#like it sucks so much because in both cases- the other media that theyre in (like the source material) have them care about each other a +

[volfoss]

I HATE the trend in modern tv and movies that is just taking characters that care about each other and turning them into people who bicker nonstop and hate each other

[scattered-winter]

wait hang on who are the hot gay boys in that gif set you reblogged

HGLHSIERGLSJDGALKSHGLK i was gonna put the [do you have any idea how little that narrows it down] meme but im pretty sure u mean this one <3 and in any case i will always be down to ramble about the Sillies(tm)

ok so those guys in particular are from the fox procedural called 9-1-1 Lone Star, which is a spinoff of the original 9-1-1 (which just got moved to abc after some Drama that went down so my tag for it is 911 (not fox) lmaoo). but both shows are about first responders (firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers, police) with a particular focus on firefighters. 9-1-1 (the og) is set in LA, and primarily focuses on the 118 firehouse and the firefighters/paramedics there with some other characters in the main cast who work as dispatchers/police officers (the police storylines are more often than not FULL of copaganda which sucks but the main focus is on the firefighters so i'm able to enjoy the rest of the show). 9-1-1 Lone Star is pretty much the same except it's set in austin texas, and is about the 126 firehouse. there are onscreen queer characters in both (in the og there's a married lesbian couple raising a kid, and in lone star there's the aforementioned hot gay boys [one of whom is unfortunately a cop but i swear to GOD i will get him out of there. one day.] and in lone star there's also a trans man and wlw woman in the main cast.) and my favorite thing about these shows is the found family !!! like these are the shows that have endeared firefighter aus to me because they live together and eat meals together and just. the familial/platonic love is So Powerful and it legiterally makes me cry to watch. like there's romance ofc but genuinely it's one of my favorite found family medias to ever exist. its So.

of the two the og is my favorite for a LOT of reasons, but they're both pretty enjoyable !! lone star definitely has more of a comedic tone than og (theyre BOTH funny but lone star doesn't have as many somber intense moments as og does, and they're much more spread out so there's a lot more room for goofy shenanigans. but og still definitely has plenty of those) and the team dynamics in them both are just...ughhh <3333

HOWEVER. lone star has ..... Him...(derogatory)...he's the fire captain and (despite lone star SUPPOSEDLY being an ensemble show with no Main Character) is in fact. the Main Character. and he's the blandest most obnoxious crustiest white man to ever LIVE. he gets most of the storylines and he's constantly propped up by the writing as The Coolest Guy Ever when he's just . not . i hate him so much it's unreal it's soo so unreal (<- biting the bars of my cage) BUT the rest of the team ??? absolutely love them. like i DO love lone star a lot its a great show with great characters and dynamics but it just has. the most annoying guy to ever live front and center when ITS SUPPOSED TO BE AN ENSEMBLE SHOW FEATURING EVERYONE EQUALLY. grr. anyway. og does a much better job of being an ensemble show, and i could not choose a favorite character of the main cast if you held me at gunpoint. angela bassett is there. i am gay. jennifer love hewitt is there. i am very gay. etcetera.

AND SINCE YOU ASKED SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE LONE STAR GAYS ILL TELL YOU A BIT ABOUT THEM

so one of them is tk strand (firefighter/paramedic, also the son of the Main Character (derogatory). i have many many many thoughts about that. i would probably get gunned down in this fandom if i ever said them aloud.) and the other one is carlos reyes (a private detective TO MEEEEEEEEEEEE but unfortunately fox is full of cowards who refuse to see the truth. they wanna have a gay cop in their show sooo bad </3) and they're kind of the main romance of the show (there Are others ofc but theyre like. The Focus. which is fine ig but i do wish there was more focus on other relationships because in general lone star isnt as good as the ensemble thing as og. but i already complained about that so i digress.)

now they're a fun pair because one of them has been shot, frozen almost to death, and otherwise put into a coma on MULTIPLE occasions. and it's not the guy whose entire job is to get shot at. (the whump in both of these shows.....................absolutely effervescent. im thriving here.) and they have a very fascinating relationship because their personalities fit together really well but they have different ways of coping with shit that kind of tear each other apart a little bit. which is of course terrible for them but incredible for me. and the writing is at times ridiculous. soap opera-esque, even. they're ridiculous. i adore them. they cannot catch a god damn break and i love that for them even more. <3

[ge]

The way the lack of romance prevent ppl from reading rotbb is one of the saddest thing around. Like I crack ship as much as the next person (SosoIseol is adorable and I personally find CMxJG particularly funny even if I feel bad for inflicting CM on JG) but the lack of romance is part of why the narration is often so we'll balanced. Romance as a genre usually requires to make an Us and Them wall that often creates a narrative gap with the other characters (whether bc the romance is proper up or the FF is propped in which case the addition of romance was unnecessary and both case often leave a bad taste). Like...it can be well done but I don't see the point of adding it this far into the story.

Also if anything happened in canon I'd probably rage quit it because romance not being important is one of the things that made me appreciate this series so much (I hold instances of AroAce and/or celibate-who-don't-care protagonists near and dear to my heart). I might make an exception for SosoIseol 'cause it wouldn't change them that much and TBxCM because it'd just add to an already existing pathos -which would have even less of a narrative impact but for the same reason I really don't see the point to have them in canon. (Fanfictions and fanarts are our friends u.u)

Also I think there should be an "I want to both punch and roll CM into a burrito blanket consecutively and with no in between" Club, I feel he deserves it (the canon version is the alliance + the 5 dumbasses)

RIGHT SO TRUE SO TRUE like and even if there is no romance and yallre exclusively not reading a novel cuz it doesnt aligns w yalls yaoi criteria, it shouldnt even matter cuz i see the way some of yall crack ship the most incomprehensible nonexistent made up ships in other media ive ever seen so why is it a problem now all of the sudden...... when i say theres no romance in rotmhs im not saying there arent things 4 yall 2 ship in it if yallre that desperate for face sucking, my own biases being yu iseol & tang soso and tang bo & chung myung who are, for all intents and purposes, straight girl / boy best friends but do i gaf???? NO? THEYRE YURI YAOI PARALLELS

as u said.. the fanart and fics that make up the fandom are more than enough to keep people who want to ship sated im being so serious

[eddiemunsongf]

i’m tired and i wanna call a horse a horse.

the reason “problems” keep cropping up with edssy (”she has a bf” “theyre just friends!” “theyre both gay!!” “shes a child!!!!!!”) is because there is a much more popular ship with one of the members. end of. i’m not trying to start a ship war here, i don’t want that at all. i’ve just personally seen this play out twice before and i’m not even that involved in fandom.

antis, be honest with yourself: when you were watching the show, did you read chrissy as a child? did you recoil at the scene of the two of them in the woods? did you get online, see people were shipping it, and immediately think ‘but shes a minor!’? or, did it happen the other way around? did you think little of it while watching? did you feel an unfocused annoyance or upset when you first saw the ship online? did you see a callout post saying that the ship was invalid for X reason and feel vindicated?

this problem arises when people moralize their dislike of things. they see something that makes them angry or upset, and because they are a Good Person, they conclude that that thing must be Bad in some way. they look for something wrong with it, so they can feel comfortable hating it. 

what’s more, this corner of the internet has a long-developing problem with anti-critical rhetoric. saying you just don’t like something or that it’s stupid will get you branded as cruel or pretentious. the loophole to that reaction is to say you don’t like something BECAUSE it’s problematic. then you’re not a lame hater, you’re a righteous warrior! plus, it’ll get you attention. outrage works online. i know this. i have a post on here structured like a clapback that got me like 500 easy notes. i knew what i was doing. everyone loves to be vindicated. everyone wants to be in the right.

the thing is, when the lighter callouts get debunked or brushed off, but the original, unfocused dislike remains, people start dredging up more serious crimes to pin on the offending ship/character. and when people start saying a fictional thing is seriously problematic (ie. racist, homophobic, p*dophilic, etc) other people who come across that idea get really, understandably mad. then they start lashing out at or calling out the actors. 

those two cases i mentioned earlier?  both of them ended with the actor of the “third wheel” being harassed to the point of shelving or quitting social media and pulling back from the public considerably. i think one of them quit acting for a while. these were not big names, they were c-list tv actors. their careers suffered visibly.

if you’re reading this and you hate edssy, this is what i want you to know: that’s fine. that’s enough. you can just hate them. hate them because it’s cliche. hate them because princess x rascal is childish and cringy. hate them because youre sick of het ships. hate them cause you’re sick of white ships. hate them because you think eddie is gay. hate them because you think chrissy is gay. hate them because you think one of them sucks and doesn’t deserve the other. hate them because one of them clearly has a better match in another character. that’s all fine. i probably disagree with you, i might even argue with you, but in the end it’s fine. it’s your business.

but please, don’t manufacture reasons why it’s Morally Wrong to like a thing.  even if you don’t directly harrass grace, coming up with and perpetuating these increasingly outlandish gotchas for the ship contributes to a climate that WILL land on her doorstep. she is a real person. there are real consequences to this behaviour.

and finally, i’m asking you to look critically at why it is so appealing to you to come after this ship. is there another ship with one of these characters that is dear to your heart? does edssy feel invalidating to that ship? do you feel any kind of pain when you see edssy content? do you feel angry reading this right now? if the answer to those questions is yes, is it possible that those feelings are a factor in your moral outrage? is it possible those feelings are shaping your perspective of the canon and the people who ship it?

be mindful of your motivations and the consequences of your actions. 

live and let live.

