#I only know it's fire resistant cause of the civil war class I took

[bywandandsword]

You know how in GoT and other "medieval" setting shows/movies, they always show clothes made of fur or fur cloaks, but the fur is always on the outside? It's supposed to be on the inside creating an insulating layer in your clothes and was generally a lining for a wool garment, cause wool that is processed as they did back then retains a lot of the natural oils that make it water resistant (oils or not it's also naturally fire resistant which is so cool!)

I just keep thinking about how actual medieval people would rag on them so hard and see them as unkempt. Like, the most famous case I can think of is Ragnar Lodbrok. Like, Lodbrok isn't his surname, it's a nickname that means "hairy breeches" because he had a pair of trousers with the fur on the outside and it was so notable that no one let it go to the point that it's still a thing he's known by more than a thousand years later.

[phantomchick]

Naruto Fic Rec Masterpost!

Adoption by Defenestration; or, A Family Can Be A Fox Demon, Its Jinchuuriki, and Three Dozen Highly-Trained Assassins  by elumish Oneshot, Gen, Fluff, child neglect, Naruto gets unofficially adopted by his anbu guards and it’s incredibly cute Summary: He will not be the ANBU who let the jinchuuriki plummet to his death out a fourth story window. Let that be another ANBU’s legacy.

Being Over-Prepared is Impossible (and other mottos)  by Pleasedial123 Longfic, Gen, Team Seven, team as family, Bamf Kakashi, Bamf team 7, au, kakashi pov, Complete but part of a three part series and the third part is still ongoing, still highly recommend, what team 7 should have been, Skilled Teacher! Kakashi Summary: In one world, Kakashi awoke, felt grieved at being assigned a team he sees his own in, and he let that grief make him a lazy teacher.  He saw himself in Sasuke, Obito in Naruto, and Rin in Sakura. He woke, saw himself in them, and took a large step back, regretting accepting them as his new team.  In that world he was quite hands off - merely a watcher because it was so very painful to watch. He saw himself and all his mistakes in this new team of his. 

In this world, Kakashi awoke, saw the similarities, and instantly panicked. 

He suddenly realised what he had done, passing a team.  Kakashi was left scrambling not to repeat old mistakes and regrets. This team would not suffer the fate of his team.

In this world, simply put, Kakashi became a teacher.  This is the beginning of a new team seven.

Something in the water by maldoror_gw  Oneshot, Gen, Teen and Up for language, hilarious, Tsunade pov, fluff, mild crack, pre-shippuden post naruto,

Summary: "Sakura...what is that man reading?" Tsunade asked in a dangerous voice. Sakura's gaze twitched away from her ex-teacher to her new - and temperamental - mentor. "Erm...a book...written by a...well-respected member of the community...about...romance?" Tsunade noted with passing approval that Sakura was demonstrating both loyalty and quite a lot of imagination in defending her one-time team leader (who was now trying to edge around a pillar to get away from Tsunade's venomous glare).

backslide by blackkat Time travel, time travel fix it, mature, fluff, team seven, m/m, slow build romance, Naruto adopts himself, Uzumaki heritage, bamf Naruto, complete longfic, Summary: Naruto’s friends are gone, his lover is dying, Konoha is destroyed, and Madara’s second return has pushed the entire world to the brink. Hunted and harried, Naruto is sent back in time to upend Madara’s plan before it even starts, and sets about changing everything. Butterfly effect nothing: the world is at stake, and Naruto is hardly about to let it fall to ruin once more. Not while he’s still breathing.

Tobirama Kicks Some Sense Into Konoha by allseer15 Hurt/comfort, whump, emotional whump, time travel, fix it, time travel fix it, The ‘what if Tobirama came to the future saw an orphaned Naruto and adopted the shit out of him’ Fic, Iconique, child neglect, child abandonment, fluff, so much fluff, completed longfic, look I have a weakness for the time travel fix it trope at the best of times but this fic is good even looking at it without focusing on that! Prolonged Tobirama content, Senju lore, senju feels, Summary: The Hidden Leaf Village in Naruto's time seems to have forgotten just why the village was founded and have lost their way.  Through a mishap with a hiraishin seal, Tobirama finds himself during Naruto's time and he is having none of this nonsense. His brother may be gone, but he won't stand to have Hashirama's dream trampled so. And if he has to cause a civil war or burn the village down to the ground? Well that depends on how much resistance he meets. All Tobirama does know for certain is that no child will suffer underneath the protection of Konoha and if he has to take them in and care for them himself, then he will.

Hardest of hearts by blackkat Oneshot, Gen, look I really like blackkat’s naruto fic okay, part one of a completed three part series, all three parts are great, Fix its are the best, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix It, Orochimaru redemption story, the sheer shadenfreude of one baddie fucking over another baddie, in this case Danzo, Obito has a ‘bad guy but not that bad of a guy’ solidarity moment with Orochimaru at the start and I loved it so there’s that, featuring a low key constantly horrified at this turn of events Minato,

Summary: Orochimaru gets one more chance. Just maybe, it will be enough to save him—and the entire world as well. 

A Snake In the Grass, a Wolf At the Door by blackkat Mature, Completed ten chapter fic, Orochimaru redemption story, Orochimaru/Kakashi’s dad, you read that right, quality Sakumo content, Families of Choice, Humour, Fluff and Angst, somewhat crackish, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, baby Kakashi being a cutie Summary: Orochimaru is on the edge of breaking when someone unexpected pulls him back to solid ground. When the time comes, he returns the favour.

Nukenin by WhisperingDarkness Gen, dimension travel, team seven, team as family, Kakashi actually being a good sensei even when he’s not a sensei at all, possessive kakashi, Team Seven is his team, Kinda Fluffy, Protective Kakashi, the ‘this might as well happen’ adaptability is real, Kakashi adopts team seven and team seven adopts kakashi, even though he’s illegal, 4 chapter fic, marked as complete as author doesn’t plan to continue it, but even taking these chapters as stand alone this fic is great,

Summary:  In the sealed scroll he finds a Bingo Book – his own page marking him as an S-class nukenin with flee-on-sight orders.  “Ok. That is definitely different.”  In his head he blames Naruto – even if his number one unpredictable student had been nowhere near him on this mission. When things go this stupidly impossibly wrong it must somehow be the future Hokage’s fault.

Ear to the Wall by Vodkassassin Ongoing, it’s really really good though! great Kakashi content, Minato is very stressed and I love him, Sickfic, Hurt/Comfort, whump, PTSD’d Kakashi gets to relive his childhood but gets a little bit of a real childhood along the way, ADHD Rin, time travel fix it, look I like what I like and what I like is fix its and time travel apparently, Kakashi adopts Orochimaru before he descends into douchbaggery, Orochimaru Redemption story, everyone is alive,   Summary: The Minato-sensei beams at him, and replies, “Kakashi! I’m glad you’re awake,” and, yup, that’s Minato-sensei’s voice. Kakashi falls back down against the bed, closing his eyes. It’s too short of a way down, and he clenches hands that are too tiny and feeble and not his in dog-print sheets he hasn’t owned for decades.

How To Save The World With No One Even Realising by IncompleteSentanc (Erava) Gen, Teen and Up, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, time travel fix it, Canonically Accurate OP Team 7, SuperBadass!Sakura, SuperBadass!Sasuke, SuperBadass!Naruto, RegularBadass!Shikamaru, Canonically Violent Sasuke, Equally Violent Sakura, Saving The World One Murder At A Time, Various Jinchuuriki, Team 7 As Super Villains, Doing Super Villainy Stuff, Like Murder, And Professional Eyeball Removal, Poor Obito, Poor Minato, AKA The Worst Four Months of Minato's Life, And Everyone Else's Too, Dark Humor, Bittersweet Ending, Dark Comedy, Crack treated seriously, completed 3 chapter fic, Well worth the read, Team 7 To The End! Summary: Minato knows at the beginning of the week that it's going to be a hellish one. Mostly because it starts with the kidnapping of one of his two remaining students, only a year after they'd lost the first one. He just doesn't realise at the time that it's not going to be a hellish week - it's going to be hell for quite a bit longer than that. It all starts with Rin's kidnapping, and her subsequent rescue at the hands of a mysteriously appearing, monstrously strong, murderously violent woman. A woman with cotton candy pink hair. It only devolves from there.

Just Killing Time by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling) Gen, Oneshot, Short and Sweet, Classic of The Fandom, Ficlet, Team 7, Kids being Kids, Fluff, Fluff and Humour, Slice of Life, Cute Kids

Summary: After Wave Country and before the chuunin exam, Team 7 kills time while waiting for Kakashi to show up. 

there lies a trail of fire behind us by BowAndDagger Gen, Madara is extremely confused but mostly on board, Time Travel au, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bamf Naruto Uzumaki, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Except Zetsu, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fix-It, Founders Era, clan wars era, Pre-Slash, POV Uchiha Madara, the Completed part one of an Ongoing/Incomplete series, completed 4 chapter fic, Summary: As he returns from a mission, Madara makes a strange encounter with an even stranger shinobi. Then, he’s summarily kidnapped to go on a quest to save the world by said weird shinobi. (He absolutely did not choose to follow the stranger on his own free will. He was kidnapped. He did not give chase. He did not.)

A Political Perspective by VJ Riddle  / MueraRashaye Ongoing, Possibly (Probably) Discontinued, Teen and Up, Gen, Team 7, training montage deluxe, Konoha is a murder village, Good Teacher! Kakashi, AU, slowly developing into Bamf team 7, Bamf Kakashi, slowly developing into Team as Family, lots of fun ideas, not crack, Minor Spoiler: Zabuza and Haku get x’d before their character development gets its chance to shine in this fic, Sometimes people don’t warn for that in the tags and it can be a dealbreaker in fic for me as I love those two, not a dealbreaker in the case of this fic though! Really good fic so far, kind of verging on dry in places but it always stays fun in the end with lots of interesting elements, I enjoy the character insight from the pov switching, and also how much of a headcase Kakashi is, graphic depictions of violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence,

Summary: Hatake Kakashi was a shinobi, and as a shinobi, the only people who could give him orders were his military superiors. The idea that a Council made up of civilians and peers was under the impression they could give him orders...displeased him. Or: He was ordered to pass Team 7. He was fine with that, until they actually passed.

Integrity by Liz_Starling Oneshot, Gen, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Compliant, Integrity, Child Neglect, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Reflections on Naruto’s inner workings as a person, promises,

Summary: Naruto keeps his word. Some people are loyal to their families. Some, their orders. Naruto is loyal to the only thing he’s been able to count on; the promises he makes.

Foundation (Build It Higher, Bury It Deeper) by RayShippouUchiha Ongoing, BUT EXCELLENT, it made me cry, Naruto feels, 6 chapter fic thus far, Bamf Naruto, Bamf Tsunade, Naruto deserved better, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mature, Team 7, Uzumaki Feels, Abandonment, Tsunade gives Naruto the personal talk he deserved instead of finding out from a chakra imprint when he was dying, so we stan, I love this fic

Summary: It’s just… he’d thought, given his fight against Neji and then his confrontation with Gaara, that someone would finally really acknowledge what he’d done.  That beyond Iruka-sensei’s crushing hug and Kakashi-sensei’s absent pat, someone would actually notice that he’d won against both of them.

That he’d beaten a genius on his own and then had battled another jinchūriki to a stand still.

So while he hadn’t really expected to be promoted too he’d still ...

¦ part 1 ¦ part 2 ¦ part 3 ¦

[yel-halansu]

Pre-Reform Vulcan isn't what you think it is

So I've seen a lot of confusion in the fandom regarding Vulcan history, which is a shame because it's really detailed and interesting! I've compiled this summary of the main eras and events in Vulcan history which I hope you will find informative and useful (just as a note, all dates will be given in standard Earth years and centuries for clarity). Let's begin!

THE TIME OF THE BEGINNING

Life was seeded in Vulcan by a preserver race around 6 million years ago, which explains the similarities with other kinds of humanoid life in the galaxy. Evolution took its natural course, and by 600,000 BCE, a humanoid species had developed from a feline ancestor.

Proto-Vulcan humanoids were a peaceful people with an aptitude for logic. They lived mostly in the plains and kept away from mountain areas due to the danger posed by volcanic eruptions. They learnt to use fire early, and the abundance of metals made for a short Stone Age as they quickly developed rudimentary metallurgy and agricultural techniques. They soon started to domesticate animals and developed other basic technologies such as weaving. During this time period, strong solar flares and increased volcanic activity desertified the planet. The lack of resources such as water and fertile land that ensued would mark Vulcan history for thousands of years to come.

THE AGE OF ANTIQUITY

By 2,700 BCE, society was organized around tribal lines in clans that banded together for protection. Most tribes were nomadic, crossing the desert in search of water and following the migrating herds of the animals they hunted. It is theorized that groups were female-dominated, with the clan matriarchs overseeing most aspects of life.

Around that time, however, settlements had also started to develop across the territory, mostly near the shorelines of the small seas of Vulcan and by protective rock formations near oases, in order to utilise these precious resources and guard them from outsiders. These settlements eventually developed into fortified city-states. Conflicts over water and arable land became common as the cities fought to monopolise them, and technological development quickly stagnated as they fought for survival, ushering in a dark age. Political intrigue and violence were rife, with the warlords of the city-states securing alliances through arranged marriages and concocting elaborate plots of betrayal.

It is also thought that it was around this period of time that Vulcans as a species started to develop psychionic abilities, with members of the population who displayed these abilities being highly sought after and respected. As early as 2,500 BCE, some isolated Vulcans appear to have began to mentally train themselves to suppress their emotions, noticing that doing so resulted in a heightened control of their telepathic abilities.

The Age of Antiquity lasted thousands of years, but due to the uncontrolled destruction of the environment during the wars that were about to ensue, little archaeological evidence remains of it. Most accounts about this period are now shrouded in legend.

THE AGE OF EXPANSION

Eventually, an arms race began as the Vulcan city-states, locked in constant skirmishes, rushed to overpower their neighbours and defend their scarce resources. Technological advancement, which had up to that point been slow, quickly sped up and focused on weaponry, until Vulcans came to create weapons of mass destruction such as atomic and neutron bombs. The wars that ensued ravaged the surface of the planet, permanently distorting a region of its magnetic field, and leading to frequent energy discharges in the red sands.

By the 9th century BCE, Vulcans were capable of space travel, though they did not yet possess warp capability. Legend states that the first spacecraft was built by the warlord D'Vir in 855 BCE. At the time not many species were warp-capable, and so the Vulcans did not come into contact with other civilizations. They quickly landed on Vulcan's sister planet, T'Khut, and started mining it for resources.

Wars were now worsened due to the shifting balances of power caused by the destabilizing factors of the discovery of new off-world territories to colonise and the new incoming resources taken from T'Khut, the nearby asteroid belts, and other neighbouring planets. The wars in Vulcan continued for centuries.

SUDOC'S HEGEMONY

The landscape suffered greatly, and the Vulcans came close to extinction just around the 3rd century CE. It was around this time that a warlord called Sudoc took power in the city of Jaleyl by assassinating the previous ruler. His psichionic abilities were renowned and he used this power to control his followers through mind-melds and telepathic torture. He cultivated a close circle of ardent brainwashed followers. He quickly became very popular in Jaleyl by appealing to the majority of the populace with propaganda techniques, and began to expand his kingdom quickly and violently. Initially, other neighbouring city-states resisted, but Sudoc fought them mercilessly and invaded them. He is said to have slaughtered entire cities except for a single survivor, who would then be sent to the next town with the following message: “Your rulers are responsible. They would rather see you dead than out of their control.” This would cause neighbouring city-states to either surrender or be torn apart by internal conflict, as the leaders would be overthrown by their fearful citizens. For over a century, Sudoc's armies advanced across the planet.

THE TIME OF AWAKENING

Surak was born to a general in Shi'Kahr just as the city was entering in conflict with Sudoc's expanding kingdom. As a well-off youth, he was spared the horrors of the war and was not drafted into the army as most common citizens were. Instead, he spent his youth reading, studying and discussing philosophy with his friends at the sumptuous feasts of the upper class. The turning point in his life came when his entire family was assassinated by Sudoc's agents. Surak was spared as he was at a party that evening. Many other influential families were killed in this coordinated attack, including that of Surak's closest friend, Senet. Senet was consumed by rage, and immediately joined the front lines of the army, wishing to get his revenge on Sudoc. He was promptly killed.

This event changed Surak permanently, and he began to write. He theorised that all the problems of the Vulcan people stemmed from their excess of emotion. He started to develop his discipline of logic, which he believed was the only thing that could temper emotion and allow Vulcan society to develop past the horrible struggles of war. Many of his former friends deserted him during this time, but others stayed as he developed a close circle of faithful followers. Surak surrounded himself with masters of all disciplines, such as law, calligraphy and mathematics, who would in time go on to apply his principles of logic into these disciplines.

