#but apparently being an influencer means you also sign up to be a politician

[sasssydaddy123]

This might be too "hot" of a take for Tumblr but I really wish ppl would stop treating influencers like politicians.

Fuckin Chris or Madison or whoever the fuck from tiktok does not have any obligation to write a statement about current affairs. Why the actual fuck are we looking to these bozos to give us a consice, well written, 100% factually correct, completely comprehensive statement about wars, the economy, racial injustice, queer issues or reproductive rights again? These people are not politicians and certainly do not have the capacity to be one.

Social media has devolved into a weird pseudo-political landscape that doesn't actually have any real impact on things. So when I see random influencers being inundated with harsh comments about not giving a statement on this or not putting up a go fund me for that or for not wording their statement correctly, I can literally feel my brain melting.

Social media politics gives people the false impression of "actually making a difference" when in reality it doesn't do much. You can write 15 part twitter posts or harass random people online all you want but what are you really doing? Nothing.

[benevolentbirdgal]

Purim: a Jewish holiday and wild ride from start to finish

So let me tell you about the absolute soap opera that is the Jewish holiday of Purim. The scene is set in ancient (appx. 4th century B.C.E.) Persia during the first Jewish Diaspora, in the city of Shushan (typically identified in secular sources as Susa, a now-abandoned ancient city in what is now Iran). I’m telling you, as a work of literature (even beyond theological implications for Jewish people), this book has everything: love, drama, royalty, intrigue, ego, plots, irony, mystery, and a strong female lead. 

[some non-slur swearing below]

Ahasuerus, party-loving king of Persia executed or exiled (translations argue) his wife Vashti, and had to find a new queen. Why did he do this, you ask? Well, it really starts with an 180-day party across his kingdom for all his subjects to celebrate the third year of his reign. After that absolute rager, party-bro KA has another one immediately after for a week, this time just for the capital city of Shushan. Vashti was having a woman’s party in her quarters, presumably living her best life, when party-bro sends his top seven yes-men to deliver a message to Vashti. This sleaze-ball wants her to appear at his party in front of everyone, wearing her crown, with the clear implication being only her crown. Vashti more or less tells him to pound sand (I mean, not the literal translation, but that’s the sentiment). 

KA’s advisors convince him that this is not only an offense against the king but also against all the men in the country (ah, the joys of ancient patriarchy and toxic af masculinity). KA writes a degree that women must respect their husbands so he has an official reason to get rid of Vashti. Vashti is soon thereafter out of the picture and the king is short a queen. Whether she was a Wise Lady With A Point Who Got Screwed Over or a Vicious Jew-Hating Adulteress Who Had It Coming has been a matter of furious debate for over two millennia (the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud vociferously disagree on her). In any case, KA regrets it pretty quick and wants a new queen. 

At the behest of his advisors (you know, since their last advice worked out soooooo well), KA had a big contest/forcible gathering of young women from around his kingdom and a Jewish woman, Hadassah, was the winner.  Hadassah was an orphan raised by her cousin Mordechai in the city of Shushan. Hadassah is more commonly known as Esther, because she changed her name to hide her identity as a Jew (at the behest of Mordechai). In any case, KA decided he liked Esther best and she became queen (it’s specifically mentioned both that he loved her most and that the palace staff liked her because she was nice to them-it’s unclear how much of an influence the latter was). 

Concurrently, a wicked man named Haman was the top advisor to the king and the king would basically rubber-stamp whatever Haman wanted. Haman was a raging Jew-hater-this will be relevant later. 

Some time into Esther’s reign as queen, Mordechai, who has taken to hanging around the gates of the palace to keep in touch with Esther, overhears a plot by two guards, Bigthan and Teresh, to kill the king. Mordechai alerts his cousin, and she tells the king. It’s recorded in the book of deeds and life keeps moving. 

Some time later, Haman decides (after a promotion to head lackey) that he wants all to bow to him as he passes. Mordechai refused to bow to Haman every single day (citing that as a Jew he bowed to no man), and that did not sit well with Haman. So despite being prime minister and presumably having more important things to do, “genocide the Jews” made it to the top of to-do list. He didn’t like them before, and Mordechai refusing to treat him like a special snowflake was something he took really, really personally (totally can’t think of any modern politicians like that, nope). He told KA, who frankly doesn’t seem to ask enough questions, that there was a people disrespecting the king and his laws throughout the land, and could he pretty-please exterminate them. As a bonus, Haman would “donate” 10,000 silver kikar to the royal treasury (modern conversion vary, but all agree this an absurd amount on money). 

KA handed him the royal seal to do so. Haman was feeling lucky I guess so he decided the best course of action was to draw lots to pick the day for the massacre. [Purim is lots in Hebrew, so that’s where the name of the holiday came from]. The message went out to all the provinces that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that they citizens and leaders should murder all of the Jews, young and old, man, woman, and child, rich and poor and take their possessions as spoils. 

As this wasn’t exactly a state secret, the Jews knew and were quite distressed. The planned slaughter was like a year out, but what the actual fuck were they supposed to do? If you lived in Persia at that point that, the empire was functionally your entire world, unless you were fabulously/ridiculously wealthy and well-connected. Having several months notice the other locals and your rules were going to slaughter you and take your stuff isn’t particularly useful when there’s really nowhere to go. 

In Shushan, Mordechai (who, although not explicitly in text, is in oral/Talmudic tradition a leader of the Jewish community) goes into mourning. He dresses in sackcloth and ashes, he weeps, and he fasts at the gates of the palace, as Jews throughout shushan and the kingdom are doing. Esther hears of her cousin’s mourning behavior and tries to send along nice clothes through a messenger, which he refuses. It is then that she learns of the decree. Mordechai (through the messenger) implores her to go ask the king if the Jews not getting murdered could be a thing. Esther explains that she could be killed for approaching the king unsummoned. Mordechai stresses the severity of the situation. Esther agrees to ask the king and tells Mordechai to have the Shushan Jewish community fast day and night (as opposed to just day as prior) for three days, and she and her handmaidens will fast too (no word on what the handmaidens thought of this).

On the third day, Esther bravely approached the king, asked him if she could request something. He said anything, up to half his kingdom (which implies to me that homedude, for all his flaws, was actually into her). Esther invited him to a party, where he and Haman would be the only guests. At the party she asks if she can another request. KA is open to it and she invites him to another party the next night. Party-bro king is obviously down and Haman is tickled to death at this second invitation. 

He goes home to brag to his wife, Zeresh, about the invite and also to bitch about how angsty he is Mordechai is still alive (this angst reignited by passing him on the way home). Zeresh suggests he have fifty-foot gallows built to make Mordechai an example on, with the king’s permission, ASAP. Haman orders the building of the gallows, feeling secure in the knowledge that his bestie the king will execute Mordechai on them. 

Back at the castle KA can’t sleep. He demands a bedtime story from the his records, because those will presumably put him to sleep. The story that gets read, ~coincidentally~, is of Mordechai saving KA’s life. Haman had sidled on up to the castle to speak to the king about killing Mordechai, and the king called him in. KA asks Haman, if he were to honor someone, what should he do? Haman is thinking “this is obvi about me” and tells the king that the honoree should be donned in royal clothing, and ride through the streets on a fancy horse with people someone shouting how great he is. KA is like great, love it, perf, go do that for Mordechai. Haman is not a happy camper but does the thing. After that, he goes home and tells Zeresh about it, who warns him that this is a very bad sign. 

Finally, that night is the night of Esther’s second soiree. Haman and KA attend. The latter offers to Esther anything she wants, up to half of his kingdom. Esther asks that her life, and the life of her people be spared. KA is like “whomst” and Esther revealed it was Haman. At this point Ahasuerus.exe stops working and he takes a walk to the gardens. He comes back to see Haman begging Esther for his life, and KA thinks Haman is assaulting her. Haman was seized by nearby guards.

One of the chamberlains is then like, hey, KA, coincidentally there’s these super high gallows Haman just had built. Why not take care of the problem that way? (The fact that the random nearby chamberlain was like yup, that dude, hang ‘em in the morning, probably says a lot about how Haman treated most people around him, even more than forcing all to bow to him). KA orders it be done. 

Not that Haman was around to be sad about it, but what happened next would have massively pissed him off, as his old job then went to Mordechai. Esther then implored of the king that the degree to allow the massacre of the Jews be reversed. The king couldn’t Cntrl+Z the order to murder-all-the-Jews, but he could issue an order that they could fight back. The proclamation was sent throughout the land, and the Jews were able to prepare. Since the royal decree had been amended, the governments (princes, governors, satraps) largely reformulated their plans accordingly, but plenty of Jew-haters still wanted to use the opportunity. The ability to self-defend meant that the communities weren’t massacred. In most of the kingdom, the Jews were now safe. Outside of Shushan, the fourteenth of Adar became a feast day. 

Shushan was still not safe though. Antisemites were still out and mad (and apparently had not learned from the previous day), so Esther asked the Jews of Shushan to be allowed to defend themselves once more. Her wish was granted, and the Shushan Jews were able to defend themselves once more (so Purim is celebrated a day later in walled cities). 

The story ends with the decision to write it down, and although there some debate on authorship, it is traditionally attributed to Esther herself cowriting with Mordechai. 

Nowhere in the book is God mentioned. Nowhere is there divine intervention (at least not explicitly). Just Jews sticking up for themselves, being brave in the face of mortal peril, and a metric fucktown of chutzpah. 

[locktobre]

What’s your POV on the villains from Princess Charm School? Do you see them as good villains (like, if their plans actually worked would they be considered good villains) or do you see them as bad villains (like, their plan could never work in 1,000 years and even if the plan did work it’s a stupid plan.) like do you basically see them as “comedic relief” villains?

Well, Dame Devin came dangerously close to actually succeeding, so by this definition she would have to be a good villain. I also hate her with every fiber of my being, so that's another sign. In no way is Dame Devin a comedic relief villain. She's never played for comedy in the movie at all, and in the novelization it's actually worse bc it shows Delancy being actively being afraid of her. Not only is Dame Devin a murderer, but she wants to actively ruin the lives of Gardania's poorest citizens for the sake of the aesthetics of the city--like a lot of real world politicians. She's cruel in a very real way, and it is not funny, even if her apparent motivation of not being chosen for a job back in high school could be considered kind of silly. But she murdered (at least) two people over it, including her brother, and she thought she also killed a literal baby. How could that ever be funny?

As for Delancy... She spent a year bullying Sophia for being poor, and that's really gross of her. Bullying is really a "child-friendly" term for targeted harassment and abuse, and I absolutely think it should be taken seriously. But her mother is clearly a piece of work, so it's not really surprising that she turned out that way. And she does reform, but she's at the beginning of her redemption arc at the end of the movie, so as much as I love that transformation for her... She spends most of the movie sucking. So, in that sense, is she a good villain? I'd say so, altho I'd call her an antagonist rather than a villain, given how it all shakes out. And she's also not a literal baby murderer like her mother, so I mean anything other than that is a step up.

I like Delancy a lot for her growth, but I refuse to just gloss over what she did to Sophia for a lot of the movie, again, motivated largely by the fact that Sophia was a commoner... AKA, one of her future subjects, and she treated her like that. She'd be a nightmare as a queen, if that's her attitude, and yes that was heavily influenced by her mother, but at what point would she have rebelled if she hadn't overheard the conversation at the portrait? Would she have? Or would she have continued to play Dame Devin's puppet and parrot her beliefs for the rest of her life? It's a lot to think about, and again, I refuse to not talk about what she did and what it says about her, even if she's different now. Anyway that's tangential, mostly in reaction to background radiation from deranged Delancy stans who think she's some kind of mean girl icon when it's like no, she was doing real damage, and she would have continued in that vein forever if not for perilous serendipity. If you like her at all, you have to acknowledge that. If you like Dame Devin, you will die by my sword. That simple.

[incarnateirony]

I once had a conversation on twitter with someone who is both a J1er and a Misha anti. The discussion was about Misha's current employment status. When they claimed he was unemployed, I mentioned that just because he is not working on a TV show, does not mean he is not working. Charity (RA, GISH and others), book, supporting politicians and other stuff, but the first two were the ones they hung on to. Apparently releasing a book and doing charity work is not considered proper work for Misha since this anti has done the same. Like... Other actors have also gotten main roles and done procducing, does that mean J1 is also not having a proper job?

What baffels me is how they somehow have this NEED to make J2M lives post-SPN as some kind of a d*ick measuring contest. Like why? People can go on doing different things, be happy about it and thrive ō_ō

JESUS, NO SHIT. Not to mention, Misha IS getting all the spots and work he DOES want. Let's face it, a traveling foodie talkshow is dead ass just up the center Misha Collins' alley. Or the other stuff he's supporting. He literally COULD retire if he wanted to with the resources he has, he's just working his way. As a Misha Collins does.

Jensen is working very fucking intelligently from the long haul establishment and marketing of Chaos Machine to the Winchesters Announcement. I mean, the Bravo, You Coward night isn't something you'd expect over twitter with grown actors so they probably didn't calculate for that, but damn. Moving to Kripke's Boys wasn't just token, that was damn smart. It's everything about roles he's wanted to be. "Superhero" but that gritty shit, sure with someone he knows but it's just -- it was already big and inevitably gonna get bigger on Amazon? But he's also not tied to it forever. Which is good for his music and studio stuff. And still able to shop around for larger roles that interest him.

Jared um-- he makes cowboy cops still kind of. Not even his most ardent fans seem truly excited about it anymore, but are staying out of stubborn actor loyalty. He sells mantra. He um. #1 on the call sheet.

It's a general given that none of these guys need to rush into any specific shape or form of role to be successful.

If we want to talk "classically successful" at this point that would be Jensen with his studio positioning and other litany of media investments.

Misha on the other hand--different sort entirely. For Misha, I think his current project work is incredibly successful. At the end of the day, yes, Misha's an actor sure, but he's more of a social influencer. And I mean that in a good way. But I mean, he said he's making a talk show about... traveling around experiencing people and food and things? hELLo Misha is a free spirit and he gets to go around and talk to people and eat weird stuff as WORK? sign me up motherfucker. He still dabbles around in roles and projects, but I don't think he's legitimately shopping for major camera roles right now. Maybe the right spot one will grab him but yet again, he just got out of being tied down for 11 years. Give him an RV and a bunch of roadie food and a CAMERA.

Jared-- I dunno. Congrats. You have another lead role on the CW again. ...Good for you. ...I'm-- okay.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Moriarty 8 - 11 (FINAL) | HypMic 12 - 13 (FINAL) | Taiso Samurai 7 - 9 | Akudama 9 - 12 (FINAL)

Hopefully I’ll be able to get on to all that backlog soon, because...I don’t want it to keep accumulating and Skate-Leading Stars (first winter 2021 anime) already has an advance 1st ep. up...

Moriarty 8

(Moriarty 8 notes deleted accidentally…)

Moriarty 9

If you want a modern equivalent to the Baker Street Irregulars, then I’d suggest you look this way *jabs finger at Odd Jobs Yamada (from HypMic)*.

These CGI background horse and carriages are…kind of distracting…

I’m guessing back in those days, the Irregulars were better than Google at finding info…because Google didn’t exist until the internet did.

Moriarty 10

Just this ep and one more until the end…at least, until spring 2021.

Wow, the use of colour here is really striking!

White lilies mean…purity/chastity…?

I’ve never heard of “bending someone’s ear” until now. It means to talk to someone, especially to ask a favour or to talk at length.

Probatio diabolica: the devil’s proof. I didn’t even know that was a concept until now…(I never once studied law, as you can tell.)

“William” isn’t normally shortened to “Liam”…It’s normally “Will”…also, notice all the footprints on the floor…

Moriarty 11 (FINAL)

Last ep. before spring 2021.

LOL, kabedon.

The fishy thing about Brits is that they’ve named things across the world names from Britain. I know there’s a Doncaster which isn’t anywhere near Britain, for one thing…

Observe the weird finger-like marking made by one of the bloodstains and the scratches on the suitcase. The latter was probably forced open.

Considering the number of signs the killer left, he was clearly in a hurry…

Well, based on that shoeprint we can find the killer if we can find traces of blood on his shoe.

“Duram” (sic).

Ah! If it was raining in Durham, then there would be traces of mud on the killer’s shoes. I remember early on in Detective Conan Shinichi, then newly shrunk, deduced Agasa was running in the rain based on the mud on his pants…this is similar.

Chloral (hydrate…?).

The “washroom” (apparently a Canadian term, the British term is “water closet”) has privacy and a place to get rid of the evidence, to some extent.

What about the rest of Eddie’s clothes?

Considering there are still 5 minutes of the ep. left…there’s going to be some kind of stinger for the next season. I can feel it.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait…Director Holmes??? Y’mean, Mycroft?! That is a good stinger! See you next time.

HypMic 12

“Ever since I was born, there was never a time I’d felt I’d accomplished something.” – Aw, Doppo, sweetpea (<- this blogger calls people “sweetpea” when they’re feeling lots of moe feels for them). Please don’t say that. You’ve accomplished more than enough in your life!

…Oh, almost didn’t notice it until Hifumi hid behind Doppo and the angle changed to confirm the jacket was on the bed, but Hifumi doesn’t have his jacket on.

I think I saw a tweet that said something about a wall being wrecked (specifically “Wall: Ow…”) but I wasn’t sure of the context, so I saved it in my bookmarks…LOL, so that’s what it means?

Samatoki, I know you don’t like Ichiro…but please stop trying to preach what his 2nd character song says in the title…(i.e. Break the Wall, LOL)

Jyuto’s very much a “I’ll leave this problem to the other guy” guy.

When the Funi subs say “dame”, I think Samatoki is just referring to an “onna” (woman). It’s a bit of an odd choice, really…although I can’t go and interrogate whoever was responsible for it. I don’t have the authority or the contacts that will allow me to.

This is not the time for fighting one another!!!

Notably, in the manga, Jakurai was going to chaffeur Hifumi and Doppo to their place, but then he had to go to work and so they rode the train with their prize money. This “run from Special Forces” ending is better, I think, since people got grumpy at Jakurai for having to abandon them with the money.

“…permission to cover a story.” - Permission from…who?

*screams* I was thinking Tom, Rex and Iris worked for a foreign government! They work for Ichijiku – why didn’t I think of that?!

LOL, I couldn’t even tell what Tom was saying until I played it back…it’s English, just…said in a spot where you don’t expect it.

“…that scares me.” – This may be nitpicky of me, but osoreru is actually a derivative of osore (fear), so “it strikes fear in me”…? “It strikes fear in my heart”? What would sound right…?

Go, host mode Hifumi! (...but does that imply host mode Hifumi is the only “version” of Hifumi able to rap? Certainly, he was able to do Wrap and Rap without his jacket, right…?)

You can tell Tom still respects Jakurai after all this time because he (the former) calls him (the latter) “Sensei”. Also, this’ll be interesting, we haven’t seen many mics and speakers beyond the standard bad guy ones (depicted in both the anime and the manga).

My gosh! All I knew of this song was that m-flo, also responsible for Human Lost’s theme song (and notably they’re a hip hop group with techno influences), was responsible for this song. Man, this s*** slaps! It’s great! (Sorry, I’ve just never really had the chance to capitalise on all the info I gathered on EDM DJs when talking in terms of things from Japan…m-flo is basically the only act I know which does that, so I’m really excited…can’t you tell from how verbose I’m getting in this note?)

That’s interesting that Matenrou won and Tom still took the gold chair symbolism to represent him and the Secret Aliens as the victor instead.

Iris’s parts are awesome. M-flo has a female vocalist and so I’d assume Iris takes on Lisa’s (m-flo’s vocalist’s) parts.

…Hmm, Gentaro’s made a reference to the track “Me Against the World”, has he?...Maybe.

I’m not quite sure, but I think Ramuda said “majo” (witch) when he was referring to Beauty and the Beast in the English subs.

…gosh, what is up with that airhorn…? Still, next time is the last time. See you on Christmas…no, Boxing Day.

HypMic 13 (FINAL)

This is the beginning of the end and the end of the beginning…y’know, considering how stuff trended on Twitter, I’d say this anime’s gonna get a 2nd season, but you can’t really say that until it actually happens. I mean, Boueibu is much less popular than HypMic and that got a 2nd season…

This is the 1st episode where I woke up early enough to watch without spoilers and had no obligations to place over it, so…this is exciting, in its own sense, but in a sense, it could also be called “profoundly disappointing” because this experience is only available to me as of the final episode.

