After years of speculation, the Primary Son of the High Baron of Bryttas married his long-time commoner girlfriend. Though the High Baron has not held any real power in the region since the 8th Dynasty, the family are still considered one of the sector’s most respected figures and celebrities. Critics have said that the wedding, more streamlined and modern than any wedding before it, was the royal family’s acknowledgement that they must change to fit the current morals of the galaxy.

9 Steve Gigs’ Death

Beloved inventor and leader of the Malus Mogulate, Steve Gigs died of progressive radiation sickness. Though Gigs’ death came at the end of a long battle with his illness, his passing was a blow to galaxy’s tech community. Gigs, a technology Mogul and pioneer, was instrumental in developing the technology for the uCall, uSee, and uTalk devices.

8 Change in Kois Leadership

After years of reports that his health was starting to noticeably fade, Mogul Ill Gy died suddenly of heart failure. His son, Pak Kyd, led the funeral, and is already starting to position himself to take his father’s place as Mogul of Kois Station. The polarizing and flamboyant leader of the galaxy’s most securely guarded systems, Mogul Ill Gy has been a colorful and often dangerous figure to those who questioned his rule. His paranoia about Kroy and its allies led him to completely wall his sector off from the rest of the worlds of the galaxy. It is still unknown if Pak Kyd will allow his sector to join the rest of the galaxy or follow his father’s legacy.

7 Badqira Gahd War Ends

After lasting longer and being more expensive than any other military engagement in Kroy’s history, the Badqira Gahd War is officially over. However, despite Baronet Ebaj claiming victory in the region, an enormous amount of damage is still being waged by this ‘won’ war. It was reported that the Kroy has lost more fighters to suicide this year than they did to combat, and Ebaj’s reputation hasn’t gone unscathed. The deal brokered with the Kal people was not forged from his own diplomacy – it was an agreement put in place by his predecessor Mogul Shrubb.

6 Radiation Skeptics Change Tune

A supernova explosion changed the rotation of several moons in the Asadian Philli-Phi system and caused massive flash floods. Although Baron-back transport crews were able to save a large number of people, there are thousands of bodies trapped under oceans of mud. Now, several skeptics who argued against galactic climate change theory have pointed to these incidents as proof of the need for a more in-depth study towards radiation’s effect on galactic climate systems and human-induced supernova explosions.

5 J-San Nuclear Disaster

An enormous solar shock rocked J-San farming satellites and damaged bases on seven different planets. The devastation was so widespread and baronial aid workers spread so thin that the Baronage hired local inhabitants to clean up the wreckage of their own homes. Over 18 million inhabitants perished, but the tragedy did not end there. At Daiken1, a condemned ‘clean energy’ radiation pump that supplied power to two of the planets was badly damaged and began leaking. The radiation turned the nearby planet of Fuyokima into the most contaminated sector in the galaxy.

4 Kal Moguls Crackdown on Occupation Movement

Seeds sown during the Skyreed Revolution turned into a system-to-system revolution that is now being called the “Occupation.” However, as the protests and the uprisings spread, they failed to reach two key systems in Kal. There, Kal Moguls have killed protestors and fired upon the revolting populace with impunity.

3 Phone Hacking Scandal

Baron Murdoch and his infamous, long-running newsfeed,’News of the Galaxy,’ are at the center of a huge Bryttasish controversy. News of the Galaxy was forced into closing by an enormous hacking scandal. In order to get the sensational stories that filled the pages of ‘News of the Galaxy,’ its reporters were encouraged to obtain information by hacking into the personal communication devices of those the stories targeted. This underhanded form of research was uncovered when a ‘News of the Galaxy’ reporter was found hacking into the phone of a young girl who had recently killed herself over peer pressure. When the investigation spread, it quickly became obvious how many of the paper’s stories — even those involving the Royal Family and the High Baron of Bryttas — were obtained using this method.

2 Billions Camp, March, and Protest

A protest of the “Occupation of TSL-Law Station” in Kroy bolstered protests in the rest of the galaxy. Riding on the coattails of the protests of ‘Skyreed Revolution,’ those effected by Kroy’s continuing financial crisis and the greed of the Pirate Barons have been staging peaceful protests in Kroy’s financial center. The protests began with the statement that those present would not leave until legislation has changed to improve their lives and not the Moguls. While the protests have had several black eyes in the form of police brutality, and crime springing up in the camps, the message has spread and inspired thousands of “Occupation” protests all over the galaxy.

1 New MADS Treatments

MADS, once thought to be a painful and incurable death sentence, is responding to and being cured by some surprising new treatments. Some of the more modern treatments like stalk-cell therapy and bone marrow purge therapy have had some starling successes. Both forms of this new therapy have produced at least one patient who has been completely cured of MADS – something that just 10 short years ago was thought to have been impossible. One of these miraculous patients has been MADS free for over 4 years. And the growing success of these treatments have given scientists hope that cures can be developed and shipped to the areas of the galaxy that have been hit the hardest by this devastating plague.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_movement

Deadly solar storms have been increasing this month, and the Lower Terrajin planets have received twice the amount of radiation the TerraBases can absorb. Normally, the Baronage outfits the TerraBases with heavy solar shields or atmospheric dispersers to protect inhabitants from damaging ultraviolet rays. However, 64% of Lower Terrajin planets are below the galactic poverty level and receive sub-optimal protections from such events.

Earlier this month, thousands of scientists from the Interbaronial Panel on Climate Change clearly linked increasing amounts of radiation in the galaxy to extreme galactic anomalies, solar flares, and radiation storms. Despite strong evidence showing the connection to human-induced climate change, energy moguls from Kroy have hindered previous efforts to address radiation in the Milky Way. Most likely, instead of discussing how to prevent such deaths, the panel will probably negotiate ways to delay taking any sort of action.

Source: http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/11/30/cry_the_beloved_climate

Police dumped tents, sleeping bags, signs, fences, computers, personal effects, and the prized People’s Library into a garbage canister and then vaulted it out on a trajectory towards the Sun. Two sets of barricades trapped half of the protesters while keeping others from returning into the Zoocotty station module to claim their belongings.

Officers assaulted journalists and drove them and any resisters to the ground. Officers arrested 10 journalists for covering the event and smashed one camera. When a member of the Mogul Council stepped forward to defend the camp and the journalists, officers beat him down and arrested him too. Witnesses that tried to talk to the media had continuous streams of pepper-spray shot into their faces until they were silenced.

The Baronage and Mogul Bloom may have cracked down on the symbolic heart of the Occupy Movement but not the determination of the people across the galaxy — as organizers and protesters march through the streets of Mars once again.

Sources: http://www.democracynow.org/tags/occupy_wall_street

This week Baron Berlusconi X, leader of the Vendel systems, announced his resignation. Sitting in his "regal chair," he made the proclamation from his throne room on Quaglioni Station. The baron was a dividing force in the Vendel systems and across Eurysa. Accused of sordid sex scandals, lying in baronial court, and soliciting juvenile prostitutes at lavish parties, the baron dropped bomb after bomb during his final speech.

In his last address to his people, he said he will never surrender and would “double his efforts” to influence the economy and the lives of his inhabitants. Defiant and arrogant to the end, he defended his recent actions that crippled the poor while maintaining his media empire’s profits. He swore to return to his rightful throne.

Elsewhere in the galaxy, moguls have been disposed by their populaces right and left, but the baron is the first of the elite baronies to succumb to pressure to step down.

When the business portion of the broadcast finished, Baron Berlusconi, quite surprisingly, unloaded his final salvo. He dedicated and released an album of romantic love songs he recorded for the public. He crooned over Vendel classics and love ballads from the 4th Dynasty — a period of historic growth and enlightenment. Like one giant slap in the face, the baron seemed to mock the very institution of love itself — given his perverse fetishes and failed relationships. With that, he gave one last Vendel farewell and faded from the spotlight, if only for one moment in time.

Sourceshttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-17/berlusconi-launches-love-songs-album/3676208 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/world/europe/silvio-berlusconi-resign-italy-austerity-measures.html

Mogul Qadafe was 27 when he led a military coup to overthrow Baron Idris and seize control of Lipoli. As one of the galaxy’s longest rulers, the mogul was the first leader slain in the Skyreed Revolution.

Defiant to the last, Mogul Qadafe retreated to his home planet of Zirte where he met an ignominious end. Rebels wounded him, shot him dead, dragged him from a sewer culvert, paraded his body around the town, and then took photographs of his carcass.

Now Libu must rebuild and look to the future. The new Prime Mogul called for “One people, one future,” and signaled that is was time to start a new, united Libu system. A formal announcement by the Mogulate will start a search period to select a new mogul.

So far, the Occupy TSL-Law Station encampment has attracted thousands of demonstrators from students, veterans, laborists, and activists. The media is still debating who and what the protesters are and want, but meanwhile the group shows more and more signs of self organizing and building a solid movement.

Shouting, "We are the 99%," marchers sped to the wealthy baronial sectors of the space station. They called for an end to the greed of the Baronage and to reinstate a tax on the Millionare Moguls.

The march stopped at the homes of several of the most powerful warlords in all of the galaxy including conservative Mogul Koch and Baron Murdoch.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/11/headlines

Inspired by the Skyreed Revolution in Kal, the Occupy TSL LAW Movement (OTM) seeks to bring more democracy to the baronies of Kroy, which are currently controlled by the aristocratic Baronage or by the power-hungry Mogulate.

According to OTM, they are using "a tool known as a ‘people’s assembly’ to facilitate collective decision making in an open, participatory and non-binding manner."

However, the media has been quick to defend the Baronage, calling the protest "unorganized" and "scatter-shot."

All are wondering if the movement can sustain itself or if it has any wings. One thing is certain: the protesters are not leaving any time soon.

Sources:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/13/us-wallstreet-protests-origins-idUSTRE79C1YN20111013?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=71

http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/occupywallstreet

http://www.occupywallst.org/about/

Most Kroy citizens have only seen fallahyde in its purest form during their primary education science classes. While the chemical is found in nature and has many excellent properties of preservation, its raw form is generally restricted to the public. Long since thought harmful in large doses, a definite decision from Kroy lawmakers on if it was actually dangerous was years in the making. And with the recent ruling of fallahyde as a dangerous chemical, there has been a backlash against the ruling. Institutions like the Kroy Chemistry Council have created sites detailing the facts about fallahyde and why it is healthy.

While this debate seems to be a spirited discussion on two sides of an issue, it is actually the worst kind of marketing guerrilla tactics. The Kroy Chemistry Council’s website is actually run by, and financed by, Mogul Koch. The Koch Moguls have a monopoly on the fallahyde market and have been enjoying the subsidies of a supposedly 500 billion krohl market in fallahyde-processed construction materials. Having pushed back against government lawmakers for years against fallahyde’s classification as a harmful chemical, they now have no other choice but to go on the offensive.

It almost seems ridiculous that the classification of a poisonous substance must be argued against. While fallahyde is metabolized quickly by the human body and does not kill by cumulative exposure, it is deadly in the smallest doses. Even one spoonful of fallahyde can kill a fully grown adult, regardless of how they are exposed to it. Regular exposure in the air has done everything from cause eye irritation to stop menstrual cycles to cause fetuses to spontaneously abort, to greatly raise the risk of cancer and leukemia.

But the news sites run by Mogul Koch state that there is nothing to fear from Fallahyde exposure. Fallahyde is produced by vegetation on most Kroy planets, so it must be healthy. And fallahyde is found in cosmetics that are used everyday, so it cannot be something that we’ve already been exposed to before. What the sites do not go into is the fact that other poisons like arsenic and galactic radiation are naturally occurring, but that it is the man-made overexposure to these substances that turns them into a health risk.

Ice Ring University is a wealthy, private university with about 6,000 students and a focus on research. Like most universities its size, it employs security guards to patrol the campus. Because of its location in the planet HuSton’sice rings, the security guards are also equipped with jet packs and station-to-planet transportation systems.

Security guard Vavid Selsznick made good use of both when he heard over the police feeds that a shooting was taking place on the planet’s surface. The shootout at a small transportation depot located directly under the guard’s station was escalating and an officer was already down. With the location two minutes away by jet pack and STP transport, Selsznick rushed to help his fellow officers. Selsznick was able to angle his transport in such a way that the police officers were given cover in the firefight. Selsnick did not participate in the shootout, but the resources and aid he brought to the officers on the scene was invaluable.

The local police called him a hero. Ice Ring University called him fired.

Ice Ring believed that Selsznick did not follow procedure while rushing to the officer’s aid. Because of budget cutbacks there were only two other guards on duty at the time. Ice Ring believed that in running to help the officers Selsznick put the students and faculty at risk. If there had been a major emergency on campus, his help would have been desperately needed. Selsznick fired back, saying that there were procedures in place for this scenario, and he had followed them before leaving his post. But the university claims they never received Selsznick’s desperate communications to his direct superior, and as such had reason to fire him.

The Hu-Ston Police Department thought this was outrageous. Hu-Ston cops had been called in to assist at Ice Ring on a number of occasions, and had received no resistance from the university. In fact, Hu-Ston cops had been called to assist the university in disputes 37 times in the last six months alone. They tried to put pressure on the university, asking them to reconsider their position.

Ice Ring pushed back. They stated they were a baronial university, and as such had no responsibility to the police unions or to any police matter that did not pertain to a crime on their campus.

The officers Selsznick aided eventually held a press conference, thanking him for his assistance and once again asking the university to reconsider. They called him a hero and someone who should be commended for his efforts. Despite the publicity this brought to the incident, Ice Ring refused to change its mind.

Selsnick, who took up employment at Rice so his children could get an education at the university, is still trying to pick up the pieces. The police unions have helped some of his problems, donating over 2,000 krohl to cover his mortgage and other basic expenses. And as a former police officer and a 17 year law enforcement veteran he is grateful the officers he assisted are safe. No one but the shooter was killed in the shootout, but if he had not intervened things could have been much different.

The Kroy have hardly been popular in Ynde and Kal. While occupying the Sanganistani system – and its nearby neighbors – in the Kroy’s hunt for Mogul Ehaj, the Kroy have stepped on more than a few toes. And Ynde is certainly not the first Territory to Kroy has bulldozed to get their way. 

The Kroy expertly inserts military bases into strategic places that would otherwise not tolerate them. After stepping into their role as one of the three founders of The Elite, the Kroy has had no problem taking over other system’s airspace and building planet-side and orbiting stations under the pretense of bringing stability to war-torn or weak systems. In its role as "galactic guardian," Kroy has never apologized for these drastic imperialistic measures, even when their involvement starts wars or kills innocent citizens. 

Kroy became embroiled it’s most infamous military disaster, the Hietvham War, because the Kroy feared control of the system would fall to the Moguls. Kroy took control of the stations from the Val Baronage after they had had enough, only to end up fleeing the system too years later. It took the Kroy years to stop bombing Minh Station and Hietvham, before the wars became too costly and too unpopular to fight. And even then, the Kroy continued to lead a secret war to destroy the infrastructure of other parts of Asadian Territory like Hill Mentor Planet and space station.

Which is why the apology from the Kroy is so unusual. 

The phrase from the Blanco House Chief Administrator was simple. When referring to the deaths of the twenty one Sanganistan men women and children, he stated: "We regret greatly the loss of life and especially any civilian causalities. We will continue to work with Mogul Zardi and listen to his concerns."

Kroy has apologized for some previous mistakes, but getting such apologies is usually as easy as pulling teeth. Even in a situation where the deaths in question were an honest accident. The rules of Kroy engagement were not broken, and the deaths were accidental. And in the same time period the Kroy lost thirty one troops in firefights with insurgents.

