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Its chief executive officer instructed those members who have leadership roles within the organization â but who are employed by medical practices or universities â only to use personal email accounts for AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) -related correspondence. This could protect such emails from freedom-of-information requests and employersâ document-retention policies."Â
Well that sounds like they have nothing to hide
By BENJAMIN RYAN Thursday, December 21, 202322:44:51 pm
The American Academy of Pediatrics, under fire for its policies on gender-transition treatment for minors, is taking steps that might limit its legal exposure â or at least minimize public scrutiny â in the face of a lawsuit by a woman who at 14 underwent a medical gender transition that she later regretted.Â
This month, the highly influential medical association, which has about 68,000 pediatrician members, shelved a pending book on the care and treatment of children who identify as transgender. Its chief executive officer instructed those members who have leadership roles within the organization â but who are employed by medical practices or universities â only to use personal email accounts for AAP-related correspondence. This could protect such emails from freedom-of-information requests and employersâ document-retention policies. Â
An AAP representative told the Sun that neither move was related to the litigation it faces and that the boardâs decision to enact the new email policy predated the filing of the lawsuit in question.
âThe AAP has been under scrutiny for a couple of years now because of its gender policies,â said a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Leor Sapir. He speculated that the organizationâs new email policy could have been motivated by such ongoing external pressures, which also predated the lawsuit.Â
Dr. Jason Rafferty, a leading specialist in pediatric gender transitions, is named in the detransitionersâ lawsuit. He also contributed commentary to a forthcoming book thatâs been pulled by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Brown University
Mr. Sapir argues that the AAP and the American medical establishment more broadly have failed to establish âin a thoughtful and scientific wayâ its guidelines for pediatric gender-transition treatments. Consequently, he said, he supports controversial state laws that ban the prescription of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children to treat gender dysphoria â a psychiatric diagnosis that involves significant distress over a conflict between an individualâs gender identity and their biological sex.Â
A number of states with Republican-controlled legislatures have passed these laws since 2021 as part of a concerted pushback against medical care practices, first imported to the United States from the Netherlands in 2007, for children who identify as the opposite gender. The Republican-dominated Ohio legislature last week passed a bill that would make the state the 22nd to ban such medical treatment. The governor of Ohio, Mike Dewine, a Republican, has yet to decide if he will sign the contentious bill. If he does not sign or veto it by December 29, it will become law.
The AAP has maintained full-throated support for the availability â and legality â of medical gender-transition treatments for children. Its influential journal Pediatrics on Wednesday published an essay by a pediatrician at Seattle Childrenâs Hospital, Dr. Emily Georges, and two colleagues arguing that banning such medicine is âa form of child maltreatment.âÂ
âThese legislative efforts operate under the guise of protecting children,â Dr. Georges and her coauthors wrote. âIn reality, they punish caregivers and physicians when they choose to support children.â
The AAP Faces a Lawsuit
In October, a Dallas law firm filed a lawsuit against the AAP on behalf of a biological woman, Isabelle Ayala, who beginning at age 14 was treated for gender dysphoria with testosterone by a group of Rhode Island health care providers; they are also named as defendants. On this team was a child psychiatrist and pediatrician trained by and affiliated with Brown University, Dr. Jason Rafferty, who is the sole author of the broadly influential policy statement on pediatric gender-transition treatment that the AAP published in October 2018, a few months after Ms. Ayala left his care.Â
âIn hindsight, that makes me feel like a guinea pig,â Ms. Ayala, 20, said in a YouTube video posted last week by the Independent Womenâs Forum, a conservative nonprofit.Â
Jordan Campbell, Ron Miller, Josh Payne, and Daniel Sepulveda of newly founded law firm Campbell Miller Payne, PLLC. They say they established their firm to represent âindividuals who were misled and abused â many as children â into psychological and physical harm through a false promise of âgender-affirming care.ââ Campbell Miller Payne, PLLC.
A retired pediatrician, AAP member and volunteer professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Dr. Christopher Bolling, defended the AAPâs integrity from what he said was a âtalking point from transgender care ban advocatesâ that Dr. Rafferty âsomehow wrote the whole thing and forced everyone else to just sign it.â Dr. Bolling was not himself involved with developing the policy statement in question, but said, âWriting those statements are some of the most collaborative labor-intensive, careful processes Iâve ever been involved with.âÂ
Ms. Ayala ultimately âdetransitioned,â reverting from considering herself a trans male to identifying as her birth sex. The law firm representing her, Campbell Miller Payne, was recently established by four white-shoe attorneys solely to represent such regretful so-called detransitioners. The firm is behind five of the nine known medical-malpractice detransitioner lawsuits. Â
Time Magazine reported Thursday that the threat of such litigation is already driving up malpractice insurance premiums for providers of pediatric gender-transition treatment, shutting out some smaller gender clinics.
The lawsuit takes on the powerful American Academy of Pediatrics, which has enormous influence over pediatric care in the U.S. Campbell Miller Payne, PLLC
Ms. Ayalaâs suit accuses Dr. Rafferty and his colleagues of malpractice for prioritizing treating her gender dysphoria over her myriad other psychiatric diagnoses and for allegedly causing her lasting physical harm.Â
âI donât even like to think about my fertility,â Ms. Ayala said in a voice over in the YouTube video as she looked at a baby crib, addressing concerns about the long-term impacts of testosterone treatment. âIt is my greatest fear to go to the gynecologist and have them tell me I canât have children over some decisions that were made when I was fourteen.â
The suit further alleges that Dr. Rafferty and others engaged in a conspiracy with the AAP to develop methods for treating gender dysphoric children while Ms. Ayala was the physiciansâ patient that are not evidence based and are grounded in what a scathing peer-reviewed critique published in 2019 argued was a misrepresentation of the relevant scientific literature.
In their new Pediatrics essay, Dr. Georges and her coauthors countered such a premise. Referring to what supporters of such treatment call gender-affirming care, they wrote: âAlthough some individuals make it seem that GAC is a new, experimental area of medicine, GAC is evidence-based.â Â
They continued: âThe benefits of GAC, most notably on mental health, self-esteem, and development, outweigh the risks in the majority of circumstances. GAC is, for many, lifesaving.âÂ
Isabelle Ayala appears with her attorney in a new YouTube video in which she discusses her gender transition treatment. Independent Womenâs Forum
This a reference to suicide prevention. Advocates of medical gender transitions for children argue that gender dysphoric youth are at high risk for death by suicide if they are not able to medically transition if they so choose.
The AAP Pulls a Book on the Gender-Affirming Care Model
During the fall, the AAP began taking pre-orders for a 320-page book on pediatric gender-transition care and treatment that was set to be published on January 30. Dr. Rafferty was listed first among the authors of the bookâs commentaries.Â
On December 6, the day after the Sun published an article about Ms. Ayalaâs suit and another malpractice suit filed against Dr. Rafferty and his colleagues by a detransitioned adult patient, the AAP emailed those who had pre-ordered the book, alerting them: âDue to an upcoming policy review on this topic, the publication of this book has been placed on hold.âÂ
A representative for the organization confirmed to the Sun that the email referenced the AAP leadershipâs announcement in August that it would commission an independent systematic literature review â the gold standard for assessing scientific evidence â of the research regarding pediatric gender-transition treatment. The AAP said at the time that it was prompted to take this step out of âconcerns about restrictions to access to health care with bans on gender-affirming care.â
An AAP member and a pediatrician at Carmel, Indiana, Dr. Sarah Palmer, criticized the academyâs expressed motivation, which she said centered the pending review âin the political realm instead of in the clinical and scientific realm where doctors should apply their expertise.âÂ
The AAP representative said that the book contains research previously published in the academyâs journals and no new guidance. It does, however, contain the new commentaries. The representative said the AAP decided to delay publication âto avoid confusionâ during the âongoingâ work on the review, the findings of which the academy plans to share publicly. However, the book went on sale for pre-order well after the literature review was announced. The representative declined to respond to detailed questions about the reviewâs progress, including whether the AAP would observe typical scientific protocol for a systematic literature review and publish its criteria in advance.
In reference to the AAPâs publication of Dr. Georgesâ unsparing and politically charged new Pediatrics essay, Mr. Sapir said, âItâs weird that they would pull the book on the grounds that there is an ongoing systematic review, but in their own peer-reviewed journal they would publish this document.â
The AAPâs move to conduct the systematic review came after three years of efforts led by an AAP member and Gresham, Oregon-based pediatrician, Dr. Julia Mason, to compel the organization to do so. ââShe, Dr. Palmer, and Mr. Sapir all expressed concern about what they characterized as the AAPâs lack of transparency during the four months since announcing it would commission the systematic review.Â
âI think the pressure of the lawsuit led to their pulling the book. Because they suddenly realized that they might be held responsible for what that book said in a court of law,â said Dr. Mason, who is a board member of the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine. Founded in 2020, the society is a collective of clinicians and researchers who share concern that, as multiple systematic reviews of the relevant evidence have found, pediatric gender-transition treatment is based on a low or very low quality of scientific evidence while it comes with considerable risks, including infertility and sexual dysfunction.
In conflict with the Pediatrics essay, such reviews have also not found evidence that withholding puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones from gender dysphoric youth is associated with a higher suicide death rate. Additionally, Dr. Mason and numerous other critics have called into question the validity of the findings of a 2022 University of Washington and Seattle Childrenâs study often cited by supporters of such treatment, including in the new Pedatrics articleâs authors, as evidence that medical gender-transition treatment reduces suicidal thoughts and behaviors in gender-dysphoric adolescents.
The American Academy of Pediatrics headquarters outside Chicago. The AAP is the target of a lawsuit about its policies regarding transgender care for minors. AAP
Transgender activists have called the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine an anti-trans group and highlight how commonly other medical treatments are backed only by low quality evidence. The type of randomized, placebo-controlled trials that would produce the highest quality of evidence, trans advocates argue, would not be ethical for pediatric gender-transition treatment.
