#I also cannot stress this enough- if you are only voting on how America is treating the rest of the world | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lovelyirony · 4 years

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cosmetology anon: this is for you, although I tweaked the idea a bit. i hope you don’t mind!

Acquiring Tony Stark as an Asset had been purely by chance; after all, he wasn’t planned on being in the car. He was still an insolent teenager, angry with the world and angry with his father. They didn’t think he would’ve gone to a business party.

But his mother...well. They hadn’t thought that Tony Stark was a mama’s boy.

Because there Tony is, gasping for air while glass glitters all around him, looking near about like an angel that was torn from heaven with how it surrounded him.

They had thought he was dead.

At least, up until the point when he had looked Winter Soldier dead in the eye, said “hey you fucking asshole” and got a pretty damn good shot in the thigh.

Someone on the brink of death might have tried the gun, but never the insult.

So Hydra gets a brand new toy.

Not easily broken, which is a pain-and-a-half to deal with. At least with the Winter Soldier, he was too delirious with blood loss to notice who was operating on him, what they were attaching.

Tony Stark is on a whole other level.

He bites, he kicks, he scratches. Quite annoying, they just want him to tire himself out.

“Stark Industries doesn’t negotiate,” he hisses, trying to kick one of the nurses in the teeth.

“Who said anything about negotiating?” says the head doctor viciously. His teeth glint in the fluorescent lighting, scalpels reflecting brilliantly onto the walls. “As far as the media knows, you’re dead. No one is going to come looking, and no one even knows who we are.”

They make him sleep on a cot nearby Winter Soldier. Which is terrifying, to say the least. Not that he can kill him. He can’t touch him either.

He’s in a deep freezer. Eyes closed, thank god. But they put him there and they tell him all about how he came to be there.

“Everyone thought Barnes hit a rock and died,” one of the techs says, checking the machine. “He nearly did, but Zola helped us fix him up. Course, that was after a couple of times where he got to someone’s neck, and that was even before programming.”

“Programming?”

The tech leers at him, grinning. He’s standing, Tony’s sitting. It shouldn’t be as intimidating as it is.

“Oh yeah, Stark. They’re gonna fix you all up.”

“I don’t need fixing.”

“Tell that to Winter Soldier.”

“And what if your little machine gets rid of me, hm? Kills me?”

“We add you to the other disappointments, or we dig a shallow grave and hope you’re found decades later.”

Not exactly promising.

But here’s the thing: the tech was wrong. They won’t add him to the pile of disappointments.

The last time he went to a therapy appointment, his therapist said he had a “deep-seated need to be liked and be useful, which could be dangerous later.”

He’s assuming that Doc Chesterfield wasn’t exactly expecting Tony to be in the running towards becoming America’s Next Top Murder Machine, but Doc wasn’t really the kind of guy who was “in the know” about a lot of things.

That need to be liked and useful was about to come in handy.

Barely able to legally drink, he goes to the main doctor in charge. “You need me.”

The doctor looks at him incredulously.

“You think we need a kid to do all this shit? You think we haven’t figured it out?”

“You can’t have Barnes-”

“Winter Soldier, boy.”

“Fine, your little toy soldier. You can’t keep him out longer than necessary, otherwise his brain realizes that all of you are shitty and tries to break out. Again. You need someone else to take a look at it, and I’m the best bet you got.”

“And why would that be?”

Tony grins, and they see a shadow of what he has had in his life, exactly just who he used to be. Who he still is, at the moment.

“Whether you want to admit it or not--I’d say go ahead and admit it, I’m fun like that--I’m the smartest one in the room, maybe in the country. Maybe in two countries. I could swing the UK, it’s not like they’ve had anything interesting for the last hundred or so years--”

“Get to the point,” the handler hisses.

“I can help with arm maintenance. I’m not gonna do anything else to this poor guy, but I wanna stay alive and I’m not letting you erase my fucking mind because you want to have another toy soldier to march to your drum.”

“You almost make a compelling case,” the handler says. “We do need a mechanic on the arm, so to speak. But if he only comes out when we need him...well. Maintenance is manageable.”

Tony pushes his chin out.

“I can do better than your best.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t care. You’re too big of a liability.”

It is at this moment that Tony realizes he cannot talk his way out, or fight his way out, but damn he gets a scalpel and tries.

Manages to slice across the face of the handler. Nerve damage, tissue damage, quite potentially a very ugly nose. All very nice.

That gets him moved up by a month.

They send him to a chair that’s probably a lot worse than he’s imagining, give him a mouth guard, and tell him to scream all he likes. Sometimes it’s better to not have a voice later.

They say it like they’re quoting one of those shitty articles from Cosmopolitan that discusses the top forty-five best ways to move in the bedroom or something. He and Rhodey use to read it all the time whenever they visited one of the sororities.

(He misses Rhodey, more than words can say. The tears burn in his throat as the chair powers up, but he doesn’t dare cry. He hasn’t told them about Rhodey, and he doesn’t want him used against him.

He doesn’t want to be used against Rhodey.)

Tony Stark becomes the Mechanic. He stares too long, moves a bit slow at times, and doesn’t like people touching his things.

Hydra thinks it’s a success.

Tony thinks they should’ve done more than three sessions of go-round for their little buzzy-chair.

Just god, have none of them had to act before? Is that what this is?

So long as he doesn’t show any aspect of any real personality, they think he’s a walking-talking robot.

Should’ve just called him Chatty Cathy and attached a pull-string to his back with loadable phrases if they were just gonna call him the Mechanic and think his silence and weird staring habits were fine.

Winter Soldier needs maintenance.

Tony tries very carefully to keep his persona up. He thinks he’s doing a good job until the nurse leaves the room for her smoke-break and Winter Soldier gives him a look that’s so...different.

"They think you’re like me.”

“I am.”

“No.”

“And how can you tell?”

“You��re not hurting my arm.”

“Well I can, if you wanna be a masochist about it.”

He blankly stares.

“Why didn’t it work?”

“Not enough rounds.”

“We need to stop talking or they’ll watch the cameras.”

“Got it.”

Tony is not facing the cameras. They have no suspicion now, and if they can’t see him move his lips, then there’s no worry.

He faces Winter Soldier.

“You wanna get out of here? Tap once on your left, right on my thigh for yes. Twice for no.”

Tap.

There it is.

“Well, it’ll take time. You okay with that?”

Tap tap.

“I can’t make wishes come true,” Tony says sarcastically. Soldier hides a smile. “But. I have someone who might be looking for me. Or he’ll know it’s me.”

“A friend?”

“Something better. Family.”

It takes a little while. Despite Hydra’s incompetence at programming Tony out of his own system, they’re good at watching. They’re good at sniffing out undercover plans, so they set nurses to watch him and give him the worst food in his life.

And he can’t say anything about it.

They’re probably rations leftover from World War II, and here he is, pretending like it doesn’t bother him.

The first mission they’re out on, Tony wants so badly to break free. It looks too easy, probably because it is.

“The first time I escaped, they dragged me back and nearly gave me a matching leg to go with the arm,” Soldier murmurs in Russian.

(Tony’s had to take Russian classes. God, he’s lucky he has an eidetic memory otherwise he’d be up a paddle with a slotted spoon.)

“What, didn’t want to put more value on yourself?”

“Something like that,” Soldier says grimly. “Pay attention. They’re gonna put you in a cafe, have you run surveillance. You report back to me. Call me Winter.”

“Call me Mechanic.”

“That’s the name they chose?”

“Didn’t count my vote.”

Winter snorts.

“Time to get a move on.”

Tony has never been good at hiding his emotions, but by god he’s learning on the fly. At least Winter has a mask, and they’re...well, they’re working on one for him.

It’s not exactly priority, because everyone in the world thinks he’s dead.

Well. Shouldn’t say everyone. There is one guy who has decided that Tony didn’t die.

James Rhodes is a very smart guy, graduated top of his class at MIT and has full honors.

He also knows that Tony has fallen off of beds, out of chairs, down one flight of stairs, and tripped on just about everything.

And he’s lived. He has defied near-death experiences before, and he’s been fine.

Maybe Rhodey is crazy. He most likely is.

But he doesn’t mind being crazy if no one can actually confirm that Tony died. The funeral was closed for the family, not even Rhodey could go.

“Sorry kiddo,” Obie had said, not sorry at all. He’s never liked the kid, thought him too blunt about situations that he didn’t need to be blunt about.

So Rhodey thinks that this is a conspiracy, only he doesn’t want his best friend to end up on a YouTube video five years later talking about the “tragic disappearance” and how “no one could figure it out.”

He’s James fucking Rhodes. Sometimes goes by Rhodey. And he’s got this.

Winter Soldier does not “got this.” He is currently being thrown against a wall, and grunting as he looks at the target.

Tony is currently trying very hard not to have a full-blown emotional show-off, because he is supposed to be fixing up some of the weapons and sending them out.

It is rather stress-inducing, once you start thinking about it.

He tries not to.

God, he’s not even getting pizza after that. He’s probably going to get some bullshit like a vanilla nutritional protein shake.

Out everything he’s been put through, and that’s the thing that makes him retch.

Barnes is looking...rough. He got shoved a lot, the mission didn’t exactly go to plan, which turns out to be quite the large problem.

Because Tony took over. They found out that he can actually assemble weaponry and aim with nearly-one-hundred-percent accuracy.

They think it’s because they fried his brain and injected some sort of back-alley-serum.

It’s not.

He’s not even sure if their serum worked, if he’s being completely honest.

But this? Oh god.

The doctors look at him with an almost giddy joy.

“We’ll have Soldier train you.”

"He is not going back into the cryogenic chambers?”

“No, not...not until you prove yourself.”

“I have proven myself accurate with mechanical fixes.”

“Always best to diversify your skills.”

“Expand.”

(Tony’s been messing with them a lot. They’re not positive he knows advanced vocabulary. He does, he just hates them.)

Barnes is...not exactly excited that he’s not becoming an ice-pop.

“I’m...training you?”

“Yeah, looks like it. You wanna teach me how to choke someone with my thighs?”

“Only when they send the Widows.”

“Who are they?”

“Best damned assassins you’ll ever have the displeasure of experiencing.”

“Aw, you’re learning how to curse!”

“Shut up, they’re onto us.”

Winter Soldier and the Mechanic have a...cordial relationship. At least, out of the ring.

In the ring, they don’t rather like the other that much. Mechanic much prefers to avoid Soldier at all times.

“You can’t just run from every opponent,” Winter hisses.

“You’ve been doing it since 1948,” Tony responds in a robotic tone, nearly missing a kick to the shins. “I don’t see why not.”

He smiles at that one, looking at Tony.

He was...Tony was unique. He would whisper stories in the dead of night, mostly about a man named Jarvis and a boy his age named “Rhodey.”

“His parents...they didn’t actually name him that, did they?”

Tony has to bury his face in his pillow to hide his face from laughing.

Winter got a good look at that smile.

It’s chillingly nice to look at it, and maybe that’s because he hasn’t smiled in years, or maybe it’s because he’s never seen another person smile with joy in it for decades.

For a couple more months, nothing on their side happens.

Rhodey, however, learns how to use Tony’s homemade AI for illegal purposes!

He’s figured out lots of things.

Tony was never confirmed dead. Technically, he’s a missing person.

Which means they don’t know if he’s dead because they never found him.

Secondly, there’s a strange email to someone who goes by Zola.

Well, Rhodey and Tony didn’t stay up until three a.m. to solve impossible codes for nothing.

James Rhodes figures out that the Winter Soldier isn’t some whispered about myth, and so he decides to try and find him.

He’ll need to ask Mama if he can use the sedan, but it should be fine. After all, he has a friend to find.

Hydra is getting too used to having them out. Tony’s been coaching Barnes on not letting his reactions be at the front and center.

He’s remembering a lot more. Starting to become a bit more human-like.

He actually doesn’t like the food now, which is a tasteful improvement.

“When we get out,” Tony whispers in night. “I’m going to make sure that you get the best goddamned pizza the earth has ever seen. And we’ll celebrate your birthday.”

“When is my birthday?”

“I...huh. I don’t know. That’s not the fact I remember from school.”

“So you remembered that my favorite movie star was Hedy Lamarr, but not my own birthday?”

“In my defense, Ms. Lamarr is far more memorable than a simple date on the calendar.”

Barnes smiles.

“I can’t wait to see a picture of her.”

“You will, soon.”

Rhodey is getting close.

The only barrier is convincing his mama to use the sedan.

“What for?”

“A trip.”

“To?”

“Washington DC?”

“Why are you questioning that, young man?”

“Um, because of gas money? Maybe?”

Mrs. Rhodes stands up to her full height of five-foot-two and stares.

“What’s the real reason? I didn’t raise a son who could lie to his mother successfully.”

Rhodey sighs.

“Tony’s alive. I think. I’m, like, ninety-five-percent sure.”

Her face softens.

“Oh baby, you’ve talked about this with your therapist, and-”

Rhodey glares.

“It’s not about the therapist’s opinion, mom. I broke into some records. There was a closed-casket funeral, and technically? They didn’t have a body for Tones. I know he’s out there, and I think I got a lead with the help of Jarvis.”

“I thought Jarvis was dead.”

“Not Edwin, Mama. Tony’s creation, an AI named Jarvis.”

Mama looks at him carefully.

“You sure this is what is going to make you happy?”

“I don’t care about being happy, I want to see if I can bring him home, Mama.”

She dangles the keys.

“If you scratch this car up, I will not hesitate to tell every single aunt at church about this and have common sense walloped into you.”

“I promise I won’t,” Rhodey says. “I know what I’m doing.”

“I’ll pack you a bag. And you need your church clothes.”

“Ma...”

“Don’t Ma me, I’m your mother, I know what’s best,” Mrs. Rhodes says, sweeping into the kitchen. “Don’t tell your daddy what you told me, you’ll give him a heart attack.”

“I thought I was gonna give you a heart attack,” Rhodey says.

She turns, eyes twinkling.

“You got a lot of learning to do, young man. But go on to DC for me.”

First stop: gas station.

Next stop: saving Tony.

If Tony had known that his friend was so dedicated to saving him that he would drive his mama’s sedan five miles above the speed limit, perhaps he would have stayed put and played nice.

But Tony did not know this, so he was currently working on fixing Barnes’ arm to shoot projectile missiles that looked like screws to the security cameras.

“You think they’re counting each screw when none of them even know what your arm can actually do? Not like Zola is physically around anymore,” Tony mutters, holding a screwdriver in his mouth.

“What’s your plan for escape?”

“Element of surprise, my dear Watson.”

