#i mean 'under arrest' is an overstatement but it's Who He Is.

[sharpshoots]

@killedbyvoldemort​ sent 💬 for a random dialogue starter !!

          at any point, it’s rare that jesper isn’t on the bad end of one deal or another.     sometimes, he’s not exactly sure what, exactly, someone’s tracked him down for  -  but the tactics are more or less the same either way ;  a grin, a quip, usually infused with his usual   charm.   ❛   am I under arrest, or not?   ❜

[maerose-late-at-night]

catch and release

for @callumitchells <3 

based on the new spoilers!

*

“This ain’t about who you are, though, is it?” He shook his head, bit his lip to keep from screaming. He tried to use his hands to convey the message clearly, wishing he knew how. “Nah, this was you trying to prove something. To show the world you’re still big bad Ben Mitchell, even when your hearing’s gone.”

Ben looked thrown by that. Like he hadn’t even realized that’s what it was until Callum spelled it out for him.

“… and because of that, you got reckless.” He continued. “Stupid. A-and you got caught for it.”

* 

Callum recognized the officer manning the desk today. Young, male, not altogether unattractive, he exuded the protect and serve enthusiasm Callum had once felt before signing up to the armed forces. He still feels echoes of it in his bones, which is why he’d wanted to apply to the police in the first place. Make a difference again, be something worthwhile.

Officer Harper, his nametag read, well… he’d been around when Callum had walked in all those months ago, bright-eyed and bursting with a sense of purpose. He’d stood by one of the more senior members of the force while they explained to him what it would take to become one of them, all the different steps and procedures he’d have to go through. He’d come so close, once… today it was the furthest thing from his mind.

Callum just felt exhausted. Like he’d been bounced about the complete range of human emotions from the second he’d heard of Ben’s arrest. He’d been anxious, and worried, and angry. An overwhelming sense of relief was thrown in the mix, too - Ben weren’t hurt or anything, he’d just been stupid. 

He approached the counter. “Hi. I’m here about Ben Mitchell?” 

Officer Harper gave him a glance. “Relation to ‘im?” 

“He’s my boyfriend.” It still properly amazed him sometimes; how those words had been unthinkable only a year ago, and now he could easily say them without a quiver in his voice. Proudly - even under the present circumstances.  “I’ve got the money to bail him out, so I - I’m here to pick him up.” 

Take him home. Shake him apart for being so reckless. 

The information was answered with a judgemental raise of the eyebrow - and he saw the same sentiment reflected in the officer’s eyes. Heard it in the short exhale he pushed through his lips. Knew it floated in the air around them. His chances of joining up had just diminished. “Heard about the Mitchells.” Harper offered. “Not the easiest family to be connected to, eh?”

Callum wouldn’t even dignify that with a response. He just posted the bail money and sat down in one of them hard plastic chairs, eyes firmly trained on the door he knew Ben would be walking  through. He did, a few moments later, looking every bit the smug, hard criminal he tried so hard to portray. When his gaze found Callum’s, though, there was a near unnoticeable slip, a trembling at the corners of the smirk he’d plastered on. 

Callum just pushed himself from the chair and walked out. Didn’t even turn back to see if he was followed. Only when he felt Ben’s weight fall into the passenger seat, did he twist his head around to see if he was putting on his seatbelt. A quick glance at the man told him the hard facade had vanished now, a meek expression taking its place.

He could feel Ben’s gaze burning into the side of his head for the entire car ride home. From the corners of his eyes, he saw his mouth working a little, opening and closing several times as if deciding what to say. Whether to push through an apology or gear up for a fight. But it was only when they were standing in the kitchen, hands clenched tightly around their glasses of water, that any one of them even spoke at all.

“Well, I’m fine, Callum. Thank you for asking.” 

His voice dripped with sarcasm and Callum was just proper fed up.

He looked away, searching for the right words, before fixing his gaze back again.

A fire sparked behind those blue eyes he loved so much - and Callum knew in a split second Ben had made his decision. Alright, he thought. Resigned himself to it. A fight it is, then.

“You know,” Ben started, voice raised and harsh and cutting, “I really don’t see how come you’re acting like I’ve disappointed ya.” He placed down his glass forcefully, the sound ringing against the silence. “I mean, it’s not like this is suddenly a whole new side of me you’ve only just found out, Callum. You’ve always known who I am, so if you can’t accept that…”

And he didn’t get it, did he? Callum drew his hand over his face. So, so tired.

“This ain’t about who you are, though, is it?” He shook his head, bit his lip to keep from screaming. He tried to use his hands to convey the message clearly, wishing he knew how. “Nah, this was you trying to prove something. To show the world you’re still big bad Ben Mitchell, even when your hearing’s gone.” 

Ben looked thrown by that. Like he hadn’t even realized that’s what it was until Callum spelled it out for him.

“… and because of that, you got reckless.” He continued. “Stupid. A-and you got caught for it.”

“Hang on,” The spark of fire that had been dancing in the blue disappeared into thin air, replaced by a flickering of fairy lights. Ben now looked like Callum had just given him the greatest present in the world. He grinned happily, sashaying over in an effort to get closer to his tower of a man. His strength, his pillar. His Callum. “So you’re saying you’re not actually upset about the stealing, just the getting caught part?” 

Callum rolled his eyes, but put down his glass to accommodate Ben into his space. “Don’t be stupid. ‘Course I’m upset about the stealing.”

Ben hooked his arms around Callum’s neck, making it hard for him not to immediately melt into the embrace. He had to have some pride tucked away somewhere, surely. Resting just one hand on Ben’s hip, he left the right one free to add motion to his words, hoping Ben would understand what he was saying. A frown, too, to show his dismay at certain aspects of the sting. “I ain’t too happy about the flirting bit either,” he added.

“Aw, well flirting’s a bit of an overstatement, babe. It was just my natural charm that reeled him in, honestly.” Ben batted his eyelashes in an attempt to look endearing. It just so happened to work. 

Callum huffed, pointing his finger first at Ben’s chest, then to the ceiling. “You know where you can stick ya natural charm, Ben Mitchell?”

“Please, pleaaaase say up ya bum?”

“You are proper ridiculous.”

“I know.” Ben nodded, face mock-serious. “I have no idea why you love me.”

And there it was. The reason Ben was trying so hard with absolutely everything in his life - the idea that had taken root there from when he was a kid. That he weren’t worth being loved, that he had to make himself bigger, better. Near invincible. 

“Well I can think of a few reasons.” Callum said, pressing a quick kiss to Ben’s lips and swirling his fingers through the air as if enumerating all the reasons why. “Though flirting with other men and stealing their cars is pretty low on that list.”

Ben made a face - a mixture between apology and smile - and snatched Callum’s hand from the air, tangling their fingers together. “Upstairs?”

“Yeah.” Callum squeezed his fingers tenderly. “Yeah, upstairs.” 

[safetypinkerton]

Hollywood Propaganda by Mark Dice 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hollywood-propaganda-mark-dice/1137833508

Christianity Under Attack

In order to destroy America, the conspirators are determined to eradicate faith in God and dismantle organized Christianity. Attacking Jesus and Christianity is a sacrament in Hollywood because the far-Left hates Jesus and everything He stands for. It’s not an overstatement to say that many in key positions of power in the entertainment industry (and politics) are Satanists who will someday openly embrace Lucifer as the rebel angel kicked out of Heaven for defying God.

  “I’m glad the Jews killed Christ,” ranted comedian Sarah Silverman in one of her comedy specials. “Good. I’d fucking do it again!” she declares, as her audience agrees in laughter.158 While accepting an Emmy Award one year Kathy Griffin said, “A lot of people come up here and they thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn’t help me a bit…so all I can say is suck it Jesus! This award is my god now!”159

I’m not saying people shouldn’t be able to make fun of Christians, but no mainstream celebrity would dare make such insults or jokes about Muhammad because Muslims (and Jews) are vigorously protected against any criticism or mockery and only wonderful things can be said about them. Even a slightly edgy joke ignites a barrage of attacks with cries of “Islamophobia” or “anti-Semitism” and gears start moving in the well-funded and massive smear machines like the ADL and the SPLC which quickly move to destroy the person’s career before they can utter another word.

Hating Christians is almost as necessary as believing in climate change if you’re going to be a mainstream Hollywood celebrity. There are very few open Christians in Hollywood, most of them are has-beens like Kevin Sorbo and Kirk Cameron who have been basically blacklisted since being open about their faith.

  Kevin Sorbo was banned from Comicon because he’s a conservative and “pals with Sean Hannity.”160 He and other Christian actors are stuck doing low budget films that get little attention. They’re allowed to exist (for now) as long as they never point out the Bible’s teachings on homosexuality. Only watered down and generic Christian messages are allowed to be said.

After Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and happened to discuss his “spirituality,” many online began attacking him for being a Christian and attending a church. Actress Ellen Page (a lesbian) from the X-Men and Inception tweeted, “If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, don’t be surprised if someone simply wonders why it’s not addressed. Being anti LGBTQ is wrong, there aren’t two sides. The damage it causes is severe. Full stop.”161

Singer Ellie Goulding threatened to back out of her scheduled performance at the 2019 Thanksgiving NFL halftime show if the Salvation Army didn’t pledge to donate money to LGBT causes. She got the idea after her Instagram comments were flooded with complaints from her fans because the Salvation Army was sponsoring the game to announce their annual Red Kettle Campaign (bell ringers) fundraiser for the homeless.162 Since the Salvation Army is a Christian charity, Goulding’s fans freaked out, accusing them of being “homophobic” and “transphobic.”

They quickly bowed to the pressure and “disavowed” any anti-LGBT beliefs, which basically means they’re disavowing the Bible because even the New Testament denounces homosexuality in Romans 1:26-27 and 1st Corinthians 6:9-10. Many critics claim that only the Old Testament does, but the Book of Romans makes it clear that just because Jesus came to offer salvation doesn’t mean God’s law regarding homosexuality changed.

The Salvation Army also removed a “position statement” from their website that had made it clear “Scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex,” and replaced it with one saying “We embrace people regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”163 One of the world’s largest Christian charities whose very name “The Salvation Army” refers to the salvation of Christ, cowardly bowed down to the Leftist activists out of fear they would be branded “homophobic.”

Christians are easy targets since they’re much more passive than Jews and Muslims when attacked, and Hollywood loves to stereotype them as a bunch of superstitious bigots who don’t know how to have fun. In the rare case that there is a movie favorable to Christianity that gets widespread distribution, that too is attacked.

Passion of the Christ was deemed “anti-Semitic” because it depicts the story of Jesus’ arrest, sham trial, and crucifixion.164 It was the most popular film about the events to be made and wasn’t a straight to DVD release like most others. With Mel Gibson behind it, the film became a huge success, which caused a tremendous backlash.

The ADL [Anti-Defamation League] denounced the film, saying it “continues its unambiguous portrayal of Jews as being responsible for the death of Jesus. There is no question in this film about who is responsible. At every single opportunity, Mr. Gibson’s film reinforces the notion that the Jewish authorities and the Jewish mob are the ones ultimately responsible for the Crucifixion.”165 That’s because that’s what happened!

