#just to qualify a moot point

[jewishbarbies]

the new jubilee video with Ben Shapiro is so fucking annoying because of course the black leftist says all jews are white, replying “it’s a religion” when Ben tries to correct her, like can we ever get some poc/jewish solidarity with this performative shit. or even, GASP, a black/brown jew. because I’m so fucking tired of this ignorance in leftist spaces, and if the white leftists are too scared to mention it they’re going to have a poc friend that will, because they’re both just as fucking ignorant when it comes to jews. it’s getting clipped and rocketing around social media with people in the comments agreeing and doubling down on the blatant ignorance and antisemitism of the interaction, like thanks guys we really needed MORE of this right now. you’re so fucking helpful, jubilee.

[diniidjarin]

local part time job (sweeping horse shit) or big city job in my field (making horseshit)... much to think about

[sylvia-plaths-fig-pie]

Silver Linings ♡ Sam Winchester

Being duty solicitor was your least favourite bit about your 'training'. You didn't need supervision for it, which made it all the more boring. If you were with Cathy (your supervisor) then maybe, maybe, you could've enjoyed it. But no, you were stuck alone waiting.

Usually a duty solicitor would wait at home for a call that an attorney-less potential criminal was brought in who needed legal rep. But unfortunately for you, you didn't have a car. And since it was 11 at night the buses had long since stopped in this rural southern state you called home.

So you were simply sitting in the police station, waiting. Where you would wait all night. You went from being a 'hot shot' Stanford law student, to a trainee solicitor abandoned at a tiny police station.

You never wanted to go into criminal law, that was never the plan. You wanted corporate law, you wanted money, but more than anything you wanted to escape. Escape the very town that you were in right now. Escape the family that you now live with.

You kept telling yourself that maybe, just maybe, when you're fully qualified you can go to the city. But with your mothers bad health and your father out of the picture, well that wasn't really an option.

So for now you waited, and waited, and waited.

At some point between 1am and 2am you must have fallen asleep as you startled when an old, and tired, police officer shook you awake.

"Got two in for you." He said gruffly, "wanted for all sorts of stuff, we caught them grave robbin', but they're wanted for theft and murder and a whole host of stuff."

You blinked at him as his words slowly sank in.

Murder? You questioned in your head. It dawned on you that you may be sitting face to face with the people who'd been killing the young women in the town. No killing was too kind a word. They were brutally murdered their hearts ripped out.

You suddenly felt very sick, but this is what you wanted. If you were to stay in criminal law it would be beneficial to represent some prolific killers, your moral compass will survive.

"Wh-" you began but his loud and obnoxious yawn cut you off.

"Where are they?" You asked once he'd finished, trying to hide your slight terror.

"I'll show you to the interview room." He said as he walked away, jingling his keys in his hand. You followed him quickly, maybe this night wouldn't be so boring after all.

Before he opened the door, you quickly pulled your hair up into a smart updo (a quick knott) with a silver hair pin. It was your lucky charm. You've never given bad advice, lost a moot trial or failed an exam when you wore it. You weren't superstitious or anything, but you had a feeling with the two offenders you were going to face, you needed all the luck you could get.

When he unlocked the door for you, you weren't prepared for what you saw.

"Here's the file on them," the police officer said as you turned your attention back to him.

"Oh, thank you," you accepted the file as he turned to go, closing the door and subsequently locking it behind.

The two men sitting in front of you were cuffed to the table, sitting on chairs quite frankly too small for them.

They both looked unfazed by the whole process, if anything they looked annoyed, not scared or worried, just pissed.

That normally would have proved to be unusual, especially in such a town where all the offenders that walked in you knew by name. But you were shocked by something else.

Maybe you were still asleep?

This couldn't be right, surely?

There, one of the men sitting in front of you, was your old law rival. The one who pushed you to be top of your class. The only other person you knew with a full scholarship. The only person you knew that dropped out when he had so much potential.

Sam Winchester.

He dropped out after a fire killed his girlfriend, Jess, a lovely girl. Everyone thought it would be just a year out, but it wasn't. Naturally rumours circulated, but that didn't change the fact that Sam Winchester dropped out and you never saw him again.

Until now.

With several murder charges, accessory to murder, theft, robbery, burglary, identity theft, fraud, and grave robbing.

You quickly looked up and down the file as you seated yourself opposite them.

"So," you began unsure what to say, "you boys are facing a lot of charges."

Dean, Sam's older brother (you learned from the file) gave a slight laugh at your remark.

"You don't say..." He remarked. He nudged Sam slightly, to get him to laugh but he didn't. Instead he stared. He just stared at you.

"Sammy?" Dean asked, almost concerned, but more amused at his silence.

"I would say it's good to see you again Sam, but I would have rather seen you on the other side of this table." You said rather bluntly, you didn't have time for small talk, you needed them to respect you and know that you're good at your job, or at least will be when you're fully qualified.

"You know this chic?" Dean asked, eyebrows raised.

"I-" Sam began but it was clear he didn't know what to say. I could read it in his eyes, I reminded him of a past, I reminded him of a future that could have been.

"We went to Stafford together," you said avoiding both brothers' eyes, "briefly," you added, "it doesn't prove to be a conflict of interest so I'm fine to represent you further should you need it."

They both simply stared at you, then gave each other a knowing look, then they turned back to you.

You couldn't read them, well you couldn't read Dean at least. Sam looked pained, like he didn't want me to be here. But there was something else. It felt like he was sorry. Sorry for what was something you couldn't quite work out.

"So," you said, "you have quite a lengthy list of suspected felonies, most of which carry life sentences. Due to the expenses of trials if you plead guilty a deal could be made, if not you're at the mercy of a jury, and if your trial is down this way then I don't fancy your chances. Of course only plead guilty if you are."

You reeled of the standard advice, truly you weren't well versed in what to do with serious charges relying on old law school knowledge.

"Any questions?" You asked.

They looked at eachother again, Dean strangely wiggling his eyebrows at Sam. In response the younger brother just rolled his eyes.

He looked similar to how he did at school. His eyes were still hazel with hints of green, his hair was still quite long and messy, he was tall even sitting down he had an imposing quality. But there were small differences. He held himself with a tension only found in old war veterans, his hair was just uncomfortably long for him, annoying him. But the biggest difference was in his eyes, the hope and joy that he once had were replaced with fear, mistrust and a hardness you'd never seen before. He was haunted.

"What are our odds like?" Dean asked, leaning back in his chair, he was too relaxed. He wanted to be here, and you couldn't figure out why.

You studied him briefly before answering. "Not good." There was no point lying to them. "But with your track record I'm assuming you're planning to make it out before trial."

"No we're-" Sam began but you held up a hand to silence him.

"Attorney client privilege, I'm not ratting on you." You clarified, "but I'm assuming this won't be the last time you're caught, I can take care of any personal issues you need me to deal with, and I can give you my card with my contact info."

"You won't be a qualified solicitor yet will you?" Sam asked, looking you properly in the eyes for the first time.

"I will be in a month," you clarified, "I've already gotten a few deals through, good deals, I've gotten clients acquitted on a technicality which if I had ful access to your file outside of this police station I can try and find one in your case. If not I can always advise you on some 'hypothetical' situations you may find yourself in."

He looked at you, really looked at you, if you didn't know any better you would say he looked proud.

But you did know better. Sam Winchester was never your friend. He was barely your acquaintance. The only reason you knew him was because of a sort of academic rivalry you shared. You pushed on another to do better. Until you couldn't. He dropped out. You stayed. And your mind hadn't thought about him since.

