#like first of all you intentionally misled all your followers for months so that you could promote a random friend

[captain-lonagan]

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[jingabitch]

Armed to the Fangs ch.9

SUMMARY: you grew up in the hunter’s guild, understanding that it is your sacred duty as a hunter to protect humanity from the vampires that lurk in the dark, draining the life from anyone unlucky enough to be caught. while making the rounds one night, you encounter taehyung, a fabled born vampire - not that you know that when he tries to entice you into a dark alley. next thing you know, you’re kidnapped and taken to their home, where you realise that all of them somehow crave your blood and seem to know more about your past than you do. finding out about where you came from might be the key to setting humanity free.

PAIRING: eventual ot7 x reader

WARNINGS: some description of violence, angst, pining, maybe eventual smut but not for a looooong time, slow burn (really the slowest of burns), there is violence in this chapter, tense confrontation

RATING: T

WORD COUNT: 4k

A/N: yay action! thank you @pasteljeon and @jminacious​ for looking over this for me.

series index

Jungkook was the one who noticed it first.

His appetite started waning, and truth be told he hadn’t noticed it much at first. As the youngest of his brothers, he’d always had the greatest appetite of his brothers, always hungry. They’d promised that as he grew older, this would fade and he would no longer be so controlled by his bloodlust, but it hadn’t shown any promise so far. When he noticed that he was snacking less throughout the day, he chalked it up to that at first. Blood didn’t smell or taste as good anymore, but that was normal, right?

Besides, he had so much more to occupy his time now that you were around. He’d read that hunger was tied to boredom, and while life around the manor had been kind of mundane before, there was never a dull moment these days. Between spending time with you and your cat or listening to the stories of his brothers doing the same, there was so much more life in the manor now.

Really, it was no wonder that there was less time in his day (night?) for him to constantly be going down to the fridge now. And just like that, he managed to convince himself that a vampire losing his appetite for blood wasn’t really a problem.

Still, even the eternally optimistic and sunny baby boy of the manor could not ignore the fact that when the new delivery of blood arrived and he went to put them in the fridge, there wasn’t any space because it was still packed with the blood bags from last month.

“That’s weird,” he muttered to himself as he perused the contents of the fridge. He knew he hadn’t been drinking as much, but the others hadn’t said they were limiting their consumption either. And yet, based on how many packs were piled on top of each other, it looked like hardly any of them had been taking any at all.

It wasn’t the only strange thing that was happening around here, he thought as he remembered his strange visit with Hoseok a couple of days ago. He’d kept quiet about it out of respect to his hyung, recalling how desperately the older vampire had begged him to keep it a secret. Against his better judgement, he had, though in the back of his mind he still worried.

He was still standing in front of the fridge, frowning at the neat piles of blood bags, when you ran down the stairs. He truly didn’t know how you’d been a hunter when you were so goddamn loud all the time. It sounded like you were stomping through the hallways every day.

“Y/n,” he greeted as you darted past him.

“Oh, hey!” You paused to greet him. You were dressed in the same black jacket and trousers you’d been in when Taehyung first brought you to the manor, with your gun strapped to your hip and – he was sure – knives in your boots. Thankfully, as you’d eased up around them, you stopped carrying around the machine gun on your back, but you still felt vulnerable and naked being unarmed. Old habits die hard, after all.

“Where are you rushing to?” he asked, observing your jittery and anxious demeanor. Your eyes were constantly flicking towards the hallway that led to the front door and you couldn’t stop shifting your weight from one foot to another.

“Oh, Jennie-unnie said she was going to come visit today, so…” You trailed off.

“Right, okay.” He smiled at you to hide his unease. One hunter in their midst had been nerve-wracking enough at first, and you were his mate. He knew you were best friends with Jennie, though, so he tried to keep an open mind about her.

You didn’t notice his hesitance, so excited about finally seeing Jennie again. Since you’d been living at the manor, you hadn’t been able to meet any of your old hunter friends, and as much as you were starting to enjoy living here, you did miss them. Jennie had just texted you to let you know that she was almost here, so you were on your way to greet her.

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Jennie stood in front of the manor, staring up at the massive, imposing building. Her fingers were loosely curled around the barrel of her shotgun as she remembered the task from the Head.

“You have to get rid of her,” he said impassively.

Jennie’s eyes widened. This wasn’t what she’d expected. “But sir,” she started to protest. “I’m sure there are other options we can explore first – recalling her, training her again…” Her eyes searched Master Bang’s expression for any sign of sadness or regret at having to issue such an order for you, the hunter he had practically raised.

“You know there is no other option for a vampire sympathizer,” he cut her off.

“Sir, please,” she begged, tears falling down her face. She didn’t want to have to do this. You’d just been misled by the vampires you were living with, that was all. This was an unprecedented situation, wasn’t it? Did he have to be so cruel?

“You have your orders.” His tone was firm and brooked no opposition. She’d been a hunter long enough to know what that meant.

“Yes, sir,” she muttered in defeat, before turning to leave. Her shoulders slumped and her head bowed as she shut the door behind her.

One would think, probably, that she would be more of a mess. Crying, maybe, from the stress of having such a mission placed upon her. But Jennie was, first and foremost, a hunter, and she would carry out her orders no matter how much she didn’t want to. Her eyes were dry and focused, her hands steady. The last thing she could do for you was to make it a clean shot, so you felt no pain.

Still, she swore, she would avenge you. After carrying out your execution, she would make it her life’s mission to hunt down and kill all the bloodsuckers who’d made you like this. Who’d pretended to be civilized and kind, intentionally misleading you and tempting you from the path of austerity that hunters committed to. How dare they, she thought, her fingers tightening around the handle of her gun. When she finally got her hands on them, it wouldn’t be a clean, pretty shot like she was going to give you. She was going to make them suffer for what they’d done to you.

“Unnie!” you called out, opening one side of the double doors. You waved at her cheerily as you skipped down the steps to the driveway where she was standing.

“L/n Y/n,” she said emotionlessly, raising her gun to your face. You stopped short at the unexpected sight.

“Unnie, what’s going on?” you asked, eyes darting to her weapon as you raised your hands in the air. Your training kicked in automatically - don’t say or do anything that might startle the person holding a weapon at you, of course, and always follow every instruction they give you. Still, as composed as you looked on the outside, you were a mess inside. Thankfully Jennie wasn’t a vampire, because she would have been able to hear your heart rate ratcheting up. Hell, you could hear it pounding away in your ears.

“Drop your gun on the floor,” she instructed, her eyes flicking down your body. She knew you definitely had them on you. The months you’d spent here couldn’t break the habits of a lifetime.

