#THIS IS TALKING ABOUT GOING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT ON THEIR OWN TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT USERS

[weed-cat]

PLEASE BE CAREFUL ABOUT THIS APP IF YOU ARE TRANS AND US-BASED. your ~trans inclusion statement~ means nothing if you're ready and willing to collaborate with pigs and feed them our personal information when you know full well that existing as a trans person is rapidly becoming illegalized in the United States.

[mightyoctopus]

Library posts on here have me so conflicted.

On one hand, libraries can provide a lot of value to a lot of people, and it's good to inform people of this. Like, I was recently talking to a friend (grown man in his 40s) who didn't know that you could read books for free at a library. The more people are informed about this matter, the better.

And of course, some libraries also provide other services such as movies, board games, internet, printers, 3D printers, cheap coffee, meeting rooms, courses, etc. Talking about this is also good, because many people can benefit from these services! Especially people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford them.

But (and here comes the but), I feel like some people on this site are really insistent on claiming that all libraries offer all these services for free, always. And that no library has any flaws at all. And that anyone can access a library at any time. And if you don't, you're a traitor for not supporting your local library.

And like... there is so much wrong with that. First of all, not all libraries offer all these services. And if they do, they might not be available in minority languages. (Spanish in the USA, Turkish in Germany, etc.) And if they do, they're not always free. And this can vary greatly on region and country, too. Not the whole world is the USA. There's places where libraries are rare and spaced very far apart. There's places where libraries are "mobile", meaning they're a car filled with books. Or sometimes a donkey. I think it's great that mobile libraries exist! It's great that people in villages near me can get free books that way. But also, it's absurd to claim that they have the same type of access as someone from a big city. It's absurd to claim that they're class traitors and it's their own fault because they didn't "create demand" and "support their local library." They do not have a "local" library. Not everyone has a local library!

And even if there is a library near you, it's very possibly inaccessible! Most countries do not have laws regarding accessible design, and if they do, they're rarely enforced. Before you go on praising how all libraries are perfect and wonderful, ask yourself, how many are accessible to disabled people? Which disabled people? Wheelchair users? Blind and visually impaired people? Immunocompromised people? There's so many of us. Yet we are so often left out.

Some countries have libraries specifically for disabled people, but most often you need to qualify and prove your disability. I have a membership in such a library. A lot of them will only accept visual impairment and no other disability. I was lucky I was in occupational therapy at the time of my enrollment, because my therapist could approve my paperwork for me. Otherwise I might not have been able to join. It's online only and costs money. It's not free. A lot of books are region-locked since I'm not in the USA. And yet I am so grateful everyday for this opportunity, for this access to books. I know many disabled people aren't so lucky.

My point is not that libraries are bad, but that libraries are very diverse. Pretending like all libraries are not only perfectly alike, but also perfect, helps no one. Libraries can provide vital services, but they do not provide these services equally around the world, and they do not provide these services equally to all people.

If you truly love libraries so much, fight to make them better, fight to make them accessible. Don't silence those of us who are left out.

[kiatheinsomniac]

──── 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄 ˊˎ -

☾ ⋆ ﾟ𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 / 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒: a commission from @tired-lime who's always a darling to work with 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: Ratonhnhaké:ton | Connor Kenway x Reader 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 6.7k 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: MDNI, NSFW content, enemies to lovers, porn with plot, fingering, handjobs, creampies, unprotected sex

You walk as calmly as you can through the narrow alley, not daring to lift your eyes from where they look straight ahead of you and glance towards the rooftops that cast darkness over you, the silvery moonlight gleaming just ahead as the streight leads to the main road. This place is out of sight of the sparse public that might wander past at this time of night, your vision is limited in the darkness it provides and there’s ample opportunity for an overhead ambush. 

All of this puts you at every disadvantage, perhaps, but that’s exactly what you want the man tailing you to think. You keep your eyes straight because Assassins like rooftops. They provide coverage and blindspots, hidden in plain sight as most people simply don’t find themselves looking up with their eyes to the sky as they go about their day and all the tasks that come with it. It’s precisely why you’ll always find an Assassin stalking you from above and never from upon your own level. 

In short, you’re baiting the Assassin above you who has gone to so much care to silence his footsteps and conceal his shadow from your sight. But you’re a Templar. You’re trained to know your enemy. You spotted him not long ago, lingering around a crowd outside an inn, trying to blend in. But your purpose for going out at all today has been to bait him, those are your orders. 

Your ears are kept vigilant for the sound of something small flying through the air and in a moment's notice, you lunge forward to dodge the rope dart that had been aimed at you. There’s a hissed curse and you draw your sword as the Assassin makes his leap down to you, using a ledge of a windowsill garden to lessen his fall. He stands tall in front of you now, white beaked hood up and hiding his face. His hidden blade shoots out as he parries your offensive blow with his gauntlet. 

You’re still not entirely sure what material it is that Assassins make their gauntlets from. Your mentor Haytham has one and he claims that it’s an alloy from a precursor civilization but when your higher-ups start talking like that, you sometimes begin to wonder if you’ve really overstepped your depth as an ex-mercenary and have accidentally joined a cult. 

Regardless, the Assassin stands tall before you now. He is Achilles’ new novice, so you’ve been told. The only member of his ranks as your mentor has told you of how a companion of his wiped out the last generation of Assassins here in the colonies, thus giving your Order ample room to plant its roots. Though you have no name nor face to put to this companion of Haytham’s as he is always very quick to change the subject or to remind you to not speak out of line whenever your curiosity gets the better of you and you start to press for details of this mysterious person’s identity if only to create an image in your mind for all of this information that you are given. 

His free hand takes out a tomahawk and you’re put on defence. You take a step back but make sure to stay in the alley and out of the public space. The last thing you want is nearby law enforcement or civilians to get involved. But the clashing of metal upon metal rings out in the otherwise quiet night. 

He fights cleanly using his sheer strength and towering figure which puts you at a disadvantage. His technique is curated to be quick and efficient but your style often depends on your agility, stamina and tiring out your enemy. You’ve already laid such a foundation by baiting him to follow you from the rooftops – a much more strenuous journey than the one you had taken upon the ground. But there was something to how he was swinging at you with his tomahawk, movements tight to not allow you to get too far, a passion to his every strike and parry. 

You know when you’re outmatched and so you’re now put on defence and wondering what could have happened between intel and being given your orders that could have possibly allowed you to go about this mission alone instead of preparing a sort of ambush in order to put an end to this lone Assassin that has been terrorising the Order once and for all. 

Had you let the higher-ups flatter you over your skills into thinking you were truly capable of this task they had set upon you? Regardless, you’re in this now and your only priority has suddenly become making it out of here alive. You take a risk and do a rescan of your surroundings, looking for anything that might be of aid to you in order to give you just a slither of an opportunity of getting away. But you remain aware of your enemy’s every move, knowing that even a momentary slip up can be the cause of your untimely demise.

But the Assassin trying to cut you down is just as trained as you are – if not more so – and this subtle scrambling of yours does not go unnoticed by his keen, dark eyes. 

“Out of your depth, Templar?” He asks in his smooth and rich tone. 

“You wish I were.” You bite back and manage to take swift steps backwards, enough for you to assess that the risk of lowering your sword in exchange for the gun at your hip is worth it in order to try and create a window for escape. You take aim but don’t fire. You should be firing. You should be killing this man. 

Why did they send you on this mission alone? 

It’s all you can think to yourself as your finger hovers over the trigger. The Assassin knows he’s done for if your finger so much as twitches now and yet he freezes, seeing your hesitation. The two of you are brought to a standstill with you aiming your gun at the Assassin’s head and yet your finger hovers over the trigger, refusing to squeeze. He has no opportunity to strike you down at this moment as in a fraction of a second, hesitation can become a killing blow. 

Your eyes narrow slightly as you repeat that question to yourself: why did they send you on this mission alone? This Assassin is clearly far more skilled than you are and even baiting him here after a journey that should have tired you out has not made a dent in his stamina. He’s been cutting down British soldiers and Templars alike, chipping away at the order for reasons not yet known to you other than the simple explanation of ‘we are Templars, he an Assassin’. Why did you believe your higher-ups when they told you that you could handle this solo mission? Have they sent you here as an execution and if so: why? 

“Why do they want you to kill me?” You murmur. The question is asked aloud and yet you’re not sure if you’re asking him or yourself. This seems to make even the Assassin pause in puzzlement. If they want you dead then what are they doing now? Are you merely a distraction? 

“That’s a good question indeed.” The toweringly tall Assassin raises his hands in a gesture of surrender and you slowly lower your gun but keep a good amount of distance between the two of you, each standing at either side of the narrow alley you had originally lured him into. You tap your toes against the ground as you ponder over questions again: is this a distraction or an execution? Either way you’re clearly expendable and it comes as a surprise to you because you were so sure you were in the Grandmaster’s good books. 

So what has changed to make Haytham use you as a sacrificial pawn in whatever game he’s playing here in the colonies? Neither of you are sure what to do now, having both arrived here late at night with intentions to kill the other. But now you see that the true plan behind all of this was for you to die all along. It’s enough to make Ratonhnhaké:ton stand down and wish to spare you. Someone is pulling the strings here and part of their plan includes your death. So what’s to happen when this plan is interrupted. 

“I won’t kill you today.” He speaks up after finally making up his mind following a few minutes of thick silence wherein you were both deep in thought, trying with your minds to uncover the obscurity of whatever the bigger picture is here. The best course of action is to disrupt the plans of whoever it is that’s painting it. “But when you fall it will be by my hand, Templar.” You shoot the man a glare where his eyes would be, concealed behind the shadow that the beak of his hood casts over his face in order to hide his identity. 

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Assassin.” You quip back but you hear him scoff as he puts his tomahawk away when you set your gun back into its holster. 

“You’re right. Your masters seem to be set on beating me to that.” You open your mouth to protest but he’s already making his way up the wall of one of the buildings you’re between and returning to the rooftops. You’re quick to exit the alley and get into the middle of the main street so that he doesn’t have an opportunity to assassinate you from above should he be bluffing or perhaps change his mind and deal with you now before you become a loose thread. But he doesn’t and you’re left standing in the middle of an empty street at night. 

Could you even go back to your quarters now? Perhaps they’ll use the failed mission as justification to finish you off themselves. You need somewhere to stay until you’ve figured out what’s going on and whether or not you’ve been betrayed by the Order that you had sworn your own loyalty to. But where to go? 

Your eyes rise up to the rooftops that the Assassin had disappeared over. You’ve been set up by the people who this man is set on killing. 

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend…” You murmur to yourself as you spot a nearby ladder and use it to make your way up onto the same rooftop. It’s a risk you’re taking but it seems that every path available to you now has some degree of risk to it and so you’re left with no choice but to weigh your options and gamble. 

Your foot taps anxiously against the cobble beneath you as you consider your plan. If your Order seeks to erase you, it won’t even be safe to go back to your rented room and pack a bag of your belongings. It’s the first place they’ll go to look for you and with the network of spies Haytham has been building across the city, it won’t take long for word to get back to him that you’ve failed your mission. You won’t get far hiding either. All of your tricks, you’ve learned from your mentor and to try and hide would be to put yourself at a disadvantage by playing the game of the man who had so clearly intended to use you as a pawn in whatever grand scheme he’s hatching; not so long ago, you had thought you knew his plans but tonight has changed your course of events entirely. 

Into the belly of the best it is. 

You decide. Now up on the roof, you look with your second sight. It’s your upper hand and even Haytham has admitted that it was one of his greatest factors in considering you as an advantageous candidate for a Templar. The route he’s taken lights up gold and you begin to follow all the twists and turns he took that would have thrown off anyone else who might have been tiling him. Not you though. 

