#WHAT IS LITERALLY THE POINT OF ELECTED OFFICIALS

[inkskinned]

"don't make it political!" .... what proportion of death and suffering must occur before politics are involved. if this isn't political, what is even the point of any politics, ever. of democracy. the words are "by the people for the people." if i am going to be left alone by my elected representatives to "figure it out" - to undergo damage, hardship, fear. what the fuck did i elect them for. what was their job. the entire point is that they handle this shit. this is why we were supposed to be electing leaders.

poverty is political. misogyny is political. gun control is political. climate change is political. how much aid a community gets is political. what the fuck are you talking about. it's been political this whole fucking time.

[gayvampyr]

leftist: kamala said she would continue aiding israel and allow the “war” (genocide) in gaza to continue. she also promised to be harsher on border policing and immigration, and to make the american military the most lethal globally to further american influence and imperialism. these are all things she admitted and made key parts of her campaign

online liberals: so you wanted trump to win? you’re a russian bot aren’t you. this is a psyop. election interference. you’re puritanical . [slur]

[soon-palestine]

Hostages tortured to death. Parents executed in front of their children. Doctors beaten. Babies murdered. Sexual assault weaponised. No, not Hamas crimes. This is part of an ever-growing list of documented atrocities committed by Israel in the five months since 7 October – quite separate from the carpet bombing of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and a famine induced by Israel’s obstruction of aid. And yet while the western establishment media has been chock full of the most lurid allegations of savagery directed against Hamas, sometimes with little or no supporting evidence, Israeli atrocities are excused or quickly forgotten. Accusations against Hamas are endlessly reheated to paint a picture of a supremely dangerous and bestial militant group, in turn rationalising the slaughter and starvation of Gaza’s population to “eradicate” it as a terrorist organisation. But equally barbarous atrocities committed by Israel – not in the heat of battle, but in cold blood – are treated as unfortunate, isolated incidents that cannot be connected, that paint no picture, that reveal nothing of import about the military that carried them out. If Hamas’ crimes were so savage and sadistic they still need to be reported months after they took place, why does the establishment media never feel the need to express equal horror and indignation at equivalent or worse acts of cruelty and sadism being inflicted by Israel on Gaza – not five months ago, but right now? Israel's torture of doctors, its sexual assaults of Palestinian women, it's leaving premature babies to die after its forces stormed a hospital. Where is the outrage? This is part of a pattern of behaviour by the western media that leads to only one possible deduction: Israel’s five-month-long attack on Gaza is not being reported. Rather, it is being selectively narrated – and for the most obscene of purposes. Through consistent and glaring failures in their coverage, establishment media – including supposedly liberal outlets, from the BBC and CNN to the Guardian and New York Times – have smoothed the way for Israel to carry out mass slaughter in Gaza, what the World Court has assessed as plausibly a genocide. The role of the media has not been to keep us, their audiences, informed about one of the greatest crimes in living memory. It has been to buy time for US President Joe Biden to keep arming his most useful of client states in the oil-rich Middle East, and to do so without damaging his prospects for re-election in November’s US presidential vote. If Russian President Vladimir Putin was a madman and a barbarous war criminal for invading Ukraine, as every western media outlet agrees, what does that make Israeli officials, when every one of them supports far worse atrocities in Gaza, directed overwhelmingly at civilians? And more to the point, what does that make Biden and the US political class for materially backing Israel to the hilt: sending bombs, vetoing demands for a ceasefire at the United Nations, and freezing desperately needed aid? Worrying about the optics, the president expresses his discomfort, but he carries on helping Israel regardless. While western politicians and commentators worry about some imaginary existential threat those brief events of five months ago pose to the nuclear-armed state of Israel, Israel is quite literally wiping Gaza off the map day by day, quite undisturbed.

[anexperimentallife]

Project 2025 would ban anything the far right considers pornography. The far right considers anything queer-positive to be pornography, and they WILL encode that into law if given just a TINY bit more power.

Have queer fanfic (or trad published literature) or pics of your transition, or of two men kissing, saved to your hard drive? If the GOP get their way, you'd be guilty of possession of pornography. Did you share any of it? You'd be guilty of distribution of pornography. Have a sweet coming of age story with a queer protagonist? That'd be child pornography.

Even now, states are trying to make it a crime to be openly queer in public (by, among other things, classifying dressing as the "wrong gender" anyplace kids might see as a sex crime against children). Oh, and Florida tried (and thankfully failed) to impose the death penalty for the above.

This is just one example of the horrors awaiting us if the project comes to fruition.

And the far right is already screaming that any adult who mentions around kids that queer people exist is "grooming" children. Wear your Pride shirt past a playground? You're now a child groomer. Think they won't put that into law if allowed? You're naive.

The GOP currently controls the Supreme Court (which is how they overturned Roe v. Wade) and has a majority in one branch of congress. Imagine what will happen nationwide with the GOP controlling every branch of government, including supermajoroties in both houses of Congress.

Oh, and top GOP officials have also announced their desire to NUKE Gaza, so don't come at me with, "but I can't vote blue because Biden..." Or tell me how you think Gaza would somehow be better off with Trump and the GOP.

In France, the left and center joined together--even though they disagree vehemently on many issues (get two leftists together and they'll have three positions on any issue)--to stop the far right from totally taking over, because the one thing they ALL agree on is that fascists dictatorships are BAD.

Much the same with the UK finally kicking out their own neo-fascist party, the Torries, to install 400 Labour MPs. Not everyone loves Labour's policies, but virtually everyone with a brain cell recognizes that the Torries are fascists, and that FASCISM BAD.

"Every election, they tell us this is the most important election if our lives!" Yeah, because each election over the past several decades has been more important than the one before, until we are now at a tipping point between remaining a fucked up oligarchy with SOME resemblance to freedom, and an outright neo-fascist military dictatorship.

Trump has literally stated publicly his intent to criminalize dissent, use US armed forces against protesters (Kent State, but multiply it by thousands), purge all agencies and stuff them with those personally loyal to him, and use the DOJ to go after anyone he perceives as a threat to his political power, among other things.

And remember the things he did in office, like pulling the teeth of federal workplace protections for queer folks (which Biden reatored).

I don't care if you don't like Biden or Harris. Neither do I. But the alternative is Trump, and anyone telling you not to vote in 2024, or to vote third party, is rooting for Trump, and for Project 2025. Anyone telling you not to vote does not give one single solitary flying fuck about vulnerable populations in the US or anywhere else in the world.

"You're just being an alarmist!" Right. Like I was being alarmist when I predicted the failed Jan 6 coup attempt. Like I was being alarmist when I said the GOP would try to use control over SCOTUS to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Fucking vote.

[satanfemme]

literally insane to me how "project 2025" is already in progress, under a dem president. and biden's intent on not doing anything. even within his official statements he's like "don't worry I'm not gonna do anything :-)". liberals have been fearmongering about project 2025 for months, liberals are still fearmongering about it, but the fact of the matter is unless someone steps up and does something more drastic, project 2025 is Going To Happen whether trump is president or not. because it's literally already happening. the US has been fascist since its conception, and yesterday the supreme court made it more blatant by giving presidents the power of kings. like we need to wake up and Do Something beyond echoing "dems good, republicans bad". whatever remote truth that used to have is beyond cooked at this point. the supreme court ruled that presidents can do whatever the fuck they want without consequences and our currently elected dem president's response was "don't worry I'm not gonna do anything. business as usual". our currently elected dem president who's killed 100,000+ people in an ongoing genocide he's orchestrating. like what else is there to say. this country is an evil evil joke.

