#Michael Delaware

[quotelr]

Savor the moments in life that make your heart glow. Chase after and find the moments that will take your breath away. In the end, it is only those milestones on life's journey that matter.

Michael Delaware

[unproduciblesmackdown]

augh rewatched the be more chill tiny desk concert for the first time in a minute, very Refreshing to have done so, forgot it's such a jaunty twenty minute affair and in energy lol everyone is so cheerful and just bringing it, like hey in the video description lol "From the moment they arrived for their Tiny Desk debut, the cast and crew of the Broadway musical Be More Chill radiated kind exuberance." and even recalling they had a show That Day but traveled to dc & back like maybe gma performance on a two show day still wins but whew, and the tonys ceremony nonsense having Just happened, the irl bmcness so meta'ly conferred onto bmc never stops....anyways the different arrangements, hearing again even all the more when acoustic & smaller that the Steady Beat of "my own mind" in vimh sure is emphasized & whatever demisemiquaver off of the vocals so it's like highlighting / backing / Resonating without being overly urgent or anything, augh, and we get to the c-c-c-c'mon / let's go section and it's like. inhale. just Responding every time like getting exactly what it's putting down thank you vimh, the [high energy / chaos / Chillness] that previously is all in bad ways like "i am acutely suffering" prior but here is like, the Everything, the amped up energy, the chillness is all so positive & jeremy not having to be overwhelmed even by well meaning input now....augh. and will out there surprise throwing in that octave higher [the only One is mine] like yes Yes!!! thank you be more chill tiny desk concert let's hear (it for) be more chill tiny desk concert

[cloud-based-and-rainpilled]

He’s a skinwalker tbh this is why I don’t think Welsh people actually exist

We always talk about how David Tennant manages to pull off the duality of Crowley's look (the switch from angel to demon) and generally change his entire appearance for the different roles he plays but me personally, I am just SO baffled at how they manage to turn Michael Sheen into Aziraphale

[gleaguejersey]

Michael Foster Jr.

[men-iss-vess-ull]

went into a different gas station than usual and caught the end of a conversation between the two clerks

michael rooker lookalike with heavy delaware accent: "I have no doubt that socrates was brilliant, but that teaching method just doesn't seem suited to our times"

30 year old emo guy with kingdom hearts tattoo peaking over his polo collar: "but you can't deny that it at least creates a more engaging environment than simply lecturing, can you?"

[politicaldilfs]

2024 Gubernatorial DILFs

1st: Incumbent Renominated Gubernatorial DILFS -- Phil Scott, Greg Gianforte, Spencer Cox

Scott and Gianforte are the cream of the crop. Cox is just barely daddy-ish for me. Although, he's anti-Trump which helps. Still, he doesn't hold a candle to his opponent, Brian King:

If we were voting on looks alone, mine would go: Scott, Gianforte, and King.

2nd: Retiring/Term-Limited Incumbent Gubernatorial DILFs

Jay Inslee, Chris Sununu, Doug Burgum, Jim Justice, Eric Holcomb, John Carney, Mike Parson, Roy Cooper

And finally, the remaining DILFs in the 2024 U.S. gubernatorial elections:

North Dakota -- Kelly Armstrong < Merrill Piepkorn

Washington -- Bob Ferguson < Dave Reichert

Delaware -- Matt Meyer > Michael Ramone

West Virginia -- Patrick Morrisey < Steve Williams

And the remaining DILF candidates:

Josh Stein, Mike Kehoe, Mike Braun

[hellocoraco]

"Don't you see? You created this forest! It is your imagination that has given these trees the water to grow. It is your hopes that blazed a path through it. It is your dreams that give it the magic. All of this was created from within you!"

- Michael Delaware

Painting: Natalia Polikorpova

“Silence of the Forestal”

[pwnyta]

AND NOW!!! For the GRAND FINALE OF BNHA AWARDS!!!

Award for MOST DISAPPOINTING VILLAIN SOMEHOW! goes to...

AFO!!

...You were so intimidating dude....

----

The award for IM GIVING HER ANOTHER AWARD YOU CANT FUCKING STOP ME goes to...

MT LADY!!!!

LOOKIT HER GO!!!!!

-------

Award for THIS LOOKED LIKE IT WAS GONNA BE SO GOOD goes to...

Aizawa and Michael! in falling into Kurogiri!!

Really I thought this was gonna go so hard....

-----

Award for MOST CUCKED BY A VILLAIN goes to...

TSUKAUCHI!

You coulda been that villain obsessed with Toshi but Hori plays too much.

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

Award for DAMN ALL MIGHT IS THE ONE!!!! goes to....

ALL MIGHT!!!

Im a proud All Might stan NGL...

------

Award for MOST OUTTA POCKET PUNCH goes to....

TOKOYAMI!!!

Holy shit Tokoyami!! GET HIS ASS!!!! (Im also a proud Tokoyami stan!)

-------

Award for MOST BEAUTIFUL FIERY REPRESENTATION OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTER goes to...

Phantom All Might!!!!

Youre so damn BEAUUUUUTIFUL GIRL~

-----------

Award for I PROBABLY SHOULD BE DISAPPOINTED STAIN DIDNT INTERACT WITH SHOTO AND IIDA BUT IM SOMEHOW NOT??? goes to...

Stain Shoto and Iida!

Theyre too damn good!!!

---------

Award for MOST PIETA ASS PANEL AND FUNNIEST WAY TO CALL SOMEONE A VIRGIN goes to...

AFO AND ALL MIGHT!!

Toshi bless..

--------

Award for BIGGEST INCEL goes to...

AFO!

Bro was so mad Stain and Toshi had their weird whirlwind romance while beating the fuck outta him he killed Stain and took his quirk to make Toshi regret it... CRINGE....

--------

Award for MOST TRAGIC HALLUCINATION THAT MIGHT NOT BE A HALLUCINATION goes to....

NIGHTEYE AND ALL MIGHT!

;w;....

------

Award for MOST POINTLESSLY EXTRA EMPTY ATTACK DEPICTION goes to....