Well, you didn't think about him often at least.

"Thank you," he said with almost a whisper.

"You know you're the best lawyer we've had," Dean began, "most act like we did all that shit and have no reason to be treated like people."

"It doesn't matter what I think, being 'guilty' doesn't mean you're morally innocent, just legally."

Dean looked at you, slightly confused by your remark.

"God, you sound like professor Williamson." Sam laughed, breaking a slightly awkward silence.

"I mean he was my fav..." you said almost shyly. To say he was your favourite was an understatement, he was basically like a father to you. He was like that with Sam as well.

When Sam left, it left a hole in Williamson's heart. A whole that you don't think was ever really filled.

"He would've been everyone's favourite if he didn't give people 1000 essays." Sam laughed, reminiscing on your shared school time.

"The essays were fun." You commented, catching the role of Dean's eyes in your peripheral vision.

"I mean yeah," he agreed, "but most people don't like essays."

"Well most people didn't get an academic scholarship." You countered.

"We were the only two." He said almost solemnly and that look of mourning what his future could have been was back on his face.

You kept your last remark inside, choosing not to open an already newly exposed wound.

When you graduated top of your class they mentioned how you were the only one of the law cohort to get a full ride. Sam, to faculty members, was a distant memory. Well he was to everyone but professor Williamson.

They gave tributes to Jess at your graduation but not Sam. It was like he never existed. Like he was never there. It hurt like hell. But what hurt even more was that no one seemed to notice. Sam was an old story, the boy whose life got flipped on its head after his girlfriend died in a freak accident.

"Not that I don’t like this trip down memory lane but..." Dean gestured towards the clock behind me. I turned, it was nearing 3am, the time all the young girls had been murdered.

As I turned back towards them, they pulled away from each other it was clear that they were whispering.

"Do you want to share with the class?" You asked, concerned at the sudden change of atmosphere with the brothers.

"How old are you?" Dean asked, rather bluntly.

You thought about giving a remark about how people should never ask a lady's age but thought better of it given the strange change in atmosphere.

"Twenty-five." You said, slightly concerned.

Sam quirked an eyebrow confused, Dean looked worried.

"I skipped two grades," you quickly explained, "why?"

"She's the same age as the others," Dean commented.

Sam nodded, slightly panicked now.

You knew they were talking about the young women being killed. And you could tell that they weren't the murderers. That being said, it begged the question, who was it?

"Are you going to tell me what relevance this has given your current situation?"

"Well-" Sam began but was cut off by a police officer opening the door.

"Miss, are you okay here?" A young-ish police officer stuck his head in the room, his eyes fixing on you. You squirmed in your seat, his eyes made you go cold.

"Excuse me, officer?" You questioned as you stood up and turned to face the police officer.

"Smith." He gave you his last name.

"Officer Smith, in case you aren't aware of correct procedure here you don't interrupt meetings with council, there are strict confidentiality rules in place. Now leave and I won't report you to your superior, open this door without my permission again and I'll see you fired." You told him bluntly. For some reason there was a lot of activity for 3 in the morning.

He lingered, eyes roaming over you, a wolfish glint in his eyes. "I was informing you that i'm the only officer on shift so if you need anything come to me." Then with a curt nod he closed the door.

When you turned back around Sam and Dean were mouthing indistinct words to one another.

"What?" You asked, worrying more and more by the second.

"We're sorry to do this," Sam said.

You looked at him confused for a moment before you realised what had happened.

The cuffs were off.

In the time you had your back to them they had managed to silently pick the locks, without you or the officer realising.

You looked Sam in the eyes, he looked genuinely sorry but strangely determined.

No.

No. No. No.

Your mind raced, they couldn't could they?

You'd been so ready to help them, so prepared to take an outlandishly bold case. And this is what happens.

"Officer Smith!" You cried as loud as you could.

"Shit, shit, shit," Dean grumbled, "not him jesus christ you'd think you'd want to die, we don't even have any silver 'round here!"

Just as you were about to start questioning things the door burst open to your relief.

Thank god there was an officer to deesculate the situation. You were so relieved. You felt lighter, you felt relief.

Relief that lasted mere seconds as when you turned to face the officer, your supposed rescuer, it wasn't who or rather what you thought it would be.

It wasn't officer Smith, although the creature that stepped out bore an uncanny resemblance to him.

His nails were now sharp, long claws, he now had fangs and eyes resemble those of a wolf rather than of a man.

Your heart dropped.

"Any bright ideas sammy?" Dean asked as he pushed you and Sam into a corner.

"Not unless you have any silver." Sam replied, it was clear his mind was racing at 100 miles an hour.

"What the hell do you need silver for?!" You questioned as you were hiding in a corner behind Sam.

"Silver kills werewolves." Sam explained, surprisingly calm.

"Werewolves?!" You exclaimed, it felt like your whole world was falling to pieces in front of you. "You're saying that he's a werewolf?!"

"Yeah, which is why we really need silver or we're all dead." You were shocked at the bluntness of his response, however you were more shocked at the fact that he knew so much about werewolves. And words didn't even begin to explain how utterly confused, shocked and down right bewildered you were that werewolves actually existed. You wouldn't have believed him if it wasn't for your impending doom.

Suddenly an idea struck you.

You looked at Sam in the eyes. "And what, you just stab it with the silver and they're dead?"

"That's the gist of it, yeah."

You heard a loud smack as Dean collided with the wall.

Just as you were about to begin talking once more, the werewolf, officer smith, made its move to where you and Sam stood.

Sam put himself between you and the creature, his arm lingering on your shoulder.

"You're not getting to her." Sam almost growled at the beast ahead.

Adrenaline coursed through your veins. You had one shot not to die.

Officer Smith just laughed and easily threw Sam aside, leaving only you in the officer's wake.

"Don't take this personally," The creature said as it stalked towards you, trapping you against the wall, his clawed hand reaching up to you.

Suddenly, you pulled the silver pin out of your hair, clutching it in your hand like a knife, "it feels pretty personal." You commented before driving the makeshift weapon into his heart.

He looked at you pained, you could see the life fading from his eyes. Then he fell. A loud thud. He was dead.

Your hands shook. What had you just done? You had killed a man. No, not a man, a werewolf.

If those are real, then what else is out there that you thought was only folklore?

"Shit." Dean commented, slightly impressed, pulling himself up from the floor, "You could have told me, Sammy, that your law school buddy was badass."

You were still frozen on the spot, staring at the officer that lay dead on your feet. The police officer that you'd killed.

"Hey," you felt Sam's hands come to rest on either side of your face, you must not have noticed him getting up, he gently turned your face so that your eyes met his. "You're okay, you saved mine and Dean's life, you saved your own life."

All you could do was nod.

"He wasn't human," he said solemnly, "he was never going to stop killing, you did the right thing even though it doesn't feel like it, you did the right thing. I'm proud of you."

You nodded again, this time a question bubbled in your throat.

"If he's a werewolf, then...?" You trailed off uncertainty.

"Do you really want to know?" Sam asked, his gaze unwavering, he knew what you wanted to ask and him holding back gave you the terrifying confirmation you needed.

"I-" you began but stopped. You needed to know. You were in this world now whether you wanted to be or not, ignorance wouldn’t save you now. "yes."

Sam took a sharp intake of breath and nodded.

"It's all real, everything that you're told is just your imagination, or just stories or folklore; all of it is real." He said with such confidence you had no choice but to believe him. "That's why I left school, I had to come back to this life."

