#loyal to the end (barnum)

[blueheartedmayor]

Behold! The TWO corgis on this blog!

If you don't know me, I do enjoy trying to create multiple designs of the same character - I have completed a challenge to design as many Darks as I could back in 2018/2019. I had intended these to be the same character thrown through timelines to reunite with Damien when Noah is wiped from existence, buuut I thought that might be a little confusing. (However... there is a year or so between them, and corgi markings do change... 🤔)

Anyway! This post is going to be the overall "info point" for the two puppers with the same name. Neither of them are going to be able to participate in something like C.rufts due to their designs being so far from competitive standards, but it doesn't make either of them less special. They're both clever, and either Damien or Noah would be happy to show off their tricks!

Better info for each under the read-more!

-

Damien's Barnum (whom I will refer to as "Mayor" for simplicity) is a bit of a mystery. He appeared in the city one day, completely healthy and herding soldiers in the local barracks. He was brought to the shelter to try and find his home. However, not only was he not chipped, he also refused to acknowledge anyone who wanted to adopt him... Except Damien. The moment he approached Damien, everyone knew that no one else would be good enough for the corgi.

He's a very grounded, level-headed dog who has decided to take on the role of Damien's personal bodyguard. The fact that he has loosened up in any form to have a little fun is purely through Damien's hard work with him. Mayor doesn't have any fear and will stand his ground against anyone he doesn't trust. He might bark, or he might actively try to trip someone up. But if he sits beside you, he likes you. And if he presents you with his prized toy carrot? He trusts you. Feel special.

Out of the two dogs on the blog, he is VERY fluffy. He needs a good brushing several times a week. The bushy appearance of his cheek fluff is reminiscent of a moustached soldier with a similar name who is not present in this version of events. He also has larger brown markings on his face. Finally, his collar is red.

-

In comparison, Noah's Barnum (Calling him "Captain") has a much more straightforward story. Knowing that he might never return home, and he had no family of his own, Noah decided to adopt a puppy and train it up to work alongside him. It was a purely selfish act that worked perfectly in his favour.

Captain was originally a rarity - a black and white puppy with no brown markings (both Barnums are P.embrokes, not C.ardigans). He was also a little fluffier than his siblings. Noah was smitten instantly and took him back to HQ as soon the pup was old enough - smuggling Captain under his hoodie. Most photos of Captain have him with no brown markings at all, as they only began to appear as he hit the 12 month milestone.

(Why 'Barnum'? Noah's hometown.)

Captain is a very clever, but easygoing dog. He's a very talented errand dog, and an expert in finding Noah no matter where his human might be, but he can be distracted if he's in company of people he likes (such as the handsome-and-or-beautiful Engineer!). He's still getting used to the fact that he isn't a tiny puppy anymore and tries to climb into Noah's hoodie on days off. Fortunately, Noah obtained another hoodie that has a dog pouch. He has also accidentally winded Noah when the captain is lying down.

Also, he LOVES being carried. He's just a babey!

The brown markings on his face only emphasise his youth and cuteness. Two large spots cover his eyes, while two smaller circles almost looks like blush marks. His black coat is a solid colour with no hint of red undertones. His front legs are pure white, but his back legs are black to the bend, and brown down to the toes, which are white. Finally, his collar is wine-purple.

[funkymbtifiction]

Hello! I was wondering what it means to integrate/disintegrate. So, if you are a core 3 and you integrate, is that like a new layer or direction for your 3-ness? And what about disintegration?

Thanks!

In the Enneagram, integration means moving away from the lie of your core type toward the positive side of a different number (meaning: you grow into having more of another number influencing your 3, but you carry only the positive attributes of that number over into 3, not the negative ones).

The 3 grows into the positive attributes of the 6, which will change the 3. If, for example, the tendency of a low-health level 3 is to climb over others on their way to success, 6 integration brings a sense of analytical loyalty to the 3, which would value being loyal to colleagues and trusted friends, learn to question and dismantle some of the 3′s arrogant over-confidence, and make them a little more laid back and able to engage in some mild self-deprecating humor, as a way to make people like them. The 6 wants community and to be ‘for’ others – when the 3 grows into this process, it becomes as much about championing others’ to success as succeeding themselves, and does not feel as desperate an ‘inner void’ that demands for others to fill it with approval. The 6′s likability erodes away at the 3ish arrogance which can be a turn off for some people and makes the 3 more likely to achieve success on likable terms while being less of a workaholic.

I don’t know if you have seen The Greatest Showman, but the entire film shows P.T. Barnum as a 3 who is moving toward 6 integration – the people whom he exploited becomes his ‘family’ and he allows them to start shining at the end, while he focuses on what truly matters in his life – celebrating and supporting and being with his family, which for a healthy 6 is what matters most.

Disintegration works to the opposite effect, whereupon you take on the negative traits of a different number, rather than the positive ones. To continue your chosen example of 3, an unhealthy 3 falls into the negative aspects of 9 – which means apathy, self-forgetting, lack of ambition, inability to decide, and overall passivity. The hard-working, ambitious and self-confident 3 becomes a lump who sits at home and does nothing productive, burying themselves in numbing comfort behaviors. Typically, this happens after a period of intense loss, personal disappointment, or perceived total failure by the 3, and lasts anywhere from a week to six months.

If you Google your number in general, you can quickly see the disintegration and integration lines. Integration always means ‘the good things about’ the number you are heading towards; and disintegration always means ‘the bad’ things.

- ENFP Mod

[blog-of-a-multitude-of-fandoms]

Flirtation- Lumiere

Pairing: Lumiere x Reader

Characters: Lumiere, Plumette

Warnings: N/A

Request: Wattpad- If you wouldn't mind, perhaps an imagine for both the greatest showman (PT Barnum) and beauty and the beast (Lumiere, after the curse is broken maybe?), Maybe if you could creatively craft it to where in both imagines either the main character gets into an accident and then pt or Lumiere realize they are meant to be with her rather than who they are already with, or make it so that Lumiere or pt walks in on their current partner threatening the main character? Please and thank you.

Word Count: 526

Author: Charlotte

Working for Prince Adam had never been a dream, it was taxing work especially when the curse had been put upon the palace. Afterwards though, when everyone was cured life was better, everyone was happier and although the workload was equally hard, Prince Adam and Belle appreciated the work you did, so at least it was worthwhile. You were one of the many maids hired to clean the palace, it was a hard job but with so many of you and so little of the palace ever used it was rare that you had to work alone.

Currently, you were tasked with opening the curtains of the grand hall. It didn’t sound like a tough task but when the curtains where at least four times your height, it took a heck of a lot of effort to let the daylight enter the hall that was rarely entered other than for meals.

“Y/N,” you heard the familiar voice call as he entered the room.

You turned around to see the butler of the palace, Lumiere. He was a dear friend of yours and terribly flirtatious however you knew he was in a happy relationship. His flirting meant little other than being playful, and although you generally reciprocated the flirtations, you knew he was happily courting Plumette, one of your fellow maids.

“Lumiere, how grand to see you,” you smiled.

He approached you, taking your hand delicately within his, raising your knuckles to his lips for a sweet and gentle kiss.

“Mademoiselle, your beauty extends with every day,” he grinned, still holding onto your hand.

“Well aren’t you a charmer.”

He chuckled. “Oui.”

You rolled your eyes at him. He knew he could easily have any woman in the palace, he was attractive and made every woman feel special, however he was loyal, and everyone knew that much.

“So how may I help you, monsieur?”

“Nothing, I wished to see the beauty of your eyes.”

“Lumiere,” you said in a playful warning tone.

“Désolé mademoiselle,” he smiled. “I was locking for Cogsworth, have you seen him?”

“I think he went to the kitchen.”

“Merci.”

With that Lumiere made his way from the room as you continued to tug at the heavy fabric to open the curtains. Someone tapped on your shoulder, making you assume that he had come back into the room forgetting something, instead as you turned you found his partner rather than him.

“Bonjour Plumette,” you smiled softly. “Are you okay?”

“Leave him alone,” she frowned.

“Pardon?”

“Leave Lumiere alone. Stop flirting with him. He doesn’t like you, he is my partner,” she stated firmly.

“No,” you said softly. “You have the wrong end of the stick. We are just friends. I understand he is courting you, and I would never interfere with that.”

“Then why do you flirt with him?”

Before you could respond to her question, Lumiere had re-entered the room with a concerned face.

“What is going on?” He questioned.

“Nothing,” she whispered, looking down.

“Plumette,” he started. “I do believe we must talk.”

He gave you an apologetic smile, linking his arm with hers and leading her out of the grand hall.

[ask-the-cordium-crew]

marks first mission (a WKTC story) thanks again for 200+ followers

my grammer and puncation aren’t the best but i hope you enjoy the story none the less! :D

Mark was brought to the castle of the dark part of remnant by Salem herself after she had helped him discover his semblance she then sat in her chair and waited till her allies arived before a meeting started.

Mark was in awe as he looked around the place looked amazing it felt like the perfect place for a horror movie such a spooky land it made him gitty with excitment and soon enough Dr. Aurthor Walts came in and looked at him.

“New help i would assume my lady?” salem looked at walts and carefully nodded.

“Hmm... an actor of all things confuses me but he might be up to the task from what i know of him is he is the brother of William J. Barnum that atlas colonal so i am sure he has some combat exparince.”

Mark smiled as he walked up shaking walts hand “oh yes my dear sir i do have combat exparince i went to combat school with my brother and some dear friends of mine whatever task is given it will go well” Walts shook his hand inreturn he was glad to have another gentlemen here at least.

Soon enough Tyrian callows came in and looked at Mark confused but shrugged his lady knew what she was doing so bringing him inside was no mistake Mark soon walked over to the faunus and scoffed. 

“A dirty faunus? Honestly i don’t get why my brother likes you... Animals”

The scorpian faunus laughed as he pointed his tail right at marks chin “watch your tounge pretty boy or your gonna lose it! HAHAHAHAHAH” 

Mark soon grabbed onto his shirt as his eyes flickered red and the veins on his face starting to appear Salem sat up and watched she had only seen this semblance once before so she was intrested in how it would effect him. 

“...No you watch your tounge threaten me again and i put you in a cage and put you in a river” Tyrian guled and sweated he wasn’t afried of Mark but seeing the veins much like salems it... made him worry.

“W-W-Why yes of corse i’ll be more careful ha ha!”

Mark soon let him go and sat down near the end of the table looking away but the veins didn’t go away it seemed his anger or his blood lust made them show up but how many would show up? only time will tell.