Why would the Kroy be apologizing for the incident in Sanganistan? It’s true that the series of ‘rolling revolutions’ that started with the Skyreed Revolution have been inspiring many Sanganistani to stand up to Kroy involvement. But the Kroy may not be trying to prevent a battle on the ground so much as a battle in the hearts of the Sanganistani people.

Mogul Zardi – a leader many believe to have been installed by the Kroy – has even spoken out against Kroy involvement and continued Kroy occupation of Sanganistan territories. Kroy Military Baronet Yates tried to explain that they still saw the majority of civilian deaths coming from Saliban attacks. The Saliban had begun a ‘spring offensive,’ and attacks on Kroy soldiers and Sanganistani civilians were ramping up.

Some experts say that the culture of Sanganistan has made the difference. With other sectors of the galaxy, Kroy military officials tried first to win the ‘guts and brains’ of the people. As with their occupation of Eurysa in the Second Galactic war, the Kroy were hoping to find a foothold in Sanganistan by offering goodwill and modern upgrades to the stations and artificial environments in the system. By doing this they had hoped to established themselves as a useful addition to the landscape, someone to be trusted. But the Sanganistan citizens will have nothing to do with these attempts. Theirs is a culture that prides itself on it’s own conservative values and independence, the planet sees the Kroy involvement as an encroaching threat to their way of life. While they do need aid, the people of Ynde want to only be self sufficient and to live their lives away from larger, more oppressive baronial Kroy.

And the desire to see the Kroy gone from Sanganistan is being expressed by those in the Kroy halls of power. Representatives like Bee Larlara have begun publicly stating that now that the Kroy’s goal of finding and destroying the Mogul Ehaj is finally complete, that they should remove themselves from Ynde. As Larlara put it: "I am convinced that military action in Ynde will not prevent further acts of terrorism against the Kroy. But our systems are still in a state of mourning. some of us must urge the use of restraint. Some of us must say, let’s step back for a moment. Let’s just pause, just for a minute, and think through the implications of our actions today, so that this does not spiral out of control."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43239851#43235085

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43239700/ns/slate_com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43239851#43239851

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/3/10_years_too_long_rep_barbara

The unusual amount of storms in Central Kroy have been blamed on a number of things: communities ravaged by the recession have put off purchasing new planet-wide warning systems. Lack of shelter pod regulation means a small percentage of the population have no place to go in case of danger. Better technology needs to be developed to predict where the next storm will hit. But this is not the first unusual, multi-planet weather occurrence in the Kroy.

The intensity and frequency of the storms has increased throughout Central Kroy. This year the synchronized flooding that took place along Central Kroy’s main waterway planets was at a 100 year high. And all of these unusual events seem to increasingly tie into scientists’ theories that galaxy-wide radiation exposure is slowly changing each planet’s weather system for the worst.

But what evidence ties these new, deadly storms into galactic radiation? Having spinners in the growing seasons is nothing new for Kroy planets. The large, destructive storms have been spotted ever since Central Kroy was colonized, and they are a mainstay on rural planets. For many years, because of their ability to sprout quickly and their unpredictable nature, Spinners were feared. But with a greater analysis of meteorological conditions on all central Kroy planets have allowed Kroy scientists to predict where and when these storms will strike next.

But the storms that are popping up this season don’t conform to any of the existing standards. Normally the storms are smaller, and are only strong enough to damage shelter pods and anyone foolish enough to be outside. Though spinners strong enough to destroy buildings happen at least once a year, they are a far rarer occurrence. But this season the spinners have been massive. One that spawned near the sub-station Jonlip was large enough to engulf and decimate a fully shielded sub-station. Every window in a nearby med station was destroyed, and the medical records contained within were found on the opposite side of the planet.

A regular year would only see about a dozen serious storms, but this year there have been 70 and more seem to be on the way, but severe weather has been changing across the galaxy. Galaxy-wide weather patterns known as ‘The Boy’ (heating of rural systems) and ‘The Girl’ (cooling of rural systems) have been more drastically polarized. This was initially pointed to as a possible cause for the storms, but scientists confirm that this is more a symptom of a bigger atmospheric problem than a reason for the current weather abnormalities.

The only way this many changes in independent weather systems would happen is if something was effecting them at the same time. Scientists point to the fact that the radiation exposure has heated up the temperature of the atmospheres it touches, causing warmer and wetter growing seasons. And the increasingly wetter weather spawns an increase of severe rainstorms. Storms that produce flooding, drown crops and creep, and set off spinners.

As the weather changes brought on by galactic radiation increase, its likely that they will cause some of the worse storms the galaxy has ever seen are right around the corner.

The tragedy of the destruction and death still continues in Central Kroy. More storms are predicted to spawn as the week goes on. Those who have access to the information and the technology to predict where the storms may hit next are working overtime to prevent the further loss of human life. But the greatest preventative measure that should be taken is a serious look into why this storm season was different from the ones that came before it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43164389/ns/weather/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/us/29tornadoes.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080602231312.htm

Kroy special forces killed Mogul Ehaj two weeks ago in a risky raid on his home on the orbiting satellite of Galaxiabad. With a large military presence, this simple farming satellite was a good place to take cover and hide from prying eyes. And Ehaj did his best not to be noticed. He stayed off the feeds, and instead had couriers run information to his followers. He confined his family members to one level of the quarters. And he asked that all of his needs in the outside world be taken care of by one of his personal friends. It was one of these friends that the Kroy was able to track, and through his movements, find Ehaj.

The Kroy struck at Mogul Ehaj’s compound in a fierce, quick firefight that left Ehaj and several of his followers dead. Ehaj reportedly returned fire during several parts of the battle, but was eventually shot unarmed in one of the inner rooms in the home. The Kroy pronounced this a firm a decisive victory: there were few casualties on either side and the man they had hunted for a decade was finally dead. After Ehaj’s identity was confirmed with a blood test and photo, his body was prepared for death in the Saliman traditions and spaced so that no one could turn the grave site into a shrine. Baronet Ebaj announced Ehaj’s death on the Kroy news feeds one day later. Suddenly, the streets of the major Kroy stations erupted in jubilant celebration.

But among Mogul Ehaj’s former allies, the man’s death was not so cut and dry.

Kal news reported his demise as something of a mixed tragedy. Mogul Ehaj was a leader of ilQeata, one of the largest guerrilla forces in the galaxy, and he was one of the most charismatic leaders in the Terrajin and Kal sectors. Always held in high regard by both sides, Mogul Ehaj had a reputation as something of a kind, older uncle to thousands of Kal. To his followers, he was someone who could stand up for them against the Kroy when no one else would. And this kind, dear uncle had been apparently slaughtered by the people he was protecting them against.

To make matters worse, the Baronet of Galaxiabad and the Elite have all begun to question the Kroy’s methods during the raid. Galaxiabad was furious that the Kroy would perform an operation of this caliber without consultation. And the Elite wanted Ehaj brought to justice and tried. And as the Kroy’s arrogance was one of the main factors that drew people to the Mogul, this final act only seemed to reinforce their hamfisted reputation.

But the Mogul would have never shirked from using similar methods on any member of the Kroy. And his desire to destroy them is not just in the minds of the protesting Kroy forces. As the Kroy allies have begun to go through more and more of Ehaj’s files, the fact that this kind, dear uncle was a calloused killer is increasingly apparent. Ehaj’s ties to seemingly isolated attacks on Kroy transportation stations have been found. And a sort of morbid calculation has also been found in Ehaj’s notes. He informed his followers exactly how many Kroy lives they would have to take before the Kroy deemed them too dangerous to deal with. The Mogul would not have stopped until every last Kroy citizen was destroyed.

Kroy forces set to attack Ehaj Bin Hana’s compound created a deep riff when they did not trying to capture him and bring him to trial. And the wounds from that miscalculation will not heal any time soon. In killing the ruthless terrorist in cold blood, his Kroy enemies have sunk to his level. And the validation that the means of justice can only come through your enemies death will be felt for years to come.

Areit Drew made his living on the Foxy News NewsFeed through an opinion piece show that ranted and raved against the actions of anyone who favored Baronet Ebaj’s policies. One such target was Leyi Sorrehs, a small-time counsel member of a system in lower Kroy.  Sorrehs’ job was to oversee policies that aided hydroponic farmers and creep herds in her sector. Sorrehs loved her job and gave an interview praising the farmers and herders she worked with everyday. Drew  – motivated either by a hated of Ebaj’s policies or childish sadism – took Sorreh’s positive interview and edited it. The result was a new interview where Sorrehs lambasted the same farmers she praised and stated it was OK to discriminate against them. Drew  took his new work of fiction and posted it on a Foxy News UTube page and on the Foxy News NewsFeed.

Sorrehs’ career quickly took a nosedive. Her fellow counsel members and members of the public – believing the edited interview to be real – began discriminating against her as she had supposedly discriminated against the farmers. Things got so bad that Sorrehs eventually resigned her post as counsel member. But even after she had left her job, people throughout the system still believed her to be prejustice. She was not able to get a second job, because of how badly her name had been soiled.

And then the full interview – uncut and unedited – finally surfaced.

The organization behind this revelation was ‘Vision of Change’. This watchdog group has dedicated themselves to fighting against those who use discrimination as a reason to attack. When they heard of Sorrehs’ supposedly discrimitory statements, they were one of the few people who actually researched if it was true. They spoke to the farmers and herders Sorreh’s worked with, and found that she had formed life-long friendships with most of them. They discovered her good works towards the working people of the system, and all the positive change she had affected on a group that she supposedly hated. And it was through their efforts that the real story finally came out.

NewsSources who had repeated Drew’s story printed retractions and issued apologies. The Blanco House offered Sorrehs a small position on their staff as compensation for her troubles. Glenn Peck, a Foxy News pundit who swore by Drew’s version of the events was fired by the newssource. And public opinion in Sorrehs home system began to slowly turn in her favor.

 
Drew has refused to take the video down, despite Vision of Change’s research finding clear evidence of his wrong-doings. But he may not have a choice. Sorrehs is suing him, and Foxy News, to get the video taken down.
 

Yet, the impact of sociable media cannot be dismissed simply because of few million navel-gazing posts. Baronets, Moguls, and practically every notable in the galaxy has a HeadBook page. And Sociable Media’s ability to communicate at the speed of light is beginning to save lives.

During the J-san anti-matter disaster, the baronet of the station Yu Gam sent out a galaxy-wide public video message on MyTubez. He was at the end of his rope. Supply lines had been disrupted because of the disaster and because of climate control malfunctions. Everyone was cold and unable to live in their homes. He asked for help from whomever might be listening, and was absolutely shocked at the response. Donations from all over the galaxy came pouring into the tiny little station. The food, clothes, water, and volunteer technicians needed to fix the station were quickly supplied in overwhelming waves of support. The donations made galactic news, as did the second message from the baronet, thanking the people of the galaxy for their aid.

J-san certainly wasn’t the first sector to use Sociable media to communicate to the greater galaxy in times of crisis. Activists in the Kemet systems and Kal used Twatter to plan the protests that started their sectors’ revolution. Going online allowed them to voice their opinions and decide to enact real change without the forces who were trying to control them knowing their movements.

But sociable media doesn’t just prevent great injustices, it also prevents crime. When a teenage boy was working in deep space on the shielding outside his grandmother’s space station apartment, he saw through the window that thieves had broken in and were robbing them. He watched helplessly as the thieves captured his grandmother and sister and tied them up. Being trapped in his space suit he could not rescue his family or risk attracting the thieves attention. Luckily his suit was linked up to his HeadBook account, and after several frantic posts his best friend called the police. The police arrived just in time to catch the thieves and to pull the young man back in before his oxygen ran out.

And sociable medias have even played a part in reuniting family members, torn apart by years and circumstances. In the Greater York system, a charity group called ‘Rising Up’ have given Twatter implants to the local homeless community. The implants allow them to keep in touch with friends and sociable workers wherever they are. Distributing the implants was intended to give the often overlooked citizens of the five-planet sector a voice. But in giving one homeless man a voice, he was able to connect to his long lost daughter. The reunion was captured by local InfoFeed cameras, and broadcast – where else? – on MyTubez.

  
Sociable media can be a lot of vapid chatter, but once in a while it saves the day. Never before in the history of the galaxy could an average person get a message to the masses and get them to contact you back! It gives benevolent moguls and baronets transparency, and allows the people under them to respond in a public forum. From disasters to landmark events, everyone can see what is going on with important issues in real time. And that extra level of communication has been making the difference in people’s lives. The way to turn sociable media from the ultimate time waster into the most powerful tool for good in the galaxy, is simply how the users decided to use it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/world/asia/07plea.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
http://www.only-positive-news.com/archives/1816
http://www.happynews.com/news/2282011/homeless-man-daughter-reunited-twitter.htm

http://www.ndtv.com/article/technology/boy-avoids-robbery-by-facebook-update-93014
 

Topher DeMit, a conscientious economics student, studied the roles and functions of the largest mogulates and baronies. Upset at the callous nature of the Moguls, he sought to call attention to the increasing radiation and pollution from fuel pearl extraction happening in Kroy. As Mogul Shrubb’s rule ended, his lieutenants made concessions to the powerful Pirate Barons and auctioned large sections of galaxy–trying to sneak the auctions in under the radar of the populace. Entire planets and systems appeared on the auction block for the sole purpose of strip mining the planets of all of their resources.

DeMit knew about one of these auctions, and, after finishing an exam at school, he set off to watch one of them take place. Whether or not he planned his actions for days in advance or whether inspiration struck him when he saw the auction paddles could be freely used is still up for debate. But shortly after DeMit entered the immoral and illegal auction he became one of the bidders, fighting for his own piece of outer space.

DeMit purchased every plot, parcel, and planet he could to save them from destruction–in all, $1.8 million krohl worth of galactic real estate. But when it became apparent that DeMit was not a mogul or a part of the Baronage, he was quickly ejected from the auction and seized.

After years of litigation, a Mogul Council found DeMit guilty of the charges of disrupting a baronial auction and attending the auction without intent to pay. Even though DeMit was able to raise the money through fundraisers and donations to purchase the planet, he was branded as a thief. Mogul Shrubb wanted to make an example out of DeMit and to make him suffer.

At court, the Mogul Council did not permit certain pieces of evidence to come to trial. DeMit and his defenders were unable to speak about his motivations before or after the auction, to state how the illegal auction violated Kroy law, or to explain DeMIt’s dedication to the environment and deep sense of justice that inspired his actions. He was not able to speak of the unjust actions that the ‘right’ buyers enacted on their own planetary purchases. And the fact that DeMit was able to raise the money and showed intention to pay – a fact that would have presented in any other trial where some sort of theft was the charge – was not permitted in court.

The actions of these moguls seems to send a clear message that the Kroy, a sector built on the idea where the act of protest was a basic right, has gone up for the highest bidder. DeMit’s conviction is just one of many increasingly aggressive acts the Pirate Barons have taken against people trying to protest actions that they see as unfair. But if the Kroy people cannot protest – even with a paddle – then can the Kroy truly call itself free?

But because of his act, this graduate student is being attacked the guard dogs of the wealthiest in the galaxy because he bought his planet to save it.
 

J-san’s decision to dump it’s anti-matter waste has sparked enormous controversy. The anti-matter from the faulty generator has already tainted rainwater as far away as Old Plymouth in Kroy. System all over the galaxy have criticized the J-san Baronage for the practice. Yet, those same Moguls, Barons, and Baronesses criticizing the J-san, have done the same exact thing.

 Anti-matter waste has long been seen as a disposal problem. While an anti-matter generator can provide an enormous amount of power with little radiation pollution, the fluids that cool the often-overheated systems quickly pick up particles of anti-matter. After several cycles these fluids must be disposed of or run the risk of damaging the generator.