“Okay,” you said slowly, keeping your left hand in the air as you slowly reached down with your right, shifting the lapel of your jacket aside so she could see the holster strapped to your hip. “I’m going to take my gun out, okay?” When she nodded, you took the gun out and bent down to put it on the ground.

Meanwhile, Jungkook heard the conversation from the kitchen and ran out. You’d never closed the door, and he was standing behind you, in the door frame. “Jungkook,” you cautioned, hearing his footsteps, “You should go back in.”

“Y/n, what’s going on?”

“Jungkook, this is hunter business. You need to go inside.” You didn’t know why you were trying to protect Jungkook when Jennie had never even faltered in her aim, clearly uncaring that he was there. He might be a vampire, but to you he seemed so young and innocent, and you didn’t want him to have you watch you get your brains blown out.

“Y/n, come back in!” His raised voice drew the attention of his brothers, who all dropped what they were doing to come see what was going on.

Hoseok, still in his room, pulled back the drawn curtains slightly to check out the commotion. He gasped when he saw the hunter standing in the driveway, her gun pointed straight at you.

“Unnie,” you ignored Jungkook to address Jennie, “why are you doing this?” Your voice didn’t tremble, even though you were staring down the barrel of her gun. Jennie wasn’t crazy, you knew, and she had to have a good reason for showing up here all of a sudden to murder you.

“Master Bang…” In the face of your calmness, her voice unexpectedly trembled. She swallowed hard, then tried again. “You’ve changed, Y/n. You’re sympathizing with vampires now, and there’s no place for that in our organization, you know that.”

“Jennie-unnie…” you pleaded. “Don’t do this, please.”

“I have to,” she whispered, the sound of her voice barely carrying in the wind. “Goodbye, Y/n.”

In the second before she pulled the trigger, there was a giant crash from upstairs and glass and plaster rained down on them. Jennie, who was standing exposed, screamed and threw her hands up over her head to protect her face, and without looking up to see what had caused the commotion, you dropped to the ground and rolled, picking up your gun as you went.

When you looked back up, in a different position now, you saw Jennie lowering her arms – and, nearby, Hoseok, who’d apparently flung himself out the window and was lying on the gravel now, groaning in pain. “Shit!” he hissed. His body, which was already weak from starvation, had not been in any position for what he’d just put it through.

Your eyes flicked towards him, ascertaining that he was alive, before returning to Jennie. You needed to help Hoseok, but before that, you really needed to get rid of your friend – former friend? – and fellow hunter.

“Unnie, you need to leave,” you said firmly, pointing the gun at her.

“No,” she insisted, aiming at you again.

You flicked the safety off with your thumb. It was a bluff, of course – you could never actually shoot her – but she didn’t need to know that. “I’m going to count to ten, and if you’re not back in your car by the time I’m done, I’m going to start shooting.”

Jennie’s lips flattened into a line, but she knew that you were a crack shot. You’d started learning how to shoot a gun when you were six, after all. As good as her aim was, yours was better. She had no chance against you.

“Ten…” You started counting. Jennie started backing away, though she held her gun up to you the entire time.

“Nine… eight…” She rounded the car, sliding into the driver’s seat. It was only when she was in that the gun aimed at you was put away, although you didn’t lower your weapon as the car started.

“Seven… six…” You continued counting until she drove away, then hastily stuffed your gun back in its holster. As you ran over to the man who was still lying prone, you heard the six other vampires in the house burst through the door to get to their fallen brother.

You reached first and fell to your knees next to him. “Hey… you okay?” you asked, touching his face gently. To your shock, he jerked away from you with more force than you would have thought him capable of, given how weak and in pain he looked earlier.

“Get away from me,” he snarled.

“Hey, I just want to help, it’s okay, I won’t hurt you,” you rushed to soothe him, thinking that he was reacting to a hunter coming close. He was the one you’d interacted with the least, after all, so it wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to think that he didn’t trust you because you were – had been? – a hunter.

Instead of being comforted by your words, however, he just bared his fangs at you again. By this point, the others had reached you, and Jungkook, who recognized the expression on Hoseok’s face as ravenous hunger, quickly got between the two of you.

“Wha—hey!” you protested as you were shoved aside. “What are you doing?”

“Sorry, Y/n,” Jimin said apologetically as Namjoon knelt on the ground next to Hoseok. You couldn’t hear what they were saying or see what was going on through their legs.

“Yeah, he’s in pretty bad shape and it’s dangerous for you to be around him,” Taehyung added. You stood up and brushed the dirt off your clothes. What was he talking about? You tried to peer over their shoulders at Hoseok, who was now being lifted by Jungkook and Jin, but they closed ranks around him so that you couldn’t see him.

“We’ll just put him back in his room, okay? Why don’t you go get some rest, you look pretty shaken up.” Jimin came close to try and hug you, then seemed to hesitate at the last moment, his arms awkwardly stretched out. He didn’t actually know how you would react to a hug, since all of them had made sure to keep a respectful distance from you.

To extricate you both from the uncomfortable position, you took a step back and his hands fell to his sides. “Right, well…” you said, looking away. “I’ll see you later, then. Feel better soon, Hoseok-ssi.” Then you turned and walked away, heading back to your room.

Yoongi sighed as they watched you leave. “She’s going to have a hard time later,” Yoongi predicted, and the others nodded, a few murmuring in assent. They would need to see if she was all right, but later. First, their brother demanded their attention.

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It felt like your body and your mind were on autopilot as you walked back to your room, retracing the path you’d taken earlier this evening, when you’d been so excited to see Jennie. So much had changed in the few minutes that she’d been here, and you could hardly process it.

The room you returned to seemed different, somehow, even though you knew it was objectively the same. Injeolmi came to greet you, chattering softly as he wove around your ankles, and you bent down to pick him up, rubbing your face in his fur for comfort. This room, once your prison and workplace, was now the only place you had to call your own. For now, anyway – you didn’t know if the boys would even want you to remain here now that you weren’t playing a diplomatic role. You didn’t need anyone to tell you that you were no longer a part of the Guild, not after a hunter had been dispatched to kill you.

Almost robotically, you walked over to the drawer where you kept your weapons, putting your gun away and hanging up your holster. You toed off your boots, keeping the knives you kept in them, then fell onto your bed face-down with a groan. Injeolmi hopped onto the covers next to you, looking concerned as he sniffed at your hair.

Even though you wanted to, you couldn’t cry, the tears refusing to come. Instead, you just lay there, not even attempting to process your emotions. What was there to think about? You’d been cast out of the Guild, the only home you’d ever known. Worse, you’d been sentenced to death. Even if Jennie hadn’t succeeded in carrying out her orders, it was only a matter of time before other hunters showed up to finish what she’d started. Your days were numbered.

Thankfully, your whole body was still numb from the shock, and every emotion was dulled. While adrenaline had allowed you to act quickly, picking up your gun when you saw the opportunity, now that it was fading, so, it felt, were you.