A sprawling Southern Poverty Law Center report published December 12, âCombatting LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience,â places the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine at the nexus of what it portrays as an interconnected conspiracy by various organizations to undermine support for pediatric gender-transition treatment and harm trans youth. The Southern Poverty Law Center has come under criticism from social conservatives in recent years for, they argue, unfairly and egregiously classifying some conservative groups as âhate groups.â The Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine, however, bills itself as an apolitical science organization.Â
Maintaining Ownership of Internal Emails
Earlier this month, the AAPâs chief executive officer, Mark Del Monte, and chief medical officer, Dr. Anne R. Edwards, sent a letter to what the AAP representative reported was all of the academyâs staff and hundreds of non-staff members in leadership roles, alerting them to a new correspondence policy, effective January 1. It ordered the members only to use personal email accounts, such as Gmail, for leadership level AAP-related business.Â
The AAP representative told the Sun that the decision to enact this new policy was unrelated to Ms. Ayalaâs lawsuit and predates its filing, having been made at an AAP board meeting in May; minutes from the meeting indicate as much.Â
Mr. Del Monte and Dr. Edwards differentiate in the letter between the public nature of the AAPâs âpolicy, advocacy positions, and educational resourcesâ and the âconfidential, internal discussionsâ pertaining to these documentsâ development.Â
âTo protect the internal deliberations of our member experts,â the letter states, âthe AAP Board of Directors has approved new prudent steps to keep internal communications under the control of the AAP and its member leaders.âÂ
The letter continues: âWhile we regret that this action is necessary, members do not âownâ their work email and so do not necessarily have the decision-making authority about whether or not to release it publicly.âÂ
The use of institutional or workplace email accounts, the letter further states, creates âmultiple vulnerabilities for AAP and our members.â This includes the fact that âemployer-sponsored email platforms are subject to the document retention and release policies of external institutions, including in response to subpoenas or Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests.âÂ
The boardâs decision to enact this policy, the AAP representative said, âfollowed a lengthy deliberation by board members to ensure the AAP manages records in compliance with applicable federal and state laws, while meeting operational needs.âÂ
A medical doctor and tort law expert at the University of Baltimore School of Law, Dr. Gregory Dolin, said he anticipated that a shift from workplace to personal email accounts for such correspondence would not frustrate any attempts by Campbell Miller Payne to obtain internal AAP emails through discovery in its suit against the academy. However, Dr. Dolin said that by forbidding communicating via email accounts subject to FOIA requests, the AAP âmay reduce non-litigation related, but nevertheless embarrassing disclosuresâ by, for example, journalists.
Protecting Children
A professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Vinay Prasad is an outspoken critic of what he has characterized as unscientifically sound Covid-19-mitigation public-health policies. On Monday, he published an essay on the Sensible Medicine Substack criticizing the AAP for asserting that for obese patients, pediatricians âshould offerâ adolescents and âmay offerâ children ages 8 to 11 weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic.
Meanwhile, the United States Preventive Services Task Force asserted in a draft guidance released December 12 that evidence was insufficient, in particular concerning the long-term impacts of such medications, to make such a recommendation. The task force called for more research.Â
In an email, Dr. Prasad argued that the AAPâs policies regarding gender-transition treatment represent a pervasive lack of adherence to evidence-based standards.Â
âI am deeply concerned that, across all their recommendations, the American Academy of Pediatrics does not rely on the highest quality of evidence, and worse, they do not call for better studies,â said Dr. Prasad. âInstead, theyâre very happy to make strong recommendations based on their own biases in the absence of evidence. And that harms children.âÂ
Dr. Georges, by contrast, wrote in Pediatrics that any state law denying children gender-transition treatment ânot only represents medical neglect, but it is also state-sanctioned emotional abuse.â
BENJAMIN RYAN
Benjamin Ryan is an independent health and science reporter who also contributes to The New York Times, The Guardian and NBC News and has also written for The Atlantic and the Washington Post.
#usa#The American Academy of Pediatrics#gender-transition treatment for minors#freedom-of-information requests#Dr. Jason Rafferty#Dr. Emily Georges is OK with giving children life altering treatments#Campbell Miller Payn PLLC#So it's trans people and so called detransitioners?#Women who speak up against the gender cult are TERFs#And now professional men who speak up against the gender cult are white shoe attorneys#the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine#The Southern Poverty Law Center and the gender cult#Ms. Ayala was 14 when she was given cross sex hormones
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Good that I give Royal Au so light XD
Talking about the Au Scourge's gang (Fiona and the destrutix plus Rosy) exist?
If yes imagine they made everyone VS everyone/gang vs gang XD
Rubs hands together OKAY SO. I have actually done a little bit of thinking about this, and I think both the destructix and the suppression squad are in this au. I haven't fully settled on what exactly the suppression squad's role will be - parental approved company for Scourge, perhaps? - but the destructix are the gang Scourge initially sneaks out of the castle to hang out with before he bumps into Sonic. Scourge's parents don't approve of them - they consider them ruffians, and they aren't as poor as Sonic/they're not quite commoners but they're still considerably lower on the class ladder than Scourge - hence why he has to meet up with them in secret. They're rebellious and troublemakers and Scourge is always getting into fights with other people with them, which he finds really fun
Unlike Sonic and co, however, they don't have any interest in taking down the monarchy. They're well aware Scourge is the prince, and probably hoping (most likely subconsciously) Scourge will give them powerful, high-up roles in the kingdom once he takes the throne. If they heard about Scourge's plan to overthrow his parents, they'd be down for it until they realised the next step of the plan would not be Scourge taking the crown for himself, but getting rid of the monarchy entirely and giving the power to the people. They don't want it gone, they're just waiting for the day Scourge takes the throne
Tldr they're Scourge's friends that his parents really, really wish he wasn't friends with, and they've forbidden him from speaking with them, but that just means he sneaks out to meet up with them. Trying to meet up with them without getting caught is probably why he takes to dyeing his fur whenever he sneaks out, and thus, they are indirectly the reason he eventually bumps into Sonic while disguised as a commoner - or, at least, definitely someone lower than a prince
#sonic the hedgehog#scourge the hedgehog#fleetway sonic#stc sonic#fleet!sonourge#asks#royalty au#the destructix: yeah rebel against your parents!!! fuck em!!!!!#scourge: rebels against them by overthrowing them and dismantling the monarchy for the cute commoner boy he likes#the destructix: wait no not like that-#i suppose this could also result in a gang vs gang thing!!!#depends how long it takes them to find out about the freedom fighters though#i imagine scourge probably isn't too forward with information about his new besties#probably by accident at first or something. idk. maybe he's like 'i just want to keep this one thing for myself'#and then it grows and he realises oh. they'd probably hate it if they knew sonic's plans. maybe try to stop him#either way i imagine it would take them a while to discover the freedom fighters#although they start to catch on that SOMETHING is up when scourge starts ditching them and hanging out less#because he's with sonic and his friends instead#i'll (hopefully) get to your request soon btw!#can't say how long it'll take bc i'm also trying to focus on my other multichapters rn#and i have. a known habit of being like 'ooo fun prompt!' and then not writing it for like a month#my bad lmao..... sometimes the muse just doesn't wanna play y'know#but i will get to it!!! eventually.#so if i haven't done it in a few days. or. weeks. i'm not ignoring it i promise#feel free to keep sending me asks though!!!!#i'll always be thrilled to answer even if it takes a while#(it shouldn't bc asks like this are faster to answer than requests but. y'know. just in case)
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@universalpublicfriend on tiktok
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Ongoing Silence! Lack of Transparency in Connecticut's Federally Funded Programs Raises Alarm
Secret Directory and Practices: Concerns Rise for Brain-Injured Individuals in Connecticut Medicaid
Federal Anti-Kickback Statute | Medicaid Referral Fraud | ABI RESOURCES
Transparency and Accountability Concerns in CT's Federally Funded Programs for Brain Injury Care
Care Managers. Do you have the right to change yours? Understanding Protecting Your Freedoms
Investigating the Legality and Impact of CCC's Secret Electronic Randomization System on Federally
Disability Rights Connecticut (DRCT) Team
Dear Brain Injury Alliance of Connecticut ( BIAC )
Dear Governor Ned Lamont, Advocacy Request for Brain Injury Survivors
Alleged Discrimination at Connecticut Community Care | Calls for Internal Investigation
The Importance of Informed Choice in Achieving Free Choice in Healthcare.
Informed Choice and Its Implications for Connecticut's ABI Waiver and MFP Programs
Steps for Consumers to Officially Change Care Managers in MFP and ABI Waiver Programs.
Enhancing Ethical Systems / Advocating for Consumer Rights and "Request to change Care Manager Form
Are They Leaving People with Slower Recovery Behind? MFP and ABI Waiver Programs
Freedom of Information Act Request - Connecticut ABI 1549P Consultation Services Funding.
#Ongoing Silence! Lack of Transparency in Connecticut's Federally Funded Programs Raises Alarm#Secret Directory and Practices: Concerns Rise for Brain-Injured Individuals in Connecticut Medicaid#Federal Anti-Kickback Statute | Medicaid Referral Fraud | ABI RESOURCES#Transparency and Accountability Concerns in CT's Federally Funded Programs for Brain Injury Care#Care Managers. Do you have the right to change yours? Understanding Protecting Your Freedoms#Investigating the Legality and Impact of CCC's Secret Electronic Randomization System on Federally#Disability Rights Connecticut (DRCT) Team#Dear Brain Injury Alliance of Connecticut ( BIAC )#Dear Governor Ned Lamont#Advocacy Request for Brain Injury Survivors#Alleged Discrimination at Connecticut Community Care | Calls for Internal Investigation#The Importance of Informed Choice in Achieving Free Choice in Healthcare.#Informed Choice and Its Implications for Connecticut's ABI Waiver and MFP Programs#Steps for Consumers to Officially Change Care Managers in MFP and ABI Waiver Programs.#Enhancing Ethical Systems / Advocating for Consumer Rights and "Request to change Care Manager Form#Are They Leaving People with Slower Recovery Behind? MFP and ABI Waiver Programs#Freedom of Information Act Request - Connecticut ABI 1549P Consultation Services Funding.