Surak faced great opposition at the beginning, as he was perceived by the population of Shi'Kahr as a spoiled kid who knew little of the horrors of the war. Sensing their apprehension, Surak and his followers started crossing the enemy lines and teaching their philosophy of peace among the armies of Sudoc. Many warriors began to desert the army, and propagated his teachings in turn as they travelled through the desert, fleeing the conflict.

From that point on, Surak's teachings gained popularity and sparked unrest in many of the territories of Sudoc's kingdom, which soon rebelled against the warlord. By this time, Sudoc had grown old, and in 331 CE, he died in a telepathic accident during melding session with his inner circle. His empire collapsed quickly after that and the war came to an abrupt end. The Vulcan people were still fractured into various groups while Surak spread his message, but in the vacuum left by Sudoc, many more Vulcans found comfort and hope in Surak's teachings.

THE SUNDERING

Even though Surak's teachings were extremely popular, not all Vulcans felt inclined to follow them. A group of Sudoc's most ardent supporters, led by a warrior named Tellus, found themselves increasingly disturbed by the new philosophy that was sweeping the planet. They would come to be called the "those who marched beneath the Raptor's wings". After attempting to start a new war against the followers of Surak, they saw themselves forced to leave the planet.

In 369 CE, hundreds of thousands of Tellus' followers took to space in the rudimentary crafts available at the time, looking for a new planet to call their homeworld. They would eventually arrive to a distant planet named Romulus and their culture would develop to become the Romulans we know today. It is a mystery how they managed to survive in space and travel that far a distance in non-warp ships, and it has been suggested that they may have accidentally entered a wormhole or been aided by some poweful interstellar entity.

With the exodus of the proto-Romulans, Vulcan was left mostly unified in thought and belief. However, Surak always considered the societal rift responsible for the Sundering to be one of his greatest failures. Surak died of radiation poisoning on Mount Seleya in 481. Selok, one of his disciples, took to the task of building a new system of government that would align with the new philosophy of pacifism and planetary unification, emotional supression and logic.

THE GOLDEN AGE

With a renewed spirit of unity and cooperation, Vulcans ushered in a new age of technological development. Within the space of a few years, Vulcans mapped the geothermic activity of their planet to contain its destructive force and harness its power, and used this new energy source to construct desalinisation plants and supply water to the cities and the cropfields. For the first time in Vulcan history, resources were plentiful and the constant threat of famine was erradicated. Science progressed quickly, with the Vulcan Science Academy being founded in 399 CE. Psichionic techniques also developped faster under the discipline of logic, and by the 6th century they had become cemented in the population as the new techiniques of meditation and self-control developed in their mainstream culture.

THE ROMULAN WAR

The Golden Age came to an abrupt end in 1270, when mysterious spacecrafts entered Vulcan aerospace and attacked their planet. These were, in fact, the Romulans, who has returned to their homeworld with the intention of conquering it. Both civilizations lacked warp drive capability at the time, and it is theorised that the Romulans were using an unstable wormhole to travel between the two worlds when permitted. Because of this, the timing of the incursions was unpredictable, and sometimes long periods of time would pass between attacks. The war lasted around 100 years in total. Romulan strategy dictated that their vessels must self-destruct rather than being captured, and because of this, the Vulcans never understood who was attacking them or why. However, they defended themselves with tenacity and avoided being conquered, until the wormhole closed permanently, putting a stop to the war.

SPACE EXPLORATION

The Romulan war drove technological advancements in many fields, including aeronautics, and after many years of avoiding space travel, the Vulcans took to the stars once again. Initially motivated by the potential discovery of their enemies in the recent war, they developed warp-drive capable starships. However, as they were still weary of other civilizations due the recent conflict, they avoided first contact with other races, preferring studying them from afar until they had gathered sufficient data to judge whether they posed a threat. First contact with Earth took place on 2063, and by that point they had already had encounters with the Tellarites and the Andorians, among others.

THE REFORMATION

Relations between Vulcan and Andoria were always tense, and by the 22nd century they had reached a boiling point when the Andorians sacked the Vulcan monastery of P'Jem, believing it to be an undercover spying operation. In the political fallout that ensued, the Vulcan High Council came under the control of Administrator V'Las, an undercover Romulan agent who was working to instigate the Vulcan invasion of Andoria.

In 2137, a Vulcan named Syrran created the Syrrannite movement, with the goal of returning Vulcan to the true path of pacifism and logic laid out by Surak. The increased militarism of the Vulcan High Council did not go unnoticed, and the Syrranites stood in stark oposition. The Council, weary of their influence, commenced a long campaign of persecution and slander against them.

In 2154, V'Las attempted to bomb the Terran Embassy in Shi'Kahr and blame the Syrranite movement, now led by T'Pau. However, his plans were foiled when T'Pau uncovered the Kir'Shara, an ancient artifact containing some writings of Surak that had been lost for centuries.

As a result of this discovery, the government of Vulcan was reformed and restored to a less militaristic democratic government in 2155. T'Pau stood for election and was elected as First Minister, and during her term she became one of the most influential Vulcan politicians of all time.

THE FEDERATION

The Federation was founded in 2161, with First Minister T'Pau as one of the signatories. Vulcan was proposed as capital, but the more conservative elements of government rejected the idea as it seemed culturally dangerous. Instead, Earth became the capital, though Vulcan remained a core member in spite of the warnings from conservative Vulcans that too much involvement in the affairs of other worlds was illogical and could be contrary to the philosophies of autonomy and peace that guide Surakian thought. In 2241, T'Pau refused a seat at the Federation Council, the only person to ever do so, and Suvok volunteered in her stead. This reticence to become overly involved in offworld affairs extended to Starfleet, as many saw the paramilitary organisation as having the potential to become violent. While enlisting in Starfleet was not forbidden, and many Vulcans did indeed choose this career path, it was mostly frowned upon in Vulcan society.

Though the majority of Vulcans support the Federation, the growing influence of Terra and other alien worlds in the affairs of Vulcan crystallised the radicalisation of more xenophobic elements of society, such as the Logic Extremists. During the 23rd century, this terrorist group bombed the Vulcan Learning Center to kill young Spock and Michael, the children of the mixed family of Ambassador Sarek. In the following years, they went on to sabotage several diplomatic missions until they were disbanded. In 2370, the Vulcan Isolationist Movement, the spiritual successor to the Logic Extremists, was discovered and also disbanded.

And these are the main periods in Vulcan history so far! In spite of their rapid advances in technology, Vulcan remains respectful of its traditions, ever logical and reserved, ever holding the violence that plagued it for centuries as a reminder of the past they wish to distance themselves from and the bright future that lays ahead.

Sources: VLI: Planet Vulcan History, The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans, Memory Alpha, Memory Beta.

[tiredcath]

Zukka Fic Recs

after atla came back into pop culture i found myself falling back in love with zukka which resulted in me reading (almost) every zukka fic on ao3 and here are my favorites

Transference by The_Quatermasters (146k)

In a modern AU, Zuko has to deal with settling in a new school after expulsion, dealing with an angry ex and an abusive father. Maybe his new found friendships and growing closeness with Sokka will help him make it through. 

Borderlines by The_Quatermasters (73k)

Three years after the war, the work still isn't quite done and the Gaang is scattered across the continents in their efforts to help the world recover. When Aang and Katara pay visit to the Fire Nation where Zuko is Fire Lord and Sokka acts as Ambassador for the Water Tribe, sparks fly between the siblings over Sokka's life choices.

Ashes Inside When You Finish Your Song by Muncaster (47k)

Sokka writes lyrics for his sister’s band. Zuko plays piano and is unnecessarily nice. Fellas, is it gay to write love songs about your friend and his golden eyes?

(AKA, a modern band AU featuring The Gaang, crappy software equipment, homoerotic lyrics, and the realization that maybe, if you think about a guy every night before you sleep, you just might be in love with him.)

sirens & sleepless nights by Satirrian (54k)

Life can be pretty hard living in a city under a totalitarian regime. Between adhering to the ridiculous curfew, keeping himself from being gunned down by a passing patrolman, and paying his unnecessary tolls to the state for, say, breathing, Sokka has his hands full just getting to work. Add aiding a resistance group on top of that, and Sokka should really be getting paid for this.

Then, one night, Sokka finds an injured patrolman collapsed in the street, who tells him with blood on his lips, “If the patrol finds me, I’m dead.”

 Real Slow by surveycorpsjean (21k)

“I see.” Zuko closes the scroll. “Is the Water Tribe sending a replacement?”

“Uh yeah,” Sokka gestures to himself dramatically. “You’re looking at him.”

 First by HoneyBadgerMole (20k)

Zuko has been nurturing a crush on the jock in his AP Psych class but he has been too scared to talk to him until they get paired up for a project.

the benefits of getting a flat tire by LesbeanLatte (64k)

Zuko makes an impromptu decision to run away from home after a disturbing conversation with Azula. Unfortunately, some plans are better when they're actually, well, planned. Zuko isn't counting on getting a flat tire almost as soon as he's far enough away from the city to really be in the middle of nowhere.

Sokka is immediately taken with the stranger he and his friends find stranded on the side of the road during an afternoon joy ride. However, he has no idea what he's getting involved with and a kind attempt to help a fellow teen in need turns into a massive coverup for a missing person who just so happens to be the son of the mayor of Ba Sing Se.

Azula was just trying to help her big brother - in her own way - by telling him things she thought he deserved to know. Now the situation has gotten wildly out of control. Did she enjoy seeing Zuko upset and afraid? Of course. Had she intended to endanger his life? Not necessarily, but of course, her idiot brother overreacted to everything and that's what happened and now she doesn't know how to stop the chain of events she's indirectly put in place like dominoes.

Operation Leverage by snowandfire (50k)

Sokka's instincts are onto something great. Zuko just wants to serve tea and brood in peace. Ironically, Toph is the only one who can see what's really going on.

 The Stingray by Smediterranea (24k)

“You’re not carrying me.”

“I don’t mind,” the lifeguard says easily.

“I can just hop over.”

“On sand?”

Zuko will never admit it, but being carried feels pretty nice. The lifeguard sets him down and eyes him warily.

“Are you really all by yourself?” he asks in a worried tone. “No friends in town you can call to check on you?”

“No,” Zuko confirms. Tears are forming again with alarming speed; his foot throbs painfully with every passing second.

“What kind of burrito do you want?”

“You don’t have to —“ Zuko repeats.

“I’m getting al pastor. You like al pastor?”

 AU: Zuko falls for Sokka, the super hot lifeguard who helps him after an unfortunate encounter with a stingray.

 it's the illusion of separation by argentoswan (110k)

Sokka takes a job washing dishes at the new tea shop in town. It's a great gig, until he finds out his only coworker is his old high school bully. Sokka really should quit, but he also really needs to afford rent.

Also, Zuko is kind of hot now.

 People like to think war means something by trying_to_spell_both_our_names_at_once (21k)

Sokka was the first to leave.

Somehow that hurt the most. . . . Not long after Zuko becomes Firelord, forces gather in the South and next thing he knows he's thrown into a civil war with almost no one by his side. Maybe healing is longer and more complicated than it needs to be, but with the right people by your side it is always possible.

 a way that will destroy you by anothermistakemade (14k)

In the wake of Ozai's death, Zuko begins to fall apart. Sokka will do everything in his power to make sure that doesn't happen.

-

or, zuko might be losing his mind, but he also might just be really sad & traumatized

 Those Who Favor Fire by CSHfic, VSfic (30k)

After a failed attempt on his life, Sokka fakes his death, dons a disguise, and infiltrates the would-be assassin's ranks in an attempt to bring them down from the inside.

Zuko learns of his husband's tragic death, mourns, and vows revenge.

 Words Mean More at Night by DaisytheDoodleDog (28k)

Even ten years after the end of the war, rebellions rise and risk the balance of the nations. Sokka was willing to do anything to protect his people, which is perhaps why he's leading an army against the rebellion, attacking only as a last result. But Sokka's unwinding, it's taking a toll on him, and the only thing keeping him grounded are the letter Zuko and him exchange late in the night when no one can see the messenger hawks. But as they say, nothing's fair in love and war.

another word for wanting by eurydicees (23k)

Sokka begins to dream of his soulmate when he's eleven years old, and it just gets harder from there. Or, 125 moments soulmates share, and none of them come easy.

(In which your dreams are your soulmate's memories, and Sokka dreams of an all-consuming fire, growing and eating at his soulmate until it burns up the connection between their souls. In which they find love anyways.)

 It Has Only Just Begun by Kirazalea (39k)

There is a bitter triumph in crashing when you should be soaring

Zuko had now chosen the path his uncle had been trying so hard to show him; he had someone who believed in him, who maybe loved him; he was travelling with the Avatar and they apparently had a plan to end the war. By all accounts, Zuko should be smiling.

But Uncle was gone (captured by Azula, and Zuko didn't think she would kill him, but he didn’t, couldn’t, know for sure). The Avatar was barely breathing (he could still die at any second and there was nothing any of them could do about it). Azula had conquered the last Earth Kingdom stronghold (all those innocent people who were now at her mercy). It seemed like, for every step Zuko took forward, the world sent him back three more.

But he was determined to push forward anyways. He needed to make his uncle proud, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

aka: zuko joins the gaang at the end of season 2

 Nightmares and Reveries by HisMomoness (20k)

Zuko doesn't sleep because when he does, he's haunted by nightmares. Sokka worms his way into a job and makes it his mission to get Zuko to relax. Lots of head pets and one vacation to the South Pole later, Zuko might just be getting the hang of it.

Cue pining, some fluff, and eventual romance.

 The One Who Stopped Time by ohhihoney (66k)

All hope was lost to Zuko until one day, his uncle asked a random person at the Jasmine Dragon to tutor his nephew. Gritting his teeth and embarrassed beyond the point of no return, Zuko gave the blue eyed boy his number.

Little did Zuko know how much Sokka would change his world.

 Rubbed Off Stars by ohhihoney (2k)

Sokka wasn't going to just sit and watch the boy at the back of the bus cry while trying to rub off pride flags off his cheeks.

--------------

WIP

Ozymandias, King of Kings by Think_of_a_Wonderful_Thought (168k)

After that fateful Agni Kai, Ozai makes a different call. Branded as a traitor and banished to a prison camp, Zuko learns how cruel the Fire Nation can be to its citizens. Three years, a water tribe raid, and an unexpected meeting with a gang of over-enthusiastic idealistic children puts Zuko back in the spotlight. The revolution is coming and it wants another poster boy, but Zuko is not willing to lend his face to the cause.

 Another Brother by AvocadoLove (312k)

It was a mission of revenge. There weren't supposed to be any survivors, but Chief Hakoda couldn't bring himself to kill the Fire Nation boy. Against his better judgment, he brought him home. A Zuko joins the Water Tribe story.

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BONUS : zuko x jet

Something to Hold Onto by Wildgoosery (122k)

Since the day the walls of Ba Sing Se fell, the Freedom Fighters have struggled to protect what remains of the city and its people. Jet and his second command, a mysterious boy named Li, have spent the summer piecing together an army, hoping for a chance to take the city back for good. But Li is also Zuko, and the time for that secret is quickly running out. Soon, he'll have to decide exactly who he is, what cause he's going to fight for, and where his heart lies.

[macbetha]

So very excited to share this! It’s a playlist for my upcoming Free! fic, This Heart of Mine, the rewritten sequel to Eyes Wide Open All the Time. You can listen to the playlist on YouTube; this list simply helps define who or what a song represents to me. This list also includes some lyrics that you may want to pay special attention to. I recommend reading the lyrics by themselves before listening to the playlist. Mind you - some of these lyrics only act as symbolism. Some mean more. Some songs have connections. Some don’t. ;) *go girl give us nothing* List below! 

