#i would make an excellent evil dictator

[lockheed-martin-unofficial]

I was thinking about Cybertronians freezing in the Arctic due to the ice that forms on them instead of just the cold & not knowing what humidity is again, and what if they weren’t instantly aware of all the abilities of their alt modes?

They’d have a warmup period after scanning them and have to gradually get used to/ discover all the things they can do. There’s little to no water on cybertron, no reason for them to know that ice forms in the cold, no reason for them to have de-icing. And when they come to earth and choose aircraft as their new vehicle modes, they have no idea those aircraft come with built in warmers on the wings.

I thought about how some flying decepticons would deal with it. Let’s go with Starscream first because I love him very much.

(Also because he complains about cold the most out of all the characters. I imagine everyone ices up the same amount, but the cold is an entirely different problem and one that affects him more because he’s all thin and lanky, not very good at retaining heat. It’s worth clarifying that the freezing is what’s dangerous to them. The cold bothers them but isn’t a threat in and of itself, seeing as they can walk around in space just fine. But I ramble on)

- If he had a human friend or partner, he’d be complaining about how cold it is in front of them and they’d be like “Wait, aren’t you a plane?” He’d ask what that has to do with anything and get very annoyed that he didn’t know he came with extra heating.

- He claims he totally knew about that all along and merely forgot about it in the moment. He also claims he totally knows how to turn it on, but…remind him again?

- The realization that he can just… make himself warmer at will is incredible. He’s still gonna complain about the cold though. Probably out of instinct, he complains to fill the silence. (Is it obvious I want him to be safe and warm. I think it’s obvious.)

- Cue a concerned human asking if he’s been flying through clouds and terrible weather and all the way into the stratosphere with ice building on his wings for all this time. How is he still flying? He just replies that he’s built different, and that he’s far superior to human machines yap yap yap blah blah.

- He doesn’t want to admit how great it is, but after the human shows him how to turn it on, he’d be waking around with the de-icing turned on all day, even when he doesn’t need it. I reckon it’d make the area between his wings an excellent nap spot. He could just put a human in there and squeeze them between his wings and it’d feel like being put in one of these bad boys, I dunno what they’re called in English

In any case, peak nap spot.

Up next is Megan:

- Megatron doesn’t actually have an earth based vehicle mode, leading me to believe he wouldn’t have any form of de-icing. My headcanon is that his bigger, bulkier frame would require and generate more heat, but look at him.

He got a lot of nooks and crannies that ice could build up in. Even spikier than Starscream. Much like Starscream he doesn’t have paint which may also have acted like an extra layer of heat insulation. Additionally, his joints on the arms and legs are visible.

(Actually unsure if Starscream is painted and just gray, but Megs definitely isn’t)

- My point is, I’m not an ice expert but Megatron is terrible for both heat insulation and icing prevention. Megatron is a tough bot, he can take a lot of punches, and as prideful as he is I doubt he’d ignore the fact that a snowstorm would be a genuine threat or hinderance to him.

- Not that he’d let anyone notice, of course. He has a reputation to maintain, and he can’t allow anyone to know his weakness. When he’s in private though, I find the image of evil dictator Megs snuggled up in a billion blankets drinking a hot cocoa hilarious. I’ll probably draw it.

- A human pal or partner may not be able to advise him to turn on de-icing that he doesn’t have, but they might be able to offer him another solution. A badass cloak or cape to protect himself from the snow, while also remaining intimidating. Anyone would think it was just for show, unaware that it’s actually to keep him from freezing.

Last but certainly not least, Soundwave!

-Oh, Soundwave totally knew about the de-icing without needing anyone to mention it. Soundwave knows a lot of things. He’d totally read his own altmode’s manual. I don’t think we’ve ever seen Soundwave in the Arctic though.

Trying to find a good gif for my own reference hang on-

- I’d argue that out of these three he’s probably best with the cold. Sure, he’s spiky too, but nowhere near the other two. His “elbows” are awfully small and exposed, but since his wings form the arms there’d be no issue once he turned on the de-icing. In the gif he easily covers his entire body with those huge arms, so he could easily curl up around himself and defrost if be needed to. Now here’s a good writing idea I probably will never use

- Laserbeak probably has its own de-icing, which makes Soundwave extra warm when he requires it. ADDITIONALLY Laserbeak could be deployed in order to warm up a human friend or partner from afar. Tactical warms.

- Not much to say about Soundwave. Maybe I’ll edit and add later.

[deepspacedukat]

Accomplice

Okay, hear me out. I've been listening to the audiobook version of "Butcher & Blackbird" by Brynne Weaver (a romcom about 2 serial killers), and this idea just popped into my head. This is definitely a watered down version of that premise, and so NOT A ROMCOM, but given that my writer's block has been pretty severe lately, I'll take a win where I can. So...enjoy? I guess? This is dark, so be warned.

Cross-posted to AO3 here.

~*~

Chu'lak (ST:DS9) x Vulcan!Reader

[A/N: This is smut, so 18+ ONLY, MINORS DNI!!!]

Warnings: Vulcan/Vulcan sex, Vulcan/Vulcan romance, serial killers, mentions of blood, spoilers for DS9 S7E13 "Field of Fire," mentions of murder, evil being mentally justified as logical, THIS IS DARK.

~*~

Even as he removed the targeting display Chu'lak knew that she understood. They were the only Vulcan survivors. They were the only ones who could carry out this task.

The elimination of emotion by any means necessary.

They would purge the entire station if they had to. They would make the galaxy understand.

She knelt on the meditation mat in their shared quarters and watched as he stowed the display and the TR-116 rifle in their proper places. Her patience was finely-honed after years of dealing with those disgusting, emotional beings.

The ones whose populations they would cull together.

Rising obediently to her feet as he'd ordered her to do after each kill, she slipped the traditional robes from her shoulders, allowing them to pool at her feet as she bared herself for his appraisal.

Even this was logical. They were slaking a thirst - a natural impulse that occurred after each time they snuffed a minuscule fraction of emotion from the universe. The rush of adrenaline was an ancient thing, a holdover from the savage days before Surak brought their people logic. Solving the problem as quickly as it popped up was something she excelled at.

Chu'lak had no doubt that he looked as savage as their ancestors had back in the dark days before logic lifted them from the blood-soaked sands of their planet. He stalked toward her slowly, steadily, as his blood rushed in his veins, hot and filled with desires that required purging.

His large, callused fingers wrapped around her throat as he backed her up against a wall. Her pulse's rhythm sped up beneath his fingertips, and briefly, Chu'lak wondered how easy it would be to crush the life from her...wondered if he could handle seeing the life drain from her eyes as it had been extinguished from the rest of their crew at the Battle of Ricktor Prime.

But he would never do that to her. She was necessary, not only for his plan, but for...himself. For his logic. There was no emotion involved. There would never be - could never be - but he would allow himself the necessity of a companion.

Even as her nimble digits unfastened his uniform trousers and he stepped between her legs with his lok bouncing hard and free between them, Chu'lak dismissed this as nothing more than what logic dictated. The warmth between her legs...the slick dripping slowly down her inner thighs was no more than her body's entirely logical preparation to serve his needs after such exertion.

As he hilted himself in her welcoming depths, he dismissed the strangled sound that escaped him as a completely logical reaction to the physical sensation. He could not tear his lust from his body without fucking her. He could not fuck her without feeling her. He could not feel her without reacting...

And he could not acknowledge the wet sounds accompanying each rough thrust without closing his eyes and seeing the splatter of deep, wine-red blood expelled from his latest victim's body before they collapsed in a lifeless heap on the floor.

A low, dangerous snarl spilled from his lips as he pounded relentlessly into his partner, and she tilted her head to the side just as she knew he preferred. Baring the scar that he'd left on her soft skin with his sharp teeth, she made herself vulnerable to him again - the prey submitting to the predator, admitting freely that her life was his.

The smirk crossed Chu'lak's lips before he could even begin to think of stopping it. He was too far gone. He was lost in his lust and his primal instincts. That's what these were - instincts, not emotions. The taste of her blood on his tongue as he bit down was as sweet and metallic as it always was.

She yelped so beautifully below him - beauty was aesthetic, not emotional - that he couldn't help but shift his grip to her hips. He lifted her easily off the ground, pressing her back harder against the wall as her arms and legs wrapped securely around him.

Her fingernails, while practical and blunt, still bit into his back hard enough to pierce the skin and draw some of his own green life from beneath his skin. Their exchange of savagery made all of this worth it. The planning, the meticulous care that went into the selection of a victim, and the execution of each plan...it was extra exertion outside of their duties, but they did it together. They split the load.

Then she took his load.

There was never any protest. She never questioned his needs. She never would, because she understood.

He remembered the way it started, and mentally he praised her logical reaction to seeing the bulge in his uniform for the first time. The Lieutenant had melded with her afterward, and her reasoning became clear:

He'd proven himself strong, meticulous, clever, resourceful...and his endowment had allayed any sort of doubt she may have had about his worthiness as a sexual partner.

Even as his climax overcame him and he filled her with his seed, she gasped his name and thanked him for allowing her to be of use.

So dutiful. So accepting. She didn't protest when, for the first time, he lifted her from the wall and carried her to his bed without pulling out. He required more than one release tonight.

She would give it to him. She would give him as much as he desired.

Because it was logical.

Because she understood. She was the only one who could.

Next time, he'd give her the rifle...place the targeting display on her head while he donned the secondary one. Next time, he'd wrap his arms around her and feel her blood begin to thrum as she experienced the rush that now consumed him so fully.

Next time, he'd bare his neck for her and allow her to bite him...to taste his blood for the first time.

Because it was logical.

~*~

Taglist:

@akamitrani @android-boyfriends @attention-bajoranworkers @bigblissandlove1 @darkmattervibes @emilie786 @horta-in-charge @live-logs-and-proper @slutty-slutty-vulcans @starrynightgardens @toebeans-mcgee

[blorbologist]

head in hands. my little self-indulgent Pokemon AU fic is giving me A Headache. It's set in Kalos (vaguely following the plot of the games except some stuff is revamped bc Fuck You) and I've got three options for the climax.

a) The Pokeball Factory and Master Ball acquisition (fitting for Vex and Percy and comes at the point where they go from rivals to friends, but means I have to edit/axe the foreshadowing about Vex getting *BLANK* and they're only just barely friends)

b) The Team Flare* defeat (means tying the box legend Moment to the evil team which is Satisfying, but I worry that'll go beyond my scope of 'hehe look at them they're Rivals <3' also fuck you Ripley I don't want to write you)

c) After the Pokeball factory, but before Team Flare* defeat (involving the box legend, not based on a canon games moment which Irks me but was my OG plan because it has nods to several C1 moments. feels like it has too many loose ends wrt Team Flare* still running around)

so... help?

(for anyone curious about the WIP, a snippet under the cut ;3)

“It’s a Heavy Ball,” Percival explains. “They are usually produced by artisans in Johto, but I figured there must be a way to replicate the properties of the apricots with more modern methods.” He pauses for breath. “In theory, it should excel at catching larger - well. Heavy Pokémon.” She thinks it's pretty self-explanatory, but the clarification is oddly appreciated. “I made it for you.”

Vex’s mouth feels dry. She reaches out and Percy tips the grey and blue Pokeball into her palm.  It definitely feels heavy, though maybe she’s just lightheaded. “Thank you, darling.”

“You’re welcome.” He doesn’t sound smug, for once.

There’s a moment where they fidget awkwardly, not watching eachother or the battle (Sneasel just screeched something fierce) and only looking at the Heavy Ball. Vex is frantically considering what to do - how do you thank your arrogant rival for a gift? Do you shake hands? Wave and see them on their way? Kiss their cheek? - when Percival coughs in his fist.

“I thought it might help,” he says. “I mean - the shared Flying-type does make you very vulnerable to its weaknesses. A good Steel or Fighting type could help with several.”

The appropriate response, she decides, would be to punch him in his stupid mouth. But she’s holding a gift weighty enough to be considered a blunt force weapon, so Vex settles for seething, “Excuse me?”

He continues to dictate what her team composition should be like: “I’m not saying you have to catch one of those - or even a Rock-type! Not if you don’t want to.” His fingers twitch anxiously for something to do, like maybe tie his noose tighter. “I, ah, might not have even completed the mechanism correctly. Maybe you could… test it out for me? Let me know if it works as intended?”

If she’s throwing the Heavy Ball at anything, it’s his stupid big head.

[tailsdollr]

your art is really coool! im inspired! do you have any art tips?

Thank you so much and yes I have a bit of knowledge since all the work I have done over the years. However, I understand everyone does things differently. So perhaps not all I will share will benefit you much. Especially if you already knew it BUT I will try give as many I can!

I saw that you mostly do traditional drawing, so I will keep it mainly for that. However I will mention some digital tips but will have them related to traditional in some way.

Pencil types. There are many types of pencils and most depend on darkness or light. I usually have a 0.6 and 0.9 on me. A step further is charcoal however I'm not as experienced in that. Something I often do in case of smearing is lightly dabbing my finger on the art. This can work for many tools but I think a pencil smearing can just be annoying lol. How far you press can be very important too as going to hard can leave lines into the paper that will permanently be there and affect your art in case you wanna erase. I usually go light first then dark then work around. It's okay if it's messy at first if its light as that can be a lot easier to clean.

Paper. Paper is very important to me at least due to how much it can vary. For certain tools, I'd prefer certain types of paper. Always check texture and thickness before buying. Don't just buy random sketchbooks. I've regretted many times of getting paper far too thin or way too much texture.

Texture and thickness all depend on what you'll use on it. Thicker paper can handle wet bases like water, paint, or markers. While thinner paper is much better for pencil. As the more texture the more difficult it becomes to not make a mess of extra that might smear if you're not careful.

If you have thin paper and are using markers, make sure you know when is too much for the paper. It could tear or eat a hole in it if not careful. I don't think it depends on art supplies either. I just think it depends on skill and paper. Like, I would not use Crayola markers on printer paper. But I would on card stock since it's more likely to handle it. Speaking of card stock, it can be really good for just sketching. However I don't think it takes pencil very well depending on it's texture. Since most are usually kind of glossy on top.

Thin paper can also be great if you want to transfer a drawing over. Imagine a digital sketch that you draw over. Thin paper can be used in the same way so I'd never fear messing up when you can easily get it onto something else and start over. This applies to tracing it in digital.

Speaking of tracing, I would not be afraid of using it as a learning tool. I've used references but sometimes I cannot see exactly how to draw that. So I trace and see what it looks like on its own. I don't think using something traced in your final piece is practical or good. But I think learning and guiding yourself with it is an excellent thing and I want more young artists not to be afraid of it.

Poses and certain features can be quite difficult for some. I think the best way to build up on these is to break them down. Like making the person who is doing the pose into very simple shapes.

This like all off the top of my head. If you want to ask something specific like, painting for example, feel free and go ahead! Or need further elaboration I can certainly try!

My biggest art tip of all tho, is to have fun. Draw whatever you want. Make yourself feel happy and don't let others dictate what you do.

I think cringe culture really hurt a lot of learning and growing artists. People who just inserted themselves into stories, made strange aus. They all were just having fun. I let myself not show that I loved things just for others comfort and you know what fuck them!! So what if evil teletubbies is weird?? Why are you upset that I'm having fun!

Love what you love. Draw weird and strange things and never give up on yourself when you feel disappointed.

You will get there with your art. You will if you feel love and passion for the craft.

[fiendishfyre]

All your thoughts on Walburga Black please

Thank for this ask, I apologize for the incoherent mess Imma bout to vomit out.

First and foremost, I do not think nor agree with her (and in part Orion) using harmful spells on Sirius and Regulus. Using the cruciatus curse on her own kids???? Sorry we already have villains like Voldy and Umbridge. I hate Walburga being made into some pure evil cartoon level villain to her sons. I think she loved them. I can't say it was healthy but the Black family is complicated, no *family* is complicated. And I am not saying she wasn't abusive in a way, but I lean more it was generational trauma she imposed (orion would have as well), along with emotional/mental abuse. They leave their own marks and can be enough to want to leave a family. I mean look at well intention, for all accounts 'good' parents but are super controlling, people have ended up leaving that family as well (I say this as I've seen people share their personal lives and this be one reason why. Which is valid too.) Like praising the child that was behaving well while also throwing insult to other child, 'why can't you be like X'. But enough about her and how she'd have raised the kids. I love her having aspirations but it was cut short, forced to marry Orion. Keeping blood pure and all that jazz. Though I do also like her wanting Orion as well but I tend to go for the former. She was a potions master or at least wanted to be, it was one of her fav subject. She taught the boys early on how to make potions. She also played with Sirius specifically with the piano. Sirius was her fav child, apple of her eyes. She was so proud of him, even when he rebelled and ran off, part of her was proud of how strong her son was. Though she'd not speak it aloud. (Maybe in time she would have but life didn't allow it.) Her angry dictates her at times, she is more expressive in emotions than Orion. Which annoys her, she wants to see his emotions. Not saying she can't completely hold her emotions back, but just that she is more prone to outward emotions. Orion will look at something with disgust while she'll do the same and say it aloud too. She's a goth queen and Bella so took inspo from her fashion sense. Hahahahhaa. Wally was also an excellent duelist. Ruthless. Her relationship with her brothers is..hm, she is envious of Alphard, getting to be born a man and having different expectations. She was firstborn of her line, told she *must* wed well then must help carry the Black family line. Also Alphard had a more carefree (my hcs okay) personality while she thought too much and couldn't be like him. Cygnus was like an annoying little brother she ignored until he was older and less annoying. But she and Al were highkey mean to him. Taking advantage of their older siblings status. RIP Cygnus.

She totally would have messed with/bullied Tom Riddle, hahahaha. "Knights of Walpurgis? Fucking nerd." /joking, maybe.

She's the most gorgeous woman and knows it. Is a bit of a clean freak which she loosens up for when it comes to potions though she's still; careful not to make a big mess.

Okay, yeah, these are *my* thoughts only, please don't get offended or argue. c':

[laf-outloud]

https://www.tumblr.com/laf-outloud/744966830492434432/its-funny-that-its-always-hellersaascockles

To be fair, some of those who are complaining about Mark P going to the con are con-goers, and some fairly frequent. But, that still doesn’t give them the right to try dictate who a con hires. Also, unless the guys is actually hurting people, him having different politics than them does not actually make him a criminal. There is too much entitlement to the notion that “if you don’t believe exactly what I’d do, you’re mean, bad, evil.” If you don’t want to see a specific actor at a con, for whatever reason, you have 2 simple options, don’t go to that con, or don’t go to any of that actors panels/activities. It’s really that simple.

I also think people are free to make their complaints, but trying to rally people to pile on is just .. borderline creepy to me. It’s very much the idea that it’s okay to have mob mentality and railroad people as long as they are the “right” people to hate. That’s never been a bad thing historically, right?

Anyway, any actor who brings in good money, will be welcomed back, barring legal action or wide-spread negative press (not write-ups on Screen Rant or, like, Fan Girl’s Weekly).

I don’t even really like Mark P, but I’m more indifferent to him than anything else. But I have a feeling his “bullying” was probably provoked by the brave kind of fan girls who feel justified in hating on people they don’t agree with, and then running and crying when they get slapped for it (metaphorically). It was easy to just not go to his panels. I strongly dislike misha, but I haven’t written to CE asking them to can him.

Also, if anyone should be banned from anything it’s Emmie. She went to like every Jake and Chill, so she thinks she’s his friend or something. And she kept adding her opinions and trying to monopolize Jake’s attention in the event I went to. I didn’t actually pay to hear a childish fan girl talk, thanks.

You make some excellent points, anon! And yes, people do have the right to contact Creation and let them know about their personal wants for cons, but they also have to be careful because if they make claims that get an actor dismissed from cons, and those claims turn out to be false, then the actor may have a legal case for slander, especially if it hurts their reputation/income.

And to add, ugh... I can't imagine being at an event where someone takes over like that and basically ruins it for everyone else, including the actor, who I'm sure would like to pay attention to the other attendees. (I also recall she's the same one who went crying to Jim and the other cast when she was bullied out of Jai's group. That kind of attention-seeking is toxic and unhealthy for all involved.)

[beachesgetpeaches]

All i want to say is thank you for what youre posting about this whole situation with matty and taylor. I personally think your responses are well thought out. Sure matty makes some really really bad choices in what he says or does and even acts etc. But that doesnt make him this evil person, the narrative people are trying to push.

I mean after all taylor did choose to be with him whether thats a relationship or friendship or whatever it may be. And if shes happy why start petitions to remove him from tour when clearly she wants him there. Yes i get he is problematic but thats not for fans to dictate who she spends her time with. There is no reason ANYONE should receive death threats, especially family members that have done nothing. We get so caught up and forget that celebrities are still people they still have feelings and they do take things to heart, so people saying they hope he OD's or relapses? That's is pretty messed up in itself.

The amount of hate he is getting is ridiculous, ive seen different articles and comments and whatnot contradicting each other on what and why things were said. But immediately we all jump to cancel someone, i agree if it was done in malice intent why would they still be a band? That is an excellent point. Honestly everyone is up in arms because shes dating someone who yes, does tend to be problematic. Should there be someone from their team (the 1975) to comment on the situation? Maybe, but that also could make things also worst. Noone knows for a fact what went on. Yes theres proof of him saying this but also no factual proof of him actually doing so, if that makes sense. Yes, joking or not, should not had been daid period.

Another point is if you do watch interviews, hes a different. He is into satire and you can tell. Not trying to make excuses for what hes said. Joking or not some of the things he has said he probably shouldn't have looking back, but you cant go back in time and change it so whats the point of dwelling on it. He also said he doesnt know himself and hes not going to form this idea of him because then every question or statement becomes a nightmare in interactions.

Long rant short, just thank you for standing up and speaking out. Yes these sites should be taken down and quiet honestly if people would focus their rage there instead of in threats there could be a difference. The fact they made these site so accessible and posting them. Thats the issue. This whole situation was bad from the jump but again desth threats and bashing on peoples careers, cancelling them... its not it.

Sorry!! Took a bit to answer this one bcs it was long 😅

Thank you, I've been thinking this through for the past few weeks (or so it seems to me), so I've had the time to construct my thought and opinions. And I was going to try to stay out of it because I thought/felt that getting into any discussions will just fuel the topic further while not getting through to people who have already condemn everything Matty does and Taylor alongside him.

But the level of horrible behaviour has reached its peak for me when I heard about death threats being sent, people saying they hope Matty ODs (ffs that one was very vile to read about), the open letter to Taylor was also a step too far for me (esp signing it as if it is the thoughts of the entire fandom), and then initiatives that people who go to specific shows turn around and not look at Taylor while she sings (I've heard second-hand about this BUT this would fuck with the entire show not for Taylor but for EVERYONE who is at that show)... basically, I just felt like if I don't say what I think it seemed as if I was agreeing with all of it.

I think it all comes down to some form of critical thinking, and also thinking for yourself. I have seen a lot of people parrot half-truths, repeat information which has not been true (from Matty liking nazi jokes - which I haven't seen evidence for, to some ww2 memorabilia comment which is false, and people also trying to spread shit like he is a pedophile or smth vile like that)... And it leaves this weird feeling in my brain, this whole outrage and cancel culture. Lowkey feels like tame public executions 😂 and I say this with utmost sensitivity.

But to me the world has come down to people actually actively waiting for someone to fuck up so they can do some symbolic online lynch and cancel them. Hashtags instead of pitchforks, cancellation instead as metaphorical death of a celebrity.

This situation with Matty (and I will focus more on him because Taylor really is the catalyst but she is very secondary to the discourse; or she should be)... but the thing with Matty proves that you can do a lot of positive shit, and you can say a lot of supportive things, and you can show through both your art and actions that you are a decent human being (flawed but decent) ... and none of it will matter if you do something that "the people/public" disagree with.

It ends up formulated as you being fake/performative because you are not constantly adhering to this morally perfect picture expected of you. Matty is clearly not perfect, he has clearly messed up on multiple occasions BUT he has also talked about important issues from what I've seen.

Sidenote: I have watched that interview with Zack Lowe (I think?) and it is very insightful and gives a nice perspective on the way he thinks.

But none of this matters because people (specific groups right) have already decided to treat him as if he has done the worst things imaginable (I maintain that all he should really be accused of is ongoing insensitivity and not finking things frew; iykyk... and like if that's an issue we can just be like yo Matty that was not chill pls don't and that ahould be it).

None of it matters because when you try to talk to people about the other point of view you end ip blocked or given the same "proof" you've already seen (but it's like a different compilation or a new thread or another copy paste article).

None of it matters because no one is ready to recognize that Matty is not anti-semitic, racist, islamophobic, or generally a bad human (all of this based on the gift that my hyperfixation is which has enabled me to consume so much info on the man and the band in the past weeks)... I maintain that for condemnation on those counts you need proof of continuous and purposeful behaviour with malicious intent.

And it would actually be much better to discuss his fuck-ups (which I believe he has accepted he will have, thats what I got from some interview I watched)... anyway, it would be much better to discuss his fuck ups in the context of those specific fuck-ups without pulling out heavy artillery of -isms, -phobics, etc.

....... ok I wrote a shitton lets wrap up

I went off on a tangent here, but I think we need to be realistic. As, I've said if Matty truly was all of the things he has been accused of the band would be no more, the fandom would not support them at all, there would be massive public condemnation, he would most definitely not be hanging out with A LOT of people who seem normal - unless I guess we are going to subscribe to the theory that eeeeveryone is a horrible fascist person (Taylor, Jack, the entire 1975, Gigi, Phoebe, Bo, Ryan, etc etc... I guess now Ice Spice is in the mix of people "collabing/hanging out" so lmao let's add her to that mix).

In general I think people use "heavy-words" too much in these online discourses which in retrospect dims their impact, yknow. Like is Matty insensitive edgy and has he said things that likely should not have been said/done? Yeah, like newsflash every person is flawed and literally for every person saying he is a nazi/racist/phobe/etc bet if I had as many recordings of them talking about various issues - I would be able to cherry-pick some shit out.

Anyway... people will stay mad, and people will stay believing that what they see is the ultimate and only "real" truth (while also knowing that they have only been privy to a small percentage of those peoples lives).

And when it comes to Taylor there has been this most fascinating thing with her - people just LOVE to watch her fall from grace. There is somehow nothing people enjoy more than having "proof" that Taylor is not this perfect good girl "she portrays herself to be", when all along it was the people who have put her on a damn pedestal and treated her as some perfect human being who can do no wrong.

[talkingpointsusa]

Drowning in the Pool; Debunking the December 6th, 2023 Edition of the Tim Pool Daily Show.

From what I know about Tim Pool, he is a generally great source for completely ridiculous and inane takes. Despite seeing people talking about how dumb most of the crap he says is on YouTube, this is my first time listening to the entirety of one of his shows....yay?

I would say that Tim is a step above the Daily Wire on the path to alt-rightness. While he is still alt-lite, as most of the guys we cover on here are are, Tim does things that the Daily Wire wouldn't dare do if only to avoid complete and total embarrassment. He has interviewed Alex Jones, which the Knowledge Fight podcast did an excellent episode on, and regularly spews alt-right talking points...that is when he isn't blatantly contradicting himself.

We are talking about the Daily Show Podcast here as "TimCast IRL" is mostly just him interviewing people and I want to see how Pool stands on his own without anyone else.

Turns out, not so good. While I want to save my full rant for the conclusion, Tim was such a complete and utter dipstick not just from an opinions standpoint but from a journalistic one that he makes the Daily Wire look like the New York Freaking Times. So let's get into it shall we?

01:19: "Last night, Donald Trump spoke with Sean Hannity and there was this tremendous exchange which has the Democrats losing their minds. When asked if he would abuse his power to go after his enemies, Trump said 'Only on day one. After that I'm not a dictator.'"

Ah yes, the "Dictator for a day" remark. I didn't hear Michael Knowles talk about it on his Wednesday show but I'd imagine that Ben Shapiro probably did since he's the guy who usually spends his entire show talking about pure politics instead of culture war drivel like porn turning your kids gay.

Trump has been hinting at abusing his power by getting revenge on his perceived "enemies" for a while now. He recently referred to his political enemies as "vermin", a pretty clear attempt at dehumanizing them in the eyes of his followers. Tim seems to think all this is pretty cool, I'd imagine if Biden said that he'd devote fourteen episodes and three interviews on TimCast to talking about the "evil Democrats".

01:52: "But Hannity was asking Trump 'Will you go after your enemies to get revenge?' and Donald Trump kinda dodged the question but I don't think it's necessarily fair to say that he dodged in just that Trump does what Trump does, I don't view it the same way."

This is the joy of listening to Tim Pool, half the time you cannot understand what the hell he is talking about and to be fair I don't think he does either. So Trump dodged the question but wait, he didn't actually dodge the question because Trump is Trump. What the hell is going on here?!

02:12: "Now, it's important, because a few months ago Rachel Maddow made the claim that Trump literally wants to kill her."

Hey guys, ignore this flagrantly dictator-y claim from Trump, look at this thing Rachel Maddow said!

Rachel Maddow did say that Trump wants to put MSNBC on trial for treason and "execute us". However if you watch the clip, it's clear that she isn't exactly serious about this claim. She says it in a pretty sarcastic and offhand tone as opposed to the cowering and insane woman that Tim is trying to portray.

Also, it wouldn't be shocking if Trump tried to engage in some form of retribution against NBC, he's threatened it before.

04:30: "This is a fundamental problem in the culture war. The right will interpret and translate for Democrats, stop doing that, use their words. It really is annoying, Joe Biden will come out and go (Tim then says gibberish) and people will be like 'We know what he's saying, he was trying to imply this' and it's like, just use his words."

So, according to Tim, every single time a politician makes a verbal gaff we should just take what they say on face value instead of trying to comprehend what they are saying? How does that make any sense?!

And what's more, Tim literally just brushed off Trump's comments about being a dictator for a day as just "Oh that Trump, getting all excited!". What happened to just taking words at face value? Oh wait, I forgot, the rules don't apply to Tim's team. Silly me!

04:55: "But what we're seeing now is that Taylor Swift doesn't like Donald Trump, or at least that's the assumption. So when she said quote 'if she doesn't win at least I tried' they are like 'Aha she hates Trump' and I'm like that statement implies she's trying to help him win, at least."

A): Why are we talking about Taylor Swift?! This has zero to do with the topic at hand. Focus Tim, focus. You're supposedly a journalist so you should know not to mix up two stories.

B): She wasn't even talking about Donald Trump in that clip! It came from a documentary made in 2020 called Miss Americana and the "he" was the democrat running against Senator Marsha Blackburn, meaning she wanted a Democrat to win in the context of this clip and more importantly wasn't even talking about Trump.

So to recap, god-tier journalist Tim Pool just grabbed a clip off the internet without fact-checking it first and just rolled with it on his show.

06:31: "I gotta be honest, if Sean Hannity said 'Would you abuse power?' Trump can be like 'I'm not going to abuse power because I don't need to. I'm going to instruct my attorney general to immediately seek out criminal charges for the people who have committed crimes'. That's not an abuse of power, that is the appropriate use of power, and that is upholding the law. That's what I'd love to hear."

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?! I'm not even pissed, I find this hilarious in a depressing way. Not just because Tim is parroting long debunked election denial conspiracy theories and saying that Trump should throw people he thinks helped steal the election in jail, which is terrifying, but because this is awful from a pure journalistic standpoint.

We went from Tim introducing the topic, to Tim talking about the "culture war", to Tim talking about Taylor Swift, and now Tim is basically ranting about his stupid Donald Trump fanfiction. There is absolutely zero focus. At least with the Daily Wire the hosts can focus on one piece of hateful bile at a time. Oh yeah, and at least the Daily Wire pretends to do competent reporting and use rock solid sources. Tim's sources on the other hand are "I saw this video of Taylor Swift on Twitter!"

08:04: "In what world has anyone ever entertained the possibility that Donald Trump wants to put Rachel Maddow on trial for treason, which implies she's aiding and abetting a foreign adversary at a time of war."

First of all, I obviously think that putting journalists on trial for treason is disgusting and, like I said before, Maddow was being facetious.

But...does Tim not know what treason is? Treason isn't just "aiding and abetting a foreign adversary at a time of war", otherwise American's could betray their country during times of peace and get away with it because it isn't a time of war.

The official definition of treason is; “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.”

So for instance, leaking documents could be viewed as betraying the country. So could trying to overthrow the government, and Tim would know a lot about that since he likes to run cover for insurrectionists.

So either Tim doesn't know what he's talking about or he's misinterpreted the definition of treason, either one is painful to think about when you remember that people take this guy seriously as a news source.

08:56: "Donald Trump getting elected and going after criminals, liars, manipulators, and the corrupt is exactly what we need."

Ignoring the crimes Donald Trump has personally committed, Trump better start going after his own supporters!

Roger Stone is a pretty good example of a corrupt Trump associate, making false statements to congress and threatening Randy Credico with the removal of his service dog. Or how about George Santos, who's lies were so insane that he ended up recently getting thrown out of Congress.

09:07: "Look man, we have a Constitution-"

And judging by your idea of how treason works, you have read none of it.

09:51: "You see, Rachel Maddow is scared, because she knows she's one of the demons."

In between reading the constitution, Tim might have stumbled across this thing called the "First Amendment" that protects the freedom of the press.

We've gone down this road before. OAN tried to sue Maddow for comments she made about them on her show but the court ruled it was just opinion. Thanks to free speech and the freedom of the press, Rachel Maddow is free to express her opinion in the same way Tim Pool is. He's also allowed to criticize her just like how I am allowed to criticize him.

But Trump throwing her in jail for practicing journalism, that's a bridge too far.

13:13: "There are government actors who are working with media outlets. How many pundits for these cable channels are former intelligence officials or worked in the intelligence sector? A lot of them!"

Yeah, citation needed there buddy. You can't just drop "All left wing pundits used to work for the CIA" and not elaborate any further. And no, Tim doesn't give an example with proof of any pundits previously working in the intelligence sector.

I actually think this tops the Michael Knowles blackface episode for sheer ridiculousness. At least Michael did basic-ass shit like citing your sources when you make a claim and managing to keep track of the topic he was talking about. This episode is unintentionally hilarious. It feels like a parody of Tim Pool instead of the real thing.

Hey guys, remember when this was about the Trump dictator comments? I barely do. I was too blindsided by Tim saying that every anti-Trump pundit secretly works for the CI fucking A!

15:02: "I do believe that Trump lost 2020."

What?! Then what was all that crap about how Rachel Maddow is secretly a CIA Agent who intentionally spread misinfo about Trump and how Trump should go after all the "criminals" who helped take the election away from him? Tim is the most election truther-ish believer that Trump lost in human history.

But fine, I agree, Trump did lose 2020. I will take whatever win I can get here.

Tim then talks about how mail in voting messed up the election, so I guess he does believe the election was stolen. Whatever.

19:33: "Young people even saying they're more likely to vote for Trump now, at least in some polls. We're getting some new polls showing that it's actually going towards Biden, but these are different pollsters so we shall see."

Alright, so young people are inclined to vote for Trump, but actually they aren't. Even as pure right-wing propaganda this sucks. Tim contradicted himself and thus undermined his entire argument that the youth are swinging towards Trump in the span of two sentences.

21:13: "I think one thing we should do is remove party affiliation from ballots."

Wait what?!

I literally had to rewind that to make sure I was hearing that correctly and then promptly burst out laughing when I realized my hearing was correct.

But there's more, Tim tries to back this galaxy brained take up.

21:14: "Explain to me why we put party affiliation on ballots in the first place. Seriously, I mean it, comment, let me know. Because I think if you don't know who you're voting for, you shouldn't vote for them."

Well, since Tim wants an explanation, I'll give it to him.

Parties generally hold a certain set of values that voters identify with. For example; Democrats might push for more gun control whereas Republican's might push for less gun control. By putting party affiliation on ballots, it simplifies the voting process and allows people to vote for a candidate that they know will represent their ideals.

While I agree that people should look into their elected officials instead of just blindly checking the box beside their name, their party affiliation also helps give voters a general idea of what they stand for.

Also, if you took party affiliation off of the ballots, chances are people would just look up which party the candidate represents and vote partisanly anyway.

22:02: "If that was the case, people would actually be voting for who they thought should win and other people would vote randomly. Some might argue that whoevers on top would win because people would just vote for the first person. OK, the ballots can randomly align the names. I think this would result in Republicans winning."

So....people wouldn't be voting for who they think should win, they would vote randomly. But don't worry, that's ok because they can just scatter the names on the ballots and that will somehow lead to Republican's winning forever.

...

WHAT ARE WE-

22:27: "Because Democrat voters don't know anything and it's the ballot harvesting where they're like 'fill this out and vote for this person.' Now they could certainly do that still but a lot of this stuff is vote Democrat, vote Democrat, imagine if they had to refine this message and say 'Vote John Doe, Jane Doe, Jack Doe' in every district.

So essentially Tim's point is that Democrats will vote randomly because they don't know anything but voting Democrat. However I can think of a bunch of people who would be inclined to vote Democrat for really good reasons.

LGBTQ+ people would be inclined to vote Democrat because the Democrats have a more progressive stance on LGBTQ rights. Women who are concerned about their reproductive rights and abortion would be inclined to vote for the Democrats because they are firmly pro-choice. People who are concerned about gun safety would be inclined to vote Democrat because the Democrats want to reduce gun violence.

Also, does Tim want party affiliation to be removed during elections period and then when the person is elected they go "Surprise! Here's my affiliation"? Because it sure sounds like he does.

Even if party affiliation is taken off the ballots, it stands to reason that politicians would still campaign as Democrats instead of focusing it on "voting for Jack Doe" or whatever. And again, that info would still be up on the internet for anyone to find.

This makes absolutely no sense.

23:25: "But, for the time being lets stay focused on whether or not Trump is going to execute Rachel Maddow."

Tim is so insanely lost in the weeds here. The Maddow stuff was a sub-topic of Trump's dictator for a day comments which is supposedly what this segment is about and is also what the episode is titled after.

Make like a Ford and focus!

The segment ends about 30 seconds later, but the Tim Pool Daily Show podcast is an hour and a half of Tim's YouTube videos stitched together into one Frankenstein's monster of a show.

That first segment as we established was pretty damn bad. Tim was all over the place, contradicted himself a couple times, said batshit crazy things like that all left-wing political pundits used to work at the CIA, grabbed random misinformation from Twitter and reported it as news, and got some hilariously stupid takes about the election.

But hey, we've still got an hour left. Maybe Tim Pool was just having a bad day when he made that video, maybe Tim will swoop in and blow me away with his ingenious political takes in the next segment. After all, he is viewed as a valid source of news for the 1.35M people who subscribe to him, surely there must be some merit to what he says...right?

25:08: "When it comes to the issues that we're seeing at Harvard, UPen, and MIT where Elise Stefanik asked these representatives at these universities if calling for the genocide of Jews warranted bullying and harassment."

So, this story is making shockwaves through the right-wing grifter-sphere and all of them are misrepresenting the question, most likely just how Stefanik intended. The question was as follows;

"Dr. Kornbluth, at MIT, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate MIT’s code of conduct or rules regarding bullying and harassment? Yes or no?"

The answer was as follows;

"If targeted at individuals not making public statements."

This is a loaded question. The universities bullying and harassment policies and really the general definition of harassment are that the act must be targeted at a specific person. This isn't about what their opinions are, this is about what the policy says!

Also, while I don't doubt that there have been instances of antisemitism on campus, portraying every single protestor as calling for the genocide of Jews is completely loaded. If Stefanik can give an example of an entire protest group calling for the genocide of Jews, I would love to see it! They are also ignoring that if such a group did exist they would be violating a litany of other rules and policies, just not this specific one that Stefanik has cherrypicked to create outrage.

By the way, considering that Stefanik is a big fan of Donald Trump who has a long history of antisemitism, she has zero right to call anyone else antisemetic.

27:04: "However, the woke left made the argument that they should be allowed to censor anyone and this brings us to the story and what I view as a major strike into the heart of the hypocrisy of wokeness."

First of all, Tim isn't being censored, he just isn't. I have yet to see one of these guy realize the total irony of them going onto their large platforms with millions of viewers and whine about being "censored".

Secondly, does Tim even know what the word "woke" means anymore? It's kind of just became his catch-all term for the political left to the point where it has lost all of it's meaning outside of "Left bad, get angry".

At the end of the day, Tim has boiled the conflict in the Middle East down to another piece of his culture war bullshit, and that's pretty ghoulish behavior.

28:48: "These other universities, they will silence the moderate opinions of, say, conservatives, they will ban people from speaking, they will shut you down and then when it comes to people attacking quite literally someone for being Jewish they will say it's 'context dependent'."

Conservatives really aren't being censored at universities. How about the multiple speaking engagements that Ben Shapiro and Co at the Daily Wire do at universities where they perform speeches and then "destroy" college kids who aren't prepared to handle their rhetoric? Same thing with Turning Point USA.

Also, for the last time, the protestors aren't calling for the death of all Jews.

30:26: "They're fascistic, they believe there's no truth but power, they want to impose their view through authoritarian means."

When Trump says he literally wants to be a dictator it's "Trump being Trump", when students exercise their right to protest "Oh my God, look at how fascist they are." Tim is a complete and utter hypocrite.

Also, might I remind you that Tim pals around with Matt Walsh who is literally a self proclaimed theocratic fascist and an old favorite to debunk here at Talking Points USA.

30:50: "So I read an academic paper about the economics of Nazi Germany and guess what they used to enforce their economic plan; cancel culture. That's it."

The Nazi's blacklisting, killing, and shunning people for not supporting a literal genocide is extremely different from people getting criticism over saying slurs and general bad behavior. Also, again, why are we talking about cancel culture now? Weren't we supposed to be talking about what is going on at universities?

I can't figure out if this is some sort of strategy Tim uses to distract his viewers from how flimsy his points are or if he is just naturally that rambly.

30:56: "What would happen is if you are a steel mill and you wanted to produce steel for cars or something you would get people coming to you like 'Hey man, I heard you aren't helping the war effort' and then they would ostracize you, shun you, and cancel you. Nobody would wanna work with you, nobody would wanna buy your product, you'd be forced to bend the knee and produce and produce the product they wanted you to produce. Kind of like what we see with DEI movies."

So we have producing tanks and producing slightly more inclusive movies. I kind of think that the stakes with one are higher than the other.

I don't see how a film company interpreting a film differently for more modern audiences is such a big deal. The original Snow White cartoon was radically different from the original Grimm Fairytale because THAT audience probably wouldn't want to see cannibalism and a woman dancing in red hot slippers until she died a brutal death. How is changing it now any different?

Tim then plays the MIT bullying and harassment clip. I honestly came so close to forgetting that this was what Tim Pool was talking about. We already talked about this so there's not much need to repeat ourselves. Tim then waxes poetic for two minutes about the nature of free speech, nothing particularly important there, just Tim saying a whole lot of nothing. Then this happens;

41:24: "Most Conservatives and most Liberals would agree on certain things that cross the line into targeting someone with harassment and it's not just calling someone a name, it's typically-well I shouldn't say the left-"

If you think I am misinterpreting that quote, go to the time stamp I provided and hear it for yourself....oops. In case you aren't following along; Tim accidentally admitted that he knows the left knows what crosses the line into harassment then proceeded to backtrack and correct himself on air then proceed to just run with it as if it never happened.

And he doesn't go any further on "well I shouldn't say the left", he just goes on with his sentence! I suppose if you aren't listening to this show critically, which most of Tim Pools fanbase probably isn't because otherwise they would have turned it off during the ballot affiliation nonsense, it is easy to miss. But it is both hilarious and telling if you do catch it.

Considering that Tim's show is mostly YouTube, he could easily cut embarrassing shit like this out and save himself the face of looking like a complete doofus. And yet here we are.

43:08: "I think shining a light on this speech is the most important way to combat it."

If that's the case, I'd like to see the video of the hoards of university students calling for the death to all Jews.

46:46: "I had this conversation with someone recently and I said this, listen. People talk about white privilege, let's talk about white privilege."

I am so exasperated right now. So, Tim's point is essentially that white privilege doesn't exist (which might I add follows up three minutes of him basically saying that he isn't a racist in twelve different ways) and he goes about explaining why this is by telling this anecdote about him telling someone else an anecdote and *sigh*, let's just let Tim explain it.

46:53: "Let's say you go to a job interview and you wanna get a job at a bank and you show up wearing a dago tee and baggy jeans and sneakers and you walk in, you've got a sideways cap and you're like 'Yo whatsup dude. I think I could work your bank pretty good man' (Tim says this in what I think was his attempt at a stereotypical black accent) they're gonna be like 'I don't know if that's the right job for you', right. The people in the banks, they wear suits."

Ok, pause for a minute. What exactly do you think the likelihood is that anyone, minority or otherwise, would wear a dago tee and sneakers to a bank and proceed to say "I think I could work your bank pretty good man" to the manager?! I guarantee you that has never happened once, people are smart enough to know to dress up if you're going to try and apply to work at a bank.

I mean yeah, in this strawman universe Tim has constructed for his audience it would make sense for the bank manager to turn this hypothetical guy down. However what Tim is implying here is that all minorities stroll into job interviews poorly dressed and speak in stereotypical "hood" lingo and that's why the system tends to exclude minorities, if they just learned to act more polished (read; White) they'd be fine!

What Tim is ignoring is that even when minorities do try, the data shows that they still aren't getting ahead compared to whites. Here is a really interesting study about discrimination if you want to read further.

47:49: "It's not about race, it's not about language, it's about 'are you here to work with us? Are you gonna be a good worker? Are you gonna be able to help and cooperate and be part of a team?' Those things matter and culture matters. So when that guy walks in slouching (and) wearing street clothes, it doesn't matter what your race is."

Well, if you look at the numbers it clearly does. For example, the study I mentioned found that African Americans are twice as likely to be unemployed as whites.

Tim then switches to his next segment, it's about the border tensions between Venezuela and Guyana. Most of the beginning portion is just Tim reading about what the situation is so we can comfortably skip over that. Tim thinks this will lead to WW3 because if war breaks out and the US gets involved the USA will be involved in three wars. Given all the wars in the middle east America has gotten involved in, by Tim's logic we would have been in WW3 a long time ago.

Warning for this next part: Tim decides to (surprise, surprise) be a massive transphobic bully in this next segment. I you're not comfortable with that, I totally get you, I barely am either. Feel free to click off and I'll see you in the next one!

1:00:03: "Dylan Mulvaney recently spoke at Penn State and nobody showed up."

Absolutely nobody outside of these reactionary media outlets that want to mock Dylan because she is transgender is talking about this because who cares?

A speaker didn't draw a huge crowd, so what? She's still getting paid at the end of the day and it looks like the folks who did come had fun.

Also, it's exam season! I would imagine that part of the reason why there weren't very many people is because most students are studying for or writing finals.

1:00:29: "This is exemplified by Bud Light sales continuing to decline."

We're still talking about this stupid story huh? If you haven't heard of this story, it essentially boils down to Bud Light hiring Dylan Mulvaney to do a promotion and the entire right wing collectively throwing a bigoted tantrum over it because Dylan is trans and boycotting the brand.

Eagle eyed viewers might be thinking to themselves "Wait, didn't Tim decry this exact thing earlier in the episode?" Well, just to refresh everyone's memory, here is exactly what Tim said!

"What would happen is if you are a steel mill and you wanted to produce steel for cars or something you would get people coming to you like 'Hey man, I heard you aren't helping the war effort' and then they would ostracize you, shun you, and cancel you. Nobody would wanna work with you, nobody would wanna buy your product, you'd be forced to bend the knee and produce and produce the product they wanted you to produce"

What Tim claims to hate is exactly what he is doing here. Cancelling a company because they dared to have a transgender person in their ads. And yet apparently it's the woke left ™ who is doing all the cancelling. This story is a great example of how painfully hypocritical guys like Matt Walsh, Tim Pool, and Steven Crowder are. One minute they are all about the free market and how they hate cancel culture but the second a company decides to act more excepting towards a marginalized group that they don't like they become everything they claim to hate, a bunch of whiny snowflakes whining about a commercial that doesn't even effect their lives.

01:01:28: "But I think what we are looking at is a warning to the American people and to parents about what these machines will do."

Oh, heaven forbid we have a transgender person on the internet with a sizeable following. It can't be because of her content, it's got to be the algorithm! Seriously, do these guys just think about trans people 24/7?! I have trans friends who I guarantee you think about trans people less than these guys do.

01:01:50: "What we are looking at with Dylan Mulvaney is the story of an individual desperate for attention and the machine plugged Dylan Mulvaney in, that's it. Then you've got sideshow gawkers, carnival goers, who wanted to egg on an individual who was influenceable and suffering, and that's what they did."

I highly HIGHLY object to Tim's indirect comparison of transgender people to circus freaks. Also, this is obviously not true. I went on Instagram and looked at the comments on her most recent post and most were really positive and supportive.

01:02:24: "I don't believe Dylan Mulvaney is trans, I believe Dylan Mulvaney is getting surgeries that make Dylan Mulvaney fit a cast or a character."

First of all, downplaying somebodies sexuality by saying they are just "playing a character" is a nasty thing to do.

Second of all, what the hell is up with Tim using Dylan's full name all the time? Just say "she", come on, it's not that hard.

Tim then rants about how he has "more influence" than Dylan does and how his events sell out more, just basic immature "I'm bigger than you, nyanyanyanya." shit. Then he drops this gem.

01:07:16: "What if, there actually are no followers? What if the reality is that Dylan Mulvaney is mostly followed by bots and they're not real people?"

So a majority of 10 million people are bots?! She's clearly met a lot of her fans in person, a fair amount of them have posted about meeting her, hell three of my friends who I know in person follow her and one regularly comments. Plus she has a reasonable amount of merch which her fans have posted pictures of them wearing!

Do I sense a twinge of jealousy in Tim regarding followers? "Yeah, I have 9 million less followers than you but guess what?! Your followers are all BOTS while mine are real, ha!"

01:09:00: "We take a look at the average turnaround, or conversion, for a view on other shows compared to ours."

Careful throwing the c-word around Tim. Michael Knowles might accuse you of planting subliminal messages in TimCast to turn people gay.

01:11:21: "AOC makes shocking claim that all schoolgirls will be forced to undergo genital examinations if biological men are barred from woman's sports."

This quote is being taken out of context by Tim Pool and other reactionaries on the right. What actually happened was that she responded to Goss Graves who said "It's terrible, in some states any individual can challenge whether someone is a girl enough to play. In some states, it requires actual genital verification, it's shocking."

AOC responded by saying "Under the guise of not only trying to further marginalize trans women and girls, we are talking about opening up all women and girls to genital examinations when they are underage, potentially just because someone can point to someone and say, ‘I don’t think you’re a girl."

So right out of the gate, this isn't some unprompted thing that came completely out of left field like Tim is saying. AOC was responding to something Graves said.

It's not like what she is saying isn't without merit either. Ohio attempted to advance a trans sports ban with genital examinations, thankfully the genital examinations were later removed (although the bill itself is still transphobic and discriminatory so not too thankfully).

01:12:21: "I would like to introduce Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to something called a physical."

Again, she was responding to what Graves said about genital examinations and pointing out the slippery slope that trans sports bans can lead up to. Physicals weren't a part of the initial conversation, the conversation was about genital examinations.

Also, if it's a trans female who is suspected of being a "biological male", a physical could turn into a genital examination really quickly.

01:14:18: "So there are trans people, children, who are getting their birth certificates changed."

Yes, you can amend your gender to your preferred one on a birth certificate. I don't see how this is a bad thing, unless you're like Tim Pool and don't believe that trans people actually exist (and even if they do they are completely invalid and undeserving of the right to have their sexuality respected).

This is also only tenuously related to the topic at hand which is that out of context AOC quote. I am slowly coming to the realization that Tim's general lack of focus is probably a conscious decision. Blindside your audience by hopping from topic to topic in order to distract them from how completely without merit what you are saying is.

01:17:15: "AOC is claiming that trans people are criminals. That's right, that's what she's saying. She's saying that if we say that males should not be on female sports that the males will lie and cheat anyway."

Or, that more masculine females would be subject to genital investigations because the authorities would suspect them of being transgender. Castor Semenya is a prime example of this.

01:19:51: "Democrats are evil."

Can't get much more hatemonger-ey than calling an entire political affiliation evil just because of some quote on politician said that is being taken out of context. Isn't this guy supposed to be a centrist or something?

Conclusion:

Well, that was...an episode of a podcast. Ignoring allll the other dumb stuff that happened in this podcast, this was some of the most genuinely terrible journalism I have seen ever. From reporting on tweets with blatant misinfo in them to painful lack of focus to some of the dumbest takes I have covered for this blog so far this was one of the most painful yet fascinating things I have covered here.

I am both excited and dreading to cover more Tim Pool but other people and things need our attention first. We'll be dipping our toes into a new soon to be recurring grift-er-character on this blog next.

Until then, if you have any other suggestions for a right wing figure who you would like to see debunked/made fun of on the blog, I'd love to hear it.

Cheers and I'll see you in the next one.

[the-stray-storyteller]

Write Questions

*tips hat* @ashwithapen

Tenderly tagging: @tea-and-mercury @thetruearchmagos @theroseempress @desastreus @kooperation1101

(questions given at the end.)

1) What motivates you to write?

Well it's in my username. I am a storyteller. It's what I have loved doing from a very young age even thought it wasn't through writing. I enjoyed telling about mythological stories to my friends and dictating stories through dance. Writing is just something I picked up a few years ago. The ability to create new worlds from my imagination and bring other's to it is fucking amazing. Not sure if that's a proper answer or not.

2) A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

*laughs bitterly* I am not a big fan of my own work. Also I don't remember my work or other's work well enough to remember a line I liked a lot properly. However...I found this line a long time ago and fell in love with it.

"Now, do not misunderstand me; when I call myself a shell I mean–a used up bullet casing. As in, the aftermath of something lethal.  As in, an echo of inflicted evil."

The post is here.

3) Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

Skyler from Defenders. I don't know why...they are just so fascinating to me. Well Skyler from three years in the future of the original storyline. The current Skyler I am writing is a fucking asshole.

Future Skyler acts like a cat (there is actually a reason behind that) and is adorable and an excellent flirt. They overthink things when it's not necessary and doesn't think at all when it is required. They are mythology obsessed (like me). They also refuse to learn magic in an academy because they are afraid that learning it in an academy will cause them to loose interest in it. So they are self taught.

4) What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

Daydreaming about plots and scenes that I will never write.

5) What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

Describing stuff I guess. Idk.

6) What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

Interaction. I LOVE THE INTERACTION. I was on wattpad before I came here and I felt so lonely over there. No one talked to anybody (at least not me). It just felt so cold over there. Then I came here and SUDDENLY there were so many fucking writers to talk to. There were tag games and ask games. Writing tips and resources would pop up on my dash. Then the memes and so many more things.

7) A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

I just spam words onto google docs. And occasionally plot on sticky notes. That is all I do to write. I don't use any program or anything.

8) A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. *more screaming*

There are too many. First things first. The piece of worldbuilding that will always remain my favourite is:

The names that the Facility assigned to the trainees in my WIP, Rebel.

In the Facility the identity of the trainee is taken away once they join. The Facility renames them and it is a psychological move which is similar to the whole 'if you give the dog a name then it's yours' kind of thing. It is a power move to show that the trainees belong to the Facility, they belong in such a way that the Facility can rename you.

So anyways.....the name given to the trainees is the first three letters of the month they were born in a dash and the day were born on. For example the main character: May-05

If a trainee with a similar birthday joins after the first May they will be named:

May-205

And the next will be named:

May-305

and so on.

The second piece of worldbuilding I am proud of is the still developing magic system in Defenders. I have a whole fucking doc for it.

9) What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

My darling...if you didn't love writing you wouldn't be here worrying about it. If you love writing I am sure the ideas are just baking in you head. You just have to wait for it to be ready and then it will come out of the over by itself. Till then just make another cake or a small cupcake, maybe some cookies or something entirely different.

(Has my advice giving improved? I am usually shit at it)

10) Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters:

@avocado-frog my first mutual who is also my first friend in this hell site. He has been with me from the very start. I love him and his over detailed WIP.

@holdmyteaplease she is just a ray of pure beautiful sunshine. HOW ARE YOU SO SWEET? You have no idea hos much you make me smile.

@i-eat-books-and-nutella she really isn't online on tumblr anymore but she is the first beta reader I have had. She has read all of my works and supported me to this day.

@toribookworm22's worlduilding wednesday asks helped me out of a really bad writer's block (not really a support thing but it helped me so much)

ANYWAYS...

THE QUESTIONS:

1) What motivates you to write?

2) A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

3) Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

4) What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

5) What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

6) What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

7) A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

8) A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

9) What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

10) Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters:

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Marsilio Ficino to Giovanni Cavalcanti, his unique friend/most perfect friend*: greetings

I cannot let your people return to you from the Fighini market without any of our produce, for I think it very wrong that, whilst bringing you other men’s goods, they do not return with your own. So they bear three of our letters: one amends what I dictated hastily to my boy when our brother came, the others are copies of what I wrote long ago to Antonio degli Agli and Piero del Nero. I did not have anything of today to present, so I have given what is external. 

You are a simpleton, Corydon! You send tasteless little fruits to a most discriminating palate. But have confidence; Alexis should savour these things at least a little;**

 [...]

*I have seen both terms used in translation of Ficino’s pet-term for Giovanni. 

**Ficino is quoting from Virgil’s Eclogues (or, Bucolics) where the shepherd boy Corydon is in (unrequired) love with another shepherd boy Alexis, framing himself as Corydon and Giovanni as Alexis. Though that Corydon was a good musician and wins a singing competition in the story is a fun parallel to Marsilio, who was known to be a very good musician himself. Cosimo had Ficino sing to him on his death bed (and read aloud what he had translated of Plato). 

Marsilio Ficino to Giovanni Cavalcanti, his unique friend/most perfect friend: greetings

Because I am now forced to spend long periods in bed, I have been considering a remedy against the tedium of a continuing confinement. The first, indeed the only one who could relieve the tedium threatening me, came to mind; my Cavalcanti, my especial doctor. And so welcome again, my health giver, expeller of my evils, preserver of my goods. 

You, my Giovanni, assuredly make many other things clear to me every day, but primarily this, the saying of Aristotle: nothing is more full of grace in the human condition than the presence of a most excellent friend. I learnt from you the meanings and the truth of this saying long ago, and I learnt the underlying principle. Behold, he who bore be inwardly away from myself, formerly as much by my desire for him as recently through his physical absence, that same one, in return, through a certain mutual disposing of mind and through his mental presence, restores me to myself. 

[...]

Therefore you will receive a letter, perhaps more of necessity than of choice, for, as I have said, it seems that I have been compelled to compose it for the sake of dispelling tedium. But, Oh! I have just transgressed, I do not know how, my Giovanni, but I have transgressed seriously against the divine spirit and authority of Plato. Listen to Plato on high, sharply rebuking me, as he thunders: O Marsilio! what free choice or what necessity do you observe in a lover? A lover’s letter is as much of choice as of necessity. No necessity is more freely chosen than a loving necessity; no free choice is more necessary than the free choice of love. 

[...]

And the lover already experiences the full-grown flame before he perceives the ray and the radiating point. He needs must burn, if he burn by heavenly decree. He needs must burn, for in seeking relief he always feeds the flame with the very drink with which vainly he hopes to quench it. 

[...]

This is totally a very normal thing to write the man you love while sick in bed, Marsilio. 

Marsilio Ficino to Giovanni Cavalcanti, his unique friend/most perfect friend: greetings

Yesterday at Novoli we celebrated the holy day of Saint Cristopher and Saint James. I said 'holy', Giovanni, and I would certainly have added 'feast', if you had been there. Without you nothing whatever is a feast for me. See how dear you are to your Marsilio, for whom, if one may say so, not even heavenly things have any value without you. This is just, for he who has joined Christopher and James in one holy festival, has likewise joined Marsilio and Giovanni in life. And the same spirit or a very similar one guides us both. God has ordained, I believe, that we should live on earth with a single will and similar way of life and in heaven under the same principle and in an equal degree of happiness. 

Farewell, Achates of our voyage and our delight when we reach port.

these men are very straight. 

Marsilio Ficino to Giovanni Cavalcanti, his unique friend/most perfect friend: greetings

The care of my own sick body and that of my father is one burden for me. Your absence is another. Both must be born with equanimity, lest they become more burdensome through impatience. But if you have any humanity, do not add to my double burden yet a third, too great a burden if you do not return my books. It is the loss of time that makes me ask for them so often. No loss is more serious than that. Alas that I ask so boldly for things I do not really want to receive; but for what I do want I dare not ask. 

It is right that I should have the former, while at present it is necessary for me to be without the latter. It is prudent to do what is right and, as far as one can, to make what is necessary voluntary. The first is for you to do, and the second is for me to attempt. 

Farewell, and while you are looking after other people’s affairs for their sake, take care of yourself for your own sake. 

We don’t have a that for this letter, so we don’t know which books it is that Ficino sent him, but given this line: “Alas that I ask so boldly for things I do not really want to receive [his books]; but for what I do want I dare not ask [Giovanni himself]” I choose to believe he had sent along the latest version of his commentary on Plato’s Symposium (known at the time as his Book on Love), which he began at the behest of Giovanni who was trying to lever Marsilio out of a deep depressive episode by dangling Plato in front of him. (Dear readers, it worked. For a time, at least.)

Marsilio Ficino to Giovanni Cavalcanti, his unique friend/most perfect friend: greetings

The hand could not guide the pen were it not itself moved by the soul. Marsilio could not now write to his hero [Giovanni] were he not first so invited by his hero. But one thing that troubles me more than anything else is that you write to me because you promised; and that I attribute to a bargain, not to love. 

I desire letters of love, not of barter; or are you really mine by contract just because I am yours? I wish you to be mine through love. 

Marsilio being totally normal about Giovanni. 

[silencedminstrel]

("Exodus" Art by Stuz0r)

TWILIGHT OF ALL YOUTHS - CHIEF WHITE WIZARD THEIN GARIA ALMOST AT THE END OF HIS SEARCH FOR THE SACRED "MUSIC OF THE SPHERES" MANUSCRIPTS

May The One Most High be praised for all eternity...! So this is the prophesied Golden Dawn, the day after the Vermilion Sunset when the people of XNROE make their way for the blessed Promised Land! (Sigh) Truly magnificent! But pray, what about the Twilight Of All Youths (seventh and last manuscript of the Music Of The Spheres), Brother Samael? Where would I find it? "The Twilight of All Youths is within The Sleeping Child," that's all I know! The rest is up to you Master, based on the final chapter of your world--The Endtime! (Sigh) Very well, my friend! Forsooth the Vermilion Sunset begins as the Dark Emperor and the Ja'anites land on the Fields of Purple Grass, intent on ending their long overdue

Battle since the dawn of time! And from the Light came the First Wizard and the Last Emperor, leading the united forces made out of the Citizens of XNROE, the Samawi Empire, the Council of the Great Guardians and of course our own Hall of Wizards! There the two Rulers will say their final words to each other before the Rainbow Of Dawn (Humoga) sounds the battle herald and thus, duly officiates the apocalyptic final battle betwixt good and evil that would rage on through the night--The Dark Night of The Souls! As was prophesied, The Blue Morning Rain (Shaira) will engage that evil Monarch long enough for his brother the Last Emperor to replace him and delivers

The final blow! Alas the prophecy also dictates that the reformed Dark Legionnaire be mortally wounded by the triumphant Dark Emperor's battle axe...ending up dying in the arms of his mournful father! (Sniffle) Once the Dark One is decapitated, trails of his spilled blood will immediately usher in a magnificent rainbow that arches above the dawning sun, where the First Wizard and the Last Emperor will find a gilded doorway that will soon appear, which they would open and ushered in the gathered people of XNROE to proceed towards the blessed Summerland (Heaven), saves but one--Shaiyr Esarsi alias The Father To All Dreams himself! And pray, why wouldn't he, Master? He simply couldn't bear to leave his dead son behind, so much so that he bids farewell to the procession

Closes the gilded door slowly behind them and then turns around to see the...! (Gasp) The Sleeping Child! For as the door slowly closes, the last person to depart would turn their back and sees a smiling man holding his sleeping child...! You should be proud, Master Thein! Moved by the Holy Paladin's fatherly sacrifice, our sympathetic Creator revives Shaiyr's son and into a much younger version of himself, asleep so soundly over his shoulders! Once the holy portal is sealed, he valiantly turns around to face the ensuing End Of Days--to atone for abandoning his beloved family! (Sniffle) I...I can't...I can't do it, Brother Samael! I can't separate a grieving man from the child who longed for him all his life--even more after watching him dying for his sins! (Shaira was the leader of the nefarious Shudwa Dumanta Legion) Excellent! You've just passed the "Hardest Test!" What...test...Brother Samael?

[lawrenceop]

HOMILY for the Christmas Mass during the Night

Isa 9:1-7; Ps 95; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14

Christmas is a declaration of war! Or to be more precise, the birth of God in the flesh, in our world, in our human condition, makes visible and manifests in blood and bones and in our own human body, the spiritual warfare that began when the angels had fallen in love with themselves. For the angels had fallen through pride, which is essentially an overblown love of one’s own excellence, and an overestimation of one’s own correctness combined with a desire to dominate others, and so to get my own way always. Pride, in short, is believing that “I know best”. 

And so the angels’ rebellion infected humanity, and Eve had thought she knew better than God how to gain for herself happiness, and freedom, and the knowledge of good and evil. This temptation to create our own meaning, and reality, and happiness independently of God has never gone away, so dictators wage wars, and families continue feuds, and our hearts become battlegrounds – all because of pride. So Mankind fell out of love with God, and so we began to “walk in darkness” as Isaiah says.

But tonight God comes to shatter the darkness: “On those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone.” By his coming as Man, Jesus himself enters into the fray, and because he is God so he comes with victory to end this mad war, this insane rebellion against Mankind’s highest and truest good. For one of the insights of St Thomas Aquinas is that every act of sin is a lapse of reason, a kind of momentary insanity as we knowingly choose an apparent good over the true Good, God himself! Hence God comes to break the heavy burden of Mankind’s sin, the rod of pride that stiffens our will. Thus (Isaiah says) “the yoke that was weighing on him, the bar across his shoulders, the rod of his oppressor, these you break as on the day of Midian” – just in case you’ve forgotten, this refers to a battle between Gideon and his 300 soldiers against the vast army of Midian, and Gideon was victorious against the odds because God’s power was with Gideon and his men. And so at Christmas, God declares war on all that separates us from him, or turns us against him, and in doing so, they would diminish our humanity. 

Hence, an army of the good heavenly angels appears in the night sky outside Bethlehem declaring “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to men who enjoy his favour.” This, in fact, is a declaration not merely of war but of victory already won as peace is restored to men and women who live by God’s favour, meaning, for anyone who will receive his grace and live by it; anybody who will thus allow God to be their ally and friend. As St Paul said to Titus: “God’s grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race and taught us that what we have to do is to give up everything that does not lead to God, and all our worldly ambitions”. In other words, Christ comes to lead us away from all that would lead us away from God and so end the strife begun so long ago. Therefore, tonight, by his birth among us, God declares war on sin, on pride, which leads us away from God. God comes to us to fight for humanity’s liberation from vices and evil, not with material weapons nor even with a mighty army of angels. Rather, God takes flesh and is born of the virgin Mary, born for us, as a vulnerable, little, human baby. There, lying in the manger – a domestic animal’s feeding trough! – helpless and vulnerable in his little body, is the Creator and Sustainer of All that Is. Isaiah, excitedly gives him a string of titles: “Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace” – many of us will hear these titles, I think, and hear the stirring music of Handel in the back of our minds. Nevertheless, no grand music, nor red and gold decor, nor warm glowing lights should distract us from this strange truth, this marvellous mystery, the sheer creativity of the divine stratagem of war that bring us our peace. 

For born in the cave at Bethlehem, and gawped at by outcast shepherds, and wrapped in simple strips of linen cloth is God himself, God-with-Us, a human baby. And this baby, even before he is full grown, is already our champion and warrior and victor in the ancient war against sin and pride. 

How? For the root of all sin, as we saw when the angels fell, is pride. So God, in answer, comes in all humility to demonstrate humility. Come to the manger and see the humility and meekness of God in the flesh. And Christ comes to teach us humility. This is enacted in a striking manner if you were to visit the Grotto where Jesus was born in Bethlehem: To get down into that small cave, you’d first have to stoop down and make yourself small, squeezing through an ancient doorway that leads into the birthplace of Christ. However, Christ teaches us not to become small physically - that is not his intention – but rather he wants to teach us to humble our thoughts, our intellect, our fundamental attitudes. 

And so tonight Christ, born for us, is here to teach us humility. For when we come to the altar, here in church, we see the humility and meekness of Christ. Because Jesus is present for us in the Eucharist, hidden under the appearances of bread and wine. So, in the Mass, the Blessed Sacrament is held up for us to adore and worship as God, and given to us here in Holy Communion, but we can only do this fruitfully if we have learnt to be humble and docile, if we can truly say, “God knows best”, and so we trust in the teachings of God’s Word given to his Church. God knows how this mystery of the Eucharist comes to be – our human minds will always fail to fathom this sublime sign of God’s love and humility. Certainly, the angels themselves marvel and wonder at the humility of this great Sacrament. Hence St Francis of Assisi said: “O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, should humble himself like this and hide under the form of a little bread, for our salvation.” So, if you marvel that God is so great that he can humble himself and become a little baby, so we marvel that Jesus, who took flesh from the Virgin Mary, is truly present here and now, just as he had been in Bethlehem. For tonight, and indeed, at every single Mass, the church becomes Bethlehem, which means ‘the house of bread’, and the altar becomes the manger, the feeding trough, because from it you and I are fed with Jesus himself – we receive his Body and Blood into our own bodies, we become united to his flesh. This is the true wonder of Christmas that is extended to us day after day in the Mass. As Pope St Leo the Great said: “God took the nature of a servant… enlarging our humanity without diminishing his divinity.” 

Christ comes to us in the Sacraments, therefore, to enlarge our humanity. Christ comes, therefore, to fight with us, alongside us, and indeed, within us. As St Paul says to Titus that Christ has “sacrificed himself for us in order to set us free from all wickedness and to purify” us. Hence Christ empties himself and gives us himself, giving us his grace in the Sacraments especially in the Eucharist, so that we might share in his victory, so that we might taste the goodness of God, and enjoy his peace.

Today, then, war has been declared and victory has been won. For today the Word became flesh and dwells among us. The prophet Isaiah says that it is the “jealous love of the Lord of Hosts” that motivates this, meaning, God’s all-consuming and intense love for humanity, for you and for me. St Thomas Aquinas suggests that God became Man, a little baby lying in the manger in Bethlehem, “so that even children could know and love God as someone like themselves”. Therefore, in this Christmas season do visit the Crib, our Nativity Chapel, or whatever favourite image of the birth of Jesus you have, and pray and ask that you can come to know and love Jesus, God-with-us, who is born for this. Or, if you ever find yourself sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, if you are anxious and frustrated and lonely and feeling unloved, come to Mass more often, and come to adore the Lord in the Eucharist, and discover the true beauty and miracle and wonder of Christmas. For as J. R. R. Tolkein said: “Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament… There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth”. 

Therefore, tonight, gathered around the manger that is this altar, we sing our victory song: “O come let us adore him, o come let us adore him, o come let us adore him, Christ the Lord!” 

[oathbreakerapologist]

ghost is kinda funny (in the loosest sense of the term) to me. like dude is all Id not even a factory reset could help this man. what would be the worst case scenario for a guy like him? you know besides going back to peepaw to kill everyone in the world then himself.

losing my mind at "not even a factory reset could help this man." you're so right. and I think he's funny too!

Yeah, going back to peepaw to kill everyone in the world and then himself is pretty close to a worst case scenario for him, but there are definitely at least a few other real bad ones, most of which (like a lot of Ghost's "endings") depend more on the people around him than on any specific choices he might make.

So, you know how Ghost is willing to fall into a sort of attack dog role for anybody that does a good enough job of keeping him interested? Arguably his best-case-scenario ending is that someone ambitious comes along and cultivates a relationship with Ghost while using Ghost as an incredibly powerful tool in a personal war for some good cause. But the reverse case is possible too: someone ambitious comes along and cultivates a relationship with Ghost while using Ghost as an incredibly powerful tool in a personal war for some evil cause. (It's ambiguous to me whether or not there are causes more evil than outright extinction of all humanity via murder, but there are certainly ones that come close, if not surpass it.)

If it weren't for the fact that Ghost hated Gortash so, so badly, someone like Gortash (alike in ideals and aspirations, not in... basically any other way) would probably be excellent at this. What could an aspiring tyrant desire more than a warrior who is profoundly loyal, nearly unkillable, and absolutely lethal? Ghost is capable of distinguishing between permitted and unpermitted targets of violence; nothing else distinguishes one who encounters him and survives from one who dies by his hands. He would be just as effective (and happy) as the sword arm of a brutal dictator as he would in be in the service of a heroic visionary.

But if we're thinking of worst case scenarios in terms of what he would think of as his own worst case scenario, there's one very clear option for that: imprisonment. Ghost spent nearly five decades imprisoned by a priest about whom he still knows very little; in that time, he was frequently subject to mind-controlling magic, among other abuses and manipulations. To this day, being denied freedom (or even feeling as if he's being denied freedom) is utterly intolerable to Ghost. To somehow come under the control of someone who wanted nothing more than to keep him in a cage for their own purposes (again) would be his own worst nightmare.

Differences in moral worldview aside, he deeply sympathizes with Dame Aylin.

[princeofgod-2021]

LIGHT OF LIFE 534

John 1:4

DIVINE ORDER 99: God Seekers 28

Heb 8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much HE IS ALSO THE MEDIATOR OF A BETTER COVENANT, WHICH WAS BUILT UPON BETTER PROMISES. MKJV

The MEDIATORS 4

So if Jesus had died for us and we are “automatically” dead also, how is this surrendering to Lifestyle that actualizes His death to be understood?

This question is sacrosanct, beloved.

2Co 5:14 For it is Christ’s love that fuels our passion and motivates us, because WE ARE ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED THAT HE HAS GIVEN HIS LIFE FOR ALL OF US. THIS MEANS ALL DIED WITH HIM, TPT

To grasp this requirement, we all have to look at the lifestyle of Jesus Himself, being a worthy example for us to follow, and we must indeed take this “example” factor seriously.

Luk 22:42.44 "Father, if it is your will, take this cup of suffering away from me. HOWEVER, YOUR WILL MUST BE DONE, NOT MINE."…So he prayed very hard in anguish. His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. GW

When Jesus told us to Deny ourselves, it could look like the “boss” was just commanding, but we see that He was merely telling us to do what He Himself was going to do.

He not only left His honour in heaven and became human, but embraced pain on our behalf too.

Heb 12:2-3 We must KEEP OUR EYES ON JESUS, WHO LEADS US AND MAKES OUR FAITH COMPLETE. He endured the shame of being nailed to a cross, because he knew that later on he would be glad he did. Now he is seated at the right side of God's throne!…So keep your mind on Jesus, WHO PUT UP WITH MANY INSULTS FROM SINNERS. THEN YOU WON'T GET DISCOURAGED AND GIVE UP. CEV

That’s just the lifestyle we embrace, just as He did, and then, His death becomes ours.

Rom 6:3-4 For surely you know that WHEN WE WERE BAPTIZED INTO UNION WITH CHRIST JESUS, we were baptized into union with his death. BY OUR BAPTISM, THEN, WE WERE BURIED WITH HIM AND SHARED HIS DEATH, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, SO ALSO WE MIGHT LIVE A NEW LIFE. GNB

This “Baptism into Christ” is not just Baptism by immersion but a total yielding to and embrace of His doctrine and principle of discipleship.

After all, you don’t get water baptized on 1st day but after you have taken time to embrace church doctrine and fellowship, right?

We can thence be termed “Dead in Christ”, and it would show to the whole world.

Rom 6:6-7 We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin. WE KNOW THAT SIN DOESN'T HAVE POWER OVER DEAD PEOPLE. CEV

Our death in Christ is now confirmed by our newly defines passions and objectives.

Col 3:2-3 KEEP THINKING ABOUT THINGS ABOVE, NOT THINGS ON THE EARTH, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. NET

Before long, if you passionately follow Jesus, you also become labeled as “sinless” because the “predominant” Character people see in you is plain goodness and godly love.

1Jn 5:18 WE KNOW THAT EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN BORN OF GOD DOES NOT CONTINUE TO SIN, but the one born of God guards himself, and the evil one does not touch him. MKJV

But why do we even expect Jesus to “do it all” and have us do nothing? Does a Mediator do it all for the “accused”?

Does a Defence Lawyer not take counsel with the defendant and teach him how to comport himself before the Magistrate in speech and appearance?

So Jesus’ work won’t be complete without you following His dictates and guide.

Psa 32:8-9 You said to me, "I WILL POINT OUT THE ROAD THAT YOU SHOULD FOLLOW. I will be your teacher and watch over you. Don't be stupid like horses and mules THAT MUST BE LED WITH ROPES TO MAKE THEM OBEY." CEV

So imagine that before Jesus died for Man, He first spent time teaching us discipleship. It is when we follow His guide in obedience that we are identified with Him in companionship.

Joh 14:23 Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, AND WE WILL GO TO THEM AND MAKE OUR HOME WITH THEM. GW

When we follow the instructions of the one who died for us and by consequence, God & Jesus dwells in us, then we’ve been acknowledged as one with God and dwelling within the Holiest of all.

Then our lives have become acknowledged as Newborns.

May our lives prove the presence of the Holy God and Christ, IN JESUS NAME.

See you on Friday, as we proceed with this Subtopic.

Brother Prince

Wednesday, July 10, 2024

08055125517; 08023904307

[abyssal-ali]

wwyditnfuo - 3: but we kept everything professional

M | 1.6k | Ao3 | Masterlist | Main Masterlist | CW: casual discussions of murder/violence

Chapter Two ->

Jason’s hand wrapped loosely around her wrist. “Please don’t run again.”

Steph glanced down at their joined hands, then up at him through her bangs. “I’m not gonna run.”

He gave her A Look, but released her. 

“Fine, we can talk about it. We did it, it’s over, what’s there to talk about?”

He settled back in his seat, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Is it going to make things awkward? Are we going to ignore it? Are we going to do it again?”

His calm list of questions turned her awkward fidgeting back to tapping on her mug.

It was one thing to kiss a guy or even have a one-night stand and never talk about it again because you never saw each other after that; it was a whole new experience to kiss a guy and then become platonic partners with him.

Okay, she’d kissed Tim and they’d kind of worked together as Robin and Spoiler, but that went disastrously. They’d been younger and stupider then, or at least she had been, and their weird relationship was not healthy.

…On that note, partnering with a guy who was planning to murder at least one person probably wasn’t the healthiest, either, whether they had or hadn’t kissed.

“I don’t think it would be awkward if we didn’t make it awkward–which I am aware I’m doing right now, yes–but ignoring it will make it worse,” she said slowly, staring into the murky depths of her chai. “We’ve acknowledged it and now we can move forward, past it, I think. I don’t think it would be a good idea to continue down that path, since we’re basically work partners. Y’know what they say about dating at work,” she flicked her eyes to his, then down to his mug.

“Okay. I can’t say I’m not disappointed, but I understand. Strictly friends, then?”

Steph stared at his hand, held out for her to take.

Was she really going to refuse the hottest guy in Gotham, who was also genuinely nice and respectful, knew about her night time activities and supported her, and also made the best food ever, because she was letting her foolish teenage decisions and consequences dictate her actions today?

Yes, yes she was. 

She shook his hand. “Friends.”

Girl, what are you doing?

“But,” she blurted, pausing Jason from where he was standing to clear up the kitchen. “I wouldn’t be mad if we reconsidered it after our partnership dissolves.”

He shot her a sly grin. “I’ll have to look into speeding up our plans, then.”

Steph covered her blush with a faceful of mug, downing her chai in three gulps.

~~~

Steph joined Jason’s training when she could, since his apartment had a whole room devoted to work out equipment and safe training spaces. She wouldn’t have to make do with her crummy equipment or worry about people at the gym, and she had an excellent teacher, who quickly had her upping her skills and improving her techniques.

It was fun to work out with someone who knew what they were doing. They could make fun of Batman and the Robins together, discuss very-likely-illegal techniques and happenings that would be questionable if overheard, and watch each other’s exercises for proper form, et cetera.

After a workout and shower, Jason would make them chai, and then they’d go to his evil plotting lair and they’d discuss the best plans and proceedings to ruin Black Mask.

Jason was also a surprising help in her medical studies, since his time with the League of Assassins and travelling the world gave him a wealth of knowledge about the human body and medical procedures.

It was useful to know where nerve endings were when you were a torturer, and knowing which parts of the body would not cause immediate death if injured or removed made an excellent anatomy student. Knowing how to patch up and treat a person who was injured, whether yourself or someone else, was a valuable skill, especially in their field of work.

Steph found herself at Jason’s place more than her own. It had been lonely, being by herself all the time. She’d volunteered at Leslie’s clinic when her schedule allowed, but the majority of the time, she was alone.

Alone at home, studying or sleeping. Alone on patrol, with no backup if things went sideways, even if she was stopping petty theft and escorting drunk girls home. Alone at university, not daring to make friends for their safety, but also, how could she connect with them?

Alone, alone, alone.

It was nice to make a friend in Jason, someone who understood her and her struggles, her PTSD and the war she was fighting to make people’s lives better. He cooked when she would’ve either scarfed down $1 ramen or a granola bar, too tired after studying and volunteering to think about anything else.

They worked out together, practicing spars and running simulations of possible future events. They planned together, Jason respecting her ideas and her current struggle with her moral code. He asked for her help and input, unlike many she could think of (namely, Batman and Robin).

Jason also made her laugh, cracking dark jokes as he read her textbooks over her shoulder, or recounting some story from his Robin days as they patrolled.

Steph had practically moved in at that point, having a full half of his closet and most of her daily things scattered across his apartment.

Jason never minded, either; she was pretty sure he’d been just as lonely as she, based on comments he’d made about how glad he was to have another person to cook for, or for another brain to bounce ideas off.

~~~

“Why don’t you just formally move in?”

Steph choked on her pho.

“That’s a new way to start dinnertime conversation,” she got out, reaching for her water.

“Well, you’re practically already moved in,” Jason shrugged. “Just end your lease and save your money and live here. I don’t mind. It’s nice having you here.”

Steph considered it. “Fine. But I’m paying rent here, too.”

“As if I don’t already notice you sneaking money into my wallet?” He rolled his eyes. “Of course you can pay rent.”

“Then it’s a deal.”

“You have tomorrow off from classes, right?”

She nodded.

“Great, I’ll bring the car and we can haul your stuff over in one trip.”

Steph blinked, her spoon frozen midair. “You don’t have to help, I can manage.”

“I know, but it’s your day off. It’ll save you time if I help. It’s not like my business is going to suffer if I go out an hour later than usual,” he shrugged. “Unless you’d rather I don’t help.”

“No, I appreciate it. It’s not like I have a whole contact list to call to help.”

“Okay, then. Start early and have a relaxing afternoon, or sleep in and start later?” Jason’s teal eyes peered up at her from under his white bangs as he ate his pho.

“Ummm…sleep in a bit, pack and move, and then relax?” suggested Steph.

“Sounds good.”

~~~

A knock sounded on Steph’s door, ten minutes after she woke up.

Yawning, she opened the door, her hand hidden behind it grasping a baton.

“Jason?”

He blinked at her holey T-shirt and sweats that she used as pajamas, then looked back up at her. “I brought breakfast.”

“Come in! Welcome! Make yourself at home!” she snagged the paper bag from his hands, opening the door wider for him to enter as she peered into the bag. “Oooh, waffles from the diner by Monolith Square? You’re the best!”

He smirked, self-satisfied. “I know. You’re welcome. So, what are your plans for packing up? We each take a spot, we both work together till one room is done..?”

Steph looked up, her waffle-filled cheeks puffed like a chipmunk’s, her eyes wide as a deer in the headlights as she recalled every single thing she had left out that she absolutely did not want Jason to see.

“Did you eat already?” She deflected, heading to her (thankfully closed) bedroom door.

“Yep.”

“Great,” she said, sounding less enthused about her possible distraction being taken away than her five essays all due on the same weekend. “The boxes are over there–” she waved at the stack of cardboard in the corner by her bookshelves “--you can start packing my books, I guess. No judging my tastes.” She waved her finger at him, seeing him eye her shelf of old bodice-rippers, then disappeared into the depths of her room to scream into a pillow.

Panicking over, she quickly brushed her hair, put on a cuter change of clothes, and filled a box with the absolutely-never-to-be-seen-by-Jason things, like her vibrator.

~~~

With Jason’s help (and since half her things were already at his–their–apartment), the packing and moving didn’t take long.

Now they were relaxing on Jason’s couch in the living room, eating pizza and watching John Wick: Chapter 2. 

“Could you do that?” Steph asked around a mouthful of pizza, glancing at Jason from the corner of her eye.

“What, kill a guy with a pencil?” He snorted. “Yeah, I have.”

“Was it like the movie?” Her attention was focused on her partner now.

“Movies always increase gore and action for the views. Of course, I stabbed the guy in the neck, not through the ear like John here did, so there was a bit more blood, but it was with my foot, so I couldn’t be quite so precise at the moment. Easier to aim for the neck than the ear canal,” he shrugged.

“You stabbed a guy in the neck with a pencil using your foot?!” Steph exclaimed.

“Yep.”

Steph watched Jason nonchalantly take a bite of his pizza as he stared at the screen, now showing John Wick entering the museum.

Hm.

Jason Todd was a fascinating man.

She was glad she was living with him.

Chapter 4 ->

[silvereternitywrites]

Empires and Moralities

Prompt:  "No," the Evil Emperor said to the demon lord "I will not sacrifice my captain of the guard to you. Not for all the power in the world. That is one line even I will not cross." Prompt Source: user KaiserArrowfield; subreddit “Writing Prompts”

"One line, he says," the demon Lord (his name was Forestqeue, thank you very much) said sarcastically as he gestured with his teacup. "One line you won't cross! Really? You also won't sell children into slavery-"

"It's abhorrent"

"-even pretend it's acceptable to muck about with sexual consent-"

"Because it's not, consent is clearly and easily defined as only valid if it's clear and ongoing!"

"-AND you won't do blood sacrifices, implied debt, indentured servitude, OR making questionable pacts with beings of dubious moral standard! And he says he has only /one/ line he won't cross!"

"Forest, we've had this argument every time you come over for tea, literally there is only one line, it's just that all of those things are well OVER my line. I'm starting to think she's right, by the way, and that you DO come over just to rehash this argument because it's a familiar stalemate."

"It's much easier than trying to rewrite tax laws in my own lands, I'll tell you that," the Lord shuddered and dumped the contents of a flask into his cup. It went from being tea-colored to looking like a slice of the night sky, barely contained by porcelain.

"It takes quite a lot of stress for you to break out the Astra Liquor, Forest. Other than the inherent difficulties you've expounded on- at length- of rewriting Laws that are inherently magically binding while simultaneously dismantling the magic of the previous Law, what else troubles you?"

"My daughter's started bringing suitors to the Palace," he groaned, putting his horned head face-down on the table and covering his head with both hands, claws working deep into his mane.

The Captain caught the cup before it floated off and broke on the ceiling.

"Does that not mean you can intimidate them properly, sir?" she inquired.

"I mean, yes, but tradition dictates I can't go full Fatherly Intimidating on them until after they make their courting intent known AND she picks one, THEN I can test him to see if he'll be a strong enough, or loyal enough, mate for my baby girl. In the meantime I have forty-seven peacocking little demons parading around my front Hall, getting into arguments, scrapping in public, damaging my furniture! Ohhhh they're insufferable. And I can't get any WORK done, they've bumbled into two different magical workings already- one of them is shapeshifted into a cow and has my mages wrapped up in how to turn him back, and two more are currently working their way through every brothel in the kindgom until their curse wears off, I don't dare start working on a Law with them in the Palace."

The Emperor, whom his enemies called Evil, and of course his people didn't (they called him by his name, Hardol), gave his friend a consoling pat to the hand.

"Have you considered setting them a Suitor's Task? You know, one of those traditional events held to weed out the less worthy of potentials by testing their wit or- well, I suppose two would run away with the 'vigor', so perhaps something about strength or political maneuvering instead," he chuckled, listening to Forest groan.

"Something to get them out of the palace for a day would let you work, though! At least in small stints."

Tired gray eyes peeked out from under the heavy brow ridges, and Forest sat up to take his cup back from Brigid.

"You sound like this is from experience."

Hardol grinned around his tea.

"Brigid has had excellent ideas for getting rid of unwanted pests that won't leave the throne room and keep complaining, repeatedly, about my lack of Heirs, and my lack of a Harem, and how they have numerous daughters available on offer," he said, tone as bland as his smile was wicked.

"Oh-ho! Now THAT'S what I come here for, do give me the gossip on what the dowagers got up to this time!"

The page who'd brought the tea slipped out, knowing he'd been noticed, but still quietly keeping up the pretense that pages and serving-boys were invisible, shaking his head as he removed the empty plates and cups from the first half of the "Demon Lord Negotiation Session" in progress. Yeah, his spy network hadn't lied; the "evil emperor, dominion of nations" wasn't evil to his own, and didn't care to sacrifice those who were loyal.

Maybe he'd keep this page gig. He liked it better than his last job.