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[o-wyrmlight]

Off The Record is a first-person character exploration and study of the bloody murder district's resident sequence killer, John McCoy, following the canonical events of Martinaise. Mind the fanfic tags if this is something you think you might be interested in reading: When it comes to John McCoy, it isn't exactly going to be moral or pretty at the end of the day.

Chapter 2: Pride

John McCoy is here to see Mr. Bevy, she says. He says it’s important, she says. All right, she says, I’ll let him know. And she hangs up, metal receiver clicking loud. I blink and raise my head from my drowsy half-slumber, stomach clenching, mouth watering. “He says you’ll have to wait until after recording’s done,” she says, apologetic. “You can take a seat or come back later.” My lungs feel cold. I squint at her, suspicious and weary. “Wait, didn’t you say it’s important?” “I did, sir.” Miss Secretary nods, avoiding my eyes. “The producer said—” “The producer?” I press, standing up straight. I know my tone is sharp and tight. I don’t mean it to be. I promise. My pulse is just making me dizzy, or maybe it’s the hunger or the pain, or maybe it’s the exhaustion. Am I dehydrated? When did I last drink water? “Did you tell Bevy himself?” “He’s already recording for the day,” she explains, reaching across the desk and into some compartment that’s beneath me, some private hidey hole that I’m not allowed to be privy to. The twisting tattoo of a skull trails its way up her arm, lined with bones, with may bells and ribbons that snake around her skin. May bells are typical, boring flowers for tattoos, but it’s far cooler than an empty aquarium tank and fake potted plants. It’s also mildly alarming. Suddenly ‘sweetie’ isn’t really so nice.

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KIM KITSURAGI - "Finally. I thought I have to come looking for you. What took you so long?"

YOU - "Just men being men, Kim. You wouldn't understand." (Look solemnly to the horizon.)

KIM KITSURAGI - "René!" he says, snapping his fingers.

COMPOSURE - As if a revelation just hit him.

INLAND EMPIRE - You're not going to like it.

YOU - "What about René?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "You are really starting to remind me of him. It's not a compliment. I don't like it."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Alright, let's go. It's getting cold."

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People still tend to lump JK Rowling in with the category of ~problematic artists~ and I need everyone to understand that is not the problem with her. She is not comparable to anyone who wrote a piece of fiction you hate, or someone who made rude comments in 2015 and has since learned better.

She is far more like Elon Musk. She is a radicalized person with an extreme amount of social and financial power, and for YEARS she has been using that power to try to influence her government into hurting vulnerable people, on purpose. And she has succeeded. THAT is the problem with her, and THAT is why spending money on her books is so dangerous, not because her books aged badly.

Critiquing her work is fine, of course (I personally was never a fan so I really don’t care) but you NEED to understand that fiction is not the main issue here. And I truly think acting like she’s the same as the rest of any giant list of ~problematic creators of the week~ waters down how dangerous she is.

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Had this posted on my twitter a while ago but I've realised it's much easier to compartmentalise fanart I draw from my personal stuff on tumblr :)

PS. I know that the creators have said that each person has their own unique set of inner voices but I just used the familiar ones for ease!

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Good US news because I think we all could use some of it:

The Marines are to be withdrawn from LA. The extreme escalation many of us feared did not happen thanks to the people of LA and the soldiers themselves who said "no".

The "Good Trouble Lives On" protests may not have been as big as the previous "Hands Off" and "No Kings" protests (likely due to heat + being planned on a weekday), but still 1.6k protests were held across the USA with thousands joining in with the peaceful protest.

The Trump administration has been ordered to restore $6.2 million in grant funding to nine LGBTQ+ and HIV-related nonprofits. This is fantastic.

Pittsburgh City Council has passed bills to protect its LGBTQ+ citizens.

California has stepped up to partner with and support The Trevor Project. Let's go, Cali!

Another win for California: Reports show that California is powered by two-thirds clean energy. This is a historic first and it keeps getting better!

The ACLU of Louisiana has secured the release of two wrongfully detained Iranian LSU students.

