#he already wanted to see one of cub's latest videos to see how he used allays in his turtle farm

[thetomorrowshow]

Got my dad to watch mcc (scar pov) with me, here are some highlights of the occasion

he's colorblind and struggled telling teams apart, but appreciated color indicators on some blocks in games

did not understand survival games until he saw the border and then went "oh it's like fortnite!!"

asked questions about every ten seconds which was actually quite lovely, but included:

asking me how mcc teams are decided

asking me who scott smajor was no less than five times

asking me to explain the concept of hermitcraft.

did not care about the game chat until he realized that's where i was getting stats from and then started leaning as far forward as possible to read it

i don't think he ever really grasped the concept of rocket spleef. he had fun watching though

thought antfrost's skin was a bird

asked me if ace race was only for ace people (definitely trying to connect with me after i recently came out as ace. much appreciated, very sweet)

complained if people punched scar off during tgttos

asked if scar would be interested in coming to our family server to build

desperately wants minecraft slushies. i wouldn't be surprised if i joined the family server tomorrow to find he'd added a texture pack for them

i think his favorite game was meltdown, he got very excited about scar's killer aim

he says that most of the streamers he watches are british and hearing american accents on twitch was weird. ok

got happy every time scar wasn't last in team rankings for a game

guys he got so into dodgebolt. he was jumping up with every hit. he was very disappointed when i accidentally changed the channel during the second round and wouldn't let me touch the remote again. he actually cheered at the final shot

he didn't know anyone playing but he still really enjoyed it. he wants to watch again next time :)

[onlydreamofmysoul]

Headlines

A fun cubs come out fic!

Characters and their world by @lumosinlove

@im-oknutzy-trash - here you go!

(Just one last note - there is one scene with a little spicy quip but it doesn’t get in any way explicit :))

“I’m home!” Finn called as he came through the door to their apartment, duffle bag falling off his shoulder and crashing into the door.

“Wow.” Logan commented, coming over to help him. “Home for less than a minute and you’re already trying to wreck the place.”

“Oh hush.” Finn said, dropping his bags and pulling Logan in by the waist. “Hello to you too.”

Logan grinned and went soft, leaning into Finn’s kiss. “How was Alex?”

They moved away from the door to the couch, Logan setting Finn’s bag aside to be dealt with later. 

“Good, Kase and Nat are going out to see him in a few days so he was all excited.” 

Logan laughed, kicking off his shoes to curl his feet under him. “Now that I get.”

Finn smiled and glanced around. “Where’s Leo?”

“He just had to pop out to the shop. We’re out of milk. He should be back soon though.”

Finn nodded, looking down at his hands, fiddling with his fingernails. “Hey Lo?”

“Yeah?”

“I was thinking about… well what if… So like, you know Cap and Loops, right?”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Our teammates? Yeah I think I’m vaguely familiar with them.”

Finn huffed, rolling his eyes. “Wow sassy. You know that’s not what I meant.”

Logan tilted his head to the side in acquiescence, letting Finn continue. 

“I want to be like them.” Finn said quickly. “Can we be like them?”

He watched Logan frown for a moment, trying to figure out the difference between Remus and Cap and them. “Wait,” He murmured, eyes meeting Finn’s. “Do you mean?”

Finn nodded. “Yeah. I think maybe we’re ready?”

Logan opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Leo coming in. 

“Hey Lo!” He said, without even looking around yet. “I got milk and that bread you like. Did Finn message you yet, he definitely should have landed by now.”

Leo reached the counter, putting the milk in the fridge before turning around and finally noticing the two boys in the room.

“I think his flight landed.” Logan said dryly, watching Leo take in Finn’s presence. 

“Hi baby.” Finn said, with a smile, truly grinning when Leo left the shopping bag half-empty and came over to kiss him hello instead. 

“Hi.” Leo said, slipping into the gap between his two boys. “I missed you.” 

Finn heard himself make a pleased noise as he leaned in to kiss Leo again. “Missed you too.”

“So,” Leo said as he pulled away, pulling Logan’s feet onto his lap. “What’re we talking about?”

Finn met Logan’s green eyes, pausing for a moment. “Um, I uh…”

Logan kicked his foot forward to nudge it against Finn’s thigh. “I got it Harzy.” He then turned to Leo. “We were thinking, maybe it’s time for us to come out? It’d be nice I think, not having to hide.”

Finn watched Leo carefully as the younger boy blinked in surprise before a small smile took over his face. 

“Yeah,” He breathed, looking between Logan and Finn. “Yeah that would be nice.” He bit his lip, looking smug and mischievous and Finn thought he might be falling in love all over again. “But I think we should have some fun first.”

****

Logan stumbled off the bus wearily - that four hour bus ride had just seemed to go on forever. Reporters stood outside the door to the hotel, despite the cold and the late hour but Logan leaned into Leo’s side anyways, Leo’s arm around his shoulder, Logan’s hand beneath his jacket. Photographers went wild, cameras shuttering quickly and Logan hid his smile in Leo’s jacket. This was going to be a whole lot of fun. 

****

Leo looked up as Marlene entered the locker room, glancing around to see who might be ready and available for an interview. Leo caught her eye and waved her over. 

“Hey Leo, how about a quick video for social media? I won’t keep you longer than five minutes.”

Leo smiled, he didn’t mind, this was all a part of their plan, the team and the rest of the staff had been made somewhat aware. Plus, he liked Marlene so he never had a problem with the interviews. “Sure.”

“Okay great!” She gave him a thumbs up as she started recording. “So, just last night, pictures of you and Logan Tremblay were released as you got off the bus - have you anything to say about them?”

Leo nodded, grinning. “Don’t forget James photobombing in the background. I think he was going for a ‘bunny ears’ effect but it ended up looking like he was doing it to Kasey instead. I think I need to get a copy framed.”

Marlene laughed, moving on. “So you and Logan are close then?”

Leo looked around the room comically. “What? You mean right now? Cause He’s in the PT room so a lot of the guys are closer.”

Marlene bit her lip, her eyes sparkling. “How do you feel about this game then?”

Leo sat back, finally going to answer a question honestly. “I’m feeling good. We’ve had a great start this season and I’m pretty confident.”

Marlene gave him another thumbs up and headed off to go chat to some of the other guys. A few stalls over, Finn met Leo’s eyes and blew him a kiss. 

*******

“The media seems to have calmed down a bit.” Logan commented as they all sat at home watching a movie. “Think it’s time for our next one?”

“Ooh, yes!” Finn enthused. “I call being in this one.”

Logan laughed and pulled out of the way so he could take a picture of Finn kissing Leo’s cheek, Leo’s face all scrunched up in a smile. 

“There you go, post it.”

Finn grinned, going to Instagram and putting up the picture with the caption ‘Days like this’ before tagging Leo for good measure. 

“That should entertain them for a couple of days.” He said, satisfied as he tossed his phone to another chair and leaned back into Logan’s warmth, kissing the spot just below his ear. 

“You and me next baby,”

****

Leo Knut and Finn O’Hara?

More than one couple in the Lion’s Den?

Knut cheating on Tremblay?

Logan laughed as he scrolled through the headlines and posts from fan accounts, taking screenshots of some of the art of them that had already begun to bubble up. Thomas was on the other side of him, watching a video of a fan analysing the teams interactions, trying to figure out who was actually in a relationship, laughing every few minutes. 

