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lukesvangelista · 2 months ago

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𝐈'𝐃 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐔𝐏 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐘𝐎𝐔ˡʰ⁴³

in which y/n and luke hate each other’s guts. sometimes, they kiss.

warnings; ohio state - michigan rivalry, luke’s a dick, kissing, situationship

It was no secret that you and Luke Hughes hated each other.

It started in college. Luke had everything going for him at Michigan. From the moment he arrived, he was the face of the Wolverines - a Hughes brother, destined for greatness. He was the golden boy of college hockey, a standout player known for consistently putting up impressive stats. It was perfect, until it wasn’t.

A year later, as Luke was about to enter his sophomore season, you arrived at Ohio State. The attention placed on him ended as quickly as it started.You were a dynamic force whose talent and tenacity on the ice made you a formidable rival to Michigan’s golden boy. While Luke was a talented defenseman, you were a just as talented offensive player known for your agility and sharp instincts. This earned you a reputation as a top contender in the world of ice hockey.

Luke could deal with that. However, one crucial play defined the entirety of your guys’ rivalry from there on out. Ohio State vs. Michigan, tied 2-2 in overtime. Joe Dunlap had passed you the puck from your defensive zone, and you had noticed that Luke had left a crucial area of the ice uncovered, just enough for you to slip by him. As he fought his hardest to catch up with you, you made one simple deke, sending the puck past Erik Portillo and sealing the victory for your Buckeyes.

From then on, he had hated your guts. And he had made it known, sending unwarranted glares your way and always checking you extra hard in games. Naturally, your hatred for him grew as well. The rivalry between you and Luke was palpable, and it reverberated through every game you guys played. Fans, coaches, and teammates alike could feel the electricity in the air when Ohio State and Michigan faced off (and it was more than just the bitter rivalry between schools), a charged atmosphere that heightened with every fiery clash between the two of you. Your intense exchanges on the ice were more than just competitive – they were personal, with every check and goal underscored by the underlying animosity between you two. Off the ice, the tension was equally evident. You would be sure to let your teammates know your distaste for him, and he would do the same.

There was no fixing it, until Luke was called up by New Jersey. There would be no more playing against you for the next few seasons.

Or so he thought.

To everyone’s surprise, you had forewent your remaining eligibility at Ohio State. The Rangers had drafted you in the first round, and wanted you in the show immediately.

The day after, the first headline came out: Golden Boy vs. Golden Girl.

In fact, the first meeting since the two of you had last faced each other on the ice started just a few hours ago. The game was reaching its climax, with both the Devils and the Rangers locked in to win in front of the crowd at Madison Square Garden.

Luke was in his element, skating with the fluidity and precision that everyone always attributed to him. You were equally as determined, matching his intensity shift for shift. The tension between the two of you had reached a boiling point, and it seemed as if every move made was a direct counter to one another.

As the puck dropped near the Devils’ zone, you sped down the ice, looking to make a play that could turn the game in New York’s favor. You were focused, your eyes locked on the puck as you maneuvered around defenders like you had played in the NHL for years.

Luke, however, had a different idea. As you approached, he timed his move perfectly, sliding into your path with a calculated, unprovoked hit that sent you crashing hard into the boards. You lay there, struggling to get up, your face contorted in pain. Luke skated away with a smirk, his eyes flickering with a mix of satisfaction and something darker, “Sorry, L/N.”

Luke Hughes hated you. You hated Luke Hughes.

Which is why it was so weird that you now sat in the corner of the hotel lobby, your hood pulled low over your bruised eye, the anonymity of the crowd soothing your frayed nerves. The game had been brutal—physically and mentally. Every time Luke was on the ice, it felt like a battle you couldn’t win. Not because he was better—you’d never admit that—but because he always found a way to get under your skin.

Your heart pounded. You shouldn’t go. You guys shouldn’t keep doing this. No one knew—no one could know. But after every game, no matter how much you swore it would be the last time, you always found yourself answering his texts.

Luke didn’t look up when you slipped into his room, the door clicking softly behind you. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, his head in his hands like he was trying to figure out what to say before he said it.

You leaned against the door, your heartbeat still racing and your body still sore from the game. The silence stretched between you guys, heavy and charged, like it always did. Here, in the quiet, there were no crowds, no coaches yelling from the bench, no rivalry pushing you to be perfect. Just the two of you, trapped in a mess neither of you could quite untangle.

“You played dirty tonight,” you said softly, your words breaking the silence. There was no anger in your tone—just exhaustion.

Luke looked up at you then, his eyes tired but sharp, a faint smirk on his lips. “So did you.”

You let out a soft breath, moving from the door to stand in front of him, her arms crossing over your chest. “This needs to stop.”

He didn’t respond right away. Instead, he sat back on his hands, studying you like he always did, as if searching for the truth behind your words. “You don’t mean that,” he said quietly.

Your chest tightened. He wasn’t wrong. Every time you told yourself it was the last game, the last kiss, the last night you’d sneak into his hotel room, you found yourself right back here, standing on the edge of something neither of you could control.

“I do.” your voice was soft but shaky, betraying your resolve.

Luke stood, closing the small gap between your bodies in one step. His presence was overwhelming, the heat of him, the scent of his body wash. Everything about him felt like a challenge—on the ice, in the press, even here, in this room.

“You don’t hate me as much as you think you do, Y/N.” His voice was low, a whisper that made you shiver.

You hated how close he was, hated that he could read you so easily. “And you don’t care as little as you pretend to,” you shot back, your eyes locking with his.

That smirk faltered, just for a moment, before his jaw tightened. “Maybe not,” he admitted quietly.

There it was. The vulnerability he only ever showed when you were alone, when you weren’t in front of your teams or your fans, when you didn’t have to pretend. You hated that it made your chest ache, hated that you cared.

“I don’t know how to stop this,” you whispered, your voice barely audible, like you were afraid saying it out loud would make it all too real.

Luke reached up, his fingers brushing a loose strand of your hair from your face, his touch soft in a way that made your heart twist. “Neither do I.”

And there it was. The truth that neither of you wanted to admit. That this—whatever it was—had become something neither of you could walk away from, no matter how much you told yourselves you should.

You felt yourself lean into him, just slightly, your body betraying your mind. “No one can know,” you murmured, your eyes closing as his hand cupped the back of your neck, pulling you closer.

“No one will,” he whispered back, and then his lips were on yours.

It wasn’t the rushed, heated kiss you’d shared so many times before. It was slow, deliberate, full of all the things you couldn’t say out loud. His hand stayed at the back of your neck, his thumb brushing your skin as if he was trying to memorize the feeling. You kissed him back just as softly, your hands gripping his shirt, not to pull him closer, but to keep yourself steady.

When the two of you finally broke apart, your foreheads pressed together, neither of you said anything. The quiet between you felt different now, heavier.

“You know this is going to blow up in our faces, right?” you said, your breath still uneven.

Luke closed his eyes, his voice barely a whisper. “Yeah. I know.”

You sighed, stepping back, needing space but already feeling the pull to close it again. “We’re still enemies, Luke.”

“I know,” he said, his voice steady. But the way he looked at you, the way his gaze softened just for you, made it hard to believe it was that simple anymore.

You reached for the door, your heart still racing, knowing you’d come back. You always did.

And maybe, deep down, you both knew that was the real problem.

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 2 months ago

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October 4, 2024 (Friday)

MAGA Republicans are now lying about the federal response to Hurricane Helene in much the same way they lied about Haitian migrants bringing chaos and disease to Springfield, Ohio. Both disinformation efforts are flat-out lies, and both are designed to demonize immigrants. Immigration was the issue Trump was so eager to run on that he demanded Republican lawmakers reject the strong border bill a bipartisan group of lawmakers had hammered out.