°:.   *₊    ° .   ☆ ☾　 °:.   *₊  ° . ° .•

You find yourself outside a manor upon a homestead. It wasn’t an easy journey by any means and you hadn’t expected him to have covered so much ground either. In the forest, you found yourself wishing you had stopped to hire a horse – you still had some money on you after all. You took a break twice, made a camp once after scouting out the area but you admittedly slept very lightly. You weren’t a wilderness girl and the anxiety of being found by a wolf or bear had kept you from falling into a truly restful sleep. 

And so you found yourself feeling both tired from a long way’s travel and a poor night’s rest during the small hours of the morning, all while heading right into the den of your enemy who, currently and ironically enough, seems to be your only possible ally. 

The manor standing tall in the clearing above you is built in typical colonial fashion with red bricks and white embellishments. Its large size makes use of the spacious land it is upon and your mind wanders back to the stories Haytham once shared with you about the Brotherhood that once lived and trained here. Looking at the size of the place, it’s easy to imagine so many people living here once upon a time and difficult to imagine that today it only houses the old Mentor and the one and only Assassin who still lives by their Creed here in the colonies. 

Though that’s only as much as your Order is aware of. You keep your wits about you, more than aware that you don’t know what you’re walking to, nor do you know how many potential foes reside within those four walls. You may very well be running from one death straight into another. 

But your options are slim and you’ve wagered that your odds are better here. Back with the Order, you’re a pawn that should have submissively been sacrificed. Here, you’re either a target to be taken out immediately or a valuable source of information. After all, you’ve been betrayed and they may consider that you have every reason to surrender all of the Order’s secrets that you possess. 

These are all just possibilities though and death remains a very likely outcome. 

You stand from an awkward distance on the treeline for a while. Surely you can’t just knock on the front door being who you are? Then again, if you take any other route, they might see it as an ambush and you’ll be in combat or even dead before you can open your mouth to explain your intentions. Despite every other instinct within you telling you to turn tail and run to the nearest harbour, to leave the region altogether on whatever boat you can get yourself aboard, you approach the front door. 

A shadow falls over you when you raise your fist to knock upon the door. He’s good at what he does, you’ll give him that. Immediately, you feel the warm, sharp edge of a blade resting against your throat. Warm and so it’s the hidden blade that the likes of him keep tucked up their sleeves, a blade like the one your mentor possessed. You’d always found it rather ironic that Haytham always stands so tall beside his principles and yet he fights with the enemy’s weapon. 

“Did you come here thinking you could finish the job and go crawling back to your master?” His voice speaks up from behind you. You raise both of your hands in the air in a sign of surrender, keeping them far away from your hips where your weapons are kept around your belt. He doesn’t hesitate in unbuckling it and removing it from your body and moments later, you hear it hit the floor some distance away where he’s thrown it. You’re not unarmed in enemy territory and you begin wondering if this really was the best plan of action after all. 

“I actually came with a proposal…” You begin slowly. You’re not entirely sure how to present yourself, your tone. Even you’re unsure if your own plan will work but you need to sound certain or else he may well believe you’re just here to trick him in which case he’ll kill you. 

You don’t need to turn around to know that he’s looming over you. You wonder sometimes how a man of his stature can blend into crowds and hide in plain sight the way Assassins are taught to. And yet he does and it’s truly a testament to his skill. 

“And what might this proposal be?” You swallow thickly. Your life depends on being able to convince him that you’re being honest, which he has every inclination to doubt considering your current standing as enemies.

“It’s been made clear that I’m seen as expendable, so I’d much rather prove just how essential I was. I have information: contacts, travel routes, locations of higher-ranking Templars. Whatever mission you’re on, I’ll speed it up by months, maybe even years.” You tilt your head back a little more, trying to ease the pressure when the blade presses more insistently at your skin. 

“And why should I believe you?” 

“Because I came here. Because I’ve got nowhere else to go at the moment and I’m risking you slashing my throat just for a chance to try and get out of this ordeal alive after what happened last night.” The blade leaves your neck but the threat is not removed as you then feel it poke at your back, spurring you forwards at a slow pace, hands still raised. 

“Step inside.” 

°:.   *₊    ° .   ☆ ☾　 °:.   *₊  ° . ° .•

Months later, you find yourself setting up camp in a familiar cave. These meetings have become familiar to you and nowadays this little cave feels like the safest place in the world. You’ve been working as a double agent for the past few months and being in the Order feels like having death loom over your shoulder all the time now. Being a Templar had once given you such a feeling of purpose and belonging, that you had a key, unshakable place in the world, that you were guiding it in a better direction. 

But the more you’ve been reporting back to Connor and the chats you have in between, the more you have to take a step back and ask yourself if you were being told a one-sided story the entire time. You haven’t set foot on Connor’s homestead since you first arrived and he had to send you back with a split lip, gashed jaw and sprained wrist to make it seem like you really had fought him and not conspired with him. That gash now remains as a scar across the lower part of your face. Each time you look in the mirror, it reminds you of your new mission as the Assassin’s spy. 

And each time, you pray that you’re doing the right thing. 

Your attention is grabbed by the sound of feet on dirt and you look towards the mouth of the cave where he stands tall now, moving to sit on the opposite side of your little fire so that he’s facing you. His gloves come off and he rubs his hands together near the open flames. His hood comes down to reveal a face strikingly like your mentor’s and you can’t believe that this man is now your only ally in the world and you can’t even be entirely sure of his loyalty. All you know is that you need to keep yourself indispensable in order to keep breath in your lungs and a heartbeat in your chest. 

He reaches into his bag and takes out a small, wrapped package. Scaled fish. They’re skewered and set over the fire to cook.

“Thank you.” You say stiffly. Interactions like this are still so unusual to you. He nods his head in a silent ‘you’re welcome’. 

“What’s new?” 

“Lee’s on the move.” His dark eyes quickly flick up to meet yours and you can see the deep interest in them. You haven’t asked why he’s after Lee specifically though it confuses you as you would have been sure he would go after Haytham; to cut the head of the snake, so to speak. But you’ve never asked because this vendetta seems deeply personal and you’re next to certain that he won’t open up to you about it. “They’re making preparations to receive him in Boston so whatever he’s come back with must be important… or they know that you’re after him. I’ve yet to find out which it is because I don’t have direct access to such information and I can’t put myself at risk if this is a red herring and they suspect something. But the moment I find out more I’ll tell you – but take everything with a pinch of salt.” 

He nods, deep in thought and you wonder what’s going through his head. You always worry that doubt will creep into his mind and will ultimately drive him to kill you. You can only hope that he’s instead thinking about exacting whatever revenge he has planned for Charles Lee. His thirst for revenge currently is what’s keeping you afloat. Without his vendetta, you’re worthless to him. 

“How have you been?” You’re not sure if you’re asking out of politeness or loneliness. Are you trying to keep in his good graces or are you seeking out the warmth of a friend, even if what’s between you isn’t really friendship? 

“Busy…” He sighs. “Your Order’s been on the move.” 

“I’ve heard about your meetings with Washington.” You bite your lip as you ponder your next question. It’s personal but a chance not taken is an opportunity missed. “You… You’re meeting with all these generals, men of influence and yet you work in the shadows. Do you truly have no wish for the world to remember your name? You really want to just vanish?” You had been drawn to the Templars partially by glory, by the chance of making a place in the world, a change where you and your fellow members of the Order would be revered for centuries to come. 

“I do not want to be remembered, no. Our creed states that we work in the dark to serve the light. This war will be lost to memory and I will do my part to make sure that it is the Assassins who bury any record of it.” Your first reaction is to think of him as ridiculous: he’s thrown any chance at a normal life away for a battle he will never be credited for. But it’s selfless. He has nothing to gain but what he believes in: no fame, no power, no glory. 

Maybe you really have been misled. 

The Templars had always preached peace but with that peace came the Order having ultimate power over humanity, domination over free will. You had once focused so heavily on how that absolute control would stop war, would stop suffering. But at what cost? It must be a great one for this man in front of you to be throwing any semblance of a normal life away for it. 

“Tell me more about your Creed.” He turns over the fish and glances up at you once again, meeting your curious eyes. You’re sitting down with your legs curled up to your chest, arms wrapped around them with your hin propped on your knees. This isn’t smalltalk or you digging for information, it’s genuine interest. He hadn’t missed your pondering look before, that glint of unsurety in your eyes. 

“Alright…”

°:.   *₊    ° .   ☆ ☾　 °:.   *₊  ° . ° .•

Weeks later and you meet again, having shared many more meetings in the meantime. You understand Ratonhnhaké:ton better now, you understand his creed. He seems different from his mentor that Haytham had told you about, so very different. He doesn’t meddle in the first civilisation that your mentor speaks of so frequently and you wonder if it’s for the best after the stories you had heard of while in the Order. Haytham speaks of them vaguely but you still have a comprehensive enough understanding. 

The more he speaks, the more you doubt your own order who wish to use these artefacts for their plans to shepard humanity towards its best self, the more you wonder if your superiors in the Order are just set on a path to repeat history. You’ve shared with him all the information you have now. You now feel like less of a double agent and more of a spy – having to give away anything about the Assassin you’ve come to secretly think of as a friend feels like a betrayal, even if it’s only for the sake of protecting your ulterior motives for having returned to the Order at all after that night you first encountered Rathonhnhaké:ton for yourself. 

He’s been more open with you too. Haytham is his father – something which both made sense, looking at his face, and shocked you, considering he is an Assassin and his father a Templar. Charles Lee, at Haytham’s command, had burned his village to the ground as a child, killing his mother. You empathise with that deeply. You had joined the Order knowing that you had no family of your own to lose should things get messy. It seems that the two of you are in the same boat for that one. 

Now, he’s picking out the bones from your fish while you prepare some water to boil over the fire. But time has moved on and winter draws near, bringing a chill into this little cave that feels like it’s become your one and only sanctuary in the world. You hold your open palms near the fire and try to chase away the chill but it does you very little good. 

Connor watches you for a moment before he removes his gloves and hands them to you. As he holds them out silently, those well-worn gloves appear like an olive branch to you. This really is for the best, you think. More and more, you’ve come to realise that you were misled by your Order. You were promised to be a harbinger, to be one of the names that would live on forever as a part of the order who had saved humanity. But you were a pawn all along. Even despite your special abilities, Haytham had been more than willing to sacrifice you for whatever gain. You might have a little more value in his eyes now that you’ve ‘proven’ you can take on the Assassin and get away with your life but you’ve seen your old mentor, you’ve heard how he talks of the first civilisation. He’ll stop at nothing and you’re more than sure that should he see another opportunity where your sacrifice and earn great gain for him and his plans, he’ll send you walking straight into the arms of death all over again. 

You take the gloves and slide them on over your hands. 

“Thank you.” You offer a smile but you hold back just how happy this small gesture makes you. They’re far too big but they’re soft and warm. They’re clearly broken in, the fingertips especially worn down from what you can only assume is all the climbing he does in stalking around with the stealth of his kind. But it’s the fact he’s given them to you at all that touches your heart. 

The two of you eat, drink, you share intel and it becomes late enough that you wrap yourself tightly in a thick blanket and curl up on your bedroll beside the campfire. The cave provides enough shelter to keep out the bitter wind but the temperature has still dropped drastically with the change of seasons. You sit up to wrap your blanket around your feet better and you find yourself wishing you had brought another pair of socks or, better yet, a warmer pair. You then lay back down, curled in on yourself to try and gather as much insulation as possible, and close your eyes to try and sleep. But the cold instead bites at your ears and so you pull your blanket up over the back of your head like a hood and shuffle a little closer to the fire so that your nose is warmed by the flame. 

You hear shuffling around you and crack an eye open to see that Rathonhnaké:ton has moved. He’s no longer laid on his bedroll on the opposite side of the fire but has instead moved it right next to yours behind where you’re curled up on your side. 

