#Stop Robocalls

[finalexpensetelesalespro]

2024 Earned Over $100,000+ In Settlements From Illegal Telemarketing!.🤯💰💣📞💯✅🇺🇸💥

The world of telemarketing can be a complex one, especially when it involves companies violating laws. In 2024, I took advantage of my knowledge of consumer rights and managed to earn over $100,000 in settlements from companies that breached telemarketing laws! In my latest video, "2024 Earned Over $100,000+ In Settlements From Illegal Telemarketing!.🤯💰💣📞💯✅🇺🇸💥", I dive into the steps I took, what I learned along the way, and how you might be able to take advantage of similar situations if you’ve been on the receiving end of unsolicited calls.

What You’ll Learn in This Video

1. Understanding Telemarketing Laws I explain how laws like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) protect consumers against unwanted telemarketing. Companies that call without consent can face significant penalties, and consumers can benefit by reporting violations.

2. Recognizing Violations Illegal telemarketing often involves practices like robocalls, calls to numbers on the Do-Not-Call list, or calls made without consent. In the video, I share how I recognized violations and took the necessary steps to file claims.

3. Filing Claims for Violations The process of filing a claim might seem intimidating, but with the right guidance, it can be straightforward. Watch the video to see exactly how I navigated this process and reached successful settlements.

Take Control of Unwanted Telemarketing Calls!

Telemarketing violations can be frustrating, but they don’t have to go unchallenged. If you want to learn how to protect yourself and potentially turn these calls into compensation, this video is for you.

For more information on telemarketing laws and compliance, visit my website at Final Expense Telesales Pro.

[emeraldcreeper]

Goddamn website.

The fuck does that man? I was getting rid of the fake aid begging asks that say stupid and bowls heartbreaking trash into my ask box every fucking day, and what do I get? Too many characters???? I was turning anon off! That’s a switch not an input!

[jypsyvloggin]

How to Block Unknown Numbers on iPhone?

How to Block Unknown Numbers on iPhone Do you ever get unwanted calls from unknown numbers? If so, you’re not alone. Spammers and telemarketers are constantly calling people, and it can be really annoying. Fortunately, there’s a way to block unknown numbers on your iPhone. Here’s how to do it: Open the Phone app. Tap on the Recents tab. Find the number you want to block and tap on it. Tap…

[cheol-e-kat]

Hi! New follower here! Im in love with your work! Could I please request Cheol x reader. Sexual frustration and ex sex please. Where ex's have been with other people but no one can get them off like their ex can. Thank you!!

haiiii not anon for once ^^ thanks for your follow ♡♡ and for participating in bingo - i hope you submit more asks

i know it's been a bit since you submitted this, but i hope you like it ^^

♡ kat

bingo squares: sexual frustration + ex sex

pairing: choi seungcheol / f!reader

summary: y/n is missing her ex, especially a certain part of her ex and all the things he can do with it, and decides to send him a text  

word count:  2.4k

genre: pwp, alternate universe, f2l, ex sex, low key make up sex

Rating: 18+, MDNI, explicit

warnings below cut

warnings: explicit language, penetrative sex, fingering, oral sex, squirting, overstimulation 

y/n fell back against the cool sheets. 

she listened to the guy next to her breathing hard like he was on cloud nine after round 14 of pounding her pussy - it was round one and had been dull. 

“whew, that was fuckin’ amazin’, darlin’” he said giddily. 

she gave him her best customer service smile and reached for her phone. there was a text she desperately needed to send.

[y/n 04:23]

hiiii

she didn’t expect a response. ever probably. they had unquestionably broken up. she knew that. she definitely knew that.

but she had to try because the mediocre sex she had been having lately was just not it. 

she didn’t even look forward to sex anymore. it was dull, at best - she might as well be doing her taxes. 

instead, she was just wasting her time, placating men with her lack-luster, ‘oh, yes, b-a-b-y, that is just so good’…’yes, right there’…’u h u h’…’oh boy, howdy, just like that’- she was completely phoning it in. 

if they paid any attention, they would know she was speaking roughly like the worst pre-recorded robocall machine to ever be invented. but funnily, they never seemed to notice. so she just kept saying more and more unhinged things - she had to entertain herself somehow. 

she slid out of bed and grabbed her clothes and headed for the bathroom. 

he stopped her for a moment, “hey, now, i thought you promised you would stay the night, make me breakfast and all that,” he said with a wink.

she stared blankly for a moment because when the fuck had she ever offered anyone that, much less texas pete over here.

“oh, yeah, sorry about that sugar, but i plum forgot, i’ve got this thing in the mornin’ and i just can’t miss it, ya’ know?” she shrugged.

for some reason, she had let a friend drag her to a country western club the night before, and she had been using her best southern accent all night. it was heinous. but again, she had to make her own fun. 

“well damn,” he sighed, “i was lookin’ forward to that.” he squeezed her hand gently. “you just seem like you know your way around a kitchen,” he smiled again. 

it wasn’t that he wasn’t cute - he was fine. totally okay - for anyone else on the planet.

she nodded and smiled, “sorry to let ‘cha down, but my boss is a real son of a bitch,” she smiled as she spoke and slowly pulled her hand from his grasp. 

she went to the bathroom, cleaned up, threw on her clothes, and made a quick getaway. 

she was in an uber when she saw the text.

[cheol 04:23]

u up? also why?????

she smiled - a genuine smile for once.

[y/n 04:46]

just going thru a drought T-T

she stared at her phone for a moment before flipping it face down in her palm. she didn’t want to watch the lack of response. they had been friends. they should have never fucked. they should have never dated. because now she couldn’t even complain to him when things sucked. 

she felt her phone buzz and almost threw it. she really was not expecting a response.

[cheol 04:51]

you still know my address, right?

she read the message over several times before answering.

[y/n 04:52]

yea

he was quick with his response, though.

[cheol 04:52]

just come over then - i want to hear the southern accent tho

she snorted and asked her driver if he could change the address.

seungcheol answered the door in his underwear, which was cute and made her wonder where he had tossed his pjs - she knew he slept in them. 

he leaned against the door, smiling, “seriously, i want to hear it,” he whispered. 

she rolled her eyes, “oh god, at least let me come in first,” she pleaded.

he grinned and shook his head, “got to give me something,” he smiled cutely, “you know ‘m worth it,” he watched her with a flirty gaze she knew too well.

she looked him over, “fine,” she sighed, “uhh, hey, good lookin’,” she laughed, “fuck that was terrible.”

he nodded, still smiling, “come on, one solid thing,” he asked, his voice daring her.

she sighed softly and reached out - she caught her finger in the waist of his underwear and snapped it against his skin.

“fuck, really? how old are you?” he kept it to a whisper. his neighbors would complain otherwise. they both knew that all too well.

she smiled, “awe, darlin’ did that hurt? i didn’t mean nothin’ by it, my hand just got away from me, and lord knows what it’ll do next,” she scrunched her nose and held back a laugh. he looked dumbfounded. 

but he finally moved out of the way and let her in. 

she dropped her bag by the door and followed him into the kitchen. he tossed her a bottle of water. 

“so, shua’s idea was less than perfect?” he leaned on the counter, watching her.

she rolled her eyes, “i mean,” she paused, “why do you even know for one?”

he grinned, “you were killing him with the accent - you know his LA-brain can’t handle when you whip that out.”

she smiled and shook her head, “right, so just voice messages or what went into the gc?”

she knew there were several she was no longer in, but she tried to get past the awkwardness of that. besides he shook his head - the gc was sacred. 

she groaned, “look, can i shower?”

“you texted me at this time to take a shower?”

she shrugged and pouted, “please,” she put her hands together, pleading fully. 

she didn’t like the idea of being all grimy from a bar or from where she had been, which neither of them addressed. because if seungcheol knew about the accent and the bar, then he knew about the mechanical bull ride - which was 12 out of 10 in her opinion - and he knew about the guy she went home with.

he followed her into his bedroom and left her to find her way to the bathroom. she stripped and took a long shower, thankful for the hot water and that he still had the soap she picked out. by the time she was out and had dried off, she noticed that there were clothes for her to change into. she hadn’t even realized that he had come in - not that she minded. it was sweet. 

she pulled on one of his shirts and some boxers - and she wandered into his bedroom. she knew she should probably sleep on the couch, but when seungcheol reached out for her, she couldn’t resist. 

she was happy to climb into his warm bed and snuggle against his side. 

she woke up slowly - she wasn’t exactly surprised by where she was - she knew what it felt like to wake up with him. it was more of a bittersweet feeling. she barely admitted to herself that she missed him as much as she did. 

she tried to pretend that none of it bothered her - like seeing him with other people - or how absolutely fucking bored to death she was without him. she wanted to hurry up and leave before lying there dredged up too many feelings. 

the problem was when she moved - he pulled her back down, kissing her softly. and it worked like a spell. she couldn’t break that kiss - that perfect kiss with seungcheol that she had been missing so badly. 

and when his strong hands pulled her back where he wanted her, lying on top of him, she couldn’t resist that either. she kissed him and ran her hands through his hair. she moaned softly and happily let her tongue slide against his, tasting him. she felt his hands firmly trace along her thighs and ass, squeezing her cheeks and spreading them before finally giving her a soft smack that only made her smile. 

she felt like she was in a daze by the time she was on her back, and he was undressing her, kissing all the places he liked most. she played with his hair, savoring the feeling of him. she groaned softly as he kissed and licked her nipples, sucking at one breast and then the other, as his hand slid down between their bodies and his fingers began to tease her pussy. 

he didn’t say any ridiculous things as he stroked her clit. he didn’t ask any weird questions as he slid his fingers inside her, knowing what she liked and how. he filled her pussy without her needing to explain a single thing to him. 

he kissed her softly as he worked her open - stretching her the way she had been dying to be stretched for weeks. he was three fingers deep in her without any awkward exchange about how ‘yes’ she liked that feeling - she liked the edge it brought her to. but it was also basically required for a guy with a dick like seungcheol’s. 

she had missed his dick. 

she pressed him back gently, interrupting the normalcy of it, “can i go down on you?” she whispered. 

he nodded, “yeah, but i was about to do that to you,” he said with a soft smile. 

she reached up, smoothing his bangs, “we could both do it?” she asked, shrugging, pouting just a bit. 

his smile widened, “you really do miss it then?”

she flushed, wondering who the actual fuck had told him that little juicy nugget of information. and also, not really caring, because yes - she had. 

she nodded. 

and they moved so she was lying across him, her pussy in his face, and she was staring directly at the cock that she measured all other cocks against. were they as long as his? were they as thick as his? did they just look like a thing that belonged deep in her throat because his always looked that way.

she was felt his fingers and tongue making quick work of her - his fingers roughly massaging that little spongy spot that did things to her, while his tongue worked her clit. 

she moaned as she licked and sucked the head of his dick - she used her hand to work his length, squeezing the base of his cock tightly and loosening her grip as her hand came closer to her mouth - she pulled off, spitting in her hand before going back to working him. 

she took him deeper in her mouth, letting the head of his dick hit the back of her throat, loving how the smooth, soft skin felt against her tongue. she wanted him to fuck her face and make her gag.

but it was early in the morning - she knew he just wanted to fuck. not f u c k.

she knew she was close to coming, but she wanted to taste him. she started to work quicker, moving her mouth and hand in unison, creating the illusion that she was taking him deeper than she was - she could feel the hard way he was gripping her ass now.

she could hear his soft groans, and the gentle, whispered, “yeah, baby, just like that - so fucking good,” even as he dove back into her, licking and sucking her until she came, until she was a dripping mess that he licked into even more. he finally pulled back, “fuck, i love how you come for me.” he leaned back in, kissing her opening and licking into her - his fingers working her clit again. 

she shivered from the overstimulation, but she kept working his cock, licking and sucking even faster, until she felt the sudden explosion of liquid heat in her mouth - she forced herself to take him deeper, wanting all his cum down her throat. she swallowed and gagged around him. she kept pumping him, until she was sure she had swallowed every last drop. 

when she landed on her back again, and he grabbed her waist, pulling her into the position he liked - her legs wide, one over his shoulder, his hands under her ass lifting it so he could thrust fully into her. she loved when he made her take all of his cock. 

“miss this, baby girl?” he asked - his voice was so low. 

she nodded, “missed it so much,” she whined, grabbing the sheets before he was even inside her - she knew how good it would feel. and with how long it had been, she was sure it would be like the first time - like he was splitting her apart. 

and was she ever right about that part - she bit the back of her hand to keep from screaming. he didn’t stop to say anything - he knew she loved it - knew she loved the way he stretched her every time - not just the first time. 

she was a whining, whimpering mess - she could feel tears pricking the edges of her eyes as he was really fucking into her - rolling his hips relentlessly. 

when he reached down and grabbed her chin, “crying for me?”

she nodded.

“that good?” he asked, breathless and grinning smugly.

she nodded, “so fucking good cheol - i’ve missed you so much,” she whined. 

she definitely hadn’t meant to say that, and even in her dick-addled mind, she hoped he took it as ‘i missed your dick.’

but she felt him pause, it was this one millisecond of him staring at her, having heard her perfectly, knowing exactly what she meant. 

she was shocked when he shifted their position, all so he could lean down and kiss her while still managing to fuck her brains out. sloppy, sweet kisses that almost distracted her from what his cock was doing. 