Closing your eyes, you ignored the plaintive meows of your cat as you tried to block the world out. As the energy drained from your body, all that was left was an overwhelming exhaustion that you allowed to steal your consciousness.

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“Hobi, what’s going on with you?” Yoongi fussed over his brother. Since there was now a giant hole in the window in his own bedroom, Hoseok had been brought to Yoongi’s, the older vampire gladly giving up his bed for his brother. This was the first time that most of them had seen him in weeks, and they were shocked by how weak and sickly he looked – even accounting for the fact that he’d thrown himself out a window.

“Nothing,” Hoseok groaned, even though they could all clearly see that it was a lie. His colour was off, and his jawline and cheekbones were more sharply defined than before. He curled up in bed, clearly still in pain, which meant his healing abilities had been affected too.

Namjoon sat down on the bed next to him, patting his face with some concern. Vampires were made of hardy stuff, and there were few things that could cause something like this. “How long has this been going on?” he asked.

“Couple weeks,” Hoseok gritted out, turning his face away from his brothers. He just wanted to go to sleep, and they kept bothering him.

Namjoon’s gasp made him turn his head back to his brother, and the shocked expression on his face made him kick himself inside. Of course Namjoon would be able to put two and two together.

“It’s her, isn’t it?” Namjoon asked. Resigned, Hoseok nodded slightly.

“Hobi…”

“Stop,” he groaned. “I can’t deal with this all over again.”

“Well, it doesn’t appear like you have a choice, does it?” Jin cut in. “Or did you just happen to fall out of your window just in time to save her?”

“Hyung…”

Seeing his obvious pain and misery, Jin relented. “Fine, you should get some rest. But we’re talking about this later.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything else.” Despite his current state, Hoseok never missed a chance to mouth off to Jin.

“All right, everybody clear out,” Jin ordered. As all of them filed out, he turned back to take one last look at his brother, who’d turned onto his side and pressed his face into the pillow.

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There was a minor scuffle among the remaining boys over who would get to see how you were doing – one that Yoongi, surprisingly, won. He claimed that he was bored because he’d had to give up his room to Hoseok while the window in the latter’s room was fixed, but his brothers knew better than that.

As he walked down the hallway to your room, Yoongi straightened his clothes. He really should remember not to get into physical altercations with his brothers, especially that muscle pig Jungkook, he thought to himself. Not that the younger really had a chance against him, but it was usually annoying.

Standing outside the door to your rooms, Yoongi hesitated before knocking. He remembered the shell-shocked expression on your face earlier and knew that you’d be dealing with some pretty intense shit right now. You might not want any company, but he figured it couldn’t hurt to let you know that you weren’t alone.

With that in mind, he rapped his knuckles against the solid wood of the door, then waited. There was no response, and he tried again. When he heard only silence through the door, he grew concerned.

His hand hovered over the doorknob as he debated over whether or not to enter without permission. He didn’t want to interrupt you or invade your privacy, but at the same time, he was worried – you hadn’t even spoken to tell him to go away. In the end, his curiosity about what you were up to won out over his prudence, and he opened the door, promising himself that he would only check to see if you were safe before leaving if you wanted him to.

It was cool and dark in your rooms, and Yoongi didn’t see you at first. “Y/n?” he called quietly. You didn’t respond, but Injeolmi woke up and leapt off the bed, padding quietly over to Yoongi.

“Hello,” he greeted the cat. He wasn’t as fond of Injeolmi as Jimin was, but even he had to admit that Injeolmi was an exceptionally good-looking and well-behaved feline, a fine companion for their mate. Injeolmi blinked at him, then went into his litter box.

“That’s nice,” he said with a slight grimace before continuing into the bedroom. There he found you, still dressed and wearing your socks, lying face down on the bed. Your legs dangled off the mattress and your arms were laying by your sides, looking for all the world like you’d just collapsed out of exhaustion, which was basically what had happened.

He knew that he should leave now that he’d ascertained that you were fine, but seeing you look so defeated, he couldn’t help but feel a tug in his chest, compelling him to go to your aid.

Gingerly, he sat on the edge of the mattress next to you, raised a hand to place it on your back, then thought better of it.

“Y/n?” he said again. This time, you stirred slightly. Emboldened, he repeated your name.

As you woke up, you became aware that you were lying face down in a puddle of your own drool, and you pulled your face away from your bedspread with a grimace. “Ugh,” you groaned, wiping at your cheeks and chin with the long sleeve of your shirt. Yoongi looked at you with fond amusement, as you suddenly became aware that he was there and lowered your arm to the bed sheepishly.

“What are you doing here?” you asked with a cute little scowl. He noted that your reflexes had slipped from when you’d first arrived, although he wasn’t sure if you’d eased up because you trusted them more now or if it was a result of your emotional state.

“I just wanted to check up on you,” Yoongi said simply with a little shrug.

“I’m fine,” you grouched, even though you really weren’t.

“I know,” Yoongi accepted, instead of calling you out on your lie. “Just… I had to give Hobi my room, so is it okay if I chill out here for a little while?”

You knew what he was doing, and you appreciated it more than you could say. “Sure, you can stay,” you allowed, striving for nonchalance. From the small smile he gave you, though, you knew that you’d missed the mark. Still, he didn’t call you out on it, instead crawling onto the bed so that he was reclining against the pillows you’d stacked against the headboard.

You followed suit, snuggling close to him and throwing an arm over his middle. Your forehead pressed against his side, and you closed your eyes. You knew that you definitely wouldn’t have done something like this if you were in your right mind, but you’d never felt so alone and helpless in your life and here Yoongi was, offering his own quiet, subtle brand of comfort that you couldn’t help but take greedily.

Yoongi draped an arm around you, rubbing his thumb against your back, and stayed there with you, letting you know without words that you hadn’t been completely abandoned. No matter what, you had him in your corner.

[neurotribe]

“Fear not!” - Or “Why there may be a distinct lack of visionary ideas in Australia’s 2019 Federal Election”.

Apparently one of the most common phrases found in the bible is “fear not”. I would often hear preachers say that the phrase appeared 365 times in the Old and New Testaments, one for each day of the year. Um, not quite. More like 80 odd with another 30 odd where the phrase is not quite “fear not” but it conveys a very similar sentiment.

In many of the churches I have visited and indeed been part of over the years, there is a tendency for sermons to emphasis “practical application”. How do you take what is in the bible and “make it work” for you in your mundane, day to day existence? In that kind of climate, I find that  “fear not” still gets a significant amount of airplay.

However, I predict that we won’t be seeing a whole lot of “fear not” sermons and information about how to practically apply such an injunction as we approach the coming Australian Federal Election. As a matter of fact, I predict the opposite.

