#Elderly Welfare

[townpostin]

Pension Certificates Distributed to 834 Beneficiaries in Jamshedpur

Health Minister Banna Gupta hands out Sarvajan Pension Scheme documents Elderly, widows, and disabled residents of Sonari receive pension acceptance certificates and sanitation buckets. JAMSHEDPUR – Health Minister Banna Gupta distributed pension acceptance certificates to 834 beneficiaries under the Sarvajan Pension Scheme in Sonari, Jamshedpur West Assembly constituency. The distribution…

[cksaksen-blog]

Big Changes to Singapore’s Welfare System: What Every Family Needs to Know!

The Singapore government has rolled out several key welfare initiatives aimed at improving support for the elderly, expanding housing grants for low-income families, and strengthening family welfare programs. These changes will provide increased financial aid in areas like healthcare, housing, and childcare, ensuring that vulnerable groups in society have better access to essential…

[altruisticenigma]

Ahaaaaa I am an anxious mess 🥲

[carlocarrasco]

Las Piñas City’s indigent senior citizens benefit from social pension cash pay-out

Recently in the City of Las Piñas, indigent senior citizens benefited from the cash pay-out organized by the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), the City Government announced via social media. The cash pay-out happened in Barangay Pilar Village and was attended by Vice Mayor April Aguilar. To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from social media post of the City…

[gremlingottoosilly]

Social Worker!Reader who gets sent to Loser!Konig's house due to multiple calls and complaints about his behaviour and supposed mental state

You're here because you were really passionate about helping kids and the elderly. Too bad you were sent to work in a town that lacks kids and has over 60% of the elderly patients as very gruff veterans. Maybe it was something in the air, maybe it was some weird water-induced PTSD retaliation, but you're mostly handling calls from worried families of some traumatized veteran who decided to live in the area. That, and you also handle Konig. He is a good guy, really. Retired colonel - retired with honors, no less, and a mercenary gig that no doubt makes his PTSD feel even worse at times. He is a good guy whenever he doesn't hunt for deers in the woods - you're pretty sure it's kind of forbidden, but you're also not the one who would look at an anxious patient and tell him that no, having severing deer heads as a hobby isn't a good coping mechanism. Those are his emotional support mutilated animals, and you won't come between a guy and his passion. He is sort of a loser, you think. He got too much of that thousand-yard stare, his eyes following you everywhere. Staring in the crease of your shirt where your chest is, trying to take a peek under your skirt when summer heat approaches and you can't deal with the heat anymore. You exchange having sweaty legs for his leering stare, and it's almost a fair trade. He would look at you like he wants to kill you, and then politely ask for you to do a welfare check inside. You think - fucking hell, this dude is totally going to kill you. You think checking him off the checklist will probably give you a nice little bonus. Neutralizing a problem before it becomes bigger. Preventing a town-wide shooting conducted by a bored veteran with too many weapons stashed in his basement. He showed you - got excited and a little bit hard, having a pretty girl look all over his hunting riffles. He is smart enough not to tell you about the other things he is totally hiding - and you aren't dumb enough to try and investigate whether or not he has enough assault riffles stashed to supply a small army. You listen to his rambles about his favorite anime - not the harem garbage, at least, not a single underage female character in sight of his figure collection. You suppose it was nice, better than you thought it would be. Some of his favorite shows are fun, and you find yourself almost waiting for the next visit. You don't shove away his hand on your knee because you're priding yourself on preventing risks, and you sometimes, having sex with a weirdly hot nerdy guy next door is the only thing left on your welfare checklist.

[eevees-hobbies]

My Boyfriend Works at a Butler Cafe - NSFW

Author’s Note: This is in response to the maid cafe requests I’ve gotten. While I don’t think I can add to the body of work that other content creators have already contributed to the fandom, I am dropping this at your feet. It may or may not be inspired by my trip to the Butler Cafe at Anime Expo, hehe.

Content Warning: Fem!Reader x Multiple Characters (Mostly separate). Contains Fluff and Smut (Smut indicated by “after hours” text). P in V. Use of pet names like pretty girl, Daddy, possessiveness in Sakura’s, sex in public, cunnilingus, sharing, mention of a handjob, reserve cowgirl. Tis smut!

Synopsis: Picture a scenario in which Umemiya is concerned about the welfare and sustainability of some of the shops in Makochi, primarily because many of the shops are owned and kept up by some of the more elderly inhabitants. Some stores are dilapidated and at risk of shuttering their doors, which Umemiya sees as a significant loss to the community. After brainstorming potential ways to earn some donations, he has a brilliant idea! It’s a concept that has almost every Bofurin alumni grinding their teeth and shaking their heads in protest. Welcome to the Butler Cafe!

Word Count: 3.2K

Cottage dividers by Saradika. Story and character banners by me.

“I’m so happy to see you, baby!”

If he weren’t volunteering his time to work in the cafe, he would be terminated immediately. As soon as he sees you walk through the door, he shouts your name from across the dining room and beelines straight to you, arms open and with a broad smile on his face. 

The customers he was just serving? Ignored.

He’ll make sure to sit you in his section and pull up a chair to chat with you, which is a significant annoyance to management as Umemiya is a big draw to the cafe. His admirers line up at least an hour before the restaurant opens to see the cutie with the toned biceps serving them strawberry crepes.

Regardless, I hope you’re comfortable with your lover staring into the depths of your eyes—and soul—as you recount your day. 

He’s so incomprehensibly smitten with you that the only thing that he’ll allow to interrupt your verbal reverie is him spoon-feeding you a piece of cake. 

“I’m so glad you came to visit me today! Wait, what do you mean you’re genuinely here to eat lunch?”

Grade: C+

After Hours

“Let me have some of you before my shift, sweetheart. I need you.”

“D-don’t worry about those…let them fall.” Paperwork, pens, and even a stapler aren’t safe from the laws of gravity as Umemiya picks you up and pushes you onto the desk in the back office. He only has so much time before opening the Butler Cafe doors, and he needs to fill your womb to ensure himself a good shift.

Could you imagine a sex-famished Umemiya? It’s a terrifying thought!

You kiss each other hungrily, tongues meeting outside your mouths before you can press your lips together. Your hands are already fussing with his uniform, particularly where his toned chest strains the buttons of his ironed coat.

“If I’m not inside you right now, baby girl-” His sentence is cut off as his mouth latches to the sensitive skin on your throat, suckling and nipping until the spot begins to sting. But if it hurts, you aren’t showing it as your eyes roll back into your skull. 

He’s pressing his body into yours as though he’s attempting to collapse into you. His hands desperately tug at the fabric that covers up his favorite parts of you–your breasts, your stomach, and most importantly, the sweet treat you have between slick-stained thighs.

“Ume, this has to be a quickie!” 

You can feel him grumble against your skin, lips trained into a pout as he grapples with your words, but he knows you’re right. He shifts the seat of your panties to the side and sinks into you, inch by agonizing thick inch. 

And you thought you were ready. You thought the way your cunt was drooling for him just by seeing him in his uniform would mean you were fully prepared to take his girth, but the sheer thickness still has you gasping and gripping his shoulders.

“Shhh, you can take it, pretty girl. You always take me so well. I got ya’”

As he’s pushing into you, his words slur, drunk off your pussy, head swimming with love, lust, and adoration for his sweet girl. There’s no time for preparation; his shift starts soon, and weren’t you just rushing him, anyway?

But for all the stretching you must endure from taking him, Umemiya is still nothing but gentle.

“God, you’re perfect.” His fingers stroke your cheek, and you melt into the familiarity of his soothing touch. “Keep your eyes open for me ok, love? You close them, and we start over.”

Once you collect yourself, walls finally fitting snugly around him like a glove, you bat your eyelashes innocently, brushing your lips against his thumb before sliding it into your mouth. You don’t break eye contact with him as you flirt your tongue against the underside of his thumb, pretending as though you’re sucking on something much bigger and thicker—that of which is already inside of you.

For a brief instant, you see something flash in Umemiya’s eyes, something that you feel sink into your spine and crawl its way up each individual vertebrae with sharpened claws, something that would threaten your health and ability to walk if you were home instead of at the butler cafe. But he begrudgingly sets his desire to defile you to the side and removes his thumb from your mouth, hand moving down and using that same digit to rub at your clit.

“I love it when you help Daddy out like this. Suuuuuuch a good girl.”

The way the desk bangs against the wall and drags across the linoleum floor as he drives his thick cock into your sopping-wet mess makes you consider that you two might be found out before your quickie can conclude. 

Grade: A+

“Stop staring at me like that, and hurry up and order!”

“Ugh!”

Death has never been more welcome as soon as Sakura dons the butler uniform. Even worse is when he peers into the dining room and sees you. 

Why would you do this to him? Why would you show up here? Don’t you have any pity for him, or is this all some sick, twisted fantasy for you? 

He’s spiraling!

Staff must physically grab him and force him onto the cafe floor. 

He’ll approach you, grumbling, and every bit of him the reddest he’s ever been—and is that steam pouring from his ears?

As he mumbles out the delicacy of the day, you have to lean in just to hear what he’s saying.

“S-stop pretending you can’t hear me!”

But best believe that when he sees another butler giving you too much attention for his liking, he’s stepping in and taking care of all his girl's orders.

“Hey, she’s mine.”

“Y-you mean the table, right?”

“She’s mine.”

Oof, he said what he said!

And if Umemiya is popular with the younger crowd, Sakura, to his disdain, is popular with the older ladies. They don’t think he’s particularly cute or lovely to look at; they just enjoy a visit from this loud-mouthed kid telling them to hurry up and order.

They think he’s a hoot and taking method-acting to the extreme.

Aren’t the tsundere types so cute? 

He’s honestly a really bad butler. His inability to be friendly to the customers—except you—and attempts to always switch his shift with someone else does not go unnoticed by management.

Grade: F -

After Hours 

“I kinda like fucking you at work.”

As you gazed down at your plate, an unfinished parfait staring back at you, a simple sentence was all you needed to gulp the rest of the dessert down and follow your butler outside.

“Gonna be good for me and finish that so I can finish you, yeah?”

Um, fuck yeah!

“S-sakura, don’t you have to clock back in?” You mumble into his ear; you know you sound like an absolute mess, your breathing rapid and uneven, with small moans erupting from your throat.

“Fuck this job.” He has your hands pinned above your head; your legs are wrapped around his waist as he fucks you against the alley wall behind the cafe. “I’m exactly where I should be.”

His thrusts forward are hard and urgent, but the retraction of his dick is slow, drawing out the feeling of your satin walls grazing every inch of him. Your slick is staining his bicolored pubic hair as he grinds into you. His fingers dig into your wrists, seemingly in rhythm with each snap of his hips. 

“G-god, Sakura! Maybe I should make you dress up like a butler more often?” 

“P-pervert, you’d like that, huh? You want me to dress up as your fantasy and fuck you in costume?”

He nestles his face into your neck. You sound so good for him, and how could he resist the urge to take you outside and fuck you right here and now with how pretty you look?

You’re intoxicating, you’re perfect, you’re about to make him fucking cum, fuck! He considers pulling out, letting you finish him off with your hand or that cute mouth of yours, but you grip your legs around him in a vice grip.

“H-haru, stay inside, please?”

Oh, god, how could he say no to that? To you? He smashes his lips against yours, moaning loudly in your mouth as his cock twitches, spurts then fountains of his love and devotion for you filling you up to the brim.

His shift at the butler cafe is the last thing on his mind as he wraps his arms around your waist, peppering kisses against your lips and cheeks.

Grade: A+++++++++++++++++++++++

“Hey, you came just to see me, sweet girl? Aw, I’m so lucky.”

Although he technically didn’t have to attend this fundraiser, given his relationship with Bofurin and Makochi, he thought it was a good idea to show up ready to work.

Togame quickly becomes a shift manager. He’s reliable, a natural leader, and every client likes talking to him and even though he doesn’t walk with a sense of urgency, they don’t mind!

When Togame sees you enter the cafe, he’ll shoot you a lazy grin—the kind that makes your heart skip a beat and forces you to long for him even when he’s right there in front of you.

During his lunch breaks, he’ll take you out on the private patio he reserved just for you two and have the butler on duty bring out all the cafe items he knows you’ll like. 

As you speak and enjoy your time together, he’ll grab your hand in his, rough fingers drawing smooth circles around your knuckles, deep-green eyes trained on yours, and occasionally flickering down to look at your lips.

Of course, you want to kiss him, but he’s at work!

Knowing precisely how you are, Togame makes the first move, leaning over and capturing your lips in a kiss that is soft, unabashedly intimate, and that of which touches the furthest and most difficult-to-reach edges of your very soul. He’s breathing life into you, and before you know it, he’s pulling away, smirking, daring you to be the aggressor, and daring you to follow him. And you are, and you do.

Grade: A

After Hours 

“Gonna make you cum before my shift, beautiful. How does that sound? Look at me when I ask you a question.”

Your trembling hand shoots out to grasp the ledge of a nearby shelf in the cafe’s backroom. Togame has your legs draped over his muscular and broad shoulders with your back against the wall in the back office.

Togame loves using your thighs as earmuffs. The harder you squeeze, the more he can tell how good of a job he’s doing. When you squeeze and tremble because he’s sucking on your labia, taking each one into his mouth, sucking, biting, he knows that he’s doing exactly what he needs to get you to absolute euphoria.

“Jo,” you hiss through parted, glossed lips, “They’ll be able to hear us!”

“No, they’ll be able to hear you.”

And he’s right. He snuck you into the back prior to his shift so that he could devour you as though you didn’t pack him a bento box. 

But he’s doing such a good job, licking at your clit until you feel a dull throbbing sensation, making out with your pretty pussy until thick cream coats his lips, and leaving a reflective sheen on his cheeks. 

Unfortunately, the diners aren’t too far away, and you don’t want them to hear every sound Togame is pulling out of you.

And as though he’s intentionally trying to make you louder, he flicks your clit with the tip of his tongue, no longer teasing the nub but making deliberate infinity shapes that make her twitch.

“I’ll stop when you cum in my mouth, baby.”

He wants you to cum? Might as well take him up on the offer. 

You grab loose fistfuls of his hair and start grinding on his face, allowing his nose to rub against your clit as he offers your pretty hole free use of his tongue.

“That’s my girl. You’re such a good listener.”

“Jo, don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Grade: A+

“I’m at your beck and call. Whatever you need is yours.”

To no surprise to anyone, Suo is poised and proper enough to make the butler gig look easy. He knows how to carry the trays without spilling a single crumb of food, he knows where to put the silverware when placing them on the table, and he’s certainly never stressed out during a midday rush.

However, his faults lie with you.

When Suo sees you enter the cafe, he becomes apathetic to the other patrons. He still serves them, yes, but his thoughts are obviously elsewhere. His eyes hardly leave you, watching as you bring a fork up to your mouth and it pushes past your plump lips. 

Your tongue darting out to lick the whipped cream from the corner of your mouth has his eyes widening ever so slightly, and the tea kettle he’s pouring tea from shaking just a bit. 

And when he’s able to serve you? He’s never been happier. Sure, you may not have asked for that extra piece of pie, but you’re absolutely going to get it. Can’t possibly drink any more tea? Nonsense. He’s topping you off again.

Anything for you.

Always.

And forever.

Grade: B

After Hours

"Pretty girl needs to cum at least one more time for us. I need you to cum in my friend's mouth before I touch you."

Your pleasure is Suo’s pleasure, so be a good girl and spread your legs for his friends, mkay? Suo’s tongue slides into your mouth as his fingers brush against the strands of your hair that have managed to fall into your face. 

He can’t help but admire you, your beauty, and your fucked out expression as your mouth opens and closes, waves and waves of pleasure rocking you to your core. 

His beautiful girl.

The cafe's shades are drawn closed, and the interior of the restaurant is only illuminated by dim amber lamp lights placed sporadically throughout the medium-sized room. 

Suo cups your chin, his mouth only leaving yours as he tilts your face forward, “Tell Sakura how much you like when he sucks on your clit.”

Sakura grunts from between your thighs. He’s on all fours, face so flush against your cunt that there’s surely no room for him to breathe. But if that’s the case, he isn’t indicating that oxygen is a necessity as he’s dragging his tongue, flattened and broad, against your swollen clit in long licks. 

“That feels really good, Sakura. You’re doing such a great job.” You pause, but Suo’s quick, heated glance in your direction wills you to continue. “You’re doing a great job, and I like when you suck on my clit”

“Good girl. It’s important to thank your butlers. Now be sure to thank Umemiya, too.”

You turn your head to the side, gazing up at Umemiya, who is pulling up his undershirt in clenched fists, exposing his toned stomach and chest, and his pants hanging loosely around his thighs. His pectorals have been a rosy pink all night, the persistent blush only spreading as he lays witness to you and what you’re capable of.

Your hand is wrapped around his cock, fingertips unable to touch each other from the sheer circumference of him, but dammit you’re trying. “Thank you, Umemiya, for letting me jerk you off.”

Suo lets out a quiet hiss, pleased with your obedience. He grips you by the cheeks and leans down, his lips so close to yours, his eye peering into your soul.

“Who do you think should go first? Which butler would you like to request, love?”

You’d smirk if his hand wasn’t forcing your lips into a pout, but your eyebrow twitches, and you get that familiar glint in your eye that Suo loves so much.

“I don’t think anyone has to take turns. Everyone pick a hole.” 

Grade: A+

“P-please tell me how I can help you?”

When you see Nirei in his butler outfit, you swoon. How could someone so innocent and cute look like that? And while he blushes and stutters when taking your order, he’s probably the most impressive butler in the cafe.

He knows the menu like the back of his hand, is always on time, and is willing to stay late if need be.

Unlike the other participants on this list, your presence isn’t enough to shake Nirei, and admittedly, that might hurt a bit, right? In actuality, Nirei does so well because of you.

He knows you’re watching, so he’s careful with every movement and every word he says. He so desperately wants to impress you. So you might not always see it, but he’s watching you out of the corner of his eye, hoping you saw him interact with a client with perfect protocol. 

As you have lunch with your friends and your eyes meet, he’ll shoot you a little wave as he turns his attention back to a customer. Your friends will giggle because how did YOU trap someone so cute, sweet, and innocent?

And you’ll take offense to that because 1) you aren’t a predator who hunts cute little animals–-Bambi is most certainly safe when you’re around and 2) Nirei is anything but innocent.  

Grade: A+

After Hours:

"O-oh god! You’re amazing, so beautiful, please don’t stop! I-I’m gonna..!"

With shaky hands, Nirei hangs onto the plush of your ass–and on for dear life–as you ride him in reverse cowgirl position on the floor of the Butler Cafe. 

“O-oh, my god…” He musters the strength to bring his head up to look at you expertly bouncing on his dick, swallowing him whole like you were made for this.

He doesn’t think he’s going to make it.

“Y/N! P-please slow down!”

You let out a breathless giggle, your nails digging into his thighs for leverage as you sit up straight and roll your hips. “You did so well serving me today, Nirei! I’m just rewarding my butler.”

God and he’d serve you for a lifetime if it meant experiencing this.

“D-do you know what I’m doing right now, baby?”

He lets out a grunt, the only sound he can manage, as the muscles in his calves tighten to the point of almost cramping.

Fuck, why are you so good at this?

You swivel your hips to the left, right, up and down, dragging the head of his cock against your g-spot. “I’m spelling your name.”

S-spelling his-

Oh, fuck.

Nirei bites his lip, eyes rolling into the back of his head as something so inevitable, so ridiculously powerful, hits him like a freight train. A cross between a whimper-whine escapes from parted lips, and it catches you off guard because, if anything, his moan is a clear indication of how much he desires you and how much he’s always wanted you. 

You consider stopping, the rolling of your hips slowing, but the feeling of immense pressure makes you moan. The licking of your lips replaces the cocky grin on your face as you throw your head back.

Because, god, there’s just so much of it! 

You look between your legs as his cum drips from your cunt and onto the cafe floor. His balls still clenching and unclenching as he continues to pour into you. 

“Nirei, there’s so much!”

“Mmmm, h-happy to give you some more?”

Grade: A+

Special thanks to @suosgirl and @hayatoseyepatch for your ideas/contributions. 

[centrally-unplanned]

I will always be annoyed as a very pro-welfare person that my "camp" is not going to come around to Social Security being Bad, Actually. It is so antiquated! Most crucially, it probably isn't even welfare - the best analyses in my opinion generally view it as neutral, maybe mildly progressive, and maybe even mildly regressive. Maybe your own paper thinks it is more on the progressive side? But it is ~5% of GDP! I do not have to "debate the progressivity" of food stamps, they are obviously insanely redistributive; the opportunity cost of Social Security is huge in this regard because you do in fact have a limited tax budget to play with.

More importantly to me, it is a redistribution from the young to the old in a society where that is becoming quite costly. The "forces of social reproduction", from work to innovation to families, are pretty universally created by the non-retired, and while most people are Doing Fine that doesn't mean we aren't creating unnecessary frictions for all of that. Right now we would all socially be better off "front-shifting" more spending, giving the ~30 year olds more income and the ~70 year olds less - 70 year olds in America are quite rich, they really don't need it.

Meanwhile the reasons for the program have vanished. I get why it was a decent idea in the 1930's - it is an insurance program built around the idea that the elderly can't "bounce back" from economic setbacks since they have a limited ability to work. In a world where bank runs junking someone's savings were common this makes sense. And in a world of fertility rates hitting 4.0+ targets it was easily affordable. But nowadays the idea that the median someone "cannot save for retirement" is very silly, they absolutely can safely and reliably - banks are stable and insured, government bond programs exist, and so on.

Of course, there are those who are too poor to save, which you can address with, like, actual welfare? I won't go down the UBI rabbit hole but it is very silly to fix the problem of elderly poverty with a universal forced savings plan that pays out to people based on their past income. Just give poor people money and cut out all the middleman bullshit.

Which is the rub of course - Social Security works politically precisely because it isn't welfare, it is something "everyone" gets. Which, again as a big UBI proponent, I get, it is how politics works. But that doesn't change the fact that Social Security probably makes most people on net worse off despite how much they defend it, and limits the fiscal capacity for better alternatives. From an ideological lens it isn't a left program, and shouldn't be treated as such. (And it isn't a right program either, but in the US rightwing ideology is pretty incoherent so who knows)

But in the end winning elections is the actual determinant of policy, so may the Democrats continue to worship it - and hopefully get the courage to slip some changes in that people don't notice somewhere down the line.

[popcornforone]

The Wait

A General Marcus Acacius Fic

Day 22 of Pedrotober (Prompt Gladiator)

Masterlist

This was meant to be short… I was gonna it & then I was like no… I want to know more myself & as I am my own audience I kept going, so behold of our Roman Hero getting his day in the sun.

Synopsis:- You go to the Roman Baths everyday to look at the clientele, despite being promised to a man.

Word count:-2700

Warnings over & above:- age gap, loss of virginity, Marcus is naked throughout, all types of sexual intercourse, sweat, withdrawal, breeding, arranged marriage, ogling at naked men. This is in Rome back in the day so the rules are different ages of consent are not what they are today. Swearing.

Yea that was fun to write, hope it was a much fun to read. Thanks @alyssamariag & @norththelemon for the prompt list. I’m amazed I’m still going.

“He won’t be here” you say as you & 2 of your ladies in waiting enter the prestigious Roman Baths. “& we can only sit here & look we are not allowed in, unless a man invites us”

“What if you say no” Victoria said. She’s always concerned for your welfare.

“Then it would be a shame on my family’s name, but I think my father would be more disappointed if he knew I was here watching all of these men.” Everyone in power or promise comes to these baths. You visit it shortly after your time of the month, knowing that should a man catch your eye, you would not be with child. You are betroved & come your birthday In 3 moons time you will be a man’s wife, by this time next year you will probably have produced an heir for who ever it is who is promised your hand. Your dream is that it is one of these generals, knights, or senators in these baths that will be your partner until they are sent off to war to die, put in an arena to fight or be poisoned or hanged due to their lust for power. But that’s the way of Rome.

Elderly men walk past & do not catch you or your ladies eyes, so many men are genuinely here for baths & nothing else but while you’ve been sat here for 30 minutes you’ve seen two ladies taken away, one discreet area around the corner with filled with moans.

“Yea this is a waste of time today ladies,” You sigh “let’s…” but then in the corner of your eye you see luscious locks dripping wet come out of the water, from a side profile of a man with a very large nose & defined features. He’s here. The general. You blush bright red & start to fan yourself. You can see his broad shoulders also poke out of the water.

This is General Marcus Acacius. He just, from what you can see, looks magnificent.

“My lady are you okay?” You don’t realise your jaw has dropped so dramatically open as you watch him, eyes draw to him like a hawk to a mouse. But he’s no mouse, he is a brave general. So many victories for Rome, & its subjects. You eventually snap out of it.

“Sorry did you say something”

Your ladies giggle as you try to not look. But it’s too much. Your eyes just constantly wander back to him. He’s just stunning. Each stroke he swims in the bath wonderful.

But then he swims to the other side of the bath & places his hands on the side. Out he gets. Soaking wet, completely naked. Water drops from his wavy hair. His strong back as scars from war traced across them. But it his arse. What a glorious rounded juicy peach it is. You moan a bit to loudly & a few people look at you & you instantly raise your fan to your face, to stop your embarrassment. Your eyes however betray you, still ogling over him from a distance.

Now out of the water he stands side on. Your ladies giggle, but you just look at that long length. You’ve seen men in these baths walk around naked. The first time you saw a penis up close was a surprise. But right now is the only other time you’ve felt self conscious & intrigued. It hangs, his balls are heavy. It’s semi hard. It’s long, ooh god it’s long. Longer than any other man you have glanced your eyes upon. How would anyone be able to accommodate it? It would split the lucky woman in half.

You feel your own pelvis, it’s moving on its own, your legs slowly parting. Your body is telling you that you are ready, that this is the prize. You just hope the general is in the mood for you. You can always tell whoever you are betroved to that you have ridden horses & that’s why there feels like you’ve been deflowered. Everyone knows that happens to some ladies & you are often seen on horseback, your father was instant that you had it as a life skill.

You mind is wondering as you day dream, that you don’t realise the general has noticed you gawping. He’s smirking & the takes some water from the pool & runs it’s through his hair, a wet look, even though the rest of him is drenched. He doesnt find a robe, or cover his manhood. Everyone in here is free to be who they want so he slowly saunters over & it’s only as he’s about 3 meters away that you ladies giggle.

“Miss, miss” they shriek & put their fans up over their faces trying not to look. Your past shame.

“My lady” Marcus bows & you smirk & lower your fan. How will that penis fit anyone, it’s wide too. Your splutter & then eventually lift you head from his privates up his hairy torso, to those broad shoulders, that long blemished filled neck, which is so ready to be kissed & to that stunning godly face. A few scars & cuts, but such astounding facial hair, the cuffs match if you knew what I mean. But it’s his eyes. So big & bright. So sexy. Your legs part again, you feel something inside you grow, a wanting of pleasure.

“General Acacius” you smile.

“It’s Marcus, please” & he holds out his hand & winks. “Please my lady”

“No miss”

“Shhh” you take his hand & he holds you close to him. Your thin white dress dampening from touching his skin, skin that’s been hardened by war but also feels like cloud to touch. Soft & sensitive.

“This way” & he points to a door. No one has been through that door yet who’s been chosen to pleasure anyone in these baths.

“But miss”

“You say a word to anyone…” you threaten your ladies. They go quiet.”Now return, im sure the general will be a gentleman” & you wrap your arm around him & he leads you out the door.

“I can assure you miss” he whispers “i will look after you”

The room he leads you to, has a bed, not as Fancy as yours at home, but it’s still silk, & white & virginal like you are. He closes the door behind you & stand to attention still completely naked. Part of your dress from his damp skin his gone see through.

“Undress” Marcus requests. You are shy at first, but your slowly disrobe, once naked your hands cover your mound. You like him have hair on your privates. You had planned for your wedding night to be clean shaven, to be taken & filled for the first time. The general walks towards you. You gasp as he circles you & his long delicate finger trace over your skin.

“You like this?” You nod as one hand cups your breast. “You like being admired?”

“Yes”

“You like my touch” his hand trials down your body heading for your sex “you want passion” he moves your hand but you grab him before he can touch your clit.

“General please, I’m betroved” you blurt out & his eyes widen.

“I know, but we all want to know why you come to the baths? To breed off your ladies in waiting?” You let go of your hand as the first kiss reaches the crook of your neck, his voice smooth like butter. Your legs part. “Do you watch them to get tips for your future husband”

“No” you bluntly say, & then moan as his fingers enter your pubic hair.

“Have you been taken then”

“N… no” you stutter, your body shaking.

“Shhh shhh shhh it’s okay” he whispers. “No need to tremble, I want pleasure you unless you don’t want me too”

“Why?” You say & his hand freezes, once again he’s so close to your clit.

“Because all is fair in love & war & if you just want to know what will make your future lover happy & what to expect, I can help out with that”

“How?” You then gasp. His large flat thumb has made contact with your most sensitive area, your clit being rubbed, makes your knees buckle & he grabs you to stop you falling.

“Because I am the man who in 3 moon you will be matched with.” It’s a dark sultry voice. You lift your head, you turn your head to face him & thrust your hand into his wet hair.

“Oooh yes” you moan. Your lips then clash with his, you let his tongue take you, you let him feast upon the kiss. His thumb strumming away as you make out & he pleasures you.

“How long have you know you’ve been promised to me!” He asks before he scoops you up & carrys you to the bed.

“2 years 3 month 1 week & 4 days.” You say as you are plonked on the bed, your knees raised to start with.

“Oddly specific”

“You came back from battle, the scar on your left shoulder my father healed, & when you saw me run passed I heard my father say she’s almost a woman, you can have her soon” he smirks & lowers your knees, your legs part, he licks his lips at the arousal he sees wanting to do nothing more than sink into you & fuck you all afternoon until the baths empty & then let you sore body soak in the warm water before taking you again.

“You did seem bashful that day, even through my pain I noticed.”

“It’s not often a girl gets lucky”

He caresses your face before tenderly kissing you.

“I wasn’t even a general when I was told I would be marrying you, & here we are fate has brought us together sooner” he kisses down your chin & neck before then sucking on your nipples, you moan deeply your hips pushing up into him. You feel his penis harden & he grunts & sits up.

“I’m not like the other heathens, I can wait the three moon” he says as he looks at your trembling body, how your already panting.

“You’d, you’d do that?” You seem shocked. Most men especially in power & the army get what hey want. “For me”

“Yes beautiful l” he caresses your face “even if it got to our wedding night & you didn’t wish to consummate I wouldn’t” your face lights up.

“You really are a gentleman” you state, & kiss him & your body flexes towards him again, his hand is stroking his length.

“So shall we wait” his voice is hoarse, he’s trying to hold it all in.

“I’ve wanted you general for a very long time, but how is this even going to work”

“Ahhh”’he giggles & spreads you legs even wider “don’t worry darling, you grow to” your eyes pop out of your head. He was a shower but he was also a grower.

“Be gentle” you mumble & nod.

“I will & I promise not to cum inside you” he is between your legs, swiping his penis across your clit & your sex. Your entrance about to be filled. You are about to be deflowered by the man you are betroved too.

“This might pinch, try to relax” you nod & lie back. You’re just enjoying the teasing pleasure of him swiping across everything that’s so sensitive. & then you feel it. The breach. He’s only a tiny bit in, but you feel pleasure you’ve never experienced before. You grab onto the bedding & scream.

“Holy fuck” he looks startled as he sighs as he feels you squeeze him.

“You okay” you nod & go mmmhhhmm “if it’s too much ill stop”

“NO Marcus!” You shout”keep going”

“Yes my lady” he then lies on top of you & as he ever so slowly inches his way fully into you, he watches the pleasure on your face. He has taken his fair share of flowers in his time, but none quite like you. The innocence draining from you, the little moans of yes coming from your plump red lips. The feel of your goosebumps. This is truly different to all the girls he’s had before.

“Fuck Marcus” you moan as he starts to slowly rock. He groans as you clamp around him squeezing his penis tightly.

“Jesus” he snarls”fuck baby, you’re so tight” he looks down seeing the mess you’ve already made, your virginity broken. “No going back now your all mine”

“Marcus what should I…”

“Shhh shhh” he says putting his lips on yours. “Tonight is your first Lesson is lust, let me ease you in, just enjoy it.” He then after a few more larger stroke jolts his hip. That special spot has been hit, reverberating around your whole body.

“Yes oooh yes yes yes” you moan grabbing more of the silk bedding.

“You like that beautiful” you nod & he thrusts hard again. “Good cos now I know you like this, on our wedding night this will be all you fucking get” he’s now much larger hovering above you his hips in a rhythm as he plunders you. Your own hand that’s not grabbing onto bedding, is caressing your hard nipples. He’s watching your perfect breasts jiggle as he goes harder. His eyes which are always brown even darker.

“Fuck oooh fuck fuck fuck” his rhythm becoming uneven. He quickly with draws his cock from your virgina & strokes it furiously. His seed spilling out over his hand & over your thighs, his eyes close in pleasure. “Oooh yes sexy” he the Burys his head between your thighs licking a strip across your enterance before furiously shoving 3 fingers inside you. “Come on my lady let got” you don’t need to much encouragement. You’ve had self pleasure before but the way this orgasm hits you from the feel of his cock to now his fat fingers finishing you off, it’s another level. He watches in delight. “Oooh this is going to be fun”…

3 moons later you are wed, to Marcus. You’ve had sex every single time you have seen him. Some assumed you had already been wed. As you lie on the bed on your martial night he’s deep inside you. Taking you from behind. Your arse with red marks on it from earlier spankings. Your face with sticky cum on it after he had face fucked you & said swallowing would happen next time so he gave you a facial. But right now is the moment you are looking forward to.

Your arse bouncing, you voice screaming in delight as another high hits you.

“Still so fucking good this cunt, so tight so ready” he growl. You can tell by the tightness of his grip he’s not got long to last. You grab the bedding & whimper.

“Fuck baby more more more”

“I don’t think I can” he’s straining his voice. He goes out of habit to pull out his cock you can tell that’s gonna happen.

“No cum inside, im your wife, you can impregnate me, it’s not a shame now”

“Huh?” He then realised he can & he doesn’t fully withdraw & slams back in.”what if I don’t want our baby growing in you yet”

“Marcus please I want to feel how good it is”

“Fuck baby I love it when you beg” one last slap of your arse has you clamping around him squeezing out your climax & that’s all it takes. The sensation shocks you, feeling his essence. Knowing he’s just emptied inside you. You bite the pillow next to your head as he moans your name as he comes down, slowly withdrawing his cock. Seeing how sore you are from all the sex you had not just had that night but in the previous weeks, seeing his cum drip down your thighs. He smirks he made that mess. He pulls you into his lap & kisses you deeply, that thumb going back to your clit, no pubic hair down there today as you had promised. You moan as you are over stimulated.

“You okay my lady?” You nod.

“You okay too husband?”

“More than okay” he whispers before kissing your forehead. “& to think 3 moons ago all I was to you was someone you were ogling at that Roman bath” he chuckles.

“Hmmm ahh so naive”

“So innocent” you smile at that remark & start to stroke his cock getting it erected again.

“Well not anymore”

[tansyuduri]

Merlin Loregasm Rewatch S1E11

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my rewatch of Merlin focusing on the lore. I am a giant nerd so pretty excited about this. We’re on THE LABYRINTH OF GEDREF

Showing off hunting Trophies was a major thing in the Medieval ages. They were often used to decorate. Unicorn horns were especially valued. Especially considering the various ways they could combat poison. (An antidote if ground up, or making liquid bubble if dipped in it) What's that? Why of course there were unicorn horns all over in the middle ages. There was just one catch... These unicorn horns? They were actually Narwhal tusks

I find the categorization of magic creatures in Merlin interesting. Because there are some that need magic to be killed. (Griffin) Some that are rare and magical and DO NOT need magic to kill (Unicorn). Some who are tied to the spirit world (Manticore) and some that are created.(Afanc) And some that are not real world animals but do not seem to be magic at all (Serkets and wilddeoren)

There are also some that seem to be human-level or higher In inteligence. But it's not all of them. (Trolls, Sidhe, Dragons) COME TO THINK OF IT WHY ARE THERE ONLY DRAGON LORDS and not like lords of other creatures. This and the ability to give spells and bunish swords seem to imply dragons are the most magical of them all. HOW DID THE DRAGON LORD THING START. Were dragons bound to a bloodline or a few bloodlines? Did they accept it because before hand there were some kinda dragon civil wars? Was some human born with the soul of a dragon? Did a dragon turn human and have a child with another human and magic made that child the first dragon lord? I kinda like that one best. I should problubly have adressed this in the Balinor episode. I will again then.

Okay so from this I think we can conclude that killing a unicorn does not always curse an entire kingdom. It likely did this time because Arthur was a prince. My guess is that if a comoner were to kill it it would destroy their home, Perhaps in extreme cases their village (perhaps depending on what they identfy as) What would it do to someone who was a migrant I wonder? Just destory anything they use to travel? I'm assuming this because "very few" means there were a decent amount once. And unless Unicorns have a breeding problum SOMEONE had to kill them. And I don't think there are enough kingdoms for kingdoms always being destroyed

OKAY lets talk Medieval famine! While the Wealthy did indeed store some grain away, it was almost never enough to provide for the populace. Thus Medeval famines resulted in many horrible things. Besides rising crime and lawlessnes, Often children where abandoned and elderly people voluntarily starvedthemselves. While in the Merlin world welfare help seems to be on the royals, in the medival ages it was on the Church. The great famine of the 1300s actually underminded the church on the contenent because it could not keep up and everyone thought the famine came because god was angry. Interestingly in England People thought god was angry but decided it was with the king at the time and less the church, In Camlot it might lead to people thinking the same thing about the Pendragon Dynesty. (Especially since religon is not as big a deal) Ironicly in this case the people would be RIGHT thinking that. But Uther might be worried because the camalot people could very well ask themselves why the pendragons are being punished and go OH they were the ones who got rid of the old religion and banned magic. WHAT IF THAT IS WHAT THEY DID WRONG!

Yeah so at this point if Arthur and Merlin had not been able to cure the issue It was the end of Pendragon rule as people knew it. All your water turning to sand DOES NOT HAPPEN. even if they get water from other sources somehow. (Despite Arthur saying its the same thoughout the kingdom) God/Gods were VERY angry, or Sorcery caused this and is needed to fight it. (Merlin could not turn the sand back to water but might have been able to summon water like he does later)

First time we hear of a keeper or guardian of a magical thing. This will be a reocuring theme and I totally do not talk about it at all in any of my fanfics. ALSO Funfact "Anhorn" and "Anhorna" are old english words for unicorn. It seems likly his name is based on these.

Anhora: If you fail any of these tests camalot will be damned for all eternity. Okay does he mean just Camalot as a kingdom and if another kingdom took over the same spot it would be fine, or is this entire area of land doomed forever? Because it sounds like the later and if so ONCE AGAIN I MUST REPEAT MY EALIER THRORY ABOUT IT JUST BEING A KINGDOM DUE TO ARTHUR.

Historicly Tea is first mentioned in the third centery in China. It became Popular in the tang dynasty and spread to other east asian lands (618 to 907) This is after the time Merlin is set. So even if trade routes were much bigger (Like we explained might be the case in previous posts) It would not be a big thing yet. SOOO What Arhur and Gaius refer to as tea is likely an herbal infusion. (This is often ALSO refered to as Tea but doesnt have the actual Tea herb)

Arthur: They've come from the outlying villages in search of food. There is not enough rations to feed the people whoa re already here. Like I've said only the wealthy stored grain and not much of it. These outlying villages are likley the ones directly under Camalot's control and not under the control of a Camalot Lord.

Rats are actually consitered a delicacy of many cultures, some say they taste like wild game, others like Chicken, other say it has a taste all its own, In Asia especially you can find many rat dishes. Rat Pie was even a dish for both rich and poor in Victorain britain

Arthur: Ask the Neiboring kingdoms for help. They may be able to spare some food

Uther: Out of the Question. As soon as they realize how weak we are our enemies will strike against us

Arthur: You don't know that for certain

Uther: Besides I would rather starve then beg my enemies for help! What of our kingdoms reputation have you no pride?

Arthur: I cannot think of my pride while our people go hungry

I would like to point out that they can just rade valuables for food. Previous episodes have shown Camalot has a thriving trade network. They also have allies they can ask and not enemies but I expect Uther is too prideful to do that. And too afraid it would reveal things if there was a massive uptic in imported food.

No special info on this name.

Poppy was most likley used for this, Perhaps even Opium! Its also a respratory supressant and can explain why Merlin did not realize Arthur was still breathing. Another Possability is Dwale. (Lots of posionus herbs and bile used to not someone out if a limb needed to be removed) However it would have tasted so horrible that Arthur would have made a face. So I'm going with a mixture including poppy or Opium

[townpostin]

Pension Certificates Distributed in Jamshedpur West Assembly

Minister Banna Gupta hands out benefits to elderly, widows, and disabled individuals Health and Food Supply Minister Banna Gupta distributed pension acceptance certificates and sanitation buckets to beneficiaries in Jamshedpur West. JAMSHEDPUR – Health and Food Supply Minister Banna Gupta distributed pension acceptance certificates and sanitation buckets to beneficiaries in Jamshedpur West…

[malehypnofantasy]

Thank you for writing these amazing stories! Tho if its alright to ask, I hope you could do more male puppets! male puppet tag is quite rare to see on tumblr... so I really love seeing that you have a number of male puppet stories thats very fun to read! Thank you for consideration 😅

Thanks for the love! I do enjoy writing about a supposedly dominant male or someone in charge later revealed to be mere puppet controlled by someone else with greater vision.

Simple case is mafia or crime boss being a hidden puppet, either for the police or for an elderly former mafia kingpin still clinging to power even in his retirement

A loving straight suburban father named Josh recent fallout from marriage turned out to be the work of a horny college dropout that wanted a piece of his man meat. He exploited Josh's mind to be in lust only for him and boy did it worked very well as Josh then soon divorced his wife and dated the horny college dropout and fulfilled all his monetary wishes

But my thought was not always benevolent. For example, how scandalous that the homophobic linebacker turned out to be a closeted subservient bottom after all as he pissed off the assistant professor from one of the class he attended. Even more surprising is how selfish the assistant professor turned out to be as instead of making the linebacker into a better and more respectful human being, he increased the aggresiveness of the linebacker as the assistant professor also felt ridiculed by the LGBTQ+ club president that constantly tell him that he's not doing enough to ensure the welfare of LGBTQ+ student in the campus + challenged him while he's teaching when the professor is not in attendance. Talk about being vengeful and petty

Or how a nerdy incel managed to gain access and then puppet his hot yet camera-shy neighbor into a full-blown cashmaster streamer, gooning him out and turn the guy a full 180. The once humble muscle jock turned into a narcissist who cannot help but masturbating himself off on camera from the praises and the cash streamed to his account which he willingly with no hesitation funnelled to the nerdy incel.

All in all, I love male puppet as a theme, and I hope a lot more people will indeed write in the theme

[misfitwashere]

August 24, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

AUG 25

The raucous roll call of states at the 2024 Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, as everybody danced to DJ Cassidy’s state-themed music, Lil Jon strode down the aisle to cheers for Georgia, and different delegations boasted about their states and good-naturedly teased other delegations, brought home the real-life meaning of E Pluribus Unum, “out of many, one.” From then until Thursday, as a sea of American flags waved and attendees joyfully chanted “USA, USA, USA,” the convention welcomed a new vision for the Democratic Party, deeply rooted in the best of traditional America. 

Under the direction of President Joe Biden, over the past three and a half years the Democrats have returned to the economic ideology of the New Deal coalition of the 1930s. This week’s convention showed that it has now gone further, recentering the vision of government that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s secretary of labor, Frances Perkins, called upon to make it serve the interests of communities.     

When the Biden-Harris administration took office in 2021, the United States was facing a deadly pandemic and the economic crash it had caused. The country also had to deal with the aftermath of the attempt of former president Donald Trump to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election and seize the presidency. It appeared that many people in the United States, as in many other countries around the world, had given up on democracy. 

Biden set out to prove that democracy could work for ordinary people by ditching the neoliberalism that had been in place for forty years. That system, begun in the 1980s, called for the government to allow unfettered markets to organize the economy. Neoliberalism’s proponents promised it would create widespread prosperity, but instead, it transferred more than $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%. As the middle class hollowed out, those slipping behind lined up behind an authoritarian figure who promised to restore their former centrality by attacking those he told them were their enemies.

When he took office, Biden vowed to prove that democracy worked. With laws like the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats directed investment toward ordinary Americans. The dramatic success of their economic program proved that it worked. On Wednesday, former president Bill Clinton noted that since 1989, the U.S. has created 51 million new jobs. Fifty million of those jobs were created under Democratic presidents, while only 1 million were added under Republicans—a striking statistic that perhaps will put neoliberalism, or at least the tired trope that Democrats are worse for the economy than Republicans, to bed. 

Vice President Kamala Harris’s nomination convention suggested a more thorough reworking of the federal government, one that also recalls the 1930s but suggests a transformation that goes beyond markets and jobs. 

Before Labor Secretary Perkins’s 1935 Social Security Act, the government served largely to manage the economic relationships between labor, capital, and resources. But Perkins recognized that the purpose of government was not to protect property; it was to protect the community. She recognized that children, women, and elderly and disabled Americans were as valuable to the community as young male workers and the wealthy men who employed them.

With a law that established a federal system of old-age benefits; unemployment insurance; aid to homeless, dependent, and neglected children; funds to promote maternal and child welfare; and public health services, Perkins began the process of molding the government to reflect that truth. 

Perkins’s understanding of the United States as a community reflected both her time in a small town in Maine and in her experience as a social worker in inner-city Philadelphia and Chicago before the law provided any protections for the workers, including children, who made the new factories profitable. She understood that while lawmakers focused on male workers, the American economy was, and always has been, utterly dependent on the unrecognized contributions of women and marginalized people in the form of childcare, sharing food and housing, and the many forms of unpaid work that keep communities functioning. 

This reworking of the American government to reflect community rather than economic

relationships changed the entire fabric of the country, and opponents have worked to destroy it ever since FDR began to put it in place. 

Now, in their quest to win the 2024 election, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota governor Tim Walz—the Democratic nominees for president and vice president—have reclaimed the idea of community, with its understanding that everyone matters and the government must serve everyone, as the center of American life. 

Their vision rejects the division of the country into “us” and “them” that has been a staple of Republican politics since President Richard M. Nixon. It also rejects the politics of identity that has become identified with the argument that the United States has been irredeemably warped by racism and sexism. Instead, at the DNC, Democrats acknowledged the many ways in which the country has come up short of its principles in the past, and demanded that Americans do something to put in place a government that will address those inequities and make the American dream accessible to all.

Walz personifies this community vision. On Wednesday he laid it out from the very beginning of his acceptance speech, noting that he grew up in Butte, Nebraska, a town of 400 people, with 24 kids in his high school class. “[G]rowing up in a small town like that,” he said, “you'll learn how to take care of each other that that family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do, but they're your neighbors and you look out for them and they look out for you. Everybody belongs and everybody has a responsibility to contribute.” The football players Walz coached to a state championship joined him on stage.

Harris also called out this idea of community when she declined to mention that, if elected, she will be the first female president, and instead remembered growing up in “a beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers, all who tended their lawns with pride.” Her mother, Harris said, “leaned on a trusted circle to help raise us. Mrs. Shelton, who ran the daycare below us and became a second mother. Uncle Sherman. Aunt Mary. Uncle Freddy. And Auntie Chris. None of them, family by blood. And all of them, Family. By love…. Family who…instilled in us the values they personified. Community. Faith. And the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated. With kindness. Respect. And compassion.”

The speakers at the DNC called out the women who make communities function. Speaker after speaker at the DNC thanked their mother. Former first lady Michelle Obama explicitly described her mother, Marian Robinson, as someone who lived out the idea of hope for a better future, working for children and the community. Mrs. Obama described her mother as “glad to do the thankless, unglamorous work that for generations has strengthened the fabric of this nation.” 

Mrs. Obama, Harris, and Walz have emphasized that while they come from different backgrounds, they come from what Mrs. Obama called “the same foundational values”: “the promise of this country,” “the obligation to lift others up,” a “responsibility to give more than we take.”  Harris agreed, saying her mother “taught us to never complain about injustice. But…do something about it. She also taught us—Never do anything half-assed. That’s a direct quote.”

The Democrats worked to make it clear that their vision is not just the Democratic Party’s vision but an American one. They welcomed the union workers and veterans who have in the past gravitated toward Republicans, showing a powerful video contrasting Trump’s photo-ops, in which actors play union workers, with the actual plants being built thanks to money from the Biden-Harris administration. The many Democratic lawmakers who have served in the military stood on stage to back Arizona representative Ruben Gallego, a former Marine, who told the crowd that the veteran unemployment rate under Biden and Harris is the lowest in history. 

The many Republicans who spoke at the convention reinforced that the Democratic vision speaks for the whole country. Former representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) identified this vision as “conservative.” “As a conservative and a veteran,” he said “I believe true strength lies in defending the vulnerable. It’s in protecting your family. It’s in standing up for our Constitution and our democracy. That…is the soul of being a conservative. It used to be the soul of being a Republican,” Kinzinger said. “But Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party.” 

“[A] harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us,” Harris said. And she reminded people of her career as a prosecutor, in which “[e]very day in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and said five words: ‘Kamala Harris, for the People.’ My entire career, I have only had one client. The People.”

“And so, on behalf of The People. On behalf of every American. Regardless of party. Race. Gender. Or the language your grandmother speaks. On behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey. On behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with. People who work hard. Chase their dreams. And look out for one another. On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth. I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America.”

The 100,000 biodegradable balloons that fell from the rafters when Vice President Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for president were blown up and tied by a team of 55 balloon artists from 18 states and Canada who volunteered to prepare the drop in honor of their colleague, Tommy DeLorenzo, who, along with his husband Scott, runs a balloon business. DeLorenzo is battling cancer. “We’re more colleagues than competitors,” Patty Sorell told Sydney Page of the Washington Post. “We all wanted to do something to help Tommy, to show him how much we love him.” 

“Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for this community,” DeLorenzo said.  

[johannestevans]

truly have no respect for people that get so emotional about animals' welfare that they end up treating them extremely cruelly or neglectfully.

not giving your dog basic recall training, not giving your reactive dog healthy exposure to stimulus and allowing it to work out some of its reactivity, allowing your cats or dogs to develop separation anxiety and calling it cute, like

these things are neglect

and categorically refusing to euthanise your sick or elderly pet, or putting it through unnecessary surgeries or chemotherapy or other treatments to lengthen its life when it's very elderly or has already lost its quality of life, is just cruel

i understand that people love their pets, i love my pets and i love animals and i care about them, but like

becoming so fixated on lengthening an animal's life at all costs rather than considering what that is best for the animal or will let that animal experience the greatest quality of life, is not just absurd, but fucked up

like it sucks to grieve and it sucks to lose an animal you love but there's a big difference between like, caring for an animal with a chronic health condition or a disability versus like. unfairly lengthening an animal's life - and its suffering - because you just can't stand to lose them

i genuinely increasingly think that before you're permitted a dog license you should have to sit an exam on dog behaviour, and that something similar should extend to cats, as well as other small mammals and birds, bc like

people just don't understand what their animals need, and they end up making decisions based off their feelings or anxieties rather than based on knowledge of the animal and genuine consideration for the animal's welfare

[mariacallous]

“Did Israel Avert a Hamas Massacre?” That was the question posed by the headline of a Vanity Fair exposé published in October 2014. The investigative report laid out a sophisticated plot by the Islamist terror group to kill and kidnap Israelis on the Gaza border. The plan: to use underground tunnels to infiltrate nearby civilian enclaves on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, when the communities would be at their most vulnerable. As one intelligence source put it, the operation had two goals: “First, get in and massacre people in a village. Pull off something they could show on television. Second, the ability to kidnap soldiers and civilians using the tunnels would give them a great bargaining chip.” The Israel Defense Forces subsequently confirmed this reporting to other media outlets, but not the specific date.

The tunnels were real. But at the time the massacre-that-wasn’t received little additional media coverage. It seemed too cinematic and convenient. Maybe it was a Hamas pipe dream that was never operational. Or maybe it was a worst-case scenario concocted by the Israeli security services and leaked to the media to justify their own ever-expanding countermeasures. Years passed without a mass border incursion, the tunnels were gradually detected and blocked, and I came to the conclusion that the skeptics were right about the plot being too lurid even for Hamas.

I was wrong. Last week, Hamas executed something quite like the attack on the Gaza border that it had planned all those years ago. Instead of tunneling underground on Rosh Hashanah, it invaded aboveground on another Jewish holiday, Simchat Torah. Some 1,500 terrorists stormed nearby civilian communities by land, air, and sea. They murdered babies in their cribs, parents in front of their children, and children in front of their parents. They burned entire families alive. They decapitated and mutilated their victims. They wore body cameras and documented their destruction as though it were a video game. They executed a grandmother in her home and uploaded the snuff film to her Facebook page. They deliberately targeted elementary schools. They kidnapped toddlers and a Holocaust survivor. They paraded a battered, naked woman through the streets of Gaza like a trophy. All told, they murdered more than 1,300 Israelis, almost all civilians, and abducted some 150 others, including babies and the elderly. The death toll continues to rise as rescue workers recover more remains and reassemble mangled corpses for identification.

Somehow, few saw this eruption of inhumanity coming. Several months ago, Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, then the European Union ambassador to the Palestinians, performed what he called Gaza’s first paragliding flight to advocate for a future where “anything is possible in Gaza.” Hamas terrorists would later use paragliders to massacre more than 250 civilians at an Israeli music festival, which is presumably not what the envoy had in mind. And he wasn’t the only one naive about the Hamas regime’s intentions.

The consensus was that Hamas was a mostly rational actor that could be reasoned with. To hawks, although the group was an anti-Semitic Iran proxy, it could be deterred through political and economic incentives, because it felt responsible for the welfare of the Gazan people. To doves, Hamas was a quasi-legitimate national resistance movement whose occasional bouts of violence were simply intended to draw attention to that struggle.

Successive Netanyahu governments and security officials, far less sympathetic to the Gazan plight, nonetheless spent recent years lifting economic restrictions on the enclave, granting thousands of work permits for Gazans, and transferring hundreds of millions of Qatari dollars to Hamas in exchange—they thought—for relative quiet.

But it turned out that Hamas wasn’t being pacified; it was preparing. The group was less committed to national liberation than to Jewish elimination. Its violence was rooted not in strategy, but in sadism. And in retrospect, well before the Rosh Hashanah plot, the signs of Hamas’s atrocious ambitions were all there—many observers just did not want to believe them. What Hamas did was not out of character, but rather the explicit fulfillment of its long-stated objectives. The shocking thing was not just the atrocity itself, but that so many people were shocked by it, because they’d failed to reckon with the reality that had been staring them in the face.

First, there is Hamas’s notorious charter, a Frankensteinian amalgam of the worst anti-Semitic conspiracy theories of the modern era—the very same that have motivated numerous white-supremacist attacks in the United States. “Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious,” the document opens. “It needs all sincere efforts … until the enemy is vanquished.” The charter goes on to claim that the Jews control “the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others.” According to Hamas, the Jews were “behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about,” as well as World War I and World War II. The charter accuses Israel of seeking to take over the entire world, and cites as proof the most influential modern anti-Semitic text, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a Russian fabrication that purports to expose a global Jewish cabal.

“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it,” Hamas declares in its credo. “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews.” In case anyone missed the point, the document adds that “so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.” In 2017, Hamas published a new charter, but pointedly refused to disavow the original one, in a transparent ruse that some respectable observers nonetheless took at face value.

In any case, Hamas communicated its genocidal intentions not just in words, but in deeds. Before it took control of Gaza, the group deliberately targeted Jewish civilians for mass murder, executing scores of suicide bombings against shopping malls, night clubs, restaurants, buses, Passover seders, and many other nonmilitary targets. Today, this killing spree is widely blamed for destroying the credibility of the Israeli peace movement and helping derail the Oslo Accords, precisely as Hamas intended. And it did not stop there. Since the group took power in Gaza, it has launched thousands of rockets indiscriminately at nearby civilian towns—attacks that continue at this very moment and that have boosted the Israeli right in election after election.

Hamas’s anti-Jewish aspirations were evident not only from its treatment of Israelis, but from its treatment of fellow Palestinians. Despite being the putative sovereign in Gaza and responsible for the well-being of its people, Hamas repeatedly cannibalized Gaza’s infrastructure and appropriated international aid to fuel its messianic war machine. The group boasted publicly about digging up Gaza’s pipes and turning them into rockets. It stored weapons in United Nations schools and dug attack tunnels underneath them. (Contrary to what you might have read on social media, Gaza does have underground shelters—they are just used for housing Hamas fighters, smuggling operations, and weapons caches, not protecting civilians.)

When dissenting Gazans attempted to protest this state of affairs and demanded a better future, they were brutally repressed. Hamas has not held elections since 2006. In 2020, when the Gazan peace activist Rami Aman held a two-hour Zoom call with Israeli leftists, Hamas threw him in prison for six months, tortured him, and forced him to divorce his wife. Why? Because his vision of a shared society for Arabs and Jews, however remote, was a threat to the group’s entire worldview. Jews were not to share the land; they were to be cleansed from it.

Simply put, what Hamas did two weekends ago was not a departure from its past, but the natural culmination of its commitments. The question is not why Hamas did what it did, but why so many people were surprised. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, quick to discern anti-Semitism in any effort to merely label Israeli products from West Bank settlements, somehow overlooked the severity of the genocidal threat growing next door. Journalists like me who cover anti-Semitism somehow failed to take Hamas’s overt anti-Jewish ethos as seriously as we should have. Many international leftists, ostensibly committed to equality and dignity for Palestinians and Israelis alike, somehow missed that Hamas did not share that vision, and in fact was actively working to obliterate it.

Today, in the ashes of the worst anti-Jewish violence since the Holocaust, some analysts have admitted their error of sanitizing Hamas. “It’s a huge mistake that I did, believing that a terror organization can change its DNA,” the former Netanyahu national-security adviser Yaakov Amidror told The New York Times. Others on the left have clung to their tortured conception of Hamas as a rational resistance group, despite it having been falsified by events. Perhaps some fear that acknowledging the true nature of Hamas would undermine the struggle for Palestinian self-determination. But in actuality, it is the refusal to disentangle Hamas’s anti-Jewish sadism from the legitimate cause of Palestinian nationalism that threatens the project and saps its support.

In 1922, The New York Times published its first article about Adolf Hitler. The reporter, Cyril Brown, was aware of his subject’s anti-Jewish animus, but he wasn’t buying it. “Several reliable, well-informed sources confirmed the idea that Hitler's anti-Semitism was not so genuine or violent as it sounded,” Brown wrote, “and that he was merely using anti-Semitic propaganda as a bait to catch masses of followers.” Two years later, the Times published another news item on the future architect of the Holocaust: “Hitler Tamed by Prison.” The Austrian activist, the piece said, “looked a much sadder and wiser man,” and “his behavior during his imprisonment convinced the authorities that [he] was no longer to be feared.”

Many got Hamas wrong. But they shouldn’t have. Again and again, people say they intend to murder Jews. And yet, century after century, the world produces new, tortuous justifications for why anti-Jewish bigots don’t really mean what they say—even though they do.

[cowboyjen68]

How do I find a femme in the wild (without a dating app)?

The first thing is to attend events that lean heavily LGBT etc. They don't have to be ONLY gay events like Pride or PFLAG meet ups but places where lesbians have a presence. It might sound stereotypical but animal rescue or welfare non profits and their fundraisers are often lesbian heavy. Non profits that service the elderly, kids charities or social service organizations can lean to the lesbian side as well. Women in general, and for some reason lesbians, are involved in social services in high rates.

Check Meet up or Facebook for Lesbian events or social gatherings.

Women's festivals or small concerts in local venues that feature women or lesbian singers will have a bit turn out of lesbians in most cities. If you have a small theatre in your town make a suggestion for a lesbian singer. Many of the smaller venues will reach out and book lesser known artists that are requested if the artist is available. Sometimes they just don't know about women's music.

Listen to your instinct and check your hunch.

If you feel that a woman is a femme look for a labrys, rainbow, double Venus or other symbol that femmes will often employ to confirm your reaction. It can be clothing, jewelry or tattoos. They can be quite creative in what signals they use to make themselves known.

Use eye contact and a smile. That can be a sure indicator if they hold you eyes and smile or even nob back. At the worst you are wrong. Most women, even if straight, are flattered to be seen as attractive so if you show interest and they say "no" be gracious and move on. Women appreciate that kindness.

The Femmes are out there looking. Don't be afraid to take a chance and say hi, especially at an event who demographic is mostly women.

[neocatharsis]

Jeno have been volunteering at facilities for the disabled, elderly welfare centers, and multicultural schools since before their debut (2014 - 2023), and they have continued to share consistently

© Elsplstrtyong