#Longest speeches

[steelbluehome]

I'd just like to clarify some things about Senator Cory Booker's marathon Senate speech in protest of the present administration and everything they are doing to the American people.

Senator Booker was NOT allowed to sit down, eat, or use the bathroom during his speech. Sitting or leaving the room to use the bathroom would be considered yielding the floor. Eating would have interfered with his speaking and the person who has the floor must continue to speak, except when listening to questions that they will then answer.

He only took occasional sips of water.

The person who previously held the record for longest speech on the Senate floor did have bathroom breaks and also did things like read from the encyclopedia.

Senator Booker did not do that. His speech was to point out the damage that this administration is doing and he stayed on that subject.

Senator Booker's speech did reach many people. It wasn't a silly stunt that was done so that he could take the record for longest speech. He wanted to show the country that democrats will do something to bring attention to the problems we are facing. That democrats are listening to them.

Senator Cory Booker spoke for 25 hours and 4 minutes to "make good trouble."

ETA Thanks for all of the reblogs and notes! I hadn't wanted to dirty this post with the name of the former holder of the record for longest time holding the Senate floor, but there are a lot of questions.

Senator Strom Thurmond, a segregationist and white supremacist, held the previous record of 24 hours and 18 minutes when he filibustered the vote on the Civil Rights Act.

Sen. Thurmond had someone put a bucket just outside of the doorway to the cloakroom so that he could keep one foot on the floor while pissing into this bucket, to hold the floor.

Senator Booker would never disrespect the Senate, nor "bend the rules" in such a way.

Because of this Sen. Thurmond could drink coffee or anything else he wanted, as much as he wanted, to keep himself awake, soothe his throat, and keep his mouth from becoming dry.

Senator Booker limited himself to a few sips at a time from two glasses of water at the podium.

Also, Sen. Thurmond began his speech immediately before a vote was to be taken and his speech was specifically to delay that vote. That is the definition of a "filibuster".

Senator Booker's speech was not designed to delay or prevent any vote. He did not know how long he would be physically able to speak. Therefore, his was a speech, not a filibuster.

ETA2: Strom Thurmond did also temporarily yield the floor to a colleague and took a bathroom break at that time. He also had some rye bread and hamburger to eat.

Source

ETA3: So sorry about all of these but I need to include just one more thing.

This is the transcript of Strom Thurmond's filibuster

He read the voting laws of all 48 states (this was 1957). He read from a book called "The History of the Jury Trial" speaking for quite some time about things like the justice system of the Anglo-Saxons. He read from other books, he read from the Declaration of Independence, he read from the Constitution. He yielded the floor for someone to be sworn in. All kinds of things about his filibuster made Senator Booker's speech a far superior feat, not just because it lasted longer.

[thelovebudllc]

Cory Booker’s 19-Hour Senate Speech: Record-Breaking Marathon Blasting Trump’s Policies

Cory Booker, the Democratic senator from New Jersey, is getting a lot of attention. He’s close to a big milestone with his 19-hour speech blasting Trump. The speech started at 7 p.m. EDT on a Monday and went into the morning. Booker is dedicated to helping Americans who are hurt by current politics. In his Cory Booker Senate speech, he strongly criticized former President Donald Trump’s policies.…

[uncleclaudius]

The Lyon Tablet, a transcript of the speech Emperor Claudius had given in the Senate in 48 AD, arguing for the admission of senators from Gaul.

1. I should say at the outset that I reject the first thought that will, I am sure, be the very first thing to stand in my way: namely that you will recoil from my suggestion as though I were introducing some revolutionary innovation.  Think, instead, of how many changes have taken place over the years in this state and how many forms and constitutions our state has had, from the time of its very foundation.