Technically, the Romans did it, but at the behest of the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem at the time. The Bible makes it very clear what led to Jesus being crucified. Pontius Pilate is quoted in Matthew 27:24 saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” and “It is your responsibility!” meaning the Jewish Pharisees. They were the ones who conspired to have Jesus arrested and killed for “blasphemy” and being a “false” messiah. Pontius Pilate even offered to release Jesus, but the crowd demanded he release Barabbas instead, another man who was being detained for insurrection against Rome, and for murder.166

A critic for the New York Daily News called The Passion of the Christ, “the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of the Second World War.”167 Many others angrily denounced the film when it came out in 2004. Some in the media even blamed it for a supposed “upsurge” in anti-Semitic hate crimes.168

When the History Channel miniseries The Bible was released in 2013, the same cries of “anti-Semitism” rang out.169 The New York Times opinion editor Bari Weiss went so far as to say that it’s a “conspiracy theory” that Jews killed Jesus.170

Even though most Christmas movies aren’t overtly Christian and instead focus of the importance of families reuniting and spending time together, that doesn’t mean they’re not going to come under attack. As the war on western culture continues, the Marxists have set their sights on Christmas too.

Online liberal cesspool Salon.com ran a headline reading “Hallmark movies are fascist propaganda,” and complained they promote “heteronormative whiteness” because there aren’t enough LGBT characters or people of color in them.171

“Hallmark movies, with their emphasis on returning home and the pleasures of the small, domestic life, also send a not-at-all subtle signal of disdain for cosmopolitanism and curiosity about the larger world,” Salon said, “which is exactly the sort of attitude that helps breed the kind of defensive White nationalism that we see growing in strength in the Donald Trump era.”172

The article went on to say that because the Hallmark Channel airs so many Christmas movies, it is promoting, “a set of patriarchal and authoritarian values that are more about White evangelicals defining themselves as an ethnic group, and not about a genuine feeling of spirituality…The very fact that they’re presented as harmless fluff makes it all the more insidious, the way they work to enforce very narrow, White, heteronormative, sexist, provincial ideas of what constitutes ‘normal.’”173

The article wasn’t satire. Salon.com has a deep-seated hatred of Christianity, conservatives and families, and is another cog in the Cultural Marxist machine working to destroy the United States.

Comedian Whitney Cummings was reported to the Human Resources department of a major Hollywood studio after she wished the crew of a TV show she was working on “Merry Christmas” when they wrapped up for the year. She made the revelation while speaking with Conan O’Brian the following December. “Last year, I was working on a TV show, [and] got in trouble with Human Resources for saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to an intern,” she began.174

Conan asked her if she was being serious and she said it was a true story, elaborating, “I was leaving, like on the 18th or whatever…and I was like, ‘Bye guys, Merry Christmas.’” When she returned from vacation after New Year’s she was called to HR and scolded. She joked, “I don’t even care how your Christmas was. It was just a formality. It’s what you say when you leave.”175

Conan O’Brien then replied, “In these times we’re in, that could trigger someone or offend them if it’s not their holiday.”176 She didn’t say which network it was, but she’s been involved with some major shows like NBC’s Whitney (where she played the main character), as well as the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls, which she created and was a writer for.

While today it may seem impossible that Christmas movies may become a thing of the past, nobody could have ever guessed that reruns of the classic Dukes of Hazzard would get banned after the Confederate flag was deemed a “hate symbol” in 2015, or that Aunt Jemima pancake syrup, Eskimo Pie ice cream bars, and Uncle Ben’s Rice would be deemed “racially insensitive” and pulled from production a few years later.177

Once someone reminds liberals that the word Christmas is derived from Christ’s Mass and that it is actually a commemoration of the birth of Jesus, they may finally go over the edge and deem Christmas just as offensive as Columbus Day or the Fourth of July. And with the Muslim and Sikh populations increasing in the United States, the American standard of Christmas music playing in shopping malls and retail stores all month long every December may one day come to an end because it’s not “inclusive” and leaves non-Christians feeling “ostracized.”

[tangled23works]

No Time To Die

The bonus chapter of my @olicitytropes fic is finally ready! Enjoy!

Read on Ao3

Or keep reading here:

Felicity’s morning could have gone better if she weren’t stuck in a semi-formal brunch with the Queen family. Among the potted plants and decorations stood three people who couldn’t have been more awkward if they tried. On the surface, they were just waiting for Thea and Roy to start eating. The side looks and pursed lips however were telling a different story.

Thea’s insistence was the only reason why Felicity had woken up this early on this beautiful Sunday morning and driven to the orangery, a structure built inside the Queen property but not attached to the mansion. This place was always used for Sunday brunches when the temperamental Starling weather allowed it.

Felicity stared at the building in awe every time she visited. The roof was glazed and the sides were all covered in tall windows to allow the sunlight in. Moira Queen had surprisingly developed a green thumb somewhere along the way and had filled the space with orchids. The plants were really mercurial and demanded a great deal of attention but Felicity had heard her say that gardening was the only thing that got her through Oliver’s absence. The word of course conveyed none of the actual hell that the family had survived while losing both Oliver and Robert in a boat accident.

Felicity had been just a junior IT analyst when she met Thea two years ago. Needless to say she had been intimidated at first by Thea’s perfection, lack of incoherent babbles and overall coolness. It didn’t take long though for her to realize that there was something wrong with the 17-year-old girl. Thea’s pupils were always dilated, her visits to QC were not frequent but always ended in disaster and one rainy afternoon she had found her in the company’s bathroom trying to inhale some kind of white powder. Felicity had freaked out so much, she had called her friend Roy for advice. 

Considering the events of last week, she might owe Roy a gift. A really big gift. Felicity might have been the reason he met the love of his life but he had helped her out of a tight spot again. Twice now he had run towards danger when she needed him. Felicity sighed, making a mental note to buy Roy tickets for the Starling Jets VS Central City Rockets game. He would try to refuse but she was certain that deep down, he was dying to go.

“You’re here!” Thea squealed as she finally arrived.

Sometimes Felicity felt so much older than her 19-year-old friend.

“Your majesty called?”

Thea smacked her arm affectionately. “You know you love me, Liss.” Then she leaned in to whisper conspiratorially, “Ollie’s in a mood.”

Felicity resisted the urge to roll her eyes. When was Oliver NOT in a mood?

“Where’s Roy?”

“He couldn’t make it.”

Thea didn’t say it out loud but they both knew where Roy was. Iron Heights penitentiary. Visitors were only allowed every two weeks on Sundays.

“It’s just gonna be the four of us?”

Thea twined her arm around Felicity’s. “Mom threatened to invite the Bowens but Ollie vetoed her suggestion.”

They approached Moira and Oliver who appeared to be in the middle of a standoff. They reminded Felicity of that famous scene in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly where everyone was ready to shoot their gun but waited for the others to attack first. Huh, that was probably the reason why Thea had invited Felicity in the first place. As a buffer between her mother and older brother.

“I’m here,” she announced. A little too enthusiastically in Felicity’s opinion.

“Good. Raisa’s pancakes are better eaten warm,” Moira said, sounding cold and extremely polite.

Oliver’s expression was thunderous but at least his welcome was warmer and less threatening.

“Hey, Speedy.”

“Ugh, worst nickname ever!”

According to Thea, Oliver was not staying at the mansion these days. No one knew where and with whom he spent his nights but he at least had - begrudgingly - agreed to be accompanied by a bodyguard.

The light was shining on his handsome face and Felicity got distracted by his jawline. It reminded her of something but she couldn’t figure out what… The biggest injustice in the world was that she routinely made a fool of herself in front of Thea’s brother; the most handsome man she had ever met. In one infamous occasion he had declined a Mimosa and asked her simply to pass along the juice which had caused an epic babble about how she had noticed that he paid attention to what he put in his body. Thea and Roy, gleeful jerks that they were, still teased her about that one. 

“How are you, Oliver?” She spoke slowly and carefully. That way she would have fewer chances to embarrass herself.

“Fine. I did not expect to see you here.”

Could he be any less welcoming?

“Shut up, Ollie,” Thea interjected. “Since I can’t go anywhere these days, I’m allowed to invite my friends over.”

“You wouldn’t be under house arrest if you hadn’t wrecked my Porsche.”

Thea stuck her tongue out at her brother and he shook his head at her antics. Their bickering made Felicity smile. Oliver always seemed uptight and tense as if he expected someone to jump from behind the furniture and attack him. Thea’s foolish behavior was the only thing that could make him laugh.

“Children, please. Let us enjoy this beautiful morning without further discussion about this family’s propensity for accidents.”

They sat at the beautifully set table and Raisa served them a spread worthy of any high end restaurant. Felicity inhaled her cup of coffee - hey, it was only her first - and smothered her pancakes in Nutella. If she had to suffer through brunch with Moira and Oliver, then she could at least enjoy it.

She looked up and found him staring at her plate with a raised eyebrow.

“What?” She tried to raise an eyebrow of her own and failed.

“Nothing.”

He got a serving of scrambled eggs and salmon on his plate. A more healthy choice but one that could make Felicity gag. Especially this early in the morning. It was so ironic that Starling City’s prodigal son, the one who used to end up intoxicated in various events, was now such a health freak.

“I can feel you judging, Queen.”

“I can see your blood sugar rising, Smoak.”

Thea started coughing which probably meant that she was laughing her butt off. On the inside, of course.

“I hope that you don’t mind but I asked Walter to join us.”

Oh, boy. It was no secret that QC’s CFO, Walter Steele was enamored of Moira Queen, CEO. The relationship (and Felicity wasn’t sure she could actually call it that) had come as an unwelcome surprise to Oliver when he had returned from the dead. According to Thea, her brother had asked Walter point-blank if he intended to sleep with his mother. Walter had reacted with dignity to the accusation but his next visits were infrequent and always when Oliver was out of the house. Thea was kinda mad about it because she loved Walter and viewed him as a surrogate father.

“Is this visit necessary?” Oliver asked. He put down his fork and seemed to be concentrating on a point beyond Felicity’s left shoulder. During their interactions he rarely ate more than a bird as her bubbe used to say. 

“Yes, it is,” Moira replied, decisively. “There is your mandatory court appearance to discuss. Or have you forgotten?”

“What does it have to do with Walter?”

“It affects QC. Darling, your name is on the building. One day you might decide to follow in your father’s footsteps-”

The chair fell down with a bang as Oliver got up suddenly.

“I didn’t study business management in any of the four colleges I dropped out of,” he remarked.

“Did I tell you that Felicity met the Hood?”

Thea’s question fell like a grenade. Felicity blushed scarlet when both Oliver and Moira focused on her. 

“Meet is an overstatement. I didn’t actually meet him. I just saw him,” Felicity said while trying to kick Thea under the table.

“Don’t be modest, Liss. You saved his life. My best friend is a badass!”

“Thea!”

“Sorry, Mom. I would have said she’s a badbutt but it sounds ridiculous.”

