#but this wouldnt have been a problem if they were just. able to publish for themselves

[cruelsister-moved2]

after i did my dissertation and realised how much women's kindness is taken advantage of + often just without individual men even intending to exploit them but because We Live In A Society if you give something away as a woman chances are the person who takes it will be a man, i started feeling like i needed to reduce my desire to help people and keep things for myself otherwise im contributing to that. but more recently i realised this is also exactly what the patriarchy wants from us because women are so helpless if we dont have each other. and on a broader level i dont want to participate in a society where we have to choose between a binary of either paranoid hoarding or being stolen from! so now i decided to go back to my roots which is i would do absolutely anything for a woman. every time im helpful to a man i will help a woman 10x more. problem solved<33

[kings-highway]

i've got quite a lot of fics written but they don't seem complete or cohesive enough to leave my docs,,, i don't know how to outline fics so everytime i get back to them im all over the place and end up doing things from the beginning do u have any advice :⁠,)

so... mhm... this is an interesting question. First of all I GREATLY appreciate you asking but unfortunately this installment of King's "advice column" is going to be half rant, half pep talk, and like maybe a sneaky 3% advice because the truth is... I don't know.

first off: I don't outline anything. Never have. The few times I do outlines it's for the sake of "trying to outline" and never because i wanted to. If you ever see me say the phrase "my outline" what Im actually referring to is the dance-break hallucination of the characters I've set to whatever Top 40 song Im listening to at the moment. I... cannot help you with outlining. Not really.

But I have some things that may help you overall. It sounds like the problem you have is with editing, not writing. Which... if you're new to editing or haven't edited a lot, can be entirely tedious and confusing and you might be saying "ach, but whats the difference!" - the difference is everything. I, personally, love editing. editing is where a story comes alive and can be perfected. If you have a finished full draft of a story, and you truly dont know where to go next... the next step is to be done with it. Literally. I've been working on a personal novel for about 2 years now, and half that time is spent waiting. Put away your draft, write something else. In 2 months, 3 months, come back to it and read it again, change anything you're no longer satisfied with. You'd be SHOCKED how much just taking a break from a story can improve your understanding of it. You may think of things to change in this waiting period - hold off. Hold it in. Let it stew. consider it caramalizing onions. there's simply no way to rush it. NOW - you expressed the sentiment of "i always end up doing things from the beginning-" I say... no you dont. That IS editing. My story has fully changed from front to back multiple times. That new draft you wrote from scratch? congrats, thats your second draft. Not your first. then you do it again. And again. Until the edits become smaller and smaller and smaller. And then when you hate it enough, you say "i cant possibly touch this anymore" and thats when you let someone read it.

And the truth is, they should have been reading it before. Feedback is infinitely important, in the editing process. You cannot expect to only ever show the best product. I have friends who have read drafts of my novel that wouldnt even be able to recognize what it is now. but I could never have gotten it to this point without their feedback. You have to be okay with letting someone - even just one person - see your bad first draft. THEY will be able to tell you where your cohesion is or isnt and how to improve it.

BUT that brings me to a second point, and the idea that this is probably fanfiction. Now, your initial ask was a little vague, so consider the first response there me being under the assumption you were interested in completely finishing a novel or short story with incredibly serious intent. Now Im going to assume you might be looking to publish chapter by chapter or take it "less seriously" because its just for having fun.

And to that i Say:

if youre publishing chapter-by-chapter (and writing chapter by chapter) your cohesion is gonna be shit!!! thats a first draft youre putting out into the world, babe, its gonna be ass! but embrace the chaos!!! I have learned and developed SO MUCH as a writer by publishing chapters one at a time, namely how to "punch through" that lack of cohesion. Consider your first draft a challenge. no matter how many errors you make, you are NOT allowed to go back and change it. that thing you committed to chapter 2? well its chapter 18 now and you either need to address it, or ignore it and hope your readers dont comment. You are beholden to your own writing and theres nothing you can do. Make it work. Its probably not as bad as you think.

Which brings me back to my initial point - dont trust me on cohesion!! Or, maybe, don't trust *yourself* on your judgement of your story. I'm assuming if you're asking you like at least 1 of my stories, so here's that aforementioned peptalk bit from the beginning:

if we're talking about incohesive stories and bad choices and things that REALLY should have been edited, I'm the (hehe puns) King of them. (I sometimes just vaguely think about Paranormality and want to tear my hair out - and yet this is one people seem to love the most!) here's two facts from my stories that are currently still available to read on ao3:

1. In "The Island" Jasvir and the rescue team make a 24 hour journey in about 6 hours (Because I forgot where New Zealand was and didnt fact check before)

2. In "Soulmake Adventures" Tendou describes how Ushijima stays at his apartment when he's "in the city" despite that city being Tokyo and the home base for the Adlers and Ushijima really should, like, have a home. (It did not occur to me to even check)

And Honey, if you think I had a plan for even one goddamn second of Paranormality you're mistaken. Holy shit it's just nonsense after nonsense after nonsense. I REALLY should have like, at least at one point, like... thought ahead. I just kept shoving stuff in and backpedaling and doubling down on things. But it was FUN to write. And people had a lot of fun reading it. I could edit it into something cohesive, but I dont think it needs that. I think if youre writing fanfiction, maybe its okay to just let it be a little bit loose and fucked up for the sake of the joy of it.

here's.... uh.... 3% advice:

1. have an ending. the stories where I know what my last scene (or my last line) will be always get drafted easier and with less stress. I dont mean have an ending idea. I mean literally mentally map out the last paragraph. Really helps me keep on track

2. talk to people. Walk them through your premise and your themes and what you want it to be. saying it out loud almost always will start clicking puzzle pieces together.

3. learn editing. unfortunately im not talking about grammer and spelling, i mean proper content editing. You have to build this skill seperately from your writing.

4. accept that your first draft is for vibes and fun. Push forward and do your best to "force it" however you need to, but;

4.5. understand that deleting work is part of the creation process too. If you do scrap an entire draft and start over, youre not "starting over" - youre starting draft 2. Thats editing!

[soul-dwelling]

Also for a more broad point about MHA - to me it seems weird to set up a situation where everyone has super powers, yet they are so restricted, with basically, as the paranormall faction points out in story, only a small part of the population can use all of their physicality, while also setting up a society of with bystander sydrome and one that has turned heroism into a product.

It seems, maybe do to my own stupidity, I'll admit that, that this was a set up for a new society, where instead of a strict hiearchy that only uplifts those who are already strong, it would into one where everyone can reach their potential, using quirks in all walks of life not just in law enforcment...

Hell this would also be a society where even the quirkless or differently abled could reach their dreams and add in their own way.

So its weird that the only change that happened is that civilians became vaguely more altruistic.

Like wouldnt it be better if the granny that helped the tenko expy, didnt just give her hand but use her unique quirk to help him in a way not even pro heros could, showing that quirks arent a disease like Overhaul claimed, but something that helps us connect and support each other in new ways?

anyways, sorry for rambling, but to me the story did so little with the "almost everyone has quirks" thing, that it may as well have said "every 10th person has one" and not a lot would change

Question received August 3, 2024, answered August 4, 2024--the official publication date of the last My Hero Academia chapter. 

Yeah, I was in the middle of responses and wanted to make that point, that this ending would have been better if a drastic change to Quirk regulation focused on permitting greater use of Quirks outside of Pro Hero work. I understand and appreciate how much of this story, as with a lot of “regulate the superpowers” stories, is an allegory for regulating weapons; however, as with X-Men and the Marvel Civil War adaptations, this is also about individual rights and, all the more importantly after the United States Supreme Court fucked over people who can get pregnant and bodily autonomy, individual rights to our bodies. It’s a thorny story, and MHA coming down on, “Keep the bodily regulations,” is sour. Unfortunately this was as much a problem in the Vigilantes spinoff and its only solution in its final chapter was, “Avoid getting arrested for property damage, go to the United States.”

You bring up how the MLA/PLF points out how restricted society makes Quirk users. The story then never gives any closure to that idea. 

I have read Horikoshi had more plans for the League of Villains, only for the Pussycat Compound Attack story and the League of Villains vs MLA arc getting such bad responses by readers that he decided to avoid any more significant focus on the League…which, even if he said that or thought it, that’s not what ended up happening, as at least there was closure, however much I don’t like it, for Shigaraki, Toga, Spinner, and Dabi, so his commitment to wrapping up their stories was always there. 

But the refusal to do more with the MLA/PLF will continue to bother me: I think the story deserved to have someone, anyone, from Class A to be the one to give a summary thesis statement as to what the MLA/PLF got correct and got wrong, and how their ideas could change society for the better. At best that idea is sort of carried forward with Spinner doing what Destro did and writing a book--but we saw, first, how Destro’s book endangered society, second, how the MLA/PLF and the League were in the wrong and were dangerous to any sort of progress, and finally, we never see Spinner’s book effecting meaningful change because we just end the story there with his book published but no follow-up. Again, I invoke the ending to Wakko’s Wish: take us by the hand through each step on how society meaningfully changes. I would even take Izuku, Ochaco, or someone else straight-up just narrating what changes. 

And the MLA/PLF lacking any closure becomes even more off-putting because of especially weird moments that came across as too fanfic-y for me: did Geten really have to be related to the Todoroki family?

And I’m going to end up stealing your idea of Granny using her own Quirk to help Stitches when re-writing Chapter 429--you had that idea first, I had not ever considered that until reading your idea. 

It really doesn’t help that your Granny idea is so good--and then the final chapter of My Hero Academia discounts it by insisting that only the strongest Quirks now matter. The final chapter of My Hero Academia has someone tell the kid Dai that only those with the strongest Quirks now get to be Pro Heroes. Yes, that is all corrected by Izuku’s advice to Dai and the fact that a Quirkless hero like Izuku still is recognized by his face alone. But it is bothersome that it takes Izuku to impart that lesson, while everyone else, and seemingly even Hawks running the new Hero Commission, is fixated on strong Quirks. Again, hero work should not just be policing or militarized--where are the Grannies with less powerful Quirks that would be suited for outreach, de-escalation, societal improvement, economic improvement, and responses to mental health and physical health treatment. 

[kellyvela]

i love the deranged dany/jon shippers trying to position themselves as some kind of authority on what grrm would and wouldnt do and insist that grrm would! never! hook jon up with his cousin when he actually intended to do that with jon and arya (in a love triangle with tyrion).

Hello Anon, 

Are you serious? There are people who believe GRRM would never hook up cousins?? And the same people ship aunt and nephew??? 

GRRM has no problem at all with incest, in ASOIAF we have siblings incest in Jaime and Cersei; and father daughters incest with Craster an his daughters. And we also have all the Targaryens ffs. 

He also has no problem with cousins getting involved in marriage alliances and romance, no matter if they aren’t Targaryens.  About cousins, we have Tywin and Joanna Lannister, and Rickard and Lyarra Stark. And about uncles and nieces, we have Jonnel and Sansa Stark, and the frustrated union of Cregan and Alys Karstark.  All these unions weren’t considered incest tho…

But GRRM does have a problem with “outlines”.  Let’s talk about “outlines” then:

FEBRUARY 2015

A reddit user spotted a tweet from UK bookseller Waterstones which contained three photos of a 1993 letter GRRM wrote outlining the entire ASOIAF series.

The tweet has since been deleted, but not before the images made it to the internet.

Here is the reddit post.

And here is an article with the three photos of the letter and the transcription.

As you said, GRRM “originally” planned for a Stark cousins romance between Jon Snow and Arya Stark: 

Jon Snow, the bastard, will remain in the far north. He will mature into a ranger of great daring, and ultimately will succeed his uncle as the commander of the Night’s Watch. When Winterfell burns, Catelyn Stark will be forced to flee north with her son Bran and her daughter Arya. Wounded by Lannister riders, they will seek refuge at the Wall, but the men of the Night’s Watch give up their families when they take the black, and Jon and Benjen will not be able to help, to Jon’s anguish. It will lead to a bitter estrangement between Jon and Bran. Arya will be more forgiving … until she realizes, with terror, that she has fallen in love with Jon, who is not only her half-brother but a man of the Night’s Watch, sworn to celibacy. Their passion will continue to torment Jon and Arya throughout the trilogy, until the secret of Jon’s true parentage is finally revealed in the last book.

And a love triangle with Tyrion Lannister: 

Tyrion Lannister will continue to travel, to plot, and to play the game of thrones, finally removing his nephew Joffrey in disgust at the boy king’s brutality. Jaime Lannister will follow Joffrey on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms, by the simple expedient of killing everyone ahead of him in the line of succession and blaming his brother Tyrion for the murders. Exiled, Tyrion will change sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to bring his brother down, and falling helplessly in love with Arya Stark while he’s at it. His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow.

So yeah, GRRM planned for a pseudo incest romance between two major characters of the same House, and a love triangle with a main character of a rival House.  

MAY 2016 - BALTICON 

A bit more than a year after that tweet from Waterstones, GRRM attended the The Maryland Regional Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention - BALTICON. There he was questioned by fans about the Jon and Arya romance:

After the Coffee Talk just outside the room:

My Con Friend asked about Arya and Jon again. This time GRRM gave some very pointed replies:

GRRM finished (in the hallway now) by saying that he “wished some past things weren’t such strong foreshadowing,” and that he, “wished some new things had stronger foreshadowing then.”