[ast-heljar]

I know people like to dunk on high school lit analysis and other people like to dunk on those people... but honestly, all but 1 of my english teachers really did suck at teaching the subject, so ??? All I feel is that i really missed an opportunity to have something taught to me at a beginners level. Sure, I can learn it now, and I am, but self teaching isnt the same as taking a class taught by a good teacher who can act as a resource for questions or provide extra help if Im just not getting it.

No one likes to be asked why the curtains were blue, but no one also explicitly said, "The authors are humans and their experiences and opinions bleed into their writting both consciously and subconsciously, so what we are going to do is try to ID what themes the author THINKS theyre writing and the messages theyre actually conveying via their work." and other such things you can learn by reading critically.

But that didnt happen in my case? and apparently the same is true of others? And that post that dunks on the person for saying, "hey maybe they should teach a class on how to dissect media" really rubs me the wrong way. Someone failed them, but nah, lets just put all the blame on them for not paying attention in class? Gives too much credit to the education system, belittles adults who want to better themselves now but find it difficult, and stinks of the same kind of mentality that thinks kids arent human until theyre 18 and there for cant have any problems that may affect their ability to do well in school.

idk what to tell you except that if thats how you feel then you need to reassess because youre being an ass and youre prolly better than that.

[studyally]

Get Things Done: The Practical Way

Update / what I learned so far: second semester into my second-year Nursing degree //

What’s in this post:

the intro: backstory from last sem

lesson 1: try not to break the academia stride or mindset that ocmes with going to classes 

lesson 2:  find a person (or three in my case) who’ll make you accountable for your actions

lesson 3:  have a practical calendar and task manager system that’s convenient for both the idea-capturing part and accessing later on

lesson 4: try to keep your focus on one thing. Keep a distraction sheet to jot any attention-diverting thought you may have while working.

It’s been pretty tough last sem since I was juggling like 3 extracurriculars plus, of course, the heavy memorization- and concept-heavy nursing subjects, quizzes which were almost once at least every day, the assignments, and having to go through weeks of clinical exposure while running on a maximum of 4 hours of sleep every night. It was very tiring. 

Now, second semester’s just started. The first week just ended and it does not feel like a week. I talked to my parents before this sem, and we agreed I really needed to be closer to university this sem so that after class my mindset will still be focused on school instead of letting it wander as I commute home that by the time I’m home, I won’t even wanna move because I’m already tired from commuting for almost two hours. Lesson 1: try not to break the academia stride or mindset that comes with going to classes. Right after class, write the stuff you have to do or, even better, do the least taxing one. Start typing a draft on your phone’s notes so you can type that out later. Or you could listen to a productivity podcast or a study vlog if that doesn’t destroy the stride for you. Just be careful about not getting sucked into the loop that is clicking the next button for the next video/podcast.

Anyways, dorm life is good so far. I moved in with three of my friends who were already there since the first year of college. Having them there, talking about what to do, what’s due on what day, how difficult that quiz was, how long this assignment we’re supposed to be doing is - that is all chatter, except it’s school-related chatter which I’ll take any day compared to scrolling through social media. This is related to not breaking the acad mindset, I’d say, because after that chatter, we almost always end up with doing the shit. Just sitting in our own beds/chairs and being hella productive. And if one of us starts to slump or lie down in bed, we’d be like alarms yelling out “hey watch out!” or “that’s a trap!” or just “GET UP YOU’LL SLEEP AGAIN”. Whenever one of us would say “wake me up in 10 minutes,” at least one of us’ll be like “are you sure about that decision.” Then at certain times, we’d ask each other of our progress and that either relieves me because we’re at the same level or pump the buhjewelz out of me because dAMN I NEED TO UP MY GAME IT’S 2 AM THEYRE THERE AND IM STILL HERE!! Anyway, what I’m trying to say is: Lesson 2: find a person (or three in my case) who’ll make you accountable for your actions.

Lesson 3: have a practical calendar and task manager that’s convenient for both the idea-capturing part and accessing later on. I have a bullet journal but I don’t use it that much for idea-capturing because it’s faster for me to just type on my phone’s reminder app. I use my bullet journal for when, after the classes, I have assignments and quizzes I need to schedule and tasks I have not yet done within the day because sometimes I make assignments in class. It serves as a transition from classes (uni) to the actual doing (home or dorm), and also as a way to clean my head like a brain dump does. Basically like a second brain because I’m forgetful (not very good for nursing). If I don’t wanna think about it, I write it down. I check my journal every day anyway so I’m sure I’ll know what that thing is.

I’ve been listening to the Asian Productivity podcast on Spotify, and there’s an episode on the TEA framework - time, energy, and attention. Here’s their article on that. I know I lack attention and focus when I do something. So what I’ve been doing is having a piece of paper or using the sticky notes app on my Windows laptop for when I think about anything that diverts my attention from what I’m doing so I don’t have to keep on (sort of) switching gears and refocusing again. In doing this, I get to continue to focus on the task I’m doing unless what I remember is more urgent (seldom happens though). So that’s: Lesson 4: try to keep your focus on one thing. Keep a distraction sheet to jot any attention-diverting thought you may have while working.

If you have anything you wanna add to these, feel free to add! :D

[quarktrinity]

hey so remember that post i made talking about how connor murphy is an abusive shithole? id like to make some adjustments to that.

in that post, i said that people are still allowes to like/relate to connor murphy and/or evan hansen. i only said that because if i didnt constantly cater to the opinions of deh stans, id be burned at the stake for it, and even when i did cater to them, i got people saying that connor actually isnt abusive, and that i should "let people enjoy things, karen".

well you know what? i literally dont give a shit right now.

dear evan hansen is a shitty garbage musical and anyone who tries to defend it needs to read the fuck out of this post.

lets address the elephant in the room. connor murphy abuses his sister. this shouldnt be up for debate, its literally part of his character, and basically stated in the script, which i own. if you "disagree" with this, i think you need to watch that show again.

so now that thats out of the way, i can go further into detail about this.

deh portrays connor murphy as a ~complicated~ individual, and says that even though he did bad things, the world shouldve been more welcoming and kind to him, and his parents shouldve tried harder to help him.

and sure, okay, his parents definitely sucked at trying to give their son the help he needed, but are we actually just going to skim over the fact that hes abusive? he threatened his sister and treated her like shit daily, thats not ~complicated~, thats called abuse, and the writers of this show cant fucking put this kid on the pedestal they put him on without giving the impression that they think abuse is justifiable.

you cant have it both ways. you cant have a character be irredeemable, then try to portray them in a sympathetic light. it makes you look like an asshole.

so if connors such a shithole, why do so many people like him?

well, lets just say that if sincerely me wasnt a song, people wouldnt give a shit about him. this is a classic case of "piece of media has a character say theyre gay, then pass it off as a joke to appeal to the straights, and lgbt+ fans eat it up." once fans had that impression of him, they couldnt let it go.

but that isnt who connor is. thats literally the point of sincerely me. connor isnt the cutesy sad baby you think he is, hes an abusive piece of shit who doesnt deserve the attention he got.

you might say: "but he was depressed!" "but his parents were neglectful!" "but he was ostracized!" and to that i say:

okay. that sucks. so?

how would any of that make him a sympathetic character? how would any of that justify giving the positive attention connor got? short answer: it wouldnt. long answer: you guys love saying "that doesnt make it okay, but..." but what you really mean is "i dont apply critical thinking to the characters i like because im stubborn about holding onto the first impression i had of them, so i dont care how objectively horrible they are, as long as i can tangentially relate to them via pride flags and neurodivergency, im good."

to portray connor the way he was portrayed is unacceptable. i literally cannot express how disgusted i am at this show and its fans.

moving on to the other huge asshole of this show, evan hansen himself.