“I thought you’d be used to camping by now.” He murmurs and you can hear him lay down beside you, so close that you can feel the heat from his body. 

“Not during the winter, I’m not.” You mumble into your blanket which you’ve pulled up by your mouth so that your breath can warm your face. You feel the weight of his arm lay over your waist and he then presses his chest to your back. You can feel the warmth of his breath over your neck, heating the blanket that’s tucked over the back of your head. You stiffen for a moment, surprised by his willingness to be close to you. 

You feel your heart flutter in your chest and you lean into his warmth. How long has it been since anyone held you like this? It’s wonderful and overwhelming and suddenly there’s no more winter, nothing outside of this little cave where you’ve been setting up camp to meet for almost a year now. 

“Thank you…” You say quietly. Whether for the warmth, or the touch, or for the new path he’s opened to you that you’ve set your life upon now, you’re unsure. 

“There’s no need to thank me.” He replies just as quietly. The two of you lay there for a long time and your heart doesn’t slow, beating like a rabbit’s. He’s so close and you hadn’t expected such a thing to be so exhilarating. Rathonhnaké:ton is a toweringly tall man and you’ve always viewed it as an advantage for when he needs to intimidate. But now, you feel safer than you’ve known since that night of your first encounter when your illusion about the Knights Templar was shattered. 

After a while, you can’t take it anymore and you turn around just enough to be able to look at him over your shoulder. Your faces are very close and you can feel his breath fan across your lips. When you look to meet his eyes, he does the same as he had previously been looking at your mouth. 

“Feeling warmer?” He asks, his voice a rumbling murmur. You give the slightest little nod and your eyes very obviously glance at his pillowy lips again. You don’t try to hide it and nor does he miss it. You’re unsure which of you leans in first – perhaps it had been the both of you, little by little, while you were both preoccupied in imagining how it might be to press your lips to the other’s – but he’s warm and the touch of his lips against yours fills you with a bubbling heat. You turn your body to face him and he pulls you closer by your waist, thumb pressing into you through your clothes and stroking over your body while your lips press and meet again and again. One of your hands goes up to cup his face, feeling his chiselled jaw and cheekbones, then your fingers slide into his silken hair and tangle gently into it when your tongue slides against his. 

You pull away for air for a moment but it’s short lived as his teeth pull gently at your bottom lip and his mouth then grazes against your chin and traces the curve of your jaw in kisses. The cold that had previously bothered you is completely forgotten about and he tugs the collar of your layers of clothing aside so that he can kiss against the pulse of your throat. Your hands find his chest and press to try and feel the contours of his body through his clothing but all the buttons and straps get in your way. Your fingers start working to undo buttons before you realise how caught up you’ve got and you pull away for a moment. 

“Is this ok?” He gives a small nod and leans in to kiss you again as you remove his clothes. You leave his shirt and jackets open, revealing scarred, bronze skin to you. His body is shaped like an ancient statue of legendary heroes. You can’t help but take the opportunity to rove your palms over each contour and feel him in his beauty. 

His large hands slide down to your hips and pull you a little closer. To accommodate him, you move to straddle one of his muscular thighs. He lifts it just enough to press against you and feels a deep stirring below his belt when your teeth sink into your bottom lip and you let out a soft moan.

You had never imagined you would find yourself in this position with Rathonhnaké:ton and yet now that you’re here together, it feels so right. It feels like you really have grown close enough to be like this, like stars in their orbit being pulled to one another. His mouth is on yours again in an instant while he presses his thigh between your legs and he starts to pull at your belt to remove the clothing on your lower half. You help him by tugging off your boots between messy kisses. Once your pants are off and your lower half is bare, you shiver as the chill begins to creep over your bare skin. Connor simply pulls you closer and wraps the blanket firmly around your body while you straddle his lap, taking care to tuck it under your legs in an attempt to keep in as much warmth as possible. 

His fingers dance their way down to your mound where he can already feel the intense heat radiating from you. 

“Do you want to keep going?” He asks as his mouth moves to press wet kisses beneath your ear, breathing over the sensitive spot and making you shiver as a result. You nod your head and unintentionally let a needy sound slip past your lips. 

Ratonhnhaké:ton’s fingers glide through your slick folds and he lets out a little breath of wonder at the feeling of touching you in such an intimate place. Experimentally, he pushes one finger inside of you and watches how your spine arches and your body then bows to lean against him. He pushes it as far as he can go and begins moving it in and out. Letting your bodies take over, allowing words to become of little importance, you begin to grind your hips against his hand so that the heel of his palm catches your clit in a sensation that feels like a delicious burn. He adds another finger and you tug at his pants until his length, thick and heavy in your hand, is freed. You gently squeeze and hear how he sucks in a hiss through his teeth. You then begin to massage up and down, matching the pace of your hips moving to meet his fingers as they draw out soft, wet squelches from your pussy. You swipe over the slit at his tip with your thumb and hear how it makes him groan lowly. You glance down to see a little pool of your arousal gathering in the dip of his palm and decide that enough is enough.

You raise your hips up until his fingers slip out of you entirely. You then remove your hands from him and loop your arms loosely around his neck instead. He understands your intentions clearly and strokes himself a few times, covering his length in the slick from your pussy. You bring your hips back down and he guides himself into you. You’re quick to press your mouth to his in another messy kiss in order to muffle the moan you let out upon feeling the stretch of him pushing into you. You pause shakily along the way, deciding you can take all of him once you’re a little more adjusted, and start to ride. 

Connor’s large hands slide beneath your ass to grab at the soft flesh that spills between his fingers and he uses his hold to support you in moving up and down, holding a lot of your weight with his strength. As you continue to move your hips rhythmically, one of his hands leaves your rear in favour of pulling at the buttons and ties that keep your chest hidden. Once it’s revealed, he lets out an appreciative groan of approval and his mouth latches onto one of your breasts as he pulls you closer and you ride him. Your head tips back to the ceiling of the cave and you pant as the wind whistles outside, joining with the crackling of the fire, the shift of the fabric of your clothing and blanket and the slick sounds of his cock filling you up over and over. 

Ratonhnhaké:ton is big and consequently manages to hit all the right spots at once as he fills you again and again, your hips angled just right for him to brush against the places that have you curling your cold toes. His mouth slathers your breasts in kisses, pausing to nip or suck at your plush flesh and he works your blood into a feverish heat. The two of you pant for breath, moans and groans echoing off the stone walls. 

After a while, his arms wrap around your waist as he lays back, bringing him with you. He kisses you firmly as he brings his knees up and you almost feel the breath get knocked from your lungs when he begins thrusting up into you. You rest your head on his shoulder as he pounds up into your sensitive pussy and your sensitive, teased nipples brush against his chest as your body shakes and wavers with his movements. 

A pressure builds in your abdomen, growing tighter and more intense until your whole body is flooded in pleasure, walls squeezing tightly around his cock as though begging him to come with you. And you’re successful in sending him over the edge, hearing him moan, the whimper in his tone as he releases into you and holds you close as the two of you catch your breaths. 

But then the cold starts to kick in again. He carefully lifts you so that his softening cock slips out of your messy pussy. You watch as he searches his pockets and takes out a handkerchief which he begins to clean your inner thighs with. He looks to you as if asking if you’re comfortable with him looking after you like this but he finds your head tilted back, eyes closed as your legs twitch at having him touch your sensitive folds to clean you up. He helps you redress and dresses himself before helping you into his coat and throwing some more wood onto the fire, wrapping the blanket around the both of you again. 

Once more, you snuggle into his chest for warmth and neither of you are quite sure what to say, hoping the words will just come to you in the morning. 

Ratonhnhaké:ton presses a kiss to your forehead and holds you a little tighter as he closes his eyes, listening to his own pounding heart, the crackle of the fire and the whining wind outside. 

He decides to make sure that the Templars won’t ever have an opportunity to sacrifice your life again. 

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[medical-anon-whau]

Heya!

@bleedingichorhearts @kit-williams @egrets-not-regrets @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

I've got another life update for everyone. Per suggestions, I was able to ask the Ultramarine how I should dress when meeting with the person in charge, and dressed accordingly, which was semi-formal. I had to run out real quick to get an appropriate pair of dress shoes before the meeting, but I managed alright.

I was rather surprised that Stalker did, in fact, show up to the meeting, but it'd definitely possible that they contacted him via Mysterious Astartes Methods. He accused me of a number of things, and here are the list of "charges"

1) aiding and abetting a "Fallen" Dark Angel

2) refusing to allow an Interrogator Chaplain to complete his sanctioned duties

3) defacing astartes armor (Jerk is still covered in glitter. I have the paint and glitter bombs on my person right now in case be pulls some more nonsense)

4) Colluding willingly with an Alpha Legionnaire to torment a Loyal Astartes

5) Distracting A Dark Angel during the course of his duties.

Now, I'm no law expert, but I figured he might pull some letitigous bullshit and have been doing some research on my own. I wasn't entirely sure what the Ultramarine Base Commander was going to say in response, but I pointed out that;

1) In the country that I am living in and so are they, the lawful government does not, to my knowledge, recognize the authority of Astartes Chaplains when it comes to crimes accused or actual committed by an astartes BEFORE THEY CAME TO EARTH

2) they did not involve local law enforcement before attempting to take the Fallen in question who has been the primary caretaker for a chronically ill and weakened human in good faith for the better part of a decade. I also got statements from both the human and their neighbors about the character of the Fallen and his daily activities, as well as from my patient's family

3) he has been harassing and willfully intimidating me with the intent to scare - which are both actual crimes - for over two months now. I have been keeping as accurate an account of each instance and brought a copy of that journal with me to the meeting (I have several copies of all the information I brought with me, in case Jerk tries anything. I also left this Intel with both Fallen and the Alpharii) for the base commander or whoever to read through at their convenience.

4) talking with other people who he's also deliberately antagonizing to try and get him to stop is not a crime, and the Alpha Legionnaire (I did not reveal that I know for a fact there are at least three of them in that house - more about the third Alpharius later) is concerned for the long term effects the stress of Jerk tormenting me will have on the care I'm able to provide to his sickly patient, and had suggestions on how to get Jerk to back off when I asked for them.

5) I JUST WANT HIM TO LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE AND STOP HARASSING FAMILY OF MY PATIENTS! JUST FUCK OFF!

Noooot that I deliberately cursed Jerk in front of the base commander. I almost cussed him out several times though. The giant fucker is tapdancing on my last nerve.

The base commander was quiet and seemed thoughtful at the gathered evidence I had provided for him. He began talking in a language I don't understand, and Jerk periodically answered back. He started getting agitated the longer the Mystery Talk went on.

A half hour of conversation I did not understand later and the base commander said that he was going to be restricting Ghaliel (Jerk's Actual Name, apparently) to base for the next month, and to report him if he breaks his restriction.

That was two days ago. So far, Jerk hasn't been trying to scare me... I was also able to speak with one of the Librarians after the meeting with the base commander.

Apparently, I have a weak bond with an astartes. I really hope it's with one of the Alpharii. They're fun, playful and caring.

Oh right! The third Alpharius!

I happened to stumble across all three of them whispering to each other, the day before I was gonna meet with the base commander, during my shift with their human family member. I'm pretty sure they did that on purpose, as alpharius number 3 handed me the last of the character testimonies I was hoping to get for Fallen in exchange for two glitter-paint bombs.

I don't want to k ow what he plans on doing with them, his cackling was terrifying.

[wainswright]

Pleased to inform tumblr i searched up transandrophobia (anti-transmasc) because I saw a screenshot of a post on another post and I thought it’s reasonable to say trans men will have experiences that are different from problems specific to trans women, and found more discourse than expected.

I genuinely don’t know what started the beef so lmk if I missed something huge, but here’s what I got.