The federal response to Hurricane Helene has drawn bipartisan praise, with Republican governor Henry McMaster of South Carolina thanking Biden by name for what McMaster called a “superb” response.

But on Sunday, September 29, two days after the hurricane hit, the right-wing organization started by anti-immigrant Trump loyalist Stephen Miller posted: “Billions for Ukraine. Billions for illegal aliens. And what for the Americans? Reprogram every single dollar that FEMA has dedicated to support illegal aliens to go towards Americans who are facing unprecedented devastation!”

Yesterday, in Saginaw, Michigan, Trump echoed Miller, claiming that the Biden administration is botching the hurricane response because it has spent all the money appropriated for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on “illegal immigrants.” “They spent it all on illegal migrants.… They stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them,” he said. Today, he claimed that “a billion dollars was stolen from FEMA to use it for illegal migrants, many of whom are criminals, to come into our country.”

Early this morning, X owner Elon Musk posted to his more than 200 million followers: “Yes, they are literally using YOUR tax dollars to import voters and disenfranchise you! It is happening right in front of your eyes. And FEMA used up its budget ferrying illegals into the country instead of saving American lives. Treason.” On Wednesday, Dana Mattioli, Joe Palazzolo, and Khadeeja Safdar of the Wall Street Journal broke the story that Musk has been financing groups with ties to Miller since 2022.

But of course, it is NOT happening in front of anyone’s eyes.

On Wednesday, Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in which FEMA is housed, told reporters that FEMA’s disaster relief fund is adequately funded for current needs. But, he warned, “extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity,” and we are not yet out of hurricane season. If another emergency hits, FEMA’s disaster relief fund will be stretched thin.

Congress also appropriated money for a different fund, the Shelter and Services Program (SSP), which is part of Customs and Border Protection but is administered by FEMA. Established under the Trump administration in 2019, SSP gives grants to states and local governments to provide shelter, food, and transportation to undocumented immigrants. After Trump’s accusation, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement: “These claims are completely false. As Secretary Mayorkas said, FEMA has the necessary resources to meet the immediate needs associated with Hurricane Helene and other disasters. The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA’s disaster-related authorities or funding streams.”

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post did not leave the story there. “Trump has a habit of assuming other politicians act in the same way as he would,” Kessler wrote. So he looked into why Trump would have accused Biden “of raiding the FEMA disaster fund to handle undocumented migrants. It turns out that’s because he did this.”

In the middle of hurricane season in 2019, Kessler explains, Trump took $155 million from the FEMA disaster fund and redirected it to pay for detention space and temporary hearing locations for immigrants seeking asylum. “No, Biden didn’t take FEMA relief money to use on migrants,” the article title reads, “but Trump did.”

As in Springfield, a bipartisan group of lawmakers are begging MAGAs to stop the disinformation, which is keeping people from accessing the help they need and gumming up relief efforts as workers and local and state governments, as well as FEMA, have to waste time combating lies. Scammers and political extremists are making things worse by spreading AI-generated images and claiming that the federal government is ignoring the people and emergencies the images depict.

MAGA Republicans launched another major disinformation campaign today when the Bureau of Labor Statistics released another blockbuster jobs report. It showed that the country added about 254,000 jobs in September, far higher than the 140,000 jobs economists expected. It also revised the job numbers for July and August upward. The unemployment rate dropped from 4.2% in August to 4.1%, and wages have outpaced inflation.

Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, wrote that the jobs report “cements my view that the economy is about as good as it gets. The economy is creating lots of jobs across many industries, consistent with robust labor force growth, and thus low and stable unemployment. The economy is at full-employment, no more and no less. Wage growth is strong, and given big productivity gains, it is consistent with low and stable inflation. One couldn’t paint a prettier picture of the job market and broader economy.”

Yet MAGA Republicans deny that the economy is strong. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) openly called the jobs report fake. And when a reporter asked Trump, “Jobs are up, the stock market hit that all-time high. Do you acknowledge that the economy is improving?” he answered: “No it’s not.”

But, apparently stung, this afternoon Trump posted on his social media site what appeared to be an announcement. After an emoji of a flashing red light, a headline read, “New: Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has endorsed Trump for President.” A representative for Dimon instantly denied such an endorsement, saying it is false. According to a spokesperson for JP Morgan, Dimon has neither contributed money nor endorsed Trump, or anyone else, in the 2024 presidential race. But Trump has not taken the post down.

Hugo Lowell of The Guardian notes that Trump has admired Dimon for a long time and likely craves his support. Trump has been unable to attract major endorsements, while celebrities throw their influence behind Harris and Minnesota governor Tim Walz almost daily. Yesterday, musician Bruce Springsteen endorsed Harris. Today, businessman and former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. endorsed her.

The firehose of lies is designed to make it impossible for voters to figure out the truth. The technique is designed so that eventually voters give up trying to engage, conclude everyone is lying, throw up their hands, and stop voting. Holding on to facts combats the effects of the storm of lies.

Finally, tonight, the X account of Trump’s team and the Republican National Committee—now run by the Trump family and loyalists—showed a clip of Biden unexpectedly entering the White House briefing room today, joking with reporters, and saying, “Welcome to the swimming pool.” Referring to “Biden (or whatever’s left of him),” the post suggested his “swimming pool�� reference was a sign of mental incapacity.

In fact, the briefing room was indeed originally a swimming pool. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt added the pool to the White House in 1933 after he found swimming helped to keep him in shape after his 1921 bout with polio. Presidents Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy (who had a mural by Bernard Lamotte installed around it), and Lyndon B. Johnson used the pool frequently. Richard Nixon did not. In 1970, Nixon had the pool covered and the space converted into the White House Press Room.

Nixon ordered the change made in such a way that it could be easily undone in case he got pushback for covering up FDR’s pool, but his successor, Gerald Ford, who was an avid swimmer, largely ended the conversation when he added a new outdoor pool to the White House complex in 1975.

Biden’s reference to the press room as a swimming pool was a historical joke rather than a sign of mental incapacity. This lie deserves the same scrutiny as the other whoppers from today, though, because as Glenn Kessler accurately observed, Trump’s common pattern is projection.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#political #heather cox richardson #letters from an american #propaganda #hurricane #lies #MAGA lies

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mightyflamethrower · 1 month ago

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It reminded me of Joe’s infamous line, if you don’t vote for me, then “you ain’t black.” Obama:

And you're coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I've got a problem with that. Because part of it makes me think -- and I'm speaking to men directly -- part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that… That's not acceptable.

He sounds like a mob boss.

Just disgusting, divisive rhetoric from the man who said in his first acceptance speech, “We have never been a collection of red states and blue states; we are, and always will be, the United States of America.”

Unless you disagree with him, of course.

Do it my way or hit the highway:

Turns Out Those Obama Remarks Got Worse—He Even Insults Black Men Who Are on the Fence About Kamala Scott Jennings Cooks Obama for Chastising Men Over Harris, Reveals Big Issue for Democrats

I’ve always hated the left’s use of the word “community.” The “black community,” the “LGBTQ community.” As if, just because people have one thing in common, they all have the same viewpoints on everything. Is there a “white community?” A “heterosexual community?”

Sure enough, it turns out that plenty of blacks were capable of their own thoughts and found the former president’s remarks to be belittling and deeply obnoxious. Former football great and one-time Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker was less than impressed, calling it a step backward:

We need unity brother, not division!

Well said.

Meanwhile, as a RedState man, I’m obviously not a Bernie Sanders fan, but his former campaign co-chair and former Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner nevertheless had it right when she asked, "Why are Black men being belittled?"

