#Like they were actively attacking his soldiers and threatening the foundations

[smoothriverrocksrock]

Shockwave and his fucked up bug children

[self-proclaimed-chaotic-good]

Science & Faith | Carlton Drake x Reader (5/?)

Words: 1980

A/N: Kind of losing motivation in writing this series, so I'm going to try and post what I have already written and try writing other things. I technically have more than half of this series finished, but I might do some editing on them before posting.

-

The Return Part One

- Original Universe -

Carlton woke up on the cold floor of the lab. The air was musky, the lights above him burnt out. He heard hurried footsteps from the other side of the room, followed by a firm hand on his shoulder. He flinched, scooting away to get a better look at the room as his eyes began to focus. Three figures stood around him, all in some sort of costume and a few he recognized as some variation of Spider-man’s suit.

“Where’s Stark? And Spider-man?” Carlton mumbled, holding his head to stop the spinning.

“You’re gonna have to be more specific on which Spider-man you’re asking for,” the tallest one said, crouching down next to him. He had brown graying hair, unkempt with a trimmed stubble, but his blue eyes were familiar. “I’m Peter Parker.”

“That… no… so the Collider did work.” Carlton righted himself up and stood with the help of the other Peter. “You’re a bit older than the Peter Parker I knew.”

“You’re Carlton Drake, aren’t you?” a girl said, looks to be about her late teens or early twenties with blonde shoulder length hair and a white and pink Spider suit.

Carlton nodded, dusting himself off.

“He’s Carlton Drake?” a boy around her age said in disbelief, wearing a black and red Spider suit. “The Carlton Drake I knew was this blond white elitist guy who’s been looking to grant immortality or something to rich people.”

The girl shrugged. “Well, I honestly heard of him as the husband of Doctor (Y/n) (Y/l/n). You know, CEO of Life Foundation? They collaborate with Stark Industries to create customized cybernetic limbs and growing fully functioning organs in labs. They’re pretty badass.”

“Peter! Gwen! Miles!” a little girl’s voice called out, “It looks like the entire area had been caught in the blackout and there’s no signs of this lab being in use for years.”

A little girl in a white shirt and black vest ran in, followed by a stomping arachnoid robot and a man dressed like he was from a noir film in the forties.

“There’s no sign of Doctor Octavius or Kingpin anywhere here. Where should we go first?” the man asked in his deep voice, his face covered with a black mask.

Peter held up a hand to his chin as he thought. “This doesn’t make any sense. I could have sworn I saw this collider powered before we all arrived here. There’s still heat radiating off of it, but the whole place looks deserted,” he mumbled to himself.

Miles subconsciously mirrored him, placing a hand on his chin to help him brainstorm. He frowned for a moment before his face brightened, turning to Carlton.

“You mentioned Stark, as in Tony Stark, right? Since we’re in New York, he’s someone that could help us with this, right?” Miles suggested.

They exchanged a glance and shrugged. “It’s worth a shot,” Gwen said.

“How are we gonna reach him?”

“We’ll just have to go straight to him,” Carlton said. “To Stark Towers.”

-

As Dora dug further into the old research of Doctor Otto Octavius, she could see where things could go wrong immediately. The energy needed to be controlled in a stable environment and with too much power, it could become unstable and break the barriers of the other dimensions. Was it possible that the doctor’s accident had been connected to this collider project? Hopefully, it was never completed or else someone could get their hands on it.

There was a knock at the door, one of the researchers reminding her to take a break. They all planned to head towards the bar and relax and think of what to do next. Dora kept the files on the collider in her bag and followed them out, sparing one last glance at the picture of you and Carlton on his desk before locking the office door behind her.

She wasn’t much for drinking, but when they poured a glass for her, she readily took a sip of it. Carlton’s descent into madness stressed the hell out of her, making her question whether she was still part of the good guys or were in cahoots with the bad guys. All she wanted was to help people, maybe even find the cure for cancer. Then, her family was threatened, so what else could she do? She was unable to tell anyone what was happening. Nothing to her friends or family. She noticed how estranged she had become as a result of this and had to slowly patch things up with her life outside of Life Foundation.

“Hey, Dave, turn that up!” one of the regular bar patrons shouted, pointing at the TV.

The bartender reached over and turned the volume up as everyone gathered around the bar. Dora looked up, her eyes widened at what she was seeing. A sudden earthquake shook New York and caused a massive black out. There were no seismic activities prior to this, so scientists were still looking into it.

“Jesus, what the hell happened?” someone muttered next to Dora.

“Who the hell knows,” another one said.

Dora quickly whipped out her phone and texted you, hoping that you were okay.

-

Your eyes were attacked by a bright light as you slowly came to. The last thing you remembered was standing in the streets when you fainted. Why did you faint?

You heard a door sliding open, followed by clicking heels. “How are you feeling?” asked the doctor.

“I’m… a bit dizzy,” you managed to say.

The doctor nodded, explaining that she was going to perform a few tests before giving you a cup of water. “Miss Pepper saw you unconscious in your car through the security cameras and sent a small team to retrieve you. Do you mind telling me what happened?”

You sat up slowly with the help of the doctor and frowned. “I was clocking out for the day when traffic suddenly stopped, um… there was some kind of blackout. An explosion had happened a couple miles away and affected the whole area.” The doctor nodded, waiting for you to continue. “Then… I got distracted by something in the sky. I don’t know what it was, but I had a feeling that it was heading straight to Stark Towers. And then, I heard a voice…”

You frowned, trying to remember who it was. Your mind had an answer, but it was impossible. Carlton was dead, but it sounded just like him. It looked like him, dressed up in his usual dark gray suit that he would only use for conferences and company dinners, but at the same time he seemed different.

“Who was it?” The doctor asked.

“It’s crazy,” you said, not wanting to say anything further.

The doctor smiled. “We’re in a building owned by a man with an iron suit. One resident has powers originated by a glowing alien cube, another can turn into a green hulking monster when he’s angry, then another was a soldier from World War Two that had been kidnapped to be their mind controlled assassin, kept in a cryochamber until they have some use for him. I can go on and on. You know, just saying, so we both are on the same page of what crazy is.”

You took a deep breath and nodded, exhaling slowly. “I thought I heard… I saw my ex,” you said, staring down at your hands.

The doctor tilted her head. “How is that cra- ”

“He’s dead,” you said quickly, almost bitterly, “He’s been dead for months.”

“Ah.” She looks down at her chart, then back at you. “Well, you can rest up first. Mr. Stark wants to speak with you and it may explain what you saw. And trust me when I say that you need all the rest you can get. Doctor’s orders.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

She nodded, turning to let you rest. Walking out of the medical area of the floor, she was immediately met with the sight of five new people in costumes and a man in a dark gray suit that looked oddly familiar. The man was arguing with Tony, demanding to see you. She cautiously walked in, holding your medical chart close to her. Tony spotted her and smiled.

“Ah, Doctor Cho, any updates?” he said, wanting to get out of his conversation with the man.

“Yes, they are in a more stable state and everything else seems fine. They just need some rest,” Doctor Cho said, emphasizing the last word to the man.

“Can I at least see them?” The man asked, stepping towards her. “They’re my fiance.”

Doctor Cho frowned. “They haven’t mentioned anything about being engaged. What was your name again?”

“Carlton Drake.”

She exchanged a look with Tony who stepped in between them. “We need to discuss what happened,” he said, “And maybe, just maybe, I’ll let you see (Y/n).”

Carlton sighed. “Fine.”

Tony took them to the communal floor where he brought up a projection displaying cameras and news reports about the black out before heading towards his bar to pour himself a drink. After taking a sip, he walked back and brought up another screen. He pointed at Carlton, then brought up a video of a rocket explosion at Life Foundation. Carlton’s face twisted in confusion as he watched the news report of the accident and his passing.

“(Y/n) doesn’t say much about their life back in San Francisco, but I always do background checks on my employees. There had been a few pap pics of the two of you over the years and the most recent one in Singapore a day before one of your spaceships crashed,” Tony said, “Can you see why I can’t just let you see (Y/n)? In our universe or reality or whatever you want to call it, you’re dead.”

Carlton stepped back to process this, his eyes glued to the news coverage of his demise. They spoke of all the things he had done in this parallel universe, good and bad. And there were a lot of bad things that he felt weren't being revealed.

Peter stepped forward, explaining what had happened that led him to this universe and the others followed one by one. They were all in activities unrelated to Kingpin when they were sucked into this portal and spat out here. They all turned to Carlton, wanting to know what happened to him.

“I… me and the other Tony Stark and the other… Peter Parker was looking into Kingpin and found his lab. The collider was headed by Doctor Olivia Octavius- “

“So Doc Ock was a woman in your universe,” Tony muttered, earning a glare from Carlton for purposely interrupting. He held his hands up and gestured for him to continue.

“She activated the collider and through the scuffle, I got thrown into the chamber. I tried to shoot the panel when she blasted the power capacity to its fullest. I’m not sure if the other Tony Stark was able to destroy the panel in time, but I still ended up going through the portal.”

Tony hummed. “Very interesting. Well, if it was me, I would have gotten the job done,” he commented, downing his drink, “But because he is the alternate version of me, then he’s bound to be brilliant because from the readings I got, the source seems to be coming from here.” He brings out a 3D map of New York and zooms it towards Doctor Otto Octavius’s old laboratory. “If the portal from your universe had gone off, you would have all been teleported to that universe instead. That being said, our Doc Ock died years ago and Kingpin had been sitting in jail during that time. Maybe someone’s been squatting in that place or maybe the collider redirected all of you here. Either way, this needs to be fixed.”

[seymour-butz-stuff]

redictable as ever, conservatives are gearing up to defend their increasingly extremist voter base in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection by trotting out their timeworn “bloody shirt” trope—you know, the one that “makes a victim out of the bully and a bully out of the victim”—even as government officials try to grapple with the fallout from the manifest reality of a far-right-wing insurgency on our doorsteps. As always, the problem isn’t far-right seditionist violence, the problem is the people calling it out and trying to reel it in.

Right-wing pundits are currently attempting to repeat the travesty of 2009, when conservative media claimed a Department of Homeland Security memo warning of an increase in far-right organizing and recruitment, particularly directed at military veterans, was proof of plans to persecute conservatives. This time, they’re directing the same sort of self-owning complaints at the military’s announced efforts to root out far-right extremists—the kind who would participate in an armed insurrection—from their ranks.

In the aftermath of Jan. 6—and the realization that one in five of the riotous insurgents arrested for their roles in it were military veterans—the Biden administration, led by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, announced that it would tackle the long-running issue of radicalization within the ranks of the U.S. military, first by ordering a 60-day stand-down in all six branches of the service to attempt to assess how far-reaching the problem really is. Exactly how those orders will play out remains up in the air, but leaders at every military base are currently figuring that out.

However, some conservative pundits are already jumping to sound the alarms over the early iterations of the anti-extremist training being provided to the troops:

At PJ Media, J. Christian Adams hysterically claimed that the Pentagon’s “shocking” new training materials are “targeting conservatives.”

The Family Research Center’s Tony Perkins chimed in with the claim that the program is intended to “drive conservative and Christian members of the military either underground or out of the service altogether.”

The right-wing Washington Examiner asked Pentagon officials if conservatives were being targeted, and obtained a denial—which was then denounced in the same piece by QAnon-loving Colorado Congressman Lauren Boebert as a “political litmus test.”

As researcher Jared Holt observed, Adams’ article “says more about the author than anything else.” Notably, its thesis deliberately erases any line between far-right extremists and mainstream conservatives, saying the military’s materials contained “warped characterizations of fellow citizens who believe in constitutional principles.” It also directly identifies attempts to root out extremist members as “part of a radicalized political agenda.”

At one point, he describes it as a “racialist agenda”:

And if there was any doubt, the presentation makes it clear the armed forces are to be integrated into the Biden administration’s racialist agenda. “If we don’t eliminate extremist behaviors from our Navy, then racism, injustice, indignity and disrespect will grow and keep us from reaching our potential.” The materials do not cite a single instance of racism, injustice, indignity, or disrespect. Those are left to the imagination.

Actually, there is no need to leave anything to the imagination here. Not only was the problem of far-right infiltration into the ranks of the U.S. military a serious and mounting issue well before January 2021—with multiple documented examples of servicemen turning their military training into organizing neo-Nazi terrorism cells, for instance—but several of the arrests made in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection itself provide clear illustrations of its manifestation:

One U.S. Army reservist charged in the Capitol siege, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, was widely known among his colleagues at a New Jersey-based naval facility as a white supremacist, one who openly discussed his hatred of Jews in the workplace, according to federal prosecutors.

Jacob Fracker, 29, was an infantry rifleman in the Marine Corps, according to the Pentagon, who deployed to Afghanistan twice, and served in the Virginia National Guard. He also was a police officer in Rocky Mount, Virginia—until he was fired for his participation in the insurrection.

Air Force veteran Larry Rendall Brock Jr., was wearing a military-style helmet and tactical vest carrying flex cuffs aimed to “take hostages,” prosecutors claim. He posted on Facebook that he was preparing for a "Second Civil War," and in the weeks after Joe Biden's victory, Brock posted that "we are now under occupation by a hostile governing force."

Another insurrectionist arrested for invading the Capitol is a 35-year-old Marine veteran who once was crew chief of the presidential helicopter squadron at the White House named John Daniel Andries.

Overall, one in every five persons arrested for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection served in the U.S. military.

Adams also misleads his readers by claiming that the military’s warning in the anti-extremist briefing material—namely: “Speech that incites violence or criminal activity that threatens to undermine our government and Constitution is not protected by the First Amendment”—is “flatly wrong.”

Adams claims that “speech that ‘threatens to undermine our government’ is completely protected by the First Amendment. The Pentagon’s grotesque characterization of the law is borrowed from the criminal codes of dictatorships,” adding that the “whole concept of ‘undermining’ is the flimsy legal standard that sent millions to the Gulags and guillotine.”

He may be correct about this when it comes to ordinary citizens, but the Pentagon materials are directed entirely at serving members of the military, for whom in fact “freedom of speech” is entirely circumscribed, and has been so for most of its existence—with the full support of U.S. courts. Both the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and Defense Department Directives can and do place strict limits on soldiers’ speech. The UCMJ, passed by Congress in 1950, includes such “Punitive Articles” as “Contempt Toward Officials” and “Failure to Obey Order or Regulation,” as well as “Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a Gentleman.”

Near the end of the piece, Adams lets his transphobic flag fly, complaining that a ban on “liking any material that promotes discrimination based on … gender identity” means that “if you believe in biological sex, you might be involuntarily separated or court-martialed.” He also claims that references to constitutional equal protection for transgender members are “full of legal errors. Again, the Fourteenth Amendment says nothing about biological males who consider themselves to be women, yet the training says otherwise.”

Adams wraps up his screed by assuring military members that “the materials are imaginary bunk. It is a part of a radicalized political agenda to undermine the basic principles of the nation—equality before law regardless of race, and treating people impartially in tribunals or day-to-day affairs.”

Some may recall Adams’ initial foray into national media as a conservative darling in 2010, when as a Bush holdover in the Obama Justice Department, he began claiming that prosecution of a voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panthers Peoples Party was derailed because of anti-white racial discrimination, and resigned in protest. That would-be right-wing scandal fell apart when Adams' claim that the Voting Section didn’t intervene on behalf of white voters was proved conclusively false.

Since then, he’s gone to work for the right-wing Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), and was appointed to Donald Trump’s ill-fated “election integrity commission,” where he was known to talk about an “alien invasion” at the polls. He created an uproar in 2017 when PILF released a two-part report titled "Alien Invasion" that identified 5,556 voters as non-citizens, on the basis of having their voter registrations cancelled at one point over citizenship concerns—even though fully half the voters who had been called out were currently active voters who had fixed their registrations. More recently, Adams testified before Congress that mail-in voting invited fraud, and that voting-rights restoration represented a power grab by the federal government.

Tony Perkins’ attack on the military is similar in nature, casting the Pentagon’s anti-extremist training as “an excuse to silence speech.” He says “it's only logical to assume their definition [of a hate group] is even broader—including every Bible-believing Christian and conservative.”

Perkins also asserts that the Pentagon’s motives are clear: “to drive conservative and Christian members of the military either underground or out of the service altogether.” He concludes: “The tentacles of religious hostility run deep in this administration. Anyone who doesn't embrace the Left's ‘new morality’ will be a target, including the men and women fighting for the freedom they want to deny us.”

And the Examiner cited Boebert—who not only is a QAnon conspiracy-cult follower, but has been targeted for investigation by her congressional colleagues for her behavior around the insurrection, though the story mentions none of that—as a critic of the Pentagon’s training plans.

“This is nothing but a political litmus test of our brave men & women. It is obscene & dangerous to use soldiers who risk their lives for America as political pawns,” tweeted Boebert, described by the Examiner as “a gun rights advocate.” “We can hardly be surprised by these political litmus tests given Biden’s political vetting of the 26,000 National Guard troops in DC for his inauguration.”

The Capitol arrests provide startling examples of a disturbing trend within the ranks of both enlisted military members as well as veterans—namely, the increasing presence of far-right extremism and ideologies frequently connected to domestic terrorism (and most recently, a mass insurrection). Perhaps its most disturbing aspect is how easily it has grown within those ranks because of a high level of tolerance—if not outright sympathy—for it, both within the broader military culture as well as among the higher-ranking officers responsible for overseeing it.

This extremism runs in a spectrum, from the overtly threatening white supremacists and neo-Nazis who both infiltrate military ranks and are sometimes recruited and radicalized from within them, to the seemingly more temperate “Patriots,” militiamen, and “constitutionalists” whose ideology and rhetoric embrace a surface kind of patriotic jingoism that at its core is violently antidemocratic and seditionist. As we saw on Jan. 6, it can be no less dangerous in terms of the kind of terroristic threat it poses, not just to the public but to the nation’s democratic institutions. All of them pose a potential but real national-security threat.

The role of vigilante groups such as the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, and Proud Boys in the insurrection also points to a significant gap in the military’s current policy regarding far-right extremists. The wording of the prohibition on such activities in the military focuses primarily on participation in hate groups that discriminate against minorities—such as white-nationalist, neo-Nazi, or skinhead organizations—but does not come close to including the far-right conspiracists of the “Patriot” movement and their antidemocratic activities.

Cassie Miller, an analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, noted to Daily Kos that “currently, the military does not ban troops from participating in antigovernment groups and militias.”

“There are regulations that ban members of the military actively participating in groups that discriminate based on ‘race, creed, color, sex, religion, ethnicity or national origin,’ but they are clearly poorly enforced,” Miller said. “Not only are new screening procedures and regulations sorely needed, the military also needs to enforce the regulations it already has.”

Terrorism expert Zakir Gul explained the particular nature of the threat posed by “Patriot”-style extremists for Homeland Security Today:

The number of radicalized individuals within the ranks of the U.S. military may not be known even by Pentagon officials unless the individuals showed some signs of their violent extremist ideology. The number of such individuals, however, is a minor issue for two reasons. First, the ideology is so toxic that a small number of individuals can spread and influence others and quickly turn those small numbers into big numbers. Second, these individuals are highly trained, well-equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to plot violent acts, and have easier access to military vehicles and weaponry than other terrorists. Even a small number of such individuals, therefore, are capable of committing mass killings and causing significant destruction of buildings and infrastructure. In one sense, an individual with these characteristics is like a one-person army.

A good example is Timothy McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran and the recipient of several military-service awards—and the person responsible for bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 that left 168 people dead and numerous others wounded and became the deadliest homegrown terrorist attack in U.S. history. For a fictional example, imagine this: An F-35 fighter aircraft pilot who adheres to a violent extremist ideology and is filled hatred of the United States terrorizes, attacks, and kills a massive number of people with that single aircraft. Such a catastrophe would be no different than the tragic 9/11 attacks and their consequences. These highly trained individuals are not and should never be put into the same category of threat assigned to ordinary terrorists.

Left unchecked, such one-person armies could damage the reputation of the most trusted institution in the United States—the U.S. military—for generations and be difficult to rebuild. Some might even find it appropriate to attach fascist label to the U.S. military, hindering its ability to effectively defend one of the world’s leading democracies. It is essential, therefore, that the U.S. military and the federal government work to prevent the actions and consequences of violent extremists and to respond swiftly should any of these groups breach the military’s carefully crafted preventive measures.

