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magpigment · 2 years ago

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MAJOR SPOILERS FOR GENLOSS EPISODE: THE MASTERMIND OF THE WAREHOUSE

my thoughts and some theories as i was watching the second part of generation loss! not really analysis just my reactions to it as i watched lmao. enjoy!

is ranboo chained to a chair

why is ranboo chained to a chair

why is the volume so high on my computer

that’s a conveniently placed key

okay ominous tv man

oh wait it’s jerma lmao

my friend who’s obsessed w jerma told me about this episode lately

‘the amount of chains on there would hold every single bicycle. for a million years’ i’ve been sold on this jerma guy

NO NOT THE BUCKET ( <—- obligatory homestuck reference)

ranboo just cannot get a break wow

..it does not seem as though ranboo COULD HANDLE a ‘little bit of juice’

‘ranboo you alright??’ no i don’t think they are actually now that you mention it

i like how everybody in the poll is immediately going for the middle one 😂

win! the person who has you trapped in a sick series of death obstacles for their own sick amusement wants to make sure you’re doing ok after accidentally knocking you out via high volts of electricity administered directly to your brain!

bit confused about the bundle of wires dangling from their neck ngl

‘ there’s a one in ten thousand chance of that happening and it did?!’ what can i say, homeslice has the power of PLOT ARMOR on his side!

why is squiggles upset at ranboo actually picking the right key????

‘i love rats! 🥰’ based, squiggles. based

wow i didn’t know the back rooms were part of this place /j

oop hello random person on the gurney

i stg if that’s charlie- ITS FUCKING CHARLIE

his feet are for sure fake are they gonna have to remove his foot or something

oh most of his body is fake i see. ranboo is gonna do surgery on charlie

that’s fun 😅

ranboo is a licensed medical professional im sure this will be fine /j

i like how the totally real feet that are totally a part of charlie’s actual human body has toenails that are painted red. yassss bitch slayyyy- oh wait, *checks notes* oh, GET slayedddsdddd yasssss 😂

‘what is this, invisalign??? whatre u doin down there????’ never change, charlie. never change

also this california surfer dude is about to get absolutely fucking eviscerated perchance. i feel like that’s where this is going.

‘so that’s why they call him slimecicle! ^^’ shut ur WHORE MOUTH SQUIGGLES /j

fr tho why are his insides literally goop tho

oh that was harrowing. ok so when the static interference happens whatever mind control is happening to make everything seem like. fine ish is removed and it’s like even more horrific??

also i see why they made his insides are green slime, so when they do the color reversal it looks red so it looks like human bits and then they crank the saturation up on that a bit so that it’s a brighter red or something??? ooooh that’s so cool i’m loving this

‘ermmm. what just happened?’ you and me both squiggles.

ok genuinely what the hell is charlie even saying right now. like what the actual fuck 😂

are these camera people dressed up as rats cuz if so that’s both very funny and also that would suck to have to film in, they’re doing a great job

‘how many hot wheels did you swallow???’

‘vrooom :D’

‘..ok dude’

‘they call me lightning mcEAT ^u^’

I KNEW THE BIT WAS GOING TO BE THAT HE DIDNT EVEN NEED TO CUT CHARLIE OPEN I COULD SMELL IT IN THE AIR THAT IS SO FUNNY

‘what a gushy gooshy guy’ facts and truth from squiggles in the corner

why does charlie have a toilet tattoo 😂

wowwww NOW you get cold feet ranboo XD. ‘but it’s so gross 😖’ homeslice you just fully eviscerated a man. you were elbows deep into a guys ABDOMEN. a toilet is leaps and bounds better than a full on HUMAN(?) BEING

even squiggles commented on the toenails

why is eef here

and also the love or host guy

and also like the other people.

why is sneeg and also frank back????

lmao jermas tv is broken L

oop squiggles is not happy about the broken tv

what is he doing XD

short king jerma

why is jermas cane so bendy

‘i hope slimecicle is ok’ me too, squiggles. me too

wow ethan is really giving this his all. turner my beloved

why is charlie offering to be ethan’s fish

i really like the little idle animations for squiggles ngl. they’re very expressive

austin shows, ‘I LOVE WOMEN.’ ‘lying is not going to save you’ way to haul his ass out of the closet /j (also yes i’m aware austin isn’t straight)

slimecicle, laying there completely fucking disemboweled, ‘i’m feeling something funny, kinda rumbly, some sort of discomfort?? if i could just get someone to check that out..’

austin in the background talking about his very real very heterosexual relationship

why did charlie have a whole ass baseball hat in his stomach

OH THAT WAS SNEEGSNAGS HAT

WHY WAS THAT IN THERE AND WHY IS SQUIGGLES SO UPSET ABOUT IT ??????

i stg if everyone votes to save frank 😂

was that sneegs hat actually?? i’m p sure it was

sneeg is just having a crisis over this fucking hat dude

there is definitely something happening and that was definitely sneegs hat before

i’m only 30 minutes into this how has so much happened so far

i like how sneegs first thing he does upon regaining awareness of the full extant of the situation he’s in is immediately lie about having to take a dump that would produce gases banned by the geneva convention in order to get away for a second. he’s for sure going rogue dude can’t wait to see what you’re able to do before it all goes to hell again

squiggle is absolutely flabbergasted

OH NIHACHU!! hell yeah

nvm sneeg like immediately got caught

oop

that’s not ominous or foreboding at all. don’t mind him he’s just getting reprogrammed real quick lmao

THEY TURNED HIS HAT AROUND 😂

i’m relatively confused

did they put nihachus mic under her hat or something

her audio is a little wonky

ok so only one person for sure survives

i can almost guarantee either sneeg or frank is gonna be the one picked to survive ngl

i love charlie’s little background contributions

ok nvm two of them survive

also yeah i agree how is charlie even still alive in canon. most of his organs are just not in his body

oh niki won??? nice

is niki like ok lmao

she is a very good actress because she seems both genuinely incredibly afraid and incredibly suspicious

niki and sneeg hell yeah

why’d he bitch slap frank 😂

squiggles is not happy with that and neither is charlie

JERMA IS CALLED THE PUZZLER??? LMAO 😂

why is charlie making a callback to the goddamn fussy bit from that one tommyinnit morph mod video

what the hell is charlie doing

why is he strewing his entrails everywhere 😭

i am so incredibly suspicious of niki and idk why

the VIBES? are OFF.

ok i’m going to sleep and finishing this tomorrow and i am fully expecting my dreams to be super fucked up because of this but that’s fine. i’m at the 55:42 minute mark ^^ if my dreams are interesting/relevant i might leave a little note detailing it but probably not lmao (editors note: my dreams were weird but not really relevant, so. yeah)

why does squiggles want them all to lick the walls so bad

i’ve never even heard of the board game mouse trap in my life

is this like an actual board game??? why is it so convoluted????

i like how sneeg just started eating the candy around

squiggles is speaking in some sort of code or something so like. that’s cool???

i like how everyone just started bullying the puzzler XD

oh so that’s why squiggle is speaking in code ig, cuz that’s what the instructions are written in. that’s really funny actually

squiggles is straight up speaking in the same code or whatever the instructions are written in. is that able to be translated??? has anyone translated that yet???

i kinda wanna see if i’d be able to translate it but idk the first thing about ciphers and idek what that arrangement of symbols would be called. is it just straight up wing dings?? who knows! not me!

imma go see if it’s wing dings actually gimme a sec

IT IS WINGDINGS

bet if i translate this it’s gonna be just inane bullshit lmao

i have given up trying to translate this, if anyone’s interesting this is at about 1:03-5:04 of something, i’m too tired for this 😂

on the plus side squiggles is now talking in not wing dings so that’s cool

IS THE MISSING PIECE GONNA BE IN CHARLIE LMAO

OH DUDE THATS SICK THATS SO FUNNY

ok so it USED to be in charlie but it is no longer! it was one of the first bits that ranboo kindly extracted very carefully from charlie’s gaping torso ^^

the rock candy is made from actual rocks??? ok squiggles

why is sneeg just eating random shit around the room 😂

not the candy :((

also i’m eating cantaloupe btw. if you even care 😒 /j

DID HE JUST SHOOT NIKI????

😂 bruhhhh

welp. at least he put her out of her misery???

what is this emphasis on ranboo kicking the bucket in reference to the game. i feel like this is foreshadowing

they probably did it! why is he celebrating the fact they beat his trap lol

oh where the hell are they

why are there deadly lasers

WHY WAS SNEEG GOING TO TOUCH THE LASER 😂

the way his wrist got smacked away from the lasers so promptly

please don’t throw this man

wow

oop

well his face is smooshed lmao

i like the comical way that guy just got fucking murdered via anvil to the face

‘i guess those ones didn’t count 🤷‍♂️’ lmao

SLIMECICLE?!

‘oh my gosh it’s slimetowel!!’ based squiggles. based

welp. bye slimetowel, you lived as you died. shortly

the lasers are gone!

sneeg is fully just brushing off the like two dead bodies rn

welp. they got out of there 😂

jerma can fly that’s crazy

i like how everyone instead of getting blown up is getting the chance to participate and then comically getting killed in other, miscellaneous ways.

hey uhhh squiggles, buddy ol pal, you doin ok over there??

‘ranboo..’ ‘yes😊?’

oh wow everyone is in the closet that’s crazy /j

the rats are poggers also BTW

i miss charlie already 😔

‘sometimes you need a change in perspective’ do they need to use the mirror to solve the puzzle. i doubt that’s what they have to do but if it is i’m so poggers and awesome and that is REAL and TRUE

jerma just go thru the door sideways bestie

jerma was indeed talking about his ass for a weird amount of time lmao

‘is this a hookah??’ just hearing eef say this in the background sent me

why is sneeg messing w alphabet magnets

‘slayyyyy king!’ i like how squiggles is just stanning ethan putting on a purple wig. based

the wig ethan’s wearing and the color of dress he chose coupled w his entirely purple outfit is clashing horribly oh god

also squiggles is right the audio keeps getting funky cuz of all the fabric on the microphones 😂

i like sneegs bright yellow boa scarf

the heels actually look p cool austin

how many layers is ranboo wearing???

where did ranboos jacket go??

oh i think it’s on the red chair

i don’t think those heels are the right size for austin i’ll be honest

sneegs outfit is really something

for the record i have absolutely no clue what’s happening rn

why is everyone voting for ethan in terms of most stylish

i do not think they did it, guys

i actually really like austin’s orange pants but i think that’s just because i like cargo pants and also orange so like. maybe i’m biased 😂

why is ethan walking like that

oh ranboo literally just put two different jackets over his showfall jacket and then just took one off, they’re still wearing the showfall jacket underneath XD

‘it says that we should go there, but i feel like that’s a trap :D ‘

also there was a button that sets off a black light which is what reveals the clues, not the mirror

oooo nice fit change 😂

‘NOT HIS CHILDREN AND WIVE’ why is squiggles actually kinda funny ngl. like i don’t trust them as far as i can throw them but sometimes they’re based

ok bits aside the fact that ranboo and sneeg are so far mostly unaffected by the copious amounts of dead people and dying people and horrific threats of violence and whatnot is almost certainly some sort of mindcontrol or something by showfall. like. that’s not even really a question in my mind that’s irrefutable fact at this point. especially with the whole thing earlier with sneeg?? and the occasional interference from the hacker or whatever or the instances where something happens that’s not meant to and the illusion breaks?? like mannn this is so cool.

LMAO THE COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY DEATH OF EEF AND THEN IMMEDIATELY LEAVING TO THE NEXT PART OF THE PUZZLE

BRUH

that’s so funny

also the meta of finding this funny because it’s all silly and goofy and framed as a joke falling into line w the entire thing being set up like that to keep people from thinking about the horrific things that are actually happening in order for this entertainment and then how that parallels real life in the entertainment industry? yikes

anyway onto the silly goofies tee hee

is jerma just smoking a cigar

did jerma just drop the bomb button. is austin about to fucking die

what even happened hello ??

jerma really likes his cardboard what can i say

ranboo just solving the rubik’s cube without looking at it lmao

i’m honestly surprised there hasn’t been more gore in this so far, i was honestly expecting this to be a lot more graphic than this but that’s kinda dumb of me i think, i didn’t realize this was streamed on twitch at some point lol

i’m fully expecting austin to die ngl

push the button push the button push the button

nvm squiggles said to push it i don’t think they should push it

‘we shouldn’t push the button it’s got dynamite sitting in front of it’ ‘…*moved the dynamite to a shelf right next to it* looks safe to me :D ‘

yeah austin is dying lmao

‘only one person would fit in this silhouette’ *ranboo, standing there like a foot taller than it*

well those people are dead oop

why’s that chair all fucked up lmao

it sure is just. focusing on that chair for a while, huh

oh hey ranboo in the background lmao

ranboo is on the set this is not a drill

this sure is a funky little room huh

wow look at that four minutes set up XD

is that torn up showfall merch on the ground around the chair??

why did the puzzler leave a message TO RANBOO in the case he died??? hello??

why are there so many boxes inside boxes lmao

‘the truth will set you free’ genuinely what side is the puzzler even on here

squiggles is not happy about hacker guy being here again

i’m noticing whenever the hacker guy shows up or interferes or whatever is when ranboo seems actually distraught and confused and scared, most likely because whatever tie showfall has on him is weakened?? idk but it’s super cool

also squiggles commentary is. intriguing

ohhhh ranboo can actually see the fourth wall now?? or at least the people filming who represent the fourth wall/ the audience??

woahhhhhhhh this is so cool

the backing track there fits the atmosphere so well!!

that’s such a neat place to end it on holy shit lmao

#dandy talks #generation loss spoilers #generation loss #genloss #genloss ranboo #genloss slimecicle #genloss sneeg #genloss the puzzler #genloss niki #genloss jerma #this is genuinely super super cool so far ngl #i’ll prolly post my reactions to part three tomorrow ^^

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paul-doyle · 10 months ago

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‘What America is’: Sports world reacts to Capitol attack, historic week

Paul Doyle

CT Insider

Jan. 9, 2021

For many of the women in the WNBA, it was a dizzying 48 hours.

On Tuesday, Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler in Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff. Players visibly and vocally supported Warnock over the conservative Loeffler, co-owner of the Atlanta Dream.

But the sense of accomplishment was tempered the next day, when a mob of Donald Trump loyalists stormed the U.S. Capitol building. At least one brandished a confederate flag.

“One breath, you want to celebrate … But then you can’t,” said Connecticut Sun veteran DeWanna Bonner. “What happened in Washington DC and all the killings (of Black Americans) ... My head is kind of all over the place.”

Bonner, a Black woman from Alabama, saw race at the center of the Capitol events. She’s not alone.

The visuals of a mostly white crowd overwhelming police to storm the legislative building contrasted with images of Black Lives Matter protesters greeted with armed forced. Activists have noted a double standard in how the groups were treated by security.

The reaction from the sports world?

“We live in two Americas,” LeBron James said.

Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers said, “Could you imagine today, if those were all Black people storming the Capitol, and what would have happened?”