 THIS HEART OF MINE: PLAYLIST GUIDE 

Theme: Bring Me The Horizon feat. Halsey - In The Dark (MTLT / amo version) Oh so tall, it broke the fourth wall Guess our fairytale had a few plot holes Don’t you know you’ve lost control ↳ Honorable Mentions: ✧ grandson - Bury Me Facedown When I go into the ground I won’t go quietly I’m bringing my crown I won’t get tired Set the town on fire Thinking that they’ve won It’s only just begun  ✧ Lorde - Everybody Wants to Rule the World ✧ Ry X - YaYaYa ✧ Rihanna - Goodnight Gotham

CHARACTERS

✦ Haruka ✧ WDL - Monster vs Angel Got my own monster Nobody but me  Got my own angel  I would never call him enemy He’s the good god I need  But both of the sides Fight for me  ✧ Mumford and Sons - Broken Crown I’ll never be your chosen one In this twilight  How dare you speak of grace But in this twilight Our choices seal our fate I’ll crawl on my belly till the sun goes down I’ll never wear your broken crown  ✧ Lia Marie Johnson - DNA Dark as midnight 6 Pack Coors Light You don’t look the same Past my bedtime Blue and red lights come take you away I won’t be like you Fighting back, I’m fighting back the truth Eyes like yours Can’t look away But you can’t stop DNA 

✧ Cat Power - Sea of Love Come with me, my love To the sea, the sea of love ✧ Al Green - Love and Happiness (side note: this if my favorite song of all time) Love and happiness Something that can make you do wrong And make you do right 

✦ Makoto ✧ The Oh Hellos - Soldier, Poet, King There will come a soldier Who carries a mighty sword He will tear your city down Oh ley, oh lei, oh lord ✧ Labrynth - Still Don’t Know My Name I took your heart I did things to you only lovers would only do in the dark I made you a god Priests, popes and preachers would tell me I did wrong ✧ The Civil Wars - Devil’s Backbone Don’t care if he’s guilty Don’t care if he’s not He’s good and he’s bad and he’s all that I got Oh lord, I’m begging you, please Don’t take that sinner from me  ✧ Sleeping At Last - Make You Feel My Love (Cover) I could make you happy Make your dreams come true There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do Go to ends of the earth for you To make you feel my love  ✦ Sousuke ✧ Angel Haze - Detox You dance in a cage with some rats in it I’m about chemistry, you just react to me God might turn us to ash, baby I might just taste your last stars tonight  We were gods in a world that did nothing but doubt us But fuck it, I got us, from the dirt with the flowers Put in work in the shower ✧ Kaleo - No Good  You better start runnin’ When you hear the man coming It won’t do you no good Kiss your baby goodbye Come on love, it’s all right Heaven knows they wanna break you apart  ✧ The Oh Hellos - The Lament of Eustice Scrubb Brother, forgive me We both know I’m the one to blame When I touched the water They told me I could be set free ✦ Rin ✧ Halsey - Young God (Lullaby / Music Box Intro, Live from Webster Hall) Running, running, running And we’ll be running, running, running again ✧ SZA - Good Days Tell me I’m not my fears, my limitations I’ll disappear I gotta keep from losing the rest of me Chasing a fountain of youth that’s in the present I’ll await my armored fate with a smile Still wanna try, I still believe in good days ✧ Lola Blanc - Angry Too Does it get your blood boiling? Does it make you see red? Cause it gets my blood boiling It would eat you like poison if you knew what I knew I don’t wanna drink the venom they made me I don’t wanna be controlled by the past But boy, if you were me Could you really blame me?  ✧ Kendrick Lamar - u And if this bottle could talk: I cry myself to sleep, everything is your fault Because you shook as you knew confinement was needed I know your secrets Don’t let me tell them to world  About the shit you thinking  And the time that you - I’m ‘bout to hurl  I’m fucked up But I ain’t as fucked up as you ✧ Halsey - More Wooden floors, little feet Flower bud, concrete A little screen, a photograph Mine to take I still believe it won’t be like before I’ve loved you for all of my life ✦ Nao ✧ Johnny Hollow - Worse Things Anger grew like ecstasy And Leda threw the swan on me There are worse things, perverse things You should answer when the phone rings There are worse things I could do ✧ Young Heretics - Bones of a Rabbit You play with wolves But you sleep with the bones of the rabbit  You have conquered cities And torched the mighty sea You may keep yourself afloat But you cannot outswim me  ✧ Phantogram - Black Out Days (Future Islands Remix) Hide the sun  I will keep your face out of my mind  I’m hearing voices all the time And they’re not mine  Haunting my mind ✦ Natsuya ✧ Gang of Youths - Achilles, Come Down Remember your virtue  Redemption lies plainly in the truth Where you go, I’m going When you jump, I’m jumping There is no me without you  Today of all days See how the most dangerous thing is love ✧ Florence + The Machine - Cosmic Love The stars, the moon They have all been blown out You left me in the dark ✦ Ikuya ✧ Penelope Scott - Cigarette Ahegao So like, I guess I call it the sophomore slump Always crying and always drunk A few dead, more gone, the rest well on their way Thanks! I hate it Everyone that I love is stuck Because this, that, the other, and the state fucked up We covered it in a class that I’m about to fail  ✧ 100 gecs, Laura Les, Dylan Brady - Money Machine Tell me what's the deal, I've been trying to go to bed I've been up for days, I've been trying to get ahead Said it all before, and I'll say it once again I'm better off alone ✧ Halsey - Clementine  Through a breakdown or a blackout Would you make out with me Cause I don’t need anyone I just need everyone and then some ✦ Hiyori ✧ Florence + The Machine - Seven Devils Holy water cannot help you now A thousand armies couldn’t keep me out I don’t want your money I don’t want your crown See I’ve come to burn your kingdom down ✧ Michael Buble - Feeling Good (Cover) It’s a new life for me This old world is a new world And a bold world for me Freedom is mine And I know how I feel I’m feeling good ✦ Asahi ✧ Sam Henshaw - Broke If I wasn’t broke Would you spend more time with me Like you said you’d do Tell me what I’m supposed to do Cause the only thing I need Is to be loved by you  ✧ Mikky Ekko - Smile Smile, the worst is yet to come We’ll be lucky if we ever see the sun ✦ Aki ✧ Aly & AJ - Church I did bad things, can’t you see it on my face? I get caught in every lie I need redemption for sins I can’t mention For all the things I can’t reverse For all the places where it hurts ✧ ZZ Ward - Ghost Here the devil call out my name I’ve broken promises, burning flame God knows, darling God knows I gave Now the truth cuts like a knife ✦ Nii ✧ Of Mice and Men - My Understandings  Keep in mind that I’m a sore eye With blurry vision  ✧ Neoni - Outlaw They say that I’m wanted Hear the whispers in the street You better start running Cause nothing scares me  Faster, faster You’re the one I’m after  You built a fortress But I’ll never kiss the ring I’m my own king

✦ Gou ✧ Melanie Martinez - Lunchbox Friends We can be friends if you wanna be But only till the clock hits three I don’t want no lunchbox friends, no I want someone that binds the ends, no Come to my house, let’s die together Friendship that will last forever ✧ Maroon 5 - Come to the Water Come away little light Come away to the darkness Away from the life that you always knew Come away little lamb Come away to the water To the arms that are waiting only for you ✦ Isuzu ✧ Jessie Reyez - NO ONE’S IN THE ROOM  Spent my whole life being graded, being told I’m not enough Being told go find the one and sit and wait for death to come I don’t want to I need to talk to God There’s things I just don’t understand Like who am I when no one’s in the room EMI - Bad Friends Yeah, I got some bad friends No you cannot have them If you wanna talk to them  You talk to me, yeah We don’t fuck around with just anybody, yeah

✦ Takuya ✧ Imagine Dragons - Ready, Aim, Fire Off in the distance, there is resistance Bubbling up and festering Here in the casing Shaking and pacing This is the tunnel’s light Blood in the writing, stuck in the fighting Look through the rifle’s sight ✧ Billie Eilish - you should see me in a crown (acapella) Bite my tongue Bide my time Wait till the world is mine, ocean eyes Count my cards Watch them fall  Blood on a marble wall You should see me in a crown I’m gonna run this nothing town Watch me make ‘em bow One by one ✦ Kinjou ✧ Urban Country - Knife and Stone Tell me, have you ever seen a mirror Mirror in the middle of the forest Just waiting for the rain or the crown I’ve been up for thirty days Someone point to lost and found Ain’t no blood in the temple Just a knife and stone

✦ Mikhail ✧ Elsie Lovelock - Friends on the Other Side (Cover) The cards, the cards The cards will tell The past, the present, and the future as well I got voodoo, I got hoodoo I got things I ain’t even tried And I got friends on the other side I hope you’re satisfied, but if you ain’t Don’t blame me You can blame my friends on the other side ✦ Ryuuji ✧ elbow - Grounds for Divorce I’ve been working on a cocktail Called Grounds for Divorce Down comes him on sticks but then he kicks like a horse There's a hole in my neighborhood Down which of late I cannot help but fall ✧ Mumford and Sons - The Enemy I am not the enemy It isn’t me, the enemy I came and I was nothing So why did you choose to lean on A man you knew was falling? ✦ Nadia ✧ Halsey - Castle (Orchestral Version) They wanna make me their queen  There’s an old man  Sitting on the throne  Saying I should probably keep my pretty mouth shut I’m headed straight for the castle

THEMES: GROUPS

✦ FREEBIRD ✧ Kaleo - Way Down We Go Oh father, tell me Do we get what we deserve They will run you down Down till you fall They will run you down Down till you crawl Till you can’t crawl no more And way down we go ✦ ROUGH RABBIT ✧  Imagine Dragons - Who We Are Up on the mountain Down in the king's den  It's who we are Doesn't matter if we've gone too far Doesn't matter if it's not okay Doesn't matter if it's not our day ✦ DIAMONDBACK ✧ Florence + The Machine - Bedroom Hymns This is good a place to fall as any We’ll build our alter here  In the wine, the women, the bedroom hymns Such selfish prayers, I can’t get enough I’m not here looking for absolution Because I’ve found myself an old solution

✦ HONEYBLADE ✧ Megan Thee Stallion and Normani - Diamonds I love me this much My pear-shape all dripped up He want me to be a little more lady-like? Come through with my girls and beat your ass on ladies night ✦ BLOODHOUNDS ✧ Angel Haze - The Wolves Nothing left out there for me  I left my fucking heart out at the sea This shit sounds like the danger zone  I’m the big bad wolf  Gonna take the throne 

THEMES: PAIRINGS 

✦ Makoto + Haruka ✧ Phoebe Bridgers - Smoke Signals One of your eyes is always half shut Something happened when you were a kid I didn’t know you then and I’ll never understand why It feels like I did ✧ Radical Face - Welcome Home Peel the scars from off my back I don’t need them anymore I’ve come home ✧ The Track Team - Heart Chakra ✧ Blackmill - Redemption ✦ Sousuke + Rin ✧ Kaleo - Bang Bang (Cover) Seasons came and changed the times I grew up, I called him mine He would always laugh and say: “Remember how we used to play? Bang, bang.” ✧ Zayn - Good Guy I’m not a good guy But I know you’re mine (bang) I know you’re mine (bang, bang) ✧ L'Orchestra Cinématique - Crazy In Love (Instrumental Cover)

✦ Natsuya + Nao ✧ Cosmo Sheldrake - The Moss But have you heard the story Of the rabbit in the moon? Halsey - Colors Your little brother never tells you But he loves you so I hope you make it to the day you’re 28 years old 

✦ Hiyori + Ikuya ✧ Elvis Drew - Where Are You  I been trying to figure out where you from Is it the moon? Is it earth? Is it this place, where nothing is worse?  Nothing can compare to the life we had My dear just grab my hand and let me take you To my wonderland ✧ Swae Lee - Sunflower Some things you just can’t refuse I’m not tryna lose

✦ Isuzu + Gou ✧ Snow Patrol - The Golden Floor I’m a peasant in your princess arms Penniless with only charm

[richincolor]

I am coping with my local lockdown by buying books! I took these three home with me--do you have any of them already? What's on your to-purchase list?

The Silence of Bones by June Hur Feiwel & Friends

I have a mouth, but I mustn't speak; Ears, but I mustn't hear; Eyes, but I mustn't see.

1800, Joseon (Korea). Homesick and orphaned sixteen-year-old Seol is living out the ancient curse: “May you live in interesting times.” Indentured to the police bureau, she’s been tasked with assisting a well-respected young inspector with the investigation into the politically charged murder of a noblewoman.

As they delve deeper into the dead woman's secrets, Seol forms an unlikely bond of friendship with the inspector. But her loyalty is tested when he becomes the prime suspect, and Seol may be the only one capable of discovering what truly happened on the night of the murder.

But in a land where silence and obedience are valued above all else, curiosity can be deadly.

June Hur's elegant and haunting debut The Silence of Bones is a bloody tale perfect for fans of Kerri Maniscalco and Renée Ahdieh.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender HarperCollins

From Stonewall and Lambda Award–winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.

Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle....

But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.

Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognizing the love you deserve.

We Unleash the Merciless Storm (We Set the Dark on Fire #2) by Tehlor Kay Mejia Katherine Tegen Books

In this nail-biting sequel to Tehlor Kay Mejia’s critically acclaimed fantasy novel We Set the Dark on Fire, La Voz operative Carmen is forced to choose between the girl she loves and the success of the rebellion she’s devoted her life to.

Being a part of the resistance group La Voz is an act of devotion and desperation. On the other side of Medio’s border wall, the oppressed class fights for freedom and liberty, sacrificing what little they have to become defenders of the cause.

Carmen Santos is one of La Voz’s best soldiers, taken in when she was an orphaned child and trained to be a cunning spy. She spent years undercover at the Medio School for Girls, but now, with her identity exposed and the island on the brink of civil war, Carmen returns to the only real home she’s ever known: La Voz’s headquarters.

There she must reckon with her beloved leader, who is under the influence of an aggressive new recruit, and with the devastating news that her true love might be the target of an assassination plot. Will Carmen break with her community and save the girl who stole her heart—or fully embrace the ruthless rebel she was always meant to be?

[rescuemom2020]

Is it Just Me? There are quite a few things that have really irked me the last 6+ years.The following observations are not in order of irritation.Some cause more irritation than others. First,I am shocked on a daily basis about the lack of empathy people have.Most people are so self centered that they have no regard for anyone or anything that is not in their shallow orbit.In 1918 there was a pandemic,The Spanish flu.Many,many people died.But,people had empathy and wore masks in order to slow the spread.No one was screaming about their rights being infringed upon,there were no Spanish Flu parties and even though the President at the time,Woodrow Wilson,did not take it seriously at first,he did not stoke the fire of resistance to wearing a mask.He did not hold rallies to stoke his ego and expose thousands to a killer. Another item that leaves me shaking my head in disgust are the outright lies being fed to an ignorant part of the population.There isnt enough to worry about? Its not enough that people have let the Russians achieve their goal of sowing division and casting doubt on our democracy but they actually are fighting for a dictator and a one system party to rule them.It never crosses their minds that the people they want to rule them do not give a crap about them.They would strip away every single life line they have.No medical at all,no federal help with natural disasters,no federal help to buy a home,own a business,loans to go to college,unemployment,SSI all of it would be stripped away.The 1% would only get richer off the backs of working families.Their rights would also be stripped.Just as the DOJ is unchecked now,it will only get worse.Crime would skyrocket do to a poor economy,because there would be few jobs. Another mind boggle for me is the total lack of intelligence.Is civics not taught in schools anymore?If it is half the population flunked it.Common sense seems to be lacking in 90% of the population. I was born in the 60s and grew up in the 70s and early 80s.I could not in my worst nightmare have imagined the country that my ancestors fought for from the American Revolution,War of 1812,Civil War (on both sides),WWI and II,Korea and Vietnam and Afganistan,Iraq would become a place with some much division over political parties battling each other for power.Not to help the people who have elected them but for their OWN benefit,their own wallet.Insider trading,colluding with a foreign power,perjury,theft by deceit,putting party over country,over the Constitution over the Bill of Rights.I wish I could say that they will not sink lower.But,they already have.By trying to disenfranchise areas that are predominantly african american.If that is not a clear message of racism that what is?By not conceding they are send a message around the world the America’s democracy is in teetering.They are setting up the newly elected President for failure.It is a plan the hope will win so that in 2024 they can win back the WH and resume their dismantling of our democracy.They have packed the courts with unqualified members that follow their vision of conquer and destroy by any means necessary. Fraud,perjury anything goes as long as it achieves the goal of power and greed.All you have to do is look back at the history of 30 years to see the every time a Republican was in the WH,the economy took a hit,the military was engaged for wars that we never should have been in.Democrats roll into the WH,fix the mess of the last administration then a Republican comes in and destroys it again.Clinton left Bush a healthy economy,Bush left Obama one of the worst economy’s ,at that time.Obama left Trump with a strong economy,Trump not only destroyed it he obliterated it.Trump will leave the WH with the worst economy since the Great Depression,maybe even worse,he still has over a month before he is gone.That is not the biggest worry.The biggest fear is th billions he owes,and who he owes.That “loan”is coming due.What secrets will he sell?Trump has proven time and again that he is willing to sell out everyone to save himself.And since he has already violated the Constitution too many times to believe he will not continue to sell out America the first chance he gets.Trump wants to cause as much division,violence and anarchy as possible.Sociopath to the bitter end. I was nevertrumper from the day he started his grab for President.Because of him,the Office of the President has lost its reverence,it’s sense of awe.He destroyed the elegance and class of the office.Everything he touches he corrupts,he takes it to the lowest depths possible.You know that that you are truly disliked when the ENTIRE WORLD dances in the streets,ignite fireworks and party because YOU LOST THE ELECTION.No more of an administration that has lied nonstop from the very first news briefing.I can wake up knowing I will not hear a lie or see Trump’s white trash spray on tan.Thank God the Grifters will be GONE!