Friend: Ok, if you foreshadowed something in the first book, like, really cleverly hidden, would you then follow through on that hint? For sure?.. 

GRRM: “Well, this goes with what I said before, the story changes and expands as I write. I wish I was able to go back and make revised drafts, but that’s not going to happen.”

Here is a transcript of the outline discussion and Jon/Arya portion of the coffee talk:

[question about Jon/Arya]

GRRM: “Alright, you’ve thought about this more than I have. I mean it’s simple, Jon is very fond of Arya. They were the two odd birds in the Stark family nest, here. They didn’t quite fit in with the others, they look like each other, they both had the brown hair, you know, as opposed to the auburn hair of Sansa and Bran and Rickon and Robb. So there was always that closeness between them. And, you know, Arya didn’t mind that Jon was a bastard, and Jon didn’t mind that Arya was a tomboy, so there is that closeness there.”

[question about Jon comparing his lover to his sister]

GRRM: “If he did it, uhm… I began writing these books in 1991, and, uhm, I worked on it in 91 and then I got a tv play, so I put it aside to really work on ‘Doorways’ tv pilot and did a tv show in 92-93. In 94 I returned to it [the books] and worked on it. You know, up till then, in my career as a writer, I’d always written the entire book before I opted for sale. That’s unusual. Most writers do chapters and an outline. They write a few chapters, they outline the rest of the book, give that to the publisher and the publisher says ‘oh okay, I’ll take that’.

“As some of you may have noticed, those who have been paying very, very carefully attention, I’m not good with deadlines. And, uh, and I’m not good with outlines, either. I always hated outlines. So with Fevre Dream and with Armageddon Rag and with Dying of the Light and all my novels, I wrote the entire book. I didn’t do chapters and outline. I sat down, I wrote a whole book, and I sent it to my agent and said ‘Look, here’s a whole book, and it’s finished’. That way I ran into no deadline, it was finished before it even went on the market. And it worked well for me. And my initial thought was to do this the same way, but what happened, you know, was in 1994, uhm, when I returned to it and I’m working on it and I’m very enthused about it and I say ‘I really wanna write these Game of Thrones books as the next part’. But I was still in Hollywood and I’d just lost all this groundwork on ‘Doorways’, I was still in… The studios and networks still wanna work with me, so I’m getting other offers, like ‘We want you to write this movie’, ‘we want you to do another tv pilot’. And, you know, I took a couple of them and was ‘Oh god, I gotta have to put the book away again’. Cause I have no deadline [for the book]. You know, when you think Hollywood, they will give you a deadline, you know, they say ‘here, son, write this movie, we want it in three months’.

“So, I said ‘look, if I wanna get back to being a novelist, I’m gonna have to sell this even though it’s not finished’. So I had my 200 pages of Game of Thrones at that point, but they wanted outline. I said ‘I don’t do outlines. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, I figure it out as I go. And that’s how I always did it.’ No, we had to have an outline. So I wrote two pages, a two-page thing about what I thought would happen. It’ll be a trilogy, it’ll be three books, Game of Thrones, the Dance with Dragons, and Winds of Winter. Those were the three window titles. And, uh, it’ll be three books and this’ll happen, and this’ll happen, and this’ll happen. And I was making up shit.

“And I had thought that those two pages were long forgotten, because, of course, the books did sell. They sold in the United States and in Great Britain, both. They sold for enough money that I didn’t have to take any more Hollywood games. So I was able to say ‘no’ around. I had a few less [?] to wind up in in 94 and 95. Once I had, I said ‘no, I don’t want any more movies or tv shows, I’m going to write these books now’. And I started writing the books. And in the process, I pretty much disregarded the outline. The characters took me off in entirely different directions. So, for 20 years I had forgotten that that two-page thing even existed. And then someone in my British publisher, HarperCollins, they got a new office building, uh, brand new offices, and new conference rooms, big conference rooms that they decorated with books and stuff like that. And they named the conference rooms after the writers, so one of the conference rooms [?], and they put up these plastic display cases, including the outline. The two-page outline, yes. [?], they didn’t ask my permission, they just put it up. And in that two-page outline, Jon and Arya become a romantic item.”

“You know, I don’t think it’s a reference for that [for romance]. It’s a reference to a certain physical type, and  a certain indication of what Jon finds admirable. It’s like someone who reminds you of, you know… Other people might be put off by this, you know, hair that looks like small rodents have been living in there. It doesn’t put him off because he is used to that.””

[someone says they have 5 minutes left]

“You know, I was pretty pissed that that outline got out there. It should not have happened. Outlines and letters like that are meant only for the eyes of the editor. They shouldn’t go on public display. And, uh, they also [?] my papers on [?], all my papers and correspondence. You know, I’ve been sending that stuff there for years, and it’d be, you know, available for future scholars or whatever, just like the papers of many other writers. Somehow, in the back of my head I was like ‘yeah, 20 years after I’m dead some scholar will go in and find them’. They’re going in right now!”   ”

[question if he is still going with the 1991 ending]

“Yes, I mean, I did partly joke when I said I don’t know where I was going. I know the broad strokes, and I’ve known the broad strokes since 1991. I know who’s going to be on the Iron Throne. I know who’s gonna win some of the battles, I know the major characters, who’s gonna die and how they’re gonna die, and who’s gonna get married and all that. The major characters. Of course along the way I made up a lot of minor characters, you know, I, uhm…Did I know in 1991 how Bronn, what was gonna happen to Bronn? No, I didn’t even know there’d be a guy named Bronn. I was inventing him along the way when I was writing, ‘Okay, he gets kidnapped. Let’s see, there are a couple sellswords there, their names are Fred and Bronn’.“It was actually Bronn and Chiggen, and then one of them dies, I flipped a coin ‘okay, who dies? Chiggen dies, cause his name is stupid. Bronn is a better name, so I’ll keep Bronn’. And then Bronn became quite an interesting character and plenty of these characters take on minds of their own. They push to the front till you [?] speech and you think of a cool line and you give it to Bronn because he’s trying to talk, and now Bronn is somebody who says something cool. [?]. That’s how characters grow on you.“So a lot of the minor characters I’m still discovering along the way. But the mains-”

[question if he knows Arya’s and Jon’s fates]

“Tyrion, Arya, Jon, Sansa, you know, all of the Stark kids, and the major Lannisters, yeah.”

This report appears in the following sources:

fattest leech of ice and fire blog [Source 1] 

asoiaf.westeros.org [Source 2]  

westeros.org [Source 3]

As you can see Anon, according GRRM the “original outline” was “a two-page thing about what [he] thought would happen”… “And [he] was making up shit.”  

He also said that: “[he] pretty much disregarded the outline. The characters took [him] off in entirely different directions. So, for 20 years [he] had forgotten that that two-page thing even existed”.

But then he clarified that: 

“I did partly joke when I said I don’t know where I was going. I know the broad strokes, and I’ve known the broad strokes since 1991. I know who’s going to be on the Iron Throne. I know who’s gonna win some of the battles, I know the major characters, who’s gonna die and how they’re gonna die, and who’s gonna get married and all that. The major characters”.

From all this information, I think that the romance between Jon and Arya was discarded: 

[He] “wished some past things weren’t such strong foreshadowing,” and that he, “wished some new things had stronger foreshadowing then.”

The story changes and expands as I write. I wish I was able to go back and make revised drafts, but that’s not going to happen.”

But the romance between two major characters of the same House (Stark cousins) is still there.

But a romance between two major characters of the same House could also happen between aunt and nephew, and if we follow the Show, this was the new route GRRM took.  

We just have to wait to certainly know if GRRM will give us the Stark cousins romance that was promised or if he has already changed his original plan.  

[revol-lover]

dreams don’t end at “30″

so i just had a little breakthrough and maybe this wont sound like anything to anyone else but i just have to share it

so i’ve talked about this before. about how my friend and i were both planning these personal development like goals for this year that covid got in the way of. and he said something, about how this is his last year in his 20s and he wanted to get some goals accomplished before 30 

and i thought about that and realized something.

i have been feeling similarly about a few goals that i’ve been hanging onto for years and years. like i’m going to be honest with you, some people might remember this if you’ve been around here for a long time but probably not. anyway when i was in high school i really wanted to make music, sing, learn an instrument. and i did make some covers that i posted on myspace (showing my age here lol) and youtube but then i kind of gave up on it when

 1) became 18 and realized my dream to go to NYC and pursue music when i was 18 wasn’t happening because of a million reasons (it was very much a pipe dream, right? i mean you can’t have that dream and not prepare for it and i didnt. also i was too scared at the time to even move out to my own place if i had the funds to do so because my parents wouldnt have really approved and i was still so under their thumb) 

2) broke up with my musician boyfriend. which needed to happen. but he was the only person super passionate about that kind of goal at the time around me (till he ran lol)  and he actually is still doing music now so good for him but basically 

because of those 2 reasons i just let go of that dream all together as something i thought i wanted to do but was “unrealistic”.

but the thing about turning 30 and feelings like you needed to achieve all these personal/dreamy/goals in your 20s. what is that bullshit? why? 

what changes when you cross over to 30? i’ll tell you one thing. media pushes movies, books, films, everything about people chasing their dreams in their 20s and “settling” down in their 30s. where’s my inspiring movie about the 32 year old mom who finally wrote a song and performed it live after being terrified her whole life of doing so?

 think about it though

in your 30s you. *might* have a better paying job than you did in your 20s. which means, if you can manage to find time or a way for it, you *might* be able to save a little more money or afford to do something like, buy that guitar and guitar lessons in order to learn to play and write a song and live out your dream in some way, even if its just learning to play so you can play at an open mic. and maybe you’ll like that and you’ll somehow connect with likeminded people and form a band. idk. your dreams dont have to end in your 20s. 

you dont have to fall into the trap of your 20s are for your dreams that are so big you feel like the chance of achieving them is getting struck by lightening

and then your 30s are for fancy adult goals like buying a house, and going on a $10k vacation and those things are probably just as hard as the goals you had in your 20s but the world wont make you see it that way. its seen as “selfish” to prioritize and budget for your artistic goals - but not a house. no that’s responsible and what you “should” do. but its ok to prioritize something that’s going to give your soul fulfillment too! we need to believe that! because it’s true. we are not here just to work our jobs and live mundane colorless lives once we aren’t considered “young” anymore (but 30s are still young. not what i’m saying)

 you’re always going to be chasing something big and if you let the world control what that thing is you’re always going to be on some rat race. 

it’s fine if you achieve your goals in a different order than the world says you were supposed to. i got married young and had a child young, that was how my life played out and i’m happy with that because, yes, finding love and becoming a mother very much were goals of mine.

yes i dropped out of college because i couldn’t afford it and i couldnt find a major that felt worth being in debt for. and also, because hey guess what? contrary to what a lot of people will try to lead you to believe, college is not for everyone. and college does not = success. college drop out does not = failure. it’s just an option of something you could do with your life. AND if you didn’t go to your college in your 20s it doesnt mean you can’t in your 30s. or 50s. hell my husband, who did go to college saw elderly (think, 80s!) people going to his college as students! college isn’t just for 18 year olds fresh out of high school. 

My 27th birthday is in 2 weeks and no, i have not yet to worked up the courage to write an original song from words to music, or have the courage to get on a stage and sing anything, or talk to a stranger, or publish any of my writing or art, goals i’ve had whirling around in my brain since I was 18, but, it’s going to happen. maybe this year. maybe when i’m 35, but it’s going to happen. a number is not going to be the thing holding me back.

that whole mentality of “my youth is slipping away i need to achieve all these dreams before midnight the day of my 30th birthday” is so stupid and flawed and we all deserve to see ourselves, and our individual potential as more than that. 

last part of this rant - one of the reason i even became so passionate about reignighting some of my dusty, old goals, that it turned out, i still cared about, is because i had a moment where i was like

ok i am a mom. i am someones mom. how will my daughter see me, as a person, not just her mom? 

kevin and i always talk about how between the two of us we’ve both had a lot of quintessential young adult experiences that we look forward to sharing with her. like, quitting jobs, getting in car accidents, that one time i unknowingly participated in an illegal bonfire and ran from the cops then lied straight to their faces and somehow got away with it (literally my ONE act of teen rebellion), changing college majors like 3 years in (kevin), failed classes, tried cigarettes, etc like i’m ready, and hope that one day she will feel comfortable talking to us about things because we’ve been through things and have a lot of input and two different perspectives to offer

but further than that, i realized that i want her to know that her mom is a person too. i want her to know that mom is also passionate about writing, and music, and somehow tackled some of her goals in regards to that so that SHE can feel that SHE, too can do those things. and i know that, that is in part how it works 

because,

my dad IS an artist. my dad IS a musician. yall. my dad is SO talented.  my dad is brilliant. besides his artistic abilities which include, drawing literal realistic as fuck portraits, sculpting, painting, playing guitar, bass, piano, mandolin, he also knows music composition, etc etc etc beyond all of that, he also taught himself fucking PLUMBING and ELECTRICIAN SHIT to fix things in our house growing up. like he bought a book. and taught himself. my dad. i grew up thinking that was normal but i realized not everyones dad can just tear down the bathroom and rebuild it from scratch down to the plumbing without being a licensed professional.

but anyway the point is - as talented as my dad is, he doesnt really pursue his artistic dreams much. and its sad. i’m glad that i’ve seen some of the work he did when he was younger. i’m glad that if i bring it up, he’ll show me something he can do. but he doesnt pursue it anymore really. my dad works an exhausting physical labor job but even he, as a 50something year old has fallen into that trap of like, i dont have time to draw, but he will scroll his phone and read articles for hours and i’m not shaming him. i’m just saying we all have this problem in the modern era of technology and social media and what not (hell i am writing a post on tumblr instead of my book right now).

but if timing was different and my dad grew up in a different time, where lets say something distracted him from doing the little bit of art and music that he did when i was a kid that i was able to witness, if i hadnt seen that. i wouldnt know that.. in a way.. that’s in me. i mean, he’s my dad. if my dad could pick up a craft and work at it to be good at it, why can’t i? there are so many musicians and (kind unrelated but not rly - i think being “self made” is an art) business owners in my family. there’s either some common thread in our genetics ORRRRRRRRRR just growing up around people working at and succeeding at those kinds of goals shows you that it CAN be done so you’re more likely to believe in your abilities

and i want that for my daughter. because even as an almost 3 year old i can see that she has a gift for music, and reading. and even if i’m wrong about that and she grows up wanting to do some other thing as a job or hobby, i want her to know, by seeing her mom do it, that she can achieve anything she puts her heart to. you don’t have to box yourself in because of your age or your sex or the fact that you’re a parent. 

and your dream doesnt have to become your career. it can be a hobby and still be fulfilling. like yes, 18 year old me dreamed about some life in nyc singing in clubs or bars or whatever and being ~famous (lol) and that did not happen, but i can still get out there and play open mic downtown and get that love of music, and desire to face my fear of performing out of my system. maybe i’ll love it. maybe i’ll hate it. but i’ll have done it. and that’s the ultimate goal. 

sorry i went off but i had to get that out of my system and i’m very passionate about 

[macbookpro-hard-drive]

HI HOW DO YOU WRITE CHARACTERS

hewwo! i can answer this! im literally gonna do a quick list of both deh and bmc characters for u under this readmore! :D

im gonna start with deh because smaller cast!

evan: 

isn’t so much stuttery as he tends to repeat things and uh stammer a bit here and there. stutters over his words sometimes but it’s more l-like this and uh, like… like this

evan hansen has anxiety. he is not anxiety. evan hansen fucks up and makes mistakes and probably internalizes a lot of things. very polite when in public but he can be a bit snappy (as seen w evans comment abt how zoe’s parents have never been poor i believe? it was something he said to zoe)

soft spoken, most of the time. probably not the kind of guy to vocally ask for things until he’s at a comfortable enough point that he feels like he’s not bothering you (same buddy)

i see evan as someone who gets frustrated with himself easily. not as a sense of “god i wish i were normal” but more of a “i should be able to do this, why cant i do this, i want to do this but i cant” because sometimes it’s just a matter of i literally cant do this and i dont know why? and god its so frustrating sometimes

jared:

jared kleinman is a fucking asshole and he knows it. very sarcastic and uses it to cover up his own insecurities, probably the kind of dude who laughs in your face when you tell him off when internally he’s just OH FUCK OH SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK

a lot of ppl write jared as being insecure abt his weight and tbh i don’t see that being a problem for him? i see jared as being insecure abt the fact he comes off very snarky and assholeish but he turns it around and tries to own it even though… that’s not something you want to be proud of? and he knows that

not the kind of dude who stops to assess his feelings. he powers through shit and insists he’s okay until he’s out of steam. i think it was psy who said he’s a “needs therapy boi” and tbh she’s right? 

can be very passive aggressive imo it’s something he really needs to work on.

arrogant, sarcastic, and just a big fucking dick who needs to learn how to watch his mouth.

zoe:

not an pure baby angel, by any means. we’re at a disadvantage because we only see zoe when she’s sort of grieving (because grief can and will come in different ways, and while i see her as not missing connor, i do think that her pushing away her feelings is a form of her grieving imo? it’s a weird thing to explain but there’s a part of zoe that does miss (the old) connor’s presence as w the fake emails evan “gave her her brother back” (albeit a very fake version of connor) and sort of standoffish when it comes to the subject of connor

a bit of an ambivert. extremely outgoing when she’s around her friends or when it comes to music and other things she loves.

very individualistic! her style tends to have doodles on her clothes, she dyes her hair a lot, she probably would be the kind of person to make her own jewelry!

very sweet. the castng call for zoe describes her as being the kind of person who learns the names of the kids who sit alone at lunch and thats she goes out of her way to be nice to people since. connor. yeah.

thats all ive got for zoe but u can always send questions in and i can say yes or no after i ask my pals too

alana:

smart gal! valedictorian! president! i love her! tends to overshare a bit. anxiety + depression gal.

probably into gardening tbh? i can see alana having succulents in her room and maybe a dog that just chills with her.

dont be afraid to make alana mouthy. alana is someone whos extremely headstrong in her actions imo and does what she believes is right, even if others dont believe that. like… think about the fact that she literally published what was believed to be connor’s suicide note because she thought it’d get them the last bit of help they needed for the orchard. it literally fucked the murphys over - but she never considered that?

very much an extrovert. just really wants to belong, man. very optimistic on the surface but i can see her being a little less so underneath. she looks on the bright side because if she doesnt, she doesnt know who will and idk i dont think alana’s the kind of person who just... lets that risk be there.

connor:

we dont kno much abt connor in canon but uhhh…. i can see connor as being a loner, sort of aggressive by accident (tbh this dude’s probably used to people being a dick to him so he’s just sorta standoffish in response) but like… whenever i write connor i usually write him as getting better? he’s gotten the help he needs and he’s doin better 

artsy depressed dude. poetry, painting, ect - whatever u want tbh. i just see connor, with help, finding himself in art or something creative (theatre and music included! u do u!)

very much a reader. this dude both has a lot of books on his bookshelf and a lot more books he hasnt fucking read because hes terrible at reading new books. (i personally hc he loves all of poe’s work)

to sorta sum connor up: bold, but not outgoing. caring, but not obvious with it (once he gets help btw). easily angered but sometimes he just doesn’t fucking know why and that frustrates him further. troubled.

honestly if u want to see one of my fave connors - check out @ask-sincerely-memes​! i rly love how they portray all three of the boys, but connor is by far my favorite! (mod con and/or mod ev if u read this i love u)

OK ONTO THE BMC FUCKERS if you want to kno abt the adults for either show then feel free to ask

jeremy:

anxiety boy, but not evan hansen level of anxiety. more just… self deprecating, not super confident in himself, probably underestimates himself a lot.

jeremys hard to explain sometimes because a lot of his actions and dialogue comes naturally since i can actually relate to jeremy a lot, personality-wise? a really good fact to throw out there is i don’t think jeremy’s the kind of guy who just goes for stuff sometimes. he has to sorta be hyped up by others imo. michael motivated him to sign up for the play, rich and michael both played parts in getting him squipped (michael in the aspect of “lets check this out and see if its legit” bc i doubt jeremy would have genuinely done that on his own).

which really means jeremy isnt the kind of guy to just… confess things, unless it’s built up enough (i.e. jeremys confrontation w reader in unlonely since it was a conversation he’d been thinking about for a bit). in canon, he didnt really… confess to christine without the help of alcohol (at the halloween party) or without other people building him up (voices in my head). 

im literally rereading jeremy fics rn because im trying to come up with a good way of describing him

extremely horny teenage boy. hormones suck. for anyone who writes nsfw: i dont see jeremy being incredibly kinky and sexual and dominant (god forbid) his first fucking time having sex. especially if its both him and the readers first time. sex can be clumsy. you can laugh during sex. but also sex smells. like… once you’ve smelled it, you fucking know it - its just a weird combo of sweat and bodily fluids. 

that last part was just a PSA for ppl.

lightweight boy. a lot bolder when drunk. thank you.

honestly if u have any questions abt jeremy, i can try to answer them more specifically but this is as general as i can get.

michael

not an uwu anxious depressed innocent baby boy uwu. remember that michael literally withheld the mtn dew red from jeremy because he wanted an apology. remember that michael wouldnt have been squipped because michael had been completely comfortable with who he is. michael likes his place. he doesn’t want to be cool and popular - he likes who he is. michael in the bathroom was a peak moment of michael finally letting go of emotions he’d been withholding - jeremy calling him a “loser” was the final straw that broke him. thank u this has been a psa.

a goofy boy. probably snorts when he laughs and im not projecting there what are you talking about-

okay, canonically: likes video games, likes retro shit (probably the kind of nerd who LIVES for arcades and record stores and vintage clothing stores even if he doesnt mix that into his personal style), very into music. there’s a lot you can do with this! 

imo he’s very caring? like. okay, yes he did withhold mtn dew red from jeremy - but michael still went through the trouble of finding and obtaining that in order to deactivate the squip. i think michael’s a fairly understanding dude, even if he has moments of anger.

just a very warm person. probably the kind of person who stops and makes sure people are okay when he notices they’re upset.

sometimes impulsive. sometimes very restless, imo. bouncy boy. 

like w jeremy - you can absolutely send me questions abt michael (or anyone tbh!) and i’ll answer them the best i can! im by no means an expert but ive got pals i can bother in order to help get a solid answer :3

christine

chriiistiiiiiiiiine, the love of my life. a gal w ADD! please don’t forget that! i personally hc that she got into a theatre as a way of like… sort of getting energy out since she’s fairly restless??? track girl christine….. also good

loves herself a lot tbh! like. in the show, its canon that she has stuff to figure out but i personally think christine loves herself and her body and is proud of who she is?

very friendly, very open, very passionate abt theatre! these are basic facts lmao

very sweet! very smart! she’s like... The Girl in all the movies that everyones like “oh no i love her” bc shes just a bubbly gal

writing christine is really hard to describe sometimes. like with all the characters, i write what feels right and sounds right to me and to others.

but like... to be honest, as long as you stay a bit happy and supportive and loving with christine - you’re on the right track.

jake

god - one of my favorite boys to write sometimes because there’s a lot to do with jake’s character

he’s the ultimate cool dude in high school. probably the kind of dude who would join a frat in college. handsome, popular, flirtatious - you fucking name it man.

sorta effortlessly popular and cool. there’s problems underneath - considering his family - but it’s hard to see that he has flaws when everything just comes so easily to him.

a very caring and sweet dude tbh. his friends mean a lot to him and he’s the kind of boy who carries your books and asks where you’re going and how you’re doing

he makes mistakes. he gets aggressive and protective and just angry physically - he did try to attack jeremy, albeit drunk, based purely on the idea that jeremy was having sex w chloe - so like... that’s a good thing to acknowledge

i said hes flirtatious and he is - without realizing it. someone probably has called him out on it and he’s like “sorry what?” bc he was caught up in talking to someone and not realizing that the dillinger charm never went off. because it never goes off. rip.

rich

GOD, my FAVORITE BOY, the LOVE OF MY LIFE, i love him.

squipped: aggressive. a bully. stinky. 0/10.

post-squipcident: getting better. sorta numb at first before happy, outgoing rich resurfaces because He’s Fine! Do Not Worry! but y’know like... he definitely has a lot of problems with what he did and who he was while he had the squip

a bit sensitive imo. easily upset on certain topics, easily angered on others. really misses his mom (i hc she died and his dad took up drinking as a coping mechanism and its mainly rich and his older brother relying on each other but thats just me tbh.)

rich is tricky to write when it comes to his home life. while i see rich’s dad as being a loud drunk, others see him as being physically abusive and so forth and - okay, that’s your decision, but please make sure you’re being respectful and you post trigger warnings because some people are in abusive homes and it’s not a fun thing to read. 

great sense of humor imo. flirtatious but in the more obvious “haha hey lets bone ;)” way. alternatively: flirtatious with squip, floundering a bit without it because all he knows is “haha hey wanna fuck” 

would probably fight a dick for his pals. rly just loves his friends even if he doesn’t show it.

chloe

chloe is a bit hard to write without saying “shes kind of a bitch” but like... she is and she knows it and she fucking owns it.

casting call: “ confident, crass, sexy, manipulative, and downright mean at times”

so like. she’s nowhere near bein a sweet angel baby uwu

has problems. explore them. she literally was down to fuck brooke’s boyfriend since jeremy was dating brooke yknow. part of it could be alcohol but like... dont ignore that fact. like. she probs needs to talk to both brooke and jeremy.

i think of chloe as someone who can see the potential in others tbh. gets slightly annoyed when people arent achieving what they could - but i like to imagine she gets it after a while since some ppl dont have confidence and such. 

yknow the kind of people that take charge when the situation calls for it? that’s chloe. she’s very much a leader. cunning, ambitious - she’s fucking ready.

brooke

more of an angel i guess? sweet, a bit insecure, and a little more caring. not very dominant in situations - tends to be more of a follower (as shown w her and chloe’s friendship)

very caring actually. she literally followed jeremy out and said “uhhh he was kind of a dick to women but i know u like eminem” upon his death in the show??? like??? she literally went to check on this boy.

imo she sorta needs to learn to be bolder. to not take shit. shes probably the kind of person who says yes to a lot of things even if they’re conflicting bc she doesn’t want to like... bother someone and make things worse

emotional, imo. fairly feminine.

its hard to keep describing sdfkjhds sorry

jenna

not popular. remember that she wanted people to be interested in her, which is why she gossips a lot

probably tends to overhear half of the gossip. other than that, i can see her easily finding shit out bc she has eyes Everywhere

bold, fairly extroverted, probably really fucking smart tbh. give her love. she deserves it.

thats both at me and everyone else. jenna rolan ily...

very much a big sister figure, post-squipcident. theres this kdrama i was watching where the main protag lives w a couple other girls and one of the oldest one of the bunch is very much a big sister figure that will call other people out on their bullshit because she knows protag isnt the kind of person to do that? thats jenna. and chloe, but mostly jenna.

probably the kind of person who wants to be helpful imo. she likes feeling useful.

[the-alexsandria-studies]

what do you plan on doing with your degree? how did you decide on your two majors? are you a double major? what year are you in? how are you today

hi! okay a lot at once but i will try to answer as well as i can lol. i am going to change up the order a little to better answer them. 

i am great today! i had an awful awful migraine last night and went to bed really early because of it but i woke up feeling so so much better. i am now at work and ready to get some shit done today bc i have three important tasks i need to complete before tomorrow rolls around and then i can just index the rest of the time unless my boss wants me to run to the courthouse to get some deeds or tax ids. 

i am basically a junior in college! so i basically did my first two years of college while i was in high school bc i took the opportunity to do college courses while i was in high school. starting when i was a junior in high school, i was a full time high school and college student! i started the classes the summer between my freshman and sophomore year and i loved doing those courses during my summer months. i graduated in may 2017 from hs and then went straight to college in the fall at a university, but then dropped out in march for financial reasons. during my uni time, i was working on classes that were going towards my major, which was english at the time but then i switched to education in the spring so i took a semester and a half of courses that really dont go to my majors now lol. 

BUT i am going back to school in january at the local community college to finish out my two classes i need to be a junior in college and i will graduate with my assoicate’s degree from that institution, and then immediately transfer to another one to finish off my bachelor’s. 

so whenever i go in march or april to pick my classes for my next uni, i will then declare that i am a double major. rn they only have me in the college of education but i will also be in the college of social sciences or whatever it is for psychology. i am specifically studying a branch of psychology that is basically child psychology but it is called “parent training” so it is more in depth to the social qualiities of a child’s psychology and upbringing. i am guessing it will be a major that will have me research a lot into the whole nature vs nurture argument, which i am very well-versed in lol. 

now, i actually chose my majors quite recently. as i mentioned before, i used to be an english major. i would have been probably for the rest of my education if i hadnt taken this one class at my last university. it was a senior-level english course that i weaseled my way into because it also had a volunteer work credit that i needed to graduate and i wanted to get it out of the way immediately. well, i fell in love with this course. it featured a lot of reading and poetry-writing, but it was mainly about education. the professor was an education professor who had been studying his field for years and years and so he had us read a lot of books about education and different learning styles and methods and diversity education and things like that. the volunteering aspect was us going to a local high school and having an art program after school where the students could write, draw, or whatever and express themselves creatively. 

reading these books about education and all the problems that are in our current system really interested me. i never expected to be so interested in it and suddenly, i was asking him for more reading material. i was reading everything i could get my hands on when it came to education and i talked to love about it constantly and he told me one night during one of our skype sessions “honestly, maybe you should go into it. you have always enjoyed tutoring and teaching and you tell me all the time how excited you are to go to the high school and talk to the students. i really think that this is your passion.” that was when i realized that it really was. i had always loved teaching and had always been so amazed by the differences in people’s minds. growing up, i was thought of as stupid when i was three until seven bc i couldnt speak. i couldnt understand language at all and only knew sign language. it just wouldnt click for me but i loved reading and writing and listening to people talk to understand new ideas. once i could speak, i wowed my teachers with how motivated i was to learn and participate in class. people are shocked now to hear that i ever had speech difficulties bc i talk so quickly and fluidly and never stutter but it was a long time coming for me. 

bc of that, i have always been very interested in how other people’s minds work. i love to hear about their ideas, even if i dont agree with them. i love to see their logic and their way of speaking and thinking and doing and learning. it is all so fascinating to me. 

so a few months ago, i decided i wanted to be an education major. i want to teach in the public schools for a while, specifically elementary students. i love seeing their enthusiasm and want to pique their interest in learning even more. i want them to understand that they actually do love learning and they just hate the way school is organized. it isnt organized or ran according to how they could think or feel. and that is my second idea. i want to change the way that we teach students. standardized testing? out the window. doesnt help kids learn and just teaches children that they are punished no matter what they do. it also punishes teachers for no reason. rigid class structure? out the window. doesnt work for a single student. it just makes adults feel like they are in charge. art programs? back in every single school. every child needs an outlet and the best way to allow for healthy mind development is through artistic expression. even the jocks may enjoy painting and reading and writing and drawing. everyone has something that they are good at and usually it is something more abstract than students are allowed to explore in a typical public school. 

the psych major comes in handy too to back me up. i want to be able to do research in child psychology the entirety of my career so that when i go into politics, i can show them my research. i want to publish it for all to see. i want to look into standardized testing, lack of art programs, high intensity sports at young ages, and learning styles. i am so excited bc for my uni for the fall, i have applied to the honors program so i will be able to do solo research at my discretion. that will be amazing and i will use that opportunity as much as i can. 

as you can see, i am too passionate to create a very coherent reply to your ask. but thank you for the ask!!! i love it so much. i love sharing my ideas with all of you and seeing what you think about it. if you have any more questions about it, send them my way! also, talk to me about education!!!! i can talk all day on it!!!! 

[mardukwhite-blog]

I was not raised in a racist home or environment. Living in the South, almost every White person has a small amount of racial awareness, simply beause of the numbers of negroes in this part of the country. But it is a superficial awareness. Growing up, in school, the White and black kids would make racial jokes toward each other, but all they were were jokes. Me and White friends would sometimes would watch things that would make us think that “blacks were the real racists” and other elementary thoughts like this, but there was no real understanding behind it. The event that truly awakened me was the Trayvon Martin case. I kept hearing and seeing his name, and eventually I decided to look him up. I read the Wikipedia article and right away I was unable to understand what the big deal was. It was obvious that Zimmerman was in the right. But more importantly this prompted me to type in the words “black on White crime” into Google, and I have never been the same since that day. The first website I came to was the Council of Conservative Citizens. There were pages upon pages of these brutal black on White murders. I was in disbelief. At this moment I realized that something was very wrong. How could the news be blowing up the Trayvon Martin case while hundreds of these black on White murders got ignored? From this point I researched deeper and found out what was happening in Europe. I saw that the same things were happening in England and France, and in all the other Western European countries. Again I found myself in disbelief. As an American we are taught to accept living in the melting pot, and black and other minorities have just as much right to be here as we do, since we are all immigrants. But Europe is the homeland of White people, and in many ways the situation is even worse there. From here I found out about the Jewish problem and other issues facing our race, and I can say today that I am completely racially aware. Blacks I think it is is fitting to start off with the group I have the most real life experience with, and the group that is the biggest problem for Americans. Niggers are stupid and violent. At the same time they have the capacity to be very slick. Black people view everything through a racial lense. Thats what racial awareness is, its viewing everything that happens through a racial lense. They are always thinking about the fact that they are black. This is part of the reason they get offended so easily, and think that some thing are intended to be racist towards them, even when a White person wouldnt be thinking about race. The other reason is the Jewish agitation of the black race. Black people are racially aware almost from birth, but White people on average dont think about race in their daily lives. And this is our problem. We need to and have to. Say you were to witness a dog being beat by a man. You are almost surely going to feel very sorry for that dog. But then say you were to witness a dog biting a man. You will most likely not feel the same pity you felt for the dog for the man. Why? Because dogs are lower than men. This same analogy applies to black and White relations. Even today, blacks are subconsciously viewed by White people are lower beings. They are held to a lower standard in general. This is why they are able to get away with things like obnoxious behavior in public. Because it is expected of them. Modern history classes instill a subconscious White superiority complex in Whites and an inferiority complex in blacks. This White superiority complex that comes from learning of how we dominated other peoples is also part of the problem I have just mentioned. But of course I dont deny that we are in fact superior. I wish with a passion that niggers were treated terribly throughout history by Whites, that every White person had an ancestor who owned slaves, that segregation was an evil an oppressive institution, and so on. Because if it was all it true, it would make it so much easier for me to accept our current situation. But it isnt true. None of it is. We are told to accept what is happening to us because of ancestors wrong doing, but it is all based on historical lies, exaggerations and myths. I have tried endlessly to think of reasons we deserve this, and I have only came back more irritated because there are no reasons. Only a fourth to a third of people in the South owned even one slave. Yet every White person is treated as if they had a slave owning ancestor. This applies to in the states where slavery never existed, as well as people whose families immigrated after slavery was abolished. I have read hundreds of slaves narratives from my state. And almost all of them were positive. One sticks out in my mind where an old ex-slave recounted how the day his mistress died was one of the saddest days of his life. And in many of these narratives the slaves told of how their masters didnt even allowing whipping on his plantation. Segregation was not a bad thing. It was a defensive measure. Segregation did not exist to hold back negroes. It existed to protect us from them. And I mean that in multiple ways. Not only did it protect us from having to interact with them, and from being physically harmed by them, but it protected us from being brought down to their level. Integration has done nothing but bring Whites down to level of brute animals. The best example of this is obviously our school system. Now White parents are forced to move to the suburbs to send their children to “good schools”. But what constitutes a “good school”? The fact is that how good a school is considered directly corresponds to how White it is. I hate with a passion the whole idea of the suburbs. To me it represents nothing but scared White people running. Running because they are too weak, scared, and brainwashed to fight. Why should we have to flee the cities we created for the security of the suburbs? Why are the suburbs secure in the first place? Because they are White. The pathetic part is that these White people dont even admit to themselves why they are moving. They tell themselves it is for better schools or simply to live in a nicer neighborhood. But it is honestly just a way to escape niggers and other minorities. But what about the White people that are left behind? What about the White children who, because of school zoning laws, are forced to go to a school that is 90 percent black? Do we really think that that White kid will be able to go one day without being picked on for being White, or called a “white boy”? And who is fighting for him? Who is fighting for these White people forced by economic circumstances to live among negroes? No one, but someone has to. Here I would also like to touch on the idea of a Norhtwest Front. I think this idea is beyond stupid. Why should I for example, give up the beauty and history of my state to go to the Norhthwest? To me the whole idea just parralells the concept of White people running to the suburbs. The whole idea is pathetic and just another way to run from the problem without facing it. Some people feel as though the South is beyond saving, that we have too many blacks here. To this I say look at history. The South had a higher ratio of blacks when we were holding them as slaves. Look at South Africa, and how such a small minority held the black in apartheid for years and years. Speaking of South Africa, if anyone thinks that think will eventually just change for the better, consider how in South Africa they have affirmative action for the black population that makes up 80 percent of the population. It is far from being too late for America or Europe. I believe that even if we made up only 30 percent of the population we could take it back completely. But by no means should we wait any longer to take drastic action. Anyone who thinks that White and black people look as different as we do on the outside, but are somehow magically the same on the inside, is delusional. How could our faces, skin, hair, and body structure all be different, but our brains be exactly the same? This is the nonsense we are led to believe. Negroes have lower Iqs, lower impulse control, and higher testosterone levels in generals. These three things alone are a recipe for violent behavior. If a scientist publishes a paper on the differences between the races in Western Europe or Americans, he can expect to lose his job. There are personality traits within human families, and within different breeds of cats or dogs, so why not within the races? A horse and a donkey can breed and make a mule, but they are still two completely different animals. Just because we can breed with the other races doesnt make us the same. In a modern history class it is always emphasized that, when talking about “bad” things Whites have done in history, they were White. But when we lern about the numerous, almost countless wonderful things Whites have done, it is never pointed out that these people were White. Yet when we learn about anything important done by a black person in history, it is always pointed out repeatedly that they were black. For example when we learn about how George Washington carver was the first nigger smart enough to open a peanut. On another subject I want to say this. Many White people feel as though they dont have a unique culture. The reason for this is that White culture is world culture. I dont mean that our culture is made up of other cultures, I mean that our culture has been adopted by everyone in the world. This makes us feel as though our culture isnt special or unique. Say for example that every business man in the world wore a kimono, that every skyscraper was in the shape of a pagoda, that every door was a sliding one, and that everyone ate every meal with chopsticks. This would probably make a Japanese man feel as though he had no unique traditional culture. I have noticed a great disdain for race mixing White women within the White nationalists community, bordering on insanity it. These women are victims, and they can be saved. Stop. Jews Unlike many White naitonalists, I am of the opinion that the majority of American and European jews are White. In my opinion the issues with jews is not their blood, but their identity. I think that if we could somehow destroy the jewish identity, then they wouldnt cause much of a problem. The problem is that Jews look White, and in many cases are White, yet they see themselves as minorities. Just like niggers, most jews are always thinking about the fact that they are jewish. The other issue is that they network. If we could somehow turn every jew blue for 24 hours, I think there would be a mass awakening, because people would be able to see plainly what is going on. I dont pretend to understand why jews do what they do. They are enigma. Hispanics Hispanics are obviously a huge problem for Americans. But there are good hispanics and bad hispanics. I remember while watching hispanic television stations, the shows and even the commercials were more White than our own. They have respect for White beauty, and a good portion of hispanics are White. It is a well known fact that White hispanics make up the elite of most hispanics countries. There is good White blood worht saving in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and even Brasil. But they are still our enemies. East Asians I have great respent for the East Asian races. Even if we were to go extinct they could carry something on. They are by nature very racist and could be great allies of the White race. I am not opposed at all to allies with the Northeast Asian races. Patriotism I hate the sight of the American flag. Modern American patriotism is an absolute joke. People pretending like they have something to be proud while White people are being murdered daily in the streets. Many veterans believe we owe them something for “protecting our way of life” or “protecting our freedom”. But im not sure what way of life they are talking about. How about we protect the White race and stop fighting for the jews. I will say this though, I myself would have rather lived in 1940's American than Nazi Germany, and no this is not ignorance speaking, it is just my opinion. So I dont blame the veterans of any wars up until after Vietnam, because at least they had an American to be proud of and fight for. An Explanation To take a saying from a film, “I see all this stuff going on, and I dont see anyone doing anything about it. And it pisses me off.”. To take a saying from my favorite film, “Even if my life is worth less than a speck of dirt, I want to use it for the good of society.”. I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me. Unfortunately at the time of writing I am in a great hurry and some of my best thoughts, actually many of them have been to be left out and lost forever. But I believe enough great White minds are out there already. Please forgive any typos, I didnt have time to check it.

[swampgallows]

i need to practice driving but i always feel so FUCKING tired. this whole week ive just been exhausted to all fuck. my jaw hurts today. all my teeth hurt. everything hurts. i hurt emotionally and spiritually and i need to overcome being paralyzed with shame about the dentist. im scared she will yell at me (she never would) or do a bad job (she hasnt so far) that will leave me in more pain, like my first dentist. i have to save my teeth while i can but im also terrified of how much it will cost. but i know i cant live like this. and i know it’s not entirely my fault because my dad’s teeth are the same, as were his dad’s teeth, and i’m just stuck with their genetics. ive been brushing my teeth and using my waterpik and wearign my mouthguard every night and i deep disinfect it every sunday in mouthwash and im unfortunately not able to adjust my diet much, but ive been drinking more water, and if i drink soda or juice i have a glass of water with me to chase every sip. even when i drink milk i follow up with water. the problem is i think most of the damage is already done. i can barely eat without being scared i’ll shatter my teeth, and theyre so sharp and pitted it makes it hard to chew anything. 

my dad always says one of his regrets was that he didnt take better care of his teeth, and i feel the same way, but we’re also fucked by our genetics. i mean, his dad had dentures by 17 and soda n shit barely even existed in fucking uhhhh 1930? 

i just feel like a fuckign failure. my body is shit, my brain is shit, my spirit is shit, my heart is shit, my mind is shit. it’s just all fucking shit. 

i just feel like i’m stuck at a dead end. i looked up my code school subscription today to make sure it wasn’t going to charge me for another year and i just thought wow, another thing i fucking failed at. sure i could learn python. but why? what for? still had no idea what i’d even use it for. i had no practical application for it. i dont know what kind of programs id write. i dont want to write programs. i dont want to make video games or work in software. i dont give a shit about computers. i dont care about anything. i dont want to do anything. i dont want to live any more.

im still awaiting the last few people for the zine to write me back. i’m still researching what im gonna do in terms of pre-orders, but i think im gonna have to just host on my own marketplace like tictail or bigcartel or something and then distribute them on my own. once i finish my initial layout for the zine i can finalize a version for the other publisher, then depending on the number of preorders ill send it off to whichever publisher can fulfill the order. lulu has an option to sell through their marketplace but i think i’ll just do it myself either way (since printninja will have to ship to me first, and then i ship out individually).

im having a lot of anxiety about it because my parents were psyched about the project and then just like... id ont know how to explain it, they dont fucking listen to me when i talk and get a wrong idea in their head about what it is that im doing and then act really disappointed when i remind them of the actual reality of  my project. my dad thought i was illustrating a medical journal. 

im just sick of being a failure. im sick of never being good enough.

im sick of writing and im sick of complaining and im sick of being in pain.

maybe i want a beauty and the beast fantasy because i want someone to just take me away from here. i want to end up in a situation where no, i cant come home, no, i dont know when im going to be home, it’s out of my control, just as an excuse to not have to answer to anybody about where i am, and whoever takes me will be tall and strong and powerful, and they can take me to a place where i can ride my bike freely, where i can run through a field of flowers, where i can get access to resources and environments to maintain my health. i need to be uprooted from this blight so i can stop inhaling black mold, but i have nowhere to go and no one to go with. if i were whisked away then i wouldnt have to make the choice. 

the ancient magus bride is a female fantasy for a reason.

[cake-of-awesome]

i want to write this down before i forget

the company i work for has this ‘online university’ its basically an online portal where they host various web presentations that make it more acessible for people to understand any updated policies and procedures departments push out. most of the time they’re just HR things like “remember! dont be a dick! sexual harassment isnt cool!” type stuff

yesterday they pushed out a bunch of new lessons, and since work was slow i decided to just shotgun them all so i wouldnt have to worry about them

the first one i watched was one on sexual harassment, nbd, basic stuff about respecting everyone, i was kind of nervous it’d be clumsily worded but for the most part was pretty straightforward, it even included sections on harassment specific to gender identities and sexuality which was, idk, nice?

the second one though surprised me, and pissed me off a lot. it was about information technology and privacy. it started off pretty basic, dont daisy chain your passwords, dont open links and attachments from unknown sources etc etc

but then there was a section on insider training and the “dangers of it” there was probably like, 10 slides (of the 73 slide presentation) dedicated to why we should be a whistle blower citing famous public figures who did this before and the charges that were put against them. of the public figures cited Chelsea Manning was mentioned--

except they used her deadname and implied she was hi

when i got to that i was very angry and upset. i didnt know what to do so i took a bathroom break to calm down, after that i texted some friends about it to help vent and calm down further.

ive always been really paranoid about my place in the company since we’re a gov contractor and right now the current gov is suuuuuper conservative. i thought i was doing better though, i ended up sort of coming out to some coworkers (sort of coming out in the sense i’ve been open that i like girls, still not sure where i am on the gender side of things though so i havent brought that aspect up)

so seeing that in a company sponsored presentation (right after seeing an HR presentation about how important it is to respect one another’s gender identities!!) really hurt a lot

but today i managed to work up the courage to write an email to the creator about the issue. it took me a while to write up the draft since i wasnt sure how to word it without making it sound like a beak deal (even though it was since it was so personal to me)

i ended up pretending to play dumb saying that i didnt know who the people were in the presentation so i tried to google them and i came up with some different results than the ones mentioned in the presentation and simply asked if this was intentional or if there’s a spelling error on the publishers part

i got a response back pretty quickly saying that the presentation was made by a 3rd party vendor and that they’d be contacting them to get those mistakes fixed as quickly as possible, and that was it

part of me is relieved to find out this wasnt something that was done on purpose or out of malice, at least from the company i work for. but another part of me is equally frustrated that this wasnt caught before the thing was published, and another part of me is paranoid if the company will continue to rely on this third party vendor and whether or not this gesture was made on purpose or not

i kind of doubt i’ll ever find out but i am proud that i worked through my fears to assert an issue that was important to me.  i know i have a problem of freezing up or turning to apathy a lot of the time, so working through this... is nice. even though all i did was write an email, im glad and proud that i was able to work through this and do it. small victories are nice.

[patriotsnet]

Are There More Republicans Or Democrats In The Senate

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-there-more-republicans-or-democrats-in-the-senate/

Are There More Republicans Or Democrats In The Senate

Biggest Influencers: Democrats Or Republicans

Democrats take House, Republicans keep Senate in historic midterms

To understand who influences politics, you can easily find out who the wealthy support. For example, the Walton family, the owners of the retail giant Walmart, has traditionally donated to Republican candidates. Alice Walton, the daughter of Walmarts founder, hasnt strayed from that too much. That is, until the 2008 election. In 2008 and 2016 the Walton family donated to Hilary Clintons campaign.

She isnt the only person from a wealthy family to change tradition where politics are concerned either. Many of the younger individuals in Americas richest families have begun to sway from their familys political associations as well. Below youll find the affiliation and overall net worth of the top 10 richest families in America.

Weve Had A Split Senate Before And They Mostly Figured It Out

The most recent 50-50 Senate occurred following the 2000 election. Sens. Tom Daschle and Trent Lott , then Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate respectively, formed a powersharing agreement to guide the chamber. Key features of the agreement included:

Majority Leader: Lott was recognized as the de factor majority leader following Inauguration Day, based on the tie-breaking vote of Republican Vice President Dick Cheney.

Committees would have equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats;

If a tie vote prevented a measure or nomination from being reported to the full Senate, the majority or minority leader could move to discharge the committee from further consideration; Debate on the question of discharge was limited, and therefore, a filibuster could not block it.

Debate: Cloture motions, which are used to bring debate on a measure or nomination to a close and prevent filibusters, could not be filed on any amendable item of business during the first 12 hours of debate.

Scheduling and agenda: the leaders were to attempt to balance the interests of the parties in setting the Senates schedule and deciding what matters to bring up for consideration.

An important caveat in the agreement noted that Senate Rules do not prohibit the right of the Democratic Leader, or any other Senator, to move to proceed to any item.

Senate Votes To Kill Debate On Voting Rights Bill

Republican senators voted against debating Democrats election and voting reform legislation, as expected.

Sixty votes are required to open debate on any measure under the Senates filibuster rules and in a 50-50, evenly divided Senate all 50 Republicans voted against advancing and debating the legislation.

We can argue what should be done to protect voting rights and safeguard our democracy, but dont you think we should be able to debate the issue? said Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer.

Its unclear where Democrats can go from here. Progressives have pushed to end the filibuster, which would allow them to vote and narrowly pass voting rights reform without Republican support. But moderate Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have rejected the idea.

Geoffrey: The Case For Republicans

Republicans may be slightly behind in the polls, but we should be cautious about reading too much into these surveys as its hard to say the slim Democratic edge is all that meaningful. Polls have routinely disagreed over who is in the lead and nearly every survey has fallen within the margin of error. Whats more, there just havent been that many high quality polls just two of the 16 firms that have surveyed Georgia since November have a FiveThirtyEight pollster rating that is higher than a B. This is unfortunate, but not surprising given many pollsters are gun-shy after polling misses in November. Simply put, a small polling error in the GOPs direction wouldnt be that surprising and furthermore, it would be enough to give Loeffler and Perdue the advantage.

Lastly, while Nathaniel poo-pooed it, the GOP does have a history of doing better in runoffs than the Democrats. Outside of one 1998 runoff for a seat on the states public service commission, Republicans have always gained at least a little ground in the runoff compared to the general election. True, we only have a sample size of eight, but some of the factors that contributed to Republican runoff success in the past could still come into play, like an older electorate. And remember, if the Republicans improve on their November showing or even just hold serve they win.

Main Difference Between Democrats And Republicans In Point Form

Democratic Party was founded in 1828 while the Republican Party in 1854

The Democratic Party has about 15 presidents while the Republican Party has about 19 presidents since independence

Republican Party voters are older generation while Democratic Party voters are the younger generation

The voters of Republicans are conservatives while democrats are liberal

The main color of republicans is red while that of democrats is blue

The party symbol of democrats is a donkey whereas that of republicans is an elephant

The Democrats party was founded on the basis of anti-federalism whereas republican party on the basis of anti-slavery and agent of modernity

The Democrats party has a larger membership subscription whereas republican has a lower membership subscription

Democrats applaud same-sex marriage whereas republicans condemn same-sex marriage

Democrats want the elderly medical program to be allowed while republicans reject suggestions of elderly medical care program

Texas Governor Vetoes Bill Protecting Dogs From Abuse

Sarah Betancourt

The governor of Texas has pulled a surprise move, vetoing a bipartisan bill that would have provided greater protections for dogs against human abuse.

The Republican governor, Greg Abbott, vetoed a bill on Friday that would have made unlawful restraint of a dog a criminal offense, sending animal rights activists and legislators on both sides of the aisle into a fray and spurring the hashtag #AbbottHatesDogs.

State senate bill 474, dubbed the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act, aimed to ban the use of heavy chains to keep dogs tethered. The bill had bipartisan support in the legislature, passing the house 83-32 and the senate 28-3.

In his veto, Abbott said state statutes already existed to protect dogs from animal cruelty, and the penalties proposed in the bill of $500 to $2,000, and jail time of up to 180 days, were excessive. The bill said that dog owners could have dogs outside but could not restrain them with short lines and chains or anything that could cause injury and pain to the dog.

Dog owners would have faced a $500 penalty for a first offense and class C misdemeanor, and the next penalty would have been a class B misdemeanor, for a fine of up to $2,000 and up to three months in jail.

Abbott said Texas was not a place for that kind of micro-managing and over-criminalization.

Read more:

Georgia Election: Democrats On Course For Senate Control

US election 2020

The Democratic Party of US President-elect Joe Biden is on the verge of taking control of the Senate as results come in from two elections in Georgia.

Pastor Raphael Warnock is projected to win one seat. Fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff leads narrowly in the other.

If they both win, Mr Biden will control Congress fully and have a much better chance of pushing through his agenda.

He said it was time to turn the page. The American people demand action and they want unity.

Histories Of The Parties

The Democratic party started in 1828 as anti-federalist sentiments began to form. The Republican party formed a few decades later, in 1854, with the formation of the party to stopping slavery, which they viewed to be unconstitutional.

The difference between a democrat and a republican has changed many, many times throughout history. Democrats used to be considered more conservative, while the republican party fought for more progressive ideas. These ideals have switched over time.

Which Party Is The Party Of The 1 Percent

Democrats Target Vulnerable Republican Seats In Effort To Gain Control Of Congress | NBC News NOW

First, both parties receive substantial support. Much of it comes from registered voters who make $100K+ annually. However, Democrats actually come out ahead when it comes to fundraising for campaigns. In many cases, Democrats have been able to raise twice as much in private political contributions. But what about outside of politicians? Does that mean Democrats are the wealthier party? Which American families are wealthier? Republicans or Democrats?

Honestly, it is probably Republicans. When it comes down to it, the richest families in America tend to donate to Republican candidates. Forbes reported out of the 50 richest families in the United States, 28 donate to Republican candidates. Another seven donate to Democrats. Additionally, 15 of the richest families in the U.S. donate to both parties.

The Prospect Of Ditching The Filibuster

In theory, Senate Democrats could change the cloture ruleand, with it, the need for 60 votes. They could, in other words, kill the filibuster.

There are two ways that Democrats could do that. The first is by holding a vote to change the Senates standing rules. The only problem is that a vote to change the rules requires a two-thirds majority. So, as has happened many times in the past, Senators can simply filibuster the attempt to eliminate the filibuster.

The second way to kill the filibuster is known as the nuclear option. That would mean that Senate Democrats vote to establish a new precedent in the chamber, which can require only a simple majority: the 50 Democrats plus Harris. The nuclear option has been employed twice in the past decadeonce in 2013 by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and then once in 2017 by McConnellto make it easier to confirm executive and judicial nominations.

In recent months, Democrats have been clamoring to eliminate the filibuster. Former President Barack Obama called it a Jim Crow relic and President-elect Biden said hed consider eliminating it, depending on how obstreperous become. But Democrats are hardly in lock step over the issue. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has he will not support such a vote.

Is A Dream A Lie If It Dont Come True

Americas various disproportional representations are the result of winner-takes-all voting and a two-party system where party allegiance and geography have become surprisingly highly correlated. Places where people live close together vote Democratic, places where they live farther apart vote Republican . Under some electoral systems this would not matter very much. Under Americas it has come to matter a lot, in part because of an anti-party constitution.

Americas founders wanted power to be hard to concentrate, and for people who held some powers to be structurally at odds with those who held others. To this end they created a system in which distinct branches and levels of government provided checks and balances on each other. They hoped these arrangements would be sufficient to hobble any factions which sought to co-ordinate their actions across various levels and branches of government. The first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, both warned that a two-party system, in particular, would be anathema to the model of government they were trying to build.

Take the Senate. To make sure the largest states do not dominate the rest, the constitution provides equal representation for all the states, large and small alike. This builds in an over-representation for people in small or sparsely populated places.

Policymaking Has A Liberal Bias

Democratic presidents talk more about policy, propose more specific policy ideas, and pass more significant pieces of legislation. The numbers are stark. Since 1945, Democratic presidents have put forward 39 percent more policy proposals than Republican presidents, and 62 percent more domestic policy proposals.

There is a good reason for this asymmetry, write Grossmann and Hopkins. Democrats and liberals are more likely to focus on policymaking because any change that occurs is much more likely to be liberal than conservative. New policies usually expand the scope of government responsibility, funding, or regulation. There are occasional conservative policy successes as well, but they are less frequent and are usually accompanied by expansion of government responsibility in other areas.

The chart above codes significant policy changes by whether they expand or contract the scope of government regulation, funding, or responsibility. Policy changes turned out to be more than three times as likely to expand the scope of government than to contract it. This is often true even when Republicans are signing the laws.

As such, gridlock is often the best small-government conservatives can hope for. And so theyre more comfortable with it than Democrats.

What Limitations Will Senate Democrats Face In Passing Legislation

Most proposed legislation can be filibustered by members of the minority party, which means 60 members must agree to end debate and move the bill to a final vote.

The use of the Senate filibuster has become increasingly more common since the 1700s and is now a routine way of obstructing legislation. Concerns about increasing partisan gridlock have sparked debate over whether to reform the legislative filibuster, which would give the majority party vast authority to pass bills. During the recent filibuster debate between McConnell and Schumer, President Joe Biden remained silent on the issue. Other lawmakers in the past, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have called to do away with it.

But advocates for keeping the filibuster said it preserves power for the minority party. Removing the filibuster could also backfire on Democrats if they lose control of the Senate again. As of now, Democrats do not have the votes to end the filibuster but could also consider lowering the threshold, for example from 60 members to 55.

Senate filibuster use over time. Graphic by Danny Davis and Kate Grumke/PBS NewsHour.

There are some very narrow rules around it. It has to have budgetary implications. You cant just stick on any random thing. It has to actually be pretty narrowly tailored, Powell said.

Tied Senate: Who Controls A 50

The results of the 2020 election continue to be finalized, but one possible outcome is an evenly divided Senate sometime after January 5, 2021. This raises questions regarding which party will hold the majority and who the majority leader will be, as well as whether we should anticipate a completely deadlocked Senate on every vote, among others. Here are seven things you need to know

Statement from Bipartisan Policy Center President Jason Grumet: BPCs Bipartisan Approach to a Partisan Process

Who Are The Winners And Losers

Maine Democrats had high hopes of unseating Susan Collins, the 67-year-old moderate Republican who had been trailing her Democrat rival in the polls for months.

But Sara Gideon, 48, conceded in a call to Ms Collins on Wednesday afternoon.

So far, Democrats have managed a net gain of one seat in the Senate election.

Democratic former governor John Hickenlooper won a key Colorado seat from the Republican incumbent Cory Gardner.

Mr Hickenlooper, who stood for the Democratic nomination for president, was governor of Colorado for two terms from 2011 until last year. His rival was considered particularly vulnerable because of his allegiance to President Trump.

In Arizona, former astronaut Mark Kelly defeated Republican incumbent and former fighter pilot Martha McSally. Mr Kelly earlier said he was “confident that when the votes are counted, we’re going to be successful in this mission”.

However, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Trump ally Lindsey Graham have both been re-elected in their seats of Kentucky and South Carolina respectively.

And in Alabama, Republican candidate Tommy Tuberville took a seat from the Democratic incumbent Doug Jones.

United States Senate Elections

2020 United States Senate elections

  The 2020 United States Senate elections were held on November 3, 2020, with the 33 class 2 seats of the Senate contested in regular elections. Of these, 21 were held by Republicans and 12 by Democrats. The winners were elected to six-year terms from January 3, 2021, to January 3, 2027. Two special elections for seats held by Republicans were also held in conjunction with the general elections, with one in Arizona to fill the vacancy created by John McCain‘s death in 2018 and one in Georgia following Johnny Isakson‘s resignation in 2019. In both races, the incumbent Republican lost to a Democrat. These elections ran concurrent with the 2020 United States presidential election in which incumbent Republican president Donald Trump lost to Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

In the 2014 United States Senate elections, the last regularly scheduled elections for Class 2 Senate seats, the Republicans won nine seats from the Democrats and gained a majority, which they continued to hold after the 2016 and 2018 elections. Before the election, Republicans held 53 seats, Democrats held 45 seats, and independents caucusing with the Democrats held two seats, which were not up for reelection. Including the special elections in Arizona and Georgia, Republicans defended 23 seats and the Democrats 12.

Th Congress 2015 And 2016

Panel: After 10 GOP Reps Vote For Impeachment, Are There 17 More In The Senate?

The 114th Congress was notable because Republicans won their largest majorities in the House and Senate in decades after voters used the midterm election in 2014 to express dissatisfaction with a Democratic president, Barack Obama. Democrats lost control of the Senate in the 2014 elections.

Said Obama after the results became clear:

Obviously, Republicans had a good night. And they deserve credit for running good campaigns. Beyond that, Ill leave it to all of you and the professional pundits to pick through yesterdays results.

White House: Democrat

House: Republicans held 246 seats, Democrats held 187 seats; there were two vacancies.

Senate: Republicans held 54 seats, Democrats held 44 seats; there were two independents, both of whom caucused with the Democrats.

Not Much Was Said In This Video And Yet It Explains Why Our Us Senate Is Such A Mess Nothings Funny About This And Yet All There Laughed

The US Senate is a mess.  The Republican Senators are closer to Democrats than they are to their base.  The Republican base was behind President Trump and gave him the largest number of votes in US history for a Republican and a sitting US President.  If not for the millions of ballots suspected of fraud, President Trump would have won in one of the biggest wins in US history.

But the Republican Senators want President Trump out and appear happy he is not there.  The Democrats are thrilled they got away with the suspected fraudulent election steal.  They dont care about election laws and the people of the United States, they care about power.

So when Senator McConnell, who led the assault on President Trump after the election, was stopped by Democrat Schumer, everyone laughed.

TRENDING:They Openly Mock Us Now: Taliban Hangs “Traitor” by the Throat From US Helicopter in Kandahar Left Behind by Joe Biden

The Republicans in the Senate have no idea what is going on.  They have no idea what Americans want.  They have no idea Americans are very angry about the 2020 Election and will not be satisfied until the election is fully forensically audited.  The Democrats just want power and are happy every time they step on the American people and the U. S. Constitution, while the Republicans laugh.

Who Controls The Senate For Now

Republicans have the majority until Inauguration Day.

Georgia counties have until Jan. 15 to officially certify the results of Warnocks and Ossoffs elections, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has until Jan. 22 to make the victories official. . Once Warnock and Ossoff have an official certificate of election, they will be sworn into office.

Until Inauguration Day, Vice President Mike Pence will preside over the chamber. After Jan. 20, Kamala Harris will have the honors.

Write to Abigail Abrams at .

Republican Memo Warns Us Senate At Risk Of Falling Into Democratic Control

Memo summarizes senate races of 10 states and how the outcome of each could determine who controls the Senate

A memo by Senate Republicans campaign arm has admitted that control of the upper chamber is at risk and that Democrats could win the Senate in Novembers elections.

The September 2020 political update from the National Republican Senatorial Committee summarizes the state of the race of 10 states with Senate races around the country and how the outcome of each could factor into whether Republicans or control the chamber in January.

The memo, obtained by the Guardian, has been circulating among political operatives, donors and interested parties. It comes just shy of 50 days before the November 2020 elections.

The next few weeks will define the future of our country for generations to come, the NRSC memo reads.

Memos like these are often shaped like dispassionate updates but in actuality they are often used to convince interested parties that races slipping out of reach are still in play. They are also often used to juice donations to lagging candidates and counter trending narratives.

Democrats need to pick up three or four seats to take control of the Senate. The fact that the NRSC memo categorizes seven Senate races as ones that simply cant be lost or deserve serious attention suggests that its possible, but not certain that Democrats can take control of the Senate.

Effect Of Republican Retirements

Indeed, 2020 was actually a Democratic-leaning year, with Biden winning the national popular vote by 4.5 percentage points. So theres a good chance that states will be at least a bit redder in 2022 than they were in 2020.

That could make these retirements less of a blow to Republicans than they first appear. Whats more, by announcing their retirements so early, Burr, Toomey and Portman are giving the GOP as much time as possible to recruit potential candidates, shape the field of candidates in a strategic way in the invisible primary and raise more money for the open-seat campaign. And in Ohio specifically, Republicans still look like heavy favorites. Even in the Democratic-leaning environment of 2020, Trump won Ohio by 8 percentage points, implying that its true partisan lean is probably even more Republican-leaning. Ohio is simply not the quintessential swing state it once was; dating back to the 2014 election cycle, Democrats have won just one out of 14 statewide contests in Ohio and that was a popular incumbent running in a blue-wave election year .

Nathaniel Rakich and Geoffrey Skelley, FiveThirtyEight

Us Senate Representation Is Deeply Undemocratic And Cannot Be Changed

Few, if any, other democracies have anything this undemocratic built into their systems.

The U.S. Senate, as you know, is currently divided 50-50 along party lines, thanks to the impressive double win in Georgia, and counting the two technically independent senators as Democrats, since they caucus with the Democrats.

But, according to the calculation of Ian Millhiser, writing for Vox, if you add up the population of states and assign half to each of their two senators, the Democratic half of the Senate represents 41,549,808 more people than the Republican half.

Millhisers piece is named after that fact: Americas anti-democratic Senate, in one number.

41.5 million. Thats a lot of people, more than 10 percent of the population . You might think that in a democracy, the party that held that much of an advantage might end up with a solid majority in the Senate, rather than have just barely eked out a 50-50 tie in a body that, taken together, represents the whole country.

Republicans have not won the majority of the votes cast in all Senate races in any election cycle for a long time. Nonetheless, Republicans held majority control of the Senate after the elections of 2014, and 2016 and 2018 and still, after the 2020 races, held 50 of the 100 seats.

GOP does better in lower population states

Works to the detriment of Democratic power

Its deeply undemocratic. Nothing can become federal law without passing the Senate.

Smaller states had to be reassured

Democrats Are Under More Pressure From Interest Groups To Pass Policy

Another difference between the Democratic and Republican parties is that Democrats answer to more interest groups than Republicans.

Grossmann and Hopkins assemble studies showing that Democratic delegates at both national and state conventions report more organization memberships than Republican delegates, suggesting that Democratic conventions are the site of more organized interest group activity than Republican conventions. They also note a study showing that more interest groups make endorsements in Democratic primaries than in Republican primaries.

The graphic above is perhaps the most persuasive evidence of the density of the Democratic interest-group ecosystem: it connects interest groups that endorsed more than one of the same candidate or bill in the 2001-2002 Congress and the 2002 midterm election. So, if the AFL-CIO and the Sierra Club both endorsed Senator Mary Landrieu for reelection and they also both endorsed No Child Left Behind, they get a line. The more shared endorsements between two groups, the thicker the line connecting them; the more total connections any individual group has to other groups, the larger the circle they get.

there are more organized groups asking Democrats for policy than asking Republicans for policy

[scarlett-olivier]

10 (30?) Questions Writing Game

Hey, y'all. I've been meaning to do this for a hot minute now. Ever since I got tagged by our lovely @faireladypenumbra. So without further ado, lets get started.

1. What do you hope to communicate to your audience with your WIP?

Find the people who appreciate you for you. Even the best of us have hard times. Finally, even if you've had a really shitty past, or are currently in a shitty situation, you can still be the hero of your own story and possibly to someone else too. ^.^

2. What do you find the hardest to write? (Ex: emotion, humor, seduction, etc...)

Anything fast paced is notoriously difficult for me to write. Humor, wit, action, any of those things that live in the fast lane, and are usually just a one-two punch, are horrendous labor. They take forever to write (I'm sure there's some kind of irony in that statement). I love for my audience to be able to savor the moment and live vicariously through my characters, so fast paced moments always feel well, rushed and forced to me. It takes at least 4 drafts of the scene for me to feel alright about it.

3. How bad do you feel your first draft was/is?

Oh, my, holey spacerocks batman, was it awful. POV breaks, spelling errors (their mostly. I before E my ASS. My peeps, beware of the grammar fuckery, it abounds everywhere.), wrong verb usage, and just all around plot and flow shittiness. I kept some of it, but 2/3 got hit in the face with a rusty crowbar, shoved right up in the payload area of a rocket, and blasted off into the sun.

4. What is your favorite genre to read? Write?

Fantasy. To both. All the fantasy. Gimme.

5. Who have you based your style of writing off of?

Honestly, I'd like to think that I've picked up bits and pieces from a multitude of various authors' style and garishly sewed it all together to fashion my own personal brand of magnificent monstrosity. However if you forced me to narrow it down to three specific authors, I'd have to say... Edgar Allen Poe, Jane Austen, and Angie Sage.

6. What made you want to publish your work?

I ran out of books on my bookshelf, and I'd read the ones I had to the point I could almost recite them by rote. While I was writing my first story, I thought that my problem could be someone else problem too, and it was selfish of me to hoard these stories I kept on inventing to myself when someine out there might like them. So, I decided to share.

7. What have you had to research the most for your WIP?

How to write. Due to my upbringing's effect on my mental health, and the fact that I'm a high school drop out deciding to get together and tag team my self confidence into the nearest portapotty and flip it down a hill, I'm incredibly hypercritical of my own abilities. Therefore, I acknowledge that I lack the ability to judge my own work properly and rely heavily upon research, beta readers, and critique partner feedback to appropriately improve and turn out a quality product.

8. What character do you like (that you've written) the least?

Hmmm...... Merlin. He's a douchenozzle in a saint's disguise. If he were real, I'd have to punch him. Repeatedly. In the face.

9. Are you basing any of your WIP off your life and what would it be ( if not to spoiler - ex: people, places, situations)?

Finally, an easy question! Yes and no. Every author draws inspiration from life, but as far as specific instances or anything of that nature? No.

10. Who would you dedicate you book to?

My mom, my daughter, my fiancee, and my critique partner. Without them, the book would've never happened, for whatever reason.

11. If you could steal one idea from a famous author, what would it be?

I dunno. Honestly, even if I were able to do that morally, what would I possibly DO with it? I think the reason some stories are timeless is, in part, due to the author. They've poured their heart and soul into their work, breathing a life into it that could've only been so perfectly captured by them. Even if I took the idea, it wouldnt turn out the same in the end. For example, my Frankenstein would be vastly different from Mary Shelley's, simply because we're two different people with different values, morals, beliefs, and standards. I'm not saying my version would've been bad, per se, but it definitely wouldn't have been Mary Shelley. In ancient times, it was thought that the story (carried by the muses) chose the author, and the author had minimal control over what story they were to write, and I kind of follow that line of thinking.

12. What's been the hardest to write in your WIP so far? (Ex: beginnings, middles, ends, etc.)

Beginnings are the bane of my existence. Like I said before, I'm hypercritical of my abilities, so during the beginning of a story (before I get into the flow of things) I spend a ludicrous amount of time going over, and over, and over, and over my starts. On the plus side though, by the time I'm somewhat satisfied by the "first draft" of my beginning, the rest seems to fly by in comparison. Just gotta get over that initial hump. 😉😜

13. Which characters in your WIP get along the worst? The best?

I'd have to say Merek and Rowan, as the worst. As the best.... Cassandra and Nimue.

14. Tea, coffee, water, or nothing when working?

Tea, mostly. Tea is life. Followed by Redbull and Pepsi. I rarely drink coffee.

15. Is your desk organized or messy?

*eyes a particularly large stack of objects suspiciously.* Hang on a sec. *sweeps the uppermost of the stacks onto the floor with both arms.* Amazeballs! I actually have a desk! How long has that been there?!

16. Can you summarize your favorite piece of writing (that you've created)?

Orphaned girl gets captured by strange creatures and thrown into a world not her own, where she's informed she will finds out that not only is she NOT an orphan, but she will have to fight one of her parents to the death for the fate of the multiverse.

17. How long have you been working on your current WIP?

About a year and a half? Ish. It will, hopefully soon, be my first published novel. 😸😸😸😸

18. Sum up your main characters in three words. (Sorry, not a question)

Nimue- Troubled, stubborn, curious

19. What time of day are you most productive?

1 bloody a.m., when I'm trying to sleep.

20. What's your favorite fictional place?

Neverland. Because Alliteration. Magnificent Murderous Mermaids....

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😄

21. What book inspired you to write the most?

Probs a toss up between T.A. Barron's The Lost Years of Merlin series, Tamora Pierce's The Circle Opens series, and Cecelia Dart-Thornton's The Bitterbynde series. I love all of them.

22. Do you write by hand, type, or some combination of the two?

Both. I prefer to type because it's far easier on my hands and joints, but writing by hand seems to improve my productivity. Not that I have the option of typing atm... My fan quit on my laptop and I can't afford the replacement part for it. 😭😭😭😭 why, wiritng gods, WHY?!

23. A book you would recommend to anyone?

Well, unfortunately, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all book. Books are usually targeted towards a specific audience, and will tend to go over better with that audience, than with those aren't part of that particular grouping. A book recommendation is a highly personalized experience based on a variety of factors such as; age, gender, orientation, beliefs, and morality.

29. What is the one thing you NEED while writing, that isn't necessarily a writing tool?

Scully, my skull shaped pillow, a warm blanket, and music. 😆 I know you said one thing. I lumped them all together under the comfort umbrella. Comfortability is a major factor in my productivity levels. If I'm in pain, those levels drop, sharply.

25. How much time do you spend writing?

Ideally? When I'm not in the midst of a pain flare up, 30hrs a week is pretty typical.

If I'm in the middle of a flare up? 10 to 15hrs per week. I hate myself for it all the time.

26. How much time do you wish you spent writing?

Again, ideally, I would wish to spend about 8hrs a day, 5x a week on writing. This would leave the weekends open for time with my loved ones.

27. Do you set writing goals? If so, what is your writing goal for this year?

Oh boy. I set myself some unrealistic goals. They are as follows;

- Finish writing my horror short story, edit, and publish it.

- Finish editing my novel 'Something Wicked'

- Send out ARC copies of my novel

- Set a solid publishing time table and sales goal for my novel.

28. What's you favorite POV to write in?

Limited third person will always be my go to.

29. How may WIPs do you currently have?

One short story, two novels.

30. What is your favorite thing about writing?

Watching the world, that had previously only been a seed in my imagination, bloom into it's multi-tiered glory.

And so concludes the 30 questions game! Thank you again, to @faireladypenumbra for the tag. Sorry it took me so long to get around to. Also, in return, I'm tagging @alisonhaines and @alittleredfinch. I hope y'all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed answering the questions. ^.^ Hope y'all have a lovely day.

[weednvapes]

G Pen Elite Vaporizer

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[adelaideattractions]

Bob's love affair that shocked Australia

The affair between Bob Hawke and Blanche dAlpuget was once the most scandalous in Australian political history, but it morphed into one of the nations greatest love stories. The public was outraged in 1991 when it emerged that the beloved, larrikin prime minster was leaving his wife of 38 years to marry a beautiful, blonde writer 14 years his junior, just four years after he had left office. The pair, it transpired, had been meeting for clandestine trysts for almost two decades. It triggered a media storm, with the press camping outside Ms dAlpugets home, chasing her down the street and publishing cartoons. But after the revelations about Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyces affair with staffer Vikki Campion superseded hers in infamy, the author told news.com.au it could have been far worse.

media_cameraThe revelation of Bob Hawke and Blanche dAlpugets 20-year affair scandalised Australia.

media_cameraWriter Ms dAlpuget paid tribute to the love of her life after he died aged 89. Picture: Supplied/Nine It would be a lot more brutal now, she told news.com.au last year. Its one of the reasons democracy is going down the gurgler everywhere. Its because good, strong people arent going into politics because of social media they dont want to get themselves and their families put through it. (These days) everybodys got a camera in their pocket. Politicians are now walking on eggshells the whole time ... there is a great puritanism thats fallen upon us. Last night, Mr Hawke died peacefully at home, aged 89, and Ms dAlpuget released a statement. Today we lost Bob Hawke, a great Australian many would say the greatest Australian of the post-war era ... Bob was dearly loved by his family, and so many friends and colleagues. We will miss him. Mr Hawke was first married in 1956 to Hazel Masterson, who he met while he was at university in Perth, and the couple had four children together Sue, Stephen, Rosslyn and Robert Jr, who died in childhood. RELATED: Bob Hawke predicted his own death RELATED: Former PMs death to impact federal election

media_cameraThe former prime minister married wife Hazel in 1956 after they met in Perth.

media_cameraThe couple of 38 years had four children together. Picture: Supplied Mrs Hawke was the steadfast wife who stood by her husband as he led the Australian Council of Trade Unions in the 1970s, entered Parliament and served as Prime Minister from 1983 to 1991. But the much-admired Labor leader had a long-held secret. In April 1970, the then-ACTU president met Ms dAlpuget at a party in Jakarta a moment that would change their lives forever. She was living in Indonesia with her new husband, diplomat Tony Pratt, who she was very keen on, she told Mamamias No Filter podcast last year. Six years on, with her marriage going down the drain, Ms dAlpuget interviewed Mr Hawke for a biography on arbitrator Sir Richard Kirby. The click was different, she said and at the time, affairs were par for the course. The pair embarked on an affair that would last almost 20 years, throughout Mr Hawkes Prime Ministership. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, things were a lot wilder than they are now, she said.

media_cameraIn 1976, Mr Hawke embarked on a passionate affair with journalist Ms dAlpuget.

media_cameraThe Australian Council of Trade Unions leader felt unable to pursue his love as he rose to power. But there was more. Ive been in love with Bob since 1976, she told news.com.au. I fell in love with his character. He was a man of absolutely good character, as far as I was concerned. He was clever and genuinely charismatic. Hes a man of enormous compassion, and I saw all of those things. She had been going through a storeroom filled with old photographs, and could immediately tell the difference between the ones taken while she was with Bob, and the ones that predated their relationship. For many years, I just didnt look happy, she said. But the times when I was with him? I was a happy woman. These last 25 years have been the happiest of my life. In the late 1970s, Ms d'Alpuget went through a period of intense despair and contemplated suicide and even stabbing her lover when Mr Hawke tried to refocus on his marriage as he worked towards becoming prime minister.

media_cameraHe became the longest-serving Labor prime minister. Picture: Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

media_cameraIt was only after he was replaced by Paul Keating that Mr Hawke felt able to divorce Mrs Hawke and marry Ms d'Alpuget. Picture: Richard Dobson I went through that dark night of the soul when we broke up, she told The Weekend Australian Magazine in 2017. And I came out the other side. I got over it. And then I really flung myself into writing, which is one of the great curative and healing processes. In 1978, after a vivid dream, the 49-year-old ACTU president asked the 34-year-old journalist to marry him in a Canberra hotel room. But a year later, as his campaign for a federal seat developed, he changed his mind. Divorce could cost Labor three per cent, he had fretted several times, back when this was an issue for us, she wrote in her 2008 book On Lust and Longing. As it turned out, he made the right decision: for himself, for me, for his family, for mine, for his party and, as became obvious, for the nation. Despite being deeply attracted to each other, madly in love, the pair resigned themselves to a sporadic love affair to the sake of the Labor MPs wife and the country, while Ms d'Alpuget worked on a biography. She said the book helped to persuade those who mattered to make him the leader of his party, from which point electoral success was assured, and her research helped him stop his problem drinking. Their relationship was an open secret, but neither she nor Mrs Hawke could tear themselves away from the charismatic leader. Each of us asked the other to leave, Ms d'Alpuget said. Neither of us did.

media_cameraThe scandal rocked Australia, with the public and Mr Hawkes children turning against the couple.

media_cameraBut their love has stood the test of time, and Ms d'Alpuget will one day be buried alongside her husband. Picture: Patrick Riviere/Getty Images He went on to the highest approval rating of any Australian PM in history: 75 per cent in November 1984. It is a level of popularity that is a far-off dream for current Labor leader and Australias possible next prime minister, Bill Shorten, who also left his ex-wife for a new bride after entering political life. The longest-serving Labor prime minister finally divorced his wife in 1995, four years after he was replaced by his deputy Paul Keating, following a freak accident that made him realise how much he needed to make his mistress his spouse. Ms dAlpuget was in a sea plane in far-north Queensland writing an article on the Great Barrier Reef when it crashed and the six passengers had to swim out of the window. As fuel poured out of the aircraft, a yachtsman picked them up in a dinghy and ferried them to Hamilton Island. The one phone call I made was to Go Between, the man who was (her and Mr Hawkes) secret contact, she told Mamamia. But he was a drama queen and he rang up Bob and said, Bob, Blanche has been in a plane crash, and he paused. Bob said in that moment he felt himself die. And then the man added, But shes all right. But it was just that instant; he knew then that, had I died, his life wouldnt have been worth living. At 64, the former Prime Minister announced his separation from his wife publicly, declared his love Ms d'Alpuget. Within two years, his divorce was finalised, and eight months later, he and Ms dAlpuget married in Sydney.

media_cameraA plane crash that almost killed his mistress convinced Mr Hawke he needed to be with the love of his life. Picture: Gregg Porteous

media_cameraThe affair hurt his family, but the former PMs children eventually came to be close to Ms d'Alpuget. Picture: Megan Slade It took an enormous amount of courage on Bobs part, she told The Australian. It took much more courage on his part than on mine. Because I was a single woman, divorced. But he was married. The whole country expected him to behave in this way and was unaware of what his true feelings were and so were bound to be shocked, angered and amazed when they discovered them. Mr Hawkes children were furious, and shunned their fathers new wife. But the relationship endured, and they are now close. Mrs Hawke died in 2013 from dementia-related complications, aged 83. Mr Hawke visited her before she died and formally apologised for the toll his affair had taken on the family after her death. I remember Hazel with deep affection and gratitude, he said in a statement. She was more than a wife and mother, being father as well during my frequent absences as I pursued an industrial then political career. In 2015, when the Labor leader nearly died of a stomach bug he picked up from the Middle East, and Ms d'Alpuget was by his side in the Sydney hospital. It was then that she picked out the place where they would one day lie together in a cemetery. The graves are side-by-side, she said. We chose a spot where the public can come. Itll be nice. Its in a rose garden and theres a seat there so if a member of the public wants to come and have a sit, they can. Originally published as Bobs love affair that shocked Australia https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/the-affair-that-scandalised-australia-bob-hawkes-20year-affair-with-blanche-dalpuget/news-story/cc4d90920d1fd2e1db2361ccd13d8d2b?from=htc_rss

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/politics/watch-impeaching-trump-doesnt-necessarily-benefit-democrats-matthew-dowd/

WATCH: Impeaching Trump 'doesn't necessarily benefit Democrats': Matthew Dowd

Transcript for Impeaching Trump ‘doesn’t necessarily benefit Democrats’: Matthew Dowd

So they don’t have anything with Russia. There is no collusion. So now they go and morph into, let’s inspect every deal he has ever done. We’re going to go into his finances. We’re going to check his deals. We’re going to check — these people are sick. Unfortunately, you put the wrong people in a couple of positions and they leave people for a long time that shouldn’t be there, and all of a sudden, they’re trying to take you out with . There’s a beep there for president trump. Two hours plus yesterday that his longest speech ever, perhaps the longest speech ever by an American president. Caps a tumultuous week for the president. We want to bring in our round table. Chief political analyst Matthew dowd, Sara Fagen who was a director in the George W. Bush white house. We have Tom llamas, Maggie Haberman from “The New York Times,” who broke that story on Jared Kushner’s security clearance, and author of the new book “If we can keep it.” Real study of how we got to our polarized politics today. Great book, Michael. Let’s begin with the week. Matthew, you look at the week. You look at the Cohen hearing. Seven hours on capitol hill, the collapse of the North Korea talks. Maggie’s story about the security clearance which we saw congressman Nadler call an abuse of power, but one thing this screams out is president trump emerges this week with his Republican base completely intact. I mean, what we’re seeing now is because we have been operating in this sort of chaotic environment for two plus years or three years if you include the campaign and everything that happened in that, I think people at this point in time, the people that are opposed to Donald Trump are solidly opposed to Donald Trump. The people that are for Donald Trump are basically solidly for Donald Trump, and all these pieces of information don’t seem to change that equilibrium. I think the country is waiting to tell us and give us the story. Give us the Mueller report. Find something in an investigation that they find incredibly credible which wouldn’t be Michael Cohen even though he raised dramatic concerns that I think the congress should investigate. But I think we’re in this equilibrium place that’s fundamentally not going to change until something the American public is presented with, where they have a conclusion. It was pretty remarkable on Wednesday, and we saw with congressman Mccarthy today, complete focus on Michael Cohen and his credibility and no concern or even defense of the president. Against the charges against the president. Are there any risks for Republicans in — in walking in lock step behind president trump? The only risk to Matt’s point is if there is some real there there. And right now, we don’t have evidence of collusion. We have manafort’s evidence of collusion. You have manafort’s crimes, but that doesn’t necessarily extend to the president. We’ll see what the Mueller report says, but one would think after, you know, a year plus, 18 months, we would see something if it was directly connected to the president by this point. But I think, you know, ultimately about Cohen, you can look around the investigation labyrinth between the southern district and Mueller and the congress. Of all the things the trump white house needs to be concerned about — and there are real concerns out there, the Cohen testimony wasn’t one of them. He’s just not a credible figure, and only base Democrats found him credible and they would find him credible no matter what he said at this pnt if he was criticizing Donald Trump. I guess the question will be what happens in the follow up. One of the things I wanted to bring to you is, you know, a lot of us have been hearing these reports and didn’t know how much credence to give them. The Mueller report will be coming out soon and anti-climactic. One of the mysteries, the president doesn’t act like a guy expecting welcome news from Robert Mueller. No, although it’s hard for me to do such tea leaf reading out of Donald Trump’s behavior because he forecasts negatives that aren’t there either, but he absolutely is pre-spinning something. That’s what that speech was largely about. It’s discrediting whatever is going to be coming down the pike. Whether that’s going to relate to Russia directly or some other aspect of his business, but no. He is not saying there is nothing here and there’s nothing to worry about and moving on like a happy warrior. Psychically, it’s hard for me to divorce that from the week he has. It may not have anything to do with what he knows is there. It might be habit too. It might be habit and this is one of the worst weeks, if not, the worst of his presidency. You had on the same day with Michael Cohen’s testimony, the summit in Vietnam with the north Korean leader and that did not go well. He feels like he’s fighting this two-prong front and yesterday was an attempt to get back. You covered president trump all through the campaign and a lot of what you saw this week must have been familiar to you, particularly that fuming against Michael Cohen, and for so long, they had a, you know, contentious at times relationship, but very close as I agree with Maggie, but I think any time president trump gives a long speech, and this was the longest of his presidency, two hours, he clearly is trying to make a point. So I agree with Maggie, but he was trying to wrestle back the headlines. Remember. He was in Vietnam on the cover front pages across the world, but so was Michael Cohen, and he had that failed summit in north Korea, and he was talking to his crowd. He was trying to camp them up, and by the end of it, he had turned that into a campaign I agree with Maggie. He may possibly be worried about something, but he’s trying to wrestle back those headlines. Your book explains the polarization, and talk about the risk I brought up with Sara Fagen, and reaching impeachment which congressman Nadler seemed at times to be sensitive to in the interview today. He was quite sensitive to it, and I think he said the right thing. I think he said that, you know, they can’t get too far out in front of public opinion when it comes to the issue of impeachment. They can’t see two Republicans like they are trying to nullify the results of the last election. He denied to you that it was political, but there is nothing wrong with being a little bit political about this. This is politics. It’s okay to be a little bit political. Yes, they have to follow the rule of law, and they have to do the right thing according to the law, and if the president obstructed justice merely obstructing justice, forget about obstruction of justice sometimes when we talk about obstruction of justice is a real thing and an impeachable offense. He’s right, and they can’t get too far out in front of public opinion on this. They have to bring public opinion on this along if that’s where they are going to go. It was stunning to me to listen to the congressman say that he has absolutely obstructed justice when congress has had but a few hearings. He has made up his mind already, and the Democrats are going to look for as long as they are able, until they find something that they — that they view as obstruction of justice. That is not — that is not the honest way to approach it. It’s already under way. One could make that argument, but you could make that argument that the majority of the country has made up their mind about the president, and you could make the point that Republicans have made up their mind. I think the problem for the Republicans in this is we ran a test case of what it’s like to be running with this president in 2018. At the same level of approval ratings he has today, and that test case — It’s kind of climbing a little bit. 46% in the new poll. Which is where he was — which is where he was right before the midterms which is where he was on inauguration day, and when the elections were held in November, 2018, Democrats had an historic election advantage. They won by 10 million votes and so if we run this out, the problem for the president isn’t what his number is. The problem is he is un — he has not convinced the majority of the country to support him. And we learn the investigations. You had this piece about the security clearances this week in Jared Kushner, and it’s remarkable, this video of the president during your interview saying I didn’t get involved. Bring us inside within that. Do you think he knows what you are talking about, and exactly what he’s saying and all the details and knowing how much vulnerability he could have in the future? It’s always hard to know exactly how aware he is of sort of future dangers, right? I mean, he tends to sort of exist in increments of time and says what he has to say. I asked him the question because we had been pursuing this tip that there was a memo, a Kelly memo — Chief of staff? Correct. That he was directed or ordered to give this clearance to Jared Kushner by the president. Again, within the president’s authority, and so when I asked the question, I thought he was going to say yes, and I thought I was going to go back and write a story about how this clearance had come about. They have the right to do it. Instead, he said no, and I don’t think I have the authority to do that, and I was surprised and I’m not usually surprised in these discussions with him, but I was there because I thought he was just going to lean into what he could do. I don’t know what the language was between him and John Kelly. I don’t know what the specifics of the conversation were. I think only the two of them do. Could it be a situation where he said, just deal with it? And John Kelly took that as an order or did John Kelly press him and say, is this an order and he said, yes? I don’t know. It seems to be he followed through on the documented requests starting tomorrow. A lot of this information is either going to get locked up in the courts or we’ll see it trickling out over the next Over the next few years possibly. What I got from the Nadler interview is what is the north star? If it’s no longer the Mueller report or obstruction of justice, is anything big enough to take down the president? I don’t know about that, but when you lay out everything they had there, the emoluments violations, looking at his tax returns, and potential abuse of power, obstruction of justice, it seems like we have quite a year ahead. I don’t think it’s benefit — it doesn’t necessarily benefit Democrats to impeach the president politically. I think that’s one of the questions I wanted to get to. We’re running over time now, but is it possible we’re seeing an emerging democratic strategy that you simply keep on doing the investigations and never reach the actual question of whether to open up the proceedings? That depends on the evidence, but I think it’s much better for the Democrats, if they don’t get to the final stage. What is the point of that? The point is just politics and, you know, if they have direct evidence to implicate the president or someone around him, they should — they should go there, but for them to go down a road where they have no end game, it seems like it’s very disruptive to the country. I think if you have a president who has broken the law as Michael Cohen alleges — we don’t know that, but he says that, and a president who has obstructed justice, which it seems he has done on national television, in front of our faces and on Twitter, there is a point to bringing all that out.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

[blackbeautysister3]

my mother had been home schooling me and my sisters since I was four. when I was a bit older she seriously considered putting us in public school to focus on a career offer, but she took a long hard look at her daughters and realized something.

one of them wouldnt make it. and that one was me.

I wasnt ‘slow’, I could read fine, I was a bit chubby but not much especially at that age. everything a kid gets bullied for in the stereotypes I would be able to avoid or handle.

but I had problems with thinking things through and just did what I was instructed, I had minor anxiety and I could basically only bring myself to become friends with people either younger than me or related to me, usually both.

my mother chose to focus on me instead of writing and publishing a scientific paper, becoming a teacher/professor, or just putting us in public school because she knew if she did, she might have lost one of her girls before she got to high school.

and I did/do have a bit of depression, social awkwardness and I’m fat.

so what? so many people make fun of home schooled kids (not even home schooling itself! the people who were home schooled) without ever thinking about what could have driven a parent who did go to public school (or didnt! its not your business!) to take their kid out of that environment.

i thought this post was a little controversial and would make all the homeschooled kids on here angry so im not going to post it