The sentiments are echoed throughout Connecticut, too — from high school coaches to college athletes to the professional basketball players at Mohegan Sun.

WNBA LEADING TO CHANGE

The WNBA has long been at the front of social causes, but the league’s players raised their activism to another level while competing in the Bradenton, Fla. bubble last summer. Players spoke out after the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, standing firmly behind the Black Lives Matter movement.

Loeffler, Atlanta’s co-owner since 2011, is a strong Trump supporter. In July, she expressed concern with the league’s support of BLM in a letter to league commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

The response from the players? They began wearing “Vote Warnock” shirts at games and raised money for his campaign. Players across the league donned the shirts and Warnock’s poll numbers steadily climbed.

Warnock wound up prevailing in a runoff, which helped tip the power in the Senate as Democrat Jon Ossoff defeated incumbent Republican David Perdue in Georgia’s other runoff.

“It was such a happy moment for him and for our league, as well,” Bonner said. “We did a great job of speaking out when we heard about what was going on in the race. We knew immediately who we wanted to support. Everybody wore those shirts on game days — there were some big games that week and we wanted to make sure that people saw us.

“We stand by what we believe in and it showed the powerful impact that we can make.”

Players celebrated the victory on social media. UConn’s Renee Montgomery, who played with Atlanta but opted out of the 2020 season as she focused on social justice reform, tweeted: “In 2019, I didn’t know what to call @ReverendWarnock because he was a Dr and a Pastor. Now I gotta add Senator to the list. Congrats to Dr Pastor Senator Warnock!”

James tweeted, “Think I’m gone put together an ownership group for the The Dream. Whose in?” and Montgomery responded, “I’m ready when you are.”

And it’s worth noting that James’ tweet received a long list of responses, including an emphatic “In” from former tennis great and Fairfield product James Blake. Meanwhile, Montgomery told TMZ she’s serious about an ownership bid — although there is no indication Loeffler is selling.

The WNBA is being cited for its impact on the election, but the support for Warnock — and rejection of Loeffler — is just another example of the league’s players using their platform. Independent of the Georgia race, players were leading the sports world in speaking out about racial injustice last year.

“Just more recognition for the work that they’re doing,” said Connecticut Sun vice president Amber Cox, who has worked in the league for 13 years. “If you think back to the Pride platform and the support of the LGBTQ community, the WNBA was really the first to do that. It’s been happening. But the result of being in a bubble situation where you had all the players together, allowed them to come together and it was obviously just a defining moment in our history … all things kind of culminated.

“These women are so courageous and smart and, obviously, strategic the way they go about things. It’s been wonderful to see them get the recognition for all the work that they have been doing.”

New Haven native Bria Holmes said the season was dedicated to making voices heard.

“And clearly they were heard,” she said. “Just voicing our opinion on things that haven’t been going well, I think it opened people’s eyes to a lot of things. … Women are a huge part of the world. With our voices, we can do a lot. It’s not just the men. We can continue to do great things.”

Said Bonner, “People are listening. Women’s basketball has an opportunity to be at the forefront of sports. … Last summer, we spoke up and spoke out about our true feelings. We’re outspoken. We don’t hold our tongues for anything. People are learning more about us as women, about our culture, and what we believe in, and that we’re more than just basketball players.”

Yet Bonner, an 11-year veteran, said she was shook by what she witnessed Wednesday. The joy of Warnock’s victory quickly evaporated.

“It’s a scary time,” she said. “It’s kind of like, let me make sure my family is home and safe because you never know what can happen right now. It’s just such a sad time for us, especially for Blacks in this world right now.”

Holmes said she was at a loss for words to describe how she felt Wednesday. But she does believe the “outcome would’ve been totally different” had a majority of the protesters been Black.

‘PUSHING FOR UNITY’

UConn freshman Paige Bueckers figures to have a future in the WNBA, yet she has already used her voice — she marched in her home state of Minnesota after Floyd’s death.

Asked Friday about the WNBA and the state of the country, Bueckers said she is impressed that the league and the players use their platform to spread their message.

“Everything that they do, they’re trying to make this world a better and more equal place,” Bueckers said. “That’s what we need right now — equality and justice, equal treatment for everybody regarding race. It’s just sad to see the inequalities in the world.

“If we just treated each other how we wanted to be treated, it would be a much better place. It’s just sad to see the stuff that’s going on in the world, the hate and the division that we have. The WNBA is just pushing for unity and togetherness. I just think that’s really big and what the world needs right now.”

Buecker is white, but her younger brother Drew is Black and she spoke over the summer about their conversations pertaining to his race.

“I’m scared for him,” she said over the summer. “I’m scared for myself because that’s my little brother. He’s my best friend, really. I’m really close to him. Having that fear, that one wrong judgment and his life could be on the line, it’s super scary and it’s something I want to help change.”

UConn junior Christyn Williams, another player with WNBA aspirations, expressed her support for Black Lives Matter on her social media accounts last summer.

“I’m definitely excited to be a part of the WNBA one day because they represent something bigger than themselves,” she said. “We’re people too. They show that as an example every time something happens or just in general. I think they’re doing a great job with that.”

CONNECTICUT REACTION

The events at the Capitol were jarring for athletes and coaches across the state.

Wilbur Cross basketball coach Kevin Walton conducts a weekly Zoom call with his players, his opportunity to check on his team while the season remains paused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday night, Walton asked his players about the events that unfolded at the Capitol.

“One of the players said one of the differences (from the Black Lives Matter protests) was they were treated differently because they were white, but he was reluctant to say it at first,” Walton said. “I told him you can always say what you feel. We want the kids to formulate their own opinions.”

Walton, a community activist who participated in protests after the killing of Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May, said he was “appalled” by the way Capitol police and law enforcement reacted to the mob that stormed the legislative building.

“It sends a message that they didn’t take these white nationalists and terrorists to be as scary or as threatening as the Black Lives Matter protests,” Walton said.

Hillhouse football coach Reggie Lytle, who stayed up until 4 a.m. Thursday watching news coverage of the events, retired in 2013 as a lieutenant after a 25-year career in the state Department of Corrections.

Like Walton, he was stunned by the lack of security at the Capitol. Lytle contrasted what took place Wednesday with his own experience at the Million Man March on the National Mall in 1995. He estimates there were thousands of law enforcement at the march, “and you turn on the TV (Wednesday) and see only 500 Capitol Police?”

Lytle also said he felt “real sick” upon learning that a Capitol police officer was killed in the incident. He experienced riots during his time in the corrections department.

“To lose an officer to a beat down makes me feel I didn’t do my job,” he said. “It angers me even more to learn the President of the United States provoked this action. This invokes hate and invokes retaliation. I am old enough to know to fall to my knees and pray. This is what (Colin) Kapernick was doing.”

Lytle said he encountered racism as a member of Hillhouse’s 1985 state championship team and he sees his players faced with the same now. “Not much has changed,” he said.

His view of what happened at the Capitol?

“I’m not surprised at all,” Lytle said. “Especially since they announced they were going to do it. We have a saying: There it goes again. When we say that, in our community, we all know what that means. It’s white privilege. There’s no other way to look at it. White privilege.

“…My kids know. They could simply stand on the corner waiting for their girlfriend, and then the cops roll up and they get grilled. Meanwhile, you have people going to the Capitol and nobody’s stopping them.”

Walton, too, was not surprised.

“When President-elect (Joe) Biden comes on and says, ‘This isn’t America’ … this is exactly what America is,” Walton said. “Storming the Capitol building, acting in a violent manner, that is exactly who we are. … What bothered me the most is the people acting out were every-day people. There weren’t any billionaires out there (Wednesday). Those were people waiting for their stimulus checks, people who need Obamacare.”

This discussions between players and coaches unfolded at all levels last week.

At Quinnipiac, men’s basketball coach Baker Dunleavy said his team talked about the insurrection on Thursday.

“I think in general young people are very socially aware,” Dunleavy said. “They’re educated. They pay attention. They read. They’ve got social media at their fingertips. The players shared some of their individual thoughts and opinions.

“When we look at that day in our history, we’ll look back on a very dark day, an unfortunate and really embarrassing day in our country. We talked a little bit that there are some people out there who are similar to those we saw on camera and feel the way they feel. For a lot of people, it’s convenient for them to pretend that doesn’t exist. We have less ability to look the other way, that that sentiment isn’t something that existed just back in the 1960s.”

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b0ringasfuck · 5 months ago

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Making America Great Again, Again

Hello, everybody! Wow, what a crowd! This is amazing, it really is. And I’ll tell you something—this is what America looks like. This is what America feels like. People from all over, coming together, wanting to make our country great again. You know it, and I know it. They’re trying to stop us, but they won’t. We’re stronger than ever before.

Now, I want to talk to you today about what’s happening in our country. And folks, it’s not good. I don’t have to tell you—you’re feeling it. You see it every day. You go to the grocery store, and everything costs so much more. You fill up your car, and it’s like you’re paying twice what you used to. And I said it would happen. I told you! I warned you that if they came into power, they would destroy our economy. And now, look at where we are. It's a total disaster, folks.

But let me tell you something—this is a movement like no other. You are part of the greatest political movement in the history of our country. Believe me, it’s true. You see it everywhere. People are waking up. They’re realizing that the people in Washington, the people in the swamp, they don’t care about you. They don’t care about the hardworking men and women of this country. They only care about themselves and staying in power. And we're not going to let that happen, folks. Not on our watch!

Now, let’s talk about our economy. Under my administration, we had the best economy in the history of the world. Unemployment was at historic lows. Record lows for Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans. Everybody was working. Everybody was winning. And then, in comes Joe Biden, and everything goes to hell. Let’s be honest. It’s true. He took a booming economy and he destroyed it. Inflation is out of control, gas prices are through the roof, and we’re sending billions and billions of dollars overseas, instead of taking care of our own people.

But we’re going to change that, and we’re going to change it fast. Because America comes first. That’s what it’s all about—putting America first. You remember when I said that? They laughed. They said, “Oh, America First? How dare he say that?” But I’ll tell you what—we weren’t laughing. We were serious, and we delivered. We brought jobs back to this country. We brought manufacturing back. We made trade deals that were fair and that put American workers first. And we can do it again. You better believe we’re going to do it again.

And let me tell you something else: we were respected. America was respected again. You know, I sat down with world leaders, and they respected me because they knew I meant business. I wasn’t going to let them take advantage of the United States anymore. Look at NATO. I got NATO to start paying their fair share. No president ever did that before. They were ripping us off, and I stopped it. And now look at Biden—he’s weak, he’s indecisive, and world leaders are laughing at us again. They don’t respect us anymore. They don’t respect him.

We need strength. We need leadership. We need someone who is going to stand up for America and fight for you, the American people. And that’s what I’m going to do. I did it before, and I’m going to do it again. You know, the fake news media won’t tell you this, but they’re scared. The Washington insiders, the elites—they’re scared of what we’re building. They see the rallies, they see the polls, and they know we’re coming back stronger than ever before.

Look at what’s happening with our borders. Total disaster. Total chaos. We had the strongest, most secure border in history. We were building the wall. We had it almost done, and then Biden comes in and stops everything. Now, we have drugs pouring in, crime surging, and illegal immigrants flooding our cities. It’s out of control. The Democrats want open borders because they think it’ll get them more votes, but I say we need to take care of Americans first. We need to protect our borders. We need law and order. And we’re going to finish that wall, believe me.

And speaking of law and order, look at our cities. Look at what’s happening in Democrat-run cities across the country. Crime is through the roof. Murders, shootings, looting, rioting—you name it. We didn’t have that under my administration. Why? Because we backed the police. We stood with our law enforcement. We weren’t afraid to call out the thugs and the criminals. But now? Now they’ve handcuffed our police. They’ve defunded them. And what do you get? Chaos. Total chaos. But we’re going to restore law and order in this country. We’re going to make our cities safe again. You have my word on that.

Now, you know I’ve been fighting against the Deep State for a long time. The corrupt system in Washington—they’ve been after me from day one. They tried to impeach me twice—twice! And we beat them. We beat them every time. But they’re still coming after me because they know I’m not part of their little club. I’m not part of their insider games. I’m here for you. I’m here for the American people. And they hate that. But we’re not going to back down. We’re going to keep fighting, and we’re going to win.

Because, folks, this isn’t just about me. It’s about you. It’s about the future of this country. It’s about our children, and their children. What kind of country are we going to leave them? Are we going to leave them a country that is weak and divided? Or are we going to leave them a country that is strong, united, and proud?

You know, I’ve traveled all over this country, and I’ve met so many amazing people. Farmers, factory workers, small business owners—people who love this country and want to see it succeed. And let me tell you something—they’re not giving up. And I’m not giving up either. We’re in this together. We’re fighting together. And we’re going to take back our country.

So, in 2024, we’re going to do something that’s never been done before. We’re going to win. We’re going to win big. And when we do, we’re going to make America greater than ever before. The best is yet to come, folks. Believe me.

Thank you. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

VOTE to keep this asshole out of the White House

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makeshift-moth · 2 years ago

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#I’ve been waiting for this one!#I’m at soup #polls #I have the power to make polls now and I’m about to make it everybody’s problem #meme

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makeste · 4 years ago

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BnHA Chapter 307: The One With Shindou

Previously on BnHA: Endeavor and Hawks (and Jeanist too, although he didn’t really do anything, but BY GOD, WHAT IS UP WITH HIS NECK) held a press conference and were all, “everything you’ve heard is true, so we would just like to say, from the bottom of our hearts... our bad.” U.A. opened its doors to the public as an evacuation shelter. Deku and All Might told basically EVERYBODY about OFA, which is absolutely wild, and yet somehow we hardly paid any attention to this at all. Mostly because the chapter ended with Deku being all “I WALK A LONELY ROAD, THE ONLY ONE THAT I HAVE EVER KNOWN” and peacing out of U.A. to embark on a solo journey of angst. So this is either gonna be the best or the worst thing that ever happened to this series, so TIME TO FIND OUT WHICH IT IS.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “so who do you guys want to see next? Deku? Bakugou?? Well how about SHINDOU?” Shindou is all “hi :) I’m Shindou :) :) remember me :) :) :)?” Horikoshi is all “I’m so sorry for depriving you guys of Shindou for so fucking long, how about an ENTIRE CHAPTER ALL OF HIM” and then he REALLY FUCKING DOES IT because, I don’t know?? Did we make him mad?? Am I being punished for something I did in a past life?? It really is, honest to god, seventeen whole goddamn pages of Shindou, punctuated by a few pages of Muscular, and topped off with one (1) whole appearance by Deku at THE VERY END. And we don’t even get to see his face. I am beside myself lmao I’m sorry you guys, you can skip this recap if you want. Or just skip straight to the end, because movie 3 promo.