This Delaware SMASH!

LMAO.... Hori you needed all the space in the world why did you do this...

----

Award for IF I IGNORE SO MUCH I HATE THIS PANEL SLAPS SO FUCKING HARD goes to...

THIS PANEL!

IT GOES SO FUCKING HARD!!!

-----

Award for I MEAN HES KIND OF A BRO FOR AN NPC goes to....

??? Whoever this dude is?

Good for him. Have a trophy! All Might stan to All Might stan!

----

Award for THE BABYSITTER OF ALL TIME!!! goes to...

Ectoplasm!

Dont you think he'd be more useful on the field....

-------

Award for MOST USEFUL TCHOTCHKE IN HISTORY goes to...

AOYAMA!!!

...Im so proud of you my beautiful son!!!!

------

Award for HAVING THE VILLAIN LOOK LIKE ALL MIGHT WOULDA BEEN SO COOL IF EVERY BNHA MOVIE DIDNT USE THIS IDEA goes to...

Shigaraki/AFO!!!

IT WOULDA BEEN PRETTY COOL!!

---------

Award for I REALLY CANT BELIEVE HE DIDNT REALLY DO LIKE ANYTHING BUT ALSO SURVIVED goes to...

PRESENTATION MICHAEL!!!!!

Feels underutilized like a lot of characters!!

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

Award for ROBINS VOICE WHEN SHE WAS SCOLDING FRANKY FOR MAKING CHOPPERS FACE UGLY: STOP IT! goes to...

Kouda...

THATS NOT MY BABY!!!

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

Award for MOST FUN SHONEN SERIES THAT BECAME THE SHITTIEST SHONEN SERIES THAT I COULDNT DROP BECAUSE I WAS IN TOO DEEP goes to...

BNHA!!!

Hori I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU!!!! WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!!!

AND WITH THAT WHIMPER!!!! Here concludes the BNHA awards (unless anyone wants me to add more categories!)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:

The federal government is poised to apologize for decades of intolerance toward the LGBTQ+ community. U.S. Senators Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, and Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin who is the first out LGBTQ+ person elected to the Senate, have introduced a resolution on Tuesday that seeks to formally apologize for the historical discrimination faced by LGBTQ+ people in the federal workforce. The resolution, introduced during Pride Month, acknowledges the mistreatment and wrongful terminations of LGBTQ+ civil servants, foreign service officers, and service members, dating back to 1949.

“LGBT civil servants, foreign service officers, and service members have made countless sacrifices and contributions to our country and national security. Despite this, our government has subjected them to decades of harassment, invasive investigations, and wrongful termination because of who they are or who they love,” Kaine said in a press release. “This Pride Month, I’m proud to lead this resolution alongside Senator Baldwin to reaffirm our commitment to righting our past wrongs and fighting for equality for all LGBT Americans.”

A dark chapter in history

The resolution highlights the Lavender Scare, a period from the early 1940s through the 1960s during which queer federal employees were targeted and persecuted. This era, marked by heightened suspicion and discrimination, saw thousands of federal workers lose their jobs due to their sexual orientation. The most recent wave of such discrimination was perpetuated by the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which was in effect from 1994 to 2011 and led to the discharge of more than 100,000 LGBTQ+ military service members.

The resolution acknowledges the extensive harm caused by these discriminatory policies, stating, “the Federal Government discriminated against and terminated hundreds of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who served the United States in the uniformed services, the Foreign Service, and the Federal civil service for decades, causing untold harm to those individuals professionally, financially, socially, and medically, among other harms.”

[...]

Support and future steps

The resolution is co-sponsored by a host of prominent Democratic senators, including Chris Coons of Delaware, Jeff Merkley from Oregon, Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, Patty Murray from Washington, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire, Bob Casey from Pennsylvania, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Massachusetts’s Edward Markey, Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Rhode Island’s Sheldon Whitehouse, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Colorado’s Michael Bennet, Ron Wyden from Oregon, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Virginia’s Mark R. Warner.

What happens next?

The Senate will now review the resolution. If it gains sufficient support, it will proceed to a vote. If passed, it will serve as a formal acknowledgment and apology for the historical injustices faced by LGBTQ+ federal employees.

Tim Kaine and Tammy Baldwin, a pair of Democratic Senators, introduced a resolution seeking a formal apology for decades of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in the federal government, especially during the Lavender Scare era.

[shallowseeker]

Recruiting Dean

Via the Nightmare-land of all his current anxieties.

Zach I - Zach II - Zach III - Say it ain't so - Cas can DIE?! - Bobby, demoralized - Dean and Cas's mutual, pissy fatalism - Love blooming, personal space - You're not much fun, so why am I laughing so hard? - Dean's anixety at being a vessel - Sam: Everybody please panic, I'm a vessel, too!

Disclaimer: I love ALL The End meta, from the ones that look for hidden meanings and the ones where Chuck is hiding incognito in his first-row seats, but I thought this would be a Hella a fun way to ask this question.

///

What if The End is all about Dean and Zach? What is almost everyone IN IT is Zach, tapping into and mocking Dean's churning ruminations and anxieties?

What would that analysis look like? What might we predict? We know that Zach recruited a Jehovah's Witness, and after Dean's call with Sam, Zach entered the motel to try yet another sales pitch.

Zach got into Dean's bedroom. But maybe this time, Zach's going deeper. Perhaps he got into Dean's dreams, too.

In the previous Zach adventures, he tried to give Dean a vision of a loser's life, one Dean wouldn't be able to stand: a corporate yes-man who listened to NPR and steamed his latte like a wuss. Remember his pitch in It's a Terrible Life?

ZACHARIAH: Save people, maybe even the world. All the while you drive a classic car and fornicate with women. This isn't a curse. It's a gift. So for God's sakes, Dean, quit whining about it. Look around. There are plenty of fates worse than yours. So are you with me? You wanna go steam yourself another latte? Or are you ready to stand up and be who you really are?