[calummss]

Kai Anderson Headcanon: being his girlfriend ‘sent by god’ and slowly manipulating him

masterlist

you joined the cult shortly after you met kai at a coffee shop

he came to you hoping he could pitch his ideas to help him be elected

he was instantly attracted to you and didn’t feel the normal kind of resentment he had for women

you gave him your phone number and went on a few dates before kai opened up to you about starting a cult (very indirectly but you caught on)

you were fascinated by this and asked him to show you (stroked his ego real good)

you saw the meetings and kai even got you a custom clown costume you could wear to watch the killings

when you witnessed your first murder and told him it was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen, kai could’ve gotten down on one knee that second

proposing to you in a clown costume, covered in blood with a dead body next to you? you couldn’t have been more perfect to him

so when you officially join the ‘cult’ you realised that in order to further gain kai’s trust, you had to earn it. do something really fucked up as you saw him kill immediate members that had been with him for a long time

so you started to brief him on stuff he should do in order to get elected; lied about gary being a spy and pretend to drink a small dose of cyanide to prove your loyalty to him (it was baby power) not tasty but it worked

kai once again stared at you with heart eyes

winter could tell what you were doing but it didn’t matter anymore

you blindsided kai to the point you could make any claim and he’d believe you; you could tell him to kill x person and he would. bc you would’ve died for him

he thinks it was the greatest act of loyalty he’s ever been shown

slowly you start to lead the cult through your puppet, kai. he’s unaware of it like a cute dog

but some can sense it. but they don’t get far cause you have them killed

kai treats you like royaly and every every birthday he kills the amount of the people that age you turn. reminding you of when you first fell in love

and when kai shaved his head he looked sexier than ever. you give him head, fuck him in every corner of the house and provide evidence for a bug device. manipulation through sex—a womens best weapon

all in all kai worships you, not realising what’s happening bc his delusions comfort him by saying that you were sent by god himself

bonus: he loves fucking you with you on top. it reinforces the sent-by-god belief when he looks up at you. bouncing on his cock. he could literally just think about it and come

[silvermoon424]

LITERALLY THIS DRIVES ME FUCKING INSANE!!! Most of the culture-war bullshit right-wingers cry about only happens online. They let shitposters and outrage accounts dictate their entire worldview. Like they're not even chronically online, they have a terminal case and will die if they don't touch grass.

Like some random, completely obscure leftie will make a TikTok being like "honestly I think that you should be allowed to kill a baby up until 1 month after birth bc they're not even sentient," which is obviously an insane take but nowhere near mainstream and certainly not a Democratic Party policy. And also the TikTok itself gets 30 likes and everyone in the comments is dunking on OP.

And then Libs of TikTok will find it and make a tweet like "this is what the Democrats want. They keep lying to us and saying that post-birth abortion isn't real but it is! Disgusting freaks. Remember this when it's time to vote." And then her thousands of dumbass fans will spread it like wildfire, leading it to be featured on The Daily Wire, which then leads to it being featured on Fox News, and so on. And then the narrative they're pushing is suddenly "Democrats want to murder your babies!!!!!" Except "Democrats" really just means "this one insane person on TikTok."

Meanwhile elected Republican officials will literally just repeat Nazi talking points but apparently it's not a big deal, stop being so sensitive!

[iwritethingssometimes]

I'm seeing some posting about a feeling of fishiness about the recently completed US Election.

In the attempt to do something more productive than my last post, I'm gonna do an adhoc examination of how feasible I think a "rigged election" actually is, looking at a few methods that could have been used. So, to start with, what is the actual evidence here?

Most of it is... honestly vibes based, which I get, but don't put a lot of stock in, There was a lot of energy around the Harris campaign, and she had some good polls, but Donald Trump has proved nothing else in the past fucking decade, its that the polls literally do not matter for him, and he can outperform them by a hundred miles.

But. There's also some numbers.

None of this has been verified yet, and I want to make that clear, but this year has largely reported record turnout in a ton of states, especially the swing states, and yet, so far.

The number of votes seems much lower this year.

Not republican votes, not democrat votes, all votes. Hell, third party voting collapsed this year--whatever else you take from this election, this was not a case of the left splitting the vote.

Now, it's true that the vote count hasn't been completed, and it's possible that the numbers will make more sense once that's done. It's also true that the states didn't have quite the same turn-out as last year... but it was only a percentage point or two lower.

Add that to the frequent postings about people having their ballots rejected for... questionable reasons, and.

Well. It starts going from a "the moon is fake!" conspiracy to "Epstein had sex slaves" conspiracy.

But, okay, is it even possible for Trump to have faked the vote like this? People talked about it, but it was mostly in terms of legal challenges trying to overturn a Harris victory, or pulling in the supreme court to decide narrow districts. This, by all accounts, seems to be a straight forward Trump sweep.

So if there is shenanigans afoot, how could he have done it?

There's three feasible(ish) pathways, in my opinion:

Voter suppression and manipulation pre-ballot: Yeah this happened. It's also irrelevant to any possibility that the vote counts were tampered with. Look, this election was flooded with misinformation, legal suits, court cases, and election officials doing everything in their power to fuck with people's right to vote. It was filled with ballot boxes being lit on fire. Elon Musk did a fucking paid vote scheme! Of course there was voter suppression! But there always is, and although it was worse this year than many others, it wouldn't cause any numerical mismatch between turn out and votes, and there's not much that can be done now for this election. Even if someone voted because Musk slipped them $100, no court will ever be able to prove they didn't just happen upon $100 bucks and then voted for Trump.

Voting machines were manipulated: A few hours ago I would have said this was practically impossible, but apparently a bunch of election officials and cyber-security experts were sounding the alarm about this a few months ago, so, uh. That being said, I've seen people claiming that Starlink or whatever hacked voting machines, and no. No, Starlink did not hack voting machines. No one "hacked" voting machines. They weren't connected to the internet, or any wireless communication systems, because anyone with any degree of cybersecurity knowledge will tell you that's how you create an insecure system. Now, it's not impossible, technically speaking, than Elon Musk or fucking Russia managed to hire engineers and somehow bribe enough officals to get access to the machines and install hardware that would allow external access, but in that case we live in a Bond movie and somehow have bigger problems. So, if the voting machines themselves were compromised in any technological way, it would have required direct, physical access, which should be basically impossible, unless...

Ballot officials fucked with the vote This is the one I think is plausible. Basically, in this case, what could have happened is that various election officials at different levels of the process more or less lied about the vote count. This could have happened in a lot of different ways--they could have found reasons to reject mail-in ballots, which several states attempted to make legal, they could have found reasons to reject in-person ballots, which several states attempted to make legal. They could have, if the corruption ran deep enough to make this feasible, just... not counted or reported votes that swung for Harris. They could have, if the election machines work similar to the ones up here in BC, seen the results from the machines, then called the central election office over the phone--because remember, the ballot boxes should not be connected to anything. I don't know. There's a lot of options, and it varies from state to state, because remember, each state runs their own elections, and has their own rules and procedures.

So yeah, three explanations, only one of which is really plausible.

Now, I want to be clear, I don't think this election was fraudulent. Not yet, at least, I need to see actual evidence, or this is nothing more than a theory, but I also want to be clear.

...3 makes sense.

3 would explain why urban areas seemed to be underrepresented in this election, while rural areas surged. 3 would explain a discrepancy between voter turn out and votes counted. 3 would fit the strategy Trump and MAGA loyalists have been describing for the last four years, of infiltrating the election machinery and manipulating it to their own ends.

So I'm not saying it's likely that Trump fucked with the vote, not without evidence. Not yet.

But I will say this looks a hell of a lot more plausible than any claims made in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

[tarre-was-right]

ROUND ONE: MATCH-UP TWO (CORRECTED VERSION)

Remember, this is NOT about who would win in a fight. This is about who makes the best leader for Mandalore as a whole.

Explanation post

Seeding

Propaganda below the cut! You can submit more on this post and I will reblog it back to here!

KORKIE KRYZE

Anon: props for Korkie! We don't know enough to say that he'd be bad at the job like some people! He probably learned some of both what to do and what not to do from his aunts which gives him a leg up in the actual ruling part of things!

