#The New Hampshire Rebellion

[weirdestbooks]

The Shot Heard Around the World Chapter 20

Independence: It's Common Sense (Wattpad | Ao3)

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January 11, 1776

United Colonies had gotten his hands on the pamphlet soon after it was published. It was already making quite a stir in Philadelphia, and United Colonies could imagine it spreading quickly to the other colonies.

After all, a pamphlet arguing for total independence from his father was bound to attract the attention of his people.

It had caught his attention and, therefore, the attention of his colonies.

“I mean, the idea that the monarchy itself is rooted in sin is a mad idea,” Virginia declared.

“I don’t know. You know all those kings take mistresses and such. Isn’t that a sin? It’s not too far of a stretch, I don’t think,” New York said, sounding contemplative.

“You could argue that the point originated with his current problems against King George III. After all, many of the points he makes there are issues he had with our current king,” Georgia pointed out.

“I know that you will argue circles around each other with this new pamphlet, but do you think you’re arguing about the wrong things? Who cares if the monarchy is sinful or not? He argues for independence.” United Colonies cut it, running his finger along the pages that made that very argument.

“No. The author argues that our independence is an assured thing. That no matter what we do, it will happen someday, and that perhaps it would be easier just to get it done with now and make our little rebellion about rights about something more,” Massachusetts said.

“But…why can’t we just wait? If…if independence is inevitable, then let’s just wait for Grandfather to give it to us. Should we…can we really fight him for it?” South Carolina questioned.

“I don’t know. Father is powerful, and we are but a colony. None of the minutemen have formal training. Very few men in the army do. Even if we turned this rebellion into war, even if it is inevitable that I will find myself playing the role of a country, I don’t…” United Colonies trailed off, shaking his head.

“Foreign allies are a thing. Like it or not, the author is right when he says these problems are doomed to repeat themselves, especially since Grandfather does not want to listen. Even when he repealed the taxes before, he always put new ones down. He always found a way to make that tiny little victory a defeat,” New Hampshire argued.

“With that act saying he could do whatever to use because we’re his colony…he won’t back down or stop violating our rights. The author argues that the system is corrupt and unjust, and I believe it. We can’t just twiddle our thumbs and wait for Grandfather to choose to listen. He believes he’s entitled to do whatever he wants. He thinks he’s entitled to ignore our voices and impose whatever he wants on us. I can’...Father, I don’t want to sit by and take it. I know that has worked before, but this isn’t about us being punished. It’s about our people being punished for wanting rights. Can we really claim that Grandfather truly cares when he does these things?” Massachusetts explained, his voice gentle and concerned. It wasn’t angry. It wasn’t an impassioned speech.’

It was Massachusetts explaining the reality of their present relationship with Britain. If it was more impassioned, maybe United Colonies could have ignored it, brushed it off as things said angrily in the heat of the moment. 

But he couldn’t. Massachusetts was right. The author of this pamphlet was right. Father was not going to change for United Colonies. He wanted United Colonies to change for him, change to fit his whims.

“Well, even if he is right about that, how in God’s name are we meant to fight off the British Empire?” South Carolina questioned.

“Massachusetts said foreign allies. He’s right about that. France hates my father, and she’s probably still bitter about losing Quebec and the others to Father. She might be willing to help,” United Colonies pointed out. While France was not a trustworthy person, her help would be invaluable.

“I mean, the author does say that there is a lot we can benefit from if we are independent and able to form ties with other nations,” New Hampshire said.

“If they want to help us. There’s no guarantee they will,” South Carolina said. New Hampshire laughed.

“Always a skeptic, huh, Southie?”

United Colonies began doing his best to tune them out, looking back down at the pamphlet and the line that had stuck with him the most.

Why is it that we hesitate? From Britain we can expect nothing but ruin. If she is admitted to the government of America again, this continent will not be worth living in.

Many of the arguments were based on facts that United Colonies had turned over in his head time and time again. They were rousing words and solid arguments that only served to make United Colonies feel worse.

All of these ideas made sense, especially the idea that he could expect ruin from his father. United Colonies knew his father was not happy with anything United Colonies had done in the past decade.

If United Colonies were to go home, there would be no talking to his father or tempering his rage. That was only further proven by the Proclamation of Rebellion. His father did not want to negotiate or hear him out, only force United Colonies back under his thumb.

But United Colonies had his own name. His own flag. His own currency. 

He had his Congress and his army.

It was not the organs of a functioning country, but it was a baseline—more importantly, a working baseline. The author of this pamphlet had argued that his independence was inevitable, and United Colonies could see why.

Maybe the idea of independence wasn’t as radical as he thought.

• ───────────────── •

February 27, 1776

Scotland had to give it to Thirteen Colonies. He certainly knew how to shake things up. Maybe it was because Britain thought he had Thirteen Colonies on a tight lease, or perhaps it was because he hated the idea that any more of his colonies (outside of Scotland’s darling brother Ireland) were rebelling against him, getting the idea that maybe Britain isn’t as nice as they thought.

Scotland knew that Britain was better at being a country than a parent. He had noticed it from the get-go, back when England and Britain were arguing over who the real country was, back when Britain was still just an anomaly.

Scotland had tried to avoid that drama. He lived in his country with his daughters and son and did his best to ignore the drama from his southern border.

Then, he became a part of the United Kingdom. He and England united and gave Britain his own name, his own flag, and a purpose.

Scotland was happy at first, glad that the child he had taken to calling his own (as England certainly wasn’t going to do that, and Wales seemed to have a strange avoidance of Britain) was no longer at the threat of death.

However, Scotland felt that with the creation of the United Kingdom, the child he knew was gone.

While he could not comment on the parenting practices of Britain and England before he moved into their house, he knew that their present ones were terrible. Spare the rod was one thing, but they took it too far.

Britain beat his children till they were unconscious, denied all the colonies food if only one of them made a mistake, punished even the slightest hint of disobedience, and did his best to stamp out any ways of thinking he didn’t like.

Britain used the most extreme methods to make his children just like him.

Scotland couldn’t help if the way England raised Britain had something to do with it.

But there was no use in wondering about that. Whatever the cause, Britain suffocated the life out of his colonies. Was it any wonder Thirteen Colonies snapped? The pressure was enough to drive any man mad.

Scotland was lucky that his children were not subjected to the same treatment. No affection for Britain would have stopped Scotland from ending the empire the second he began to do that.

However, as much as Scotland could understand why Thirteen Colonies had been driven to this breaking point, he also knew the rebellion had to end. 

It was not supported by the people of Thirteen Colonies; Scotland could see that in the colonists who had come to him since his arrival in North Carolina, swearing their loyalty to Britain and their king. It was over issues that would not be solved with violence. No one could force Britain’s hand like that, especially not rebels from a colony.

More importantly, Scotland could see that Britain loved Thirteen Colonies and that Thirteen Colonies loved his father. The more they fought, the worse things would get. The sooner the bloodshed ended, the sooner Britain would listen. He was already mad enough at Thirteen Colonies for England’s injury (although Scotland couldn’t bring himself to be that worried about it. It was nice seeing Sasainn being knocked down a peg or two), and the sooner Thirteen Colonies came home, the quicker that anger would burn out.

This led Scotland back to his previous point that he was in North Carolina to solidify Britain’s control over the region and remind Thirteen Colonies of his father’s never-ending anger. 

He was now with Brigadier General Donald MacDonald and a force of loyalists who were making their way to the coast to meet up with Major General Henry Clinton and begin operations to reassert British control over North Carolina.

“Rebels!” a cry then went up as they approached a bridge, seeing what must be rebel troops standing there. Scotland couldn’t help the slight grin that appeared on his face. While he did not support the rebellion, he could admire the audacity of a group of people to attack a countryhuman that might not be their nation but was close enough for anyone to find it treasonous.

“Well, it seems they want a fight, General. Surely we will give them one?” Scotland asked.

“Of course we will. That’s why we are here,” Brigadier General MacDonald said, preparing the men for an assault on the rebel’s earthworks. Say what you will about them, but they came prepared. 

