#(he names his taylor jr of course)

[deadpresidents]

"No fewer than twenty-nine of my [research] cards document [Ronald] Reagan's detachment. He was at once the most remote and the most accessible of men. Although he reveled in the constant flesh-pressing of the Presidency, and ate up flattery with a spoon, he needed regular spells of 'personal time.' Glance through the Oval Office peephole and you would see him happily writing in longhand, always with his tie straight and jacket on, ensconced in an egglike solitude that the curvature of the lens only emphasized.

Adored by so many, he was a man with no real friends. This was not due to any inherent misanthropy...Until he remarried in 1952, earnest, bespectacled Ronnie was said to be 'best friends' with [actor] William Holden, and after that with Robert Taylor. But neither man was more than a barbecue buddy. Hundreds of political supporters and associates claimed to be close to him when he was Governor of California and thousands during his Presidency. Former Senator Paul Laxalt spoke for all of them when he said, 'I guess I know Ronald Reagan as well as anybody. Of course we never talk about anything personal.'

Sooner or later, every would-be intimate (including his four children, Maureen, Michael, Patti, and Ron) discovered that the only human being Reagan truly cared about (after his mother died) was Nancy. For Laxalt, disillusionment came when the President called to thank him for his campaign help in 1984, only to pause in midsentence and audibly turn over a page of typescript. For William F. Buckley Jr., it was when Reagan showed polite relief at his inability to accept an offer of hospitality. For Michael Reagan, it was the high-school graduation day his father greeted him with 'My name is Ronald Reagan. What's yours?'

Patti Davis, Reagan's younger daughter, writes in her 1992 autobiography:

'Often I'd come into a room and he'd looked up from his notecards as though he wasn't sure who I was. [Youngest son] Ron would race up to him, small and brimming with a child's enthusiasm, and I'd see the same bewildered look in my father's eyes, like he had to remind himself who Ron was...I sometimes felt like reminded him that Maureen was his daughter, too, not just someone with similar political philosophies.'

Reagan's scrupulously kept Presidential diary is remarkable for a near-total lack of interest in people as individuals. In all its half-million or so words, I did not find any affectionate remark about his children. He conscientiously named every visitor to the Oval Office, having a printed schedule to refer to, but in conversation he tended to rely on pronouns. Nor did he pay much attention to faces. 'Nice to meet you, Mr. Ambassador,' he greeted Denis Healey, the former Defense Minister of Great Britain, while the real British Ambassador stood by. 'But I've already met him,' his Excellency [the Ambassador] complained, 'eleven times.'"

-- Edmund Morris, Ronald Reagan's authorized biographer, on President Reagan's aloof personality, "The Unknowable: Ronald Reagan's Amazing, Mysterious Life," The New Yorker, June 28, 2004.

[ginalinettiofficial]

hey what’s up hello okay so i finally just finished s2 e52 of dndads (had a very crazy work week so was listening in bits and pieces) and here’s the thing is that im also currently relistening to the whole season and earlier in this week, the most recent episode i finished, was halt and catch fireball, and before that ya know was mrs. swallows oak garcia’s home for peculiar teens or whatever that one is called where they are just. at normal’s house and we got to actually get to know rebecca a little bit and i have got to say that i don’t know if i could’ve picked a more painful and wild older ep to listen to as a precursor to dood riddance i really don’t!!! literally half of the shit in dood riddance just circles back to that arc in the swallows oak garcia home and it’s CRAZY

like first of all. the red vines, which they called twizzlers the entirety of e52 which was MADDENING as a person who legit just finished e30/31 where the red vines were introduced

but then like. e31 is where taylor gets the anime sword from nick!!! that he loses in e52!!!

there were a few other things that i’ve forgotten in the half an hour since i finished the ep because my brain is a sieve on a good day and i’m just getting home from two back to back 13 hour shifts (with an extra 1hr10/20 each day for the commute) so the brain machine is so fucking broke rn

but mainly. i wasn’t loving e52 esp after dood left i just was not vibing with it, i feel like the vibes were off in the room in a way that translated into the ep for a bit there, but then anthony in those last like three minutes brought it back around and with the roll of rebecca??? after i legit JUST finished listening to the eps that feature her the most prominently and like truly showcase not only normal’s relationship w his mom but also, as is said several times in e30/31 and their teen talks, just how similar normal IS to his mom and how he really clearly is a total momma’s boy and very much so seemed to be a kid who sought solace with his mom more than anyone else in his family and just. having legit JUST reestablished that in my own, made the end of e52 DEVASTATING for me in a way that idk if it was for other ppl??? idk haven’t checked the fandom yet im very disconnected this season but just.

like

i think that okay so we have ten parents it could’ve been, right? and five of those are the kiddads, and none of us want to see them die, so in that moment when anthony was telling us what was gonna happen, obviously my instinct was like “oh god don’t do this don’t do terry jr again but truly permanent” and then my next instinct was that it would be potentially even MORE awful if it was scary’s dad because finally there he is and that’s ALL she wants and for willy to take that moment from her would be INSANE and then (mind you this was my thought process over the course of literally 10 seconds, my brain is ping ponging in my head and has been since the second i got in the car to head home i need to sleep) and THEN my next thought was, oh god, but how fucked up would it be if it were marco??? oh god, how fucked up would it be if it were cassandra?!?!?!?! and then it was time for the roll and truly in those brief seconds basically my brain flicked through every potential victim and said “oh god THAT one would be the WORST”, EXCEPT for veronica and rebecca, and it made the hit of it being rebecca who was low down on my instinctual list to think of but then the second he said her name i was immediately ricocheted back to earlier in the week when i was listening to halt and catch fireball and mrs. swallows oak garcias home and how many emotions i had about normal and his mom just relistening to those episodes and then the fact that i DIDNT think to worry about her just

all of that combined to make that a CRITICAL HIT FOR ME OKAY like i am SO fucked up over this truly that was WILD and i applaud anthony burch for it and now am excited for the finale even though ive spent the last three eps just dreading it for several reasons but now im excited and devastated and i love that

anyways. that was word vomit i just NEEDED to get this out because the connections between those two episodes really will not stop hitting me in the head and i need to impart that onto SOMEONE. if u read this. ur a real one. rip rebecca swallows oak garcia you were a legend and i am so sad about u

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Alvin Childress

Alvin Childress (September 15, 1907 – April 19, 1986) was an American actor, who is best known for playing the cabdriver Amos Jones in the 1950s television comedy series Amos 'n' Andy.

Alvin Childress was born in Meridian, Mississippi. He was educated at Rust College, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. When he initially entered college, Childress intended to become a doctor, enrolling in typical pre-med courses. He had no thoughts of becoming involved in acting, but became involved in theater outside of classes. Childress and Rex Ingram in the Federal Theatre Project production of Haiti (1938)

Childress's first wife was the former Alice Herndon, who established herself as a successful writer and actress under the name of Alice Childress (1916–1994); the couple was married from 1934 to 1957 and had a daughter, Jean Rosa. From 1961 to 1973, Childress worked as an unemployment interviewer for the Los Angeles Department of Personnel and in the Civil Service Commission of Los Angeles County.

Childress moved to New York City and became an actor with Harlem's Lafayette Players, a troupe of stock players associated with the Lafayette Theatre. Soon, he was engaged as an actor in the Federal Theater Project, the American Negro Theater, and in all-black race film productions such as Keep Punching (1939). His greatest success on the stage was his performance as Noah in the popular drama, Anna Lucasta, which ran for 957 performances. He also worked at Teachers College of Columbia University. Childress also operated his own radio and record store in New York City. When he learned about casting for the Amos 'n' Andy television series, Childress decided to audition for a role. He was hired a year before the show went on the air.

In 1951, he was cast as the level-headed, hard-working and honest Amos Jones in the popular television series, The Amos 'n' Andy Show, which ran for two years on CBS. Childress originally tried out for the role of The Kingfish, but Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden cast him as Amos. Since he had been hired a year before the show began, Gosden and Correll turned the search for an actor to play "The Kingfish" over to Childress. In a 1979 interview, Childress shared information about some of the candidates. Cab Calloway was considered but found wanting by Gosden because of his straight hair. Childress said there were many famous men, with and without actual acting experience, who wanted to play the role. Eventually, old-time vaudeville comedian Tim Moore was cast as the Kingfish.

Shortly after the television show had ended, plans to turn it into a vaudeville act were announced in 1953, with Childress, Williams and Moore playing the same roles as they had in the television series. It is not known if there were any performances. In 1956, after the television show was no longer in production, Childress and some of his fellow cast members: Tim Moore, Spencer Williams, and Lillian Randolph along with her choir, began a tour of the US as "The TV Stars of Amos 'n' Andy". The tour was halted by CBS as the network considered this an infringement of their rights to the program and its cast of characters. Despite the threats which ended the 1956 tour, Childress, along with Moore, Williams and Johnny Lee were able to perform one night in 1957 in Windsor, Ontario, apparently without legal action. When he tried for work as an actor, Childress found none as he was typecast as Amos Jones. For a short time, Childress found himself parking cars for an upscale Beverly Hills restaurant.

Childress also appeared in roles on the television series Perry Mason, Sanford and Son, Good Times and The Jeffersons and in the films Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) and The Day of the Locust (1975). When Childress appeared as a minister in a 1972 episode of Sanford and Son, he was reunited with two former cast members: Lillian Randolph of Amos 'n' Andy in the role of Aunt Hazel and Lance Taylor, Jr. of Anna Lucasta, with the role of Uncle Edgar.