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Archivists on the Issues: Classified Records, Archives, and Fictional Depictions [Part 1]
Archivists on the Issues is a forum for archivists to discuss the issues we are facing today. Todayâs post comes from Burkely Hermann (me), Metadata Librarian for the National Security Archive and current I&A Blog Coordinator. There will be spoilers for each of the books, animated series, films, and other media he will be discussing. This was originally published on February 7, 2023 on the Issues & Advocacy WordPress blog.
High-level overview of National Declassification Center processes, as shown in a post on the NDC blog in 2019
Previously on this blog, Rachel Mattson examined whether police body camera footage is public record or is classified, arguing that it should be a public record. Other blogposts on this blog have examined whether the Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture is a Federal or Congressional Record, noted selective declassification by the French government, which declassified over 200,000 records about Vichy governmentâs collaboration with the Nazis but none about France's occupation of Algeria, and noted the tendency of politicians to avoid documenting their activities and stonewall FOIA requests.
In January 2022, the Director of National Intelligence April Haines argued, in a letter to U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jerry Moran that there are "deficiencies" in the current declassification system, and notes the burden of mandatory declassification requirements while the amount of classified material expands. My colleague from National Security Archive, Lauren Harper, noted that Haines, many months later, said that overclassification is a national security threat. Some of these classified records are in the hands of the National Archives, otherwise known as the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), organized into Top Secret, Secret, and Confidential. Other records are deemed unclassified if they do not meet the existing requirements for classification.
Classification of records in the U.S. has often been outlined in presidential executive orders, beginning with President Truman in 1951. National security generally described as the primary reason for classification. Over the years, rules changed and the role of NARA increased. This has even resulted in a part of the agency dedicated to declassification, the National Declassification Center (NDC), which was established in 2009, in accordance with Executive Order 13526. This went beyond the agency's representation on the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP), or the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), which oversees the security classification programs in "both Government and industry", and reports to the President annually. The ISOO, role on ISCAP, and NDC, most recently, have given NARA an important position in the entire classified information management process. [1]
Unsurprisingly, NARA has been in the public focus, especially for storing presidential records from the Obama Administration, and afterward. Some politicians have claimed the agency is an "enemy" and have wanted to dismantle it because of NARA's push to return classified records to the public, rather than having the records stored in shoddy locations or controlled by presidents as their personal property. [2] This makes reports, in past years, like in May 2012, that boxes of classified government records disappeared from Washington National Records Center all the more concerning, as it could be representative of a larger trend.
Currently, there are measures in place for declassification of government records, either enshrined in executive orders or provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). However, the FOIA system is currently flawed, especially with existence of various exemptions which can be used to redact documents or reject records requests. [3] There are similar issues with Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) requests. As one government report put it, storage of classified materials is "widespread" across the U.S. government, with NARA storing records from all agencies at central facilities. Even so, some have argued that politicians have neglected the National Archives and failed to "control official secrecy", belaying assumptions about government transparency, and resulting in the crisis which will make it harder for researchers to examine the "stateâs inner workings". Recent developments, such as a drop in the annual budget of NARA, attrition, and loss of institutional memory have resulted in the agency having one of the lowest levels of job satisfaction in the federal government. All the while, funding for declassification has decreased and backlogs for declassification have increased. [4]
NARA is not the only archives which handles and processes classified records. There are established procedures for classification of records held by the New South Wales Archives in Australia, British Public Record Office, Taiwanese government, Israeli Defense Force, State Archives of Poland, National Archives of Brazil, South African State Archives Service (later renamed National Archives and Records Service), National Archives of Korea, and National Archives of France. Even the archives of the United Nations has a classification level of Strictly Confidential, necessitating declassification requests, while archival materials over 20 years old are "generally open to the public for research". [5]
As Electronic Records Archivist Amy Wickner argued, archivists have the "power to name and classify," a power which has "material effects on the world". This power can be used to make records more accessible or to make them harder to access. The latter is the case if access is only "granted or refused on an individual basis". At times, more restrictions are imposed because of compliance with professional standards or data within in a record rather than the document itself. This includes including personal data. On the other hand, records which should be publicly available, like agreements between carceral facilities and FamilySearch for indexing of historical records, have a possibility of redaction, despite the lack of personal or sensitive information. [6]
© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.
Continued in part 2
Notes
[1] ÄtvrtnĂk, MikulĂĄĆĄ. "Classified records and the archives." Archival Science 22 (2022): https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-021-09370-3.
[2] O'Rourke, Ciara. "Claims about Obama Foundation keeping classified records in an abandoned warehouse are wrong." Poynter, Oct. 7, 2022; Caputo, Marc. "Barr suggests Trump 'deceived' the government over classified records." NBC News, Sept. 2, 2022; Suebsaeng, Asawin and Adam Rawnsley. "Trump Tells His Lawyers: Get âMyâ Top Secret Documents Back." Rolling Stone, Aug. 23, 2022; Alemany, Jacqueline, Isaac Arnsdorf, and Josh Dawsey. "Inside Trumpâs war on the National Archives." Washington Post, Aug. 27, 2022; Legare, Robert. "Archives found 100+ documents with classified marking in first 15 Trump boxes." Yahoo! News, CBS News. Aug. 23, 2022; Kochi, Sudiksha. "Fact check: Archives agency transferred 30 million unclassified Obama records to Chicago." USA Today, Oct. 3, 2022; Derysh, Igor. "'He has the right to remain silent': Legal experts say Trumpâs Truth Social post may be 'evidence'." Salon, Nov. 29, 2022; "Press Statements in Response to Media Queries About Presidential Records." National Archives and Records Administration, Nov. 9, 2022; Reilly, Steve. "What the governmentâs former top classified records overseer sees in the Mar-a-Lago search." Grid, Aug. 10, 2022; Wood, Jennifer. "Donald Trump Just Couldnât Keep His Mouth Shut And Went Ahead And Confessed: âI Didâ Steal Classified Documents From The White House." Uproxx, Nov. 29, 2022; "Fact Check-National Archives and Records Administration says they manage all of Obamaâs Presidential records, contrary to claims online." Reuters, Sept. 30, 2022. There have also been cases, like a lawsuit by the conservative legal group, Judicial Watch, against NARA, aiming to declassify Clinton Administration efforts, but their efforts were dismissed by the courts.
[3] "Freedom of Information Act flaws need fixing, experts say." American Bar Association, Aug. 4, 2018; "The mediaâs problems with FOIA." Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, Winter 2007; Goos, Christian. "Seeking Access to Classified Records: Requesting Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) versus Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)." ISOO Overview, Oct. 1, 2021.Also of note are pages like the "Overview" webpage on the Records Management Directorate and Army Declassification Directorate, the NSA's page on supposed declassification/transparency initiatives, and a press release about ZL Tech's support of a "records management platform with DOD classified technology".
[4] "Appendix V: Central Storage, Declassification and Destruction" in Classified Information: Costs of Protection are Integrated with Other Security Costs: Report to the Chairman, Information, Justice, Transportation, and Agriculture Subcommittee, Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives (United States General Accounting Office, 1993), 26;Â Connelly, Matthew. "State Secrecy, Archival Negligence, and the End of History as We Know It." Knight First Amendment Institute, Sept. 21, 2018. The latter article also says that state secrecy and state archiving began at the same time, around the establishment of NARA and into World War II.
[5] "Standard on the physical storage of State records." New South Wales Archives in Australia, Feb. 2019; Wittner, Laurence. "What I Learned About Governments from Researching Classified Documents." History News Network, Sept. 4, 2022; "The Management Regulations for Classified Archives." Law & Regulations Database of the Republic of China (Taiwan), May 10, 2005; Peterson, Terrence. "The French Archives and the Coming Fight for Declassification." War on the Rocks, Mar. 6, 2020; Makleff, Ron. "Sovereignty and Silence: The Creation of a Myth of Archival Destruction, LiĂšge, 1408." Archive Journal, Aug. 2017; "Public Reference Services." United Nations Archives and Records Management Section, accessed Dec. 5, 2022; Franco, Shirley. "TransparĂȘncia e opacidade do estado no Brasil: Usos e desusos da informação governamental." The American Archivist 84, no. 1 (2021): 196; Sromek, Teresa. "Teoria i praktyka archiwistyki USA." The American Archivist 83, no. 1 (2020): 177; Harris, Verne and Christopher Merrett. "Toward a Culture of Transparency: Public Rights of Access to Official Records in South Africa." The American Archivist 57, no. 4 (1994): 681-2, 684, 688, 691; Lee, Kyong. "Political Democracy and Archival Development in the Management of Presidential Records in the Republic of Korea." The American Archivist 69, no. 1 (2006): 119-120,129, 134-135, 137-138.
[6] Wickner, Amy. "Recognizing Co-Creators in Four Configurations: Critical Questions for Web Archiving." Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies 8 (2019): 4; Geraci, Noah and Michelle Caswell. "Developing a Typology of Human Rights Records." Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies 3 (2016): 18; Taylor, Claire, Lucia Brandi, Cecilia A. Acosta SĂĄnchez, and Marcelo DĂaz Vallejo, "Archives of Human Rights and Historical Memory: An Analysis of Archival Practices âFrom Belowâ in Four NGOs in Colombia Archival Practices âFrom Belowâ in Four NGOs in Colombia." Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies 8 (2021): 11, 16; Rinn, Meghan R. "Review of The Future of Literary Archives." Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies 7 (2020): 4; Szekely, Ivan. "Do Archives Have a Future in the Digital Age?" Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies 4 (2017): 4; Jansson, Jenny, Katrin Uba, Jaanus Karo, "Labor Gone Digital (DigiFacket)! Experiences from Creating a Web Archive for Swedish Trade UnionsArchive for Swedish Trade Unions." Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies 7 (2020): 5; Windon, Katrina and Lydia M. Tang. "Archival discretion: a survey on the theory and practice of archival restrictions." Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies 9 (2022): 8.