His statement seemed to knock the air out of you. So much information was swimming in your head at once.

"It wasn't an accident with Jess then? Something killed her, didn't it?"

"Yes."

"What..."

"A demon."

The information hit you like a truck, the only thing that's keeping you sane was Sam's hands on your face. His hands that steadied you. His hands that sorted out your hair. His hands that grounded you. Him, Sam, that gave you the strength to do what was necessary.

You had to focus now. You had to sort out the mess at your feet. You needed a plan.

"Okay," you almost whispered, Sam probably wouldn't have heard you if his eyes weren't fixed on your face, your lips.

"We need to sort this out," you said, gesturing to the body on the floor and stealing yourself against the development of your night. Your volume and confidence growing. "There are no cameras here due to attorney client privileges, so the narrative is ours to shape. If you lock me in these cuffs I can be hysterical when someone comes, say you broke out and he tried to protect me but failed, you took my hair pin as a makeshift weapon and stabbed him, and then you both locked me up and ran." You nodded and the narrative came together logically and coherently, they would have no reason for you to lie given what you'd just gone through. Or allegedly went through.

"Why didn't we just kill you?" Dean asked, pointing out a key flaw in the plan.

You paused briefly thinking.

"You didn't kill me because Sam remembered me and thought to spare my life." You said quietly, "It shows some humanity, which would help if for some reason you both ever went to trial."

"Okay anything else?" Sam asked, his hands still lingering on you.

"You took your file with you as well so you know everything the police have on you and you went and collected your stuff from the storage lockers which officer smith had the keys for." You concluded hinting at them as to what their next steps are.

The pair of them just looked at you stunned, Sam's hands falling from your face.

"Yeah, good plan." Dean looked you up and down, "I'll go and grab our stuff. Sammy, sort our lawyer out."

Dean bent down and took the keys from Smith's lifeless body and began walking down the hallways, whistling as he went. This was just another day in the office to him.

"You sure you want to do this?" Sam asked, "you'll face a lot of questions, you might slip up, today's been a lot I don't want to put you through anymore."

He was worried about you. Worried that this would be pinned on you. Worried that he just threw your life off course, just like what happened to him.

"I'll be fine Sam really." You assured him, "It's you I'm more worried about, I'm assuming this constitutes as your 'day job'?"

"Yeah, it's the family business." He said gesturing sarcastically around him, "saving people, hunting things."

"Must be tough, no connections just always on the run, basically alone." You looked at him uncertainly.

He avoided his gaze as he spoke. "I've got Dean and there is a good network of hunters."

"Hunters?" You questioned.

"People like us." He clarified.

"How is there a whole side of the world I didn’t even know about?" You said almost to yourself rather than to Sam.

"Most people don't." His reassuring words didn't do much to ease your mind.

"You said there's a 'good network' that implies that quite a few people do know."

A silence fell over the pair of you, which Sam took upon himself to break in a slightly awkward manner.

"Speaking of hunters..." He trailed off.

"What?" You asked, raising an eyebrow, "Think I should switch professions?" You mellow dramatically flexed your muscles causing Sam to laugh.

"No, no," he laughed, "Don't get me wrong you'd make a brilliant hunter but I'd rather not have to worry about you getting hurt."

His words sent a warm rush through your body. He would be worried about you.

"What is it then?" You asked.

"Well, a lot get caught by cops for murder and such when they actually just saved people's lives, since you're a solicitor"

"Not yet." You lightly corrected him.

"You're almost a qualified a solicitor," he amended, giving you a poignant look, "I was wondering if...." He trailed off uncertainly.

You filled in the blanks from his silence. He wanted you to be there contact. He wants to give you an expansive country wide clientele. He wanted to give you the freedom to escape while also being able to be there for your family. He was giving you your life on a silver platter.

"Past my details on, I'd be happy to do my bit." You say, a genuine smile passing your lips.

"Great, thanks." It was his turn to smile now. "I'll pass them onto this guy called Bobby. He kinda manages a lot of people in a way, everyone goes to him for advice and such, he'll get your contact information distributed." He explained rather quickly, almost awkward and self conscious in his cadence.

"Yeah, thanks."

"Thank you."

A silence fell over you both.

"I suppose I'd better erm..." Sam used his head to gesture to the cuffs of the table.

"Oh yeah," you laughed slightly, blush creeping up your neck, this whole situation was quite absurd.

The pair of you walked over to the table and you sat down. Somehow it now felt awkward between the two of you.

He gently placed your hands in the cuffs and tightened them. Then secured the cuffs so that you couldn't move. "You might be here a few hours I don't know when another officer will arrive I'm really sorry-"

You cut him off by grabbing his hand with your cuffed one. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." You reassured him, not quite ready to let go of his hand quite yet.

He gave your hand a gentle squeeze, "I'll call you as soon as I can so that way you have my number, okay?"

It was clear that neither of you wanted to leave this moment in the past, but with time being of the essence in Sam's case you both knew he couldn't stay here much longer.

"Okay." You confirmed with a nod of your head.

You both stilled. Hands still intertwined.

"Right well I... I'd better go." Sam said unconvincingly, lingering with his hand in yours for just a few more stolen seconds before he pulled away and walked towards the exit.

"Sam?" You said his name like a question, a prayer. You didn't want him to go. To leave you alone. You were scared. Or at least you knew you would be. With Sam here you felt safe, you felt a warmth around you. You didn't want to lose that, not just yet.

Sam wasted no time turning around when you called his name, waiting for you to speak again.

"Don't disappear from my life again."

A smile crept up his face that he tried to hide. It was his turn for his cheeks to turn a light shade of pink.

"Don't worry, I have no intentions of doing that." He walked back towards you, and held your hands again, "I promise."

His eyes were trained on yours, his beautiful eyes. They roamed your face for a moment, as if trying to commit every detail of you into memory. Then they lingered on your lips.

You felt your breath hitch as he leaned closer to you. His eyes quickly looked into yours for a split second as if to ask 'is this okay?' All you could do in response was nod.

And that's all he needed. You felt your eyes flutter shut as his lips gently and tentatively pressed against your own.

You felt yourself falling, more and more and more.

He pulled away all too soon. "I promise to call," he said as he pressed another quick kiss to your lips, it lasted only a split second but it was enough to send your head spinning once more.

As he made his way to the door he turned and gave you one final look before he disappeared from view.

The warmth that you felt lingered as you pressed your cuffed hands to your lips. Sam Winchester had just kissed you, twice. The very Sam Winchester who's currently wanted. At this moment you should have been thinking about the disastrous consequences of being caught, or the devastating news that monsters were actually real. However, all you could think about was his lips on yours and his promise that he would call. His promise that you knew he'd never break.

Who knew this night wouldn't turn out to be so boring after all? Maybe there was a silver lining being a duty solicitor.

♡♡♡

A/n: I started off using brittish law then, I just made it fit to the plot lmao, but one things for sure it's definitely not correct in terms of us law but it's fine...

Wc: 4.8k

[scoatneyhall]

WILD. Was anyone else aware that the Ted Lasso team has gone in and made post-production edits on season 3 episodes, sometime in the last year?