Childress suffered from diabetes and other ailments. He died at age 78 on April 19, 1986, in Inglewood, California. He was buried at National Memorial Harmony Park in Landover, Maryland.

[babacontainsmultitudes]

I think by this point, the possibility for reconciliation between Normal and Sparrow ultimately rests in whether or not Norm is willing to give his dad a second chance (and talk things out with him! But like not in a calzone this time lol), and judging by their very brief interaction near the end of last week’s episode, it seems that Norm’s feelings of rejection after the dance (as well as all the resentment and doubt that have since festered within him as a result) are continuing to make that a difficult point for him to reach.

This to say, I think he may need someone to nudge him in the other direction… And I’m hoping for it to be Scary actually! This for a number of reasons, namely since Scary of course feels a tremendous amount of regret over refusing to let Terry Jr. into her life, and I think it would be interesting if this informed her not wanting to see a similar sort of deal play out with Norm. This in addition to Scary having her own cordial and perhaps emotionally-enlightening interactions with Sparrow in the most recent episode, despite she herself having had conflict with him in the past. I do also think there would be something rather cathartic about seeing Scary help the boys through their own shit after having acted as an antagonist towards them for several episodes (I’ve some thoughts on potential developments in Scary and Taylor’s relationship actually, but I’ll save that for another post! As for Lincoln, while I frankly think that he is the person Scary “owes” more than anyone, I’m not really sure what I want for them atm tbh! Definitely not what I’m suggesting for her and Norm here though, as there are some very important differences between Normal and Sparrow’s relationship versus Lincoln and Grant’s… Anyhoo!) And finally, well, I also just think that Scary helping Normal work things out with his dad could be a nice way to rekindle the friendship that she and him had early on in the season but lost somewhere along the way!

[chewytongue]

No one asked but I’ve been compiling some of my dndads headcanons so:

- Sparrow reads Warrior Cats, Lark acted like he wasn’t interested until Sparrow showed him how fucked up the books can be

- Lark’s favourite is the Scourge manga

- That being said yes they threw a Warrior Cats themed birthday

- Terry jr has a little crush on Grant in season 1

- Nic was actually named after Nicolas Cage

- Nic watched Glenn’s asmr videos when he was away on tour cause he misses his dad

- Normal has dermatillomania

- Normal knows the Just Dance Rasputin dance by heart

- When Normal gets into menswear, he also gets really into Postmodern Jukebox and Richard Cheese

- Hermie is a brony

- Hermie and Taylor both have large collections of figurines, Hermie’s collection mainly consists of comic book villains, MLPs and some monster high dolls, Taylor’s of course are anime and manga figurines as well as a handful of the special edition holiday Barbies

[elgatodeltren]

hi hi since ur poll ended, can u tell us what the right answer was?

https://www.tumblr.com/elgatodeltren/719796414805344256/for-all-of-my-non-dndads-followers-which-of-the

Sorry this is late, of course I can!!!

The correct answer was “Taylor Swift’s mom stars in a breaking bad anime remake.” More information about each of the answer options is included below :)

A man is murdered over a deez nuts joke

True. This was a major event near the end of season one (episode 66, thank you @mikeystrawberry!!). Basically, Glenn had pulled a sick deez nuts style joke on the Main Villain earlier in the season (episode 60). In retaliation, the bad guy disguised himself and orchestrated an opportunity to get back at him with a different deez nuts style joke and then killed him with magic.

Glenn Close/Morgan Freeman/Jodie Foster love triangle

True. To be clear, these are people with the same names but UNRELATED to the real life celebrities. Glenn (a rock and roll bard dad) was married to Morgan (who we unfortunately know very little about), but due to alternate universe shenanigans Glenn was erased from existence. In this timeline where Glenn didn’t exist, Morgan fell in love with Jodie (a Highway cop slash actual literal demon) instead. Now, all three are alive (ish, it’s complicated) and Jodie and Glenn are both in love with Morgan. This happens in the back half of season one but comes up again in the second season.

Five teenagers in a polyamorous marriage

True. Let me explain. So, these five teenagers are in outer space with no space suits. One of them has the idea to use the spell banishment, but that spell only works for one person. Another player says that “if we’re married, we’re all one person in the eyes of the lord!!” And the DM decides to agree with this logic. All five teens get married in outer space so they are able to banish themselves back to earth (season 2 episode 34). As of now, they are all still married. Two of them ARE related to each other but like don’t worry about it.

Teen High School has horse stables for popular kids only

True. There’s a running joke in season 2 episode 4 that the school has like, special amenities for popular kids (shout out to the episode guest star Elyse Willems). Toward the end of the episode, Elyse establishes that she has a horse who is kept in the school stables.

Real life Fortnite battle royale

True. The dads find one of the sons in this “For Knights” tournament in the forgotten realms (season 1 episode 17). The DM created mechanics for the different zones and building structures.

A boy with a skateboard for feet named Yeet

True. Yeet Biggly was another competitor in the Fortnite tournament. One of the sons also has a crush on him. Yeet has a sister named Killa Demall.

Christmas is celebrated in hell

True. After Glenn is murdered over his deez nuts joke, he goes to hell but introduces them to Christmas (specifically, Christmas music).

Taylor Swift’s mom stars in a breaking bad anime remake

False. As established in season 2 episode 1, Taylor Swift’s mother Cassandra IS an anime voice actress, but there has been no mention of a breaking bad remake.

Among Us has been adapted into a stage play

True. In season 2 episode 11, the substitute drama teacher distributes copies of Samuel Beckett Jr Jr’s Among Us play to the teens.

[slightlyhopefulromantic]

Oooh that's an interesting premise for requests! :] May I perhaps suggest then... Uh honestly kinda feeling Terry/Nicky for this one! Also ehshsjskkwjwke maybe Jodie/Ron??????

silly little fan kid prompts

in a wildly out of character moment for me, i COMPLETELY skimmed over the rodie part of this ask fdhjgbdhb so i will ! do that next and @ you in it! BUT hey. hey. shakes a terrick kid at you

this is cameron, my new baby girl sweet daughter cameron. i like to headcanon that samantha always did terry's hair when he was young, so it was cute to me to imagine that terry would do the same to her :] and of course, nicky has to introduce cameron to all the sick ass movies that glenn showed him, including the ever famous predator handshake.

both the stamplers and the close-foster-etc families have very specific like. through-lines in their families which make this combo interesting for a fan kid? im gonna put my further notes under a cut along with some etc rambling because this is just. exciting to me. i usually make fan kids with a story already in mind, but this exercise is kind of the opposite where i have to figure out the story as i go, and thats really fun to me :D

mild spoilers for the newer episodes of season 2, but i decided to uh. Pay Attention To Biology here since terry jr was revealed to be infertile, and i think thats interesting, so cameron is adopted!! this obviously left my options pretty open, but i decided to still stick with a mixed kid, Black/Chinese, since 1. feels kinda against the point of a fan kid if i just did a random design lol and 2. considering nicky's odd genealogy as well as his severe issues with wanting his dad(s) to be proud of him and the way hes so lopsidedly attached to his family, i figured he would be the type of guy to want his adopted kid to look like him. i dont think terry would care, but he would want nicky to be happy, so it all works out in that regard ! i went back and forth a bit on if i wanted her to have freckles, i thought it could be a cute tie back to jodie, but decided against it.

she does follow the Ron -> Terry -> Ron -> Terry naming scheme, originally i was gonna go for a terry name but i figured a ron one would make more sense lol so her name is cameron! i think she would take a lot of fashion inspiration from her parents, ive always seen them as both very. emo/alternative. terry less so as he grows older, but nicky definitely clings to it, and i think that would rub off on cameron. shes not as dark and edgy as they are - i think she would be a pretty bright and bubbly kid, actually - but i kinda like the idea of her being lowkey scene/scemo. yes im biased because thats one of my favorite sub-cultures, but its CUTE. i didnt really feel like doing full outfit sketches but just know that if i did. she would be scene. and like both of her dads as teens (and nicky still into adulthood), she does dye her hair pretty heavily hehe

the only real unfortunate thing about fan kids for a series thats like. already very heavy with canon kids. is that it kind of leaves everything in a weird place where its like... do cassandra and taylor exist in this? do veronica and scary? and uhhh i dunno ghbfjdgdfhjh up to interpretation, i suppose. its easy enough to just have cassandra and nicky be divorced, but the veronica/terry of it all is murkier ... food for thought, i guess. scary would fuckin hate cameron though i think they would argue LMAO

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

BY CHAUNCEY DEVEGA

Ron DeSantis is not a "mini-Trump" or some other diminutive. He is much more dangerous. Donald Trump has no "ideology" beyond megalomania and a deep desire to be an American god king. By comparison, DeSantis is far more intelligent and devious; he is an ideological fascist and racial authoritarian.

In a recent essay at Raw Story, Thom Hartmann summarized the danger to American democracy and society embodied by DeSantis:

Historians and political observers have been predicting that America would get our very own Mussolini ever since the days of Barry Goldwater. And there's been no shortage of candidates: bribe-taking Nixon; Central American fascist-loving Reagan; Gitmo torturing and war-lying Bush; and, of course, Trump.

