#nick cox

[elusivesaltrock]

I think it might be the start of the nfl season infecting my brain, but i’m really feeling like i’d like to read an AU where they play football. I can see nick as a running back, harvard as a qb, and eugene as really any position. I think it would be fun, plus they get hurt a lot so there’s perfect opportunity for seiji to be worried about nick.

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United U21s 5-1 Southampton U21s

Under the watchful eyes of Ruben Amorim, Darren Fletcher, Nick Cox and Jason Wilcox, United's academy prospects put on a reet show.

Ethan Wheatley almost got United off to a flyer in the 5th minute but a great throughball to the forward was met with a tame shot straight at the Southampton keeper.

United kept up the pressure though, and the Gore/Tyler Fletcher midfield duo was working nicely for the possession retention. These two would be the difference makers in the first half, with Tyler bagging in the 15th minute by hitting a STUNNING volley into the floor to bounce and loop over the outstretched arms of Adli Mohamed in the Soton net.

Gore would double United's lead thanks to poor defensive passing from the south coast side, with a bit of pinball passing from the United frontline coming back to Gore for a low, left-footed finish which - being honest - the keeper should have done better with.

A lovely throughball from Dan Gore - him again - in the 52nd minutes allowed Jack Moorhouse to outrun the Southampton defence and slot coolly past Mohamed to make it 3-0 United. Again, the keeper should have done more to protect his near post, but it was a good finish and a better pass - perfectly weighted.

Five minutes later and more poor defending was pounced on by United's front press, with Gore teeing up Ethan Wheatley for a looping first-time finish into the far top corner. 4-0, game over.

Of course, it's United, so never assume it's game over lmao. Five minutes after the Wheatley goal, Southampton bagged themselves a consolation; a laser-guided free kick from the wide right meeting the height of the unmarked Baylee Dipepa. A tough one to stop, but the lack of awareness... a little worrying. Hopefully it was just focus dropping at 4-0, rather than a genuine lack of scanning.

Right at the death there was a bit more Moorhouse Magic to come. Mee played out to Jack from the back, who drove up most of the pitch himself. Ball goes wide, back to Moorhouse, rides two tackles and wiggles through the box, to then poke home into the bottom corner. Southampton had more in the box than not and he still scored. You love to see it.

The two real standouts were Jack Moorhouse and Dan Gore.

Gore is somewhat of a known entity amongst United fans given his featuring in the first team briefly. He's a talented midfielder with a shot on him. My current feeling is Darron Gibson vibes, which isn't meant as a jibe - he was a good player and had a good career. The thing for Gore is if he can progress his potential to being more of a Keane or Charlton. He's certainly working hard, so here's hoping.

Moorhouse... in the words of Academy Arena: "Moorhouse is the Jack of all trades. Ball-carrying on lock. Tight space dribbling dialled. Passes kept simple. Shots fully loaded. Injuries have deprived him of playing time so it’s good to see him out there doing what he loves."

Collyer is still on the first team squad fringe, but I could see Gore being back there imminently too. For the likes of Moorhouse, Ennis, Wheatley, Amass... it feels like a little more work is needed. Maybe loans in January. We wait and see.

Next up - Leeds away, Friday 10th Jan, 7pm. A spicy start to the New Year which hopefully can be a big win to kick the year off right.

[atariforce]

Atari by Nick Cox

[applesandbannas747]

We all know Seiji's verbal response to Nick's date spot is adorable, but can we talk about the tiny little tug at Nick's sleeve to get his attention/make him stop please? because I think about it a lot

[comicake]

are they doing that I think they’re doing..👁️👁️

[thestarminstrel]

🦈🐠

[its-ezraaa]

Sundae date time!