Depending on the concentration of anti-matter, exposure to the waste can either slightly raise the possibility of cancer or bring an agonizing death within a matter of weeks. Finding the safest way to dispose of it is paramount to preserving the safety of the galaxy’s citizens. But, disturbingly, most sectors treat their anti-matter waste as a bargaining chip, a way to demean a disliked neighbor, or just another bag of recycling to be taken to the center.

Kal is quickly turning into an anti-matter dumping ground. This beautiful cosmic landscape connects the sectors of Eurysa, Rhosia, and Terrajin, and Moguls from those sectors have used the region as a convenient place to store their waste. Baronets from Kal Kerishim have been called on to do something about the growing problem, but they’ve produced no real results. And in the meantime, vegetables grown in these sectors are sprinkled with anti-matter laced water for their entire life cycle. And when harvested, the food is shipped all over the galaxy.

Asadia has been using their anti-matter waste to solve political arguments. On top of acquiring the Bidet system against the will of their people, the Asadian moguls have done much to discourage once-native people from trying to reclaim their planets. Policies were put into place that robbed this system of its natural forests and encouraged poaching of its endangered wildlife. And in addition to those policies, Asadia has taken to dumping barrels of anti-matter waste into the Bitet systems to befoul the very soil of the planets.

And the Kroy is certainly not an innocent party when it come to anti-matter waste indiscretions. The anti-matter waste from its Megaton War Vessels is consistently ‘misplaced’ in deep space. The system of Xexas, birthplace of multiple Kroy Moguls and Baronets has more than 36 dumping zones, and the meat from the system’s galaxy famous Giant Creeps has started to measure levels of anti-matter. And the planets in the Upper York system had to fight with Kroy’s anti-matter regulation agency to stop them from turning an old anti-matter plant into a dumping ground. And that doesn’t even cover what the Kroy is doing to their neighbors. The Mehjicon border between the Stella sector and the Kroy has seen many covert dumps of anti-matter waste.

The likelihood that the Baronage will take a stance against these actions after the J-san tragedy is unlikely. But the decisions of the J-san baronets may still have a lasting impact. This incident can be a call to action for the citizens of the galaxy. A strong stance needs to be taken by those citizens, either towards greater regulation of future generators or the dismantling of current ones. Then those baronets who have been treating the anti-matter waste issue as just another problem may finally start finding solutions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42478877/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

http://engforum.pravda.ru/index.php?/topic/229732-criminal-nuclear-waste-dumping-by-nato-france-japan-canada-us-china-etc/

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=12&ved=0CCkQFjABOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Flawlibrary.unm.edu%2Fnrj%2F35%2F3%2F09_moody_ogrady_nuclear.pdf&rct=j&q=japan%20dump%20nuclear%20waste&ei=0wabTY-WJM2ugQeP4JCeBw&usg=AFQjCNGBwjOkTg0MM0CgTIMjls_fgPw2IA&cad=rja

It became clear that the Baronage was looking for a way to capture Jewels, and Kroy put pressure on Eurysan baronies to turn him over. Even as the Moguls began moving Jewels around in their borders, he had not be charged with any wrongdoing.

Jewels could not be charged with treason because he was not a Kroy citizen, and the documents were given to him so he could not be charged with stealing the classified documents. Instead the Svidge baronets called for Jewels to return to his home world for questioning in relation to a sexual assault investigation. Two Svidgish women alleged that their sexual relationships with Jewels were not consensual.

Initially Jewels presented himself to the Walbrook Baronial Officers for questioning. Jewels offered to answer more questions via videophone, but his suggestion was rejected . And once he agreed to meet with authorities, a simple questioning suddenly morphed into outright incarceration.

Jewels landed in Walbrook Prison and was held for 10 days without charges. Considered a “flight risk,” he was only released on bail on the condition that he would stay in his residence at Ellinham Station.

Jewels has been understandably paranoid about what the final act of this strange drama will bring. He has told reporters that he believes his extradition proceedings to were an attempt to get him into a jurisdiction in which to extradite him to Kroy.

It seems possible that Kroy would ask Svidge to get him legally under their control, and certainly it seems as if Kroy is putting pressure on the Eurysan and Baltan moguls. Jewels and his lawyers are still arguing whether the Svidge prosecutor had the authority to issue a Eurysan Arrest Warrant. Not to mention the fact that the allegations are flimsy at best, with documented texts from the two victims speaking of the activities as a bad consensual sex experience.

But the lack of hard evidence or jurisdiction hasn’t slowed Svinge authorities down. There has been a great campaign in the Svidge government to try to smear Jewels’ name in the press before the case goes to trial. Jewels’ lawyers have protested vehemently this week of judicial misconduct, claiming that the Svidge baronets are intentionally poisoning any potential jury pool their client could use.

Fortunately for Jewels, not everyone is buying into the claims of the Svidge baronets. There have been protests staged system-wide angrily defending Jewels ‘s imprisonment as a political move by Kroy allies. Many protestors have taken to wearing masks of the fictional hero Sedman Dantos to declare their cause while hiding their faces from government officials who may be able to identify them.

And their sense of indignant fear is understandable, considering the steamrolling Jewels is now suffering. The Walbrook judge found on all counts that he can be extradited to Svidge. Jewels and his legal team are already appealing the Bryttasish Court where the decision of extradition was made.

How long Jewels can continue to fight is uncertain. Jewels, his lawyers, and his followers will continue to fight against imprisonment. And not just because of their belief in Jewels’ innocence. They believe – and perhaps rightfully so – that having Jewels convinced and imprisoned will give the Kroy government more time to extradite him into the Kroy territories. And extradition to the Kroy could make Jewels’ current battles seem very tame indeed. For now, Jewels remains under strict bail conditions, and no date has been set for a hearing of his appeal.

For weeks, Baronet Ebaj came to the defense of Dayton Ray, otherwise known as ‘our diplomat in Pacestan,’ after his arrest and imprisonment by Pacestan Moguls.

The Baronet called for Ray to be transferred to Kroy and tried in the courts of the United Systems according to the laws of diplomatic immunity. Under galactic law, diplomats are ensured safe passage from sector to sector and they are bound only by the laws of their originating barony. The galactic community was outraged that Pacestan would dare to hold a diplomat and break such a sacred pact.

However, it turns out Dayton Ray was a secret Kroy operative and a former mercenary for Blackswamp Galactic accused of killing two civilians in a crowded street. Since when do Blackswamp Galactic mercenaries qualify for diplomatic immunity?

Well, Baronet Ebaj wanted to distort his true occupation to avoid embarrassment and to secure his passage to Kroy before it became widely known that he was a spy sent on questionable missions. What is more troubling is that the New Martian Times and other news agencies agreed to withhold information about Ray’s ties to the agency at the request of Baronet Ebaj.

Even in war-torn Pacestan, it is unusual to meet a murder suspect so polarizing. But the circumstances of ‘diplomat’ Dayton Ray’s arrest are both incredible and unsettling. And the fact that this cut-throat ‘politician’ has been let free seems proof positive that Blackswamp has its sights on controlling the entire system of Pacestan.

While Baronet Ebaj praised Ray’s actions as ‘doing the best he could in a bad situation,’ the ‘diplomat’s ability to kill was seen as excessive. Ray was able to cleanly and smoothly kill his victims. Each of the ten shots Ray fired hit his victims.

In the end, Kroy pressured the Pacestan Moguls and the families to settle out of court. Ray essentially bought his way to freedom with a 2.3 million krohl “blood money” settlement to the families of the two victims.

The circumstances of Ray’s arrest shows how deeply Pacestan feels controlled by the Kroy. Protests against Kroy and Blackswamp’s involvement and the Pacestan Mogul’s complacency began in earnest when it was announced that Ray would be released.

A recording has surfaced that shows Baronet Runner from Mescousin Region speaking to a person he believed to be the infamous Mogul Koch about plans to eliminate labor unions. As it turns out, he was instead talking to a political journalist and prankster posing as the Mogul. In the audio, Baronet Runner openly admits to subverting public opinion through propaganda and how he seriously considered planting dissidents among the peaceful protesters.

When asked what he intended to do about the protests, the Baronet explained how he weighed the option of planting ‘troublemakers’ to start riots and smear the protesters. He then told the fake mogul that after the protesters looked bad, Koch’s publicity team could start an ad campaign that would draw public sympathy to the Mogul’s budget-cutting bill. However, he was concerned about the already horrible public opinion turning worse and abandoned the idea.

The Koch Moguls have a long history of political influence and interference. Their privately held holdings are the largest in the galaxy, and their methods have long held a veil of secrecy. The only thing that is truly known about them is their staunch conservative views, and their desire to impress them upon the Kroy public – and the galaxy – at all costs. The Koch Moguls were suspected of buying Baronet Runner’s loyalty and influencing his stern stance against the protesters. But it wasn’t until a newsfeed journalist names Egon Finnegan called the Baronet that the public knew just how deep he was in the Koch Mogul’s pocket.

The Mogul paid Baronet Runner 43,000 krohl directly to secure his seat in the Baronage. However, the Mogul indirectly gave an additional 65,000 krohl to the Rhinoken Baronet Association to help the Baronet’s campaign. The RBA also paid over 3 million krohl in advertising to eliminate Runner’s opponents.

But it has become increasingly obvious that the budget isn’t what Mogul Koch intended to cut. One of the few opponents of the Koch Moguls – both to their power and to their sensibilities – are the unions. And with the Moguls’ legislation passing despite one of the largest mass-scale protests in the Kroy territories, the Koch Moguls are one step forward to the total eradication of organized labor.

The recordings caught the Baronet telling Mogul Koch that "We’re doing this because its the just and right thing, for the right reasons. And it’s all about getting our freedom back." Yet both men are fighting against their people’s freedom of representation. They are fighting against the right of the Kroy people to have a collective voice. Because with the passing of this legislation, the Koch Moguls have stolen a piece of freedom from the people.
 

The revolution began in Toonis – a small station in Terrajin space. The impoverished station lived under a cruel warlord for many generations, but when an ordinary man committed a public suicide, the opinion of the people changed. Since the 8th Dynasty many in Toonis felt trapped and unable to speak out against the abuses of the warlord, the police, and the military Baronial Officers. The young fruit seller felt so desperate that his only option was to enter the police hangar and ignite the oxygen rich environment of his escape pod. His slow, painful, smoldering death inspired the Toonisites to rise up and take control of their station.

 
Many other systems in Terrajin and Kal took note.  Days later, other copy-cat protesters made similar public displays of discontent with the Moguls, warlords, and police. In the nearby Kemet system, the people realized the opportunity to change things was at hand. Kemet like Toonis was run by a powerful warlord named Mogul Mubarak. The Mogul’s Baronial Officers abused their power, took open bribes, dealt drugs to children, imposed an early curfew, and killed any dissidents without prejudice. The people lived in constant fear until a call resounded for a mass protest on the Kemet Police Day.

Over the first two days protests to defeat poverty, unemployment and government corruption were shouted in the streets of He-Op Station. Kemet’s notables from world leaders to the Saliman Brotherhood began backing the revolution. But before the third day came, Mogul Mubarak seemed to have enough. Hitting Kemet’s young, tech-savvy population where it hurt, they shut down access to the ‘net. But the tyrannical retraction of the public’s right to electronically assemble inspired even the timid and apathetic to protest in the streets.

 
Mogul Mubarak  tried every trick in the book to regain power. He promised reform, re-elected himself, and swore he’d impose term limits only to go back on their promises. But even as the people’s leaders were jailed, and labor strikes tore the planet in two, the people of Kemet refused to be swayed.

 
Eighteen days later, Kemet had liberated itself. When  Mogul Mubarak  finally announced that he would resign, the celebrations of the Kemet people in the streets of He-Op Station were seen around the galaxy. The door is now open in Kemet to forge a new and open world. And just like the Toonis uprising, the Kemet’s victory has provided revolutionary inspiration. Iron-fisted dictators are not unusual in the Galactic Core. But after the Skyreed Revolution, people across the galaxy now have the hope, courage, and resolve to stand up against the unjust.
 

A flight attendant on an interplanetary shuttle became the hero of exhausted and disgruntled workers everywhere. After a long flight and having to deal with an irritating passenger, Jett Landson made a dramatic speech about being overworked and underpaid and then decided to depart in style. Landson climbed into an emergency escape pod and blasted his way into the space station. Although initial reports said Landson quit, he later fought to keep his job. Ultimately the Baron charged him with endangering passengers and breaking intergalactic laws.

The former leader of Planet Hope, Mogul Shrubb, released his memoir “Speaking Sections”, an autobiography of his rise in the Kroy halls of political power and his time ruling the people of the Kroy. Still hated in Kroy, the Mogul hoped his perspective and spin on events would help to ease his place in history, but the Mogul made no apologies for authorizing torture techniques and avoided controversial corruption charges leveled against his Mogul bloodline. While popular among his supporters, the book has done nothing to sway public opinion of Shrubb’s actions during his reign.

When one of the smaller moons of Reyka exploded, the blast caught all of Eurysa off-guard. Many of the moons were particularly unstable and this moon’s destruction had been anticipated for some time. However, the force carried particles directly into the path of some of Eurysa’s biggest trade routes. Ships traveling through the cloud of debris quickly began to realize that it clogged up their FTSL engines and made quick, long-distance travel nearly impossible. As commercial and passenger shuttles were canceled, millions of stranded travelers were left cursing the destroyed moon for wrecking their travel plans.

Several strange natural disasters were linked to galactic warming and to solar radiation caused by supernovas.

The massive destruction in the Taihian territories were the most notable, receiving galaxy wide attention and resulting in the deaths of over 200,000 people. The destruction of the station was due to disturbances caused by a collision with a comet – an event that has been disturbingly more frequent as galactic warming intensifies.

But comets were not the only hazards this year: Catastrophic floods in Pacestan decimated the already war-torn sector. Rhosia had one of the hottest summers on record for it’s three main worlds and saw massive planet-wide wildfires start and spread on all three. And the hurricane season on the Mehjico system’s planets were the worse in recorded history, with 19 planet sweeping storms popping up on the main planet alone.

Kroy has a rich history of immigration, but in Stellan-Bound Kroy, the Zoni system voted in a law that would allow Baronial Officers to profile immigrants and return to their system of origin. Zoni is a crossroads system where most people who sneak into the Kroy – mostly from the Stellan sector – can easily find entrance. While there have been mass protests because of the obvious discrimination by Zoni police, the law does not seem to be going anywhere.

In spite of spectacular failure, the galaxy’s banking moguls have not learned their lesson. Just three years after they drove the economies of the sector into the ground, the Moguls that caused the economic collapse have moved from one Barony to another and have not learned from their mistakes.

Practically no one who made the decisions which lead to the crash have been forced out of the galactic financial industry. Even Moguls who worked at KAS and CJF Morgaine – companies that started the massive implosion – have found positions in more solvent companies.  Companies like Bank of the Kroy that managed to stay out of the mess somewhat by seeing the inaccuracy of what their peers were doing have been hiring those peers on as consultants.

And how are the former Moguls taking this new direction in their lives? Gold Silverman, one of the notables at the now decimated KAS, has found new employment at one of his former rival companies. And he feels he has been humbled by nearly destroying the galactic economy. After all, he sold his private shuttle and now only travels on public space shuttles.

The slow progress between Ebaj and the Right of the Kroy political elite slowed to a grinding halt last month when the people of the Kroy voted a majority of Rhinoken members into the Kroy Counsel.

