#dam watch prime

[scalproie]

Literally watched all of S2 last night and I dont feel like doing individual reactions sooo

All of S1:E26 was me pointing at gay people on my screen and going "hey thats from the little dark age amv"

The orion pax arc is still literally so funny. Later episodes show that there was NO REASON to keep optimus/orion alive bc soundwave and THE FUCKING SHIP can also decode the locations of the mcguffins, megatron literally couldve won the war here and there what the hell. it took meg all of 0.5 seconds after he heard his former boytoy utter his name to try and find excuses to keep him around. Also making him call you "my lord"? I Know What You Are.

And apparently optimus/orion stayed on the nemesis for two months which is crazy to me bc megatron cannot improvise to save his fucking life what do you MEAN warlord ratchet??? YOU HAVE ULTRA MAGNUS IN YOUR FILES

It was funny tho bc meg heard ratchet say "I am your doctor of doom" and thought Hey thats pretty good and then make a callback to that when telling optimus/orion ratchet is evil incarnate

Extra hilarious to me that it partially ended bc starscream went to the nemesis to raid the fridge. [Megatron voice] this plane does nothing but ruin my life

The episodes where they send arcee and jin kazama to cybertron was pretty cool i did like the vibe it really felt alien ruins-like

You can tell the experience fucked optimus a little bc first episode after the season opening and peepaw is ready to consider warcrimes

Next was the "bumblebee gets his kidney stolen" arc and I have nothing to say other than it was funny when of course it ends in starscream getting his kidney stolen

Ok I do have some stuff to say actually, we trash on the cons a lot bc theyre disloyal assholes, but when a bot is told to stay at the base for valid reasons, they bitch and moan and end up disobeying anyway and never get punished severely by peepaw optimus bc them not following orders ALWAYS works in their favor

Megatron goes "Nu-uh-uh!" in S2:E5

Im always just so happy when meg is on screen ngl he is such a massive asshole bastard🩶

Dreadwing's cool I like how he just has a fucking flip phone to dramatically blow shit up

Everytime I see wheeljack im like oh god if the show has been made just a few years later he wouldve been drift

I FORGOT HOW QUICKLY BREAKDOWN DIED fanon will really build a castle out of 4 twigs huh. and the castle sucks ass anyway

Airachnid slayed and she was gone too soon

They lowballed megatron so hard in the episode where he was struggling against one (1) insecticon BUT. he was sexy in this ep. To me. Not to optimus anymore😔

Nemesis prime was well-introduced in the show but this is hysterical to me that THIS is the show that has the "evil double of optimus" concept

Every episode with starscream after he loses his cog is excellent and you have no idea how much it pains me to admit that

S2:E10-E11 is just megatron and the gang having the weirdest fucking day and it might be my fav eps. I think I just love watching the cons do shit. Megatron killed starscream four times, fought an army of bugs and then gave drugs to his ship

Knockout and megatron's banter is surprisingly always very entertaining. I think meg just like bouncing off of a little jester

The four relics episode are kinda whatever BUT they did gave us the one (1) soundwave focused episode and whaddayaknow he was extremely sexy and competent and it was funny to see him being treated like megatron's special boy&bird

Also bulkhead continue to have plot armor thicker than the apex armor like come on in every single one of his episodes he comes just this close to death

SHOOOOOOOOOCKWAAAAAAAAAVE

I was waiting to see smokescreen's episodes before judging but now that I did I can safely say *drops to my knees sobbing* IT SHOULD BEEN HOT RODDDDDDDDD

At least his friendship with jin kazama was cute, like that "green for go" was cute

Silas ditching his highly competent human crew to sucker up to megatron really felt like they had no idea what to do with his character anymore bc what??? Like okay you remove a third faction to focus more on the main ones but still

I fucking love S2:E20 bc 1) just throw some more mystical stuff at optimus like go full arthurian stories now, 2) lots of megatron action and 3) "drop the mountain on him"

I know its likely an animation lighting thing and optimus simply could not be based like that in the first place but conceptually it is absolutely hysterical to me that after slicing effortlessly a mountain in half, making megatron look like THIS

Optimus then look straight up at the camera and fucking winks at him

And then immediately after that, megatron going "decepticons, we are so fucked."

And THEN next episode is literally "MEGATRON YOU CRAZY BITCH" like come dreadwing lets desecrate a demigod's tomb

He fucking sucks at naming stuff tho bc dark star saber??? Come on man

The rest of the omega keys episodes are also whatever but fucking hell if the whole Peter Cullen speaking in slow motion and Steve Blum mimicking that didnt get to me hard

The last starscream episode tho? Screamer cringe compilation while hes having the worst job interview of his life, of course i loved it

MEGATRON NOOO YOU KILLED THE WRONG PLANE

But again, hilarious that for the season finale megatron went "alright guys no more fucking around" and they basically won. That one moment where meg, screamer, KO all laughing maniacally together with soundwave just shaking in silent laughter with them was really funny. Only shocky is missing for the decepticon high command reunion

I really liked the moment where raf, miko and jin kazama were like "the autobots are ready to sacrifice their life for our planet, im ready to do the same for theirs" idk thats really brave and it struck me

Optimus chopping megatron's arm was really fucking cold

SILVER ERADICONSSSSSS

They blew up the autobot base like the white house in shadow the hedgehog

Overall, a lot of my favorite episodes are in this season so👍 #megatronsweep

[rederiswrites]

Full text of Heather Cox Richardson's latest essay:

February 1, 2025 (Saturday)

Throughout now-president Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, it was clear that his support was coming from three very different factions whose only shared ideology was a determination to destroy the federal government. Now we are watching them do it.

The group that serves President Donald Trump is gutting the government both to get revenge against those who tried to hold him accountable before the law and to make sure he and his cronies will never again have to worry about legality.

Last night, officials in the Trump administration purged the Federal Bureau of Investigation of all six of its top executives and, according to NBC’s Ken Dilanian, more than 20 heads of FBI field offices, including those in Washington, D.C., and Miami, where officials pursued cases against now-president Trump. Acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove, who represented Trump in a number of his criminal cases, asked acting FBI director Brian J. Driscoll Jr. for a list of FBI agents who had worked on January 6 cases to “determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.”

Clarissa-Jan Lim of MSNBC reported that Trump denied knowing about the dismissals but said the firings were “a good thing” because “[t]hey were very corrupt people, very corrupt, and they hurt our country very badly with the weaponization.”

Officials also fired 25 to 30 federal prosecutors who had worked on cases involving the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and reassigned others. Bove ordered the firings. Career civil servants can’t be fired without cause, and these purges come on top of the apparently illegal firing of 18 inspectors general across federal agencies and a purge of the Department of Justice of those who had worked on cases involving Trump.

Phil Williams of NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, Tennessee, reported on Friday that federal prosecutors were withdrawn from a criminal investigation of Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) for election fraud; Ogles recently filed a House resolution to enable Trump to run for a third term and another supporting Trump’s designs on Greenland. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss an election fraud case against former representative Jeffrey Fortenberry (R-NE). Trump called Fortenberry’s case an illustration of “the illegal Weaponization of our Justice System by the Radical Left Democrats.”

That impulse to protect Trump showed yesterday in what a local water manager said was an “extremely unprecedented” release of water from two dams in California apparently to provide evidence of his social media post that the U.S. military had gone into California and “TURNED ON THE WATER.” In fact, water was released from two reservoirs that hold water to supply farmland in the summer. They are about 500 miles (800 km) from Los Angeles, where the fires were earlier this year, and the water did not go to Southern California. “This is going to hurt farmers,” a water manager said, “This takes water out of the summer irrigation portfolio.” But Trump posted that if California officials had listened to him six years ago, there would have been no fires. Shashank Joshi of The Economist called it “real ‘mad king’ stuff.”

Trump’s loyalists overlap with the MAGA crew that embraces Project 2025, a plan that mirrors the one used by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán to overthrow democracy in Hungary. Operating from the position that modern democracy destroys a country by treating everyone equally before the law and welcoming immigrants, it calls for discrimination against women and gender, racial, and religious minorities; rejection of immigrants; and the imposition of religious laws to restore a white Christian patriarchy.

Former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson has been a vocal proponent of Orbán’s ideology, and J.D. Vance this week hired Carlson’s son, 28-year-old Buckley, as his deputy press secretary. Although Trump claimed during the campaign he didn't know anything about Project 2025, Steve Contorno and Casey Tolan of CNN estimate that more than two thirds of Trump’s executive orders mirror Project 2025.

You can see the influence of this faction in the indiscriminate immigration sweeps the administration has launched, Trump’s announcement that he is opening a 30,000-bed migrant detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and officials’ revocation of protection for more than 600,000 Venezuelans legally in the U.S. and possibly also for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans. You can see it in the administration’s attempt to end the birthright citizenship written into the U.S. Constitution in 1868.

It shows in the new administration's persecution of transgender Americans, including Trump’s executive order purging trans service members from the military, another limiting access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth, and yet another ordering trans federal prisoners to be medically detransitioned and then moved to facilities that correspond to their sex at birth, an outcome that a trans woman suing the administration calls “humiliating, terrifying, and dangerous.”

The administration has ordered that federal employees must remove all pronouns from their email signatures and, as Jeremy Faust reported in Inside Medicine, that researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must scrub from their work any references to “[g]ender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, nonbinary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, biologically male, biologically female.” Faust notes that the requirements are vague and that because “most manuscripts include demographic information about the populations or patients studied,” the order potentially affects “just about any major study…including studies on Covid-19, cancer, heart disease, or anything else.”

Those embracing this ideology are also isolationist. As soon as he took office, Trump imposed a freeze on foreign aid except for military aid to Israel and Egypt, abruptly cutting off about $60 billion in funding—less than 1% of the U.S. budget—to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides humanitarian assistance to fight starvation and provide basic medical care for the globe’s most vulnerable and desperate populations. The outcry, both from those appalled that the U.S. would renege on its promises to provide food for children in war-torn countries and from those who recognize that the U.S. withdrawal from these popular programs would create a vacuum China is eager to fill, made Trump’s new secretary of state, Marco Rubio, say that “humanitarian programs” would be exempted from the freeze, but that appears either untrue or so complicated to negotiate that programs are shutting down anyway.

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) appears to be beside himself over this destruction. “Let me explain why the total destruction of USAID…matters so much,” he posted on social media. “China—where Musk makes his money—wants USAID destroyed. So does Russia. Trump and Musk are doing the bidding of Beijing and Moscow. Why?” “The U.S. is in full retreat from the world,” he wrote, and there is “[n]o good reason for it. The immediate consequences of this are cataclysmic. Malnourished babies who depend on U.S. aid will die. Anti-terrorism programs will shut down and our most deadly enemies will get stronger. Diseases that threaten the U.S. will go unabated and reach our shores faster. And China will fill the void. As developing countries will now ONLY be able to rely on China for help, they will cut more deals with Beijing to give them control of ports, critical mineral deposits, etc. U.S. power will shrink. U.S. jobs will be lost.” Murphy speculated that “billionaires like Musk who make $ in China” or “someone buying all that secret Trump meme coin” would benefit from deliberately sabotaging eighty years of U.S. goodwill on the international stage.

And that brings us to the third faction: that of the tech bros, led by billionaire Elon Musk, who according to year-end Federal Election Commission filings spent more than $290 million supporting Trump and the Republicans in 2024. Musk appears to consider colonizing space imperative for the survival of humanity, and part of that goal requires slashing government regulations, as well as receiving government contracts that help to fund his space program.

Before he took office, Trump named Musk and another billionaire, Vivek Ramaswamy, to an extra-governmental group called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but Musk has assumed full control of the group, whose mission is to cut the federal budget by as much as $2 trillion.

Musk is interested in the government for future contracts, although a report from January 30, when Musk’s Tesla company filed its annual financial report, showed that the company, which is valued at more than $1 trillion and which made $2.3 billion in 2024, paid $0 in federal income tax. Today, Musk’s X social media company became a form of state media when the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it would no longer email updates about this week’s two plane crashes—one in Washington, D.C., and one in Philadelphia—and that reporters would have to get their information through X.

Musk’s goal might well be the crux of the drastic cuts to federal aid, as well as the attempt last week from the Office of Management and Budget to “pause” federal funding and grants to make sure funding reflected Trump’s goals. After a public outcry over the loss of payments to local law enforcement, Meals on Wheels for shut-ins, supplemental nutrition programs, and so on, the OMB rescinded its first memo, but then White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt immediately contradicted the new memo, saying the cuts were still in effect.