where do i even start with evan hansen? well, lets make a list of all the reprehensible things hes done in the musical:

gaslighted an abuse victim into thinking her abuser loved her as a method to pursue her romantically

lied to said abusers entire family, painting a picture of a perfect child that definitely was nowhere close to who he actually was

antagonized his mother, claiming she saw him as "broken" when she was just trying to help him with his anxiety

hurt literally every single person in the musical and didnt hesitate to go straight for the jugular on every one of them

defended connor by saying "life is messy, people are complicated, blah blah blah blah false morality"

but sure hes adorable because anxiety.

evan hansen does not come anywhere close to what people call "morally gray" or "a good person doing bad things." i seriously cant think of a single thing he did in the musical that was solely for someone elses benefit. hes a selfish person. thats his whole thing. he wants attention so bad that he was willing to do outrageously bad things to get it. this isnt a matter of anxiety and getting caught up in a lie that got too big to let go, its a matter of being selfish. thats it. he isnt a good person. stop acting like he is.

the final thing id like to say is to those who identify as connorkin or evankin, or just relate to either of them as characters. to those people, i can say either 1) you dont know these characters as well as you think you do, and youre mistaken, OR, 2) you literally identify with one of these piles of human garbage, go away. im not going to waste my time arguing with people who relate to abusers/people who defend abusers

and if you think ive said "abuse/abuser" too much, and that i should find more creative ways to criticize connors character, i hate to break it to you, but theres not much else to say about him. the majority of whats said about him in dear evan hansen is a lie, so all i know about him is: 1) abuser, 2) some incident with a printer, so hes evidently a violent person, 3) weed, 4) depression? i guess? and 5) just a general asshole

thats kind of it

dear evan hansen spits in the face of abuse victims. it spits in the face of those who have depression or anxiety. it spits in the face of suicidal teenagers. it spits in the face of everything it pretends it cares about.

its a disgusting and damaging show, and id greatly appreciate it if i never had to see anyone sing its praises ever again.

bye.

[genderfreezone]

Do you like the Evil Within 2?

Yeah! Certainly not as much as the first one (i was not immune to being sad they left out fan favorites Jojo and Ruvik's Cube)

The rest of this post is me rambling about things i didnt like about the game, and then things i did like (most of my issues are how they treat the female characters tbh)

Its missing kind of the action-noir-gone-horrifically-wrong feel of the first game. The scare factor also suffers bc our player character has been through this before, hes a veteran at dealing with this crazy shit, it doesnt phase him anymore and by extension it doesnt phase the player. They really like tripled down on the Evil Corporation thing and both the intrigue and horror suffer for it.

This game did not drink its respect women juice (the first one didnt really either, case in point: Everything About Kidman) Sebastian is surrounded by 5+ female characters and only 2 of them survive (and one of them is his 7 year old daughter hes spent the whole game trying to rescue... and yet they never bothered to give her any kind of characterization or agency. A highly empathetic and supernaturally powerful little girl in a monster-infested hellscape?? HELLO???? Lily really had the potential to be the most interesting, sympathetic, and complex character--especially as she slowly lost her innocence--in the WHOLE GAME, but she was just sort of relegated to Plot Device McGuffin) The rest of the female supporting cast are killed off for Sebastian's Man Pain. In fact, THIS ENTIRE GAME IS CENTERED AROUND SEBASTIAN'S MAN PAIN. Torrez is a walking stereotype, shes literally just Vasquez from Aliens. Hoffman was the most likeable and believeable, except when it Turns Out She Was In Love With Liam Or Whatever (psst, guess what, i dont care. Also O'neal was kind of a dick anyway? I dont care x2)

And you know who i SUPER dont care about? Bland-White-Bread-And-Mayo-Sandwich Myra. Where's the no-nonsense firecracker of a police lieutenant Sebastian married? Not here, thats for sure. Her entire personality is "mother" and "worries about stressed-out husband". We got more characterization of Myra in seb's jornals from the first game, where she never even made a physical appearance! Horror media does this SO MUCH, women are either A. Sexy Lamp B. Hurts Men (Sexily) C. Mother or D. Innocent Virgin. It sucks. Do better.

The story lacked the "digging up old buried memories" and "theres more to this than meets the eye" of the first game. It felt too...... Straightforward. Everyone told Sebastian the truth. EVERYTHING WAS EXACTLY WHAT IT SEEMED. It all felt too simple, too easy, like there SHOULDVE been something else beneath the surface. And yet there wasnt. (I watched markipliers playthrough and i loved his theory that Kidman was actually Lily. It had such potential. Kidman's entire resume for the police station was fabricated, who's to say the rest of her past wasnt fabricated as well? It would retcon a lot of stuff and like 80% of her backstory from the DLC, but you know games like this arent above retconning important shit, and at least it wouldve been sacrificed for something with actual intrigue. Maybe it wouldnt even retcon anything! Consider: tiny Lily is taken by Evil Corporation and dropped off in a non-nurturing environment that would lead her to become the kind of person who would willingly join & work for an organization like Mobius. At least wouldve been a nice excuse for why Kidman and Lilys face models looked so similar... other than... yknow.... "WomEN ARe hArD tO DRaWwwwwee")

Okay okay ive been ranting for long enough. It probably makes it sound like i kinda hate this game, but i dont! It certainly doesnt hold the same place in my heart as the first one (which i still have very glaring issues with lmao Kidman deserved WAAAAAAY better), but i do like it! It brings back salty, grizzled, tsundere Sebastian Castinellos. It brings back spooky monsters that kill you dead. It brings back having a fun theatrical over-the-top villain who takes himself a litte too seriously.

I love Stefano. Probably not in the way some other fans do, but i love him as a ridiculous theatrical over-the-top villain. He sucks! And i love that he sucks! I love him BECAUSE he sucks! Hes terrible and exaggerated and completely up his own ass and ITS GREAT. He isnt as ACTUALLY THREATENING as Ruvik was (even in his bad assassin's creed cosplay. I could go on and on and on about why Ruvik is simultaneously a ridiculous AND frightening antagonist and how much i love it but uh..... maybe later) but hes such a FUN villain! Hes the kind of pretentious art snob shitheel i cannot STAND irl, but in this game i LOVE to HATE him. Hes just SO over-the-top you kinda wonder if he actually subscribes to the pretentiousness he spouts, or if hes just being Exceptionally Extra.

The other villains? Theodore was.... forgettable. His monsters were forgettable. (Its like how i completely forgot that Frank Manera was a character in Whistleblower for like... 5 years lmao i guess this game also kinda followed that "having multiple named/characterized antagonists in one game" thing that Outlast did) Myra, i just didnt care. Her final design was kinda cool, i liked the red clusters of insect eyes. Her monsters werent really gross enough to be memorable. The only reson theyre gross at all is bc they kinda look like theyre made of semen. (I checked the wiki and apparently Myra's white goo is "psychoplasm" and her monsters lost 99% of their gross factor. I just dont care.) The Administrator literally just looked like a 3D human model of Maxwell from dont starve, and i have to laugh every time i see him. Hes not terribly threatening, all he does is threaten characters to work faster and doesnt actually follow through on those threats. He doesnt even make fun threats like HABIT or anything. He thinks hes so powerful and ominous that his mere presence will frighten the player but hes just kinda all bark and no bite. Hes The Big Bad Company Man so you know hes gonna get whats coming to him, and you know Kidmans gonna be the one to do it to him, so hes not even that much of a threat. Hes whatever.

Stefano definitely got all of the coolest monsters. Many Arms Buzzsaw Lady was terrifying and i love her. And OBSCURA was just *Chef's Kiss* Anima was cool, she kinda looked like a mix of Laura and Samara. The Harbingers were neat, but really only bc ive got a thing for gas masks. The rest of the monsters werent really unique or weighty/threatening enough to be memorable. Now the first game is a fucking TREASURE TROVE of unique monsters *muah* you got Sadist, Sentinel, Keeper, Amalgam, Heresy, Laura, Shigyo, the Twins, Alter Egos, and im probably forgetting some!! But holy FUCK!!!!! And if we're includong the DLC?? MOTHER FUCKING SHADE. SPOTLIGHT LADY. LIGHT WOMAN.  SEXY LEGS.  Whatever you call her, i fucking love her. Her design is so simple. Helmet. Sheet. Legs. Her voice? Unnerving as hell. Love it. (Also i just personally love the diving helmet. Also like you know how a lot of games have a spotlight mechanic where you have to avoid the light and if it lands on you, you're fucked? LET'S MAKE AN ENTIRE MONSTER OUT OF THAT. She's PERFECT.) Oh and also those weird crawling exploding dudes. They made gross sounds and it was great. (Tbh Keepers still probably my favorite, if only for horny reasons)

TATIANA HOW HAVE I NOT FUCKING TALKED ABOUT TATIANA. Shes like the ONE female character that i fucking LOVE in the sequel. I love how they finally gave her a personality, and that personality is literally just "fuck you, Sebastian" Oh GOD its great shes SO FUNNY. I just.... god i love Tatiana lmao. I love how she makes you kinda uncomfortable too, like she knows something, but she wont tell you bc youre stupid. I didn't like the kind of "all-knowing guide" thing they did to try and make her creepy (like she's a "guide" but then also turns around and is like "no i wont tell you what you need to know bc you """have to discover it on your own""" or whatever") it serves no purpose since she never gave you any actual information, and it didn't succeed in making her creepier, all it did was frustrate me. She was at her creepiest when she IMPLIED she was doing something behind the scenes or knew something you didn't know and then didn't elaborate (not REFUSING to elaborate, just... stopping talking and leaving the statement to hang in the air, like the "getting her nails done" and "its been a long time, detective" and the "now what makes you say that" from the first game) and she was at her funniest when she was interacting with Sebastian from the sidelines, her snide little comments and sarcastic clapping cracked me the fuck up. Tatiana not treating Sebastian seriously was a fantastic touch for a game that otherwise would probably take itself so seriously it would double back around to being silly. Without Tatiana, it would've been just another male-centric gun-toting "survival horror" game, and for the most part, it was just that. She was definitely a much-needed source of slightly derisive comedy and a definite high-point for me, even if they didn't so a great job of making her creepy or fulfilling her "purpose."

Oh I also really love the COLORS in TEW2. The first game fell into the trap of having the colors be totally washed out that a lot of horror stuff does, but it also kind of worked for it. Especially with the color pallette of our main villain and how the whole thing was His World. The saturation of the colors in the second game is a breath of fresh air and gorgeous to look at, and you can even see the color motifs of the game change with each new villain: the game starts out with Stephano has lots of blues and purples and dark reds, when Theodore takes over we get bright orange and yellow contrasted with black and brown, and in the climax with Myra the game goes back to having washed out colors and white (and with her villain design? Let's face it: they were kinda just trying to do Ruvik again) We did get portions that were still kind of wahed out whites and greens and greys, but it wasnt the ENTIRE game, even the big blood-and-brains splatterhouse sections of the first game kinda had their colors weirdly muted for that "Horror Aethetic."

In conclusion, i do like the evil within 2, but i also had a lot of problems with it. And i complain about these problems because i like the game and know it couldve done better, tried harder, and been a LOT more than it was (the wasted character potential is my real overarching pet peeve, probably becuase i loved the characters in the first game, and character development is kind of my whole jam) . But all in all, it was still a fun monster-zombie romp with at least one entertaining villain and fun-to-look-at designs and environments. It wasn't character or horror or even REALLY story driven in the way I know it COULDVE been, but i still had a fun time and enjoyed myself.

[rabblerauser]

Heya! I love trans Naoto, but I think the way the game handled this kind of sucked. In the game it implies that Naoto was only presenting as male because detectives were seen as a male exclusive occupation, but the game also threw in stuff about how Naoto was more comfortable in the male uniform, and then they ALSO threw in this dialogue option in Naoto's social link: "I'm glad you're a girl". Because of all this back-and-forth BS the game did, I personally hc Naoto as genderfluid. Thoughts?

(Genderfluid Naoto anon) ALSO; I don't like the way Kanji was handled either. He was into Naoto before he knew they were trans, and when he found out, he was still into them. I like to believe that this is solely because Kanji loves and respects trans people, but the way the developers handled it, it ended up looking like Kanji was relieved Naoto was female (not saying Naoto's female). It's like the developers are implying lgbt reps, and then going "Haha, wrong! Everyone's a cishet!". Thoughts?

i could talk for 20 years about naoto thank u for asking i am here and ready to talk. also yes genderfluid naoto is so valid!!!! my first drawing of them was with a genderfluid flag shirt!!!

yes, the way atlus treats naoto is terrible. its not consistent, we dont see dojima or any of the other police officers looking down on naoto even when theyre outed, and naoto’s mom was a successful detective in her own right, so whats the real answer here? but i think that piece plays a lot into them being trans; “its okay i can still be a girl im just pretending to be a boy for the job” aka internalized transphobia (i experienced this a lot when i was younger). 

there are a ton of other bits ive saved from arena that just shoehorn in the fact that naoto is a trans coded character, the devs just dont respect that at all. throughout all the games naoto appears in, there are always comments about their body which always makes them uncomfortable!!! they also always get outed again, inevitably, and it turns into the “youre a girl?!?!?!” moment which is terrible and i hate that so much.

i love kanji, atlus treats him horribly, too. kanji and naoto deserve so much better than they got. kanji is a gay coded character whether atlus wants to admit it or not, but its expressed in such a shitty way. i could get into all the issues i have w kanjis writing but ill save that in case someone else wants to talk w me about it.

kanji 100% respects trans people and always goes the extra mile for naoto, in my mind. theres a fanfic out there with trans man naoto where theyre all on the camping trip and kanji is extremely adamant about letting naoto stay with the boys because....they are a boy. he really goes to bat for naoto and that just warms my heart so much.... also theyre both alienated at school because people think poorly of them, but they find solidarity in being lgbt and i love that. there is so much potential with naoto and kanji and it sucks that nobody bothered to do it right, and just write off two great characters for some shitty tropes and laughs.

its not a secret that atlus doesnt respect lgbt people tho. i know as long as naoto keeps appearing in their media, theyll continue to pull the same shit. and it sucks.

(arena screencaps are here) 

[volcanokids]

So here’s the thing. I’m tired of the bi vs. pan debate. I’m tired of people using the degradation and invalidation of one sexuality to raise up another. I’m sick of it. So here’s my hot take on why bisexuality and pansexuality are different, both valid, and can co-exist.

1. People use different words to describe their sexuality, not for the comfort and happiness of others, but for the comfort and happiness of themselves.

Although bisexuality, pansexuality, omnisexuality, polysexuality and probably many other labels can be described as being almost exactly the same, there can be minute distinctions, both with people’s personal meanings of each word as well as the dictionary definitions of each word, that just make them fit better for some people and not for others. That’s perfectly fine. I wouldnt call myself omnisexual when I’m pan because it doesn’t feel right, and it doesn’t feel like it holds the same meaning even though theyre pretty much the same damn thing. Personal preference of some labels over others is absolutely fine.

2. Although it isnt necessarily the case with everyone, the textbook definition of bisexuality gives it the ***option*** to be exclusive in gender preference for a partner, whereas labels like pansexuality and omnisexuality do not.

Pansexual is cut and dry. Attraction to all genders. Attraction reguardless of gender. Whatever. If a bi person is attracted to all genders then yes, All Genders does fit into the category of Two or More Genders, and that is a perfectly valid defintion of bisexuality. However, another example of bisexuality in a person could be one who is attracted to women, demigirls, and perhaps generally more feminine-alligned nonbinary people, and they could then recognize that this attraction includes a wide range of genders, but could not be able to see themselves with men or more masculine-alligned people. That could also be a valid definition of bisexuality. That specific choosing of the bisexual label enables that choice.

3. I am a nonbinary person. As a nonbinary person, I learned from straight influences and media that bisexuality is the attraction to men and women. I know now that this is not the case, just bear with me.

If you are questioning your gender identity at the same time that you question your sexuality, you may learn that some labels don’t seem to fit you because they appear to exclude you from the picture of your own sexual or romantic attraction.

Even though bisexuality is NOT the attraction to just men and women, as a young person who may not know better, you could think that it is. And if you dont think that you fit into the gender binary in the first place, then you may not even think that you’re a part of that mix. If bisexuality is “the attraction to men and women”, where do you fit in as a nonbinary person who may be attracted to other nonbinary people? This prompts you to look for other, more “inclusive” labels. It may not be correct, but as someone who was once 14 and very confused about where I stood in the world and in the lgbt community, the pansexual label—the only thing that I thought truly fit me—helped me ground myself. And now, almost 6 years later, I’m not about to uproot myself because my defintion of my sexuality is pointless in the eyes of people who always knew what bisexuality truly stood for. But I am truly sorry that I didn’t.

4. This builds off of number 3, and it’s more of a theory. I feel like not a lot of people know that bisexual means attraction to two or more genders, firstly because of the structure of the word to be seemingly binary, but also because of the refusal in straight culture and media (and, lets be honest, in the lgbt community sometimes as well) to acknowledge the existence of trans and nonbinary people. Maybe when it first became a known thing, straight people got a hold of the bisexual label from the lgbt community and reduced its meaning to the love of cis men and women to make it more palatable, prompting people to feel the need to make more inclusive labels.

This truly, absolutely sucks. It sucks that an all-inclusive label like bisexuality seems to have been crumpled up and shoved into a box, that society has changed it into something that waters down its true meaning. It seriously does. But at this point in time, we cannot go back into the past to make that not happen, and erase the other labels we’ve made because, hey, bisexuality IS all-inclusive, because that inclusiveness was just never recognized. But rather we can spread true, meaningful information about all different sexualities and let people pick what they think fits best for them and matches with their own personal feelings and attraction to other people.

This all being said:

If someone describes themselves as pan because they “like trans people too” theyre transphobic. Full stop.

If you think bi people are transphobic for the sole reason that they are bi, you are wrong. Full stop.

Bisexuality is the attraction to TWO OR MORE genders. Full. Stop.

Bisexuality, pansexualiy, omnisexuality, and polysexuality have the option to be all inclusive, and you are not special or more “woke” than anyone for picking one over the other. However, what you identify with varies from person to person and what you identify as and are most comfortable with is your own personal choice to make. Do not shit all over other sexualities to raise yours up.

[stargir1z]

a message for cishet people this upcoming pride month

this is from my sc story but i wanted to post on here too in case someone has an ignorant straight bih who needs to be served a hot plate of education. it’s all under the cut !

- being an ally isn’t just NOT being a homophobe. don’t call yourself an ally unless you’re actively supporting the lgbtq community. that means appreciating and supporting gay media that is often marginalized, not saying offensive shit even if everyone else says it, and calling people out when they’re homophobic/transphobic, even if they’re your friend. be constantly educating yourself and be critical about how the world around you characterizes gay people, even if it makes you seem argumentative. if you’re not gonna do anything, don’t say you support the community. and even if you do these ally things, don’t expect some sort of gold star or reward. this is somehting you should be expected, as a cishet person, to do, and while it is your choice whether to do it or not, this should be completely out of care for other human beings rather than some sort of self validation from being the straight savior.

- if you are straight, and you like a character or person just because they are gay rather than their actual personality/life/appearance/impact, then you are. part of the problem. you are fetishizing gay people, no excuses. same goes for straight fangirls who ship dudes together just because they’re ‘my sinful little gay bbyz uwu’. that is NOT appreciation of gay people, that is the objectification and sexualization of gay relationships. i encourage you to support gay ships, but only if there is legitimate chemistry in them. (this is why anime like yaoi is problematic but o well). as well, if you’re a straight boy, the opposite is true for you: if you love lesbians but only if they’re conventionally attractive, or watch lesbian porn, or get turned on by girls kissing each other at parties, but otherwise don’t support the lgbt community or hate gay men/make gay jokes, Stop It or square the fuck up. you are sexualizing wlw, and as a wlw, i am disgusted by you.

- be aware that many companies will capitalize on pride month. please DO NOT support them or congratulate them for making something rainbow as a Token Gay Item. an example of this is the rainbow mickey mouse ears Disney made last year. i love Disney, but they have literally done nothing for the lgbt community besides that one good luck charlie episode with the gay moms, so they have no right to call themselves an ally. instead of buying these kinds of products, support actual gay/trans/etc designers, artists, musicians, and creators! if you need suggestions for these, i would be happy to rant about lgbt people i love. same goes for gay media like movies, books, and tv shows that actually realistically portray gay people. (psst watch love simon)

- this is blatantly obvious but ive seen it so many times that i still feel the need to mention it: having double standards for gay pda is! not good! it supports the notion that gay people are somehow more dirty or inappropriate than straight people, and this reinforces the heteronormative rhetoric that society has pushed on us. if you don’t mind when a cishet couple kisses or holds hands or flirts in public but then cringe when two girls or two guys do it, you are an ass and need to address that internalized homophobia. as well, please don’t say that a work of art like a movie, book, song, or tv show is ‘too gay’ or that ‘there doesn’t have to be gay people in everything’! that’s like me saying ‘why is there straight people in everything’.... do you see the problem now? supporting and normalizing gay and transgender people in media is one of the key ways to eradicate oppression of people with sexualities and genders other than cishet. it also helps people with these sexualities and genders feel normal and good about their identity! i would never have been okay with my bisexuality without the exposure to gay media, and that’s true as well for pretty much every gay person ive ever spoken to.

- nonbinary people are a thing! gender is not sex, gender is a social construct, gender is a spectrum. your enitals should not define who you are, and the misunderstanding of both trans and nonbinary people is a result of the societal norms pushed on penises and vaginas. also, 72 gender jokes are not funny and also make absolutely no fucking sense. go fuck yourself in the conservative ass. what does it have to do with you if someone doesn’t want to define themselves as a boy or a girl? if you need help understanding this, just ask me. although it honestly shouldn’t be that hard to understand that you shouldn’t be bossing around other people’s gender identities. imagine me coming up to you and declaring that you are the opposite gender/nonbinary... that’s how non-cis people feel every day, bitch.

- there are lots of jokes gay people make that you just wont be able to understand! respect that and accept that you just aren’t meant for them. jokes about straight/cis people are perfectly okay when within a gay community, because while gay/trans people are oppressed and have been for centuries, CISHET PEOPLE ARE NOT. AND ARE THE OPPRESSOR. accept that you have internalized homophobia and transphobia, because everyone does. be aware of how this influences you and why it makes you so pissed when a gay person says ‘straight people suck’. they’re not referring to you. theyre referring to how, historically, straight people have been the ones to make gay people feel like shit. there is also no such thing as the gay agenda; that’s just a joke we make.

- additionally, lgbt people have culture because we have been forced into having a community due to the struggle against homophobia. the lgbtq community has a unique and beautiful history that is worth learning about. there is no straight people culture, because societal norms in themselves are straight people culture. society is so heteronormative and dominated by straight attitudes that there was simply never a space for a phenomenon like ‘straight culture’ to develop, and no need for it either. you have never been oppressed for your sexuality! be happy about that! don’t whine about me saying your sexuality has got no culture. also, gay people will make jokes about straight people culture as a way to mock cishets who claim it exists. ACCEPT THAT. RECOGNIZE YOUR PRIVILEGE.

extra notes about bi people because im tired of questions about my sexuality:

BI PEOPLE ARE USUALLY NOT FIFTY FIFTY BOYS GIRLS. SOME PEOPLE FLUCTUATE BETWEENWHIHC ONE THEY LIKE MORE. SOME PEOPLE JUST ALWAYS LIKE ONE OR THE OTHER MORE. WHEN A BI PERSON LIKES/IS IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER, THEY ARE STILL BI. IF A BI PERSON LIKES/IS IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE OF THE SAME GENDER, THEY ARE STILL BI. SOME BI PEOPLE LIKE GENDERS UNDER THE NONBINARY UMBRELLA TERM. SOME DO NOT. BI PEOPLE AND PAN PEOPLE ARE ALSO ESSENTIALLY THE SAME THING, BUT IT DEPENDS ON WHICH TERM THE PERSON IS COMFORTABLE WITH. BI PEOPLE ARE ALSO NOT INHERENTLY SEXUAL, AND NEITHER DO THEY EXIST TO PLEASE YOUR SEXUAL FANTASIES. BI PEOPLE ARE REAL AND WE DONT HAVE TO ‘CHOOSE A SIDE’, AND IF SOMEONE IDS AS BI BUT THEN DECIDES TO BE GAY OR STRAIGHT OR ACE, IT DOESNT MEAN THEY WERE FAKING IT. SEXUALITY IS COMPLEX AND IN SOME PEOPLE, FLUID. 

thank you for reading this and i hope you have learned something

[inactive334884]

I think its a internalized sexism from female writers (I'm she/her btw) because of how much love, depth, and attention male characters get from both creators and fanbases (since they cant find as many girl characters with full on depth compared to male ones.) so they mostly give it to the male ones since that’s what tends to get the most popularity, love, and attention from both studios, companies (also because of the effects of sexism.) and fanbases (since they pretty much have no choice since they don't have as many options with girl characters since not many have any realism or depth that we can relate to but instead we mostly get preppy teens who love mostly boys and shopping, boring goths, the sweet bubbly crush who’s entire thing is that they always praise and worship thier male idols/bfs (aka more Millies but even more bland), the “im one of the boys and being feminine stinks because masculine boys are better then feminine or half feminine girls, I hate the “other girls” since theyre all just dumb bimbos and you can only be cool if youre “a man in a girl’s body!” and not like “what girls are supposed to be!” (sexism) boys are sooooo much better and any girl that isnt “like a boy” and is only “just what girls normally are!” sucks!” types (more sexism from male writers to make masculine, semi-masculine, or any girls with critical thinking skills whatsoever feel like they’re “abnormal” for being that and to make men look like the only people who are “supposed” to have a personality and a mind of their own.) and overly excitable bubblegum Maple Pines or Star protags.) and them thinking that people wont like their content as much if they give most of the attention to the female cast or that their content would somehow be less deserving of love if their girl characters weren't obvious “girl power this is only for girls no boys allowed!” (more sexism) type characters or obvious sex appeal for men with no depth, so they instead give attention to their “deep dark men with a deep dark past” or “goofy wild card boys!” because of media selling the beleif that girls/girl characters “cant” be like that (even more sexism/internalized sexism).

Or she just really likes yaoi, which with how the male characters are written, seems to mostly be the case. (also tons of sexism.)

While I get that there are people out there that like Loona outside of being furry bate on porn sites, I have to ask, what's so damn appealing about her? She barely stands out as a main character, she brings nothing new to the table other than angst teen syndrome, she's easily forgettable, and really comes off like one of those characters that can be removed and nothing of value would be lost.

"Mom, I want April Ludgate!"

"We have April Ludgate at home!"

April Ludgate at home:

But seriously, it would've been a lot more interesting if Viv subverted the "moody goth girl" stereotype. What if Loona looked the same, but with a cheerful, bubbly personality? Then it wouldn't come off so much as judging a book by its cover.

Or what if she had interests outside of dressing in black and being glued to her phone? What does she enjoy doing in her spare time? Which subjects fascinate her? Is she a musician, a historian, a chemistry nerd? What kind of career would she want when she eventually leaves IMP?

What's sad is, these are really bare-bones questions that could be answered in seconds and expanded on in the show, but Viv didn't even bother to take the time for this character. I've noticed her female characters really get the short end of the stick when it comes to development. For whatever reason, she just finds dudes more worthy of effort. I'll just leave it at that and let readers speculate on their own as to why that might be.

[patriotsnet]

Will Any Republicans Run Against Trump

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/will-any-republicans-run-against-trump/

Will Any Republicans Run Against Trump

Who Are The Republicans Challenging Trump For 2020 Nomination

Is There Any Republican That Would Actually Run Against Trump?

Only one candidate is now vying to defeat Trump for Republican nomination in the 2020 presidential race.

While the pool of Democrats vying for the partys presidential nomination was among the largest and most diverse in the history of the United States, President Donald Trump faced a much smaller cadre of challengers for the Republican ticket in 2020.

After two Republicans dropped out, only one opponent remains in the race against Trump. Thats in contrast to the three remaining contenders in the Democratic field, which once had more than two dozen candidates.

In a statement in April, the Republican National Convention said the Republican Party is firmly behind Trump and any effort to challenge the presidents nomination is bound to go absolutely nowhere, prompting criticism that Republican leaders are making it;impossible for another candidate to succeed.

Here is a look at the now sole Republican challenging Trump.

Florida Gov Ron Desantis

DeSantis narrowly beat out Trump in a straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver last month, but his greatest strength could also prove to be his greatest weakness. Praised by Republicans as a next-generation Trump, it could put him on a collision course with Trump should both run.

DeSantis is up for reelection next year, and hes purposely avoided Iowa to not drive 2024 speculation, according to Politico. Still, hes building out a gubernatorial record sure to please primary voters. Name a top Republican issue today, chances are DeSantis has signed a bill and/or has run Facebook ads about it.

Hes signed bills banning vaccine passports,restricting ballot drop boxes and voting by mail, and setting mandates for civics curriculum in the state. Another bill prohibiting deplatforming was signed into law in May, but a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday, arguing it likely violates social media networks First Amendment freedom of speech rights. Hes run Facebook ads about critical race theory and transgender athletes in sports.

But DeSantis has backed away from partisanship when responding to the building collapse in Surfside, Florida. The first-term governor welcomed President Joe Biden to the state last week when he visited to meet with families and survivors. Youve recognized the severity of this tragedy from day one and youve been very supportive, DeSantis said of Biden.

Trump Remains 2024 Candidate Of Choice For Most Republicans Poll Shows

59% of Republican voters said they wanted Trump to play prominent role in party, but tens of thousands left after Capitol riot

If the 2024 Republican presidential primary were held today, Donald Trump would be the clear favorite to win big. That was the message from a Politico-Morning Consult poll released on Tuesday, three days after Trumps acquittal in his second impeachment trial, on a charge of inciting the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January.

Among Republican voters, 59% said they wanted Trump to play a prominent role in their party, up a whopping 18 points from the last such poll, taken in the aftermath of the Capitol riot. A slightly lower number, 54%, said they would back Trump in the primary.

Tens of thousands of Republicans left the party after the Capitol insurrection, and a majority of Americans have told other pollsters they would like to see Trump banished from politics.

Though the 45th president will be 78 by election day 2024, he will be able to run again if he chooses, having escaped being barred from office after a 57-43 Senate vote to convict with seven Republican defections but 10 votes short of the majority needed.

Mike Pences life was threatened by Trump supporters at the Capitol, as the vice-president presided over the ratification of electoral college results confirming Trumps defeat by Joe Biden. He placed second in the Politico-Morning Consult poll, with 12%.

Don’t Miss: Dems Voting For Trump

Trump Has Said Hes Not Interested In Debating His Republican Opponents

Everyone remembers the 2016 Republican primary debates and how entertaining they were. Many Republicans were running for the coveted spot and Trump stood out during the debates. When the candidates were asked to raise their hands if they would support whoever ultimately won the primary, Trump was the only one who didnt raise his hand. And then he kept talking about how he had donated to many of the candidates campaigns in the past.

But it looks like this time around, Trump wont have a chance to debate the candidates running against him for 2020. Trumps 2020 campaign is already going strong, and there are no hints of any plans by the RNC to have debates with his opponents.

The reason why both parties had debates for the primaries in 2016 was because there wasnt an incumbent President running. But this time around, its different for the Republicans. They have an incumbent, so theyre not going to give a lot of attention to Trumps opponents.

Back in September, Trump was asked if he would debate a Republican opponent, NBC reported. Trump responded: I would say this: They are all at less than 1 percent. I guess its a publicity stunt. We just got a little while ago 94 percent popularity or approval within the Republican party. So to be honest, Im not looking to get them any credibility. They have no credibility.

Kansas will also not hold a caucus for Republicans in 2020.

Arizona Republicans also voted to cancel their primary too.

Election: Trump Forces Republican Field To Sidestep Direct Challenge To Biden

No notable Republican has declared outright a challenge to President Biden in 2024. But plenty of them are flocking to Iowa courting activists, establishing political action committees and trotting out their best digs against Democrats signaling that the GOP presidential primary is already underway.

This cycle, however, has a Trump-induced twist. As the former president keeps Republicans guessing whether he will run again, politicians are being especially circumspect about their own White House aspirations.

“Usually, when the race is over and don’t win … the very next day, the race is on,” said Bob Vander Plaats, president of the Family Leader, an influential network of Christian activists in the state. “That hasn’t been the case so much. A lot of people are still asking, ‘What is Trump going to do?'”

The looming question has added an extra degree of coyness as possible contenders cozy up to voters in Iowa, which traditionally has held the first contest of the nominating season. Despite some prominent conservatives in the state sensing desire for a new Republican standard-bearer, politicians are assiduously working not to alienate Trump, who still enjoys broad popularity with the party’s base

The bold-faced GOP names who have visited so far include former Vice President Mike Pence; Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Rick Scott of Florida; ex-Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley; and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

Don’t Miss: When Did Republicans And Democrats Switch Platforms

Republican Leadership Thus Far Mum On 2024 Preferences

RNC officials have vowed to remain neutral in the future presidential race. They say their focus right now is on the 2022 elections a major item on the retreat agenda as the party tries to regain control of the U.S. House and Senate.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and other election officials are attending the retreat. Scott, a Florida senator and potential presidential candidate, heads up the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

The weekend series of meetings includes panels and speeches on such topics as improving Republican voter turnout, expanding GOP coalitions, and building a campaign case against Biden, his administration and the Democratic-led Congress.

To Democrats, this weekend’s activities in Palm Beach look a lot like sucking up to Trump. Democratic National Committee spokesman Ammar Moussa likened the would-be presidential candidates to contestants on Trump’s old television show, “The Apprentice.”

“While Republicans are hobnobbing with their special interest donors, President Biden and Democrats are delivering for everyday Americans, putting vaccines in arms, money in pockets, and bringing normalcy back,” he said.

Former Us Ambassador To The United Nations Nikki Haley

Haley, 49, stands out in the potential pool of 2024 Republican candidates by her resume. She has experience as an executive as the former governor of South Carolina and foreign policy experience from her time as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley was a member of the Republican Partys 2010 tea party class. A former South Carolina state representative, her long shot gubernatorial campaign saw its fortunes improve after she was endorsed by Sarah Palin. Haley rocketed from fourth to first just days after the endorsement, and she went on to clinch the nomination and become her states first female and first Indian-American governor.

As governor, she signed a bill removing the Confederate flag from the state Capitol following the white supremacist attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston. She left office in 2017 to join the Trump administration as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Quinnipiac poll found she was at one point the most popular member of Trumps foreign policy team.

I think that shes done a pretty masterful job in filling out her resume, said Robert Oldendick, a professor and director of graduate studies at the University of South Carolinas department of political science.

Haley criticized Trump following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters, saying she was disgusted by his conduct. Oldendick said he thought her pretty pointed criticism of the president will potentially cause some problems.

You May Like: How Many Republicans Are Against Trump

Democrats Sweat Turnout Disaster In California Without Trump To Run Against

Without Trump on the ballot, California Democrats are trying to motivate voters.

In a heavily Democratic state where Gov. Gavin Newsom beat his Republican opponent in 2018 by 3 million votes, the recall stands within a few percentage points of passing next month. | Jeff Chiu/AP Photo

08/26/2021 02:34 PM EDT

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LOS ANGELES Donald Trump could swing the California governorship to a Republican. Merely by his absence.

Democrats turned out in record numbers when they had Trump to vote against. But in one of the first, large-scale tests of voter enthusiasm for Democrats in the post-Trump era, Californias surprisingly close gubernatorial recall election is laying bare just how hard it may be for the party to motivate its base without Trump as a foil.

Even in this bastion of progressive politics, ominous signs for the Democratic Party are everywhere. A CBS News-YouGov poll last week found voters who cast ballots for Joe Biden were less likely than Trump supporters to be very closely following the recall and less motivated to vote. In a Berkeley-IGS survey, registered Democrats and independent voters were nearly 30 percentage points less likely than Republicans to express a high level of interest in voting in the election.

Can Democrats win without having Trump as their foil? This is the challenge, said Gray Davis, the former California governor who was recalled in 2003.

Were going to find out pretty soon,” he said in an interview.

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Former Ambassador To The United Nations Nikki Haley

Trump takes aim at Republicans who have spoken out against him

Haley has changed her tone when it comes to Trump. After saying he let us down and lost any sort of political viability he was going to have following Jan. 6, Haley is, at least publicly, a fan again. During her remarks at the Iowa Republican Party dinner on June 24, Haley praised Trump and told a story about him asking if he should call Kim Jong Un little rocket man during his speech at the U.N. Haley said she cautioned him to treat the audience like church instead of a rally, but he went ahead and used the term.

Haley even sounded kind of Trumpian during her speech, telling Republicans they were too nice. We have to be tough about how we fight, she said. We keep getting steamrolled and then whine and complain about it. The days of being nice should be over.

She also didnt shy away from her gender, opening the speech by saying, America needs more strong conservative women leaders and less of Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris, and praising female Iowa Republicans like U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst and Gov. Kim Reynolds. I wear heels, Haley said. Its not for a fashion statement. I use it for kicking. But I always kick with a smile.

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Four State Republican Parties Cancel 2020 Primaries To Protect Trump’s Re

South Carolina’s move is an attempt to sideline the states former Republican governor, Mark Sanford, who on Sunday in the GOP primary. Also in the running against Trump are former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld.

Trump was asked Monday if he would debate any of his Republican rivals.

“I don’t know them,” the president responded. “I would say this: They are all at less than 1 percent. I guess it’s a publicity stunt. We just got a little while ago 94 percent popularity or approval within the Republican party. So to be honest, I’m not looking to get them any credibility. They have no credibility.”

He added, “One was a person that voted for Obama, ran as a vice president four years ago and was soundly defeated, another one got thrown out after one term in Congress and he lost in a landslide and the third one Mr. Appalachian trail he wasn’t on the Appalachian trial; he was in Argentina.”

Sanford, a conservative who clashed with Trump when he served in Congress, said on MSNBC on Monday that he’s running because Republicans have turned their back on their values in favor of personal allegiance to Trump.

“Right now, the sun, moon and stars too often basically orbit around Donald Trump, Sanford said of the attitude of the GOP. “And if it’s not personal allegiance to him, not issue allegiance or idea allegiance, but if it’s not personal allegiance, it’s not good enough.”

Kansas’ GOP also came to the same decision on Friday.

Former President Donald Trump

Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he made up his mind about whether hell run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination again, but he didnt say what the answer is, keeping the 2024 field open, for now.

The former president held his first post-White House rally in Ohio on June 26 the first since his inflammatory Jan. 6 Save America rally that preceded the failed insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. Trump called it the first rally of the 2022 election, but no cable news network carried it live, not even Fox News.

The rally came in the middle of a busy few days in June for Trump. Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani had his law license suspended in the state of New York over his false and misleading claims about the 2020 election, and a week ago, The Trump Organization and its Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg were indicted on tax fraud charges and accused as part of a two-year investigation that began when Trump was still in office. Weisselberg and lawyers for the Trump Organization both pleaded not guilty.

The former president has reportedly told others that he wont have to wait until 2024 to return to the White House. The New York Times and other news outlets have reported that Trump expects to be reinstated as president by August.

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Us Election 2024: Who Are The Likely Republican Candidates To Run For President Against Joe Biden

Mike Pence, Ivanka Trump and Ted Cruz are among the rumoured candidates to become Donald Trump’s successor

The 2020 presidential race has only just finished, but the Republican candidates for 2024 are already preparing themselves for their shot at the White House.

We take a look at who may be looking to get themselves in to the race.

Why The Gop Congress Will Stop Trump From Going Too Far

The coming resistance from Republican lawmakers who hate Trump, fear executive overreachor both.

This is a sneak preview;of the upcoming January/February 2017 issue of the Washington Monthly.

Could it happen here? Could a democratically elected leader come to rule us as an autocrat? Citizens of a free society can never lose sight of this question, andhowever complacent many of us have becomethe election of Donald Trump has shoved it back out to center stage.

A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government, James Madison observed in The Federalist Papers, but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions. These precautions are the separation of powers and checks and balances, enshrined in the Constitution. Citizens concerned about tyranny from the leaders they have elected must depend on the other branches of government to defend the republic.

In particular, the public must rely on Congress, the branch of government that Madison felt necessarily predominates, given its proximity to the people. Moreover, Article I of the Constitution vests in Congress all legislative Powers herein granted, as well as ample implied powers of oversight, and the power of impeachment should that become necessary. If a strongman government ever takes root in America, it will not be simply because we elected a president determined to establish it, but because Congress acquiesced in his designs.

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Also Check: What Do Republicans Think About Daca

Republicans Who Could Run Against Trump

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Like many people, James Comey, the former F.B.I. director, has been thinking about the best way for the Presidency of Donald Trump to end. Interviewed in New York last week, Comey said that his own, possibly weird thought is that impeachment is not the ideal course; for one thing, it would let voters off the hook in 2020. We need a clear jump upward, and it will come from tens of millions of Americans, he told his interviewer, Nicolle Wallace. But Comey put the burden on the Democrats, saying, They have to win.

In response, Trump tweeted that Comey had just totally exposed his partisan stance by urging his fellow Democrats to take back the White House in 2020. He added, Comey had no right heading the FBI at any time, but especially after his mind exploded! The date and the circumstances of the alleged detonation were not clear, but the message was: to speak about confronting Trump at the polls is to speak as a Democrat.

Trump knows that, which is why his campaign is already working to engineer a preëmptive endorsement in the New Hampshire primary, the first in the nation, from the state Party, which traditionally remains neutral. He could be much more vulnerable by August of 2020, when the Republican National Convention meets in Charlotte, North Carolina, depending on, among other things, how the Mueller investigation develops.

[w0rrying]

word vomit 2

today, and just the past few days have been exhasting. like, do you ever get stuck in what seems like this perpetual state where the same things and feelings im experiencing are the same as the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that even.. like I physically feel like a pile of shit because i finally got a job, but I hated it; had an anxiety attack a few days ago, and haven't been back since.. is it really worth putting myself through all of that just for a host job ? thankfully ive had 4 serving job interviews in the past 4 days and I just want to land one sooo bad. My brother and his girlfriend i feel think of me as this mooch lazy college kid who's getting by off their things, but I promise that's not at all as it seems... Maybe my mom was right.. I've been thinking of maybe getting a cheap apartment with jax anf his girlfriend because we all get along so easily but fuck that situation is on a whole nother level.. a whole nother galaxy even. Today my ex told me that his girlfriend could possibly be pregnant.. and honestly i think this news shocked me more than it did him. Life is changing so quickly, and the thought of my ex haivng a kid with a girl that didn't even date him longer than I did, and she's 5 years older than the both of us.. like idk. regardless of all the shit jax has put me through in the past, he is just one of those few select people i would literaly do anything for, whether it benefited me or hurt me in the end. I would drop anything just to go help this one individual and it's like, fuck. It'd crazy how time changes things, because if you would've asked me a few months ago when I was literally tearing myself down, drowning in the tears i wept for this person, you'd wonder why I'd even give him the time of the day.. and I still ask myself tht. i hang out with him everyday, and he talks to me about her. how can someone be so unsure about the perosn they're with and not even try to fix it? god im getting stressed over shit that's not even directly affecting me.. yet at least

my life is a bottle of confusion and tonight just kind of made it worse. we do certain things in life for others, at least i try to do, all the time. Some, granted, do those types of things more than others. But i believe I play a great contribution to the well being of people around me. But there comes to a point where you have to take a break from constantly thinking an putting others before you, and just do you. And for me to do this, I had to end a relationship. Quite frankly, it was a short relationship. but that really doesn't matter. what matters and bothers me out of everything, is when you tell someone you need to do something for yourself. for your literally mental self, and they still seem to find a way to flip it back on them, and make themselves feel guilty which in turns makes me feel guilty. which i get is your anxieety, but i have that to.. an life is shit and sometimes we hurt people along the way, but sometimes the hurt isn't intentional. it wasn't for this case. and while this person meant a lot, and obviously still does. sometimes people do things, and while it may've been an irrational reaction to something, nevertheless does it change the fact that you thought and said those things about me. When in a million years i would never jump to such rash concluions or say such spiteful things. I am not one to hold grudges, but sometimes people go too far. and sure,youy may not have meant it, but sweety you said it. and you can't take back harsh accusations like that. at leas not easily, with me.

