#obsessed w my targeted ads lately
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(tumblr made this so crunchy, click for a better res!)
(Edit: I added more stuff and changed some things because yeah I’m obsessed w these two)
love love everyone’s headcanons about Astarion’s now-forgotten family and decided to make my own! As well as my own story about them. I hope my handwriting is readable :”)
As for a brief summary of his parents, (at the start of the BG3 game, because I headcanon them to still be alive somewhere)
Analelle is a moon high elf and is 391 years old. Definitely the smarts of the family. Very quiet and discrete yet cunning when she wants to be. Has a permanent “knowing look”. Usually about 2-3 steps ahead of you at all times.
Lithuryn is a half sun/half moon high elf and is 410 years old. Has dreams of being a noble within Baldur’s Gate and living lavishly with the other nobles there. He isn’t home very much. His work usually takes over his life.
Lots and lots more, sorry folks but i went crazy about these two:
Analelle and Lithruyn lived in Evereska, both working in politics or law within the community and meeting each other through their work. They weren’t exactly nobles within the community but they were very well-off and would be considered upper class. You can headcanon whatever age you want for Astarion but I always lean towards ~240 because it makes the most sense game-wise. They had him when they were in their 150s (about. Math x—x) while still in Evereska, however he only lived there until he was about 15 or so. (I have toyed with the idea of him having an older sibling (about +60 years or so) who ran off and became a druid after they loved to Baldurs Gate and hasn’t really contacted the family since…but that’s just a random theory because fun fact! I read somewhere that High elves are pretty infertile and usually only have a family of 3. So yeah I will leave out rebellious older Druid sibling for now. For now…)
The Ancunin's arrived to Baldur's Gate to work for a highly regarded law firm. This place was the cat's meow even though life was definitely different than it was in Evereska, as they were nobles there. Here, while they are still very wealthy, aren't exactly bumping elbows with the Baldurian nobles. (yet)
Even though they were still forming these connections, they were pretty popular within the elven communities in the city. This unfortunately was how Cazador was alerted to their presence and began his “hunt”. Really, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Astarion had a target on his back for a long time before he died.
Astarion becomes a magistrate through these connections his parents have been making. They absolutely pull strings for him and we’re able to land him a very nice, high-paying job even if Astarion was a little under qualified for the position. Everyone was happy not only because of his job, but that given his upper class clientele he can easily work his way into becoming the Baldurian noble his parents were hoping for. Even if he was corrupt and not the best of people.
The story goes on and as you all know Astarion dies in his mid/late 30's due to the Gur attack. I have more headcanons regarding elf age here, which also talks about how elves dying due to murder is extremely rare in elven communities, so Analelle and Lithuryn just thought it literally could never happen. As for age, I can't describe it all here (it's all in the post I linked), but no Astarion was far from being a "child" biologically, he did however lack the life experience of someone who would have made it to 100 years old.
When they find that Astarion’s grave was defaced and his body missing, they were completely outraged. They were angrily contacting every single high noble of Baldur’s Gate and were on a wild emotionally-charged manhunt to find whoever did this. Cazador knew about this (duh) and started up his plan on how to deal with it. He purposely picks the people that don’t have many connections, but he clearly underestimated how involved the Ancunin family was. It was, at that point, easier to have the town turn against them than kill them and cause a big stink.
This all happened throughout the course of... a week or so. They were getting threatened every day, lost their jobs quickly, and their old noble connections turned against them. Unsure of how Cazador would do this but I can imagine he is really really good at it. They had to leave Baldur's Gate out of fear, never really knowing what happened to Astarion and generally being confused about the whole thing. This is also why Astarion never just. ran into them when he was prowling the streets and even if he had memory of them he wouldn't know where they went, and also why his grave stone was so unkept.
I can’t decide if they picked up their pieces back at Evereska and lived a modest life there, trying not to be noticed, or if they now live away from civilization in order to stay safe. It’s sad but unfortunately that’s just the way it goes with vampires :”)
As for eyes, I headcanon Astarion’s eyes to be blue with gold flecks (like his father’s) because I headcanon him to be a moon elf along with his mom. As much as I adore golden eyes him being a moon elf just makes so much sense! I might change my opinion at random because I’m so indecisive.
Anyway, I hope my incoherent rambles make sense. If i forgot something important lore-wise and it doesn’t fit in with these headcanons… let me know, but if anything this can be an AU. I spent so much time thinking abt it lol.
#the ancunin family#astarion ancunin#analelle ancunin#lithuryn ancunin#bg3#baldurs gate 3#bg3 headcanons#astarion’s family#bg3 astarion#my art#‘salen avae’ is elvish for ‘my joy’ btw ^^
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note: this is a collab with the amazing @volumptuousvoid - i hope you all enjoy, my lovely loves!
title: (y/n)-chan of the first floor girls’ bathroom
pairing(s): pg!gonta gokuhara x reader
post type: one shot (possible fic series?)
premise: the first day of school makes a turn for the strange when gonta gokuhara is tasked with confronting the ghost of the first floor girls’ bathroom
warning(s): talk of serial killers and murder, the supernatural
key: (H/L) = hair length, (H/C) = hair color
High school, an eternal hell for those not among the chosen. It was a thunder dome of teenage body odor and a hell hole for crazed hormones to flourish. Gonta Gokuhara knew that folks like him would be easy to torment if he didn’t use his size to his advantage.
Puberty had blessed the poor boy with muscles like an Olympian and the height of an Amazonian, as he shedded his awkward 5′5″ middle school self and transformed into a 6′6″ high school first year. Still, he was clumsy and nervous like any kid on their first day of high school.
Gonta maneuvered his way through the halls of Hoddakido Wakkani Academy, students stepping out of the way as to not be trampled by the giant of a high schooler, “Class 1-A.. Class 1-A.. Class- oh, there!” he found his classroom and stepped inside, unknowingly signing his death warrant.
Inside the classroom, a group of third years stood waiting for their first target of the new school year. Of course, they weren’t expecting a behemoth like Gonta Gokuhara but he would do.
Gonta took note of the boys’ uniform buttons, gold to symbolize their status as third year students in comparison to Gonta’s first year bronze-colored buttons. Immediately, he bowed respectfully to his upperclassmen and exclaimed, “Apologies for intruding! Am I interrupting something?”
“Oh no, not at all!” one of the boys- a lanky guy with auburn hair- cooed to Gonta, “Actually, we need your help, big fellow.”
Gonta gritted his teeth at the words ‘big fellow’, he despised that nickname.
“I’m Haru, but you can call me Haru-senpai,” the third year boy replied.
“Understood, Haru-senpai!” answered Gonta, not wanting to anger his upperclassmen with disrespect.
“We have a tradition here at Hoddakido Wakkani,” another boy- a chubby guy with a bowl cut- added, “The first year student who makes it to homeroom first has to visit one of the school’s seven wonders.”
“Seven wonders?” Gonta never heard of such a thing at Hoddakido Wakkani.
“Seven wonders!” the chubby student replied, “And you, big guy, get to be the first student to visit (Y/N)-chan of the first floor girls’ bathroom.”
“W- What?” Gonta tried to conceal his stammer. To visit the girl’s bathroom on the first day of school when he was clearly a boy would be social suicide!
“No ifs, no buts, no whats,” stated Haru, grabbing Gonta by the collar and pulling the first year to eye level, “Meet us after school at three o’clock sharp, or you can kiss your time at Hoddakido Wakkani goodbye.”
Guess standing his ground on the first day of school went out the window.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Gonta awaited outside the first floor girls’ bathroom, twiddling his thumbs anxiously. The group of third years, led by Haru, stood before him with smirks and exchanged snickers. Haru took charge and informed Gonta, “Here’s a little history lesson on (Y/N)-chan~”
Gonta listened to Haru closely, as he explained the legend of (Y/N)-chan, ghost of the first floor girls’ bathroom.
“Legends has it that during the eighties, a serial killer was on the loose throughout the city of Wakkani. Although they were never caught, it was rumored to be the local butcher with an obsession for skinning pretty high school girls.”
Gonta gulped his nerves, remembering his parents talking about the spree of murders that plagued Wakkani during their teenage years.
“The serial killer managed to skin a dozen girls before killing a thirteenth girl, (Y/N) (L/N). Yet, she was a different case with the serial killer killing in the bathroom of Hoddakido Wakkani Academy instead of kidnapping her and taking her to a secondary location.”
Gonta didn’t remember his parents mentioning a thirteenth victim.
“To this day, rumors say that (Y/N)-chan haunts the first floor girls’ bathroom, attacking any man who dares enter her domain. And you, Gonta Gokuhara, are gonna be this year’s sacrifice.”
“Wait–” it was too late, Haru had already shoved Gonta inside the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. Gonta tripped and fall on his face before sitting back up and clutching his bruised forehead, “Damnit..”
“Are you okay?” a soft voice asked him, was there a girl already in the bathroom beforehand?”
“Yeah, I’ll be okay..” Gonta grumbled, as he slowly looked up, “It’s just a–”
His voice dissipated at the sight of the girl before him, glowing an eerie blue and floating over the ground. Gonta’s heart nearly gave out from the fright, as he stumbled to get away from the ghost, “G- G- G... GHOST!”
“You don’t have to be rude about it,” huffed the girl, swishing her (H/L) (H/C) back. The ghost was dressed in an older version of Hoddakido Wakkani Academy’s female uniform, a navy sailor outfit with black penny loafers and a loose neckerchief.
“Are you–” Gonta swallowed his nerves, “–(Y/N)-chan?”
The ghost, presumably (Y/N) of the first floor girls’ bathroom, smiled at Gonta and hummed in reply, “That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” she did a loop flying around the bathroom, “What brings you to my domain, cutie?”
Cutie? Gonta blushed at the compliment. Sure, his mother would call him a handsome boy but never had Gonta been complimented by a girl his age before. He cleared his throat, trying to cool down his flaming cheeks, and explained the situation to (Y/N)-chan, “I- er, I’m this year’s sacrifice.”
(Y/N)-chan blew a raspberry and rolled her eyes, “Tch, I hate it when those third years do that. Sure, I usually give the poor sap stuck as the sacrifice a scare but it has gotten soooooo–” she elongated her words, “–boring!”
Gonta blinked at the ghost, “So.. am I free to go?”
“Yeah, I guess!” the ghost checked her nails absentmindedly, “Or you can do me a favor.”
Gonta raised his eyebrows at (Y/N)-chan, “A favor?”
“Yeah, a favor!” the ghost repeated to the first year student.
“What’s the favor?” he asked.
“I want you to solve my murder.”
#danganronpa#danganronpa killing harmony#pregame gonta#pregame gonta gokuhara#pregame gonta x reader#pregame gonta gokuhara x reader#fic#possible series
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YouTube carves policy exception allowing "hurtful" homophobic slurs
Nothing to be proud of today
YouTube admitted Tuesday that videos posted by a notoriously homophobic star violated its policy against "hurtful" language. But it said it wouldn't be removing them, instead carving a policy exception for a prominent conservative voice.
Last week, Vox journalist Carlos Maza publicly challenged the company to enforce its anti-harassment policy against Steven Crowder, a right-wing figure whose relentlessly mocking attacks, Maza claims, result in waves of abuse from his millions of followers.
"Every single video has included repeated, overt attacks on my sexual orientation and ethnicity," Maza wrote on Twitter. "These videos get millions of views on YouTube. Every time one gets posted, I wake up to a wall of homophobic/racist abuse on Instagram and Twitter. ... This has been going on for years, and I've tried to flag this shit on several occasions. But YouTube is never going to actually enforce its policies. Because Crowder has 3 million YouTube subscribers, and enforcing their rules would get them accused on anti-conservative bias."
Crowder, who currently touts a "Carlos Maza is a Fag" shirt, is also known for openly racist ethnic stereotypes, posting a video claiming that AIDS is a hoax, and sundry hooting bigotry along similar lines. After Maza issued his public complaint, Crowder wrote that he was "used to being smeared by massive media organizations" and posted a mocking "apology" video repeating the slurs.
In a series of tweets responding to Maza late Tuesday evening, an official YouTube account said the videos had been reviewed, were deemed to contain "hurtful" material, but would nonetheless stay up.
"We take allegations of harassment very seriously", the @TeamYouTube account posted. "While we found language that was clearly hurtful, the videos as posted don’t violate our policies. ... As an open platform, it’s crucial for us to allow everyone–from creators to journalists to late-night TV hosts–to express their opinions w/in the scope of our policies. Opinions can be deeply offensive, but if they don’t violate our policies, they’ll remain on our site."
Users quickly pointed out, though, that "hurtful" was YouTube's own term for a category of unacceptable material, as defined in its policies, and that its stated policy was that such material would be removed.
It's no surprise that YouTube tolerates such content in practice, despite its terms of service. The whirlwind of far-right content there attracts a fast-growing and lucratively engaged audience.
But it is unusual for YouTube to wrangle its own policies in public—especially to justify approving a specific user's language on its platform while insisting that it does not approve of such content more generally.
"YouTube doesn’t give a fuck about queer creators," Maza earlier wrote, and on Tuesday he added that YouTube had made it "crystal clear".
"@YouTube has decided that targeted racist and homophobic harassment does not violate its policies against hate speech or harassment," he wrote. "That’s an absolutely batshit policy that gives bigots free license."
Just a few weeks ago, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki admitted a corporate obsession with "maximizing usage statistics" to The New York Times and promised that the company would prioritize things other than growth and to change its algorithms to stop recommending illegal and inappropriate material.
Earlier today, the Times published yet another exposé: YouTube recommending videos of unclothed children to users interested in such things, an algorothmic "digital playground for pedophiles."
YouTube’s revenue now exceeds $15 billion annually and is growing at up to 40 percent a year.
https://boingboing.net/2019/06/04/youtube-carves-policy-exceptio.html
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Kamen Rider OOO Episodes 17-32
I'm really holding myself to not make a joke with a Katy Perry song.
Yes, I'm late. Yesterday was my mom's birthday and I was taking care of that for the past three days so I didn't finish writing this post on time, I'M SORRY. But here I am now so let's get to the juice.
You know, looking from the point we left in the last post I expected things to go downhill and I was prepared to have another W's mid-season experience. Aaaaand I was wrong! And thank god for it.
The complaints I had from the first part are still present here, but they picked on the good points already present and expanded so much on them that when you put things on paper the positives more than compensate for the bad ones. As I mentioned before, arcs introducing a new "ranger" in the middle of the season are for the most part very hard to me, I usually don't like those, and the way they introduce Birth sure was rough in some edges. But despite the elements I dislike still being there, I've grown to like Akira/Birth and I think their inclusion to the cast played a big role in making this second part as solid as it was.
The come and go of the medals is still confusing and hard to keep up with, the antagonists are still kind of a mess, some of the MOTW plots are weak, but each one of these negatives come with a positive. Yes, is hard to keep track of the medals, but the new combo forms Os got in these episodes were amazing both in visuals and in powers. Yes, there are still many "factions" acting as antagonists, but each one of them had something added to them so they don't look just like a bunch of pawns trying to act like a king and just looking like a bunch of ants who broke formation coming back to their colony. While some MOTW didn't have a very engaging story, each one of them had at least one quirk that made them interesting.
If there are things I'd consider fatal flaws in this particular block of episodes I'd say they are: how they didn't know how to manage the GREED, Gotou's storyline, and those horrible episodes celebrating the 1000th episode.
Regarding the GREED, this is a problem I had in the first part as well, they're completely underused. First, they quickly ditched two generals (the ones with most personality) at once, so I thought we would see Uva and Kazari as two different forces going against each other, but no Uva was pushed to the side for the most of it and we only saw Kazari doing his things. Then there's the matter of Ankh's body who's sitting on a very thin line and sometimes it's pending more to the interesting side and in other times is just sitting in the "really, queen?" side of things. Now not everything is bad, adding a new GREED that wasn't one of the original 5 and having this GREED be merging with both Eiji and Dr, Maki is very interesting and I'm quite curious to see how it'll develop, I feel like they're building up for Maki be the final boss and I'm kinda thorned about it since I really like Kougami and I wish he was the final antagonist, but episodes 29 and 30 shed a new light on Dr. Maki and I started liking him a little more so I think I'm okay if that's the path they'll take.
Gotou is a mixed bag of feelings for me. I really started disliking him around episode 12, and I disliked him more when they started to hint him as being the next Rider to join, and I still think he's a very weak character and he's definitely not in my favorites' list. But I started to get more sympathetic towards him and a huge part of that is because of his interactions with Akira, I'm still not interested on seeing him becoming Birth but thanks to this period he spent with Akira I think when the change happens I'll be more open-minded for it. I also can't deny that he had a great part in on of my favorite stories of the season (Episodes 21 and 22) that made me soften my heart for him, seeing his internal conflict about his own sense of justice was very cool, the conclusion he came to wasn't what I wanted but it was still great nonetheless.
The 1000th episode arc was... just boring and embarrassing, I'm sorry. I know I don't have the knowledge of this franchise to catch all the easter eggs and such, but with easter eggs or no is a very weak plot and I wasn't interested in anything. Again, I'm sorry.
But now let's talk about the good stuff. First of all, I wanna take a moment to talk about the power-ups, Os got two new combos in these episodes and they're both great. Seeing that I'm a sucker for water powers I thought ShaUTa would be my favorite, and while it looks pretty good and the fight underwater we got as cool as heck my favorite form is TaJaDor, I love the design of the suit, I love the design of the wings, I love that attack with the peacock feathers, I love when he goes to the sky and start looking like a phoenix, that power-up is *chef's kiss* perfecto! I don't know if PuToTyranno is considered a power-up, but the form is also pretty darn good, I think the ptera wings are a bit weird and attacking with a tail is a bit too much for me (especially with that CGI), but I love the ax/gun weapon he got, and I can't wait to see more. (also PuToTyranno is a very fun name to me because "puto" is not a family-friendly word in Portuguese and I just can't help but crack every time I think of it XD)
Talking about characters, Eiji is as great as ever, his smartness continues being on point, he has great comedy moments, and the delivery on the emotional moments is very well done. What I liked the most about him in these episodes was seeing how he could gave some very strong speeches about justice and helping other people and said speeches didn't sound generic or fake like in the many other shows with a young male target audience. They were a bit idealistic while staying very grounded in reality which I loved. We also got to see the full scope of his backstory too, I don't necessarily love the part about he coming from a wealthy family, but I can see that this also adds a lot on his shoulders so I'm okay with it, is still a very strong character point. I thought it would take long to another Rider to dethrone Shotaro as my favorite, but Eiji is coming very close to it, let's see how the show will handle his character in this final third.
Ankh... is still Ankh. I thought they were building a narrative of him betraying Eiji, and I thought that could be a very nice point to make him grow as a character but that didn't come true so, I'm still kinda meh about him. Hina is still boring, but this time I'll blame all on the actress/direction they gave to her because there are good moments for her here but the delivery is very lackluster. Chiyoko is still a very nice side character, I really liked her participation in episodes 29 and 30 with her interactions with Maki, I hope we can see more of this in the future.