“Don’t like that,” Barnes mutters. “What’s your plan once we’re out?”

“New York City.”

“That’s it?”

“You underestimate exactly how much you can hide,” Tony says. “Believe me. We’ll live in an apartment in Queens.”

Rhodey is about ten minutes away.

Tony and Bucky have eventually decided to break out, and are having a lovely time shooting a base and putting people through the walls. Really, they shouldn’t have made it out of drywall. Too easy.

“What fucking vehicle are we taking?!” Barnes yells.

“I...I will work on it!”

“You didn’t think about that?!”

“I was thinking about escaping from a shitty Hydra base!”

Here comes the sedan!

Rhodey thought there was only one person, so now the ex-assassin is sitting on his little sister’s school folder, and getting pink glittery on his military pants.

This was not the plan.

He is also still only going five over the speed limit, because this is Mama’s sedan.

He forgot about the little sticker at the back that says “My Son is on the Honor Roll at MIT!”

“Rhodey love of my life, please go faster than forty miles an hour,” Tony hisses.

“I can’t believe you’re alive, let me do one thing at a time,” Rhodey stresses. “I bought you hot fries, they’re on the floor in the green bag.”

“You thought of road trip snacks?” Bucky asks.

“Yes! And who are you?”

“Bucky Barnes.”

Rhodey whips his head around.

“You lived?”

“I’ve been told. Eyes on the road and turn left.”

One tire barely is on the road as he whips the wheel, slamming onto the curb.

“We are not allowed to fuck my mama’s car up!” Rhodey yells. “Tony, Bucky...do whatever you have to.”

“How amenable are you to me paying for a new back window?” Bucky asks, left arm already raising.

“What do you mean-?”

And...there goes a projectile!

After twenty minutes of driving around, ten of that being avoiding police blockades, they finally are out on the highway, no one in sight.

Tony finally breathes.

“Put on your seatbelt,” Rhodey murmurs. “To New York?”

“To New York.”

By all accounts, the table of three men who look slightly rattled and in danger is not actually the worst table that waitress has ever had.

In fact, the only odd thing that she’s going to say about it is that the young man on the left is wearing a polo shirt, and it is not Sunday, so no church services. A personal outfit choice.

The man in the middle seems to know this.

“Rhodey, seriously?”

“What? It’s laundry day!”

“I know you had other shirts. I know you did.”

“Just because you hate polo shirts doesn’t mean you get to hate on me, especially after the shit I just pulled.”

“He has a point,” says the man on the right.

“You have no opinion on this. I just met you.”

“Are you guys ready to order?” She asks nervously, tapping at her notepad with a chewed-up pen.

They all stare blankly at the menu, and then back at her. She taps her pen one more time.

“I’ll...um...give you some more time.” She shakes her head. She’s not gonna ask, she doesn’t get paid enough.

Rhodey looks at the two of them. He knows that things...well.

Tony probably isn’t going to be playing Jeopardy! with this experience.

Hell, he probably won’t want to see a therapist about this, and Rhodey will have to play Jeopardy! or some obscure dating show simulation with Tony to even help.

And then there’s the matter of a man who’s supposed to be dead.

That and...Rhodey decided to finish up college with a master’s degree.

No one ever said life was easy.

But.

It might be fun.

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marvelmadam08 · 4 years

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Baby Blues 11/?

Summary: Ace goes to his first doctor’s visit, and Alex checks in with her doctor.

Warnings: First shots, crying, doctor visits, slight jealousy. Fluffy Dad!Chris content. Body insecurities, health concerns, and mentions of sex.

A/N: Rest in Power to Chadwick Boseman, our Black Panther and King. He gave us so much while battling cancer, not just Black Panther. The work he has done in the amount of time he had left a mark, and cannot be replicated. Chadwick Boseman has been such a force in Hollywood that no one could ever forget him. My heart goes out to all his close friends and family.

