#Chuck Cox

[mrmousetolliver]

Jason Cox by John Lally

[lastweeksshirttonight]

Without getting me started on the complete and total nonsense that is the Emmys moving this show into a new category so other people can win for the first time in a decade for reasons, I love this clip show of the most recent season.

(If he loses to SNL I swear to fucking god)

[cauldronofmorning]

The only problem I have with “actors aren’t word of god with what their character does” is sometimes the actor opinion is so much more juicy than what fanon comes up with.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

February 21, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

The centerpiece of Republicans’ case for impeaching Democratic president Joe Biden is the allegation that he and his son Hunter each accepted a $5 million bribe from Ukrainian oil and gas company Burisma when Biden Sr. was vice president. But in the last week, that accusation has revealed quite a different problem, one that implicates Republicans. 

The accusation that the Bidens accepted bribes broke into public channels on May 3, 2023, when Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Representative James Comer (R-KY), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray saying they had received “highly credible…whistleblower disclosures” that said the Department of Justice and the FBI appeared to have “valuable, verifiable information that you have failed to disclose to the American people.” 

Grassley and Comer claimed there was “growing concern about the DOJ and the FBI’s track record of allowing political bias to infect their decision-making process,” and so Congress would be conducting its own “independent and objective review of this matter.” 

Comer then issued a subpoena for the document containing the information, a so-called FD-1023, which is the form used by FBI agents to record “raw, unverified” information from confidential informants. In it, informant Alexander Smirnov made a number of allegations about the Bidens, including that they had accepted bribes. 

In July, Grassley and Comer got the document and showed it to others in a secure facility. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) saw it there, took pictures of it, and posted them on social media. She claimed that “Joe Biden is a criminal and is compromised” and that he was backing Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion because Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky “has proof of more Biden crimes.” “IMPEACH BIDEN,” she wrote.

Grassley also released it, suggesting that the Justice Department and the FBI were trying to cover up a “criminal bribery scheme” implicating the Bidens. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) jumped in, saying: “Every day, the evidence keeps mounting and the evidence that is coming in is number one, of a widespread bribery scheme of Joe Biden and Hunter Biden and the entire Biden family, to extract bribes from foreign nationals.” 

The idea that Biden had accepted bribes was central to the House impeachment effort that then–House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced in September 2023.

That story fell apart a week ago, on February 14, 2024, when a federal grand jury indicted Smirnov for lying and “creating a false and fictitious record.” 

And the story became even more troubling yesterday, when Trump-appointed Special Counsel David Weiss of the Justice Department filed a document establishing that the informant, Alexander Smirnov, has “extensive and extremely recent” ties with “Russian intelligence agencies.” 

The filing revealed other, more recent, false allegations Smirnov had made, and concluded that “Smirnov’s efforts to spread misinformation about a candidate of one of the two major parties in the United States continues…. What this shows is that the misinformation he is spreading is not confined to 2020. He is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November.” 

Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, told reporters today that “the impeachment investigation essentially ended yesterday, in substance if not in form, with the explosive revelation that Mr. Smirnov’s allegations about Ukrainian Burisma payments to Joe Biden were concocted along with Russian intelligence agents. And it appears like the whole thing was not only obviously false and fraudulent but a product of Russian disinformation and propaganda. And that’s been the motor force behind this investigation for more than a year.”

The Republican release of Smirnov’s allegations in July 2023 did not happen in a vacuum: they came right after the Republican-led House censured Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) for “misleading the American public and for conduct unbecoming of an elected Member of the House of Representatives,” including “spread[ing] false accusations that the [2016] Trump campaign colluded with Russia.”

But the Mueller Report concluded that “[t]he Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion” and that “the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.” The Senate Intelligence Committee Report found that “the Russian government engaged in an aggressive, multifaceted effort to influence…the outcome of the 2016 presidential election” and that Trump campaign advisor Paul Manafort worked directly with Konstantin Kilimnik, “a Russian intelligence officer.”  

That effort continued in 2020, with the U.S. intelligence community assessing in March 2021 that “Russian President Putin authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the US.”

That foreign countries try to influence elections is far less a surprise than that one of the two major U.S. political parties now appears to be, wittingly or not, working on their behalf.

That willingness to do anything to win—even working with a foreign dictator—seems a logical outgrowth of the process begun during the administration of President Richard Nixon, when his people deliberately appealed to voters’ emotions with a picture of traditional America under siege by antiwar student activists, people of color, and feminist women. 

To rally voters to their party in the 1970s midterms, Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew engaged in what they called “positive polarization.” Nixon’s speechwriter Pat Buchanan wrote a memo to Nixon warning: “We are in a contest over the soul of the country now and the decision will not be some middle compromise…. It will be their kind of society or ours.” 

The theme that the Republicans' opponents were dangerous socialists out to destroy the country became the centerpiece of Republican rhetoric. From President Ronald Reagan’s welfare queen, who was scamming the system and thus taxpayers, through talk radio host Rush Limbaugh’s “feminazis,” to Trump’s claim that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” the party has defined itself as “true America” standing against enemies.

And if you believe you are fighting for the right, it only makes sense to do whatever it takes to win.

Meanwhile, that belief has now overlapped with the evangelical base that supports what it considers traditional values so that, as Alexander Ward and Heidi Przybyla outlined in Politico yesterday, the party is now advancing plans to impose Christian nationalism on the country. Leaders of the Christian nationalist movement incorrectly believe that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, so they intend to rest the government and public life on what they consider to be Christian values. 

In December, Trump promised: “Upon taking office, I will create a new federal task force on fighting anti-Christian bias to be led by a fully reformed Department of Justice.” 

What that might look like became clear this week when the Alabama Supreme Court decided in a wrongful death suit resulting from the accidental destruction of embryos that were part of an in vitro fertilization (IVF) process, in which doctors artificially fertilize eggs outside the womb and then transfer them into a person, that fertilized human eggs have the same status as children. Chief Justice Tom Parker declared in a concurring opinion that the people of Alabama have adopted the “theologically based view” that “life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God.”

About 2% of U.S. births are a product of IVF. Today the largest healthcare system in Alabama has announced it is halting its IVF program out of fear of prosecution. 

Reworking the nation to impose Christian nationalism requires minority rule, which aligns with the ideology of authoritarianism, enabling Trump and those who share his views to praise someone like Vladimir Putin. And, it seems, to accept his help winning elections.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[sentinelleblr]

"In 1958, in a speech to the American Jewish Congress, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “My people were brought to America in chains. Your people were driven here to escape the chains fashioned for them in Europe. Our unity is born of our common struggle for centuries, not only to rid ourselves of bondage, but to make oppression of any people by others an impossibility.” 

