#i have a million thing i want to do today

[nvieditz]

bad decisions pt 2

alexia x reader

hey everyone! sorry it took a bit for this to be done (and i apologize for the bit of a cliffhanger but i have the “rest” of this done and will be coming out so i just liked how this ended haha)

warnings: no smut just plot (smut in the next part i promise) 2k+ word count

You get back to Ana’s apartment and it’s quiet and dark. You don’t even bother turning the lights off you  hang up your keys and head to the guest bedroom you’re staying in. 

You hop in the shower quickly before putting on a big t shirt and heading to bed. Out of curiosity you turned on your phone and opened google. 

You searched Fc Barcelona Alexia

The results were… wow.

You found yourself going through the images tab and reading her description. There was an instagram account link. You couldn’t help but click on it. 

Holy 3 million followers.

You basically stalked her whole profile for an embarrassing amount of time, being blown away by all the awards and trophies she’s won. You finally put your phone down when you realized what time it was. You had to stop thinking about her. 

But how could you when that was the best sex you’ve had in a long time. 

The next morning you wake up to noise in the kitchen. Ana must be up and getting ready to go to the gym, she always goes on weekend mornings. 

You have to get some work done so you decide to head to a coffee shop and do some work there. 

You throw on some jeans and a t shirt, grab your laptop and leave your bedroom. 

But what you see in your kitchen is a surprise. 

Ana is making breakfast and one of Alexia’s friends from last night was sitting on one of the stools from the kitchen island. 

“Oh, Hi y/n I didn’t hear you come in last night,” Ana asks, just as shocked as you are. 

Alexia’s friend flashes you an awkward smile. 

“Yeah sorry I got back pretty late,” you respond which adds more awkwardness to the air. “Well, I’m heading out so have fun.” You smile as you grab your house keys and head out. 

You put on your headphones and walk towards the coffee shop you saw that looked cute. 

It was a beautiful day in Barcelona, as always. You were considering moving here since your job is work from home and you’re tired of the rainy weather back home. And, it would help you be farther away from her. 

You reach the coffee shop and order your drink before claiming a small round table and get to work. You’re the social media manager of a new language learning app so your work today was mostly research, looking into new trends and what catches people’s eye. 

But then something catches your eye. 

Or someone. 

Shit. 

There’s Alexia, in line for a coffee, with another one of the girls from last night. 

You try to pretend you didn’t see her and continue work. You focus on your work and the Fletcher song you love playing in your headphones. 

You suddenly see Alexia standing in front of your table holding her coffee. “Mind if I sit here?” she asks. 

You wanted to say no but you didn’t want to be rude. “Sure,” you said as politely as possible without trying to incite anything. 

You try your best to ignore her and continue your work, but you can feel her staring at you. You look up at her from your laptop. 

“Why are you ignoring me?” She asks, clearly annoyed. 

“Because I came here to do my job not chit chat.” you realized you snapped at her a beat too late. Her face flashed with anger. “I’m sorry, I’m just not in the best mood.” you try to salvage the situation.

“No, I mean clearly you couldn’t wait to leave yesterday so I don’t know what happened because according to… you know… you seemed like you had a good time.” she presses. 

You take a deep breath before answering. “I did have a good time,” you pause, “but if I’m being honest, I just wanted a one night thing to distract me from- well it doesn’t matter from what.” you shake off the mopey feeling creeping back up. 

She looks confused. “Ok, I don’t fully understand but I respect your boundaries.” she states but she doesn’t get up.

You look at her just as confused. She finally starts to get up but before she leaves she leans in and whispers, “Oh and you left your strap in my apartment,” she winks. “and your hair looks really good down like that.” she smiles as she walks away. 

You hide the blush her comment made you get by taking a sip of your coffee. You finally get back to work. 

You’re packing up your stuff after a few hours doing some work and your phone dings. 

Thinking it was Ana you pick up your phone immediately. 

[instagram] @alexiaputellas has started following you 

You scoff at your phone. You ignore it and put your phone away. How did she even find your profile anyway? 

You walk out of the coffee shop and head back with the intention to just relax for a few hours and maybe go grab some dinner with Ana. 

Your phone dings again.

[instagram] @alexiaputellas “when do you plan on picking up your things 😉”

You can’t help but smile because clearly she wanted to see you again, very badly. But you still felt like she wanted something more that you didn’t want. 

You ignored the message again for now and headed home with Ana. 

You walk in the door and see Ana sitting on the couch watching tv. 

“Hey,” you say as you kick your shoes off. 

“Hey where’d you go?” she asks.

You set your bag on the counter and head over to sit next to her. “I went to the coffee shop to do some work,” you reply nonchalantly. 