#archival science#archival studies#archives#familysearch#genealogy#classification#classified records#declassified#nara#national archives#foia#freedom of information#mdr requests#president truman#prisons#records center#obama library#trump library#anti trump
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Your Right to Know: Long waits undercut records law
"A revised law could still say 'as soon as practicable and without delay,' but also set a time limit of, say, 30 days, for records to be provided, absent extraordinary circumstances." - Bill Lueders
By Bill Lueders The other day, in my role as an advocate for open government, I heard from a Wisconsin resident who has waited more than five months for records he requested from a local law enforcement agency. He has gently prodded the agency several times, asking, âHow much more time is my request going to take?â More than three months have passed since these queries have yielded aâŠ
#Bill Lueders#FOI#freedom of information#open records requests#Tom Kamenick#Wisconsin Transparency Project#Your Right to Know
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COWBOY BEBOP: One of the best anime creations of all time. Spike being Spike.
Hey, look traveller, it's a magical button... đȘ€
SURPRISE ATTACK! You've encountered free knowledge!
Feel free to snag the gifs, my little GremlinsâI donât mind. Just toss a like, reblog, and maybe peek at the article if you can. Your support means the world. Have a chill dayâor cause a little chaos, your call.
#cowboy bebop#spike#anime#my gifs#article#future#earth#goverment#information#medium#news#reading#knowledge#secret#link click#support others#retro anime#asthetic#requests#articles#please share#feel free to reblog#feel free to hide#feel free to go buy some oranges#freedom#china#tiktok#consequences#act now#my work
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average United States contains 1000s of pet tigers in backyards" factoid actualy [sic] just statistical error. average person has 0 tigers on property. Activist Georg, who lives the U.S. Capitol & makes up over 10,000 each day, has purposefully been spreading disinformation adn [sic] should not have been counted
I have a big mad today, folks. It's a really frustrating one, because years worth of work has been validated... but the reason for that fucking sucks.
For almost a decade, I've been trying to fact-check the claim that there "are 10,000 to 20,000 pet tigers/big cats in backyards in the United States." I talked to zoo, sanctuary, and private cat people; I looked at legislation, regulation, attack/death/escape incident rates; I read everything I could get my hands on. None of it made sense. None of it lined up. I couldn't find data supporting anything like the population of pet cats being alleged to exist. Some of you might remember the series I published on those findings from 2018 or so under the hashtag #CrouchingTigerHiddenData. I've continued to work on it in the six years since, including publishing a peer reviewed study that counted all the non-pet big cats in the US (because even though they're regulated, apparently nobody bothered to keep track of those either).
I spent years of my life obsessing over that statistic because it was being used to push for new federal legislation that, while well intentioned, contained language that would, and has, created real problems for ethical facilities that have big cats. I wrote a comprehensive - 35 page! - analysis of the issues with the then-current version of the Big Cat Public Safety Act in 2020. When the bill was first introduced to Congress in 2013, a lot of groups promoted it by fear mongering: there's so many pet tigers! they could be hidden around every corner! they could escape and attack you! they could come out of nowhere and eat your children!! Tiger King exposed the masses to the idea of "thousands of abused backyard big cats": as a result the messaging around the bill shifted to being welfare-focused, and the law passed in 2022.
The Big Cat Public Safety Act created a registry, and anyone who owned a private cat and wanted to keep it had to join. If they did, they could keep the animal until it passed, as long as they followed certain strictures (no getting more, no public contact, etc). Donât register and get caught? Cat is seized and major punishment for you. Registering is therefore highly incentivized. That registry closed in June of 2023, and you can now get that registration data via a Freedom of Information Act request.
Guess how many pet big cats were registered in the whole country?
97.
Not tens of thousands. Not thousands. Not even triple digits. 97.
And that isn't even the right number! Ten USDA licensed facilities registered erroneously. That accounts for 55 of 97 animals. Which leaves us with 42 pet big cats, of all species, in the entire country.
Now, I know that not everyone may have registered. There's probably someone living deep in the woods somewhere with their illegal pet cougar, and there's been at least one random person in Texas arrested for trying to sell a cub since the law passed. But - and here's the big thing - even if there are ten times as many hidden cats than people who registered them - that's nowhere near ten thousand animals. Obviously, I had some questions.
Guess what? Turns out, this is because it was never real. That huge number never had data behind it, wasn't likely to be accurate, and the advocacy groups using that statistic to fearmonger and drive their agenda knew it... and didn't see a problem with that.
Allow me to introduce you to an article published last week.
This article is good. (Full disclose, I'm quoted in it). It's comprehensive and fairly written, and they did their due diligence reporting and fact-checking the piece. They talked to a lot of people on all sides of the story.
But thing that really gets me?
Multiple representatives from major advocacy organizations who worked on the Big Cat Publix Safety Act told the reporter that they knew the statistics they were quoting weren't real. And that they don't care. The end justifies the means, the good guys won over the bad guys, that's just how lobbying works after all. They're so blase about it, it makes my stomach hurt. Let me pull some excerpts from the quotes.
"Whatever the true number, nearly everyone in the debate acknowledges a disparity between the actual census and the figures cited by lawmakers. âThe 20,000 number is not real,â said Bill Nimmo, founder of Tigers in America. (...) For his part, Nimmo at Tigers in America sees the exaggerated figure as part of the political process. Prior to the passage of the bill, he said, businesses that exhibited and bred big cats juiced the numbers, too. (...) âIâm not justifying the hyperbolic 20,000,â Nimmo said. âIn the world of comparing hyperbole, the good guys won this one.â
"Michelle Sinnott, director and counsel for captive animal law enforcement at the PETA Foundation, emphasized that the law accomplished what it was set out to do. (...) Specific numbers are not what really matter, she said: âWhether thereâs one big cat in a private home or whether thereâs 10,000 big cats in a private home, the underlying problem of industry is still there.â"
I have no problem with a law ending the private ownership of big cats, and with ending cub petting practices. What I do have a problem with is that these organizations purposefully spread disinformation for years in order to push for it. By their own admission, they repeatedly and intentionally promoted false statistics within Congress. For a decade.
No wonder it never made sense. No wonder no matter where I looked, I couldn't figure out how any of these groups got those numbers, why there was never any data to back any of the claims up, why everything I learned seemed to actively contradict it. It was never real. These people decided the truth didn't matter. They knew they had no proof, couldn't verify their shocking numbers... and they decided that was fine, if it achieved the end they wanted.
So members of the public - probably like you, reading this - and legislators who care about big cats and want to see legislation exist to protect them? They got played, got fed false information through a TV show designed to tug at heartstrings, and it got a law through Congress that's causing real problems for ethical captive big cat management. The 20,000 pet cat number was too sexy - too much of a crisis - for anyone to want to look past it and check that the language of the law wouldn't mess things up up for good zoos and sanctuaries. Whoops! At least the "bad guys" lost, right? (The problems are covered somewhat in the article linked, and I'll go into more details in a future post. You can also read my analysis from 2020, linked up top.)
Now, I know. Something something something facts don't matter this much in our post-truth era, stop caring so much, that's just how politics work, etc. Iâm sorry, but no. Absolutely not.
Laws that will impact the welfare of living animals must be crafted carefully, thoughtfully, and precisely in order to ensure they achieve their goals without accidental negative impacts. We have a duty of care to ensure that. And in this case, the law also impacts reservoir populations for critically endangered species! We can't get those back if we mess them up. So maybe, just maybe, if legislators hadn't been so focused on all those alleged pet cats, the bill could have been written narrowly and precisely.
But the minutiae of regulatory impacts aren't sexy, and tiger abuse and TV shows about terrible people are. We all got misled, and now we're here, and the animals in good facilities are already paying for it.
I don't have a conclusion. I'm just mad. The public deserves to know the truth about animal legislation they're voting for, and I hope we all call on our legislators in the future to be far more critical of the data they get fed.
#big cats#tiger king#my research#news#big cat public safety act#animal welfare#big cat welfare#legislation and regulation#vent post#long post#crouchingtigerhiddendata#more on the problems with the bill in the future
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Support the BBC for having a trans character in recent episodes of 'Doctor Who'
Apparently the BBC (UK) has had 144 complaints about a recent episode of Doctor Who because it contained an openly trans character.
I've made a complaint to the BBC that there weren't enough transgender characters in Doctor Who. I would love if 144 other people did the same thing. Here's the link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints/make-a-complaint/#/Complaint
(For your easy reference: "The Star Beast" aired on 25/11/2023 on BBC One, and the trans character is called Rose.)
Please note that the complaint form asks for your UK postcode, so only UK folks can join in with this - but if you suspect you might have any UK-based followers, maybe give us a reblog to boost the signal?
Edit: I'm told that you can fill in the form even if you're outside of the UK, because the BBC provide service to many countries other than the UK, including the USA! Go for it. :D
Reply to confirm that you've done it, so I can keep a count!
Here's my complaint:
I recommend:
Avoid sarcasm or irony. Assume your post will be taken literally. If you are clearly joking or being mean you will be ignored or misunderstood.
Include some gratitude/appreciation. It's pretty great that they included a trans woman in a positive way, and they should know that they have explicit support for that.
~
Edit again: I'm seeing some concerns in the replies/reblogs that the BBC might not distinguish between "less trans people, please" complaints and "more trans people, please" complaints. Rest assured, this is nothing to worry about - the BBC publish fortnightly complaint reports, and they do pay enough attention to know when a complaint is in favour of or against trans inclusion. In fact, their 20 November â 3 December 2023 report is where the various news articles are getting the 144 complaints figure; that report says there were precisely 144 complaints that they have categorised as "Anti-male / inappropriate inclusion of transgender character".
That means the next complaints fortnight window is 4 December - 17 December. We have 8 more days to beat 144. By my count, over Tumblr, WhatsApp, the Fediverse and Telegram, we have 85 so far, which is well over halfway there.