The Republican governor of New Hampshire has defied her party and shot down a book banning bill.

Shareholders have pushed back on corporations' anti-DEI proposals, forcing companies to face the fact that diversity is good for business... And reminds us that the majority does not agree with the removal of DEI, no matter what MAGA wants us to believe.

Since November, 69 of the 110 Supreme Court lawyers tasked with defending the Trump admin's policies have quit.

Don't let anyone tell you that there isn't hope, that there aren't people fighting and working and just as scared and angry as you are. You are not alone. Peaceful protests, contacting reps, and simple non-cooperation is how we sustainably and successfully push back against authoritarianism.

"We're cooked" is the devil talking. Giving up, rolling over, and perpetuating the idea that we've already failed is exactly what MAGA wants. Don't give them the satisfaction. Don't make it easy. Continue to look after each other and support your communities where you can. Keep protesting, keep calling, keep writing, keep loving. The heart is a muscle the size of your fist; we can get through this as long as we continue to stand up and say "no".

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Hi I know I don't have many followers, but if this reaches literally one (1) mutual, I will be happy it did nonetheless.

If you use Google and are sick and tired of the "AI overviews" and AI images showing up every time you look up literally anything, please download the Pre-AI Search extension that filters out all that shit. It takes two second and you will be glad you did it.

Anyways that's it

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Andrea Velez, a US citizen, was arrested in the time it took her mother to drive less than a block. She was on her way to work. She’s Latina. It appears that was enough. Tuesday morning, Andrea Velez’s mom and sister dropped her off near her workplace. She’s a production coordinator at Top Pick Global. Andrea graduated with a degree in fashion from Cal Poly Pomona. Near Andrea’s work, an ICE raid was taking place. In fact, someone had called the LAPD to say a “kidnapping” was taking place. The LAPD showed up, saw it was an immigration raid — LAPD is not permitted to assist ICE in immigration raids — and immediately switched to crowd control, making sure people weren’t in the street and so on. As Andrea walked toward her place of employment, she says she looked up and saw an ICE agent barreling toward her. In the flash of thoughts that went through her mind, she thought maybe she was being targeted for the color of her skin, that maybe he thought she was not a US citizen. She instinctively held up her bag and the agent bowled into her. Her mother — they hadn’t even made it a block away yet — looked in the rear view mirror and saw the plainclothes ICE agents standing over her daughter and putting her in cuffs. “They’re kidnapping your sister,” she said. Andrea tried to get the LAPD to help, and so did her mother and sister. According to her mother and other witnesses, no one ever asked Andrea for ID or asked about her status. The police didn’t help, even when Andrea’s mother was screaming she was a US citizen. In fact, according to some witnesses, they moved to stand around Andrea to make it more difficult to film what was happening. For the first 24 hours, her family couldn’t find Andrea. They didn’t know where she had been taken or what was happening. They hired lawyers who managed to find her, but no one would tell them what she was being charged with, only that she would likely face federal charges. DHS publicly said she would be charged with “assaulting an officer.” When they got to court yesterday, ICE lawyers downgraded that to “obstructing” an officer. An ICE officer claimed that Andrea purposely stepped in his way and raised both of her arms to stop him from going after someone he was trying to arrest. Witnesses tell the story the way Andrea does: an ICE agent approached her, knocked her down, then arrested her without asking any questions about her status or identity. Andrea, her lawyer, her mother and sister all have the same theory: during an ICE raid an ICE agent saw a Latina and scooped her up because of the color of her skin, and had to invent another reason once it was discovered she was a US citizen, born and raised in Los Angeles. Andrea was released on a 5k bond yesterday.

