#unless u teach later into june and if so

[mutopians]

press f to pay respect to educators rn. i dont even mean because of us politics. it's may. we're all tired. everyone's pissy and stressed and it is SO fucking busy man. but we're almost there at the end of it all

[hansols-yoda-boxers]

Camp North Star - June 15th

Lee Siyeon x AFAB!Reader x Lee Yoobin

Word Count: 5834

Contents: recording studio sex, marking, slight voyeurism, teasing, dom Siyeon, sub Yoobin, nipple play, fingering, recording nsfw audio, eating ass, slight hair pulling, oral

Notes: hehe if you remember seeing a poll months ago with all the members of the groups in this au perhaps you know what that was for now

“Okay riddle me this, why do I have to do a swim test?” Siyeon questioned, sipping on her water.

“Because there is a beach and a pool,” you said. “You might fall in.”

“How do you accidentally fall in at the beach?” She asked.

“If you’re in a canoe.”

“Is this all a ploy to get me in a canoe with you?” She smirked.

“I mean I already know you’re coming on the canoe trip so it might happen,” you snickered. “We also may be planning to teach canoe over canoe rescues in one of out teaching sessions”

“Remind me not to sign up for yours then,” she grumbled. “So still, I’m not gonna be swimming.”

“Hey, maybe someone will throw you in,” you said.

“Who would wanna throw me in the lake?” She laughed.

“Probably Jihoon when he sees what a mess you’re leaving in the studio,” you snickered. Siyeon threw you a look while she wiped up the crumbs she had left on the table.

“He’ll never know if you don’t tell him.”

“I make no promises,” you said, sitting back in your chair. “Gossip is the main trade commodity around these parts.”

“You’re gonna be rich then,” she chuckled.

“If people keep their secrets, which Nayeon didn’t.”

“Of course Nayeon didn’t,” she snorted. “Would she be Nayeon if she didn’t brag about rocking your world?”

“I knew things would seep out sooner or later,” you said. “At least there’s the fun in finding out who knows what.”

“There is a rumor that something happened with someone else,” she gave you a look. “Care to elaborate?”

“Well so far he’s kept his lips sealed,” you said, sipping back your drink.

“So the rumors are true, no one is safe.”

You shoved Siyeon as she laughed. 

“Don’t say it like that! I’m not on the prowl. I am simply taking opportunities when they present themselves.”

“And so far you’ve had two then?”

“See I can’t tell if you think it should be more or less?” You chuckled.

“I’m not judging,” she said as she sipped. “I need more data to judge.”

“Shut up,” you laughed. “Leave me and my slutty ways alone. You know, I think it would be good for you.”

“Your slutty ways?” She chuckled.

“Being a bit more slutty in general. I mean unless you’re going to make a move…” You grinned as Siyeon’s cheeks flushed pink.

“I would make a move if there was a point,” she hissed. “I’m fine as it is.”

“Sure,” you said. “Of course you are. Chastising Jihoon for pining but doing nothing yourself.”

“Maybe your slutty ways are getting to your head,” she said.

“Says the girl who is desperately trying to pretend she’s okay with just flirting.”

Her face grew redder. “Well I’m not going to just walk into the dance studio and ask her to have sex now am I?”

“You could if you weren’t a coward.” You ducked away from her, slipping out of your seat and to the floor as she swung a pillow at your head.

“I am not a coward!” she cried.

You stood behind your chair, still snickering at her. “Prove it then.”

Siyeon stood from her chair and for a split second you thought she really was going to head to the dance studio before she kneeled on the seat of your chair and grabbed the front of your shirt, pulling you towards her. Her lips crashed against yours in a kiss that made you squeal in surprise. Her grip kept you close and as you relaxed into her kiss she pulled back just a little.

“Okay you know that wasn’t what I meant,” you chuckled.

“Maybe I need to have some fun too, take my mind off of her,” she murmured, giving you another quick kiss. Her hold on your shirt urged you to move around the chair towards her.

“You’ve got it too bad to have anything take your mind off her,” you chuckled.

She moved you until she had you pressed against the table. “Then think of it as practice. Let me gain some courage won’t you?”

“So I’m your guinea pig,” you giggled, jumping up and sitting on the table, grinning at her face, still flushed and close to yours.

“Oh shut up and kiss me properly.”

You were still laughing as you kissed her again. You let your arms wrap around her neck, letting your legs fall apart and pulling her closer. Siyeon’s hands found your hips as she pressed close against your chest, letting your tongue slip past her lips with a sigh.

You felt her fingers pressing into your skin, travelling along your thighs and back to your ass as you kissed her. Your fingers twirled into her hair, keeping her close to you and enjoying her lips on yours.

“So,” you hummed as she broke away for breath. “What are you planning for this little distraction?”

“You know I haven’t thought that far yet,” she murmured. “We’ll wing it. Tilt your head back for me.”

You did as she said, letting out a sigh as she started to kiss down your neck. You let your hands fall away from her, resting back on them and trying not to lean on the recording equipment. Siyeon’s lips travelled down your neck slowly, her hands gripping at your ass.

You let out a small moan as she pulled your strap off your shoulder and started to suck at a spot along your collarbone.

“That feels good,” you moaned, letting your head fall back.

“I know,” she hummed, pulling off your other strap. Her lips kissed lower, coming to the top of your chest and sucking the soft, sensitive skin with her lips. You let another moan slip past your lips, fingers slipping into her hair to hold her close to you and relaxing into the feeling.

“Anytime you need a distraction just let me know,” you murmured.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” you could hear the grin in her voice. Her lips moved across your chest, slowly pushing more of your bra aside and leaving marks on your skin. You spared only a passing glance at the door. No one had any reason to be in the building at this time. And the only other one with access to the studio was Jihoon, and he was gone back to the cabin for the evening.

“Mmm that feels good,” you moaned. Siyeon’s hands kept moving, gripping at your ass and thighs before one came up to move the cup of your bra. She pulled it down ever slowly, lips trailing after her fingers. You sunk back, more of your weight on your arms as she sucked one of your nipples between her lips. A moan left yours and your gaze shifted down to meet hers, catching the grin that made the corner of her lips twitch.

Your eyes snapped open when you heard a sound on the other side of the door.

Siyeon pulled back quickly, both of you looking at each other, and then to the door.

“Did you hear that?” you whispered.

Siyeon nodded, looking between you and the door again before pressing a finger to her lips, signaling to you to be quiet before she stalked across the studio. Whoever was eavesdropping didn’t know you knew yet. You pulled the cup of your bra and your shirt back up to cover your chest, sitting up a little taller and crossing your legs while Siyeon threw open the door.

“Well hello there, Yoobin,” you could hear the smirk in her voice and couldn’t help the way it spread to your own lips. 

“U-Uh H-Hi,” Yoobin mumbled. You held in your laugh as Siyeon reached out and grabbed her, dragging her into the studio. She shut the door behind the two of them, clicking the lock before she put herself between Yoobin and the door and slowly walked her back towards you.

“What were you doing out there?” Siyeon asked.

“I-I- was, I n-needed to talk to you- I h-had a question?” She sounded as if she was saying it like a question, shrinking into herself and cheeks growing rosier.

“What was the question?”

“I-I it u-uh it slipped my mind,” she stuttered.

“Did you hear that?” Siyeon said to you, still walking Yoobin towards you slowly. “She forgot her question.”

“What a shame,” you sighed. “Yoobin, you should just hang out here until you remember.”

“I-I can go,” she said. “I-I don’t want to be a bother.”

Siyeon cocked her head to the side. “You don’t? Are you sure?”

You let your legs fall open again and Yoobin ended up between them, jolting a bit when she backed into the edge of the table, now caught between you and Siyeon.

“O-Of course n-not!”

Your gaze trailed along her arms and down to your hand and a smirk tugged at your lips.

“Then why were you eavesdropping?” Siyeon questioned, a grin drawing across her face.

“I-I- didn’t- I was going- I would have-”

Siyeon leaned in closer to Yoobin and murmured. “You missed one of the buttons on your shorts.”

You grabbed Yoobin’s wrist, holding up her hand, fingers glistening.

��And your fingers are wet, cutie.”

Yoobin stammered but no words came out as her face flushed red. She sunk more in on herself, seeming a little shaky as you let your hand fall to her hips, giving her a soothing squeeze. Siyeon brought a finger to her chin and tilted her head back up.

“Did you think we were giving a free show?” Siyeon asked, a teasing tone to her voice.

Yoobin shook her head quickly. “N-No I-I- n-n- I wo-”

“How long were you going to be out there?” You teased. “Did you think we wouldn’t hear you moaning?”

“I-I thought I was qu-quiet,” she mumbled.

“Not quiet enough,” you murmured in her ear.

“You got started out there all on your own,” Siyeon gave her a fake pout. “It’s too lonely being by yourself.”

Yoobin glanced back at you quickly before looking at Siyeon again. She gave a little nod, her back pressing back against your chest now.

“What do you say we have a little fun with you?” Siyeon’s voice dipped lower and even with the words directed at Yoobin they had arousal shooting through your body. Yoobin’s breath caught as Siyeon drew her finger down the soft skin of her neck, waiting on her answer. “I promise we’ll be gentle with you.”

“Very gentle,” you murmured to her.

“Okay,” she sounded breathless as she answered, nodding quickly.

You caught Siyeon’s smirk at you before she leaned in to capture Yoobin in a soft kiss. You brought your lips to the side of her neck, starting to leave slow, gentle kisses on her warm skin. A grin graced your lips as Yoobin let out little sighs and whines against Siyeon’s lips.

You watched with a lazy gaze as Siyeon’s hands found Yoobin’s hips, slipping them between where your legs pressed against the sides of Yoobin’s body. She curled her fingers around the hem of Yoobin’s shirt before slowly lifting it up. You noticed the colour in Yoobin’s cheeks rising even more. Her face dropped and Siyeon pressed her lips to Yoobin’s forehead in a soft kiss. You brought your hands to squeeze her waist reassuringly and brought your lips to her ear.

“Can we see you, pretty girl?”

You caught the shy smile that tugged at her lips as she nodded and let Siyeon pull the shirt over her head. Siyeon brought Yoobin’s head back up, capturing her in another kiss as her hands started to roam over Yoobin’s shoulders and down to her chest. Yoobin’s arms fully wound around Siyeon’s neck.

You let your hands trail down her body slowly, from her waist around to her lower stomach. Then playing with the waist of her soft shorts. You let your fingers dip past the hem just a little, drawing soothing circles into her skin and bringing your lips to her ears.

“Are you getting needy yet, pretty girl?”

“Mhm,” her whine was muffled by Siyeon’s lips but she pressed her legs open further for you. You chuckled at her eagerness, letting a hand slip down lower, teasing her. You brought your fingertips to the tops of her thighs and so close to her core without touching it, feeling her hips start to push towards your fingers.

You trailed your lips down to her neck, sucking lightly at her skin while your fingers danced around the edges of her core, not quite giving her what she wanted. You noticed Siyeon’s hands slipping up her body and around her back until they reached her bra. Her lips finally broke away from Yoobin’s, tipping her head back and kissing down her neck as she gently pulled her bra off.

A whine escaped from Yoobin’s lips, now unmuffled, which made both you and Siyeon chuckle. You dragged your nails lightly over her inner thigh.

“What do you need, pretty girl?”

“Please touch me properly,” her voice was quiet and whiny. She threw you a needy glance before a moan escaped her mouth as Siyeon grabbed her waist and began sucking one of her nipples between her lips. 

“Anything you want,” you purred, slipping your fingers between her legs and dragging them through her folds.

You felt Yoobin shudder against you, letting out a shaky moan as she leaned back into you even more. You brought you free hand up to her chest, playing with her nipple between your fingers while Siyeon grabbed at her ass, Yoobin’s other nipple still between her lips.

Yoobin’s head fell back against your shoulder, letting out quiet moans. You gathered her slick on your fingertips before moving your fingers in circles over her clit. You felt her weight on you more heavily and the tremors that ran through her body as you both brought her more and more pleasure.

“You got yourself pretty wet out there,” You hummed to her.

“Can you blame her?” Siyeon chuckled. “Imagine hearing us but not seeing anything, coming up with it in your head.”

“There’s so many possibilities, but none of them are quite as good as the real thing,” you purred. “Isn’t that right, Yoobin?”

“Mhm,” her voice was whiny and sweet.

Siyeon stood up properly, grabbing Yoobin’s chin and gently shifting it to look at her. She let her other hand trail up Yoobin’s chest, teasing her already sensitive nipples as she went. “I just had a very fun idea.”

You lifted your head from where your lips had been kissing along Yoobin’s neck to meet Siyeon’s gaze, fingers between Yoobin’s legs slowing. “What did you have in mind?”

She leaned past both of you and you watched her movements as she woke the computer and plugged in her usb. A grin started to tug at your lips while confusion still coloured Yoobin’s expression, looking between the two of you and trying to subtly move her hips against your finger that had now stopped moving. Only when Siyeon hit the on button and the light turned red in the recording studio did her eyes go wide.

“O-Oh,” blush crept up Yoobin’s cheeks.

“What do you say we make a little memento,” Siyeon purred. “Something fun for all of us.”

The smirk was already pulling across your lips as you pulled your fingers from Yoobin’s shorts. You moved her away from the desk and slid off of it. “I’d love to.”

“I-I- would anyone f-find it?”

Siyeon kissed the end of her nose before stepping towards the studio. “Only if you share it with them. Don’t worry I won’t leave it on the computer for Jihoon to find.”

Yoobin blushed even harder and you took her hand on yours giving it a squeeze. She gave both of you a shy smile. “Th-This sounds pretty hot.”

“Exactly,” you hummed, giving her neck a quick kiss. Siyeon opened the door as you led Yoobin into the booth. The space was small for three but cozy. You let your arms wrap around Yoobin’s waist, pulling her in for a few kisses while Siyeon moved a few things back and set stools in the middle of the room, then gently pulling Yoobin away from you.

“Right over here, pretty girl,” she cooed, pulling Yoobin towards the stools. “Now bend over for me.” She placed a hand gently on Yoobin’s back and helped her bend over the stool. Yoobin grabbed the legs of the stool to brace herself as Siyeon took her shorts and panties in her fingers and slowly pulled them over her ass and down her legs.

“You are so cute,” you purred, sinking to your knees behind her. Your hands came up her legs gently and you spread them a little more, hearing her cute, slightly nervous giggle. Siyeon’s hands slid over her back before grabbing at her ass. Yoobin let out a cute moan and Siyeon shot you a smirk before grabbing one of Yoobin’s legs, bringing it up to rest her thigh on the other stool.

“Can you keep your legs open like this for us, pretty girl?” she purred.

“Mhm,” Yoobin nodded quickly, looking back through the legs of the stool at you as you ran your fingertips along her inner thighs and then through her folds. She let out a shaky breath, giving you a sweet, needy look.

You smirked at her as you let a finger start to tease her entrance, Siyeon leaning down to pressing kisses along her spine. Yoobin pressed her hips back towards you, letting out a whine.

“What do you think, Siyeon,” you said, teasing laced into your tone. “Do you think she’s ready for a finger?”

“I think she’s ready for more than one,” she replied, both of you smirking at the way Yoobin whimpered and pressed her hips back even more.

“Please,” she whined. “P-Please, I need it.”

You pressed a kiss to the back of her thigh. “Of course, since you’re asking so nicely.”

You brought two fingers to her entrance and slowly eased them into her core. Yoobin let out a moan, eyes fluttering shut and walls clenching around your fingers. You curled and turned them slowly, watching her grip on the legs of the stool tighten as moans started to leave her lips.

“You sound so good, pretty girl,” Siyeon cooed, her own voice growing a little breathy as she kissed down Yoobin’s back.

You caught your own bottom lip between your teeth as you listened to Yoobin’s moans. Each sound was sending a rush of arousal through your body, down your spine and to your core. You shifted, pressing your thighs together more and you kept your eyes on her face, watching it contort in pleasure.

You fingers found a steady pace in her core, searching for the angle she liked the most and feeling every tremor and shake that rocked through her body. Moans and whines were leaving her lips as you brought her more and more pleasure and Siyeon kneaded her ass, finally spreading her cheeks with her hands and kissing near the bottom of her tail bone.

Siyeon met your eyes for a moment in a heated gaze that sent arousal rushing through your body before her tongue came out, licking over Yoobin’s ass, then circling her hole with a moan.

Yoobin’s moans grew higher in her voice, more whines punctuating them at the new sensation. “P-Please d-don’t stop.” Her voice was shaky and so was her body and you could only imagine how the pleasure was building in her now. Thinking about it was only serving to make you wetter and wetter.

Siyeon’s moans mixed with Yoobin’s in the warm air of the studio, hands grabbing at Yoobin and eating her ass with more and more vigor as Yoobin’s moans grew louder. Your own fingers moved faster in her core and you felt her clenching more and more strongly around them.

You brought your other hand up her thigh until it was between her legs and rubbing her clit. A gasp fell from her lips as she shook, clinging to the stool as her face contorted and scrunched in pleasure, unable to form any full words but desperately rocking her hips back against the two of you the best she could.

Yoobin let out a high, pretty cry as she clenched hard around your fingers. Her whole body shook as she came, you and Siyeon holding her on the stool and holding her legs open to ride her through her high until she was pushing away from both of you and whimpering.

You sat back on your heels, pulling your drenched fingers from her core. Siyeon helped her off the stool and to her knees on the ground before leaning down, grabbing your wet hand, and taking your fingers into her mouth.

You couldn’t stop the moan that left your own lips at the sight, at Siyeon’s heat-filled gaze trained on you. Getting Yoobin off had turned you on immensely and the need between your legs was all but searing.

“You look pretty desperate,” Siyeon teased, letting your fingers fall from her mouth.

“You have no idea,” you breathed, shifting your hips a little, praying for any little bit of friction.

Siyeon grinned at you. “Get up here.” She grabbed your arms and pulled you to your feet, chuckling at the way you wobbled on them, already so worked up. She was quick to turn you around to face where Yoobin was on the floor, still catching her breath, and start to pull off your top from behind. Yoobin looked up at you with her hazy, blissful stare, bottom lip catching between her teeth as Siyeon undid your bra and let it fall aside. She pressed against your back, bringing her hands up you your chest and drawing a moan from you as she started to play with your breasts. Yoobin leaned forward, a little closer.

“Do you want to play too?” Siyeon asked her. Yoobin nodded quickly, a whine escaping her lips as she scrambled closer. Still on her knees she nestled between your legs and held your hips as she brought her lips up to your chest. You let a small moan past your lips as she took one of your nipples between her lip. Siyeon’s fingers played with the other, starting to roll your nipple between her fingers quickly.

Yoobin’s gaze grew glassy as she looked up at you. Her fingers kneaded into the skin of your hips rhythmically as she ran her tongue over your nipple and sucked at you, muffled moans leaving her own lips.

“Mmmm fuck,” you sighed, letting your head fall back against Siyeon’s shoulder. You knew you had to be dripping by this point. Your fingers curled around the edges of the stool as they both played with your nipples, legs spreading wider.

You started to angle your hips down, legs spread as wide as you could before rocking your hips. The tiny bit of friction you managed from subtly grinding down on the stool was worth it, even as you felt Siyeon’s free hand grip your hair before pulling your head back roughly, drawing a gasp from you.

“Are you that needy?” She teased, her voice a low murmur in your ear. “Do you need it that badly?”

“Yes,” you breathed. “Fuck, please.”

“Yoobin,” Siyeon said sweetly. “They need your mouth somewhere else.”

You felt Siyeon release your hair and you tipped your head forwards again. A flush had rushed up Yoobin’s cheeks as she shifted back from your body and did as she was told. Her fingers found the buttons on your shorts, undoing them before pulling them down slowly. You lifted your hips from the stool to help her, letting your legs fall open once they were off.

Yoobin shifted closer again. Her movements were slow and cautious as she pressed a few kisses to your inner thighs, sweet doe-like eyes looking up at you and then Siyeon.

“Good girl,” Siyeon cooed. “Don’t worry. They’re so sensitive, anything you do will feel good.”

“Hey-” You felt heat rush up your face as you started to protest. But Siyeon tugged both your nipples between her fingers, interrupting your words with moans instead.

Yoobin moved her face between your legs and let her tongue run though your folds and over your clit. She let out a moan at your taste but it was nothing compared to the one that fell from your lips at the sensation.

A rush of arousal shot through your needy body, Siyeon’s fingers still moving on your nipples and working you up more. Even with Yoobin’s slow, slightly clumsy movements you still had a hand threading into her hair, still felt your high starting to build from the first few movements.

“O-Oh, fuck just like that,” your own voice was breathy and there was no hiding the desperation in it. “Keep doing that.”

Yoobin did just as she was told, repeating the movement with her tongue that was starting to send tremors through your body as your eyes fluttered and you focused on the pleasure building in you.

“You’re not even going to look at her when she’s pleasing you,” Siyeon teased. “Tsk tsk.”

“Feels too good,” you hummed. “Can’t open my eye- Oh fuck!” you cried as Siyeon tugged at your nipples again and Yoobin sucked your clit between her lips.

“Remind me if we do this again that you’re terrible at taking instructions,” Siyeon purred. “I’ll be sure to prepare some punishments.”

Any abashment had gone out the window as you moaned at her words, letting them sink into your mind and wrapping around all the ways she could punish you for not listening, all the ways you wanted to test her patience.

“Oh?” You could hear the smirk in her tone as she leaned in close to your ear, murmuring to you. “Am I learning something new about you? Is that what you want, to be punished when you don’t do what I tell you? Maybe next time I should tie you and see how long you last while I edge you, hm?”

“Fuck, please,” the coil was curling tighter and tighter in your core now, thighs trembling around Yoobin’s head as she ate you out faithfully, moaning against your core with each involuntary tug of her hair or rock or jolt of your hips. Siyeon’s fingers hadn’t stopped their ministrations on your sensitive nipples which only had the build towards release that much stronger.

“Maybe I’ll make you ride my fingers until you get off, and only if you’re good and loud and you cum for me will I give you my strap. Or maybe I’ll see just how many times you can cum until you just can’t take it anymore.” She purred.

“Fuck, yes,” each word she uttered whirred through your mind, drawing up pretty pictures in your imagination. The coil in your core curled tightly and tremors rocked through your body as they toyed with you, drawing you right to your edge.

“Maybe I’ll just have to turn you into a good little sub.”

Curses and moans cascaded from your lips as you came. The coil snapped, body releasing and pleasure rushing through you as you thighs crash in around Yoobin’s head, hand still in her hair, holding her close as your hips ground against her face and Siyeon’s fingers played with your nipples roughly. A wave of utter bliss washed over you until you were slumped back against Siyeon’s chest, shaking and panting.

She helped you down to the floor and you leaned against Yoobin as you caught your breath. Through heavily lidded eyes you looked up at Siyeon as she gazed down at both of you. Slowly, she pulled her shirt over her head, shaking out her hair before throwing her shirt to the side. Her fingers came to the zipper on her shorts and she undid them, swaying her hips before turning to give both of you a view of her ass as she pulled them down.

A smirk curled her lips at the way both of you leaned towards her, wrapped up in her little show. She took her time reaching behind herself to take off her bra and letting it fall away before slipping her panties down her legs.

An air of smugness came over her as she sat on the stool, spreading her legs and drawing a moan from each of you. You both shifted closer but Siyeon held up her hand.

“No touching yet,” she purred. You both watched intently as she drew two fingers through her folds before pressing them into her heat, a sigh falling from her lips. She pulled them out slowly and you felt your jaw falling open, nearly drooling at her glistening fingers, her own slick coating them and dripping from both her fingers and her core.

“Look what you’ve both done to me,” she said. You both shifted as close as she’d allow you before Yoobin let her tongue hang out of her mouth needily. 

“Do you want a taste, pretty girl?” she cooed, pressing her fingers back into her heat and pumping them slowly.

“Please,” Yoobin whined, nodding quickly.

A pout formed on your lips and you let your lips fall to Siyeon’s thigh, starting to suck marks into her skin as Siyeon stuck her fingers into Yoobin’s mouth.

“You’re needy again already?” She teased you. You let out a small moan against her skin and Siyeon threaded her fingers into your hair, gently massaging your scalp. You let your eyes fall closed, feeling comforted in your post orgasm state.

You felt Yoobin shifting closer, no doubt drawn in by Siyeon’s fingers. A whine hit your ears as her mouth was left empty. Siyeon hushed her before her hand disappeared from your head. You looked up at her just as Yoobin’s lips made their way between her legs. A low moan fell from Siyeon’s lips and as you opened your mouth to speak she shoved her fingers into your mouth, wet again with her arousal.

“I know you wanted a taste too,” she teased. You nodded at her, humming as you ran your tongue around her fingers, sucking them clean. Her other hand had found its way into Yoobin’s hair now, holding her close as she shifted her attention back to the girl between her legs.

“Just like that, pretty girl,” she cooed, praising her. Slowly, she pulled her fingers from your mouth and you felt the corner of your lips twitch as an idea came to mind. You pressed up against Yoobin’s back, a hand sliding between her legs.

She let out a gasping moan as your fingers came to her clit, rubbing it quickly. She moaned against Siyeon’s core which drew louder moans from Siyeon’s lips. You kissed along Yoobin’s neck as your fingers worked her up quickly, her own hands gripping Siyeon as she ate her out more shakily. 

“Mmm that’s good,” Siyeon moaned, letting her head fall back. Yoobin only ate her out more needily as you brought her closer to another release, finding the sensitive spots on her neck to kiss and nip at. 

Both of their moans only had your fingers moving faster, finding just the right movements of your fingers to draw gasps and whines from Yoobin’s lips, her thighs started to shake around you hand as you kissed along her jaw until she pulled back from Siyeon, crying out and clamping her thighs around your hand as she came.

She had a sweet, hazy look on her face as you helped her sit back before you took her place between Siyeon’s legs. She opened her mouth to speak to you but only managed a moan as you ran your tongue over her clit, eyes locked on her face and watching her every reaction to the movements of your tongue.

You greedily brought yourself lower, letting your tongue dip inside of her and tasting more of her arousal on your tongue as she moaned, grabbing at your hair again. You pressed in closer, starting to fuck her with your tongue, a hand coming up to play with her clit.

“Holy fuck, keep doing that,” she moaned, finally letting her own eyes fall closed.

You curled your tongue inside her, trying to make her hips buck and grind against your face and feeling each and every one of her tremors. Moans cascaded off her lips, louder than either yours or Yoobin’s. One hand gripping at the stool and the other holding your hair.

You moved your fingers quickly, rubbing her clit in quick circles as you ran your tongue as deeply into her core as you could, feeling her clench around it, her arousal running into your mouth and down your chin as she got closer and closer.

“Yes, fuck, just like that, oh fuck don’t stop,” the words and curses tumbled from her lips as she ground against your face as much as you would let her, trying to get even more. Her grip in your hair tightened as she got closer and closer to her release. Each tug on your hair drew a moan from your own lips that you knew was vibrating through her body.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” her voice was climbing higher and growing louder. She leaned back as much as she could on the stool without falling while she gave in to pleasure.

A cry left her lips as she came, clenching around your tongue and releasing her sweet juices onto it which you lapped up eagerly. Her thighs pressed in around your head and her hand pulled from your hair, shakily grabbing your wrist to stop your fingers.

With shaky breaths she slipped from the stool to join you both on the floor, messily kissing both of you and smiling against your lips.

“That was so good,” Yoobin murmured.

“Agreed,” you hummed.

“And we have a memento,” Siyeon said breathily, reminding you that the recording equipment was still running.

“Perfect for a lonely night,” Yoobin mumbled.

Siyeon looked between the two of you. “If either of you are ever lonely, just let me know.” She smirked. “I’ll warm you up.”

You both giggled as you relaxed back against the wall, Siyeon shifting to join you. “Just make sure you don’t leave that on the computer,” you warned. “I don’t think I could ever look Jihoon in the eye again.”

“I don’t think I could look at anyone else who hears it ever again,” Yoobin said, blushing.

“Don’t you worry,” Siyeon hummed. “Some people are dumb enough to do that, but I’m not.”

You sat up suddenly. “Wait who?”

“Yeah, I wanna know,” Yoobin chimed in.

“It’s a secret,” she grinned. The two of you protested but she just chuckled. “Maybe I’ll tell you one day, but you’re really gonna have to work to earn that gossip.”

[lupinuslilium]

More about Luna as a Dancer

For my lunarry peeps. ❤️ u real ones.

Harry finds Luna dancing once, in the room of requirement before a DA meeting. The room looks like a proper dance studio, a wide open space with a barre and mirrors on one side.

She doesn’t see him at first, and he feels as though he’s intruding but she’s moving so gracefully through the bittersweet music, he can’t pull his eyes away. Harry is surprised to see how comfortable she dances in her pointe shoes. His heart skips a beat as she stops, collapsed on the ground, catching her breath. Her wild blonde hair escaping from her scrunchie. When she looks up to see her best friend standing and clearly not knowing what to do she giggles, and walks over to turn the music off, greeting him.

“Hello, Harry. Time for the meeting already? I didn’t mean to be here so late, time moves kind of wonky when dancing. I needed to get out of my head for a bit.”

“I uh.... I didn’t know you liked to dance Luna”

“Oh yes, I used to take lessons as a kid, now it’s become a bit of a hobby. I used to do it in the common room but well, I guess people thought it was a bit strange. My second year I came upon the perfect dance studio one evening and that’s how I found the room of requirement. Do you like to dance Harry?”

His cheeks turn a bit pink and he chuckles uncomfortably, “No I uh, wouldn’t know the first thing about it. I’ve never really tried I guess. Unless the Yule ball counts but it was really a pathetic attempt.”

Luna pulls her hair from her loose ponytail, shaking it free. It falls down to her waist as she begins to unlace her shoes and Harry uses the opportunity to fully appreciate the lighting on her pale skin. Have her eyes always been so piercing? The freckles on her nose so perfectly placed? He’s been noticing the effect her voice has on his heart rate recently and he’s not sure what to think. Luna’s one of his best friends, his closest confidants. Even though they met at the beginning of this year it feels like he’s known her a lifetime. She’s one of the few people in his life who he feels he can talk to completely freely, without fear of judgement or belittlement. His resentment and confusion about everything so complicated in his life feels more bearable when he’s with her, maybe because she’s the single most difficult person to be angry with. He finds himself analyzing his feelings more often than lashing out when he’s with her, and she doesn’t have to even have to give him advice. She does though, and he finds himself taking it. Luna has been a breath of fresh air when he’s needed it most and he doesn’t want to complicate the least complicated relationship in his life by finding out what it would feel like to have her delicate lips pressed against his, no matter how often he thinks about it.

“Harry?”

“Uh what?”

“I asked if you wanted me to teach you to dance. Seems you were somewhere far away though”

“Oh yeah, sorry I um...” she smiled at him warmly. His stomach did a somersault. “Yeah maybe someday that would be lovely. Want to help me set up for the meeting?”

Two and a half years later, after the war, Harry finds Luna dancing again. This time, in her bedroom in mid June. He’d been at her house since hogwarts, helping her with repairs, taking care of her unwell father, and mostly not really knowing where else to go. Ron and Hermione were away looking for Hermione’s parents, he didn’t want to partake in the family grieving at the burrow, though he visited often, Neville Seamus and Dean were all helping with the repairs at Hogwarts, and 12 grimmauld place was too depressing for words.

So he stays with the best friend that would never expect anything of him, lets him heal at his own pace, and always always sees him as Harry before The Chosen One.

He finds himself letting himself think about her lips more often, her laugh, the way she sees the world. Sometimes he even thinks about finding out what it would feel like to act on these thoughts.

When she notices him watching her dance she holds out her hand.

“What?? No, no thank you I’m fine watching” he laughs

“Oh come on Harry, if I remember correctly you once said you’d love to learn. Let’s take a break from the world for a minute.”

He finds himself taking her hand and before he knows it he’s dancing. Not just swaying, or stepping but truly letting himself dance. Luna is twirling around and they’re shouting the lyrics to the music and after a few breathless minutes they’re collapsed on the floor laughing.

“See? It’s not so hard. When it’s all a bit heavy it’s nice to move around and get rid of it” she smiles at him

He opens his arms and hugs her to his chest. Each day he spends with Luna he feels less like a war hero and more like Harry.

“Let’s dance more often alright?”

[stonedandstudying]

Study Guide: The Racist Roots of Gun Control

Copyright 1993 Clayton E. Cramer All Rights Reserved.

The historical record provides compelling evidence that racism underlies gun control laws -- and not in any subtle way. Throughout much of American history, gun control was openly stated as a method for keeping blacks and Hispanics "in their place," and to quiet the racial fears of whites. This paper is intended to provide a brief summary of this unholy alliance of gun control and racism, and to suggest that gun control laws should be regarded as "suspect ideas," analogous to the "suspect classifications" theory of discrimination already part of the American legal system.

Racist arms laws predate the establishment of the United States. Starting in 1751, the French Black Code required Louisiana colonists to stop any blacks, and if necessary, beat "any black carrying any potential weapon, such as a cane." If a black refused to stop on demand, and was on horseback, the colonist was authorized to "shoot to kill." [1] Slave possession of firearms was a necessity at times in a frontier society, yet laws continued to be passed in an attempt to prohibit slaves or free blacks from possessing firearms, except under very restrictively controlled conditions. [2] Similarly, in the sixteenth century the colony of New Spain, terrified of black slave revolts, prohibited all blacks, free and slave, from carrying arms. [3]

In the Haitian Revolution of the 1790s, the slave population successfully threw off their French masters, but the Revolution degenerated into a race war, aggravating existing fears in the French Louisiana colony, and among whites in the slave states of the United States. When the first U. S. official arrived in New Orleans in 1803 to take charge of this new American possession, the planters sought to have the existing free black militia disarmed, and otherwise exclude "free blacks from positions in which they were required to bear arms," including such non-military functions as slave-catching crews. The New Orleans city government also stopped whites from teaching fencing to free blacks, and then, when free blacks sought to teach fencing, similarly prohibited their efforts as well. [4]

It is not surprising that the first North American English colonies, then the states of the new republic, remained in dread fear of armed blacks, for slave revolts against slave owners often degenerated into less selective forms of racial warfare. The perception that free blacks were sympathetic to the plight of their enslaved brothers, and the dangerous example that "a Negro could be free" also caused the slave states to pass laws designed to disarm all blacks, both slave and free. Unlike the gun control laws passed after the Civil War, these antebellum statutes were for blacks alone. In Maryland, these prohibitions went so far as to prohibit free blacks from owning dogs without a license, and authorizing any white to kill an unlicensed dog owned by a free black, for fear that blacks would use dogs as weapons. Mississippi went further, and prohibited any ownership of a dog by a black person. [5]

Understandably, restrictions on slave possession of arms go back a very long way. While arms restrictions on free blacks predate it, these restrictions increased dramatically after Nat Turner's Rebellion in 1831, a revolt that caused the South to become increasingly irrational in its fears. [6] Virginia's response to Turner's Rebellion prohibited free blacks "to keep or carry any firelock of any kind, any military weapon, or any powder or lead..." The existing laws under which free blacks were occasionally licensed to possess or carry arms was also repealed, making arms possession completely illegal for free blacks. [7] But even before this action by the Virginia Legislature, in the aftermath of Turner's Rebellion, the discovery that a free black family possessed lead shot for use as scale weights, without powder or weapon in which to fire it, was considered sufficient reason for a frenzied mob to discuss summary execution of the owner. [8] The analogy to the current hysteria where mere possession of ammunition in some states without a firearms license may lead to jail time, should be obvious.

One example of the increasing fear of armed blacks is the 1834 change to the Tennessee Constitution, where Article XI, 26 of the 1796 Tennessee Constitution was revised from: "That the freemen of this State have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defence," [9] to: "That the free white men of this State have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defence." [10] [emphasis added] It is not clear what motivated this change, other than Turner's bloody insurrection. The year before, the Tennessee Supreme Court had recognized the right to bear arms as an individual guarantee, but there is nothing in that decision that touches on the subject of race. [11]

Other decisions during the antebellum period were unambiguous about the importance of race. In State v. Huntly (1843), the North Carolina Supreme Court had recognized that there was a right to carry arms guaranteed under the North Carolina Constitution, as long as such arms were carried in a manner not likely to frighten people. [12] The following year, the North Carolina Supreme Court made one of those decisions whose full significance would not appear until after the Civil War and passage of the Fourteenth Amendment. An 1840 statute provided:

That if any free negro, mulatto, or free person of color, shall wear or carry about his or her person, or keep in his or her house, any shot gun, musket, rifle, pistol, sword, dagger or bowie-knife, unless he or she shall have obtained a licence therefor from the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of his or her county, within one year preceding the wearing, keeping or carrying therefor, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be indicted therefor. [13]

Elijah Newsom, "a free person of color," was indicted in Cumberland County in June of 1843 for carrying a shotgun without a license -- at the very time the North Carolina Supreme Court was deciding Huntly. Newsom was convicted by a jury; but the trial judge directed a not guilty verdict, and the state appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court. Newsom's attorney argued that the statute requiring free blacks to obtain a license to "keep and bear arms" was in violation of both the Second Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, and the North Carolina Constitution's similar guarantee of a right to keep and bear arms. [14] The North Carolina Supreme Court refused to accept that the Second Amendment was a limitation on state laws, but had to deal with the problem of the state constitutional guarantees, which had been used in the Huntly decision, the year before.

The 17th article of the 1776 North Carolina Constitution declared:

That the people have a right to bear arms, for the defence of the State; and, as standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power. [15]

The Court asserted that: "We cannot see that the act of 1840 is in conflict with it... The defendant is not indicted for carrying arms in defence of the State, nor does the act of 1840 prohibit him from so doing." [16] But in Huntly, the Court had acknowledged that the restrictive language "for the defence of the State" did not preclude an individual right. [17] The Court then attempted to justify the necessity of this law:

Its only object is to preserve the peace and safety of the community from being disturbed by an indiscriminate use, on ordinary occasions, by free men of color, of fire arms or other arms of an offensive character. Self preservation is the first law of nations, as it is of individuals. [18]

The North Carolina Supreme Court also sought to repudiate the idea that free blacks were protected by the North Carolina Constitution's Bill of Rights by pointing out that the Constitution excluded free blacks from voting, and therefore free blacks were not citizens. Unlike a number of other state constitutions with right to keep and bear arms provisions that limited this right only to citizens, [19] Article 17 guaranteed this right to the people -- and try as hard as they might, it was difficult to argue that a "free person of color," in the words of the Court, was not one of "the people."

It is one of the great ironies that, in much the same way that the North Carolina Supreme Court recognized a right to bear arms in 1843 -- then a year later declared that free blacks were not included -- the Georgia Supreme Court did likewise before the 1840s were out. The Georgia Supreme Court found in Nunn v. State (1846) that a statute prohibiting the sale of concealable handguns, sword-canes, and daggers violated the Second Amendment:

The right of the whole people, old and young, men, women and boys, and not militia only, to keep and bear arms of every description, and not such merely as are used by the militia, shall not be infringed, curtailed, or broken in upon, in the smallest degree; and all of this for the important end to be attained: the rearing up and qualifying a well-regulated militia, so vitally necessary to the security of a free State. Our opinion is, that any law, State or Federal, is repugnant to the Constitution, and void, which contravenes this right, originally belonging to our forefathers, trampled under foot by Charles I. and his two wicked sons and successors, reestablished by the revolution of 1688, conveyed to this land of liberty by the colonists, and finally incorporated conspicuously in our own Magna Charta! And Lexington, Concord, Camden, River Raisin, Sandusky, and the laurel-crowned field of New Orleans, plead eloquently for this interpretation! [20]

Finally, after this paean to liberty -- in a state where much of the population remained enslaved, forbidden by law to possess arms of any sort -- the Court defined the valid limits of laws restricting the bearing of arms:

We are of the opinion, then, that so far as the act of 1837 seeks to suppress the practice of carrying certain weapons secretly, that it is valid, inasmuch as it does not deprive the citizen of his natural right of self- defence, or of his constitutional right to keep and bear arms. But that so much of it, as contains a prohibition against bearing arms openly, is in conflict with the Constitution, and void... [21]

"Citizen"? Within a single page, the Court had gone from "right of the whole people, old and young, men, women and boys" to the much more narrowly restrictive right of a "citizen." The motivation for this sudden narrowing of the right appeared two years later.

The decision Cooper and Worsham v. Savannah (1848) was not, principally, a right to keep and bear arms case. In 1839, the city of Savannah, Georgia, in an admitted effort "to prevent the increase of free persons of color in our city," had established a $100 per year tax on free blacks moving into Savannah from other parts of Georgia. Samuel Cooper and Hamilton Worsham, two "free persons of color," were convicted of failing to pay the tax, and were jailed. [22] On appeal, counsel for Cooper and Worsham argued that the ordinance establishing the tax was deficient in a number of technical areas; the assertion of most interest to us is, "In Georgia, free persons of color have constitutional rights..." Cooper and Worsham's counsel argued that these rights included writ of habeas corpus, right to own real estate, to be "subject to taxation," "[t]hey may sue and be sued," and cited a number of precedents under Georgia law in defense of their position. [23]

Justice Warner delivered the Court's opinion, most of which is irrelevant to the right to keep and bear arms, but one portion shows the fundamental relationship between citizenship, arms, and elections, and why gun control laws were an essential part of defining blacks as "non-citizens": "Free persons of color have never been recognized here as citizens; they are not entitled to bear arms, vote for members of the legislature, or to hold any civil office." [24] The Georgia Supreme Court did agree that the ordinance jailing Cooper and Worsham for non-payment was illegal, and ordered their release, but the comments of the Court made it clear that their brave words in Nunn v. State (1846) about "the right of the people," really only meant white people.

While settled parts of the South were in great fear of armed blacks, on the frontier, the concerns about Indian attack often forced relaxation of these rules. The 1798 Kentucky Comprehensive Act allowed slaves and free blacks on frontier plantations "to keep and use guns, powder, shot, and weapons, offensive and defensive." Unlike whites, however, a license was required for free blacks or slaves to carry weapons. [25]

The need for blacks to carry arms for self-defense included not only the problem of Indian attack, and the normal criminal attacks that anyone might worry about, but he additional hazard that free blacks were in danger of being kidnapped and sold into slavery. [26] A number of states, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, passed laws specifically to prohibit kidnapping of free blacks, out of concern that the federal Fugitive Slave Laws would be used as cover for re-enslavement. [27]

The end of slavery in 1865 did not eliminate the problems of racist gun control laws; the various Black Codes adopted after the Civil War required blacks to obtain a license before carrying or possessing firearms or Bowie knives; these are sufficiently well-known that any reasonably complete history of the Reconstruction period mentions them. These restrictive gun laws played a part in the efforts of the Republicans to get the Fourteenth Amendment ratified, because it was difficult for night riders to generate the correct level of terror in a victim who was returning fire. [28] It does appear, however, that the requirement to treat blacks and whites equally before the law led to the adoption of restrictive firearms laws in the South that were equal in the letter of the law, but unequally enforced. It is clear that the vagrancy statutes adopted at roughly the same time, in 1866, were intended to be used against blacks, even though the language was race-neutral. [29]

The former states of the Confederacy, many of which had recognized the right to carry arms openly before the Civil War, developed a very sudden willingness to qualify that right. One especially absurd example, and one that includes strong evidence of the racist intentions behind gun control laws, is Texas.

In Cockrum v. State (1859), the Texas Supreme Court had recognized that there was a right to carry defensive arms, and that this right was protected under both the Second Amendment, and section 13 of the Texas Bill of Rights. The outer limit of the state's authority (in this case, attempting to discourage the carrying of Bowie knives), was that it could provide an enhanced penalty for manslaughters committed with Bowie knives. [30] Yet, by 1872, the Texas Supreme Court denied that there was any right to carry any weapon for self-defense under either the state or federal constitutions -- and made no attempt to explain or justify why the Cockrum decision was no longer valid. [31]

What caused the dramatic change? The following excerpt from that same decision -- so offensive that no one would dare make such an argument today -- sheds some light on the racism that apparently caused the sudden perspective change:

The law under consideration has been attacked upon the ground that it was contrary to public policy, and deprived the people of the necessary means of self- defense; that it was an innovation upon the customs and habits of the people, to which they would not peaceably submit... We will not say to what extent the early customs and habits of the people of this state should be respected and accommodated, where they may come in conflict with the ideas of intelligent and well-meaning legislators. A portion of our system of laws, as well as our public morality, is derived from a people the most peculiar perhaps of any other in the history and derivation of its own system. Spain, at different periods of the world, was dominated over by the Carthagenians, the Romans, the Vandals, the Snovi, the Allani, the Visigoths, and Arabs; and to this day there are found in the Spanish codes traces of the laws and customs of each of these nations blended together in a system by no means to be compared with the sound philosophy and pure morality of the common law. [32] [emphasis added]

This particular decision is more open than most as to its motivations, but throughout the South during this period, the existing precedents that recognized a right to open carry under state constitutional provisions were being narrowed, or simply ignored. Nor was the reasoning that led to these changes lost on judges in the North. In 1920, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a Mexican for concealed carry of a handgun--while asleep in his own bed. Justice Wanamaker's scathing dissent criticized the precedents cited by the majority in defense of this absurdity:

I desire to give some special attention to some of the authorities cited, supreme court decisions from Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Kentucky, and one or two inferior court decisions from New York, which are given in support of the doctrines upheld by this court. The southern states have very largely furnished the precedents. It is only necessary to observe that the race issue there has extremely intensified a decisive purpose to entirely disarm the negro, and this policy is evident upon reading the opinions. [33]

While not relevant to the issue of racism, Justice Wanamaker's closing paragraphs capture well the biting wit and intelligence of this jurist, who was unfortunately, outnumbered on the bench:

I hold that the laws of the state of Ohio should be so applied and so interpreted as to favor the law-abiding rather than the law-violating people. If this decision shall stand as the law of Ohio, a very large percentage of the good people of Ohio to-day are criminals, because they are daily committing criminal acts by having these weapons in their own homes for their own defense. The only safe course for them to pursue, instead of having the weapon concealed on or about their person, or under their pillow at night, is to hang the revolver on the wall and put below it a large placard with these words inscribed:

"The Ohio supreme court having decided that it is a crime to carry a concealed weapon on one's person in one's home, even in one's bed or bunk, this weapon is hung upon the wall that you may see it, and before you commit any burglary or assault, please, Mr. Burglar, hand me my gun." [34]

There are other examples of remarkable honesty from the state supreme courts on this subject, of which the finest is probably Florida Supreme Court Justice Buford's concurring opinion in Watson v. Stone (1941), in which a conviction for carrying a handgun without a permit was overturned, because the handgun was in the glove compartment of a car:

I know something of the history of this legislation. The original Act of 1893 was passed when there was a great influx of negro laborers in this State drawn here for the purpose of working in turpentine and lumber camps. The same condition existed when the Act was amended in 1901 and the Act was passed for the purpose of disarming the negro laborers and to thereby reduce the unlawful homicides that were prevalent in turpentine and saw-mill camps and to give the white citizens in sparsely settled areas a better feeling of security. The statute was never intended to be applied to the white population and in practice has never been so applied. [35]

Today is not 1893, and when proponents of restrictive gun control insist that their motivations are color-blind, there is a possibility that they are telling the truth. Nonetheless, there are some rather interesting questions that should be asked today. The most obvious question is, "Why should a police chief or sheriff have any discretion in issuing a concealed handgun permit?" Here in California, even the state legislature's research arm--hardly a nest of pro-gunners--has admitted that the vast majority of permits to carry concealed handguns in California are issued to white males. [36] Even if overt racism is not an issue, an official may simply have more empathy with an applicant of a similar cultural background, and consequently be more able to relate to the applicant's concerns. As my wife pointedly reminded a police official when we applied for concealed weapon permits, "If more police chiefs were women, a lot more women would get permits, and be able to defend themselves from rapists."

Gun control advocates today are not so foolish as to openly promote racist laws, and so the question might be asked what relevance the racist past of gun control laws has. One concern is that the motivations for disarming blacks in the past are really not so different from the motivations for disarming law-abiding citizens today. In the last century, the official rhetoric in support of such laws was that "they" were too violent, too untrustworthy, to be allowed weapons. Today, the same elitist rhetoric regards law-abiding Americans in the same way, as child-like creatures in need of guidance from the government. In the last century, while never openly admitted, one of the goals of disarming blacks was to make them more willing to accept various forms of economic oppression, including the sharecropping system, in which free blacks were reduced to an economic state not dramatically superior to the conditions of slavery.

In the seventeenth century, the aristocratic power structure of colonial Virginia found itself confronting a similar challenge from lower class whites. These poor whites resented how the men who controlled the government used that power to concentrate wealth into a small number of hands. These wealthy feeders at the government trough would have disarmed poor whites if they could, but the threat of both Indian and pirate attack made this impractical; for all white men "were armed and had to be armed..." Instead, blacks, who had occupied a poorly defined status between indentured servant and slave, were reduced to hereditary chattel slavery, so that poor whites could be economically advantaged, without the upper class having to give up its privileges. [37]

Today, the forces that push for gun control seem to be heavily (though not exclusively) allied with political factions that are committed to dramatic increases in taxation on the middle class. While it would be hyperbole to compare higher taxes on the middle class to the suffering and deprivation of sharecropping or slavery, the analogy of disarming those whom you wish to economically disadvantage, has a certain worrisome validity to it.

Another point to consider is that in the American legal system, certain classifications of governmental discrimination are considered constitutionally suspect, and these "suspect classifications" (usually considered to be race and religion) come to a court hearing under a strong presumption of invalidity. The reason for these "suspect classifications" is because of the long history of governmental discrimination based on these classifications, and because these classifications often impinge on fundamental rights. [38]

In much the same way, gun control has historically been a tool of racism, and associated with racist attitudes about black violence. Similarly, many gun control laws impinge on that most fundamental of rights: self-defense. Racism is so intimately tied to the history of gun control in America that we should regard gun control aimed at law-abiding people as a "suspect idea," and require that the courts use the same demanding standards when reviewing the constitutionality of a gun control law, that they would use with respect to a law that discriminated based on race.

Clayton E. Cramer is a software engineer with a telecommunications manufacturer in Northern California. His first book, ...By The Dim And Flaring Lamps: The Civil War Diary of Samuel McIlvaine..., was published in 1990. ...For The Defense of Themselves And The State: The Original Intent & Judicial Interpretation of the Right To Keep And Bear Arms... will be published by Greenwood/Praeger Press in 1994.

NOTES

1. Thomas N. Ingersoll, "Free Blacks in a Slave Society: New Orleans, 1718-1812", _William and Marry Quarterly_, 48:2 [April, 1991], 178-79.

2. Daniel H. Usner, Jr., _Indians, Settlers, & Slaves in a Frontier Exchange Economy: The Lower Mississippi Valley Before 1783_, (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1992), 139, 165, 187.

3. Michael C. Meyer and William L. Sherman, _The Course of Mexican History_, 4th ed., (New York, Oxford University Press: 1991), 216.

4. Ingersoll, 192-200. Benjamin Quarles, _The Negro in the Making of America_, 3rd ed., (New York, Macmillan Publishing: 1987), 81.

5. Theodore Brantner Wilson, _The Black Codes of the South_ (University of Alabama Press: 1965), 26-30.

6. Stanley Elkins, _Slavery_, (Chicago, University of Chicago Press: 1968), 220.

7. Eric Foner, ed., _Nat Turner_, (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall: 1971), 115.

8. Harriet Jacobs [Linda Brant], _Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl_, (Boston: 1861), in Henry Louis Gates, Jr., ed., _The Classic Slave Narratives_, (New York, Penguin Books: 1987), 395-396.

9. Francis Newton Thorpe, _The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies Now or Heretofore Forming The United States of America_, (Washington, Government Printing Office: 1909), reprinted (Grosse Pointe, Mich., Scholarly Press: n.d.), 6:3424.

10. Thorpe, 6:3428.

11. Simpson v. State, 5 Yerg. 356 (Tenn. 1833).

12. State v. Huntly, 3 Iredell 418, 422, 423 (N.C. 1843).

13. State v. Newsom, 5 Iredell 181, 27 N.C. 250 (1844).

14. State v. Newsom, 5 Iredell 181, 27 N.C. 250, 251 (1844).

15. Thorpe, 5:2788.

16. State v. Newsom, 5 Iredell 181, 27 N.C. 250, 254 (1844).

17. State v. Huntly, 3 Iredell 418, 422 (N.C. 1843).

18. State v. Newsom, 5 Iredell 181, 27 N.C. 250, 254 (1844).

19. Early state constitutions limiting the right to bear arms to citizens: Connecticut (1818), Kentucky (1792 & 1799), Maine (1819), Mississippi (1817), Pennsylvania (1790 -- but not the 1776 constitution), Republic of Texas (1838), State of Texas (1845).

20. Nunn v. State, 1 Ga. 243, 250, 251 (1846).

21. Nunn v. State, 1 Ga. 243, 250, 251 (1846).

22. Cooper and Worsham v. Savannah, 4 Ga. 68, 69 (1848).

23. Cooper and Worsham v. Savannah, 4 Ga. 68, 70, 71 (1848).

24. Cooper and Worsham v. Savannah, 4 Ga. 68, 72 (1848).

25. Juliet E. K. Walker, _Free Frank: A Black Pioneer on the Antebellum Frontier_, (Lexington, KY, University Press of Kentucky: 1983), 21. This is an inspiring biography of a slave who, through hard work moonlighting in the production of saltpeter (a basic ingredient of black powder) and land surveying, saved enough money to buy his wife, himself, and eventually all of his children and grandchildren out of slavery -- while fighting against oppressive laws and vigorous racism. Most impressive of all, is that he did it without ever learning to read or write.

26. Walker, 73.

27. Stephen Middleton, _The Black Laws in the Old Northwest: A Documentary History_, (Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press: 1993), 27-32, 227-240, 309-314, 353-357, 403-404.

28. Michael Les Benedict, _The Fruits of Victory: Alternatives to Restoring the Union_, 1865-1877, (New York, J.B. Lippincott Co.: 1975), 87. Francis L. Broderick, _Reconstruction and the American Negro, 1865-1900_, (London, Macmillan Co.: 1969), 21. Dan T. Carter, _When The War Was Over: The Failure of Self-Reconstruction in the South, 1865- 1867_, (Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press: 1985), 219-221. Eric Foner, _Reconstruction_, (New York, Harper & Row: 1988), 258-259.

29. Foner, _Reconstruction_, 200-201.

30. Cockrum v. State, 24 Tex. 394, 401, 402, 403 (1859).

31. English v. State, 35 Tex. 473, 475 (1872).

32. English v. State, 35 Tex. 473, 479, 480 (1872).

33. State v. Nieto, 101 Ohio St. 409, 430, 130 N.E. 663 (1920).

34. State v. Nieto, 101 Ohio St. 409, 436, 130 N.E. 663 (1920).

35. Watson v. Stone, 4 So.2d 700, 703 (Fla. 1941).

36. Assembly Office of Research, _Smoking Gun: The Case For Concealed Weapon Permit Reform_, (Sacramento, State of California: 1986), 5.

37. Edmund S. Morgan, "Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox," in Stanley N. Katz, John M. Murrin, and Douglas Greenberg, ed., _Colonial America: Essays in Politics and Social Development_, 4th ed., (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc, 1993), 280.

38. Thomas G. Walker, "Suspect Classifications", _Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States_, (New York, Oxford University Press: 1992), 848.

[cozyreviews]

2020 Reading Wrap-Up

This year was extremely cathartic in terms of reading. The past few years I’ve been reading, but not very fast and not very often. I am proud to say that as of today, I have read 31 books this year. Not only was this the most I’ve ever read period, but the most varying in genres that I’ve ever read. Normally I stick to ya contemporary and fantasy, but this year I jumped around from middle grade to adult to new adult back to ya. I also discovered my favorite authors of all time. The books I read this year were fun, eye-opening, and engaging. Some of them I definitely didn’t like as much as the others, but that’s a story for later.

Without further or do...here are my top 8 of the year!

1. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

This is the book that started my rom-com kick this year. I started off the year finishing up the TATBILB series and I immediately jumped into The Hating Game and my god did I fall in love with it. If you haven’t heard of it, it follows Lucy and Josh who work together and are mortal enemies and well...I think you can guess where it goes. It’s hilarious, it’s sweet, and boy is it sexyyyy. I can’t wait to see it come to life on the big screen with Lucy Hale and Robbie Amell! They just started shooting and I can totally see them both being perfect in their rolls.

2. Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Last year for Christmas, this was one of the books I got - along with The Hating Game. It took a while to start this one but I loved it and it made me see how incredible Christina Lauren is. There’s a way that they write about love that’s unlike any other. This one was also sweet, hilarious, and sexy and the ending had me all emo. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes so if that’s what you love, this one would be right up your alley. It’s about Hazel - a wacky, zany teacher who in college had several run-ins with Josh that didn’t go very well. Years later, they run into each other at a party and become friends. This eventually leads to them going on double dates with people they set each other up with - but they always end up going home together;)

3. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

O. M. G. This was a WILD ride. I had no idea what to expect with this one but I definitely had many times where I was actually laughing out loud. The premise of this one is insane: our main character’s twin sister is getting married and she just so happens to hate the brother of the groom. On the night of the wedding, the main character and the brother end up being the only ones at the wedding who don’t get food poisoning so they’re forced by their siblings to take their honeymoon trip to Hawaii. If that hasn’t hooked you, I don’t know what will. 

4. In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

THIS. BOOK. One of my favorites I’ve EVER read. It’s everything I could ever want: romance, humor, and CHRISTMAS! I feel like I should’ve kept this one closer to Christmas but I read it at the beginning of November and it instantly put me in the spirit. With a lot of these rom-coms, it’s easy to predict what’s gonna happen, but this one I had NO IDEA how it was going to end. And I loved every second of the journey. This one follows Mae to her family and family friends’ cabin on Christmas. After a disastrous trip, she gets in a car accident with her family and ends up repeating the holiday over and over again. Oh and there’s a cute boy that she’s nursed a crush on for years. This one had me laughing out loud too and also crying. We absolutely stan this and I will definitely be reading every year at Christmas time.

5. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Holy. Shit. I can’t even describe how much I loved this book. If you know me, you know how much I love music so this was the PERFECT book for me. At first it took some time to get into, but once I was into it...phew. It absolutely flew by and all I wanted to do was read. It’s about a fictional band from the 1970′s. I don’t even know what to say other than that so I don’t spoil anyone but it is a JOURNEY.  I found myself gasping at some points because of how shocking some things were. Ugh. I loved it. If you like Fleetwood Mac in any way, I highly, highly, highly recommend this book.

6. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I knew I wanted to read this after I finished Daisy Jones, but I actually didn’t get around to it until a week or so ago. I flew through this one too and oh my god. If Daisy Jones wasn’t shocking enough for you then this one. Oh. My. God. It’s about Evelyn Hugo, a fictional starlet from the 50′s (? I think) who asks a small time writer to help write her biography - to be released after she’s dead. Evelyn is such an intriguing character, you just want to know more and more and more. And there’s one thing about her that is absolutely shocking. There are actually so many shocking revelations throughout this book and it all took me completely off guard. Surprisingly, I feel like I learned a lot through this book and from Evelyn. She’s painted out to be not a very great person, and I think I understand why people think that about her, but I don’t see her that way at all. I actually feel like she’s a good person, maybe a bit selfish, but there’s one thing all of her decisions have in common. Love.

7. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Phew. I can’t believe it took me this long to read this book. I thought I’d be okay with just seeing the movie but let me tell you...the book is so much more eye opening and amazing.. After the protests in June, I saw everyone talking about things like White Fragility and How to Be an Antiracist - but I knew those books wouldn’t be for me. Now hear me out...I hate non-fiction. I learn lessons much better through fictional stories and that’s why this one resonated so much with me. Starr is one of the most brave, incredible characters that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. The way Angie writes her story is both beautiful and heartbreaking. You watch as she changes and how the people around her change by the horrific event that has taken place. I’m not gonna try to summarize it, because hopefully everyone knows what it’s about by now. If you haven’t yet, go pick it up. Right now. I feel like this is a story that’s going to be around forever and that we’ll be giving to our children to read when it’s time. As a white person, I can be empathetic, but I truly will never understand what it’s like for Black people, but reading this gave me a better understanding of what is actually happening. The Hate U Give taught me about how broken the system is, and how we can fix the issues that are plaguing the Black community right now. The most poignant and important book I could ever read.

8. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

After The Hate U Give, I couldn’t not read this one. And wow. On the Come Up follows Bri, the daughter of a rap legend, who is trying to make it in Garden Heights - the same neighborhood Starr is from in The Hate U Give. Bri’s journey is rough, but it’s incredible to see the work she puts in to end up on top. Sometimes the decisions she makes get taken the wrong way, but in the end, her family as at the core of every decision she makes. All she wants is her family to be okay and I think that’s something that a lot of people can relate to. On the Come Up might not be as deep as The Hate U Give, but Angie teaches some incredible lessons through this story too. Also, let me just say...Angie wrote some INCREDIBLE raps for this book and I really hope we get to hear them come to life one day.

Other reads:

Those are my favorites of the year, but I still read a lot of other books this year. I re-read The Hunger Games trilogy! I read The Hunger Games way back in 2010, so it was about time that I re-read them. And let me be honest...I stopped Catching Fire about halfway through...so I never finished them until this year...I have to say they were kind of disappointing. It might just be that it’s been so long that I don’t connect as much with the stories anymore, but they are still great.

I FINALLY read the Percy Jackson series! I had The Lightning Thief chilling on my shelf since I was in 5th grade and something finally got me to read this series. It did not disappoint and I loved every second of it. I can’t wait to see what the Disney+ series is going to be like - hopefully they actually do it justice this time around.

This year I have been obsessing over Tom Holland...lol so naturally I read every book that he was signed on to be in the adaptation for. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness aka the first Chaos Walking book was by far my favorite. The movie is coming out in March! I also read Cherry by Nico Walker and The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock. Cherry was...interesting. I kind of hated the narrator the whole time so I’m hoping they changed up the movie a bit. I’m thinking they did because I read some BTS stories and some of them don’t line up with what was in the book. TDATT was a little disturbing...but I enjoyed it. The book was much better than the movie, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend either to anyone...unless you wanted to see Tom or Sebastian Stan or Riley Keough in the movie. I’m sure I will be finishing the Chaos Walking series eventually and I’m also interested in reading Beneath a Scarlet Sky which Tom has been signed on to for a while. That one sounds very intriguing and I’m excited to hopefully read it next year.

I finally watched Big Little Lies and I wasn’t going to read the book, but I did end up eventually reading it. It was good but not nearly as good as the series. It might be because I knew how it all would end, but it overall, was not my favorite. I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of Liane Moriarty’s books though.

Oh! So I read The Cursed Child...That’s all I’m gonna say.

I completely forgot to add I also read Roomies and Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren. Roomies was very good and probably could be in my favorites list, but it just didn’t reach the level of the other three. It was fun though, so if you liked any of those three, I would recommend it. Twice in a Blue Moon though...I was so bored. I almost stopped reading it a few times but I just pushed through. It wasn’t a rom com at all, just a romance, which wasn’t for me. A lot of people that liked Christina Lauren recommended Beach Read - which I read, and did not enjoy very much. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t phenomenal, that’s for sure.

There were a few YA books I read this year: Slayer, Truly Devious, Capturing the Devil, the final two TATBILB books...but my favorite was Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare. It’s been a while since I’ve been into her books but wooooww. Chain of Gold was incredible. I loved the characters and I loved that we got to see our favorite characters from The Infernal Devices again. It was a JOURNEY and reminded me why I started reading CC in the first place.

Well...That’s it for my reading wrap up of 2020! Here’s to another great year of great books in 2021!

[jimmriarty]

theheartshapedsunglasses ha risposto al tuo post : i cant relate to uni memes about writing papers bc...

i hate you

i really don’t know why, maybe it’s bc i study a scientific subject or maybe it’s bc of italian university. here, unless you study languages, you don’t have homeworks. you go to your classes, your professor teaches and months later you have 1 or two exams (depending if written + oral or just one of the two) on everything he taught during those... 3 months?

and we have class months with no homeworks/tests but just classes (october-december and march-may) and then months only for exams and you have 1 exam for subject with everything but u can choose when to have it??? like we have 1 possible date in june, 1 in july, 2 in september and 2 in february

so i can’t relate to university memes from other countries :( (also bc we dont have dorms. or better we have but only few ppl stay there, most rent a flat)

[velmaemyers88]

E.U. Foreign Ministers Scramble to Save Iran Deal

BRUSSELS — European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday scrambled to work out how to salvage the Iran nuclear deal despite Tehran’s breaching the agreed limits on its uranium enrichment program and warning that it might go much further.

Arriving at the meeting, the British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said there was a little time left to save the Iran deal.

“Iran is still a good year away from developing a nuclear bomb,” Mr. Hunt said. “There is still some closing, but small window to keep the deal alive.”

Although the United States has withdrawn from the agreement, the European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said that the deal was still the only available option to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

“The deal has avoided Iran developing a nuclear weapon, and today everyone recognizes that there is no alternative,” she said after the foreign ministers’ meeting. “This is the most dramatic and difficult stage.”

The European signatories to the deal, Britain, France and Germany, issued a joint statement Sunday evening that said they were still committed to the deal and regretted that the United States had reimposed sanctions on Iran “even though that country had implemented its commitments under the agreement.”

“We believe that the time has come to act responsibly and to seek ways to stop the escalation of tension and resume dialogue,” the three countries said in the statement. “The risks are such that it is necessary that all stakeholders take a break, and consider the possible consequences of their actions.”

But the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said that he saw little reason to be optimistic that the European signatories could save the agreement — known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — by alleviating the punishing effects of American sanctions against Iran.

“The Europeans claim they were willing to maintain the J.C.P.O.A., but we have not seen Europe yet to be ready for an investment,” he said on Sunday after arriving in New York for a meeting of the United Nations, Iran’s state-run Press TV reported.

Iran has sent mixed signals about its intentions in recent days, with President Hassan Rouhani expressing a willingness to open new talks with Washington — once sanctions are removed.

“We are always ready for negotiation,” he said in a televised speech. “The moment you stop sanctions and bullying, we are ready to negotiate.”

But a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said on Monday that unless Europe could salvage the deal, his country would return its nuclear program to its status before the accord, when its uranium stockpile was much larger and some of the element had been much more highly enriched.

Tensions with Tehran have mounted since President Trump last year withdrew the United States from the 2015 accord that scaled back Iran’s nuclear program and reimposed economic sanctions that had been lifted under the deal. The limits set in the deal were intended to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Mr. Trump imposed additional sanctions this year, trying to cut off Iran’s ability to sell oil, a pillar of its economy.

Britain, France and Germany have made a commitment to ease the impact of American sanctions but so far have not found an effective way to do so.

The centerpiece of their efforts is the creation of a kind of exchange that would allow European companies to do business with Iran in a way that bypasses the American banking system, but Tehran has said that the system, known as Instex, is inadequate.

Arriving at the meeting of Europeans on Monday, Josep Borrell, the Spanish foreign minister and nominee to become the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, said, “We will do what we can to guarantee that there is no economic embargo against Iran and that European companies can continue working there.”

“It’s very difficult because U.S. laws applied in an extraterritorial manner, in a way that we don’t recognize, make it difficult,” he said, adding that Spain would join the Instex mechanism.

Ms. Mogherini said that the mechanism had to become “faster and more operational,” but that even at this early stage, countries that are not members of the European Union had expressed interest in joining Instex. She declined to say which these countries were.

“We’re doing our best, and we hope that this will be enough,” Ms. Mogherini said in defending the Instex system, adding that the first transactions were being processed.

Despite the renewed sanctions, Iran complied with its commitments under the nuclear deal for a year after Mr. Trump’s withdrawal. But the confrontation has escalated since the American president imposed further sanctions.

Iran warned that it would stop complying with the deal’s cap on its enriched uranium stockpile unless the Europeans made good on their promises, and then said that it would exceed the pact’s restrictions on how highly enriched the uranium could be. In each case, the European countries were unable to deliver, and Iran surpassed the limits this month.

In May and June, six tankers were damaged near the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that carries much of the world’s oil, and American officials said the ships had been attacked by Iran.

Last month, Iran shot down a United States surveillance drone, which American officials said was over international waters but which Tehran said had violated Iranian airspace. Mr. Trump ordered a military strike in retaliation, but then retracted the order.

This month, the British authorities seized an Iranian tanker near Gibraltar that they said was carrying oil to Syria, in violation of European Union sanctions on that country. Days later, London said that one of its naval ships had to chase away three Iranian boats that had been trying to impede a British tanker.

Britain offered on Saturday to return the Iranian ship if the oil were sent somewhere other than Syria.

Iran’s relations with European countries beyond the nuclear deal continue to be strained over arrests of dual European-Iranian nationals.

On Monday, France said Iran had arrested a French-Iranian academic, Fariba Adelkhah, who teaches at the prestigious Sciences Po university in Paris, and was not allowing French diplomats to visit her.

Britain has long asked for the release of a British-Iranian woman, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was arrested in 2016 during a family visit with her daughter.

Credit: Source link

The post E.U. Foreign Ministers Scramble to Save Iran Deal appeared first on WeeklyReviewer.

from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.com/e-u-foreign-ministers-scramble-to-save-iran-deal/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=e-u-foreign-ministers-scramble-to-save-iran-deal from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.tumblr.com/post/186307785062

[reneeacaseyfl]

E.U. Foreign Ministers Scramble to Save Iran Deal

BRUSSELS — European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday scrambled to work out how to salvage the Iran nuclear deal despite Tehran’s breaching the agreed limits on its uranium enrichment program and warning that it might go much further.

Arriving at the meeting, the British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said there was a little time left to save the Iran deal.

“Iran is still a good year away from developing a nuclear bomb,” Mr. Hunt said. “There is still some closing, but small window to keep the deal alive.”

Although the United States has withdrawn from the agreement, the European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said that the deal was still the only available option to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

“The deal has avoided Iran developing a nuclear weapon, and today everyone recognizes that there is no alternative,” she said after the foreign ministers’ meeting. “This is the most dramatic and difficult stage.”

The European signatories to the deal, Britain, France and Germany, issued a joint statement Sunday evening that said they were still committed to the deal and regretted that the United States had reimposed sanctions on Iran “even though that country had implemented its commitments under the agreement.”

“We believe that the time has come to act responsibly and to seek ways to stop the escalation of tension and resume dialogue,” the three countries said in the statement. “The risks are such that it is necessary that all stakeholders take a break, and consider the possible consequences of their actions.”

But the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said that he saw little reason to be optimistic that the European signatories could save the agreement — known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — by alleviating the punishing effects of American sanctions against Iran.

“The Europeans claim they were willing to maintain the J.C.P.O.A., but we have not seen Europe yet to be ready for an investment,” he said on Sunday after arriving in New York for a meeting of the United Nations, Iran’s state-run Press TV reported.

Iran has sent mixed signals about its intentions in recent days, with President Hassan Rouhani expressing a willingness to open new talks with Washington — once sanctions are removed.

“We are always ready for negotiation,” he said in a televised speech. “The moment you stop sanctions and bullying, we are ready to negotiate.”

But a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said on Monday that unless Europe could salvage the deal, his country would return its nuclear program to its status before the accord, when its uranium stockpile was much larger and some of the element had been much more highly enriched.

Tensions with Tehran have mounted since President Trump last year withdrew the United States from the 2015 accord that scaled back Iran’s nuclear program and reimposed economic sanctions that had been lifted under the deal. The limits set in the deal were intended to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Mr. Trump imposed additional sanctions this year, trying to cut off Iran’s ability to sell oil, a pillar of its economy.

Britain, France and Germany have made a commitment to ease the impact of American sanctions but so far have not found an effective way to do so.

The centerpiece of their efforts is the creation of a kind of exchange that would allow European companies to do business with Iran in a way that bypasses the American banking system, but Tehran has said that the system, known as Instex, is inadequate.

Arriving at the meeting of Europeans on Monday, Josep Borrell, the Spanish foreign minister and nominee to become the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, said, “We will do what we can to guarantee that there is no economic embargo against Iran and that European companies can continue working there.”

“It’s very difficult because U.S. laws applied in an extraterritorial manner, in a way that we don’t recognize, make it difficult,” he said, adding that Spain would join the Instex mechanism.

Ms. Mogherini said that the mechanism had to become “faster and more operational,” but that even at this early stage, countries that are not members of the European Union had expressed interest in joining Instex. She declined to say which these countries were.

“We’re doing our best, and we hope that this will be enough,” Ms. Mogherini said in defending the Instex system, adding that the first transactions were being processed.

Despite the renewed sanctions, Iran complied with its commitments under the nuclear deal for a year after Mr. Trump’s withdrawal. But the confrontation has escalated since the American president imposed further sanctions.

Iran warned that it would stop complying with the deal’s cap on its enriched uranium stockpile unless the Europeans made good on their promises, and then said that it would exceed the pact’s restrictions on how highly enriched the uranium could be. In each case, the European countries were unable to deliver, and Iran surpassed the limits this month.

In May and June, six tankers were damaged near the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that carries much of the world’s oil, and American officials said the ships had been attacked by Iran.

Last month, Iran shot down a United States surveillance drone, which American officials said was over international waters but which Tehran said had violated Iranian airspace. Mr. Trump ordered a military strike in retaliation, but then retracted the order.

This month, the British authorities seized an Iranian tanker near Gibraltar that they said was carrying oil to Syria, in violation of European Union sanctions on that country. Days later, London said that one of its naval ships had to chase away three Iranian boats that had been trying to impede a British tanker.

Britain offered on Saturday to return the Iranian ship if the oil were sent somewhere other than Syria.

Iran’s relations with European countries beyond the nuclear deal continue to be strained over arrests of dual European-Iranian nationals.

On Monday, France said Iran had arrested a French-Iranian academic, Fariba Adelkhah, who teaches at the prestigious Sciences Po university in Paris, and was not allowing French diplomats to visit her.

Britain has long asked for the release of a British-Iranian woman, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was arrested in 2016 during a family visit with her daughter.

Credit: Source link

The post E.U. Foreign Ministers Scramble to Save Iran Deal appeared first on WeeklyReviewer.

from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.com/e-u-foreign-ministers-scramble-to-save-iran-deal/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=e-u-foreign-ministers-scramble-to-save-iran-deal from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.tumblr.com/post/186307785062

[weeklyreviewer]

E.U. Foreign Ministers Scramble to Save Iran Deal

BRUSSELS — European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday scrambled to work out how to salvage the Iran nuclear deal despite Tehran’s breaching the agreed limits on its uranium enrichment program and warning that it might go much further.

Arriving at the meeting, the British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said there was a little time left to save the Iran deal.

“Iran is still a good year away from developing a nuclear bomb,” Mr. Hunt said. “There is still some closing, but small window to keep the deal alive.”

Although the United States has withdrawn from the agreement, the European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said that the deal was still the only available option to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

“The deal has avoided Iran developing a nuclear weapon, and today everyone recognizes that there is no alternative,” she said after the foreign ministers’ meeting. “This is the most dramatic and difficult stage.”

The European signatories to the deal, Britain, France and Germany, issued a joint statement Sunday evening that said they were still committed to the deal and regretted that the United States had reimposed sanctions on Iran “even though that country had implemented its commitments under the agreement.”

“We believe that the time has come to act responsibly and to seek ways to stop the escalation of tension and resume dialogue,” the three countries said in the statement. “The risks are such that it is necessary that all stakeholders take a break, and consider the possible consequences of their actions.”

But the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said that he saw little reason to be optimistic that the European signatories could save the agreement — known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — by alleviating the punishing effects of American sanctions against Iran.

“The Europeans claim they were willing to maintain the J.C.P.O.A., but we have not seen Europe yet to be ready for an investment,” he said on Sunday after arriving in New York for a meeting of the United Nations, Iran’s state-run Press TV reported.

Iran has sent mixed signals about its intentions in recent days, with President Hassan Rouhani expressing a willingness to open new talks with Washington — once sanctions are removed.

“We are always ready for negotiation,” he said in a televised speech. “The moment you stop sanctions and bullying, we are ready to negotiate.”

But a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said on Monday that unless Europe could salvage the deal, his country would return its nuclear program to its status before the accord, when its uranium stockpile was much larger and some of the element had been much more highly enriched.

Tensions with Tehran have mounted since President Trump last year withdrew the United States from the 2015 accord that scaled back Iran’s nuclear program and reimposed economic sanctions that had been lifted under the deal. The limits set in the deal were intended to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Mr. Trump imposed additional sanctions this year, trying to cut off Iran’s ability to sell oil, a pillar of its economy.

Britain, France and Germany have made a commitment to ease the impact of American sanctions but so far have not found an effective way to do so.

The centerpiece of their efforts is the creation of a kind of exchange that would allow European companies to do business with Iran in a way that bypasses the American banking system, but Tehran has said that the system, known as Instex, is inadequate.

Arriving at the meeting of Europeans on Monday, Josep Borrell, the Spanish foreign minister and nominee to become the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, said, “We will do what we can to guarantee that there is no economic embargo against Iran and that European companies can continue working there.”

“It’s very difficult because U.S. laws applied in an extraterritorial manner, in a way that we don’t recognize, make it difficult,” he said, adding that Spain would join the Instex mechanism.

Ms. Mogherini said that the mechanism had to become “faster and more operational,” but that even at this early stage, countries that are not members of the European Union had expressed interest in joining Instex. She declined to say which these countries were.

“We’re doing our best, and we hope that this will be enough,” Ms. Mogherini said in defending the Instex system, adding that the first transactions were being processed.

Despite the renewed sanctions, Iran complied with its commitments under the nuclear deal for a year after Mr. Trump’s withdrawal. But the confrontation has escalated since the American president imposed further sanctions.

Iran warned that it would stop complying with the deal’s cap on its enriched uranium stockpile unless the Europeans made good on their promises, and then said that it would exceed the pact’s restrictions on how highly enriched the uranium could be. In each case, the European countries were unable to deliver, and Iran surpassed the limits this month.

In May and June, six tankers were damaged near the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that carries much of the world’s oil, and American officials said the ships had been attacked by Iran.

Last month, Iran shot down a United States surveillance drone, which American officials said was over international waters but which Tehran said had violated Iranian airspace. Mr. Trump ordered a military strike in retaliation, but then retracted the order.

This month, the British authorities seized an Iranian tanker near Gibraltar that they said was carrying oil to Syria, in violation of European Union sanctions on that country. Days later, London said that one of its naval ships had to chase away three Iranian boats that had been trying to impede a British tanker.

Britain offered on Saturday to return the Iranian ship if the oil were sent somewhere other than Syria.

Iran’s relations with European countries beyond the nuclear deal continue to be strained over arrests of dual European-Iranian nationals.

On Monday, France said Iran had arrested a French-Iranian academic, Fariba Adelkhah, who teaches at the prestigious Sciences Po university in Paris, and was not allowing French diplomats to visit her.

Britain has long asked for the release of a British-Iranian woman, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was arrested in 2016 during a family visit with her daughter.

Credit: Source link

The post E.U. Foreign Ministers Scramble to Save Iran Deal appeared first on WeeklyReviewer.

from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.com/e-u-foreign-ministers-scramble-to-save-iran-deal/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=e-u-foreign-ministers-scramble-to-save-iran-deal