“missed you too,” he whispered as they pulled apart.

and he sat back up, picking up both her legs this time, putting them over his shoulders, so his dick somehow hit even deeper. 

she yelped from the impact of his dick hitting as deep as he possibly could, pounding her cervix - not to mention he had decided to stroke her clit too.

she knew the familiar sound of her pussy being that wet - the lewd sound it made every time he thrust inside her, every time his dick hit just right - she knew what she was on the precipice of - and then it happened - he pulled out just in time for her to pussy to gush as she came. and then he was thrusting back into her, fucking her like she needed him too. until she felt him come - felt him fill her full and fuck it deep inside her. 

lying next to him after, even if he told her to ‘fuck off’ - at least she had gotten one more great fuck from him. 

but when he pulled her close and curled around her, she had the feeling she wasn’t leaving anytime soon. 

a/n: i've never written anyone in a 69 before - kind of fun hehe anywayysssss bingo responses are still be responding to, so if you want to send in an ask, feel free - i'm just a bit slow since i finally picked a long fic to work on

♡ kat

if you want to submit a bingo request, here are the bingo choices - just send an ask:

bingo v. 1 ⋆.˚ bingo v. 2 ⋆.˚ bingo v. 3 ⋆.˚ bingo v. 4 ⋆.˚ 333 followers bingo ⋆.˚ monster themed bingo ⋆.˚ bingo v. 5 (new)⋆.˚

♡ bingo reqs master list

♡ seungcheol: knotting + marking || professor (prof. choi, pt. 1) || monster || spanking (neighbor seungcheol) || big dick + hate sex || forced masturbastion (prof. choi, pt ii) || voyeurism + punishment || coffee shop au + forbidden relationship (untitled alpha!!cheol pt. 1) ||

♡ mingyu: lingerie + praise kink || bed sharing + big dick || praise + worship kink || vehicle sex + oral fixation || drunk pda + no underwear || enemies to lovers + tentacles ||

♡ seungcheol & mingyu threesome: oral ||

⋆.˚ my [master list] if you want to read more

⋆.˚ if you want to be tagged in my posts, go [here]

[ taglist ] ☁︎ @syluslittlecrows [e] ☁︎ @gyuguys [e] ☁︎ @tinyelfperson [e] ☁︎ @unlikelysublimekryptonite [e] ☁︎ @livelaughloveseventeen [e] ☁︎ @codeinebelle [e] ☁︎ @ateez-atiny380 [e] ☁︎ @mingcouper [e] ☁︎ @hanniebub [e] ☁︎ @perfectiondazesworld [e] ☁︎ @scoupshawty [e] ☁︎ @peachytokki [e] ☁︎ @halavia [e - drab/one/multi] ☁︎ @haik-chu [e - one/multi] ☁︎ @gigglensnort [e - one/multi/priv] ☁︎ @thepoopdokyeomtouched [e - multi/priv] ☁︎

[liaromancewriter]

Love is Complicated

Premise: Alan Ramsey must reconcile the past when his errant wife returns.

Fandom: Open Heart Characters/Pairings: Alan Ramsey, Louise Ramsey; Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Cassie Valentine) Rating/Category: Teen. Angst. Words: 1,935

A/N: Submission for @choicescommunityevents June challenge, prompt "love"

It was a scorcher of a day, with temperatures in the high nineties. Alan Ramsey wiped the back of his neck and unlocked the front door of his house, sighing in relief as he stepped into the cool entryway.

On days like this, he was glad his son had talked him into installing central air conditioning, replacing the ancient window units that had come with the house nearly forty years ago.

Out of habit, Alan toed off his grubby work boots and padded up the stairs in socked feet to shower off the sweat and grime from a long day at work.

A short while later, he grabbed a Sam Adams from the fridge, popped the top off and took a satisfying pull of the cold beer.

Standing in front of the window overlooking the small, overgrown backyard, he rolled the cold bottle between his hands. Time to crank up the lawn mower, he thought absently.

He lifted the bottle to his mouth and paused as the phone on the kitchen counter signaled an incoming call.

These days, the home number was easy prey for telemarketers and robocall spammers. Anyone who wanted to talk to him just called his cell, so he let it go to voicemail.

“Uh… hello…. Alan? It’s Louise.”

At the sound of the long-forgotten voice on the speaker, the bottle slipped from Alan’s hands, foamy beer spilling across the kitchen floor.

Ignoring the mess, he lunged for the phone, managing to pick it up before his ex-wife could hang up.

“Louise? I’m here,” he said, slightly out of breath.

Alan had complicated feelings about the woman who had walked out on him and their son twenty-five years ago. He thought he’d buried them long ago—by the time the ink on their divorce papers had dried.

But hearing her voice now brought everything rushing back: hope tangled with despair, love battling disappointment; a bittersweet reflection of their relationship, with all its highs and lows.

Despite everything, he had never been able to stop loving her. In his mind, she was still the girl he’d fallen head over heels for in high school. She had been exciting, a bit of a rebel, and she had made him want to be one too. And then everything changed when she became pregnant.

Alan had watched the restlessness take root even as he was content to settle into family life. Money was often tight, and she picked up extra shifts, until she was home less and less. Then, one day, she wasn’t there at all.

He waited for her to come back—longer than he should have—if not for himself, then for their son. But Louise never looked back, and eventually, Alan had to accept that some things weren’t meant to be.

Now she was calling, and just like that, the years fell away.

Still, his voice was older now, and he heard the weariness in hers. She was no longer the vivacious woman in the yellow dress who had kissed him under the mistletoe as Nat King Cole played on the radio.

“How are you?” he asked, shaking off the memory.

“I’m alright,” she replied. “Still working for the cable company?”

Alan heard the slight derision she didn’t bother to hide. Louise had never understood his contentment, or how he didn’t feel the need to fix what wasn’t broken. It was something she and Ethan had in common, though his son appreciated the value of hard work.

So, he simply said, “Yes,” and waited for her to explain why she was calling after all this time.

Maybe she’s sick, he thought, a tightness creeping into his chest at the idea of losing her again.

“I saw Ethan on the news. I can’t believe he’s a doctor now!” Louise gushed. “He looked so tall and handsome. In my mind, he’s still the little boy always getting into mischief.”

Well, you’ve been gone a long time. What did you expect? Alan almost spit out, a rare moment of bitterness rising to the surface. But he didn’t.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he held his tongue. He wasn’t sure he was ready for the answers. And what did it matter now, anyway?

“I’m living in Boston now. Do you think he’d be willing to see me?” she asked.

Alan scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know, Louise. Ethan… he’s not how you remember him. You leaving—well, it hit him hard.”

“I’m still his mother, Alan. He’ll want to see me. I’m sure of it.”

When he hesitated, Louise rushed out, “Just ask him, please. You could always talk him into anything.”

“That was a long time ago,” Alan said. When Louise scoffed on the line, he added, “Fine. I’ll talk to him.”

He jotted down her number and the address of the motel in Boston, promised to call her once he’d spoken to their son, and hung up.

Exhaling deeply, Alan started to dial Ethan’s number but stopped halfway through. He was probably busy with patients. Besides, this wasn’t something he wanted to discuss over the phone.

He looked down at his soaked socks, the spilled beer forgotten until now. Grabbing a mop, he cleaned the floor, taking longer than necessary as he worked through how to tell Ethan that his mother was back.

No matter how he imagined it, Alan knew it was going to be a difficult conversation. Months later, he would look back and think that difficult had been an understatement.

This late in the evening, traffic heading into Boston was light, and Alan made good time on the drive up from Providence. After days of having his calls and texts ignored, he’d decided to catch Ethan at home.

Alan hated the distance that had crept in between them ever since Louise came back into their lives. While Ethan’s work often felt like a black box to him, the rest of him wasn’t as hard to read.

That had been especially true since Cassie Valentine entered the picture. He had never seen his son so confused—and yet so certain—about a woman before. He couldn’t say for sure, but based on their conversation over the summer, he suspected Ethan was in love.