After awhile the rest of Salems followers showed up Emearld, Mercury Cinder, and then finally Hazel and Salem looked at them all this was after Cinder had attacked Ember the fall maiden but before the attack on beacon. 

Emearld looked at him confused but waited for Salem to speak.

“Welcome now before we began i’d like to introduce our new help give a welcome to Mark J. Barnum or rather Mark Edward Fischbach a known celebrity in the kingdoms after the meeting feel free to get to know him before he goes on his first mission.”

Soon enough the meeting went on Salem explaining for Cinder and her help to go to Leonardo Lionheart to get the documents for them to be able to enter beacon as exchange students she then went on explaining things for the others todo but then turned to Mark. 

“And as for your first mission it is simple continue life as normal but report to us any sort of important infromation about your brother and his army along with Ozbin oh... and feel free to vist a village over by the area of forever fall the leader of the village has caused some trouble for Cinder and her ‘friends’”

Mark seemed confused but got up and bowed.

“As you wish tell me is the person giving you trouble a faunus by any chance?” his smile turned into a rather evil smirk Salem smiled gently.

“Yes... Yes she is.”

Mark then did what he was told he went to the village and later returned to Salem his face completely covered in veins and some starting to show on his arms as his hands were a bit more red he then threw the head onto the table. 

“Mission.... Complete my lady Salem.”

After that Mark slowly became a bit more mad and sadistic overtime but also started to wear makeup and white gloves he slowly became one of Salems most loyal followers and one of her most deadly she did question his methods sometimes but she did grow to respect him. 

[cyborgmagpie]

I dream of colder Skies (part 2)

((So, this is in two parts because apparently Tumblr has a limit on paragraphs or 'text blocks' which isn't fun when I do way too much dialogue))

"Its rude to stare you know Dark." Wilford said, following his line of sight.

"The two people with Anti, who are they?"

"The punk kid Anti? When did you run into him?"

"English. You say 'Punk' as if you dislike him. Is he the reputable type?"

"On the contrary he's in my drama class and he's quite the hoot. He has energy and an imagination." Wilford complimented, "His friends I don't know as much but they're a tight knit group, they dyed their hair green together. Marvin's the one with long pale green hair. He's a nice guy, and really good at painting, although he's a bit odd, carries a tarot deck around with him. The one with the cap is Chase, he grew the dye out because his ex hated it." Wilford clearly took it upon himself to know people, "Apparently Marvin and Chase are soulmates, Chase is very vocal that its platonic, Marv hasn't said anything."

Dark nodded, taking this all in. Turning back to Wilford and Bim, "When is your next drama lesson?"

"Fourth and fifth tomorrow." Wilford said, watching Dark pull out his timetable, "Why?"

"It seems I'll be joining you." Dark said, smiling at Wil before turning to the other, "Did you take Drama Bim?"

"Yes, but I'm not in the same class as Wilford, for anything at all really."

For the last lesson of the day Dark found he had a seat next to Wilford. It was good, the fact Wilford seemed as he remembered him, just older, more wise to the world, and capable of being subtly flirtatious it seemed.

"Say, Wilford. Do you always wear the necklace?"

Wilford looked up at Dark, a little lost, "Well, yes, it was a sign of our friendship, you were- still can be and are my best friend."

"We haven't seen each other for years."

Wilford shrugged, then turned to Dark, "I could say the same to you. You're wearing the necklace too."

Dark nodded a little, looking down at his book. Wilford had worn it all this time, like a loyal fool. Dark didn't want to admit he hadn't done the same. After the first two weeks in the new school when he had moved, all those years ago, he had let peoples torments get to him.

Celene had been livid and Dames had hugged him whilst he had sobbed. Now, looking back, he felt guilty for not wearing it.

Dark exchanged phone numbers with Wil after the final bell. Then he headed home.

Once home he sorted his schoolbooks out, did his homework, did his chores and then moved up to his room, not feeling like practicing piano he opened a book and continued to read up until his phone gave a ping. Picking it up he saw a text from Wilford.

'Hello Darky, just checking this works'

Dark smiled. Typing a reply.

'Yes, it does.'

Sent. Within a few minutes there was a reply.

'What are you doing Darky?'

Dark checked the time.

'I was reading until you text me. Dames will be phoning me soon.'

'Ah, okay. Gotta go, see you tomorrow old friend. '

'Bye'

Dark set his phone down and was just settling back into his book when it started to ring, placing his book down again he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Afternoon Dark, his was the first day of school back in town?" Damien's voice rang through from the other end.

"It was good. Some people are a tad odd but I think I'll be fine."

"And?" Damien asked, a grin in his voice as he dragged out the word.

Dark rolled his eyes, "I found Wil. He was still wearing his necklace."

"That's adorable! Were you wearing yours."

"Dames, we're childhood friends not sweethearts." He huffed.

"Sure, you also wear matching lockets that are heart shaped and find each other on your first day back to school. Did you swap numbers? A tenner says the other half of your dreamscape is bright pink."

"That's ridiculous," Dark stated, ears going red, "and I only found him because he was in my music class. He complained the entire time that he wasn't allowed to play his Saxophone."

"His-" Damien was cut off by his own laughter, "oh gosh this is too good! Here, Celene!" He yelled, "Twenty says that Wilford Barnum will play careless whisper on his Sax for Darky!"

Dark heard a reply and shrill laughter on the other end and felt his face reddening even more. He should have known Dames would be like this but still.

"Celene wants to know if he was wearing the necklace."

"Yes." Dark huffed, hearing his answer being repeated on the other end.

"Well, it was entertaining talking to you but I've a paper to write. I'll phone again soon Dark. Love you."

"You too, goodbye." Dark put his phone down, then picked it back up to check the time, he went and organized his books for tomorrow, then got ready to go to bed.

Dark opened his eyes after drifting off and looked up at the roof of the wooden cabin of his dreamscape. Throwing the patchwork quilt off of himself he stood up and looked down at himself. He wasn't wearing a suit, good. He was, although, in a rather cozy looking black knitted sweater.

Dark picked a coat off its hook and put it on, doing up the wooden toggles before opening the door and looking out at the white taiga of a forest. Closing the door behind him he set off with a destination in mind.

As he walked the cold sky above him turned from the palest of blue to a great blackness that was littered with stars. Dark had always liked space. It kept everything relevant.

Dark neared the cave, a thin trail of steam wafting out due to the difference of temperatures, or just because its what Dark knew was supposed to happen and so the dream adhered to it.

Just inside the cave, as always. A green crystal rested on top of a sweet. Today it was a bar of chocolate. Which was a rare treat. He always preferred them over the lollipops.

The crystal was green. Dark had sworn there was a time where they had used to have been red ones too, along with purples, and pinks, but two years ago they stopped and now it was only blue, or green.

He peered into the cave, feeling the warm air from inside against his cheeks. There was nothing inside. He supposed that whoever lived there was just as afraid as him to find who he was supposedly 'destiny bound' to.

Dark turned and walked uphill, continuing on and on until he came across his pondering place. A flat rock by an open fissure. At one point he had looked down, but his view had been obscured by what was either fog or pink clouds. And so he hadn't bothered again.

Dark sat on his rock, and thought. After a while of thinking Dark thought he felt the ground shift. He blinked, and then he was free falling. Dark had expected some form of explosive impact but instead the clouds seemed to slow him, until he was no more than a feather fell from a bird. He landed softly, sitting up and looking around himself.

If he were to describe the place he was in it would be the waterfall room from charlie and the chocolate factory with gingerbread houses. The whole place was some sort of candy land, and just as dark for up to explore, his alarm went off.

Dark sat up in the real world, hitting the alarm and checking the time.

6:50am, time to get ready for another day.

[ask-mathtrap]

adult mark j. Barnum (chararter infromation)

since this is the final chararter of the au 

(unless someone decides to draw chef or the gardner i decided to add the most information) 

amazing artwork by @sugar-splenda

name: mark j. Barnum 

(since in this au they are brothers they both have the same middle and last name however mark also goes by mark edward fischbach so he has two idenitys kind of)

age: 27

personality: angry,truely manipulative,loyal,untrustworthy,smart and cunning 

mark is a very crule person to most people though hides it from the public and from his friends and family he acts all kind and sweet like our mark but he’s not he’s a sick sadisic bastard who only feels truely happy when he pleases his master or things go his way

his favrite quote would be “life is for the living” but what most people don’t know is this is a cruel joke about his semblance.

weapon: he dosen’t like to fight his own battles though if he has too he will take off his gloves and show people what he tries so hard to cover up his hands and arms. 

his perfered way of fighting is using the dead to fight people who they were close with or having ben fight for him 

although if the situation calls for it his strings can also be used to make his hands into claws to inject a deadly posion into his foes who ever he claws.

semblance: strings of the dammed 

his semblance was given to him thru his masters powers 

he can raise the dead using strings that come out his his hands these strings are not just ordinary strings though they are his vains vains which he can regrow and expand as much as he needs 

he can’t bring back people who are decayed he can only bring freshly dead people back using his strings and he can make them do whatever he wants he can even have them speak to make his enemys afried he can stop their decaying.

the best part is they will stay alive and like a normal person untill the strings are removed from them if they are ever removed based on how long they’ve had the strings attach will determin how their body will look with in a few minutes be it decayed or turned into ashes.

though his semblance isn’t over powered the strings/vains can be destoried quite easily by any sharp weapon and cause him great deals of pain when it happens making him weak enough to attack without fail. 

so he tries his best to becareful when controlling people and the most disturbing part is the person he brings back is acutally fully alive they are aware of their actions and remember their death and can speak on free will but can not stop what they do they do. 

though unlike a real living person they don’t have an aura or the ablity to use their semblance however their combat skill would stay the same and he can’t heal them if they get injured to much they will just die again

infromation: mark was acutally a nice guy growing up but one day in his earily 20′s he was approuched by someone strange in his dressing room that person was salem mistress of darkness.