The things in Kougami foundation are still a high point for me, Kougami himself seems to be becoming more crazy and obsessive as time passes and I just love it. Erika is by far the best support character, and I love that badass action scene they gave her in episode 20! I wish the booty shots didn't have camera angles that weren't so IN YOUR FACE, but I guess is a fair trade considering the many closeups on Eiji while he's on his underwear so...
I already talked a bit about Akira but I feel like I need to highlight him again. I wasn't expecting to like him this much, especially seeing how he crashed this party without previous notice, but I really enjoy him. He's so upbeat and straightforward, yet he's not just an easygoing character, we can see his dept and whenever he goes serious it doesn't seem like a very drastic change. It's kinda impossible to dislike this guy. I'm a bit afraid for him, because the signs that he's going to die are all here, and I don't wanna see him go because I like him so much, I hope that if they do it it'll be on a nice way and it'll make him justice, BUT I'LL TRY TO STAY POSITIVE TILL THE LAST MINUTE AND I'LL BELIEVE THAT HE'S NOT GONNA DIE (pls OOO, don't crush my heart).
I believe this is all I had to say, I can't believe I'm already so close to the end of this wonderful series, I really hope they won't drop the ball in this final stretch. How yall feel about the middle portion of OOO, anything you agree or disagree with? Let me know in the comments. See you, folks. o/
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Shoot Them in the Legs, Trump Suggested: Inside His Border War https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/us/politics/trump-border-wars.html
Shoot Them in the Legs, Trump Suggested: Inside His Border War(Trump is nothing more than a thug and wannabe mobster. 🤢🤬🤬🤬)
By Michael D. Shear and Julie Hirschfeld Davis | Published Oct. 1, 2019 Updated 7:19 p.m. ET | New York Times | Posted October 1, 2019 |
WASHINGTON — The Oval Office meeting this past March began, as so many had, with President Trump fuming about migrants. But this time he had a solution. As White House advisers listened astonished, he ordered them to shut down the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico — by noon the next day.
The advisers feared the president’s edict would trap American tourists in Mexico, strand children at schools on both sides of the border and create an economic meltdown in two countries. Yet they also knew how much the president’s zeal to stop immigration had sent him lurching for solutions, one more extreme than the next.
Privately, the president had often talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate. He wanted the wall electrified, with spikes on top that could pierce human flesh. After publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told him that was illegal. But later in a meeting, aides recalled, he suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. That’s not allowed either, they told him.
“The president was frustrated and I think he took that moment to hit the reset button,” said Thomas D. Homan, who had served as Mr. Trump’s acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, recalling that week in March. “The president wanted it to be fixed quickly.”
Mr. Trump’s order to close the border was a decision point that touched off a frenzied week of presidential rages, round-the-clock staff panic and far more White House turmoil than was known at the time. By the end of the week, the seat-of-the-pants president had backed off his threat but had retaliated with the beginning of a purge of the aides who had tried to contain him.
Today, as Mr. Trump is surrounded by advisers less willing to stand up to him, his threat to seal off the country from a flood of immigrants remains active. “I have absolute power to shut down the border,” he said in an interview this summer with The New York Times.
This article is based on interviews with more than a dozen White House and administration officials directly involved in the events of that week in March. They were granted anonymity to describe sensitive conversations with the president and top officials in the government.
In the Oval Office that March afternoon, a 30-minute meeting extended to more than two hours as Mr. Trump’s team tried desperately to placate him.
“You are making me look like an idiot!” Mr. Trump shouted, adding in a profanity, as multiple officials in the room described it. “I ran on this. It’s my issue.”
Among those in the room were Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary at the time; Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state; Kevin K. McAleenan, the Customs and Border Protection chief at the time; and Stephen Miller, the White House aide who, more than anyone, had orchestrated Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda. Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff was also there, along with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and other senior staff.
Ms. Nielsen, a former aide to George W. Bush brought into the department by John F. Kelly, the president’s former chief of staff, was in a perilous position. She had always been viewed with suspicion by the president, who told aides she was “a Bushie,” and part of the “deep state” who once contributed to a group that supported Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign.
Mr. Trump had routinely berated Ms. Nielsen as ineffective and, worse — at least in his mind — not tough-looking enough. “Lou Dobbs hates you, Ann Coulter hates you, you’re making me look bad,” Mr. Trump would tell her, referring to the Fox Business Network host and the conservative commentator.
The happiest he had been with Ms. Nielsen was a few months earlier, when American border agents had fired tear gas into Mexico to try to stop migrants from crossing into the United States. Human rights organizations condemned the move, but Mr. Trump loved it. More often, though, she drew the president’s scorn.
That March day, he was furious at Mr. Pompeo, too, for having cut a deal with Mexico to allow the United States to reject some asylum seekers — a plan Mr. Trump said was clearly failing.
A complete shutdown of the border, Mr. Trump said, was the only way.
Ms. Nielsen had tried reasoning with the president on many occasions. When she stood up to him during a cabinet meeting the previous spring, he excoriated her and she almost resigned.
Now, she tried again to reason with him.
We can close the border, she told the president, but it’s not going to fix anything. People will still be permitted to claim asylum.
But Mr. Trump was unmoved. Even Mr. Kushner, who had developed relationships with Mexican officials and now sided with Ms. Nielsen, could not get through to him.
“All you care about is your friends in Mexico,” the president snapped, according to people in the room. “I’ve had it. I want it done at noon tomorrow.”
The Start of an Overhaul
The president’s advisers left the meeting in a near panic.
Every year more than $200 billion worth of American exports flow across the Mexican border. Closing it would wreak havoc on American farmers and automakers, among many others. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said in an interview at the time that a border shutdown would have “a potentially catastrophic economic impact on our country.”
That night, White House advisers succeeded in convincing the president to give them a reprieve, but only for a week, until the following Friday. That gave them very little time to change the president’s mind.
They started by pressuring their Mexican counterparts to rapidly increase apprehensions of migrants. Mr. Kushner and others in the West Wing showered the president with emails proving that the Mexicans had already started apprehending more migrants before they could enter the United States.
White House advisers encouraged a stream of corporate executives, Republican lawmakers and officials from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to tell Mr. Trump how damaging a border closure would be.
Mr. Miller, meanwhile, saw an opportunity.
It was his view that the president needed to completely overhaul the Homeland Security Department and get rid of senior officials who he believed were thwarting efforts to block immigrants. Although many were the president’s handpicked aides, Mr. Miller told him they had become part of the problem by constantly citing legal hurdles.
Ms. Nielsen, who regularly found herself telling Mr. Trump why he couldn’t have what he wanted, was an obvious target. When the president demanded “flat black” paint on his border wall, she said it would cost an additional $1 million per mile. When he ordered wall construction sped up, she said they needed permission from property owners. Take the land, Mr. Trump would say, and let them sue us.
When Ms. Nielsen tried to get him to focus on something other than the border, the president grew impatient. During a briefing on the need for new legal authority to take down drones, Mr. Trump cut her off midsentence.
“Kirstjen, you didn’t hear me the first time, honey,” Mr. Trump said, according to two people familiar with the conversation. “Shoot ’em down. Sweetheart, just shoot ’em out of the sky, O.K.?”
But the problem went deeper than Ms. Nielsen, Mr. Miller believed. L. Francis Cissna, the head of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services until earlier this year, regularly pushed back on Mr. Miller’s demand for a “culture change” at the agency, where Mr. Miller believed asylum officers were bleeding hearts, too quick to extend protections to immigrants.
They needed to start with the opposite point of view, Mr. Miller told him, and start turning people away.
John Mitnick, the homeland security general counsel who often raised legal concerns about Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, was also on Mr. Miller’s blacklist. Mr. Miller had also turned against Ronald D. Vitiello, a top official at Customs and Border Protection whom the president had nominated to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
By midweek, the campaign to change Mr. Trump’s mind about closing the border seemed to be working.
Maybe there’s another way to do this, the president told Ms. Nielsen. How about if I impose tariffs on the Mexicans, or threaten to impose tariffs? Tariffs are great.
But the staff worried that his retreat would only be temporary. The president never really let go of his obsessions.
They were right. On a trip to California late in the week, Mr. Trump turned to Mr. McAleenan, the Customs and Border Protection chief, with a new idea: He wanted him to stop letting migrants cross the border at all, with no exceptions. If you get into any trouble for it, Mr. Trump told him, I’ll pardon you.
The Turning Point
Once on the ground, Mr. Trump met up with Ms. Nielsen and worked a room filled with Border Patrol agents. Start turning away migrants at the border, he told them. My message to you is, keep them all out, the president said. Every single one of them. The country is full.
After the president left the room, Mr. McAleenan told the agents to ignore the president. You absolutely do not have the authority to stop processing migrants altogether, he warned.
As she and her staff flew back to Washington that Friday evening, Ms. Nielsen called the president. She knew he was angry with her.
“Sir, I know you’re really frustrated,” she told him. The president invited her to meet with him on Sunday in the White House residence.
Ms. Nielsen knew that Miller wanted her out, so she spent the flight huddled with aides on a strategy for getting control of the border, a Hail Mary pass. She called it the ��Six C’s” — Congress, Courts, Communications, Countries, Criminals, Cartels.
Unbeknown to her, Ms. Nielsen’s staff started work on her letter of resignation.
When Ms. Nielsen presented her plan to Mr. Trump at the White House, he dismissed it and told her what he really needed was a cement wall.
“Sir,” she said, “I literally don’t think that’s even possible.” They couldn’t build that now even if it would work, which it wouldn’t, Ms. Nielsen told him. The designs for steel barriers had long since been finalized, the contracts bid and signed.
The president responded that it was time for her to go, Mr. Trump recalled later. “Kirstjen, I want to make a change,” he said.
The president said he would wait a week to announce her resignation, to leave time for a transition. But before Ms. Nielsen had left the White House that day, the word was leaking out. By evening, Mr. Trump was tweeting about it.
“Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will be leaving her position,” Trump wrote, “and I would like to thank her for her service.”
The dismissal was a turning point for Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda, the start of the purge that ushered in a team that embraced Mr. Miller’s policies.
Mr. Trump quickly dismissed Claire M. Grady, the homeland security under secretary, and moved Mr. McAleenan to take Ms. Nielsen’s old job. Within two months, Mr. Cissna was out as well, replaced by Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, a former Virginia attorney general and an immigration hard-liner.
On Aug. 12, Mr. Cuccinelli announced that the government would deny green cards for immigrants deemed likely to become “public charges.” Nine days later, Mr. McAleenan announced regulations to allow immigrant families to be detained indefinitely.
In the months since the purge, the president has repeated his threat of placing tariffs on Mexico to spur aggressive enforcement at the border. Mr. McAleenan and Mr. Cuccinelli have embraced restrictive asylum rules. And the Pentagon approved shifting $3.6 billion to build the wall.
Mr. Trump has continued to face resistance in the courts and public outrage about his immigration agenda. But the people who tried to restrain him have largely been replaced.
In the interview with The Times this past summer, Mr. Trump said he had seriously considered sealing the border during March, but acknowledged that doing so would have been “very severe.”
“The problem you have with the laws the way they are, we can have 100,000 of our soldiers standing up there — they can’t do a thing,” Mr. Trump said ruefully.
This article is adapted from “Border Wars: Inside Trump’s Assault on Immigration,” to be published by Simon & Schuster on Oct. 8.
#trump scandals#trump administration#president donald trump#trumpism#trump2020#trump border wall#trump news#impeach trump#impeachment inquiry now#impeachthemf#impeachtrump#impeachkavanaugh#impeachtheloser#impeach45#impeach barr#impeachnow#u.s. immigration and customs enforcement#immigration reform#immigrants#immigration#migrants#u.s. customs and border protection#ice#homeland security#borderwall#border wall#border+wall#border security#u.s. border patrol
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S/S ’19 in Review; The Big Three
Pop culture is littered with references to the fashion industry. Even if someone doesn’t know the history or signatures of a brand, they might still recognize that brand’s name. Valentino is a luxury staple, but the younger generation probably knows the name best for an entirely different reason. (“L-lipstick? In my Valentino white bag?!”) American Horror Story and Halsey alike have referenced Balenciaga. And Chanel, well, it’s Chanel. What more is there to say? These three are, arguably, some of the most widely-known names and biggest brands both inside and outside the world of fashion.
…And they’re three brands I wouldn’t generally consider myself a fan of. Valentino used to be one of my favorites, but I just haven’t been as interested in the house as of late. Sorry, Pierpaolo, but I’m team MCG. (That being said, I think they both did their strongest work when they were partnered together.) Likewise, I think Balenciaga had a good thing going with Ghesquière and Wang, but lost me at Gvasalia. Chanel, however, has never really counted me amongst their fans. That’s all well and good - I’m probably not their target demographic and fashion’s all about differing styles anyway. These brands certainly wouldn’t be as substantial as they are without a significant, steady, devoted client base. It’s a matter of personal opinion. For me, these three brands have consistently ranked among my least favorite shows for the last several seasons now. However, in a Shaymalan-style twist, all three of their most recent collections wound up on my favorites list. Not terribly high up, mind, but the fact that I enjoyed them alone was enough to surprise me. I can only hope these brands continue to craft collections like these.
—VALENTINO As I mentioned above, Valentino used to be one of my favorite brands. The team of Pierpaolo Piccoli and Maria Grazia Chiuri was almost unstoppable. I say almost because there were a few collections they showed during their collaborative tenure that were complete misses for me. Still, their last couture collection together remains one of my all-time favorites and I don’t think I’ll ever stop obsessing over their rock stud shoes. After MGC’s departure, I found that I’m not so much a fan of Pierpaolo’s aesthetic. His color sense tends to leave me confused and, as someone with a rather petite frame, I gravitate towards a more fitted silhouette. And while his clothes are generally meant for an older clientele, his runway casts are filled with the newest (and often, youngest), faces of the season, which creates a sense of dissonance in the presentations. This collection resolved many of my complaints about prior seasons. Yes, the looks were generally monochromatic, but none of the colors had that sickly undertone that’s run through Pierpaolo’s other collections. The maroon-and-pumpkin combo was particularly lovely, if a bit more F/W than S/S. While I wasn’t a fan of the multicolored prints, I didn’t enjoy the less colorful variants either, so it may have just been the print itself. Prints are a hard sell for me, and this one was just a little too dated. I did, however, enjoy look 43. It was an interesting take on the print, though I think there might’ve been one two many disparate colors in the garment with nothing to tie them together. The silhouettes in this collection still had plenty of volume, but they found a way to flatter the body underneath. This is probably due to Pierpaolo’s use of lighter-weight fabrics this season. Chiffon has more movement, and when the wearer walks, will show hints of the body beneath. The sheerness of the material also has the same effect. The taffeta he’s used in previous seasons will do neither. His use of pleating on certain pieces was also beautiful, particularly on the pieces with higher waistlines. There were some looks, most notably the opening number, that had similar volumes of fabric to prior collections. However, this was less bulky and more refined than looks he’s shown in the past. Kristen McMenamy didn’t look like she was drowning in fabric; she looked like she was reveling in it. Speaking of everyone’s favorite silver-haired model, the cast was wonderful this year. There were still many new faces, but there were some more well-established models as well, such as Liu Wen, Meghan Collison, and Mariacarla Boscano. While it isn’t much, this cast had wider age range than most other shows this season. It successfully highlighted the greater age range appeal in this collection’s clothes. Heck, I would wear at least half the pieces that went down the runway. (Maybe just not those feather duster shoes.)
—BALENCIAGA First things first; we need to talk about that set design. Installation art is one of my favorite mediums, even if it’s often pretty hit or miss. Andy Goldsworthy is one of my favorite artists, but half of the Dia Beacon was lost to me. Jon Rafman’s projections fall decidedly into the former category. Perhaps it was due to how strongly the artist’s intentions came through. Sure feels like the world’s on fire right now, doesn’t it? The installation was not only immersive, even from the other side of a computer screen, but added to the collection as well. I actually…really liked a lot of the pieces in the collection? It’s written as a question because I’m still surprised, to be honest. While I like the occasional garment from Vetements (particularly the reimagined denim), Gvasalia’s main line isn’t really my thing. Even moreso at Balenciaga, where I’m still mourning the loss of two of my favorite designers in a row. Last season, my impressions of the pieces ranged from utterly forgettable to downright hilarious. There were similar pieces in this collection, but I felt they worked better here. Whether it was the material, the tailoring, or some other part of the design process, the exaggerated silhouette of the coats didn’t feel as cartoonish this time. In some cases, it was actually flattering. I also enjoyed the draped crushed (and uncrushed) velvet tops and dresses - though the cut of look 35’s neckline did something strange proportions-wise. (The pants they were paired with were quite nice as well.) On the other hand, the use of differently-sized squares on the checker print in look 41 was brilliant. Unfortunately, not all of the looks were wins. Many of the garments just read as basics; collared shirts, straight-legged trousers, etc. Then there were some pieces that just seemed to be cut wrong. At first I thought it was a case of strange styling, a la Gvasalia’s F/W ’17 collection for the brand. Upon closer inspection, I’m not so sure. Have you ever worn a top where the shoulders aren’t in the right place and find yourself constantly shifting around like that will somehow make it fit better? There were several pieces that appeared to be cut that way intentionally (see looks 29 and 45). Some looks had oversized collars, worn popped up so you could get a better glance at just how big they were. Look 64, however, just appeared to be tailored wrong. Trust me, I’ve made plenty of big, stand-up collars for cosplays in my time and messed up nearly all of them. This is what it looks like when you cut the bottom of the collar too wide and the top to short. The fit on the slip dresses was also strange. Between the print and the circular neckline, they looked like shower curtains. Also, having the brand’s tag sitting up vertically on the shoulders of some pieces also felt like conspicuous consumption, but I guess it’s just Balenciaga hopping onto the logo mania trend. There are a few more complaints I had for the collection, but I’ll reserve them. This is a post about collections I enjoyed, after all. This made the list, and not without reason. I would actually wear a majority of the pieces, which is more than I can say about previous years. And while there may have been cut and tailoring issues, the draping was lovely. Some of the gowns and shirt dresses were pretty brilliant. Moreover, I can see quite a few of these dresses on a red carpet. Black tie isn’t something I’ve seen from Gvasalia’s Balenciaga since that F/W ’17 show I mentioned earlier. And, to be honest, I’m actually looking forward to it.