The chaos surrounding the cuts could have been designed to make it difficult for opponents to sue over them. This method of changing government priorities through “impoundment” is illegal. Congress—which is the body that represents the American people—appropriates the money for programs, and the president takes an oath to execute the laws. After President Richard M. Nixon tried it, Congress passed a 1974 law making impoundment expressly illegal. But the on-again-off-again confusion appeared at first to stand a chance of stopping lawsuits. It didn’t work: a federal judge halted the funding freeze, suggesting it was a blatant violation of the Constitution.

But then, yesterday, Elon Musk forced the resignation of David A. Lebryk, the highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department. Lebryk had been at Treasury since 1989 and had risen to become the person in charge of the U.S. government payment system that disburses about $6 trillion a year through Social Security benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, contracts, grants, salaries for federal government workers, tax refunds, and so on, essentially managing the nation’s checkbook.

According to Jeff Stein, Isaac Arnsdorf, and Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post, Musk’s team wanted access to the payment system. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) demanded answers from Trump’s new Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, warning that “these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy. I am deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, these officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs. I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems.”

Now, though, with Musk’s people at the computers that control the nation’s payment system, they can simply stop whatever payments they want to.

Wyden continued by reminding Bessent that the press has reported that Musk has previously been “denied a high-level clearance to access the government’s most sensitive secrets. I am concerned that Musk’s enormous business operation in China—a country whose intelligence agencies have stolen vast amounts of sensitive data about Americans, including U.S. government employee data by hacking U.S. government systems—endangers U.S. cybersecurity and creates conflicts of interest that make his access to these systems a national security risk.”

This afternoon, Wyden posted that he has been told that Bessent has given the Department of Government Efficiency full access to the system. “Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk's own companies. All of it.”

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo posted: “This is more or less like taking the gold from Fort Knox and putting it in Elons basement. Anyone who gets a check from soc sec or anything else[,] he can cut it off or see all y[ou]r personal and financial data.” Pundit Stuart Stevens called it “the most significant data leak in cyber history.”

All three of these factions are focused on destroying the federal government, which, after all, represents the American people through their elected representatives and spends their taxpayer money. Musk, who is an unelected adjunct to Trump, this evening gleefully referred to the civil servants in the government who work for the American people as “the opposing team.”

But something jumps out from the chaos of the past two weeks. Instructions are vague, circumstances are chaotic, and it’s unclear who is making decisions. That confusion makes it hard to enforce laws or sue, although observers note that what’s going on is “illegal and a breach of the constitutional order.”

Our federal government rests on the U.S. Constitution. The three different factions of Trump's MAGA Republicans agree that the government must be destroyed, and they are operating outside the constitutional order, not eager to win legal victories so much as determined to slash and burn down the government without them.

Today, senior Washington Post political reporter Aaron Blake noted that while it is traditional for cabinet nominees to pledge that they will refuse to honor illegal presidential orders, at least seven of Trump’s nominees have sidestepped that question. Attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard, now-confirmed defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, small business administrator nominee Kelly Loeffler, Veterans Affairs secretary nominee Douglas A. Collins, and commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick all avoided the question by saying that Trump would never ask them to do anything illegal. FBI director nominee Kash Patel just said he would “always obey the law.”

[szariahwroteit]

Girls Need Love: A Kylian Mbappè x Original Character Erotic Series.

18+ Minors DNI

Chapter 13

A mini press tour in London to promote an upcoming Amazon Prime series that she was set to feature provided the perfect distraction for Giselle.

It allowed her a chance to clear her mind and be in the moment in a city that also felt like somewhat of a safe haven from the drama that insistently seemed to follow her.

As things were, Giselle was unsure if she would see Kylian in Madrid; although she knew she didn't owe Natalia so much as an explanation, her words started to gnaw at her.

In figuring out her feelings, Giselle didn't feel she was at fault, but Natalia's look of disgust and the venom in her voice as she spoke made her question how she made people feel.

The last thing she wanted was for things to sour with Kylian; as they were, everything was good, and despite what her heart had come to want, Giselle was coming around to the idea of walking away before things went bad.

Although they continued to keep in touch, things were undeniably beginning to slow down. As much as the thought of Kylian being nothing but a distant memory made Giselle’s stomach drop, she wasn't naive to the idea that maybe it was for the best.

The balls of Giselle's feet were numb as her open-toe wraparound heels clicked against the marble floors of the Mayfair hotel she had been staying at since arriving in the capital.

It had been a lengthy day for her. Beginning at 6 a.m. with an on-air interview for the BBC, she followed that with a guest appearance on a talk show that evening. In the hours between, she’d spent her day capturing content for her social media, which felt like a job within itself.

As Giselle sluggishly made her way to her room, she tried to rid her mind of all the day's events, instead thinking about what food she would order to bring to her room after a long, hot shower.

The peace of solitude in her hotel room was a thought that coaxed a small smile onto Giselle's lips. She could feel the weariness settling into her bones as she stepped through the door, grateful for the sanctuary it provided.

A curious and slightly startled frown tugged on Giselle’s eyebrows as she stepped into the suite to find a trail of soft pink rose petals leading into the dimly lit living area. A flutter of intrigue and a tingle of anticipation spread through her as she followed the path, her heart racing with curiosity and a hint of apprehension.

Petals crunched beneath her heels as she followed the trail that led through the suite and into the bedroom.

Slowly easing open the door, Giselle stepped into the room, and almost instantly, her eyes welled with tears.

“Kylian?” she gasped as he stood from the chair on the far side of the room. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to check on you,” Kylian explained as he crossed the room, closing the distance between them.

The warmth of his presence enveloped her, and Giselle felt the familiar rush of emotion wash over her, stirring feelings she had tried to contain. Something about the way he looked at her, with an intensity that made her feel cherished and understood, sent her heart into a furious beat.

“What about your training?” Giselle asked, her voice barely a whisper as she reached out to touch his arm, needing the reassurance of his solidity.

“We have a few days off,” Kylian explained as his eyes traced over Giselle before finding hers again, watching as a single tear fell. “Are we okay?” he asked cautiously.

Kylian didn't need to see Giselle to know that something was amiss between them. It was evident in what she said whenever they spoke on the phone and in the way she rushed to end his calls and FaceTimes. There was a sudden shift in her attitude towards him, and he wanted to know why.

“Kylian, I hurt someone I cared about, and I don't want the same thing to happen between us,” Giselle explained, the dam she had forged to conceal her emotions tumbling down as her voice cracked and more tears fell.

“Who?… Giselle, talk to me,” he urged.

“I had a friend back home called Natalia,” she confessed, her voice trembling. “We were messing around for a while.” she paused, swallowing hard. “I told her what we had couldn't continue, and she said some things.”

Kylian's brow furrowed in concern, his eyes darkening with intensity as he absorbed her words. He stepped closer, the warmth of his body almost overwhelming her senses. "What did she say?" He needed to understand, to grasp the root of Giselle's turmoil. Her hurt was palpable, and he felt a fierce protectiveness stir within him.

Giselle took a shaky breath, folding her arms over herself for protection and self-preservation. “She said that I hurt her and that I deserved everything that happened with my ex because I’m selfish and only care about myself.”

“What if she's right about me?” she continued, her voice cracking as her eyes met Kylian’s.

“Giselle,” Kylian murmured, taking another step closer. He reached out, brushing his thumb across her cheek to wipe away the remnants of her tears. “You're not selfish. You’re human. You made a choice, one that you felt was right for you at the time. She may be hurt, but that doesn’t define who you are.”

Feeling the warmth of his touch seep into her skin, Giselle leaned into him instinctively, searching for the comfort he'd always offered. “But what if I hurt you too? What if this—what we have—ends up causing me more pain, or worse, causing you pain?”

Kylian’s gaze softened, his expression a mixture of empathy and determination. “We can't predict the future, Giselle. All we can do is choose to be honest with each other. You know that’s what I want. Just promise me you won’t shut me out.”

Giselle nodded slowly, the shimmer of vulnerability in her eyes. “I promise to try,” she whispered. “But sometimes it feels easier to keep everything bottled up.”

“Does it help you in the long run?” Kylian lifted her chin gently, forcing her to meet his unwavering gaze. “Or does it just make everything feel heavier?”

Giselle considered his words, the weight of her hesitation pressing on her shoulders. “Heavy,” she admitted, her breath shaky.

Kylian's expression shifted, a touch of steely resolve mingling with his tenderness. “So stop,” he said softly as if his words were a lifeline thrown to her amidst turbulent waters.

“I have been protecting myself for so long; what if I'm a fucked up person because of it?” Giselle asked, her face red and tinged with anxiety.

“You’re not ‘fucked up,’” Kylian stated firmly, taking both of her hands in his. “We are all a product of our experiences—good and bad. You have the power to rewrite your story. Right now, we are here, together.”

His words wrapped around her like a warm embrace, igniting a flicker of hope that she had almost forgotten; her vulnerability was beginning to give way to something deeper.

Kylian planned to surprise Giselle with a late dinner after a long day, but it was evident she needed a little more than to be wined and dined by him tonight.

“Go shower and put your mind at ease; I will handle everything else,” Kylian murmured as he wrapped his arms around Giselle in a warm, comforting hug before letting her go.

He watched as Giselle reached for the leather string that wrapped around her ankle, kicking it off before removing the heel from her other foot, sighing as her feet met with the cool floor.

Giselle felt lighter as she walked away, her heart still racing but her mind beginning to settle. The warmth of Kylian's hands lingered on her skin, igniting a fire she hadn’t realized had been dampened by her worries. She stepped into the bathroom, grateful for the solitude it provided, but even there, thoughts of Kylian flooded her mind.

As she turned on the shower, the sound of the water rushing down the tiles quickly masked the murmurs of anxiety that had become all too familiar.

Stepping under the warm stream, she let the water cascade over her, washing away not just the day’s weariness but the emotional turmoil that had built up.

With each droplet, she felt as though she was shedding the layers of doubt and guilt that clung to her. The steam filled the room, and she closed her eyes, replaying the moments she had shared with Kylian—the ease of their laughter, the electric connection that sparked between them, and the way he made her feel seen.

After rinsing her hair, she couldn’t shake the memory of their conversation. They had touched on something deep, a truth that could bring them closer if she let it. “You have the power to rewrite your story,” his words echoed in her mind.

When she emerged from the shower, wrapping herself in a plush towel, Giselle felt renewed. She caught her reflection in the mirror, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright. Maybe Kylian was right; maybe it was time to stop hiding behind walls she had built around her heart.

After towel drying her hair and twisting it into a messy bun, she slipped into a robe, forgoing clothes and underwear as she secured the tie around her waist.

As she stepped back into the bedroom, she caught sight of Kylian sitting on a plush sofa that ran adjacent to the bed.

“Come here,” he called softly, an encouraging smile lighting up his features.

Giselle's heart raced again, but this time from the anticipation of being near him. She moved toward him, her bare feet almost floating over the soft carpet, a renewed sense of confidence igniting within her.

“What’s all this?” she asked, gesturing to the spread that Kylian had set up on the coffee table. A selection of her favorite food filled the space: fresh sushi from a renowned restaurant and an open bottle of chilled champagne surrounded by delicate glasses.

“I thought we could unwind with some dinner,” he replied, his gaze traveling over her robe, lingering on her bare legs that peeked out from where the fabric bunched on her thighs.

“Thank you,” Giselle blushed as she took a seat beside Kylian, leaning into him so she could press a kiss to the corner of his lips.

The gentle brush of her lips sent shivers down Kylian's spine, stirring something deep within him. He turned his head slightly to capture her mouth properly, giving in to the temptation that had been simmering between them. The kiss was tentative at first, a mingling of warmth and promise, and yet it spoke volumes of the unbreakable bond they shared.

As they pulled away, Giselle's cheeks were flushed, a rosy hue that only added to her allure. Kylian couldn't help but admire her; there was something ethereal about the way she carried herself, especially in moments like these when vulnerability and strength intertwined.

“Eat,” he urged softly, tearing his gaze away from her captivating presence to reach for a piece of sushi from the platter. He offered it to her, his eyes sparkling with playful mischief, and she found herself laughing, the sound ringing through the room like music.

“Only if you join,” Giselle replied, her voice teasing as she took a piece and brought it to his lips, their chemistry palpable and electric as their fingers brushed against one another, the intimacy of the moment wrapping around them.

Kylian indulged, taking the piece from her fingers, and as their eyes locked, Giselle couldn't help but feel a rush of affection.

By the time they were done a half eaten sushi platter sat discarded on the table before them, as they indulged in the bottle of champagne that had been chilling on ice.

“Can I ask you a question?” Giselle asked, her cheeks flushing as she brought her glass to her lips.

“Of course, you can ask me anything,” he murmured, his French accent thick as he leaned closer to her, his gaze steady and inviting.

Giselle felt her heart thunder in her chest. “Are you okay with what I told you earlier, about Natalia?”

Kylian paused for a moment, considering his words carefully. “That she is a girl?” he smirked teasingly.

Giselle rolled her eyes, a smile breaking through her lingering uncertainty. "You know what I mean," she replied, trying to suppress a laugh. "That and everything else.”

Kylian's expression sobered slightly as he regarded her. “To be honest, I’m not okay with how upset the things she said made you.”

“But all that matters is you and I,” he continued.

Giselle was in awe of the man beside her, and the way he watched her with such intense focus made it seem as if she were the only person in the world that mattered at that moment.

“Right,” she said softly, nodding as her heart swelled. “I just didn’t want to be the reason for any more unhappiness, you know? I’ve already hurt one person I cared about. I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes.”

Kylian reached for her hand, intertwining their fingers in a gesture that felt both grounding and electrifying. “Giselle, I want to know all parts of you—the good, the bad, the messy. It’s what makes you real. We can navigate through the ugly stuff together. It doesn’t scare me.”

The conviction in his voice settled the ripples of doubt within her. The familiarity of his touch washed over her like a balm, enveloping her in safety and love. “I just hope I’m worth the trouble,” she admitted softly.

“Of course you are,” he affirmed, his voice resolute. “You deserve every chance at happiness, even if it means wading through a bit of chaos along the way. Please don’t doubt that.”

Giselle’s heart danced at his words, her body moving faster than her mind as she crawled into Kylian's lap. The robe she wore hiked around her thighs as she straddled him.

“Make me yours,” she whispered as their eyes met.

Kylian's breath caught in his throat as Giselle straddled him, her eyes filled with a raw, unspoken need. He gazed up at her, his hands instinctively finding their way to her hips, the soft fabric of her robe beneath his fingertips. There was something profoundly intimate about this moment, a silent understanding passing between them. He wanted her, every inch of her, but more than that, he wanted to possess her heart, to be the one she turned to in moments of vulnerability and strength alike.

His eyes darkened with desire as he slowly untied the belt of her robe, letting it fall open to reveal the smooth expanse of her skin. The sight of her, so close and so accessible, sent a surge of heat through his veins. Kylian traced the curve of her waist with his fingers, his touch gentle but purposeful.

From the sofa, Giselle and Kylian moved to the bed, where she removed his clothes before allowing him to have his way with her as she gave herself over to pleasure and lost herself in his embrace.

Kylian held Giselle in his arms, their eyes locked, and her legs folded over his forearms as he held her open, his strokes slow and deep as he savored the sensation of her.

“Your pussy was made for me,” he groaned, his eyes hooded as Giselle’s arousal coated him tip to base. “So fucking tight.”

“It's yours, Kylian,” Giselle gasped, her nails digging into his back as he bucked his hips into her, the bulbous tip of his cock tapping against her cervix.

Kylian's muscles flexed as he held Giselle's legs wide, his hips moving in a relentless rhythm. He leaned down, capturing her lips in a searing kiss as he fucked into her depths.

"You're mine, Giselle," he growled against her mouth, his tongue invading her as his cock claimed her. "Every inch of you belongs to me."

His hands gripped her hips, pulling her onto his shaft as he drove into her, the sound of their flesh clashing filling the room. Kylian's eyes burned with possessiveness as he moved his hips in a circular motion.

“Kylian, baby, I can feel you in my stomach,” she whimpered into her ear as her nails left reddened scratches across his back and shoulders.

“I told you that you would,” he drawled.

“You’re so deep and perfect,” Giselle mewled as her body melted against Kylian's, completely his to do as he pleased.

Kylian's breathing was heavy, his sweat-drenched body glistening in the dim light of the room. He could feel Giselle's walls fluttering around him, her body surrendering to his dominant strokes. His grip on her thighs tightened as he pulled her onto him, the sound of their skin colliding filling the air.

"Giselle, tu es parfaite," he whispered against her ear, his thick accent wrapping around her name.

Giselle's eyes rolled back, and her jaw went slack as Kylian rolled his hips into hers, a strangled moan ripped from her throat as she felt Kylian bottom out inside of her.

“This is what I wanted,” she whispered, her voice barely above a breath as their eyes locked.

“Tell me how much,” Kylian growled as he took hold of her wrists, pinning them above her head.

"Tell me how much you love my cock buried deep inside you, Giselle," Kylian demanded, his eyes boring into hers as he continued to pin her wrists above her head. His hips moved in a steady rhythm, each powerful thrust sending waves of pleasure through her body.

Giselle's chest heaved, her breasts bouncing with each collision of their bodies. She could feel the heat of his skin against hers, his sweat mingling with her own. Her legs trembled around his waist, her muscles tensing as she approached her peak.

"So bad, baby," she moaned, her voice a desperate plea. The look of desperation in her eyes and the soft pout of her lips driving Kylian wild.

Kylian's lips curved into a wicked grin as he gazed down at Giselle, her body trembling beneath him, completely at his mercy. The sight of her writhing on his cock, her beautiful face contorted in ecstasy, was the most intoxicating thing he had ever seen.

"Say it, Giselle," he commanded, his voice a deep, lustfilled rumble. "Tell me how much you need me inside you."

His hips snapped forward, the force of his thrusts causing the bed to creak beneath them. Kylian's eyes never left Giselle's, his piercing gaze seeming to bore into her very soul.

"You're mine," he growled, his grip on her wrists tightening. "Every inch of you belongs to me. Your pleasure, your pain, your everything."

Giselle's back arched off the bed, her breasts pushing against his chest as she strained towards him.

Raising her leg to his shoulder, Kylian watched as her eyes widened and she gasped at the even deeper penetration. The sight of her, so utterly surrendered and reactive to his movements, sent a primal surge through him.

"Merde, Giselle," he groaned, sweat dripping down his temple. "Tu me rends fou."

His thrusts became more erratic as he chased his own release, the tension coiling in his abdomen. Kylian's eyes stayed locked on hers, reading every flicker of emotion, every flash of pleasure that crossed her exquisite face.

"You feel it, don't you?" he panted. "How perfectly we fit together. How I'm the only one who can make you feel this way."

Giselle nodded frantically, her head thrashing from side to side as Kylian's powerful strokes pushed her closer to the edge. She could feel her orgasm building, the pressure in her core mounting with each deep thrust.

"Kylian, please," she whimpered.

"Please what, Giselle?" Kylian teased, his lips curling into a wicked grin as he continued to tease her, his cock buried deep within her. He could feel her walls tightening around him, her body trembling on the verge of release.

His grip on her wrists tightened, his eyes boring into hers with a fierce intensity. "Tell me what you need, Giselle," he growled, his voice low and demanding.

Kylian's hips moved in a slow, deliberate rhythm, each thrust sending waves of pleasure through her body. He could feel his own orgasm building, the tension coiling in his lower abdomen, but he held back, determined to push Giselle over the edge first.

"You're so close, aren't you, baby?" he purred, his free hand sliding between their bodies to find her swollen clit. "Just a little more."

Giselle's body went taut beneath Kylian, her toes pointing as she came hard, her arousal gushing.

Kylian's eyes widened as he felt Giselle's release, her inner walls clamping down on him like a vice. "Merde, Giselle," he groaned, his hips stuttering as he tried to maintain control. "Tu es si serrée."

Giselle's body trembled beneath him, her pleasure evident in every line of her form. Kylian's grip on her wrists tightened, his muscles flexing as he rode out the waves of her orgasm. The sight of her, so completely surrendered to him, was almost his undoing.

But Kylian wasn't ready to let go just yet. With a low growl, he pulled out of Giselle's warmth, flipping her over onto her stomach. He grabbed her hips, pulling her back onto him as he aligned himself with swollen and slightly gaped pussy.

"J'ai besoin de te prendre encore," Kylian growled, his accent thick with desire as he pushed back into Giselle's slick heat from behind. "I need to feel you come apart on my cock one more time."

His hands gripped her hips tightly, fingers sinking into her soft skin as he began to thrust, his movements deep and powerful. Kylian leaned over Giselle's back, his chest pressing against her as he nuzzled her neck, inhaling the scent of her sweat and arousal.

"Tu es à moi," he whispered into her ear, his voice a rough caress. "You're mine, Giselle. Only mine."

Kylian's hips snapped forward, the force of his thrusts causing the bed to shake beneath them. He could feel Giselle's walls fluttering around him, her body responding to his possession.

"Louder," Kylian growled, his voice a low rumble in Giselle's ear. "Louder, Giselle. I want to hear you scream my name."

His hips moved faster, the sound of their skin slapping together filling the room. Kylian's fingers dug into Giselle's hips as he thrusts in and out of her, his cock throbbing with each deep stroke.

"Tu me rends fou," he panted, sweat dripping down his back as he drove into her relentlessly. "You drive me crazy, Giselle. I can't get enough of you."

Giselle's body quivered beneath him, her walls tightening around his shaft as she approached the edge once more. Kylian could feel her clenching around him, her slickness coating his cock.

“Fuck!” he grumbled, his head rolling back as Giselle tilted her hips, meeting his deep thrusts. The feel of her pulsing around him, her slickness easing his way, had Kylian's mind spinning with lust.

"Tu es parfaite," he grunted, his hands gripping her hips tighter as he angled for a deeper penetration. The way her body yielded to his, accepting him wholly, stirred something primal in him.

“Ride me,” Kylian growled as his cock fell from her, forcing a moan to rip from his throat as a small gush of her arousal followed.

Kylian's breath came in ragged gasps, his body trembling with the effort of holding back his release. He watched, eyes dark with lust, as Giselle lifted herself onto his rigid cock, her slick heat enveloping him once more.

"Fuck," he muttered, his fingers sinking into the flesh of her hips as she began to move, her body undulating with each rise and fall. "Tu es si belle comme ça."

Giselle's movements were slow at first, tentative, but soon she found her rhythm, her hips rolling with a grace that took Kylian's breath away. He could feel her inner muscles fluttering around him, her arousal coating his shaft with each deep slide.

"Take it," Kylian urged his grip on her hips tightening as he guided her movements. "Take me deeper, Giselle. Show me how much you want me."

Giselle's body moved with a hypnotic rhythm, her hips rolling in a sensual dance as she rode Kylian's cock. The sight of her, so beautiful and wanton, was almost too much for Kylian to bear. He could feel his own release building, the tension coiling tight in his lower abdomen.

"Tu es parfaite," he groaned, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her hips as he guided her movements, urging her to take him deeper. "So fucking perfect."

Giselle's head was thrown back, her hair cascading down her shoulders in a silken waterfall. Her breasts bounced with each powerful thrust; her nipples hardened into tight peaks. She was a vision of raw, unbridled desire, and Kylian was powerless to resist her allure.

"Kylian," she moaned her voice a husky whisper that sent shivers down his spine. "I can't... Fuck me back.”

Kylian's eyes darkened with lust at Giselle's plea, a low growl rumbling in his chest. "Avec plaisir," he rasped, his thick accent wrapping around the words like a caress.

His grip on her hips tightened as he began to thrust up into her, matching the rhythm of her movements. Each deep stroke sent a jolt of pleasure through his body, her tight heat gripping him like a velvet vice.

"FUCK," Kylian snarled, his head falling back as Giselle's walls fluttered around him. She was so fucking perfect, her body made to take his cock, to milk him dry.

He drove into her harder, the bed creaking beneath them as the force of his thrusts shook the frame. Sweat dripped down his body, his muscles tensing and flexing with each powerful stroke.

"You feel that, Giselle?" Kylian's voice was a low, dangerous growl, his eyes locked on Giselle's face as he drove into her. "You feel how deep I can go? How perfectly we fit together?"

“Mhmm,” Giselle hummed, her eyes glossed over with tears as she toppled forward, her face tucked into the crease of his neck as she came hard.

Kylian's body tensed as he felt Giselle's release, her inner muscles clamping down on his cock like a vice. "There you go," he groaned, his hips stuttering as he fought to maintain control. The sensation of her coming undone around him was almost too much to bear, but he wasn't ready to let go just yet.

"Look at me, Giselle," he demanded, his voice a low rumble as he tilted her chin to meet his gaze. Her eyes were glazed with pleasure, her cheeks flushed, and her lips parted in a soft gasp. The sight of her, so utterly surrendered to him, sent a surge through Kylian's veins.

"You're so fucking beautiful like this," he growled, his hand sliding up to tangle in her hair, holding her in place.