But just like he will later miss the mark on Adam's personality a bit, he misses on Dean at first, too. Dean cares about family.

"My father's name is Bob, my mother's name is Ellen, and my sister's name is Jo." // "Are you saying my family isn't real?"

///

We'll hear Zach make more pitches to Dean in the beautiful room in Lucifer Rising. Time-honored things that, from his experience, tend to work when recruiting humans, from happy memories to food to TV fantasy to food to sexual adoration:

ZACHARIAH: Try a burger. They're your favorite. From that seaside shack in Delaware. You were 11, I think. DEAN: I'm not hungry. ZACHARIAH: No? How about Ginger from season 2 of "Gilligan's Island"? You do have a thing for her, don't you? DEAN: Tempting. Weird. ZACHARIAH: We'll throw in Mary Ann for free. DEAN: No, no. Let's... bail on the holodeck, okay? I want to know what the game plan is.

///

ZACHARIAH (to a crying Dean): And when it's over... and when you've won... your rewards will be... unimaginable. Peace, happiness... two virgins and seventy sluts.

///

We'll get a whiff of AU Zachariah's tactics with a nervous, broken Kevin Tran in s13, too:

Meredith Glynn had intended a more... grayscale view of Zach's intentions via @spnscripthunt-inactive, but either way is very good. Very Zach:

Who knows why, but in Meredith's version, Zach is convinced that Jack is the way, not Kevin.

Anyhoo, more on the Jack-Zach interactions later. For now, I'm just thinking about the whiff of Zach's and upper Heaven management's style of recruiting tactics through Kevin's words:

LUCIFER: Kevin, what are you doing, getting mixed up with Michael? ... KEVIN: ...Michael's taking me with him to paradise world so I can meet hot women. LUCIFER: I'm sorry. What?

Jack, who had also been tortured (stabbed, burned, drowned) by Zachariah, tried to reach out to Kevin. Mary even more so:

KEVIN: Y-you don't understand... then the end of the world happened, and everyone around me-- my friends, and my… my mom-- they all started to die. ... KEVIN: No! Michael says… that when I get to Heaven-- when he lets me into Heaven-- I'll get to see my mom again. I don't care! You don't understand. I… You don't know the things that I've done. I just want this to be over.

Now, we see the truth. Kevin was never interested in the recruitment line, something-something hot women. Not really. That was just a boisterous shield to hide the deeper pain.

He just wanted to see his mom again.

///

So. When we reach 5x04, we see Zach adjust fire with Dean.

In 5x01, he tried a different, more forceful way of recruiting Dean, making him feel terrible about himself.

...I feel like looking at The End as a nightmare land of all of Dean's anxieties is a really fun way to revisit it.

But before that, if we consider this question, what might we predict for Zach to uncover, based on all the stuff Dean is feeling Weird (TM) and Stressed (TM) about right now?

Based on all the other stuff we've been thinking about, I'll make a small list of potentials, starting with the Bobby-Dean confrontation at the end of last season...

[crowcaws]

Inspired by a twitter thread i saw, I, Australian and certified dumb of ass, will now list every main American state and what I associate it with/what I think it's about/famous for WITHOUT GOOGLING. These thoughts will be stated as fact regardless of whether or not they are true.

Alabama - Banjos. Reese Witherspoon lives here. Shares a border with Florida for some reason. Fifteen people live here. I'm glad i'm not allowed to google because i feel like i'd find things i don't want to know.

Alaska - Mountains. Balto. State flower is a tree of some kind. The roads are just the tyre tracks in the snow of the vehicles that came before whispering "trust me". Kodiak is here, where Pitbull famously said 'keep fucking around, we'll be on the moon next.' I think this is where Mulder and Scully got fucked up by a brain worm.

Arizona - Desert but not the Las Vegas kind. The granyon canyon. State flower is a cactus. State bird also a cactus. Bella Swan got fucked up in a dance studio here. It seems very scenic.

Arkansas - The name of this state makes me think of rusty old utes and that's it, that's all I've got. "Pickup trucks" or whatever. Grow up.

California - The great Lucille Bluth once said, "I'd rather be dead in California than alive in Arizona" but personally I think i'm with Michael on this one. California has Hollywood and an ok tourist beach. Green Day are from here. San Francisco seems cool though, I like how it looks like a city designed specifically to kill skateboarders and cyclists. State flower is a grand theft auto PS2 disc. Population: more than Australia.

Colorado - Mountains. Elks and Deer and Eagles and Giraffes on ski slopes. Much domestic tourism, have never once heard of anyone from outside the US specifically visiting Colorado though idk. Verdict: America's New Zealand.

Connecticut - The dry weetbix of states. I think of monopoly but I can't remember why. State flower is a dandelion that has been stepped on. Biggest export is men's office attire, specifically brown two piece suits and those short sleeve button ups. I only found out today that there's a C in the middle of Connecticut I always thought it was 'Conneticut'.

Delaware - Delawhere the fuck is this state I have no idea. Probably still cooler than Connecticut. Famous for combination fast food chains and buildings that clearly used to be a pizza hut (you can tell by the roof). Idrk what Cracker Barrel is but I can tell you the employees spawn here.

Florida - Biscayne bay. Manatees. Shaped like a sock, or something else. Famous for hotels, motels, and holiday inns. Would be a fun state if not for the fact that every politician in charge of it is fucking it up so so bad. One of the few places in the USA where you can see the Southern Cross constellation. Miami Dale forever RIP Logan Horseman.

Georgia - peaches. atlantis. brisket. no other thoughts detected, moving on

Hawaii - Famous for killing James cunt Cook which is honestly a deserved and certified W for Hawaiians. Plagued (and I do mean plagued) by tourists, including Australian Prime Ministers ignoring national emergencies.

Idaho - Sleepy. Things don't happen here but when they do they happen so much because nothing happens here. National flower is probably like a daisy or something so so normal.

Illinois - Chicago bean. It's dark and we're wearing sunglasses. WatchDogs the game. Famous for girlbosses who kill their husbands. Population 11 millions.