“long time no see” now what could this mean?? can’t think of too many characters this phrase would apply to right now. although I can think of one big one, and I know that fandom has been trying to manifest his deadbeat ass to finally show itself for years now. could it finally be that time? if Hisashi shows up and debunks DFO a big chunk of the fandom is probably going to riot lol

(ETA: why oh why did I get my hopes up like that lmao. I’m pretty sure Hisashi doesn’t actually exist and Deku was either immaculately conceived, or the stork really did bring Inko a lil green baby from the cabbage patch.)

anyway, so the chapter is opening on this random scene of CRIME and DISARRAY

was this all done by that big villain from the previous chapter? utility poles knocked down, random holes in the sides of buildings, and it looks like this one car pulled over in a hurry and the driver just hopped out and ran

who are these people talking

OH NO, OH GOD

I am immediately struck by the urge to push Shindou off of this ledge. is that mean? probably that is mean, but also fuck this guy lmao. every year you cheat someone out of their well-deserved spot in the popularity poll, and every year I want to punch you in your stupid face for it

bah. and how are you doing, Tatami. love that hero name even if you do have arguably the dumbest superpower in the entire series

listen, though. here I am shitting on these Ketsubutsu kids for no good reason, and I’m sorry about that, and truthfully it’s mostly because I just want to see Deku and/or Kacchan and so it’s hard to give a fuck about anything else right now. BUT, I will immediately cease and desist ALL of my complaining if this means we also get to see my best girl Ms. Joke, omg. Horikoshi please

sdlkfjlskalk

FUCK YOU SHINDOU OMG. I’M SORRY GUYS I CAN’T HELP IT, EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM IS SO EMINENTLY PUNCHABLE AND DETESTIBLE. IT’S LIKE SOMEONE COMBINED WESLEY CRUSHER WITH JEAN RALPHIO

but LSKJFLEK at this random reminder that Bakugou refused to shake his fucking hand. like, that’s his “fun fact” apparently lol. it’s what he deserves

also living for this “cringe” here, too. fuck you Shindou. I am so, so sorry to any Shindou fans out there you guys because I’m just going to be like this the entire time he’s here. the hate is flowing through me

how has it been three whole pages and I still have to look at his stupid face

anyway so it seems like the kids are having to pick up the slack for Old Man Samurai and all those other assholes who retired. I’m guessing the U.A. kids will be seeing a lot more action as well

but in the meantime let’s hope no villains attack here all of a sudden, because all Tatami can do is make herself shorter while Shindou creates an earthquake to bring the entire building down around them dflkjslk

these guys don’t particularly want to go with them and I can’t say I blame them

so now Shindou is saying that yeah, they can probably handle the looters and such by themselves, but it’s a different story when it comes to the Noumu and the escaped Tartarus prisoners. Shindou how dare you make a reasonable point that I can’t immediately argue with

he says that one of the escapees was sighted in the area, so that’s why they’re trying to evacuate everyone

and the guy disagrees and says he doesn’t trust the heroes and thinks they’re pompous

fdskljk. fucking...

ME: Horikoshi can we please stop and get Deku HORIKOSHI: we have Deku at home THE DEKU AT HOME:

Horikoshi. please. we get it, the civilians don’t trust the heroes anymore. I UNDERSTAND. I COMPREHEND THIS. so unless there is some other point to this scene I respectfully ask that you hurry things along because omg

did Tatami always have this habit of speaking in meme language and such? I thought that was Camie’s thing but hey

listen, I’m here for anyone who’s willing to drag this man down into the depths of the earth. I would just also rather not spend the entire fucking chapter on this oh my god. Horikoshi do you have any more of those chapters where things happen in them?? those are good, I like those

YESSSSSS FINALLY

so whoever’s on the other end of the call (ETA: it’s that rock-looking guy who can harden anything that he touches. why does BnHA have so many hardening powers) is telling them to run because there’s apparently a villain heading right for them, oh my

WHO IS HE

depending on who it is I can’t promise I won’t be rooting for them over you, buddy

ohhhhhh shit

huh. well that’s... hmm... but on the other hand...

okay lol no, I know it’s bad. Muscular fucking LOVES murdering kids. not even Shindou deserves that. I’m sure he has a family that loves him and stuff. and Tatami seems like a sweet girl. they don’t deserve to be murdered

that is the question isn’t it? are we really going to spend the entire chapter with Limbs-Retracting-Girl and her boyfriend, Joseph Gordon-Levitt from (500) Days of Summer??

YES OMG

YES PLEASE CALL YOUR SENSEI. my god do you know what I would give to see Ms. Joke take down an S-class villain??

(ETA: all I’ll say is that we were robbed here, you guys.)

now Tatami is running away while Shindou stays behind omg

Horikoshi I know I said I hate the guy, and I do, but my god. seems I don’t hate him half as much as you do you. been nice knowing you Shindou my man

are you serious Tatami really ran all the way back up here to try and evacuate these guys one more time

SHE’S SUCH A GOOD PERSON omg if you assholes don’t listen to her you deserve to get murdered

BRO

HORIKOSHI DID YOU REALLY FUCKING DO IT I CAN’T BELIEVE IT

LOL OKAY NO, SO FAR HE’S ONLY MESSED UP HIS FACE

WHAT A SHAME WHAT A TRAGEDY. THE WORLD MOURNS

okay but seriously, now he has to be dead

r.i.p. Shindou. he died doing what he loved, talking a lot and being utterly useless

then again, damn Shindou are you really gonna come out here and be a badass?? gonna make me eat my words there kiddo?

I have absolutely no idea if I should expect this to work or not. all I know is that this is page 14, and so it would seem we really are going to spend the entire fucking chapter on fucking Shindou. this beautiful chapter had so much potential, Horikoshi. and now look at it. I hope you’re happy

nope it didn’t fucking work at all lmao

IT’S JUST LIKE I SAID. r.i.p. you pretentious handsome lump

OHHHHHH SNAP

DEKU YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO LOL. anyway but it’s good to see you!! it’s good to see ANYONE other than these guys sob but especially you

FINALLY SOMETHING COOL OMG

somehow Horikoshi actually made the bunny mask look badass?? I don’t think this is sustainable, but I am here for it while it lasts

Shindou should by all rights be nothing but A HANDSOME PASTE at this point lol but WHATEVER. it’s BnHA; getting smashed into walls and cliffs has more or less the same consequences as being set on fire. slap a band-aid on it and you’re good to go

we are REALLY ENDING IT HERE huh

well. and that’s it. I just did not care about any of that lmao. a rare dud of a chapter. well, but we’ve had something like ten in a row that ranged from “pretty good” to “amazing”, so I guess that’s fair

anyway I feel like I owe you guys something other than endless bitching and moaning, so! BONUS:

now this is more like it

first of all, I’m absolutely living for this promo’s “YEET THE CHILDREN OUT OF A HELICOPTER” vibes. FUCK YEAH WE’RE HEROES BITCH

is Deku wearing a jetpack/parachute?? let’s hope he is because I’m assuming he doesn’t have Float yet, so if that’s not a jetpack then it is a LONG WAY DOWN kiddo

these maniacs actually got Deku to wear something other than his red shoes holy fuck. I’m speechless. are we sure that’s not an imposter??

Shouto has the funniest falling position I’ve ever seen. I’m assuming his left arm is not in fact tucked under his leg like it appeared to be at first glance?? like, wtf is the outline of your body right now Shouto

this is what I think it is after careful analysis, but at first I thought this kid had some hidden contortionist abilities

and then there’s this guy

I MISSED YOU YOU BIG GOON. loving the new gauntlets!! and he’s changed up his impractical metal neck thingy into arm thingies! but most importantly, ARE THESE WHAT I THINK THEY ARE

ARE THOSE WEENIES. KACCHAN. KACCHAN HAVE YOU GONE NATIVE OMFG

and meanwhile, look who’s with them! Endeavor makes perfect sense of course, but Hawks is a very welcome surprise. does this mean we can expect to see Tokoyami too? because I would fucking love that

lastly, so this confirms the whole “world heroes” thing! which we all pretty much guessed anyway lol. I wonder if this movie will take place in another country (fingers crossed). the city in the background doesn’t look particularly familiar, but this image probably wasn’t meant to be analyzed in that way lol. anyways, looking forward to this so much, PLEASE GIVE US A TRAILER SOON omg

#bnha 307 #shindou you #nakagame tatami #muscular #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #todoroki shouto #bnha movie 3 #bnha world heroes' mission #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #'I never knew shindou was so popular' said horikoshi not understanding memes #'I guess I better give the people what they want'#smdh #this chapter should be called 'horikoshi's revenge'

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stephenjaymorrisblog · 2 years ago

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Dark Brandon Lights Up Voters

Stephen Jay Morris

9-10-2022

©Scientific Morality

All this hype about VR—virtual reality. Those headsets look like blindfolds on space aliens from Planet Oy Vey, just before they administer the death penalty by firing squad, using Jewish laser beams.

You want reality? Just turn your head and look around! But, no—not here in America! Nope. We live in a culture of escapism. My generation used hallucinogenic drugs, like LSD 25, or “Magic Mushrooms,” to escape the dystopian reality of capitalism and protestant Christianity. Timothy Leary predicted, in the 70’s, that people would cease using chemicals and, instead, get high by Cyber means. Well—just look at all those fools with the goofy headsets!

A lot of Americans have their own methodology of escapism. Like religion, for example, or movies. For you Millennial's, it’s been video games. Whatever. This all equates to what I call magic thinking.

Where does magic thinking come from? One’s childhood. Your parents recount or read fairy tales about magic as you sit upon their knee. Your prepubescent imagination fires up and a seed is planted in your subconscious! Soon, religion takes over and you are ready to accept whatever the pastor shouts at you from behind his pulpit. He rants about some omniscient God that will protect his followers—you—by doing magic against evil. A question: Why must he protect you from the evil that he created? Good question! But I digress.

When I was a young kid, my escapist entertainment was comic books. They cost 12 cents each and they were worth every penny! I could gaze at great art work and read imaginative stories. The stories’ subjects were primarily super heroes of various sizes, shapes, and powers. Using their special powers, they’d solve problems and fight against evil.

So, why am I telling you this?

I’m telling you this because a majority of Americans believe in magical thinking, by way of glorifying a dynamic individual. They believe there is one being who can stand up to an army of evil androids, 20 feet tall! I hate to break it to you, but no such thing exists.

Some Americans believe that, with a lot of money, this individual knows the secrets of life and success, and will free you from debt and your fear of evil. This was the crux of the whole Trump appeal. In his followers’ minds, he was going to deliver them from their miserable lives and provide a powerful and prosperous country of which they all could be proud. Fortunately, a lot of us saw through that facade with the realization that we were actually witnessing the great “son” of P.T. Barnum. To Trump, every White Protestant was not a patriotic American, but a stupid sucker that was born just a minute ago.

You see, there is a certain, childish naivete to the White American male. They believe that when their father beats them, it makes them a better person; that authority is always right. If Trump lies or cheats, he has a very good reason. This comes from authority dependency. I use critical thinking, so I know that when Trump does these things, it is because he is an evil asshole! To his followers, however, he is infallible.

Now, in walks President Joe Biden. He is an old fashioned politician. He leads by reading popularity polls. His politics remind me of Hubert Humphrey, a pragmatic centrist. Joe ain’t going to risk his career by saying something reckless or stupid. As Trump’s popularity started to shrink, then Biden donned his superhero outfit. He became more aggressive toward the Alt-Right, which is an easy task to do. It’s like condemning a child molester: everybody agrees with you. Try criticizing the Pope, or the President of Israel—see what it will get you! Now, that is daring!

Oh, don’t get me wrong! I get sadistic joy in Joe Biden’s verbal abuse of Trump. But this “Dark Bradon” shit? This was conceived by a meme artist on social media. It’s very entertaining, but politically useless.

One more point: FDR rules the roost. He went after the Conservatives and welcomed their hatred. He showed the Right-wingers who was boss! History would vindicate Roosevelt of being a “creeping Socialist.” If not for his government programs, America would be a Communist regime by now! He pulled the carpet out from under the Communist movement. The Conservatives, however, are too dumb to realize that. You don’t stop communism with a gun! You stop communism by Democratic Capitalism.

As an Anarchist, I am no friend of Liberals and Progressives, but they are the lesser of two evils: the Conservatives and MAGA jerks. Once we eliminate the Conservatives, then we go after the Libs.

Have a great day! No... Have a nice day!

#american politics #stephenjaymorris #poets of tumblr #anarchism #satire #joe biden #Dark Biden

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katieaki · 2 years ago

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My lesbian cowgirl mailman post-apocalyptic choose-your-own adventure story updated today, marking the end of part one! This is an EXCELLENT time to catch up, if you're interested. I will be putting together a summary for easy catch-up & so you can send it to every stinky little dyke you know who might just like it. In this update, after allegedly being a cowgirl for so long, Lou gets her first horse girl moment.

The station felt even more empty and uninviting than it normally did. She cried as she hung her wet washcloth to dry on a nail over the sink and as she brushed her teeth. She cried as she went out back to make sure the horses and Tantrum were okay for the night. She was preparing to head back inside when Oncore nosed her shoulder.

“I’m okay, girl,” Lou said. She wiped her nose on the back of her arm. Oncore nudged her again, so Lou slunk into her stall and wrapped her arms around her neck. “I got you, right?” she said into Oncore’s mane. Saying it out loud made her cry worse, going from streaming tears to wracking sobs. She both felt unspeakably pathetic but also full of love for this animal who had been her near-constant companion for over seven years. Oncore had been with her through three girlfriends, two non-girlfriends, and three towns. They’d ridden all over the Wasteland together, usually just the two of them. In some ways, she was the only family Lou had. Oncore was her girl.

You can read the update here! And I gotta tell you, today's poll is a good one. You get to choose which horse ole Louie is taking out into the Wasteland!

and WHAT'S MORE!!!!!! Kiya made a PICREW of them so you can decorate them a little!!!! You can play Wasteland Horse Picrew HERE.

Lou also jacks off to completion, as was democratically decided by you, the voters. So, there's a little something for everybody.

