#catch an illegal immigrant

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

An AU where Tintin is a crime lord, inspired by @jerseyhobby 's post here!

Detective Rastapopoulus is one of the most brilliant minds in his department. His talent has been long overlooked due to his status as an immigrant, but when a new teenage menace starts to stir up the streets, Rastapopoulus's knack for digging into the murky depths of the criminal underworld is called upon.

His target is only known by his alias, Tintin. At just seventeen he already has a few bank heists, smuggling operations and a chain of illegal clubs under his belt. He operates like a phantom, making himself hardly known. Those who have had business with him never recall him raising his voice, as he simply does not need to. Manners go a long way, and manners are an effective mask for the brutality required to maintain such an operation.

Few are confirmed to know him personally. He has his beloved dog, Snowy, who has a taste for expensive jewelry, and his right hand man, a pickpocket-turned jewel thief he met in Shanghai. Together they are unstoppable, nothing is outside their reach - and when the Karaboudjan, a large shipping vessel goes missing, along with its crew and captain, Rastapopoulus just knows they are involved. If only he can keep his temper and ego in check, he might just be able to finally put an end to Tintin's reign of chaos, and perhaps earn the recognition he so desperately craves.

I think an AU where Tintin uses his abilities for crime would be an interesting way to see how he's impacted people he's met, so for this take I have only inverted Tintin and Rastapopoulos - Haddock is still an honest man, but his vulnerability leaves him open to being manipulated. He becomes Tintin's equivalent to Allan Thompson, only this time motivated by fear for his life rather than money. Alcohol, threats and his rock-bottom self esteem keep him in line.

Calculus is scammed by Tintin for his inventions, leaving him feeling deeply betrayed as he is someone with strong morals. He vows revenge, his tunnel vision leading him down incredibly destructive paths. He was initially targeted by Tintin because he just seemed naive and easy to exploit, but Tintin severly underestimates him, despite Chang's warnings. Not only does Tintin have the law on his tail, but a mad scientist with nothing left to lose, who has access to devastating explosives.

Chang simply wants somewhere he belongs. Canonically he's stolen from cops before, so there's no doubt that if Tintin dragged him into crime he would follow along - but he may start to doubt if their bond is built more on what he can do for him rather than his value as a person.

Rastapopoulos this time gets to use his cunning to catch a slippery crime lord, but he still has the same shortcomings as his canon counterpart. He sorely craves attention and praise. He has a terrible short temper. He craves power and influence. He starts to use increasingly questionable methods for his investigation, as his higher ups breathe down his neck for being incapable of catching a couple of queer teenage hoodlums.

Tintin himself isn't motivated by money or power, he's looking for thrills and control over his life. Canonically he's rather emotionally shut off, and he's no different here. He doesn't let himself get too attached to anyone else. Unlike canon Rastapopoulos, I can imagine a crime lord Tintin pouring money and resources into communities in need, and opening up spaces for marginalised groups like bars for queer people. He still wants to do good deep down, but just doesn't quite believe he is a good person.

[suzukiblu]

If you feel up for it, for the writing meme prompt, Clark Kent/Lex Luthor, with the song You And Me by Lifehouse? If it's not your thing I totally get it though and hope you have a great time and fun writing the things that do catch your fancy!

I think we ALL knew that I was gonna do baby Kon for this, lbr. Also ngl, this came out way more cracky than the prompt would suggest it should've but it is absolutely my favorite thing I’ve written for this meme so far, as the necessity for the following cut should help attest, haha.

Unfortunately, Lex takes one look at Cadmus’s progress report on the newly-crafted Experiment Thirteen and realizes he has paternal instincts. 

Well, that’s inconvenient. And a little disgusting, honestly. Certainly a disappointment. 

He supposes it could be worse. He could be Lionel about this. 

Anyway, that’s how he has a physiological four year-old on his lap when he hears the news about Superman coming back to life and fistfighting an evil cyborg with his own face about it, because of course the man didn’t have the decency to just stay dead. Why would he, after all? 

Lex needs a drink. That would be a bad example for the physiological four year-old, though. 

Then again, Experiment Thirteen should be completely immune to the effects of Earth-based alcohol in about another four to six months of consistent yellow sun exposure, so . . . 

Lex is halfway through his second brandy when Superman shows up on his balcony at super-speed wearing a very pretentiously dramatic black suit and looking both winded and bewildered. And still alive, unfortunately. 

“Don’t you have a murderous cyborg to be ensuring is in custody?” Lex asks dryly, deciding to just not acknowledge the presence of the physiological four year-old who’s moved on to messily but methodically coloring on the floor underneath his desk. Lex didn’t actually give Experiment Thirteen either a coloring book or crayons, mind, but he appreciates the clone’s resourcefulness in breaking into the office supplies. Anyway, it’s useful for developing its hand-eye coordination and fine motor control. 

Superman’s pupils are pin-pricks, barely even there at all. Which is an unusual reaction from him, and Lex notes that fact reflexively but doesn’t particularly care about it. Meant-to-be-dead people do unusual things, especially the alien ones. And it isn’t as if–

“Baby,” Superman blurts, his eyes wide. 

Lex . . . pauses. Takes a slow sip of his brandy. 

Alright then. 

“Yes, I’ve noticed,” he settles on eventually, raising an eyebrow at him. Experiment Thirteen peers out from under the desk, immediately decides Superman isn’t an interesting presence, and then goes back to coloring all over Lex’s floor. It seems to be drawing either a puppy or a chain of complex genetic sequencing, but judging by the kinds of things it’s been drawing so far, it’s fifty-fifty. Lex has been getting the impression the clone actually likes art, which is a baffling interest to find in his own progeny, but how does that quote go . . . “I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet”? 

Or something like that, anyway. 

“No, I–baby,” Superman stresses, looking bewildered as he floats down a little closer to the open balcony door. 

“. . . yes, I’ve noticed,” Lex repeats, raising his eyebrow again and taking another sip of brandy. Superman looks frazzled, bobbing up a little higher in the air again to get a better view of Experiment Thirteen under the desk. Experiment Thirteen keeps ignoring him in favor of its coloring, displaying no apparent interest in the most powerful uninvited guest in the history of illegal immigration. Lex experiences a moment of overwhelming paternal pride, which is such a bizarre and unanticipated experience that he doesn’t even know what to do with it. 

“Where’d he come from?” Superman asks with a wondering expression. Ugh.

“A cloning lab,” Lex replies dismissively, setting his near-empty glass down on the desk. It’s hardly worth lying about Experiment Thirteen’s origins at this point. He didn’t want to murder everyone in Cadmus to keep the secret. He might need them if there’s an issue with Experiment Thirteen’s genetics later, after all. “We mixed it up a couple weeks ago while you were off wasting everyone’s time being dead."

“You had my baby?” Superman says, tilting in the air and still staring at Experiment Thirteen, as if he's somehow forgotten both how much kryptonite Lex owns and how much kryptonite he keeps specifically in this office. “While I was dead. You had my baby while I was dead.” 

. . . alright then, Lex thinks again, both eyebrows raising this time. 

“I really wouldn’t put it that way, personally,” he says. “Also, I don’t recall saying it was in any way yours.”

“Baby,” Superman repeats inanely, then lands on the floor and ducks down into a crouch to peer under the desk better, his pupils still reduced to barely-there pinpricks. Lex is so mystified he doesn't even activate the security system or the weaponized red sun lamps. Experiment Thirteen frowns at Superman–Lex, again, basks in unanticipated paternal pride–and then turns its back on him and hides all its drawings from him as seriously and carefully as if they were under NDA. 