Indiana - Rainy probably. Honestly I only remember this state exists because of Stranger Things, which I understand this is like someone saying they only remember Australia exists because of Crocodile Dundee but look. Population: At least 10.

Iowa - This is such a place to be from if you're moving to the big city because all the other waitresses at the diner back home said you got a voice worth payin for and you finally stopped letting your papa tell you what to do. Famous for crop duster planes. State flower is long grass.

Kansas - Famous for scarecrows, wheat and the like. Probably fun at Halloween actually. Great place to fake an alien sighting. I just remembered Dorothy is from here. Population: Yes.

Kentucky - Fried chicken. NASCAR. Speedway. Derby. State flower is a blown out tyre on the side of the road.

Louisiana - Very wet but in a pretty way. Birthplace of the Saxophone. New Orleans is officially the strongest reason I would ever be tempted to set foot in this country. New York wishes she was this beautiful. Famous for the Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals.

Maine - Next to Kentucky. Lobsters are from here which means there's water, but don't ask me where. Famous for The Vampire Diaries. State flower is a rose, beautiful but generic, like a YA protagonist.

Maryland - Rural but in a manageable way. I think of letterboxes with the family last name on it. Grandmas love it here. Hairspray the musical.

Massachusetts - Ohhhh Legally Blonde. Boston. Harvarb Law. The colour brown. When pronounced it's a very nice name for a state actually.

Michigan - I reference 'can't have shit in Detroit' almost daily but I know almost nothing else about Michigan.

Minnesota - Mini Soda. Also a good state name. No idea what's here, deer or elk or beavers. There's no way to know for sure.

Mississippi - I like this state name less but only because it's hell on the lisp i battle to mask. It's named after a river. It's on the coast. Next to Pennsylvania.

Missouri - A lot of M states happening here. This place is famous for nothing. I don't know what the capital city is but it's definitely a place you move to for your job instead of like. On purpose. Population: 3 million. It's in the middle somewhere.

Montana - This state's main export is horse girls, very Saddle Club coded. It's on the Canadian border, but it shouldn't be like that. It should be in the middle. Hannah Montana's dad was all Nashville but he's basically from Toronto. Fucked up if you ask me.

Nebraska - When I think of Nebraska I think of those depressing Walmart carparks where there's nothing for miles except for the Walmart and one lady pushing a flatscreen in a trolley to the dodge ram she parked 600m away from the entrance so it won't get dinged by other car doors, because god forbid her utility vehicle show signs of wear.

Nevada - viva rock vegas (the flintstones). There's a salt lake here but NOT a salt lake city. That's somewhere else. I think there's motorsport here. NO WAIT THERE IS because i saw charles leclerc on the sphere on tv and he was so wide and i laughed so hard i choked on my own spit.

New Hampshire - What the fuck is New Hampshire that's not real. I thought it was like some beach suburb in New York state. What the fuck. Regardless. I bet you could pull up to the side of the road in New Hapshite and buy an avocado no questions asked. Probably like the USA's Byron Bay.

New Jersey - Everyone from here says it's bad. It makes me think of t shirts with a longer sleeve t shirt underneath and 2000s pop punk music. Gerard Way.

New Mexico - High School Musical is set in Albuquerque. High School Musical is also the only reason I can pronounce Albuquerque. This state is famous for High School Musical.

New York - She's talking over the rest of you and for what? Wall Street? Ugh. Kinda like the Melbourne of the USA.

North Carolina - I feel like cowbutch lesbians do numbers here for some reason. You could disappear into the hills with a woman in a tank top and assless chaps here if you were brave enough. Men do live here but they're treated like a new cast member on the fifth season of a sitcom, this one's for the girls.

North Dakota - Dakota is Carolina's femme girlfriend and they're in love.

Ohio - This is like that town in Cars that lightning mcqueen gets stuck in and the tourist cars are like oh we're only here because of a wrong turn. Yeah. You might find fireflies here though. Also Ohio is for Lovers or something.

Oklahoma - Swear word for Christians. Absolutely nothing happens here and if it does i feel like it involves chasing livestock.

Oregon - Prairies. This is where the Prairies are. Famous for the people who died while trying to be Not In Oregon.

Pennsylvania - Famous for The Office. And Dracula jokes. That's all i've got.

Rhode Island - Famous for winning Miss United States with the flaming batons routine in Miss Congeniality starring Sandra Bullock. Very small state. Possibly the smallest one but who's to say.

South Carolina - If north is for the lesbians, south is for the gays.

South Dakota - As above.

Tennessee - Country music and whiskey and line dancing, which is actually kinda hot when goth girls do it. Overall, Tennessee is the USA's answer to Gympie, which is a question that nobody asked. Overall i just think of the colour brown. Famous for Hayden Penterre. Penetentiary. Pendulum.

Texas - A South Australian would say Texas is famous for it's adorably small cattle farms. Lucky for me, i am not South Australian. This is the state that other states call redneck and racist to hide the fact that they are also redneck and racist, perhaps more so. Contains two of the main cities to name boys after. Dave Strider lives here. (Sorry for the Homestuck jump scare so late in the game.)

Utah - Salt Lake City. That bass pro shop monolith was here. In general i think of the colour orange. Home of the Hellmouth Sunbeams.

Vermont - Vermont is a state in the same way the spleen is an organ. Population: Zero.

Virginia - Is this not the same thing as Vermont?

Washington - Famous for Bella where the hell you been loca. Twin Peaks is probably set here idk i forgot all parts of the show that were not log lady. White House. Effervescent.

West Virginia - From the lyrics "Mountain mama. Take me home. Country road" we can determine that West Virginia has Mountains, Milfs, Homes, and Roads. I know nothing else about West Virginia.

Wisconsin - Wiscaaaansin. Whis-cahn-sin. There are definitely elks here. That 70's Show is set somewhere beneath the surface of this place. Population: grandparents and elk. I feel like you could get fucked up by a creature here if you're not careful. It's got trees and lakes and shit creatures love those. I think Yellowstone is somewhere around here.

Wyoming - Great lakes? Great lakes. This state is actually all lake. Idk. I like the name though, the verbiage of it all. Wyoming my way downtown. State flower is an empty wrapper blowing by down the street. Population: 800,000. Definitely a place you could go missing and never be seen again.

[heathersdesk]

Why doesn't the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints build homeless shelters, hospitals, etc?

Because the Church doesn't duplicate infrastructure.

Why build an entirely new hospital when you can provide resources and volunteers to an existing one? (Note: they built Deseret Hospital, which was the predecessor to both LDS Hospital and Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City)

Why build homeless shelters when it is far more effective to house the homeless instead with the same money?

Why create new charities when you can donate to existing ones?

People who use this line think they've found some clever Gotcha on a subject they don't know anything about.

Source: Me. I spent part of my mission serving at Temple Square. It includes Welfare Square, the hub of the Church's humanitarian aid program. It represents generations of the Church's investments into providing for those in need. The scope of what they do is so broad, I can't explain it all here. But the Relief Society innovated safe grain storage, which has gone into helping people in need for over a hundred years all over the world. Relief Society grain fed people after the San Francisco Earthquake, World War I, the Great Depression, and the Great Chinese Famine. The women of the Church created infrastructure where it did not exist, and it has been the backbone of the Church's humanitarian aid ever since.

The thing I most remember was the fact that they could get wheelchairs to people in the developing world for $4 a pop. They don't do any of that on their own. They do it in partnership with other organizations because it means they can help more people with the resources they give. The Church and its volunteers get less recognition that way, but that doesn't matter to us. It's the good deed done well that motivates my people, not recognition.

Why don't I care that the Church-owned ranches and farms are so large and valuable? Because that is where the food in the Bishop's Storehouses comes from. The Church grows and processes all the food they give away, functioning almost entirely on volunteer labor. There is a cannery right around the corner from my house where I've assisted in the Church's efforts to can peaches. Those peaches were grown on a church-owned farm. My congregation gets a cannery assignment, shared with all the other congregations here locally, to process food that feeds people in our community, whether they're active members of the Church or not. And ours is just one example of operations just like it that exist all over the world.

I've stood in the kitchens of Brazilian women who were preparing and storing rice to give away to people in need. The Young Women in my last ward collected donations to make hygiene kits to give away to homeless people. Wherever there are women in this Church, there will always be people finding ways to help people simply because they care.

Which is a reminder to my LDS friends who follow me: you don't have to listen to people who criticize the Church's generosity, especially when they're loud and wrong. Just start rattling off the ways you've seen the Church and its people do good where you are, or wherever you've been.

They probably don't remember Hurricane Sandy when it leveled New Jersey. But I do because my YSA congregation in Delaware had sign up sheets going around for months for volunteers to participate in the cleanup. They don't remember Hurricane Michael. But I do, because I was visiting family in the aftermath and saw all the roofs that were tarped by volunteers from my Church, members of that community in the Florida panhandle whose own church building was still in shambles.

Need a way to see all the good the Church is doing where you live? Go to justserve.org. It is full of volunteer opportunities in your local community, many of which are on there because of volunteers from the Church and the causes they're already involved in. I put one in the bulletin for my congregation each week. It's a better use of your time than entertaining out of pocket nonsense in your Asks from strangers on the Internet.

[mightyflamethrower]

As Trump continues to show leads in critical swing states, as various lawfare-inspired cases against him seem to the public to be more persecutions than prosecutions, and as Joe Biden appears daily more incoherent and lost, the left on spec has resorted to warning the nation about all the supposedly catastrophic consequences of a future Trump presidency.

Ironically, the left seems oblivious to the reality that one reason Trump leads Biden in the polls is precisely because voters can compare the four-year record of the prior Trump presidency to Biden’s last 40 months.

Recently, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned that Trump will conspire with oil executives to spike gasoline prices. But even after Biden drained the strategic petroleum reserve before the 2022 midterms and is now again doing the same as the 2024 election approaches, gas prices have averaged only one-third cheaper than under Trump.

Trump tried to top off the reserve but was blocked by Democrats in Congress. Nevertheless, he left Biden a nearly full reservoir of 638 million barrels (about 90 percent full), which Biden has now drained by some 270 million barrels to the present 51 percent full—and the levels are falling further as voting nears.

We are warned that 77-year-old Trump looks haggard after his long hours in court. He seems sleepy, we are told. He has aged terribly, the media tell us. But polls show that concern over Biden’s dementia greatly outweighs normal worry over septuagenarian candidate Trump.

Why would any sane pro-Biden handler bring up Trump’s supposed gait or occasional forgotten word when that only reminds the public of the contrast with Biden, whose speeches seem delivered in something other than English and whose transcripts must be heavily edited to airbrush away his incoherence?

We are told that Trump will increase racial tensions. Almost daily, blacks and Hispanics are warned that Trump is a racist—even as polls show that he may well receive the highest percentage of minority votes by any Republican in modern history and has some chance of winning outright the Hispanic vote. Oddly, the media is now attacking minorities on the Marxist principle of false consciousness, as if they are deluded into voting against themselves rather than being perceptive critics of the Biden disaster of high inflation, green mania, a deluge of illegal aliens, and loss of deterrence abroad.

It was not Trump, but Biden, who, during the last election cycles, called one African-American journalist a “junkie” and warned another podcaster, “You ain’t black,” if he voted for Trump. And during his presidency, on occasion, Biden has referred to black subordinates as “boy,” uses the ossified term “Negro,” and has a long history of racist drivel and smears, from “put y’all back in chains” to referencing Barack Obama as the first “clean” and “articulate” presidential candidate to proudly reminding us that his home state of Delaware was once a “slave state.”

As Trump’s polls climbed and the Fani Willis persecution was sidetracked by her own false testimonies, conflicts of interest, and the hiring of her unqualified clandestine paramour, hysterical cries mounted that a reelected Trump would use the powers of government to go after his enemies.

As Jack Smith’s federal indictment became calcified over issues of presidential immunity, his failed efforts to ram through the prosecution before the election, and his office lying over tampering with evidence seized at Mar-A-Lago, tired warnings of Trump’s weaponization to come of the bureaucracy mounted even more.

Now that the jury is out in the Alvin Bragg fiasco and his star witness, Michael Cohen, a convicted liar, has likely again perjured himself and admitted to stealing $60,000 from the Trump organization, Trumpophobia has further peaked.

In other words, the more evidence mounts that Trump’s enemies have manipulated the court system in the manner that they previously impeached him twice, tried him as a private citizen in the Senate, sought to remove him from state ballots, rounded up ex-intelligence officers to lie about the authentic Hunter Biden laptop on the eve of the 2020 presidential debate, and were exposed concocting the Russian collusion yarn by hiring a foreign national in the 2016 campaign, paradoxically, the more the left-wing media warns America that a President Trump would do exactly what they have been doing by emulating their weaponization of the courts, the bureaucracy, and the Congress.

It gets stranger still.

The left warns the country that Trump will deport some or many of the 10 million illegal aliens that Joe Biden and his impeached Homeland Security director Alejandro Mayorkas have deliberately welcomed in.

Consider the logic: the current president destroyed a once-secure border and, for political purposes, illegally rendered immigration law enforcement null and void. But we are still supposed to fear his successor, who would resecure the border, return millions of recently crossed illegal aliens to their countries of origin, and restore the sanctity of federal law. In Orwellian fashion, the Biden administration is now suing exasperated states that are doing their part to help enforce immigration laws that Biden has deliberately shredded.

The absurdity extends to foreign policy. Team Biden and the media are issuing warnings here and abroad that another Trump presidency would tear apart the global order.

Really? Vladimir Putin has invaded neighboring nations in three of the last four administrations, but did not only during the Trump 2017-2020 years. Why?

Before October 7, even Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan preened that his Middle East portfolio was “quieter than in two decades”—but only after Trump’s destroyed ISIS, took out the terrorist Iranian general Soleimani, ended the disastrous Iran deal, cut off aid to Hamas, designated the Houthi terrorists, crafted the Abraham Accords, pledged full support for Israel, our only democratic ally in the Middle East, and achieved U.S. oil independence.

In contrast, Putin invaded Ukraine and may well absorb much of its eastern half. The U.S. suffered its greatest military humiliation of the last half century in fleeing from Kabul and handing over billions of dollars in weapons to the terrorist Taliban, abandoning our NATO-allied forces, sympathetic Afghans, and American contractors.

Hamas killed more Jews in a single day than any since the Holocaust. A full-scale war rages in Gaza. Hezbollah has displaced thousands of Israelis with its daily attacks. And for the first time in history, Iran has attacked in force the Israeli homeland.

China, with impunity, sent a spy balloon across the continental US. Some 25,000 Chinese male illegal aliens mysteriously barged into the U.S. And China has helped kill 100,000 Americans a year through its fentanyl exports to the Mexican cartels.

Given all that, are we supposed to worry that “sharp as a knife” Biden’s disastrous foreign policy will be ruined by a return to the peaceful record of the earlier Trump presidency?

So, what is Trumpophobia? The syndrome displays a number of symptoms.

One, the left always projects its sins onto its opponents. It accuses Trump of doing precisely what it has done, as a way of avoiding blame for its self-inflicted disasters. And the left so vehemently projects because it knows what it would do if it were Trump and was treated as he has been by them.

Two, desperate Democrats are scrambling to find some bizarre way to depose both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, especially should Biden have a disastrous, historic preconvention June presidential debate. As a result, the 2024 campaign has never been about comparison of 2017-2020 to 2021-2024. But rather, it has already descended into the Democratic de facto smear that “Trump is even worse than Biden.” And that fixation instills fears of what Trump might do rather than what he actually has done.

Three, the left feels Biden may do more than just lose the Democrats the presidency, Senate, and its close margin in the House. His hyperinflation seriously damaged the middle class. He turns them off with his arrogance, screaming speeches, loud, obnoxious gibberish, compulsive lying, and generally impotent appearance.

His racial condescension and pandering fool no one. As a result, Biden may well redefine the two parties as race is replaced by shared class concerns. Wealthy blacks may vote for Biden because they are black and wealthy, but more and more middle-class blacks may vote for Trump because they feel his policies benefit the middle class like themselves.

The public increasingly agrees that the Democrat Party is the party of the very rich, the bicoastal privileged, and the subsidized poor, while the lower and middle classes feel far more confident and secure with Republicans.

Four, the left fears a more organized, savvier Trump second term might hit the ground running‚ and thus rapidly and professionally instill a conservative agenda to stop the current neo-socialist revolution.

Given all that, 2024 for the left is little more than “Fear Trump or Bust.”

[de-salva]

... untitled (Near Delaware, Ohio, USA, 1983)

© Michael A. Smith

[reasonsforhope]

Internet Archive link (aka no paywall): https://web.archive.org/web/20230318235147/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/15/climate/epa-states-pollution-smog.html

"The Biden administration on Wednesday finalized a rule forcing factories and power plants in 23 Western and Midwestern states to sharply cut smog-causing pollution that is released from their smokestacks and fouls the air in Eastern states.

Known as the “good neighbor” rule, the new regulation strengthens and expands an earlier interstate air pollution standard that was enacted during the Obama administration. While that rule directed power plants to clean up their emissions, the revised rule enforces similar controls on mills, factories and other industrial facilities.

The Environmental Protection Agency is required by the Clean Air Act to periodically review and revise the rule. After failing do so during the Trump administration, it is now strengthening restrictions under a court-ordered deadline.

The good neighbor rule holds that states should take measures to ensure that their pollution doesn’t affect downwind states. It directs coal-burning power plants and industrial facilities such as iron, steel, cement and concrete manufacturers in the Western and Midwestern states to reduce their emissions of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant that causes smog and is linked to asthma, lung disease and premature death...