[roseprincesskristina]

Axl's First Exciting Mission

((Hey guys. Today, in going to create a new fan fic today that an idea has flown towards my face. It's about a teenage prototype named Axl, who's very thrilled about the new mission that awaits him, but doesn't really know yet due to the mysterious yet similar maverick hidden within the underground basement of Maverick Hunter HQ that X has warned him about. So again, this story contains yaoi and I understand that it made you uncomfortable. However, if you're a fan, then welcome aboard. Without further ado, please enjoy this fiction. 😊))

Abel City. One of the most clearest town state of all, home of the inhabitants of Earth filled with humans and reploids altogether with meek, sided along of peace. No matter the differences, negligence or other, everyone who is new to the city are freshly more than welcome to live alongside all individuals. Before the roaring stampede of Mavericks would attempt to ruin tranquility, commanded by the gruesome but merciless overlord formerly known as the commander of the Maverick Hunters created by Dr. Cain, Sigma. During the reconnaissance given by his creator to locate the dangerous red maverick, the unstoppable Wily Virus have taken control or finds its way within his core, reestablish the morality. Forcing him to surrender to its power succumbing everything belonging to him, erased right quickly. The growling aura shouts, unleashing the new and improved villain to all who have feared more than their own weaknesses. Gathered up several more irregulars to make an army, destroying the town, killing a few humans, painting the whole planet with his dreams bursting into reality of rearranging a new world for only the strong and powerful reploids to rule. However, it was interrupted by the dynamic duo, X and Zero, shutting down the false fantasy by defeating 8 bosses including the crazed menace. Time and time again. No matter how he would return with more of his invincible forms due to his manipulation of other reploids such Dr. Doppler, Repliforce, Gate, and the rest, the irregular busting crime stoppers will always put an end to his wretched schemes for a new life. After his defeat, tranquility has regain its colors once more, the meaningless conflict between robots and humanity have been silenced. All thanks to the hopeful hunters that every civilization will always look up to.

Not only if there were two that could battle against more threats other than the malicious maverick king, but another hero that arrives to the scene. One that possesses such a great ability like no other being. A compassionate soul so young, lacking maturity yet not the interest of helping those in need when it comes to danger. His name is Axl. Armor themed of the navy blue color striped of red lines, detailed with an X shaped scar across the face by an unknown accident, spiky upward hair and helmet design with a camera lens type inside the crystal. Left the group called Red Alert by his decision on his own to become a hunter due to the view of his friends and scythe wielding leader Red changing their desires of using the briefcase full of chips stolen from Sheeda and the boss for power. Chased by a large mechaniloid, met and teamed up with the crimson sword slasher by taking it down, mistakenly arrested, refused by the indigo pacifist of being or becoming a full pledged hunter, facing off his old colleagues and Red, dueling with the previous mastermind from the beginning and saved the earth again. Still refused, an emergency has been briefed by the blonde navigator, calling to the young gun shooter to race into action.

A new generation built by a blue print, enhanced with the special kind of item known as the Copy Chip. With it, it access the DNA of all reploids even to resist various types of pestilence from every corner. Sadly, the least have chosen to become corrupted as a maverick, including the flesh hating ex commander, at will. None of them have ever experienced such a miracle bestowed upon them. But it doesn't mean that they're immortal. The generation have the same mortality as a few reploids and human alike, making them quite special within their own way possible. Posing them, including the youngster, as hopes of the future as well as protectors. For the land will relax in meekfulness while the heroes do the rest.

Somewhere at Hunter Base, a secret government domain of skilled hunters, the autumn hair youngling rests around the table with legs crossed, seating into the chair slightly bored after the war has ended. Blowing a mist of a sigh. Sure there are no crimes of fire that would be happening right now, but nothing very exciting could ever seek for his attention. For he is lingering in his own boredom by daydreaming.

"Man... This is so boring... Couldn't there be anything fun around here for me do so I wouldn't die in my own sleep?" Groaned the teenage prototype, tilting the side of his head against the hand. Slowly collapsing into a tired state until the Class A expert would arrive at his direction, folding his arms.

"Listen, Axl. I know that you're furiously bored cause of no casualties or invading threats coming to screw up everyone's day, but you have to learn to be patient and let disaster come to us first when duty calls." He explained.

"I know... But it's just no fun sitting around the base to do ABSOLUTELY nothing. Sigh... This is lame..." He griped silently.

"We get it, kiddo. There isn't a speck of villainy around these parts, but It's not the end of the world that quickly, ya know."

"Well.... I guess you're right, Zero. Don't know why I was whining about since we took care of that maverick jerkface. I mean, the three of us, taking the toll on him."

"Heh. I know, and you even single handedly knocked out Sigma with your special copy ability to save our asses. "

"Darn right! Heh. He didn't know what hit him! Thanks to you guys, the legendary Maverick Hunters!"

"No, kid. Thank YOU. Without your help, we would've been dead right now. You're the real hero that the world needs."

"You think so?"

"I know so. But you still got a lot to learn when you're a hunter. Facing with tougher baddies, saving the innocents and all that."

"You got it, boss! Thanks again." Grinned Axl.

"Anytime."

Both of them stare into their peers for just a moment until the reploid teen would lean closer, accidentally deepens the long haired senior with a longing kiss. Laying his hands onto his cheek when he blush with surprised.

"Mmmph?!"

"Mmmm...  Mmmmm..." 

"Mmmmmph...!"

"Mmmm... Hmm?! Oh shoot! Sorry Zero!" He pulled himself away. 

"Axl! What the hell are you doing?! We're not supposed to be doing something inappropriate in public!" He angrily flustered.

"Oops... He he... My bad... Didn't know what got over me."

"Ugh... Look, just try to control yourself, OK? Cause it's getting too weird. And by the way, X told me about an unknown maverick yesterday."

"Really? There's a new bad guy?"

"Mhmm. He was incredibly dangerous. Not to mention as a vampiric version."

"A vampire?"

"Yes. The creature of the night that drinks the blood of mortals to survive, like in the movies. But this baddie is different. He possess as an incubus of some sort. Flirting with woman both reploid and human at once. Or perhaps secretly someone else... Acted very sultry as his personality, but enhanced with an elemental use. Like ice for starters."

"Whoa... Is he really dangerous?"

"Precisely. He had both vampire and incubus personas. But a calming expression. Also with sneaky eyes."

"Wow.... "

Furthermore, he continuously explains more of the mysterious figure's tricks and powerful elements aiding his claws, warning the rookie about what he could do anyone with the unavoidable "secret weapon" that he tells X and crew. Unlike the young gun slinger, everyone is quite aware of this deadly strategy.

"Is that so?" He asked.

"Yes. It's something that no other reploid would escape from. Once being controlled, there's no chance of resisting against it before the..." Unable to say the rest of the sentence it out loud, he finish it by speaking into the kid's earport. Then made him jump of shock.I

"NO WAY! He seduces them?!"

"Not so loud. But yes. He performs a sexual lip locking with females of all kinds. Endlessly."

"Holy crap.... And I thought that a succubus would do the same thing to a guy."

"Yeah. Plus, he would even get a taste of their bodies if necessary..."

"Ewww..."

"But anyway, there's nothing to worry about it now. We've already sealed him underneath the containment basement built with preventable locks." He assured to the wild child, patting his shoulder. "So all is well."

"Heh. Guess so. I was getting a little frantic there. Say, what if he would do the same to me?" He said curiously. But on the inside, quite scared.

"Come on, Axl. There's no way that he would get to you. Or is there?* Smirked the golden headed saber wielder, teasing him.

"Uh oh...."

"Oh, I'm just yanking your chains. So long as you stay put, far away from that containment cell. I'm counting you to remain on your post. Understood?"

"Yes sir! I'll try my best!" He saluted.

"Good. I'll be in the meeting room. Do your best, Axl." Ordered Zero as he nodded.

"You got it!"

"One more thing... If anything happens when you're in danger, be sure to contact me or X by the earport."

"Roger that!"

"Oh. And one last thing..." He went up to the energetic teen boy, grabs him by the head to return the sinking kiss aggressively. 

"Mmmph!!"

"Mmmmmmmmmwah. There. Now we're even."

"Ack! *Cough cough* Geez, Zero! Guess that'll teach me a lesson!"

"Just giving back the favor. Try to continue your duty, got that?" He chuckled teasingly, before leaving for a meeting.

"Yes sir...." Spat the young begginer. 

With the examination talk aside, he walked off to attend a meeting with other hunters and navigators. But, then stopped for a pondering solution just for the lad in dark blue due to the kiss. Stood there into the middle of the hall, he felt the affected warmth melting away the coldness by touching his lips. Even though he haven't experienced nor practice empathy towards anyone but to his friends that he deeply trusts before.

"Huh... What is this weird tingling that I'm getting? Sure it was an accident, but... it feels so soft... And tense..." He imagined. "Hmm... Maybe the kiss wasn't such a bad accident after all. Actually, it's kinda hot too... Mmmm... Axl... He really is a good kid, even though his immaturity annoys the hell outta me a little." Smiling slowly from the straight stern written on his face, the idea has driven to his mind for a moment. Granting him the opportunity to pose as dangerous yet sexy winged maverick for his young friend to "fight off" with. He quickly walks into the room while no one is looking, morphing his original armor into an Absolute transformation to act as the unknown maverick. 

"He he he... Perhaps I'll give the brave little hunter a special solo mission he'll never forget~ A chilling "battle", that is~" He plotted. Cycling his tongue around the pale lips, tasting the smooching marks led by the novice hunter from the former organization of assassins. For a surprise trick will never fail to get the jump on him. 

Meanwhile, outside into the garden fields behind HQ during midnight, the emerald eyed gun blaster is relaxing his butt off from all the boring worriness dancing across his head all cheered up from the conversation he had with the die hard blonde, arms at the back of his head and boots crossed. Watching above the glittering stars of the night skies, so beautiful and sparkly to his pupils.

"Ahhh... What a beautiful nightfall... No wars, criminals or intruding crooks around at bay... Just some all out peace at last...." Sighed the dual wielding lad, succumbed by the wonders of the brighten dots as well as the graceful moon. The decent opposite of daytime for every or less generations to witness, secondly to lay back and watch. Everything that the red violet ex maverick have said about peace is very true, no worries, miscreants or anything too risky for that matter. It is a cesspool of non violent freedom to swim about all the time without ever getting out. 

"I really miss Red... He's like the true father I never had, before going bonkers from those stupid case loaded with corny chips that changed him... Sigh.... But, his DNA will always be carried within my mimic enhancement... And in my memories too..." Tears have descended from his eyes, remembering of his foster father that caused him to grieve. However, as the new recruited hunter, he wiped them off by fist to get his spirit together. 

"*Sniff...* What am I sobbing for...? Big boys don't cry. They would stay valiant and kick the crap outta fear! Heck, I'm a brave man now, in fact, I'm a Maverick Hunter! Yeah! Those creeps are gonna be very sorry if they first took a gander of me!" Cheering himself up with self encouragement, he would practice his kicks into the middle of the garden, fantasizing of him shooting multiple enemies who are robbing banks, abusing civilians and more. Hearing the applause washing all over him, women admire his fearlessness by delicate smooches. It will be his wonderful dream come true. 

"Yeah.... That's right, ladies... Plenty of me to go around... He he he..." He imagines of himself surrounded by women giving him kisses by gently stroking his body all over. Until suddenly, a ringing has disturbed his daydreaming sequence. Must be an emergency or some sort. Or worse, he might have done anything disrespectful by switching the report papers. He then respond by the ear port.

"This is Axl."

"He he he he.... Hello there, Maverick Hunter Axl...." Then, a sudden deep voice has reached to him with a comely yet seductive vibe. 

"Who is this?! Where's Zero?!" Replied Axl, demanding for a certain answer. 

"There's no need to be angry, boy... I'm sure that he's perfectly safe with me... For now... He he he..." He replied. 

"You bastard!"

"Mmm... Aren't we fueled with anger? I like that in a boy~ Truly that I would admire a woman, but never mind them... For I already found someone right in front of me~"

"Found who!?"

"You~" 

What the young pistol user didn't really know, despite of a mysterious call, is that a dangerous "maverick" was quietly behind him the entire time. He have felt his chilling presence speaking to his ears until he jumped back from the "enemy". 

"What the?! Who are you?!"

"He he he... Haven't your precious red friend ever warned you about me~?"

"So you're that scary looking maverick jerk that he told me about!"

"Precisely~ But enough of the meaningless introductions~ I've come here to have fun with you~" Approaching the incubus themed reploid, making his way to the youthful ward of the hunters. 

"W...What are you doing?! Step off from me!" He quivered slightly, reversing himself from his opponent while trying to gulp his pride whole. "Y..You're suppose to seduce women, not men!"

"You're correct, my young plaything~ But...." He teleported for moment. Seeing as kind of a magic trick, the former member of Red Alert was infuriated by that. But, giving him a chance to draw out his trusty Axl Bullets just in case the malicious "intruder" reveals himself again.

"All right. This is it. Time to take out some maverick tr-" Then, something very impossible has happened to him. He was interrupted by the disappearing individual, now visible, by placing his clawed hand upon his innocent cheeks. Rubbing them for a quick second until the touch has intrigued his interests.

"Ohh yes~ Your flawless face is so passionate, along with your delicious figure~ So hot~" He examined, circling his palms very slowly. 

"H...Huh...?!" He frozed. 

"Not only do I desire for females, but in secret, I love males as well~ That's why I found you, little boy~ Now, how about a little privacy to shield ourselves from this world~?

"Are you insane?! Why would I wanna date a-" Stopped once more with a hungry kiss had made the adolescent reploid dropped his weapons. Defeated by something very consensual that he had never seen before.

"Mmmmph! Mmmph!" 

"Mmmmmm~ Just try to relax~ And let go of your unwanted fury you've kept for so long~" Repelled the goth colored vampire, staring at his leaf colored eyes to hypnotize him. 

"Mmmmm...." At last, he was fully compelled to the deadly spell that Zero mentioned earlier. He tried to fight it off, but it too late.

"Good boy~ Now, let's retreat into a secret place to have our little mission together~ Forever~" 

"Yes, master..." 

Teleporting both him, along with his mind controlled captive to a darker basement cell underneath the base to continue their "battle" in peace, they can finally have a much more privacy zone to make some love. Setting the youngling onto the bed gently while pinning him down softly, he began to sip his longing kiss once again into a seductive way. 

"Mmm~ Mmmmm~ God, your lips are very tasty, but yet beautiful~ I love it when it shines brightly than a diamond~" He was fascinated by his pure and polished lips. 

"Mmmm..." The future hunter would conduct the same while hugging around his master's neck, giving into the lip mashing. Connecting both of their armored bodies with approach to began the intensive grinding. Gripped tightly of their embrace to never release each other or to be separated. Finally alone together, into the dark underground area filled with nothing but lights which will be activated automatically by clapping. But it's probably best to have them off for a special night just for two. 

Their anatomy would polish one another into a normal pace, meeting face to face. Or perhaps chest to chest. Jointed into a pleasurable condition as the demonic ice maverick tilted his head towards the thinly neck of the rambunctious prototype, running up and down of his snake like tongue to please him. 

"U...Unh~..." 

"He he he... You like that~? How about this~?" He downward his tongue a little further, all over his body, and mostly, his little private briefs. 

"Unh... Unh....!" The flustered expression has appeared in his face. 

"That's it, little man~ Let it all out~" 

"Unh.... Unh... Unh.... Oh man.... It's so good... Unh..."

He continued to taste more of the youthful newbie, onto the legs, even the chest and mouth. Then returns for a thirsty tongue on tongue action to juice up the peacefully mood. 

"Mmmph...." Moaned the pea shooting individual.

"Mmmmm~"

Their tongues were performing a tango during a kiss. Enjoying a perfectly evening at meek for a desirable dance. Dipping one of them after a dazzling twirl. Outside, the incubus would place his clawed hand upon the dual wielding lad's cute little buttocks for a casual spanking. 

"Ahh....!"

"Well, you have been a very naughty boy, Axl~" He said playfully, gripping it very hungrily.

"Ahh...! Yes, I'm a very bad boy, master..." He moaned again, but with an enjoyable act. 

"You know what happens to bad little boys~? They deserved a good spanking~" 

He then gives him a very good slap to the ass, not too hard but lightly. Patting it like a beloved pet.

"Mmm... More master..." Begged Axl. 

"That's more like it~ Yes, you may have another~" He rapidly punishes the tiny little rump. Just to give him more. 