Having met the young doctor, albeit briefly, and been on the receiving end of her warmth and empathy (she appeared intelligent and highly observant too), Alan could easily see why she’d captured his reserved son’s heart.

Which is why, as he parked under Ethan’s building, he hoped this unannounced visit wouldn’t backfire. After all, love was complicated, and his son was old enough to understand that now.

Almost half an hour later, Alan looked up at the sound of the front door opening as Ethan returned from walking Cassie out. A part of him felt bad for interrupting their evening. And yet, her presence—and gentle nudge—had convinced Ethan to finally open up about his feelings.

He thought back to watching them cook together, the way they moved around each other with the ease of two people completely in sync. His heart had lifted at the sight of Ethan smiling as Cassie gently teased him.

There was a quiet intimacy between them, and Alan wondered how anyone who spent even a little time around them could fail to notice it. But he understood—from both Ethan and Naveen—that the relationship was still very private, given the complexities of them working together.

“Cassie make it off alright?” Alan asked.

“Yeah,” Ethan said, stepping into the kitchen to check on the chicken roasting in the oven.

“I’m sorry, son, for dropping by unannounced. I didn’t mean to interrupt your date.”

“It’s okay, Dad. I’m sorry, too, for ignoring you and making you worry. It’s just been a hectic few weeks.”

Alan watched his son top up his wine glass and sigh deeply, his brow furrowing the way it did when he had a lot on his mind. He regretted adding to it.

“I know you’re disappointed in my inability to let your mother go. But I hope you know, Ethan, your feelings matter more to me than hers.” Alan closed the distance between them. “If you still don’t want to see her, I’ll understand. I’ll tell her that’s your final decision.”

Alan wasn’t sure how he’d convince Louise, given her persistence, but he had to put his son first. No matter what.

“I saw her last week.”

Ethan’s confession nearly made Alan trip over his own feet. Instead of asking questions, he sat down on the kitchen stool, took a sip of the wine his son poured him, and waited.

“I didn’t talk to her,” Ethan said. “I went to the motel in Southie. It was raining… I didn’t think I’d recognize her, but… Anyway, Cassie spoke to her. Mom knows I’m a doctor. She said she was proud of me.”

“I know,” Alan said quietly.

Ethan shook his head, the lost-boy look in his eyes disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

“I can’t forgive her, Dad. I’m sorry if that hurts you, but she can’t just walk back into our lives like nothing ever happened. I hear you when you say love is complicated.”

He paused, searching for the right words.

“Cassie’s right too, in a way. She said your perspective on your relationship with Mom is different from mine. But I can’t help wondering. Why don’t you resent her for what she did to us? To you?”

In that moment, Alan wished Ethan were still a little boy—someone he could pull onto his lap and hold until the worries of the world fell away. But he wasn’t. His son was a grown man now. He didn’t need to be coddled.

“A relationship is two people, Ethan,” he said gently. “I knew Louise was restless and unhappy with the life we had. But I was arrogant enough to believe she’d eventually get over it. So, I did nothing to change things. I didn’t meet her halfway.”

Wanting the connection, he placed his hand over Ethan’s.

“Despite everything, I can never resent her, because for better or worse, she gave me you. I don’t know if I still love her, or if I love the memory of who we once were. I forgave her for leaving me… but I promise you, I never forgave her for leaving you.”

The oven timer broke through the quiet moment between father and son. Ethan switched it off and pulled the roasting pan from the oven.

“Will you stay for dinner?”

“I’d like that,” Alan said with a smile. “Maybe you can tell me how things are going with Cassie. You met her family recently, didn’t you?”

Caught in his own thoughts and relieved to have finally had an honest conversation, Alan didn’t notice the worry that clouded his son’s eyes—or the quiet, monosyllabic response, more somber than the moment called for.

Ethan plated the chicken, handing one to his father without a word. They sat, side by side at the kitchen island, forks in hand, and dug in.

Not everything had been said, and there was still Louise to deal with. But they had made progress tonight. For now, it was enough.

Alan watched Ethan out of the corner of his eye, thinking again of that little boy he’d once held through heartbreak.

He wasn’t a boy anymore. But tonight, for the first time in a long while, Alan didn’t feel so far away from him.

He smiled, quietly, and took another bite. Love was complicated. But it still found a way.

-------------

All Fics & Edits: @bluebelle08 @coffeeheartaddict2 @jerzwriter @kyra75 @lady-calypso @loreofyore @potionsprefect @quixoticdreamer16 @snoopdogcone @tessa-liam @trappedinfanfiction

Submissions: @choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

Ethan & Cassie only: @custaroonie @youlookappropriate

[ralfmaximus]

Here’s what happened to me. I got a robocall yesterday claiming it was from Paypal. It was an alert warning me that someone was attempting to change my password. If it helps the number was (888)401-5203. 

The automated voice said that someone was trying to change my password and IF IT WAS NOT ME, I should push #1 on my phone now. When I did I got another screen that had six empty boxes on it and was told I was being sent a 6 digit  number through a text and that I should enter those numbers in the boxes to stop it.

New PayPal scam going around, from a group of scammers who trick people into entering 2FA codes into the PayPal portal, handing control of your account over to them.

It's easy to avoid this kind of scam: IGNORE THE CALL

Do not do what the automated voice says, no matter how scary the situation sounds. Instead, hang up. Block/report the call as spam.

If you're still worried, fire up your app or computer and visit PayPal yourself, using your own login. Check your account settings THAT way. And possibly, change your password.

Bottom line: banks & PayPal will never call you this way to conduct important business. They will always encourage you to login to their websites directly OR call the 1-800 number on the site or back of the card.

[deliciouskeys]

Cozy Corner Domaystic Prompt #18: Snow Day

Maevlander, 2.5K, rated T. AO3 link.

Jan 23 2016

“I just don’t really understand,” Homelander grumbles, pacing back and forth in front of the large glass wall in Maeve's apartment, periodically stopping and looking out the window.

“Which part don’t you understand,” Maeve asks wearily, not looking like she really wants an answer, still in pajamas, still lounging in bed vaping as she stares blankly at the TV screen mounted on the wall with the news on silent, the red ticker-tape at the bottom listing school and university closings in New York and New Jersey. “It’s a city-wide travel ban. Vought headquarters had to close for business today and tomorrow. I’m sure some people came in anyway.”

“I don’t remember New York City shutting down because of a little snow in recent years. Don’t we pride ourselves on infrastructure? Don’t tell me they can’t clear the roadways. And come on, Vought should be one of the last places to shut down because of a little weather!”

“John, it’s literally the weekend. And there’s like three feet of snow on the ground.”

“They said 29 inches.”

“Well however much it is, it’s enough for them to declare an emergency.”

Homelander leans his forehead against the glass staring down. “If it’s really so dangerous, why is Central Park full of people sledding?”

Maeve cocks her head. “You really don’t know what to do with yourself on a day off, huh.”

“Nooo...” Homelander drags out the word, trying to be patronizing but Maeve is unfazed. “I’m just saying. I could clear the roads in an hour all by myself if the mayor or governor thought to ask.”

“I’m sure you could.” Maeve rolls her eyes.

“What, you don’t think so? I could melt Manhattan in a fifteen minute flyby.”