One of the tweets I saw a few weeks back came to mind – someone became interested in sakuga houkai (terrible animation, literally “animation collapse”) because of HypMic…I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing…

…Dude, you probably shouldn’t answer a call from someone who just revealed themselves to be a traitor last episode…*sweatdrops*

(Spoiler for rest of franchise) Hmm…Dice’s face is pretty straight. Assuming at this point we knew Dice was Otome’s son, this is a good poker face from him…!

This thing about gangs was mentioned in their profiles (although the words used implies they “went delinquent”), so it actually doesn’t surprise me.

I wonder if this subway exists in the mainline story…?

According to the next ep. preview I saw on Twitter, TDD will reform to take down the Secret Aliens. I’m not sure if that was a guess or whether that’s true, so I’m waiting for the shoe to drop on it.

Samatoki-san, not -sama. Hmm…

There was definitely the word “team” in Dice’s line, so it’s “what the legendary team was made of”.

…oh gosh…they’re still using that airhorn…?

Again with the play on “lonely thunder”. It’s a really fun pun, but one I’d like to see in the rest of the series more.

Notably, Iris’s rap in English missed the word “charisma” where it could have fit (unless I missed reading it the first time).

Note Samatoki does actually use the word “shinsensa” (freshness), so there’s no lie there.

I still love how much they went in on Rex’s theme, even in his raps.

Huh, that’s new. Never seen a tag team like this before.

It seems Tom’s signature is using a lot of English, which makes it easy for us English/Japanese pair translators.

Saburo didn’t actually say “Ichi-nii”, did he…?

…based on the rock intro, this is Rhyme Anima, the OP, or something that sounds similar. What I’d need to confirm this is the “nautilus” line and the “ends corruption” line, which are the OP’s two biggest tells for AMQ.

“rainmaking” – Hmm, another link from Gentaro to Rei. This might be a different part of Rhyme Anima (OP) that wasn’t used as the OP proper.

“this white light invites and heals” (<- paraphrased) – Sounds like Sensei, alright!

…now that (rainbow bit). That’s sakuga!

*a silhouette appears* - Oh nooooooooooooooo! Now they‘ve done it! They’ve included Rei! That’s more than enough spoilers to last a lifetime for y’all anime-onlys!

I wish someone would work on this collaboration between Saburo and Riou…

Hmm…what is the series endgame? Putting in Dice as the new ruler??? I mean, Dice is the worst possible politician ever. He’s far too lax about things.

*Nemu enters* - No! Nemu!

Not only is Iris a “ramen shop owner”, it’s Tom’s favourite food…No wonder ramen has significance to her.

…ooh! A new song! Update: I don’t know what this song’s name is, although it probably will become clear what its name is on the 13th. I’ll keep my eye on Twitter in case the answer is there.

…I knew it was far too early to say if there was an s2 – the DVD’s live events go until September 5th and the 2nd DRB finishes in March. That almost felt like a stinger right there. Oh well, I’m more than happy to call this anime a success, even if I would call it the worst of the arms of the franchise. All HypMic’s anime had to do was deliver fun, before anything else, and it delivered on that front. See you around!

Taiso Samurai 7

Anime burnout means I’m coming back to the anime after the day it finishes.

This dancing scene is kind of like the one at the start of ep. 2 of IWGP, except it has the owl to represent the setting as well as the dance stage.

Leo doesn’t seem to know kanji or katakana, only hiragana.

Even though this part of the anime is set in London, the characters are still speaking Japanese (lel…?).

LOL, Edward Scissorhands much?

LOL, these background gossips are like the Plastics from Mean Girls…haha.

…LOL, that’s not one of those dismounting moves, is it? It’s just kind of…jumping off the bar.

Lookit how Leo’s sticker is 90 deg. sideways from what it should be, haha.

I don’t think it’s true that Olympic gymnasts have never failed. Like other people at the top of their game, they’re probably failed millions of times, but only outside the view of most of the world. Persistence and passion are what’s key to becoming the best at what you are, no matter what field you’re in.

Now Aragaki’s what I call a “determinator” (see TV Tropes on what that is).

Taiso Samurai 8

Notably, the word used for “clothes” is specifically for Western clothing, like dresses.

Well, now we know why Leo can do those stretches…

They’ve clearly sped up the dance here, but…it’s basically the same sort of movements Yuri on Ice used to suck me in. I’m here for it!

Leo seems to be the type who tries to push away his worries by distracting people (including himself) with other things…I see. I didn’t have much of a grasp of his character beforehand.

Britney! F*** you, Britney!

Ah, that must be the (a?) fabled owl of Ikebukuro. I’ve never actually been to Ikebukuro…the closest I got was Akihabara (to memory) and even then, that was for electronics, not anime…so I’ve never seen the owl statue I’ve been talking about close up.

Rei does kind of look like her mother like this.

Ah! Rei and Kitty have a pair look now! “Twinsies”, they call it.

Amakusa’s head is located right next to Leo’s butt, so I end up staring at it…LOL.

The Hoover mission.

“I <3 Ninja”, LOL.

LOL, “Nyapoo!”

*sighs* The problem with being multi-talented is that you’re going to be told to one day put one passion above the others, even if you don’t want that.

LOL, you can be a ninja with this WikiHow article. (I was looking for Kitty’s quote, but found that instead. It seems to be a quote from one of Tomoyo’s movies.) Update: I was right.

There’s a movie in the back where the title is “Black Rainmaker”. (Tomoyo, I presume) Mifune is the 1st person credited.

Considering this is 2003…you won’t be on Mars in 2013, Kitty.

Wow, a tape! That brings me back to 2003, indeed.

Charlie’s Angels…so that’s what the tape was.

LOL, a shoebill.

“blade in your heart” – That would refer to the character for “ninja”, which has a blade over a heart. Y’know Kiss Shot Acerola Heart-Under-Blade (from Monogatari), yeah? Like that.

…you might think emails were out of place in 2003, but a virus from an email caused me to be an avid reader and that virus was unleashed around the late 90s – early 2000s.

LOL, Kitty’s cat belt buckle.

You said it, Rei. You said it.

Taiso Samurai 9

Lausanne, Switzerland.

I noticed one of the boxes at the start of the OP says “Horizontal Bars”, rather than some random name to make the boxes look like they were discarded.

Someone encoded the video funny…

LOL, BB’s getting possessive of his territory.

Fuku-chan the fukurou (owl) in Ikebukuro…LOL.

LOL, randomly there’s a skeleton with a hat in the background of Britney’s clinic.

Notably, one of the wall hangings says “heart” on it – alternatively, “soul”.

Notably, Atlanta was the 1996 Summer Olympics…there is no 1997 Lausanne Olympics, as far as I know.

Akudama 9

I watched the part where it glitches twice and I can’t quite figure out what that circular symbol is…maybe it’s Hacker’s symbol…?

Ah! Only now they properly confirm Swindler used to work in the Seal centre.

“Life that never dies is defective.” – Doctor

Does that mean Doctor is actually older than she looks, due to plastic surgery…?

Marker? What marker?

Apparently that flower is a cherry blossom…according to Detective Conan.

…I know this anime wasn’t made in America (it wouldn’t be “anime” otherwise), but Anime Feminist is going to have a field day with this one…if they haven’t abandoned it already due to their idea of morals.

…now I can even see parallels between HypMic’s authorities and Akudama’s. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

“Why did this have to happen when I’m chief?” – Sounds like…basically every authority during COVID and BLM, to be honest.

See? Akudama likes the S word. I told you.

I haven’t watched The Shining, but reading the synopsis, you can figure out why Cutthroat is the way he is…sort of.

How does the iconic quote go? “Heeeeeeeeeeeere’s Danny!” (or something…?)

They even copied the iconic eye shot! There you go!

Way to take a guy out (with the door, LOL).

…with all this killing, I can see why Akudama Drive was only in one magazine now. (Then again, HypMic was in basically all of them and that also has a tonne of problems…)

Akudama 10

万死 literally means “10000 deaths”.

Babel.

That police chief is such a mood, LOL.

I can see why people didn’t recognise Swindler, but Courier never changes his look, so…uh…

You can’t become a police chief without a sense of justice, no?

“Since when did you know that I’m not-“ - *facepalms*

Is this what they call an “ass-kickin’ Christmas”? (LOL)

Y’know, Sister, you could just do the whole “wherever you are, I’m also seeing the same sky as you” thing some other anime do.

Notably, there are shide (the paper strips) and a rope over the vault…they really do treat the shinkansen and its immortal children as a single god, huh?

Hmm? They don’t care about Sister anymore? Just Brother? (Somewhere along the way, the priorities must have shifted.)

In the end, the best ship is Brawler and Hoodlum (lel).

Akudama 11

One more ep after this. I’m gonna miss this anime, even if it was crazy over-the-top and I didn’t finish it until after the day it ended.

I think the scariest scene in all of Akudama Drive is the one where the “cleaner” tosses the girl aside.

“This nowhere place!” – Around this time, the bunny and shark’s shirts say “morning”/”afternoon” (shark) and “evening” (bunny).

The blue bird of happiness…literally. That character on the birds is the one for “happy”.

…LOL, that one glitched Courier looks more like Cutthroat.

Hacker’s drone matches Courier’s head angles, LOL.

I guess if you think you’re falling in Kanto, you’re falling in Kanto and if you think you’re floating (like Courier did), you float. I always liked that concept.

War Games. Now the title makes sense!

…but they can be together if they stay here in Kanto as vessels for the citizens? (That sounds mighty antagonistic of me, but…that logic does compute.)

Maybe swindlers play games with the truth…? (What an interesting concept.)

“Just fine.” – I think Hacker needs a “This is fine” meme.

“We can hear your heart talking.” – It means something like “We can hear you spouting your true intentions.”

“…worth every last penny…” – That’s a weird thing to say for someone whose life got changed by 500 yen…Just goes to tell you how American the subbers can be sometimes.

Swindler’s smug face is so good, LOL.

Akudama 12 (FINAL)

This episode isn’t named after a movie. It’s named after the anime itself.

The TV says “Please watch away from the TV”, i.e. stand back from the TV while you watch.

“They came and stole the offerings…” – At this point, bunny’s shirt says “freedom” and shark’s says honpou, meaning “wild, uninhibited, rampant, extravagant”.

…where did Shikoku come from? Is that where Swindler and Sister landed after they tried going to the moon?

Ohh! That Christian imagery! That’s scary!

Is Akudama Drive a tragedy? No, I think…on the contrary, it’s a story of hope.

LOL, “s*** guy”.

I thought the girl had a bomb. Turns out she has a gun, which is…far worse, come to think of it.

Instead of red characters which say things about the situation, now Shark and Bunny have Hacker’s symbol on them.

There’s no way anyone who wasn’t immortal would survive the attack Courier took…

…why is it that falling over represents vulnerability in children in all of these stores where a war has happened and/or there’s a chase? Hmm?

Wow, Sister did everything with heels on…?!

Anyways, that was a fun time. See you next time!

[letterstomycountry]

Manufacturing Liberal Consent

Image via TPM

Noam Chomsky wrote a book with Edward S. Herman in 1988 called Manufacturing Consent.  It is about how media outlets are controlled and manipulated by people in positions of power to influence public opinion.  

I couldn’t help but think back to Chomsky’s message in Manufacturing Consent as I took stock of the media coverage of this year’s Democratic primaries, which has been uniformly awful.  

Take, for instance, the popular narrative that after Joe Biden won Michigan that the Bernie Sanders campaign is all but over.  Headlines include:

Sanders not dropping out but where does he go from here?

Bernie Sanders will stay in primary race despite losses in key states

Campaign Says Bernie Sanders Will Not Drop Out Immediately Despite Michigan Loss

Defiant Bernie Sanders vows to soldier on in US campaign

The bleak picture painted by these headlines suggest that the Sanders Campaign’s chances of victory is slim.  But that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.  Right now, Joe Biden has 864 delegates.  Bernie Sanders has 710.  So Bernie is roughly 150 delegates behind.  And there are still over *2000* delegates that haven't been awarded yet.  

So why are so many pundits saying Bernie Sanders' campaign is basically over and has failed to “win key states” when the Obama campaign was even further behind in 2008?  Why the slanted media coverage?

The answer seems pretty clear:

You can see that strikingly today where there is huge debate about Sanders being a socialist. “How can we have a socialist president?” In fact, Sanders is what would be called a moderate social democrat in most other societies. In other societies, the word “socialist” is not a curse word — people call themselves socialists and even communists. In the United States, there’s a stigma attached to it by massive propaganda going way back to 1917. Such huge propaganda efforts to demonize the concepts of socialism and communism (saying it means the “gulag” or whatever) is again pretty much unique to the United States. It’s a barrier to introducing even mild New Deal–style social-democratic reforms.

This stigma is largely a type of manufactured consent, however.  When you ask people if they agree with the policies Bernie Sanders is proposing, polls consistently show that the majority of people approve of his policies.

Polls also consistently show that the Bernie Sanders campaign is the best suited to defeat Donald Trump in the general election.

So why do we continue to hear how dangerous it is to nominate Bernie Sanders as the Democratic presidential candidate from media outlets?  Why are people like Chris Matthews freaking out on national television?  Why are moderate democrats calling for the primary to be “shut down” when there’s still a relatively small gap between the candidates?

This is how the rich and powerful manufacture consent.  They use their influence over media outlets to ensure that a certain narrative is reinforced.   And frankly, I have to say that this year’s coverage of the Democratic primary has been uniquely demonstrative of that fact.  Never before has it been more plain that people in charge of powerful institutions are using their large bank accounts and ability to influence media programming decisions behind the scenes to try to sway public opinion in a specific direction by making certain narratives about politics appear to be "common sense" among the intellectual class.

How else can we explain the fact that we have been bombarded with opinion pieces over the past year telling us how Bernie Sanders isn’t electable, despite poll after poll showing that Bernie Sanders does better against Trump than any other candidate?  How else can we explain the fact that nearly all the other  moderates in the Democratic primary dropped out in near-perfect synchronicity just before Super Tuesday in an effort to shore up support for a single moderate candidate?  

The DNC has made it publicly apparent that they want to stop Bernie Sanders from getting the nomination.  Some reports suggest that Barack Obama made several calls telling the other candidates it was time to drop out and get behind Joe Biden.  Whether that specific factoid is true or not, who knows.  But given the DNC’s very publicly announced bias towards Sanders, it seems probable that there was an organized effort to get the moderate candidates to coalesce around a single moderate.  

And so the DNC has now forced Joe Biden upon us.  A man who--not unlike our current President--apparently has trouble not touching women without their consent.  A man who is showing signs of deteriorating cognitive ability.  A man who is so gaffe prone that his own surrogates are trying to limit the number of public appearances he makes to avoid more media gaffes.  A man who, despite signaling support for the #metoo movement and women’s rights, once said this about Roe v. Wade:

“I don’t like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far. I don’t think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body.”

And even if you ignore all this, imagine how Donald Trump--a master of verbal misdirection and appealing to the electorate’s baser instincts on the bully pulpit--will manhandle a Democratic presidential candidate who recently tried to quote a well known phrase from the Declaration of Independence and forgot it halfway.  This is to say nothing of the ammunition Trump will have during the general election given that the Republican led Senate is now proceeding with an official corruption probe into Joe and Hunter Biden’s private dealings.

Despite all this, establishment Dems are doing their best to manufacture consent for Joe Biden.  And by every indication they are doing a hell of a job.  Before Super Tuesday, Biden’s performance was abysmal.  But once he became the only moderate left in the race, and suddenly received a storm of endorsements from other establishment politicians, he was suddenly electorally competitive.  Add to this a little bit of voter suppression designed to discourage young voters from participating, along with the emotional resilience of the “problematic Bernie Bro” mythology that has been empirically demonstrated to be false, you have an excellent full court press designed to manufacture consent for Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Keep this in mind as the primary campaign continues.  And keep it in mind this Sunday when Joe Biden debates Bernie Sanders.  Better yet, think about all of this if  Joe Biden gets the nomination, because if he does, he will almost certainly lose to Donald Trump in November.  Not just because he is a weak candidate, but because nominating Joe Biden is the end of the Democratic party as we know it.  

Progressives have made it clear that they are sick of being lied to and used to support Democratic candidates who then flip the script once they are in office.  They are tired of being black-mailed into supporting candidates like Joe Biden, who told a room of wealthy donors last year that “nothing will fundamentally change” if he is elected President.  

The media has done a fantastic job of making Joe Biden seem like an electable moderate.  But  “our needs our not moderate.”  As we speak, New York City can’t close schools to prevent the Corona Virus from spreading because over 100,000 kids in the NYC school system are homeless and depend on meals from school to get enough food for the day.  But since nothing will fundamentally change if Biden is elected, it sounds like he will not show half as much determination to solve this problem as he showed in opposing federal busing to end segregation in the 1970′s. 

 Remember that Al Gore lost in 2000.  John Kerry lost in 2004.  Hillary Clinton lost in 2016.  And recall that Obama won in 2008 by appealing to young voters, who are  much more supportive of progressive policies than older voters.   Despite this, the Democratic party has once again--just like in 2000, 2004, and 2016--made it abundantly clear that it would rather run a weak establishment moderate and lose, than run a progressive change candidate and win.  Why?  Well, at least that way, wealthy democratic donors get to keep their yacht money.  

[catulla-claudia]

Callixta Claudia Catulla

“Callixtus Claudius Valerius, look me in the eye and tell me you’re not going to be as shit of a brother as you are a politician.”

General information

Known as

Callixta Claudia Catulla: Legal name

Catulla: Commonly known as

Cat: Nickname

Callis Maxim: Pseudonym

Lady Catulla: Title

Occupation

Painter

Noblewoman

Favorites

Favorite meal: Saltimbocca

Favorite drink: White wine

Favorite flower: Carnation

Personality traits

Birthday: November 16

Age: 29

Zodiac sign: Scorpio

MBTI: ISFP

Pronouns: She/her

Main(s): Lucio

Patron Arcana: Knight of Swords

Relatives

Callixtus Claudius Valerius: The Consul, her elder brother, known most commonly as Valerius. She dislikes his general connivery, whilst he believes her too soft and still resents her for their mother’s death, but they still share a sense of comradery over their father’s political designs for both of them.

Cato Claudius Maximus: Father, the patriarch of the Claudius family and previous Consul of Vesuvia before his death during the Red Plague, usually simply known as Consul Maximus. Her cognomen was derived from his praenomen of Cato.

Poppaea Valeria Maximii: Mother of Catulla and Valerius, her marriage with her husband was rare amongst nobles as it was for love, and she died giving birth to Catulla, one of the main sources of contention between Cat and her brother and father.

Gens Claudia: Patrician family to which Catulla belonged, descended from her father. Several generations before her birth, her ancestors had changed the laws of Vesuvia that made the title of Consul a hereditary title passed down through the Claudii clan rather than an elected role after generations previous of bribery and political plotting that kept the Claudii clan in power as Consuls.

Gens Valeria: Patrician family to which Catulla’s mother belonged and for whom her elder brother was named after.

Physical description

Gender: Female

Height: 5′2′’

Eye color: Hazel

Hair color: Black with blue-silver ombre

Appearance

Cat is a petite woman who looks to be in her early to mid twenties, with an elegant yet unrestrained air, described as being "all the wild beauty of a garden". Her hair is black, with the ends dyed into a blue-silver ombre, and she has hazel eyes, a shade or two darker than her brother’s. She’s said to resemble her mother greatly, being fine-boned, with large eyes and a straight nose. She has a beauty mark on her left cheek. She loves high-collared lace and silk shirts, as well as floral patterns and puffed and gathered sleeves.

Personality

Unlike her brother, Cat doesn't like the idea of manipulating others or being a chess piece. As a result, she'd also expressed a desire for a simple life, content to live off her family inheritance as a philanthropist and patron of the fine arts as well as expand her own crafts as an artist. While her family exults in power and influence, her motivations lean more towards living life on her own terms. Some part of her resents her family for their insistence in playing at the game of politics, though it’s often overpowered by her internalization of her father’s neglect of her during her childhood. She’s only ever really soft and open when it comes to art-- at the rest of times, her personality is seen as sarcastic or snippy, with a hatred for flattery and strictly no-nonsense, often fidgeting or becoming anxious when there’s nothing for her to do. However, Catulla can be just as manipulative and ruthless, able to read people like they’re open books even without the help of magic or a tarot deck, as she was born and raised as a Claudii after all-- she simply dislikes politics. That doesn't mean she's bad at it.