He was offered a deal to work for her and she would help unlock his semblance he agreed and spent the next 7 years becoming her second in command slowly doing her dirty work and gaining the trust of everyone in the kingdoms he can use his powers to trick others into giving away information to their “loved ones” but as soon as he gets what he needs he makes the family member he brought back kill the realtive and then drops control of them 

the best part? he loves working for her and will do anything to please her he is her most trusted minnion and only rarely dissapoints her. 

volume 1/2/3: he just plays the celberity role and keeps an eye on people from a far for salem though at the end of this volume when celine sees his... arms for the first time she panics and tries to tell ozbin and he tries to kill her for it she gets away and he hires his friend abe to hunt her down and bring her back he trusts abe but something tells him abe is stalling on bringing her back but he could never hurt abe he cares for his friend too much he would only hurt him if he tried to tell ozbin about him 

bonus infromation/spoilers (thank you for reading about all the chararters and soon enough stories for this au will be worked on!) click the link to read more 

volume 5: mark works more closely with cinder and at the final of this volume fights with her aginst team rwby and the remains of team jnpr

he uses his semblance on penny and despite being dead for awail and being a machine it works it brings her back however he needed some help to rebuild her enough to be able to fight and stay in stable constion 

he uses penny aginst ruby knowing she would have alot of trouble hurting her friend penny tries to call out but he stops her and has her say things to ruby horrible things even after emarld mercery and hazle ran of he kept fighting untill he was injured by everyone at once and penny’s connection was destoried he ran off and returned to salem however he almost killed ruby salem was pleased by this but was angered by the fact he can’t be an informant any more but still kept him.

now thru volume 6 he just stays with salem and will go on missions with the others he’s upset by the fact he has to quit his job as an actor but he lives with it. 

what is marks relationship with his brother and damien?

he’s friends with damien and helps him the best he can he would love for damien to join salem but knows he would never do such a thing 

as for his brother william? 

he hides everything from him and likes it to stay that way the only reason he keeps him alive is because it’s his own brother but if salem requested it he would do his best to kill him but he could never kill abe or damien. 

says alot about him dosen’t it? caring more about friends then family 

[thornfield13713]

can you do the tropes thing with a non-Dragon Age OC?

I certainly can, though most of my OCs are characters for roleplay games I either never got to play or have played before. But, ok, here’s a personal favourite NPC - Antoinette de Kerouac, Scion of Loki from the tabletop game Scion. And, since you didn’t give me a number, I’m just doing as many as I can think of. 

Affably Evil: She’s a chaos-causing agent of a god who is unreliable at best and whose fate is leading him down a very dark path, but also witty, charming and self-deprecating, and genuinely likes the PC Band that are her usual antagonists. She’s also genuinely invested in ruling well, during her brief stint as Queen of the Aesir, even if her general unpopularity with those gods (most of them) that are still loyal to Odin makes it difficult.

Ain’t Too Proud To Beg: Will do this either as a ploy or genuinely, and sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference.

All Of The Other Reindeer: A natural side-effect of being a daughter of Loki, as her siblings are, by and large, either monstrous or hunted even by the Aesir for fear of treachery.

Ambition Is Evil: Subverted. She’s definitely dodgy, morally speaking, but not especially ambitious, and her power-grab on Asgard is motivated solely by love for and loyalty to her family, and a desire to improve their lot with the power she gained by doing so.

The Artful Dodger: Subverted. She tends to talk about her past as if this trope applied, but in truth her past was a lot worse than she likes to make it sound, and quite a lot of her personality can be attributed to the psychological effects of having grown up on the streets after she ran away from her last foster home at the age of fourteen.

Attention Whore: Antoine is an absolute show-off. She spent most of her childhood being neglected or ignored, if never outright abused, and even now she’s an adult and the favourite child of a literal god, she’s never quite lost the craving for attention and affection those early years nurtured in her.

The Barnum: A born con-artist, Antoine has spent most of her life gulling the people around her. First, on the street, she was doing it to survive. Then she had her Visitation and she was doing it as a religious obligation to Loki. She claims that she only really victimises those who can afford it anyway, although it was pointed out a few times that this is a pretty hollow justification, as said people will often just recoup their losses from those worse-off than them.

Blood Magic: She has the expected Norse Scion’s talent for using Jotunblut to strengthen her minions and bind them to her, even if she tends to discard the people she uses it on fairly easily.

The Charmer: Supernaturally so, in fact. Antoine’s greatest talent is her ability to get people, even those who know better, to like and trust her in the face of all logic and common sense.

Combat Pragmatist: Does not like fighting at all and isn’t very good at it, leading to her being willing to do basically anything to end a fight quickly and, if possible, in her favour. Her preferred method for doing this tends to be shooting people who attack her with melee weapons and then running.

Complexity Addiction: Cannot resist making all her schemes far more convoluted than they need to be. Partly because she needs to show off how clever she is, but mainly because she just gets a kick out of being as dramatic as possible at any given time.

Consummate Liar: Good enough to fool even people who know very well that Antoine is a lying, thieving, absolutely untrustworthy snake, despite admitting herself  that trusting her word is never a good idea.

Daddy’s Little Villain: A daughter of Loki with a better relationship with her father than most of the player-character Band had with their own divine parents. It’s unclear for most of the story how much of the affection Loki shows her is real and how much is manipulation, before it’s finally revealed at the end of the ‘demigod’ tier that these two genuinely adore one another when Loki actively prevents her from trading fates with him by killing Baldur, despite knowing that her doing so might spare him his destined fate at Ragnarok.

Dating Catwoman: Antoine has an ambiguous, on-and-off relationship with Valerie Grey, the leader of the Band of PC Scions who are her usual adversaries. They do genuinely love each other, but Antoine’s unshakeable loyalty to her father and Valerie’s sense of duty mean that they don’t have much chance of an actual life together.

Deadpan Snarker: Has a biting, pitch-black sense of humour that tends to come out most when she’s in a gloating mood.

Desperately Craves Affection: Again, this can be attributed to a very lonely, deprived early life, and it’s a major part of why she’s so loyal to Loki. It’s also one of her greater weaknesses in dealing with the Band, due to her requited-but-difficult feelings for Valerie Grey.

The Dutiful Son: She has no particular foil in this case, but despite her outward pose of self-interested hedonism, Antoine’s main motivation for everything is her love for her family.

Enigmatic Minion: For most of her early career. While the Band knew she was working for Loki, what was ambiguous was whether she was working for him out of pure self-interest or whether she had other motives. As it turned out, she is genuinely and absolutely loyal, if sometimes a bit conflicted over her father’s methods.

Everyone Looks Sexier If French: Born in Toulon, and living in Paris before her visitation, Antoine takes shameless advantage of the effect her accent tends to have on English-speakers and may occasionally pretend not to speak English when it’s useful for a con.

Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Even leaving aside her relationship with her father, Antoine is a deeply loving and affectionate person and values family highly, even in the case of her brothers Fenrir and Jörmungandr, whom she rarely sees and who are both in any case too far removed from humanity to quite understand why she’s so dedicated. Even her feelings for Valerie don’t make her any less dubious, morally speaking, but they are genuine, and deeply felt.

Evil Gloating: She’s not strictly evil, but admits herself that, if she has a fault (something she considers rather a remote possibility, admittedly), it’s that she can never resist the temptation to stick around and watch the chaos she creates.

Evil Redhead: Well, morally ambiguous, at the very least, and, like her father, a flaming ginger.

Evil Sorcerer: Again, morally ambiguous rather than straight-up evil, but definitely a skilled and talented sorceress who prefers to rely on magic and manipulation rather than physical force in most conflicts.

Fostering For Profit: Her backstory. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, in that while she was usually neglected, she was materially provided-for and not abused, but it still got bad enough by the end that she ran away at fourteen and never went back.

Graceful Loser: Tends to take defeats on the chin, although this may be because she can usually get something out of a failed plan, even if it’s only information and the opportunity to flirt with Valerie.

The Hedonist: Antoine is an unabashed sybarite who likes the finer things and wants as much of them as she can get, in response to having grown up without anything that was really her own.

I Gave My Word: One of the few things that can be relied upon about Antoine. She will keep her word once given, even if it kills her to do it, and she will keep it to the letter. But no further than that.

I Just Want To Be Loved: This is the basis of her whole career as Loki’s agent. She was a Paris street gamine who never knew her parents, grew up in the system and never meant more to anyone than a number to be shuffled around. Then Loki appeared to her, and offered her a family and a place in the world, and Antoine never looked back.

It’s All About Me: Pretends to be this. It’s not an especially convincing pose, admittedly, but she does make the effort.

Laughably Evil: She’s fairly unconcerned with the damage she causes in the name of her divine patron, has a tendency to cause large-scale chaos and destruction wherever she goes and is working for the god prophesied to bring about Ragnarok…but, whenever Antoine showed up in a story, odds were that whatever her plan was would be entertaining enough that you could almost forget how destructive it was.

Loveable Rogue: Antoine certainly thought of herself this way. Whether anyone else agreed tended to depend on just what she’d been up to recently.

Magnificent Bastard: Ended up as one in her very final story-arc when, after spending most of the ‘god’ tier of the game having apparently replaced Loki as the Aesir’s useful-but-troublesome trickster god, following his condemnation to his mythological fate, she turns out to have been playing the long game to usurp Odin and become Queen of the Aesir herself. It didn’t last long, and her eventual fate was every bit as nasty as Loki’s was supposed to be, but it still takes serious chops to bind and overthrow the Allfather.

Manipulative Bastard: If she’s talking to you at all, odds are she’s playing you for her own ends or her master’s.

Mock Millionaire: Her usual favourite scam. Antoine likes the high life, but she can’t often afford it, and thus tends to rely on scamming people into believing she can pay for things she can’t afford, whether it’s a suite at a luxurious Vegas hotel, an upgrade to first class on plane journeys or a priceless antique she needs for the scheme of the week.

My Master, Right Or Wrong: She’s well-aware that a few of Loki’s schemes might well lead to Ragnarok, and is worried about it, since she doesn’t want to die herself or see the world destroyed…but it’s never made much of a difference in her loyalties.

Only Known By Their Nickname: For most of the story she’s only known as ‘Antoine’, with her full first name only being revealed when it comes out that Loki still uses the more childish diminutive ‘Toinette’. Her real surname is also unknown, though ‘de Kerouac’ is her preferred alias.

Opportunistic Bastard: By her own admission. Antoine has never liked the idea of holding to any one plan so firmly that she cannot abandon it when a better prospect comes along. This unfortunately acted against her as often as for her, as her opportunism can either lead to her coming out ahead - or at least with her skin intact - or her being used by all sides in the conflict she has tried to take advantage of.

Order Versus Chaos: Firmly on the side of chaos.

Proud Beauty: Antoine is very aware that she’s attractive, and will use it shamelessly to her own advantage.

Self-Proclaimed Liar: As part of her near-obsession with proving how clever she is, Antoine absolutely relishes telling people she’s a liar, and then getting them to believe her anyway.

Smug Smiler: Never - well, hardly ever - seems to drop her obnoxious smug smirk, even when she’s on the ropes. It’s easily her most irritating quality and has led to a few threats to see if she’ll stop smiling once a few of her teeth have been removed.

The So-Called Coward: Tends to run from physical conflicts, prefers to get other people to do her fighting for her and quite willing to beg for her life when cornered, Antoine’s apparent cowardice is actually genuine…but it has limits. And it’s hard to call a woman willing to resign herself to an eternity trapped in a cave with serpents’ venom dripping into her eyes to save her father cowardly.

Squishy Wizard: She’s a gifted sorceress, but she’s not a direct fighter, preferring to rely on minions or hired muscle for the more violent side of things, if violence must be used at all.

Statuesque Stunner: She is, after all, of giant ancestry on her father’s side, and tends to tower over most of the people around her.

Too Clever By Half: The usual reason why she ended up losing to the heroes, as Antoine really isn’t great at planning for unknown unknowns, relies a bit too much on the people she manipulates staying manipulated, and making what she considers to be sensible decisions even when they do, and can’t quite resist showing off how smart she is. 

Undying Loyalty: To Loki. And, to a lesser degree, to the rest of her family, even if most of her half-siblings either do not care about or outright resent her. This is the main thing preventing her from switching sides, despite repeated offers, as even when she’s distinctly wary of what Loki’s plans might be, she’s too essentially loyal a person to turn on him.

Vain Sorceress: A bit of one. Part of this is pragmatism, as her looks are one of her main tools and people are more willing to trust a well-groomed and attractive person in any case, but the other part of it is just simple vanity.

[armeniaitn]

Mothers' Power in US Protests Echoes a Global Tradition

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/politics/mothers-power-in-us-protests-echoes-a-global-tradition-39226-25-07-2020/

Mothers' Power in US Protests Echoes a Global Tradition

Wearing matching shades of white or yellow, the women of the “Wall of Moms” in Portland, Ore., have become instant icons of the city’s protests, though the mothers nightly gatherings only began last Saturday and the city’s protests have been going on for more than a month.

They join a long line of mothers’ protests against state violence and what they view as authoritarianism around the world, including in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Armenia, which have shown that mothers can be particularly effective advocates for a cause �� but also that there is a catch.

History suggests that mothers’ power is most potent when they are able to wield their own respectability, and the protections it brings, as a political cudgel. But that is easiest for women who are already privileged: married, affluent, and members of the dominant racial or ethnic group.

Mothers who are less privileged often struggle to claim that power, even though they are often the ones who most urgently need it.

Image

Members of the Black Sash movement demonstrating against apartheid in Mmabatho, South Africa, in 1991.Credit…Gallo Images, via Shutterstock

Theresa Raiford, a Black mother who is the executive director of Don’t Shoot Portland, a local group that works to end police violence, helped to organize and direct the Wall of Moms’ early actions, but noted that the positive response to the mostly white mothers has been proof of the very racism they are protesting.

Mothers had been participating in the protests for five weeks, but “nobody recognized them until they literally put on white so they could be highlighted as white,” she said.

“What it does show us is that Black lives don’t matter here, white moms do,” she said. “And those moms know that, too. That’s why they’re standing in solidarity with us.”

‘Mothers are symbolic to the nation’

Bev Barnum, who posted the original Facebook message asking moms to come and protest, said she had asked women to color-coordinate their outfits in order to stand out in the crowd, but otherwise told them to dress “like they were going to Target.”

“I wanted us to look like moms,” Ms. Barnum, who serves as the group’s informal leader and organizer, said in an interview. “Because who wants to shoot a mom? No one.”

Mothers’ protests are often powerful precisely because the gender roles that ordinarily silence and sideline women, allowing them to be seen as nonthreatening, turn into armor for political activism, experts say.

During Armenia’s 2018 “velvet revolution,” a largely nonviolent uprising that eventually toppled the country’s leader, Serzh Sargsyan, mothers took to the streets pushing their children in strollers, indelibly tying their maternal identities to their political demands.

A demonstration in Yerevan, Armenia, in 2018.Credit…Vano Shlamov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

In Armenia, “mothers are symbolic to the nation and, to some extent, have immunity in protests,” Ulrike Ziemer, a sociologist at the University of Winchester in Britain, wrote in a 2019 book chapter about the uprising. “If police would have touched mothers with their children in prams during the protests, that would have brought shame on them individually, but also on the state apparatus they represent.”

In the Armenian protests, mothers from all walks of life were able to claim those protections, Dr. Ziemer said in an interview. But in societies that are divided along racial or ethnic lines, mothers from marginalized groups cannot access that full political power so easily.

In South Africa, the Black Sash, a group of white women who opposed the apartheid regime, were able to use their gender and race as a shield for their political activity that others could not.

“The Government has let Black Sash survive while closing down other anti-apartheid groups in part because white South African society has perched its women on pedestals,” The Times reported in 1988. “The police find it awkward to pack the paddy wagons with well-bred troublemakers who look like their mothers or sisters.”

Members of the Black Sash movement demonstrating against apartheid in Cape Town, South Africa, in the 1970s.Credit…Gallo Images, via Shutterstock

The government had no such compunction about locking up Black women. Albertina Sisulu, a pioneering Black anti-apartheid activist who was also a married mother of five, was arrested and held in solitary confinement multiple times. Countless other Black women suffered even worse fates.

In Sri Lanka, women from the Tamil minority group have been protesting for years to demand information about sons and daughters who were kidnapped by state forces during the country’s civil war and never heard from again. Their activism has drawn international attention and some limited engagement from the country’s government.

But when the women’s demands went beyond their own individual grief and engaged with politics more broadly, national politicians and civil society groups dismissed them as pawns of male activists, said Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, co-director of the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, a Sri Lanka-based think tank. As members of a marginalized minority group, she said, motherhood could take them only so far.

Tamil women holding photographs of their missing sons during a protest against the Sri Lankan government in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2013.Credit…Reuters

In the United States, there is a long tradition of Black women claiming their identities as mothers when protesting against police shootings, lynchings, and mass incarceration. But, like the Tamil activists in Sri Lanka, they have tended to be viewed through the narrow lens of their own grief and fear for their children. White women have typically been taken far more seriously by white audiences as representing mothers generally — another case of bias on display.

Ann Gregory, a lawyer and mother of two who joined the wall of moms in Portland on Sunday, said they had hoped to serve as a buffer between other demonstrators and law enforcement.

“We realize that we’re a bunch of white women, and we do have privilege,” she said. “We were hoping to use that to protect the protesters.”

“We don’t need silent victims, we need loud witnesses.”

Instead, the women got a crash course in the grievances that had set off the protests in the first place.

Ms. Barnum, new to such activism, said she was surprised when other demonstrators warned her group that they could be in danger.

“The news said that if you give the police officer a reason to fear for their life, a reasonable fear, they could hurt you,” she said. “But if you didn’t give them a reason then they wouldn’t hurt you.”

The moms, she reasoned, would be peaceful and give the officers no cause for alarm, so had no reason to worry.

That may seem an unusual belief for someone attending a protest against police violence, but it illustrates the privilege taken for granted by many people who have not had run-ins with law enforcement.

So on her first night at the protests, when federal officers fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades at the group of moms, “I couldn’t believe what was happening,” she said. “We weren’t being violent. We weren’t screaming expletives at them.”

A Wall of Moms member washing her face after being tear gassed by United States federal agents on Tuesday.Credit…Mason Trinca for The New York Times

The power wielded by police has long been justified with the claim that officers must be able to use force when necessary to protect themselves or the public, and that people who have done nothing wrong have nothing to fear. Black activists and their allies have been contesting that claim for years, but the tide of public opinion has been slow to turn against law enforcement.

However, when officers fire tear gas and projectiles at soccer moms holding sunflowers, as happened in Portland on Sunday night, even more observers — who may not previously have thought they could be at risk — see that as a fate that might befall anyone. And history suggests that could have profound political consequences.

In Argentina in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, women whose children had been “disappeared” by the military government — seized, tortured and murdered in secret — were the most visible opposition to the regime, with their distinctive white kerchiefs.

They “continually pointed out that the majority of the disappeared were not terrorists, as the junta claimed, but loyal members of the opposition, including people who had never engaged in politics and even some members of the establishment,” the political scientist Marguerite Guzman Bouvard wrote in “Revolutionizing Motherhood,” her 2002 book on the group.

“In shattering the lies that served as a rationale for the junta’s terror,” Dr. Bouvard wrote, “the Mothers exposed the glaring weakness of the entire system.”

Hebe de Bonafini, the head of Argentina’s Mothers of Plaza de Mayo group, leading a march in Buenos Aires in 1979.Credit…Eduardo Di Baia/Associated Press

There are obvious differences between the Argentine dictatorship of and the United States today. But Ms. Gregory, the Portland mother who joined Sunday’s demonstration, was deeply disturbed by the federal officers’ violent response to the protest.

“We weren’t any danger to them,” she said. “We were just standing there with flowers. We’re a bunch of middle-aged moms.”

“This isn’t what America is supposed to be like,” she said. “We’re not supposed to be ruled by militarized, jackbooted forces.”

Ms. Raiford, the longtime activist, is cautiously hopeful about the power of that message — and its messengers.

“Sometimes when people hear activists say ‘Black lives matter,’ they say ‘well that has nothing to do with me.’” she said. “But when we talk about the intrinsic value of humanity, and how all of our lives intersect because we have children, we have families, we live in communities, we have loved ones, I think that that creates less of a barrier.”

She hopes the attention on the moms will help to spread that message. “We don’t need silent victims,” she said. “We need loud witnesses.”

Read original article here.

[blueheartedmayor]

As the only one who had a puppy on this blog, Noah was a great puppy father. He's got a whole bunch of photos from his days on base while training. It was a great opportunity to help train his team, as well as his growing puppy.

It was a great distraction for everyone with the high expectations on everyone's shoulders while the crew were getting ready. Several crew have good memories of watching Barnum bolt across one of the halls with one of Noah's boots after a virtual training simulator.

[corvidbrainz]

comet >:3c

> Full Name: Comet "Comettail" [surname] (he doesnt remember his full name or if he even had one.)> Gender and Sexuality: male-presenting intersex (this is pretty much at-will and he will never tell ANYONE) and pansexual with a masc-preference> Pronouns: he/him/hisEthnicity/Species: Novakid> Birthplace and Birthdate: (shrug emoji) He honestly can't fuckin remember. He thinks it was somewhere near a Protectorate town or something.> Guilty Pleasures: oh boy. Drunk dirty dancing (and anything that might come after), pole dancing, burlesque, dark chocolate (he thinks candy is childish but he loooves it)> Phobias: forgetting everything (hes one of the few novakids to ever actually record history. he keeps andaily journal), cajsing someone he loves to die> What They Would Be Famous For: grand larson, mass murder, money laundering, theft, shock and terror- yknow what.... hes an outlaw, you can fill in the rest.> What They Would Get Arrested For: see above (though good luck catching him.)> OC You Ship Them With: @christianbrutalsniper 's OC Renegade> OC Most Likely To Murder Them: out of mine??? Jackson, maybe... possibly Onkei. Out of Chris'? Probably Ace.> Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Horror, romance, action, and westerns> Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: "damsel/dude in distress is completely and utterly useless" he hates that shit. so much. if youre just gonna stand there and look pretty while someone's savin' you then obviousky you didn't wanna get saved too badly.> Talents and/or Powers: an AMAZING shot. not as good as Barnum, Renegade, or Gun, but he's pretty damn good. Also, hes decently strong too and flexible. He normally wields a hammer, axe, broadsword, etc just because they have a good range and do more damage overall.> Why Someone Might Love Them: He's honestky charming. Sweet, loyal bartender with a rotten streak who loves as hard as he drinks and will fight to the death to keep you safe. He's, beneath all of it, a famiky man too, and is great around kids and young'uns.> Why Someone Might Hate Them: He's a ruthless killer and bounty hunter with skewed morals and little remorse. Once you end up on his list, you're really not much more than a paycheck unless it's personal.> How They Change: Heeeeee doesn't, really. Most he changes is now he's more loyal to his growing family of adopted outlaw children.> Why You Love Them: He's sweet-yet-deadly and i love that. He's just a sly, smooth- talking bartender outlaw and i love him.

[thesunisalonetoo-a]

wd wheeler (the greatest showman)

main verse // film and headcanon based.

disclaimer: all information provided is for main verse; may vary depending on verse

-future verse  

BASIC INFORMATION

full name // wyatt david wheeler nicknames or aliases or titles // wd age and birthday // 27 ; march 23 1858 home // alexandria, louisana current location // new york city, new york pronouns and gender  // he/him, agender occupation // acrobat language(s) spoken // english   accent // classic lousiana accent

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

faceclaim // Yahya Abdul-Mateen II hair colour // black eye colour // brown height // 6′3 build // wow he’s stroNK distinguishing features // i mean he’s black in a time where black people were hated so yA KNOW

ADDITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

physical conditions // n/a neurological conditions // n/a sleeping habits // likes to sleep curled up wicked tiny eating habits // omnivore; eats whatever he can exercise habits // he’s an acrobat so emotional stability // fairly stable sociability // not too social m’dudes

FAMILY

parent(s)// dakarai & matlida okeke sibling(s) // anne wheeler (half-sibling) significant other(s) // n/a child(ren) // n/a

SOCIAL STATUS

financial //  wealthy / moderate / POOR / in poverty medical //  FIT / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged class or caste //  upper / middle / WORKING / slave / unsure education //  QUALIFIED / unqualified / studying

BELIEFS

general // some sort of christian belief in ghosts or spirits //  yes / NO / don’t know / don’t care. belief in an afterlife // YES / no / don’t know / don’t care. belief in reincarnation //  yes / NO / don’t know / don’t care. belief in aliens //  yes / NO / don’t know / don’t care. belief in karma //  yes / NO / don’t know / don’t care. religious //  orthodox / LIBERAL / in between / not religious.

PERSONALITY

mbti // isfj hogwarts house // hufflepuff moral alignment // lawful neutral

ROMANTIC / SEXUAL INCLINATIONS

romantic orientation// aromantic sexual orientation // asexual polyamorous or monogamous // n/a

PREFERENTIAL TENDENCIES

extroverted / INTROVERTED / in between disorganized / ORGANIZED / in between CLOSE MINDED / open-minded / in between CALM / anxious / in between DISAGREEABLE / agreeable / in between CAUTIOUS / reckless / in between PATIENT / impatient / in between outspoken / RESERVED / in between leader / FOLLOWER / in between EMPATHETIC / unemphatic / in between optimistic / PESSIMISTIC / in between TRADITIONAL / modern / in between HARD-WORKING / lazy / in between CULTURED / un-cultured / in between / unknown LOYAL / disloyal / unknown faithful / unfaithful / UNKNOWN

VICES

drinking alcohol //  never / SOMETIMES / frequently / to excess. smoking //  NEVER / sometimes / frequently / to excess. other narcotics // NEVER / sometimes / frequently / to excess. indulgent food //  NEVER / sometimes / frequently / to excess. splurge spending // NEVER / sometimes / frequently / to excess. gambling //  NEVER / sometimes / frequently / to excess. violence //  never / SOMETIMES / frequently / to excess.

________

Wyatt David Wheeler was born in 1858 in Alexandria, Louisiana. His father, Dakarai, was 28 and his mother, Matilda, was 17. He lost his father when he was only 5 years old. He has one half-sister, Anne Lillian Wheeler, born to his mother and their slave master. W.D. was born into slavery alongside his parents; his father Dakarai Okeke, died when he was 5, in 1863.

In 1865, Matilda and her son fled to Madison, Louisiana, when the Civil War ended, after Lincoln was shot, fearing what her master would do now that the messiah of a president was dead. Upon getting settled as a servant, she drew up papers for her children, Anne being born soon after they moved, and legally defined their name as Wheeler so Lea and his family would have no connection to them and couldn’t harm them. When they were old enough, the Wheeler children got odd jobs to help support the family, practicing acrobatics and finding their love of it in their free time in an abandoned theater nearby.

In 1881, Matilda caught ill and was bedridden for a year. Her children worked harder to support her, but all was for naught, as within in a year, in 1882, Matilda died and left her children alone in the world. She died at the age of 41.

Anne suggested that they move to New York to chase their dream of being acrobats since there was no point living in Louisiana anymore with their mother having passed. The two moved to New York City in 1883 and settled into laborious jobs. They joined PT Barnum’s Circus in 1885 and finally achieved their dream.

[richardpiccolo]

#109 - Hell Hath No Fury Like A Fixer Scorned: The Michael Cohen Story

The admission of guilt by President Trump’s former fixer and his implication of the President in the same criminal activity represent an astounding turnaround for the man who less than a year ago said he would take a bullet for Mr. Trump.

Cohen admitted last week in open court that he violated campaign finance laws “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,”

Hmmm…. who could that be?

To understand how we got here, you have to understand the role that Mhael Cohen played for Mr. Trump, his personal issues, and most importantly, you have to understand what the President really thought of him.

Cohen began his career as an attorney pursuing one of the least respected segments of the American legal world, personal injury law.  Yes, he hails from that group of low level bottom feeders who actually make other lawyers look good.  Here he honed the skills which would set him on a most unusual career trajectory.

In 2006 Cohen landed a job working for Trump back, impressing him with the fact that he had read “The Art of Deal”....twice.   Don’t laugh, he knew the best way in with Trump was to flatter him, besides, anyone who could get through that literary jewel once, deserves a medal.  Over time, Cohen convinced family and friends to buy condominiums in the Trump World Tower which helped Trump gain control of the condominium board, and he soon became Mr. Trump’s BFF, or so it seemed to Michael anyway.

This newly minted pit bull had found his purpose in life. Cohen told ABC News in 2011 that "If somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn't like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump's benefit. If you do something wrong,  I'm going to come at you, grab you by the neck and I'm not going to let you go until I'm finished."

Grab you by the neck…..Nice.  Remember my earlier point about making other lawyers look good? I rest my case.

Between 2011 and 2016 Cohen worked behind the scenes working to gloss over the scandal regarding the alleged rape by Trump of his first wife, and the affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougle and may or may not have met with Russian officials in Prague in 2016 with the objective of paying those who had hacked the DNC and to "cover up all traces of the hacking operation.   The Fixer was proving his value and earning his pay.

But with Trump’s surprise election victory, The Fixer was presented with a new opportunity, to be part of something bigger, to be part of that luxury cruise that was sailing south to DC and included all the beautiful people who had made it possible for Trump to get there, including: Jared, Ivanka, Hope Hicks, Kellyanne, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn and even Trump’s old bodyguard, but a funny thing happened on the way to the big dance, the President’s fixer was left behind.  Early on his name had been in the mix for the coveted Chief of Staff position, but in the end the man who helped make it possible for Trump to succeed, was all of a sudden, the odd man out.   His fix-it skills would not be welcome in the pristine halls of the White House.

With the President now ensconced in the Oval Office and looking to distance himself from the unsavory activities of his fixer, Cohen had to morph, and he quickly seized on a bigger and better opportunity, peddling access to the big guy and providing insider knowledge to anyone with a big wallet. In the months following Trump’s election in November 2016, Cohen negotiated payments totaling $600K from AT&T for “his opinion on the new President and his administration”, which it’s CEO would later describe as…. “a big mistake”,

Novartis, a Switzerland–based pharmaceutical giant, paid Cohen $1.2M to help the company understand the "health care policy" of the new administration. Novartis subsequently admitted to the public, and thus to its shareholders, that it did not actually receive any benefit for its investment.  The fact that Trump had no health care policy was apparently lost on the Novartis executives. Excuse me sirs, I have some ideas on a health care, and you can have them for $10. Call me.  

But the next one is best described by the old PT Barnum ascribed statement “There’s a sucker born every minute”.  Korea Aerospace Industries paid Cohen for advice on “Cost Accounting Standards,” those highly technical bookkeeping rules that would apply to the company’s bid for U.S. defense work.  If Cohen actually spoke the words “Cost Accounting Standards” once in his lifetime, it would be a shock.

In a matter of months, Cohen had pulled in $2 million, for doing….nothing, which begs the obvious question: Why can’t I get a gig like that? Soon, all of his clients realized that they had been sold a bill of goods, that The Fixer was just another one of Trump’s snake oil salesmen, and they weren’t going to get any bang for their buck.  And that’s because The Fixer had no real insight from the President to offer, because, because, wait for it, wait for it it….the President simply didn’t need him anymore.  His usefulness had expired. Loyalty was a one-way street for this president

And so now, the disrespect was out there, out in the open, for all to see.

But, this wasn’t really anything new, and deep down Cohen knew it.  Of all the stories printed about the President’s relationship with his former fixer, the most compelling one was the President’s reported humiliation of Cohen at his own son's bar mitzvah in 2012.  One attendee told the Wall Street Journal that Trump was so late to the event that Cohen delayed the blessings. Trump then spoke and said that he hadn't actually planned on attending but came after Cohen begged him to come by repeatedly calling him, his secretary, and his children.  On one of the most important days of Cohen’s life, the President took center stage and then used it to belittle his loyal servant.  It’s unlikely that Trump’s performance that day was a surprise to anyone who knew him, but the fact that Cohen accepted this embarrassment and didn’t immediately bail on his boss was.