I've been rewatching the finale in advance of the one year anniversary of it airing, and straight off, I noticed that the points total on the graphic looked different to how I remembered it - a much closer race. It stuck out because I remembered being annoyed that they didn't celebrate the moment Richmond got confirmed for the Champions League, as the gap was big enough for it to have happened a while ago, offscreen. I still have a screencap from when the episode aired:

However, the current copy on Apple has an updated graphic, making the post-production graphic in line with the numbers on the actual physical whiteboard prop and the script mentioning the win streak. See here:

The corrected copy makes Richmond's points match the whiteboard, but it also puts the teams in 3rd to 5th place much closer to them points-total wise, meaning that now, in the current version of the episode, Richmond only qualified for the UCL in "Mom City," making it make more sense that the start of 3.12 is the first time it gets discussed. Would have been nice to mention that stake in the City match commentary during 3.11, but I genuinely am shocked that they went back in and edited the already-published episodes to clean up the post-production errors. For the record, here's the whiteboard as of 3.08: W10, D9, L6.

Just in case anyone cares, the order of those results was - 1 draw against Chelsea, 6 wins with Zava, 1 loss against West Ham, the rest of the draws and losses occurring between 3.05 and the loss against Arsenal in 3.07, and then the 4 wins mentioned at the start of 3.08. By the start of 3.12, it's mentioned they are on a 16 game win streak, so that's 22 wins overall, 9 draws, 6 losses, going into the final weekend, hence the updated graphic.

I like that they went in and fixed it - no idea when in the past 12 months that occured - but I also kind of can't believe they bothered? Then again, I can't believe the mistake was made in the first place, as they were so specific with details in the prior seasons, so maybe they couldn't live with it being wrong.

I know there were rumours about a ton of issues in terms of getting these episodes posted in time - right down to the wire, still fixing the edit on the airdate - and it's clear that these details were not checked and confirmed by the poor people in post who were not working off the show bible that lives in the writers heads. I don't blame them at all, I blame the people who got the edit to them late, but it did annoy me during the season a LOT. The maths wasn't mathing, and as we know this is a show that has been careful with dates and timelines and stuff like that.

Anyway! The point is, a) this post about my UCL qualification fantasies is now moot, and b) I went back and checked another post production error that had REALLY pissed me off, which was the dates of texts in Ted's phone in 3.04. Phone dates have always given us the timeline quite strictly before - it's how @belmottetower and I started the timeline in our primer, with Ted arriving in London on January 6, 2020 and then following the football seasons from there to place the season 3 finale in May 2022 - but in 3.04, all the cute texts we see to all the characters in his phone were badly misdated, placing the timeline further in the future. This caused arguments or misunderstandings, at the time about the actual timeline of the show, but it seems this was another detail the producers really wanted to fix and tighten up, as they've gone back and had it edited.

It's weird, because the texts Ted was actually going back to - the messages from Doctor Jacob - were dated correctly as late 2019, and there's even a little easter egg in the form of a US rideshare notification picking him up to go to the airport in America, on 5 January 2020. (Even the area code, 316, is apparently correct to Kansas.) That's all correct even in the original version of the episode, but somehow we then skip a year and place his most recent texts, as of 3.04, in late October 2022, when they should only be in late September or early October 2021. (I found this post on Reddit that screenshotted his phone at the time.) Examples:

I had to go back and check this, and sure enough, it's been edited to reflect the established timeline - they didn't just redate the year on each message, they also changed a bunch of the chats to be more recent - so rather than dates, his most recent chats with Henry, the Coaches, etc are from "Yesterday," then the first dated texts are in very late September 2021. This matches up pretty perfectly with where they are in a typical Premier League season - they REALLY cleaned it up. Further back, they do just switch the years on the dates, so he still got a picture from Sassy last Valentines Day, and his last one-on-one contact with Jamie is still set before the events of Wembley in 2.08 (FA Cup semi finals are in April, so a few weeks after the March 2021 date on Jamie's chat.)

My brain is itching because I swear there was a screen of Nate and Ted's text chat at some point too? With Ted reaching out about his new job, on a date that deeply did not work with the timeline? But maybe I imagined it. There's no record of Nate's number in his phone at all now, and the texts date back to before Nate left, so I guess in this version of events, Ted deleted Nate's number and message history.

Anyway, I'm aware that basically no one is going to care about this, but I suspect that the three people who will actually care will REALLY FUCKING CARE. Has anyone else noticed it? Does anyone know when it may have happened? Does anyone know what else might have been changed or fixed? I love details and I love the fact that there is no longer conflicting data about what football seasons the show is covering - it's mid 19/20 to the end of 21/22, end of story - but what a fucking mess the production of season 3 must have been, to end up at this point!

[pilot-boi]

Twins AU: During the Martial Arcs divorce do you think Ren used Raven abandoning Jaune against him, like the transcripts?

If so, how's Yang reacting?

I don’t think he would, honestly. It would be really cutting, but it wouldn’t follow with REN’s line of logic

Ren was upset because he felt that they’re just kids and therefore unqualified to be making the kinds of world changing decisions that they’ve been making

It’s why he brings up that he’s just an orphan from Mistral. He’s just some kid, not even a remarkable one, the Grimm have orphaned thousands of kids. Who is he to get to decide the fate of the world?

Same thing with Jaune’s transcripts. The person who is supposed to be leading them didn’t even qualify for the Huntman Academy he attended, and now here he is outranking most military officials. Doesn’t that just show that they’re hypocrites for thinking that THEY should be the ones making decisions?

Bringing up that Jaune is Raven’s son wouldn’t follow Ren’s train of logic. The fact that he was abandoned and raised by a different family doesn’t make him any more or less qualified to be in charge of the situation. It’s a moot point, and therefore not relevant

So no, I don’t think Ren would bring it up

[aroaceleovaldez]

another thing with the first series Great Prophecy I think about a lot - “A half-blood of the eldest gods” could be interpreted so many different ways, and actually “A child of the Big 3″ doesn’t make any sense even in the contexts of the series.

To begin with, “A half-blood of” could mean a direct child, a legacy, or even just a chosen hero. As long as they’re presumably a demigod. We’re presuming half-blood means demigod here but honestly even that could be a vague point. “A half-blood of” does not specify direct descendant.

Then, if we’re saying “the eldest gods,” presuming “Gods” meaning the Olympians specifically, is the children of Kronos, then that means any demigod of any of the children of Kronos should count. Which means that Demeter should have been part of the oath too! But she wasn’t and her children weren’t even considered for the prophecy! And neither was there any consideration for adopted children or chosen heroes of Hera or Hestia! Heck, by that logic, Jason is like, potential prophecy kid squared (son of Jupiter and adopted by Hera/Juno - half-blood of two eldest gods! Plus he was turning 15 the year the Second Titanomachy ended. If Percy ended up not being the one to turn 16 then Jason would have been next. (Or well if we want to get technical Frank would have been next, as a descendant of Poseidon, but then Jason.)

But the thing is, even among the Olympians, the children of Kronos aren’t necessarily the oldest gods. Aphrodite is potentially older, depending on how you frame the timeline and her origin story (which in this case is relatively vague in the PJO universe - we don’t know if PJO Aphrodite is older or younger than Kronos’ children). So if Aphrodite is older than Kronos’ children, her children/descendants/chosen heroes could also potentially be children of the prophecy.

And it doesn’t stop there. Because it’s not specified that “gods” here is specifically restricted to the Olympians. “the eldest gods” could mean gods older than the Olympians, of which there are plenty. I mean, primordial gods? Gods of specific concepts? and that’s just the tip of the iceberg and isn’t even getting into defining “god” and if we’re counting like, the Titans or not (because sometimes they are counted! And sometimes they do have demigod children! Hello Dryas of Calydon, occasional son of Iapetus [aka Bob The Titan]).