[stevienickswelshwitch]

[sometimeswritingsometimesdying]

as we draw near the release of the next issue here's my list of (not completely serious) sweet sixteen predictions:

jesse and nicholas fight that feels really brotherly even if they don't know yet. i'm saying hair-yanking, kicking shins, fingers in the face. they're playing fully unfair.

seiji gets benched and they put nicholas in instead of him (way back there was a panel about how the closer should never be replaced by the reserve....... foreshadowing perhaps?)

this leads to seiji complimenting nicholas and NOW we get nicholas realizing he has a crush too (this either spurs him on during the next bout or causes him to have a crisis)

seiji and marcus sweet moment where marcus compliments seiji and it actually means something to him because he was his idol as a kid

harvard gets to say fuck, aiden engages in more internal turmoil than normal

confirmation (as far as there has been the implication) that aiden and nate are exes and everything that comes with that

we discover whether robert coste knows about nicholas or not (my bet is on not) but jesse doesn't find out in this issue

we get some kind of insight on jesse's relationship with fencing (whether he's just a natural talent, it's just for the family, or is as obsessed with it as seiji, ect)

kyle somehow fucks shit up bad. or he has a really funny one liner. like either he's fundamental to the plot of this issue or he's just there to look back and forth between jesse and nick going "oh what the hell"

ok but seriously: harvard and marcel will probably speak during the tournament and aiden will fuck shit up either for himself or others, mayhaps along with someone actually getting him to talk

someone who's not a trusted adult discovers nicholas's relation to the costes (bobby, aiden, or kyle?) and it either gets out, so nick deals with the fallout of that, or they have the moral dilemma of telling someone (coach, robert, or perhaps nick himself)

williams/lewis crumbs lol

haiden kiss. for me specifically. it won't happen but i so wish that it would. and if it does happen it should give us insight on why aiden refuses to apply himself to fencing and harvard's relationship with being captain and responsibility, and they should be deeply troubled and shaken up by it

some more insight on nicholas's dynamic with his mom and maybe information he has about her and robert's relationship?

for the giggles: team finds out seiji never celebrated his 16th because he was in france, so they set up a little celebration for him (hence "sweet sixteen") (this is my favorite one out of all of these) (i have many emotions about seiji being in france, alone, for a year)

last but not least: someone gets carded at least once and someone yells at the refs (happens without fail at every team comp)

[fencedits]

seiji and nicholas in FENCE: REDEMPTION #4 PREVIEW ♡

[nothingtoknow222]

The vibes are real

[kori-senpai]

drawing Nicholas to rip myself out of my art block by the throat

[unitedbydevils]

U18 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

The women win the FA Cup, the U21 women become national champs, the U18s win the northern league, and now they have beaten Chelsea 2-1 - at Chelsea - to be crowned national champs.

In what was a tough and slightly nervy final at Stamford Bridge, Manchester United came out on top against a strong Chelsea side to be crowned U18 national champions.

Both sides traded blows early on but United mixed it up between the high line and high press with sitting deep and playing long balls for Ethan Wheatley to run on to, which saw the young striker unlucky not to score when he hit the left post.

United's front 4 of Ethans Williams and Wheatley, Jack Fletcher, and James Scanlon look strong though, and it was Wheatley who finally got his deserved goal in the 21st minute with a cool finish off an outstretched Williams pass through the centre.

Chelsea fought back and used the physicality of RCM Ampah to push past United LB Harry Amass, as well as having chances from Runham and George, but good defending from Louis Jackson off the line and keeper Elyh Harrison kept United in front at the break.

That lead lasted for 120 seconds. Sake.

Chelsea held possession at the start of the second half and built a nice attack up the field, before whipping a deep cross in to back post and letting the tall Acheampong dwarf Harry Amass and easily pressure him off to nod home the equaliser. United were very bunched up in the box though, especially towards the front, and the coaching staff will be disappointed with the team's poor marking and positioning to allow Chelsea back into the game.