In the state of Victoria, we have just come off the back of a state election. The Liberal Party (which is to say our conservative party for my non Australian readers) were led to believe that they were trailing in the polls so they adopted a fear based campaign. Their two pronged fear based messages focused upon the Australian Labor Party (the progressive or left side of politics in Australia for my non Australian readers) were not to be trusted as economic managers, and a “tough on crime” law and order message that targeted and vilified certain ethnic minorities that were some of the most recent and therefore most vulnerable of immigrants to our shores. The particular fear based campaign was widely deemed to be a disaster, resulting in a crushing electoral defeat for the conservative party.

There were other factors at play. The conservative party’s acrimonious factional infighting resulting in the unseating of our Prime Minister weeks before the election certainly didn’t help matters, however much of the analysis concluded that if fear is to be your primary means of garnering support, the chances of being able to communicate some kind of vision for the state, and the ability to have a vigorous public contest of ideas will at best take a back seat.

We are only a few months out from a federal election here in Australia. The federal conservatives are in a similar position to their state based counterparts. However rather than the infighting being something occurring in the background, it was this party that engaged in such bitter and acrimonious behaviour.

It is therefore no surprise that, knowing they face such an uphill battle at the polls, the Liberal (conservative) Party are adopting a fear based campaign, and once again, those who will pay the price of such a fear based campaign are those who are most vulnerable.

This article from The Age newspaper based here in Victoria shows that support for the Australian Labor Party fell by three percentage points in a week, as a result of the Liberal Party’s messaging to the general public regarding a piece of legislation involving medical attention for asylum seekers.

Adopting Trumps tactics of:

Lying about the way in which people seeking asylum come to Australia (the vast majority of "illegal” migrants arrive by plane, not by boat),

Using dehumanising language about those seeking asylum (referring to them in the same way that Donald Trump refers to people seeking asylum, ie: paedophiles, rapists and murders, yep, our Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that about people seeking asylum),

By lying to the Australian people about the details of the legislation that the Australian Labor Party and others who oppose the current government voted on (see this article where the Australian Prime Minister refused to acknowledge that the legislation did not apply to new arrivals, and therefore he had intentionally misled the Australian public)

the current conservative government seeks to adopt the strategy of frightening the Australian public to vote for them.

What has any of this got to do with my opening comments regarding the phrase “fear not” found in the Christian-Judeo holy text so many times?

Firstly, much has been made about our Prime Minister’s faith. Secondly the context of his faith tradition is one that constituted part of my own faith formation during my 20′s. It is a tradition that tends to seek an interpretation of scripture that leads to a “practical application”. It is the tradition where I heard preachers discuss the phrase “fear not”, the fact that it appeared many times in the sacred text and what that means in terms of our individual and collective faith practice.

Secondly, a man of faith in the public context seems, from my vantage point, to be at best deliberately distorting facts, and at worst lying to the Australian public in order to induce fear, at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people in the world, in order to maintain a hold on power. All whilst ignoring the words and the implication of this repeated refrain from the text that he, I and many of our sisters and brothers hold sacred.

To put it plainly, rather than obeying the commands to “fear not”, our Prime Minister, my brother in Christ is encouraging people to be afraid, and unless someone can spell out in unambiguous terms to the contrary, the reason he is doing it is because an election is on the near horizon which his party looks set to lose.

Australia suffers a media monopoly. It is no secret that the Murdoch press (and I’m not just talking traditional newspapers) holds a powerful beachhead in the Australian public’s imagination. I believe it is also for that same reason that the federal opposition backed off from support for the medical evacuation legislation.

A 3% shift in voting intentions in one week.

Based on a fear campaign about people seeking asylum.

The British Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously said “a week is a long time in politics”. I began writing this post last week. For all sorts of reasons it was interrupted and here I am completing the post. This week in Australia, the federal government is facing some serious heat regarding a couple of financial and favour related rorts. These revelations gutted the energy and attention being given to the fear based asylum seeker debate. I am not convinced that this will last for long.

As I lamented the prevalence of fear and the lack of courage in our political debate this last week, I received a gift of grace. It was a letter penned by a courageous visionary.

What follows is an open letter from Australian football pundit and former Australian international, Craig Foster. Before you write him off as a celebrity SJW, you might do well to do some research not only on his recent key role in the release of the detention of Australian refugee Hakeem al-Araibi, but also of much of his other tireless humanitarian work behind the scenes and out of the public spotlight.

With courage (which the last time I checked didn’t mean the absence of fear, but the capacity to continue to act in spite of being gripped by fear), we find ourselves in a place of spacious vision. More power to your elbow Craig Foster as you encourage us to “fear not”.

Dear Scott and Bill,

Thank you for your support for Hakeem al-Araibi during his recent struggle for justice and for the welcome provided to him last week at Parliament House. It was a powerful moment to see a young refugee celebrated in the centre of our democracy, the values of which underpinned our unshakeable conviction in his right to freedom.

In recent years, I have farewelled a loved friend and Hungarian refugee, Laszlo Urge, known as Les Murray AM, who was afforded a NSW state funeral, and seen a young Bahraini refugee become a symbol of hope and of the restoration of our values. Together, they stand as just two examples of what can be achieved by all, including those seeking a new life, free of persecution.

And not for the first time did I reflect that we are all just a different passport away from standing in their place. Had my family been in danger in a 1957 Hungary, I, too, would have fled. And had my own government had me incarcerated and tortured as a young athlete, I, too, would have spoken out and sought a new life elsewhere.

I could have been Les or Hakeem, and so could have you. While we work to ensure a prosperous and safe future for all Australians, we should never forget this.

Hakeem was understandably nervous when entering your offices since, in many countries, there is an unnavigable divide between the entitled and the rest. Don’t be worried, I told him, in Australia everyone is equal and you will have the opportunity one day to hold a position of leadership, should you wish.

Australians do not revere position or title, rather we judge the person by their actions. And so too are nations judged. It is in relation to our actions as a country that I now write.

I have waited until after Hakeem was safely home [from Thailand] to explain that one of the reasons it was so difficult to garner international support was because of our own treatment of refugees. This was a constant theme throughout discussions with international stakeholders.

Nor was it lost on any of us fighting so hard against two governments and monarchies and in urging FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation and the International Olympic Committee to uphold their human rights obligations that we are failing to uphold our own.

It cannot be right that, with Australia having participated as one of just eight nations in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights over 70 years ago, we are prepared to put people seeking asylum at risk of physical and psychological harm in order to deter others.

The fact that Parliament faced such a considerable challenge to pass legislation simply to provide medical care to refugees, fellow human beings, shows that we have gone too far, strayed from our basic values of humanity, that we need to step back and consider as a nation who we are and what we stand for.