She licked the fingertip of her middle finger but had to spit out the horsehair that came with it. Incredible. She couldn’t even be suave with herself. She slipped her hand into the front of her panties and tried not to think of much of anything. She still felt a little sensitive from the night before, which could have been pleasant in its own right, but instead made her think of Venus’s beautiful mouth. Her head, with its long, loose hair, face buried between Lou’s thighs. Lou had snaked her fingers into the hair at the back of Venus’s head and she had told her that she could pull it, if she wanted. She hadn’t wanted to. She just wanted to stroke and touch her, to get big handfuls of that silky, soft hair. For months before, she had been dreaming of running her hands through it. Lou shook her head. It was not respectful to be thinking of Venus right now, not when everything was so weird. It felt scummy. Her thoughts flitted briefly to Alma Hardy, but she felt she couldn’t risk dwelling there long. It felt as if Alma would know and would use the power that gave her for evil. She did wonder, if she had bitten that afternoon, what would have been in store for her? It wouldn’t have surprised her if it had been a lot of commands to action, more than likely with an encouraging swat of a crop. Lou just knew Alma was throwing out weaponized ‘good girl’s, too. She had to admit, kind of a thrilling vision. She hadn’t considered, until that moment, that Alma was currently breastfeeding. What would that have been like? She shook her head; this felt inappropriate, too. Finally, with intense focus, was able to imagine Lullaby, her favorite ex, a completely safe subject who she bet would be happy to know she occasionally still came while thinking about her. She hoped she did the same. Lou was able to fall asleep after that with the knowledge that she would have to be awake in just a few hours.

lonesome lesbian cowgirl hours, who’s up

#Wasteland Pony Express #katieakipresentsthewasteland #original fiction #oc #original characters #interactive fiction #choose your own adventure #queer cowboys #gay cowboys #queer fiction #wasteland writing

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the-quotable-alberta-hansard · 3 years ago

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March 29, 2022

Ms Phillips: You know, I gave it a long bracketed text for this amendment act, but really, Mr. Chair, at the end of the day this is the Vaporization of Good Faith Bill is what this is. This is the UCP government just throwing a grenade behind them as they walk out the door of their just absolutely shockingly poor pandemic management and response and all of the economic and social and community costs that came with that, a lowlight reel of two years of poor decision-making. When you vaporize good faith like that, you also vaporize trust. That has been broken with municipalities – there’s no question – and it’s been broken with the electorate, too. I heard earlier the hon. Member for Calgary-Bow talking about door-knocking during the last election. Well, I door-knock between elections. I did it when we were in government, and I do it now. Just go out there and talk to people now, is what I would say. That word “trust” comes up every single time.

With that, I will conclude my remarks on this bill, on this unnecessary piece of legislation. You know, hopefully, going into the future we can begin to repair some of those broken relationships of trust both with the electorate and with the municipalities more broadly.

Mr. McIver: Yeah. No. I might have been wrong in something I said. I gave credit to the other side that they wanted COVID to go away. I think I just heard from the remarks we just heard that they want COVID to stay, on the other side. They see that as their last desperate grasp at maybe getting a slight chance to get back into government.

You know what? COVID has been hard on everybody. No one has raised more money than the folks on the other side based on COVID. No other opposition in Canada has fought their government every step of the way. They’d always say, no matter what the government did over the last couple of years, they have folks on the other side: don’t do it. Then they’d stand up here the next day and say: why aren’t people getting vaccinated? Well, maybe it’s because a third of the elected people in the province are saying: don’t do what the government recommends. Then they won’t take any responsibility for that.

All they saw COVID as was a way for political gain, to raise money, and you know what? For a little while it worked. Their poll numbers were better. I’m sure they were pretty happy with themselves. You know who’s really sad that COVID is going away now and we don’t know what the virus will do next because nobody does? It’s the folks on the other side. Now they’re where they’ve always been.

You know what? Even when people were mad at us, you know what I heard when I talked to people? “I don’t want the folks that were here last. We need you to get us past COVID so that we can vote for you again because those folks that were here the four years before: we never ever want to get them near the reins of power again, near the ability to have influence and trash our lives like they did for four straight years.” Maybe I was wrong in giving them credit for not wanting COVID to be here. It’s hard to say after the last speech I just heard. But on this side we really want it to go away. The other good news is that people are a lot happier now, and even the ones that aren’t happy tell me that they don’t want the folks on the other side. They had a lifetime of that during the last four years.

#this one is long i know #i just wanted to include all of ric's little tantrum #people are a lot happier now #o rly #alberta #alberta politics #ableg #Shannon Phillips #Lethbridge-West #NDP #Ric McIver #Calgary-Hays #UCP #cdnpoli

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creepingsharia · 4 years ago

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Minnesota: Ilhan Omar Connected Cash-For-Ballots Voter Fraud Scheme Corrupts Elections

Ilhan Omar Connected Cash-For-Ballots Voter Fraud Scheme Corrupts Elections: 'These Here Are All Absentee Ballots...Look...My Car Is Full..." 'Money Is The King Of Everything'

Ballot Harvester Liban Mohamed: “Money is Everything. Money is the King in this World. If You Got No Money, You Should Not Be Here, Period. You Know What I am Saying? Money is Everything and a Campaign is Managed By Money.”

Mohamed: “Numbers Do Not Lie. Numbers Do Not Lie. You Can See My Car is Full. All These Here Are Absentee Ballots. Can’t You See? Look at All These, My Car is Full.”

Paid Voter: “When We Sign The Voting Document and They Fill It Out Is When They Give Us The Money,”… “The Minute We Signed The Thing [Ballot] For The Election. That’s When We Get paid.”

Ballot Harvesting Triangle: River Plaza Apartments, Horn Towers seniors Community and 980 Hennepin Polling Site All Subject to Fraud

Minneapolis Somali Community Insider: “It’s an Open Secret” … “She [Ilhan Omar] Will Do Anything That She Can Do To Get Elected and She [Omar] Has Hundreds of People on The Streets Doing That.”

Seniors at Horn Towers Ballots Compromised; Harvester: We “Request” Ballots For The Seniors and Then Take Them Away.

[Minneapolis--Sept. 27, 2020] Project Veritas investigators revealed a ballot harvesting scheme here involving clan and political allies and associates of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D.-Minn.) in the first of a series of reports.

“Numbers don’t lie. Numbers don’t lie. You can see my car is full. All these here are absentees’ ballots. Can’t you see? Look at all these, my car is full. All these are for Jamal Osman... We got 300 today for Jamal Osman only,” said Liban Mohamed in a series of Snapchat videos posted July 1 and July 2 on his own Snapchat profile.

Mohamed said he was collecting the ballots to help his brother win the city’s Aug. 11 special election for a vacant Ward 6 city council race—which was held the same day as the primary for Omar’s MN-05 congressional seat. Ward 6 is the heart of the city’s Somali community and the Omar’s political base.

James O’Keefe, the founder and CEO of Project Veritas, said: “Ballot harvesting is real and it has become a big business. Our investigation into this ballot harvesting ring demonstrates clearly how these unscrupulous operators exploit the elderly and immigrant communities—and have turned the sacred ballot box into a commodities trading desk.”

O’Keefe said, “We are showing Americans what is really going on in one of our great cities—but, it's not me saying—we have the operators on tape saying it all themselves.”

Our investigation found that among three locations inside Ward 6, a ballot harvesting triangle, where the scheme operates: the Riverside Plaza apartments, the senior citizen community at Horn Towers and the Minneapolis Elections and Voter Services office at 980 E. Hennepin Ave., which also functions as a voting location and ballot drop-off site.

Mohamed continued: “Money is everything. Money is the king in this world. If you got no money, you should not be here period. You know what I am saying.”

Mohamed said that his political methods are interwoven with money. “Money is everything and a campaign is managed by money. You cannot campaign with $200 or $100 you got from your grandmother or grandfather. You cannot campaign with that. You gotta have an investment to campaign. You gotta have fundraisers.”

Hennepin County Attorney Jeff Wojciechowski told a Project Veritas journalist on a recorded line the ballot harvesting conduct described to him was: “Illegal, and we will be investigating.”

Somali insider stepped forward to expose election corruption in Minneapolis

Central to the Project Veritas investigation was Omar Jamal, political insider active in the city’s Somali community. Jamal works with the Ramsey County Sheriff Department and is the chairman of the Somali Watchdog Group. “I have been involved in the community for the last 20 years.”

“Omar Jamal is the latest brave Project Veritas Insider to come forward and expose a voter fraud scheme in Minnesota that will shock you,” said O’Keefe. “When we spoke with Omar Jamal, he actually repeated part of our PV Insider motto: 'Do Something.'”

Jamal said he was motivated to reach out to Project Veritas, because he wants to eliminate the corruption that weakens his community, such as the ballot harvesting practiced by Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, in which Ilhan Omar has emerged as a rising power broker.

“It's an open secret,” he said. “she [Omar] will do anything that she can do to get elected and she has hundreds of people on the streets doing that.”

The political insider said he hopes there is still time to clean up elections in the country.

“If American people don't pay attention to what's happening, the country will collapse,” he said.

“The regulations, if you ignore that and you let corruption and fraud become a daily business and then tough luck, the country will not exist as they [Americans] know it,” Jamal said.

“I'm afraid it's already too big to stop, you know, maybe it's too late. Maybe it's already too big to stop,” he said. “There's a lot of people invested in this, you know, and they don't care how they did it: ‘We win,’ and that's it.”

Ballot Harvester described how his own ballot was harvested by Omar operatives

Jamal, as part of his participation in the investigation, interviewed a Somali-American who functions as a ballot harvester his community. In the interview, the harvester described how he was paid to vote in the Aug. 11 special election and primary, along with a Project Veritas undercover journalist. The harvester said Somali-American vote-buying operatives from the Omar machine came to his apartment building to oversee the voter filling out the paperwork.

Omar operatives request the ballots and fill them out for the voters, he said.

“They come to us. They came to our homes. They said: ‘This year, you will vote for Ilhan,’” he said. “They said: ‘We will make the absentee ballots. We will fill out the forms for you and when you get them back, we will again fill it out and send it.”

There was no need to go to the voting site, because the Omar operatives told him: “You stay home and you will not go to the place.”

After the ballots are signed and documented the harvester said he got paid. “When we sign the voting document and they fill it out is when they give us the money,” he said. “The minute we signed the thing [ballot] for the election. That’s when we get paid.”

Ballot harvester describes how he targets elderly voters

Omar Jamal: So they [ballot harvesters] will request it [the ballot] for the elderly? Ballot harvester: Yes. They [ballot harvesters] request [the ballot] for them [the elderly]. Omar Jamal: And it [the ballot] is taken away from them [elderly]? Ballot Harvester: Yes. It [the ballot] is taken away from them [elderly].

DFL operative describes why he did not speak up about the election corruption

A political operative, known as Jamal, for Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which functions as the state’s official chapter of the national Democratic Party, told a Project Veritas undercover journalist he was afraid to speak up when he saw abuses of the voting system.

“They fight you if you speak up,” Jamal said. “Like what? Like what can I do? Like get jumped? Hell no. They ain’t got—no, no, I’m good.”

The DFL operative said he also saw Mohamed’s Snapchat videos. “I was looking at them and they were not filled. They were blank.”

“Liban didn't get it in a unique way,” he said. “He just gets them the way that everybody before him, or even, maybe even after him will do, which is go to the elders, maybe bait them and collect and help to them and he’s helping them--so, I think that's the process of collecting from the seniors, from their buildings.”

The Insider said another corrupting effect is the miseducation of the city’s new immigrants.

“We have to understand that the immigrants mostly, here now, are first generation immigrants,” he said.

“Through no fault of their own the new immigrants are learning about democracy from the ballot harvesters," he said. "When they get here, because of that ignorance, not knowing how this, all things work. Sometimes they even think it's legal.” – he said.

Documented ballot harvesting, vote buying violates federal and state law

Jered Ede, the chief legal officer for Project Veritas, said Mohamed and his confederates may have violated both state and federal election laws, some carrying a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

“The federal laws, 18 USC §597 and 52 U.S.C. §10307(c), are quite clear,” he said. “In the case of 18 USC §597, it is punishable by up to two years in prison and in the case of 52 USC §10307 it’s punishable by up to $10,000 in fines and up to five years in prison.”

The Minnesota statute, 211B.13(1) prohibits paying a person or receiving money to register to vote or to vote, he said. “This is a state felony punishable by more than one-year imprisonment.”

Beyond paying voters, there are also state and federal laws regarding intimidation of voters, he said.

“The federal laws 52 USC §20511, 18 USC §594 and 52 USC §10307(b) and the Minnesota statue 211B.07 law prohibit anyone from using undue influence threats intimidation or fraud to influence a person’s vote or to influence them to vote at all,” he said.

It's also a violation of federal law for anyone who votes for others illegally:

“The punishment under 52 USC §10307(e) also goes up to five years’ incarceration and a $10,000 fine,” he said.

“In addition to those statutes, Minnesota has another statute, 211B.11(3), which makes it a misdemeanor to induce or persuade a voter to vote for or against a candidate, while transporting the voter to the polls,” he said.

Former campaign worker comes forward

One Minneapolis-based source, who is a former political worker, told Project Veritas journalists on the night of the Aug. 11 special election and primary that Omar’s campaign manager Ali Isse Gainey is a key player in the ballot harvesting scheme.

The source said, “[Gainey], who's working in Ilhan’s campaign is the one who is managing the voting place. They bring them. They line them. They put the open ballots in there and then they take them in and say, ‘Here,’ and the people mark [the ballots]."

The practice is pervasive she said.

“They're accepting temporary addresses; they're accepting all kind of shenanigans,” she said.

“People that are showing their ID: ‘I moved 30 days ago, my ID's not come back.’ ‘OK, just give us the last four of your social and tell us the address,' and then somebody else will say 'Yeah.’ They will send people who are helping them vote and saying: ‘Yeah, I can vouch for this madness,’” she said.

The former campaign worker said Isse and the Omar-connected political machine have turned voter fraud into an organized process for application, registering and tracking the harvested ballots from collection to delivering to polls.

“They have perfected this system,” she said. “This is what they do. They will tell you we are applying for your ballot. They take a picture of your social security and your driver's license. They have a database. When the ballot comes, they track it, sometimes, they make fake emails. They track the ballot. Then, they come and pick up the ballot—unopened,” she said.

“So, there is vested interest, but we are victims of the system,” she said. “They [the Omar political machine] don't give a shit about any Somali.”

Our source was disgusted by the exploitation of her vulnerable community.

“No, and the ones that didn't vote on ballots, the young people, and the women and stuff, they were paying cash, cash, cash,” she said. “They were carrying bags of money. And when you vote and they mark you off, then you get in the van, they give you the cash.”