“King George and Broadswords!” Scotland heard a particularly enthusiastic loyalist yell before crossing the creek and heading towards the rebel pickets. However, as they approached, the rebels opened with rifles and cannon fire—cannon fire and quickly began to devastate their ranks. Scotland’s joking attitude faded as he became more serious. 

He knew, after Bunker Hill, that it would be more like facing an army than a mob, but it was one thing to hear it from the two more dramatic people you know and another to see it for yourself.

That didn’t mean Scotland was happy to retreat from the battle, nor did it make him any happier to see the rebels pursuing them.

Why did Thirteen Colonies have to be as stubborn as his father?

[kaijuboarcreations]

Into the Andersonverse: A full timeline of events for the confirmed continuity of Gerry Anderson Supermarionation shows (Fireball XL5 to Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons)

(Disclaimer*: i actually opted to follow Thunderbirds are Go canon for ages *don't ask me why it's a process plus the actual ages and birth order for the boys is heavily debated in both the og series and are go so don't at me* Also yes I took a few creative liberties to fill in some blanks they are marked by ** so you know what isn't canon, and yes it doesn't always make sense *aka how Venus is a war orphan if the war ended before she was born* but you can't blame me for that, that's just how it was written)

Anyways yall better love me for this it took me three days to make

1988: Sally "Grandma" Tracy is born (maiden name unknown)

2012: Professor Mathew Matic is born in Britain -Aloysius "Nosey" Parker is born - Jeff Tracy is born in Kansas to Grant and Sally Tracy**

2015: Commander Sam Shore (real name Samuel Arthur)is born in Kansas

2017: Charles Grey (Colonel White) is born in England

2028: European Atomic War and Mass Riots in France

2029: Conrad Turner (Captain Black) is born in Manchester, England

2030: Steve Zodiac is born on Mars -Sam Shore leaves home to join the navy

2031: Edward Wilkie (Dr Fawn) is born in Yalumba, Australia

2033: Professor Matic graduates with 22 degrees in astrophysics, robotic, and astronomy, and becomes a navigator for Zero-X interplanetary missions -Sam Shore is given command of a World Security Service submarine -Bradley Holden (Captain Gray) is born in Chicago

2034: Sam Shore befriends Admiral Jack Denver -Patrick Donaghue (Captain Magenta) is born in Dublin Bay, Ireland -The European Atomic War ends (the war left Venus and Conrad Turner orphaned)

2035: Venus is born in Paris -George Lee "Phones" Sheridan is born in South Carolina -Adam Svenson (Captain Blue) is born in Boston -Richard Fraiser (Captain Ochre) is born in Detroit

2036: Paul Metcalfe (Captain Scarlet) is born in Hampshire, England

2037: Jeff Tracy becomes a Colonel for the US Air Force and later transfers to the Space Agency -Patrick Donaghue and his parents immigrate to the US, living in poverty in Manhattan

2038: Troy Tempest is born in New York City -Jeff Tracy marries Lucielle** -Charles Grey graduates from the University of East Angila -Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is born to Sir Hugh and Lady Amelia**

2040: War damage fixed -Sam Shore marries Elaine MacDonald -Scott Tracy is born**

-"Brains" is born -The Southeast Asia revolts -Juliette Pontoin (Destiny Angel) is born in Paris

2041: Atlanta Shore is born from Elaine and Sam in California -Seymour Griffiths (Lieutenant Green) is born in Trinidad

2042: John Tracy is born** -The Iceland Dispute -The Panama-Ithsmus rebellion begins -Karen Wainwright (Symphony Angel) is born in Cedar Rapids -Chan Kwan (Harmony Angel) is born in Tokyo

2043: The Panama-Ithsmus rebellion ends -Magnolia Jones (Melody Angel) is born in Atlanta -Dianne Simms (Rhapsody Angel) is born in London

2044: Virgil Tracy is born**

2045: Professor Matic takes the role as a professor for Universe University -Conrad Turner joins the British Air Force

2046: Marina is born -Gordon Tracy is born** -Charles Grey moves up to the rank of 'Captain' -The British Civil War begins (during which Conrad Turner is badly wounded)

2047: Steve Zodiac joints WSP Academy -Tanusha "Kayo" Kyrano/Tintin Kyrano is born** -Britain joins the World Government -Charles Grey becomes Admiral while commanding the World Navy Destroyer fleet -Conrad Turner joins the World Air Force

2048: Charles Grey joins the Universal Secret Service and marries his field partner Elizabeth Sonmers -Edward Wilkie starts medical school in Brisbane

2049: the British sector of the USS is reorganized by Charles Grey

2050: Professor Matic designs and builds the world's first Nutomic Hyperdrive Motor and is given an honorary position as Major while heading the XL project -Alan Tracy is born** -Charles Grey is promoted to the head of the USS British sector

2051: Steve Zodiac becomes an astronaut and sub-lieutenant at Space City -Prototypes of the XL project are debuted including XL1 Alpha -Adam Svenson receives a full ride scholarship to Harvard University at age 16

2052: the Anti-Bereznik Riots (of which Patrick Donaghue was involved where he was later arrested and imprisoned for 90 days)

2053: Steve Zodiac befriends space explorer Jim Ireland who sets off on a 10 year voyage -Seymour Griffiths loses his parents in an air disaster

2054: Richard Fraiser joins the World Government Police Corps after being rejected from university and the Air Force -Bradley Holden graduates from the World Navy Academy in San Diego immediately enlisting in the World Navy submarine service

2055: Steve is promoted to captain and is assigned to co-pilot Fireball XL5 -Conrad Turner joins the World Space Patrol and mans Fireball XL3 -Adam Svenson joins the World Aeronautic Society as a test pilot -Patrick Donaghue finishes his studies and graduates from Yale University with degrees in physics, electrical engineering, and technology and he takes a job as a computer programmer for a firm in Brooklyn but soon quit for a life of crime -Edward Wilkie graduates from Brisbane with degrees in medicine and biology and joins the Australian sector of the World Medical Organization as assistant medical controler. Later that same year he is promoted to health controller of the Scandinavian sector.

2056: Venus joins the World Space Patrol -Colonel Grange suffers a mental breakdown while piloting Fireball XL5 leaving Steve to bring them to safety -Marina's mother dies -Troy Tempest joins the World Navy Academy in San Diego -Lucielle Tracy passes away

2057: All Fireball XL ships are outfitted with the Nutomic Hyperdrive Motor -Paul Metcalfe graduates from Winchester University with degrees in History, Technology, and Mathematics -Adam Svenson is promoted to active field agent for WAS -Patrick Donaghue becomes a kingpin for organized crime in New York due to his leadership over several gangs and hacking abilities -Edward Wilkie revolutionizes the WMO's medical technology through robots which places him in the position of Administrator for Advancements in Medicine and Medical Science -Juliette Pontoin attends University in Rome

2058: Elaine Shore suffers a heart attack and passes away -Phones takes on work as a mercenary -Karen Wainwright attends Yale University at age 16

-Lady Penelope becomes chief operative of the Federal Agents Beareu where she meets Jeff Tracy (wait...... F.A.B..... so that's what that stands for....)