And that’s all specifically mythological. If we’re talking historically eldest gods, then that’s a whole different ballpark. To begin with, A CHILD OF HADES THEORETICALLY DOES NOT EVEN QUALIFY TO BE THE CHILD OF THE PROPHECY! That’s right! If we’re going strictly historically eldest gods, then Hades even being part of the oath was completely moot because his children could not be the children of the prophecy! Because as far as we know, Hades does not predate the Greek dark ages! So Percy claiming the prophecy to prevent it from falling to Nico was potentially pointless! Percy on the other hand is then a very strong candidate for the prophecy, because it’s heavily implied his dad is specifically Mycenean Poseidon (”Earthshaker”), who does predate the Greek dark ages. But you know who’s potentially even older? HERMES. Which means Luke could be doubly the child of the prophecy for all we know! Cause the prophecy also does not specify that the child of the prophecy turning 16 is when the prophecy ends, just that they’ll reach 16 against all odds. Heck, if Luke’s first quest was when he was 16, then we can interpret that as when the prophecy begins and that it’s all his prophecy.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Thank you for the thorough explanation of the US immigration/green card system. My guess is that Harold has a diplomatic passport, unfortunately, so the process you explained would all be moot, right?

No. Harry would still have to submit paperwork and go through the vetting process.

There are just different requirements for it. He still has to submit his passport for review. He still has to submit DS-160/260 form (160 is the paper form, 260 is the electronic form). He doesn’t have to sit for an interview. Instead of civil documents (eg marriage certificate, military records, etc), he submits a diplomatic note - confirmation from the foreign government of his status and travel details. Meghan doesn’t have to submit financial documents.

If he’s caught in any lies, his application can still be rejected and the threat of deportability (or inadmissibility) still remains. But it likely wouldn’t materialize unless the lie or the omission was blatantly egregious, at which point diplomatic immunity comes into play. There are different levels of diplomatic immunity and note, diplomatic immunity is not the same thing as impunity.

And technically, Harry is not qualified to be here on a diplomatic/A visa. From the Department of State website (emphasis mine):

To qualify for an A-1 or A-2 visa, you must be traveling to the United States on behalf of your national government to engage solely in official activities for that government. The specific duties or services that will be performed must be governmental in character or nature, as determined by the U.S. Department of State, in accordance with U.S. immigration laws. Government officials traveling to the United States to perform non-governmental functions of a commercial nature, or traveling as tourists, require the appropriate visas and do not qualify for A visas. The fact that there may be government interest or control in a given organization is not in itself the defining factor in determining if you qualify for an A visa.

He is not a representative of the United Kingdom. He is not here on official business. He doesn’t work at an embassy (though he did try to have Montecito Mansion declared as an embassy outpost).

Which is the core root of what the Heritage Foundation is trying to find out; how did Harry get here, when, and under what terms? Did he lie on his forms and if so, what was the basis for allowing him in anyway? Did he get special treatment because he was The Queen’s grandson? Did he get special treatment because of COVID loopholes? Or was he treated like everyone else?

If he was treated like everyone else - as claimed - then he should have gone through the spousal visa process.

But if he’s here on a diplomatic visa? Well, that brings up a ton of questions and makes the case for deportability stronger (because if you “settle” here via the wrong visa, sometimes they kick you out and make you start over again from scratch). But also as we talked about yesterday, they’re not going to deport Harry the same way they’d deport you or me if it gets to that point; it’s going to be done nicely through back-room negotiations and covered up by reconciliation/olive branch PR or “Africa is better for us, there’s no paparazzi here” PR.

[astromechs]

For kinktober: Jyn/Cassian + hate sex after the Eadu argument 😇

hi, anon, i finally had time to finish this prompt, but just know that it's given me brainworms ever since you sent it ❤️ this is the fic that was subtitled "cassian andor is a fucked up little man who desperately needs therapy" in my WIPs so, yeah. (as with all kinktober fills, mind the rating, readers!)

By K2’s calculations, it will be approximately fifteen hours though hyperspace before they reach Yavin 4 — longer than some journeys, shorter than many others. There’s no point, though, really, in putting any qualifier on that other than time, because it simply is; there’s never any more, or any less, to work with.

For the next fifteen hours, there’s nothing further for Cassian to contribute that’s of any use. He’s made as much contact as can be risked, even over encryption. A reprogrammed Imperial droid and a defected Imperial pilot will know more of the subtleties of piloting a stolen Imperial shuttle than anyone here, so for the next fifteen hours, he’s not the man for the only job on hand.

(Is he the right man for any job, if he disobeys orders and spares a target, only for it all to be fucking moot in the end?)

If there’s nothing further for him to contribute that’s of any use, then there’s no point staying in the cockpit. Without a word, he turns on his heel and puts it behind him, headed toward —

Well, there aren’t exactly an abundance of places to go here.

The Guardians have themselves stationed just outside the cockpit, and though he spares no glance their way, he can feel two pairs of eyes on him as he takes pause — both seeing, even if one is blind, both casting their palpable judgment in his direction. His jaw clenches alongside one of his fists, and a flash of anger, like the one that had sparked in him just hours ago, before they’d left Eadu’s atmosphere, threatens to make itself known again; his foot rolls forward, just short of a lunge that he barely manages to pull himself back from.

An aimless fight has nothing useful to contribute, either.

He moves on.

Read More On AO3!

[h0n3yk1tt3n]

1 + 65 pinkberry?

1. Historical AU + 65. It's Not You, It's Me

At first my head kept coming back to a medieval setting with some royal x non-royal thing going on (which would still technically qualify as historical but kinda feels like its own thing) BUT DAYS LATER IT'S FINALLY HIT ME

Consider... Salem Witch Trials (if not in Salem then in a fictional town)... but Chloe is actually a witch. (Im bringing in fantasy elements into this version of history bc yk, skepticism abt witches even being real leading to "wait I know a witch??") She lives off in the woods doing her own thing away from everyone else when Brooke happens upon her for one reason or another.

Chloe is naturally aloof at first, because of course she is, but Brooke finds a way to bring her walls down, because of course she does. What starts as small talk while Chloe collects herbs slowly turns into long chats over tea, then eventually losing track of the hours and an insistence to stay over for the night, I'm not sending you out into the woods alone at this hour, one night wont be any trouble, etc etc.

Naturally the two grow fond of each other as time goes on, but around this time is when all the witch fear-mongering goes on back in town. Brooke is naturally terrified because what if they accuse her of being a witch?? How would she be able to disprove such claims?? Chloe would no longer have anyone to visit and keep her company. What if she just moved out of town and in with her?

Chloe avoids this line of discussion as best she can, but Brooke is adamant. She's terrified at home, she adores Chloe and finds she wants to spend more time with her than anyone else in her life, she doesn't see why she can't just move in. And Chloe? She knows by now that she's developed feelings for Brooke and doesn't want to put her in danger by associating with an actual witch, never mind all the false accusations rendering the fear all but moot. There's no right answer. There's nothing that Chloe can do to keep Brooke safe and there's no way that Chloe can express this to her.

Brooke is scared and confused. "Why can't I just live here with you? How is it any more foolish than staying in town and waiting to be declared the next witch? What am I supposed to do? Do you care for me so little that I can't be with you indefinitely?!"