Chelsea's confidence shone through George in particular, and United's attacks were met with equally fierce counters. The boys in red smartly slowed the tempo down though to allow themselves a foot back in the game, which gave Ethan Wheatley the chance to break on the right side of the Chelsea box for a lovely cutback to Jack Fletcher. His effort was spurned, but the deflection from keeper Merrick fell perfectly to Ethan Williams to make it 2-1 United.

Some great footwork in the 63rd minute by Ethan Wheatley could and should have put United 3-1 up but for a good save and an average shot, but that's experience - and the footwork to get through the box defenders was top notch. Same can be said for James Scanlon the Gibraltan international; a right-sided attacker drifted central and coasting through the Chelsea midfield. Confidence, composure, and determination. Lovely stuff.

Poor defending in the 81st minute from the Chelsea goalscorer Acheampong let Ethan Wheatley in for a shot on goal but again, experience would have helped as the striker was indecisive and tried a late shot on goal rather than the pass to either Williams or Fletcher.

Chelsea continued to attack hard, and had United sat deep and scrambling to stay in the lead, but their wasteful finishing allowed United another two chances on the break - both to Ethan Wheatley again. How he didn't end the night with a hat-trick, let alone a second goal, is baffling, but perhaps it was the pressure of the final or bad luck or fatigue... who knows.

All that matters is that United won come that final whistle in a tough battle against a strong Chelsea youth team, and I'm sure it's a battle we'll see in years to come for some of these aspiring professionals.

[coyotepuppyy]

fence fandom hot take, apparently

listen. idc what anyone says. the novels aren’t that bad. i fucking loved the tiny snippets of wholesome nichoji. i loved the slow burn with haiden. it wasn’t even poorly written. i feel like a lot of people get hung up on it not being entirely canon, or just that it disrupts the flow of the comics or whatever else.

but they’re still good books, and tbh i’d pick that as canon harvard and aiden so quickly. i loved them both so much and i love how the books actually gave insight on aiden and harvard’s feelings and thoughts, as well as seiji’s, not just nicholas’s / a general perspective.

anyways that being said now that i’ve finished everything besides redemption, i need fic recs :3

gimme some fluffy haiden or nichoji pining or smth to hold me over while i wait for all the parts of redemption to come out together, since i can’t figure out how to read it without spending money (bc i don’t wanna spend the money twice)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Nick Anderson

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 8, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Oct 08, 2024

“It’s been a tradition for more than half a century that the major party candidates for president sit down with 60 Minutes in October,” host Scott Pelley said to the camera last night before 60 Minutes aired an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. This year, both Harris and Republican nominee former president Donald Trump accepted an invitation for an interview.

“Then a week ago,” Pelley said, “Trump backed out. The campaign offered shifting explanations. First it complained that we would fact-check the interview. We fact-check every story,” Pelley said. “Later, Trump said he needed an apology for his interview in 2020. Trump claims correspondent Leslie Stahl said in that interview that Hunter Biden’s controversial laptop came from Russia. She never said that.

“Trump has said his opponent doesn’t do interviews because she can’t handle them. He had previously declined another debate with Harris, so tonight may have been the largest audience for the candidates between now and election day. Our questions addressed the economy, immigration, reproductive rights, and the wars in the Middle East and Europe. Both campaigns understood this special would go ahead if either candidate backed out.”

And with that, 60 Minutes aired its interview with Vice President Harris.

Trump broke a fifty-year tradition so his false world would not be challenged by reality. He apparently wants to make sure voters cannot base their decisions about the country’s future on facts. Hiding reality is in keeping with his continued refusal to release his tax returns or a medical report—even after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania—or the video from the incident at Arlington National Cemetery, instead insisting that people take him at his word about what happened. 

If voters trust his disinformation campaign, rather than thinking things through for themselves, who will his policies help? 

A bombshell story from a forthcoming book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward today revealed that in 2020, when he was president, Trump secretly shipped Covid-19 testing equipment to Russian president Vladimir Putin for his own personal use at a time when Americans could not get it.  