It's almost adorable, frankly. 

Not that Lex finds things adorable, of course. 

“His heartbeat's so cute,” Superman says, looking absolutely fascinated. Which is surprisingly useful of him to mention, actually, since Lex had previously been vaguely concerned that Experiment Thirteen's odd thrumming heartbeat might be a sign of a heart defect, but apparently it’s just a Kryptonian thing. A . . . “cute” Kryptonian thing, according to Superman. 

Lex is increasingly mystified by this interaction. 

“Can’t say I’ve spent much time listening to it, personally,” he lies, because he has in fact obsessed over that heartbeat’s health and stability since first finding out about its unusualness and has done a truly aggravating amount of research into heart murmurs and conditions and the like. But that’s hardly Superman’s business, now is it. 

“. . . what’s his name?” Superman asks hesitantly. Lex is possibly having an out of body experience. 

“Experiment Thirteen,” he says. Superman immediately looks offended. 

“We need to give him a name, Lex,” he says. Lex, again, has an out of body experience. 

“‘We’?” he repeats incredulously. “I made it, I get to decide what it’s called.” 

“He’s got my DNA!” Superman protests, looking indignant. Lex has absolutely no idea how to process that expression. 

“It has both our DNA, in fact, yours was too irritating to stabilize alone,” Lex informs him dubiously. More accurately it was literally impossible to stabilize alone, but he’s not mentioning that to Superman. “So it has my DNA, and I made it. And also put eight point two billion dollars into its production, as a lowball estimate. Therefore I’m the one who decides what its name is, thank you very much.” 

“Lex,” Superman says disapprovingly. “You can’t call a baby Experiment Thirteen.” 

“It’s physiologically developed enough to complain if it doesn’t like it,” Lex retorts, narrowing his eyes at him. Superman frowns at him. Lex has never had a more ridiculous conversation with the man, including all the times Superman’s tried to appeal to his nonexistent “better nature”. “Well it is.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Superman says, then ducks back down and peers at Experiment Thirteen again, gentling his voice to address it while Lex is still incredulously mouthing “ridiculous”? to himself. “Would you like a real name, kiddo?” 

Experiment Thirteen sticks its tongue out at him. 

Lex is finding parenthood to be a very rewarding experience, actually. 

[starseedpatriot]

It is the 4th day of 2024

- Epstein’s associate list is catching the world on fire for the elitists and the media is in a tailspin.

- The US is having to literally bomb Iran to try to create a distraction. They apparently have nothing else to offer as a ready made false flag.

- The US Federal debt surpassed $34 trillion and we have a negative GPD. The world outside of the snow globe is avoiding global war and watching the machine lose its economic power.

- Deep blue sanctuary cities are having to lash out at their own party’s Badministration over illegal immigration.

- The black and Latino communities are taking a hard right. Young voters are moving right. Labor unions are moving right. The pendulum is swinging.

- The truth of the 2020 election steal is seeing more light with the release of a 32-page play-by-play on swing state shenanigans.

- The J6 narrative is falling apart and is being shown as a federally organized and perpetrated false flag.

- Jack Smith is failing to, “get Trump,” and may be disqualified as a special prosecutor while the baseless Trump indictments fall apart.

- The machine is so stuck with Dopey Joe as a de facto candidate that it is being forced to prop up deep state marionette Niki Haley, who is currently behind Trump by 55 points in the polls.

- Ukraine is falling apart and Israel is losing its mystique as God’s chosen nation as their ruthless technocracy is exposed.

- The globalist warming climate change narrative is disintegrating as the creeps are forced to hyperbole that is easily seen as ridiculous overstatement.

2024 is four days old. We told you it was going to be a year to remember. So far, so good.

[vindicated-truth]

Beyond Evil: The Romcom

I've always said that barring all the murder and mystery elements, Beyond Evil is at its core a romantic comedy, and here's the proof (aside from Hakyun and Jingoo themselves pushing the agenda lol):

Bear in mind that if this is a romcom, not a thriller, it means Everybody Lives ™ and No One is A Murderer ™

Our main protagonist is of course our eccentric small-town hero, Lee Dongsik, who's known for his quirkiness and idiosyncratic tendencies in solving crime. His unorthodox methods of catching criminals earns him the grudging respect of the Regional Investigation Unit, where he works under his mentor and beloved second father, Nam Sangbae.

The office is situated at the Seoul Metropolitan Government Office, where our hero meets the other male lead: Han Joowon, esteemed Inspector working in Foreign Affairs, renowned for his keen intellect, cold personality, and most importantly, the notoriety of his rich and powerful family.

A particular difficult case involving the disappearance of illegal immigrants forces Foreign Affairs and the RIU to work together, and an unlikely partnership between each department's best officer.

The second lead is our hero's longtime childhood best friend, Park Jeongje, whom Dongsik thought was initially in love with his twin, Yuyeon. Yuyeon liked Jeongje but not enough to give up her ambition for him, and when Jeongje left for the states, Yuyeon graduated from Seoul National University as summa cum laude and passed as the bar topnotcher.

Yuyeon had the brains, but unfortunately not the connections, and with her background AND her gender she found it difficult to prove herself at the law firm where she was hired, and goes head to head with the ambitious Kwon Hyuk.

Unbeknowst to Dongsik, he was actually the one Jeongje was in love with. Do Haewon finds out and she's against it because she wants Jeongje to have that traditional marriage with a traditional family because for Jeongje to come out of the closet would affect her image as a rising politician.

Han Kihwan, for his part, is seeing how his normally poised and law-abiding son is being pulled into questionable methods by Dongsik, and vows to separate their partnership.

Dongsik's and Joowon's begrudging partnership also leads Yuyeon's and Kwon's paths to cross more often, and a budding romance develops between the lawyers as the side couple.

Lee Changjin is still Oh Jihwa's ex-husband, and no matter how Dosoo tries to arrange blind dates for Jihwa, she turns them all down. Dosoo wonders why she doesn't have time to date if all she does is visit Jaeyi's butcher shop even after work.

Jaeyi herself gets questioned often by her mother and the ahjummas in town why she won't get herself a boyfriend, especially that handsome young officer from Foreign Affairs who keeps visiting, and she only smiles and doesn't answer every time she reserves a seat for Jihwa after work hours, just for the two of them.

Minjeong, meanwhile, sneaks behind everyone's back to date Jihoon, but Dongsik, overprotective of her ever since he became her legal guardian after her parents abandoned her, keeps getting in her way. It causes a tense friction between him and Jihwa, as Jihwa asks if Dongsik thinks her brother isn't good enough for his ward.

Jeongje of course, sees this as an opportunity to side with Dongsik, and it causes friction with his friendship with Jihwa as well, which also then causes friction between Jaeyi's friendship with Dongsik, and drama ensues.

Upon seeing how Dongsik is distracted by his mysterious new partner, Han Joowon, Minjeong takes it upon herself to make sure those two get together so Dongsik wouldn't focus all his attention on her and she gets to do what she wants. Hijinks ensue, especially when he ropes in Jihoon in her plans.

Somehow this leads to Minjeong and Jihoon accidentally discovering an international crime syndicate and they both get kidnapped for it, but not to worry because Everybody Works Together™ to save them and unravel the crime syndicate at the same time.

Han Kihwan and Do Haewon finally sees and understands Dongsik's true worth to both Joowon and Jeongje, and in the end, Dongsik asks Joowon if they can extend their partnership outside of work.

Jaeyi and Jihwa end up together, Yuyeon and Hyuk end up together, Minjeong and Jihoon end up together, and Jeongje comes to terms with his feelings for Dongsik and vows to be there as his best man.