“Yeah, people will be delighted to see you light every street on fire.”

“I wouldn’t be setting anything on fire.” Homelander sounds defensive and it makes Maeve smile.

“Nobody asked you to melt anything,” Maeve says, groaning. “Why can’t you just give things a rest and let people enjoy a snow day?”

“Because it’s dangerous! Ambulances can’t get through. Just because there’s a snow day you think people stop having heart attacks?”

“I never knew you were so concerned about people not being able to get to the hospital. Maybe you should go on runs for the hospitals yourself then. Airlift the people having heart attacks.”

Homelander makes a scoffing sound, still staring intently out the large wall-window, the poor people who dared to go sledding on a Saturday not knowing that they were being scrutinized and judged from 90 floors up and 10 blocks away.

“So saving people is beneath you, but standing there bitching about how few people came into work today isn’t? You can really tell you never got to experience a snow day in childhood, Mr. Grinch.” 

Homelander turns toward her sharply at the last part. Maeve wonders if she’s gone too far now that his gaze has been torn away from the rabble on the ground and directed at her. It's never a good idea to bring up his childhood. But he cracks a smile instead of getting angry at her bluntness and walks over to the bed, sweeping his cape off to the side before sitting down.

“Fine, Maeve, enlighten me. Tell me what makes snow days so fucking magical.” The sarcasm in his tone is off the charts, but his gloves are off and Maeve has learned to recognize that that’s a sign that he wants intimacy, no matter what he says or how it sounds. She cautiously slides her hand into his and she can see an endearing uncertainty and neediness flicker across his face, his expression settling into something softer.

“It’s nothing complicated. You’d wake up in the morning and pray for the robocall to your parents’ landline to tell them school was out. And if you were lucky enough to have a snow day, you had the entire day free to play in the snow.”

“Like, what, build snowmen?”

Maeve smiles at the defensiveness of his tone. He’s so intent on proving to her that he didn't miss out on anything important. 

“When you’re little, yeah. Snowball fights, snowmen, snowforts. When I was a bit older, my dad would take me skiing sometimes.”

“Is skiing fun?” Homelander asks, looking away from her and staring off into a corner of the room, but still holding her hand.

“Yeah. I haven’t done it in a while. But when I was seven, I got my own skis and everything. It’s cheap thrills for a kid, I suppose. You can speed up like all hell if you go down a steep enough slope."

“Would you like to go skiing?” Homelander asks, and despite some misgivings Maeve realizes that she would like to. She relents and says yes. Anything has to be better than being cooped up in the Tower having an argument in her apartment about why people have no work ethic.

Homelander seems to brighten right up when she asks to go. Maybe Maeve underestimates how lonely and lost he feels without a daily agenda, without a script telling him where to be and what to do for most of the day. She's saved him from unstructured time.

“You’re going in that?” Homelander asks, wrinkling his nose slightly at the civilian winter clothes she's changing into.

“You don’t really expect me to ski in my skimpy uniform, do you?”

Homelander shrugs. “I’m just going as I am.”

“Yeah, you won’t be the only douchebag on the slopes wearing spandex, so you might as well.” Maeve looks him over. “You don’t think you can leave the cape at home?”

Homelander gives her a look that says she must be crazy to suggest that.

He flies her in his arms all the way to New Hampshire, where there’s plenty of snow but no blizzard going on, and where the slopes turn out to be more crowded than either of them would probably like.

They have to rent skis of course. Maeve is about to pay for both of them but the employees frantically shake their heads, and assure her it's on the house and that it’s such an honor that she and Homelander have decided to grace their humble ski resort with their presence. Maeve is pretty sure they wouldn’t have recognized her had her partner in crime been wearing anything slightly less conspicuous than full regalia.

Homelander looks skeptical when he’s asked to try on ski boots. As if the boots he came in with are any less of a fashion faux pas, Maeve smiles to herself. The poor teenager helping them starts to visibly sweat when Homelander waves him off dismissively after he offers them helmets. The staff are starstruck and ask for selfies with the two heroes, and a picture of the two of them to hang up on the bulleting board. Homelander and Maeve indulge them for a few minutes before finally heading outside with skis and poles in hand.

“Why are these boots so awkward?” Homelander asks as he follows her out of the lodge and into the snow.

“Because they’re not for walking,” Maeve grumbles. Homelander watches and mimics her as she puts the skis on. She should be grateful that he’s humoring any of this at all. Even if she’s wondering whether she’d enjoy this outing a lot more alone, there is something entertaining about seeing Homelander navigating mundane everyday life with none of his usual self-assurance.

She leads him to the ski lift, the people in line behind them clearly debating whether these were real celebrities or just really good cosplay. Homelander ends up signing a few autographs before Maeve tugs him forward to get in position for the lift.

“So this is just to bring people up the mountain?” he questions, looking around and swinging his skis like a bored kid. And maybe that’s what he is, Maeve thinks.

“Yeah,” she says. As they ski down the small ramp at the top of the lift, Homelander is clearly just taking his cues from her. Maeve hasn’t done this in so long that she hesitates and turns toward the intermediate difficulty slope. Homelander simply follows. He glides with relative ease for someone who’s never been on skis before. Then again, Maeve realizes that he’s not really skiing. As they head down the slope, she decide to stop abruptly. He glides down a little bit past her before halting and skiing himself backwards up the slope to stand in parallel with her.

Maeve smirks. Just as she thought. “Quit being creepy.”

“What?” he asks, and seems genuinely confused.

“What you’re doing isn’t skiing. Stop hovering and put your full weight on the snow.”

Homelander shrugs and visibly settles himself deeper into the snow’s surface.

“Skiing is about getting momentum from sliding down the mountain on two thin pieces of wood, not flying around pretending to ski.”

Maeve expects him to roll his eyes or get defensive and snarky. But Homelander just stares at her and even nods slightly as if she’s some guru dropping knowledge on him.

“You pivot and turn abruptly to stop. You can use your poles to help push off and change direction.” He’ll get annoyed at being tutored at some point, right?

But Homelander still nods. And before Maeve can push off herself, he starts down the slope, looking much less smooth this time, apparently testing things out, trying to do it by her rules. She still suspects he’s using his powers when he stops and looks back at her as if to ask ‘did I do it right this time?’ She skis down to join him.

“Yeah just like that. You’re getting the hang of it.”

They finish the run and get back on the lift, more and more of the crowd at the bottom wisening up to the fact that they’ve got a celebrity among them, but Homelander signs fewer autographs this time before getting on the lift again.

Maeve's getting strangely emotional, sitting here, legs dangling far above the treetops, feeling like she’s gone back in time, almost forgetting who this is. Homelander isn’t her dad. They’re nothing alike, even if she hates both of them. And yet, sitting here in the lift chair takes her back to the times she misses so much, before her dad impressed upon her that becoming part of a Vought-sponsored team should be her goal in life.

“Sorry, I know the lift must be boring when you can just ski up the mountain,” Maeve says. She doesn’t know why she’s apologizing.

Homelander shakes his head. “I don’t mind. I like sitting here with you.”

When he wraps his arm around her, Maeve can’t believe she starts crying. Homelander looks confused and retracts his arm.