—CHANEL Let me start this off by saying; I am not Chanel’s ideal client. Price tag not withstanding, I’m just not a fan of adding extra bulk to my hips, much less hiding my figure completely. Also, I really don’t like tweed. So it probably isn’t a huge shock that a tweed-light collection made up of lighter materials piqued my interest. At the very least, it was a pleasant surprise. Recently, I feel as though Karl Lagerfeld has been taking Chanel in a different direction and I’m interested to see where it goes. The pieces in the collection felt aimed towards a wide variety of buyers for a wide variety of occasions - even if the astonishing set did imply it was everyone was beach-bound. The color pallet was, for the most part, light and fun. It did get overwhelming sometimes, particularly in some of the print pieces. However, it never felt particularly dreary. As I implied a little earlier, I’m not the biggest fan of logos on clothes. Even in my long-passed middle school years, when Abercrombie and Hollister reigned supreme, something about it irked me. If I was paying more for a clothing item, I wanted it to be for the design of the item itself, not the name plastered on front. And I didn’t feel like playing walking billboard for a company with millions to spend on advertising. The current logomania trend just feels like repeating history, except with more conspicuous consumption. To say nothing about his work over at Fendi, I think Lagerfeld actually did something really neat with the Chanel logo in this collection. The two separated syllables were everywhere from the breast pockets of a chic cropped blouse to the front and back flaps of a deerstalker cap. Unfortunately, one of the most interesting things about the collection is also related to one of it’s biggest faults. Someone on Twitter wrote that it used to be designers creating trends for influencers, and now it’s become influencers creating trends for designers. That was never more apparent than on the runways this season. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing (particularly if this phenomenon can be harnessed for positive change), but it does have one obvious downside; if everyone is influenced by the same thing, then their collections will all look the same. How many pairs of bike shorts did you see on this season’s runways? And how about fanny packs the season before? I am willing to cut Chanel a little slack for the bike shorts thing. Several seasons ago, I remember seeing perennial Lagerfeld muse, Kristen Stewart, arrive to one of his shows in a jumpsuit that was bike short length. In fact, the length has been a staple in Chanel silhouettes for years. This collection, however, included actual bike shorts. Eh, I’ll give this one a pass. Those double cross-body bags and the swimsuit-as-a-top look on the other hand… And I know this is a lot of complaining about a show I said I liked, but there is one more point I want to make; tweed. Sure, there wasn’t a lot of it compared to other seasons, it just felt off in some looks. I’m not suggesting Lagerfeld ditch the textile altogether - it’s a Chanel staple and he’s probably contractually obligated to produce X amount of tweed suits a year. However, there were some places where it just didn’t work. A bathing suit cover-up, for instance, has no business being that heavy outside the omni-seasonal universe of It Follows. There were also several pairs of wide-legged pants with slits up the front made of tweed or other weighty fabrics. The slit is meant to introduce movement and flow to the garment, but these fabrics are just too stiff. Compare looks 41 and 58 to look 77. Chiffon just flows better and gives the garment an easier feeling overall. All of the closing looks were quite nice, actually. (With the exception of the strange silhouette of 75). What can I say? I’m a sucker for black and Chanel does LBDs like no one else. What was also quite lovely were all the little details in the collection. The embroidery on the top of look 35 was beautiful, even compared to the beautiful embroidery in featured in other looks. I also really enjoyed the seams on the jeans of look 53. I even liked the silhouettes of some of the oversized blazers. Finally, there was Adut Aketch closing her second Chanel show in a row. She looked lovely, her dress was lovely, the set was lovely. Um, can it be summer again yet?
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12 Days of (Lance) Whumpmas! - Day 9 [Broken Limbs/Bruises]
yay for broken limbs but i also broke.. other bones... :’)
Crystal Venom is actually one of the few episodes i’ve seen from season 1 and it was GREAT... which is where this story came from yay for glitchy Castle that turns evil
part of the 12 Days of VLD Whumpmas hosted by @vldwhumpmas2017! you can still submit up until january 7th (rip my late ass), so check out more info on the challenge here if you want to participate!
Lance didn't usually train on his own. The team had plenty of group training exercises to cover for most practices, and he preferred winding down in his room after long days. But sometimes, he found himself on the training deck for private sessions. He still needed to carry his weight as a Paladin, after all.
Today, it was target practice. Mostly just shooting at moving gladiator bots before they got too close. He figured it wouldn't be a long session, opting to just take his hoodie off and shoot instead of having to change into his armor completely. Even still, he kept steady throughout, occasionally dodging a gladiator that dove forward to strike as he felled one after another. Seeing the hole open up and swallow each bot that he struck accurately brought a nice sense of satisfaction. He kept at it for two or three levels before he grew exhausted, his arms sore from staying in the same position for so long.
“Ugh. End training sequence.” Lance groaned, dematerializing his bayard and relaxing his arms once the last bot disappeared. He was probably done for the day. Might as well duck out before he risked running into Keith here. That guy was obsessed with the training deck.
Lance headed towards the doors, bending to grab his hoodie and shrug it on. But then he heard a slight thud behind him, and Lance turned around to catch a gladiator bot marching towards him, sword at the ready. He barely had time to dodge the bot's broad swing, tripping backwards onto the floor as his bayard clattered out of his hands.
“What the—” Lance scrambled to his feet, ducking from another attack. “Uh, hello?! I said end training sequence!”
The bot didn't shut down like it should've, instead charging once more, its gem an ominous red. Lance yelped, running for the doors and into the hallway, the bot close behind. Crap, he never picked up his bayard. How the heck was he supposed to fight an armed bot with his bare hands? He was pretty sure only Shiro could manage that on his own.
“Guys, need a little help here!” Lance shouted, running down the hallways in a full sprint. He chanced a glance behind his shoulder, spotting the bot just a few feet behind. “Castle's trying to kill me again!”
Seriously, where was everyone? More importantly, it was getting obvious that Lance wasn't gonna be able to outrun this thing. Maybe if he could just get rid of the sword... He'd have a better chance of not dying.
Lance skid to a stop, turning around and sidestepping the sword as it swung into an arc down at the ground where he previously stood. The swing was so powerful that Lance felt it from the wind that whisked by his face. Jesus, it wasn't holding back at all.
He didn't hesitate in lashing out a powerful kick at the bot's hands in the hopes of loosening its grip on the sword. It only managed to get one hand off before the bot swung the freed arm up. Lance got his hands up in front of his face in time to block the blow, his arms stinging as he stumbled back with a gasp.
There wasn't any time to recuperate, and Lance caught the swing of the sword again, ducking his body down enough to prevent himself from getting sliced in half. One more time. He waited until the bot stepped too close again, baiting it into swinging its sword back down. It was a simple feint, and Lance was ready enough to dive backwards in time to catch the sword slam its blade onto the floor in front of him. He twisted around, putting even more strength into his kick as he did so. This time, he was successful in kicking the sword out of the bot's hand, and it clattered against the wall before dropping onto the ground.
But before he could even consider trying to make a grab for it, the bot dove forward with a speed that was way beyond the typical gladiator bot he'd been fighting. A sudden force—the gladiator's arm, it turned out—slammed against his chest and sent him crashing into the wall. For a second, Lance's vision went completely white before he felt himself hit the floor.
Lance crumpled onto his side with a cry, trying—and failing—to take a deep breath. He couldn't, it hurt to even get out a shallow breath, let alone a deep one. His vision swam, shapes and figures still trying to reorient themselves in his mind. Maybe he got lucky that he landed not too far from where the sword fell. He reached out an arm, ignoring the way his body screamed at the movement. But before he could get any closer, a foot slammed down on his arm, and Lance could literally hear the bones crack at the force. He definitely screamed this time, the sound ripping its way out of his throat. It hurt, shit, it hurt so much. Black creeped at the edges of his vision, and he was desperate to just fall unconscious at this point.
The floor rumbled, and Lance distantly heard someone yelling before the gladiator disappeared, tackled to the ground by a large figure. Lance couldn't tell who it was, but all that mattered was that someone came. The ground vibrated with slams and heavy footfalls of a fight he couldn't see, and Lance groaned at the slight waves of pain even that sent through his body. His hands lay loose in front of him, trembling every time he tried to move his unbroken arm towards his chest to assess the damage. It hurt to move, it hurt to breathe, it was so hard to breathe.
And all of a sudden, the vibrations stopped. Lance didn't have to wonder who won for too long, because the next thing he knew, Hunk was in front of him, a hand grabbing at his shoulder. Lance choked out a scream, and Hunk's hand disappeared in an instant, his voice slowly starting to trickle back into Lance's ears.
“—nce, what happened?! I heard your screaming and—Wait no, that's not important right now.” Hunk rambled, hands floating helplessly in front of him. “Quiznak, your arm... Are you injured anywhere else? Talk to me, buddy.”
“My chest,” Lance gasped, trying to focus on Hunk's face. “I think my ribs...”
Hunk paled. “Your ribs? Oh God... Can I check your chest real quick? Let me see where.”
Lance couldn't manage a reply, but Hunk reached out anyways, gently pressing his fingers against Lance's front. When he grazed on an area slightly lower, a strangled cry forced its way out of Lance's mouth, and Hunk's hand disappeared as he apologized repeatedly.
“Crap, I'm so sorry, I just... God, it's already bruised pretty badly, too.” Hunk glanced down the hall before he ducked towards Lance, gripping at his uninjured hand. “I'm gonna go get Coran. We need to get you in a pod fast. Can you hang on for just a few more ticks?”
Lance stiffened in alarm, his mind going hazy with pain at the movement. “W-wait, don't leave...”
“I'll be right back.” Hunk added, frantic. “I'll send the others to where you are before going to Coran. I promise. You need to get help right away. I'm sorry.” Hunk squeezed Lance's hand tightly one more time before he ran off.
He wasn't being abandoned, but Lance still felt terrified of being left alone in the hallway. What if another bot activated and came across him? What if someone didn't come in time? His chest throbbed, and Lance bit back a sob. It hurt so much.
And then the ship shuddered, the lights in the hall flickering and dimming for a few seconds before it went back to normal. Lance felt his already short breaths quicken at the sight, panic blinding him. Something was wrong with the Castle. There had to be. He tried to sit up again, almost blacking out at the strain.
“Lance!” Someone was yelling his name, and Lance slid open his eyes again. Shiro flew into his line of vision, crouching down in an instant. “Hang on, Hunk and Coran are coming.”
To be honest, it was a relief to see Shiro after the paranoia he was going through. Lance tried to shudder in another deep breath, a whimper escaping when he couldn't quite make it again. “The Castle... Something's...”
Shiro lifted a hand, gently carding his fingers through Lance's sweaty hair. “I know. There was a glitch from a bug that got through Pidge's laptop and it messed with some of the systems. She rebooted some of the Castle mechanisms just now so that she could fix it.”
So that was what happened earlier, with the flickering lights. If it was fixed, Lance was glad.
Shiro glanced briefly at where the gladiator must have fallen, a dark expression on his face. He looked back at Lance. “Hunk told me you might have broken ribs,” Shiro said, wincing. “Can you try taking in a deep breath? You might get a chest infection at this rate.”
“I—I can't... Shiro...”
“It hurts, I know. They'll be here soon. You'll be okay, I promise.”
The floor rumbled with footsteps again, and Keith appeared behind Shiro, panting. “They're not here yet?”
Shiro glanced up. “No. Don't worry, they're coming.”
“His arm looks... What about his ribs? How bad is it?” Keith pressed, staring at Lance in a way that was so concerned it was almost unbelievable. “What if it punctured something, like his lung...”
“Gee, thanks.” Lance managed between gasps. “So comforting.”
Keith had the decency to look guilty at that, shifting his weight impatiently from one foot to another. “Sorry. You're gonna be fine.”
Lance wanted to laugh, but he was pretty sure he'd actually faint if he did. Pain thrummed in his chest and he shut his eyes again, doing everything he could to prevent himself from making a noise. It worked, but it was exhausting. When he opened his eyes again, Shiro was busy staring at him with thinly veiled worry while Keith paced in the back.
“What's taking them so long?” Keith grumbled.
Shiro shifted his hand from Lance's hair and moved to wipe away some stray tears instead. “Hang in there. You're doing so well. We'll get you healed up in no time.”
Lance couldn't do anything more than lay there, his body trembling with both pain and exhaustion. He was glad to feel the floor vibrate again with footsteps this time, Hunk and Coran's voice booming down the hallways. Shiro moved aside for them as Hunk apologized to Lance for taking so long. They had trouble finding something similar to stretcher to carry him on. But everything would be fine now, because they'd get him into a pod ASAP.
The struggle to get Lance onto the stretcher with as little movement as possible was agonizing, but the shaky ride to the medical bay was not great, either. But the thought that he could close his eyes soon and let the pain fade away once he got into the pod was what kept him going. And once he felt the familiar cold creeping up his body, Lance let sleep take him.
When Lance stumbled out of the pod, he was surprised at the thin build of whoever caught him. Definitely not Hunk. Or Shiro. Not even Keith. His eyes blinked open, more than a little surprised to see Allura holding him up. He backed up a bit too quickly, staggering as Allura helped steady him.
“Do you feel alright?” Allura asked, eyes wide with concern.
Lance pondered the question, trying for a deep breath. His lungs stretched to their full capacity, and he relaxed at the sensation. His arm was moving fine. Nothing hurt this time, which felt unreal given the pain he'd been feeling not too long ago. He glanced up at Allura, a slight grin on his face.
“No offense, Princess, but I think your Castle has it out for me. This is like—what—the third time it's tried to kill me?”
Allura frowned, guilty. “Lance, I'm so sor—”
Lance's eyes widened, and he lifted his hand, waving it quickly. “No, I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything! My terrible CQC skills are to blame. It was a joke, honestly.”
Someone enveloped him into a hug, and Lance inhaled a mouthful of Hunk's clothing before he was released. “You almost dying isn't a joke, dude.” Hunk moaned. “It scared the heck out of me and everyone else.”
Lance felt someone else burrow into his side with a hug, and he looked down to spot the top of Pidge's head.
“It was my stupid fault you got hurt.” Pidge said, words muffled against his hoodie. “I'm sorry. I should've paid more attention when I was transferring stuff from my laptop.”
Lance grinned, ruffling her hair. “Aw, you do care. I'm all fine now, honestly! It's okay.”
Pidge didn't budge; if anything, she squeezed him harder. Lance coughed awkwardly, the somber atmosphere starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. “Seriously, you guys are acting like I actually died or something. How about we go to the kitchen and talk about something fun while I eat? Because I'm starving and would like for everyone to go to sleep on a happy note.”
“You truly feel all better?” Coran piped up, a worried crease in his eyebrows.
Lance blew out a breath. “I swear I am. Heck, I bet I could spar with Keith right now and take him down one-handed.”
Keith rose an eyebrow from where he stood a few feet away, arms crossed. “Seriously? You?”
Shiro finally cracked a grin, gently extracting Pidge from Lance's side (she still opted to walk closely next to him though, like a protective puppy—Lance found it adorable) and leading him towards the doors. “I think we've had enough sparring for today. Let's get you something to eat.”
Lance laughed. “Whatever you say, bossman.”
When Lance finally got into bed after his late night snack, it was with a relieved sigh. This day was something he was glad to get over with. He probably wouldn't be doing another solo training session for a while, though.
#my writing#vld#voltron#lance#lance mcclain#keith#shiro#hunk#pidge#allura#coran#12 days of vld whumpmas
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Hackers Tell the Story of the Twitter Attack From the Inside
What would you do if another computer hacker told you he had access to download information from 8 celebrity Twitter accounts -- Joseph R. Biden Jr., Barack Obama, Kanye West, Bill Gates and Elon Musk: (1) participate in creating a ransom scam, (2) inform federal authorities, (3) nothing? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?
A Twitter hacking scheme that targeted political, corporate and cultural elites this week began with a teasing message between two hackers late Tuesday on the online messaging platform Discord.
“yoo bro,” wrote a user named “Kirk,” according to a screenshot of the conversation shared with The New York Times. “i work at twitter / don’t show this to anyone / seriously.”
He then demonstrated that he could take control of valuable Twitter accounts — the sort of thing that would require insider access to the company’s computer network.
The hacker who received the message, using the screen name “lol,” decided over the next 24 hours that Kirk did not actually work for Twitter because he was too willing to damage the company. But Kirk did have access to Twitter’s most sensitive tools, which allowed him to take control of almost any Twitter account, including those of former President Barack Obama, Joseph R. Biden Jr., Elon Musk and many other celebrities.
Despite global attention on the intrusion, which has shaken confidence in Twitter and the security provided by other technology companies, the basic details of who were responsible, and how they did it, have been a mystery. Officials are still in the early stages of their investigation.
But four people who participated in the scheme spoke with The Times and shared numerous logs and screen shots of the conversations they had on Tuesday and Wednesday, demonstrating their involvement both before and after the hack became public.
The interviews indicate that the attack was not the work of a single country like Russia or a sophisticated group of hackers. Instead, it was done by a group of young people — one of whom says he lives at home with his mother — who got to know one another because of their obsession with owning early or unusual screen names, particularly one letter or number, like @y or @6.
The Times verified that the four people were connected to the hack by matching their social media and cryptocurrency accounts to accounts that were involved with the events on Wednesday. They also presented corroborating evidence of their involvement, like the logs from their conversations on Discord, a messaging platform popular with gamers and hackers, and Twitter.
Playing a central role in the attack was Kirk, who was taking money in and out of the same Bitcoin address as the day went on, according to an analysis of the Bitcoin transactions by The Times, with assistance from the research firm Chainalysis.
But the identity of Kirk, his motivation and whether he shared his access to Twitter with anyone else remain a mystery even to the people who worked with him. It is still unclear how much Kirk used his access to the accounts of people like Mr. Biden and Mr. Musk to gain more privileged information, like their private conversations on Twitter.
The hacker “lol” and another one he worked with, who went by the screen name “ever so anxious,” told The Times that they wanted to talk about their work with Kirk in order to prove that they had only facilitated the purchases and takeovers of lesser-known Twitter addresses early in the day. They said they had not continued to work with Kirk once he began more high-profile attacks around 3:30 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.
“I just wanted to tell you my story because i think you might be able to clear some thing up about me and ever so anxious,” “lol” said in a chat on Discord, where he shared all the logs of his conversation with Kirk and proved his ownership of the cryptocurrency accounts he used to transact with Kirk.
“lol” did not confirm his real-world identity, but said he lived on the West Coast and was in his 20s. “ever so anxious” said he was 19 and lived in the south of England with his mother.
Investigators looking into the attacks said several of the details given by the hackers lined up with what they have learned so far, including Kirk’s involvement both in the big hacks later in the day and the lower-profile attacks early on Wednesday.
The Times was initially put in touch with the hackers by a security researcher in California, Haseeb Awan, who was communicating with them because, he said, a number of them had previously targeted him and a Bitcoin-related company he once owned. They also unsuccessfully targeted his current company, Efani, a secure phone provider.
The user known as Kirk did not have much of a reputation in hacker circles before Wednesday. His profile on Discord had been created only on July 7.
But “lol” and “ever so anxious” were well known on the website OGusers.com, where hackers have met for years to buy and sell valuable social media screen names, security experts said.
For online gamers, Twitter users and hackers, so-called O.G. user names — usually a short word or even a number — are hotly desired. These eye-catching handles are often snapped up by early adopters of a new online platform, the “original gangsters” of a fresh app.
Users who arrive on the platform later often crave the credibility of an O.G. user name, and will pay thousands of dollars to hackers who steal them from their original owners.
Kirk connected with “lol” late Tuesday and then “ever so anxious” on Discord early on Wednesday, and asked if they wanted to be his middlemen, selling Twitter accounts to the online underworld where they were known. They would take a cut from each transaction.
In one of the first transactions, “lol” brokered a deal for someone who was willing to pay $1,500, in Bitcoin, for the Twitter user name @y. The money went to the same Bitcoin wallet that Kirk used later in the day when he got payments from hacking the Twitter accounts of celebrities, the public ledger of Bitcoin transactions shows.
The group posted an ad on OGusers.com, offering Twitter handles in exchange for Bitcoin. “ever so anxious” took the screen name @anxious, which he had long coveted. (His personalized details still sit atop the suspended account.)