“Every community deserves fresh air to breathe,” E.P.A. Administrator Michael S. Regan said. “We know air pollution doesn’t stop at the state line.”

The tighter rules on power plants will come into force later this year, while the new controls on factories and other industrial polluters will take effect in 2026.

The revised rule is one of a stack of climate and clean air regulations expected this year from the Biden administration, including stricter controls on planet-warming emissions from cars, trucks, power plants and oil and gas wells and mercury pollution from power plants. Collectively, they are designed to strengthen the clean air and climate protections that had been rolled back by the Trump administration, and to accelerate the nation’s transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.

The E.P.A. estimates that the updated good neighbor rule will cut emissions of nitrogen oxide in the affected states by 50 percent from 2021 levels by 2027, preventing 1,300 premature deaths, avoiding more than 2,300 hospital and emergency room visits, preventing 1.3 million cases of asthma and avoiding 430,000 lost school days and 25,000 missed work days..."

-via The New York Times, 3/15/23

Note: The NYT is disproportionately focused on the results to distant low-industry and often majority-white states, such as Delaware (I couldn't find a more comprehensive article on this, unfortunately). But these regulations will also have powerful impacts on areas and communities disproportionately affected by heavy industry by cutting emissions at the source, which will hopefully help to reduce the devastating impacts of environmental racism and protect communities that actually live next to these factories, not just hundreds of miles away.

[brookston]

Holidays 10.26

Holidays

Accession Day (Jammu and Kashmir, India)

African-American Cotton Pickers Day

American Bar Association Giving Day

American Frog Day

Angam Day (a.k.a. Day of Fulfillment; Nauru)

Armed Forces Day (Benin)

Court Staff Day (Tajikistan)

Cox Plate Day (Australia)

Day of Mourning Day (Libya)

Day of the Deployed

Doonesbury Day

Dr. José Gregorio Hernández Day (Venezuela)

Goose Day (French Republic)

Hillary Clinton Day

Horseless Carriage Day

Howl at the Moon Day

International Red Cross Day

Intersex Awareness Day

Kojagrat Purnima (Nepal)

Mourning Day (Libya)

Mule Day

National Day of the Deployed

National Financial Crime Fighter Day

National Gospel Day (Cook Islands)

National Livestock Guardian Dog Appreciation & Awareness Day

National Mule Day

National Noah Day

National Ranboo Day

National Tennessee Day 

National Transgender Children Day

National Vivace Microneedling Day

Neutrality Day (Austria)

Peniamina Gospel Day (Niue)

Planet-Wide Moon Howl

Prixin (Star Trek)

Rugby Day

St. Elsewhere Day

Topin Wagglegammon

Workaholic Stop and Smell Something Day

World Amyloidosis Day

Worldwide Howl at the Moon Night

Food & Drink Celebrations

Chicken Fried Steak Day

Exaltation of the Shellfish (Spain)

International Mavrud Day (Bulgaria)

National Mincemeat Pie Day

National Pumpkin Day

Pretzel Day

Texas Chicken Fried Steak Day

Independence & Related Days

Austria (from Allies of WW2, 1955)

Foundation Day (Catanduanes, Philippines)

4th & Last Saturday in October

Children’s Day (Malaysia) [Last Saturday]

Hug A Sheep Day [Last Saturday]

Make a Difference Day [4th Saturday]

Mother-in-Law Day [4th Saturday]

Muddy Dog Day (UK) [Last Saturday]

National Erotic Humiliation Day [4th Saturday]

National Forgiveness Day [Last Saturday]

National One United Race Day [4th Saturday]

National Pit Bull Awareness Day [4th Saturday]

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day [4th Saturday]

National Snowmobile Day [Last Saturday]

National Take Back Day [Last Saturday]

National Trick or Treat Day [Last Saturday]

Neighbors Helping Neighbors Day [4th Saturday]

Salacious Saturday [4th Saturday of Each Month]

Sandwich Saturday [Every Saturday]

Sausage Saturday [4th Saturday of Each Month]

Sharing Economy Saturday (Canada) [Last Saturday]

Six For Saturday [Every Saturday]

Snowmobile Day (Sweden) [Last Saturday]

Spaghetti Saturday [Every Saturday]

Splurge Saturday [Last Saturday of Each Month]

Stir-Fry Saturday [Last Saturday of Each Month]

Universal Children’s Day (Australia) [4th Saturday]

William Penn Day (Delaware) [4th Saturday]

World Federation Day [Last Saturday]

World Swim Day [4th Saturday]

Yellow Saturday [Saturday of Last Full Week]

Weekly Holidays beginning October 26 (3rd Full Week of October)

Marmaris International Race Week (Marmaris, Turkey) [thru 11.1]

Festivals Beginning October 26, 2024

Alabama Wine Festival (Duck Springs, Attalla, Alabama)

Barbecue Festival (Lexington, North Carolina)

Beefsteak (Reno, Nevada)

Boo & Brews (Pennsville, New Jersey)

Central Florida Veg Fest (Orlando, Florida)

Charleston Beer Fest (Charleston, South Carolina)

Chili Cook-Off (Santa Cruz, California)

Elberta German Sausage Festival (Elberta, Alabama)

Essex ClamFest (Essex, Massachusetts)

Federweisser Festival at Winehaven (Chisago City, Minnesota) [thru 10.27]

Georgia Sweet Potato Festival (Ocilla, Georgia)

Gilfeather Turnip Festival & Contest (Wardsboro, Vermont)

Grand Prairie Rice Festival (Hazen, Arkansas)

Halloween Festival & Parade (Glen Ellyn, Illinois)

Hat Roberts Chili Cook Off (Tallapoosa, Georgia)

Kimmswick Apple Butter Festival (Kimmswick, Missouri) [thru 10.27]

Lake County Home Show (Grayslake, Illinois) [thru 10.27]

Marunada Chestnut Festival (Liganj, Croatia) [thru 10.27]

Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival (Kyiv, Ukraine) [thru 11.3]

National Championship Barbeque Cookoff (Meridian, Texas)