As with Hakeem’s case, this issue transcends party lines and goes to universal values. The policy of indefinite, offshore detention does not uphold our international obligations and we need to be strong enough to admit this and to find a fair and humane solution to this crisis of our conscience.

Of course, we all accept that protecting Australians is critically important and this is why we need to find a solution in which people are not harmed in return. Our country needs strong leadership from you both to regain more than our international credibility in our treatment of all people, but our very sense of nationhood and pride in how we conduct ourselves both at home, and abroad.

The shared will to save Hakeem demonstrates that Australia is ready to have this discussion and to confront the image staring back at us in the mirror.

We are a part of the broader, global family and should act accordingly, just as you and I demanded that other state and non-state actors do on Hakeem’s behalf.

I am asking that you bring together the relevant people in the same spirit of humanity that saved a young man’s life to find a workable solution that upholds the obligations that we so proudly played a role in creating in 1948. One that gives every Australian an opportunity to say that we are not just a great multicultural and sporting nation, but a caring one.

We all saved Hakeem, together, and it will be up to all of our national leaders, irrespective of who ultimately prevails in the forthcoming election, to ensure that we now save ourselves.

Kind Regards,

Craig Foster, former Australian International (Socceroo), 29 appearances, proud but concerned Australian.

[nrip]

Doctors and nurses on Instagram: influencers like Doctor Mike are everywhere 

Sarah’s Instagram feed is pretty typical for a 21-year-old model-slash-influencer living in Florida. Here she is standing dreamily in front of some ferns. Over here she’s clutching Starbucks’s new Cloud Macchiato. She poses on porches, by murals, in bathrooms, often with lengthy captions that reveal what she’s up to this weekend (wedding planning, working), words of inspiration, and her very relatable love of donuts.

There’s one important difference: In all of them, she’s wearing scrubs.

Which is appropriate, considering “shesinscrubs” is her username. Along with modeling, Sarah, who asked not to reveal her last name, is a registered nurse. Over the course of just four months she has amassed an Instagram following of more than 11,000 people.

Being a nursefluencer, a term that I have admittedly made up but that describes a growing population, is similar to being a regular influencer: You get someone to take pictures (for Sarah, it’s her little brother), you post often (once a day or else the algorithm will bury you, Sarah tells me), and promote products (like almost everyone I spoke to for this piece, Sarah receives free scrubs from the brand Figs).

On the other hand, regular influencers don’t usually have to worry about whether promoting, say, CBD oil violates medical ethics. HIPAA, the law that protects patient privacy and medical records, is also presumably not a high-priority consideration.

But for Sarah, and many young health care professionals like her, a sizeable Instagram following is a salve for a litany of problems experienced by those in the field: burnout, odd hours, and a lack of a creative outlet, to start. So it’s not surprising that within the past few months, tons of accounts like hers have popped up, gaining huge followings — largely made up of fellow medical professionals — by posting an insider’s view of the industry.

It’s also raised questions about the ethics of being a health care influencer. After all, isn’t the only person who should be influencing anyone’s health their own doctor?

Where did medical influencers come from?

Instagram is a place where you are supposed to show off how “well” you’re doing, even if you’re not doing very well at all. Scroll through the feed and you’re likely to see signifiers of social wellness (friends), mental wellness (books and bathtubs), and physical wellness (yoga and photogenic health foods) that might bear negligible resemblance to one’s actual life.

Those who have succeeded at performing that wellness the most palatably for the platform have been rewarded with millions of followers, which in turn can bring brand deals and, with that, money. It’s created a new class of microcelebrities who, intentionally or not, wield enormous influence over how others live their lives, or at least how they present their lives on social media.

“I SEE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME ADVERTISE THINGS LIKE, ‘MY SPECIALTY IS COSMETIC DENTISTRY. THERE IS NO SPECIALTY OF COSMETIC DENTISTRY. IT’S NOT A RECOGNIZED DENTAL SUBSPECIALTY.”

While most of the time when we think of wellness influencers, we might think of acro-yoga couples or, on the extreme end, people like Freelee the Banana Girl, the nude vegan vlogger who lives in a South American jungle and eats exclusively fruit, there are some accounts that are actively harmful: Instagram has contended with a serious anti-vaccine conspiracy theory problem, for instance. Its algorithmic recommendation engine can also conflate many types of “health” content, so that following one anti-vaccination account might push you to follow dozens of others, but could also group them alongside accounts promoting innocuous things like plant-based diets.

Health care influencers who have flooded the site within the past few years say they’re fighting back against that kind of social media misinformation. Many nurses and doctors on Instagram combine the cute, aspirational lifestyle aesthetic of regular fashion and beauty influencers with actual medical tips from a vetted professional.

There are now so many medical professionals on Instagram that at least one hospital has created an entire position to govern it. Austin Chiang, MD, a gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, also holds the position of chief medical social media officer, which he guesses might be the first of its kind in the country. “I always felt strongly that we need a stronger clinician presence on social media in order to really battle misinformation out there,” he says.

It’s why last fall, he and a few peers launched the hashtag campaign #VerifyHealthcare, which encouraged health care professionals on social media to list their qualifications, such as their education, specializations, and board certifications. “A lot of us had started noticing health professionals who were saying that they were some sort of practitioner when they actually were not,” he says. “If they’re talking about health and marketing themselves as doctors, then the public could be misled.”

Many of the top Instagram posts related to plastic surgery, for instance, are from doctors not specially trained in plastic surgery despite the fact that they’ve marketed themselves as “cosmetic surgeons.” Naturopaths, chiropractors, and aestheticians are also typically not medical doctors, but some may present themselves on social media as such.

Concerns like these have been top of mind for people like Arthur L. Caplan, the founding director of NYU’s Division of Medical Ethics. “I see people all the time advertise things like, ‘My specialty is cosmetic dentistry.’” he says. “There is no specialty of cosmetic dentistry. It’s not a recognized dental subspecialty.”

On Instagram, health care isn’t just a day job anymore, it’s a personal brand, and an increasingly lucrative one at that: All the health care influencers I spoke to had seen their followings skyrocket in the past year, which some hope will lead to bigger brand deals.

But wait, why do doctors need side hustles?

Dentist Joyce Kahng has more than 13,000 followers on the account she launched just a year ago, @joycethedentist. When she first started, she posted up-close images of teeth (she used her family members’ due to HIPAA concerns) because that’s what she saw other dentists doing. But, she said, laughing, “those weren’t being received well by normal people.”

Instead, the content that performs best on the page now is about her life as a dentist in addition to owning her own practice and being a professor at USC. Being likable and accessible, she says, has also translated into business: Around three-quarters of her new patients have found her via Instagram. “It gives you a competitive edge against the already saturated dental market,” she explains.

