#house clearance cost

[tittyinfinity]

"You're so lucky that you can get paid to sit at home and do nothing" is something I hear from family members & people online.

Okay, let's say you're not disabled at all. No health issues. You've somehow tricked the system into believing you're disabled (not possible).

Would you still trade your job and salary to live off of $600-800 a month?

Would you give up your house, your car, your hobbies, the ability to buy gifts for yourself & others, and ALL of your savings, just for the "great benefit" of sitting in bed all day?

Do you really think it's that great?

Now, add health issues to all of that.

Not only are you stuck at home, but your body hurts every time you try to move, lights and sounds can send you into a meltdown, you can't even make it to the bathroom without nearly passing out the entire way there. You're always too fatigued, too dizzy, or in too much pain to do basic activities. You can't cook for yourself more than once or twice a month. Fast food is expensive. You can't keep your place clean or even get yourself to shower regularly. You can't afford your hobbies – even just buying a video game is 10% of your income for the entire month. You don't get to buy yourself (or your kid/s) nice things. After paying bills, you have almost nothing left for necessities and gas. Your car breaks down? It costs 50%-200% of your monthly paycheck. You want new clothes? You got the thrift shop, clearance section at walmart, or ordering cheap things from horrible places like Temu, Shein, or Wish. You want a place to live? You won't be able to afford to live alone until you get approved for housing assistance after waiting 5 or more years on a waiting list. And either way, bills are gonna be more than half of your monthly paycheck.

Does all of that sound like a privilege?

And do you REALLY believe anyone would try to fake a disability for that?

Get mad at the system that underpays you, not at disabled people who are paid well below a sub-minimum wage just to "sit around" and feel like shit all day

[canonkiller]

The Eberron maincamp has unfortunately prematurely ended, so (with DM clearance) I'm going to share the stuff I'd had as spoilers so it can be known, for funsies.

Here's some bonus links -

Delta, Bravo, Lima (character playlist)

Renegade (bgm playlist)

writing treat 1

writing treat 2

writing treat 3

early test for characterization

crew assessments + reasonings

house lyrandar medical record, classified

- and here's some of the information about Valka Rotaeir, captain and pilot of the airship Revelation, and two more images because the read more breaks if I try to move them.

Dossier of House Lyrandar:

NAME: Valka Rotaeir AGE: 71 yrs. (b. 927yk) HEIGHT: 7 ft. 3 in. WEIGHT: 244 lbs. SPECIES: Dragonborn (Green) TITLE(S): Cpt., Ms.

EMPLOYMENT RECORD: Civilian recruited by Cpt. Adelaide Mallory in 948yk. Served well as navigator and representative until the Treaty of Thronehold ended the war in 996yk. Returned to service in 997yk as navigator aboard the Revelation after its post-war refitting. Survived the unforeseen accident that occured during the Revelation's test flights over the Endworld Mountains along with four others who retired from active duty after the incident. Following a recovery period, she was promoted to Cpt. of the Revelation as Cpt. Mallory was rendered incapable of command during the incident, for exemplary action and demonstration of skill beyond her station and duty.

Rotaeir has shown distaste for the House and the war throughout her employment, but has not publicly denounced either and remains dedicated and hardworking. Her experience is vital to the House; losing her is not an option. Cede whatever is needed to maintain her connection to the House. If this fails, take necessary measures.

Valka was formerly the ship's navigator and diplomatic representative as a knowledge domain cleric. The Revelation was in active duty during the war, and Valka was a late addition to the crew, recruited by her then-future husband, Roshan. The two of them had a strong relationship despite the war, and while both wanted to retire, Roshan's dragonmark bound him to piloting duty and Valka refused to leave him.

During the late years of the war, they had a child together. Valka entrusted her egg to a caretaker in secret, fearing it would be damaged or killed if she kept it with her on the ship. The settlement it was in was later targeted; though the two of them searched for years (and Valka never truly stopped) they were never able to find the egg or its remains in the ruins.

After the war, with Roshan kept in duty by the House, a mechanical failure in the experimental drive of the Revelation led to a catastrophic crash that killed most of her crew. Valka survived at the cost of her husband's life; Roshan, her Rose, made the choice to sacrifice himself to save her, grafting his arm and eye - and his dragonmark - to save her life in the hopes that she would be able to help whoever was left until they were rescued.

Awarded prestige and merits for her survival, and resenting all of them for praising that she had survived what her family had not, Valka suffered - and continues to suffer - lingering pain and migraines from the crash. Her grafted arm is unresponsive and is kept immobile, and her grafted eye has light sensitivities that dragonborn nervous systems are not equipped to handle, granting her night vision but requiring a cover in ordinary light. The dragonmark haunts her more than anything else; as something meant to die with its bearer, what does it mean that it transferred to her? Was Roshan able to rest in peace, or does she drag his spirit with her?

The house took advantage of her fragile state after the crash and convinced her of Roshan's continued presence as being bound to the airship, a belief that she still holds, while publicly covering up the truth of the crash and Valka's inherited dragonmark. She was bound back into service by the mark, as it allows her to pilot the ship and its experimental, secretive systems. The Revelation is her family, her love, and her airship, and she will defend it with her life - to do anything else would be to abandon Roshan.

And, in Sharn, a now-grown dragonborn named Zykr looks strangely familiar... (Hi, Andy!)

With the House bearing down on her lack of respect for their authority, she has gone rogue; drawn under the influence of the Lord of Blades and allied with warforged forces, she only seeks a way out - to take the Revelation and leave this stupid, angry war behind, at any cost.

Depending on how things went, there was a chance she would end up at Wanderstrand - that's for a post later today, because I had to keep that one REALLY secret, but it's half of the 3rd writing treat link.

Trivia:

Valka's tarot card is the three of swords.

Her character playlist title is in international maritime signal flags: Keep clear of me; I am maneuvering with difficulty / I am taking in or discharging or carrying dangerous goods. / Stop immediately.

Rotaeir is a simple combination of the valkyrie names Róta (sleet and storm) and Eir (peace, clemency, help, mercy). Valka just sounded right.

Though not on her paperwork, she took a translated version of the Revelation's name (Saksatkara) as her own surname after the crash

Receiving the dragonmark replaced her existing clerical abilities; narratively, she lost faith in the gods and her own experience that granted her a knowledge domain, and instead only had faith in the destruction and grief that the storm domain had brought her.

Roshan's dragonmark spans her whole grafted arm; it glows faintly when oh board the ship, and brightness increases with how much energy she has focused into using it. At full effort, it is bright enough to glow through the brace / sling.

Mechanically, she can strike anyone who damages her with an immediate lightning strike.

While neither of her eyes retain their original color, she had golden eyes like Zykr. They also share a heart-shaped chest marking.

Valka's physical difference from Zykr was a worldbuilding adjustment; half dragonborn would have had more humanoid body shapes, while full dragonborn more closely resembled dragons. It never came up.

After being briefly dead, Zykr began having visions of being on a boat with a person he didn't recognize; he was seeing though Valka's eyes, unknowingly looking at his own father, Roshan. Surprise, Andy! There would have been more hints about it in Sharn if we'd gotten to explore some more.

Original reference document text:

Valka is an elderly dragonborn woman, weathered by the past years of war. She is snakelike in appearance, wiry and lithe at 7'3", with a longer neck, body, and limbs. She stands slouched, leaning heavily on a polearm that doubles as a makeshift cane; often heavily bundled against the cold, her right leg is braced under her clothes and her right arm and hand are entirely covered by a black brace buckled in faded brass, kept immobile against her chest by a sling. Her scales are mottled dark greens and yellows, graying around her eyes, muzzle, and knuckles, and she has many visible scars from old battles on all visible skin. The right side of her face is badly burned, and her eye on that side is entirely covered by a large patch. Her other eye is milky white; it's uncertain whether she can see our of her visible eye or if the patch isn't opaque.

Boot on braced leg has a special hook on the heel that she can clip to the harness strap on her thigh to keep is raised / out of the way if mobility is more important than stability. Safety harness extends down the upper part of her tail; anchors to this instead of her braced leg when necessary.

Though not visible, the eye under the patch is unnervingly human-like (as it originally belonged to Roshan), and if her arm brace were removed, the arm underneath is also distinctly not her own; she is unable to move the replacement limb at all, and the dragonmark on it does not move to anywhere else on her body though she can utilize its power.

As a child, Valka was often drawn to the idea of traveling. She restrained her desire to leave for many years, bound by ties to her family and home, until a chance meeting with Roshan, an airship pilot, during the war. In an impulse, whirlwind romance, she joined him in his travels and quickly became an indespensible member of the crew and Roshan's partner. They were married during the war, but hesitated to start a family, fearing the kind of world they would be raising a child in while Roshan's mark kept him in duty. Over time, they found comfort in a future seemingly without children, though they pledged to do what they could to adopt or foster if the war ended with enough time for them to do so.

Valka was one of many overjoyed to see a time of peace, and hoped to start a proper life with her husband even with their age. Unfortunately, a series of malfunctions in their shared airship led to a crash that left both them and their crew grievously injured in a remote mountain range. Valka, having lost her right arm and with severe trauma to her entire right side, was barely conscious; she awoke hours later to her arm replaced and her injuries magically repaired, and to Roshan dead, having chosen to sacrifice himself to keep her alive. Most importantly to the House, his dragonmark was still present - a glowing brand on the arm grafted improperly to replace Valka's own.

Abruptly alone, dealing with the trauma of the crash and her own guilt in her survival being at Roshan's expense, she was taken to trial and found not guilty. Feeling cheated by this verdict and losing faith in both justice and the afterlife (after all, if a dragonmark was bound to a person's soul, what did it mean that she could now take power from it? Had she damned her lover to a kind of half-life, or worse, an eternal purgatory?) she threw herself into religion with a self-destructive determination, secretly hoping the gods would recognize her believed wrongdoing and judge her properly where mortal courts had failed.