“Knutty,” Logan called, summoning Leo. “Look at this one.”

Leo took his phone and read the caption out loud. “Knut’s betrayal making Tremblay tremble?” He looked up and met Logan’s eyes, his face blank. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

“I do!” Finn interrupted, coming up behind Logan and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist. “Okay Lo, you hold up the article, now someone take our picture please!”

Logan ginned and relaxed into Finn as James snapped them together before posting it to his own account. ‘Doesn’t seem to be trembling to me.”

****

“I’m gonna go get some coffee, do you guys wanna come?” Leo said, the three of them still lying in bed. Finn shook his head, still mostly asleep, but Logan perked up.

“From the café down the street?”

Leo nodded, laughing when Logan was up like a shot, pulling on his clothes. 

“We’ll bring you back some, okay sweetheart?” Leo said as he leaned over the bed once more to kiss Finn goodbye. Finn just nodded and burrowed deeper into the duvet. 

“Love you.” He mumbled and the two boys left him to his dreams, slipping out of the room quietly. 

They walked down the street, hand in hand, going mostly unnoticed by the public. It was still early and a Sunday, so there weren’t too many people up and about, but even those that were paid them very little attention. It was easy to forget, in moments like this, that they had entire fan pages dedicated to them and many days they weren’t even recognised on the street. 

They got their coffee and drank it there, holding hands over the table outside the front door, watching the people passing by and chatting idly. Leo thought he spotted someone taking a not-so-discreet picture of them, but they didn’t care. Logan went inside to grab Finn’s cup to go and Leo lounged in the sunshine for a moment, breathing in the cool, sharp air. 

He opened his eyes to find Logan standing over him, looking down amusedly. “D’accord, mon choupinet?"

Leo smiled and stood up, stretching lazily. “Oui.”

They came back home to Finn still in bed, and joined him under the covers while he sipped his coffee.

“Oh, look we’re back in the headlines.” Leo commented as he angled his phone for them both to see. A photo of Leo and Logan from just a half hour ago stared back at them, Logan laughing at something Leo had said. 

“That’s such a cute picture,” Finn noted, putting on his glasses to take a closer look. “You should save that.”

Knut and Tremblay reunited? No news yet on how O’Hara is taking this latest blow.

“O’Hara would be doing fantastic if he had another kind of blow.” Finn grumbled, then blushed when he realised he had spoken out loud. “I mean-”

“Oh, we know what you meant.” Logan said, taking the nearly empty coffee cup from Finn and setting it on the nightstand as Leo eased Finn back, slipping under the covers as Logan captured his lips. “And that can be arranged.”

****

“So when do you guys think you’ll let them know what’s actually happening?” Remus asked Leo as he helped the blond boy with his stretching. 

Leo bit his lip as he thought. “I don't know? Soon maybe though, because this is fun and all but I’m tired of being analysed all the time now. At least if we tell them the truth, they’ll be chasing after us for a couple of weeks but then it’ll all settle down and be nice and quiet again, you know?”

Remus nodded, smirking when Leo took a sharp intake of breath as he pushed his legs a little further apart. “Yeah for sure. It’ll be pure chaos for a bit, but then they’ll quickly move onto the next big thing, I promise.”

Leo nodded, a little lost in thought. “Yeah, I’m ready to have a bit of privacy again. I think I’ll say it to the boys tonight.”

Remus nodded and pushed Leo a little further, laughing when Leo cursed under his breath.

“Fuck, if I’m alive after all this that is.”

****

“Alright, we’re doing this so?” Logan confirmed, making sure everyone was in agreement. 

“Yup.” Leo said, popping the ‘p’.

“It’s time.” Finn confirmed as they all pulled up the same picture they had chosen to post - a photo of the three of them taken at a party at Dumo’s. Logan sitting in Leo’s lap, head tilted up as he kissed Finn who was handing them their drinks. 

“Captions ready?” Finn asked and the other two nodded.  “Okay. Three,”

“Two,” Leo said.

“One.” Logan breathed and they all clicked ‘post’ at the same time. 

The next day, all the headlines were their Instagram captions-

Leo and Logan.

Finn and Leo.

Logan and Finn.

(Three’s not a crowd).

[bat-connoisseur]

HCBBS Theories and Stuff

This (potential) plotline has been occupying a lot of my headspace lately, and I just wanted to put out some of my initial ideas and theories on it, as well as perhaps some potential connections the whole thing has. Most of these ideas were stormed out on random infodumps to anyone who would listen, and on the HcHc discord. 

I should say for the record, I expect many of these to age poorly as we learn more.

Mumbo-

Mumbo absolutely built it. He was the first to show it in video, it’s got his building style all over it, he tweeted about it, he even put a hashtag in his description. This is absolutely a Mumbo Jumbo concoction, which is both exciting and worrying, for the same reason: Mumbo doesn’t really do plot stuff. Or at least he doesn’t start it. This means there’s a higher possibility it’s just an elaborate marketing stunt (more on that later), or going to wind up in some anticlimax. But conversely, it could mean we get something new and exciting in the way of plot, and the complete lack of knowledge we have is half of what makes this exiting, since it’s totally out of the left field. Not to mention Mumbo is a filmmaker, the guy knows how to do plot.

Cub-

It’s pretty probable that Cub is involved, although the extent of his involvement isn’t really clear. I don’t think he built it, but since it borders pretty heavily on his Origin shop, he at least knew Mumbo was going to be building it there, and gave permission for it to be there. That could be the extent of his involvement, but it’s very hard to tell with Cub, he handles lore very nonchalantly. Things that point to him having more involvement are the intro of his latest episode deviating from the norm and him claiming he was told about The Object being there by other hermits, but the Hermits who found it after him were seemingly clueless about the whole deal. He also makes a point of calling it a countdown clock like Mumbo does, rather than comparing it to the button like Grian and Keralis have done.

If Cub is involved, then that has some pretty fun repercussions. Even aside from a potential Concorp return (which would also mean Scar is involved, so we’ll just have to wait for him to see it) or vex stuff, he is good at doing fun plot stuff, and a weird mysterious alien fae thing is right up his alley.

Pacific-

It’s possible this whole thing is an elaborate marketing campaign for Pacific. Which would be one hell of a shame! However, I don’t think it is. When I said I expect this to age poorly, this is what I meant-

The colour scheme isn’t the same. It’s more akin to that of the button, and seems to be a fairly generic futuristic/sci-fi build pallet. The warped wart blocks in item frames are often citied, but they aren’t really part of the build’s pallet, just an ominously named extra on the floor. They look weird and otherworldly, perfect for a weird, mysterious, otherworldly mystery. There’s no stripped warped stems either, and those are a big part of the pacific pallet. As well as this, the gradient they use in the logo isn’t present either, even though it could be used in actual countdown clock.

