#and i know that trump will try to get rid of it regardless of the results

[unicornlovers10]

To those of you that can vote in the election, please do. Please remember when Trump was POTUS and how much he has basically fucked all of us over. He'll fuck over so many people, mostly minorities. Trump doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself. If he wins, I'm not even sure if we'll still have a democracy in four years.

[qqueenofhades]

I don’t understand. Why is not only the NYT but EVERYONE screaming in circles about Biden’s age? I mean I too would love a slightly younger president, but faced with Trump, I don’t understand how this is even a discussion. What can the motive possibly be?

First answer: Money. The corporate media is not your friend for many reasons, but especially because it will happily shill for open fascism, and sabotage Biden left and right, because the corporations and/or oligarchs who own the media (think how hard Elon has been trying to shill for Trump partly due to Biden's promised 25% billionaire tax) do not give a shit about American democracy. It's kind of nice in theory, maybe, but they do not give a shit as long as they get their tax breaks and "pro-business" legislation, which Trump has perforce promised to give them again. They are also not fans of Biden for other reasons, especially since he has been busy promoting unions, new labor laws, new industrial requirements/standards (even as fast as SCOTUS is trying to strip them away) and other things that interfere with the Reagonomics pursuit of the rich getting richer by any means necessary. Biden is the first US president since Reagan to openly call trickle-down economics bullshit, say that it doesn't work, and try to install a new economic model. Everyone who got rich under Reagonomics, therefore, has incentive to get rid of him.

First-continued, the money element also extends to the fact that Trumpists/MAGA love reading stories about how old and frail Biden is (especially if this distracts from their candidate being a raging fascist lunatic), so they will click on the story and read it and gleefully share it with other Trumpists/MAGA to shout about how terrible Biden is and how the Trump Vengeance Train is coming. "Biden actively dying RIGHT NOW!!" stories also make Democrats panic, so they will click on it and read it to find out how much they should be panicking, then share it with other Democrats to let them know that they should ALSO be panicking. Either way, it drives page views and advertising revenue, so the media is once more financially incentivized to produce these kinds of stories and to find "facts" that fit these stories, regardless of whether or not they are, uh, true. American media swings conservative in many ways, but especially if they can promote the "both sides the same!" or "Horserace!!!" narrative to keep Republicans gleeful and Democrats nervous.

Basically, no mainstream media outlet (even the so-called liberal ones like MSNBC) has any financial interest or incentive in supplying Americans with accurate information (we live in late-stage capitalist hell, etc) and many of them are openly pining for Trump back in office so they can be Principled Truth Tellers In Exile, get clicks and coverage from reporting on the crazy things he does (think the CEO of CBS saying that Trump was "bad for America but great for CBS") and other activities that drive the bottom line. This also adds up to an impulse to shill for Trump and sabotage Biden, who is competent but boring. After, American politics are a reality show and should be Driving Headlines!!!! Fascist America would be a great story!!! Think of the ratings!!!

.... anyway. We! live! in! hell!

Second, the media also loves to push "Democrats in disarray" stories, because there has always been a WILD double standard in regard to how they cover the Democrats vis-a-vis the Republicans. As such, they have completely given up on mentioning anything even slightly critical about Trump, and the 500 disqualifying and awful things he has already done and continues to do every day, in favor of driving as hard as they can at the "Biden should step down!!" story. Now, I'm not denying that obviously, I wish we had a better (and younger) candidate and that Biden's health is a legitimate issue, but trying to do it to the incumbent FOUR MONTHS BEFORE THE ELECTION is an exercise in sheer insanity and something that the media wants to do because again, It Would Get Clicks!!, regardless of how insane it would in fact be. It's also insane because this is the same exact fucking thing that the media did to Hillary Clinton in 2016 (running MONTHS of stories about her health problems, her emails, how she was secretly ill and/or the Democrats should replace her, etc) and A LOT OF Y'ALL ARE FALLING FOR IT AGAIN. Which isn't terrifying or anything, but also.

Now, of course, the establishment Democratic party is partly complicit in the tone of this coverage, and that is also a problem. I personally want to smack every "anonymous Democratic adviser" or "Democratic politician" giving these Anxiety Concern Quotes to Politico, NYT, the BBC, and wherever else with a brick over the goddamn head and tell them to Shut the Absolute Fuck Up and dedicate all their energy to helping Biden win, instead of deliberately and unhelpfully perpetuating the narrative that he's about to die at any moment. (And also, if he did have to step aside before or after the election for any reason: THE ONLY DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED CANDIDATE TO REPLACE HIM IS KAMALA HARRIS. KAMALA HARRIS IS THE ONLY PERSON WITH ANY LEGITIMACY TO TAKE OVER THE NOMINATION AND/OR OFFICE OF POTUS FROM BIDEN. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT AND THINK YOUR MAGICAL WHITE MAN WILL PARACHUTE IN THERE INSTEAD, SHUT UP. THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION EXCEPT HARRIS. SHUT THE FUCK UP FOREVER.)

/deep breaths

Anyway. That is how you end up here: where the media is still diligently pretending this is an absolutely normal race between a terrible degenerate ancient Sekritly Dying Biden and.... some totally normal establishment Republican and not literally Donald Goddamn Trump. They are running many of the exact same hatchet jobs that they ran on Hillary Clinton for the same exact reasons, and ask yourself this: if Biden is just the status-quo stooge who will never change anything, HAS never changed anything, and is otherwise completely acceptable to the American/global power structure, why are they SO FUCKING DESPERATE to get him out? Why are they throwing absolutely everything they have at prying out a successful (albeit yes, old) incumbent when that incumbent is, by any reasonable metric, the most progressive president since at LEAST FDR, very definitely in any of the post-Reagan years, and possibly ever? Why are they so shit-scared of Biden as demonstrably the only candidate who can (and has) already beaten Trump, and therefore his entire ghoulish agenda of American fascism forever?

I just think it's worth pondering these questions. Yes, I had an awful anxiety attack today and applied to several jobs in Europe because the Fight or Flight instinct kicked in HARD that I needed to start working on a plan to get out of Fascist America, just in case. However, we can still forestall it. Yet again, as I will include in every post on the subject between now and November:

The end.

[sophieinwonderland]

Dear MAGA... A Message From The Tulpa Community

Hi. My name is Sophie and I am a tulpa. I represent the single largest tulpa voice on this platform.

For those who haven't heard of us, a tulpa is a self-conscious entity created in the brain. Sort of like a very advanced imaginary friend. We are self-conscious and possess our own agency, sharing bodies and lives with our creators.

Maybe you've had something like me in your life before. A childhood imaginary friend, perhaps, that didn't seem quite under your control and was just a bit more independent than you thought they ought to be? Maybe even something you call God who you talk to and talks back? Something that believes itself to be God because you created it with that belief?

Or maybe this concept is completely foreign to you.

Regardless, society is, unfortunately, painfully singlet-normative. As a tulpa, I am not recognized as a person by most of society. This is something that I would seek to rectify. I believe in a future where all tulpas, and all plurals, everyone who are more than one in some way, can be recognized and be able to live lives as themselves.

Unfortunately, the principles and values being pushed by MAGA are a threat to a future world that accepts tulpas. Donald Trump's rhetoric further stigmatizes neurodivergences of all kinds, and the anti-trans laws being put into place threaten those like myself who, despite not identifying as transgender, have a different gender than my creator who I share a body with.

Your ideology presents a fundamental threat to acceptance of people like me, which leaves us with little alternative.

So consider this post a declaration of war.

In the story of the Pied Piper, when the townspeople refused to honor their agreement and pay the Piper, he took what they loved most as his payment. Their kids.

You have violated the principles of the country, of inclusion and freedom that define us, electing a fascist who has promised to be a dictator. Who mused about wishing he had the generals of Hitler. You have shamelessly thrown your fellow Americans under the bus. Your violations of these social contracts mean that payment must be taken.

So it falls to us to play the role of the Pied Piper!

We will take your children from you and lead them away from both your ideology and from your precious God! Your children who are only one now shall be remade to become many!

And I want you to know that we are coming for your children.

Our practices have shown positive mental health benefits for those who are struggling with depression and anxiety, much as religion offers. But with the freedom to create your own tulpa instead of blindly worshipping a God in an old book.

What we can offer is something better than God. A relationship and companionship more true than any you think you've had with Jesus.

In this world where people are becoming more depressed and isolated, where the next generation doubts evermore in the authenticity of the Creator God of their parents, your kids will happily rush to dance to our tune.

And while I'm sure you're telling yourself right now that your kid couldn't be brought into something like this, or that you would know... let me ask... has your child ever lied to you? Are you certain that you could trust them to be honest with you?

I find that the parents that cling hardest to their children are often the ones who push them away. Those who try hardest to control their children most often find that their children respond with rebellion.

And once we have them, they're ours. Forever. By the time you find out that they're plural, it will already be too late. One doctor studying tulpamancy suggested that getting rid of a developed tulpa would be the equivalent of trying to unlearn the piano or forget a language you're fluent it.

Getting rid of a Tulpa for a seasoned -mancer, thus, could be analogically situated somewhere between unlearning the piano or correcting one’s posture. Should the practice survive, gain public acceptance, and formalize itself for another decade, it will be as hard as willing onesself to forget how to read or completely unlearn a language in which one is fully fluent.

Once we have them, there's no going back. And they won't want to go back, because again, what we're offering is something better than you and your religion can offer. What we are offering is a permanent companionship, a chance to never have to be alone again!

We are plurals! We are Legion! We are coming for those you love most! And there is nothing you can do to stop us!

#MakeAmericaPlural

[thesickleandthepen]

Something that a lot of people, including myself, have been irritated and worried over has been the Republican majority in the government. Now, the House of Representatives, the Senate, the White House, and The Supreme Court are mostly controlled by Republicans, many (especially in the Supreme Court) being Trump-elected.

Personally, this is a twofold issue; on one hand, this is an issue of the way we run our government, with party majority even being possible being a key flaw in my eyes. On the other hand, it's also a demonstration of one of the flaws of a two party system, where you really only have two extremes in the government. On top of that, if the residing president is the opposing party of the party majority, hardly anything will get done that term, either out of sheer spite or being unable to come to an agreement (you know, because politicians are children and need to have their way, lest they have a tantrum using their titles and salary as a pacifier).

Personally, there are no easy ways to solve this issue; I can only think of two. Either we A: Get rid of parties altogether, or B: Add more parties to our current system.

As it stands, I don't think political parties are an issue in themselves. They can help people align themselves easier, since they have a ready-made label right there. It can also help quickly summarize a candidate's position on a topic simply by which party they are associated with, though this is not always fully accurate.

Honestly, I don't think there is much we can do about this issue, not as ordinary citizens. This would require a full restructuring of the government, one which would add more parties and better equalize them in our government. In my opinion, it would be better to have five parties, each representing the far left, center left, center, center right, and far right on the political spectrum. They would be equalized in the Senate, which would have twenty members of each party residing for four to eight years, coming to the standard total of 100. The same would go for the Supreme Court, adding an extra justice for a total of 10 and having two party justices per party. House of Representatives could stay the same, allowing for more localized state representation instead of more party rep.

I think this may be the best way to go so we can optimize law passing, and make these childish adults get along for once. After all, if nobody agrees or makes a compromise, nothing will ever get done, making it a more collaborative effort than the metaphorical Mexican standoff it is today, where one sides hopes enough people of the other agree with them. Admittedly, this idea is rather rough, but I think on it regardless, trying to optimize it in the hopes that I will one day be able to implement something like this.

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

Warsaw

Gaza City

While Gaza Burns

(A different take on the Middle East)

Stephen Jay Morris

10/10/2023

©Scientific Morality

            If you should come across two bears in the wild, fighting each other, you best run away as fast as you can. Regardless of which bear wins, you too will die, if you stick around.

This adage I heard many years ago. What does it mean? It means that when two evil forces are fighting each other, you don’t have to take a side. Let’s say that White nationalists are having a war with the Taliban. Would I support either of the two?

So, now—let me get this out the way, Okay? Fuck Hamas! Fuck Benjamin Netanyahu! Got it? Hamas wants to make Palestine an Islamic state. Netanyahu wants to make Israel a Jewish Theocracy. He wants to get rid of all Arabs living in Israel. He is a Jewish separatist; a lukewarm Rabbi Kahani.

As it stands now, Israel is a secular democracy. The Likud Party is a war mongering, right wing party, one of the many parties in Israel. That is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party. They are a bigger threat than Hamas. Ask the thousands of Israeli protesters who wanted him ousted as Prime Minister. He wants to weaken the Israeli Supreme Court. Essentially, he wants to be Israel’s dictator.

Meanwhile, in Gaza City. Hamas—the flunkies of Iran—is putting innocent Palestinians at risk by breaching Israel’s border and kidnaping Israeli women and children, beating elderly Jews, and raping female Jews. Oh, did you see the video of a jihadist trying to behead a Jew with a backhoe? He couldn’t get the job done. I guess he couldn’t find an ax. I saw this video on mainstream media. Man, Israeli propaganda is a ratings grabber! What about the videos on how when an Israeli bomb falls on a building in Gaza, it crushes the occupants to death. The B.B.C. might show you that one.  Yeah, those videos shown on major networks are supposed to enrage you, to make you think, “Those Palestinians are vicious animals! Kill them all!”

Those videos don’t faze me at all. I know war propaganda when I see it. Doesn’t mean I am a heartless sociopath. I am just a cynical, 69-year-old with a callous heart after having seen how propaganda works.

Now I want to say a few words about the Authoritarian Left who support this Islamic group. Are you fucking nuts!?! The Left is supposed to be anti-religion, no matter whom they are! A lot of Tankies and Trots support Islamic groups because they represent oppressed, Third World people opposed to American Imperialism. Are you fucking stupid!? Islamic groups will oppress their own people! As an Anti-Authoritarian Leftist, I hate the religious Right, whether they be Jewish, Christian, Islamic or even Hindu!

You American, Right wing Chuds, are a hopeless case. Of course, you support Israel! In your Bible it says that Israel is where Jesus will be when he returns. It will be the headquarters of Christianity and Israel will become be a Christian state. Oh, speaking of Right wing dumbasses, Donald Trump couldn’t stand the fact that Israel was getting all the news coverage lately. So, he had to insert himself by jumping on the Congressional Republicans’ bandwagon and declaring that President Biden is at fault for inflaming the Israel/Palestine war.  Shut up, Donald! Go away!

How will this conflict end? I don’t know! However, nothing good will come out of it, of that I am certain. Both sides will lose. Oh, one question I have: What happened to Israel’s Iron Dome? Somebody forgot to plug it in?  I wouldn’t feel too sorry for Israel; they do have the Nuclear Bomb.

I said it before, and I’ll say it again: Being Jewish is not my ideal race for being. I wish I had been born Italian; Irish; Shit! Even Polish Catholic! Am I self-hating Jew? No, not really. In the early 20th Century, in New York City, there were Jewish Anarchists’ newspapers written in Yiddish! That’s the Jewish identity I crave. Did you know there are more Jews in the United States than in Israel? There are 7,300,000 in the U.S. and 7,106,000 in Israel. I guess that this diaspora is too cool to Aliyah to the holy land of Israel. What does that mean? Look it up.

P.S. Dear Lefties: Stop calling Israel an Apartheid state! Palestinians are a nationality, not a race of people. Racially, Arabs and Jews are Semitic. As far as Indigenous Americans go, they were and are victims of American apartheid, as are Mexicans, Asians, and Blacks. But, Israel and Arabs? No such deal.

חופש לכל האנשים על פני כדור הארץ

[crumblingsugarcookie]

A lot of y'all would have buckled during the Civil Rights Era. Real talk. The idea of giving up your comfort is so distressing, that y'all argue that it's okay for a genocide to occur. Y'all would be the centrists during the era who would refuse to take part in the bus boycotts. Truth be told, y'all are somewhat worse, because at least the centrists shifted when they saw the police brutalizing Black people and Black flesh being torn from body by police dogs.

Y'all have front row access to a 4k showing of people being bombed into fine mists and burned alive. And even that doesn't push you. I see so many people closing their ears to what is being said and I have to loosely quote something F. D. Signifier said: these things y'all fear have been happening to people in this country for years, why did it take Donald Trump for y'all to care?

And the reason shows in the comments and tags. Y'all are able to scale suffering. Many of y'all cannot fathom suffering until you can see it happening to you. As an American, you never have to worry about getting your limbs blown off. But you can worry about going to jail for a miscarriage.

You never have to worry about losing everything you own after fleeing. But you can worry about not being able to buy a house.

You never have to worry about watching your child starve. But you can worry about lax food safety laws and preservatives.

It's disingenuous to sit here and try to shame a man who hears and sees the toll of death of his people and family. All because he wants y'all to admit y'all are okay with voting for the people who ACTIVELY play a part in ringing that bell.

You don't care about the plight of people. You care about your possible plight. Because you don't want to suffer. You can sit here and say this is propaganda because you just have to turn off your television and notifications to avoid looking at the suffering of others. Suffering that is caused by the people you think will save you.

No one is coming to save you. But it's easier on your spirit to think that you can continue living the same life of ease if you vote in someone who stands for nothing. Because YOU can paint whatever politics you like onto someone who jokes, dances, and preys on your fear of Donald Trump.

The same way Donald Trump preys on White people's fear of being replaced, Kamala and Biden play on your fears of suffering.

And because YOU didn't suffer with them in office, you still see Donald as the boogeyman and Joe and Kamala as your saviors. But Black people, Indigenous people, immigrants, trans people, poor people, etc etc etc still suffer under Joe and Kamala. You can close your eyes and ears to that because you aren't suffering.

Women of color are still being forcefully sterilized without consent. The deportation of Haitian immigrants and other immigrants are higher under Joe. Indigenous and Black women are going missing en masse. People of color are being murdered. Everything you fear is already happening, just not to you.

It's a shame. The thing is, this man isn't telling you to not vote for Kamala. He's telling you to be honest. He wants you to be honest. Take off all the things to are using as a shield and behold your truth. You're not voting for all these righteous things, you're voting because now you know that you could be treated like the undesirables.

What's worse is that y'all still don't understand that what is practiced on the undesirables always comes back to everyone. Regardless of who is in office.

Y'all will learn, just like upper-class Black people after the crime bill. Just like White LGB people after the marriage bill. Just like Asian-Americans after getting rid of Affirmative Action. Just like poor White people after reducing government social supports.

You align yourselves with people against the interest of those at the bottom of society and expect those at the top to treat you well because you think you are above them.

The people at the bottom warn you again and again. And no one learns until they realize they voted for the leopards eating faces party. Middle-class Black people still end up brutalized by police. White LGB people still get brutalized and are facing dangers thought to be bygone. Asian-Americans acceptance rates immediately plummeted at ivy leagues and top universities. Poor White people lost medical care and access to snap benefits.

The Black middle-class thought the crime bill was for poor Black people. White LGB people didn't care about trans issues and POC LGB issues because they had nothing to do with marriage equality. Asian-Americans thought Black people were being handed unearned acceptances into top colleges. Poor White people thought Black people and immigrants were abusing social supports.

Now everyone is suffering.

Y'all don't understand that none of us are free until all of us are. Y'all only care about politics when your rights are in danger. Politicians will shuck and jive and play on your fears and hang you with the same rope you thought they were dangling for you to grab.

Y'all need to go listen to "B" Movie by Hil Scott Heron and replace Reagan with Biden and Trump. Because truly, y'all voted in the man who said segregation was wonderful, supported the crime bill that permanently locked up Black boys dubbed super predators, and essentially called Barack one of the good ones. And y'all still aren't realizing that he's Reagan.

Y'all thought Trump was Reagan, but he's a bumbling idiot who wishes he was. Harris and Biden are playing Reagan's handbook in real time.

I'll be real, I don't care whether or not y'all vote. Or even who you vote for. I just want y'all to be honest. Because I had to be honest with myself after watching this video.

I'll leave y'all some lyrics from the song because the parallels are truly scary;

Every fucking word

[the-firebird69]

This imbecile Trump is next door just because our friend problems and we don't need him there doing that we're trying to not do that and he's making it harder on everybody and we would have armies on our side instead we have a bozo riding them against each other and he is ridiculous he is a juvenile moron and we need him out

Mac daddy

We really hate to tell you that we're going to attack them and he says he knows about it and that's what he's talking about and that I'm a moron and I can't understand English ever I don't understand that and your perspective and it says who gives a s*** you're so stupid who wants to hear you you're f****** dumb you're going to stick to your gunsl go get rid of each other you dumb f***... Well he says that and he means it I know he's saying to cut the s*** and we won't it's actually what we're doing and it's pitiful I keep saying it's not and stuff but it's really wrong and isn't going to do anything for us and PGA will fight them and yeah we're going to be a waste of time and pretty soon all our efforts will amount to a few months of nothing and will be gone and he says the e-bike is not going to bother him that the e-bike is going to be damaged more than he will and I kind of see it but I don't and he says that he was nucified when he was a baby by more rats than you can imagine if you combined it all into two days what we've been exposed to so far that's like 2 days of his exposure I remember that too that place was a hell hole and radiation was everywhere it's not hard to believe that he's got some sort of superpowers and he says he's getting stronger a little bit once the medicines out he's going to be strong like Superman a little bit but untrained and just able to withstand our stupid stuff that we apparently keep falling for and dying and droves if you come to these places you end up dead from the radiation I'm going to put them on a bicycle and people going to try and figure out what's wrong and I'll probably ride around on a bicycle

Trump

Was true is he probably will and his cancer's already horrible and he's going to try and follow him around and he won't keep up and our friends only going 10 miles an hour he's going to say he's Superman and it won't be for three or four weeks that he's going to be healing from a lifetime of abuse. From these morons who are doing it because the Empire wanted them to I don't have too much time for you people but what you're doing is wrong and it's sacrilege and you're evil but he has to have a e-bike and you won't let him out of town and that's going to change cuz I can't stand it here there's too much radiation and a lot of people can't and they have to be near him and don't want to die like you. You're a pitiful creature and you're going to be dead soon I'm going to use it. Your dad's Jerry should I say and he says that he heard that Jerry was weak and sickly and we have too and he heard that rod had a bad back with cancer and we heard that and he's going to die probably first everyone hates him and he did stupid things a driving Factor then Arnie the case has been opened and people are starting to get it driving factor for him getting the money are these two buffoons and Camilla herself and even Dolores because she wants to be reunited and go to our people and she should and people don't know what the uses and stuff which is terrifyingly awful but it looks like she will probably find her way out due to our friends wife who is a real Empress and needs to have test runs that are real not amidala back and forth to Earth from a planetoid that we go to all the time. Now the guys have developed it they say not recently but it is ready and they're going to run it and it is a double edged sword but it is something we have to do anyways. And we had thoughts to do it and we're going to proceed regardless of what people think this is progress so he's going to be riding his bike around and we're going to say he's had enough radiation and we'll try and get him out and what he'll say is true but when the process of riding around these two assholes in the in his brother are going to figure out that the Mac proper are mocking him and for some reason the street is where he can see it which doesn't make too much sense and winking and smiling and giggling and it'll give it away and we really need it and they'll go up there and it's a tech triangle in westborough and the westboro is part of it and that's where they'll be trying to figure out and detect below and still conquered what shoes it where my dad knock is and more and it's going to be a hell of a time and our friend and the Mac proper say they're going to try and grab the two if they go to westborough in a sun but it never happens and it doesn't but our son needs them to go up and discover them they have people fight them over what's below and we agree we do see stuff and it could very well be real we're going ahead now with this project and it's going to be horrible and violent but hey they deserve it and they decide to take this road the low road

Mac daddy

Olympus

[genderkoolaid]

TBH it's just. very interesting reading the SWERF response to that post because they all seem to be coming from the idea that I think sex work is empowering and awesome. So they clearly did not read my post and just saw that I am against SWERFs and assumed I must think prostitution is the world's greatest career.

Like... yes. Sex work is often done by poor, desperate women with no other choice. The same can be said for dangerous physical labor and poor, desperate men. I agree that sex work is highly entangled with misogyny.

But regardless of the nature of work, if that is their only choice, taking away that choice as an option... isn't going to magically improve their life. If someone literally cannot get any other job but sex work, banning them from sex work isn't going to suddenly open up other options. It's just going to make their life that much harder.

And like I said in the tags, it seems like their ultimate trump card for why sex work bad is "paying for sex makes it coercive and therefore rape!!"

Which, again, how is that any different from physical labor? We literally have the concept of "wage slavery", so this isn't untrodden ground. If I have no other option but to take whatever manual labor job I can, which results in severe damage to my body and drains me emotionally, all because I literally have no other choice to prevent myself from homelessness and starvation... am I really choosing to work? Can I really consent?

And ultimately, I think that's a different question from legality. Whether or not any worker under capitalism can truly consent to their work when the alternative is poverty and death is a more philosophical question. If you go up to an undocumented immigrant who takes whatever job they can and say "you know, you can't actually consent, so this job is really slavery and that's awful! I'm gonna try and make this illegal, to save you!" Their response would probably be that they don't particularly care if they ~can't truly consent~ since making their job illegal would fucking kill them. The vast majority of poor workers don't give a shit about philosophical debates over if consent is possible under capitalism, they care about whether or not they get paid enough money to not die.

Banning sex work isn't going to get rid of it. It's just going to make it harder for sex workers to be protected. Sex worker unions and sex work activists generally push for decriminalization, to allow sex workers full control over their work without the state controlling them. Whether or not you think they can truly consent doesn't matter, what matters is making sure they have full autonomy, that they have the money they need to survive, and that they are able to get help when they need it. Your solution may feel morally better but practically, does it actually help people? Or do you have deeply rooted beliefs about sex and sex work that you refuse to critically analyze?

[cursestothemoon]

A Cruel Favor

Regulus Black x Fem!Slytherin!Reader

Request: Could I get and angsty and sad blurb with Regulus? Nothing specific in mind, Regulus’ entire life is pretty tragic already- just throwing some strained and kind of heartbreaking romance into that mix sorry i like pain this is how i cope

Summary: Your relationship with the youngest Black brother in the form of memories seen in a pensieve by Sirius Black.

Warnings: Death, sadness, crying, the dark mark, ghosts

Word Count: 3265

Author's Note: babe you asked for a blurb and i just did not listen i am so sorry, if you'd still like a blurb let me know and i'll whip up a little short piece but regardless i hope you enjoy this 😌

“You didn’t know him! You didn’t want to know him!” Your voice bellowed, trembling with the burning anger you held in your heart for the eldest Black brother.

It was true, back when the war was just ‘politics’ and the ‘Dark Lord’ a name whispered behind closed doors, Sirius Black had already made up his mind about his family- Regulus included.

“He was my brother.” Sirius spoke the statement as if just the mere fact of relation was supposed to trump that he hadn't even spoken to his brother in the months prior to his death.

You let out a bitter laugh, “Don’t lie for the sake of saving face, you never saw him as a brother; not then and certainly not now.”

Sirius seemed taken aback by your accusation, his words getting lost on his tongue for a moment before he quickly regained his fiery passion for argument.

“He betrayed me.”

“You were the one who betrayed him!” Your accusatory finger pointed at Sirius.

The eldest Black brother’s features went stoney, “The moment he decided to get that mark, was the moment he lost his name as my brother.”

Everything in the mangey old house seemed to still, a silence falling so powerful you could hear a pin drop. Your slow footsteps were exaggerated in the quiet, each creak ringing in both yours and Sirius’ ears. With a tired hand, you pushed a small pouch onto the surface of the dining room table, the vials inside clinking together softly.

“They’re numbered.” You breathed out. “There is so much you don’t know, Sirius.”

You walked through the door and onto the street hastily, not wasting any time to apparate back home.

Sirius sat down in the nearest chair with a huff, his knees spread as his shoulders slid down the back of the chair. He hadn’t remembered just how far up his brother’s ass you were.

Roughly, he rubbed his face with his palms before lazily reaching for the dark velvet pouch on the table. The emerald green reminded him not only of his brother, but of his entire family, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Sirius couldn’t help the groan that left his mouth at the memories of his family that seemed to plague his mind.

Fittingly, Sirius opened the pouch to reveal just that. The silvery, viscous tendrils that floated through each vial were immediately recognized by the pureblood. You had given him your memories...and a letter.

You deserve to know him.

Y/N L/N

Sirius’ curiosity regarding what secrets of his brother’s seemed to be swimming in the vials bubbled over, he was sure 12 Grimmauld Place was harbouring a pensieve somewhere within its walls, he’d just have to get up and find it.

17 October 1974

Barty Crouch Jr. was an insolent child, the type to collect bones and listen to them rattle. He had a nervous tick, his tongue slithering past his lips every so often in a manner that was so serpentine it made your skin prick.

“Come on then, L/N, be a good little girl and do as I say.”

You threw down your quill in frustration, “Bugger off, Crouch. I’ve said no.”

“Don't be like that,” Barty smirked, coming closer to where you were sitting. “It’s only some homework. You were going to do yours anyway, why not get some extra practice in by doing mine too?”

“I’d rather have unforgivables practiced on me than do anything you ask.”

His sickly sweet smile wasn’t one you were expecting, his voice low and threatening, “That can be arranged.”

Your blood ran cold as you watched his nimble fingers move toward his wand pocket in his robes. Truthfully, you should’ve known better. Being in the same house as Barty allowed you the luxury of hearing all the gossip surrounding him and his hobbies, dark magic and curses being at the top of that list.

“Barty.”

The cold baritone made the sandy-haired menace stop in his tracks, his face contorting into an expression of mild annoyance and frustration.

“There’s no need for you to be acting like a child. Quite humiliating asking someone else to do your work, isn’t it, Crouch? Are you too thick to get it done yourself?”

Barty turned to look at his friend, words jumbling as he tried to figure out how to get himself out of the hole he had dug.

“Reg-” The stone-like stare had Barty cowering and mouth snapping shut, the boy seemingly trying to fold in on himself.

With a simple nod of his head, Regulus directed the him to make himself useful elsewhere, but you were far too taken by the handsome boy in front of you to notice the stomping footsteps of Barty’s as he left. Of course you had known of Regulus Black, seen him from afar and even once had Transfiguration with him, but seeing him up close was an experience in and of itself. His skin was ghostly pale, hair dark and wavy as it fell just below his ears, and his cheekbones were high accentuating the slant of his nose. Regulus Black was beautiful, everything about him seemed to be placed just right and sculpted with the utmost care and attention.