A Trump aide told Woodward that Trump and Putin have spoken as many as seven times since Trump left the White House, prompting Edward Luce of the Financial Times to comment: “What possible business could an out-of-office U.S. president have to call Vladimir Putin seven times?” Woodward recounts a moment when Trump told a senior aide to leave the room so “he could have what he said was a private phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin.” 

The Woodward book also says that when South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham was visiting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, in March 2024, Graham said “Hey, let’s call Trump.” According to Woodward, an aide brought MBS a bag full of burner phones, one of which was labeled “TRUMP 45.”

This news highlights the fact that Trump retained classified documents when he left the White House, carrying them with him to Mar-a-Lago, where he tried to hide them from federal officials. A grand jury indicted him on 37 felony counts for those actions, but Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the case in July after concluding that Special Counsel Jack Smith was improperly appointed.  

Trump’s campaign came out swinging after the story broke, with Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung calling Woodward “a total sleazebag who has lost it mentally.”

In contrast to Trump’s disinformation campaign, Vice President Harris is running a normal campaign, offering policy proposals. Today she proposed a plan to permit Medicare to help cover the costs of long-term home health care aides for seniors. Harris announced the plan on ABC’s The View, where she spoke of the so-called sandwich generation, people—mostly women—who are taking care of their elderly parents at the same time they are also taking care of children. “[I]t’s just almost impossible to do it all, especially if they work,” Harris said, adding that many end up having to leave their jobs. She also called for Medicare to cover vision and hearing care to enable seniors to live independently for longer.  

Harris said the money to pay for the new services will come from savings realized through Medicare’s new ability to negotiate drug prices—an ability Republicans are eager to end—and through cracking down on Medicare fraud. A fact sheet about the plan emphasizes that it will enable the government to work with the private sector to expand the home care workforce and provide more access to telehealth. 

Her plan also calls for stopping states from seizing family homes of recently deceased Medicaid beneficiaries to restore funding, a program called “Medicaid estate recovery.” Those seizures particularly hurt rural and minority populations, she noted, preventing them from building wealth. 

Reed Abelson and Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times note that both expanded home care benefits and drug negotiations are popular. KFF, which conducts health policy research, reports that Medicaid estate recovery has been criticized because it “falls primarily on individuals with limited incomes, raises little revenue, and is applied very unevenly across the states.” 

Deepa Shivaram of NPR noted that a relatively large percentage of middle-aged and older women remain undecided in this race and Harris’s plan speaks to their needs. The plan would also bring more money and care workers into rural towns with aging populations, giving those areas an economic boost.  

In a fact sheet, the Harris-Walz campaign noted that Trump is focused on tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, has repeatedly called for cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and gave clemency to those abusing the system. As Amy B. Wang and Azi Paybarah explained in the Washington Post: “In his last year in office, Trump commuted the sentences of at least five people who collectively filed nearly $1.6 billion in fraudulent claims through Medicare or Medicaid.”

On The View, Harris said, “In this election, people are ready for a new generation of leadership that’s about fixing problems.” 

The 2020 60 Minutes interview for which Trump demanded an apology last week was the one in which he promised his health care plan was “fully developed,” then angrily walked out. His exit was apparently planned, for shortly after his departure, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany walked up to Stahl with a giant book, saying: “Lesley, the President wanted me to deliver his health care plan. It’s a little heavy.”

Trump and McEnany likely expected that the audience would remember their theatrical move rather than the reality, which was that the book contained no Trump healthcare plan because one didn’t exist. 

Four years later, it still doesn’t. Trump said at the September 10 presidential debate that he has the “concepts of a plan.”

CNN today set a deadline of Thursday for Trump to accept its invitation for an October 23 presidential debate. Harris has already accepted. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[ccssketchbooknstuff]

"i think it would help me if a lesbian pinned me to the wall with an épée. i mean, it may not fix me but it wouldn't hurt" - me, 10 minutes before starting this piece, about my partner who sadly doesn't fence