Immigration officers have recently taken to arresting Latino and Hispanic US citizens on raids and claiming obstruction or assault, only to release them a few days later, sometimes without charges. On June 12th, for instance, Brian Gavidia walked outside his work and saw immigration officers. He told them he was a US citizen and showed them his Real ID. They pushed him up against a fence and started asking him questions like “What hospital were you born in.” DHS later said he had “assaulted an officer” -- video evidence does not back this up -- but they didn’t charge him. Or return his ID. (A common pattern: DHS will say something like this on social media, but not in court. It appears to be a PR stunt, not any attempt at communicating something true or legally actionable.) When CNN reached out to DHS on this one they added that Brian “attempted to flee” as well, which is remarkable given that he’s a US citizen who literally just stepped outside his place of work. Adrian Martinez, 20, had a run-in with Border Patrol on his break at WalMart. It sounds like — this is unclear — he tried to obstruct a BP vehicle that held one of his friends from work. Border Patrol agents grabbed him and claim that he punched one of them. Of course, a nearby bystander was recording and there is no evidence of a punch. And Border Patrol went on to say that Adrian was a “hostile group” of men, which is weird because he’s one guy… unless they are counting Oscar Preciado, the delivery driver who stood nearby and videoed the whole thing. Neither Oscar’s video nor surveillance cameras that caught the entire event show a punch. Border Patrol says that the complete videos “are missing critical moments and don’t tell the whole story.” But after holding Adrian for THREE DAYS they also dropped the assault charge. Because, as Adrian’s lawyer said, “He didn’t assault anyone.” They’re now charging him with “conspiracy to impede or injure an officer” which his lawyer calls “trumped up” charges. ICE has claimed that upwards of 70% of those they arrest are “serious criminals” but their own statistics tell a different story. In the most recent ICE stats publicly released:

75% of people in ICE private prisons have nothing more than an immigration related issue or a traffic violation

47% of those being held by ICE have no criminal conviction at all… no criminal immigration violation, traffic violation, or criminal charge of any kind.

Would you like to guess the percentage of “serious criminals” who are being held by ICE? We’ve been told over and over that we’re after the “worst of the worst” so I suspect it must be an impressive number. And that number is: NINE PERCENT. It certainly appears that the enormous daily quota for arrests is encouraging quantity arrests rather than quality arrests. Arresting a US citizen, even if you have to release them a few days later, counts toward the arrest. Arresting a tourist at the border rather than refusing them entry counts toward the quota. Arresting people at their green card interviews, tricking immigrants without lawyers into giving up their asylum claims and immediately arresting them once they agree, these all count toward the quota. Some key takeaways:

Don’t call the police expecting help during an immigration raid. Even in states like California, where they are not legally allow to assist federal immigration forces, they also are unlikely to step in and help US citizens or others being abused. Best case scenario: they do some crowd control.

ICE and other immigration forces are not afraid to arrest US citizens (and others) on trumped up charges, hold people, and release them later. There’s literally no consequences for them as individuals or corporately.

It is ICE policy to lie. This is not an exaggeration. They call it a “ruse.” ICE agents aren’t just allowed to lie, they are encouraged to do so and trained to do so. ICE agents are trained to trick and confuse people. Andrea Velez, a US citizen, was arrested in the time it took her mother to drive less than a block. She was on her way to work. She’s Latina. It appears that was enough. (x)

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You have to admit it's funny

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ok this is sick as fuck

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we’re really at that point in the year where no one cares about anything huh

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You have to admit it's funny

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you always see photos and videos of maine coons and its like "oh wow thats a big cat" but nothing quite prepares you for being unable to move because 25 lb cat crawled on top of you and decided to take a nap.

this beast is the size of a beagle and five times as fluffy. he's so big that I cannot safely pick him up because it hurts his joints. His head is bigger than both of my fists combined. he takes up half the couch on his own. whenever he runs through the house, the walls shake and it sounds like a herd of elephants passing by.

his cat tower tips over when he tries to climb it unless it is literally bolted down. he sleeps in a medium sized dog bed because none of the cat beds are big enough for him. He tries to do normal-sized cat things, like sitting on the back of the sofa or squeezing inside of a box, but he is simply too big to keep his balance or make himself fit.

In his head he's a little baby kitten but in reality he has the build of a lynx and the mass of a fucking linebacker.