Despite health care being a relatively stable and high-paying industry, Kahng sees her growing Instagram following as an investment. “In some future, I do want to start to monetize it because at some point I need to have kids,” she says. “I just haven’t figured out the way in which to do it that doesn’t make me feel like a sellout.”

This is when I ask her the very obvious question: If an extremely successful dentist, business owner, and professor is worried about not being able to afford children, what hope do the rest of us have?

“Dentistry does pay well,” she explains. “The thing is, you have to work in order to be paid. It’s not like a corporate job where you can call in sick. If I don’t come in, every single person that I employ cannot work that day. I just imagine being pregnant and having to miss work for a month, [and] the office cannot run. That concerns me.”

It’s not as if health care professionals haven’t always had side hustles. The internet is filled with tips on how to make extra money as a nurse — RNs can make, on average, from $50,000 to nearly $100,000 depending on the state where they live, but when adjusted for cost of living, that number can be lower. It’s also a job that has a high rate of burnout due to the stressful work environment and difficult working conditions, which means that not everyone can or wants to make it a lifelong career.

Many nurses have recently turned to multilevel marketing as a way to supplement their incomes or as a path out of the field. And though none of the influencers I spoke to were making serious (if any) money on Instagram, most acknowledged the possibility of doing so in the future.

“I don’t think it’s fair to be like, ‘You’re a nurse, you care for other people, therefore you’re not allowed to benefit yourself financially,’” says Katy B (who also asked to keep her last name private), a registered nurse in San Francisco with more than 25,000 followers. “Most of us have a lot of student debt and trying to stay afloat. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it as long as you’re being transparent about what you’re doing.”

Spon con, HIPAA, and medical advice: the ethics of being an Instagram doctor

That transparency, of course, comes hand in hand with the question of sponcon, or sponsored content. For the average influencer, it’s pretty simple: A brand pays them a sum of money to endorse a product, like laxative teas or viral YouTube toys, in a way that leverages their large following.

It’s different, though, when you’re also leveraging your expertise and reputation as a doctor, dentist, or nurse. Scroll through most health care influencers’ Instagram feeds and you’re likely to see at least a few #ads. Some are innocuous: Many influencers have deals with the aforementioned scrubs brand Figs, while others promote products like stethoscope charms shaped like Disney characters that can help keep nervous kids calm during checkups.

Though few peddle the kind of questionable medical treatments shilled by celebrities like Dr. Oz (rapid weight-loss pills with harmful side effects, for instance) some toe the very blurry line about what’s appropriate for a health care professional to post. Mike Varshavski, a cartoonishly handsome New York City physician who goes by the name Doctor Mike on Instagram and has more than 3 million followers, regularly posts sponsored content for everything from Clorox bleach to Quaker Oats and American Express, which could create the perception that these corporations are somehow medically approved by this doctor. (Disclosure: Doctor Mike has participated in a Vox Media panel event.)

Even average Instagram influencers now shill drugs and medical devices paid for by Big Pharma, without necessarily any real knowledge of how they work. When products fall under the health umbrella, the ethical questions are even more complicated. The Federal Trade Commission does have specific guidelines for doctor endorsements. For example, doctors should not misrepresent their specific areas of expertise. But it still raises the question: Should a doctor be paid to promote essential oils? What about NyQuil?

“I’m not sure [doctors] have any place [promoting over-the-counter products] other than to say, ‘I’m a regular user.’ I think it still undermines their professional credibility,” Caplan says. “When you start endorsing, say, aromatherapy, you’re saying you had a great time at a spa and you felt it really helped your anxiety or something. You’re getting into pseudo-medicine stuff. Some of those things can make you feel better, but you don’t want to give them scientific endorsement.”

It’s a debate that’s somewhat reminiscent of decades-long concerns about pharmaceutical companies paying or wooing doctors to prescribe their products. But this, Caplan explains, isn’t the way it works anymore. “You don’t have the old, ‘We’re gonna bring you donuts every week and you keep writing prescriptions for our drug.’”

THERE’S NOTHING IN THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH THAT CLAIMS THOU SHALT NOT HASHTAG #AD

“It’s not that everybody suddenly became ethical,” he said, laughing. Rather, now pharmaceutical companies can market directly to the patient. “There’s the ads that are like, ‘Ask your doctor about this cancer medication.’ If you have to ask your doctor about a cancer medication, you need a new cancer doctor.”

Sponcon, however, is not the main ethical concern for most health care influencers — after all, doctors and nurses endorse products all the time; as long as they comply with FTC advertising disclosure guidelines, there’s nothing in the Hippocratic oath that claims thou shalt not hashtag #ad.

Instead, that concern is HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, a federal law that provides privacy and security protections for patients’ medical information. Under HIPAA, all patients have the ability to see how and where their medical records are being used and prevent them from being seen by their employer or insurance company. And unlike shilling over-the-counter drugs, violating HIPAA is a fireable offense. The problem, though, is that HIPAA existed a decade and a half before Instagram did.

“It’s not as simple as not mentioning someone’s name,” Chiang explains. “Instagram is visual, so you see a lot of procedural photos. There are certainly risks in that. There’s even risks in geo-tagging or talking about a case that you’re doing.”

Some doctors and surgeons have achieved enormous followings on social media by posting procedural videos from the gross (Sandra Lee, who goes by the nickname “Dr. Pimple Popper”) to the straight-up gory. In 2015, Dr. Michael Salzhauer, or “Dr. Miami” began posting graphic videos of himself performing butt lifts, breast surgery, and liposuction on Snapchat, which regularly garnered more than a million views.

Dr. Miami reportedly secured permission from his patients to do so. Every influencer I spoke to listed HIPAA as one of their top concerns and said they were diligent about not posting anything that might cross a line.

“You can change the date, gender, or demographic, but someone from [their] work or family could recognize the case no matter how much you change about it,” Sarah says. “I would be scared to even think about posting about any of my patients. Maybe one of them saying, ‘You were a nice nurse.’”

Instagram is offering prospective doctors and nurses a look inside their world, and a way to deal with the stress

Though weighing the ethical questions like HIPAA and sponcon can be thorny, health care influencers also provide a genuine service for those interested in joining the field.

Like Kahng, Katy started her Instagram page after seeing similar accounts, and today, the majority of her followers are fellow health care professionals or aspiring ones. Though she originally went to college with the goal of being a physician, she realized it wasn’t for her. Now she’s on track to receive her master’s in June, when she will become a pediatric primary care nurse practitioner.

“I DON’T THINK IT’S FAIR TO BE LIKE, ‘YOU’RE A NURSE, YOU CARE FOR OTHER PEOPLE, THEREFORE YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO BENEFIT YOURSELF FINANCIALLY.’”