Oliver’s lips curved. Of course it didn’t exactly reach his eyes but for him it was like a full blown chuckle. He sat back down and focused on Felicity.

“So, Miss Smoak how did you meet the vigilante?”

Felicity fidgeted under the scrutiny of both Moira and Oliver. Describing her encounter with the vigilante seemed disloyal. It sounded silly because he hadn’t actually prohibited her from discussing their meeting but she was protective of him. And she was sure that Oliver would end up mocking the Hood. Felicity couldn’t imagine two people as different as Oliver Queen and the man who dressed up in green leather and fought bad guys in the Glades. One had lived a pampered existence, with the exception of a few years in a jungle of course, and the other risked his life everyday to save the lives of people he didn’t know. In fact she was willing to bet that underneath his cashmere sweater Oliver Queen had a body built at the gym, nice to look at for sure, but nothing like the Hood’s lean, mean, fighting machine.

“Oh no, I’ve lapsed into song lyrics.”

“Excuse me?” Moira was looking at Felicity as if she had grown a second head.

Felicity turned to Thea who was fighting another smile, “I didn’t say that outloud, did I?”

“Yeah, Liss.” Felicity resisted the urge to bang her head on the table while Thea, the traitor, kept pushing, “You didn’t answer Mom though. Tell them how you met the vigilante.”

Felicity poured milk into her second cup of coffee.

“It’s not a big deal. I found him hurt on the street and kept him safe until he was well enough to leave.”

“But you took him into your house, Liss. You were really brave-”

“And incredibly stupid. That man is a psychopath.”

“He isn’t, Ollie! He saves people!”

Moira put down her fork, gently. “Nevertheless, Miss Smoak took a great risk welcoming a man like that into her home.”

Felicity’s cheeks were burning. She just knew that the older members of the Queen family would disapprove of her actions. After all, the Hood hated one-percenters with good reason.

“What would you have done in my shoes, Mrs Queen? I couldn’t very well leave him alone to die in the Glades.”

“If I had found the Hood, I would have called the police,” Moira replied with a superior smirk that grated on Felicity’s nerves.

Thea must have sensed that Felicity was about to go off on a tangent so she interrupted them quickly.

“What do you think, Ollie?”

“I think that this guy needs a better nickname than the ‘Hood’.”

They all laughed at his irreverent comment.

“How about the ‘Bow’?” Thea suggested with a twinkle in her eyes.

“The ‘Quiver’?” Oliver countered.

“The ‘Arrow’,” Felicity said. Which actually was a decent code name. Much better than the ‘Hood’ and a lot more defining than the ‘Green Guy’ which is what detective Lance usually called him during press conferences. “Nicknames aside, I still think that he can potentially be great for our city. He might be obsessed with stealing from the rich to give to the poor but in my eyes and in the eyes of everyone that lives in the Glades, that man is a hero.”

Felicity’s passionate speech was met with silence.

The Queens were celebrating Oliver’s official return from the dead with a lavish party. There was just one issue. The man of the hour was not home yet.

Oliver leaped the gap between the two buildings and landed on the roof with ease. 

Tonight he was not Oliver Queen. He was the Hood.

He heard someone gasping and the subsequent click of a photo being taken but he didn’t stop long enough to check. It was dangerous to engage in Hood activities before night fell but he didn't have much time. After all, he had a party to attend.

The tip had come as Oliver was leaving the court. After being officially recognized as Oliver Queen, returned to the living, he had been antsy. He wanted to be active, to be doing something useful for those who needed him. He didn’t want to be the son of a dead man and heir to Queen Consolidated. He wanted to direct this anger, this feeling of being trapped somewhere. He wanted to fight. So when his phone had beeped with the information that someone was abducting teenagers in the Glades he had jumped at the chance.

Oliver ran along the roof and shot an arrow with a grappling hook to cover the distance between this building and the next. The buildings in the Glades were not constructed as thoughtfully as the rest of the city. Sometimes they were literally one on top of the other, other times they were so far apart that they required special arrows.

Arrow was what she had called him. 

It was weird but during the last three weeks no matter if he was dressed in Armani suits or green leather, he couldn’t help but think of her. 

Felicity Smoak. The bane of his existence. The woman who had protected him that night after his fight with Helena and then defended his alter ego passionately to him and his mother.

She had called him a hero. If only she knew how wrong she was… Oliver Queen was not a hero. At best he was this city’s revenge against the people who had wronged it. At worst he was a man made for darkness.

But Felicity knew nothing about it. This was his mission. His burden to carry. And somehow, she was dangerous to him. He could sense it with the part of his primordial brain that had saved his life countless times on the island.

Vowing to stay away from her, he climbed on a balcony and saw that he was over Tempest, a well-known dive bar where low-life criminals hung out. His leg was bothering him again but he ignored it. The first thing he had learned on Lian Yu was how to shut down pain. It was a military trick and Slade had warned him it could be dangerous if you were fatally injured and ignored your body’s signals but since this wound was already healing, Oliver would be fine for a few hours.

In the alley behind Tempest, a lone figure was waiting.

“What took you so long?”

Sin was far too young to be living alone in the Glades and definitely too young to be going out for a drink at Tempest but she was also his best informant. He had promised Sara he would keep an eye on her when he got to Starling and he would make good on that promise.

“You said they’re taking teens off the streets.”

“Yeah.”

When she didn’t volunteer anything else, Oliver crouched low and jumped from the fire escape. He landed with a soft thud which made her smile.

“You said you were hurt.”

“I was. Now I’m better.”

He wasn’t used to people asking about his wounds. Oliver Queen might have a few friends but the Hood had none. And that was how he liked it.

“My friend Max was taken last night. They found him in an alley with blood leaking from his eyes, nose and ears. They say he OD'd but they’re wrong. Max was a pickpocket but he wasn’t a junkie. He didn’t even smoke weed with the rest of us.”

Oliver shook his head at the thought of Sin smoking at all but that was a fight for another day. If someone was indeed taking teens off the streets, he had to take them out. And fast.

“I’ll look into it,” he promised.

“Good,” Sin nodded with satisfaction. 

The faith she had in him reminded him of Felicity Smoak again.

“Did you find anything more about the book?”

The question was not unexpected. Ever since she had tried to pick his pockets and found the old notebook, she had been fascinated by it. Oliver could understand her obsession well. Back on the island he had examined it compulsively every day, trying to figure out why his father would give him an empty notebook and order him to keep it safe. There was nothing written on it so the reason for secrecy was lost on him.

“There’s something else,” Sin said.

He tilted his head in question. Sin was familiar with his lack of verbal communication so she didn’t hesitate.

“There was a man poking his nose into a warehouse around here last week.”

“What kind of man?”

“One of the bigwigs you always see on TV. Like the Queens or the Merlyns.”

Now that was interesting.

“Describe him,” he ordered.

“Ted saw him. Black, polite, asked Ted for directions.”

That didn’t give him much. 

“Anything else?” he asked roughly. He was beginning to feel a little impatient.

“Yeah. Ted said the dude was British. Spoke with a real funny accent.”

The blaring sound of police sirens interrupted their conversation.

“You better pick up your feet. You might be hang-up on that book but your friend detective Lance is hang-up on you.”

Oliver appreciated the warning but it was unnecessary. He was well aware of Lance’s current obsession with the Hood.

He gritted his teeth and climbed back up the fire escape as fast as he could. Sin gave him a mock salute and disappeared quickly.

The sirens sounded closer as he resumed his running and jumping from one rooftop to another. 

Escape via the roofs seemed ideal until he came up to a gap even he couldn’t cross by arrow. Growling under his breath, Oliver was forced to jump down and cross the empty street.

“I see him,” a voice yelled.

Running away from detective Lance wasn’t Oliver’s idea of fun. Especially since he had to be back at the mansion for his ‘welcome back’ party.

He flattened himself against the nearest wall and waited for the threat to pass. Lance and his men were like a dog with a bone. According to his mother, the Mayor wasn’t happy with the fact that a vigilante was loose on the streets targeting this city’s upstanding citizens. So the Mayor kept pushing Lance for results and Lance kept hunting Oliver with maniacal dedication.

“We’ll get the bastard tonight,” Lance vowed but his voice came from far away and Oliver felt safe enough to attempt another escape.

However, the detective had become wiser during the weeks they played their cat and mouse game. This time he had actually asked his officers to double back so when Oliver emerged from the alley, he fell into a trap.

Oliver didn't know who was more surprised. Him or the poor officers.

The man in front of him recovered first and pointed his gun at him.

“Don’t move!”

Not moving was not an option. The bow would be no use in such close quarters. Hand to hand combat was the only choice.

Oliver stretched his arms overhead and jumped, grasping one of the nearest fire escape rails. The move saved him from getting shot because the officer had fired his gun reflexively.

Oliver used the momentum he had gained and kicked with his feet the man closer to him. When the officer fell unconscious to the ground due to the force of the hit, he swung and dropped, rolling away as he hit the asphalt. He didn’t want to hurt them but they left him no other choice. Detective Lance would have heard by now the shot so he was about to have more company.

The blow from behind brought him to his knees. One of these fuckers had managed to get close to him when he wasn’t paying attention. Oliver twisted and grabbing the officer’s legs, he managed to topple him to the ground. His head hit the pavement with a sickening thud but there was no time to regret the action. 

The third officer was approaching and he didn’t seem in a mood to retreat. Oliver charged him and it was clear from the surprise on his face that he wasn’t expecting that. Oliver slammed his fist into the man’s face repeatedly but the officer was clever enough to try to knee him in the balls. He avoided the sneaky attack and felt a savage satisfaction when the next punch broke his attackers nose.

Only the sound of sirens coming closer than ever stopped Oliver. He was running before he had the time to process his next thought. A dumpster at the corner of the street gave him enough leverage to jump and then he was climbing again, his fingers straining for holds before he managed to reach the roof.

He stayed hidden only for a few moments just to make sure that he hadn’t killed any of these idiots and then he ran like hell. He had to have an important talk with his mother’s suitor. Luckily, he knew exactly where to find Walter Steele.

There was no ‘Oliver Queen is back from the dead’ party without Oliver Queen himself.

[romansleftshoulderpad]

Barren: Chapter 11

Words: 1,628

Ships: Eventual LAMP, Slight focus on Logince, background QPR Remile

Warnings: Roman swears a lot, accidental misgendering, talk of death, food mention, knife mention in the context of a kitchen, Logan is an asshole, a lot of arguing

Tags: @fandermom @astral-eclipse @patheticlilkiddo @a-pastel-pan @dr-gloom @cloudedskies29 @quietwords-loudthoughts @mentallytiredgoat  @merlybird500 @katelynntheauthour @notveryglittery @why-should-i-tell-youu2 @a-demonic-presence @crookedlyoptimisticdestiny @ninja-wizard101 @littleladynightshade @pumpkinminette @weird-spooky-broody-dude @unicornlogansanders @muliphandomer @potato--justpotato

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“Babe,” Remy whispered to Emile as the rest of the group continued to gawk over Virgil. “Is everything okay?”

“I, uh, saw someone at work,” he slowly whispered, eyes locked on Virgil. “I don’t think she’s looking for a therapist.”