#Immigration #Legal #Law #News #Politics #Media #Muslim #Islam #Sharia #Jihad #Elections

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4haechie · 5 years ago

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son of apollo!donghyuck

pairing: son of apollo!donghyuck x child of athena!reader genre: fluff, comedy, some adventure/action, pjo au, e2l au words: 3,173 warning: couple of curse words here n there a/n: i reference a bunch of pjo characters in this so if u haven’t read pjo *crowd booing*

so donghyuck’s the son of apollo right

there’s like no arguing when it comes to that

he’s extremely talented at singing and making music, dancing, rapping, songwriting, so he’s no doubt apollo’s offspring

and he’s naturally gifted at archery as well

you can’t spell haechan without ACE teehee

u on the other hand

you’re athena’s child

you love to read and write you’re incredibly smart ofc

you love competing and winning and taking part in strategy making to bring your opponents DOWN 💅🏼

athena’s the goddess of wisdom as well as warcraft so needless to say you’re exceptional in both fields

you’re not just textbook smart, no no, you’re able to apply all the knowledge you learn…well…irl

not to mention you’re good with all kinds of weapons

ur fave weapons include swords and spears :D

you’re okay w knives too!!! and daggers!!! you’re not picky

but you’re better w longer blades just cuz u have more experience w them

fun fact: you’re the head of the athena cabin and donghyuck’s the head of the apollo cabin

you’re both great leaders, always doing your best to make the best strategies to win capture the flag, the chariot races, and other fun activities chiron plans for the campers 😁

but . you guys are Sworn Enemies

actually the better term to use would be “rivals”

you guys r So competitive to the point where you actually developed a rivalry during your first few years at camp half-blood

donghyuck LOVES to win but so do you… so obv he’s gonna go out of his way to make sure he/his cabin wins

that doesn’t mean you’ve ever backed down from his challenges…

if he’s competitive you’re twice as competitive

one day after breakfast during your fifth year at camp when you’re both about 18, chiron decides to host a good old game of capture the flag

u know . for old times’ sake 😼

once he makes the announcement you immediately turn to your cabin mates

“we have to win no matter what”

“y/n, it’s just capture the flag. we’re not fighting gaea”

“bitch are u in or not”

the entire dining hall is buzzing with excitement

nothing makes a demigod’s day like a capture the flag announcement 😌

chiron suddenly grabs the megaphone again and calls out “this time however there’s a little twist,” he chuckles as everybody goes silent

you raise an eyebrow

“you’ll be in teams of course. everybody has to play. there’s twenty cabins, so there will be ten teams of two cabins each. i’ll pair you guys up myself. each pair gets a flag–so there’s ten flags in total. the game will be won by the pair who manages to collect all flags and brings them back to their base before anyone has the chance to steal their own flag.”

the demigods burst into intense chatter and discussion once more

you turn your head back to your siblings and tilt your head in slight confusion

you’ve never played capture the flag in teams before

“anyone but apollo. i’m literally begging. sam, pray to athena right now”

“y/n RELAX”

“i think if we’re partners with apollo’s cabin i’ll actually jump into tartarus”

“…”

“what? percy and annabeth survived” 🙄

chiron pulls out a scroll and calls out the pairings one by one

poseidon and demeter, hades and ares (good luck to them), so on and so forth

your heart keeps racing . athena’s name has not been called out yet

and just like that your worst fear comes true

“athena cabin with apollo cabin. the game will commence in thirty minutes, which is how much time you have to prepare. good luck and stay safe!”

you drop your head into your palm (aka head in hands meme jpg)

“this is the worst day of my entire life”

“y/n, you’re hands down the most dramatic person i’ve ever met”

maybe it’s just you–bc your siblings seem fine with the apollo kids

they have so many apollo cabin friends :(

curse u and donghyuck’s little rivalry that the entire camp and chiron knows about

so him putting yall together definitely was not a coincidence cough cough

can u blame him

🌤🌈 he just wants all of u to get along 🌈🌤

he’s seen w his own two centaur eyes what happens when demigods fight between themselves

it’s not healthy

he needs u guys to get along bc u and donghyuck are some of the best demigods at camp rn

ur quick wits and amazing sword skills

his position as the camp’s best archer

imagine how powerful yall would be if u two worked together

if only you got along from the start.. but nooooo

ur egos r just too high F

but anyway, back to the present

you’re sitting there, head in your hands, dreading this already when some of the apollo kids swagger over to your guys’ table

donghyuck is in front of them as he scoffs after seeing your dreadful state

“why the sad face, y/n?”

you lift your head up to see him hovering over your seat and roll your eyes

you get up and your siblings follow

you’re just gonna have to make do. you don’t have time to complain

the thing is

you’ve only lost capture the flag once 👎🏼

a few summers ago the apollo cabin defeated the entire camp leaving everybody speechless

it’s true they didn’t defeat JUST you but somehow you thought it was personal

you had the PERFECT record 😕

zero losses . only wins

but bc of the apollo kids your cabin’s record was tarnished

which is sorta why you started hating them (esp donghyuck their leader) so much

donghyuck caught on immediately and made it a point to compete just as hard as u

so yea. that’s how you became rivals

he knows how much ur gonna hate working with him but u don’t really have a choice now do u :/

so he knows exactly why u have a sad face

but this is donghyuck we’re talking about

just bc yall r “rivals” doesn’t mean he’s not gonna tease u 😂😂😂

(or maybe he teases u bc he thinks ur cute and he hopes one day u realise him teasing is actually donghyuck for flirting 🤭)

“you know damn well why, lee donghyuck”

“oh c’mon i think it’ll be fun! if we combine our skills, we definitely have a hundred percent chance of winning”

you cross your arms and glance at your siblings who just shrug in agreement

you sigh loudly

“don’t even think about fucking this is up, donghyuck. and just so we’re clear, i’m in charge”

he laughs, “yup! got it”

so you start talking strategy

you only have 30 minutes so you need to make the best of it

you divide the two cabins into pairs so that an athena and an apollo kid will be paired together and in charge of smth diff

you have plenty of people on your team – 5 in athena’s cabin and 5 in apollo’s cabin

some will handle weapons and safety gear, some will handle mapping out the playing area which was basically the entirety of the woods, some will be setting up traps near your team’s flag to prevent others from coming close

30 minutes quickly pass and after dividing the work and planning your strategy with donghyuck and friends you turn your attention back to chiron who has his megaphone in hand

everyone’s told to gather outside the dining hall at the open field before the game commences

you, donghyuck, and your teammates briefly talk strategy once more . just to make sure everybody knows what they’re supposed to do

“let the game begin!” chiron blows a loud whistle and the demigods scramble out of the field, going to their designated flag locations

your spot is near a little creek, but the forest around your flag is quite dense so u figure it’s relatively hard to locate

it’s not that late so the afternoon sun makes your skin glisten with sweat

“damn, can you tell your dad to chill tf out for a while,” you tell donghyuck jokingly

he just rolls his eyes but on the inside he’s kinda glad you’re being casual with him rather than 😡😡😡😡😡 like u normally are

u don’t know what it is about him today but u swear he’s acting different around u

he wasn’t… as annoying while discussing strategy ????

he actually ?????? listened ?????? to what u had to say 🤔🤔🤔🤔

he didn’t argue, he didn’t even throw around witty burns like he usually does w/o hesitation

u were like… is he ok

little do u know!!! he actually l*kes u 🤭🤭🤭

well… it’s not a 100% fact that HE himself knows as well

but his siblings caught on to his weird behaviour n figured smth was up

mark being one of hyuck’s closest friends n siblings in the apollo cabin, realised he was acting weird ever since yall got grouped together

he seemed nervous ⁉️ which he never ever is

he’s like the most confident person mark’s ever known

so mark was like *thinks*

after putting two and two together mark came to the conclusion that he might have a small crush on u

bc hyuck kept glancing over at u, kept talking abt how ur a good leader (he’s never gonna tell YOU that tho. he crossed his heart on that one)

mark was like i didn’t even ask but ok

mark was confused at first tho cuz everybody and their mom knows about your guys’ rivalry so why tf would hyuck have a crush on someone he considers his rival

mark decides not to get ahead of himself bc hey!!! maybe he doesn’t have a crush, maybe he just thinks ur a good leader

like that’s it u know?

LMAO 🤫

so anywayz where was i

ah right

the flag

OK SO ur team’s flag is yellow ! :D

it’s like the colour of sunflowers

you and donghyuck r in charge of guarding the flag while ur team members scout around for the other flags

easy peasy

you and donghyuck are at your base now, weapons drawn just in case

the flag is hung on a poll couple feet taller than you

you’re dressed in ur usual training clothes – a pair of washed out shorts, a very old orange camp half-blood shirt; your sword’s sheath hanging from one of the belt loops of your shorts

donghyuck’s dressed similarly – a pair of blue ripped jeans, the same orange camp shirt tucked into them, but he has a purple flannel on, which he takes off and ties around his waist

“it’s so freaking hot,” he says, mentally agreeing with the comment u made about apollo earlier

“tell me about it”

there’s a silence that follows, the only sound heard is the subtle flow of the creek water

you’re thankful for the silence

it’s easier to keep an ear open for opponents on their way to steal your flag

just as you think about it, an ares and a hades kid approach your base

they’re on the other side of the creek, less than ten to fifteen feet away

“hi y/n,” the hades kid you’re kind of close to says

you shoot him a fake smile before holding your sword in front of you

donghyuck pulls out an arrow from his quiver and nocks it in his bow, aiming for the two demigods in front of you

the creek isn’t that deep, so the two demigods cross it with ease

they have their weapons drawn; they’re now a couple of feet away from you and more importantly the flag

no words are said as donghyuck lets his arrow fly and knock the hades’ kid sword out of his hands

he didn’t use an arrow with a sharp tip, you note

the hades’ kid stumbles backwards, imbalanced after he gets unarmed

you stand your ground as the ares’ kid scrambles forward, attacking you with her sword

your blades clash defiantly

you continue to spar with all your might

from the corner of your eye you see that the hades’ kid, sword back in hand, is battling donghyuck on your left

the flag is right behind you and donghyuck; you can’t let the two demigods get near it

you and the ares kid are still battling each other, putting all your strength into making sure she surrenders

but u should know better

ares and athena kids have many similarities like their love for winning, their confidence in battle, etc.

it’s like looking in a mirror

you don’t have anything against this particular ares kid, though

“c’mon, y/n, give up already”

that REALLY makes your blood boil

you never give up, no matter what

with one final blow of your sword, you knock her sword out of her hands, making her think she distracted you with her words

she goes flying back, half her body landing in the creek water

her sword lies in between you and her, but you doubt she’ll have the courage to fight again

the hades kid sees this and quickly scrambles away from hyuck, picking up the ares kid’s sword and giving her a hand up

“this is why i hate you and your siblings–your huge ego always gets in the way,” you hear the hades kid grumble to his partner as they run away from you, shame written all over their defeat

hyuck laughs and wipes sweat from his forehead

you can’t help but laugh either

you love it here at 🧡 camp half-blood 🧡

a few moments pass as your teammates emerge from the dense woods, each pair with a different colour flag held between them

you smile in victory

you quickly bring down your flag from its pole and give it to hyuck

“me? it was your plan…”

“yeah, but i couldn’t have done it without you, hyuck”

he almost passes out at your choice of nickname

back at the main hall, chiron announces your team as the winner, and that the prize yall being excused from doing chores all week long!!!!

it’s not much, but hey, at least you and hyuck ended up working together and winning the game, right?

later, hyuck pulls you aside from your cabin mates, and walks you to the lakeside

you two sit at the deck, side by side, watching the water doing nothing in particular

you watch as hyuck swings his feet lightly, his toes barely touching the water

“y/n, do you hate me?” donghyuck asks out of the blue

you’re like 😳 what

now that he asks you that . like straight up . it makes u think

do u REALLY hate him

or do u just hate losing to him

“why would i hate you?” you question back

“i don’t know? i guess because of our, um, rivalry thing i thought you can’t stand me”

you play with the beads of your camp necklace

“i don’t hate you, donghyuck. i just hate losing. i guess it’s the athena in me,” you laugh at how lame you sound

“i hate losing too, but i don’t hate you, in case you’re wondering.”

he takes a deep breath

“i know we started going against one another ‘cause of that one time my cabin won capture the flag, but i don’t want things to stay this way,” he pushes his hair back

“i guess what i’m saying is… i like working with you.” he pauses

“yeah,” he says, as if more convinced now, “and i would really like to get to know you better,” he clears his throat, very clearly embarrassed

you laugh at his flustered state

“stop laughing at me,” he stretches the last syllable as he lightly shoves you with his shoulder

you’re trying even harder to not laugh now, but for his sake, you hold it in

“that’s probably the cutest thing you’ve ever said”

he crosses his arms, “i’m always cute”

you’re like. THE NERVE?????? 😒😒😒

“how ‘bout we go slow? i mean, we just became un-enemies, we’re gonna need to be friends first, right?” you poke his shoulder

“you make a good point”

“i’m literally athena’s child, but okay”

“shut up!”

✨ time skip ✨

both u and hyuck stay at camp over the holidays which means more bonding time!!! yay!!!!!

a year has passed and u and hyuck r basically bffs, attached at the hip, and everybody except mark is surprised as fuck

rmb the days when hyuck thought u were “cute”?

welp 🤭 he’s at that point where everything u do makes his heart flutter

yeah… he likes u Like A Lot

u have no clue abt his feelings for u and he has no clue abt ur feelings for him either

exactly a year after the iconic capture the flag game, ur both seated at the deck by the lakeside, side by side, again

“y/n…there’s something you need to know”

“if you’re gonna tell me about the mixtape you’re dropping with mark, i literally don’t want to hear it”

“THAT WAS ONE TIME”

“YOU GOT THE ENTIRE CAMP’S HOPES UP FOR NO REASON”

both of you burst into fits of laughter

after calming down, he shoves your shoulder lightly with his shoulder, like he always does (only to u tho)

“no, seriously, i need to tell you something”

“what’s up?”

“i,” he pauses, clears his throat, “like you. a lot–i have for a while now.”

you swear your heart stops beating and your brain explodes

HE? LIKES? U?????????

he continues, “i don’t know if you like me back, but i’ve been wanting to tell you this for so long–guess i didn’t have the courage until recently,” he lets out an airy laugh

you’re looking at him in the eyes now; a subtle shimmer of the afternoon sun sparkling in his eyes

“hyuck, i like you too. how could i possibly not?” you chuckle at his shocked expression

he goes :O

he’s genuinely speechless when you lean forward and press your lips ever so softly onto his

you literally feel him freeze, which worries you for a second, but your worry is washed away when he slowly kisses you back

you melt right then and there

he takes your hand in his, interlocking fingers, as you pull away, a faint pink blush painting both your cheeks

“wow”

“really, y/n? that’s all you have to say? what happened to being wisdom’s child, huh?”

“donghyuck, i SWEAR to ALL THE GODS–!”

your sentence is cut off when he presses his lips onto yours again, you smile into the kiss which causes him to smile with you

he kisses you again and again, and then again, until you’re both a giggling mess

“let’s stay like this forever, yeah? what do you say?” he says, bringing his lips to your forehead, lingering there for a moment before pulling back and looking at you

you look at your intertwined hands, and then back up at him, “i’d like that”

#lee donghyuck #lee haechan #donghyuck fluff #haechan fluff #donghyuck x reader #haechan x reader #donghyuck imagines #haechan imagines #donghyuck headcanons #haechan headcanons #nct fluff #nct x reader #nct bullet imagines #haechan bullet imagines #donghyuck bullet imagines #mine

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clearturtletrash · 4 years ago

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Horikoshi’s writing of Shouto and the problems I have with it

If you’re a fan of the way Shouto’s treated in the manga, don’t read, we’ll end up disagreeing on everything and you’ll probably end up offended lol. Because I’m not (satisfied, that is).

This post is spoiler-heavy for anime onlys, and for manga readers not up to date with the last arc (and last chapter for that matter, which is 301).

So, about Shouto and how he’s handled, along with ‘his’ story.

I don’t get how Horikoshi, whose writing I respect immensely, managed to depict such an incredible and alluring storyline with the Todoroki family, with some of the most complex character writing I’ve seen, but fumbled the one character he had to actually focus on.

Literally more than half the people in the Todoroki storyline are more interesting and more developed than Shouto at this point. Hawks, Endeavour, Dabi, Rei… a good bunch of fans are way more invested in their story than his, and I am too. It’s really sad, because if you asked me two years ago Shouto would have probably been one of my favorite character. But he was completely shafted, given no internal conflict, and at this point, I have the same interest in him as I do for Fuyumi and Natsuo, which basically means his only interesting feature to me is that he’s Endeavour’s child (oh, and he does have a cool design, but that can only get you so far).

Deku and Katsuki are more popular than him by a landslide compared to before if we believe the Japanese popularity polls, because Hori actually bothers to give them focus, conflict, and cool moments (even though, sometimes I feel like Horikoshi forgets Deku’s his main character lol). It’s a testament to how great Shouto was and how much potential had that he’s still that popular despite everything. Because, let’s be real, Endeavour and Dabi have taken the focus because they have much more emotional energy, while Shouto is just stuck in the crossfire, as a punching ball and stress relief (and eventually as the person who’ll save him I guess) for Touya (see how he was relegated to first aid during the big fight against Tomura? how he did absolutely nothing against Touya who was burning him alive? And how Touya had no interest in Shouto outside of the fact he was Endeavour’s son? Story of the way Hori treats him). He has no particular interesting insight to give on the Todoroki family either as he was too small to remember the important events, so even on this point we can’t count on Horikoshi to write something for him, everything comes from Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Rei. He's really had one great moment in S2 and S3 and that’s it. The way Horikoshi struggles to give him a personality doesn’t help either (he admitted some time ago he was hard to write sometimes, and… yeah, I can see that). I’m really trying to like his character but the manga gives us nothing, and keeps developing Endeavour, Dabi, and Hawks, which is great (I really love all three of them) but makes no sense given who’s supposed to be the main focus.

In the Endeavour agency arc, Endeavour’s thoughts and struggles were heavily touched upon, and Bakugou and Deku are in sync for 90% of it while Shouto’s just… there. as fodder for Endeavour, and maybe as a link between Endeavour and Bakugou/Deku too. He’s supposed to be a part of both these storylines, but instead, he just ends up as a way for them to overlap. we don't even take a peek in his thoughts, even though it's supposed to be an arc about the Todorokis!

I say all this as someone who eagerly waited for the day Horikoshi would portray Shouto, Katsuki, and Deku as a trio, but yeah, Shouto feels more like a third wheel than anything. if he wanted to establish them that way, he should have done it right after the sports festival arc, but after this arc, they have no scene together, and the focus shifted on Deku and Katsuki. Too little too late I guess.

To come back to the Todoroki storyline, I feel like Horikoshi simply woke up one day and decided Endeavour was more interesting to write lmao. at this point, it’s more Endeavour’s storyline than Shouto’s, even though Shouto’s supposedly one of the main characters. it has come to a point where, even though I know it ought to focus on Shouto because he’s (at least he should be) the main focus of this particular storyline, I’m hoping it won’t, because that’s just the least interesting aspect of this whole thing.

I’d say even Ochako’s treated better by the story, because at least Horikoshi tries to challenge her views and beliefs (even though for now it’s not very conclusive), while Shouto’s inner growth hasn't been put into question in how many chapters?

(btw, by inner growth, I’m not talking about his problem with his fire side, because that’s just been rinse and repeat for more than 200 chapters. I mean, srsly it’s been already 3 times since this problem has caused him to lose/fail... and it's not even satisfying like Katsuki or Deku (except for the first time in the sport festival, because that was when his character was still handled very well by Horikoshi). Why? Simply because when he loses, the stakes aren’t high, it’s all training or exams, so he’s just like, "oh, I have to maybe learn how to deal with it!", but there’s no real pressure he’s under. It’s not like Deku, who, if he does not progress, will break all his bones, and who failed to rescue Katsuki because of his broken arms (=and had a mental breakdown immediately afterwards and blamed himself). It’s not like Katsuki either, because Katsuki has a personality that makes low stakes feel like high stakes, which isn’t the case for Shouto. just compare Shouto's reaction when he loses because of his setbacks to Katsuki's reaction when he lost to Deku the first time (mental breakdown), or when Katsuki failed the provisional license exam (another mental breakdown, not caused just by his failing, but yeah). And anything else about Shouto's inner growth is tied to his reaction to Endeavour’s arc, which isn’t a flaw, and 100% depends on the way Endeavour acts. Apart from this, he has 0 internal conflict).

Sorry, I’ve gone off on a tangent lol.

To get back to the point I was making, and to further develop my analogy with Ochako, let’s look at their relationship with Deku, because there’s a major difference there, which is clearly in favor of Ochako. Deku has a big impact on Ochako, yes, but the reverse is also true. People complain she’s all about him (which, yeah, probably), but at least, she made a big impact on him too. She was the main reason ‘Deku' became his hero name. Shouto and Deku have a nice friendship, and Deku clearly considers him one of his best friends. but... it’s all one-sided in terms of impact, I can’t think of a single thing Shouto has done who changed/motivated Deku, while Deku literally changed his life. Because of this, he’s not one of the people who’s intrinsically tied to Deku’s character development, because he’s not Ochako, Inko, Katsuki or All Might (and probably soon Tomura).

His writing feels so fast compared to the others too. Shigaraki / Deku and Toga / Ochako have been paralleled for ages, have had a conversation at least once, and have had deep encounters early on. Nonetheless, both Deku and Ochako are just coming to terms with the fact these villains aren’t so different from them. However, Shouto’s only interaction with Dabi is a ten second eye contact when Dabi kidnapped Katsuki. Dabi had more interactions with Endeavour for fuck's sake! Shouto then learns Dabi’s Touya, and speed runs the development of Ochako and Deku. He doesn’t even need 10 chapters to process they’re ’the same'. Where were all the reflection and doubts? Okay, it’s his brother, so the parallels are easier, but still, it shows Horikoshi doesn’t allow Shouto to have that much introspection, and I feel it’s because Horikoshi just doesn’t care that much. Even worse! Horikoshi introduces another hero parallel to Dabi in the character of Hawks. A parallel much more interesting and compelling, because it parallels Dabi MUCH BETTER. They’re opposites in every ways (particularly in regards to their relationship with Endeavor), and know each other. Touya and Shouto don’t even seem to have spoken to each other...

And so, the only thing that still was interesting and that Horikoshi still bothered to develop was Shouto’s relationship with Endeavour, but in the end, even that was overshadowed by the much more complex, fucked up, and challenging relationships of Endeavour and Touya (and Endeavour and Hawks) as seen in 301 and before. Clearly the one Dabi’s fixated on is Endeavour.

one last thing: Shouto's stuck in a weird loop where Horikoshi kind of makes him comes close of the Bakugou and Deku duo, and then when we start to think they’re an actual trio, he does everything in his power to make it very clear how that’s NOT where he belongs either, since OFA/All Might/Deku/Katsuki is another storyline. It’s as if Horikoshi doesn’t want him here (see: how he decided the ‘win all might’ scene didn’t have to include him), but puts him there sometimes anyway. It’s probably because Shouto’s so popular, which, yeah, would be fine, if he could stick to it!

His supposed admiration for All Might (I feel like everybody forgets it's a part of his character, and I don't blame them) is brought up once every blue moon, which compared to Deku and Katsuki, is just ridiculous. And, once again, All Might has a much deeper and more interesting relationship with Endeavour than with Shouto. At this point, I don’t even know what Hori could do to make me want to read about him. I much prefer the dynamic of Hawks/Endeavour/Touya and Katsuki/Deku/All Might.

I hope the future will prove me wrong for his character. Actually, I hope everything I’m saying is wrong and idiotic, and Horikoshi will make every scene I criticized worth it and a means to an end. I mean, he clearly has the talent and writing ability to pull off some of the best character development I’ve ever seen, so anything’s possible. but yeah, I don’t really believe it for now, and I’m frustrated, because Shouto had so much potential.

tldr; I liked Shouto as a character, but he dwindled after some time, and now I feel as if he’s not the focus of his own storyline, because this place is occupied by the much more dynamic relationships of Endeavour, Touya and Hawks. And I’m not even mad, because their dynamic is much more interesting. However, I feel like Horikoshi grew bored of Shouto, and has put much more soul into Katsuki and Deku as of late.

I’m welcoming any responses, if people are seeing an aspect of his character I don’t, please enlighten me! I miss enjoying his character, and I’m not opposed to seeing him in a different light. I just needed to put down my thoughts in writing to make sense of them lol.

#bnha manga spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha 301 #todoroki family #endeavour #todoroki shouto #todoroki enji #todoroki touya #ochako uraraka #I guess #im kinda new please inform me if I'm crosstagging I swear its not on purpose #todoroki shouto meta #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #boku no hero academia #my hero academia

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razieltwelve · 3 years ago

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Final Earth Exports (Final Earth)

Final Earth is an AU in which Vanille accidentally opens a portal to an Earth very similar to ours by accident. The main differences is that nothing associated with the Final Rose universe (e.g., RWBY, Final Fantasy, etc.) exists there and they don’t have the same political leaders we do.

For the Children of Remnant, Earth is a veritable gold mine. There are huge quantities of resources (e.g., raw materials, food, etc.) and comparatively little danger. Obviously, Earth isn’t perfect, but we’re also not locked in existential battle against a bunch of monsters that spend all of their free time wondering how they can kill us all more efficiently. To get at those resources, what could Remnant export to Earth?

Let’s have a look at some possibilities.

Energy Simply put, Remnant is centuries ahead of Earth in power production. Final Earth is set when Fraise is in her twenties, so Remnant already has access to not only hyper-efficient fission reactors but also fusion reactors of all kinds. As in, they literally have portable fusion reactors and fusion reactors that can be scaled from small enough to fit into a closet to large enough to power entire continents. They’ve also got a functional orbital solar collection system/death ray.

Imagine you’re Australia (the portal opens up to the middle of the Australian desert). Now, one of the things people complain about the most is cost of living, and a big part of that is electricity. If Remnant were to build a power plant for Australia, they could massively reduce the cost of electricity. This would benefit not only regular people but also industry and commerce. Moreover, Australia’s political leaders would love it.

Want to get re-elected? Tell everybody the cost of electricity is going down by at least 75% and watch the votes just roll in, not to mention the reduction in the cost of goods and services. With drones to aid construction techniques, they could have a hyper-efficient fission reactor or a fusion reactor built in months, maybe less.

Medical Care One of the few upsides of waging existential war for centuries is advancements in medical technology. As long as you’re not dead, there’s very little that Remnant can’t fix. Earth humans are actually easier to fix since they don’t have complex Aura circulatory systems or anything like that.

Setting aside medical science, there are also a whole heap of Semblances like Fraise that would, by Earth standards, be considered miracles.

Not only would exporting medical care be extremely profitable it would also be another fantastic means of securing political support. Again, any leader would leap at the chance to be able to tell their constituents that all those medical problems they have can now be dealt with. This might sound awful, but can you imagine what it would do for a leader’s polling numbers if they could point at Remnant and say to people: don’t worry, that terminal illness you’ve got, that paralysis you’ve got? No problems. They can fix it. Just vote for me, and I’ll get the deal done.

Reproductive Science The cost of fertility treatment is enormous and results are not guaranteed. That’s not an issue for Remnant. Give them two people, and they’ll have a baby ready to go before you know it. Like the other exports, this is another automatic win in the public relations department (you just know Jihl and Jahne are going to push this angle hard).

Transport Remnant has way more advanced transport like actual flying warships, transports, etc. I can think of plenty of world leaders who might want a stealth capable aircraft that can manoeuvre like a more agile helicopter but packs the speed of a fighter jet and the range of a commercial jetliner.

Tourism Let’s be blunt. People like cute and awesome stuff. Remnant has plenty of both. I’m sure people would pay handsomely to get to ride a chocobo or to see some of the wildlife in Remnant. It’s like Jurassic park except instead of just giant reptiles, you can get giant tigers, giant rats, giant birds, giant... everything, basically.

Culture Earth loves heroes. We make sportspeople, celebrities, and so on into heroes and put them up on pedestals. How might Earth people react when they have a chance to see actual superheroes with actual superpowers in action? I have a sneaking suspicion that hunters will become super popular on Earth, and that tournament and hunting footage will make piles of money. And that’s not counting other aspects of Remnant’s culture and civilisation that might be popular. Yes, you know what I’m talking about. Remnant has actual cat girls. The internet would explode.

Weapons Yeah, Remnant kind of has the whole weapons thing down. Even if they don’t give out their most up to date weaponry, they’re still decades, maybe even further ahead of Earth. After all, this is a civilisation that has functional laser weapons, mechs, aerial warships, rail guns, plasma weapons, orbital death rays, etc.

Mercenaries There are plenty of battles being fought on Earth. Can you imagine what even a lower-level hunter would be able to do on the battlefield? Heck, imagine what the average student at Beacon would do to human opponents who don’t have Aura. It’d be like sending superheroes out to fight civilians.

Of course, you could also go a step further. Imagine someone like Snow being deployed onto a battlefield. That blue giant of his is capable of standing up to nukes and has attacks that are considered weapons of mass destruction. Imagine Lumina taking the field. Imagine Elsa.

Other Services This is a category that kind of lumps together all of the other stuff Remnant can do that Earth can’t. Take someone like Elsa. Do you have a weather problem? Is your country suffering from draught or about to be hit by blizzards/hurricanes? No problem. Pay the fee, get it fixed. Quick and easy. Guaranteed. Have a science issue? Vanille and her lab can get it handled. Want someone to interrogate your suspects? Pay the right price, and Jihl has you sorted.

Gary No world is safe.

X X X

Author’s Notes

Earth meeting Remnant would be fascinating. Of all the nations on Remnant, I think Atlas would be the most interested since they have the most difficult position in terms of territory and resources. It’s a good thing they’ve got Jihl to go snooping around for deals. It’s not like she won’t take shameless advantage of the situation...

If you’re interested in my thoughts on writing and other topics, you can find those here.

I also write original fiction, which you can find on Amazon here or on Audible here.

#final rose #final earth #fanfiction

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natromanxoff · 4 years ago

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Queen live at Hyde Park in London, UK - September 18, 1976 (Part-1)

An interesting bit about the Hyde Park gig (thanks to Jane Palm-Gold): "The white boiler suit Fred wore coming onstage was especially chosen by him so that he could be seen from miles away (because white stands out at a distance) and even better (and this is great but you have to know this place really - a London landmark for many years) it was acquired at Lawrence Corner at Euston (!), a tatty second hand clothes /hire place where a lot of clothes /outfits were hired from for band promo shoots - for instance they had a lot of military stuff there."

(x)

After the success of A Night At The Opera (and not to mention how the weekly Sounds readers' poll elected the band #1 in the best album, best single, and best band categories), Queen wanted to pay the British fans back for back their loyalty and support over the last few years. Whilst in Japan earlier in the year, they came up with the idea to stage a massive free concert. With the help of record industry entrepreneur Richard Branson (creator of Virgin Records/megastores) they started making plans for the Hyde Park show, which turned into a mini tour along with the Edinburgh and Cardiff shows. It is estimated that between 150-200 thousand people turned up at Hyde Park, which is still a record for the venue to this day. This show cemented their position in the top bracket of rock bands. The stage used was the same stage that was constructed for the Rolling Stones concert at the Knebworth Fair a few weeks earlier.

Queen's first huge show at home brought certain areas of London to a grinding halt, and space on public transportation was at a premium. The concert took place on the anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's death. A banner hung from a tree that read "Hendrix Lives," and at one point in the show Brian May noticed it with much appreciation. The band are seen in the photos above arriving at the venue, where they were joined backstage by Pink Floyd's Roger Waters. Supercharge, Steve Hillage, Rufus, and Kiki Dee (along with a cardboard cut-out of Elton John, who couldn't make it to join her for Don't Go Breaking My Heart) played before Queen (Be-Bop Deluxe and John Miles were supposed to be on the bill as well, but were axed for some reason). A pro-shot video of Steve Hillage's performance exists as well as Queen's. There was a fight in the audience during Hillage's set, during which he played extended trippy versions of It's All Too Much by The Beatles and Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan. Also notable is Supercharge's singer Albie Donnelly parodying Freddie Mercury in a white leotard and a half mic stand. The first half of the A Day At The Races overture is aired publicly for the first time (the upcoming album had been partially recorded by this point). The usual Bohemian Rhapsody opening sequence then commences for the last time. The band make their entrance, and everybody near the stage stands up (the audience had been seated on the grass for the opening acts). This angers many fans who are further back (roughly 90% of the audience now cannot see the stage), so they start lobbing cans, bottles, or whatever else that can be thrown. After a few songs, Freddie asks everyone simply to calm down: "I have been requested by the constabulary for you not to throw little things around, tin cans or whatever. So make this a peaceful event, ok? Sit on your arses and listen." Brian, after his solo spot in Brighton Rock (he stutters a bit, revealing that he's still nervous): “From one piece of nonsense to another, I’ve said it before. This is something we wanted to do with the London Philharmonic but they didn’t show up, so we will do the ethnic version of a song called '39." He is seen in a dazzling new outfit tonight, which he'd wear every night through Japan 1979. It would become the outfit he'd change into during the opera section of Bohemian Rhapsody. "Clap along and stuff," he urges the audience, as he plays the intro of what he'd later describe as the first song about Einstein's general theory of relativity. After '39, Freddie audaciously performs the as-of-yet unreleased You Take My Breath Away alone on the piano, even hitting many of the falsetto notes that he'd excise in 1977 versions. He then gets cheeky and introduces The Prophet's Song as "a little shorter number from our album A Night At The Opera." Perhaps he still had You Take My Breath Away in his head, as he begins the a cappella section with what would become the first line of the A Day At The Races ballad instead of the usual "oh, people can you hear me?" bit. He also references Death On Two Legs, as he had done a few times earlier in the year. After Stone Cold Crazy, the band play Keep Yourself Alive and Liar, having dropped Doing All Right and Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon from the set. The combination of these three heavy numbers would prove to be very effective, and they would stick with it for their following North American tour. Liar is a great version, with many great Mercuryisms throughout. Before the last song, Brian coyly says, "This is In The Lap Of The Gods, or something like that." The band play a similar set to the ones they did in Edinburgh and Cardiff, except they drop Doing All Right, Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon and Tie Your Mother Down. They intended to perform their usual encore of Big Spender and Jailhouse Rock, but the show had run a half hour past its scheduled ending time (a curfew strictly enforced by the authorities). The police threatened to arrest the band if they went back on stage, and Freddie was later quoted saying how he would prefer not to be stuck in a jail cell in his leotard. And so, Bob Harris was left with the unenviable task of announcing to the crowd that the show was over. He later recalled how difficult and nerve-wracking it was to tell an audience of this size who had waited for about ten hours that there would be no encore. Now I'm Here was the first encore every night around this time, making this the one time between 1974 and 1986 where the song is not performed. The liner notes of Live Killers suggest that Now I'm Here was dropped from the set for a while, but that is patently untrue. People in one section of the audience chanted "Why are we waiting," all in good fun, knowing full well the show was over. The police soon turned off the main power feed to the park, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to make their way out in sheer darkness. Their reasoning was that it was the only way to "control" such a large number of people who had been rowdy throughout the day. In a 1977 interview with Capital Radio, Brian recalls the day: "It had a great sunny day for it, and everyone had a good time. There were still altercations on the day, and there was a big thing with the powers that be because they wouldn't let us go on and do the encore, about which we were very upset, having worked up for months and prepared for all that. They got very frightened because there were 150,000 people in Hyde Park in the dark, and they thought they were going to get out of hand. But in fact, there was no possible danger happening at all. Everyone was peaceful and having a good time."

This show is what epitomized their popularity in Britain, and when they felt they "had really made it," as Brian would later recall. On another occasion he said, "I think that Hyde Park was one of the most significant gigs in our career. There was a great affection because we'd kind of made it in a lot of countries by that time, but England was still, you know, we weren't really sure if we were really acceptable here. So it was a wonderful feeling to come back and see that crowd and get that response." Despite the fact that the audience had been there all day watching the various opening acts and waiting, the band delayed the show as long as possible just so it could get dark enough for their lighting and various other effects to make their full impact (as demanded by Freddie). Throughout the show, the band's nervousness and excitement for the occasion are evident. Most of the audience couldn't see a thing during Queen's set, since the stage was barely elevated. "The smell of the dry ice and the sound are the only sensory memories I have of this show," recalls Jane Palm-Gold. Here is an article from the day of the show,

and a review from a week later (both were submitted by Boris Arkhangelsky).

Tonight would be the final performances of Flick Of The Wrist, Son And Daughter, and the (almost) full The Prophet's Song. A snippet of The March Of The Black Queen would be performed only once more in 1978, but a different part of the song.

Here is a Virgin Records flyer.

The second pic is the famous overhead shot that appeared in the October 9, 1976 Melody Maker. Pic 5 was submitted by Janneman, and pics 6 and 7 were submitted by Lukáš Bosík.

Fan Stories

“Well, I was 13 years old and had got into Queen through Night At The Opera and THAT video. I'd never been to a gig before and it took a lot of convincing of a sceptical mother to let me go to Hyde Park on my own. After answering the inevitable "no, I won't talk to strange men mum" questions I was allowed to go. The morning came and I was up at 6am, got my packed lunch together (can you imagine going off to a gig now with your sandwiches and orange juice!) and headed off to Hyde Park. I remember getting there so early that I was right by the crash barriers at the front and determined to try and hold my spot all day. As the day progeressed however I ended upmoving backwards slowly as people pushed in. I can remember savouring the whole build up, the support bands, everything. As dusk started to fall, the stage went dark and the dry ice started up. I broke my mums don't talk to strangers bit and a very nice bloke put me up on his shoulders so I could see them come on. I just remember the crash of light and sound as they came on as if it was yesterday (and not 27 years ago!). The rest of the gig was amazing and that was it, I was hooked on Queen and rock music. I saw Queen on every tour they ever did in England (and a few in Europe) after that but nothing compares to that first gig for me.”

- Andy

Part-2

Part-3

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #queen concerts

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losille2000 · 5 years ago

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Mister America, Prologue: Massachusetts

CHAPTER NUMBER: 1/? CHARACTERS: President!Chris Evans/OFC (see notes) GENRE: Romance/Drama FIC SUMMARY: After a massive social media write-in campaign organized by others, Chris finds himself thrust into a spotlight that he is unprepared to handle. His campaign managers suggest that a political marriage might help him weather the storm and help his image during the campaign... just so long as it isn’t the one woman Chris really wants. RATING: M WARNINGS: Nothing. AUTHORS NOTES: This story is AU in the fact that this is the 2020 presidential race, and Chris is a candidate. But everything in the past is still the same with him being an actor. Also, COVID-19 is not a part of this story. I needed to play in a land where COVID didn’t exist and “Captain America,” in his alter ego, punched out a Nazi in a metaphorical(?) way. For more on the story, go here.

This first part is prologue-y.

I have also curated a soundtrack for all 50 states, and then some. You can listen on Spotify right now, may eventually put it on Youtube. There will be 50 chapters (I’m hoping), but many of them will be shorter.

Also on AO3!

Boston, MA Evans for President Campaign Headquarters November 3rd, 2020 30 Minutes Before First Polls Close

Stage fright is no joke.

When it hits, it hits like a semi truck going seventy on an icy Massachusetts road. In the blink of an eye, you’re completely obliterated. Except this is on stage and you’re not dead, even though you wish you were. In fact, you’re very much alive. Alive enough to feel the force of the impact, followed by the squeezing in your chest and choking on your breathless words. Paralysis takes over. Cold clammy sweat slicks your palms and also trickles down your back to that one spot between your shoulder blades you can’t reach, but causes your costume to uncomfortably stick to your skin.

There’s no escape. You know what’s coming. You worry you’ll forget your lines, or trip on your cue, or make a complete and utter fool of yourself. You feel like an imposter, questioning why you’re here, in this role, when that dude, JD, from your acting class years ago was a million times more talented than you, and you’re the one that got that teen movie deal. You’re the one who became one of America's most beloved superheroes for a decade.

You’re also the one who has a very real chance of winning the 2020 presidential election, despite no college education, limited understanding of what elected officials in DC actually do on a day to day basis, and the closest thing you have to experience as a “boss” or “commander in chief” of anything was a movie set or two where you were director and executive producer.

Nope.

What I, Chris Evans, have is a dedicated online fan base who took the time to write my name into ballots when they discovered I had filed for ballot access in every state of the union. I didn’t do the filing on a whim; we sat around late one night talking about the interviews I had been conducting in DC for a website about party positions on important issues. My business partners and I came up with the idea that a long form documentary about campaigning would be interesting, and we determined the best way to understand the process was to become a “candidate” myself. Meaning, we only planned to use the credentials to be on the front line of the campaigning process. I was never going to create signs and make speeches or debate with others.

I never intended to run a legitimate campaign.

But, as I mentioned, something strange happened during the Democratic primaries. People started to vote for me, a trickle of rain in a hurricane.

I won a few primary delegates.

Without even trying.

Not enough to win the Democratic ticket, but enough to make pollsters sit up and take notice.

My loyal fans stepped in again, undaunted, and ignited a storm. They dubbed it “Operation America’s Ass” and created a grassroots campaign across the country with GoFundMe donations and a lot of pluck. I thought it was a joke. A part of me still does think it’s a joke. I mean, what other explanation is there for this mess? For the red, white and blue bunting hanging on the walls with the “Chris Evans for President” sign plastered underneath it? For the staffers who stop briefly to see if I need anything...‘Would you like a drink, sir?’... or, upon seeing how pale I look, give me a vote of confidence… ‘Are you ready for your acceptance speech?’ There’s absolutely no good explanation as to why there are twenty or thirty people buzzing around the hotel suite waiting for results. They’re so energized with hope for a better future.

Hope that I can be everything they ever wanted in a president.

An Independent president, free from party oversight.

A president with class.

A president for the people.

A president who can bring the United States back from the brink of destruction at the hands of previous leaders.

I wish I had their confidence.

When they asked me on career day in school what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always said artist. When I was older, in high school, I knew I was going to be an actor. Never president. The job never entered my mind as being a possibility, not even when I used to work for my uncle’s congressional campaigns. Or when I started filming those interviews.

Why does anyone think I, a straight white momma’s boy from Boston should be president in 2020? Just because I made a few popular Tweets about the current president’s lack of leadership?

It has to be a joke. A cosmic one. I’m a punchline. I am convinced they’ll jump out from behind a doorway and yell “You’ve been PUNK’D! We really got you this time, now here, Bernie, you’re the better candidate.”

And yet…

What if they see in me something I do not?

I place a lot of stock in being in the moment. I’ve also put a lot of work into accepting the twists and turns of life instead of allowing all the “what ifs” and “what should I dos” to eat away at me. I told everybody after I was done with Marvel and financially secure enough to only work on projects I really wanted to, I’d take life as it came at me.

Well, it came after me.

To be fair, I originally chose to get into politics, even in a tiny way, because I wanted to be informed about my choices. I created a website so others could learn, as well. As time went on, I became more involved on Capitol Hill. I even did some lobbying for a few causes dear to my heart. And, yes, I did file the ballot access paperwork.

Had I unintentionally set my path in this direction? Was it inevitable for me to become a contender for the presidency?

Fortunately, I learned early on in the process that a lot of being a presidential candidate is being a convincing showman. An actor. The world's a stage, after all, and I am but a player. You have to have some solid ideas and convictions to back up the image, but a lot of the governing comes from other members of the executive branch. Should I win, I’d only be signing off on everything.

Of course, that “everything” affects the lives of more than 300 million souls. I wouldn’t trust me with a kitchen knife, much less nuclear launch codes and people's livelihoods and education and health and…

My hands shake with nerves just thinking about it.

Let it be said, once I do make it out onto the stage--be it as an actor or presidential candidate--I rise to the challenge. The energy from the audience buoys me. Makes me feel alive. But I am not, by nature, someone who likes to sign away so much personal freedom in exchange for the weight of carrying an albatross around my neck. I thought signing for Captain America would be tough; the human toll of running for president even moreso.

Actually being President? I can’t even wrap my mind around that.

It would be easy to call it quits, even now when the votes are already cast. I could have done it a long time ago, when the reality of the situation hit me the first time. I didn’t. Something told me to hold back, play it out. I persevered. Why? Somewhere, along the line, I began to believe I could do this. I could make a positive difference in the lives of Americans.

I certainly want to do right by all my supporters--and my detractors. I want to be a leader for all Americans.

But can I, really, while knowing my incredible deficiencies?

Maybe I can’t, but I can be the team leader. A brand ambassador, if you will. A good leader delegates. And I intend, should I win, to surround myself with the best and brightest. I will accept no less. I will do ‘Whatever It Takes,’ as our slogan boasts. I am American, first and foremost, and I care deeply about this country.

A real Captain America, if you will. Maybe not as strong or powerful as others, but I sure as hell can give a great speech and will defend my country from bullies until my last breath, whether they be purple… or orange.

Except, I suppose if I’m elected, I won’t be Captain America anymore. They’ll call me Mr. President.

Or, horror of horrors, what if the new name my nearest and dearest coined makes it out into the public. They tease me with it just to see my visceral revulsion and get a laugh. But if I have learned anything about the internet--and pop culture--is that if something is catchy, it sticks around for a long time.

Maybe I ought to get used to the idea of being a punchline.

So, I suppose I have a question for you.

Won’t you consider a vote for Mr. America?

#chris evans #captain america #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fan fiction #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fan fic #mister america #president!chris evans #president

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racingtoaredlight · 3 years ago

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THE DEGENERATE’S GUIDE TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL TV WATCH ‘EM UPS 2021: WEEK TWO, A MUDDLED AND MAUDLIN WEEK OF MAYHEM IN HONOR OF THOSE WE LOST

RTARL would like to extend our warmest holiday wishes to those who celebrate and, even if you don’t, happy 9/11. Now who’s ready for some FOOTBALL!!!!?!?!

So after two weeks of games that combine to count as only one official week even though some teams have already played twice we have only one real question answered: is Alabama still good? Yes, they are. Everything else is still liquefying vapor.

I am assuming everybody is waiting with baited breath for an RTARLsman but I don’t have anything yet. I guess the not-Master Teague RBs on Ohio State are the frontrunners for now. Or that one guy from that one team who was good. You know who I mean.

Saturday, September 11

Matchup Time (ET) TV/Mobile

Illinois at Virginia 11:00am ACCN

Jeff George won Citrus Bowl MVP for the Illini against the Hoos in his last game as a student athlete before becoming the #1 overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft. Based on this history it is safe to presume that whoever the QB is for Illinois today will be the #1 pick in 2022.

VMI at Kent State 11:30am ESPN3

I’m not sure on this but maybe this game is cancelled.

WKU at Army 11:30am CBSSN

Army is favored by 6. I bet this game is boring.

Norfolk State at Wake Forest 12:00pm ACCNX

I don’t see a line listed but whatever it is bet against Wake covering.

Indiana State at Northwestern 12:00pm BTN

This game is an act of terrorism.

Alabama State at 25 Auburn 12:00pm SECN

Real body bag season starts today, huh?

Youngstown State at Michigan State 12:00pm BTN

The Michigan State running back is the guy I was trying to think of earlier! He’s pretty good. Not good enough to make me watch this but I will check on his stats every so often.

Tulsa at Oklahoma State 12:00pm FS1

I bet Mike Gundy has some really salient thoughts on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and I can’t wait to hear them.

South Carolina at East Carolina 12:00pm ESPN2

South Carolina is a two point favorite against an East Carolina team that is, per my understanding, not exactly good. So I can only extrapolate that South Carolina is likewise not good.

Pitt at Tennessee 12:00pm ESPN

Look, I’m not going to pretend this is good television but if Pitt rocks their classic yellow helmets and Tennessee wears non-alternates the colors on the screen will at least be pleasing. The thought of the actual football involved hurts my brain but it’s interesting that the points have gone from a consensus pick ‘em to Pitt -3 over the course of the week. Does Tennessee have any players that are good enough that by missing the game they could impact the gambling that much? Or are people just squaring themselves with the fact the the Vols are really and truly a ruined burnt out hole of a football program? Pound the latter.

12 Oregon at 3 Ohio State 12:00pm FOX

Losing Kayvon Thibideaux certainly isn’t going to help Oregon but he’s not usually on the field as a run stopper anyway and if Ohio State learned anything last week it’s that they can just run until they feel like throwing a pass. Oregon actually has some legit talent on the d-line besides Thibideaux but the Ducks are gonna be hard-pressed to keep things within two scores here.

Miami (Ohio) at Minnesota 12:00pm ESPN

If Oregon can’t make a game of it in Columbus look out because this time block is an absolute wasteland. There is scant reason to turn the TV on for the early schedule other than gambling purposes.

Kennesaw State at Georgia Tech 12:00pm RSN/ESPN3

Georgia Tech probably should have closed up shop after Paul Johnson retired. Either that or just absolutely slathered the football program in dollars. The Yellow Jackets being unable to land any big time recruits while playing in Atlanta is a real mindfuck. They aren’t a AA program playing dress up in a “power” conference they’ve got actual history. I don’t mean to give the impression I want them to be good but I don’t understand how they can be such fodder for so long.

13 Florida at USF 1:00pm ABC

Remember that year when USF was the best program in the state? Wild stuff. Weird, wild stuff. I know the deal with UF is that they don’t go out of state for contract games but it’s actually kind of surprising they even bothered to keep this trip to Tampa on the schedule. Like the area recruits would probably be happier to go see a game at The Swamp than to kick around their hometown for a pile of shit like this.

Wyoming at NIU 1:30pm ESPN+

I’m not gonna open the ESPN app for this but if it was on ESPN2 I’d probably check in on it during commercials. Aesthetically pleasing trash with an upside for actual entertainment.

Middle Tennessee at 19 Virginia Tech 2:00pm ACCNX

Virginia Tech’s home crowd scene was the normie story of last week’s games. People that don’t watch college football were either aghast or frantically waving their blue lives matter flags in response. Us in this space just ate the shame and forgot it happened by the time Saturday’s games kicked off. My theory is that VPI is not actually any good but UNC’s 2020 season was a well-timed fluke and the last hurrah of Mack Brown’s storied coaching career. The Hokies are at home, though, and MTSU is almost certainly not on the same athletic level as the Turkey Gobblers so I’d probably take the home team -20 if I were so inclined to wager on this particular game that is being broadcast on the ACC’s new pornography channel.

Rutgers at Syracuse 2:00pm ACCN

Holy fuck does this game suck. Reuniting former Big East, uh, rivals (??? does Rutgers have any natural enemies?) in a cross-conference classic betwixt the B1G and the ACC.

Duquesne at Ohio 2:00pm ESPN3

I don’t think I need to explain to you all the national title implications riding on this game.

Toledo at 8 Notre Dame 2:30pm Peacock

Just remember that if you subscribe to Peacock you are at the very least tacitly supporting Notre Dame. If for some reason you’re watching this please report back on how many of those defensive pick plays Notre Dame runs. They were doing that shit constantly against Florida State last week and it drove me nuts. I think the idea is that you are so flagrantly illegal so often that the refs grow numb to it and just don’t call it at all.

Robert Morris at Central Michigan 3:00pm ESPN3

Not to be outdone by the early games, the 3 o’clock set is equally terrible.

Purdue at UConn 3:00pm CBSSN

I bet Edsall still gets bonuses for stupid shit even now that he’s retired or whatever the official designation was for him no longer coaching.

Boston College at UMass 3:30pm FloFootball/NESN+

I don’t know what FloFootball is but I know it isn’t anything to do with the state of Florida.

Ball State at 11 Penn State 3:30pm FS1

It surprises me to see Penn State as only -22.5 favorites. That seems very kind to Ball State. Hopefully I’m wrong and the Ball State Lettermans take it to the Sanduskys.

Murray State at 7 Cincinnati 3:30pm ESPN+

Practice week continues.

Temple at Akron 3:30pm ESPN+

Pound the under.

Georgia Southern at Florida Atlantic 3:30pm Stadium

There is really nothing going on this week.

Air Force at Navy 3:30pm CBS

Middies vs. Fly Boys in the first leg of the Commander’s Cup on the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. I can’t imagine the amount of emotional manipulation that’s going to make its way onto this broadcast. Normally I watch these games but I don’t think I can do it this year.

UAB at 2 Georgia 3:30pm ESPN2

Georgia may well be absurdly talented on the defensive side of the ball but I’d be surprised to see them make it through the regular season with fewer than two losses.

5 Texas A&M at Colorado 3:30pm FOX

This is only interesting if the Aggies spring a leak.

California at TCU 3:30pm ESPNU

Things most certainly are not looking up.

Buffalo at Nebraska 3:30pm BTN

Nebraska is in an interesting position because if they buck the odds and end up being good after we’ve all been so ready to see a National Championship-winning coach get fired that would be funny but if they end up being really bad it’s even funnier. Go Bulls!

Mercer at 1 Alabama 4:00pm SECN

I’ll cry a little if Saban pulls the starters in the first half and the Tide beats Mercer by less than they beat Miami.

South Alabama at Bowling Green 4:00pm ESPN+

10 Iowa at 9 Iowa State 4:30pmABC

This is not the kind of top 10 matchup I can just sit idly by and let it happen. Your silence is complicity in this monstrous display of modernity.

SC State at 6 Clemson 5:00pm ACCN

Clemson dropped all the way to #6 and they’ll hang around the top of the polls because they don’t have the toughest conference schedule in the world but my confidence in them is not high right now. I think the new QB is just a guy. He’s talented as hell but I don’t see him being great.

Illinois State at Western Michigan 5:00pm ESPN3

This is either MACtion or MACtion adjacent and I have only one word for this midwestern trash: abhorrent.

LIU at West Virginia 5:00pm ESPN+

LIU plays football?

Lamar at UTSA 6:00pm ESPN3

Downside: You’re watching one of the least important games of the year. Upside: You’re really not missing anything.

Portland State at Washington State 6:00pm P12N

Washington State was a perfect spot for the stupid pirate fuckhead and his leaving has ruined the program and, eventually, his reputation. Not relevant to this game necessarily but this game isn’t relevant to anything else, either.

Gardner-Webb at Charlotte 6:00pm ESPN3

Oh, yeah, feel the excitement.

Bethune-Cookman at UCF 6:30pm ESPN+

Go Cats.

NC Central at Marshall 6:30pm ESPN+

The hits keep coming.

Houston at Rice 6:30pm CBSSN

I’ve always had a soft spot for Holgo and for Houston football but somehow I really don’t like seeing him coach the Cougs. This is SWC magic but with no magic. UNLESS! Houston can put up 100. I don’t think they even have the guys to do it but this is Rice we’re talking about here.

Nicholls at Louisiana 7:00pm ESPN3

Keep the energy up.

North Texas at SMU 7:00pm ESPN+

I bet is MS621 were still alive he’d be at this game giving Spencer’s boys hell. Sadly he died doing what he loved, curing his COVID by eating ivermectin paste out of a horse’s butt. R.I.P., friend. Neigh to you wherever you are.

Southeastern La. at Louisiana Tech 7:00pm ESPN3

Even the low tier stuff is geared up for annihilation. This is a bodybag week for all time.

Memphis at Arkansas State 7:00pm ESPN+

Memphis getting less than a touchdown against Arkansas State seems like easy money but I have no real concept of either of these teams just yet. Maybe the end is nigh for the Tigers glory years? I sure hope not but it’s possible.

NC State at Mississippi State 7:00pm ESPN2

This game should be as fun as a parents funeral.

Southern Illinois at Kansas State 7:00pm ESPN+

Over the past week I experienced derision for referring the the guys in purple and silver as “Kansas State” instead of “K State” and that stung because it always surprises me that anybody cares about them enough to have a strong opinion about them.

Stephen F. Austin at Texas Tech 7:00pm ESPN+

Shrugs

15 Texas at Arkansas 7:00pm ESPN

Let’s see if Texas is ready to run with the big boys of the SEC! Arkansas is given a decent shot to win this game and that makes the “15″ next to Texas appear extremely suspect in my eyes.

Texas Southern at Baylor 7:00pm ESPN+

This week Texas Southern is the people’s champion.

Texas State at FIU 7:00pm ESPN+

Oh, Butch, why have you done this to yourself?

Western Carolina at 4 Oklahoma 7:00pm PPV

All the Westen Carolina fans are buying this PPV to see their guys score 40.

New Mexico State at New Mexico 7:00pm Stadium

I looked up the historic rivalry last year to figure out why it was played early in the season instead of at the end but I’ve forgotten and don’t feel the need to look it up again. I figured out how to watch Stadium on my TV but I also forgot that and don’t feel the need to look it up again.

Appalachian State at 22 Miami (FL) 7:00pm ESPNU

My gut tells me Miami is probably legitimately about the 14th best team in the country but I still would never advise you to bet actual money on the Hurricanes. Are they 9 points better than App State? Easily. They should win by 20+. Are they liable to fuck around and lose or scrape out a win in the final seconds? Absolutely. Let’s fuckin’ go.

Morgan State at Tulane 7:00pm ESPN+

A lot of people learned to love the Green Wave last week but it’s hard to keep that going with their schedule. Don’t forget them later in the year when the CBSSN glow is really shining.

Liberty at Troy 7:00pm ESPN+

Liberty -4 is maybe my surest advice of the week. If Malik Willis is as good as his press the fake school should have this game on ice early.

Eastern Michigan at 18 Wisconsin 7:00pm FS1

I find Wisconsin’s losing effort against Penn State last week to be a personal affront against me and all of nature.

Eastern Kentucky at Louisville 7:00pm ACCNX

I think this game being broadcast at night on ACCNX means they’re playing naked.

Grambling State at Southern Miss 7:00pm ESPN3

This is the kind of game that belongs on an app.

Hampton at Old Dominion 7:00pm ESPN3

This is the kind of game that belongs on a well-worn high school football field.

Austin Peay at 20 Mississippi 7:30pm ESPN+/SECN+

This is a pretty big OOC game for an SEC team.

Georgia State at 24 North Carolina 7:30pm RSN/ESPN3

One of several GSUs, I think this is the one I most hope emerges victorious this week.

Idaho at Indiana 7:30pm BTN

Wait, wasn’t Indiana like #10 last week? What the hell happened to them? No, don’t tell me. Seriously, don’t.

Missouri at Kentucky 7:30pm SECN

When the SEC hits 24 teams the “S!E!C!” chants are gonna seem really stupid.

Howard at Maryland 7:30pm BTN

There’s no official line for this game but I hope the Bison can pull off the upset in this classic local rivalry game.

Jacksonville State at Florida State 8:00pm ACCN

Still shaking my head at FSU icing their own kicker. Jesus, Norvell. Get your shit together.

McNeese at LSU 8:00pm ESPN+/SECN+

LOLSU was my lock of the week last week if you’re considering taking gambling advice from me.

Washington at Michigan 8:00pm ABC

UDub lost to a 1-AA team last week and now they have to go on the road and beat Michigan. Which seems inevitable, to be honest.

Cal Poly at Fresno State 10:00pm CW59

The murder rate will continue to increase as the day progresses. I always kind of like it when a local broadcast shows up on the sheet. So pretty much none of us have legal access to this game. It makes it more special.

San Diego State at Arizona 10:00pm P12N

Pac-12 Network is similar to CW59 in that almost nobody in the country has legal access to their broadcasts. If you’ve read enough of these posts you are aware that SDSU is my weird very deep backup team. I don’t have a reason to align myself with the school or program, I just tend to enjoy watching their games.

Vanderbilt at Colorado State 10:00pm CBSSN

This is an abomination.

21 Utah at BYU 10:15pm ESPN

This is a lowkey fun rivalry. I’m pretty sure I write the same thing every year but it’s still true. Go Utes.

Stanford at 14 USC 10:30pm FOX

I think USC could win a national championship and I’d still be baffled that Clay Helton is their coach. Of course, they won’t win a national championship as long as Clay Helton is their coach but they apparently won’t ever get embarrassing enough to fire him, either.

Idaho State at Nevada 10:30pm Stadium

This is the lowpoint of the week’s schedule and you have to stay up late to watch it on a network that only exists as an app or as part of a hidden unlockable download-only level of cable subscription. This is the beauty of the college game.

UNLV at 23 Arizona State 10:30pm ESPN2

Herm Edwards figured out the trick to looking good in the Pac-12 without having a particularly great team and I can’t make up my mind if I’m rooting for him to keep sliding on that rail or to fall off it. I think I’ve come around to rooting for him but it’s a very dynamic and fluid situation.

Hawaii at Oregon State 11:00pm FS1

Hawaii gets to play at their normal time for a game against the bottom of the barrel of the Pac-12 but they’re an 11-point underdog. If you’re ever going to take Hawaii, this is the stars lining up for you to do it. It’s still a big “if�� but I’m saying there’s a chance.

#college football #football #Tv watch em ups #rtarl watches tv #gambling #9/11 #two decades after 9/11

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