Also, let’s not make this about Black Panther 2.

~~~~~~

6 Weeks Old

“I mean they can program a robot to perform surgery on a grape but they still have to jab a n-e-e-d-l-e into my baby’s skin for vaccinations.” Alex glared at a few of the other moms in the waiting room, eyeing Chris up and down with Ace.

Chris fed him while Alex filled out the medical file. He was noisy drinking from the bottle, but he took to bottle feeding easier than Alex expected. She watched from the corner of her eye, Chris was a natural, jumping right into action whenever Ace needed something. Seeing him walk around the house with Ace never got old. He was always singing songs to him, some made up. Alex’s favorite so far was the one called ‘Doggies Are Friendly’, in attempts to get Ace to warm up to Dodger. No luck.

Overall seeing Chris Evans with a baby was enough to get any woman excited, and willing to give him more. So she could understand the gazes he got from the other moms, but that didn’t mean she had to just sit there and let them undress her husband with their eyes.

“Al, he can’t understand you.” He watched Ace, unaware of the extra eyes lusting after him

“He’s intuitive Chris, he knows what I mean." Alex frowned, thinking about the how upset Ace would be once he got his shots. She always thought her mother was being overprotective when she was younger but now she understood it completely. She could hear him crying now, and the thought made her eyes sting.

Chris finally looked up, after hearing the infliction in Alex’s voice ”What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t say that, we’re not gonna bottle up our feelings.”

She half shrugged “I guess it’s a mental thing. I mean I know he has to get the shots- I just feel like I’m a monster, purposefully putting him through pain.”

“Baby, it’s a required check up, the first of many shots down the road. You aren’t a monster, you’re a mother.”

“Evans?” the nurse called out from behind the counter

“Are you gonna be okay?” Chris asked as they stood, shifting Ace against his shoulder to burp him

“If you’re asking me if I’m gonna cry, I’m making no promises.” she quickly admitted

Alex hovered over the nurse while she weighed and measured Ace, and checked his heartbeat. Ace’s face when the cold stethoscope touched his chest was adorably deadpan. However, Chris was the one with all the questions, discussing development stages with the nurse the entire time. Going over Ace’s feeding and sleeping routine, asking if the amount of sleep was too little or too much. Would changing the baby wipes would cause any rashes. How soon would it be before hiding out if he was actually allergic to food or animals. And he jotted it all down in his phone, Alex stopped the nurse short when she offered to give Chris her number for any future questions.

“Al, I can hold him.” Chris offered once it was time for the vaccine shots

“No, it’s fine. I can handle it.” She kept Ace’s head turned away facing Chris. The nurse took a step closer, syringe in hand, Alex moved away slightly. “Sorry.”

The nurse tried again, Alex turned the other way.

“Mrs. Evans, I need you to stop moving him.”

“Al-”

“Okay, you hold him.” she conceded, before handing Ace over to Chris

She chewed her nail and watched from her new spot. Ace cried the second the nurse stuck him, Chris felt tears rising to his eyes. He went to wipe them away before anyone could see but more spilled over hearing the cries getting louder. Ace fidgeted against Chris, a heartbreaking attempt for him to move away from whatever stuck him.

“It’s okay baby.” Alex did her best to soothe him while the nurse prepped for another shot. She looked up at Chris, his cheeks wet but he kept his face straight, Alex wiped the tears away from her husband’s face before repeating “It’s okay baby.”

Seeing Ace’s lip poke out while the nurse moved in to stick him again nearly made Chris go into full defense mode, but he bit the inside of his cheek when the crying started again. Ace’s, not his.

“It’s okay honey, we’re all done with the shots.” the nurse soothed, covering the puncture points with small smiley face band-aids

“Yay, all done!” Alex clapped while Chris kissed the top of his son’s head to calm him “You okay?” Alex gave her husband some comforting back rubs

“Yeah, I’m okay.” He sniffled

"Good because now we have to go to my appointment."

***

After chewing down the nails on her left hand, Alex was half through her right one when she was called into her doctor’s exam room. Chris offered to go in with her, but she quickly declined, knowing she would have to be undressed for part, if not most, of the check-up. She done her own self-examination last night, seeing how different she looked down there.

She didn’t want to be vain about it, but the first thing that popped in her head once she looked was how much she needed to get a wax. The second was equally as vain as it was humbling when she thought about having sex with Chris again. Her husband, AKA, Captain freaking America, who could eat to his hearts content and still come out looking as cut as the day she met him. Alex wanted to kick him and kiss him at the same time.

“Well Alex,” her doctor spoke, going over her notes “my main concern for you right now, is your blood pressure. It’s a little higher than usual, what’s your diet like at home?”

“More red meat than before, loads of pasta.” Alex paused to think “I tried string peas, y’know just for research purposes, surprisingly good.”

She chuckled “I tended to lean towards the squash when my first kid was born, but peas were a close second. What about stress?”

Alex shrugged “Fine, I guess. I mean, I can deal with it.”

“Alex, you can’t take this lightly. Stress can be just as harmful as smoking, for both you and your son. You are still breast feeding right?”

“Yes, and I started pumping.”

She jotted down some more notes “Mhmm, and how’s that going? No issues? Low milk supply? Pain while nursing?”

“Aside from the nipple chaffing, not really.” Alex picked at her nails, her doctor noticed

“Alex, I can’t help if you’re not one hundred percent honest with me. It’s bad enough we have doctors that downplay our symptoms because of a bullshit theory that Black people, specifically Black women, have higher pain tolerance. Don’t put on a brave face, not when it comes to your health.”

“Well when you put it like that- I hate pumping, I hate feeding sometimes too. It’s like a bunch of pins and needles sticking me when I do it, just sucking the life out of me. I don’t recognize my body anymore, and I’m warning you now, it’s not pretty down there. As for the stress, my husband and I have been fighting over what’s best for Ace, and our marriage. Which makes me concerned for when I go back to working. My Dad damn near broke his back, my son won’t sleep for longer than an hour, and I think he hates our family dog.” Alex exhaled a sharp breath

“You feel better?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“If you don’t like the feel you have when pumping when why do it?”

“Chris wants to be included in feed Alexander, my son, which I get. He’s gonna be back and forth between working and home again, so he wants his chance to bond with him.”

“But breast feeding is also uncomfortable to you?”

“Only when he fights trying to latch, but once he does and he’s calm, it’s worth it.”

“Have you ever considered formula? Lots of new moms do it, even rotated between that and breast milk. It’s actually proven to help both the mom and the baby.”

“We’ve talked about it, I voted against it.”

“I’m not saying you should, ultimately it’s your choice, but I will recommend, giving it a shot considering the stress you might be going through.” she scribbled down a few more notes “Now physically, how do you feel?”

“In my vagina?”

“There too. Please scoot forward and lay back for me.”

Alex followed orders and put her legs in the stirrups “Mostly tired, out of everything I’m exhausted. I’ve been walking to try and slim down a bit, but the weight isn’t going anywhere.”

“That’s to be expected, a lot of new moms hope for the baby weight to drop right off.” Alex’s doctor explained while pulling on her gloves “However, a lot of it is your uterus trying to shrink back to it’s regular size after being stretched out for nine months. Perfectly normal to like your body isn’t the same anymore, because it’s not. It gets easier the more kids you have.”

Alex chuckled “I don’t plan on having another one for a while.”

“Are you taking birth control?”

“No, Ace’s spit up on my clothes is all the birth control I need right now.” Alex shifted slightly “Plus I don’t really get in the mood too often now a days. Not sure if it’s emotional or mental but I’m just not ready to bring intimacy back in just yet.”

“Well physically, you’re good to go. Stitches are all healed, no signs of infection or tears. I will recommend going easy though, as well as a birth control, in case your mood changes.”

“Thanks, what do you recommend for my marriage?” Alex asked jokingly

“I have an acquaintance who’s a marriage counselor. I can give you her contact information if you like.”

“Um- I think I’ll pass this time Doc.”

“Okay then, I’ll let you get dressed and just talk to Toni at the desk before you leave to set up your next appointment.”

Chris stood once he saw Alex reenter the waiting room, Ace was fast asleep in the carrier.

“What did your doctor say? How are you doing?”

Alex did her best not to hesitate “A little concerned about my diet, said my blood pressure was a bit high, but overall-”

“Are you okay?”

“Chris, let me finish.” she gave him a reassuring smile “I gotta fix my diet, limit my stress and my blood pressure will be fine.”

“What did she say about- other things?” he hinted, a light blush creeping to his cheeks

“Well- my insatiable husband- I should wait a little longer. Nothing is wrong it’s just what she recommends.”

Chris nodded “Okay, not a problem.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders “We’ll wait, doctor’s orders.”

“Doctor’s orders.”

#chris evans x ofc #Chris Evans #Black Writers #OFC #babyblues #marvel #Avengers #Defending Jacob #devil all the time #Sebastian Stan #black reader #the falcon and the winter soldier #rip chadwick boseman

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rotten-whispers · 4 years

Text

Trump Card - short story

This piece was written directly before the 2020 presidential elections, but has no affiliation to any political leaders of any kind. . . Nor was it written out of humorous anxiety or political parody, all of that is simply a coincidence of course.

(Also available on wattpad, link in bio)

The year is 2116, and you have just sat down to watch the news.

Hopefully, of course. Because there hasn't been any good news in a very long time. The world has gone downhill in the past 100 years, people have said. And now it's a caricature of what it used to be, ripened by catastrophe and apocalyptic apathy in every corner of the globe.

You sip your coffee and wait.

The news will come on at 11am and play until 2pm, where, on the dot, it will be shut off. People should not be over encumbered by disaster, the news stations were told. Our country should only have to stomach it for a few hours every day.

You've never cared very much for the news yourself, of course, because it isn't very interesting. All of the suffering is so overdone, honestly, you've seen it all in the past 30 years that you've been around. Plague, war, environmental catastrophe, attempted alien invasion, progress toward time travel – pish, posh, uninteresting! What new disaster could ever hope to capture your attention? They were fighting a losing battle.

But still you watch the news, because there isn't anything else on right now. Plus, the presidential elections are coming up, and perhaps there will be something interesting there.

All sorts of candidates have appeared in the past 100 years, but they've all been eerily similar. All with the same unprofessional, almost childish ignorance. They have all had the same taste in fashion, and the same swirl of golden hair.

How odd, you and the rest of the world thought. I wonder if these people could be related.

Every year, one of these people would win, too, but every year, there was still a fool who would try to run against them. A poor fool, growing ever more desperate, who would rant and pull their hair and emphatically struggle to get the country to just once, god, just once vote for the other party.

Never any dice, of course. And so the clonal line would continue to win, year after year, and the world shrugged its shoulders and said well, you voted for him, cannot help you there, sorry.

The problem was, you don't believe that you did vote for him -- you didn't vote at all in the last election. Or the one before that, or the one before that. And the one before that? Then, you did, but you definitely voted for the other party.

The poor woman, dressed in blue, who turned directly to the cameras and begged your country to vote for somebody else.

"Not even me," She had said. "Just anybody but him again!"

So you had voted for her. And so had all of your friends, and your friends' friends, and their friends, and everybody that you had ever met. All of you voted for the frantic lady in blue, because you felt that she was right.

Those people did win every year, come to think of it. Perhaps it was time for a change.

But still one of them won. And still they laughed, wearing the same triumphant smirk that your country had become accustomed to, as the frantic lady shook her head and shouted: "What is wrong with you people?!"

That was the last year that you or anybody that you knew had voted. Now even the act of signing the ballot was a waste of time, because our fate was sealed long before the numbers would even be counted.

And this strange line of people, all with identical faces, all with identical heads of strange, golden hair – which had to be toupees, of course, because they looked so unbelievably false – they continued to rule.

And you continued to watch the debates, with a shrug for the other side, who never once gave up trying.

But there is always the hope that this year will be different.

You really, genuinely pray that it will be, because things really seem to be getting worse. The amount of caffeine in your "coffee" is negligible at this point -- hell, the amount of coffee in your coffee is negligible at this point! And don't even mention chocolate. You had dreams of chocolate, the forbidden crop from the dying rain forest. Every year, for your birthday, you scrounged up enough money to buy a single square, and by god did you cherish it. It was a bittersweet reminder of how the world used to be, a hundred years ago.

At least now, however, there were plenty of things to watch on Tv. Plenty of drama to keep yourself occupied.

When the news begins, you eagerly settle down into your favorite chair.

Saturday mornings, a wonderful time to catch up on the rest of the world. It was the perfect escape from the dreary office in which you worked, toeing the line hour after hour, trying to reach that sweet 10pm when you would be released. The new work day was 8am – 10pm, or hadn't you heard? We have to break our backs to afford air conditioning, of course, because the globe has gotten so unbelievably hot as of late.

That was the first story that you sat through, bored to tears almost immediately. Bored of the weatherman as he predicted another record high temperature.

"Wow, and we are going to be at triple digits for our record fifth month in a row! This is truly an unbelievable event!" He said, nearly word for word as his announcement last week. You change the channel.

This one is delivering an update on the plague. It has gotten worse, of course, as it does every week.

"In these troubling times we ask that you keep faith in our government, which is taking every possible precaution." The man said. His words were immediately interrupted by a commercial, advertising a new theme park which had opened in Oklahoma, and which promised a 10% discount to anyone who bought a group pass for the new season.

"You won't regret it!" Chittered the tv. "Nobody has ever regretted having fun!"

That's the usual entourage of disaster, you think. The world always ends the same way, and it does so about five times a month. You flip to the next channel.

Don't worry, they always said, we have everything under control. And then there would be an update with more bad news, and so the cycle would repeat. Sometimes the news felt more like a punishment than a privilege, these days.

But still, there is something that keeps you glued to your seat, the remnants of caffeine racing through your veins. You desperately want to find something new, something to distract yourself from the dreary world outside your doors. Because this is your day off, and you feel that you deserve a break.

Eventually, just before 2pm, on a research channel that you or hardly anyone ever watches, you find your distraction.

"A strange new discovery has been made that promises to change the course of history forever!" The woman on screen says, excitedly. "Dr. Dire, an entomologist has come all the way from South America to talk to us today about a strange little bug! Dr. Dire, what do you have for us?"

Coolly, a man appears. "Thank you, Miss Waters. My research crew and I have discovered a very unusual new form of parasitism that we have never quite encountered before. Have you ever heard of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis?"

"No," The announcer says. "No, I can't say that I have."

"Well, it's more commonly known as the zombie ant fungus. It's a parasite that penetrates the exoskeleton of ants, using them as a tool for reproduction. Essentially, this fungus changes the ant's behavior by forcing the host to climb to the top of a leaf or stem and permanently clamp its mandibles on the plant. Then the fungus will develop a stalk from the ant's head, releasing spores and mummifying its prey."

"That sounds horrifying! And this mind control fungus is what you wanted to talk to us about?"

"No, no." Now his cool attitude shatters, for a moment, filled with scientific intrigue. "I am here today to talk to you about Megalopyge opercularis, the southern flannel moth. Because we have just proven that as a caterpillar, this species is capable of the same complex parasitism and mind control as the zombie ant fungus. And from our experiments, depending on the host of the caterpillar, the lifespan may increase severely as well. We're looking at 30, maybe 40 years of parasitism! While an oblivious host is completely overtaken and used for this insect's needs, unable to communicate, cry, or even scream for help."

"Scream?" The woman repeats, with a laugh, but his eyes are serious when they train onto her.

"Yes, scream, because this creature can parasitize humans as well. We had an accident in the lab," He leans in closer to the camera, suddenly very, darkly serious. "One of our researchers, his suit broke. And this caterpillar crawled on top of him, pinning itself to the top of his skull. We heard him scream, from the horrible stinging hairs -- but we weren't able to reach him in time."

"Did he die?" Both you and the woman are completely enthralled.

"Oh, no," Dr. Dire says. "He was perfectly fine. Or so we thought. . . until a week later, when we discovered that his personality had almost completely changed. He had always been very. . . progressive," The scientist looks uncomfortable. "But now he was almost like. . . Like a caricature of himself."

Dr. Dire narrows his eyes. "My friend had become a completely different person overnight, and we could not find a reasonable explanation for his behavior. . . I thought that it might have been stress, or trauma from the incident, until one day when we ran into each other outside of work -- outside of our protective suits. And then I saw the top of his head."

"And?" She leans toward him.

"And the caterpillar was there. All of his hair had fallen out and the beast was in its place, like a wig, like a toupee. It had become him, Miss Waters. I know that it had. This ignorant, sexist fool is not one of my colleagues anymore. He is not one of my friends. He is a monster and the entire world must know what this parasite is capable of."

"I'm afraid that we're running out of time," The host begins to say, with a smile, but Dr. Dire frantically interrupts, forcing the camera back onto him.

"Listen to me, this caterpillar can infect anyone! We have noticed unusually high populations in the wild, with a distribution that has overtaken most of North America. This creature is not suffering from the changing climate, it is thriving. It is almost as though each and every one of our catastrophes has been a benefit to this beast. It thrives as we perish!"

"Dr. Dire, please-"

"No!" He yells, slamming a fist down onto the table. "This thing has taken over our world! Can't you see? Our ruined planet has become the perfect place for this moth to reproduce. Our bodies have become the perfect hosts for its young to inhabit! And all of us are just sitting by and waiting while it makes everything worse!"

"I think that you're overreacting," Miss Waters says. "How could a caterpillar possibly make the world a worse place? Even if it can control its victims, it's just a bug, isn't it?"