She absolutely nukes Obama’s race-baiting narrative and stuns the CNN hosts in the process:

"Now, a lot of love for former President Obama, but for him to single out Black men is wrong, and some of the Black men that I have talked to have their reasons why they want to vote a different way, and even if some of us may not like that, we have to respect it," she said. Turner explained further, "So unless President Barack Obama is gonna go out and lecture every other group of men from other identity groups, my message for Democrats is don’t bring it here to Black men who, by and large, don’t vote much differently from Black women."

The reactions from the CNN crew are some of the most priceless I've ever seen. Truth is being spoken to them, and they absolutely cannot handle it.

These are just two examples, but there are plenty more out there of people who were deeply insulted by being told they had to vote a certain way just because of their skin color. (As of this writing, a search on the social media platform X for "Obama" turns up an untold number—but an unquestionably large number —of black people angrily teeing off on "hopey-changey" Barack's comments.)

Obama has been one of the smoothest politicians in the land since his meteoric rise from obscurity in the mid-2000s, but there was always a darker presence lurking underneath his big Hollywood grin.

He showed it loud and clear with this belittling speech, and he lost a lot of his luster in the process. Kamala Harris is 100 percent correct: we need “a new way forward,” but that way should not include race-baiting, the failures of Obama-style progressivism, or the constant attempts by leading Democrats to divide the nation.

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joeys-babe · 1 year ago

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Someday We’ll Be Together

Chapter 5: Can I get your number?

———————————————————————

(y/n's pov)

when we got back to joes house after practice i grabbed my stuff that i had left there this morning.

"are you gonna come back over later?" - joe

"yeah sure, i'm gonna shower and get presentable first." - you

"i'll make us some lunch if you want." - joe

"sounds good joe, thanks. i'll see ya later." - you walked over to the front door

"yeah bye y/n!" - joe

"bye joe!" - you smiled at him as you shut the door and made your way over to your house

i knew as soon as i walked through the door my parents would be ready to berate me with questions.

i was right; as soon as i walked through the door i saw my mom standing in the kitchen.

"why are you smiling?" - your mom grinned

"nothing." - you

"mhm, so how was hanging out with joe last night and going to practice today?" - your mom

"really good. last night we were having movie night but it ended up going a different direction. lexie was at a party and joe found out she was making out with another guy." - you

"oh my gosh, bless his heart! did he finally break up with her?" - your mom

"yes, that's why i stayed the night. he was really upset and didn't want me to leave." - you

"awwww how sweet. now how did practice go?"

- your mom

"good! two girls that are dating players walked up to me since i was alone and asked if i wanted to sit with them. they were really nice and we hit it off." - you

"look at you already making friends with the WAG's!" - your mom

"mom." - you rolled your eyes

"i'm just teasing. are you going back over to joes today?" - your mom

"yup, i'm gonna shower and change then head over there for lunch." - you

"sounds good!" - your mom

after talking to my mom, i went upstairs to my room and finally got in the shower. it felt good to wash the sweat from being at the practice fields off.

when i got out i dried off and did my skincare before blow drying my hair and putting it in a ponytail.

once that was done i put a pair of jean shorts on along with a random band shirt i had.

i didnt wear much makeup, just mascara. growing up i had really bad acne and practically caked my face to cover it up, now wearing a lot of makeup just brought back bad memories of insecurity.

now that i was finally done getting ready i grabbed my keys, phone, and water bottle before heading downstairs.

"going over to joes now!" - you

"okay! have fun." - your dad winked

"dad." - you glared at him before leaving

as i was walking across the road i noticed a couple cars parked in joes driveway. who's here?

i knocked on the door and my heart stopped when i the door opened and i made eye contact with #85.

"oh you must be y/n! i'm tee, joes teammate."

- tee smiled

"yeh that's me, it's lovely to meet you." - you

"oh come in, sorry" - tee laughed when he moved to the side and let you in

tee shut the door behind me and was now standing next to me.

"joes in the kitchen making lunch, i'm assuming you're here of him?" - tee

"uh yeah, but i can chat with you for a bit." - you

"cool." - tee smiled

we moved over to the couch and sat down next to each other.

"y/n that's my spot!" - ja'marr

"oh hey marr!" - you turned to see ja'marr behind you

"hey! haven't seen you since college, you look great." - ja'marr

"you too! it's crazy you and joe got drafted by the same team, huh?" - you asked as ja'marr sat on the other side of tee

"oh for sure, and sam too you know since they played together at ohio state." - ja'marr

"i talked to his girlfriend today at practice, she seems really nice." - you

"oh she is, she told sam that you had been looking rather closely at one player." - ja'marr

"what- what are you talking about?" - you stuttered

"do you really think i'm cute?" - tee smirked

"yeah" - you returned the smile

tee opened his mouth, about to say something back but joe interrupted him.

"food's ready!" - joe yelled from the kitchen

"finally" - ja'marr jumped up from the couch and ran into the kitchen

tee and i stood up as well but he grabbed my wrist.

"how about we go out to dinner tomorrow night? you seem sweet, and you're really pretty. i'd love to get to know you." - tee

"i'd like that." - you smiled

tee let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in.

"good. can i get your number? i'll text you a time and address tomorrow." - tee

"yeh of course." - you got your phone out and exchanged numbers with tee

little did you know, joe was watching the whole exchange from the kitchen. he was left feeling lots of feelings jealous, upset, disappointed. not disappointed in you or tee, disappointed that his feelings that were coming back would have to be shoved away again.

*time skip - the next day*

right now i was currently getting ready for my dad with tee; at least i think it's a date. he said he wanted to get to me, but never fully said it was a date.

tee had texted me early today with a address to the restaurant we were going to, i looked some pictures up online to see what kind of outfit i'd have to wear. it was nice but not super upscale so i thought some jeans and a nice top would do the trick.

i had just finished up curling my hair when i heard the doorbell ring. i hurried down the stairs to get to the door first, definitely didn't want to put tee in an awkward spot with my mom or dad.

the thing is when i went downstairs it seemed like neither of my parents cared at all that tee was at the door. my dad was sitting on the couch and scrolling on his phone while my mom was making dinner in the kitchen.

"okay i'm off to my date, i'll see you guys later!"

- you

"have fun" - your dad mumbled, not even taking his eyes off of his phone

"what's up with you guys?" - you

"nothing, just go enjoy your night." - your mom

"okay.." - you opened the door

tee looked so handsome. he was wearing dressier clothes and for a second i wondered if i should go upstairs and change, but what tee said as soon as he saw me made me change my mind.

"woah y/n, you look beautiful." - tee

"thanks, you don't look too bad yourself. wanna get going?" - you

tee smiled and nodded before walking over to his car, he opened my door for me and i thanked him as i slid in.

as tee was walking over to the drivers side, i saw jimmy and robin walking up the stairs on the porch.

"oh hey tee!" - robin

"hey mrs. b!" - tee

"what are ya doing here?" - robin

"picking up y/n, we're going out to dinner." - tee smiled

"aww you guys have fun" - robin smiled warmly before walking into the house

at least someone's supportive.

jimmy and robin were definitely coming over for dinner and for a second i was wondering where joe was, but it makes sense why he wouldn't come over. i think he knows that tee and i are going on a date because ever since after lunch yesterday he won't answer my texts or calls.

"have you talked to joe at all.. since lunch yesterday?" - you

"he avoided me at practice this morning, so no. same thing with you i'm guessing?" - tee

"yup... i think he knows that we're on a date. i just don't know why it's making him this upset."