“My main goal is to share what my journey looks like, because in health care, especially for folks that aren’t familiar with the professional fields, there’s so many different things that you can do,” she says. “It’s cool when we all share our unique perspective of what it actually looks like on the human side.”

This explains why accounts like hers have been able to grow so quickly in such short amounts of time: There’s a real hunger among prospective medical professionals to get a sense of what the job and the lifestyle really look like.

“We’re so at risk for burnout, because we spend a lot of time taking care of other people, and I think sometimes we forget how to take care of ourselves,” she adds. “We have to brag about the cool things that we do!”

What you don’t see on Katy’s Instagram page — for reasons that are very obvious and very necessary — is her actual job. She’s currently in an emergency pediatric psychiatric care unit, where she works with children up to age 17 who are experiencing immediate psychiatric crises.

It’s difficult to imagine how the stress of such an environment can affect a person, but it does help explain why so many Instagram nurses and doctors fill their feeds with a heavily curated stream of bright and shiny images. For those who work in emergency rooms, it’s impossible to predict what the day will bring. But on Instagram, everything’s perfectly controlled.

Dustin Harris, a resident emergency room physician in Chicago, deals with the stress using humor. He’d done some standup, and started posting the funny things patients would say to Facebook. On his Instagram page, where he has nearly 18,000 followers, he posts jokes, memes, and sometimes even haikus relating to the job.

“My favorite part about it is making people laugh. It keeps me balanced. I’ll be working and I’ll see some disease, and be like, ‘Oh man, I could write a funny rap about this.’ The human body is a funny thing sometimes.”

“TV has portrayed medicine as being very dramatic or sexy,” he adds. “I felt that I could show the more real version of it. Not that those things that happen don’t ever happen, like awesome procedures or people coming back to life, but that’s not every day.”

Making light of the often dark professional realities of health care is how Sarah, the nurse in Florida, built her following in the first place. She’d started the meme account @scrublifenurses last June, which then gave her the skills and platform to launch her own personal page. Memes there range from the silly (a video of a possum carrying her babies captioned with “When you’re the only seasoned nurse on the floor with a bunch of new grads”) to the serious (the phrase “A national effort for safe staffing ratios for nurses” combined with the viral clip of Mo’nique saying “I would like to see it.”).

“A lot of our job is dealing with human emotion, and you can bring that home pretty easily,” Sarah says. “If you just bottle it all up and you already have issues with your own mental health, it can be extremely detrimental and then you lose your love for your passion.”

On both her meme account and her personal page, Sarah often posts about topics like mental health, the importance of nurses’ unions, and other national health care issues. That, of course, in addition to the stylized photos typical of influencers. “I like to post [photos that show] this isn’t what it really is, but at the same time have an aesthetically pleasing feed. It’s kind of like you have control over something, but when you’re at work it’s chaos.”

Nursefluencers aren’t going anywhere anytime soon

The benefits of being a health care professional with a big Instagram following — having a creative outlet, the ability to market oneself, and the sense that you’re combating misinformation on the internet, for instance — mean that the phenomenon isn’t likely going to slow down.

One problem, though, is that medical students aren’t exactly taught how to use Instagram responsibly. Caplan, the medical ethicist, says that at most they’ll get a single lecture on social media, which he attributes to the generation gap. While most current medical students have grown up using social media, their professors didn’t, and may not be prepared to advise them on the peculiarities of the health care internet.

In a piece for Slate in November 2018, medical student Vishal Khetpal wrote about how organizations and companies would approach him and his classmates to appear in white coats while endorsing products or attending events despite the fact that they weren’t actually doctors yet.

“The uncharted ethics of social media are already confusing,” he writes, “and that’s before you add in the influence of outside interests, many of which are ready to take advantage of students’ ability to offer some stamp of medical authority to the general public about a product or idea without asking too many questions.”

“ANYONE WHO THINKS THEY’RE GOING TO STOP THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY PHYSICIANS OR NURSES IS OVER 40.

Confusion over what’s okay to post is a constant struggle. It’s why Chiang has launched the Association for Healthcare Social Media, which is currently in the process of obtaining a 501c3 designation before opening itself up to members.

“I think a lot of physicians are almost scared to get on social media because of the restrictive nature of how things were worded in the past,” he says. “We want people to share their experiences and share their expertise.”

Traditionally, health care professionals were discouraged from revealing anything about their personal lives in the public. But, thanks in part to Instagram, that’s changing.

“[There are] some old fogies who think, ‘Well, doctors shouldn’t be sharing personal information or talking about their lives in places the patients could find it, blah, blah,’” Caplan says. “Anyone who thinks they’re going to stop the use of social media by physicians or nurses is over 40. It’s just not going to stop. We have to adjust.”

Kahng, for her part, says that now, she makes sure to teach her USC students to build up their social media presence. “They invest so much money into their education and at the end of it, who knows?” she says. “They may not like dentistry, and I want them to have a following so that they don’t feel quite as trapped. They have something to lean on.”

[everettwilkinson]

Montana 'closer than it should be' on eve of special, Republicans say

With Elena Schneider and Scott Bland

The following newsletter is an abridged version of Campaign Pro’s Morning Score. For an earlier morning read on exponentially more races — and for a more comprehensive aggregation of the day’s most important campaign news — sign up for Campaign Pro today. (http://www.politicopro.com/proinfo)

Story Continued Below

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN — “Republicans: Montana special election ‘closer than it should be,'” by POLITICO’s Elena Schneider and Gabriel Debenedetti: “It’s a recurring nightmare of a pattern for Republicans around the country, as traditional GOP strongholds prove more difficult and expensive for the party to hold than it ever anticipated when President Donald Trump plucked House members like Ryan Zinke, the former Montana Republican now running the Interior Department, for his Cabinet. Gianforte is still favored to keep the seat red, but a state Trump carried by 20 percentage points last year became a battleground in the last few months. … ‘I remember talking to people when it first started who said this was a slam dunk, Gianforte’s it. And it’s not there anymore,’ said Jim Larson, the Montana Democratic Party chairman. ‘It is a lot closer than people ever thought it would be.’ Gianforte has led consistently in polls of the special election, but Quist has narrowed that lead to single digits in recent weeks, according to private surveys.” Full story.

— Updates: Quist has raised more than $6 million for his campaign as of yesterday, including $1 million in the past week. Meanwhile, Pence recorded a robo-call for Gianforte. “With Greg Gianforte’s help, we will make America great again,” he says on the call. Full story here.

AND IN GEORGIA — NEW THIS MORNING — On the heels of new Democratic investments, Handel adds a new TV ad: Republican Karen Handel is adding a new TV and digital ad that goes after Democrat Jon Ossoff on “to hide his lack of experience and misleading resume,” per a statement from her campaign. “No experience, no record of success, so he intentionally misled us to get our vote,” the ad’s narrator says. “The problem is, he got caught. Now Jon Ossoff and his liberal allies have been caught lying about Karen Handel too.” Watch the ad here.