“Did she hurt you?” Emile didn’t move. “Emile,” Remy raised his voice slightly but still made sure no one else could hear, “did she hurt you?”

“Hm?” Emile blinked back to reality. “No, no, I’m fine. I’m just... contemplating something.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Remy said. “But I’ll be here for you if ever decide to.”

Emile squeezed his hand and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. “I know, my dear. Thank you.”

It has been a week. Virgil seemed more adjusted and comfortable which was great! Emile was happy for him, but he couldn’t help but worry that if he told Virgil what he knew, he’d be gone all over again.

Patton and Remy had come back from the city, each holding bags of produce. They were smiling and laughing which was a good contrast to the fears in Emile’s head as he worriedly cut up old fruit.

“Hey, babe,” Remy greeted, pressing a quick kiss to Emile’s cheek. He put the bag down on the counter and silently asked Patton to give them some space. (He put the bag down and gave Remy a supportive thumb up before complying.)

“Hello,” Emile said with a soft smile but worry in his eyes.

“Em, please, look at me,” Remy said as he placed his hand on Emile’s cheek. Emile let go of the knife and melted into the touch. “Whatever you’re hiding is clearly killing you.” He stayed silent. “Emi, please, I can’t stand to see you like this.”

Emile shut his eyes tight the way he always did when he was trying not to cry. “I met a woman at work the other day.” His eyes scanned the room and he lowered his voice. No one could be allowed to hear what he was saying. “She was looking for Virgil.”

“But he said that-“

“His mother,” Emile whispered, eyes falling from his face. “And I don’t know what to do.”

“He deserves to know,” Remy said, “but you don’t want to jeopardize what he has here.”

“Keep this is killing me,” Emile said. “But seeing him go might feel worse.”

“I hate to intrude,” Logan said from the doorway causing Emile to jump in alarm and Remy to step in front of him protectively. “There’s a new case. I want you two to come and take a look at this.”

Remy and Emile exchanged a glance. They clasped hands and followed Logan down the corridor. “And boys,” Logan said quietly, “whatever you’re conspiring about, I suggest it come to an end. We already have a lot on our plates right now.”

“Conspiring? Lolo, babe, we don’t- that’s your ‘Remy, shut the fuck up’ face, isn’t it?”

Logan made a show of clapping and saying, “Good Boy.” Remy returned with his own gesture.

“I don’t know what you two are up to- I don’t want to- but stop it.”

Emile nodded silently, squeezing Remy’s hand. Roman, Virgil, and Patton hovered around a computer and Emile could see Virgil absentmindedly chewing at one of his hoodie strings.

“Just made an arrest last night,” Patton said. “The execution is Sunday morning.”

“It’s only Tuesday,” Roman muttered. “They never wait this long.”

“But that’s good, isn’t it?” Virgil asked. “It gives you guys more time.”

“Not just ‘you guys’,” Logan said under his breath. Everyone stopped to look at him. “Did any of you actually expect me to work this mission?”

“Of course not,” Patton said softly through the silence. “But Virgil?” He placed his hands on Virgil’s shoulders. “He’s just a kid, Logan.”

“Excuse me?”

“Patton, he’s perfectly capable of being my replacement.”

“I’m not a kid.”

“I don’t care if he’s capable! It’s not right!”

“I’ve been training for months now!”

“Patton, I don’t see what to issue is here. He is perfectly willing to do so.”

“Okay, ‘willing’ is an overstatement.”

“Guys, let him have his own choice here!”

“ENOUGH!” Emile screamed, with fists clenched and tears beginning to form in his eyes. The whole room stopped spinning. “Just... stop yelling at each other. Please.”

“Virgil,” Remy said slowly, “if you want to go, I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

“Remy-,” Logan started.

“But it’s his choice,” he continued. “Just like Roman said.” Roman quirked his lips for a second in what could almost be considered a smile.

Virgil opened his mouth to say something. “You don’t need to make a choice now,” Patton said softly. “I’ll go in your place if I need to.”

“No.”

“Logan.”

“No,” he repeated. “You can’t go, Patton.”

“Logan, you need to stop making decisions for people,” Roman said.

“I’m not making a decision for him,” Logan said through gritted teeth. “There’s no decision to make.”

“Lo, stop,” Remy said. “Stop treating everything as a fight.”

“This isn’t a fight. Patton isn’t going. That’s it.”

“And why shouldn’t I?” Patton asked.

“Because I need you alive!”

“Oh,” Roman muttered to himself, quickly hiding his face behind his hands.

“Roman, I didn’t mean-“ But it was too late. Roman had already flown from the room. “Patton, you aren’t going.”

“Logan, I think you’ve said enough,” Patton said. “You’re not on the case. You don’t get to decide what happens on it.”

“But-“

“Go apologize to Roman,” Patton said, his voice steady but cold. Virgil sunk into his hoodie, seeing Patton angry was almost terrifying.

Logan grabbed his cane and silently walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Remy hadn’t seemed phased but he held tightly onto Emile’s hand- and he looked terrified.

“I’m sorry, guys,” Patton said. “And I’m sorry to you, too, Virgil. Logan is... hard to control.”

Virgil relaxed slightly as Patton brushed his fingers over his hair. He took a deep breath and a slow exhale. “I’ll do the mission.”

“Are you sure?” Patton asked.

“Logan helped me. I want to help someone else,” Virgil said. “I want to be like Logan.”

“I’ll be with you every step of the way,” Remy said. “And Roman might not be a great driver, but he’s got the ‘getaway’ down to an art.”

“So who are we saving?” Emile asked, sitting at a chair and wheeling it to the desk. Virgil opened the file and Emile’s blood ran cold as he saw the photo.

“His name is Elliot-”

“Their,” Emile corrected.

“Emile, do you know this person? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Patton said cautiously.

“They’re a patient. I’ve seen them leave the office.”

“Remy!” Emile scolded. “I, uh, he’s right but he shouldn’t say it.”

“Patton, when’s the latest we can leave?” Virgil asked.

“I’ll have to check some security logs and find a weakness we can use,” he said. “But stay ready. It could be tomorrow or it could be in three days. Stay alert.”

“On it,” Remy and Virgil said in unison. Remy took Emile’s hand and pressed a kiss to his knuckles as Patton and Virgil began rambling off mission details to each other.

“I’ll bring them back,” Remy promised. “Whatever it takes.”

“I just... there’s so much going on,” Emile whispered. “I feel so... involved. And- And a case hasn’t felt this personal since-“

“I know,” Remy whispered. “It’s going to get better, Em.” He brushed the hair out of his partner’s face and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I swear on my life, it’s going to get better.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Forever and always.”

Past the door and into the hallway, Logan had finally managed to catch up to Roman. He stood with one hand on his cane and the other knocking on the cold door. “Roman, this has gone on long enough! Let me in!”

“Go away, jackass!” Roman yelled as he wiped away his tears. “I don’t want to fucking talk to you.”

“Then, at least listen.”

“NO!”

“Please.”

Roman stood up, grabbed a metal bat, and swung the door open. “How many times do I have to tell you to leave me the fuck alone?”

“You must allow me to apologize.”

“I mustn’t do anything. Not for someone who doesn’t care if I live or die.” Logan cringed but Roman didn’t let go of the bat. It was too late for remorse.

“I spoke much too harshly,” Logan said. “I simply meant that Patton is our team’s only capable doctor-” Roman held the bat with two hands firmly above his head- “but I understand you aren’t looking for an explanation.”

“Do I mean nothing to you, Logan? Did this mean nothing to you?” He lowered his weapon as tears began to well in his eyes once more. “When you arrived, I- I just wanted to be your friend. Most times it seems like you don’t even want that!”

“Roman, I-“

“I’m not fucking finished,” he snapped. “For the so-called ‘brains’ of this operation, you sure are a fucking idiot.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Of course you don’t,” he laughed. “Of course you fucking don’t.” Logan jumped at the sound of metal hitting the ground as Roman rubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands. “I’ve been in love with you for a year, you fucking moron! But then- Then you say shit like that and I wonder why I even bother!”

“Roman, I-”

“No, I don’t care,” he said. “I don’t care what you have to say right now.” Roman stepped out of the room, barely dodging Logan as he walked out. “I’m staying in Patton’s room tonight. Do not come looking for me.”

[elane-in-the-shadows]

Red Queen Fan Fiction - Blood Curse Chapter 20

Find this on wattpad

chapter 1

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

chapter 5

chapter 6

chapter 7

chapter 8

chapter 9

chapter 10

chapter 11

chapter 12

chapter 13

chapter 14

chapter 15

chapter 16

chapter 17

chapter 18

chapter 19

chapter 20

chapter 21

chapter 22

chapter 23

chapter 24

chapter 25

chapter 26

chapter 27

chapter 28

chapter 29

Final chapter

Mare POV

Evangeline laughs. It’s a shrill, pretentious sound, and its overstatement calls such attention from those around her that for a moment, I feel like it blots out the noises of the unrest in the shelter.

Tiberias winces. Yet his eyes fall on me, lock on me, and I stare back. I like to unsettle him. Evangeline’s switched to snickering when Farley dashes to us behind Tiberias. She slows as she arrives, searching for Clara in Bree’s arms. There’s a change in her demeanour that tells of her urge to go to her child and comfort her after the stress of the evacuation. That vanishes quickly. She stops mid-step, falling back into the general’s role as she scans us with hard eyes.

There isn’t much to see, as we’re still left stunned and frozen by Tiberias’s arrival, apart from Evangeline’s faux amusement. It makes me angry, he shouldn’t be able to unhinge us like that. I step forward with a clank, a sound that makes time move again, breaking the spell over us. “Is the town safe now?” I ask with all haughtiness I’ve learned from Bess Blonos and the princess next to me.

Tiberias nods, Farley speaks. “Calore heroically fought against the bombs he could find. And even located some culprits. Commoner Silvers, this time.”

“They are most of the times,” Tiberias says. They’re his first words and I expect them to sound rough, husky, as if he was silent during the weeks I didn’t hear his voice. How stupid of me.

“I assume you’re experienced with the situation, then?” Farley asks him. “It’s good to know that burners are helpful in this kind of thing.”

“Lady Ventos could assist me the next time,” he says, nodding to the Silver woman behind me. “I fear this will happen again.”

“I’m no lady,” Ventos snaps. “There’re no ladies or lords among us.”

Evangeline rolls her eyes but doesn’t start her chuckling again. She tries to hide her insecurity but doesn’t dare to meet my eyes, or those of her betrothed.

Tiberias disregards her likewise. “It’d be nice if that was true,” he says to Ventos. “Unfortunately, there’re many lords and ladies vying for control of Harbor Bay.”

“And you’re here to tame them?” I inquire. “I want to see that.” It’s not a rhetorical question. I move closer to him, noticing Kilorn’s worried gaze from the corners of my eyes – and Tiberias’s shock. That rather contents me. Just like Evangeline whose smugness is suddenly a lot more real.