“i just kinda found it cool having a username that other people would want,” “ever so anxious” said in a chat with The Times.
As the morning went on, customers poured in and the prices that Kirk demanded went up. He also demonstrated how much access he had to Twitter’s systems. He was able to quickly change the most fundamental security settings on any user name and sent out pictures of Twitter’s internal dashboards as proof that he had taken control of the requested accounts.
The group handed over @dark, @w, @l, @50 and @vague, among many others.
One of their customers was another well-known figure among hackers dealing in user names — a young man known as “PlugWalkJoe.” On Thursday, PlugWalkJoe was the subject of an article by the security journalist Brian Krebs, who identified the hacker as a key player in the Twitter intrusion.
Discord logs show that while PlugWalkJoe acquired the Twitter account @6 through “ever so anxious,” and briefly personalized it, he was not otherwise involved in the conversation. PlugWalkJoe, who said his real name is Joseph O’Connor, added in an interview with The Times that he had been getting a massage near his current home in Spain as the events occurred.
“I don’t care,” said Mr. O’Connor, who said he was 21 and British. “They can come arrest me. I would laugh at them. I haven’t done anything.”
Mr. O'Connor said other hackers had informed him that Kirk got access to the Twitter credentials when he found a way into Twitter’s internal Slack messaging channel and saw them posted there, along with a service that gave him access to the company’s servers. People investigating the case said that was consistent with what they had learned so far. A Twitter spokesman declined to comment, citing the active investigation.
All of the transactions involving “lol” and “ever so anxious” took place before the world knew what was going on. But shortly before 3:30 p.m., tweets from the biggest cryptocurrency companies, like Coinbase, started asking for Bitcoin donations to the site cryptoforhealth.com.
“we just hit cb,” an abbreviation for Coinbase, Kirk wrote to “lol” on Discord a minute after taking over the company’s Twitter account.
The public ledger of Bitcoin transactions shows that the Bitcoin wallet that paid to set up cryptoforhealth.com was the wallet that Kirk had been using all morning, according to three investigators, who said they could not speak on the record because of the open investigation.
In several messages on Wednesday morning, “ever so anxious” talked about his need to get some sleep, given that it was later in the day in England. Shortly before the big hacks began, he sent a phone message to his girlfriend saying, “nap time nap time,” and he disappeared from the Discord logs.
Kirk quickly escalated his efforts, posting a message from accounts belonging to celebrities like Kanye West and tech titans like Jeff Bezos: Send Bitcoin to a specific account and your money would be sent back, doubled.
Shortly after 6 p.m., Twitter seemed to catch up with the attacker, and the messages stopped. But the company had to turn off access for broad swaths of users, and days later, the company was still piecing together what had happened.
Twitter said in a blog post that the attackers had targeted 130 accounts, gaining access and tweeting from 45 of that set. They were able to download data from eight of the accounts, the company added.
“We’re acutely aware of our responsibilities to the people who use our service and to society more generally,” the blog post read. “We’re embarrassed, we’re disappointed, and more than anything, we’re sorry.”
When “ever so anxious” woke up just after 2:30 a.m. in Britain, he looked online, saw what had happened and sent a disappointed message to his fellow middleman, “lol.”
“i’m not sad more just annoyed. i mean he only made 20 btc,” he said, referring to Kirk’s Bitcoin profits from the scam, which translated to about $180,000.
Kirk, whoever he was, had stopped responding to his middlemen and had disappeared.
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The Flower & The Serpent (Arthur Morgan x OFC)
Chapter 3 - Full of Sound and Fury
Summary: In the early 1890s, the Van der Linde Gang were truly at their finest. Experts at stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, they’ve made a name for themselves across the West. Two of their newest recruits, a pair of rebellious Irish siblings with an unknown past, slowly find their footing and settle into their new lives as outlaws. And yet, as they grow older, threats from all sides begin to appear. A strained relationship with Colm O'Driscoll spells disaster for the gang, and no matter how far they roam across America, the world continues to change around them. If they want to survive, difficult choices must be made. No one is as they seem and the impending arrival of law and order threatens to tear the siblings, and everything they hold dear, apart. Is it too late for anyone to find a happy ending?
Originally found here
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Pairing: Arthur Morgan x OFC
Warnings: Language, violence, civilisation, jokes at John’s expense.
Word Count: 5,747
Previous Chapter Next Chapter
Playlist: “Too Old to Die Young” — Brother Dege, “We” — Bon Iver, “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” — Dropkick Murphys, “Inverness” — Jed Kurzel
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A/N: Also available on AO3. Chapter three comin’ at y’all. And yes I like to imagine that William somewhat resembles Luke Mitchell because he’s a beautiful boah.
23rd August, 1893, outside Winterset, Iowa
Another city, another bank to hit. Dutch is happy with our plan to take the bank in Winterset and chose a good team to work with. As well as the boss himself, he wants all experienced hands on deck, so John, Maebh, William, Hosea, and I will be attending. He asked that Karen come too so she can act as a distraction before we make our entrance. She proved she can handle herself in the last town, so we’re happy to have her along. Considering the Callander brothers are newer to how things work around here, he wants them to guard the camp.
With the plan to plant some of us in the bank beforehand, things seem good to go. As long as we get in and out with the money and keep casualties to a minimum — or preferably none at all — then we can call it a job well done.
* * *
“Marston, I’ve a question for ye.”
“What is it, Hennigan?”
Maebh looked up from reading her book beside the campfire. She raised a brow at William and John who sat beside her, the latter whittling away at a piece of wood while the former stared at him curiously.
“What happened to your voice to make it permanently raspy?” William enquired, scratching his beard thoughtfully. “Did Arthur punch you mad hard in the throat or somethin’ and you’ve sounded like this ever since?”
John frowned, his hands halting their movements. “I’ll have you know it’s hereditary.”
“Yeah? Who was your da? A furnace?”
Maebh casually added. “A Scottish furnace, actually.”
“My voice ain’t that raspy.”
William let out a snort. “Ah, c’mon now! You’re only twenty and you sound like you’re pushin’ on fifty.”
“No, I don’t.” Maebh tried to keep her mouth shut, but the look of amusement on her face caught the older man’s attention. “What the hell you smirkin’ at?”
She scoffed “Nothin’! Don’t bring me into your little tiff.”
John threw his hands up in the air and let out a huff. “Then maybe get your brother to stop botherin’ me.”
With a shake of her head, she shut her book and got to her feet. “He’s his own man and I’m not gonna tell him what to do.”
She left them to it, just about managing to hide her laughter as William continued to do Marston’s head in.
It had been three years since she and her brother found themselves in a spot while robbing a stagecoach, and thankfully being saved by Dutch van der Linde and his gang. Though they had both been skeptical of the group at first, seeing Dutch and Hosea focusing on helping those forgotten and in need across the country had helped to ease their worries. Now, they were well settled into their rolls and formed bonds with their fellow outlaws. Dutch had been the supportive leader they pegged him for — encouraging them to keep reading and ‘broadening their minds’, thus ensuring that they were made aware of what was happening in the country as governments, cities, and civilisation took over. While it was a nomadic life, it was better than what they had before. Together, they robbed multiple banks across the country, and gave vast amounts of wealth to the forgotten people who needed it.
The gang itself had acquired new tag-alongs and members since they first joined. Another pair of siblings, Mac and Davey Callander, had recently been recruited by Dutch after he encountered them partaking in a massive street brawl. They were a proper vicious pair of bastards by the sounds of the stories they told, but they bothered Maebh very little. Though they were particularly violent, they seemed to be able to control these tendencies towards their fellow gang members. Another newer member was a woman named Karen Jones. Bursting with confidence and personality, Arthur and Maebh were the ones to encounter the proficient scam artist in a local saloon. She did an impressive job of drinking the pair of them under the table that day and stealing their money when they blacked out. When they later tracked her down, they came with an offer rather than a loaded firearm. Last but not least, the ever flamboyant and mischievous Josiah Trewlany appeared randomly at camp a few weeks after Maebh and William originally joined. Apparently, he had been a member of the gang for a while, but rarely stayed at camp. He was constantly going to and fro, but always seemed to have a lead; the very reason Dutch still welcomed him upon each return.
Returning to her tent, Maebh set herself down on her bedding and continued reading. It was one of William’s plays — Othello — he finished it himself a few days ago and asked if she would read it so that he could hear what she thought. He was always one for long discussions about stories whenever they were travelling long distances for work, or while sitting in their tent at night. Having been familiar with Shakespeare’s work already because of his mild obsession with the bard, she was happy enough to read another of his tales. Frankly, she read any book that William hopefully plopped into her lap.
“Whatcha readin’?”
Engrossed in the story, she hadn’t noticed someone approaching. Tearing her eyes away from Iago’s monologue, she was met with Arthur standing in front of her. “More Shakespeare.”
“You really like his work, huh?” he asked, taking the book as she offered it to him.
“He’s more William’s favourite than mine, but I gotta give him credit where it’s due, it’s a good read.”
He flicked through the pages carefully. “Sure. Hope I ain’t disturbin’ your good readin’?”
She waved him off. “Nah. I’ve been at it for most of the mornin’ anyway so I should probably call it a day.”
He nodded and handed her back the play, resting his hands on his belt buckle. “If you ain’t up to much, I was gonna go do some huntin’ if you wanna join? You can ask your brother too if he ain’t busy.”
“Yeah.” She offered him a small smile. “That sounds fun actually. I could do with gettin’ outta camp for a bit.”
“Good, good. Grab your bow and I’ll fetch William before he makes Marston’s head explode.”
“Might want’a move quick, then.”
With a smile, Arthur left to do just that and Maebh gathered her hunting supplies in a bag. She hurried over to the hitching post where William’s mount, Dantès, was currently stationed and waited for the others. She offered him a sugar cube from her pocket and stroked his mane, admiring the animal with genuine fondness. She was surprised to see not only Arthur and William approaching, but also John following closely behind them.
“Marston wanted to join us,” Arthur explained as he readied Boadicea. “So don’t be surprised if him and your brother decide to turn a huntin’ trip into a competition.”
“No thanks,” William countered, patting his horse’s neck. “I’m just here to help get supplies. I’d rather beat him at a good aul fist fight anyway.”
“We can make that happen!” John assured him as he got on top of his own horse.
William shook his head and hoisted himself atop Dantès before he offered his sister a hand on to the back of the Dutch Warmblood. “You ever goin’ t’get yourself a new horse?”
“I will eventually,” she replied and hung on to his slim waist. “It’s not an easy thing to do, y’know, gettin’ over a horse.”
“You’ll know when the time is right,” Arthur added, taking his hat from his saddlebag and putting it on his head. “We ready to go, fellers?”
Soon, the four of them were heading out. They galloped through the rolling hills of Madison County, basking in the heat of the early afternoon sun. They reached a spot not far from camp that was known for having a decent amount of activity amongst the local wildlife. One of the many smaller ponds in the area, deer and other herbivores were common enough around those parts, especially on a hot day like this. They left their horses hitched to some trees and went about planning how to take down a few deer if they could. Splitting into two teams, the Hennigans went to one end while Morgan and Marston went to the other. Not far from where Dantès was hitched, Maebh spotted a rabbit slowly scurrying amongst the brush. Crouched low behind a tree, she notched an arrow and steadied herself when William encouraged her to kill it. It was released with a thwack, and flew through the air before successfully piercing the animal, killing it instantly. Its carcass was swiftly clipped to his saddle before the pair slowly crept to a spot near the lake. From here, hidden within some bushes and the shade of an overhanging tree, they could get a good view of the surrounding area and the deer that currently stood drinking water on its bank. Arthur and John could be seen on the other side, thankfully far enough away that their hunting wouldn’t disturb the Hennigans’ targets.
“Right,” William began in a whisper. “We’ve got three horses, which means three deer max. D’you want to get this one?”
She shook her head. “Nah. I got the rabbit — you can hardly go through a huntin’ trip without catchin’ somethin’.”
“If you insist, sis. You’ll grab its attention?”
Maebh watched as her brother carefully notched an arrow and steadied his aim with an unbreakable focus. They had hunted together on too many occasions to count throughout their lives together, so the process was familiar at this stage. When he gave her the signal, she whistled and caused a nearby buck to raise his head in response. Lacking any hesitation, he let the arrow fly and struck it in its neck. With a mewl, the buck fell to the ground and died as the other deer scattered in fright.
“Nice shot,” she commented, glad that the animal didn’t suffer needlessly. “Need a hand carryin’ it back?”
William grinned widely and stood up straight once more. “Ah, thanks, but I’m grand. I don’t want to give Marston an excuse to claim I wasn’t the one who caught it.”
“Don’t mind him,” she insisted, though her tone was moderately amused with the jesting. “He’ll probably pass comment regardless of who carries it back to the horses.”
“Probably,” he replied, and hoisted the carcass over his shoulder. “But no need to give him a bit of ammo.”
She shook her head as they strolled back to the horses, taking in the sight of the peaceful little lake, now practically devoid of animals thanks to their intrusion. On the other side, she could just about see Arthur and John carrying their own kills in the same direction. “I swear, you’s two would make a competition out of breathin’ if you could.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea… We’ll see who can hold their breath underwater the longest!”
“You know he can’t swim…”
“… Who can hold their breath the longest in general then! First to pass out loses.”
“Jaysus Christ.”
Dantés waited patiently as the pair of them return to his side. While Maeve petted his mane, William loaded the buck on to his rear and secured it with some rope. Not long after that, their companions appeared through the brush, each carrying their own deer.
Maebh offered them a friendly ‘Howdy, gentlemen’, though Dantés still held most of her attention.
“Only one buck?” Marston observed, voice slightly out of breath as he carried the hefty animal. “You two are losin’ your edge.”
“Excuse me,” she interjected. “I’ll have you know, Mr Marston, that I caught that succulent lookin’ rabbit too.”
“And a fine rabbit it is,” Arthur chuckled good-naturedly. “He’ll taste good in a stew, although probably not if Pearson’s makin’ it.”
“Marston,” William announced and approached said man as he placed his catch on his horse. “Got a challenge for ya.”
John smirked. “You lookin’ to get beat, boy?”
“I’m only two years younger than ya, pal, calm down.”
“Alright, what you have in mind?”
“We both get thrown into the lake and the first to drown loses.”
Arthur burst out into a hefty laugh while Maebh found herself guffawing at the bitter look of displeasure on Marston’s face. She interjected before a full on fight could break out. “C’mon, let’s get these back to camp before you two have another one of your marital spats.”
Thankfully, everyone agreed to mount up and head back. The success of the trip had the group in good spirits and they took their time heading home, choosing to let the horses roam on an easy trot. As they made their way along the trail, William spotted a small band of wild horses grazing on a rolling hillside. A particularly beautiful chestnut stallion had the young man whipping out his binoculars to get a better look.
William let out a whistle before passing the device to his sister. “That’s some horse.”
“This might be a good opportunity for you to get a new mount,” John suggested. “Considerin’ it’s ’bout time you got one.”
“I’m not the best at breakin’ in horses,” Maebh admitted as she studied the animal from a safe distance atop Dantés. “I’ve much more experience with breakin’ in fellas.”
John spluttered at the retort while Arthur hid an amused grin. “We’ve got your back if’n you wanna try. Gotta try breakin’ in wild horses sometime.”
Knowing that her companions were right, and with a reassuring promise from William to step in if needed, Maebh hopped on to the ground and slowly approached the grazing horse. She planted her feet carefully as she waded through the grass, trying to keep herself — and the animal — calm. Upon noticing her approach, the stallion raised its head and whinnied. The rest of the herd, alerted to the disturbance, began to scatter in the opposite directing, their hooves thundering into the distance.
“Hey there, big fella,” Maebh called out to the stallion, feeling a little stupid for doing so while her friends were nearby.
The horse stomped a hoof in reply, heavy breaths being snuffed from his nostrils. Despite his visible discomfort, he didn’t run as she continued to slowly make her way to him.
“My brother said you were some horse,” she continued. “And now that I’m up close to ya, I can see he wasn’t full of it.”
The animal began to make small jumps on to his back hooves, neighing as she closed the gap.
“Easy boy, easy… You’re alright. Look at you.”
Eventually she reached the stallion’s side with sure and careful strides. The animal, though somewhat calmer than before, was still visibly uncertain with her presence. She reassured him by carefully patting his neck, though always on edge in case he lashed out — the last thing she wanted was a horse shoe to the face. The thoughts had her heart thumping rapidly.
Thinking that the interaction was progressing well, she saw an opportunity and quickly hoisted herself on to the horse’s back.
It didn’t end well for Maebh.
She managed to hang on to the now panicking horse’s golden mane for some time, trying to desperately balance herself as it leapt around the pasture and tried to buck her off. The rapid spinning of the world around her and the deafening neighing quickly became too much. Suddenly, her balance was lost and she was falling through the air. The landing stung but she didn’t have much time to think about it; the stallion’s legs were kicking wildly and she could only assume she was in its path. Despite the wind being knocked out of her, she rolled her body in a direction she hoped was away from the angered animal. She rolled and rolled and, as she sensed a distance being put between them, raised her head.
William stood beside the horse, lasso already wrapped around its neck and ensuring that the animal calmed down. Hands grasped her shoulders, and she looked up to see the worried expression on Arthur’s face. “You okay?”
“I’ve been better,” she admitted and winced as he helped her sit up. “I think I made a balls of that.”
“You nearly had it,” he replied and gave her a once over. “But I think it's in better hands now.”
Now that the horse had calmed down, William thrust the lasso into the stunned John’s hands before flying over to his sister’s side. “Are you alright? He didn’t kick you, did he?”
Seeing the panic in his green eyes, she tried to reassure him. “Nah, I’m grand.”
“You got bucked off a fuckin’ horse and you expect me to think you’re grand.”
“I am grand.”
“We’ll have Miss Grimshaw take a look at her back at camp,” Arthur added, presumably trying to calm the situation. “The main thing is she didn’t get kicked. Looks like she got away with only some bruises.”
She pouted at her sibling while he gently brushed some dirt off her tinted cheeks. “I’m sorry I gave you a fright, William.”
“You can repay me by lettin’ me help you back to camp.”
William and Arthur carefully hauled her to her feet, and she was relieved that she could stand without their assistance.
“She okay?” John called while he remained with the wild stallion a few feet away.
“She’ll be fine,” Arthur answered as he fetched their horses. “Doesn’t look like she got any broken bones.”
She allowed William to help ease her atop Dantés and carefully wrapped her arms around his waist as he sat in front of her. “Well, that was embarrassin’…”
“At least you got a new horse outta it,” he offered, taking the lasso as John passed it to him. “And you didn’t die either.”
“I think that horse is yours. You calmed him after all, and I don’t think he likes me much.”
William didn’t even glance at the animal as it followed them back to camp. “We’ll discuss that after we make sure you’re okay.”
Knowing that there was no arguing with him, Maebh simply let her cheek rest against his back and enjoyed the smooth ride home, nursing the ache in her hip and her somewhat fractured ego.
* * *
Arthur had thankfully been right — Maebh managed to escape the incident with no broken bones and only received a bit of hefty bruising on her hip and shoulder from the fall. It was nothing too serious, bar some cuts and grazes. She was mostly just relieved that none of her injuries kept her from the bank robbery that they had scheduled to do a few days afterwards. William didn’t leave her side for days, despite the fact she could walk and talk with no issue. She was however prevented from doing other jobs and leaving camp; Dutch said he wanted her in tip top shape for the robbery, so aggravating her injuries wasn’t an option. She did manage to convince her brother to keep the damn horse though, and now the stallion — formally named Banquo — stood grazing with the others at camp. Arthur checked up on her too, bringing hot food and coffee with him. His presence was appreciated, especially when she started getting anxious about being stuck in camp. At night time, Karen came to her with some beers and the two usually ended up drinking themselves to sleep after a sing-song with Uncle and Miss Grimshaw.
Maebh was relieved when the days passed by and the morning of the robbery arrived. She felt fit and ready for the occasion thanks to her few days of rest. Soon, she and William were riding into Winterset with Dantés and one of the spare mounts from camp.
The plan was simple enough. In order to avoid suspicions with a large group riding into town, she and William would go into the bank alone with concealed guns and inquire about making an account as a newlywed couple. Hosea would also go to the bank on his own, and the three of them would wait on opposite ends of the room for the others’ arrival. Karen was the signal that things would begin — she would come in, cause a distraction to grab everyones attention, and Dutch, Arthur, and John would storm the bank through the front door. Once they arrived, it was masks on and all hands on deck. Arthur was to intimidate the manager into opening the lock boxes as quietly and as quickly as possible. The others would keep the tellers quiet. The plan was that there would be no casualties.
They rode into town, dressed to impress in a suit and frock respectively. Having hitched their horses on the edge of town and entering the bank, Maebh and William played their part well, and the latter got into a casual conversation with one of the tellers under his alias.
“I think I should discuss it with my new wife before making a decision; she’d murder me if I did it without her. Y’know how women can be, huh, pal?”
They retired to a pair of seats on the right and pretended to be in deep conversation about their finances. Across the room, Hosea sat and made as though he was perusing through some bank statements.
“We’re lucky it’s not very busy today,” Maebh said to her brother in a hushed whisper. “Less people in the crossfire.”
He glanced around the room quickly before meeting her gaze. “Hopefully that’ll play in our favour. In and out in no time.”
It wasn’t long before wails could be heard outside and a figure came crashing through the front door. Karen stood there, dressed in her fanciest outfit with tears streaming down her plump cheeks. She heaved out complaints about an apparent man who had wronged her as one of the bank’s staff came to her side. Whatever attempts he had at hushing her were drowned out by her howling. She expertly drew him in, only to suddenly unveil a gun and push it into his gut.
Her voice shed its previous woes, now laced with stinging vinegar. “Get your goddamn hands up! This is a goddamn robbery!”
At her signal, Dutch, Arthur, and John burst through the doors, bandanas covering half their faces and guns raised.
“Nobody move!”
“Hands up!”
“Anyone moves and we shoot!”
John was on the teller with the keys in an instant, and William and Maebh moved into position. They tugged their bandanas on and William and Hosea quickly shut the front doors while Maebh waited by the teller’s door.
“Unlock the door,” John ordered and swiftly tossed her the keys. “Quick!”
Maebh did as asked, trying to ignore some of the pleads from the bank’s workers.
“This is a robbery, gentlemen,” Dutch announced, addressing the whole room. “And we don’t want to shoot any of you kind folk. So do as we say and no one gets hurt, is that clear?”
As soon as she unlocked the door, she called out to Arthur. “We’re in! Come help sort the vault out.”
While the others attended to those in the main room, Maebh, William, and Arthur stormed through the door to the vault. Arthur grabbed the manager by his collar and switched his demeanour like the flip of a coin.
“Open the goddamn vault!” he screamed, revolver pointed to his head. “Open it!”
“Okay, okay,” the manager said, voice quivering in terror considering he had three guns pointed at his head. “Just don’t hurt me, p-please. I’ve got a family—”
“Open the fuckin’ vault if you want’a see them again!” William growled, getting the man to move. “C’mon the fuck!”
He got to opening the vault, moving too slowly for their liking. With a swift whack of Arthur’s cattleman, he worked faster. “Sonofabitch, c’mon! Hurry up!”
The door opened with a heavy creak, and William pushed the suit into the vault with them. Inside were four lock boxes that were sure to hold ample amounts of money they could use. Though things were going well, Maebh could feel sweat building on the back of her neck.
“We’re in!” she called out to the others. “How you’s holdin’ up out there?”
“We’re fine,” Dutch called back. “Just make sure he opens those lock boxes up without causin’ any trouble!”
Arthur grasped the manager once more and threw him towards the lock boxes. “You best get them open before I put a goddamn hole in your head, boy!”
There was no arguing to be had, and the manager did as he was asked. They quickly shoved the contents of the lock boxes into four bags Arthur had brought along.
Once they were in the clear, William gave the manager a box and knocked him out cold. “That should give us a bit more time to get away.”
Before either of them could make a comment about how smoothly things had gone, a commotion stirred up in the other room. A single shot rang out. Glass smashed and screams erupted. Hosea’s voice could be heard amongst the rabble. “What the hell are you doin’?”
The trio emerged from the teller’s door to see Dutch stood by the front door, one of the window panes smashed through and glass littered on the ground. Maebh glanced out one of the other windows and saw a dead lawman on the street, blood pouring from a bullet hole in his chest. The weight of the money bag on her back felt all the more heavier now.
“What in the hell happened?” Arthur demanded.
“Lawman was investigatin’,” Dutch explained hastily. “He saw what was goin’ on — I had to shoot him.”
“We don’t kill people on these jobs!” Hosea argued, disgusted by the turn of events.
Dutch refused to back down. “We do when our lives are at stake!”
“Well now you’ve put all of us at risk! We could’ve done somethin’ else!”
Karen quickly joined Maebh at the window just as more lawmen appeared outside. “Awh, shit… We got more law outside, boys!”
“They sure as shit know we’re here now,” Maebh added and turned to face her friends. “What do we do?”
“We fight our way out,” Dutch answered, drawing his pistols in each hand. “And get back to camp alive and with the money. We’ve been plannin’ this for too long to give up now. We gotta leave this town as quick as we can. Arthur and I will open fire and force them to stay in cover while the rest of you get to the horses. Head down the alley and loop around; Hosea will lead the way. Shoot anyone in your way, you hear me?”
“Lead the way, Dutch,” John said and took the spare money bag from Arthur. “We’re right behind you.”
A swift glance amongst the group to ensure that everyone was ready, and Dutch was kicking the door open. He was the first to open fire on the waiting lawmen, who ducked behind shop fronts and buildings to steer clear of the bullets. Arthur followed, wielding a repeater and forcing their adversaries to hide if they wanted to avoid being shot. One by one they emerged from the bank, cash in hand and guns ready to take out anyone who threatened their escape. As always, Maebh planted herself ahead of William, staying low as they hurriedly turned and snuck down the side alley and through the back gardens of several shops and a hotel. The thundering clamour of guns firing and bullets flying through wood and clashing with brick could be heard as Hosea, Karen, Maebh, William, and John skirted around corners and hopped over short fences.
As the horses appeared up ahead, visibly skittering at the sound of shots firing, Maebh threw a glance over her shoulder to see if Dutch and Arthur were nearby. She let John and William pass her as she peered around one of the alleys.
“What are you at?” William asked, hesitating to continue.
“We can’t leave without them,” she insisted, wiping her brow and getting her breath back. “Two men against a whole load of law won’t end well.”
“It’s Morgan and Dutch; they’ll be grand. We need to stay with the others.”
Though the commotion continued to rage, she was relieved to see Arthur come barrelling around one of the corners, skidding on the dirt ground as he went.
Upon seeing the siblings, he sprinted to their side. “Y’all okay?”
Maebh shook her head. “I feel like we should be askin’ you that. Where’s Dutch?”
“Comin’ ’round now. He told me to go ahead, so let’s move.”
With his confirmation that their leader was alright, the pair followed the older man as they continued in their escape. As they reached the horses — the others already mounted up and ready to leave — Maebh saw Dutch appear from the corner where Arthur had come running. He was unscathed and thankfully outrunning and law that was following him. She would have grinned at the sight, had he been alone.
Before she could cry out in warning, an armed lawman leapt from around a fence behind Dutch. With a whack, he clocked him in the jaw with the butt of his carbine. Dutch was sent sprawling to the dirt.
Maebh grabbed Arthur’s arm in a knee jerk reaction and her breath caught in her throat.
As the lawman stood over their floundering companion and aimed his gun at Dutch’s head, she heard Arthur desperately calling out his name.
A single gunshot cracked through the air.
With a clatter, the carbine felt limply out of the lawman’s hands. His body went next, landing in a lump on the ground, and blood spurting from the wound in the back of his head. Dutch was stunned, as they all were.
“Who the fuck is that guy?” William asked.
Behind the lawman stood a reverend, decked out in a classic black coat and white neckerchief. Underneath his large brimmed hat was thick, wild ginger hair and a weary but anxious expression. In his hand he held a revolver, smoke steaming from its barrel — the weapon that had saved Dutch’s life.
“Thank you, Reverend,” Dutch said, voice cracking beneath his bandana as he let out a sigh of relief. “I think you just saved my life.”
���I think you were in trouble and I helped you,” the stranger replied, frowning beneath his moustache. “Doing nothin’ would’ve been wrong.”
Arthur quickly turned to the others atop their horses. “You three get outta here! We’ll make sure he’s alright.”
Needing no further encouragement, Hosea quickly guided John and Karen out of town at breakneck speeds. Maebh and Arthur sprinted to Dutch and his new friend while William quickly gathered the horses and prepared them for departure.
“Well, I doubt the law will see it that way,” Dutch said as she and Arthur quickly helped him to his feet. “If you wanna live, I recommend comin’ with us.”
“I don’t even know your name,” he replied, but followed uncertainly as they approached their horses. “And by the sounds of things, you just robbed the bank.”
Dutch was quick to mount up and offered the man his hand. “I ain’t gonna lie to you — we did just rob that bank. There will be time for introductions later though. You saved my life, and I owe you a debt, Reverend.”
Though he hesitated for the briefest of seconds, the reverend took the offered hand and hopped on to the Count. Each of them mounted up, just as more law arrived in town, this time riding on horseback. Maebh grabbed her reigns and quickly pushed her horse to follow her companions’ tail. Last to leave, she tried to stay close behind her friends as they galloped out past the town’s limits.
Up ahead, Arthur called out. “More comin’ in!”
She looked up and, atop a small hill, three more riders appeared, coming towards them with guns drawn. Dutch was on them first, taking one man down while Arthur got another in a flurry of bullets. One remained, but she steered her heavily breathing horse in an attempt to dodge the oncoming attack. Her companions sped off up ahead, the continued strain of jerky movement causing her horse to tire and slow.
They were far off when her horse cried out in pain and several bullets struck the animal. For the second time in a few days, Maebh was flung from a stallion and sent crashing into the dusty road below with some force. Her head spun and her shoulder throbbed. She breathed deep, lungs working overtime to get whatever air she could down her burning throat. Quite suddenly, her scalp stung as a vicious hand grabbed her hair and pulled her head up.
She cried out as tears built in the corners of her eyes. Through blurred vision she saw the lawman who shot her mount. Now he stood before her, his gun stuck in her face. “I got you now, you little—”
A deafening blast cracked through the ringing in her ears, and the man’s chest quite literally exploded. Blood and bits of flesh and bone struck her face, and suddenly, the pressure on her skull relaxed. With a wobble, he crashed to the ground, revealing a fuming William behind him. He sat atop his horse, shotgun in hand with a look that could kill. His piercing eyes fell on her — his only visible feature thanks to his bandana — brow furrowed so deep into his brow that it cast a shadow over his youthful face and emphasised the scar marred into his skin. He barely even flinched as he holstered his weapon once more.
“Get on his horse!” he ordered through gritted teeth by the sounds of it. “We need’ta leave now!”
Though dizzy and trying to get her breath back, Maebh listened to her brother, and quickly hauled herself on to the abandoned animal. There was simply no time to think about what had occurred — if she thought about her close encounter at that very moment, it would surely cost her her life this time around. With a glance at the dead horse and body in the middle of the road, she lurched and kicked the animal into a gallop, following her brother over a hill and out of sight as cries from the evaded lawmen disappeared on the wind.
#red dead redemption 2#arthur morgan#arthur morgan x oc#john marston#red dead redemption fandom#rdr#rdr2#fanfiction#fanfic#arthur morgan fanfic#the flower and the serpent#dutch van der linde#hosea mathews#rdr fanfiction#rdr2 fanfic#arthur morgan x ofc
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So who put the cyber into cybersex?
Today we have cybercafes and cyberwars but cybernetics the term that launched a dozen prefixes has been lost. In a new book, Thomas Rid aims to reconnect cyber to its original idea of man-machine symbiosis
Where did the cyber in cyberspace come from? Most people, when asked, will probably credit William Gibson, who famously introduced the term in his celebrated 1984 novel, Neuromancer. It came to him while watching some kids play early video games. Searching for a name for the virtual space in which they seemed immersed, he wrote cyberspace in his notepad. As I stared at it in red Sharpie on a yellow legal pad, he later recalled, my whole delight was that it meant absolutely nothing.
How wrong can you be? Cyberspace turned out to be the space that somehow morphed into the networked world we now inhabit, and which might ultimately prove our undoing by making us totally dependent on a system that is both unfathomably complex and fundamentally insecure. But the cyber- prefix actually goes back a long way before Gibson to the late 1940s and Norbert Wieners book, Cybernetics, Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, which was published in 1948.
Cybernetics was the term Wiener, an MIT mathematician and polymath, coined for the scientific study of feedback control and communication in animals and machines. As a transdiscipline that cuts across traditional fields such as physics, chemistry and biology, cybernetics had a brief and largely unsuccessful existence: fewof the worlds universities now have departments of cybernetics. But as Thomas Rids absorbing new book, The Rise of the Machines: The Lost History of Cybernetics shows, it has had a long afterglow as a source of mythic inspiration that endures to the present day.
This is because at the heart of the cybernetic idea is the proposition that the gap between animals (especially humans) and machines is much narrower than humanists believe. Its argument is that if you ignore the physical processes that go on in the animal and the machine and focus only on the information loops that regulate these processes in both, you begin to see startling similarities. The feedback loops that enable our bodies to maintain an internal temperature of 37C, for example, are analogous to the way in which the cruise control in our cars operates.
Dr Rid is a reader in the war studies department of Kings College London, which means that he is primarily interested in conflict, and as the world has gone online he has naturally been drawn into the study of how conflict manifests itself in the virtual world. When states are involved in this, we tend to call it cyberwarfare, a term of which I suspect Rid disapproves on the grounds that warfare is intrinsically kinetic (like Assads barrel bombs) whereas whats going on in cyberspace is much more sinister, elusive and intractable.
In order to explain how weve got so far out of our depth, Rid has effectively had to compose an alternative history of computing. And whereas most such histories begin with Alan Turing and Claude Shannon and John von Neumann, Rid starts with Wiener and wartime research into gunnery control. For him, the modern world of technology begins not with the early digital computers developed at Bletchley Park, Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania but with the interactive artillery systems developed for the US armed forces by the Sperry gyroscope company in the early 1940s.
From this unexpected beginning, Rid weaves an interesting and original story. The seed crystal from which it grows is the idea that the Sperry gun-control system was essentially a way of augmenting the human gunners capabilities to cope with the task of hitting fast-moving targets. And it turns out that this dream of technology as a way of augmenting human capabilities is a persistent but often overlooked theme in the evolution of computing.
A mechanical dog manufactured by robot maker Boston Dynamics. Cybernetics proposes that the gap between humans and their machines is much narrower than humanists believe. Photograph: Boston Dynamics
The standard narrative about the technologys history focuses mostly on technical progress processing power, bandwidth, storage, networking, etc. Its about machines and applications, companies and fortunes. The underlying assumption is that the technology is empowering which of course in principle it can be. What, after all, is the web but a memory aid for people? What the dominant narrative conveniently ignores, though, is that the motive force for most tech industry development is not human empowerment but profit. Which is why Facebook wants its 1.7 billion users to stay within its walled garden rather than simply being empowered by the open web.
The dream of computing as a way of augmenting human capabilities, however, takes empowerment seriously rather than using it as a cover story. It is, for example, what underpinned the lifes work of Douglas Engelbart, the man who came up with the computer mouse and the windowing interface that we use today. And it motivated JCR Licklider, the psychologist who was, in a way, the godfather of the internet and whose paper Man-Computer Symbiosis is one of the canonical texts in the augmentation tradition. Even today, a charitable interpretation of the Google Glass project would place it firmly in the same tradition. Ditto for virtual reality (VR).
Given that he starts from cybernetics, the trajectory of Rids narrative makes sense. It takes him into the origins of the concept of the cyborg the notion of adapting humans to their surroundings rather than the other way round an idea that was first explored by Nasa and the US military. Thence he moves into the early history of automation, and startling tales about ambitious early attempts to create robots that might be useful in combat. In 1964, for example, US army contractors built the Pedipulator, an 18ft tall mechanical figure that looked like a prototype of a Star Wars biped. The idea was to create some kind of intelligent full-body armour that would turn troops, in effect, into walking tanks.
From there, its just a short leap to virtual reality also, incidentally, first invented by the US military in the early 1980s. Rids account of the California counter-cultures obsession with VR is fascinating, and includes the revelation that Timothy Leary, the high priest of LSD, was an early evangelist. Leary and co thought that VR was better than LSD because it was inherently social whereas an LSD trip was just chemically induced isolation. Then Rid moves on to the arrival of public-key cryptography, which put military-grade encryption into the hands of citizens for the first time (and which had been secretly invented at GCHQ, so one can imagine its discombobulation when civilian geeks independently came up with it).
The final substantive chapter of Rise of the Machines is about conflict in cyberspace, and contains the first detailed account Ive seen of the Moonlight Maze attack on US networks. Rid describes this as the biggest and most sophisticated computer network attack made against the United States in history. It happened in 1996, which means that it belongs in prehistory by internet timescales. And it originated in Russia. The attack was breathtaking in its ambition and comprehensiveness. But it was probably small beer compared with what goes on now, especially given that China has entered the cyberfray.
In some ways, Rids chapter on conflict in cyberspace seems orthogonal to his main story, which is about how Wieners vision of cybernetics functioned as an inspirational myth for innovators who were interested in what Licklider and Engelbart thought of as man-machine symbiosis and human augmentation. If this absorbing, illuminating book needs a motto, it is an aphorism of Marshall McLuhans friend, John Culkin. We shape our tools, he wrote, and thereafter our tools shape us.
Thomas Rid Q&A: Politicians would say cyber and roll their eyes
Thomas Rid: Our temptation to improve ourselves through our own machines is hardwired into who we are as humans. Photograph: Flickr
How did you become interested in cybernetics? The short word cyber seemed everywhere, slapped in front of cafes, crime, bullying, war, punk, even sex. Journalists and politicians and academics would say cyber and roll their eyes at it. Sometimes they would ask where the funny phrase actually came from. So every time my boss introduced me as, Hey, this is Thomas, hes our cyber expert, I cringed. So I thought I should write a book. Nobody, after all, had properly connected todays cyber to its historic ancestor, cybernetics.
Initially I wanted to do a polemic. But then I presented some of the history at Royal Holloway, and to my surprise, some of the computer science students warmed to cyber after my talk, appreciating the ideas historical and philosophical depth. So I thought, yes, lets do this properly.
You teach in a department of war studies, so I can see that cyberwar might be your thing. But you decided that you needed to go way back not only to Norbert Wiener and the original ideas of cybernetics, but also to the counter-cultural background, to personal computing, virtual reality (VR) and computer conferencing. Why? War studies, my department, is an open tent. Crossing disciplinary boundaries and adding historical and conceptual depth is what we do. So machines fits right in. I think understanding our fascination with communication and control today requires going back to the origins, to Wieners cybernetic vision after the second world war. Our temptation to improve ourselves through our own machines big brains in the 50s, or artificial intelligence today is hardwired into who we are as humans. We dont just want to play God, we want to beat God, building artificial intelligence thats better than the non-artificial kind. This hubris will never go away. So one of our best insurance is to study the history of cybernetic myths, the promise of the perennially imminent rise of the machines.
How long did the book take to research and write? It took me about three years. It wasnt hard to stay focused the story throughout the decades was just too gripping: here was the US air force building touch-sensitive cybernetic manipulators to refuel nuclear-powered long-range bombers, and theres LSD guru Timothy Leary discovering the cybernetic space inside the machines as a mind-expansion device even better than psychedelic drugs better, by the way, because the machine high was more creative and more social than getting stoned on psilocybin.
One group thats missing from your account is the engineers who sought to implement old-style cybernetic ideas in real life. For example, the Cybersyn project that Stafford Beer led in Chile for Salvador Allende. Did you think of including stuff like that? If not, why not? The cybernetic story is expansive. I had to leave out so much, especially in the 50s and 60s, the heyday of cybernetics. For example, the rise of cybernetics in the Soviet Union is a story in itself, and almost entirely missing from my book, as is much of the sociological work that was inspired by Norbert Wieners vision (much of it either dated or impenetrable). Cybersyn has been admirably covered, in detail, by Eden Medinas Cybernetic Revolutionaries. I would also mention Ronald Klines recent book, The Cybernetics Moment.
Your account of the Moonlight Maze investigation (of a full-on state-sponsored cyberattack on the US) is fascinating and scary. It suggests that contrary to popular belief cyberwarfare is not just a distant possibility but a baffling and terrifying reality. It is also by your account intractable. Arent we (ie society) out of our depth here? Or, at the very least, arent we in a position analogous to where we were with nuclear weapons in, say, 1946? Cyberwar, if you want to call it that, has been going on since at least 1996 as I show without interruption. In fact state-sponsored espionage, sabotage, and subversion escalated drastically in the past two decades. But meanwhile weve been fooling ourselves, expecting blackouts and explosions and planes falling out of the sky as a result of cyberattacks. Physical effects happen, but have been a rare exception. What were seeing instead is even scarier: an escalation of cold war-style spy-versus-spy subversion and sabotage, covert and hidden and very political, not open and of military nature, like nuclear weapons. Over the last year we have observed several instances of intelligence agencies breaching victims, stealing files, and dumping sensitive information into the public domain: often through purpose-created leak forums, or indeed though Wikileaks.
Russian agencies have been leading this trend, most visibly by trying to influence the US election through hacking and dumping. Theyre doing very creative work there. Although the forensic evidence for this activity is solid and openly available, the tactic still works impressively well. Open societies arent well equipped to deal with covert spin-doctoring.
Were currently experiencing a virtual reality frenzy, with companies like Facebook and venture capitalists salivating over it as the Next Big Thing. One of the interesting parts of your story is the revelation that we have been here before except last time, enthusiasm for VR was inextricably bound up with psychedelic drugs. Then, it was tech plus LSD; now its tech plus money. The same cycle applies to artificial intelligence. So cybernetics isnt the only field to have waxed and waned. Absolutely not. I was often writing notes on the margins of my manuscript in Fernandez & Wells in Somerset House, where London fashion week used to happen. Technology is a bit like fashion: every few years a new craze or trend comes around, drawing much attention, money, and fresh talent. Right now, its automation and VR, a bit retro-60s and -90s respectively. Of course our fears and hopes arent just repeating the past, and the technical progress in both fields has been impressive. But well move on before long, and the next tech wave will probably have a retro feature again.
At a certain moment in the book you effectively detach the prefix cyber from its origins in wartime MIT and the work of Norbert Wiener and use it to build a narrative about our networked and computerised existence cyborgs, cyberspace, cyberwar etc. Your justification, as I see it, is that there was a cybernetic moment and it passed. But had you thought that a cybernetic analysis of our current plight in trying to manage cyberspace might be insightful? For example, one of the big ideas to come out of early cybernetics was Ross Ashbys Law of Requisite Variety which basically says that for a system to be viable it has to be able to cope with the complexity of its environment. Given what information technology has done to increase the complexity of our current environment, doesnt that mean that most of our contemporary systems (organisations, institutions) are actually no longer viable. Or is that pushing the idea too far? Youre raising a fascinating question here, one that I struggled with for a long time. First, I think cyber detached itself from its origins, and degenerated from a scientific concept to an ideology. That shift began in the early 1960s. My book is merely chronicling this larger history, not applying cybernetics to anything. It took me a while to resist the cybernetic temptation, if you like: the old theory still has charm and seductive force left in its bones but of course I never wanted to be a cyberneticist.
The Rise of the Machines is published by Scribe (20). Click here to order a copy for 16.40
Source: http://allofbeer.com/so-who-put-the-cyber-into-cybersex/
from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2019/03/10/so-who-put-the-cyber-into-cybersex/
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So who put the cyber into cybersex?
Today we have cybercafes and cyberwars but cybernetics the term that launched a dozen prefixes has been lost. In a new book, Thomas Rid aims to reconnect cyber to its original idea of man-machine symbiosis
Where did the cyber in cyberspace come from? Most people, when asked, will probably credit William Gibson, who famously introduced the term in his celebrated 1984 novel, Neuromancer. It came to him while watching some kids play early video games. Searching for a name for the virtual space in which they seemed immersed, he wrote cyberspace in his notepad. As I stared at it in red Sharpie on a yellow legal pad, he later recalled, my whole delight was that it meant absolutely nothing.
How wrong can you be? Cyberspace turned out to be the space that somehow morphed into the networked world we now inhabit, and which might ultimately prove our undoing by making us totally dependent on a system that is both unfathomably complex and fundamentally insecure. But the cyber- prefix actually goes back a long way before Gibson to the late 1940s and Norbert Wieners book, Cybernetics, Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, which was published in 1948.
Cybernetics was the term Wiener, an MIT mathematician and polymath, coined for the scientific study of feedback control and communication in animals and machines. As a transdiscipline that cuts across traditional fields such as physics, chemistry and biology, cybernetics had a brief and largely unsuccessful existence: fewof the worlds universities now have departments of cybernetics. But as Thomas Rids absorbing new book, The Rise of the Machines: The Lost History of Cybernetics shows, it has had a long afterglow as a source of mythic inspiration that endures to the present day.
This is because at the heart of the cybernetic idea is the proposition that the gap between animals (especially humans) and machines is much narrower than humanists believe. Its argument is that if you ignore the physical processes that go on in the animal and the machine and focus only on the information loops that regulate these processes in both, you begin to see startling similarities. The feedback loops that enable our bodies to maintain an internal temperature of 37C, for example, are analogous to the way in which the cruise control in our cars operates.
Dr Rid is a reader in the war studies department of Kings College London, which means that he is primarily interested in conflict, and as the world has gone online he has naturally been drawn into the study of how conflict manifests itself in the virtual world. When states are involved in this, we tend to call it cyberwarfare, a term of which I suspect Rid disapproves on the grounds that warfare is intrinsically kinetic (like Assads barrel bombs) whereas whats going on in cyberspace is much more sinister, elusive and intractable.
In order to explain how weve got so far out of our depth, Rid has effectively had to compose an alternative history of computing. And whereas most such histories begin with Alan Turing and Claude Shannon and John von Neumann, Rid starts with Wiener and wartime research into gunnery control. For him, the modern world of technology begins not with the early digital computers developed at Bletchley Park, Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania but with the interactive artillery systems developed for the US armed forces by the Sperry gyroscope company in the early 1940s.
From this unexpected beginning, Rid weaves an interesting and original story. The seed crystal from which it grows is the idea that the Sperry gun-control system was essentially a way of augmenting the human gunners capabilities to cope with the task of hitting fast-moving targets. And it turns out that this dream of technology as a way of augmenting human capabilities is a persistent but often overlooked theme in the evolution of computing.
A mechanical dog manufactured by robot maker Boston Dynamics. Cybernetics proposes that the gap between humans and their machines is much narrower than humanists believe. Photograph: Boston Dynamics
The standard narrative about the technologys history focuses mostly on technical progress processing power, bandwidth, storage, networking, etc. Its about machines and applications, companies and fortunes. The underlying assumption is that the technology is empowering which of course in principle it can be. What, after all, is the web but a memory aid for people? What the dominant narrative conveniently ignores, though, is that the motive force for most tech industry development is not human empowerment but profit. Which is why Facebook wants its 1.7 billion users to stay within its walled garden rather than simply being empowered by the open web.
The dream of computing as a way of augmenting human capabilities, however, takes empowerment seriously rather than using it as a cover story. It is, for example, what underpinned the lifes work of Douglas Engelbart, the man who came up with the computer mouse and the windowing interface that we use today. And it motivated JCR Licklider, the psychologist who was, in a way, the godfather of the internet and whose paper Man-Computer Symbiosis is one of the canonical texts in the augmentation tradition. Even today, a charitable interpretation of the Google Glass project would place it firmly in the same tradition. Ditto for virtual reality (VR).
Given that he starts from cybernetics, the trajectory of Rids narrative makes sense. It takes him into the origins of the concept of the cyborg the notion of adapting humans to their surroundings rather than the other way round an idea that was first explored by Nasa and the US military. Thence he moves into the early history of automation, and startling tales about ambitious early attempts to create robots that might be useful in combat. In 1964, for example, US army contractors built the Pedipulator, an 18ft tall mechanical figure that looked like a prototype of a Star Wars biped. The idea was to create some kind of intelligent full-body armour that would turn troops, in effect, into walking tanks.
From there, its just a short leap to virtual reality also, incidentally, first invented by the US military in the early 1980s. Rids account of the California counter-cultures obsession with VR is fascinating, and includes the revelation that Timothy Leary, the high priest of LSD, was an early evangelist. Leary and co thought that VR was better than LSD because it was inherently social whereas an LSD trip was just chemically induced isolation. Then Rid moves on to the arrival of public-key cryptography, which put military-grade encryption into the hands of citizens for the first time (and which had been secretly invented at GCHQ, so one can imagine its discombobulation when civilian geeks independently came up with it).
The final substantive chapter of Rise of the Machines is about conflict in cyberspace, and contains the first detailed account Ive seen of the Moonlight Maze attack on US networks. Rid describes this as the biggest and most sophisticated computer network attack made against the United States in history. It happened in 1996, which means that it belongs in prehistory by internet timescales. And it originated in Russia. The attack was breathtaking in its ambition and comprehensiveness. But it was probably small beer compared with what goes on now, especially given that China has entered the cyberfray.
In some ways, Rids chapter on conflict in cyberspace seems orthogonal to his main story, which is about how Wieners vision of cybernetics functioned as an inspirational myth for innovators who were interested in what Licklider and Engelbart thought of as man-machine symbiosis and human augmentation. If this absorbing, illuminating book needs a motto, it is an aphorism of Marshall McLuhans friend, John Culkin. We shape our tools, he wrote, and thereafter our tools shape us.
Thomas Rid Q&A: Politicians would say cyber and roll their eyes
Thomas Rid: Our temptation to improve ourselves through our own machines is hardwired into who we are as humans. Photograph: Flickr
How did you become interested in cybernetics? The short word cyber seemed everywhere, slapped in front of cafes, crime, bullying, war, punk, even sex. Journalists and politicians and academics would say cyber and roll their eyes at it. Sometimes they would ask where the funny phrase actually came from. So every time my boss introduced me as, Hey, this is Thomas, hes our cyber expert, I cringed. So I thought I should write a book. Nobody, after all, had properly connected todays cyber to its historic ancestor, cybernetics.
Initially I wanted to do a polemic. But then I presented some of the history at Royal Holloway, and to my surprise, some of the computer science students warmed to cyber after my talk, appreciating the ideas historical and philosophical depth. So I thought, yes, lets do this properly.
You teach in a department of war studies, so I can see that cyberwar might be your thing. But you decided that you needed to go way back not only to Norbert Wiener and the original ideas of cybernetics, but also to the counter-cultural background, to personal computing, virtual reality (VR) and computer conferencing. Why? War studies, my department, is an open tent. Crossing disciplinary boundaries and adding historical and conceptual depth is what we do. So machines fits right in. I think understanding our fascination with communication and control today requires going back to the origins, to Wieners cybernetic vision after the second world war. Our temptation to improve ourselves through our own machines big brains in the 50s, or artificial intelligence today is hardwired into who we are as humans. We dont just want to play God, we want to beat God, building artificial intelligence thats better than the non-artificial kind. This hubris will never go away. So one of our best insurance is to study the history of cybernetic myths, the promise of the perennially imminent rise of the machines.
How long did the book take to research and write? It took me about three years. It wasnt hard to stay focused the story throughout the decades was just too gripping: here was the US air force building touch-sensitive cybernetic manipulators to refuel nuclear-powered long-range bombers, and theres LSD guru Timothy Leary discovering the cybernetic space inside the machines as a mind-expansion device even better than psychedelic drugs better, by the way, because the machine high was more creative and more social than getting stoned on psilocybin.
One group thats missing from your account is the engineers who sought to implement old-style cybernetic ideas in real life. For example, the Cybersyn project that Stafford Beer led in Chile for Salvador Allende. Did you think of including stuff like that? If not, why not? The cybernetic story is expansive. I had to leave out so much, especially in the 50s and 60s, the heyday of cybernetics. For example, the rise of cybernetics in the Soviet Union is a story in itself, and almost entirely missing from my book, as is much of the sociological work that was inspired by Norbert Wieners vision (much of it either dated or impenetrable). Cybersyn has been admirably covered, in detail, by Eden Medinas Cybernetic Revolutionaries. I would also mention Ronald Klines recent book, The Cybernetics Moment.
Your account of the Moonlight Maze investigation (of a full-on state-sponsored cyberattack on the US) is fascinating and scary. It suggests that contrary to popular belief cyberwarfare is not just a distant possibility but a baffling and terrifying reality. It is also by your account intractable. Arent we (ie society) out of our depth here? Or, at the very least, arent we in a position analogous to where we were with nuclear weapons in, say, 1946? Cyberwar, if you want to call it that, has been going on since at least 1996 as I show without interruption. In fact state-sponsored espionage, sabotage, and subversion escalated drastically in the past two decades. But meanwhile weve been fooling ourselves, expecting blackouts and explosions and planes falling out of the sky as a result of cyberattacks. Physical effects happen, but have been a rare exception. What were seeing instead is even scarier: an escalation of cold war-style spy-versus-spy subversion and sabotage, covert and hidden and very political, not open and of military nature, like nuclear weapons. Over the last year we have observed several instances of intelligence agencies breaching victims, stealing files, and dumping sensitive information into the public domain: often through purpose-created leak forums, or indeed though Wikileaks.
Russian agencies have been leading this trend, most visibly by trying to influence the US election through hacking and dumping. Theyre doing very creative work there. Although the forensic evidence for this activity is solid and openly available, the tactic still works impressively well. Open societies arent well equipped to deal with covert spin-doctoring.
Were currently experiencing a virtual reality frenzy, with companies like Facebook and venture capitalists salivating over it as the Next Big Thing. One of the interesting parts of your story is the revelation that we have been here before except last time, enthusiasm for VR was inextricably bound up with psychedelic drugs. Then, it was tech plus LSD; now its tech plus money. The same cycle applies to artificial intelligence. So cybernetics isnt the only field to have waxed and waned. Absolutely not. I was often writing notes on the margins of my manuscript in Fernandez & Wells in Somerset House, where London fashion week used to happen. Technology is a bit like fashion: every few years a new craze or trend comes around, drawing much attention, money, and fresh talent. Right now, its automation and VR, a bit retro-60s and -90s respectively. Of course our fears and hopes arent just repeating the past, and the technical progress in both fields has been impressive. But well move on before long, and the next tech wave will probably have a retro feature again.
At a certain moment in the book you effectively detach the prefix cyber from its origins in wartime MIT and the work of Norbert Wiener and use it to build a narrative about our networked and computerised existence cyborgs, cyberspace, cyberwar etc. Your justification, as I see it, is that there was a cybernetic moment and it passed. But had you thought that a cybernetic analysis of our current plight in trying to manage cyberspace might be insightful? For example, one of the big ideas to come out of early cybernetics was Ross Ashbys Law of Requisite Variety which basically says that for a system to be viable it has to be able to cope with the complexity of its environment. Given what information technology has done to increase the complexity of our current environment, doesnt that mean that most of our contemporary systems (organisations, institutions) are actually no longer viable. Or is that pushing the idea too far? Youre raising a fascinating question here, one that I struggled with for a long time. First, I think cyber detached itself from its origins, and degenerated from a scientific concept to an ideology. That shift began in the early 1960s. My book is merely chronicling this larger history, not applying cybernetics to anything. It took me a while to resist the cybernetic temptation, if you like: the old theory still has charm and seductive force left in its bones but of course I never wanted to be a cyberneticist.
The Rise of the Machines is published by Scribe (20). Click here to order a copy for 16.40
from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/so-who-put-the-cyber-into-cybersex/
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Trump celebrates 100-day mark by railing against the media — and seeking to steal spotlight from D.C. gala
President Trump leads a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Harrisburg, Pa. (Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters)
HARRISBURG, Pa. — President Trump was here to celebrate the achievements of his first 100 days in office, but first, he had a few words to say about the news media — more than a few words, actually.
Taking the stage at a farm expo center here before a packed crowd of several thousand people in a key swing state he won last November, Trump spent the first quarter of his speech — nearly 15 minutes — railing against the ���incompetent, dishonest” media that he claimed had been “purposely negative” about his first months in office.
“If the media’s job is to be honest, they deserve a big, fat failing grade,” Trump declared in a scathing rant that prompted his supporters to turn around and boo reporters on the scene to cover his remarks.
What seemed like every grievance Trump has held against reporters spilled forth. He called CNN and MSNBC, two of his favorite targets, “fake news.” The “failing New York Times,” a paper that Trump has given repeated interviews to since he won the election last November, was struggling so badly it was “starting to look like a comic book,” he insisted — though the paper has reported a jump in subscriptions since he took office.
He repeatedly attacked the media as “out of touch” with the concerns of everyday Americans and questioned why any reporter had any right to judge him. After three months of speeches in which Trump had continued to relive last year’s election and rail against onetime rival Hillary Clinton, the president had finally settled on a new foe: reporters.