OysterFest (St. Michaels, Maryland)

Peanut Butter Festival (Brundidge, Alabama)

Pendleton Fall Harvest Festival (Pendleton, South Carolina)

Route 66 Pecan & Music Festival (Claremore, Oklahoma) [thru 10.27]

Sorghum Festival (Wewoka, Oklahoma)

Southern California Gourd Art Competition (Santa Ana, California)

Tailgating Cook-Off (Loreauville, Louisiana)

Toccoa Harvest Festival (Toccoa, Georgia) [thru 10.27]

West Fest (Cartersville, Georgia)

WhiskyFest (Hollywood, Florida)

World Champion Hopkins County Stew Contest (Sulphur Springs, Texas)

Feast Days

Albinus (Christian; Saint)

Alfred the Great (Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church)

Amandus of Strasbourg (Christian; Saint)

Andrew Motion (Writerism)

Beóán (a..k.a. Bean) of Mortlach (Christian; Saint)

Casper, Big Bird’s Brother (Muppetism)

Cedd (Christian; Saint)

Celine Borzecka (Christian; Blessed)

Cuthbert of Canterbury (Christian; Saint)

Dante Quinterno (Artology)

Day of the Ancients (Asatru/Pagan Slavic)

Demetrius of Thessaloniki (Christian; Saint)

Eadfrith of Leominster (Christian; Saint)

Eata of Hexham (Christian; Saint)

Pope Evaristus (a.k.a. Aristus; Christian; Saint)

Fulk of Pavia (Roman Catholic Church)

Jack Morelli (Artology)

Jan Wolkers (Artology)

Julian Schnabel (Artology)

Lilith’s Day (Pagan)

Ludi Victoriae Sullanae begins (Old Rome; until November 1)

Makoshe’s Day (Honoring Mother Earth; Asatru/Pagan)

Montesquieu (Positivist; Saint)

Onan Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Onomatopoeias Day (Pastafarian)

Pat Conroy (Writerism)

Philipp Nicolai, Johann Heermann and Paul Gerhardt (Lutheran Church)

Quadragesimus (Christian; Saint)

Quodvultdeus (Christian; Saint)

Rusticus of Narbonne (Christian; Saint)

Shan Sa (Writerism)

Toping Wagglegammon (Shamanism)

Vasily Vereshchagin (Artology)

Witta (a.k.a. Albinus) of Büraburg (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Premieres

Audrey the Rainmaker (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1951)

The Best and the Brightest, by David Halberstam (Political History; 1972)

Better Off Dead, 26th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2021)

Cello Concerto in E Minor, by Edward Eldar (Concerto; 1919)

Cloud Atlas (Film; 2012)

Cured Duck (Disney Cartoon; 1945)

Dan in Real Life (Film; 2007)

Donnie Darko (Film; 2001)

Down and Outing (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1961)

Firework, by Katy Perry (Song; 2010)

Gallopin’ Gals (MGM Cartoon; 1940)

The Great Santini (Film; 1979)

Head Hunters, by Herbie Hancock (Album; 1973)

Heartbreaker, by Pat Benatar (Song; 1979)

Henpecked Hoboes (MGM Cartoon; 1946)

Interstellar (Film; 2014)

Life as a House (Film; 2001)

Mourning Becomes Electra, by Eugene O'Neill (Play; 1931)

Quadrophenia, by The Who (Album; 1973)

Rock Meets Rock or Thud and Blunder (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 313; 1964)

San Andreas (Film; 2015)

The Spinach Roadster (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1936)

St. Elsewhere (TV Series; 1982)

Supergirl (TV Series; 2015)

The Terminator (Film; 1984)

That’s No Lady — That’s Notre Dame! (The Inspector Cartoon; 1966)

Three Orphan Kittens (Silly Symphony Disney Cartoon; 1935)

T.V. Fuddlehead (Modern Madcaps Cartoon; 1959)

The Two-Alarm Fire (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1934)

Under Pressure, by Queen & David Bowie (Song; 1981)

A Watery Grave or Drown Among the Sheltering Palms (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 314; 1964)

Wonderland (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1931)

You’re the Top, recorded by Cole Porter (Song; 1934)

Your Song, by Elton John (Song; 1970)

Today’s Name Days

Albin, Amand, Wigand (Austria)

Dimitar, Dimitrina, Mitko (Bulgaria)

Amando, Demetrije, Dimitrije, Dmitar, Evarist, Lucijan, Mitar, Rogacijan, Zvonimir (Croatia)

Erik (Czech Republic)

Amandus (Denmark)

Aime, Aimi, Amanda, Ami, Manda (Estonia)

Amanda, Manta, Niina, Nina, Ninni (Finland)

Dimitri (France)

Albin, Amand, Anastacia, Josephine, Wieland (Germany)

Demetris, Dimitra, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Glykon, Leptinis (Greece)

Dömötör(Hungary)

Evaristo (Italy)

Amanda, Kaiva (Latvia)

Evaristas, Liaudginas, Mingintė (Lithuania)

Amanda, Amandus (Norway)

Dymitriusz, Ewaryst, Eweryst, Łucjan, Lucyna, Ludmiła, Lutosław (Poland)

Dimitrie (Romania)

Demeter (Slovakia)

Evaristo, Felicísimo, Luciano (Spain)

Amanda, Rasmus (Sweden)

Madden, Maddock, Maddox, Mahala, Mahalia, Makenna, Mckenna (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 300 of 2024; 66 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of Week 43 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Gort (Ivy) [Day 28 of 28]

Chinese: Month 9 (Jia-Xu), Day 24 (Gui-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 24 Tishri 5785

Islamic: 22 Rabi II 1446

J Cal: 30 Orange; Lastday [30 of 30]

Julian: 13 October 2024

Moon: 28%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 20 Descartes (11th Month) [Oken / Buffon]

Runic Half Month: Wyn (Joy) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 35 of 90)

Week: 3rd Full Week of October

Zodiac: Scorpio (Day 4 of 30)