"It isn't just a bug," The man says, and he buries his head in his hands, suddenly looking very, very tired, like he had not slept in weeks. "My friend has never expressed an interest in politics before, but do you know the first thing that he said to me, before he left the lab?"

She shakes her head and Dr. Dire gives a dark, desolate laugh.

"He said: "The elections are coming up. I think that I'll run for president this year."

Something about this story has started to deeply unnerve you, and you are grateful when the news finally ends.

Perhaps it was that horrible desperation in the scientist's eyes -- like a man who had given up entirely, because everything was already lost.

You need to distract yourself from the prickling discomfort in the back of your mind, so you scrounge up some rationales. This caterpillar cannot possibly be that bad -- the researcher was only trying to fear monger because it's election season.

In fact, maybe he was crazy – they always say that you can't trust science these days. Maybe this caterpillar doesn't even exist.

With the news ended, the presidential debates would begin soon. But you feel too unnerved to simply wait -- it's time to settle your suspicions once and for all. So you pull up the caterpillar species on your laptop, and start reading, as the Tv flickers behind you.

Megalopyge opercularis, also known as the southern flannel moth, is renowned for its strangely shaped caterpillars, which are covered with stinging golden hairs, resembling a badly made toupee. The species has adapted readily to the changing global climate, and is now very common in all areas of the globe, particularly North America, where it reproduces in swarms every 4 years.

Every four years, you think, checking the date of its last swarm. 4 years ago, almost exactly. Just a month ahead of the presidential debates, just in time for the upcoming election.

The feeling of discomfort has blossomed into full fledged anxiety, now, as you stare at the television, waiting for the debate to begin.

There is something horribly familiar about this caterpillar, you think. Something that very strongly resembles its golden hair.

"Hello everyone," The president says, as he approaches the stage with his usual grin, like fangs locked in a sneer. He knows that this debate is just a formality, because there is no fear of losing, not anymore. Not since the past 100 years, when his party would win, year after year after year.

You and the thousands of other viewers wait for him to speak, anxiously studying his form. Thinking to yourself that he really does resemble the last president -- and the one before that, and the one before that, ad infinitum.

You wait, and you watch, and eventually, you finally start to realize the source of the scientist's desperation.

On the top of your president's head, as with all of the previous ones, is a mop of wispy golden hair, completely and utterly identical to the parasitic caterpillar.

"Let's get on with it then, shall we?" The president says, leering at the camera. "I have a feeling that this year's election is going to be especially interesting."

#writing #stories #short story #short stories #parody #satire #political satire #politics #science #caterpillars #southern flannel moth

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torispencerkeene-blog · 4 years

Text

Masks: Myths and Facts

Personal Rights/Politics/Fake News/Conspiracy

Myth: Covid-19 is a government/left-wing conspiracy. Covid-19 was designed by China to destroy America. It is China’s fault we are dealing with Covid-19. Fact: There is absolutely no evidence that Covid-19 is any of those things.

Myth: Covid-19 has been stopped. We are doing fine and there is no need to continue wearing masks. Fact: Covid-19 is still raging in the United States and several other countries. We as citizens must do what we can to help. Just as we vote to elect officials to protect us, we also need to do our part in protecting each other.

Myth: Doctor Fauci and the CDC have said I don’t have to wear a mask. That means I don’t need one. Fact: Yes, that was the original statement. It has since been explained that those statements were made at a time when medical professionals didn’t have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) and the government was hoping to avoid creating a panic and to avoid people buying all the remaining products that doctors, nurses, and first responders needed. Also, since the time those statements were made, months of research has shown us that masks do reduce transmission (by as much as 85%).

Myth: Masks are a symbol of tyranny. Masks are stepping on my personal rights under the constitution. Fact: No one is asking you to wear a mask because they want you unheard, because they are trampling your rights, or because of socialism. The reason people are encouraged to wear a mask is to protect those around you. Your family, friends, neighbors, store clerks, etc.

Myth: Wearing a mask makes me look weak (my husband said to put this one in). Fact: While I have no science to back this up, I can tell you, wearing a mask doesn’t make you look weak. It makes you look smart. Kind. Considerate. Raffish maybe. Dangerous. It certainly doesn’t make you look weak.

Are there Dangers to Wearing a Mask?

Myth: My breath gets caught in the mask, trapping carbon monoxide and making me sick. Fact: Only particles are stopped by the face masks. Your breath cannot be stopped because it flows through the tiny spaces in the material. No fabric you would use to make a mask is air-tight. Masks don’t stop your breath, only bacteria and particles and the moisture that is carried on your breath.

Myth: Masks trap harmful bacteria against your face and can make you sick. Fact: On the inside of the mask, only your own bacteria is caught. Since it is yours, and you’ve already been exposed to it, there is little chance it will cause you to become ill.

Myth: I don’t need to wash my masks. Fact: You should wash your masks after each use (and only use them once). While your own bacteria is caught on the inside of a mask, the bacteria other people carry might end up on the outside. That is why you should always remove masks by the loops that circle around the ears and wash them with soap and hot water (a washing machine is fine).

How to Wear a Mask

Myth: Homemade cloth face coverings are ineffective, and shouldn’t be worn in public. I should be using an n-19 respirator. Fact: Wearing a homemade facemask might not stop a healthy person from getting Covid-19, but it does reduce the risk. Also, wearing homemade masks can help prevent those who are Covid-19-positive from spreading it to others because the fabric can trap some, or all, of the particles that spread the virus. While respirators would work better, they should be reserved for medical workers and first responders.

Myth: I only need to cover my mouth. A loose-fitting mask is fine. Fact: You should always cover both your mouth and nose with your mask. Make sure the mask fits snug against your face so nothing can get in or out around the sides.

Where to Wear a Mask

Myth: If I don’t feel sick, I don’t need to wear a mask. Fact: Many Covid-19-positive people have no symptoms, or have delayed symptoms. Wearing a mask protects others in case you have Covid-19 with no symptoms.

Myth: You don’t have to wear a mask at home. Fact: If you are Covid-a9-positive (or are waiting for results and feel ill) you should isolate yourself in a single room. Any time you leave that room, you should be wearing a mask and practicing proper social distancing and safety precautions.

Myth: If you’ve already had Covid-19, you don’t need a mask. Fact: The antibodies for Covid-19 have been shown to reduce greatly over time. More information is needed to discover how long they last, or how likely it is that someone will be infected a second time.

Myth: I don’t need to wear a mask outside. Fact: Sometimes it is necessary. While it is true that the risk of spread is lower outdoors, there is still a possibility of transmission. In any crowded space, or whenever you are within six feet of other people, you should wear a mask.

Myth: If I wear a mask I don’t need to stay home (or social distance). Fact: Limiting exposure reduces risk. While masks and proper protective measures are extremely important, they are not foolproof. In any enclosed space, your risk of transmission is greater, even with a mask. Maintain social distancing whenever possible, stay home (or alone) as much as possible. Your are only helping yourself and the ones you love.

Myth: You have to wear a mask when you swim. Fact: It’s probably better not to get your mask wet, especially with sea-water. If you are going to go swimming, keep the mask on when you are on the beach or at the pool-side, and any time you are around people. You can take it off to go into the water, but remain away from people who do not live with you. This should reduce the risk. Remember, six feet is considered the minimum safe distance.

How to Wear a Mask:

Wash your hands before putting on your mask. If you can’t wash them, at the very least, use some sort of hand sanitizer and avoid touching your mouth, nose, and eyes until you can.

Start at the top. Cover your nose to your chin, then loop it around the ears.

Make sure the mask fits close to your face to avoid contaminated air from leaking around the edges. It doesn’t need to dig into your skin, but fit snug against it.

Whatever mask you use, make sure you can breathe easily through the material. (I have found spandex material fits better around the nose and covers it easily without fogging up your glasses, but it should be reinforced over the mouth so no particles can get through.

If at all possible, keep the face covering (mask) on the entire time you are out. If for any reason you can’t do this, keep a clean spare in your bag, purse, briefcase, or even in a zip lock bag in your pocket. (I take mine off every now and then to smoke a cigarette, but I make sure I am far from other people when I do so.

When removing the mask, only touch the ear loops. This helps you avoid getting anything on your hands (but to be safe, you should wash them or use hand sanitizer). Put it directly into the laundry, your place for dirty masks, or into a zip lock bag so that no germs will spread to the rest of your things.

Wash your masks before reusing them. Moisture allows bacteria to grow and they can smell if you don’t clean them quickly (have enough spares that you can wash some while having others for use).

For more information (Sources) Note: The CDC has directions for making your own face covering.

www.CDC.gov www.WHO.int University of Maryland Medical System - Wearing a Mask: Myths and Facts Pacific Northwest University - Fact vs. Fiction: Face Masks TriCare - Face Masks, Stress: Covid-19 Myths vs Facts AARP - 7 Myths about Face Masks

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that-one-nerd-over-yonder · 5 years

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I wanna get this off my chest and then for my own mental health and sanity and then never have to interact or see these people again. Black (Trump Supporting) conservatives on twitter (and I’m talking about the ones with the big platforms) are scarily weird. And I don’t mean this in a “LIBeraL idEaOLogY iS bETteR” bullcrap. Like for example, the common these among them seems to be

-A sort of claim to Christianity (and very smug about it) (how tf are you smug about serving God???)

-Usually a lack of black influence, or like an obsessive need to separate themselves from other black people

-get their validation from older white trump supporters online (yet seems to get no support when they mention they struggles they face being black)

-really don’t seem to grasp the concept of intersectionality besides politics, i.e you can be black AND this, not just dealing with politics

-“Black people don’t have to be democrats” well damn do we have to be republicans either?

-a lot of them are bullies, then when they get retaliated against the play the victim

-very hypocritical, “black people need to stop letting race define them and stop playing the race card but oh, if you have any criticisms against them you hate black people”

-“democrats think black people are stupid” nooooo, you think your own community is stupid and are trying to set yourself apart because you think you’re some Godsent

-Why the hell are you considered a free thinker but any other black person with opposing views is a “slave”

-why are black people the only ones with “slave mentality”

-spews a lot of ish without really fact checking some of it. (Sometimes through memes????)

-y’all really putting all your cards in Trump? That dude??? Really? (it’s an unhealthy idolization of the man)

-a lack of regard or understanding of their history (and weirdly smug about it too???) likenoyoucantchangehistorytomakeyourselffeelbetterimsorry

-nothing really sets them apart from any other non-black conservatives apart from being black

-did I mention how much of bullies they are??? Oh I did? Well they’re bullies

-most of these people didn’t even vote for trump in 2016???????? For some of these people it wasn’t until last year they were vocal about their support (which I guess should make you think)

-scapegoat their own people a lot, like A LOT (as well as a lot of other minority groups that end up intersecting with black lives)

-being self-righteous doesn’t equal a relationship with God or being God’s servant

-complain about how no black person wants to hang out with them or date them yet continually claims to be the savior of the black community and berate the black community.

-I don’t really think they like the lgbt community that much imma be real, I truly don’t

-asforemention when their race finally comes into play (ya know as it does when your a black person living in America) they rarely get support from the people who hype them up so much

-I don’t think they realized that one wrong move will make them a literal enemy of those people??

-you can’t escape your race at the end of the day I’m sorry. Like I get not wanting to view your race as a limitation and taking responsibility for the life your given. But at the end of the day you as a black person face things that no other race of people face and yea

-really try to push that racism is in the past or that the racism today is only done by white democrats/liberals, black democrats/liberals (because it’s only racism when it’s done to them)

-like I’m not kidding I saw one girl jokingly reply to a news article about a literal kkk rally say “Who even does these anymore” and her replies were just of white people saying that very few people do this and it’s the democrats as if the kkk isn’t a huge terrorist organization running rampant in the US

-the whole phrase of “They want their slaves back” is kinda gross if you think about it cause it insinuates that black people who aren’t right-wingers are slaves?????

-enable and hype up those who diss Michelle Obama and regarded her with disgusting insults but Melania is their beautiful WhYte qUEen (this part really grinds my gears, that’s how you know some of these people are self-hating, Michelle Obama is dumb and worthless to them but Melania is the standard of what a woman should be)

-Ivanka too

-They literally hype up white people for anything

-I really truly can’t stress this enough in how much they seem to believe that their own community is dumb and unable to think of form intellectual decisions for themselves

-you know you can healthily critic Obama’s policies and how he didn’t really show up for the black community when he was supposed to sometimes, as well as calling out bs liberal and democratic ideaology without full blown boot linking and throwing your race under the bus?? I cannot stress this enough when I say, just because black people don’t have to be democrats doesn’t mean they have to fall for the bullshit that is republican pandering

-I also cannot stress this enough, being the republican party’s go to guy is no way better or more superior to being the Democratic party’s “slave”

To end, I’m specifically talking about these mainstream Trump supporting black conservatives. The ones on twitter who have a platform and an audience.

#black conservatives #politics #d #maybe delete later

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sweetdreamer90 · 6 years

Text

🚨This is annoying and frustrating 🚨 please finish reading all the tweet pics

Fanwars are stupid but here we go again

Fanwars are stupid when any Fandom starts talking sh** about another group their not just making only themselves look like a fool they're also giving their fandom a bad name and how do you think that reflects on their favorite. There is no such thing as a perfect fandom there's obviously certain fandoms that are more toxic than others.

Nobody is perfect IGOT7 army's EXO-L VIP Blinks etc the list goes on if you see one of your fandoms disrespecting and saying a lot of crap and saying lies report them and block.

Ahgases don't copy butthurt people who try to hurt and start crap. army's don't copy the immature army's etc. And just in general for all multifandoms don't copy the haters

It's honestly easy to be pulled into one of these Fanwars

And to think txt/army's were getting pissed at Jus2 winning the Mnet pre-voting it's not like they won a huge award yet people feel better picking on them and belittling them GOT7 are always on the top charts with EXO and BTS in the same polls of voting GOT7 had been invited to the Grammys before and broke records and sold out on worldwide tours won on EMA and Jackson AMA and Teenchoice.

They had interviews in America and on billboards they were number 9 the only Asians on the top 10 sold out concert in the U.S also in Europe and South America and North in Asia. Our fandom has grown bigger than what we thought it would be so if we know that we know that our fandom and our boys GOT7 are not a flop and they can sing in real time and can dance amazing and can write meaningful lyrics and produce so we should have pride in our boys and be more confident

and don't care what haters say about our boys we know it's not true if they start talking sh** about them and us

I understand it's a little bit hard to ignore but it's just a distraction for us not to focus on GOT7 let's not fall for it let's keep on supporting Jus2 and jinyoung New drama and Jackson Wang and Bam Bam

whatever people say in any fandom doesn't change the fact that our boys GOT7 are talented af and deserve way more and we're going to give them what they deserve

And in the same time we should just stop with the whole only Stan Jackson or only Stan JJP thing

This kind of things is what keeps us divided and keeps us away from actually helping GOT7 I cannot stress this enough just remember whoever is your favorite in the group he is still part of that group and whatever affects GOT7 affects your favorite cuz they put their heart into everything they do so when you don't care and you ignore GOT7 and you're not supporting them you're letting your favorite like Jackson or JB or bambam or Mark etc go down with the rest of their group so please keep that in mind.

Also if your friends with different fandom's don't hold anything against he or she into this mess cuz there's nice and good kind people in every each fandom GOT7 and BTS are not stuck-up or rude they're not about that life. like for example "oh your a piece of crap and we are better than you" hell No!

I don't care if you don't give Fu** about my Fandom or you don't care for a certent fandom you're representing your group whatever crap you put keep that in mind I'll say it again GOT7 and BTS and also other kpop idols are not about that life they hang out together go out have fun or eat

You don't have to listen or like a group to respect them

When you think how chill or how humble or how down-to-earth your idol is and how they're all dorks and how they treat everybody with kindness even in the award shows remember that don't remember the people that bash you or say crap about your favorite group on social media remember a group doesn't have a fault in how their fandoms act

So remember to show respect to all groups we can't change what's happening between IGOT7 and army's but we can make things less ugly and we need to educate each fandom

#kpop #fan wars are stupid #ahgase #igot7 #army #exo-l #vip #blinks #etc

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arcticdementor · 5 years

Quote