When presented with an opportunity to sabotage the project that led to Roshan's death, she took it, taking control of the airship and going rogue with the intent to destroy it either by her own hand or by forcing any pursuers to take it down with her. At present, she is driving it as far from settlements as possible to achieve this goal with as little loss of life as possible, and does not know what she will do with herself when this act is complete.

For characterization purposes, her actions will be influenced by:

- Like The Back of Her Hand: even when the Revelation is being piloted by someone else, her long familiarity with it means she is incredibly difficult to catch off guard. In its current state, she would notice anything out of place on board; this will decrease as the ship is modified.

- Blindsided: her left eye, uncovered, is blind, while her right eye, covered by a patch, still functions. The patch dims light, but still allows her to see.

- Local Doctors Hate Her!: her right arm is entirely immobile on its own, but the brace can be locked into different positions (ex, she can lean on her elbow, but wouldn't be able to pick something up.). Her right leg is stiff, and she is able to strap it up so she's less likely to trip. She is used to moving around the Revelation on one or both legs, but prefers both on unfamiliar terrain.

- House, Not Home: Valka has little care for the interests of the dragonmarked Houses, and may be more likely to take actions that damage the resources or reputation of a House.

- A Ship That Loves You: Valka believes her husband's spirit is entwined with the ship's elemental, a belief that the House has intentionally used as leverage against her. If she cannot have the ship on her own terms, her alternative goal will be to destroy it and herself - but will put her life on the line to prevent others from damaging it.

- An Empty Nest: Valka has no contact with her extended family and has no reason to believe she has any living immediate relatives. She has formed few relationships since the Revelation's crash.

- The Soils of War: Valka does not want to fight, though she will if she must. Her anger is directed at herself, at the gods that failed her, and the Houses that force her into their service. She wants to escape it, to lick her wounds, and to rest; to discover what the world is becoming in a time of peace that she has not had the chance to know.

[simply-ivanka]

WHO CAN BLAME HIM ? After 2016!

TRUMP IS DOING THIS HIS WAY AND THAT IS THAT! TRUMP 2024!

Trump Campaign May Decline Feds' Transition Help

By Charlie McCarthy    |   Thursday, 29 August 2024 11:28 AM EDT

The Trump campaign reportedly is prepared to pass on receiving transition help from the federal General Services Administration (GSA) in anticipation of President Donald Trump winning the November election.

The GSA normally plays a role in the transition from one administration to the another. It provides office space, technology, and other back-end support that can be crucial to a presidential transition operation.

Trump, the Republican nominee, is opposing Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat nominee, in the race for the White House.

Politico reported Thursday that with an Aug. 31 deadline looming, sources say the Trump team is poised to reject GSA assistance.

While transitions kick into high gear after Election Day, when a president-elect must begin selecting and vetting about 4,000 federal political appointees, success depends on the infrastructure built during the pre-election period, including identifying agency review teams, and beginning the background check process for national security staff.

GSA is required by law to make available federal office space, IT support, and other resources to transition teams, but only once it has entered into memoranda of understanding with representatives for each nominee, which Congress requires the agency to do "to the maximum extent practicable," by Sept. 1.

A GSA spokesperson confirmed that the agency had made its offer to the two candidates.

The Trump campaign, though, has concerns about working with

GSA.

First, accepting GSA help means adhering to $5,000-per-donor contribution limits in funding overall costs that can exceed $10 million. Trump allies would prefer fewer people cutting bigger checks.

Second, Politico reported that Trump's team does not trust the GSA after what it experienced in 2016, when there were leaks of potential administration hires and widespread dismay with the agency's decision to hand over transition records to special counsel Robert Mueller.

Some Trump allies blamed federal workers for the leaks.

"The GSA presidential transition support model has run its course and either campaign should have the option to operate their transitions independently in order to have the most flexibility for fundraising, information security, and operations," Ken Nahigian, executive director of Trump's 2016 transition, told Politico.

Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes told Politico that no final decision has been made regarding GSA this time around.

"With transition leadership in place, and many talented leaders to work with, President Trump will have what he needs to build a world-class and effective administration starting on day one," Hughes said.

Partnership for Public Service President Max Stier told Politico that GSA could help with quickly arranging security clearances and in preventing cyberattacks.

Stier added that a transition organization without GSA could be set up as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, meaning no public financial disclosures.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

[thelonleycosmos]

hey everyone ! I know it’s been a scary time for anyone and everyone in the United States. and we will see effects eventually outside of the United States too.

so far , since Trump has been president (1/20/2025) he has signed executive orders to;

1. signed an executive order in the U.S completely revoking nearly all ways to change gender or choose pronouns from any government documents.

2. to rename “Gulf of Mexico” and “Mount Denali”.

3. to end birthright citizenship.

4. to pardon 1500 defendants that were facing prosecution for storming the Capitol. he also pardoned Ross Ulbricht.

5. to leave the World Health Organisation (WHO)

6. to pause Tiktok ban.

7. to declare a national emergency on immigration.

8. to declare a national emergency on energy.

9. to rescind Joe Biden removal of Cuba from the U.S list of sponsors of terrorism.

10. revoke non-binding executive order (signed by Biden) aimed at making half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric.

11. reclassify thousands of federal employees as political hires, making it easier for them to be fired.

12. order 78-Biden-era executive actions to be rescinded, many relating to race and gender.

13. withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement (again.)

14. he ordered the MILITARY to “help” with the border.

15. he suspended the U.S Refugee Admissions Program.

16. he ended Bidens process to allow Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who had a financial sponsor to work and live in the U.S (legally).

17. he signed executive orders to implement tariffs (25%) on Mexico, Canada, and China.

18. DOGE was created, and Elon has a office in the White House.

19. he also froze hiring for federal employees barred DEI initiatives and ordered government workers back into their offices but didn’t freeze hiring for ICE or the Military .

20. he reversed a ban on offshore drilling, as well as making it easier to drill in Alaska.

21. he halted the leasing of offshore wind farms.

22. signed an order to allow White House staffers to obtain Top secret security clearances without having to go through an extreme vetting process.

23. he repealed the Executive Order 14087 of October 14 2022 (lowering prescription drug costs for Americans)

to keep everyone updated, there’s more as well and I can add.

everyone stay safe. keep educating yourself and others.

[usafphantom2]

HOW MUCH DID SATELLITES COST

My Dad, Butch Sheffield, was with the SR 71 program from cradle ( Hired in 1964-Skunk Works winning Collier Award 1999) to grave and wrote down in his unpublish book some of his reasons why it was canceled prematurely.

During the Carter Administration, 1977-81, while Stansfield Turner was Director of the CIA, the two of them decided to rely upon National Technical Means (NTM) or Spy Satellites for intelligence. This included eliminating manned aircraft and spies on the ground. This has been proven to be one of the biggest intelligence mistakes ever. The reason for this strategy was it was risk-free for the political Administration. No airplanes or spies could be captured and displayed like Francis Powers and the U-2.

This made the politician feel comfortable.

NSA National Security Agency never liked the SR-71.

All the time I was Recce. Chief, they (the NSA) came to the Pentagon in groups to try to insult the SR 71 program in any way, they could. You would attend a meeting, and one or two people would attend from each service and DOD. NSA would show up with ten people. I would ask why. They would say that each one represents an area of NSA. It was a joke in the Pentagon.

I would only let one at a time in my area.

They would tell the White House in a flash-type message that an SR was almost intercepted by a Foxbat when the Foxbat was three hundred miles away from the SR. The cost of this, National Tactical Means (NTM) has never been made public; in fact, most people with security clearances inside the government don’t know the cost. I knew because I got a copy, one of twelve printed each year by the NRO, telling the real cost of the satellite, the launch cost, the communications cost, and the ground station cost.

The cost was enormous.

The NRO did not want to give me the book. I knew it existed and asked for it. Finally, they gave it to me after I pressured the Director when I worked for the U S Congress.

One might ask how did this affect the SR-71? The answer is that once this very large amount of money was being spent on satellites, they no longer wanted to fund the SR and then went from a National collection platform to a tactical intelligence asset. Now you know the true story.

Col Richard “ Butch” Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[beardedmrbean]

Dean Cain, who grew up in Malibu, California, told Fox News Digital that all of the homes he once lived in there, and in nearby Pacific Palisades, have been destroyed during this week’s Los Angeles-area wildfires.

"I ended up having three different houses in Pacific Palisades, one that I owned, two that I rented and lived in," Cain said. "The three of those Pacific Palisades’ [homes], all of those burned, gone. Pacific Palisades looks like someone dropped a nuclear weapon on top of it and just flattened everything. I've never seen anything like that. Also, three of the houses that I lived in in Malibu are gone."

The "Lois & Clark" star called the devastation "shocking and horrific, but not unexpected. It's part of the reason I left California was this perfect storm of mismanagement and a failure of leadership."

Cain said that when the Woolsey Fire hit in 2018, it burned his backyard but not his house.

"We're used to this in Malibu," he explained. "We get the wind, we get the fire, so we know how to deal with it. But when you have all the… tools taken away from you, no money, no brush clearance, no controlled burns, all of those things, you end up with a catastrophic situation like this."

Cain said that although his house survived the Woolsey Fire, his fire insurance was canceled afterward, adding that was part of the reason he left California for Henderson, Nevada, in 2018.

Adam Carolla Rips California Leaders For Running State ‘Into The Ground’ As Fires Rage: ‘Lunatic Nutjobs’

"There's so many of us that have been shouting from the rooftops, including President Trump, numerous times, way back in the day during his first presidency," he continued. "He's been saying it, mismanagement is going to cost you. Removing money from the fire budget is going to cost you. Not controlled burning is going to cost you. Failure to reservoir the water, it's going to cost you."

Cain placed the blame squarely on Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

"You screwed up, Gavin Newsom. You screwed up," he said. "There was plenty of water. Last year was record rainfall or the year before, record rainfall. Snowmelt, reservoir the water."