Also, when you've done it, please reply to confirm you have done it, so that I can count us!
Thank you, everyone!
~
Edit, 2023-12-11, 1am UK time:
We did it! I've just been counting up responses, and it looks like sometime yesterday evening we hit 144 complaints/comments in favour of Rose Noble and more excellent trans characters in Doctor Who! (We're actually up to 157 now, fantastic.)
So, my next plan is to submit a Freedom of Information Act request to the BBC sometime in the next few days, asking for complaints and compliments figures. Then I'd ideally (energy and time permitting) like to put together a press release that I can send out to the publications that promoted the tiny "144 anti-trans complaints" figure, showing them that there has been far more feedback in favour of trans representation than against.
I'll keep you posted.
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From the Freedom Flotilla, April 27 2024:
On Thursday afternoon, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was contacted by the Guinea Bissau International Ships Registry (GBISR), requesting an inspection of our lead ship â Akdenez. This was a highly unusual request as our ship had already passed all required inspections; nevertheless, we agreed. The inspector arrived on Thursday evening. On Friday afternoon, before the inspection was completed, the GBISR, in a blatantly political move, informed the Freedom Flotilla Coalition that it had withdrawn the Guinea Bissau flag from two of the Freedom Flotillaâs ships, one of which is our cargo ship, already loaded with over 5000 tons of life-saving aid for the Palestinians of Gaza. In its communication informing us of this cancelation, the GBISR made specific reference to our planned mission to Gaza. It also made several extraordinary requests for information, including confirmation of the shipsâ destination, any potential additional port calls, and the discharge port for humanitarian aid and estimated arrival dates and times. It further demanded a formal letter explicitly approving the transportation of humanitarian aid and a complete manifest of the cargo. Again, this is a highly unusual move from a flagging authority. Normally, national flagging authorities concern themselves only with safety and related standards on vessels bearing their flag, and are not concerned with the destination, route, cargo manifests or the nature of a specific voyage. Just like when you register your car, the authorities donât require you to detail to them every place you are going to go with the car. Sadly, Guinea-Bissau has allowed itself to become complicit in Israelâs deliberate starvation, illegal siege and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Israel is showing the world the extent to which it will go to deny Palestinians the aid they need to stay alive, in direct contravention of International Humanitarian Law, UN Security Council resolutions, and two orders of the International Court of Justice. [...] without a flag, we cannot sail. But, this is not the end. Israel cannot and will not crush our resolve to break its illegal siege and reach the people of Gaza. The people of Gaza and all of Palestine remain steadfast under the most horrific, unimaginable conditions. We take strength from their incredible, inexplicable ability to maintain their humanity, dignity and hope when the world has given them no reason to do so. It is our responsibility to keep that hope alive. WE WILL SAIL.
The Freedom Flotilla, which was set to depart from Turkey on the 27th of April with 5000 tons of life-saving aid, has now been delayed because Israel and the United States has pressured Guinea Bissau to withdraw its flag from the Flotilla's lead ship.
Seeing as how their tactics worked on Guinea Bissau, organizers now fear that Israel and the US will exert the same pressure on whichever country the Freedom Flotilla attempt to register their ship under next.
To help the Freedom Flotilla reach Gaza, please keep an eye out for further updates from the organizers. Right now, as of April 27th, they're asking people to help boost their visibility, and to donate to their member campaigns.
For more info, see their webpage.
#from the river to the sea palestine will be free#free palestine#palestine#israel#gaza#freedom flotilla
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If the pregnant MC is kidnapped by Sylus' enemies, Luke and Kieran don't know how to inform Sylus because they know how much he cares about MC and her babys. If MC miscarries her babys and falls unconscious because of what she went through there, what will happen when Sylus finds her, what will she feel when he takes her to the hospital, what will Mc feel when she wakes up? How will Sylus comfort her when she starts crying and how will he eventually take revenge on his enemies?
I think I've written this request before, but I really want to read this article from your perspective. I'm sorry if I bothered you by sending the request a second time.
when sylus enemies attack you causing you to have miscarriage
tags-angst,comforting,mentions of violence,guilt
(note-hi donât worry itâs ok if u sent it a second time,it took me a while to write so thatâs why Iâm posting until now! I hope this is what you wanted đ€)
ââââàšà§ââââ
The room was dark, cold and the pain was unbearable. Your body ached with every breath, bruises spreading across your skin like ink stains and your mind struggled to keep up with the reality of your situation.
You had been taken, dragged from the safety of Sylusâs protection by enemies who were relentless in their cruelty. You had fought but they were too many and now, your body bore the cost of their violence.
But the worst pain wasnât physical. It was the dull, nauseating sensation in your abdomen, the sinking, terrifying fear that something was deeply wrong.
Your vision blurred as you lay there on the cold concrete, your hands instinctively moving to your stomach, trembling as you realized what had been taken from youânot just your freedom but something far more precious.
The baby. The one thing you and Sylus had never fully planned but had begun to hope for, had begun to envision. The agony in your gut was matched only by the agony in your heart.
The door creaked open and heavy boots stomped into the room. The menâthe ones who had done thisâstood there, sneering at your helpless form, mocking your weakness. You barely heard their words through the haze of pain but their laughter cut through. Each chuckle was a reminder of your helplessness, of your inability to protect the life that had been growing inside you.
And then, there was a sound. A familiar, terrifyingly calm soundâthe door slamming open, the faint hum of something electric, like restrained fury. Sylus.
His voice was cold, filled with a rage that he rarely showed. You couldnât see him clearly but you heard the quiet menace in his tone, the way his words dripped with a deadly promise.
âWhere. Is. She?â
There was no hesitation. You heard the scuffle, the brief yelp of one of your captors before everything went silent. Then, you felt his handsâwarm, steady but trembling with suppressed angerâas he lifted you into his arms. His touch was gentle despite the tension radiating from him and for the first time since youâd been taken, you felt a flicker of safety.
He didnât say a word as he carried you out, the sound of footsteps and the faint groans of the men behind him lost in the fog of your pain. You knew what this meantâhe wouldnât kill them now. Not yet. But they wouldnât escape. Not after what they had done.
At the hospital, the lights were harsh, the sterile smell filling your senses as Sylus carried you inside. Nurses rushed to your side, the urgency in their movements sending a cold rush of fear through you. Your head lolled to the side, eyes searching for Sylus but all you saw was his face, stony and unreadable as they wheeled you away. His hand briefly touched yours before you were pulled into the emergency room and that touch was all that kept you from sinking completely into despair.
Time passed in fragmentsâflashes of doctors, machines beeping, cold hands pressing on your abdomen. You felt detached from your body, lost in the haze of pain and fear, until a voice broke through.
âIâm sorry.â
You blinked, trying to focus as the doctor stood by your bedside, their expression somber. Sylus was beside you, his posture rigid, his hand gripping yours tightly, almost painfully.
âIâm sorryâ the doctor repeated, their voice softer now, filled with regret. âWe did everything we could, but⊠youâve lost the baby.â
The words hit you like a freight train. You stared at the doctor, unable to process the weight of what they had said. The baby⊠was gone? No. That couldnât be true. It couldnât.
âNoâŠâ you whispered, your voice trembling, barely audible. âNo, I⊠I should have been stronger. I should have fought harder. Iââ
But before you could finish, Sylusâs grip on your hand tightened and he turned to you, his face a storm of emotions you rarely saw. Anger, pain, guiltâit was all there, swirling beneath the surface of his usually controlled demeanor.
âDonâtâ he snapped, his voice rough, almost breaking. âDonât you dare blame yourself.â
You flinched at the intensity of his words, your tears spilling over as you tried to form some sort of response. âBut IâI shouldâveââ
âNoâ Sylus interrupted, his voice low but trembling with fury. âThis isnât your fault. Itâs mine.â He looked away for a moment, his jaw clenched so tightly you thought it might break, his hands shaking now as he struggled to keep himself from unraveling.
âI should have been thereâ he continued, his voice raw with guilt. âI shouldâve protected you. This happened because of me because of my enemies. I brought you into this life and I couldnât even keep you safe. IâŠâ His words faltered and he took a sharp breath, trying to regain his composure.
Your heart broke at the sight of him like thisâSylus, always so calm, so collected, now barely holding himself together. You had never seen him so vulnerable, so angry at himself and it only made the pain in your chest worse.
âI should have been thereâ he repeated, his voice softer now, filled with regret. âI failed you. I failed our baby.â
The tears flowed freely now and you shook your head, trying to tell him he was wrong, that it wasnât his fault, but the words wouldnât come. The grief, the guiltâit was all too much.
Sylusâs hand cupped your face, gently forcing you to look at him. His eyes, usually so cold and unreadable, were now filled with a deep, aching sadness. âKittenâ he whispered, his voice breaking. âIâll make them pay. I swear to you, Iâll make them pay for this. But you⊠you have to know this wasnât your fault.â
You leaned into his touch, your body shaking with sobs as the weight of the loss crashed over you. Sylus pulled you into his arms, holding you tightly as if he could shield you from the pain, from the reality of what had been taken from you both.
The baby was gone. The future you had only just begun to imagine was gone and there was nothing either of you could do to change that. But in that moment, as Sylus held you, his own grief mixing with yours, you knew that you werenât alone in this. He was there and no matter how much he blamed himself, no matter how much you blamed yourself, you had each other.
And for now, that had to be enough.
Luke and Kieran stood guard at your door, their shadows tall against the dim light of the hospital hallway. You knew Sylus trusted them-his two most loyal men-but it did little to ease the cold dread that had settled into your bones.
Sylus had left without a word but you knew where he had gone. You knew the kind of wrath that was brewing inside him, the rage he held back only for your sake and now, he was gone to unleash it.
The basement was cold and damp, the smell of mildew mixing with the stench of fear. The three men who had taken you were bound tightly to chairs, their heads slumped forward, blood dripping from their faces from the initial beatings Sylus had given them when he'd first found you.
Their bodies were bruised and broken but that was nothing compared to what was coming. Sylus stood in the shadows, silent, watching them as they stirred, slowly waking to the nightmare that awaited them.