Schumer begged the American people “of all creeds and backgrounds” to defend the “pluralistic, multiethnic democracy” that has enabled Jewish people in the United States “to flourish alongside so many other immigrant groups.” 

He asked them to “learn the history of the Jewish people, who have been abandoned repeatedly by their fellow countrymen—left isolated and alone to combat antisemitism—with disastrous results,” and to “reject the illogical and antisemitic double standard that is once again being applied to the plight of Jewish victims and hostages, to some of the actions of the Israeli government"

[papermoonloveslucy]

MOVIES on TV!

Part 3 ~ The Movies of “Here’s Lucy”

In “Here’s Lucy,” Lucille Ball had a new character, a new family, and a new show - but one thing remained constant, her love of movies!  Here are some of the movies (real and imagined) of “Here’s Lucy.” 

~FACTUAL FILMS~ 

“Lucy and Carol Burnett” aka “The Unemployment Follies” (1971)

Carol and Lucy stage a tribute to Hollywood using unemployed actors. The films mentioned and/or feted include:

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944)

BLUE ANGEL (1930)

CASABLANCA (1942)

42ND STREET (1933)

THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952)

ROSE MARIE (1954)

The set is decorated with posters from:

HOLLYWOOD OR BUST (1956) 

SAMPSON AND DELILAH (1949)

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1952) 

SHORT CUT TO HELL (1957) 

GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) 

UNDER TWO FLAGS (1936) 

“Ginger Rogers Comes To Tea” (1971)

Ginger Rogers leaves her purse in a movie theatre where she's gone incognito to see one of her films for the first time. Lucy and Harry discover the purse and hope to get to meet the star in person by inviting her to tea. Instead of working late, Lucy tells Harry that she wants to go to a Ginger Rogers Film Festival. They are showing Tender Comrade (1943) and Flying Down To Rio (1933), two films made at RKO, which eventually became Desilu.  

Rogers tells Lucy she has done 73 movies. Rattling off some of Rogers' hits, Lucy adds a sugar cube to Ginger's tea for each title: Top Hat, Roberta, Flying Down To Rio, Follow the Fleet, Shall We Dance, and The Barkleys of Broadway.  When Lucy realizes she's put six lumps of sugar in Ginger's tea, Rogers says she only wanted Top Hat and Roberta (two lumps).  

Trying to impugn the taste in films of the mystery woman (a disguised Ginger Rogers), Lucy tells her to try back next week and they might be showing Beach Blanket Bingo (1965). This was the fourth of the light comic films set on the California beach starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.  

After dancing the Charleston with Lucy and Kim, Lucy asks Rogers to do a scene from Kitty Foyle, Ginger’s Oscar-winning role. Rogers graciously declines, asking Lucy to become a Katherine Hepburn fan instead!  

“Guess Who Owes Lucy $23.50?” (1968)

Lucy loans Van Johnson money to fix his car – but the man turns out to be an impostor. This episode is written for Van Johnson to work in a not-so-subtle plug for their latest film Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) starring Henry Fonda.

VAN IMPOSTER:“I loved working with that kooky redhead.” LUCY: “Personally, I thought she was much too young for Henry Fonda.”  

Lucy says she remembers Johnson from his appearance in The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947).  She later tells him she saw the film 17 times!  When Lucy is escorted out by the studio guards at Van’s direction, Lucy says that now she’s glad he got court martialed in The Caine Mutiny (1954).

“Lucy and Aladdin’s Lamp” (1971) 

When Lucy holds a garage sale, she discovers an old lamp that she believes may be make wishes come true. Lucy pulls out a fur-lined jacket she says was worn by Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce.  The 1945 film won Crawford an Academy Award. Craig says that judging by the shoulder pads she could have worn it in The Spirit of Notre Dame, a 1931 football-themed movie starring Lew Ayres.  

“Lucy and Flip Go Legit” (1971)

Lucy takes a temp assignment with Flip Wilson in order to answer his fan mail. When she is caught sneaking into Wilson’s office to ask him a favor, she gets caught and fired.  The favor is to appear  in a community theatre production of Gone With The Wind (1939) – as Prissy. Lucy plays Scarlett O’Hara, Harry plays Rhett Butler, and Kim takes the role of Melanie Wilkes. 

“Won’t You Calm Down Dan Dailey?” (1971)

Lucy gets a job working for Dan Dailey. When he starts to dictate a letter to Paul Newman at Universal Studios, Lucy says she saw Newman on the late show in Winning, a 1969 film about a race car driver.

“Lucy and Rudy Vallée” (1970)

Famous crooner Rudy Vallée is waiting tables to pass the time until his music comes back into style. Lucy convinces Kim to help update his look and sound while Harry gets him a booking at the local teen hangout. When a life-size portrait of Vallée in a raccoon coat is revealed, Vallée says he wore the coat in his first picture, Varsity Hero, a silent picture where critics raved about his singing!    

In reality, Vallée’s first film (aside from two shorts playing himself) was The Vagabond Lover in 1929.

“Lucy and Chuck Connors Have a Surprise Slumber Party” (1974) 

Harry rents out Lucy’s home for a movie shoot. After causing several re-takes, Lucy is banished from her own home. When she returns early, she doesn’t know that Chuck Connors is staying overnight – in her bed!  

Jerry, the film’s director, tells Chuck that his film Good Morning, Miss Dove starring Jennifer Jones is on television that night. Connors says the film was one of the few times he got to nuzzle something besides a horse. Released in 1955 by 20th Century Fox, the film co-stars Mary Wickes, a frequent guest star on all of Lucille Ball’s sitcoms. It also features Jerry Paris, who directed two episodes of “Here’s Lucy” before being fired, and Robert Stack of Desilu’s “The Untouchables.” Other “Lucy” alumni in the film include Herb Vigran, Hal Taggart, and Arthur Tovey – all appearing uncredited.

“Lucy Meets the Burtons” (1972)

The hotel manager tells Burton that the back door is mobbed by the Elizabeth Taylor Fan Club – Glendale Chapter. Membership to the club requires seeing National Velvet 10 times!  National Velvet (1945) was made when Taylor was just twelve years old.  

“Lucy’s House Guest, Harry” (1971)

As Harry is finally is finally about to leave, Lucy has a horrible thought: what if he is like Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner and falls on his way out and must stay with them even longer?  The play, by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, opened on Broadway in 1939. It starred Lucille Ball's good friend (and “Here's Lucy” performer) Mary Wickes as Nurse Preen. Wickes was one of several actors who recreated their roles in the 1942 film adaptation.

~FICTIONAL FILMS~ 

“Lucy, the American Mother” (1970)

Craig makes a film about Lucy, a typical American mother. During the episode, Kim does impressions of Katharine Hepburn in Stage Door (1937), a film that also featured Lucille Ball, Maurice Chevalier in Innocents of Paris (1929), and Bette Davis in The Great Lie (1941).  

The title of Craig's movie will be “A Day in the Life of My Mother.”  When Lucy can't seem to act natural in front of Craig's camera, she suggests he get someone else to play his mother; someone like Raquel Welch, Carol Burnett, or Don Knotts.

~FILM INSPIRATIONS~ 

“My Fair Buzzi” (1972)

Kim’s shy and awkward friend Annie (Ruth Buzzi) comes out of her shell in order to audition for a 1920s revue, only to find the director was looking for someone shy and awkward in the first place! The episode title and story of transformation were inspired by the 1956 Broadway musical and 1964 film My Fair Lady, which, in turn, was inspired by George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. Both are mentioned in the dialogue of the episode.

“Dirty Gertie” (1972)

Lucy gets a surprise fruit basket and heads downtown to share her good fortune with her hairdresser. On the street she is mistaken for Dirty Gertie, an apple peddler who just happens to be the good luck charm of a local gangster. This episode was inspired by the 1961 Frank Capra film Pocketful of Miracles in which Bette Davis played Apple Annie, a poor woman reduced to selling apples on the street. The film featured previous “Lucy” co-stars Edward Everett Horton, Jay Novello, Ann-Margret (film debut), Sheldon Leonard, Jerome Cowan, Fritz Feld, Ellen Corby, Benny Rubin, Hayden Rorke, Bess Flowers, Vito Scotti, Bert Stevens, Arthur Tovey, and Romo Vincent.

“Lucy Runs the Rapids” (1969)

The Carters take a road trip in a camper. The episode opens with the soundtrack playing “Breezin’ Along”, the theme song from The Long, Long Trailer (1954), a film starring Lucy and Desi as a couple honeymooning in a trailer. 

~FILM FAKES~

“Lucy Cuts Vincent’s Price” (1970)

Price is filming a new horror film titled Who’s Afraid of Virginia’s Wolfman? He says it has the best title since he starred in The Giant Chihuahua That Ate Chicago.

~FILM REFERENCES~

“Lucy, the Cement Worker” (1969)

In Pierre’s the knife thrower’s studio, there is a handbill on the bulletin board for ‘Cherokee Jim’s Rodeo and Wild West Show’, which is a direct reference to the 1945 film Incendiary Blonde starring Betty Hutton as Texas Guinan. The film was directed by George Marshall for Paramount, the same director and studio producing this episode of “Here’s Lucy” 25 years later!  

“Lucy in the Jungle” (1971)

When Harry sees baby chimps Fido and Rover, he reminds Lucy and Kim that King Kong started out as a baby, too!  King Kong, Hollywood’s tale of a giant ape, was first filmed in 1933, then re-made in 1976 and 2005. Fay Wray, one of the stars of the original film, also made The Bowery that same year, one of Lucille Ball’s first films. 

“Lucy and the Ex-Con” (1969)

Lucy and Rocky (Wally Cox) go undercover as little old ladies to catch a crook.   When Lucy and Rocky pass out (as planned) one of the crooks says to the bartender “Give me a hand with arsenic and old face.”  Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 film where two elderly spinsters serve lethal glasses of elderberry wine to unsuspecting older gentlemen and bury them in their basement!  

“Lucy and The Generation Gap” (1969)

Lucy and Uncle Harry help Kim and Craig stage the school musical. In the first act of the musical set in ancient Rome, Lucille Ball is reading a magazine called 'Roman Scandals’. Roman Scandals is also the title of Lucille Ball’s uncredited film debut in 1933.     

“Lucy and Shelley Winters” (1968)

Hired to watch over dieting movie star Shelley Summers. On the mantle of Summers' apartment is a photo of a svelte Shelley Winters from the 1950 film Frenchie. She glances guiltily at the photo when she is about to overeat. 

“Lucy Carter Meets Lucille Ball” (1974)

Although Lucille Ball's dressing room wall is lined with photographs of Mame and the soundtrack plays the title tune by Jerry Herman, the name of the movie is never specifically mentioned. The film was given its world premiere on March 7, 1974 three days after this episode first aired, and released nationally three weeks later. As Mame, Lucy failed to ‘charm the husk off of the corn.’

[fclocalyokel]

The final countdown of 2023!

Another tradition at the Yokel is a recap of our top 10 posts of the year. If you haven’t checked out our In and Out list ,be sure to take a gander at that as well. Let us begin…. 10. Indicted sheriff, bored retirees, and attempted book bannings! What a summer we are having in Olde Fredericktowne! At #10 is our summer lament about the High Sheriff claiming he got tricked, horrible…

[0kurakura0]

In case we ever lose our spark together w/ Cod Men (GN!Reader)

Gaz

the two of you are just relaxing in bed when all of a sudden you turn over to him and press your taser making a loud noise

"BLOODY HELL"

He says as he jumps out of bed you just look at him.

"It's just in case we lose our spark"

you say as you look at him innocently.

"ARE YOU MAD" "WERE IN HELL DID YOU EVEN GET THAT"

"ghost gave it to me"

After an hour of coxing the taser out of your hand, Gaz, as if you were holding a bomb, you finally hand it over, but both of you lay back in bed before going back to sleep. Well, for the most part, Gaz stays awake, fearing being tased at night.

Soap

Soap was just helping cook dinner for the night when he heard shuffling behind him, and before he could turn around he felt a sudden shock at his side.

"FUCK"

he shouts as he turns around to see you holding a taser as you simply say.

"just wanted to make sure we never lose our spark"

with a devilish smile, you tase him again.

Soap screams again as he jumps away a picks up a chair to guard himself from you.

"YER AFF YER HEID, STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

"O come on Soap fell my sparks of love"

you press the taser again, and it gives off a scary electric noise. The rest of the night just consisted of you chasing Soap around the house. Hopefully, the neighbors don't call the police from all the screams.

Ghost

"GHOST! GHOST! LOOK WHAT I FOUND!"

you run up to the soldier as you have a hand up, waving something above your head. Ghost turns around to look at you.

"Looks at this thing LT if we ever those our spark I can just use this on ya."

You say smiling before turning the military-level taser on in your hand as it gives off a loud and violent zapping sound.

Ghost just stares at you in both disapproval and annoyance before saying

"let me see that real quick"

you smile, giving it over to him.

"cool right Soap found it in the crate with the new equipme-"

before you can finish your sentence, Ghost chucks the taser out the window immediately as he has a hold of it.

"LT WHAT NOOOO!!! MY SPARKS OF LOVE GONE TOSED OUT LIKE NOTHING HOW COULD YOU!"

"shut your trap already"

Price

the both of you are just relaxing till you look over at John

"John you need to let me know if you ever feel like our spark is fading between us okay"

"what the hell are you yapping about you know that wouldn't happen"

"I know but just in case..."

you all of a sudden pull out a small taser and press the button on the side causing it to go off.

"BLOODY HELL, WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT"

"IN CASE WE EVER LOSE OUR SPARK"

John gets up and snatches the taser out of your hand.

"bloody hell, love, you're going to give me a heartache one of these days"

EXTRA (because I hate Graves)

"you know what you did there wasn't very cash money of you Graves, I think you need to feel my sparks of love"

"what in gods name are you talking abo-"

He is cut off by his own screams as you tase him with 50,000 volts of "love"

[salemoleander]

lost in the dark (Hunger AU) webweave

Created as a tribute to the absolutely incredible fic @definitelynotshouting is writing, up to the current plot beat!

// Sources under readmore //

What is a webweave? Previous art: Third Life | Void Falling | Attempt 33 | Martyn | Limited Life | Nightingale Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | singing songs to the secrets behind my eye | A Hundred Things We Had Not Dreamed Of | solving counting sheep

Pt. 1: Flutter / Valerie Hammond ◆ Sanssouci Palace + The Black Ice Cream Song edit / @mountainqoats ◆ Excerpt from The Average Fourth Grader is a Better Poet Than You (And Me Too) / Hannah Gamble via @blackberryjambaby ◆ of course i bite textpost / @valtsv ◆ Lie Down / Ellen Jenkins ◆ 27 / Daniil Kharms trans. Matvei Yankelevich ◆ Embrace my Soul / Sergio Borga ◆ Color Changing Magic Potion / DirksenCraft ◆ Fragile Bird / @cocoabats ◆ Holding Onto Black Metal / Debra Baxter ◆ Excerpt from III. The Child / Quinn Newell via @voicedwords ◆ Crawler Pot / Rose Schmits ◆ Metamorph / Gunnel Watkins ◆ Untitled eye / Henrik Aa Uldalen ◆ tumblr guide for chad twitter users (real) / @arahir ◆ the best way to solve problems tweet / @wolfpupy

Pt. 2: Reoccurring Nightmare comic / @deep-dark-fears ◆ Knotted Serpentine / Hannah Russell ◆ Garden + Blues in Dallas edit / @mountainqoats ◆ The Watching Moth / Cady Shaye Poorman ◆ NOCTURNAL Series 11 of 20 / Santiago Caruso ◆ Watching Moth / Cady Shaye Poorman ◆ Afterglow / Pei Wang ◆ Sun in an Empty Room + The Young Thousands edit / @mountainqoats ◆ Study for "Mathematics," "The Sciences" / Kenyon Cox ◆ Hard to Swallow / Debra Baxter ◆ Molly Brodak / Molly Brodak via @kafk-a ◆ 02112022, S.T. / @ryebreadgf ◆ Woman with Red Hood / Alice Pike Barney ◆ Come On, Motherfucker, You Survived! / @selfhealingmoments ◆ Excerpt from The Blind Assassin / Margaret Atwood via @flowerytale ◆ Heirloom II / Cindy Rizza

Pt. 3: Excerpt from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock / T.S. Eliot ◆ i love you. i can't tell you / @/tturing (OP altered, original contents linked) ◆ Hope is the Thing - Sunset Flight / Erica Wagner ◆ Poppies + Nova Scotia edit / @mountainqoats ◆ Untitled (open/end) / Debra Baxter ◆ Excerpt from Alive at the End of the World / Saeed Jones via @geryone ◆ Weeping (Lamentacia) / Dezider Toth via @amare-habeo ◆ NOCTURNAL Series 7 of 20 / Santiago Caruso ◆ Fridge Funerary Epitaph / @catilinas ◆ Untitled (Trail of eyes) / @julialepetit ◆ Stained Glass Hellebore, California Poppy, + Poppy / Jessica Saunders ◆ 世界の声が聞こえるとき (When the voice of the world is heard) / Tomohiro Inaba ◆ Still from Don't make me do this again gif / @cibastion ◆ Excerpt from So I Locked Myself Inside a Star for Twenty Years / Jeremy Radin ◆ Excerpt from Invisible Monsters / Chuck Palahniuk via @quotespile ◆ Potion Bottles / Edited from Panel 1 Source

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

Oh no, I'm thinking about this again...!! 😅😂

Sorry, but I've been stricken with a sudden urge to get a visual picture of Michael x Martin with S2 Mikey because, obviously, the vibes are somewhat different (yet equally fascinating to me...and hot, let's not forget that bit lol). 👀✨

And how do S2 Michael and Martin meet? Maybe during the seven months when Mikey was in hiding - because when there's a contract out for your life you probably ought to leave the country, right?

And go hide in a little Northern English town and end up finally making a friend outside of your dysfunctional gangster family. Who, incidentally, won't turn out to have been secret engaged all along and then run away to get married to someone else and ghost you. 😂

When the funniest and most intriguing crack pairing bursts into life in your brain but it’s so niche you’re probably the only one who can appreciate it. 🥺

Firstly, it’d help a good deal if you’re a Crowbarrow fan to begin with.💗

Secondly, you’d need to have seen both Kin and Ackley Bridge to fully appreciate why the thought of Michael Kinsella (Charlie Cox) and Martin Evershed (Robert James-Collier) meeting is just sending me right now. 🤣❤️

Martin and Michael seem like such perfect opposites on the surface (one is a frequently surly yet comedic high school teacher and the other is an unexpectedly soft-spoken and sad Irish mobster) that I have a sudden perverse urge to see them forced to interact regularly. 😅 

(But if you haven’t seen both shows, a gif’s worth a 1000 words…)

And how are we getting these two in the same place? 

Anna, Michael’s daughter - whom he loves more than anyone - decides she wants to live with her dad even though he doesn’t have legal custody of her, and never will, thanks to his past. Though he tries to dissuade her, Anna is stubbornly resolved and eventually Michael gives in though it means having to leave his criminal family and Ireland behind to start a life somewhere else. 

They end up in the small Yorkshire mill town of Ackley Bridge, hoping to avoid too much notice since Anna was reported as having been abducted to the Irish authorities. Anna enrolls in the local high school, and, naturally, who should one of her new teachers be but Mr. Martin Evershed? 

Anna begins settling in but Michael is still hyper-vigilant about either of them being recognized, not only because Michael would be arrested for “abducting” Anna but because he knows the Kinsella family have enemies who’d like nothing more than to take Michael out now that he’s alone. He insists on escorting Anna to and from school every day, even though she keeps telling him he needs to chill out because he’s just making himself more conspicuous. 

Her words prove prophetic as one day Martin notices Michael following Anna at a distance and confronts him, thinking he’s a creep. Michael thankfully refrains from pulling a gun on him or just beating the shit out of him, though he’d been solely tempted at first, and explains that he’s Anna’s father - which she confirms and introduces Martin as her teacher. Michael is impressed by his willingness to protect his students and tells him so. The subject of an upcoming school dance is raised and Martin asks if he’s interested in attending, because they’re still short of chaperones. Michael agrees, much to Anna’s consternation. 

As they’re leaving Anna suggests Michael let her give him a bit of a makeover, because he still looks like an Irish mobster and they’re not in Dublin anymore. Michael reluctantly agrees, asking her not to go overboard with it. 

The makeover the night of the school dance: 

I did mention this was a crack fic, right? 😂😂😂

[sparrow-in-the-field]

Cuddle pile

Just a little drabble that was low-key inspired by @seasidesandstarscapes 's piece for the "hug" prompt the other day. Basically, I wanna turn writing the boys being affectionate with each other :p

Gen/platonic affection or a giant polycule? You decide!

Bobby walked down the hallway of the crew house, stopping when he heard the soft murmur of idle chatter in the living room. He arched his brow, a smile itching at his lips at what he saw before him. "What're you guys doing?" His boys were all lying on the rug, in front of the fireplace. They had brought some pillows and a couple of blankets with them to the floor, and it seemed they were--well, essentially in a pile together. "Practice was freezing today," Jim said. He had his arm around Shorty on one side, Johnny on the other, both tucked to his chest. "And exhausting," Roger added. He was near the other three, his arms around Joe and his head using Chuck's thigh as a pillow, despite all the actual ones around them. Chuck had Don lying on his other side, and Gordy was against Don's back, spooning him. "We're having a hard-earned rest," Chuck confirmed. His free hand wandered among the boys he could reach, carding through hair or stroking a cheek softly. "Clearly," Bobby said, looking to Johnny, who appeared to have actually fallen asleep, his hand tangled with Shorty's giving an occasional twitch on Jim's chest. Bobby shifted on his feet, teasing, "And why wasn't I invited to this rest? Not enough hard earned work as a cox?" "You disappeared after practice," Don muttered an explanation, nuzzling his face deeper into Chuck's neck, probably not far from sleep himself. "Yeah, we've been wondering where you are," Jim said, his hand smoothing up to Shorty's nape, giving a soft squeeze that elicited a smile from the sleepy boy. "I had some studying to do," Bobby said, adding with a smirk, "Although maybe I would have skipped it if I knew what I was missing out on." "Not too late," Chuck said, extending his hand out in offer. "Can still join us." Bobby felt his cheeks warm, and his smirk faded into a gentler smile. The walk back from the library had been quite cold, and the crackle of the fireplace was comforting. "Alright." He had to be careful as he stepped around his boys, but he was light, and small, so he didn't feel like a nuisance as he took Chuck's hand, curling up to him on the side opposite to Don, trying to make sure not to kick Roger and Joe below him. "This okay?" he asked them. "Fine by me," Joe said, turning onto his other side to settle his head on Bobby's thigh, leaving Roger to spoon him. Bobby chuckled, dropping his hand to scrub at Joe's scalp, then Roger's, before lying back on Chuck's chest. Gordy's span was so long, he was able to reach across Don, his hand settling on Bobby's forearm. Similarly, Don's hand moved, taking Bobby's into his. Bobby caught Don's eye, and the two exchanged a smile. "You're so cute over there, Bobby," Shorty teased, his head just barely lifted up to look over to their side of the cuddle pile. "Yeah," Jim agreed, "if it wasn't for this one asleep on me, I'd be over there in an instant." "Gotta wait for your turn with our cox," Roger joked. "S'right," Bobby agreed, finding his own body warming, his muscles relaxing after a long day. He smiled. "Next time."

Idk. Idk!!

[moonlightkitties]

You are your fathers daughter - Red Dead Redemption Reader Insert - (Part Six)

Plot: Arthur, Charles, and Javier bring Sean back where you and him spend some time together.

Word Count: 1k+

Warnings: Smut, unprotected p n v sex, drunk/tipsy sex, fingering, oral (f receiving), first time.

A/N: This is my first smut so idk really know if it's good or not but I enjoyed writing it.

If you want to read the previous parts of "You're your father's daughter", you can find them here

Today was the day. The day that Arthur, Javier, and Charles would go back to Blackwater to save Sean. Trelawny had a good lead on where he was so Arthur was going to meet up with him and the others.

"You sure I can't come?" You ask, handing Arthur one of his guns. He huffed "You can" he paused smirking at your excited grin "But you're not goin to, I ain't risking your life for some crush." You glare at him, your cheeks a light pink "That doesn't even make sense" you huff, Arthur chuckled and ruffled your head "Can you at least watch over camp while I'm gone?" he asked. You nodded and watched him ride out of camp.

The day went on as normal; you did chores, chores and more chores. It was exhausting and the day still wasn't over. Sitting next to Tilly and Mary-Beth as they both read, the three of you started talking about the type of guy you would like to marry.

"I want someone who's sweet and shy but strong when they need to be" Mary-Beth said, playing with her hair. "What about you?" Tilly asked you. You shrug "I don't know...I'm not really the marriage material." John chuckled from a few feet away "That's for sure" he said, Mary-Beth chucked a stone at his head, making him yelp and move away.

"Aw, come on, there's gotta be some type of guy you like" Mary-Beth said, trying to cox you to tell them. You sighed "I want a guy that's funny and sociable. A guy that can make conversations with anyone." Mary-Beth giggled "It sounds like you're describing Sean." Your face goes pink "Sean? No, he's like an annoying brother." Tilly smiles "Really? You're blushing an awful lot." You groaned "Maybe I like him a little...but doesn't Karen like him too?" Tilly shrugged "I think she's over him."

Karen joined the three of you, a bottle in her hand, which wasn't really surprising "Who's over who?" she asks, tilting the bottle upward to drink.

"You being over Sean" Mary-Beth told her, Karen snorted "Please, I've been over him. Why you askin? Someone else like him?"

"(y/n), does." You rolled your eyes, thanks for that Mary-Beth. Karen chuckled "Well, good luck with him (y/n), he's a handful." Your face flushed an even darker red and you looked away. How embarrassing.

"You really like him, don't you?" Mary-Beth asked and you nodded "But you like that Kieran boy too?" You look at her "I mean, he's cute yeah, and we've been fishing together but that's about it, why? Do you like him?" Now it was Mary-Beth's turn to get all flustered "A little, but he's an O'Driscoll." You let out a laugh "He's not an O'Driscoll, he save mine and Arthur's life." Mary-Beth looked behind your shoulder "Speaking of Arthur, is that him?" you turned around and she was right, it was Arthur. You looked around "Then where's Sean and the others?" You asked, anxiety bubbling in your chest.

The first thing you heard was Sean's voice, he was riding with Javier on the back of Boaz, you could tell Javier was getting annoyed at the Irishman's ramblings. Sean dismounted and almost immediately he was bombarded by questions and welcomes. He took in all the welcomes and praises and before the night fell a party already started.

You took it all in, everyone was drinking, Dutch's music was playing as he and Molly danced and now you just wanted to see if there was anyway you could get to Sean without being interrupted. Sean was already downing his third drink by the time you caught up with him "There's my girl" he slurred, pulling you into his lap, you let out a gasp "Sean?" you ask, his hands finding your waist. He chuckled and started kissing your neck, his facial hair feeling scratchy on your skin.

"We can't" you whimper, feeling like putty in his grasp "You're drunk, you probably don't even know who I am." Sean chuckled, practically purring into your neck "Of course I know who you are love." You narrowed your eyes at him "Oh really? Then what's my name?" Sean scoffed "Geez, enough with the questions (y/n), you want me to fuck ya or not?" Heat started to form at his words and you rubbed your thighs together. Yes, you really did, but he was drunk and probably speaking out of his mind.

"I do" you whimper "But you're drunk, it's not right, you're not thinking clearly." Sean scoffed "I'm thinking as clear as ever love, come on" he started nipping and sucking at your neck, most likely leaving marks. Almost everyone was drunk, so no one was bound to see the two of you but still.

"In a little bit" you told him "I haven't had a drink yet." Sean barked out a laugh "You, little Miss Van der Linde, drink?"

"Not usually" you tell him, getting up off his lap, choosing to ignore his raging boner that was poking through his jeans. He grumbled from the loss of contact but got up to follow you to the crate that held the liquor. You picked a bottle up, even though you looked confident, you didn't feel it. You've never drank in your entire life, you didn't see the appeal. Sean smirked at your hesitance "Go on then lass, drink up." You rolled your eyes but opened the bottle up and took your first sip. Wow. It did not taste good at all, but when you swallowed it, the burning in your throat felt strangely good.

You had no idea how many drinks you had, but as Sean dragged you into some random tent you knew you had too many. He pulled you into a sloppy kiss, unbuttoning your pants and pulling them down, your underwear soon followed. "We have ta be quick, love" he said, pulling his own pants and underwear down. You whined and started grinding on his cock, but stopped forgetting something, your face turned red, either from the whiskey or the embarrassment.

"I'm a virgin" you told him, holding onto him, burrowing your head into his neck. He stopped his movements "A virgin?" he asked and you nodded "Y-yeah, but I still want to, please take me Sean." He growled and set you down on the bedspread "I'll be gentle" he promised. Who knew your first time was going to be a quickie and you tipsy?

He opened your legs and kissed down your thighs, once he got to your already aching and wet pussy, he kissed your clit and shoved two fingers inside. You let out a loud moan, which you immediately covered with your mouth. Sean tore yours hands away from your mouth "Nuh uh, lass, I wanna hear ya." He went faster, his tongue sucking on your clit, making you squirm and hold onto his orange locks, pushing his head in more. You felt something happen, you arched your back and let out a cry of pleasure as you came. Your legs shook and your chest heaved as you tried to catch your breath "That was" you gasped "Amazing?" Sean asked, giving a kiss to your clit.

You nodded "Yeah, it was." Sean smiled "Ah, but we're not done yet, love." Oh, yeah, you forgot. "Ya ready?" he asked, positioning his cock at your entrance, he pushed in, you arched your back, letting out a small whimper of pain. Sean shushed you and when you gave him the "Ok" to keep going, he pulled out and slammed deep into you. You gasped in pleasure, he thrusted into you, hard and fast. The familiar feeling of your orgasm came back "I-I'm coming!" you moan out, holding onto Sean as thrusted "So am I love" he moaned, his moans were gorgeous, and you hoped this wasn't just a one time thing.

You came, hard, your pussy clenched onto his cock he gave one last thrust as he came deep inside of you. You didn't care, there would be time to scold him later. You breathed, deep and heavy as he pulled out.

"I need a drink" you groaned as Sean helped you back into your clothes. He laughed and kissed your forehead "Come on then" he said, pulling his own pants up and helping you up.

You followed him out of the tent, not knowing that the tent you used to loose your virginity was Johns.

Whoops.

[nadiv22]

My favorite quotes from civ VI

TECHNOLOGY

“No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.” – Plutarch

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” – Will Rogers

“I AM FOND OF PIGS. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” – Winston S. Churchill

“Who deserves more credit than the wife of a coal miner?” – Merle Travis

“When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.” – Will Rogers

“I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.” – Arthur C. Clarke

“Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” -W. H. Auden

“I shot an arrow into the air. It fell to earth, I knew not where.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” -Mark Twain

“I’m also interested in creating a lasting legacy … because bronze will last for thousands of years.” – Richard MacDonald

“MONEA, if it does not bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort.” – Helen Gurley Brown

“A man on a horse is spiritually as well as physically bigger than a man on foot.” – John Steinbeck

“The Lord made us all out of iron. Then he turns up the heat to forge some of us into steel.” – Marie Osmond

“I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder … Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.” – Capt. E.J. Smith, RMS Titanic

“Create with the heart; build with the mind.” – Criss Jami

“One man’s ‘magic’ is another man’s engineering.” – Robert Heinlein

“There is no easy way to train an apprentice. My two tools are example and nagging.” – Lemony Snicket

The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” – Malcolm Forbes

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle

“Rocks in my path? I keep them all. With them I shall build my castle.” – Nemo Nox

“Not all who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

“People can have the Model T in any color – so long as it’s black.” – Henry Ford

“The pen might not be mightier than the sword, but maybe the printing press is heavier than the siege weapon. Just a few words can change everything.” – Terry Pratchett

“Astronomy’s much more fun when you’re not an astronomer.” – Brian May

“If facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.” – Albert Einstein

“No one starts a war – or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so – without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it.” – Karl von Clausewitz

“Science owes more to the steam engine than the steam engine owes to science.” – Lawrence Henderson

“Bolt actions speak louder than words.” – Craig Roberts

“Never criticize a rifleman until you have walked a mile in his shoes. That way, he’ll be barefoot and you’ll be out of range.” – The 2nd Target Company

“For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.” – Leonardo da Vinci

“If you can walk away from a landing, it’s a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it’s an outstanding landing.” – Chuck Yeager

“Benjamin Franklin may have discovered electricity, but it was the man who invented the meter who made the money.” – Earl Wilson

“Chemists do not usually stutter. It would be very awkward if they did, seeing that they have at times to get out such words as methylethylamylophenylium.” – Sir William Crookes

“If God had really intended men to fly, He’d make it easier to get to the airport.” – George Winters

“Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets.” – George Patton

“There may be no forgiveness for polyester. On this one matter, Satan and the Lord are in agreement.” – Joe Hill

“I’m a big laser believer – I really think they are the wave of the future.” – Courteney Cox

"Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now.” – Mattie Stepanek

CIVICS

“Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid.” — Colonel David Hackworth

“A strong economy begins with a strong, well-educated workforce.”– Bill Owens “Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.” – Marcus Aurelius

“It was luxuries like air conditioning that brought down the Roman Empire. With air conditioning their windows were shut; they couldn’t hear the barbarians coming.” – Garrison Keillor

Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – William Shakespeare

“Invincibility lies in the defense; the possibility of victory in the attack.” – Sun Tzu

“History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

“A good navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“In democracy it’s your vote that counts; in feudalism it’s your count that votes.” – Mogens Jallberg

“There are very honest people who do not think that they have had a bargain unless they have cheated a merchant.” – Anatole France

“You can’t go around arresting the Thieves’ Guild. I mean, we’d be at it all day!” – Terry Pratchett

“Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government … You can’t expect to wield supreme power just ‘cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!” – Monty Python

“In diplomacy there are two kinds of problems: small ones and large ones. The small ones will go away by themselves, and the large ones you will not be able to do anything about.” – Patrick McGuinness

“A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age.” – Robert Frost

“New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.” – John Locke

“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” – Douglas Adams

“Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.” – Edward Wilson

“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.” -Mark Twain

“Sports do not build character. They reveal it.” – Heywood Broun

“A good plan violently executed right now is far better than a perfect plan executed next week.” – George S. Patton

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” – John F. Kennedy

“Which of all my important nothings shall I tell you first?” -Jane Austen

“I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.” –Albert Einstein

[myplasticadversary]

Also "love can be very close to slavery if you play your cards right" is such a metal line wow

Watching a Michael McKean interview now and I feel like he and Brian Cox are on opposite ends of the spectrum in how willing they are to step outside their character's perspective lol

oh yeah a good point! Cox (and this is probably more goodwill than he deserves) is basically Logan defending himself, and McKean will sympathise with Chuck but always point out he's done some horrific shit. all very interesting, just in diff ways.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 23, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUL 24, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris continues her momentum toward the 2024 presidential election since President Joe Biden’s surprise announcement on Sunday that he would not accept the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. 

Today more than 350 national security leaders endorsed Harris for president, noting that if elected president, “she would enter that office with more significant national security experience than the four Presidents prior to President Biden.” As vice president, she “has met with more than 150 world leaders and traveled to 21 countries,” the authors wrote, and they called out her work across the globe from her work strengthening partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region to her historic trip to Africa and her efforts to expand U.S. relationships with nations in the Caribbean and North Central America. In contrast to Harris, the letter said, “Trump is a threat to America’s national security.” 

Those signing the letter included former Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden, former director of national intelligence James Clapper, national security advisors Susan Rice and Thomas Donilon, former secretaries of defense Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta, and former secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. 

In a New York Times op-ed today, former secretary of state Clinton praised Biden for his “decision to end his campaign,” which she called “as pure an act of patriotism as I have seen in my lifetime.” She went on to say that Vice President Harris “represents a fresh start for American politics,” offering a vision of an America with its best days ahead of it and, rather than “old grievances,” “new solutions.”

Clinton noted that her own political campaigns had seen her burned in effigy, but said, “It is a trap to believe that progress is impossible” and that Americans cannot overcome sexism and racism. After all, she pointed out, voters elected Black American Barack Obama in 2008, and she herself won the popular vote in 2016. “[A]bortion bans and attacks on democracy are galvanizing women voters like never before,” Clinton wrote, and “[w]ith Ms. Harris at the top of the ticket leading the way, this movement may become an unstoppable wave.”

Today, Harris held her first campaign rally, speaking to supporters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the Republicans held their national convention just last week. The energy from the 3000 people packed into the gym where she walked out to Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” was palpable. 

She began by thanking Biden and touting his record, then turned to noting that in her past as a prosecutor, California attorney general, U.S. senator from California, and vice president, she “took on perpetrators of all kinds—predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So,” she said, “hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type.” She went on to remind the audience that Trump ran a for-profit college that scammed students, was found liable for committing sexual abuse, and “was just found guilty of fraud on 34 counts.” 

While Trump is relying on “billionaires and big corporations,” she said, “we are running a people-powered campaign” and “will be a people-first presidency.” The Democrats, she said, “believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead; a future where no child has to grow up in poverty; where every worker has the freedom to join a union; where every person has affordable health care, affordable childcare, and paid family leave. We believe in a future where every senior can retire with dignity.”

“[A]ll of this is to say,” she continued, “Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. Because…when our middle class is strong, America is strong.”

In contrast, she said, Trump wants to take the country backward. She warned that he and his Project 2025 will “weaken the middle class,” cutting Social Security and Medicare and giving “tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations,” while “working families foot the bill.” “They intend to end the Affordable Care Act,” she said, “and take us back…to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions…. Remember what that was like? Children with asthma, women who survived breast cancer, grandparents with diabetes. America has tried these failed economic policies before, but we are not going back. We’re not going back.”  

“[O]urs is a fight for the future,” she said “And it is a fight for freedom…. Generations of Americans before us led the fight for freedom.  And now…the baton is in our hands.”   

Meanwhile, MAGA Republicans are still scrambling for a plan of attack against Harris. One of their first angles has been the sexism and racism Clinton predicted, calling her “a DEI hire.” House Republican leaders have told fellow lawmakers to dial back the sexist and racist attacks. 

MAGA Republican representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) has taken a different angle: he introduced an impeachment resolution against Harris, while others are demanding that the House should investigate Harris and demand the Cabinet remove President Biden under the 25th Amendment. The Republican National Committee has decided to make fun of Harris’s laugh.

But concern in the Trump camp showed today when Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio shared with reporters a “confidential memorandum” trying to get ahead of polls he says will show Harris leading Trump. He said he expects to see a “Harris Honeymoon” that will end quickly. 

Trump has continued to post angrily on his social media feed but is otherwise sticking close to home. His lack of visibility highlights that the Republicans are now on the receiving end of the same age and coherence concerns they had used against Biden, and there might be more attention paid to Trump’s lapses now that Biden has stepped aside. CNN’s Kate Sullivan noted today, for example, that “Trump said he’d consider Jamie Dimon for Treasury secretary, but now says he doesn’t know who said that.” 

As Tim Alberta noted Sunday in The Atlantic, the Trump campaign tapped J.D. Vance in an attempt to harden the Republican base, only to find now that he cannot bring to the ticket any of the new supporters they suddenly need. 

According to Harry Enten of CNN, Vance is the first vice presidential pick since 1980 who has entered the race with a negative favorability rating: in his case, –6 points. Since 2000, the usual average is +19 points. Vance won his Senate seat in 2022 by +6 points in an election Republican governor Mike DeWine won by +25 points. Vance “was the worst performing Republican candidate in 2022 up and down the ballot in the state of Ohio,” Enten said. “The J.D. Vance pick makes no sense from a statistical polling perspective.”

Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark, who specializes in focus groups, noted that swing voters groups “simply do not like” Vance. “Both his flip flopping on Trump and his extreme abortion position are what breaks through,” she wrote. 

The 2024 election is not consuming all of the political oxygen, even in this astonishing week. Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that eight large companies must turn over information about the data they collect about consumers, product sales, and how the surveillance the companies used affected consumer prices. 

“Firms that harvest Americans’ personal data can put people’s privacy at risk. Now firms could be exploiting this vast trove of personal information to charge people higher prices,” FTC chair Lina M. Khan said. “Americans deserve to know whether businesses are using detailed consumer data to deploy surveillance pricing, and the FTC’s inquiry will shed light on this shadowy ecosystem of pricing middlemen.”

The eight companies are: Mastercard, Revionics, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, Task Software, PROS, Accenture, and McKinsey & Co.

In the House, Republicans have been unable to pass the appropriations bills necessary to fund the 2025 U.S. budget, laced as they are with culture-wars poison pills the extremists demand. Today House members debated the appropriations bill for the Interior Department and the Environment which, among other things, bans the use of funds “to promote or advance critical race theory” or to require Covid-19 masks or vaccine mandates. 

According to the European climate service Copernicus, last Sunday was the hottest day in recorded history. The MAGA Republicans’ appropriations bill for Interior and the Environment calls for more oil drilling, fewer regulations on pollutants, no new regulations on vehicles, rejecting Biden’s climate change executive orders, and reducing the funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by 20%.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[arokel]

Don/Bobby after their first win?

hello anon!!! sorry this is so late; i meant to post it much sooner but alas i am god's sleepiest soldier. but it's here now!

Nice and Easy

Word count: 960 Rating: G Pairing: Don/Bobby

Every muscle in Don’s body hurts. The skin of his cheeks feels tight and a little warm to the touch, a pink he’s sure must be deepening to red. Breathing is agony. He’s never felt better.

And Bobby is beside him, sweaty and grinning, running his mouth in the way Don has already come to find dangerously endearing in the few weeks they’ve known each other. It makes him want to say things he shouldn’t, and the only thing stopping him right now is the fact that he can’t get a word in edgewise.

“And you saw their faces when we passed them, Christ, felt so good to wipe that smugness right off ‘em. We destroyed those assholes. And it was all thanks to you, Don.”

“It was just a time trial,” Don says in the brief pause while Bobby takes a deep breath in preparation to start up again. He has to fight down his natural awkwardness and propensity for blushing; Bobby is being much too kind. “And I just did my part.”

Bobby shakes his head like a dog emerging from the water, so violently that a drop of sweat lands on Don’s cheek. It should be gross. But, somehow, as is everything Bobby does in Don’s eyes, it’s mostly cute.

“But it was varsity. And you knew exactly what to do; it was like you were reading my mind out there. I’ve never had a stroke who could do that. You’re the best. You carried that boat.”

Don glances guiltily around the empty shell house, just in case he miscounted and one of his teammates is still lingering after all. Bobby is just exaggerating because he’s excited and on is the only target on hand for his praises, but it still wouldn’t be great if anyone else overheard. They’d be hurt by the implied slight to their own rowing, and then Don would have to tell Bobby to stop complimenting Don alone. Which he doesn’t want to do.

He knows Bobby would be just as nice to Chuck or Joe or anyone else if it was them standing there instead of Don. Don isn’t special to Bobby. It’s just nice to let himself pretend he could be for a little while.

“I don’t think I could do it with another cox,” he says quietly. Let Bobby think it’s just the win spurring Don to hyperbole too. “You’re just… you. It’s easy with you.”

Bobby makes a small sound of surprise, opening and closing his mouth several times. Don might be proud of himself for how easily he managed to shut Bobby up if he weren’t so busy being mortified by the fact that he obviously misjudged the level of sincerity appropriate to the situation.

He tries to walk it back. “Not - I mean - you’re very… easy to listen to. Hear, I mean. You enunciate well.”

“Not a chance,” Bobby says with another shake of the head - slower, this time, closer to amazed. “You don’t get to take it back. That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me, Don Hume. Don’t cheapen it with qualifications.”

“Nicest thing about your coxing, you mean,” Don says. Even laying claim to that small honor sends further heat to his face and makes the aches and weariness in the rest of his body recede a little. He could say even nicer things, if they weren’t so terribly incriminating.

Bobby bites his lip, smiling at his feet. He looks shy. “No, I mean nicest thing about me ever.”

He has to be exaggerating again. Don wants him to be exaggerating.

“But… all I said was that you’re you,” he says, bewildered.

Bobby’s lip is still caught between his teeth when he looks up, stretched into a sweetly pleased smile. “Yeah. But you said it like it’s a good thing.”

Don wants to do a lot more to the varsity crew’s faces than wipe an expression off them, if he’s right in thinking they played any part in making Bobby think it wouldn’t be a good thing. But there’s also a small thrill of possessive pride creeping up from his chest and into his already-red cheeks at the thought that he made Bobby smile like that, and maybe no one else ever has.

He wants to do it again.

“It’s a fantastic thing. You’re…”

His words fail him. All the things he wants to say, the things that come too easily to his tongue whenever he’s around Bobby - they’re all too dangerous. He falls silent instead.

“I’m?”

Bobby’s eyes are so bright.

“You’re… good. As a cox and… and just by being you,” Don says. He doesn’t know Bobby all that well yet, but that much, he knows, is true.

He watches Bobby take the words in, watches that smile reappear - smaller than Don would like, shyer, and yet somehow brighter even than the shine of his eyes. Bobby doesn’t sunburn as easily as Don does, but his cheeks are pink anyway.

Bobby clears his throat. “Careful with those compliments, Don, or I’ll get spoiled.”

“Good,” Don says, too caught in the loveliness of the whole picture to think before he speaks. “I want to.”

He shuts his mouth in horror and waits, heart sinking, as Bobby’s drops open in surprise. Any second now that smile will vanish, those eyes will turn cold, and Don will have to face the consequences of how stupidly, damnably easy Bobby makes things.

This time when Bobby bites his lip, it looks intentional.

“Okay. You can spoil me. If you want to,” he says, just above a whisper. “And… if there’s anything else you want - you can do that too.”

Don doesn’t have to read Bobby’s mind to know what’s being asked of him. It’s just easy.