Saturday’s rally was Trump’s latest attempt to offer counterprogramming to his perceived opponents, a card he regularly played during the 2016 campaign. In this case, Trump’s target was the hundreds of political journalists gathered in Washington for the annual White House Correspondents Dinner. On Saturday, Trump became the first president in 36 years to skip the dinner, eschewing reporters he has regularly attacked as “fake media” and even the “enemy of the American people” amid his constant complaints of unfair coverage.
(The last president to skip the dinner was Ronald Reagan in 1981, when he was recovering from an assassination attempt, though he still managed to call in and deliver a few jokes. “If I could give you just one little bit of advice,” Reagan said from Camp David, the presidential retreat, “when somebody tells you to get in a car quick, do it.”)
Back in Washington, D.C.: Attendees take their seats at the start of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Speaking to supporters here, Trump bragged about ditching the dinner, which funds scholarships for journalism students, describing it as a gathering of “Hollywood actors and Washington media … consoling each other in a hotel ballroom.”
“I could not possibly be more thrilled to be more than 100 miles away from Washington spending my evening with all of you, a much larger crowd and better people,” Trump declared, adding that the dinner was probably “very, very boring.”
It wasn’t the first time the TV-savvy politician has tried to split-screen another prominent event. In January 2016, just days before the Iowa caucuses, Trump abruptly scheduled a “fundraiser” for veterans to run at the same time as a Fox News GOP primary debate he boycotted over a feud with the network’s Megyn Kelly. And last July, he held rallies during the Democratic National Convention, including on the night of Clinton’s acceptance speech, in an attempt to draw away viewers.
The WHCA dinner, which is also attended by a mix of politicians, celebrities, lobbyists, advertisers and others in the news, has long been viewed as a light-hearted night where the president can roast reporters and vice versa. But for the thin-skinned Trump, it was also the scene of a eviscerating takedown in 2011, when then-President Barack Obama openly mocked the New York billionaire’s political ambitions.
Trump, who at the time was the leading voice on conspiracy theories that Obama was not born in the U.S., was visibly furious. And though Trump has repeatedly denied that he was embarrassed or angry, the episode is said to have cemented the businessman’s determination to seek the presidency and avenge his critics, including Obama.
That desire to prove those who underestimate him wrong has been a driving force for Trump for his entire adult life — from his entry into the gilded world of Manhattan real state to his unlikely path to the presidency. And perhaps it’s why Trump continues to live in the past — spending at least part of his remarks Saturday night, as he often does in public speeches, re-litigating the 2016 election in what seems to be an infinite desire for credit for stunning the world with his surprise victory last year. “Their predictions were so bad,” Trump said of the media, accusing them of pulling for Clinton last year.
President Trump at his 100-day rally in Harrisburg, Pa. (Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters)
While the president delivered a full throated defense of his early months in office, insisting again and again he is making progress, Trump’s rally in Harrisburg also called attention to what has been a surprising element of his early days in office. For a candidate who rose to power on what he has described as his “movement” and who thrived from the adulation he felt from the massive rallies he held all over the country, Trump has spent little time on the road trying to activate those supporters to advance his political agenda in Washington.
Unlike other presidents who have spent a large part of their early days in office on the road giving speeches and making the case for their political priorities, Trump has spent much of his first months in office at the White House or at Mar-a-Lago, his lavish Florida retreat.
Trump has made just a handful of public appearances outside Washington — including visits to Michigan, South Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin, where he held small policy events largely to tout job creation. On Friday, he addressed the National Rifle Association convention in Georgia, where he mostly relived his campaign glories. Though aides said he would hit the road to sell his agenda after a speech to Congress in late February, that swing never materialized.
By comparison, Obama had visited roughly 10 states, largely to sell policy initiatives like his economic stimulus package, and traveled overseas three times by this point his presidency. In his first 100 days, George W. Bush was on the road even more, hitting roughly 25 states to sell his push for tax cuts and education reforms like “No Child Let Behind.” He had also traveled to Mexico on his first overseas trip.
For Bush and Obama, their domestic trips weren’t just to friendly territory. Both presidents traveled to states during their first 100 days to target members of the opposing party in hopes of winning bipartisan support for their policy agendas. For Bush, that included trips to Michigan and Montana. Obama traveled to Arizona, home to his political rival, John McCain.
Perhaps most surprising to those who closely followed Trump’s campaign is that, until Saturday’s appearance in Pennsylvania, he had held just three rallies — in Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky, all states that he won easily. That’s less than many expected, given Trump’s obsession with rallies, which were such a source of energy and life for him during his run for the White House that many within his campaign wondered if he would be able to give them up and focus on governing.
The scene from the New Holland Aren as President Trump leads a rally in Harrisburg, Pa. (Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters)
White House press secretary Sean Spicer has told reporters that Trump’s lack of travel in support of his agenda is because he is focused on matters in Washington. But others within the president’s party point to other reasons, including a policy agenda that has lacked clarity and focus and a commander in chief who often struggles to stay on script.
“When you are president, you travel to make a point,” one Republican party official who declined to be named critiquing Trump’s style. “And if the campaign is any guide, maybe the determination has been that he would step on that point, and it’s just not worth it.”
While Trump has mastered the ability to whip up his supporters through other means like Twitter, his ability to truly activate his supporters in support of his political agenda remains untested.
And much of that agenda remains in limbo after a rocky first 100 days in office. During the campaign, he set his own 100-day “contract” with voters, but he has carried out fewer than half of those promises according to the Associated Press. Trump, visibly frustrated at times, has lashed out at the courts for blocking his executive orders and at congressional factions for their alleged disloyalty.
On Saturday, Trump went through a litany of campaign promises that he said he’s delivered on, pointing to executive orders aimed at helping the coal industry as well as stepped up enforcement of immigration laws. He glossed over his failed effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, insisting it would fail on its own eventually. And he again insisted, despite setbacks, that his proposed wall along the U.S. Mexico border would be built.
“We are keeping one promise after another,” Trump said, touting “historic progress.”
As further proof, Trump motioned to back to the press corps on hand to cover his speech. “They are exhausted,” he declared. “They’ve never seen anything like it.”
Read more from Yahoo News’ coverage of Trump’s first 100 days:
Donald Trump’s Russian riddle
Donald Trump doesn’t talk like other presidents. Would he be a better president if he did?
Trump’s chaotic first 100 days — as seen through his tweets
What Trump has done for, and to, the environment in his first 100 days
The Ever-Trumpers: Revisiting his backers from 2016, we find they still like him
Fact check: The White House’s claims about Trump’s first 100 days
The contrarians: They didn’t vote for Trump, but they would now
Trump foreign policy at 100 days: The downside of unpredictability
Twitter, Mar-a-Lago and Obama bashing: The 45th president’s 100 days of norm-busting
Photos: From inauguration to 100th day — President Trump’s rocky ride in pictures
Photos: From crude to creative — 100 days of Trump signs wielded by fans and foes
#_uuid:71a9dcaf-c579-3881-8fc6-9d70e1d5a9d0#Donald Trump#_revsp:Yahoo! News#_author:Holly Bailey#_lmsid:a077000000CFoGyAAL#White House Correspondents Dinner
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#it #is #nothing #but #it #is #not #nothing #the #bloody #dick #porn #theme #plus #implant #fix @ap @reuters @bbc_whys @france24 @haaretzcom @snowden @fisa @lawyers @lawyerco m @harvard_law @book @books @book_fair smashwords.com/books/ view/552210 lawyers each and every theme each decept each decoy each trick each and every theme is public deedtyped w ho else makes transparency ooooh a red clunker with defective brakes and stuck on things itis nothing for 20years but i t is not nothing oooh outofcan sounds pitch spoiled and glow colors and thick lines drawn like videogame xiii was th e engine we will never abandon you oath soldiers it is nothing for20years but it is not nothing a fraction here a fract ion there andits public each and every trick flipflap flipflap flipflap exchanging chicks on left and right shoulder t heme climax suuuuuperman blllllah itis nothing for 20years but itis not nothing who else makes transparency ///// lawyersthe germans have enough dildosthey dont need my implan ts for their molest bsbut foremostfixed by howitwas before+what wife needsisnotusablefo rminors ********** anymolesttrickwherescumswoulddespppppperatelyrun out of dildos and need accesswouldbere-damagere-messa monstrosityt h em m m m m m damaged inthe firstplaceme ssing with the fix *********** anything that fits wife i s surenot for minors molest thats justnotthe case andjust not what its fixed tothisyoumustso rtunsleazyserobullshit ******* sexual assault is not se xualityletalone frivolous gainsletalone frivolous lifestyles with frivolous gains and benefitsand damnsure whenthey ra nout of dildosmy installs is a repair of their german monstrosities by how it was before+what mywife needs and this. is really noones business ******* without drawing cockroach sleaze germannesses on itithink this must be demystifiedisuspectmany germanparents porn their own children or setem up for sexual exploitationor might not have a choice or chance and hadto havetoand thisgermannnesssyou hard 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I am Christian KISS BabyAWACS – Raw Independent Sophistication #THINKTANK + #INTEL #HELLHOLE #BLOG htt ps://www.BabyAWACS.com/ [email protected] PHONE / FAX +4 93212 611 34 64 Helpful? Pay. Support. Donnate. paypal.me /ChristianKiss /// checkhow 1222 harms teeth why thereis a chav mouth dirt mess fromsleeptime clean teeth healthy teeth are a matter of spit and clean tongue 70percentof bacteria areontongue and that is regualrly cleaned which most do not at the sametieme a clean toothbrush howits kepts and changed twice amonth additionally a good toothpaste iused to cleanem everyday with an electric brush in study times but changed back to less flouride something is justnot right with the stuff atthesametime the drink is mostly pl ain tea and lower sugar but alotof water and plain tea ad ditioanally itis filtered water thismeans it isnt just plain tea mostly itis silver ions cleansed mostly all in all it shouldbe pretty ok for how itis the 1222 chav damages teeth how sleeptime chav mess it how /// check also finedust or gasings 308 on itis miraclemild allday cautionwithsupport /// did anyone serio usly believe the case is somehooker theygot 20yearsof isola tion and deedtype accuracy but not a single bar?!?notone? not a party? really? somehow this makes total sense tothe m forthem youre one step away from a prostitution career or sth so that luckily excuses their rapes with intel drugs so.. //// support didyou involve international copgirls in saving minors that wemust always so evenifthe germans getaway with one incident or t wo incidents or three incidents theywont getaway with this confirm we always rescuem iors ////// save theminors they use inthese tricks /// ggermans intel terrorise usually occasioanlly by motives lik e to make nervuous breakdown or make suicidal or make muerbe rattle the target fool inte l grade many times luck only that itis accurately listed mi nute wise what they tried that moment again just that th ey try todothese things with intel tricks to imply mental diseases daytime fool layers and if youre unterrorised and not nuts by the shit they eff orted spock grade they efforted list it then they mustve germancured the mental diseases they hoped to fake or make seem so this is one shade one facette of how these fools tick ifitsnot try thepedo tr ick or the underdeveloped fool trick or the criminal trick or the satanist trick or the chav prostitute trick or the transvestite teenie weenie trick or the fraud bum hobo or a h heck youname it thisis howitworks the civililian mus t write the tricks the pro s cant getout gimme a break waht youcan do is was intel onthe case what did they do and did even the most basic preconditions fit tothe shit they tried to fake under which german efforts and re interpretation s m a y b e b a r e l y but not really letalone late stage s of their abysmalities this is how it works /// bbbb bbbbbbbo$bout suffocaiton murderers they hsot layer 2 cockr oacg german cockroaches itis system caused systembotch fix howit damamged the shrotterrrrremmmememory ijsut wrote alenghty mailaboutit and foro gt suffocating ******* make it understood and f e e e e e e e e e e lable to cockroach ger man cocrkoach germancockroasches none of my matters is oftheir concern fraudsystem botched with criminal german govt thenbecamecrimianlgovt agenda withits accomplcie hsoting proxy cockroach german cockroachgerman cocckroaches **** **** these have a wiggle room likely to add harm system caused somehow asifthey deserve sth if they p r e t en d t he case immunsied this is systemic someonemust grant em wiggle room usually thefraudsy stem let allscums arbitrarily harm then kills all then let s more itis system caused layer1 causing authrotieis and timecontrol accomplice layer2 cockroaches proxies musthave wiggle room toadd harm somehow the authrotiies gotojailw ithem whenwe msut hunt the scums for em ****** make em fe el it none of my matters is of their concern fraudsystem b otched became criminal govt agenda and nowproxies are hoste d to add harm ******* who implied a gain if tehy p r e t en d the case immune after system hosted shuffled scums andcovered them and quelled self help ///// whatis the book income itis highlighted red acted the critical important things the summaries and the a parts at the boot backside about realm thegermans distort or smear it likely but what are the ratings and the inc ome itis wellearned /// headimpacts three 1931 is ////// check xray gasings //// three headimapcts milder after verypowerful before lsited: pppppppppppppppppack!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!! very powerful headimapct aside trianfirmpakring drowsying and schwinelig then assmolest what iisit hbow daamanangerous is pppp pppppppppowerful ehadimapcts isay v e r y ////// isnt it remarkable taht despite this not being home andor life centerpoint but terrorised pois onchamber edgeof exist no more trickms cosntantly the tax guys did not effort that ican access myfortune not even wheni explitiely daytime charged the case involing them 1k347/18 orso fiancialcourt stutt gart what they did do likely however was to taxit without!!!!me accessing it because a ccessing it is off this hellhole hmmmm ineed informatio n //// jail assmesser 1719 andor deto cockroachdurg slik eheroine orso check how gutslocks infect gallbladder andor subdue digestivesystem 7 am orso was a bellymess checkifthis locks guts ad tehy al i bi it ********* we aeh must gratis einlauf him 1950s and remess and re remess an d rere reremess and its for freeee wheeeey ********** cockroaches offmy health andimplants harasswalks anfixen cockroach germasn 1719 1722 squeeze ifi ts hostile the quellfortune access for harasswalks is ger man intent prevention prevention prevention ///// jailas soelster liekafteroadcrossings mos qd394 renault red pear l is isita magflight? did they try to fraud magflight onc e over goshn? //// dicktoymess roadcrossing is odd wal kahead mess rellvntant make safety serobullshit withanything itis miracle mild compared to usually wheoveris new //// leechery? 1603? nonh ostile? /// gaser hostile or nonhostiel usually its bad here very even the petcat cant stand thisplace theydont l et eventhe damncat eat unterrorised usually always //// support. isthere arealtime competition about contro lling thecase: critical is: who?set?that? trick? up? inthef irstplace. was a chicken out dodge sthresult or deliberate. with heyyylookwhatifound iu seitfirst. itis simple . very. muststayfree butnot withoutsupport. and foremsot there is! a support system. wife and kids. whoquelled info and contact. that is the key. find biodata trick or gasing 1415 ontyp e I am Christian KISS BabyAWACS – Raw Independent Sophis tication #THINKTANK + #INTEL #HELLHOLE #BLOG https://www.Bab yAWACS.com/ [email protected] PHONE / FAX +493212 611 34 64 Helpful? Pay. Support. Donnate. paypal.me/ChristianKiss
#it #is #nothing #but #it #is #not #nothing #the #bloody #dick #porn #theme #plus #implant #fix @ap @reuters @bbc_whys @france24 @haaretzcom @snowden @fisa @lawyers @lawyerco m @harvard_law @book @books @book_fair smashwords.com/books/ view/552210 lawyers each and every theme each decept each decoy each trick each and every theme is public deedtyped w ho else makes transparency ooooh a red clunker with defective brakes and stuck on things itis nothing for 20years but i t is not nothing oooh outofcan sounds pitch spoiled and glow colors and thick lines drawn like videogame xiii was th e engine we will never abandon you oath soldiers it is nothing for20years but it is not nothing a fraction here a fract ion there andits public each and every trick flipflap flipflap flipflap exchanging chicks on left and right shoulder t heme climax suuuuuperman blllllah itis nothing for 20years but itis not nothing who else makes transparency ///// lawyersthe germans have enough dildosthey dont need my implan ts for their molest bsbut foremostfixed by howitwas before+what wife needsisnotusablefo rminors ********** anymolesttrickwherescumswoulddespppppperatelyrun out of dildos and need accesswouldbere-damagere-messa monstrosityt h em m m m m m damaged inthe firstplaceme ssing with the fix *********** anything that fits wife i s surenot for minors molest thats justnotthe case andjust not what its fixed tothisyoumustso rtunsleazyserobullshit ******* sexual assault is not se xualityletalone frivolous gainsletalone frivolous lifestyles with frivolous gains and benefitsand damnsure whenthey ra nout of dildosmy installs is a repair of their german monstrosities by how it was before+what mywife needs and this. is really noones business ******* without drawing cockroach sleaze germannesses on itithink this must be demystifiedisuspectmany germanparents porn their own children or setem up for sexual exploitationor might not have a choice or chance and hadto havetoand thisgermannnesssyou hard squeeze off fffffffffme itisonemoregermangermannnesssfacetteof theirswamptheirrealtimetheirnighttimetheirhowthey areinthe realdeal beneath ************* fix only as predefiend then all o f f f f f f myhealth offffffffmy walls letalone intimaciesitis clealrya r b i t r a r y access beforeduringand after d aytime charging ************* miraclemild for two dayswhy w asntit always safe //// cautionwithsupportit was a re d clunker with defective brakes themetheother theme was months ago among hostiles that efforted murdertricksclearly ag aincautionwithsupport ///// bysome theme months ago maybe pedo blllah is about bloody!?!?!?dicks?!?! bllllllllllll lach sickos youcan addit to smashwords.com/books/view/552210 not one porno inallmylife about anything bloody bllllach sickos /// the nighttime theme was driving around withmy red clunker defective but what they didnot understand it was the opppppposite of acl unker itwas extremely solid and safe itwas likea chicktan k its defect was late a cooler leakage alot later a bit of the transmissioncasing off so i t ran on dry gear with noisy but really only here after alooot of driving to studyplace anything pretty robust s olid like 8hours autobahn to study place new brakes new tires and allofthat the defect that fucktup alot of fuel was riding over an elevated block or sth hooked the muffler squeezed it under the tank stomped out the swimmer base oft he tank into the backflow of the fuel injection inthe tank no garage found it noone k new waht thefuck itis it screwed my budget from seven liter s consumptions to fourteen they replacedthe car villageco rnerwise too often but they didntknow which mistake they faked mybrother was also impres sed by sth realtime about it but ididntknow whatitwas likely a y++ thing the nighttime theme tested clunker withou t brakes uncertainty and stuck with it orsth hmmmmm as of the red color ithought of another theme where some jew would be evil with a bloody dick in a kid and youre like blllllllllllah disgusting but it meant the opposite they ar e n o t about bloody dick porning littleboys ihadno idea it wouldbe that bloody is not sex blllach for sickos maybe that theme was maybe months years ago the clunker red car w ithourt brakes was recent and ocasioanlly often by nonhostile or very nonhostile * ******* check if they test theme abour uncertainty or brain mess about making fears no brakes inclunker maybeitis tom ake fears ******** therewasmore //// the germans t ried to overfreight sexualityby their shit for t w e n t y years nothing changed nothing is new but them mingle on intimacy as if i havenorights asi f itis their matters letalone arbitrarily rape with intel dr ugs before during a f t e r daytime charging intelcoma r apes arbitrarily w i l l y n i l l y a r bi t r a r i l y ************* sexual assault degradation openroad gr ocerystore class cinemas arbitrarily sexual assault as if ihave no rights letalone reinterpret anything daytime intimate ifit fits totheir cri mes ************ this what happens toem whitenoise rig htiear 2242 jammeron? should i write another daytime shitco ps filing therecent response january february this year from “sexual assault with minors ” “catapulted right that moment filing it” “intel strategy fringe quell kill” the murder tricks after they bagatellised it yousaw february april june july intensifed varied methods icant believe its m iraclemild safe twodays /// maybe i watch abit porn la ter they dulltemplate chicktemplate or urgent molest arbitrary access onthose or spoilthe internet either of those prevent cockroaches offfffffmyinti macy letlaone my body or health or genitals or implants like brainscissor /// tinit us from trickdeceit maybe homo theme maybe pedo theme mayb e docht or so conflcit theme as usually the germans may use brainscissor readout interpre t mild hornyness watching abit starwars strafe xray murder trick beta or radar trick allday maybe cockroach german cockroachgerman germans germannesssssssssssss their crimes again as frivolous preference or sth cockroaches inallofth is noone belongs near noone on the walls letalone intimacy cockroachgermans arbitrar y access arbitrary crimes arbitrary intel murder tricks and arbtirary smear trick as fix for their crimes as if t h e i r crimes get confirmation w hen they reinterpret sth or trick decept sth like prelude say homersimpsoy trick as pr elude tostuff donuts priority xraymurderbeam radar then serobullshit if its prelude tri cks to crime ahead cautionwith support //// xray murd erer radar beam killtrick back? itwas miraclemild for tw odays /// the land of milk and honey and: *simpsons tipto e fast slide music* whatis inthe jarmixes recent fived ays monday to friday //// checj how locked guts belly su rgery mess infected gallbladder implants are partofthetri ck //// track buttonpuhsers gasers /// medical bots he mmorides midlate30s ajoke it wouldbe otherwise interdepe ndency to locked guts (!!)centerback+lymphatic subdued guts prime effects staged organfail kidneys heart backlegheart secondary effects immune sy stem guts bacteria tertiary: which other things in guts oc cur on hemmorides /// howdid gutslocks infect gallbladder and harm immune system to i fnected hemmorides and gallbladder the prime effects were likely kidney damages and heart emboly trombosis effects wh entheydid it measure how subdued centerbacklow steissbein assboneis roomcotnroller aims neck +heart what ontype //// bomboutz squeeze leecher 14 42 usethechance prevention is key cuationwithsuipport // / they stamp you a retard regularly because you diehard refuse to fuckaround-howtheyknow ure daytime vs hookeroftheland wish hope ure immune andthen what forem //// thebe st is you meld each smear on oneperson allyears+wonder why they obsess with 1smear is it enough if the criminals pre tend something? isit enough, whenthey give eachother alibi s to repeat crimes? nowadays whoknwos. maybe. but twenty years ago? tenyears ago?! heart europe? I am Christian KISS BabyAWACS – Raw Independent Sophistication #THINKTANK + #INTEL #HELLHOLE #BLOG htt ps://www.BabyAWACS.com/ [email protected] PHONE / FAX +4 93212 611 34 64 Helpful? Pay. Support. Donnate. paypal.me /ChristianKiss /// checkhow 1222 harms teeth why thereis a chav mouth dirt mess fromsleeptime clean teeth healthy teeth are a matter of spit and clean tongue 70percentof bacteria areontongue and that is regualrly cleaned which most do not at the sametieme a clean toothbrush howits kepts and changed twice amonth additionally a good toothpaste iused to cleanem everyday with an electric brush in study times but changed back to less flouride something is justnot right with the stuff atthesametime the drink is mostly pl ain tea and lower sugar but alotof water and plain tea ad ditioanally itis filtered water thismeans it isnt just plain tea mostly itis silver ions cleansed mostly all in all it shouldbe pretty ok for how itis the 1222 chav damages teeth how sleeptime chav mess it how /// check also finedust or gasings 308 on itis miraclemild allday cautionwithsupport /// did anyone serio usly believe the case is somehooker theygot 20yearsof isola tion and deedtype accuracy but not a single bar?!?notone? not a party? really? somehow this makes total sense tothe m forthem youre one step away from a prostitution career or sth so that luckily excuses their rapes with intel drugs so.. //// support didyou involve international copgirls in saving minors that wemust always so evenifthe germans getaway with one incident or t wo incidents or three incidents theywont getaway with this confirm we always rescuem iors ////// save theminors they use inthese tricks /// ggermans intel terrorise usually occasioanlly by motives lik e to make nervuous breakdown or make suicidal or make muerbe rattle the target fool inte l grade many times luck only that itis accurately listed mi nute wise what they tried that moment again just that th ey try todothese things with intel tricks to imply mental diseases daytime fool layers and if youre unterrorised and not nuts by the shit they eff orted spock grade they efforted list it then they mustve germancured the mental diseases they hoped to fake or make seem so this is one shade one facette of how these fools tick ifitsnot try thepedo tr ick or the underdeveloped fool trick or the criminal trick or the satanist trick or the chav prostitute trick or the transvestite teenie weenie trick or the fraud bum hobo or a h heck youname it thisis howitworks the civililian mus t write the tricks the pro s cant getout gimme a break waht youcan do is was intel onthe case what did they do and did even the most basic preconditions fit tothe shit they tried to fake under which german efforts and re interpretation s m a y b e b a r e l y but not really letalone late stage s of their abysmalities this is how it works /// bbbb bbbbbbbo$bout suffocaiton murderers they hsot layer 2 cockr oacg german cockroaches itis system caused systembotch fix howit damamged the shrotterrrrremmmememory ijsut wrote alenghty mailaboutit and foro gt suffocating ******* make it understood and f e e e e e e e e e e lable to cockroach ger man cocrkoach germancockroasches none of my matters is oftheir concern fraudsystem botched with criminal german govt thenbecamecrimianlgovt agenda withits accomplcie hsoting proxy cockroach german cockroachgerman cocckroaches **** **** these have a wiggle room likely to add harm system caused somehow asifthey deserve sth if they p r e t en d t he case immunsied this is systemic someonemust grant em wiggle room usually thefraudsy stem let allscums arbitrarily harm then kills all then let s more itis system caused layer1 causing authrotieis and timecontrol accomplice layer2 cockroaches proxies musthave wiggle room toadd harm somehow the authrotiies gotojailw ithem whenwe msut hunt the scums for em ****** make em fe el it none of my matters is of their concern fraudsystem b otched became criminal govt agenda and nowproxies are hoste d to add harm ******* who implied a gain if tehy p r e t en d the case immune after system hosted shuffled scums andcovered them and quelled self help ///// whatis the book income itis highlighted red acted the critical important things the summaries and the a parts at the boot backside about realm thegermans distort or smear it likely but what are the ratings and the inc ome itis wellearned /// headimpacts three 1931 is ////// check xray gasings //// three headimapcts milder after verypowerful before lsited: pppppppppppppppppack!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!! very powerful headimapct aside trianfirmpakring drowsying and schwinelig then assmolest what iisit hbow daamanangerous is pppp pppppppppowerful ehadimapcts isay v e r y ////// isnt it remarkable taht despite this not being home andor life centerpoint but terrorised pois onchamber edgeof exist no more trickms cosntantly the tax guys did not effort that ican access myfortune not even wheni explitiely daytime charged the case involing them 1k347/18 orso fiancialcourt stutt gart what they did do likely however was to taxit without!!!!me accessing it because a ccessing it is off this hellhole hmmmm ineed informatio n //// jail assmesser 1719 andor deto cockroachdurg slik eheroine orso check how gutslocks infect gallbladder andor subdue digestivesystem 7 am orso was a bellymess checkifthis locks guts ad tehy al i bi it ********* we aeh must gratis einlauf him 1950s and remess and re remess an d rere reremess and its for freeee wheeeey ********** cockroaches offmy health andimplants harasswalks anfixen cockroach germasn 1719 1722 squeeze ifi ts hostile the quellfortune access for harasswalks is ger man intent prevention prevention prevention ///// jailas soelster liekafteroadcrossings mos qd394 renault red pear l is isita magflight? did they try to fraud magflight onc e over goshn? //// dicktoymess roadcrossing is odd wal kahead mess rellvntant make safety serobullshit withanything itis miracle mild compared to usually wheoveris new //// leechery? 1603? nonh ostile? /// gaser hostile or nonhostiel usually its bad here very even the petcat cant stand thisplace theydont l et eventhe damncat eat unterrorised usually always //// support. isthere arealtime competition about contro lling thecase: critical is: who?set?that? trick? up? inthef irstplace. was a chicken out dodge sthresult or deliberate. with heyyylookwhatifound iu seitfirst. itis simple . very. muststayfree butnot withoutsupport. and foremsot there is! a support system. wife and kids. whoquelled info and contact. that is the key. find biodata trick or gasing 1415 ontyp e I am Christian KISS BabyAWACS – Raw Independent Sophis tication #THINKTANK + #INTEL #HELLHOLE #BLOG https://www.Bab yAWACS.com/ [email protected] PHONE / FAX +493212 611 34 64 Helpful? Pay. Support. Donnate. paypal.me/ChristianKiss
#it #is #nothing #but #it #is #not #nothing #the #bloody #dick #porn #theme #plus #implant #fix @ap @reuters @bbc_whys @france24 @haaretzcom @snowden @fisa @lawyers @lawyercom @harvard_law @book @books @book_fair smashwords.com/books/view/552210
lawyers each and every theme
each decept each decoy each trick each and every theme
is public
deedtyped
who else makes transparency
ooooh a red clunker…
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Adding light summer touches to a cozy and dark bedroom
Hello there! I'm back to share our summer master bedroom tour along with a bunch of other bloggers hosted by my friend Marty at A Stroll Thru Life. She has gathered a talented group sharing their beautiful summer bedrooms this week. (See the full list at the bottom of the post!) Our master bedroom has undergone a bunch of changes since we moved in, and I finally finished up the painting in here a few months ago. The room wasn't completely done then, but after gathering some items from around the house, I'm calling it finished for now. And I'm so thrilled with it! I choose gray grasscloth on the walls and dark trim underneath, so I thought making this room light and summery would be a challenge. Turns out you can totally have a cozy room and still make it lighter for the summer months! My first step was to change out the bedding. A few months ago I found this light duvet cover from Target and went from there:
Confession time -- we rarely make our bed. (If you've been a long time reader you know it's just not our thing.) Half that battle has been all of the euros and decorative pillows I've added in the past. I hate dealing with them anymore!
I decided to do away with most of them and went with just two euros and one throw pillow, along with the bed pillows that we actually use:
This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience.
See my policies and disclosure page for more information.
I like TONS of pillow to sleep with -- I like to be surrounded and cozy. 😂 So we don't have a lot of room for decorative stuff anyway. I'll link all of the bedding below, so check that out if you're interested! The lighter bedding made a big difference, but I grabbed a few other items from around the house to lighten things up:
We got that geode on a spelunking trip years ago, but it has a lighter feel like a seashell. It's quite beautiful up close -- I love it!
The green trees outside our windows are the best summer accessory though!:
The rest of the decor is light and sparse -- I tend to go "lighter" with decor in the summer months anyway. The fall and holidays are my time to add more stuff. :)
I was going to paint this dresser but decided against it for now. I really love the wood tone against the gray:
My fiddle leaf loves this room! It's so big I've had to tie the branches together because they spread out so much. Go here to see how to keep your fiddles thriving!
A simple vase with hydrangeas from the garden lighten things up too. I still love the IKEA dressers I made into nightstands. This is such a great way to create tons of good looking storage next to the bed:
The peel and stick grasscloth wallpaper I added last year adds so much coziness to this space.
I'm obsessed with wallpaper lately -- I've added it to a few rooms in this house and haven't regretted it one bit:
The first project we tackled in this room was the dark gray ceiling and the wood beams (that aren't really beams).
The tray ceiling was calling out for something and this upped the cozy factor big time!:
Do you see Colby hiding? :)
I later painted the trim and walls under it in the same color as the ceiling, Westchester Gray by Sherwin-Williams. I was able to go dark with the paint and drapes because we have so many windows in this room:
There are five windows to be exact. (One is a large picture window.)
If you've read for awhile you know how much I love symmetry. It makes me happy!:
I love the sound of a fan at night, and especially in the summer the breeze is welcomed. You can find options that look good enough to keep out all the time at HomeGoods! That fan is always on the nightstand.
We use hanging sconces on the wall instead of lamps on nightstands to save space -- and they work way better for reading!
I love the combo of wood tones, cozy gray paint and lighter accents in this room! I'm a lover of contrast:
Check out this post if you're wondering how to decorate around your TV. Adding a few simple frames takes away from the TV as the only focal point:
Lighter bedding and a few neutral accessories make even a dark and cozy room feel lighter and brighter for the summer months!
Here's the bedding we used:
Chair pillow from Target
Casaluna duvet cover set
Dark blue chambray euro pillows
And you can see most of the items in this room below. Just arrow through and click the photo you're interested in:
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JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content.
Be sure to check out the beautiful bedrooms these bloggers have shared this week!:
Monday Lineup - July 20
A Stroll Thru Life , 11 Magnolia Lane , Remodelando La Casa
Tuesday Lineup - July 21
Clean & Scentsible , Hymns & Verses , Decor To Adore , Far Above Rubies
Wednesday Lineup - July 22
Fox Hollow Cottage , Inspiration For Moms , Life On Cedar Lane , Pink Peppermint Design
Thursday Lineup - July 23
Our Southern Home , White Arrows Home , Stone Gable
Friday - July 24
CitrineLiving , Thrifty Decor Chic , Follow The Yellow Brick Home
See more of our home here. To shop items in our home, click here! Never miss a post by signing up to get posts via email.
This content is property of Thrifty Decor Chick LLC. If you are reading this on any other site other than https://ift.tt/1kRxOJ2 or one of her social media platforms, please contact her immediately (thriftydecorchick at gmail dot com). Any other use of this content is strictly forbidden.
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Adding light summer touches to a cozy and dark bedroom
Hello there! I'm back to share our summer master bedroom tour along with a bunch of other bloggers hosted by my friend Marty at A Stroll Thru Life. She has gathered a talented group sharing their beautiful summer bedrooms this week. (See the full list at the bottom of the post!) Our master bedroom has undergone a bunch of changes since we moved in, and I finally finished up the painting in here a few months ago. The room wasn't completely done then, but after gathering some items from around the house, I'm calling it finished for now. And I'm so thrilled with it! I choose gray grasscloth on the walls and dark trim underneath, so I thought making this room light and summery would be a challenge. Turns out you can totally have a cozy room and still make it lighter for the summer months! My first step was to change out the bedding. A few months ago I found this light duvet cover from Target and went from there:
Confession time -- we rarely make our bed. (If you've been a long time reader you know it's just not our thing.) Half that battle has been all of the euros and decorative pillows I've added in the past. I hate dealing with them anymore!
I decided to do away with most of them and went with just two euros and one throw pillow, along with the bed pillows that we actually use:
This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience.
See my policies and disclosure page for more information.
I like TONS of pillow to sleep with -- I like to be surrounded and cozy. 😂 So we don't have a lot of room for decorative stuff anyway. I'll link all of the bedding below, so check that out if you're interested! The lighter bedding made a big difference, but I grabbed a few other items from around the house to lighten things up:
We got that geode on a spelunking trip years ago, but it has a lighter feel like a seashell. It's quite beautiful up close -- I love it!
The green trees outside our windows are the best summer accessory though!:
The rest of the decor is light and sparse -- I tend to go "lighter" with decor in the summer months anyway. The fall and holidays are my time to add more stuff. :)
I was going to paint this dresser but decided against it for now. I really love the wood tone against the gray:
My fiddle leaf loves this room! It's so big I've had to tie the branches together because they spread out so much. Go here to see how to keep your fiddles thriving!
A simple vase with hydrangeas from the garden lighten things up too. I still love the IKEA dressers I made into nightstands. This is such a great way to create tons of good looking storage next to the bed:
The peel and stick grasscloth wallpaper I added last year adds so much coziness to this space.
I'm obsessed with wallpaper lately -- I've added it to a few rooms in this house and haven't regretted it one bit:
The first project we tackled in this room was the dark gray ceiling and the wood beams (that aren't really beams).
The tray ceiling was calling out for something and this upped the cozy factor big time!:
Do you see Colby hiding? :)
I later painted the trim and walls under it in the same color as the ceiling, Westchester Gray by Sherwin-Williams. I was able to go dark with the paint and drapes because we have so many windows in this room:
There are five windows to be exact. (One is a large picture window.)
If you've read for awhile you know how much I love symmetry. It makes me happy!:
I love the sound of a fan at night, and especially in the summer the breeze is welcomed. You can find options that look good enough to keep out all the time at HomeGoods! That fan is always on the nightstand.
We use hanging sconces on the wall instead of lamps on nightstands to save space -- and they work way better for reading!
I love the combo of wood tones, cozy gray paint and lighter accents in this room! I'm a lover of contrast:
Check out this post if you're wondering how to decorate around your TV. Adding a few simple frames takes away from the TV as the only focal point:
Lighter bedding and a few neutral accessories make even a dark and cozy room feel lighter and brighter for the summer months!
Here's the bedding we used:
Chair pillow from Target
Casaluna duvet cover set
Dark blue chambray euro pillows
And you can see most of the items in this room below. Just arrow through and click the photo you're interested in:
!function(w,i,d,g,e,t){d.getElementById(i)||(element=d.createElement(t),element.id=i,element.src="https://widgets.rewardstyle.com" e,d.body.appendChild(element)),w.hasOwnProperty(g)===!0&&"complete"===d.readyState&&w[g].init()}(window,"shopthepost-script",document,"__stp","/js/shopthepost.js","script")
JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content.
Be sure to check out the beautiful bedrooms these bloggers have shared this week!:
Monday Lineup - July 20
A Stroll Thru Life , 11 Magnolia Lane , Remodelando La Casa
Tuesday Lineup - July 21
Clean & Scentsible , Hymns & Verses , Decor To Adore , Far Above Rubies
Wednesday Lineup - July 22
Fox Hollow Cottage , Inspiration For Moms , Life On Cedar Lane , Pink Peppermint Design
Thursday Lineup - July 23
Our Southern Home , White Arrows Home , Stone Gable
Friday - July 24
CitrineLiving , Thrifty Decor Chic , Follow The Yellow Brick Home
See more of our home here. To shop items in our home, click here! Never miss a post by signing up to get posts via email.
This content is property of Thrifty Decor Chick LLC. If you are reading this on any other site other than https://ift.tt/1kRxOJ2 or one of her social media platforms, please contact her immediately (thriftydecorchick at gmail dot com). Any other use of this content is strictly forbidden.
This industry information is provided by ThompsonsComfortConnection.com.
Copyright © Thrifty Decor Chick. All Rights Reserved.
By: Thompsons Comfort Connection Blog Feed https://ift.tt/2WQVsAu
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