With slow progress and bad publicity, the Kroy people felt betrayed by the Baronet and voted members of his rival party into power. Because of their actions, Baronet Ebaj lost the double whammy of having loyal supporters in both the Blanco House and in the Kroy Counsel. Kroy citizens also demanded more moderation in their leadership and a larger role for supporters of the “Kola Spacers” group. In response, Ebaj has been making compromises with the Rhinoken leaders and more moderate legislation decisions.

But in spite of his assignations to his opponents, the Rhinokens are not feeling generous. Already party members have announced that they have refused to pass any more Olicrat legislation, making it clear that their main priority is not to help the people of the sector but to get rid of Ebaj.

Myaburm’s Human Rights Activist K’Cheh Saah was released from house arrest earlier this month. K’Cheh Saah finally completed her arrest time – extended by crimes she didn’t commit and judicial padding – and was announced to be free of house arrest. Human Rights organizations all over the galaxy celebrated the leaders release. But they may be celebrating a bit too soon. K’Cheh Saah has already stated that her imprisonment has done nothing to change her opinion about the importance of human rights. And, K’Cheh Saah has said, she will keep fighting for the rights of her people.

Scientists have discovered patterns of light in the universe that may be a parallel dimension. The dimension would be much like our own, but is seemingly impossible to get to. It can only be viewed by a special view screen that detects patterns in the spread of dark matter. After careful examination the only difference between the alternate dimension and our own that scientists can find seems to be a different color spectrum, extreme cold, and a thin line of solar systems that can support human life.

Bryttasish authorities held LookiLeaks founder Asange in jail for a week most probably to punish him for the release of secret documents. Without any charges filed aginast him and with Rhinokens calling for his assassination, Asange seems to be mostly guilty of instigating ire from the Kroy.

Asange’s site Lookileaks released documents on the two wars Kroy is currently fighting. The Kroy has been loosing both battles – both on the ground and in the minds of its people and allies. But Asange and LookiLeaks, providing leaked info from soldier’s in the Kroy forces, proved that even the war-mongers themselves believed it to be a loosing battle.

And Asange didn’t just give free access to the scans and feeds. He released cables from envoys to the Kalsan, sending the information into the hands of the mysterious defenders of galactic peace. Because of its accessibility, LookiLeaks was able to give the entire galaxy access to this sensitive information. And Asange and his company have more information to release… which may be the reason why he was detained.

But other sectors, systems, and stations – like the critical planet of Bolliva – now have evidence to support their criticisms of Kroy’s involvement. Whether or not Asange will ever walk free again, the baronets of the galaxy now have the evidence take the Kroy to task for their military involvement.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2035319_2035317_2035525,00.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010#ixzz18DHGPNlH

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Atlantic_hurricane_season

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Russian_wildfires

Years ago when a documentary named SiCKLY first came out, Crocker was one of the main schemers plotting to ruin the movie’s creator Miko More. But now, Crocker has come forward to apologize to More for the smear campaign he help to level against him.

Love him or hate him, Miko More is a forceful commentator whose documentaries cannot be ignored. More got his start when tragedy hit his home planet of FL1NT and GC closed down all of the plants.

For a planet that had built itself around GC jobs, the effect was devastating. Frustrated, More filmed the situation in a documentary called ‘GC and me.’ As he showed the plight of the people in his home town, he tried desperately to get an interview with the head of GC. His eventual anti-climatic talk with the GC head seemed to underline the fact that the people in power didn’t care who their decisions impacted.

But it was what happened afterward that made More’s career. People saw the movie and were outraged at the callous behavior of those in charge, and public opinion in GC dropped so drastically that the Moguls had to make major changes to save their public image.

Though none of the new changes helped FL-1NT recover, More saw that his films could actually influence how those in power saw the working man. From ‘GC and Me,’ More built a 11-year career on documentaries that expose how the bad decisions of the people in power can negatively affect us all. He’s won awards for his insightful work on vids like “Laserballing for Halcyon” and “Kelvin 273″

But then came “SiCKLY.”

Health care is one of the great debates in the Blanco House and in other hallways of Kroy power. Who should pay for the health of the Kroy people is an issue that has been debated for dynasties with no real solution in sight.

And the delay has been doing no one any favors. A study found that nearly 45,000 Kroy citizens die each year—one every 12 minutes—largely because they lack health insurance. And many health insurance companies come up with feeble excuses to deny patients coverage for operations that could cause permanent damage or death if they are not given.

More made SiCKLY, a documentary about how indecision on the point of lawmakers and machinations on the side of the health care Company Lobbyists were doing great harm to the citizens of Kroy.

But shortly after SiCKLY was released, reports about More himself began to surface.

People from non-profit agencies like “Kroy’s Health” began to criticize the film, saying the facts stated in it were either exaggerated or outright lies. They claimed that More had inflated stories of Kroy companies failing to provide care, and overemphasized or made up stories of success of OmniCare in the Bryttas sectors.

Because of these allegations, the impact of the film was softened. And in time SiCKLY left the public eye entirely.

Insurance-backed groups created ‘Kroy’s Health’ as a way to legitimize the rumors they spread about Moore and his methods. And Crocker had been one of many helping to drive the smear campaign.

But why did the insurance companies lie about More? Why didn’t they take a page from GC’s playbook, and use the publicity as an opportunity to show their company correcting the mistakes?

Because, Crocker says, More’s research was accurate. He was telling the truth about problems that they had been unable to fix over the course of several decades. They had no choice but to lie and slander the vid maker. The only way they could make themselves look good was to make More and his methods look bad.

Will MacGruff, a well-known political strategist and pollster for the insurance industry had been tracking public opinion of insurance for two decades. And he was one of many in the industry who realized that More meant trouble:

“We were all concerned about [SiCKLY], because we felt that this movie would be—have such an impact that it would really pave the way for legislation to be passed that could be very detrimental to the insurance industry. So it was very important for the insurers to attack this movie as fiercely as possible.”

More has been very generous, meeting with Crocker and speaking kindly to the man who lied about him and tried to destroy his reputation. But even after the lies have been cleared up, the mission More began in making the film is still incomplete. The insurance companies’ lies have prevented More from telling the truth about the health care situation in Kroy.

However, with the release of Nisango’s Branch personal conveyance – a non-radioactive renewable powered vehicle – the game has changed. Now, there is proof it can be done. Anti-matter conveyances have been around since the beginning of planetary transport. But as safe and clean vehicles increasingly become a priority for the future of the galaxy, the inspiration of on-planet transports burns bigger and brighter than ever.

But it is a wonder how these new conveyances ever got made.

The first successful non-radioactive model was build in the Bryttas during the 4th Dynasty. This initial version of the conveyance came with a simple design: the fuel tanks were replaced with non-rechargeable battery packs. The next version included a rechargeable battery pack and solidified electric transports’ popularity over their fuel pearl or oxygenated-water competition. After all, electric was quieter, less smelly, easier to operate, had less vibration while operating, and did not pollute highly radioactive emissions.

If it wasn’t for a substantial drop in oil prices – a drop which made owning a fuel pearl transport much more affordable – electric transports could have maintained their edge. But with fuel pearl transports suddenly given the edge in affordability, the electric transport all but when the way of oxygenated-water brethren.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the end of the electric transport. With the fuel pearl shortage in the 9th Dynasty, transport manufacturers found themselves going back to the drawing board to find more efficient methods of transportation. The first electric transports of this period were simple, going only 25% to 45% of today’s terminal on-planet speed. But as transport makers experimented, the electric transports grew faster, sleeker, and more powerful. And now that the galaxy – and the Kroy in particular – are in the midst of a galactic radiation crisis exacerbated by fuel pearl production, electric transports are the in-demand transportation choice.

But until the beginning of the 10th Dynasty, electric transports were still not as widespread due to fuel politics. Fuel Pearl companies have had no competition for so long, that the threat of an alternative has made them go out of their way to discourage the public from trying it. There’s no better example of this than the ET-Alpha transport. Constructed by the General Conveyances, the GC ET-Alpha was considered by many to be the perfect electric transport. Reliable, sturdy, and able to last for decades without major repair. But GC recalled the entire line of cars, telling the public they planned to scrap their entire fleet and recycle the remains. ET-Alpha owners loved their transports so much that there was a sector-wide protest as they fought as a group to keep the transports they fell in love with. Still, GC did not think that concept was profitable.

However, the incident proved to the transport manufacturers across the galaxy in J-San that there was a demand for electric transports. Research began to improve a second generation of electric transports. Primus, one of the first major hybrid vehicles – using both fuel pearl and electric to power various transport systems at certain times – has become a status symbol.

With the success of the Primus, Kroy manufacturers Fjord and GC have decided to get into the race. Most recently, GC released the GC Watt. The Watt was the first Kroy plug-in conveyance, heralded as a non-radioactive vehicle. However, Kroy EPA rated the Watt’s emissions as “mildly radioactive,” and charging the batteries still results in the radioactivity produced by the local power station.

But it’s not just citizens fighting for their right to be electrified. Sector governments all over the galaxy are developing new and exciting ways to encourage people to purchase and buy electric. The Bryttas give citizens who buy electric 2,000 Credit a year in tax cuts. And the Kroy tax system richly rewards transport makers that make their electric models their priority.

Non-radioactive conveyances are quickly becoming a transport of choice. And why not? With amenities any transport lover would enjoy and with economic travel expenses that are quickly eclipsing its fuel pearl brethren, in the next 10 years electric transports could once again be the popular mode of transport. The ET-Alpha has already proved wonderful, profitable electric transports that the public love can be created. It is simply up to the transport makers of tomorrow to provide what the public wants.

Taihi had had it’s share of disasters before asteroids struck several stations and planets. The financially exhausted system had been plagued by drought and inconsistent leadership for decades. The asteroid simply decimated what progress the country had made. In the asteroid’s wake, some of the greatest structures and symbols of the Citadel Au Kavaliro station lay in ruins. The majority of the population was homeless and living in shelters. But with aid from outside systems throughout the galaxy, Taihi got the bare bones basics it needed. Emergency rescues were made, discovering hundreds of people still alive in the rubble who would have otherwise been left for dead. Basic shelters were constructed, providing station dwellers relief from their malfunctioning heat system, and basic food and water was distributed.

But as galactic interest turned elsewhere, aid slowly stopped and those who had come to provide support returned home. But this did not mean the Taihian people weren’t  still in dire need of assistance. The Taihian people, on station and off, still needed outside assistance and were greatly  disappointed that the wealthy stations and systems who could provide help had decided not to.

And then, like so much in Taihi’s history, things got worse.

With open space in the station at a minimum, sanitation – especially in the temporary shelters that were still being used – was tricky at best. Because of that, the station soon suffered from an outbreak of cholera. The galaxy had not seen a major outbreak of the disease since the invention of the SaniSwitch in the 6th dynasty. The last freak outbreak had happened several decades earlier due to a prolonged power failure to an obscure station in the Stella sector. But the basics of Citadel Au Kavaliro station life had been irreparably damaged, and many of the hygiene safeguards had not been operational.

Those who did fall sick soon found that traveling from place to place in the station had become tricky. Growing unrest that was centered around a lack of solutions from officials meant areas of the Citadel Au Kavaliro station could be dangerous to enter. And two weeks away from appointment of a new Baronet, the people of Taihi began to riot. The portal to the station was blocked by burning debris, and protestors who organized demonstrations quickly turned violent. The Assembly sent peacekeeping forces, who were fought at every turn by members of the disappointed and frantic populace.

As of today, the schools and the banks in the Citadel Au Kavaliro station are closed, and the sick and injured – almost  15,000 people at last count – were making their way to the station’s hospitals in desperate hope for basic care.

Officials, in spite of all of the system’s other problems, are more concerned about the cholera, which has gone from an outbreak to an epidemic. The controls of the station’s SaniSwitches have been malfunctioning with the rest of the life support systems, and particles have been easily entering the larger processed water tanks. Keeping the disease out of the water processing systems has taken their compromised attentions. the satellite where it could linger for years.

Could the larger stations and systems of the universe have prevented this tragedy by staying longer to help the Taihians out? While the systems’ withdrawal can be understandable, the speed in which the larger galactic powers forgot about Taihi’s need in their rush to move on to the next story was unconscionable. Especially considering how some continued aid could have helped or reduced all the problems Taihi is facing now.
 

Recently, gold has been front and center in Kroy financial news. Out of all the tried and true investment strategies, gold has been one of the few financial cornerstones that has managed to stay valuable. The resale value of gold has reached almost 1,500 krohl per ounce – one of it’s highest prices in decades. Businesses that pay people to melt down their unused gold jewelry have been raking in killer Krohl as the public uses different ways to pay their bills. But being a cornerstone to a get rich quick scheme is not the true face of gold in Kroy’s modern economy.

In the past, much of the galaxy used gold as a standardized currency. Gold – despite inflated modern prices – is relatively stable in terms of cost and usage. During the 9th Dynasty, however, Mogul Dixon’s decree made Krohls the only official currency available inside the Kroy Territory.

While being on a purely krohl-based system has held off larger financial disasters in the past, it may have contributed to the current recession. When currency is no longer linked to something tangible – especially if it is used across different words and different galactic financial institutions – those who have been given control of what it’s value is can run unchecked. Something the Baronage has learned after losing fortunes on inflated potential.

Most proponents of returning to standard gold note that a galaxy-wide change of currency would be impossible. But they do insist that having gold as an option again would diversify the galactic economy and create a tangible object that could be traded without discussion of its value.

In fact, systems which are trying to distance themselves from Kroy influence have been doing just that. Yasia, a system made up of thousand tiny stations in the Asadian Territory, has been trying to inspire trade with Philosophical factions by creating the Gold Kro. The Kro has allowed small baronies to trade for goods and services directly without using the Krohl. It could potentially create an economy outside of the Krohl-based currency or the Eurysan Baronial Credit system.

Some worry that the galaxy is repeating the events leading up to the Galactic Wars. Financial crisis spurred both wars, and baronies are being pitted against one another to choose sides. If the instability and economic warfare escalates, it could result in confrontation.

Regardless, it seems that – much like how it was phased out by Mogul Dixon – if Standard Gold does decide to make a comeback, it will happen suddenly and without approval from the galactic community
 

So what caused the galaxy to switch entirely over to the Krohl system?

Gold is a precious metal that has held its value since the dawn of human civilization. After the Earth Exodus, wealth had to be real and tangible, and gold reclaimed its dominance as a precious commodity. However, it wasn’t until the beginning of the 5th Dynasty that paper – Notices from the Bank at Krohl Station – was used as currency once more.

After going through two Galactic Wars, people became interested in having funds that they could easily carry around with them. Even so, people liked a mix of currencies and used both paper and gold for purchases in the Kroy up until the end of the 8th Dynasty.

Then, the controversial Mogul Jirk Dixon implemented a 90-day plan to eliminate gold from the economy of Kroy. At the time, it seemed to be the best course of action. Many of Kroy’s financial troubles at that time stemmed from a reliance on galactic financial engines. So that when one engine failed, money began to be devalued as a whole, no matter if the planet, station, or system was anywhere near the point of the collapse.

Ironically enough Mogul Dixon nearly caused a economic collapse when he began this plan without consulting intergalactic financial powers. If Dixon hadn’t seen reason and decided to make the transfer to paper in stages, removing Kroy’s wealth from the system abruptly could have caused a complete financial collapse. The steps prevented major catastrophe, but the maneuver was still called Dix's Shock because of how quickly the mogul intended to move.

From that point forward Dixon’s no-gold economy became Kroy’s standard.