- you

"i mean i know you guys are best friends, and i'm his teammate, but you'd think he'd be happy for you." - tee

"yeah.." - you stared at the window, it was silent for a few minutes before tee broke it

"i'm not gonna lie, i knew who you were before yesterday." - tee

"how so?" - you

"joe talks about you all the time, i'm sure everyone he comes in contact with knows the name y/n." - tee

i laughed before thinking of a response. this is the third time someones told me joe talks about me all the time. what on earth could he possibly be talking about?

"you're not the first person that's told me that.. what does joe say about me?" - you

"nothing bad or anything, just says you're his best friend and how much he cares about you. it kinda got old when id try to send him tiktoks and he'd reply with y/n already sent me that." - tee

"i do send him a lot of tiktoks." - you laughed

"can i ask you something? you have to be completely honest." - tee

"of course." - you

"have you ever.. liked joe?" - tee

"back in college i had a little crush on him, but it's been over for a long time." - you

"okay, i just wanted to make sure." - tee

"make sure of what?" - you

"that you didn't still like him. i felt like there might've been something going on between you two." - tee

"what why?" - you

"i mean it's kinda ironic that just shortly after you move back down here he breaks up with his girlfriend. i mean ja'marr, sam, and i have been trying to get him to break up with her since the start." - tee

"my feelings for joe ended a long time ago, i promise. now let's not ruin our date by talking about him." - you

"okay" - tee

(joes pov)

i reluctantly walked over to the y/l/n's for dinner awhile after y/n and tee left. i didn't want to leave my house, but i didn't really have food to fix here so it looked like i had to go over there.

"joe! i didn't think you were gonna come." - robin

"me neither." - joe scoffed

"what's with the attitude?" - robin

"tired." - joe shrugged

y/n's mom could read me like a book, so i wasn't surprised when she started asking me questions when we were in the kitchen alone.

"you sure you're just tired?" - your mom

"mhm" - joe

"not because y/n and tee are on a date?" - your mom

"i don't feel like talking about it." - joe

"so that is what it's about though?" - your mom

"maybe." - you

"aww joe, honey. what part about it makes you upset?" - your mom

"it's not because she's going on a date with another guy, i dont care about that. it's just that tees my teammate you know? she's like a sister to me.. like what if he hurts her and i just have to play football with him like nothing happened."

- joe

"i understand your concern, but i think y/n's smart enough to get herself out of a situation before she gets hurt. even if it were to happen."

- your mom

"i know. now i just seen like a jealous dick."

- joe

"you're not being unreasonable joe. but can i ask you this? if it wasn't your teammate, would you still be a little upset?" - your mom

i looked up at her for a few seconds before i sighed out of defeat.

"yes." - joe

"see joe! you still have feelings for her!" - your mom

(y/n's pov)

it was after my dinner date with tee and we were sitting in his car in the dairy queen parking lot as we ate our ice cream.

"y/n, can i be honest with you?" - tee

"of course, tee" - you

"i think you're a really great girl, but i don't think we're gonna go on a second date." - tee

"what why?" - you asked out of confusion, you had thought the date went really well

"i think we'd be better off as friends.. and there's something i just don't think you're noticing." - tee

"what's that something?" - you

"the fact that you still have feelings for joe." - tee

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authors note: me consistently updating?! whaaaaaaaaaaat?!!!??!

hope you enjoyed ❤️

#bengals #joe burrow #joe burrow imagine #joe burrow x reader

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mamaestapa · 1 year ago

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FUCK MARRY KILL

Beard Joe

LSU Joe

OSU Joe

oh this is tough bc all three are DELICIOUS

F: lsu joe (he was SOMETHING else. the confidence, the old teeth, the school colors, lsu joe is just so hot. i’m f-ing him FS)

M: beard joe (i love a clean shaved joe, but, beard joe just hits different and i’d love to marry that version of him)

K: osu joe (ONLY BC as a michigan fan, i hate ohio state, and therefore, i cannot chose any other option for osu joe.)

#asks #funny anons #FMK #FMK: joe edition

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yourreddancer · 1 month ago

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Heather Cox Richardson

October 4, 2024 (Friday)

But of course, it is NOT happening in front of anyone’s eyes.

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bllsbailey · 1 month ago

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The Thrill Is Gone: Barack Obama's Scolding of Black Men Torched by Prominent African Americans

Former president Barack Obama, the man who salvaged Joe Biden from the ash heap of political history (an unfortunate move which in turn sadly revived Kamala Harris’ DOA career), continued with his unifying ways Thursday by shaming black men who don't think that Harris is a great choice for commander-in-chief. It reminded me of Joe’s infamous line, if you don’t vote for me, then “you ain’t black.” Obama:And you're coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I've got a problem with that.Because part of it makes me think -- and I'm speaking to men directly -- part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that…That's not acceptable. He sounds like a mob boss.Just disgusting, divisive rhetoric from the man who said in his first acceptance speech, “We have never been a collection of red states and blue states; we are, and always will be, the United States of America.”Unless you disagree with him, of course.Do it my way or hit the highway: Turns Out Those Obama Remarks Got Worse—He Even Insults Black Men Who Are on the Fence About KamalaScott Jennings Cooks Obama for Chastising Men Over Harris, Reveals Big Issue for DemocratsI’ve always hated the left’s use of the word “community.” The “black community,” the “LGBTQ community.” As if, just because people have one thing in common, they all have the same viewpoints on everything. Is there a “white community?” A “heterosexual community?”Sure enough, it turns out that plenty of blacks were capable of their own thoughts and found the former president’s remarks to be belittling and deeply obnoxious. Former football great and one-time Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker was less than impressed, calling it a step backward: We need unity brother, not division!Well said.Meanwhile, as a RedState man, I’m obviously not a Bernie Sanders fan, but his former campaign co-chair and former Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner nevertheless had it right when she asked, "Why are Black men being belittled?"She absolutely nukes Obama’s race-baiting narrative and stuns the CNN hosts in the process:"Now, a lot of love for former President Obama, but for him to single out Black men is wrong, and some of the Black men that I have talked to have their reasons why they want to vote a different way, and even if some of us may not like that, we have to respect it," she said.Turner explained further, "So unless President Barack Obama is gonna go out and lecture every other group of men from other identity groups, my message for Democrats is don’t bring it here to Black men who, by and large, don’t vote much differently from Black women." The reactions from the CNN crew are some of the most priceless I've ever seen. Truth is being spoken to them, and they absolutely cannot handle it.These are just two examples, but there are plenty more out there of people who were deeply insulted by being told they had to vote a certain way just because of their skin color. (As of this writing, a search on the social media platform X for "Obama" turns up an untold number—but an unquestionably large number —of black people angrily teeing off on "hopey-changey" Barack's comments.)Obama has been one of the smoothest politicians in the land since his meteoric rise from obscurity in the mid-2000s, but there was always a darker presence lurking underneath his big Hollywood grin.He showed it loud and clear with this belittling speech, and he lost a lot of his luster in the process. Kamala Harris is 100 percent correct: we need “a new way forward,” but that way should not include race-baiting, the failures of Obama-style progressivism, or the constant attempts by leading Democrats to divide the nation.

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misfitwashere · 2 months ago

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October 4, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Oct 04, 2024

But of course, it is NOT happening in front of anyone’s eyes.

—

#heather cox richardson #letters from an american #They lie #if their lips are moving #they're lying

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therecordchanger62279 · 4 months ago

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A FAIR TO REMEMBER

The third, and final installment of my book fair adventures.

‘Fess up. You did a double take when you saw that title, didn’t you? You thought, “Wow, he finally got some sex into his blog!” Sorry to disappoint you, but the title refers to the day’s activity. This weekend was the annual Dayton Book Fair at the Fairgrounds. It’s the one day of the year my wife lets me leave the house without a chaperone. Fortunately, it was worth the nearly three extra hours on my feet today. (I worked a full shift before hitting the fair this afternoon.)