Mumbo is acting clueless. Usually marketing strategies are fairly transparent on the server, or at the very least make sense from the perspective of the person who owns the business, however this is different. Even Mumbo doesn’t know what’s going on. Seems like a weird marketing strategy to me. He makes a point of saying he didn’t put it there and doesn’t know why or how it got there. As well as this, he put his own name in it. If it were a way to bring people in, why’d he put his own name into his advertisement, whilst acting like he doesn’t know what it is, and making it about as cryptic as possible? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Iskall isn’t around. He’s working on an episode, but he’s also busy working on Vault Hunters and hasn’t quite been as active in Pacific and on Hermitcraft lately. Seems a weird time to run an advertising campaign when your business partner is busy, partially absent, and potentially not even aware of it.

The timer is progressing too fast for it to be counting down to the opening of pacific. There is still a lot to do. They have no floors, no stock, one module of the banking system done, a quarter of an elevator, and the island still isn’t terraformed. That’s a lot to do and honestly unachievable with the rate at which the countdown is progressing. (It’s already lost two lights, and I’d think it’s safe to say that the time between Mumbo and Grian being there was probably a day at most)

That’s all for now, although I’ll probably add more stuff as  I think of it and as the whole thing develops. This is a long rambly post and not at all like what I usually do, so apologies. This whole thing has just got me VERY excited. As of right now, I have no idea where it’s going. It could really be anything.

[justletmeplayminecraft]

Okay so this may be a lil dumb but imagine the angst potential that Mumbo leaving the MR wasnt about ‘vaults’ he’s just fed up of Grian using him as a scapegoat that lands him in trouble or kinda humiliates him cause my brain goin brrr with that idea

oh this is absolutely not dumb i love it! especially given how they basically just recruited mumbo as a scapegoat, didn't even give him something to do compared to the latest HEP developments which were in xb's video... i love mumbo taking a more active role in his treatment, finally putting his foot down.

also, wrote a short 1kish ficlet under the cut based on mumbo & cub's meet up. it's basically a sad mumbo and cub comforting him but i thought it was sweet. read it if you wish!

It sounds like a weird thing to say. No, in fact, he knows it's a weird thing to say. Yet, looking around the HEP factory, Mumbo finds himself a little reluctant to leave. He must've spent around an hour with Cub already just talking about the vaults he's built. They're impressive things! From the front door, to a vault inside a vault! Mumbo had so many questions, and Cub answered them with matching enthusiasm. And now it's around the time he knows they should be parting ways but-

"Mumbo?" Cub calls him back to attention, voice soft. It echoes around the empty space of the factory, its brick shell waiting to be filled. Scar really is such a good builder. "Dude, you alright?" Mumbo sighs, turning to Cub when he steps beside him.

"I-" He closes his mouth to rethink what he wants to say. His hands tuck into the pockets of his trousers. He'll fiddle with the cuffs of his sleeves otherwise. Learnt habits. Finally, he gathers the courage to ask, "Do you mind if a vent a little?" Cub tilts his head, dark eyes squinting in concern. Mumbo... Wasn't expecting that. Even when Cub speaks, Mumbo's waiting for an excuse why he doesn't have time.

Instead Cub tells him, "Come and sit down, then." He leads Mumbo to the bed he placed earlier. Mumbo doesn't understand why he feels so surprised. When did he get so used to people pushing him away? He takes a seat on the blue quilt, sinking into the comfortable fabric. Cub places down his ender chest, sitting down there, leaning towards him. "What's up, Mumbo? I know it's been a while since we last talked."  

"I just-" His hands dig into his lap now they don't fit in his pockets. He refuses to fiddle. "I feel like nobody really appreciates me, you know?" Cub's brows lower enough that Mumbo can see them beneath his helmet.

"On the server? 'Cause, you gotta know we love you here. The stuff you build is incredible, man. I wish I could build farms like you." Mumbo smiles, but his heart isn't in it.

"Sometimes it feels like that's all people want me for." He sighs, sinking onto his legs. His suit crumples around him, pulling tight around his chest. As silly as it sounds, it feels like a layer of protection. Him and his suit in this massive factory. Accompanied by Cub's concerned gaze.

"Explain it to me," Cub encourages. There's no judgment in his voice. None of his body language suggests an ulterior motive. Cub wants to listen to his worries. Goodness, why is that so surprising? Why is he so used to people stepping over him?

"I feel like I'm always just- ugh, I don't know how to say this." He tries to connect his thoughts back together. There's no pressure on him, but he still feels an urge to rush as if Cub's patience might run out any second. He tries again, "I always seem to be the butt of jokes nowadays. I mean, the whole mayor thing, for one. And now! I may act oblivious, but I'm not. Not really. They were setting me up to take their fall and I just- is that fair? Is that fair to me?"

"Mumbo," Cub says his name in a tone similar to Xisuma's when he's telling Mumbo to get some rest. "You understand you can say no to these things, right?" Mumbo's breath comes out in a frustrated puff. Fabric bunches between his fingers, trousers misshapen around his legs.

"I do. At least, I think I do." He scrubs a hand over his face, pushing hair back under his helmet. "Maybe I was foolish. But I hoped, maybe this time, I'd actually be involved in things. I could do something. But I don't even think they consider me a member! Just a scapegoat for them!" His hand returns to his lap like it's made of concrete. "Don't get me wrong, I'd do it for the plot. But... I don't think I'd enjoy it."

"Hey, Mumbo." Cub's voice settles him, gentle and reassuring. Mumbo's shoulders sink at the sound. Was he really holding that much tension? "If I've ever done something to pressure you, then I'm really sorry, man. This is supposed to be for fun." Mumbo finds he can't look at Cub anymore, the genuine apology squeezing his heart tight.

"I- You're okay, Cub. You're fine." His lips twitch into a sad smile. "I know these storylines mean a lot for people, I don't blame anyone... I think I'm just tired." Cub's tanned skin comes into his vision, taking Mumbo's pale hand into his own. Mumbo looks up, finding eyes so earnest it takes his breath away.

"You're right that this isn't fair on you." Mumbo doesn't want to admit that he nearly cries at those words, but he very nearly does. How long has he wanted his worries to be validated, now? His feelings acknowledged? "If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know. I can tell the others to tone it down, if you need."

"No, no, they're okay. I don't want to cause problems." Cub looks like he wants to argue, but he doesn't. Mumbo is grateful. There are some problems he's not ready to unpack just yet.

"That's alright. If you ever want to talk to me, let me know, okay? I'll be a willing ear, all plotlines put aside." Mumbo's smile is genuine this time.

"I... I really appreciate that, Cub. Thank you."

Cub squeezes his hand, "It's no problem, man. It's what friends do." Yeah. Friends. Mumbo swallows.

"I should probably be going. I was hoping to plan out some farms tonight." Despite Cub's concern, he helps Mumbo onto his feet.

"You sure?" Mumbo sends that smile in Cub's direction as he flattens out his suit.

"Yeah. I really am grateful for all this, Cub. It means a lot." Cub's smile is just as nice to see.

"I'm glad. Anything I can do to help. I'm just a message away, got it?" Mumbo nods, tapping the communicator in his cufflink.

"Got it. I'll see you around, dude. Thank you, again."

"Not a problem. Was nice talking to you."

Cub doesn't even make a comment about joining HEP as they part ways. They're just two friends. No war, no plotlines. Mumbo breathes in the grass outside the factory, closing his eyes against the bright sun. It's a beautiful day. He likes the crunch of grass under his shoes, how he can't smell the ever-present fungus from the shopping district.