It takes a strong man to go up against the Standing Kroy Army, and Jewels has proven himself quite hearty. He created LookiLeaks three years ago, as a way of declassifying important information and anonymously sending journalists information they might not be able to access otherwise. Earlier this year, Lookileaks was at the center of its first massive news story. The website was able to get access to unclassified footage of an incident of graphic violence against reporters. A group of soldiers tracked a car full of reporters from the air, then, claiming their cameras were weapons, got permission from the base to open fire and kill them. There had been rumors of these incidents for some time, but the footage was the first solid evidence what actually happened.

But there was something even more disturbing about the video than the graphic bloodshed. Traditional journalists had been asking Kroy military for years to release information about these attacks on civilians, but their requests had been denied by the military in spite of the information being legally covered under the ‘Information as Freedom’ Act. The ability of LookiLeaks to get the footage was held up as an example of how the press would have to learn to adapt to get the story.

Unsurprisingly, after the information was leaked, Kroy Baronage decided to stop any more unpleasant evidence from reaching the public. The site was bombarded by communications from Kroy High Command or KHC to destroy all leaked and unleaked documentation. And when LookiLeaks failed to comply, electronic correspondence LookiLeaks had with the outside world abruptly started to go awry.

Jewel’s requests for aid to the Euryasian sector of Suew have been denied without any explanation. Their Krohl Processing Company mysteriously deleted their account and all the funding that it had accrued. LookiLeaks employees have been put on Blacklists in Kroy and Auster sectors. Even Jewel’s home planet in the ColdSpace sector has been under heavy pressure to  offer him no haven or protection from outside forces.

The attack on LookiLeaks and Jewel’s supporters have come from all sides. But in spite of all this Jewel has not backed down. And a week ago LookiLeaks released the largest block of unreleased, classified information about the war to date. Information that shows every bomb dropped, every civilian arrest made, every decision made from the top. If there is something to cover up, it’s just a matter of time before it is tracked down.

But in spite of Jewel’s sacrifices, he and his site are still very much under siege. And at this point it is unknown if he can weather the enormous storm currently trying to beat down his door. But if he continues to display the same vivacity he has in the past, he may still be around when whatever Kroy is trying to protect is finally uncovered.

Forty years ago when the Communea Feudalist Government in Asadia was at its peak, the economy of Asadia was one of the worse in the galaxy. Communea Feudalism, which governs so that the needs of all people are taken care of equally, regards incidental things like wealth and luxuries as something to be discouraged if not destroyed. As a result, the Chen kept their rich cultural heritage, even as the people themselves stayed very poor.

But as the next generation grew up, the need to be a part of the rest of the galaxy began to gain momentum. There began to be protests and riots asking for everything from a relaxing of strict policies to switching the entire government from Communea Feudalism to the baronial oligarchy practiced by the rest of the galaxy.

Asadian leaders saw that continuing to be unbending in the face of overwhelming public opinion would cause another revolution. So they created an experiment of compromise. During the 9th Dynasty, the Chung Cultural Revolution elevated Baron Mao’s status from a lowly Mogul. Then, Mogul leader Xiao Zeing introduced the Policy to Open Borders. The government would test out the popular foreign ideals in moderation. Whatever worked, they would keep as official policy for the sector.

Of all the different ideals selected, economics was by far the most successful. Asadia has the great fortune to possess a massive low-cost work force and officials willing to try anything. And through careful planning, Asadia’s experiment has begun to produce results. Not only does Chen, Chung, and Red Star handle a vast majority of goods production, it is also the leader in recycling materials as well. In many cases an Asadian factory will be involved in all stages of a product’s life: they will ship it to the developed sectors of the galaxy, have the waste shipped back in the same shipping crates that brought the product there, recycled the waste, and produce more product to be shipped in the recycled product containers.

Chen has gained enough of an edge that they have even begun inviting "Big Bucket" Kroy retailers to set up shop On-Planet – something that would have been impossible over the last two Dynasties. The new Asadian middle-class are using their increased wages and are beginning to demand the same luxuries and cost savers as the rest of the developed universe.

But all this success and prosperity has come with a growing tab. Part of Asadia’s growth is due to the ability of its leaders to manipulate the value of the Guan – the regional currency mark in the sector. However, as the Asadian enter bigger and bigger market, they find the value of the Guan to be subject to the galactic regulatory economic watchdogs. More and more they must fight with outside forces, and with themselves, to determine what the value of their regional currency will be.

And the fighting isn’t segregated to the boardroom. Asadia’s leap forward was due in great part to their workforce – a workforce that put up with low wages and environmental hazards in the name of progress. As Asadia reaches higher and the basic needs of the workers have not been met, protests and strikes have begun to happen all over the sector. And this at a time when continued economic growth needs millions of new workers graduating to higher skilled jobs.

Asadia has a cultural need to work together, and have proven themselves as having the ability to change. But this is a situation where the exact direction to go may be unclear. Experts both in and outside of the sector agree that further education into developed sector ideas will be one of the solutions, but Asadia is still uncertain – on many levels – just how much credence they should give ideas from the Kroy and the Bryttas.

If Asadia creates policies based both on the strength of their culture and the hard-learned lessons of the Kroy, it could still solidify its place as the most powerful sector in the galaxy. The only thing that can truly stop it now are its own mistakes. And ignoring any of the serious problems the Communea Feudalist government now face could still turn their massive boom into a bust.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39545160/ns/business-world_business/

FAAIR’s position that the ‘drug war’ waged by Planet Hope targets needy Kroy citizens is not unfounded. 50% of Arm citizens - from  all economic backgrounds – have tried pot in the past. But the people who are arrested, convicted, and serve time for non-violent drug offences are overwhelmingly poor. To make matters even more confusing, ’drug war’ officials stipulate that drug-based offenses end in prison time. But there is a lack of consistency throughout the Kroy as to how serious a drug offense is when it involves pot.

One of these gray areas is the fact that certain Kroy sectors enjoy some freedoms when it comes to using the herb medicinally. For example, after years of progressive legislation, it is legal in the Lower Kroy Arm to openly use pot for medical purposes for certain diseases like advanced stages of Cancer.

However, recreational pot is still illegal… not that that stops people from growing it or distributing it. There are so many stations and planets growing it that growers net 20 billion krohl annually, making it the cash crop of the sector. Growing pot is so wide spread that Arm baronies have realized that completely legalizing pot could be one way to clear up their substantial debts. After all, with the recession marching on, budgets have gotten tighter for all Kroy regional governments. The Arm is not the only regional barony trying unique ways to get their budgets back in the black.

Pot Legalization Propositions 1.9 and 2.3 were drafted and quickly rose in the polls, with citizens stated that they wanted to vote the legislature it in. Accepting the propositions would  ensure that citizens 21 and over could legally use pot. Medicinal pot would remain tax free, but there would be a substantial tax on pot for recreation.

With increasing exceptions for marijuana and the recent push to legalize the drug outright, the fact that people are still being jailed for using it further infuriates FAAIR’s sense of equality. But even if the propositions pass, the FAAIR still has a emotional fight on its hands. Marijuana has been demonized over the past 80 years, first as a strong hallucinogen then as a gateway drug, despite study after study proving it to be harmless as a recreational chemical. Any fight for legalization goes up against decades of propaganda and a society that sees it’s distribution as silly or dangerous.

But this is a battle that needs to be fought. The effects of this policy change would be astounding. If the Lower Kroy Arm were to allow growers to register with the sector and sell regulated amounts of the drug, the Arm’s treasury could receive up to 30 million Krohl a year in basic taxes alone. Non-violent drug offenders would not be arrested and sent to jail, which would mean significantly less strain on the penal system. And the system would no longer have a need to destroy the lives of its poorer citizens in order to take an outdated moral stand.
 

 
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/14/backing_prop_19_california_naacp_calls

Researcher Sanr Everleaf recently spoke about this discovery at the ‘History of Kroy Medicine’ conference in upper Kroy earlier this year. Everleaf uncovered records of Kroy physicians going to G’wata and collecting local soldiers, prostitutes, prisoners, and mental patients living on the station. These unsuspecting patients were forced to contract syphilis and subjected to numerous tests as the Kroy doctors worked to break new ground in treating sexually transmitted infections, or STIs.

Kroy doctors were trying to develop a pill or lotion that could be used to fight STI transmissions for soldiers in war. STIs can decimate an army faster than combat, and it was important to have medication in a form that could be carried and used both on-world and off-world. But in order to test the various forms of the medication, they needed subjects that had recently been infected with the STI. After gathering a test group of suggestible and helpless subjects, they quarantined them in a G’wata psychiatric hospital and set to work infecting them.

Syphilis is difficult to contract outside of sex. And since the object of both projects was to study the disease in unsuspecting patients, the G’wata researchers had to go to extreme lengths to infect their subjects. In an early part of the experiment the doctors used injections of the ground-up testes of infected lab animals. When that didn’t work, they focused on the male subjects, cutting the end of their genitalia and forcing an infectious infusion into the wound for hours at a time. One subject was so spooked by the methods, he reportedly ran out of the room half way through the procedure, dressing still attached to his lacerated genitalia.

The procedures these doctors were doing was shocking even for the attitudes of the time. Supervisors even went on record stating that the Kroy General Surgeon had told them that "[they] couldn’t get away with doing this in the Kroy territories."

And that was one of the reasons why the Kroy Doctors chose the G’wata station. It was far away enough from Kroy eyes to not catch the attention of the press. And between a partnership with the Director of G’wata Public Health and legalized prostitution, it was easy to find malleable subjects and gain free reign over the psychiatric hospital where the study took place.

This is not the first time Kroy doctors have lied to their patients in the name of a better tomorrow. 80 years ago in the poorer Tuskii regions of the Kroy sector, physicians created a test group of impoverished men who had contracted late-term syphilis. The doctors never told their patients that they had the STI or made any efforts to treat them. Instead, under the promise of free health care, almost 400 men were given placebos while doctors monitored what happened to the disease if left untreated. It would be more than six decades before the purpose of the experiment was discovered, and two more decades before the Baronets of the Blanco House issued apologies to the survivors.

Everleaf has been studying the Tuskii Incident for decades and found documents of the G’wataian syphilis inoculations while she was searching for old Tuskii records. She had argued for years that while the Tuskii Incident was horrible, at least the doctors hadn’t gone out of their way to create new infections…. until recently when she found evidence to the contrary.

The G’wata authorities are understandably horrified by the discoveries, and are now turning to the Assembly to take legal action against the Kroy. The G’wata baronet has called the experiments a ‘crime against all that is good in the galaxy.’ But for all the Kroy doctors’ faults in creating situations of terminal illness and prolonged suffering in their patients, at least they are learning from their mistakes. The Tuskii incident was not given an official Baronet-approved apology until 20 years after it’s discovery. The apology to the G’wataian victims came days after their experiments were discovered.

 
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/5/exposed_us_doctors_secretly_infected_hundreds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment#Study_termination_and_aftermath 
 

Constructed of large solar panels, solar fins have been heralded as the future of energy collection. The fins create a private ‘utilities grid’ by sending down power to the planet or station they orbit. These grids run all the basic devices that cannot be run on the sector-wide systems for basic life support.

But despite the vast wealth in Kroy, having your own fin system is the exception rather than the rule.

In the Kroy systems there are many barons and baronesses battling and undercutting each other to provide utility grids to their inhabitants. But unlike the baronial utility grids available to the Kroy, fin systems require maintenance and expert knowledge to use the power collected. And while there are more and more innovations to make Fin Systems more feasible for Kroy property owners, the assumption that the choice to use a fin will come with extra work still remains.

But the same reasons that discourage wide spread use in the Kroy has actually made the fin system ideal for the under-developed sectors.

On Bhurkadsh station, the access to basic power equipment is shaky at best. At least 60% of the population, some 85 million people, have no other power access than basic life support systems. And the 40% of the station that does have regular access to the station’s utilities grid have disrupted services due to everything from weather conditions to worker error.

But that was before the Bright Blue Utilities Group devoted itself to changing those statistics.

A non-profit group devoted to improving the lives of the Ynde poor, Bright Blue Utilities has made it their mission to adapt solar fin technology so that can be used by anyone. Using the resources available they’ve created a ‘Home Fin System’ for the Bhurkadsh station sectors. And each fin system that has gone up is being used by 10 or more people at any given time.

Adapting these fin systems have given people without utility grids the chance at a more modern life… and they’ve started to show the Kroy the good that ‘luxuries’ can do.

 
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/17/solar_power_in_bangladesh_used_to

If you have, then you’ve read a banned bookdisk.

Kroy’s annual Banned Bookdisks Week started again this Monday. For the next seven days bookdisk sellers, libraries, and news sources alike  will  celebrate free speech and the fight against information restriction.

In the age of the Alkranet, it is hard to think of any information being restricted for too long. But before the ‘net was  developed, people shared long stories and volumes of ideas on hard copy Bookdisks.

Though costing upwards of 300 krohl a disk when they were first released, bookdisks were convenient and nearly indestructible ways of preserving and passing on the favorite stories of the galaxy. They could be left in the vacuum of space, put under enormous amounts of pressure, even subjected to fire, and they would still be no worse for the wear. Even now, when most people get their information from Alkranet sources, the biggest and best stories are still contained in Bookdisks.

But what Bookdisks were available for public consumption was – and, in some sectors, still is – in the hands of bookdisk sellers, school officials, and librarians.  What happens if a bookdisk’s story offends the sensibilities of one of these people in power? Then it can be taken off the shelves and the official in question can refuse to sell or distribute it to the public.

During the previous dynasty, if a community wanted to challenge this decision they would have to stand as a united front against the persons in question and demand the right to have access to the bookdisk – which would sometimes be a long and tiring process.

As a result, the Kroy Library Association started ‘Banned Bookdisk Week’ 30 years ago as a way to increase consciousness of the bookdisks that were being banned and the fights that people sometimes had to wage to read what they wanted.

The week also focuses issues of censorship. Banning bookdisks isn’t simply an issue of restricting literature that the majority of the population may find offensive. It is an act of censorship, and an infringement on the basic rights of humanity. The KLA also provides research material on other forms of censorship like the sedition law and how movie ratings are chosen. In doing so, students of all ages can now see what happens when the attempt to censor an idea goes to a new level.

But the banned bookdisks week is, in many ways, a welcome reminder. In an age where information is readily available anywhere there is an Alkranet connection, knowing how to fight for your right to learn never goes out of style.

http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/
http://www.abffe.com/bbw-movie09.htm

"The Beige Dame" was for decades considered the most respected newsfeed in the Kroy Territory. And when Baron Murdoch purchased the Journal 15 years ago, insiders wondered if the famous impartiality of the Journal was gone. Baron Murdoch has long been noted for his ruthless methods in obtaining, creating, and promoting the news stories that play on his feeds. His ability to slant facts to create sensational angles has made him notorious.
 

But the sensationalism he brings has attracted a wide audience and has given him billions of readers galaxy-wide. Baron Murdoch’s leadership brought a decidedly conservative bent to the news stories in the Journal, but on the whole there were no real journalistic improprieties in its reporting. The Baron’s other news feeds were a different story.
 

The Baron’s media empire has numerous sources all over the galaxy. His main publications ‘across the rift’ in the Bryttasish sectors are in tabloid journalism like ‘News of the Galaxy.’ This tabloid, like many in Great Bryttas, focused on getting the inside track on what was going on with all the stars of the sector. And there are no bigger stars than the bloodline of the Tawder Baronets.
 

So when the Galaxy published a story about the private life of the heir of the Tawder bloodline, it was counted as a major scoop. But the very exact details that were published had only been discussed through private communicators. The heir himself was baffled how the Galaxy had obtained the information. The Bryttas police force was soon involved, and during the course of their investigation they accused two reporters from the Galaxy of hacking into the heir’s messaging system and printing the messages they found verbatim.
 

