteemed office in the land. All the talk I've seen so far of his Russian collusion and obstruction are mostly just missteps of a political novice, I don't think that's enough to drum him out, and I have no desire to see him stay.

Thank goodness he didn't, the type of potential constitutional crisis this could (have) create could shake the Republic. If he does fire Mueller and the Congress forgoes an investigation, the investigation basically ends, not a good precedent to set. This is the kind of action he will feel more emboldened to do if the GOP retains control of both houses of Congress next year, strange things may be afoot.

'Non-essential' is such a loaded term; you know who doesn't get paid during the shutdowns is non-active duty military, researchers scientists employed by the DOD and the CDC and the like and diplomats posted around the world. And you know what happens with a majority of these people, they work and they expected to be compensated afterwards because they generally are. Most people who worked will be payed after all this is worked out. These continuous CR's are a dumb way to run a government, both parties should actually pass the 8 appropriations bills that would give us a yearly budget. If people really feel that we should fire federal employees, it's an argument that should me made publicly and in the halls of the Congress, this game of shutting the government down and not filling positions in the bureaucracy is a cowardly way to try to shrink the government; if that's what people want they should elect members who believe that and say so, so the rest of us can vet that belief. And in terms of the shutdown, the Democrats were never gonna get what they wanted, they don't control any aspect of the federal government, they hardly control any state governments for that matter. If they feel their policies are right, they should campaign on them and win elections, right now they are in the minority , shutting down the government was never going to get them what they wanted. This was such a futile effort, I know Senator McConnell said he would let an immigration bill come to the floor and I suspect he will keep his word because he said it in public, but he knows better than anyone how mercurial President Trump is. I see no way that a bipartisan bill in the Senate that gets 30ish GOP votes and 40ish Dem votes, even comes to the floor of the House because Speaker Ryan has stuck religiously with the 'rule' of it requires the majority of the majority to pass laws, I don't see any 'moderate' immigration legislation that can get 115 GOP congressman behind it and President Trump signing it. Minorities don't get what they want in our Republic, their job is to stop what they see as the most extreme part of the majorities agenda from being enacted and to rally behind positions that the country wants as a whole, then they angle themselves to win elections. In the Dems defense, in the history of the country one party has basically been in the majority while the other party has basically been their foil of 'we aren't the majority, we are everyone else who isn't this'. During the Antebellum era, you were basically either a Jacksonian Democrat who believed in a more democratic society, believed in Manifest Destiny, the expansion of the republic through expansion or war, and believed in states rights and letting states/individuals decide on slavery. Basically everyone else were Whigs, they had their own ideas like Henry Clay, but mostly they were Jacksonian foils. Then the Civil War happened, the GOP became the majority and they believed in high protective tariffs, the gold standard for money and laissez-faire economics, the Dems were basically their foils. Then the Depression happened, the New Deal coalition happened, the Dems dominated American politics for 60 years, the GOP was basically their foil and only won when people were pissed at the Dems and the Dems had full control of the Congress for basically 40 years, the GOP only won the Presidency twice in-between Hoover and Reagan and both Eisenhower and Nixon were moderates who were either war heroes or were very fortunate in '68 when the Dems were divided. Then the conservative revolution happened in the 80's and the country became more 'conservative' with basically 60% of the country leaning 'right' and now the GOP's agenda is well established and the Democratic party is basically a collection of everyone who isn't a Republican, which is lots of ideas really and when they are very successful lots of different ideologies. I suspect the GOP will control most state governments and set the agenda for the next 10-20 years maybe a little quicker with how quickly the pendulum seems to swing.