As former Marine Corps Commandant James L. Jones wrote in The Atlantic:

States armed services and their counterparts in allied countries must close off all means by which white supremacists, anarchists, or fascists enter our national institutions and social mainstreams. The members of the U.S. armed forces have an obligation to defend our nation from all enemies, “foreign and domestic”—including those who would divide us from within.

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Jeff McCausland, in a piece for NBC News, noted that the lack of attentiveness to the problem has originated at the top and filtered down. In 2018, for example, the Defense Department found only 18 members of the 1.8 million Americans serving had been disciplined or discharged in the previous five years for engaging in extremist activities—and then used those low figures to justify deprioritizing it.

But there is no internal law enforcement task force monitoring extremist networks or generating comprehensive data within the military at all, and sharing of intelligence on such groups across federal agencies is extremely limited. A former Defense investigator described the U.S. government’s lack of a concerted effort to gather intelligence on extremist groups as a black hole. Another observed: “Every year they get a report based on what they were never looking for.”

Daryl Johnson, a former DHS analyst who authored the 2009 bulletin, told USA Today that conservative attacks back then created a missed opportunity to raise awareness about radical white supremacist groups looking to recruit within the military culture.

“For one of the few times in recent American history, we had accurately predicted a threat, given ample warning and people just ended up bickering and fighting about it and the message got lost,” Johnson said. “We’ve suffered the consequences of that.”

[gardenofkore]

The Normans had a complicated past in the Latin East. As early as the First Crusade, there was an opportunity for the Hautevilles to exert significant authority in the region, one that quickly ended when Roger’s cousin, Bohemond, was captured by Turks as he made his way to Melitene in August of 1100. Bohemond’s imprisonment enabled Baldwin I to claim the throne of Jerusalem uncontested. Had the journey gone differently, it might have been Roger’s first cousin who became king and established a dynasty. But whatever lost opportunity Bohemond’s capture may have represented, it paled in comparison to the one that evaded Roger a little more than a decade later. His mother Adelasia, had been his regent since 1101, the year Roger I died, and by 1112 Roger had begun to rule in his own right. This offered Adelasia an opportunity to accept a marriage proposal from King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. According to William of Tyre, the marriage contract stipulated that if Baldwin and Adelasia had no child of their own, Roger would succeed to the throne when Baldwin died. This arrangement was of particular interest to Roger, and given that Adelasia was in her late thirties and that Baldwin himself was in his late forties or early fifties and — as far as we can tell — had not yet produced any children, it is not difficult to understand why. Unfortunately for Adelasia (and Roger), Baldwin ultimately confessed that their union was bigamous as his marriage to his second wife had not been properly annulled. Susan Edgington notes that the union may have been dissolved partly as a result of pressure from Rome. In addition, though, Baldwin became very ill in 1117, so sick that some wondered if he would die and the kingdom would soon pass to Roger. Some members of the nobility became alarmed at the prospect, and Arnulf oversaw the annulment of the marriage during Easter of the same year. Adelasia was sent home to Sicily soon after, but not before Baldwin had alienated many of the resources she had brought with her from Sicily. She died just a year later, on April 16 — just nine days after Baldwin. For centuries, historians have used her humiliation to explain why Roger was not invested in the Latin East:

Qua redeunte ad propria turbatus est supra modum filius et apud se odium concepit adversus regnum et eius habitatores immortale. Nam cum reliqui fideles diversi orbis principes aut in propriis personis aut inmensis liberalitatibus regnum nostrum quasi plantam recentem promovere et ampliare sategerint, hic et eius heredes usque in presentem diem nec etiam verbo amico nos sibi conciliaverunt, cum tamen quovis alio principe longe commodius faciliusque nostris necessitatibus consilia possent et auxilia ministrare. Videntur ergo iniurie perpetuo memores et delictum persone iniuste in populum refundunt universum.

Dawn Marie Hayes, Roger II of Sicily. Family, Faith, and Empire in the Medieval Mediterranean World, p. 65-66

For more than three years following the wedding there is no information about the royal couple’s conjugal relationship, or Adelaide’s activities, or even her whereabouts. Baldwin seems to have been constantly on the move, fighting for Antioch in the north or against the Ascalonites in the south or exploring into Transjordan and the Sinai desert. However, the validity of the marriage was apparently unchallenged until 1116 when two events coincided. The more important was probably Arnulf’s trip to Rome to argue for his reinstatement as patriarch of Jerusalem. He was successful, but, seemingly, his restoration was conditional on persuading the king to put away his wife. The grounds existed, for although Baldwin had separated from his Armenian wife at some time in the previous decade, there was no annulment of his second marriage and so he was not free to remarry. The following winter, the king fell critically ill and feared he was on the point of death. There was a very real possibility that Baldwin would die without children and the kingdom would pass to a Sicilian heir. Some of the nobility baulked at this, and Arnulf presided over the formal annulment at Easter 1117, incurring the enmity of Sicily to the great detriment of the kingdom, as William of Tyre and modern commentators have agreed. The Sicilian alliance was therefore short-lived and ultimately injurious to the kingdom of Jerusalem. It is redundant to speculate whether the outcome would have been different if Baldwin and Adelaide had produced a child. The alliance failed, and Baldwin’s deteriorating health brought the matter of the succession to the fore. [...]

In 1116, with some 200 knights, Baldwin headed east again, revisiting Montréal, and then south through the desert to the Red Sea. This expedition is thought to have founded a castle in the valley of Moses (Wadi Mūsa) and another at a town on the coast Fulcher called ‘Helim’ (modern Aqaba, Jordan) that they had found abandoned by its inhabitants. On his return to Jerusalem towards the end of 1116, the king became seriously – he feared terminally – ill. Fulcher wrote that this was the reason Baldwin repudiated his Sicilian wife; William expanded Fulcher’s simple statement of fact to involve Baldwin’s seeking the advice of the clergy and trying to explain himself to Adelaide, who was not appeased. William, of course, could see the longer-term consequences of the failure of the Sicilian alliance. Albert of Aachen’s independent account of the same expedition and its aftermath added some interesting details. He did not, apparently, know about the deserted town Helim, but wrote only that the king and his men bathed in the Red Sea when they reached it, as relief from the intense heat, and ate fish. While there, Baldwin heard about St Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai desert, and he was keen to visit it for prayer and conversation, but the monks sent messengers to dissuade him because they did not want to draw attention to the monastery lest they be expelled from it by the Saracens. Although this tale is uncorroborated, it rings true, for St Catherine’s is a Greek Orthodox foundation and has maintained its presence until today partly because of a willingness to accommodate politicalrealities.Baldwin abandoned his plan to visit the monastery and returned to Jerusalem via Hebron, pausing only to raid the plains of Ascalon for camels, cattle, sheep and goats on his way. Albert gave the date of the onset of Baldwin’s serious illness as the beginning of March 1117, technically still winter but later than Fulcher implied, and Albert wrote that the king was in Acre. Baldwin genuinely believed he was on his deathbed, for he ordered that his worldly wealth was to be distributed: part went to the poor, along with a dole of food and wine; part to his household; and part to his soldiers, both his own and those serving for pay. However, Albert claimed that the king made a full recovery. He did not report whether thegifts were revoked but did write that the Egyptian fleets that had put in at Tyre when the Saracens heard of the king’s illness now sailed home without attacking. Another discrepancy from Fulcher’s undoubtedly better informed account is that Albert placed Arnulf’s visit to Rome to exculpate himself after the king’s recovery from his sickness. It was Arnulf who then insisted, on the pope’s orders, that Baldwin repudiate his wife because his marriage to Adelaide was adulterous and unlawful. Arnulf added a charge of consanguinity between Baldwin and Adelaide, although this had passed unremarked in 1113, and he formalised the process of annulment by convoking a council in the church of the Holy Cross in Acre. ‘Sad and grieving, released by synodal law from the marriage bond, the lady sailed back to Sicily’, while Baldwin, Albert claimed, exercised ‘wonderful abstinence and chastity’ from then onward. Thus, although the two writers differed on theexact sequence of events, they agreed that the king’s illness was a precipitating factor in his repudiation of Adelaide. Certainly, he may have felt the prick of conscience and wanted to die absolved of his sins. Nevertheless, it is probable that there was also considerable pressure from his vassals and the senior clergy: the marriage to Adelaide had not provided the king with an heir, and according to the terms of the agreement Roger of Sicily would inherit the kingdom of Jerusalem if the king were to die while the marriage endured. The reminder of the king’s mortality made the matter of the succession urgent, and it is inconceivable that the matter was dropped as soon as the king made a recovery. In the short term, Baldwin appeared to regain full health, and with his accustomed energy he was mindful that two coastal cities remained unconquered. First he built a castle called ‘Scandalion’ within five miles of Tyre and garrisoned it ‘to confine the city’. He then embarked on a major expedition early in 1118 aimed, so Albert said, at conquering Egypt and thus removing its support for Ascalon that threatened pilgrims going to and from Jerusalem. [...]

The accounts of Guibert and William, the one separated by distance and the other by time from the scandal, share certain features, most importantly the legitimacy of Baldwin’s marriage to Arda so that the separation a thoro was not an annulment, which was the only way Baldwin would be free to take a third wife. Yet Baldwin did not seek dissolution of the marriage from the pope. Admittedly, it would be difficult because the usual convenient ground, consanguinity, was not available. Nevertheless, the curia was likely to be sympathetic, especially if adultery could be proven. (Notably, non-consummation does not seem to have been considered, at least before Mayer.) In this interpretation of Guibert’s tale and as made explicit by William, the motif of chasing the unpaid dowry in Constantinoplerecurs. It seems likely that failure to lay his hands on Arda’s dowry in full was the real reason behind Baldwin’s repudiation of his wife. Importantly, by consigning his wife to a nunnery, Baldwin was abandoning hope of engendering an heir. For somewhere between five and ten years he lived, apparently, a celibate life.

Baldwin’s bigamous marriage to Adelaide of Sicily appears ill advised on almost every level. It is easy to interpret it as a last desperate attempt to make a political alliance that would bring wealth and other resources for the defence of the kingdom. In the short term, it was successful in this: the resources Adelaide brought with her to Jerusalem were described towards the end of the previous chapter, along with Baldwin’s rejection of her four years later. There is no information about how much time the royal couple spent together. On this and the whole subject of Baldwin’s third marriage the testimony of William of Malmesbury is interesting, although – or because – it differs so radically from William of Tyre’s. First, while conceding that the match was to make good Baldwin’s losses, he wrote explicitly that it was ‘for legitimate marriage’ (ad legitimum conubium). William agreed with the other chroniclers about the great riches Adelaide brought with her ‘to the king’s bedroom’, but added rather sourly ‘where the woman had amassed such infinite piles of precious goods from might seem a matter of wonder to anyone’. Baldwin ‘admitted her to his marriage bed’ (illam thoro recepit) but dismissed her soon afterwards. The reason for this, ‘they said’ (aiunt), was that Last years and legacy she was afflicted by an incurable illness and a cancer had consumed her genitals. From this William concluded: ‘One thing is certain, the king was without offspring; it was no wonder if a man for whom to be at leisure was to become unwell shrank from wifely embraces and spent his whole life in battles.’ The inescapable ambiguity is whether Baldwin dreaded all wifely embraces, or only Adelaide’s, as appears to be the implication. However that may be, and even if the story of the cancer, which William reported as hearsay, is completely untrue, William may have encapsulated a truth: throughout his reign Baldwin’s energies were absorbed by constant military campaigns, and in his last years he may have been suffering increasingly from illness whenever a pause from them allowed.

Susan B. Edgington, Baldwin I of Jerusalem, 1100-1118, p. 167; 174-175; 184-185

[stayflaminhotmen]

Katara and her trauma with the fire nation

The reason why some people like me can’t see any romantic between Katara and Zuko with that ATLA put in the show because Katara experienced deep trauma from the fire nation is completely reasonable.

My problem is how Katara experienced trauma first hand from the fire nation and it affected her a lot. If it was the next generation of kids who never experienced a traumatizing war and saw the fire nation in a good light first hand despite the history, then it’s not a problem in general (unless there’s specific problems such as them still experiencing oppression in some sort of way then it’s up for discussion but in a general sense, I don’t see a problem.) This is because the next generation KNOWS about the war and what it caused, that’s not the same as EXPERIENCING it first hand. That’s the problem that people like me are anti-zuatara are saying. Katara experienced it first hand and had personal experience and trauma from it. Her mother getting killed IN HER OWN VILLAGE when they attacked and she was only 8, then Katara first meets Zuko wearing fire nation armor and comes with fire nation soldiers and threatened her village and then the siege of the north where fire nation attacked and Katara saw it first hand. Zuko was there while the fire nation attacked the north pole (which is her sister tribe). Zuko used this opportunity to his advantage to get the Avatar, attacked Katara, called her a little peasant and even knocked her unconscious in the process. She was there and she experienced it. I genuinely believe that is traumatizing no matter how much they down played the trauma for the sake of it being a kids show. They even showed how much it affected her by how she immediately talks about losing her mother to the fire nation whenever anyone brings up the fire nation. The trauma she has of losing her mother is tied to the fire nation. Yes, Zuko helped her get closure about that which is literally so amazing for him to do. But closure doesn’t mean that the trauma isn’t there anymore. It’s something she has to live with for the rest of her life and deserves sufficient time to work through it.

Which is why some people are a little hesitant to ship them. It’s not just because he’s fire nation, but because she experienced TRAUMA from the fire nation specifically multiple times. It’s has more to do with trauma she experienced and it just so happens that the trauma she has is linked to the fire nation which is Zuko is heir to. Not to mention, he contributed to that. I don’t find that racist because it’s addressing the rightful trauma that Katara has. It would be racists if Katara never experience trauma from the fire nation and I wouldn’t want her to be with Zuko just because he’s from the fire nation. That’s why I’m saying the next generation of kids who only know about what happened, isn’t a big problem (again, unless they still experience oppression and are deeply affected, it becomes something that needs to be discussed.)

That’s why people like me would really like for Katara to really deal that trauma first and for Zuko to take action into fixing the political problems within the fire nation. This is actually why I genuinely find the whole Zuko and Katara reconnecting in their old age when Aang has died and Zuko is single actually non problematic in terms of LOK canon. We see how Zuko actively worked on fixing the problems within the fire nation, Katara has seen and helped rebuild her tribe, and the world as a whole is in a new era of peace with each other. No more being scared of the fire nation. On top of that, much time has passed that it’s realistic for Katara to no longer be traumatized of her past. She no longer fears the fire nation or would be hesitant towards having romantic feelings for Zuko because of the changes made. His actions showed it.

Personally, I’m not into it because it’s not my thing but that’s besides the point. The point is that it’s an unproblematic way for things to be post canon for Zutara in the Avatar universe. If it’s like AU, then it’s non problematic either because it’s in a different world where that “never” happened. It’s just the characters personality in fanfic. However, I find it highly uncomfortable when I see things like pictures of Katara and Zuko kissing after she heals him. It just feels like it’s diminishing her rightful trauma. If others don’t find that problematic then that’s on them. I have my reasons which I think are valid as to why I don’t like it and I hope others consider.

Anyways, I’m not saying that Katara and Zuko can’t have a romance together but I’m just saying that for the sake of Katara, I would want her to work towards working through her trauma within the fire nation more. I think that’s completely reasonable. That’s why it’s hard for me to realistically look at Zuko and Katara connecting in the Cross Roads to Destiny and think romantic partners just at looking at those scenes. That’s why, it’s hard for me to realistically look at Katara and Zuko forgiving each other in TSR and think romantic partners! Call me uptight but I just find it hard to believe that Katara’s subconscious wouldn’t think about all that before even consciously considering him as a romantic partner. Or that Zuko would be slightly hesitant because of what his people, the people he’s going to lead did to her people. He listened to her story of how the Southern Raiders attacked and I can only assume that he would think that it’s something she needs more time to work through. Zuko more than anyone knows how people need space and time to work through their trauma. Zuko more than anyone knows that even though he gets closure, that trauma doesn’t go away. That’s why if he truly cared for her, he’d give her the space to heal and make changes in the fire nation. People like me feel like it should be separate from romance because we don’t like to romanticize situations. I guess I like to see things for what they are especially when that’s the situation presents to us in ATLA. 

(Which is why I’m annoyed that the creators thought it was a good idea to use this ship as bait in the video teasers for season three. Like if this was the background of a ship, they really were going to bait the viewers like this, give them hope, not make it happen and then make it such a big deal. I’m just like really. They really just had to do this. I’m just like, how can someone create such a masterpiece tv series and make such a problematic promotion video that’s like what 2 minutes long or less. Like REALLY. smh) 

And I get that Katara helped a village because they needed help, but she didn’t see them as fire nation military. She saw them struggling as well which she empathizes because that’s literally how her village was too. It was also small and the people were scared of fire nation too. That different with how she saw Zuko when they first meet - him threatening his village for the avatar. He knew that he was in a position of power seeing that the village feared him. He didn’t stop to think about the oppression they faced due to his father, grandfather and great grandfather. He didn’t know, but that doesn’t excuse what he did do. That doesn’t excuse diminishing that act as if it was nothing in Katara’s POV. 

My problem is that even they do connect and share chemistry, some people have trouble passing all that hatred and trauma after ONE interaction in the crossroads of destiny when they open up to each other and immediately see romance. Then in the southern raiders, again, I have trouble seeing that with her trying to forgive him after his betrayal, she suddenly feel romantic feelings or that Zuko would. I just feel like it would kinda be a bit odd how Katara would be confused with her feelings for Aang because they’re in the middle of a war when they’ve been best friends, but would suddenly fall for Zuko also in the middle of the war almost immediately despite their shaky foundation and the new found trust they have. Not to mention, seeing anything romantic in him saving her but seeing that he’s really changed from when she last caught Azula the cross roads of destiny. It signifies their friendship at least in my perspective, not exactly anything romantic (there’s potential, I admit) but for what was given to us, it’s just doesn’t make sense to be canon or even see any romance in the near future with all that trauma. 

Like I said, there’s potential for a romantic relationship for Zutara but the show didn’t give some of us enough interactions between them to be 100% on board. Not to mention, if I wanted a good relationship dynamic, I’d pick up a romance specific book and go read it. ATLA is not a romance, it’s a fantasy story which is why I love the series so I’d rather not fantasize over a romance that’s problematic for me. Especially since I’m not a fan of the whole enemies to lover trope. I just believe that a proper redemption arc shouldn’t mean that a guy should then be allowed to get a romance interest they hurt. Especially with Zuko and Katara’s relationship throughout the series. It showed boundaries which is a really good underlying message for young kids. That’s why I really love Zuko’s redemption arc because he got his honor and became fire lord which was done so freaking well. Like what truly mattered in the end for Zuko wasn’t who he ended up with, but that he got his honor back and the title of Fire Lord Zuko. 

Back to the boundaries thing, I wanted to adress that the difference between a friendship and a romantic relationship, at least for me, is that a friendship has more boundaries than a romantic relationship. Because of their shaking foundation of their relationship, I want those boundaries there for Katara and Zuko. I see the potential, but like I said, it’s hard for me to literally see Katara and Zuko as more than friends in those scenes where they’re friends knowing all that in a short amount of time. I’d just very much for more time for them to work on those others things before I see romance. That’s a valid reason and one that I don’t think people should just toss around and be defensive about, and calling people racists or ignorant. It’s not, it’s seeing this specific situation of Katara and Zuko in terms of boundaries.

Basically, wrapping this whole thing up, it’s hard for me and others to look past all the stuff that Katara and Zuko went through and see anything more than a deep friendship and understanding for each other with such little time and in such few episodes. Which is why I feel like them ending off as platonic friends in canon was the right move. It gives them time to work on building an even stronger friendship, Katara working through her trauma, and Zuko actively trying to change the problems within the fire nation. It also opens people in fanfic to explore romance if anyone’s into that. That’s why I personally believe that Zutara as a couple has a place in fanfic, fanart, etc, but it was the right move for them not to make it canon in terms of what they made canon in the tc show. 

Again, this is my personal opinion and people don’t have to agree. People are entitled to their own opinion. However, I feel like people saying that this isn’t a valid excuse are being extremely defensive and not considering thinking about why others feel this way. I also addressed just Zutara because it’s where I see this problem not being considered the most or being downplayed. It’s in Zutara that I see the argument that it should have been canon the most and not in other noncanon (but valid) pairings in ATLA. 

[cheshiresense]

Orion x Hadrian with Naruto AU! XD I kinda want to know how you’ll fit them into the hardcore ninja world.

Welp that’s definitely a new spin. Let’s seee…….

1. Okay so are they themselves? Dropped into the Naruto ‘verse? Or do they get reborn into Naruto canon characters? You know what, as themselves would be more interesting. But also wait are they even reincarnated or were they just born in the Naruto world?? We’ll go with reincarnation, Hadrian isn’t Hadrian without his dimension-hopping. So, Orion is born an Uchiha, because of course it’s just his luck to get tossed into a family full of blood-purists except without a Sirius this time. He’s born a handful of years after Fugaku, second son and relatively unimportant, but he almost gives his new mother a heart attack when he toddles into the kitchen one morning with the Sharingan already spinning in his eyes.

(His death had not been an easy one. He’d watched the only man he’d ever loved die protecting him, and it had been a relief to follow in a hail of spell-fire, even if it had been with the knowledge that Hadrian’s death had been in vain.)

They hail him as a prodigy, which makes Orion roll his eyes. It isn’t helped by the fact that he - thankfully - still has his magic, and after a few years of experimenting, he’s even able to pass off a few abilities as jutsus. His clan is proud of him - not even in the Academy yet and already wielding chakra like he was born knowing how. Their only complaint - something that would probably make his father tear out his hair in frustration if he was any less dignified, and drives the clan elders around the bend - was Orion’s utter lack of interest in holding up family honour. Oh, he doesn’t do anything outright rude, but even just acting himself seems to “tarnish their reputation”. He’s an introvert by nature - even years of knowing Hadrian hasn’t changed that - so acting the perfect Uchiha child whenever he goes out with his parents or on the few occasions other clans come to visit is not exactly a priority. He finds politics in general boring even if he’s forced to sit down and begin learning the ins and outs of clan laws very early, and working himself into other people’s good graces is just something he doesn’t do. He speaks too little even for an Uchiha, but when he does speak he’s too blunt even for a child. He looks at his new parents, compares them to Sirius and Remus, and finds them terribly wanting. He supposes they’re not terrible, especially since half the time they’re out fighting a war or attending meetings, but they care far more about propriety and prestige than Orion is used to, restricts Orion’s freedom more than he likes, and that puts even more of a distance between them. He cares about them, but only in a vaguely distant way. He’s fonder of Fugaku, whom he knows envies him a little for his skill with chakra (magic) and his already active Sharingan, but his uncaring attitude in just about every other department that a clan child should strive towards seems to appease him, and for the most part, they get along fine. It helps, Orion thinks with some amusement, that he has no desire to fight against Fugaku for their clan’s attention, even though he realizes that that seems to be a common practice amongst clan siblings. Their father certainly tries, remarking on how much farther along Fugaku already is with his studies and the clan jutsus, but Orion doesn’t care, and honestly, he’d make a terrible clan head. Fugaku wants it, and as far as Orion is concerned, he can definitely have it.

2. Hadrian is born an Uzumaki, and the one thing he absolutely loves about it is his hair. It’s a red so dark it could almost pass for black at night, but when he stands in the sunlight, it shines as bright as Lily Potter’s did.

Everything else about an Uzumaki is… not as great. Oh, the sealing that comes so naturally for their clan is neat enough, but he was already a sealmaster in two lifetimes, and while there are some new branches he can explore in this new world, he still prefers his own style, and it’s not long before other people notice. They think it’s his creation, his genius, and they’re all so proud of him, definitely Uzumaki and twice the prodigy, and that too is something Hadrian enjoys - the Uzumaki Clan isn’t as large as some in other villages, but they’re close-knit and full of love and laughter, and growing up in Uzushio, Hadrian wants for nothing.

Then of course, because his life is just like that, his home is destroyed at the tail-end of the second shinobi world war. This universe is full of soldiers and children conscripted as soldiers, and the foundations are so very ugly. Even Hadrian was already doing his part from the onset of the war, not even ten yet, by creating and improvising new seals for his village. Uzushio is kinder only that they do not send children to the frontlines unless there is no other choice, and Hadrian’s genius ensures he has a position with the Sealing Division within the safety of the village. His skills there at least are too valuable to risk losing on the battlefield.

(Hadrian is tired of war. He has fought three of them now, and the last one finally managed to kill him. He has no doubt Orion fell as well because even after so many years, or perhaps especially after so many years, Orion still looked at him like the moon rose and set at Hadrian’s command, and Orion was the ocean’s tide that followed its call.)

Only some quick thinking and liberal applications of some of the most complicated seals Hadrian has ever made on the fly manages to save just a little under half of his village. He creates a wide-range portal seal behind a defensive barrier interlocked with a delayed explosion ward, activates all three at the same time, and just before the light of the seal consumes him and all the villagers he could save (far too few), Uzushio detonates, taking all the invading Iwa- and Kiri-nin with her. Serves them right.

They materialize at the gates of Konoha, and over the course of the next several weeks, the remains of Uzushiogakure are shuffled between the hospital and a hastily sectioned off piece of land large enough to house them. Kushina bursts through the figurative gates within the day, crying and hugging everyone she can reach, tackling Hadrian too because they weren’t the closest within their clan but he’d been the one to teach her pretty much everything she knew of seals before she’d been forced to move to Konoha.

After that, there is a lot of bargaining and arguing, subtle accusations and even subtler threats thrown, but the first thing Hadrian does is erect wards powerful enough to stop an army, and so in the end, Konoha has no choice but to acquiesce to their demands. They still need Uzushio’s strength, and while Uzushio has never failed their sister village, as friend or comrade or ally, well, Konoha never showed up to aid them in their greatest moment of need, did they? So they make a home in Fire Country but call themselves Uzushio-nin, an island unto themselves with enough firepower to level half the country, and even Konoha dares not threaten that.

The war ends with Konoha - officially - the victor. A large chunk of Iwa and Kiri forces were destroyed, courtesy of Uzushio, and Uzushio, displaced and desecrated, bares its teeth and refuses to let the world forget them.

3. Two years later, Hadrian is sixteen, a Jounin, returning from a mission and reporting in before making his way through Konoha in the quiet hours of the morning. Things are still a little strained between Konoha and Uzushio, but they share most of their missions, most of their information, they cross each other’s village boundaries as if they were one, and after Hadrian caught half a dozen ROOT members attempting to assassinate his village in the dark of night, Danzou had been tried, his delays of Konoha reinforcements to Uzushio dragged into the light, amongst numerous other crimes, and he’d been summarily executed for them. Hadrian doesn’t think he’s the only one who thinks Konoha feels just a little bit lighter in the aftermath.

For now, his feet takes him past some of the training grounds, and he can hear the distant thwacks of someone practicing their aim. Early training sessions aren’t uncommon, but it’s early enough that Hadrian feels a vague sense of curiosity for who it might be.

He finds a Konoha-nin, of course, easily recognized as an Uchiha, around the age of twelve. Judging by the hitae-ate tied around his arm, he’s already a genin at least. It’s rare though, for an Uchiha to be training in public, even if the place is void of people at this hour. Clan members usually use their own private training grounds, especially one still so young. His skill is plain to see though, every kunai thudding dead center into their targets while the boy himself dances easily across a sparse grid of wires. Hadrian only has time to up his estimate to Chuunin before the boy flips into the air and makes a very familiar gesture at the target boards. Hadrian’s breath catches as all the kunai fly neatly into the Uchiha’s hands, and the slight sound is enough to attract his attention.

Green eyes meet blue, rare on an Uchiha, not so rare on-

“Orion,” Hadrian croaks out before he can think better of it, and this time, it’s the Uchiha boy’s turn to freeze. Disbelief wells up in his expression, followed by a desperate sort of hope as he chokes out, “Hadrian?”

Hadrian doesn’t know who moves first, but he blinks once, and then Orion is in his arms, wrapped around him like a barnacle, and his body feels different, smaller and more slender, bones less sturdy, hair softer, but Hadrian doesn’t care because it’s Orion, and he loves his new family and everything they’ve given him, but sometimes he still wakes up in the middle of the night, grasping blindly for a man no longer there, and all he can think now is that this time at least he’s not alone.

Orion hugs him back just as hard, uncaring of the fact that Hadrian seems destined to be older in some way in every lifetime. He’s wondered, of course he has, because he knows dimension travel and time travel are possible, and if he’s been reincarnated, surely Fate or the gods or something would see fit to do the same for Hadrian. But he’s looked, and no one in Konoha has the same skills that he does.

Of course he was looking in the wrong place. He should’ve known Hadrian would be born into the clan that produces the craziest seal-happy shinobi in existence.

4. Orion is a freshly-minted Chuunin. He wasn’t looking for a promotion exactly, but his Genin team was boring him, his two teammates didn’t like having an Uchiha on the team that so far outstripped them, and his sensei had no idea what to do with him. Orion’s even gladder that he decided to do his best in the recent Exams, because now it means Hadrian can request him on his team for missions.

They spend the rest of that first day together, talking about their respective new lives. Orion was all for following Hadrian home, but they both knew even the disappointing second son can’t just up and disappear into Uzushio territory for the night without the Uchihas sending out a search party and probably demanding recompense. So they spend the day together, talking, eating, Orion suggests a nap because it’s clear Hadrian just came back from a mission but Hadrian rolls his eyes and drags him back to a training grounds for a spar. Which is fun because they’re definitely more evenly matched in the ninja arts than they were in duelling magic. They don’t go all-out, but Orion enjoys showing Hadrian some of the Uchiha-exclusive jutsus he’s learned (no, he’s not supposed to, but also no, he doesn’t care), and he can’t help laughing when Hadrian begins teaching him seals.

Hadrian walks him back to the Uchiha compound. The guards stare, surprised and wary because Orion has friendly acquaintances in Konoha but no friends, certainly none that makes him so obviously happy. Orion wants to invite him in, but his family isn’t something he wants to inflict on Hadrian, and they’ll have more time together later. He almost forgets himself and leans in for a kiss, but Hadrian raises an eyebrow, equal parts amused and rueful, and even in this messed up world where children have adult rights as soon as they become genin, a twelve-year-old probably shouldn’t up and kiss a sixteen-year-old Jounin, even if they are from a clan with technically equal standing as the Uchiha. So Orion limits himself to a lingering hug, one that Hadrian returns with a hair-ruffle thrown in (”I’m taller than you for once!”), and then they part ways.

Word spreads like wildfire. Ninja gossip worse than the Hogwarts rumour mill, and Hadrian is a well-known name across most of the Elemental Countries, famed for saving his village and wiping out a third each of Kiri’s and Iwa’s ranks. Both villages labelled him S-rank before the war even ended, and while his first loyalty is to Uzushio, he’s also done quite a bit for Konoha’s defenses over the past year.

But even Orion is surprised when it’s Fugaku who corners him first the next morning, bright and early and looking forward to the rest of the day in a way he hasn’t for… literally his entire life here so far. Even his older brother, arms crossed and already frowning (honestly no wonder his face already carries faint stress lines), doesn’t dampen his mood.

Fugaku doesn’t scold him because he knows Orion isn’t going to listen. Literally the only one who still tries is their father, who shouts until he’s hoarse but never makes a dent in Orion’s disinterest and wayward independence.

Instead, Fugaku sighs and watches Orion pack two bentos before finally telling him, “At least you picked an Uzumaki. And of all the Uzumaki, at least you picked the best one. A Hyuuga might actually make Father keel over from a heart attack.”

Orion rolls his eyes as he hunts down a picnic blanket. Uchihas are so dramatic. Also, “Where is your mind at, Brother? I just made a friend.”

Even Fugaku’s monotone grunt somehow sounds skeptical. “Just… keep it in your pants for a few more years. And remind Uzumaki that just because you aren’t the Uchiha heir doesn’t mean we won’t come after him if he hurts you.”

Orion pauses and glances at him, and Fugaku scowls back, all gruff exasperation mingled with stilted concern. Orion rolls his eyes again, but he also smiles, reluctantly, because he and Fugaku may not be close, may not get along all the time, may have wildly different interests and opinions, but at the end of the day, they are brothers.

“Thanks, Fugaku,” Orion says grudgingly. This family doesn’t do affection much, so Orion isn’t used to it anymore. Fugaku looks even more embarrassed, and after a dismissive wave, he disappears back upstairs, probably for another few hours of sleep before his mission later today.

Orion does the opposite, making his way out of the compound and immediately brightening when he finds Hadrian already waiting for him. He has the same green eyes, even if everything else about him is different, and some part of Orion still can’t believe he isn’t dreaming.

“Hey,” He greets, bounding over on silent feet.

“Hey yourself,” Hadrian says as they set off down the road. He grins and holds up a mission scroll. “We don’t leave until late afternoon but it’ll just be the two of us. B-rank, retrieval, should take us two weeks tops. Sound good?”

Two weeks with just the two of them, away from Konoha and all its prying eyes? Orion grins back. “Sounds perfect.”

5. Four years later, Orion is Jounin with enough missions and successes under his belt to qualify as S-rank himself, and on the day after his sixteenth birthday, the Uchihas receive a formal betrothal request from the Uzumakis. Father takes one look at Orion’s expectant face and gleaming eyes and sighs like the world is ending.

“At least you picked Uzushio royalty,” He grumbles sourly as he reads over the terms. “And I suppose he does have… adequate credentials.” He looks at Orion again and then waves a hand irritably. “Fine. Fine. I’ll meet with the Uzumaki clan head within the next few days and make the necessary arrangements. Now get out of here. An Uchiha shouldn’t hover like a-”

Orion is already gone. He finds Hadrian deep in the Forest of Death, a simple ward keeping the hostile creatures away, lazily tracing elemental seals in the air to pass the time.

“Your father said yes?” Hadrian asks as soon as Orion drops down beside him on the tree branch.

Orion scoffs. “As if I would’ve let him say anything else.”

He pauses, then twists around in a fluid motion, and a second later, he’s straddling Hadrian’s lap, arms coming up to drape around the other man’s shoulders. Hadrian cocks an eyebrow, a smile already tugging at his lips as his hands settle on Orion’s waist. They’re finally equal in height, much to Hadrian’s disgruntlement.

“You’ll find me in our next life too, won’t you?” Orion demands.

Hadrian’s other eyebrow goes up. “We haven’t even finished this life.” He sighs. “And who knows if we’ll be reborn together again? Or at all?”

Orion tries to imagine it, tries to see himself in a world without Hadrian at his side, and… and he can, because he’s done it before, this life and his last. But he doesn’t much care for it, and he hopes he’ll never have to again.

“But if we are,” He persists. “You’ll try, won’t you?”

Hadrian’s grip tightens around him, and he draws Orion into a long, lingering kiss before murmuring against his lips, “If we are reborn together, then I’ll find you, no matter how far apart we end up. But you have to look for me too. Promise?”

Orion huffs and bites down on Hadrian’s bottom lip in brief reproach before licking over it to soothe the sting. Hadrian makes a contented sound at the back of his throat.

“That’s a given,” Orion vows. “If you exist, I’ll definitely find you.”

He feels more than sees Hadrian’s smile, but as always, it summons one of his own in reply.

“Then between the two of us, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

[postedbygaslight]

You’ll Be the One to Turn - Part 20: The Tinkerer

I swear, all of this is for a reason.

As a quick refresher, you might want to go back to Chapter 10, because this chapter finishes the conversation General Hux had with the bounty hunter, Vyada Nil. You might also want to reread Chapter 13, where Kylo and Hux had a particularly tense encounter.

“Name your price.”

“The pretender’s lightsaber.”

Hux’s lips drew into a tight, thin smile.

“Done.”

“You’re awfully confident,” Nil said with an air of disinterest. “How do you intend to deliver?”

“Ren is a madman,” Hux said, lowering his voice even though, since he’d ordered Peavey and the troops into the transport, he and the hunter were the only people in the entire hangar. “Raging at shadows. Secluded. He rarely leaves his chambers.”

“But you need methods to neutralize his abilities.”

Hux grit his teeth and clicked his tongue.

“Sorcery and mummer’s slight,” he seethed. “But it’s damned effective, I’ll give him that.”

“Point a hundred blasters at him. He can’t block them all.”

“Very funny. Ren may be mad, but he’s not a fool. He won’t walk into an ambush unless he’s blinded by another concern.”

“The girl,” Nil asserted without hesitation.

“Yes. The girl.”

“Who is she to him?”

“She’s a nobody. A skittering sand rat Ren took a liking to before she opened up his face. Now he’s obsessed with vengeance, and insists he’s honor bound to deal with her himself.”

Nil regarded him with what Hux initially took for amusement, but her tone when she spoke was hard and knife-edged.

“And who are you to deny him his prize?”

Hux’s response was immediate.

“An opportunist.”

The corner of Nil’s mouth twitched into a slight smirk.

“What do you need from me?”

“The Jedi girl. Arrange for her to crawl out from whatever warren she’s been hiding in, and I’ll make sure Ren is there to stake his claim.”

“Draw her in as bait, then kill them both, is that it?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

The hunter’s eyes narrowed a moment.

“No.”

“That’s— I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting that answer.”

“It is as I’ve said. You are a liar and a coward. And a thief. And so you must be cunning.”

“You walk a very narrow line, hunter.”

“And you haven’t said all, General.”

“No. I haven’t,” Hux said, his tone sharpening. Contracting the hunter was an awful risk, but one Hux was more than willing to accept provided certain assurances. “If I deliver Ren to you, and you fail, I need some measure of surety.”

Nil didn’t react with umbrage, as Hux expected. She instead adopted the same cool, disaffected posture as she had since she’d finished her demonstration.

“Do you expect me to fail?”

“I expect you to perform as you’ve advertised,” Hux answered, almost lashing back at the towering figure. “But I also know Ren to be a formidable man. If you fail, he will come for me. And I will not die roasted on the end of a plasma spit or on my knees gasping for breath because a bounty hunter with a lightsaber couldn’t deliver on her boasts.”

Nil didn’t react. She stared down at him with those black, depthless eyes, and for a few seconds, Hux began to feel a slow crawl of terror coil in his throat. He didn’t think the hunter would be so bold or suicidal to try anything, but, at the same time, there was something about this woman that unnerved him to his foundations. Maybe that’s why he was so sure she could succeed.

The hunter stepped in closer, and Hux flinched. Nil spoke in an insistent, knowing tone that communicated experience. She projected cold efficiency. Hux knew a killer when he saw one, and this one was clothed in all the trappings of death. And more than that, she was driven by some bristling urgency that Hux couldn’t fully comprehend.

“Shield your thoughts. Project strong emotions. Fear. Hate. Anger. He is wed to the darkness and will sense these first. It will conceal your intentions.”

Nil paused, and unclipped a silver disc with rounded edges from a hidden firing chamber in her arm guard. She handed it to Hux.

“This will deprive him of his senses. But only for a moment,” she continued, and then slid one of her long, gloved fingers behind her ear, producing a small bluish device that emitted a constant, barely perceptible hum. “Place this behind one of your ears before you activate it. The rest is your doing.”

Hux took the hunter’s tools and pocketed them.

“You can collect your payment from his corpse. After it’s done, vanish.”

“Then we have a contract.”

“So we do,” Hux said, stepping away from Nil. He watched her as she returned to her ship, still wary, and didn’t return to the transport until she and her vessel were safely out of sight.

***

The hours after Hux discovered Ren in his personal suite, hovering over his private terminal, had been among the most panicked and unsettled of his life. He’d stood in the middle of the room for long minutes following Ren’s departure, blood still slamming through his limbs and neck as his heart refused to calm. But once he’d escaped his own spellbound paralysis, he’d found that he could scarcely keep from moving.

It wasn’t difficult to follow the track Ren had cut through the terminal’s security. The extent to which the Supreme Leader had discovered plans Hux had counted on remaining unnoticed gave the general cause to fear Ren might return at any moment to retract his earlier mercy. So, Hux set himself to the task of destroying what could be destroyed, hiding what could be hidden, and sorting through what remained.

Ren’s intrusion had forced Hux to make decisions that should have been weeks in the offing. The emitter stations. The command centers. The hybrid beam arrays. The new stormtrooper protocols. At least Ren hadn’t discovered the dossiers Hux had collected in his search for a suitable hunter. And that was another thing. He had left himself dependent upon this hunter for his next move. Without the Jedi girl as bait, he knew he’d never be able to spur Ren to the kind of mistake he’d need for his opening. Unless—

He thumbed the disc in his pocket.