2059: Paul Metcalf begins study at West Point Military University in New York -Richard Fraiser transfers to Chicago and takes on one of the toughest crime syndicates in the country

2060: An attack on his vessel causes Sam Shore to lose use of his legs. He and Atlanta move to Marineville to command the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (which is newly established)

-Gordon Tracy interns with WASP** -Troy Tempest is captured on a failed mission and is rescued by Phones who he convinces to join the navy -Troy Tempest arrives at WASP Marineville -Juliette Pontoin joins the World Army Air Force and is transferred to the Intelligence Corps where she hones her skills as a pilot, leads the Woman's Fighter Squadron

2061: Magnolia Jones joins the World Army Airforce at age 18

-Gordon Tracy suffers an accident while working with a high speed hydrofoil**

2062: the start of the events of Fireball XL5 -Jeff Tracy establishes International Rescue -Seymour Griffiths graduates University in Kingston Jamaica with degrees in telecommunications, technology, and music and joins WASP as a junior hydrophone operator (his brothers followed but were killed in an accident which Seymour transferred as a telecommunications operator at Marineville) -Bradley Holden joins WASP as the Lieutenant commander security chief and takes the role of piloting Stingray in her prototype years -Karen Wainwright becomes a full fledged field agent for Universal Secret Service after several years of training -Magnolia Jones becomes lost while taking the XKF 115 aircraft on a test flight and loses contact with control -Chan Kwan graduates University and is determined to fly solo around the world

2063: Venus earns a degree in Space Psychology -Steve Zodiac is awarded Astronaut of the Year -Paul Metcalfe graduates from West Point and joins the World Air Force -Juliette Pontoin leaves WAAF to start her own pilot contracting firm -Magnolia Jones returns after being lost for almost a year after rebuilding her craft from the wreckage. She shortly leaves to focus on flying and setting up a freelance air taxi service -Dianne Simms meets Lady Penelope and is offered a position in the FAB to train as an agent

2064: Bradley Holden receives a severe back injury taking him out of the line to duty and landing him a desk job at Marineville -Troy Tempest becomes captain of Stingray and takes on Phones as his co-pilot -Chan Kwan attempts her voyage around the world but stops to answer a distress call to rescue a group of men from a burning tanker ship in the Pacific. Six months later she tries again and succeeds

2065: the events of Thunderbirds begins -the Spectrum Organization is established and Charles Grey turns down the position of Supreme Commander of the USS to take on his role as "Colonel White" for Spectrum under the Spectrum Selection Committee -Seymour Griffiths joins Spectrum under the codename "Lieutenant Green" -Conrad Turner joins Spectrum under the codename "Captain Black" and quickly climbs the ranks as Spectrum's top agent -Paul Metcalfe joins Spectrum under the code name "Captain Scarlet" (thanks to recommendation from Conrad) -Adam Svenson joins Spectrum under the code name "Captain Blue" -Patrick Donaghue is pardoned for his crimes and is offered a position as an agent of Spectrum under the code name "Captain Magenta" -Dr Edward Wilkie is approached by Spectrum to become the Supreme Medical Commander of Cloudbase and given the codename "Doctor Fawn" -Juliette Pontoin is approached to join Spectrum's squadron of fighter pilots and is given the codename "Destiny Angel" -Magnolia Jones is selected by Spectrum as a fighter pilot and is given the codename "Melody Angel" -Lady Penelope quits her role in the FAB to focus on her work with International Rescue. The FAB dissolves soon after. -Dianne Simms is forced to leave the FAB and becomes a chief security officer for the Euro-Charter Airline company -Chan Kwan's father dies and she takes over the family air taxi company 2066: Richard Fraiser fakes assassination and joins Spectrum under the code name "Captain Ochre" -Bradley Holden clears a health check under Spectrum and is recruited as an agent under the codename "Captain Gray"

-Karen Wainwright quits her work with the USS to become a pilot full time. Shortly after she passes her exam to join Spectrum and joins the Angel squadron under the codename "Symphony Angel" -Dianne Simms is approached by Spectrum to join the Angel squadron and is given the codename "Rhapsody Angel"

-Chan Kwan is approached by the Spectrum Selection Committee to become an Angel pilot, in which she is accepted and given the codename "Harmony Angel"

2068: the events of Thunderbirds end and the events of Captain Scarlet begin (the Mysterons declare war on Earth after the Zero X Mars expedition comes across their settlement and attacks)

[all-eyes-lead-to-the-truth]

All Eyes Lead to the Truth | Season Two Masterpost

That's a wrap on season two! From Flukeman to Albert Hosteen, we explored 25 of the characters that helped make season two of The X-Files so iconic!

Here's a look into all the characters we've met so far!

2x01 | Little Green Men - Senator Richard Matheson (@monikafilefan)

Soon, secrets will snowball. Good people will suffer. Even senators will lose much more than their seats.

2x02 | The Host - Flukeman (@gaycrouton)

Fluke.

2x03 | Blood - Sheriff Spencer (@admiralty-xfd)

Based on the fact that there was simply no reasonable, logical explanation the man would have to do something like this, Spencer knew he could only turn towards the illogical – and that happened to be the X-Files.

2x04 | Sleepless - Salvatore Matola (@fridaysat9)

He could hear their screams, just like every night when he laid down in his bed and stared at the ceiling until the sun came up.

2x05 | Duane Barry - Duane Barry (@gaycrouton)

Someone had his implant. Someone… a woman in Georgetown.

2x06 | Ascension - Dr. Takeo Ishimaru (@admiralty-xfd)

He misses the quiet. Now it seems all he hears is drilling and beeping and yes, sometimes screaming.

2x07 | 3 - Kristen Killar (@fridaysat9)

There’s an emptiness inside her that needs to be satiated with blood… or something else.

2x08 | One Breath - Melissa Scully (@monikafilefan)

Melissa reaches out to gently smooth a stray tendril tangled within one of the many strips of tape stuck to Dana’s porcelain skin. The brittle hair snaps in two, and Melissa swears she can feel a piece of her heart snapping right along with it.

2x09 | Firewalker - Dr. Daniel Trepkos (@admiralty-xfd)

Albert Einstein was known for changing the world, he would say to Jessie if he could. Daniel Trepkos would only be known for destroying it.

2x10 | Red Museum - Old Man (@fridaysat9)

He may have been the only person in town who was making such a connection, but maybe these FBI agents had open minds and might consider it. Something had gone wrong in this sleepy little town and no one, not the townspeople or the sheriff, was doing a goddamn thing to fix it.

2x11 | Excelsis Dei - Dorothy (@monikafilefan)

If Leo tells these nice people that orderly Gung gives them special pills he makes to help them feel alive again, then maybe Gung will get in trouble. Maybe he won’t be able to free any of them from the confines of their minds like this anymore.

2x12 | Aubrey - Danny Valladeo (@gaycrouton)

Working in the lab felt like helping them put together a puzzle while blindfolded. The catch was, you never got to see the end picture until their case reports were finalized, and even then, the final image was abstract beyond recognition.

2x13 | Irresistible - Dr. Karen Kosseff (@fridaysat9)

In all her years working as a therapist for the FBI, Karen had learned that partnerships, be they successful or not, were integral in how an agent functioned, both inside and out of work. An open and trusting partnership could make an agent feel secure and safe, leading them to a successful career and a well balanced life. Without trust, accidents happened, careers ended, and lives could be lost.

2x14 | Die Hand Die Verletzt - Andrea (@monikafilefan)

There’s a presence here, they say. A consistent darkness that lingers like the gray haze coating Milford New Hampshire before sunrise. It’s an old story, whispered about in covert corners of community potlucks and PTA meetings.

2x15 | Fresh Bones - Chester Bonaparte (@gaycrouton)

In voodoo, it’s believed that the dead will come back again, that we should not be afraid of death.

2x16 | Colony - Bill Mulder (@admiralty-xfd)

Fox’s eyes glint with the sparkle of curiosity Bill still remembers from when he was a boy; way back when they watched their first episode of Star Trek together. Back before he knew he wasn’t his boy.

2x17 | End Game - Alien Bounty Hunter (@monikafilefan)

There is an extraterrestrial race war rising within his world: a rebellion in the making. A faction of clones and shapeshifters rallying against the oil that made them. Fools, all them. Hybridization cannot be tolerated. Purity of the alien race must be maintained.

2x18 | Fearful Symmetry - Sophie (@gaycrouton)

Willa not understand. Sophie scared. Baby go flying light.

2x19 | Død Kalm - Captain Peter Barclay (@admiralty-xfd)

He doesn’t know how or why but he knows what’s happening, like a road map for his mortality is written on his insides. He can see the end, and it’s close.

2x20 | Humbug - Mr. Nutt (@fridaysat9)

He didn’t need a suit and a hideous tie to make him matter. He wasn’t a caricature of a man, all handsome features, strapping physique, and perfectly placed sarcastic remarks. No siree.

2x21 | The Calusari - Golda (@gaycrouton)

Golda knew it was a matter of time before the Devil caught up to her. She’d looked into his eyes.

He knows her now.

2x22 | F. Emasculata - U.S. Marshal Deke Tapia (@admiralty-xfd)

Tapia grimaces. “You mean… ew.”

“Yeah," Mulder replies. "Ew.”

2x23 | Soft Light - Detective Kelly Ryan (@fridaysat9)

She tried to file everything away– the questions they asked, the things that seemed important to them, the way that they seemed to be able to converse without words.

Watching them made her feel like a novice, but at the same time, made her excited for her future as a detective.

2x24 | Our Town - Jess Harold (@monikafilefan)

Jess smirks. Chaco has no idea just how close he is to being the entrée in the same stew he’s so eagerly served the residents of Dudley for decades.

2x25 | Anasazi - Albert Hosteen (@admiralty-xfd)

There is a saying in Navajo tradition: that true love is like the wind; you cannot see it, but you can feel it.

There was true love between the FBI man and woman. I could fee

Stay tuned for more perspectives coming in Season Three!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

[the-infamous-mister-gates]

The RX-93[I] Nu Gundam Assault Infiltrator. Custom Modified and Painted 1/144 Scale Real Grade Kit. "Based on Amuro Ray's prototype used in Char's Rebellion, this enhanced suit is also made By Anaheim Electronics and features many similar armaments used by its predecessor. The Assault Infiltrator was designed to penetrate enemy defenses and fleet armadas in space. The additional Fin Funnels maximize the suit's offensive and defensive capabilities. The newly implanted psycho plates have been recalibrated and with the twin gatling guns on the shield and the Hyper Buster Cannon this Gundam aims to take Victory swiftly and accurately." #gundam #gunpla #gunplabuilder #gunplacommunity #plamo #anime #modelkit #nugundam #modelkitphotography#actionfigure #toyphotography (at New Hampshire) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClfYmO0OLww/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[camercntran]

CHARACTER INFORMATION:

FULL NAME: Cameron Tran

PRONOUNS AND GENDER: Cis woman, she/her

AGE: 33

SEXUALITY: Bisexual

OCCUPATION: Mortician/ musician

HOMETOWN: Ellsworth, New Hampshire

NEIGHBORHOOD: grand heights

TL;DR: (trigger warnings - death mention)

grew up in tiny, tiny ellsworth (population - 93) where her parents ran an bed and breakfast. as a result, she grew up knowing everything about everyone, and everyone knowing everything about her. that seemed particularly unfair to cam growing up, especially because she didn't know who she was yet.

she was close with her parents – primarily because they kept her that way. she grew up in a strict household, and her greatest form of escape (and rebellion) was media. books, shows, movies, whatever she could get her hands on without her folks finding out. (that's where she first encountered ba whitley's work, and following his career kind of in passing/ kind of not)

cam was never going to stay in ellsworth – though she didn't tell her parents until she received her acceptance letter to prose county. they had expected her to take over the now failing bed and breakfast, especially as they got older. after an entire summer of long fights and unconvincing arguments, cam left.

she loved prose. for the first time, she felt at home. she was the first to sign up in whitley's classes. always the first to arrive, first to answer questions. she thought, for a while, she might follow in his footsteps and write. he mentored her, for a while. but cam was starting to believe she was developing real feelings for him, and she started to put real distance between them because of it. she changed her major, putting herself as far from the arts as she could.

it was an internship to complete a class credit that led her to mortuary work – a job she didn't love, but she was good at. she accepted that. (though her parents were the first to call and say that was a job she could, and should, do in ellsworth).

she even almost started to love it until ba whitley crossed her table.

loves music. plays bass in whatever band will have her, even if they all seem to break up and dear god are there a lot of bass players kicking around.

kind of falls in love with everyone a little bit all the time??

FUN DUMB STATS:

Birthday: June 22, 1990

Zodiac Sign: Cancer ☉ | Gemini ☽ | Virgo ➶  

MBTI: ENFP  

Enneagram: Type 4w5 

Temperament: Choleric 

Moral Alignment: True neutral

Element: Air

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

current/former bandmates

friends

classmates

exes

flirtationship

tbh anything and everything

ESTABLISHED CONNECTIONS:

tbd

VIBES:

pinterest | playlist

[bllsbailey]

There Was One Slight Problem With Fox News' Town Hall Event With Trump

 Former President Donald Trump was supposed to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on Fox News last night. The latter chickened out, opting to hold a campaign event in New Hampshire where the Harris operation had to bus people in because this was the fakest campaign in modern American political history. Why is she wasting time in a state that’s safe for Democrats? Who knows, but Trump decided to hold a town hall event with host Sean Hannity, though a typical problem arose anytime the former president takes the floor: there wasn’t enough time. 

One hour with Trump in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, isn’t enough time, especially given all the issues that are on the table in this election, thanks to the destructive idiocy of the Biden White House. The world is aflame, we’re poorer than we were four years ago, and we’re dealing with an illegal alien invasion. Trump was right to point out that no country has let in 21 million people over three-and-a-half years. Mass deportation is now favored among a majority of voters, including Hispanics. What was long considered a pie-in-the-sky immigration initiative might need to become a priority due to national security issues. Operational control of the border must be restored. Trump spoke briefly on the situation in Aurora, Colorado, where Venezuelan gangs are taking over the city. 

Whether questions from the audiences were on the agenda is now irrelevant: they ran out of time, but Hannity did ask a good question about the core message of the Trump campaign in 2024. In 2016, it was about the forgotten man, the rural voter long disregarded by the political class. Most of these people, who had never voted, were animated by Trump; the rest is history. The people long relegated to the back of debates and socioeconomic issues got their man in the White House. 

Trump told Hannity it’s still about forgotten Americans and making America great. There wasn’t enough time to flesh out that answer, like how inflation will be tackled, how to get consumer and small business confidence back to the historic highs we saw under Trump, and how to redefine America’s role in the world. Biden may say America is back, but no one knows what that means. This administration has yet to outline a coherent exit strategy and the goals concerning our quagmire in Ukraine. 

Trump knew how to wield the power of the presidency. That’s beyond dispute since Biden quit, forced out by party bosses, donors, and top Democrats. The institutional advantages make it so that any president who knows what he’s doing could squash internal rebellions. When has Biden ever used the bully pulpit well, if at all? 

Due to time constraints, all of these things and more were left out of the discussion, but Trump’s town hall was longer than Kamala Harris’ appalling CNN interview with Dana Bash, which lasted barely 20 minutes. It was vintage Trump, which meant the liberal media didn’t understand a word of it, though who cares? Trump could have spoken with learned diction since 2016—these people would still hate him. 

One thing is clear: the momentum is with Trump. The crowd was energized and uproarious. The former president mentioned wanting to win New Hampshire in 2024. Sir, focus on winning the Keystone State. That’s the knockout blow in a few months.

Trending on Townhall Videos

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

""Stockade" is the big playing-field inside the walls. It has a running-track, a baseball diamond, and a few handball and horseshoe courts. Except when there is an actual ballgame going on, most of the men walk around the track, in couples or groups, talking vigorously. Today an inmate who works in the education department walked a couple of laps around the track with me. Then we joined a group of a dozen or so men sprawled about on the grass, with a lean hawk-like looking chap with wiry red hair as a sort of focus.

The redhead turns out to be Harry Little, a conscientious objector from Vermont, a young sociologist who has worked out his rebellion against society in terms of a "back-to-the-land" movement of his own. He is articulate and persuasive, with the gift of making his most extreme notions sound plausible. Whatever the merit of his ideas might be, he is clearly a man of strong character, and has attracted to himself a whole coterie of disciples, worshipers, and general hangers-on. They made a fascinating group. There were two other COs; all the rest were either draft evaders or the more conventional criminal type. One of the COs is a New Hampshire farmer who came to his position about war entirely independently, and with no knowledge of others with the same ideas until he landed in prison. He won me at once with the quiet dignity of his personality. The other is, I suspect, a Johnny-come-lately as a pacifist who probably did not decide on his CO status until after he found himself in prison as a draft dodger.

Of the others, by far the most interesting is Slim. As thin as his nickname implies, with quick brown eyes and black hair brushed sleekly back. Slim has a record that makes him the undisputed "professional" of the group, though his present three-year sentence came for "failing to notify the draft board of a change of address." The charge fills him with a sense of outrage. He has been on parole from a one-to-twenty-year state charge for the last nine years, during which period, he says, he succeeded by tremendous effort in staying on the right side of the law. ("Except for a little legitimate stealing, of course!") Now physically and emotionally unfit for Army service (he has a silver plate in his head and another in one leg) and three times classified 4-F, he feels a natural indignation at his present plight.

"Nine years a square John," he burst out at me, "and now I'm in on a meatball rap."

I sympathized with him, as who would not?"

- Alfred Hassler, Diary of a Self-Made Convict. Foreword by Harry Elmer Barnes. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1954 (written 1944-1945), p. 64-65.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 6.21 (before 1940)

533 – A Byzantine expeditionary fleet under Belisarios sails from Constantinople to attack the Vandals in Africa, via Greece and Sicily . 1307 – Külüg Khan is enthroned as Khagan of the Mongols and Wuzong of the Yuan. 1529 – French forces are driven out of northern Italy by Spain at the Battle of Landriano during the War of the League of Cognac. 1582 – Sengoku period: Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful of the Japanese daimyōs, is forced to commit suicide by his own general Akechi Mitsuhide. 1621 – Execution of 27 Czech noblemen on the Old Town Square in Prague as a consequence of the Battle of White Mountain. 1734 – In Montreal, New France, a slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique is put to death, having been convicted of setting the fire that destroyed much of the city. 1749 – Halifax, Nova Scotia, is founded. 1768 – James Otis Jr. offends the King and Parliament in a speech to the Massachusetts General Court. 1788 – New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify the Constitution of the United States. 1791 – King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution. 1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798: The British Army defeats Irish rebels at the Battle of Vinegar Hill. 1813 – Peninsular War: Wellington defeats Joseph Bonaparte at the Battle of Vitoria. 1824 – Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea. 1826 – Maniots defeat Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha in the Battle of Vergas. 1848 – In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell issue the Proclamation of Islaz and create a new republican government. 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road begins. 1898 – The United States captures Guam from Spain. The few warning shots fired by the U.S. naval vessels are misinterpreted as salutes by the Spanish garrison, which was unaware that the two nations were at war. 1900 – Boxer Rebellion: China formally declares war on the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Japan, as an edict issued from the Empress Dowager Cixi. 1915 – The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Guinn v. United States 238 US 347 1915, striking down Oklahoma grandfather clause legislation which had the effect of denying the right to vote to blacks. 1919 – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police fire a volley into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two, during the Winnipeg general strike. 1919 – Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet at Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed are the last casualties of World War I. 1921 – The Irish village of Knockcroghery was burned by British forces. 1929 – An agreement brokered by U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico. 1930 – One-year conscription comes into force in France.

[californiaprelawland]

Trump v. Haley, Who Will Win?

By Anakalia Casperson, Menlo College Class of 2025

February 18, 2024

Four years later from 2020, we find former president Donald Trump back running strong in the race for the current 2024 presidential election. Trump had won the New Hampshire primary which is a big pool to obtain during the election. He won against Biden in 2016 and Biden emerged in 2020 as the current President of the United States. Trump is running against Nikki Haley governor of South Carolina, ‘Moving him closer to a rematch with President Joe Biden this fall’. This New Hampshire Primary win is recognized as a big win for caucuses, especially in Iowa. When Trump won the New Hampshire Republican Primary he had wasted no time with bashing his former cabinet member Haley. He had regarded her speech performance as ‘poor’ and had exclaimed, ‘SHE CAME IN THIRD LAST WEEK! As a result, supporters of Haley rose in support of her race and in the formulation of countering Trump’s win by revealing hidden struggles of Trump's election race.

  Nimarata Nikki Haley, known as Nikki Haley, was born in 1972 in Bamberg, South Carolina. At the time, South Carolina was a place ‘where the railroad tracks divided the town by race’. This setting that Haley grew up in played a great role in the molding of her foundational approach to diversity. Besides being the 116th governor of South Carolina, she has built up her accreditation by being nominated in 2016 by President Donald Trump ‘to serve as the U.S ambassador to the United Nations’. She also held a major role in the President’s Cabinet and on the National Security Council”. These critical positions were appointed by former president Trump who is currently running against Haley. Ironically, Trump, who at a time was in favor of Haley, is now running against Nikki Haley. The former president has a history of being a very dominant and aggressive candidate who has no problem taking America under his wraps by singlehandedly obtaining caucus wins. Unfortunately, Haley’s efforts were not enough ‘to stop Trump from making history by becoming the first nonincumbent Republican in modern presidential politics’. This win brings Trump a step closer to facing the only presidential candidate ‘to have ever beaten him at the ballot box: Joe Biden’. Haley's current focus is the South Carolina primary on Feb 24, 2024. Not only is this primary being held in her hometown, ‘it's where Biden cemented his status as the Democratic front-runner in 2020’. Even though the primary has ‘a long history of picking presidential nominees’ it is where Haley must lay her foundation for any sort of presidential presence she wishes to obtain.

  With Trump being back in the presidential election race with full force, there have been some questions reconciling the fact that Trump has found himself in the running again, even after being impeached. The one question that roamed around in politics was ‘Can the 14th Amendment be used to block Trump from 2024 ballots?’ This question was discussed amongst, Laura Barron-Lopez; Tess Conciatori; and Matt Loffman from PBS. They had ‘argued he violated the 14th Amendment with his actions on and before Jan. 6’. On January 6th, the United States Capitol building in Washington D.C. was raided and attacked by a mob of supporters who were in favor of President Trump for the 2020 Presidential Election race. In the end, Biden had defeated Trump. As a result, the revolt was led by angered and outraged supporters of Trump. The initiative behind the attack was influenced by Trump, himself and was ultimately carried out by his supporting counterparts.

Shown above is The 14th Amendment ‘disqualifies candidates who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof’. Trump is within reach of violating the 14th amendment ‘with his actions on and before January 6th’. It is no surprise that the former president has jumped through the cracks in order to place himself, once again, in a pivotal position. Time is only flying by as days pass, the early polls are about to open up in March and the country is in for a political wave during the presidential race, sooner rather than later.

______________________________________________________________

[1] Bradner, Eric, and Gregory Krieg. “Trump Wins New Hampshire Republican Primary | CNN Politics.” CNN, Cable News Network, 24 Jan. 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/01/23/politics/trump-new-hampshire-primary/index.html.

[2] “About Nikki.” Nikki Haley for President, 20 June 2023, nikkihaley.com/about/.

[3] Barrón-López, Laura, et al. “Can the 14th Amendment Be Used to Block Trump from 2024 Ballots?” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 31 Aug. 2023, www.pbs.org/newshour/show/can-the-14th-amendment-be-used-to-block-trump-from-2024-ballots.

[speedyposts]

How will Donald Trump’s criminal trials affect his re-election bid?

The odds that Donald Trump will be the Republican presidential candidate appear more likely by the day.

The former United States president has cemented his hold on the party nomination with convincing early victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, and his field of Republican challengers has dwindled in response.

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Yet, despite his strong frontrunner position, Trump faces four criminal trials that could complicate his re-election bid.

He has been accused of mishandling classified government files, falsifying business documents to conceal a hush-money payment, and conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Georgia.

He also faces a separate federal indictment accusing him of interference in the 2020 vote, which he lost to President Joe Biden. He has pleaded not guilty in all four cases.

But while the US Constitution allows Trump to seek the presidency even if he is convicted, a guilty verdict could affect his ability to campaign — and raise never-before-seen scenarios, experts say.

“That a major party candidate, somebody very competitive in the polls, could be facing criminal indictments, that’s unprecedented. [That he] could be going to trial during the primary season, that is unprecedented. If he were to be convicted, that would be unprecedented,” said Craig Green, a professor of law and government at Temple University.

“All of these things are really extraordinary.”

Could Trump be forced to campaign from a jail cell? Would a conviction push him to drop out? And will the criminal trials affect his electability? Here’s all you need to know.

Yes. The US Constitution says any “natural born citizen” aged 35 and up, who has been a US resident for at least 14 years, can run for president.

“There’s no language in the Constitution that prohibits someone who’s convicted of running for an office,” explained Aziz Huq, a professor of law at the University of Chicago.

Some civil rights groups, however, have sought to get Trump disqualified by pointing to a little-known clause of the Constitution.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — the so-called “disqualification clause” — bars people from holding US office, including the presidency, if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof”.

Critics say Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results would fall under the prohibition against insurrection.

Whether Trump’s candidacy can be barred under the 14th Amendment is currently an issue before the US Supreme Court. Its justices have been asked to weigh in after two states, Colorado and Maine, removed Trump’s name from their primary ballots, citing the insurrection clause.

Yes. In 1920, Socialist Party candidate Eugene V Debs campaigned for president from a federal prison in Georgia. Debs, who was jailed for sedition after challenging a wartime measure that curtailed the freedom of speech, garnered nearly one million votes.

Lyndon LaRouche Jr also ran for president in 1992 from federal prison, where he was serving out a sentence for conspiracy and mail fraud.

But Huq, the University of Chicago professor, said individuals with criminal convictions have historically “not been candidates who have been likely to win or who have been within reach of winning”.

“The Constitution is written on the assumption that the people who run for office will have been selected through some process that weeds out people who have committed alleged felonies in the past,” he told Al Jazeera.

The trials could create a scheduling headache for the former president, who will be required to appear in court.

But everything depends on when the proceedings get under way, as Trump’s legal team has filed multiple motions to delay the cases or dismiss the charges against him outright.

“We don’t know which — if any — of the criminal cases could go to trial before November because there are a number of appellate proceedings seeking to stop them, or stay them,” said Frank Bowman, professor emeritus at the University of Missouri School of Law.

Appeals have already delayed at least one case. Last week, a US District Judge Tanya Chutkan postponed the start of Trump’s federal election interference case in Washington, DC, which had been set for March 4. A new schedule has not been set.

The New York fraud case, meanwhile, is scheduled to begin on March 25 but could also get pushed back.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties have been holding their respective nomination contests — state votes to determine each party’s presidential candidate — since the beginning of the year.

Trump won comfortably in both Iowa and New Hampshire in January, heaping pressure on his last major Republican challenger, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, to drop out of the race.

The next contests are later this month in Nevada, South Carolina and Michigan. More than a dozen states will then hold their primaries in early March on what is known as Super Tuesday.

Republicans will officially choose their candidate at the party convention, set for mid-July in Wisconsin, while Democrats will confirm their nominee — who is almost guaranteed to be President Biden — at an August convention. The general election is on November 5.

“Aside from illness or death, I don’t think there’s anything that could keep Trump off of the ballot in November,” said Green at Temple University.

That’s because Republican Party rules currently don’t include a “mechanism for getting him off the ballot” if he is confirmed as the candidate at July’s convention, he explained.

Meanwhile, nearly all of the delegates who will pick the Republican nominee are what’s known as bound delegates — meaning they are required to vote for a candidate based on the results of their state’s primary and party rules.

“The Republican Party has become increasingly rigorous about getting pledged delegates — no flexibility, no messing around. You win the primary, you win the votes,” Green told Al Jazeera.

In other words, the majority of the Republican delegates at the party convention will be pledged to Trump if he wins most of the state primaries. Green added that it therefore is unlikely those same delegates would pass any rule changes to allow the party to break away from the ex-president should he be convicted.

While Trump could — in theory — drop out of the race after a conviction, he has pledged not to.

Geoff Kabaservice, vice president of political affairs at the Niskanen Center, a centre-right think tank in Washington, DC, said the Republican Party “has gone way too far with Trump at this point for there to be an off-ramp from his candidacy”.

“Absent some act of God, they are stuck with him as their presidential nominee,” Kabaservice said.

The chances are slim.

Even if he were convicted before November, “there’s always some period of time before sentencing”, explained Bowman at the University of Missouri.

Trump’s legal team also would almost certainly appeal any conviction and sentencing decision, thereby delaying the prospect of him spending time behind bars even further.

“Customarily, in white-collar cases, people remain free on bond pending appeal,” Bowman told Al Jazeera. “Would Trump appeal a conviction or a sentence? Of course he would. It seems unlikely a judge would remand him to custody immediately.”

That’s an important question.

A December poll from the New York Times and Siena College showed that 62 percent of Republican primary voters believed Trump should remain the party’s nominee if he wins the most primary votes — even if he is convicted of a crime.

Fifty-four percent of Republican primary voters in New Hampshire also said he would still be fit for the presidency if convicted of a crime, according to exit polling by the Washington Post. That figure jumped to 87 percent among voters who backed Trump in New Hampshire last month.

The former president’s base has overwhelmingly stayed in his corner despite the four criminal indictments, which Trump has denounced as politically motivated “witch hunts”. But that could change with a conviction, said Green.

“I think there would be a slice of people who would take things more seriously at that moment. He would be a convicted felon, and those words have some weight for some voters,” he said.

A January poll by Morning Consult and Bloomberg (PDF) showed that 53 percent of registered voters in key swing states would not vote for the ex-president if he were convicted. Fifty-five percent said they wouldn’t vote for Trump if he were sentenced to prison time.

Even just having to appear in court during the election campaign could affect Trump, said Kabaservice at the Niskanen Centre.

During the Republican primaries, Trump used his legal troubles to fire up his die-hard supporters. He has even appeared in court for civil cases where his presence is otherwise not required, leading some experts to question whether his presence is a campaign tactic.

Kabaservice noted that Trump has used the cases to accuse Democrats of doing “everything in their power to stop him from becoming president again” and reiterate claims that the justice system is rigged against him.

While this strategy may work for the former president’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) backers, it will fail to appeal to more moderate Republicans, independents or even Democrats who may consider voting for him, Kabaservice said.

“The basic problem here for Trump and the Republican Party is that what works for the MAGA faithful doesn’t really play all that well outside of the bubble,” he told Al Jazeera.

The criminal trials will, in effect, not keep him from being the GOP nominee or keep him off the ballot. But they will showcase “Trump’s worst qualities for the segment of the electorate to whom that matters”.

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[202204985caic2324]

Insurrectionist or Presidential candidate? The 14th Amendment may just render Trump ineligible to take office again.

A five day lawsuit hearing began in Colorado on the 30th of October to disqualify Donald Trump from being on the US Presidential ballot for 2024 through the use of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. This section bars anyone who may “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution after having previously taken an oath to support the Constitution, as Trump would have as President. 

This lawsuit as well as ones in Minnesota, New Hampshire and Michigan have been filled on the basis that Trump's actions regarding the January 6th Capitol attack could be seen as an incitement to rebel against the Constitution after he told supporters “they rigged an election” referring to Biden and what Trump called “radical left Democrats”. He then went on to say “We will never concede” before encouraging the crowd to “fight like hell” and telling them “we’re going to the Capitol”. 

Trump’s attorneys have argued that the Colorado case should be dismissed as the plaintiffs have been unable to prove that Trump’s actions went beyond giving a speech and cannot prove he “incited” anything. All attempts made by Trump’s legal team to have the lawsuit dismissed were denied by Colorado judges, including on the 26th of October only four days before the start of the trial. 

The Colorado lawsuit was filed back in September in Denver by 6 Colorado voters, 4 Republicans and 2 independents with the help of a watchdog group from Washington, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics. These individuals argue that if Mr Trump were to win the Republican nomination it would deprive them of the opportunity “to vote for a qualified candidate”. 