TME (trans misogyny exempt) avowed word definer says that there is a kind of transphobia specific to trans women that isn’t universal to trans men. To which I say, yeah, in various ways. And then explicitly sets this against (as a part of defining this word, for some reason) to say there is no transphobia specific to trans men that isn’t universal to trans women. Which I think is wrong.

(there’s also this assertion that people bring up a word like anti-transmasculine to try to silence trans women, but nno.) it could happen but I doubt that is the actual drive for someone trying to talk about their own experiences.

An example provided in this weirdly thorough disavowal: a complaint of “not being respected by cis men” is just a general transphobia thing, not especial to trans men. Er, true, but you know this trans man meant “respected as men by cis men.”

It also implies that being gendered as "other" (as opposed to being simply misgendered) is specific to trans women, which is just incorrect. This is really bizarre. It happens in different ways to different people, but to say it doesn't happen at all is... internet discourser...

Oh, I see. This is based off of an analysis of the intersectionality argument. Really odd, though. TME definer says there’s no real point to saying anti-transmasc problems are real/worth "having a word?", while describing what can only be transphobia, specific to trans men. They’re kind of wandering around this but I think meant to engage in this seriously so I’m also writing seriously. Oho, but it's not merely a dismissal in day to day experience, but also severity.

The next objection is: Transmisogyny (anti-transfem attitude) is especially systemic (being transphobia (systemic) multiplied by misogyny (historically systemic)), unlike general transphobia (systemic) which just describes any problems a trans man AND trans woman may face. Alright, this seems … again like it’s going too far. Intersectionality as a term, which I see is referenced in structure here, was made to address a specific issue of legal analysis. It is not a law of language, experience, or definition. It was half procedural. The idea of intersectionality in practice, of course, is a little different. It’s frankly disingenuous to say only trans women can experience unique systemic issues more specific to being perceived as transfem, but trans men do not experience systemic issues that aren't unique to being trans men. This is mixing up the reality of the experience with a word definition by pretending there's a mathematical formula that applies only to trans women (because misogyny is real.) By definition of transmisogyny (issues specific to trans women) existing, this already implies by the style of definition there are different issues (specific to trans men) that are still systemic, it's fine if it has a word and is discussed, even and because it's specifically not transmisogyny. (which is getting confusing if being this specific with the definition of misogyny, even this specific "type" of misogyny as applied to any interaction at all, could apply to many transmasc experiences too, what's the issue.) Even if the sentiment you were trying to communicate is “trans women have worse problems for various structural reasons,” quibbling about trans men having trans man specific problems at all is a pointless way to try to demonstrate that.

You could say any regularly targeted and enforced by law disrespect or discrimination that leads to systemic issues like lower income, increasingly bad relationships, targeted worsening of quality of life, or less opportunities or general bad treatment growing up is “just transphobia” in this case, what’s the use of claiming only trans women suffer from it enough to speak about it with a word? This doesn’t work like that. You can’t separate it like “only transwomen” as suffering systemic discrimination. There is a difference in details, yes, but not separable by a word multiplier. Also, transmisogyny is also transphobia, yet there are clearly issues specific to being perceived as transfem.

The third objection is to say (not sure why this definition seems to be mostly arguing against the existence of trans men specific interpersonal or systemic issues, whats with this set up, some kind of discourse plant? like the claim that anything to do with pregnancy is actually purely misogyny or some random thing and not mostly specific to do with being a trans man. Sounds like an odd word game.) The argument goes (extremely strangely) on to claim anti-transmasc/transandrophobia as a word and consequently in entire concept is fishy because it implies misandry is equal to misogyny, because transmisogyny says its an intersection of transphobia and misogyny, and misandry isn’t systemic but misogyny is- so logically… to complain about trans men specific problems is about as valid as complaining men are systemically oppressed (nb person, no)

That’s genuinely not how that intersectionality paper is meant to read. It’s not a rulebook to making definitions people are allowed to talk about or acknowledge as existing. It is true anti-transmasc problems will not be specifically defined as an intersection between misandry and transphobia, but is instead, a kind of experience specific to being perceived as transmasc. However, it's still clearly distinct and a real cultural experience different from being perceived as transfem.

[craftykittyscientist]

hello everyone!

I want to talk about Marcellus Williams, also known as Khaliifah, who is scheduled to be executed in Missouri on September 24th for a crime DNA proves that he did not commit. There are several glaring injustices surrounding his conviction, including mishandling of evidence.

BACKGROUND: Marcellus "Khaliifah" Williams was sentenced to death for the tragic 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle, who was stabbed to death in her own home. The perpetrator left considerable forensic evidence at the crime scene, none of which matched Mr Williams. The prosecution case was based entirely on the unreliable testimony of two witnesses who were incentivised by promises of leniency in their own pending criminal cases and reward money. Neither of them provided new information, and their accounts conflicted with each other, their own prior statements and also crime scene evidence. They could also not be independently verified. In 2015, Missouri Supreme Court stayed Mr Williams' execution and appointed a special master to review DNA testing.

THE TESTING SHOWED THAT MR WILLIAMS WAS NOT THE SOURCE OF MALE DNA FOUND ON THE MURDER WEAPON. Nonetheless, in 2017, the special master sent the case back to the Missouri Supreme Court, who then rescheduled the execution WITHOUT CONSIDERING THE DNA TESTING. The then Governor, Eric Greitens, stayed the execution AFTER Mr Williams' last meal, and convened a board of inquiry to investigate the case. Under Missouri law, the stay of execution was to remain in place until the board of inquiry concluded its review and issued a formal report. EVEN SO, the current Governor Mike Parson, without warning or notice, DISSOLVED THE BOARD WITHOUT REPORT OR RECOMMENDATION WHILE THE INQUIRY WAS STILL GOING. The Attorney General Andrew Bailey then sought a new execution date. Mr Williams attempts to sue Governor Parson for violation of the law and his constitutional rights, but the lawsuit is dismissed in June 2024. The execution is set for September.

MISHANDLING OF EVIDENCE: In January 2024 there was more movement with the case as St Louis County prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell concluded Mr Williams was innocent (due to the DNA evidence) and moved to vacate his conviction. The findings of three independent DNA experts was reviewed, again, all three of them concluding that Mr Williams' DNA was not on the murder weapon. Sickeningly, it has also been found that there was CONSIDERABLE MISHANDLING OF FORENSIC EVIDENCE. The office of Attorney General Andrew Bailey himself stated that the knife used to kill Ms Gayle had “been handled by many actors, including law enforcement", and FOR THIS REASON, Mr Williams could not be exonerated! There was also DNA from an investigator for the prosecutor’s office at the time of Williams’ trial, and the prosecutor who handled the case could also not be excluded. In fact, that prosecutor stated that HE TOUCHED THE KNIFE AT LEAST FIVE TIMES WHILE NOT WEARING GLOVES! To Attorney General Bailey, it seems that this heinous miscarriage of justice is more reason to execute Marcellus Williams rather than exonerate him.

RACIAL BIAS WHEN SELECTING JURY: Another injustice in the Marcellus Williams case was the selection of a mostly white jury: eleven white jurors to one Black juror. This was not a coincidence - Keith Larner, the assistant prosecutor during the 2001 trial, removed six of seven qualified potential Black jurors, including one because he thought he looked like Mr Williams. Mr Larner was questioned about this in the recent hearing, and Kansas City Star reports, "They looked like brothers — familial brothers, not Black brothers, Larner tried to clarify." Furthermore, one prospective Black juror was not selected because he worked for the Post Office, and postal workers, according to the prosecutor, tend to be "very liberal". Nonetheless, he still approved a white post office worker for the jury. The jury took less than two hours (including lunch) to decide to sentence Marcellus Williams to death.

what you can do to help is sign the petition, talk about this, and share! save an innocent man’s life.

text is copied from this person! please retweet and like this post :)

[midwesttranssurvivalcollective]

legality of diy 101

[this is from bits of a zine we’re working on - feedback and additional info very welcome]

before we get into it: two disclaimers and a tl;dr

disclaimer 1 - Trans people have always created our own means of survival both inside and outside of the law. The hope of this zine is to provide you with enough information to make informed decisions for yourself, and to provide you with the confidence and grounding to take whatever steps you need to survive without shame. If you are someone who has a lot of fear around doing things outside of the law, I’d actually encourage you to seek out queer/trans focused prisoner support spaces, and build relationships with currently incarcerated trans people through letter-writing.

disclaimer 2 - In the past there’s not been much of a precedent for prosecution of unprescribed hormone possession. It’s impossible to say with certainty what this will look like in the future - which is why taking extra precaution now is just good practice. As we’re seeing with a few high profile cases of prosecution of abortion-seekers, sometimes people get singled out as faces of a larger cultural panic and honestly that informs how court cases go more than anything else. A goal of ours is to make sure no trans person is left behind or abandoned to the system - that we can support each other regardless of what any law or judge says.

tl;dr: It's complicated. If you're in the U.S. you should assume it's illegal and therefore do as much risk mitigation as you can, that prosecuting small individual use of hormones is probably not a priority, and that trans people have always found extralegal forms of survival and you should not feel any shame about steps you take for your own survival.

General legal info:

Estrogen is broadly considered to be lower-risk as it's not a controlled substance, meaning a substance whose possession and use are regulated by law. It is technically illegal to import without a prescription and posession without a prescription is a gray area, but in general it's not seen as a major legal concern. If anyone is curious, if you were somehow to be caught and prosecuted for possession of estrogen, it would probably fall in the realm of a misdemeanor. Information about how to access DIY estrogen is decently accessible online.

Testosterone is a schedule III controlled substance, so its possession and use are regulated by law, and illegal posession or use could in theory land you a felony. [lots of legal talk incoming] There are federal and state laws relating to controlled substances, and state by state it varies a lot, ranging from misdemeanor to felony. Federally possession is a felony with a charge of ~1 year in prison and a $7,500 fine. The main things the actual charge would depend on would be whether you are caught by local law enforcement or federal law enforcement, the state you’re in, the amount you have (larger amounts sometimes indicate intent to distribute, which can increase the charge), if you have any other illegal/controlled substances that are found, and if you have past drug-related offenses. A package being delivered to your address is not sufficient proof for possession! A single person, buying only enough for themselves, with no proof of intent to distribute, no prior offenses, good operational security, and any level of plausible deniability shouldn’t be putting up legal red flags. Testosterone is also used by cis men without prescription, though, and there's a pretty extensive culture around testosterone use and discussion in weighlifting/gym forums.

Again, the priorities of law enforcement would probably be more oriented towards sellers of the controlled substance, meaning that even if a package of yours was seized, they would probably care less about finding you and more about finding the person who’s selling to you. That being said, because it is a higher risk hormone due to its status as a controlled substance, it is more important to be careful and take better precautions. 

General practices of ordering:

-If you're ordering online, try to order domestically rather than internationally as packages are most likely to be seized in customs

-When ordering online, use good operational security! Don't use google to research DIY because your search records on google can be accessed by law enforcement and used in court or easily seen by family/friends. Don't message people about your purchasing of DIY or post on social media or Tumblr or Reddit specifically saying you've ordered it online. Use a VPN (but not any of the VPNs you see advertised on Youtube! I like ProtonVPN and use the free or $5 tier). For browsers, use DuckDuckGo (limits tracking and cares about your privacy) or Tor or Tails (will share more about these in a future post). Consider the levels of privacy you might want (i.e. hiding the websites you’re visiting from your Wifi provider, from someone who might be using your computer, and hiding your personal information from the sites you visit).

-If you’re up for it, try buying Bitcoin, then exchanging it for Monero, which is a more privacy-oriented cryptocurrency that makes it more difficult to connect the person to the currency.

-If you can ship to a P.O. box rather than your own address, that's a good risk mitigation step. Same if you can use a different name, although if it's more suspicious for you to use a different name (i.e. if you live with family members who might throw the package out or open it), keep that in mind.

-If you have a packaged seized, you'll receive a letter from customs letting you know that your package was seized. This is okay, it doesn't mean anyone's coming after you, and it's difficult to actually prove you ordered something even if it was addressed to you (all the more reason to be good about your security when ordering). Consider ordering from a different site, to a different address, and with a different name for the foreseeable future.

General practices of possession:

-Be conscious about where your hormones are. Are they somewhere an unsupportive family member or roommate could find? Are they in a vehicle (police can legally search your vehicle if you're pulled over without any need for probable cause)? Are they on your person in a moment when you might get searched by police? Are you bringing them to the airport, where your bags might be searched by TSA? Best risk mitigation practices would be to not ever have your hormones anywhere they could be found by anyone, and particularly avoiding having in them in a vehicle or while traveling. Sometimes this might mean missing a dose or two, or ordering a new bottle at your destination for a longer-term trip/move. 

as always, if you’ve got things to add, or questions for us, please reach out! we have a protonmail (badsands@proton.me) and are on here.

[resonette]

❛　ah, miss trigger finger　⸻　it’s nice to see you again.　❜　he jests lightly, he swears he’s teasing, after all, if he was being all too serious, he wouldn’t have brought along an arrangement of flowers that he held with an arm. a peace offering of sorts, after all, it was safe to say that he was left with an unforgettable first impression　⸻　one he thinks of often.　❛　i thought i’d bring you a little gift. i’m honored that you invited me, even more so at the opportunity of talking business further, just you and i this time.　❜　

(  unprompted asks.  always accepting.  ) @killerhubby

the restaurant she picked wasn't a place she would normally go, but she knew she needed to send a message in return. to be honest, she had no idea if mirage was going to show up tonight or not, but it was a win-win. if he did, they could talk business. if he didn't, she could enjoy a meal by herself ( a luxury she did not often get ). her suit was practical: a matching pair of grey pants and a jacket, a black blouse. halfgloves that would keep her fingerprints off of things yet provide plenty of skin to decorate with golden bracelets. mismatched eyes stare through half a glass of water currently, gently perusing the menu, currently torn between a chicken carbonara or a bourbon-glazed salmon.

everything has been practiced, perfected: she has to admit, finding information on the elusive mirage is almost nonexistent, but her ability to look at law enforcement databases and her familiarity with contracts in the criminal underground could find that he had italian roots - so picking a restaurant that didn't offend his tastebuds was paramount. she's a good host, if only because of her attention to detail, so when he walks in, garnering the attention of the dining room with simply his stature alone, she chuckles. time to play a game.

" mirage, " she says in her sweet-like-honey voice, smiling. she is a lady, so she doesn't rise from her seat, a bit old fashioned when she's a hostess. instead, she admires the flowers - she wonders if he's done research on her, if her love of florals is as public to strangers as it is to friends and peers. she extends a hand for him to shake, smiling a bit in response. " thank you for coming. and thank you for the beautiful flowers, my goodness. they'll look lovely next to the ones that i grow. " a silent notion: she acknowledges his own attention to detail, regardless as to whether or not it was intentional. ( she wonders if everything he does is intentional, or if he's just that good. )

" i want to offer another apology for my behavior at your meeting, a few weeks ago. i trust you'll believe me when i tell you that nothing about that man had good intentions, for you or for anyone. " she doesn't yet go into detail about how she knows that: trying to explain evol to those who did not possess one was always complicated and messy. " but the fact that you're here must mean something favorable for me, yes? i'm looking forward to this. though, i should preface this: unfortunately, i need you more than you need me." ( it's silent, unspoken: look, it says, you're in control here even though the invitation was mine. whether it's an intentional weakening via the truth or an unconscious way of apologizing, however, is anyone's game. )

" so, " she smiles, tilting her head. " should we get started? "

[sarkos]

Raw Story attempted to ask Ivan Raiklin about his stated desire to conduct “live-streamed swatting raids” against individuals on his “target list.” Also of interest: his efforts to work with largely rural, conservative county sheriffs to deputize some 75,000 military veterans to arrest people on his list.But Raiklin, who has refused to answer Raw Story’s questions by phone and email for more than a month, would not talk substantively outside the Fiserv Forum, where the Republican National Convention is being conducted. Raiklin also objected to being approached without appointment. “You’re like on the threshold, the cusp of conducting political violence, and I don’t like that. I want you to calm down.” “I’m fine,” said the reporter, who had approached Raiklin in a public plaza. “Are you going to answer the question or not?” “Do you think that’s appropriate behavior?” Raiklin later said, adding that reporters were wrong to “completely deviate from all standard norms and principles of being a cordial individual.” [...]“He’s never been able to give me a name” of a supportive sheriff, Mack said.Raw Story asked Raiklin on Wednesday: “Do you have any reaction to Richard Mack saying you don’t have a single sheriff, a single one, who is behind your plan?” Raiklin reacted with his often-used tactic of not answering questions directly, recording the encounter, and responding with questions of his own. Throughout the eight-minute exchange, Raiklin remained evasive. For example, Raw Story asked Raiklin why, if he has evidence of wrongdoing by people on his “Deep State target list,” he doesn’t provide that information to law enforcement. Raiklin responded by saying he wanted to keep the situation calm. He invited the reporter to sit and drink a bottle of water. He asked the reporter about his background. But never answered the reporter’s question. Raiklin has periodically approached public officials such as Anthony Fauci and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, peppering them with questions and comments.

Exclusive: Trump ‘secretary of retribution’ won't discuss his ‘target list’ at RNC - Raw Story

“The most important thing when you ask someone about their 350 person “target list“ is to be polite.”

- The Prosecutor of the Nurenburg Trials, probably

[frogburglar]

I have an interesting question, I would like to hear from your perspective. Should anal sex be illegal for a male to do on a female, as it is so degrading and painful for women, it just seems like another excuse for men to hurt women...?

hey! sorry for the wait, i've been busy and i wanted to give this question some consideration. i 100% agree that anal sex (for men to do to women) is degrading and painful, and i think it needs to be lessened and (hopefully) more or less eliminated. however, making it illegal probably isn't the move for a few different reasons:

it would be insanely difficult to prosecute. if the woman does consent, then i sincerely doubt that she would tell the cops and they would do anything about it. if she doesn't, we already have anti-sodomy laws (in the US) in place that make it illegal to have anal sex with someone who does not consent, on top of the anti rape laws that exist.

people hate being told what they legally can or cannot do with their bodies.

going off of #2, i don't like the implications such a law has about women's bodies. i think male on female anal sex is very degrading and painful, but many women consent despite that. this could provide an argument for people against abortion to point to, to say that women can't make decisions about our own bodies and need the law to make those decisions for us. obviously these are vastly different situations, but the argument (and precedent) is there regardless.

this could very easily become an anti-gay law as well. male on male anal sex is a common way for gay men to engage in sexual activity, and in the US it has a long history of being criminalized. a law criminalizing heterosexual anal sex could serve as precedent for laws criminalizing homosexual anal sex.

an anti male on female anal sex law could negatively impact rape cases, especially those involving sodomy. i think a law like this would have far more backlash than support, especially among law enforcement, and such backlash could make it harder for rape victims to be taken seriously. along with the metric fuck ton of bullshit they have to go through to maybe get some sort of justice, such a law might serve to (if the male rapist sodomized her) argue that she did consent to it, and is using this law as an excuse to prosecute him. there are other examples i can think of where such a law could negatively impact rape victims, but that's a big one.

so yeah! overall i do agree that anal sex (for men to do to women) is degrading and should not happen. the extreme rise in it due to porn is fucked and needs to be combatted, but i don't think a legal solution would be the right way to go about it. i also have my master's in social work (alongside being in law school) and i'd prefer to take more of a social work perspective for this sort of problem: education and trauma-informed care for women who have consented to anal sex. of course, banning porn would be the appropriate legal solution, but i think that might be as far as we can do to legally combat male on female anal sex.

thanks for the question! i love talking law :)

[worido]

Decided i wanted to Talk about some of the Games that released in 2023 i played.

Gonna mainly focus on some smaller games i really enjoyed or found interesting in some way.

Cassette Beasts

Starting with what might well be one of if not my favourite game of the year, Cassette Beasts.

It's a Creature Collection RPG in which you are stranded on a mysterious island called New Wirral and adventure across the island both to better understand the nature of the island itself and to potentially find a way off the island. In doing so you meet several companions, one of which will be accompanying you at any point, as well as a community of people consisting of other castaways and their descendents. You also encounter various monster that you can record using cassette tapes to then transform into to fight back. As you journey with your companions you also unlock the option to Fuse with them during battle giving you access to thousands of monster fusions to use in battles.

The whole game honestly feels well thought out and just feels satisfying to play and clearly designed by people who play and understand Creature Collection/Monster Taming RPGs. A simple example of this in my eyes is the simple fact that you cannot accidentally knock out the monster you are trying to record, this games equivalent of capturing.

Something the Devs, among other things, talk about in this Steam blogpost about design and expectations for those curious.

Have i mentioned yet that the soundtrack is amazing and dynamically adds vocals during fights under certain conditions ?

The composer Joel Baylis uploaded a few tracks on YouTube if people are curious.

I could probably keep writing about Cassette Beasts and might need to do a seperate post in the future but for now, if you can only check out one game from this list, go check out Cassette Beasts, it's great.

Chants of Sennaar

For something more Relaxed, theres the Puzzle game Chants of Sennaar. In it you are dropped at the bottom of a tower inhabited by multiple groups of people without any direction and the slight catch that you don't speak any of their languages. As you make your way up this Tower of Babel alike you therefore have to figure out the language of the people you meet and use it to solve puzzles and sometimes translate between groups. It's a relatively short game, it personally took me about 7 hours, but a very interesting experience nonetheless.

Shadows of Doubt

Shadows of Doubt mixes the world of Noir Detectives, a Cyberpunk setting and randomly generated cities. You set out to solve cases of murder, stolen items, infidelity or plain simple Information gathering. In doing so you often sneak around and break laws as the enforcers are everything but cooperative. All this with the eventual goal to earn enough social credit for your Detective to retire.

Despite the randomly generated nature of it the game is surprisingly good at generating coherent cases with enough leads to provide you something to work with or even sometimes giving you red herrings to trip over as the citizens lives are constantly being simulated around you. With that said the game is still in early access and random generation does have it weirdness sometimes, still it's a fun time and if you can tolerate and find the fun in abit of jank every now and then, worth a look.

Laika: Aged trough Blood

Gonna preface that this one comes with a Content Warning for it's Story for violence, blood, drugs, and strong language (Taken from it's Steam Page)

Getting to the actual game thought the Devs describe it as a Motorvania, a 2D Metroidvania on a motorbike which hits the nail on the head pretty well. Set in a Post-apocalyptic World oppressed by a fascist bird empire. You play as Laika, a coyote mother who bears a curse passed on trough her family that prevents her from dying. At the start of the game her tribe chooses to actively bring the Fight against the birds after one of their children is murdered and crucified with their own guts by the Birds.

The game then takes Laika trough the World on her quest to put a end to the oppression trough the Birds, making use of her curse which prevents her from dying.

On a gameplay level it has you biking trough the world shooting bird soldiers along the way, often treating encounters as something that feels closer to a puzzle in which you have to navigate the fire from the soldiers while returning fire and trying not to crash, since in this game any hit means death.

Similarly enemies also typically die within a shot or two and the game doesn't tend to feel too punishing as respawn points are pretty frequent.

It all comes together in a world that has a Somber Beauty to it. It's all in all a pretty fun and somewhat emotional experience, although with the caveat that the game is hard and does require a certain resistance to frustration. That said, as you do make your way trough a big group of enemies dodging bullets and using the sides of your bike as cover, the game does feel rewarding to play.

Gonna stop this Post here, although i may make more of them in the future as i found i kinda enjoyed collecting my thoughts like this and there's plenty of more Games i played i can talk about.

That said, if anyone has any games of their own they found interesting or think deserve some extra eyes, pleas do tell I'm always looking for interesting games to play

[arcanescionmoved]

Caitlyn became an enforcer when she was struck out of her mother's grasp. She went to the academy when she was 23, spending six months in the training regiment.

Since then, Caitlyn had a pretty good standing record for the first year. She did her job, did it well, and went where she was told and when she was told. But working in records for a little bit, she started to notice something off. The way the records were kept about her undercity dealings, about incidents and accidents and she started to piece things together. When she was twenty-four, she started to develop what others called "The Great Conspiracy." It first started with a corkboard and writing stuff down. Whether it was found in records at the Enforcer hall or talking with informants.

There were a few instances that got Caitlyn suspended from work. One was when she went to go talk with an informant that came from Zaun up to Piltover. She was in mid-conversation when other enforcers came to arrest the man on 'chargers of breaking and entering' and Caitlyn got into a fistfight with some of them. Her suspension was a month as it was her first offense.

Another was when she snuck onto a crime scene without proper approval. She was caught and much of what she had done whether taking photos or notes were confiscated and destroyed. Caitlyn was lucky she had an eidetic memory and remembered everything she saw and drew it down. However, this got her suspended for another month.

Other situations have happened that caused Caitlyn to have some penalties, extra duties on guard, or small infractions that she was punished for because she didn't follow proper protocol or violated certain procedures.

Caitlyn grew tired of how she felt like Marcus kept blocking her at every twist and turn, but even so, she continued to figure out her own 'conspiracy theories' because she believed she was onto something despite the constant ridicule and blocks from Marcus and other enforcers under him. She wasn't fired due to her position as a councillor's daughter and the fact that her family standing provided Caitlyn with a privilege she didn't even think about at the time.

As Caitlyn put it, "she was not the best enforcer," because she believes in doing what is right by people, and not right by the law.

[valiantthearts]

 ― SUSPENSIONS & BREAKING RULES .

Caitlyn became an enforcer when she was struck out of her mother's grasp. She went to the academy when she was twenty-one, spending six months in the training regimen.

Since then, Caitlyn had a pretty good standing record for the first year. She did her job, did it well, and went where she was told and when she was told. But working in records for a little bit, she started to notice something off. The way the records were kept about her undercity dealings, about incidents and accidents and she started to piece things together. When she was twenty-four, she started to develop what others called "The Great Conspiracy." It first started with a corkboard and writing stuff down. Whether it was found in records at the Enforcer hall or talking with informants.

There were a few instances that got Caitlyn suspended from work. One was when she went to go talk with an informant that came from Zaun up to Piltover. She was in mid-conversation when other enforcers came to arrest the man on 'chargers of breaking and entering' and Caitlyn got into a fistfight with some of them. Her suspension was a month as it was her first offense.

Another was when she snuck onto a crime scene without proper approval. She was caught and much of what she had done whether taking photos or notes were confiscated and destroyed. Caitlyn was lucky she had an eidetic memory and remembered everything she saw and drew it down. However, this got her suspended for another month.

Other situations have happened that caused Caitlyn to have some penalties, extra duties on guard, or small infractions that she was punished for because she didn't follow proper protocol or violated certain procedures.

Caitlyn grew tired of how she felt like Marcus kept blocking her at every twist and turn, but even so, she continued to figure out her own 'conspiracy theories' because she believed she was onto something despite the constant ridicule and blocks from Marcus and other enforcers under him. She wasn't fired due to her position as a councillor's daughter and the fact that her family standing provided Caitlyn with a privilege she didn't even think about at the time.

As Caitlyn put it, "she was not the best enforcer," because she believes in doing what is right by people, and not right by the law.

 ― [ U ] NIFORM COMPLIANTS .

Caitlyn often caused problems for Markus, but one of the minor problems she caused with him was her annoyance over the uniform.

For ceremonial purposes, she had no problem where a uniform with a skirt and a huge top hat. However, the fact that every day works whether it be patrolling or protecting a ceremony or event; she found the dress highly inappropriate and worse of all led to more complications in a fight. What if she had to chase someone down? What if she had to tackle them and arrest them? What if she had to climb, jump, and move in ways that a dress could not handle?

Caitlyn often spoke out against the feminine design of the uniform and argued that it was ineffective for women in the units. Not only was the design impractical but it was also counterproductive because it shaped women to look more like accessories to the enforcers rather than competent and able-bodied fighters. She also vouched for the fact that women used to wear pants, as seen by Grayson and she had many reasons why they should revert to women wearing pants once more.

Sadly, her words were not heard and once more, told to return to her post. Her dress uniform pissed her off so much. It's not that Caitlyn didn't like feminine outfits, she loves wearing gala dresses and her femme design; however, she found it ill-suited to being on duty doing day-to-day work.

[cyanidecinematicuniverse]

Theseus

The Theseus Guild is a huge open secret in this universe. The government is generally very corrupt in the area this guild resides in. Theseus providing information (as they see fit) and lots of money is more than enough to keep the government from sniffing around. The only time law enforcement will stop any assassin is if they're caught in the act, and at that point, the leader of the guild sees that as survival of the fittest.

Anyone can join the guild if they're willing to undergo intense physical and mental training and pass a test (that I'm still working on the details of). However, there are also children who are brought in to grow up in the guild. As I'm sure you can assume, a lot of assassin's die on the job, and the amount of adults that want to come in and work for the guild isn't a large enough number to make up for the amount of people they lose.

Members are taught not only to kill marks but to search their homes or wherever they were thoroughly to find any information that may be useful to the guild. While assassin's all go through the same training regimen, they aren't expected to complete their tasks in the same way and are free to choose their own weapons and methodology. The one similarity amongst the lower ranks are masks that have been mass produced by the guild. These masks are conjurable so long as the user wears a specific piece of jewelry/accessory (that I haven't decided on). The upper ranks go through a ritual that gives them their own personalized mask attuned to their mana, meaning they're able to conjure it without the use of any outside help, and it also gives them a power.

A part of the ritual that gives them this mask also gives them wings. If you look at the finished characters I'll be posting on this blog, you'll notice they have massive scars on their back as well as wings. These scars are real scars, where during the ritual that moves them into the upper ranks, their backs are cut into so that they may collect the blood to craft the mask, and so that they can infuse them with magic that gives them wings. (I am sleep deprived. I'll probably fix the wording of a lot of this later)

The ritual that moves them into the upper ranks will also include a branding of the mark of the guild, but members are free to choose where this goes. The guild members don't care if you choose a place more hidden, but they might be impressed by your devotion if you choose a place that's harder to cover. The guild leaders' brand/tattoo is on his neck.

The last thing that you're introduced to when you rise into the upper ranks is the services held for Theseus. This is something that's talked about as life changing and sacred, and *almost* all members become true believers in a matter of time.

[dorianbrightmusic]

i'm going to focus on the laws relating to trans youth here simply because there's not space in one post to also talk about the drag ban. however, i don't want to downplay the significance of such; it's a massive and awful, awful change. its enormity is a horror.

here's the text to tennessee's new revision of the law. i do not own this text or any portion of it. https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/112/Bill/SB2696.pdf

i encourage you to read this carefully, because there are some incredibly worrying sections in here. i'm going to quote a section i find especially disconcerting:

"63-1-705. Protection of parental rights.

(a) A parent, guardian, or custodian, in exercising the fundamental right to care for a child, may withhold consent for a treatment, activity, or mental healthcare service that is designed and intended to form the child's conceptions of sex and gender or to treat gender dysphoria or gender nonconformity. An employee or agent of this state or a political subdivision shall not infringe upon or impede the exercise of the right described in this section.

(b) (1) Except for a law enforcement officer acting pursuant to a law

enforcement investigation, an employee or agent of this state or a political subdivision shall not:

(A) Encourage or coerce a minor to withhold information from the minor's parent; or

(B) Withhold from a minor's parents information that is relevant to the physical or mental health of their child and of a sort that parents interested in and responsible for the well-being of a minor reasonably would demand and should be apprised of. (2) A violation of subdivision (b)(1) is grounds for discipline of the

employee or agent, in addition to other remedies provided to a parent under this part.

- 4 - 012885

(c) If an employee or agent of this state or a political subdivision has knowledge that a minor under the care or supervision of this state or a political subdivision has exhibited symptoms of gender dysphoria, gender nonconformity, or otherwise demonstrates a desire to be treated in a manner incongruent with the minor's sex, then the employee or agent with that knowledge must immediately notify, in writing, each of the minor's parents, guardians, or custodians. The notice must describe all of the relevant information known to the employee or agent with reasonable specificity."

why is this worrying? effectively, in summary:

if certain minors don't act in a way that aligns with their assigned sex at birth, certain government workers are obliged to notify their parents in writing . that's right. if kids exhibit symptoms of dysphoria, the parents find out. if kids are just gnc, the parents find out. it's legal that kids potentially be outed to their parents, and then barred treatment.

these laws are so, so dangerous. i'm gonna share an experience here: back when i was 9 or 10 years old, i got offered puberty blockers by my paediatrician. it wasn't related to gender; rather, it was just because she'd (correctly) predicted i was slated to crash into puberty too early and too fast. i declined, but what sticks out to me now is that the offer of puberty blockers was made so, so casually to me as a kid without any dysphoria or notable gender nonconformity. there is a double standard here – if these procedures are safe for cis youth, they are safe for trans youth. no harm is done by buying someone time to think about their gender. and while detransition is real, it is massively, massively exaggerated in media. that's not to say that transition should be considered a perfunctory thing, either. but trans youth are seldom perfunctory in contemplating how to move forward with their gender. trans and gnc youth are risking being mistreated every day simply for existing, and then told that they're to blame for being, or for trying not to be.

laws that attempt to ban transition will only encourage polarisation, thus rendering the few illegal transition practices people have access to in these states yet more dangerous. outlawing gender-affirming care will not change fact that trans people exist. but it will make life so, so much harder for everyone who's ever had the courage to think beyond the limitations imposed on them. outlawing gender-affirming healthcare will put people at so much more of a risk physically and mentally. this legal revision is an absolute travesty.

we have to fight against them together or die there's no choice at this point.

if you're a cis lgb and think you're safe you're not. they're coming for all of us.

[talkingpointsusa]

This is the dumbest, most poorly informed account account of what actually happened on January 6th

The amount of likes this has makes me weep for society (Source: Tucker Carlson on X, formerly Twitter)

Tucker Carlson sucks ass and I hate him with a passion.

I was hoping that Tucker would go straight into histories dumpster alongside Bill O'Reilly when he was fired from FOX but in a horrifying twist, being fired has only amplified his voice in the right-wing grifter-sphere. Former FOX hosts are like cockroaches, they just won't go away.

For those who don't know, Tucker Carlson has created his own media network based around his Twitter that revolves around him "interviewing" other right-wing grifters and essentially becoming Alex Jones for your uncle who used to watch FOX before it became "too leftist". It's been a downward descent into further extremist stupidity since then; from interviewing Alex Jones to saying that he's "open" to the possibility of a flat earth but that guns might prove that the Earth is round Tucker can't stop being an extremist lunatic.

Now, Tucker doesn't just suck ass, he's also a grifter who doesn't believe anything that comes out of his mouth (well, except for the bigoted parts). Tucker texted on Jan 4th, 2021 that he looked forward to FOX being able to ignore Trump and that he "hates him passionately."

But that hasn't stopped Tucker from being a talking head for Trump that panders to the MAGA base with thinly disguised reactionary propaganda because that's where the money is. Perhaps the right aren't the principled defenders of liberty that they pretend to be and are in reality a bunch of bigoted grifters screaming nonsense into the void.

Anyway, fuck Tucker Carlson and he's a new recurring character on this blog. God help us and let's get this over with.

00:00, Tucker Carlson: "It has been exactly three years since since January 6th. The events of January 6th, the racist insurrection that shocked this nation to it's core more profoundly than anything since Pearl Harbor plus the Civil War."

One of the things that Tucker does a lot is present this distorted and sarcastic picture of the left and well....facts in order to lend credibility to his points. Nobody is saying that January 6th is worse than Pearl Harbor plus the Civil War, that's a strawman.

00:16, Tucker Carlson: "And it has taken a while honestly, even for people who aren't on the side of the professional liars, to realize there's something amiss about what happened that day. Not just response; the largest law enforcement mobilization in the history of the United States, that was obviously disproportionate cause it wasn't the worst riot that year, not even close."

The only person I could find making that claim that the law enforcement response to January 6th was the largest mobilization in the history of the United States is Tucker. Surely if this claim was true there would be records saying just that outside of Tucker talking shit a couple days ago.

Unless Tucker provides some proof that January 6th was the largest law enforcement mobilization in the history of the United States we can just go ahead and call that a lie.

Also, I'm assuming he means the BLM protests when he refers to other "worse" riots and the difference between January 6th and the BLM protests is that they weren't trying to invade the goddamn Capitol Building. The scale difference couldn't be larger.

00:34, Tucker Carlson: "But the day itself, there was something about January 6th that didn't feel right and hovering over that day has remained the question; to what extent was it a setup?".

Answer; It wasn't. It was a group of lunatics, spurred on by an ideology you promoted, storming the Capitol and all this "the feds did it!" crap is just your pathetic way of covering your own ass.

00:47, Tucker Carlson: "But what's interesting is how few people have asked that entirely legitimate question and one of the very few, really one of the only in the United States Congress, is a member called Clay Higgins from Louisiana."

Well, let's talk about the guy Tucker is interviewing, Representative Clay Higgins. Clay Higgins is a MAGA nutjob who likes to make ads of him holding assault rifles, take extremely tasteless selfie videos INSIDE A GAS CHAMBER IN AUSCHWITZ to make a political point, arguing that we shouldn't wear masks because his wife had a vision (read: bad dream) that they will lead to American's freedom being taken away, and roughing up black people as a policeman then lying about it. In short, this guy is a real piece of work who in any reasonable society wouldn't be allowed anywhere near government. Yet here he is and the world is worse off for it.

So, Clay has recently decided to hang his hat on the notion that January 6th was an FBI operation. This led to Clay questioning FBI director Chris Wray, a guy who was appointed by the GOP might I add, in an unhinged and embarrassing rant that made him look like someone who might call into the Alex Jones Show. Clay grilled him about an FBI informant who testified that he was in the crowd during January 6th despite the fact that this informant was probably either there because he was already embedded within the Proud Boys or he was there because the FBI assigned him there because they knew from the multiple declarations from Trump supporters and Trump himself that shit was gonna go down at the capitol.

Clay then proceeded to make himself sound even more insane by accusing Chris of utilizing "ghost buses" which were actually just regular buses and then ending his questioning by declaring that the buses were "very sinister in nature". Naturally it makes sense that the FBI would have so few agents in the city that they are headquartered in that they would have to bus them in, these clearly aren't the rantings of someone who is clearly a complete lunatic.

Let's think about this critically for a second, what does the Democratic Party and the FBI have to gain from staging January 6th? They had already won the election and if they simply wanted to discredit Trump there are a lot easier ways to do it than staging an insurrection. There's absolutely zero reason for the Democrats to stage January 6th because they already won. The only reason Tucker could possibly have is that Democrats just like being evil for the sake of it.

Seemingly though, Tucker found this all very intelligent and thought provoking (or like something he could get attention from covering) and decided to have Clay on to spew more inane vocal garbage, great.

Tucker plays a clip from Clay grilling Chris. It should be noted that the insane rant about ghost buses is mysteriously absent. Even without the buses, to me it makes Clay look like a complete moron who's rambling about his bizarre fantasy that he's the star of the Bourne Identity. To Tucker on the other hand....

02:08, Tucker Carlson: "What a sleazy repulsive little authoritarian liar Chris Wray is. It's obvious when you watch that tape."

How is it obvious? The guy was clearly a bit cagey but he's the Director of The FBI, he can't just reveal classified information to satisfy Clay's insane conspiracy theories. Plus, no truthful answer he could give would satisfy Clay because he thinks that January 6th consisted almost entirely of FBI Agents which is demonstrably false.

"Sleazy repulsive little authoritarian liar", that's funny because that's exactly how I view Tucker!

02:23, Tucker Carlson: "The sad part is so few tapes like that exist because so few have confronted him directly and asked questions to which the entire country has a right to know the answer, like that one."

Ok, lets say for a minute that Tucker is correct and the FBI staged January 6th, does he think that Chris is going to tell people that if they question him?

Of course he isn't, what these guys need is some evidence and there is none because you can't have evidence for a lie that isn't disprovable in some way!

Clay and Tucker say hi and the interview starts

02:40, Tucker Carlson: "So that was over a year ago that you asked that question, which is a central question, and you asked it as I think is appropriate; without any embarrassment at all on behalf of your constituents and the rest of the country. Are you any closer to the answer now?"

Clay Higgins: "Well we're closer to being in a position where we can reveal the answers that we already have. Much of the evidence that we have compiled from investigative efforts and over the course of the last couple of years some offices like my own that would have operated in silos of investigative endeavor have now been able to come together now that we have a Republican majority and we have access to the staffs of the appropriate investigative committees and so I sit on the oversight committee and Republicans control that committee now, therefor we control the staff. So when you can magnify the efforts that individual members of Congress have pushed in our own offices, when you can magnify those efforts by the skill and the numbers of staff from the committees, you get a lot of evidence reviewed professionally, and aligned, and assembled into essentially a casefile. And in this case, this is a big file-"

He keeps going and we'll pick up right where he left off but man, Clay is great at saying absolutely nothing. For a bombshell interview with a guy who allegedly has proof that elements within the FBI staged the January 6th insurrection, this is extremely boring.

The truth is that Clay has no evidence outside of ridiculous claims of "ghost buses" so all he's got is mumbling incoherently about staff and committees.

Anyway, carry on Clay.

04:11, Clay Higgins: "Because the involvement of certain actors, you could say Deep State actors within the Federal Government to set the stage for what happened on J 4, 5, and 6 and to entrap thousands of American's from across the country and lure them into this set stage on J 4, 5, and 6."

Did the Deep State force Donald Trump to falsely claim that the election was stolen and rally his followers at the United States Capitol? Absolutely not. The only person who set the stage for what happened on J6 was Donald Trump.

If what Clay is saying is true and they have all this evidence that the FBI set up January 6th, why haven't they released it? Show it to me and if it checks out I'll believe you.

I hate how much I have to say this but "just trust me bro" is not a valid journalistic source.

04:53, Clay Higgins: "And we're gradually, professionally, rolling that evidence out."

Let's see it then.

Anyway, here's Tuckers response to that word salad. Even he seems baffled by what he just heard.

05:00, Tucker Carlson: "So you sort of answered the question right there in larger terms. You just said that elements within the federal government, I assume; law enforcement, intel, and military and I'm using your words 'lured' American's to Washington into what you called a trap?"

Clay Higgins; "Yes sir."

See, if Tucker was a real journalist the most obvious follow-up question is "can I see that evidence?" but he isn't, he's a bullshit artist pretending to be a journalist who knows that there is no evidence so he just lets Clay's claim that he has all this evidence that January 6th was a massive conspiracy stand unchallenged.

This entire interview is just Tucker and Clay talking about supposed evidence that January 6th was staged, not citing any examples of this evidence, and then acting as if January 6th being staged was proven to be a fact because of this uncited nonexistent evidence. It's total bullshit and both of these men know it.

05:17, Tucker Carlson: "So that would, I mean that's a shocking, and I assume that's a sober conclusion based on the evidence. That's what you're saying?"

WHERE'S THE GODDAMN EVIDENCE TUCK?!

05:25, Clay Higgins: "That would be my sober assessment as an investigator and you know I'm quite a (we never learn what he's quite a), I love my country and I've always been a staunch defender of the thin blue line and I would proudly count the FBI amongst that number, they're like brothers to me. So to find that level of conspiratorial corruption at the highest levels of the FBI has been very troubling to me, as a man as a cop. And yet you follow the evidence wherever it leads and-

Tucker Carlson (being a great journalist and interrupting his source): "Yes"

Clay Higgins: "this is what investigators do."

Tuckterruption aside, neither Tucker nor Clay have shown me the "evidence" that the FBI was involved in January 6th yet. These two have essentially made up evidence and are talking about it as if I'm immediately supposed to know about the evidence as well and agree with them.

The evidence could be literally anything that Tuckers audience has been told by other right-wing grifters about January 6th and that's the intention.

And again, what's in it for the FBI to do this?!

06:07, Clay Higgins: "When I asked Christopher Wray that question for instance I already knew the answer, I had reviewed compelling evidence that the FBI had assets, human assets, dressed as Trump supporters inside the Capitol prior to the doors being opened and the masses being allowed in."

You can't just say "I have evidence" and then not show it, that's terrible journalism. I get that the congressman isn't a journalist, although he seems to fancy himself some kind of bizarre "investigator", but Tucker sure as hell is one and if he had any journalistic integrity whatsoever he'd be demanding to see this evidence!

06:34, Clay Higgins: "I knew that the FBI was deeply involved. I'd seen evidence, even at that time that the FBI had embedded themselves into various groups online across the country of Americans who were essentially voicing their concerns and airing their grievances with each other about COVID oppression."

Clay probably blames the FBI when he stubs his toe in the morning.

And if I was Tucker and I was trying to be a journalist instead of a right-wing fraud I'd start asking this guy whether or not the fact that he thinks COVID mandates are "COVID oppression" might have biased his viewpoint when performing the so-called investigation into January 6th and start figuring what else Clay believes. But if I was Tucker this interview wouldn't have happened because it's so obvious that this guy is full of shit looking at his track record.

07:22, Clay Higgins: "When you dig into the evidence that we've had revealed through some criminal cases that I've followed and worked with the families of J6 political detainees and American's that have been persecuted for their involvement in the Capitol that day, some of that evidence shockingly reveals that the FBI agents that were operating undercover within the online groups across the country were the first ones to plant the seeds of, uh, suggestions of a more radical occupation of the Capitol."

This has got to be one of the most frustrating things I have covered for this blog. It's not the most disgusting by a long shot but it's one of the most frustrating. The reason that this frustrates me is that I am currently pursuing a degree in journalism and this entire interview flies in the face of the most basic rule of the job: don't say something without proof.

You can't just say you have evidence of something and then proceed to not show any of it. Otherwise anyone can do it for literally any claim. See, I can do it.

Hey guys, I have evidence that Clay Higgins and Tucker Carlson are a duo of mouth-breathing slimy grifters who will say literally anything for attention and money.

Actually, that doesn't work because this interview is the evidence of that but you get what I'm saying.

08:35, Clay Higgins: "Months later; on January 4th, 5th, and 6th, many of those American's met for the first time in person when they gathered for the massive rally where American patriots assembled to object to everything that happened in 2020, the COVID oppression and the stunning results of what we believed to have been a compromised election cycle in November 2020 so American's gathered at their own Capitol to appropriately air grievances and protest at their Capitol but embedded amongst their number was an FBI asset that had been working from within their group online for many months. So this was the level of manipulative effort that the FBI invested into American citizenry and our assembly online, to exercise our rights under the First Amendment to talk to each other about whatever we wanna talk about."

Again, so let's say I'm FBI Director Chris Wray. I've been appointed by Donald Trump yet for whatever reason I want to betray him. So instead of discrediting him through hundreds of other avenues available; exposing his sketchy business practices, investigating his ties with Epstein, looking into his allegations of sexual assault, none of that. Nope, I decide I'm going to stage a fake insurrection when the Democrats win, which I apparently know is a certainty, by embedding FBI Agents into pro-Trump groups online to provoke them into storming the Capitol.

Then when Trump organizes the rally at the Capitol I decide it's time to strike and I send my instigators into the crowd to rile them up. And then when all is said and done I gain absolutely nothing and have my plan exposed by a random congressman from Louisiana who claimed that the reason we shouldn't follow COVID mandates is because his wife had a nightmare and a right-wing talk show host who claimed a crisis in masculinity is occurring and the answer to that is to tan your balls.

Christopher Wray is a truly terrible planner in right-wing fantasyland.

10:19, Tucker Carlson: "Lets go back to something you said in the first sentence which is; you have seen evidence, and that spurred your questions to Chris Wray, that there were FBI assets dressed as Trump supporters within the Capitol. So, that is proof of entrapment because of course the federal government could have prevented entry into the Capitol Building, there aren't that many doors, you work there you know. But they allowed people in on purpose to entrap them, that's what that proves I think, does it not?"

"Hey there guy who hasn't provided any evidence to the claims he is making, I'm just going to assume those claims are true without pushing back on you at all and ask you if what the fantasy version of the FBI did in your fantasy world would classify as entrapment."

Notice how Tucker hasn't asked Clay about his more insane theories like the "FBI Ghost Buses" that supposedly bussed in hundreds of FBI agents to the Capitol the day of January 6th, probably because it would make Clay look like the complete lunatic that he is.

12:10, Clay Higgins: "On the inside, you had FBI assets dressed as Trump supporters who knew their way around the Capitol."

Tucker Carlson: "Before the doors even opened."

Clay Higgins: "Before the doors opened, how else are you gonna get around the Capitol? You've been there many times, you need a guide to get from whatever door you go in-"

Tucker Carlson: "It's a labyrinth"

Clay Higgins: "It's a maze inside there, that's right. So there's no way that Americans, most of which have never been to the Capitol, there's no way they can come in some random door that gets opened and then get their way directly to the statuary or the house chamber or the senate chamber, it's just not possible."

First of all, I don't think those rioters had a particular set destination in place, they just wanted to overturn the "stolen" election and were just going to wander around until they figured it out. Nobodies saying these morons were masterminds.

Second of all, do Tucker and Clay Higgins not realize that Google exists? In a five second Google search for "US Capitol map" I found multiple maps and floorplans of the Capitol. And since I'm not Clay or Tucker, here they are;

(Source: Pinterest)

(Source: US Capitol Visitor Centre)

Hell, Google Maps even says which side of the building the House of Representatives is on. Could it be that these guys used a map? It makes a lot more sense than saying that the FBI somehow managed to guide a riled up mob of people who really don't like listening to directions throughout the Capitol. Also, I'd bet you that your average FBI agent has the same knowledge of the layout of the Capitol as your average civilian. Working for the FBI doesn't automatically make you an expert in the layout of the Capitol Building.

14:57, Tucker Carlson: "It's such a crime, who planned this do you think?"

Clay Higgins: "Well I think factions planned this, I wouldn't say who Tucker because I don't think there was one person that planned this. But I believe the faction of establishment liberals within the FBI and the Democrat Party and our intelligence services to another extent used their massive powers of surveillance and investigative assets that they have across the country. Confidential informants, registered informants, non-registered informants, voluntary informants. It's a complex web of FBI assets across the country that can be activated, so if you have authority at some of the highest levels in the FBI -- doesn't take much."

Again, let's pause for a second and think about this critically. The Democrats and the FBI have absolutely nothing to gain from staging January 6th.

They wanted to arrest Trump supporters? Not every Trump supporter was there and nobody who is important in the MAGA movement like Alex Jones was arrested.

They wanted to make the MAGA movement look bad? Most people hated the MAGA movement already and the people who don't probably weren't phased by January 6th because they believe Tucker's debunked insanity about it being staged by the feds.

The Democrats already won the election. Hiring a bunch of rioters to try to overturn it is like me winning a new car on a game show and hiring a mob to try to take the car from me when I go to collect the prize. And again, you can talk all you want about a complex web of every single type of informant under the sun being involved in January 6th but until you provide evidence of it you are just another idiot with a conspiracy board.

16:10, Clay Higgins: "The faction within the FBI and within our intelligence services that would coordinate with the most extreme liberal factions within the Democrat Party that were desperate to keep Trump out of office and had worked within the theatre of operations, shall we say, that had been set by the COVID alleged medical emergencies nationwide and millions and millions of mail in ballots."

"Desperate to keep Trump out of office"? He had already lost. Although Clay, as you can see here, is an election truther so I guess in his world he hadn't already lost.

It's really rich for a guy who got COVID twice to refer to COVID as an "alleged medical emergency". The hard data and just general history show that COVID was a legitimate crisis. Notice how Tucker also doesn't ask Clay if he still believes that his wife having a nightmare is evidence that the whole pandemic was a charade. Naturally we can't delve into that part of Clay's past because it would throw absolutely everything he says into question.

As for the mail in ballots, that theory has been widely discredited as false. For starters, mail in ballots aren't a new thing created by Democrats during COVID to steal the election, as a matter of fact they have actually been used since the Civil War so that soldiers could vote from the front lines. Mail in ballots also have numerous safeguards on them such as specialized envelopes and checks from the postal service to prevent fraud.

17:31, Tucker Carlson: "Can -- when you say that there were FBI assets in the crowd, in the building beforehand, and certainly outside, what's the scale of this? You talking like 10? 20?"

Clay Higgins: "No, um. Based upon some very conservative but, like, hard investigative effort, evaluation of the numbers. Putting together eye-witnesses, and videos, and affadavid statement, and whistleblower statement, and court records that have been revealed through criminal cases where J6 defendants have been prosecuted and smart attorney's have forced admissions by the DOJ and the FBI but those admissions have been sealed within the parameter of that criminal case by protective order, by the judge, so I can't share them but I've seen them-"

Wait, pause for a second. So if I'm hearing correctly, the FBI has admitted to sending agents into the January 6th insurrection in court cases but since the judges have sealed the court records Clay can't show them but he's seen them, really he has.

This is literally using just trust me bro as a source. These two are total lying goons. Anyway, let's carry on.

18:41, Clay Higgins: "So real hard objective and conservative estimates would put the number of FBI assets in the crowd outside and working inside at well over 200."

This claim is completely batshit insane! If there were over 200 FBI assets at January 6th, you'd think someone would have recognized ID'd one of them by now. After all, it would be extremely hard to hide well over 200 FBI assets goading a group on. This is completely ridiculous and a product of Clay's clearly overactive imagination.

Naturally, Tucker doesn't push back on this and ask why what Clay is saying should be trusted. Instead he lets the entire thing go unchallenged.

20:04, Clay Higgins: "The objective was to destroy the entire MAGA movement. To forever stain the patriotic fervor that was associated with the America First MAGA movement that had won in 2016 and we believe won in 2020."

Again, the MAGA movement was already highly discredited in most non-extremist circles. I doubt you'd find someone who is moderate who likes or is at least indifferent towards Trump. Since Trump is who he is, he naturally inspires strong opinions.

Also January 6th wasn't the straw that broke the camels back for people who support MAGA, they're all still there lapping up the bullshit about the entire thing being staged by the FBI.

The MAGA movement is still a powerful force in America to this day and January 6th hasn't changed that. It's just given grifters like Tucker Carlson a new toy to play with.

22:32, Tucker Carlson: "It's shocking what you're saying and confirms everyones worst suspicions about this, it's clearly true. Um, did you come across any evidence that the DOD, the military, either defense intelligence agency or national guard or any part of the US military played any part in this at all."

Before we get to Clay's answer (spoiler alert: It's no, probably because he doesn't want to piss off the army) let's take a look at how Tucker's framing of this is an example of terrible journalism.

Instead of asking "Hey, you say you have seen this evidence but also say you can't show it to us and have a track record of lying. Why should we trust you?", Tucker says it confirms everyones suspicions.

Naturally if everyone was suspicious of federal involvement in January 6th, this isn't that huge of a revelation and you the audience member shouldn't question any of the claims that Clay is making even though they aren't backed up by any non-imaginary evidence and stop making sense after you think about them for more than five seconds. These claims are "clearly true" and you shouldn't stop to think about them, no siree!

22:51, Clay Higgins: "I have not seen that. I've heard the echoes of that suspicion and I have observed circumstantial evidence that has been presented to me that I have reviewed but to me it does not rise to the level that I'd call actionable from an investigative perspective."

I decided to do a little research into the district Clay serves and as it turns out it has a lot of veterans in it. Now, this isn't a bad thing by itself but I feel like it sheds light into why Clay is so reluctant to pull the US military into his nonsensical conspiracy version of what happened on January 6th.

If he pulls the military into January 6th, he's going to risk alienating every veteran in his district and that doesn't fare well during the next election. It's all a grift for these guys.

26:17, Clay Higgins: "We have the responsibility to investigate objectively and anyone that knows me knows that's exactly what I'm pursuing."

Clay is so objective.

Clay is so objective that he meets with Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago whilst referring to him as president even though he lost the election in 2020. Clay is clearly a MAGA politician and that makes him a biased source. This is total bullshit to anyone who thinks about this using the pure facts.

28:09, Tucker Carlson: "I'm a little surpri--and I don't expect to be critical of your colleagues in the Republican conference but they do control the house, impeachment is a thing, Chris Wray is still the FBI director, I watch Republicans, some of whom I know, cheer the murder of Ashli Babbitt who was an unarmed woman, less than 5'5."

Let's talk about Ashli Babbitt.

What you have to understand is that Ashli Babbitt wasn't standing around innocently, she was trying to crawl through a window in the goddamn Capitol Building. Ashli was participating in an insurrection and that opens the door to violent response from the police if they feel like you are a threat.

Babbitt also had a history of violent behavior in the past. She once rammed her SUV into another woman's car three times and repeatedly challenged her to "fight" (this was due to some prior bad blood between the two women regarding an affair). My point is that this was a violent woman with a prior history of violent behavior engaging in an insurrection and attempting to trespass on government property. What happened here was entirely her fault.

Also, I love how the only pushback Tucker gives Clay is "why haven't the Republicans acted on your insane conspiracy theories?"

28:54, Clay Higgins: "There's a great responsibility when you wear a badge in America. I mean, think about it, to be the designated servant of your community that has the authority to deny the freedom of a fellow American in the land of the free, that's a heavy responsibility. So the escalation of force must be appropriate in order to affect a lawful arrest."

Since Clay is such a staunch advocate against police brutality, I'm sure he's talked about George Floyd and the countless African American's that have been brutally murdered by the police....oh wait he hasn't because they aren't white, got it!

Let's not forget Clay's own history of police brutality from when he was in the force, something that Clay has lied about constantly. As a matter of fact, Clay is a pretty violent guy. In 2020, Clay threatened to have BLM protestors in his state shot by the police. So he is the LAST guy who should be giving the speech about police brutality.

33:03, Tucker Carlson: "And if you do (shoot someone as a cop) there's an investigation."

There was genius.

Conclusion:

Well, that's enough of Clay Higgins and Tucker Carlson for today. No they don't reveal the evidence in the last five minutes of the episode. Clay basically says that we are never going to see the evidence and the show ends.

So, what have learnt today? We've learnt that the evidence exists because....well you've just got to trust me and that Clay Higgins is a liar who engaged in police brutality and thinks his wife having nightmares is akin to her having "visions". This entire interview is extremely embarrassing for Tucker from a journalistic standpoint but I'm sure he doesn't care as long as the check cleared.