2. At one time this city was held by kings, though they did not pass it along to successors from their own families. People from other families came to the throne and even some foreigners.  Numa, for example, succeded Romulus, and was a Sabine; that made him a neighbor, certainly, but at the time he was also a foreigner. Another example is Tarquinius Priscus, who succeded Ancus Marcius: because of his impure blood--his father was the Corinthian Demaratus and his mother was from Tarquinii, to Tarquinius Priscus supposedly had a Greek father and an Etruscan mother. And though well-born she was very poor, which is why she was forced to marry such a husband.--Tarquinius was kept from positions of honor in his own land and thus emigrated to Rome, where he became king.  Between Tarquinius and either his son or his grandson (for our authorities disagree on this point) there came Servius Tullius.  And according to the Roman sources Servius Tullius had as a mother a prisoner of war, Ocresia; according to the Etruscans he had been the faithful companion of Caelius Vivenna and took part in his adventures, and later, when he was driven out by a change of fortune, he left Etruria with all the suriving troops of Caelius and seized the Caeliian hill, which thus takes its name from his leader Caelius, and after changing his name (for his Etruscan name was Mastarna) he was given the name I have already mentioned, and became king, to the very great advantage of the state. Then, after the behavior of Tarquinius Superbus came to be hated by our city--and not only his behavior but that of his sons--the people obviously became tired of monarchy, and the administration of state was transferred to the consuls, who were annual magistates.

3. Why need I mention the dictatorship--more powerful even than the consulship--which was what our ancestors came up with when wars were particularly hard or there was serious civil disturbance?  Or why need I mention the the creation of tribunes of the plebs, to provide assistance for the plebs?  Why mention transfer of imperium from consuls to the decemviri, and at the end of the reign of the decemviri the return of imperium back to the consuls?  Why mention the distribution of the consular power to multiple recipients, called tribunes of the soldiers with consular power, who were first six and then eight in number?  Why should I mention the fact that offices that were once patrician ones were shared eventually with the plebeians, religious ones as well as military?

4. If I were to tell of the wars, which our ancestors started with and which have continued down to the present day, I fear that I would appear too boastful, and look as though I wanted to boast about my glory in extending the empire beyond the Ocean.  But let me instead return to my original point.  Citizenship can ... [some text is lost here]

[column II]

5. Certainly it was a new thing when my great-uncle Augustus and my uncle Tiberius decided to admit into this Senate house the flower of the coloniae and the cities from all over the empire--all of them good and wealthy men of course.  But, you may say, is not an Italian senator more useful than a provincial one?  When I start explaining this aspect of my censorship I will reveal what I think about that.   But certainly I  think that provincials should not be rejected, as long as they will be a credit to the Senate.

6. Behold that most glorious and flourishing colony of Vienne: how long has it provided senators for this chamber?  From Vienne comes an ornament of the equestrian order with few equals, Lucius Vestinus, whom I esteem greatly and retain even now in my service.   May his children, I beseech you, enjoy priesthoods of the first rank, and after that, in the years to come, may they proceed to further honors.  (I will not utter the dire name of that brigand—I detest him, that monster of the wrestling-ring—or the fact that he acquired the consulship for his family before his colony had ever obtained the solid benefit of the Roman citizenship.  And I could say the same thing about his brother, who suffered a pathetic and fate, and was thus no use to you as a senator.)

7. It is time now, Tiberius Caesar Germanicus, to reveal to the senators where your speech is headed; for you have already come to the extreme limits of Gallia Narbonensis.

8. Consider all the distinguished young men I see before me: the fact that they are senators should cause no more regret than that felt by Persicus--a most distinguished man and a friend of mine--when he reads the name Allobrogicus among the images of his ancestors.  And if you agree that this is true, what should I not also point out to you that the land beyond Gallia Narbonensis already sends you senators?  We do not, after all, regret that we have men in the senate from Lugdunum.

9. I was somewhat hesitant, senators, about leaving the boundaries of provinces that were well known to you, but now I must make the case for Gallia Comata with some seriousness.  If anyone concentrates on the fact that the Gauls resisted the divine Julius in war for ten years, he should consider that they have also been loyal and trustworthy for a hundred years, and had this loyalty tried to the utmost when we were in danger.  They it was who provided my father Drusus with secure internal peace when he was conquering Germany, even though he was summoned to the war while in the middle of a census, which was then a new and strange business for the Gauls.  And we know from our own experience how difficult the census can be, even though for us it involves nothing more than the public recording of our resources. (tr. E. M. Smallwood)

[22thumbs]

Cory Booker now has the longest Senate speech at 25 hours and 4 minutes.

Twenty five hours not sitting, not using the bathroom and not eating... 😱

He beat Strom Thurgood who previously held the record at 24 hours 18 minutes who filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

[alicornze7]

Happy 1st anniversary TADC!!11!

even pomni can't believe it's already been a year!

[ilions-end]

tell me more about darker/manipulative nestor!

ahh that's right, i've been meaning to do that!

so this is based on the book homer beside himself: para-narratives in the iliad by maureen alden (and i say "based on" because i'm going off my own notes from last year). it goes into how persuasion works in the iliad, especially by characters bringing up precedence and prior examples as arguments (compare that antigonick quote i'm always thinking about). nestor does that a LOT in the iliad and holds a lot of sway as the army's main advisor and historian.

so, the case for a more cynically manipulating reading of nestor. the short version is that he is the most active agent in trying to make achilles return to battle, and in doing so he (unintentionally) becomes actively complicit in patroclus' death; but most importantly he never involves himself directly in the conflict, only using (and risking) middlemen -- odysseus and patroclus, who both become collateral in their own way from acting as nestor's agents.

longer version (including how BANGING nestor's speech to patroclus is):

the embassy to achilles

firstly, the iliad tells us the embassy is nestor's project. he puts the plan together, meticulously picks the participants, and we're told he gives odysseus in particular special instructions before they leave. we don't know what kind of instructions they are, but at the embassy odysseus is very direct and aggressive (or assertive, if you want to call it that). that tactic fails completely and makes achilles even angrier at both odysseus and agamemnon, and eventually the ambassadors have to return emptyhanded and make their report. i figure the secret instructions can be approached three ways:

odysseus goes rogue at the embassy, ignoring nestor's instructions (and we still don't know what they were)

odysseus' behavior and arguments are largely as nestor instructed, and nestor anticipated they would work (which they didn't)

odysseus' behavior and arguments are largely as nestor instructed, but nestor didn't really think they'd work and this was meant as a temperature gauge/fact finding mission, and odysseus was always meant to be collateral (in that his standing as a negotiator AND his already prickly relationship with achilles has taken a very public hit)

in any case, nestor's name is not brought up to achilles, even though he planned this whole thing. his own standing and his relationship with achilles is never at risk, and now he knows achilles' reactions to three different modes of arguments (from the three handpicked ambassadors).

nestor's swaying of patroclus

secondly... okay, alden's analysis REALLY dissects their interaction in bok 11 line by line (it's fascinating!), so i'll try to summarize.

the most obvious proof of nestor's manipulation is that when patroclus enters nestor's tent, he immediately lets nestor know two things:

achilles sent patroclus there only to find out if machaon is hurt

achilles wants him to return to him STRAIGHT AWAY with that information

and nestor manages to keep patroclus in that tent for FOUR BOOKS! when patroclus returns to achilles, he still doesn't know if machaon is hurt, and he's apparently forgotten that that was his only mission. nestor has successfully intercepted patroclus ENTIRELY, and uses his time with him to influence him and instruct him what to say and suggest when he returns to achilles (much more subtly than he did with odysseus -- seems nestor DID learn a lot of things from the failed embassy).

when patroclus eventually returns to achilles in book 16, he passionately repeats almost all of nestor's arguments from book 11, verbatim in some cases (like listing all the OTHER commanders who are currently hurt, in the same order) -- but he presents the arguments as his own, never mentioning nestor's involvement. in fact, even patroclus' inner monologue at one points repeats nestor verbatim ("Who knows whether, with the gods' help, I might move his heart with my persuasions? The advice of a comrade is an excellent thing.") -- like he doesn't even realize how much he's been influenced during his stay in nestor's tent.

again, nestor's speech to patroclus seems to be SO FULL of meaning and clever little nudges i can't get into them all (it's an entire chapter in the alden book). like how nestor brings up a conversation he had with menoetius years back, when patroclus was told to always guide achilles as his elder (dot dot dot. yeah just bringing that up now that achilles happens to be acting childish).

the death of patroclus

finally, there's nestor inadvertently causing patroclus' death. during their conversation, nestor is the one who tells patroclus to wear achilles' armour and fight in his stead. his only miscalculation is that he's certain achilles will refuse patroclus to do so, and he tells patroclus he should keep pushing. that seems to be what nestor's story about defying his own father in his youth to drive out epeans from their land is about: you defy the ones you love and would normally defer to, you fight and earn your glorious aristeia, and they will forgive you and be thankful that you defied them.

but of course turns out achilles is PUMPED at the idea of patroclus fighting in his stead wearing his armor, patroclus doesn't have to defy him at all. achilles' only command is that patroclus is NOT allowed to fight all the way up to the trojan walls, and he must fall back the moment he's secured the ships. and THAT'S the order patroclus defies! like nestor told him he himself did in his youth, he keeps fighting, spear in hand, keeps pushing far past where he was told to fight. achilles will forgive him and be thankful in the end, right?

it's just like when achilles heard the story of meleager at the embassy. patroclus ALSO takes away the wrong lesson from a nestorian instructional tale! (i know it's not nestor who tells the story of meleager, but who's to say he didn't instruct ajax to do so?)

and AGAIN nestor's involvement is completely secret. patroclus is dead, achilles is back to fighting (big W!) and now no one except nestor knows who came up with the amour swapping plan or why it went so wrong.

aaaand scene.

[aropride]

will you lib out with me? just for a moment... lib out with me

[dont-lick-my-foot]

"It's not left or right; it's right or wrong." - Senator Cory Booker

[beatcroc]

hey mecha, do you think you could beat metal sonic in a 1v1

[spiderscribe]

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Transformers: Prime, Transformers - All Media Types

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Jack Darby & Optimus Prime

Characters: Optimus Prime, Jack Darby, Miko Nakadai, Arcee (Transformers), Rafael "Raf" Esquivel, Bumblebee (Transformers), Bulkhead (Transformers)

Additional Tags: Team Prime (Transformers: Prime), Crack Treated Seriously, Humor, Car Accidents, (offscreen and minor but. just in case), Canon Compliant, Light Angst, Bickering, Found Family

Summary:

In which Jack continuously tries (and fails) to pass his driving test, and the Autobots try to help. If only they weren’t much better at fighting a war than teaching a human how to drive.

I was inspired by this tumblr post and wrote a thing ^^

[kiruamon]

Grey World AU - Visit from the Moon 3

Aaaand the ninth part of this AU. Things are slowly calming down...

Finally done it. A week later than I thought. But with this we have finished Moon's "little visit".:D

[theratcircus]

[jakeperalta]

happy birthday to my blog apparently

[infinity-on-ri]

Halfway through S12 and OH?? MY GOD?? I was all "Oh I'll like Locus and Felix I love villains" and then Felix got introduced and I was all "Oh, wait, nvm, Felix seems nice" BUT NOW?? OH MY GOD????????

[bsomfiat]

also adrian brody is not fine shit he needa cut that out

[acourtofquestions]

"You'll come back," Manon said.

It sounded like more of a threat than anything

Dorian smirked. "Would you miss me if I didn't?"

Manon didn't reply. He didn't know why he expected her to.

He'd taken all of a step, when Asterin clasped his shoulder. "In and out, quick as you can," she warned him. "Take care of Narene." Worry indeed shone in the Second's gold-flecked black eyes. Dorian bowed his head. "With my life," he promised as he approached her mount and grasped the dangling reins. He didn't fail to miss the gratitude that softened Asterin's features. Or that Manon had already turned away from him.

A fool to start down this path with her. He should have known better.

The hours that passed were some of the longest of Manon's existence.

From anticipation, she told herself. Of what she had to do.

Abraxos, unsurprisingly, found them within an hour, his reins sliced from the struggle he'd no doubt waged and won with Sorrel. He waited, however, beside Manon in silence, wholly focused upon the gate where Dorian and Narene had vanished.