Trump’s campaign has drawn attention to the fact that this particular lawsuit is being supported by a ‘liberal nonprofit’ in a state that voted for Biden in 2020. Trump’s spokesperson Jason Miller said “They send money to these dark money groups- they go to a Democratic jurisdiction and a Democratic Judge,”. 

This section of the constitution was originally designed to prevent Confederates from taking over the government by returning to their old federal and state positions. Gerard Magliocca from Indiana University began researching this section of the Constitution in late 2020, and without even mentioning Trump, testified in court that he had discovered 150 year old court rulings that would seemingly prove this section applies to Presidents that encouraged an insurrection as well as those who physically participated.  

Regardless of the outcome of Colorado’s lawsuit Trump isn’t finished facing legal challenges and this case will likely end up in the US Supreme Court. 

[weirdestbooks]

The Shot Heard Around the World Chapter 18

E Pluribus Unum (Wattpad | Ao3)

Table of Contents | Prev | Next

July 5, 1775

United Colonies was nervous. His Congress had just approved the Olive Branch Petition, his last attempt at trying to avoid war with his father to avoid an actual rebellion. It was where his Congress emphasized his loyalty and affection to and for his father, where he reassured his father that he would never want to leave him, where he asked for mercy, where he asked for forgiveness, where he reassured his father that their bond would be forever strong and never be undone, not now or ever.

It was United Colonies’ explanation of his feelings towards his father that would clear up any misgivings between them. It explained that they were British citizens and deserved their rights, but also that they were British citizens and would stay loyal to their king and their father country.

It had to be enough to end things, to put things to rest, and to allow them to work toward some sort of solution that would make them both happy.

“Are we sure this is going to work?” the voice he knew to be Virginia asked.

“Of course it will!” the voice that called herself Georgia said.

“It might not after what I did at Breed’s Hill,” the voice that called himself Massachusetts said. United Colonies scowled, remembering the story that had been explained to him, the story of what really happened at Breed’s Hill.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Massachusetts. I might be having disagreements with my family, but I don’t want to hurt any of them, or leave them, or do anything like that. You…we should’ve just stayed with Congress. We stay here, we stay away from conflict, and then when my father comes, we could say that we were trying for peace with Congress. You ensured we get punished and that my father will never believe me when I say I love him and want to be his colony.” United Colonies explained. In the safety of his private room at the inn, he could talk to his colonies freely.

It was strange and unnatural, and United Colonies still wasn’t sure he wasn’t going insane, but it helped him clear his thoughts and headaches, helped him find solutions.

So he did it anyway.

“I’m sorry,” the voice that called himself Massachusettes said, “but I don’t regret it. You fought at Lexington and Concord. I know you’re scared, but you’ve fought as well. You believe that Grandfather has gone too far as well. Maybe I did go too far by hurting England, but we can’t pretend none of us have been quick to violence recently.”

“We’re going to be punished no matter what. That’s why we asked for mercy in our petition.” the voice that called himself Delaware said, sounding somber and forlorn.

“We would deserve it. We have fought, and Massy did hurt Uncle England. We haven’t lived by the promises we made in our petition. If Grandfather punishes us, we deserve it,” the voice that called herself Maryland said.

“None of you deserve to be punished for standing up for your rights as British citizens. None of you deserve to be hurt for wanting the best for your people. That is your duty and your job, and you are doing your best to do that,” an unnamed voice said, his voice resolute and determined. United Colonies looked down at his hands, trying to find a way to look away from the voice.

It didn’t work.

The voice was wrong. United Colonies deserved to be punished for what he had done. Running away had delayed the punishment, but once this was over and done with, he planned to return home to accept his punishment. He had been mean to his father and cruel to his uncle, and while he was mad at them both, that didn’t mean he had the right to do much of what he had done.

“I don’t want to be punished, and I don’t think we deserve it, but Grandfather will never accept any apology from us until we are punished,” the voice that called herself New Hampshire said.

“We deserve it!” United Colonies snapped, somewhat harshly, before sitting down at the desk in his room, wiping away tears appearing in the corner of his eyes. He felt…he felt terrible. His emotions were all over the place, wild, chaotic, and United Colonies felt like a horrible person.

“I’m sorry, Father. We don’t have to talk about it anymore.” the voice that called herself New Hampshire said. United Colonies nodded, and for the first time since his colonies revealed themselves, his head was quiet.

———————————

October 1775

United Colonies was excited, scared, but mainly excited. He had received a response from his father, a proclamation from the king. Perhaps it was something that could end the conflict, something that would lead to a resolution. 

United Colonies wanted it to be a resolution so badly so he could go home and stop feeling sick with guilt all the time. He couldn’t wait to read what his king had to say. He knew it wasn’t a direct letter from his father, but United Colonies had not sent a letter to his father with the Olive Branch Petition, so he was not expecting one.

But his father worked closely with their king, and the United Colonies knew he must have seen, read, and approved this proclamation. 

It was the closest he would get to actual contact with his father until United Colonies got his fear under control and could write letters without his hands shaking and his breath getting shorter.

It was so stupid that it prevented him from talking to his father. It was cowardly.

So, for now, news of his father and his father’s reactions to things came from the responses of his king and government. 

So, instead of going home and talking to his father, United Colonies was sitting in Congress, waiting for John Hancock to read out the King’s proclamation. John Hancock cleared his throat and began reading out. 

United Colonies' hope quickly faded to horror and fear.

He listened in horror as John Hancock read out the proclamation, a proclamation declaring that they were in open rebellion and that the Congress was made up of dangerous men. His stomach dropped as the congressional president read the portion of the proclamation where his father gave his military permission to put down the rebellion.

“My god, he’s declared war.” the unfamiliar male voice said.

“This is because of what I did at Breed’s Hill!” Massachusetts cried out, panicking, “I must have ruined our attempt at peace because I injured England! He thinks you did it, and he won’t let any sort of compromise happen now!”

“He’s going to kill us,” The voice that called herself North Carolina said, her voice quiet.

“He’s going to capture us and kill everyone in Congress! We are loyal to him. We love him. We didn’t want to fight him. We wanted to stay, wanted to be a part of his empire! Why did he do this? Did they even read our petition?” Virginia exclaimed, her voice sounding tearful.

“He’ll never go for peace now, no matter what we do,” United Colonies said, his voice shaky as John Hancock finished reading the proclamation.

“What do you mean?” Thomas McKean, a Delaware delegate, asked.

“I know my father. He is…stubborn, and when he decides not to compromise, only a great act of force will make him compromise. He won’t accept any sort of peace compromise from us. He’ll only accept his army crushing any rebellion and hanging anyone he can pass off as a leader. We…we can’t make a bid for peace or a compromise, not anymore.” United Colonies explained, fear flooding his body. 

He felt physically ill, hands shaking, body distant. His breaths came out in short bursts as his awareness seemed to fade, and a headache began growing.

United Colonies let out another shaky breath before awareness faded from him entirely.

James straightened his back, letting his breaths even out. United Colonies’ panic would do no one good here. United Colonies needed to appear strong and offer his people some sort of control, but his fear of Britain and his retribution wouldn’t let him do that.

“I don’t know what we can or should do from here. I can’t tell you that,” James began, trying to keep his voice confident, “but…B—Father has just ensured that the only way this can be solved is through violence. I don’t know how this will end, but it won’t end peacefully.”

A tense silence fell across Congress, and James clenched his fists.

United Colonies may be hesitant and scared to do anything to fight his father, but James wasn’t. If it was a fight Britain wanted, it’s a fight he’ll get.

[marcel334]

ABC News drops bombshell, reveals that “efforts to keep Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot under the 14th Amendment” are “gaining steam” as “election officials in key states are preparing legal challenges to Trump's candidacy.”

But it gets WAY worse for Donald Trump…

ABC reports that “Arizona, Michigan, and New Hampshire” are “gaining momentum” in their quest to keep insurrectionist Trump off the ballot — which would decimate Trump��s chances of winning in 2024.

Adding insult to injury for Trump, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson tells ABC News that “she and other secretaries of state from Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire and Maine started having conversations over a year ago about preparing for the legal challenges to Trump's candidacy.”