She looks at you for a beat. “Are you ok? You seemed off this morning. And also why were you here this morning weren’t you going home with Alexia?” her voice came off teasing at the sound of Alexia’s name. 

“Yeah I’m fine, I did go home with her but decided it was best not to stay.” you replied trying to end the conversation. 

“Well, what was it?” she asks, “Was she… bad?” she whispered jokingly. 

You laughed softly, “No, she was… great,” you smile. 

“Sooo… what was it?” she asks, clearly genuinely interested. 

You take a beat to think about what to say, “Well, I don’t know. I feel like staying would insinuate that I wanted more than just a one night thing and you know I’m not looking for anything right now, not so soon after.. you know who.” you look down sadly. 

“You can say her name you know… she’s not

voldemort,” Ana laughs, “and I understand, and I’m sorry about the whole thing with Ona this morning, I didn’t mean for it to be awkward.” 

You laugh, “It’s ok. So how was that?” you tease. 

“Really good,” she smiles. “Oh and she asked if we wanted to go to a party she’s having tomorrow?” she slips in quickly. 

“Oh god I don’t know, Alexia’s probably gonna be there isn’t she?” you ask worriedly. The last thing you needed was seeing her again. 

“Oh come on, I don’t want to go by myself and I like her. If you see her you can just ignore her, flirt with another one of her friends, let her know you don’t want anything for sure,” she begs, “Please? for me?” she begs like a small child. 

You think about it for a second, “Fine.” 

Ana practically jumps for joy and kisses your forehead, “Thank you thank you. It’ll be fun I promise,” she runs over to grab her phone, presumably to text Ona and let her know we’re coming. 

You get comfortable on the couch and put on an episode of Modern Family before you and Ana sat on the small table in the kitchen eating some leftover Paella from a few nights ago, still as good as new. 

After eating you decide to go to bed early, needing to catch up on sleep. When you get in bed you open instagram and once again are reminded of Alexia’s message. 

And the fact that you hadn’t followed her back. 

You were too tired to do anything about this—smartly at least. 

You ignored it again for now and went to bed. 

The next morning you wake up dreading this party— and that was an understatement. 

But you had to get up to get some

work done.

You get up and sit yourself on the couch with a cup of coffee. You didn’t bother to change out of your pajamas since you had no meetings today. 

You spent the next few hours designing posts for the company and diving into instagram looking for potential trends for promoting the company more. 

By the time you’ve almost driven yourself mad, your computer is about to die and it’s almost time to clock out. You go to grab your charger but your phone pings. 

You turn around to grab it and see the notification from instagram. 

[Instagram] @alexiaputellas “can’t wait to see you tonight.”

You scoff and ignore the message. You grab your computer charger and plug it into your laptop. 

Your phone dings again. 

[Instagram] @alexiaputellas “you can’t keep ignoring me you know?” 

You smiled at the message and continued to ignore it. 

After a little bit, you finished work and started to get ready since the party was in a few hours. 

You started to realize you feel a little excited to see Alexia. You like the attention. 

And as long as you don’t let it get any further, there’s no harm in a little fun.

You just had to make sure it was just for fun.

You were finishing getting doing your makeuo when you heard Ana get back from work. 

“Hi babe, how are you?” she called from the living room. 

“Good, just getting ready!” you called back. 

You hear her footsteps getting closer to you before she enters the bathroom that you’re in. “Sorry it took me so long to get back we’ll probably be late to the party,” she said. She looked at you and your almost finished makeup, “You look really hot for someone who doesn’t want to go to this party.” 

You laugh as if what she said was ridiculous, “Oh please. I just don’t want to be caught underdressed,” you joked. 

“One thing is not being underdressed and another thing is looking like you want Alexia to fuck you senseless again,” she teases. 

Your face goes red, “When did I say anything about senseless?” you laugh. 

“Oh you don’t have to tell me. I know,” she whispers as she leaves to go get ready. 

You look at yourself in the mirror thinking maybe you are overdressing. 

You decided to wear a red tank top that showed just enough cleavage to not be too showy but not modest. You wore your low rise, black jeans that fit you so well and you know you look really good in them. You decided to add a belly chain to the outfit to make it look even better. You decided to keep your hair down for the night. 

You convinced yourself this hair decision had nothing to do with Alexia’s comment in the coffee shop the other day.

When Ana is done getting ready you order an uber to come pick you up and you wait until it arrives. You grab your bag and your keys and you and Ana head out the door. 

When you’re in the uber you find yourself mindlessly scrolling through instagram and you end up going through the barca femenil squad instagram. 

Just to see who may all be at the party, not to look at pictures of Alexia. 

When you get there you get out of the uber and realize, this is the same building Alexia’s apartment is in. Figures that they live in the same building. 

Unwanted memories of the other night come flooding back. 

You shake off the warm feeling in your body as you walk into the building. 

You can hear music from the entrance and you assume that’s coming from the party. 

You head up the stairs and reach the apartment where the party noise is coming from. Ana knocks on the door a d a few seconds later Ona opens the door. 

“Hi,” she hugs Ana then gestures for both of you to come in, “Come in” she smiles. 

You walk in and in no surprise, most of the women there are all extremely fit and definitely fellow footballers. You spot Alexia in the kitchen talking to someone else. You pretend you didn’t see her as you said hi to the others. 

Ana sits down to where Ona is sitting and Ona offers to grab both of you something to drink. You taker her up on her offer and ask for a rum and coke. 

You sit down on the end of the couch no one seems to be taking up. 

You mindlessly switch from paying attention to the conversations around you and not. You’re happy Ana seems to be having a good time but you’re a little bored. 

That is, before someone sits next to you. 

This woman is FIT. 

Brown hair with dyed blonde highlights and an energy that exuded so much confidence it was intimidating. 

She’s wearing a tight white t shirt and some dark blue pinstripe low rise jeans, with some boxers

peaking above them.  

“Hola,” she says to you, her eyes quickly rake down your body and back up. “I’m Misa, nice to meet you.” 

She extends a hand for you to shake, you smile a little before grabbing her hand and shaking it lightly. “I’m y/n, nice to meet you too.” 

She smiles at you, “So, how do you know Ona?” she asks. 

Not wanting to tell her the full truth, you said, “Oh, Ana’s my best friend,” you gesture toward where they’re sitting. 

“Lovely,” she teases. You can feel her slowly inching closer to you. 

“So, do you play on the barcelona team as well?” you ask her, subconsciously hoping Alexia is watching this conversation, you try to be more into this conversation. 

“No,” she smiles, “I play for Madrid but I’m friends with most of these girls from the Spanish national team. I’m here visiting.” 

Misa was about to say something else,

but you can feel Alexia watching you from your peripheral and something took over you. 

You quickly break the distance between you and Misa and kiss her. You can feel her surprise at first but she slowly deepens the kiss as her hand wanders to your thigh. You break apart from the kiss after what felt like hours. 

“Can I get you another drink?” she asks you softly. 

“Yes please,” you smile. She grabs your empty glass off of the table and heads to the bar to refresh your drink. 

Immediately as she’s gone you feel someone else sit next to you. 

You turn to see Alexia. She looks… mad. But why would she be mad? You guys aren’t together. 

“Hi Alexia,” you say blankly. 

“Hi,” she says flatly, “why have you been ignoring me?” 

“Who says I’m ignoring you?” you snap back. 

“You, right now.” she bites back. “Why are you acting like this? Did I do something?” now she seems worried. 

You sigh and look down for a moment. 

You think about what to say for a moment. 

You put your hand on her thigh. You look at her and your eyes darken. She looks really good and you hadn’t noticed from how much you were trying to pretend she wasn’t there. 

“We can keep doing this,” you point between the two of you, your voice lowers, “if you promise, there are no feelings. This is just for fun. Because I am not ready for a relationship,” You say blatantly. 

She seems a little taken aback at first but then her eyes darken. “Ok,” she pauses for a moment. She leans in to kiss you. It’s a soft kiss but slow. Painfully slow. She pulls away and whispers, “Meet me in my apartment in 30 minutes,” before getting up and heading out the door. 

You realize you don’t remember which apartment is hers. 

Shit. 

[decolonize-the-everything]

Awhile ago I ordered a necklace of teeth and I was accidentally given 2. I've kept the other not really knowing what to do with it. I have this belief that some things are yours but they're meant for others. I've given away beaded brooches I made, bracelets, etc for this reason and decided the extra necklace was like that so I've been holding onto it.

Well a week or so ago I went to the pet store and the cashier was absolutely over the moon about my necklace and started talking about Halloween and how much she loves stuff like that. Got excited when I told her I had an extra she could have.

So today I went and remembered to bring the necklace and I've never seen someone so excited by anything I've ever given them, not even my kid at Christmas when she got a bike from an aunt. Anyway, I caught her as soon as I walked in and she said thank you and disappeared for a bit while I walked around with my kid and my gf looked at the fish.

She ended up being who checked us out and she was already wearing it, was smiling ear to ear, and said thank you a million times, and talked about how stoked she was about it. I felt like I made her whole week. She was so happy and seemed to be visibly restraining herself from saying more lol

That necklace was absolutely hers. I was just holding it for her. And it was such a nice interaction I wanted to share it.

[reveriebae]

Anchor tattoo

pairing(s) : Ex! Song Mingi x f!reader

word count : 2,259

genre : smut

synopsis : when your highschool ex who is also your first love and also your neighbor unexpectedly have a visit to your place.

warning(s) : you could say reader is cheating, reader has a tattoo (of course it's on the title), unprotected sex, marking (m receiving), lmk if I missed something!

Part of Songfic

Minors do not interact, 21+ only!!

🪐smut under the cut🪐

Million drops of cold water running down, leaving goosebumps all over your skin. Cold shower after spending all day at the office probably something you enjoy every night. The smell of your watermelon shampoo you just excitedly bought yesterday literally spread all over the bathroom, it's nice.

You get out of the bathroom after you finished take a shower, put on Jongho's hoodie that's long enough to cover more than a half of your thighs then doing your skincare. You saw the text you haven't replied before you take a shower, it's from your boyfriend Jongho.

He's been super busy lately so he's rarely visit your house unlike he usually did, his place and yours is a bit far though and you are currently busy too because you just moved to a new brach office so there's a lot to do at the new office so you and him could just wait until the weekend to meet at his place or yours, depends on the situation and it's been about 3 months.

Your schedule is still the same, go home at 8 work at 10 but Jongho's schedule has been changed, he usually finished his work at 5 but now he even still working at 9 so that's the reason why he can't meet you often like how he used to do. Sometimes you get bored and feel so lonely without him, not having company after all day working like you used to have is kind of unusual in some way, but you always trying to understand that you couldn't always expect your boyfriend to be around you everytime so things slowly being fine, you don't call your boyfriend to cry and say 'i miss you' 60 times in every minute, you don't drool on his black tee because you cry yourself to sleep to end up ruining your skincare and cry when you wash the t-shirt anymore, you cry a lot back then and it make you wonder how your boyfriend could stand being with you for the whole 9 months until today.

Your type 'ok' and press the send button when someone ringing the bell at your door, they pressing the bell multiple times it is noisy and you run up to the door to open it and found Mingi in front of you. Mingi, your ex boyfriend when you're still in senior highschool, the reason you broke up with him is just because both of you aren't ready for a relationship yet, you both don't know what to do, don't know how to feel, don't even know how to understand each other and don't know how to maintain that kind of relationship, he is your very first boyfriend and so you are to him. You both decided to end the relationship with no bad blood, with no anger, with no sadness, with the 'we gotta learn how to love first, we can go back if we are ready and we both want to' deal and you both agreed.

You haven't really talked with him for the past two and a half years, sometimes you saw his car passes your house in the morning when you're about to go to work, sometimes you saw him at the convenience store, sometimes you both say hi to each other when you do jogging on sunday morning, because you two live close to each other so you still often see Mingi around your place, but this is the first time after the break up, he actually come to your house.

"Hey..can I come in for a bit? It's urgent, kind of.." his hair is damp you assume he's sweating cause he's literally gasps for air like he's been chased by a ghost.

"O-of course you can Mingi" You nod and let Mingi enter your house, you told him to wait and sit on the couch and you decided to make him some tea. You come back from the kitchen to living room, Mingi still there sitting on the couch. "What happen actually? If you don't mind to tell me" you say as you put the cup of tea on the table in front of him.

"So..do you perhaps know Carla?" You nod and sit beside him, she moved not really far from here about 4 months ago, you heard she's from Europe and you actually ever met her like twice when her mom asked if Carla could borrow your dress and you just gave her instead of lend the dress to her cause you don't really like to share (obviously) and that time when Carla looks like she trying to be close to you by come over to your house everyday waiting for you to come home from work for a whole 2 weeks but you're so busy so she stopped, you haven't say sorry tho. "Yeah, I and her are dating for about two months, everything is going fine until my mom accidentally tells her that you are my ex, she went crazy and always trying to blame you when she noticed my feelings are gone for her" you noticed that he plays his fingers, he might be hiding something cause isn't it weird when your ex suddenly come to your house and talk about a girl, to you? To his ex? What if he just wanna mess with you? What if he just wanna get to close to you again? Second guessing is not that bad yk you gotta be careful with men.

"Oh I'm sorry for that Mingi, but why do you come here?".

"She's at my house, I told her I want to break up but she refused to, now she's haunting me but plays innocent in front of my parents, of course my parents believe me more than her, so I ran out from my house and I could only think about you when I try to find a place to hide".

You let out a hum then realized, all the house in this complex had the same shape, there are two doors to go outside but the backyard is a garden and have no access to go to the street so the only door that could is just the front one, if he said that he ran here when he knew Carla is coming to his house, then Carla must see him leaving the house right?.

"How did you..".

"Jump off the balcony to the tree, you know the tree beside my house had a ladder on it hm?" Damn is this guy could actually read mind?, you just nod to him and he drink the warm tea you gave him. "Ah..warm tea after a cold shower is really nice, thanks pumpkin" You choke after caught what he just said, 'pumpkin' is the nickname he gave you when you two still together.

"Yeah..sure,uhm. I'm..gonna bring some biscuits" you quickly walk to the kitchen to take a breath. God this is so wrong but you missed him, he looks so handsome and hot with his platinum hair and black shaped glasses and those stupid rings around his stupid slender and long fingers. You feel like if you make a skin to skin contact with him you gonna jump and fuck him right there and then.

You were opening up a cookie jar to take some of the cookies to put it on the plate when you feel a pair of hands holding you into an embrace. "What got you busy here, pumpkin? Are you avoiding me?" His head snuggle up your neck and one of his hand moving your hair to the side then his chin rest on your shoulder.

"Mingi, what are you doing? ngh-" you muffled a moan when the tips of his nose touch the skin of your neck.

"Mmh still so sensitive for me, my little pumpkin" he takes a heavy breath then let it out, the air brushing your skin make you shiver. "You smell like watermelon, you always love them pumpkin, you don't change even a bit" you grip his hands, trying to get out from his hold but it's just get tighter and tighter. "I really miss you pumpkin, please don't run away from me" he lick a stripe on your neck and that's it. That's enough to make you apologize to yourself and your boyfriend because you can't take it anymore.

"Stop it Mingi, we can't" Mingi stops his movement and you turn around to face him, he frowns. "We can't do it..in the kitchen, let's go to my room" smile creeps on his face as you hold his hand and take him you your room. Mingi take a sit on your bed then you straddle him and cup his face in your hands. "I got a feeling that you lie to me about Carla, but fuck it I really need you right now".

"I did not lie to you pumpkin, the actual reason I wanna break up with her is because I always think about you when I'm with her, not to mention when she started to copy your style by wearing a dress that is look just like yours" He plays with your hair while you wrap your arms around his neck.

"That is actually my dress, I gave it to her".

"Why?".

"That's a long story to tell.." his thumb starts rubbing your bottom lips.

"God I missed this lips so bad, really bad it hurts" his thumb now rubbing your cheek as you lean into him to put your lips on his. His eyes closed and so is yours, the more the kiss gets deeper and deeper.

Clothes scattered everywhere all over the floor, both of your bodies are now bare, touches everywhere. You lean into him to bury your face in the crook of his neck, leaving kisses and marks all over him. "I hope you wouldn't mind" you fingers grazing over the marks you made yourself on his skin.

"Don't even hesitate, pumpkin. Give me a lot of your reminder" you smirk at his words. Still sit on his lap, you stroke his cock to spread his precum all over his cock. He lets out moans while you look at his face, intensely. Wanting to observe every detail of expression he made, the way his eyebrows furrowed, his head falls back, mouth open wide and sweats trickle on his forehead. "Yess pumpkin, that feels nice..oh- fuckk" hisses leaves his lips when you slowly slip his cock inside you.

"Mingi..you feel bigger than I could remember" you moan out a bit louder, smile creeps on his face then he cups your ass on both of his hand and helps you grind on his cock.

Started with slow pace, when he sees your face filled with pleasure he decided to fasten the pace by moving you up and down his cock. You let out choked moans from his action then you lay down when you feel you don't have the ability to sit straight anymore which made Mingi stop his movement. "Aww, my little pumpkin feeling tired already? I thought- oh fuck! You still have the tattoo?" Mingi said after he sees the anchor tattoo on your left rib cage, on the side of your left boob.

"I mean it's a permanent tattoo Mingi..so yea, I still have it" it's the first ever tattoo you have which is it's Mingi who pushed you to get your first tattoo, and he even picked out the design.

He yanked your thighs then rub his cock on your pussy and slide it in. "Fucking come back to me pumpkin" before you can answer he thrust into you roughly, you muffled your scream by biting your bottom lips. Slapping sound, muffled moans and light sound of babbling from both of you and Mini echoed your bedroom.

"Fuck Mingi! You fuck me so hard, fuck me so good..gonna cum, pleasee.." you cry and start sobbing from the pleasure he's giving to you.

He thrust harder without slowing his pace then make you see stars when he licks his thumb then circle your clit with it, your body spasming under him, pussy clenching, eyes rolling back, drops of tears escapes then your hand flew to close your mouth with the back of your hand to stifled the sound that about to burst out of your mouth.

"Shit pumpkin, too tight!" Then he released inside you after a few thrust and give a few thrust to ride your orgasm. He leans down and put his head on your chest. "Your breath match with the sound of your heartbeat pumpkin" he looks at your face and smiles softly.

"Mingi..we shouldn't do this".

He looks at your face, confused "why? If you worry about Carla..listen, I'm not with her anymore and if you-".

"No..no Mingi, if my boyfriend know about this he definitely would kill me".

"You..you have a boyfriend? Fuck he gonna kill me too then".

You let out a soft chuckle and slight smile grew on Mingi's face show a hint of his dimples. "No one should know about this, about us. Let's just keep this and never do this again".

He frowns "I've been waiting for this too long, you do look really good everytime I passed by you everywhere, make me wanna have you again..But yeah, no one should know about this".

After that you and Mingi clean each other then he go out from your house when he thinks Carla must be gone from his house at this hour.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

William Faulkner, "Never be afraid" :: [(From a speech delivered May 28, 1951 at Fulton Chapel, University of Mississippi)]

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 25, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Sep 26, 2024

In 2004 a senior advisor to President George W. Bush famously told journalist Ron Suskind that people like Suskind lived in “the reality-based community.” They believed people could find solutions to problems through careful study of discernible reality. But, the aide continued, Suskind’s worldview was obsolete. “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” the aide said. “We are an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality— judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” 

We appear to be in a moment when the reality-based community is challenging the ability of the MAGA Republicans to create their own reality. 

Central to the worldview of MAGA Republicans is that Democrats are socialists who have destroyed the American economy. Trump calls Harris a “radical-left. Marxist, communist, fascist” and insists the economy is failing. 

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, today, Harris laid out her three-pillar plan for an “opportunity economy.” She explained that she would lower costs by cutting taxes for the middle class, cutting the red tape that stops housing construction, take on corporate landlords who are hiking rental prices, work with builders and developers to construct 3 million new homes and rentals, and help first-time homebuyers with $25,000 down payment assistance. She also promised to enact a federal ban on corporate price gouging on groceries and to cap prescription drug prices by negotiating with pharmaceutical companies. 

Harris said she plans to invest in innovation by raising the deduction for startup businesses from its current $5,000 to $50,000 and providing low- or no-interest loans to small businesses that want to expand. Her goal is to open the way for 25 million new small businesses in her first four years, noting that small businesses create nearly 50% of private sector jobs in the U.S. 

Harris plans to create manufacturing jobs of the future by investing in biomanufacturing and aerospace, remaining “dominant in AI, quantum computing, blockchain, and other emerging technologies, and expand[ing] our lead in clean energy innovation and manufacturing.” She vowed to see that the next generation of breakthroughs—“from advanced batteries to geothermal to advanced nuclear—are not just invented, but built here in America by American workers.” Investing in these industries means strengthening factory towns, retooling existing factories, hiring locally, and working with unions. She vowed to make jobs available for skilled workers without college degrees and to cut red tape to reform permitting for innovation.

“I am a capitalist,” she said. “I believe in free and fair markets. I believe in consistent and transparent rules of the road to create a stable business environment. And I know the power of American innovation.” She said she would be pragmatic in her approach to the economy, seeking practical solutions to problems and taking good ideas from wherever they come. 

“Kamala Harris, Reagan Democrat!” conservative pundit Bill Kristol posted on social media after her speech. 

For his part, Trump has promised an across-the-board tariff of 10% to 20% that billionaire Mark Cuban on the Fox News Channel called “insane” and Quin Hillyer of the Washington Examiner warned “would almost certainly cause immense price hikes domestically, goad other countries into retaliating, and perhaps set off an international trade war” that could “wreck the economy.” Cuban then told Jake Tapper of CNN that Trump’s promise to impose 10% price controls on credit card interest rates and price caps is “Socialism 101.” 

Yesterday, more than 400 economists and high-ranking U.S. policymakers endorsed Harris, and today, the members of former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley’s presidential leadership teams in Michigan, Iowa, and Vermont announced they would be supporting Harris, in part because of Trump’s economic policies.

While Trump insisted yet again today that “the economy is doing really, really badly,” the stock market closed at a record high today for the fourth day in a row. 

In other economic news, for nine years, Trump has said he will find a cheaper and better way to provide healthcare to Americans than the Affordable Care Act, although on September 10 he admitted he has only the “concepts of a plan.” Today the Treasury Department released statistics showing that 4.2 million small business owners have coverage through the ACA. Losing that protection would impact 618,590 small business owners in Florida, 450,010 in California, 423,790 in Texas, and 168,070 in Georgia.

Trump has made a claim that crime has risen dramatically under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris central to his campaign rhetoric. The opposite is true. Two days ago, on September 23, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released its official report on crime statistics from 2023 compared with 2022. Those statistics showed that murder and non-negligent manslaughter fell by 11.6%. Rape fell by 9.4%. Aggravated assault fell by 2.8%. Robbery fell by 0.3%. Hate crimes fell by 0.6%. 

Central to the worldview of MAGA Republicans is that immigration weakens a nation and that immigrants increase crime and disease. First Republican vice presidential nominee Ohio senator J.D. Vance and then Trump himself repeatedly advanced the lie that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating their neighbors’ pets and bringing disease. 

Clergy members from multiple faiths have asked politicians to stop their lies about Haitian immigrants, and today the leader of Haitian Bridge Alliance, a nonprofit organization that represents the Haitian community, filed a charges against Trump and Vance for disrupting public services, making false alarms, telecommunications harassment, and aggravated menacing and complicity.  

Immediately, Representative Clay Higgins (R-LA), who in the past supported Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and filmed a selfie inside a gas chamber at Auschwitz, posted on social media: “Lol. These Haitians are wild. Eating pets, vudu, nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters…but damned if they don’t feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP. All these thugs better get their mind right and their *ss out of our country before January 20th.” 

After an outcry, Higgins took the post down. According to House speaker and fellow Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson, who called Higgins a “very principled man,” Higgins took it down after he “prayed about it.” Johnson seemed unconcerned about his colleague’s racism, saying, “we believe in redemption around here.” 

But in a statement, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called Higgins’s statement “vile, racist and beneath the dignity of the United States House of Representatives. He must be held accountable for dishonorable conduct that is unbecoming of a Member of Congress. Clay Higgins is an election-denying, conspiracy-peddling racial arsonist who is a disgrace to the People’s House. This is who they have become. Republicans are the party of Donald Trump, Mark Robinson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Clay Higgins and Project 2025. The extreme MAGA Republicans in the House are unfit to govern.” 

On Monday, Dan Gooding of Newsweek reported that although Trump said on September 18 he would go to Springfield, he will not. Republican Ohio governor Mike DeWine had warned that the local community would not welcome a visit from the former president. 

Republican politicians and candidates, including Trump, embraced North Carolina gubernatorial candidate and current lieutenant governor Mark Robinson, who trumpeted the extremists’ MAGA narrative. The September 19 revelation by CNN reporters Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck that Robinson had boasted on a pornography website that he considers himself a “black NAZI!”, would like to reinstate slavery, and would like to own some people himself, and shared the sexual kinks in which he engaged with his wife’s sister prompted most of his campaign staff to resign. 

Andrew Egger of The Bulwark reported today that on a different online forum, Robinson called for a political assassination as well as making racist attacks on entertainer Oprah Winfrey and former president Barack Obama. Robinson has called all the information released about him “false smears” and has said “[n]ow is not the time for intra-party squabbling and nonsense,” but declined help tracking down those he claims falsified his online comments. Today, multiple media outlets reported that top staff in Robinson’s government office are stepping down.  

Reality hit hard this week in Texas, too, where U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez yesterday approved the auctioning off of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s media business, the aptly-named InfoWars. Jones insisted that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting  was a “hoax” designed to whip up support for gun restrictions, and that the grieving parents were played by “crisis actors.” Juries found Jones guilty of defaming the families of the murdered children and causing them emotional distress. 

The auction of his property will enable the families to begin to collect on the more than $1 billion the jurors determined Jones owed them for his reprehensible and harmful behavior. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[suashii]

good morning :3

[moeblob]

A lil guy !

[iknowwhereyousnoozeatnight]

this one's for all the yuri enjoyers out there — nsft under cut

meronia event prompt(s): scar

[cerise-on-top]

Hello love! Hope you are well!

So I’ve had this cute idea for a while with AleRudy poly! Where Alejandro and their s/o spoil Rudy for a day, like make him dinner,, whatever you think lolz and then end it by both Ale and s/o spooning him?? I think it would be adorable!!

Hey there! I don't think I made this as fluffy as I could have, and for that I am truly sorry! But I tried!