To be sure, this is a man speaking. But the fundamental quality of this kind of approach to art, culture, the public square, and the rest of it, is evidence of a disordered and out of control femininity. And an equally dysfunctional and abdicating masculinity. A comment left by Youngamconreader on another thread got me thinking about this. I think there is a direct connection between the sexual orientation and gender identity and "alternative family" topics that this blog often discusses, and what's going on in a story like this one, here. I think we are collectively experiencing a massive breakdown/derangement of sex, of masculinity and femininity, and the damage is felt in every single corner of our society and our politics. The "pink police state" (Poulos--check him out) that is coming into being is the product of a miserable and frustrated femininity, which holds the field almost without opposition due to the near-complete abdication of men, who are, sometimes I think almost "to a man," in today's society, nihilistic and disengaged. For those who would say Trump proves that this is not true, I would say look at how he stands alone--at least in America and indeed in the Anglosphere. Everybody agrees that he is sui generis; all of the establishment of his own party just wants things to go back to the way they were; there is nobody who even remotely resembles something like a successor. Also, it is telling that one of the major reasons he won is because he is an online troll, but rich and famous enough to do it under his own name; he is the stand-in for huge numbers of men who have nothing but contempt for today's world but who only reveal their views and feelings anonymously. In large measure, men are opting out. Our bourgeois and hugely wealthy and powerful nation is decadent and its people are soft and domesticated; and, what is worse, the men of sensitivity and intelligence, of taste and discernment, are disgusted by what they see -- a rotten culture of placelessness, hideous architecture and built environments, unbelievably bad art and culture, degenerate music, films made for lowest-common-denominator global audiences, films that are so much more hideous than what was being done for decades, even as early as the 1930s, that it boggles the mind (every single person involved in CGI production should be lined up and shot), universities that have destroyed their own liberal arts programs -- OK, I need to stop myself, but you get the point, they are disgusted by what they see -- primarily they are disgusted by the *domestication* of the people they are supposed to look up to and/or emulate -- and they withdraw. We know about the video game and pornography addicts, the shut-ins, the "incels," but there is very much more to it all even than that. In the meantime, there is relentless, endless, earnest propaganda directed at women like a fire hose, constantly telling them that the essence of their own womanhood is bound up with their bourgeois career success. Nonstop messages received during their schooling, on TV and the movies and the internet, from bougie parents, tell them that they should reach for the stars (by *working*, always by working) and never to settle for just being a mother or just a wife. This has been going on for a long time, and many Boomers are certainly true believers in it -- my Boomer mother certainly believes it like a religion, God bless her -- and it is certainly true that if you have no training or career you are going to be more financially dependent and/or more financially precarious, and the Boomers, who divorce at the drop of a hat, greatly fear that. But my generation and the generations after (I was born in the early/mid 80s) have been taught constantly and relentlessly that work/career is identity, is the *point* of life, and quite frankly women got it MUCH more than men did, since the idea was to correct or change the unfairnesses/biases/power imbalances of the past. And it has resulted in a huge number of women who are unhappy and unfulfilled. It turns out that a life of making PowerPoints or pushing papers or running workplace conflict-resolution trainings or whatever do not really fulfill people; those women who substitute career for family entirely, or who find themselves torn between the two and not very sure they are finding a balance that they will ultimately be very happy about when they look back on their life, know that something is not right. I think we all used to have a much saner approach back in the day, before "career" was a word much used, and before resume/CV culture was so widespread; people may have been a lot poorer, but at least they understood that a job was about doing something that somebody or other had to do, and putting food on the table and a roof over the head of their kids; at least people weren't being sold a bill of goods by their parents, their teachers, authority figures, and the culture as a whole about what the point of being human and living life really is. I don't blame women for being unhappy -- I think the way our culture *relentlessly* propagandizes women that their very femininity and their very identity is bound up in bourgeois career success is one of the very cruelest aspects of life in "late capitalism." It is worse for them than for us men. It is not just that there is nothing wrong with having and raising children -- an incredibly difficult and honorable job. It is that the vast majority of people are not going to find true purpose and meaning in a consumer capitalist society (or probably any other society) just via their work alone. Selling phones or cutting hair or writing ad copy or processing loan applications or playing the Pachabel Canon for the three billionth time at weddings might not be so bad, you might even like it OK most of the time, but it is not the same thing as, say, raising your child, at least not for most people, and certainly bourgeois career success should not be so incredibly inappropriately stressed in our society to the point where increasing numbers of women -- women who want kids! -- are waiting until they are 37 to start families and freezing their eggs and the rest of it. It is just cruel and it alone by itself is enough to make me strongly dislike this consumer capitalist system we live in. Women are unhappy and are sort of flailing about projecting their unmet needs and frustrated desires in numerous directions. They are frustrated with the aforementioned nihilistic and disengaged men, they are pissed that they work outside the home and inside it too and they still struggle to make ends meet and especially to find the time they need, they lose out because a consumer capitalist society constantly f***s them over by creating an arms-race situation for intrasexual competition. In a more conservative and traditional society, say a society that frowns on makeup, women do not have to compete in that sphere. But in a society like ours, if certain women have the money and time to do a lot with makeup, then suddenly large numbers of women have to spend the time and money on it too just to compete or keep up. This does not make women better off. A consumer capitalist society squeezes them constantly. A society in which the health-care system is a disaster -- and I don't care if you hold the typical liberal views about why it's a disaster or the typical conservative views about why it's a disaster -- hurts women more because they rely on it more for basic biological reasons. Woman carry a human being inside them for a significant period of time (if they have kids) -- nothing men have to deal with ever compares to that health/biological-wise. All that said, women today -- who are not being well served by our current economic/cultural/social orthodoxy, at all -- are playing a major/primary role in this disordered and I think semiapocalyptic woke politics. Chesterton was not afraid to write, and did write, about why he opposed women's suffrage, and he said that in human history, women *have* been queens (including some very good ones), have been monarchs, have certainly wielded power -- but it is precisely in the context of *democracy* that they have not had the vote, not in human history or at least Western history. And, indeed, as he put it, women have/had not been given the vote precisely because they are in some sense too powerful, they are absolute rulers in their bones in a way that men are not. There is something to this, even if in our age we cannot tolerate or hear it. One of the things that amuses me is the way -- and they used to do it more often than they do now, but perhaps you know what I mean -- conservatives often lament or attack depictions, in TV or movies, of the married couple where the man is a stupid shlub while the woman is the smart, knowing, sensitive, and competent one. I agree with the conservatives who see this as anti-male---sure. But to me, it really means something else. The reason we see men depicted this way and women depicted that way is because men tolerate it and women would not tolerate the reverse. What it means is that men give in, don't want to deal with it, don't want to fight, while women will NOT let it go, will do what it takes to make the man understand that it is NOT worth his time and energy to go there, to do X annoying or undesired thing, etc. So, we have men depicted as losers, and women depicted as anything but. There is a lesson here. This is *exactly* the same dynamic that we see with conservatives and liberals, with the Republican and Democratic parties! If, for example, Roe v. Wade was overturned, there would be an efficient, effective, organized, identify-every-single-pressure-point-and-*squeeze* response from upper middle class women that would bring the entire Republican Party to its knees within days. It would be a massacre the likes of which you have never seen. Every single HR and public relations department of every single company on the Fortune 500 list would tell the wholly owned and wholly craven Republican Party exactly what to do--stand now right now-- and that would be that. I don't mean to say that conservatives are all men and liberals are all women, but the conservative "spirit" of the current moment is very male (the natural law arguments! Good Lord!) and the liberal "spirit" of the moment is very female. And it is no contest, at all. Women understand that men are less socially adept (quick: what is the ratio of male autists to female autists?) and that men, while unquestionably stronger physically, are more conflict-averse and more predictable (as everybody knows, men want certain things and it's pretty easy to know exactly what they are and to use that information to one's advantage; whereas, as Freud so perfectly distilled, the question of what women want is itself so difficult to answer as to be a kind of female superpower) -- and women use this for everything it's worth. And today, in our democracy, we see the consequences, as a kind of feminine disordered or frustrated impulse holds the field basically unopposed. This idea that this mural -- to get back to the topic of the original post! -- needs to be torn down because "it makes the children feel unsafe" -- here we see a feminine sensibility both disordered and displaced but winning the field because there's hardly anything else with the will to stand up to it. The masculine counterpoint to this smothering mother has withdrawn -- perhaps to 4chan, perhaps to Pr0ntube. Conservatives used to love pointing out that in the inner city, the family had completely broken down to the point where the matriarch/mother was the only influence in childrens' lives and husbands and fathers had ceased to exist. Well, we see that now in our society/culture as a whole. Somehow, the mother alone, the feminine quality alone, does not yield great results, when not counterbalanced with the masculine.* Things become disordered and even monstrous. I am a gay man, and I can't help but think that, when I do this, when I write about this stuff, Camille Paglia (PBUH) should be my model and my inspiration, because she saw so clearly, and so strikingly, from the outside, so to speak, the great and immortal interplay and relationship between male and female that produces *all* of us, and that is essential to -- not only beauty and art, but order, form, and *lastingness*, things that do not die. We all and every one of us need a society in which the male and the female are counterbalanced and juxtaposed and brought together in a great tension and a great union. The disordered and indeed cataclysmic collapse of the male and female counterbalance is impacting us everywhere, and in ways we do not even realize -- I firmly believe that. There must be a return and rediscovery of the masculine force and the masculine will -- to connect this to the posts about open borders, to a masculine will that says "no, I am drawing a line" -- how many of you have read Sexual Personae, and the CENTRAL role that the idea of "drawing the line" plays in that book? Men "draw the line," which is why men have dominated almost beyond measure the realm of visual art in human history. There must be a return to this, or the nation will dissolve into the primordial swamp that Paglia says represents--not the feminine, but the feminine when outside of civilization, the feminine in a state of nature and crude and unformed.

Matt in VA

#quote #long quote #very long quote #matt in va #the american conservative #comments section

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interstellactic-studios · 7 years

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Net Neutrality Update: The Repeal Rules Are Being Registered Today, But The Fight Is Not Over!

Hi everyone, it’s been a long time since I’ve done an NN Update. The news has stated the rules will officially be put into action on April 23rd.

As some of you may have seen by what I reblog or have heard from other sources, today is the day the Net Neutrality Repeal will be officially added into the registry in America. Our time to prepare for this was reset, and now we have a bit longer to fight extra hard!

Guys, we all don’t know how things will turn out once the repeal rules start taking effect, but hopefully it won’t be as terrible as anticipated and we can all still stay online at least with the free slow stream for the websites that are unable to afford the fast lane, and hopfully no information will be blocked.

I encourage you all not to panic again, as that will lead to nothing but Hysteria and drive focus away from keeping the fight going in the right direction like before.

So, I was informed Wifi Routers can also be a source of data throttling so there really isn’t a way to get out of this unless you’re a genius who created your own router for yourself somehow, or if you live somewhere where the Internet is still protected and free.

Possible Solutions: I believe, if I’ve heard correctly, that this is an election year. If that’s the case we may be able to solve this sooner than we hoped. Trump supports the repeal, and Ajit Pai is Trump’s FCC Chairman. If we can play our cards right this time, unlike last year im the Presidential Debate with all the fools who voted for Trump and most likely regret that decision now.

I was informed that this year is another election year, but since the Presidential Debate was last year, this is most likely for other elected officials like Senators and Representatives. If I was indeed informed correctly, this means we can get the negative officials who are against the majority of voices for protecting Net Neutrality out of office. Then we can hopefully vote in people who know what they’re doing is not for themselves, but for us, the people.

So, not only can we aim for electing people into office who also support the people and will try to fix what the Trump Administration has broken, we may be able to fix the problem here over time, and hopefully help out Canada as well to save their NN.

We cannot forget that the FCC is also still being sued by over a dozen states, so supporting that legal action is still a huge event in our fight.

I cannot stress enough the importance of avoiding panic. Please try not to let your emotions cause you to commit violence that you might regret, or cause you to spread panic to others.

STAND STRONG AND KEEP FIGHTING FOR OUR RIGHT TO A FREE AND OPEN INTERNET!!! DO NOT LET THEM TAKE AWAY ANOTHER POSITIVE THING FROM OUR COUNTRY JUST BECAUSE OF THEIR OWN SELFISH REASONS

We, The People, are NOT playing pieces of a monopoly board game.

Our Senators, Our Representatives, Our Congress, Our President, should not be taking away what basically all of the people support.

THIS IS WRONG, LIKE SO MANY OTHER ACTIONS OUR PRESIDENT HAS CAUSED AND/OR ALLOWED TO TAKE PLACE SIMPLY BECAUSE IT IS SOMETHING HE DOES NOT LIKE OR WAS MADE BY SOMEONE HE DOES NOT LIKE.

The battle we have been fighting with trying to win over our Congress members and sign petitions is at a pause with progress, and attention has been weakening toward the topic. The time for preparation isn’t completely gone yet, and now is an important time to keep fighting.

We should not have to beg for OUR GOVERNMENT’S ELECTED OFFICIALS to do the right thing!!!

I believe in everyone, there is still hope, there is still a battle to be had, we can still save it.

If there are any mistakes or misunderstood information in this post, questions, comments, or concerns, please message me in my Inbox or through Private Messaging.

This post was written by: @interstellactic-studios

Please include the tags when reblogging, feel free to add your own tags and information in your reblogs as well.

When information on this post has been updated/edited with corrections please reblog the recently updated version if there is a change.

#save net neutrality #net neutrality #net neutrality 2018 #masterpost #keep fighting #do not lose hope #ask me anything you are curious or concerned about #stay strong #we can do this #ONE MORE SENATOR #WE CAN DO THIS

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likeabxrdinflight · 6 years

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Not to be completely blunt, here’s how the night, and the next eight years, is most likely to play out based on electoral trends in my lifetime:

Dems will pick up just enough seats to win House majority tonight. Unless Dems run a phenomenal candidate in 2020, or else the economy suddenly tanks, Trump will win re-election. Congress will likely remain gridlocked for the last four years of his tenure- it’s unlikely Republicans will take back both majorities in 2020. In 2024, Democrats will probably sweep like they did in 2008, assuming not much changes in current voter trends, because 2024 will be a change year and by this point I imagine some of the more negative effects of the Trump presidency will be more prominent. Independents will probably be sick of him.

This is just how it goes.

And to the more socialist left, I really cannot stress enough- build a bridge, and get the fuck over it. America is not and never will be a socialist nation so long as people who remember the 1960s-80s are alive. The deep reddening of middle America cannot be ignored either, particularly with the electoral college system being what it is, nor can the gerrymandered districts be written off as unimportant. White anxiety is also not to be discounted- that’s playing an important role in voter trends. Yes it’s racist. But is shouting into the ether about how racist it is helping anything?

No. No it’s not. If anything you’re only making it worse. I come from such an area, I know what white anxiety looks like and what drives it. It’s coming from a place of deep insecurity and suspicion of the other. These people cannot and will not be won over by hearing kids shout at them. I don’t know that they can be won over, but I do know current strategies are not working. Not even a little bit.

Finally, it genuinely, genuinely cannot be overstated how important it is to vote anyways. I don’t give a shit if you don’t like the fact that Democrats are going to need to run more centrist to win in swing districts- you’re gonna suck it up and vote for them anyways. If you want to change my predicted pattern- you’re gonna need to show up, suck it up, and v o t e.

And if you don’t like republicans, you need to vote blue- third parties ain’t shit and you know it. Your anarchy and apathy mean nothing. And to the people who stayed home today- you do not get to complain. Period.

#midterms 2018 #election night #politics for ts

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omgktlouchheim · 6 years

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Word Vomit Wednesday - Stop Kavanaugh

Welcome to Word Vomit Wednesday! A series of blog posts where I attempt to process thoughts and feelings, usually about a specific topic from current events that I, and sometimes the rest of the Internet, ruminate obsessively about. All thoughts/opinions/experiences are my own (unless otherwise indicated); I don’t claim anything that I write to represent anyone other than myself.

CW: Sexual Assault

As with pretty much all the news about our current state of affairs, the Kavanaugh nomination and hearings for SCOTUS have been extremely triggering and stressful. Even before Professor Christine Blasey Ford came forward with her story of being sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh, this nomination indicated an even darker America to come, as if the one we’re in now isn’t dire enough for women, the LGBTQ+ community, and BIPOC. And, as with so much of the news we’ve been contending with since 2016, I’ve felt a need to pull back from watching it, reading tweets and articles almost ritualistically just so I can take care of myself physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Staying on top of everything going on takes a tremendous toll and I constantly find myself thinking about how the well-beings of marginalized people are constantly looked over and dismissed.