His earring blinks red in the only ray of sunlight I see this day. He still wears it, the earring he gave me and which I returned by piercing him myself. He looks behind himself, to me, certainly noticing how I watch him although I try to hide its intensity. The corners of his mouth twitch and I think if I see his grin again, I’ll run away. But it hardly evolves into amusement. These days – weeks – have hardened him. Is he the same man who tried everything to free me from my imprisonment? The one who sat with me in the Bowl of Bones’ cell? The commander prince –

He strides like one for certain. But he’s less regal now, a little slouching, dragged, as if some part of the depression laying over the city sunk into him. And we aren’t even in the worst sectors yet. The streets are still empty, as people are reluctant to leave their houses apart from those coming back from the bunkers. But those are from other quarters, and Farley and Kilorn finding shelters for those left homeless with comrades from Harbor Bay.

“You know very well where the explosions where,” I state.

Tiberias is startled, causing a break in his stride. He glances at me for a second before focusing ahead once again.

A few people look at us, the two from the rumours. The crown prince and the Red rebel enwrapped in an illicit love affair. If they think we’re back at that, I find myself not caring. Six months as a prisoner and actress for propaganda did that to me.

“Farley told you I tried to deactivate the bombs,” he says.

“And, did you? Are you an expert at bomb deactivation?”

“Only in stopping the explosions and decreasing their radii.” He cackles and turns to me. “That would be an actually good idea, Mare. I don’t have to fear failure while training.”

The words – my name – are a bait I don’t fall for. “But I hope you found the culprits as well,” I say.

“A group of Silver commoners. I could only arrest two of them, the rest got away.”

“Can’t you find them again?”

“Probably. They’re known in Harbor Bay’s underworld and been up to no good for weeks.”

Oddly, this wakes memories of the last time we were in this city, when Crance brought us in and Maven branded me. I resist the urge to touch the scar, to even think of it. “So, you have your sources here? A royal lowering himself into the ugly shadow business?”

He fastens his gait. “The commoner Silvers did it before. There’s always been business between them and the gangs, but only about some forbidden goods. Then the governor here was murdered and a scapegoat was found. A Red, claimed of being a gang member who was executed afterwards. Only he wasn’t a criminal. And the unrest here started for real. Control had lessened everywhere after … you were freed and the Rift declared their independence.

“In Harbor Bay, the rest of the city council fled or went into hiding. Now the Silver commoners try to take hold of both the underworld and the city proper. There’ve been fights between new and old gangs. That is a minor issue, though,” Tiberias claims and I snort. I wonder what’s so proper about the Silver parts of the city.

“The real problem are the weapons showing up currently,” he continues. “Those are military gear, from Harbor Bay’s own arsenal.”

“Meaning the Silvers holding them are taking a side,” I conclude. “Or staging their own coup.”

“Exactly.” The buildings around us are becoming more and more destroyed, the farther we go. It’s not a living quarter, but the administrative sector, and its air is still filled with dust and smells burned. I check my lightning, preparing for further attacks. They don’t come though the sight of Harbor Bay’s royal palace, Ocean Hill, at the center of the sector doesn’t lift my dread. Yet it’s Tiberias’s goal and I follow. Once he told me it was built for his mother but it has nothing of a queen’s holiday residence anymore. Unlike the buildings around it, it hardly shows damage, only a few marks in its steel and concrete façade. Again, I have to think of Coriane Jacos, a woman who lost herself under the burdens of Norta’s crown. Did her heart become as heavy as her palace? Or is it the heart of her son, the soldier king-to-be who locks away his feelings?

“I’ve heard nothing of Harbor Bay,” I say. “Neither in Piedmont nor in Archeon.”

He opens the gates. “Strange, given how vital Harbor Bay is. But every town, every region, fends for itself now.”

It disturbs me that he says the same as Farley – although it shouldn’t. He’s doing his job. His bleeding, awful job. I stop in the front of the stairs under the doors that he’s already climbing.

“Why have you vanished, Tiberias?” I say. “Archeon, Whitefire and the throne were yours for the taking.”

He turns and stares. I’m tempted to say more, voice all the things I’ve pondered on in the last weeks, but I stay quiet. I won’t give him possible excuses and explanations, he has to think for himself. He does so visibly. His lips quiver, his eyes burn, finding mine with a begging intensity. I’ve asked a question, but he’s asking me something as well. For trust, maybe. Not only for mine, which he won’t get, but, as I realize when a shadow of doubt falls over his face, his own in me too.

“I didn’t want to marry Evangeline,” he says finally, thus stomping out the tiny flame I felt kindling a moment ago. “She wouldn’t ever have wanted me but couldn’t deny her family about it,” he adds.

I laugh. Louder and harsher than Evangeline did, so it fills the dull gray sky above us. I believe he means it. Yet it’s a blatant omission of his true reasons and the following scowl on his face is proof, and a pleasing sight. It’s like a cold coffee, distasteful, hardly enough, but still serving its purpose. “How considerate of you, Tiberias. Truly, I’m impressed how much Evangeline’s feelings concern you. Unlike mine.”

It’s even better to see this arrow hit its mark, and the devastation and shame in his eyes. Although it cools my heart even more.

“I care about you, Mare Barrow,” he claims, not too proud to contradict me. A part of me is glad he thinks it’s necessary to insist on it.

“You should rather show me,” I say. “You say the Red and Silver gangs fight. What do you do about that? Do you work with the Red Watch?”

For a second, relief washes over him because I’ve switched the topic. However, he turns sombre quickly. “The Red Watch’s house was the one attacked today.”

I hmph. I jump up the stairs and open the doors in his place. Where’s all the security gone? The palace seems positively evicted. “Now I really hope you find the culprits.”

“I – I’m working on it. There’re the two arrests today, and the contacts in the gangs. However, the Silvers … I can’t trust their reports.”

“What an observation. You want the Merandus’ back?” The foyer is still lush and luxurious. Tiberias, finally catching up with me, points down a corridor. “Maybe you need better interrogators,” I say.

“Maybe I need to give the Silvers something,” he replies.

“Maybe your lot has had enough already.” I stop to face him. “Maybe all you should promise them are their lives and freedom in exchange for their cooperation.”

He doesn’t object again. He nods. “You realize you admit I have power here,” he says.

“And you should use it for good. Promote the Red Watch. Declare the alliance with the Scarlet Guard, again. Give Farley command – “

“You think I haven’t considered that myself? It won’t work, Mare. I can’t hand over rule, the Silvers won’t have it. They only accept rule taken by power and strength – “

“Don’t interrupt me ever again, Tiberias Calore,” I say with all calmness I can find when a storm forms in my guts. I don’t care where he wants to take me any longer. Every second in his presence only raises old issues. His fake understanding paired with utter conservativeness and resignation. He unravels me and I can’t stand it. I can’t stand this place.

I take off. I walk down corridors where I might’ve murdered people and ran for my life. Portraits of Calores and their ancestors and allies look down on me and I wonder of Tiberias feels cosy here, if he re-hung his mother’s image as well. Does he like it here, does he like to feel royal, powerful, and probably welcome again? I, for sure, know I’m not welcome here. These walls want to exile me, and if not that, chain and incarcerate me. With its red and gold colours, the palace is nothing like Whitefire, I tell myself. There’s no Maven. No Arvens, no manacles. My lightning is proof of it, as is the flickering of the lightbulbs I pass. Yet my breathing fastens and my sight fails, red paint turning into bloodstains.

Tiberias runs to me, calling my name in dimmed sounds I can barely hear. All I want is to get out before I really faint. Stumbling, I take step after step with my blackening sight until I can taste the sticky city air again. I sit down, crouching and hugging myself. What has happened?

Slowly, I try to calm my breathing, let my eyes rest. I know Tiberias is near. His hand is on my back, warm and steadying. I would’ve pulled away in another situation but I remain still, too exhausted to move at all.

His palm is gone the second I straighten. I still don’t dare to rise. Perhaps I’d fall down on weak legs. “You see, I could never be your queen,” I murmur, and my confession already feels like a concession, a weakness.

“So, are you going to declare yourself king in your mother’s palace if you don’t dare to in Archeon? Even though Evangeline is here, there’s no Anabel to make you marry now.”

Cruelty is my only crutch. His grief, for his mother and grandmother, is tangible. Yet he doesn’t leave me. I could tell him to sod off but what I want is to prompt him to finally say he won’t become king.

He doesn’t do that either.

@clarafarleybarrow @mareshmallow @inopinion @redqueenfandom @lilyharvord @hannaharies @petekavinsky @mareenattitanos @redqueenforever @selenbean-beany @runexandra @wrenskonos @queeniriscygnet @iris-cygnets

[faithfulnews]

Were some key quotes accurate? Concerning Jerry Falwell's anger at The New York Times

As long as there is a Donald Trump, then Jerry Falwell, Jr., will be the face of Christian higher education for editors at The New York Times and elite media in the blue-zip-code media in the Northeast.

This is sad, since the coronavirus crisis — along with life after Millennial-era enrollments — is creating a wave of important local, regional and national stories about private education, including Christian higher education. Hold that thought, because tomorrow’s “Crossroads” podcast is dedicated to that topic.

But back to Falwell and the Times.

Faithful readers may remember a recent GetReligion post — “Rank these stories: Falwell rolls dice with virus or potential collapse of some small colleges?” — in which I chided the Great Gray Lady for its familiar Falwell obsessions. Here is how that piece opened:

What we have here are two stories about Christian higher education during the coronavirus crisis.

One is set in a rather remote part of America, but it involves — kind of — Citizen Donald Trump. The other is a national-level story with news hooks that will affect institutions (and thus newsrooms) in several hundred communities spread out from coast to coast.

So which of these two stories is grabbing national headlines, including chunks of time on TV news? That isn’t a very hard question, is it?

The critique included, logically enough, several chunks of the Times report that was so critical of Falwell. The fact that we did that resulted in GetReligion getting a letter from Liberty University threatening legal action.

What an interesting twist: GetReligion paired with the Times by the Falwell team because of material we published in a critique of the Trump-Falwell obsession at the Times. As it turns out, we were not alone, in terms of getting caught in that crossfire.

This brings me to that recent Times update on the topic: “Falwell Focuses on Critics as Coronavirus Cases Near His University Grow.” Readers may, when they open that story, want to examine the URL carefully. Note that this report about a controversy in Christian higher-education was filed under “politics” in the Times storage system. #ShockedShocked

Here is a key section of this Times update (read carefully):

Since the media spotlight trained on Liberty’s decisions, Mr. Falwell, a close ally of Mr. Trump, has protested that his policies were no different than many other university administrators, and that he has been singled out for unfair criticism by liberal journalists bent on his destruction. …

The media, he said in a radio interview with John Fredericks, who identified himself as a Trump campaign operative, “just want power, they’re authoritarian, they’re like nothing I’ve seen since, if you go back in history, to Nazi Germany. That’s what they remind me of.”

And he has spared no effort to defend his actions since articles on Liberty’s reopening ran in ProPublica and The New York Times. He pursued arrest warrants for misdemeanor trespassing against two journalists, Alec MacGillis, a reporter for ProPublica, and Julia Rendleman, a freelance photographer for The Times. He enlisted a New York law firm to threaten legal action against The Times and, he has said, other outlets as well.