History

Family background

Catulla was born as Callixta Claudia Catulla, of the Claudius family. Catulla was named after her father, whose name was Cato Claudius Maximus, known vernacularly as Consul Maximus. She had one elder brother, Callixtus Claudius Valerius, known vernacularly as Valerius, three years her senior.

The Claudii were one of the oldest and most noble of Vesuvia’s families, with members frequently holding the highest offices of the state, and had over the course of several generations, seized control of the office of Consul to the point it became a hereditary title passed down through the family rather than an elected one as it was initially intended.

Consul Maximus and his wife, Poppaea Valeria, were arranged to be married, but unlike most nobles, they were deeply in love, and Poppaea was often said to be the power behind Consul Maximus’s hand, and was also quite well-respected by the people of Vesuvia.

Childhood

Catulla was named for her father, whilst her elder brother was named for her mother’s family. Her mother, Poppaea Valeria, died giving birth to her-- as a result, her father and brother had resented her for this, and her father treated her coldly during her childhood, heaping all his aspirations onto her elder brother, with Catulla being forgotten in the shadows.

As a result, Catulla was raised mostly by tutors and servants, keeping mostly to herself during her childhood, the shamed daughter of the Consul hidden away in the Claudius estate. It was during this time she gained an appreciation for the arts-- cooped up in such a large manor with a lush garden and vineyard, she found herself often staying out to sketch the sceneries and making different studies of the servants at work as well.

Adolescence

By the time she was around thirteen or fourteen, she was deemed talented and useful enough by her father to send her away abroad to study the arts-- once again, out of sight and out of mind. She spent the next few years travelling to places like Firent, Zadith, and Prakra, studying the painting, architecture, and sculpture of each of the different cultures, returning back to Vesuvia when they were around nineteen with a wealth of knowledge.

Adulthood

Catulla was introduced at court by her father at the wedding of Count Lucio to Nadia Satrinava, alongside her elder brother-- she was around twenty at that time. Later, she received note from town gossip that the Count was looking to commission an artist for his official portraits.

Determined to win the commission, Catulla had worked in secrecy and submitted her sample work to the palace under the pseudonym of Callis Maxim, unwilling to throw around her family reputation. It was to her pleasure and surprise that she was notified, a month later, of her winning the commission.

Catulla had informed her father of her new occupation and then without waiting for his protest or permission, promptly moved into guest apartments in the Vesuvian Palace, where she would stay for the next year as she worked on a painting of the Count as seen in the Arcana game, standing proudly over the skull of a dead beast, with mountains in the background

Court Painter

He was apparently so pleased with her work that she’d been promoted to the Court Painter, whereupon she had been tasked with painting a myriad of things, mostly for his vanity projects-- paintings of him, paintings of his menagerie of pets.

Over time, Catulla had befriended him, or, as much as anyone could befriend the count, being referred to affectionately as “Cat” by him, and something of a one-sided infatuation had sprung up, with Cat having held a soft spot for him despite his selfish tendencies due to his love and care for his pets, though she made sure he had remained unaware of this, and he was in the meanwhile having an affair with her brother.

When the Red Plague swept the city, she’d been horrified at his inaction, distancing herself from him and calculatedly cutting off any form of their previous friendliness towards each other-- her last commission was the painting of the feast in the dining hall, and the grim and ominous composition was a manifestation of her disappointment and bitter anger towards him. She’d given it to him as a parting gift, alongside a resignation letter.

The Red Plague

Catulla intended to leave court for fear of Lucio’s wrath after reading her resignation letter; however, she had been called back by the Countess, who’d asked her to help her and Doctor Devorak improve the quality of life in Vesuvia through public works projects, something she’d studied as an architectural student in Prakra at one point.

When the Count contracted the plague as well, she’d taken over this public works project as Julian was tasked to find a cure; during her meetings with the courtiers, she’d learned from her brother, acting Interim Consul, that their father had also contracted the plague.

Masquerade

At one point, Catulla had suffered a breakdown from the stress and vanished mysteriously, to the chagrin of her brother, it was this that prevented her from being present at the Masquerade where Lucio was murdered.

It was later revealed that just before the masquerade, she’d decided to run away from Vesuvia, no longer able to withstand the pressures of running the public works project, or the fear for her father and the Count despite her better judgement. She had moved around over the next three years from here to there, working as a painter for tourists and passerby, her pride preventing her from returning to Vesuvia and asking her brother for help.

Aftermath

She was later found to be living in Nevivon by Lucio, newly freed from his Devils’ bargain and banished by Nadia from Vesuvia no less, selling portrait miniatures or scenic paintings to tourists and passerby on the street. She couldn’t recall him, not even able to put a name to his face-- this had prompted him to bring her back to the palace despite Nadia’s threats of punishment to see her own artworks hanging up over the halls, hoping to prompt her memory to return.

It was there she’d run into her brother, shocked to see her alive and well for all those years, and shocked even more to see Lucio of all people with her, who he’d called the guards on, running him out of the palace once again.

Despite her suspicions, he made an effort to reconcile and show that he wasn’t the asshole she’d believed him to be in their earlier years. Over time, as she gradually returned to palace life, the gaps in her memories gradually filled in, and she was welcomed back in helping Nadia and Julian with their aqueduct projects.

However, there was always a missing piece, it felt like, in their mind, and they hadn’t realized what it was till Nadia mentioned offhandedly she didn’t really wish to have Lucio’s portraits hanging around anymore, but she also felt guilty if she were to throw away Catulla’s works, prompting the artist to ask after Lucio...

Trivia

Callixta, Catulla’s unused personal name, means chalice, and is shared with her brother. Her cognomen that’s most commonly used, Catulla, means wise or good judgement. As with Roman naming conventions, her family name is in the feminine form.

Calixta can speak at least six different languages as part of her formal education.

She suffers from selective memory loss and can’t remember any of the time she spent at Court, though she recalls her education, early years, and family quite well.

Her story plays out in a continuation of Nadia’s route rather than in Lucio’s own route.

She’s not a magician, nor are any of her known family members, but doesn’t have quite as much a dislike for magic as Valerius does, and her instinct and intuition is unusually sharp for someone without magic.

She has a smooth voice that “sounds like a Disney princess”.

[tinsley-goldsworth]

clockwork

summary: francesca watches ricky and tinsley’s relationship develop as the clock ticks by (week 22 of my 30 weeks of prompts challenge: clocks) 

(read on ao3!) 

wc: 1558

Francesca Norris has known Ricky Goldsworth for a very long time. She knew him when they were both innocent children who were too young to understand the horrors of the world. They both enjoyed going to elementary school together, and, when asked about their parents, they both always answered with the same “they work in business” phrase because, in reality, their parents’ jobs were very complicated.

Ricky’s mother Lucy Goldsworth was a famous criminal who was infamous for her reasonable rates and efficiency. When someone needed something illegal to be done, Lucy was always the person people went to. Her husband, Ricky Goldsworth’s dad, was a mobster that he worked with Lucy but ending up running off, hence Ricky’s daddy issues. On the other hand, Francesca’s mother was an infamous spy who was well known for her problems with authority and Francesca’s father was a journalist who was not observative at all.

Francesca’s mother met Lucy on a mission once and they both became fast friends, bonding over their shared hate of government officials. Ricky and Francesca became friends because they saw each other so often when their mothers met up to discuss how dumb politicians were. 

There was no surprise that both mothers were killed during missions and that left a very important decision for Ricky and Francesca. They had to decide whether they wanted to pursue a different path from their parents or take over their jobs. To this day, Francesca still has no idea whether Ricky influenced her or she influenced him, but somewhere along the line, they both agreed to follow in their mothers’ footsteps, becoming “bad people”, instead of ending what their mothers had started.

Ricky has always been cold, even before he started killing people for cash. His cold behavior makes it clear he always destined to take on his mother’s job. Even as a child, he had little remorse to show for other children who were in his way and while he didn’t exactly deal with them by stabbing them, Ricky was still shoved them out of his way with the aggression he would use to stab somebody. Francesca, on the other hand, was responsible for talking the teacher out of punishing Ricky, which is how she realized that she had a hidden power of sweet-talking and persuasion. 

Unsurprisingly, as Ricky spent more time doing his job, he grew more apathetic and whatever little sympathy he had in his heart seemed to have shriveled up and died. Francesca knew that his job required him to practically be drained of any emotion but she was alarmed by the fact that Ricky somehow grew colder as he grew more powerful. 

However, Francesca’s alarm disappeared the day that Ricky stopped by her house for their weekly weekend conversation about life updates and such, since the two still remained best friends even after their new jobs dominated their lives. Francesca was adjusting the position of her clock on the wall (the time read 9:14 at night) when she heard a knock on the door. 

The moment Ricky opened the door, Francesca knew that something was up with him. Her instinctive habits of reading people kicked in and she began noting all the signs, connecting them as she went along. Ricky’s top button was unbuttoned and he never left his top unbuttoned unless he was trying to impress somebody, which he didn’t really need to do in order to attract business since he was pretty well known in the criminal world already. So, this meant that he left his top button unbuttoned for somebody who he was not working with, possibly as a means to express subtle romantic interest.

Before Francesca could scrutinize any further details, Ricky made the connections for her when he took off his blazer and excitedly exclaimed, “You won’t believe what happened today! I met the dumbest, but also cutest, detective today when I was working on an assignment somebody gave to me and apparently, somebody else tipped the authorities off about the assignment so C.C. Tinsley was there and he was definitely not the detective to send because first of all, those long legs are totally wasted if he’s just standing around solving cases all the time and second of all, he got really distracted by my flirting and I managed to slip away with the goods before he could notice. He was really cute though, I’m thinking about seeing him again.”

Ricky paused his rambling to catch his breath and Francesca was shocked into utter silence. She hadn’t heard Ricky talk about anybody so passionately ever in their countless years spent together and she seemed to be unable to process the notion that Ricky Goldsworth wasn’t completely emotionless. Maybe Ricky had finally lost his mind after years of trauma from the horrors he witnessed during his assignments; that would be a more reasonable explanation than the suggestion that Ricky might be catching romantic feelings for somebody. 

“I’m going to take your silence as support. I’m going to see him again, and hopefully ask him out, and maybe this can go somewhere,” Ricky concluded before he took out Francesca’s knife-sharpening tools from her cabinet. Normally, Francesca would’ve teasingly rolled her eyes since he always used her knife-sharpening tools, even though he had a perfectly functioning set at home. Instead, she was still so shocked that she just watched Ricky sharpen knives as he hummed happily to himself.

~

The next time Ricky spoke about C.C.Tinsley, Francesca was just about to go to sleep. It was 1:32 am and frankly, Francesca was more than ready to go to sleep after a long day of staying in disguise for her latest mission. She just finished removing her wig when she received an incoming call from Ricky. Usually, Ricky preferred to stop by to chat so this meant that Ricky either had something urgent to say or something extremely quick. 

Nevertheless, Francesca picked up just in case the case was the former and, just her luck, the case was the latter. Before Francesca could even ask Ricky why he was calling her, Ricky began rambling about C.C. Tinsley.

“Guess what? I talked to him again and convinced him to go out on a date with me! It’s going to be great. But I mean, I obviously maintained my cool and stayed calm but I’m really excited! I know you’re probably planning to sleep right now so sorry for calling you but I just wanted to give you an update! Good night!”

Francesca was very certain that Ricky was either possessed, had too much sugar, or was truly infatuated with this detective for him to sound so energetic at 1:32 in the early morning.

That was not the only instance where Ricky contacted Francesca in the dead of night (or extremely early in the morning). At 3:25 am on a Wednesday night, Francesca woke up since her mission started at 5:30 and she needed two hours in order to get into her disguise. She received a chain of text messages from Ricky about C.C. yet again. This time, it was about how C.C. agreed to finally move up to boyfriend status.

As Francesca put her lipstick on, she read the enthusiastic texts that were all punctuated with several exclamations marks and random keyboard smashes to express the feeling of being overwhelmed with emotions. She was glad that Ricky hadn’t started using emojis to unironically express himself because that would be the most concerning action out of all the actions he did so far. Francesca replies with a few words of encouragement and then told Ricky to sleep and save his love for later.

There were so many more instances where Ricky talked to Francesca about his boyfriend. He invited her to his housewarming party when he and C.C. moved in together at 12:34 am on a Sunday night (technically Monday morning). He also sent her photos from his first vacation with C.C. in some secluded place in the middle of nowhere that had breathtaking views at 7:45 on a Tuesday evening. 

The most memorable one was the most recent one, which was exactly at 2:45 in the early morning when Francesca received a call from Ricky. She predicted that it would be about Tinsley and she picked up, half-awake. “Hey Ricky, what’s up?”

“Fran, I’m getting married! I just proposed to Tinsley and he said yes. Would you like to be my best man? Well, I mean, technically you’d be my best woman and it goes against tradition but screw tradition.”

“Are you kidding me? I’d love to!” Francesca practically squealed, standing up as joy coursed through her veins. “I’m so happy for you! Congratulations!”

This is what led to Francesca standing at the altar, giving a speech about the specific times that Ricky talked about his fiancé and how the clock seemed to play an important role in the evolution of their relationship. She finished her speech and Ricky and C.C. finally got married after years of being in love at exactly 6:19 in the evening on a Sunday. Their relationship was the definition of clockwork and Francesca felt a little emotional at the thought of her being able to see how they decide to write their future.

~

click the link in bio for more bfu fics!

[bytheangell]

To Fall Again

(Read on AO3) Square Filled: Inter-dimensional Travel for @shadowhunterbingo Pairing: Jimon  Rating: Teen and Up  – Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Tags: Multiple Universes, pre-fic character death, angst with a happy ending Summary:   Simon Lewis didn’t think moving on was possible. He didn’t think he’d ever be ready to fall in love again. It’s a good thing life rarely waits until you’re ready. NOTE/WARNING: There is no character death that happens within the current timeline of this fic, but there is one that takes place just prior. However, all versions of the characters who appear in and are the focus of the fic itself are, and remain, alive and well!  -------------

Simon Lewis never expected to love again after Jace Herondale. Like everything that came with Jace, their love exploded shortly after the fuse was lit, a brilliant burst of excitement and color and adventure and passion. Most flames that burn as bright as Jace did would be expected to burn out just as fast, but he never did.

And he never would have, Simon was almost certain - too bad they never got the chance to find out before his light was snuffed out instead.

Jace worked as a bounty hunter, it was the family business, and they knew the dangers. They did what they could to mitigate the risks but it wasn’t enough. After it happened Simon wondered if he had it in him to take revenge - he and Jace were polar opposites when it came to a lot of things, a stomach for violence included, but Simon thought he might have it in him for this.

For Jace.

He didn’t get the chance to find out as Jace’s siblings took care of that for all of them. They also looked out for Simon during those first few weeks when he barely left the house, never answered his phone or texts, and was very obviously not doing great. When it was clear Simon needed a change of pace - or at the very least to start leaving the apartment again - they convinced him to take on a part-time bartending job with his friend Maia. They want him to be happy, he knows that - hell, he can tell they even want him to move on - but he knows the latter is impossible and he isn’t so sure of the former if he’s being honest.

He takes the job anyway if only to make ends meet without needing help from the Lightwoods. It turns out to be one of the best decisions he ever made.

New New York is too busy of a city for Simon but he can’t bring himself to move. Ever since it was branded as a centralized hub for Official Interdimensional Travel the influence of people passing through from other worlds nearly quadrupled. Simon is still weirded out by the common use of portals between worlds but many others take full advantage - some looking to start over, others to simply get away for a day or two. A lot of missionary sort of work from more advanced universes to struggling ones, which is cool and all. It’s just a lot, and not for Simon.

Until he sees Jace again.

It’s only been four months since the funeral when Simon catches sight of the familiar blonde hair walking away from him. He does a double-take and nearly brushes it off like he usually does - it wouldn’t be the first time he saw a stranger in a crowd and thought for just a moment it was Jace, knowing full well that it wasn’t - except there’s something more to it this time. Something about the way the figure carries himself, the style of that leather jacket, and when he drops something and turns around to pick it up Simon sees his face for the first time and nearly faints.

It’s actually Jace, but it isn’t his Jace - even from here Simon can see he’s missing a scar on his neck that Jace got when one of his bounties had a hidden knife they didn’t find when they searched him and tried to get free, managing to get one good swipe in before Jace knocked the weapon away.

So not his Jace, but still… Jace.

And then just as quickly he’s gone, lost in the crowd. By the time Simon manages to gather himself enough to try and follow there’s no sign of him anywhere, and Simon doesn’t stop thinking about it for a very long time.

---

The next time Simon spots him he’s coming out from the back with four plates of food, two in his hands and two balanced on his arms.

All four drop to the ground with an unceremonious clatter when the sight of Jace sitting on one of the barstools catches him off-guard.

“Simon, what the fuc-” Maia starts, fully ready to tear into him over the food that’ll have to probably be comped off that group’s bill and re-made on the fly, but when she catches sight of the blonde at the bar she softens immediately.

“Take 30, Lewis. I’ll clean this up.”

Simon stands there, unsure of what to do. Does he leave? Does he talk to him? How does he even begin to-

“Hey, you alright?” Jace asks, leaning over the counter a bit towards Simon.

“No,” Simon says immediately.

“It’s just… you’re looking at me like you’ve seen a ghost.”

A ghost. Close enough.

“I.. you…” Simon starts, but he can’t seem to find the words. “Jace, right?”

“Jonathan,” Jace says.

Jonathan Christopher.

“And you are…?” Jace - no, Jonathan - asks.

It hurts Simon to hear, to realize he doesn’t know, but of course he doesn’t. Why would he?

“Simon,” Simon says, with a small, sad smile.

“You’re still staring, Simon,” Jonathan points out.

“Shit, sorry. I should go-”

“Wait,” Jonathan stops him. “Why? If you don’t mind me asking?”

“You look like my ex,” Simon says, then cringes when he realizes how that sounds. “He, uh. He died.”

“Oh,” Jonathan says. “I’m sorry. I should go-”

“No, please,” Simon says, not intending for his voice to sound as pleading as it does. “I’d actually, uh… I mean if you’re going to sit for a drink, maybe we can just chat? Unless that’s too weird. That’s too weird, isn’t it?”

Jonathan smiles, and god, there’s that grin Simon fell in love with. “Not at all. I’ve got an hour or two before I have to head home.”

Simon takes the next hour off - Maia is very understanding - to talk to Jonathan about his life and where he’s from, but it’s over too quickly and soon he’s on his way, back to a universe without Simon.

A universe where he’s still alive and well and thriving.

Simon wonders how many more versions of him are out there.

He never expects to actually find out.

---

The answer is a lot. It seems like no dimension is complete without its own Jace Herondale, or occasionally Wayland or Morgenstern. Sometimes he goes by Jonathan or J.C.; sometimes he’s a chef, or a soldier, or a pianist; sometimes he recognizes Simon and sometimes he doesn’t... but at the core of him, he’s always just Jace.

Simon talks to one or two of them when they cross paths, usually stopping in for food or a drink during their travels. The only problem is that they’re always on the way to somewhere, and never stay long enough for him to really get to know.

He knows how absurd that desire is, the desire to have these other Jace’s stay, and-- and what? Because whatever Jace comes through isn’t his Jace - he has a job, a family, an entire life to get back to, he doesn’t want to stay and comfort Simon.

Until one does.

Jace Herondale is the grandson of Imogen Herondale, a well known and wealthy politician in the dimension he’s from. He travels for fun because he’s a bit of a troublemaker and his family decided it was better to let him wander and do his own thing if that’s what keeps the family name from being dragged through the dirt.

Simon knows this because they talk, and when it becomes increasingly apparent that Simon doesn’t intend on kicking him out of the bar Jace stays until close and then admits he doesn’t have anywhere else to be if Simon wanted to grab a nightcap.

They end up back at Simon’s apartment. Nothing happens, but they talk some more, and Jace stays the night on the sofa. He stays the night after that, and the one after that, too. Simon offers to trade-off and take the sofa, and when Jace refuses he hesitantly offers to share the bed instead.