The weather was lovely today, if a bit windy at times. I arrived about 1:30, and found a parking spot not far from the entrance. When I got inside, I saw a lot of open floor space. I guess everyone was home trying to find the Ohio State game on television. (They were on a bye this week, so most of those people probably spent the afternoon getting liquored up – which is what they would’ve done anyway if there had been a game – but I digress.) The layout was different again this year, and I left my book fair GPS in the car so I had to make my way around “The Coliseum” (a fancy name for an old gymnasium) on my own. They’d moved the collectibles section to the front, and most of my favorite tables were not where I remembered them - although the hot dog stand was in the same spot, and that’s the important thing.

The first friendly sign I saw read Poetry, and I suspected Short Stories would be close by. I was correct. But the only book I bought at that table was a collection edited by somebody named Milton Crane. Titled 50 Great Short Stories, and originally published in 1952, the paperback edition I found for $1.10, was the 16th printing from 1962, and featured names like Hemingway, Poe, Faulkner, Joyce, Thurber, Chekov, Forster, Salinger, Wolfe, Conrad, McCullers, Huxley, Steinbeck, and…well, you get the idea. I like a good short story, and since I’ve begun writing them, I get ideas how to make mine better from reading the masters. (If you’re going to steal, steal from the best.)

It looked as if all my other favorite book haunts were on the other side of the gym, so I ambled over to the boxes of records spread over about eight tables. There were almost as many people browsing the records as there were browsing the multitude of book tables. Clearly this was a hipper, less bookish crowd than I was use to seeing at the fair. Needless to say, I fit right in.

I cozied up to a pair of honeys browsing the rock records and chatting to one another about what they were finding. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are women out there who collect records instead of different shades of lipstick. One of them was complaining to the other that her mother had actually given away her own record collection. She couldn’t believe it. She found a Supremes collection she was interested in, but the cover was torn. Still, she had a look telling her friend that she could live with that as long as the record was in good shape. He pal agreed, telling her she needed to be careful so she didn’t ruin her stylus.

Since they were lingering in the rock section, I moved over to jazz for a look. (If one of them had made a move to jazz, I might have been tempted to solicit her, but chicks don’t dig jazz as a general rule. So I remained on my best gentlemanly behavior.) By the time I finished browsing just two boxes of jazz records, I feared for my wallet. I found Arthur Blythe’s da-da LP, The Griffith Park Collection featuring several members of Return To Forever, along with the greats Joe Henderson, and Freddie Hubbard. Ralph Towner & Gary Burton’s Slide Show on ECM was in mint condition. I found a pair of LP’s on A&M Horizon – one by the great Chet Baker (You Can’t Go Home Again), and the other by Mel Lewis and Friends. Mel has some cool friends – bassist Ron Carter, pianist Hank Jones, Michael Brecker on sax, Freddie Hubbard (again) on trumpet, and more. The Best of Bobbi Humphrey on Columbia also caught my eye because I’ve been listening to a lot of light jazz from the late 70’s recently, and flutist Bobbi hit her commercial peak then. I also found Wynton Marsalis’s Think Of One – one I didn’t have from 1983. But as thrilled as I was with all of these, the most exciting finds turned out to be a Joe Zawinul collection on Atlantic titled Concerto Retitled, a set I had never seen or heard of before that turned out to be an overview of his Atlantic recordings prior to founding Weather Report, and an Impulse album from 1974 called Impulse Artists On Tour that features Gato Barbieri, Keith Jarrett, John Klemmer, Michael White, and Sam Rivers along with a who’s who of great backing musicians recorded at various shows. This was another album I’d never seen and didn’t know existed.

Since the classical records were hosting several long hairs, I veered over towards the book tables on the other side, but not before I overheard an old couple talking. The wife (70, if she was a day) said to her husband, “Are you ready to go, baby?” And he replied, “You’re buying all those books? Didn’t you just get rid of a bunch of books?” Another woman standing next to me said, “He sounds like my husband.” And I patted myself on the back for being Mr. Tolerant in all things where my wife is concerned. (Cough!)

I whiffed completely at the Sports table. I love a good baseball book, but there weren’t any today I didn’t already own. The People table (biographies, mostly) was also a bust, and it was beginning to look as if the records were going to be the last money I spent that didn’t target my stomach. But Philosophy, Plays, Classics, History and Government and Science yielded a Bertrand Russell’s Best, Camus’s Caligula and 3 Other Plays, Chekov’s The Major Plays, Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Richard Feynman’s Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman, Norman Mailer’s The Presidential Papers (about the Kennedy administration), Situations by Jean Paul Sartre, and Walter Kauffman’s Existentialism from Dostoyevsky to Sartre. (You can always find plenty of books on existentialism at book fairs because existentialists are usually miserable, and end up committing suicide. Their families donate their books to book fairs. It’s a fact. You could look it up.)

By this time, my arms were drooping, and my knuckles dragging on the floor as if I was a member of the Bush administration. So I decided to pay the piper, and take my treasures to the car, then double back for a farewell tour around the gym one more time.

Next time around, following my traditional can of Pepsi, and hot dog with mustard and onion from the food vendor, I visited all the fiction tables looking for books by a favorite author of my wife. I found none, thus vindicating my wife’s choice not to attend the book fair with me. I also looked through the record boxes that had been inaccessible to me earlier. (By now, the sparse crowd was down to a trickle of die-hards.) Country yielded a couple of collections by Del Reeves whose old records are usually hard to find, and priced higher than a gallon of gas during a Middle East crisis. A section at the end of classical labeled ?????, had in it a blaxploitation soundtrack by Booker T. & The MG’s on Stax called Up Tight. Regular readers of this blog know of my affection for soul music and for blaxploitation films. (Clearly the book fair staff does not have anyone who knows anything about music because they also didn’t know where to file records by Jody Watley or Mike Oldfield (yes, it was Tubular Bells). These and many more familiar artists were in that section under the heading ?????.

My last stop was the Comedy box where I found a Mort Sahl album On Relationships. I never knew Sahl to do anything but political humor, so I decided to pick it up. Of course, one could argue that all relationships are political in nature. In any case, Sahl was one of those comics whose humor was aimed at intellectuals. As there’s little, if any, of that kind of humor around today, I thought it might be a good listen.

So the take turned out to be 9 books, and 13 records. Adding the three bucks for the Pepsi and hot dog, my wallet was all of 29 dollars lighter. You might be able to beat that, but I doubt it.

I promised the wife I’d pick up some fast food and bring it home – before the government sucks all that tasty trans fat out of it. I got in line at the McDonald’s drive thru behind a Honda van sporting a pair of bumper stickers, the first of which read, “Jesus Is The Answer” while the second chimed in with “God Rules – Always Has, Always Will”. I had a lot of time to memorize more than the bumper stickers because this vanload of morons couldn’t decide what they wanted to eat. I came very close to getting out of my car and going up to them and telling them that if they didn’t make up their mind and place their order within the next 10 seconds, they were going to be seeing Jesus a lot sooner than they’d planned.

So, the 2013 fair was a good one. Next year, though, we’ll just order a pizza when I get home.

#book fair

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dankusner · 4 months ago

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Biggest unknown for delegates so far: Trump’s VP pick

ELECTION 2024 GOP readies for Wis. convention

For all the usual stagecraft, the Republican National Convention that opens Monday is different from Donald Trump’s previous nominating affairs.

In 2016 and 2020, Trump was the underdog heading into fall and faced criticism from within his own party.

This year, he will accept the Republican nomination with his party in lockstep behind him and Democrats in turmoil over President Joe Biden’s viability.

There will be the usual convention tasks throughout the four days.

Delegates, almost 2,400 of them, must approve a platform and formally designate the presidential ticket:

Trump and his yet-to-be-named running mate.

They’ll hear from national candidates and a slew of others rallying support for Trump and taking aim at Democrats.

Here are some questions going into the convention.

Are there any dissenters left in the ‘Trump National Committee’?

Trump has buried his opponents and taken over the party.

Voters get fundraising mail with “Trump National Committee” stamped above the RNC’s Capitol Hill address.

Trump’s closest primary rival, Nikki Haley, will not see the convention stage.

Instead, delegates will hear from, among others, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who ended his presidential campaign after the Iowa caucuses and immediately endorsed Trump.

“I don’t think there’s any comparison to his previous campaigns,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally.

Most important, Trump is on offense against Biden and confident enough that his campaign promised in a convention preview that “President Donald J. Trump will usher in a new golden age for America.”

Who will be the pick for vice president?

Ever the showman, Trump has strung out his choice of running mate.

The most-mentioned possibilities are North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum,

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Trump has mused that he’d love to withhold his pick until the convention begins — but the idea frustrates aides who want to preview the rollout.

All three, plus other contenders Trump has considered, are expected to address delegates at some point.

Will Trump reach for the middle or for his base?

Conventions are mostly about firing up core supporters.

But they draw large television and online audiences that include the broader electorate.

Trump’s campaign has outlined daily messaging aimed at both audiences, with themes that riff on Trump’s red-hat motto:

“Make America Great Again.”

Monday’s theme is economics: “Make America Wealthy Once Again.”

Trump has outlined an agenda of sweeping tariffs and ramped-up production of oil and gas, even though it already hit a record under Biden.

He argues that his plans to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally will bring down inflation, which has fallen from higher levels earlier in Biden’s presidency.

Tuesday, it’s immigration and crime: “Make America Safe Once Again.”

Trump and Republicans believe the border debate is among their strongest issues.

They have arranged speeches for the family members of slain people in which immigrants in the U.S. illegally face criminal charges, as part of Trump’s broader attempts to blame crime on border policies.

Wednesday is national security day: “Make America Strong Once Again.”

Delegates and the viewing audience can expect to hear arguments that Biden is a “weak” and “failed” commander in chief and head of state.

This is the day, typically, that vice presidential nominees address the convention.

Thursday will culminate with Trump: “Make America Great Once Again.” Will Trump focus on Biden and the future or on election lies?

The takeaway for most observers, regardless of all the careful planning and choreography, will be what Trump says in his acceptance address. I

n 2016 in Cleveland, Trump offered a dark indictment of American life and insisted “I alone can fix it.”

The populist, nationalistic pitch enraptured his backers but did not necessarily help him expand his appeal.

Republicans across the party want Trump to take advantage of Biden’s struggles by explaining his ideas for a second presidency.

That means sidestepping his most incendiary, racist rhetoric. And, yes, it would mean not repeating his lies that the 2020 election was fraudulent or spending time complaining about the criminal prosecutions against him.

Will the party go along with Trump’s wishes on abortion?

If there is any notable dissent on the floor, it may come over the platform provision stating that abortion policy should be left to state governments.

Anti-abortion activists — and Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence — want Republicans to call for federal restrictions on abortion.

There’s no question that Trump controls the votes to ratify the proposed platform.

A public fight would play into Democrats’ contention that the GOP wants to effectively ban abortion access nationwide — part of their wider argument that a second Trump administration would be extreme on many policy matters.

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arpov-blog-blog · 1 year ago

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..."A lot of Democrats romanticize the 2012 Obama campaign. But if you were there, you know it was a knock-down, drag-out battle — not just with Republicans, but with bad media narratives. One such narrative hit us on Nov. 3, 2011, when the New York Times Magazine published an analysis giving Obama a 17 percent chance to win reelection. When that magazine hit my desk, I knew it was trouble. Not because I believed it, but because of the anxiety it would stir up. Immediately, we had donors, elected officials, and my Mom absolutely freaking out. We couldn’t get supporters to rallies. People were calling for me to be fired.

I was reminded of this moment last week after a Times/Siena Poll of six battleground states showed that if the election were held today, Donald Trump would easily beat Joe Biden. Democrats, naturally, got very anxious.

Yet, three days after that poll hit, Democrats took Republicans behind the woodshed, enshrining the right to make reproductive decisions in the Ohio constitution, taking control of the Virginia legislature, taking a state supreme court seat in Pennsylvania, and reelecting a popular Democrat as governor in the deep-red state of Kentucky.

This all gave me whiplash. Just like in 2011, we have an early poll screaming doom and gloom for a Democratic incumbent. Yes, we are officially in the Democratic bedwetting era for the 2024 presidential election. But here’s some advice from someone who’s been here before: Don’t panic. Here’s why.

Early polls are unreliable

Silver’s 2011 analysis did not age well: A year later, Obama wiped the floor with Mitt Romney. But Silver wasn’t alone. In this publication, polling done a year out had Obama tied with Romney in 10 battleground states; we ended up winning 9 of them. In December 2011, a Gallup poll had Obama losing to Romney by 5 percent across 12 battleground states; we won 11. Bill Clinton trailed about this same time in his reelection cycle. A year before a presidential election, it is just too early to get an accurate read on how the people will actually vote. There are a few reasons for this.

Get ready for the GOP opponent that Biden has already defeated once. In 2011, we didn’t know who we’d face in the general election. We also didn’t know how formidable Romney would be. But very likely, this is going to be a choice between Biden or Trump. With Biden, you get a president who has passed historic legislation, running on popular policies with little-to-no drama in the White House. With Trump, you have a candidate charged with 91 felony counts and a different court date every week. Trump means right-wing extremism, everyday chaos, criminal behavior, fundamental freedoms stripped away, and a rejection of democratic norms. While some will argue that Trump is already defined in voters’ minds, many Americans still aren’t paying close attention to the election. I believe voters will move in Biden’s direction when they hear what the president has done, and get reminded (by Democrats and Biden himself) of the chaotic, lawless circus that was Trump’s presidency.

Don’t boo — vote

This will be a very close election, and there will be plenty more times Democrats will feel nervous. But what will make a difference is the work itself, engaging voters and spreading a positive message about his accomplishments, economic policies, and views on issues like abortion and freedoms. Biden has been counted out time and time again, and he’s proved pollsters and pundits wrong. His campaign (along with the rest of us) needs to ignore the noise and build the strong campaign it needs to win — just like in 2020. And Democrats need to remember what I learned back in 2011: Voters decide elections, not polls."

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stopgapsolution · 1 year ago

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List of players/teams I hate some for no reason, most for petty reasons and a few for real reasons I refuse to overlook I kept updating the post for enemy players and I realized how many I actually have. And since I am bored at work I included why in great detail below the cut.