Spoiling Rodolfo

I feel like he’d be surprised at first. Don’t get me wrong, he doesn’t doubt the love you and Alejandro have for him one bit, but he never would have thought you’d go out of your way to spoil him this much. First you bring him breakfast in bed, essentially waking him with a kiss to each side. It was all there, French toast, eggs, orange juice. He didn’t have to lift a finger. Naturally, as he got out of bed, he’d try to make it up to you by cleaning up after himself, only for you and Alejandro to stop him from doing so, forcing him back onto the bed once again. Rodolfo would grow suspicious. Did he miss an important date? Did the both of you miss an important date? It wasn’t like it was his birthday either, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember something that you did where you had to make it up to him either. For the time being, he’d simply accept his fate. Eventually, he would get up to check up on you. And then there was the barrage of gifts. They were lovely, naturally, but what did he do to deserve them? Again, he would grow even more suspicious. From the beautiful flowers to the small stickers you stuck on him, he wouldn’t know what to do. However, he wouldn’t say something immediately. Maybe he can think of why you’re being especially nice to him himself. Were you about to get into a lot of trouble? Were you just trying to get on his good side?

Of course, Alejandro made the suggestion of going out together, spending the time outside to do whatever it is he wanted. And then came the idea of having a picnic, since it was nice and warm outside. As you went to pay for all the items, with Rodolfo already taking out his wallet, you almost tackled him to get him to put it away. Alejandro paid, even though he shouldn’t have. You were three people, and with the amount of snacks you bought it didn’t come cheap either. From a massage to a heartfelt poem from you, it all started to seem like a little too much. Again, Rodolfo doesn’t doubt the love you feel for him, but it seems a bit off. However, you wouldn’t give him a satisfying answer either when asked about it. Were you going to break up with him after all this time? Making your last day together as beautiful as possible so he had something to cry over? He hoped not, but it didn’t seem impossible with how nice you were being towards him. A kiss to the cheek, you even gave him a plushie of a small cat, claiming its silliness reminded you of him. Why on Earth would you do all of this? Why go to these lengths?

Even around dinnertime, when you wouldn’t let him help out, he almost felt a bit sad. Sure, it was nice to not have to lift a single finger for a day, but why? He loved helping out, you both knew that. He was very much an active man at home, doing what he could to keep everything clean and in order. He didn’t mind cooking for you either, pouring his heart and soul into every meal for you. Rodolfo adored doing something for you, so he wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of it all. The meal was delicious, but he felt almost sad as he was unable to help you out at least even a little bit. You watched his favorite movie with him, you took pictures of him with his silly cat plushie, hell, you would have likely spoon fed him as well on that day. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. What have the both of you been up to? He would ask you again regarding it all when you were spooning him, trapping him on either side. It would take the most embarrassing nicknames that you only use on him to calm his nerves. Something along the lines of “Hush, Rudy-Poody, can’t we show our love and appreciation for you for once? You always make us feel good, so it was time to return the favor.” and “Mi esposo, you need to have more trust in us. Sometimes we just wanna see you smile as well. Cheer up, we just wanted to spoil just once in this life.”

He’d sort of cringe at the nickname you gave him, but it was the reassurance he needed since you only ever used it when you were being especially sappy. You didn’t get in trouble again, you were simply a bunch of lovesick fools. He’d give you a kiss on the nose and a smile. However, he would also try to turn around as Alejandro was spooning him, only for the colonel to not budge in the slightest, saying that Rodolfo shouldn’t be tossing and turning like this. No kissy for Alejandro it seemed. Rodolfo was this close to just wrestling him down for that kissy. Although he can’t really get used to the feeling of being spoiled, he will accept it for just that day. He will pay the both of you back in his style, though. You will also be spoiled. He couldn’t wait to team up with one of you to spoil the third one. All three of you will have had a day like this at some point.

[mumblesplash]

don’t let the superhero costumes fool you they’re just here to shoot people 

[muffinlance]

Interest Check: Isopuppy Plushies

Anyone interested in buying isopuppy plushies?

Either as a pattern or actual sewn-by-me toys. Because I have crocheted So Many Toys over my children, and I am thinking it's time to go back to sewing for awhile, but I should also stop rampantly making toys without homes to send them to. So. Casual interest check. I am absolutely making one for myself; this just determines if I should go through the effort of making an actual pattern so I can replicate the process.

[ygodmyy20]

I could draw them forever and I'll never get bored.

[iratusmus]

having entirely too much fun with old outfit requests

[kandicon]

*writes the same exact headcannons in slightly different scenarios over and over again*

[exhaustedwerewolf]

when the dnd session was so insane you’re like “damn I want to rewatch that bit” but you can’t because it was not an incredible fantasy film but just you playing make believe with your friends

[spearxwind]

Honestly i Get It now i do get why people build things constantly

[jrueships]

Bought one of my lil nephew giannis shoes for his birthday bcs he loves giannis and these are some of the ugliest fucking things I have ever laid my eyes on in my life. anyways it's his bday today so i gave them to him. but they are so ugly. he loves them