Just to sleep, they agree - until sleeping together leads to, well, sleeping together, and Simon isn’t sure how he feels about it.

Simon is, however, sure how he feels when this Jace Herondale leaves a week later with murmured apologies about needing to do some damage control back home.

After that, Simon goes a little numb. It’s like losing Jace twice, in a way - he knows it isn’t the same, he knows he shouldn’t have hoped for this new thing to last, but he had. And now that it’s gone his heart breaks all over again at the cold, empty space beside him in bed.

He tries to ignore the next time he catches sight of another dimension’s Jace, except it’s one where Jace knows him, so Jace approaches Simon instead. Attempting to avoid him is one thing, but Simon can’t bring himself to brush off Jace once he’s standing there in front of him with that infectious smile and gleam of mischief in his eyes.

Simon can’t bring himself to grow too attached, so he does the only logical thing: he shuts down entirely. He tries to convince himself he’s fine with one night stands, forces himself to go through the motions with the constant reminder that it isn’t him, that there’s nothing there.

He hates it.

Perhaps the lesson he’s meant to take away is that he needs to stop trying. No one else is going to fit the mold of exactly what he needs, to know what he’s going through and what he’s missing. They can’t, and he shouldn’t expect them to.

The easy solution is to go back to passing acquaintances - little chats from behind the bar that end there with nothing more. No hopes to crash, no expectations to fall short of. Better than nothing, and safe.

He’s okay with it. Not the fake, forced okay he was with the casual hook-ups, but actually okay. It’s a taste of what he wants, of what he’s missing, and since he knows he can’t have it all it’s a realistic expectation to allow himself.

And then for a while, he stops crossing paths with any other Jace’s, or J.C.’s, or Jonathan’s. He wonders if maybe they warned all the other dimensions about the weirdo bartender in New New York who talks too much and always manages to say the wrong thing, and maybe they’re avoiding him. Or maybe he just came across as many as there were, and that’s it. After all, there may be an infinite number of realities, or dimensions, or whatever out there, but it isn’t as if they have access to all of them. He should be lucky to have found as many as he did.

Days pass, and then weeks, and then months. It never gets easy, but it gets a little easier, and Simon finds himself falling into a pretty solid routine. He’s made some friends at work, mostly through Maia, but they still totally count and they all go out some nights after work. And work is actually going great - he’s an assistant manager under Maia now, which only comes back to bite him in the ass sometimes.

Sometimes like this night, in particular, exactly one year after Jace’s death, when he decides to cover for not only Maia who is on vacation but two other employees who called out sick. And of course, there’s some sort of bachelorette party or something that drags at least twenty customers to the bar who seem determined to order non-stop overly complicated mixed drinks and shots - on top of the entire rest of the restaurant’s worth of drinks he has to make. He wanted a distraction tonight, sure, but maybe he should’ve been a bit more careful what he wished for because he’s about to lose his goddamn mind, and--

--and then there he is. On this day, of all the days, it feels more like seeing a ghost than ever before. His blonde hair falls softly across his forehead and into his eye, and he pushes it away just as he looks up and makes eye contact with Simon. Jace. Of course, there would be a fucking Jace doppelganger here, tonight, right now, and-

“Si?”

Jace’s voice is soft, pained, and Simon’s thoughts stop dead. As does the rest of him. He has a million things to do and is in the middle of turning around with a bottle in his hand to make some shot with a name he can’t repeat with a straight face, but he just freezes at the way Jace is looking at him. Unlike the other times, this feels different, somehow. Like fate, a small voice in the back of his head offers, but Simon is quick to quiet it.

And then someone is literally snapping their fingers to get his attention and he doesn’t have much of a choice other than to give Jace an apologetic grimace before mouthing ‘sorry’ and going back to making drinks.

He keeps an eye on him, though, watching as Jace lingers before finally approaching the bar. Simon is still drowning in drink orders but since Jace is actually at the bar now he can at least go over for a second, even just to see what drink he wants.

“Can I get something for you?”

“What?” Jace asks, then shakes his head. “Oh. No,” he starts, but then seems to realize that means Simon is going to leave again so he quickly amends his answer. “I mean, yeah. I’ll take a rum and cola.”

Simon nods, and grabs for the bottle and the soda hose, pressing the ‘cola’ button and watching as the brown carbonated soda mixes with the bottle of rum he turns over into the glass at the same time.

“Sorry,” Jace says as Simon makes the drink. “About earlier. That was creepy of me. I didn’t mean to be- it’s just you-” Jace stumbles over his words.

“You have a Simon, in your world, don’t you?” Simon offers, and Jace looks relieved that Simon understands.

“Yeah,” he says, and Simon notes the way he hasn’t broken eye contact since he came over like Jace is afraid to look away and lose him even though Simon clearly isn’t going anywhere other than the other side of the bar and back.

“Hey, another drink down here, sometime tonight maybe!” An impatient man yells from the other end of the bar, and Simon winces.

It’s only then Jace looks away from him and down the bar. “Are you alone back there?”

Simon nods. “Perks of being the boss, I guess. Everyone else called out,” he admits. “It’s fine,” he adds quickly.

“Doesn’t look fine,” Jace points out.

“Fine, it isn’t fine. I’m dying. I think my wrists are going to fall off and if I have to make one more buttery nipple shot for that bachelorette party I might actually cry,” Simon admits in a rush. “Happy now?”

“No,” Jace says. “But I can help.”

Before Simon knows what’s happening Jace’s rum and cola is empty and Jace moves to the small opening at the end of the bar.

“You can’t come back here,” Simon says, but Jace only cocks an eyebrow.

“Says who? You’re the boss, aren’t you?” Jace grabs a nearby white towel and drapes it over his shoulder, already rolling up his shirtsleeves. “Want the help, or not?”

Simon knows that Maia will have his head for this but right now he can’t be bothered to worry that far ahead. He just needs to survive until close. “Ask me if you can’t find something, or don’t know a recipe, or-”

“Relax, Simon. We got this,” Jace promises, and Simon can already feel the panic and tension fading at the reassurance.

They do have this. In fact, they work together so well anyone watching would think they’d been doing it for years, and by the end of the night they’re calling out for bottles closer to the other and tossing them back and forth without a second thought. Simon doesn’t know if Jace is just good at making things up as he goes or if he really knows his stuff, but he doesn’t ask about a single order that comes his way, and they clear out the last customer minutes after closing.

Simon counts out the register, takes well over half the tips they made that night, and folds the bills over to hand to Jace.

Jace looks at the money like he’s never seen it before. “Keep it,” he says.

“You just saved my ass,” Simons points out. “It’s the least I can do.”

Jace only shakes his head. “No,” he says. “Just… being here. This? This is more than enough. You have no idea-” he starts, but the words catch in his throat. “Sorry, I should go.”

“Wait,” Simon says, instinctively reaching out to grab Jace’s wrist to stop him. He knows he shouldn’t - just passing acquaintances, he reminds himself. But there’s something different about this time, about this Jace. “What is it?”

Jace hesitates, and then in a voice so quiet Simon almost doesn’t hear it, says, “I lost you.”

Jace realizes the slip-up the moment it leaves his lips. “Him,” Jace is quick to correct. “I lost him. My Simon.”

Simon isn’t sure what look crosses his face at that, but whatever it is has Jace shaking his head back and forth. “Yep, that’s too weird. I knew it would be. It’s just… it’s been a year, and you aren’t the first Simon I’ve run into from another place, but when I saw you here, tonight, it was like… like…”

“Like fate,” Simon offers, voicing the thought he had previously. “It isn’t too weird,” Simon adds because he doesn’t want this Jace to leave, not yet at least. “I lost you, too.”

Simon wraps up his shift faster than he ever has before, moving fast despite the exhaustion he feels starting to settle in. Jace sits at an empty table while Simon finishes everything he has to do to close the bar down, having a drink or two while he waits, and then Simon makes a drink of his own before joining him.

The longer they talk the more Simon knows the similarities are too specific to not mean something. It’s been a year to the date for both of them, they both had an Alec and Isabelle and Maia of their own to help them through, and Jace was a bartender before he and his Simon met.

“I actually haven’t poured a drink since,” Jace admits, swirling the liquid in his glass around a bit. “It was a totally random robbery-gone-wrong, and Si was playing a set at the bar that night. Wrong place, wrong time.”

“My Jace’s was an occupational hazard. He was a bounty hunter,” Simon admits, and the Jace in front of him spits out his drink in shock.

“I what?” he says, eyes wide. “Fuck that’s intense.”

Simon laughs. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

The hours pass and soon it’s late, they’re both a little on the other side of sober, and it’s obvious that Simon can’t send Jace off alone like this, not that Jace seems to have any inclination to leave on his own. Simon waits for the little voice in his head to tell him to send Jace back home anyway, that this is all just going to lead to awkwardness and regret and disappointment… but the voice never comes.

Simon can definitely feel that it’s different this time, and he’s pretty sure Jace can, too, because they get each other in ways that the others never had. It isn’t that Jace’s Simon broke up with him, or that they never dated, or that they never met each other at all. This time each knows exactly what the other needs because, for the first time, they’ve both been through the same loss.

They get back to Simon’s apartment and Simon tosses Jace a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt to change into. Neither of them says anything but Jace has to realize it’s a pair that used to belong to Simon’s Jace with how perfectly they fit him.

“I can sleep on the sofa,” Jace offers, but Simon shakes his head.

“You don’t have to. I mean, if you’d rather, that’s fine. But… I wouldn’t mind the company.” Simon doesn’t realize he’s holding his breath in anticipation until Jace nods and makes his way towards the bed, and all of the tension and anxiousness eases out of Simon at once. Jace goes to the left side - his side - and Simon goes to the right.

He doesn’t have to ask as he moves forward at the same time Jace shifts back toward him, their bodies fitting together perfectly, and Simon begins to drift off with his arm wrapped around Jace, lulled to sleep by the steady rise and fall of his breathing.

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

For a few moments, Simon forgets where he is. He’s wrapped around the warmth of another body, just like he dreamed of so many times - except this isn’t a dream. In fact, this is more than he let himself even dream of lately. For a moment Simon forgets and it’s as if nothing bad has ever happened in his life.

But then Jace stirs beneath him and he’s forced to acknowledge the reality of his situation - that this, like all the other times, can’t stay forever. Simon just waits for the other shoe to drop while they wake up, and eat breakfast, and spend some more time talking and even watching some mindless reality tv show; until Simon has to go to work and has an awkward moment where he expects Jace to leave with him, except Jace stays on the sofa.

“I’m… I have to go to work,” Simon says, not for the first time that day.

It seems to click very abruptly in Jace’s head that this isn’t his place, and of course Simon expects him to leave when he leaves.

“Oh. Right. I’ll just…” Jace starts, and only at that moment does it become apparent to Simon that Jace hadn’t planned on leaving.

“You can stay, if you want,” Simon is quick to tell him. “I’ll be back in a few hours. There’s plenty of food, and the tv, and video games and stuff?” He sounds unsure, but Jace almost immediately eases back into the sofa.

“Thanks,” Jace says, and Simon realizes he’s relieved that he can stay.

Jace also stays the day after that. And the day after that.

And Simon realizes, slowly but surely, that Jace doesn’t plan on leaving.

Simon brings up the fact that Jace has an entire life he just casually up and left- not because he particularly wants to, but because he knows they have to talk about it eventually - but Jace just shrugs.

“I told Alec and Izzy where I am. I think they’re actually kind of relieved to know I’m at least out and about” Jace says, settling back against Simons’ shoulder while they watch a movie on Simon’s day off. “But whenever you want me to leave just tell me. I don’t want to overstay my welcome.”

That’s just it - Simon doesn’t want him to leave. Ever. But he also can’t bring himself to say it, so instead, he just mumbles something noncommittal and turns back to the movie.

It’s nearly a week later when Jace tells him he’s going back home to check in with his siblings. Simon doesn’t expect him to come back at all, figuring this has to be it, this is Jace’s way of sliding off without making a scene and the inevitable heartbreak Simon feared all along.

Jace leaves, and Simon fully expects to never see him again.

So when Simon’s getting ready for bed that night and he hears a knock at the door, his heartbeat races at the implications. It can’t be… can it?

When he opens the door to see Jace on the other side, suitcase in tow, he doesn’t know what to say.

“Hey,” Jace starts. “I know this is… well, Alec said it was ‘incredibly presumptive’, but… I’d like to stay. If you’ll have me. And if not, if it’s too much, or too weird, I get it, and just say the word and I’ll go back-”

Simon steps forward to close the space between them, cutting off Jace’s rambling by pressing their lips together for the first time. It doesn’t feel like the first time, though - it feels like this is where he’s always meant to be. Jace kisses him back, leaning into the motion easily.

“Only I can nervous-ramble that much,” Simon informs him matter-of-factly after they pull away.

Jace laughs, and it sounds like the sweetest music. It sounds like hope and happiness; like everything Simon worked so hard to keep himself from feeling for the better part of the past year.

“You’re welcome as long as you’d like,” Simon reassures him, stepping aside so Jace has more than enough room to come in and make himself at home.

And Jace does. It isn’t long before it feels like their home again, the way Simon hadn’t realized he missed as much as he did.

Simon knows that true second chances are rare - he had enough ‘almost’s pass through his life to recognize this one for what it is. It isn’t going to be the same as before, but it doesn’t need to be: he has a second chance at love, and he plans on taking it.

[flowingwithwater]

Worth it

Request: hey, love ur stuff sm! could u do a natasha x r with protective/jealous natasha at like one of tony‘s parties? or another setting? idk lol

A/n: not really sure about this but I hope you enjoy it :)

Words: 3519

Do we have to go? I hate these things and so do you.” With a long groan you let yourself fall back onto the bed, your arms placed to cover your face. You heard a low chuckle coming closer, followed by a soft voice, “Listen, sometimes we have to do these things, alright? So move your cute butt and get ready. We’re leaving in an hour.” Before you could say something, your girlfriend had already entered the bathroom.

With a sigh you stayed in position. The entire team was invited to this fancy Gala honoring the Avengers and their work. Everyone was going to be there, including politicians, rich people, and of course the Avengers. You had been a part of the team for about two years, having been recruited by none other than the Black Widow.

You had been on their radar for quite some time but they never approached you, not sure if you would be worth the trouble. When you helped getting people out of a burning people near your apartment, Fury realized you could be a good asset to the team. Shortly after that, Natasha Romanoff knocked on your door and invited you to the Avenger’s compound.

After an excruciating long meeting you signed the contract without hesitation. Everything sounded good, plus you had the opportunity to spend more time with the beautiful redhead that had caught your attention.

From that moment on things progressed fairly fast with you joining the team on missions after only a couple of months of training. While career wise, your life developed quickly your personal life was a little bit on a standstill. The more you had gotten to know Natasha the quicker your feeling evolved and soon after getting this new job, it was safe to say that you were absolutely in love with the woman.

Unfortunately, you had absolutely no idea how she felt, given she barely talked to you. Well, the two of you did talk just never about anything personal. It was always about the job and the next mission. It took you weeks to get her to hang out with you just because and it took you months to get her to open up. But once she started, there was no going back. You learned a lot about each other in a short period of time and the trust you built was undeniably strong.

But things were far from perfect. The two of you still had to work on many things, but you were ready to do that. Both of you. Except in this moment right now. You were absolutely not in the mood to meet fancy people in their fancy clothes drinking fancy champagne and talking all fancy. It wasn’t your style. You liked being with a small group of people that you knew, hanging out watching a movie.

Seemed as though you didn’t have a choice when a sharp voice and a pillow hitting your body broke you out of your thoughts. “Would you please move, y/n. Come on. You still need to change.” Finally moving your arms away from your face, you turned to look at you girlfriend. She was beautiful, dressed in a skintight gown that made her boobs look absolutely fantastic.

Your eyes wandered over the length of her body, with you getting lost in your thoughts once again. Realizing where you mind was wandering, the redhead used that to get you to finally move. Natasha took a couple of steps forward until she was standing at the foot of the bed. Your eyes never leaving her moving figure. When she came to a stop she reached out for your hands, which you gladly took. After puling you up into a sitting position she grabbed your face and locked eyes with you.

“If you’re a good girl tonight, I’ll make sure you get your reward,” she said with a sultry voice that made you feel things. Letting out a short breath, pictures already started forming in your head. Nothing more had to be said when you jumped up and pulled your girlfriend against you. Slowly you leaned in whispering in her ear. “I’m already looking forward to it.” With a sensual kiss against her neck, you removed yourself from her and with newfound motivation you started getting dressed. Natasha just shook her head und smiled. “You’re too easy, babe,” she said quietly making sure you couldn’t hear.

______________________

Arriving at the place you were reminded why you didn’t want to come. Countless people were entering the building, everybody wearing tuxedos or evening gowns. Visually, you fit right in but mentally you wanted to get the hell away from this place.

The hand that was holding yours squeezed once and your girlfriend moved to whisper in your ear. “Think of our deal, yeah? And also, be nice.” With a pointed look she dragged you towards the entrance and you had no choice but to follow.

Upon entering you were immediately recognized and since you were Avengers and therefore the main guest tonight, Natasha and you were separated just seconds after the first man approached you. With a confused and forced smile you made your way around the room, looking for a any familiar face, to distract you.

When you saw Tony smiling and waving you over you sighed in relief and the tensions left your body. Hastily you made your way over to him and when he laid an arm around you in a hug, you felt more at ease. “Hey there, hot stuff,” he said with a cheesy smile decorating his face. You only rolled your eyes in response.

Just as you were about to ask him if he had seen Natasha, the two of you were interrupted by a man you didn’t know. He knew you though, at least it seemed like it when he took your hand and fake kissed it, almost making you gag.

You had to be on your best behavior though and so all you did was smile at him while in your head you were punching this stupid smile off his face. “Good evening Ms. Y/L/N. You look just breathtaking.” “Thank you. Uh, you’ll have to excuse me Mr. Sir. I have to go to the lady’s room.” With an awkward smile you hurried away from him, leaving Stark to handle this guy.

With quick steps you looked around trying to spot your girlfriend. To no avail though, when you couldn’t find her after a good five minutes, your eyes spotted the bar on the other side of the hall and for the first time that night a genuine smile formed on your face.

Moving quickly, you dodged anyone tying to talk to you and when you finally reached the bar you sat down with a heavy sigh, ready for a drink. When the bartender finally took your order, you relaxed a little. You took out your phone and texted Nat where to find you, she probably wouldn’t even read it but you did it anyway. Just to be sure.

When your drink finally arrived, you took a big gulp. The burning alcohol making your skin tingle and you calmed down even more.

“I could use one of those as well.” You jumped, almost tipping over your drink, when you heard a voice right beside you. “Oh god, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” You moved your eyes to the woman beside you. She was beautiful with her blonde hair falling down her bare shoulders and the expensive looking, red dress leaving nothing to your imagination.

But you weren’t captured by it. You felt nothing and for some reason that excited you because it was proof of how in love you were with Natasha. You smiled at that thought. When the woman next to you moved, you were reminded of her presence and quickly answered her, not wanting to be impolite.

“No problem,” you chuckled, “I kind of zoned out a bit.” Her laugh was refreshing, mainly because it wasn’t coming from a creepy old dude.

“You’re Y/N, right? Newest Avenger and Widow’s girlfriend?” Your heart skipped a beat at being called that. It felt nice hearing it without judgement. So, you smiled and held your glass up. “Yup, the one and only. And you are?” “Oh, I’m Nancy. I work for The Reporter.”

And just like that you fell into an easy conversation. She told you about her job and how hard it was to handle two little kids with her schedule, and you told her a little bit about your life as an Avenger. You liked Nancy, she was easy to talk to and she kept gushing about Natasha which made your chest fill with pride, knowing the former Assassin was yours.

As the evening went on, you felt the alcohol influencing you and that’s why you weren’t aware of the eyes watching you closely. When a hand clasped around your forearm and almost pulled you of the chair, you turned around facing the woman you had been talking about for the past hour.

Locking eyes with the beauty, the smile that was on your face was quickly replaced by a frown. Natasha looked angry. No, she looked furious. “What the hell, Y/N?” she threw her hands up and pointed at Nancy. “So, this is what you do when I’m gone for like five minutes.”

You couldn’t quite comprehend what was happening. Confused you tried to calm your girlfriend down. “Nat, what are you talking about?” You move your hands to grab hers but she pulled away. Now you were just lost. You had no idea what had gotten into her and slowly you were getting pissed off by her making a scene.

“Babe, listen, I don’t know why you’re so angry but – “ you couldn’t finish. “You don’t know?! Look what you have been doing all night, sitting here and flirting with someone else. While I’m in the room.”

And just like that, it clicked. She was jealous. You were sitting here with another woman and talking all night, of course it looked like flirting to her and probably to other people too. If she only knew all you were talking about was her she would calm down, right? So, that’s what you tried when you got up from the chair with a soft smile, trying to pull her towards you.

Natasha had other plans though, she was mad and apparently she had lost the ability to think rationally. The redhead pushed you away from her. Not hard or anything, but she pushed you, nonetheless. And now you were just as pissed as her. Fuck jealousy, this went too far.

“Calm the hell down, Natasha. Nothing happened so calm.down.” For a second you just stared at each other when Nat broke the silence with a scoff and turned around to leave. “Wait, Nat. Come on,” you shouted after her, but she was long gone.

With a huff you sat down, turning towards your new friend. She looked at you with a guilty half smile. “Don’t you want to follow her? She seemed upset.” Chuckling, you answered, “You think?”

Joining your laugh, Nancy ordered another round and with that you decided to stay a while longer. Natasha needed to calm down anyway and you honestly weren’t up for a fight.

Two hours later you were drunk. Like, really drunk. You and Nancy continued your conversation, but it was interrupted by a large hand landing gently on your shoulder. You smelled the man before you saw him, his usage of cologne was something he still had to learn to control, but with a lazy smile you closed your eyes and leaned into his body. “Hey Mr. Captain America.”

“Ready to go home?” Taking a dee breath you sat up and looked at Nancy. You bowed before her, almost falling over, “My dear Nancy, I thank you for a wonderful night. Say hello to your children and may we meet again.” You turned around and smiled up at Steve. He looked down at you with a sigh and put his arm around your shoulder. “Let’s go, Y/N.”

__________________

You were currently walking down the hallway towards your shared room. On the way here you had sobered up a bit and remembered the events of the night. You weren’t sure how to feel. You were pissed at Natasha for making a scene and not listening to you, but you felt kind of guilty as well understanding where Nat was coming from.

It didn’t matter though because you were almost sure she wouldn’t be in the room. She had a tendency to go work out or just disappear for a while after an argument. That meant you had enough time to completely sober up, get ready, and get some sleep before facing her in the morning.

To your surprise though, you saw a figure lying in bed. The red hair spilled across the pillow told you it was in fact your girlfriend. You were surprised and honestly you didn’t know what to do. Would you talk to her? If she’s asleep should you wake her up or would she be even angrier?

Sighing you took off your shoes and walked towards her side of the bed. Softly, you put a hand on her covered shoulder- “Hey Nat. Are you awake?” you whispered. When no answer came you sighed again and quietly went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

When made your way back into the bedroom after cleaning up a bit you froze when you realized your girlfriend was awake. She was still lying in her side of the bed but in her back this time, blinking up at the ceiling.

It was dark so you couldn’t make out any other movements. You decided to move to your side of the bed without saying something, giving her a chance to start a conversation if she wanted to.

To your disappointment no words left her mouth, she didn’t even acknowledge you. The only thing she did was moving away from you when you entered the bed, turning her back towards you. All you could do now was fighting the tears that were pooling in your eyes and lie down to sleep.

Nat didn’t want to talk and you feared you’d make it worse if you’d force her. Only when you laid down did you feel the exhaustion catching up. Within seconds you were fast asleep, still worrying about the woman next to you.

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

The warming sun coming in through the window woke you up slowly. The comforting warmth and the soft light brought a smile to your face before you even opened your eyes. You didn’t have a headache and your body wasn’t sore from the last night out. You were content.

That was until you stretched your left arm to the other side of the bed in search for the warm body you could cuddle, and all you found was a cold spot. Sitting up with a confused frown etched on your face, you searched the room for your girlfriend.

After a couple of seconds, realization hit you. You remembered your fight with Nat and instead of the anger you felt last night, now all you felt was guilt. Your heart felt heavy and you immediately got up to find Natasha so you could apologize to her.

It took you barely any to find her. Of course she was in the training room, getting rid of all the pent up energy from last night. You could hear her grunts and the sounds of fists hitting the punching bag before you reached the door and the guilt intensified.

Slowly you opened the door and you were greeted with an expected sight. Natasha in the middle of the ring, dressed in her work out clothes, hitting the punching bag with a scowl on her face. You wouldn’t have been surprised if she pictured Nancy’s face on it. Or worse, yours.

She heard you coming in but decided to ignore you. She was still pissed but also, she was hurt. Seeing you with that other woman last night had brought back many insecurities about how she wasn’t good enough for you. And instead of talking about that, she lashed out.

You felt brave that morning, so you simply walked up to her until you were standing next to her target, in her line of vision. When she refused to meet your eyes, you couldn’t help but roll yours.

Taking a risk you moved in front of her mid-punch, hoping her reflexes were good enough so you wouldn’t end up with a broken nose. You trust was well placed as you saw her eyes go wide and her hand stopping barely an inch away from your face.

“Are you insane, Y/N? I could’ve hit you.” Your plan worked, she was not only looking at you but talking to you as well. “Well, you were ignoring me and we need to talk. About last night.” She huffed and tried to turn away from you but you predicted that and quickly grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back.

You moved your hands over her arms and made sure she was looking you in the eye before you started to talk. “I’m sorry,” you sighed, “I shouldn’t have behaved like that. I didn’t mean to hurt you, I hope you know that.” She was ready to answer but you weren’t done. You held your finger up successfully silencing her and continued.

“But you need to apologize as well. You can’t act like that. Especially not in public. You need to let me finfish when I’m trying to explain something and you can’t get physical with me. Ever. That s crossing a line.” You tone was calm. You didn’t want to yell at her, all you wanted was for her to understand.

It was quiet for a minute, but you knew Nat needed time to organize her thoughts. You saw her biting her lip and moving her eyes across the floor. It warmed your heart, you were overwhelmed by how much such a little action could do to you. And involuntary smile covered your face at the thought.

When the redhead lifter her head to look at you, you waited patiently for her to start talking. You felt her warm hands move to grab yours and your smile widened at the small act of affection. With a last deep breath her mouth started moving.

“I’m really sorry. You’re right. About everything. It’s just that,” a big sigh left her mouth and she continued so quietly, you had to move your head closer to catch what she was saying, “I’m scared you’ll realize I’m too much work. Someone else can give you more than I can, and faster. Seeing you so at ease with that woman, it just hurt me.”

She was fighting tears at this point, surprising you and breaking your heart in the process. You wrapped your arms around her in a tight hug. Her arms found your waist and you just breathed each other in. You were at a loss of words but not because you didn’t know what to say, but because your heart was beating so fast you couldn’t breathe properly.

Slowly you pulled away and grabbed her face, forcing her to look at you. “I love you Natasha. I’ve been working you for more than a year, do you really think I would throw that away for some boring woman. You have nothing to worry about, okay?”

Not really believing you, she nodded anyway. You knew you couldn’t tell her that and she would immediately be fine. It was a work in process, but you were more than happy to put work into this relationship.

“Can I kiss you?” she asked timidly as if she was afraid you’d say no. But to you that wasn’t an option. “C’mere” You smiled before pulling her even closer and pressing your lips softly against hers. Your hands made their way down her body, while hers moved up your face in your hair.

When oxygen became a problem, you broke the kiss and leaned your forehead against hers. Wanting to lighten the mood you remembered where you were and a wicked smirk formed on you face. Within a split second you turned your body and kicked her feet, making her fall and land on the mat beneath you.

“Well Romanoff, how about you show me what you got.” You lifted your eyebrows in challenge causing your girlfriend to frown slightly. But it was soon replaced with a smile when she started to get up. “You’re on. And maybe if you win, you’ll get your reward after all.”

Now it was her turn to smirk at you when your mind started wandering for a second, giving your opponent enough time to throw you on the ground. A small chuckle left your lips when you looked up at your beaming girlfriend and all you could feel was your admiration for the woman you knew was absolutely worth it.

[rotationalsymmetry]

The purge continues.

Y’all realize that someone snarking about not being *excited* to vote Biden doesn’t even mean that person isn’t voting for him?

You realize our entire ability to actually push Biden to the left hinges on a credible threat of not voting for him if isn’t moving left fast enough? (How do you think “pushing someone to the left” actually gets accomplished, anyways?)

You realize that our country is literally on fire AND in the middle of a pandemic and Joe is being all “let’s get another cup of coffee” about it?

(For people who weren’t paying attention in history class or didn’t get this particular tidbit in theirs or just didn’t grow up in the US: I’m referring to Herbert Hoover’s miserable attempts at responding to the Great Depression before he got voted out in favor of someone who was willing to actually do something. “Let’s get another cup of coffee, let’s buy another piece of pie.” I realize getting a modern day FDR isn’t going to happen this year, but that does mean we have to wait FOUR YEARS at least when that didn’t have to be the case and I am extremely bitter about that.)

Biden’s opposition literally threatening to ignore the Constitution and instate himself as dictator for life should mean that it’s *safe* to not vote for Biden. Because who would vote for someone like that? So if for some appalling reason Biden’s opposition actually gets elected...it won’t be because a relatively small number of people who want to abolish industrial capitalism didn’t vote for Biden.

It’ll be because a bunch of moderates and conservatives heard, uh let’s call him “Biden’s opposition”, announce that he had no respect for the rule of law, and decided they were OK with that.

So, if you actually are enthusiast about Biden (or feel like you have to fake it,) what can you do? You can get out the vote. You can ask your friends and family how they plan to vote, whether they’ve applied for their absentee ballot, whether they’ve checked to make sure they’re still on the voter rolls. If you live in a state where people need witnesses to sign their absentee ballot, you can offer to do that. If you decide you can tolerate the infection risk and have access to a car, you can volunteer to drive people to the polls. (Either personally or through the Democratic Party, League of Women Voters, etc.)

If you’re not excited about Biden and can’t make yourself pretend to be, but haven’t given up on electoral politics entirely, you can get enthusiastic about congressional races, or state or local politicians and issues. People fucking talk like the only thing that matters is POTUS, but that’s not actually the case *yet*. A supportive vs unsupportive Congress makes a huge difference. And that’s not even getting into governor elections (contrast how governors in different states are handling the pandemic) and city councel members (to decide how much funding the police get) and other local offices (like DA’s who refuse to check people who get arrested for immigration status.) All of this stuff has a huge impact on people’s lives, and the smaller scale the election is the more proportionate influence you have.

This summer my county had a special election for county board, and we voted in an immigrant who speaks 8 different languages and intends to hold multi-lingual town hall meetings. (Fuck yes elected officials who can speak to their constituents in their non-English native languages.) Cool things happen in local elections, OK? But if you’re not paying attention you’ll miss them.

But also, JFC, even if you’re a fan of the voting process you do realize that’s not going to be enough to stop climate change or abolish ICE or defund the police or anything else we want to do, right? I get being pretty invested in electoral politics and I think they’re worth engaging with, but...I swear people on this hell site are taking about citizenship like it’s something you do once every four years. As though getting a Democrat into the White House is *enough*, and not just one single part of a multifaceted struggle.

(“I bet people who are going off about having to vote Biden don’t even vote in off year elections” — see how it feels to have people making unwarranted assumptions about you based on a single statement?)

Finally. I am not a progressive. I am a *radical*. As in, someone who sees a need for deep level change. Getting to the root of the problem. Not someone who believes in one step at a time “progress.” People going off about how anyone who expresses any level of ambivalence about Biden doesn’t really believe what they say they believe. You know nothing about me and what I stand for. Fuck off.

(Or don’t fuck off. Stay around and listen. Because apparently I don’t know when to stop talking. But do uh actually listen, ok?)

[carcino-generic]

HOW HUMANS ARE HAVING THEIR LIVES RUINED BY KARKAT VANTAS

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ALRIGHT, HERE’S THE BASICS OF CAPITALISM FROM A WORKING CLASS AMERICAN. I WANT TO START OUT BY SAYING I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT EUROPE, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, OR ANY OTHER “FIRST-WORLD” COUNTRIES. I DON’T KNOW WHO TORIES ARE AND I DON’T CARE ABOUT EMMANUEL MACRON. FOREIGN AFFAIRS ARE NOT MY CUP OF TEA THANKS. I HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS WITH DOMESTIC POLITICS. ALSO DON’T GET ON MY ASS ABOUT CALLING IT AMERICA INSTEAD OF THE U.S.A., CANADIANS DON’T ACTUALLY WANT TO BE AMERICANS AND IF THEY DO THEY’RE MORONS FOR REASONS THAT WILL BECOME CLEAR AS YOU READ ON. 

YOU KNOW HOW IN A NORMAL SOCIETY, TRADE IS DRIVEN BY RESOURCES AND PRICES ARE DETERMINED BY THE AVAILABILITY, COMPLEXITY, AND DIFFICULTY IN PRODUCTION OF A PRODUCT? SO IMAGINE YOUR COUNTRY GETS ENOUGH MONEY, POWER, AND SHEER BLIND DEVOTION FROM ITS CITIZENS TO THROW ALL THAT IN THE GARBAGE, AND THEN IMAGINE THAT EVERYONE CAPABLE OF MAKING MEANINGFUL CHANGES AT A FUNDAMENTAL LEVEL, WHILE REMAINING WITHIN THE CURRENT SYSTEM, IS OWNED BY SOMEONE WHO BENEFITS EGREGIOUSLY FROM EVERYTHING STAYING THE SAME, AND EVEN MORE EGREGIOUSLY FROM THINGS BECOMING WORSE. NOW IMAGINE THAT WHEN I SAID “SOMEONE” I MEANT “ONE OF MAYBE FIFTEEN MEGA-CORPORATIONS THAT OWNS EVERY OTHER BUSINESS IN THE COUNTRY,” AND WHEN I SAY “EVERYONE CAPABLE OF MAKING MEANINGFUL CHANGES...” I MEAN POLITICIANS WE ELECT TO PRETEND TO REPRESENT OUR INTERESTS WHO HAVE IN REALITY BEEN BOUGHT OUT BY CORPORATE INTERESTS AND RISK LOSING THEIR JOBS IF THEY MAKE LAWS THAT THREATEN THOSE CORPORATE INTERESTS’ BOTTOM LINES. BASICALLY, WE INVESTED ALL OUR POWER INTO PRIVATELY OWNED MONEY SINKS AND FORGOT TO CARE ABOUT THE THINGS THAT MATTER, LIKE THE ACTUAL CITIZENS? OKAY THIS IS GETTING AWAY FROM ME, WE MIGHT HAVE TO START FROM THE BASICS. 

I DON’T KNOW HOW YOUR SOCIETY WORKS, BUT IN OURS, YOU START OUT AS A LITTLE BABY. AS SOON AS YOU’RE PHYSIOLOGICALLY CAPABLE OF EXISTING FOR CONSECUTIVE HOURS WITHOUT THE PEOPLE WHO RAISED YOU, THEY SHOVE YOU IN A CLASSROOM AND START FEEDING YOU A MIXTURE OF COLONIAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA. THAT’S ALSO WHERE THEY TEACH YOU HOW TO SOCIALIZE WITH KIDS YOUR AGE AND SHIT. FOR SOME KIDS IT’S THE *ONLY* PLACE THEY CAN LEARN TO SOCIALIZE, BECAUSE THEIR PARENTS ARE TOO BUSY, ABSENT, OR PROTECTIVE TO BRING YOU OUT TO INTERACT WITH PEERS. EITHER WAY, THIS IS WHERE KIDS FORM THEIR CONCEPTS OF BOTH PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND SOCIAL CONTRACTS. THE TRAUMA OF RACIAL AND GENDER PROFILING IS NASCENT HERE, BUT OH BOY IT INTERNALIZES QUICKLY. (MORE ON HOW PEOPLE OF COLOR, THE WAR ON DRUGS, AND PROFIT ARE ALL LINKED LATER ON, OR MAYBE JUST LOOK UP A VIDEO ESSAY ON IT IDK.) 

IT’S PRETTY MUCH THIRTEEN YEARS OF THIS SAME SHIT, ESPECIALLY THE PROPAGANDA BIT. KIDS GROW UP BEING INDOCTRINATED WITH THIS COMPLETELY WHITEWASHED VERSION OF REALITY, BELIEVING CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS* IS THE SHIT AND CAPITALISM IS THE ONLY EFFICIENT MODEL FOR MODERN SOCIETY. THEY’RE USUALLY TAUGHT ALL ABOUT WORLD WARS I AND II, THE VIETNAM WAR, THE COLD WAR, AND THE SPACE RACE, WHICH (BY UNEQUIVOCALLY POSING AMERICANS AS THE GOOD GUYS AND THE SOVIETS AND CHINESE AS THE BAD GUYS,  CEMENTS THE CONCEPT THAT CAPITALISM INHERENTLY RULES AND COMMUNISM INHERENTLY FAILS) FURTHER INDOCTRINATES KIDS. IF YOU’RE REALLY AN ALIEN I DOUBT YOU’VE SEEN THIS IMAGE, BUT EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN EARTHLING HAS:

THIS GUY IS NAMED UNCLE SAM, HE’S BASICALLY AMERICA’S FURSONA. HE EXISTS TO PRESSURE YOU INTO SIGNING UP TO FIGHT IN A WAR. HE WAS USED A LOT IN THOSE WARS I TALKED ABOUT UP THERE, ESPECIALLY THE FIRST THREE. HE’S NOT AROUND SO MUCH ANY MORE BUT THE GENERAL SENTIMENT IS. HERE’S HOW. 

WHEN YOU GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL, THE LAST “REQUIRED” STAGE OF SCHOOL, YOU ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE OUT AND GET A JOB TO SUPPORT YOURSELF. BUT NOWADAYS, IF YOU WANT A JOB THAT PAYS FOR YOUR HEALTH CARE, LETS YOU STAY HOME WHEN YOU GET SICK, GIVES YOU DAYS OFF TO GO TO FAMILY EVENTS SUCH AS WEDDINGS, FUNERALS, THE BIRTH OF YOUR CHILDREN, AND OTHER UNIMPORTANT DRIVEL THAT DOESN’T MAKE CEOS MONEY, YOU BET YOUR ASS YOU’D BETTER GET A COLLEGE DEGREE. HAVING A DEGREE IS THE NUMBER ONE WAY YOU CAN GUARANTEE THAT YOU MAKE MORE MONEY. THAT ALL SOUNDS FINE AND DANDY, EXCEPT NOW YOU HAVE TO PAY SOME INDUSTRIAL-SCALE LOAN SHARK MORE THAN YOU’LL EVER HAVE IN YOUR 401(K) TO LET YOU GET YOUR HIGHER EDUCATION. A LOT OF PEOPLE END UP OWING UPWARDS OF FIFTY GRAND TO A PRIVATELY OWNED LOAN AGENCY BY THE TIME THEY’RE TWENTY-ONE, BECAUSE AS FRESH ADULTS THEY WERE TOLD THEY WOULDN’T GET A WORTHWHILE JOB UNLESS THEY HAD A DEGREE. BUT HERE’S THE THING: A LOT OF TIMES, JOBS LIKE THAT WON’T EVEN HIRE YOU UNLESS YOU HAVE A MASTER’S DEGREE NOW! THAT’S ANOTHER TWO YEARS OF CLASSES AND ANOTHER HUGE CHUNK OF MONEY YOU NEVER HAD TO BEGIN WITH. 

OF COURSE THERE ARE LESS EXPENSIVE OPTIONS, LIKE TRADE SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE. BUT REMEMBER THE PROPAGANDA I MENTIONED? IT’S SO PERVASIVE, A LOT OF YOUNG PEOPLE DON’T EVEN CONSIDER TRADE SCHOOL AN OPTION NOW, BECAUSE WE CULTURALLY VALUE THE “INTELLECTUAL” JOBS—DOCTOR, LAWYER, ENGINEER, ACCOUNTANT, BUSINESSMAN—WHICH ARE STRANGELY ALSO THE CAREER PATHS THAT REQUIRE THE MOST INVESTMENT OF TIME AND MONEY! NOW IF YOU DECIDE TO BE LIKE ME AND GET A JOB RIGHT OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL BECAUSE THE EDUCATION INDUSTRY IS A PUTRID WASTELAND, YOU’RE AUTOMATICALLY LOOKED DOWN UPON. A LOT OF TIMES PEOPLE WHO ARE PURSUING LESS LUCRATIVE CAREERS THAT INTEREST THEM***, INSTEAD OF THE BIG MONEY JOBS, ARE DISPARAGINGLY ASKED IF THEY WANT TO “END UP WORKING AT MCDONALDS.” I DON’T PERSONALLY WORK AT MCDONALDS BUT THIS SHIT STILL OFFENDS ME. BUT THEN AGAIN I’M A MILLENNIAL SNOWFLAKE SO WHAT DO I KNOW. 

ACADEMIA HAS A LOT OF ITS OWN PROBLEMS BUT I’VE ONLY HEARD THOSE SECONDHAND, SO LET’S LEAVE THAT HELLSCAPE TO ITS ELITISM AND STAY WITHIN THE BLUE-COLLAR SUBCLASS. COMMON PARLANCE WILL REFER TO THREE MAJOR CLASSES: THE LOWER CLASS (DIPLOMATICALLY CALLED THE “WORKING CLASS”, HA FUCKING HA!), THE MIDDLE CLASS (WHICH THEORETICALLY MAKES UP THE MAJORITY OF THE POPULATION), AND THE UPPER CLASS (FUCK THOSE GUYS BUT WE’LL GET AROUND TO THAT LATER.) THIS MODEL IS PRETTY MUCH JUST DESIGNED TO CREATE TENSION WITHIN THE PROLETARIAT, BUT HANG ON A SECOND, I JUST REMEMBERED YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THE PROLETARIAT IS YET. 

SO BASICALLY, THERE’S NOT THAT MUCH DEFINABLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE “MIDDLE CLASS” AND THE “WORKING CLASS.” WHEN YOU THINK OF WORKING CLASS, COLLOQUIALLY, YOU THINK OF THOSE LOSERS THAT WORK IN THE SERVICE INDUSTRY OR DRIVE TAXIS OR (AND THIS IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE TO SOME PEOPLE) HAVE NO JOB AT ALL. THE MIDDLE CLASS IS MORE LIKE TEACHERS AND MIDDLE MANAGERS AND GUYS THAT BUILD SOFTWARE REMOTELY FOR MICROSOFT. REALLY THOUGH, THERE’S NO WAY TO DRAW A DEFINITIVE LINE BETWEEN THESE PEOPLE. THE BEST WAY TO DEFINE CLASS IN AMERICA, (AND ALSO APPARENTLY GERMANY, AT LEAST IN THE 19TH CENTURY,) IS TO SEPARATE THOSE WHO PRODUCE GOODS AND THOSE WHO OWN THE GOODS THAT ARE PRODUCED. THERE IS NO “MIDDLE CLASS”, THAT’S JUST A MEANINGLESS THING TO STRIVE FOR BASED ON WHAT WHITE FAMILIES IN SITCOMS LOOK AND ACT LIKE. 

WORKERS WHO PRODUCE GOODS AND SERVICES ARE THE BACKBONE OF SOCIETY AND THEY’RE CALLED THE PROLETARIAT. THEY ARE SERVICE WORKERS AND JANITORS AND TAXI DRIVERS AND HOTEL VALETS, BUT THEY ARE ALSO ELECTRICIANS AND PLUMBERS AND MECHANICS, AND THEY ARE LAWYERS AND DOCTORS AND PROFESSORS, AND THEY ARE YOUTUBERS AND INFLUENCERS AND SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGERS. THE PROLETARIAT IS ANYONE WHO MAKES MONEY BY SELLING THEIR LABOR. THEY CAN BE CONTRACTORS SELLING THEIR LABOR TO INDEPENDENT BUYERS, OR FREELANCERS SELLING THEIR LABOR TO MULTIPLE LARGER BUSINESSES, BUT MOST OF THE PROLETARIAT IS DIRECTLY EMPLOYED BY SOME KIND OF COMPANY OWNED BY A MEMBER OF THE BOURGEOISIE. 

THE BOURGEOISIE IS KIND OF A MEME AT THIS POINT BUT THEIR IMPACT ON THE WAY WE LIVE IS FUCKING INESCAPABLE. THEY’RE PEOPLE WHO *BUY* OUR LABOR, ACCRUE CAPITAL BY SITTING ON THEIR (SOMETIMES LITERAL!!!) THRONES, OWNING COMPANIES AND PEOPLE, SOMETIMES BEING A PUBLIC FIGURE (LIKE ELON MUSK) WHO RAKES IN ADORATION FROM HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MINDLESS TWITTER DRONES WHO STILL BELIEVE IN CLASS MOBILITY****, OR SOMETIMES BEING A SHADOWY FIGURE IN THE BACKGROUND (LIKE THE KOCH BROTHERS) WHO JUST PASSIVELY RAKE IN THE BENEFITS OF OUR HARD WORK AND CAN’T BE ASSASSINATED BECAUSE NO ONE WOULD RECOGNIZE THEM IF THEY WERE SEEN AT KROGER. THEY ARE USUALLY BORN WEALTHY, BUT VERY RARELY THEY CAN USE THEIR CHARISMA, INTELLIGENCE, SOCIAL CONNECTIONS, AND INTRINSIC PRIVILEGE AS A WHITE PERSON TO YANK THEMSELVES UP FROM THE PROLETARIAT (READ MY CLASS MOBILITY NOTE FOR MORE!!!) 

SO THE RESULT OF THIS CLASS DIVISION IS AS FOLLOWS: 

THE PROLETARIAT NEVER EARNS THE ACTUAL VALUE OF THEIR LABOR. A “SMALL” CHUNK IS ALWAYS TAKEN OUT FOR THE PEOPLE AT THE TOP, WHO “RUN” THE COMPANY (BUT REALLY THEIR JOB IS USUALLY TO EAT FANCY LUNCH AND TELL RACIST GOLF JOKES TO RICH INVESTORS). IN FACT, WAGES ARE USUALLY ENTIRELY DISSOCIATED FROM THE ACTUAL PROFIT THE COMPANY MAKES. FOR A BUSINESS TO BE PROFITABLE, IT HAS TO PAY THE EMPLOYEES IT RELIES ON LESS THAN WHAT THEY BRING TO THE TABLE, WHICH MEANS MOST COMPANIES ESTABLISH A BASE WAGE THAT’S EITHER EXACTLY THE STATE’S MINIMUM WAGE OR A COUPLE CENTS HIGHER TO COMPETE. THEY LITERALLY PAY THE LEAST THEY LEGALLY CAN. SOMETIMES *LESS*.

YOUR JOB IS EXPECTED TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIFE. EXHAUSTED AFTER YOUR FORTY, FIFTY, OR SIXTY HOUR WORK WEEK? THAT’S JUST NORMAL, THEY’RE NOT SQUEEZING THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF LABOR OUT OF YOU THAT THEY CAN WITHOUT KILLING YOU! WANT TO TAKE A FEW DAYS OFF TO SPEND TIME WITH YOUR WIFE AFTER SHE GAVE BIRTH TO YOUR INFANT CHILD? SORRY, YOU’RE OUT OF SICK DAYS. MISSED THE BUS AND THERE’S NOT ANOTHER ONE FOR AN HOUR? IT’S YOUR FAULT FOR NOT HAVING A CAR OR SPENDING FIFTY BUCKS ON AN UBER. TRYING TO GO TO YOUR FIFTH FAMILY FUNERAL BECAUSE ALL YOUR RELATIVES ARE DROPPING LIKE FLIES AFTER A HARD SIXTY YEARS OF LABOR? OOH, SORRY, YOU ONLY GET FOUR FUNERAL DAYS A YEAR! NEED TO GET ANOTHER JOB BECAUSE YOUR CURRENT ONE DOESN’T PAY ENOUGH? WELL, YOU FORGOT TO DISCLOSE IT TO YOUR BOSS AND THEY FIRED YOU FOR TWO-TIMING THEM! A JOB IS MORE OF A COMMITMENT THAN A SPOUSE, AND IF YOU HAVE OTHER PRIORITIES, YOU WON’T LAST LONG. 

BECAUSE THE BOURGEOISIE OWNS SERVICES THAT SHOULD BE PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT, LIKE HEALTHCARE, HOME AND AUTO INSURANCE, A LOT OF HIGHER EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENTS, CREDIT BUREAUS, LOAN COMPANIES, AND HOSPITALS, PROFIT IS THE MOTIVE THERE TOO! WHICH MEANS IF YOU HAVE ANY KIND OF INSURANCE, NEED TO BUY A HOUSE OR A CAR, WANT OR NEED AN EDUCATION, ARE CHRONICALLY ILL, OR JUST EXIST ON A GENERAL BASIS, COMPANIES ARE RIPPING YOU OFF. YOU ARE BASICALLY PAYING THOUSANDS A MONTH FOR THE CHANCE TO GET *SOME* OF YOUR MASSIVE HOSPITAL BILL COVERED IF YOU GET IN AN ACCIDENT. THIS ONE IS NEAR AND DEAR TO ME. FOR UNIMPORTANT REASONS, I MANAGE TO RACK UP A LOT OF DEBT EVERY YEAR GOING TO HOSPITALS AND URGENT CARE, CALLING AMBULANCES, PAYING FOR MEDICATION THAT DOESN��T WORK. DID YOU KNOW YOU’RE CHARGED NIGHTLY TO STAY IN HOSPITALS LIKE THEY’RE GODDAMN HOTELS? LIKE IT’S A FUCKING VACATION? AND DID YOU KNOW THE BILLING DEPARTMENTS OF EACH OF THESE PRIVATELY OWNED ESTABLISHMENTS IS MADE UP OF UNDERPAID, OVERSTRESSED MEMBERS OF THE PROLETARIAT WHOSE JOB IS TO FUCK UP YOUR BILL SO YOU OWE MORE THAN YOUR VISIT ACTUALLY COST? 

MEDICAL FACILITIES ARE ALSO PUSHED TO SELL OVERPRICED DRUGS THAT DON’T WORK TO PEOPLE. HEADS UP, GUYS, BUT ANTIBIOTICS DON’T WORK AGAINST VIRAL INFECTIONS, AND YET THEY’RE PRESCRIBED FOR THE FLU AND COMMON COLD EVERY DAY. AND SOMETIMES THE DRUGS DO WORK, BUT THEY’RE STILL OVERPRICED! IF YOU’VE BEEN ON THE INTERNET AT ALL THIS YEAR YOU’LL KNOW ALL ABOUT THE INSULIN CRISIS, WHICH WAS CREATED ARTIFICIALLY. BASICALLY THE PEOPLE WHO OWN INSULIN (YEAH, *OWN* A LIFE-SAVING MEDICATION) RACKED UP THE PRICE SO MUCH THAT PEOPLE COULDN’T FUCKING AFFORD IT ANYMORE, DESPITE A NORMAL DOSE OF INSULIN COSTING LIKE FIFTY CENTS TO MAKE?? OR, HOW ABOUT THIS—THEY INVENTED THIS COOL NEW CHEAP PAIN-RELIEVING DRUG CALLED FENTANYL AND DISCOVERED THEY COULD MAKE A SHIT TON OF MONEY OFF IT, SO DOCTORS PRESCRIBED THE HELL OUT OF IT UNTIL PEOPLE GOT SO ADDICTED TO IT THAT TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE DIED OF OVERDOSES. OH, DID I SAY “PRESCRIBED” IN THE PAST TENSE? MY BAD, THEY CONTINUE TO PRESCRIBE IT EVERY SINGLE DAY. IF YOU HAVE CHRONIC PAIN AND ASK DOCTORS NOT TO PUT YOU ON PAIN MEDICATION, A LOT OF TIMES THEY WILL STILL PUT YOU ON PAIN MEDICATION. IF YOU EXPLAIN TO YOUR DOCTOR THAT YOU KICKED A HEROIN ADDICTION AND YOU REALLY WOULD NOT LIKE TO HAVE OPIOIDS PUT IN YOUR BODY, THEY WILL PROBABLY STILL BE LIKE, HUH, SUCKS FOR YOU, AND PUT OPIOIDS IN YOUR BODY. 

DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE ANY OF THIS? PERHAPS PETITION YOUR LOCAL POLITICIAN, OR GOD FORBID, STATE CONGRESSMAN, TO PASS A LAW THAT YOU THINK MIGHT IMPROVE YOUR LIFE? WELL, IT TURNS OUT YOU NEED A LOT OF MONEY TO RUN A CAMPAIGN NOWADAYS, AND POLITICIANS ARE ALLOWED TO BE SPONSORED BY BIG BUSINESSES, BECAUSE BUSINESSES ARE PEOPLE. SO IF YOU’RE THE SENATOR OF NEW JERSEY OR WHATEVER, AND YOUR CONSTITUENTS WANT YOU TO VOTE TO RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE, BUT YOUR CAMPAIGN IS OWNED BY WALMART, WHO WANTS TO KEEP PAYING ITS WORKERS ELEVEN BUCKS AN HOUR, YOU HAVE THE CHOICE BETWEEN MAKING A COUPLE LITTLE WORKING CLASS IDIOTS ANGRY OR GETTING ALL YOUR FUNDING FROM WALMART PULLED BECAUSE YOU THREATENED THEIR PROFIT MARGINS. 

NOT ACTIVELY DYING FROM A TREATABLE ILLNESS, WASTING AWAY FROM DRUG ADDICTION, OR ENTRENCHED IN SLAVERY TO A CORPORATION WHOSE PRODUCT YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN? GREAT! DID YOU KNOW THE PLANET WILL BE ON FIRE IN LIKE A FEW DECADES? OIL AND GAS COMPANIES HAVE SO MUCH INFLUENCE OVER THE LAWMAKERS THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO PROHIBIT THEM FROM RUINING THE PLANET, THEY’VE PUT THE ONUS OF SAVING IT ON INDIVIDUALS’ SHOULDERS. REDUCE YOUR CARBON EMISSIONS BY TAKING THAT HOURLY BUS (YOU’LL EITHER BE FIFTY MINUTES EARLY TO WORK OR TEN MINUTES LATE!) OR RECYCLING YOUR SHIT (BUT IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR MUNICIPALITY CAN’T RECYCLE, THEY’LL THROW THE WHOLE BATCH OUT WHEN YOU PUT TRASH IN) OR TURNING THE LIGHTS OFF IN YOUR HOUSE (JUST EAT DINNER IN THE DARK YOU PIECE OF SHIT) OR INSTALLING SOLAR PANELS ON YOUR HOUSE (FUCK ME FOR RENTING I GUESS?) THERE IS SO MUCH WE CAN DO JUST WHENEVER TO SWITCH TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, BUT EXXON AND BP AND SHELL OWN SO MUCH INFLUENCE THAT WE’RE JUST *NOT*, AND LEAVING THIS WASTELAND OF A HOME PLANET TO OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS. BUT AT LEAST ELON MUSK BUILT THIS REALLY COOL LOW-POLY BETHESDA LOOKING PIECE OF SHIT FOR US TO MAKE MEMES ABOUT

HERE’S THE SKINNY OF IT, PEOPLE. THERE’S NO OUT WITHIN OUR CURRENT SYSTEM. EVEN IF YOU DID THE MAGIC AND PULLED YOURSELF UP BY YOUR BOOTSTRAPS AND NOW YOU’RE A BIG BOY WHO OWNS HIS OWN COMPANY, YOU LEFT BEHIND A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T WIN THE BIRTH LOTTERY LIKE YOU DID. INNOCENT FOLKS ARE DYING OF HUNGER OR ILLNESS THEY CAN’T AFFORD TO TREAT, CRASHING CARS THEY CAN’T AFFORD TO FIX, WORKING THEMSELVES LITERALLY TO DEATH TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES OR THEIR FAMILIES, AND SCRAPING BY WITH A MEASLY ALLOWANCE OF FREE TIME WITH WHICH TO UNWIND AND CATCH UP WITH OTHER PEOPLE. THEY DON’T HAVE TIME TO WATCH THE NEWS, THINK CRITICALLY ABOUT THE SOCIETY THEY LIVE IN, CONCEPTUALIZE UNIONIZING OR REVOLTING OR BUILDING GUILLOTINES. THEY WANT TO KEEP US EXHAUSTED AND STRUGGLING BECAUSE IT’S WHAT KEEPS THEM COMFORTABLE UP THERE, KNOWING NO ONE HAS THE ENERGY OR THE GALL TO TOUCH THEM. THE ONLY FUCKING WAY TO ESCAPE THIS HELL WE’VE CREATED IS THROUGH REVOLUTION. WE NEED TO SCRAP THIS WHOLE THING AND START OVER. BUT I THINK THAT’S ANOTHER ESSAY. ANYWAY I HOPE THIS WAS THOROUGH ENOUGH FOR A LITERAL ALIEN SOCIETY. 

TL;DR: WE ARE ALL FUCKED IF WE DON’T OVERTHROW THE RICH. 

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

*CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS IS SOME EUROPEAN WHO SAILED THE WRONG WAY AND ENDED UP IN THE AMERICAS. HE AND HIS BUDDIES RAPED AND PILLAGED THEIR WAY THROUGH A BUNCH OF INDIGINOUS COMMUNITIES AND DECIDED THIS COUNTRY WAS “FREE REIGN” TO SETTLE IN. HE IS HAILED AS THE AMERICAN ODYSSEUS AND CREDITED WITH THE “DISCOVERY” OF AMERICA BECAUSE OF COURSE ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO LIVED HERE FIRST DON’T COUNT??

**I DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT WARS EITHER BUT LET’S GET INTO IT FROM THE POV OF A GUY WHO PASSED HIS WORLD HISTORY CLASS WITH A STRAIGHT B MINUS. 

THE FIRST WORLD WAR: I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THIS ONE.

THE SECOND WORLD WAR: THE ONE WHERE A BUNCH OF SCIENTISTS AND GOVERNMENT OFFICERS BOMBED A COUPLE OF CIVILIAN SETTLEMENTS IN JAPAN AND I’M PRETTY SURE AN *ENTIRE HAWAIIAN ISLAND* JUST TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED. TURNS OUT IT KILLED A BUNCH OF CIVILIANS. HUH! WHO’D HAVE EXPECTED THAT! OH IT ALSO TURNED AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF OTHERWISE DECENT FOLKS INTO RABIDLY PATRIOTIC IDIOTS, BECAUSE THE PACE AT WHICH THIS COUNTRY CHURNS OUT PROPAGANDA DURING A WAR IS FASTER THAN THE SPEEDING RUBBER BAND I SHOT WITH MY FINGERS AT THE TEACHER WHO WAS EXPLAINING WHY EVERY OTHER COUNTRY WAS IN THE ABSOLUTE WRONG DURING THIS CATASTROPHE.

VIETNAM: OKAY SO BASICALLY PEOPLE HATED THIS ONE BECAUSE THEY REALIZED SOLDIERS WERE GOING ALL CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS ON THE COUNTRIES WHERE THEY WERE STATIONED. ENOUGH SAID. 

COLD WAR: THIS IS NOMINALLY A WAR BECAUSE THE GOOD OLD U.S.A. AND ITS HATEFUCKBUDDY THE U.S.S.R.† DID THIS WITH WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION 

(EVENTUALLY THEY DECIDED TO PUT THE FINGER GUNS AWAY. I’M GONNA LET YOU TRY TO PUZZLE OUT ON YOUR OWN HOW COUNTRIES “PUT AWAY” NUCLEAR WEAPONS CAPABLE OF ENDING ALL LIFE ON EARTH.)

SPACE RACE: THE U.S. AND THE U.S.S.R. HAD A FUN COMPETITION TO SEE WHOSE DICK WAS BIG ENOUGH TO GET TO THE MOON. SCIENCE IS RUINED. 

***ARTISTS, WRITERS, JOURNALISTS, VIDEO ESSAYISTS, AND ANYONE ELSE WHO ISN’T EITHER OWNED OR SPONSORED (THAT’S A FANCY WORD FOR “OWNED”) BY BIG BUSINESS TEND TO BE THREATENED BY POVERTY. PRETTY MUCH ANYONE WHO CAN FREELANCE ACTUALLY, BECAUSE WORKING FOR A CORPORATION PROVIDES THE SAFETY NET THAT SOCIAL PROGRAMS WOULD OTHERWISE TAKE CARE OF IF SOCIAL PROGRAMS WERE FUNDED EVER. 

****ALSO KNOWN AS THE AMERICAN DREAM, IN WHICH *ANYBODY* CAN MAKE IT IN THIS COUNTRY IF THEY TRY HARD ENOUGH! UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS A MYTH, AS YOU CAN SEE BY THE FACT THAT I AM STILL REALLY POOR, AS IS LIKE 90% OF THE COUNTRY. PLUS CLASS MOBILITY WORKS REALLY HARD TO KEEP MINORITIES IN EXTREME POVERTY, BECAUSE IT DOESN’T EXIST AS AN ISOLATED SYSTEM AND ANYONE WHO THINKS IT DOES IS A DUMBSHIT WHO’S BOUGHT INTO THIS EVEN MORE THAN THE AVERAGE DUMBSHIT. 

†RUSSIA’S COOL NEW NAME WHEN IT TRIED OUT SOCIALISM

[rebelwheelssoapbox]

Disability Rights & The Woes of Political Isolation

by Rebelwheels NYC Although it is true that disabled people exist within every marginalized demographic, and thus every issue impacts the disability community, (as a person can be disabled and black, disabled and transgender, disabled and a refugee etc), I am going to be talking about some issues that don't normally get the spotlight and some theories as to why that is the case.

There are many obstacles in the path of advancement when it comes to Disability Rights in the U.S. Politicians being one - and not just Republicans, my friends. Sometimes it’s not just the elephant in the room, sometimes the donkey is truly an ass.

[photo of disabled activist and editor in chief for Rooted In Rights, Emily Landau who is sitting in her wheelchair, holding up a sign that reads “Because of the Americans With Disabilties Act, I can get around my community! # Hands Off My ADA #Stop HR 620, because there were people in the Republican AND Democratic party who voted to gut the ADA. ] But I digress. Another major influence is the severe lack of disability representation in the media (TV, Movies, etc.) When there is representation, (besides there being a total lack of diversity), more than not the stories are written by able bodied people, the disabled characters are played by able bodied actors, and the plot is usually some recycled trope.

Disability is tragic, pitiful and the only chance of happiness is a cure... or death. Disability is a trick, where the character presents themselves as disabled but ha ha ha, plot twist! They are not disabled at all. Fakers! Cheating the system, swindling us all. And of course, the dangerous disabled man, usually blind and/or mentally ill, who should be feared and is typically some sort of murderer. But let's not forget the disabled character who might as well be called Angel, because they never complain or frown and pretty much exist to inspire and uplift the able bodied audience.

[A poster for the movie Me Before You, where the disabled character kills himself in the end, leaving all of his money to his able bodied love interest, because while the tagline of the film was to live boldly, apparently the film did not intend that message to include disabled people. In the image the able bodied character is sitting on the disabled character’s lap, as the disabled character sits in his motorized wheelchair.] People seem to love disabled people when we’re presented as this trope-based concept, but when we present ourselves as full fledged human beings, fighting for and deserving of civil rights? Well, that “plot line” just doesn't seem to be as interesting.

Many people don't even know the word ableism. When we are oppressed, it's not oppression, people are just being “mean”. As a result, you have this weird mix of experience (if your disability is visible) where when you're out in public, random people gawk at you, hyper aware of your existence, and yet, when it's time to talk about cuts to healthcare (as an example), such as medicare and medicaid, it's disabled who? Disabled what? Never heard of it.

[image of a disabled activist in a wheelchair being taken away by the police. A lot of people seemed to forget how disabled activists, including those from ADAPT, put their bodies on the line, when protesting Trumpcare in solidarity with the resistance. Photo source: Getty Images/PS Mag.] Now, mix all of that with the fact that there is so much injustice going on in the world, to the point where it's practically impossible to keep up with everything, and well, disability rights issues pretty much go unnoticed. But wait a minute. Is it really that simple? After all, a number of people were up in arms when there was talks of major cuts to The Special Olympics. My local politicians had pinned tweets (posts on social media) with petitions, outraged and pledging to take action, but as an example, when New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo was (and continues to) talk about major cuts to medicaid programs like the CDPA , with the exception of some minor local media coverage and a small pocket within the disability rights movement, it was pretty much crickets.

[A disabled athlete poses in front of a red backdrop with the white special olympics logo. She flexes her muscles and smiles, and has several medals around her neck] Now, it is true, Special Olympics is a federal program, where as the proposed cuts to the CDPA were only state-wide. More than that, one is a televised program where disabled athletes compete for medals and glory. There are lights, there are cameras, it's a whole production with corporate sponsors eager to scoop up that good PR. The mission is to empower people with intellectual disabilities to find purpose and confidence via sports and competition, while also inspiring [able bodied] “people in their communities and elsewhere to open their hearts to a wider world of human talents and potential.” And then we have The CDPA, lesser known but a program nonetheless, that empowers disabled people (like myself) who rely on home services, to hire their own personal attendants, thus giving them a choice as to who comes into their homes, who bathes their bodies, who makes their meals (or even helps them eat – if this is what is needed. Needs vary of course.) And while there are no lights, no cameras, no tickets to the show – it does create over 100,000 jobs, which is nothing to sneeze at.

[photo of New York State Governor, Andrew Cuomo who stands at a podium. Behind him is a blue backdrop that reads “2019 Justice Agenda”. Sadly, his justice agenda is not justice for ALL New Yorkers and in many ways, throws disabled New Yorkers under the bus] But there is another factor here that can not be ignored. The name. While I am not a fan of the term “special” when in regard to disability, when it comes to a name like Special Olympics, you can get an idea of what will be involved. There are sports, there is competition, and there are people with “special needs” aka disabled people. And then, we have the CDPA ...what the hell is the CDPA? Even if it's spelled out: Consumer Direction Personal Assistance. How many people even read the whole title? Furthermore, after reading it, do you have any better idea as to what it's about? And that is one (of many) problems that the Disability Rights movement faces. Because a lot of disability rights (at least on a systemic level, opposed to identity and the more social side of ableism), it's pretty much policy based, which is just not that interesting to most people, especially when these policies are given names like Disability Integration Act, Consumer Direction Personal Assistance. None of these names invoke any kind of emotion or intrigue.

Now, of course the disability community can't help what the government chooses to name the policies, but what if when talking about them to the public, the community referred to them with something more exciting and informative? What if the policies were given direct but intriguing Reference Names?

[photo of disabled activists from ADAPT, taken from their website: Adapt.org ] For an example, let's take the DIA or Disability Integration Act. What if that same act was now referred to as the Stop Warehousing Disabled People Act? In that moment, you now have an idea of what the DIA is about. Of course, it would be the call of organizers to pick a reference name and it would still be connected to the legal name.  Example: The Stop Warehousing Disabled People Act (otherwise known as the DIA) is an act that would prevent the state from being able to force disabled people against their will into institutions and nursing homes (because yes, that’s a thing.) And while the legal name would mostly be used when talking to people in the government, the reference name would be used when talking about it to the public, and even within our own community. The other day, I was chatting with a friend of mine, who is also in the disability community, about the DIA and he replied, “...What's the DIA?”. “You know, Disability Integration Act?” “Never heard of it.”

[photo of a man with a  confused look on his face] Given the obstacles that the community faces when trying to gain public empathy and solidarity in response to the attacks from the system, one of the last things we need is to be held back by a lack of accessible and easy to understand language / marketing.

This includes how we describe the details of the policies as well. Several times, when I’ve attempted to comprehend the details of a policy that directly impacts myself and/or my peoples, I've had to ask a dear friend in the disability community (who is a former policy analyst) to literally translate the details into layman's terms. Not only does this show that the language is not accessible, but it also begs the question, how many people won't even bother to ask? Now of course, the issue of disability and political isolation is a very complicated topic, and in no way am I suggesting that these two ideas are the solution to all that ails our community. It should also be noted that in no way is this intended to disparage the efforts of the disability activists who work incredibly hard for the liberation of our people. That said, using language that is easier to understand, that invokes some kind of emotion, beyond our immediate disability activist circle, is only a step in the right direction, and may even lessen the woes of political isolation. 

[Photo of New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo in mid speech. source: The New York Post. ] TAKE ACTION!

If you think Governor Cuomo's massive cuts to a program that not only empowers disabled and/or elderly people to choose who enters their homes and takes care of them, but also creates over 100,000 jobs for the community, then tell Cuomo, in the name of disability and worker solidarity to leave the CDPA alone. #SaveCDPA Call him at 518-474-8390 and press 2 to talk to his assistant. If you are unable to make a phone call, you can send him a message via his website: https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form or reach him on twitter @NYGovCuomo

[aithne]

(Illume) Tomika's Letters, 8/7 - 8/12: The Worm Turns

8/7/1583 Aomori

Dear Yukiko,

Short sailing this morning, landing us in Aomori this afternoon. We were met immediately by Storming Bear's samurai, and taken to his house and feasted in what appears to be Unicorn grand style. Much meat was involved. Bizarre, but there you have it. He noted immediately that the librarian was different, and said that his new form and apparent profession were much better than his old one. Storming Bear is many things, but stupid is not among them. He knew exactly what the librarian was, before.

We spoke of Minoru, the general who is trying to stir up conflict within the Unicorn, and he said that he'd never heard of the man. Almost as an afterthought, he said he'd had an advisor who he'd fired a month or so back, because he disliked his advice. That advisor was named Tadao, and had gone to Oni Killer after he was dismissed. Oni Killer happens to be Storming Bear's greatest rival within his clan.

So very convenient, it seems.

The Dragon samurai that Haku had sent to the Unicorns rather than causing trouble with the Lions had arrived; unfortunately, they had taken many casualties, and were something of a ragtag band of fifty-odd at this point. There was one that had been altered, who Storming Bear had been about to kill, but he offered to let us take a look at him first.

After finishing our meal, we did so.

Interesting, what we found. A man, but a man more afflicted by strength than any I have seen, wrapped in bonds of muscle as tightly as any ropes. He was feverish and sweating, moaning in what seemed to be pain, the sheet on his mat knotted around him. The scent of his sweat hung thick and sour in the air. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong indeed.

Storming Bear said gravely, "He said that the Dragon contingent had run into Oni Killer's people, and each of them were as giants in their strength. When he killed one, the Unicorn's blood splashed into the Dragon's wounds, and very soon he was feeling unwell. He has been like this for a week, perhaps two. Death would be a kindness, at this point."

Haku asked Panda to look at him with her orb of true seeing. She did, and whatever she saw made her go as white as her hair. She handed the orb to Reiko without comment, and fled from the room. She has had quite the touchy stomach lately, has Panda. Reiko peered through the orb and murmured, "That's neat. Disturbing, but neat."

The orb was passed around, everyone making somewhat disgusted noises. When it came to me, I could see what they had been grimacing about--under the man's skin and inside of him were worms, wriggling, exerting some sort of influence over him. Haku suggested using the true source on him and we promptly did so.

Unfortunately, it worked, but not how we wanted it to.

The worms did indeed come out of him. But they exited through his skin. It was as if he suddenly had dissolved in a cloud of blood. He drew his breath inward as if to scream but died before he could let it out.

We burned the worms that had come out of him and made arrangements for the body of the Dragon to be burned. Gryphon, as we burned the worms, ducked his head under his wing, and whined, "Owwwww....make them stop!" Reiko, confused, inquired what he wanted to make stop, and he said, "The worms are screaming! Can't you hear?"

None of us could, except Gryphon. Oni Killer also brought us a broken katana, and said that the dead Dragon had snapped it in two with his bare hands. Such strength is a frightening thing. Humans are not meant to be so strong.

Storming Bear told us Oni Killer's true name, with the request that we keep it secret, so that Funitsu could scry on him. (I can't tell you what the name is. But I assure you that it is very, very amusing. Evidently Oni Killer's parents had a vicious sense of humor.)

My husband scried, and came back with the information that Oni Killer has three hundred samurai, all altered as the Dragon who had just died was, stationed south and east of Aomori. South farther still are another three hundred troops, evidently in process--probably being altered as the rest are.

Tomorrow, we go south to try and see if we can interrupt the processing of the samurai. Tonight, however, we sleep.

Flirtation is not working on my husband. Strong measures are needed. I am unsure what these measures are, but I will come up with something, I'm sure. Perhaps Panda would have some advice.

Much affection, Tomika

8/8/1583 Aomori

Dear Yukiko,

Such an exciting day! A lovely fight against a mighty foe, and travel in comfort via the mirror. This is, indeed, the life. We headed south early this morning, all of us except Gryphon, Reiko, and Tadaki in the mirror. Gryphon and Tadaki were flying, and Reiko was riding Gryphon, as she takes every excuse to do. She really seems quite fond of the gryphon. Perhaps because in some ways, they are the outsiders, here.

We took the Warresh with us but left the Thrykreen behind. We are very careful to keep the Warresh near enough to the librarian so that he can see them. Out of his line of sight, they may become unpredictable.

Near the place we were heading, there was a barren area, one that looked like it had been growing for some time. There were small turning winds dancing along the surface, as if something from underneath were disturbing the air above. Gryphon found a place to land, and we all came out of the mirror.

We discovered that there were creatures beneath the ground--one giant worm, and many smaller ones. When we dug up a bit of earth, we found that they were the same as the worms that had infected the Dragon samurai, only larger.

Much larger.

A plan was hatched. Tadaki would fire a fireball into the warrens of the worm, and Hiroshi would try to poison the largest one. Meanwhile, we would try to fetch Tadao, who was busily infecting samurai with these worms. We were hoping that in the confusion we could take care of Tadao before the samurai knew what was happening.

A good plan, and one we put into action right away. At the explosion we heard from the barren area, we set out at a run to try to get Tadao. Haku, being the fastest of us, was the first there, and tackled Tadao as he attempted to escape.

The flaw in our plan became apparent when out of the ground burst the largest worm. At a hundred or so feet long, it was massive and much faster than anything that big has any right to be. It was heading after Hiroshi and the Warresh, who were fast but not nearly fast enough.

Panda and Haku were taking care of Tadao, and the worm screamed. The samurai who had been infected, as one, bleed and fell as the worms flew out of them and crawled to join the large one. Perhaps one of the more disgusting sights in the last few days.

I took aim at the worm, but then something happened to make anything I could do exceptionally dangerous. Gryphon had swooped down to pick up the librarian, snatching him out of harm's way, and tried to toss him up in the air and fly under him to catch him on his back. This, unfortunately, did not work as intended, and the librarian dropped, falchion-first, onto the worm's back.

I saw him pour something into the wound, and the worm convulsed and screamed again, writing, trying to rid itself of the man on its back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Reiko with eyes narrowed, pointing at the worm.

Out of the tiny shaman came a great cry, directed at the worm. "BAD WORM. LIE DOWN!"

And, impossibly, it did.

A few minutes later, it shuddered and died, the poison that the librarian had given it finally working. And where the body of the worm had been, there was suddenly a hole in the air. One that led, quite improbably, back to Kyoto. We didn't trust the hole, and decided to linger to see if it would fade.

In the meantime, Haku gave Tadao some of the true source, and he turned out to be most cooperative, considering that he was one of the Dragon's. He agreed to work for us on the inside, which means we can, perhaps, have Panda's husband Nibori travel with us. I am hoping that will make her less short-tempered.

Tadao said that he though, after the mother worm had died, that in three or so days all of her children would die. We elected to test that theory by going back to Storming Bear and telling him that we could wait for three days and see what happened.

We also have a priest here who has agreed to ride on Gryphon and try a Mass Heal spell on some of the worm-altered people, to see what happens. More on that tomorrow.

Much affection, Tomika

8/11/1583 Aomori

Dear Yukiko,

It has been a tense but otherwise restful three days. When the priest did his heal spell from afar, the worms in the samurai died but their strength did not decrease. We elected to see this as a good sign.

The rest was waiting. I overheard Reiko asking Storming Bear if he had any daughters of marriageable age, and he said he had two. "But you might want the younger one, the oldest is ugly." Having met the girls in question, I had to agree. The younger is a remarkably pleasant girl, sweet of face if not overly pretty. The elder is...well, "ugly" sums it up. It is somewhat difficult to tell she is female, as a matter of fact.

I believe that Reiko is matchmaking, perhaps for your brother, perhaps for Haku or Tadaki. Trust the kitsune, in the middle of a war, to try and marry off those around her. She used to be a politician. Perhaps, in some way, she still is.

Today, we received reports that all of those who'd been infected with the worms had fallen over and slept for a time. Storming Bear stated that he could now take care of Oni Killer, and we have taken our leave.

Panda has been teaching her dog, who appears to be named Dog, to fetch. Dog caught on quickly, but seems to have generalized "fetch" to mean "bring anything small and portable to Panda". So far, Panda has been the recipient of shoes, pieces of Thrykreen armor, two kittens, a set of dice, someone's money pouch, one of the combs I use in my hair, and Taura in fox form, who looked very cranky indeed at being hauled around by a dog.

We're going to Akita, to see if we can convince Nibori to travel with us. Four days to Akita, we think; the winds are unfavorable at the moment for a southward journey.

Much affection, Tomika

8/12/1583 At sea, towards Akita

Dear Yukiko,

Most upsetting and puzzling happenings today. When my husband arose and opened his door, he was the recipient of three darts in the chest, each poisoned. We all heard his shout and came running, and found him pale and sweating, the poison already taking effect.

Reiko rolled her eyes, told Funitsu to hold still, and stood on her tiptoes and kissed his neck, lightly. A red light burned briefly in Funitsu's chest, and she pulled out the darts, the poison on them neutralized. She dropped them in the librarian's hand and stalked off, muttering something about people who were so unobservant as to walk into an assassins' darts.

The device that had fired the darts was a clever Black Hand creation, keyed to Lord Soshi, and we determined that it had been set recently enough that the person who'd set it was probably still on board. Haku went searching and Panda mustered the crew on deck, none of whom had anything unusual about them.

And at the same time, we noticed two things happening. One was that there was a sparkling cloud forming right before Shrike. The second was that the outlines of the ship were changing, taking on a sleeker, faster form.

Panda said a word I didn't think she knew, and I'm not certain she appreciates all of the connotations of. All of us except Gryphon plunged below decks, towards the control chamber. If the outlines of the ship hadn't changed, we'd never have known that someone was in the control chamber.

In the control webbing was someone who was obviously a ninja, and probably a Black Hand member. He or she--it was difficult to tell, with the clothing and the mask--disentangled themself from the control webbing, and braced to attack. Ignoring the ninja, Haku ran past , grabbing his reality-door wakizashi, and proceeded to teleport the entire ship five hundred yards to the left--far enough so we wouldn't sail into the sparkling cloud.

Reiko tried to do the spell she'd done so successfully on the worm, only it rebounded on her, leaving her stunned and mostly incapable of movement. The rest joined battle with the ninja. After taking some grievous wounds from Panda, the ninja slid under her guard, grabbed Reiko by the throat, and hissed, "How quickly do you want her to die? I suggest you stand down." The voice was definitely female.

I could see Panda hesitate, doing the calculus of honor in her head. Somewhere, I believe, she came to the conclusion that the promises of assassins can never be trusted, and came in for another attack.

True to her word, the ninja cut Reiko's throat and dropped her to the boards. Within moments, her body shrank inside her kimono, signaling that she was dead.

The fight, after that, was brief and bloody, ending with Haku taking off the ninja's head. Beside me, Funitsu said, "That's another piece of Arenro's spirit." He uncovered the ninja's dead face. It was nobody I recognized, but the librarian said, "Well, that was Takako. The former second in command in the Hand."

One more down, it seems. Perhaps they have started taking us more seriously.

Funitsu asked me to cast Speak With Dead, so I did, and while he was debating what to ask her, I dug the little black fox body out of Reiko's kimono. I'm reasonably sure the scarlet fabric is ruined. She goes through much clothing, does the kitsune. Perhaps I should look into making a fireproof kimono for her in my spare time. I gave her one of the resurrection tablets I keep on me, and she blurred and changed into her human form, beginning to breathe once more, her damaged throat healing over without a scar.

She opened her eyes, and I said, "You know, every time you wake to see me, you've just died."

She winced and rubbed her throat, and said, "I remember." Pulling on her kimono, both of us turned to pay attention to Funitsu's questioning of Takako's head.

She said she'd come aboard at Aomori, and had secreted herself in a secret compartment aboard Shrike. She had the help of three other Hand members in this; nobody important, Funitsu said, but they'd be found and punished anyway.

We weighted the body down and threw it over the side, and I waved goodbye as it sank into the depths. She had only a few interesting items on her, but the mention of a secret compartment aboard this ship is worrisome to me. I suppose we'll ask Shrike.

Sailing to Akita, still. With any luck, Nibori will still be alive. I believe Panda worries for him; her touchy stomach lately, I think, is perhaps not all due to her pregnancy. Honestly, if having Nibori around will ease her moodiness, I for one am all for it.

There seems to be some sort of fuss up on deck. I suppose I should go see what it is. Perhaps the puppy has chewed something it's not supposed to again.

Much affection, Tomika

[a note, written in Tomika's hand, but undated]

I went to my husband's cabin tonight on some pretext; perhaps I was going to ask him to come see the full moon with me. I slipped into the small room silent as a mouse. I was about to waken him with a hand on his shoulder when I heard him speak, and froze.

He was muttering in his sleep. The only thing I could make out were the words, "Tsutsako. Why? And why?" The tone he said them in was heartbroken and sorrowful.

I stood, hand pressed against my mouth, until he quieted once again. Once he had fallen deeply asleep once more, I slipped from the room.

I know now who my rival is, Yukiko. She is his half-sister, and until he knows why she has betrayed him, I do not think he will even notice my attempts to capture his attention.

My heart is heavy this night with all I have not understood about my husband, and all I have yet to understand.

--Tomika.

Quotes:

"I'm going to bite you, Sparrow." --Reiko

"Hellloooo, creature!" --Gryphon

"It's going to either get a flaming enema or a facelift, depending on which way it's facing." "I fell into a burning ring of fire..." --Ray and Laura

"Can I have a D...something?" "...yes? I think you're going to have to be more specific." --Graham and Kris

"We made a hole in the worm, and the worm made a wormhole." --Graham

"I'm sorry, Lord, for anything I've done in the past, and to your ancestors in the future." --Storm, as Tadao

"…who are you trying to marry off, Reiko?" "Never mind." --Haku and Reiko

"A kappa is a master of martial arts...so they're ninja turtles." --Bryan

"We travel with a former assassin, a current assassin, and the leader of the assassins. You bet I carry Neutralize Poison. I'm not an idiot." --Reiko, explaining why she happened to be carrying the perfect spell for the situation

"You know, every time you wake up and see me, you've just died." --Storm, as Tomika.

"You never really know a thing until you've put it in your mouth." --Kris

[beesandwasps]

Ugh… Biden

So, I was just thinking about the 2020 election. (Which… ugh. The possibility that we will get rid of Trump is really not enough to make up for the fact that the 2020 election season has apparently already begun — Democrats are declaring candidacy already — and it’s still January of 2019.)

But I digress.

Since 2000, the one person that the Republicans really, really wanted to run against was Hillary Clinton. They had their base trained to hate her for fake reasons, much of her own base (outside of her cult of personality) didn’t have much enthusiasm for her for real reasons, Independents who lean towards the Democratic Party mostly left the Democratic Party specifically to get away from the DLC/Clinton influence… she was just the perfect person for a Republican to run against, and as a result of her finally becoming the candidate in 2016, we ended up with Trump in the White House. I’m fairly certain that nearly anybody else — with a few very specific exceptions like Joe Manchin and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (both of whom endorsed her, bien sûr) — could have beaten Trump, just because there would not have been the sheer combination of hatred on one side and indifference on the other. Trump, left to himself, would have motivated people to vote against him, it took someone massively unpopular on the other side to put him into office, and Hillary Clinton delivered.

Hillary Clinton is not going to run again. (Probably. I hope. There were signs in mid-2018 that she was angling for her supporters to “draft” her for another run in 2020, but thankfully even the dead-ender Clinton supporters are finally admitting that this would be a bad idea.) Which brings us to the question: who would the Republicans really like to run against next time?

I think the answer is Joe Biden, which is of course part of why the same people who thought Hillary Clinton was a great idea in 2016 are now lining up behind him.

You see, the Baby Boomers are the people who have been swinging elections to the right for the last 20-odd years. They’re starting to die off in larger and larger numbers, now, so they no longer represent an absolutely unstoppable electoral force, but they still make up a very large number of voters.

If everybody younger than the Baby Boomers is disgusted by the Democratic candidate in 2020 the way they were in 2016, Trump can win another term (or, if he’s impeached or pops his clogs, Pence can win on his “legacy”). So the ideal for the Republicans is for the Democrats to shoot themselves in the foot by picking a candidate that young people don’t like.

Joe Biden:

is a hard-core anti-drug politician, very much against legalization of anything throughout his career

made student loan debt undischargable by bankruptcy

could probably have stopped the confirmation of right-wing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (by producing another woman Thomas had harassed, thus proving that Anita Hill was part of a broader pattern of harassment), but decided not to after all

has a long history of backing laws which may not have been overtly racist but were racist in effect, meaning either he is actually a racist or is too stupid to notice a pattern

supported all sorts of bad policy in the 1990s and early 2000s, like NAFTA and the Iraq wars (many of which he now disavows, after the damage is done)

is yet another Democrat who has “evolved” on various rights issues, which in practice means “defaulted to believing that certain groups should be second-class citizens or even destroyed, and had to make a conscious effort to stop believing that”. (Which is better than continuing to believe that, of course — but we certainly don’t have to go out of our way to nominate somebody whose instincts are to hate people when other candidates are available.)

He’s also another old white Baby Boomer, which is not necessarily an issue on its own — Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are both old white Baby Boomers, and you’ll notice I haven’t been moved to make a post complaining about either of them — but combined with his history, he comes across as yet another stale and unresponsive politician who will wag his finger at anybody under the age of 55 who wants to make the country a better place and tell them they’re being naive and should be happy with preserving the status quo. (That was also Hillary Clinton’s image, justified by her behavior to various people including her single less-than-ten-minute meeting with anybody from Black Lives Matter.)

So: Joe Biden will be the most effective of current speculative candidates at keeping Gen X and Millennial voters home on election day, quite probably turning the election over to the Baby Boomers — and Donald Trump.

Can we, you know, stop him now and save a bunch of time?

[patriotsnet]

Why Are Republicans So Afraid Of Trump

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/why-are-republicans-so-afraid-of-trump/

Why Are Republicans So Afraid Of Trump

Officer Goes From ‘sadness’ To ‘rage’

Why Are Republicans Still So Afraid Of Trump? | The 11th Hour | MSNBC

Sicknicks partner on the Capitol police, Sandra Garza, wrote an essay about the attack and the aftermath in which she said in part, I saw officers being brutalized and beaten, and protesters defying orders to stay back from entering the Capitol. All the while, I kept thinking, Where is the President? Why is it taking so long for the National Guard to arrive? Where is the cavalry!?

She added, As the months passed, my deep sadness turned to outright rage as I watched Republican members of Congress lie on TV and in remarks to reporters and constituents about what happened that day. Over and over they denied the monstrous acts committed by violent protesters.;

For example, when Gosar called the Jan. 6 attackers peaceful patriots.

During the Benghazi hearings, Republicans were laser-focused on trying to place blame on then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But after four years of investigations, most of them purely partisan affairs, they found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on her part.

Republicans dont want anything close to that type of scrutiny on the Capitol attacks of Jan. 6. In fact, they dont seem to want any scrutiny at all.

Almost as if they know what will be found.

Almost as if I didnt have to use the word almost.

Reach Montini at .

Trump Is Here To Stay And Republicans Should Be Worried

There are Republican office holders who genuinely embrace Trump. For other leading GOP politicians and strategists, it’s a calculation: placate Trump and his crazy stuff now, win the Congress next year and start to move on.

That’s a fantasy.

The narcissistic former president is incapable of just going away. The Trump brand hardly suffers though it seems every week a new book comes out on his tragic governance and those from people without subpoena power.

Start with the 2020 election, which should be history; Biden won the popular vote handily and the electoral college with several states to spare. That has been validated by Republican state officials, dozens of court cases, Congress and Trump’s own attorney general and vice president. It was more clear-cut than Trump’s victory four years earlier and two other presidential elections in this century.

Time to move on, right? Trump won’t allow it.

Trump is an effective demagogue. Six years ago, he had many Republicans questioning whether Barack ObamaBarack Hussein ObamaWhere is Joe Biden’s ‘red line’?Newsom recall spurs unprecedented turnout campaignBiden is steering America to lose asymmetric warsMORE really was born in the United States, even though Obamas 1961 birth in Hawaii was in the newspaper.;

Actually, the former president could take credit for the rapid development of the extraordinarily effective vaccines but this might help Biden, avoiding which apparently motivates Trump more than the lives he might save.

Todays Republicans Really Hate Democrats And Democracy

1) Trumps supporters have embraced anti-democratic ideas

This chart shows results from a two-part survey, conducted in late 2020 and early 2021, of hardcore Trump supporters. The political scientists behind the survey, Rachel Blum and Christian Parker, identified so-called MAGA voters by their activity on pro-Trump Facebook pages. Their subjects are engaged and committed Republican partisans, disproportionately likely to influence conflicts within the party like primary elections.

These voters, according to Blum and Parker, are hostile to bedrock democratic principles.

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John Kasich Says Republicans Are ‘afraid’ Of Trump

EmbedEmbed

Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaks with NPR’s Leila Fadel about the GOP’s unwillingness to stand up to President Trump, who still refuses to accept the results of the presidential election.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Last night, President Trump received another loss in court. A federal judge in Pennsylvania dismissed the campaign’s attempts to stop the certification of Pennsylvania’s votes. This is just the latest of more than two dozen failed challenges brought by the Trump campaign to overturn the election results. President Trump refuses to concede, and for the most part, his party has supported his efforts to pursue legal challenges based on false allegations of widespread voter fraud.

Very few high-profile Republicans have publicly acknowledged Joe Biden as the winner, but one of them is John Kasich. He’s the former governor of Ohio and a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, and he joins us now.

Governor Kasich, welcome.

JOHN KASICH: Thanks, Leila. Glad to be with you.

FADEL: So you endorsed President-elect Joe Biden. He won this election. What do you make of President Trump’s attempts to overturn the results?

KASICH: It’s just absurd. The whole thing is – it’s just – it’s ridiculous. I mean, he has clearly won this election. And it is just sort of amazing to me that Republicans just keep sitting on their hands. It makes no sense.

FADEL: That was the former Republican governor of Ohio, John Kasich.

Governor Kasich, thanks for speaking with us.

Republicans Still Scared To Death Of Trump

Trump went on yet another unhinged rant this weekend during a speech to donors in Florida, attacking Mitch McConnell as a “stone cold loser” for refusing to go along with his attempt to steal the election, but you won’t find any profiles in courage in the GOP willing to stand up to him.

Case in point, on this weekend’s Fox News Sunday, South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune was asked about Trump calling him “weak and inneffective RINO” earlier in the year and saying he might back a primary challenger to Thune. Thune responded telling host Chris Wallace that “I’ve been through wars in South Dakota, political wars, with my own party when I ran the first time, with the Democrats in a couple of hotly contested Senate races, so being afraid of a fight or somebody coming after me is not something that’s going to influence that decision,” but Thune refused to admonish Trump for his rhetoric, and refused to stand up for McConnell when asked about him as well.

Which is pretty much the equivalent of “I support Trump, but I really don’t like the tweeting” that we heard from so many of them over the last five or six years.

As the Fox article discussed, Trump called Thune “Mitch’s boy” when urging Gov. Kristi Noem to challenge Thune in 2022, but no amount of insults are apparently ever breaking point for these jellyfish.

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Why Republicans Are Scared Of Texas New Abortion Ban

For years, conservative legislators have passed increasingly restrictive abortion laws, knowing theyd be struck down by the courts. Now, Republicans are going to have to defend their views at the ballot box. And that might not go well for them.

At a pro-choice rally in Texas in 2013, one sign reads “Republicans, your seats aren’t safe.” | AP Photo/Eric Gay

09/18/2021 08:41 AM EDT

Link Copied

Sarah Isgur is a graduate of Harvard Law School who clerked on the Fifth Circuit. She was Justice Department spokeswoman during the Trump administration and is the host of the legal podcast Advisory Opinions for the Dispatch.

When the Supreme Court allowed Texas 6-week abortion law to stand earlier this month, it was presented asa major victory for anti-abortion conservatives. After all, Republican state legislators in deep red states have long been passing increasingly restrictive abortion laws, only to see many later get struck down in the courts. Finally, one law got through .

Whats going on? When considering the political ramifications of the Texas abortion law, Ian Malcoms famous line from Jurassic Park comes to mind, with a little social-wars twist: Your were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didnt stop to think if they should.

So the more relevant question is whether the abortion issue motivates voters in both political camps and which side it motivates more.

Filed Under:

As Gop Makes It Harder To Vote Few Republicans Dissent

ATLANTA In Arizona, a Republican state senator worried aloud that his partys proposed voter identification requirements might be too cumbersome. But he voted for the bill anyway.

In Iowa, the states Republican elections chief put out a carefully worded statement that didnt say whether he backs his own partys legislation making it more difficult to vote early.

And in Georgia, Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan left the room as Senate Republicans approved a bill to block early voting for all but the GOPs most reliable voting bloc. Duncan instead watched Mondays proceedings from a television in his office to protest.

This is what amounts to dissent as Republican lawmakers push a wave of legislation through statehouses across the nation to make voting more difficult. The bills are fueled by former President Donald Trumps false claims of widespread voter fraud and many are sponsored by his most loyal allies. But support for the effort is much broader than just Trumps hard-right base, and objections from GOP policymakers are so quiet they can be easy to miss.

Its a startling shift for a party whose voters in some states, such as Florida and Arizona, had embraced absentee and mail voting. Several Republican strategists note the party may be passing laws that only box out their own voters.

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An Effort To Investigate Was Blocked In The Senate

Its different with the Jan. 6 insurrection. After Republicans in the Senate blocked a bill to investigate, the House decided to investigate on its own.

This time around, however, all but two Republicans in the House Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming voted against setting up a committee to find out what happened on;Jan. 6.

All of Arizonas Republican representatives voted no.;This would include Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar. You may recall that right-wing political activist Ali Alexander claimed that these two Arizona representatives worked with him to plan pro-Trump rallies, including the one that ended with an attack on the Capitol.

That kind of connection to the Capitol riot seems to be what Republicans are worried about. They;fear the exposure of possible;links between the rioters and Republicans, and the implications that may have for former President Donald Trump.

Gladys Sicknick, the mother of Brian Sicknick, said of the Republicans who voted not to investigate the event, I just dont believe anybody could vote no, it doesnt make sense.

Republicans Can Govern Without Winning A Majority That Threatens Our Democracy

âRepublicans Are Afraid Of Donald Trumpâ Despite Election Loss, Kasie Hunt Says | TODAY

So, lets talk about why Cheney is once again on the chopping block and what that means for the Republican Party moving forward that is, can we finally stop debating whether the GOP is Trumps party now?;

But first: the role of the Big Lie. For a while now, refusing to accept the results of the 2020 election has proven a fealty test of sorts to Trump, and its one Cheney has refused to take. How much of that is responsible for Cheneys current situation versus her politics being increasingly out of step with the rest of the party?

related:Bidens Push For Big Government Solutions Is Popular Now But It Could Backfire Read more. »

nrakich :Its the entire reason for her current situation, Sarah.

Ideologically, Cheney is a faithful conservative at least as conservatism used to be defined. According to DW-Nominate, which uses voting records to quantify the ideology of every member of Congress on a scale from 1 to -1 , she has a score of 0.515.

And according to FiveThirtyEights Trump Score, she voted in line with Trumps position 93 percent of the time. Instead, her main transgression appears to be not going along with the Big Lie .

micah : Yeah, agreed. The idea that Cheneys troubles are about policy the argument that her hawkish foreign policy views or her free-trade-y views are behind her split with the bulk of the GOP is a bit silly?

Americans are living in two different realities right now.

micah: Yeah, agreed.

Thats scary!

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Is The Census Wrong

nrakich: I agree that its circular, Micah. The reason more Republican elites dont criticize Trump is that theyre afraid of his voters punishing them. But what they dont seem to realize is that they themselves also have power to shape those voters opinions! Theres a lot of evidence in political science that elites can shape public opinion.

sarah: Do GOP elites, though? So much of Trumps story in 2016 and 2020 was about the high voter turnout that he was responsible for driving. And although I think we should question how much turnout helped the GOP in 2020, there does seem to be an unspoken fear among GOP elites that these voters arent really Republicans now that is, they wont turn out for anyone other than Trump which is why so many GOP elites are scared to break with Trumps messaging.

micah: What do you all think would happen public opinion-wise if Republicans in Washington came out hard against the Big Lie but Trump and state-level Republicans kept it going?

nrakich: To be clear, it would be a political risk for Republican politicians to come out forcefully against the Big Lie. A solid chunk of the party would likely stand by Trump and continue to think the election was stolen. But it could lead to serious infighting within the GOP. At least, though, our democracy would be on a healthier path.;

But, hey, Im not staring down midterms.

micah: I think they are not long for this world.

I mean, how many are even left?

sarah: Or John Kasich.

Republican Party Faces Rage From Both Pro

By Peter Eisler, Chris Kahn, Tim Reid, Simon Lewis, Jarrett Renshaw

13 Min Read

WASHINGTON – After riots at the U.S. Capitol by President Donald Trumps supporters, the Republican Party is facing defections from two camps of voters it cant afford to lose: those saying Trump and his allies went too far in contesting the election of Democrat Joe Biden – and those saying they didnt go far enough, according to new polling and interviews with two dozen voters.

Paul Foster – a 65-year-old house painter in Ellsworth, Maine – is furious at party leaders for refusing to back the presidents claims that the election was stolen with millions of fraudulent votes. The party is going to be totally broken if it abandons Trump, Foster says, predicting Trump loyalists will spin off into a new third party.

I just wish he would run away with his tail between his legs, Cupelo says.

Though Republicans have now lost control of the White House and both houses of Congress in just four years, Trumps base remains a potent electoral force in the party. That base helped him capture more voters some 74 million than any Republican in history. The vast majority of his supporters, including 70% of Republicans, remain loyal, according to new Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted days after last weeks riot at the Capitol, and many activists say theyre willing to abandon the GOP for any perceived slight against their leader.

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Republicans Are Suddenly Afraid Of Democracy

Were not a democracy, Republican Senator Mike Lee tweeted in the middle of Wednesday nights vice-presidential debate. He was reacting to something hed heard onstage there, in his home state of Utah. Another tweet: The word democracy appears nowhere in the Constitution, perhaps because our form of government is not a democracy. Its a constitutional republic. To me it matters. It should matter to anyone who worries about the excessive accumulation of power in the hands of the few. Hours after the debate Lee was still worrying the thought: Democracy isnt the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.

Why did Lee choose this momentless than four weeks before an election in which his party seems likely to suffer defeatto make the familiar, even pedantic, point that we live in a republic rather than a pure democracy? Why did he insist on the point so vehemently that he neglected to mention that power in the American system ultimately lies with the people, which means that our system could also be called a representative democracy? Did he mean rank as in foul, rancid, or outright? If the last, does that mean the tyranny of the majority leading to perverse rule by the few? What did this short, misleading course in Civics 101 have to do with anything?

Time To Reckon With Gop Radicalization

The lies about 2020 and the increasing dedication to destroying democratic institutions in the quest for power are inextricable from one another. As Jay Rosen says, the press is comfortable calling out the former it can be packaged as a fact check.” But being forthright about the latter requires depicting one party as far and away the only primary threat to our democratic stability. Thats accurate, but its uncomfortably adversarial.

Relatedly, describing Republicans as cowards who fear Trump casts their machinations as mere reluctant efforts to cope with externally imposed circumstances theyd prefer not to be dealing with. This lets Republicans off the hook in a very fundamental way. It risks misleading the country about the true depths of GOP radicalization and the real dangers it poses.

Read more:

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