1. Matthew Tkachuk (ratchuk) - attacks my goalies and pissed off Ully and Flower who are literal rays of sunshine and hardly ever attack people

2. Ville Husso (shitso) - not Jake Allen ruined the blues for me and now I refuse to watch the wings games if his bitch ass is playing

3. Nazem Kadri - disgusting shitbag that has seriously injured someone by dirty hits to the head every year since I started watching hockey

4. Tom Wilson - bitch you can be a tough bad ass player without trying to kill people

Auston Matthews - Mister I get drunk and get arrested for mooning and terrorizing women

Semyon Varlomov - shitbag google for more information if y’all want

Patrick Kane - google all of the different reasons he is a shitbag

Evander Kane - shitbag with multiple women accusing him of abusing them and obviously the gambling problems

Logan Couture - game 7 mocking flower after scoring was pathetic and douchy on a new level

Robin Lehner - Not Flower creepy bitch ass and the whole snake thing proves me right

Jack Eichel - I hate his face and want to punch him every time I see him or hear him mentioned

Milan Lucic - gives me the creeps and that dirty hit on the oilers goalie made me hate him

Entire Avs team - my entire family hates the avs in fact it’s the only hockey thing we all agree on

Entire sharks team - at this point I should let the grudge go because I hate the knights just as much but couture is still on the team

Erik Karlsson - on top of being a shark he is a bitch ass dracula reject

Entire leafs team - stop stealing my players actually the fans are the main reason I hate them some of the most irritating people on social media when I bother checking

Entire Canes team- the team itself did nothing but fans are absolutely disgusting and batshit crazy with bomb threats this year and attacking pasta’s family on social media last year 🔪🔪🔪

99.9% of wild team - they did nothing other than being located in Minnesota and I watched my first game a few days after minnesota state eliminated my lakers from playoffs

Entire CBJ team - I just hate all things Ohio

Philipp Grubauer (shitbauer) - played for avs and avs fans made me hate him when I got multiple hate messages on old blog telling me he was better than Flower plus he is boring to watch

Yanni Gourde - bad vibes kind of a less irritating ratchuk

Dylan Larkin - huge self centered douche bag in high school according to my brother and several of his friends plus he acts to nice when there is a camera around and seems fake as shit

Joe Pavelski (shitvelski) - I just want to see him take a puck or skate blade to the throat

#offseason mayhem

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 1 year ago

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 30, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAY 30, 2023

“[O]ne of the things that I hear some of you guys saying is, ‘Why doesn’t Biden say what a good deal it is?’” President Joe Biden said to reporters yesterday afternoon before leaving the White House on the Marine One helicopter. “Why would Biden say what a good deal it is before the vote? You think that’s going to help me get it passed? No. That’s why you guys don’t bargain very well.”

Biden’s unusually revealing comment about the budget negotiations was actually a statement about his presidency. Unlike his Republican opponents, he has refused to try to win points by playing the media and instead has worked behind the scenes to govern, sometimes staying out of negotiations, sometimes being central to them.

The result has been, as Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf summarized today, historic. Biden has worked to replace 40 years of supply-side economics with policies to rebuild the nation’s economy and infrastructure by supporting ordinary Americans. The American Rescue Plan gave the United States a faster economic recovery from the COVID pandemic than any other major economy. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has already funded more than 32,000 projects in more than 4,500 communities in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and U.S. territories.

The Inflation Reduction Act made the biggest investment in addressing climate change in our history, and according to University of Washington transportation analyst Jack Conness, it and the CHIPS and Science Act have already attracted over $220 billion in private investment, much of it going to Republican-dominated states: Tennessee, Nevada, North Carolina, and Oklahoma have each attracted more than $4 billion; Ohio, more than $6 billion; Arizona, more than $7 billion; South Carolina, more than $9 billion; and Georgia, more than $13 billion.

Victoria Guida in Politico yesterday reported that the reordering of the economy under Biden and the Democrats has reversed the widening income gap between wage workers and upper-income professionals that has been growing for the past 40 years. The pay of those making an average of $12.50 an hour grew by almost 6% from 2020 to 2022, even after inflation.

Those gains are now at risk as pandemic measures end and the Fed raises interest rates to bring down inflation, although the wage increases are only a piece of the inflation puzzle: Talmon Joseph Smith and Joe Rennison of the New York Times today reported that companies raising their prices to “protect…profits” are “adding to inflation.” In other words, companies pushed prices beyond normal profit margins during the pandemic and the economic recovery, then maintained those higher profit margins with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and continue to maintain them now.

The fight over the debt ceiling is both an example of the different approaches to negotiation on the part of Biden and Republicans like House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and part of the larger question about the direction of the country.

On January 13, 2023, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned McCarthy that the Treasury was about to hit the borrowing limit established by Congress and that she would have to resort to extraordinary measures in order to meet obligations until Congress raised the debt ceiling.

On March 9, as part of the usual budget process, Biden produced a detailed budget, which was a wish list of programs that would continue to build the country from the bottom up. He told McCarthy he would meet with the speaker as soon as he produced his own budget, which McCarthy could not do because the far-right House Freedom Caucus (these days being abbreviated as HFC) wanted extreme cuts to which other Republicans would never agree.

On April 26 the House Republicans passed a bill that would require $4.8 trillion in cuts but was quite vague about how it would do so apart from getting rid of much of the legislation the Democrats had just passed. HFC members said they would not raise the debt ceiling until the Senate passed their bill. That is, they would drive the United States into default, crashing the U.S. and the global economy, until the president and the Democrats agreed to their policies. Even then, they would raise it only until next spring, with the expectation that it would then become a key factor in the 2024 election.

Biden insisted all along that he would not negotiate over the debt ceiling, which pays for money already appropriated under the normal process of Congress and which Congress raised three times under former president Trump even as he added $7.8 trillion to the national debt. Biden said he would happily negotiate over the budget. McCarthy, meanwhile, was out in front of the cameras and on social media insulting Biden and insisting that it was Biden’s fault that talks took so long to get started.

Late Saturday, the two sides announced an agreement “in principle” to raise the debt ceiling for two years—clearing the presidential election. As the Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell noted, it protects current spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; keeps tax rates as they are; increases spending on defense and veterans’ programs; leaves most other domestic spending the same; cuts a little from the expanded funding of the Internal Revenue Service; and tweaks both the permitting process for energy projects and the existing work requirements in the food assistance program.

As Rampell points out, “this much-ballyhooed ‘deal’ doesn’t seem terribly different from whatever budget agreement would have materialized anyway later this year, during the usual annual appropriations process, under divided government. To President Biden’s credit, the most objectionable ransoms that Republicans had been demanding are all gone.”

Now the measure has to get through both parties, with congressmembers back in Washington today after the holiday weekend. Freedom Caucus members are howling at the deal. Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) is threatening to bottle the measure up in the House Rules Committee, which decides what bills make it to the floor. The Freedom Caucus forced McCarthy to stack that committee with far-right extremists as part of his deal for the speakership (it has nine Republicans but only four Democrats on it). But Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo suggests that McCarthy’s alliance with Representatives Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) might pay off here, since the two have thrown their weight behind the measure.

Even if the measure does pass before the June 5 deadline when the Treasury runs out of money, it has had an important effect. As Rampell noted, it has weakened the United States. It has enabled both China and Russia to portray the U.S. as unstable and an unreliable partner. As if to prove that criticism, Biden had to cancel a trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea, where he was strengthening the Indo-Pacific alliances designed to weaken Chinese dominance of the region. (And Russia continues to involve itself in U.S. politics: today Tara Reade, the woman who in 2020 accused Biden of sexually assaulting her, appeared on Russian television next to alleged spy Maria Butina to say she has fled to Russia out of fear for her life in the U.S.)

Writing in Foreign Policy, Howard W. French sees a more sweeping problem with the debt ceiling fight: it “highlights America’s warped priorities.” “[W]hen a rich and powerful country finds it easier to cut back on the way that it invests in its people, in education, in science, and in making sure that the weakest among them are not completely left behind than to curtail useless and profligate weapons spending,” he said, “there are reasons to worry about the foundations of its power.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#debt limit crisis #crisis #Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #political #US House of Representatives #budget #foreign policy #America's warped priorities

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radishreader · 3 years ago

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…While I declined to share my own position on the case, despite their prodding, I did get to witness exchanges of differing opinions. Like that Kelly, guilty or not, should’ve known better than to let himself be put in a position to even be questioned, as one man explained. As a Black man in America, where innocence is not a privilege afforded to the underclass, Kelly should have … something. Known better? Done better? Whatever the answer (which never came), this prompted a tense exchange between him and his companion; I heard her utter phrases like innocent until proven guilty and What happened to Black Lives Matter? with the implication being that if Kelly were afforded the same privileges as white men, he would not be in this position. It’s a mangled argument that, of course, ignores that most of Kelly’s victims are Black themselves. As we sat and waited for the courtroom to open, her friend explained to me that the fans believed “R. Kelly’s not on trial — his dick is on trial,” an inexplicable point of distinction for me, as I could not grasp what was exculpatory about that allegation since sex trafficking and illegal sexual activity with minors would, naturally, involve his genitals.

These are common sentiments among Kelly’s fans. As Ohio State University professor Treva B. Lindsey explained to the New York Times, “There’s an attachment to him and there’s this sense that what is happening to him is part of a larger history of Black men being criminalized and villainized as sexual predators and held to standards that white men are not held accountable to.” But Kelly is being offered a specific sort of martyrdom partly because he has intertwined his art with his demons — performing penitence in gospel-influenced tracks while reveling in lewdness in chart-topping R&B hits, daring his audience to love the sinner but hate the sin — in a way that allows his most dedicated fans to paint him as transparent versus an abusive predator. Underlying this belief is the mythos of the fast-tailed girl in the Black community, which operates in concert with a sort of anti-carceral stance, penalizing women who choose to seek justice the only way they’re told they can. Because these supporters believe Black men are overwhelmingly falsely accused of rape, any attempt at accountability, through the courts or otherwise, is seen as targeted subterfuge against male Black excellence.

But viewing the average R. Kelly defender as uniquely deranged misses the societal forces that empower people like him in the first place. Powerful men in media and entertainment have always used their capital to abuse women without repercussions. Russell Simmons has been accused of sexual assault or misconduct by 20 women; Charlamagne tha God was publicly accused of rape in 2018; T.I. has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women, though Los Angeles County officials recently declined to prosecute him. (All have denied the allegations against them.) Rapper Joe Budden was arrested in 2014 on allegations of domestic abuse (the charges were later dropped) and was later accused of sexual harassment by a podcast host. Despite these allegations, these men have not been deplatformed from their positions of influence and continue to use their relationships with high-profile women to inoculate them from critique. Shortly after Sil Lai Abrams came forward to accuse Simmons of raping her in 1994, social-justice activist Tamika Malloryappeared on a podcast on which she was asked about the allegations against her longtime friend. “I mean, I don’t know if I believe in it or not,” she said. “I wasn’t there and don’t know what really happened.” It took more than 25 years to come to any sort of resolution on Kelly, and it cost the well-being of innumerable Black girls, yet the entertainment industry and its profiteers continue to take a passive wait-and-see approach to every new set of allegations. The women I met at the courthouse are not the only ones using logical fallacies to rationalize irreconcilable truths in famous men…

#r kelly #rape #intersectionality

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thejealouscactus · 3 years ago

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System of a Down Are Why I’m Communist

Originally written for a Street Fight zine about a year or two ago.

Like a lot of people in my generation, I became politically aware during the dark days of the George W. Bush presidency, particularly around the time of the 2004 election. The same year Green Day released the liberal anti-Bush magnum opus American Idiot. By that point I realized that Bush was a fascist buffoon and a repulsive Christian chauvinist. The Weapons of Mass Destruction that were hyped to sell the Iraq War turned out to be totally nonexistent. It was the first time I became aware that the government would blatantly lie to the people. All the people killed and maimed and an inconceivable amount of money spent was founded on a lie. I rooted for John Kerry, since I thought he would stop Bush’s reign of terror, greed and ignorance and there were no other options. But we all know how that turned out. It was demoralizing for me, the “good guy” lost and the country and the world would have to endure another four year term of Bush.

The next year was the year System of a Down released Hypnotize and Mesmerize and it was when they entered my radar. The music videos for the albums were played fairly frequently on MTV and VH1. As a young metal-head and peacenik, B.Y.O.B. was right up my alley. At the time I was a big fan of Black Sabbath and Megadeth because of their lyrics with similar themes. After I heard that I had to dig into their discography. Not necessarily the easiest thing living in the middle of Ohio and with a dad who was iffy on letting me hear albums with a parental advisory sticker. Through borrowing from friends and Sam Goody trips in a nearby city I was able to get most of their CDs. 2005 was also the year of Hurricane Katrina, when Bush’s incompetence cost thousands of lives and ruined the lives of many more. A sign of how the rest of Bush’s second term would be. The music of System of a Down were the perfect soundtrack for it.

The lyric books that came with the CDs taught me more than I would learn in school. Listening to them made me feel smart. Prison Song taught me about the prison industrial complex; how it punishes and controls rather than reforming people, and the governments’ dirty hands in the drug trade that fills the prisons up. “Minor drug offenders fill your prisons, you don't even flinch/ All our taxes paying for your wars against the new non-rich.” They also have lyrics that treat drug users with an empathy that is not often seen in media or in school. Boom! Is another antiwar song of theirs that hit me hard. “Manufacturing consent is the name of the game/The bottom line is money, nobody gives a fuck/ 4000 hungry children leave us per hour from starvation/While billions are spent on bombs, creating death showers!” I had the naive thought in my head that if everyone heard that song there would be no more war. They have other songs dealing with propaganda, environmentalism, big business’ influence on government, and so on. I didn’t learn about the Armenian Genocide in school, I learned about it from System of a Down.

As the years went on my taste in music changed. I stopped considering myself a metal-head and no longer listened to System of a Down. My political beliefs evolved as well. I was a Daily Show watching progressive liberal in my high school years. In 2008 I had high hopes for Obama. His advertising campaign made me think he would be the anti-Bush. He promised to close down Guantanamo Bay and end the Iraq War. I thought he would be the new Franklin Roosevelt as we went into the Great Recession. After several years into his first term I realized he was a phoney. We were still blowing up the Middle East, and didn’t crack down on Wall Street or rebuild the welfare state. He basically solidified Bush’s legacy and didn’t bring the hope and change he promised. The disappointment led me to anarchism and socialism, and I started reading books on the subjects from the college library. I began as many leftists do with Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky, and when reading them I noticed how many phrases and concepts in their writings were in System of a Down songs. Deer Dance referenced Zinn’s memoir You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train. The seeds of my becoming a socialist were planted with System of a Down.

It’s been 15 years since I first heard Hypnotize, and it feels like a whole lifetime ago with the overwhelming amount of history that has happened in my life and in the world since then. A lot has changed, but so much has unfortunately stayed the same. There’s a different fascist buffoon in the White House. The forever wars in the Middle East have not stopped, they’ve just become easier for most people to ignore. Bush’s image has been largely rehabilitated. He got to floss dance with Ellen DeGeneres and Democrats approval rating has increased over the years since at least he’s not a dang Cheeto like Drumpf. The ghouls in Bush’s circle deserved to be tried at the Hague or at least pelted with shoes whenever they go outside, but they are still free and continue to hold power and influence. Some of them are working for Joe Biden.

Over the last year or so I rediscovered System of a Down, and am surprised at how well it held up musically and lyrically. Deer Dance could have been written in 2020, since the subject of police brutality against protesters is perhaps more relevant and in focus now than ever before. “Pushing little children/ With their fully automatics/ They like to push the weak around”. It was probably inspired by the Battle of Seattle but since then we have seen the police brutalize protesters at Occupy, Ferguson, Standing Rock, and reaching a boiling point in this year. I can’t say if more people listened to them they would also be socialist. Even their drummer John Dolmayan turned out to be a MAGA chud this year. It had a lasting and significant influence on me at least. It at least gave me a head start in my political education.

#system of a down #soad #communism #left wing

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