As a twenty-five year old who also remembers both sides of 911, I will second (or third) @Lord Raven's sentiment that terrorism wasn't a topic of much interest or really that great of a worry before that fateful day. My family didn't really talk about terrorism except for the Waco incident and the Oklahoma city bombings. Outside of the fact that the President says whatever pleases him, the Shutdown is a glorified pissing contest. Should the Congress come up with some sort of DACA bill? Yeah, but President Trump campaigned against it and he won, reap what you sow and what not. The government shutdown belongs just as much to the Dems as the GOP, the Democratic party shouldn't stoop to this stupid zero sum game that the GOP rose to during the stupid 2013 shutdown; the Dems have shown a willingness to govern to make decisions that benefit the country even if they don't benefit them politically. It takes 60 votes in the Senate to go to a vote, the Dems actually believe government can do positive good. Even if they think they can pin this mess on the Oompa-Loompa-in-chief, they should do the right thing and pass a funding bill. The GOP may never cave on the DACA issue, but they are the duly elected leaders of the legislative and executive branch, for good or for ill they get to do what they want within the law. If it's so bad and oppressive the Dems need to go campaign in the heartland (not just the coasts) and win, win big, show the GOP the consequences of their bad faith. But if the Dems are going to play the GOP's pissing contest and make national politics a never ending race to the bottom, then they can forget my vote and I suspect the vote of many like me who just want a functioning government run by grownups.

Women's marriages (in traditional medieval society) were only considered legitimate if their family assented to it. The marriage was legitimate for Sigurd, but Deidre's grandfather and father didn't assent to the marriage, but Deidre's marriage to Arvis was assented to by King Azmur, her male guardian. Obviously the whole mind erasure thing complicates the legal and personal matters, but by all rights Seliph is at best an heir to Baldo, but seems like a dubious heir to Heim. Deidre witnessed this statement and only really stupid kings didn't leave wills attesting to their desire for inheritance, especially when the inheritance of your throne was in question(Azmur has no son and a granddaughter of dubious means) and Azmur doesn't seem stupid to me and he knows he's dying. Most of Julius' power still comes from loyal members of the empire following his orders, the cult was useful, but most of the people who do his bidding, Ishtar, Blume, Dannan, Hilda are just 'bad people' not cultists, they do his bidding because he's the true emperor and they want to be in his good graces. Loptyr Julia is a malignant force to be sure, but if Julius still lives, her means of inheritance are extremely limited and she likely wouldn't have had the support to rest power from her father. Besides, a Naga Julius likely could have helped his father usher Julia away while Naga Julia has limited means in the political realm as long as her father and brother still hold so much power.

I think you're misdiagnosing what's going on with them. Here's King Azmur's word to Arvis in ch. 5 “Lord Naga’s lineage through Saint Heim must not be allowed to perish! I want the two of you to bear a son as soon as possible! If the child inherits the power of Naga, he shall be Prince of Grannvale. And once I pass on he’ll become the King of Grannvale. Lord Arvis, until the boy is old enough to rule, you shall be the provisional king. Do raise him well. I hope you understand all of what I’ve told you. (cough.. Ah…ack..)”. The King's will has him as provisional ruler, his son by all rights is king, Arvis rules in his son's stead and succession is all through Deidre. Just like if Deidre had born only daughters and died and Arvis remarried and had sons, Deidre's daughters would have had priority for succession, probably their husbands. And while Julius doesn't inherit Naga's literal power he does inherit Naga through his mother. Seliph really isn't a legitimate child of Deidre , he's more like a bastard who swooped in and through might took the throne and sort of messed up the holy blood arraignment. Deidre's marriage to Arvis is here only legitimate one. Arvis is a puppet at the end because Julius is nearing his coming of age or has suprassed it and should begin his rule as King/Emperor. Yeah the whole evil cult expedites Arvis getting dead and getting kicked out, but the succession plan laid out by the rightful King Azmur would have had a Naga imbibed Julius inheriting the throne about the time Seliph is ready to fight.

Except for Arvis wasn't a cultist, he was just cowed into marrying his sister for the throne and then they made an anti-Christ by accident, but Julius was already his son and his heir so he was basically stuck with him. All of his lines at the end basically tell us Arvis is sorry that Julius is emperor, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to make Julia emperor just because she had Loptsou holy blood. In fact, he may have been able to get rid of her easier by marrying her off far away, nobody would have questioned marrying her to Arion or someone far away.

Except she wouldn't have been given the deference or leeway that Julius was given. He's the heir, no matter what and the reason why the loyal members of the empire who aren't dark cultist follows him is because is father is only emperor in name, mostly a regent. Julius, through his mother and his maleness is the one true emperor basically on his birth and his grandfather's death. Julia's not going to be able to boss around dukes, kings, priests, soldiers and the like if she's the the heir, she's an extra at best.