But with Ron DeSantis, we may finally be facing an all-American politician who has Mussolini's guile, ruthlessness, and willingness to see people die to advance his political career, all while being smart and educated enough to avoid the easily satirized buffoonishness of Trump.

DeSantis and other Republican fascists have proclaimed Florida to be a bastion of "freedom" and "liberty." In reality, Florida is now a laboratory for fascism. As part of his authoritarian project, DeSantis is enforcing thought crime laws that forbid the teaching of AP African-American studies in high school and other courses and programs across Florida's school system (including at the college and university level) that examine questions of power, race and systemic inequality. DeSantis and his agents recently declared that the AP African-American studies course was inappropriate and will not be taught in Florida's schools because it has "no educational value" and is "indoctrinating" (white) young people. DeSantis and his regime's thought crime attacks on African-American studies are Orwell's "1984" meets "Birth of a Nation."

The purpose of DeSantis' thought crime laws is to intimidate and terrorize all teachers, educators, librarians, and others who are committed to education, critical thinking, and the truth in Florida (and beyond). In DeSantis' Florida — and soon to be across "red state" America if he and the other fascist Republicans get their way — there will be censors who review books and other material for thought crimes and other "dangerous" ideas that are contrary to the interests of conservatives. These censors and party officials and their designated agents will also rewrite history – and reality itself – to fit the demands of the regime. The public will no longer be able to discern truth from lies and fantasies from facts and fiction. The subversion and destruction of reality, facts, and the truth are a precondition for, and one of the primary ways that fascist and other authoritarian regimes obtain and keep power.

DeSantis' goal is to make America into a new Jim Crow Christofascist plutocracy. Donald Trump and Trumpism were just intermediate stops on that evil journey.

This is the power of censorship: people quickly learn to police their own behavior and that of their family, friends, neighbors, and yes, strangers. The public's intellectual, creative, ethical, and moral lives quickly become impoverished. The result is the ideal fascist authoritarian subject: a compliant person who does not resist.

Here is a partial list of the dozens of scholars, authors, and other public thinkers whose work has now been declared "illegal" and a "thought crime" by DeSantis and his agents and subsequently marked for removal from the AP African-American Studies course:

Kimberlé Crenshaw

Angela Davis

bell hooks

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Nell Irvin Painter

Manning Marable

Cathy Cohen

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

James Cone

Nikki Giovanni

Barbara Fields

These are not just names on a banned books list. These are real human beings who are committed to helping the public and their students be engaged and responsible members of a larger community and to develop critical thinking skills that they can use to challenge and interrogate Power with the goal of making a better, more just, and truly democratic society.

I personally have interviewed, been in dialogue with, enjoyed the company of, had meals with, or otherwise interacted with a good many of these "banned" authors and scholars. I and many others have greatly benefitted from their scholarship, wisdom, time, and concern.

Why are DeSantis and his agents (in Florida and across the country) targeting African-American studies and other such programs?

There are many reasons.

The Black Freedom Struggle is one of the most successful pro-democracy resistance movements in American (and world) history. DeSantis and the other Republican-fascists and their forces do not want these lessons to be known, learned, or otherwise disseminated. DeSantis is working to create a type of "regime of knowledge" where Black, brown and other marginalized people's triumphs and experiences are outright erased and/or grossly distorted as a way of literally removing their personhood and existence. History has repeatedly shown that "thought crimes," banned books and other forms of intellectual violence are precursors to and do the work of interpersonal and intergroup violence on a large scale by the State, and those empowered to act in its name, against those deemed to be "the enemy."

In all, Power intersects with and is an extension of knowledge production. And knowledge is not "neutral." Philosopher Michel Foucault explained as much. "There is no power relation without the correlative constitution of a field of knowledge, nor any knowledge that does not presuppose and constitute at the same time power relations." Foucault also explained that "Truth is linked in a circular relation with systems of power which produce and sustain it."

DeSantis attended Yale for his undergraduate degree. In all likelihood, he encountered the work of Foucault during his studies there. Now DeSantis is putting Foucault's powerful insights to work in ways contrary to their original intent.

In a recent interview at The New Yorker, contributing writer Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor spoke with historian Robin D.G. Kelley about DeSantis' thought crimes regime and the targeting of African-American studies. Both Professor Taylor's and Professor Kelley's work was purged from the Advanced Placement African-American studies course. Kelley's comments merit being quoted at length:

There's two levels. One is that it's about Ron DeSantis possibly running for President. I think that's the most important thing, because, no matter what we think about DeSantis and his policies, we know he went to Yale University, and majored in history and political science with a 3.7 G.P.A., which means that he was at one of the premier institutions for history. That's why I get frustrated when people say he needs to take a class. He took the class. He knows better. He knows that the culture wars actually win votes. He's trying to get the Trump constituency.

So I think this is about Ron DeSantis wanting to run for President. But I also think that the focus on Florida occludes a bigger story. As you know, this goes back to the Trump years—well before Trump, but let's just talk about the Trump years—the attack on the 1619 Project, Chris Rufo's strategy of turning critical race theory into an epithet by denying it any meaning whatsoever. And creating a buzzword. That's actually a strategy that has nothing to do with the field of African American studies; it has everything to do with vilifying a field—attacking the whole concept of racial justice and equity. So, to me, if DeSantis never banned the class, we would still be in this situation. And although it is true that a number of states did accept the pilot program for the A.P. class, some of those same states have passed, or are about to pass, laws that are banning or limiting what they're calling critical race theory. So there is a general assault on knowledge, but specifically knowledge that interrogates issues of race, sex, gender, and even class.

It's an ongoing struggle to roll back anything that's perceived as diminishing white power. They want to convince white working people—the same white working people who have very little access to good health care and housing, whose lives are actually really precarious, as they move from union jobs to part-time, concierge labor to make ends meet—that somehow, if they can get control of the narrative inside classrooms, their lives would be better. Racism actually damages all of our prospects and futures.

I don't think it's an accident that the people who are targeted are you, Angela Davis, myself, bell hooks. To say that we're not radical would be a lie. What does radical actually mean? What it means, what Black studies is about, is trying to understand how the system works and recognizing that the way the system works now benefits a few at the expense of the many. It's easy to allow someone to come in, in the name of Black studies, and say, "We're going to talk about ancient Africa, and the great achievements of the Kush of ancient Egypt." That's not a threat—not as much as the idea of critical race theory saying that, no matter what policies and procedures and legislation are implemented, the structure of racism, embedded in a capitalist system, embedded in a system of patriarchy, continues to create wealth for some and make the rest of our lives precarious. Precarious in terms of money, precarious in terms of police violence, precarious in terms of environmental catastrophe, precarious in many, many ways. And I think people could agree with me that that's why we do this scholarship: because we're trying to figure out a way to make a better future. You know, that's the whole point. And if that's subversive, then say it, but it's definitely not indoctrination, because indoctrination is a state that bans books.....

[T]he subject of African American studies, even before it was called that, has been not just the condition of Black people but the condition of the country. And not just narrating that oppression and understanding it, and not just trying to think about ways to move beyond it—to transcend it, to come up with strategies to try to live—but also understanding what's wrong with this country, with the system.

We're not just interrogating our lives, we're interrogating knowledge production itself.

Dangerous thinking is a good thing and those with power want to socialize us into learned helplessness so that we will not see (and achieve) the radical possibilities of a true social democracy.

Years ago, when I was in high school and then college, I was lucky enough to have very generous teachers who took me on trips to conferences and other events at leading universities and institutions such as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. In fact, I was very lucky to have attended several conferences where Yosef Ben-Jochannan ("Dr. Ben"), who was one of the founders of African Studies, was the featured speaker. Those years that saw the Million Man March(es), debates about the merits of multiculturalism, diversity and "affirmative action" at America's colleges and universities, boiling ethnic, racial and class tensions in Los Angeles and New York's Crown Heights and Howard Beach neighborhoods (among others), the golden age of Hip Hop Music and Culture, and so many other political and cultural formations and events. It would be an understatement to say that those years were quite an exhilarating time to be a young black politically engaged person in America.

In so many ways, I am very much a product of that time period.

I learned that I have no taste for racial chauvinism; such beliefs are the mind killer. I also came to the conclusion that American and Western society is profoundly sick with white supremacy and racism. Those forces will likely bring the ultimate destruction of American society and its so-called democracy.

A more humane and good society are possible if we want it badly enough on both sides of the color line. Racism and white supremacy are a choice. America is structured around such forces and too many white Americans and others are deeply invested in such an arrangement of things -- even if it causes them great harm. DeSantis and the larger white right are using thought crimes and other tools of censorship and intimidation as weapons to limit how we conceptualize freedom, democracy, justice, and the boundaries of the possible. DeSantis and those of his ilk wouldn't be trying to ban books and authors (and by implication whole groups of people) if they were not deeply afraid of them – and the possibilities of achieving a more democratic and free and humane society.

[leclerc-s]

i did something bad - part ten

KARMA'S A RELAXING THOUGHT

masterlist//previous//next

CANADA 2024

teaganhorner monthly dump!

view all comments

username boyfriend charles is my favorite charles

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arthur_leclerc ew what is that thing?

↳ charles_leclerc i'm telling maman!

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alex_albon BOO! WHERE'S THE RED BULL CHARLES CONTENT?

↳ username alex gets it.

↳ username this man also helped poach charles from ferrari of course he'd be glad to see charles at red bull.

↳ teaganhorner god, you must hate love albono

↳ alex_albon GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT HORNER!

maxverstappen1 oh come on! is no place safe from you two?

↳ username pray for max, my guy has been going through it.

logansargeant mom? dad?

↳ charles_leclerc no.

↳ teaganhorner yes!

↳ username i bet charles never anticipated becoming a grid dad to two rookies and an f2 driver.

redbullracing you know the drill people. it's a red bull 1-2 here in canada! il predestinato is on a role with another win!

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username the way charles ran up to max to celebrate their win. those two are best friends.

↳ username no, you're forgetting the way both of them ran up to lando to celebrate their first podium of the season together. they're brothers ladies and gentlemen.

username LET'S FUCKING GO!

username i was going to say that another season of red bull dominance was going to be boring but this season has been so interesting. with mercedes back on the rise and williams/alpha tauri pulling through this season. it's been so interesting.

↳ username i hate that mercedes is back on the rise because lewis once said that when he had his 8th wdc he'd consider retirement and i'm not ready to watch him go.

↳ username DO NOT EVEN PUT THAT OUT THERE!!

username the best fucking karma to ferrari would be if charles won the wdc in texas.

↳ username if he keeps up his streak of wins he probably will

↳ username fuck that, he's winning monza and he's winning spain because fuck sainz sr. not sainz jr.

↳ username wasn't carlos the one who punched and bashed teagan? why not fuck him?

↳ username because it's his father who's the dickhead not carlos. the man genuinely seems to dislike what's happening at ferrari now and we all know people say things when they're angry.

↳ username but also it's his parents who've been constantly bashing charles in the spanish media. i can still remember a specific situation involving honor last year.

SPAIN 2024

teaganhorner posted a new story

hola españa, are you ready for it?

lance stroll horrified looks from everyone in the room...

daniel ricciardo seriously? again? lance stroll once again, says the guy who sang our song in an interview and has basically made his love for taylor swift known daniel ricciardo she is arguably the most talent person born in 1989 lance!

lando norris slander to sza but okay.

lewis hamilton i don't know if i should be impressed that you know who sza is or not?

lando norris i had to look up other celebrities born in 1989, sza was the only one i recognized on the list

logan sargeant i recall teagan playing nobody gets me by sza last year

teagan horner listen, my boyfriend was having a horrible season, i was allowed at least one depressive song per race.

alex albon heathens, is maximillian okay?

teagan horner he's fine. the impact winded him and it was definitely a little dramatic bringing him to the hospital. but yes, he's fine. max verstappen that's not my name alexander! alex albon he's fine. got it.

oscar piastri i bet daniel wishes he were travis kelce.

daniel ricciardo DUDE! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO AUSSIE SOLIDARITY? oscar piastri IT DIED THE MOMENT YOU DITCHED ME AND LEFT ME WITH CARLOS'S DAD AND GIOVINAZZI. IF LOOKS COULD KILL I SWEAR I WOULD BE DEAD!

charles leclerc but you didn't do anything?

logan sargeant oh funny thing, people want oscar on the monza podium as a fuck you to sainz sr.

max verstappen fuck that guy. i can’t stand him.

teagan horner amen to that brother.

pierre gasly spanish media has been real quiet lately

lewis hamilton teagan, charles, and i grabbed lunch two days ago. i’m waiting for a ‘teagan horner trading company secrets’ article. teagan horner they’ll leave out the part where charlie was with us and say something like ‘teagan horner cheating on disgraced ferrari driver with 7x world champion’

charles leclerc wow calling me disgraced is a bit mean no?

oscar piastri it’s what they’ll say. we all know it.

mark webber you people are so dramatic

logan sergeant zip it multi-21

lewis hamilton i would agree but i also have a flair for the dramatic.

george russell yes, we all recall the “well he’s not my friend.” alex albon hearts were broken that day. mine included. esteban ocon didn’t he also get asked if he was a better driver than he was in 2016 and didn’t he respond “yes, and teammate” i could be wrong. teagan horner AND WASN’T NICO PRESENT DURING THAT INTERVIEW??

lando norris expecting brocades 2.0 and we got brorarri instead.

lando norris that doesn’t sound as nice.

lewis hamilton i get it i’m dramatic, it’s the capricorn in me

yuki tsunoda that excuse would work if you actually believed in zodiac signs but since you don’t, it doesn’t lewis hamilton i could! yuki tsunoda but do you?

teagan horner lewis how do feel about songs such as the great war and my tears ricochet by taylor swift?

lewis hamilton haven't heard them, why? teagan horner no reason!

liam lawson the real question is how does max feel about seven?

max verstappen if i cried, it's no one's business but mine charles leclerc he totally sobbed like a baby. max verstappen fuck you charles, i didn't! teagan horner he did, i was there! max verstappen go back to being a secret!

redbullracing despite issues this week, charles and max were able to come out on top this week. it's another red bull 1-2 here is spain!

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username calling giovinazzi crashing into max and later trying to provoke charles issues seems so funny to me

↳ username it seems hilarious to me

username they were on a mission this week and i loved it

username this is for everybody who said it was pure luck charles kept winning races. he went from p18 to p1 and max went from p19 to p2. those are MY red bull drivers

username they were not about to lose that red bull streak in spain of all places.

username spanish media has been real quiet today

↳ username they can't say anything because charles handled the situation yesterday with grace.

↳ username they can't even say anything about teagan leaving with max to the hospital because the camera's literally picked up charles telling her to leave with her 'brother'

↳ username i knew max was basically christian's son but this just confirmed it for me.

username two failed by ferrari drivers and carlos sainz sr.'s least favorite driver being on the spain podium is my favorite thing ever

username crying as a ferrari fan but also crying because charles has had his best season ever and i love that for him

↳ username leaving red bull was definitely the correct choice for him

↳ username facts!

taglist: @landonorizzz @nichmeddar @bionic-donut @embrosegraves @six-call @unluckyyoshi @jamie-selwyn @storminacloud @cool-ultra-nerd @kami10471633 @int3rnetgf @fernandoswarcrimes @skynel09 @arieltwvdtohamflash @mimolovescookies @brekkers-whore @natcha888 @camdensreg @mycenterfold @baw-sixteen @dear-fifi @chiliwhore @cataf1

note: i can only tag up to 50 people in one post so i'll be rotating the people tagged every other post. so if you were tagged last time, you won't be tagged for this one and so on. this is just so everyone gets tagged, i hope y'all can understand.

¡leclerc-s speaks! i'm not dead, i just lost motivation for this story for a little while but i'm back! it's a new year miracle! as i said before, someone had to be the bad guy and i didn't want it to be carlos for too long in the story. sorry to antonio giovinazzi, i'm sure he's a great guy but for plot purposes it's just the way it goes.

¡disclaimer! this is in no way making assumptions about the people involved in this story, this is all fake. it is a fanfiction please don't take any of what is said seriously. this is all for entertainment purposes and as a creative outlet for me. enjoy!

[hellraisedaudndads]

HELLO!!

Welcome to HellRaised AU. Which this blog is for the explanation for the au, short stories, art, and maybe full chaptered fics? (This account is ran by mod Taylor/Scary, @taylortheanimerangerteen is my main)

HellRaised AU is an au where Taylor (and Hermie) both grew up in Hell post-betrayal of the kiddads on Nicky. Nicky went back for Taylor and Cassandra, wanting to keep the two of them safe from being used against him.

Cassandra is turned into a demon, did that mean she dies? Yes, but she's fine now. Cool demon now.

Taylor grows up with his family, or in demon terms, his pack. Which means he's more in touch with his demon side. His pack isn't just bio family, as demons are known for adopting people into their packs.

Every character in the au is dubbed by HellRaised![name] but only Taylor and Hermie were raised in hell. It's just the name of the au :P

❤️ The characters of the AU! (And the accounts/blogs if they get made)

🔥 HellRaised!Taylor - @thelastthingyoulleversee

HellRaised!Hermie - @2unworthy4u

HellRaised!Nicky -

HellRaised!Jodie+Zhao - @king-of-hell-jodie

HellRaised!Scam+Well - @affectionatething

HellRaised!Mark -

HellRaised!Cassandra - [Soft Claimed]

HellRaised!Glenn -

HellRaised!Morgan -

HellRaised!Mae Hales - @hailing-in-hell

HellRaised!Scary -

HellRaised!Lincoln -

HellRaised!Normal -

HellRaised!Grant -

HellRaised!Sparrow -

HellRaised!Lark -

HellRaised!Terry Jr -

HellRaised!Willy -

Now lore masterdoc here: [WIP]

But things from that doc will be shown elsewhere on the blog of course! So just feel free to go check that out if you want to, but you won't have to as it will all be on the blog at some point!

Now tags for posts (not including cw or tw, which will be tagged)

#HellRaisedAU - All Posts

#dungeons and daddies AU - All Posts

#dndads au - All Posts

#dndads hellraised AU - All Posts

#HellRaisedArt - Art Posts

#HellRaisedStory - Fanfics or Drabbles Posts

#HellRaisedLore - Lore Posts

Summary of the AU under the cut (as this gets very long)

The au starts right at the betrayal, when Nicky flees to hell. He doesn't stay long as he goes to get his wife and child. Getting Cassandra and Taylor to hell was easy. Making sure they'd be able to stay there was more difficult.

Taylor was fine, he's part demon. It was Cassandra that was an issue. So with her permission, Nicky kills her and then turns her into a demon. Similar to how Glenn is a demon.

Since all of that. Taylor and Hermie have been living in hell practically since birth or since birth. Hermie doesn't get abandoned in this au, mostly because Scam+Well don't leave with Hermie.

The two of them grow up in hell, going to school in hell. Until freshman year, where they begged their parents (Nicky in Taylor's case and Jodie & Scam+Well in Hermie's case) to be allowed to go to school on Faerûn Earth. They were allowed to, the next year.

They were also given a bag that year, a go bag and not their school bag.

These bags has ninja rocks, blood bags (because demons need blood to maintain being healthy), easy snacks that stay good for a while, some paper and pens, spell components (its different components between the two bags), pocket knife, every day carry knife, utility tool, Swiss Army knife, a way-too-strong magnet, a old gift card (for opening doors), lock pick kit, paracord, a double pocket mirror (for looking around corners)

Taylor's bag has his sword/katana, the sword of Animus, he gets the sword as a gift on his birthday the year before., a sketchbook with a bunch of anime stickers on it (brand new one, he's has 3 fully filled sketch books at home). He also has a water bottle with a bunch of animes stickers on it.

Hermie's bag has makeup, pepto bismol, a fake ID card for Chaperall Highschool, a sketchbook with a bunch of dc stickers on it (half way filled, has 2 fully filled ones at home). He has a water bottle with a bunch of DC and Anime stickers on it.

The next year, Sophmore Year, they go to Teen High. Both of them. Hermie was never a Chaparral student. They both get detention in the first week, Taylor for his canon reason (drawing in class) and Hermie for getting angry with the teacher who put his nephew into detention.

They meet the teens in detention, being brought to D.A.D.D.I.E.S with the teens. Meeting with Mae Hales, not for the first time. Mae is a demon in this au, and also Nicky's adoptive sister (Nicky just adopted her as his sister), so they know her.

Mae tells them about the fact the Kiddads are missing, Taylor and Hermie don't exactly care. Taylor because they want the kiddads dead and Hermie because they don't know who the kiddads are. Meanwhile the rest of the teens are freaking out about their dads being missing, besides Scary.

When they all get their D.A.D.D.I.E.S badges, Taylor & Hermie are both level 2 instead of level 1. To the shock of everybody but Mae and themselves.

They go through a lot of the same things that were in canon. However the part where the au starts to majorly change, besides the whole Taylor being raised in hell thing, is the F.B.I arc. One reason being because it happens at scary's house instead of Taylor's.

And also since Taylor knows his dad and his demon heritage, the arc plays out different. He tries to get Link out of there still, not wanting to let him see Nicky once he arrives. Which he knows his dad will, he always had before when he was in danger.

Which Nicky does, causing 1) Link to be scared for his life about this demon who's here now, 2) Taylor just waving at his dad with his (Nicky's) flaming sword and 3) Nicky being maybe a lot more violent than canon when it comes to the guards.

The ring of swapping event still happens. Back with Nicky and Taylor, they're talking. Unlike canon, it's more about how Lincoln 1) did technically betray Taylor but 2) they should still go back to save him. Nicky trust Taylor to pick the right option in Taylor's opinion.

Taylor does go back and save Link, not leaving his new pack member behind, the two escaping back to San Dimas and the school. Scary & Normal do still lose against the Mayor in the debate. Hermie didn't help them, too busy with his theater stuff. Which brings us into the next arc. Getting into the amongus arc, Scary is still replaced by a doodlerized version of herself. Hermie and Taylor both don't throw up from the gross pimple doodler juice. Which really makes them suspect them, but they do figure it out that it was Scary.

After this. They open the obsidian door, Willy escaping and all. They go to real earth, with Heemie coming with them in the beginning, yes he does bring the pussy wagon still, they were just smarter than canon and thought. Maybe we should have a vehicle with us!

They go through basically the same arc papa John's, with the exception of Hermie not being hurt as badly, as he has better fire resistance. He doesn't get hurt as badly, still very burnt, and also wasn't able to keep the full human disguise up in pain. Which means the teens (minus Taylor) find out that he's at least part demon.

They do escape from Papa John's the same way they do in canon. And they do get Lark and Sparrow back to Earth.

They then go to the city with the black parade. Arc stays the same, nothing changes.

Next arc is the one with Erin. Some stuff does change, Erin and the trees don't attack Taylor and Hermie (neither eat vegetables or fruits), but they do still attack the rest of the group.

Taylor doesn't shoot himself out of a tree, as he assumes his dad wouldn't fall for that, so he just tells Erin that he'll talk with his grandpa about letting Erin and the trees come to hell.

They all leave, alive, yay.

They get to the church of the doodler, with both the demon reveal for Taylor finally and also half Likely reveal of Hermie. Taylor isn't confused about turning Glenn, same about Hermie into Scam/Well. The rest the episode plays the same besides that.

They have to go through getting the anchors.

The Tony Pepperoni anchor nothing changes, except for Taylor and Hermie are both really pissed at Scary.

The guitar pick anchor/hell arc is very different.

They get to hell, with Taylor and Hermie being recognized as two princes of hell. They are allowed into hell without needing to talk about any sins they've committed, also Taylor isn't bodyless. They go through the levels of hell still, but Taylor's lust layer just doesn't happen as he doesn't have a crush on Hero in this au. Instead he has a scene in wrath layer, over the anger he feels at the kiddads.

He also doesn't eat the pocky in the gluttony layer, as he knows it's not actual pocky. Being in hell is good for him I guess.

They get to the bottom layer of hell, which is where the hell's throne room for Jodie is. They find Jodie there, who seems bored when they see him.

Jodie does greet both Taylor and Hermie, his grandkit and kit (grandchild and child).

They go down to mega hell after talking to Jodie for a bit. In mega hell, they do talk to Glenn. Who has the anchor.

Glenn doesn't hand the pick over immediately, still wanting help with the demon soccer team. Which the teens do help with.

They still lose that fight, however the soccer team does recognize Taylor and Hermie.

They get through all of that and moving into the scroll/goofs realm arc. It starts the same, at Normal's house. But when Scary gets Nicky bisected, Taylor is a lot more pissed. Taylor also had the sword before this so there was no gift from Nicky, as Nicky would've just given it to him at a different point.

Hermie still does go steal the mascot costume, telling Normal its nothing personal. Jumping out of the window and portaling to goofs, easily. He does also leave that fake chaperal highschool I.D., it's why he had it.

They get to goofs the same way. But Taylor isn't mad at Hermie, actually knowing the plan that Hermie had.

They get through goofs somewhat the same way, it's a little faster as Taylor is actually constantly funny and doesn't need to become something else to stay alive.

The major acts still happen, Hermie's is not as depressing as he actually has 2 (3) amazing dads and wasn't abandoned. Meaning he's not upset at them. He still loses and it causes the teens to get the anchor, breaking it with love.

Well Actually does make an appearance in this arc, majorly, it started with Scam there and then Well took over. Mostly to tell the teens off about components and everything.

Next and last arc currently. Is the Garlic Knot Heart arc. Before this. The teens don't get shot into space, as Scam isn't going to do that to his son and step grandson. However he still gets them stuck up on the I.S.S, just not in the deadly outside of space. There is a huge fight that happens, ending when Scary accidentally breaks the window. Causing them all to be flung into the vacuum of space. They still get married and all. Scary still becomes Terri. They do break the rules of banishment, which both Hermie and Taylor don't exactly like that. (They know that they will get a stern talking to from Well the next time they see him.)

That arc is pretty much the same, minus the whole Hero liking any of them thing.

The garlic knot heart arc, finally!! Most of it stays the same. Taylor is a lot more angry about Terry's death. Not because he cares, but because it proves that the rest of the kiddads can't be trusted.

They get the garlic knot heart, destroying it with love as well.

Then they start to interact with the kiddads. Getting to the church of the doodler.

Getting into a fight with Willy, who isn't dating or married to Cassandra in this au. Meaning they can go full damage on him without risking Cassandra.

Scary gets pushed onto the chair still, causing her to be doodlerized, but then love doodler appears.

And that's up to the most recent episode (at time of writing)

...

Everything on tumblr post love doodlerized Scary isn't canon to the au technically but it is still the au. Just a different branch.

That is all, for now!!

Bye!!

[todaysdocument]

Happy Fourth of July! 

The Engrossed Declaration of Independence: 

Series: Miscellaneous Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774 - 1789

Record Group 360: Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, 1765 - 1821

Transcription: 

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.

                                                                                               The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

                                 When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.____________ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.__ That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind is more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security. __Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. _________ He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good._______ He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.________ He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only._______ He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. _______He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.______ He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. _____He has endeavored to prevent the Population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. ______He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.________ He has made judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the Amount and Payment of their salaries. ________ He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance. ____He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislature._____ He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. _______He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:__For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:__For protecting them, by mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:__For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:__For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:__For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:__ For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses:___ For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these Colonies:___ For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments:____For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.__ He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us._____He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.____He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.____He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.____He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.       In every stage of these Oppressions, We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.  A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.     Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.  We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends._____

        We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent Sates; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which the Independent States may of right do. ___ And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.    

Button Gwinnett                            Wm Hooper                                    John Hancock                          Rob Morris                        Wm Floyd             Josiah Bartlett

                        Lyman Hall                                      Joseph Hewes                                 Samuel  Chase                         Benjamin Rush          Philip Livingston     Wm Whipple

                        Geo Walton                                     John Penn                                         Wm Paca                                    Benj Franklin                  Fran Lewis              Sam Adams

                                                                                                                                                    Tho Stone                                  John Morton                  Lewis Morris           John Adams

                                                                                      Edward Rutledge                        Charles Carrol of Carrollton  Geo Clymer                                                          Rob Treat Paine

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ja. Smith                                                    Elbridge Gerry

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Geo Taylor                                                   Step. Hopkins

                                                                                     Tho Heyward Jnr                                                                                     James Wilson          Rich Stockton             William Ellery

                                                                                      Thomas Lynch Jnr                    George Wythe                                    Gro. Ross               Jn Witherspoon          Roger Sherman

                                                                                                                                             Richard Henry Lee

                                                                                      Arthur Middleton                    Th Jefferson                              Ceasar Rodney                Fra. Hopkinson           Sam Huntington

                                                                                                                                             Benj Harrison                            Geo Read                        John Hart                      Wm Williams

                                                                                                                                             Th Nelson jr.                              Tho M Kean                     Abra Clark                     Oliver Wolcott

                                                                                                                                              Francis Lightfoot Lee                                                                                                   Matthew  Thornton

                                                                                                                                              Carter Braxton

[achillieus]

let you down. (sebastian stan x reader)

summary: it's a universal truth but it's worth repeating; feelings eat us raw. or just an actor and a girl falling in and out of love over the course of three months.

(this was inspired by sebastian's visit to greece for his movie, monday, and is based on that, so that means in the story we’re in 2018. also i have this posted on ao3 too but while i’m writing the last parts i thought of posting it here too)

pairing: sebastian stan x reader

warnings: alcohol, sexual references, implied depression, sebastian desperately needs to hug the reader, infidelity, it's kinda slowburn because i love the yearning, this part is full of angst and built up tension,

part: 3/6

(other parts)   (masterlist)

Being Sebastian Stan is not a simple thing. Some days it makes him feel like he is only a porcelain face on screen. Nothing more than photographs and rumors. He had once told an interviewer he was scared people would never know the real Sebastian. What he meant was that he was worried he’d wake up one day and the real him would be vanished.

The world would have eaten him alive.

Walking you home, in empty streets in a small country makes it all easier. His mind is clear of dazzling thoughts and his heart is not racing up. He can smile and no one will be there to take a picture of him.

Somehow that makes him smile more.

And when he does, it feels like Christmas. And you are certain there will come a day where you’ll be so close to oblivion and unable to remember what mint tastes like or what your favorite color is, but you’ll still have the turned up corners of his mouth painted in your head.

He stops walking. You look at him confused. He’s fidgeting with his fingers.

“Back at the party,” he takes a long breath as if trying to slow down his heartbeat, “You were talking with that tall guy.”

He sounds terrified. You don’t understand why. He thinks it’s better that way.

“Yeah I was.” There’s a flicker of surprise in your voice.

“Do you know him well?” You realize you have stopped in front of a pharmacy, the halogen light above you, turning your skin a sick green color.

“I know he’s an actor.” You take a step, finding the courage to walk away from him. “He’s kinda famous here.”

You can hear him move close behind you.

“Do you want me to ask Argyris if he’s single?”

There’s mockery in his voice. It makes you feel intoxicated. It’s your turn to stop walking. Your gaze falls on his face and Sebastian can feel his eyes sting but he keeps them open; wide and pale blue.

Almost green, under this light.

“No.”

“Oh don’t be sh-“

“No, I mean it. I would never date a famous guy.”

“Why?” A hasted breath escapes his trembling lips. And for a moment you think of kissing him right there; in the middle of the street, but you never do.

His world moves too fast for people like us.

That’s what you want to yell back at him, but then you remember;

The evening Sebastian fell asleep in your couch, he was more than a famous guy. He was clutching on your pillow like a kid and he was humming to himself like your father used to.

And he smiled as he fell asleep.

There is no argument left in you. He’s just a boy.

“I’m scared.” Your words slowly suffocate him. He feels the weight of your heart pulling him down.

He nods.

/

The next two days pass in a blur. You can hear him laugh with people as they walk up the stairs to Argyris’ flat. You’re not used to him not stopping at your door. It makes your cheeks red and your eyes filled with salty tears.

You haven’t realized until now, but you’ve become dependent on his presence.

So when you open your eyes at 4am with your phone buzzing with an Instagram message, you bite your cheeks.

Are you awake?

You stare at the screen to make sure you read it all correct, until it turns black and then lights up once again.

Why are you scared?

You don’t have to be scared with me.

I’m trying. You want to answer. Help me. You want to answer. Please.

You put your phone away until the words turn blurry.

/

He’s back at your door the following night. He’s wearing a white tank top and his rings. He must have just finished shooting.

You keep staring at each other, both tongue-tied with the words you’ll never say. He looks worried and desperate. You look tired and desperate. Taylor Swift is playing in the background.

“No more AC/DC?” He laughs and your eyes smile.

“Do you want to talk?” He asks.

You shake your head like you’re at war with yourself.

“Do you want to just stay here?” Your voice is too silent but it’s almost deafening him.

Sebastian thinks that he wants tons of things. He wants to hold you. And he wants to touch you. Everywhere. And he wants to know why there’s sorrow surrounding you. And he wants to take it all away.

And he wants you.

But he knows that he can’t tell you that. These words are too heavy for you to carry on your shoulders. At least for now.

“I’ll stay.” He says with a breath.

You give him an almost smile and all you can feel is gratitude.

/

You lay in your bed together. You’ve slept with other guys in that bed before. And it’s been nude and sloppy and brutal. But this is different. This is intimacy in its purest form. You’re both fully clothed but you both feel naked. And so close. So close.

All Sebastian can hear is the sound of your breathing and every bone inside him is breaking. He is afraid he’s turning paralyzed.

And then you move your body and bring your forehead next to his. Sebastian inhales deeply. You smell of faded vanilla body cream.

You look at him and you know then you can get used to that. You bury your fingers in the hem of his shirt. You want him to come closer. He knows.

“I’ll stay love,” his voice is steady and sincere “Anytime.”

He calls you love because there’s nothing else to call you. He calls you love because you both need him too.

“I don’t think that’s possible.” Sebastian thinks you’re always too sensible. It’s something you keep between the hollows of your body. “But it’s okay.”

His hand is in your hair. It soothes you.

“What happened? What broke you?” he whispers.

You don’t know what to say. You don’t know how everything started. It's hard to remember but there is one image in the back of your eyes that crawls through your skin and makes you shiver. You try to ignore it.

“I don’t know.” He turns his gaze at you but you look at the cold ceiling. It’s so much easier this way.

He doesn’t answer. He just draws circles in the back of your palm and places his lips against the scalp of your head. And while you’ve never been much of a science person, you’re certain this is how a nuclear attack emerges.

/

When the sun rises and you wake up, he’s not there. Earth moves slowly as the cold sheets press against your skin.

It’s early, there is a soft breeze coming in from your open window. A man is bickering with this wife across the street.

You can hear her call him a liar.

I’ll stay love.

You can hear him yell his apologies.

Anytime.

Why do people lie? Why do we lie?

You don’t try to search for him. You take a shower and drink some chocolate milk. You pay attention to the silence in the room. You almost forget your heart is still beating.

/

You bump into Argyris’ girlfriend while taking out the garbage. You like her a lot. She’s strong and pretty and smart. You wonder sometimes, how exactly that feels.

You pray she doesn’t mention him. It doesn’t work.

“He must be flying right now.” Suddenly you feel as if there is something rotten inside your chest. It makes you want to graze your skin and throw away everything that's inside.

You look at her slightly confused.

“He’s flying to Toronto; he has to attend a festival there.” She smiles. You’ve noticed she always smiles.

You just nod and step out of the building. Her voice stops you.

“He’s coming back in some days.”

“I don’t care.” Now she laughs.

“There’s no need to lie.” You take a sharp breath. “He cares too.”

You want to believe her words but they seem like choke chains.

You throw your garbage away.

You keep your rotten chest.

/

Sebastian sits back at his seat and orders a hundred and one drinks. The airplane is chasing the sun. He’s chasing his thoughts. Neither will ever catch up.

He used to like travelling. Airports, suitcases and foreign hotel rooms made him feel free. Now they make him feel the opposite.

The material on his seat is rugged. He wants to go back to your soft sheets. He can’t.

And then he imagines a place and a time where he could just kiss you without any possible consequences. He imagines a place where you could rest your bodies together for a long time without worries weighing you down. He imagines a place where he gets what he wants. A place where that thing between you two is more than enough.

The sun blinds him. He closes the small window and then his eyes.

Being Sebastian Stan is not a simple thing.

Some days he can’t take it.

/

You’re sitting on the floor and it’s almost 9 in the morning. You’ve calculated the time difference and it’s 2 in the morning where he is. That sounds wrong. Almost scary.

He left three days ago but he’s everywhere. There are photos of him wearing stupid floral shirts and posing in a sophisticated way. And there’s Nicole Kidman next to him.

God. I’ve become infatuated with a man who plays in movies with Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr.

That’s what you think and you know you’re doomed.

You expect him to send you a message or a picture at first, but he doesn’t. You wonder if your time together was only a blurry puzzle of disconnected memories that somehow fits in his past.

He’ll simply forget all of it.

You try not to think about him but then you meet Argyris in the lobby and you have to bite the inside of your mouth so his name doesn’t jump out from your lips.

You go to bed early that day. You hold onto your pillow and you count the hours that separate you.

(13 hours with a plane)

(25 days with a boat)

You count and you fall asleep.

And you fall in love.

/

It’s not uncommon to rain in Toronto. But today rain feels heavier on Sebastian’s skin. He remembers the day he met you; it was hot and the sun made the window glass look like it was about to melt. That memory is the cause of his shivering.

Once upon a time he was in love. He was in love with a girl who had ethereal written all over her body. He was in love with a girl who was destined for divinity.

But those were the old days; they are dead and gone now. Your skin glistening under the Athenian sun changed it all.

It’s not easy to feel this way. The sky understands so it opens up and pours down on his dark hair. He presses his eyes closed with his fingers. And he tries to imagine a version of himself that doesn’t think about you that often.

He can’t.

Not even when he has a deity as his girlfriend.

/

The next time you see him, his hair is a little longer and much messier than you remember. And you have to devour all the sense that’s left inside you as not to touch it with your bare hand.

He has a cigarette in his fingers and a dark jacket thrown around his shoulders and everyone’s asking him about the festival. You just sit on the corner of your neighbor’s flat and listen to laughter and glasses clicking against each other. And you smile.

Smile; because he’s here.

And then he notices you and you’re pretty sure his eyes linger on your face a little longer than it's normal for humans. And his gaze is so brilliantly blank and loony that you don’t know how to respond. And then he starts to cough. And he never looks at you for the rest of the night.

You want to believe it’s better this way.

But it makes you so angry; you want to clench your teeth hard.

/

It goes like this; you don’t exchange any words for the next two days and it feels like your lips will start to bleed.

And you don’t know but his head feels like battlefield.

“When do you know you can’t stop it?” He asks Argyris. He feels ashamed.

“When you don’t want to stop it.”

He grabs the beer can and drinks his confusion away. He hopes alcohol will send his thoughts to sleep but instead it sends him to your door.

He rests his head against the wooden material. He can hear water running down and he can hear you humming a song.

And the foreign words make no sense to him but somehow they sound like lyrical poetry.

He waits for the water to stop and then he knocks.

/

Your hair is wet and sticks to your blue shirt. Your eyes grow wide when you see him standing there.

“I thought you’d never come at my door again.”

He looks at the floor.

“I shouldn’t.”

He sounds defeated; defeated by his own self. And you can smell the flammable liquid on his breath. And you can see that he has his nails pressed against his palm. You take his hand in yours and he closes his eyes. You caress the little cuts with your fingers. There are no scars but the skin is still red and painted with fear. You understand and it makes you feel dirty and obscene.

You look thoughtful for a moment and then you decide you can’t go on like this. It will split your souls.

“How’s Canada?” His eyes fill with surprise and he laughs. It gives you pride.

“Never been?”

He takes a step inside your place and his eyes fall on the empty bottle of pills at the kitchen table.

He doesn’t say a word about it.

You love him for that.

“I’ve never been anywhere.” Your cheeks are flushed with a soft raspberry color.

Sebastian realizes then that he wants to show you the entire world. Every corner of it. He wants to hold your hand as you walk beneath the Corsican stars. And he wants to memorize the Northern lights with you by his side. And he wants to see you laugh as he falls off his surf board in New Zealand. And he wants every cliché thing there is to do.

His heart stretches at the thought of it.

“Canada is beautiful in its own way.” He looks out of your window.

You wonder if he’s trying to find some more constellations in the sky, but then he turns around and walks towards you.

“I’ve been there a lot of times.”

Of course you have, you think.

He brushes a strand of hair behind your ears. It’s still damp and cold.

“Have you been to a lot of places?” He smiles and nods.

And then you can sense it; the sharp feeling of heartbreak crawling under your skin. You try to ignore it.

“I used to be grateful I travel all the time.”

You place your hand on his chest. The beating makes you calm.

“You’re not grateful anymore?”

He rubs his palm over his face.

“I am,” he inhales “But sometimes I just want to stay where I am.”

Yeah, I know.

He leaves an hour later, still drunk.

Still in love.

/

On Sunday, he takes you out for dinner. You tell him you don’t like dates. He promises it’s not a date.

You know you’re both lying.

He orders some red wine and he drinks as he watches you eat. It all feels natural to him. Somewhere at the back of his head though, there’s still some rationality left, that makes him think, this can’t be wrong, when it feels so natural.

He doesn’t drink any more.

/

You’re playing with the maraschino cherry on your dessert when his phone rings and your world comes crashing down.

You don’t intend to but you see the caller ID.

Love.

He had called you love one night.

He feels too guilty to look at you so he grabs the device and gets out of the place.

You want to throw the ice cream on the floor.

And then you want to hit the wall; with your head. But you can’t. So you just bite down at the cherry and wait for him to come back.

And when he does, things are different.

He doesn’t to try to make jokes and you don’t laugh. His eyes are everywhere but on you and your hand stays away from his.

You tell him you’re done with dessert so you can leave.

He has never felt more relieved.

/

Your pace is fast, but he catches up. You can’t outrun him.

His breath quickens as he comes closer. It’s almost innocent and childlike, the look he gives you.

“I’m sorry.” He whispers and it makes you laugh. You laugh and you shake your head and it’s not enough.

“Why?” He can taste the bitterness all over you. “This wasn’t date. So why are you sorry?”

You keep walking and his breath keeps echoing in your ears. You find the entrance of your building.

You’ve seen the place a hundred times but only now you notice how old it looks. It makes you disgusted. It makes you want to vomit.

It starts with him saying he doesn’t want to hurt anyone.

And then you rest your body at the soiled wall, trying to remind yourself you’ve had your heart broken before. And your eyes are not dry anymore. And you can taste salt in your lips. And he comes closer and he holds you.

You swear you see tears in his cheeks too, but he’s too fast to wipe them away.

“Have you ever done anything only to regret it a second later?”

You’re not certain which one of you asks but you can hear your bones breaking as you throw your head around and he arches his back.

His hands touch the dried tears on your face and it stings like sewing needles. And his lips touch yours. And for a brief moment you feel like you’re stealing from life.

And he can taste all of you; raw.

And it feels like fists that punch him.

And when you pull away you both have already regretted everything.

“Now you have something to be sorry for.”

You wonder if perhaps a broken dignity is better than a broken heart.

/

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[blakeworther]

Okay a while ago a friend and I got into an argument if Furbies are cute or not (they were very wrong and claimed Furbies to be evil beasts) and that led to making headcanons about what electronic pets the major characters of VTSOM and TWDAK would have so here we go

Albert: A Furby. It's a classic 1999 one that's been modified to be long and look like a Dream Eater. Said Furby is named Albert Edgeworth Jr, Destroyer of the Worlds. He unnerves everyone except Albert who insists that Albert Edgeworth Jr, Destroyer of the Worlds (yes you have to say the full name) is innocent.

Taylor: A Roomba. Technically not an electronic pet but they got it to help clean their dorm and ended up getting attached. It has googly eyes and used to have a knife taped to the top until it stabbed someone, so now they put a variety of funky hats on it.

Vincent: A ton of classic Tamagotchis. This was inspired by this wrongedgeworth post where Vincent reveals he distrusts Albert after he murdered his Tamagotchis. His first instinct is to take perfect care of them, but he also wants to unlock the other kinds in order to have every single one. His favorite is Mametchi.

Victor: He also has Tamagotchi, but it's a Tamagotchi Pix (the newest version). He's constantly taking pictures of him and his Tamagotchi, and sometimes he gets Vincent and Albert in with him too. He keeps trying to convince the other two to also get a Tamagotchi Pix so their tamas can go on playdates with each other. His favorite is Charatchi.

Vanora: A whole bunch of Hexbug nanos. She's trying to collect every single one but they seem to go missing a lot, so she's constantly having to replace them. She'd love to get some courses but she's more focused on completing her collection first. The only ones that she has multiple of are the Valentine's Day nanos as they were gifts from Draco.

Draco: Zhu Zhu Pets (the ones from 2009-2012, not the newest iteration). He only has Patches, Mr. Squiggles, Pipsqueak, and Drayko (technically Drayko is a Kung Zhu, but he bought him just because they have the same name) but he loves them very dearly. He frequently challenges Vanora to race her nanos against his Zhu Zhu Pets.

[the-daily-tizzy]

Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

Note: The following text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment Declaration of Independence (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.) 

The spelling and punctuation reflects the original.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, 

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Georgia

Button Gwinnett

Lyman Hall

George Walton

North Carolina

William Hooper

Joseph Hewes

John Penn

South Carolina

Edward Rutledge

Thomas Heyward, Jr.

Thomas Lynch, Jr.

Arthur Middleton

Massachusetts

John Hancock

Maryland

Samuel Chase

William Paca

Thomas Stone

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia

George Wythe

Richard Henry Lee

Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Harrison

Thomas Nelson, Jr.

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Carter Braxton

Pennsylvania

Robert Morris

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Franklin

John Morton

George Clymer

James Smith

George Taylor

James Wilson

George Ross

Delaware

Caesar Rodney

George Read

Thomas McKean

New York

William Floyd

Philip Livingston

Francis Lewis

Lewis Morris

New Jersey

Richard Stockton

John Witherspoon

Francis Hopkinson

John Hart

Abraham Clark

New Hampshire

Josiah Bartlett

William Whipple

Massachusetts

Samuel Adams

John Adams

Robert Treat Paine

Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island

Stephen Hopkins

William Ellery

Connecticut

Roger Sherman

Samuel Huntington

William Williams

Oliver Wolcott

New Hampshire

Matthew Thornton

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 30, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

At 3:29 ET on August 30, 2021—early on the morning of August 31 in Afghanistan—the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan ended. It was the longest war in American history.

Among the last to come home were the 13 Americans killed in an ISIS-K attack last Thursday. They arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Sunday morning from Germany. President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and 8 aides attended the dignified transfer between the plane and a waiting vehicle.

In the last 17 days in Afghanistan, U.S. troops evacuated more than 120,000 people, making up the largest airlift in our history. For comparison, as Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post pointed out, the U.S. evacuated no Americans from the civil war in Yemen in 2015, and only about 167 from Libya in 2011.

While critics have suggested that America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan will hurt American credibility abroad, President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have called for combatting terrorism through financial sanctions, bombing, and drone strikes like the one they used to retaliate against ISIS-K for the attack on the Kabul airport that killed more than 160 Afghans and 13 Americans last Friday, and by strengthening democracy at home.

There is plenty of work to do on that last front.

Last week, Peter Wehner, who served in the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations, pointed out in The Atlantic that the right wing has moved to such extremism that former president Trump, whose behavior seemed so shocking in 2015 and 2016, is now being sidelined by lawmakers and pundits who are even more extreme.

Yesterday, in an event hosted by the Macon County Republican Party, Representative Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) insisted that the January 6 rioters are “political hostages” and said he wanted to “bust them out.” When someone in the audience asked “When are you going to call us to Washington again?” he said, “We are actively working on that one…. We have a few plans in motion that I can’t make public right now.” He called for removing Biden from office under the 25th Amendment and added, “when Kamala Harris inevitably screws up, we will take them down, one at a time.” He concluded by saying: “The Second Amendment was not written so that we can go hunting or we can shoot sporting clays…. The Second Amendment was written so that we can fight against tyranny.”

Increasingly, right-wing agitators are calling for violent overthrow of the government.

Today in Pennsylvania, Steve Lynch, a candidate for Northampton County executive, said: “Forget going into these school boards with freaking data. You go into these school boards to remove them. I’m going in with 20 strong men and I’m gonna give them an option—they can leave or they can be removed.”

At a protest in Santa Monica yesterday before a vote on a mask mandate, a man held a sign with the names and home addresses of each Los Angeles City Council member and said protesters would go to the homes of anyone who voted for the mandate and, if it passed, “Civil War is coming! Get your guns!”

This sort of street-level violence is known for radicalizing individuals as they get swept up in it and then later embrace the larger political arguments behind it. It also forces more reasonable individuals out of government positions as they conclude that their position on a school board, for example,  is not worth threats against their families and their lives.

Far from trying to tamp down this violence, right-wing leaders are egging it on. Tonight, on the Fox News Channel, personality Tucker Carlson told his audience that no leader had apologized for “these terrible decisions” in Afghanistan. “This can’t go on,” he said. “When leaders refuse to hold themselves accountable, over time, people revolt…. We need to change course immediately… or else the consequences will be awful.”

The images on the screen behind Carlson were of President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, Defense Secretary Austin, and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Milley. Carlson often tries to undermine the current leadership of the military, suggesting that he would welcome its replacement by officers he finds less objectionable.  

Republican offense may be an attempt at defense.

Today, Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chair of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, announced that the committee has demanded that 35 major communications companies preserve their records from April 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021, for people involved in the January 5 and January 6 rallies in Washington, D.C., or “potentially involved with discussions” about stopping the electoral vote count on January 6 or otherwise  “potentially involved with discussions" in planning the January 6 insurrection. According to CNN, the companies affected include cell phone giants Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Sprint. Social media companies covered under the request include Apple, Google, Facebook, Signal, Slack, YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter.

CNN reports that members of the committee have requested preservation of the records of representatives Cawthorn, Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Jody Hice (R-GA), and Scott Perry (R-PA). They have also asked the companies to preserve the records of former president Trump; those of his children Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump; and those of his daughter-in-law Lara Trump and Don Jr.’s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, who worked on the campaign.

Those determined to regain control of the country from the Democrats also have to contend with continuing good news from Biden’s policies. A new study from the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University shows that the first child tax credit payment kept 3 million children from falling below the poverty line and that the child poverty rate dropped from 15.8% in June to 11.9% in July. Coronavirus relief measures kept another 3 million children from poverty. Families are using the money to buy food and pay off debt.

The administration is also coordinating aid to the states hit hard by Hurricane Ida, which brought up to 15 inches of rain to parts of Louisiana and knocked out the state’s power grid. The administration deployed more than 3,600 employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, who prepared more than 3.4 million meals, millions of liters of water, more than 35,700 tarps, and roughly 200 generators in the region before the storm hit. They have moved ambulances and search and rescue teams into the area and have opened shelters. The Army Corps of Engineers has mobilized personnel to remove debris and to provide temporary roofing and housing.

The administration is shifting its focus from unilateral military might to multilateral alliances to deal with common problems. Tomorrow, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will leave for Asia, where he will meet with leaders from Japan and then China to bolster international cooperation on climate change before the meeting of the 2021 U.N Climate Change Conference in early November.

—-

​​

Notes:

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1CENTCOM's Gen. McKenzie: In total, 123,000 civilians were evacuated from Afghanistan over the last 18 days.

869 Retweets3,334 Likes

August 30th 2021

Aaron Fritschner @FritschnerAt Macon County GOP event yesterday, Madison Cawthorn called January 6 rioters “political hostages,” and spoke of trying to “bust them out.” Then- Attendee: “When are you gonna call us to Washington again?" Cawthorn: “We are actively working on that one.”

4,235 Retweets7,587 Likes

August 30th 2021

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/cawthorn-calls-jan-6-defendants-political-hostages-muses-about-trying-to-bust-them-out

Scott MacFarlane @MacFarlaneNewsALERT:  House Select Jan 6th Committee asks 35 major communications companies (including major cell service providers, Twitter, Parler, etc) to preserve records  for "individuals  potentially involved with discussions" in planning Jan 6 Sweeping request (more)

1,408 Retweets3,875 Likes

August 30th 2021

/photo/2

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/30/statement-by-president-joe-biden/

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/30/politics/fact-check-biden-dover-afghanistan-kabul/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/28/world/asia/kabul-airport-attack-isis-us-strike.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/30/politics/january-6-phone-records-members-of-congress/index.html

Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowskiAt protest in Santa Monica today before the vote on mask-mandate, Jason Lefkowitz has the home addresses of each LA City Council member on his sign. He says they are going to the homes of whoever votes for it, and if it passes, it’s “civil war, get your guns.” From @chadloder

3,407 Retweets5,941 Likes

August 30th 2021

Andrew Lawrence @ndrew_lawrencethe most watched cable news host in america justifies a coming "revolt" unless we "change course immediately"

261 Retweets957 Likes

August 31st 2021

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/01/american-civilians-yemen-left-behind

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/30/1032615984/house-panel-investigating-the-capitol-attack-orders-35-companies-to-preserve-rec

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/30/how-evacuation-americans-is-going/

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/radicalism-post-trump-gop/619891/

https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/news-internal/monthly-poverty-july-2021

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/30/readout-of-president-bidens-briefing-with-gulf-coast-elected-officials-on-hurricane-ida/

https://www.businessinsider.com/child-tax-credit-expansion-reduce-child-poverty-rate-research-2021-8

https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-ida-louisiana-new-orleans-c43c2c68946ceb6100c2239534c6c290

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[iloveslasher]

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Georgia

Button Gwinnett

Lyman Hall

George Walton

North Carolina

William Hooper

Joseph Hewes

John Penn

South Carolina

Edward Rutledge

Thomas Heyward, Jr.

Thomas Lynch, Jr.

Arthur Middleton

Massachusetts

John Hancock

Maryland

Samuel Chase

William Paca

Thomas Stone

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia

George Wythe

Richard Henry Lee

Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Harrison

Thomas Nelson, Jr.

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Carter Braxton

Pennsylvania

Robert Morris

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Franklin

John Morton

George Clymer

James Smith

George Taylor

James Wilson

George Ross

Delaware

Caesar Rodney

George Read

Thomas McKean

New York

William Floyd

Philip Livingston

Francis Lewis

Lewis Morris

New Jersey

Richard Stockton

John Witherspoon

Francis Hopkinson

John Hart

Abraham Clark

New Hampshire

Josiah Bartlett

William Whipple

Massachusetts

Samuel Adams

John Adams

Robert Treat Paine

Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island

Stephen Hopkins

William Ellery

Connecticut

Roger Sherman

Samuel Huntington

William Williams

Oliver Wolcott

New Hampshire

Matthew Thornton

(I'm sorry)

What is this tho?!

I am confusión!