"It's because I care about you that you can't stay!" Chloe finally tells her. She tells her that she's fallen for her and that it puts her in just as much danger to be with a woman than it is to be clocked as a witch. By which point Brooke wonders, "Am... am I a witch?? Have I cursed you have such feelings for me because I can't control my own for you? How could I have put someone I love in such danger for my own selfish gain?! I can't believe it, I'm a witch! I'm a horrible person and I've forced you to love me because nobody else has dared to do so! I deserve to be burned at the stake! I'm the only one that actually deserves it!"

Chloe grabs her hands in a desperate attempt to make her love stop saying such horrible things about herself. "It's not you, it's me!"

[copperbadge]

Hi Sam, I'm just about to read your Christmas Hallmark movies post. I'm looking for something different to fill in spaces in my Christmas movie advent calendar. At the moment I'm looking at Santa Paws, which I think says it all in the title.

I do have a question for you, though. This is something that splits our household but i will accept your ruling.

Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

Honestly in my opinion Die Hard is barely a movie. 

I haven't seen it in a long time because I find it tedious, so I'm not really qualified to argue whether or not it's a Christmas movie. But since I can't really wade into the debate, instead I will tell you a story about Bruce Willis and the time Tom Hanks reportedly bullied him on the set of Bonfire Of The Vanities.

This was in 1989 or so, and it's difficult to convey just how famous both of these men were at the time. In particular, Willis was famous for his "smirk" which you can probably see in Die Hard several times in place of acting. It had reached the point where not only was he very close to becoming a parody of himself every time he smirked, he was tired of hearing about it.

So Willis and Hanks are watching the dailies from the shoot, and at one point on the film Willis smirks. And Hanks turns to him and says, lightly, "Ah, there it is! The famous smirk!"

Willis reportedly became enraged and stormed out, and it became known as the time Tom Hanks was an asshole to Bruce Willis. The fact that Tom Hanks neutrally remarking on something everyone was definitely going to notice is considered him "being an asshole" is a testament to just how nice and professional he apparently is. (Also we are all sleeping on Colin Hanks who is extremely funny and looks and sounds so much like his father I suspect some kind of cloning experiment.)

Anyway, While You Were Sleeping is a much more enjoyable movie than Die Hard and also twice the Christmas movie that Die Hard could ever hope to be, so the point is a bit moot I feel.

[doubletrucks]

regularly scheduled freak out about the future public diary time here on doubletrucks dot gov :)

okay SO. i'm at a crossroads rn where like. i could stay in the city im in but i don't really love it here and it's SO expensive. it's expensive to live in ANY city but this one is particularly brutal. so like... if im gonna be paying a shit ton of money just to live i might as well do it somewhere i actually want to be and somewhere that has better benefits to me. which sounds like an easy decision on paper but there's also the issue of i want to go back to school and where im at rn, i qualify for a lot of state aid that would make it easier to go back instead of having to wait ANOTHER year to start school so i qualify for state benefits somewhere else. which honestly it would probably be another year here before i can start school so again kind of a moot point. which really leaves us with this: i am SCARED!!!! i'm scared to move somewhere i only know a few people, i'm scared to uproot my life and scared of the possibility of failure.... i am a big baby and a coward but perhaps. PERHAPS! i could get over it. but how!!!! also i kind of want to move back home but not to live with my mom but that feels also kind of scary because i also want to move to a lot of other places and i feel like if i go back home i will never leave because i really do love it but i want to see more.... idk idk. big things to consider.

[schraubd]

The 2022 Almost-Post Mortem

I was a bit hesitant to write my post-mortem recap today, since some very important races remain uncalled. Incredibly, both the House and Senate remain uncalled, though the GOP is favored in the former and Democrats have the slight advantage in the latter. It would be truly delightful if Catherine Cortez Masto can squeak out a win in Nevada and so make the upcoming Georgia run-off, if not moot, then slightly less high stakes. But again, things are up in the air that ought make a big difference in the overall "narrative" of the day.

Nonetheless, I think some conclusions can be fairly drawn at this point. In no particular order:

There was no red wave. It was, at best, a red trickle. And given both the underlying fundamentals  on things like inflation and the historic overperformance of the outparty in midterm elections, this is just a truly underwhelming performance for the GOP. No sugarcoating that for them.

If Trafalgar polling had any shame, they'd be shame-faced right now, but they have no shame, so they'll be fine.

In my 2018 liveblog, I wrote that "Some tough early results (and the true disappointment in Florida) has masked a pretty solid night for Democrats." This year, too, a dreadful showing in Florida set an early downer tone that wasn't reflected in the overall course of the evening. Maybe it's time we just give up the notion that Florida is a swing state?

That said, Republicans need to get out of their gulf-coastal-elite bubble and realize that what plays in Tallahassee doesn't play in the rest of the country. 

That's snark, but also serious -- for all the talk about how "Democrats are out-of-touch", it seems that the GOP also has a problem in not understanding that outside of their fever-swamp base most normal people maybe don't like the obsession with pronouns and "kitty litter" and "anti-CRT". Their ideological bubble is at this point far more impermeable, and far more greatly removed from the mainstream, than anything comparable among Democrats.

Abortion is maybe the biggest example of this, as anti-choice measures keep failing in even deep red states like Kentucky, while pro-choice enactments sail to victory in purple states like Michigan (to say nothing of blue bastions like California). Democratic organizers should make a habit of just putting abortion on the ballot in every state, and ride those coattails.

It's going to fade away almost immediately, but I cannot get over the cynical bad faith of what happened regarding baseless GOP insinuations that any votes counted after election day were inherently suspicious. On November 7, this was all one heard from GOP officials across the country, even though delays in counting are largely the product of GOP-written laws. But on November 8, when they found themselves behind on election night returns, all of the sudden folks like Kari Lake are relying on late-counted votes to save them while raising new conspiracies about stolen elections. Sickening.

Given the still powerful force of such conspiracy mongering, Democrats holding the executive branch in key swing states like Wisconsin and Michigan is a huge deal. Great job, guys.

For the most part, however, most losing MAGA candidates are conceding. Congratulations on clearing literally the lowest possible bar to set.

The GOP still should be favored to take over the House, albeit with a razor-thin majority. And that majority, in turn, seems almost wholly attributable to gerrymandering -- both Democrats unilateral disarmament in places like New York, but also truly brutal GOP gerrymanders in places like Florida. This goes beyond Rucho, though that case deserves its place in the hall of shame. The degree to which the courts bent over backwards to enable even the most nakedly unlawful districting decisions -- the absurd lawlessness of Ohio stands out, but the Supreme Court's own decision to effectively pause enforcement of the Voting Rights Act because too many Black people entering Congress qualifies as an "emergency" on the shadow docket can't be overlooked either -- is one of the great legal disgraces of my lifetime in a year full of them.

Of course, I have literally no idea how the Kevin McCarthy will corral his caucus with a tiny majority. Yes, it gives crazies like Greene and Boebert (well, maybe not Boebert ...) more power, but that's because it gives everyone in the caucus more power, which is just a recipe for chaos. Somewhere John Boehner is curling up in a comfy chair with a glass of brandy and getting ready to have a wonderful day.

My new proposal for gerrymandering in Democratic states: "trigger" laws which tie anti-gerrymandering rules to the existence of a national ban. If they're banned nationwide, the law immediately goes into effect. Until they are, legislatures have free reign. That way one creates momentum for a national gerrymandering ban while not unilaterally disarming like we saw in New York. Could it work? Hard to know -- but worth a shot.

Let's celebrate some great candidates who will be entering higher office! Among the many -- and this is obviously non-exhaustive -- include incoming Maryland Governor Wes Moore, incoming Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, incoming Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. Also kudos to some wonderful veterans who held their seats in tough environs, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Virginia congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, New Jersey congressman Andy Kim, Maine Governor Janet Mills, and New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan.