so maybe certain people who you initiallly thought would be there for the long run turned out to be there for a quarter of the mile. and yeah it sucks, both sides sucks.

but idk, maybe you were just a sstranger afterall,who only took interest into finding the things out about me that they thought they could fix or were intersting. because talking about shit tonight, you don't know me. maybe I never knew you. and if you're reading this, which I guartnee you will be... this is not an attack like you did to me. I'm not jumping to conclusions. I've picked up on these things and quite frankly theyre easy to tell. ive said sorry,you;ve said it too. but sorry can only repair so much... and the fact that you talked to your ex that you "hated" about us??

the space you seemed to be giving me was helping because im trying to find myself. but you claiming to be "checking up on me" is not the sane as going through mutiple of my social medias, seeing one picture, and accusing me of shit that if you relly knew me, you'd kno I never do.. so with all of that, honestly, good ridiance. because i just dont think at 19 i can handle and be putting myself throgh this. not again, not another relationship. i cant.

[viralhottopics]

Im A Millennial Republican And Im Sick Of All The Crying

Let me start by asking: do you remember a time when ones political leanings were a topic kept wholly and unequivocally private? I do. I remember when it was uncouth, improper, and just plain rude to ask someone who they voted for and why outside of intimate family and loved ones. Do you want to know why that was such an excellent practice? Because it didnt drive a stake between you, me, and everyone else. At the end of the day, your take on abortion, on the death penalty, on civil rights these are the innermost things about you. They are very personal opinions. This is part of the reason I am so against the liberal attitude. I dont feel the need to scream my opinions from every abstract rooftop I can find, gathering people to my cause. I also dont feel the need to cast people from my proverbial Olympus when they have (the audacity) to disagree with me or my causes. This past year has been a media circus and a shitshow. Ive long gone quiet as members of my party are painted as racists, bigots, and terrible people. It wasnt enough that the silent majority showed up on Election Day and blew your minds to say were here, were relevant, the Republican personality is still constantly under fire.

I am a young, female Republican that has voted for candidates from both major political parties. And I didnt make that decision blanketed in the ignorance of privilege. Privilege, especially racial privilege, is part of my life certainly. But I have suffered personally the way everyone suffers. And that is an important piece of knowledge to remember. Everyone comes from struggle. No one has a perfect life. Since when did the national currency become sympathy and pity? I have zero let me reiterate ZERO interest in playing the who had the worse life game with people my age. Because, believe me, I could play hardball if I wanted to about individual suffering. But I enjoy my privacy, and my dirty laundry is, unfortunately, none of your business. My struggle is not why people should notice me and remember my life. My sad story doesnt chalk up my measure of relevance. How about my sense of humor? My undying loyalty? My work ethic? Those are the things I want celebrated. Not the fact that Ive survived what Ive survived. And because Ive lived through real trauma, I want that to be the thing that defines me least. Todays democrat seems to be a card carrying member in the belief of youre only as good as what youve overcome, when theyre also championing the hope that one day, no one will have to overcome anything.

I voted for Donald Trump. Not out of choice, but out of necessity. Thats who my party chose as its representative. And, sorry to say it DNC, your party didnt bring a valuable player to the table. Im not going to be star-spangled thrilled for Hillary just because we share the common biological fact of both owning uteruses. Do I LIKE Donald Trump? No, I think hes a big mouth who says stupid things and isnt representative character of what I believe a president should be. But neither was Hillary Clinton. And neither was Barack Obama. In the light of no choice, I made one in the voting booth rather than being inactive.And maybe this is hard for whoever holds the position of POTUS, but I swear to God, there needs to be a stop on the current Commander in Chief rolling over like a pig in shit over the celebrity of the position. Youre not a celebrity you are much, much more than that. Youre our face to the rest of the world. Not a fucking actor or someone who shakes their shit on stage for my amusement. Youre not a star, youre a country. Thats the job you signed up for. Not appearing on fucking Between Two Ferns. Not creating photo ops of you shooting hoops with Steph Curry. Youre more than a meme and more than a dad joke. Act like it. Do you know why I didnt vote for Hillary Clinton? Because she was so goddamn condescending. What, because Im in my twenties, and youre parading Jay-Z and Beyonces endorsement in my face, thats it? Vote won? I dont fucking think so. The absolute last thing I am concerned about when it comes to a president is who star-studded, ZERO political acumen Los-fucking-Angeles is voting for. If the 1% of people who are so removed from financial burden, from prejudice, from hardship of any kind, thinks youre the end all be all of White House potential thats a major red flag for me. The American public and the American millennial is so much more than our likes on Facebook and what we read on Buzzfeed. And if thats not obvious to you, then youre not my candidate. Stop bumping tits with Katy Perry go to fucking Wisconsin.

Socially, Im a liberal person. I love the LGBT and queer community, and they should have every opportunity and every right to be happy in this world, whatever that may be. I believe in racial equality. Just because your ancestors were born closer to the equator than mine (because thats exactly what difference in skin color is) is a non-fucking-entity and should be treated as such. As a professional woman fighting to find a place in corporate America, Im definitely a feminist. I believe women of any and all races are capable, smart, better than the female stereotype, and a million other wonderful things. And you can keep your abortions, too, because I think theyre a necessity for people in special cases. But that doesnt mean abortions are for me. Were literally arguing a matter of life or death here, and just in case the sign-slinging left is wrong when we all meet our maker, Id rather not fall on that side of the line. Our welfare system is a broken, shell of a thing that doesnt find the people that need it and allows itself to be taken advantage of by far too many. I believe in a right to bear arms, because as a survivor of rape and someone who lives in a big city, theres no way Im going through that shit a second time. I believe in a capitalist country where the ceiling is only as high as you settle for, for individual instances of prosperity. The economy is a balancing act, and the more Obama poured his efforts into urban centers (his voters shocker), the more the working class in Middle America suffered.

To me, the prime segregator between a millennial voter of opposing parties boils down to one thing attitude. Far too many people today have their hands out for what they can get for as little effort as possible. Far too many people are bleeding hearts for every sob story. The modern democrat isnt waging a war against Donald Trump, theyre waging a war against a persons choice to be an asshole. If I want to be selfish with the money Ive earned and see as much of it possible in my paycheck, I have that right. If I choose to be uncaring about whatever cause and its GoFundMe than youve posted, thats okay, too. And you can turn your nose up at it as much as you want, but it doesnt stop it from being true. Newsflash, enlightened NYC hipster you are not the only people that exist. Just because you majored in philosophy at Fordham doesnt mean youre some renaissance man. Its fucking disgusting to paint a Republican as uneducated. I have a Masters Degree, and you can suck on it. In their efforts to be a social media vigilante for every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a struggle, the democrats have become the bullies. Theyll shame, troll, and shit on anyone who doesnt think Bernie Sanders is the fucking Messiah. In their efforts to encircle everyone in their warm, squishy embrace, theyve fleshed out an entire stereotype against 304 electoral districts worth of voters. The tables have turned youre the assholes, now. Youre no better than the Duck Dynasty backwater racists you paint most Republicans to be. Ripping down blue ribbons for law enforcement, Facebook status making, weeping on the picket line, crying on each others shoulders in the auditorium, straight up assholes. My struggle doesnt define me. My shortcomings are not my identifiers. I dont need your pity. And when I need your support, Ill ask for it.In the modern Democrats mission for extreme tolerance, theyve become the alienators. So pull your head out of your ass, young blowhard. Take a look around. Its never going to be Kumbaya for the masses. There is no safe space.

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