It complicates Manfloy's plans because he's very dependent on Arvis' and Deidre's son inheriting the throne because the whole male preference for succession so the second half kind of falls apart. But assuming that was the case, I would suspect it would have been in the Manfloy's/dark cult's interest to murder Naga Julius and make it look like an accident so Julia inherits the throne and they get rid of Heim's main blood line too.

It just depends. Assuming you live in the US, or any western country, there's probably a governmental organization like the US's OSHA (occupational safety and health administration) where you can report this gross negligence of the law. I know it seems extreme, but this is why these laws exist, to protect people from the stupid decisions their superiors make, not only is it bad to smoke near others because it's bad for their health and rude it's also bad for the building itself and most companies lease the space they work in and I can't imagine the people that own the building want the rank smell of smoke and all the crap they leave in the vents and carpeting. You should be able to do this anomalously and I can't imagine you're the only one in the office who hates the smoke, so who could pin it on you? Alternatively, if you don't want to inform the authorities, you could always wear a face mask for your 'health'. Flu season is in full swing and people are getting sick all over, if you wear a mask for your 'health' you at least have a excuse for the mask that doesn't have to confront the smokers in your office. Lastly, you could always talk to your boss. While not threatening to expose the company to the lawsuits they seem to deserve, you can still tell the boss that you have weak respiratory health, asthma definitely applies, and that you would prefer if the word spread around the office that you can't handle the smoke in your face and that if those who smoke would be kind enough not to smoke right in front of you.

I mean, most pairings that can 'accidentally' happen are okay, besides all the females except the two that show up late have low love bases so you can just have desired pairings stand near each other about 10 turns a chapter and you'll be fine. And there aren't a ton of lover conversations that give items, but there are a couple. Also love points stop accumulating after turn 50 on every chapter too. All-in-all, pairings while fun, aren't the end all be all, most are pretty okay, just decide the ones you want and build towards them and they will happen, really only one pairing is likely to happen accidentally.

I don't think using staves gives love points, but you're right about conversations and standing next to each other. The last one is just implicitly, most females naturally gave love points each turn with males even if they aren't adjacent at the end of the turn.

You don't 'initiate pairings', when a couple gets 500 love points they become lovers, if you're playing the game, look at Cuan's and Ethlyn's character pages and you'll see the line 'lover' and their respective names will be there, that means they are paired. When a couple reaches 500 love points by 'lover' it will say whoever they are paired with. Yes the ch. 5 lover conversations only occur between people who the game identies as lovers, once a couple reaches 500 points the game stops adding points for other characters, so if Lex and Arya reach 500 they are lovers even if Holyn had 450 love points, it doesn't matter the game will stop counting Arya and Holyn's love points. That's pretty much it, though the game doesn't allow conversations that create 'love points' like the conversation in ch. 3 between Arya and either Lex or Holyn if that person already has a lover, so that should be kept in mind too.

I agree that the president is indeed a narcissist, if you want to give it a mental health diagnosis and call him malignant, go ahead, but I'm loathe to do so, I don't know him and I'm not a doctor. That isn't a disqualifying trait from the presidency, it just makes you a lousy human. I thought about it and there is a way Mr Mueller can compel the President to talk to him, he could issue a subpoena through a grand jury though that may open a whole new can of worms, but I suspect the president would talk to him in private if a subpoena was issued. Congresspeople are different, the means by which they are removed is very public. The whole Congress basically has to take up an issue to get rid of the member, so with private things like Alzheimer's disease, Congresspeople are expected to resolve those matters on their own and resign if necessary. The 25th Amendment allows for relative privacy to initiate the means of removing a sitting President. I agree that he's ignorant and ill-informed, but old and stupid aren't disqualifying traits for the Presidency. This could have been complained about long before he became President, those traits seemed to attract many Americans to him. I remember lots of people remarking he 'says it like it is', he is who he is. I'm not actually defending the president as a human or a politician, I'm merely defending the institution of the Presidency from needless speculation, removing the President is an extreme action, it can't be taken lightly and shouldn't be glibly flung about. The world already thinks he's a moron, there's already egg on our faces, some care, some don't, it is what it is. The world would think no less if his allies started calling him out and if they privately moved to remove him for being incapacitated and failed the Congress would likely be forced to intervene.