Special shoutout to Tina Kotek, who overcame considerable headwinds (and the worst Carleton alum) to apparently hold the Governor's mansion in my home state of Oregon. Hopeful that Jaime McLeod-Skinner can eke out a victory in my congressional district too, though it looks like that might come down to the wire.

I also think it's important to give credit even to losing candidates who fought hard races. Tim Ryan stands out here -- not only did he force the GOP to spend badly needed resources in a state they should've had no trouble keeping, but his coattails might have pushed Democrats across the finish line in at least two House seats Republicans were favored to hold. (I hate to say it, but Lee Zeldin may have played a similar role for the GOP in New York).

I'm inclined to agree that, if Biden doesn't run in 2024, some of the emergent stars from this cycle (like Whitmer or Shapiro) are stronger picks for a presidential run than the also-rans from 2020. But I also think that Biden likely will get an approval bump off this performance -- people like being associated with winners!

On the GOP side, the best outcome (from my vantage) is Trump romping to a primary victory and humiliating DeSantis -- I think voters are sick of him. The second best outcome might be DeSantis winning narrowly over Trump and provoking a tantrum for the ages that might rip the GOP apart. DeSantis himself, as a presidential candidate, is an uncertainty -- I'm not convinced he plays well outside of Florida, but I am convinced that if he prevails over Trump the media will fall over itself to congratulate the GOP on "repudiating" Trumpism even though DeSantis is materially indistinguishable from Trump along every axis save that he's not abjectly incompetent (which, in this context, is not a plus).

The hardest thing to do is to recognize when even candidates you really like are, for whatever reason, just not going to get over the hump. This fits Charlie Crist, Beto O'Rourke, and (I'm sorry) Stacey Abrams. It's no knock on them -- seriously, it isn't -- but they're tainted goods at this point. Fortunately, Democrats have a deep bench of excellent young candidates who we can turn to next time around.

And regarding the youth -- I'm not someone who's a big fan of the perennial Democratic sport of Pelosi/Schumer sniping. I think they've both done a very good job under difficult circumstances, and deserve real credit for the successes we saw tonight and across the Biden admin more broadly. However, we do need to find room for some representatives from the younger generation to assume leadership roles. Younger voters turned out hard for the Democratic Party and deserve their seat at the table. It says something that Hakeem Jeffries, age 52, is the immediate current leadership figure springing to mind as a "young" voice -- that (and again, there's no disrespect to Jeffries here) is not good enough.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/1YJTzbo

[hopecomesbacktolife]

I’m not going to reblog the post itself because I don’t want that behavior on my blog, but oh my god I just saw a post about “looking for fics about your favorite character on ao3” and good lord the amount of bad takes both in that post and in the notes?? I have to just ramble about this for a moment because oh my god. it was ludicrous.

people were complaining that, and get this, unfinished fics exist. and that if you read an unfinished fic you’ll have to, get this, wait to read more until it’s published next. they were allll up in arms that there’s fics for a character that don’t cater to their specific interests. that they involve other characters and either do/don’t put them in a romantic relationship when they want the opposite for the character.

like at this point, most of you people in the notes on that post are 1) just being mean and condescending about FREE WORKS you can, may I remind you, READ FOR FREE and EXIT at ANY time! if you don’t like it!, don’t read it!, it’s so simple!, and 2) straight up do not know how ao3 works lmao

like I saw soooo many people in the notes complaining about a certain ship, dynamic, tag, etc, and like… y’all know you can filter by romantic vs platonic pairings, by ratings, by excluding certain tags or other qualifiers, etc etc etc… you know about ao3’s actually incredibly usable filtering and searching system… right… right??

at this point I’m just convinced a lot of these people are spoiled by large fandoms with 100k+ works for their characters and have decided to just be mean and condescending for no reason on main, about literally free fan works you can read for free any time that people spend hours and hours pouring their free time into out of sheer love for their craft. cuckoo bananas behavior if you ask me 🫠

I was legit so close to commenting that maybe they should try shipping two characters with <10 fics, with 0 fics, try liking a rare pair, try hyperfocusing on a character or niche type of fandom with a tiny but lovely circle of fans, and stop treating fan works and fic as Content TM that they deserve to have handed to them that caters to exactly what they want for free and maybe they’ll calm down lmao

like y’all aren’t cool you’re just being mean. we fundamentally approach fic in wildly different ways and honestly the way you do sounds exhausting. literally could not be me, I’m to busy finding joy in shared love for characters and not flipping the table in a rage because there’s one (1) element of the fic that isn’t specifically catered to me, maybe try that and you’ll feel better, hmm?

and yeah I’m aware that last sentence is me being condescending towards them, but frankly it’s warranted when so many people are being that mean and haughty for no reason lmao but truly those takes were horrific. fellow fic writers and even fellow fic readers I interact with, am mutuals with, authors whose works I read, readers who comment and interact with my works, fans of niche fandom subsets that run in the same circles as me— I hope you know this is so wildly not how I approach fics, I love just finding fics for my characters and forming these lil communities where we share our interests and love for them and hype each other up. I love what we have in these fandom niches and I hope you know I would never dream of being so mean and condescending towards y’all. fic writers and readers and fan communities are so special and I cherish it even if clearly there’s people in the notes on that other post who don’t know how to do that lmao. I love your unfinished WIPs, I love your fics that may only partially be what I’m looking for, I love when you write characters in a way I wouldn’t expect but shows your love for your particular headcanon, I love the variety and diversity and variance in fic. I love us. genuinely. fic writer moots I am hugging all of you and I frequently reread your works, even the unfinished ones. ♡

[torchickentacos]

I never do this, but reblogs were off and I want to shout this at everyone. stealing this post.

more thoughts under read more. I know it's a popular saying and I never look down on people who say things like this before knowing the impact they have (or even after to an extent, I have too much benefit of the doubt to go around), as we all have things we say and do that have negative impacts, and sometimes you never know to change that until someone points it out. So this is NOT a call out post or whatever, this is my rambling emotional thoughts on a topic.

I think first and foremost, I'm bothered by the ableism of course. But secondary to that is my annoyance at seeing people act high and mighty about fandom discourse. Like, if you want to talk to adults with jobs, go to linkedin or something, not tumblr, where we do care about things, and where we do discuss things.

And I GET thinking some discourse is stupid. I DO! because guess what. some discourse is stupid skjfhsdjkjfhsdjfhkdjs. I've joked about the poke/amour stuff before. I'll clown on some things, and maybe that makes me a hypocrite, but I feel like a step is taken when you take it from 'making fun of the discourse', something we all do to an extent (which dare I say is a form of participating in it) to 'making fun of the people who engage in such discourse'. We are FREE to talk about how silly the voltron stuff was. We are FREE to be snarky about things because human nature is to be a bit of a hater sometimes. but do it in a way that jabs at the topic and not the people.

But I think a lot of it also hinges on how we see human value on a larger scale. People make fun of people who work retail, people who don't have jobs, people whose jobs are considered extra or undesirable like sex workers, et cetera, despite these jobs being IMPORTANT. It's disheartening to me to see people lean on these types of jabs, and I think it tends to paint human value as something purely based on what you can give out to the world. It leans on this sort of input-output based system of determining how valuable or worthy someone is. And if they don't meet that standard value of 'adult with job', then their opinions are moot as jobless losers in their mom's basements or whatever the fuck. I think the whole thing leans into the conservative 'special snowflake' attitude, which isn't something I think we should be leaning on in arguments or discussion.