— CLF releases new radio ad, grows field program in GA-06: The Congressional Leadership Fund is bringing on 45 new door-knockers, expanding its field program to 135 paid staffers on the ground. It also added a new goal of reaching an additional 100,000 doors. The Republican group is also out with a new radio ad that hits on the same themes as its TV ads: “San Francisco will have Nancy Pelosi as our Congresswoman and Jon Ossoff as our Congressman,” the radio ad’s narrator says. Listen to the ad here.

— The moves come after the DCCC announced they would be spending an additional $2 million in the district on Tuesday. Of the investment, $1.5 million would go to television ads, with the remaining half-million aimed at get-out-the-vote digital ads and African-American print and radio ads.

BETA NO MORE — The FEC’s beta website is now just its new website. Feast your eyes, fellow campaign finance nerds: FEC.gov

WAY, WAY DOWNBALLOT — Democrats flip state legislative seats in New Hampshire, New York: Let’s get the caveats out of the way first — the two Republican-to-Democrat special election flips on Tuesday featured approximately 10,000 voters between the two of them. But Democratic candidates did manage to pull off wins in consistently Republican territory, the type of special election result that is contributing to GOP anxiety ahead of the Montana House race despite the fact that Republican Greg Gianforte has led in every poll of the closely-watched race. In New Hampshire, Democrat Edie DesMarais won a special election and flipped a seat last night in Republican-leaning Wolfeboro, winning a district Trump won with 51 percent of the vote in November. In New York, labor-backed teacher Christine Pellegrino won a normally Republican Long Island seat (Trump won approximately 60 percent there) in the state Assembly. Democrats excitedly noted that they are the first seats to flip this year after a series of special election performances running ahead of the 2016 results but shy of wins. (Republicans, meanwhile, have already flipped a formerly Democratic-held state legislative seat in a Louisiana special earlier this year.)

Days until the 2017 election: 168.

Days until the 2018 election: 532.

Thanks for joining us. You can email tips to the Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, krobillard@politico.com and dstrauss@politico.com.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @danielstrauss4.

WOMEN RULE PODCAST: Fran Townsend, the former homeland security adviser for President George W. Bush, confirms that the Trump administration has approached her about replacing ousted FBI Director James Comey. In this week’s must-listen episode, we hear directly from Townsend about being thrust into the middle of the controversial job search and how her candidacy for the job is itself “history-making.” Townsend joins two other prominent women from the Bush White House – Candi Wolff, Assistant for Legislative Affairs, and Julie Cram, Deputy Assistant and Director of the Public Liaison Office – to reflect on their stints in the executive branch and offer up advice for the current Republican administration. Listen and subscribe iTunes | Soundcloud | Stitcher

ROLL TIDE — Strange claims NRA endorsement: Speaking on radio station in Mobile on Tuesday, Alabama Sen. Luther Strange said the NRA informed him earlier in the day that they are endorsing him in the state’s contested special election to permanently replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “I just got a letter from the NRA today announcing they’ve endorsed my campaign for the Senate,” Strange said.

TECH UPDATE — “Republicans want to leave you more voicemail — without ever ringing your cellphone,” by Recode’s Tony Romm: “The GOP’s leading campaign and fundraising arm, the Republican National Committee, has quietly thrown its support behind a proposal at the Federal Communications Commission that would pave the way for marketers to auto-dial consumers’ cellphones and leave them prerecorded voicemail messages — all without ever causing their devices to ring. Under current federal law, telemarketers and others, like political groups, aren’t allowed to launch robocall campaigns targeting cellphones unless they first obtain a consumer’s written consent. But businesses stress that it’s a different story when it comes to ‘ringless voicemail’ — because it technically doesn’t qualify as a phone call in the first place.” Full story.

— “Top hacker conference to target voting machines,” by POLITICO’s Edward-Isaac Dovere: “Hackers will target American voting machines — as a public service, to prove how vulnerable they are. When over 25,000 of them descend on Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas at the end of July for DEFCON, the world’s largest hacking conference, organizers are planning to have waiting what they call ‘a village’ of different opportunities to test how easily voting machines can be manipulated. Some will let people go after the network software remotely, some will be broken apart to let people dig into the hardware, and some will be set up to see how a prepared hacker could fiddle with individual machines on site in a polling place through a combination of physical and virtual attacks.” Full story.

RANK IN THE TANK — “Maine Supreme Judicial Court rules ranked-choice voting unconstitutional,” by the Bangor Daily News’ Michael Shepherd: “Maine’s high court said Tuesday that the state’s first-in-the-nation ranked-choice voting system is unconstitutional, throwing the voter-approved law into jeopardy ahead of the key 2018 campaign when it was supposed to be implemented. In a unanimous, 44-page opinion issued Tuesday, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s seven justices agreed with Attorney General Janet Mills, Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap and Republican legislators that the system violates a provision of the Maine Constitution that allows elections to be won by pluralities — and not necessarily majorities — of votes.” Full story.

2018 WATCH — “A ‘Draft Lynn’ for governor campaign surfaces,” by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein: “‘Georgia needs Lynn.’ So ends a lengthy plea sent to droves of Georgia Republicans on Tuesday urging former U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland to join the 2018 race for governor. One of the most colorful personalities in Georgia politics, the Coweta County Republican embarked on a ‘reconnect tour’ after his decision last year not to run for another term in Congress. But he hasn’t yet jumped in the race — or ruled it out.” Full story.

ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ — “Trump undermines Senate GOP’s Medicaid backers,” by POLITICO’s Burgess Everett and Adam Cancryn: “By proposing hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts in combination with the House-passed health care bill’s more than $800 billion in Medicaid spending reductions, President Donald Trump is effectively throwing in with fiscal conservatives looking to constrain the program’s growth and wind down its coverage as quickly as possible. And that could be perilous for more than a dozen GOP senators who have been meeting for months over how to preserve the law’s benefits.” Full story.

— “Pence planning to hold rally in Louisiana,” by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney: “Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday has scheduled a free rally in Louisiana on Wednesday that is being promoted by the state’s Republican Party. An advisory from the Louisiana GOP says that Pence is headlining the event at Cajun industries in Port Allen, just outside of Baton Rouge, where he’s also slated to hold a roundtable with small business leaders.” Full story.

— Pence will also hit the trail in GA-06 on June 9, per the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem.” — Trump to Phillipine President Rodrigo Duterte, according to a leaked transcript of their phone call obtained by The Intercept. Duterte has been widely criticized for human rights abuses in his war on drugs.

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