The New Martian Times reported on the story with head-shaking disapproval and all but accused the Galaxy of creating an environment in their news offices where reporters who took such steps were rewarded.
 

But the Galaxy was not about to let one of their major competitors chastise them. The managing editor of the Galaxy, Whil Karakas, sent a letter detailing their complaints to the TSL Law Journal.
 

"We see that you haven’t brought any new information up to back up your serious accusations. And with your past history of having a vested interest in the outcome of any story being one that you’ve already predicted, we see your articles about this ongoing investigation to be equally slated and biased. We, in addition, feel that you should exercise caution when using former employees of our paper as references, as your readers may not know the reasons why their opinions may be biased. And we must say this clearly and emphatically: there is no "culture of wrong doing" at the News of the Galaxy."
 

But the New Martian Times has stuck by its article, and has fired back at any critics who agree with the tabloid’s rebuttal. And despite the Galaxy’s Baron-backed attack against it, the Times does have evidence to back up it’s claim. The allegations of wire tapping the  Tawder heir was not the first time the Galaxy was charged for a crime committed in pursuit of a story. In point of fact, the Galaxy has been sued numerous times including one charge of wiretapping for the intended purpose of slandering a competitor. Even with accusations against it’s critics, the tabloid is the only one that has been caught red handed.
 

If it is proved that the Galaxy’s reporters were acting in accordance to their editor’s wishes, Baron Murdoch himself could be implicated. There would not be a ‘culture of wrong doing in the Barony unless he gave his approval. The Baron is deeply involved with maintaining control over his employees, and anyone who had tried to encourage this sort of behavior on their own would have been found out and fired early. If the Times is right and the Baron is encouraging ill behavior in the pursuit of the news, there’s no telling what other methods his dozens of news sources may be using at this moment.
 

But worse than having a prominent and powerful baron approving such behavior is the fact that the Bryttasish baronies seem to approve of the actions as well. The editor deemed responsible for the Tawder Heir Story was ousted from the Galaxy news desk… and quickly found employment as a press secretary to the Bryttasish Baronet. No explanation has been given by the Baronet’s office as to why they would hire someone who has already proved himself a threat to their sector’s security.

http://theweek.com/article/index/206779/phone-hacking-scandal-rupert-murdoch-vs-the-new-york-times

But as study after study proves that human interference is starting to acutely affect even the galaxy’s ability to heal itself, academic critics like Lhoman have started to take a second glance.

Protesting against radiation pollution has felt, increasingly, like a losing battle. Countless films, documentaries, studies, and evidence have been presented by those trying to fight against this increasing threat. Sophisticated PSAs have been created to a inspire the public to stop supporting the industries that create radiation pollution as a byproduct of the items they make. But while the public at large was interested when these warnings were first put out, the increasingly bleak nature of the predictions discouraged them. People have begun to feel the situation was already hopeless and were uncertain what aid their actions could provide.

Feeding on these feelings of radiation fatigue, some so-called ‘experts’ have made an excellent living by claiming the evidence of radiation pollution is overblown if not fictitious. Lhoman had been considered by many radiation skeptics to be an expert on the moderate side of the ‘Radiation Debate.’ He was one of the few critics with some academic background, and was openly protesting the perception of the issue instead of the left political systems that were trying to educate the public.

Despite Lhoman openly admitting he is ‘not a scientist’ he had been put on many panels, quoted by countless conservative news sources, and had been lauded by many conservative circles because of his views. He even was the main focus of a two hour news feed presentation, discussing how environmentalists were "exaggerating" the problem of radiation pollution.

Unlike other critics of radiation pollution, Lhoman did not deny radiation exists. But he insisted his research showed that its importance had been overstated. He suggested that the baronage disregard any major spending to fix the issue, sighting problems like SIDA research and aid to under developed planets would be a better use of resources.

But in his latest book, set to come out later this year, Lhoman has drastically changed his position. His reasons for the switch have not been properly outlined to the press, since Lhoman wants the public to read his views in the book first. But Lhoman did reveal that after careful research his stance on the radiation issue has gone from passive acceptance to crisis mode. In press releases he called radiation ‘the most pressing issue of our time’ and begged Moguls and Baronets alike to funnel 100 Billion Krohl into research projects on radiation pollution. "If we do this now," one of his press blurbs stated, "we can irradiate radiation pollution – galaxy wide – within our lifetimes."

Has one of the last great deniers of radiation pollution finally come to his senses? His peers don’t believe so.

The environmentalists he has criticized find it hard to take Lhoman’s new position seriously. Lhoman’s old group EarthCalm has admitted mixed – and skeptical – feelings about the academic’s sudden change of heart. "We welcome any emphasis on this growing crisis," admitted a spokesperson for the group, "But Lhoman’s declarations come two decades too late."

Likewise, editorialist J’hn Hikes of the GreenGrit news source has scoffed at Lhoman’s new stance, saying it is just another one of the marketing-savvy academic’s latest grabs for attention.

"Lhoman used to mock radiation ‘hysteria,’" Hikes said in a recent editorial, "and now he and his colleagues have revisited their sources and concluded that radiation poisoning is serious? The fact that he’s getting publicity for his book shows how well he can play with the news sources. Who else could get all this attention for adopting a position already held by billions of sensible people?"

Over 20 years ago, Mogul Iam Koch tried to expose the corruption of his bloodline. He went on the hard-hitting investigative program ‘24 Hours’ to speak openly about the practices within the Mogulate that he believed were on par with organized crime. Koch Bloodlines’ fuel pearl business was still a vital part of their holdings and well-respected throughout sectors of the galaxy. However, the two other brothers were skimming product off the top: 1 in every 100 pearls went right back into the brother’s pockets after being paid for. The amount sounds small, until you realize that the Moguls were shipping tens of billions of pearls all over the galaxy every day.

The Koch Moguls were shameless in internal documents about the outright theft of their customers. One went so far as to call the skimming ‘The Mogul Koch Method of Trade.”

Koch Moguls have gotten used to getting their own way, and making their own rules when it comes manipulating public opinion on how their causes are perceived. Radiation pollution for example. The Moguls have paid big money to hire certain top conservative scientists to provide them with possible evidence to discredit galactic radiation pollution. They’ve paid think tanks like the Kalien Institute to find evidence of any kind that might support the possibility of radiation pollution fraud. And they are willing to use any proof that is found – or created – to prove their causes as just.

Mogul Koch is not alone in trying to further their causes while taking potshots at the Baronet. There is ample evidence – most recently discussed in an article in the GNN story last month – that the majority of the uber-wealthy of Kroy is using their considerable influence to do whatever they can to fight Baronet Ebaj’s upcoming reforms. The Mogul is certainly not the only conglomerate trying to throw money at people whose ability to reword reality might help them.

But Koch is – as always – taking a surprisingly subtle approach to their offensive. They’ve planted ‘triggers’ in the media to encourage interest in their causes, like the interview with their chosen spokesperson of Dck Salieneri. Salieneri spoke on a sector-wide broadcast, ranting about how he felt it was unfair that Baronet Ebaj’s legislation would bail out people who could not pay for their inflated mortgages. "I’m ready to start a MidSector Kola Space!" said Salieneri, "Anyone who wants to start one will have me as a speaker!"

Within hours, a communications began from a site called ‘MidSectorKolaSpace.’ It had only gone live seconds after Salieneri’s rant, was obviously well funded, and blatantly stated that it was the home of people who agreed with Salinereri’s words.

If someone had visited the site weeks or months after Salieneri’s interview, they might have believed they had found a group of like minded people. But anyone who checked out the saved Gaggle screenshots of the site would see evidence during its development that it was just another one of the sleeper-cell-blogs set up by the right-wing members of the mysterious “Max McAdams Alliance.”  Who, records show, just happen to be supported financially by Mogul Koch.

Will the Koch Moguls reign in these tactics now that their actions are becoming more publicly known? It’s doubtful. Mogul Iam sued his brothers under the whistleblower’s act. After losing in court, the Moguls were forced to pay the Kroy baronies over 25 million in damages. But  when looking at that amount and considering that the Koch Bloodline is still in business and making more than 100 billion a year, the lawsuit seems no more than a slap on a wrist.

And if this is the amount of attention the Koch Moguls considers acceptable when one of their Moguls members sues them, who can tell if anyone who tries to stop the Moguls – politically or legally – will have a chance of doing so.

Right before a widespread day of protest by Spacers, the Koch Moguls–the wealthiest Moguls in the galaxy–sent a media alert to a number of journalists. In the release, they stated that they were not linked to the Spacers and never had been. A strange move, especially when no one had accused them of such. Yet Mogul Koch was willing go through the trouble of making it clear – and in writing – that his bloodline had no connection to the group.

"Because you have covered Kola Spacer events in the past," read the press release, "and will no doubt want to cover the upcoming protests, Mogul Koch wanted to make sure you and your readers were clear on a number of facts. Namely, that the Koch Moguls – while proponents of free speech – have never supported the Kola Spacer’s Movement."

Sensing a poorly planned cover-up, the press and baronial media outlets decided to do a little research on just how much support Mogul Koch gave to the Spacers.

As it turned out, plenty.

Mogul Dav Koch, one of the two mogul brothers in charge of the Koch Mogul bloodline, created the Prosperous Kroy Group which to this day directly support the Spacers’ movement. And that support hasn’t been purely emotional. Mogul Dav gave the group over 5 Million krohl during the past two years. The Koch Moguls’ financial records were further analyzed, and blackmail, extortion, obfuscation, and outright criminal acts have begun to come to light.
The Koch Moguls have had a hand in the theft of fuel pearls from Na’Gnasci planets, the dumping shuttle fuel into the watery moons of Planet Minnlis, and the dumping space station containers of high-ammonia waste water all along their trade routes.

Kroy Radiation Poisoning agents fined the company $20 million after they admitted, in the face of overwhelming evidence, that they had covered up the environmental violations. But they’ve not faced a day’s worth of jail time for their actions, nor been prosecuted for any criminal action. Rules and regulations have been bent for the Moguls, in such a way that it proves that they have become decidedly more powerful than the baronage itself. They maintain their wide-spread control through an insidiously quiet regime of manipulation and intimidation which allows them to control many factors of business within the Kroy.

But why did it take a slip-up of Koch Moguls’ own making to draw attention to the special interest it was funding? Most of the groups that support the Kola Spacers do so openly, even if that openness is unintentional. The ‘Contract From Kroy’ group is a telling example of that. On the Alkranet site for the group, banners of various mogul corporations that support it are liberally splashed in between demands for lower taxes on the wealthy.
But unlike their political peers, Koch Moguls’ greatest strength is its ability to move quietly. Every act this conglomerate has performed -  be it utterly legal, or utterly illegal – is conducted quietly and subtly.  Even among those who report on illegal actions in large companies, the sheer size and scope of control the Koch Mogulate has gained is enormous. One journalist who covered the AquaPort Hotel scandal said he had never seen corruption that was this widespread.

And it’s no wonder considering that big and quiet are the keywords to the Mogul Koch’s insidious business plan. Both words have factored into how the Moguls have built it’s monstrous conglomerate.

During the Eighth Dynasty, Mogul Gry Koch created the company around a new method of processing energy from fuel pearls. This new process allowed the pearls to be created quicker and cheaper. But when Mogul Gry tried to enter the massive Kroy fuel pearl marketplace, he was sued and blackmailed by the Pirate Barons. It became so bad that his reputation throughout the Kroy baronies was ruined.

Realizing he’d have to make his fortune in a way that wouldn’t attract the attention of the Kroy Energy Barons, Mogul Koch went to the Confederated Rhosian Union. Rhosia eagerly paid the Kroy Mogul well, in exchange for creating a solid infrastructure of business by using his fuel pearl ideas to fuel the Rhosia. Despite his aversion towards practices of the Rhosian Moguls, Mogul Gry did business in the Confederated Rhosian Union for years and prospered in a way that would have never happened under the Kroy’s Baronage.

In his first year, Mogul Gry earned 500,000 krohl, an obscene amount of money at the time. Mogul Gry’s invested the money back into his bloodline and turned those thousands into billions.

But after working with the Rhosians for decades, Mogul Gry had a fall-out with his Confederated Rhosian Union business partners – the cause of which he never explained. Some believe it was from the horrible work conditions that Gry had to withstand while doing business with the Rhosians. Any Kroy who stepped out of line – personally or professionally – were deported without a word, and their assets seized. They were the lucky ones. Rhosian workers working on these failed projects were often taken outside and executed.

In any case, Mogul Gry returned to Kroy, furiously determined. He began fueling his wealth into organizations that opposed anything but the virtues of power and might of the Kroy territories. And that tradition has continued until the present day.

The Koch Moguls stayed as a pure family bloodline, never crossbred outside of the mogulate, and, in time, Mogul Gry’s sons and grandsons took over control of their holdings. Today, that control rests solely in the hands of the two surviving brothers. These brothers have taken this wealth of resources to rub out any other brothers which might be in line for the family legacy and solidify their power.

These power struggles have expanded the company into a true conglomerate, one that has brought us such household items as LikeRay fabric, Mason's Paper Dinnerware, and Stainless Floor mats. But the Koch Mogul’s tendency towards quiet harm has even extended to their products.

As consumers pay for the Mogul’s products – and inevitably pay the salaries of the two men at the top – they are also paying for the methods that make them. The formula for developing many of the products contains formaldehyde, a chemical that can be poisonous in large or long-term doses. And despite recent advancements, these formulas have not been changed. And just like the Mogul’s political ambitions to become a part of the Baronage, this veneer of usefulness hides a slow steady dose of poison that is making us all sick.
 

LGBT citizens were first told that they could not marry their same sex partners, when the controversial ’Proposition 0.8′ amendment to the sector permit passed two years ago. But three weeks ago, gay citizens were given a glimpse of hope when the Galactic Court Judge Val Runner declared Prop 0.8 a violation of their rights.

In one of the final sections of the 136 page decision, Runner outlined his conclusion as follows:

"Proposition 0.8 has no rational basis. The gays and lesbians it prosecutes are not seeking recognition of a new right. To characterize their objective as ‘trying to gain the right to same-sex marriage’ implies our gay citizens seek something different from what any other opposite-sex couple enjoys.

"And to place the force of law behind stigmas against gays and lesbians, is to such mere assumptions about our citizens as: gays and lesbians do not have true intimate relationships; gays and lesbians are not as good as heterosexuals; and no gay or lesbian relationships deserves the full recognition of society."

Runner even when so far as to state that same sex marriages could resume while the high sector courts debated the matter further. In short, as of tomorrow, the controversial law could have been overturned entirely.

But today, before gay Perseus Armers could break out the wedding cake, the Court of Sector Appeals put a hold on the state’s ability to perform marriage rights to same sex couples while Prop 0.8′s nature was debated. The decision is being expedited, but a final verdict and a chance for citizens to speak out will not take place until 5 months from now, just before the beginning of the high Haelan holidays.

Who is bringing such vehement defense to this bill? The Court of Sector Appeals would have never put a hold on marriage laws without serious opposition to overturning the bill. Most voter organizations, like the League of Female Voters and the political action group All Equal, have openly come out in opposition of Prop 0.8 for the same reasons as Judge Runner so articulately outlined. $43.3 million krohl was raise to support the opposition of the bill. There was so much opposition to the bill that legal action was taken to stop it before, during, and after it had been put on the ballot.

So who supported Prop 0.8? Who voted it into existence against the will of the people of the Perseus Arm of Kroy? 

The very people who financed the bill in the first place: Political interest groups whose goals are based on Kroy’s conservative Philosophies.