This was his first special mission he had with the shadowed themed hunter unlike any kind. Thrilling and exciting for a boat load of duels awaiting for his call when it comes to danger. He asked for something dangerous, now it arrives to him and was purposely delivered. Endlessly lingering by his ice user's grasp, but an a lustful way. Flushing away his tired boredom along with the annoyed whining down the toilet for good. For the new memories of his new friends have replaced the previous one from his mind, straighteningly stored to inherit it forever. 

And finally, the true feud shall finally commenced. 

"Now then~ Are you ready~?" Questioned the winged hunter.

"Ready when you are, master." He replied, lending his neck closely to him with his dipped head. 

"Yeeeeeesssss~ I'm going to enjoy this more like I admire you~" He grinned, revealing his white diamond fangs for a scrumptious dinner. Axl was a little nervous, but not afraid to allow his mentor to seduce his sexy neck. Hissing very quietly with a purr, he gently bit it, inserting his fangs into the synthetic flesh. 

"A...Ahhh...."

"Mmmmm~" 

Like any other vampire whose patiently desperate for blood in order to survive, he is interest into necks. One of his favorite sexual parts of the body that will never cease to amaze him by the slightest. It really inspired his needs even more than talon his enemies with one strike. Plus, he even dreams in his slumber. And now, he finally had a chance to permanently suck on the thin yet strongly part of the new gen teenager. 

"Mmmmmmmm~ So sexy~" He moaned comely, wiggling the tongue to clean off the blood from the marks on his disciple's neck. 

"Ahhh..." He moaned yet again, puffing out a warm steam from his mouth. Enjoying his solo mission to the fullest than just lounging around at his post. 

"Mmm~ Your blood is so hyper and sweet~ I really appreciate it so much, Axl~" Licked the unknown maverick, who later showed his true identity by removing his helmet. The rookie gunner gasped, knowing it was...

"Zero!?"

"Hey, kiddo~ Liking your new mission~?" Said the pale blonde upperclassmen. The plot twist has shocked the scarred youth. 

"You're the unnamed maverick?!"

"That's right~ Just giving you a new lesson when this is all over~"

"No freaking way! I...I'm really sorry for kissing like that! It's not like me at all! I..." He was silenced by his friend's deep smooch as his forgiveness for the accident that occurred from the start. 

"Heh. Don't worry about it, you cute little runt~ Accidents happen sometimes when you're new~ So there's no need to get all apologetic about it~" 

"Well... You're right, Zero. Thanks for understanding." He cheered up.

"So~ Ready to continue our little private mission together, partner?"

"You know it, boss~"

And so, two hunters have resume their reconnaissance by kissing into the lips once more, making out in peace with the saber wielding senior's wings folded across them for a more comfortable terms. 

"Oh Zero~"

"Axl~"

"Zero~...." 

"Axl~....."

"Zero~...." He whispered.

"Axl~...." Same with the black crimson blond.

Tranquillity has comfort the town of Abel City during the return, free from the dreaded master and his army of mavericks pillaging amok by trying to scare humanity from the face of existence, all dealt with by the fearless Maverick Hunters. And not to mention Axl as well, the third hero that the world will look up to and will always count on. He may have lack immaturity unlike X and Zero, but has the potential will for caring about his trustworthy friends and saving everyone from certain devastation invading the earth. But for now, all is peace once again. And their thinks belong to the true hero for his bravery to protect mankind at all cost and his pure of heart. Thank you, Maverick Hunter Axl, for your limitless generosity and protection of all humans and reploids living in equality, as well as in harmony. 

The End

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

Today’s Pig is Tomorrow’s Bacon

Thursday, June 11, 2020

 By Stephen Jay Morris

©Scientific Morality

       History to some is a boring subject.  The way it was presented to me in grade school was all about memorizing dates and peoples’ names you didn’t really care about.  It was about the mid term, and then the final exam.  Public school curriculum was always a tug of wag between progressive methods and conservative techniques of education.

So, who won the war?  Neither ideology won.  It became a compromise of mediocrity.  Most subjects in school were anemic because of censorship by various groups on the left or right; mostly right wing Christian groups.  That is why science classes were so flimsy.  You couldn’t teach that the world was billions of years old because it contradicted the bible.

History is not boring! You remember your own name and birth date, don’t you?  Well…I am going to lay down some history on you: my own!  My history parallels social history.  Back then I wasn’t just a spectator of history, but a participant.

In the late 60s, what was happening in the black community was a daily ritual of police brutality. If you were black and walking anywhere, you were stopped, frisked, searched, and asked for identification. Were you to show any disrespect to the cops, you would “accidentally” fall down on your face and cause injuries to your body.  It was their word against yours.

Other non-white people suffered the same injustices by the police.  And, so did white hippies!  Long hair meant you were on dope and you were a “nigger-lover.”  I had my share of police harassment.  My long hair covered my face, so my white skin privilege was suspended until I got a haircut.  “Are you a boy or a girl?” a cop would ask.  There was also penis privilege, of which mine was revoked because I had long hair.  There used to be heterosexual privilege; mine was canceled until I got…well, you know. If you had long hair, the cops would call you a cock sucking queer.  All I had to do was get a haircut and all my problems would be over.  However, for those who were Black, it was a constant, day-to-day struggle.

Enter the Black Panther Party.  The Panthers were not some ideological or political group.  In the beginning, they were a militant Civil Rights group, which ultimately became the vanguard of the New Left revolution.  They supported Third World resistance and uprising against Imperialism. They were in support of the Viet Cong and others.  Their focus was on police brutality.  The Panthers went on street patrols, armed with rifles and law books.  When they saw cops harassing someone, they would stand nearby, shouting instructions to the victim on how he should legally respond. They put a halt to police harassment for a couple of years.  It was illegal to call a cop a curse word, so the Panthers would call them “pigs.” That word was and is protected by the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.  Once, I used that word to some cops.

In 1970, I was on my way home, walking.  I was in the alley that ran adjacent to my house, when some unmarked cop car stopped beside me.  Inside, there were two plain-clothes, white cops in dark sunglasses, with sideburns and mustaches. They looked like characters from the sit-com, “Reno 911.”  They were dressed in casual clothes, like male models out of a department store ad in the Sunday paper.  The driver asked me, “Have you seen a Chicano wearing khaki pants and a yellow shirt, about 6 feet 4, walk by here?”  Now, I was a stupid, 16-year-old militant, so in a reflex action, I replied, “I didn’t see shit, pig!”  Both of them were clearly exasperated, plus they were wielding giant flashlights that cops commonly used as Billy clubs.  They slowly exited their car and approached me.  One of them asked softly, “What did you say?”  I felt a surge of adrenaline invading my belly; I knew that I was going to get the shit beat out of me!  Just then, behind me, I heard my mom open the front door of my house. With great relief, I turned around and said, “Hey, mom!”  She didn’t say a word, but she looked concerned.  The head pig said to my mom, “Ma’am!  Tell your son to watch his mouth!”  They both got in their car and sped off in pursuit of their suspect. What was even scarier was that this incident occurred right next to my house on Martel Avenue!

That’s just one of many encounters I had with the cops.  This next anecdote took place in my high school history classroom.  My history teacher enjoyed holding class discussions of current events.  One day, were talking about police brutality and how to stop it.  Now, this was 1969 and the network news nightly showed film clips of cops bashing and whacking the hell out of student demonstrators with their batons.  By this time, I was in solidarity with the Black Panther Party, who’d proposed having community control of the police department.  I said to classroom, “We should abolish the police department!”  One girl’s eyes popped out her head and she shrieked, “Are you out of your mind?!  Who is going to protect the public from crime?”  To this, I replied, “The community peace patrol, I imagine!” Then she had the nerve to recite this bumper sticker text, “Well...if you don’t like the police, next time you are trouble, call a hippie!”  It turned out that her dad was a cop.  The bell rang and my teacher said, “What Stephen said is a valid point.  Good day.”  Wow!  No teacher had ever validated anything I said!

So here we are.  It seems a million years since the Chicago cops assassinated Black Panther Fred Hampton, and it’s been just 15 days since a cop murdered George Floyd.  His murder started a wild fire of protests and riots around the world.  There are calls now from the Black Lives Matter movement to defund the police.  I also heard some anarchists calling for the abolition of the police department.  Bam!   Some ideas never die.

So, what do I believe now? Since the police are part of the working class, they should be revolutionized toward progressive values. They should take off the uniform and not carry guns.  They should be trained in the martial arts.  They should be peace officers not police officers.  Progressive unions should represent them.  I say abolish the police department and transform it into a community peace force.

The white-wingers (formerly, right-wingers) claim they are pro-police.  They are not.  They only support the cops when they violently abuse some poor victim.   Now, should the cops go on strike for higher wages, you will not see one conservative on the picket line with them. Conservatives are not willing to pay higher taxes to support their local police.  Hell, no!  They’d rather privatize the police force and have them guard and protect the white rich and their acres upon acres of property.  Here’s one argument worth contemplating:  Abolish the police so they can never be privatized!

Okay, Boomer?  

 Take a listen to this song I wrote in 1980 about the Los Angeles Police Department:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpIzWoS0Vto

[multi-muse-transect]

A Father’s Strife

AU: Set in the Bounty Hunter Mira timeline. A mysterious signal leads fireteam spectre to investigate. But when it turns out that it’s none other than the famous rebel fulcrum agent Kallus, the lines are on the line as he meets his son. Mira also belongs to @meldy-arts.

14 years ago.....

Draven Kallus or at least FN-999 stands among his stormtrooper battalion. This wasn’t his official codename though. He got it from a trooper who was planning to flee from the First Order and then swapped his armor with him before he left. No one doesn’t even know he’s here in the First Order which is fine by him. His father’s name was infamous among the Imperial ranks and they wouldn’t let him in if he enlisted officially. Now granted, his father fought against the empire and he truly looked up to him. But seeing what happened to the New Republic and how corrupt and deeply divided it was-He became disillusioned. His father wasn’t helping also as he was a senator who basically kept stoking the flames of the conflict. It reached to the point where he began to ignore his own son and in response, his own son ran away at the age of sixteen to join the First Order so he can bring true order and unity to the galaxy.

All that running away paid off though as he met FN-999 who was planning to run away in Jakku. He gladly took 999′s place and donned his armor thus ensuring his place in the First Order. Draven keeps his helmet on at all times to also make sure no one sees what’s underneath and to not let anyone that 999 ran away. His father taught him how to fight so he blended perfectly among them. Captain Phasma and some other girl, one that is younger than most troopers pass by them. It’s inspection day so all troopers must be accounted for. Following them is director Thrawn of Rescue and Intelligence bureau who is looking for any potential troopers to recruit on his datapad. It’s rare for troopers to enter the bureau, they only accept the best of the best and Draven doesn’t see himself as the best. Although he did rank up on the list in training, on number one spot. That what gets you respect from captain Phasma and the officers around here. Thrawn stops and turns to him.

“FN-999. Please step forward.” Thrawn ordered getting his attention. Draven wearily steps towards him curious at his order. The Chiss walks towards him and stops in front of the trooper. Draven looks into his eyes underneath his helmet....They widen up realizing why he did call him. The eyes of someone who is familiar with his combat style.

“Please report to my office this once. Captain Phasma and General Hux also.” He ordered as Phasma and Hux look at each other in curiosity before following them. Alongside Phasma and Hux, the blue haired little girl walks with them. Draven follows the three while holding his fear and internal panicking. He’s heard of Thrawn’s tactics and how he’s one step ahead of everyone. They arrive at the office of Thrawn as the door slides open.

“Wait here.” Phasma ordered the girl. She nods and sits on a chair next to the door. Draven, Hux, and Phasma enter Thrawn’s office. Resting on shelves are relics from the galactic civil war like old blasters, stormtrooper helmets, a destroyed lightsaber. That isn’t the only things in his office, there are murals from the old republic mounted and also a Mandalorian helmet. Among them are an ISB helmet also. 

“FN-999, you are ranked among the troopers of your battalion. Tell me-How do you fight so well?” Thrawn asks as Draven knows he’s feigning admiration. Draven grips his blaster in case he pulls something at him.

“Just the usual practice sir. Memorize every step captain Phasma has told us since basic training. I have good muscle memory after all.” Draven explained. 

“Strange....That is not the way captain Phasma trains hand to hand combat.” He pulls up a holographic video of standard troopers fighting in the way Phasma taught them. Aggressive and almost sloppy. Another video is pulled up showing him fighting with another trooper. It’s elegant and precise at the same time, just like how his father taught him.

“That is the fighting style....Of an ISB agent.” Thrawn spoke causing alarm in Draven while suspicion in Phasma and Hux. He bites his lip and breathes to calm himself down. Good thing the two can’t tell his emotions right now underneath his helmet.

“I....I watched old videos-”

“Remove your helmet.” Thrawn ordered. Draven carefully removes his helmet revealing his face. He looks more like a young version of his father minus the sideburns on his face. 

“Sir, who is this? That doesn’t look like FN-999.” Phasma asks him before Hux pulls out a blaster on Draven.

“A Resistance spy, that’s who it is!” Hux replied before Phasma takes aim at him. 

“Stand down you two. He isn’t a spy and he didn’t come here for information.....” Thrawn ordered again before Phasma and Hux lower there weapons. 

“Your father fought for the rebellion in the early years, he tried his best to foil me but he failed and got away after Pryce decided to throw him out of an airlock.” The Chiss said.

“If his father was a rebel spy then he is too. Thank you sir, but we have him-”

“Armitage, please treat our....Unofficial guest and recruit with respect. As he came to use to garner that said respect from us.” Thrawn advised. 

“Respect? Do we even know his family?” Phasma asks.

“Allow me to introduce: Draven Kallus, the son of agent Kallus.” Thrawn introduced Draven who hangs his eyes in fear and sadness fearing what Thrawn will do to him. Hux’s eyes widen before he squints at him in anger knowing who agent Kallus was. 

“What is the meaning of this?! And what did you mean by unofficial recruit!? He is the son of a rebel spy!” Hux growled. 

“According to missing person reports and the local holo-net news, Draven ran away from home because of his dispute with his father who is aligned with the senate of the New Republic in the political war that took place within the senate. Isn’t that right Draven?” Thrawn asked before Draven motions his eyes to look away from then back. 

“He was a foolish old man who got caught up in politics rather than the safety of the galaxy. I came here to serve and protect it.” Draven explained. 

“Unlike your father, you have unwavering loyalty to the First Order and the Imperial cause. I called you in here for another reason but I have doubts about it.” Thrawn replied.

“Sir, I hold myself responsible for libel. If it’s a year or day in the stockade-”

“You have been recruited for Rescue and Intelligence.” He interrupted catching him off guard. 

“E-Excuse me?”

“You have been recruited. Chosen.” Thrawn simply explained.

“B-But....I lied to get into the First Order, certainty I deserve some form of punishment for this.” Draven argued. 

“No but of course my trust in you is in question. You have skills Draven and through these skills, you have been chosen. Any questions?” Thrawn asks. Draven pauses for a moment knowing that Rescue and Intelligence missions are almost on suicide levels of dangerous....But he always wanted to do good for the galaxy.

“No sir.” Draven replied.

“Do no disappoint me like your father did, Draven.” The Chiss advised. 

Draven wakes up on the bench of the ship. He’s wearing his typical clone commando armor that is reformatted with First Order tech from the research and development team. His team was sent to rescue a stranded ship out here after command has received a distress signal from it. Mira is aiming the scope of her rifle to see if there is anything wrong with it, Zuke spins his blastmill to check if it can fire properly while Blackjack is testing the spinning mechanism of her lightsaber. 

“Lena, are we there yet?” Draven asks while picking up his E11D rifle leaning on his seat and turning off the safety of the weapon. The pilot turns to him while removing her helmet. 

“Almost there to the ship. We’re not getting any transmissions at the moment which I assume that either the occupants are dead or....”

“It was jammed.” He adds.

“My thoughts exactly.” Lena agreed before the ship jumps out of hyper-space revealing the still ruined ship. A civilian freighter of some kind. Mira observes the ship sensing a familiarity with it.....

“That’s a Tantive class ship. It belongs to Corusant. I wonder what it’s doing out here.....” Mira observed before another wrecked ship passes by them but this time a pirate ship. 

“A pirate attack and the explosion marks are fresh. This was recent.....Very recent.” Blackjack added. 

“Then that means a survivor must have fired a shot to destroy it. Let’s move in.” Draven ordered. 

“Tantive this is First Order Rescue and Intelligence, if you can hear me then you are being boarded. Medical assistance will be administered.” Lena said on the coms. The ship goes into the docking bay of the Tantive as the side hatch opens revealing the team in there specific armors. Mira leads them first since she is there tracker and scout. Draven looks around his surroundings....There’s dead crewmen scattered all over the place, indicating signs of a struggle.

“A fight took place here....” Zuke looks at the blast marks and the scattered guns. Most of the bodies were hit in the chest and head indicating a slightly professional attack which was quick and clean although merciless. 

“Attackers could still be around.” Mira commented before stacking up against a door. She notices the door pad is still unlocked through the green light indicating its availability. Mira presses the button to reveal a dead gungan in pirate clothing. 

“Well that rules out about the attacks still being alive.” Blackjack sassed. Draven signals the team to enter the halls revealing numerous dead pirates and crewmen on the ship. They all lower there weapons knowing that they won’t be fighting at all. Draven looks at the doors knowing this is the cabin room.

“Scout for any survivors.” Draven ordered. They all nod and enter each room. Blackjack is the first and only sees a dead body alongside another dead pirate. Zuke is the second but sees no one. Mira is last....She notices a seemingly dead man who is wearing a brown jacket and blue jeans. He has the same hair color as Draven except faded. Mira walks towards him while checking his pulse. The man gasps in shock and terror before pulling out a blaster on her.

“Sir, we’re here to help!” Mira advised before helping the man up as he picks up his blaster. Draven turns to the noise then walks towards it with Blackjack and Zuke following him.

“Rescue and Intelligence, identify yourself! You contacted us when your ship was attacked.....”

“Son?” The man gasps. He lets go of Mira while struggling to keep balance but stands straight regardless. 

“Sir, you don’t look so good. We’ll give you some medical attention-”

“.....Dad?” Draven gasped causing Mira to freeze before she can say anything alongside Zuke and Blackjack. This is former agent Kallus.....A traitor to the empire.

The ride on the drop ship is silent and long as the team surrounds Kallus Sr who is giving the same treatment. It’s been a long time since Draven saw his father and the last time they met wasn’t in good terms at all also. Mira knew about him also, how he costed them the total annihilation of the Lothal rebels and also the fact he is one of the. Blackjack also too remembering what her mother said about him also, she is hesitant to ask what was her mother-Seventh Sister-like. 

“So why are you here? What did the pirates want?” Draven asks his father sternly with suspicion in the mix. Kallus Sr look at Draven remembering the boy he raised after his mother died wondering what to say. He always thought his son killed himself after years of loneliness while he was at the senate, school wasn’t any better either too since he was bullied due to the fact he was once part of the empire. 

“I was just taking a vacation around here. Wanted to see Hosnian system.” Kallus Sr replied causing Blackjack to roll her eyes while Mira and Zuke look at each other in disbelief then back at Kallus Sr.

“Then explain the armed crewmen. Something must have happened to cause the pirates to attack.” Mira asked.

“Pirates are pirates. What do you expect? They must have thought something was in value in the ship which was possibly me since I am, after all, a senator. Think about it for a moment.” Kallus Sr explained. 

“Oh I don’t think so, my mother-”Draven interrupts Blackjack by raising his arm causing her to stand down. 

“Leave us be. I have him.” The Mirialan sighs before signaling her squadmates to come with her giving distance to Draven and Kallus Sr. Draven sits in front of his father who is looking straight at him. 

“I thought you were dead.” Kallus Sr spoke.

“I wish I was as well but the First Order gave me a purpose. Something worth fighting for. Made life worth living again for safety and peace in the galaxy.” Draven replied.

“You’re mixing peace with oppression. I had that same belief as well.” The older man countered.

“As you can see, you would have died if it wasn’t for the First Order.” Draven assured.

“Just because you are working for the only good part of the First Order doesn’t mean the First Order is good entirely.” Kallus Sr argued.

“You and the rest of those populist scumbags fought for weaknesses and a galaxy that is now riddled with disorder.” Draven defended his point.

“And you are fighting to take away everyone’s freedoms. The First Order arose from the dark side, you did not. You know me also....I fought the empire and if you think the First Order is different then you are surely wrong.” Kallus Sr said.

“You were weak and couldn’t do what was necessary for peace and order for the galaxy so you joined the rebels.” Draven insulted. Kallus Sr could see himself within his son....How he believed what he was doing is good. It’ll changed when Zeb saved him. 

“I was in your place once. Believed in everything the empire told me so I what I did was necessary for everyone....I believed in peace.” He spoke softly.

“And what made you leave the empire?” His son asks.

“I had enough....A Lasat showed me the error of my ways. What it was like in there perspective....I killed innocent people Draven. Things I wasn’t proud of and still amending those mistakes....” Kallus Sr explained remembering what he did in Lasan. Silence befalls on both of them.

“....And I see you going down the same path I went.” He broke the silence. 

“And why should I join whatever it is you’re part of?” Draven asks with sympathy in voice.

“Because son....It is the right thing to do. You don’t belong to the First Order. If you continue to serve then it’ll be too late to realize what you are doing.” Kallus Sr pleaded. Draven has a look of doubt in his face.....

“.....I’m sorry father. I think I’ll do more good here than I can in the Resistance.” Draven apologized causing Kallus Sr’s eyes to widen then understanding before he sighs. 

“I understand. But no matter what, you’ll always be my son and you can join anytime you want.” Kallus Sr nods. Draven smiles sadly knowing he can’t just kill his fellow agents who are his brothers and sisters....

“Thanks dad.” 

The ship lands into a neutral space port where Lena contact a couple of New Republic cruisers about the missing senator. It lands on the docking pad with the hatch opening as New Republic soldiers walk towards it. Kallus Sr, Draven, Blackjack, Zuke, and Mira walk out escorting him.

“Thank you. We’ve been looking for senator Kallus for quite sometime.” The soldier thanked.

“You’re welcome. The First Order sends there regards.” Draven replied before Kallus Sr walks away with them. Little does he know, he left something for Draven in the ship. Inside the ship is a communicator on a bench with a symbol. It’s the fulcrum symbol.

[leftpress]

And Now…The Resistance!

There has been rally after rally in the wake of Donald Trump becoming President. Last weekend kicked it off.

January 26, 2017 | Idavox

WASHINGTON, DC – Although it was the weekend that Donald John Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America, that event did not take center stage. With antifa groups protesting since Thursday against the Inauguration and particularly against the neo-Fascists that supported Trump, as well as the massive Women’s March that took place not just in Washington but around the globe, the attention given to Trump was as scant as his Inauguration’s attendance.

Attorney and neo-Fascist Marcus Epstein (in white hat) as he enters the Deploraball Jan 19, 2017.

Thursday saw a protest against what was called the “Deploraball” at the National Press Club, an event to celebrate Trump’s inauguration that was organized by mainstream neo-Fascist figures that was closely connected to the so-called “alt-right”. 

The event was threatened by not just the paranoia of the organizers of protesters, but also because of infighting, especially after one of the organizers Mike Cernovich, an internet figure known for taking stances such as denying date rape exists last month, and was actually charged with rape in 2003 of a woman he knew, with the charge later dropped and Cernovich sentenced for battery attempted to purge the “alt-right” hardliners out of the Deploraball. It was a move that prompted those hardliners such as National Policy Institute Richard Spencer to start referring to Cernovich and those involved with the Deploraball as members of the “alt-light”, and in the end the event became same enough for even Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke and Jim Hoft of the Gateway Pundit blog to attend.  

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“There is the alt-right which wants to do White identity politics. And there’s people … who want to do nationalism without white identity politics,” Cernovich later said, preferring to call his effort the “New Right”, distancing himself from the “alt-right” label. “And now everybody knows where I stand and everybody else knows where everybody else is.” Regardless, White Supremacist Devin Saucier, who works closely with Spencer, was among the attendees, as was Marcus Epstein, another Spencer friend.

And the paranoia was also assisting in Cernovich’s purge. According to organizers, a number of tickets were refunded because they believed the ticket holders were protesters attempting to infiltrate. They also maintained a policy that only the person who bought the ticket could use it, and had to show identification showing that was the case, which caused confusion for those who were bringing people with them and those who bought tickets for friends. Many believe however, that many of those tickets were refunded because they were sold at the original price of $30, when the event was to take place at a cheaper venue, so they can be resold at the new price of $200. The Deploraball policy became particularly embarrassing when political strategist and Trump associate Roger Stone, who is still listed on the Deploraball website as one of the event speakers, was not allowed to enter when he brought members of his family. His ejection came hours after a New York Times report noted that he along with other Trump associates, Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was also Stone’s former lobbying partner, and Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page, were being investigated by the government for their alleged ties to the Kremlin. While rumored, it is not known if this was the actual reason for Stone being turned away.

Meanwhile outside, protesters set fire to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hat as well as other pro-Trump items. Some projected statements onto the side of the Press Club such as “Impeach the predatory president” and “bragging about grabbing a woman’s genitals.” The protest was part of the effort called #DisruptJ20, and conservative propagandist James O’Keefe, who has been closely associated with neo-Fascist figures and spoke at the Deploraball, attempted to smear them and associated groups by insinuating in a series of videos that they were planning acts of terrorism such as throwing stink bombs and tampering with Press Club sprinkler systerm during the Deploraball. According to one of those groups, DC Antifascist Coalition, they were aware of O’Keefe’s plans and fed his infiltrator, who called himself “Tyler”, false information to throw him off.

Another neo-Fascist, Vice Magazine co-Founder and Fox News contributor Gavin McInnes found himself in a physical confrontation with antifa outside of the Press Club. McInnes, 46, who boasts regularly that he and his crew called the Proud Boys, look for and fight leftists in the street, is seen in video flailing his arms at activists and shoving one with an antifascist flag. No one was reported as injured however, and McInness retreated into the building unharmed.

Washington State University College Republicans President James Allsup, who also edits the Liberty Conservative, a far-right blog that publishes articles by notable figures in White Supremacist circles, had his head bloodied and was sucker punched after arguing with people opposing the Deploraball, attempting to convince them that those inside were not racists.

According to the DC Media Group, police were able forming lines outside National Press Club doors to block protesters from getting into the building, but could not stop the clashes between protesters and Trump supporters. Among the pro-Trump groups that were part of those clashes were the Bikers for Trump who were eventually driven back by protesters after confrontations.

During Trump’s Inauguration, #DisruptJ20 worked to make things even more problematic for his supporters by blocking the security check points where they were supposed to enter to attend. According to the Hill, they chained themselves to each other and fences surrounding the checkpoints near the National Mall as inauguration attendees waited to pass through, John Marshall Park near the U.S. Capitol Building being one of those check points. Meanwhile, approximately 8,000 marijuana cigarettes were handed out at Dupont Circle [http://www.mediaite.com/online/hundreds-line-streets-in-dupont-circle-for-free-inauguration-day-marijuana-giveaway/. Those who were able to get one of the joints started smoking them four minutes and twenty seconds into Trump’s speech, 420 being a popular code for stoners. After the inauguration, the #OurResistence Rally was held at McPherson Square, and featured appearances by the band Antiflag, riot folk artist Evan Greer and musician/activist Taina Asili as well as progressive filmmaker Michael Moore, who refered to the incoming administration as “a shit show”. A block away at Franklin Square, another rally took place that featured musical performances

As the rally was being held however, clashes between protesters and police were taking place resulting in windows being smashed and cars being set on fire. More than 200 persons were taken in a mass arrest and face up to ten years in prison on charges of felony riot. Among those arrested were legal observers from the National Lawyers Guild and reporters, leading many to wonder if the arrests were themselves illegal. Attorney Jeffrey Light, who provided legal support to the Disrupt J20 Collective, filed a class action lawsuit on Friday, which charged that those arrested had already endured abuse at the hands of the police. “Our class action lawsuit charges that the police were rounding up everyone on the street without warning and putting them under arrest and using excessive force,” he said Light. “There were a number of weapons we haven’t seen Washington, D.C. police use in recent memory, flash bang grenades and tear gas. In addition to chemical irritants, they were assaulting people with batons. They were beating people.”

There was also another altercation between protesters and a White Supremacist. Richard Spencer had happened to be in the Franklin Square area giving an interview to the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC), but some in the street recognized him and as things became tense he was punched in the face by an unknown assailant. Spencer, who immediately walked away, later claimed that it was the second time that the same person had hit him, and after a third person whom he described as antifa, spat on him, he decided to leave. Conservative propagandist Chuck C. Johnson, who attended Spencer’s National Policy Institute Conference last November, posted a reward on his Wesearchr website for anyone who could identify the person responsible, but the Wesearchr Twitter account was suspended immediately after the posting. Johnson himself has been banned permanently from Twitter in 2015 after repeated complaints of harassment, culminating in one tweet asking his followers for donations to help him “take out” Black Lives Matter activist Deray McKesson, which McKesson took as a threat.

The actions before and during the inauguration were the precursors to rallies that have taken place in the wake of Trump’s ascension, including the Women’s March that was held not just in Washington, DC on Saturday, but in hundreds of countries around the world.

Related Stories on LeftPress:

► THE NEW REALITY

► WHY WE SHOULD TEACH ABOUT THE FBI’S WAR ON THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

► MASSIVE CROWD CONVERGES IN DC OUTSIDE OF ALT-RIGHT ‘DEPLORABALL’

[brajeshupadhyay]

In following Bubba Wallace, NASCAR rightly walked away from a despicable history

Kyle Busch was there, and Kevin Harvick, and team owner Richard Petty was, too, right alongside the No. 43 car in a gesture of brotherhood over what they all believed was a hate crime. Maybe they were all oversensitive, too much on edge, when they immediately believed the report that someone had hung a lynching rope in Wallace’s garage. It suggests just how much tension NASCAR is experiencing over its decision to ban the Confederate flag from its tracks, and exactly what kind of nasty blowback it expects.

NASCAR’s casual acceptance of that flag is over. But this promises to be a long fight with a certain hard base of its audience, and perhaps with some insiders, too. Understand this: That flag isn’t going away. As John M. Coski writes in his book “The Confederate Battle Flag: America’s Most Embattled Emblem,” it’s not “an alien symbol grafted onto the American tradition and is not therefore simply going to disappear. The people who fly or revere the flag will not become extinct, and they will resist efforts to reeducate them to view it as offensive.”

The question of why so many people wave it so tenaciously is not easily answered. It has become associated with multiple meanings, some of which are difficult to uproot. To one segment, it represents the “defense of constitutional liberty against Big Government,” Coski suggests. For others, the soldierly valor of an ancestor. Such people “resent the categorical denunciation of it as only a symbol of slavery and racism,” he observes. That resentment probably will only be heightened by the categorical denunciations that came with that mistake in Wallace’s garage.

Nevertheless, NASCAR was utterly right to make those denunciations, and to dissociate itself from that flag as a way of repudiating its racist past. You can’t separate the battle flag from its original cause, pull blameless threads from it or sew milder meanings into it.

Drivers have a long road ahead to make this understood to their Dixie fans, but that’s as much an opportunity as a problem. Seldom has a sports league had the chance to reach an audience with a bolt of truth, and change common perceptions of a cultural article, as NASCAR’s drivers do now. With their inimitable combination of intelligence, common touch and Southern roots, they are better suited than anyone to explain why that flag is an unfit companion at events that fly the stars and stripes.

Southerners may think they know everything about that flag, but too many of them don’t know the half of it. The hothead sovereigns of the Confederate states actually cycled through three different banners over the course of the war to symbolize what they fought for. For a time, they used something called the “stainless banner.” It had the Southern cross on a large field of white — and that white meant exactly what you might suppose it did.

“As a people, we are fighting to maintain the heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race,” the Savannah Daily Morning News wrote. “A white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause.”

The problem was that it was impossible to keep that white flag clean. Jimmie Johnson should tell that story to his fans every time he gets the chance.

There is no innocent thread in that flag: It was the battle standard of Robert E. Lee’s Virginia troops engaged in a malevolent racism that rent the country in two, the pennant of an old slave driver who chose to fight for plantation over country.

Next time Denny Hamlin has a news conference, he should turn it into a lively discussion of which side was really fighting a war of “aggression.” He should quote what men such as Jefferson Davis and Robert Barnwell Rhett really said about the expanding empire they envisioned, which included annexing tropical territories to extend slavery into Cuba, Jamaica, South America. Rhett boasted of building “a great Slaveholding Confederacy, stretching its arms over a territory larger than any power in Europe possesses.” There’s your so-called war of “Northern aggression.”

Sentimental clinging to the Confederate flag by sports audiences has as much to do, I suspect, with fear as racism. It has to do with a reluctance to face the potentially unbearable revelation. As W.E.B. Du Bois wrote in his classic 1935 work, “Black Reconstruction in America,” so much of the Civil War retellings are “cajoling and flattering the South and slurring the North.” The South must be flattered and the North slurred, because otherwise what you are left with is the simple fact that some Americans made monstrously wrong, immoral choices. The easiest way to cover that up is to wave an old flag and say they were just nice Southern boys doing their duty for their home soil.

To which Du Bois says: “This may be fine romance, but it is not science. It may be inspiring, but it is certainly not the truth. And beyond this it is dangerous … and it is helping to range mankind in ranks of mutual hatred and contempt, at the summons of a cheap and false myth.”

What if America isn’t what you thought it was? That’s the fear you face by pausing to read a little more deeply about that flag. What NASCAR drivers can do, the invaluable service they can perform for their audience, is to explain that authentic American history is invariably better than the cheap and false myth. “Learning some history is the only way to know who we are, how we got here, where we might be going,” author David Blight has said.

The reader who braves the experience will be comforted, not distressed. All the magnificent and moving values you hoped for are embodied there. Just maybe in different, more surprising places.

Places such as the account books of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who helped finance the escapes of fugitive slaves. Or the graduation rolls of Harvard’s Class of 1861, 68 percent of which volunteered to fight for the Union: The best-educated young elites of the North, with the first shot fired, decided to forgo ease and suffered a 30 percent combat casualty rate for it. Why don’t we talk more about their devotion to duty? Why don’t we replicate the flag of the 20th Massachusetts Regiment in souvenir shops?

The courage and the crime of the Confederate battle flag are inseparable. It’s long past time that NASCAR turned its back on that banner and all of its other old racist associations, from the hand-glove partnership with George Wallace to the segregation of Darlington. If you think that walk with Bubba Wallace was a small or mistaken matter, well, look at how long it took. It was a giant step.

The post In following Bubba Wallace, NASCAR rightly walked away from a despicable history appeared first on Sansaar Times.

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[woohooligancomics]

Laughtifesto

Are we laughing?

We should be. Laughter is a moral imperative: a proposition declaring a certain action necessary. Kant argued that not following a moral imperative would be self-defeating and therefore contrary to reason, like trying to improve your mood by reading unmoderated internet comments. You can't spell "encourage" without "enrage"! If we accept this definition, laughter may be the only moral imperative that's fun!

We all know the world is full of scary things: natural disasters, flesh-eating viruses, identity theft, fake news, real news, terrorism both foreign and domestic... clowns. With all those real dangers, it's kind of a miracle anyone makes horror movies. "Hey, I got this movie about an alien parasite that melts people's faces... I'm gonna stop you right there, you had me at 'alien parasite'. I need something to take my mind off the president implying nuclear holocaust on Twitter."

We could accept that fear. We could allow it to drive our decisions, build more walls, buy more locks and guns, stay in the house and avoid human contact. But what's the end game there? We'll be holed-up alone in our bomb-shelters, eating canned beans and Spam. We'll eke out our embattled existence in the post-apocalyptic hellscape, watching for roving bandits. As we play our thousandth game of solitaire, we'll say to ourselves, "I sure am glad I stopped going to parties so I could stock all these guns and canned food! Just think of all those suckers out at the clubs, laughing it up, not preparing for the apocalypse. Who's got the last laugh now?!"

Even if there is an apocalypse, preparing for one is a lose-lose strategy. Your bunker's got food and water, guns, medical supplies and a deck of cards to pass the time. You're set, right? Unless you develop a blood clot... or that Spam you're eating gives you cancer. Who forgot to buy the at-home oncology lab? I hear you can remove a colon tumor with a Bowie knife and a bottle of whiskey if you print out the right tutorials in advance.

The point is, no matter how much you prepare, there's no guarantee it will save you. In fact, when you consider that the odds of each individual danger are so small, the more you prepare, the more time you're wasting on threats you'll never personally face. In the first world, even if we spend all our time studying survival, we're no less likely to succumb to the five leading causes of death: heart attack, cancer, lung disease, household accidents and stroke. Better to just cover the basics like cell-phones, insurance, and fire-alarms, and let your neighbors to help if you have an emergency those things don't solve.

But will your neighbors help? That's a good question. Do you laugh with them? Laughter brings us together more than anything else we do. More than protesting, mourning, patriotism, Thanksgiving, even drinking! As the Great Dane (and fair comedian), Victor Borge said, "laughter is the shortest distance between two people."

Some people still give you all sorts of reasons not to laugh.

I'm not laughing because this is serious work, for serious face. Surely Albert Einstein never laughed while he was developing his theory of relativity that changed the world forever. The class clown isn't just better at their own job, the team is better because of them. They make working together easier and more fun!

I'm not laughing because we need real social and political change! Because that's what's really holding us back! I mean, robber barons like Carnegie and Rockefeller caused the Great Depression, but the real reason it took a decade to climb back out of it was because FDR heard too many dick jokes! "Damnit, Truman, that's it! I'm not fixing the economy until people stop making fun of my Johnson! Eleanor, fetch my Viagra!... and a ruler."

Lots of people are using comedy to create real social and political change. Adam Conover addresses lots of real issues on his show, Adam Ruins Everything. Jordan Klepper's show, Jordan Klepper Solves Guns came with a website with information and links to resources to help regular citizens in the US deal with our gun crisis. Will dick jokes alone create real change? No. But they don't stop Samantha Bee from giving you loads of useful information on Full Frontal to help you get involved in whatever issue is important to you. She's giving you the tip; what you do with it is up to you.

I'm not laughing because I'm angry! Sure, because George Carlin, Denis Leary, Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks, and Lewis Black couldn't possibly relate to that!

I'm not laughing because I'm sad... that's when you most need to laugh.

Carl Jung said, "you are what you do, not what you say you'll do". We become the things we practice, so if we practice being afraid, by watching local news and TV murder shows, we'll become more afraid. On the other hand, we can also practice being happy and productive by getting out of ourselves and not being afraid to be silly. If actions speak louder than words, then the things we laugh at are one of the best marks of our character. Do we laugh at the homeless or disabled? Or do we laugh at greedy politicians and corporate execs who push their agendas at our expense?

Of course, Laughter isn't always safe. Comedy is a tool, and it can be used to tear down as much as to build-up or to heal. That's why there's nothing evil people hate more than our laughter (except for those clowns). Tyrants and terrorists alike hate being laughed at, whether they're in government, private corporations, religious establishments, or loosely organized on the Internet. They hate it because they want power and control, and laughing at them tells them we don't accept their control.

It's that same hatred of our laughter that caused the Egyptian government to exile Bassem Youssef for his comedy, that also inspired the shooting of cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo. Tyrants often jail political cartoonists, and I'm sure the Inquisition or the Lord's Resistance Army would respond the same way.

While the threat of violence is a concern, we can't let evil people dictate how we live. We can't be so afraid of their retribution in the future that we make ourselves miserable today. Giving in, staying inside, banning travel, hoarding Spam, amounts to appeasing them. So when a terrorist asshat drove through a dozen New Yorkers on Halloween 2017, the rest of them went out, dressed up in their costumes, got drunk and urinated in the subway, like they do every year! You can't break New York! If you can make it there, you laugh in the face of fear!

Throughout 2016, Russian government hackers turned western civil discord up to eleven, in both the United States and Europe. These deep-dump operatives stoked online flame wars and organized several street protests AND their own counter-protests. They drove both sides of these "debates" because they didn't care about either side. Putin wanted us fighting, to make us believe we hate each other more than we do. That lets him claim that western democracy has failed (with bonus points if he could inject his political puppets into other governments). Laughing is the last thing Putin, or for that matter Trump, wants us doing.

Laughter is a moral imperative, because if we stop laughing, the tyrants and terrorists win.

We know finding reasons to laugh isn't always easy. It shouldn't be. Destruction is always easier than creation. Probably no arsonist ever said "oh man, that building just refused to light!" Building it on the other hand took a lot of people, time and cooperation, and we can be proud of our accomplishment. Just as no one person is responsible for the building, no one of us is the only jester. Laughter gets around, because it needs to be shared. Who keeps their jokes to themselves? I mean... what's so funny if you can't tell us? That's just creepy. Moreover sharing our laughs, even the little ones, is the best thing we can do for each other (after CPR -- perform the CPR first, then tell the joke). It might be one of many, or it might be the laugh someone needed on a really difficult day, or it might be the laugh that sparks a revolution.

You put your little laugh out onto the road, and there's no knowing where it might be swept off to.

So I'm going to stay right here, and keep laughing it forward. Thank you for sharing yourself and laughing with us!

- Samuel Isaac Dealey

p.s. Call me Sam

And if you'd like to be part of our laughtivist work, join the mailing list below, or on our site!

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice. He sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest wall of oppression and resistance."

- Robert F. Kennedy

"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

- Steve Jobs

[viralhottopics]

I love Trump. Hes doing what he said. Presidents supporters keep the faith

Womens Marches and widespread criticism of the Muslim ban have not dented the loyalty of Trump voters

Cast-iron hooks, childrens vinyl records, classic food packages, tobacco baskets, vintage-style olive buckets and a rotary-dial telephone fill the shelves at James and Jess House of Goods. The antiques store opened two years ago, styling itself as rustic, hipster, chic with a twee strapline: Mostly old with a little new.

If the House of Goods was in Washington DC, it would be a decent demographic bet that its owners voted for Hillary Clinton. But it is 75 miles away in Washington County, which Donald Trump won handily. And while the capital city has been roiled by protests since Trump moved into the White House, from where James and Jess are sitting he is doing just fine.

I love Trump, James Zawatski said. I give him credit for doing what he said he was going to do; a lot of politicians dont. Im 47 and I never voted in my life but I did this year. We needed someone with a set of balls to do what needs to be done. Im tired of those liberals.

Trumps asteroid-like impact on Washington DC has caused bewilderment, consternation, disorientation, puzzlement and anger. Democratic politicians have been knocked off balance by a brash adversary while Republicans are struggling to adapt to an unpredictable ally. The media have rained criticism. Residents of DC where Clinton beat Trump by 90.9% of the vote to 4.1% express their mortification and fears. And last months Womens March on the capital was a dramatic statement of anti-Trump resistance.

But across the frontline of Americas increasingly tribal politics in Hagerstown, Washington County, Maryland, the perspective is turned on its head. Whereas critics see Trumps travel bans as un-American and sowing chaos at airports, supporters see him as keeping them safe; where critics see him blowing up foreign policy as he spars with Australia and slaps sanctions on Iran, supporters see him getting tough; where critics see him firing the acting attorney general and trampling on the constitution, supporters see him boldly smashing the old order. And where activists protest, columnists fulminate and millions recoil in fear of a world spinning towards catastrophe, supporters dismiss them as liberal cry babies and praise Trump as the first politician to keep his campaign promises. They see him not as a rampaging rhinoceros but a straight-talking strongman.

His plan to build a wall on the US-Mexico border is one example of this worldview complementarity. I love immigrants, I love Mexicans, but theres a way to do it, theres a procedure, said Zawatski, himself descended from Italian immigrants. These people come and theyre entitled to more than me whos busting his ass seven days a week. Were a great country but were being taken advantage of.

Personally I wouldnt spend money on the wall. Id just shoot them as they come over. Then they wouldnt come.

Zawatski had little sympathy with the hundreds of thousands who took part in the Womens Marches, many of whom wore pink pussy hats and carried placards condemning Trump over his past boast about feeling able to grab women by the pussy. He does not merely turn a blind eye to Trumps misogyny but condones it: What man never grabbed a womans pussy? What man doesnt talk in the locker room about what he did to a woman the night before? Women do that too. Were all human. His wife, Jess, 35, agreed: Its a guy thing. I know James talks like that among guys. So I dont hold it against Trump.

The Womens March, she added, was the stupidest thing ever because some were saying theyre being treated unequally. Women can stand up and go after what they want. Men arent standing in the way.

James Zawatski in his shop. Photograph: Chet Strange for the Observer

As Zawatski, wearing tattoos on his arms and a T-shirt with the legend Tattooed and employed, spoke to the Observer, a man stole a decorative sphere off its stand (total price $79) from the pavement outside the store. Zawatski spotted him and raced outside, prompting the man to surrender the object without acrimony.

Technically this is the hood, he remarked. There are a lot of barber shops here that are not barber shops, if you know what I mean. Comparing himself to Trump, he added: I tell the police chief, Do your job. Just do it.

Hagerstown has a drugs problem and several closed-down shops and cafes stand empty. But it challenges and scrambles perceptions of the map seen as crucial to Trumps victory. It is neither the Republican-voting deep south nor the pivotal rust belt portrayed in his dark and divisive inaugural address as containing rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones under the rubric American carnage.

On the contrary, it sits in Maryland, which Clinton won with more than 60% of the vote. It is an almost pretty city of church spires and historic buildings, boasting a fine art museum, biking and hiking trails, theatres and a tourism office, replete with leaflets about the areas civil war heritage and Hagerstowns origins involving an 18th-century German immigrant. On Thursday, students could be seen pouring out of an arts school after class.

Washington Countys median household income is $56,477 (45,000), above average for the nation but well below the state average of $74,149. The county voted 64% for Trump, 31.6% for Clinton. It is a red county in a blue state or, as Clinton supporter Al Steinbach, a 64-year-old sales rep, vividly put it: I call Maryland the vagina map: right down the centre is blue; left and right is red. Welcome to divided America.

Steinbach, who is literally afraid of what Trump might do, reads the Washington Post daily and listens to National Public Radio. When I turn to Fox News and see what the other side are saying, Im appalled by the extreme side they are on.

In the past, it has been argued, communities would be bound together by local newspapers and radio stations, establishing at least some common ground; now, in the age of fragmented digital media, everyone with a phone is an island. Last Thursday, Anthony Kline, 38, a labourer, sat in a no-frills bar watching a new Facebook video made by a bearded, muscular man who claimed to be in Iraq.

The man, called Steven Gern, said he had asked local Iraqis what would happen if he took a walk in town and they had replied he would be snatched, tortured and beheaded on video. This being so, he claimed, why should he let Iraqis into his country? Kline, gripping the phone in his tattooed hand, said: This is as real as it gets.

Trump recently told the CIA that he is in a running war with the media. Kline, who awards the president eight marks out of 10 so far, said: Mainstream media news is definitely partial. They put on what they want you to hear or think. Most people are not educated enough and they take things at face value.

The chorus of liberal outrage that greets Trump daily not only falls on deaf ears among his supporters but appears to harden their view that he is taking on a privileged, self-centred elite. Reflecting on the Womens March that followed inauguration day, Kline said: Youve got a lot of mommys-liberal-baby snowflakes that are used to having their way. Its like your spoiled kid not used to being told no. Once you tell them no, they dont know how to react.

Across town, Marlon Michael, 50, still has a Trump make America great again banner outside his home, part of a duplex with vinyl walls and flagpole with the stars and stripes. The country was going downhill and the rest of the world didnt respect us any more, he said. Trump vowed to bring all that back just like the old days. And the verdict so far? Michaels answer would be unthinkable in swaths of Manhattan: Hes doing wonderful. Hes doing everything he said hes going to do and you cant ask for more than that from a politician.

Democrats, activists and media commentators have denounced Trumps executive order banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, both for its bungled execution and its sinister intent. Chuck Schumer, Democratic minority leader in the Senate, said: There are tears running down the cheeks of the Statue of Liberty tonight. Even Republican loyalists quailed.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found about 31% of people said the ban made them feel more safe, while 26% felt less safe. Another 33% said it would not make any difference and the rest said they did not know. But Trump voters like Michael, a former US marine who works in home construction, give it a full-throated endorsement. It should have been done eight or 12 years ago, or after 9/11, he said. For the past eight years weve had a president that was a little lighthearted towards the Muslims. We lock our doors so people dont create havoc in our homes; its the same with America. Were shutting our borders so people dont create havoc.

Christianne Smith in a Hagerstown coffee shop. Photograph: Chet Strange for the Observer

Michael, too, watches Fox News CNN has too much false bullshit thats not true and Trump calls them out on it and has little but contempt for the Womens March. Fucking stupid. For what? What more privileges do you want? Women have equal rights. Theyll still be fighting for it till the end of time. Wearing a Dallas Cowboys T-shirt with an image of fingers in an up yours sign, Michael gives Trump nine out of 10. My only complaint is that I wish he would stay off Twitter.

The election demonstrated that, despite Barack Obamas plea otherwise, there are blue states and red states in America. But there are also blue and red counties. One of the defining splits in the election was between voters with a college degree and those without: according to the FiveThirtyEight website, Clinton improved on Obamas 2012 performance in 48 of the countrys 50 most well educated counties, but lost ground relative to Obama in 47 of the 50 least educated counties critical to her defeat.

Trumps debut in the White House has done little to heal the rift, with each side viewing his policies, pronouncements and antics through a rival prism. Sitting in a coffee shop in Hagerstown, Christianne Smith, 20, an African American student, gave him a score of two out of 10. Hes unfit, inexperienced, he said. He doesnt have the best interests of the people in America. I dont understand how he became president. Maybe its because I didnt vote. So its my fault.

Read more: http://bit.ly/2lbMeKj

from I love Trump. Hes doing what he said. Presidents supporters keep the faith

[brajeshupadhyay]

Kyle Busch was there, and Kevin Harvick, and team owner Richard Petty was, too, right alongside the No. 43 car in a gesture of brotherhood over what they all believed was a hate crime. Maybe they were all oversensitive, too much on edge, when they immediately believed the report that someone had hung a lynching rope in Wallace’s garage. It suggests just how much tension NASCAR is experiencing over its decision to ban the Confederate flag from its tracks, and exactly what kind of nasty blowback it expects. NASCAR’s casual acceptance of that flag is over. But this promises to be a long fight with a certain hard base of its audience, and perhaps with some insiders, too. Understand this: That flag isn’t going away. As John M. Coski writes in his book “The Confederate Battle Flag: America’s Most Embattled Emblem,” it’s not “an alien symbol grafted onto the American tradition and is not therefore simply going to disappear. The people who fly or revere the flag will not become extinct, and they will resist efforts to reeducate them to view it as offensive.” The question of why so many people wave it so tenaciously is not easily answered. It has become associated with multiple meanings, some of which are difficult to uproot. To one segment, it represents the “defense of constitutional liberty against Big Government,” Coski suggests. For others, the soldierly valor of an ancestor. Such people “resent the categorical denunciation of it as only a symbol of slavery and racism,” he observes. That resentment probably will only be heightened by the categorical denunciations that came with that mistake in Wallace’s garage. Nevertheless, NASCAR was utterly right to make those denunciations, and to dissociate itself from that flag as a way of repudiating its racist past. You can’t separate the battle flag from its original cause, pull blameless threads from it or sew milder meanings into it. Drivers have a long road ahead to make this understood to their Dixie fans, but that’s as much an opportunity as a problem. Seldom has a sports league had the chance to reach an audience with a bolt of truth, and change common perceptions of a cultural article, as NASCAR’s drivers do now. With their inimitable combination of intelligence, common touch and Southern roots, they are better suited than anyone to explain why that flag is an unfit companion at events that fly the stars and stripes. Southerners may think they know everything about that flag, but too many of them don’t know the half of it. The hothead sovereigns of the Confederate states actually cycled through three different banners over the course of the war to symbolize what they fought for. For a time, they used something called the “stainless banner.” It had the Southern cross on a large field of white — and that white meant exactly what you might suppose it did. “As a people, we are fighting to maintain the heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race,” the Savannah Daily Morning News wrote. “A white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause.” The problem was that it was impossible to keep that white flag clean. Jimmie Johnson should tell that story to his fans every time he gets the chance. There is no innocent thread in that flag: It was the battle standard of Robert E. Lee’s Virginia troops engaged in a malevolent racism that rent the country in two, the pennant of an old slave driver who chose to fight for plantation over country. Next time Denny Hamlin has a news conference, he should turn it into a lively discussion of which side was really fighting a war of “aggression.” He should quote what men such as Jefferson Davis and Robert Barnwell Rhett really said about the expanding empire they envisioned, which included annexing tropical territories to extend slavery into Cuba, Jamaica, South America. Rhett boasted of building “a great Slaveholding Confederacy, stretching its arms over a territory larger than any power in Europe possesses.” There’s your so-called war of “Northern aggression.” Sentimental clinging to the Confederate flag by sports audiences has as much to do, I suspect, with fear as racism. It has to do with a reluctance to face the potentially unbearable revelation. As W.E.B. Du Bois wrote in his classic 1935 work, “Black Reconstruction in America,” so much of the Civil War retellings are “cajoling and flattering the South and slurring the North.” The South must be flattered and the North slurred, because otherwise what you are left with is the simple fact that some Americans made monstrously wrong, immoral choices. The easiest way to cover that up is to wave an old flag and say they were just nice Southern boys doing their duty for their home soil. To which Du Bois says: “This may be fine romance, but it is not science. It may be inspiring, but it is certainly not the truth. And beyond this it is dangerous … and it is helping to range mankind in ranks of mutual hatred and contempt, at the summons of a cheap and false myth.” What if America isn’t what you thought it was? That’s the fear you face by pausing to read a little more deeply about that flag. What NASCAR drivers can do, the invaluable service they can perform for their audience, is to explain that authentic American history is invariably better than the cheap and false myth. “Learning some history is the only way to know who we are, how we got here, where we might be going,” author David Blight has said. The reader who braves the experience will be comforted, not distressed. All the magnificent and moving values you hoped for are embodied there. Just maybe in different, more surprising places. Places such as the account books of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who helped finance the escapes of fugitive slaves. Or the graduation rolls of Harvard’s Class of 1861, 68 percent of which volunteered to fight for the Union: The best-educated young elites of the North, with the first shot fired, decided to forgo ease and suffered a 30 percent combat casualty rate for it. Why don’t we talk more about their devotion to duty? Why don’t we replicate the flag of the 20th Massachusetts Regiment in souvenir shops? The courage and the crime of the Confederate battle flag are inseparable. It’s long past time that NASCAR turned its back on that banner and all of its other old racist associations, from the hand-glove partnership with George Wallace to the segregation of Darlington. If you think that walk with Bubba Wallace was a small or mistaken matter, well, look at how long it took. It was a giant step. The post In following Bubba Wallace, NASCAR rightly walked away from a despicable history appeared first on Sansaar Times.

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/06/in-following-bubba-wallace-nascar.html

[multi-muse-transect]

Death from Above and Beyond

AU: Mira Wren Bridger or at the time as agent Mira joins and her teammates receive a mission to take down invading insurrectionists in the mountains. As always, Mira belongs to @meldy-arts. Inspired by the TIE fighters animated short.

Agent Mira sits alongside her teammates in the drop ship looking at her First Order-issue Mandolorian helmet. It resembles more of a super commando’s really. Beside her is Blackjack, a Mirialan agent who is the daughter of the Seventh Sister, she was born from a mother who left her in the care of her father who was a stormtrooper and fled the battle of Jakku to raise her under the First Order. Blackjack was given to her as a nickname turned codename due to her gambling habits and somewhat cocky attitude. A skilled sniper and CQC specialist, Thrawn ordered her recruitment after she honed her skills with an Inquisitor lightsaber. She is wearing an armored dark blue version of a deathtrooper armor.

Then there was Zuke, an explosives and support specialist, he wasn’t that bright but he knew his ways around explosives and heavy weapons. Zuke is silent but whenever he speaks, its something either wise or a smug comment. His armor is a First Order heavy armor that is twice his body size. Like all armor colors, his color is dark blue but with a red stripe on it.

Piloting the ship is Lena “Convore” Tua, the daughter of Maketh Tua. She was once a TIE fighter and the best there is hence why she was chosen. Smart and playful, Convore is the team’s mother in a way and cares for them even risks her own life to save her team. Her armor is a lightly armored suit that is colored dark blue like the others complete with a TIE fighter pilot helmet. 

Then there was him, the son of a legend and a traitor to the empire but redeems his father’s name by joining the First Order-Kallus Jr. The son of agent Kallus Sr. He was recruited by the First Order while retaining his sense identity and works his way around things. Known for his relentless attitude, he is the leader of this fireteam he leads known as fireteam spectra. Back then it was only him, Lena, and Mira but the team seats began to grow and grow. His armor resembles more of a mix between a clonetrooper phase five armor and First Order stormtrooper armor at the same time.

The mission for today is to end an attack caused by the local insurrectionists the rescue and intelligence division has been fighting for years. They are waiting for a debrief from director Thrawn. 

“This is strange....” Mira muttered causing Blackjack to turn to her with her eyebrow raised.

“What?” Blackjack replied.

“An attack from the insurrectionists, its....Coordinated. Most previous attacks were clumsy but this one was out of nowhere.” She replied.

“Maybe they have a new general on their side.....Or perhaps they have someone within the Resistance helping them.” Kallus guessed. 

“The Resistance would never work for those monsters. Especially when they almost killed general Organa so their crazed child-killing leader could be the leader of the Resistance which then escalated to a civil war on both sides. We actually had to help the Resistance once also because they tried to use an defunct imperial chemical weapon project.” Zuke added.

“Indeed....Unless the Resistance has an intelligence officer. Call it a hunch but there is usually someone within a faction being the uber-black ops three-sixty no scope person within them. Which supports boss’s theory that they could have Resistance ties.” Blackjack smirked. 

“Or they just starting thinking instead of killing innocent people in brutal ways to scare to us into submission.” Convore suggested. 

“That could be it....You never know.” Mira agreed. The hologram comes up causing all agents to rise. Its director Thrawn. He is wearing a white uniform and cape also has graying hair. 

“Agent, as you know the mission is to push back insurrectionist forces from our weapons facility. As you all know, the facility houses dozens of projects the First Order holds secret. If these fall into enemy hands, the results will be catastrophic.”  The Chiss said.

“Indeed....But sir, this attack is-”

“Unexpected. Coordinated. Very unpredictable. I suspect some kind of tie to an outside party that is not Resistance at all. Anyway, the insurrectionists are bombarding the base with artillery canons. Trapping our troopers in. I want your team to bring down those guns so our main forces can move in and finish the task at hand.” Thrawn thoroughly explained as the team nodded. 

“It will be done sir.” Kallus nodded. All agents are loyal to the director in many ways, he inspires creativity within them and gives them the choice to be their own person at the same time. Something most stormtroopers don’t have unlike an agent. Agent training is varied depending on the recruit’s choice, they can pick courses like imperial super commando training, clone commando training, inquisitor training and many more sprinkled in with minor classes that will build up their own identity. Mira took up super commando training hence why she is so crafty with a jetpack and coupled with saber training with cyborg Kaleesh drill sergeant Smain. 

“You heard the man, lets get out there!” He ordered. The floor opens to reveal an arsenal table rising. All weapons for each individual agent. Zuke picks up a  Vulk TAU-6-23 "Blastmill” rifle alongside his trusty rocket launcher. Blackjack picks up her inquisitor lightsaber and sniper rifle alongside her CA-87 sawed off shotgun. Mira picks up her traditional Mandolorian rifle, dark saber, and burst fire grenade launcher while Kallus chooses his standard AC280F rifle. After putting on their thruster packs, the hatch begins to open as they ready their weapons.

“Fireteam Specter, the light is green!” Kallus yelled before putting on his helmet which resembles a clone trooper one. Zuke does the same while Blackjack does also alongside Mira then jump off the ship. All around them is enemy ships utilizing old CIS models much to their shock but focus on the objective.

The group stays in formation while using their thruster packs to maneuver themselves. 

“Coms check!” Kallus ordered as he glides in the air. 

“Zuke online.” 

“Blackjack ready.”

“Mira on the go!”

 “Weapons free!” Kallus yelled. The team strafes to the left since there is a mountain in front of them and avoids it. An enemy drop ship rises in front of Zuke causing him to quickly activate his dome shield around him causing it to crash through the ship and destroy it. Blackjack uses her thruster pack to dash herself forward then activates her inquisitor lightsaber to slices up enemy jet pack troopers. Mira spots a sniper on a cliff as she is heading straight towards him causing her to quickly shoot him. 

“Sniper down!” Mira notified. The group strafe up before landing on the ground while running. Kallus rifle butts a soldier in the face then gunning him down as Blackjack leaps in the air then throws her saber like a spear at a soldier thus impaling him before she pulls out her CA-87 to shoot another one in the face before picking it up and running alongside Kallus. Mira joins in with them as she activates her dark saber to impale an incoming soldier who turns to her but is decapitated instead before she switches to rifle and shoots two soldiers shooting at them while running and joining Kallus and Blackjack Zuke fires his weapon as he runs and mows down many soldiers along the way then switching to his rocket launcher to destroy a turret that was shooting at him before regrouping with Kallus, Blackjack, and Mira. An enemy gunship rises to shoot at them as they slide down to dodge its incoming shots with Convore taking it down.

“Thanks for the support!” Blackjack thanked. Another enemy gunship arrives but turns with the soldiers getting out but Blackjack jumps towards the opening to pull out her saber again then swings it to slice a soldier in half and pulling out her shotgun to gun down his captain right before pulling her grenades then jumping out while regrouping with her team. Zuke fires his rocket launcher again at a large group of enemies before grabbing one by the throat and slamming him on the ground before Kallus leaps over him and shoots two soldiers who were about to shoot Zuke then throws a sticky grenade at an incoming enemy tank which to whom Zuke avoids alongside Mira and Blackjack. The tank is destroyed with Convore dodging enemy fire and destroying ships at the same time. They run towards a cliff then leap in the air as soldiers turn around but they are killed by a hail of blaster fire.

In front of them is the artillery cannon firing at the base as the insurrectionists exchange enemy fire with the troopers within the base. Convore lowers herself to give them fire support which she does thus killing many soldiers and injuring more before a shot almost hits her causing her to fly off since its too hot. Kallus leads them as he fires his rifle at a dazed enemy soldier who regains his focus but he is shot in the chest instead right before grabs another soldier then flips him over and shoots him in the face. Blackjack and Zuke take cover as more soldiers arrive with Mira identifying them.....Partisans. Her eyes widen since she thought this group was killed in Jedha alongside Saw Gerrera. But now is not the time for questions. Mira and Blackjack leap over cover as Kallus and Zuke give them suppressing fire with the two pulling out their individual sabers. Mira slices a partisan’s gun half before impaling him while Blackjack slices one in half.  The last two are shot in the face by Kallus and Zuke. 

“The artillery gun is upstairs, move it!” Kallus ordered.

“Alright, alright already!” Blackjack sighed. A surviving soldier gets up with his rifle raised at her head causing her to discharge her saber from her back to impale him in the chest.  The group head upstairs to the deck and into a hallway with a door in front of it. It slides open causing the group to drop their jaws at the sight on who it is.

Standing in front of them is space pirate Hondo Ohnaka. 

“Well this is a very interesting team. I thought you were Knights of Ren back there.” He observed.

“Save the talk pirate! What do you want from this base?!” Mira replied.

“Riches untold, that sort of thing. Also doing a job for an old friend of mine and giving me those friendly gentlemen you brutally killed.” Hondo answered sarcastically. Rolling out near him is a group of droidekas, the insurrectionists use old Separatist technology to gain the upper hand.

“Hence why the insurrectionists are so coordinated. Partisan intervention.” Kallus replied.

“Indeed! Now excuse me, I have valuable data to send to. Take care of them boys!”   The droideka’s activate their shields and begin to fire at them causing the team to take cover. 

“Shit, not these things again!” Zuke groaned. Kallus gets out of cover and returns fire then gets back. He looks around then up at the ceiling then blasts it. 

“Mira, you’re the only one who can fit it! Eliminate Ohnaka before he uploads whatever he has in store to his contact!” Mira nods then is lifted by Zuke. She crawls through the ventilation while looking down on the firing droids before looking back up. Mira arrives in the room to see Hondo talking to someone.....Ezra Bridger. 

“Like I said, those cannons-” Mira slams the vent open and aims her rifle at him. Hondo turns around with his arms raised.

“Okay then....Never underestimate an agent.” Hondo said. 

“Whatever you’re uploading, take it out. NOW.” Mira ordered.

“I’m quite sure there’s another way. Maybe take a little bit of-THIS!” He grabs a concussion grenade which explodes on impact knocking Mira’s helmet away as she shoots the screen with Ezra on it who has a look of pure terror and worry for his old friend.

“Hondo! Are you there!?” Ezra cried. 

“I am Ezra and-” Hondo turns around to see Mira unmasked with her helmet on the ground knocked off. His jaw drops at the sight....This is Ezra’s daughter. The daughter thought long to be dead but not at all. Mira aims her rifle at Hondo. 

“You....You don’t want to do this.” His voice turns serious and almost pleading to her.

“What? You’re scared now?” Mira replied. Hondo aims his gun at Mira.

“No, I don’t wish to cause more pain to your family. Listen to me...I have something to say about you.”

“Hondo, what are you saying!?” Ezra replied on the coms. Before Hondo can open his mouth, Mira guns him down immediately before interrupting the connection by removing the data-drive connected to the computer.

“Hondo! Hondo! Can you hear me!? Hondo?!” Ezra yelled before Mira loots his dead body and finds the droid deactivation remote then picks up her slightly cracked helmet and puts it on. Mira deactivates the droidekas shooting at her team then heads out as they move towards her. 

“Lets destroy those guns.” Kallus said before Mira nods. They head upstairs as the group guns down the crew. Zuke places an explosive device on it causing them to leap over the railing as he uses his detonator to set off the explosive thus destroying the guns. Kallus activates his coms.

“Sir, the guns have been destroyed.” He informed.

“I read you loud and clear agent Kallus.” Thrawn replied. Suddenly, the star destroyer known as the Chimaera arrives with a flurry of TIE fighters following it and open fire on the Insurrectionists. Mira is disturbed by the talk she had with Hondo.....What did he mean by family? She shakes her head as Blackjack offers her a fist bump which Mira gives her in return while Zuke does the same and Kallus too. Convore arrives and opens the hatch of her ship as they get in for a job well done.