He called a Times reporter shortly before midnight, leaving a voice mail message that said, “you’re in some serious trouble.”

It would be interesting to know the size of that “other outlets” crowd, in addition to GetReligion (again, because our critique pointed readers to several chunks of the earlier Times story).

However, it’s interesting to note a crucial fact claim linked to the Liberty complaints.

Ironically, readers can find this crucial information in a report at World magazine — another publication that received a sword-rattling letter from the Falwell team. The headline on that World report said, “Liberty in a pandemic: The largest Christian university grabs the spotlight — again.” Here is the key passage, in the story by reporter Michael Reneau (note: a friend of mine here in East Tennessee):

On March 29, the New York Times reported up to 12 Liberty students were exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms after returning to campus after spring break. Falwell denied Elizabeth Williamson’s Times report. The story attributed that number to a local doctor, Thomas Eppes, president of a practice whose physicians operate Liberty’s student health center and who informally advised Falwell before Liberty’s spring break. Eppes told me he did not tell the Times reporter 12 students were showing symptoms: “That was a rather remarkable overstatement on her part.” …

Will opening the campus to anyone who wanted to come back mean more COVID-19 infections? I asked Eppes whether the possibility of those spreading COVID-19 being asymptomatic should make colleges more restrictive, not less: “True social distancing would have said you close down everything. … [Falwell] did what he perceived to be the right thing for the students of the school.”

OK, so what we have here — along with political rhetoric and complicated arguments about on-campus vs. off-campus Liberty students — is a complaint about an alleged misquote. The source of some of the most crucial information in the original Times story (the one that led to the legal threats) is saying that he was misquoted by a reporter.

This could be a case of “he said vs. the Times said that he said.” Was the interview recorded? Was there another other source of information to back the “12 student” with coronavirus claim?

Stay tuned. Your GetReligionistas sure will.

Go to the article

[geekade]

Legion of Spoilers: Chapter 3

Holy shit I am never sleeping again. 

Legion's third chapter might best be described as a series of night terrors punctuated by waking horror, as David flips between anxious memory work and eavesdropping on his sister's captivity. With the exception of two very brief interludes with Syd, David spends most of this episode facing down twin specters of inhuman malevolence and human cruelty, and feeling personally responsible for both.

Chapter 3 picks up the morning after Chapter 2: Amy's first morning in captivity, and David's second or third day of memory work. With Amy at risk, Dr. Bird and Ptonomy don't have time for the usual detailed investigation and opt to zero in on the most troubling events of David's life. While Syd keeps watch, David, Ptonomy, and Dr. Bird approach the kitchen-poltergeist that followed his final argument with Philly. Before he can enjoy or even assimilate confirmation of his telekinesis, the Devil with Yellow Eyes peers around the door frame, invisible to Ptonomy and Dr. Bird. Terrified, David teleports the three of them – himself, Ptonomy, and Dr. Bird – from the memory cube back into the main building.

With yet another power revealed, David finds himself back in Cary's lab. Prompted to remember something stressful, he flashes back to Halloween, when King (the family beagle) runs off after being denied a cut of David and Amy's candy haul. Young David follows the dog to an empty yard only to encounter The World's Angriest Boy in the World. When Cary checks up on him, David doesn't respond – that is, he does, but not physically. Locked in some kind of trance, David (thinks he) answers that he's fine just before Lenny materializes to taunt him with Amy's misery. The room begins to tremble, and Syd rushes in, probably to see whether she can talk him down. David emerges from the trance long enough to see her and takes her with him as he astrally projects to wherever D3 is holding Amy. They "arrive" in time to witness Brubaker's threat to turn David "off" as Amy insists that her brother just needs his medication. While David struggles to speak, The Eye looks straight at him and Syd – and reaches out.

Once they've pulled themselves out of the Summerland lake (his astral projection/teleportation return skills need some fine-tuning), Syd and David report to Dr. Bird, who warns them that further forays into D3 could put everyone at Summerland at risk. Confronted about The Eye, Dr. Bird sketches a brief history of Summerland: Built by Cary and her (late?) husband Oliver over 30 years ago, the institute predates the Divisions, and may have been the first organization to recognize human mutation. The Eye, then known as Walter, was an early pupil until they discovered his appetite for inflicting pain. Dr. Bird also admits that as much as she wants to help David for his own sake, she's also hoping he can be the secret weapon who turns the tide of the war between Summerland and the Divisions.

Now fearful that their previous attempts at memory work may be doing more harm than good, Dr. Bird suggests sedation to disable David's more damaging defense mechanisms. Desperate to get a grasp on his power and save Amy, he agrees, and the next day Bird, Ptonomy, and now Sydney set out to uncover what precipitated David’s admission to Clockworks. The sedation plan backfires spectacularly, precipitating a series of increasingly chilling scenes as The World's Angriest Boy and the Devil with Yellow Eyes hunt down the interlopers in David's mind. Owing to residual effects of their body-switch, Syd can see the Devil, who remains invisible to Ptonomy and Dr. Bird. Syd manages to wake herself – although whether from sheer terror, or because something happened, is not revealed – and then Ptonomy. Dr. Bird doesn't wake up until the Angriest Boy picture book snaps viselike over her hand and the Devil looms hungrily behind her. Wherever David has retreated – or been driven back to – they can't reach or wake him.

During Chapter 3's first memory trip, Dr. Bird observes that David's power seems to explode when he feels trapped and helpless, and now the traps are converging from all sides: He's wracked with guilt about his sister, who was taken solely as a means of getting to him. Troubled by his powers and doubting his sanity, he's begun to realize that it may not be possible to disentangle the former from the latter. And the Devil flickers into view every time he closes his eyes. Syd's love might ground him for now, but relief is not escape, and I'm not sure how much more of this David can take.

QUOTES

“Shall we begin?”

“’Control’ may be an overstatement.”

“Unhand the reptile, Space Captain!”

“Could you maybe not break everything this time?” “I’m not gonna promise that.”

“That bitch’s secrets have secrets.”

“Hey, if you learn to control that, you’re gonna be a world-class badass.”

“Who rescued who from who from a pool surrounded by commandos with guns?”

“Everyone in here keeps saying I’m sane. What if they’re wrong?”  

ODDS & ENDS

As of this episode, "mutant" is officially in play.

Syd and David’s courtship continues its awkward and chaste trajectory. Their experiences of the body switch highlights a key difference: Having tracked her consciousness across several different bodies, Sydney maintains a clear sense of self and thinks of her body as a transient vehicle for her mind. David sets a greater premium on knowing where his personal mass begins and ends, because it's the only thing he can be sure of; his mind, unbound by physical constraints, eludes any kind of grasp. Opposites really do attract. Their dynamic is sweet, but a little bit of Gambit/Rogue energy might be fun later on.

Clockworks treated David's abilities as illness, and Summerland insists his illness was his abilities. Both of these approaches may do David a disservice, as there's been no evidence to suggest mutant powers and mental illness are mutually exclusive.

The Summerland therapy/meeting room where most of this episode happens has a window in the same X-shape as the "O" in the series logo.

Summerland's outdoor classroom bears an uncanny but probably unintentional resemblance to the Institute River Tam attends in Serenity.

Everyone has started wearing a neat little wristband device – a communicator? A tracker?

Poor Amy! She's Exhibit A in no good deed going unpunished, and she's so normal she never even considered the existence of mutants. I hope D3 got that bit of conversation from Amy by spying, because it would be really upsetting if her husband turned out to be a D3 agent.

Brubaker, the D3 agent interrogating Amy, sounds like a fanatic – my money's on him being this universe's Senator Kelly. He's played by David Selby, probably best known as Quentin Collins in Dark Shadows.

The elevator and coffee machine speak in her husband's voice, but Dr. Bird refuses to say what happened to Oliver.

The soundtrack continues to kick ass and take names: This week's arresting selection is Robert Plant's "Monkey," which played over the trick-or-treating scene and which you should go listen to right now.

FAN THEORIES, or WHAT THE HELL I THINK IS GOING ON

It's beginning to look more and more like Lenny might be one of David's personalities. The main piece of evidence against this theory is her death, which is witnessed by Dr. Kissinger and David-as-Syd AND referenced by the interrogator, but that could just mean the entire world is a pocket universe or a delusion.

The Devil with Yellow Eyes and the The World's Angriest Boy in the World are the same creature/being/malevolent consciousness. Even if they were once only metaphors for David's anger or fear, the nature of his mind has given them real being.

Ptonomy's powers are impaired in the presence of the Devil with Yellow Eyes, even when David is sedated. That fact, and the way it moves through David's mind with something like intent, strongly suggests to me that it has some independent existence, it definitely wants something, and David's fear of it is not entirely irrational.

While she's walking through the house, David's parents see Dr. Bird. In addition to being creepy as hell, this points to his memory being self-aware.

So what's the over/under on Walter being Melanie and Oliver's kid?

I'm trying to figure out whether the book slamming shut on Dr. Bird's hand was a trap sprung by the Devil with Yellow Eyes or a safety switch David's mind flipped to wake her up.

Noah Hawley loves to reference significant stories or concepts in-show, perhaps most famously in the "Buridan's Ass" episode of Fargo, so it's no accident that he slipped in the story of the woodcutter and the crane. In almost every version of the story, the relationship with the crane starts with an act of kindness but ends with a breach of trust motivated by curiosity or greed. David may be the crane helped but ultimately alienated (and potentially damaged) by Summerland's well-meaning prying.

Colorwatch: David's pants are gray (the color he wears when he loses control) but his t-shirt is orange and black (Syd's colors). The meeting/therapy room is primarily yellow with red accents. The soothing greens of the forest feature much less prominently in this episode. Brubaker wears the same neutrals as Dr. Bird; whether this indicates some shared motive or just a shared interest in mutants is currently unclear. Everyone else continues to wear their trademark colors and/or show up in previously viewed outfits (e.g. Lenny and past-David).

Feeling like a gibbering pile of fear? Here, have a beagle.

[lodelcar]

MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY AND GOOD CITIZENSHIP

Picture: Midnight at Magdalena Fjord in Northern Spitsbergen (Norway). Although extremely remote, the Norwegian government uses extensive financial means to provide Spitsbergen population with decent life conditions

Disagreement with the current state of affairs

The arrest of Jay Y. Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, on suspicion of bribery in the influence-peddling scandal that led to the South Korea president's impeachment was the most recent example of the excesses of multinational’s management to overrule countries’ laws and controls’[1]. He is the last in a long row of managers and politicians from all over the world that use their powerful office to cheat for their own benefit or for their company’s benefit.  Every year the international business magazine Fortune publishes a Top-5 of the biggest –in their eyes- corporate scandals of the year. [2] Juicy stories about fake bank accounts, price gouging in the pharmaceutical industry, cell phones with exploding batteries, revelation of gigantic tax fraud or tax evasion by thousands of superrich individuals, artificial boosting of company sales figures or overstatement of earnings, electronic cheating on carbon emissions etc. All these stories are only the top of an iceberg; everybody on the planet is aware of that. But, public opinion shifts from awareness and incapability to do something about it towards indignation and insurrection. The leading class struggles more than ever to get away with it.