Cain said his water bill was in the thousands per month when he lived in Malibu, and he couldn’t get fire insurance for less than approximately $40,000 a year.

His son helped him realize that he should leave the state by reminding him that he keeps "complaining about the tax policy, the lack of common-sense policies. Why are we living there?"

"I was like, ‘Why are we here? What am I doing?’" he said. "And it was weird to leave my home forever, but to come here now [Henderson, Nevada] and to be in this gorgeous home with great policies, you know, castle doctrine, ‘stand your ground’ stuff and things like that, I'm like, ‘Wait a minute, this makes perfect sense.’ And then to watch the disaster unfold, I'm horrified. My heart is broken for the people who are suffering at the hands of this mismanagement. But I'm hoping that that will teach them about common sense."

He added that "good times create weak men and weak men create hard times."

"Weak policy creates hard times. We're now in hard times. We need to have strong men so we can create good times again. That's the way it is. Strong men and women, sound policy. Everybody's going to be in a better position," said Cain.

Cain went on to say that he believes liberal people in Hollywood have usually "voted for all these things that really don't affect" them, "but when it does affect you — you can't get a permit to rebuild or your house burns down or people loot your home afterwards — suddenly you love the police, you love the firefighters, you love people that you've been denigrating for years. You want common sense policy."

"So once it affects you, your votes change," he said. "And I think this is going to turn a very, very blue state, much more red. I'm hoping California becomes purple and I'm hoping that — listen, my heart goes out to those who have lost everything. And I know they're going to go through years and years of red tape, nightmare, memories gone. It's going to be one of those catastrophic events in their lives. And I hope that this will wake up people so they'll start voting for policies that make sense, common sense, and they'll prepare for this sort of thing in the future."

Because he lives in the desert, Cain said he has enough food in his car to last for several days and that he and his son have satellite radios in addition to their cellphones to communicate with each other.

Like What You’re Reading? Click Here For More Entertainment News

"Not that I'm a survivalist or a prepper, because it's common sense," he said.

But, Cain said, "when you see a tragedy of this magnitude, you see how amazing the American people are, and they come together."

"And there's been an outpouring of support, food, water, necessities," he added. "We are the most giving nation in the history of mankind. We will continue to be, you know, as fractured as we can be, [but] there are times in natural disasters, in war and things of that nature, where in the United States people come together. And it's wonderful to see that happening. It's going to be a very long, tough road."

Cain noted that with the nature of the national news cycle, the wildfire devastation would be replaced by more recent news within a few weeks, "but all of these people's lives are turned upside down."

"I cannot fathom the scale of what's happened to the Palisades," he continued. "It's stunning to me. Palisades High School, gone. I mean, football games. I played at Palisades High School. Dozens… It's gone. It's just gone. Like so much of my childhood is gone. I moved away because of the terrible policies. It's just heartbreaking to see it happen. I don't want to say I told you so, but I told you so."

Cain said his mother, who is with him in Nevada, can’t stop crying watching the devastation.

"The house they built from the ground up… is gone to the ground," he said, adding, "my mom's been crying for two days."

Cain added that he feels leaving Malibu for Henderson is "one of the smartest things I've ever done."

"I feel like I've been freed," he said. "Just so many people are just going to be like, you got out just in time. And I did. And because I was blessed to have the means and I had a son, my son Christopher was like, ‘Dad, let's go.’ And life is so much easier here and so much better. Beautiful neighborhoods and much more value for your dollar… super low taxes in comparison to California, super low regulations in comparison to California. Smarter policy… we’rein the middle of the desert here in Nevada. We have better water rights, and the water is, they say it's expensive here. It's cheaper for me to get water here than it was in California… So absolutely [the] right move by me."

[fivenightsatfreddysfanfiction]

She Remembers

It's Mike's birthday. Faith and Gregory meet.

--------------------------

.

It was something of a yearly tradition, bittersweet but warm. Faith and ‘Digo would pick up a simple cake at Dapper Goods bakery, meet with Jeremy at his workshop to pick him up and his photo of Mike, and then drive together to Circus Baby’s Pizza and Parties. Mike’s birthday was one of celebration and remembrance, a cozy event for family and colleagues, friends made by their shared opposition to the Aftons and Fazbear Entertainment.

Meera would have the pizzeria closed for the day, eating the cost of skipping a business day in favor of having a private setting for them all. When she first offered her restaurant as a place to host the birthday parties, it had been out of guilt for calling Mike out of retirement to help her foil Elizabeth Afton’s plan to use replicas of the animatronics to harvest Remnant for William Afton. She had explained that if she hadn’t done so, maybe it wouldn’t have caused Mike to realize how dangerously close he was to being like William, already possessing the power to surpass death but not yet losing his connection to his own humanity.

After all, it wasn’t long after they’d foiled the facility’s labyrinth that Mike gave up Six to normalize his lifespan, and then he passed away with Faith’s mom within the year. There had been the hope that perhaps he’d come back to them as a reincarnation, like Faith and ‘Digo and the other Reborn Children and the two senior Guards had done. But year after year passed and there was no sign of him. Faith had to content herself with the idea that her father had gotten his wish of moving on while Jeremy continued holding out hope that Mike would come back in some way.

The guilt Meera felt soothed over time as she got to know Mike’s family and realized they didn’t hold anything against her. Mike was as stubborn as they got, once he made up his mind about something he held to it come hell or high water. He would’ve gotten the idea of what long life would do to him eventually but the risk would’ve been higher that he wouldn’t have caught on until after his Doll passed and he was left still enduring time. No one wanted to think about what that would have done to his mental state.

They arrived at the pizzeria and smiled in greeting at Meera as she waved and opened the door for them. “Everyone else is already inside, so decorations are up and good to go,” she told them, holding open the door so there was clearance for Faith’s cane to pass through, “Would you like me to get one of our wheelchairs for you? Lucian cleaned them this morning so they’re sanitized still.”

“That’d be lovely, thank you. You’d think being the spirit that helped Dad power through injuries would let me get over a silly knee surgery faster but noooo,” Faith trilled with a roll of her eyes while her wife snickered behind her hand.

“I told her to bring the one I bought her but she insisted she was fine,” Jeremy sighed, “Got that stubbornness from Dad.” He folded his jacket over his arm, shaking his shoulders to loosen them up. “So the gang’s all here?”

“Yeah, Alex and Sydney are in the back of house to help with making dinner,” Meera added and gave them a small, strained smile, “Alex still doesn’t want to intrude on the party so he said he’s fine with eating in the break room, and Sydney still doesn’t remember that Mr. Schmidt was the person his past self had targeted before his death but he doesn’t want to leave Alex alone so he’s also staying in the break room.”

Jeremy’s expression scrunched up like he’d bitten into a grapefruit while Faith just tutted at him, flapping her hand at his arm. “At least they’re giving us space,” he acknowledged.

“Also, just to warn you guys, Sydney asked if Vanessa and Gregory could help with preparations so they might be out and about to keep Gregory distracted,” Meera added as Circus Baby arrived with a wheelchair, holding it in place for Faith to ease herself into with a relieved sigh.

“Who’re they?” ‘Digo asked in mild interest, holding the cake in her arms and nodding at Jeremy’s offer to push the wheelchair in her place. The group headed into the pizzeria together, walking under colorful banners and the sound of Mike’s favorite playlist streaming songs through the dining room.

“Remember when a bunch of robbers broke into Freddy’s and hijacked the Fazband?” Faith asked casually and ‘Digo huffed, expression growing annoyed.

“Oh yeah. The lil punk that took control of Foxy from the Fourth Child and the big meathead that kept shooting at every damn thing?” she retorted and one of her eyes twitched, “Don’t tell me they reincarnated too! I thought they were trapped at Freddy’s while the rest of us got reborn!”

“Well, they’re my cousins, and they’re trying not to step on any toes so please no fighting in my pizzeria?” Meera told her with a nervous laugh, “And as for Vanessa and Gregory, they’re both Aftons but they have the name because they had their identities stolen and remade by the Afton Family. Their memories and Remnant were affected so Vincent’s been helping them recover what they can.”

“More families destroyed by that madman’s ambitions and that horrible company,” Faith muttered with a shake of her head, “Still, it’s Dad’s birthday so let’s focus on the party and memorium.”

The table for the party was nicely decorated, Mike’s picture set up at the head with flowers and tea candles placed around it. The cake was set nearby and everyone chatted in lively tones, catching up on each other’s lives over slices of pizza, salads, and lasagna. Not all of the Reborn Children could make it, travelling abroad in their work, but the ones that did shared stories of their past childhoods with Mike while Faith chimed in with stories of him growing up.

They danced and laughed to the more energetic songs in Mike’s playlist, sang Happy Birthday over the cake, then divvied it up for everyone to have a piece as the party began winding down. Circus Baby came out often over the course of the party, refilling drinks, deftly clearing away dirty dishes and replacing them with clean ones, and escorting a blonde woman and a small brown-haired boy to the game corner. As people began saying their goodbyes with hugs and small sniffles, dispersing to return to their own lives, Faith found her attention wandering over to the two strangers playing in the game corner. Circus Baby watched over them, leaning against a pillar in a deceptively casual pose, while the boy stood on a stepping stool to play one of the arcade games, the woman cheering him on.

Those two had to be the Aftons Meera spoke about. With how young they looked Faith wondered if Elizabeth Afton had targeted them for her plans when her attempt at harvesting Guard Remnant failed. She felt a bit bad at the thought; Mike’s success at keeping the Strength to Survive and Jeremy’s Warmth of Life out of Mrs. Afton’s clutches meant other innocent lives were ruined in their place. Maybe the younger Guards would finally be able to put an end to the cycle once they got back inside that dreadful Pizzaplex to find out how deep the rabbit hole went.

“I’m gonna visit the little pirate’s room before we head home,” ‘Digo sighed, stretching her arms over her head, “Jeremy’s already warming up the car for us, so I’ll be back in a flash. You good?”