And I think that the intent is usually not to be ableist. Most people don't start their day wondering how they can insult disabled people, I'd hope. But intent and impact are often detached, and good intent (avoiding discourse) can have a bad impact (making fun of people in the name of pointing out issues with disocurse). I also think race could be a component, given how racial discrimination in hiring is still a very real thing and is a real factor preventing people from getting 'GoOd ReAl JoBs', but I'll leave that side of the discussion to someone who is more qualified to talk on it than I am. Feel free to chime in with any insight on that side of the coin if you want!!! I imagine the same also goes for visibly queer people but I'm not going to get into the straight/cis passing stuff right now.

And maybe I'm looking too far into it. Maybe I'm just thinking about it too much, maybe it's just a funny little saying that TOTALLY doesn't affect actual people in any way. After all, I'm just some jobless disabled loser in my parent's house talking about discourse on tumblr, aren't I?

[thegreenishhues]

AAAA thank you for the tag starri I totally didnt forget to do this shhhhhhhhh

1. Who is/are your comfort characters?

All of the qsmp eggs my absolute beloveds <3333333

2. Lighter or matches?

matches ig???

3. Do you leave the window open at night?

yes whenever its nice enough out!

4. What cryptyd being do you believe in?

bigfoot (/j)

5. What color are your eyes?

Brown yippee we matching starri >:D

6. Why did you do that?

Im not sorry

7. Hair ties or scrunchies?

Hair ties :D

8. How many water bottles are in your room?

3 I think XD

9. Which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee?

Hot coffee although I really like both

10. Would you slaughter the rich?

I will consider it

11. Favorite extra curricular activity?

I did one called Art Around the world once upon a time and I really liked it!

12. What kind of day is it?

decent :)

13. When was the last time you ate?

oh like a few hours O.O

14. Do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

HELL YEA

15. Are you a parent? (All answers qualify)

I have a dog so yes

16. Can you drive?

I can do anything once

17. Are you farsighted or nearsighted?

Nearsighted

18. What hair products do you use?

Shampoo, conditioner, and leave in conditioner (not sure if thats what it is but sure) because it makes my hair soft

19. Imagine were at a sleepover, would you paint my nails?

Yes but it will be a mess

20. Do you say soda or pop?

Soda because 'murica

21. Something you’ve kept since childhood?

My stuffed animals (same as starri)

22. What type of person are you?

Difficult to answer questions but I am definitely on the less energetic side, fairly outgoing, I do a lot of art stuff, pretty gay, a nerd in the sense of I play and watch a lot of minecraft?

23. How do you feel about chilly weather?

Yes to a point but also no because where I live it can get down to like -40 celsius sometimes and that is to cold

24. If we were on a rooftop together what would you do?

Are these questions coming from OP or the person who tagged me because it depends? I wouldn't be on a roof with you OP because you are a stranger <3

25. Perfume/body spray or lotion?

Perfume C:

26. A scenario you’ve replayed multiple times in your head?

God I don't know, my first interactions with mutuals tend to replay in my head a lot XD

27. About how many hours of sleep did you get?

8-9 yippee!!

28. Do you wear a mask

no :)

29. How do you like your shower water?

warm/hot

30. Is there dishes in your room?

yes...

31. What type of music keeps you grounded?

Most of my music is somewhere in the folk indie section :D

32. Do you have a favorite towel?

No??

33. The last adventure you’ve been on?

I went to a conference recently and far overestimated my ability to interact with humans 24/7 for 4 days XD I would call that an adventure

34. Is there a song you know every word to by heart?

Too many but also let it go from frozen one because childhood lmao

35. What’s your time zone?

not going to share that :P (some of my moots know but not just moots have access to public posts so no. <3)

36. How many times have you changed your url?

once only a few months after I made my twitch, haven't changed it since

37. Someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve know for 10+ years?

Oh god, no one really ;-; there are a few people I've technically known my whole life but I'm not close to any of them, damn I hate moving.

38. A soap bar that smells good?

Any fruit or flower scented ones :)

39. Do you use lip balm?

Not often

40. Did you have any snacks today?

I had a muffin!

41. How do you like your coffee?

typically just black because I am in a family full of bland monsters /lh

42. An app you frequent besides this god forsaken site? discord, twitch, youtube, and pinterest!

43. What’s your take on spicy food?

I love it so much AAAAAAA

44. You get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it?

no one probably. killing someone isnt the best way to resolve any conflict in my opinion (yes, there are exceptions)

45. Can you remember what happened yesterday?

Not much XD I played a lot of minecraft and spent the morning with friends :D

46. Favorite holiday film?

WALLEEEEEEEEEEEE

47. What was the last message you sent?

"Alright!"

48. When did you first try an alcoholic beverage?

When I was fairly young my grandma gave me some of her wine as a toast to my late grandpa I think

49. Can you skip rocks?

Sometimes

50. Can I tag you in random stuff? Absolutely!! although sometimes I will be an idiot and forget to respond for a while so my apologies

going to retag some lovelies tbw :D @lilghostlettuce @sarcastictissy @tiger-willow @theivorycoloureddonut @ssmartliineemartline @annimator @alteiriaa anyone else feel free to join!!

here’s weirder asks

who is/are your comfort character(s)?

lighter or matches?

do you leave the window open at night?

which cryptyd being do you believe in?

what color are your eyes?

why did you do that?

hair-ties or scrunchies?

how many water bottles are in your room right now?

which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee?

would you slaughter the rich?

favorite extracurricular activity?

what kind of day is it?

when was the last time you ate?

do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

are you a parent? (all answers qualify)

can you drive?

are you farsighted or nearsighted?

what hair products do you use?

imagine we’re at a sleepover, would you paint my nails?

do you say soda or pop?

something you’ve kept since childhood?

what type of person are you?

how do you feel about chilly weather?

if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

perfume/body spray or lotion?

a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times?

about how many hours of sleep did you get?

do you wear a mask?

how do you like your shower water?

is there dishes in your room?

what type of music keeps you grounded?

do you have a favorite towel?

the last adventure you’ve been on?

is there a song you know every word to by heart?

what’s your timezone?

how many times have you changed your url?

someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve known for 10+ years?

a soap bar that smells good?

do you use lip balm?

did you have any snacks today?

how do you take your coffee?

an app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site?

what’s your take on spicy foods?

you get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it?

can you remember what happened yesterday?

favorite holiday film?

what was the last message you sent?

when did you first try an alcohol beverage?

can you skip rocks?

can i tag you in random stuff?

[delicate44]

I really wish we would stop antagonizing people who aren't willing to lie to themselves about the reality of this situation. Of course I want Lewis to win and to win his 8th (really 9th) WDC, but the inconsistency is exhausting. Mind you, Ferrari's an even bigger shit show. If Lewis can't overcome what's happening at Merc with their weird strategy calls and the car not being up to par, how will he fare at a team that has this same reputation times 10?

Ferrari seem to have got their bearings a bit better now. And everything is a moot point until the car is good enough to even fight? You think Lewis the guy who takes the blame when things go wrong and gives the credit to the team when he wins is just lying about stuff like set up and balance to throw the team under the bus? No. This guy qualified P3 in the last race? He actually had a decent enough lap in the sprint quali barring his bad luck. He might have lost some pace in his quali idk but I honestly doubt lewis would disappoint like this if the car beneath him is better.