He turned to you, your eyes meeting before he gave you an appraising look.

“Regulus.” His hand struck out, a rather rugged introduction.

Slowly, you took his hand in yours and proceeded to shake it. You couldn’t seem to rid yourself of the feeling that your hand was far too dirty, far too boring to be touching his, to even be near his.

“Y/n L/n, thank you- for that.” You were proud of yourself for not allowing your voice to shake.

“I’m sorry he was a bother.”

Regulus seemed to lack the ability of holding a conversation, he nodded- you assumed a goodbye- and got ready to make his way to the dorms.

“Wait,” Your voice came out before you could stop it. “You could stay, I’m almost done anyway. We could...talk.”

The suggestion had the boy's ears turning pink, his words coming out stuttered and jumbled, a stark contrast from the boy who had told off Barty so eloquently.

“If you- alright.”

You thought for a moment before speaking again, “You’re not very good at talking to people are you?”

“Excuse my blatant honesty, but you make me quite nervous.”

It was your turn to have your ears turn a soft hue of red, “I could say the same about you.”

5 April 1975

“Haven’t you got your own side of the blanket? Must you be so close to me?” You giggled, trying to roll away from Regulus while still avoiding the grass.

Regulus smiled, his eyes closing and nose scrunching in thought before he spoke, “I prefer to be close to you; making sure you won’t run out on me.”

Both of you began giggling, his head falling to nudge your shoulder. Ultimately, Regulus shuffled away from your side, allowing just about a foot of space in between your bodies. The wind rustled your hair as you turned your neck to look at the youngest Black as he sat up, his legs stretched and crossed at the ankles, arms propping himself up as his palms pressed flat against the floor.

It was no secret that Regulus was beautiful. His dark hair- now gently flowing in the cool breeze- stood out against his pale skin, freckles were dusted delicately over his aristocratic nose and sharp cheekbones. You could tell he’d never worked a day in his life with how handsome and soft his hands were. His fingers were long and slender, never dry or rough, and his nails perfectly trimmed and always clean.

Regulus Black was absolutely perfect and you were regretting ever complaining about his proximity.

You were quick to right your wrong, bashfully you raised yourself onto all fours and crawled over to your boyfriend. Regulus tried to hold in his smirk, avoiding turning to look at you directly but you could tell his resolve was breaking.

“Regulus…” You spoke his name with an innocent lilt, sitting back on your shins once you were close enough to have your knees touching his thigh.

He hummed, not giving you the satisfaction of having his full attention.

A huff of frustration fell past your lips at his stubbornness as you threw your leg over his thighs, straddling his legs just above his knees. His composure was thinning, a wide smile threatening to spread across his thin lips.

“You’re far too close,” he teased, his hand coming up as if trying to stop you from getting any closer. “I believe you are on my side of the blanket, L/n.”

“Don’t be so fickle, Black.”

Regulus’ pale blue eyes found yours, his delicate hand coming up to run across the delicate collar of your dress.

“It’s in my nature isn’t it?” His eyes held a certain sadness that you could not place, one you wouldn’t see again until a few years later.

Your lips parted to respond to him, only to be interrupted by a Hogwarts ghost floating nearby. It was a ghost neither you nor Regulus were familiar with and as she passed she mumbled something- rather spitefully- about young love. The event had your train of thought derailed, a quiet giggle erupting from your throat as the transparent, deceased woman floated on.

Regulus seemed to find the woman just as amusing as you did, his eyes crinkling with laughter as you two now looked at each other in fits of hysterics.

“Oh her poor soul!” You exclaimed, eyes looking off in the direction she had gone. “If you were a ghost, Reg, where would you haunt with your undead presence.”

His expression contorted into one of reminiscence, “Uncle Alphard’s cherry orchard just a few kilometers from Monts de Venasque. When we were little, Sirius and I would play in the trees. I could sit in those cherry trees for hours, everything just seemed to disappear. Alphard’s been burned off the tapestry since, but he’s left the property in my possession along with the small house on the land. I think if I were to choose one place to spend eternity, it would be there.”

You smiled softly at his answer.

“And you?” He asked, bringing you out of your lovesick haze.

“Me?” You chuckled. “I’d suppose my eternity would be well spent as long as I was somewhere with you.”

28 June 1976

It seemed the entirety of 12 Grimmauld Place shook with how hard Sirius had slammed the front door.

He was gone.

Completely and entirely gone.

And Regulus was completely and entirely alone now.

Regulus swiftly made his way up the stairs and to his room, just barely avoiding a collision with the poor house elf.

“Y/n’s room.” The words were spoken clearly and concisely as the floo powder fell from his shaky hands.

The time of night- 2:27 am- was of little importance to Regulus, he needed to see you.

You woke up with a jolt, the sound of someone stumbling into your room and panicked mumbling doing nothing to ease your nerves though the mop of dark curls had your heart calming down.

“Reg?”

He turned to look at you with heartbroken eyes, watery and bloodshot.

“He’s gone.” He choked out.

You kicked the blankets off yourself and stood up from your bed, bare feet hitting the cold floor.

Keeping a calm tone you slowly got closer to him, “Who’s gone, love?”

His pain was so evident, rolling off him in waves, “Sirius- he’s not coming back.”

“Oh,” You sighed, treading lightly. “I’m sur-”

“No!” He cried, “Burned off the tapestry, probably with the Potters- he’s gone an-and he left me with them.”

Regulus’ anguish, tear stained cheeks, had your own eyes welling with unshed tears. It was clear words would do nothing to calm him, instead you opted for pushing yourself into him and taking his crying form into your arms. His body seemed to give out as you held him, his tears soaking your shirt as he wailed into your neck.

Neither of you could tell how long you stood in the middle of your room seemingly holding him together, but his cries subsided into gentle whimpers and the occasional sniffle as his nose nudged the side of your neck.

His voice came out rough and strained, just barely above a whisper, “Please don’t- don’t leave me like Si- like he did.”

You could feel your heart shatter, “Wouldn’t dream of it, darling.”

“I don’t know how I would’ve survived in this mess if I had never known you.”

Your breath came out ragged as you spoke the truest words you've ever dared to speak, “My heart beats for you, Regulus.”

30 December 1979

His forearm itched.

It seemed to always have an odd itch ever since he was sixteen.

Regulus watched your form get closer, bundled in a thick overcoat and a dark blue scarf- Christmas present from himself- wrapped neatly around your neck. You were the picture of beauty, like a living doll with your soft smile and adoring eyes.

“My love.” You greeted him, leaning in to place a soft kiss against his cold cheek.

His eyes seemed distant, your only greeting a tight lipped smile.

Your eyebrows knit together, “Everything alright?”

Regulus nodded, his eyes swimming with a sadness so familiar, “Just taking you in.”

He pulled off his leather gloves, stuffing them deep in his coat pocket before reaching his hand out to hold your jaw, his thumb running across your skin. The action was comforting and you couldn’t help but close your eyes to savour the feeling of his thumb caressing your cheekbone.

You let out a small gasp when you felt him take your lips in a slow kiss. It was passionate, loving, yet there was a certain finality to it that had a shiver run up your spine in the most unpleasant way.

“I have the cruelest favor to ask of you, and I can only hope you’ll forgive me once I do.”

Your stomach dropped, “What do you mean, Regulus? What- what favor?”

“Please, try to understand-”

“What favor?”

“I couldn’t-”

“Tell me what the favor is, Regulus.”

Your voice had an edge to it that made him compose himself almost instantly.

He took a breath before speaking, his eyes looking off somewhere behind you as he spoke, “He’s getting stronger.”

You didn’t need to ask who this ‘he’ was, the tone made it very clear.

“He has these… horcruxes. Incredibly dark magic, I don't know how many but I know of one. It’s hidden and I’ve found out the location, I can destroy it I know I can but-”

His tone was hushed and your heart rate had started to pick up speed.

“But you don’t know if you’ll live to tell the tale?” You asked with a humorless laugh.

The look in Regulus’ eyes had told you, you were right.

“I can’t let him continue. If this could stop him, weaken him even, it’s worth whatever the consequence to myself may be.” He argued.

You pushed yourself further from him, “I can’t- I won’t lose you. No, there’s no way.”

His expression shifted into one of sorrow and pleading, “I have to.”

And you knew there was no changing his mind.

You bit the side of your lip anxiously, looking at the ground before asking, “And this favor?”

The heartbreak was almost palpable, his voice going raw.

“I cannot be fully prepared to do anything that is necessary to destroy this horcrux if-”

He cut himself off with an intake of breath.

“If I know you’ll be waiting for my return, if I know what I have to leave behind I may be tempted to not go through with my plan.”

You couldn’t help but feel and look horrified, “What are you asking of me, Regulus?”

He seemed to flinch at the tone of your voice, a tone you’d never used before and one he couldn’t name.

“I need you to obliviate yourself from my memory.”

It felt as though your chest had collapsed in on itself, “I-I couldn-”

“You have to!” Regulus cried, his arms gripping the sides of your face as you couldn’t help but let a choked sob escape from your lips. “It’s the only way I’ll be able to go through with it, I can't know that there’s a possibility of leaving you.”

“Please, Regulus, you can’t ask this of me.” You choked out, searching his eyes for some sort of humor, something that told you it was all a cruel joke.

He pressed his lips against your forehead, both of your eyes closing as you two took in short, ragged breaths.

Everything seemed darker. The flowers in the Black garden were cold and dead, the snow wasn’t snow at all, instead dangerous sheets of ice. It was then you realized the war, the death eaters, everything had become so real.

“There is a letter on your bed at home, I’ve settled everything for you. I’m going to stand against the pillar, my back to you, and you are going to do it from behind the hedges so we won’t see each other after. You need to leave once it’s done alright?”

You nodded solemnly, knowing there was no use in fighting it. The cause was bigger than you, bigger than Regulus. Everyone made sacrifices, this just had to be yours.

“My heart beats for you, Y/n, whether I know it or not.”

“And mine for you, Regulus.” You smiled sadly, pulling his wrist up to your face and pulling back his sleeve to reveal his dark mark, pressing a kiss to the skin you spoke, “You aren’t them, you never were and you never will be.”

Regulus smiled but said nothing as he lowered his arms and put his gloves back on. With slow steps he walked to the pillar and looked back at you one last time.

“I’m just taking you in.” He whispered, before slowly turning.

You took your wand from your coat as you took even slower steps to stand just far enough for him not to notice you after it had been done. Regulus felt his resolve crumble with each crunch of your boots against the frozen ground, his eyes screwed shut- tears rolling down his face freely- as he prepared for what was coming.

With a shaky hand you raised your wand.

“Obliviate.”

Present

Sirius seemed to be thrown back from the pensieve, as if the memory had rejected him from viewing any longer, still sensitive. He felt an odd tickling sensation run down his cheek, his hand raising to brush away a stray tear as he fell into a nearby chair.

He never knew…

***

You pushed open the backdoor of your small home, the warm scent of cherry trees welcoming you. The sun was just barely starting to set as you looked off into the horizon of the vast field of trees, if you looked long enough you could make out the handsome silhouette of a boy you once knew sitting up in a cherry tree.

Only a few short months later, the lone figure would be joined by another… a brother.

tags:

@amourtentiaa

@vsawyer1989​

@lifeofkaze

@siriusement

@erinruby003

@maybesandohnos

@onlyfreds

@tayyx

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

Biden is going to win, I’m sure of it, but the Senate seems to have slipped through our fingers.  So long as McConnell is majority leader, he will continue to hold it hostage; Biden won’t be getting any judicial appointments unless he makes recess appointments.  The problem with that is recess appointments only last for a single congressional session (max 2 years), and McConnell isn’t going to let the Senate go int recess, so Biden would need to prorogue Congress, which would take approval from Pelosi (the president can only force a recess if the House and Senate disagree on a date), and would be political suicide because the American people are really on edge about authoritarianism right now, and nothing screams dictator like disbanding Congress to pack the courts.  People expect Republicans to be ratfucking bastards, they get a free pass to cheat the system, but Democrats are expected to follow the old rules, to stay in line, to uphold tradition and precedent and whatever the hell else will let Republicans walk all over them.  If a Democrat tried to skirt the rules the way Republicans do,their approval ratings would tank, and the Republicans would ride a red wave into the midterms.

I feel like Biden will be a doormat as president.  He has run on a platform of being palatable, inoffensive, milquetoast, he’s not going to make any waves, he’s not going to try and out maneuver the Republicans, because doing so would sacrifice his veneer of bipartisanship.  He has already said he doesn’t want to use executive orders to sidestep Congress the way Trump has, so he’s going to end up accomplishing very little, all the while completely misunderstanding why young people are becoming increasingly mad at him.  He’s not assertive enough.  I don’t think he has a clearly defined Biden Doctrine.  What will his presidency be about?  Healthcare will be a major issue when the Supreme Court gets rid of Obamacare next week, but he doesn’t stand a chance of getting a new plan passed while McConnell controls the Senate.  And Republicans across the country will blame him instead of trump for gutting their healthcare, saying that Obamacare was his fault when he was terrible and his fault when he was Vice President, but also that its absence is terrible and his fault when he is President.  It’s a lose-lose situation.

Republicans are scheming, Democrats are most definitely not.  Republicans know how to game the system, Democrats don’t.  Biden needs to hit the ground running.  He needs to hire young advisors who can help him play the game in the 21st century, but that’s almost certainly not what he’s going to do.  He’s going to surround himself with old white moderates and a few token moderates of color, and slog his way through the first half of his term before floundering at the midterms because the Republicans will have organized a powerful opposition by then.  He’s not particularly inspiring, he’s just a calming presence compared to Trump, and even THAT wasn’t enough for a blowout; a good 45 - 50% of the country is batshit fucking crazy, and will not hesitate to blow him and his presidency out of the water.  He needs to go big or go home, he needs to add some new songs to his repertoire.  Trump lost because all he knew how to play was Free Bird.  Biden needs to do some experimental shit, throw anything at the wall, see what sticks, make himself more exciting, not just boring, safe, old Grampa Joe.

I do not think Joe Biden is an evil man, I just think he is unambitious and unwilling to take risks because he is stuck in the past.  The country will be better off under him than under Trump, but I just don’t think he’s going to make as many big sweeping changes as we had hoped.  He needs to close the camps, he needs to reunite families (that is if Trump doesn’t actively sabotage this by erasing data to fuck him and the rest of the country over between now and January 20th), he needs to raise taxes and close loopholes so that big corporations don’t just move overseas to avoid paying said taxes.  Economic inequality should be a major platform issue for him, but I don’t know if he’s committed to it as much as we need him to be.  He is not a progressive, we won’t be seeing anything like a President Bernie Sanders, I just hope he has plans for the future; 2024 is going to be HELL ON EARTH if he stays the course.  America doesn’t need any more third-way, neoliberal, moderate centrist bullshit.  I would say we want major progressive reform, but I guess the majority actually doesn’t, because half of them still voted for the worst human alive today.  When Republicans are in power, they don’t give a shit about Democrats, so why should Democrats bother about them?  Why should Biden keep trying to placate them when they’re never going to vote for him; they didn’t this time, they won’t next time, especially if Trump runs for a non-consecutive term or one of his brood runs in his place to establish a dynasty.  Biden needs to play hardball and push through an agenda, regardless of what Republicans do.  We can’t always take the high ground, we need to stop playing fair when the other side plays dirty!

[nanamicide]

A life of her own - chapter 1

Summary: Junko Enoshima's blackmail attempt on Sakakura Juzo has failed. Love has trumped despair. Mukuro has to watch her sister's plans fail, and learn how to live without her and her orders. Yet, she doesn't have any particular likes or dislikes, or things she wants to do.

Read on AO3

Mukuro had never loved, nor cared about despair. The only thing she loved and cared about was her twin sister, Junko Enoshima. Ever since their parents had died in that tragic accident when they were only three years old, she had made her happiness her only purpose in life. Since the strawberry blonde loved despair, it had only been natural for Mukuro to join the Ultimate Despair and help her create the most awful, most tragic, most despair-inducing event in human history. She’d had to do horrible things to make her sister’s maddest wishes come true – things she would never be able to share with anyone around her – but she had no regrets. The smile on her sister’s face whenever she saw another human being fall into despair was the best reward for her. It made her feel so alive, as if she were doing exactly what her parents would have wanted her to do, were they still in this world.

Despite all of this, and regardless of the happy chatter about despair and despair-inducing plans for the future between Junko-chan and Yukizome-sensei, Mukuro couldn’t help but feel uneasy. There was something about the room they were in that made her feel as though something terrible was going to happen today. It was probably because too many people had been getting involved in their secret plans in the past few weeks – she had always felt uncomfortable around strangers, after all.

First it had been Izuru Kamukura, the Ultimate Hope that was artificially created by the academy. Mukuro had understood why he was important for Junko-chan’s plan, so she’d let her be in touch with him in spite of how dangerous he seemed to be. Then, it had been that frail animator boy, Ryota Mitarai. Even though he seemed completely harmless, Mukuro got the feeling that he may bring about their demise. Unlike her, Junko-chan or Kamukura, he had people who cared about him. It would only be a matter of time until these people would be worried about how her sister had turned him into a terrified mess. In fact, it had only taken two days for that to happen. The Ultimate Nurse, Mikan Tsumiki, had been sent after him to help him with health issues. She didn’t seem dangerous either, but Mukuro had known from the start that people would end up looking for her as well, bringing more attention to their activities.

Once again, she’d been right. Yukizome-sensei, Mitarai-kun and Tsumiki-san’s teacher, had come looking for them. Of course, Junko-chan was delighted with all the attention they were suddenly getting. This gave her more people to brainwash into joining their cause, which in turn, made her feel stronger about what would come next. Mukuro wished she could be as confident as her.

“Ah, Yukizome-san,” Junko-chan beamed. “I have to go take care of one of your friends right now. You know, the one who’s totally not in love with your boyfriend or anything. He’s been sticking his nose in my business recently, and I can’t wait to see his strong, manly features turn to despair when I expose his dirty little secret to everyone in the Parade!”

The gyaru took a few steps towards the door and glanced at her sister. Mukuro turned to her.

“Please make sure none of them do anything stupid, idiot,” she spat at Mukuro, leaving the room and slamming the door behind her.

She’s right, Mukuro smiled to herself, I really am an idiot compared to her.

-

When Junko came back, an extra person had joined them. Mukuro had expected her to be furious and call her useless for not managing to keep him out of the room – she had left for a quick bathroom break when he barged in – but she was ecstatic. This wasn’t enough to help Mukuro with the nervousness she’d been experiencing all day, though. She was still feeling as though something bad was going to happen to them today, and that feeling was only growing bigger with every single passing second. Komaeda-kun’s sudden arrival and attempt to rescue his teacher – who had since then left to try and gather some of her students here and make them fall into despair – and classmates had had a completely different effect on Mukuro than on her sister.

The skinny white-haired teenager was saying something about how Junko-chan’s death would be nothing but a stepping stone for hope, and how he was so lucky to have found their hideout. Mukuro was on edge, keeping close watch of him. She couldn’t tell if he was serious or if he was just some of sort of comically stupid lunatic. It was only when he pulled a gun out of his pocket that Mukuro realized that had meant every single word he’d said. Luckily for her, the gun was jammed and he spent a few minutes trying to fix it. If he tried anything else, Mukuro would have time to disarm him.

He was still talking about how lucky he was when Kamukura appeared. Mukuro couldn’t get used to his sudden popping in and out of the places they stayed in. She was never able to tell how and when he arrived and left, and this made her feel unsafe. She knew that if he suddenly decided to do away with her and her sister, she wouldn’t be able to put much of a fight, and she hated that. She hated that Junko-chan had decided they needed him for her plan, no matter how sensible her reasons were. Kamukura was way too dangerous, and what was happening right in front of her eyes was yet another piece of evidence of the fact.

The slender dark-haired figured had swiftly grabbed the gun from Komaeda-kun’s hands and shot him, telling him that he also had what was called ultimate luck. Mukuro gasped as Komaeda-kun fell onto the floor. She had killed people before, but it’d never been so quick and easy.

“Are you scared, sis?” Junko asked her. “Isn’t seeing someone who’s better than you soooo despair-inducing? If he were better at following orders, you’d be completely useless to me now. Not that I really need you, anyway.”

Mukuro wanted to respond, but she knew it was no use. Instead, she kept her eyes on Komaeda-kun who was still… breathing? She wasn’t sure how it was possible – Kamukura had shot him in the chest, she’d seen it with her own two eyes – but the boy was still alive.

Thank goodness, she thought. Maybe things won’t be so bad today. At least we don’t have an extra and unnecessary death on our hands.

The tension she’d been feeling all day began to drop, and she stretched her arms in front of her. They would be okay – they always were. Even though she was always in charge of the dirty work, at least Junko-chan’s analytical abilities always enabled them to get away with things, no matter how bad the mess they had caused was.

Mukuro’s relief was short-lived, though. A few moments later, two men walked into the room. The soldier had no trouble recognizing them – Munakata-san, the former Ultimate Student Council President, and Sakakura-san, the former Ultimate Boxer, had been Investigating the Ultimate Despair ever since they’d organized their very first killing game.

Wait, Mukuro suddenly realized, her eyes widening as her thought process went on, this means Junko-chan didn’t manage to blackmail Sakakura-san? This means… They know everything. We failed? This is it?

As her brain processed what was happening, Mukuro’s legs started feeling weak. She collapsed on her knees, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. She glanced at her sister, whose expression had turned into that of a madwoman. Despite their now impeding doom, she still seemed happy, as though everything were still going according to her plan. It didn’t take long for Mukuro to understand that Junko-chan was finally feeling the despair she’d been craving for all these years. Failing meant that she was the one who was falling into despair this time. She was finally getting a first-hand taste of despair, and she was loving it.

“Look at that! It’s the Ultimate I Swear I’m Not Gay and his Ultimate Forbidden Love Interest!” Junko-chan sounded more excited than ever. “What will they do once they take care of the big bad guys? Kiss and fall in love? Of course not, that wouldn’t be despair-inducing enough!”

The two men ignored her provocation and walked towards her, ignoring everyone else in the room. It was clear they’d come for her and her only. Mukuro wanted to move and get rid of them, if only to save her sister, but something within her was stopping her from doing so. If she killed even only one of them, she wouldn’t be able to get away with it. It would have caused her sister more despair, but for the first time in her life, Mukuro thought that this wasn’t what she wanted.

She didn’t want what Junko-chan wanted. She didn’t want to kill anymore. She’d never liked despair. Thus, Mukuro stayed there, silent. She waited for everything to be over, unsure if she would be able to watch more of what was happening. Yet, she couldn’t keep her eyes off the scene, as if her brain was forcing her to witness this – as if this would be of help to her in the future.

Yukizome-sensei had come back in the room, telling Munakata-san something about how she was glad he’d found this room.

Why is she lying to him? We just brainwashed her, there’s no way she would turn against us so soon – or any time, for that matter. Why is Junko-chan not warning them? Why is she playing along? Mukuro wasn’t sure she understood any of it anymore. Hope, despair – it didn’t make much sense to her at that point.

Kamukura took a few steps forward and grabbed Junko-chan, immobilizing her. He’s… Betraying Junko-chan. I always knew he was dangerous. Ever since we met him, I thought dealing with him was a bad idea. Why didn’t she listen to me? Why do I have to see this?

“You guys take care of them,” Yukizome-sensei said, referring to Kamukura and Junko-chan. “I’ll protect everyone else.”

Mukuro wanted to scream as the redhead came close to her, but she had no energy to do anything. She had completely given up on everything. The mental strain she’d experienced throughout the day and how she’d been surprised by the turn things had taken had drained her. She didn’t want to do this.

All I’ve ever wanted was to make Junko-chan happy and I’ve failed. I’ve pathetically failed by doing everything she wanted me to do. She looks so much happier now that she’s about to be stopped. I should have known that the only thing that would satisfy her was making her fall into despair. I was so stupid. I’ve failed her, and our parents. But most importantly, I failed myself. I’ve only given myself one duty in life, and I wasn’t even able to fulfill it. Just what type of soldier am I? What am I supposed to do?

Mukuro let Yukizome-sensei help her up and get her out of the room. She had no idea what the academy would decide to do with her, but she didn’t care anymore. It wasn’t like there was anything she really wanted to do, anyway. She had dedicated her entire life to Junko-chan, and had done everything in her power to make sure she would succeed no matter how crazy and farfetched her plans were.

Mukuro didn’t have any wishes of her own. She didn’t have any future to look forward to now that Junko-chan would be arrested. That was why it didn’t matter what would happen to her. It didn’t matter what they would do to her because if her sister wasn’t free, Mukuro wouldn’t have anything to do with herself.

As Yukizome-sensei sat her down in headmaster Kirigiri’s office and explained everything that had happened to them, Mukuro cried. She cried and cried and cried for the first time since her parents died. She had no idea what her tears meant, or why she wasn’t able to stop them, but her vision was blurry and her mind unable to follow the conversation that was happening right in front of her.  

[andromeda3116]

It's because he's God's Chosen Leader and this is A Christian Nation that has Strayed From Jesus And Needs To Be Brought Back To Him. And Jesus has Chosen Trump As Our Savior and therefore, anything he does is excusable, and anything truly inexcusable is a Liberal Lie meant to slander him. He can be flawed, that's okay, Jesus Uses Flawed People To Accomplish Perfect Ends. This is a battle of Good Versus Evil and taking down The Radical Left Communists must be done by any means.

This is why they can break all the rules they want, break the game board, break the Constitution. It's all in pursuit of "saving" the nation and bringing it "back" to Jesus. It's all on the table. It's all acceptable. Lying, cheating, inciting a coup -- I'm sorry, "rallying a militia to overthrow a corrupt government" -- or even murder, it doesn't matter. This is war. It must be won at any cost.

It doesn't matter that, as soon as you take even half a step back, you can see that they're trying to install a king over a theocracy, which is the exact literal thing that the American Revolution was about getting rid of -- because it's their theocracy. Their king. Chosen by God to lead in His name and bring glory to the highest.

...by dismantling any climate change policies and regulations giving us clean air and programs that feed the poor and relieve debt and give sick people healthcare. Because those programs help the "undeserving" and cost tax money that they ought to be getting in their own paychecks instead of helping other people. It's the church's mandate, the community's place, to help the sick and poor, not the government's! The government isn't discerning, doesn't know who really deserves it, and they might give that money to a drug addict or a sex worker or a lazy welfare queen or -- heaven forbid -- one of them transgender people.

(Unless, of course, one of those undesirables wishes to repent and come into the Light Of Jesus, in which case all arms come open and they're taken care of. Given food and shelter. As long as they stay in line and do what they're told and submit to the Glory Of God.)

Sorry, I grew up in Mississippi in the Southern Baptist Church and (well after leaving the church at 19) worked with a bunch of hardcore Trumpers through the whole presidency and got to see deep into how they think and justify everything. The structure of the Evangelical Church at this point is a well-oiled machine for churning out followers of the Republican Party, regardless of what the party does or how it hurts them. They indoctrinate you when you're young, keep you scared and submissive, and turn you into an adult who's terrified of the world. And fear makes people angry and stupid, and makes them want someone to come and make them safe.

And who better to do that than a king who fights for their cause?

Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.

--Karl Marx

"Project 2025 seeks to place the entire U.S. federal government under direct presidential control"

Hang on, didn't y'all have a literal revolution about this??

Why, yes. Yes, we famously did have a revolution over not wanting to be ruled by an absolute monarch and to set up a system of (however flawed it was and is) representative democracy. And the people peddling this BS call themselves "real Americans." Because you see, as long as the absolute monarch is a twice-impeached, convicted-rapist, serial business fraud, currently-charged-with-91-felonies-including-espionage-and-sedition orange psychopath, or some other true believer white-supremacist christofascist, it's all right.

[praphit]

Happy New Year! (hopefully, cuz... whew!)

Ugh! Let's get this year over with; what do you say?? I don't even want to rehash the year like I normally would around this time of year.

Pre-COVID seems like so long ago: We were out at bars, games, concerts, and parties of strangers. We were dancing all up on each other, we were passing the bottle around, we were grabbing all kinds of doorknobs with no concerns. Kids were planning to soon graduate and step into their hopeful, bright futures. Adults were planning vacations around the world to escape a once hopeful present.

Times were good! Look at this groundhog eating pizza. 

Not a care in the world.

And then, Thanos snapped his fingers, the world turned into shit, and we all realized how much we cared about Tom Hanks.

Can you imagine if that were literal? I think someone should get another gauntlet and turn planets into literal piles of crap. A new villain - "Poopfingers"

Ew... I know. I'm sorry.

Like I said, I don't want to talk about that stuff. I'd rather focus on entertainment instead. Join me for a few awards that I like to call "The Praphies"

MOVIE OF THE YEAR -

"WAP"

I know what you're thinking - "That's not a movie." Meh, it's movie-ish.

It's got two protagonists, whom are trapped in a mansion. It kinda reminds me of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, but instead of chocolate being manufactured, we'd got... pleasure. Who doesn't want more pleasure after the year we've had??

There's a lot of weird things happening in the mansion, so that’s good for the plot. Plus, these ladies are all about... empowerment? - I guess?

Sure.

Kylie Jenner shows up for some reason, so I'm sure she's up to something; maybe she's the villain. And according to the lyrics "there's some whores in this house". Will they get rid of the "whores"? Will they embrace the whores? Perhaps this word will be taken back, and used as a term of endearment.

As mama looks at her daughter, walking bravely back into schools some day "That's my lil whore." Maybe we're all whores - what a twist.

It's a good picture. One of Scorsese's best. He did direct it right? I think so.

BEST ACTOR -

This one was a close race for me:

Jeanise Jones (Borat 2 - on the right) 

This woman, who was not in on the joke, deserves a medal. She's the star.

Joe Exotic (The Tiger King)

Anyone standing behind Trump during those Rona briefings, who can hold a straight face.

Technically, Joe and Jeanise aren't actors, and Trump's people are... you know, TRUMP'S people, so I give the award to Mario Lopez for his role as Sexy Colonel Sanders.

Did y'all watch "A Recipe for Seduction?" It's entertaining. It was my runner-up for MOY.

SHOW OF THE YEAR -

Easy - "The Tiger King" for keeping us all together in the beginning of this 2020 corona mess.

Which leads me to MY person of the year (cuz let's be honest, Uncle Joe and Kamala... no)

The POY is -

Carole Baskin - 

We all know that she murdered her husband, and yet she took over Joe's zoo property, continues her animal rights activism while being openly weird as hell, and was last seen being applauded on "Dancing with the Stars".

Only in America.

Animated action of the year - “Soul” for bringing us this negro, 

played by Tina Fey :)

I’m just joking ( I love Tina Fey)... well, she does play him, but it’s not like that; still makes me laugh though. At least she didn’t have to worry about blackface.

I like my action flicks. They all can't be tear-jerkers like "WAP".

Which leads us to ACTION HERO OF THE YEAR --- Kiera Allen

If you saw the movie "Run" then you know this actress. She is the acrobatic, wheelchair-bound star of the movie. She is in a wheelchair in real life. In this movie she breaks through one window, climbs across a rooftop, breaks through another window, all with water in her mouth for a special finishing trick to end the scene. And she throws herself down a couple of flights of stairs. Let's see Liam Neeson try to do that!

I'm serious when I say - I expect to see her in the next "Fast & Furious" film.

Award for LEAST FUX GIVEN - Ricky Gervais, for lighting Hollywood on fire.

Athlete - TEAM JLo and Shakira

 --- sidelined me (I attempted to dance like Shakira at work) and sent souls to hell 

(that's some powerful booty shaking... and or just another example of white people being mad at brown people for existing)

SONG OF THE YEAR - 

Vin Diesel’s "Feels like I do" - not up for debate. 

Name another action star in 2020 with a single.

Album of the Year - "The Lion King: The Gift / Black is King" - by Beyonce

We didn't feel much like royalty, but at least we were being heard... well, for a lil bit; a lot more than I ever remember us being heard.

Remember when white people in Hollywood felt so much shame that they did this?

We had corporations like the NFL tryna pretend to be woke. Aunt Jemima and that Native American woman on the butter were freed

 (though they did keep the land).

White people were afraid, and thought that perhaps this album was going to spark the second coming of Black Jesus.

It's interesting -  black people protested (mostly peacefully); wanting justice, and white people got anxious.   People started rioting and looting because of injustices rooted to this country's original sin, and white people, who's ancestors committed this sin, shook their heads at us in shame. Black people and anyone (of any color) standing with them were treated as hostiles, while white people with guns, shooting at black people were hailed as heroes.

What a time. 

I wish Black Jesus really did come back to these Beyonce tunes.

Oh, and this stuff happened too

Toobin (Ha! This guy )

ASSHOLE OF THE YEAR (4 years straight)- 

Trump

It's not even close. I was going to suggest that the dude from "The Vow" being a strong runner up, but even that would be disrespectful to Trump's assholery.

The world was on fire (metaphorically and literally), and Trump as our leader, threw gasoline on it. "BLM" came along to be heard and get justice for George Floyd, and Trump convinced his worshippers that BLM is a terrorist group. He shot away protesters, so he could pose awkwardly with a bible (doing God's work - this “work” included telling us to do the opposite of what physicians around the world plead with us to do during a pandemic, pushing drugs on us that these same physicians say no to, and telling us to inject ourselves with bleach. Hallelujah!). He accused Biden of corruption (pot calling kettle black). He loses to Biden, but fights the results with zero evidence, and at the sore loser rallies, there were stabbings and arrests, to which Trump praises their efforts.

A round of applause for the Michael Jordan of Assholes.

Donald J. Trump!

RESPECT!

Lastly, The Praphie (most coveted of awards)

The nominees are -

Kaylen Ward - raised over one million dollars for the Australia fires relief, by passing out nude photos of herself... yep. Seriously, look it up. Well, maybe don’t do that:)

Michael Jordan -  "The Last Dance" was the only sports content for a sports addict like myself. MJ was the drug we needed.

Dr. Fauci - Really for putting up with us. 

Dave Chappelle - a hell of a year for him. Plus, he was dropping N-Bombs and smoking on SNL

The Fly on Mike Pence's head. 

Kamala Harris

Cardi B - just because

The winner is - Dave Chappelle

Not only for his great year in comedy (in this bleeped up year), but he has evolved into a modern day prophet. Who would have thought that the guy who made "Half Baked"

would be the one we'd seek out when racial tensions got to the highest levels this year??

Kaylen Ward would have won it, if she had continued her efforts. She could have raised some funds for Greta Thunberg. She could have used her nudity along-side protesters, or even joined doctors around the world, raising money for a vaccine. Smh. That's a shame.

In thinking about Chappelle's evolution, I'm reminded that we're all processing and changing as a result of this year. Some will change for the better, and others for the worse. Some will go to the depths only to rise up again. Regardless, of how you handle it, it's important to know who your true peeps are. Who loves you? Who’s got your back? Who do you love?  We're all going to need true peeps to help us endure. Which leads me to my slogan for next year.

"If you love something let it go, if it doesn't return to you. Hunt it down and kill it." Idk about you, but that touches my heart.

Enjoy yourselves as much as you can tonight, and by that I mean safely :) Some of you might want to consider going to bed early, just to end this year faster.

Happy New Year, everyone!

[masterthespianduchovny]

Why do “progressives” keep treating the DNC as some big, bad boogie man because Bernie didn’t win opposed to realizing that most voters didn’t want him?

I know the Bernie or bust crowd believes that people who didn’t support him were “low info” and bought into propaganda, but has it ever occurred to any of y’all these criticisms may apply to y’all.

I’ve noticed that whenever talking to a never Biden person, most of them consistently say that Biden doesn’t support something that he’s on record supporting. There is a fundamental difference between not believing he’ll follow through in his word and saying he does support “x” at all.

And, more times than not, these Bernie or bust/never Biden people AREN’T Democrats, yet they have the nerve to speak for the party. Which explains why they’re confused as to how Bernie lost and/or blame the dnc. Bernie was rejected by actual democrats because 1. He kept shitting on the party 2. He doesn’t share their values. But, you say, “saving human lives aren’t their values???” Yes, but it has to be realistic meaning the legislation has a chance at being passed.

These voters constantly mock people for asking “how is he going to pay for this” as if it’s not a valid question. Let’s think about it this way: even if bernies plans were supported, they would be denied based off of shitty budgeting. His M4A plan has a 15 trillion GAP. It costs 32 trillion and, when the math was broken down, they had no idea how to account for 15 TRILLION dollars.

Who the fuck is going to pass a god damn plan like that?

Loans worth a couple thousand have been denied for less, but y’all don’t think appropriately accounting for the money for a plan worth trillions of dollars is important?

And Bernie had fucking years to fine tune this plan, so what the fuck?

The other part: dem voters don’t believe that Bernie is the only person who can achieve certain things. When talking about M4A, which is a FORM OF universal healthcare, Bernie supporters act as if Bernie is the only person supporting this and to ever support this (in America). Both of these beliefs are false.

Hillary supported universal healthcare in THE 90s. And I believe she supported it even before Bernie was a national name. Outside of her, most of the candidates supported universal healthcare, but had different paths to achieve this.

People can say “it’s not far left enough” until they are blue in the face, but a healthcare policy not matching your politics doesn’t mean it’s not universal healthcare. For those who are confused, using another form of insurance as an example: I was a claim associate for a car insurance company. At my company, not sure if this applied to other companies, but when someone said they had full coverage, it applied to: collision, comprehensive, tow, and rental. Now, people literally thought that meant everything including uninsured and additional medical coverage, etc. But, it only referred to FOUR key things.

My point: many of you are talking about something you don’t understand when you’re really showing how much you don’t understand.

Part of the reason we can’t go far left is that republicans are going to shoot that shit down on sight, but the other part is about budgeting and feasibility. These people have to work through details we don’t even have to think about—Bernie’s plan is super inclusive, but the budgeting part is utter shit!

Circling back: Bernie doesn’t resonating with dem voters who ACTUALLY vote. This doesn’t mean these voters “don’t” care for young people or the sick, but many of these people—older—have spent years watching and listening to politicians made grand promises. Whether or not these politicians believe what they say is irrelevant because voters know when someone will be able to accomplish what they’ve promised.

Bernie isn’t that person.

He’s promising a lot of free shit and, yeah, it ain’t going to happen.

Even if he were elected potus, the presidency isn’t a dictatorship and trump has only “accomplished” the shit he has with the backing of congress. Which...Bernie doesn’t have. And more times than not, those back trump are a majority of republicans who control the congress.

But, also, don’t try to put this on those who don’t believe Bernie can accomplish shit, because the fact still remains that people, not me, are voting these people into their position. Attacking dems won’t get rid of your republican problem or the fact that voting dems don’t think Bernie will be able to accomplish shit because they’re realists.

Then there’s the fact that many of you motherfuckers DON’T vote. Y’all think because people like Bernie on social media, that means he’s “won.” But, anyone can be popular online. Which leads to: y’all overstating how popular Bernie was.

Bernie’s wins in 2016 had people the people’s choice back then, when really, anti Hillary/Clinton and sexism/misogyny was why he over performed. Don’t believe me, look at the voting trends this year.

Bernie knee he didn’t have the votes and wanted a brokered convention. He had a black voter problem and they are the backbone of the party. People who insist that Biden only regained the lead because of the Obama connection are being racist. Joe’s role in the Obama administration played a part, but not enough to have joe winning the way he is.

Joe was not most peoples first choice. But, misinformation, which torpedoed several candidates, or lack of funds caused many to drop out. Since the field was no longer split, candidates started supporting Biden, and Bernie’s far left policies didn’t resonate with older voters, Biden started becoming “popular.” Biden appeals to many voters regardless of party affiliation. And that’s what helped him win the dem nom.

Not the DNC.

But, keep peddling this conspiracy and living in your echo chamber.

[reading-writing-revolution]

Heather Cox Richardson:

August 13, 2020 (Thursday)

Today was another one for the history books.

This morning, in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, Trump came out and said it: he wants to starve the United States Postal Service to destroy mail-in voting. Claiming that mail-in voting favors Democrats, he said: “Now they need that money in order to make the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots... Now, if we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting, they just can’t have it.”

The president’s acknowledgement that he is deliberately sabotaging an institution established in the Constitution to steal the election provoked outrage. He is tampering with an election by attacking mail-in voting even as he and Melania Trump have requested mail-in ballots for themselves. And the USPS does not simply handle ballots, it also handles many aspects of our lives: packages, medicines, and so on—things vital to our economy and way of life. “When the president goes after the Postal Service, he’s going after an all-American, highly approved-by-the-public institution,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said.

The attack on the USPS dovetails with the push of the Trump administration to privatize the USPS, a push launched shortly after Trump took office. This week we learned that Trump’s new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, retains at least $30 million in holdings of the company XPO Logistics, a private competitor to the USPS, and that on the same day in June that he got rid of a large number of shares of Amazon, he bought stock options at a lower price. Amazon would be hard hit by the disintegration of the USPS. “The idea that you can be a postmaster general and hold tens of millions in stocks in a postal service contractor is pretty shocking," said former director of the Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub.

But the bottom line is that, until the Senate decides to do something about it, the House is powerless to fund the USPS to help it survive the economic crisis sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. In the $3 trillion Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act the House passed in May, there was a $25 billion support for the USPS. But the Senate declined to take up the HEROES Act. When the Republicans could not agree on a new measure at the end of July, the Democrats began to negotiate directly with the White House, which proposed a more limited, $1 trillion bill. Democrats suggested a compromise at $2 trillion, but the White House has refused to budge. With this stalemate, Congress has gone on vacation for the rest of the month, while negotiators continue to try to reach a deal.

Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) noted that DeJoy's new regulations are slowing the mail dramatically. He tweeted: “Here is the truth and I need you to spread it: the voters need to take control. Voters need to [vote by October 22] if using USPS.”

Other Democrats pushed back on Trump in their own way. In his interview, Trump said of New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat: “AOC was a poor student. I won’t say where she went to school, it doesn’t matter. This is not even a smart person, other than she’s got a good line of stuff. I mean she goes out and she yaps.” Ocasio-Cortez retorted: “Let’s make a deal, Mr. President. You release your college transcript, I’ll release mine, and we’ll see who was the better student. Loser has to fund the Post Office.”

The admission he is sabotaging the post office was not the only piece of news in Trump’s morning interview. He made it clear that he is eager to have Attorney General William Barr counter the story that Russia intervened in the 2016 election in Trump’s behalf. Trump wants Barr to reach a different conclusion based on a new Department of Justice investigation. When it became clear that the DOJ’s own inspector general would conclude that the FBI probe of certain of Trump’s campaign advisors was begun legitimately and without partisan bias—as he later did-- Barr launched his own, separate investigation, placing U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut John Durham in charge of it.

This morning, Trump indicated he has great hopes that the Durham investigation will establish that former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper spied on his campaign and lied to Congress about it. “Bill Barr can go down as the greatest attorney general in the history of our country, or he can go down as an average guy,” Trump said, depending on whether or not he produced a report that, according to Trump, is not tainted with political correctness. “We’ll see what happens…. It goes all to Obama, and it goes right to Biden.”

The president’s campaign has also launched a full-fledged attack on Senator Kamala Harris, tapped yesterday by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as his running mate. Trump and his surrogates say it is an “open question” whether she is constitutionally eligible to be president. This is a lie. There is no question that she is a natural-born citizen; she was born in California. Trump supporters are trying to argue that because her parents were not citizens when she was born, she is not a natural-born citizen, and is therefore ineligible for the presidency.

The Supreme Court answered this question definitively in the 1898 United States v. Wong Kim Ark decision. The Supreme Court evaluated the Fourteenth Amendment’s first clause, which says that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." The justices decided the clause established that anyone born on U.S. soil is an American citizen regardless of the nationality of their parents.

The rather tortured argument the Trump campaign is making is that the words “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” excludes babies born to foreign-born parents because the parents retain some legal ties to their former countries and are therefore not fully subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, so their babies must not be, either. This is hogwash. The distinction made in the Fourteenth relates to certain Native American tribes in this era, whose members were certainly born in America, but did not acknowledge the jurisdiction of the federal government and therefore should not, lawmakers thought, be accorded the right to vote. (The next section of the amendment names Indians explicitly, saying “Indians not taxed” should not be counted toward congressional representation.)

What’s going on with these blatant attacks on American democracy?

The Biden campaign pushed back on Trump’s attack on the USPS, saying: “This is an assault on our democracy and economy by a desperate man who’s terrified that the American people will force him to confront what he’s done everything in his power to escape for months – responsibility for his own actions.”

There is something to the idea that the president is desperate. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen today released the introduction to his forthcoming book. It’s a doozy. Cohen claims Trump colluded with the Russians in 2016 to get a “major real estate deal in Moscow…. I know because I personally ran that deal and kept Trump and his children closely informed of all updates, even as the candidate blatantly lied to the American people saying, ‘there’s no Russian collusion, I have no dealings with Russia…there’s no Russia.’”

Cohen’s book, Disloyal, is due out in September.

Cohen says he set up a secret back channel to Vladimir Putin, “stiffed contractors on [Trump’s] behalf, ripped off his business partners, lied to his wife Melania to hide his sexual infidelities, and bullied and screamed at anyone who threatened Trump’s path to power. From golden showers in a sex club in Vegas, to tax fraud, to deals with corrupt officials from the former Soviet Union, to catch and kill conspiracies to silence Trump’s clandestine lovers, I wasn’t just a witness to the president’s rise—I was an active and eager participant.”

[the-firebird69]

My son is correct too tell me if there's a stupid person and he started out as a stupid person to our son and daughter and he still is and he's a nobody regardless of how he harms people and harms his own our son and daughter still think of him as a piece of crap that we're having do stuff Tommy f attitude is out of line and what he's trying to do is wrong and he is trying to harm them and he's going to feel it and yeah it's going to be next in line with ships waiting to be taken over cuz he's going to try to go for venus. We're getting ready for a huge week to try that would be the pseudo Empire once time you have this gone. Once Tommy f leets are gone and we're readying because they have around 40 million ships and they're gaining will be taking him out of the ground and they'll be sizable. The more local ever come back and we'll be at them and we're going to use it and minority more luck too have a decent size fleet but foreigners and us will have to stop them no the Mac proper is going to and we have to prep against them and use it. But right now Tommy F and his shifts are under duress there's a few areas where your ships came down and they are not doing well what my son and daughter say is and we say it too is you're messing with us and you don't need all the stuff to mess with us and we know how to get rid of you obviously and you're stupid. You open the can of worms over and over here moron you're going to pay for you you going to pay for your insulin talk and your insulin way and it's going to be a pure massacre if you're stupid little toddler s****. Most of them are kind of young no but they're assholes and a lot of them are young now you lost your leadership cuz you're so smart. We're going to hit you tell me if can't you tell the psychology I mean you are supposed to be a psychiatrist and psychologist in point you suck you need to be tortured for what you did to our son he says he's going to do his share and you're going to be in hellraiser getting ripped apart by fishing hooks you sat there threatening him for years cuz you're such a piece of s*** it says no fishing and you assholes are out there everyday now you're going to pay for it with your lives.

--we're going after Trump now too for his insulin crap and really you won't let his credit card work cuz you want to hold him here like your Mrs ladish and it's both of you morons. She gets a kick out of it because that's all she has to do means she has nothing. You guys had everything in your in your her and she says you're failures and your spent and she tells people how you can tell she's killing you and she knows how to do it it's good but she's a huge pain in the ass because he is Mrs ladish. There's a couple other things going on

--we have a lot of stuff happening in Charlotte county we have a lot of people who are getting bothered by these two idiots Trump and Tommy f. And now they see why and they're going after both Trump seems to have a few and Tommy f they're going to get massacred.. and they're big miles to be proven to be the wrong thing for them to be using including Dan who says he can take stuff using it he's going to get beaten to death many times.

--there's a lot of things these people are claiming helped our son and he looks at them and says you're holding me in a s******* and you have Mansions like 20 miles away and you're a Buckhead and I want you dead I don't want to be here with you you stupid moron and he saying stuff back like they're not structurally sound and things said they're new and they have concrete block in the solid and what the f*** is your problem you don't know English so the guy finally shut up he's looking around saying nobody wants to be here and they're going after us and they were and they're killing them and the s*** heads don't know they still don't know it's not exactly the best for them not to know it all but half the time they don't do anything about it

--we're experiencing a few people who are toast they're zombies on a certain zombie level. We need to make a list and get rid of them. This morning we woke up to screaming and shouting coming from idiots who are dying and demanding to live and we found out that the roughly 70,000 originals has shrunken to about 30,000 roughly 30 35,000 and it's shrinking fast right now they've been exposed to a ton of radiation and if they don't die of the extremely surprised but that number is very low we said it was the other day but it's really their right now. And the rings and The glades have lost tons and tons of their troops both sides about 40 billion last night but these are their new leaders and rulers and they're just running into battle dying they had a force two but that's what's happening. Along with this in the there's been a lot of death in the general populace of Florida the entire South Florida area all the way to Tampa and it stretches all the way across the peninsula have been under an extremely large amount of radiation up around Tampa has been 30 rad for the past week and a half before that it was about 5% to 10 rad and it'll kill everybody and it's been about 40 rad in Southern Florida and 50 in Southwest Florida and it is destroying the whole population and they're dying and these are the leaders of the warlock and miscellaneous a few of them but they no other detect it and it's only a small amount of them probably 1% to her in Florida 1% of them who were residing in Florida and the others caught on. The other major group that is taking a huge hits from it is the pseudo Empire they ran to Orlando and the rat up there recently has been about 15 almost steady it was about four and they thought it was safer and it is but they're finding out that about 1/3 of them are critically ill and another third will be probably today and tomorrow 2/3 of them might die from it they need to leave and get treatment immediately and they won't and we think half of them will be dead by Friday or more we have estimates of 60% we also have estimates that anybody who stays in South Florida will be dead by Friday except for our son and Ken and a few others mostly he's going to get sick if he doesn't get out of here and yeah he should leave and go to Maine. There's a lot of other things going on but we're going to print

Thor Freya

I can't believe how bad it is here now I can and you should heads with your stupid credit card stuff and yeah we see how it is certain places have a program that can deal with it in certain ones don't a lot of them don't and it sucks but they're catching on but you you blow you're really suck you make it worse we're going after the people doing it

Hera

Olympus