#its because the gay gay homosexual gay is stronger than forced control

[hello-that-happened]

Noelle Stevenson’s She-Ra, Vanguard of a Postchristian Era

Plenty of She-Ra fans have written insightful posts about how the show criticizes the brainwashing, trauma, set-in-stone “destiny,” desire suppression, imperialism, and blind obedience of (toxic) Christianity. I wrote one a little while ago about how She-Ra challenges fundamentalist Christian values by accepting existential humanism instead. I want to situate these discussions in a larger cultural context, because Noelle and her fantastic show are the face of a massive sociocultural shift in the United States.

Before I start generalizing to tell the story of past and future American history, I need to say a few caveats: (1) there are plenty of kind, progressive, and/or LGBT+ people who are Christians; (2) it is okay to be Christian; (3) She-Ra does not necessarily criticize every form of Christianity, because some forms are not necessarily toxic; (4) Christians deserve the same respect as everyone else; and (5) as long as there is a United States, it will probably have millions of Christians among its citizens. I hope that covers all my bases.

With that said, let’s talk about the history of American Christianity. 

Background: The Rise of the Christian Right

Main source and further reading: “Secularization Strikes Back: The End of American Religion?” in Providence Magazine

Americans are living through a sociocultural transition unprecedented in our history. For many years, the United States has bucked a global trend of secularization. As countries industrialize and become wealthy, their citizens care less about religion – except for Americans.

The U.S. has stayed so religious for so long for many reasons, but one of the most important has been American religion’s historical distance from politics. Decisions by the “founding fathers” deserve plenty of criticism, but one of their best decisions was to oppose a national church. 

“The famous Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville, who visited the United States in the 1830s,” explained why European Christianity lost its influence then and American Christianity is losing its own: “Famously, he attributed the strength of American religion to its distance from politics.” The further religion stayed away from politics, the stronger it remained. European religion lost power, per Tocqueville, because “religion allied with power was inevitably tainted by factional political interests.”

Let’s fast-forward to modern times. In the late 20th century, the Republican Party realized that it could gain political power by whipping up Christian evangelicals’ hatred of (among other things, like racial integration) the rising social tolerance of sexual freedom. Opposition to these changes catapulted Ronald Reagan to power in 1981 on a wave of the new “Moral Majority,” a coalition of reactionary Christians who wanted the government to legally enforce conservative Christian values on the nation. Since then, the “Christian Right” has remained the most powerful force in the Republican Party. 

Background pt. 2: The Future Strikes Back

Main source and further reading: “The Christian Right Is Helping Drive Liberals Away From Religion” from FiveThirtyEight

For the last 30 years, non-Republican Americans have grown increasingly disgusted with how Christianity merged with Republican politics. Moderates, liberals, and progressives have fled Christianity in record numbers, leading to the highest level of nonreligious Americans in history. 

The straw which broke the camel’s back was marriage equality. In states where Christian conservatives caused more public controversy over gay marriage, nonreligion rose faster. Younger generations, the Millennials (born ‘81-‘96) and Gen Z (born ‘97-‘12), overwhelmingly approve of marriage equality – partly because an unprecedented percentage of us identify as LGBT+, and partly because most of us who don’t at least know a friend or family member who is LGBT+.

“The younger generation, Americans under the age of 30 — more than eight in 10 of them support same-sex marriage…[It's] a litmus test issue for many millennials in the country. It’s not just that conservative white Christians have lost this argument with a broader liberal culture. It’s that they’ve lost it with their own kids and grandchildren.” –Robert P. Jones

Generational warfare strongly shapes American political discourse, where young Americans are much more likely to be secular progressives who support LGBT+ rights, and older Americans are much more likely to be conservative Christians who do not.

That brings us, finally, to Noelle Stevenson and She-Ra.

Noelle Stevenson Tells the Ex-Christian Story

I couldn’t exclude this absolutely amazing image by @horde-princess​:

Noelle Stevenson was raised in a fundamentalist Christian household. Her family taught her that homosexuality conflicts with “God’s plan” for people’s lives, and that some people are born destined to suffer in hell. At her fundamentalist Christian high school, Noelle took a class in apologetics learning how to argue in defense of evangelical Christianity. One of the “facts” she learned is that listening to "Stairway to Heaven” causes demonic possession. Yes, really.

As Noelle grew up, her family’s religion’s strict control over her mind began to crumble. To quote the goddess of she-ra religion posts @horde-princess​, “Noelle describes herself going off to college and having her eyes opened, meeting gay people for the first time in her life, and realizing that they weren’t amoral devil worshippers like she was raised to believe.” Struggling with her own gay feelings, she eventually came to accept them and marry the woman she loved.

In a recent Q&A (and many other times), Noelle has described projecting herself into her characters so much that fan analysis reveals aspects of herself she never realized. She poured her experience into She-Ra, and thousands of (especially LGBT+) fans who grew up in strict Christian households saw their own struggles playing out on the screen. I suspect this relatable quality drove part of the show’s popularity and its staying power.

She-Ra is becoming a cultural phenomenon, building on the success of other LGBT+ friendly family cartoons like Steven Universe to spread its messages around the U.S. and the rest of the world. Netflix does not release viewership numbers, which makes it difficult to judge She-Ra’s popularity. But an unpopular show would not have enough fans to trend again and again on Twitter demanding a sixth season and/or a movie. She-Ra is not going away – but Christian hegemony is.

Save the Future

We can overcome the Christian Right Horde.

The more that people watch She-Ra, the more they are exposed to its message that LGBT+ love is a positive good against the evil forces of self-shaming religious imperialism. Kids who grow up with She-Ra will hear Christians using Horde Prime’s language to oppose LGBT+ rights, and will learn to fight the Horde in their own country: the Christian Right.

After selling their proverbial souls to the Christian Right decades ago, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation are waking up in an America that they do not own anymore. This panic led them to hide behind Trump, hoping that he could fight back against the cultural tide. But Trump has only alienated moderates, liberals, and progressives further from Christianity. His divisive, hateful, reactionary rhetoric can only accelerate the already-exponential rise of nonreligion in the United States. When the Christian Right accepted Trump as their savior, they surrendered their future.

By turning the United States against itself and giving the fossil fuel industry free reign to wreck our environment, Trump and his worshippers are determined to destroy the future before the post-Christian generation can claim it for ourselves. Noelle Stevenson and her masterpiece show She-Ra are a near-perfect figurehead for our generation’s resistance against rising suicide-cult tendencies of the Christian Right. We can fight back, and She-Ra shows us how: with love and forgiveness to those who are willing to change, but with strength and bravery against those who want to force us back into the closet and back into the strictly-controlled dogmatic cult of American evangelical Christianity.

[xfanfics]

Destiel Fic Rec List Part 5

Last Updated in October 2014. Posted in May 2020 for posterity.  Listed in no particular order - the total rec list will have ~250 fics. Header graphic used with permission.

This part of the list contains: 32 fics.

Other Destiel Rec Lists: [1]. [2]. [3]. [4]. [5]. [6]. [7].

 _____

Casturbatus Interruptus by gaugbrojotr E | 6k | Canon!verse, Hot, , PWP

post-9.01, in a slight AU wherein Cas comes to live with the Winchesters at the Bunker. Written before 9.03. Crossposting from Tumblr. Written for a prompt from hightopsandsharpies: "Okay, so Cas is a virgin, and has no idea what pleasure is and Dean decides to show him and Cas gets all cuddly and needy afterwards. Dean walks in on Cas masturbating. He’s doing it all wrong, but when you’re a bazillion-year-old virgin, that’s to be expected. Dean decides to lend him a hand in a totally platonic, non-romantic way. Things get a little out of control.

 that awkward moment when... by highermagic E | 7k | Hot, wing!Kink

All in all, with a full tank of gas and his radio turned up loud, Dean was in a pretty damn good mood. All that vanished into shock and concern when the sky lit up like daylight, as though someone had decided that black was so passé for nighttime.

 This Temporary Flesh and Bone by misachan E | 5k | Canon!verse, h/c, wing!kink

Castiel doesn't serve Dean, fine, Dean has no problem with that - he just wants to know why Castiel's showing up in his dreams again.

What a fabulous little Fic. Very emotional. S4 cas is my FAVORITE.

 Only Fools Rush In by baka_sensei E | 18k | Canon!verse, soulbond

Dean does something and in angelic tradition that means he's become Castiel's fiancé. Dean doesn't know if he wants to get married, but he doesn't want to let Castiel down either. Cas lets his feelings run away with him, Gabe is a total dick, Sam is concerned, and Dean has to make a choice.

 Learning Curve by blualbino T | 1k | Fluff, Canon!verse

Cas has nice lips. They’re soft looking. Plush even. Dean can do this.

 Dinner At Katz's by nanoochka E | 2k | Hot, canon!verse

Dean might have to teach Cas how to have a When Harry Met Sally-esque orgasm, but he certainly doesn’t have to fake it.

 Free With His Hands by watermaline E | 2k | canon!verse, handprint!kink

The first time it happens, Dean chalks it up to…well, he doesn’t chalk it up to anything, he’s too busy coming his brains out in his jeans with Castiel’s hand on his shoulder.

 Desecrate that Sanctuary by brokentoy E | 3k | Hot, Alt!Canon Verse

Dean develops a fascination with Cas' bones.

 What Once Was Sacred by saltandbyrne E | 55k |  Hot,  AU, Cop Dean, DJ Cas

Los Angeles detective Dean Winchester works tirelessly to atone for the sins of his father one case at a time. When his best friend Charlie drags him to visit Sam at his new job, Dean stumbles onto a bizarre string of deaths that brings him uncomfortably close to his past.Dean can't stop thinking about Castiel, an enigmatic DJ who plays the sexiest music Dean's ever heard. A chance encounter at Castiel's house reveals that Castiel is an incubus, and Dean must face the lies and the reality of his childhood as a hunter. Dean comes to see that he and Castiel have more in common than he thought, and that guilt can be the hardest thing to cast aside.

Freefall by LastKnownWriter E | 128k | Hot, Fluff,  AU, Teacher Dean, Firefighter Cas

AU. The most exciting kindergarten teacher Dean Winchester's life ever gets is when he plays mechanic in his uncle Bobby's shop on the weekends. That is until a birthday party goes tequila-nova and he trips into a one-night stand with an incredibly hot firefighter named Castiel. Dean's life gets a lot more exciting after that.

 The Best Years of Our Lives, My Ass ❤ by ireallyhatecornnuts E | 110k | Hot,  Fluff,  HS AU but not really,

AU after Season 8, episode 6, "Southern Comfort." Dean goes to sleep in a motel room in Texarkana, and he wakes up 17 years old, in his childhood bedroom in Lawrence, Kansas, 1996. He has no idea how he got there, why his parents are still alive, why his brother is an adorable freshman with no memory of his adult life, and why the only ally he has in this place is the angel he left behind in Purgatory – somehow also 17 years old. They have to get out, that's the important thing. Only, falling in love with his angel wasn't a part of the plan....

It's like a HS AU... but better! I love how Dean is given a second chance at growing up, and Cas gets to engage with his humanity is painfully familiar ways. Some homophobia from non-central characters.    

 deus ex nihilo by Valyria E | 7k | AU, dubcon, god cas

Lost on an uncharted island, Dean Winchester is captured by the local villagers and offered up as a sacrifice to their winged god. Castiel takes one look at Dean and decides he wants him for a mate.

 Twist and Shout ❤ by gabriel E | 97k | Angst,  AU, Main Character Death

What begins as a transforming love between Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak in the summer of 1965 quickly derails into something far more tumultuous when Dean is drafted in the Vietnam War. Though the two both voice their relationship is one where saying goodbye is never a real truth, their story becomes fraught with the tragedy of circumstance. In an era where homosexuality was especially vulnerable, Twist and Shout is the story of the love transcending time, returning over and over in its many forms, as faithful as the sea.

Do I really need to say anything? Twist and Shout is one of my favorites simply because it made me bawl. Didn't love the characterization, but I still liked it overall.

Carry On ❤ by TamrynEradani E | 148k | Hot,  AU, Sub!dean, Dom!Cas

 When Sam gets into Stanford, Dean needs a bigger paycheck than Bobby's garage can give him. Luckily, he knows a guy.

Forget 50 Shades of Grey, they should make this fic into a movie! Even if you are not a fan of Sub!Dean, give this fic a shot, because it is nearly perfect.    

Glasses by Samanthapin E | 9k | Fluff, High School AU, punk!cas, nerd!dean

Teasing turns flirting turns dating turns grossly soppy boyfriends

 beer and bacon happy hour by outpastthemoat G | 2k | canon!verse, s8

The problem is that Dean’s been having good ideas all night. “No one insults the trenchcoat,” Dean says, and drives his fist into the other dude’s face. Dean figures he was bound to run out of good ideas eventually.

 Hard Road ❤ by aleishapotter E | 54k | Canon!verse

Dean discovers a few truths about himself when he and Cas are forced to go undercover on a hunt to the very last place Dean ever thought he'd find himself: a gay resort called "Last Hope" that is geared towards helping troubled homosexual couples repair their relationships. This fic is hilarious and hot--my favorite things.  

 Dean Smith Verse by TamrynEradani E | 17k | Hot,  BDSM, AU, Sub!Dean

Dean Smith is a man of routine. Castiel takes him apart.

Bratishka: Little Brother by Valyria E | 33k | Cop AU, Cop Dean, Lawyer Cas

Dean thinks he knows pretty much everything there is to know about his best friend Castiel Novak - he's a smart, gorgeous DA who probably lets Dean get away with more than he should to see the bad guy locked up - but it turns out Cas is hiding some dark family secrets.

 the way to a man's heart by mkhunterz M | 15k | Fluff,  Canon!verse

Dean teaches Cas to cook, and other things as well.

 Branded by garrisonbabe E | 12k | | canon!verse, soul bond, marking/claiming

Michael mocked Castiel, telling him he'd never get Dean the way he truly wanted. No matter the mark on Dean's soul, he'd never get him the way the archangel could take him. Dean finds a ritual that fixes that and a few other issues.

 Our Bodies, Posessed by Light by obstinatrix E | 39k | canon!verse, sastiel bromance, Fluff

Purged of all his souls, Castiel is a changed being, stronger than an angel and too powerful for Jimmy's body to contain. Happily, there's an archangel's vessel on hand, and he could use fixing, too. Dean isn't too happy about the idea of his brother acting as a vessel for Castiel, and Sam can guess why, but it isn't until Castiel gets inside his head and they learn to share the vessel -- and their thoughts -- that Sam realises Cas is as in love with Dean as Dean is with him. It's unfortunate that there's nothing much to be done about it now, but Castiel will get another vessel soon. The Winchesters will make damn sure of that. In the meantime, it's up to the three of them to establish their own strange accord, and Dean realises more fully than ever that it's Castiel, and not his vessel, that he loves.

 So Glad We Made It  ❤by scaramouche M | 16k | Fluff,  AU

At twelve years old, Dean makes a friend, who becomes his best friend, who will eventually become the love of his life.    

Oh, the best friends who grow up together AU. I have a soft spot for fics like these-- comes with pining, awkward misunderstandings, and a good basis for a realistic relationship.

 Shut Up (Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is) ❤ by kototyph E | 23k | Fluff,  college au

Dean's done some pretty stupid things, but getting drunk-hitched in Vegas to a colleague he barely knows might just take the cake. His surprise husband, Castiel, is a little weird but likable despite that, and Dean figures they’ll go back to Boston, get a quiet annulment, and go their separate ways. Six weeks later, he’s still married to one of the strangest, most genuine and definitely most dangerously lov-- likable guys he's ever known. Dean doesn't know why or really even how it’s happening, but it’s getting harder and harder to remember that he has divorce papers to file.

FLUFF EVERYWHERE! This is definitely a feel-good fic and I love reading it when I'm sad. Or just you know, whenever.

 But the Fire is So Delightful by kototyph E | 5k | Hot, hate then love, College AU

Apparently, it’s been snowing all day. [Dean is a Douchebag Fratboy with a Cherry Ass, Castiel is Angry and Aroused]

 Stitches by askance T | 23k |  Fluff, h/c, blindness, Canon!verse

Castiel survived Leviathan--but only barely. Vessel mauled and eyes destroyed, Cas is barely clinging to what's left of his grace when Dean finds him naked and alone on the reservoir's edge; in a panic, Dean brings him home to the cabin where he and Sam have been holed up off the grid. What follows is the slow process of the angel's recovery and the unexpected changes that come with his being blind, and in the three months this takes, their little family slowly begins to patch itself back together in forgiveness, love, and darkness.

 When Charlie Met Cas by riseofthefallenone E | 25k | Fluff,  canon!verse

Charlie is back in all her glory. The Winchesters have showed up on her doorstep and she’s making the best of it the only way she knows how. By being the little sister Dean never wanted and shipping the shit out of Destiel.

The Life After the Morning After by saltyfeathers T | 17k

Dean and Cas get uber drunk on their last day of University. They end up married. Neither of them seem to mind.

The Girlfriend Experience ❤ by Rageprufrock E | 15k | Hot,  Canon!Verse, First time

While it's not like Dean hasn't had a couple of truly regrettable hit-and-runs in his sexual history, this is probably the saddest fucking thing that has ever happened to him.

Classic Casturbation fic. Complete with steamy sexytimes, hilarious dialogue, and fed up and clueless Dean. Perfect.    

Hands, From Which All Things Are Built by MajorEnglishEsquire T | 14k | Canon!Verse, s8

Castiel travels with the angel tablet and without the Winchesters. One day, Dean gets a text from some anonymous number. (They speak in the language of need.)

Cowboys and Real Estate Angels by almaasi E | 36k | AU

Castiel crosses paths with the ever-charming Dean Winchester at a rodeo show in Texas, of all places. Dean's singing days are long bygone, but his crowd-pleasing skills haven't waned one iota. Unexpectedly, Castiel finds himself in Dean's bedroom; they take and they give, and discover that sometimes strangers can find love like this, too. (And if a man's faith can't be put in God, it needs to go somewhere...)

[bagog]

OUTober - Gay and Silent

OUTober is here (or been here) so here’s a little essay.

++

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

It’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot, these days. And honestly, the worst that could happen is pretty dramatic: I could lose my job, I could lose my home, I could lose my life. Honestly, though, I probably won’t have to face any of these ‘worsts,’ and the worst I will likely experience if I hold my boyfriend’s hand in the street or kiss him in a café is some judgmental stares. Maybe some whispers. That’s it.

So why is it so hard for me to express that I’m gay in public? Just thinking about this issue is a little embarrassing, since it doesn’t seem to be a problem other people have. I know a lot of people who have come out of the closet and been outspokenly, joyously queer. They absolutely choose every day and with every encounter whether or not to come out to the new coworkers or strangers they meet, same as I do. I guess maybe they’re just a whole lot braver, more consistently, than I am. Honestly, it’s as if my silence—my reticence—is a constant flare up of the old disease of silence I’ve carried around since my time in the closet.

I got very used to being quiet about being gay. I told myself I was special, that what I was feeling wasn’t homosexual longing, it was something different, and that in my heart of hearts I still was attracted to women. Or realized that being with a woman was more important than any relationship I could ever have with a man. I told myself a lot of lies to protect myself. It was Silence born not only out of fear for what my family and friends would do if they found out I was gay, it was a Silence carefully crafted to protect myself from some nebulous evil. I was raised to think of homosexuality as a sin. I don’t think that anymore. But it’s as if, by practicing silence for so long, it’s grown into a life of its own. An allergic reaction to being myself. As if my ‘natural’ defenses don’t distinguish between potential abandonment by my family and a hard stare from a stranger in a restaurant.

Years later, I still default to Silence, to keeping my hands to myself when I’d like to be holding my boyfriend’s. It shortens every hug. It turns every kiss into a staring match with the scowling lady across the street. I don’t like being the center of attention, and maybe this is why I don’t feel comfortable in public displays of affection. Maybe it’s just the way I am. The point is, I’ll never really know. Where once it was a coping mechanism, now Silence is a disease that has affected me down to the core of my personality. This benefits the homophobes, of course, since Silence is exactly what they want out of the gay population. It makes me blame myself, which also benefits the homophobes: I’ve traded guilt over one sin for guilt over a sin of a different kind.

This is why Pride is important, it is the dissolution of Silence. No one bats an eye at a commercial for an allergy medication where the relieved sufferers are hiking and playing with broad smiles on their faces, or a yogurt commercial where a well-dressed woman is ecstatic that she’s regular once again. Pride is the cure and the celebration of the cure. Pride is the celebration of taking control of the cancer of Silence, if not defeating it outright. So sometimes it feels like Pride is not for me, and maybe right now it isn’t. I’m still dealing with the Silence, still trying to get on top of it. I don’t have the energy to be a Brave gay every day. I still fear people will hear me listening to Carly Rae Jepsen or see me wearing a rainbow bracelet or staring too long in the underwear aisle or a thousand other phantom signifiers I might be the Other. I have a lot of pride in who I am, don’t get me wrong. When I came out, I did so because something inside me was stronger than the silence. I did it because it had become life and death. That took guts. I’ll always remember what it took to get to where I am. But this internalized homophobia, this Silence, is older and more subtle than my sense of pride. It doesn’t realize I don’t need it like I used to. It demands to come to the fore.

But being Silent is not a sin, and Pride is for me. The impulse towards Silence might be a disease I deal with for the rest of my life, but my Bravery is just as strong, just as lasting, even if it’s a far younger emotion. I too often lament “what happened to the Brave man who told his conservative parents he was gay and that he was going to live a happy life?” and the truth is, that Bravery is as baked into my being as the years of Silence. I need a shift in paradigm, no more thinking of things in terms of sin and retribution, have to stop being envious of the braver gays. Silence is part of who I am, for better or for worse, and I can live with that. If Silence makes me feel ashamed, then at very least I must not be ashamed of the Silence. But Bravery is part of who I am, as well. Bravery is a force which affects my world as much as the Silence, and should be celebrated in every hug (no matter how brief) every kiss (no matter how anxious) every time I allow myself to be myself without turning down the volume or laughing off what I love.

We all come out of the closet thousands of times in life, sometimes daily. Someday, it won’t be like this, and I want my Bravery to be part of what ends ‘the closet’ once and for all. And it is. It does. My existence—regardless of my sense of self-acceptance—is a force for good in the world.

[oliverzafar]

CHANGE WILL COME FROM THE CHILDREN

Oliver Zafar officially announced his bid for the presidency in February of 2019, doing so as a left-leaning Independent candidate. His core values are based on progressivism and looking towards the future, ensuring a better America for both its present and future citizens.

Read more below about where he stands on the core issues facing Americans today!

CLIMATE CHANGE. Incredibly vocal about doing everything possible to stop climate change and vouches that the Green Movement can boost economic growth and create millions of new careers for those in the fossil fuel industry worried about losing their jobs. Launch a 10 to 15-year plan to transition to 100% clean energy and net-zero greenhouse gas pollution. Remove subsidies and tax breaks for the fossil-fuel industry and implement a Carbon Tax. Ban fracking and all fossil fuel exports. Require plastic bags in stores only be given out at a price. His own campaign is incredibly clean, offsetting all carbon emissions produced from travel activities and events by investing in renewable energy and carbon reduction projects.

GENDER AND RACE ISSUES. Mandate a universal paid parental leave policy for either or both parents. Fight the gender and race-based pay gap by requiring businesses to report salaries, promotions, and dismissals as broken down by gender and race to the public. Codify Roe v. Wade to continue ensuring safe and legal abortions. Conduct regular random, unannounced investigations into police officers to ensure no race or gender bias takes place. Work to decrease the disproportionate amount of women of color affected by infant mortality.

LGBTQ+ ISSUES. Describes the murder of black trans women in America as a “national crisis”. Include members of the LGBTQ+ community in the Equal Housing Act. Remove all legal loopholes that allow individuals to lose their jobs due to their sexuality in twenty-two states. Ban conversation therapy. Repeal the FDA’s policy that disallows gay men from donating blood.

HEALTHCARE: Work towards “Healthcare for All” by: a) sponsoring a buy-in program for Medicaid so that not only low-income individuals have the option to use public healthcare, and b) expanding Medicare by allowing people ages 50 to 64 to still buy into it. Have the government manufacture cheap generic drugs if prescription drug costs rise too high to stop excessive pharmaceutical price-gouging. Allow Americans to purchase medications from other countries as a way to lower consumer costs. Push to pass the Affordable Medications Act in the Senate to allow the federal government to negotiate drug prices with insurance companies under Medicare.

FOREIGN RELATIONS. Build a public and private international coalition against China’s intellectual property theft and compete against China in Asia with a TPP-style trade deal. Limit drone strikes, if not discontinue them completely. No military intervention in Venezuela’s current political climate.

ECONOMICS. Cut taxes on small businesses and farmers, raise them on corporations. Incorporate a VAT Tax to pay for many of his proposals, which he loves to emphasize is a tax already used by every developed country besides the US. Encourage more union-positive thinking throughout corporate America (he’s very proud of the fact that his own staff is unionized!). Stronger anti-trust regulations to break up monopolies and encourage companies to invest profits in their employees and communities.

IMMIGRATION. Repeal criminal penalties for people crossing the border. Reexamine the current immigration process and try to expedite/ease the process so that families are not forced to enter illegally. Conduct a comprehensive review of current ICE procedures and implement serious retraining based on federally approved security protocols. If this is still unsuccessful, abolish ICE and redistribute its responsibilities to other agencies. Increase foreign aid to Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and other countries in crisis to thus reduce the flow of asylum seekers to the U.S.

STUDENT DEBT. Expand access to college by providing interest-free federal loans. Allow employers to make tax-free contributions to pay off their employees’ student debt and help those in work-study programs graduate without owing anything.  

EDUCATION. Introduce a free universal pre-K program to ensure all children have the same successful start. Introduce initiatives to increase the US’ advancement in science, technology, and mathematics when compared to other much more advanced developed countries. Research the amount of homework and schoolwork given at public schools and whether or not it’s the most productive to produce actual results.

DEFENSE. Lower military spending by ending regime-change wars and reducing the acquisition of nuclear weapons.

GUN REFORM. Enact the Disarmament Act with some modifications. Invest into research and development of “smart gun” technology and other technological preventative measures.

PACS: Reform campaign finance laws so that representatives don’t answer to donors, they answer to voters. Force every company that wants government contracts to disclose every campaign donation. Outlaw superPACs and overturn Citizens United.

— Please specify their target voter audience [age, ethnicity, region, income, etc]

Young, young, young! Oliver’s support is distributed between 18 to 44 years old, with very few older generations outside of his home state of Massachusetts willing to even hear him out. The quintessential Oliver voter is a grad student – high in education level but low in income. He’s also attracted a lot of support from people who are fed up with the two-party system that seems to permeate American politics and would instead prefer a more Independent candidate who doesn’t need to preen to Democratic powerhouses to make a decision. He polls very favorably among members of the LGBTQ+ community and people of color, especially Asians, Middle-Easterners, and Indians who want to see their region represented through either him or his fiancé. Both sides of the coast are the areas that his support is most concentrated in, especially Northeastern intellectual elites, while his spouts of passionate progressivism are lost on most of Middle America.

— What do their supporters love and believe in when it comes to their persona and campaign? AKA. What’s people’s reasoning for voting for your character?

The first thing Oliver’s supporters will cite as the reason that they vote for him is his passion. He speaks and campaigns with a kind of fire that most politicians lost before they even became elected. They love his youth after having grown up with generation of old white dirtbags ruling the country, and believe that as the first Millennial presidential candidate he understands the problems plaguing America’s most indebted, most stressed, and most socially conscious generation better than anyone else running. Progressives also appreciate how incredibly vocal he is about his experience as a gay man and a person of color who experienced an incredible amount of discrimination following 911.

— What does the opposition hate when it comes to their persona and campaign? AKA. What points are brought up when trying to convince others your character isn’t a good choice for the seat?

Take a seat y’all, this is gonna take a while: His youth is usually the first criticism people bring up, because it’s the one that’s least controversial as opposed to his sexuality or race (but we’ll get to that too). Even though he’s got over a decade of experience in politics, people hesitate to endorse someone who’s just a few years above the legal age to even run for president. His opposition will also bring up the hypocritical nature of his marriage, since Oliver’s this stalwart progressive while his fiancé writes for Republicans. Democrats and moderate Republicans usually stop there in terms of his personal life, but of course conservatives will reference his homosexuality as something “the country isn’t ready for” or bring up his Arabic roots as “something a post-911 USA shouldn’t trust”.

Aside from just personal issues, Oliver’s also received a lot of backlash for running as an Independent. Though he’s doing it for the sake of proving that a divisive two-party system is only going to ultimately hurt America (he’s got Madison 10 like… framed twice in his office), people are harsh to point out that he’s only going to take votes away from Berkeley and essentially hinder a Democratic victory. Oliver also doesn’t know how to just give no comment when asked questions by reporters (much to the exhaustion of his staff), which while seen as “endearingly passionate” by some is seen as “an inability to keep his goddamn mouth shut” by others. He’s also incredibly uncompromising on his key issues (climate change, healthcare, gun control, and student loans most prominently), which doesn’t resonate well with moderates who aren’t 100% committed to his radicalities. And as much as Oliver claims to fight for the people, he suffers from a chronic syndrome of Northeastern Elitism as a result of being an intellectually-raised, Harvard-educated, I’ve-read-The-Republic-in-its-original-Greek kind of guy that doesn’t hold Middle America at too high of a regard.

[saintwilllem]

AN OBSERVATION OF THE MOVIE METHOD STARING PARK SUNG WOONG, & OH SEUNG HOON . @achiara

i think the director of the movie went into method with the idea of presenting the whole relationship between the leads as a by-product of method acting but i don’t think either of the characters were intertwined into that idea. firstly method acting is a slight player in the story in that jae ha ( park sung woong,) is highly interested n perfecting his craft and ensuring an honest portrayal of the story but i think that’s about it. it is a misconception to believe that method acting results in anything more than an actor him or herself believing they are the person they are playing for the time being. it doesn't stick nor does it change the person to have them completely forgo who they are as a person, so there is no change in sexuality nor personality your just being another person to make sure you understand them and give the best portrayal of them. 

even though the characters reality is supposed to be played out in the play as they are two men in a forbidden love while one has a female partner i think it rather wrong to put the feelings our two main leads had as just being a point of the play taking over them. what i think is that jae ha was a coward unable to fully accept that yes he did have feelings for young woo.the thing is he dismisses the rumours by stating what i remember as asking them not to pry into their personal matters and doesn’t fully reject the idea of a relationship.

i mean one can say that the feelings young woo ended up with were stronger than jae ha’s well yeah if you take to the end of the play he was willing to get back at jae ha to the point of not using the safety mechanism in the suicide scene, and that comment about him becoming the perfect singer to jae ha’s half done walter is a symbolism of him ending up in control of this whole play of the fact that he knows he’s opened something in jae ha that he’s probably tried to keep mum about. and i think that’s an honest attraction to men. in that i don’t think jae ha is definitely gay, bisexual maybe, uncertain of his sexuality most likely.  i think what young- woo started off as the one going from being mastered to being the master. he’s now a great deal of control over the relationship between him and jae ha when at first he’d given it to jae ha in just being able to learn and be around him. 

hee won is a deer caught in the headlights, but also the rope that will hang jae ha, and the rope used by young woo. if you think about if hee won wasn’t there to confront jae ha after young woo posts the images on instagram jae ha probably still been in the relationship or more interested in exploring his as  i will put for now ‘ bisexuality,’ but he is tied to her and that means that she forces him into shame because he’s cheating on her. while yong woo uses her to see the depth of jae ha’s feelings for him, and when finds him to be too afraid to reciprocate the feeling he kind of goes crazy for a lack of a better word. because jae ha demand so much of him yet when he needed him he turned his back on him. she’s the deer because she is caught between a mad man and his want, as young woo begins to stalk them and make his way through their house without them knowing. she doesn’t know what to do with the fact the one thing she’s always counted on is pushing her away.

i think that young woo put way more into their relationship then jae ha did and it breaks him to know that in some sense he was an experiment for jae ha to get himself sorted out by which i mean get a fix of something he hasn’t had and wanted or hasn’t had for a while. so that is why young woo becomes the perfect singer because he’s able to control the whole situation when he’s being robbed of the one thing he wants, whereas jae ha even in the performance begins to fall apart because of his guilt.

the movie isn’t perfect but it isn’t horrible either, what it is , is a character study in power. jae ha starts with it all as a lauded actor with the great home life but at the end he is so out done by young woo and  the experience of being with him he loses himself and in some ways some of his purpose. young woo though losing jae ha gains power, while hee won was the damsel in distress who fought herself out her situation, and then decided that she isn’t going to be terrorized anymore and let jae ha sort this out for himself. because she believes in him and the connection they have.

you can read them as the id ( young woo,) the ego ( jae ha) and the super ego ( hee won.)  the whole release of the photos leaves jae ha bewildered and confused as to what he’s supposed to do and because of hee won he chose  convention and goes back to her, while he really wants to be with young woo or just to have him if not a real relationship. 

young woo at the end as he’s hanging clearly states that you only want to save yourself not me as jae ha is trying to get him out of the hanging, and it always go back to the fact that he’s trying to save face in a country that at its root is highly homophobic though having media that deals with homosexuality. and so to save himself he’s going to destroy the gaping hole in his heart and have jae ha fall.  

so yeah this is the general gist of what i got out of the movie, its become a rambled mess but i hope you can understand it, and please share how you felt about it.,

[queerasart-blog]

LGBT RIGHTS IN THE 60/70s (Part 3/3) | Issue 2

LGBT RIGHTS IN THE 60/70s  by EMILIE PARENT AND L.D.

EAST

The social context during the 1960s and 1970s was vastly different in the Eastern bloc than in the Western. While the West was undergoing major social changes, socialist-ruled states struggled to maintain a strict social order despite feeling the ripples of the West’s wave of individualization and liberalization of morals. Despite these two decades being defining for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people of the West, who organized into an actual community, defining a new subculture, making history, winning some fights and starting others, engaging in same-sex relationships or non-gender conforming behaviours in the East still meant living under secrecy or facing overwhelming social stigma. But even in these closely controlled societies, and despite the state-enforced morals, some small and very gradual changes took place. But how did Eastern bloc states come to this? Throughout the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and for a few more centuries after that, Eastern Europe and especially Russia were reputed for their tolerance in terms of sexual practices. Even though same-sex sexual activities were punishable by law (given that the czar was the garant of the Orthodox Church which deemed homosexuality a sin), these jurisdictions were sometimes disregarded, and many notable figures were known to have such relationships. In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution abolished the Russian Empire legal system, and replaced it with the Criminal Code of the Russian Soviet Federalist Socialist Republic in 1922, which allowed homosexuality. Whether this was a conscious decision, reflecting the views held by legal and medical professionals at the time, or rather the result of forgetfulness (considering homosexuality remained a taboo and that homosexuals were still prosecuted sporadically with other articles of the Code in post-Bolshevik Russia), sparks debate.

However, this somewhat laxist tradition when it came same-sex relationship was brought to a sudden halt under the stalinist rule. In 1933 and 1934, the new General Secretary of the RCP re-instaured anti-sodomy laws. Despite Stalin’s death in 1953, this governmental mindset persisted throughout the 60s and the 70s. The morals promoted by state-socialist celebrated purely reproductive intercourse – not unlike traditional, conservative Christians of the West, despite the socialist abolition of religion. The single goal to any sexual relationship was to procreate in order to provide the party and the country with more labor-force. Hence, any kind of sexual behavior done solely for pleasure was considered a perversion, be it masturbation or same-sex relationships. Additionally, gay men were considered a threat to the soviet ideal of a strong, virile working man, which was why it was considered a greater offense to be the one on the receiving end of sodomy. Rejection of homosexuality was also used as a form of propaganda, quite similarly to what was done in the West. While in America, homosexuality was associated to communism as a threat to American values, socialist states spread the idea that such practices came from capitalist countries, where they were widespread. Most socialist ideologies associated homosexuality with bourgeois decadence and aesthete society, and felt that these "perverted Western morals" were dangerous to soviet society.

“Judged by the degree of danger that it poses to society and the difficulties which beset its investigation, muzhelozhstvo (homosexuality, pederasty) holds a specific place among sexual offences. In capitalist countries this type of sexual perversion is now widespread […]. The situation is different in the USSR. As a result of the abolition of prostitution and the ban on pornographic literature (both of which encourage various sexual perversions), the general improvements in the healthy lifestyle of the Soviet people, and our moral code, cases of homosexual behaviour and other criminal sexual offences in the Soviet Union are now rarely encountered. Nevertheless, they pose a certain threat to society” (I. Blyumin, official of the Bureau of Forensic Medical Expertise for Moscow and the Moscow region, 1970)

This was probably why “punitive psychiatry” was used on political dissidents and “sexual deviants” alike. Engaging in same-sex relationships not only meant risking one’s job (and consequently, one’s exclusion from society considering the place that work occupied in a socialist state), and/or imprisonment from 3 to 8 years, but also exposing one’s self to the government’s dangerous experimentations. These consisted in using chemicals to suppress will, so that it could be attempted to impose a certain way of thinking or certain reflexes on them. That kind of conversion therapy mirrored what was done in the West with sexopathology: both capitalist and socialist countries pathologized homosexuality, which is to say they considered it an illness to be cured. But the most effective tactic in order to enforce opinions in every individual in society was censorship and propaganda. Any idea of non-normative sexuality was carefully erased, while a model of the perfect soviet family was tirelessly promoted.


Propaganda poster, for a strong, healthy, happy soviet family

But despite the government’s best efforts, ideas of sexual revolution inherited from the West, were beginning to seep into socialist states by the 60s. This process was different depending on each country. In countries that were situated closer to the USSR, and hence felt the influence of state socialism on a stronger level, the liberalization of morals happened much more slowly and insignificantly. But even in the USSR, family values were marginally relaxed during the 60s, with divorce procedures being made easier under the Krutschev rule. In the beginning of the 70s, homosexuality emerged as a topic that could be discussed. Of course, this was only so long as it wasn't being painted as something positive, but it was still a step away from the overwhelming taboo that it still was. For example, the poem Moscow to the end of the line, published in the USSR in 1973 by writer and satirist Yerofeyev, included a monologue about homosexuality in its last pages.

Meanwhile, in East Germany and most other socialist states, homosexuality stopped being outlawed during the 60s and the 70s: 1961 in Hungary, 1962 in Czechoslovakia, 1968 in Bulgaria and 1977 for Croatia, Montenegro as well as Slovenia. This was due to intellectuals’ and scientists’ ideas changing. In Czechoslovakia especially, the psychologist and researcher Kurt Freund specialized in sexology, and was one of the first to vocally advocate that homosexuality isn't a pathology but simply an erotic preference, and that reassignment therapy is not only ineffective, but also harmful. What explains the marginal liberalism in these countries is the spread of idea of individualization imported from the West. Against the ideas of the uniformization that had been enforced for more than half a century, people were slowly beginning to demand some diversity in terms of clothing, TV, taste in music... However, this was still done under close governmental control, and was coupled with an increase in police surveillance. But the liberalization of the way of life had already been started. A telling example is the one of a Hungarian women's magazine (similar to Cosmo) that led a social experiment on university students in the early 70s, where participants were presented with 8 stories of sexual comportments that were considered "typical and widespread" by the authors, if marginal. The students had to classify the stories, depending on if they agree or not with them. Amongst stories about prostitution, masturbation, people deciding to have sexual intercourse before marriage, was the story of a gay man who kept all his same-sex encounters discreet and consensual. This story was met with mostly pity on the students' part: indeed, despite bit of flexibility that was apparently given, deeply ingrained ideas were slow to change, and the taboo on homosexuality remained strong.

But in this hostile context, how was it really like to be LGBT in a socialist state in the 60s and the 70s? Most people that didn't fit in the conventional family values had to lead double lives. In the USSR, which was way stricter on these matters as stated before, meetings had to be carefully organized, and were only possible in certain social circles, mainly in big cities but also in some organizations where gender separation made same-sex relationships more likely, such as Gulags or the Red Army. There existed some underground press as well, such as the poet Yevgeny Kharitonov and the poet and essayist Gennady Trifonov. In other socialist countries, a few meeting points appeared in big cities after the legalization of homosexuality: public restrooms, bathing houses or saunas, as well as some bars or cinema. Despite having a legal right to exist, they all retained their aura of marginality and secrecy, and tended to be shut down by police if discovered. Lesbians and trans people were underrepresented and struggled to meet like-minded people. For example, only a few bars and cafés were frequented by lesbians, and even then, they represented around 10-15% of the clientele, according to a Hungarian account. 

However, lesbians found themselves less persecuted by the law than gay men, because female sexuality was given so little thought that same-sex female attraction was mostly unrecognized and hence not outlawed. East Berlin was by far the most liberal city of the Eastern bloc, it was also the only place which developed a LGBT community and a gay scene in similar proportions as cities of the West did. In East Germany, homosexual acts ceased to be punished in the 50s, and LG organization were allowed to organize themselves freely as long as they had some kind of connection with the Protestant Church. Several neighbourhoods especially were known for being a centre of LG activity and gained the nickname "the warmest corner of the East". The most well-known organization was the activist group Homosexuelle Interessengemeinschaft Berlin (HIB). It was created in 1973 after a screening of the movie Nicht der homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Gesellschaft, in der er lebt (It is not the homosexual that is perverted, but the society in which he lives). This movie had a huge impact on LGBT people at the time, making them realize the importance of their combat, and the need for structured, broad organizations rather than what they had at the time, which was a few hidden meeting points (some apartments were used for political and social meetings or as unofficial libraries).

 The HIB was very active during the 70s. Its goals were to have the community gain visibility, by organizing events for up to 200 people, and lobbying the East German authorities for official state recognition. These activists' tactics (film-making, appropriation of public space) actually blended with Western ideologies and methods, due to broad contact and sharing of resources with Western activists. They had access to Western gay media and films, and met Western activists who travelled to the German Democratic Republic such as Peter Tatchell. But despite benefiting from this support, the dawning LGBT community still faced state intransigeance and surveillance. In spite of this, the activists persisted with some success, and in 1977, the HIB's women group attempted to organize a nation-wide lesbian meeting. But this emergence of an actual LGBT community in East Berlin, due to ties with the West, remained an exception in the East. In most other socialist countries, gay scenes developed later, with the emergence of underground movements such as the punk scene, and on a smaller scale. Homosexuality continued to be met with pity at best, and disgust at worst, as it was still associated with the West. The consequences of the taboo and repression that marked this era are still felt today. Having missed on these defining years, LGBT people in post-socialist countries tend to have a lesser sense of community, of togetherness, of a shared fight throughout the whole community. They also suffer from a feeling of having no history on which to base their experiences, no “elders” to listen to and take advice from. This time, in between wars and massive political awakening from all occidental countries, appears as a nourishing field for the growth of radical political movements. The opposition between capitalist and communist parties, the losing of trust in the institutions after the second world war, the discovery of the horrors of fascists regimes created a propice environment for the development of new ideas. While the sixties were still shy in terms of social changes, the seventies call for more radical actions and a desire to include more people. LGBT rights get a place more and more important in public debates. As LGBT groups appear and gain influence, they create their own history. Being LGBT and being out becomes a political act, as countries try to enforce, with more or less zeal, the ideal of the nuclear family. But it still stays a sort of side-effect of other movements, and people keep facing important backlash, being denied jobs, housing or proper healthcare. Furthermore, politics tend to instrumentalize the issue on both sides of the political spectrum, conservatives raising it as a proof that socialism brings decadence while in Eastern Europe, communists present it as the ultimate perversion of a liberal lifestyle.

As the decade closes, the apparition of AIDS, although not yet named as such, puts the brakes on the huge steps made in the right direction. The sudden disease plagues the next decades and gives conservative associations an excellent reason to invoke the ghost of a divine judgement on impure people, leading to tensions in the public spheres. While LGBT groups keep fighting through, it takes another ten years for the community to see the fruits of its long, hard labour.

On the 31st of March, Gilbert Baker left us. We give thoughts and love to the community, and to Baker for his joyous and indelible mark in our cause.

FURTHER READINGS :

The Gay Metropolis, Charles Kaiser: chronicles of gay life in America since 1945 Russian homophobia from Stalin to Sochi, Dan Healey (to be published in November 2017) Stereophonic: webcomic about a gay couple in 1960s London stereophonic.thewebcomic.com Another Way, 1982 (Hungary): iconic movie about an illegal same-sex affair in late 50s Soviet-occupied Hungary Major! (2015): documentary about the life of activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy (TRAILER)

[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/boris-johnson-brexit-deep-state/

Boris Johnson, Brexit and the Deep State

by Nick Griffin for Ooduarere viaThe Saker Blog

Nick Griffin, a life-long opponent of the European Union and former Member of the European Parliament, explains why – after three years of believing that the rulers of Britain would block Brexit, he now believes it is more likely than not to be delivered.

Are the British people really going to get Brexit? For years, the answer given by well-informed realists has had to be ‘No!’ The UK’s ruling elite was so thoroughly Europhile that they would do whatever it took to block the will of the British people, and Brussels would go along with this deceit, just as they did when the French, the Dutch and the Irish were sold out to the EU by their own masters.

But today I’m going to tell you that it is now more likely than not that Brexit WILL happen. Indeed, assuming the new Boris Johnson regime manages to cling on to power, or is forced into a general election in which Johnson reaches some sort of deal with Nigel Farage, it is now virtually guaranteed.

Of course, there is a faint possibility that the whole Johnson business is a giant game of three-dimensional chess, and that he’s running an elaborate scam with no intention of getting Britain out. But, realistically, if that was the plan, there would be absolutely no purpose in delaying such a betrayal, still less in raising so many expectations.

To encourage and then dash such hopes would be ludicrously self-defeating, so we have to assume that Johnson and Co are serious and that – barring a series of events outside of their control, they WILL deliver Brexit.

So what has changed? Has the Europhile British elite suddenly had a change of heart and decided to do the decent thing by the people who pay their inflated salaries?

Of course not. Leopards don’t change their spots. But, in the case of the UK elite, it was always divided into two leopards, with very different spots. One of them, for years now the stronger animal, was blue with yellow, spots – a thoroughly European beast.

The colours of the, until recently, smaller animal are harder to discern. At first glance, they could be seen to resemble the American flag although, of course, that’s just part of the camouflage. Look closer and the thing’s coat actually looks more like a mass of intertwined dollar signs and Israeli flags!

Even within the USA, opinion has been divided on Britain’s membership of the European Union. Obama, for example, more or less ordered the Brits to vote to Remain – a factor in the decision of quite a few of them to vote to Leave! The neo-cons, by contrast, have become much more hostile to Brussels – particularly since the EU started to display alarming degrees of sympathy for the Palestinians.

It wasn’t always like that. During the Cold War, the US elite was more or less unanimously in favour of British membership of the EU, which right from the start was consistently promoted by the CIA as a block to balance the Soviet Union.

When the Communist regime collapsed in 1989, the US power elite gradually shifted its position on the EU. It moved from fervent support to a sort of agnostic, nothing to do with us boredom. But then it gradually became clear that the European Union was steadily becoming the pawn of the German industrial complex.

Even worse, the Germans were beginning to cosy up to Russia. Within just a few years, the combination of German manufacturing, the European market and Russia’s raw materials were clearly presenting a future threat to the global hegemony of Wall Street, the Federal Reserve and the American military-industrial complex.

On top of this, the in-built liberal-socialist majority within the EU was making it an increasingly large stumbling block to the globalist privatisation free-for-all favoured by the ultra-capitalist ideology promoted by the extremely influential followers of Ayn Rand.

Franco-German moves to create a European Army were seen as a challenge to NATO and to its Stateside leadership, and only served to strengthen the arguments of the anti-EU faction within the US elite.

All this led a significant section of the US Deep state to move towards hostility to the European Union, and to put in place measures to undermine it. From about 2008, this included the relentless media promotion (and, no doubt, funding) of dissident, Euro-sceptic political movements, particularly UKIP in Britain and the Five Star Movement in Italy.

Extremely well-funded globalist and neo-con think tanks, particularly the Henry Jackson Society and the London-based Policy Exchange, began to organise. Their mission – to lay the theoretical groundwork for a globalist, economically liberal, Atlanticist faction within British politics to challenge the pro-EU majority.

To cut a long story short, that faction has just grabbed control of the British ship of state! The Europhile elite have not changed their minds, the highly honed survival instinct of the British Conservative party, which has made it the oldest political party in the world, has simply handed the reins of power to a different bunch of politicians, in hock to a different foreign power. The UK just lurched even further out of the orbit of the Brussels bureaucrats and even closer to the Anglo-Zionist Empire.

Johnson and his gang really do appear committed to delivering Brexit, but before those who voted for it in the first place get too excited, it has to be said that, in delivering the letter of what the people voted for, this bunch will go on to drive a coach and horses through the spirit of that vote.

Because the British people voted Brexit fundamentally in a collective cry of anger and pain over being turned into marginalised outsiders in their own country. Brussels rule was conflated not just with losing our traditional weights and measures, but with the destruction of the old industries – fishing, coal, steel, ship-building – and the devastation of the working class communities that relied on them.

And, of course, with mass immigration, including that from former British colonies in the Third World, an influx which if anything was slowed down by the more recent arrival of generally far more assimilable East Europeans, courtesy of the EU.

On top of that was all the unease of millions of normal people over the political elite’s Gaderene rush to embrace social ultra-liberalism, in particular dripping wet law and order policies and a mania for LGBTQ+ triumphalism. Relentless newspaper headlines about crackpot rulings by the European Court of Justice led to ‘Europe’ getting the blame for a breakdown in law and order and in traditional justice.

Finally, with the majority of the political class urging people to vote to Remain, voting to Leave became a way of punishing the political elite, not just in Brussels, but in Westminster as well.

And yet, looking at the new Boris Johnson cabinet, and listening to his first few speeches as new Prime Minister, it is already all too clear that, while we are going to get Brexit, it certainly will not be the Brexit that the majority of Brits thought they were voting for!

To illustrate this, let’s take a brief, non-exhaustive look at some of the key players in the Johnson regime.

Let’s start with the man himself, noting the speed with which he spoke out about his pride in his partial Turkish Muslim and east European Jewish ancestry and the way in which, if ‘Islamophobia’ or ‘anti-Semitism’ rear their heads, he automatically finds himself thinking in terms of those ancestral loyalties, rather than what is good for Britain – as the British people are surely entitled to insist on in their Prime Minister.

Then, in one of his final campaign speeches, Johnson told the LGBT+ Conservatives (the tautology neatly sums up the state of the party and, more generally, Britain’s ruling political and media classes) that he has their back:

“I will continue to champion LGBT+ equality, get tough on hate crime and ensure that we break down barriers to a fairer society,” Johnson said, according to the group.

“We must do more to ensure that trans rights are protected and those who identify as trans or intersex are able to live their lives with dignity,” he continued, noting that he was one of the first senior party leaders to support same-sex marriage.

Following his meeting with the queen to officially accept the premiership, Johnson specifically mentioned the LGBTQ+ community in his speech outside No. 10 Downing Street.

“[The U.K.’s] brand and political personality is admired and even loved around the world for our inventiveness, for our humour, for our universities, our scientists, our armed forces, our diplomacy for the equalities on which we insist — whether race or gender or LGBT …….. and for the values we stand for around the world,” he said

Once upon a time, British political leaders justified going to war by speaking of making the world safe for democracy. Boris Johnson started his premiership by committing Britain to a global struggle to make the world safe for buggery!

Nor is this fixation with LGBTQ+ new. Although the never-satisfied ‘gay’ lobby is whining about a couple of throwaway ‘homophobic comments’ he made decades ago, Johnson voted in 2003 to repeal Section 28 of the Local Government Act of 1988, by which Margaret Thatcher prohibited local authorities from “promoting homosexuality” or “pretended family relationships.”

This vote opened the door to the indoctrination of school-children with homosexual propaganda. Johnson also voted for civil partnerships for homosexuals and attacked the institution of marriage as ‘bourgeois convention’.

Johnson has also wasted no time reiterating his support for an amnesty for huge numbers of illegal immigrants and boasting of sharing the views of pro-immigration Labour party MPs. Ominously, he has also refused to pledge even to attempt to stick to the upper limits on immigration promised – but of course not delivered – by his predecessor Theresa May.

With Brexit making it harder for Poles and Hungarians to come to Britain, it is already clear from Johnson’s waffle about making the UK ‘open’ and ‘welcoming immigrants’, that, far from stopping immigration as millions of voters expected, Johnson’s Brexit will merely swap Polish immigrants for more Pakistanis, Bulgarians for Botswanans.

Johnson probably will set Britain free from Brussels, but he is also openly committed to speeding up the process by which the duly ‘liberated’ Brits are replaced in their own country by a further flood of immigrants. And the social liberals posing as Johnson’s fake conservatives will urge the stupid Brits to suck it up and celebrate their added diversity.

We’ve already seen the start of this process in Johnson creating what he refers to as a “cabinet for modern Britain” – wording that The Guardian’s Kehinde Andrews rightly described as a “euphemism for non-white”.

Leading Johnson’s Great Replacement charge will be Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has spoken gushingly of how the new government will “ continue to push for a dynamic, global Britain that is outward looking ……Our vision is for a truly global country – one where we welcome the brightest and best, where we are more outward facing, and where we decide who comes here based on what they have to offer.”

The Brits can’t say they weren’t warned. Because capitalism demands not just cheap labour, but also an endless supply of new consumers. Even the worse educated and least assimilable featherless biped on the planet thus has plenty to offer big business. The door is going to open wide to them all.

Patel was forced to resign two years ago after holding secret meetings with Israeli ministers. The meetings included a visit to an Israeli army field hospital in the occupied Golan Heights, where wounded Al Qaeda and ISIS fighters were patched up and sent back to continue fighting against the pro-Christian government in Syria. Patel asked officials within her department to look into whether British aid money could be funneled into this medical centre.

The same dangerous obsequiousness to Israel has also been shown by Johnson’s new Chancellor, Sajid Javid. Two years after becoming MP, Javid told the Conservative Friends of Israel annual lunch that as a British born Muslim if he had to go and live in the Middle East, he would not go to a Muslim majority country: “There is only one place I could possibly go. Israel. The only nation in the Middle East that shares the same democratic values as Britain”.

He is talking, let us remind ourselves, about the last openly racist state on the planet, whose supporters around the world insist on the right of Jews to have their own exclusive homeland, at the very same time as denouncing any attempt by any white nation to restrict immigration or preserve traditional ethnic identities as ‘neo-Nazi’. And the state which has done more than any other –except Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Barak Obama’s White House – to fund, arm and aid the Islamist head-cutters at war in Syria.

In her resignation letter Patel admitted she “fell below the high standards that are expected of a Secretary of State.” Not for the first time! In the past she has been criticised for taking trips to Bahrain funded by that country’s repression Salafist regime, and attending a conference in Washington paid for by the Henry Jackson society.

As already noted, the Henry Jackson operation is one of the best-funded and most dangerous of all the trans-Atlantic neo-con think tanks. It constantly agitates for hostility to Russia, Iraq-war style meddling in the Middle East on behalf of Eretz Israel and Big Oil, and for a poisonous mixture of ultra-right-wing economics and social liberalism – including the privatisation of national assets and the promotion of LGBTQ+ agendas at the expense of traditional values.

The same sort of poison is promoted in Britain by the closely connected Policy Exchange think-tank. This was founded by Michael Gove, who Johnson just appointed as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, in many ways his political Chief of Staff in parliament.

Gove’s counterpart within the government itself is Munira Mirza, who Johnson just appointed Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit. She was previously Development Director at Policy Exchange and also worked on a range of its publications, including Living Apart Together: British Muslims and the paradox of multiculturalism.

As with all the other material coming out of the Johnson camp about multi-culturalism, this argued that the chief problem with Islam is that it hinders ‘integration’ – i.e. the process by which traditional British cultural and ethnic identity is replaced by the ultimate corporate dream of an atomised mass of rootless, identical consumers. And by which the traditional values once upheld by Christians and now defended mainly by Muslims are to be replaced by the anti-morality of the LGBTQ+ brigade and corporations greedy for pink pounds and rainbow dollars.

As with so many neo-cons on both sides of the Pond, Mirza started off as a Trotskyite. She was a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party. When it was dissolved in 1987 she followed other key comrades into the Living Marxism operation and then Spiked magazine, which has very successfully operated a policy of entryism into what passes for politica thought in Britain. Her Wiki entry quotes an article in the London Review of Books which noted that “Many of Munira’s ex party members have become influential in Conservative or Eurosceptic circles since the dissolution of their party, whilst remaining closely associated with each other’s endeavours.”

This includes the former party leader Frank Furedi, whose wife Ann is one of Britain’s most powerful abortionists. Strange ‘conservatives’ indeed! But, there again, one reading of these ‘ex’-Trotskyites’ new-found fondness for ultra-right-wing economics and privatisation is that the resulting exploitation and public anger will lead to the revolutionary crisis that eluded them when they were all wearing Che T-shirts in the late sixties! Or perhaps, it just pays better!

Coming back closer to Johnson, his campaign chief was Gavin Williamson. When Defence Secretary, Williamson was a notorious hawk against Russia and China, and for greater UK involvement in the Middle East. He also spoke out vigorously against Britain’s continued participation in Galileo, the global navigation satellite system created by the European Union. He is one of those pushing for a new UK system, compatible with the American GPS, and fully integrated with Five Eyes, the intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and the UK. As with all such manoeuvres, it is hard to see where money gives way to ideology and power-politics and, of course, they are hopelessly entangled.

It is Williamson who has given one of the clearest glimpses into the Atlanticist obsession of the new regime: “Tthe cornerstone of European security is not the European Union, it is Nato. Let’s be absolutely clear. Our involvement in Nato is going to be there, long, enduring and for many, many defence secretaries after me.”

Another part of the Anglo-American elite can also be seen when you turn over another stone in the Johnson camp.

.Andrew Griffith, the new chief business adviser to Number 10 is a former Rothschild investment banker who joined Rupert Murdoch’s Sky in 1999, and became finance chief for the group in 2008.

Johnson has been spending up to 13 hours a day at Griffith’s lavish £9.5m townhouse,

A Johnson campaign source said Griffith had kindly opened up his home to let members of the transition team meet there. If paying the piper leads to the donor calling the tune, how much more power accrues to the Rothschild/Murdoch man providing the dancers with a 9.5 million pound house?

Finally, we just have time to consider Johnson’s new Chief Whip, Mark Spencer. Taking the new regime’s enthusiasm for LGBTQ+ issues towards its logical liberal intolerant end, he has said that Christian teachers who dare to voice opposition to same-sex marriage should be subject to ‘Extremism Disruption Orders’. In other words, legislation brought in supposedly to stop Islamist hate-preachers recruiting terrorists is to be used against Christians who stand by the teachings of the Bible!

So, yes, we can now expect Brexit from Johnson. But Britain is also going to get more mass immigration. And ruthless demonization of anyone who dares oppose it. More LGBTQ+ propaganda for children – and ruthless repression of anyone who dares oppose it.

More pressure for British participation in neo-con, Zionist and Salafist wars in Syria, Iran and Yemen. More insane and dangerous sabre-rattling against traditionalist and Christian Russia.

And more looting of what remains of Britain’s common wealth by the privatisation vultures. Finishing off the monetisation of the NHS is sure to surface as a great ambition for this corporate puppet regime sooner rather than later. Almost certainly a couple of months before Johnson delivers Brexit and obliterates Jeremy Corbyn in a snap general election.

It remains to be seen whether the globalist kleptomaniacs behind the new regime will also find a way to turn the removal of EU subsidies into an opportunity to arrange a massive transfer of farmland in Britain from farmers, workers’ pension funds and the old landed aristocracy and into the hands of global corporations. If that’s on the agenda too, remember where you heard it first!

All the above presupposes, of course, that the juvenile and utterly irresponsible anti-Russian, anti-Iranian and anti-Chinese sabre-rattling – of which the Johnson regime is as guilty as its predecessors – doesn’t actually start World War Three. Because, if it does, there’ll be nothing left to privatise and loot except the last tin of beans in the irradiated rubble.

Don’t get me wrong: This is not to condemn Brexit. The British people voted for it, and its delivery will be a Good Thing (not least because it has added, and will continue to add, to the instability in the EU which has disrupted the efforts of its bureaucratic rulers to maintain a firmly anti-Russian line, and because, however imperfect, Brexit is a blow for national sovereignty against a particularly nasty little imperial project.

All of us who, one way or another, helped set in motion or advance the process which defeated the pro-EU whores who had sold Britain to Brussels can be rightly proud of having done their bit to break the claws of the largest leopard in the London-based elite.

But you can also be sure that the British majority are going to be mightily disappointed with the new Johnson regime leopard and how Brexit turns out. They voted to restore the old Britain, particularly the Old England. What they will get instead is an even faster dissolution than we saw under EU rule.

They voted against ‘political correctness gone mad’ and in a bid to cling on to traditional values. What they will get is a quasi-Trotskyite cultural Marxist regime – all the more destructive for having the label ‘conservative’ – which grinds their faces – and especially the faces of their children and grandchildren – in LGBTQ+ filth.

They voted Brexit hoping to stop immigration. Instead, the next ten years will see an absolutely swamping change in Britain’s demographics, as the dying early Baby Boomers are replaced with Johnson’s ‘New Britons’ from all corners of the world.

They voted to kick out a Brussels Occupation Government. What they will get instead is a New York Occupation Government. Which is a polite way of putting it, for there is in fact really nothing American about America’s neocons.

“Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss”, is how the Who put it. But it was all summed up even better by the great English visionary William Morris, in A Dream of John Ball, his revolutionary classic about the very first English Peasants’ Revolt against an alien elite:

“I pondered all these things, and how men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name.”

[etimaetteumoh]

EXCERPT FROM THE ADULT MAGAZINE PANEL - "Consent: It's Not Sexy"

ACA: James Asbrand, a psychologist with the Salt Lake City Veteran’s Affairs PTSD clinical team, has said of male-to-male sexual violence in the military, “One of the myths is that the perpetrators identify as gay, which is by and large not the case. It’s not about the sex. It’s about power and control.” Rape is often codified as a heterosexual abuse of power, even when it occurs in queer, or at least homosexual, encounters. Should we change the “straight reading” of rape? How?

DSF: That platitude is so tired to me. So tired. Rape isn’t about sex it’s about power. Bless Asbrand, though. It’s not a meaningful distinction, at least for those of us who have felt that even the most deeply consensual acts we’ve committed were forced into place by some invisible social hand. But to the point about changing the reading of rape: yes. In fact, I think that we should begin to understand rape and sexual assault as a systemic violence native to all empires, including this North American one. Shifting to that framework has helped me to understand instances of sexual violence that don’t occur in a white, middle-class and heterosexual space. I’d like to point out that in America, the particular reading of rape——rape in which there’s a victim recognized as such——isn’t just heterosexual, it’s racialized. I’ve said this before, but legal history and common law history here points to a huge swath of time during which black people could not be raped but could be rapists because they were not human. Also, narratives are heavily individualized. If there’s any power imbalance pointed to as context, it’s often a proximate one, like men being generally physically stronger than women. All of this seems to dislocate rape from its essential place in the settling, forming and continued function of this country, and therefore able to be experienced by any body living. So I understand Asbrand to mean, and many of us who say rape isn’t about power, it’s about sex, I think we’re really trying to resist the allegory around it, we’re realizing that violence doesn’t generally come from some dark and mystic and unique place inside “bad people,” but that it’s plain and endemic, like a currency.

[thedingledonger-blog]

True Gay Fanfic

Dawn of the first day Its school time Mom forgot to make you breakfast You're hungry You say a prayer

your friend tells you that^^^^ You were planning on telling them you're gay too Its a shock its now a fanfic Between you and your friend You ship yourselves they do too but you dont know each others feelings Y'all gon fuck You're thirsty Night of the first day You're hanging out with your friend at an atypical "study session" but you have the feeling there's going to be no studying you expose that you're also a homosexual human being to them they say that's cool and then they ask the killing question "Who are you gay for?" You want to say its them and your mind is telling you no but your body is telling you yes So you decide quickly leaving no room for fear and tell them "It's you. I love you" They have a shocked look In an extreme turn of events they have intense joy only expressable by the smile from cheek to cheek that you so love they tell you "I thought you'd never say that" And then they hug you you're starving you cant believe what's going on its like a fantasy novel you are finally getting what you want from the person you want for once in you're life You're overjoyed You want to do more things have more experiences this is the start of something beautiful this is the start and true beginning to your book of life You're dehydrated Dawn of the second day Again you go to school with whom you love dearest The person closest to your soul You look over to them they're at the water fountain You're so parched its as if you're dying of thirst You walk over to them and ask them about last night and they say they've never been happier You ask what you should do together first Now's your shot They tell you that they dont know what they want to do You say you have an idea You shoot for the stars You lean over as if lending your whole body to make a connection deep within both of your souls You've had your first kiss You go at it with vigor and passion eventually putting almost your entire mouth and soul in your lovers mouth(edited) Your thirst has been quenched Night of the second day You're parents left on a date You decide to  call your passion, your soulmate, over they answer They're at your door and you feel nervous you would say there's butterflies in your stomach But you're starving to death You open the door and the first thing you do is dart for their mouth and envelop their soul in love They're surprised you bring them inside you walk to your room for another "study session" As soon as you're inside the room you shut the door unlike every other time they've been at your house You take this opportunity to first tell them how much you care for them they listen they respond they tell you that they feel the same way Again your mind is telling you no because it knows what might happen but your body is stronger muscles move without command Your body is telling you yes You cant stop whats going to happen because its inevitable Your body despite what your mind tells you darts forth it takes your lover by surprise you're going at it with such passion You need something to eat right now You rigorously begin to take off your clothes Your lover gets visibly nervous but then relaxes as if their mind and body are having the same battle You've dropped your pants They look with such intensity they're visibly very pleased you know they're turned on just as much if not more than you they blush with juicy red cheeks as if they're ripe tomatoes ready to be eaten Your body sees an opportunity Your lover has not talked about your preferences for intercourse But you know they you want to be dominated by them Every aspect of living is for them And in some magical way they already know Your lover asks you to strip them or else And so you do Your body sees its dinner and your mind is pleased that your finally going to be satiated Your lover tells you "This is going to be fun" "Now how do you want to do this?" You tell them that you want nothing more than they're acceptance Your lover is visibly lustful In a way that only you think you can understand Your lover tells you "Then lets begin with you getting down on all fours and begging me" You do as your told "Now do as I say or else" You nod your head in agreement but your mind is relentless and begins to stop allowing your body access "Please me and my body" "Touch me" "Or else" Your mind stops your body from attacking its prey And you disobey your lovers orders

"I told you or else and I meant it" Your lover slaps you with force you've never seen them been able to use You're in pain but somehow pleased(edited) Your mind cant fight your body anymore and it attacks You've been craving this for a long time now You begin to lick every part of their body in a sensual and in a near orgasmic state Your hunger has been satiated(edited) You're finally in complete bliss You're lover begins to please you in ways you've never thought of complete fantasy You're both feeling complete and utter ecstasy So don't stop me now don't stop me 'Cause I'm having a good time having a good time

I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva I'm gonna go go go There's no stopping me

I'm burnin' through the sky yeah Two hundred degrees That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit I'm trav'ling at the speed of light I wanna make a supersonic man out of you

Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time I'm having a ball Don't stop me now If you wanna have a good time just give me a call Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time) Don't stop me now (Yes I'm havin' a good time) I don't want to stop at all

Yeah, I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars On a collision course I am a satellite I'm out of control I am a sex machine ready to reload Like an atom bomb about to Oh oh oh oh oh explode

I'm burnin' through the sky yeah Two hundred degrees That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit I'm trav'ling at the speed of light I wanna make a supersonic woman of you

Don't stop me don't stop me Don't stop me hey hey hey Don't stop me don't stop me Ooh ooh ooh, I like it Don't stop me don't stop me Have a good time good time Don't stop me don't stop me ah Oh yeah Alright

Oh, I'm burnin' through the sky yeah Two hundred degrees That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit I'm trav'ling at the speed of light I wanna make a supersonic man out of you

Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time I'm having a ball Don't stop me now If you wanna have a good time (wooh) Just give me a call (alright) Don't stop me now ('cause I'm having a good time - yeah yeah) Don't stop me now (yes I'm havin' a good time) I don't want to stop at all

[xfanfics]

Destiel Fic Rec List Part 4

Last Updated in October 2014. Posted in May 2020 for posterity. Header graphic used with permission.

This list contains: 33 fics.

Other Destiel Rec Lists: Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4.

-----

Casturbatus Interruptus by gaugbrojotr

E | 6k | Canon!verse, Hot, , PWP

post-9.01, in a slight AU wherein Cas comes to live with the Winchesters at the Bunker. Written before 9.03. Crossposting from Tumblr. Written for a prompt from hightopsandsharpies: "Okay, so Cas is a virgin, and has no idea what pleasure is and Dean decides to show him and Cas gets all cuddly and needy afterwards. Dean walks in on Cas masturbating. He’s doing it all wrong, but when you’re a bazillion-year-old virgin, that’s to be expected. Dean decides to lend him a hand in a totally platonic, non-romantic way. Things get a little out of control.

 that awkward moment when... by highermagicv

E | 7k | Hot, wing!Kink

All in all, with a full tank of gas and his radio turned up loud, Dean was in a pretty damn good mood. All that vanished into shock and concern when the sky lit up like daylight, as though someone had decided that black was so passé for nighttime.

 This Temporary Flesh and Bone by misachan

E | 5k | Canon!verse, h/c, wing!kink

Castiel doesn't serve Dean, fine, Dean has no problem with that - he just wants to know why Castiel's showing up in his dreams again.

What a fabulous little Fic. Very emotional. S4 cas is my FAVORITE.

 Only Fools Rush In by baka_sensei

E | 18k | Canon!verse, soulbond

Dean does something and in angelic tradition that means he's become Castiel's fiancé. Dean doesn't know if he wants to get married, but he doesn't want to let Castiel down either. Cas lets his feelings run away with him, Gabe is a total dick, Sam is concerned, and Dean has to make a choice.

 Learning Curve by blualbino

T | 1k | Fluff, Canon!verse

Cas has nice lips. They’re soft looking. Plush even. Dean can do this.

 Dinner At Katz's by nanoochka

E | 2k | Hot, canon!verse

Dean might have to teach Cas how to have a When Harry Met Sally-esque orgasm, but he certainly doesn’t have to fake it.

 Free With His Hands by watermaline

E | 2k | canon!verse, handprint!kink

The first time it happens, Dean chalks it up to…well, he doesn’t chalk it up to anything, he’s too busy coming his brains out in his jeans with Castiel’s hand on his shoulder.

 Desecrate that Sanctuary by brokentoy

E | 3k | Hot, Alt!Canon Verse

Dean develops a fascination with Cas' bones.

 What Once Was Sacred by saltandbyrne

E | 55k |  Hot,  AU, Cop Dean, DJ Cas

Los Angeles detective Dean Winchester works tirelessly to atone for the sins of his father one case at a time. When his best friend Charlie drags him to visit Sam at his new job, Dean stumbles onto a bizarre string of deaths that brings him uncomfortably close to his past.Dean can't stop thinking about Castiel, an enigmatic DJ who plays the sexiest music Dean's ever heard. A chance encounter at Castiel's house reveals that Castiel is an incubus, and Dean must face the lies and the reality of his childhood as a hunter. Dean comes to see that he and Castiel have more in common than he thought, and that guilt can be the hardest thing to cast aside.

 Freefall by LastKnownWriter

E | 128k | Hot, Fluff,  AU, Teacher Dean, Firefighter Cas

AU. The most exciting kindergarten teacher Dean Winchester's life ever gets is when he plays mechanic in his uncle Bobby's shop on the weekends. That is until a birthday party goes tequila-nova and he trips into a one-night stand with an incredibly hot firefighter named Castiel. Dean's life gets a lot more exciting after that.

 The Best Years of Our Lives, My Ass ❤ by ireallyhatecornnuts

E | 110k | Hot,  Fluff,  HS AU but not really,

AU after Season 8, episode 6, "Southern Comfort." Dean goes to sleep in a motel room in Texarkana, and he wakes up 17 years old, in his childhood bedroom in Lawrence, Kansas, 1996. He has no idea how he got there, why his parents are still alive, why his brother is an adorable freshman with no memory of his adult life, and why the only ally he has in this place is the angel he left behind in Purgatory – somehow also 17 years old. They have to get out, that's the important thing. Only, falling in love with his angel wasn't a part of the plan....

It's like a HS AU... but better! I love how Dean is given a second chance at growing up, and Cas gets to engage with his humanity is painfully familiar ways. Some homophobia from non-central characters.    

  deus ex nihilo by Valyria

E | 7k | AU, dubcon, god cas

Lost on an uncharted island, Dean Winchester is captured by the local villagers and offered up as a sacrifice to their winged god. Castiel takes one look at Dean and decides he wants him for a mate.

 Twist and Shout ❤ by gabriel

E | 97k | Angst,  AU, Main Character Death

What begins as a transforming love between Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak in the summer of 1965 quickly derails into something far more tumultuous when Dean is drafted in the Vietnam War. Though the two both voice their relationship is one where saying goodbye is never a real truth, their story becomes fraught with the tragedy of circumstance. In an era where homosexuality was especially vulnerable, Twist and Shout is the story of the love transcending time, returning over and over in its many forms, as faithful as the sea.

Do I really need to say anything? Twist and Shout is one of my favorites simply because it made me bawl. Didn't love the characterization, but I still liked it overall.

 Angel Slayer by emwebb17

E | 138k | Jensen/Misha, Mystery, AU

FBI Special Agent Jensen Ackles tracked a serial killer dubbed the Angel Slayer for six months in Washington, DC—the murderer was vicious, depraved, carved the names of angels into the victims’ chests…and eluded capture. Over eight years later, a murder in small Elton, NH has too many similarities for Jensen to ignore. Paired with a green agent, Jared Padalecki, Jensen travels to Elton to solve the case that has been haunting him for nearly a decade. In the course of the investigation the agents come across a local police officer named Misha Collins—who may have a deadly connection to the Angel Slayer.

 Carry On ❤ by TamrynEradani

E | 148k | Hot,  AU, Sub!dean, Dom!Cas

 When Sam gets into Stanford, Dean needs a bigger paycheck than Bobby's garage can give him. Luckily, he knows a guy.

Forget 50 Shades of Grey, they should make this fic into a movie! Even if you are not a fan of Sub!Dean, give this fic a shot, because it is nearly perfect.    

 Glasses by Samanthapin

E | 9k | Fluff, High School AU, punk!cas, nerd!dean

Teasing turns flirting turns dating turns grossly soppy boyfriends

 beer and bacon happy hour by outpastthemoat

G | 2k | canon!verse, s8

The problem is that Dean’s been having good ideas all night. “No one insults the trenchcoat,” Dean says, and drives his fist into the other dude’s face. Dean figures he was bound to run out of good ideas eventually.

 Hard Road ❤ by aleishapotter

E | 54k | Canon!verse

Dean discovers a few truths about himself when he and Cas are forced to go undercover on a hunt to the very last place Dean ever thought he'd find himself: a gay resort called "Last Hope" that is geared towards helping troubled homosexual couples repair their relationships. This fic is hilarious and hot--my favorite things.  

 Dean Smith Verse by TamrynEradani

E | 17k | Hot,  BDSM, AU, Sub!Dean

 Dean Smith is a man of routine. Castiel takes him apart.

Bratishka: Little Brother by Valyria

E | 33k | Cop AU, Cop Dean, Lawyer Cas

Dean thinks he knows pretty much everything there is to know about his best friend Castiel Novak - he's a smart, gorgeous DA who probably lets Dean get away with more than he should to see the bad guy locked up - but it turns out Cas is hiding some dark family secrets.

 the way to a man's heart by mkhunterz

M | 15k | Fluff,  Canon!verse

Dean teaches Cas to cook, and other things as well.

 Branded by garrisonbabe

E | 12k | | canon!verse, soul bond, marking/claiming

Michael mocked Castiel, telling him he'd never get Dean the way he truly wanted. No matter the mark on Dean's soul, he'd never get him the way the archangel could take him. Dean finds a ritual that fixes that and a few other issues.

 Our Bodies, Posessed by Light by obstinatrix

E | 39k | canon!verse, sastiel bromance, Fluff

Purged of all his souls, Castiel is a changed being, stronger than an angel and too powerful for Jimmy's body to contain. Happily, there's an archangel's vessel on hand, and he could use fixing, too. Dean isn't too happy about the idea of his brother acting as a vessel for Castiel, and Sam can guess why, but it isn't until Castiel gets inside his head and they learn to share the vessel -- and their thoughts -- that Sam realises Cas is as in love with Dean as Dean is with him. It's unfortunate that there's nothing much to be done about it now, but Castiel will get another vessel soon. The Winchesters will make damn sure of that. In the meantime, it's up to the three of them to establish their own strange accord, and Dean realises more fully than ever that it's Castiel, and not his vessel, that he loves.

So Glad We Made It  ❤by scaramouche

M | 16k | Fluff,  AU

At twelve years old, Dean makes a friend, who becomes his best friend, who will eventually become the love of his life.    

Oh, the best friends who grow up together AU. I have a soft spot for fics like these-- comes with pining, awkward misunderstandings, and a good basis for a realistic relationship.    

 Shut Up (Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is) ❤ by kototyph

E | 23k | Fluff,  college au

Dean's done some pretty stupid things, but getting drunk-hitched in Vegas to a colleague he barely knows might just take the cake. His surprise husband, Castiel, is a little weird but likable despite that, and Dean figures they’ll go back to Boston, get a quiet annulment, and go their separate ways. Six weeks later, he’s still married to one of the strangest, most genuine and definitely most dangerously lov-- likable guys he's ever known. Dean doesn't know why or really even how it’s happening, but it’s getting harder and harder to remember that he has divorce papers to file.

FLUFF EVERYWHERE! This is definitely a feel-good fic and I love reading it when I'm sad. Or just you know, whenever.

 But the Fire is So Delightful by kototyph

E | 5k | Hot, hate then love, College AU

Apparently, it’s been snowing all day. [Dean is a Douchebag Fratboy with a Cherry Ass, Castiel is Angry and Aroused]

 Stitches by askance

T | 23k |  Fluff, h/c, blindness, Canon!verse

Castiel survived Leviathan--but only barely. Vessel mauled and eyes destroyed, Cas is barely clinging to what's left of his grace when Dean finds him naked and alone on the reservoir's edge; in a panic, Dean brings him home to the cabin where he and Sam have been holed up off the grid. What follows is the slow process of the angel's recovery and the unexpected changes that come with his being blind, and in the three months this takes, their little family slowly begins to patch itself back together in forgiveness, love, and darkness.

 When Charlie Met Cas by riseofthefallenone

E | 25k | Fluff,  canon!versE |

Charlie is back in all her glory. The Winchesters have showed up on her doorstep and she’s making the best of it the only way she knows how. By being the little sister Dean never wanted and shipping the shit out of Destiel.

  The Curious Case of Wee Baby Cas Things by tracy_loo_who

G | 4k | Gen, crack

In which Dean and Sam get saddled with a herd of Cas-like baby animals. Meanwhile, Castiel just wants a hug.

 The Life After the Morning After by saltyfeathers

T | 17k

Dean and Cas get uber drunk on their last day of University. They end up married. Neither of them seem to mind.

 The Girlfriend Experience ❤ by Rageprufrock

E | 15k | Hot,  Canon!Verse, First time

While it's not like Dean hasn't had a couple of truly regrettable hit-and-runs in his sexual history, this is probably the saddest fucking thing that has ever happened to him.

Classic Casturbation fic. Complete with steamy sexytimes, hilarious dialogue, and fed up and clueless Dean. Perfect.    

 Asunder by Rageprufrock

E | 23k | Sam/Ruby, Hospital AU Fluff,

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:6)

 Hands, From Which All Things Are Built by MajorEnglishEsquire

T | 14k | Canon!Verse, s8

Castiel travels with the angel tablet and without the Winchesters. One day, Dean gets a text from some anonymous number. (They speak in the language of need.)