This came up for me again the other night when, after having a pretty relaxed evening watching The Emmy’s with my parents, my dad turned the news back on and that sense of simmering rage and hypervigilance that I’ve learned to just deal with existing as a woman in the world, came bubbling right to the surface. I had to leave almost immediately because that was not the way I wanted to end my day feeling. If I’m going to be active and helpful in any way, even in small ways like writing this blog, I need to be able to sleep at night. But one thing that came up in the few minutes of watching the Kavanaugh coverage that I have not been able to stop thinking about was a quote from someone in the nominee’s camp saying something along the lines of not even knowing the story or who the woman could possibly have been until Ford revealed herself. This narrative is offered over and over again as a way to dismiss women when they come forward in these situations. A narrative that continues to portray women and our experiences as insignificant.

That killed me. The fact that this woman not only went through a trauma where her personhood was never considered from the get-go, has been affected by it for decades, is risking her life for this country (she and her family have since had to leave their home due to death threats) to share her story and make her identity known, to again, be told by men she is not worthy of consideration is devastating. And that seems to be a major key in all of this. Women are not considered. At all. Kavanaugh probably didn’t recall the assault because he got what he wanted out of it. He never considered Ford or her feelings, needs, or wants. He couldn't have cared less. He still couldn’t care less. The GOP, who should care about putting an alleged rapist on the bench of the highest court in the land, but instead made a publicity stunt of having 65 women sign a document (all but two seemingly had no idea what they had signed) that stated they would vouch for Kavanaugh, definitely don’t see a problem if they’re willing to manipulate women to get their man through the confirmation process.

I saw a tweet the other day from @laurenthehough, who shared this sentiment: “You know what would be fucking weird to hear? ‘I did that. It was fucking terrible. I’m sorry. I did years of therapy and soul searching and work and I changed my behavior. I can’t change what I did. But I made damn sure I never did it again.’ Why is that never the statement?”

Why is that never the statement? I cannot tell you how healing it would be if those were the statements that we started hearing. Real accountability. Real apologies. Real work put into an individual’s growth and education. Would those statements start solving all of these problems? No, of course not. But they would at least indicate that these people recognize that the women they’ve hurt are people. And that they understand that they have caused harm, sometimes a lifetime’s worth, to another person. That would create a powerful shift. Because one of the reasons we don’t hear these statements is because these people don’t consider what they do to women to be of any significance. That unless you’re related to a woman by blood or marriage or if you find them attractive, they don’t matter. It’s probably inconceivable to Kavanaugh and his ilk that a situation that was so forgettable for him because “boys will be boys,” had been burned into Ford’s mind. She never mattered to him, he felt entitled to her and her body, and our culture allowed that.

As I’m writing this, I realize that I will be posting it on arguably the most important Jewish holiday of the year, Yom Kippur. Which couldn’t be more fitting for this topic. Yom Kippur translates to Day of Atonement. It comes ten days after Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, wherein those ten days are meant to give us time to reflect on the past year. All the great and terrible experiences and the things we wish we did better or hadn’t done at all. What we are sorry about and who we need to apologize to and when Yom Kippur finally arrives we are supposed to take full accountability for ourselves. Now, one day to hold ourselves accountable for our actions (as well as inactions) and how they’ve caused harm and suffering to others and actively make amends is not enough. Especially if the damage we have caused has had a prolonged traumatizing effect on person’s life and livelihood. Going to shul once a year and reciting prayers are not going to fix things or provide the healing that’s actually necessary. But at least the holiday is there to jumpstart the conversation. To hopefully get us thinking outside of ourselves and give the apologies that we wished we’d been given when we’ve been wronged and make necessary and lasting changes.

I’m pretty sure Brett Kavanaugh is not Jewish, probably has no idea what Yom Kippur is, and, like most cis-het white males, doesn’t think he's done anything wrong and that he's entitled to whatever the fuck he wants. But for those men who do genuinely want to make amends and be better people and because we very rarely have a framework for how to get started with that, I’m going to offer a few suggestions (mostly for men to combat rape culture and inequality, though some of these skills definitely apply in many other areas and for most people) on some things to start focusing on that would be incredibly helpful. This is by no means a complete and comprehensive list, and there is no significance to the order, but a few things to get people started.

Listen to women and believe them. We know our own experiences, so please do not come at us with “what if she’s lying” bullshit. There’s a reason men are conditioned to believe that women are liars and that reason is to keep women oppressed. Learning how to listen, really listen, is one of the most valuable lessons anyone can learn. When you check your egos at the door, unlearn your social conditioning, and learn to center and hold space for someone else and their feelings, especially when they’re in need, it validates their humanity. We all need support and knowing someone is in our corner who’s not going to question our motives, interrupt us as we process whatever we’re going through in the moment, or lash out at us is basic common decency that we are rarely shown, but (as women) are expected to provide for others. It’s also invaluable for the listener because you will get to understand someone else’s world a little better and hopefully gain more perspective on the one you inhabit.

Start asking “What do you need” and “How can I help you.” Practice those questions so much until they become second nature. No one is asking you to bend over backwards for other people, only you know what your limits are and it’s your responsibility to be honest about what you can or cannot do, but this is another small gesture, just like listening, that goes a long way. On the flip side of that, asking for help when you’re struggling is an important skill as well. People will typically show up for you if you give them a chance, especially if you’ve shown up for them.

Hold other men exhibiting toxic behavior accountable. Show by example how a good man acts and let those who are extremely problematic know that you see them and what they're doing and are not here for it. Men listen to other men (bc toxic masculinity, but that’s a post for another day), so you pointing out that some behavior or thought-pattern is problematic or shameful is effective.

Vote for and support women. Not just the ones you’re related to or find attractive. If you can only make room for the former, you're only performing ally ship and you don’t actually support women.

Men built the glass ceiling, therefore it’s your job to dismantle it. Do not put the extra weight of men’s work on marginalized folx who are already carrying and navigating too much.

Go inward and start tackling your own internalized patriarchal proclivities. Do your due diligence to understand toxic masculinity, sexist/racist double standards, and your privilege and the ways in which you help perpetuate a system that gives you benefits at the expense and suffering of others. Ways to start doing that: go to therapy, get a group of your boys together and actually start talking about and identifying your feelings and asking each other questions, read books or watch films/tv by people who come from very different backgrounds than you. You’ll hopefully learn a lot about yourself and the world. And you’ll learn how to take responsibility for your own feelings in a healthier way, rather than putting and projecting that emotional labor on the women and other marginalized folx in your lives.

If you have realized that you have done something wrong or hurtful or it was brought to your attention that you have, you may want to get defensive. Acknowledge the feelings you're having to yourself, but to the appropriate parties try saying something like this: “I did that. It was fucking terrible. I’m sorry. I did years of therapy and soul searching and work and I changed my behavior. I can’t change what I did. But I made damn sure I never did it again.” If you haven’t done the work yet, don’t say you have unless you do actually plan on following through. And then follow through. These are also great growth opportunities for utilizing those new listening and offering assistance tools from #s 1 and 2.

*BONUS*: Do not, under any circumstances, attempt ANY of the above with ulterior motives. You do not get a gold star for being a “good guy.” This is just how people should be treated. Decently, respectfully, and without any expectation of owing you anything in return.

Obviously, this is a very simplified list but when you start opening the door to one of these items, more and more doors begin to appear. As hard as it may be at times, it is worthwhile work that benefits everyone. Also, if you’ve made it this far, please call your senators and tell them to not confirm Kavanaugh to SCOTUS. We, the people, deserve someone on the bench who considers all of us.

Katie Louchheim seriously doesn’t know how she functions on a daily basis with all this bullshit. CALL YOUR SENATORS TO #StopKavanaugh: 202-224-3121.

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technology-and-ethics · 4 years

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Has social media hurt the development of politics? Or did it bring people closer to politics? - Could both be true?

The debate about social media and politics boils down to this simple question that does not have a simple answer. For example, can we blame social media for the rise of right-wing politics? Can we praise social media for bringing attention to movements like #blacklivesmatter, #metoo and the Hong Kong protests? Is it possible to do both? Praise and Blame? Every innovation does have negative effects.

I think that social media has brought me closer to politics as I was not really interested in politics until I started reading a lot about things that happened around the world on social media. Most of the posts were centered around American politics since a lot of American activism happens on social media. I saw how biased news stations can be especially when telling the stories of minorities. I read about things that were not important enough to mention on the TV news stations or local newspapers in the town I live in. Social media made me gain interest in politics because I also felt like on social media there were people from the same background as me debating about politics. Maybe that is why I became more invested in American politics, too. I found politicians like AOC, who in a way has the same background as me – she is from an immigrant and working class family. Not a lot of the politicians, who have higher authority in Germany have such a background. It is hard to accumulate an interest in politics when there is no representation for you.

It seems that a problem politics on social media has caused some people to be “worn out” as the article by Anderson and Auxier suggests. Social media can be draining we all experience that when we spend too much time on social media especially around negative or stressful posts. While I believe that social media bring people closer to politics I also believe it is more hurtful. Since you can put away newspapers, close/change stations or programs on the TV and Radio you cannot escape social media posts that easy because even if yourself do not choose to see something, someone in your friend list might, the explore page might put it to the forefront because it is popular, it might come up in an add etc. It is more connected and does not focus on your own interests. “Some 55% of adult social media users say they feel ‘worn out’ by how many political posts and discussions they see on social media […]” (Anderson and Auxier). What I find worse is that: “At the same time, users are less ambivalent about seeing these types of posts today than in the past. Today, 29% of social media users say they don’t feel strongly one way or another about encountering political discussions […]” (Anderson and Auxier). People have become too used to political posts on social media and they begin to become indifferent. Even the political discourse that people were able to have and drew people to social media is now no way near as positively seen: “Americans who use social media sites are also more likely today than in 2016 to describe the political discourse on these platforms in negative terms. Seven-in-ten now say they find it ‘stressful and frustrating’ to talk about politics on social media with people they disagree with [...]” (Anderson and Auxier). Social media might have brought people closer to politics at first but now the opposite is the case. It seems to put off people and make them more indifferent.

Could we consider this as “social media hurting the development of politics”? Maybe in a way but we cannot only blame social media for making people feel indifferent. Social Media is not the only platform to give us political news but since we spend so much more time on social media it might speed this process up. In the article “What Makes People Stop Caring?” written for the BBC the author Wen introduces a study series from Sweden, which shows that “we not only become numb to the significance of increasing numbers, but our compassion can actually fade or collapse overall as numbers increase” (Tiffanie Wen). She clarifies further: “[i]n fact, Slovic’s research suggests that as statistical numbers associated with a tragedy get larger and larger, we become desensitised and have less of an emotional response to them. This in turn leaves us less likely to take the kind of action needed to stop genocides, send aid after natural disasters or pass legislation to fight global warming” (Tiffanie Wen). So the more we see on social media the less we care or keep it in mind.

The European commission’s report about Technology and Democracy names four pressure points of democracy that social media can negatively influence in the future if nothing is done. These four pressure points have the potential to hurt the development of social media or have already done some damage. The first pressure the report names is “attention economy”, which simply means that our attention and engagement is the product for advertisers because of this algorithms that recommends content for example on YouTube will recommend content that is for example extremist to keep the interest of those, who search for this kind of content (“Social Media Influences Our Political Behaviour and Puts Pressure on Our Democracies, New Report Finds”). While sites like Facebook use their algorithms for “‘microtargeting’: highly personalised advertisements being directed at users based on their own personalities. If used politically, microtargeting has considerable potential to undermine democratic discourse—a foundation of democratic choice” (“Social Media Influences Our Political Behaviour and Puts Pressure on Our Democracies, New Report Finds”). Second, there is the “choice architecture” that utilizes techniques to make people share and engage as much as they can (“Social Media Influences Our Political Behaviour and Puts Pressure on Our Democracies, New Report Finds”). Third, we have “algorithmic content curation”, which means that an algorithm decides what we see, so it can either encourage discourse or stop us from seeing certain content (“Social Media Influences Our Political Behaviour and Puts Pressure on Our Democracies, New Report Finds”). It could also take problematic content to the front pages of their sites because there is more response and bury content that has less emotional effect but is informative (“Social Media Influences Our Political Behaviour and Puts Pressure on Our Democracies, New Report Finds”). At last, we have “misinformation and disinformation”, which is quite self explanatory and causes people to believe less in facts and more in emotional messages (“Social Media Influences Our Political Behaviour and Puts Pressure on Our Democracies, New Report Finds”). Now this article names pressure points that social media is pressing on and these could cause problems in the future. It does not tell us if social media has hurt the development of politics. So how can we tell if social media has hurt the development of politics already if we only have articles that speak about the future? I think this is hard to answer but I will try with something that caught my eye about some American politicians. I believe that “how strong social media can influence and hurt the development of politics in a country” depends on what kind of government you have. For example, American presidential nominees need a lot of support to have the chance of becoming president. Social media is a tool that they have to use to reach voters. If they can gain a lot of support there then they have a chance to win. Trump and before him Obama used social media for this. Furthermore, Trump already had a large fan base since he was an actor and in reality shows. There are many celebrities, who have become politicians in America like Arnold Schwarzenegger. The more your chance of election depends on your popularity or presence the more social media has the chance to influence the outcome. That is where I believe that social media can hurt the development of politics a lot. In Germany, we do not have this “popularity vote” for high positions but we have “popular vote” that we can do for parties that should represent the area we live in. As I mentioned in a last post, the party AfD is active on social media and has gained a lot of voters through their campaign on social media. So they get voted in such election and gain more and more power in the government. All the other things that were introduced in these articles could in the future make it easier for people who know how to use social media to get noticed be it negative or positive.

Anderson, Monica, and Brooke Auxier. “55% Of U.S. Social Media Users Say They Are 'Worn out' by Political Posts and Discussions.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 2 Sept. 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/19/55-of-u-s-social-media-users-say-they-are-worn-out-by-political-posts-and-discussions/. Accessed 09.03.2021.

“Social Media Influences Our Political Behaviour and Puts Pressure on Our Democracies, New Report Finds.” EU Science Hub - European Commission, 27 Oct. 2020, https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/social-media-influences-our-political-behaviour-and-puts-pressure-our-democracies-new-report-finds. Accessed 09.03.2021.

Wen, Tiffanie. “What Makes People Stop Caring?” BBC Future, BBC, 1 July 2020, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200630-what-makes-people-stop-caring. Accessed 09.03.2021.

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whiteliesuk · 4 years

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White Lie: Kamala Harris is the progressive queen we have been waiting for; as the first black, Indian, female VP all things will inevitably change for the better! Sit upon your pedestal Madam Vice President!

The reality:

Should anyone doubt the effectiveness of the US political propaganda machine, they need only look at how successfully it whitewashed Kamala’s abysmal track record as prosecutor. Our Madam VP elect is very far from the progressive her campaign slogans and your Instagram stickers have made her out to be.

I’ve been holding back from writing this post: I didn’t want to put out the sordid details of Harris’ record before the election in case I inadvertently convince some undecided voter to go the wrong way (lol at me thinking I had any such influence!) Or have someone accuse me of being a Trump supporter, heaven forbid. I also didn’t want to write this post too soon after the election, as people rightly celebrate the result after days, even weeks, of anxiety and stress. I don’t want to be that much of a party pooper! But… I did spend much of the post-election evening grinding my teeth at the multitude of ignorant Instagram posts screeching ‘KamaLove’, ‘Yes we Kam!’ or of her shimmying some dance moves. Worst of all was the widely shared video of Kamala’s post-election victory speech, where she declared:

“I am thinking about… the generations of women – Black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American women – who, throughout our nation’s history, have paved the way for this moment.’

In Kamala’s case, women of colour paved the way in a very different sense: she figuratively stepped on them to make it as VP.

I fully acknowledge and appreciate the empowerment that comes from representation: it means a lot to have someone that looks like you rise to a position of power, especially when it is ground-breaking and breaks thick, bullet-proof glass ceilings. To be the first black, South Asian, daughter of immigrants to become VP in the US is huge. But representation only goes so far, particularly if said person has a track record of supporting or exacerbating systems that discriminate against minorities and the working class. We, in Britain, with the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Priti Patel, and Saji Javid should really know this by now.

To eradicate any doubt, I invariably wanted the Democrats to win the US election; I am still rejoicing at seeing the physical embodiment of Agent Orange lose. But while I celebrate the end of the Trump administration, I am not necessarily looking forward to a Biden-Harris one. Biden’s shortcomings appear to be widely accepted; heck, with a slogan like ‘Settle for Biden’ even the Biden presidential campaign acknowledge he’s far from perfect. But what baffled me was the wholesale acceptance of the message that Kamala Harris was ‘IT’: there was such fervent feeling that she was a progressive saviour; a progressive queen, who’s reign would mark the beginning of a progressive new age. And all her campaign had to do was repeat the word ‘progressive’ enough times for everyone to believe it.

There is nothing that irritates me more than public figures being put on pedestals they don’t deserve. This hero-worship tends to arise from ignorance, often by design, of said person’s full history. As such, it’s another example of a dangerous white lie that serves to maintain a harmful status quo. This is certainly the case for Kamala: her presidential campaign, and later vice-presidential campaign, pedalled the incomplete and erroneous message that she is a through-and-through progressive. When in fact, she has a history of being another run-of-the-mill, tepid-in-the-face-of-injustice, neoliberal candidate that perpetuated the status quo, particularly within the sphere of criminal justice and actions against the police. I hope the events of this past year, particularly those arising from George Floyd’s death and the BLM protests, has made it self-evident that we really want to move on from the status quo.

Now, I’d hate to be hypocritical by painting her as entirely ‘bad’. Kamala has largely been on the right side of history during her time in the Senate: she introduced a bail reform bill with Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) that would encourage states to reform or replace standing bail systems that currently jails hundreds and thousands of people for simply not being able to pay their bail; alongside Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Tim Scott (R-SC), she introduced a historic bill that made lynching a federal crime; Kamala has also signed on to Booker’s marijuana legalisation bill, in a drastic U-turn on her stance on the matter; she also voted for the First Step Act, a significant (although limited) federal criminal justice reform bill that would ease very punitive prison sentences at the federal level.

Even before then, she started the ‘Back on Track’ program as District Attorney, which allowed first-time drug offenders to obtain a high school diploma and a job instead of doing prison time. Her handling of California’s ‘three strikes’ law as DA was also head of its time: under the law, someone who committed a third felony could go to prison for 25 years to life, even if their third felony is a nonviolent crime (America is a wild and incredibly draconian place). But Harris required that the San Franciscan DA’s office only charged for a third strike if the felony was a serious or violent crime. Harris also unveiled the Open Justice portal, a website that contained data on arrest rates and deaths in custody, going some way in addressing the lack of a national database for these figures and therefore accounting for the use of deadly force by law enforcement.

But then some of what she did was just tepid. When the BLM movement took off, for example, Harris introduced and expanded ‘first of its kind training’ to address racial bias within the police. However, officers had to sign up voluntarily and were only required to attend 8 hours of training – I somehow doubt this’ll do much in overturning a deep-seated and institutional racism problem within the police. As Attorney General, Harris made the California Department of Justice the first state-wide agency to require body cameras, but she stopped short of endorsing state-wide regulations on their use, leaving it free to local forces to decide how and when they could be used. Doesn’t really instil accountability, does it?

Then there are parts of Kamala’s track record as prosecutor that is plain old regressive; reminiscent of a ‘tough on crime’ era that subjected people of colour to heavy handed policing and insurmountable institutional road blocks throughout the criminal justice system. It’s not merely the fact that she was a prosecutor that’s problematic: although there are those like Briahna Gray (American political commentator and lawyer) who argue that ‘to become a prosecutor is to make a choice to align oneself to a powerful and fundamentally biased system’, I am open to the possibility that tangible and radical change can be effected from the inside. As Harris said in the New York Times Magazine in 2016, she wanted to work within a system she wanted to change, to be ‘at the table where the decisions are made’ (however, I am also equally open to the possibility that eradicating institutional racism requires a more drastic overhaul of the entire system). But rather, it’s what she did and enacted as prosecutor that makes Kamala’s image of progressive saviour so deeply hypocritical.

Kamala Harris was anti-sex work

There are people I know who would balk at this first point and think, so what? I’m anti-sex work. For a moment I thought I would give in to this sentiment and miss out this point. But that moment passed very quickly; because to do so would overlook the women of colour Kamala Harris harmed as District Attorney, and women of colour have been overlooked enough.

To address those who are choking on their tea: it is now a progressive stance to be pro-sex work, catch up with the times my friends! It’s long overdue we fully respect any man or woman’s choice to undertake sex work, as long as it’s consensual. “But but but uggghhh!!! It’s so vulgar! So unsavoury and demeaning!! How could you be for it! It’s so disrespectful to women!’ yada yada yada. Sex work is not invalid just because it’s not work you’d personally undertake. I, for one, respect and value myself and others too much to ever debase myself by becoming a management consultant, but there are people who do and they’re not criminalised for it (despite their exploitation of the working class). And you know what’s even more disrespectful to women? Telling them what they can and cannot do with their bodies or how they should make their money.

While I accept the reality that some sex workers are vulnerable and, having grown up in Southeast Asia, I can’t deny that sex trafficking is a very real problem that needs to be addressed. But I do not believe that criminalising sex work is the answer to helping the marginalised and exploited. Rather, they should be protected and given safe options of redress. Moreover, there is a difference between exploitation and consensual sexual work. And that is fundamentally where Kamala got it wrong: although she presented herself as an advocate for victims of sexual exploitation, as District Attorney and prosecutor she often conflated ‘trafficking’ with consensual sex work.

For instance, she waged a war against Backpage.com, an advertisement website used by sex workers, during her time as District Attorney of San Francisco. Many in the industry argued that it made their work secure in more ways than one: the website not only provided a steady stream of more reliable income, but also meant sex workers no longer had to take to the streets to find clients, and provided a means by which they could vet clients or make complaints against them. Harris’, on the other hand, called the site ‘the world’s top online brothel’ and pursued pimping charges against the website’s operators even after a judge tossed out the initial case on free speech grounds. Backpage’s closure left many sex workers strapped for cash to pay for their housing and medicines and even forced some sex workers to turn to more precarious kinds of work to make up for lost income. Harris continued her opposition to the website as Senator and supported legislation that further criminalised sex work across the internet.

Harris made matters worse by making sex work unsafe more generally, most notably by voting against Proposition K – a bill that would’ve decriminalised prostitution in San Francisco. Prop K would’ve redirected city resources once spent on arresting prostitutes into education and health outreach for sex workers, providing access to an array of the city’s medical and legal services, therefore opening up avenues for sex workers to report violence committed against them and improve their public health.

Harris vehemently disagreed. In a public statement (video here) she equated Prop K to ‘roll[ing] out the welcome mat to prostitutes and pimps to come to San Francisco. It would impede and interfere with our ability to investigate and prosecute cases of human trafficking…’ Moreover, she claimed that ‘Proposition K pretends to be about compassion, when in fact it is completely the opposite… it is not compassionate to the families who live in the neighbourhoods where these activities are occurring… If you want to go see Pretty Woman, go rent it.’ That’s a very long-winded way of saying that outdated phrase we’ve come to hate so much: ‘tough on crime.’

Instead, the San Franciscan Police Department and DA’s office were using the presence of condoms as evidence of prostitution and other criminal activity, which in turn posed a significant barrier to the routine use of condoms by sex workers: to avoid criminal charges, many were reluctant to carry condoms or keep them at their place of work. Evidence shows that sex workers are more likely to use condoms and have lower rates of sexual transmitted diseases where payment for sex is permitted, as in Austria, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Thailand. In the early days of the AIDs epidemic, there was an agreement between the San Franciscan DA and Health Department not to use condoms as evidence for this very reason; but this was well and truly gone as Kamala waged her war against ‘Pretty Women’.

Besides the moral and public health standpoint, there was evidence to suggest that criminalisation of sex work was ineffective – only 9 cases went to trial in 2009, the year before Prop K was proposed, and no convictions resulted from them. Even more problematic was police culpability in the ‘crime’ Kamala was so staunchly against: a 2012 USFC medical study found that 1 in 5 sex workers in San Francisco reported that police officers paid them for sex. Horrifyingly, 1 in 7 were threatened with arrest by police officers unless they had sex with them. Kamala was directing her ire to the wrong place.

Prop K would have been a more humane and effective approach to sex work, but Kamala was so against it that she maintained her position even during her ‘progressive’ stint in the Senate. Our so-called progressive champion championed a policy that is already viewed by many as backwards and unethical.

Kamala threatened to jail parents of kids who missed school

The well-being of children is perhaps less controversial and a cause that the majority of society can rally behind… Well, unless you’re a Trump supporter who doesn’t mind seeing children caged; a Tory who initially allowed children to starve during their school holidays; or you’re Kamala Harris and implemented a program that threatened to jail parents in order to solve California’s truancy problem.

Throughout her political rise, Harris has upheld her anti-truancy program as an example of her ‘smart on crime’ approach. Before the implementation of this new program, parents could be cited and fined but never faced the threat of jail time. Harris, however, thought truancy was a problem that could only be solved with an iron first. She argued that truancy was a criminal justice issue, declaring that ‘if we don’t educate these kids in the classroom, they’re going to be educated in the streets’; stating that 94% of San Francisco’s young homicide victims and two thirds of prison inmates are high school drop outs. As such, rather repressively, her anti-truancy program upped the ante by threatening parents with prosecution and adding the possibility of jail time: parents of children who are chronically truant can be found guilty of a misdemeanour and face a series of fines and punishments, starting with $100 fine for the first conviction and ending with a $2,000 fine as well as a year of incarceration. She first implemented the program in 2008 as San Francisco’s District Attorney, but later implemented it as state-wide law in 2012 as California’s new Attorney General.

To Kamala’s credit as District Attorney, the threat of prosecution was only used in extreme truancy cases, involving weeks or months of missed classes, and only after parents had been offered help by relevant support providers. Typically, when a student was found to be regularly truant, the school district would first get involved by sending out letters to parents telling them that their child was missing class. The school would then invite parents to a meeting with school staff and, sometimes, support service providers would attend to get to the root of the truancy. The next step was a meeting with the school attendance review board – in which various government agencies and social services, as well as school staff, would attend – to better understand how to prevent the truancy issues. That meeting typically concluded with a contract that dictated who was going to do what to make sure the child could attend class. Harris’ supporters have emphasised how this framework ultimately helped families struggling with poverty, homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse gain access to the supportive services they need.

Harris, in her memoir The Truths We Hold, argued that this was the point of the program all along: ‘even today, others don’t appreciate the intention behind my approach; they assume that my motivation was to lock-up parents, when of course that was never my goal. Our effort was designed to connect parents to resources that could help them get their kids back into school where they belonged. We were trying to support parents, not punish them – and in the vast majority of cases, we succeeded.’ There is indeed evidence to show that school attendance rates did rise in San Francisco after the program’s implementation: San Francisco Unified School District data showed that the percentage of chronically truant students had fallen to 2.5% from 4% from 2007/8 to 2010/11; habitual truancy rates and overall truancy rates also fell. However, it’s unclear if the program can be credited for the change, as the school district also carried out various other efforts at the time to improve attendance rates.

But there is so much wrong with Harris’ anti-truancy approach. Firstly and unsurprisingly, it disproportionately affected children of colour: Los Angeles implemented a ticketing version of the anti-truancy program, in which children outside of school hours were ticketed and fined $250 or more, with a mandatory court appearance, for their first offence. These punitive measures were not only drastic, economically costly, and caused students to miss more school for court appearances, but had also highly racialised consequences: a Latinx student in the Los Angeles Unified School District was twice as likely to be ticketed and arrested at school than a white student, and a black student is almost six times more likely to be ticketed and arrested than their white counterparts.

Worse still, Kamala Harris as District Attorney specifically targeted children of colour in implementing the program: her office spent $20,000 on a campaign advertising a hotline and urging San Francisco residents to call if they spotted kids ‘playing hooky’ during school hours. The ad campaign targeted three historically black and Latinx neighbourhoods. Big Sister, Kamala Harris, is always watching… But only if you’re black or brown.

Secondly, if the point was never to imprison parents or punish them, and to ultimately work towards reducing the number of people who pass through the criminal justice system, then why did the possibility of prosecution and imprisonment exist at all? It is illogical to me that one would use prosecution and imprisonment as a solution to the very thing that prosecution and imprisonment brings about: punishment and increasing those who pass through the criminal justice system. In fact, a punitive approach to truancy only threatens to fuel the prison pipeline. Moreover, it is after all possible to implement the positive elements of the program – namely the framework and processes that connected struggling families with the support services they needed – without prosecution or imprisonment being a possible end point. Indeed, this would’ve probably put the program outside of Kamala Harris’ remit as District Attorney and Attorney General, and it would’ve instead fallen to the leader of the San Francisco Unified School District to implement it, but so be it.

Harris and her supporters have made pains to highlight that no parents were jailed during her time as District Attorney. Katy Miller, who helped implement the program as prosecutor working under Harris, states that at most 20 parents are prosecuted in a typically year in San Francisco, and none have been jailed. But the implementation of the anti-truancy programme state-wide has meant more conservative (read: punitive) parts of the State have not been as considerate towards families’ needs: in Hanford, California for example, one mum was sentenced to 180 days in jail in 2012 for not sending her kids to school. This is an unwelcome outcome even by Harris’ standards.

This therefore begs the question as to whether truancy should be criminalised at all? Firstly, all involved, including Harris – the anti-truancy program’s very own architect – acknowledges that criminalisation is an undesirable and unwelcome outcome. Secondly and more principally, prosecutors, the criminal justice system, and criminal punishment are far from being the answer to many social ills, truancy being one of them.

Jyoti Nanda, a law professor who runs a youth justice clinic at the University of California, Los Angeles, said she had been ‘deeply disappointed’ by Harris’ ‘fearmongering’ on truancy. And fearmonger Harris did: in a 2010 video, she boasted that a mum warned her kids, after seeing a letter from the prosecutor’s office, that ‘if you don’t go to school, Kamala’s going to put you and me in jail.’ Nanda has described the approach as ‘completely the opposite of best practices’ to help students. Furthermore, the way Harris framed truancy as the individual fault of poor parents fed into old, ugly, stereotypes about poor families and families of colour (which is, again, very reminiscent of a ‘tough on crime’ approach!) Nanda highlights that student truancy is not necessarily the problem of bad or neglectful parents, but a system of broader problems, the chronic underfunding of California’s State schools being one of them. ‘It’s using a crime lens to address what’s really a public health issue,’ Nanda says.

The reality is that more often than not issues stemming from or exacerbated by poverty are at the root of truancy – the program itself acknowledges this by putting families in much needed contact with the various support services they need. It’s therefore incredibly draconian to criminalise the issue: the threat of prosecution, imprisonment, or a fine could hurt an already struggling family financially, or take a parent out of a child’s home. A child who is a truant is probably not getting sufficient parental support or contact, because they or their parents are juggling multiple jobs, struggling with health issues and care, are homeless, in the criminal justice system already, and/or are generally struggling to make ends meet. As summed up by James Forman Jr, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book Locking Up Our Own, in a series of tweets: ‘you’re essentially threatening people with prison when there’s underlying poverty issues that are potentially preventing them from having their kids show up to school on time.’ The last thing a child in these already difficult circumstances needs is for their parent to be prosecuted, jailed, and incur the financial and practical long terms costs associated with this. How is that mum from Hanford going to drive her kids to school if she’s in jail, or if she can’t afford transportation due to hundreds or thousands of dollars in fines? In the longer term, the criminal record she incurs could harm her future job prospects. These collateral consequences only inhibit a parents’ ability to support their children and get them to school; the program therefore carries the potential of hurting the children it intends to help. And it really need not to.