“Sure, I’ll pack up Dad’s photo and the flowers. We can keep them fresh in the cooler at home and then place them on his and Mom’s gravestone tomorrow,” Faith replied with a smile, “I always come into these birthday parties thinking I’ll just be moping and sad, but they’ve been nice to just catch up with everyone and have a little fun celebrating Dad’s birthday.”

‘Digo hummed, a complicated expression on her face that leaned on the side of rueful as her eyes sought out the photo of the man at the head of the table. “Sometimes I wonder if I should’ve just sucked it up and said sorry to the old man when he helped bail us out of Fazbear’s Fright,” she finally said in a quiet voice, “But I’m not the one that bit him. I’m not Violet. I have her memories, but this life is mine. I was living it without those memories and I’m still living it after they got unburied. Just sucks we never got that sorted out.”

“Small regrets,” Faith mused with a nod, “I don’t think he’d hold it against you, you know? Dad was gruff and could be a jerk, but when it really came down to it, he couldn’t blame you guys for everything. Not once he learned why you guys were so angry and who killed us all.” She huffed then and waved her wife off, “Go pee so we can go; I just want to relax in bed and sleep after all this. Couldn’t even dance because of my damned knee!”

‘Digo smirked at her before pressing a kiss to her temple and then walking off to find the bathrooms. Faith watched her go, then turned her attention back to the Aftons.

The boy had won his game, folding his tickets into a neat stack with a smile while his mother clapped encouragingly. ‘Huh, didn’t think anyone else folded tickets like that,’ Faith mused with a nostalgic smile. Mike did that as a kid to make sure he could keep a tight grip on all his tickets without leaving any loose to get snatched by anyone looking to get some easy tickets. Most of the other kids didn’t really think like that, just gripped them and let them trail like ribbons.

What were their names again? Vanessa and Gregory; Faith watched them have a conversation and then Gregory was walking away to the prize corner while Vanessa pulled her phone out to type on it, probably messaging someone. As the boy approached the counter where the security puppet would pop up to do the prize exchange, Faith narrowed her eyes as a faint suspicion began rearing its head. If the best part about a pizzeria was trading the tickets for prizes, why did Gregory look so annoyed by it?

The puppet rose out of the prize box and leaned over the counter to look at Gregory while the boy glared up at it like he had some personal vendetta against it. Despite herself, Faith giggled a little behind one hand. It was like old times, with the Marionette being a nuisance to Mike and Mike snarking and cracking puns at it to irritate it back. Her smile shrank a little as she considered the scene before her.

Could it..? ..No, it was just a coincidence. Gregory was a victim of Elizabeth Afton and her experiments at the Pizzaplex so it’s no surprise that he wouldn’t like animatronics. Right? Faith scolded herself for thinking otherwise.

The puppet made no motion to collect the tickets Gregory held out, which made Faith tilt her head in confusion. Was it broken? Meera hadn’t made any mention of the puppet having technical issues. How was Gregory going to select his prize then?

Gregory waited a moment before realizing the puppet wasn’t working and scowled in such a way that Faith’s heart twisted painfully. She remembered a glare like that during Mikey’s recovering some months after the Bite, when he couldn’t remember what he liked to do for his birthday and his emotions were a storm as he scowled at his cake, whatever excitement and joy he should have felt swallowed by a haze of pain and frustration and fear of something he couldn’t remember. She blinked rapidly to dismiss the memory and hold back tears, it had been too long since her Dad’s birthday last made her so emotional. Was she starting to see pieces of him in everything and everyone now?

Gregory huffed after a bit and dug into his pocket, bringing something out in his clenched hand, small and shiny. But before he did anything with it, he stiffened and Faith blinked again when his head swiveled over to have him stare at her directly with alarmed eyes. She offered a politely neutral smile to try and reassure him that she meant no harm, noting how quickly he shoved his hand back into his pocket as his gaze flicked up to over her head. Probably noticed the curl of her hair that arced over her head in her signature hook. Faith was always amused by the surprise she elicited from people over it.

He seemed uncertain, glancing over at his mother a few times before taking a few steps in her direction. Faith kept her expression friendly though she couldn’t help but be curious. He didn’t seem very bold, but maybe that was just because she was a stranger to him. He certainly seemed very boisterous when playing those games in the arcade.

“Hello there,” she greeted warmly once he was near, “You look like you took those games to the cleaners!” Gregory huffed a short laugh, mouth twitching into a quick smile before it fell back into that semi-confused scowl that Faith knew so well it was frightening.

“Yeah, I had a lot of practice with those games,” he replied and shrugged, “My name’s Gregory. Is it your birthday today?” His nose wrinkled as he asked that, a dubious tone in his voice.

“Well, Gregory, I’m Faith and today was my Dad’s birthday,” Faith told him, patting the framed photo gently. Gregory leaned over to look and blinked, his eyes going wide.

“Oh, that’s the guy on Mr. Fitzgerald’s desk! His dad, Mr. Schmidt.. he’s your dad too?” he exclaimed in surprise. Faith nodded.

“Jeremy’s my older brother. Dad kind of adopted him and it took a while for our parents to figure out how to make it official,” she replied with a fond sigh, sitting back in her chair as Gregory chewed on that with that same semi-confused scowl.

“But he looks younger than you,” he finally said, squinting at her sharp laugh. Brutally honest and confused by the reaction to it; he really was so much like Mikey had been... No, he couldn’t be him. Gregory had fallen victim to Elizabeth Afton and Mike had evaded them via raw strength. Surely if he reincarnated he wouldn’t have fallen for any trap, right?

“Jeremy’s got a knack for looking young,” she finally said and pointed at the cake, “Would you like a slice? There’s not much left.”

Gregory’s eyes went wide, an obvious want on his face that he then reluctantly tamped down, mouth thinning into a flat line. “I’d better not,” he replied, brows furrowing slightly, “Cake.. cake’s not good today.”

Faith stiffened slightly, a faint chill passing over her. “Oh?” she heard herself say distantly, “Why not today?”

Gregory drummed his fingertips against the tabletop, scowling in frustration at the cake offered to him. “Lines,” he finally replied, struggling to get his thoughts out and Faith could see a different boy standing there at the table, fighting to speak what was on his mind, struggling against memories lost and suppressed because of a bite and her own attempts to keep him alive. “I dunno, I just don’t wanna cross any lines,” Gregory sighed in aggravation, rolling his eyes as he pushed lightly against the table and used the momentum to put distance between himself and Faith, “Cake’s not good today. Sorry, ma’am.”

“No, it’s okay,” Faith murmured shakily, tears welling in her eyes as she looked at the boy with new hope and new anxiety, “I understand. I understand.” Gregory looked up at her sharply and she smiled tremulously; maybe he was in there, maybe she was just reaching, desperate to believe her father’s ghost was back, yet desperate to believe it wasn’t. Because if she was right, then Mike didn’t escape Freddy’s after all. If she was right, Afton hurt her old friend to the point of forgetting himself. “A line you weren’t supposed to cross, but you did and it didn’t go well, so now you know that today you shouldn’t cross lines, and should probably avoid cake.”

“Hey, no making fun, I have amnesia so go easy on me!” Gregory protested, folding his arms over his chest and sulking. Faith laughed again, wet chuckles as she carefully dabbed at her eyes with one of the paper napkins. “Ah, geeze, I’m sorry if I made ya cry, lady!” Gregory exclaimed, alarm on his face as he waved his hands in front of himself, “Can I make it up? Vanessa’s gonna ground me forever if she catches me making old ladies cry!” His eyes widened and his hand dove back into his pocket. “Ah, here! Look, this belonged to your dad, right?” Gregory asked as he pulled out the object he’d hidden from her earlier. His shoulders hiked up in a hunch, his hand slowly opening in that way a kid would when they really didn’t want to share. “You.. you can have it back.. if that’ll make you happy?”

Faith blinked, hand rising shakily to her mouth as she gazed down at Mike’s name tag. That silly cheap plate Byron had provided to him to wear that he had carried for years, until that fateful night it had been ripped off in the frenzy of trying to keep him alive after a second bite from Foxy. She thought it had been well and truly lost, or at least ruined by the passage of time. Yet aside from the pin being bent out of shape and then back into it, it looked as shiny as that final night.

“I cleaned it up some and tried to fix the pin, but it wasn’t too bad when I found it,” Gregory explained nervously, “Guess somebody put it back in his locker for safe keeping? The latch on it, ah, didn’t hold up against time, I guess.”

She just nodded slightly, reaching down to gently pass her fingertip over the name tag as she picked it up. There was a faintly cool feeling radiating from it, her soul shivering in recognition. A small amount of Mike’s Remnant -emotions of determination, frustration, irritation, and grief- was layered onto the metal, soaked from years of exposure. It flickered an outside connection, likely from Six pulling at any item Mike once possessed that now carried Remnant from him to use as a source of strength. He could have just found it. It didn’t have to mean anything. It didn’t prove anything. How would she be able to confirm something no one else had caught any inklings of?

Something that was core to her and her father as Faith and Mike, something so deeply ingrained in them that they’d recognize it on instinct, or close enough.

Faith began humming, a melody she heard so often on the night shift with Mike, when the power went out and time was cutting it close and Freddy stood at the doorway with his internal music box playing the seconds down, a gamble on every failure of whether Mike would escape or not. A melody that had been lost since then, replaced by other music boxes and sounds over the years in many iterations of the pizzeria.

“Hm hm hm-hm hm, hm hm-hm hm hmmmm,” she hummed out and watched as Gregory stiffened, eyes going wide and wild as they darted around in search of something, a faint panicked expression growing on his face. “Do you recognize it?” Faith murmured, settling in as her suspicions were confirmed just with that, a tiny and sad smile on her face.

“Wh-what was that?!” the boy hissed out, shaking himself off once he recognized there were no threats in this pizzeria.