He could do it. Place the right soldiers in the corridor leading to Ren’s chambers. Contrive some reason to require an audience. Use the hunter’s sonic tool. And put an end to this ludicrous farce for good. Sitting at his terminal, Hux tugged idly at the slip cord in the sleeve of his jacket. Just one flick of the wrist, a moment’s courage, and the First Order would have a new destiny.

He remembered the hunter’s words. Shield your thoughts. Project strong emotions. It will conceal your intentions. Ren inspired enough fear and hatred in him that he wasn’t concerned about suffering a deficit of either. But his intentions were so tied to those emotions that he somehow knew, at a fundamental level, that the Supreme Leader would anticipate the attack. No. Hux knew he would have to exercise some patience.

Ren only had a partial understanding of what Hux had set in motion over the previous months. At most, Ren knew that Hux had been requisitioning large kyber crystals. He likely knew that a massive kyber heart had been located and was on board. It was possible that he’d seen the early proposals for new Starkiller Bases. But, what Hux was sure of was that Ren had not seen beyond those initial proposals.

Ren had been right that Hux had ambitions beyond a Star Destroyer fleet and a standing army. But he’d been wrong about the shape of those ambitions. Hux didn’t want a new Starkiller. He wanted something far more durable.

It had been the dream of the ancient Sith to construct and wield a spacefaring mobile command center equipped with a weapon capable of destroying a planet. That dream had been realized by Emperor Palpatine, and had twice been dashed by a combination of rebel bravery, acts of treason, and the Emperor’s own hubris. Supreme Leader Snoke had thought he’d solved Palpatine’s primary error by designing a weapon that was both substantially better fortified than a mere space station, and produced a beam of kyber plasma that created its own hyperspace channels as it traveled. A fearsome, impressive machine that had been developed at no small cost.

That Starkiller Base ever existed at all was all the evidence Hux needed that miracles could be realized through force of will alone. The planet that became Starkiller had been selected for its size and the presence of a powerful magnetic dynamo in its core. The core had been penetrated and fitted with a kyber array that made the Death Star’s reactor sequence look like a handheld blaster. That kyber array, augmented by the powerful magnetic field, had allowed the planet itself to enter hyperspace, and nothing had ever compared, he thought, to the sensation of standing on solid ground, watching as the sky lensed away into warps of starlight and void-black.

But for all of its technological prowess, the destruction of Starkiller had been ten minutes’ work: the product of the twin defects of design overreach and poor planning. When the planet had been destroyed, no one wept, for no one truly lived there. And the weapon itself required such a massive amount of power storage that any small interruption in the energy diffusion would prove fatal. And, of course, that’s just what happened.

Armitage Hux envisioned a galaxy ruled by the simple application of fear. Fear could be allayed by prediction. Fear could be assuaged by acceptance of the inevitable. But fear could not be overcome if the object of that fear could strike without warning. Now that such a weapon was within his grasp, Hux had no intention of stopping short.

Kylo Ren was a living anachronism, Hux thought, bitterly. An ascetic zealot willing to allow his conquest to wither in its nascency over a slight to his personal pride. A cruel child whose tantrums threatened the endeavor to which Hux had devoted his life. A man with no direction or conviction other than devotion to a religion whose adherents were all either dead or cloistered in madhouses. He had to die.

The hours passed in silence. The general moved the pieces on his chessboard. Hux traced the metal edge of the monomolecular dagger inside the lining of his sleeve. And he stared intently into the empty spaces of his quarters, transfixed by phantasms of empire.

***

Hux didn’t sleep that night. The morning cycle arrived to find him still at his terminal. At some point during the night, he’d unholstered his sidearm, and had it sitting on the desk in front of him. So, when the holo-projector began pinging its shrill alarm at him, he’d trained the weapon on it and almost fired.

He shook his head hard and put the gun back in its holster, clicking on the projector as he did.

“Good morning, General.”

“Captain, I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your communications brief.”

“Yes, of course, sir, but the Star Destroyer Volition has reported following up on the intelligence you forwarded.”

“What intelligence?”

“About the Resistance depot on Taris. Captain Eskat said you transmitted the data several hours ago.”

Hux grasped for a coherent thought. His brain was addled from paranoia and lack of sleep.

“From what channel?”

“I’m sorry, sir?”

“The transmission, you dolt. From what channel was I meant to have sent it?”

“I—“ Peavey called to a communications officer outside of the projection range. “Check that transmission source. Any moment now, sir.”

What was Ren’s game? Had he sent the transmission remotely using Hux’s terminal codes? Had he set it to automatically transmit, and it had just slipped Hux’s attention during the night? The general kept at it, considering every option, barely noticing that his hand, resting on the desk, shook with a violent tremor.

“Here we are, General,” Peavey said brightly. “Emergency channel 927. Classified protocol. Clearance code: Opportunity.”

Hux snapped up, and whipped around to face the projection.

“Set course to Taris. And ready the division.”

“Of course, sir. And the Volition?”

“Tell her to hold until we arrive. Inform Captain Eskat the Supreme Leader will want to handle this personally.”

“Yes, General. Shall I alert Supreme Leader Ren?”

“No,” Hux said, grinning wide, “I’ll handle this myself.”

[piermanwalter]

Star Wars Army Swap AU Part V: Condensed History of the Droid Wars

Due to my ipad dying, Part 5 is coming out before Part 4, and there are no arts. Sorry about that.

In a galaxy where the Confederacy of Independent Systems went super into biotech instead of mass industrialisation, and the Jedi’s secret deal with the Kaminoans fell through so they had to create a different army, the Republic soldiers are droids and the Separatist soldiers are clones. 

SUPER SUMMARY: Darth Plagueis makes some contingency plans in case he dies. Nobody could have predicted how far the ultimate plan of galactic domination of the Sith spiralled out of control because of that. Palpatine is in denial about how uncooperative and dangerous the Separatists are and eventually gives up on controlling anything further than the Mid Rim.

Before the War

After millennia, the Sith, once though to be extinct, begin plotting to take over the galaxy by splitting it in two, forcing the sides to fight, then seizing control of the galaxy after they wasted their lives fighting each other.

Darth Plagueis uses his industry contacts of his public identity as Magister of Damask Holdings to slowly shift the huge corporations from mass manufacture to biotech in order to further his goal of immortality by skimming lab data off their work. He sets up the foundation for a fully fledged clone army.

His apprentice, Darth Sidious, uses his political clout as Senator Palpatine to increase resentment of the Outer Rim planets towards the better funded and protected Core, and eventually gets elected as Chancellor of the Republic. Right after the day of his election, Sidious kills his master. Unbeknownst to him, Plagueis planned so if he ever died, nobody could control the galaxy in his place.

After the death of Plagueis, there is no one to keep an eye on the experiments he secretly planned, and the biotech of the galaxy is able to advance unchecked. Made-to-order organs become nearly as cheap as cybernetic replacements. Cloned celebrities and war heroes are mass produced and sold illegally to crime syndicates as slaves and enforcers. 

Count Dooku abandons the Jedi Order as Darth Sidious’s new apprentice. His first mission is to procure an army for the demilitarised Republic to fight the biotech clone armies of the newly formed Confederacy of Independent Systems. Erasing Kamino from the Jedi Temple archives, he sends fellow Jedi Sifo Dyas to order the Kaminoans to produce another clone army. A squad of Dwarf Spider clones from the vehemently anti-Jedi Commerce Guild managed to kill Sifo Dyas before he could get to Kamino, so Dooku is forced to commission the army himself. 

The Techno Union is able to isolate a strain of Force-sensitive single-celled algae from the Dathomiran Water of Life, and are trying to find medical applications for it as a lucrative bacta replacement. SoroSuub Luxury Consumer Products releases a line of extravagantly expensive anti-aging creams filled with deactivated midichlorians. Count Dooku is incredibly concerned about these new developments, but Darth Sidious dismisses them as false advertising and mad science that is scary to the weak-minded, but will ultimately go nowhere.

Five years later, Dooku visits Kamino to discover legions of well-trained clone cadets, but an enormous mistake was made. All of them were being indoctrinated to serve the Confederacy. The Trade Federation hacked into his comm lines to discover Dooku, the head of the Separatist Council, ordering a massive secret clone army. Assuming the new clones were for them and not the Republic, as any sane person would, Viceroy Nute Gunray sent vast shipments of food and supplies to Kamino in thanks, leading to the Kaminoans believing that they were the true clients. Dooku is unable to correct himself without everyone knowing he is playing both sides.

The galactic civil war is put on hold for six months so Dooku can sort out this unmitigated disaster. Instead of two equal armies to fight an endless stalemate, the CIS gets a colossal super army, and the Republic gets no army. Eventually he is able to commission Kuat Drive Yards and Cybot Galatica to put together the best droid army they possibly could at short notice. Five years had already been wasted. The Battle of Geonosis, the first conflict of the Droid Wars, begins two years behind schedule.

Now, finally, rebellion stirs in the Outer Rim.

Early Droid Wars

Following this truly embarrassing series of insubordination, Sidious orders the entire Separatist leadership together and electrocutes hundreds of them, including Dooku, in a single devastating wave of Force lighting. Threatening them all with the terrifying legends of the Sith of the Old Republic, he tells them all that the Sith will rule the galaxy again and there is no way to stop them.

The Confederacy ruins the mystery of the Sith by announcing everything they learn about them on public broadcast. Once arcane Sith legends like Bane, Nihilus, and Plagueis become household names. 

The Trade Federation disobeys because their cloned ysalamiri renders them immune to most types of Sith attack. The InterGalactic Banking Clan disobeys because they hold too much sway over the galactic economy and the clone army itself. The Techno Union disobeys because Foreman Wat Tambor has threatened to release the entire Sith data archive left by Darth Plagueis in Tambor’s estate on Hypori.

The Confederacy of Independent Systems officially announces its rejection of Sith control. The Jedi have no idea how to react, but are pressured by the rest of the Republic to keep fighting. Many Jedi, such as Bariss Offee and Pong Krell, abandon the Republic to fight for the CIS.

Without a firm leadership, the Separatists dissolve into in-fighting, clone rebellions, and near-constant treasonous conspiracy. Republic propaganda mocks them as being dysfunctional and unfit for government, whereas the CIS itself views the successful revolutions and constantly shifting balance of power as a true example of Separatist spirit. If anything, since the CIS never had a centralised leadership to begin with, all it does is make them even less predictable. 

Count Dooku still keeps in contact with the Separatist council, even leading clone armies by himself, partially to maintain some semblance of Sith control, partially to keep tabs on these dangerously subversive alien freaks at all time, and partially because he is legitimately proud of what the Separatist cause has become, but Sidious doesn’t need to know that. One morning, he wakes up to check the holonet and receives a message about Wat Tambor cloning himself 600 times, listens to three minutes of a two-hour paranoid rant from Admiral Trench about how everyone wants to kill him, a report from a spy droid about Asaji Ventress’s death cult, a report about the Republic droid troopers turning sentient, and a message from Sidious threatening to dismantle him chromatid by chromatid if he is unable to get the Separatists to spend much more money on the war, then he goes back to sleep because that’s just the way things are now.

Late Droid Wars

Leading machines to fight against living beings is beginning to take a psychological toll on the Jedi commanders. The Grand Droid Army of the Republic splits in half by leadership, with conflicts of Jedi-led armies being more for show and protection while the Jedi try to negotiate peacefully with enemy leaders, while conflicts of non-Jedi-led armies are the most brutal in history, as many human Republic military leaders do not see their cloned enemies as sentient beings. Republic news castigates the Separatists for using child slaves as soldiers, while the Separatists argue that Jedi Padawans are also child slaves.

Piecing together old lab data left behind by Darth Plagueis, the CIS tries to make their next generation of new soldier strains Force sensitive, with partial success. Strange supernatural occurrences begin to appear among the battle clones. Commando Tup is able to sneak across an active battlefield and shoot two Jedi one after the other. An Aqua Clone survives a hull puncture of a Mon Cal space station by somehow swimming faster than water being pulled into the vacuum of space. An injured pilot-class B2 regrows an entire lung in one week without medical attention. General Kraken sends Dooku a heartfelt video thanking him for such useful electromagnet arms, levitating a metal blaster between his new mechanical hands. The cybernetics do not contain electromagnets.

Asaji Ventress, Savage Opress, and other Sith acolytes are terrified of this new development. The Force powers that once made them so indispensable are now being thrown around by lab-grown barely sentient meat. They leave to the Unknown regions to start a death cult together before their masters realise how obsolete they are. 

General Grievous attacks Coruscant, the capital of the Republic, and managed to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine. Sidious intended to let himself get captured on purpose while remaining completely safe at all times, but at this point, he can’t be sure anymore. Although Palpatine was later rescued by Kenobi and Skywalker, the residential district near the intended target, the Jedi Temple, was destroyed when half of Grievous’s flagship crash-landed into it, killing over a million people. Count Dooku dies in the process.

Anakin Skywalker is rejected from becoming a Jedi Master and joining the Jedi Council because of the many needless deaths in the Battle of Coruscant. He is extremely angry at this verdict. It was Obi-Wan’s fault as much as his, but he still gets to be a Master. If it weren’t for the Super Tactical Clone Tey-Zuka punching them both while they were trying to steer half a ship and seizing the controls, nobody would have died.

Darth Sidious orders the Separatist Council to meet on Mustafar. Naturally, none of them listen to him and they all disperse to random corners of the galaxy.

Darth Sidious enacts Order 99, not as the capstone of a perfectly executed plan, but out of desperation. There are no other choices for him. Turning against their leaders, the clones gunned them down, then each other.

Chancellor Palpatine, in the middle of the greatest wave of Republic victories in the Droid Wars, suddenly shuts down the Grand Droid Army. The Jedi, fighting easy battles against confused and leaderless opponents, find themselves without soldiers and are slaughtered. Mace Windu survives and leads a Jedi team to assassinate the Chancellor. Skywalker fights them off, but not before Palpatine is disfigured.

Anakin Skywalker follows the intel trail and goes to Mustafar, but nobody was there. Sick with rage, he massacres the native Mustafarian miners until Obi-Wan and Padmé Amidala try to stop him. After Anakin killed Padmé, Obi-Wan kills Anakin and disappears. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Order 99 had limited effectiveness, since the low standards of manufacture meant that not every clone was implanted with a brain chip, and the higher level clones with more willpower were able to intercept the signal anyway. Many Separatist leaders are still at large. Sidious sends his mysterious new apprentice Darth Vader on a mission to kill them all. This takes two and a half years.

In the meantime, the Jedi Temple, heavily damaged by the debris from the Battle of Coruscant, loses funding and support from both the Republic’s government and its citizens. The newly discovered Sith faction is much more effective than the Jedi in fighting Separatists and the Jedi are blamed for the civil war stretching on for so long. Some Jedi with good foresight were able to evacuate, but when Darth Vader assaulted the Jedi Temple, he left no survivors.

Beginning of the Galactic Empire

Palpatine announces that both the Republic and the Confederacy were weak and corrupt because they both rejected the teachings of the Sith. The remains of the Republic are reforged into a Dark Side theocracy, the Galactic Empire.

The Death Star is finally completed, bringing much stability and pacification to the newly formed Galactic Empire. In a shocking move, instead of destroying any of the dangerous Confederacy-aligned planets such as Skako or Kamino, the first planet to be destroyed is Alderaan, a peaceful low-populated planet with no military, simply for their leaders possible ties to the Rebel Alliance.

Under control of Order 99, the human Commando Clones are incorporated into the Imperial Army. Supertac Tey-Zuka is finally captured in the Coruscant underlevels on the opposite side of the planet he crashed on. All Banking Clan assets are taken by the Empire, including their private army of IG-Strain Assassin Clones. After brainwashing and threats, many previously Separatist clones now work for Palpatine.

The Empire cuts off all transmissions in a radius of 40,000 light years from Coruscant. There is nothing beyond it. All of the Separatists are dead. All of the Jedi are dead. Good obedient Imperial citizens have nothing to fear. The old maps with so many planets in Wild Space are wrong. They are Separatist propaganda to make their territory look bigger than it truly was. Anyone who claims to come from a planet that does not exist, such as “Tattooine”,  “Felucia”, or “Utapau” is lying. Report them. We should not worry about Separatists when there are space accidents to worry about. The asteroid storms are getting worse and we are losing more ships than ever. Do not waste time and energy reporting Jedi or battle clone sightings to us. All of them are dead, except for the fortunate few we rescued and reformed. You have nothing to fear.

A PIRATE SIGNAL BREAKS THROUGH THE FIREWALL!

Once again, rebellion stirs in the Outer Rim.

Many anti-Imperial organisations were able to form outside the jurisdiction of the Empire, but it was a real challenge for any of them to communicate with rebels within Imperial territory. Travelling freely from the Outer Rim to the Core is borderline impossible. Instead of directly aiding the Core Rebels, the Outer Rebels indirectly fought against the Empire by disabling signal blockade satellites, smuggling datachips, and other ways of spreading subversive information. 

Despite Imperial propaganda, entire communi    of battle clones and droid troopers can be found all over the galaxy. With the clones seeing the Empire giving up entirely on controlling the Outer Rim as a Confederate victory, and the droids seeing the Empire’s absolu   control of the Core as a Republic victory, the two armies were       to reach a compromise. Although some small skirmishes between droids and clones still occur, they are nowhere nea  the scale of the conflicts of the Droid Wars.   wever, many clones and droids still do not believe the war has ended and   ntinue fighting the each other, the Empire, and the rest of the galaxy.

   eral Kalani, a Separatist Super Tacti   Clone, is confirmed to still be in operation.  e Empire turned a blind eye to his actions, since most of his attacks seem      e  gainst  he cell of Rebel terrorists led by Saw Gerrerra.

Many clones  nd droids found ne  jobs as bounty hunters. IG-88 is obv ously an unauthorized indepen     IG-Strain          ssin Clone. Boba Fett, regarded as the greatest bo              in the galaxy, is rumored by some to      a Separatist Commando Cl      , and by othe    to be an ARC-Class Republic droid troope

Jedi sightIngs abouND in the Outer Ri      ee from the tyranny of the Empire,         have jo ned th   ebellion, whi   some    re content to live            in peace     bscurity. A few new Temples                        

Ahsoka Ta  , Jedi     n               Rebe              Core Rebels, the Ghost              influen                   oid trooper Captain Rex                        he wAs a Padawan when                      possi      l       smuggli                     connections wi    w Gererra                       ered Kalani                  small but dangero    nough to the Empire that                          arkiN, the Inquisi        Vader, and Palpatine himself.            

h         Sk              r                                 Bai                                        Lars     l             are, in fact, the childre        nakin Skywalker   s                                      ei                   ed          t            g                h          wa                          c    

[newstfionline]

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Virus’s impact (AP) The eruption of COVID-19 last year caused the proportion of people working from home in the U.S. to nearly double. The share of employed people working from home shot up from just 22% in 2019 to 42% in 2020, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was among the striking findings of an annual government survey that documents the far-reaching impact the viral pandemic has had on Americans’ everyday lives since it struck in March of last year. Because of the pandemic and the widespread social distancing it required, people on average spent more time last year sleeping, watching TV, playing games, using a computer and relaxing and thinking—and less time socializing and communicating in person—than in 2019. Adults also spent more hours, on average, caring for children in their household. The survey also lends support to concerns that the pandemic worsened isolation for millions of Americans. With people working from home or attending school online, the time they spent alone increased. Among Americans ages 15 and over, time spent alone each day increased by an average of an hour. For those ages 15 to 19, it rose 1.7 hours per day.

Medical debt (NYT) A new study put the amount of unpaid medical bills held by collection agencies at $140 billion last year, up from $81 billion according to a similar analysis carried out in 2016. The analysis looked at 10 percent of all TransUnion credit reports and found that about 18 percent of Americans have medical debt that has been sent to collections. Over the period from 2009 to 2020, the largest source of debt owed to collection agencies became medical debt. The $140 billion, to be clear, is not an estimate of medical debt; that figure is far higher, as the $140 billion is merely the debt that has been passed along to the vultures.

Crews make progress on huge Oregon blaze (AP) The nation’s largest wildfire raged through southern Oregon on Friday but crews were scaling back some night operations as hard work and weaker winds helped reduce the spread of flames even as wildfires continued to threaten homes in neighboring California. The Bootleg Fire, which has destroyed an area half the size of Rhode Island, was 40% surrounded after burning some 70 homes, mainly cabins, fire officials said. The fire, which was sparked by lightning, had been expanding by up to 4 miles (6 kilometers) a day, pushed by strong winds and critically dry weather.

Thousands of bullets have been fired in this D.C. neighborhood (Washington Post) Markeith Muskelly, a barber who has spent half his 52 years cutting hair in Southeast Washington, has seen people get shot on the street outside the shop where he works. Last fall, he saw a man die there. The shop is tucked into a corner of the Benco Shopping Center, a mainstay in the Marshall Heights neighborhood for six decades. Its plate-glass window has long offered a view of one of the most dangerous streets in the District. In the neighborhood where Muskelly works, gun violence has affected generations, bringing a sad realization that, for some, that the danger may never end. A Washington Post analysis shows that in a recent period of a little more than three years, crime scene technicians found 2,759 bullet casings—byproducts of shootings involving rifles, pistols and shotguns—in about a one-square-mile area that includes Benning Road in Marshall Heights, with Benco between them. Bullets have struck people, pockmarked parked cars, embedded in walls of homes and shattered windows of businesses filled with patrons. Patrol officers carry “quick clot gauze” used by troops in war.

Volunteers hunting for Mexico’s ‘disappeared’ become targets (AP) The mainly female volunteers who fan out across Mexico to hunt for the bodies of murdered relatives are themselves increasingly being killed, putting to the test the government’s promise to help them in their quest for a final shred of justice: a chance to mourn. Those who carry on the effort tell tales of long getting threats and being watched—presumably by the same people who murdered their sons, brothers and husbands. But now threats have given way to bullets in the heads of searchers who have proved far better than the authorities at ferreting out the clandestine burial and burning pits that number in the thousands. Two searchers have been slain the past two months. Fear has always accompanied the searchers. They go to wild, remote, abandoned places where terrible crimes have been committed. But up to now, they mostly shrugged it off.

Cuba’s communist authorities have long feared change. Street protests show the risk of resisting it. (Washington Post) On a farm not far from the town where Cuba’s protests first erupted this month, police investigators last summer carried out a major sting operation. Their target was not a dissident activist, but a dairyman nicknamed El Rey del Queso: The King of Cheese. His offense? Operating a clandestine factory that produced tire-sized hunks of cheese for private sale in Havana. Authorities arrested the King, confiscated hundreds of pounds of yellow queso and produced a news report about the bust on Cuban state television depicting him as a villain. Cuba’s communist authorities have for decades treated private entrepreneurs as a threat to be contained, not encouraged. Long after China and Vietnam embraced market reforms, using material prosperity to buttress authoritarian rule, Cuba has clung to an economic model based on centralized planning and state control. The July 11 protests that shook Cuba’s rulers showed that model might be their biggest vulnerability, as its weak foundation is further eroded by the decades-long U.S. embargo, additional Trump-era sanctions and now the coronavirus pandemic. The country’s economy contracted 11 percent last year, according to government data. Cubans are spending hours in lines to buy basic goods they can barely afford. Hospitals have been overwhelmed by covid patients, and medicine is scarce. Power outages are turning stifling summer heat into an explosive fuse. “Unless the government makes profound changes, I think people will take to the streets again,” said Camilo Condis, a Cuban entrepreneur and business advocate.

Haiti leader’s slaying exposes role of ex-Colombian soldiers (AP) As the coronavirus pandemic squeezed Colombia, the Romero family was in need of money to pay the mortgage. Mauricio Romero Medina’s $790 a month pension as a retired soldier wasn’t going far. Then came a call offering a solution. When Romero answered the phone on June 2, another veteran, Duberney Capador, offered what he said was a legal, long-term job requiring only a passport. But Romero had to make a decision fast. “Talk about it with your family and if you are interested, see you tomorrow in Bogota, because the flight is the day after tomorrow,” Romero’s wife, Giovanna, told The Associated Press, recalling the conversation. A month later, Romero and Capador were dead and 18 Colombians were reportedly in custody, accused of taking part in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. It’s a case that dramatizes Colombia’s role as a recruiting ground for the global security industry—and its murkier, mercenary corners. Colombia’s Defense Ministry says about 10,600 soldiers retire each year, many highly trained warriors forged in a decades-long battle against leftist rebels and drug trafficking cartels. Many—including a number of those involved in Haiti—have been trained by the U.S. military. Those soldiers make up a pool of recruits for companies seeking a wide range of services—as consultants or bodyguards, in teams guarding Middle Eastern oil pipelines or as part of military-like private security in places like the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan. The UAE paid Colombian veterans to join in the battle against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Italy makes health pass mandatory for many leisure activities, in bid to pressure the unvaccinated (Washington Post) Italy on Thursday significantly ramped up pressure on its unvaccinated population, announcing that a digital or printed health pass would be necessary for accessing a range of everyday leisure activities, from theaters to indoor dining. The decision puts Italy in a rare category along with France among Western nations that have been willing to leverage certain freedoms and equalities now that vaccines have become widely available. Italy is essentially betting that it can revive its slowing vaccination campaign—and avoid future, onerous restrictions—by creating heavy incentives for inoculation, in the kind of step that would be politically unthinkable in the United States. Italy is looking for ways to avoid a new round of closures and curfews. For now, every Italian region is “white”—meaning that life proceeds almost as normal, and people can stay out as late as they want. That has made for a joyful Italian summer.

‘Messy’ fight (Washington Post) KUNDUZ, Afghanistan—Around 3 a.m., a small team of elite special forces were halfway through an operation to retake a sliver of territory along the city’s northern edge when a police unit assisting them refused to advance. Hours later, the police fled, ceding the territory back to the Taliban. For weeks, the Afghan military has struggled to hold provincial capitals such as Kunduz after a surge of Taliban attacks that came as U.S. forces withdrew and U.S. air support dropped. Afghan ground forces are increasingly used to fill the void. Their capabilities are uneven, however, resulting in government advances that often rapidly evaporate. Experienced and motivated elite units are leading the battle to retake territory. But the troops called up to secure those gains—army, police and irregular fighters—often have little training and are less inclined to fight. First Lt. Abdullah Ansari, 30, led the elite unit retaking territory house by house in Kunduz earlier this month. He said the debacle on Kunduz’s northern edge made him miss working with U.S. troops. “Now everything is just messy,” he said.

Death rates soar in Southeast Asia as virus wave spreads (AP) Indonesia has converted nearly its entire oxygen production to medical use just to meet the demand from COVID-19 patients struggling to breathe. Overflowing hospitals in Malaysia had to resort to treating patients on the floor. And in Myanmar’s largest city, graveyard workers have been laboring day and night to keep up with the grim demand for new cremations and burials. Images of bodies burning in open-air pyres during the peak of the pandemic in India horrified the world in May, but in the last two weeks the three Southeast Asian nations have now all surpassed India’s peak per capita death rate as a new coronavirus wave, fueled by the virulent delta variant, tightens its grip on the region. The deaths have followed record numbers of new cases being reported in countries across the region which have left health care systems struggling to cope and governments scrambling to implement new restrictions to try to slow the spread.

Typhoon to bring heavy rains to Taiwan, China over weekend (AP) A typhoon is forecast to bring heavy rains to Taiwan and coastal China over the weekend, days after the worst flooding on record in a central Chinese province caused at least 51 deaths. Forecasters say Typhoon In-fa is moving toward China and expected to make landfall in Zhejiang province either Sunday afternoon or early Monday morning. Zhejiang’s bureau of emergency management said on its microblog Friday that it is raising its risk warning to the second-highest level and calling on all localities to take preventative measures. Those usually include recalling fishing boats to port and relocating people living in vulnerable coastal communities. Fujian province to the south has issued similar orders. On its current track, the eye of the typhoon is expected to pass north of Taiwan while still bringing considerable rain to the island.

[eznews]

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionThe mutinying soldiers were cheered by crowds as they reached the capital Bamako on Tuesday

Soldiers who ousted Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta say they plan to set up a civilian transitional government and hold new elections.

The spokesman for the soldiers said they had acted to prevent the country falling further into chaos.

President Keïta resigned on Tuesday night saying he did not want “blood to be spilled to keep me in power”.

The UN Security Council condemned the “mutiny”, urging the immediate release of the president and his officials.

All troops should “return to their barracks without delay”, it said.

The African Union (AU) voted to suspend Mali. Its 15-member security council called for the “restoration of constitutional order” and the release of the president and other government officials.

Mali, a vast country stretching into the Sahara Desert is among the poorest countries in the world and has experienced several military takeovers. It is currently battling to contain a wave of jihadist attacks and ethnic violence.

What have the soldiers said?

The soldiers, calling themselves the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, said they did not want to stay in power.

“We are keen on the stability of the country, which will allow us to organise general elections to allow Mali to equip itself with strong institutions within the reasonable time limit,” said the group’s spokesman, Col Ismaël Wagué, the air force deputy chief of staff.

In a televised statement, flanked by soldiers, he urged Mali’s civil and political groups to help create a “political transition leading to credible general elections for the exercise of democracy through a roadmap that will lay the foundations for a new Mali”.

He also announced the closure of all air and land borders and a curfew from 21:00 to 05:00.

“Our country is sinking into chaos, anarchy and insecurity mostly due to the fault of the people who are in charge of its destiny,” he said.

What did Mr Keïta say?

Wearing a surgical mask amid the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Keïta resigned in a brief address on state television on Tuesday evening.

“If today, certain elements of our armed forces want this to end through their intervention, do I really have a choice?” he asked. “I hold no hatred towards anyone, my love of my country does not allow me to. May God save us.”

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta won a second term in 2018

Mr Keïta won a second term in elections in 2018, but since June has faced huge street protests over corruption, the mismanagement of the economy and a dispute over legislative elections.

There has also been anger among troops about pay and the conflict with jihadists.

It was the war in Libya, almost a decade ago, that nudged Mali along the path to chaos.

Weapons from Libya flooded across the Sahara Desert, fuelling a separatist conflict in northern Mali, which morphed into an Islamist militant offensive, which prompted a coup in the capital Bamako.

It’s been a mess ever since, in a landlocked nation that had been a West African success story.

Today French troops, American drones, UN peacekeepers, and British helicopters are all trying – and largely failing – to strengthen security, not just in Mali, but across a vast region increasingly threatened by Islamist insurgencies and other conflicts.

This latest military coup in Bamako appears to be a reaction to those security challenges, but also to corruption, disputed elections, and political drift.

The coup itself seems unlikely to fix anything.

But it highlights a familiar truth – that while foreign intervention has its uses, the key to repairing a nation like Mali lies in its own hands, and with its own faltering democratic institutions.

What’s the mood in Bamako?

Journalist Mohamed Salaha told the BBC that banks and offices were closed on Wednesday but some daily activities were slowly resuming.

A small group gathered outside the Independence Monument to celebrate, while some opposition activists detained during the recent street protests have been freed.

However, some people are also worried about the future as it is not clear who is in charge of the country, he said.

What do we know about the mutiny?

It appears that mutinying soldiers took control of the Kati army camp, about 15km (nine miles) from Bamako, on Tuesday. They then marched on the capital, cheered by crowds who had gathered to demand Mr Keïta’s resignation.

The soldiers then stormed the presidential buildings, arresting Mr Keïta and his prime minister and taking them to Kati Camp. The president’s son, the speaker of the National Assembly, the foreign and finance ministers were also reported to have been detained.

It remains unclear how many soldiers took part in the coup, although it seems to have been led by Col Malick Diaw – deputy head of the Kati camp – and another commander, Gen Sadio Camara, BBC Afrique’s Abdoul Ba reports from Bamako.

Who is behind Mali’s coup?

What has the reaction been?

The AU’s Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smail Chergui, said military coups were “something of the past which we cannot accept anymore”.

“Whenever you have a crisis and the military people have a coup and say ‘We are responding to the will of the people’, this way of responding is not acceptable at all,” he told BBC’s Focus on Africa programme.

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), a regional body, said its 15 member states had agreed to close their borders with Mali, suspend all financial flows to the country, and eject Mali from all Ecowas decision-making bodies. In recent months, Ecowas has been trying to mediate between Mr Keïta’s government and opposition groups.

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted his condemnation of the “mutiny”:

Mali’s former colonial ruler, France, was also quick to condemn the president’s detention, and Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian urged the soldiers to return to barracks.

A member of Mali’s opposition M5 movement, which has held protests against Mr Keïta for the past few weeks, welcomed his resignation.

Prof Ramata Sissoko Cisse told the BBC World Service: “I think it’s a relief for the Malian people and for all the citizens of Mali to finally hear from the president that because of the lack of support of the Malian people he finally accepts to resign, to give back power to the people.”

M5 is led by the conservative Imam, Mahmoud Dicko, who has called for reforms after rejecting concessions from Mr Keïta.

The popular imam taking on Mali’s president

The events which led to the coup:

2018: President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita re-elected for a second term

2019: Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga and his government resign following an upsurge of ethnic violence

March 2020: Opposition leader Soumaila Cisse kidnapped as he campaigns ahead of parliamentary elections

30 April: Constitutional court overturns some parliamentary election results amid fraud allegations

May: Opposition coalition led by popular Iman Mahmoud Dicko calls for President’s Keïta’s resignation

June: Ecowas calls for creation of a “consensus government of national unity” following massive opposition street protests

10 July: At least 10 people killed after opposition supporters clash with security services

18 August: Mutinying soldiers carry out a coup

from WordPress https://ift.tt/3l43YX1 via IFTTT

[walkinginsolitude]

A message to anyone trying to sit out politics in the Trump era:

Most of us have never had to fight for our democracy, for our way of life. It has been acceptable until recently to be relatively tuned out of our political atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, every day in this country demonstrates a need for action and change, but the average 30 something year old citizen could have lived their lives oblivious up until now.

Conservatives like to throw the word patriotism around a lot. They seem to have a monopoly on the idea. I don't agree with a lot of the ways they use the word or interpret it, but I do agree that every American has a responsibility to be an active citizen when their country is in danger. That freedom is not free. I do agree that when the time comes and your name is called, by events that threaten the very fabric with which this country is built on, you stand the fuck up and do everything that you can to protect it. Make no mistake, that time is NOW. Our country is in DANGER. Put down the weed, the drink, the selfie stick, the job promotion, the whatever and pay attention.

Do you remember learning about the 60's and all the social unrest? Do you remember seeing the terrible images from Selma and the anti-Vietnam protests? Do you remember wondering what you would have done? Stop wondering, the time is now.

Do you remember learning about Nazis? How so many Germans just went along with it because they felt pressure or because their lives were okay as long as they didn't ask about the others? Do you remember being disgusted to hear that anyone could ever just sit on the sidelines and watch that happen? Look in the mirror.

Are we in Nazi Germany yet? No. But we are continuing to head that direction. So much so that YOUR PRESIDENT recently defended Nazis in Charlottesville.

Here is a list of what has happened in case you have been asleep:

Prior to the election Donald Trump encouraged violence against protesters, especially black protestors. Offering to pay the legal bills of anyone who beat them up and famously saying he "missed the good old days when you could take people like that" (black people) "out back and beat them."

He lied about September 11th, claiming that he saw hundreds of Muslims celebrating in NYC after the buildings went down.

He claimed a Mexican-American judge should not be able to make decisions related to immigration.

He made numerous anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican comments.

He verbally attacked the family of a fallen Muslim soldier.

He was caught on tape bragging about molesting women.

He chose Mike Pence as running mate who was personally responsible for passing legislation that allowed discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

Since taking office:

The administration has fabricated 3 terrorist attacks.

The administration has repealed almost all environmental protection policies, as well as leaving the Paris agreement, a world wide effort to lower carbon emissions and help slow the impact on our environment.

The administration tried two unsuccessful travel bans against Muslims and have since put a lighter version in place.

The administration has stopped all funding for international reproductive health. Prior we were helping provide 3rd world countries access to much needed reproductive health care.

The administration has threatened to terminate the DACA program which protects immigrant children.

The administration has publicly stated that they only want immigrants who know how to speak english.

Trump reportedly asked the director of the FBI to stop the investigation into Russia. When the director refused he was fired.

After clashes between white supremacists and protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump stated that there were good people on both sides, ostensibly validating a Nazi rally that led to the murder of a woman protesting the event.

Players in the NFL have been kneeling during the national anthem in order to bring awareness to racial injustice. Trump stated that they should be fired. Called them son's of bitches and then claimed that the protests have nothing to do with race.

The administration has gotten into a verbal sparring match with North Korea that brings us into the legitimate potential for war.

The administration has banned transgenders from joining the military.

The administration has passed legislation that allows "legal discrimination" against homosexuals by agencies of the government.

The administration has made it legal for businesses to deny birth control on health care plans.

The administration has reduced the time within which it is legal to get an abortion.

The administration has made every attempt to discredit the media, to the point of calling them "fake news", for questioning their actions.

Trump has created issue with several world leaders including the heads of Australia, Mexico and Germany, as well as the mayors of London and San Juan, both directly after disasters that directly impacted their cities. ----------

There is A LOT more. If you don't already know I suggest you go read up on everything.

Here is the reality of our situation. The rights and security of black people, women, Muslims, immigrants, Mexicans and the LGBTQ community are in danger. Not only by the statements and policies of the white house, but because those statements and policies breath life into communities are prejudice against minorities. David Duke, once leader of the KKK, has applauded Trump several times since his presidency, most noticeably after the incidents in Charlottesville. Local campaigns are being run on hatred. In Tennessee a man ran for governor under the slogan "Make America white again". In Virginia the governor's race included flyers likening pro-immigrant rights to support of gang bangers. All across the country are reports of racist upswell. Perhaps larger than the policies and statements themselves is the message to the country that racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia are acceptable and to be applauded. A message that is being received loud and clear.

You think it's hyperbole to compare Trump's administration to Hitler's? Your fellow gay citizens are being stripped of their rights. Your fellow black man is being threatened. Your fellow woman is having her rights over her body stripped away. Your fellow Muslim is being made to fear for their safety. Your fellow Mexican-American is being made to fear for their safety. Your leader is trying to control the information you obtain and which investigations are allowed to take place.

I have two friends who almost proudly state that they don't follow or care about politics. One of them is the son of a lesbian couple. The other is almost exclusively friends with homosexuals. They are both the product of a spoiled white America. One in which nothing has ever has genuinely threatened the freedom and democracy they live under. Nothing has ever threatened their rights and so they have taken it completely for granted despite the fact that people they love and care about are in harm's way. THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Now is the time to earn your right to sit on your ass and freely do whatever makes you happy the majority of your life. Now is OUR MOMENT in this country's history to take a real stand against a real enemy. WAKE THE FUCK UP! Fight for your fellow citizens. Speak out. Join protests. Reach out to your politicians. Do anything in your power to change the course of our country, or honestly, fuck you.

It's a cliche, but it's appropriate, if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem. Never before has political stance or action made me fully question the integrity of a person, but if you sit this out you don't deserve respect. You are either too lazy, stupid or afraid to act when millions of people need you. They need you. And if all of you wake up and recognize the immense danger that we are in and act then we can get out of this with the foundation of our country still in tact and you can go back to enjoying your freedoms.

[liberaleffects]

“The War on Terror,” a phrase now part of the American lexicon, has been portrayed by U.S. policy makers and military commanders as a battle against radical Islam. As a result, many academics, government officials and counter-terrorism experts have researched, analyzed and assessed the role of Muslim extremists using the Islamic religion (rather, the misinterpretation of Islam) to radicalize and mobilize terrorists to wage “Jihad” (e.g. “Holy War”) against the West. Few, however, acknowledge or understand how American right-wing extremists have also used religious concepts and scripture to recruit, radicalize and mobilize their adherents toward hate and violence against similar enemies. Much like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, right-wing terrorists — who often refer to themselves as “Soldiers of Odin,” “Phineas Priests,” or “Army of God” — are inspired by their interpretations of religious concepts and scripture to lash out and kill in God’s name.

Religious extremism and its relation to violent conflict is not a new phenomenon. Many isolated confrontations, wars and conquests have been instigated or carried out in the name of religion. Throughout history, violent clashes between nations, religions and civilizations have resulted from differences in religious beliefs, scriptural interpretation and spiritual practices. Various religious factions, some more radical, have emerged from these armed conflicts. Other more dominant religions have also spread their influence through force and aggression.

During the 1980s and 1990s, right-wing extremists were galvanized by several national issues such as the perceived erosion of parental rights and authority through court rulings, expanding multiculturalism, abortion rights and the decline of the American family farm – all perceived as an attack on their Judeo-Christian beliefs which right-wing extremists view as a key component to America’s founding). These issues were magnified because of the far-right’s perception of a changing political climate which favored expanding benefits and equal opportunities to ethnic minorities, immigrants and other diversity groups. So it was no surprise that religious concepts and scriptural interpretation played a role in the armed confrontations between right-wing extremists and the U.S. government during this time period — specifically, at the Covenant, Sword, Arm of the Lord (CSA) compound in 1985, Ruby Ridge in 1992, and Waco in 1993. These standoffs not only showed extremists rebelling against the U.S. government and its laws, but also asserted what they believed were their divine religious and Constitutional rights. These events served as radicalization and recruitment nodes to boost the ranks of white supremacists, militia extremists sovereign citizens, and other radical anti-government adherents who viewed the government’s response to these standoffs as tyrannical and overreaching

In the cases of the CSA, Ruby Ridge, and Waco, religious concepts — such as end times prophecy, millennialism and the belief that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ was imminent — played a vital role in the recruitment, radicalization and mobilization of these Christian-inspired extremists and their illegal activities. For example, CSA members, the Weaver family and the Branch Davidians each embraced a lethal triad of end times prophecy, antigovernment conspiracy theories and an affinity for weapons. Author Paul T. Coughlin expounds upon this lethal triad in his book Secrets, Plots & Hidden Agendas. This deadly combination has been linked to many extremists violating the law, instigating violent confrontations with law enforcement as well as providing motivation for domestic terrorist attacks (e.g. Spokane Bank Robbers, Eric Rudolph, Robert Dear, among others). Each also used their religious beliefs to justify engaging in “prepper” type activities, such as living off the land, isolating themselves from other family members and society, and stockpiling food, water and weapons to prepare for the end times and await — or even hasten — the apocalypse.

In Tabernacle of Hate, former CSA leader Kerry Noble lists three factors that contributed to the radicalization and mobilization of his group – (1) an ideology that generates fear, anger, despair, hate, etc.; (2) a group that emphasizes communal living, physical and mental isolation, filtered or limited access to information, and having a perceived enemy or limited options; and, (3) a charismatic leader that manipulates and directs others — often perceived as divine or God’s spokesperson. CSA was an insular community where church meetings, communal prayer, and group scripture study strengthened the extremist organization’s identity, ideology and membership. Noble’s three danger factors are applicable to some right-wing extremist groups today that also congregate in insular communities such as Warren Jeff’s Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), Robert Millar’s Elohim City, and Dan Gayman’s Church of Israel.

Obviously, there is a wide range of world religions, denominations and congregations within these denominations (including various factions and sub-factions). Such diversity clearly illustrates the significantly complex and controversial nature of religion. Like any social culture, religious beliefs and written scripture are subject to human interpretation, cultural influences and historical context. Such diversity and autonomy not only strengthens religious communities, it also permits extremists to exploit it (e.g. their beliefs and sacred texts) to justify threatening others, criminal acts and violence against non-believers.

For example, in 1996, the Spokane Bank Robbers left business cards with a Celtic Cross and references to Yahweh (Hebrew for “God”), Obadiah 18 (e.g. Old Testament scripture in the Bible), and “His Wrath” at the scene of bank robberies and bombings. They believed they were literally carrying out God’s work by attacking banks, an abortion clinic and the local newspaper office. They viewed each of these targets as representing evil, Satanic influences. Similarly, domestic terrorist bomber Eric Rudolph cited Biblical passages and offered religious motives for his attacks on abortion clinics in Georgia and Alabama. Extremist “true believers,” like the Spokane Bank Robbers and Rudolph, will eventually cloak themselves in a mantle of religious righteousness and may initiate their violent act as part of a divine plan, heavenly edict or perceived mission from God.

An important aspect to understanding right-wing extremists’ use of religious concepts and scripture is the emergence of Dominion Theology among Christians in the U.S. Due to its strong and divisive message, Dominion Theology likely serves as a gateway to right-wing extremism. According to Frederick Clarkson, a Senior Fellow at Political Research Associates, “Dominionism is the theocratic idea that regardless of theological camp, means, or timetable, God has called conservative Christians to exercise dominion over society by taking control of political and cultural institutions.” This is similar to fears over Muslim extremists attempting to invoke Sharia Law in America.

Political Research Associates points out that there is a broad spectrum of Dominioniststhat range from mild supporters to hardcore believers. According to Clarkson and fellow analyst Chip Berlet, there are three key characteristics of Dominion theology. First, Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism, in that they believe that the United States once was, and should again be, a Christian nation. “In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of American democracy,” Berlet and Clarkson said. Second, Dominionists promote religious supremacy, insofar as they generally do not respect the equality of other religions, or even other versions of Christianity. Lastly, Dominionists endorse theocratic visions, believing that the Ten Commandments, or “biblical law,” should be the foundation of American law, and that the U.S. Constitution should be seen as a vehicle for implementing biblical principles.

Dominion theology calls for Christians to assert God’s dominion over all mankind, including their communities, secular politics and American society to achieve the fulfillment of their Messianic expectations — to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It is rooted in Biblical scripture (see Genesis 1:26-31), where God grants human beings “dominion over all creation.” Dominion theory teaches that Jesus has commanded his followers to begin building the Kingdom of God in modern day, by incorporating the doctrine and principles of the Christian faith into the political establishment with the ultimate goal of creating a Christian nation.

More radical orthodox Dominionists reportedly advocate the abolishment of civil rights, labor unions, public schools and any laws with which they disagree. In addition, they favor withdrawing U.S. citizenship from non-believers, as well as the removal of women from the workforce. Further, they believe federal, state and local government should eventually be replaced with a Christian theocracy, thus empowering religious institutions to run every aspect of the executive, legislative and judicial functions of government. Their ultimate goal is the creation of a Judeo-Christian nation where the only legitimate voice is Christian. Dominion theory reportedly contributed to the growth of religious fanaticism and extremism among Christians in the U.S. and likely served as a religious foundation for many right-wing extremist views. Such views seem closely aligned with sovereign citizen extremists, among other groups on the alt-right.

This series of articles will delve deeper into how white supremacists, sovereign citizens, militia extremists and violent anti-abortion adherents use religious concepts and scripture to justify threats, criminal activity and violence. This discussion of religious extremism should not be confused with someone being extremely religious. It should also not be misconstrued as an assault on Christianity, rather it represents an exploration of the links between violent right-wing extremism and its exploitation of Christianity and other religions to gain a better understanding of how American extremists recruit, radicalize and mobilize their violent adherents toward terrorism.

Daryl Johnson is the owner of DT Analytics, a private consulting firm for law enforcement. Johnson is the former lead analyst for domestic terrorism at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Johnson has over 25 years experience working as a counter-terrorism analyst for the U.S. government. He is the author of Rightwing Resurgence: How A Domestic Terrorist Threat Is Being Ignored (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012).

[historybehindassassinscreed]

In Game:

The Louisiana Bayou is a swamp-like region located in Louisiana, near the city of New Orleans.

Sometime in the 1700s, Roussillon and Élise Lafleur came to run smuggling operations in the bayou. Their activities became threatened in 1766, when a dissident Assassin by the name of Baptiste became active in the region and gained a large group of followers that spread throughout the swamp, setting up various camps. Intending to take over the smugglers' operations and become a Templar, Baptiste's plans were cut short when he was assassinated by Aveline de Grandpré.

Despite Aveline’s efforts, however, Templar activity continued in the area;  Fort Saint-Jean, a fortress occupied by the Spanish, was used to house kidnapped slaves that were to be sent to a Templar work site in Mexico. Upon discovering this practice in 1768, Aveline swiftly shut it down by tracking down the mastermind behind the abductions. In doing so, she temporarily rid the bayou of Templar influence.

By 1771, Spanish soldiers, under the command of the Templar Diego Vázquez, entered the bayou and attempted to seize control of its smuggling operations once again. On the instruction of her Mentor Agaté, Aveline followed a squadron of soldiers through the swamp, using her blowpipe to silently poison a guard each time the group passed voodoo artifacts set up by Agaté. The surviving soldiers were thus tricked into believing they had been placed under a voodoo curse and fled the bayou. Following the disruption of another of Vazquez's plans, Aveline left for Mexico, allowing for Vázquez's troops to recover.

As a result, when the smugglers were tasked with delivering supplies to the Patriots by the Spanish Governor of Louisiana in 1776, they found themselves obstructed by Vázquez's men. With the help of Aveline, they managed to reach their destination, where they met with the Patriots' representative, Hopton, and delivered the goods. Aveline's assassination of Vázquez then freed the bayou of his influence once more.

In 1777, a confrontation between Aveline and Agaté took place at the latter's hideout in the bayou. Agaté, unable to accept his failure to protect his student from the "Company Man" and paranoid that Aveline had sided with the Templars, attacked her. Aveline managed to overpower and confront her Mentor at the top of his hut, but decided to spare his life; this act lead Agaté to leap to his death, despite his student's attempt to save him.

In Real Life:

A bayou is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area, and can be either an extremely slow-moving stream or river, or a marshy lake or wetland.

A few of the most famous bayous in the United States include the Mississippi River Delta, the Buffalo Bayou (in Texas), and the Louisiana Bayou. Bayou Country is most closely associated with Cajun and Creole cultural groups native to the Gulf Coast region generally stretching from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama, and picking back up in South Florida around the Everglades with its center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The name “bayou” is native to Louisiana, too. The term is believed to have originated from "bayuk," a word meaning "small stream" in a local Native American tongue. The word was first used in Louisiana and has come to mean the braided streams that are fed by the Mississippi River in the low-lying areas of Southern Louisiana. These marshes or wetland areas move very slowly and make ideal homes for creatures like alligators, crawfish, and catfish; all of which are popular foods in the area.

(Image source)

The most closely associated culture to the bayou is the Cajun culture. Cajuns are largely self-contained communities in the bayou areas of southern Louisiana formed by descendants of French Canadians, speaking an archaic form of French. They were originally known as "Acadians," but the local dialect eventually led to the word becoming "Cajun."  In addition to the French Canadians that were the foundation of much of the bayou culture, there are also significant influences from Spanish, German, African and Irish settlers as well as Native Americans. In modern Cajun culture on the bayou, the people are a blend of all these cultures. In the Southern Louisiana bayous today, you can often find people who consider themselves "Cajuns" who primarily speak French, but have last names like Smith, McGee or Manuel as well as the French surnames common in the region.

One of the most famous forts in the area was Fort St. Jean Baptiste, which was built in 1716 by Sieur Charles Claude Dutisné. The fort was devised as a trading and military outpost to counter any Spanish incursions into French territory. Soon it became a center of economic significance, particularly with neighboring Caddo tribes. After 1764, Fort St. Jean was abandoned, with the transfer of Louisiana (New France) to Spain. It was rebuilt, but its actual location is unknown. Today Fort St. Jean Baptiste State Historic Site is a point of interest within the Cane River National Heritage Area. It is also host to living history reenactments of what Life in the fort was like in the 1750s.

(Image source)

The bayous are disappearing. Since the 1930s, the coast of Louisiana has lost 1,900 square miles of marshes and coastal wetlands. This is an area the size of Delaware that has been swallowed up by the Gulf of Mexico. Despite recent efforts to reduce the erosion of the bayou, Louisiana still loses about an acre of land every 33 minutes. That results in a loss of 25 square miles per year.

Sources:

https://traveler.marriott.com/new-orleans/new-orleans-bayou-exploring-louisianas-roots/

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/louisiana-bayous-59733.html

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~jmeaux/cajun.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_St._Jean_Baptiste_State_Historic_Site

[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newcap 6/21/2019

Good MORNING  #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Friday 21st June 2019. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT), Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) or by purchasing a Weekend Nation Newspaper (WN).

CROP OVER ‘SAFE AND SECURE’ –The senior police officer overseeing security for Crop Over has given an assurance of a safe and secure festival, even as detectives investigate a chilling gang video touting gunplay amid an unprecedented wave of murders. Assistant Commissioner of Police (Administration) and coordinator of the festival security, Sylvester Louis told Barbados TODAY this evening that the police have “pretty much settled on all security issues” after “several discussions” with the National Cultural Foundation and band leaders. He suggested that Barbados Defence Force soldiers, usually seen in joint patrols with Royal Barbados Police Force officers, will again play a role in the security arrangements as he gave an assurance that Barbadians and visitors need not fear and could go out and enjoy the various activities. Louis declared: “You can give them my word on this one. Again, we are actually working with the soldiers. The soldiers were actually in here today. “We had discussions on the same matter. And both of us recognize the climate that we are in…and all the senior citizens and visitors alike, we will definitely be in a position to secure them and make sure they have an enjoyable festival.” Louis said all that was left to do now was to “tighten up on a few spots” and this would be done in the next few days. This Crop Over Festival comes in the midst of another spate of deadly gun violence that has pushed the murder toll to 30, 19 of which are gun-related. It also coincides with police investigations into a video circulating on social media showing young men threatening to kill families if they did not get who they were after. A man dressed in a blue t-shirt with the initials UMG and “Uptown Money Gang” inscribed underneath, looks into the camera and declares: “We playing fuh keeps…. We coming at your mother house and if you frighten and wunnuh running from we, we killing wunna family.  And when it is funeral time, we coming and shoot up the church and t’ing. You understand. That is how we moving.” Gang members intend also to attack school graduation ceremonies, another young man chimed in saying, as primary schools have already begun to hold their annual school-leaving ceremonies. (BT)

POOR PARENTING KNOCKED AGAIN! – Director of the Criminal Justice and Research Planning Unit, Cheryl Willoughby, agrees that poor parenting is contributing to the violent crimes in Barbados. During an update following a spate of deadly shootings in a continuing trend of violence, Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith said on Monday that a number of socio-economic factors were to blame for the upsurge in revenge attacks. At that press briefing at police headquarters, he said factors such as poverty, squalor, poor parenting and education were allowed to fester, leading to some of the horrifyingly brazen public attacks. (WN)

LANDLORDS SAY LEGISLATION HURTS THEM – Some landlords have had it with the Landlord And Tenant Act, saying it is unfairly skewed in favour of tenants. They are lamenting that even if they order delinquent tenants out, the process is so tedious that by the time they succeed, they end up losers in more ways than one. One particularly irate landlord, Hyacinth Turpin, said tenants could stretch out an eviction for as long as a year, with the landlord having to pay for everything while not getting a cent in rent.  (WN)

WIDOW’S RIGHT – An elderly widow is crying shame on the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), after her survivors’ benefits were discontinued over what she claims is a rumour. She told Barbados TODAY the organisation, which boasts of being “the lifeline” of citizens was making her life extremely difficult over the past six months, by failing to provide benefits totalling nearly $4,000. Metrice Hinds, a 61-year-old fish vendor at the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex has been collecting monthly survivors’ benefits of $647 ever since June 2014, when Andrew Walcott, her husband of 31 years, passed away. To her amazement, she received no money at the end of January or February this year and when she contacted the NIS to inquire about the issue, Hinds was told: “somebody called in and told us that you’ve been remarried”. The St Vincent-born said she felt confused, hurt and disrespected, demanding to know why NIS officials never formally contacted her before cutting her benefits. “[A customer service official] asked me to bring my documents, which I did. She didn’t even carry me in the office, but left me for over two hours outside waiting. “I went to them over five times since then and they kept telling me they have to call St Vincent and get official word, but they aren’t getting a reply yet,” she explained. Hinds said her business at the fish market had slowed down tremendously over the last month, forcing her to sell cigarettes and bottles of homemade seasoning at the market. Declaring the situation had become “too much” for her to handle, Hinds said she went to the NIS’ Culloden Road headquarters on Monday during customer appreciation day and spoke to a well known senior customer service official. “He asked me if I ever remarried and I said ‘No sir, I have not remarried. You all have stopped my money and I didn’t even get a letter notifying me or asking me if I was remarried or not.’” she told the official. She claims the official has since continuously told her he had called St Vincent, but was waiting to get a response and informed her she would have to wait. “He keeps turning me around and I don’t like it. He knows it is wrong. The same week my husband died, two cheques came home for him and I did not open them because I knew he was dead and I couldn’t change that. It belonged to them and I took it back to them and I ain’t open it and that same day, they introduced me to survivors’ benefits,” she said. But after waiting six months, Holder declared: “you had all the time in the world and they just want to take away my rights from me. They owe me a lot of money and I am here suffering. The fish is done and I am done. I am not working anywhere else. “This is outstanding money and I think I should get my money but there is no proof. You mean to tell me that after six months they can’t get proof to determine whether I am remarried or not? “I can’t pay my bills. I scarcely could buy groceries for myself. My water bill is up to $4,000 and I can’t get it paid because there is nothing to pay it with,” said the woman in desperation. According to the NIS’ website, survivors’ benefits entitle the surviving spouse of an insured person, who was receiving or eligible for invalidity or Old Age Contributory Benefit to half of the benefit their deceased spouse would have received if he/she were alive. Barbados TODAY reached out to the senior NIS official, who indicated “the marketing and communications” would be best positioned to respond to such issues. Marketing and Research officer, Katrina Benn would only say: “The matter is under investigation.” Meanwhile, the upset widow remains adamant she has never been remarried or intends to be remarried. “If I had remarried I would not have taken this so far, because every cent they paid me, I would have to pay them back. They have got to give me my money because it is mine, not theirs,” she said. (BT)

NO RELIEF FROM GARBAGE IN GRAZETTES – A first Avenue Grazettes Main Road, St Michael woman is making a fresh appeal for authorities to give her family some relief from the environmental nightmare they have been experiencing. This morning, a frustrated Joan Weekes told Barbados TODAY that since this newspaper highlighted her plight earlier this month that an alleged psychiatric patient was taking discarded items from a nearby quarry and placing them in front her house, she has gotten absolutely no relief. However, she did receive a letter dated June 5, from Member of Parliament for St Michael West Central, Ian Gooding-Edghill, who informed her that the items would be removed from the area, as part of a constituency community clean-up programme. But Weekes, who also said that environmental health officers visited and told her help was on the way, wants to know what residents in the area have to do to get authorities to treat their plight as urgent. Weekes explained that in the past, residents have made the effort to remove items placed there by the suspected psychiatric patient who on a regular basis, goes into the quarry and brings out dumped carpets, beds, sofas, trophies, plants and clothing, which he places in front of her home, creating an eyesore. The resident said she has also made complaints to the police about the same individual who has threatened her family on several occasions. “Every day he is bringing more things and I am not getting relief. I think I did what I was supposed to do. I went through the relevant authorities including the police and the health people. Even the parliamentarian sent a letter and if ya’ll don’t believe me, I can show you the letter. What is the next step? What else can I do? What can I, the resident of this district do to get this here removed? The MP promised us that he would come and he would remove it. This is since last week Saturday. Another Saturday coming and I do not know what next. I just fed up. “I am tired. Every time you come out the house you see a mess. When persons bring me home they want to know what happen. Even a guy this morning telling me them ain’t know the dump move up here,” Weekes said. Meanwhile, another resident who did not give his name, believes the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) should remove the garbage immediately. “I does pay taxes. I pay already to get that removed through all the sewage tax that I paying. I pay already and I am not paying again. SSA needs to come and remove this garbage from in front the people place. This is not fair to residents. We dealt with this issue already. Something has got to be done about this garbage,” the resident said. When contacted today, Member of Parliament Ian Gooding-Edghill told Barbados TODAY that he was unable to speak at the time. However, the letter signed by Gooding-Edghilll read: “I write to inform you that as part of our constituency community clean-up programme, I have arranged for the removal of recyclable items such as refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, microwaves, galvanise, metals, and other appliances from your washing machines, microwaves, galvanise, metals and other appliances from your area. “Collection of these recyclable items will take place on Saturday, June 8, 2019. Please arrange to have the items placed on the side of your property closest to the road for ease of collection by the contracted agent on June 8, 2019. You will be advised in writing of a separate collection date for non-recyclable items from your district. This initiative is designed to improve our community,” the letter read. (BT)

SMOKED OUT – Three days of continuous ash and smoke have taken a toll on dozens living downwind of the Sustainable Barbados Recycling Centre (SBRC). After enduring two major fires in three months, residents of Arch Hall and Bennetts, St Thomas are demanding a greater level of care and consideration from both private and public sector entities operating landfills nearby. Barbados TODAY spoke with numerous red-eyed residents, many of whom were reluctant to open their doors, fearing further smoke inhalation would cause their chest pains and runny noses to worsen. Pierre Edwards, a middle-aged man who said he had no history of respiratory problems said the smoke had been “making a mess” of him. “I never was an asthmatic, but right now my nose is dripping and I am not working at the moment. So I have just been trying to cover my nose and try the best to sleep. I sleep in the front bedroom and all of the smoke is coming through that window,” Edwards complained. For some, he predicted the issues could become life threatening in the long-term, even if the immediate impact did not appear serious. “It’s terrible and they [authorities] say nothing can be done. So will you have to ask the residents of Arch Hall to move out? This will end up taking lives, because it’s like second-hand smoke, but more dangerous. One time it’s tires, another time it’s plastic and you never know what’s in there. “We’re trying to hang in there and hoping Government will do something to help us. It’s happening too often. Three months apart is very close and they need to get something done very soon,” he demanded. Clouds of thick black smoke covered the community in mid-February, when hundreds of tires burned at the nearby, Government-run Mangrove Landfill. Nafesa Holder, who lives with her husband Whitfield Holder in Arch Hall, said the situation was “not too bad”, when compared with February’s fire. She however expressed concern about the wellbeing of her five-year old son, an asthmatic who was reacting negatively to the smoke. “I had to give him the inhaler  and he normally doesn’t like it, but I had to do it. He went to school today, but I wonder if the teacher will call me, because he wasn’t feeling well. “Months ago, the tires were burning and everything was a mess and now again there’s this smoke and your eyes are burning, your nose is burning. I don’t know if they can do anything about it,” she said. Tamara Clarke who lives and works in Bennetts said since Wednesday, she had been forced to close The Estate Bar and an adjoining snack shop due to the conditions. “It really puts a damper on business, because people usually come out during the daytime,” she explained. “There are also asthmatics living here. I am an asthmatic and this has been very bad. I didn’t have to go to the hospital or anything, but my sinuses are affected and I am losing my voice. The last fire was worse, but I would really like these dumps to be moved, because they cannot allow this to affect us all the time like this.” Charles Trotman, another Arch Hall resident said while the situation had improved tremendously over the past three days, he wanted a more urgent response from authorities. “There does not seem to be a concerted effort to remedy this situation because obviously the smoke affects people who don’t live in this area who have to pass through. Something must be done about it and if there are persons in authority that can answer this problem, surely they should. “I am home all day and no one comes by and says anything. I can’t say that they did or didn’t, but I have not seen anyone,” said Trotman. (BT)

STATE OF AFFAIRS AT JENN’S WORSENS –The writing may be on the wall for Jenn’s Health and Beauty Supplies, Barbados TODAY investigations have revealed. Barbados TODAY understands there were layoffs today, while some branches have been reportedly closed and the shelves at the stores still open were visibly barren. Several employees from its branch in Sky Mall stayed away from work today, instead visiting the Labour Office to voice various grievances with their employer. Chief among several workers’ complaints is that they have not been paid for several months. A source close to the developments told Barbados TODAY things went from bad to worse this week when management revealed that some workers would be laid off for 13 weeks, beginning today. Three employees from its Lower Broad Street store were reported to have been laid off today, while another three have been informed that tomorrow will be their last day, Barbados TODAY was told. At least one worker from Jenn’s warehouse in Warrens, St Michael, is also expected to lose their job, a source said. When contacted by Barbados TODAY  about the developments, general manager of Jenn’s at Lower Broad Street, Marcia Williams, declined to comment, while efforts to contact owner Edsil Phillips proved unsuccessful up to news time. But the source said workers are worried they may not receive all of the money owed to them. The source said that one of the primary reasons the employees visited the Labour Department was an effort to find out what actions could be taken to recoup those funds. The company’s financial difficulties have left most of the shelves at its stores almost bare, the source added. Barbados TODAY also learned that Jenn’s newly opened branch in The Walk, Welches, St Thomas, had already closed. But workers at the Sky Mall and Bridgetown branches declined to comment on the developments when Barbados TODAY visited the stories. The shelves, though, were visibly bare.  (BT)

PSVS MOVING TO  TERMINAL SEPT. 1 – The days of public service vehicles (PSVs) jostling for space along the busy Speightstown By-Pass Road are coming to an end. Come September 1, both the minibuses and route taxis plying those northern routes will be accommodated inside the Speightstown Terminal with Transport Board buses. This was revealed by Ian Estwick, chairman of the Transport Authority, as he responded to an investigative report in yesterday’s Daily Nation highlighting daily chaos in Speightstown with PSVs blocking the streets, overloading with schoolchildren, being off-route and speeding.  (WN)

NURSES NOD – Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s announcement that Barbados’ nursing complement would receive a boost of 400 from Ghana has garnered support from at least two local organisations. But the administration has been warned that an increase in the number of nurses must not come at the expense of quality at Barbados’ healthcare system. President of the Barbados Nurses Association (BNA), Joannah Waterman and NUPW Acting General Secretary, Delcia Burke took a considerably different approach to that of trade unionist, Caswell Franklyn, who questioned the level of thought put into the move. In a Barbados TODAY interview, Franklyn queried how Government could afford to employ West African recruits when there are nurses who can’t find work after graduating from the Barbados Community College (BCC). He further described the move as ‘distasteful’ in light of Government’s recent public sector retrenchment. To the contrary however, Delcia Burke recalled Government specifically indicating it had no intention of placing nurses, police officers or teachers on the breadline. “Government had always said that it will not be touching nurses, policemen or teachers in the BERT programme and they always acknowledged that they needed more nurses. They said they were trying to recruit more police and nurses,” said Burke. In addition, the BNA president declared that with a deficit of over 500 nurses, the announcement had been well received. “…The association relishes recruitment of nurses from overseas and especially from Africa and personally I commend the Government for the collaboration with Africa, because as a citizen, I really feel strongly that as persons in the black diaspora, the only way we are going to strengthen ourselves is to unite with Africa,” said Waterman. Government and trade unions are currently locked in a stalemate over the terms and conditions of a proposed 24-hour system, which Government intends to roll out at polyclinics across the country. However unions are demanding the adequate manpower to complement the changes. The NUPW and BNA also shared a common perspective on the requirement that only the best healthcare professionals be brought into the country. Waterman said: “Regardless of where the nurses come from, we have to acknowledge the role of the Nursing Council of Barbados, which is the regulatory body that must do the assessments and analysis of the training programmes and review the transcripts of these individuals to ensure that they are of the standard which we are used to here and so that our standards of nursing practice are not compromised and the public is protected.” NUPW’s Delcia Burke went a step further, calling for the Ghanaian nurses to satisfy regional standards. “We want to know the level of training which these Ghanaian nurses will have. As long as they are properly trained, I have no problem with it. Also, the nurses in the Caribbean have to do a regional exam and I would think that any nurses coming from Ghana should have to sit that regional exam as well or at least show that they are proficient at the regional level,” she urged. Burke added that in the past, efforts to recruit nurses from neighbouring countries had proven an unsustainable solution. “We would have tried to recruit regional nurses before and Barbados’ Government would have brought nurses here from St Vincent, Guyana and other Caribbean countries, they would have put in two or three years and use Barbados as a ladder to climb to the United States, Canada and England…. I have no difficulty with Government recruiting nurses from the Caribbean but we would have to put some plan in place where they would have to work for a number of years before they could leave or pay some kind of bond,” Burke suggested. (BT)

INTERVENTION CALL –The window of opportunity for an amicable resolution to the volatile industrial relations climate at the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) may have closed – unless the Minister for the agency intervenes, a union boss suggested today. Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Wayne Waldron told Barbados TODAY: “We would like the Minister of Agriculture to intervene because workers are feeling as if their rights are being systematically taken away. “Right now, the morale of the workers is very low, and workers don’t want to be there. “One day, if things don’t change soon, workers may not show up to work at all.” Although he was quick to point out that the union had no immediate industrial action planned, he suggested the workers’ patience was quickly wearing thin and held out a work stoppage as a “possibility”. In the latest development the management of the state-owned farm board has now opted to forego industrial relations protocol, choosing instead to go the legal route for disciplinary procedures for employees. Waldron claims: “The BADMC is veering from the traditional approach in dealing with discipline issues between the workers and the human resource committee. “It seems that the BADMC has opted to go the legal route in terms of a tribunal of legal persons. This is not good for industrial relations because if at the domestic level we are going to go the legal route of attorney-at-law, it creates a very uncomfortable situation for the employees.” Last month, Waldron told Barbados TODAY that tensions were on the verge of coming to a head, as workers protest “unilateral attempts to change their working terms and conditions”. Among the contentious issues, he said, was an attempt to change the public holiday policy, work hours and appointments. Staff have also complained that the human resource department has taken upon itself to revert workers to their substantive posts after they had acted in a higher position for several years. The union official told Barbados TODAY this afternoon that with management going the legal route to handling disputes, it was unlikely that tensions will subside in the near future. He said: “It is really a different spin on industrial relations and it really means that things are getting worse when one opts to be flanked by legal persons instead of sitting and dialoguing with the representative bodies of the staff. “It is really a trend that we have to watch carefully because at the least, it makes the process a lot more complicated and drawn out when you go this route. “We prefer to let things run the traditional way of industrial relations and if that fails then you can go the other route.”  Earlier this week, Waldron complained of futile attempts to get a meeting with the BADMC management. He warned that the matter was moving close to the point of industrial action. “We are waiting on a meeting… and it is causing unrest among workers. We hope that that would be very soon,” he said. BADMC management has asked for time to take the union’s earlier proposals to the board of directors for discussion, he said, before the two sides could start negotiations on a fresh collective agreement. Asked how long the union was willing to wait, Waldron replied: ”Within a reasonable time. If the next couple of weeks we can’t meet around the table, we would have to see how we can advance the matter. “I wouldn’t say directly what we intend to do, but if within the next couple of weeks we can’t have this meeting, we would have to determine what strategy to engage. “[Industrial action] is always a tool that unions can’t rule out. It is not a first option, but it is something that unions could never rule out. The whole idea of taking action for the pursuance of a dispute if we declare there is a dispute… and people use their collective power to draw attention to have their issues addressed; that is always a possibility.” (BT)

MORE FINANCIAL HELP NEEDED FOR SMES –The $5,000 and $10,000 loans being offered by Government to help entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses are simply not enough. This assessment has come from Chief Executive Officer of the Small Business Association (SBA) Senator Lynette Holder, who said Barbados and the rest of the region was at point where there was a need for the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector to be better incentivized and facilitated. “Recently, Government announced a Trust [Loan] Fund programme for start-ups. I dare say that is a commendable effort. It, however, does not go far enough. We are of the view that there is a need to go beyond the $5,000 and the $10,000 that will be provided in trust loans . . . You need to be able to access $50,000 and $100,000,” said Holder. “So we are of the view that we need to go a step further. We need to ensure that once and for all, we have access to finance so that our firms can build capacity,” she told the opening of a regional workshop on Leveraging the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) at the Radisson Resort on Thursday. Under the $10 million fund, which was launched eight months ago, qualifying applicants are able to access loans of up to $5,000 with an opportunity to borrow twice that amount after successfully repaying the initial loan. Turning her attention to the signing of the EPA in 2008 between the EU and CARIFORUM, Holder said since that time there have been a lot of changes across both landscapes, but research showed that the kind of response needed from the private sector was not forthcoming. However, she suggested that accessing the right amount of funding was still one of the main hindrances, explaining that while the country had a number of funding schemes in place, accessing adequate financing for starting, expanding or getting a business ready for export was still too difficult. Holder told the regional workshop that while several Barbados-based firms were doing “great work” locally and in some regional markets, they were still in need of “a leg up”. “The Small Business Association is of the view that, yes, our SMEs need to look beyond our domestic borders and even our regional ones to consider international trade,” said Holder. “We are also of the view that there is a need to strengthen our SME sector. There is a need to ensure that we build capacity to be able to export. The issue of access to finance is still a bothersome one for us,” she insisted. Officials are hoping that at the end of the two-day event they will be able to help SMEs to better access required financing and build capacity. The workshop, which is put on by the SBA in collaboration with the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA) and the EU office here, is being attended by more than 20 small business operators from Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean. They will explore a range of topics including EU rules and regulations and forming strategic partnerships. Holder said there was a need for small businesses offering similar products and services in the region to form clusters so they would have a better chance of being able to access some international markets. She said she also saw the need for more policies that encouraged firms to use technological tools “to do better business”. “It is not our intention that is another talk shop . . . but it is our intention that we put our heads together over these two days and identify concrete solutions that will take us forward,” said Holder. Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Trade Sandra Husbands said Barbados was in need of export-led growth, and she believed the SME sector would play a critical role in this strategy. Husbands also expressed dissatisfaction with the level of trade under the EPA over the past decade, saying since its signing, “we honestly struggle to quantify the tangible benefits of the agreement”. However, she said, “No blame should be cast on either side of the situation. The time has long past for us to really engage the agreement in the manner that the drafters intended.” Husbands said it was up to the business community to “translate the benefits on paper into economic gains in practice”. “I challenge you to use the agreement and test the strength of its provisions and to share with us your experiences as you seek to engage it,” she said. Manager of Competitiveness and Export Promotion at the CEDA Damie Sinanan agreed there was need for increased trade under the EPA. Without providing details, he said in September his organisation would be taking 16 firms from the region to a forum in Germany as they seek to continue to help regional businesses take advantage of the preferential agreement. “We are going to work with them to make them ready and to introduce them to vetted and committed buyers so that we can facilitate that type of trade,” he said. (BT)

A BOOST TO START-UPS – Six participants in the 2018/2019 cohort of the Student Entrepreneurial Empowerment Development (SEED) programme are one step closer to realising their dream of becoming owners of their own businesses as the programme continues to bear fruit. On Wednesday, the group who were finalists in the 2019 SEED Business Plancompetition, took part in an award ceremony at the 3Ws Oval at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), where they shared in a pool of about $30,000. Director of Corporate Communications at CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank Debra King congratulated all the participants of the SEED programme, stating that the development of youth in the region and their entrepreneurial potential was something that the financial institution would continue to support. (BT)

BTMI BANKS ON ‘FAM TOUR’ TO BRING MORE BRITS – Barbados could soon be welcoming hundreds more visitors from the United Kingdom onboard British Airways, if a Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc-sponsored familiarisation tour for travel agents pays off. The BTMI has brought 28 agents from across the UK to the island as part of the airline’s 65th Anniversary Megafam Trip. The group, which arrived here yesterday for a five-day stay at host hotel, Sea Breeze Beach House in Maxwell, Christ Church, are to experience for themselves the destination and its offerings so they could sell the island to British holiday seekers. Sharon McConway, who works for major UK tour operator Kuoni Travel, told Barbados TODAY during a welcome dinner and gala at Sea Breeze last night that Britons are looking to spend quality memorable and relaxing times with their loved ones away from home. “First and foremost, they have worked hard and want to spend quality time with their families or their friends or honeymoon. So it’s a special occasion for them. So they want to feel relaxed, feel special…I don’t want to say pampered, but have an extra-special trip.”  Now on her first trip back to Barbados in ten years, she said her clients would also want to experience the hospitality that makes this country different from the rest along with its culture and music. She added: “Most people would keep coming and coming.”  “People want to come to the island and celebrate a landmark birthday. So instead of one family, you find multi-generations. “It might be grandparents taking their grandchildren and those families keep coming back…children grow up and they would take their children. It becomes a special place to make memories.” She noted that people come into her company and know exactly where they want to stay, but others come and need inspiration.    “And here is with our knowledge, we [can] direct them to Barbados…and also to what type of hotel to stay at and what type of experience they are going to have,” McConway declared. She said the last time she was here, she fell in love with the people, culture and cuisine and discovered what made Barbados so different to the other islands. So this time around, the travel agent is seeking to learn what has changed. McConway told Barbados TODAY: “It has a lot to offer different types of clients. I have to learn more and see certain landmarks and combine that with the hotels experience and share the passion with the UK market.”  The Sales and Marketing Manager for the Oceans Hotels Group, Jacqui McDermott, who was on hand to welcome the visitors to Sea Breeze, said the hotel will play its part in ensuring the agents have a memorable experience so they could better promote the island on return to the UK. McDermott said: “We are treating them to a gala night…and that is our idea to have New Year’s Eve every day at Sea Breeze. Why do we limit it just to one day? So we do it once a month in the summer…and every week in the winter we have a special gala night where we have a fabulous buffet.” The BTMI London office’s Senior Business Development Officer Marc McCollin said the team of agents will take in a range of activities while here including trips to St Nicholas Abbey Heritage Train, Atlantis Submarine, Mount Gay Distilleries and various hotel properties. “It is a bit of taste of everything, said McCollin. “All the things that they need to help sell the destination better. Most of them are persons who are top sellers.  “We work very closely with British Airways in terms of their key players…persons who have been selling Barbados this year and over the last few years. “And funny enough, a lot of them who been selling Barbados over the years, have never been [here].”  (BT)

SLIP IN TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT –Barbados’ failure to secure a human trafficking conviction is one of the reasons the country was downgraded in the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. In fact, in the report, a United Nations (UN) expert said that Barbados was a transit country for trafficked children and charged that Government was doing little to address the problem. According to the report which was released today, Barbados has been relegated from Tier 2 to Tier 2 Watch List (2WL). The last time the country found itself in Tier 2WL was in 2013. Several other Caribbean countries including Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Jamaica, Haiti, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago were downgraded to Tier 2. Only the Bahamas and Guyana, which are both in Tier 1, were deemed to have “fully met” the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The report acknowledged that Barbados had made some strides in addressing human trafficking. “The Government of Barbados does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. These efforts included conducting raids on nightclubs suspected of trafficking, screening vulnerable individuals for trafficking, providing anti-trafficking training for immigration officials and the police force, and conducting public awareness campaigns,” the report stated. However, the report chastised Government for not doing enough in prosecuting persons found guilty of human trafficking. The report revealed that even though authorities conducted two investigations in 2018, five in 2017, three in 2016, and six in 2015, they did not initiate any prosecutions under the Trafficking In Persons Prevention Act (TIPPA). “The Government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period. The Government identified no victims for the past two reporting periods, initiated no new prosecutions for the fifth consecutive year, and has never secured a trafficking conviction. “The Government did not complete its national action plan or an anti-trafficking manual for interviewing and providing assistance for suspected trafficking victims. Government agencies continued to report a lack of resources for their anti-trafficking activities and Government’s anti-trafficking law did not provide penalties that were commensurate with other serious crimes. Therefore Barbados was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List,” the report explained. It also charged that the 2013 prosecution of two suspected traffickers remained pending before the court. The report disclosed that Government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of Government employees complicit in trafficking offences. It further charged that Government decreased already minimal efforts to protect victims. Among one of the many recommendations coming out of the report was for Government to vigorously investigate, prosecute and convict traffickers and apply adequate sentences, as well as to identify victims in vulnerable populations and areas. It further suggested that Government must: “Complete and implement an anti-trafficking manual for law enforcement on identifying, referring and protecting potential trafficking victims; complete and implement a national action plan to combat trafficking; provide adequate funding to implement the national action plan and support Government agencies’ anti-trafficking activities; amend the anti-trafficking law to remove sentencing provisions that allow fines in lieu of imprisonment; provide adequate accommodations with trauma-informed service providers for potential and identified trafficking victims and to amend the Recruiting of Workers Act to specify the responsible Government agency for the enforcement functions.” (BT)

MAGISTRATE ISSUES SUSPENDED SENTENCE – A St Philip mother who previously pleaded guilty to throwing rocks in a public place and assaulting two police officers was handed a suspended sentence for her crimes. Chief Magistrate Christopher Birch sentenced Sharica Lasonta Edwards, of Foursquare Valley, St Philip to six months in prison. The sentence was suspended for 18 months. Among the charges to which she pleaded guilty was throwing stones on Foursquare Road, which was likely to cause injury to a passerby, as well as resisting assaulting and occasioning actual bodily harm to police constables Bret Price and Sherry Hinds in the execution of their duties on July 23, 2018. Edwards had been given 240 hours of community service to perform. However, when she appeared before the Chief Magistrate recently it was revealed that she had falsified some of the hours on her time sheet. She was also disrespectful to the court and as a result was remanded last weekend. When she appeared on Monday Birch reminded Edwards that “We took a gamble on you and gave you a mere 240 hours of community service . . . and for the court to extend mercy and to have it thrown so rudely back in its face.” He then convicted, reprimanded and discharged her on several charges and imposed the suspended sentence on the assault against the police officer. “You have a daughter . . . this is not the example that I would wish for you to set. Do what is right and not what is easy,” the Chief Magistrate told Edwards before releasing her. (BT)

SEA CATCH –Two St Lucia men caught with cannabis in Barbados’ territorial waters are now waiting to hear their fate. The two, 39-year-old Jack George of Pierrot, Vieux Fort and 30-year-old Tyrone Belhomme, of Giraudy, Vieux Fort pleaded guilty today in the No. 2 Supreme Court to importation, trafficking and possession of 238.3 kilogrammes of cannabis. Coast guard officials were conducting surveillance about ten nautical miles off Batts Rock, St Michael on August 30, 2018 when they received information and began heading in the direction of Herons Bay, St James. On the way they spotted a white vessel registration number J6-1464 bearing the name Power Struggle about 0.2 nautical miles off Holetown. Three men were spotted on board the vessel, which began making evasive manoeuvres on seeing the Coast Guard vessel. The boat was later intercepted about 15 nautical miles off Herons Bay and two crew members were removed. George identified himself as the captain while Belhomme said he was a crewman. A St Peter man was the third person on board. The bags containing the cannabis along with the detainees were taken to the Coast Guard base and subsequently to the Oistins Police Station. On being questioned George stated that he ventured to St Vincent for the drugs and was to make the handover to another boat about 23 nautical miles off Barbados. They however ventured closer to land when that vessel was not there and were caught. Belhomme meantime said he had been caught and did not have anything to say but admitted that he was expecting payment for his part in the operation, Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas said in relaying the facts to Justice Randall Worrell, Pre-sentencing reports have been ordered on the men who are represented by attorney-at-law George Bennett. Their time already spent on remand will also be revealed to the court at their next appearance. (BT)

CAR THIEF PLEADS GUILTY –When a St James resident parked his motorcar in his driveway one October evening in 2015, he never thought it would disappear by the following morning. But that is exactly what happened to Vernon King’s vehicle between October 15 and 16, almost four years ago. Today, auto body repairman Mario Ricardo Absalom, of no fixed place of abode, owned up to stealing King’s $52,000 vehicle and two others. King owned the Toyota vehicle and used it on a daily basis for work. He parked the car around 9:30 p.m. the first night and he was preparing to leave home for work the following day when he realised it was missing. The matter was reported to police. Absalom was later arrested, told of the report and declined to have a lawyer present before admitting to the crime. “Yes we did stole the car and I believe we should get kill for that,” he reportedly told police when questioned. He was then asked who he was referring to when he said “we” and called another person’s name, who Senior Crown Counsel Olivia Davis who is holding papers for her colleague Oliver Thomas, referred to as X. “Me and a partner named X . . . who live in Christ Church, Silver Hill. He is the man that taught me to steal cars. Absalom, who is also known by the alias Popkite, also dictated a statement to police.         The now convicted man who was 21 years old at the time said he was at home when his partner came by and told him “come let we go rolling”. They drove to Orange Hill and as they were passing saw King’s car parked in his garage. “We saw a white car in front a house so we pull off the road and went for it. When I draw close I realise the sort of car it was. I told him that I cannot move it and he said ‘that’s fine’ he will take care of it,” Absalom said adding that they proceeded to “switch round the plates” on the vehicles. He went on to tell police: “X pull down the door strip and brek into the car with a hanger. I ain’t sure what he do but he get in and start it.” Absalom said he then drove X’s car and asked him what were his plans for the stolen car but he was told, “don’t worry about that”. He also asked X when he was going to get paid and was told, “don’t hurt your head money gone soon come”. About a week later he received $4,500 from X and he went partying with the money. Following the facts a police officer told Justice Randall Worrell that Absalom had 14 previous convictions among them theft, possession and cultivation of cannabis, theft of motorcars, theft of a motorcycle and money. However, the convicted man told the No. 2 Supreme Court judge that the “money convictions” were not his as he is known for the wounding and theft of cars. “My cousin has the same name as me and he is the fraud man,” Absalom said. Officers in the records department now have to investigate his claims. Absalom, who is currently serving a sentence at HMP Dodds will return before Justice Worrell on July 5 when the facts of the other two cases which he pleaded to will be outlined. The charges are that between April 24 and 25, 2016 he stole a motorcar worth $10,000 belonging to Hyacinth Louis and that between February 20 and 21 he stole a $12,000 motorcar belonging to Merlene Clarke – both from St James. (BT)

FOUNDATION KEEP NETBALL CROWN – Christ Church Foundation School (CCFS) retained the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Under-15 netball title with a tense 21-18 victory over Queen’s College yesterday at the Netball Stadium. In a repeat win over the same opponents from the 2018 final, the Church Hill lasses fought from a 5-7 first quarter deficit to hold slim leads of 11-8 and 14-12 before overcoming the pressure best in the final stretch. Coach Sandrene Jordan was overjoyed with the victory.  “I am overwhelmed. I feel so proud of my girls. They were playing against a team with four Under-16 Barbados players and my girls showed their skills and proved themselves.  Serena (Edwards) hurt her toe during the game and she battled through to the end,” said Jordan. (WN)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 194 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

[ilovearticlesoffaith-blog]

Humble Yourself

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. James 4:10 People define pride in many different ways. People may say you are proud because you are a quiet person. People may say you are proud because you are tall and confident. People may say you are proud because you drive a nice, shiny air-conditioned car.

So what really is pride? Does it matter whether you are humble or proud?

Indeed it does matter! We must humble ourselves before the Lord. We must live in a way that God considers to be humble.

The instruction is clear! Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and not in the sight of man. There is no point in practicing a brand of humility that God does not accept. Humility is a virtue defined and described by God Himself. Human beings define humility in many different ways but God’s definition of humility is what matters to us.

Humility is so important that it is worth searching the length and breadth of the scriptures until we know for sure what it is. The warnings about pride are too frightening to ignore. In this first chapter, I want us to look at the reasons why we should humble ourselves before the Lord.

Seven Reasons Why You Should Humble Yourself

1. Humble yourself because God resists proud people.

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, GOD RESISTETH THE PROUD, but giveth grace unto the humble.

James 4:6

Pride is so contrary to God that He has declared war on all who are proud. When you become proud, God will become your enemy and oppose you in all that you do.

People who have become proud, often do not realise that God has began to oppose them. Sometimes Christians rebuke the devil because they think satan is the one fighting them. But where it concerns proud Christians, the devil can go on a holiday. God Himself takes over and opposes the proud.

You may even find yourself rebuking God because He is opposing you and your pride. I wouldn’t like to rebuke God, would you? I wouldn’t like God to be my enemy. Would you like God to be your enemy? God is the only one who loves you the way you are. If He also becomes your enemy, what is left of you?

2. Humble yourself because God gives grace to humble people.

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, GOD resisteth the proud, but GIVETH GRACE UNTO THE HUMBLE.

James 4:6

Amazingly, God gives undeserved help to humble people. Grace is undeserved help and favour. When you lower yourself, God reacts by sending you grace. How nice it must be to receive undeserved help when you take the humble path of humility! Perhaps, there is no better reason to humble yourself than this.

Think about all the undeserved help you could have in your life and ministry if you were to humble yourself.

Do you want God to give undeserved help to your church? Do you want God to give you undeserved help in your pastoral ministry? Then humble yourself! Do you want God to give you undeserved help in your evangelistic ministry? Then humble yourself!

Do you want God to give you underserved help in your finances? Then humble yourself! Do you want God to help you in your moral life? Then humble yourself! Do you want God to give you a lot of help so that you can be holy? Then humble yourself! Almost every spiritual activity is aided by humility.

When you humble yourself supernatural grace is given to you. Try it and see. Be humble! Be like a child and a servant and see if changes do not begin to appear in your life.

When you humble yourself supernatural grace is given to you. Try it and see. Be humble! Be like a child and a servant and see if changes do not begin to appear in your life.

3. Humble yourself because through that you will be lifted up to the next level in life.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and HE SHALL LIFT YOU UP.

James 4:10

The next important reason for you to be humble is for promotion. Who doesn’t want to be lifted up and promoted? The lifting of the Lord and the exaltation of the Lord are the gifts you receive for being humble. Notice the scripture clearly. When you go down, God will lift you up.

Are you not seeking for increase and promotion? Then humble yourself and be a servant! Humble yourself and become a child who can be trained and instructed.

You will find yourself rising out of your current level into heights you never dreamed of.

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that HE MAY EXALT YOU IN DUE TIME

1 Peter 5:6

Think about it. What does it mean to be exalted? Exaltation is to be gloriously lifted up into beauty and shining excellence. Is that not what you want? Humility is the key to enter these realms.

4. Humble yourself so that you will be covered and protected.

Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and BE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

1 Peter 5:5

Humility is a spiritual covering. Humility is not just an attitude. Humility is not just a poor and simple way of living. Humility is not the art of looking timid and defeated. Humility is actually a spiritual cloak that covers you. It protects the Christian from many unseen and spiritually disastrous evils. Put on humility and you will be covered, delivered and protected from many evils in this life.

5. Humble yourself because your pride is the signal for your soon-to-come destruction, your fall and your shame.

A MAN’S PRIDE SHALL BRING HIM LOW: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

Proverbs 29:23

PRIDE GOETH BEFORE DESTRUCTION, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 16:18

WHEN PRIDE COMETH, THEN COMETH SHAME: but with the lowly is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:2

Pride is a signal! It signals a coming fall, a coming catastrophe and a coming evil. Humbling yourself will remove the looming dangers from your life and ministry. Satan is greatly attracted to your self-exaltation and over confident utterances. They are an open door to him.

Pride is a spiritual signal that assembles demons of shame, destruction and defeat. Your pride is like a trumpet that gives a sure and definite call to evil spirits.

When you are proud, angels are not called in to help you. When you are proud, demons are assembled to destroy you. You are actually more accessible to demons because your spiritual clothing and covering are removed.

6. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord because pride is essentially satanic and demonic.

Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? Or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook into his nose?..

He beholdeth all high things: HE IS A KING OVER ALL THE CHILDREN OF PRIDE.

Job 41:1, 34

All proud people have a king and that king is satan. Satan is the king of all the children of pride. You must decide to humble yourself so that satan will not be your king and ruler. Once you walk in pride you live and walk under the rulership of satan himself.

Pride is essentially demonic and satanic. Satan fell out of heaven through his presumption, arrogance and pride. In pride he lifted himself up against God! Lucifer exalted himself against the throne of God and threatened to ascend to replace God in His throne. This was the most outrageous manifestation of pride ever.

But God cast satan out of heaven and showed him that he was nothing but a rebellious branch, puffed up and swelled up for no reason. This evil puffing up and swelling up is what affects the entire human race. Human beings feel so big and great without having any good reason to. Today, large sections of the human race foolishly say that there is no God.

Unfortunately, we the ministers of the gospel also become swollen when we achieve little bitty goals in the ministry. Most pride has no foundation. Pride is mostly idiopathic (without a known cause). Ministers of the gospel swell up and attack their spiritual fathers who raised them up. Associates swell up and attempt to ascend into the chair of the leader. Soldiers rise up and attempt to remove legitimately elected heads of state. These things happen because people swell up and see themselves as bigger than they really are.

The words ‘pride’ and ‘satan’ are virtually synonymous. Satan is a spirit! But pride is the attitude and speech that is caused by the presence of satan! Anytime you see pride in an individual, you are recognising the presence of a very evil spirit – satan! Satan is the originator of pride. That is why God hates pride and opposes anyone in whom He detects this pride!

7. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord because your pride will make you an abomination to God.

Every one that is proud in heart IS AN ABOMINATION to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

Proverbs 16:5

God does not only resist the proud, but the proud are an abomination to Him.

This scripture means that God is outraged at proud people. He loathes stubborn people. It is not a good thing for God to detest and dislike you. I suggest that you turn away from everything that is associated with pride so that God will not be filled with revulsion when He thinks of you.

by Dag Heward-Mills

[clubofinfo]

Expert: Last week, rallies in support of Julian Assange were held around the world. We participated in two #AssangeUnity events seeking to #FreeAssange in Washington, DC. This is the beginning of a new phase of the campaign to stop the persecution of Julian Assange and allow him to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London without the threat of being arrested in the UK or facing prosecution by the United States. On April 10 2017 people gathered outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to celebrate the 11th Birthday of WikiLeaks. From Wise-Up Action: A Solidarity Network for Manning and Assange. The Assange Case is a Linchpin For Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Information in the 21st Century The threat of prosecution against Julian Assange for his work as editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks will be a key to defining what Freedom of the Press means in the 21st Century. Should people be allowed to know the truth if their government is corrupt, violating the law or committing war crimes? Democracy cannot exist when people are misled by a concentrated corporate media that puts forth a narrative on behalf of the government and big business. This is not the first time that prosecution of a journalist will define Freedom of the Press. Indeed, the roots of Freedom of the Press in the United States go back to the prosecution of John Peter Zenger, a publisher who was accused of libel in 1734 for publishing articles critical of the British royal governor, William Cosby. Zenger was held in prison for eight months awaiting trial. In the trial, his defense took its case directly to the jury. For five hundred years, Britain had made it illegal to publish “any any slanderous News” that may cause “discord” between the king and his people. Zenger’s defense argued that he had published the truth about Cosby and therefore did not commit a crime. His lawyer “argued that telling the truth did not cause governments to fall. Rather, he argued, ‘abuse of power’ caused governments to fall.” The jury heard the argument, recessed and in ten minutes returned with a not guilty verdict. The same issue is presented by Julian Assange — publishing the truth is not a crime. Wikileaks, with Assange as its editor and publisher, redefined reporting in the 21st Century by giving people the ability to be whistleblowers to reveal the abuses of government and big business. People anonymously send documents to Wikileaks via the Internet and then after reviewing and authenticating them, Wikileaks publishes them.  The documents sometimes reveal serious crimes, which has resulted in Assange being threatened with a secret indictment for espionage that could keep him incarcerated for the rest of his life. This puts the Assange case at the forefront of 21st Century journalism as he is democratizing the media by giving people the power to know the truth not reported, or falsely reported, by the corporate media. Breaking elite control over the media narrative is a serious threat to their power because information is power. And, with the internet and the ability of every person to act as a media outlet through social and independent media, control of the narrative is moving toward the people. WikiLeaks is filling a void with trust in the corporate media at record lows. A recent Gallup Poll found only 32% trust the media. There has been a significant drop in newspaper circulation and revenue, an ongoing decline since 1980. Also, fewer people rely on television for news. In this environment, the internet-based news is becoming more dominant and WikiLeaks is a particular threat to media monopolization by the elites. Research is showing that independent and social media are having an impact on people’s opinions. The threats to Julian Assange are occurring when dissent is under attack, particularly media dissent; the FBI has a task force to monitor social media. The attack on net neutrality, Google using algorithms to prevent searches for alternative media and Facebook controlling what people see are all part of the attack on the democratized media.. Free Assange: Don’t Shoot the Messenger. (Jack Taylor for Getty Images) The Astounding Impact of WikiLeaks’ Reporting The list of WikiLeaks’ revelations has become astounding. The release of emails from Hillary Clinton, her presidential campaign, and the Democratic National Committee had a major impact on the election. People saw the truth of Clinton’s connections to Wall Street, her two-faced politics of having a public view and a private view as well as the DNC’s efforts to undermine the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders. People saw the truth and the truth hurt Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. Among the most famous documents published were those provided by Chelsea Manning on Iraq, Afghanistan, the Guantanamo Prison and the US State Department. The Collateral Murder video among the Manning Iraq war documents shows US soldiers in an Apache helicopter gunning down a group of innocent men, including two Reuters employees, a photojournalist, and his driver, killing 16 and wounding two children. Millions have viewed the video showing that when a van pulled up to evacuate the wounded, the soldiers again opened fire. A soldier says, “Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards.” Another massive leak came from Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower who exposed massive NSA spying in the United States and around the world. This was followed by Vault 7, a series of leaks on the Central Intelligence Agency’s activities, and Vault 8, which included source code on CIA malware activities. WikiLeaks has also published documents on other countries; e.g., WikiLeaks published a series of documents on Russian spying.  WikiLeaks has been credited by many with helping to spark the Tunisian Revolution which led to the Arab Spring; e.g., showing the widespread corruption of the 23-year rule of the Ben Ali. Foreign Policy reported that “the candor of the cables released by WikiLeaks did more for Arab democracy than decades of backstage U.S. diplomacy.” WikiLeaks’ publications provided democracy activists in Egypt with information needed to spark protests and provided background that explained the Egyptian uprising. Traditional media publications like the New York Times relied on WikiLeaks to analyze the causes of the uprising. WikiLeaks informed the Bahrain public about their government’s cozy relationship with the US, describing a $5 billion joint-venture with Occidental Petroleum and $300 million in U.S. military sales and how the U.S. Navy is the foundation of Bahrain’s national security. John Pilger describes WikiLeaks’ documents, writing, “No investigative journalism in my lifetime can equal the importance of what WikiLeaks has done in calling rapacious power to account.” Free Assange rally at the White House, June 19, 2018. From Gateway Pundit. Assange Character Assassination And Embassy Imprisonment Julian Assange made powerful enemies in governments around the world, corporate media, and big business because he burst false narratives with the truth. As a result, governments fought back, including the United States,  Great Britain, and Sweden, which has led to Assange being trapped in the embassy of Ecuador in London for six years. The root of the incarceration were allegations in Sweden. Sweden’s charges against Assange were initially dropped by the chief prosecutor, two weeks later they found a prosecutor to pursue a rape investigation. One of the women had CIA connections and bragged about her relationship with Assange in tweets she tried to erase. She even published a 7-step program for legal revenge against lovers. The actions of the women do not seem to show rape or any kind of abuse. One woman held a party with him after the encounter and another went out to eat with him.  In November 2016, Assange was interviewed by Swedish prosecutors for four hours at the Ecuadorian embassy. In December 2016, Assange published tweets showing his innocence and the sex was consensual. Without making a statement on Assange’s guilt, the Swedish investigators dropped the charges in May 2017. The statute of limitations for Swedish charges will be up in 2020. As John Pilger pointed out: Katrin Axelsson and Lisa Longstaff of Women Against Rape summed it up when they wrote, ‘The allegations against [Assange] are a smokescreen behind which a number of governments are trying to clamp down on WikiLeaks for having audaciously revealed to the public their secret planning of wars and occupations with their attendant rape, murder, and destruction… The authorities care so little about violence against women that they manipulate rape allegations at will.’ Assange is still trapped in the embassy as he would be arrested for violating his bail six years ago. But, the real threat to Assange is the possibility of a secret indictment against him in the United States for espionage. US and British officials have refused to tell Assange’s lawyers whether there was a sealed indictment or a sealed extradition order against him. Former CIA Director, now Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo has described WikiLeaks as a non-state hostile intelligence service and described his actions as not protected by the First Amendment. In April 2017, CNN reported, “US authorities have prepared charges to seek the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.” The Obama Justice Department determined it would be difficult to bring charges against Assange because WikiLeaks wasn’t alone in publishing documents stolen by Manning but the Trump DOJ believes he could be charged as an accomplice with Edward Snowden. When the president campaigned, Trump said he loved WikiLeaks and regularly touted their disclosures. But, in April 2017, Attorney General Jeff Session said that Assange’s arrest is a “priority.” Time To Stop The Persecution Of Julian Assange The smearing of Assange sought to discredit him and undermine the important journalism of WikiLeaks. Caitlin Johnstone writes that they smear him because “they can kill all sympathy for him and his outlet, it’s as good for their agendas as actually killing him.” Even with this character assassination many people still support Assange. This was seen during the #Unity4J online vigil, which saw the participation of activists, journalists, whistleblowers and filmmakers calling for the end of Assange’s solitary confinement and his release. This was followed a week later by 20 protests around the world calling for Assange’s release. Julian Assange has opened journalism’s democracy door; the power to report is being redistributed, government employees and corporate whistleblowers have been empowered and greater transparency is becoming a reality. The people of the United States should demand that Assange not face prosecution and embrace a 21st Century democratized media that provides greater transparency and accurate information about what government and business interests are doing. Prosecuting a news organization for publishing the truth, should be rejected and Assange should be freed. You can support Julian Assange by spreading the word in your communities about what is happening to him and why. You can also show support for him on social media. We will continue to let you know when there are actions planned. And you can support the WikiLeaks Legal Defense Fund, run by the Courage Foundation*, at IAmWikiLeaks.org. * Kevin Zeese is on the advisory board of the Courage Foundation. http://clubof.info/