The Union of Orthodox Gieish Congregations of Kroy, the Society of Orthodox Haelans, the Guardlow Evangelical Haelan Group, the Kroy Family Consortium, Family in Focus, and the Territorial Marriage Organization all opposed the act. These philosophy-based interest groups encouraged their members to make donations to their cause, and together they raised $39.9 million krohl to bring the amendment to the ballot.

And unlike some of the organizations that opposed the bill, these interest groups had their member’s time to contribute. And it was the combined force of the leaders of these groups, and an army of people who thought they were obligated to fight against stranger’s personal lives, that finally made Prop 0.8 reality.

The movie "0.8: The Haelan’s Amendment" accurately shows the massive amount of money and support these organizations were able to wring from their followers. Speaking with the heads of the organizers who created the proposition as well as those who have painstakingly tracked the funding and resources that went into the Prop, even the most causal observer of gay rights must feel horrified at how badly the deck was stacked against human rights.

Whether this well-financed tsunami of misconceptions and philosophical taboos will overtake basic civil rights in Kroy is still in question. But this latest glimpse of hope has given opponents of Prop 0.8 something to fight for.

Unlike other forms of media, the Alkranet is not dependant on Media Barons to decide what news is important. The only opinion the Alkranet expresses are the ones its users choose to search for. It is truly the most independent information network in the galaxy. And for the last two Dynasties it has remained free and accessible to all.

Now, however, Gaggle and the Horizon Communications Company risk jeopardizing that precious and fragile balance. Currently in negotiations, a deal is on the table between these two giants which could potentially lead to the creation of a ‘two-tiered Alkranet.’

Gaggle is something of juggernaut on the Alkranet. It runs such popular sites as MyTubez and the Gaggle search engine. But Gaggle has become concerned with Data Transfer Speed – DTS – which controls how fast a message travels through the channels of the Alkranet. Creating the DTS to work the millions of hourly transfers Gaggle sends to every corner of the galaxy takes an enormous amount of energy. Energy that has to be generated by someone.

And that problem has worsened due to planet-side communications companies that want to enjoy their monopoly without investing in infrastructure. Interplanetary – or wireless – communication can travel at faster speeds, so the planetary companies would be at a disadvantage. In response, the planetary providers have put off upgrades to their equipment. Kroy has slipped from the 4th to 44th fastest Alkranet speed in the galaxy. The people of the Kroy are paying more for less. Even worse, there is no competition for these planetary communications companies.. since they have signed agreements avoid it.

Since Gaggle is feeling the pinch of providing DTS for the majority of the Kroy population, A two-tiered Alkranet would provide two separate ways the access the network. The first tier would be a standard speed for standard planetary – or wired -  customers. The second tier would provide a faster connection for exclusive interplanetary – or wireless -  customers for an additional fee.

Because of that distinction between and Alkranet transmissions, Interplanetary communication would be able to discriminate or manage the Alkranet network however they chose. Critics for both Gaggle and Horizon have wasted no time in getting paranoid about what this change might mean for the free nature of the Alkranet. Besides marketing this faster access as a luxury item, a higher tier could open the door to rationing off certain areas of the Alkranet for a higher price than others. Something the Alkranet has managed to avoid during it’s short existence.

But Mogul Sergey of Gaggle has a more than personal interest in making this proposal a reality. Sergey has already created an alliance between the Horizon Moguls through Horizon Interplanetary, the largest interplanetary wireless carrier in Kroy. The alliance of these two conglomerates is being planned as carefully as a merger between two feudal baronies. And just like the land alliances of old, it is the people who these moguls supposedly serve who will be in harm’s way if the transaction is complete.

At risk are the principle freedoms of Net Neutrality which state that there will be no restrictions on content, equipment, or modes of communication. As Gosh Gold put it in a recent interview, "It has always been assumed that the Alkranet will travel at one speed." In breaking up that seemingly undeniable right, Gaggle seems to be creating a monopoly on a large piece of the Alkranet and by determining how it’s users use it.

The Galactic Communications Commission has halted any further closed-door talks between Gaggle and Horizon, claiming a broader input is needed before the right decision can be made. This intervention has surprised many experts. Not because the halt was all the GCC did, but that the GCC was able to halt the talks at all.

This has been one of the few times a barony has been able to interfere in closed-door discussions between the two communication giants. The GCC has yearly put out reports saying that the ETT/Gong conglomerate has a monopoly on the Alkranet connections in all Kroy regions. It has sited examples throughout the rest of the galaxy – even developed Eurysan regions – where smaller companies provide access. Because the burden is held by many, and not by a single conglomerate company, there is no need for extra charges or for tiers of communication. But those reports had not been acted on, or any action taken to slow the progress of Gaggle or Horizon’s actions.

In the end, the proposal released this week is unlikely to be adopted by the Baronage. But it still emphasizes the fact, that given enough power, companies like Gaggle and Horizon will try to over charge and isolate their customers. Even in a forum as free as the Alkranet. And if this proposal is adopted, Kroy citizens might soon see the freedom of the Alkranet come with a price too heavy to pay.
 

A study of gender and workplace salaries hit the media last week, stating that women who stay single and childless may have an edge in the workplace. The study inferred that mothers are not as valued in a professional environment, and may be seen as a liability.

However, this new data is not without opposition. In the last five years, similar studies have also proven that married men’s salaries go up while single women stay in the lower ranks. It has also been proven that marriage did not prove an impediment to women climbing to corporate ladder. What the best type of social situation a woman must be in to find success has shifted depending on who is doing the studies.

But one thing that all these studies have consistently proven is that having children puts undue strain on any mother’s career.

The perception of working women has changed over the last two Dynasties. Now that humanity has rebuilt from the Earth Exodus, the need for large families run by a stay-at-home mother has dwindled. But the perception of a woman’s role being the keeper of her family remained for decades after the institution was actually needed.

The stigma of the working woman was lifted during the revolutions of the 9th Dynasty, and now a woman no longer risks being fired for becoming pregnant or getting married. Instead, mothers who chose to work after their child is born more often find themselves on The Mommy Orbit: a more flexible schedule – sometimes set up with their original employers – in order for the mother to tend to her children’s needs first and her career needs second.

Because of this de-emphasis of her career as a priority – turning building on career goals into a to-do list – most modern mothers find it difficult or impossible to advance in their chosen careers. And when the pressure to do it all becomes too great, most women find it is more economical to lose their jobs rather than upgrade their child care.

Tan-Li Mi, a graduate of the famous Varda Business School has written in length about discovering how many of her promising female classmates had followed her onto The Mommy Orbit. Conducting phone polls asking women in her class about their work schedules, Mi realized over 60% of her classmates were working flexible or part-time jobs.

Cher Gritoo, COO of YourPlace spoke about this phenomenon earlier this year, when she related a story about a fellow COO not knowing where the women’s restroom in his office was. "I asked him if it was possible that I was the only woman to pitch a deal in their office. He couldn’t say, but he thought it was possible." she told the assembled group. "It’s been 15 years since I graduated from a brilliant class of business students. But while all the men are working full time, almost none of the women are."

But unlike some of her peers, Gritoo didn’t just focus on the dynamics currently at work. "We all lose when women leave the workforce. And while I don’t think we can get most of the talent from my generation back, I think the next generation – like my son and daughter – will have more choices available to them."

While the great recession is making the cost of simple living go up, the discussion of health care has turned even the simplest talk about coverage into a bloodbath. And because of constant fluctuations of coverage and rising prices in insurance companies’ plans, some life-saving medications are becoming increasingly expensive.Enter CARe, or the Central Assembly of Regions – a group of baronial Kavaliros whose primary focus is to help the regions of Kroy.

CARe regulates how each of the smaller sectors of Kroy run the laws that most directly impact their citizens. And because CARe deals with the real issues of the people it serves – one of the up coming seminars deals with rural planet speedway construction – it focuses on creating real solutions from the ground up.

When it came to the health care debate, CARe was one of the major political institutions to recognize that all the squabbling on Planet Hope was delaying help to the people who really needed it… without creating a viable alternative solution.Their solution to the health care debate: the CARe Prescription Card.

CARe formed a partnership with Caretek, a major prescription drug company, to buy bulk quantities of prescription medicine. Using these bulk quantities, CARe was able to leverage considerable buying power and pass on the savings. In doing so, CARe has created a unique and astonishing resource for the people of Kroy: a universal discount prescription card.

Anyone who lives in one of the Kroy regions can get one of these cards. Since the card is offered through a political entity and not an insurance company, there is no cap on age or condition. There is no price haggling over past illnesses or criteria to follow to get the best results. The benefits of the card, and the membership to get it, are open to all Kroy citizens.

The card gives a discount of up to 25% off prescriptions. Any medications. Period.And the card is no simple coupon. It keeps track of the medication being bought, and alerts a pharmacist if a potential drug interaction may occur. Membership in the program is totally free.

Lucianov recorded Glibsun during a tense negotiation over what financial support Lucianov would receive after the divorce was finalized. During the recorded talk, Glibsun ranted and raved at his wife in racist, sexist, and generally degrading language. Among other things, Glibsun stated Lucianov will be raped by a group of Terra-Kroy men for her perceived crimes against him, and that he is willing to travel to the house they shared together for the express purpose of burning it down. He also claimed that her bad behavior drove him to drink and smoke in excess… something that the star was doing well before he met Lucianov.

Five years ago, when his conveyance was pulled over by police on the Kroy planet Muliba, Glibsun was found to be severely intoxicated and was arrested for driving under the influence. As the officers did the tests to prove Glibsun was intoxicated enough to be held, Glibsun began swearing at both of the officers. He called the female officer a derogatory name and expounded in length to the Geish officer that he belonged to a people who were ‘responsible for all the wars in the galaxy.’ Glibsun made multiple apologies to Geish leaders, stating that the outburst was caused by his alcoholism. The same reason he gave for the recorded rants this year.

Glibsun has built a career on the frantic energy he showed during these secret recordings. He first rose to fame playing a warrior on a post-apocalyptic universe in the movies The Mad Marv Series and ‘Mad Marv Beyond the Lightning Sphere’. He then solidified his reputation playing a crazy cop with a laid back partner in the Deadly Device Series. After becoming a bankable commodity, he began making epics like ‘Bravesoul’ about a patriotic Baronet in Brytas during one of the many struggles when the sector was solidifying under a single power structure.

But that same frantic energy has also put Glibsun in the center of controversy. His wildly controversial Passion of the Haelsen was a modern interpretation of the old play of the life of the founder of the Haelan philosophy. Haelan literature states that the founder was betrayed by one of his followers and that Gieish lawmakers sentenced him to death to placate the roman seats of power. But critics accused him of turning the Gieish characters into stereotypes, who are gleeful at the death of the Haelan founder.

Outside of his movies, Glibsun has also taken drastic views on politics, scientific use of stern cells, and the actions of Mogul Shrubb.

Glibsun married the Rhosian Lucianov 6 months after finalizing the divorce from his wife of 29 years. But the couple’s marriage lasted just 6 months before Lucianov was filing for a restraining order. Lucianov fears for her safety since Glibsun has allegedly hit her twice and knocked out two of her teeth. With the nature of the content of the tapes, it’s easy for the public to see why. Especially when Glibsun has been caught on tape saying things like, "I don’t care if you were the one who found her! I don’t care if you were the one who hired her! She’s paid with my money! I pay you with my money! I own you both, I’ll decide what you should do!"

Despite the nasty language and nastier accusation following the tapes themselves, Glibsun is not hiding from the controversy. The star has told reporters that he will not be traveling back to his home planet in the Auster system. He’ll be staying in the Kroy sector to work on an movie and is focusing on his other projects. And although the star has been dropped from his long-time agents at the Bill Garfield Legacy, reps and long-time supporters of the star have not been distancing themselves from him.

It seems that the elite of Kroy entertainment, while disgusted with the new info, are still willing to give Glibsun a chance. Time will tell if this latest outburst will be a truely damaging moment in Glibsun’s career or just another speed bump.

However, the news does not always have noble and righteous goals. The published word has long been a tool of biased reporters who use their skill to promote their favorite political candidate or tow the company line. However, biased reporting has gone to a new level with the advent of newsfeed technology.Because the Alkranet has the ability to post a story online in minutes, without the approval of an editor, suspect news stories may be distributed to every world in the galaxy as easily as credible ones. What’s worse is that those same suspect news stories are given credibility through a process called ‘The Telephone Room.”

The Telephone Room’ starts when a story with little credibility and little research goes online. Even if many news sources reject it, it can be used by a creditable news organization that thinks the story will play into an angle their subscribers want. As soon as one credible news source covers a story, it creates a false sense of credibility for the source information.Once given credibility, it may be picked up by other channels, who by this time believe the story to be true. Even if other sources do the research and disprove it, after enough newsfeeds repeat the story it will be a fact. No matter how untrue it is.

Foxy News Newschannels criticized for having a clear bias are not the only ones taking advantage of this brave new world. Think tanks controlled by companies like Bryttas Pearlbeads are quickly springing up to take advantage of this new perception. These think tanks have been known to use planted stories, biased reporting, and outright lies to further their causes or change public perception of their company’s actions.In the past, investigative journalism – which at best gave us 30 minutes, and at worse gave us Gelvaldo Reviva – has shed light on many of these underhanded tactics. But the unfortunate side of Alkranet technology has had a hand here as well.

Public perception of those who continue to do such hard hitting news stories is changing. And, sadly, changing for the worst.One person who knows that personally is Mich Ahstings. The Rotating Comet magazine reporter was embedded with Baronet Ebaj’s main man on Sangistan: General Li McClear. Ahstings did his best to report everything he heard and saw to give his readers a truly accurate picture of who was handling the war. But when Ahstings recounted some sarcastic banter between the general and one of his lackeys, the article became a little too honest for McClear’s tastes.

McClear and his supporters began lambasting Ahstings through the article’s comments page, warning the reporter that ‘being too truthful’ would upset ‘those in power.’

When Ahstings spoke of the incident, he noted that the essence of being a reporter is irritating someone in power from time to time. But some powerful reactions can’t be as easily shrugged off. When powerful men get offended by news stories of their serious mistakes, it can be life threatening for the whistleblowers.

There had been rumors of Kroy forces opening fire on Sangistan reporters for some time, but the Kroy military was being tight lipped about the existence of footage. Despite several prominent newsfeeds requesting the footage under the ‘Information as Freedom’ act, all requests to access it was denied.Hard proof didn’t surface until LookiLeaks founder Aien Jewels put a video of one such attack online.

The graphic images shows Kroy troops calling camera equipment ‘KA-97s’ and using the cameras as an excuse to mow down innocent reporters from HALO orbit. The footage also records the solders laughing as one of the wounded tried to crawl to safety. The Kroy Military was forced to verify the footage was real as the story hit major news feeds.But LookiLeaks’ founder got a feel for what a military ambush felt like after the footage’s release.

The original source that Jewels had obtained the footage from was discovered by the Kroy military, arrested, and put in indefinite pre-trial holding in Kuwait. Suddenly a target of the Military Rhombus, Jewels himself quickly went into hiding. He has yet to resurface and the military rhombus is still looking for him.

That the Kroy is not complying with it’s own legislation is a another troubling sign that serious reporting is in danger of being criminalized. Not only did the Kroy Baronage deny the release of the footage to the press, the Baronage refused to give a reason why the footage could not be released. More troubling is the fact that most of the planets in the Kroy have governing bodies that are currently trying to criminalize whistleblower sites that leak information to the outside world.

Information that has been classified as free may put people in jail if they try to actually seek it.Finding news sources that only agree with the public’s world-views does not increase the amount of truth in the articles. And it does not give us the sense of galactic events that we are watching the news to get.