This of course occurs in the first place in democracies, where the population has their moment of expression every four-five years and starts to use it. Bribed politicians can be removed in that way, although their removal sometimes reveals to be difficult. The latest examples of several long-standing African leaders[3] who lost the elections but refused to leave their lucrative function or who manipulate elections brutally is the last fight of dinosaurs against a new natural order. The recent marathon manifestations in various Romanian cities against partial depenalisation of corruption are an example to every country in the world that populations do not accept this type of politicians and business people anymore.[4]

The application of this change management is much more difficult in multinationals, as well listed as privately held companies. Rules of corporate governance are promoted worldwide, but the interpretation of the rules and the way the rules are applied and controlled inside the organisation are sometimes stunning. The strength of multinationals of course is that they operate in more than one country and can therefore transfer income from one country division to another, before declaring taxes. They also will declare taxes in the less demanding country. Moreover, they produce on different locations and even assemble parts coming from several countries in yet another country. So, in fact, not one single government is able to control them, and even international organisations such as the EU are a weak counterpart against these well-oiled organisations paying millions of dollars on consultants for the best legal and fiscal advice. And then there is of course also their bargaining power: they create vast employment opportunities and they can destroy thousands of jobs by one finger cut. Governments or even international trade associations that hinder them too much, are “punished” with “strategic decisions”. Cases like the closing down of the Caterpillar production plant in Wallonia, the drastic personnel cut of ING in Belgium are typical examples of aberrant decisions by greedy general managers and stock owners, who do not care about employment and corporate governance in a country. Their only motivation is profit. Because even if production plants are well managed, make a more than reasonable profit and are future oriented, they prefer to cut down costs and produce elsewhere where salaries are lower, assuming that the profit will not only be acceptable, but immense. Or they prefer to have their production done by robots or machines, objects that only require maintenance. Unfortunately for them, robots do not open bank accounts, do not eat or drink, do not buy houses, do not buy cars. It is people who do that, and when these incomes are reduced to a minimum, they will not be able to buy any of the produced products anymore. The problem is: this way of global thinking is not the task of company managers. Their task is to make profit. And that’s it. Is it?

A new business model

Lots of observers see the change in mentality worldwide. I quote two recent opinion makers in my own country: “There are increased expectations of citizens who expect more and more assistance and welfare of their state. There is globalization, which is redistributing work on a global scale and leaves out many people in the cold in our countries. (…) What literally billions of people on earth yearn for, is the modest miracle of a normal life,[5] in countries where violence prevails in countries where dictatorial regimes shamelessly enrich themselves without taking the citizens of their country into account.”[6] And on the same day, in the same newspaper: “Resisting against companies that consider their profits more important than the public interest. Resisting against those who do not care about the future of this planet. Opposing to politicians who accept that laws are dictated to them by multinationals and who evade their responsibilities. Resistance. Because the urgency of climate change does not tolerate "alternative" facts.”[7]

These observations are applicable to the economy and the changes that take place in it and that are of concern for us all. The structure of the economy shifts since several years to a new decentralised and digital economy. Its characteristics can be described by the following aspects[8]:

a. The old economy is still based in many cases on exploitation of workers and employees by bosses or by a general management. And this is not only the case in upcoming economies such as the Next-Eleven countries[9] where all power is in the hands of a few owners, part of the leading class. Or were a large part of the economy is even in the hands of the army, that does not tolerate contradiction or competition. The new economy is one of co-operation. Large new companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook and others, have a more flat structure and divide the profit cake among many. One other example is the appearance of the “Bazar” as sales model. Because of the high real estate prices, companies that have to offer something are coming together in the same building, renting small spaces. With fixed tenants and with try-out tenants, that have the possibility to check the attractiveness of their offer. [10] The principle existed in Eastern Europe -I observed with the phenomenon in Vilnius as well as in Bucharest- in the beginning of market economy. It now returns in Western Europe, as a correction to the greed of real estate owners.

b. Large multinationals are still organised in a very centralised way. Anglo-Saxon companies still believe in the power of the CEO. Extremely well paid, taking all decisions, leading the company according to his strategy. In their strategy “focus” has been the buzz word of business schools over the last fifty years.  New companies are managed in a decentralised way. The focus model has been lately put seriously under pressure by Google. Google diversifies strongly, invests in promising activities and, because of its core business profits, is not afraid of admitting it. In fact Google found its inspiration in Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, who ran his businesses -from brickmaking to clothing and insurance- under a similar structure.[11] The same principle exists in new economies where families invest in all types of industries, creating conglomerates and managing them with their relatives and confidents in a way based upon trust. This is a way of mitigating risk but also a way in creating employment.

c. Most companies’ products are still offer-based. Many large technological companies made errors in the past thinking they could open the consumer’s mouth and ram the product into its throat. Most multinationals in the agro sector still believe they can put all types of chemical additives into the food, and that the consumers continue to accept it. Most textile companies still make huge profits because they believe no one cares about the way workers are treated in the textile production factories. But the new generations of consumers start to become sensitive to what they are eating and wearing. Production becomes demand based and companies adapt to those wishes. When production can be tailor-made without too much additional cost, why should a consumer accept then to wear products that do not fit completely or to food that is not adapted to ones preferences, health needs or even allergies? Moreover, textile products made by child labour are more and more proscribed by Western consumers.

d. Fossil energy runs to its end. And the coal and oil lobbies will fight until the end for their business model. They go as far as denying that there is a climate problem for the planet. They send lobbyists such as Myron Ebell and presidents such as Donald Trump into the arena in order to support their business. But the time of renewable energy has come. Changing the energy business model drastically. Because allowing citizens to contribute to energy production and reward them for it. Taking the power out of the hands of the energy brokers and putting them in the hands of regional authorities and co-operatives willing to invest in smart energy control devices       .

e. Production of large quantities at a very low cost in mostly polluting. One of the most scandalous examples of polluting industries is the ship breaking industry in countries such as India, Pakistan, China or Bangla Desh. In recent years, ship breaking has become an issue of environmental concern beyond the health of the yard workers. Many ship breaking yards operate in developing nations with lax or no environmental law, enabling large quantities of highly toxic materials to escape into the general environment and causing serious health problems among ship breakers, the local population, and wildlife [12]  The request for clean production is overwhelming in Western Europe, not only because of the climate change, directly linked to air pollution. But mostly because of the perspective that industrial pollution, air, sea and road transport, affect heavily people’s health. And the pressure of the population increases. Air pollution has caused a threat to the leading communist party in China. President Donald Trump’s intention to reopen coal production facilities and oil production out of fracking, has caused an unseen protest wave worldwide.  

f. The stock market was in the past a way of attracting financial means to companies and projects that could create added value. Large railway projects, the creation of a harbour, shipyards that build ships, pharmaceutical companies that did research to cure a new disease: lots of those companies appealed to the stock market in order to collect the necessary capital. And thanks to the added value they created, they could provide the shareholders with attractive dividends. During the last twenty years, individual mass shareholdership has been replaced over by investment groups and banks, [13]  as well as by professional fund traders, who purchased companies with the sole purpose to squeeze as much profit out as possible for the shareholders. The effect of corporate raiders’ actions has been devastating in many cases, destroying added value in their effort to squeeze all the liquid out of a company and then throw it away.[14]  In a newspaper article of 2008 the former Philips CEO Jan Timmer denounced the greater influence that shareholders have received in recent years in the management of listed companies. In particular, the Corporate Governance Code enabled individual shareholders in the Netherlands to interfere more in the affairs of companies. "The cure is worse than the disease. Out of profit and greed wrong decisions are taken and a company’s continuity is not taken into consideration anymore. It is staggering that a few shareholders can cause tensions, forcing an entire company to split itself.”  [15] Nowadays the demand for added value increases again, drastically. The pharmaceutical sector was criticised that its largest companies over the last five years did not find new solutions to diseases anymore. They just replaced their existing products by other ones. The lack of added value in the food sector is denounced vehemently by scientists. Industrial companies depend indeed on cheap raw materials that can be continuously supplied (soya, sugar, corn, ...), which can be well conserved (by extracting water by reducing fruit and vegetables to concentrate without fibers by heat treatment expense is healthy nutrients)  and which are tasty (by adding sugar, fat and salt).[16] Scientist therefore claim that the sector, because of the mistreatment of the initial ingredients, is responsible for massive diseases such as obesity, diabetes, etc…  

g. Mass production was the key word since Henri Ford invented the moving assembly line and declared:  “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black” [17]. Of course, one does not have to take this quote literally: Ford T’s were made in various types of colours. But the industry, because of its mass production, forced consumers into a certain behaviour and into a certain taste. Forced professionals into using a certain type of pipes and wires and screws. And stopped production of these on regular moments and replaced them by other types so that professionals could not continue to repare devices properly. Consumption had to be fed, because production had to be continued.  Mass production lowered prices also and made expensive products available to the middle class and later to everyone. The smart phone is a typical example of a product available for everyone, and therefore changing African, South-American and Asian economies drastically. Those same smart phones and their apps and internet applications enable a second revolution. They enable people to take pictures and measures accurately, to make drawings, and to send accurate data to small automated production entities such as 3-D printers. This creates a new, and very attractive revolution: the tailor made production. This type of disruptive economy already started in the real estate business and in the hired transportation business, with companies such as Uber and AirBNB. But this is just a start.  

h. The millennium generation in Western Europe is the first generation that does not consider the ownership of a car as a necessity anymore. It does not consider the ownership of a lawn mower as a necessity. They are pretty much aware of the existence of apps bringing ownership and demand together. Therefore they put use in the first place. Bartering also becomes a new trend: exchanging tools and services.[18] Renting becomes a habit. The availability of bikes in big cities solves for many the problem of doing distances between public transportation stops and their final destination.

i. Globalisation has been stretched until it started to irritate. It redistributed work on a global scale, which was beneficial for many people in upcoming economies. Or as Francis Fukuyama describes: “When we talk about a liberal world order, we are speaking about the rules-based system of international trade and investment that has fuelled global growth in recent years. This is the system that allows iPhones to be assembled in China and shipped to customers in the US or Europe in the week before Christmas. It has also facilitated the movement of millions of people from poorer countries to richer ones, where they can find greater opportunities for themselves and their children. This system has worked as advertised: between 1970 and the US financial crisis of 2008, global output of goods and services quadrupled, bringing hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, not just in China and India but in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.” [19] But it also made that the 62 richest persons in the world own as much as the poorest half of the planet. Or to put it in a different way: the 8 richest people on the planet own as much as the 3.6 billion poorest people on the planet.[20] There are trends now in Western countries, to put an end to global trade, to cancel free trade agreements, and to restart production in their own countries. That also is too drastic. Moreover, it will affect the poor more than the rich. Like everywhere else, the remedy lies in the middle. Some call it glocalisation. Glocalisation is the adaptation of globally marketed products and services to local markets. Glocalisation works best for companies which have decentralised authority. Although globalisation has benefits to the consumer it does not always benefit the producer with newer and smaller companies struggling to keep up with the low production costs of the multi-national competitors. This results in either a higher price and loss of consumers or a lower profit margin which in turn results in less competition within the market.[21] I myself go further than this solution and call for localisation in a globalising world [22]. One cannot deny the presence of globalising products and companies. But one cannot deny either that new and small companies try to compete with the large competitors by offering better service, more market adapted products in domains with low production costs. Their aim is to survive, to be original and also –in some cases- to create local employment. And one has to admit: there is a local pride, a local need for authenticity, a belief in local quality these companies appeal to.  