One of the men groaned, his head lifting as he squinted through swollen eyes. "W-Where are we?"
Sylus stepped forward, his boots echoing against the concrete floor. His face was devoid of emotion, cold, calculating. He was no longer the man who had cradled you in his arms at the hospital, no longer the man who had tried to soothe your pain with soft words. This was a different side of himâ ruthless, unrelenting, and out for blood.
"You know exactly where you are" Sylus said, his voice low, a dangerous calmness to it. He crouched down in front of the man, his dark eyes locking onto his with an intensity that sent a shiver down the man's spine.
"And you know exactly who I am."
The man's breathing quickened, panic flashing across his face as he realized who was standing before him. "P-Please, we didn't mean to-"
Before he could finish, Sylus backhanded him, the force of the blow snapping the man's head to the side. Blood splattered onto the ground, and the man whimpered, his body trembling.
"You didn't mean to what?" Sylus hissed, standing up slowly, towering over him. "You didn't mean to kidnap my fiancée? Didn't mean to hurt her? Didn't mean to kill my child?" His voice was deadly now, each word punctuated with a barely restrained fury.
The man sobbed, his words a jumbled mess of apologies and excuses. Sylus's eyes darkened as he turned his attention to the others. "You're all going to pay for what you did."
He walked over to a table lined with toolsâ knives, pliers, a blowtorch. The sight alone was enough to make the men scream in terror, their bodies jerking against their restraints as they tried in vain to free themselves. But there was no escape. Sylus had made sure of that.
He picked up a pair of pliers, testing the grip with a snap before walking back to the man he had hit. "You took something from me that I can never get backâ Sylus said quietly, his tone almost conversational. "So, I'm going to take something from you."
With that, he grabbed the man's hand and forced his fingers apart. The man screamed as Sylus clamped the pliers around one of his fingers and, without hesitation, ripped the nail clean off. Blood poured from the wound as the man howled in agony, his body convulsing in the chair. Sylus didn't flinch, his eyes cold and focused as he repeated the process on the next finger, and the next.
"Stop! Please! Stop!" the man begged, tears streaming down his face but Sylus was unmoved.
"You don't get to beg" Sylus said, his voice low and deadly.
He moved to the next man, who was already sobbing, begging for mercy. Sylus picked up a knife and with a swift motion, he sliced across the man's cheek, deep enough to leave a permanent scar but not enough to kill him. It was slow, deliberate, designed to inflict as much pain as possible without granting them the mercy of death.
The man screamed, his cries echoing off the walls of the basement. Sylus barely blinked as he moved to the last man, the leader of the group. The one who had orchestrated the entire thing.
Sylus leaned down close, his voice a whisper in the man's ear. "You're going to suffer the most and when I'm done with you, you'll beg me for death."
He grabbed the blowtorch, flicking it on with a soft hiss. The man's eyes widened in terror, his body shaking uncontrollably as Sylus held the flame close to his skin, the heat searing his flesh. The smell of burning skin filled the air and the man's screams were deafening but Sylus didn't stop. He burned him, inch by inch, savoring every moment of the man's agony.
Hours passed and by the time Sylus was done, the men were unrecognizable, their bodies broken and mutilated beyond repair.
They were still alive but barely. Sylus stood over them, breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling with the adrenaline that still pumped through his veins. The cold satisfaction of revenge washed over him but it didn't erase the pain. It didn't bring back what they had taken.
He wiped the blood from his hands and walked out of the basement, leaving the men to rot in their own misery. There was no rush to finish them off. They would suffer until their last breath.
but sylus ? He would return to you.
#love and deepspace#lnds sylus#love and deepspace sylus#l&ds sylus#lads sylus#sylus#sylus x reader#sylus x you
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has run a secretive program for years where ICE agents have trained hundreds of civilian volunteers on how to operate multiple types of firearms, conduct investigations and surveillance of immigrants, and use lethal force on human beings.
The program, known as Citizens Academies, includes role-play scenarios for civilians to conduct fictional raids on immigrants and is active in New York and in more than a dozen cities across the country. The program is run by Homeland Security Investigations, the branch of ICE in charge of intelligence, international affairs, and surveillance.
According to thousands of internal documents obtained from ICE via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request litigation, published on Oct. 1 by a group of civil rights organizations, the program was piloted first in Puerto Rico in 2014 and turned national in 2019.
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ready to eat
pairing: Yami Sukehiro x F!Noble Reader
word count: 4.9k
contents: NSFW - minors and ageless blogs dni, I will hard block you. Takes place in canon universe, there is a slight age/experience difference insinuated between the pairing but reader is at least 25, reader has named magical ability (movement magic), so much banter, oral sex (f receiving and finishing and it's sexy)
cw: mentions of marriage and misogyny, virginity (reader is a virgin)
notes: brain rot has proven to be fatal so here you are. this is open ended and i would not consider it a oneshot bc i'd love to write more about these two. hope you enjoy! thank you for reading ⥠| crossposted to ao3, divider by @cafekitsune
you can find more about these two here, here, here and here đ€
Nighttime is your time, a lesson you taught yourself independent of your instructors many years ago.Â
Movement magic allows you the luxury of blending in with your scenery, rushing unseen toward a capital district that is on the opposite end of where your family has made their name. Nobody here would recognize you even if you were less discreet, cloak gathered around your face and obscuring any unidentifiable features, and the freedom is indescribable; better than every sunny day or freshly made tea dessert.Â
You are free to be yourself. Unmarried, unattached, unimportant, it doesnât matter. You stumble into the usual inn you make your domain until the sun rises, ready to watch the way people you have little in common with live. If anyone knew youâd get reprimanded, probably rightfully, though you have never quite understood the scandal that lies in being a well informed woman. Your mother was a gossip and isnât that another way to become informed?Â
Itâs society's acceptable way, anyway.
You slink into the corner table, away from the crowd gathered nearer the bar, and slip your hood off of your face. No glances of recognition from anyone else, too engrossed in their own drinks and their own conversations, and you sink down against the back of the chair youâre sitting in. Itâs nice to be anonymous, you decided months ago when you began doing this. You arenât certain you want to continue being so inconspicuous when you remind yourself why youâve been doing this to begin with - to gain even the slightest bit of the life experience that continues to elude you. To love and laugh and feel joy that youâve been told only comes with marriage, something you are too apprehensive about committing to.Â
Itâs why you come namelessly into a district that does not belong to you or your kind. You hope that someone will find you interesting, a beaten path off their lifeâs track. Someone to laugh with or tell stories to. Itâs all youâve ever really wanted, a romantic to your core despite the decidedly unromantic life you lead. Caretaking, getting earfuls from your father about being a responsibility that the family no longer wants to have when taking your age and failed proposals into consideration. So lost in your own thoughts, you barely notice when a man slides into the chair next to you, glancing down at your hands and then at your face.
âYou need to stop wearing whatever is making you smell like that.â
The interruption to your quiet evening makes you jump, no longer dissociating and now in the present. You recognize the man sitting next to you, a captain of a Magic Knights squad. Their faces are plastered all over the capital and youâre shocked that he stumbled into such a low brow establishment though getting a look at him up close convinces you that he may not be in the entirely wrong spot.
âCaptain Sukehiro,â you offer politely, formal as ever. âI regret having to request clarification from a man as esteemed as yourself but what do you mean?â
The captain snorts, shaking his head in response to you as though your manners are piteous instead of a courtesy that should be extended to all.Â
âDonât call me that, Yami is fine.â He sniffs, stuffing a cigarette between his lips. âIâm talking about the shit youâre wearing that is filling every corner of this place. People donât wear things that make them smell like bakeries around here.âÂ
Scrunching your nose, you lift your wrist to your nose for a sniff. Heâs referencing the perfume you spritzed on after bathing and the way it sticks to you, the smell wafting around the table with every move you make. It hasnât caught any eyes yet, thankfully, but he can see how this will end if you donât correct your mistake now.Â
âWhat are you doing around here anyway? I figured women of your, uh, breed or whatever stuck to their own districts.âÂ
Bristling slightly at his insinuation that you find yourself too good to hang out here, you square your shoulders and clear your throat. A low chuckle rumbles in Yami while he lights his cigarette, raising his brows and eagerly awaiting whatever argument you are clearly cooking up in that little head of yours.Â
âIâll have you know that I enjoy exploring parts of the city that I rarely see. I am out here thanks to my own curiosity.â Your eyes shift from Yami toward the rest of the tavern, a small smile on your face watching the patrons laugh amongst themselves. âI think itâs really wonderful that people are happy no matter how they were born into this world and Iâm thankful to be able to experience this side of life too.â
The captain could spend all night laughing at your naivety if youâd let him but he doesnât wanna let you dig any deeper of a hole than youâre already finding yourself in. Youâre clearly a fully grown woman, even the doll-like roundness of your eyes and cheeks canât convince him youâre under 25 judging from the way you carry yourself. You arenât the first noble girl he has ever seen sneak off in an attempt to find herself yet it strikes him as hilarious you clearly believe it.
âSo you arenât like the other nobles? You see people as people?â The brusque individual takes a long drink from the mug in his hand, Adamâs apple bobbing while he swallows, your eyes fixed on the sheer size of his neck and throat. âWhat do you want? A prize?â
Even the enticing muscles of his body (how can one person have so many muscles bulging off of them anyway?) cannot distract enough to forget that heâs insulting you. You place your hands in your lap and fiddle with the edge of the cloak that covers the simple nightgown you are wearing, covering it enough that no one is suspicious about why youâre wearing nightclothes in the first place.Â
âNo, Iâm simply telling you what Iâm doing here because you asked.â
Sipping from his mug, the man glances you up and down. He swallows and squares his shoulders.
âOkay? That still doesnât tell me what youâre actually doing here, youâre only talking about feelings and shit.â Another sip and he places his ale down. âSo what are you doing here? Isnât it a little late for your type to be out with the rest of us?â
He considers you for a moment. Not bad looking. Pretty, even. Not plain in the way some overly manicured noble women can come across and you clearly arenât using magic to enhance anything about you or else heâd notice. Heâs a pro at sniffing out transformation magic in women having seen so many who have taught themselves to dabble in the arts to subtly tweak their appearances. You sigh and he finds it impressively naive to do so, your shoulders pinching in while you exhale sharply out of your nose.Â
âIâm looking for someone to help me.â Now this is interesting. He raises a brow, glancing you up and down. You lean toward him, creating a veil of intimacy in a crowded tavern, elbows resting on the table rudely. âI, um, I fear Iâll be woefully unprepared for my marriage bed once the time arrives and I want to avoid embarrassment. Iâm already too old to be considered marriageable to most and my heart could not take physical rejection from my husband as well.â
âYouâre a virgin and feel weird about it and now youâre makinâ it my problem.â
Gasping, your eyes widen and you shake your head rapidly. Yami smirks when he senses how quickly your heart is pounding beneath those layers of fabrics most in this place could only ever dream of seeing much less feel against their skin, curious enough that he wonât just tell you to get lost at this point.Â
âPlease do not repeat my predicament so loudly, Captain Sukehiro.â You whisper hiss, fighting the urge to kick him beneath the table as you do the rest of your fathersâ unruly issue you are the eldest of. âItâs not something Iâm terribly proud of.â
The captain scoffs, humming to himself and adjusting his posture so that heâs leaning toward you instead of on the back of his chair, cigarette dangling from his fingers. Youâve captured his attention, at least for now, and heâll give you all of it that you can handle. Pursing his lips, he glances around the bar for a split second before focusing on you, gray eyes locked on your pouting mouth.
âThen why is it your situation in the first place? Thought you nobles were too proud for your own good.â He flicks the lighter in his pocket. âAnd donât call me that. Yami is fine.â
You should find it very rude that you are being asked so many questions and being made to suit so many demands made by a lesser born to begin with but the curiosity feels like deeply personalized attention, causing you to bloom in response. Hunched shoulders stretch out, the graceful posture youâve spent what would amount to months of your life if you stretched the hours out perfecting appearing. No one at home is this curious about you outside of when you will no longer be around to tend the younger children your father continues to spawn and it feels different to be the center of a manâs attention.Â
Not a weak, defanged little noble whose only function is to act as an additional limb for his father. A man with rough hands and battle scars and overgrown hair down his neck.Â
âI havenât felt a spark with any of the men Iâve been introduced to. Theyâre lovely individuals with proud lineage but it has always felt soâŠâ you search around the room, lifting your hand to your mouth to idly nip at the cuticle around your thumbnail. âForced. I donât want to be with them and they do not want to be with me. Four men and none of them made me feel like I could spend the rest of my life with them.â
Once again, Yami chuckles at your predicament. Your cheeks heat in response, ears tingling and burning as that familiar feeling of being mocked encourages you to retreat inward. The awareness that you do not have to put up with this kind of treatment from a man beneath your stationÂ
âSounds like youâre hard to impress, kid.â A plume of smoke is blown over your head, the cigarette he was holding now dangling from his lips while he examines you with narrowed eyes. âLittle darling wonât settle for less than a fairytale.â
Retreating further into yourself, you move your hands from your lap to fold your arms over your chest.
âIâm no child, obviously.âÂ
Your retort is as petulant as your posture and the man smirks, the corner of his mouth jumping, tenting his fingers in front of him and leaning toward you. Despite himself, he likes you. Your willingness to shit here and just shoot the shit with him has impressed him but not enough to let you off easy.Â
âYouâre here begginâ for attention like one so I dunno about all that.â
Scoffing, you shift in your chair but make no effort to get up. You wonât be picked off by him that easily.Â
âYou know nothing about me, sir.â You raise your brows and shift your head to emphasize your point, arms still folded. A grown woman behaving like a little brat shouldnât draw a man like this in yet he considers himself intrigued, stamping out the nearly depleted butt of his cigarette on the edge table in front of him.Â
âCanât argue with that. Keep talking.âÂ
He leans back in his chair and sizes you up, boots stacked on top of each other where his ankles are crossed and his long legs are extended out in front of him. Itâs one thing to be keeping him here against his will because you wonât stop talking, itâs another when he is a willing audience. Your mouth runs dry and you gradually unfold your arms, placing them above your knee so you can subtly rid your clammy palms of the prickling sweat across them.
âI want to experience the things that a husband and wife are to experience together though I do not have anyone to enjoy them with.â Even the way nobles describe sex is stuffy and uncomfortable, Yami realizes, brows raising slightly. He lets you continue speaking before butting in, letting his arms dangle from the sides of the chair. âPerhaps itâs wrong of me to believe it will change my luck but I wonât change my mind. I have to know how toâŠperform.â
Perform is such an interesting choice of word. All of the sex the captain has ever had has been far less of a performance and more of a two person dance, locked in repetitive motions and tangled up as one form. He isnât much for the sappy, intimate shit youâre clearly insinuating youâd like though he feels like he could help you.
âIâll tell you what,â he starts, leaning back toward you and closing the distance to once again grant you some semblance of privacy. âI can show you how a man should treat a woman but I canât promise you itâs how a husband will treat his wife, you understand?â
Your eyes widen and you nod once, picking up on his meaning immediately. Impressed by your sharp wit he smiles although itâs nearly as unfriendly as the ones exchanged at court and only slightly less smug. Leaning in toward him, your brows knit together, and you bunch your skirt up in your fists.
âI donât know if Iâm ready for, you knowâŠâ you trail off, frowning slightly. He pretends like he doesnât understand what you mean, shaking his head and staring vacantly at your mouth. âI donât know if Iâm ready for you to take me.â
Another snort from him and your face heats like a wildfire. The two of you remained locked in this strange posture, whispering but not quite, discussing the terms of whatever is occurring here. Blood rushes from your face to your chest to your stomach, a familiar tense feeling between your legs making you shift uncomfortably in your chair.
âThe only one who would be doing any taking in that scenario is me and you donât have to worry about that tonight.â He tips his mug and finishes off the last droplets of his ale, sliding the empty vessel across the table top where it stops just short of you.Â
âWhat if we never see each other again after tonight?â That sappy shit he was right to assume you wanted has surfaced earlier than he expected. He shrugs flippantly, arching a brow. âThen we never see each other tonight but at least you can say you know how it feels when a man takes care of you.â
Inhaling loudly, you weigh your options.Â
You can always get up and go home, turn tail and run to where you will always be viewed as something akin to a decorative sconce on the wall instead of a human being. Your opinion matters not, youâre a glorified caretaker for your younger siblings, some of who are your fathers rightful heirs thanks to the boyhood the Gods so mercifully granted them. You can retreat and continue wasting away waiting for a man who thrills you enough that you can ever see him as someone deserving of being your equal.Â
Or, you can consider Yamiâs offer. Heâs rough around the edges and speaks with no formality or regard and you like it. At least you think you do. He doesnât care who you are any more than the others around you do yet he makes you feel the most seen anyone ever has. Heâs interested in your words, your ideas, and even your pleasure - a realization that makes the knot in your stomach tighten further.
âOkay.â You concede. âI think that Iâd like that.â
The man rises from his seat, smirking, tossing some coins down on the table in front of him for the drink.Â
âI know you will,â he finishes, words dripping with honesty but not arrogance.Â
He begins to head toward the stairs that will lead the two of you upstairs and your breath catches when he looks over his shoulder and raises his brows, signaling with a wave that you should follow him. You toss a few more coins on the table in front of you, uncertain of how much a room in an establishment like this would cost to begin with, and rush to follow him with your cloak pulled tightly against your body.
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This room is nothing like your quarters at home where everything around you gleams in gold and marble and silk. It may be decidedly less impressive though itâs twice as cozy if youâre honest.Â
The bed is barely large enough for two and thereâs a well loved desk pushed against the wall, magical light flickering from the wall. Shutting the door unceremoniously, you swallow and feel the captain at your back, a large palm covering the entirety of the space between your shoulder blades. You donât recall him seeming so imposing downstairs, glancing upward to meet his eyes. He can tell you are inexperienced solely by how skittish youâve become beneath his fingertips, an intriguing shift from who you were sitting opposite him.
Boldly asking a man to pleasure you has told him everything about the person you are beneath the skirts and the trappings of society. If he waits long enough he knows that hungry girl will once again show her face to him and while he isnât particularly patient, he believes it would be worth his while to wait.Â
âGo sit on the edge of the bed.â He instructs right above your ear and gently shoves you toward where heâs commanded you be.Â
You follow directions and sit, legs dangling off of the edge, unfastening your cloak and letting it rest on the bed. The knot in your belly remains tight, keeping you on edge with all of your movements while your walls throb weakly, arousal and curiosity bearing down on you with similar weight. Sukehiro towers over you, slowly unfastening his belt and cloak, leaving the leather goods and his katana on the desk.Â
âIâm going to lick your pussy. Do you know what that means?â
Cheeks warming, once again surprised by his lack of decency, you nod once. You have read about this particular act more than once and have also heard about it secondhand from some of the married women you call friends although their reviews have been mixed. Books have always made it seem far more interesting, an exchange in the same way a kiss is between a man and the paradise between a womanâs legs.Â
âGood, at least I wonât have to explain all the technicalities.â He approaches you slowly and squats down, now face level with your middle. You glance down at him and wonder if you should touch him, if heâd like it, if heâd want you to. âLift your hips.â The next command gives you reprieve from overthinking and you do as asked, raising them enough that he can pull your nightgown from beneath your thighs, spreading them to fit between.