Yeah. He's got some things to think about.

[ebthecelebrity]

Dear Homophobic Parents....

Last Sunday, I was in the kitchen preparing a meal and anticipating Black Excellence on BET. It’s been many years since I watched a BET Awards Show. I had a nostalgic moment. I remembered watching the BET Awards with my parents and being in amazement of the live performances. I reminisced seeing the sexiness of the Black Woman’s curvy shape in beautiful attire and lusting over the masculinity of Black Men who came to either rap poetry or swoon R&B. This Sunday was no different than the other Sundays in the past. Now, as a parent, I was excited to relive those moments with my 9 year old son.

We were about two hours into the BET Awards show after eating dinner and dancing to the latest hit songs and my one and only son was talking my ears off in excitement about the music and the performers. He was amazed at Black Excellence as I was at his age. I poured another glass of Ciroc and pineapple juice when I heard the announcer say, “Next Up, Lil Nas X!” I immediately felt some type of way. It was the way that a mother bear reacted when her baby cubs were in danger. The way that a mother raised hell at the school when she felt her child was being mistreated. The way that a mother takes up for her child who was bullied for being different. The way that a mother watched over her child at a playground. I didn’t know what this feeling was, but I felt it was to protect his innocent ears and eyes.

I was no stranger to Lil Nas X and his recent transformation. His first musical hit “Old Town Road” serenaded my son’s ears two years ago and it was a bop! I even liked it. All the children around the world kept that song on repeat and helped Lil Nas X rise to fame. Since then, without my son’s knowledge, Lil Nas X’s appearance changed. I watched him announce his homosexuality, the infamous “Satanic Shoes”, and the music videos that slowly but surely got a little…..weirder. My son joyfully announced that he was ready to see Lil Nas X.

“Lil Nas X! Yes! I love his music Mom!”

I remained quiet as I didn’t know how to handle how I felt about my son seeing him perform. It wasn’t that I didn’t want my son to be educated about homosexuality, I just wasn’t prepared to discuss it. My adorable curly haired son didn’t know anything about homosexuality, honestly, I just kept him away from it.  I knew after a shocking performance that Lil Nas X probably had in store, it was time for the conversation. The BET Awards Show resumed, and Lil Nas X showed up on our TV screen, draped in gold Egyptian attire with gold eyeshadow to match. I remained silent, looking over at my son every 5 seconds to catch any facial expressions.

At first, the performance I felt was PG-13 and I continued to tune in, watching Lil Nas X’s hips sway to the music. It was still awkward silence in the living room between us.  My son was zoomed into the whole performance as this was the first time he heard the song, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).” 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the performance, Lil Nas X was concluding his performance with a grand finale, which I knew would be shocking because let’s be real, that’s who he was. I watched him grab the back of a back up dancer’s head and engage in a deep french kiss with him. That move sent out a panic scream from my son. I looked over and witnessed him turning his eyes away and yelling, “Ewwww.” He repeatedly asked me “Why did he kiss a man? Mom, why did he do that?” At this moment, I knew that I had sheltered my child or was it that I avoided this moment? I wanted to sink into my recliner and continue sipping my ciroc and pineapple.  

Two of my best friends are gay and proud of it. I have a few other friends who are tri-sexual or maybe they are bi-sexual. Let’s just say they have dealt with the same sex and have no true preference. Either way, I never judged them or their actions. I just loved seeing them happy with whomever they loved, shit, I didn’t care if they were with a fucking dog. I am the last person to be homophobic, but watching my son feel distressed in seeing two men kiss on television triggered me. I had to ask myself why. If I were alone watching Lil Nas X’s performance, I wouldn’t have cared. It was something about watching his eyes, watching something that disturbed him.  I didn’t know if I felt upset or if I felt annoyed. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. I wasn’t prepared.

I cut the volume down on the television, which was now on a commercial and tried to calm him down. For the past 9 years, I’ve only exposed and taught him that Mommy and Daddy love each other, that Mommy loves men, and that Men and Women deserve to be together to reproduce and make offsprings as I’ve done with him. At this point, I felt I failed as a parent who should have been exposed this to him sooner. Let’s face it, the internet would have taught him before I did. Had I really been hiding homosexuality and refraining from discussing it?  Sadly, yes, I have.

“Braylon, some people love others who are the same sex as them. Does that make sense?” I asked him.

“Two men together is disgusting!” He exclaimed.

I quickly corrected him. “No, it’s just not what you like, but it’s not disgusting. People have a preference in life, just like you do,” I said.

“I don’t like Lil Nas X anymore Mom,” He pouted.

At this point, I knew he needed time to digest this and I didn’t want to upset him anymore. I proceeded to let him know that same sex relationships are ok and if he doesn’t want to be in one that is ok too.

The rest of the night with us watching The BET Awards was a little mute and cumbersome. I knew that shocked feeling as a child so well. I felt the same way when I saw porn for the first time. I may have even been his age. I just remember feeling disgusted and curious all at the same time. It made me look at the male species differently. It made me curious on why people had sex and how it made them feel. The thin line of the mind of children can be easily influenced or easily nonjudgmental. This was why I felt a certain way about the performance. I tried to decipher which one was Braylon. Would he want to experience kissing a little boy now? Or would he not be judgemental, allowing people to freely love and live their life?

It’s been over a week now since the infamous BET Awards. I wouldn’t change a thing about our experience, but my mindset as a parent. How could I continue to go on allowing my son to see hetrosexual couples kiss on television and not feel as triggered as I did with Lil Nas X? No longer would I allow that to happen. No longer would I remain silent and conceal homosexuality around him.  He deserves to be educated. With Pride Month ending recently, that moment was a life changing eye opener to raise my kid with the knowledge of LGBTQ and the issues that also surround the lifestyle. Discrimination, mental illness, depression, suicide, anxiety, and many more is faced everyday. Wow, what a humbling moment this was for me as a parent to shift my way of thinking.

Dear Homophobic Parents, you may not be homophobic with your gay friend, neighbor, coworker, aquaintance or family member but your biases regarding your child can no longer be tolerated. I encourage you to raise your young Kings and Queens to know that homosexuality is as normal as heterosexuality. Teach them that God is love. Yes, protect your children at all costs, but to shy away from these conversations only hurts them in the long run. Don’t be silent about the realities of the world we live in. Would you still love your child if they came out to you as gay? If you answered yes, then you already have the right mindset.  To the Black Community, who continues to accept the sexual predator, but denies the gay family member, STOP THIS SHIT! To the LBGTQ Community, continue to live your truth and take PRIDE in that!

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Askfitmark LIVE 11/3/16

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hey everyone today's Wednesday November second we're doing impromptu ask fit mark live right now so go ahead that's him even be dinging saying that we're live go ahead right now and start asking questions yes start asking questions in the comments below because in a few minutes I'm going to answer a few of them if your question gets chosen you're going to win a free bag what bag we're going to give that to you to decide because it's about to be holiday time so there's no better time than to let you choose which bag you want is that cool after we do that you gotta pay you and Tori we have but yeah they can go do it we're doing it Hector approved the game is on so go ahead ask questions below hashtag ask fit mark I'm going to answer a couple of them in a couple minutes if your question gets answered you win a free bag also just for sharing the video literally click Share and then send it to all your buddies right now we're gonna choose one person who simply shared you can ask a question which will give you a double entry but if you just shared the video right now let all your friends know we're live and it's going down at HQ fit mark Burlingame California you're going to be chosen to possibly win a free back couple updates we launched it this morning can you see that can you see that you fit mark bags dot-com backslash perfect fit giveaway is on and poppin at that link we teamed up with our friends from perfect shaker they've got the Marvel shaker cups you can win the entire collection of Marvel shaker cups along with for back are we doing for bags we're doing for bags for bags we're giving away for bags for this November giveaway fit more bags dot com backslash perfect fit giveaway get over there I don't believe that's a DC not marvel d yeah Marvel DC it's a Batman Superman that's we got it all see comics we got it all you know just in case you some people like hey that's not marvel you know it's nothing sometimes I need to be taught if you think that about that world so DC Comics the entire collection from our friends a perfect shaker along with what we're giving away which will be four bags so keep asking the question in the comments below I'm going to get to him in a second but just for fun what were these questions from that was from the previous as live as fig morning oh nice so the last asked fit mark which is last week that's why this is impromptu we're going to probably do this maybe once a week now going into the holidays because we just want to give away a ton of bags to hook you up for november and december a merry tori asked when is there going to be a sale good timing November's here so you know Black Friday is at the tail end of the month it's about to be on we've got a lot of things lined up but we're going to be doing a bunch of those even leading up to it so you might even want to check out our site today because we've got stuff going on even today with regards to free gifts up being dropped into every single shipment so you'll want to check out our site today because you may want to get on that now good question how do the bags holed up in a wet environment you know that's that's a good question most of our bags are made with a water-repellent material so we don't say to stand in the rain all day long with it but we will say if you're breezing through the rain you're walking through the rain especially because it's winter time you can be rest assured that the bags will hold up and repel most of the water again and in that light drizzle that you're running maybe from your car to your office to the job to the gym definitely a good question there Wendy Holly does say that was which was Mitch Freitas doesn't miss Freitas great question makes we appreciate Wendy Holly how is your bag better than six pack that's another brand in the meal prep category we know them more power to them being Fitmark we believe that we stand alone in the meal prep category highest quality best customer experience most offerings the only one with a patent issued on our utility with our removable meal prep system bags that you've noticed that we've been developing for the last few years this is the Envoy which also we'll talk about in a second has a removable meal prep bag at the bottom the cruiser our newest innovation which is a roller bag perfect for travel perfect for flights has also our removable meal prep bag so main differences are always going to be those that everybody knows is for greatest quality greatest customer experience greatest guarantee most offerings and we'll leave it at that Thank You Wendy Holly great question we'll get into some stuff I'm just going to do this now just for fun because you're going to see this will be on pre-order next month but the last few months we've been developing these bad boys you ready bento time the only in our space in our category why because we're first at everything and we love to be because we want to answer to you and what it is that you're asking us to do in the meal prep space so we developed the bento box that's going to be arriving next month one option is this and a second one bow Yao with of course are for lock system which of course is also the best in the industry here we go if you like that I'll give you a little extra treat there this is removable why because it's dope I love it put some soup for the winter put your salad dressing put some nuts either way to bento box offerings coming next month the first to do it we love being able to innovate the meal prep category we do it for you of course our latest 16 ounce which we added to our existing 32 ounce containers are on the site now let's go into a question real quick again don't forget to share this video right now share with your friends let them know we're live and also don't forget even if your question doesn't get answered today I may answer it on the next show in fact I usually choose three questions from the previous show like I just did and then we're going to give away bags to those questions that were asked so go ahead and ask now I'm going to let this thing refresh for me in the meantime let me get here let me see myself live while we're doing this beautiful already see a bunch of questions that's great we turn this off let's just go right into it we love yo what's up Julie Matt Patricia Abby Tim Miley what's up Kimberly thank you so much for asking uh let's just do fun stuff Katrice shot yet oh how was your halloween it was good I have two kids little man Mason was Batman little baby was Batgirl it was fun we did a little trick or treating it started to rain a little bit I hope your holiday was phenomenal hope you had some fun passed out some candy maybe dropped a couple protein bars in that in the end in the basket instead but I hope it was fun just for that question you get hooked up with the free bag again everybody don't forget share the video now with your friends because we're about to choose one person who shared to win Cubs or Indians Sean Olsen good question if you're not watching the World Series it doesn't matter that we are San Francisco Giants fans and we got our stomach turned on us in the ninth inning ah that doesn't matter because we got love for everybody and we love great sports like baseball and all we could do is now be a fan of I won't say either one of those two teams I will say that I hope one of them wins it what is it tonight is tonight good night game 7 last night was a phenomenal game for Chicago more power to them more props to them that was definitely a fun fun game to watch what's the weather like there weren't Burlingame California which is right outside of San Francisco and that is Tabatha blakeslee how are you Tabitha it's sunny cold a little cold probably about 60 but it's sunny out today we just got over a little bit of rain Matt may know says he's all about the Giants what's up math a lot of let's go cubs I love it um little little housekeeping the shield and the Envoy backpack both from the meal prep bag category they're offered now in this exclusive midnight colorway go ahead and check that out on our website as you know this has a removable meal prep bad and this is our go to shield our number one selling meal prep bag both of them on the site they're probably just going to be for a short period of time probably through the holidays but there are only a number of them so if you were considering getting one or getting one yo marcello sky squats for 75 no problem got that right pal props to you buddy happy birthday um Marcel is my buddy since we were little kids uh thank you for keeping the questions coming up let's get into one more um this is a good one um what vitamins do you recommend for a mom you know that's a really good question who is that Melissa Johnson you know I'm big on uh I'm being unnatural unnatural vitamins food grade type vitamin so I don't have a specific one to say I get mine at Whole Foods there's so many different vitamin options as you know but I'm big on food grade real vitamins there's other really cool brands innovative brands there's a new brand called ollie that's out there some people that I know from Rin that's a great fun new brand that you can find out there but definitely talk to those at some trusted vitamin Shoppes and/or grocers natural grocers that you go to them sure they have a great option for you but congratulations again we'd love to take all types of questions it could be about our bags it could be about lifestyle to be about fitness it could be fun open-ended questions that you just want to ask us we hope you enjoyed this impromptu ask fit mark don't worry keep the questions coming I'm going to choose three more on the next episode which I am committed to give you next week I'm going to do it every week leading through the holidays because the plan is to give away a ton of bags for the next 8 weeks we hope you are enjoying your Wednesday I hope you enjoy the rest of your week go ahead click the share button one more time right now why because we're about to go and check who shared the video during this time and Hector hmm is going to choose one lucky winner got inator going crazy with all the likes and well emojis are uh yeah I'll see you next time have a great day

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Why Yu Darvish is the final word risk-reward signing for the title-chasing Cubs

The Chicago Cubs struck again within the NL Central arms race, inking Yu Darvish to a six-year contract value a assured $126 million.

The deal, which may pay Darvish as much as $150 million general, fills a obvious space of want for a workforce that is made the NLCS three years in a row, with just a little one thing else thrown in for good measure. With Jake Arrieta submitting without cost company and John Lackey retiring, Chicago wanted beginning pitching assist, even after nabbing Tyler Chatwood on a considerably speculative three-year pact.

That is greater than only a big-revenue workforce filling a gap by throwing cash at an issue, although. By signing the four-time All-Star, the Cubs perked up what had been a quiet offseason for one in all baseball’s glamour groups, and a surprisingly quiet Sizzling Range season for MLB as a complete.

The Cubs taking this lengthy to signal Darvish is not merely a operate of a slow-moving offseason. Few big-ticket free brokers of latest classic have introduced this putting a mix of danger, and reward.

When he calls it quits sooner or later, Darvish will go down as one of many best prodigies in baseball historical past. Six-foot-five, robust and athletic, with blazing fastball velocity and a beguiling array of breaking pitches, he was already a celebrity at Tokohu Excessive College in Japan. With that stardom got here the horrifying workloads that managers heap on star pitchers of their quest for the coveted Koshien Nationwide Excessive College Baseball Championship. It was Darvish’s 2004 no-hitter in that event that rocketed curiosity within the huge righty into orbit.

By age 18, Darvish was firing high-leverage innings on the professional stage, for the Nippon Ham Fighters. At age 19, he led the Fighters to their first pennant in 25 years, whereas firing 149 2/Three innings and clocking a 2.89 ERA. That is the good paradox of wunderkind pitchers, after all: The dazzling skill at a younger age that makes scouts drool additionally make medical doctors and trainers wince on the prospect of rebuilding a broken arm in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later.

In Darvish’s case, that setback did not crop up till a decade after that magical no-no, with elbow irritation knocking him out for the stretch run in 2014, adopted by Tommy John surgical procedure the next March. Going beneath the knife did not sluggish him down at first, although; quite the opposite, Darvish’s fastball spiked to career-high ranges after his return from surgical procedure.

However after a powerful 17 begins in his 2016 return season, Darvish posted a few of the worst numbers of his main league profession in 2017, together with his ERA spiking to a close to career-worst Three.86, largely as a result of career-high 27 homers he surrendered over 31 begins. Nonetheless, Darvish stays some of the prolific strikeout artists in baseball, rating seventh amongst MLB beginning pitchers in Okay charge since since his return.

Darvish additionally suffers from the incurable situation of being a pitcher. Whereas the speed of Tommy John surgical procedures has dropped considerably from just lately terrifying peak ranges, predicting how a pitcher will fare over the subsequent six seasons is a idiot’s errand of the best diploma. As data-heavy and details-focused as at this time’s entrance places of work are, baseball by and huge nonetheless does not know a rattling factor with regards to predicting long-term pitching efficiency. Provided that Darvish’s contract may take him previous his 37th birthday in what’s more and more changing into a younger man’s sport, it is arduous to not see the pink flags flashing all over the place.

The flip aspect to all that gloom and doom is there are actual rewards available right here. For starters, the going charge without cost brokers is approaching $9 million per win, if we use Wins Above Substitute as a baseline. WAR is under no circumstances an ideal measuring software, and a panoply of different components can and do have an effect on how a lot groups pay for expertise on the open market. Nonetheless, the Cubs have valued Darvish as roughly a 2.5-win participant primarily based on the $21 million a 12 months he’ll rake in. Sure, his historical past of massive workloads and elbow points are alarming. He is additionally going to make much less per 12 months than the far, far, far much less gifted Jordan Zimmerman received again in 2015. That is a cheerful final result.  

There’s additionally this: The Cubs won’t should hold paying Darvish till he is 37. In accordance with ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, they may not should pay him for greater than two seasons, if Crasnick’s report of a potential opt-out clause after two years proves to be correct.

Most significantly, the Cubs are nonetheless rolling out a loaded core led by All-Star corners Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. That core turned threatened by the upstart Brewers this offseason, after Milwaukee reeled in two toolsy-as-hell outfielders in Christian Yelich (who the Crew favored sufficient to commerce a number of high quality prospects to get) and Lorenzo Cain (who’d been the highest-paid free agent this winter earlier than the Darvish signing).

When the Brewers made a suggestion to Darvish as a possible coup de grace, the Cubs had good purpose to get nervous, and to succeed in into their warfare chest. With employees ace Jimmy Nelson presumably out till June and Milwaukee already loading up on expertise, anticipate the membership’s consideration to show to different free brokers equivalent to Lance Lynn or Alex Cobb, with the potential for an Arrieta signing looming as a scrumptious method to additional stoke what could possibly be an electrifying NL Central race (even when a few of the computer systems do not agree). With Darvish off the board, do not be stunned if this winter’s stalemate breaks, and the opposite important arms nonetheless on the market get scooped up within the subsequent few days.

One common narrative that emerged final fall painted Darvish as a very delicate soul who folds beneath stress. His ugly outings in Sport Three and Sport 7 of the World Collection, by which Darvish turned simply the second pitcher in World Collection historical past to final fewer than two innings in two completely different begins, turned whispers into horrified screams.

Shade me skeptical. Sportswriters love each post-hoc evaluation and psychoanalyzing gamers virtually as a lot as they love Springsteen. Barry Bonds was a flashy jerk of a participant who could not come by within the clutch … till he annihilated all the things in his path through the Giants’ 2002 run to the Fall Traditional. Alex Rodriguez was a prima donna stat-padder who saved his dwelling runs for Eight-Zero video games … till he put the Yankees on his again and led them to their 27th World Collection crown in 2009.

Baseball’s playoffs whack us with the dreaded one-punch of misleadingly tiny pattern sizes and heightened stakes, which may trigger to lose our minds and push half-baked theories, fairly than simply accepting the common reality that generally, dangerous issues simply occur. Darvish crapped the mattress in two straight begins, with your complete baseball world watching … and likewise dominated in his two earlier 2017 postseason begins, permitting a single run in each his NLDS and NLCS outings final 12 months.

The Cubs have World Collection aspirations of their very own, and there is a good likelihood Darvish will get a number of alternatives to show his mettle in October. The good cash says that this deal will nonetheless sink or swim primarily based on how effectively his oft-used golden arm holds up beneath the 30-start grind of a number of common seasons, not the bizarre randomness that washes over playoff baseball. Yu can wager the home on it.

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The cruel double standard that may have saved Obamacare

(CNN)If you want to know why support for Obamacare is at an all-time high, here’s one explanation:

That’s how some explain the surging popularity of the embattled health care law. A recent poll from the Pew Research Center showed that 54% of Americans now approve of it, the highest number ever recorded by Pew. Some attribute this change to the fact that millions of Americans are now receiving help from the law.

This is part of an ongoing series by CNN’s John Blake and Tawanda Scott Sambou on race, religion and politics

But others cite another factor: The face of Obamacare is now white.

More Americans now realize Obamacare helps millions of working class whites and that it’s not — as once portrayed by conservatives — a form of welfare pushed by the first black president to help people of color, historians and scholars say. The media landscape is filled with images of the furrowed brows of anxious white residents at congressional town halls who fear they will suffer if they lose Obamacare, says Judy Lubin, a sociologist and adjunct professor at Howard University in Washington.

“When you see white working-class Americans saying that I’m benefiting and my family is getting help from the Affordable Care Act, you start to hear ‘repair’ not ‘repeal,'” Lubin says. “Whites standing up in support of a policy changes the dynamics of the conversation.”

The latest wrinkle in the Obamacare debate is revealing the existence of what the late comedian George Carlin called the ”American double standard.” It’s a brutal calculus that works this way: A crisis hits a marginalized group of Americans and no one cares; it hits white people — particularly white men — and it becomes a national emergency, activists and historians say.

“The country is founded on the double standard,” Carlin said. “We were founded on a very basic double standard. This country was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free … in order to continue owning their black African people … so they can wipe out the rest of the red Indian people … and move West and steal the rest of the land from the brown Mexican people.”

The double standard goes beyond race, though. Here are five notorious examples:

No. 1: The epidemic that ‘had no name’

It was a bizarre epidemic: Millions of Americans suffered in silence, afraid to tell anyone. Some suffered emotional breakdowns, others chose suicide.

It turned legions of people into drug addicts.

It was a wave of depression that hit white suburban housewives after World War II.

We hear a lot today about the plight of white working-class men. Reporters have made pilgrimages to places like West Virginia to examine how they’ve been left behind by globalization. Two Princeton University economists — including a Nobel Prize winner — released a report in 2015 that went viral, explaining how the despair experienced by poorly educated white men was leading them to suicide, alcoholism and drug abuse — and driving up the death rate for all middle-aged white Americans.

The white men America left behind

But few cared about the despair many white women experienced after World War II. They weren’t treated with compassion, historians say. Instead, they were treated to heavy doses of sexism — and powerful drugs.

“Women were being drugged into submission,” says Jonathan Metzl, a professor of psychiatry and sociology at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee who wrote a paper on this crisis entitled, “‘Mother’s Little Helper’: The Crisis of Psychoanalysis and the Miltown Resolution.”

The mass depression was spawned by the flipping of gender roles. During World War II, thousands of women entered the workforce because of a manpower shortage. The experience changed many, says Barbara J. Berg, author of “Sexism in America: Alive, Well and Ruining Our Future.”

“They had felt a sense of importance about themselves that they hadn’t felt before,” Berg says. “They liked having their own money. They enjoyed the camaraderie of work.”

Yet many of these newly empowered women were confined to suburban coffins after the war ended, where virtually all hope of being something more than a mother or housewife died. It was an era in the 1940s and ’50s when Newsweek could unabashedly declare, “For the American girl, books and babies don’t mix.”

When women approached doctors for help, they were given a prescription, Berg says: Be a perkier housewife.

“No one took them seriously,” Berg says. “Doctors prescribed Valium. They were told to have another baby. They said they weren’t being true women because true women should be happy in the domestic realm.”

It was the start of a strange drug epidemic — doctors and psychiatrists telling women to “just say yes.” Doctors plied women with powerful tranquilizers with names such as Miltown, Equanil, reserpine. At one point, about 75% of all anti-anxiety and depression drugs were prescribed to women, Metzl says. Miltown was so popular that pharmacies hung out signs saying “Out of Miltown,” or “More Miltown tomorrow.”

The epidemic even became fashionable. Magazines like Cosmopolitan and Ladies Home Journal ran articles by men telling women to pop pills to make their depression evaporate. Women hosted dinner parties where they plopped Miltown in their martinis, and Cartier jewelers sold a bracelet that doubled as a holder for a Miltown pill, says Tessa Johnson, author of an essay on the 1950s epidemic entitled, “How to be a domestic goddess.”

Few at the time thought that millions of American women had become drug addicts, Johnson says.

“They were very different than the typical image of a drug abuser — these women were well groomed and educated and they didn’t pose a threat to society,” Johnson says.

The doped-out domesticity of the 1950s was occasionally referred to in popular culture through movies like “The Stepford Wives” and the Rolling Stones’ song, “Mother’s Little Helper.” But it was the feminist Betty Friedan who diagnosed the problem in 1963 when she released her now classic book, “The Feminine Mystique.” She called it “the problem that has no name.”

She described it this way:

“It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the 20th century in the United States. Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night — she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question — ‘Is this all?'”

Most Americans ignored the reasons behind the pervasive depression because of a sexist double standard, says Berg.

”We have a certain image in our heads that the white male is in a position of power and that he needs to be strong, he needs to be the wage earner and he needs to be healthy, and when he can’t hit those markers, we’re upset,” Berg says. “But women have always been seen as weaker, submissive — they can always move in with a father or an uncle. We don’t put the same value on women’s achievement or health.”

No. 2: Race and the Second Amendment

The double standards of gun ownership

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No. 3: ‘God’s scourge’ comes to America

On June 5, 1981, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report on a baffling new disease. It noted that five young gay men had been afflicted by a rare lung disease. Their immune systems had collapsed, and two had already died. The ominous story was one of the first official reports on the AIDS epidemic.

Unlike women’s postwar depression, this epidemic never became fashionable. It was always terrifying. But that terror was confined at first to the gay community. AIDS was initially seen as a gay problem. Some saw it as God’s punishment for a sinful lifestyle.

President Ronald Reagan, dubbed “The Great Communicator,” wouldn’t even acknowledge its existence.

“Ronald Reagan didn’t actually say the word ‘AIDS’ until the fifth year of his presidency,” says Timothy Patrick McCarthy, a Harvard University lecturer and co-editor of “Protest Nation: Words That Inspired a Century of American Radicalism.”

Reagan assumed office in 1981, and soon after thousands of people with AIDS began to die. Many died alone like modern-day lepers. Family members wouldn’t touch them because they were afraid of being infected. No one knew how the disease was transmitted.

The federal government’s response was slow in the beginning.

CDC established its first AIDS hotline and Congress passed its first AIDS treatment and research bill in 1983. But it was still ignored by much of the American public and the Reagan administration. Reagan’s spokesman even joked with reporters about the escalating crisis when he was asked about the President’s response to it during a series of news conferences in the early 1980s.

Listen to Reagan administration officials and reporters laugh at the AIDS crisis

In 1985, though, AIDS stopped being a gay problem; it became an American crisis. Something had changed. Even Reagan noticed.

A straight, blond-haired, blue-eyed boy was stricken by the virus.

His name was Ryan White. The Indiana teenager was a hemophiliac infected during a blood transfusion. He and his mother fought for his right to still attend public school despite his diagnosis. Their story was splashed across magazine covers and featured on television.

That same year, Reagan publicly mentioned the AIDS epidemic for the first time while responding to a question at a news conference. Five months later, he announced that finding a cure for AIDS was now one of the nation’s “highest public health priorities” and asked the nation’s surgeon general to assemble a major report on the disease.

“When AIDS hit a young white boy, all of a sudden there was this sense of how devastating the disease was. He humanized it,” says Carol Anderson, a historian and author of “White Rage,” a book that looks at white racial backlash through American history.

“As long as it [AIDS] was in the gay community or ravaging black women, you had politicians treating it as God’s scourge.”

The nation mobilized after gay men stopped being the symbol of AIDS. The US Department of Health and Human Services hosted the first International AIDS Conference in 1985. Reagan gave his first public speech on the disease two years later and established a Presidential Commission on HIV.

In August 1990, Congress passed the nation’s largest federal grant program targeting HIV. It was called the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act. It has been reauthorized four times since its passage.

White, though, never lived to see his honor. He died on April 8, 1990, just five months before the bill bearing his name became law. He was 18.

No. 4: ‘They were considered barely human’

He was the coddled only child of a wealthy New York family. He loved sailing and stamp collecting. Some of his friends dubbed him “King Franklin.”

There was little in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s background to suggest that he would become a champion of the “forgotten man” during the Great Depression, the nation’s gravest economic crisis. Yet he became one of America’s greatest presidents by offering struggling American workers a New Deal, an array of government programs that — along with mobilizing for World War II — helped the nation recover from the Great Depression.

But that help — including the New Deal’s crown jewel, Social Security — was largely denied to one group, historians say: African-Americans.

Southern politicians inserted a provision into the federal pension plan that said no domestic or agricultural workers would be eligible for its benefits.

“About 80% of the black workforce was in those professions,” says Anderson, a professor of African-American Studies at Emory University in Atlanta.

“The way the law was written meant only certain jobs were eligible. They defined those jobs that were eligible by the kind of jobs blacks didn’t have.”

This economic exclusion didn’t just apply to Social Security but to various relief programs during the Great Depression. The Works Progress Administration, for example, paid lower wages to black workers than whites in the South. Some federal programs didn’t provide any relief to blacks, historians say.

“It was based on the assumption that blacks needed less money to live on because they were considered barely human,” Anderson says. “People said that black people were used to scraping by, but it’s really hard for a strong white man not being able to provide for his family.”

Federal help for blacks continued to lag behind whites when it came to another popular program that followed the Great Depression: the G.I. Bill.

It’s one of the towering achievements in American government. It laid the foundation for the economic boom that spread across post-war America. The federal government helped World War II veterans pay for college, get job training and buy their first homes.

That bill, though, was deliberately designed to give less help — and sometimes even no help — to black veterans, historians say.

And it was done in a way that removed all traces of overt racism, by invoking states’ rights. Southern congressional leaders made sure the G.I. Bill was administered by white state officials, bankers and college administrators. That gave them the power to deny help to black veterans, according to Ira Katznelson, a historian and author of “When Affirmative Action Was White.”

Black veterans who were eligible for the G.I. Bill were denied home and business loans, job training and admission to good colleges. In New York and northern New Jersey, for example, fewer than 100 of 67,000 mortgages insured by the G.I. Bill went to nonwhites, Katznelson said in his book.

Many white families today are still enjoying the economic head start the bill gave them, says McCarthy, the Harvard lecturer.

His is one of them, he says.

His grandfather was a World War II veteran who used the bill to get a housing loan and pay for college. His father was a first-generation college student, benefiting in part from the government assistance his grandfather received. McCarthy’s ability to attend college came from the multigenerational impact of the G.I. Bill, he says.

“My own family background, my own privilege, has been produced by a racial double standard that my father benefited from, but my black friends’ fathers did not benefit from,” he says.

No. 5: Crack babies and superpredators

A thought experiment: It’s the 1980s and crack cocaine is ravaging black communities across America. Families are being destroyed. Neighborhoods look like war zones. “Crack heads” and “crack babies” make their way into colloquial speech.

What would have happened if a young black or brown man carrying crack cocaine had stumbled into a police station during that era and asked police to help him overcome his addiction? Would he have been referred to a treatment center, given a “you’re better than this” lecture by a compassionate police officer? Maybe a hug?

Probably not, some say. That was a time when drug abuse in the black and brown communities was treated as a problem to be solved with war: the infamous “war on drugs.” But that Robocop approach to drug use has changed now that drug and opioid abuse is destroying white communities, legal scholars and historians say.

A truce has been called in the war on drugs now that many of its victims are white. Politicians and police chiefs across America are now saying drug abuse should be treated as a disease, not a crime. One Massachusetts police department even refuses to arrest people who walk into the station carrying drugs or needles if they ask for help.

Some would call it another example of the American double standard: White drug addicts are treated as victims; black and brown addicts are treated like a scourge on society.

Even black and brown children who’d been victims of the crack epidemic were dehumanized, says Anderson, the Emory professor.

“We even had disdain for ‘crack babies,’ ” Anderson says. “Think about how they were defined. They were depicted coming out of the womb drug addled, and people said they were going to be a drain on society. No empathy, no concern for their health.”

White drug abusers aren’t depicted as products of a pathological white culture. But black crack users were. It was seen as a “collective moral failure” in the black community, with demands that people lift themselves up by their bootstraps, wrote Ekow N. Yankah in a 2016 New York Times op-ed, “When Addiction Has a White Face.”

“White heroin addicts get overdose treatment, rehabilitation and reincorporation, a system that will be there for them again and again and again,” says Yankah, a law professor at Cardozo School of Law in New York. “Black drug users got jail cells and ‘Just Say No.’ ”

This cruel calculus — white lives matter; people of color don’t — has resurfaced in the current debate over Obamacare, some say.

Progressive politicians have been talking about creating universal health care ever since President Theodore Roosevelt proposed national health insurance in 1912. It was a central plank in the Democratic platform for decades. Yet when the nation’s first black president introduced health care legislation, it was transformed into a “racial slur,” says Matthew Lynch, a blogger for the Huffington Post and Education Week who wrote a column entitled, “Opposition to the Affordable Care Act is Rooted in Bigotry.”

He says Obama’s attempts to provide health care were portrayed by his opponents as a racial redistribution of wealth. The conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh called Obamacare a “civil rights bill” and said Obama’s “entire economic program is reparations.” Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said Obama allowed “historical grievances” to shape his economic thinking, leading to “his desire to redistribute wealth.”

“People didn’t think it was going to help poor white Southern people. They almost saw it as a form of welfare for blacks, and they said they don’t want any part of it,” Lynch says.

Opposition to Obamacare wasn’t always framed in blunt racial terms. People used coded language like “big government takeover” or tied it to a black man by calling it “Obamacare” to stir up racial resentment, says Lubin, the Howard University sociologist.

But it amounted to the same argument to white people: Here’s a black man who is going to give your hard-earned money to people who sit around all day having babies and collecting welfare, she says.

“You don’t even have to say you’re referring to brown or black people,” Lubin says. “Just say it’s the federal government getting bigger and helping people who don’t want to work.”

Now the optics of Obamacare have changed, Lubin says. The media is filled with images of working-class white people in farmer’s caps and jeans saying Obamacare saved their lives. Some of them include Trump supporters who say they didn’t think he was talking about them when he campaigned on getting rid of Obamacare.

“It made [Obamacare] real for people; they see people who look like them and whose lives have been saved,” Lynch says. “They’re able to connect to that.”

If the double standard is so embedded in American history, how do marginalized groups make their suffering real to others? Lubin says people have to realize that what hurts one community eventually hurts all Americans.

“We have to start appreciating each other’s humanity,” Lubin says. “We have to think of ourselves as a caring nation that cares for our fellow citizens regardless of race, ethnicity or class.”

Until that day comes, though, it may be wise to remember the cruel calculus of American history. If you want aid or justice, it helps to be white — and it’s even better if you’re straight and male.

Forget this and you may run into George Carlin’s old American double standard. To paraphrase another social critic, George Orwell:

All Americans are equal, but some are more equal than others.

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