j. In most Western European countries a democratic consensus has grown after the second Word War that a system of political and economic freedom combined with social solidarity, equality and creates more wealth than anything shown so far, it was the so-called Rhineland model. In the neoliberal world after 1980 every decision was focused on the improvement of the wellbeing of the individual. The Rhineland-model, because of its cost, came under pressure. Tax reduction, public expenditure limitation and less state became the buzz words. But on the other hand, the neoliberal model, preached by Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, G.W. Bush and many others, also proved there is the basic fact that no society ever can and will be perfect. The neoconservative guru Francis Fukuyama predicted in his book “The End of History and the Last Man” the eventual global triumph of political and economic liberalism. But his mind-set changed as he recently stated: “The liberal elites that have created the system need to listen to the angry voices outside the gates and think about social equality and identity as top-drawer issues they must address. One way or the other, we are going to be in for a rough ride over the next few years. “[23]  Large trends in society appreciate a combination of individual approach and a community involvement. The defence of individual rights and social rights together with the welfare state and with the renewal of the democratic system are in many new political movements presented as top priorities. Ciudadanos in Spain, En Marche in France, Cinque Stelle in Italy, G1000 in Belgium are examples of this trend that distance themselves from traditional political parties and that claim the relevance of political movements populated by ordinary citizens. Most of them fight for concrete local or regional subjects and are able to influence politicians on that level. This same trend is shown in societies where people are active in the civil society, on a local or regional basis.

k. One of the most appealing new behavioral trends in society is the shift from linear economy to circular economy. In the linear production model, raw materials are extracted from resource countries, transported to manufacturing powerhouses, such as China, and processed into various products. The finalised products then get shipped to the United States, Europe, and further destinations, where they are used, discarded and eventually replaced by newer iterations.[24] The main driver of economic benefits in the circular model stem from the ability to restore materials that are disposed of in a linear production model. The restoration of these materials leads to multiple cycles of product use. The process of product restoration is more energy and cost efficient than producing everything from scratch.[25]  Every day now new examples are disseminated of initiatives taken by small companies, engineers, individuals to reuse existing materials and to use them as raw material for a new product.[26] Just a couple of striking cases:

-       Grandmas Re-Use Plastic Bags To Make Sleeping Mats For The Homeless [27]

-       A Malawian teenager William Kambwamba taught himself how to build a windmill out of junk and bring power to his village. He then built a second larger windmill to power irrigate pumps [28]

-       A beer based upon unsold bread from supermarkets[29]

-       Package of medicines, packets of chips or pizza tray, all this contains aluminum but nothing or almost is revalorized. The Metallurgical Research Center of the Liège University is currently developing a technique to recover this raw material.[30]

-       A Palestinian girl in the Gaza strip makes bricks from sand, ash and rubble because of the Israeli blockade it is hard to get bricks to rebuild the strip after 3 wars in 10 years’ time. The product is cold Green Cake and is commercialised now.[31]

Moral condemnation of widely spread tax avoidance

Tax avoidance has become a sport over the last 25 years. And because of the multinational character of multinationals, these companies dispose of all the possibilities, as well as their managers, to find the best place to hide their income from the tax administration. Nearly 20% of large U.S. corporations that reported a profit on their financial statements in 2012 ended up paying exactly nothing in U.S. corporate income taxes. [32] At least six of Britain's 10 biggest companies paid no corporation tax in 2014 despite ringing up global profits of more than £30billion. [33]

But they do not have to fight against tax administrations anymore but against hackers, who’s aim it is to expose them. Almost yearly now numerous documents show that rich people’s income is striking[34], but also that they refuse to contribute to the welfare of the nation they live in. Much of the information does not show anything more than prudent financial management. But more and more people feel offended by the immoral behavior of the companies and company owners they buy products from. And that pressure modifies their own purchase motives and shopping target short lists. Company managers have to understand this is an issue that will affect their reputation and their income in the coming years. The press from over the world is emphasizing on tax avoidance stories, and on the mechanisms behind it. Politicians from over the world are confronted with the fact that people do not accept tax avoidance mechanisms anymore, consider it fraud, do not want to contribute alone anymore to a nation’s organization burden. To police protection against criminals, fight against terrorism, new roads, state of the art hospitals, top education systems etc. On European level, efforts are undertaken. But we do not recognize signals from large company owners about their willingness to work on their own good citizenship and to pay their taxes consequently.

Louis Delcart, board member European Academy of the Regions; www.ear-aer.eu

[1] Se Young Lee and Ju-min Park: Samsung chief questioned by prosecutors in South Korea political scandal in Reuters, 12-1-2017 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-politics-samsung-group-idUSKBN14W034

[2] Chris Matthews,Matthew Heimer: The 5 Biggest Corporate Scandals of 2016, Fortune, 28-12-2016, http://fortune.com/2016/12/28/biggest-corporate-scandals-2016/

[3] Gambian president Yahya Jammeh, Pierre Nkuruzinza of Burundi, Congolese president Joseph Kabila, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and many others

[4] Protesters in Romania hold huge demonstration over government 'anti-corruption U-turn, EuroNews, 2/2/2017, http://www.euronews.com/2017/02/02/protesters-in-romania-hold-huge-demonstration-over-government-anti-corruption-u

 [5] http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/126561.pdf

[6] Mia Doornaert: “Het bescheiden mirakel van een normaal leven “ (The modest miracle of a normal life), in De Standaard 6-2-2017

[7] Joeri Thijs, “Het klimaat verdraagt geen alternatieve feiten “ (The climate does not tolerate alternative facts), De Standaard 6-2-2017

[8] Mischa Verheijden, "Het verbaast me dat slechts enkelen vatten dat er een grote maatschappelijke verschuiving aankomt" (It amazes me that only a few people are aware a major societal shift is upcoming), in Innoveren, 10-1-2017 in dialogue with prof. Jan Rootmans, professor at the Rotterdam Erasmus University and an international authority in sustainability and transition

[9] http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/archive/archive-pdfs/brics-book/brics-chap-13.pdf

[10] Dieter De Beus: “Vilvoorde loopt warm voor winkelconcept” (Vilvoorde warms to store concept), in De Standaard 6-2-2017

[11] http://lodelcar.tumblr.com/post/139373678545/business-conglomerate-in-stead-of-business-focus

[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_breaking

[13] http://lodelcar.tumblr.com/post/143795680400/corporate-social-responsibility-in-regional?is_related_post=1

[14] The Belgian newspaper “De Standaard” published on 7-8/2/2015 an analysis by 4 investment market specialists of the added value brought by fund manager Albert Frère of GBL, revered in France, feared in Belgium. The main trend of the interviews was: he took much care of his own fortune, but destroyed many Belgian flagships and has been devastating for the Belgian economy.

[15] Jan Timmer hekelt hebzucht en wanbeleid,(Jan Timmer denounces greed and mismanagement) in Eindhovens Dagblad, 2-2-2008

[16] Lotte Alsteens, WE ZIJN NIET OPGEWASSEN TEGEN ‘BIG FOOD,(We are unable to cope with Big Food) in DS Avond, 9-2-2017, http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20170209_02721550?shareid=8993f13ad93b85f7bf2af2c09cbaa9d3f54907b7a592cf53a8bd75ead5b1ea672e94c39646ab3c23ab3b0a00e6f358a1845e99ed1cbf5ad8f289a1bcd461eb5e

[17] Henry Ford and Samuel Crowther (1922), My Life and Work, Garden City Publishing Company, Inc.,p.72

[18] http://lodelcar.tumblr.com/post/155351547920/the-european-gloom-are-there-remedies

[19] Francis Fukuyama, US against the world? Trump’s America and the new global order, in: Financial Times, 11-11-2016, https://www.ft.com/content/6a43cf54-a75d-11e6-8b69-02899e8bd9d1

[20] “Acht rijksten bezitten evenveel als 3,6 miljard armsten” (Eight richest possess as much as 3.6 billion poor) in De Tijd, 16-1-2017

[21] Brooks, Jeffrey; Normore, Anthony (2010). "Educational Leadership and Globalization: Literacy for a Glocal Perspective". Educational Policy. 24 (1): 52–82.

[22] http://lodelcar.tumblr.com/post/139787275600/localisation-in-a-globalising-world?is_related_post=1

[23] Francis Fukuyama, US against the world? Trump’s America and the new global order, in: Financial Times, 11-11-2016, https://www.ft.com/content/6a43cf54-a75d-11e6-8b69-02899e8bd9d1

[24] Santiago Miret, The future of manufacturing: From linear to circular, Berkeley Blog, 24-2-2014, http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2014/02/24/the-future-of-manufacturing-from-linear-to-circular-2/

[25] Santiago Miret, The future of manufacturing: From linear to circular, Berkeley Blog, 24-2-2014, http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2014/02/24/the-future-of-manufacturing-from-linear-to-circular-2/

[26] http://lodelcar.tumblr.com/post/155351547920/the-european-gloom-are-there-remedies

[27] https://www.facebook.com/DavidAvocadoWolfe/videos/vb.102515706511/10154026544121512/?type=2&theater

[28] https://www.facebook.com/anonews.co/photos/a.997588523586040.1073741828.997108126967413/1307873152557574/?type=3&theater

[29] Une bière à base d'invendus de pain de supermarchés bientôt disponible (A beer based upon unsold bread from the supermarkets), in RTBF, 17-3-2015, https://www.rtbf.be/info/regions/detail_une-biere-brassee-avec-du-pain-recupere-de-supermarches?id=8933743

[30] Hugues Angot, « Le recyclage des métaux, c'est la métallurgie de demain » (Metals recycling is the metallurgy of tomorrow), RTBF, 21-11-2016,  http://www.rtbf.be/info/regions/detail_le-recyclage-des-metaux-c-est-la-metallurgie-de-demain?id=9460636&utm_source=rtbfinfo&utm_campaign=social_share&utm_medium=fb_share

[31] https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsZinc/videos/558914800975857/

[32] Jeanne Sahadi, 20% of big companies pay zero corporate taxes, CNN, 13-4-2016

[33] Tim Sculthorpe, Six out of Britain's 10 biggest firms pay ZERO corporation tax despite ringing up global profits of £30billion, in Daily Mail, 31-1-2016, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3425295/Six-Britain-s-10-biggest-firms-pay-ZERO-corporation-tax-despite-ringing-global-profits-30billion.html

[34] Panama Papers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers