#Accident Attorney In Lincoln

[fictional-actors-bracket]

Actor Mark, Who Killed Markiplier, A Date/Heist/In Space With Markiplier

(propaganda from the submission that I'm giving a separate post because of it's size)

He was born around the late 1800s I think? He grew up in the same house as The Colonel/William J. Barnum and was friends with Damian and Celine. He ended up marrying Celine and becoming a famous actor, while William went off to fight in the war and Damian became mayor. However, at some point William and Celine had a relationship and she cheated on him. After Mark found out, he shut himself away from his friends and stayed in his manor, which was haunted or something. He blamed the cheating on William, assuming that because he was so rich and famous, he made her cheat on him and she DEFINITELY didn’t do it because Mark was a selfish asshole. He came up with a with a plan to get revenge on William because it was entirely his fault and JUST his fault and not Celine’s fault because how could she have consented to that when he was so cool and charismatic???

I think he was also somewhat corrupted by the house, which was evil. But a lot of the characters that go there don’t always notice it because they’ve come into contact with it a lot and are used to it. Except for the Groundskeeper (I forgot his name, might’ve been Frank?) who knows the house was evil and refuses to go in and maybe Celine (she’s magic). And so he invites his friends back to his manor (Markiplier Manor, he randomly decided to change his own name to seem more fancy and William judges him for it) and has a party! The attendees are: Damian, the Chef, the Butler, Abe the Detective, the Colonel (William), and us, as the District Attorney. We were invited by Damian because we were friends in college and now work with him. They gamble and drink and the D.A. falls asleep at 1:00 AM. Everyone else is also asleep by then, except for the Colonel and Mark. Mark gets him drunk and convinces him to play Russian Roulette. But it was rigged. He tricks William into shooting him, and in a panic he throws the body down the stairs and tries to cover it up. The D.A. is recruited as the Detective’s partner (his full name is Abraham Lincoln and every partner he’s had has died a tragic but comical death). They try to figure out the murderer, and Celine (the Seer) shows up, to everyone’s surprise and tries to use you to figure out the mystery. However, her work is interrupted.

At one point the Chef mentions the Groundskeeper, and so you go to interrogate him. Celine stays behind to continue her work, and Damian decides to watch her (they’re twins, Celine is older). The Colonel is still in his bedroom, sleeping. The Groundskeeper states that he hasn’t gone in the cursed manor for years and wants to keep that streak. Only some horrible and incredibly specific circumstances could lead to him going in. Suddenly, there’s a flash of light inside the manor and everyone runs towards it to see what happened, the Groundskeeper saying that these are the circumstances. When they get in, Damian and Celine are missing and the Colonel is awake and very confused. No one knows what happened, and one by one, the employees leave, not wishing to reach the same fate. You, the Detective, and the Colonel are the only ones remaining. Abe and William end up having a confrontation, ending in Abe being shot and the D.A. being shot by accident. You end up in a strange black void with Damian and Celine.

They explain to you that the house is evil and pulled them in to this void so that Mark could steal Damian’s body (EVEN THOUGH HE WAS ONE OF THE ONLY INNOCENT PARTIES IN THIS AND ACTUALLY WANTED TO MAKE AMENDS… FURTHER PROOF THAT ACTOR MARK IS A GODDAMN ASSHOLE) and that they used the last of their energy to pull you here to explain. Their bodies are gone, but yours is still there. They could all be in your body with you and track down Mark to get Damian his body back.

You agree, and you end up back in your body, getting up to see William cradling Damian’s cane (my boy…). He sees you and realizes that it was all a PRANK! If you’re not dead, Damian and Celine aren’t dead! Of course they’re not! It was just a silly prank! He can’t believe he didn’t figure it out before, it was so obvious! And so he goes away to search for them… calling out through the house for his lost friends. You look into the mirror, and crack your neck. The mirror shatters, and becomes your prison.

Your body walks away without you. That’s ‘Who Killed Markiplier?’ along with some backstory! Next is ‘DAMIAN’ ! (You can watch all this stuff on YouTube btw, it is Markiplier) Damian lives with his twin sister, Celine. She’s only older by a bit, but she’s very bossy. They live in a cabin in the snowy woods. Every day, Damian goes out to chop wood for the fire while his sister goes out to hunt… something. One day, he sees a small pink flower (It represents William, or Wilford Warfstache, as he’s known now) thriving in the ice and snow. He goes home with enough wood and tells his sister about the flower. She tells him to sleep. He sleeps, and the next day he goes back and the little pink flower is still there, somehow living for another day. He goes home with enough wood and tells his sister about the flower. She tells him to sleep.

She actually said the exact same things she said yesterday, but different because Damian responds differently. I think there might have been a scary painting at one point? Damian goes to chop wood for the fire, but he hears Celine calling out for help. Being a good brother and a good person in general, he immediately heads towards the voice, and ends up on a lake covered in ice. The ice breaks, and guess what? ACTOR MARK IS HERE ONCE AGAIN (to be a bitch)! He says something about Celine tearing his heart out if she saw him again, and tells Damian that he, Mark, is the hero of this story. Celine shows up to ruin the fun, and Mark leaves, soon enough. Damian convinces Celine to let him help her for once, and he decides to give Mark the villain he wants. Celine finally gets some rest, and Mark gains control of their (the D.A.’s) body. In ‘A Date With Markiplier’ and ‘A Heist With Markiplier’, the viewer is the main character and Mark is the other main character. In some endings, Mark leaves for another character (also played by Markiplier but different from Actor Mark himself) to be important to the plot of a couple endings. At one point he tries to separate from you in the sewers and whenever you actually agree you instantly end it. During most of the endings, he seems to be mostly friendly, but in some he’s just a douchebag. In ‘In Space With Markiplier’, I think the real Mark has said that Engineer Mark and Actor Mark are not the same, but I don’t really remember. I think that’s all I have to say. There’s a lot I didn’t say and probably some videos I forgot. Anyways I hate this guy, he’s an asshole"

[mourning-again-in-america]

“President Ford’s regular weekly accident took place this week in Hartford, Connecticut, where Ford’s Lincoln was hit by a Buick. Alert Secret Service agents seized the Buick and wrestled it to the ground. No one was injured in the accident, but when the President got out to see what had happened, he tore his jacket sleeve on the car bumper, bumped his head, and stuck his thumb in his eye. Alert Secret Service agents immediately seized the thumb and wrestled it to the ground. . . . Concerning the collision, New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison says he will immediately launch an investigation into the ‘second car theory.’"

[larryneilson37]

Lany Eugene Neilson, Junior 1000 Lincoln St. #25 Denver, Colorado 80203)

December 12, 2002

Christine M. Clavey 1428 South Baker Drive Independence, Missouri 64050

Dear Ms. Clavey:

I'm writing in regards to the accident on November thirteenth, two thousand and two, at one thirty two A.M., in the parking lot of Denny's Restaurant at thirty nine thirty nine Noland Road, Independence Missouri.

I received your first call on November eighteenth, Monday at three o'clock in the afternoon, advising me that you were unable to get to your car, where your insurance information is. You said that you would be able to get to your car on Wednesday and you would give me a call on Wednesday or Thursday with the insurance information. I never received your call. I have tried to get a hold of you a number of times at no success. It leave me with no

other options but to hire an attorney. If I hire an attomey to handle this accident. You will also be expected to pay for the attorney fees plus the damages done to my KIA, sportage. I would like to have this accident taken care of as soon as possible. If your have the insurance information and are not able to get a hold of me. I do have

an answering machine on my telephone at home, and my home number is area code (303)

830-8448.

Sincerely,

[world-wide-content]

Divorce Attorney Central Illinois 12/22

Courtney Anderson is a personal injury, family law, criminal defense attorney, and divorce attorney Central Illinois, representing customers throughout the whole State of Illinois. She thinks everyone deserves a sporting chance at justice-- including those who are harmed in a vehicle accident or charged with a crime. She works relentlessly to ensure that her clients have the best representation possible for their individual circumstances.

She's a partner at BRE Law with a main office in Decatur, Illinois and other workplaces in Lincoln, Illinois; Sullivan, Illinois; and Bloomington, Illinois. She takes pleasure in handling a vast array of cases with clients from all walks of life.

She got her undergraduate degree in pre-law from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 2013. While attending SIU, she interned at the Jackson County Public Defender's Office, where she discovered how to protect felony cases for people accused of crimes ranging from theft to first-degree murder. Do not hesitate to call her if you require assistance with your case.

[the-writer-posts]

Criminal Defense Attorney Central Illinois 12/22

Courtney Anderson is a personal injury, family law, divorce attorney, and criminal defense attorney Central Illinois, representing clients throughout the entire State of Illinois. She believes everyone deserves a fair chance at justice – including those who are hurt in a car accident or charged with a crime. She works tirelessly to ensure that her clients have the best representation possible for their individual circumstances.

She's a partner at BRE Law with a main office in Decatur, Illinois and other offices in Lincoln, Illinois; Sullivan, Illinois; and Bloomington, Illinois. She enjoys handling a wide range of cases with clients from all walks of life. 

She received her undergraduate degree in pre-law from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 2013. While attending SIU, she interned at the Jackson County Public Defender’s Office, where she learned how to defend felony cases for people accused of crimes ranging from theft to first-degree murder. Don’t hesitate to contact her if you need help with your case.

[dbhilllaw-blog]

DB Hill Law, one of the leading Auto Accident and Personal Injury Attorney Lincoln, Rocklin & Roseville CA has been offering excellent legal services. Call for a Free Confidential Case Review 916-975-9794

[altizerlaw]

Today's Legal Quote

[aprettygirlthief]

"I’m gonna be the one that breaks that glass ceiling. I’m going to to be the Hillary Clinton -- but you know... of drug lords.” 

► GENERAL INFORMATION

FULL NAME & ALIAS: Janice Lincoln - Beetle  CURRENT TEAM(S): Synister Syndicate AGE: 38 GENDER IDENTITY: Ciswoman  SEXUALITY:  Heterosexual  NATIONALITY: American ETHNICITY: Afro-Dominican  MULTIVERSAL ORIGIN: 616

► APPEARANCE

FACE CLAIM: Yaya Dacosta SPECIAL / RECOGNIZABLE FEATURES: Wears a purple and green suit as Beetle which has wings  HAIR COLOR: Dark brown EYE COLOR: Brown ACCENT: New York  Current Costume: https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Beetle_Armor_MK_IV

► BACKGROUND

CURRENT HOME: New York City, New York PAST OCCUPATION: Waitress / Student / Sinister Six  CURRENT OCCUPATION: Attorney at Law / Villain  SNAP STATUS: N/A

► RELATIONS

SIBLING(S): none PARTNER(S): Randy Robertson (ex-fiancee)  CHILDREN: none  Father: Lonnie Lincoln (Tombstone) Mother: Rosa Lincoln 

► HEADCANONS/FUN FACTS

Janice loves designer fashion, her favourite brands being Dior, Versace, and Chanel 

She’s LinkedIn famous 

Her and Randy called off their engagement due to Janice being a villain (she secretly wanted to protect Randy from it and is still in love with him) 

While she loves her whiskey, her favourite drink is an espresso martini 

She found a hand in her dad’s back yard when she was 8 and tried to take it in for show and tell (Tombstone found it in her bag before she could)

She caused a girl called Patricia to have an accident so bad she ended up in a wheelchair just so she could be valedictorian of her graduating class 

► WANTED CONNECTIONS

Randy Robertson  Tombstone Any former Sinister Six/Syndicate 

[tcm]

Pioneering Black Actors of Hollywood By Susan King

Clarence Muse and Rex Ingram by Susan King Thirty years ago, the legendary Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier reflected on the Black performers who paved the way for him in the Los Angeles Times: “The guys who were forerunners to me, like Canada Lee, Rex Ingram, Clarence Muse and women like Hattie McDaniel, Louise Beavers and Juanita Moore, they were terribly boxed in. They were maids and stable people and butlers, principally. But they, in some way, prepared the ground for me.”

Poitier prepared the ground for such contemporary Black actors and directors currently in competition during the 2021 awards season such as Regina King and Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami), Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods), the late Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday) and Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah).

But it is imperative to remember the veterans from the 1930s-1960s who tried to break out of stereotypes and maintain dignity at a time when Hollywood wanted to “box” them in.

Clarence Muse 

Muse appeared in countless Hollywood films often uncredited. And as Donald Bogle points out in his book Hollywood Black, Muse spoke his mind to directors if he felt he was being pushed around or when his characters were stereotypes. Bogle stated, “At another time when Muse questioned the actions of his character in director King Vidor’s 1935 Old South feature SO RED THE ROSE, Vidor recalled that Muse was quite vocal in expressing his concerns. A change was made. Vidor could not recall exactly what the issue was, but he never forgot Muse’s objection.”

The 1932 pre-Code crime drama Night World screened at the 2019 TCM Classic Film Festival to a standing-room only crowd. The film stars Lew Ayres, Boris Karloff and Muse as the doorman at a club owned by Karloff. The audience was surprised that such a stereotypical role was anything but thanks to Muse’s poignant performance. Instead of being forced to be the comic relief, Muse’s Washington is a man worried about his wife’s surgery at a local hospital. Though his boss doesn’t treat him as an equal—after all it is 1932—Karloff’s Happy shows general concern toward Washington.

Muse, said Bogle, “also worked in race movies, where he realized there was still a real chance for significant roles and narratives.” One such was BROKEN STRINGS (’40), which he also co-wrote. It’s certainly not a great film, but Muse gives a solid turn as a famed Black violinist who wants his young son to follow in his footsteps. But the son wants to play swing with his violin.

Muse, who was a graduate of Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, also co-wrote the Louis Armstrong standard “Sleepy Time Down South.” In the 1920s, he worked at two Harlem theater companies, Lincoln Players and Lafayette Players, and 23 years later he became the first African American Broadway director with Run Little Chillun. He continued to act, appearing in Poitier’s directorial debut BUCK AND THE PREACHER (’72), CAR WASH (’76) and THE BLACK STALLION (’79) and was elected to the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973. He died one day before his 90th birthday in 1979.

Rex Ingram 

Tall and imposing, Ingram had a great presence on the big screen and a rich melliferous voice. No wonder his best-known role was as the gigantic Genie in the bottle in Alexander Korda’s lavish production of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (’40). Born in 1895, he began his film career in movies such as Cecil B. DeMille’s THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (’23). Ingram also has the distinction of playing God in THE GREEN PASTURES (’36) and Lucifer Jr. both on Broadway in 1940 and in the 1943 film adaptation of the musical CABIN IN THE SKY.

Ingram also brought a real humanity to his role as the slave Jim in MGM’s disappointing THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (’39), starring a miscast Mickey Rooney, who was way too old at 19 to play the part. Ingram, though, breaks your heart when he talks to Huck about how his dream is to earn enough money to buy his freedom so he could join his wife and child living in a free state. And when he runs away, Ingram explains to Huck why he had to flee the widow Douglas: “If one of them slave traders got me, I never would get to that free state. I would never see my wife, or little Joey.”

He also is superb in Frank Borzage’s noir MOONRISE (’48) as Mose Johnson, the friend of the murderer’s son Danny (Dane Clark), who lives in a shack in the wilderness with his coonhounds. Noble and thoughtful, Mose is the film’s conscience and helps guide Danny to do the right thing after he kills a bully (Lloyd Bridges) in self-defense.

Ingram was one of the busiest Black actors at the time and at one point even served on the Board of the Screen Actors Guild. But the same year MOONRISE was released, he was arrested and pleaded guilty for transporting an underage girl from Kansas to New York. He served a prison sentence and for a long time his career was derailed. He even lost his home. Though his film career was never the same upon his release, he worked in TV and on the Broadway stage, appearing in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, and died in 1969 at 73 shortly after doing a guest shot on NBC’s The Bill Cosby Show.

Ernest Anderson 

Anderson never achieved the notoriety of Muse and Ingram, but the actor gave an extraordinary performance in the Bette Davis-Olivia de Havilland melodrama IN THIS OUR LIFE (’42) directed by John Huston. Born in 1915, Anderson earned his BA at Northwestern University in drama and speech. He was recommended for his role in the movie by Davis, who saw the young man working at the commissary on the Warner Bros.’ lot.

Anderson plays Parry, the son of the Davis-de Havilland family’s maid who aspires to be a lawyer. Davis’ spoiled rotten Stanley Timberlake gets drunk, and while driving she kills someone in a hit-and-run accident. Stanley throws Parry under the bus telling authorities he was the one driving the car.

Initially, the script depicted Parry in much more stereotypical terms, but Anderson went to Huston and discussed why he wanted to play the character with dignity and intelligence. Huston agreed. And for 1942, it’s rather shocking to see a studio film look at racism as in the scene where Parry tells de Havilland’s Roy why he wants to be an attorney:

“Well, you see, it’s like this, Miss Roy: a white boy, he can take most any kind of job and improve himself. Well, like in this store! Maybe he can get to be a clerk or a manager. But a colored boy, he can’t do that. He can keep a job, or he can lose a job. But he can’t get any higher up. So, he’s got a figure out something he can do that no one can take away. And that’s why I want to be a lawyer.”

Needless to say, such monologues were cut when the movie was shown in the South. Despite strong reviews for his performance, Anderson never got another role with so much substance. But he continued working through the 1970s and died in 2011 at the age of 95.

[one-shot-plus-size]

From Sons of Anarchy to Mayans MC

Jax's sister must hide from the revenge of SAMCRO enemies, goes to Mayans MC Santo Padre. And he catches the eye of a la presidente.

Chapters 12/20

Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my first language. They will accept any attention and criticism :)

Part 11

Pov Olivia

- Miss Teller we can do this in two ways.

- Who are you? - Bishop spoke to me. 

- Lincoln James Potter, deputy U.S. Attorney's Office - stretched out his hand in his direction.

El Presidente leaned over on the sides and stared at him.

- I understand - he nodded his head - so how ?

He came back looking at me, I breathed and overdid my hair. I looked at Bishop and Taza, they were staring at him with a killer look.

- Should I call my friends ? - he waved his hand behind him.

I looked over his shoulder, about 20 meters from the entrance two police cars were standing. Two policemen were standing by each of them.

- Let's do it calmly - I took a step. 

All in all, I didn't even manage to take that step because Bishop's hand landed on my shoulder. Potter took a step forward, squinted his eyes staring at Bishop's patch. 

- El Presidente - rubbed his beard - interesting and interesting. Do not be afraid, it has nothing to do with you. 

I pointed my finger at the guys who purried something under their noses. I looked at Angel, who was almost burning a hole in my head. I smiled at him uncertainly.

- I would like to talk to a young lady, I have quite sad news to tell her, so I would prefer it in private. So you will allow me to take her with me - he extended his hand to me.

Bishop's grip on my shoulder got stronger. I put my hand on his hands and patted it several times. 

- Bish, calm down. Mr. Potter won't hurt me, will he? - I took a look at the blonde. - Of course not - he smiled - so how ?

I came close to Bishop, he looked at me, but almost immediately returned to Potter with a look. 

- Calmly - I whispered in his ear - I can manage, call sons. 

He let go of my arm when I moved forward.

- I am so glad - the agent clapped his hands - we will have a long chat. 

When we walked away from the entrance I heard Bishop's voice.

- Taza, Hank, we follow them. Angel, call the Sons immediately. 

One of the policemen recreated the police car door, I got in the back. I felt like a prisoner, I looked at the house. Bishop, his deputy and El Pacificador took a nervous step to the car. Angel walked out on the porch with a phone at his ear. If they fucking think I'm a traitor now, I had no idea what the deputy attorney general might want from me. But that never bode well. I leaned my head against the headrest and closed my eyes, after thirty minutes we drove to the local police station. Bishop's SUV parked right behind us, Potter approached the door and opened it for me. He stretched out his hand to me and helped me get out, we entered the building. I felt the boys' burning look on me. I turned over my shoulder, Bishop was angry, but I didn't know whether it was me or the whole situation. The officer took us to the room, a table and two chairs on opposite sides stood in the middle. In the middle of the table was a grey briefcase.

- Sit down please - the blond man waved his hand - make yourself comfortable, I know that these are not the luxuries you are used to but I promise that it will not take long but it will be painful. 

- What am I here for? - I wrinkled my eyebrows and sat down. 

- Do you know what is happening in Charming or what happened there ?

- I haven't been home in a few months, I have no idea what's going on. 

- It's sad - he thought for a while - but I have a solution.

He moved the briefcase towards me, I stared at it. 

- I think it will change your life, I will give you a few minutes to read the material - He patted me on the shoulder and left.

Pov Bishop

- What the hell is this all about? - I was snorting while lighting a cigarette. 

- I don't know - Taza twisted his head. 

- Why do I have a feeling that she could be a mole ?  - Tranq spoke to me.

- What ? - I turned my head to him. 

- What you heard - he shrugged his shoulders - she got to us to smash us from the inside. I don't know how it came to my mind, maybe it was Jackson's plan.  

- I don't believe it. I got out of the car.

I leaned against the hood of the car and stared at the building, I couldn't believe that the young one would have pulled this number off. I trusted her too quickly, I gave her my heart. After a while the car door opened and Taza leaned out. 

- Bish, this is Angel. You have to listen to this. It's going to change the whole thing. 

I went up to him and grabbed the phone. 

- What is it? - I've been growling. 

- Pres - he pulled my nose - I called Chibs from SAMCRO. 

- And what did you find out? - I looked around. 

- They're preparing to bury Jackson and Gemma. 

- What ? - I was surprised. 

- Jackson died in a motorcycle accident. I mean, he crashed into a truck, and Gemma was shot in the head. 

- Are you sure you heard right?

- Yeah, I think so. I mean, I guess this guy wants to tell her. He wants to make her aware of the events in Charming. 

- I fucking-- I kicked the fuckin'g wheel - with all my might. 

- Pres, what do we do? - He hesitated. 

- I don't know- I breathe - stay home as soon as this guy lets her go, we'll come there. 

- All right - he nodded and hung up. 

I gave the phone to Tazie and lit another cigarette. 

- We're going to make a big walk.

Part 13

[cynicalclassicist]

Education, Education, Education

Set between The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords

Written by FELIX O’KELLY

The Year that Never Was

The Valiant

The Master sat in the Valiant, looking out across the world he ruled supreme. He smiled. Construction on the ships were on schedule. His remodelling of the Lincoln Memorial had gone well, despite some resistance his forces had entered the Capitol and established his rule. Construction at Rushmore was going perfectly, after he’d had a few public executions. There had been a few rebellions in Scotland, helped by friends of the previous Prime Minister, but a short sharp shock had put those down. Despite that trouble with the Loch Ness Monster. The Norwegian resistance was giving him some trouble, spray-painting Quislings onto the local security offices and disappearing into the woods. But the woods were being chopped down to fuel his industry and soon there would be nowhere left to hide.

And meanwhile, as Earth groaned under his rule, he ripped it up, its plains, its valleys, opening its hills with spacious wounds, digging out masses of minerals to fuel his fleet. The Earth Reptile bases occasionally found as the Earth was torn apart were an utter joy. The Master could sometimes get so tired of only oppressing humans, killing a few Earth Reptiles could add real spice to otherwise dull weeks. Sometimes they even made good slaves! And some new weapons for his fleet as well…

The Master glanced at a map of his world. The Doctor did like those lovely crinkly edges of Norway. Maybe it was time for a bit of remodelling.

There was a cough behind him, and he turned. “And what can I do for you!”

Captain Ironside, who the Master had given the role to partially because he liked the name, saluted. “Master. We’ve brought him.”

“Splendid!” smiled the Master. He glided gleefully down the rail as a figure was dragged in, beaten and bloody.

“Nicholas Clough, I presume!” said the Master.

He recognised the man of course. Nicholas Clough had been one of the rising stars of politics only recently, being promoted to Education Secretary by Harriet Jones. Yet when the fall of Harriet Jones happened, he had left the Cabinet with her. In the election in which Harold Saxon had finally risen to Prime Minister, Clough had announced he was stepping down as MP for Hazelhurst East, a position he had held since the 9th of April 1992. It was the first time Saxon had seen him since then.

The man looked up, through a black eye. “Saxon.”

“Oh, that was the name I used, but you know I am the Master!” sneered the Time Lord. He whipped out his laser screwdriver at which the guards stepped back. But the Master laughed. “Not yet! Haven’t had a good chin-wag since I had that Shaw brought here. Though she was a tad disappointing… not even killing her was exciting.” He turned and grinned horribly at the Doctor, who sat there in his wheelchair. “But the look on your face made it all worthwhile! Just like when I told you about Miss Grant and the grandchildren she… had.”

The Doctor’s face burned with hatred at this.

“Why do you want to talk to me?” asked Nicholas.

The man he had known as Harold Saxon pirouetted round like a ballerina. “Well, you have been spreading some very hurtful things about me” he replied. “And I heard that you met a certain… Martha.” He savoured the word a moment, then spat it out, trying to stay composed.

Nicholas smiled. “Yes. We talked a bit about the Doctor. I’d been wondering who that fellow was ever since Harriet Jones made that broadcast on Christmas.”

“Well, here he is!” The Master pulled the Doctor out of the wheelchair. “Here you are, Mr Clough! Here is the wonderful Doctor!” He flung him back in, the Doctor remaining silent, with the aura of one used to this humiliation.

Nicholas looked worried but composed himself. “Well, there are plenty who resist you still.”

“Yes… Harriet is proving a bit elusive herself” said the Master, his face turning ugly again. “But of course, you were close to her!”

“I left when she did,” replied Nicholas.

“Loyalty… an unusual trait in a politician” replied Saxon. “I should know! Plenty were happy to flock to my banner!” He laughed. “Remember that loathsome Oscar Sudders? Harriet’s Health Secretary? Jumped at the chance to become my Defence Secretary! And that idiot from Richfield South. And of course, the old fool Dumfries! The look on their faces when I made the reshuffle…”

“I’m certainly glad I didn’t take the chance to be your Education Secretary!” said Nicholas.

“So much for wanting to educate!” laughed the Master. “I know how much you politicians talk about education, education, education!”

“Well, I was leaving politics anyway,” said Nicholas. “And I am happy to keep educating people.”

“Oh, what would you need to educate them about!” asked the Master. He pointed upwards. “I have my network, broadcasting the right ideas into their minds! I even have a few loudspeakers set up if I want to give a message!”

He pushed some buttons as if playing a piano, pulled a lever and yelled down the receiver. “PEOPLES OF EARTH! THIS IS YOUR MASTER! JUST TESTING!” He smiled at Nicholas. “It’s 1:15 in that part of the world, it should make the people jump!” He gave a laugh. “Not that it’s too dissimilar to many politicians in the days before my rule, this sort of propaganda! The sheer amount of awful Parties I had to go to to get Ru…” He paused and looked sullen at this memory, then brightened.

“But enough of that! I recall a piece you wrote about me, just before the election! It was called Why I will not be voting Saxon!”

“I think there are a lot of people who regret voting for you now” replied Nicholas.

“Well they should have thought of that beforehand. Not that they ever read your magnum opus. It got pulled due to a word from his Lordship the Paper’s owner, but he was kind enough to send me a copy!”

Like a conjurer the Master produced a paper. He smirked at the Doctor. “I’ve been teaching myself magic! I recall you liked those when you were that little man with the umbrella! Travelling with that… what was it… Dorothy?”

“Ace” said the Doctor. “Her name was Ace.”

“Oh yes! Ace! I remember telling you about her last stand with the Nitro-9… excellent chemical, I’m bottling a bit of it myself for a rainy day! Where was I… ah, the article!”

The Master began reading.

“Let’s see… Clough calls me the most dangerous man in Britain.”

“I was too kind, you’re the most dangerous man in the world” replied Nicholas.

“Oh, still too kind, the Universe!” The Master continued. “Brings up… oh yes, that little car accident which meant I just happened to be elected an MP! Poor old Charles Lichen!” He chuckled horribly. “Talks about dubious businessmen… Well, Salamander is doing some good work for me. And Van Statten’s collection has all sorts of lovely weapons for mass-production!” He commenced skimming the article. “Badmouths me, surprisingly nice about the Shadow Attorney General, badmouths Brian Green… Brings up Lazarus…” The Master was practically blushing as he read of his sinister deeds and scheming. “You’re too kind! I almost wish I could give you a job!”

“Well there will always be people like me, ready to educate against people like you!” said Nicholas. “And that’s what Martha is doing! Giving people hope!”

“Your pathetic people haven’t got a hope!” spat the Master.

“Doesn’t matter how many times you say that, it doesn’t make it true!” replied Nicholas, standing defiantly. “I kept telling people what Martha told me and I’m happy to have done so!”

A smile formed on the Doctor’s face, the first proper one in weeks. The Master glanced around, and his eyes narrowed. He turned back to Nicholas.

“Perhaps.” He took out his laser screwdriver and fired it, blasting Clough to the ground.

“Leave it wherever you found it,” he laughed to Ironside. “I’ll tell the people it’s an education!”

“You didn’t need to do that” said the Doctor angrily.

“No. But it’s fun!”

The Master turned to his transmitters. “Peoples of the Earth, please attend carefully.” He winked at the Doctor. “I always love saying that.” He continued. “I had a meeting with Nicholas Clough. A most educating experience. Just thought I’d let Miss Jones know that! And that I look forward to meeting her!”

But far away Martha continued telling her stories, telling the people of someone who fought against evil. Of giant crabs, of Daleks, of atmosphere-cleaning whales intended to destroy humanity, time-travelling assassins and more. And eventually the stories she told grew in the minds of the people and ended the tyranny of the Master.

And on that day, time snapped back a year. The Toclafane decimation vanished and few remembered the rule of the Master. Instead they watched as the Prime Minister was shot and died.

But they moved on and life went on. The papers about Saxon were covered up by the Lord High Chancellor Brian Green, including Clough’s Why I will not be Voting Saxon, citing security concerns.

Though with plenty more troubles and tricksters like the Master the world was not yet safe…

28th February 2021

England

Nicholas Clough glanced at his article, Why I will not be voting Saxon, written all those years ago. After some lobbying, he had finally been able to get it released for the memoirs he was writing, probably helped by the fact Brian Green was no longer in Parliament. Not many people seemed interested now in history. He sometimes wondered if the country would ever learn, especially as they kept making the same mistakes, falling for the same tricks. Not just in this country even!

But he had to keep trying. And maybe, one day, people would learn. Maybe they would see through the lies that the powerful told. Where there was life, there was hope. Even in the darkest of times.

[enron-intern-1998]

Every US Pres. and some of their crimes:

TW(sexual assault): #22

George Washington: power broker of the slavers. Owned hundreds of human beings over whom he held & exercised absolute power in life and death.

Adams: Made it illegal to criticize the government

Jefferson: owned & used people over whom he held & exercised absolute power in life and death.

Madison: owned other people over whom he held & exercised absolute power in life and death.

Monroe: owned people over whom he held & exercised absolute power in life and death.

Adams jr : slanderized Rachel Jackson with a nationwide smear campaign to the point that her mental & physical health became so deteriorated that she died.

Jackson: abolished the central bank and impoverished most Americans because of a power trip against Nicholas Biddle. Invaded the Floridian peninsula and committed genocidal terror campaigns against those who lived there.

Van Buren: oversaw the trail of tears

William Henry Harrison: built the political capital to become President as a savage murderer in the military

John Tyler: slaver, made the slavery caste system somehow even more intractable by coveting private ownership of land with a supposed mandate from a heavenly power.

James K. Polk: promised in his election campaign to murder as many people past the Rio Grande as it took to make it so human beings could be enslaved there, and followed through

Zachary Taylor: Polk’s butcher of humanity

Millard Fillmore: Sent commodore Perry across the Pacific Ocean, triggering a series of Imperialist wars which led to the second Great War.

Franklin Pierce: excused because he saw his son decapitated in a train accident on their way to his inauguration and was mentally shattered by the experience.

James Buchanen: actively moved weapons and military personnel/equipment to regions which would likely be seized by insurrection were a civil war to break out, in a time where it was likely that a civil war would break out. Generally incompetent.

Abraham Lincoln: suspended the rule of law and emancipated slaves while still buying into the concept of racial hierarchy, essentially repeating the mistakes the founding fathers made. Left a loophole allowing prisoners to be enslaved.

Andrew Johnson: during a speaking tour, one of his stops had grandstands built so poorly that they collapsed, causing death & injury. Refused to hold confederate criminals accountable and endorsed horrific violence

Grant: made government = naked corruption. Whiskey ring, postal ring, totally unable to manage a government or judge the character of people that were nice to him.

Hayes - abandoned hundreds of millions of people across generations to the horror of domination by a crushing racial hierarchy which continues to the present day, for the purpose of political expedience to be president for four insignificant years.

Garfield - excused for gruesome death and for doing his part in taking down corruption in DC on the way out.

Chet Arthur - signed the Chinese Exclusion Act into law.

Grover: raped a woman and threw her in a sanitarium against her will when she went public with her allegations during the election

Benjamin Harrison: the Wounded Knee massacre

Cleveland: refused to use the government to help people who were dying in the streets during an economic collapse and used Pinkertons to murder workers striking for bearable working conditions

McKinley: Genocide in the Phillipines

Roosevelt: Genocide in the Phillipines

Taft: announced in his inaugural address that he would use arbitrary judgments based on skin pigment as the criteria for how the civil service will be staffed

Wilson: screened the film which inspired the second iteration of the Ku Klux Klan, ‘Birth of a Nation’ at the White House.

(No shade to Edith Wilson)

Harding: a true modern ignoramous appointed criminals to his cabinet, cheated on his spouse repeatedly and unrepentantly

Coolidge: never saw an opportunity for cultural appropriation that he didn’t seize

Hoover: sent the military to attack a peaceful protest of world war 1 veterans seeking early payment of combat bonuses.

FDR: Japanese internment.

Truman: got the ball rolling on CIA skullduggery

Eisenhower: Denied history the opportunity to see Nikita Khrushchev in Disneyland. Overthrowing other government organizations caused people to die. passed the buck on the military industrial complex.

Kennedy: Ending all human life instantaneously and simultaneously because of a war becomes possible. Kennedy flirts with the opportunity on multiple occasions.

LBJ: staged a false flag attack to justify escalating a simmering conflict into a frenzy of human butchery

Nixon: sabotaging efforts to end the frenzy of human butchery so they could take credit for stopping it by adding to it a systematic airborne incineration campaign

Ford: Gave Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney their big breaks in politics.

Carter: withdrew some of the soldiers protecting people on the Korean Peninsula as part of political wrangling with Congress, leading to civilians dying violently.

Reagan: didn’t say the word “AIDS” for two years

Bush: covered up his own crimes with the help of his Attorney General, William Barr

Clinton: mass incarceration

Bush jr: war on terror

Obama: drones, deportation & disillusionment

Trump: yanking every loose thread to destabilize the society he ostensibly leads and instigating almost daily

Biden: coming soon????????????????

[bopinion]

2020 / 46

Aperçu of the week:

You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time (Abraham Lincoln). Right!

Bad news of the week:

The presidential elections in the USA reveal a lot of ambivalent aspects. Okay, Joe Biden won in the end, but more than 70 million Americans voted for Donald Trump - and none of them can claim not to know what they were doing. In 2016, the whole world had the hope that the office was more powerful than the man. And the Trump election was somehow a clumsy misunderstanding, a kind of accident. With this year's election a clear statement was made. And not a good one.

The following conclusions, among others, seem to suggest themselves: White people fear their loss of social significance. Statistics show that they will already be in the minority by the middle of this century - because today's minorities, especially Latinos, will then be in the majority. So a Trump voter could claim that he or she merely wants to defend the status quo ("Our America!") against all these strange progressive trends of change ("Good old times!").

Red states are and remain red, blue states are blue, and swing states are clearly divided: cities blue, rural areas red. Even candidates with exotic bonuses (not only Trump for the Republicans, but also Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democrats) are changing something about the blanket party fixes that dominate most U.S. states: New England and the Pacific Coast are Democratic, the Midwest is Republican, the Great Lakes and Florida are battlegrounds. Party programs, specific personnel or campaign content hardly count. One only wants to reassure oneself briefly whether the basics are still right and then succumbs to one's reflexes. Even a tweet is enough for that.

With his reaction to the count, Trump has not only proven that he was wrongly appointed to office, but has also damaged democracy in the USA - probably permanently. In addition, the defeated campaign is threatening with a week-long hangover due to legal measures, which will ultimately prove to be untenable, but will nevertheless spread uncertainty. Moreover, the Trump administration will hardly lift a finger in day-to-day politics until its successor takes office. Nor can it be assumed that there will be a constructive transition that would make it easier for the Biden government to get off to a good start. This is bad, because at the moment every day counts in the USA, like almost everywhere else in the world.

Tuesday was not only about the posts of president and vice president. Most of Congress was also on the ballot papers: the entire House of Representatives as well as a third of the Senate will be filled by new (or old) candidates. Currently, fundamental changes seem rather unlikely; the House will probably remain barely democratic, the Senate barely republican. This is bad, because without a majority in the Senate, Biden has hardly any chance to govern significantly. All that would remain would be more or less symbolic politics. And that is not enough to "heal the national soul", nor to neutralize the national and international impact of the policies of the last four years. So hope for the Midterm Elections. It is just as unfortunate which personnel is now in power. Not only have proven dishonest tacticians without a moral compass such as Mitch McConnell or Lindsey Graham been re-elected, but many newcomers also makes one shiver: Several Republican candidates had spread conspiracy theories of QAnon during the election campaign. Now at least one candidate, Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, has actually been elected.

So: not everything will be "all right" overnight - most problems were already increasingly noticeable before Trump and will continue to dominate the political agenda after Trump.

Good news of the week:

The (at least European) expectations of the US presidential elections were clear: Trump will be voted out of office, "the adults" will take the helm again. "A re-election of the incumbent would therefore (have been) a fatal signal. Not least because an election victory would call into question one of the great strengths of Western democracy as a form of government: its ability to correct itself (Der Spiegel)". That has now worked.

Many other aspects have also worked: More US citizens participated in the election than ever before. The basis of any democracy, the participation of the people, was heavily emphasized.

With Biden, an upright democrat has won. Harris is the first female vice president, and her parents are from India and Jamaica. The two highest representatives of the people therefore represent the people better than ever before.

Not only the "Popular vote", but also the majority of the electoral votes in Electoral College were won by Biden/Harris. So this time this fundamentally undemocratic electoral system did not lead to the victory of the loser, as in 2000 and 2016.

The election winners are proven political professionals and not newcomers, as was the case with Trump (not to mention his family and companions). Biden was more than just a backbencher in the Senate for 36 years and was also vice president for 8 years. Kamala Harris was Attorney General in California prior to her election to the senate in 2016, a highly operational position combining the head of the state law enforcement agency and duties of a Secretary of Justice.

The elections ran largely smoothly. No court-appealable chaos at the polling stations, no civil-war-like riots in the streets, no voter oppression through legal tricks or threatening from self-appointed "election watchdogs". The counting process in all states also worked or is working smoothly, despite all Republicans' prophecies of doom regarding the mail-in ballots. No problems worth mentioning were reported, the transparency sets new standards, for example with webcams. The challenges in court announced by Trump are therefore likely to be lost in the void.

The media coverage was objective and factual. Even Fox News paid more attention to facts than to Trump's increasingly desperate tweets and, for example, assigned Arizona to the Democratic camp days before CNN. The fourth power in the state was and is largely fulfilling its role.

So: not everything will be "right again" overnight - the tasks are enormous, but the new team will be able to cope with them much better than the old one.

Sense of achievement of the week:

I didn't write about the corona epidemic today. And regarding the overwhelming dominance of this topic, this is remarkable - even an achievement. But there is a joke lately that sums the news of this year up quite significantly: In the year 2050 two historians meet. Asks the first one: "So what's your main focus in history?" The second one answers: "Middle age. And yours?" "The year 2020." "Ah - which week?"

[fvckvalenciano]

introducing benji !!

[ FROY GUTIERREZ // 20 // CIS MALE // HE/HIM // MUSE J ] can you believe BENJAMIN ‘BENJI’ VALENCIANO is apart of the stellar world tour? the industry has dubbed him THE CHARLATAN and he has quite the reputation. sources say he is [ ENGAGING ] and [ ASSERTIVE ], but can also be [ VINDICTIVE ] and [ QUICK-TEMPERED ]. however, he is best described by the song [ SUPER RICH KIDS ] by [ FRANK OCEAN ]. i can’t to see what the stellar world tour has in store for him.

bio & pinterest

hi hi !! i'm sure you guys will recognize this as a reoccuring theme sooner rather than later, but i have absolutely no idea what i'm doing at any given moment, so i'm just gonna dive into a quick introduction to benji and hope for the best ! if you are interested in some slightly more organized thoughts i would recommend taking a look at his bio ( which i just fixed the link for because i'm dumb and it was broken this whole time haha, so let me know if there are any problems! ) & i hope you guys enjoy :)

okay so benjamin is born in greenwich, connnecticut, a town famous almost exclusively for housing some of the wealthiest families in america and not much else. his moms are both lawyers, cutthroat defense attorneys that pay for the family's summers in europe and vacation homes down south with somebody's elses blood money. he's an only child, and their scrutiny is merciless as it curates an envy for the anonymity of the shadows. their expectations pile too high in his throat, and he fears the day he chokes and lets them down, for it is inevietable. but he knows they'll do anything to get him across that finish line, walking across the stage at a prestigous law school he couldn’t care less about, which in an odd way is more terryifying than it is comforting.

music is not something that even crosses his mind until much later in life. it was never an option, still isn't, so he decides early that it is not worth the energy of entertaining, even as he finds peace only when the music is loud enough to drown out everything else. he is desperate to mold himself into somebody worth his mothers' undying affections, not just charades and party tricks. but they are patient with him nonetheless, smiles tight and forgiving through it all, and his stomach turns more often than not with the way pity flashes in a matching set of cool eyes, lightning-quick.

benji is created in just sixteen hours and thirty-seven minutes, an accident. it's a textbook definition of overnight fame, a shoddy youtube video gaining far more traction than it was ever meant to. he's nineteen and only in his second semester at college, and music was never the plan, but neither was law school, really. it's a headache, dizzying to imagine taking a life where he steps outside of his family's hold, and he is forced to make a real decision for the first time in his life. so he does.

in the same breath that he signs a contract with the label, they are prying his music from his fingers, the lyrics of missing a life that was never his to begin with are lifted away and delivered to somebody that looks more the part of soft and remoreseful. ( cue lincoln entering stage left, hello bb ) rather, he’s fitted with quick and aggressive lines, still technically his words but molded in a way that don’t fit right in his mouth. they tell him it fits his image better, and doesn’t he want to be famous? the worst part is that it works, his fans eat it up, and demand more, more, more. anger thrums beneath his skin, obvious even as he shoves it down like always, but any pr agent could spot it from a mile away, and they tell him to use that instead. he is familiar with the use of disguises, years of sneaking around in his own home make excellent practice, but it leaves a bad taste in his mouth all the same. nobody has ever allowed him the vice of anger before, though. he knows a lifeline when he sees one, and he runs with it. benji realizes all too late that this is not the freedom he thought he would be granted, realizes he should have known better, that he let himself get passed over from his mothers’ iron grasp to the label’s. he decides he prefers the way disappointing others lasts longer and feels better than chasing approval, and lets this time be different.

[ H E A D C A N O N S ]

( i know this is all dramatic backstory so far lmao, let me introduce you to who this dumb asshole really is )

more than anything else, benji is all bark with no bite. he’ll curse you out for accidentally waking him up at 7:30 instead of 8:00, and hold the grudge for hours with icy stares and glorified pouting, like he’s got a personal vendetta for making himself miserable. he’s often a bit standoffish, distant in the apathetic way that you could cry on his shoulder for hours and still not hear a word out of him, look over and he’ll offer a placating grin and a shrug. he tells the truth to a fault, blunt and unforgiving and too impatient to waste time playing games with lies and faux-affection. even with all his own bouts of irritability, the kid is an absolute idiot when it comes to reading people and understanding social cues and he’s often left blind-sided when people are pissed at him without explicitly spelling it out. still, he doesn’t hold any actual distaste for anybody on the tour, floating between groups based on whoever’s personality suits him better that day, unless they are the ones to escalate the matter, in which case, good luck charlie. forgive-and-forget isn’t really in his vocabulary. once he makes a decision, it’s near impossible to get him to change his mind.

when he wants to be, or if you’ve entertained his interests in one way or another, he warms up and and indulges you with his internal monologue ( your chances are better if there’s a camera around, he doesn’t often bother wasting the energy otherwise, but still ) actually, it is not as hard as it sounds to gain his favor. crack a dumb joke about pr or offer him half a snickers bar and you’ve already got a foot in the door, baby. he reveals his friendship in odd ways — sarcastic comments and random compliments, nonchalant and declared like fact rather than opinion.

the real shortcut into his brain is alcohol. flash forward to like 11pm on any given day and the asshole is chugging fireball like it’s the first sip of water he’s had after years of dehydration, suddenly all bright grins and loud laughs, eager to collect drinking buddies like playing cards. it’s a harsh juxtaposition, from brooding and fabricated to giggling and tipsy, and his tolerance isn’t nearly as high as he likes to pretend it is, so he’s drunk off his ass and acting a fool more often than not. he’ll trade secrets easily, charming and tongue loose in a way that it never is when he’s sober. ( don’t even get me started with the amount of people he hooks up with, oh boy ) drunk benji’s a real headache for the crew, considering he’s not of drinking age yet in america and he’s got a rigid mask to maintain in order to keep up his charades and remain relevant. he refuses to be ashamed of it, though, and he’s adamant to make things difficult for them, relishing instead in impulsive decisions he never got the chance to make for most of his life. long story short, in a pinch, buy him a handle and he’ll probably like you.

when i say benji will try anything once, i mean it seriously, offer him literally anything and odds are that he’ll say yes. it’s kind of ridiculous. his self-destructive streak is always up for a good time, wink wink ( this doesn’t just mean drugs or anything, like dare him to eat an entire jar of nutella in under 10 minutes? where’s the spoon )

unfortunately he’s a stereotypical rich kid through and through, and he’s got the nicotine addiction to show for it. he won’t even smoke cigarettes out of the principle of the thing ( unless he’s blackout drunk, in which case, oh boy, watch your pockets ) but he’s got at least two juuls on him at any given moment. nobody knows how he manages it, but he’s got an extensive supply of the mango flavored pods even though they’re banned, because they’re the only ones he’ll use. he’s got lots of connections, and the fact that he uses them for this pretty much sums up his entire personality.

you would think that benji, with his reformed rich kid attitude and all his burning anger and sarcastic eye-rolling, would only drink expensive coffee, black and strong, right? no. he’ll walk up to any barista, pissed just to be awake before noon and gaze as hard and cold as hell itself frozen over, and order himself a frozen caramel frappuccino with extra whipped cream and extra caramel drizzle on top, deadpan and monotone. to add insult to injury, he’ll chase it by shotgunning a can of redbull, living off of unhealthy amounts of caffeine to have enough energy to deal with the others at all times. it’s ridiculous.

he’s grudgingly okay with the fact that his social media accounts have been sacrificed for his image, wiped clean and shaped into the public figure he is today. however, he guards his spotify account with his life, keeping it private and refusing to monitor this aspect of his life. his music taste is everything to him, and while he’s willing to plaster songs he’s never listened to all over his instagram story, his spotify is an extension of him, and he fights like a dog to keep it that way.

last but not least, benji’s fashion is atrocious. really, for the greater good nobody should let him dress himself, ever, and they usually don’t. he’s got quite the bad reputation amongst the stylists, infamous for scowling at the high-fashion look they want to stuff him in, refusing to hear reason to the fact that he has to wear makeup to the red carpet. whenever he knows beyond a doubt that no cameras will be waved in front of his eyes, he practically lives in sweats like it’s his religion, paired with genuinely whichever shirt he first lays eyes on. ( listen, he grew up filthy rich and just bought his first pair of sweatpants when he went to college, let him indulge bb ) some members will swear up and down to the fact that they saw him walk around in mysteriously stained sweatpants and a stolen back-up dancer’s skin tight, hot pink mesh crop top for a full hour into rehearsal before he woke up enough to realize his mistake. he’ll bite your head off for even bringing it up, but glance down and double-check what he’s wearing just in case.

oh wait also he’s dyslexic. words blur together in a way that makes writing lyrics a bitch, and just one song take him weeks to finish. it makes the sting of having them ripped away even worse. ( also i get to spell things wrong in the group chat and it’s in character lmao )

[kathleenmcgregor]

September 6, 2020 (Sunday)

Heather Cox Richardson writes:

Earlier this week, New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo warned that American democracy is ending. He pointed to political violence on the streets, the pandemic, unemployment, racial polarization, and natural disasters, all of which are destabilizing the country, and noted that Republicans appear to have abandoned democracy in favor of a cult-like support for Donald Trump. They are wedded to a narrative based in lies, as the president dismantles our non-partisan civil service and replaces it with a gang of cronies loyal only to him.

He is right to be worried.

Just the past few days have demonstrated that key aspects of democracy are under attack.

Democracy depends on the rule of law. Today, we learned that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who rose to become a Cabinet official thanks to his prolific fundraising for the Republican Party, apparently managed to raise as much money as he did because he pressured employees at his business, New Breed Logistics, to make campaign contributions that he later reimbursed through bonuses. Such a scheme is illegal. A spokesman said that Dejoy “believes that he has always followed campaign fundraising laws and regulations,” but records show that many of DeJoy’s employees only contributed money to political campaigns when they worked for him.

Democracy depends on equality before the law. But Black and brown people seem to receive summary justice at the hands of certain law enforcement officers, rather than being accorded the right to a trial before a jury of their peers. In a democracy, voters elect representatives who make laws that express the will of the community. “Law enforcement officers” stop people who are breaking those laws, and deliver them to our court system, where they can tell their side of the story and either be convicted of breaking the law, or acquitted. When police can kill people without that process, justice becomes arbitrary, depending on who holds power.

Democracy depends on reality-based policy. Increasingly it is clear that the Trump administration is more concerned about creating a narrative to hold power than it is in facts. Today, Trump tweeted that “Our Economy and Jobs are doing really well,” when we are in a recession (defined as two quarters of negative growth) and unemployment remains at 8.4%.

This weekend, the drive to create a narrative led to a new low as the government launched an attempt to control how we understand our history. On Friday, the administration instructed federal agencies to end training on “critical race theory,” which is a scary-sounding term for the idea that, over time, our laws have discriminated against Black and brown people, and that we should work to get rid of that discriminatory pattern.

Today, Trump tweeted that the U.S. Department of Education will investigate whether California schools are using curriculum based on the 1619 Project from the New York Times, which argues that American history should center on the date of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to Chesapeake shores. Anyone using such curriculum, he said, would lose funding. Government interference in teaching our history echoes the techniques of dictatorships. It is unprecedented in America.

Democracy depends on free and fair suffrage. The White House is trying to undermine our trust in the electoral system by claiming that mail-in ballots can be manipulated and will usher in fraud. While Trump has been arguing this for a while, last week Attorney General William Barr, a Trump loyalist, also chimed in, offering a false story that the Justice Department had indicted a Texas man for filling out 1700 absentee ballots. In fact, in 2017, one man was convicted of forging one woman’s signature on a mail-in ballot in a Dallas City Council race. Because mail-in ballots have security barcodes and require signatures to be matched to a registration form, the rate of ballot fraud is vanishingly small: there have been 491 prosecutions in all U.S. nationwide elections from 2000 to 2012, when billions of ballots were cast.

Interestingly, an intelligence briefing from the Department of Homeland Security released Friday says that Russia is spreading false statements identical to those Trump and Barr are spreading. The bulletin says that Russian actors “are likely to promote allegations of corruption, system failure, and foreign malign interference to sow distrust in Democratic institutions and election outcomes.” They are spreading these claims through state-controlled media, fake websites, and social media trolls.

At the same time, we know that the Republicans are launching attempts to suppress Democratic votes. Last Wednesday, we learned that Georgia has likely removed 200,000 voters from the rolls for no reason. In December 2019, the Georgia Secretary of State said officials had removed 313,243 names from the rolls in an act of routine maintenance because they were inactive and the voters had moved, but nonpartisan experts found that 63.3% of those voters had not, in fact, moved. They were purged from the rolls in error.

And, in what was perhaps an accident, in South Carolina, voters’ sample ballots did not include Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, although they did include the candidates for the Green, Alliance, and Libertarian parties. When The Post and Courier newspaper called their attention to the oversight, the State Election Commission, which is a Republican-majority body appointed by a staunch Trump supporter, updated the ballots.

Democracy depends on the legitimacy of (at least) two political parties. Opposition parties enable voters unhappy with whichever group of leaders is in power to articulate their positions without undermining the government itself. They also watch leaders carefully, forcing them to combat corruption within their ranks.

This administration has sought to delegitimize Democrats as “socialists” and “radicals” who are not legitimate political players. Just today, Trump tweeted: “The Democrats, together with the corrupt Fake News Media, have launched a massive Disinformation Campaign the likes of which has never been seen before.”

For its part, the Republican Party has essentially become the Trump Party, not only in ideology and loyalty but in finances. Yesterday we learned that Trump and the Republican National Committee have spent close to $60 million from campaign contributors on Trump’s legal bills. Matthew Sanderson, a campaign finance lawyer for Republican presidential candidates, told the New York Times, “Vindicating President Trump’s personal interests is now so intertwined with the interests of the Republican Party they are one and the same — and that includes the legal fights the party is paying for now.”

The administration has refused to answer to Democrats in Congress, ignoring subpoenas with the argument that Congress has no power to investigate the executive branch, despite precedent for such oversight going all the way back to George Washington’s administration. Just last week, a federal appeals court said that Congress has no power to enforce a subpoena because there is no law that gives it the authority to do so. This essentially voids a subpoena the House issued last year to former White House counsel Don McGahn, demanding he testify about his dealings with Trump over the investigation into the ties of the Trump campaign to Russia. (The decision will likely be challenged.)

On September 4, U.S. Postal Service police officers refused Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) entry to one USPS facility in Opa-Locka, Florida and another in Miami. Although she followed the procedures she had followed in the past, this time the local officials told her that the national USPS leadership had told them to bar her entry. “Ensuring only authorized parties enter nonpublic areas of USPS facilities is part of a Postal Police officer’s normal duties, said Postal Inspector Eric Manuel. Wasserman Schultz is a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

And finally, democracy depends on the peaceful transition of power. Trump has repeatedly suggested that he will not leave office because the Democrats are going to cheat.

So we should definitely worry.

Convincing people the game is over is one of the key ways dictators take power. Scholars warn never to consent in advance to what you anticipate an autocrat will demand. If democracy were already gone, there would be no need for Trump and his people to lie and cheat and try to steal this election.

But should we despair? Absolutely not.

And I would certainly not be writing this letter.

Americans are coming together from all different political positions to fight this attack on our democracy, and we have been in similar positions before. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln spoke under similar circumstances, and noted that Americans who disagreed on almost everything else could still agree to defend their country, just as we are now. Ordinary Americans “rose each fighting, grasping whatever he could first reach---a scythe---a pitchfork-- a chopping axe, or a butcher's cleaver,” he said. And “when the storm shall be past,” the world “shall find us still Americans; no less devoted to the continued Union and prosperity of the country than heretofore.”

[andy-clutterbuck]

The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln has joined Naomi Watts in Penguin Bloom, the Glendyn Ivin-directed adaptation of the bestseller written by Bradley Trevor Greive. Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps wrote the script and production begins in Sydney, Australia in August.

Watts is producing alongside Emma Cooper and Made Up Stories’ Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Steve Hutensky.

Set on Sydney’s northern beaches, Penguin Bloom is the true story of a unique little bird that saves a family. Cameron and Sam Bloom and their three boys were an everyday family until a shocking, near-fatal accident left Sam paralyzed. She fell from a balcony while on holiday in Thailand, and was left paralyzed from the chest down. As the family struggled to adjust to her new situation, an unlikely ally entered their lives in the form of an injured Magpie chick which the Bloom clan called Penguin. The wild bird became a mascot for the family. The book was published in the U.S. under the title Penguin The Magpie.

Watts plays Sam Bloom, and Lincoln, in a role that is closer to his turn in Love Actually than The Walking Dead, plays Cameron Bloom, who took the pictures that illustrate the bestselling book. Director Ivin helmed The Cry and Safe Harbor. The Blooms will be exec producers on the film along with Ricci Swart.

Said the producers: “We were all captivated by this heart-warming story of resilience, the power of family and hope. We’re thrilled to have the supremely talented Andrew Lincoln on board to bring the Bloom’s story to audiences around the world.”

Pic is partly financed by Screen Australia with support from Create NSW. ANZ distribution by Roadshow. Endeavor Content is handling worldwide rights.

Lincoln will reprise his role as Rick Grimes in the forthcoming films spun off The Walking Dead. He’s repped by CAA and Markham, Froggatt and Irwin and attorney Geoffry Oblath. Watts shoots this as she is starring in the prequel to Game Of Thrones. She can currently be seen playing Gretchen Carlson in Showtime’s Roger Ailes saga, The Loudest Voice and after that starring in Luce and The Wolf Hour.