âIf you donât like something, speak up.â He glances up at you, holding your nightgown halfway over his face. âIf you do like something, speak up and Iâll keep goinâ.â
The linen of your nightgown stretches and tents in the shape of Yamiâs head and shoulders when he pulls it over himself, too big to be fully covered by the fabric. His back is curled into a C shape and the muscles ripple while he positions you, hands that you can feel but cannot see gripping the outside of your soft thighs to keep you from deciding at the last minute you are feeling shy.Â
Itâs too late for you to fall back on the shy act now, your panties dangling off of one of your ankles. Even if you attempted, you know the man currently fixated on spreading you open with his fingers would surface from beneath your skirt and laugh at you. Your heart simply could not take the open derision and ridicule, already feeling overextended thanks to this eveningâs excitement.
âAlright, youâre about to feel something different,â he warns kindly, puffs of his breath fanning out against the slickened skin of your labia. The low rumble of his voice sends another rush of wetness seeping out of your cunt, excitement mixing with terror while you await the pleasure you were promised.Â
Your hips shift impatiently on the edge of the dingy inn bed, legs on either side of his still dressed torso. His tank top is untucked from his pants and he no longer wears his belt, discarding the unnecessary while remaining firmly in control of the situation. There isnât much that makes his mouth water but the sight of warm and just for him pussy is doing just that, his tongue darting out to wet his lower lip.
His thumbs massage the outside of your thighs, keeping you as relaxed as possible, and he leans in to kiss the temptation he can no longer deny himself. A simple smack, loud enough that you can both hear it, yet the moan that escapes you is positively sinful. High pitched and breathy and immediately obscured, clapping your palm over your mouth to keep yourself quiet.Â
âNope,â he simply responds from beneath your nightgown, hand reaching up to remove yours from over your mouth. âWhatâd I tell you? Halfâa the fun is hearing how much you like it.â
One of the thumbs that was rubbing circles into your thigh now does the same on the back of your hand, calloused digit occasionally catching over the surface of your smooth skin. Itâs no shock that your hands are soft like your body and your hair and your eyes, itâs what your life was meant to be like the minute you assumed the role of it. Soft and easy, no roughness to throw you off track.
Yami chuckles and lets his tongue feel you this time, dragging the wet muscle through your folds, rewarded with another of those breathy moans. You do not rush to cover this one, tilting your head backward and letting your eyes flutter shut to focus on the sensation of another lick. He takes his time to get to know you slowly, brushing the flat of it over your hole and dragging the arousal he receives as a reward upward toward your clit.
He doesnât release his skills on your sensitive bud so quickly but a simple brush of the side of his tongue against it is enough to make you squeal, shoulders rounding in momentarily. Repeating the motion, you squeal again and arch your back, thrusting your hips forward into his face and dragging every bit of you he can see across his mouth.
âW-what are you doing to me, Yami?â You ask breathlessly, elbows propping you up on the bed and keeping you grounded. âIâve never felt anything like this before.â
Your head swims with unfamiliar pressure, sparking a line from your brain to between your legs, all connected and you fight the urge to slump back onto the bed, too curious about the way that the light linen covering the man between your legs shrouds him.Â
âEating, obviously,â he mumbles against your body, tongue lapping against your clit. Your body reacts to each touch, thighs tensing on either side of his face, hips slowly bucking in pursuit of the feeling again and again. Your back arches and your moans are staccato babbles, elbows finally failing to hold you up when he gives your clit full attention.. âOh my, whâ,â your back arches off of the bed before you can finish your thought, another rough lick to your throbbing clit followed by the warmth of his mouth while he sucks it between his lips, flicking the bundle of nerves with the tip of his tongue.Â
There is no denying that you may be prissy and perfectly pampered but he was clearly correct in his assumption about you being more than meets the eye. The way your body responds naturally to his ministrations, hips grinding and toes curling and lips keening, tells him every little secret youâre too demure to spill. You want to have sex for enjoyment, to chase your own pleasure and have your own fun.Â
Heâll never fault someone for that although he believes he can get you to admit itâs the truth. Maybe not tonight but eventually heâll convince you to drop the âgood wifeâ act. If he werenât enjoying himself so much heâd grumble about considering a future where the two of you will meet up for this again, too lost in his own enjoyment of your pretty noises to realize how unreasonable this was to begin with.
âPlease keep going,â you beg, a tearless sob thickening your voice.Â
Yami doesnât look up, well aware of what he is capable of, but he keeps his hand over yours and continues rubbing gentle circles into it. You flip your hand and face your palm upward, loosely tangling your fingers with his, your hips now dragging across his lips wildly. Itâs messy and you are dripping like a peak season fruit, drenching his chin and sending little droplets down onto his tank top and chest. Moans increase in pitch when his tongue dips inside of you, lapping at your sweetness and drinking it down with satisfied grunts, though he can tell youâre close solely by how you ride his face alone.
You lack the words to describe how you feel, not that you are a stranger to self pleasure, but itâs different when someone else is showing you the maximum of how you can feel. Every inch of you buzzes with a pleasant awareness, nerve endings sparking like celebratory fireworks, and you lift yourself up with your elbows to glance down at the man making you feel more than you ever thought possible, your nightgown no longer around his head. You were so lost you didnât even realize he shifted to holding your nightgown up above your belly button with the hand you arenât keeping occupied, those astute eyes appreciatively watching your chest heave and face twist.
âYami, I think,â you start and he chuckles, sucking your clit between his lips again, sending you over the edge and effectively making sure you know how exactly it feels when someone else makes you cum.Â
Dots of light spark in the corners of your vision and you slump down onto the bed, too spent from the strength of your orgasm to remain upright. The perpetrator of your current state untangles your fingers from his wordlessly and he rises to standing, leaning over your exhausted body and propping himself up with his forearm.
âGood as you thought it would be?âÂ
Giggling, you nod. Itâs all you can think to do, truly left wordless and thoughtless, grateful that what you read on the pages of the books you hide amongst your more chaste picks were somewhat accurate to how the experience feels. There has been no insinuation that he expects reciprocation so you donât bring it up, quietly glancing up at him and noticing that the distance between your face and his decreases every few seconds.
âNow taste.âÂ
He closes the little distance left, tongue pressing against the seam of your lips. You grant him entrance and whimper when your mouth fills with the taste of his tongue, a mixture of acrid tobacco and ale and something you could only recognize as yourself.Â
âPretty good, right?â All you can do is nod dumbly, still splayed awkwardly across the bed. Should you leave? Should you stay? Is that pesky reciprocation going to come into the conversation now? Yami glances down at you with something youâd almost mistake for warmth in his cool irises, rolling onto his back beside you and folding his arms over his chest. âAre you going to head home now or what?âÂ
You shake your head, letting your flipped up skirt rest against your belly, the air of the room cooling your heated skin. âNo but Iâm not going to expect you to stay if you have other business to attend to. I will stay the night and leave before sunrise.â
Itâs whatâs polite. You did pay for an entire night, after all, and your raising will not allow you to be rude. Pushy and precocious at times but never outright disrespectful. The man next to you sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, turning his face to look at you.Â
Maybe you are as pretty as he originally thought. It could be all the blood rushing from his head to his dick, a problem he is attempting to solve mentally by envisioning anything but the satisfying contractions of your cunt while it cums for him, but you glow even in this low light.Â
âOnly thing I have to do is go downstairs and drink and then Iâll just end up running my mouth and losing money.âÂ
You giggle at his honesty, turning your face to look at him. The gruffness only adds to his aura, as unrefined as a man can be, yet you really do like it. Even if the two of you sit here in silence for the rest of the night, thereâs much you feel you can learn by simply gazing at him, a quiet battle of wills unfolding between the two of you like the mist that fills the city on a summer morning.Â
Permeating, inescapable, potentially trouble.
#yami x reader#captain yami x reader#yami sukehiro x reader#sukehiro yami x reader#black clover x reader#black clover imagines#black clover smut#kendall writes#the bird and the bull
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How are you a lesbian if you go by âhe?â Lesbians are exclusively women
Assuming you are asking this in good faith - which doesn't make it appropriate, but we'll get to that in a minute:
1. No, lesbians are not exclusively women, and this has never been the case. A great deal of lesbian writing going back decades upon decades posits lesbian as a separate gender - certainly we are not nor have ever been seen by society at large as "proper and correct women."
1a. My gender is butch lesbian. The end.
2. Pronouns aren't gender. Also, see above.
2a. He/Him, They/Them and neopronouns as pronouns for butch lesbians (who consider themselves women or any other gender) has at least a hundred years of history behind it, as does butch lesbians referring to themselves as Husband or Daddy.
2b. Have you read Stone Butch Blues? Like, ever? Leslie Feinberg (z''l) was not a woman. Zie made that very clear over decades.
3. And this is the most important, so I need you to listen very very closely:
ACAB INCLUDES POLICING OTHER PEOPLE'S IDENTITIES.
I hope that clears things up for you, as other people's identities are not matters for debate or for you to police. I am setting a firm end to this conversation; I will not engage further with you on it. If you would like to request more information from someone on gender theory and lesbianism to clear up your very clearly lacking education, including me, ask about the theory and don't involve the other person's identity.
Once you've read Stone Butch Blues - which is free online by the terms of the author's last wishes - if you'd like to return and discuss the long history of gender variance and gender freedom within the lesbian community, you may do so. But - and I'm totally serious - I'm not talking with you about this again until you've read at least that one totally free book and killed the cop in your head that makes you think you can come into someone's inbox and ... do this.
Would you walk up to someone on the street and say this? If so, who raised you? If not, why do you think it's okay to do to someone online?
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Local watchdog group to host event on open records, environment
Events at Jefferson Street Inn will cover obtaining public records from the government and contamination on Wausauâs southwest side.
WAUSAU â Citizens for a Clean Wausau, or CCW â a local environmental watchdog group comprised of volunteers â will host two free events in November that focus on open records and the environment. The sessions will be held on Nov. 23 at Jefferson Street Inn, 201 Jefferson St., Wausau. Both events are free and open to all. Food and beverages will be served. Registration is appreciated, but notâŠ
#Bill Lueders#CCW#Citizens for a Clean Wausau#FOI#freedom of information#Jefferson Street Inn#Midwest Environmental Advocates#open records#open records requests#Poisoned Ground#Stephen Lester#Tony Wilkin Gibart#Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council
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