Time dripped by. The king's sword was constant weight at her side. She cursed herself for needing to prove-to him, to herself-that she refused to let him go into Morath for practical, ordinary reasons. Erawan wasn't at the Ferian Gap. It'd be safer. Somewhat. But if the Matrons were there … That was why he'd gone. To learn if they were. To see if Petrah truly commanded the host there, and how many Ironteeth were present. He had not been trained as a spy, but he'd grown up in a court where people wielded smiles and clothes like weapons. He knew how to blend in, how to listen. How to make people see what they wished to see. She'd sent Elide into the dungeons of Morath, Darkness damn her. Sending the King of Adarlan into the Ferian Gap was no different.

It didn't stop her breath from escaping when Abraxos stiffened, scanning the sky. As if he heard something they couldn't.

And it was the joy that sparked in her mount's eyes that told her.

Moments later, Narene sailed toward them, making a lazy path over the mountains, a dark-haired, pale-skinned rider atop her. He'd truly been able to change parts of himself. Had made his face nearly unrecognizable. And kept it that way.

Asterin rushed toward the mare, and even Manon blinked as her Second threw her arms around Narene's neck. Holding her tight. The mare only leaned her head against Asterin's back and huffed.

Manon hadn't dwelled long on what she'd say.

And as the three hundred Ironteeth witches filed into the hall, some coming off their patrols, Manon half wondered if she should have. They watched her, watched the Thirteen, with a wary disdain.

Their disgraced Wing Leader; their fallen Heir.

When all were gathered, Petrah, still standing in the doorway where she'd appeared, merely said, "My life debt for an audience, Blackbeak."

Manon swallowed, her tongue as dry as paper. Seated atop Abraxos, she could see every shifting movement in the crowd, the wide eyes or hands gripping swords.

"I will not tell you the particulars of who I am," Manon said at last. "For I think you have already heard them."

"Crochan bitch," someone spat.

Manon set her eyes on the Blackbeaks, stone-faced where the others bristled with hatred. It was for them she spoke, for them she had come here.

jacket, then hoisting up her white shirt. Rising in the stirrups to bare her scarred, brutalized abdomen. "She does not lie."

UNCLEAN

There, the word remained stamped. Would always be stamped.

"How many of you," Asterin called out, "have been similarly branded? By your Matron, by your coven leader? How many of you have had your stillborn witchlings burned before you might hold them?"

The silence that fell now was different from before. Shaking shuddering.

Manon glanced at the Thirteen to find tears in Ghislaine's eyes as she took in the brand on Asterin's womb. Tears in the eyes of all of them, who had not known. And it was for those tears, which Manon had never seen, that she faced the host again.

"You will be killed in this war, or after it. And you will never see our homeland again."

"What is it that you want, Blackbeak?" Petrah asked from the archway.

"Ride with us," Manon breathed. "Fly with us.

Against Morath. Against the people who would keep you from your homeland, your future." Murmuring broke out again. Manon pushed ahead, "An Ironteeth-Crochan alliance. Perhaps one to break our curse at last."

Again, that shuddering silence. Like a storm about to break Asterin sat back in the saddle, but kept her shirt open.

"The choice of how our people's future shall be shaped is yours," Manon told each of the witches assembled, all the Blackbeaks who might fly to war and never return. "But I will tell you this." Her hands shook, and she fisted them on her thighs. "There is a better world out there. And I have seen it."

Even the Thirteen looked toward her now.

"I have seen witch and human and Fae dwell together in peace. And it is not weakness to do so, but a strength. I have met kings and queens whose love for their kingdoms, their peoples, is so great that the self is secondary. Whose love for their people is so strong that even in the face of unthinkable odds, they do the impossible."

Manon lifted her chin. "You are my people. Whether my grandmother decrees it so or not, you are my people, and always will be. But I will fly against you, if need be, to ensure that there is a future for those who cannot fight for it themselves. Too long have we preyed on the weak, relished doing so. It is time that we became better than our foremothers." The words she had given the Thirteen months ago. "There is a better world out there," she said again. "And I will fight for it." She turned Abraxos away, toward the plunge behind them. "Will you?"

Manon nodded to Petrah. Eyes bright, the Heir only nodded back. They would be permitted to leave as they had arrived: unharmed.

So Manon nudged Abraxos, and he leaped into the sky, the Thirteen following suit.

Not a child of war. But of peace.