This news comes as legal scholars across America — from both sides of the political aisle — are calling for Trump to be banned due to Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which states that an elected official is not eligible to assume public office if that person "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against.”

[catchperfectamericanpresidents]

Tag Yourself: 13 + 2 Colonies Edition

Virginia: Old, pretentious. Thinks that they’re the best, and needs to always get their way, no matter what. Famous. Always the perfect gentleman. You enjoy dinner parties and horses. A politically cunning person. The single leader of the South ( TM )

 Massachusetts: Used to be pretty prudish and uptight. Has since shed your Puritan skin to become someone entirely different! Troublemaker. What’s with your obsession with rebellion and newspapers, anyways? You like ships and sailing. And beer. LOTS of beer. 

 Rhode Island: Always the one causing a scene cause he’s a ‘rebel’ and ‘not like the other states’ . Shut up Rhode Island, you tiny, and there is no reason to try and make yourself seem relevant.

 Connecticut: Like Massachusetts, but watered down. You used to idolize him,  but since have tried to distance yourself and be your own person! Doesn’t help that you kind of look like him too. 

 New Hampshire: Like Connecticut, you have a Massachusetts induced inferiority complex. Your a simple person, I believe. You really don’t get along with New York. 

 New York: Money and cynicism. Corruption, what corruption? Today! Was rain! Yesterday! Was rain! I’m sure that tomorrow! Will be rain! As well! 

 New Jersey: Law and order? What law and order? Be crime, do crime, have gay, die in a duel with your nemesis. We also had voting rights for women for a while. Drugs are optional.

Pennsylvania: Social butterfly, everyone loves you. Tolerant of everyone. You have one outstanding attribute that everyone loves and promptly ignores everything else. You REALLY wanted to be the star of the show, and you were! For a while! But Virginians ruin everything, don’t they, eh?

Delaware: No one notices you, everyone mistakes you for a river, and you’re very small. Everyone tries stealing your name. Sort of unimportant, but you’re trying to leave an impact. If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of @dear-ao3 screaming.

 Maryland: Unlike your siblings, you’re a Catholic. Or maybe you’re not? No one knows. Pretty quiet, sort of fades in the back round, but also just...there? In a awkward, no-one-really-knows-what-you’re doing sort of way?

 North Carolina: You’re actually a really nice person, but you’re always being overlooked and being mistaken for your younger but more famous brother. Anyways, you enjoy a hard-working life in the soil, plowing your fields in the sun. Nothing like isolation and independence, no? Life is good.

South Carolina: You are an uptight, arrogant, bitch, but if nothing else, you have a sense of style and superiority complex! A flashy person, you’re always stealing the spotlight, and the first to cause trouble. Your pretty loud, but your political genius and moral dubiousness is unmatched! But you look hot so most people are willing to ignore everything else you did, including starting the most deadliest war in American History. Goddamn it, SC. Why?

 Georgia: You were an unlucky accident. A buffer state. You really didn’t want to join the union, just wanted to be normal, but went along for the ride, and now you regret it. GREATLY.

Vermont: The sibling that everyone, upon having to introduce, immediately says ‘He’s adopted’

Maine: Like New Hampshire, you have a Massachusetts Induced Inferiority Complex ( TM ). Kind of depressed. You really like the cold, and you have a pretty long rack of achievements of your own, not that anyone notices. You can speak french!

[thoughtportal]

The history of the second amendment

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/opinion/second-amendment-slavery-james-madison.html

Every mass shooting, like the most recent at Santa Fe High School in Texas that left 10 people dead, reignites a passionate debate over the Second Amendment. For many Americans, if there is an image that comes to mind when they think about that amendment, it is the musket in the hands of minutemen at Lexington and Concord. 

A dramatic but little-known story reveals that a more accurate image may be the musket in the hands of slave owners. It explains why, when he entered Congress and wrote a Bill of Rights, James Madison included a right to bear arms, and why it included the clause “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State …”

The story begins in June of 1788. Virginia was holding a convention in Richmond to decide whether to ratify the Constitution the founders had drafted in Independence Hall the previous year. Eight states out of the nine necessary to adopt the Constitution had already ratified, but Rhode Island, North Carolina, New Hampshire and New York looked unlikely to ratify. All hope for the ninth hung on Virginia.

The Virginia convention featured a dramatic debate between federalists, who favored ratification, and antifederalists, who opposed it. The debate pitted James Madison, a federalist and the principal drafter of the Constitution, against George Mason, the intellectual leader of the antifederalists, and Patrick Henry, Virginia’s governor and a renowned orator.

Mason and Henry raised many arguments against ratification. One concerned the militia. To appreciate their arguments, we must bear three things in mind about the time and place of the debate.

First, the majority population in eastern Virginia were enslaved blacks. Whites lived in constant fear of slave insurrection. Everyone knew about the 1739 slave rebellion in Stono, S.C., when blacks broke into a store, decapitated the shopkeepers, seized guns and powder, and marched with flying banners, beating drums and cries of “Liberty!” Up to 100 joined the rebellion before being engaged by a contingent of armed, mounted militiamen. Scores died in the ensuing battle.

Second, the principal instrument for slave control was the militia. In the main, the South had refused to commit her militias to the war against the British during the American Revolution out of fear that, if the militias departed, slaves would revolt. But while the militias were effective at slave control, they had proved themselves unequal to the task of fighting a professional army. Bunker Hill was the last militia victory during the Revolution. The Continental Army (aided by the French Navy) won the war.

Third, previously the militias were creatures of state governments. The new Constitution changed that. It divided authority over militias between the national and state governments, but gave the lion’s share of authority — including the power to organize, arm and discipline the militias — to Congress.

During the debate in Richmond, Mason and Henry suggested that the new Constitution gave Congress the power to subvert the slave system by disarming the militias. “Slavery is detested,” Henry reminded the audience. “The majority of Congress is to the North, and the slaves are to the South,” he said.

Henry and Mason argued that because the Constitution gave the federal government the power to arm the militias, only the federal government could do so. “If they neglect or refuse to discipline or arm our militia, they will be useless: the states can do neither — this power being exclusively given to Congress,” Henry declared.

“The power is concurrent, and not exclusive,” Madison replied. That was a blunder. The Constitution expressly parceled out different powers over the militia to Congress or the states. Henry ridiculed Madison for suggesting a state could exercise a power given to the federal government, or vice versa. “To admit this mutual concurrence of powers will carry you into endless absurdity — that Congress has nothing exclusive on the one hand, nor the states on the other,” Henry said.

The vote was close, but Virginia ratified. Unexpectedly, and unbeknown to Virginia, New Hampshire had done so as well. The Constitution was adopted.

In the fall, Madison ran for Congress. His opponent, the rising young politician (and future president) James Monroe, lambasted Madison for not including a bill of rights in the Constitution. Because he believed rights were best protected by the structure of government, Madison previously opposed a bill of rights. Now he was fighting for his political life in a congressional district where a bill of rights was popular. Madison changed his position and promised voters that, if elected, he would write one.

As we know, he included a right to bear arms. Only four of the 13 state Constitutions had such a provision. The Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by none other than George Mason in 1776 when states controlled the militias, did not have one. Following its debate and decision to ratify, the Virginia convention proposed Congress consider a declaration of 20 rights, including a right to bear arms, and 20 constitutional amendments, including one giving states the power to arm their militias if Congress did not.

I believe it likely that Madison sought to correct the problem Henry and Mason had railed against in Richmond. Madison was determined that nothing in the Bill of Rights contradict anything in the main body of the Constitution; and the states had traditionally armed their militias simply by requiring that members bring their own guns with them when called to duty.

Consider, against this background, the language of Second Amendment: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Today, the Second Amendment is often extolled as a “safeguard against tyranny.” Even the Supreme Court used that phrase in 2008 when, for the first time, it held that the amendment grants a right unrelated to the militia.

Would we think differently about the amendment if we realized that its genesis was, at least in part, a concern with preserving a form of governmental tyranny?

Carl T. Bogus is a professor of law at Roger Williams University.

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