“Afton stole your memories, didn’t she?” Faith asked quietly, “Stole them or destroyed them. They couldn’t fight you, couldn’t win against you, back then, so they came for you when you were like this. How cruel, but unsurprising.” She smiled again, rueful and nostalgic, “But you’ll find some way to win again. You always do. That’s the trick behind your curse.”

Gregory just wrinkled his nose, tilting his head as he looked up at her in confusion, “Huh?” She just laughed and took his hand, opening it to place the name tag back on his palm and then closing his fingers over it.

“Keep it. Belonged to you anyway,” Faith told him, “I think you’ll be needing it more than me.” She tapped her nose, then his, a mischievous smirk on her face. “Bit of advice. Don’t linger on the same camera too long, do a walk around before the time starts if you can manage it so you can have a baseline of rooms to compare with on cameras, sometimes holding still will save you when running doesn’t, and most importantly of all...”

“Gotta conserve power,” Gregory recited in the same breath as her wording. He blinked and Faith grinned.

“Yeah, you got this. I have faith in you,” she said with a giggle, “Beat the Afton Family again, okay? I hope you get your memories back, but if you don’t just know that me and Jeremy will be all right. We’ve had good lives. We’ve had happy times. Don’t worry about us.”

“Ooo-kay?” Gregory replied in a questioning tone and gave her a crooked smile out of nervousness that she immediately clocked as Mike’s grin, the kind he put on when cornered by a situation he couldn’t curse and punch his way out of easily.

“I think your mother’s looking for you. Why don’t you go on and find her?” Faith told him, giving him an out that he eagerly took with a quick expression of relief. She waved as he ran off for the arcade again, straight for the young woman watching them cautiously.

While those two talked, probably to discuss Gregory’s conversation with her, ‘Digo reappeared at Faith’s side to collect the flowers and place them in her lap with Mike’s photo. They left the table together to head to the entrance and get to the car.

“So.. what was that all about?” ‘Digo asked in mild interest, “Anything interesting the Afton kid had to say?”

“Nah, just passing on some advice I learned from Mike about the night shift,” Faith replied, sitting back in the chair with a content sigh, “Thought the kid could use it someday.”

“I suppose since it kept the old fart alive against a bunch of pissed off ghost kids it’s gotta be good for something,” ‘Digo snarked, grinning at Faith erupting into laughter as Jeremy hurried over to open the doors for them at the entrance and then at the car. “Think it’ll do for a kid without a ghost of his own? Those Aftons are messing with Remnant and souls. How’s one punk supposed to deal with that?”

“I don’t think we’ve seen his full potential yet. He’s just a kid still, ‘Digo, give him time to grow into himself,” Faith said and sighed in contentment.

Her father and old friend was there, his memories lost by what Afton had done, but still surviving somehow, still holding on through Gregory. If he surrounds himself with enough of the Remnant Mike left behind on his possessions, and Six realizes his identity too, maybe a miracle could happen? It was a nice idea.

“Good luck, Gregory,” she murmured, “Give ‘em hell for us.”

[mariacallous]

In her dissent to the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson Supreme Court ruling late last month, Justice Sonia Sotomayor called out the reality that many local governments have already “made criminalization a frontline response to homelessness” and warned that the Court’s decision to further enable criminalization will lead to “a destabilizing cascade of harm.” The recent Grants Pass decision—which enables localities to arrest, ticket, and fine people for sleeping on public property, even if there is no housing or shelter available to them—runs the risk of further intertwining municipal homelessness policy with punitive enforcement, a move that could make both homelessness and crime worse nationwide.

Indeed, prior to Grants Pass, cities nationwide, from New York to Tallahassee, Fla., to Albuquerque, NM were increasingly relying on police, the enforcement of quality-of-life offenses, and the clearance of tent encampments to manage homelessness. States too have increasingly embraced punitive approaches, with more than a dozen states introducing or passing laws that ban sleeping outside. Kentucky’s public safety legislation went even further by not only making public camping illegal statewide, but also prohibiting the use of state funds to provide permanent housing without preconditions (essentially blocking the implementation of the evidence-based “housing first” model) and allowing property owners to use force—even deadly force—against homeless individuals who don’t leave their property.

While Grants Pass is likely to inspire more of these punitive policies at the state and local levels, the decision itself doesn’t have to be destiny. There are numerous evidence-based and cost-effective approaches that address both homelessness and crime in the public realm, if there is the political will to see them through. This research brief provides an overview of these evidence-based approaches, explores the critical intersection between housing and public safety, and offers short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations for state and local governments to ensure a safe and humane public realm in the changing legal and political environments that cities and regions now find themselves in.

[thedragonlies]

Firstly, when you get this, you have to answer with 5 things you like about yourself, publicly. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool)!!!

thank youuuu dear you’re too sweet! I answered another one of these earlier but here’s 5 more things!

I have a lot of clothes and nearly all of them were bought on clearance (including a sweater that cost 90 cents that is 3 sizes too large but I wear it anyway)

Gremlin brain

I lost weight recently

healed from burnout

own house (ok I’m older & it’s in a crummy small town but it’s wild that this is already unachievable for so many younger ppl in my generation & after😢)

[toiletpotato]

Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America

Please consider watching this documentary, especially if you want to learn about how systemic racism works within the system of transportation, as well as its mental and physical effects on Black people in particular. You will learn something new.

You can watch the entire thing, for free, at the link above. It's about two hours long. There are English captions, though near the end the timing is a bit off.

In the second half of the documentary, they show footage of police brutality against Black Americans. The footage is interspersed between interviews and other segments, often without warning. It is distressing and that is the point.

Below are some quotes from the documentary I've collected, if you do not have the time to watch it right now:

Allyson Hobbs, historian at Stanford University: (1:13:48 – 1:14:26) “There’s a very complicated history around the interstate. The interstate for Black travelers creates a very positive benefit in that the interstate makes travel safer in many ways because instead of traveling on country roads and back roads where there was quite a bit of fear and quite a bit of uncertainty about what could happen, traveling on interstates felt more safe and more secure.”

Eric Avila, author of The Folklore of the Freeway: (1:14:31 – 1:14:59) “The interstate highway program was kind of built with this myth of consensus. That it’s what everybody wanted. It’s by popular demand. But for people of color, and for African Americans in particular, they were kind of left out of that consensus because their neighborhoods were the sacrificial lands in which to build this highway.”

Elie: (1:16:20 – 1:16:45): “The thing that people usually say is ‘these were dying communities and we needed the overpasses, we needed the highways to move people out of these ghetto environments.’ Well in fact, these were communities that were vibrant. That people were living in. That the United States government destroyed through a combination of active funding of detrimental projects, and a kind of benign neglect.”

Avila (1:17:23 – 1:18:12): “Highway construction impacted Black communities or other non-white communities, because that’s where property values were the lowest. There is a certain kind of cost effective strategy in building highways through neighborhoods with lower property values. It costs the state less. However, historically, lower property values have been tied to race and African Americans in particular. In many ways all of these federal policies and programs were interconnected. The Federal Housing Administration’s policies, urban renewal, slum clearance, highway construction, all of these processes worked in tandem with each other to create an even more racially stratified geography.”

Leah Chase, chef: (1:18:14 – 1:18:38): “And they did that so fast, I’m telling you: because Black people were not involved in anything in those days. People would do things, we didn’t even know what was going on. We were not involved. In those days we were not allowed into the process so they just came through there with that thing, took away houses; took away good businesses, good people.”

Alvin Hall, author: (1:19:38 – 1:19:52): “You see it again and again in almost every major city in America, and it was really a huge economic setback for many African American businesses because they became isolated.”

Hobbs: (1:19:54 – 1:20:15): “If you retrace it and if you go to some of these areas that were once bustling Black business districts, now often they are abandoned buildings, sometimes they are abandoned, sort of, empty fields.”

Tamara Banks, journalist: (1:20:54 – 1:21:24): “When you erase a history, you erase an identity. You erase what’s important to people and how they connect with their community and how they connect with humanity as a whole. When you lose that culture and that space, now there’s a chink in the chain of your family legacy and you start to wonder, does my legacy matter? Does my life matter?”

Craig Steven Wilder, historian at MIT: (1:25:32 – 1:26:18) “The Montgomery Bus Boycott is actually a story of transportation in many ways. It’s the bus boycott, but it’s also how it was that African American women managed to establish and to reuse a network of connections to deploy their resources to sustain this boycott over months and months and months. And it meant, in fact, accessing cars. It meant finding new ways to move people around town, new ways to actually get people to their jobs. And so Montogomery is in many ways actually a wonderful way of thinking about how Black people deployed the automobile to challenge Jim Crow.”

Sorin: (1:19:15 – 1:19:33): “When road planners put through highways, they often take the path of least resistance, and that’s one of the reasons that Black communities have been so vulnerable, because they have the least amount of power to stop it.”

Sorin: (1:33:11 – 1:33:22): “I think the automobile is the way that many people encounter the police, and I think that’s where we start to get the term ‘Driving While Black.’”

James Baldwin, author: (1:35:07 – 1:35:24): “A cop is a cop. And yeah, he may be a very nice man, but I haven’t got the time to figure that out. All I know is that he has a uniform and a gun, and I have to relate to him in that way. That’s the only way to relate to him, at all, ‘cause one of us is gonna, one of us may have to die.”

Hobbs (1:36:42 – 1:37:10): “There are still so many dangers of being on the road, and I think we’re in a time right now where African Americans are feeling a similar kind of fear as their grandparents felt in the 1930s and 40s.”

[georgefairbrother]

At the general election on 23rd February 1950, the incumbent UK Labour government just managed to cling on by their fingernails, with a precarious single-figure majority…

Under Clement Attlee, Labour had won in a landslide in 1945 (145 seat majority), but by 1950 the wheels were, if not actually falling off, at least coming loose. The final result in 1950 was 315 seats for Labour, 298 for the Conservatives and nine for the Liberal Party. Opposition Leader Winston Churchill noted that the parliament would be in an ‘unstable condition’.