At the wedding held overseas, Jeongje is reunited with Yuyeon, and tells him she wishes happiness for him too, someday. She and his twin brother will always be there for him no matter what.

At the reception, Dongsik introduces Jeongje to this new young officer: Lee Sangyeob. Sangyeob tells him he was Dongsik's former partner, and they spent the rest of the reception laughing and commiserating over Dongsik.

And they lived happily ever after. As they ALL should.

[conhivemindcent]

Sorry to bring back up the Titan submersible, but I find it fascinating in a very morbid way. Mostly in terms of the news. This will be the media student in me talking but to me, it’s a perfect example of so many of Galtung and Ruge’s news values. I’ll also be looking at the migrant boat that sunk off the coast of Greece for similar comparison and why an American centric website would probably see more news relating to the submersible.

Put simply, one of Galtung and Ruge’s news values is proximity, aka how close to home it was and how meaningful it is to the people there. Since the submersible launched from Newfoundland, Canada would’ve gotten more news stories about the submersible. Meanwhile, the boat with the immigrants was found off the coast of Greece, with more stories about it there. Since the USA is closer to Canada than Greece, they got more stories about the sub than the boat.

Another value is currency. This is why me, a Brit, got more news coverage on the boat for the first few days. The UK has a known immigration problem and some really dodgy laws about it (basically in most circumstances you can only apply for a permit once you’re in the country but entering the country without a permit is illegal, so it’s a catch 22), so something about immigration would always be more relevant. However, the antithesis recency would affect how in the last few hours of the sub being missing when the air was thought to be running out (so morning and afternoon of 22nd June) there were more stories on the sub.

A fourth value is uniqueness. Sadly, a migrant ship sinking with people dying and going missing is not an uncommon thing nowadays. A maritime disaster involving billionaires touring the Titanic? Never happened before, I hope it will never happen again (and it most likely will not). Of course the news will focus on something that hasn’t happened before - when will they get the chance to do it?

There’s also the values of Elite People. These people were billionaires. The people on the migrant ship were most likely just normal unnoteworthy people. And also recency - the Messenia boat occurred in the 14th June, and by the time the debris of the boat had been discovered it has already been a week.

I think it is important we take these news values into consideration and also how we as a community on Tumblr can see how we played right into these. An American website with a large American usership would naturally gravitate towards an American story, no matter how global it claims to be. In addition, it’s unusual enough with such strange circumstances that jokes and criticisms were bound to occur. The continuity (another news value) of the story with the search was also intriguing, as we saw it play out first hand with the initial disappearance, the potential signals, the discovery of the wreckage. Add in a level of expectedness (another news value - these people would either be found or not, and let’s be honest they were more likely to be dead than alive) and we have a perfectly newsworthy story to top the trending page for a few days.

It’s something I find fascinating, how despite people saying we should focus on the Messenia migrant boat disaster, we were still echoing the news perfectly on the site. One thing I’ve noted is that I didn’t really see anybody mentioning it before the Titan set out, but once the searching started it started becoming more relevant and trending a little below it. This isn’t a call to do better, this is just something I’ve noticed.

If there’s any saving light, out of the estimated 750 (maximum) of migrants, 104 have been confirmed alive and rescued. And I’m so happy for that.

[militantinremission]

Enter the Elites... But will it help?

Black America has begun to Stand On Our Square & it's obvious that the Democratic Party doesn't know how to deal w/ it. I said that 2024 is a 'Year Of Affirmation' & as Black America reaffirms Our Agenda, the DNC continues to send out Democratic Shills that do Kamala Harris more harm than good. The latest Tools out of the DNC Toolbox are Magic Johnson & Barack Obama. Magic is not known for his Public Speaking, but there he was- trying to Sell the Soap to Black Men at a Rally in Flint, Mi. What I first noticed, was Magic's 3rd Party reference to the Black Community; I guess he isn't Black anymore, he's 'Magic'. It was pretty clear that he didn't write what he was reading. Magic sounded like a White Man from the Jim Crow South: "We gotta get Our Black Men to Vote". This despite The Fact that the ONLY Demographic Group that votes at a larger percentage than Black Men, are Black Women.

Magic Johnson is beloved for his outstanding Professional Basketball Career, his victory over HIV, and his success in Business. I don't know who he is beholden to, but I suggest he stays out of Black Politics; especially at a Time when We're taking note of Who's with Us & Who isn't. Politics isn't Magic's lane, & he risks doing real damage to his Social Capital. Unfortunately, Magic Johnson is just one of many Black Celebrities & Elites stepping up to Democratic Microphones. It's comical to see this recent spotlight on Black America, when you consider how unapologetic The Democratic Party has been in BLATANTLY ignoring Our Concerns over the last 3Yrs. Not long after his inauguration, Joe Biden spoke to CBC Members on a Zoom Call. They were trying to ferret out Biden's 'Black Agenda', but he told them that they need to work w/ Latinx because they will be the Majority in 2040. The CBC fell back, but the Black Grassroots aren't settling. Joe Biden TOTALLY reneged on his Promise to 'Have Black America's Back'. Among the Measures that The Biden-Harris Administration ignored were:

A George Floyd Justice in Policing Bill

An Anti-Black Hate Crime Bill

An Anti-Lynching Law that focused on Black Lives

A Measure to 'Defund' or divert resources from Militarized Units of Police Departments to Mental Health Outreach & EMS Units

$4.5B in Aid to Black Farmers

Joe Biden's 'Lift Every Voice' Act

Kamala Harris' 'Lift Act'

Democratic Shills are quick to say that the Biden- Harris Administration didn't have the numbers to get ANY of that legislation through Congress, but They had no problem gathering enough Bipartisan support to Sign Off on:

An Asian Hate Crime Law

A Federal Gay Marriage Law

Aid & Comfort to 100,000 Afghani & 100,000 Ukrainian Refugees, in addition to MILLIONS of unvetted Illegal Immigrants

Roughly $175B to support an Ultraconservative (Neo Nazi) Ukrainian Oligarchy

Over $30B to support The [Ethno] State of Israel's Zionist Agenda of Genocide & a 'Greater Israel'

Magic Johnson was still catching lumps from the New Black Media, when Barack Obama made a stop on the Campaign Trail (in Pittsburgh?) to give Black Men yet another scolding. In his Address that was equal parts Condescension & Accusation, Barack Obama had the audacity to tell 'The Brothas'(???) that Kamala Harris:

Grew up like Us

Knows Us

Went to College w/ Us

Understands 'The Struggles' & the Pain & Joy that comes out of that Experience

Worked harder & did more (like We did) to 'achieve' the 2nd highest Office in The Land

Barry needs to go back to Martha's Vineyard & stay Radio Silent. His Legacy is not as shiny as he thinks. Black America lost 54% of Our Collective Wealth on his Watch, while Mainstream America gained $35 Trillion in Wealth. The more he speaks, the more he spotlights how different He & Kamala Harris are from Us. As I stated before, Barack & Kamala don't have a 'Black American' Experience, they both have an IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE. Neither grew up in Black Culture or spent their Formidable Years in the Black Community. The Truth is that BOTH began their 'Black Experience' as Young Adults (in Black Elite/ Boule settings). How many Black Men did Barack have access to before Reverend Jeremiah Wright? The Fact that the First [Noticably] 'Black' Man & Woman in The Oval Office AREN'T from 'The Soil' is not lost on Us. We also see how BOTH aspired to the Highest Levels of Power in just 2 Generations; This has not been the Experience of Indigenous Black Americans in 248Yrs.

Michael Harriot, Ta Nehesi Coats, Van Jones, & a growing number of Mainstream Black Journalists are taking a harder political line. Nina Turner was first to pubically call out Obama for his condescending language towards Black Men, but she has been joined by Roland Martin & a growing number of Media Bootlicks that are starting to See the Light. The accusation of Sexism & Misogyny levied on Black Men Collectively, is unfounded. A recent CNN Poll showed 69% of Black Men voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016, higher than the 60% that voted for Joe Biden in 2020. Barack himself favored an Open Nomination Process, over simply placing Kamala at the top of the Democratic Ticket. Rumor has it that He favored Gavin Newsome & Sen. Mark Kelly; does that make Barry a Misogynist? Nina Turner told a CNN Panel that the Black Men she spoke to have reasons for moving away from the Democratic Party, but NO ONE in Mainstream Media is talking about those reasons. Society regards Barack Obama as the'Chief Negro Whisperer', but he seems clueless about what motivates Black Men.

The Aftereffect of Barack's 'Address to Black Men' has been a barrage of comments on New Black Media Platforms. CNN's Abby Phillip had a Panel of 'Black Men' to discuss Barack's Message, but the Panelists featured were questionable at best. No One can deny that Barack Obama has lost his luster w/ Black America, & Mainstream Media Outlets are beginning to admit that this is a Trend that started after Obama's First Term in Office. Blackfolk committed to Obama's Agenda of 'Hope' & 'Change'; We could not fathom that he would put EVERYONE ELSE before Us. We made excuses for his disregard of Black Specific Issues. Obama's 'Beer Summit' w/ Skip Gates was a head scratcher. Flint, Michigan was a Wake Up Call. Mother Emmanuel Church, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Freddy Gray, & Michael Brown made it clear that Barack WON'T protect Us. His interview w/ Ta Nehesi Coats on the topic of Reparations brought it Home that Barack had no intention of doing ANYTHING for Us. We touted Obama as One of Our Own, but he was far from it. We validated him & he used that validation to publicly scold Us. 8Yrs later, Barack Obama's 'Big Daddy' Routine has gotten stale & his language towards Black Men is unacceptable.

Some of Us question Obama's motivation. Were his comments really a gaff, or was this part of a larger narrative? We know that Barack was behind Joe Biden's decision to 'drop out' of the Presidential Campaign, & We know that Kamala Harris wasn't his first choice to replace him. If earlier rumors regarding a plot by Obama, Nancy Pelosi, & possibly Chuck Schumer to destroy Joe Biden's 'Legacy' are true, Barack looks more Clinical than Clueless. The Harris-Walz Campaign tried to mitigate the damage by quickly putting out a 'Plan for Black Men', but EVERYONE KNOWS that Affirmative Action set a precedent on Race Specific Policy. Congress will reject ANY Plan for 'Black Men' before Ed Blum or SCOTUS does. In other words, this 'Policy' is more Word Salad. A closer look at this Harris- Walz Policy reveals more of the same 'Rising Tide' Legislation that Dems only offer Black Voters. It ignores Issues that Black Men say are important.

The Harris-Walz Campaign may have a better understanding of Black Specific Issues if they appeared on Platforms other than The Breakfast Club, Roland Martin Unfiltered, All The Smoke, The Shade Room, & Call Her Daddy. New Black Media has REAL QUESTIONS. We want to know about Kamala's Policy Platform & 'Black Agenda', but We also want to know more about Kamala personally:

What's the deal w/ her Father's Lineage?

Where is his Birth Certificate?

What Year was he born- Was it 1938?

Who is Beril/ Beryl Finegan?

If her Grandmother died in 1960, WHO is the woman pictured holding her as a baby?

Who is Iris Finegan?

Are the Black People pictured w/ her in Jamaica actual Family Members or Plantation Hands?

Did she know about Doug Emhoff's indiscretions?

If her Father (& Step Mother) currently live crosstown from her & Doug in Washington D.C., why is he absent from her Campaign?

Kamala has been making herself more available to Media, but it has not worked in her best interest. The Harris-Walz Campaign has no other options w/ Election Day being less than 3 Weeks away, & her support leveling off. The DNC can keep sending out Shills to get Blackfolk 'In Line', but without a Clear Message & SPECIFIC STRATEGY to actually move America 'Forward'', Kamala just looks like she's repeating the same Menu of Word Salads across different Platforms. We're not the only demographic moving away from the Democratic Party, but We appear to be leading the Exodus. As for Black Celebrities & Elites, it's Time to choose Sides... You're either On Code or you're Not.

-The Smart Play, is to Bet on Black.

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

A Rite Of Passage: Part Two

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.9k

Summary: A case brings you to a small town in Texas that is close to Mexico's border. Someone is killing people who illegally cross the border, and he's a lot closer than you think.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

After taking care of the head, your team went back to the station to give the profile to all of Eva's officers. Deputy Boyd is there watching the team with careful eyes but your eyes are on him and only him.

"We're searching for a personality type called a Human Predator or a hunter if you want to get basic. All the victims we've been able to conclusively tie to him have been older or handicapped in some way. This suggests he waits for someone to separate from the pack and looks for the weakest."

"Like a lion or something?" Eva asks.

"A lion hunts food. This type of predator hunts power. It's not about serving a need, and everything is a means to that end. We also believe that he makes his victims run through the desert in order to weaken them."

"Like a coward," you say while keeping direct eye contact with Boyd. He holds your gaze before looking away with narrowed eyes. Yeah, he's wearing his heart on his sleeve. He's showing all his cards to someone like you. "He may not be capable of taking them on in their strongest state despite their age or infirmity. This suggests that he's possibly handicapped in some way himself. Certainly weak, maybe small, or even thin."

"An unsub who creates chaos and then attacks typically carries this through to all aspects of his life. He's unlikely to be in a relationship. If he is, it's an abusive one. This guy gets off on control. He will have tried to stay very close to the investigation. He's well aware that the sheriff has started looking into the missing illegal immigrants."

"How do you know that?" Eva asks.

"It's probably why the decapitations started as a countermeasure. He's trying to throw off the investigation. It's typical in an organized offender like this. Cary Stayner, the Yosemite Killer, drove more than fifty miles to dump cigarette packs and driver's licenses at intersections to throw off suspicion," Spencer explains.

"Start by looking back at everyone you've talked to in connection with these killings. We need to start with people who are familiar with the immigrant journey."

"Like who? Advocates? None of them will talk to us. I've tried," Eva sighs.

"Well, the coyotes want this guy caught. He's hurting their business, and if the advocates really care about the immigrants, they're gonna want to find whoever is responsible as well."

"There's one guy who could help. He runs an outreach program called Libertad."

"Where can we find him?"

"Boyd, do you want to take them over to meet Richard Corral?"

Eva asks but her look suggests she wasn't asking.

"My lucky day," he sighs.

Emily offered to go and because you don't want her alone with him, you agreed to join them. Boyd isn't too happy that you're going solely based on what you said in the profile reading but he keeps his mouth shut. If you want to be sure Boyd is the one who is killing these people, you have to read into him more and maybe catch him off guard to the point where he will confess something.

"Corral, these FBI agents want a word with you," Boyd says when you get there.

Richard finishes with what he is doing before walking over to you, Boyd, and Emily. He is limping slightly which catches Emily's attention.

"See the limp?"

"Emily," you whisper and shake your head.

Richard might fit the profile but he isn't the one who is killing these people. You take out your phone and step off to the side but stay close enough to hear their conversation. As you call Penelope, you don't take your eyes off Boyd.

"Hey, Pen, I need you to run a check on someone for me... Make that two."

"Who are you looking to get dirt on?"

"Richard Corral and Ronald Boyd. He's one of the deputies here."

"Ooh, you think he's the unsub?"

"Yeah. Let me know what you get."

"I'll hit you back."

"What is wrong with you, Boyd? None of my clients will trust me If I've got federal agents walking around here," Richard hisses.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't spend your time helping illegals sneak into the country."

Your eyes narrow at his words.

"They only want a better life."

"Well, they ought to come in the front door."

"Gentlemen, another day?" Emily butts in. Boyd steps off to the side and looks at you. He is angry and desperate which makes him dangerous. "Mr. Corral, we understand your hesitation but we aren't here about immigration, we're here about murder. Do you know anything about the heads that were left in front of the sheriff's station a few days ago?"

"Everyone does. My clients are terrified."

"Clients," Boyd scoffs.

Again, more anger.

"Deputy, why don't you go wait outside?" you ask. He is much taller than you but he doesn't intimidate you. "And I wasn't asking."

Boyd glares at you but he doesn't say anything. Like a petulant child, he turns and leaves.

"Another man was murdered last night. An immigrant. We need to figure out how this man finds his victims. Sheriff Ruiz said you know more about these people's journey than anyone." Richard nods. "How many places were there to cross?"

"For every tunnel we find, there's twelve more we don't know about."

"What about once they've made it?"

"Runners keep documents in the trunks of their cars--passports, fake social security numbers, and green cards. It's a big business. Especially in border towns."

"Do you know these runners?"

"No, they change all the time."

"If immigrants don't find you, where do they go?" you ask.

"Safe houses. It's supposed to be where they can find rest, water, and food."

"Supposed to be?"

"It's more like a prison until their families can pay off the coyotes."

"Where are these safe houses?"

"Are you kidding? They come and go faster than the tunnels."

"Thank you for your time," you smile politely.

Since Richard can't tell you where these safe houses are, Hotch is relying on Sheriff Ruiz to help him with the geographical profile. It would help to go to them and talk with the immigrants but it's unlikely that someone from those houses will talk to your team. Then you think of the man who was just murdered last night and how he traveled with a group so someone will be missing him. If you can find last night's group, you can find the route they used therefore finding the hunting grounds for the unsub.

Eva isn't too fond of this plan because if she knew where they were, she'd shut them down. Without her help, you're forced to look at this through a different lens. You can start with the houses closest to the border but it's going to take a while for Eva to pull the land deeds. That's where Penelope comes in. Hotch has her looking for homeowners and renters with criminal records who are always moving and looking for homes with short-term leases. Every house that is housing illegals will have higher utility usage.

Penelope came up with three, and she sent the addresses to all your phones. You and Emily leave Richard's outreach post and join Boyd in the car.

"You know, we're not going to get very far if you keep arguing about illegals with everyone," you say to Boyd.

"This place used to be different."

"How do you mean?"

"I don't know. Different."

Images of Boyd decapitating people's heads are enough to solidify your theories. You take out your phone and type something in your notes before angling it so Emily can see. She looks away from the road and looks down at your phone.

I think Boyd is the unsub.

She looks at you and you give her two nods before taking away the phone and locking it. The closest safe house is ten minutes from you so that's where you three head to first. If this is a bust, you'll check out the other ones. However, when you get there, you can feel the fear radiating from the horse stable next to the house. Boyd is in the front while you and Emily are in the back. You know that the man inside the house will make a break for it when Boyd makes himself know which is why you and Emily have guns trained on the back door. Spencer might not have the qualifications to carry an MP-5 but you do. When you went to do your firearms test a few years ago, you passed with almost every weapon. Your dad owned a lot of guns that he'd let you use growing up.

"Police! Open up!" Boyd yells from the front.

Just like what you predicted, the back door opens and a man runs out. You stick your arm out and hit him right in the chest causing him to fall on his ass. He puts his hands up in defense mode when he sees the guns on him.

"FBI. We have a few questions for you," you glare.

"No hablo ingles."

Emily sighs. She is fluent in Spanish so she takes over. "FBI. Tenemos algunas preguntas para usted." 

The man is put in handcuffs but before he is arrested, he is forced to tell you where he is keeping the illegals. There's a reason why you felt fear coming from the stables. There are people in there scared of the man you arrested. He rapes them and keeps them prisoner for his own sick pleasure. After you get them medical help, you take the man back to the station for questioning. The man is placed into an interrogation room that Derek is going to use so you're off to the side with the rest of the team to watch him.

"Anything?" Hotch asks you.

"He picked a fight with Richard about the illegals. He's very angry and desperate. I even saw him decapitating someone through energies. I don't have any evidence though."

"No, but you can question him afterward."

"Okay, I'll do that."

Derek walks into the interrogation room and stands in front of the man who is stoned and silent, and Eva walks into the room where you and Hotch are.

"Now, you're gonna listen to me. If you don't want to talk to me, that's fine. I don't care, but you're facing rape, kidnapping, weapon charges, and numerous counts of federal conspiracy to smuggle and harbor illegal aliens. This is your last chance to help yourself, my friend."

"He doesn't look concerned," Hotch says.

"It's because the whole border situation is chaos. He has as much chance of just getting deported as he does of doing prison time."

"I'll make some calls and see if I can pull some federal strings."

"Who's gonna pull the strings when you go home?" she sighs.

Emily and JJ are questioning the woman whose husband disappeared last night, the person whose head was on a stick in front of the sheriff's house this morning. The mother was distressed over her husband but her son told them that he saw the sun when they were running which is weird since they cross the border at night. They didn't think too much of it and passed it off as the kid having trauma for leaving his father behind.

You wait until your team is done questioning everyone before you search for Deputy Boyd. When you don't see him, you question around for his whereabouts. The line of questioning your team did took a little longer than usual so Deputy Boyd was sent home, and Sheriff Ruiz also went home. You take out your phone and call her but she isn't answering.

Weird. You'll talk to Boyd tomorrow. Penelope's search of the deputy didn't come back with any red flags. He's a model employee even though he doesn't have a lot of friends or family around.

When you arrive at the station tomorrow, there isn't a deputy in sight.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[usaigi]

How @yellowocaballero and I Fixed Daredevil by Headcannoning Him as Mexican

When Daredevil first appeared in 1964, he was a second-generation Irish-American from Hell’s Kitchen, a working-class Irish-immigrant neighborhood. In a time where Irish people weren’t viewed as “white” or “real Americas.” They were a part of the oppressed working class, the bottom of the food chain, who had nothing but their religion, the vehicle of their culture from the old world, to keep them together.

Note: Today, the argument that “Irish people aren’t really white” has been co-opted by white supremacists and has often been used in bad faith against POC. I want it to be clear that what is considered “white” is and has always been a political term with no backing in science. Discrimination against the Irish back in the day was tied to anti-Catholic sentiment in predominately Protestant states, such as England, Scotland, and the United States. Naturally, Anti-Catholic discrimination overlaps with nativist, xenophobic, ethnocentric and/or racist sentiments (ie Anti-Italian, Anti-Polish, Hispanicphonia).

Jack Murdock was a poor boxer with no education or prospects who had to exploit his body to provide for Matt. And recognized that not a way to live and thrive, so he pushed Matt into academics for social mobility. Sound familiar?

At its core, the story of Matt Murdock is an immigrant story. Matt has the immigrant mentality;  immigrants-get-the-job-done type of thing. Gotta hustle and became a lawyer because that’s how he moves up the social and class ladder. And when he does “make it” he chooses to stay and help his neighborhood because he has a cultural connection to it. 

This worked in 1964, I don’t know how much it works now.  

Hell Kitchen isn’t a rough neighborhood primarily occupied by working-class immigrants, it’s another gentrified hipster hellhole. Irish people and people of Irish ancestry in the United States no long face systemic discrimination. 

Therefore, modern-day recontextualizing is to make Matt Mexican. 

Technically, Matt can also be from any other Latin American country or Filipino but I lean towards Mexican since a) this is my post go make your own and b) we get the most discrimination from the mainstream media. Yes, a lot of it is because racists use “Mexican” as a catch-all term for anyone from Latin America but still. Trump made his presidential platform by calling Mexicans illegal rapists and druggies. 

If Matt was actually the son of Jack Murdock*, an undocumented brown immigrant living in a working-class immigrant/POC neighborhood, it gives him the underdog immigrant arc the character is missing in modern-day adaptations. Matt's core is still the same Matt we know and love, he’s still the son of a boxer, whose dad’s pushed him into succeeding academically, who lost his dad to gang violence, and who is extremely Catholic. Someone who wants to fit into middle-class educated (white) society and feels like he has to suppress the "devil" inside until one day he can’t. He's seeing discrimination and poverty and crime and gentrification tear his neighborhood apart and the police turn their back on it since it's predominantly POC. The law has failed them, he's not going to fail them too. 

Meg made the fantastic point that Matt should still be white-passing (and ginger) so he could exist somewhere in between worlds.  And Matt takes advantage of that, as well as his Columbia Law degree to help his community. Matt not using his conditional whiteness and the fancy degree to “escape” his community and instead help it.

[tobiasdrake]

I've never liked Hypocrisy Gotchas in political discourse. First, because it doesn't really matter. "He said we should kick all the illegal immigrants out but his company employs undocumented migrant labor!" Uh. Yeah. He's a fascist who hates minority races but enjoys slave labor. There may be a semantic contradiction between his words and his actions but there is no contradiction with his values.

The thing about the Right is that they don't really care about integrity of values or whatever. They're just making sound bytes. They want to cut taxes for the rich, restrict voting rights to the oligarchy, control women, reduce minorities to a slave labor class, etc. and they do not care what they have to say or do to make that happen.

They do not care if you catch them being inconsistent with their words. Because the words are just marketing. Their words are the juicy hamburger on the billboard that looks 10x better than what they're serving in the diner. Cool, you pointed out the hypocrisy. They're still gonna say it anyway.

But what really gets me about hypocrisy gotchas is that. Like.

So much of the Right's platform exists in opposition to the Left. Much of what they want is to claw back the victories that the Left has won. What we like, they hate. What we seek to create, they want to destroy. So on a certain level, trying to catch them in a Gotcha is, itself, a Gotcha back at us.

Because when we point and jeer at them for saying one thing and doing another, we're pointing and jeering at something we're supposed to be for.

"Republicans hate sex work but they routinely hire prostitutes! SHAAAAME!"

Uh. We're supposed to be pro-sex worker. Why are you shaming people for hiring sex work?

"Republicans want to kill abortions but this Republican got three abortions! SHAAAAME!!!"

Uh. We're supposed to be pro-abortion. Why are you shaming people for getting abortions?

"Republicans want to destroy LGBT rights but this Republican had an affair with a man! SHAAAAME!!!"

Uh. We're supposed to be pro-LGBT. Why are you shaming people for being gay?

Trying to score zingers off of Republican failures to uphold conservative values is not just politically inconsequential, it also necessarily accepts the premise that conservative values should be upheld. Shaming them for doing things they speak against casts those things they are doing as shameful.

I don't believe in going high when they go low. The Right is up to a lot of shady shit, and they should be called on it. But being gay or indulging in sex work or getting abortions, this stuff isn't shady. And we shouldn't treat it like it is, because then we're accepting their premise as a foundational belief for our argument.

In my opinion, speaking out against the very people we're supposed to support, potentially making people feel unsafe or unwelcome within the party, for the sake of scoring zingers against the enemy side? That's as much of a Hypocrisy Gotcha against us as it is against them.

And we're supposed to be the ones who actually mean what we say.

[greaseonmymouth]

do you like THIEVES? are you a hardcore Leverage fan? somebody who watches Ocean's 11 - or Ocean's 8 - and think 'wish that were me'? do you want to eat Neal Caffrey up with a spoon? do you think the British Museum should give back all their stolen art?

boy, do I have the book for you!

PORTRAIT OF A THIEF by GRACE D. LI

This was how things began: Boston on the cusp of fall, the Sackler Museum robbed of 23 pieces of priceless Chinese art. Even in this back room, dust catching the slant of golden, late-afternoon light, Will could hear the sirens. They sounded like a promise.

Will Chen, a Chinese American art history student at Harvard, has spent most of his life learning about the West - its art, its culture, all that it has taken and called its own. He believes art belongs with its creators, so when a Chinese corporation offers him a (highly illegal) chance to reclaim five priceless sculptures, it's surprisingly easy to say yes.

Will's crew, fellow students chosen out of his boundless optimism for their skills and loyalty, aren't exactly experienced criminals. Irene is a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything; Daniel is pre-med with steady hands and dreams of being a surgeon. Lily is an engineering student who races cars in her spare time; and Will is relying on Alex, an MIT dropout turned software engineer, to hack her way in and out of each museum they must rob.

Each student has their own complicated relationship with China and the identities they've cultivated as Chinese Americans, but one thing soon becomes certain: they won't say no.

Because if they succeed? They earn an unfathomable ten million each, and a chance to make history. If they fail, they lose everything...and the West wins again.

WHAT YOU GET

pretentious af college students (mostly Will) who think they can get whatever they want (mostly Irene (but also Will))

STREET RACES. do you like Fast & Furious? good

complicated feelings about everything but especially, like, lesbians having complicated feelings about other lesbians who then fall in love (Irene and Alex)

FOUND FAMILY. the real treasure is the friendships we made along the way, and like, maybe also the relationships we repaired along the way

healing through stealing (Daniel (and Lily (and Alex (and Daniel's dad and Will and Irene and—))))

ART

discussions of identity, colonialism (and colonised art), art repatriation, the immigrant experience, class,

THEFT. so much theft. THIEVES BEING THIEVES.

immovable object ("girls have broken themselves trying to change him"!boy by which I mean Will because of course it's Will) meets unstoppable force (Lily)

did I say healing? I think I meant stealing. no healing. no stealing. no—

anyway everyone should read this book

[mariacallous]

A presidential signing bonanza

Vladimir Putin signed into law on Thursday more than 50 laws on Thursday, including several new prohibitions and expansions of the state’s repressive powers. Thanks to the president's approval, these eight pieces of legislation are now set to become the law of the land.

Jailing soldiers (without court orders) for using smartphones: Unit commanders now have the authority to lock up their soldiers for up to 10 days (or 15 days for repeat offenses) if they catch them using banned personal gadgets, such as smartphones. This act previously required transporting the suspects to a garrison court for a formal ruling.

An expanded definition of ‘undesirability’: The authorities can now designate any organization in Russia as “undesirable” if foreign state entities played any role in the organization’s foundation or have even participated in its operations. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the law is necessary to close a “loophole” that prohibited the government from designating local, Russian organizations, not just foreign groups.

No more selling energy drinks to kids: Effective March 2025, Russian vendors are prohibited from selling non-alcoholic tonic drinks, including energy drinks, to minors. The new restriction is intended as a public health measure.

Legalized cryptocurrency mining: Russia will introduce a special registry to issue permits for individuals and legal entities to “mine” cryptocurrency — the electricity-demanding process of using computer power to solve the complex mathematical problems needed to validate and secure transactions on a blockchain, earning digital currency as a reward. In mid-July, Putin expressed concerns about falling behind in cryptocurrency regulations. The new legislation also reserves some regional authorities’ right to ban crypto-mining where energy shortages are a concern.

The Dude can no longer abide: Effective September 1, 2025, “propagating drug use in art and literature” without warnings will be punishable by steep fines. The new restrictions exempt all works released before August 1, 1990, and content “where drugs are an integral part of the artistic concept justified by the genre.” The new censorship also does not apply to “materials related to investigative activities, scientific, educational, medical, or pharmaceutical publications.”

More deportation powers for the police: Internal Affairs Ministry officials will now have the authority to expel foreigners from the country without court oversight for certain misdemeanors. The list of administrative offenses includes illegal drug use, the public consumption of alcohol, and disseminating so-called “gay propaganda” (though officers must “directly witness signs of violations” in this last case). Deported foreigners will also be added to a registry that bans them from registering businesses in Russia, getting married, buying and registering property, opening bank accounts, and obtaining or renewing a driver’s license. 

‘Trash-streams’ banned: In Russia, “trash streams” usually feature bloggers abusing drugs and alcohol or performing humiliating or violent acts in return for donations from viewers. The new law prohibits the distribution of “trash stream” content, and crimes committed during these broadcasts can be prosecuted as aggravated offenses under 10 different felony statutes. Convicted “trash streamers” will face steep fines and the possible confiscation of their electronic equipment.

Naturalized citizenship revoked for refusing military registration: The Internal Affairs Ministry will now be required to provide records about all men approved for receiving Russian citizenship. Lawmakers who sponsored the bill said the new condition for maintaining naturalized citizenship is needed to address “widespread public outrage” against immigrants who get a passport and then evade military duty.

[starseedpatriot]

Fact check: Trump didn't kill the so-called bipartisan border bill. The grassroots was already up in arms, as were more than enough Republican congressmen and senators to kill the bill. Senator Lankford was McConnell's stooge. Lankford wasn't up for reelection until 2029, and so, they figured he was the right man for the job. They assumed we'd just forget about it by the time he was up for reelection.

The legislation was a Uniparty project and a defacto open border bill that would have made catch and release permanent, authorized 1.8 million border crossers a year, granted automatic work permits to illegals, and forever relegated border patrol to paper pushers whose only job was to parole millions of illegals every year into the interior.

It was as much an anti-immigration bill as the Inflation Reduction Act was an anti-inflation bill.

It died because it was stupid, dangerous, and insane. Trump didn't like the bill. Nor did any sane American.

Once again, shame on Senator Lankford for even proposing such a dumpster fire. We will not forget.

[simply-ivanka]

The bill would cost $118 billion and includes funding for Israel and Ukraine. Approximately $20 billion would be used for American border security.

"The Senate immigration bill ... fails in every policy area needed to secure our border and would actually incentivize more illegal immigration," the statement reads. "Among its many flaws, the bill expands work authorizations for illegal aliens while failing to include critical asylum reforms. Even worse, its language allowing illegals to be ‘released from physical custody’ would effectively endorse the Biden ‘catch and release’ policy."

The lawmakers claim the proposed legislation offers "too much discretionary authority" to embattled DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the subject of an impeachment attempt by House Republicans.

"The bill also fails to adequately stop the President’s abuse of parole authority and provides for taxpayer funds to fly and house illegal immigrants in hotels through the FEMA Shelter and Services Program," the statement continues before urging the Senate to pass the House's Secure the Border Act (H.R. 2) "immediately."

"America’s sovereignty is at stake," the Republicans concluded. "Any consideration of this Senate bill in its current form is a waste of time. It is DEAD on arrival in the House. We encourage the U.S. Senate to reject it."

[harlequinoccult]

thank you for explaining the caustic personality!! honestly Vulpine might as well have caustic as his main w apathetic tendencies instead, ig ill find out when the demo is updated XD both personality types fit him too well. honestly he's not that aggressive as a person, he's actually mostly quite polite, but he does have a tendency to stare. the ones who really get to see his aggressive side are the people he dislikes (Host better fucking prepare himself-)

well i figured i'd just finish what i started, and continue on my never-ending ramble. usually i like making Ariel an orphan, it's a bit of a callback to his roots and it fits him, but this time i think the second option i usually go for him fits best: single child of a single mother. she's the only family he has that he knows of, a very loving, religious and hard working lady who was shunned from the community for getting pregnant out of wedlock. the very first fights Ari would get into in his childhood were against kids who would say some unsavory shit abt his mom. having a mother who was blindly dedicated to the same church that constantly made her suffer for the mistake of having a kid without a husband also played a very big part into Ariel becoming an atheist and rebelling against the church in his teen years.

she was p absent as a parent, having to work p much the whole day to be able to support them both, but she tried her best the moments when she was present, and Ari recognizes that and loves her dearly. he started stealing things and got his first job quite young to try to help her pay the bills.

he got arrested when he was around 18 yo, probably getting caught on one of his "heists", trying to steal from the richer houses around, and he hasn't seen her since then. his time in prison was... bad. really fucking bad. the worst, lowest point of his life, in fact.

i have no idea how the legal system works in england and i have no desire to learn, but for what's worth he is caught trying to escape at least once, and spends 2 miserable years in there until he finally manages to leave.

did he actually complete his sentence? lol. lmao.

no. no he didn't. be it by a month, a year, a day, the important thing is he didn't.

is Ariel Fox even his real name? i doubt it. that would be stupid wouldn't it, illegally immigrating to a different country after escaping from prison and using your real ass name to do it, he's smarter than that.

fun fact abt Ari: he does not want to go back to prison. he'll kill himself before they have the chance to catch him.

on a... "unrelated" note, the reason why Carter managed to wrap such a tight leash on Ariel is bc he learned smth he shouldn't have and he's holding that little secret right over his head. im sure you can't possibly guess what he found out that would make Ariel put up w his shit the way he did-

so the fact that Ari ends up in this city (i forgor the name and i can't leave the askbox to check or ill lose everything i typed 😭) is honestly not rlly much of a surprise, nor is the fact that he's p much alone despite living there for years. he's always been a bit of an outcast, a loner, someone who avoids people on purpose. he hasn't seen his mom since he left england, but he looks her up every once in a while. debates whether he should call her. decides it's for the best that he doesn't.

he starts over. new life, new me, or whatever the hell people say. starts off already with shifty connections, he needs a fake identity and a fake birth certificate and a fake everything if he has any hope of passing by unscathed, after all. needs to lay low. not call too much attention. be a nobody. wait until things calm down a bit.

he stays at least a year living like that, settling in, subduing his accent until he can pass it off as having learned it from a family member or some other bullshit. applies for university. becomes just another american college student.

meets someone.

falls in love.

has them taken from him. has his entire life destroyed. again. needs to try to pick himself up. again. is struck with such crippling grief unlike anything he has ever felt before. it's almost as bad as the two worst years of his life.

almost.

he's never letting anything like that happen to him ever again.

anyway! as mentioned before, he was working on getting a doctorate when Carter came along, and he sort of had to drop out after that, to the dismay of his teachers. what was he getting a doctorate on? honestly p much anything would be in-character for Ariel, he's an everything nerd, from language to history to engineering to biology that man wants to know quite literally everything the world has to offer him. his infodumps are the most complete and varied possible, he's a walking talking encyclopedia.

he's an extremely paranoid person who overthinks everything including his own overthinking and really, if nothing else here's to hoping that OD can at least teach him to loosen up a bit-

he never enjoyed doing drugs very much, despite partaking in them quite often in his youth. he's way more likely to experience a bad trip than a good one, so he learned to stay away from them as much as possible, but alcohol and nicotine were a completely different story. he's still addicted to nicotine to this day, the one drug he allows himself to never let go. he was an alcoholic through a big chunk of his life, until someone did Very Bad Things to him when he was too drunk to be able to fight back. that experience just flipped a switch inside of him, it broke him badly enough to make him promise himself to never touch another drop of alcohol in his life, a promise he did very well by until Carter killed his beloved and he had the worst relapse of his life. he's back to being a straight edge now tho, its fine! its not fine

he has immense distaste for the cops of the city, but part of him is kinda grateful that they're so bad at their job or else he would be Fucked. he absolutely despised doing work for Carter, even after he became so numb to it all it made him want to tear his own heart out just to make sure it was still beating. i cannot stress enough how much he suffered inside at the start, part of the reason he started drinking again was to try to ignore how much all of it hurt. at least he could try to make sure Carter didn’t kill innocents. he couldn't really be sure every time, but he tried. he really did.

he probably tried killing Carter at least once. or thought abt it, at the very least. made plans. had it all figured out in his head, down to the last detail, how he would do it and get away with it. ngl, he was probably on the verge of putting it into action when Host sent him that email and just gave him the perfect chance to do it just like that-

as a killer, Vulpine is very much the stealthy type, hiding in the shadows, walking withouth making a sound. if its a group, he'll pick them off one by one, until someone notices and all hell breaks loose or until all of them are dead. if he's forced to kill someone he doesn't think deserves it, he's merciful. very quick, clean deaths, going straight for the vitals, almost painless. if it's someone he thinks deserves to suffer, however... well, he's always been curious to know what a human vivisection would look like.

truth is, he's a sadist. well, a sadomasochist really, but he gets off on making people suffer, and he hates it. he especially hates the fact that hurting the person he loves is such a tantalizing thought. marking them blue and black, covering them in red, it's not really his fault blood is such a beautiful thing, is it? and if his lover wants to do the same to him, well, he's more than happy to oblige. anything for his love. except bondage. getting tied up/held down is actually a pretty bad trigger for him, he hates it, no matter the context

ok well i think that's everything! thanks for indulging me!!

-🦊

The ask is somewhere around here, i know it, but with caustic mcs, Carter assumed they were all bark and no bite. Fitting, i think.

And, given everything, OD is a fitting match, they like learning and they are smart -in their own way- the drugs and partying is for themselves, they aren't the type to pressure people into drugs, in fact, they can and will tell you about the various side effects of any given drug because they think its legitimately interesting.

[beating-a-dead-plot]

Please Read If You Live In The USA

Hi! My name isn't actually Petunia, it's just a nickname, and I used it so I could maintain some level of anonymity on here and protect myself from shame and awkwardness. That is no longer an option to me.

I live in New York state, not the big city, a different region. If you are female, non-binary, or transgender and over the age of 18, living in a state that isn't so fun as mine, maybe you could come visit me? Maybe you finally decided that your random internet bestie should be your real life bestie and you just have to meet each other! After all, good friends are so hard to find these days! I live with family currently, so you would have to find a place to stay for your visit, but I would just love to finally get to meet you!

I mean, we could check out Niagara Falls, it's basically in my backyard, or we could take a little food tour of Western New York! If money is going to be tight, maybe it'll be on me if I'm in a decent spot with money, but if we're just two broke idiots, well, public parks are always a great option to hang out in, or we could hole up in your staying place and have some fun talking about all our favorite fandoms and characters! Also, we could take a little day trip to Canada, border's right there and and as long as you've got your documents and behave going through customs, it's fun! The butterfly conservatory is amazing, I bet you'd really love it! Think about how fun it could be to just have a little get-away with your internet bestie?

I don't care about my own embarrassment anymore, I will take being embarrassed for being a freak over not being at least offering to help people who need it right now. I'm nobody, I have like four mutuals and only one talks to me consistently (Which is my fault, NOT theirs, not playing the blame game here, not even close), but if someone needs a justifiable excuse to hang out in NY for a bit, send me a private message.

I don't care if we're mutuals or not, I don't care if you're even in the Star Wars fandom, I'll read up on something if you need me to. I can help with finding activities and resources in my area, I will gladly scope out the best hotels/motels/rentals in my area if you need me to.

Even if no one sees this post or takes me up on this, I just want to know, I tried. I tried to do something to keep people from being hurt when they shouldn't have to be. I'm currently a part-time college student and looking into getting applications in for jobs, but if you need help, if you need someone to be on your side when your own family isn't, come to me.

At this point, if you voted for the person hurting us? Still message me if you need help. I loathe your choice but I am not going to let you be hurt or worse because of it. Don't get me wrong, I am furious with those who voted him in, but if I let you suffer because of him, I would be no better than the hateful bigots on the other side from me.

And if immigration is what your goal is, I will gladly try to help you with Canadian immigration or coming to NY to explore your options. I will not help you cross with the intent to do so illegally, but a day-trip to check out Ontario? I will do it. I will not help with anything outright illegal, but if you need help and are willing to be close enough to legal not to get me arrested, I'm here.

There's this thing I saw people saying on social media "I could hate her more than anything in the world, and I still wouldn't leave her alone with that weird man at the party." You are now all in that first category, I don't care if you're a Trekie (I had to add humor, I'm losing it), you will never catch me leaving you alone at this party unless I am truly unable to, which would be if I'm arrested and/or dead.

Reach out if you need someone, there's none of you who should be left to the wolves now. <3

I am AFAB, cis-gender as far as everyone knows, I will now be referring to myself as straight but I used to go by bisexual as a label, and 23 years old. For more details, DM me and we can see what we need to do.

[beardedmrbean]

The Venezuelan TikToker who went viral last month after defending illegal immigrant criminals and urging migrants to squat in U.S. homes is now on the run from immigration authorities, according to a new report.

Leonel Moreno has claimed that his family, which includes his wife and young daughter, has received $350 a week in government handouts since entering the U.S. illegally.

On top of that, he had claimed to be making $1,000 a day as a TikTok influencer. However, his account, which at one point had more than 500,000 followers, appeared inactive Wednesday morning.

His verified Instagram account, however, has about 17,000 followers and posted two videos Wednesday morning showing him waving a stack of $100 bills as he posed with his baby girl.

Moreno allegedly cut off his ankle monitor after receiving border parole and is now listed as an "absconder" from immigration authorities, the New York Post reported Wednesday, citing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) documents.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moreno reportedly received border parole in April 2022 as part of the government's Alternatives to Detention program, which is supposed to track catch-and-release migrants when there is not enough room to detain them.

Moreno previously told his audience he planned to make a business out of "invading" abandoned houses and taking them over with squatters' rights laws, then selling them for a profit.

Although he has allegedly listed his immigration sponsor as a church charity in Miami, he has reportedly been living in Columbus, Ohio.

ILLEGAL BROTHER OF LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT LINKED TO VENEZUELAN CRIME GANG: DOJ

Moreno shocked the public last month when he bragged about living on the American taxpayers' dime and called on his TikTok followers to "unite" behind the suspect in a shooting in New York City's Times Square.

Illegal immigration from Venezuela has become increasingly visible as one of the country's most notorious gangs, Tren de Aragua, is also working to establish a foothold on U.S. soil.

The gang has been linked to an attack on police officers in New York City, an international cellphone robbery ring and, indirectly, the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.

The gang has a notable presence in New York City, Florida, Texas, Illinois and Georgia, authorities have warned.