@spacetime1969: The kid's got that mandokar spirit. A little more practice in leadership and he could really shape up into someone great.

Anon: Korkie Kryze would be Satine's heir (if we assume she's a monarch rather than an elected official), he was raised to have a position in government, he helped end the career of a corrupt government official, he took classes under Jedi padawan Ahsoka Tano. Additional propaganda: He's my special little guy.

Anon: Korkie has been training basically his whole life to lead Mandalore, has seen first hand the struggles that Satine’s Mandalore had, he also knows what went wrong with the more traditional rulers of Mandalore, so he is perfectly poised to compromise the pacifist ideals of the New Mandalorians and the traditional values of the other citizens of Mandalore.

Anon: For Korkie propaganda: he was literally raised for the role; he showed himself to be a good leader and concerned with his people well-being; he actively works for and fights for his people when we see him; also he's loyal and smart which is always a bonus.

SABINE WREN

Anon: Girlie is the eldest daughter of House Wren, with ties to House Viszla— and therefore has a claim to the heritage of Tarre himself. With the smarts and training her position gave her, she has always put her family and Mandalore first. She made a mistake as a child, and it has been one she has been making strides to set right since such time. She recovered the Darksaber that Maul stole, and began resistance to the imperial threat, battled and fought honorably for her people and family. Respecting both New Mandos pacificism and not discounting their efforts of resistance as well as paying homage to her warrior heritage, she was further trained by the Jedi Kanan Jarrus and Ahsoka Tano to meter her flaws. When she first had the sword, she acknowledged she was too young to lead, and gave up her sword to her elder. Now older, and hopefully wiser, the last standing heiress of clan Wren absolutely has it in her to lead Mandalore in a new era.

@spacetime1969: She's arguably one of the only two people on this list who actually won the darksaber in a proper duel (Not when she reclaimed it from Maul, but when she fought Saxon for it). Not really the point of the poll I know, but it could help her get political support. She rallied her clan and their allies into a rebellion against the Empire. She was the one who legitimized Bo-Katan's rule as Mand'alor by giving her the darksaber. She has experience leading from her time in the rebellion.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lisa Needham at Public Notice:

It has often been said that Donald Trump was running for president to keep himself out of prison. Mission accomplished.

But the fact that Trump wasn’t behind bars long ago, that he didn’t suffer any consequences for his criming and now likely never will, can be laid squarely at the feet of one man: Attorney General Merrick Garland. Garland dragged his feet on prosecuting Trump for election interference and pilfering classified documents, making it easy for him to run out the clock.  Coming in on the heels of a literal insurrection, Garland was a bad fit for his job from the jump. He made clear early on that he didn’t see addressing issues from the Trump era as a priority, declaring that he would not look backward. Garland is an institutionalist, leading him to see his real job as protecting the Department of Justice rather than imposing any consequences on Bill Barr and others who turned the DOJ into a corrupt playground. Someone who saw the abstract notion of an institution as more important than actual people and actual wrongdoing was never going to be the person who aggressively pursued an ex-president whose crimes were always in full view, which was what the country desperately needed back in 2021.

Bringing a knife to a gunfight

Rather than moving quickly to prosecute people — including Trump — for January 6, Garland’s first moves were to take actions that actually favored Trump, all in the name of protecting the institution. In May 2021, the DOJ went to court to block the release of most of a Bill Barr memo that might have revealed how hard Barr worked to avoid charging Trump with obstruction of justice after the Mueller report. There, Garland was continuing work that had begun under Trump. But while it made sense that Barr would want to block the release of information revealing his role in helping Trump, it made no sense for Garland to want the same. The country had both a right and a need to learn everything possible about what happened during the first Trump presidency and led to a spasm of treasonous violence. That’s far more important than getting a generally favorable ruling on the DOJ’s right to sit on memos. 

Garland also moved quickly to defend Trump against defamation claims by E. Jean Carroll, brought after Trump claimed she made up her accusation of sexual assault to sell books. The DOJ filed a brief substituting the government as the defendant for Trump so it could argue that Trump’s defamation of Carroll was done in the scope of his employment as president, which would likely have resulted in the case getting dismissed. As with the Barr memo, Garland decided it was more important to preserve the DOJ’s general ability to protect federal officials from defamation claims than to acknowledge the unprecedented nature of Trump’s behavior and let him suffer the consequences he clearly deserved.  Taken in a vacuum, neither of these actions would be quite so galling. In both instances, Garland was generally trying to maximize the DOJ’s power, which isn’t necessarily awful. But what is galling is that he took these two steps with such swiftness, only a few months after being confirmed, while not showing nearly the same concern to address Trump’s crimes. 

Fairness to the point of absurdity

Garland’s desire to always appear evenhanded is also what led to the ridiculously aggressive pursuit of Hunter Biden, naming a special counsel and ultimately successfully prosecuting the president’s son for tax evasion and lying on a federal form to obtain a gun. And don’t forget how swiftly Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate President Biden’s retention of classified material. In early November 2022, the White House voluntarily disclosed that some classified documents had been found at Biden’s think tank. The FBI opened an investigation five days later, and Garland raced to name a special counsel, appointing Robert Hur in January 2023. Hur was a Trump appointee, serving as United States Attorney for the District of Maryland from 2018 to 2021, and he demonstrated his hackishness by releasing a report in February of this year that did grave political damage to Biden by gratuitously describing him as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

While Garland couldn’t move fast enough to protect the DOJ and to aggressively pursue the Biden family to show his evenhandedness, he didn’t get around to naming Jack Smith as a special prosecutor until November 2022, nearly two years after the insurrection. By that time, it was likely already too late. This is true even if Smith had not run into unexpected obstacles, such as Trump winning over the Supreme Court with an absurd argument that he was basically wholly immune from criminal charges.

[...]

All those motions and appeals take time, which is why it was a bad idea to wait until November 2022 to appoint Smith, who then had to convene a grand jury to consider criminal charges over Trump’s willful retention of classified documents and his lies to the FBI about it. Smith didn’t issue an indictment in that case until June 2023. Smith had to convene a separate grand jury for charges related to the insurrection, so the DOJ didn’t indict Trump on those charges until August 2023.

This left Smith overseeing two incredibly complex cases against a defendant with nearly limitless resources, given that Trump could keep tapping political action committees for his legal bills, shifting the cost to his campaign donors and the RNC. By March 2024, Trump had racked up $100 million in legal fees, and while he kept draining the coffers of various PACs, donors were always eager to replenish those funds. Therefore, Trump could file as many frivolous motions as he wanted and run out the clock without taking any money out of his pocket. Smith never honestly had a chance that these cases would wrap up before Election Day. Garland’s foot-dragging on naming Smith is precisely what allowed Trump to run out the clock on his federal criminal charges, setting the stage for a presidential run that culminated Tuesday with his shockingly thorough defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Appointing Merrick Garland to AG was a terrible choice in retrospect, as his timidness allowed a criminal to get off scot-free and run for President (and win).

[fqrcefields]

checkmate!

summary _ , jennifer barkley despises every citizen of pawnee indiana. except for one.

⋆ tags : smut-adjacent? not really sure how to tag this. mature! ⭑ࣶࣸ 

read on ao3.

 ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀────୨ৎ────

From the moment she steps out of the impossibly cheap cab, Jennifer could feel the dullness in the air. Though she appreciates the lack of typical Washington humidity, there’s a replaced sense of total unhealth, of total lack of spirit and verve. As she enters Pawnee City Hall for the first time, it takes all of her might to not turn around and flee. She doesn’t like to use the word poor, but…

Who is she kidding. She loves to use the word. And this town, if one can even call it a town, is dripping in it. 

Jen hates to speak to these people. Anyone dressed in business casual attire is not worthy of her time. So, she finds her way to the competition’s office herself. Her heels stick to the floor with each quick step— she moves far faster than any of the sluggish clerks and absurdly high-ranking city officials that don’t seem to really be doing any work at all. Every door she pulls open is also covered in this same sickening stickiness. Thank God for the invention of handkerchiefs.

“Oh, Jesus.” Jennifer can’t help the words from spewing out when she pulls open the door to the Parks and Recreation offices. It’s just all so… sad. The menial workers don’t react to her entrance, barely do anything at their desk anyway. She scowls at the sight of it, of the aging employees typing with only two fingers at a time and the younger ones who stare at their phones instead of doing anything meaningful. Everything is so slow, nothing like the pace of a D.C. election circuit. A real election, something actually worth Jen’s brain power. But hey, it’s easy work, and she’d be damned not to take it. The moment she and the man-child win this town over, she’ll be off to summer on an island. What island, she could not possibly care less. As long as it’s far away from Pawnee, Indiana.

Not seeing the yapping, overexcitable blonde anywhere, Jennifer’s eyes land instead on a much more pleasant sight. The youngest employee who sits with her feet propped on the desk in front of her, reading a book. She has a jadedness about her, as if in this building filled with people who barely know how to do their job, she is the one that wants to do it the least. While Jennifer would usually find this disinterest so stale, especially on someone of this age, there’s something beneath the sideswept bangs that intrigues her, attracts her.

Jen straightens herself, takes the few steps it takes to make it to the younger woman’s desk, leans over it a bit.

“Excuse me,” She says louder than necessary in the near-silent room. The raven-haired employee does not reply, only sticks up one finger as if to say my book is more important than you, continues reading. Jennifer is… impressed. A smirk rises to her lips at the action, and she waits patiently. Though she’d never accept such a thing in her own office, she appreciates the challenge. At least there’s one other person in this God-forsaken town that’s willing to play chess where the others play checkers.

When her challenger finally finishes her chapter, she sets down her book and raised finger, finally glances up at Jennifer. Her eyes widen for a moment, a minute expression that would barely be caught if it weren’t quite literally Jennifer’s job to catch such a thing. The smirk still evident on her own face, Jen speaks up again.

“I’m here to see Leslie Knope.” She leans over the desk a bit more, wishing she weren’t so damn buttoned up, wishing to see that bewildered expression on the intern’s face again.

“Uhm, yeah.” The other says plainly, her voice shockingly deep, carrying the same indifference that the rest of her does. She then realizes her place, must recognize Jennifer Barkley for who she is, and sits up straight in her chair, feet dropping to the floor. She points to the door at her left. “Her office is in there.”

There’s the blush that Jennifer had been looking for. She pulls back, straightens up, flicks her hair over the shoulder once, twice. She turns on her heels with ever the dramatic flair and walks to where the black-painted nail had directed her. Even though this meeting would be excruciating, at least she’d have this little memory of Knope’s pretty receptionist. Or whatever lousy job title the woman held.

“Hey, aren’t you that lady that called Leslie a dog murderer?” The deep voice calls out again, eliciting a silent laugh from Jennifer. As she enters the next room, she looks back over her shoulder, winks to the girl. Jen hates to wear a smile as she enters this meeting, but the puzzled expression she’d been met with could only bring such a thing.

She exchanges false pleasantries with the overzealous blonde, barely registers a word said. They’re discussing campaign strategies, billboards, yard signs… something like that. Who knows. Jennifer is too busy looking out the door to the desk so perfectly placed in direct view. Well, not exactly direct. She has to arch her back and pretend to be looking away out of boredom, but once she has subtly shifted her chair backwards just enough, her apathetic piece of eyecandy is back in view. She can’t take her eyes off of the woman whose nose is deep into her book. Jennifer finds herself far more interested in finding out the title of the book than she is in Knope’s incessant chattering about candy bars and voting procedures. Once she finds out just what sort of book it is that she likes, Jennifer will buy her an entire library’s worth. It’s not like she’d be taking any away from the avid readers of Pawnee, of which there are none. She’d probably be able to buy out the town’s public library with the money she’s making from the Newport family alone. Maybe she will, if it’ll force that straight line into a smile.

It feels like truly an eternity that Jennifer is sitting in this office, though she doesn’t mind it for the view that she’s given. There does come a time where she actually does need to reciprocate the conversation, to act aghast at the implication that she’s not paying attention, and as painful as it is, she turns her attention away from her new obsession. She continues in witty banter for the rest of their allotted time, outsmarting Leslie’s campaign moves with outrageous ease. Seriously, Jennifer Barkley is good at her job. No wonder she’s paid so much.

When she’s finally allowed escape from this small room that smells so much like the most obnoxious cologne known to man, she takes it. Though she could spend hours wheedling out Leslie’s ideas, spinning them into her own far better planned knock-offs, Jennifer is desperate to leave. She can feel her brain actively slowing down with each second spent in this wretched building. So, with the sweetest possible goodbye she can muster up with those last few remaining cells of energy, she leaves.

But, before she does, she allows herself one more little visit to the desk by the window, to the girl who has reassumed her previously relaxed position, her book now propped open on her lap, her eyes moving far too quickly to actually be reading. Jennifer smiles to herself, appreciates the attempt at disregard for what it is, knows that the blush is threatening the intern’s cheeks again. She can tell that she’s chewing the inside of her cheek, forcing her vision away from Jen, but she doesn’t mind. She’ll get the eye contact she so deeply desires soon enough.

The standing of the two reaches into her purse, the bag that she would never let touch a surface in this building, and produces a business card. She slides it down into the open-faced book on the woman’s lap, laughs softly when it elicits a jump out of her.

“Call me.” She purrs, once she finally has the latter’s attention. She sends another wink her way before finally leaving, feet still fighting un-mopped floor.

And as for April… April watches her leave, jaw hanging open as if she’s just seen a ghost. She feels incredibly dirty for the way that her vision glues to the swinging hips, but the curvature squeezed by pencil skirt begs to be worshipped as it disappears into the hallway.  

__________________________

It doesn’t take many days for Jennifer to grow painfully bored of her hotel room. One can only watch Joan Callamezzo ramble nonsense for so many hours in a day. And though she does not feel like entering into Pawneean society, there must be somewhere where she can get an actual mixed drink instead of another bottle of hotel wine, so she turns to the internet. It comes to no surprise that Pawnee’s nightlife is far from illustrious, and though her only options are clubs of the night and strip varieties, she settles for the former. She doesn’t even want to imagine what beasts will haunt the night scene on a Wednesday night in the middle of nowhere, but she finds out soon enough upon entering the bar whose name she forgets before even reading it.

Jennifer is caught by surprise that the inhabitants she finds aren’t so monstrous, that she can actually stand to look at them. She may find her way to the dance floor eventually, but even still she’d promised herself not to get too messy in her time here. There’s no way she’s embarrassing herself in front of people whose normal is Jennifer’s idea of sloppiness.

She orders whatever stupid gimmick drink is at the top of the list, needing something that will actually ignite her tastebuds no matter the sugar content, and takes a seat at the bar, surveying the room. It’s quite literally the antithesis of a Washington club. Jennifer’s sure the heaviest drug done in this room is tobacco, if these people even have the gall to smoke a cigarette. They’re all so painfully boring, it nearly puts Jennifer to sleep where she sits. Though she’s far from the life of a party, she could stand to loosen her blouse and make out with a girl or two.

Just as she’s slid an unnaturally purple drink, Jennifer locks onto a form at the end of the bar. It would be impossible to ignore, the swooped bangs and striped shirt, jeans that are neither work appropriate nor fit for a club. The hunched posture was what truly gave it away, her aloof attitude would stick her out like a sore thumb in any crowd, at least in Jen’s eyes. She definitely doesn’t want to be picked out of the crowd, probably isn’t seen by anyone other than Jennifer. They’re both here for the same reason, to have a cheap drink and be on their way.

After a few minutes’ worth of staring, Jennifer’s target begins to move. Not toward the exit nor the dance floor, but to the bathroom, where Jennifer eagerly follows suit after throwing back whatever rancid, over-flavored vodka tonic she’d been served. She pushes past the sweaty bodies of dancers that she figured must be from out of town— there’s just no way this many people even exist in the city limits of Pawnee. Jenn huffs and growls at each body that she forces her way past, hating the feeling of dirty hands on such expensive fabric. She holds herself close, rolling her eyes when several people stumble over her feet.

It's with a dramatic sigh that she finally enters the bathroom. Though she doesn’t mean to be, Jennifer will always be keen on the dramatics, on making her emotions well known. Though careerwise it’d be much better for her to keep a sophisticated mysteriousness such as her impervious intern, she finds it much more fun to tell people exactly what she finds annoying about them.

Jennifer primps herself in front of the mirror; makes sure the string of pearls is on straight, lays down her hair so that it stays in its barrel curls. She’s also quite the stickler for appearance, a trait that the rest of Pawnee so seems to lack. While she looks over herself in the glass, a door swings open behind her, and out emerges her raven, who, when her eyes finally lift to find Jennifer standing at the sink, stops in her tracks. It’s an adorable color on her, this shock and awe on a face so fit for lack thereof. Once again that smirk returns to Jennifer, a grin that’s so easily faked yet in this instance could not be more genuine.

“Aren’t you going to wash your hands?” Jennifer asks slyly, firmly patting the sink beside her. The younger complies, Jen watching her through the mirror as she does so. She notes the serious focus that takes the dark features, the control forced over muscles to cease a smile or a reaction of any kind. Jennifer loves it, the resistance, the denial to admit ones feelings. It’s out of her own book. It’s so intoxicating to have a cat to play with instead of yet another mouse.

“You didn’t call me.” Jennifer continues, lower lip protruding into a false pout. “Such a shame. I’ve already gotten so lonely…” She shrugs, pulls lipstick from her purse, begins to apply it liberally. Though the action forces her attention to her own visage, that of the girl beside her is not lost, still in her peripheral.  “At least tell me your name, hm?”

“April.” The shorter replies— though, she may not truly be shorter, it’s only that Jen wears five inch heels where April dons low-top converse. She finally ceases her inattentive hand washing, turns to take a paper towel. When she turns back, however, she is met by a body much closer than it had been, nearly pressing her against the wall. There’s no hiding the rush of blood to her cheeks this time. April must finally face the fact that she is truly, deeply enthralled with this woman. She has been since the first time she’d appeared on the television set spewing that nasty rhetoric about Leslie Knope, her manner of speaking so outwardly charismatic it charmed April right away.

There’s something to be said about charisma and lack thereof attracting each other.

April stutters for a moment, something she’s quite literally never done, brain seeking for something to say along the lines of you’re a dick to my boss, I hate you, but the words never come. Mostly because she doesn’t want to say them. As much as she loves Leslie, how much she wants them to win and for the woman in front of her to stop badgering their campaign on live tv, she is also wholly infatuated with the pantsuits and wicked words.

Jennifer chews her lower lip, which is still curled up into that shit-eating grin, enjoying the mess she’s turned April into far too much. She’d not dare interrupt her babbling nor her bated breathing with words of her own. The ball has now been swung into April’s court, and as greedy  as she feels to lay a kiss on those trembling lips, Jennifer wants to wait to see what her opponent swing back.

Though, instead of witty banter or biting criticism, Jennifer is met with hands on her jaw, lips on her own. She accepts it hungrily, not at all needing even a second to realize what’s happened nor to adjust to the touch. It feels all too natural, and it’s instinct that leads her hands down to slide into the back pockets of April’s jeans, her thumbs into the belt loops. What wretched material, denim. She’d hate the rough feeling on her palms were it not for the soft flesh it covered.

They’re both starving for this, tongues dancing for dominance in the other’s mouth, dark red lipstick smudged against skin that hasn’t seen this amount of makeup in quite a while. Jennifer pushes her weight into April with such fervor that she’s forced up onto the sink, the former settling between the latter’s thighs, kissing her until her back hits the cold mirror.

They each elicit soft groans out of the other, that smug smirk ever present on Jennifer’s lips when April gets too loud. Jen’s lips stray downward, down to the strong jaw, trailing her scarlet down onto the clean flesh. Her hands sneak below the woven fabric of April’s sweater, the soft skin rippling in reaction, so cold against Jen’s warm hands that is almost shocks her. Not at all in a bad way, though. It only offers more surface area in need of her kisses, desperate to be warmed by Jen’s coaxing touch.

It's that very thought that forces Jennifer backwards. She stands upright, looks at the mess of her own creation, frowns a genuine frown when April whines from the sudden lack of touch.

“Oh, baby.” Jennifer sighs, pouts more, licks her thumb and lifts it to April’s mouth, which instinctively opens to accept it, yet the thumb swerves to wipe some of the lipstick from her chin. “I’m sorry. But you know I can’t in good conscience fuck the competition. As much as I want to.” Then, she smiles, watching intently how April reacts to this news. The way her brows furrow, her hand lifts and slightly punches the sink below her in anger.

No, Jennifer certainly does not imply to stand by this rule. They’ll find themselves in this club bathroom again quite soon. But she can’t very well allow April her checkmate this early into the game. So she turns on her heels, grabs her purse, leaves with a third (certainly not final) wink over the shoulder.

“I’ll see ya!” She calls, and disappears behind swinging doors. 

[walks-the-ages]

If I didn't mention it, I'll be voting for Jasmine Sherman (they/them) in November, Because they already have Ballot Access in 48 states , as opposed to Jill Stein who currently only has ~23 states with Ballot Access.

EDIT:

Someone has commented to point out that while Jasmine Sherman's website lists out 48 states that they're on the Ballot for, there's no sources given for this information, and right now, while its only wikipedia articles, neither of us can find any ballot access map or list not on their website that confirms that information independantly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_access_in_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Green_Party_presidential_primaries#Declared_candidates

Jasmine Sherman's own "how to vote for us" section of their website encourages people to use Ballotpedia, they're only listed as being on the ballot for one state , while the Presidential Election 2024 page does not list them at all and neither does their ballot-access tracker at politico:

Jasmine Sherman's website also lists them as being on the ballot under the Unicorn Party.... but I have not seen any list anywhere that list where the Unicorn Party is on the ballot except for their website.

There's also the fact that their website's policy on the Death Penalty not only supports it, but wants it to be either by Morphine Overdose or fucking Firing Squad with only 1 year of appeals??? There's a footnote above it that says their position has changed and they're leaving the original policy up for preservation but like...

.. you can't run for President saying you want the Death Penalty to be done by Firing Squad of all fucking things when people almost universally hate the death penalty (not least of which because it kills so many innocents) and then just leave a note that you changed your mind but not what your new official stance is????

https://jasminesherman.com/death-penalty-policy/ [note at top of Policy page] *Jasmine wishes to inform the readers that this post is being preserved to uphold transparency. While the death penalty contradicts the Green Party’s platform, it would be disingenuous to ignore the evolution of Jasmine’s stance on this matter. Their transition from previous support to a different standpoint is noteworthy, highlighting that a candidate’s position is not solely driven by personal preferences but also reflects the desires of their constituents. [Policy] Purpose: Institute a federal standard for capital punishment. Scope: Encourage states to be more efficient with resources surrounding the enforcement of “Capital Punishment.” Our policy: Capital Punishment – is to be reserved for those convicted of mass killing and serial killer events only. Due process is to take no more than one calendar year. There should be two options available for the execution; morphine overdose or firing squad. All other capital punishment cases will remain as they are or will be subject to incorporation into the Unicorn Party’s “Restorative Justice Treatment Program”. Definitions: Mass Killing Event: A multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered by any means, within one event, and in one or more locations in close proximity. Serial Killing: The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events.

So, uhhhhh, yeah. If you want to kill people who are Officially Criminals by Firing Squad I don't really think you can be trusted to be thinking in terms of humane death or punishment. Note how the website does not include what their official new position is at all, when that's literally what the Policy page is for!

If you believe in Restorative Justice and universal healthcare because everyone deserves the right to life .... if you truely believe in that how can you support the Death Penalty at all, let alone by such barbaric methods?

There's also the "Policy" about "Rights of Sentient Beings" that says

"The majority of research does suggest that primarily plant based consumption for humans is ideal. This doesn’t include those with disabilities or health phenomenons we do not understand.

which.... from almost everything I've read out there published by actual medical professionals, unless you're going out of your way to eat very specific things each and every day, you're going to run into nutritional deficiencies and need to take supplements if you're going vegetarian or vegan! In fact, you have to as much as double your iron intake on a plant-based diet because the iron we get from plants isn't as digestible as the one we get from meat. Because. You know. we're literally omnivores for a reason.

SO! After doing some more deep dives into their actual policies (such as they are), and looking deeper into the supposed-ballot access, Jasmine Sherman is not a candidate I will be voting for.

You can advocate for the humane treatment of animals without insisting that all humans except disabled people are perfectly capable of healthily living on a vegan diet, because that's simply not true without supplaments or a vastly increased access to a variety of foods, and if you truly believe in abolishing the criminal-justice system, there's no way in fucking hell you would support the Death Penalty.

Like I said in my longer version of this post (which is still relevant, check out the reblogs), voting third partym eans being adaptable and doing research in pursuit of a Free Palestine , which means, until we can get some independant verification of Jasmine Sherman having ballot access in 48 states, (and an actual proven change on that horrific stance on Capital Punishment!!!!), it is back to Jill Stein for me.

Unlike Jasmine Sherman, Jill Stein actually wants to abolish the Death Pentalty entirely, and has a long list of changes she plans to implement for restorative justice if elected:

[sergle]

I really truly, from the bottom of my heart, hate you bitches so much, because on the tiktok of literally COCK AND BALL jokes w brittany broski, there were a few notes/messages like this:

And I KNOW you don't think anyone's going to check. You had someone go into your askbox and say "hiii brittany broski is shitty about palestine she's really ignorant :/" and you went oh omg I didn't know!! thanks for telling me! So I checked! This is in reference to her talking in her podcast, because people were asking why she hadn't done any big press statements about Palestine, you didn't retweet this or that, you must not care, don't you care, what's your stance, etc etc please say more OKAY COOL. So what's going on there? What did Brittany say on her podcast? Is she a Bad Person? Can I have some transcript, please? ____ "Hey guys, before we get into this week's episode, I want to talk to you about the ongoing and prolonged suffering and loss of life in Gaza, in Israel, and the oppression of Palestinian people widespread. I don't ever want it to be a question that I would ever not be against the oppression of any group of people, that I would ever stand on the side of the oppressor." "There was a lot of fear of misusing my platform." ... "I will admit that I was nervous to talk about it, because I don't want to say the wrong thing. And this is too fucking serious of an issue to misspeak, or to spread misinformation, or to speak over or for someone." ... "So I want to take a moment on my biggest platform- which is this podcast, to say that I stand with the people of Palestine, I stand for the liberation of Palestinian people." ... "Every day, to log on to social media, and be just inundated with graphic, unimaginable violence, and loss, and grief, it's just--There are no words." ... "And I feel helpless. That's part of it too, when you feel helpless, the last thing you want to do is talk to people about it-- but visibility is a resource in and of itself. And I can offer that." ... "The outpouring of rage and passion online, and anger at what's happening, I would argue needs to be dedicated and focused on our elected officials. We live in a democracy- albeit an inherently flawed one- we live in a democracy where we have elected officials who were elected and put in power to represent us, and if we feel misrepresented, if we feel underrepresented in foreign affairs? These officials have public phone numbers and emails. There are scripts available online to express your disdain and your rage, and unfortunately that's one of the only ways we'll see actionable change."   "If you expected more from me, it's a terrible feeling- but I don't want to center myself, this needs to be all eyes on Palestine right now, where the real activism is happening. I would encourage you to follow journalists that are on the ground, people who are in Gaza, we need to be listening to them. I would also hope that we're at a point in this conversation where I can express my desire to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and that NOT meaning or suggesting or condoning anti-Semitism of any kind. There's a rise of anti-Semitism and islamophobia in the United States and it's just-- it's disgusting, and it's scary, so I want that to be said too. I just wanted to share that I am experiencing part of this collective sense of helplessness and hopelessness-- but it DOESN'T HAVE to be hopeless. I'm going to include a phone number in the description of this episode where, if you don't know the name of your senators or your Congressman, it's never too late to learn, and you can reach out to them." _______ Hm. What a bitch!! Yeah, just so ignorant and uncaring. Obviously she's not keeping up with anything. Should've retweeted more shit ig!

[odinsblog]

Elie Mystal covered the ridiculous, “Presidential Immunity” (aka, “Why Can’t Trump Be Treated Like A Dictator?”) case before SCOTUS

Dreeben: "BECAUSE THERE WEREN'T CRIMES!" (he didn't yell, I did, but he said "because there weren't crimes." )

Oh God, now Roberts wondering if they should send it back to the DC circuit because he's worried about presidents getting prosecuted in bad faith.

Roberts: "The court of appeals did not get into a focused consideration of what facts we're talking about or what documents we're talking about... they did not look at what courts usually look at when... taking away immunity."

Is this motherfucker serious? His argument is "Every president coups, why is mine getting charged?"

Thomas: Are you saying there's no immunity even for official acts?

And... that could be the ballgame

Roberts, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh are more worried about a prosecutor going after a president for *political* reasons than A PRESIDENT TRYING TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT.

This is just about over.

And by "this" I mean the rule of law and by "over" I mean delayed indefinitely to help Trump.

Gorsuch suggesting that under the government's standard a president could be prosecuted for leading a "civil rights protest" in front of Congress and sought to "influence an official proceeding."

Yes, because Jan 6 and a fucking sit in are the same thing, Neil.

This is goddamn disgusting.

I'm going to keep listening because it is my literal job, but this is pretty much in the bag for Trump at this point. Remand to DC Circuit for decision on "official acts" and whether organizing a coup is one.

After November, if Trump loses, SCOTUS will return to the issue.

Alito: Are you really saying the president is subject to criminal laws like everybody else?

YES YOU DICK. THE PRESIDENT SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO THE LAWS LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE!

Alito: "I'm not talking about the particular facts of this case."

WHY? WHY THE HELL ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS FUCKING CASE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU?

The question I'd have for the SCOTUS now is: If you do this, why would a Republican president every peacefully transfer power again?

Democratic presidents will because Democrats follow rules that don't apply to the other side. But why would Republicans just leave *ever again*?

Alito: Couldn't FDR's decision to inter Japanese Americans during WWII be charged [as a crime]?

He says that LIKE THAT'S A BAD THING?

And Dreeben is trying to say that he couldn't.

This country, and specifically this court, is a fucking joke.

Now onto self-pardons. Alito is just playing all the Fox News hits now.

I'm going to smoke. Biden should send Seal Team 6 to Mar-a-Lago because according to Alito there's no downside.

Alito just suggested that the last election was "questionably decided"

I have left my body and am texting things I can't say aloud to my friends.

Kagan is like the first person to be asking about the actual criminal acts Trump is charged with.

I assume Alito is not listening because Kagan is a woman while Gorsuch is probably sitting there emailing the New York Times because they got something wrong on the Spelling Bee.

I see the internet is unimpressed with Dreeben but that's being a little unfair. The Republican justices want to do this, there's nothing that Dreeben could say to stop them.

What he *could* be doing was making their hypocrisy more clear for the non-legal media following along.

But... SCOTUS advocates have to preserve their ability to argue another day, and blowing up the justices in one case

A: Doesn't help them actually win the case.

B: Actively hurts them in the next one.

Kavanaugh: "Like Justice Gorsuch, I'm not concerned with the here and now of this case, I'm concerned about the future."

I don't know why this is acceptable. I do know that the justices are sure they are right about ignoring the facts of THIS ACTUAL CASE.

Kavanaugh... who WORKED FOR KEN STARR... is basically saying that Jack Smith is politically motivated and his appoint in unconstitutional.

It's... maddening. And most of the media reports will not even point out this hypocrisy.

The "independent counsel" law was rewritten into our current "special counsel" law BECAUSE of the shit Kavanaugh helped Starr do! Everybody was like "that crap can't happen again."

Somebody get @neal_katyal and @MonicaLewinsky on the phone to blow up this asshole.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky Every time I try to no have a stroke listening to this bullshit, they say something even more risible and stupid.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky Kavanaugh: "President Ford's pardon. Hugely unpopular when he did it... now probably looked on as one of his better decisions."

What? WHAT? WHO THE FUCK THINKS FORD'S PARDON OF NIXON WAS A GOOD IDEA? WHEN DID I DIE AND GO TO HELL????

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky This could be a men v. women 5-4 ruling.

Men: Let's kick this back to DC to further delay Trump's trial.

Soto, Kagan, Jackson: Why? That's fucking dumb.

Barrett: Ladies, I agree with you, but we shouldn't call the men fucking dumb. We should politely disagree.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky We're past the two and half hour mark for an argument where the Republican justices made their decision when they were appointed, some of them decades ago.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky KBJ is closing by trying to answer all of Gorsuch's questions, which would be effective if Gorsuch operated in good faith. But... he doesn't. So...

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky I had hoped that *one* of the liberal justices would have made the point from the Common Cause brief, highlighting that the whole point of what Republican justices are doing is to give Trump delay.

Not a persuasive argument for the justices, but good for the media to hear.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky The case is submitted. Court doesn't come back till May 9th which will be a decision day.

But I think they won't decide *this* case until July 3rd for max delay. And that decision will be 5-4 to remand the case back to DC, for additional delay.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky I wish I had better news for you. Thanks anyway for following along with our national descent into madness.

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep7 Musings - Martyrdom & Lestat's Character Development (TVC Spoilers)

Even though IWTV is Louis' story & his arc as the MC, The Vampire Chronicles are ultimately about how all of these vampires affected & impacted Lestat. (Especially since by the end of the series he's not only the MC, protagonist, and (anti-)hero; but he's also the former host for the Sacred Core that created the vampiric race (after Akasha & Mekare); and the elected king of the Vampire Court, affectionately/officially called "(Brat) Prince Lestat" in the final trilogy.) So, even though we're seeing Louis' struggles play out, we're also seeing Lestat's; and one of the big moments is this Trial in 2x7.

Even though the most important thing that happens is ofc Claudia's death, an underrated moment is Madeleine's death.

Lestat callously mocks Madeleine's choice to die with HER "coven"--her companion, Claudia--rather than keep living (ostensibly: keeps fighting, but I'll get to that in a bit), and join Santiago's coven. "The martyr skips her way to Hell."

I was initially booing & hissing at Lestat for being a heartless a-hole, still spiteful against Claudia and failing to fathom how anyone could risk their lives for her; when even HE sat there and let his own daughter/fledgling burn to ash right in front of him.

But on the other hand, I actually love this moment for Les as he mocks Madeleine's choice; not only cuz it's ironic AF, considering Les LITERALLY skipped his way to Hell in Memnoch the Devil; but most importantly cuz this is all (hopefully) contributing to Lestat's character development later on. 🙏

Claudia's death affected Les deeply--nowhere near as deeply as it did Louis, ofc, but she was still his daughter/fledgling. AR never focused on Madeleine past IWTV, but hopefully the show makes Les realize later that THIS moment b/t Madz & Claudia is what TRUE love is--not ultimatums & conditions & ownership; trying to "crush what you cannot own"--but martyrdom & sacrifice & loyalty. Laying your life down for someone else. Eff would you love me if I was a worm--would you CATCH A BULLET FOR ME? Would you BURN for me? That's Claudeleine's love; but in the IWTV timeframe Lestat's just not at the point where he gets it--yet.

Loustat vs Claudeleine: What it Means to Love Someone

TVC also tracks the development/progression/evolution of Loustat's love; struggling to grow & thrive in the weeds of dark eternal damnation. They totally failed e/o in IWTV. Loustat's rekindled relationship was first demonstrated/tested in QotD, when Akasha spared Lou simply cuz Les loved him; rather than burning Lou up w/ the other weak AF vamps she'd slaughtered.

But Akasha also used Louis as collateral if Les refused to serve her.

Les had to risk his life to try making a move on Akasha & save Louis & the other vampires from Akasha's plans for world domination. But that was largely out of self-preservation; not selflessness; as Les was basically her captive, Stockholmed into being her lover.

Les committed horrible atrocities as Akasha's consort, butchering innocents & unleashing hell on earth, slaughtering whole cities--just cuz he was too scared to die. Despite how much he hated himself for what he was doing, no matter what, Les wanted to "fight for life, even when there is no real justification. I wanted to live; I always had."

So OF COURSE Lestat wouldn't understand/appreciate Madeleine's decision to lay down her life and die; not just for Claudia's sake, but also to die for her principles.

Lestat thinks his "capacity for enduring" makes him brave, but compared to Madeleine, he's a hypocritical coward. Madeleine refused to join Santiago's coven, or participate in their shams & farces. She stood on her principles, AND she stood by her companion; even at the cost of them dying--at least they're together.

Ofc, an argument can be made that by becoming Akasha's consort, Les WAS martyring/sacrificing himself for Louis' sake; because Les DID know what true love was, and loved Lou more than he loved himself. And I might agree with that--had AR not written TotBT.

TotBT & MtD: Lestat Skips His Way to Hell

In MtD, Lestat is recruited by the Devil/Satan/Lucifer (who calls himself Memnoch the Devil); and is taken Dante's Inferno style on a tour of Heaven and Hell, in the hopes that Les will hate God enough to join the eternal war against Heaven as the Devil's right-hand. SPOILER: Lestat rejects Memnoch (cuz Les wanted to be a priest--he still LOVES God, despite the "ocean" b/t him & Christ); and as punishment he is trapped in a coma for years, as he's psychologically/spiritually tortured in Hell until he finally breaks the spell & wakes up in Merrick, when Louis tries to kill himself (which AMC pushed up to 2x5).

Lestat had followed Memnoch after a depressive spell of deep self-loathing; feeling guilty for how he'd Turned David in TotBT (raping him into vampirism to be his new companion when Louis rejected him); and still haunted by the memory of Claudia in IWTV. Memnoch showed Les the Divine Plan, when God told his favorite (fallen) angel Memnoch/Lucifer that He would let Himself be crucified as Jesus in the flesh, for His love of humanity.

But Memnoch is horrified, and thinks God's plan is not only a futile failure, but also cheating (cuz being an immortal, He can never really "die" or be sacrificed/martyred). Memnoch appeals to Lestat's own experiences having temporarily come down into flesh in TotBT, body-switching with Raglan James for the desperate love of being human--and then hypocritically wanting to be an immortal vampire again when Les realized being human actually sucks. 😅

At the start of MtD, Les was VERY salty towards all the other vampires (especially Louis) for having refused to help him when he was stuck in Raglan's body in TotBT.

Loustat's love, as genuine as it is, was marred & tainted with ultimatums & conditions & ownership. As much as Les hated being human again, Louis refused to turn Les into a vampire and put him back on the Devil's Road as one of the damned undead.

Les DEEPLY resented Lou for not making him a vampire again. Les assumed that because of their relationship, Lou would HAVE TO do this favor for him; that as his companion/Maker, Lou OWED Les, and by refusing/rejecting him Lou'd BETRAYED/ABANDONED him.

Lestat didn't understand that in Lou's eyes, refusing to Turn Les was Lou's greatest act OF LOVE, the best favor; keeping Les human so his soul wouldn't be damned anymore as an evil blood-drinking serial killer. Lou said "You have triumphed in this as only you could;" but Les (like Memnoch) only saw this as a massive failure. This was Lou's SACRIFICE for Les, putting their love/relationship on the line; as Louis ordered Les to never look for him or talk to him again--to go live as a redeemed human and leave the damned alone--or else. 💀

For all the strides Loustat had made to repair their relationship, Lestat was still UNWORTHY of Louis' love in TotBT; and hadn't appreciated the sacrifices Louis made for him out of love--the kind of martyrdom it took to WILLINGLY sacrifice something precious for someone else's sake. Lestat thought the Maker/Fledgling bond was a stamp of ownership, cuz he'd been Turned by Magnus UNWILLINGLY; out of rape and violence & captivity/enslavement.

Les became a vampire as an act of SURVIVAL; shaking his fists at God the whole time; a chip on his shoulder cuz he never asked to me born into darkness (like Claudia). Louis, however, was made out of LOVE, and WILLINGLY gave up his life to be with Les (yes, we know he was drunk AF & suicidal, but still--he nodded his head cuz he HAPPILY & LOVINGLY CHOSE Les).

Loustat both see Lou's turning as their wedding, but for Les it's still a marriage CONTRACT--a transaction with terms & conditions. He is Louis husband, yes, but God Complex de Lioncourt declared "I AM YOUR MAKER!" Louis was still just a "Fledgling/Slave" under Coven Master ("Massa") Lestat's shingled roof, just like Claudia said.

As much as he loves being a vampire, and as cavalier & devil-may-care as he approaches existence forsaken by God in the Savage Garden; Lestat is fully aware of what it means to be culpable & deserve punishment. Memnoch asked Lestat what he thought Hell should be like for sinners & Evil Doers both human & vampire alike, and at first Les hesitated, "I'm afraid to answer. Because I belong there."

It's not until well after Louis' final rebirth in Merrick that Lestat finally earns back Louis' forgiveness in PLatRoA, and agrees to (re)marry Les & be his consort at Chateau de Lioncourt, Lestat's birthplace. And it's not until Blood Communion, AR's final TVC book, that Lestat risks his life for his loved ones (Gabrielle, Louis, & Marius) for THEIR sake, not his own; going up against Rhoshamandes in the ultimate showdown to save them.

AR is VERY/overly explicit about the Christ-like martyrdom her messianic Prince Lestat undergoes in order to save Gab, Lou & Marius; his killing Rhosh ultimately saving all the vampires & ending the civil war. Les fought Rhosh "with speed and surprise;" going in blindly with the only thing that could get the jump on this SUPER Ancient vampire (Lestat's great-grandfather in the Blood) who would've otherwise overpowered Les as easily as he overpowered Marius. Les fully intended to die fighting Rhosh, but he fought him regardless, hoping to somehow get his loved ones back or join them in death.

Lestat and Louis were reunited, dancing happily at the celebratory ball AMC was clearly inspired by Blood Communion in the Mardi Gras scene from 1x7. And they're obviously lifting from BC in 2x7, too, with the red velvet chair/throne Lestat sits on at the Trial, directly paralleling the numerous Trials & executions Prince Lestat presides over in BC, as he destroys Rhosh's fledglings & minions--and the love THEY showed their Coven Master Rhosh, being willing to die for THEIR principles and refusing to join LESTAT'S Vampire Court.

So hopefully, if AMC gets as far as the Prince Lestat trilogy, Les will remember this moment at the Trial; and hopefully they'll continue using parallels so Les realizes what it means for Madeleine to have martyred herself for love.

[possumcollege]

Tumblr just fed me a repost thread where someone responded to a meme that said "The Right gave us the Klan and the Left gave us weekends" with this extremely broken nugget of US history. 👇

🌈 This is horseshit.

1: In the 1860s, under what US historians call the Third Party System Republicans were what we would call "progressive" and Democrats were the "conservative" party.

Lincoln was a Republican, as were many Americans who called for the abolition of slavery. Lincoln stated that he was not personally in favor of total abolition and emancipation but he did believe regulation of slavery was a power of the federal government as opposed to state governments. Democrats of the Reconstruction Era favored strict moral legislation against race mixing, opposed citizenship and voting rights for African Americans, and largely opposed the expansion of Federal powers over the individual states.

It's honest-to-god not that hard to understand that American political parties haven't always been the exact same parties they are today. I can't help it if no one ever taught them this but it isn't an obscure or contested piece of information. Anybody trotting this shit out as a dunk on contemporary Democrats is either wrong or lying.

2: The Klan was never a "Leftist Anarchist alternative to law enforcement"

The concept of organized State law enforcement was barely a thing in the South at that time. Most southern law enforcemement consisted of slave patrols mustered from state militias, tasked with finding and capturing runaways, and preventing large-scale slave rebellions like the French experienced in the Caribbean. Slave patrols were abolished after the Civil War and officers were instead charged with enforcing "Jim Crow" laws under Reconstruction. Many of the Klan's tactics were literally the unofficial, vigilante continuation of practices that were legal for slave patrols. At no point were organized "law enforcement" and the Klan working at cross purposes. They both sought to maintain the social order through violent enforcement of white supremacy, the klan just wasn't an official agent of the state.

Anarchists may seek to operate without centralized state authority, but vigilantes are not inherently "Anarchists" because they're ungoverned. By that reasoning, children fighting on the playground are Anarchists.

White Supremacy is itself antithetical to central Anarchist principles, which call for a society based on voluntary participation, free of social heirarchy, or rule-by-force.

3: Whether they know it or not, when someone says that the Klan formed as any kind of peacekeeping force, they are parroting Pro-Klan propaganda.

There are 3 distinct, widely accepted eras of organizations calling themselves the KKK. The first is the most relevant as it formed during Reconstruction in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War. It began when a number of young Southern men and Confederate veterans took it upon themselves to terrorize and intimidate newly-free African Americans by raiding homes and businesses, destroying property, harassing black communities, and murdering black leaders, organizers, and their allies.

The first iterations of the Klan were heavily influenced by a growing fascination with fraternal orders and secret societies in America during that era. They cribbed heavily from another secret society, the Knights of the Golden Circle, (the Klan's name came from the Greek word for "circle") who hoped to establish a new county around the legality of slavery. This country would've included the states of the CSA, Mexico, Cuba, the islands of the Caribbean, and parts of Central/ South America.

Claims that the Klan existed to oust Scalawags, Carpetbaggers and other Northern opportunists (often said to be Jews and Catholics) who rushed in to fill the vacuum of deposed Southern leadership doesn't emerge until 1868-69 when Nathan Bedford Forrest was formally elected as their first (holy fucking shit 🤦‍♂️) "Grand Wizard."

(this absolute dipshit)

These retroactive narratives were further amplified in the 1880s-90s as Lost Cause rhetoric began to gain momentum among those sympathetic to the confederacy, white supremacists, and those seeking to profit off the continued disenfranchisement of African Americans as cheap prison labor.

These tales of masked men protecting downtrodden southern whites from the grasping, predatory Yankee Carpetbaggers were further enshrined as founding myths of the second Klan, in Georgia in 1915. It remains a popular Whitewashing narrative to this day.

I do not give half a proud southern shit what the guys who were scamming their buddies into buying official Klan dishes in the 20s said the Klan was about. Those actually existed btw. I don't have to give Forrest's claims any more weight than I give Spencer's claims on the motivation of neo-nazis.

Spencer got exactly what both of them deserved when he got socked in the head on TV.