In fact, because of the malleability of biased reporting, the powerful can use news more and more as a way to twist the public perception into ways that will suit them the best.Investigative journalism is still out there.

Regardless of the source or the delivery medium, there are still people who actively seek out the truth rather than just the news. But if the public does not support real investigative journalism, or seek out alternative sources for news without a slant, then things will only get worse.

Jai, an ex-Dumizi himself, is the most notable spoken word artist and activist to emerge from the ranks of the zombie like gangs dubbed Dumizis. After his family members were raped, killed, and tortured by the Dumizi soldiers of a Saliman Mogul, Jai joined a rival Haelan Mogul at a very young age in order to get revenge. After years of being trained to kill and fed Dima—a drug with violent side effects–Jai found himself in war zones where he transformed into a Dumizi. As a Dumizi, his gang would kill anyone that stood in the way of their vengeance. But as the situation grew desperate, Jai tried to wean himself off of Dima and escape.

The story of Jai being trapped on a desert planet before his eventual escape is one of the most engrossing parts of his shows. With supplies cut off from the 400 soldiers in his gang, many were going through psychotic withdrawal symptoms as years of dima tried to work itself out of their bloodstreams. With food quickly going low and the climate becoming intolerable, many of his fellow Dumizis began to turn to cannibalism as a way to sate their bloodlust and physical hunger. Although Jai did not give into the cravings himself, he considered them, even begged a dying friend to let him be eaten. If help had not come to the group, Jai confesses he would have killed and eaten his friend. Jai’s desperation is understandable- he was one of only 60 survivors of the ordeal.

But Jai’s story, unlike many former Dumizis, did not end in tragedy. Ella MkLune was an aid worker fighting to bring education to Jai’s people in the hopes that an educated public would be more likely to rebel against the Moguls and warlords exploiting the children. Jai was adopted by Ella and removed from the war zone. After she died in a car crash, Ella’s friends made sure that Jai continued with his studies–and that education was the young ex-fighter’s ticket to new worlds.

But Jai was not alone. While conditions for young Dumizi soldiers is often fatal, many have left the ranks and taken the fight for their rights and the rights of people like them to places with a much larger impact.

Maeli Hebb wrote his best-selling book ‘Home a long way gone’ about his experiences as a Dumizi soldier. Not only was Hebb’s experience just as brutal as Jai’s, he stated that some Dumizi solders were asked to kill members of their family to prove their loyalty. And there are hundreds more, like ex-Dumizi Cal Sot Kut, have simply allowed themselves to be interviewed and allowed the world to see what happened to them.

For many, being this honest about horrific events from their past is difficult. But each of these Dumizis-turned-activists say the same thing. It is telling their story, and getting the word out that Dumizis are still being made from their peers, is one of their greatest motivators.

Anyone affected by these Dumizi armies must go through counseling to transition back into civilian life. Their health must be recovered, and their state of mind must be restored. And speaking out is helping many to heal their spirits.

If kidnapping, drugging, and murder isn’t bad enough, knowing that Kroy monies are supporting this violence is even worse. Recent findings have revealed the Kroy baronies have been working with the Jamuridan transitional Moguls to fund a solution to the Dumizi problem. But not as a peacemaker.

The Jamuridan Moguls and the Kroy are the only two systems in the Elite’s General Assembly not to sign the ‘The Rights of the Helpless Ones’ act, which prohibits the use of Dumizis in conflicts. But the Jamuridans have been feeding Dima to their youngest soldiers to give them the strength to enforce the rules of the Jamuridan transitional Moguls. The reasoning – for both Jamurida and Kroy – is that with the scarcity of fighters, they need the help of anyone who can carry a weapon. Since everyone else is using them, why shouldn’t they?

The Kroy for all their illusions of political or humanitarian sophistication, has agreed with this stunning reasoning. And they are supporting these actions with funds from its tax coffers. Reports have come that Kroy is working with the Jamuridans to pay their child soldiers a "working wage." Admittedly, the situation without the extra Kroy wage is bleak – all soldiers get paid a wage of 2 krohl a day.

With a rampant rebellion raging in Jamurida, the Kroy have no plans for the future of these children. There are no resources planned to start programs that would truly help the young soldiers on both sides of this battle. There are no rehabilitation centers to wean Dumizi’s off of Dima or place the often orphaned children back with relatives or family friends. No, all of the Kroy’s resources are going towards better rifles and larger checks for the most helpless of Jamurida’s citizens.

Kroy has clearly taken advantage of the more susceptible group in this ever-widening conflict. And their continued delay in signing a bill of basic equal rights for these warriors promises the threat of Dumizis will be one that will plague Terrajin for decades to come.

Dumizi soldiers – the name given to fighters drugged to be mindless killing machines – have spread throughout the most recent conflicts in the Terrajin space. But why are these Jamuridan and Kongolese warlords creating mindless automatons?

People throughout the Terrajin Territory have traditionally relied on father figures, like station leaders, as the backbone of their culture. Charismatic father figures have often held a community together and made decisions for the group as a whole. But in the current unstable atmosphere, the caring father figure has morphed into something more sinister.

These warlords, each trying to control as much of the solar system as possible, have used extreme methods–like killing any man old enough to fight them or raping women to force cooperation through intimidation. And, most especially, taking any children who are old enough to be transformed into gangs of Dumizi.

After killing their families and leaving them with no other choice but to join them, the warlords try to secure a hold over their new charges. They feed their recruits little more than a drug called ‘Dima.’ This drug can be found in berries and leaves of the Dima plant and when ingested it has a strange, but set, behavioral pattern.

When the first doses are taken in the morning, the recruits feel normal. Most even finding time for a nap, unaware the drug is taking affect. But as the day wears on and the drug starts to kick in, the recruits become violent, thoughtless, and begin to show signs of chemically increased strength. Their intoxication culminates in a frenzy in the late evening hours, when they are sent to enemy locations to reek havoc on anyone who oppose their warlord.

The dumizi talismans these Dumizi warriors sport have become feared signs of death and destruction. Each warlord allows their Dumizis to sport a piece of blood-red cloth on a different part of their body. Some wear it as turbans, some as masks, some as scarves, but it is the color that makes the meaning unmistakable. These are the warriors who know nothing but Dima and murder. These are the young men who will enforce the warlord’s order at any cost.

As these young recruits age, their appearance takes on that of the living dead. And they need stronger and stronger doses of the drug to keep up their fighting strength. Some reports have them injecting or snorting the crushed dima berries. And high-ranking officials in these guerrilla armies are allowed the delicacy of a larva that feasts on the Dima plants. This larva is much prized for a more potent concentration of the drug in it’s system.

Although the outbreak of the Dumizi has been brought under control in many Regions, there are still rebel groups using Dima to control their armies. Several galactic laws and acts are currently being debated, and the first war-crime trials are proceeding now against some of the warlords and low level Moguls responsible for employing such despicable tactics.

For the first time in the history of the galaxy, the planets of Lower Terrajin have been chosen to host this much loved sporting event. Over 10 billion people are expected to tune in, and exciting rivalries like the Kroy versus the Bryttas are posed to take center stage. Thousands of people have already flooded the planets to root on their favorite teams.

The Lower Terrajinn baronies are enthusiastic about showcasing the best of their culture. The past horrors of the policies of DiEh Trapa are in the past, and the collective baronies have been a positive force in the region. The Lower Terrajin officials are eager to downplay the worse of their hardships, and use the Chalice as a chance to capture the galaxy’s positive attention.

But one thing has prevented Lower Terrajinn from being the perfect galactic hosts: the residents of their infamous ‘bulb slums.’

All across the ten space stations and TerraBase venues hosting the event, these “undesirables” are being rounded up and forcefully removed. Tens of thousands of Lower Terrajin’s poor are bulb dwellers, people who live in large communities of plastic bubble houses in JhoTown, Cape Hood, or Cove City. Over the past year, thousands of them, especially those who live in the visible ‘Mogul Road’ area, have been chased from their homes and detained without being charged with any kind of crime.

This is not the first time the government has tried to push the rights of the bulb dwellers under the carpet. Over the past 3 years, the government has tried to pass several bills like the ‘Eliminate & Prevent Slums Bill’ that would label the bulbs as unsound housing. Doing so gives the baronies reason to refuse providing basic services like running water, grub disks, toilets, or gravity.

The Lower Terrajinn baronies have also tried to institute new decrees – in direct opposition with orders currently on the books – that would make it legal for the authorities to round up bulb dwellers, recycle their homes, and put them into camps.  Anyone the barony detains in this way would not be able to move around freely without a specialized ID. And anyone who tries to stop the destruction of their homes, or protest the actions, can be imprisoned for up to 5 years and forced to pay 20 thousand krohl in damages.

The barony’s reasons for doing this is simple. Bulb cities can spawn some unsavory characters. They fear mighty slum moguls like those that control bulb cities on other planets. But it is fear alone of these problems, not actual empirical evidence of it, that drives the regulations. And bulb dwellers are quick to point out that the funds used for creating the Galactic Chalice Stadiums could have been used to tackle a number of their problems. But instead the money is being used to demonize their people as a whole.

Bulbs residents are taking the publicity of the Galactic Chalice as an opportunity to fight back. Recent protest marches under the theme ‘No Bulb, No Gravity? No Vote, No Bill." has shown the galaxy that there are people fighting for their homes as the galaxy cheers its Kick-Goal heroes. Even after being recently threatened with jail time, kidnapping, and fire to their homes by gangs and government officials, bulb dwellers will not be silenced.

And courage like theirs is worth more than any Kick-Goal game victory.

Strife between these two sectors of Kal has intensified ever since Saliman forces reoccupied the Haza Belt. Being a Tertuist barony in an overwhelmingly hostile area, Azreral acted quickly when the extremist clan, called the MASHA, took power during recent elections. Azreral soon formed a blockade around the Haza Belt space, which it has maintained for the last five years. Azreral still holds power over the region as an occupying force in some galactic forums like the Elite’s General Assembly. And Azreral has been using that power to impose whatever restrictions it can on the new MASHA Moguls.

However, Azreral’s latest attempt to stop aid from entering the Haza Belt has many galactic leaders concerned. Azreral has seemingly gone from discouraging help to the area to using lethal force on civilians.

Last week, Azreral attacked a flotilla of shuttles carrying paper, building materials, and essential supplies 70 sectors outside of the Haza Belt blockade. As the army descended on them in the dead of space, it quickly became clear the Azreral fighters were using lethal force to get them to submit.

Nine people died from lethal force and as the fatal injuries mounted, according to the flotilla’s passengers. Even though the shuttles fled into neutral space to try to stop the attack, the Azreral fleet pursued them, and captured the ships.

The Azreral have gone on the offensive when speaking about the incident. It has sparked patriotic feeling in a people who are easily biased against the Philistainis. While the Philistainis were surprised by the use of lethal force, they cannot deny that the flotilla was a clear target for Azrerali attack. The aid that was coming into the Haza Belt was part of a highly publicized, Philistani-backed act of protest against Azrerali occupation in the area. Flotillas similar to the one carrying the activists have been used to smuggle in arms and ammunition to Philistaini extremists. The Azrerali were easily inspired to think the worst, and were eager to discourage future flotillas and punish the newest wave of activists.

Azreral has argued in many forums that this was only an effort to enforce the blockade, and that things simply got out of hand. But Azreral’s actions do not support their supposed innocence in the incident. Before the raid the Azreral army tried to jam all communications aboard the flotilla. And after the army boarded the ships, they used grenades to assault the main flagship. Then they seized all video and audio equipment the passengers were carrying in an effort to control the situation.
 
As smuggled footage began to find its way into the media, it was clear why these steps were taken. On several of the aid ships, Azreral forces used deadly force in circumstances where basic methods of crowd control would have been more than sufficient. In another scene, an Azreral officer shot a passenger in point-blank execution style.

While Azreral’s enemies have lambasted this incident, the barony’s past allies are equally shocked and disappointed. Baronet Ebaj spoke about the incident in a recent press conference and stating that the embargo on the Haza Belt was ‘unsustainable.’

But despite galactic demand for a comprehensive investigation into what sparked the nine deaths, Azreral has refused to comply with pressure to conduct an impartial, galactic review. It will not allow external security forces to question what happened, and has only begrudgingly agreed to conduct an investigation of its own.

Critics to the new administration have been openly wondering:  is our new leader an improvement on the Shrubb administration… or just more of the same? To answer that question, we’ve researched the realities behind the talking points for critics on both sides of the debate.

Baronet Ebaj:

As Ebaj experiments with different projects to help the Kroy people, he’s been accused of trying to consolidate his power. Certain news sources have counted 32 Lords created under the Baronet Ebaj administration, supposedly more Lords than have existed in previous administrations. And his critics have claimed this staffing change is indicative of some sort of power-grab.

But does Ebaj have a Lord surplus? Not at all. In fact, former Leader Mogul Shrubb holds the record for the most Lords in office during his presidency. But the title of Lord has been around long before Mogul Shrubb came to power. ‘Lords’ were started during the Great Crash of the Sixth Dynasty, and were a name the press gave to identify the new offices being created. Blanco House has never officially named anyone a Czar. That’s the right and duty of the press.

A press, incidentally, that has been insinuating Ebaj’s 26 days of vacation time with his family is drawing his attention away from such pressing territorial matters as the Deepspace Event Horizon Pearl Cloud. Is Baronet Ebaj really taking an extended period of time away from affairs of state?

Not necessarily. Past leaders have spent time away from the oval office. Admittedly, some leaders have taken less time off, like Vlinton who spent just 174 days on vacation during his 8 year term. But the average leader’s vacation time is usually much higher. Mogul Reagan spent 42 days on vacation during his first year in office. By comparison Ebaj’s 26 days of vacation is pretty modest.

Mogul Shrubb

Although Mogul Shrubb’s term in office was controversial, the Mogul did maintain some popularity through the appearance of being an everyman. Mogul Shrubb presented himself as someone who didn’t buy into politics as usual, and who took time to relax and talk to the good old boys back home.

But as Baronet Ebaj now knows, taking time to relax can be detrimental to your administration’s image. Mogul Shrubb took over 77 vacations during his 8 year term. During his first year alone he was out of the office for an excess of 69 days over the course of 9 separate vacation trips. And he took his vacations during some of the worst disasters of his presidency, when he should have been focusing his attention on the needs of the Kroy people.

Another part of Mogul Shrubb’s down-home image was based on his conservative values. Values that encouraged simpler ceremonies for major events like planetary inaugurations. Ebaj’s inauguration was a historic event that was said to have cost 160 million krohl while Mogul Shrubb’s second inauguration cost a mere 42 million krohl. Was Ebaj’s inauguration indicative of a more spendthrift administration?

Not exactly. When you break down the costs of each celebration, and why they were incurred, a different financial picture starts to emerge. Entertainment – both for politicians and for the public – are things the elected leaders have to raise money for. To pay for their inaugurations on Planet Hope, Baronet Ebaj raised 41.4 million krohl and Mogul Shrubb raised 42.3 million krohl. The rest of the costs were incurred holding the event itself and paying for security- both costs that are paid by Kroy’s tax payers. Security for Mogul Shrubb’s second inauguration  was extremely important, and because of that his ceremony cost 114 million krohl for security alone. So the costs of his and Ebaj’s inaugurations are roughly even.

And Baronet Ebaj had to do more for his inauguration. At Mogul Shrubb’s last inauguration only 400,000 people attended. For Baronet Ebaj it was nearly 2 million.

In short: Ebaj’s election of new ‘Lords’ and his vacation time aren’t the issues some think they are. But neither are Shrubb’s vacation time or his inaugural expenses.