As the Attlee Government entered the final full year of its first term, the contentious Iron and Steel (Nationalisation) Bill was presented to parliament. This measure resulted in serious conflict with the Conservative Opposition, which had otherwise been generally supportive of the Government’s Welfare State reforms. The nationalisation programme was a source of disagreement, in particular iron and steel which was seen as profitable and efficient in private hands. (It would later be re-privatised by the Churchill government).

Cost of living pressures were also causing headaches, although the government asserted that food subsidies were saving the average family around 14 shillings per week. The peak inflation rate of 7.7% in 1948 improved to around 3% by 1949-50, but would spike again to around 9% in 1951. (1970s and 80s governments would have looked back at those inflation figures with teeth-grinding envy).

Health (and housing) Minister Aneurin Bevan said that the NHS was costing double what the Government had budgeted for. Other sources suggest that the blowout was as much as three times the initial estimates. Rationing was lifted on clothing, but high prices and low availability appeared to make little difference. Meat and butter rations were increased but the sugar ration was cut. A number of industrial actions disrupted essential services like transport, coal mining and the docks, the latter resulting in a declared State of Emergency.

The Government was also struggling to uphold a key component of its manifesto, rebuilding war-damaged housing and supporting slum clearances. Production and building targets were difficult to achieve because of the continued shortage of materials and labour. About 9 000 fewer permanent new homes were built in the first part of 1949 as had been constructed during the corresponding period of the year before. (Harold Macmillan would boost housing renewal under the Tories, although he was less hampered by labour and material shortages, and the construction of high rise flats was incentivised.)

Leading up to the 1950 election, the Liberal Party was calling for controls on spending, limits to nationalisations, the application of food subsidies based on need, and the curbing of an expanding bureaucracy and civil service. In their 1950 manifesto, they asserted;

“…Crisis upon crisis comes upon us, because we are living beyond our means. The Liberal Party believes passionately in full employment in a free society, and in maintaining the social services, but unless we practice thrift and get full production, lower rations and mass unemployment are inescapable when the American aid ends…”

Following a period of death, illness and disunity within government’s depleted ranks, the Conservatives returned to power when another general election was called in 1951. Labour would be out of office for 13 years, although many of their initiatives were embraced and even expanded by subsequent Tory governments.

[btwnskyandsea]

Hey! I As of this post I only have EIGHT of these cuties left in my shop--please take Claude home! I need his remaining huggable clones to move out of my house! 😂😂😂

At this point I'm selling him at cost, no profit. Please adopt him, he needs MANY hugs and a hot mug of Almyran pine needle tea to get through the cold Fódlan winter!!

[thailandlawyerss]

Thailand Long-Term Resident Visa

Thailand's Long-Term Resident Visa offers a gateway to a relaxed and fulfilling lifestyle in the Land of Smiles. This visa provides individuals with the opportunity to reside in Thailand for an extended period, enjoying the country's vibrant culture, stunning landscapes, and affordable cost of living.

Eligibility Criteria and Application Process

To qualify for the Long-Term Resident Visa, applicants must meet specific criteria, including:

Age: Be at least 50 years old.

Financial Stability: Demonstrate a monthly income of at least 50,000 Thai Baht or its equivalent.

Health Insurance: Have health insurance coverage that includes hospitalization and outpatient treatment.

No Criminal Record: Have no criminal convictions.

The application process involves submitting various documents, such as:

Passport and visa application forms

Proof of income

Health insurance certificate

Police clearance certificate

Recent passport-sized photographs

Once submitted, the application is reviewed by the Thai immigration authorities. The processing time may vary, but generally, it takes a few weeks to receive a decision.

Benefits of the Long-Term Resident Visa

The Long-Term Resident Visa offers several advantages to its holders, including:

Multiple-Entry: Enables multiple entries into Thailand within a year.

Extended Stay: Allows for a stay of up to one year per visit.

Dependents: Permits the inclusion of dependents, such as spouse and unmarried children under 20 years old.

Work Permit Exemption: Exempts visa holders from the requirement to obtain a work permit for certain activities, such as consulting or freelance work.

Tax Benefits: Offers potential tax advantages for individuals who meet specific criteria and are considered non-resident taxpayers.

High-Quality Healthcare: Provides access to Thailand's world-class healthcare facilities and services.

Vibrant Lifestyle: Offers a unique cultural experience and a high quality of life in a tropical paradise.

Living in Thailand on a Long-Term Resident Visa

Thailand offers a diverse range of living options to suit various preferences and budgets. From bustling cities like Bangkok to serene coastal towns like Phuket, there is something for everyone.

The cost of living in Thailand is generally lower than many Western countries, making it an affordable destination for retirees and digital nomads. Housing options include condominiums, villas, and rental properties.

The Thai culture is known for its warmth, hospitality, and respect for tradition. Expats can immerse themselves in the local way of life by learning the Thai language, exploring traditional markets, and participating in cultural events.

Considerations for Obtaining a Long-Term Resident Visa

While the Long-Term Resident Visa offers many benefits, it is essential to consider the following factors before applying:

Financial Requirements: Ensure that you meet the minimum income requirements and can maintain a comfortable lifestyle in Thailand.

Healthcare Coverage: Verify that your health insurance meets the necessary criteria and provides adequate coverage for your needs.

Tax Implications: Understand the potential tax implications of residing in Thailand as a non-resident taxpayer.

Lifestyle Preferences: Consider whether Thailand's culture and way of life align with your personal preferences and expectations.

The Long-Term Resident Visa presents an excellent opportunity for individuals seeking a fulfilling and enjoyable lifestyle in a tropical paradise. By carefully considering the eligibility criteria, benefits, and potential challenges, you can make an informed decision about whether this visa is the right choice for you.

[superfanficnatural]

The Son: Chapter 16

Pairing: Poe Dameron x Male!Reader (The Son)

Summary: You’ve finally broken free of the forces controlling you at a great cost, though the cost of doing so was even greater than you thought. Now, you fight for the antithesis of what you had been representing, and have to grapple with finding your own place in the galaxy while grappling with the person trying to find their way into your heart. Will The Son choose the light? Or the dark? Whatever the answer may be, may the force be with us.

A/N: Something gets revealedddd hehehe. As always, I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: None.

Word Count: 4,209

Italics are your thoughts

Masterpost

Poe’s POV

“Just give it to me one more time, simpler,” I said to Finn and Rose, after they had just sat me down and tried to spit some plan at me.

“So, the First Order’s only tracking us from one destroyer, the lead one,” Finn explained.

I tried to see where he was going with it, “So we blow that one up?”

“I like where your head’s at, but no. They’d only start tracking us from another destroyer,” he came up to me. 

“But if we can-” Rose started.

Finn got in my face, “If we sneak on board the lead destroyer and disable the tracker without them realizing, then we can-”

“They won’t realize it’s off for one system cycle. About six minutes,” Rose completed the sentence. 

“Sneak on board,” Finn said as Rose projected the hologram of the lead destroyer. “Disable the tracker. Our fleet escapes before they realize.”

I stood and began walking, “Hm... how did you two meet?”

They both shared a look before Rose said, “Just luck.”

“Yeah?” I walked over towards Leia. “Good luck?”

I couldn’t really hear her response but Finn pressed me, “Poe, we gotta do this. It’ll save the fleet and it’ll save Y/N and Rey.”

I looked down at Leia as the mention of Y/N made my heart beat just slightly faster, reaching down to take her hand as I hoped my warmth could help wake her up. Y/N would be devastated to find out what happened to her, if he hadn’t felt it already. 

“If I must be the sole voice of reason, Admiral Holdo will never agree to this plan,” C-3PO decided to give his opinion without being asked as usual.

“Yeah, but you’re right 3PO. It’s a “need-to-know” plan, and she doesn’t,” I was solidified in this as Finn seemed sure of it and if it meant increasing the chances of seeing Y/N again, and helping to make sure that he’s safe, I knew I was going to do whatever I could to help. 

“T-that wasn’t exactly my-” 3PO started blubbering.

I crossed the room, “All right, you guys shut down that tracker. I’ll be here to jump us to lightspeed.” I started tinkering with the console to pull up the schematics of the destroyer, “The question is, how do we sneak the two of you onto Snoke’s destroyer.”

“We steal clearance codes,” Rose recommended.

“No, they’re bio-hexacrypt and rescrambled every hour,” Finn shot the idea down. “We can’t get through their security shields undetected. Nobody can.” I thought for a moment and immediately knew who we needed to ask and pointed at Finn, “Maz!”

Your POV

You and Rey had been given your own small houses in the village as well and you were in yours when there was a knock at the door. 

“Come in,” you announced, standing from your seat.

The door opened and revealed Luke, a look on his face you couldn’t quite understand as he closed the door behind him.

“Is something wrong?” you asked, curious as you tried to place his intentions.

“You know more about the force than Rey does, and those are your own sabers, isn’t that right?” he inquisitively interviewed. 

“You are correct. The only kind of training I have received has been from your sister, Leia. I know more about the force than... most though,” you replied.

“The colors of your sabers, the blades are the same right? I’ve never heard of someone having both white and black colored sabers before, not even in the old Jedi texts.”

Your heart rate suddenly leaped and began to beat rapidly... he knew more than he was letting on, and was... goading you?

He looked deeply into your eyes with suspicion, “Where did you say you had come from again?”

You swallowed as your throat suddenly became dry, “Why do you ask?”

He looked at you for a moment, unwavering before responding, “The place you said before, Mortis. It’s interesting you would say that as only nine people in the entire galaxy have ever known about it.”

Your eyes widened as you knew the reaction he had when you mentioned it earlier was indeed recognition. How is it possible that he knows about Mortis?

“Four of those people being the ones that actually lived there, three of which are dead, one of which isn’t here and the other of which is me,” he continued. “And I know you’re not the one other than me so that means if you truly are from this place you couldn’t possibly know about, you’re one of the ones who lived there.”

The door opened once more and Rey took a step in before seeing the two of you and stepped back with a surprised look on her face, “Oh, sorry. Am I interrupting something?”

Luke was quick to respond, “Nothing at all. Both of you, with me.” He moved past her outside, “Training starts now.”

Your heart was beating out of your chest and Rey saw it and concern flooded her features, “Are you alright?”

You nodded a bit too quickly and pushed past her to follow Luke as you tried to get your heart rate under control. You hadn't lost your composure like that since... before everything. How does he know about... I can’t think about that. As you walked outside, the villagers that lived there were piled around a house where a few rocks had broken off and Luke was looking back behind you at Rey.

She replied, “I was cleaning my blaster, it went off. Sorry.” As the three of you continued and climbed the mountain, Rey asked, “Who were those things?”

You were curious as well so you listened as Luke responded, “Caretakers. Island natives. They’ve kept up the Jedi structures since they were built.”

“That’s quite the generational commitment,” you commented.

“I don’t think they like me,” Rey admitted as she turned back to look down at the village. 

“Can’t imagine why,” Luke sarcastically responded.

You chuckled as your group continued up the stairs that lead towards the top of the mountain and inwards where there was most likely a large cavity carved out. As you reached the top of the stairs, your assumption was found to be correct as you entered hallways with more stairs within the mountain that led towards a room with an opening and cliff at the peak. There was a large runic circle protruding from the center of the room that had a small level of water on the surface with a small anvil-like stone chair at the edge of the peak. 

“Master Skywalker,” Rey said to Luke as you left the room and stood on the peak overlooking the water. “We need you to bring the Jedi back because Kylo Ren is strong with the dark side of the force. Without the Jedi, we won’t stand a chance against him.”

You slightly disagreed but also knew with how small the Resistance had become after your battles, and how you weren’t able to use your full power, the odds of winning were indeed not very certain. 

“What do you know about the force?” Luke asked, mostly towards Rey.

“It’s a power Jedi and Sith have that lets them control people and make things float,” she begrudgingly responded. 

“Impressive. Every word in that sentence was wrong,” Luke plainly said.

You couldn’t help the burst of laughter you let out as you coughed and quickly adjusted yourself.

“Lesson one, both of you, sit here legs crossed,” he slapped the leaf he was carrying on the stone slab that was at the edge and you wondered if the two of you could fit.

After sharing a look, the both of you managed to fit with a few inches of space between the two of you so it wasn’t so bad.

“The force is not a power you have,” Luke began to explain, next to Rey. “It’s not about lifting rocks. It’s the energy between all things, a tension, a balance, that binds the universe together.”

“Ok, that sounds similar to what Y/N had told me,” Rey responded.

Luke eyed you for a moment and you thought back to your previous conversation temporarily before throwing it from your mind as Rey continued.

“But what is it?”

“Close your eyes, both of you.”

You and Rey closed your eyes together.

“Breathe,” Luke instructed.

You had already mastered meditation so this was extremely simple for you but you didn’t object as he helped Rey with the basics. 

“Now, reach out.”

You could feel and hear a bit of movement and a smile threatened to creep onto your face as you suspected Rey took his words literally. 

Rey gasped and you flinched slightly, “I feel something!”

Your eyebrow raised in suspicion and you actually peaked your eye open to take a look and saw her arm out with Luke tickling her fingers with the leaf he was holding. 

“You feel it?” he pressed with sudden vigor.

“I do!”

“That’s the force.”

“Really?”

“Wow! It must be really strong with you.”

You started bursting out laughing right as he raised his hand.

“Oh I’ve never felt any-” Rey began before she was about to open her eyes to your laughter and got slapped by the leaf. “Ow!” She shook her hand and looked at him defeatedly, “You mean reach out like...” 

He widened his eyes at her as confirmation and she nodded, “I’ll try again.”

Luke didn’t even look at you as you suspected he knew that you knew what you were doing. 

He tossed the leaf behind him and grabbed Rey’s hand to place it on the rock, “Breathe.” She closed her eyes once more and you did the same, “Just breathe. Reach out with your feelings. What do you see?”

You reached out with your feelings and finally realized that the extension of your force was incredibly muddled from the rest of the galaxy from this planet. Realizing that, you tried to feel out for Leia and couldn’t feel her at all and confirmed your fears. 

“I can’t see anything past this island,” you whispered.

“That’s the reason that I came here, to be cut off from the rest so no one could find me, but you should be able to reach from here,” Luke responded softly. 

You were mildly concerned that you were incapable of doing such a thing as you were relatively on the same level than Luke at his prime. Though the lesson needed to continue so it was something you decided to keep on the back burner to figure out later.

“The island,” Rey began to explain what she was seeing through the force. “Life. Death and decay, that feeds new life. Warmth. Cold. Peace.”

As she was listing off the things that she felt, you allowed her feelings to overtake you as well as you joined the journey she was taking through the island for yourself.

“Violence,” her demeanor was slightly thrown. 

“And between it all?” Luke attempted to clarify her vision.

“Balance. An energy. A force.”

You smiled as you felt the very same, glad she was able to come to that conclusion on her first try at pure connection. The area had amplified force energy as you knew so Rey probably had a much easier time as a result. 

“And inside you?”

“Inside me... that same force.”

“And this is the lesson. That force does not belong to the Jedi. To say that if the Jedi die, the light dies, is vanity. Can you feel that?”

Luke’s desperation concerned you as you felt Rey’s connection begin to grow darker. The ease of how it occurred reminded you frighteningly of yourself and you questioned Rey’s capabilities. However, your concern for her was greater as her vision began to lead her towards the darker corner of the island you had felt previously. 

“There’s something else... beneath the island. A place. A dark place.”

You could feel the curiosity and the pull within her and your concern began to reach levels of... well concern, “Rey, be careful.”

“Balance,” Luke affirmed. “Powerful light, powerful darkness.”

You winced internally as you hated that ideology. While it had truth, you wanted to change that truth. If happiness and salvation came at the cost of death and suffering at the fates of others, was that true salvation? It wasn’t... not to you. You would carry that darkness within you but you would ensure that the light wins and governs over the dark as long as you had lived: as long as you win the war and control the nexus event, regardless of how the world might make you try to believe otherwise.

The ground suddenly cracked and your eyes snapped open as you got up out of your seat, “Rey, you are not prepared to enter such a place.”

“It’s calling me,” the rocks began to fall around you.

“Resist it, Rey,” Luke stressed behind her. “Rey?” He got in front of her and shouted in her face, “Rey!”

Her eyes stayed shut for a few more moments before she suddenly burst forward and fell to the ground further ahead of the peak near the edge. 

“You went straight to the dark,” Luke said, the fear in his voice evident.

You had run forward and grabbed Rey to make sure that she was alright as she took deep gasps, falling onto the rock you were previously sitting on with her arms with your help.

“That place was trying to show me something,” she gasped.

“It offered something you needed. And you didn’t even try to stop yourself,” he responded.

“Go easy on her, she has many questions and little answers, not to mention she has never trained like this before. Of course the allure of the dark would be hard for her to resist,” you defended her.

He shook his head and turned to leave before Rey spoke, “But I didn’t see you. Nothing from you. You’ve closed yourself off from the force.”

Luke had paused in his place and slowly turned back.

“Of course you have,” Rey continued. 

“I’ve seen this raw strength only once before, in Ben Solo. It didn’t scare me enough then. It does now,” Luke finished with a terrified look on his face before walking away.

You weren’t exactly surprised to come to the conclusion of how Rey and Ben were so connected. Let alone they both existed at the same point in time as new force sensitives on both sides, they were also both now affiliated with training under Luke Skywalker. Perhaps it was fate for the two of you to find Luke and for Rey to train under him as it further accentuated the duality between Rey and Ben. 

“Did you know? About Luke?” Rey asked you.

You nodded, “I suspected as much ever since I joined the Resistance. It was confirmed after we arrived.”

She looked back down at the rock and shook her head slightly, “That place...”

“The dark will always be alluring, Rey. It will always seemingly have the answers you seek but they always exact a price. It is much too early for you to face such a darkness with control over yourself,” you explained, trying to protect her from herself. “If anyone would know, it’s me.”

She considered your words carefully as the two of you stayed there for a while longer, Rey trying to gather herself before the two of you left.

------------------------------------------------

“Still can’t reach the Resistance?” Rey had walked into the cockpit where you and Chewie were.

“No,” you commented, annoyed as Chewie growled the same.

“We have to keep trying, if we can get through, ask about Finn,” she commented with desperation.

You turned back, “We know, Rey. We’ll do what we can.”

She had an apologetic look on her face as she nodded and you smiled in return. She walked away and you asked Chewie to keep trying as you took off your headset and followed her. You could hear Chewie grow frustrated with all of the small bird-like creatures that had made themselves at home on the ship and couldn’t help but smile. Just as you had reached the ramp of the ship, you felt... a presence. It stopped you in your tracks and you looked down to just barely catch Rey standing a few feet away just under the belly of the ship. It was like a chill than ran up the right side of your body as you noticed it, like the space in front of you was warping but... not in a way that your eyes could comprehend. 

“Why... connecting us,” you could just barely make out Kylo’s voice as you tried to hone in on whatever was going on in front of you.

“Murderous snake,” Rey spat with venom as she stared into what seemed like empty space but was most likely Kylo. “You’re too late. You lost. I found Skywalker.”

You slowly descended from the ramp as the conversation continued, and you could now make out Kylo yourself even. 

“Did he tell you what happened?” he responded, this time clearly in your ears.

You paused midway down the ramp, allowing them to continue the conversation at least for now.

“The night I destroyed his temple, did he tell you why?” he asked as he approached her.