Fast forward to April 2018.  Already suffering financial difficulties from the devaluation of NY City taxi medallions which he owned (thank you Uber), federal prosecutors raided Cohen’s home and office for anything they could lay their hands on.   Trump’s own instinct for self-preservation immediately kicked in, contending that federal prosecutors were looking more at Cohen's business dealings than the legal work he'd done on Trump's behalf.  "Michael is a businessman, he's got a business. He also practices law," Trump said back then "And they're looking at something having to do with his business. I have nothing to do with his business”.

So much for loyalty.  So much for honor among thieves.

And then in June, almost out the blue, with absolutely no correlation with his legal and financial troubles, Cohen signaled he was having a change of heart and blasted the president’s “zero tolerance” policy under which children have been separated from their parents after illegal border crossings.

“As the son of a Polish holocaust survivor, the images and sounds of this family separation policy is heart wrenching,” Cohen wrote, marking the first time he had publicly distanced himself from Trump.

“While I strongly support measures that will secure our porous borders, children should never be used as bargaining chips,” he added.

“He’s turned his life around from what he did for Donald Trump, much of which he now regrets,” Davis said on the Today Show. “That’s the kind of thing that caused Michael Cohen to change his mind, and decide to dedicate himself to telling the truth to the American people.”

Whoa! Where did all this come from? The Fixer has a conscious?  Who knew?  But there was still more to come.

Cohen’s new attorney, Lanny Davis, recently upped the ante in this chess game, stating his client now believes Trump is “unsuitable to hold the office”, citing Trump’s refusal to accept the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that the Russians were responsible for the election disruption, while standing next to Vladimir Putin.

In the midst of all his legal troubles, pleading guilty, cooperating with the Feds WITHOUT some type of formal leniency deal, Cohen and his attorney were speaking out on the President’s abhorrent policy on the separation of children from their refugee families and on the President’s performance at the Helsinki Summit.

Good-bye Presidential pardon.

The Wall Street Journal later reported that Cohen’s turning point may have been influenced by his elderly father, Maurice, a Holocaust survivor, who reportedly told his son that he did not survive the Nazi genocide to have his name dragged through the mud by Trump.  Maurice had no doubt seen Trump ‘perform’ at his grandson’s bar mitzvah and that was likely all he would ever need to see.  He likely filed this event away and would pull it out if the time every came when he needed it.   No doubt Trump’s pull back from his formerly loyal fixer and his disparaging comments, was that time, and Maurice likely reminded his son of that event to convince him that Trump would never have his back. Never.  

There’s no way of knowing where the Michael Cohen story will end.  Has the former fixer and would-be influence peddler had a legitimate change of heart?  How much information does he have on Trump’s shady dealings?  Will he spill it all to the Feds?  Can it be corroborated?   And will it even make a difference?    

t’s still too early to answer any of those questions, but maybe this Prodigal Son has in fact returned home to right things with his father, and just maybe The Fixer had decided that it was time to fix things, once and for all.

[mhsn033]

The Greatest Showman: The story of Cardiff’s giant

Train copyright Bettmann

Train caption George Auger with Hollywood film stars Charlie Chaplin and Douglas MacLean

He became billed as the tallest man on earth by The Most difficult Showman’s famed circus, became acknowledged to be a bodyguard to Queen Victoria and has hyperlinks to the Absolutely Amazing TV existing theme tune.

‘Captain’ George Auger became apparently 8ft 4in (2.5m) immense and it sounds as if bought his title from Queen Victoria who became acknowledged to gain given him the nickname after he “safe” her.

His profession in showbiz apparently began unintentionally when he became offered a job by the famed Barnum and Bailey Circus – the focus of the hit Hugh Jackman film blockbuster of 2017.

The chronicle goes that Auger became approached by circus bosses after he modified into as much as glimpse one in all their touring reveals – and became truly taller than their ‘tallest man act’.

Train copyright Twentieth Century Fox Movie Company

Train caption Auger became a megastar in the circus that grew to changed into the focus of a Hollywood hit film

After transferring to the United States and changing into a mainstay in Barnum and Bailey’s “freak existing style” circus, Auger became on the verge of breaking into the films when tragedy struck.

The day sooner than he became due to the switch to California for a $350-a-week role alongside Hollywood astronomical Harold Lloyd in a film, he died feeble 40.

Such became his reputation in the US, a total bunch watched as his body became lowered on a crane in a particularly made coffin from the 2nd-floor window of his New York home because he couldn’t fit down the stairs – as his faithful bulldog Ringling looked on whining.

And there followed a nationwide publicity marketing campaign to safe a replacement for his section in a film that went on to wow critics.

Train copyright Getty Photos

Train caption George Auger became due to the present in a film with Hollywood megastar Harold Lloyd except Auger died

A story of an unknown Welsh hero

This will not be a immense chronicle, rather a story just a few immense man – in most cases called the British Goliath, but mostly the ‘Cardiff broad’ – one in all Wales’ unknown heroes.

“From the slums of Cardiff to the verge of Hollywood, via Queen Victoria and being a freak existing megastar of the enviornment’s most famed circus,” acknowledged astronomical nephew Bob Osbourne.

“Then loss of life the day sooner than you embark for your film profession – it merits a film of its like.”

George Auger became born between Christmas and New twelve months to mum Elizabeth and used Military Corporal and policeman father Henry in Cardiff in 1881 – not named George, but William Henry Auger.

“His fogeys were usual size but George became a freak of nature and had gigantism,” added Bob, who has researched his family and astronomical uncle George’s “surreal” chronicle.

After transferring to London as a child, Auger lied about his age to web into the Royal Marine Gentle Infantry feeble correct 12. He doubtlessly bought away with it because he became already 5ft 8in (1.72m) immense. He lasted lower than a twelve months sooner than deserting.

He lied about his age but again just a few years later to ticket up for Gigantic Western Railways in Paddington – claiming he became 19 when correct 15 – when he joined up as a policeman.

‘Captain’ gets Royal Ascent

It became here that his ‘captain’ denomination happened – a put he would adopt to his earnings in just a few years on the diversified side of the Atlantic.

Train copyright PA Media

Train caption Queen Victoria reigned for 63 years over a duration of business, cultural, political and scientific commerce

He never held an loyal captain contaminated however the title is presupposed to gain reach from Queen Victoria after he became assigned as her police escort whereas she travelled around London.

“He became picked up by Queen Victoria to be a non-public bodyguard,” acknowledged Bob. “His job became to stand there and glance immense and menacing.”

Properly, the ‘captain’ trace lasted longer than the job as he became dismissed as a police officer after correct a twelve months in 1899.

Auger became simplest 17 when he began work as a doorman in London’s West Pause and on the flip of the 20th Century, he had grown to 7ft 4in (2.23m) and became described as the 2nd tallest man on this planet.

A broad jump into showbiz

His profession in entertainment tentatively began in a Christmas panto as, you’ve got guessed it, a broad in Ealing Theatre’s 1900 edition of Puss in Boots.

Then came his accidental distinguished wreck – when he went to a present as a spectator and ended up changing into the headline act.

Train copyright Universal Historic previous Archive

Train caption Auger’s distinguished showbiz wreck happened as a spectator at a Barnum and Bailey circus

Articles from the day train Auger went to a Barnum and Bailey Circus efficiency whereas they were on tour in London. After noticing he became taller than their tallest man act, the existing’s administration it sounds as if encouraged him to commute to The US to ticket up for the company.

“He looked as if it would perhaps possible not correct be in the factual location on the factual time but he capitalised on those alternatives,” acknowledged Bob, an artist whose grandmother Hilda became born 30 years after her very distinguished brother.

“What are the possibilities of Barnum coming over, seeing someone tower over everyone else, getting him on stage subsequent to their like broad, sacking their like broad and telling him reach to New York and we will produce you a megastar.

“It reveals plenty of bravery for a boy from a peasant family – and one which had doubtlessly been pointed at in the streets and the butt of jokes – to truly take the fall and scuttle to New York.

“This became a distinguished accelerate in those days and he’d be leaving his feeble lifestyles on the help of because dialog became rare then.”

So, in March 1904 he and contemporary wife Elizabeth board the SS La Bretagne at Le Havre in France scramble for New York.

His American dream

His arrival in The US hit the headlines as The New York Times described his downhearted transatlantic outing, where he needed to plot his knees up below his chin to sleep in his six-foot berth.

The newsletter confirms he became due to the look in the Barnum and Bailey Circus existing that would perhaps possible originate at New York Metropolis’s famed Madison Sq. Backyard later that month.

Train copyright Universal Historic previous Archive

Train caption The US’s most primary and oldest circus ran for 146 years

‘Captain George Auger, the Cardiff Giant, the tallest man on earth’, screamed the billboards promoting the self-anointed and consistently modest Most difficult Conceal on Earth.

By this time he became his stout 8ft 4in – in case you’re thinking that what you learn from the time. To connect that into context, he would gain needed to duck in latest residing rooms.

“He had dwarfs in his pocket and acquired as much as things that are fully non-PC,” acknowledged Bob.

“He would perhaps possible very successfully be forgiven for looking a aloof lifestyles because he had a wierd broad glance and other folks on the boulevard would gain pointed fingers at him but he transformed that into a enterprise opportunity.

“He became moderately entrepreneurial, he embraced his size and monetised it – the epitome of the American Dream I counsel.” acknowledged Bob.

Train copyright Library of Congress

Train caption Barnum and Bailey circuses toured The US and their acts grew to changed into successfully-acknowledged stars

“He grew to changed into a celeb in the US, he wasn’t correct immense but had megastar quality that gave him that allure. Of us feeble to pay for him to return around their home and gain pictures with their children.

“He milked it and who can blame him? Taking a explore so diversified and being a bit of of a freak, I accumulate he loved being loved.”

Train copyright Auger family

Train caption A collage of pictures, kept by his family, reveals Auger in a diversity of groups to intensify his peak

The cash-making from his indecent size took a brand contemporary twist by 1907 when Auger had swapped the freak existing for his like existing – even even supposing quiet taking half in a broad.

Write the theme tune, insist the theme tune

Auger made himself the headline act in Jack the Giant Killer and conducted ‘the tallest man on earth’ – and proper to intensify his broad frame, he cast the ‘smallest comic on this planet’.

“The real fact he authored a play and took it on tour prompt him a ways from correct being gawped at in a circus,” acknowledged Cardiff historian Ted Richards, who has been focused on contemporary compare into Auger’s lifestyles chronicle, which has uncovered contemporary particulars about his Cardiff origins and family.

“He came upon a area of interest for himself and he executed some produce of happiness.”

Train copyright Twentieth Century Fox Movie Company

Train caption The Most difficult Showman is one in all basically the most a success musical movies of all time

The 26-twelve months-feeble took his existing to Europe in 1908 – docking in Liverpool aboard the RMS Lusitania.

The actor grew to changed into an American citizen in 1917 and became support in the circus a twelve months later with a brand contemporary nickname – the ‘Cardiff Colossus’ .

‘Made basically the most difficult of what nature gave him’

Auger became though-provoking to swap the relentless touring of circus lifestyles for the glitz and glamour of the up-and-coming Hollywood scene in 1922 when tragedy struck.

He had been cast in a film produced by Hal Roach, who crafted the Laurel and Hardy franchise, to megastar alongside Hollywood royalty Harold Lloyd as the tall Colosso in Why Apprehension?

Train copyright Underwood Archives

Train caption Harold Lloyd became a super name in silent movies and became due to the megastar alongside Auger

But after a thanksgiving day meal at chums he became staying with, Auger died of excessive indigestion.

His obituary described him as a factual natured, likable 8ft 4in (2.5m) one that lounged via lifestyles making an strive to present basically the most difficult of what nature had served him.

Auger’s body needed to be lowered in a particularly made coffin from the 2nd floor window of the The broad apple home with an estimated 1,000 other folks taking a explore on.

Train copyright Bettmann

Train caption John Aasen became cast as the tall alongside Harold Lloyd in Why Apprehension? after a nationwide marketing campaign to safe Auger’s replacement

Auger’s funeral became attended by many showbiz chums and colleagues from the circus, including Ringling, his right and exact bulldog.

“It a standard chronicle of someone that looks to be like diversified, finds happiness however the chronicle ends in disappointment,” acknowledged Bob.

“A freak born into abject poverty and residing in the slums, turns into bodyguard for the Queen, gets spotted by the greatest circus of all time, strikes to New York, turns into a celeb and gets a Hollywood wreck but dies of indigestion the day sooner than going.

“The chronicle doesn’t need any embellishment, or not it is bought all of it. And he became simplest 40.”

So we will never know how distinguished the Cardiff broad will were.

“He would perhaps possible’ve long previous on to be one in all Wales’ greatest entertainment exports,” added Mr Richards, chairman of Roath Local Historic previous Society in Cardiff.

“We’ve got had some distinguished names that gain broken The US like Dame Shirley Bassey, Sir Tom Jones and Sir Anthony Hopkins – but he would were the greatest, actually.”

Absolutely Amazing legacy

Train caption Auger’s nephew wrote and conducted the theme tune to TV hit existing Absolutely Amazing

But the Auger connection with the stage did not quit there – as one in all the family did produce it to Hollywood as a showbiz megastar of his like.

Auger’s mom and father split when their first born son became about 12 – and dad Henry is believed to gain had 19 children with three diversified companions.

Certainly one of Auger’s younger brothers had a son in 1939 – and Brian Auger went on to changed into an executed musician, jammed with Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix and shaped a 1960s band with Rod Stewart.

Train copyright ullstein bild

Train caption Auger’s nephew Brian conducted ‘Wheels on Fire’ – written by Bob Dylan – with Julie Driscoll

And with Julie Driscoll, he sang the 1968 hit ‘Wheels on Fire’ which would perhaps changed into one in all basically the most recognisable TV theme tunes of all time to BBC TV comedy traditional ‘Absolutely Amazing’.

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[ladystylestores]

Mothers’ Power in U.S. Protests Echoes a Global Tradition

Wearing matching shades of white or yellow, the women of the “Wall of Moms” in Portland, Ore., have become instant icons of the city’s protests, though the mothers nightly gatherings only began last Saturday and the city’s protests have been going on for more than a month.

They join a long line of mothers’ protests against state violence and what they view as authoritarianism around the world, including in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Armenia, which have shown that mothers can be particularly effective advocates for a cause — but also that there is a catch.

History suggests that mothers’ power is most potent when they are able to wield their own respectability, and the protections it brings, as a political cudgel. But that is easiest for women who are already privileged: married, affluent, and members of the dominant racial or ethnic group.

Mothers who are less privileged often struggle to claim that power, even though they are often the ones who most urgently need it.

Theresa Raiford, a Black mother who is the executive director of Don’t Shoot Portland, a local group that works to end police violence, helped to organize and direct the Wall of Moms’ early actions, but noted that the positive response to the mostly white mothers has been proof of the very racism they are protesting.

Mothers had been participating in the protests for five weeks, but “nobody recognized them until they literally put on white so they could be highlighted as white,” she said.

“What it does show us is that Black lives don’t matter here, white moms do,” she said. “And those moms know that, too. That’s why they’re standing in solidarity with us.”

‘Mothers are symbolic to the nation’

Bev Barnum, who posted the original Facebook message asking moms to come and protest, said she had asked women to color-coordinate their outfits in order to stand out in the crowd, but otherwise told them to dress “like they were going to Target.”

“I wanted us to look like moms,” Ms. Barnum, who serves as the group’s informal leader and organizer, said in an interview. “Because who wants to shoot a mom? No one.”

Mothers’ protests are often powerful precisely because the gender roles that ordinarily silence and sideline women, allowing them to be seen as nonthreatening, turn into armor for political activism, experts say.

During Armenia’s 2018 “velvet revolution,” a largely nonviolent uprising that eventually toppled the country’s leader, Serzh Sargsyan, mothers took to the streets pushing their children in strollers, indelibly tying their maternal identities to their political demands.

In Armenia, “mothers are symbolic to the nation and, to some extent, have immunity in protests,” Ulrike Ziemer, a sociologist at the University of Winchester in Britain, wrote in a 2019 book chapter about the uprising. “If police would have touched mothers with their children in prams during the protests, that would have brought shame on them individually, but also on the state apparatus they represent.”

In the Armenian protests, mothers from all walks of life were able to claim those protections, Dr. Ziemer said in an interview. But in societies that are divided along racial or ethnic lines, mothers from marginalized groups cannot access that full political power so easily.

In South Africa, the Black Sash, a group of white women who opposed the apartheid regime, were able to use their gender and race as a shield for their political activity that others could not.

“The Government has let Black Sash survive while closing down other anti-apartheid groups in part because white South African society has perched its women on pedestals,” The Times reported in 1988. “The police find it awkward to pack the paddy wagons with well-bred troublemakers who look like their mothers or sisters.”

The government had no such compunction about locking up Black women. Albertina Sisulu, a pioneering Black anti-apartheid activist who was also a married mother of five, was arrested and held in solitary confinement multiple times. Countless other Black women suffered even worse fates.

In Sri Lanka, women from the Tamil minority group have been protesting for years to demand information about sons and daughters who were kidnapped by state forces during the country’s civil war and never heard from again. Their activism has drawn international attention and some limited engagement from the country’s government.

But when the women’s demands went beyond their own individual grief and engaged with politics more broadly, national politicians and civil society groups dismissed them as pawns of male activists, said Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, co-director of the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, a Sri Lanka-based think tank. As members of a marginalized minority group, she said, motherhood could take them only so far.

In the United States, there is a long tradition of Black women claiming their identities as mothers when protesting against police shootings, lynchings, and mass incarceration. But, like the Tamil activists in Sri Lanka, they have tended to be viewed through the narrow lens of their own grief and fear for their children. White women have typically been taken far more seriously by white audiences as representing mothers generally — another case of bias on display.

Ann Gregory, a lawyer and mother of two who joined the wall of moms in Portland on Sunday, said they had hoped to serve as a buffer between other demonstrators and law enforcement.

“We realize that we’re a bunch of white women, and we do have privilege,” she said. “We were hoping to use that to protect the protesters.”

“We don’t need silent victims, we need loud witnesses.”

Instead, the women got a crash course in the grievances that had set off the protests in the first place.

Ms. Barnum, new to such activism, said she was surprised when other demonstrators warned her group that they could be in danger.

“The news said that if you give the police officer a reason to fear for their life, a reasonable fear, they could hurt you,” she said. “But if you didn’t give them a reason then they wouldn’t hurt you.”

The moms, she reasoned, would be peaceful and give the officers no cause for alarm, so had no reason to worry.

That may seem an unusual belief for someone attending a protest against police violence, but it illustrates the privilege taken for granted by many people who have not had run-ins with law enforcement.

So on her first night at the protests, when federal officers fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades at the group of moms, “I couldn’t believe what was happening,” she said. “We weren’t being violent. We weren’t screaming expletives at them.”

The power wielded by police has long been justified with the claim that officers must be able to use force when necessary to protect themselves or the public, and that people who have done nothing wrong have nothing to fear. Black activists and their allies have been contesting that claim for years, but the tide of public opinion has been slow to turn against law enforcement.

However, when officers fire tear gas and projectiles at soccer moms holding sunflowers, as happened in Portland on Sunday night, even more observers — who may not previously have thought they could be at risk — see that as a fate that might befall anyone. And history suggests that could have profound political consequences.

In Argentina in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, women whose children had been “disappeared” by the military government — seized, tortured and murdered in secret — were the most visible opposition to the regime, with their distinctive white kerchiefs.

They “continually pointed out that the majority of the disappeared were not terrorists, as the junta claimed, but loyal members of the opposition, including people who had never engaged in politics and even some members of the establishment,” the political scientist Marguerite Guzman Bouvard wrote in “Revolutionizing Motherhood,” her 2002 book on the group.

“In shattering the lies that served as a rationale for the junta’s terror,” Dr. Bouvard wrote, “the Mothers exposed the glaring weakness of the entire system.”

There are obvious differences between the Argentine dictatorship of and the United States today. But Ms. Gregory, the Portland mother who joined Sunday’s demonstration, was deeply disturbed by the federal officers’ violent response to the protest.

“We weren’t any danger to them,” she said. “We were just standing there with flowers. We’re a bunch of middle-aged moms.”

“This isn’t what America is supposed to be like,” she said. “We’re not supposed to be ruled by militarized, jackbooted forces.”

Ms. Raiford, the longtime activist, is cautiously hopeful about the power of that message — and its messengers.

“Sometimes when people hear activists say ‘Black lives matter,’ they say ‘well that has nothing to do with me.’” she said. “But when we talk about the intrinsic value of humanity, and how all of our lives intersect because we have children, we have families, we live in communities, we have loved ones, I think that that creates less of a barrier.”

She hopes the attention on the moms will help to spread that message. “We don’t need silent victims,” she said. “We need loud witnesses.”

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[thesunisalonetooaa]

WYATT DAVID WHEELER

main verse // film and headcanon based.

disclaimer: all information provided is for main verse; may vary depending on verse

-future verse  

BASIC INFORMATION

full name // wyatt david wheeler nicknames or aliases or titles // wd age and birthday // 27 ; march 23 1858 home // alexandria, louisana current location // new york city, new york pronouns and gender  // he/him, agender occupation // acrobat language(s) spoken // english   accent // classic lousiana accent

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

faceclaim // Yahya Abdul-Mateen II hair colour // black eye colour // brown height // 6′3 build // wow he’s stroNK distinguishing features // i mean he’s black in a time where black people were hated so yA KNOW

ADDITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

physical conditions // n/a neurological conditions // n/a sleeping habits // likes to sleep curled up wicked tiny eating habits // omnivore; eats whatever he can exercise habits // he’s an acrobat so emotional stability // fairly stable sociability // not too social m’dudes

FAMILY

parent(s)// dakarai & matlida okeke sibling(s) // anne wheeler (half-sibling) significant other(s) // n/a child(ren) // n/a

SOCIAL STATUS

financial //  wealthy / moderate / POOR / in poverty medical //  FIT / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged class or caste //  upper / middle / WORKING / slave / unsure education //  QUALIFIED / unqualified / studying

BELIEFS

general // some sort of christian belief in ghosts or spirits //  yes / NO / don’t know / don’t care. belief in an afterlife // YES / no / don’t know / don’t care. belief in reincarnation //  yes / NO / don’t know / don’t care. belief in aliens //  yes / NO / don’t know / don’t care. belief in karma //  yes / NO / don’t know / don’t care. religious //  orthodox / LIBERAL / in between / not religious.

PERSONALITY

mbti // isfj hogwarts house // hufflepuff moral alignment // lawful neutral

ROMANTIC / SEXUAL INCLINATIONS

romantic orientation// aromantic sexual orientation // asexual polyamorous or monogamous // n/a

PREFERENTIAL TENDENCIES

extroverted / INTROVERTED / in between disorganized / ORGANIZED / in between CLOSE MINDED / open-minded / in between CALM / anxious / in between DISAGREEABLE / agreeable / in between CAUTIOUS / reckless / in between PATIENT / impatient / in between outspoken / RESERVED / in between leader / FOLLOWER / in between EMPATHETIC / unemphatic / in between optimistic / PESSIMISTIC / in between TRADITIONAL / modern / in between HARD-WORKING / lazy / in between CULTURED / un-cultured / in between / unknown LOYAL / disloyal / unknown faithful / unfaithful / UNKNOWN

VICES

drinking alcohol //  never / SOMETIMES / frequently / to excess. smoking //  NEVER / sometimes / frequently / to excess. other narcotics // NEVER / sometimes / frequently / to excess. indulgent food //  NEVER / sometimes / frequently / to excess. splurge spending // NEVER / sometimes / frequently / to excess. gambling //  NEVER / sometimes / frequently / to excess. violence //  never / SOMETIMES / frequently / to excess.

________

Wyatt David Wheeler was born in 1858 in Alexandria, Louisiana. His father, Dakarai, was 28 and his mother, Matilda, was 17. He lost his father when he was only 5 years old. He has one half-sister, Anne Lillian Wheeler, born to his mother and their slave master. W.D. was born into slavery alongside his parents; his father Dakarai Okeke, died when he was 5, in 1863.

In 1865, Matilda and her son fled to Madison, Louisiana, when the Civil War ended, after Lincoln was shot, fearing what her master would do now that the messiah of a president was dead. Upon getting settled as a servant, she drew up papers for her children, Anne being born soon after they moved, and legally defined their name as Wheeler so Lea and his family would have no connection to them and couldn’t harm them. When they were old enough, the Wheeler children got odd jobs to help support the family, practicing acrobatics and finding their love of it in their free time in an abandoned theater nearby.

In 1881, Matilda caught ill and was bedridden for a year. Her children worked harder to support her, but all was for naught, as within in a year, in 1882, Matilda died and left her children alone in the world. She died at the age of 41.

Anne suggested that they move to New York to chase their dream of being acrobats since there was no point living in Louisiana anymore with their mother having passed. The two moved to New York City in 1883 and settled into laborious jobs. They joined PT Barnum’s Circus in 1885 and finally achieved their dream.

[keywestlou]

MORNING STEW #6

A number of significant topics today beginning with my yesterday and then into the world. I generally share the topics in some sort of order. On a day like this it would add an hour to the blog. No time today. I have been at it 2.5 hours gathering the information. Started at 6:30. Need to be done by 11.

So I present you with a Morning Stew. Number 6.

Cath scan time yesterday in the hospital. My appointment was for 1. Did not get taken till 2:30. Thought they were taking another look at my aortic stenosis. Nurse told me order sheet indicated aortic aneurysm. Bothered me. I have known for several years about the aneurysm. Do not think about it. Now it is back in my thought process.

Had to fast for the Cath scan. Was hungry following the test. Back to Harpoon Harry’s. Wednesday is Thanksgiving turkey day. I enjoyed a complete turkey meal.

When last in friday, I forgot to tip the waitress. Embarrassing. First thing I did when I arrived yesterday was to find her and give her a $5 bill. She was grateful, but said she actually did not remember me nor that I failed to tip her.

Whatever, I have made a friend for life.

The waitress actually waiting on me was Allana. European born, she has been in the U.S. 30 years. Twenty seven in Aspen. The last 3 in Key West. Knows how to pick her spots to live!

The time sitting around the hospital waiting for the Cath scan gave me time to finish Becoming Michelle Obama. I enjoyed reading it. Recommend you read it.

Nothing fantastic about the book. It is merely the step by step progression of Michelle’s life from her birth in South Chicago to retirement now following the White House. A modest work. Personal. Like Barrack still leaves his dirty socks on the floor.

Today, a haircut at noon with Lori. Lunch. The Farmers Market at Bayview Park for a special bread and tomatoes that are softer than the rocks available at Publix.

I am looking forward to this evening. Dinner at the home of Larry and Cindy. A couple I have visited with 2 years in a row at the Chart Room. They are from Ontario, Canada. Have a second home on the golf course.

Cindy is cooking.

I have a special affinity to Cindy. She is a loyal blog follower.

I will not be appearing with Laurie Thibault this afternoon on her radio show. Traffic is so heavy this time of year that I would be late for dinner. Tune in however. Laurie needs no help. A born natural for radio. Station 107.5 FM, WGAY FM.

Sex and the Catholic Church. Back in the limelight. Today the beginning of a conference of Bishops. A Sex Abuse Prevention Summit at the Vatican. Pope Francis presiding.

The problem an open wound.

The issues will center around gay priests, secret rules, and the abuse of nuns.

A dynamite conference in the making!

Trump has nominated Jeffrey Rosen to be Deputy Attorney General. He will be the #2 person in the Justice Department.

His only connection to the law is that he is a Harvard law grad. Never worked in criminal prosecution. No police background of any kind.

Why? Of what value will he be? I fear another Trump step in trying to destroy the Department of Justice.

Tired last night. Watched Syracuse/Louisville at 7 from home. Syracuse won decisively 69-49.

A great game!

Next #1 Duke on saturday at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse beat Duke 2 weeks ago on Duke’s home court. Duke was #1 at the time, also.

There is a gluttony overtaking college sports.

I watched part of the Duke/North Carolina game following the Syracuse one. Obama was there. No seats available. A huge sell out.

Certain seats were going for $2,600 each. Super Bowl prices. It was announced that 4 seats at the Syracuse/Duke game saturday will be selling for $3,500 each.

College ball? Professional ball?

There is a drive underway to pay college athletes. In addition to free tuition, room and board. The argument is they are making their schools rich.

The day is coming. Very soon. I don’t like it. Something wrong with paying college athletes especially after they are getting a free ride to a college education.

Iran recently publicly hung a 31 year old man for being gay. Seventy one countries have criminalized homosexuality. Eight of them call for the death penalty.

In Iran, gays as young as 9 can be put to death. And they are.

Lesbians included.

Now comes Donald Trump to lead the battle to end the criminalization of homosexuality across the globe. Announced yesterday. He says he will launch a campaign and lead the cause.

Something irregular here. Trump goes out of his way in the U.S. to do whatever he can to hurt the gay community. He is anti LGBT. His most recent action to prevent transgenders from being in the military.

Hypocrisy? You better believe it.

I can remember John L. Lewis. He was a big man in union work in the 1930’s through 1950’s. A huge man with bushy eyebrows.He was CEO of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and President of the United Mine Workers.

An autocrat in his work. Tough guy similar to Trump. A liar, also. He was described during his time as the most experienced truth-twisting wind bag ever produced in the U.S.

Possessed brass testicles. He called a coal strike during World War II.

I mention Lewis today because on this day in 1940 he was a guest at the Casa Marina.

Cemetery stroll sunday. The Key West Cemetery. The history of our island carved into the stones. Always a crowd. Reservations required. Three starting times 9:30 to 10:10. A $20 donation requested.

I love the cemetery. One of the best stones reads: “I Told You I Was Sick.”

Washington Post columnist Reuben Navarrette in a recent article wrote about Trump, El Paso, and his lies.

Trump was in El Paso this past week pushing the border wall/barrier, whatever it is called. He claimed El Paso had one of the highest crime rates in the U.S. till a wall was built on their border. The problem is El Paso was never a high crime city. Before, during or after the wall was built.

Typical Trump exaggeration, lie.

Navarrette wrote  that Trump “…..since his days selling real estate in Manhattan, has never let the truth interfere with a good pitch. The PT Barnum of Fifth Avenue used to attempt to convince people that the Trump Tower had ten more floors than it really did.”

He continued, “Trump doesn’t just sell steak, or the sizzle. He can get by with just selling you the thought of a steak. That’s a gift folks.”

It’s the nature of the beast, folks!

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Paul Hasan has been arrested. A white supremacist interested in terrorist attacks. Leading them himself. Against the U.S. government.

His intent to kill members of Congress and the media. As part of a purpose to create a white homeland. Among those designated for elimination were Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke, Joe Scarborough, and John Podesta.

In a draft of an e-mail authorities recovered, Hasan wrote: “Much blood will have to be spilled to get whitey off the couch.”

The U.S. worries about terrorism coming at us from the Middle East. We fail to have any significant concern with the terrorism on our shores lying in silence ready to attack. Our efforts must be directed at them also.

I end with Karl Marx. Author of the Communist Manifesto. Written in collaboration with Frederich Engels. Published this day in 1848.

The Manifesto was slow to take hold. However by 1950, half the world’s population lived under Communism.

Marx’s closing words in the Manifest set forth marching orders for those to become his followers: “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of the world, unite.”

Enjoy your day!

  MORNING STEW #6 was originally published on Key West Lou