Kamala defended mass incarceration

In this time of greater awareness regarding the racism and brutality of the criminal justice system, thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement, a defence of mass incarceration is unarguably a non-progressive stance. Credence must be paid to the fact that Harris’ put forward an ambitious criminal justice reform plan during her bid for the Democratic nomination – policies that aimed to end the war on drugs and, most notably, scale back on mass incarceration have now been adopted into Biden’s presidential campaign. However, this reformist stance is the antithesis of Kamala’s own track record as Attorney General, when she defied the US Supreme Court’s order to reduce overcrowding in Californian prisons.

California’s mass incarceration problem was both chronic and infamous: at its peak, the State’s prison system was at 200% of its designed capacity. The situation was so dire that in one prison, 54 prisoners shared a single toilet; suicidal inmates were locked in telephone-booth sized cages for 24 hours at a time; and beds and medical personnel were at such a shortage that preventable deaths due to substandard and overstretched medical care occurred every five to six days. Constitutional protections for prisoners against cruel and unusual punishment is enshrined in the Bill of Rights, but for decades successive Republican and Democratic administrations ignored the problem.

It speaks to the seriousness of the problem that a federal District Court held in 2009 that no other plausible solution existed for getting the State to conform to a constitutionally reasonable standard other than prison release – federal courts are typically reluctant to consider prisoner release and see it as a measure of last resort. A pledge to quickly build new prisons was considered but found not credible in the midst of a recession and given California’s limited finances. The District Court therefore mandated that the State enact a series of decarceration measures to reduce the prison population to 137.5% of its designed capacity within two years (i.e. mass incarceration would continue, but at least to a lesser extent. Yay!)

However, the case (Brown v Plata) was taken to the US Supreme Court when the State appealed the District Court’s ruling. Again, the severity of California’s mass incarceration problem was highlighted when the conservative leaning Supreme Court’s judgement found California’s prison system to be in violation of prisoners’ Eighth Amendment Rights and identified prisoner release as the most effective method of ending the State’s constitutional violation in a timely manner. The verdict was split 5-4, with the conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy joining the Court’s liberals: in upholding the lower-court mandate, Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in the case, adding gruesome details from inside California’s prisons, and condemning the State for facilitating “needless suffering and death.” I’ll keep mum of the hypocrisy of this coming from a judge who ruled in favour of the right to bear arms for now.

By the time this judgement was released on 23 May 2011, Kamala Harris was newly appointed California’s Attorney General and the ruling would therefore have to be enacted on her watch. Every six months, the State needed to show that it had decreased its prison population in compliance with a threshold overseen by a three-judge District Court panel: 167% of capacity by the end of 2011, 155% by June 2012, finally arriving at the target level of 137.5% by June 2013. But, with Harris at the helm, it soon became clear that the State would not easily comply with the judicial order.

It’s worth noting that Harris was acting on behalf on behalf of California State Governor Brown, who preceded her as State AG and was notorious for his position on the issue. I’m sympathetic to Harris for having to defend an unsavoury client in this case: all lawyers have experience of this and I have no doubt that I’ll have many a client I strongly disagree with; but so often our hands are tied behind our backs, due to regulatory and ethical codes, and despite strong vehemence to our clients’ stance we have to defend them nonetheless. But it’s the way she conducted the case, which lawyers do have scope in determining, that I take issue with: Harris, on behalf of Brown, acted in complete defiance of the Supreme Court ruling.

Little to no progress had been made on the decarceration mandate and, by 2012, a report surfaced that proved the State actually intended to increase its prison population. In May of that same year, Harris’ office ‘confirmed their intent to not comply with the Order but instead to seek its modification from 137.5% design capacity to 145%,’ a modification that was not granted to them. The District Court ended up extending the decarceration compliance deadline to the end of 2013. But by April 2012, just two months before the initial deadline given in the Supreme Court decision, California still had 9,636 prisoners more than the court-imposed ceiling. The State submitted a proposal that involved relocating inmates to fire camps to fight wildfires, and prevent out-of-state prisoners from being returned. But after reviewing these proposals, the three-judge panel found that that still left California’s prisons some 4,170 prisoners over the hard limit.

Again, the three-judge panel acquiesced and arrived at a solution: the expansion of ‘good time’ credits for nonviolent offenders, shortening stays often by just a handful of months. This effectively involved increasing the sentence reductions minimum-custody inmates can earn for good behaviour, instead channelling them into rehabilitation and education programs. The State’s own expert witness had testified years prior that he did not oppose good credit measures, and that there was no correlation between length of stay and recidivism, meaning that the public was not at risk. States such as Washington, Illinois, and even tough-on-crime New York had implemented these programs with success. The Court found that the expansion of good time credits would make some 5,385 inmates eligible for release and therefore solve the problem at hand.

But Governor Brown, with Harris steering the ship, did not agree. Harris’ office launched into a campaign of all-out obstruction, refusing to answer why they could not simply comply with the request to release low-risk, nonviolent inmates in order to conform with the Supreme Court’s request. Harris office relented further: they claimed on behalf of the State that the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to even request such a release, refusing to answer questions as to how they would implement the Supreme Court ruling, and courting a constitutional crisis. Any lawyer reading this will be clutching their pearls right now – the audacity to refuse the final ruling of the highest court in the land, can you believe!!!!

Unsurprisingly, the three-judge District Court panel replied with a stunning rebuke in their June 2013 ruling: when asked by what date the State could provide a list of prisoners who are unlikely to reoffended, the judge wrote that the ‘defendants defiantly refused and stated, somewhat astonishingly, that our suggestion that we might order defendants to develop a system to identify low-risk prisoners, a system that the Supreme Court had suggested we might consider ordering defendants to develop ‘without delay,’ is a prisoner release order that vastly exceeds the scope of the Court’s prior orders.’ The Supreme Court had in fact ruled that the three-judge District Court panel had exactly that authority in its 2011 ruling. ‘In tortured logic, the defendants suggested that the Supreme Court’s statement ‘did not authorise the early release of prisoners, or even the consideration of that question.’ The ruling went on to say that Harris’ Attorney General’s Office ‘continually equivocated regarding the facts and the law,’ to the point that the panel strongly considered holding the State in contempt.’ Ladies and gentlemen, gaslight tactics were indeed deployed by Harris’ office to the extreme.

The panel, however, did not hold the State in contempt, primarily because it would have delayed the release of nonviolent inmates further, and therefore aided the State’s obstructionist tactics. The manipulation! And all this to prevent the release of only 5,000 nonviolent offenders, whom multiple courts and experts had presented as next to no risk of reoffending or threat to public safety. Instead, the State decided to spend the time seesawing back and forth between dubious legal fillings and flagrant disregard.

Harris’ legal tactics also drew rebuke from legal commentators, who saw her legal motions as obstructionist, done in bad faith, and nonsensical. Barry Krisberg, long-time president of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, said that ‘the legal arguments that the State was putting forward make no sense.’ Andrew Cohen, Senior Editor at the Marshall Project and fellow at the Brennan Centre for Justice, believes that Harris’ behaviour may have put her in breach of California’s legal and ethical standards, which forbid filing a motion ‘for an improper purpose, such as to harass or cause unnecessary delay.’

In an endorsement of the exploitative prison labour complex, the State at one point argued that nonviolent offenders needed to stay incarcerated, because they worked as groundskeepers, janitors, in prison kitchens with wages that range from 8 cents to 37 cents per hour, and were needed in fire camps in the wildfire-plagued State. If they were released, then prisons would lose an ‘important labour pool’. Harris has recently distanced herself from these arguments, claiming that she had no knowledge of it and telling BuzzFeed News that she was ‘shocked’ by the argument. But Alexander Sammon, writer of The Prospect article ‘How Kamala Harris Fought to Keep Nonviolent Prisoners Locked Up’ casts doubt on the notion that Kamala was ignorant of legal arguments put forward in this case: generally, she was known to run an extremely centralised AG’s office, with few things coming in or going without her express sign off. Specifically, this was the highest-profile case she managed as AG, involving a ruling from the highest court in the land, concerning a decarceration order her office spent years resisting. As if any of the arguments put forward escaped her notice before they got to court.

This dogged and callous opposition to decarceration hardly conveys Kamala as being on the side of racial and justice reform. Moreover, as Sammon points out, ‘putting someone with a history of defying the Supreme Court on the Democratic ticket would significantly undermine the Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s pledge to return to the pre-Trump ear of governance, where the three branches of government are seen as coequal and the courts are respected.’

Kamala isn’t looking so progressive now, is she? A lot to take in, I know. And it’s gut wrenching to come to the realisation that someone you pinned so much hope on is disappointing in so many ways. So, let’s take a breather.

Or, are you not convinced yet? Fear not, next time we look into Kamala’s history of upholding wrongful convictions and inaction in the face of police brutality and prosecutorial misconduct.

#whitelies #kamalaharris #blacklivesmatter #vicepresident #joebiden

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violetsystems · 4 years

Text

#personal

Things have been quiet and restful lately aside from appliances breaking. They brought in a mini fridge while they wait on a part which was a good excuse to make some space. I put up a layer of gradient pink sheer curtains for the kitchen windows I ordered online. It’s harder to see into the kitchen during the day because of the sun. There’s these little tweaks I do every week to my life in everything. They can be aggravating but end up being better off in the long run. I’ve found getting mad at things just makes me more frustrated. I stand in my kitchen a lot and listen to the news. I have my opinions about things and then I make actions. Mostly with allocating the liquidity I have in various ways. Boring ways mind you. Explaining my financial strategies are about as yawn inducing as how I choose unorthodox methods in collectible card games. The idea that the debt I paid off early Fall has been offset recently by returns on cash investments is a bit backwards for me. That coupled with the fact that it feels like my resumes go directly to the trash. There’s a lot I don’t know about what the future thinks it holds for me. And then there’s a lot I do know mostly about the goals I’ve set for myself. I’ve run huge races alone. I ran a 5k in Englewood years ago for the victims of gun violence. I started the race with somebody I knew back from the rave days. They used to throw the biggest jungle parties in Chicago. They worked for a brewer in the area. We started the race together but my pace was too slow. I ended the race alone and took the elevated train home. Back in July, I ended another race of sorts. There were many elements serendipitously aligned in my favor. There was a legal continuation of my health insurance however expensive it was. There was a lump sum payout and a severance package. There was government legislation that protected me through the end of the tax year. And then there’s the state I live in which doesn’t tax retirement income. Which all makes it sound like I retired already. In truth, what that all means doesn’t really matter when nobody talks to you. So there’s a time of great confusion. And then there’s the world around us that keeps grinding relentlessly through absolute trauma. I wake up sometimes in the morning and check my dash. Roll over and smile to myself through all the ambiguity. Innocently enough those moments matter most to me for esoteric reasons. Things I don’t really feel the need to explain about my life. Answers and inspiration I’ve found for myself that keeps me pushing through day after day. I have love for things. I have deep love, care and attention for people. And these are the things I focus on that help me focus on what to do in my own life. They’re not evident or even remotely easy to read. But I know myself by now enough to know how to stand still and wait patiently. It’s been a lot of deep breaths and even more thinking ahead. No more than three days or so lest the fridge breaks again.

I don’t really write these to give people advice anymore. I write journals to share my thoughts with people who care about me enough to read them. I’ve found a lot of times that nobody actually listens to me or acknowledges I exist. There’s a refreshing silence and clarity to this. I do talk to myself a lot in the kitchen. I practice public speaking often. I used to be an emcee. But mostly, I measure my own tone and emotions on things that I think about. I get mad. I get sad and depressed. I feel defeated. I let myself feel these feelings often. But I also try to do something about it. I act on those feelings to do something concretely positive to change it. Sometimes it’s hard to see. Nothing changes overnight. I have far more time to work out these days. I walk two or three miles a few times a week around the neighborhood. I catch a lot of cool graffiti and watch brands and economies in motion. I’ve kept a spreadsheet the last few months to track my spending and stick to a budget. I have time to shop for deals and sometimes I don’t shop at all. I watch and interact with a lot of news media. I apply for jobs and get discouraged until I see my net income rise faster than my spending. It’s a perverse place to be in when there’s little or no validation other than magic money. But for the record, this is the worst it could get for somebody. Whatever it is I’ve been through. I’ve stopped trying to process blame or revisit the past. I’ve done so much over the years that goes unnoticed and yet there’s things people cannot forget about me. There’s what society projects it thinks I should be and then there’s the voting shares in my portfolio. The real mindfuck of being yourself is that there really isn’t a roadmap. You take the path ahead of you and you clear your mind. The hardest part is clearing your mind mostly of what other people think about you. There’s any number of things that weigh it down. These days for me, those are few and far between. Sure this entire era is the most fuckery I’ve seen in my entire life. But I’m sitting on the right tools to cut the drama down to size right where it stands. This is to say that I have money where many people don’t. Do I rub it in people’s faces? Do I gloat and say I told you so. No, although I do dab in my kitchen on Fridays when the markets close. There were never really any answers for me since July from that old version of my life. There are things that never went away. Relationships with people that only grew through the noise. And now that things are peaceful and serene to a point, those whispers are the softest to me. You can feel it when you grumpily clutch the second pillow in your bed and imagine it’s someone else. It’s still a pillow mind you. It’s no comparison to the person it represents. But it’s the feeling that carries you through the bullshit. That there are people out there so much more worthy of thoughts you waste feeling mad at the world and alone. That the light is out there at the end of the tunnel. It just so happens I’m at the end of that tunnel just chilling. I’d rather not move too far ahead and risk leaving people I care about behind.

So lately has been a lot of positioning and calibrating of my life. I know how much I spend on a monthly basis. I didn’t really know I was capable of sounding like an investment commercial. I’m the one who acts on those monologues with myself in the kitchen. They seem to pay off pretty well. It is very scary to think about how nothing is possible without money. I paid off a lot of debt even before this had happened. Everyone’s answer these days is more debt. I heard one of the people I used to work with that stayed just bought a new car. People that worked for me had just gotten loans for houses. Debt in America is an extremely bizarre thing to watch from the other side. I live alone. I’ve never been married or had children. I don’t have many obligations other than to my parents, my cat and the person I care about most in this world. So I’ve always thought being pliant and agile financially was a goal I wanted to stick with. I do believe saving money is something we all could get better at. There’s a lot of peer pressure that comes with ecosystems, economies and investments. The “we’re all in this together” mentality is great when it’s with “your people.” The ultra rich, tax avoiding oligarchies aren’t really my people per say. I have travelled the world on my own to see beyond that. I hope to travel the world again and use my skills to pivot into a new career. And then again, I don’t really know anything other than what I hold down day after day. I live in the promise of a sanctuary city with a roof over my head and a clean refrigerator. People know who I am and feel I’m accountable. They may not like me but I stay out of trouble when I see it coming. I answer to confrontation and I adjust my life accordingly. I don’t get stressed out about these problems. I engineer ways to avoid them entirely. Have I made a better life for myself? I seem to think so. Do I still feel invisible? Completely aside from the Class A shares in my brokerage. I could go on all day about how that’s the only real visibility in a capitalist republic. And then I could also just rewatch Battlestar Galactica. I do feel lonely at times but never alone. And I don’t really have any fear of missing out on anything other than my shot at having coffee and a pastry one day with you. So mostly if you have the vision, you should be able to see a clear path forward. And in some ways we’re already here. Every Saturday morning when I write to you and other people read it. Some people skim over it. Some people pretend it doesn’t exist. Other people paint it all out to think I’m crazy. Other people just think it’s the most wonderful turn of events. I think that all I ever do is think about how to stay true. To myself. To you. To everyone that counts of people like us. I don’t really have any answers or advice other than to walk with love and know yourself. I know one thing. Clowns scare the fucking shit out of me. Not as much as debt and interest. Neither are in my life at the moment. All I have to torment my dreams is you. For now the pillow will have to get used to it. <3 Tim

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