So I recently started picking Magic back up after a hiatus due to the pandemic and the fact that I REALLY can't stand The One Ring (not because it's annoying but because it is in too many decks). By the time I left, the scam elementals were a thing but weren't as bothersome as they are now. With MH3 coming up, I jumped back in online and played my pet Esper Control deck as I build it for every format if possible. It is an old "draw go" list that I will provide here:
4 Flood Strand 4 Polluted Delta 2 Hallowed Fountain 2 Watery Grave 2 Raffine's Tower 1 Celestial Colonnade 1 Hall of Storm Giants 1 Castle Vantress 1 Sunken Ruins 1 Mystic Gate 1 Drowned Catacomb
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Opt 3 Fatal Push 2 March of Otherworldly Light 4 Counterspell 3 Kaya's Guile 4 Archmage's Charm 2 Cryptic Command
3 Prismatic Ending 2 Damn
2 Teferi, Time Raveler 2 Teferi, Hero Of Dominaria
Sideboard: 2 Kataki, War's Wage 2 Shark Typhoon 3 Spreading Seas 2 Fracture 1 Kaya's Guile 2 Path to Exile 2 Supreme Verdict 1 Vindicate
The main idea behind the deck was to be instant speed all of the time with modal cards to cover my bases. I own this list in paper. A lot of it's cards were dedicated to stopping Hammer Time as that was my biggest challenge at the time. I took this list on xMage just to see if it still holds up and it is miserable. The two games I played I ran into an Orzhov scam deck that ripped 5 cards out of my hand by turn 2 or 3. After that I ran into a Gruel Prowess deck that I didn't know used it's graveyards once it emptied it's hand. That wasn't as annoying as I could just Kaya's Guile them I just was not aware of the gameplan. However today I saw a spoiler for a card that helps against scam so it will be an instant 4 of in my sideboard. I am aware that Leyline Binding is a thing, I just don't have copies or another land to reduce it's costs. Now I do still have an old Gruel Tron list (I'm a dinosaur) and fetchless Boros Burn list that I would like to update but for now I'll ask for advice on my Esper deck. What would you guys suggest be an improvement on the overall list? It doesn't have to be the best deck in the world but something fun that can at least win matches.
TLDR; I'm a returning modern player that needs help updating their esper control list for modern if possible.

Oh, boy, Charlotte, do I have a doozy for you. It’s such a doozy that it comes in 2 parts. I guess it would qualify as petty revenge, since that’s the only flair that fit, but it’s more of an entitled Karen story.
For the sake of telling the story a little smoother, I'm going to explain some things up front. I (female, early 30s; let's call me Molly) am the manager in the accounting office of a very small loan company. Like, really small. We have less than 30 offices with only 2 employees at each office. For this reason, we are kind of low-tech, old-fashioned. I'm talking paper timesheets that get faxed to our office (we're also the corporate office that handles the payroll). Our office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a half-hour lunch. Me & my employee (who we'll call Sally) work this shift. Our boss (who we'll call Greg) is the owner & CEO. He works in the office starting at 9:00 a.m. till whenever he leaves for the day. Most of the time, that's around the time we leave, sometimes it's earlier due to errands he needs to run.
So, in Oct 2022, Sally (female, early 30s) gave us a note that her doctor wants to have daily appointments with her indefinitely. She let us know she would need to leave at 3:30 every day. Greg granted that request & even gave her the opportunity to come in early so she didn't miss any of her 8 hours each day. So, she began coming to work between 6:45 & 7:00 & would take however long of a lunch she needed to so she would have an 8-hour day.
Due to a combination of our fiscal year-end work in Oct & Nov 2022, playing catch-up from Dec 2022 to Feb 2023, & the other coworker (who we'll call Irene) leaving the company in Feb 2023 so we had to play catch-up again for several months before we got used to the bigger workload, I hadn't been able to pay too close attention to Sally's work. But in the middle of Aug 2023, I began to suspect her. I realized that the tasks Sally had in the morning would usually take me an hour & a half to do, which meant I would be relatively finished by the time I would arrive at 8:30. Sally, on the other hand, would only have stuff halfway done. Now, I knew Sally worked slower than me since I knew the job better than she did, but this still seemed very slow. I began to suspect Sally was either not arriving as early as she said she was (she was the only one in the office before 8:30) or she was arriving on time but wasn't working.
On Aug 21 (Monday), I decided to come in early to the office since I had to make up time due to a doctor appointment later in the week. So, I arrived at work at 6:40. 6:45 rolled around...no Sally. 6:50...no Sally. 7:00...same thing. Sally arrived at 7:20. Now, ok, maybe she ran into traffic. However, that's a bit of a coincidence that the one day I show up early unannounced is also the day she happens to be late. But I waited to see what time Sally would write down on the timesheet. However, she didn't write down her time until Tuesday right before she left. She had written down that she had arrived at 7:05. I asked her about it, and her response was "I must have copied it down wrong from my spreadsheet." That's strange, 'cause you hadn't arrived at 7:05 any other day that week. Just where did you copy it down from?
Now, I am curious as to what time Sally puts down when she believes no one has seen what time she arrives. So, for Sept 4-15, I would arrive in the parking lot across the street & read a book & eat breakfast while I wait to see what time Sally would arrive. Every single day, she would arrive around 7:15 or 7:20, but would write down 6:45 or 6:50, a half hour discrepancy every single day. & we have no way of knowing how long she's been stealing a half hour every day. She could have been doing this for the past year since her schedule changed.
On Sept 18, I write down Sally's actual times from these 2 weeks on a paper & tell her to correct all the times I indicated. Sally says that she will use the office clock to write down her times from now on. Wait a minute, you're saying that your phone is a half hour earlier than the rest of the world? But only when you arrive at work. When you go to lunch & leave work, it matches the rest of the clocks. & then switches during the night so your arrival time can be wrong again the next day? Wow, that's a pretty glitchy phone you got there.
On Sept 20 after Sally left, I installed a camera that connects to an app in my phone. I put the camera in a place where it wouldn't be able to see any computers/paperwork & turned off the microphone (I didn't want to risk any company info being seen/heard). I only needed to see when Sally arrived. Where I ended up placing it, I was able to see Sally where she sat at her desk.
On three of the following days, Sally would arrive 10 to 15 minutes after the time she would write down. I speak with Greg about this, & we decide to write her up. By the way, usually when an employee is caught forging the timesheet like this, it's an immediate termination. At any other office, she would have gotten fired in the beginning of Sept after I first discovered the half hour forgery. I am deciding to give her a chance to make this whole thing right.
On Sept 26 (Tuesday), I give Sally the write up when she arrives.
Sally: I'll sign it, but I don't know why. I mean, I get here at 7:00. (Ok, there's a sign right there. Who signs an official write up when their employer is lying or setting them up?)
Me: I've observed you arriving between 7:10 & 7:15.
Sally reads the write up & then keeps it at her desk for a bit after signing it. After plenty of time, I ask for it back. She grabs it, so I lean forward & hold my hand out (our desks are right next to each other), but Sally flings it at my desk. The whole thing is made better by the fact that Greg is out of town Tuesday thru Thursday. So, Sally proceeds to be angry & have an attitude all the way through Thursday. She refuses to talk or answer the phones. She does that tossing/flicking-papers-around, aggressive-typing, heavily-setting-things-down thing people do when they're frustrated or angry (which she did all...day...long). She sped out of the parking lot & down the street so fast that I could hear her engine rev & tires squeal from inside the building.
On Sept 27 (Wednesday), Sally is still doing that slamming things thing. I enjoy not responding to her whatsoever. I could see out of the corner of my eye that she would slam something down & look at me. I wouldn't give any kind of reaction, wouldn't look at her, & it would piss her off. Sally would then start slamming things around again. I admit, that was fun.
On Sept 28 (Thursday), I see on the camera that Sally arrives at 7:00, but then I watch her sit on her phone for 45 minutes! She is still having attitude issues, &—unbelievably—is still slamming things. After she leaves for the day, I then see the calendar that Sally keeps on her desk as I was passing by. On the box for Sept 26 (the day she was written up), she had written the words "F***ING JOKE!". The audacity of her to write that in plain view of everyone in the office & think she wouldn't get in trouble for it.
On Sept 29 (Friday), Sally arrives at 7:00 but sits on her phone for 30 minutes WHILE VAPING! (Not sure about other cities or states, but it's illegal to smoke or vape inside a building in the city where our office is.) But Greg is back this day, & I had been texting him what's been going on. He had texted back he wanted to do a meeting on Friday. So, the 3 of us go into the breakroom for a meeting.
Greg: So, Sally, what's been going on with this timesheet thing?
Sally: I just, I forget to write down the time when I arrive.
Greg: Ok, well, whether it's done on purpose or through negligence, we can't have wrong times on the timesheet. So, from now on, you won't be able to come to work before Molly gets here at 8:30. Now, are there any other problems you'd like to discuss with us?
Sally: (begins getting worked up) I just, I feel like I can't talk to her. She creates such a hostile work environment.
Now, I am blown away. Me? Hostile? I'm autistic, so I'm naturally shy & hate socializing, so I usually don't talk to anyone very much. Everyone I tell this story to, their eyes widen when I mention this, 'cause there's no way anyone would ever describe me as hostile.
Luckily, Greg interrupts her to defend me: This isn't a hostile work environment.
Sally: (backpedaling) Well, I mean, she gets mad at her printer & bangs on it, & that just flashes me back to stuff. I mean, I'm trying to work on myself & the anxiety, & she just sends me back.
Oh, so now, we're claiming we have PTSD & that my "violent" actions are giving her flashbacks? Um, who is it laughing right along with me every time my printer jams? (By the way, I know she's lying about the PTSD, 'cause I have a couple friends with PTSD & recognize the signs. Sally doesn't show any sign of fear or panic or shrinking away from things, nothing like that. There are no signs whatsoever of her being alarmed by anything I do.) Oh, not to mention the double standards. You're allowed to slam things around (for 3 straight days, by the way), but I'm not?
Anyway, we wrap up the meeting after Greg underlines (for Sally's benefit) that everyone in the office needs to get along.
On Oct 2 (the next Monday), I had a good drive & happened to get there at 8:20. Sally arrives at 8:25 & comes in, stopping at my desk.
Sally: (annoyed) Are you gonna be early all week?
Me: (frowning & caught off-guard) Um, I don't know. It just depends how long my drive takes.
Sally: (with a snarky attitude) 'Cause I had to keep driving around waiting for you, so if you're gonna be early, I'd like to know.
Ok, first of all, no one is forcing you to drive around. You can park your car in the parking lot. Do you really think we're gonna fire you for sitting in the parking lot while you wait for me? We only said you couldn't come in & work before I do. & second, it's none of your business when I get to work. My shift starts at 8:30, therefore, you should aim for 8:30, just like Greg told you to do. How am I supposed to predict the exact minute I get to work? & you're gonna get angry at me 'cause I didn't show up before my shift starts? Since when is it a requirement of mine to come into work before I start working?
Well, a bit of malicious compliance in this entitled story: if I can see I'm going to arrive at work more than 5 minutes early, I stop at the store just down the road & shop until 8:30. 'Cause guess what? Sally gets there who knows how early & sits in the gas station across the street, waiting for me. Fine, you wanna be that way? I can be petty, too.
By the way, Sally has a radio talk show she listens to from before I get to work until it ends at 10:00. I'm not into talk shows, but it wasn't too annoying (most of the time), so I didn't say anything about it. The reason why I started having a problem listening to it was that they would get into inappropriate things (s** toy review, for example). It made me super uncomfortable when they did segments like this. From the moment Sally was written up, she started only listening to the show on her headphones, thinking she was punishing me by me not getting to hear the show. Joke's on her. Sally did me a favor by not having to listen to that thing.
Sally was also told that she is no longer allowed to take smoke breaks on the clock. As no one else in the office takes breaks but chooses to work through them, this change would be made so all employees were equal now. But here’s the interesting thing: Sally suddenly stopped taking smoke breaks at all, but her bathroom breaks grew more numerous & longer. When she had been taking smoke breaks, the alarm on her phone would go off at specific times, such as 2:00. She would then go outside to take her smoke break. After the on-the-clock-smoke-break privilege was taken away, the same alarms would go off, such as 2:00. She would then disappear to the bathroom for 15 minutes. & I even smelled smoke in there when I went in there right after one of these long bathroom breaks.
Ever since the write up, there’s been attitude every once in a while. Most of the time, I have no idea what it is I did that could possibly have set her off that day. All I know is that Sally’s suddenly slamming things around again (hmm, PTSD cured now, is it?). & she’s still constantly making mistakes (like she’s always done).
On Nov 27, Sally is working on the Funding (loan proceeds funded onto a customer’s debit card). What we do is get the list of customers, determine how much the office funded that customer, transfer the money from the office’s bank account to the holding account, & then transfer the total from the holding account to the account that directly funds the debit cards to replenish the money. We had two customers with similar names (say, John Smith & Jack Smith). Sally hadn’t paid attention to the whole name & had applied John’s $0 funding to Jack. However, Jack had been funded $250. So, that money was missed, & I had to make a separate transfer for it.
On Dec 4, Sally is working on the Funding & writes down $0 for a customer. But the report from the office says he actually got $96.
On Dec 8 & 9, we discovered 2 checks that were supposed to be sent to our office (one from Oct, one from Sept). Neither had been cashed, & neither had ever reached us, even though we had the rest of the paperwork that would have come with those checks. Due to the dots I had connected, I had a pretty strong hunch that Sally wasn’t thoroughly checking the mail envelopes to make sure they’d been completely emptied before they got thrown away. I believed these checks were still in some envelopes that were then thrown away by Sally.
On Dec 11, on the bank reconciliation sheets we work at the end of the month (like balancing a checkbook), one of Sally’s offices was out of balance by $68, & she couldn’t find it. I couldn’t find it, either. I pulled out the one done for the month before. I couldn’t find it there, either. But I did notice one thing. The checks that hadn’t cleared the bank yet didn’t add up to the total amount of outstanding checks Sally had written down. By $68. I go back to the month before that one. There were a total of $68 in old checks that never got cashed & therefore should have gotten written off on the fiscal year-end at the end of Oct. But she hadn’t transferred them to the new month’s sheet. So, now, we have to hold onto them for a whole year to write off next Oct.
The same day, I went through all the offices to double check the GL codes that we post the expense checks to (GL codes determine where an expense gets coded, e.g., post an electricity payment to the GL code for utilities). The day previously, Sally had gotten several GL codes incorrect in the Miller office. She had forgotten to change the codes from the one for the Checkbook to the ones for the expense account. She had caught those ones since it affected the balance of the Checkbook, so I had helped her fix those properly. However, there were expense checks sent to a GL code that wasn’t the right one that Sally hadn’t caught.
I talk with Greg, as I feel that every time I turn around, I am either retraining Sally on stuff I’ve trained her on multiple times, I’m correcting mistakes on stuff Sally should know how to do by now (‘cause again, I’ve trained her multiple times), or I’m disciplining Sally about stuff she’s doing wrong. Greg asks how many mistakes due to carelessness she’s made in the last 2 weeks. I check my notes & tell him 4. He says that’s too excessive for an accounting office. We need to write her up.
So, I made the write up, but I just know I’m going to be dealing with the same attitude as the last time I had to write her up. & guess what? Greg’s out of town till Thursday again. I used my phone this time to record the audio of the interaction. That way, if Sally has attitude towards me again, I’m able to play the recording to Greg so he can hear what Sally’s like when he’s not here (which is why the following conversation is pretty much word for word).
On Dec 12 (Tuesday), I sat her down first thing.
Me: So, in the past couple weeks, I’ve noticed some errors happening due to carelessness, & they’ve become a bit excessive for an accounting office. The most important thing in an accounting office is accuracy. That’s why we focus so much on thoroughness & attention to detail. So, whatever needs to happen to lessen those errors, whether it’s slowing the pace of the work itself or double & triple-checking the work before it’s finished, it needs to happen. For example, when I work the payroll, after I get the total for all the offices, I then subtract each person’s individual hours to double check my entries. That way, if there is an error, at least I know it wasn’t ‘cause I was going too fast or not paying attention or something. So, whatever you need to do to decrease the mistakes, please—
Sally: What errors are we talking about?
Me: I have a page here with the items from the last couple weeks. (hand her the write up)
Sally: (reads the pages for a minute) Ok…
Me: So, whatever you need to do to—
Sally: (talking quickly ‘cause she’s pissed now) I’m gonna need more time & focus strictly on Funding. I don’t wanna touch mail, I don’t wanna touch anything else. I wanna focus strictly on that. ‘Cause I’m getting 80 plus a day (which was a lie, we never get nearly that much), & now, I’m gonna start getting in trouble if it’s not 110%. I am human. I will make mistakes. So, if that’s not allowed, then…(shrugs) let me know, I guess. I’ll talk to Greg & I guess figure something out. I am human, & I am gonna make mistakes, A. B, I feel like crap. He (Greg) has been in here sick the last week. I caught whatever he has. I’ve been hacking. I’ve been sicker than sh** the last week. I am trying. You guys usually have until the 12th to close the month. Since I’ve worked here, I’ve closed before the 8th. Yeah, I made mistakes. I told you I made a mistake on the Miller office. I knew what happened. So, to throw it in my face again that I already made that mistake is kinda rude, but…(shrugs) I’m actually kinda shocked to see that on there.
Me: Well, you did catch the errors involving the Checkbook, but there were other mistakes on that office that you didn’t catch, & that’s the reason that was listed on there.
Sally goes back to her work, & I decide to not ask her to sign the write up I had given her right away since she was diving right into the Funding. She had expressed she wanted to focus solely on it to minimize mistakes. I wanted to use positive reinforcement to convey that this was good behavior & good thinking, so I decided to wait for her to finish before asking her to sign & return the write up.
Now, here’s the issues with her little outburst above.

1. Sally is complaining that she’s human & makes mistakes & we’re not allowing mistakes. We’re not saying that she can’t make mistakes, ‘cause she’s right. Everyone makes mistakes; I make mistakes. What we’re saying is that she’s making mistakes much too often.
   
2. Sally says the reason for these mistakes the last 2 weeks is ‘cause she’s been sick the last week or so ‘cause she caught what Greg had (do you see the timing problem there?). Also, these kinds of mistakes have been happening for months & months. I only brought these examples up ‘cause they were recent.
   
3. Sally pointed out the fact that she closes each month really quick. We don’t care how fast things get done. Our goal isn’t to get things done quickly but to get things done accurately. If we happen to get it done quickly, that’s just a bonus. We would rather things go slow than to have errors causing problems or costing us money ‘cause we didn’t take the time to make sure it was correct.
   
4. Sally states it’s rude that I’m throwing her error back in her face (you already know my reaction to that). She obviously doesn’t know how a job works. Just ‘cause we discussed this error already doesn’t mean it can’t go on the write up. This is just one of the examples that required us to do a write up. We’re not doing this ‘cause we want to write you up or that we’re looking for excuses to get you in trouble. We’re doing our job. If a situation needs correcting, we have to correct it. We can’t just ignore it. & obviously, me talking about your errors all these months hasn’t helped. You’re still making the same mistakes. So, now, we’ve had to escalate to a write up on paper.
   

Sally doesn’t say another word. She, as expected, starts doing her tossing-things-‘cause-I’m-pissed-off thing. I just go back to my work. I’ve said my piece, now we can put it behind us & move on.
Now, we have until 10:30 to make the transfers for this Funding program in order to get the money back to the account the same day. We are still missing the paperwork for 2 customers from an office. (FYI, when we’re missing paperwork, we call the office & ask them to fax it. If we still don’t get it when it gets close to the transfer deadline, we call again & just ask for the amount to get it done.) So, at 10:20, Sally turns to me.
Sally: What do I do for these 2 customers? Do I just skip them?
Me: (frowning) Do what you usually do when you don’t have the paperwork in time. Call the office—
Sally: (in a sharp tone) I did. (she’s assuming I mean call the office to tell them to fax it)
Me: (ignoring her attitude outburst) Call up the office & ask for the dollar amounts.
Sally: But I don’t want to write down the amount without seeing the actual paperwork. If I’m gonna get in trouble for errors now, I don’t want to take down what could be the wrong dollar amount over the phone. I mean, I think that’s only fair to me.
Me: In the instances that were mentioned, they weren’t cases of taking down an amount over the phone. They were instances where we had paperwork or a report to see the amount. We would never write you up if there was a possibility that the office gave you the wrong amount over the phone.
Sally stares at me for a second & turns back to her desk. I turn back to my own work as Sally then calls up the office. I had to deal with her attitude the rest of the day: throwing mail into the mailbox, throwing open the letter folding machine so it made a big bang on the table. I was trying to still be the usual friendly, professional person I am at work; I told her “See you tomorrow” & everything. Sally wouldn’t talk to me unless she had to.
This is when I discovered that Sally has a habit of lashing out at me when she gets in trouble. The first write up involved her trying to drag me under the bus by claiming I’m hostile. This time, it was more personal. See, we do a Christmas gift exchange at the office; we each buy each other a gift. I had searched over & over trying to find something Sally would like. I finally found this desk calendar with gnomes on it (she likes both of these things), so I got it & a couple small items. I open my gift from Sally, & among a few cheap little things, I found…Sally’s own nearly empty bottle of nail polish remover. Wow, this is the thanks I get for not firing you back in Sept with the whole timesheet forgery thing?
& this is where I leave you until Part 2, the conclusion.

1. Birling isn’t mad at Eric for raping daisy but mad he stole money. This shows that capitalism is so cruel that it dehumanises the lower class that are below £50 so reform society to socialism
   
2. This is a war play as during ww1 many capitalist business owners took advantage of the surge in demand for artillery and machinery. So they also took advantage of ww2 but this lead to economic collapse and mass industry closing. This shows greed leads to worse results and using soldiers and human lives as profit leads to even more societal suffering (as seen in the post ww2 recession.
   

This is reflected when the inspector leaves and the birlings celebrate showing they haven’t learnt anything or feel any accountability. Only when the second phone call happens (symboling ww2) do the birlings face the real consequences
This is priestly showing that capitalism will never learn their lesson about and continue to avoid responsibility so society will perpetually suffer in ‘fire blood and anguish’ just like the cyclical structure of the play (starts and needs with announcing an inspector called)The audience relates to these consequences as society suffered exponentially worse as capitalist leaders didn’t help victims of war but instead took advantage of them. Therefore reform to socialism

1. Most students know birling took advantage of Sheila’s engagement for a union with crofts limited for ‘lower costs and higher prices’ as women in Edwardian society were perceived as possessions of their father and husband so could be used for climbing the social ladder.

Yet mrs Birling understands that Sheila has no influence in society apart for her status and outward appearance. This is why Sybil is a ‘rather cold woman’ since she knows women have no power in 1912 patriarchal society so have to give the false allusion they do by acting austere and powerful. She also cleverly teaches Sheila her tactics to have influence and power by acting cold and constantly condemning her saying she ‘shouldn’t say such things’. This isn’t Sybil being a cruel and callous bad mother, but instead acting strict to her child as a loving action to ensure her daughter has the best opportunities in life
In addition, Sybil doesn’t punish Gerald for committing adultery against her daughter. In fact, she’s glad that Gerald returns when she replies to him asking if they don’t mind him coming back with ‘of course not’ revealing she has no negative feeling towards his actions and acts as if she has forgotten what he did. This is because she knows that Gerald is the only way her daughter is going to have any purpose in life. In this patriarchal society Sheila would have no need or influence to anyone, including women. This could be because Sybil herself has had a similar experience with mr Birling as she said ‘men with important work have to spend all their time and energy on their business’. This could show that Sybil is using the euphemism of ‘work’ as she can’t bring herself to accept what Arthur may she done when he wasn’t being attentive to her and instead his ‘business’. The audience feels empathy to her because Sybil understands the significant gender inequality but has to accept that men aren’t faithful. She can’t ‘protest’ as that would physically ruin her life. Women couldn’t get divorces or have any dominance in their marriage so could object to any of their husband’s action. This is why sybil dismisses Gerald’s affair to save her daughter from ruining her life.

1. Women can only express power through clothes. Birling says ‘but- well, a sort of sign or token of their self respect’ this shows that women are objectified to how they present themselves with answers the question to why Sheila got eva fired from Millard’s. Sheila would have appeared less dignified or respected compared to beautiful Eva so she had to get rid of the competition. Patriarchy has such an oppressive grip on women that has manipulated them to believe their appearance is the only symbol of their ‘self respect’

Big boss isn’t just his stats, he was also the sum of his accomplishments. Operation snake eater, stopping world war 3, defeating all the cobras and destroying the Shagohad and given highest honors by president Johnson. Those accomplishments alone are what warranted the clones and creating a figure.
The peace walker incident, and all of venoms exploits on the Middle East and Africa just added further to the legend. Also being such a good soldier meant they found genes in him that served as the template for soldiers later on.
Those higher stat recruits may have been technically faster and stronger than big boss, but they didn’t have the accomplishments and the legend he built up.

Foreword: First of all thanks for having a positive community here. I am from the far east so apologies for my poor use of English in advance. I hold about 14.8k shares myself and believe this is gonna be a long war. So I guess it’s wise for us to understand a bit on what (or who) we are actually investing in. Treat it as a casual read if you wish. This post might be an unpopular opinion. Also most of contents below are researched on Chinese websites. I am merely a translator and this is not an investment advice at all. Also please point it out if any of the contents are inaccurate.
TLDR: YT Jia doesn’t have a good reputation here with his previous business (LeTV) in China. FFIE’s main selling point now is that they are the only Chinese EV manufacturer based in the US. Few days ago Biden imposed a 100% tariff (up from 25%) on EVs from China, and it might be possible that Chinese EV manufacturers will seek collaboration with FFIE to bypass the tariff.
Yueting Jia (YT Jia) is a businessman from China. He was the founder of LeTV in China in the 2000s.
LeTV first started as an online video sharing platform in 2005 and later on streams movies, TV programs and even livestreams sports events (Just imagine it was the Youtube and Netflix of China, but not as successful). LeTV was listed in China in 2010 and declared that they already achieved breakeven back in 2008.
In mid 2010s LeTV stated their intentions of building EVs in China and the US. Faraday Future was founded in 2014 by YT Jia and he left LeTV (but still the business owner I believe) and physically left China (and never returned) in July 2017 to focus on the EV business (he claimed). LeTV was in deep financial troubles and media start reporting in Oct 2017 that the IPO in 2010 was a financial fraud (No way that the company was breaking even back then).
He was on the national debtor blacklist in Dec 2017 as he ‘escaped’ China and left all his debts behind. All assets were froze by the CCP government. He received a CNY 241M fine in 2021 for financial fraud from 2007-2016 at LeTV.
Meanwhile in the US, FFIE and Jia himself weren’t doing any better. FFIE was originally backed by Chinese real estate conglomerate Evergrande in 2018 (for around USD $700M). The first payment of USD $500M was spent (or disappeared) without any explanation or justification to Evergrande, and they brought Jia to court for the lack of financial transparency in FFIE. After the court case, the court froze Jia’s assets and stakes in FFIE and he personally filed bankruptcy in 2019.
Fast forward to 2024, Jia filed a court case against his former employee Lei Ding. Ding joined the EV segment of LeTV back in 2014 and followed Jia to FFIE in 2015. He left in 2017 and set up his own EV company (HiPhi) in China. HiPhi targets the high end Chinese EV market with car models selling at CNY 600k-800k price points. They were actually sensational in China and sold around 10,000 cars in a few years time, but eventually stopped production in 2024 due to lack of funding.
Jia sues Ding in 2024 for stealing FFIE’s intellectual property and business confidential information to use on HiPhi EV products. What I wanted to point out here, is that if FFIE really takes off with our support and Jia isn’t a scam at all, their products may actually look like HiPhi. Search The Faraday Future FF91 on Youtube channel ’Vehicle Virgins’ and Hiphi X on ‘carwow’.
Recently Jia starts livestreaming on his social media platforms, mainly on commenting his competitors (e.g. the highly successful Xiaomi SU7 EV as well as the HiPhi cases). Rumours believed that he wants to leverage on his personal reputation to generate extra income from livestreaming, as well as media exposure for FFIE to collaborate with Chinese EV manufacturers in future.
Biden imposed a 100% tariff (up from 25%) on Chinese EVs to protect US jobs on 14 May. It coincided with the uprise of FFIE stocks. The Chinese commentators are linking FFIE with the tariff lately, claiming that with FFIE’s infrastructure and establishment in the US, and Jia’s connection and experiences with the Chinese market, the Chinese EV companies may use FFIE as a platform to launch and even manufacture EVs in the US.
With Jia’s track records, he’s not a popular figure in the Chinese world. Most of the Chinese-language forums are bearish on FFIE’s future, and personally I am still not fully convinced on FFIE’s long term future.
What I have faith on is Jia’s business insights - be it LeTV back in the 2000s when video streaming is still not a thing at all in China, or introducing EVs in 2014 when Tesla and the concept of EVs are still relatively new to China. With the huge support here, media coverage and all that financial indications (looking at the short interest and everything), I believe we can achieve something out there and hence encouraging everyone to study about what we are actually investing in.
If you read til here, thank you very much for your support. I type everything myself (with no bots, no Google translation, no Chatgpt nothing) and I am not a bot. Just here to share my insights and wish everyone of us are well informed on our investment decisions. It’s our hard earn cash that we are investing in and we shouldn’t treat it like gambling. Again this is not investment advices and I can’t say I really like FFIE, but I like this community and all the positives you all contributing, so thanks all for reading this, supporting each other and wish us all a successful fight on Monday and onwards. HODL 💎🙌🏻

So at the climax of Revenge of the Sith, when Anakin has gone all 9/11 and is flailing about in his lifelong misery while taking the galaxy down with him, he and Obi-Wan start arguing about political differences, religious beliefs, and whether it’s morally acceptable to murder hundreds if not thousands of people along the way to get there. Obi-Wan takes the valid stance of it not being cool, and makes it clear he’s going to fuck Anakin’s shit up for all his dark deeds. Anakin is eager for this because as said above, he’s riding high on FUBAR as a state of being and seeks the catharsis/validation of beating someone he can project all his problems onto. Thus, we get the baddest lightsaber duel there is, and you know the rest.
Now a lot of the time, people drag their knuckles about the line “Only a Sith deals in absolutes” and how it’s some kind of indicator of inherent Jedi hypocrisy or dramatic irony or George Lucas being a hack or what-fucking-have-you. I don’t really care because I think it's stupid, as Jocasta Nu illustrates for us here, and it’s not the point I want to make. Instead, I’d like to draw your attention to the line Obi-Wan drops before: “Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic, to democracy!”
Nice delivery by Ewan aside, the meaning of this line is pretty clear: that Obi-Wan, in the face of Anakin flying completely and absolutely batshit off the handle into Divine-Right-of-Kings-For-Those-I-Love, is declaring himself an ally to the Republic and democracy specifically. That he is a very pro-democracy individual and considers it a part of the Republic. Which, cool, because Anakin is totally bugfuck nuts at this point and anything he believes in is probably bugfuck nuts as well so it’s smart to avoid it.
The thing is though, that Obi-Wan is wrong. Actually, he's not just wrong, he's speaking nonsense that is genuinely complete nonsense to hear from a Jedi in the Prequel Era Republic. Because let's recap a few details:
The Jedi Order of the Prequels inducts their initiates as infants or toddlers, with an aged nine Anakin being considered way too old. Now it's their prerogative to take students as they wish (though the thousand years of uniformity unsurprisingly severely backfires), but generally speaking, children under nine are learning things like what's acceptable to put in your mouth and how to read, write, and use the bathroom. The ability to choose "make me a Jedi for life" is genuinely nonexistent for them, so right off the bat, one of the basic democratic cornerstones is also nonexistent for them. It's also not like the Jedi are just Space Catholics/Buddhists: they are explicitly raised and taught to serve the (increasingly corrupt) Republic and its (gradually growing in obscenity until they have to violate their identities as peacekeepers) needs. The actual ability to choose for Jedi is already in the negative double digits.
And for whichever one of you that's breaking their keyboard typing about how Jedi can leave if they want, I'm already aware, thanks for nothing. The thing is that A.) the ability to be able to refuse to participate in something you did not actually sign up for is what I would consider the absolute bare minimum, B.) it doesn't change the part where they don't make the choice to join to begin with, and C.) given how Jedi are taken into the Order usually before they even begin forming concrete memories, we can probably assume that's the reason so few do. When you're raised in that environment for your entire life, the choice to leave is synonymous with abandoning everything you've ever known, which is pretty terrifying.
Moving on: in the Jedi Order, the positions of authority are broken up between the Grand Master (who leads the entire Jedi Order), the Master of the Jedi Order (who is the leaderepresentative officer of the Council), and the Jedi Council. Let's talk about how the buck of leadership is passed around these people, and how there's frighteningly little oversight for the vast majority of the Jedi. Pay attention to the bold words.
The Council is made up of twelve Jedi Masters, including the Grand Master and Master of the Order (this was Yoda and Mace respectively in the PT) who historically are the same person holding both titles. In ROTS, Anakin serves as the senate-appointed representative, an extreme breach of tradition and what sends the Council into dealing with Palpatine's dictatorship (long after the Chad Mace Windu had sobered up to his increasing power and the problems of the war in the EU). While there's no 13th chair made for him, it's never clarified who Anakin was replacing or why there was an open spot at the moment. Though we can probably assume it was due to a wartime event, like the previous Council member being violently executed with a planet full of civilians on the HoloNet by the Separatists as part of their terror campaigns a week ago, it ultimately doesn't matter because this isn't about him.
The twelve seats are split between five lifetime members, four long-term members (and the end to that term is entirely decided on what's the "approved end date", not an actual hard number), and three limited-term members (that limit is not stated). If a lifetime appointment member dies, then it's possible for a long-term member to succeed them or for the Council to choose another Jedi Master at their own discretion, and the long-and-short-term members can be elevated to another position in the Council and have their term extended. The Council, in addition to serving as the liasion between the Jedi and the Senate, are also responsible for deciding when Padawans have progressed to the point of being ready for the Trials to become a Jedi Knight.
(Before I get some wannabe trying to blast me in the comments for using supplementary material to make an argument, take a look at the lineup of the Council in the movies. In the ten year period between TPM and AOTC, there have been only two switches in membership (which in extended material usually involves both being killed), and the three year period after AOTC leading up to ROTS being a war makes it questionable whether term limits became a thing, or Council members just stepped down or got killed off. Not really ideal).
Now notice how, nowhere in the above, is there a "members of the Jedi Order vote for who should be on the Council" option. Even if you want to argue that there should be a qualification factor, like say, holding the rank of Master, that still leaves a large candidate pool open where the actual rank-and-file of the Jedi could decide who they wanted making decisions. We're talking about a group that's supposed to be at least 10,000 members strong at this point, I somehow believe there are enough people willing and capable of leadership given the opportunity. Let alone the idea of immutable, set term limits.
Instead, it's basically just Yoda (also: very telling that the dude who probably only missed a four digit lifespan due to an unholy amount of trauma and misery at the tail end of it is a key decision maker for everything) and a couple of other people (who very well might have similarly lengthy lifetimes on account of being aliens) holding onto power for insanely extended periods of time and selecting who else gets to hold on to power for insanely extended periods of time at the whims of this inner circle. This is obviously a little less than preferable for how leadership should be handled, and that's not even taking into account how the Council seems to be the only real governing body of the Jedi Order.
But let's sidestep how completely anti-democratic the Jedi Order is internally, and focus on its external agency. The Jedi, despite being members of the Republic and a key cornerstone of it as a government institution, are never shown able to participate in the Senate in any meaningful way, shape, or form, such as actually voting for senators to be representatives of any star system. Let me remind you, this is the same senate where megacorporations get to have their own seats, so we aren't exactly talking about a sacred and honorable institution here.
Even if you want to assume the Jedi wouldn't want to influence the elections of systems they technically aren't part of (because of the above-mentioned total removal from their homes and cultures to become Jedi), there's an enormous leap between that and the basic ability to vote for who you'll be taking orders from. Why can't the Jedi have a voice in the government when Space Exxon gets to have their own senator? Even if it's just something as basic as "participate in the vote for who will become Chancellor of the Republic", that would be A.) an enormous leap towards the Jedi Order getting to participate in a democracy, and B.) exercising the absolute bare minimum of power in the system they are part of and help uphold. Maybe if there had been Senatorial Representative Jedi Master Shii-Par Kewwll in the PT, they could have turned the vote against Palpatine in TPM! Or advised Jar Jar against giving Palpatine emergency powers in AOTC! But nah, we can't have the defenders of the Republic decide anything about how it operates, that's too much.
Actually though, scratch that, the Jedi wouldn't actually be participating in a democracy even if there was a Senatorial Representative Jedi Master Shii-Par Kewell. Because according to the Prequels worldbuilding, senators don't even have to actually be selected by the systems they represent. Let's look at Padme's case: She is supposed to represent the Chommel sector of the Republic, a system that holds about thirty-six different planets. You would imagine then, Padme had to be elected by all of them, or some other selective process, to act as their representative, no?
Nope. The only system we are ever informed of regarding the election of senators is that 1/36th of their constituency-in this case-their home planet's ruler-has them serve as the representative. Even if Padme is from Naboo, that doesn't make her part of the Queen's administration if she serves as the senator of the entire Chommel sector. The fact we only get one other named political representative for the Chommel sector in Jar Jar, who is representing the second species of Naboo, doesn't suggest much involvement from the other planets they are supposed to be serving.
Hell, Padme herself wasn’t even democratically elected if we go off her own account of Naboo’s post-TPM political history. After she served her second term as Queen, the population wanted to abolish term limits to keep her in power, which she refused to accept and the next Queen, Jamilla, was elected. Queen Jamilla then has Padme become their senator through the tried-and-true democratic process of…requesting her to serve. Nowhere is the mention of other candidates, an election, anything that isn’t just the monarch asking the previous monarch very nicely if she’ll take over the job for the entire sector.
It also bears noting that the only reason there is a current monarch that’s not Padme is because Padme refused to follow the people’s wishes, which were to break term limits on the monarchy for her to stay as Queen…which can be summarized as “one person making everyone else agree”. Now, that’s not to criticize Padme for preserving what shreds of legitimacy Naboo has as a government, but breaking term limits so someone can spend fifteen years total controlling policy is nuts. From fourteen to twenty-nine, Padme has massive control over Naboo’s politics, which is an insane amount of time even if people had wanted her to serve another term as Queen and presumably were all in on her being Senator as a result. Even if the people had wanted it, there not being a formal election means that this system is just begging to be abused. Wonder how Palpatine got his start, huh…
So to recap: if you’re a Jedi in the Prequels, you have been picked up from when you were very small to be raised in a system you will have no conceivable influence on at any point in your life. As part of that system, you are also taught to serve another system you will never have any conceivable influence over, and it’s very likely that the vast majority of the populace that make up that system don’t have any hope of conceivably influencing it either. This is the amount of agency you will have over your entire life, unless you decide “hey, I’m going to leave now, can I keep the lightsaber so I can fight off the wolves I’m being thrown to?”, which the Jedi at least have the good will to offer as an option in contrast to the Republic. Turns out that when Anakin’s starting to talk about authoritarianism in AOTC, he’s actually just telling Padme about how the Jedi and Republic operate as institutions, and how the daily life of the average member of both is just getting teabagged by everything ever. There was never any democracy to save in the Republic, the characters are all living in a shared delusion that cracks on an accelerated timeline when Palpatine starts his Sithma grindset, and the only solution was to send Anakin in with a flamethrower and let him cry himself out burning everything down, so the ashes could be used as soil and his tears as water to grow something better with.
I should probably be clear that I don’t get the sense much of this was intentional. Lucas often flip-flops in his BTS commentary about the Jedi, and that’s without getting into how it actually plays out in the stories he writes. Despite the Republic and Clone Wars being a deliberate criticism of America, a lot of the politics are muddied and not really fleshed out for the audience. The lack of interest in Padme as a character is clear for everyone to see, so it’s no surprise a lot of her story has more than a few headscratchers. I think it’s clear there’s a lot of stuff in the PT that wasn’t completely thought out or put together well, and this is another instance of such a thing occurring.
Ultimately to me, it doesn’t matter too much what that intent was. If your takeaway from the Prequels is that the Jedi and Republic were hopelessly fucked from the beginning and both systems needed to be entirely flipped on their heads to even begin to be democratic, all that matters is that you can back it up from within the films themselves, as I have done with the above. The point is, the Jedi and Republic were not soulfully democratic in any sense, their defenders and allies were not supporters of democracy as a result, and Obi-Wan took yet another L. It’s just how he rolls, gotta love that for him.
TL;DR: A lot of the ways the Jedi operate as an entity, and their dynamics with themselves, in service to the Republic, and outside parties as part of the Republic, makes far more sense when you read about how George Lucas considers them to be peacekeepers in the same way mafia dons are. Based Nute Gunray, dodging an offer he couldn’t refuse in TPM?
(Also if you come away from this post thinking it’s point was “OP is saying the Jedi are bad/evil” and I see that shit in the comments: you’re a moron. This post has sailed over your head. You have the same level of reading ability and intelligence as the Avatar movies do cultural impact. Go outside and touch the grass.)

First off please allow me the indulgence of gratuitously apologizing for the poor quality of my English. It is my thirty-seventh language and I struggle with only having a PhD in linguistics but not English specifically, although I am the editor of an academic journal published to teach the nuances of British vs. Australian vs. Indian vs. American English as well as a treatise on the differing use of “y’all” in North and South Carolina. All of which is to say that mistakes are to be expected and perhaps even celebrated for my courage in posting here in spite of my tenuous hold on the grammar, vocabulary and written expression of English. So thank you for your patience. As well, this is the very first time I have ever used, seen, heard of, or otherwise encountered Reddit or indeed social media or the internet or even computers in any form whatsoever, but surely a group of strangers such as yourselves are qualified to judge me and it is purely coincidence if I happen to structure my post exactly how you expect. That said, I am using throwaway account because everyone in my life spends 23 hours a day on Reddit and have Truman Show-levels of analysis about my posts on my main account. All the names are real though. I’m posting on my desktop computer but just don’t care about formatting. This is a simple tale, about me (M, 20), my identical twin cousin wife (F, 20), our twin sets of twins (M/F, 9 months 3 minutes, Jaxson and nosxaJ, and F/M, 0, Anna and annA), our great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother (F, dead), our cat (Whiskers, M, 3), our dog (Spot, M, 5), our axolotl (Steve, NB 1), the Three Stooges (Larry Moe Curly), and my college roommate’s cousin’s sister-in-law (AFABAB (assigned fabulous at birth)). It’s important to preface this story with an exhaustive recounting of every moment of our collective lives from the moment we entered the world until picoseconds before hitting post. Unfortunately the sub cuts off posts with more than this exact number of characters so you’ll have to go without. Anyway everyone in my family including my identical twin cousin wife keep their finances to themselves so I don’t actually know if anyone has a job or how they pay for food and rent. It honestly surprises me that other people are even home when I go into the kitchen from my dear close friend’s art room, my gaming room, my Iranian yogurt room, my yoga studio, or my three garages that hold my collection of CVS receipts, unclipped plastic six-pack rings, and brake dust from 1983-1986 Honda Civics. So earlier today when I was unrolling a pristine 3-yard-long CVS receipt from store 862 for two jolly ranchers and the return of an unsatisfactory poop knife, my identical twin cousin wife asked me what time it was. I told her 10:13 but it was actually 10:14. She ended up missing her Uber to the hospital to give birth to our third set of twins (salamanders Tom and Kathryn) and now our entire family is blowing up my phone — in the last 40 seconds I’ve had to defuse 18 thermite bombs, 12 fragmentation grenades, and 27 used coconuts. So AITA?

Enhancing Email Interactivity: Navigating Gmail's CSS Restrictions

Designing email templates that maintain their intended functionality and aesthetics across various email clients is a nuanced art, particularly with Gmail's known limitations regarding certain CSS properties. Among these, the -webkit-user-select property plays a crucial role in user experience, enabling or disabling text selection within the email. Gmail's decision to strip this property can disrupt the intended interactive experience of an email, forcing designers and developers to seek creative workarounds. This challenge underscores the importance of understanding the nuances of email client behavior to ensure that emails not only reach their audience but also deliver the intended experience.
The quest for a solution highlights the broader challenges of email marketing in the digital age, where uniformity across platforms remains elusive. Designers must navigate these limitations, employing innovative strategies to circumvent restrictions without compromising on design or functionality. This introduces an interesting dynamic to email template creation, pushing the boundaries of what's possible within the constraints of email client standards. The ability to adapt and innovate within these confines is crucial for maintaining engagement and ensuring that your message is both seen and interacted with as intended.

Command/Software	Description
CSS Inliner Tool	A tool to inline CSS styles for better email client compatibility.
HTML Conditional Comments	Conditional statements that target specific email clients for customized styling.

Crafting Resilient Email Templates Amidst Gmail Constraints

Email marketing remains a critical channel for engaging customers, with the design and functionality of email templates playing a pivotal role in the success of these campaigns. However, email designers and marketers often face challenges when their carefully crafted emails are rendered in Gmail. Gmail, being one of the most popular email clients, has its own set of rules for handling HTML and CSS, which can lead to the stripping of certain CSS properties, such as -webkit-user-select. This property is particularly useful for controlling user interaction with text content, such as disabling text selection or copy-pasting. The absence of this control can lead to unintended user experiences, potentially diminishing the effectiveness of the email content.
To navigate Gmail's limitations, it is essential for developers to understand the nuances of email client compatibility and employ creative solutions. One effective strategy is the use of inline CSS, as Gmail tends to respect styles applied directly within HTML tags over those in blocks or external stylesheets. Additionally, leveraging HTML conditional comments allows for targeting specific email clients with custom styles, offering a workaround to apply desired effects selectively. These practices, coupled with testing across various email clients, ensure that email templates remain robust and deliver the intended experience to every recipient, regardless of the email client they use. Such adaptability not only enhances the user experience but also safeguards the brand's message and design integrity in the face of diverse email client behaviors.

Embedding CSS Styles Directly for Gmail Compatibility

HTML & Inline CSS

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