Your hand came to rest on your saber which you found to be slightly fruitless as he wasn’t truly there but kept your hand there regardless.

“I know everything I need to know about you,” Rey retorted. 

“You do?” he gazed at her. “Ah, you do. You have that look in your eyes. From the forest. When you called me a monster.”

It hit you that their relationship was a bit stronger than you had realized.

“You are a monster,” Rey confirmed.

“Yes I am,” he approached her even closer. You began walking closer and you actually caught the attention of Kylo, who took a step back and looked directly at you, “You.”

Rey turned to look back at you, “You see him?”

You nodded without breaking eye contact with him as you approached and Kylo continued, “The supreme leader spoke of you.”

You narrowed your eyes, “Hope it was all good things.”

He shot air out of his nose, “I can feel the darkness within you... strange.” 

Rey glanced at you slightly as she took in his information but you were quick to respond, “Yet I still choose the light, makes you wonder how good of a job you’re doing.”

He ignored your words, “You were there, when it happened.”

You set your jaw as you knew exactly what he was referring to, “Don’t.”

You could tell he was amused as he continued, “You let him die.”

You took a menacing step forward, “Say another word I swear I’ll kill you myself.”

You could see the spark of fear in his eyes and wondered just how much he and Snoke knew about you but he concealed it well, “He died, for nothing, and you stood there doing not-”

“Enough!” you finally snapped, waving your hand in a severing motion.

Rey flinched and so did Kylo, hard, as the menacing aura that you released pulsed so heavily that it completely cut whatever connection was going on between them. You heaved a heavy breath as you tried to regain control of your body, shutting your mouth and taking another deep breath through your nose. 

You closed your eyes but opened them after a moment after remembering Rey was there and you looked over at her to notice her suspension, “I’m sorry about that, I shouldn’t have lost control.”

Your aura was back to the pureness it normally radiated and the apologetic look on your face relaxed her shoulders some, but not completely, “It’s ok.”

“By the way,” you cleared your throat. “Have you been having connections like these with Kylo before?”

She nodded hesitantly as she confirmed. The connection indeed was stronger than you had thought. For them to be able to have a conversation in two separate spaces while somehow existing in the same one... to think such a high application of the force could be instituted. There was no way that either Rey or Kylo were the ones to create it as it was a feat very few could accomplish. It made sense that as a result of their stories, the force established the connection for them but it couldn’t have been that easy. The force doesn’t meddle with the galaxy, at least not in ways as obvious as that.

“That is slightly concerning, let me know if they continue, ok?” you said softly.

“Ok... do you think there’s a reason why he mentioned what happened the night he destroyed the temple?” Rey hesitantly asked you, considering things in her mind.

You sighed as you didn’t exactly want to answer that question, “I’m... not sure. It’s possible there is more to the story than Luke told us, but... I doubt there would be anything to make us understand Kylo more.”

She nodded her head before turning and walking back into the ship.

The next day, you woke Rey to advise her to practice with her staff on the mountain as you meditated. You allowed her to take her saber if she felt comfortable enough to use it. You had training with Luke once again for your second lesson in a few hours so you decided to pass it by connecting with the force. After a few hours, you left one of the rooms on the ship to head towards the village. As you did, you saw Rey on one of the peaks and met up with her before seeing Luke walking up the stairs that led to the place you trained at last. You made eye contact and knew that he was calling the two of you over.

“Lesson two,” Luke said as you arrived at the room where he was. “Now that they’re extinct, the Jedi are romanticized, deified. But if you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, the legacy of the Jedi is failure.” He had sat down near the circle with the water surface in the middle of the room. “Hypocrisy, hubris.”

“That’s not true,” Rey surged forward, which surprised you.

“At the height of their powers, they allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the empire, and wipe them out. It was a Jedi master who was responsible for the training and creation of Darth Vader.”

You actually couldn’t argue with him there as you were shocked to find out the Jedi Order had fallen when you had come out of your slumber. 

“And a Jedi who saved him,” Rey pressed on.

You looked at her with shock and admiration on your features, she wasn’t wrong either. 

“Yes, the most hated man in the galaxy. But you saw there was conflict inside him,” she sat down next to him. “You believed that he wasn’t gone. That he could be turned.”

“And I became a legend,” Luke finished. “For many years, there was balance, and then I saw... Ben. My nephew, with that mighty Skywalker blood. And in my hubris, I thought I could train him, I could pass on my strengths. Han was... Han about it but... Leia. Trusted me with her son. I took him, and a dozen students, and began a training temple.”

You knew about this from Leia’s memories but you wanted to see if there was anything she hadn’t known about.

He stood from his spot and began to pace, “By the time I realized, I was no match for the darkness rising in him, it was too late.”

“What happened?” Rey asked.

You had sat down comfortably on the floor as you listened.

His back was turned to the two of you as he stood there, most likely recalling the events of the night, “I went to confront him. And he turned on me. He must have thought I was dead. When I came to, the temple was burning. He had vanished with a handful of my students... and slaughtered the rest. Leia blamed Snoke, but it was me. I failed. Because I was Luke Skywalker. Jedi master. A legend.”

You could practically smell the carnage as he took you back through the events that occurred and felt the disgust he carried when he announced his name. 

“The galaxy may need a legend,” Rey started. “I need someone to show me my place in all of this.”

You quirked an eyebrow as you didn’t know she had felt as lost as she did.

“And you didn’t fail Kylo. Kylo failed you. We won’t, I won’t,” she said with determination. 

There was silence in the room before Luke ultimately left, walking past the two of you and outside. You shared a look with Rey as you gave her a supportive smile before she turned to leave as well. You weighed following her and talking to her about what she said but didn’t want to force her to talk when she didn’t want to. Instead, you allowed her to go off and do her own thing as you left and intended to go back to the village and meditate.

Next Chapter

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[usafphantom2]

My father knew the inside scoop. My Dad, Butch Sheffield, was with the SR 71 program from cradle to grave and wrote down in his unpublish book some of his reasons why it was canceled prematurely.

During the Carter Administration, 1977-81, while Stansfield Turner was Director of the CIA, the two of them made a decision to rely upon National Technical Means (NTM) or Spy Satellites for intelligence. This included eliminating manned aircraft and spies on the ground. This has been proven to be one of the biggest intelligence mistakes ever.

The reason for this strategy was it was risk-free for the political Administration. No airplanes or spies could be captured and displayed like Francis Powers and the U-2. This made the politician feel comfortable.

NSA National Security Agency never liked the SR-71. Why? It did not collect Communications Intelligence’s (COMINT)! It went too fast for COMINT. Ninety percent of NSA executives came from a COMINT background. They thought that COMINT was the only kind of intelligence that was useful.

All the time I was Recce. Chief, they (the NSA) came to the Pentagon in groups to try to insult the SR 71 program in any way, they could. You would attend a meeting, and one or two people would attend from each service and DOD. NSA would show up with ten people. I would ask why. They would say that each one represents an area of NSA. It was a joke in the Pentagon. I would only let one at a time in my area.

They would tell the White House in a flash-type message that an SR was almost intercepted by a Foxbat when the Foxbat was three hundred miles away from the SR. These types of messages were never followed up with the truth, from NSA, that they had been wrong. They often were.

The cost of this, National Tactical Means (NTM) has never been made public; in fact, most people with security clearances inside the government don’t know the cost. I knew because I I knew because I got a copy, one of twelve printed each year by the NRO, telling the real cost of: the satellite, the launch cost, the communications cost and the ground station cost.

The cost was enormous. The NRO did not want to give me the book. I knew it existed and asked for it. Finally, they gave it to me after I pressured the Director when I worked for the U S Congress.

One might ask how did this affect the SR-71? The answer is that once this very large amount of money was being spent on satellites, they no longer wanted to fund the SR—the SR then went from a National collection platform to a tactical intelligence asset.

Col Richard “ Butch” Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[lupinuslepidus]

fieldwork incident # ??? / ???: in retrospect, we should've turned the car around when we drove past the abandoned and apparently unoccupied husk of a trailer that had "THIS IS OUR HOUSE, LEAVE" and a frowny face painted on the side, and reached the closed wire gate with a cow carcass lying in the scrub nearby. (you come across those sometimes where there's ranching areas. i don't wish the experience on anyone.) in our defense, the other road we could've taken also had a closed wire gate across it, and Google Maps was assuring us that this was an alternative that would get us where we were going. the rental vehicle has 4WD, but low clearance. and the dirt road is flat but has occasional water benches and isn't particularly tended and suddenly there's a bump and the car bottoms out. a couple of the service lights come on, briefly. at this point i'm a little sunk cost fallacy and we try to keep going anyway, then the dirt road starts to disappear into dry creeks and scattered shrubs, to the point where i have to get out of the car to figure out which direction we're going. we're at the bottom of a sage scrub basin and it's hot out -- this happened to be in the middle of the record-breaking heat wave. there's turkey vultures circling, off to the side. i can see all the way to the horizon in all directions, mountains rising up at the edges. i see a jackrabbit streak off into the brush. i don't know if you've ever encountered a jackrabbit out in the sage scrub. they feel like omens every time.

we turn the car around and make it back to the main road. we realize a couple crucial things:

the open gate we'd passed through initially actually had a "NO TRESPASSING, PRIVATE RANCH PROPERTY" sign strung up on it. why was it open? not sure.

there's very much four different service lights on, including the "check engine" light.

we're supposed to be going up another dirt road to do a couple more days of fieldwork in the middle of nowhere and then do a long drive to Utah. the rental agencies are both a 2.5 - 3 hour drive in either direction. mechanics are similarly too far or closed for the day already.

(i did call our postdoc to update her on our situation and get advice. she'd later send a text saying "I looked it up and scraping the bottom of the car wouldn't cause the "check engine light' to turn on, so it must be just an old car problem!" and after that i decided to rely on my own judgment instead.)

sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do and sometimes that means using an increasingly sketchy car for three more days of fieldwork I GUESS.