"Tu es magnifique," Kylian murmured, his accent thick with desire as he gazed down at Giselle, her body trembling in the aftermath of her release. Her skin was flushed, her chest heaving with each ragged breath, and her eyes were dark with lust. The sight of her, so utterly undone by his touch, sent a surge of primal satisfaction through Kylian's veins.

His hips moved in shallow, teasing thrusts, his cock still buried deep within her as he savored the fluttering of her inner muscles. "I could stay like this forever," he whispered, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear.

Giselle's fingers dug into the flesh of his shoulders, her nails leaving crescent-shaped marks in their wake.

“You’re so deep,” Giselle whimpered.

“I’m right where I belong,” Kylian growled. “Can you feel me in your stomach?”

“Yes,” Giselle gasped, her lips ghosting against the skin of his neck, the insides of her thighs slick with her arousal. “Cum in me.”

Kylian didn't need to be asked more than once before he was Wrapping his arms around Giselle’s waist tightly, letting out a deeply pleasured roar as he came into Giselle.

“Thank you for coming to me,” Giselle whispered as Kylian pulled her body flush against his, her voice vibrating against the column of his throat.

“As long as I'm in your life, I'm here for you.” Kylian murmured, his breath brushing across her ear as he held her close. He could feel the thudding of her heart against his chest, a rhythm that seemed to match his own.

Giselle's body calmed in his embrace, the warmth of their shared moment wrapping around them like a tender cocoon. With her head resting on his shoulder, she felt completely safe and cherished, as if all the worries that plagued her were washed away in the tide of their intimacy.

"You make it so easy to forget the rest of the world," she said softly, her fingers tracing patterns on his chest, relishing the sensation of his muscular frame beneath her touch.

Kylian leaned back slightly to meet her gaze, his expression serious but softening as he brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "And that's what you deserve. To feel without the weight of the past. I want to keep you safe."

Giselle's heart swelled at his words, a warmth spreading through her chest that soothed the remnants of her turmoil. She could see the sincerity in Kylian's eyes, and it made her feel valued—not just for who she was in this moment, but for everything she had been through.

"Safe," she echoed softly, her voice barely above a whisper. "I've never felt this safe with anyone before."

Kylian tightened his grip around her, as if to reinforce everything he had said to her.

Giselle leaned in closer, her lips brushing against Kylian’s in a lingering kiss. It was soft at first but soon deepened into something more insistent, filled with the unspoken promises of their bond.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Barbara Rogan

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

February 1, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Feb 02, 2025

Throughout now-president Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, it was clear that his support was coming from three very different factions whose only shared ideology was a determination to destroy the federal government. Now we are watching them do it.

The group that serves President Donald Trump is gutting the government both to get revenge against those who tried to hold him accountable before the law and to make sure he and his cronies will never again have to worry about legality.

Last night, officials in the Trump administration purged the Federal Bureau of Investigation of all six of its top executives and, according to NBC’s Ken Dilanian, more than 20 heads of FBI field offices, including those in Washington, D.C., and Miami, where officials pursued cases against now-president Trump. Acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove, who represented Trump in a number of his criminal cases, asked acting FBI director Brian J. Driscoll Jr. for a list of FBI agents who had worked on January 6 cases to “determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.”

Clarissa-Jan Lim of MSNBC reported that Trump denied knowing about the dismissals but said the firings were “a good thing” because “[t]hey were very corrupt people, very corrupt, and they hurt our country very badly with the weaponization.”

Officials also fired 25 to 30 federal prosecutors who had worked on cases involving the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and reassigned others. Bove ordered the firings. Career civil servants can’t be fired without cause, and these purges come on top of the apparently illegal firing of 18 inspectors general across federal agencies and a purge of the Department of Justice of those who had worked on cases involving Trump.

Phil Williams of NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, Tennessee, reported on Friday that federal prosecutors were withdrawn from a criminal investigation of Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) for election fraud; Ogles recently filed a House resolution to enable Trump to run for a third term and another supporting Trump’s designs on Greenland. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss an election fraud case against former representative Jeffrey Fortenberry (R-NE). Trump called Fortenberry’s case an illustration of “the illegal Weaponization of our Justice System by the Radical Left Democrats.”

That impulse to protect Trump showed yesterday in what a local water manager said was an “extremely unprecedented” release of water from two dams in California apparently to provide evidence of his social media post that the U.S. military had gone into California and “TURNED ON THE WATER.” In fact, water was released from two reservoirs that hold water to supply farmland in the summer. They are about 500 miles (800 km) from Los Angeles, where the fires were earlier this year, and the water did not go to Southern California. “This is going to hurt farmers,” a water manager said, “This takes water out of the summer irrigation portfolio.” But Trump posted that if California officials had listened to him six years ago, there would have been no fires. Shashank Joshi of The Economist called it “real ‘mad king’ stuff.”

Trump’s loyalists overlap with the MAGA crew that embraces Project 2025, a plan that mirrors the one used by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán to overthrow democracy in Hungary. Operating from the position that modern democracy destroys a country by treating everyone equally before the law and welcoming immigrants, it calls for discrimination against women and gender, racial, and religious minorities; rejection of immigrants; and the imposition of religious laws to restore a white Christian patriarchy.

Former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson has been a vocal proponent of Orbán’s ideology, and J.D. Vance this week hired Carlson’s son, 28-year-old Buckley, as his deputy press secretary. Although Trump claimed during the campaign he didn't know anything about Project 2025, Steve Contorno and Casey Tolan of CNN estimate that more than two thirds of Trump’s executive orders mirror Project 2025.

You can see the influence of this faction in the indiscriminate immigration sweeps the administration has launched, Trump’s announcement that he is opening a 30,000-bed migrant detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and officials’ revocation of protection for more than 600,000 Venezuelans legally in the U.S. and possibly also for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans. You can see it in the administration’s attempt to end the birthright citizenship written into the U.S. Constitution in 1868.

It shows in the new administration's persecution of transgender Americans, including Trump’s executive order purging trans service members from the military, another limiting access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth, and yet another ordering trans federal prisoners to be medically detransitioned and then moved to facilities that correspond to their sex at birth, an outcome that a trans woman suing the administration calls “humiliating, terrifying, and dangerous.”

The administration has ordered that federal employees must remove all pronouns from their email signatures and, as Jeremy Faust reported in Inside Medicine, that researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must scrub from their work any references to “[g]ender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, nonbinary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, biologically male, biologically female.” Faust notes that the requirements are vague and that because “most manuscripts include demographic information about the populations or patients studied,” the order potentially affects “just about any major study…including studies on Covid-19, cancer, heart disease, or anything else.”

Those embracing this ideology are also isolationist. As soon as he took office, Trump imposed a freeze on foreign aid except for military aid to Israel and Egypt, abruptly cutting off about $60 billion in funding—less than 1% of the U.S. budget—to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides humanitarian assistance to fight starvation and provide basic medical care for the globe’s most vulnerable and desperate populations. The outcry, both from those appalled that the U.S. would renege on its promises to provide food for children in war-torn countries and from those who recognize that the U.S. withdrawal from these popular programs would create a vacuum China is eager to fill, made Trump’s new secretary of state, Marco Rubio, say that “humanitarian programs” would be exempted from the freeze, but that appears either untrue or so complicated to negotiate that programs are shutting down anyway.

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) appears to be beside himself over this destruction. “Let me explain why the total destruction of USAID…matters so much,” he posted on social media. “China—where Musk makes his money—wants USAID destroyed. So does Russia. Trump and Musk are doing the bidding of Beijing and Moscow. Why?” “The U.S. is in full retreat from the world,” he wrote, and there is “[n]o good reason for it. The immediate consequences of this are cataclysmic. Malnourished babies who depend on U.S. aid will die. Anti-terrorism programs will shut down and our most deadly enemies will get stronger. Diseases that threaten the U.S. will go unabated and reach our shores faster. And China will fill the void. As developing countries will now ONLY be able to rely on China for help, they will cut more deals with Beijing to give them control of ports, critical mineral deposits, etc. U.S. power will shrink. U.S. jobs will be lost.” Murphy speculated that “billionaires like Musk who make $ in China” or “someone buying all that secret Trump meme coin” would benefit from deliberately sabotaging eighty years of U.S. goodwill on the international stage.

And that brings us to the third faction: that of the tech bros, led by billionaire Elon Musk, who according to year-end Federal Election Commission filings spent more than $290 million supporting Trump and the Republicans in 2024. Musk appears to consider colonizing space imperative for the survival of humanity, and part of that goal requires slashing government regulations, as well as receiving government contracts that help to fund his space program.

Before he took office, Trump named Musk and another billionaire, Vivek Ramaswamy, to an extra-governmental group called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but Musk has assumed full control of the group, whose mission is to cut the federal budget by as much as $2 trillion.

Musk is interested in the government for future contracts, although a report from January 30, when Musk’s Tesla company filed its annual financial report, showed that the company, which is valued at more than $1 trillion and which made $2.3 billion in 2024, paid $0 in federal income tax. Today, Musk’s X social media company became a form of state media when the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it would no longer email updates about this week’s two plane crashes—one in Washington, D.C., and one in Philadelphia—and that reporters would have to get their information through X.

Musk’s goal might well be the crux of the drastic cuts to federal aid, as well as the attempt last week from the Office of Management and Budget to “pause” federal funding and grants to make sure funding reflected Trump’s goals. After a public outcry over the loss of payments to local law enforcement, Meals on Wheels for shut-ins, supplemental nutrition programs, and so on, the OMB rescinded its first memo, but then White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt immediately contradicted the new memo, saying the cuts were still in effect.

The chaos surrounding the cuts could have been designed to make it difficult for opponents to sue over them. This method of changing government priorities through “impoundment” is illegal. Congress—which is the body that represents the American people—appropriates the money for programs, and the president takes an oath to execute the laws. After President Richard M. Nixon tried it, Congress passed a 1974 law making impoundment expressly illegal. But the on-again-off-again confusion appeared at first to stand a chance of stopping lawsuits. It didn’t work: a federal judge halted the funding freeze, suggesting it was a blatant violation of the Constitution.

But then, yesterday, Elon Musk forced the resignation of David A. Lebryk, the highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department. Lebryk had been at Treasury since 1989 and had risen to become the person in charge of the U.S. government payment system that disburses about $6 trillion a year through Social Security benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, contracts, grants, salaries for federal government workers, tax refunds, and so on, essentially managing the nation’s checkbook.

According to Jeff Stein, Isaac Arnsdorf, and Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post, Musk’s team wanted access to the payment system. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) demanded answers from Trump’s new Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, warning that “these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy. I am deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, these officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs. I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems.”

Now, though, with Musk’s people at the computers that control the nation’s payment system, they can simply stop whatever payments they want to.

Wyden continued by reminding Bessent that the press has reported that Musk has previously been “denied a high-level clearance to access the government’s most sensitive secrets. I am concerned that Musk’s enormous business operation in China—a country whose intelligence agencies have stolen vast amounts of sensitive data about Americans, including U.S. government employee data by hacking U.S. government systems—endangers U.S. cybersecurity and creates conflicts of interest that make his access to these systems a national security risk.”

This afternoon, Wyden posted that he has been told that Bessent has given the Department of Government Efficiency full access to the system. “Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk's own companies. All of it.”

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo posted: “This is more or less like taking the gold from Fort Knox and putting it in Elons basement. Anyone who gets a check from soc sec or anything else[,] he can cut it off or see all y[ou]r personal and financial data.” Pundit Stuart Stevens called it “the most significant data leak in cyber history.”

All three of these factions are focused on destroying the federal government, which, after all, represents the American people through their elected representatives and spends their taxpayer money. Musk, who is an unelected adjunct to Trump, this evening gleefully referred to the civil servants in the government who work for the American people as “the opposing team.”

But something jumps out from the chaos of the past two weeks. Instructions are vague, circumstances are chaotic, and it’s unclear who is making decisions. That confusion makes it hard to enforce laws or sue, although observers note that what’s going on is “illegal and a breach of the constitutional order.”

Our federal government rests on the U.S. Constitution. The three different factions of Trump's MAGA Republicans agree that the government must be destroyed, and they are operating outside the constitutional order, not eager to win legal victories so much as determined to slash and burn down the government without them.

Today, senior Washington Post political reporter Aaron Blake noted that while it is traditional for cabinet nominees to pledge that they will refuse to honor illegal presidential orders, at least seven of Trump’s nominees have sidestepped that question. Attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard, now-confirmed defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, small business administrator nominee Kelly Loeffler, Veterans Affairs secretary nominee Douglas A. Collins, and commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick all avoided the question by saying that Trump would never ask them to do anything illegal. FBI director nominee Kash Patel just said he would “always obey the law.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[misfitwashere]

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

FEB 2

Throughout now-president Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, it was clear that his support was coming from three very different factions whose only shared ideology was a determination to destroy the federal government. Now we are watching them do it.

The group that serves President Donald Trump is gutting the government both to get revenge against those who tried to hold him accountable before the law and to make sure he and his cronies will never again have to worry about legality.

Last night, officials in the Trump administration purged the Federal Bureau of Investigation of all six of its top executives and, according to NBC’s Ken Dilanian, more than 20 heads of FBI field offices, including those in Washington, D.C., and Miami, where officials pursued cases against now-president Trump. Acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove, who represented Trump in a number of his criminal cases, asked acting FBI director Brian J. Driscoll Jr. for a list of FBI agents who had worked on January 6 cases to “determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.”

Clarissa-Jan Lim of MSNBC reported that Trump denied knowing about the dismissals but said the firings were “a good thing” because “[t]hey were very corrupt people, very corrupt, and they hurt our country very badly with the weaponization.”

Officials also fired 25 to 30 federal prosecutors who had worked on cases involving the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and reassigned others. Bove ordered the firings. Career civil servants can’t be fired without cause, and these purges come on top of the apparently illegal firing of 18 inspectors general across federal agencies and a purge of the Department of Justice of those who had worked on cases involving Trump.

Phil Williams of NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, Tennessee, reported on Friday that federal prosecutors were withdrawn from a criminal investigation of Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) for election fraud; Ogles recently filed a House resolution to enable Trump to run for a third term and another supporting Trump’s designs on Greenland. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss an election fraud case against former representative Jeffrey Fortenberry (R-NE). Trump called Fortenberry’s case an illustration of “the illegal Weaponization of our Justice System by the Radical Left Democrats.”

That impulse to protect Trump showed yesterday in what a local water manager said was an “extremely unprecedented” release of water from two dams in California apparently to provide evidence of his social media post that the U.S. military had gone into California and “TURNED ON THE WATER.” In fact, water was released from two reservoirs that hold water to supply farmland in the summer. They are about 500 miles (800 km) from Los Angeles, where the fires were earlier this year, and the water did not go to Southern California. “This is going to hurt farmers,” a water manager said, “This takes water out of the summer irrigation portfolio.” But Trump posted that if California officials had listened to him six years ago, there would have been no fires. Shashank Joshi of The Economist called it “real ‘mad king’ stuff.”

Trump’s loyalists overlap with the MAGA crew that embraces Project 2025, a plan that mirrors the one used by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán to overthrow democracy in Hungary. Operating from the position that modern democracy destroys a country by treating everyone equally before the law and welcoming immigrants, it calls for discrimination against women and gender, racial, and religious minorities; rejection of immigrants; and the imposition of religious laws to restore a white Christian patriarchy.

Former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson has been a vocal proponent of Orbán’s ideology, and J.D. Vance this week hired Carlson’s son, 28-year-old Buckley, as his deputy press secretary. Although Trump claimed during the campaign he didn't know anything about Project 2025, Steve Contorno and Casey Tolan of CNN estimate that more than two thirds of Trump’s executive orders mirror Project 2025.

You can see the influence of this faction in the indiscriminate immigration sweeps the administration has launched, Trump’s announcement that he is opening a 30,000-bed migrant detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and officials’ revocation of protection for more than 600,000 Venezuelans legally in the U.S. and possibly also for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans. You can see it in the administration’s attempt to end the birthright citizenship written into the U.S. Constitution in 1868.

It shows in the new administration's persecution of transgender Americans, including Trump’s executive order purging trans service members from the military, another limiting access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth, and yet another ordering trans federal prisoners to be medically detransitioned and then moved to facilities that correspond to their sex at birth, an outcome that a trans woman suing the administration calls “humiliating, terrifying, and dangerous.”

The administration has ordered that federal employees must remove all pronouns from their email signatures and, as Jeremy Faust reported in Inside Medicine, that researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must scrub from their work any references to “[g]ender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, nonbinary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, biologically male, biologically female.” Faust notes that the requirements are vague and that because “most manuscripts include demographic information about the populations or patients studied,” the order potentially affects “just about any major study…including studies on Covid-19, cancer, heart disease, or anything else.”

Those embracing this ideology are also isolationist. As soon as he took office, Trump imposed a freeze on foreign aid except for military aid to Israel and Egypt, abruptly cutting off about $60 billion in funding—less than 1% of the U.S. budget—to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides humanitarian assistance to fight starvation and provide basic medical care for the globe’s most vulnerable and desperate populations. The outcry, both from those appalled that the U.S. would renege on its promises to provide food for children in war-torn countries and from those who recognize that the U.S. withdrawal from these popular programs would create a vacuum China is eager to fill, made Trump’s new secretary of state, Marco Rubio, say that “humanitarian programs” would be exempted from the freeze, but that appears either untrue or so complicated to negotiate that programs are shutting down anyway.

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) appears to be beside himself over this destruction. “Let me explain why the total destruction of USAID…matters so much,” he posted on social media. “China—where Musk makes his money—wants USAID destroyed. So does Russia. Trump and Musk are doing the bidding of Beijing and Moscow. Why?” “The U.S. is in full retreat from the world,” he wrote, and there is “[n]o good reason for it. The immediate consequences of this are cataclysmic. Malnourished babies who depend on U.S. aid will die. Anti-terrorism programs will shut down and our most deadly enemies will get stronger. Diseases that threaten the U.S. will go unabated and reach our shores faster. And China will fill the void. As developing countries will now ONLY be able to rely on China for help, they will cut more deals with Beijing to give them control of ports, critical mineral deposits, etc. U.S. power will shrink. U.S. jobs will be lost.” Murphy speculated that “billionaires like Musk who make $ in China” or “someone buying all that secret Trump meme coin” would benefit from deliberately sabotaging eighty years of U.S. goodwill on the international stage.

And that brings us to the third faction: that of the tech bros, led by billionaire Elon Musk, who according to year-end Federal Election Commission filings spent more than $290 million supporting Trump and the Republicans in 2024. Musk appears to consider colonizing space imperative for the survival of humanity, and part of that goal requires slashing government regulations, as well as receiving government contracts that help to fund his space program.

Before he took office, Trump named Musk and another billionaire, Vivek Ramaswamy, to an extra-governmental group called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but Musk has assumed full control of the group, whose mission is to cut the federal budget by as much as $2 trillion.

Musk is interested in the government for future contracts, although a report from January 30, when Musk’s Tesla company filed its annual financial report, showed that the company, which is valued at more than $1 trillion and which made $2.3 billion in 2024, paid $0 in federal income tax. Today, Musk’s X social media company became a form of state media when the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it would no longer email updates about this week’s two plane crashes—one in Washington, D.C., and one in Philadelphia—and that reporters would have to get their information through X.

Musk’s goal might well be the crux of the drastic cuts to federal aid, as well as the attempt last week from the Office of Management and Budget to “pause” federal funding and grants to make sure funding reflected Trump’s goals. After a public outcry over the loss of payments to local law enforcement, Meals on Wheels for shut-ins, supplemental nutrition programs, and so on, the OMB rescinded its first memo, but then White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt immediately contradicted the new memo, saying the cuts were still in effect.

The chaos surrounding the cuts could have been designed to make it difficult for opponents to sue over them. This method of changing government priorities through “impoundment” is illegal. Congress—which is the body that represents the American people—appropriates the money for programs, and the president takes an oath to execute the laws. After President Richard M. Nixon tried it, Congress passed a 1974 law making impoundment expressly illegal. But the on-again-off-again confusion appeared at first to stand a chance of stopping lawsuits. It didn’t work: a federal judge halted the funding freeze, suggesting it was a blatant violation of the Constitution.

But then, yesterday, Elon Musk forced the resignation of David A. Lebryk, the highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department. Lebryk had been at Treasury since 1989 and had risen to become the person in charge of the U.S. government payment system that disburses about $6 trillion a year through Social Security benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, contracts, grants, salaries for federal government workers, tax refunds, and so on, essentially managing the nation’s checkbook.

According to Jeff Stein, Isaac Arnsdorf, and Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post, Musk’s team wanted access to the payment system. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) demanded answers from Trump’s new Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, warning that “these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy. I am deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, these officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs. I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems.”

Now, though, with Musk’s people at the computers that control the nation’s payment system, they can simply stop whatever payments they want to.

Wyden continued by reminding Bessent that the press has reported that Musk has previously been “denied a high-level clearance to access the government’s most sensitive secrets. I am concerned that Musk’s enormous business operation in China—a country whose intelligence agencies have stolen vast amounts of sensitive data about Americans, including U.S. government employee data by hacking U.S. government systems—endangers U.S. cybersecurity and creates conflicts of interest that make his access to these systems a national security risk.”

This afternoon, Wyden posted that he has been told that Bessent has given the Department of Government Efficiency full access to the system. “Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk's own companies. All of it.”

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo posted: “This is more or less like taking the gold from Fort Knox and putting it in Elons basement. Anyone who gets a check from soc sec or anything else[,] he can cut it off or see all y[ou]r personal and financial data.” Pundit Stuart Stevens called it “the most significant data leak in cyber history.”

All three of these factions are focused on destroying the federal government, which, after all, represents the American people through their elected representatives and spends their taxpayer money. Musk, who is an unelected adjunct to Trump, this evening gleefully referred to the civil servants in the government who work for the American people as “the opposing team.”

But something jumps out from the chaos of the past two weeks. Instructions are vague, circumstances are chaotic, and it’s unclear who is making decisions. That confusion makes it hard to enforce laws or sue, although observers note that what’s going on is “illegal and a breach of the constitutional order.”

Our federal government rests on the U.S. Constitution. The three different factions of Trump's MAGA Republicans agree that the government must be destroyed, and they are operating outside the constitutional order, not eager to win legal victories so much as determined to slash and burn down the government without them.

Today, senior Washington Post political reporter Aaron Blake noted that while it is traditional for cabinet nominees to pledge that they will refuse to honor illegal presidential orders, at least seven of Trump’s nominees have sidestepped that question. Attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard, now-confirmed defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, small business administrator nominee Kelly Loeffler, Veterans Affairs secretary nominee Douglas A. Collins, and commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick all avoided the question by saying that Trump would never ask them to do anything illegal. FBI director nominee Kash Patel just said he would “always obey the law.”

—

[rickssugarplum]

The Rick is Over

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR 7x05! Watch it first before reading this! Thanks and enjoy! ❤

(Rick Sanchez x Reader) Spoilers for 7x05, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

You help Rick process it all.

With the pull of the lever, all the lights in the sub-basement go out, finalizing the end of the decades-long show that's been ongoing most of his life.

It's all finally over.

Rick Prime is dead.

Still coated head to toe in blood, Rick stands in the darkness in the now useless lair, where he'd spent countless days and nights searching, tracking, and looking for any signs of his lifelong enemy. The one who caused him all his pain, destroyed all of his dreams he had when he was young. All he ever wanted, was to live as a husband and father to the two most precious girls in his life.

That life had been ripped away from him so many years ago.

Now, he has killed the man who was responsible. His ultimate goal had been achieved.

So, why does he still feel so empty?

He didn't say a word while flying back home. The voice of his grandson right beside him felt like miles away. It was as if his entire world had gone mute. He could not just go to sleep in his room. Not tonight.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

You were in your living room, reading a book in complete silence, until it was broken by the familiar whirling sound of the portal. You were clearly expecting Rick to emerge from it, but you nearly screamed when you saw him soaked in crimson blood.

"Oh my God! Rick?!!" you shrieked as you stepped towards him. He stood there, emotionless.

"Rick! What the fuck happened!? You look like you came through a slaughter!"

The old man just looked at you; still silent. It caused even more panic in your veins.

"Rick, please. You're scaring me! What is going on!? Say something!" you begged. He was never one to be quiet, even more alarming when he's drenched in blood. Did an adventure go awry or...

"W-where's Morty!? Is he okay?" You asked in fear that something might have happened to him. Your heart rate slightly lowered when he nodded, assuring his grandson was alright.

Looking more closely at him, you saw more damage inflicted on his face. "Jesus Christ, Rick. Your nose is broken!"

Rick finally spoke in a hoarse but defiant voice. "I got him."

His bloodshot eyes stared directly into yours. You saw the anger he's shown in them only when he's described his past, his stolen life; his darkest demons.

Immediately, you knew who he was talking about.

"You-you got...him?" You couldn't speak the name, despite sharing it with the man in front of you. Rick simply nodded again. Not knowing what exactly happened, the blood covering him made one thing clear.

Rick had finally killed his enemy.

Slowly, you took his hands, searching in his eyes for any ounce of how he was feeling, knowing he had avenged his wife and daughter.

"Are-are you okay?"

Morty had asked him that exact same question after it was all said and done. He said that he was. But now seeing the concern in your face and repeating his grandson's words just mere hours before caused the final crack in the dam.

Suddenly you felt two long arms around you, grasping your frame tightly, and Rick let out the loudest, broken wail you'd ever hear. His anguish was bigger than his body, causing him to collapse, dragging you both to your floor. You simply held him as he cried into you, letting out decades of repressed grief and trauma that'd haunted him.

"Shhhh... It's okay, Rick..." you murmured, placing his head on your chest and stroking his slightly damp hair. "It's over..." you whispered. "I'm here... I've got you..."

The man was trembling like a newborn fawn. He looked so fragile. You couldn't possibly know exactly what was going through his tormented mind as he screamed into your chest. His cries sounded so animalistic, it almost scared you. But your heart was breaking hearing him suffer inside. He had cried for the life he lost, his wife he had promised forever to, and his little girl, whom he swore to protect. All Rick wanted was to have his beloved Diane by his side and to see his baby Beth grow up. He wanted them to grow old together. All of his plans. His dreams. Their future, will never come.

Tears welled up in your own eyes, but you stayed and gently rocked him, whispering words of comfort.

"It's alright, baby," you said softly.

Baby. Diane used to call him that. He let out another sob at that memory. Leaning down, you press soft kisses on his forehead.

"I'm so proud of you, Rick..." you confessed. It was the truth. You wanted him to know that. How lucky you were to have the most passionate Rick throughout infinity. He squeezed you a bit tighter at your affirmation.

Time didn't matter to either of you. You could hold him forever if he needed it. That would be how long it would take to heal this broken heart.

After awhile, his sobs started to fade into soft weeping.

"Rick? Can you look at me?" You asked softly. There was no command in your voice. It was mainly to make sure he knew his surroundings. Slowly, he lifts his head up to look at you. The blood of his enemy was slightly rinsed underneath his eyes from tears. You cupped his face in your hands so tenderly, giving him a faint smile.

"You did it."

Rick's expression had become nearly blank. After all the crying, he almost felt numb. "What do you need right now?" you asked him, stroking his cheek.

He wrapped his arms around you again. This time, not in desperation, but in comfort and gratitude. In his hold, he simply whispered,

"Just you..."

It relieved you to hear his answer. You both stayed in your embrace, with no plans on letting each other go. Rick could feel a slight relief as you assured him you were not going anywhere. He closed his eyes and let everything sink in. Through all the changes he's made, he's achieved the biggest change of all. The hunt for his nemesis was over.

So.

What now?

He's going to find out.

❤

[mcyt-trios]

The winner of this poll will go on to face Architechs (Grian, MumboJumbo, Iskall85)

PROPAGANDA:

Campfire Crew:

CAMPFIRE CREW THE ABSOLUTE GUYS OF ALL TIME. CAMPFIRE CREW THE PINNACLE OF ACCIDENTAL FORESHADOWING THE TOP TIER OF "IT'S NOT THAT DEEP BUT IT COULD BE" WATCH AS LOYALTY EATS THEM FROM THE INSIDE OUT IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO END THIS WAY YOU SAY FINAL THREE AND YOU COME OUT WITH THE FINAL THREE. there is literally SO MUCH i could say about campfire crew and absolutely none of it would be enough. death games are prime material for interactions of all time and the campfire crew is absolutely knocking it out of the park. they lose their first lives planning around each other. they live in the same house (they live in different houses). they're scheming against each other. they're working with each other. they're two people who have FOUR KILLS EACH and one hapless innocent man. they're three people who swore a pact over a campfire and despite everything ended up holding to that pact. every time they play rock paper scissors, someone dies. the innocent, in death, turns them against each other, despite this not being how the game works. they reveal their roles to each other and it has this entire sense of inevitability -- of everyone having ALREADY KNOWN what was going to happen. it doesn't matter that two of them are going to kill everyone else on the server. you get that "innocent's" loyalty and you have him for life. paranoia is nothing next to a need for blood and connection. i have a normal amount of emotions over "i swear my loyalty / i offer my fealty / uhhhhhhhh same." do not @ me

Ghaae:

They’re in love your honor. They’re three gay men in love. Two himbos and a scientist. They were roommates then they were lovers.

dam it, I don't have the words for them. they are just little guys with big hearts and lots of love to give and all of them are just a bit traumatized and bit to used to the concept of death and they all need hugs and get them surprisingly often despite everything happening around them, and I love them and would kill for them <3

Gay people. Honestly that's it. They all need hugs respectively (as does everyone in this smp) Rae is the child of the Goddess of the mind, and is also the vessel of said Goddess (and is 1 of 2 things keeping their end dimension together). Aax is a olm who was. Made a in a lab. And kills undead things whether they want to or not (he was made to), named himself after an axe. Caspain is just a guy. The most guy on this smp. They got a cute little house and a even more adorable dog named atlas, and back in season 2 their axolotal area was named the armory because most of the axolotals were named after weapons. (Season 3 its just a pond), they're very gay all the time and deserve the whole world.

[in1-nutshell]

I wonder what would the Maxima being a prime stuff but with the other scenario

Where instead of Smokescreen saving Optimus, it was Maxima

I got to start making more comfort for our girl here...

Anyways!

Hope you enjoy!

Maxima becoming Maximum Prime (Altern. Version)

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Angst, Mention of character death (its Prime but he always comes back) Cybertronian reader

TFP

Everything was happening too fast.

Too sudden.

It seemed as if Maxima had just returned from a peaceful patrol and was now told to evacuate the only other home on this planet.

But it was happening and there wasn’t anything she could do to stop it.

The only thing she could really do now was help ease the process for the younger members of the team and try and keep morale up.

Maxima gently placing Miko into Bulkhead’s alt mode. She was the last of the children to go. Miko: “You guys will be okay, right?” Maxima forcing a sad smile: “We’ll be fine Miko.” Miko: “…Okay, you better be. If not I’ll punch your lights out!” Maxima: “I don’t doubt it.” Maxima taking a shaky vent and holds out her digit so Miko could shake it. With that Bulkhead drives away. Maxima catching Smokescreen sneaking off and grabs his doorwing: “Your next Smokes.” Smokescreen grumbles a bit after getting caught. Maxima pats his shoulder and watches him go off through the groundbridge.

As soon as it was Ratchet’s turn though, the tears started escaping as she embraced the older medic tightly.

No one knew what was going to happen…

If this was her last time seeing him... she was going to make the most out of it.

Soon enough it was just her and Optimus.

Once the coordinates were set and the groundbridge whirled to life for one last go, the dam broke.

She clung onto her father so tightly, she was sure she had created new dents in both their armors.

Optimus immediately responded and hugged her back with almost the same tightness.

Maxima wanted to say something, anything to change his mind about going with her.

But she had gotten her stubbornness from somewhere and it wasn’t just Ratchet or Megatron.

With one last squeeze, she quickly transformed and sped into the bridge.

She had to do it quickly, if not she would have turned back.

Once through Maxima began to look around at her surroundings.

It took a couple of minutes to realize that this had been one of her patrol routes near the base.

She could still make it!

…All those happy thoughts however died the moment she saw a great explosion in the direction of the base.

Maxima didn’t remember screaming for him.

Nor when she transformed and drove straight into the wreckage of her home.

She did remember the moment she saw her father’s battered frame in the rubble of the base.

Maxima with wide optics and tears: “DAD!” She scurries over to him getting as much debris as she can and pulls him to a ‘cleaner area of the wreckage. She looks over at his wounds. Maxima forcing a smile: “It looks bad… but I can fix it! Just wait, I’m sure there’s some tools around!” Optimus: “…Maxima…” Maxima holding his servo: “Don’t talk, save your energy. Now if I can just remember where I put the spare tools—” Optimus: “Maxima…” Maxima holding the servo tighter as more tears start escaping: “I know I can-can find ‘em! Just hold on for a second—” POP! Optimus had opened his chassis presenting the Matrix of Leadership. Maxima is in shock. Optimus: “I… know how you feel about the Matrix… but now the team needs a leader.” Maxima: “That’s why I’m going to fix you!” Optimus coughing roughly: “My time with the Allspark is almost here… Maxima…” Optimus tries to raise his servo to her faceplate. She grabs it and presses it on her. He gently strokes one of his digits to wipe a tear. Optimus: “Do not cry for me… be our light in our… darkest… hour…” The servo started going limp. Maxima: “Optimus? Optimus!” She starts shaking his shoulders, panic settling in faster seeing his frame starting to turn grey. Maxima: “Dad! DAD! PLEASE DON’T GO! DAD PLEASE!... please… don’t leave me…”

Maxima hurriedly turns to the Matrix seeing it floating closer and closer to her chassis.

She grabs at the limp servo and quietly opens her chassis and closed her optics one last time as Maxima.

Maximum Prime opened her optics for the first time and saw the greying frame of the former Prime before her.

She began to stand up when she noticed the Forge of Solus Prime in the wreckage.

An idea popped in her helm.

Orion Pax opened his optics groaning. He looks up to see a tall bot that eerily looked like his sparkling. Orion: “Where am I? What is going on? Where is Maxima?” Maximum Prime gently places a servo on his shoulders giving him a kind smile. Maximum: “It has been a long time Orion Pax. I promise to tell you everything in time, but we must find our missing comrades before Megatron does.” Orion: “Megatron? Like Megatronus?” Maximum holding out her servo: “It is a long story Pax.” Orion grabbing her servo as they maneuver their way through the wreckage and finally to the desert. Orion: “I am rather fond of stories.” Maximum: “…This story starts with an abandoned sparkling and a friendly archivist…”

[ketrindoll]

List of russian lies in the UN or during diplomatic speeches:

1. In January-February of 2022 russia claimed in the UN that they will not invade Ukraine, that they have no plans to invade Ukraine, and evidence of upcoming invasion are lies made by the US or others.

End of the same month russia launched a full-scale invasion.

2. Russia claimed in the UN that the reason they attacked Ukraine was to fight some "local nazis" and that they are indeed good guys fighting Ukrainian hatred. That, however, does not explain why: a) russia opposed the grain deal until Turkey threatened to make it work one way or the other, showing their intention to starve hundreds of millions of people in neutral countries for no reason whatsoever, b) russia refused to allow UN or Red Cross etc to observe the conditions of POWs or to open humanitarian corridors for people to escape from Mariupol or other conflict zones, with thousands of witnesses reporting abductions, filtration camps, and shelling of retreating civilians, c) russia claimed to only want to protect local russian population, yet completely destroyed whole cities in majorly-russian-speaking Eastern Ukraine, like Mariupol (satellites showing mass graves), and bombing mainly civilian targets - schools, hospitals, theatres, a shopping mall during peak hours, a train station where people waited for evacuation, apartment buildings, etc. Currently we can see that there is no effort on the russian-controlled side of Dnipro river to help people in flooded areas, with videos and citizen testimonies reporting shelling of all disaster aid attempts, d) russia claimed that they only hate the "nazi" Ukrainian government, yet they openly shelled Ukrainian power grids during winter, for no other reason than to leave innocent civilians with no gas or electricity.

3. Russian state TV, public figures like Solovyov, former President and Prime Minister as well as head of security council of russia Medvedev openly stated either on national TV or in their social media pages that they want to "exterminate" Ukrainians. That the whole country should not exist, that Ukrainian language is fake, etc etc. This is genocidal speech and it is not limited to Ukraine either. The Baltic States, Poland, etc also received such claims - that they "do not exist" that they "belong to russia" or that they "should be invaded". Makes it very obvious who the imperialistic, colonist aggressor actually is. Medvedev also repeatedly threatened Western European countries with missile or even nuclear attack, yet they claim to only be "defending themselves".

4. Lavrov got laughed at during a summit in India for claiming that "russia was invaded by Ukraine". Do I even need to explain why this is a lie? If I do, check 1st point again. Or just turn on your brain.

5. Then there's more sci-fi nutjobby official russian claims (or lies) about - bioweapons in Ukraine, pidgeons carrying disease or weapons to russia, Ukraine having some super-soldiers, or even dark magic, as indicated by russian Ministry of Defense changing the goal of their "special military operation" from "denazification" to "desatanization".

And that's just a few of the main ones. More is discussed in the latest UN meeting, you can watch the video on their official website.

So, knowing all of this, why the fuck would you believe ANYTHING they say? Especially about the destruction of dam?

Russia has repeatedly shown aggressive attitude towards neighbouring countries, claimed their wish to occupy them, russian officials called for extermination of whole nationalities, and both President putin and Belova have enough evidence against them for ICC to issue a warrant for them for GENOCIDE AND WAR CRIMES.

If you still believe in russia, despite anything they themselves say, you're either a genocide-supporter or unbelievably stupid.

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

does Visenya how much of a dick her son is to reader? Will reader ever forgive her for not taking her side and trying to force her to marry?

visenya is blinded by the love a mother has toward her first born son 🙃

"You once called me your heir, or did you only mean that since you had no children then?" Your arms are defensively crossed in front of your chest, an accusatory glower in your eyes.

There was a chilling silence in your chambers. Because she was the warrior she was, Visenya was a bit timid about going to you so soon after the marriage conversation. She loved you too much to let you run off upset.

"That is not why. You and Maegor are both my heirs. If the two of you wed, you could overthrow Aenys and take the throne for yourselves."

Reeling at her statement, you gawk at her. "Overthrow Aenys?" Your voice was breathy in disbelief. "Why would you say that? Why even think that I would want such an absurd thing? Marrying Maegor is one thing, but taking the throne from my brother is another."

What your aunt was speaking of was heresy.

Visenya's eyes dart around the room, ensuring no eyes are somehow watching you. "You've always known you're better suited. At who better to be your king than Maegor? Once he gets a dragon-"

"Please stop." You didn't want to hear it. "I don't desire either of those things! Especially the idea of Maegor getting a dragon!" Gods be good, you prayed he never would. Maegor insisted he mounted Balerion when Aegon passed. If Balerion ever ended up Maegor's, it would be the end of Westeros.

The back of your neck breaks out in a clammy sweat from the thought.

"(y/n), what are you talking about?"

"I love you, Aunt Visenya. You have been the mother I never knew and my idol, but I would wish destruction upon our house if I were to marry an animal like Maegor." You couldn't keep away the detestation from your voice or the inward curl your back hunched into. "Spending the rest of my life stuck to that brute-" Jaw clenching, your head shakes furiously. "I'd kill myself."

She was truly at a loss. She'd always thought you felt the same way about Maegor as he did you. What you had to say about her son. . . It did pierce her deeply. Maegor was of her womb, her pride and joy that she loved to compare to the reedy Aenys. A strong boy who would carry on the Targaryen legacy.

Swallowing back your nerves, your gaze finally looks up at your aunt. "The realm has male heirs. What difference would it make to marry me off when they are the prime pickings?"

"The fact that you're a Targaryen and have a dragon is the difference! Any of these lower lordlings would bend the knee if it meant a marriage with you! Their dominion will have a dragon as its protector and a resident Targaryen." Visenya didn't mean to sound so harsh but the more you fought back, the angrier she now became. She'd raised you better than to act out like a selfish brat. "You are more valuable than Aenys and Maegor."

Angry tears burn at the corners of your eyes. "I'm not marrying. I will not be someone's property, something shiny to toat on their arm."

"Rhaenys-"

"Rhaenys is dead! I don't even remember her. YOU have been the only mother I have ever known. That's why it broke my heart that you didn't support me. I know you would rather not be married to Aegon. Would you want to put me through the same situation? To be as unhappy as you are?" You couldn't stop the words streaming out of your mouth. The dam has been broken to allow all your inner thoughts to verbally flow out.

Visenya merely gawks at you, eyes widened and red-rimmed. Defiance wasn't anything new to see on you. Toward your aunt, though, now that was a new development. Visenya wonders how long you'd been thinking such things. How long you'd bore witness to her unhappy marriage with Aegon.

She feels her hands shake, unsure of how to proceed.

Even you seemed at odds on how to continue. Panting from your tirade and trembling from the righteous anger that fueled your veins with fire.

Finally, your voice worbles out "If you make me marry Maegor, I will never forgive you. I will sooner see the end of our family."

Recollecting herself, Visenya scowls your way. "You would do best not to threaten me. Watch yourself."

You bare your teeth. "It's not a threat. It's a promise."

[scalproie]

S1E25

Optimus is also an hypocritical king like when one member of his team goes off on their own he scolds them but when HE does so and have a solo fight alone somewhere for the third time they cant say shit bc he is their demigod leader

Oh nvm they saved him for the third time

Finally some fucking titan. Im taking so many notes. For personal reasons.

I love megatron I love megatron I love megatron I love megatron I love megatron I love megatron I love megatron I love megatron I love megatron

"What happened?" / "I HAPPENED."

"KING CON"???

FUNNIEST EXES. IN HISTORY.

THIS STUPID GAY WARLORD IS SOOO FUNNYYY EVERYTIME AND ALWAYYYSSS

FUNNIEST EXES. IN HISTORY.

I love megatron

Ratchet: OPTIMUS DONT FORM AN ALLIANCE WITH FUCKING MEGATRON

Megatron: Daddy long fusion cannon just landed in Jasper, Nevada baby, whats-

The lesson here is to do so much drugs you will build a tolerance so high you will be able to save the world by going thru the devil's hotbox unaffected. This dark energon aint shit

Again if meg evil then why h

See, team prime is really only in it to save humanity bc they have formed a close bond with one human in particular (and i mean its understandable if I was in their situation) but optimus? Optimus loves us so much man...

I love megatronnn

"Sooo this is where the magic happens? ... Quaint." I LOVE MEGATRONNN

THE FUCKING GALL OF IT ALL??? HIS FUCKING LITTLE HAND WAVE AS HE TALKS TO RAF??? "LITTLE ONE"??? "Humans... resiliant~" ??? HELLO???

YOU SHOULDVE DRILLED MY FACE IN WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE, JACKY BOY

Optimusss... peepawww

FINALLY SOME FUCKING NIGHTMARISH UNICRON IMAGERY!!!

Amazing episode for people like me who love evil dramatic purple bitches👍

[moonlight-tmd]

Continuation on Celestial!Bee AU because the dam has been opened.

So- after the summoning ritual incident, Team Prime is left with the knowledge that their little friend is not that harmless as they might have thought.

And as Bee- or rather Bei said, they didn't talk about what happened. Pretending everything was normal was somewhat difficult- Bee was always, well, Bee and the others were still kind of wary but tried their best to act as usual. Eventually tho, drifted back to the way they were before, well maybe with the excepion that Bee wasn't getting as much downtalk for acting recless as before.

Sari on the other hand had no idea what happened nor what Bee is. All she knew is that some weird robots were stealing stuff and doing weird things and her friends went to investigate, she was told they got taken care of and nothing more.

After a while of peace and having a decent life of course stuff had to go wrong. Firstly, the Decepticons showed up. Bee took somewhat of a liking to this Blitzwing fella, the mech knew how to have fun. But then, another issue popped up- The Allspark.

When they first found a shard there was a little bit of a fight but they managed... but then the group saw Bee picking the shard and staring at it so intently. The knowledge of what Bee really is flooded back to them, the worry rose when he didn't answer them calling and instead said "So much power is such little piece...".

"...Buddy?" Bulkhead said worried, in a moment Bee turned his gaze towards them, the same expression remained. He stared at them for a moment before his optics returned to the shard, after another brief moment of silence he started walking towards the group. He gently handed Optimus the shard. "Keep this safe."

Later after they returned and wondered what to do with it Bee seemed to bring out some box, saying he 'found it in the storage with the scraps from their ship', to house the shard- it was in fact the very crate the Allspark was housed in before.

Now, from then on Bee's role is making sure none of the mortals get their hands on the shards to do some dirty stuff. He's always there whenever they are putting another shards in the container and always is around whenever one of the team gets close to the box. For the new shards that have appeared, he's the one that will get close and stabilize them if they're going crazy.

Now i know there is a place for romance here. Not sure which i wanna go with so there's much leeway on what i can do. Anyway, skipping to another major event-

So i know at some point Sari stabbed Bee and accidentally blasted him with her powers. I don't know much about which order they go in so i will say she stabbed him first- Bee seemed to never really get hurt on missions (outside the damages he takes when others are watching). Still if he takes damage he goes to Ratchet, both know Bee can heal himself but prefers to stick to the 'mortal rules', at least when others saw him get hurt (plus he doesn't wanna take away the "fun" from Ratchet fixing him, lol). Now, i imagine when Sari stabbed him he actually couldn't heal himself, Sari's powers came from the near-equally powerfull Key to the Allspark. Its power is dangerous even to gods. He had to stay put for a while after that, even go plead the shards to heal him faster.

Now, i imagine at some point something happened, like an argument or something, and Sari's powers rose to unstable levels cuz of her emotions- Bee tried to intervene and calm her down but she was so scared and panicked she released a blast of energy...

Bee managed to make a shield in the split moment before the explosion so the others (and the base) wouldn't get hurt... Bee himself however,.. he was the unlucky one outside the barrier with Sari.

He got blasted against a wall and the shield broke on impact, they never expected to see what happened to Bee just then. Instead of the ever-familiar sight of Bee they saw everyday there was Bei-Silah, laying against the wall unconscious- but the most horrifying thing was that his frame had black and charred scars in the places the blast hit him, strings of white seeped thru the black patches- the black itself seemed to evaporate slightly into the air making a misty effect on the wound. Bei's frame itself was dim in color and lost the glow.

Neither of them knew what to do, Ratchet took Sari to medbay even tho she pleaded him to help Bee, in the meantime Prowl ran to get the Allspark shards- he recalled Bee saying something about them being able to help with usually untreatable injuries. He brought a few of them near the injured god and quietly repeated the prayer mantra Bee taught him when Prowl caught him meditating with the allspark shards one time.

It didn't do anything at first, but then the shards started to glow and let out little lights that drifted and floated down into the scars, sealing them and restoring what was broken. Just a second after everything was healed Bei jolted awake with a deep gasp. He stayed still for a moment before his 4 servos touched various areas of his body, bottom to top, as if to make sure they're still there then he slumped back against the wall with a big sigh. 2 of his servos rested on his forehelm and cheek while he had this traumatized expression.

"I'm never gonna emotionally recover from this..."

The others were worried (if he had a romace with someone then there's their reaction too), Bei had trouble standing up, he only said he needed to regain his strength before walking to his room- he was too weak to levitate, his ribbons too dragged on the floor behind him, his frame was in color but hasn't gotten the glow back just yet.

In the meantime Ratchet soothed Sari and got to work on reducing the amount of power output. Sari saw this wicked version of Bee, Ratchet had no other option that to tell her what they knew about Bee. He didn't know what happened either so he couldn't say if he was gonna be fine or not...

In the next few hours, Bei-Silah regained enough power to go talk with her. His frame regained some of the glow and he could once again levitate. Sari apologised over and over but Bei just pulled her onto his lap and comforted her, saying it was an accident. The others in medbay just stood silent, watching. Occasionally they asked a question of two when Bei was speaking about how powerful Sari is now thanks to the Key... That this kind of power could harm if not kill a higher being. Of course he promised to help her tame the newfound abilities to the best of his capabilities.

I think after that point Bee would be more open (at least in base) about randomly turning into his god form some days. There's also some other events I had in mind for this like Bei-Silah explaining how his deals work to the others when they ask him what he does as a god.

I do have quite an interesting scenes with BlitzBee in this AU so i think it's most likely going to end up with this. This is it for part 2, I will write part 3 of the events cuz I can't fit everything into just these 2.

[bitterarcs]

Contracts were signed with blood. Upon entering the elite group of the Turks, it was made readily clear, almost like the warning was printed in bold and scarlet upon the employee contract, that being a Turk meant sacrifice. The elite members did not only sacrifice a life of being social, those peppered with marriage and children, it literally meant sacrificing their very lives. Reno was completely fine with that even at the age of seventeen. He had no family and certainly had no intentions of marrying. Worse even, adopting some ifrit-awful brats because there was no way he was actually going to stick his prick inside a woman.

The Turks just seemed to attract that loner type — men and women with shitty lives who were perfectly fine selling their souls. Reno was perhaps the most prime of examples; a street rat through-and-through with more enemies to his name than genuine friends. For a man with no loyalties but to himself, he found it with surprising ease ... of course watching his fellow Turk's skillsets and learning the hard way that it was a matter of them and not I facilitated the learning process.

For the first time in his life, Reno kicked ass for something greater; life held purpose. Ego was set aside when life and death were hanging over his teammate's head, and really, who didn't want to die a hero in a blaze of fire. There was a time he expected to die from being stabbed in the back or shot in an alley. Now he was getting his blaze of fire. The remote detonation had failed at the last minute. Instead of abandoning the plans completely ( weeks of fucking preparation ), it was now or never as the old saying went.

If the Turks didn't cut off the head of the serpent now, it would be more trouble for all of ShinRa and Rufus especially. Reno had cleared the area of his teammates and then went straight back into the belly of the beast — setting up the bomb, detonating it, and then running like a god dam chocobo on fire though he had no expectations of making it out alive. You guys better commission a statue of me — Reno's supposed last words over their comms device before everything went BOOM.

Even in death Reno was a narcissist, running only for the sheer hope the explosion wouldn't turn him into pulp. He wanted Rude or Tseng to find a limb or his head at the very least. Ego saved his life. He ended up falling through a weak point in the floor right before the explosion hit ( about ten seconds after he actually detonated it ), and the energy of the blast hit his back, sending him soaring. The rest was black. There was pain, yeah, but Reno was completely out.

When he came to, the sun was rising bright orange and red. No ... that was flames. Flames from the exploded building were brightening the midnight night sky in a beautiful but frighteningly destructive display. The smell of burning assaulted his sense of smell, and in another display of narcissism, he quietly hoped it wasn't his hair which was burning. It took him way too long to realize his head was atop something soft and a voice was calling out to him. Turquoise hues struggled to focus on the sight above him for several seconds, then flesh tones and ivory sharpened into the shape of Tseng's face.

A very concerned face at that; a rarity to see on his supervisor's face. Reno's mind was slowly turning back on, and with that a small grin tugged at the edges of his lips. Despite the blood, the scrapes, and the burns, Reno was looking like ... well, like himself. He did struggle to get up, so he resigned himself to depending on Tseng's support for the moment. He barely registered the leather of Tseng's gloves cupping his face and the words filtering out from worried lips.

(  ❛  Call me bomb-happy, but I think all-in-all that worked out for the best. I still want that statue made. ❜  )

Confidence was cut short with a wheeze and a cough. How embarrassingly un-heroic like. Reno couldn't help it. He literally esecaped death's grasp and the ash in the air was scratching his throat something awful. The distant whirl of helicopter blades reached his hearing; the medics and soldier grunts were here for the assist. With that assurance, Reno shut his eyes ... just briefly, yet a second of rest turned into hours.

[DISBELIEF]: after reno has done something completely unexpected (and reckless), stunned tseng cups reno's face in his hands while trying to get him to explain why the hell he did it.

(   is this a love confession, @crimson-sorrow ?  )

[thefoxtherapist]

Nest

Arthur didn’t want to call it an embarrassment exactly, but it was something akin to it as he draped another pelt along the floor of the living room. An old broken down mansion of some kind, maybe. But it was good enough for now. And it was stable and safe enough he could set up a nest of some sort, closer to a den with the size. 

Settling down for long places wasn’t the easiest in the gang, but this place would do for now. And so Arthur dealt with the slight embarrassment of setting up his nest. Some of the pelts were old ones he’d kept, some were newer. Either way they lined the room, made it as comfortable as it could be with the addition of his small mattress.

The room originally provided to him would have been suitable. But an offhand comment from Mrs.Grimshaw about morale had him here. Maybe that was where his embarrassment stemmed from, the idea of being the gang's prime omega. Arthur brought his hand up to the back of his neck, rubbing his dry sunburnt skin.

A sheet used as a curtain was the final touch to his nest, closing it off to the rest of the house, the rest of the gang. It provided Arthur with much needed rest and privacy, whilst also allowing him to quickly be within reach should anybody require his services.

Arthur sat on the soft bundled ground, letting his hands roam over the soft pelts. He'd worked hard on getting the highest quality, and it paid off as he allowed himself to lay back. He let out a deep sigh, filled his lungs with fresh oxygen, that he then exhaled once more.

But as quickly as his relaxation started, it came to an end. The familiar young boy pushed his way past the curtain and into the room, all but diving on some of the soft wolf pelt on the ground. It wasn't his current obsession of spaghetti or Mr. Bronte, but it seemed to please the young lad who rolled around in the soft fur.

“Can I help ya, Jack?”

The bounty hunter watched as the young pup stopped, now laying on his stomach he grinned up at Arthur with a toothy, albeit bashful, smile. “I was hopin’ ya’d read to me?” The boy sat up, bringing his legs to his chest. Jack was always a bit reserved, shy considering who his father happened to be.

Arthur supposed the comfortable nest brought the allure of domesticity and despite wanting to say no, Jack’s pleading eyes convinced him otherwise. He really was more of a dam than he wanted to admit. Another embarrassment as he searched for the book Abigail had given him for whenever Jack had this particular request of his.

It wasn’t long before Jack was tucked against Arthur’s side, bundled up in a blanket, his face buried against the man’s shoulder. It was comfortable and warm, the child inhaled the safe scent. Arthur opened the children’s book, calloused fingers trailing down the pages as he attempted to find where they’d been.

“Remember where we were?”

“Uhuh! The princess had just fallen under the curse!”

Arthur nodded, finding the page, he then began to read. It was with sensitive ears he heard Jack’s breathing slowly get more subtle, softer. It took the boy only thirty minutes before he was out like a light, snoring softly into Arthur’s arm.

The man looked around the den he’d created. Sure, he’d been embarrassed. But now he was somewhat pleased with himself. He gave Jack a good nest to burrow in, one he found safe and comfortable too. There was little more the omega could ask for in terms of praise and notice.

[arceespinkgun]

Abruptly, he was aware that he had been moving for a long time. Who was he? Where was he? Why was he? What was that thunderous voice that roared in his head? Why was he being pushed, slipping, sliding, crashing and reeling through the jagged black and soft white of this place? On a ridgetop, he stopped and turned to consider his tormentor, a powerful machine of destruction and violence. He struggled to frame intelligible sounds, but a siren wail that seemed to mimic the wind was all that burst from him. Simultaneously, a splash of fire blossomed beside them, throwing out shoots of rock and ice which rattled and punched at his metallic hide. He was still listening to the complex percussion of the falling debris, when the violent machine swung a mighty arm and struck him a ringing blow. Surprised and unbalanced, he toppled and fell, limbs scrabbling wildly for grip where there was none. Then he was moving, accelerating downwards in a reckless exhilaration of speed, cleaving up plumes of soft, white powder. He was out of control. “Move! Move!” Hoist roared in frustration. His damaged comrade stood, vacant, as if engrossed in some strange entertainment. Hoist shoved him again, as he had been shoving him for hour after mountainous hour, mile after ice-bound mile, trying desperately to keep ahead of the pursuing Constructicons. He watched for a second as Jazz tobogganed down the ice-slope and then, spurred on by the laser fire that pierced and shattered the black rock around him, he too launched himself on the armour-rattling descent. If Hoist’s navigation was correct they should have cleared the high peaks now and should soon be able to make the tree-line and find forest cover. Fifteen hundred feet below, he came abruptly to rest at the foot of the ice-slope. He shook free the snow that had compacted itself in his scanners and looked for his hapless companion. Locating him, Hoist groaned inwardly — more aberrant behaviour! The second-in-command of the Autobot Warriors, right-hand of the great Optimus Prime, was sitting atop a large snow-clad boulder — his attention rapt upon six balls of compacted snow, which he manipulated skillfully from hand to hand, managing to keep them all airborne and mobile. Juggling. In the midst of a potential battle-zone, he was juggling! Still, at least there was nothing wrong with his co-ordination, thought Hoist.

...

Simultaneous with the awareness of a distant crashing and shattering of timber which assailed his senses, Hoist realised that Jazz was no longer with him. Desperately he scanned, trying to locate his comrade’s metal bulk amongst the distracting ghost images thrown back by the trees. Jazz sat as if sculpted from the landscape. His attention was wholly focused on a stunningly perfect piece of machinery. Four delicately precise limbs supported a powerful, lithe, brown torso. The head, set atop a strong flexible neck, bore strange, spreading antennae with which, for some mysterious purpose, it scraped at the column of one of the tall, static machines. Suddenly, the entrancing machine froze. Briefly, it cocked its head to one side and then was gone. Disappointed, he turned to find the Violent One shouldering his way through the densely packed columns, like an avalanche.

...

Fifty yards downstream, the mighty form of Devastator ripped, splintering out of the forest. Remorselessly it scanned the river gorge for its enemies. Hoist primed his weaponry and looked for Jazz. In full view, the damaged Autobot was standing, facing the soaring wall of the dam, calmly scanning it from top to bottom and from side to side. CAUGHT IN THE OPEN Ugly, he thought to himself. This wall was ugly. It should not be here, obstructing the flow of the water. The water was a part of the big machine that was this planet. The planet was part of the solar system and that was part… The wall was wrong.

Jazz with brain damage inflicted upon him by a shot from the Constructicons, from "The Mission" in Transformers Annual 1986.

I just loved this story. We get to see what Jazz is like with all of his memories and training absent, so this was what he was like at his very core! Seeing his intense engagement with and focus on the natural world, and his disdain for what he perceives as disruptive "violent" acts (imagine the sensitivity of Jazz at his core, to perceive Hoist of all people as being that way), really cemented my interpretation that over the many years of war, Jazz has devised many systems to be able to fight and perform his duties so diligently and effectively. There's something so sad about getting a glimpse into the sides of himself he may risk losing touch with... although I think Jazz's interest in stylish maneuvers and incorporating things like dance and music into his battle strategies are ways he tries to cope.

[marta-bee]

News of the Day 3/22/25: Cancer Alley and Environmental Justice under Trump

This interview with a resident of Cancer Alley really struck me. He has such moral clarity about him. And while I'm not comparing my situation to his, I think I finally understand why leaving America, as much as I'm sickened (metaphorically) by it, just doesn't feel like an option. This is where I'm rooted.

Basically, Cancer Alley is a stretch of historically- and predominantly-black communities beteen New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where around 200 fossil fuel and petrochemical plants operate. The resulting pollution coincide with some truly astounding rates of cancer and other diseases. Humans Rights Watch has a decent overview of the history and current state of the region here, though I'm sure they're not the only one.

There was a lawsuit under Biden to force one company to clean up a polluted region, but the Trump administration isn't proceeding with it. More generally, they've come out hard against environmental justice, often lumping it in with DEI programs.

I encourage you all to listen to the man above. and a focus group with more people in the region. Sit with their stories. Especially if you're in Louisiana, reach out to your congressmen. And state level folks, too; when the federal government steps back, it becomes even more important we step up locally. If you feel driven to help directly, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, and the Cancer Advocacy Group of Louisiana all seem to be involved on the ground, though I've not done enough research to recommend them particularly.

As always, more links about Cancer Alley and cuts to environmental justice and regulation under Trump more generally behind the cut.

More on Cancer Alley

Trump administration to drop case against plant polluting Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’

Air in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ likely more toxic than previously thought. (From June 2024) 

What Is Chloroprene, the Cancer-Causing Chemical at the Center of a Federal Lawsuit? (X)

Effort to grant historic status for part of St. John withdrawn. Louisiana officials praise Trump for it. (X)

Justice Dept. says ending Louisiana petrochemical case helps ‘dismantle radical DEI programs’

Broader Changes to Environmental Justice Under Trump

An official summary from Congress.gov on environmental justice executive orders and legislation under Clinton and Biden, and changes to them under Trump.

E.P.A. Plans to Close All Environmental Justice Offices. (X)

How the Biden administration worked to address climate justice particularly, and how Trump is reversing course. (X)

E.P.A. Investigations of Severe Pollution Look Increasingly at Risk. (X) The agency will no longer shut down “any stage of energy production,” absent an imminent threat, a new memo says, and will curtail efforts to cut pollution in poorer areas.

Trump’s EPA aims to cut pollution rules projected to save nearly 200,000 lives: ‘People will be hurt’

Trump DOT chief rejects inclusion of environmental justice factors in infrastructure decisions

Other Environmentalism/Conservation Type Stories

EPA will eliminate research arm, firing 1,000 research scientists. Critics warn without the research arm, the agency could not set safe standards for pollutants, impacting the agency's ability to keep the public safe. (X)

Staff cuts at federal agencies responsible for dams threaten public safety, experts warn. (X)

Sec. Interior, HUD announce plan to build affordable housing on federal lands. (X) The concern is this would privatize federal land holdings without really addressing the real factors driving housing costs up. (Those would be material costs and labor supply, both of which will be worsened by mass deportations and tariffs, along with excessive regulations, which his policies do seem primed to help with, but at an environmental cost.)

Fishermen want to go green but say DOGE cuts prevent them from adapting new technologies.

Republicans push U.S. House bill to end EV mandates. (X)

Trump blocks rule to implement methane fee on oil and gas companies.

Trump authorizes his administration to ramp up openings of coal plants (X), also to open more Alaska acres for oil, gas drilling. (X)

Greenpeace ordered to pay more than $660m for defaming oil firm in protests. Advocates warn this could bankrupt the group and have a chilling effect on other environmental activists.