“Did- did I hurt you?” he asks, and there’s not an ounce of disdain in his voice, only worry.

“No, it’s nothing,” Maeve says, laughing it off and furiously wiping the tears away. “I just remembered the last time I went skiing with my dad. We never really got along. But I did like to go skiing with him.”

Homelander looks at her, and– even though he can’t possibly understand how she feels– uncannily enough manages to look sympathetic, and she doesn’t even flinch when he wraps his arm around her again, squeezing her closer.

The moment is only ruined by a wolf whistle from the chair behind them.

Homelander’s head starts swiveling back but Maeve pushes his chin back so he keeps facing her. She doesn’t even mind when he takes that as a prompt to start kissing. It’s gentle and feels maudlin– the way he prefers it and she doesn’t. When he’s like this, she can almost forget how violently possessive he gets over her, can almost forget how Vought forced her to hide her sexual past and pretend Elena doesn’t exist. Can almost forget how she was forced into a relationship with him– first a PR one for the ratings, then a “real” one, still for the ratings. Can almost forget that Madelyn Stilwell volunteered all sorts of tips about how to navigate his capricious mood swings and exploit some of his strange vulnerabilities, which made Maeve wonder what sort of relationship they had and may still be carrying on. No, she won’t think about any of that while they’re sitting on this ski lift together, the air cool and crisp around them, his skis overlapping with hers.

She decides to go down the black diamond side this time. People gawk. Maeve feels invigorated, brave, fulfilled, and heads over the bumps so fast that she does end falling into the snow ungracefully. Homelander skis up beside her, looking concerned even though she gets up laughing, wiping snow from her face and hair with the back of her gloved hand.

“You okay there?” he asks, clearly not worried that she hurt herself, but maybe a little worried at other skiers witnessing this. There is someone who stopped further up the slope and whipped out his phone, probably filming all this.

“Yeah. Falling’s part of the fun,” she says. “You should try it sometime.”

“No thanks,” he bites off tersely.

“Yeah, wouldn’t want to get that cape wet,” she mumbles under her breath as she starts heading down the slope again. She knows he heard her, no matter how quietly she said it.

They keep skiing even after sundown, just like she used to do when she was a child, not bothering to take a break for a meal. Truthfully, she has no interest in walking into the lodge cafeteria and creating a commotion of people wanting selfies and autographs. Homelander is just taking her cues, following her around like a puppy the entire time. He doesn’t deign to fall over, not even for her sake, but he takes the lift up each time, never insisting on being an asshole and skiing up the slope or flying to show off. She suspects sitting on the lift with her is actually his favorite part of this whole escapade leaving Vought Tower for the day.

“Still bitter about the snow day?” she asks playfully on one of their more silent trips on the lift when he seems lost in thought.

He’s staring off into the distance with a strange look on his face, then seems to look down and study his skis. “I did have snow days as a child,” he says. “They just weren’t very fun.”

She tenses a little bit. When Homelander reminisces about his childhood it’s often the death knell of any fun, normal interaction between them, and a turn toward a morose angry mood. But he looks calm. 

“When there was a snow emergency, only a skeleton crew would come to work in the lab. Nobody interacted with me. Most of the scientists would stay home. The whole building was much quieter than usual. They never did experiments on me on those days, I guess, but it wasn’t a good tradeoff. I’d sit there listening to the snow landing on the roof of the building, without really knowing what it was. I’d only seen it in pictures and movies. I didn’t even imagine that it’s something wet.”

Maeve feels herself shudder and quickly pretends it’s because she’s cold, prompting Homelander to hug her in closer. He even wraps his cape around her, and she knows he hardly ever uses that for anything so utilitarian. She’s not going to let him know she shudders whenever she hears yet another tidbit about his lab days and realizes anew that the way he was raised means he can never be a balanced, pleasant person, and that it’s a miracle that he can mimic people enough to blend in. Vought have managed to raise an alien creature on earth.

Homelander leans his head in even closer and whispers “Can we have sex tonight? When we get back?” in a wheedling tone, and she nods automatically without even thinking, terrified of him and at the same time full of pity.

A smile spreads wide on his face and he releases her from the embrace as they near the top of the lift and prepare to ski off.

A/N: This blizzard was a real thing :)

[vanderwoodlings]

It’s two years after the end of the world and Nate calls Jenny up. She’s gotten a new phone and she’s in class, so she mutes the vibration and lets the unknown caller go to voicemail.

She’s surprised to see there’s a voicemail, later, and even more surprised when she presses her phone or her ear and doesn’t hear a robocall but his nervous voice.

“Hey, hey, um, it’s Nate. Archibald. Dan gave me your number, so you can let him know if you aren’t okay with that,” he says. “I… I don’t wanna say this and not have it be to you, but I don’t wanna be someone who can let myself off the hook anymore. I’m sorry. About all of—“

She stops the playback. It feels like he’s reached across the ocean and grabbed her lungs in his hand and now they can’t expand. It feels like she has to make herself small, to stop and find somewhere to crawl under, and it feels like she already is and she needs to find anyway not to be.

That’s the trauma, she thinks, disconnected and dry.

She runs through a breathing exercise until her shoulders feel a little less tense and heads home, unable to focus on sorting through her homework assignments with Nate still ringing in her ear.

She takes off her shoes, hangs her jacket by the door, puts her bag down on the bed. Tries and fails to think of something appealing in the fridge.

Jenny takes her phone out again, sitting on her couch, her roommate’s favorite crocheted blanket flopped over her feet, surrounded by the sense that she’s home here. She’s safe here.

“Hey, hey, um, it’s Nate. Archibald. Dan gave me your number, so you can let him know if you aren’t okay with that. I… I don’t wanna say this and not have it be to you, but I don’t wanna be someone who can let myself off the hook anymore. I’m sorry. About all of it.“

The sound of his slow, unsteady exhale sends shivers through her.

“I cut Chuck off,” he confesses. “I should’ve done it a long time ago. I was stupid. I should’ve been a better friend. Not just to you. And I want to try again but—you don’t have to. Just… let me know? Oh! And I’m sorry if it’s the middle of the night there, I tried to figure out the time difference, but that stuff makes no sense to me.”

The message ends there, on his awkward attempt at being lighthearted.

She texts Dan: Nate is fine but don’t give out my number. You can literally ask me first

She also texts Eric: do u kno wtf is going on in ues rn?

She paces through the flat until she feels halfway human.

And two years after the end of the world, she texts Nate Archibald.

[footcabinet]

(regarding the US government)

I didn't know that the National Do Not Call registry was something that like anyone can sign up for

people who are fine with breaking the law can still try n robo-call/telemarket/scam you ofc but like registering one's phone number would stop all law-abiding telemarketers

and it's free, you jus gotta give em your phone number and email and then click the verification link in the email

and then if someone were to call you while you're on the do not call list, you can report them for federal fraud :0

I don't like the American govt but using them to get fewer robo calls doesn't seem like a bad thing ? (if I'm wrong tho, do tell)

[matau-the-228th]

I need every single telemarketer who has and will ever call me to feel an intense piercing brain freeze that starts right in between their left and right hemispheres, goes down their neck and all the way down to their butthole and lasts for at least five minutes any time they call me.

Double that for the Republican Party Telemarketers, and whoever's in charge of those Robocallers who won't stop calling me.

[beardedmrbean]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three bills Tuesday to crack down on the use of artificial intelligence to create false images or videos in political ads ahead of the 2024 election.

A new law, set to take effect immediately, makes it illegal to create and publish deepfakes related to elections 120 days before Election Day and 60 days thereafter. It also allows courts to stop distribution of the materials and impose civil penalties.

“Safeguarding the integrity of elections is essential to democracy, and it’s critical that we ensure AI is not deployed to undermine the public’s trust through disinformation -– especially in today’s fraught political climate,” Newsom said in a statement. “These measures will help to combat the harmful use of deepfakes in political ads and other content, one of several areas in which the state is being proactive to foster transparent and trustworthy AI.”

Large social media platforms are also required to remove the deceptive material under a first-in-the-nation law set to be enacted next year. Newsom also signed a bill requiring political campaigns to publicly disclose if they are running ads with materials altered by AI.

The governor signed the bills to loud applause during a conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at an event hosted the major software company during its annual conference in San Francisco.

The new laws reaffirm California’s position as a leader in regulating AI in the U.S., especially in combating election deepfakes. The state was the first in the U.S. to ban manipulated videos and pictures related to elections in 2019. Measures in technology and AI proposed by California lawmakers have been used as blueprints for legislators across the country, industry experts said.

With AI supercharging the threat of election disinformation worldwide, lawmakers across the country have raced to address the issue over concerns the manipulated materials could erode the public’s trust in what they see and hear.

“With fewer than 50 days until the general election, there is an urgent need to protect against misleading, digitally-altered content that can interfere with the election,” Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, author of the law banning election deepfakes, said in a statement. “California is taking a stand against the manipulative use of deepfake technology to deceive voters.”

Newsom’s decision followed his vow in July to crack down on election deepfakes in response to a video posted by X-owner Elon Musk featuring altered images of Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

The new California laws come the same day as members of Congress unveiled federal legislation aiming to stop election deepfakes. The bill would give the Federal Election Commission the power to regulate the use of AI in elections in the same way it has regulated other political misrepresentation for decades. The FEC has started to consider such regulations after outlawing AI-generated robocalls aimed to discourage voters in February.

Newsom has touted California as an early adopter as well as regulator of AI, saying the state could soon deploy generative AI tools to address highway congestion and provide tax guidance, even as his administration considers new rules against AI discrimination in hiring practices.

He also signed two other bills Tuesday to protect Hollywood performers from unauthorized AI use without their consent.

[chubby-aphrodite]

i love having horror movie experiences

so our home phone has been out for more than a year, right? and before that it would disconnect every time it rained or the wind blew too hard or a dolphin farted in costa rica, giving a "line in use" signal for a period of time despite it... not being in use.

and a couple weeks ago, we finally had someone doing linework in our neighborhood (because the previous guy fucked things up, big surprise) so my mom flags him down and asks him for a favor because the line guys in between him and the guys who screwed up the shit he was actually sent to fix pulled one of our lines down. and never fixed it. like the line was sagging so much now it was basically only 7 or 8 feet off the ground, because they had managed to pull out the fastener that pinned it to the house. not cool.

so after he gets that done, and a few rainstorms in between having confirmed that the home phone works for good now, we're good. Right? Well, no. It means we get more telemarketers now. Not just telemarketers, though. Empty telemarketers. Like what I just heard.

See I was used to ignoring calls from the home phone because it's like 90% telemarketers and I hate talking on the phone, so I put in my earbuds to continue ignoring it, and thus missed the location data the phone spit out about the caller. so for all i know those dolphins from costa rica may have been trying to reach me to apologize. but what gets me next is the fucking earsplitting tone coming through the phone. so loud and awful sounding it goes straight through my earbuds.

and it's not stopping.

i would've respected a shitty robocall that said its peace and then stopped. that's fine. but to put an infinite length high pitched tone on in my own fucking home? making me get up to tell the phone to shut the fuck up?

that's some level of terrible i cannot abide by.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Em Steck, Andrew Kaczynski, and Jeremy Herb at CNN's KFile:

Donald Trump’s campaign is making a last-minute push to advocate for early and mail-in voting, methods the former president has falsely vilified for years as dangerous and fraudulent. With less than a month to go in a tight race, Trump’s campaign is urging people to vote early and by mail, while also working to expand voting access in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. In a series of recent virtual town halls and robocalls reviewed by CNN, Trump and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee, have actively encouraged voters to take advantage of early voting options, including mail-in ballots. “Hi, this is Lara Trump calling on behalf of President Trump’s campaign, and we’re urging you to get out and vote before Election Day,” one robocall says. Earlier this year, Lara Trump voiced a robocall falsely alleging massive fraud in the 2020 election due to mail-in ballots. At least 286,000 estimated robocalls with this recording were sent to voters, including in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan, according to data from Nomorobo, an app that blocks and tracks robocalls. The calls began as early as October 2.

The Trump campaign this past week also asked North Carolina to take steps to expand voting access in the wake of damage from Hurricane Helene – even as Republicans in Georgia opposed an effort to expand voting access by extending registration deadlines following hurricane damage in that state.

Voting rights advocates, while happy to see the Trump campaign join in a bipartisan push for expanded voting access, note that it cuts against a lengthy record of trying to restrict voting in this election and in 2020, when the pandemic upended voting across the country.

“It’s great that the Trump campaign was speaking with the same voice as so many others and asking for expansions to voting access in the wake of Hurricane Helene,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, the director of the voting rights program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “But it does trouble me that they don’t take a sort of uniform approach to that – or to mail voting or to early voting.” In 2020, the Trump campaign filed several lawsuits to stop many of the changes made by states to make it easier to vote by mail. The changes were put in place to reduce indoor gatherings during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

[...]

‘Too big to rig’

Trump has previously released videos and messages on his social media promoting early and mail-in voting as part of the Republican National Committee’s get-out-the-vote program. Both methods of voting are promoted at Trump’s campaign rallies. But that push has at times led to conflicting messaging from the former president. Last month, at a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Trump disparaged early voting, and promoted it, in the same breath. “We got to get out and vote. And you can start right away. You know that, right? Now we have this stupid stuff where you can vote 45 days early. I wonder what the hell happens during that 45. ‘Let’s move, see these votes? We’ve got about a million votes in there. Let’s move them. We’re fixing the air conditioner in the room, right?’ No, it’s terrible,” Trump said. “What happened the last time was disgraceful, including right here. But we’re not going to let it happen again. You know, too big to rig, right? That’s one way you do it.” In 2020, Trump called mail-in ballots “dangerous” and “corrupt.” He said they’d lead to “massive electoral fraud” and a “rigged” 2020 election. Now locked in a tight election against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s campaign is actively promoting early in-person and mail voting, even as the former president pledged to one day eliminate the commonly used practices. He falsely implied they were insecure voting methods in a June video posted to Swamp the Vote USA, a voting resource website paid for by the Republican National Committee.

“I will once and for all secure our elections. We’re going to go to paper ballots. We’re going to have same-day voting, voter ID. We’re going to do it properly. We’re going to have good, secure, beautiful elections. We never want what happened in 2020 to happen again,” Trump says directly to the camera. “But until then, Republicans must win. And we must use every appropriate tool available to beat the Democrats. … Whether you vote early, absentee, by mail or in person, we’re going to protect the vote.”

The Expired Orange Liar, who has repeatedly trafficked in conspiracy theories about vote by mail over the years (especially in the COVID-dominated election year of 2020), has come to embrace vote by mail.

[asteralpine]

Got a form letter email response to one of the emails I sent to my Congressman, wherein he made it clear that he stood with Israel and it made me so frustrated that I could have projectile vomited.

Finally drove me to start making calls.

It's so easy. Give them your name/address/phone number and they look up your representatives. You get a robocall that connects you, in turn, to both of your Senators and then your Representative. (Before each call, it tells you who it's connecting you to.)

Both of my Senators had voicemail boxes so I just recorded my message reading from a script on the link above on my computer screen. My representative had someone answering phones, so I had to give her my name and wait for her to log it, and then I still just read the script. I don't know why I expected the people on the phones to argue or debate, but she was very chill and thanked me and wished me a good day. (Don't be mean to the people answering the phones!!)

It's painless. It's easy. It took me maybe five minutes. Honestly it's taken me longer to write this post.

Please call your officials. Please help me do something.

[funstyle]

im gonna stop putting my phone on silent in public idgaf. everyone is gonna get a little electric feel in their day as a treat when those robocalls hit

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 22, 2024

Last night, Florida governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and promptly endorsed former president Trump. DeSantis had tried to present himself as the alternative to Trump, but he put so little daylight between himself and the former president that he could never get traction.

DeSantis appeared to use his power as the governor of Florida to push measures he thought would boost his candidacy, many of which followed the pattern of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, who has used his government to destroy democracy and assume autocratic powers. DeSantis pushed anti-LGBTQ+ laws, book bans, and the idea that businesses like Disney must answer to the moral positions of the government rather than market forces, and he flew migrants who were in the U.S. legally to Martha’s Vineyard in an apparent attempt to stand out as an anti-immigrant crusader. 

But DeSantis never broke free of Trump’s orbit.

The Miami Herald editorial board noted that while DeSantis’s presidential bid had ended, “the damage of the laws he has pushed through in Florida, as he landed more appearances on Fox News, will live on. Without his political ambitions, there likely wouldn’t be ‘Don’t say gay,’ woke wars and the waste of state resources to fight meaningless battles against drag queen bars. These were efforts to appeal to Trump’s base but his supporters refused to leave the former president, especially after he was indicted.” 

The New Hampshire primary is tomorrow, with former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley squaring off against Trump. It is not at all clear what daylight exists between the two of them, either, although Haley is perceived as the representative of the pre-Trump corporate Republican Party. Still, the contest is revealing the future in at least one way: today, New Hampshire voters are reporting that they have received robocalls with a deepfake of President Joe Biden’s voice telling them not to vote.  

Republican party officials worry that while Trump is taking up tons of oxygen, the party itself has nothing to run on. Since taking control of the House in 2023, Republicans have very little to show for it except a lot of infighting. The last congressional session was “historically unproductive,” as Sahil Kapur of NBC News put it today. House Republicans’ investigations of President Joe Biden, hyped before the media, have fizzled, and now, after insisting that they would not pass funding for Ukraine, Israel, or Taiwan until the “crisis” at the border was addressed, they have backed off and now say they will not pass border legislation. 

Meanwhile, radicals appear to be manufacturing a crisis on the border. On January 11, Michael Scherer and Dylan Wells of the Washington Post reported that political ads had used the word “border” 1,319 times since the start of the year, more than any other word including “approve” and “message,” standard disclaimer terms for political ads.

On Wednesday, January 17, state authorities began to arrest migrants at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, as part of Governor Greg Abbott’s attempt to take control of immigration away from the federal government. When the government told Texas to stop blocking federal officials from the stretch of the Rio Grande where three migrants died last week, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton’s office responded: “Texas will not surrender.” 

Today the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the federal government is authorized to remove the razor wire Texas has installed across the U.S.-Mexico border, although considering the federal government’s authority over border security is very well established, the fact that the vote was 5–4 is surprising. Far-right lawmakers were outraged nonetheless. Representative Chip Roy of Texas urged his House colleagues to defund the Department of Homeland Security, and Louisiana representative Clay Higgins said on social media that the federal government was “staging a civil war” and that “Texas should stand their ground.” 

Meanwhile, on Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena to follow up on migration discussions the two countries had in meetings on December 27, 2023, in Mexico. In September 2023, Mexico eclipsed China as the largest trading partner of the U.S., and in the December meeting, Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, U.S. ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, and National Security Council Coordinator for the Los Angeles Declaration Katie Tobin discussed cooperation to manage the border safely and humanely while also combating the drug smuggling and conditions that have been driving migration. 

On January 8, Julia Ainsley of NBC News explained that the Biden administration has been pressuring Mexico to increase enforcement on its own southern border with Guatemala, deport more migrants from within Mexico, and take in more non-Mexican migrants back across the U.S. southern border. In exchange, Ainsley says, Mexico’s president—who is on the defensive at home because of corruption charges—has proposed that the U.S. invest more money in Latin America and Caribbean countries, suspend its blockade of Cuba, ease sanctions against Venezuela, and make it easier for migrants to work legally in the U.S.

On Friday, in Washington, D.C., the U.S. said that the coordinated efforts were having a positive effect on migration as officials have cracked down on smuggling networks, trains, and bus routes. “Migration is a hemispheric challenge,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. “The United States is committed to work hand in hand with Mexico and countries across the region to address the root causes of migration and advance economic opportunities in the spirit of Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection,” a landmark 2022 agreement in which the heads of twenty of the countries in the Americas agreed to embrace a regional approach to managing migration. 

Today, on the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has made protecting reproductive rights key to her portfolio, and President Joe Biden noted that thanks to the “extreme decision” of today’s Supreme Court to overturn that decision has left tens of millions of American women “in states with extreme and dangerous abortion bans.” 

“Because of Republican elected officials,” Biden said in a statement, “women’s health and lives are at risk….  Even as Americans…have resoundingly rejected attempts to limit reproductive freedom, Republican elected officials continue to push for a national ban and devastating new restrictions across the country.” He and Vice President Harris “are fighting to protect women’s reproductive freedom against Republicans officials’ dangerous, extreme, and out-of-touch agenda,” he said. “We stand with the vast majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to choose, and continue to call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe in federal law once and for all.”

This is a position embraced by 69% of Americans, and the Biden campaign has run videos with Trump bragging that he overturned Roe v. Wade and suggesting that women who obtain abortions should be punished. 

Recently, the campaign released an ad in which a Texas woman who is herself an OBGYN talks about being unable to obtain an abortion for a planned pregnancy after a routine ultrasound revealed that the fetus could not survive. “Because of Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade,” she says, Texas “completely” took her choice away and put her life in danger. “It’s every woman’s worst nightmare and it was absolutely unbearable. We need leaders that will protect our rights and not take them away,” she says.

Finally, today, a historical moment: the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an average of the value of 30 leading companies, passed 38,000 for the first time.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON