#per the theory which I believe that he heard all their revelations

[spaceandfiction]

So now knowing exactly how pissed 70s Armand was made hearing the name Lestat over and over in a completely negative way how the fuck did Louis manage to convince him to allow the second interview? Was it just the worry of another suicide attempt? I would kill to know how they got from that fight to the Dubai birdcage.

[agntofhydra]

Sawbones // TWO

(gif credit) 

summary: Red String of Fate Soulmate AU

Soul mates have a red thread tied to each others pinkies that only one of them can see.

You’re the Resistance’s head medic. You can see the red thread of fate that leads you to your soulmate. Poe doesn’t believe in the soulmate / thread theory. You don’t agree with his tactics, nor does he approve of yours. Leia and Holdo just really want a win.

pairing: poe dameron x reader

rating: mature for later chapters

read me on ao3! 

part one here!

read on till the end for notes! 

SAWBONES

TWO // PULLED TAUGHT

No.

You hadn’t been avoiding him.

You were busy. Taking inventory, filling out incident reports, stocking, taking care of your patients - which, you noticed, had decreased in number over the last couple days. And you knew why.

Someone must’ve been taking better care of their pilots.

Jasti was released the morning after the whole - for lack of a better term - ordeal. She’d heard your violent retching and had banged on the door, asking if you were okay.

Your vision was white, and after about two rounds you were dry heaving. No fucking way, your mind rattled. The revelation shook you to your core. You were happy being unsuspecting, ignorant of the fact that your soulmate had been pittering around D’Qar for literal months while you sat in your office, pissing off FX-7 and berating their antics in your head. The furrow of his eyebrows, the flicker of concern in his eyes at your sudden change in demeanor when you saw his pinky also had ingrained itself in your mind. Lingered every time you shut your eyes. You must’ve stayed in the refresher for an hour or two, senses numbed to Jasti’s incessant banging on the door.

You also weren’t good with conflict, and a conflict this was indeed.

What were you supposed to do? Tell him? Would he even believe you? Ziff said he didn’t trust the concept anymore, too many girls taking advantage of where he once was soft. Exploited that weakness until it was solid beskar.

So no, you didn’t tell him.

You’d stayed busy. He was busy, too. Per your objections, Leia had him and his squadrons flying more recon and actually formulating a real operation to investigate the cargo ship orbiting around Kessel. You’d heard that from whispers in the hallway, and you didn’t really want to venture out for any updates.

Turns out, you wouldn’t have to.

As if your thoughts had summoned him, Poe was dragging a pilot from blue squadron into your medbay, one of their arms around his shoulder, one of his around their waist. His eyes were searching, panicked until they met yours as you flew from your office and threw the pilot onto the first open bed.

“What happened?” You asked, immediately checking for vitals. His skin was burning, clammy. FX-7 recorded his temperature and your heart dropped at the number.

“We were flying back, literally leaving hyperdrive when I was notified Blue Three was having trouble, and could barely steer his x-wing through D’Qar’s orbit.” Poe paused. “His skin is on fire.”

“I’m aware,” you tried not to bite back as you threw FX-7 an IV bag. You also did not dwell on the fact that Poe didn’t even know this pilot’s name. “Do we have hadeira serum?”

“You did inventory,” FX-7 duly responded as he inserted a needle into the pilot’s basilic vein. Poe cringed and looked away, eyes focused on you instead.

You hadn’t really done inventory, and you were cursing yourself for it now.

“Wait,” Poe frowned. “Hadeira? You think he’s got bloodburn?”

“He’s been in with a fever before,” you muttered as you rifled through the cabinet on the opposite wall. Poe followed, barking over your shoulder.

“And you didn’t ground him?”

You paused, closing your eyes for a second and taking a deep breath before returning to your search. You really didn’t need Dameron on his high horse right now, questioning your calls.

It was only fair. You had done it to him, you reminded yourself. That didn’t mean you couldn’t whip around and land one in the middle of his chiseled, ridiculously handsome and symmetrical face. You groaned audibly at not only your thoughts, but your inability to locate the literal life-saving serum.

“Back off, Dameron,” you said between your teeth as you all but sprinted back into your office where you kept the more valuable medicines. You unlocked the closet behind your desk with your hand and entered, eyes scanning the shelves. Once again, Poe followed.

“What’s wrong, doc? Don’t like it when people question your authority?”

You finally turned to him, slightly put off by the fact he was less than a meter away. You didn’t let it show.

“You wanna do this right now?” You raised your eyebrows. He crossed his arms over his chest and the thread around his pinky was directly in your field of vision. You held back the bile that rose in the back of your throat.

“His fever is so high that his blood is boiling right now. Which will kill him. So please, Dameron. If you think this argument is worth more than me finding the serum and saving his life,” you punctuated each word, “keep talking. But I’m not listening.”

Your eyes caught the vials to the right of his head, and he stepped out of the closet and into the expanse of your office as you grabbed the vials and quickly returned to the medbay where FX-7 had started hydrating the pilot. You handed the droid the hadeira serum and FX-7 made quick work of administering.

You let out a long breath. You weren’t totally in the clear, but it was as under control as it could be. Poe gave you a look and you nodded, silently telling him his pilot was okay. For now.

Poe stared at him for a couple moments longer, and once he was satisfied leaving him in the care of FX-7, he kicked your boot lightly.

“Can we talk now?”

Swallowing thickly, you nodded and led him back into your office. Poe sat down in one of the stark white chairs that matched the rest of your office as you locked the medicine closet. You turned around to him but kept your distance.

“What’s there to talk about?”

He bit the inside of his cheeks to keep him from grinning. “I don’t bite, y’know.”

You rolled your eyes, but nonetheless moved closer to him and sat atop your desk.

The red thread floated between the both of you, moving as if it was being jostled by the air currents in the room. Before you could even think, your left hand went to pluck at the string tied near the base of your finger. To your utmost surprise, the now tangible string pulled back due to your force. You let go in shock. The string vibrated and you watched the movement travel to shake the thread connecting to Poe. He coughed, left hand clenching and unclenching his fingers. You watched the action and met his eyes. Once again, he furrowed his brows.

“Why do you keep doing that?”

It was your turn to furrow your brows, and Poe continued, “Y’know. Looking into space and then turning pale like there’s a rancor in here that I don’t see. And then you look at me like it’s my fault?"

It’s now or never, you told yourself. Come clean.

“It’s nothing.” Coward.

Poe dropped the subject. “Anyways, you must’ve been swamped these last few days because you haven’t checked in to hear any updates on the cargo ship.”

Not trusting your voice, you just shrugged as your eyes rested back on the crimson that connected the two of you. Seeing it was definitely a curse. You tried not to dwell on how different things would be if it was Poe that could see it. What a weight off your shoulders that would be.

Maybe if he could see it, it wouldn’t be you on the other end, the voice in head told you. Poe was still rambling about Kessel and you definitely weren’t listening. You don’t want that, do you? For him to be soulmates with someone else?

It happened all the time though, people ending up with those who they weren’t tethered to. The galaxy was far too huge and vast, many people never having the opportunity to leave their home planet, let alone venture and seek out their soulmate. Some people, Poe included now, saw it as a myth, it was becoming so rare. You’d only ever known one pair of soulmates to meet in the years you’d been alive. Your parents.

Either way, your mind needed to slow down. You didn’t know Poe. From what you’ve seen of him, despite his impeccable physical features, you weren’t really a fan. But...just regarding his physical features? Big fan.

He snapped you out of your reverie. “Stars, you are infuriating.”

You apologized, placing your hands in the front pockets of your medic coat in hopes to ignore the thread, but it stuck out of the material of your pocket instead.

“There’s no harm in collecting more intel,” you told him. “Especially if it saves lives.”

He rubbed his forehead. “There is if it’s time sensitive! The ship could leave Kessel at any moment and then we’ll never know what was on it.”

You snorted. “You said it’s been in your knowledge for a while, been written off until now. I don’t buy it. I don’t know what you’re wanting from me, Dameron, but I won’t apologize. This is how I feel, and General Organa and Vice Admiral Holdo agree with me.”

“I want a common ground,” he said. Your gut twisted. “We met not ten minutes before you blasted me to pieces in that briefing room.”

“I don’t think you’re used to opposition.”

“I’m not.”

“You should always consider every point of view, especially for things like this. Have you heard about the terror running the First Order? You really want to face him in your little x-wing?”

Poe jerked his head. “Do not insult my ship.”

“Stars, Dameron, can you listen to a voice that isn’t your own for five seconds?”

“I was listening, obviously, ‘cause I heard your jab about my ship.” You could force-choke him right now. “But I get where you’re coming from. Where you’re more conservative and safe, I’m intuitive and risky and you hate it,” he said with a smile that met his eyes.

“I would call it impulsive and ill-informed,” you countered. You definitely didn’t hate bantering with him. You noticed subtly that over the course of the conversation, Poe had begun to move closer to you, inching closer and closer to the edge of the chair.

“Astute and adept,” he stood, tongue darting out to wet his lips as his eyes never left yours.

“Reckless and arrogant.” You didn’t want him to come any closer, unsure if you would either retch all over his shoes or bunch up the material of his brown leather jacket in your grip to pull him closer.

As if the stars were listening and answered, FX-7 appeared in the doorway. Your eyes broke from Poe’s, turning your attention to the droid and Poe followed suit.

“Pilot Nunb’s fever has broken,” it said. “He will make it through the night.”

Night? You realized you’d been so consumed the last couple days you’d lost all concept of time.

“Great news,” Poe said, turning from FX-7 back to you. “I need to go tell the rest of blue squadron.” Poe shamelessly looked you up and down.

“‘Till next time, Doc.”

Poe sidestepped the droid in the doorway without another glance at you. You remained on your desk, hands still in your pockets as you watched the thread disappear into the wall as Poe left.

“It is hardly relevant to speak in matters that pertain to humans,” FX-7 began, “let alone ones that concern my superior, but if I may?”

You couldn’t hide your confusion. FX-7 never spoke to you unless it was a medical matter. You nodded for him to go ahead.

“You are consumed with plenty. I caution against adding Commander Dameron to the list.”

You frowned. “FX, do you know about the soulmate thread?” What harm would it be to tell a droid? FX barely talked to you, and chances were zero that the droid would air this to anyone else.

The droid lifted its metal head up and down. “Yes.”

It was the most humanistic the droid had ever been, and you felt mildly miffed. Has FX-7 always been able to not be so robotic? You’d save that thought to be pissed about another time.

“I can see it,” you said quietly. “It’s tied to him.”

FX-7 was silent, motionless for a few moments and it almost seemed like he had powered down. “That is…” he paused. “Inconvenient.”

“Yeah, I know,” you said, hopping down from your desk. Your hands left your pockets to run through your hair as you tried to clear your thoughts and just breathe.

“Is that why you have busied yourself more than usual?”

“Didn’t wanna deal with it,” you nodded. “Still don’t.”

“That will only prove to make things more arduous. You have two options when it comes to Commander Dameron, and you know which I favor. For the good of the Resistance and your work.” FX-7 then left the doorway to your office as promptly as he had arrived.

✗ ✗ ✗

You fell asleep in your office that night, or maybe it was morning by the time you collapsed against your desk. Despite FX-7’s confirmation, you couldn’t let yourself go back to your quarters when the pilot in your medbay was teetering on the cusp of cardiac arrest.

Leia Organa woke you by softly brushing the hair out of your face. Your head lifted instantaneously, a paper stuck to your cheek. You quickly removed it and smoothed down the rest of your hair to at least try and look presentable.

“General,” you regarded her, standing up from your seat. She smiled softly at you.

“Doctor, I apologize for waking you.”

You shook your head and tried not to wince when you peeked at the digital numbers glaring at you upon the wall.

“I needed to be awake, anyways. I’m late for rounds,” you muttered the last part to yourself.

“I came to update you on the operation,” she moved back around your desk and sat down in the seat Poe had occupied only a few hours prior.

“We’ve received intel that the TIE fighters stationed in front of the ship are no longer there, presumably to return to the First Order to refuel or receive maintenance. It’s a narrow window, but Commander Dameron and both Red and Blue squadrons have departed a few hours ago to hopefully investigate that cargo ship.”

You nodded at her words and contained the frown from surfacing on your face. Your stomach knotted, fearing that the absence of First Order protection was all too convenient, and they were falling into a trap.

The First Order was smart, something you had learned first hand. You’d been on their radar for as long as you could remember. The bad guys needed medics, too.

Some of your peers that you had completed medical school with had left to join, and ultimately you couldn’t blame them. The offer was tempting, yet mostly threatening. Most of them joined more out of fear than anything. You had been moments away yourself, but instead you were here. On D’Qar. A vital part of the Resistance. If you were someone who believed in such phenomena, you would swear the galaxy itself had made sure of it.  

“Have you heard anything since they left?” You asked.

Leia shook her head, trying to hide her worried expression. “They’re in good hands. Poe is the best pilot I’ve seen since…” She stopped herself. “He’s the man for this.”

“So I’ve heard,” you said. “I hope he proves me wrong. And also brings every pilot back in one piece.”

“Together, I think you two would make quite the formidable pair.”

“With respect, General,” you tried not to snort at her words. “I think it’s better if we keep our distance. Our stubbornness might tear a rift in the galaxy.”

“Or,” she winked. “It could bring it together.”

You had no response.

“I’ll be back should there be any word from Poe, and - “

Leia’s words were cut off by the familiar screech of a x-wings cutting into the atmosphere and landing on the runway.

Wordlessly, the two of you all but sprinted from the medical wing out into the open, expansive area that was the runway. Countless others were surfacing outside, watching the ships land and be courted off into the hangars for repairs. From what you could tell, they all looked fine. No exposed wires or blaster burns. For the most part, the squadrons looked untouched. The last ship to land was Poe’s black and orange T-70.

The second the x-wing was stopped, Poe all but threw himself from the cockpit, shucking his helmet off and chucking it at the ground. BB-8’s body blurred as the droid tried to keep up with his long, quick strides. His eyes met Leia’s first, immediately spurning his feet to turn in her direction. When he eventually realized you were also next to her, his eyes all but physically set you on fire.

You held your breath as he crossed the runway. Poe looked downright dangerous, he was so angry. Leia noticed this too, but did not change her demeanor as she waited patiently for him to come to her, hands clasped behind her back.

“Mission report, Commander Dameron,” she said.

“Can we discuss this somewhere else?” Poe asked as he stopped walking, finally reaching his destination. BB-8 rolled up a second later. His eyes flicked to yours.

“We can, but the Doctor will be there regardless.”

Poe wanted to scream.

“The mission went as smoothly as expected. We were met with no First Order resistance or ambush as we docked and investigated the cargo ship.”

“And what did you find?”

Poe took a deep breath, calming his heartbeat that was deafening in his ears. His fists clenched and unclenched, and unfortunately the thread was still there. Except this time, it was pulled taught between your bodies when it usually sagged with slack.

“We found spice, General.”

Oh.

Maybe you did believe in some higher power. There had to be someone pulling the strings behind this scenario. You wanted to laugh, point your finger and tell him ‘told you so’. But you didn’t, because the tension and anger in Poe’s body was so apparent that it looked like he was a chain pulled so tight it wasn’t a matter of if, but when he would snap.

So you settled for pursing your lips very tightly.

“Nothing else to report?” Leia questioned.

Poe shook his head.

“I’m glad you all made it back safe,” she said, putting her hand on Poe’s shoulder. “It was one mission, Poe. There will be other opportunities.”

He nodded, not meeting her eyes as Leia took her leave. The two of you stood in intolerable silence and you weren’t sure why Poe didn’t immediately sprint off as soon as Leia left.

“I’m glad everyone made it back safely,” you spoke slowly, offering a metaphorical olive branch.

Poe cocked his head, eyes narrowing as he met yours. You braced yourself, waiting for him to maybe pull out his blaster and take you out on the spot.

“Save it,” he said, though his voice didn’t hold the venom you expected. “Do you want me to tell you that you were right?”

You shrugged. “Not required, but I’m not against it.”

He did not accept your poor attempt at lightening the mood. Instead, he sighed deeply and dragged a hand down his face.

“I look like a complete joke . Making such a big deal out of this whole operation, only to be completely and utterly wrong.” He laughed dryly, and you tried not to wince.

“But you know who was right? A fucking medic. The holier-than-thou doctor who doesn’t ever leave her medbay, but the one time she does she completely undermines everything.”

Of course, it was your fault. Poe didn’t want to face the fact that his lack of patience and impulsiveness had forced him and his whole squadron to investigate a cargo ship full of spice. Against your better judgement, you let him continue his diatribe. He continued, berating your position, your lack of expertise and inability to, how did he put it? Stay out of matters that don’t pertain to you. He seemed to have forgotten the minute detail that Holdo had asked for you to be there, even though you reminded him of that fact last night.

After a ridiculous amount of time, Poe eventually stopped to catch his breath. As soon has he did, he tried to continue.

“Not to mention - “

You cut him off. “Are you done?”

He narrowed his eyes. “I could go on all day.”

You crossed your arms. “I’m sure you could. Because you absolutely have the right to completely tear me down when we met for the first time a couple days ago.”

“I’ve heard enough about you,” Poe countered.

“As have I,” you clenched your jaw. “Your reputation precedes your rank, Dameron. You really think you’re going to earn respect and trust around the base when you’re running through every female here? You think that speaks well of your character? You think that’s Commander behavior?”

Poe interlaced his hands on the top of his head as he laughed at you incredulously.

“I can’t even stand to breathe the same air as you right now,” Poe said.

How fucking immature. You narrowed your eyes. “Then stop breathing.”

At your words, the red thread tightened around your finger painfully. So tight, it felt as though it was about to cut through and remove the finger entirely. Your other hand rubbed at your finger -  desperately, futilely trying to loosen the string.

Poe watched your action, and then sucked in a breath through his teeth as he grasped as his own pinky in pain. He noticed his movements mirrored yours.

“Wha-” he paused. “Wait - “ Two pieces clicked in Poe’s brain.

But it didn’t matter, because you were already retreating, your steps quick and purposeful. You were fleeing back to the medbay and away from whatever was about to come out of Poe’s mouth. You couldn’t deal with it, not now and probably not ever.

You didn’t miss the way his eyes watched your hands before watching his own, his forehead creasing with confusion, then what you hoped wasn’t realization. You didn’t think your actions obvious, but if he felt the same pain you did, it was impossible not to notice.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, your mind spiraled. Poe called your name, your actual name, but you were too far gone and nothing short of the force would make you go back to him.

This time, your interaction with Poe Dameron didn’t end with emptying your guts in the refresher, but by entering your office and locking it.

Small victories.

_ 

thank you all so so so much for all the positive feedback and support!! i love it!!! i’ve gotten a couple requests for a tag list so if you’d like to me to create one / be added to it just send me a message! also, if i made a playlist for this, would y’all be interested? lmk! xoxo. 

[abduct-me-helen]

Class 108's Apocalypse Field Trip | Chapter 1.

The world ended on a Tuesday. Quite suddenly, halfway through class. After the sky split open and green light bathed the earth, things changed. Some lived.

Some didn’t.

Class 108 stayed together, for the most part. They took up a base in the school, and boarded up the windows and doors.

Sydney was the one who first learned they didn’t need to eat. Other revelations of that sort followed. Sleep was not needed, nor was water. Air seemed to be, though, as they learned after Cal passed out from holding their breath.

The first one to die was Cú.

They don’t talk about Cú.

-

Of course, some things are unavoidable in the end. Logically, Sydney knew it was only a matter of time before something managed to slip under the cracks and they’d all get killed; god knows they’d narrowly scraped by enough times to be considered cosmically lucky. Tabitha had been spreading rumors, as was her nature, about the school itself being sentient, trapping them inside with false promises of safety.

On the worse days, Sydney believed it.

Sydney stepped into the classroom slowly, craning her head to where Tabitha and Rosie were explaining their theories. She didn’t know which theories, but she’d heard most of them by now.

“G’morning.” She said.

It was night.

No, she thought, the sky is dark, but that doesn’t mean it’s night.

Rosie gestures towards a desk, and she avoids the chair toppled over at her feet as she sits down on top of it. She takes not of who else had decided to attend this “session” of theirs today. There are 12 students left out of the thirty who had originally made up the class. Ten of them had disappeared after running away from the school in shock after the eye in the sky had first opened. They hadn’t been in homeroom during the “blink,” which is what they’d taken to call the eye opening, and hadn’t seen any teachers since that day.

She remembered it vividly.

Ms. Bruis had tensed, eyes wide in shock, before telling them to calm down and stay indoors. She immediately went outside the room to check on everyone else.

That was the last time they’d seen Ms. Bruis, but not the last time they’d seen her face.

Besides the initial chaos, there wasn’t anything attacking the school. It was just shouting and screaming and running. Sydney had stayed in the classroom, clumsily trying to close the blinds on the window.

People just, left. And they didn’t come back.

The first venture was when they lost Cú. She doesn’t like to talk about him, never mind think about him. Nonetheless, her mind often drifts towards his death.

It was about four hours after the chaos. People had been nearly sucked out of the building, teachers included. The only ones that remained were the thirty students of 108.

Sydney didn’t know why they were the only ones to remain. She still doesn’t now.

The students decided to have a short party go out and scout. Sydney, Katie, Cú, Tabitha and Rosie. Four survived, one did not.

Rosie was always the thinker of the group, and as such she took the front. Katie was chosen for her seemingly nonchalant disposition to going, and Tabitha for her mind, which was always going too fast and often arriving at far-out conclusions. Despite this, she was a quick-witted person and had been selected for her dexterity and speed. Cú was selected for his physicality. He was a teddy bear, but a strong teddy bear.

It didn’t save him in the end.

And Sydney, well, she was cautious. She wonders if she could’ve saved Cú if she’d been just a little bit wearier.

They wandered a few blocks before hearing the sound of skin and bone splitting. Tabitha immediately ran toward the sound, as was her nature. The rest, Rosie at the lead, followed, hiding behind a corner.

Katie didn’t make a face, but even she was visibly pale.

When the sound came again, louder, and a creature made of wet flesh and twisted muscle stepped out of the alleyway, she became practically white.

Sydney retched. She’s not ashamed to admit it, you would’ve too. Anyone would’ve retched if they saw that sight.

It got worse.

“Hello?! Someone! Help me, please!”

It was Ms. Bruis-no, it looked like Ms. Bruis.

Cú ran. He dodged the creature, running to Ms. Bruis and starting to try to pick her up off the ground, before he noticed she was rooted to the cement. His eyes widened as blood ran down her face

She smirked.

Sydney will always remember the flash of teeth before she plunged her hand-no, her claw-into his stomach. He made a choked sound before the creature bounded back over and ripped his jaw clean off.

They ran. They ran. They ran.

And then they came back to the classroom, and they wept.

There were more expeditions after that. They lost seven more after that, but in those ventures, they collected knowledge. This knowledge went on Rosie’s list, though it also doubled as a rulebook.

-

THE LIST

1. Some creatures can make copies of people you know in order to trick you. They don’t bleed, so your best shot at not meeting eyeball daddy up close is to yeet the fuck outta there//bold of you to assume I don’t want to meet eyeball daddy uwu//

2. Don’t trust meat. Ever. Meat comes alive. WE ARE VEGANS IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2018(?)

3. Don’t answer the door, even if you’re armed. No, Eric, we do not count your big muscles™ as a weapon.

4. If you MUST answer the door, don’t. You have been stopped.

5. A short section on the happenings of the places(?) known to us as “nightmares.”

Nightmares trap humans in these crazy places. We’ve only seen two, but they are extremely dangerous, and both encounters ended in casualties. They trap your mind and make you experience terrible things, and like the rest of the world (to our knowledge at least) don’t follow normal time or space rules. Basically, if you want to avoid a ,’ , |,’_’, you should not screw with that shit.

6. Always check with someone else before eating or drinking. Sometimes, your mind will play tricks on you and you won’t notice that you’re eating something…not good. Honor cal for their sacrifice regarding this matter (sorry cal)

7. Always shut the blinds. Eyeball daddy is watching you//YOU DID NOT NEED TO SAY THAT TABITHA

8. Don’t leave the building without consulting all of class 108.

9. Don’t read books that others haven’t read first, especially if it says it’s from the library of Jurgen LeitnerSTUPID IDIOT MOTHERFUCKING JURGEN LEITENER GOD DAMN FOOL BOOK COLLECTING DUST EATING RAT OLD BASTARD SHITHEAD IDIO//yes, Riko, we get it, but good point. Be Jared, 19.

10. Don’t invite anyone in.

-

“What are we on today?” Sydney asked.

“Tabitha’s on about the categories again.” Cal said.

“I really think it could work!” she said loudly. “Look, there’s consistencies in every single encounter we’ve had. Think about it. Remember what happened at the theater?”

Katie grimaced silently. “How could we forget?”

Tabitha ignored her. “The webs. Spiders and the rest of those insects are different categories. The wriggly silver worms are more like, bugs and wriggly things and judging from the infestation we had they all work together.”

“Like a hive?” Cal asked.

Tabitha nodded. “Exactly like that. Spiders are different though; you saw how many were crawling about during the amphitheater incident. And that whole thing was about control. All those people who were laughing…they, they were there. They didn’t want to do it! They didn’t want to laugh, you saw their eyes. They were being controlled. And when,” she paused, gritting her teeth, “and when Marcy died she was being controlled too. Puppeted.”

That’s two. Then we come to the next one, guns and murder and war and shit like that. Simple enough. But I think it has to be humans killing humans, because the thing that killed, killed Cú wasn’t like that. It was, it was different. I don’t know. I’ll get back to that.

“Then we have the cover up, or the anonymous things. Things like those little creatures that hide in your plates that you can’t notice are there until someone tells you. That’s why I’m confused, because I think the weird fleshy creature we faced was aligned with that but also with those meat things that broke Rosie’s leg. I don’t know how to explain it, but, ah. Sorry. I think they’re the same category.”

“I’ll humor you; can a thing be two categories?” Katie questioned her dully.

“I think so. Maybe it’s like colors? Really angry colors. They’re all separate, but the same because they’re all made of the same stuff. And they all blur together sometimes?”

“Yeah,” Katie snorted, “we’re being killed by really angry colors.”

Tabitha flushed. “Hey! It was just an analogy.”

Rosie seemed to be considering what Tabitha had said, before she looked up. “I believe you.”

“Y-you do?” Tabitha blinked, taken back.

Rosie nodded. “It makes sense. Really angry colors.”

“Really angry colors.”

-

A few hours-well, time was weird, but Sydney supposed it was hours-later, the class was doing yoga. Well, not “yoga” per se. They were beating each other on the head with torn up yoga mats.

“Hey!” Riko shouted as Tabitha tripped over her mat while chasing Cal. “Watch it! This is where I sleep!”

Tabitha stuck her tongue out and Katie snorted, not looking up from her book. Sydney wondered how she did that; Katie always seemed to have an astounding amount of situational awareness at all times.

“Real mature.” Katie groused.

Tabitha grinned, and Rosie smiled softly.

“I’M GOING TO MAKE YOU MEET EYEBALL DADDY!” she shouted to Cal, who’s eyes widened in mock fear.

“Oh no! The horror! OwO!” They said dramatically.

“Did they just say “OwO”?” Sydney asked in a deadpan. Rosie nodded solemnly.

“You ever wonder…” Sydney trailed off, the muffled shouting of their peers drowned out into the background.

“Wonder what?” Rosie tilted her head in question.

“What happened to Mr. Sims.”

“He’s probably…not with us anymore.”

“Yeah. Still, could you imagine? He was a bloody cryptid. He’d probably take all this with no sweat.”

“Maybe he’d give us concerts too.”

“Good ole Jonny D’Ville.”

Rosie snickered.

“You know how he always drew eyes everywhere? During tests?”

“Oh god, don’t mention that to Tabitha, I don’t need her going on about another conspiracy.”

Sydney grinned to herself and Rosie groaned.

“Well, I was thinking, maybe it was an omen.”

“An omen?”

“Yeah. I’ve never been spiritual really, but the worlds gone to shit so who knows what’s real. Maybe the Mayans were just a few days off.”

“Ah, the apocalypse calendar.”

“Indeed.”

-

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

A noise rang out from the entrance to the school, loud and imposing. Sydney’s heart started to thump wildly in terror.

They all shot up, and Katie got her switchblade out from her pocket. She was lucky enough to have it on her at the blink, and it was their best weapon.

Cypress shot inside the classroom silently, eyes wide, red curls bouncing. He clicked the door shut quietly, pale. “The others sent me. They’re hiding in place. I think we should just stay put.”

Rosie nodded, gesturing him to come over. She placed a finger over her lips in order to get them to stay silent, then nodded to Katie. Katie had always been gifted with really good hearing, and it had saved their assess more than enough times for Rosie to know that letting her try to hear who was at the door was the best safe bet for situation and the time being.

Katie closed her eyes, but after a quarter of a minute shook her head.

That’s when they heard it.

“Hello!”

Sydney brought a hand to her mouth to clamp down a scream.

It was Cypress.

Eyes wide, she glanced over to Cypress, her Cypress, who’s expression was now glazed over. Was his skin always that waxy? Why was his hair so smooth? It looked like that of a dolls, curls made of softly bent plastic.

Katie saw the flicker of light before she saw the blade, and she lunged.

Her switchblade pierced his skin-no, his stuffing, with a sound akin to ripping a toy. It didn’t seem to stop this not-Cypress.

Oh god, Sydney thought, today is the day I die.

There was a sound like static now in the air, and the faint smell of burning. Sydney began to feel sick, almost lightheaded.

The door swung open, and Sydney whipped her head around to see Cypress, who was trailed by…Mr. Sims?

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Marvel Team-Up Volume 4 #3 Thoughts

And so comes the end of this arc and I guess Eve Ewing’s whole run???? Didn’t know this was an anthology team up title jeez.

Did it go out with a bang or a whimper? Well...a bit of both.

...And by both I mean there were literal bangs in the issue so the whimpers...you get it...

 Okay so for starters the cover lies again like in issue #1. The cover promises us Peter in Kamala’s body with spider powers and Kamala in Peter’s body with Inhuman powers.

And in the issue we get...the same shit from the past 2 issues, standard Freaky Friday.

It’s less bad here than in issue #1 though. Issue #1’s lie was actively reductive to the reading experience. Here it’s just artistic licence and really the idea of seeing Spidey with Kamala’s powers and vice versa is only good for a strong visual. If Peter in Kamala’s body got the same power set it’d seriously undermine the creative legs of the Freaky Friday dynamic in the first place. So a quick cover for an eye catching visual is good enough.

Moving on...this issue is kind of the weakest instalment in this already kind of shakey arc. If you turned your brain off you could kind of enjoy issues #1-2 but the creative energy in this issue was waning a lot.

You can tell this because once the Jackal, the villain of this arc, gets defeated the issue continues for over 11 pages. Over 11 pages of restoring the status quo.

And when I say restoring the status quo I don’t simply mean Peter and Kamala inevitably swap back, I mean they swap back and also forget everything that happened, leaving you wondering what the point of any of this was.

Kamala will go forward in life never knowing the impending dread of job interviews or unpaid bills and Peter Parker will never remember the pain and discomfort of a period or the sweet taste of cotton candy lip gloss...okay maybe for both parties forgetting this ever happened isn’t the worst idea.

But the issue could’ve been mitigated if Ewing had just restructured the story a little bit so that the swap lasted way less than two days. In fact even if they forgot what happened wouldn’t it raise big red flags that 2 days have elapsed within which they remember nothing?

Even putting this aside the story continues the trajectory of having a lot of small problems that add up. Some of these don’t break the issue per se but the numeracy of them adds up to an over all lack of thought and planning put into the story.

Let’s talk about one example I actually forgot to bring up in issue #2. So in the first issue when the Jackal showed up and declared Rosario’s Polly tech would be useful in his cloning experiments my first thought was ‘how’? But I let it slide because maybe the story would elaborate.

And in issue #2 it did but having Spidey throw out a theory, and in issue #3 we got that theory confirmed.

The plan goes like this. The Jackal’s wants to use Rosario’s tech alongside his cloning tech to create clones with the consciousness of another person.

When that happened my thoughts Digivolved from ‘how?’ into ‘why?’

Like...okay, the Jackal has a God complex.

OBVIOUSLY.

Even shitty BND era writers picked up on that.

This would definitely come under the remit of playing God, but even during the nadir of the Clone Saga (we call that Maximum Clonage kids) you could just about see the method in his madness. It wasn’t rationale but it added up within his warped logic. He wanted to destroy life on Earth and replace it with the life HE created.

Cool.

Now in this story he wants to...basically transfer someone’s mind into someone else’s body, but not even their actual body a copy of their actual body.

What possible purpose would that serve?

I could KIND of see it if he wanted to transfer people’s minds into clones of their own bodies. Like what happened to Xavier after he was infected with the Brood.

But into a clone of someone else’s body?

That’s some Underpants Gnome level planning.

Not to mention can’t he basically already do that?

He created the Carrion virus IIRC which genetically reprograms the infected subject into basically believing themselves to be Miles Warren. He was also able to update Ben Reilly’s memories so they’d match Peter Parker’s. If you can do that then surely you could already put someone’s consciousness into a body that isn’t theirs? Or at least the scientific leap from one to the other isn’t that huge.

Another rather significant issue with the plot revolves around the Isotope Genome Accelerator. Yeah remember that? The thing that separated Peter and Spider-Man back in Spencer’s opening arc.

Remember how it heavily implied to explode in ASM v5 #5 and thus merge Peter and Spidey back together? Apparently not. It was either undamaged or got rebuilt apparently. Even better it has plot convenience powers now. It’s used to swap Peter and Kamala again.

So just so we are clear the Isotope Genome Accelerator’s scientific applications include:

-          Irradiating shit

-          Irradiating house spiders to the point where biting people gives them spider powers which may or may not include organic webbing

-          Removing super powered mutations (see Spider-Man: the Final Adventure #4)

-          Temporarily ‘masking’ super powered mutations (see above)

-          Separating people into different sides of themselves (and also maybe creating different clothes for them too?)

-          Swapping people’s minds which is somehow an extension of the latter application

-          Copies and/or transfers the super powers of one person to another (we’ll get back to that)

Holy shit this thing can do everything short of toast bread!

Good lord...the issue tries to explain that it’s ability to separate people into two different entities is how they’re going to affect the swap but...that doesn’t make a lick of sense even by the already bullshit science in play.

How is physically separating the thrill seeking adventurer from the responsible everyman out of the one person (or in theory the man from the cannibalistic lizard monster) remotely similar to swapping the minds of two people?

What did it separate both minds from both bodies and then...they just snapped back to where they belonged?*

This isn’t even mentioning how for what is presumably a gag the Accelerator also apparently gave Rosario Kamala’s powers. How? Why? Does this mean Kamala lost her powers? Does it mean the Accelerator copied her powers into Rosario?

Never explained who fucking knows the Isotope Genome Accelerator is the plot device that just keeps on giving.

There are other lesser contrivances in the issue that are contrivances nevertheless.

Remember how I said in issue #1 how it’s weird that everyone is so concerned about destroying Rosario’s polly device because surely she has the plans to another one? Well this issue confirms she does, she has schematics to another device.

Which raises two big questions.

a)      If the device is going to make all the difference in swapping Peter and Kamala back...why do they need the accelerator? Why the drama and tension over that, they could just build another device and swap back easy peasey

b)      Why was there any tension over destroying the device in issue #1 and thus kicking off this whole arc’s premise?

Another piece of technological contrivance comes from the chip Peter off panel implanted in his brain ages ago without telling the readers. So apparently it was useless all along because it’d only work if whoever was trying to mind swap with him also had a chip.**Oh and it’s eroded away any how.

This is a mind bender this one.

We have a non-Spidey comic by a non-Spidey office establishing Spider-Man did something major that was very smart and very obvious provided it was possible (which we were never led to believe it was in Spidey stories proper). That same non-Spidey comic upon establishing this plot device then uses it as a possible explanation for the scenario it’s setting up. Then in resolving that scenario reveals the plot device wasn’t working, never was going to work, wasn’t a factor in the first place and thus paints Spider-Man as stupid.

WTF!

WTF was the point of the anti-body swap chip then?

You might as well have never had that in the comic and thereby not made Spider-Man storytellers look dumb for not considering that or made the character look dumb for not considering it enough.

Just lose that plot point altogether and nothing changes.

Everything else wrong with this issue is less egregious, it’s smaller things that further spell out the lack of attention being paid to the story.

They range from minor stuff like typos to pretentious narration at the start of the issue.

Not only pretentious by the way but pointless given how they forget what happens and it doesn’t seem to serve the story. It pays lip service to us as people accepting our good and bad traits but...that hasn’t got anything to d with this story in the first place. Also after 2 issues of talking out loud NOW thought captions are a thing?

Let’s see what other shit is wrong with this issue.

Oh right, Rosario has been tied up and conscious in her office at ESU (on a weekday no less) all night but NOBDOY heard her calling for help in all that time? Or she didn’t try yelling before Peter and Kamala conveniently showed up?

Not to mention Kamala says her spider sense (which wasn’t working in the last issue for no explained reason) is alerting her to maybe getting the right location for Rosario but...didn’t they have her office listed? Wasn’t that what they were following? And why would the spider sense (from her and Peter’s POV) tingle if there wasn’t any danger the issue implies it’s the mere fact they’re zeroing in on Rosario.

Other smaller problems include Peter complaining that teens are so mean as though this is a revelation. Peter...Parker...is learning teens can be jerks....um...did Ewing not read Amazing Fantasy #15...page 1...?

Similarly talks about how he’s learned to focus on the problems of the present and not worry about the future. My kneejerk reaction to that is to call BS, Peter clearly does fret over the future.

Final little complaints Spidey bangs on about his knees not hurting when Kamala in his older body never brings them up and seems fine. Aaaaaand there is a line of dialogue from kamala about how the Jackal doesn’t understand that humans are more than bodies and stored ideas yadda yadda yadda,. But like...from her point of view the Jackal never said any of that shit. I guess maybe she’s right but she shouldn’t know to be right if you see what I mean.

I’ll finish off with a little positivity.

The art was lovely again.

Spidey owning Jackal with Kamala’s powers was bad ass.

Spider-Man acting the older mentor figure to Kamala was awesome, just wish it wasn’t undermined by him being in her body when he was doing that.

So all in all...this arc is very unimpressive.

You know how online, maybe on tumblr, maybe on CBR, maybe on Google images or scans daily you see a selection of pages from a comic book story? Basically the highlights?

Yeah if you were to experience issue #1 and #2 like that that’s how I’d recommend experiencing this story.

Reading or God forbid buying it is highly NOT recommended.

*Shit now I think about it the way Roasrio’s device was explained it doesn’t even add up to being able to mind swap. It turns the mind into data and stores it. Okay...how does that mean we’re swapping the minds of two meatbag humans with no mechanical storage device or interface involved?

**Even though again Doc Ock DIDN’T  swap minds with Peter he uploaded a copy of his mind into his head and vice versa, Peter’s real mind was still in his body the whole time but buried.

[yobaba30]

per Seth Abramson ~

Mueller's *biggest* revelation is being ignored: the SCO confirms that in the weeks before the 2016 election, Trump believed Kremlin agents held videos of him from a 2013 Moscow trip that could end his candidacy. 

 1/ It doesn't require proof of criminality beyond a reasonable doubt to impeach a POTUS, though we have that now as to obstruction—an impeachable crime that can't be indicted because Trump is president—and campaign finance felonies (ditto). A national security risk is sufficient.

2/ Counterintelligence investigations of Trump remain outstanding—their findings haven't yet been disclosed, though they eventually will be to the House and Senate intelligence committees—but Mueller's report does include corroborated information that is *central* to those cases.

3/ A president *must* be impeached if—in counterintelligence terms—there's "high confidence" intel that he is "compromised" by a foreign power, meaning not that he is necessarily an agent of any foreign power, but that he cannot uphold his Oath of Office (and loyalty) to America.

4/ The primary ground under which a POTUS could be impeached for an inability to uphold his Oath of Office— and secure the national defense—that *isn't* criminal is if he has been "compromised" by a foreign power via blackmail that provably puts him in thrall to a foreign power.

5/ In January 2017, a major BBC investigative report confirmed the following: the CIA believes Trump to be compromised by the Kremlin due to the Kremlin's possession of "multiple" tapes, from "multiple" locations/dates, involving Trump and sexual conduct

 6/ Almost immediately thereafter, I passed on this internationally available BBC report to the American public because—as a curatorial journalist—that's one of the main things I do: find reliable international reporting that links up to domestic stories in a way that's critical.

7/ To the extent you've ever heard me called a "conspiracy theorist," it was this *BBC* reporting—which American media for some reason attributed to me—that earned me that erroneous title. So I wrote a book, PROOF OF COLLUSION, with all the British reporting on Kremlin kompromat.

8/ PROOF OF COLLUSION has an entire chapter on Kremlin kompromat called "Kompromat," and it amasses a wealth of internationally reported information on Trump being blackmailed by the Kremlin that was *all* from the reliable overseas major media outlets that many of us read daily.

9/ These outlets found ten witnesses (inclusive of—but not limited to—dossier witnesses) who could confirm the brief section of Steele's dossier that indicated the Kremlin was holding video blackmail material ("kompromat") over Trump's head. Most Americans never saw the evidence.

10/ The evidence included BBC-confirmed witnesses from the Ritz Moscow who saw a "row" in the lobby of the Ritz on the night in question—as a group of women argued with the hotel staff about whether they would need to sign in or give their names in order to go up to Trump's room.

11/ The evidence included a whistleblower from within Trump Org who confirmed the events, as well as multiple Ritz staff members besides the American staying at the Ritz who saw the row. The evidence included contradictory stories given by Trump and his bodyguard, Keith Schiller.

12/ The evidence included the fact that the best friend of a key member of Trump's Moscow entourage runs Moscow's largest "dark web" brothel; the evidence included actual dollar-amounted payoffs to Trump's bodyguard Schiller and much more—including spycraft evidence—of the event.

13/ The presumption of *all* these stories was that the blackmail had been coordinated by Trump's Kremlin-connected Moscow business partner, Aras Agalarov, the man who runs the "Crocus Group" (a Russian business entity) and is known for being Putin's favorite real estate builder.

14/ Vladimir Putin had *personally* given Agalarov Russia's highest civilian honor just 10 days before Trump arrived in Moscow to be surreptitiously taped by Agalarov. (NOTE: major-media citations for all these statements are in PROOF OF COLLUSION, which I here merely summarize.)

15/ One of the witnesses who spoke to British media said it was Agalarov's son who arranged for the women to go to Trump's room—a Ritz Moscow room often used for surveillance of foreigners that Trump himself (quite oddly, very *publicly*) *admitted* was wired for sound and audio.

16/ Emin Agalarov is close with—and was in Trump's entourage with—Artem Klyushin, whose best friend, Konstantin Rykov, runs Moscow's largest dark-web brothel and has boasted of being involved in a conspiracy with Klyushin whose details he wouldn't reveal but which involved Trump.

17/ We know that, in fall 2016, Trump's fixer for video, audio, or (well) *women* who could harm Trump was Michael Cohen. And we know that after the Access Hollywood tape, many Republicans wanted to withdraw their support from Trump. A Kremlin tape would have ended his candidacy.

18/ We know that in October 2016, Trump was lying to America about whether he had any ties to the Kremlin—even as he was planning the unilateral removal of all sanctions on Russia for its illegal annexation of Crimea—a policy whose basis or utility to the U.S. he never explained.

19/ Trump's foreign policy in October 2016 was a *trillions*-of-dollars giveaway to Putin that'd *bless* its unilateral European military aggression, too. So if the Kremlin held *blackmail* on Trump in October 2016—and could end his candidacy—he was a fully compromised candidate.

20/  Here's what Mueller found: 1)  The videos the CIA, BBC, and this writer said existed *did exist*; 2)  Trump *knew* they existed; 3)  Trump's "blackmail fixer"—Cohen—negotiated with a Kremlin agent their suppression in October 2016, when they could have ended Trump's candidacy. 

21/ This is *the* top story in America, indeed the *most significant story* in U.S. political history: a President of the United States with a historically pro-Russia foreign policy was being actively and knowingly blackmailed by Russia in the lead-up to his election—and *still*.

22/ That Trump and Cohen *discussed these tapes* suggests *they believed*—as did the Kremlin agent they were dealing with—that they existed, and that the Kremlin was (through an intermediary) reassuring Trump that the Agalarov-held (Kremlin agent-held) tapes would be suppressed.

23/ So Trump was being blackmailed; *knew* he was being accurately blackmailed; knew that blackmail could—at that moment—*end his candidacy*; *hid* that blackmail from the country; and was secretly advancing a plan to benefit the Kremlin to the tune of *trillions* at that moment.

24/ And all of this *confirms* that Trump *believed the tapes to be damaging enough that he needed to keep them suppressed*—which means he is *being blackmailed right now by the Kremlin*, as all Rtskhiladze did was stop the *flow* of those videos. They *still exist fully intact*.

25/ Mueller *only* put "high confidence" intel in his Report—so we *know* US law enforcement holds that Rtskhiladze was *telling the truth* about the videos. And *no* US president can stay in power—avoid impeachment—if they are compromised. So impeachment is *mandated* here. /end NOTE/ "Rumored" appears in the story twice: 1)  FROM CNN, as they're worried about being attacked for reporting CIA, BBC and SCO intel just as I was; 2)  FROM RTSKHILADZE, but in a way that makes no sense—i.e. he may have said "rumored," but he also *acknowledged* the tapes exist.

NOTE2/ In other words, RTSKHILADZE was saying that he "stopped the flow" of the *actual tapes* which had been (at that point) "rumored" to exist—by which statement Rtskhiladze, acting as a Kremlin agent (which Agalarov also is) was confirming the tapes to be authentic and extant.

NOTE3/ There's *not one revelation in the Mueller Report* as important as this one, as it *confirms* Trump was compromised by the Kremlin not just by his lies about the Trump Tower Moscow deal (themselves blackmail material), but *hard evidence* that would've ended his candidacy.

NOTE4/ I'm ultimately OK with the fact that my reputation took a hit for two years because, unlike me, US media refused to acknowledge a BBC report, but now that Special Counsel Mueller—whose work even Trump has called "honorable" in the past—has said it, media *must* report it.

NOTE5/ What you can do—as reader and citizen—is (a) RETWEET/REPOST tweet/post, so that media can no longer ignore this top-line result of the Mueller Report, and (b) TWEET AT MEDIA the name "Rtskhiladze" and ask them if they only reason they won't say it is they can't pronounce it.

PS/ The term "national security impeachment" should be on the lips of *every voter and politician*. We do have other crimes—at least two—now confirmed to add to any articles of impeachment, but *national security* is more important than all else. Impeachment is *mandatory* now.

REFERENCE/ In June 2017, this is how The New Republic covered my *retweeting of a BBC story*. (The very story I linked to in this thread.) When I asked @newrepublic to correct its story to say it wasn't my "theory" but a BBC report, they refused.

*That's* what's wrong with media.

[filmfilmmagazine]

Linklater on Linklater : self-interview by the Slacker filmmaker (The Austin Chronicle, 1991)

“Austin has the highest per capita ratio of wonderful people and the lowest percentage of assholes of any city. I believe I'll be based here for quite some time." When Richard Linklater made that announcement to the Chronicle back in 1991, at the height of Slacker's success, it would have been reasonable to believe that he was blowing at least a little smoke. But three decades, five Oscar nominations, and $300 million in the global box office later, he's still hanging around – an older, wiser version of the indie innovator whose latest film, live-action/animation hybrid coming-of-age period piece Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Adventure, has been acquired by Netflix, and was still made in the ATX.

But 30 years ago, he was the newly minted hometown hero. In typical fashion, when the Chronicle sponsored a screening of Slacker at the Dobie on Sept. 22, 1991, we ran a story under the unwieldy title of: "The Art of the Interview: Self-Revelation or Self Torture? Richard Linklaker Interviewed by ..." There's no byline, because the subject was the author: Linklater, still whirling from the seemingly never-ending press tour, sat down with himself to dispatch, once and for all, the most meaningful answer to the most generic questions he had been asked over the summer months.

Here's a snippet, for the first time since its original print appearance, is the whole story of surviving Slacker, in Linklater's own words - Richard Whittaker.

After nearly 140 Slacker interviews in the last two months, automatic pilot has taken over, like an actor in a long-running play summoning energy before each performance, or an instructor making an ages old lecture seem witty and spontaneous. This publicity grind also seems to resemble a psychoanalytical session: Someone gets paid to ask prompting questions and listen to you drone on and on – and I do find myself discovering new things in the process. It's been a forced transformation from being too shy to address an audience to being live on CNN in front of millions. The final stage in the filmmaking process is apparently being a professional mouth and ranting on about things that have only the slightest connection to whatever "qualified" me to be ranting in the first place. So I thought a "composite interview" of all my interviews might able to include many of the natural questions the film invites, as well as more than just the snippet of my answer that happens to fit an interviewer's agenda – the luxury of my being both interviewer and subject here.

So, first question:

RL: So, just what is a slacker?

RL: (Acting like he's never heard the question before.) Hmmm... Slackers might look like the left-behinds but they are actually one step ahead, rejecting most of society and the social hierarchy before it rejects them. The dictionary defines slackers as people who evade duties and responsibilities. A more modern notion would be people who are ultimately being responsible to themselves and not wasting their time in a realm of activity that has nothing to do with who they are or what they might ultimately be striving for.

RL: (A slightly suspecting, almost distrustful look) So okay... You aren't a slacker. Slackers don't make movies.

RL: Sure they do, just not the kind you would usually want to interview somebody about. It sounds like I'm being judged on the success of the film, not its simple existence. No one ever said slackers weren't productive. It's just that their products often fall outside the market economy. If the film never found an audience, would my slacker credentials be revoked like this? I think I still qualify as a slacker... just one that's currently lucky. I've been officially employed about one year of the last seven. Actually, filmmaking is the perfect slacker profession. You can piddle around for years, watch tons of movies and daydream about what important films you would make if you only had the cash.

RL: Speaking of it, where did you get the money for Slacker?

RL: It wasn't about money, we never talked about it. There wasn't any, so we had to get by some other way. Everyone who worked on the film did it for reasons other than cash. The fact that it was done so inexpensively says more about the spirit of the people involved in the project than the cost. But by the first watchable print, about $23,000 had been spent. That doesn't include large amounts still owed at the time to the lab, sound studio, and all the deferred wages. With the blow-up to 35mm and all the legal costs involved in signing with a bigger distributor, the budget is now well over 150 grand and still growing. The initial cash came from where most truly independent films come from: supportive family and friends, credit cards, any savings, additional loans. You sell off possessions, steal, ask others to steal, all kinds of things you're not particularly proud of.

RL: Are you surprised at the film's success?

RL: On one level, sure. It could easily have never happened. It comes down to a series of the right people at the right time saying "yes" in whatever way they can. But for whatever success the film has had, there is a parallel track of rejection. You have to build up an almost erotic relationship with rejection, or the process could decimate you. Even as late as last week, it continues to get turned down at certain festivals, and we haven't really had a big break internationally yet. But I think everyone who worked on the film felt it was a success last summer when we opened at the Dobie. It was closure and success completely on its own terms. Had it never gone much further, it would have been this positive experience that we all learned from, had fun with, and basically accomplished what we set out to do; any additional success has all been gravy. The national selling of the film is a bit strange to me because it's so "cult-of-the-director" oriented. When I say "we," they usually change it to "I." Fortunately for me, my key Slacker collaborators understand the inevitable simplifications as a part of the marketing process to be used, ultimately, for our ends. I'm trying not to take the personal attention and scrutiny too seriously. and actually find a certain comfort in simply seeing myself as a spokesman of the moment for a lot of people's creative energy and input. As a producer, I've always felt responsible to the 150-plus people who donated their time and energy and will share in any profits from the film.

RL: One of the most interesting aspects of the movie is its large cast of mostly non-professional actors. Where did you find such poorly dressed people?

RL: Many were friends of mine or the crew, but were most were found through a very selective vetting process where we gave out cards that were essentially invitations to a video interview. From there it was matching people to parts they seemed to embody the essence of. A lot of interesting people couldn't get it together to show up for their interview, and a lot of cool people we met with just didn't match a preconceived part. We were then so underground no one cared much. I run into people who say if they had known it was going to be any good, they would have been more interested. Basically, the cast has never been given enough credit. These were not only interesting, creative and courageous people, but also the ones serious enough to approach the rehearsal and shooting process in a professional manner. By saying everyone "simply played themselves," it doesn't acknowledge that leap of faith to get into that arena and tap into a part of themselves necessary for the part. It's not easy to be yourself on purpose take after take.

RL: The press kit here says that the movie was entirely scripted. It has such an improvisational feel.

RL: Don't ever believe press kits... that was all bullshit. Actually, we'd just turn the camera on and whatever happened, happened. I don't know why everybody doesn't do a movie like this. I guess we just got lucky that it all fit together somehow (smiles).

RL: Seriously, I detect a structure, but was just commenting that the actors seemed very real.

RL: They are real. That was the point. It was all about giving the characters complete freedom within the confines of a certain structure. As long as the scene meant what I wanted it to mean, it was open to anything and in fact demanded a certain honesty of the moment that transcends acting in the typical sense. The inspired moments and personal characteristics were planned on and cultivated. It was all about creating an atmosphere where everyone was participating as an artist. Nowhere does it say that I alone wrote every word of the movie. The director in me would never give myself that much credence as a writer, and that wasn't what this movie was all about. I initially wrote what happens in each scene, minus the exact dialogue. This all came from God knows where... conversations, crazy ideas, and actual experiences. Some were inspired by or adapted from bookish ideas or pre-existing texts, like a spoken word performance by Jim Roche or a few short stories by Jack Meredith. I had a meeting with Sid Moody about various conspiracy theories. The thread was that I was moved in some way or another by a situation and deemed it important and thematically meaningful enough to be worthy of screen time. After the cast had been selected I would usually write the dialogue and then work with the actors rewriting it. To blend with the pseudodocumentary style of the film, it was very important that the characters make the material their own in whatever way possible. This was in the rehearsal period, which for me was the most inspired aspect of production — seeing the ideas come to life via this fusion of real person and fictional context. Each scene had its own unique life, and was as varied as the personalities involved. I had trained for years as an actor and felt confident I could extract a certain quality from people that would play on the screen. It's amazing what many of the characters brought to their scenes. This was where a lot of the humor in the movie came from: You get witty and intelligent people together with a common purpose in a playful atmosphere, and almost magical things start to happen.

RL: Does this Slacker phenomenon exist anywhere else, or could this have only been made in Austin?

RL: It definitely taps into one aspect of the local atmosphere, but it's hard to say how unlike other college towns that is. I wanted it to be both an "Austin Movie" with references and one that could have come from anywhere. Its spirit might have come from elsewhere, but it probably could have only been made in Austin. Where else would such a concentration of talented film people be willing to be involved in something outside the typical professional borders of the film industry? Where else would we have been able to get the professional favors and donations of everything from equipment to locations to food? I'm proud to say that it's a 100 percent Austin product.

RL: Much is being said about the twentysomething generation that is represented in the film.

RL: First off, I refuse to participate in a conversation couched in such derivative, blatantly unoriginal terms. That ridiculous catch-phrase started last summer on the cover of Time magazine, the same magazine that could only talk of Slacker in relation to the 1960s. and even called Austin a Haight-Ashbury of the 1990s. There's no doubt where their heads are at, and it's that kind of thinking that ruins anything new. I never bought that standard baby-boomer line that we were all so nothing... it just takes a different form. We're aware of the past, informed, cynical in a healthy way, and have a great sense of irony. Who could spend such formative years in the 1970s and 1980s and not have that ironic edge? I can see why people are asking me about a generation I happen to be a part of, but to me Slacker owes more allegiance to cinema than to a generation.

RL: I thought the movie was funny, but the person I was with found it a little depressing... that it adds up to futility.

“What gives me eternal hope and, in a way, what the film really depicts, is that our society still has a strong individual vitality at heart, intellectual and otherwise.”– Richard Linklater

RL: I guess I can see how some people look at it that way... it certainly has its dark areas. But what gives me eternal hope and, in a way, what the film really depicts, is that our society still has a strong individual vitality at heart, intellectual and otherwise. Habitual energy can equal optimism. We as individuals and as a society have the ability to revitalize ourselves. There can be no denying there is a large amount of alternative social and cultural experimentation going on. It could add up to something new, or if in fact there isn't anything new, at least a new emphasis, a new combination.

RL: What's been the most exciting or satisfying experience related to the making of Slacker?

RL: I think it was working with my friends and who were with the film all the way — the "Slacker 7." When people ask advice on how to make films, I always say "have talented friends." It was one of those rare experiences where we were so in sync and dedicated to the film that the notion of professional credits was a little odd when it was all over. We all had our specialties but basically everyone did everything — whatever was required. It was just such a life-expanding process. When I fell in love with the cinema eight or nine years ago, it filled a vacuum in my life in an all-encompassing way. With Slacker, I think I had a need to reach out and try to communicate, not only to a potential audience, but more importantly, to the cast and crew I was working with. It was a challenge to go from a rather isolated world to working intimately with over 100 people. And a finished film can add an entirely new dimension to the lives of those who worked on it. The people I've met because of this film have been the coolest. I could almost now say I have a life in addition to film. There were many years before where I really couldn't or wouldn't have wanted to.

RL: What's next? Are you going to go Hollywood or stay in Austin?

RL: I'm getting really anxious to be in production again — it's been so long since we were first shooting Slacker. I have several very different kinds of films I'd like to do soon. It's all about hooking up with the right people who, regardless of what level they're on, want to make the same movie you want to make. It's certainly not so cut and dried, like the independent scene is cool and artistic and the studios are evil. A guy who gives you 50 grand to make a film can totally ruin it, and a studio that gives you seven million can leave you alone completely. I've already been to Hollywood, actually, and it's a lot of driving around and people who care much more about their bodies than their minds and spirit. I've spent a lot of time in New York in the last year, but always come back thinking Austin has the highest per capita ratio of wonderful people and the lowest percentage of assholes of any city. I believe I'll be based here for quite some time.

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[occupyvenus]

Do you think that maybe the reason why Jon didn't share anything personal with Dany is because he was trying to deny his feelings for her by keeping things less personal as possible? And 7.07 he was finally deciding to love her?

Hi, nonny!

You know what, the first thing I’ll have to admit is that is that’s a valid argument. It’s completely possible and I have no real way to just outright refute it. It would be mostly in character for Jon, I would expect D&D to be more clear about (in the writing itself, not the additional commentary. That’s not a very reliable source for anything in my opinion… Jon snow is dead as dead, y’all) it if it was the case, but that isn’t a very solid argument on it’s own either. 

Before I go on to explain why I believe it’s unlikely, at least in my opinion, I would like to point out tree thing considering the “political jon” theory and j0nerys in general. Buckle up, I will go off topic here. 

1) While the theory gives a sufficient explanation for Jon’s behaviour in ep6 and ep7 without him having any romantic feelings towards Dany, it does not necessarily mean that he has none at all. It’s plausible that he is at least attracted and/or intrigued with her. He might even have stronger feelings than this. I’ll go into why I personally don’t believe this a bit later, but there’s no way for me to objectively deny it either. 

2) I honestly expected Jon and Dany to have some sort of romantic entanglement (unintentional incest is something that grrm would definitely do), but even with this in possibility in mind, it would still be bad storytelling. I’m not talking about the way it was presented per se, but the implications for Dany’s character development in particular. What really bothers me, or rather what makes me question the romance presented by the show, is the fact that both Jon’s newfound political conviction (Dany should rule the seven kingdoms, he gives up Northern independence to Dany freely because he believes in her cause) seems to perfectly align with his personal feelings (he’s genuinely in love with her). It’s too easy. Dany doesn’t has to give up either to gain the other. Her relationship with Jon comes without cost. 

This actually halts Dany’s character development. Or at least, it doesn’t actively further it. She gets everything she wants, both another kingdom’s allegiance and the man she has feelings for. There is no lesson for her to be learned by entering this relationship. She doesn’t have to make a hard choice, there’s no more interpersonal tension for her. No tension means no drama. No drama means no arc. No arc means no story. No story means no point. In the end, she doesn’t even have to decide between fighting the dead or fighting for the Throne. Though this will mostly likely be an issue next season. It all adds up too nicely. Dany should have to make some hard decisions, because that is how a character grows. This should also apply to her relationship with Jon, something that should be of foremost significance to her overall character development. That’s just something I would expect from a romantic relationship between two main characters. Dany should either remain unrelenting on her position on Northern Independence, straining her personal relationship with Jon, or she should be willing to enter a personal relationship with Jon, without also gaining his political support as a subject. Jon saying something like “I love you, but I can’t bend the knee because my people and all.” and Dany being all “I don’t care and stuff” or “I’ll bend the knee, but just so you know I’m not happy about it. I hate that you force me to do this.” and Dany being “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I’ve been working towards this goal half my life and I can’t give you a pass because I’m into you and stuff”. 

Some people might accuse me of thinking so because I begrudge her both political and personal happiness, but it simply doesn’t make for a compelling character arc or story. These issues could/should be resolved at the end of the series, not when we still have 6 feature-film long episodes ahead of us. Even if you could explain the, in my opinion unsatisfying development of their romance by saying Jon was simply denying his feelings, this is a critique that remains. Even the revelation of r+l=j would be a rather weak source of conflict if Dany and Jon are in a mutual, deep, sincere relationship AND agree on her being the rightful queen of the seven kingdoms.The romantic relationship between two major characters having no real personal tension during the entire finale season … just sounds implausible to me. Even if their relationship was later hindered by external sources, there should be internal sources of conflict as well, something that they have to resolve in the course of the next season. This is something from a pure story-telling perspective that bugs me about the j0nerys romance in season 7. In my opinion, the marge!Jon theory builds a compelling case in remediating this little problem (in addition to explaining some of the other ooc moments of the season). Don’t get me wrong, all these things can line up … all conflict should be resolved eventually, but not before the conclusion of the story. Not this soon into Jon and Dany’s shared arc. 

3) My opinions about all this are of course influenced by my other ideas about the series’s final conclusion. I’m trying to stay as unbiased as possible when talking about the actual direction the series could take (compared to my personal preferences), but my opinion on something as important as the relationship between two major characters is not going to be unaffected by my other opinions, expectations, speculations, theories, conclusions, etc. I do not believe that Dany will win the Iron Throne (a believe I already explained in other posts, and I won’t go into more detail here. This is already long enough), I actually believe her to take an antagonistic role at some point before the finale (I will refer you to the grrm approved “Untying the meereenese knot” essays, or anything on my blog tagged as dark!dany. But be warned: there’s probably an equal amount of warranted critique and salty wank in there.) I obviously believe Jonsa to be a thing by the end of the series (again there are many, many posts and metas on why I believe this on my blog), and while I don’t believe that a romance between Dany and Jon would necessarily forecloses the possibility of my ship happening, which means I’m not desperate enough to oppose “the other ship” by all means, it obviously makes me more critical and suspicious. Claiming anything else would be dishonest. But since believing in the ship, or at least seeing it as a foregone conclusion, makes you less critical and suspicious… you know what I’m getting at. There’s no escape from confirmation bias. 

Now, back to the original topic (and this is probably the most biased thing about this entire answer): My biggest argument against this (beside from the one mentioned in point 2) is that Jon has no reason to be in love with her. He certainly has reasons to be attracted to her or intrigued. But I can’t find something that would lead him to develop deeper feelings. 

Other than saving him from a suicide mission he only went on because she wouldn’t help him without proof for either herself or Cersei, Jon hasn’t really seen anything that would endear her to him. She does not leave a good impression at their first meeting, she later basically makes him her prisoner, refuses to form an alliance on any other basis than him bending the knee (in contrast to the one she formed with Asha and Theon), he does not seem too happy about her decision to use her dragons (even if she burned an army instead of a city) and as I already mentioned in my political Jon posts, her prioritizing her position in the south over the survival of his people should not exactly make him like her better either. It should be really hard for her to redeem herself for all this in Jon’s eyes, especially to the point where he develops genuine romantic feelings for her. 

Some people will argue that saving his life north of the wall was enough, I would argue that since she’s the main reason he even had to put himself in such danger in the first place … it wouldn’t be. So that’s something we could argue about to no end. He says that she has “a good heart”, but we never see Jon witness anything that would bring him to this conclusion. Missandei compliments Dany and tells Jon that “she is the queen we chose”… when Dany is demanding he bends the knee to her … even though his people chose HIM …and not her. He even questions Danys goodness of heart in this very conversation when asking Missandei whether she truly believes that Dany would allow her to leave. 

I don’t think that Dany’s wish to be “extraordinary”, her lamenting the confinement and subsequent demise of dragons because it changed her family into “being just like everyone else” after listening to Jorah explaining what makes dragons so dangerous they had to be locked away in the first place, is something that Jon could relate to or appreciate or find particularly attractive. To me, his response “you’re not like everybody else”, sounds like him simply telling her what she wants to hear. Not like him expressing his own thoughts. And despite what some people think Jon is really observant and knows what buttons to push: 

Guest right or no, Jon Snow knew he walked on rotten ice here. One false step and he might plunge through, into water cold enough to stop his heart. Weigh every word before you speak it, he told himself. He took a long draught of mead to buy time for his answer. When he set the horn aside he said, “Tell me why you turned your cloak, and I’ll tell you why I turned mine.”

Mance Rayder smiled, as Jon had hoped he would. The king was plainly a man who liked the sound of his own voice. “You will have heard stories of my desertion, I have no doubt.“ 

ASOS, Jon I

He has appealed to this certain characteristic before, when Dany asks for his opinion on the beach: “The people who follow you know that you made something impossible happen….”. Btw, I don’t think that Dany lashing out against her advisors left a particularly good impression either…. Not that Dany didn’t have a reason to be upset, but despite just coming from their “romantic” cave scene (romantic in lightning, setting, score and some facial expressions. Not so romantic when you think about the topic they talked about… but that’s another issue. Let’s just note this one as a bonding moment), the first real bonding moment between them this is his reaction when Dany tells to him to stay during their little war council: 

I don’t know, this doesn’t look like repressed romantic feelings to me. (I actually managed to add both a book quote and a gif.sry about the shitty quality, I made this rather quickly.) 

And even if Jon was simply hiding his true feelings, the show could have easily done a better job at showing this. Most notably when he leaves Dragonstone to go beyond the Wall. When Dany is taking another step to close the gap between them and he doesn’t react. When Jorah turns around to take a last look at the woman he loves, only emphasizing the fact that Jon doesn’t. The show could have easily written in a scene to make Jon calling her “Dany” in ep6 more plausible. To make this sudden shift from “I wish you good fortunes in the wars to come your grace” less … random. A scene where she offers to converse on a first-name basis, but he declines because “it wouldn’t be appropriate”, for example. Something to stress that he is fighting against these feelings. They could have written in a scene of Jon sharing something before the dragonpit meeting at the beginning of ep7, after the first time he appears to reciprocate her feelings on the boat, or even at some point between the dragonpit meeting and their journey back north. If this was the grand love story of the series I’m sure they could have sacrificed 1 or 2 minutes of screentime to give them some proper, mutual bonding time before doing the deed. Why not replace the group discussion with both of them having a private conversation about their journey north? They could have discussed the same issues. Instead Jon gets another one-one-one scene with Theon, where they talked about their shared daddy issues. (… btw, Jon saying that he isn’t always as good as it seems … it’s just…) Instead we get Jorah worrying about Dany’s safety, while Jon cares more about how her arrival should look like to the north. Then of course there is the issue about how their sex-scene was filmed (no first kiss, no undressing, etc.), but I’m going to leave this discussion for another time. Other people have already talked about this as well. 

Now of course all of this is open to interpretation and different people will have vastly different views on this. This is just my own. I simply can’t refute the possibility of Jon denying his feelings because of that. But in my opinion there are still so many things that don’t add up. For me, there are simply one too many indications for Jon lying about or exaggerating his feelings (though… he never actually said anything about them) and too many missed opportunities to establish an actual romance. 

Also, this doesn’t fit into Jon’s theme of learning from his predecessors mistakes. Robb did the same thing, “betraying” his people by giving in to love (at least on the show. Something that was brought up again in s6 for no reason by lord glover … though D&D might just love to use the word “whore”, who knows?). If we consider Jon to be the final big “hero” of this story he should learn a lesson from every “hero” that came before him. Now, if he had decided to love her by the end of the season, while still refusing to “betray” his people and their trust by bending the knee it would be a different story entirely. 

I will leave it at that. I’m not sure most of this even makes sense and I let my mind run free about this little innocent question for long enough. 

[diarrheaworldstarhiphop]

Murdered DNC Staffer Seth Rich Shared 44,053 Democrat Emails With WikiLeaks: Report

----------------

For the past several months, Democrats have based their "Resist 45" movement on unsubstantiated assertions that the Trump campaign coordinated with Russian intelligence officials to undermine the 2016 Presidential Election thereby 'stealing' the White House from Hillary Clinton.  Day after day we've all suffered through one anonymously sourced, "shock" story after another from the New York Times and/or The Washington Post with new allegations of the 'wrongdoing'.

But, new evidence surfacing in the Seth Rich murder investigation may just quash the "Russian hacking" conspiracy theory.   According to a new report from Fox News, it was former DNC staffer Seth Rich who supplied 44,000 DNC emails to WikiLeaks and not some random Russian cyber terrorist, as we've all been led to believe.  

According to Fox News, though admittedly via yet another anonymous FBI source, Rich made contact with WikiLeaks through Gavin MacFadyen, an American investigative reporter and director of WikiLeaks who was living in London at the time.  According to Fox News sources, federal law enforcement investigators found 44,053 emails and 17,761 attachments sent between DNC leaders from January 2015 to May 2016 that Rich shared with WikiLeaks before he was gunned down on July 10, 2016.  

The Democratic National Committee staffer who was gunned down on July 10 on a Washington, D.C., street just steps from his home had leaked thousands of internal emails to WikiLeaks, law enforcement sources told Fox News.

A federal investigator who reviewed an FBI forensic report detailing the contents of DNC staffer Seth Rich’s computer generated within 96 hours after his murder, said Rich made contact with WikiLeaks through Gavin MacFadyen, a now-deceased American investigative reporter, documentary filmmaker, and director of WikiLeaks who was living in London at the time.

“I have seen and read the emails between Seth Rich and Wikileaks,” the federal investigator told Fox News, confirming the MacFadyen connection. He said the emails are in possession of the FBI, while the stalled case is in the hands of the Washington Police Department.

Then, on July 22, just 12 days after Rich was killed, WikiLeaks published internal DNC emails that appeared to show top party officials conspiring to stop Bernie Sanders  from becoming the party’s presidential nominee. As we've noted before, the DNC's efforts to block Sanders resulted in Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigning as DNC chairperson.

These new revelations seem to be consistent with the findings of Rod Wheeler, a former DC homicide detective and Fox News contributor, whose private investigation firm was hired by Rich’s family to probe the case.

"My investigation up to this point shows there was some degree of email exchange between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks," Wheeler told Fox News. "I do believe that the answers to who murdered Seth Rich sits on his computer on a shelf at the DC police or FBI headquarters."

“My investigation shows someone within the D.C. government, Democratic National Committee or Clinton team is blocking the murder investigation from going forward,” Wheeler told Fox News. “That is unfortunate. Seth Rich’s murder is unsolved as a result of that.”

The botched robbery theory, which police have pursued for nearly a year, isn’t panning out, Wheeler said. Two assailants caught on a grainy video tape from a camera posted outside a grocery mart, shot Rich twice in his back, but did not take his wallet, cell phone, keys, watch or necklace worth about $2,000.

As you'll recall, Rich's death has been shrouded in mystery from the start as he was reportedly shot from behind in the wee hours of the morning but was not robbed of the nearly $2,000 worth of cash and jewelry on his body at the time. 

Rich had been at Lou’s City Bar a couple of miles from his home until about 1:15 a.m. He walked home, calling several people along the way. He called his father, Joel Rich, who he missed because he had gone to sleep. He talked with a fraternity brother and his girlfriend, Kelsey Mulka.

Around 4:17 a.m., Rich was about a block from his home when Mulka, still on the phone with him, heard voices in the background. Rich reassured her that he was steps away from being at his front door and hung up.

Two minutes later, Rich was shot twice. Police were on the scene within three minutes. Rich sustained bruising on his hands and face. He remained conscious, but died at a nearby hospital less than two hours later.

Shortly thereafter, Julian Assange implied that Seth Rich was, in fact, a source for WikiLeaks and offered a $130,000 reward for information leading to his killer.

Per the Washington Examiner, Rich's family issued the following statement, via a 'spokesman', regarding the recent Fox News reports saying they have seen no evidence of the alleged emails between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks:

"As we've seen through the past year of unsubstantiated claims, we see no facts, we have seen no evidence, we have been approached with no emails and only learned about this when contacted by the press," the statement said. "Even if tomorrow, an email was found, it is not a high enough bar of evidence to prove any interactions as emails can be altered and we've seen that those interest in pushing conspiracies will stop at nothing to do so."

"We are a family who is committed to facts, not fake evidence that surfaces every few months to fill the void and distract law enforcement and the general public from finding Seth's murderers. The services of the private investigator who spoke to the press was offered to the Rich family and paid for by a third party, and contractually was barred from speaking to press or anyone outside of law enforcement or the family unless explicitly authorized by the family."

But, as WikiLeaks noted, the family's "spokesman" is none other than Democrat crisis PR consultant Brad Bauman.

Seems that not everyone within the FBI is on board with the "Russian hacking" narrative and are finally starting to come forward.

Finally, we find it 'shocking' that while the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, etc are all too eager to regurgitate each others anonymously sourced stories that are critical of Trump, not a single one of them had a single reference of this Fox News bombshell on their website at the time this article was published.

[streetsolo]

A Flare in the Dark (chapter 4)

Click here to read on ao3 or 

               The four of you are sitting around the living room idly, drinking and waiting for B and C to come back. Your conversation had been light and casual, talking about the different things that Captain Phasma had told you about the ship. Unfortunately, though, it wasn’t long until Shayne brought up the topic that was really on his mind.

               “I think they brought us on board to assess the mental conditions of the Storm Troopers here,” he says during one of the periodic lulls in conversation.

               “Not this again,” Ladson sighs as he rubs his forehead.

               “Either that, or to assess their loyalty,” Shayne said. “I mean, think about it. If the Tortutaru can read minds, why do we have to interpret anything for them? Shouldn’t they be able to just know what the Storm Troopers are thinking?”

               “I don’t think it works like that,” you tell him. “I mean, yes they have telepathy to communicate with each other, but I don’t know how easy or hard it would be for them to actually read someone else’s mind.” Ladson shoots you a frustrated look, and you spread your hands in front of you. “What?”

               “Don’t encourage him,” he says. “Seriously, Shayne, everything you’re saying sounds like a bunch of ridiculous conspiracy theories.”

               “Well, of course they’re theories,” Shayne says. “Because we have nothing else to go on.”

               “I think the point is stop trying to figure it out,” Sadie says softly, shooting a wink in Ladson’s direction. He smiles at her gratefully, and you take a quick sip of your drink and avert your eyes from the whole scene. Ladson was the perfect specimen to describe the word handsome: curly blonde locks, long face, high cheekbones, pointed chin, and Sadie had already told you that she was going to use the next six months wisely. As much as you wanted to avoid any drama within the group, you didn’t really care either way. If anything, Sadie’s endeavors could prove as a source of entertainment and a welcome distraction from whatever was really going on around here.

               Suddenly, a door opens and B and C come walking in from their bedroom. You realize that there is no direct door to the living room from the outside, and although that could be good in a way, you realize that it meant that B and C could have potentially been listening to your entire conversation this whole time. Their casual demeanor makes you think they didn’t, but it’s something to be aware of in the future.

               “What are you four talking about?” B asks casually as he sits down beside you while C goes into the kitchen to get drinks from the fridge.

               “Just stuff,” Sadie says, waiting for C to join him. “We ate lunch with Captain Phasma today.”

               B’s nose crinkles, as if he’s not sure what to make of this. “How did that all come about?”

               All eyes look to you, and you glance down. When you glance back up, his expression is a mixture of surprise and confusion. “She called me over,” you tell him. “I didn’t want to be rude.”

               “Yes, well,” he tilts his head to one side. No one mentions to him that you had interpreted for her earlier in the day, and you are thankful for that. You cross your fingers and hope it won’t come up. Not that you’re afraid of getting in trouble, per say, but you knew he would frown upon it. “I can’t tell you it was the best idea, but if she did invite you over, I doubt it matters much. I trust you’re all smart enough not to ask the wrong questions, especially in front of a Captain, no less.”

               “So how were your first assignments today?” C asks in a genial tone, trying to lighten the mood. Sadie goes first, of course, talking a mile a minute about a time when her Tortutaru partner accidently landed on her home planet, mistaking it for another. This strikes you as curious, considering her home planet is one of considerable wealth, but you decide it would be best not to comment on it. Ladson goes next and is fairly brief, throwing a lot of academic words around to describe his process, and Shayne goes third. His assignment was a bit rougher than yours, considering it was clear that whoever he had interpreted for had never worked with an interpreter before.

               “The Storm Trooper kept asking me all these weird questions,” Shayne lamented. “He’s like, wow, it’s so cool that you know sign language. I wish I could learn. And I’m like, which one? There’s over nine thousand in the galaxy.” You all laugh, more as a way to ease the frustration than anything else. Of course there was a sign language for pretty much every spoken language, but for some reason, people seemed convinced that if you knew one sign language, you knew them all. To be fair, with over nine thousand signed languages there was definitely a great deal of overlap, but each had their own distinctions and nuances that were of grave importance. One specific example you had come across was a sign that meant sex on one planet meant a type of fruit on another. That sort of thing could get confusing fast if you weren’t paying attention to contextual clues.

                “And how was yours?” B asks, looking at you.

               “It was fine,” you reply lamely. “You know, nothing really weird happened or anything. It was just an assignment.” He stares at you, and you feel compelled to continue. “I mean, I kind of zoned out of it. I honestly can’t remember any of the conversation to even have any questions about it.”

               B nods, satisfied. “How was your assignment?” Shayne asks.

               “That bloody mask, it’s dreadful,” C says, burying his face in his hands. You all laugh appreciatively.

               “It’s not a laughing matter,” B says quietly. He gets up hurriedly and walks to a corner of the room, rubbing his forehead with his fingers.

               C offers you a quick apology. “Apparently Kylo Ren has a few talents that we were quite unaware of when we first agreed to take this assignment.” You wait anxiously for him to continue and he sighs. “Apparently Kylo Ren seems to have some mind-reading capabilities of his own. He does not need us to communicate with the Tortutaru and does not appreciate our presence on board.”

               “Fortunately, General Hux respectfully disagrees.” He glances back at C, who looks away. Suddenly, you are extremely grateful that you were not interpreting whatever morning meetings they had.

               “So Kylo Ren can read minds?” Shayne asks. Of course Shayne would be the one to ask. B just nods. “To what extent?”

               “We’re not exactly sure,” B says. “We know he uses the Force, but he is apparently unable to read the minds of the Tortutaru unless they wish it.” He glances back at C.

               “He was quite frustrated with that revelation,” he adds in the happiest tone he can muster.

               “Are you all right?” Sadie asks, reading between the lines.

               “We are fine,” B says, which immediately makes you wonder if there is someone else aboard the ship that is not fine. You make a mental note to avoid Kylo Ren at all costs. You look up to see everyone else’s reactions, when you notice Ladson staring directly at you. The rest of them notice it too.

               “Something on your mind?” you ask as nonchalantly as possible.

               “What were you thinking about?” Ladson asks, rubbing the edge of his thumb against his lower lip.

               “Just now?” you ask blankly.

               “Yesterday,” Ladson says. “When Kylo Ren was staring at you.”

               You blink, and your face flushes at the implication. “You mean to tell me he was reading my mind?”

               “What were you thinking about?” B asks seriously as he comes back to sit on the couch, and your jaw drops a little as you try to think back, desperately racking your brain for your exact thoughts.

               “I was wondering what was under his mask,” you say suddenly. “That’s what I was thinking about, when he looked at me, the first time.” You gulp. “I mean, I couldn’t be sure he was actually looking at me, you know, with the mask and everything. But that’s all, really, I was just thinking about whether or not he was a person or some kind of alien. I wasn’t thinking anything bad or anything.” You look at each of them in turn, as if desperate to have them believe you. Unfortunately, it’s not them you have to convince. “Do you think that insulted him? Should I apologize?”

               “No,” B’s tone is cool and clipped. “No, you will not apologize to him because you will not seek him out. Kylo Ren is extremely dangerous and you will not go anywhere near him. In fact, I would suggest that you, all of you, make great strides to avoid him. Do I make myself clear?”

               “Don’t need to tell me twice,” Sadie says under her breath.

               “Good,” B sighs. “Now I suggest you all get to bed. You had a trying first day and you could all use some rest.” He lets out a breath. “For all of you who journal, I would suggest using discretion, even amongst your private thoughts. For now, we are guests here, but there are powerful people who do not want us here, do not like what we have come here to do. Please exercise caution.” With that, he turns around and storms into his room.

               C sits up from the couch. “You heard him. Into bed, the lot of you. We’ll see you in the morning for breakfast.” He stands up and waits for you each to return to your separate rooms. You try to glance at Sadie out of the corner of your eye, but she is looking down at the floor. You go into your room and shut the door behind you, crawling onto your bed and burying your face in the pillow. Had Kylo Ren really used the Force to read your mind? Could he really do that? You hadn’t really felt like he was reading your mind though. Would you really feel something like that? You could only imagine it to be a painful, intrusive affair.

               You close your eyes and try to drift off to sleep. Six months, that was it. You just had to avoid trouble for six months, and then you could go home.

               Luckily, the next few days pass without incident. Some of the Storm Troopers take their helmets off when they talk, but others do not. You honestly hate that hollow tone of voice from inside the helmet, as it occasionally makes it extremely hard to hear what they are saying, but you do the best you can. On either the third or fourth day, you notice that Taro is signing differently, favoring his left hand instead of his right. You feel constantly distracted and decide to ask him about it after the Storm Trooper leaves.

               You lift up your hands and ask him if his hand is okay, mentioning your idle perceptions. He looks down at his hands as if he hasn’t really noticed and shrugs. You laugh lightly and joke that you hope he’s not being trained in some sort of combat.

               He looks up at you suddenly, seriously. Can’t answer.

               You blink at him. It didn’t make any sense. You momentarily forget that you’re not supposed to ask any questions.  You make the sign to indicate that you are about to state a hypothetical and then ask him. You tell me…danger happen? You do the last sign in reverse, gesturing towards your body instead of away from it. …to me? If you tell me, will I be in danger?

               He repeats the sign for danger and then moves his index finger in a circle twice. You’re always in danger here.

               You swallow the lump in your throat and immediately the vision of the mask comes to your mind. You don’t even need to say his name. Taro makes the sign for K then R in a vertical line down the side of his face. Name? Say don’t. Name, think don’t.

               You sit there for a moment and process what he said. Don’t say his name. Don’t even think it.

               You nod for a moment before you lift up your hand and make the sign to show you understand him. You are still thinking about what he had said when you get back to your room. B and C are already in the living room, along with everyone else.

               “Finally,” B breathes. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

               “Sorry,” you apologize. You decide not to tell them about Taro’s hand. You would only get in trouble for asking a question that you shouldn’t have anyway. It would only fuel Shayne’s dangerous speculations and put you at odds with B. No, you didn’t need to tell them anything. “Everything okay?”

               “Tomorrow, you are all going to have two interviews,” B explains. He immediately notices the alarm on everyone’s faces. “Now, now, calm down. This is simply a precaution to ensure that there is no conflict with the Resistance.”

               “Who?” Sadie asks.

               “Precisely,” B replies. “Right now, these are dangerous, tense times and they simply want to make sure there are no conflicting interests on board.”

               Shayne is the first one to say what you’re thinking. “Who is going to be conducting the interviews? Kylo Ren? Is he going to read our minds to make sure we’re telling the truth?”

               B sighs in exasperation. “I am sure Kylo Ren has more important things to do than to probe your mind for information that’s not there to begin with,” he says dryly. “No, they will probably send in some Storm Trooper lackey to do it.”

               “They were all given a full record of your affairs and histories before you came on board,” C says. “They know that you have probably never been in contact with the Resistance. Like B said, it’s just a precaution.” You look at B imploringly, but he purposely avoids your eyes.

               “And the second interview?” Ladson asks. “Is that simply to ensure that our answers don’t change from one interview to the second?”

               “My apologies,” B says. “I don’t believe I made myself clear. You shall be interviewed in the morning, but only the once. Then in the afternoon, General Hux himself will personally be interviewing the Tortutaru, so it would probably be better to work in groups of two. I’m thinking girls and boys?”

               “Fine by me,” you say, and Sadie shoots you a dirty look that you ignore. There was a time and place for everything, and flirting with Ladson in the middle of an assignment with General Hux was definitely not the right time or place.

               “Excellent,” C says. “Now, I know this may seem a bit stressful, but please, don’t let it be. As we’ve already emphasized, it’s just a precaution, nothing more.”

               “That makes us feel loads better,” Shayne says.

               “It’s fine,” Ladson snaps. Honestly, you have no idea how Shayne and Ladson are going to work together tomorrow. They seem to hate each other more and more with each passing day. Well, at least it’s obvious that Ladson can’t stand to be around Shayne. Shayne just seems mildly oblivious to it. “Like he said, it’s just a precaution. We don’t know anything about the Resistance or the war. Our records speak for themselves. We just need to be honest with them, show them we have nothing to hide, and we’ll be fine. It’s nothing to worry about.”

               “Exactly,” Sadie says, smiling pointedly at him. You roll your eyes and look at B again, but he is purposely avoiding looking at you. Fantastic.

               That night, the six of you eat dinner together and keep your conversation light, focused on academics back at school. It seems like a lifetime ago that you were anywhere other than the Starkiller base, but you don’t comment on it. You had only been here a few days, but it already felt like an eternity. C encourages you all to retire to your separate rooms early for reflection, and you pretend to do as he says, entering your room and shutting the door behind you. You wait until the coast is clear before you quietly sneak out of your room and knock on the door to B’s room.

               “I had a feeling it would be you,” B says, opening the door slightly.

               “Then tell me,” you whisper. “How much of my history did you give them?”

               He shakes his head. “Enough of it. Honestly, it’s just going to be some lackey asking the questions, as I said. They’re not going to know if you-“

               “-lie?” you cut him off. “Just tell me what records you sent them.”

               “Just your academic ones,” he replies. “Just tell them you were born there. They don’t have any way of knowing the truth. It doesn’t make a difference.”

               You hesitate. You want to argue more, but he has a point. “If I’m vague, they’ll think I’m hiding something,” you say at last.

               “Or they’ll just think you’re a scared, shy little girl,” he says. “Play it up. We’re all playing a role here.”

               “I thought I wasn’t playing a role,” you hiss at him. “I thought that was the point. Just to be the interpreter, right? I’m not supposed to be anything but a completely neutral entity.”

               “And you are,” he replies. “Which is why this whole interview thing doesn’t matter. You are neutral. You have nothing to do with the Resistance or the First Order.” He pauses. “If you had, I wouldn’t have let you come.”

               “Because you need unbiased parties,” you say. It had always been sort of a mantra, keep the interpreter neutral so that he or she could not take sides in a dispute, but B had said more in that sentence than you realized. If he was looking for people to be neutral to the conflict, then whatever your assignment was directly pertained to it.

               “Stop that,” B whispers, as if sensing your thoughts. “Don’t think too much into this. Remember, the less you know the better.”

               “I know,” you whisper back. “Thanks.”

               “Six more months,” he says quietly. “You’re a smart girl. Keep yourself safe.” He pauses before he shuts the door. “And don’t ask questions. Don’t tell them anything they don’t need to know. As far as they’re concerned, you’re just a sweet girl that likes languages and needed a steady job.”  

               “Good night,” you whisper quietly as you slip back to your room, making sure to shut the door as quietly as possible. He was right. There would be no way the Storm Trooper conducting the interview would know if you were lying or not. The best thing that you could do was just keep your answers as short and direct as possible.

               You lie down in your bed and lace your fingers over your stomach. “I’m just a sweet little girl who loves languages,” you whisper to the ceiling. “I don’t know anything.”

               At least one part of that was true.

[bountyofbeads]

The Daily 202: Warning flares from Tom Bossert and Adam Kinzinger show the risks of Trump’s hyperbolic defense

By James Hohmann | Published September 30 at 10:51 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted September 30, 2019 3:10 PM ET | VIDEOS |

THE BIG IDEA: Sunday started with President Trump’s former homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, saying he was “deeply disturbed” by the implications of his call to the Ukrainian president and ended with a GOP congressman, Adam Kinzinger, calling one of Trump’s tweets “beyond repugnant.”

While key Republicans have rallied to the president’s defense since House Democrats opened an impeachment inquiry last week, the bookends to the day underscore the riskiness of a scorched-earth defense strategy that is predicated on an insistence that Trump did absolutely nothing wrong.

The president is running the smashmouth playbook he learned from Roy Cohn, his mentor and Joe McCarthy’s hatchet man. It’s worked repeatedly for Trump, from fighting the Justice Department’s investigation of racial discrimination at his family’s rental properties in the 1970s to overcoming Bob Mueller’s investigation the past two years. Among other things, this strategy involves denying everything and counterattacking critics by accusing them of whatever you’ve been accused of.

The don’t-give-an-inch mentality is what prompts someone like White House policy adviser Stephen Miller to declare on “Fox News Sunday” that “the president of the United States is the whistleblower, and this individual is a saboteur trying to undermine a democratically elected government.” And it is why Trump allows Rudy Giuliani, his ferocious personal attorney, to keep defending him on television despite the messes he seems to make each time he goes on the air.

-- Bossert’s appearance Sunday morning on ABC’s “This Week” showed that even Trump loyalists cannot always be counted on to espouse Trump’s I-know-what-you-are-but-what-am-I talking points. The former homeland security adviser strongly criticized the president for furthering the unfounded conspiracy theory that the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike played a role in shielding the Democratic National Committee’s server and perhaps the true origins of the hackers. Bossert noted that the U.S. intelligence community has concluded that the Russians hacked the Democratic servers.

“That conspiracy theory has got to go,” Bossert said, explaining that Trump is motivated to spread the “completely debunked” theory because he had “not gotten his pound of flesh yet” over being “wrongly accused of colluding with Russia” to win the 2016 election. But Bossert warned that he risks taking it too far: “If he continues to focus on that white whale, it’s going to bring him down,” he said.

Bossert resigned as the top homeland security official in the White House in April 2018 at the request of John Bolton, one day after Bolton took over as national security adviser. On ABC, where he has a contributor contract, Bossert also criticized Giuliani for pushing conspiracy theories on the president because “it sticks in his mind when he hears it over and over again.”

Bossert’s comments were measured. He said he’s not convinced that Trump leveraged U.S. aid to Ukraine for political dirt, noting that there might have been legitimate reasons to hold back the money, such as getting other European countries to put up more. “That said,” Bossert added, “it is a bad day and a bad week for this president and this country if he is asking for political dirt on an opponent.”

Appearing later in the program, Giuliani told anchor George Stephanopoulos: “Tom Bossert doesn't know what he's talking about.”

-- Kinzinger’s tweet on Sunday night suggested that there’s some limit to how much congressional Republicans will defend Trump’s tactics. The president vigorously defended himself on Twitter all weekend and continued to attack the whistleblower whose complaint set in motion the impeachment inquiry. At one point, the president highlighted a quote he apparently heard on Fox News from an evangelical pastor who supports him.

“If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal,” Trump tweeted, adding his own parenthetical to a comment from Robert Jeffress, a Southern Baptist preacher who is based in Dallas.

Kinzinger, a decorated Air Force veteran who served as a pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan and represents the Chicago suburbs in Congress, quickly replied: “I have visited nations ravaged by civil war,” he tweeted. “I have never imagined such a quote to be repeated by a President.”

THE LATEST ON THE INVESTIGATION:

-- Nancy Pelosi, mindful of her front-line moderates, is counting on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff to keep the impeachment inquiry focused on Ukraine. She thought the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing with Corey Lewandowski the week before last was a debacle for Democrats. By coincidence, that embarrassing fiasco came just days before the deluge of revelations about Trump’s interactions with Ukraine’s president. Those two events prompted the speaker to change up strategy. For now, she’s largely sidelined Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler to elevate Schiff. Pelosi wants the investigation to focus narrowly on Ukraine and believes it’s easier for the public to understand than what was covered in the Mueller report. (Rachael Bade and Mike DeBonis have more on the internal machinations.)

-- “On a conference call with House Democrats on Sunday afternoon, Pelosi told her colleagues that public sentiment — something she had frequently cited as an obstacle to pursuing impeachment — had begun to swing around,” per Felicia Sonmez and DeBonis. “‘The polls have changed drastically about this,’ she said, urging a careful approach, according to notes taken by a person on the call: ‘Our tone must be prayerful, respectful, solemn, worthy of the Constitution.’”

-- Here’s the jurisdictional breakdown by committee: Intelligence will focus on allegations that Trump coerced Ukraine to dig up dirt on his political opponent. Foreign Affairs will focus on any wrongdoing by Trump appointees within the State Department, especially pertaining to Giuliani. Oversight will scrutinize why the summary of the Ukrainian call was moved to a more classified system, which the whistleblower alleged was done in an effort to keep the misconduct from getting out. Judiciary would retake center stage when it comes to drafting articles of impeachment.

-- Schiff said his panel has reached a tentative agreement to secure testimony from the still-anonymous whistleblower “very soon,” pending a security clearance from acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire. “We’ll get the unfiltered testimony of that whistleblower,” Schiff said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Mark Zaid, a lawyer for the whistleblower, said no date or time for the testimony has been set. He said bipartisan negotiations in both chambers are ongoing, and “protecting the whistleblower’s identity is paramount.” Andrew Bakaj, another attorney for the whistleblower, sent a letter to Maguire expressing fears for his client’s safety.

After CBS News reported last night at the top of “60 Minutes” that the whistleblower is “under federal protection,” citing that letter, Zaid replied that the network “completely misinterpreted contents of our letter.” CBS responded that it “stands by its sources and reporting.”

-- Coming attractions: On Wednesday, House investigators from the Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees are scheduled to depose Marie Yovanovitch, a career foreign service officer who was recalled early from her post as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. On Thursday, the investigators will depose Kurt Volker, who resigned on Friday night as Trump’s special State Department envoy to Ukraine and who Giuliani was in contact with. On Friday, intelligence community Inspector General Michael Atkinson – another Trump appointee – is scheduled to testify behind closed doors about his determination that the whistleblower’s complaint was urgent and credible.

-- Subpoenas were issued late Friday to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, giving him a week to turn over documents.

-- Giuliani said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Pompeo told him he was aware of his shadow diplomacy to prod Ukraine's government to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his family. “I did not do this on my own,” he said. “I did it at the request of the State Department, and I have all of the text messages to prove it. And I also have a thank you from them from doing a good job. … When I talked to the secretary last week, he said he was aware of it.”

-- Giuliani was not the only attorney linked to Trump trying to get damaging information on Biden from Ukraine, Fox News’s Chris Wallace reported on “Fox News Sunday”: “Joe DiGenova and his wife, Victoria Toensing, worked alongside the former New York City mayor. According to a top U.S. official, the three attorneys were working ‘off the books’ – not within the Trump administration – and only the president knows the details of their work. DiGenova and Toensing have been staunch supporters of Trump and were close to joining his legal team during Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. That ultimately did not happen due to conflicts, as Toensing had previously represented witnesses who had already spoken to Mueller’s team. In a tweet on Sunday, Toensing denied that her husband and she were working with Giuliani and called the reporting ‘categorically false.’ Wallace later responded, ‘We stand by our story.’”

-- Fox News also reported that Trump’s order to withhold assistance for Ukraine was made despite “unanimous” support for delivering the aid from the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council.

-- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not suffered politically back home for kowtowing to the American president’s demands -- at least not yet. Will Englund and Natalie Gryvnyak track the fallout in Kiev: “It might not say much for his adherence to the rule of law that he appeared amenable to [Trump’s] suggestion, analysts say. But in Ukraine, it’s hardly shocking. And, importantly, he hasn’t actually done anything about it since he hung up the phone. ‘This scandal is not affecting Ukrainian politics at all,’ said Sviatoslav Yurash, a Zelensky ally in the Rada, or parliament. ‘American politics isn’t on top of the agenda.’

“But some members of the Rada appear ready to turn up the heat. Prominent among them is Oleksiy Honcharenko, a member of former president Petro Poroshenko’s party. Honcharenko told The Washington Post on Sunday that ‘sources’ within the government have told him Ukraine has both a transcript and an audio recording of the call — and he plans to ask Zelensky to release them. The chances of that happening are slim, which raises the possibility that Honcharenko is merely trolling. He said he plans to hold an informal hearing later this week. ‘He’s doing a stunt,’ Yurash said. ‘Some people like that.’”

THE POLITICS:

-- An ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday shows that just about half of Americans said they are “not surprised at all” to hear of Trump’s actions. An additional 32 percent said they are “not surprised,” Scott Clement and Colby Itkowitz report. “The national poll, conducted Friday and Saturday, also finds that 63 percent of adults say it is a serious problem that Trump pushed the president of Ukraine to investigate the son of his potential 2020 opponent … Less than half of the public, 43 percent, said Trump’s action was ‘very serious.’ The survey did not ask whether Trump should be impeached or about accusations that White House officials tried to keep the July phone call secret…”

-- A CBS-YouGov survey, also released Sunday, found that 55 percent of Americans support an impeachment investigation, though independents remain evenly divided. The poll showed that only 42 percent said Trump deserves to actually be impeached, with 22 percent saying it’s too soon to know

-- That topline number tracks with what Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee officials say their internal polling shows. In the conference call yesterday afternoon with Pelosi, DCCC chair Cheri Bustos told members that their private poll – in the field on Thursday and Friday – showed that 54 percent of likely voters support Democrats opening an impeachment inquiry, and that voters preferred a pro-impeachment Democrat over an anti-impeachment Republican by 11 points. But Politico reports that Bustos urged anyone who might be vulnerable to gauge local support and test messages through polling in their own districts — and promised the party committee will help pay for these surveys.

-- “Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries outlined a plan to message the issue with ‘repetition,’” Politico adds. “He named six words that Democrats will use — ‘betrayal, abuse of power, national security’ … On the call, Pelosi reiterated that Democrats would remain focused on their legislative agenda and said she hopes Trump doesn't walk away from a deal on trade or drug pricing — a dual approach that many moderates have said is key to keeping the House.”

-- The House is on a two-week recess, which means members are back in their districts. Vulnerable Democrats appear to be treading carefully as they arrive home. From the New York Times: “Orange County was the epicenter of the 2018 House Democratic takeover, where Republicans lost four seats … On Saturday night, as three of the victorious Democrats were honored at an annual political dinner, a new battle was on everyone’s minds: How to protect those gains in 2020 by selling voters on the impeachment inquiry … At the dinner, Representative Harley Rouda warned Democrats not to ‘sit on our laurels.’ Representative Mike Levin solemnly said ‘the times have found us.’ And Representative Gil Cisneros, who came out for the inquiry only last week, plugged his campaign website twice to ask for donations and noted, ‘The Republicans are coming after me now.’

“That Democratic messaging challenge came into sharp relief during interviews with voters like Donna Artukovic, a retired teacher who was volunteering at the Orange County dinner. Ms. Artukovic expressed nervousness about what an impeachment battle could mean for Democratic candidates. ‘I am afraid it’s going to hurt them,’ she said. ‘A lot of people — even who don’t like Trump — don’t like impeachment.’

“Representative Andy Kim of New Jersey, a Democrat who ousted a Republican incumbent in 2018 by focusing on issues like health insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions, held a town hall-style meeting in his district on Saturday where only one voter asked about impeachment (and even then, it was part of a multipronged question). In an interview afterward, Mr. Kim noted the paucity of questions on a topic that has engulfed Washington."

-- The presidential campaign has entered uncertain territory, and campaigns are still figuring out how they should try to adjust messaging and scheduling, Sean Sullivan reports.

-- Some of Biden’s supporters are voicing growing concern that his campaign is not prepared to weather the dual political rip currents suddenly reshaping the 2020 race — an onslaught of attacks on his family from Trump and a tightened contest for the Democratic nomination. Matt Viser reports: “Several allies, including top financial backers, are weighing whether to create a super PAC to independently defend Biden and go after the president, who has repeatedly accused the former vice president of corruption and whose campaign last week launched a $10 million ad blitz aimed largely at attacking Biden. …

“Biden, who has insisted his election would return the country to normalcy, has over the past several days largely sought to avoid the political spasm in which he is now a central figure. His campaign has sent out daily statements on health care and other issues, as if leaning toward predictability in a highly unpredictable time. He has only sporadically talked about Trump’s attacks on him and his son Hunter. At a fundraiser Saturday in Park City, Utah, the host, Barry Baker, called Trump a ‘lying, narcissistic traitor, cheater,’ while Biden over the course of a 20-minute speech did not mention impeachment or the president’s dealings with Ukraine. …

“On Sunday, two top Biden campaign officials sent a letter to the heads of major news and cable networks, urging them not to book [Giuliani]. ‘By giving [him] your air time, you are allowing him to introduce increasingly unhinged, unfounded and desperate lies into the national conversation,’ the letter from Anita Dunn and Kate Bedingfield reads.”

-- The White House is preparing to activate an impeachment-focused war room: “Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House counsel Pat Cipollone will be among those who present the president with the plan for a rapid-response effort that could come as early as Monday,” NBC News reports. “It was unclear who would lead the internal effort, but one person expected to play a role was White House spokesman Steven Groves, who has spent time in both the White House counsel’s office helping manage the Mueller inquiry and the press shop as a spokesman on issues related to congressional investigations … ‘We’re not going to get caught flat-footed, and we’re not going to take it lying down,’ said one source.”

[trinitiesblog]

the Quaternity Argument

In the Facebook group yesterday I had an interesting exchange with Andrew Schumacher, who you may remember from podcast 251. He was raised in a biblical unitarian group but has changed his mind and now holds a trinitarian theology.

Our friend Carlos asked him:

…which Person is speaking in Isa 44:24?” [“Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by myself spread out the earth…”]

Andrew: “Doesn’t matter. God acts and speaks as one quite a bit. Scripture affirms God is one. It also affirms God is three by identifying three distinct persons as God. Trinitarians just believe all of Scripture. Isaiah 44:24 is definitely proof against Arianism, since it proves only Yahweh was involved in creation. This is what the Trinity affirms.”

God is one AND God is three? That looks like an apparent contradiction (because being three entails not being one). But leave that aside. I wanted to focus on this idea of speaking (i.e. intentionally communicating). Like creating, this is an intentional action, and it is selves which do those.

Carlos: so the Trinity is speaking in Isa 44:24?

Andrew Schumacher : God is speaking. We are supposed to learn that Yahweh alone is creator. Beyond that is speculation.

Notice that this is a weasel answer. He senses danger in saying that God the Trinity speaks – so he just says “God” is speaking, by which I think he means that it is one or more of the Three divine Persons. Or is it the Trinity as such? He thinks this is a modest, non-speculative answer. But it leaves open whether the Trinity is a “he” or an “it.”

Andrew: Isaiah also reveals these words of God in 48:16: (LEB): “Draw near to me; hear this! I have not spoken in secrecy from the beginning; “from the time it came to be, there I have been; And now the Lord Yahweh has sent me and his Spirit.” See? Both one and three.

Of course, it is contentious to assert that this text assumes that God is “three”! Note that a majority of translations end the quote from YHWH before that last sentence, the last sentence being spoken by the prophet. (Hence the new “Thus says the LORD…” in the next verse.) And again, the “one and three” line looks like mystery-mongering. But here’s where I chime in regarding God speaking:

Dale: Andrew, speaking is the action of a person/self. Either (1) you don’t literally mean that the Trinity per se is speaking, but just each of the three, or you think the Trinity is, as such, speaking. But then, it, or rather he, is a self. So then, is it a fourth, the “Persons” being the other three, or is it the only self here, as the “Persons” are something like personalities or ways God eternally lives?

For this post, let me expand this into an argument. Call it the Quaternity Argument:

If something intentionally communicates using a human language, it is a self.

According to the Bible, God intentionally communicates using various human languages.

Therefore according to the Bible, God is a self. (1,2)

According to the Bible, God is the Trinity.

Therefore according to the Bible, the Trinity is a self. (3,4)

Each Person of the Trinity is a self.

None of these are numerically identical: Father, Son, Spirit, Trinity.

Each of these is divine: Father, Son, Spirit, Trinity.

Therefore, there are at least four divine selves. (5-8)

Quaternity? Yuck! No Christian will accept this, right? I think any Christian should figure out where this argument goes wrong.

Obviously, my way out of this argument is to deny 4.

What is Mr. Schumacher’s way out? Or does he endorse the argument as sound? As I see it he is committed to 1, 2, 4, 7, and 8. Does he get off the bus at 6? Here’s how he answered my challenge in its briefer form:

Andrew Schumacher: Dale Tuggy I agree. Speaking is something a person does. That’s why I have written and spoken about a different way of explaining the way God is both one and three.

Here he endorses 1 and 4. He continues,

One being/three persons is true, I think, but doesn’t explain everything. Like why is God so often described as a single Person, at least as it pertains to pronouns, while never actually being explicitly described as “only” one person? Well, one explanation is that God is one Person in one sense, and three in another sense.

OK, this just sounds like endorsing the whole argument above as sound, and hoping that distinguishing different kinds of persons/selves will make 9 palatable to Christians. I’d be interested to hear what other trinitarians have to say about that!

We are fine with this kind of talk in lots of other areas, like if I had a glass with exactly 6 ice cubes in it. Is it true or false to say I have 3 ice cubes in the glass? It depends on the sense.

At least three: true. Only three: false. But honestly, I think most trinitarians will insist there are only three “divine Persons.”

I say that Scripture presents God both ways, and while this presents philosophical challenges, it is not contradictory, since a contradiction requires something to be both A and ~A in the same sense, as I’ve heard you affirm as well.

So far, though, you’ve just indulged in an apparent contradiction: God is one and also three. It’s up to you to show us the two senses, not just to assert that there are difference senses for some term here. I take it you mean to say that God is (exactly) one [A-kind of person] but (exactly) three [B-kind of persons]. Let’s have it, then. Tell us about the differences between these two concepts. And we can decide if that’s a principled distinction or just a made-up, theory-saving distinction.

So, the Trinity is not NOT a person, nor is it a fourth person. Rather, the three Persons are united in such a way as to be properly treated as a Person, but just not one in exactly the way we human beings are persons.

Whoah partner! Hard left turn here! So much for two kinds of persons. (Real persons and merely apparent persons is not two kinds of persons.) I think now you’re denying 2 in my argument above. That’s a high price! You’ll have to substitute something for 2 like “According to the Bible, God can be said to communicate in various human languages, though it (the Trinity) is not the sort of thing which in principle might do that.”

Good luck preaching that, or finding it in the Bible! And note the apologetic consequence: don’t go around saying that in Christianity God or the ultimate source is personal – in contrast to Brahman in Advaita Vedanta or the Dao. You’ll mislead people into what you think is the falsehood that God is a self. No, just as with Brahman and with the Dao, it (God) isn’t a self, but can be talked about as if it were one. (Also, I think he’s implicitly denying 8. But let that pass for now.)

I think there’s a pressing question here. Why can this thing, this “it,” this non-self, the Trinity be spoken of as if it were a self. It’s not just a garden-variety case of personification, right, like when a captain refers to his ship as “she” or when poet says of the sun that “he smiles down on the earth” – right? What, in your view, is person-like about this particular it, the Trinity?

Mr. Schumacher ends with an attack:

If this is a problem, consider the way a Unitarian worships Jesus. Is it different at all from the way you worship God the Father? Maybe it isn’t, but I have a similar difficulty understanding worshiping one who is God in exactly the same way as you worship one who isn’t. If Unitarians worship them in different ways, there is a similar issue with finding instruction on that in Scripture.

He seems to think there is some practical problem for the biblical unitarian here re: kinds of worship. Outwardly, the two acts of worship look much the same. But of course we worship Jesus knowing that he is the human Son of God, whereas we worship God because he is the only god, the Creator. Instruction on that in scripture? Contrast Revelation 4 with Revelation 5. Note the different grounds on which each of them is worshiped. Outwardly, in chapter 5, the two acts of worship will look much the same. But this worry of his really isn’t to the point – he’s just trying to say “You guys have problems too.” OK, but let’s stick with the subject.

Back to my argument: which is it? Is it sound, or unsound? If unsound, why? (Which premise is false?)

And if Mr. Schumacher takes his second route, will he pledge not to mislead his fellow believers by simply using personal pronouns for the Trinity? (Most will take this to assume that the Trinity, the triune God, is a self.) Is he willing to make clear that God is not a self and so is properly an “it” not a “he”, though it can be spoken of as if it were a self? And shouldn’t he at least balance his use of pronouns, mixing up “he” and “it”?

And shouldn’t he say that properly speaking, the Trinity is not a god, though each Person of the Trinity is one? Isn’t our concept of a god that of a very powerful and great self? But for him the Trinity is neither all-powerful, nor omniscient, nor perfectly good, nor could it create anything – though it might be talked about in such ways.

https://trinities.org/blog/the-quaternity-argument/

[africanuniverse]

Psychology, Infant studies which lead from animal studies, Neuroscience, The New Age, New HIstoricism, New Right, New South, New World,  and believe this when I tell you, this is all trying to cover the New Testament; the Book of Revelation. These theories were conducted and brought up in New York City. Each one these will be apart of my next blog, which I will explain to you in detail and create further, deeper knowledge for the curious minds. Read my next article Chopped Peanuts.

Stay connected, but never stay away.

In 1966, A political movement made up of Protestants as opposed to secular humanism and concerned with issues of church, state patriotism, Lassie's Fair, Economics, pornography, and abortion. One word plays the next role in the case,

“Cyberstalking is the use of electronic or online communications technology to stalk, harass or intimidate another person or party. Most frequently it is used in reference to activities on the Internet or via mobile telecommunications networks. Cyberstalking activities may include threats or may just constitute monitoring of another without their knowledge and consent. It may also include defamatory statements or accusations and is frequently a means of a stalker intending to unduly influence, intimidate or control the victim.

Cyberstalking is a criminal offense under various state statutes which can include stalking, slander and harassment laws. Some states have specifically enacted Cyberstalking laws, such as Florida 784.048(d) which defines the term as follows:

“Cyberstalk” means to engage in a course of conduct to communicate, or to cause to be communicated, words, images, or language by or through the use of electronic mail or electronic communication, directed at a specific person, causing substantial emotional distress to that person and serving no legitimate purpose.”  reads from the TheLaw.com

This explains my posting about “The Smell Of Vegetables” furthermore describing each scenario exactly as it is. Who knows what triggers this type of behavior, let alone continue this process in a malicious way as if there isn’t an FBI that takes notice, or even catch the suspect. Let's try social media for example. This is one of the many outlets a cyber bully can “control” their victim by intimidation and feeling satisfied by it.

How does the cyberbully feel about taunting another person?

Maybe I should ask about the victim per se. I doubt that anyone behind the screen has some form of inspiring or motivational message to give to the person who is being insulted, even watched. Quite creepy to everyone else except for the cyber bully. With Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube to name a few, the whole world is under attack with social media schemes and perpetrators who are on every page, reading every message, and even “Catfishing” one another. 

( Appearing as someone else online instead of oneself ) 

Let's just call them “Chopped Peanuts” (Cyberbully; CP). Have you ever thought to yourself, 

Am I being tracked or monitored by an unknown source? What if you are? 

Then come into a realization that you are unsure how to go about it in your busy everyday life.

Did you know: At least half a million young men in Japan have isolated themselves from the public eye? They are known as HIKIKOMORI.

In this case, chopped peanuts could be just like them. Online from dawn to dusk, eat, sleep, and believe it or not monitor their victims. The addiction can be excruciating for them but has evolved into this hobby they have made themselves accustomed to.

Why bother?

It depends on the person obviously. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been recorded, monitored, screenshotted, photographed, and even virtually abused. Mind reading technology, government top secret files through extraterrestrial activities, and flying drones all play a role in these targeted individuals. From audio, lasers, computer teleprompters, and even hidden video cameras located in the sockets of your home walls are being tracked by innocent people every second. Microchips and placed in cooked meals, nurses with significant others that they trust can easily place another hospital patient up for an implant procedure without physical surgery. Video games and then passed through databases for the control set up, to be loaded through a virtual computer and paused for a persons dream sequence. One this person is asleep for over 15 minute wait time, the virtual monitoring visuals begin and that's when the victim is not to awake unless physically or unless the chopped peanuts have disconnected from the device. When the disconnection is done the victim wakes sometimes not remembering what the dream was about. Virtual audio is connected to ear play, unseen but heard naturally at the lowest slightly louder than your thoughts.

How does this work?

Close your eyes and think about two words as loud as your mind can get without your voice interrupting. When you do this you imagine your own voice mimicking yourself. Now imagine you didn't think about anything at all. Then out of the blue, harassing words, bad languages, seducing gestures, judgemental comments about someone right before you give them a compliment ect. This doesn't stop here, unfortunately. The way cybersecurity is set up here as of 2019, there is also a way for the chopped peanuts to view the exact location your pupils do, maybe your peripheral vision as well. ( Though is probably the blurry part of the lens ).

What the hell, are you serious?

Yes, phishing and defamation are real.

Ever wonder when in a classroom preparing for a test, and when your done borrowing paper and a pencil from your neighbor right beside you everyone has faced to the front and not the side? The teacher will not allow this to happen. 

“Sit up straight students, eyes to the front, NO CHEATING!”

I can remember that like the back of my hands. When taking a test, Billy looks over at Venessa who’s marking all of her answers very swiftly. Without her approval or recognition, Billy peaks at 3 of her answers and jot the same exact thing she has on her test. Five minutes later he then peaks over again while the teachers back is turned, jots down 5 more answers that is written exactly like Venessa’s. When Venessa is done she raises her hand and the teacher collects the paper for a grade. Next thing you know Billy is done right after her. There were only 10 questions so they might look familiar. The teacher pauses on Billy’s test, and then backtracks to Vanessa’. She questions both of them calling them to the front. 

Vanessa paper was a graded A+ but why was Billy’s paper just the same? 

The teacher marks both of their papers as a failing grade since she doesn’t know who to believe cheated on who’s test. Vanessa never spoke to Billy again and moved her normal seat at the very front of the classroom so that she didn't see him at all. Also, Vanessa would have made the Valedictorian award which is (an academic title of success used in the United States, Canada, Central America, Singapore, and the Philippines for the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. The chosen valedictorian is often the student with the highest ranking among their graduating class.) at the end of the school year but Billy's eyes were the one thing that caused her to fall in second after a girl she used to be best friends with. She had to force a smile on stage which she didn’t feel in her heart. Deep down she knew that she should have been the one holding the golden trophy, not the silver one. She then went home and cried all day and night, not only that, but she became racist to the race Billy was that next morning and never looked at that same race the same ever again. Which rendered her from the job at the Board of Education, simply because the manager was the same race as Billy. So she ends up working as a home school teacher, denying job postings that were available to her that was the same race as Billy, and only teaching the race that she was.

Her best friend called her a month later to see how she was holding up, she even teased her about being in second place on top of the apology she had told her about breaking their friendship off. Vanessa laughed but deep down her cut was deeper because one F dropped her A+ to a C for the finals. She and her best friend became close again, but every time Vanessa hung out with her best friend who’d got first place, she always stole every piece of gold jewelry she had in a room or had worn in the car. Not knowing that her best friend was healing herself from the wounds of not fulfilling her dream to work at the board let alone talk to boys again and to think it was only from winning first place. All because of Billy, the chopped peanut. Drained her from her positive possibilities because he wanted to be a secret spy that day without any knowledge of hers to begin with. Her life was taking back what was not hers. Billy was a drug addict on the streets, the same corner every Sunday.

The new church in the town where Vanessa best friend always goes. She invited her to join her ministries. Vanessa spotted a familiar face, it was BIlly. She ends up turning back around from the memory of him and how he caused her life to be in shambles. On unexpected wrongdoing came into the light and path of a woman whose mind was in the books. Billy stopped her and told her to join him, and how he wanted to make up for the things he did. She felt a weak spot somewhere in herself. She joined his conversation full of apologies. Unfiirtuanlyey this was all she needed to heal half of her wounds, especially from the person who caused it, which made her feel even better. They end up dating and shortly she ended up on the block just to stay close to her best friend who couldn't contact her phone because of the bill. She couldn't convince her bestfrined to stop hanging with Billy, because he was apart of her life now. Billy and Vanessa’s new spot was on the corner doing volunteer work for the church to have food. And then it was back to the drugs. A wasted mind and a beautiful heart to be swallowed on the corners of a drug addicts territory.

Whether its spying, bashing verbally, fighting physically, never get an abortion with your dreams in life.

Never have a pornographic mindset to get the things you desire

A policy or attitude of letting things take their own course, without interfering can be a strategy everyone should take.

More like a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies, detractors or even chopped peanuts.

This is the New Right movement. It's happening today.

“Read my next article Cinnamon Chakras”

“Don’t cause the next world leader to become bitter, He might have a sour taste to destroy it.”

Milz L Mayhorn Tumblr: AfricanUniverse

[citizentruth-blog]

The Ultimate Inside Job, Part II: 9/11 Was Predicted and the Truth is Finally Bubbling Toward the Surface - YOUR NEWS

New Post has been published on https://citizentruth.org/the-ultimate-inside-job-part-ii-9-11-was-predicted-and-the-truth-is-finally-bubbling-toward-the-surface/

The Ultimate Inside Job, Part II: 9/11 Was Predicted and the Truth is Finally Bubbling Toward the Surface

  Image via Cliff on Flickr, courtesy of photojournalist Bill Biggart who took this final shot of his life before breathing his last breath

As I discussed in Part I of The Ultimate Inside Job, there are a multitude of discrepancies in the explanation that September 11th was solely a terrorist attack carried out by Islamic jihadists. Ample evidence points to the World Trade Center being brought down via controlled demolition, and the truth is coming out as the American public is becoming increasingly skeptical of the Deep State’s explanation for that deadly day in American history.

Almost 17 years later, the families of 9/11 victims are demanding a grand jury investigation into what really happened that day, and government officials are coming out of their daze and waking up to the truth staring them in the face. Over half of Americans are now more curious, as 54 percent believe the government is withholding the truth from us about 9/11.

The truth is coming to the surface and 9/11 was predicted

A few weeks ago, a North Carolina city councilwoman, LaWana Mayfield, recently questioned whether or not the 9/11 attacks were terrorism at all. Almost 3,000 people died, leading to the perpetual War on Terror, the Department of Homeland Security, thousands more dead American soldiers in the Middle East (and a ceaseless supply of disgruntled terrorists), and an exploding military budget.

The Charlotte Observer reported that Mayfield posted a link on her Facebook page to an article from Awarenessact.com titled “It’s Official: European Scientific Journal Concludes 9/11 Was A Controlled Demolition.” Mayfield also wrote that she’s still waiting for someone to produce pieces of the “alleged plane that opened the doors for U.S. citizens to (lose) all privacy rights.” She would apologize five days later but still claimed she’s unsure whether planes took down the WTC.

Mayfield told a radio station in Charlotte that she thought the September 11 attacks were aimed “to not only create a way through government to spy on the American people, but also to privatize a lot of the work that is happening on the ground.” This truth is far from a conspiracy theory as 9/11 truthers continue to point to scientific evidence leading to the inside job that occurred on that fateful day.

The truth about WTC falling as a result of controlled demolition was exposed in the mainstream media on C-Span in August 2014.

9/11 was predicted before it even happened by those who saw it coming. In June 2001, radio host Bill Cooper predicted a coming terrorist attack that would be blamed on Osama bin Laden. Cooper was killed later that year by police, in a convenient encounter stinking of entrapment, escalation, and sketchy circumstances.

“Whatever they’re going to blame on Osama bin Laden–don’t you believe it…they will soon do something outlandish to gain the support of the Sheeple,” Cooper claimed on the show. Only 11 weeks later, his predictions would become a reality.

Cooper connected the dots through information obtained from his sources, allowing him to see through the lies being fed to the American public (AKA the “Sheeple”). The mystery surrounding Cooper’s death has led many to believe that it was not an accident, but a carefully constructed plot to remove a dangerous truth-teller.

Below is Cooper’s prescient pre-9/11 radio broadcast.

Alex Jones, now of InfoWars.com, was another radio host dismissed as a fake news conspiracy theory nut job. Up until 9/11, Jones was syndicated on 100 radio stations and was heard widely across the American radio waves. However, after September 11, Jones began to talk about how the attacks were a conspiracy by the Bush administration. This caused a number of the stations to drop his program and for him to be ostracized by the radio industry, relegated to his present status as a conspiracy theorist that few in mainstream media or political circles take seriously.  

It’s funny that what the government finds uncomfortable and the public sees as deplorable is dismissed as unfounded conspiracy theory. The truth can be hard to accept when it is so atrocious.

Behold a Pale Horse should be required reading for every #Anon #qanon #911Truth pic.twitter.com/IWT6ILJatm

— WarriorPrincess (@Truthseeker805) May 2, 2018

Scientific evidence that cannot be ignored by the most rational among us

A report put out by Europhysics News on the 15th anniversary of 9/11 questions the official explanation of the collapse of all three WTC buildings on September 11. The stark conclusion will make even the most rational or logical person see the truth in the supposed conspiracy theorist’s version of events.

The report notes:

“It bears repeating that fires have never caused the total collapse of a steel-framed high-rise before or since 9/11. Did we witness an unprecedented event three separate times on September 11, 2001? The NIST [U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology] reports, which attempted to support that unlikely conclusion, fail to persuade a growing number of architects, engineers, and scientists. Instead, the evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that all three buildings were destroyed by controlled demolition. Given the far-reaching implications, it is morally imperative that this hypothesis be the subject of a truly scientific and impartial investigation by responsible authorities.”

Further investigations include “15 Years Later: On the Physics of High-Rise Building Collapses” by Steven Jones, a former professor emeritus of civil engineering at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, and fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.

Another investigation is led by Ted Walter, a mechanical design engineer, and author of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth’s Beyond Misinformation “What Science Says About the Destruction of World Trade Center Buildings 1, 2 and 7.”

It’s science, not conspiracy! Not speculation! Far from fake news!

There is no other reason why the buildings came down that day other than controlled demolition. The facts are impossible to ignore any longer.

Here are more stunning revelations the researchers pointed out.

Fires generally are not hot enough and do not last long enough to generate the excessive amount of energy needed to bring down the structural infrastructure of a building. In addition, most high rise buildings have fire sprinkler systems to prevent a fire from releasing the requisite energy to heat the steel enough to collapse a building of that size. Structural members are always protected by fireproof material designed to prevent them from reaching high enough temperatures.

“Countless other steel-framed high-rises have experienced large, long-lasting fires without suffering either partial or total collapse,” the report points out. The architects and engineers’ report goes on to state:

“… neither before nor since 9/11 have fires caused the total collapse of a steel-framed high-rise—nor has any other natural event, with the exception of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which toppled a 21-story office building. Otherwise, the only phenomenon capable of collapsing such buildings completely has been by way of a procedure known as controlled demolition, whereby explosives or other devices are used to bring down a structure intentionally.”

And yet, on 9/11, we saw three high rise structures fall to the ground, reduced to rubble.

Politicians formerly in power are sounding the alarm to the discrepancies involved in the 9/11 commission. Former U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham, a Democrat from Florida, has protested that The Senate-House Intelligence Committee Joint 9/11 Inquiry that he co-chaired had been given a deadline in 2002 that was unrealistic, and therefore prevented full completion of the work required. The ten-member group, The 9/11 Commission, issued a report in July 2004 that left many serious researchers and 9/11 victims’ family members up in arms about many unanswered questions after significant new evidence continues to come to light.

The sound evidence has led to numerous articles decrying the accepted explanation for 9/11. Most notably, a 2016 column titled, “Experts Reject Planes, Fire As Cause For 9/11 WTC Collapses.” The article, put out on the 15th anniversary of the attacks, posited: “Technical experts are mounting major challenges to official U.S. government accounts of how three World Trade Center skyscrapers collapsed in near-freefall after the 9/11 attacks 15 years ago.”

This article links to government reports on the attacks in addition to the previously mentioned Europhysics News report challenging the government’s findings. The AE911Truth link mentioned above revealed that the article has been downloaded nearly 700,000 times since August 2016 and “continues to rack up over 2,000 reads per week, keeping it at the top of Europhysics News’ ‘Most read articles.’”

Americans are searching for the truth and finally becoming skeptical of the mainstream media kowtowing to the government-led narrative.

The Saudi connection and the hijacking of Trump in the age of 9/11 truth

Congress is showing increasing willingness to uncover what really happened on 9/11. One recent victory was the release of the 28 pages that had been suppressed from the 2002 Joint House-Senate Intelligence Commission Inquiry report. The documents exposed the relationships intact before 9/11 by Saudi Arabian entities with the 19 accused airplane hijackers, 15 of whom were Saudi nationals.

Another victory over the last couple years was the congressional passage of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act in 2016 that narrowed the definition of sovereign immunity for civil court claims resulting from international terrorism. April’s petition by the lawyers for 9/11 victims is the latest opening of civic dialog on arguably the most controversial and pivotal event in American history.

The Saudi connection cannot be ignored. Saudi Arabia is the largest sponsor of terrorism in the world, despite claims that Iran holds the title.

Furthermore, the Israeli lobby continues to pollute Washington D.C., getting our bloated military to fight its wars for them despite our military aid that will total $3.9 billion in 2019. Sadly, it seems that President Trump has been hijacked by the Saudi-Israeli cabal just as former presidents have.

Ten Irrefutable, Devastating 9/11 Facts https://t.co/CRSJ4whhv3 #911Truth pic.twitter.com/UJhwdXO2B5

— wake up (@corruptplanet) April 29, 2018

  U.S. District Judge George Daniels said that there is “a reasonable basis” to implicate Saudi Arabia as one of the countries behind the 9/11 attack. But they will likely never be held accountable for their crimes. Saudi Arabia helped “two hijackers acclimate themselves to the United States, and begin preparing for the attacks… James Kreindler, a lawyer for many of the plaintiffs, said he was ‘delighted’ the case can proceed.”

Saudi Arabia needs to be viewed as the criminal country they are truly are. Trump has said the Saudis were largely responsible for 9/11 but has done nothing about it.

“Who blew up the World Trade Center? It wasn’t the Iraqis,” Trump said in February 2016. “It was Saudi — take a look at Saudi Arabia, open the documents.”

Trump also said Saudi Arabia is “the world’s biggest funder of terrorism…[they] funnel our petrodollars, our very own money, to fund the terrorists that seek to destroy our people.”

In June 2016, during the chaotic presidential campaign, Trump tweeted out: “Saudi Arabia and many other countries that gave vast amount of money to the Clinton Foundation want women as slaves and to kill gays. Hillary must return all money from such countries!”

To silence now President Trump, Saudi Arabia offered a promise to spend at least $110 billion on “American weaponry — one of the biggest arms deals in history.”

The LA Times wrote, “This weapons deal, the president said, is all about U.S. jobs. Yet how many Americans want to work to arm the country that, as Citizen Trump said, ‘blew up the World Trade Center’?”

The previously mentioned Alex Jones, who has proven himself a truth-teller but also an Israeli whore and puppet, came out and said Trump has threatened the Saudis and told them not to use their weapons to fund terrorism.

This, however, does not seem to be rooted in reality.

Today, Trump still perpetuates the claim that Iran must stop its terrorist-related activities because it is fomenting disarray throughout the Middle East, when what they are really doing is simply planting their flag in Syria and defending a regime rightly in power.

9/11 truth movements continue to fight on and are gaining traction in the age of YouTube. These truth-seekers regularly dismissed as conspiracy theorists are seeping into the mainstream as their scientifically-backed evidence is being promoted on the Internet. A growing number of people in the scientific, engineering, and architectural communities are questioning the U.S. government narrative of Middle Eastern jihadists carrying out the deadliest attack on American soil.

The “Truthers” are getting the incontrovertible evidence that 9/11 was an inside job out to the world. Hoping to reach a tipping point point one day, they are relying on video evidence that cannot be ignored. Seeing for their own eyes the perplexing fall of WTC 7 and other confounding pieces of information coming out around the events of 9/11, Americans are starting to come around to the idea of something not adding up, judging for themselves what they think really happened, since the government won’t tell us.  

The truth is out there.

The seeds of doubt have been planted, but will the tree of truth blossom and those responsible be held accountable for their crimes? Free thinking is on the rise in the U.S. at last and we need to promote the evidence that proves that the government is lying to us about 9/11.

Get this message out! Share this article and Part I with your friends and on social media!

  Follow me @BobShanahanMan

  Report: Increase in Secret UK Arms Sales to Human Rights Violators in Middle East

[topicprinter]

You can’t just become highly successful through ‘life hacks’ and shortcuts, but there are some habits and tools that are too good not to use. That’s why I’ve assembled a list of the top 14 tools, tactics and routines that I’ve come across from my research. Integrating these won’t necessarily make you highly productive and successful but it will definitely help push you towards the right direction.1.Make ListsTo-Do-Lists are everywhere and there is a reason why. They reduce anxiety about the chaos of life, providing a structure that we can follow. Lists break down your goals into manageable tasks and they are proof of what we have achieved that day, week or month. Science also shows that to-do-lists also eliminate the negative cognitive effects of unfinished goals, freeing your mind up to actually focus on the task you need to do now. Barbara Corcoran of Shark Tank fame is one of the biggest proponents of using To-Do-Lists to increase productivity.2.The 80/20 RuleIf you haven’t heard of the Pareto Principle here it is: Roughly 80% of outputs are caused by 20% of the inputs. Essentially what this principle states is that for nearly everything you do, 80% of the results come from 20% of your actions. Tim Ferriss describes using this method in his book ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’ and talks about how 80% of your goals are achieved by 20% of the task you accomplish. By applying this principle, pretty much everything in life can be streamlined, making your life simpler.3.Don’t Break the ChainAlso known as Jerry Seinfeld’s productivity chain, the concept behind this idea is simple: spend a certain amount of time doing a specific activity every day and, when you do, cross the day off on a calendar. This creates a chain of crossed out days showing your progress. If you don’t do the task on one specific day, you don’t get a cross and that chain is broken. It seems super basic, I know, but when you are looking up at a calendar showing a massive chain of days, the urge to keep going is almost irresistible. Apps like Snapchat and Mindset do this with streaks, helping you to turn the behavior into a habit.4.Make Sleep a PriorityMore than a third of Americans are sleep-deprived and this lack of sleep is costing the U.S. economy a massive $411 billion annually in lost productivity. It may feel like you can get more work done if you stay up those few extra hours but burning the candle at both ends will cause you to work slower, accomplish less and produce lower quality work. You may think you’re naturally a short sleeper, but you’re probably wrong, with scientists believing only 5% of people have the genetic mutation required to need only 6 hours of sleep. Jeff Bezos shares this view saying “Eight hours of sleep makes a big difference for me, and I try hard to make that a priority”.5.Meditate Every dayResearch has found that meditation has a number of mental and physical health benefits, from improving memory to increasing compassion to boosting the immune system. These benefits are probably why many successful people ranging from Tim Ferriss to Jack Dorsey swear by meditation as a key habit for success. Apps like Headspace and Calm make it easy for you to fit meditation into your daily routine, even if you’ve never done it before.6.Exercise in the MorningMorning workouts not only give you a boost of energy, they pump you up, waking you up faster than the strongest cup of coffee. You’ll feel ready to tackle any problem that comes your way. Additionally, research has shown that people are less likely to come up with excuses early in the morning. If Mark Zuckerberg isn’t too busy to exercise at least 3 times a week first thing in the morning, neither are you.7.Read a Lot of BooksBefore Elon Musk became the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, he read for 10 hours each day. Reading can make you smarter; it can improve your memory; it can also make you more empathetic as well as reduce your stress by up to 68%. It’s no surprise that most successful people credit reading, in some shape or form, as a factor in their success. You can read Fiction or Non-Fiction, but try to read as much as possible.8.Change your Mental HabitsYour brain is a powerful influence on your ability to achieve goals, with one study, for example, showing weightlifters who visualized carrying heavier weights in their heads saw a 13.5% increase in their strength. One way to utilize these effects is through hypnosis, which is “a very powerful means of changing the way we use our minds to control perception and our bodies.” according to David Spiegel, MD, professor and associate chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford. Apps like Mindset or JC Hypnosis provide an easy way to try hypnosis, allowing you to retrain the thought patterns undermining your success.9.Avoid MultitaskingIf you think the secret to becoming ultra-successful is juggling thousands of things at once, think again. Studies have proven that in reality, multitasking involves rapidly shifting your attention between tasks, and it hurts the quality of them all. Writing a report, while on the phone, while exercising, may sound like a great idea in theory but in practice, you will accomplish less and produce worse. Instead, focus on prioritizing your tasks and completing them in segmented, short bursts with intermittent breaks.10.Wake Up EarlyIt’s probably not a revelation to hear that highly successful people wake up earlier than the rest of us. Not only have studies shown that 90% of executives wake up before 6am on weekdays, but also nearly 50% of self-made millionaires wake up at least three hours before their workday actually begins. There are many reasons why waking up earlier in the day is great for productivity, including less distractions, and having more time for healthy habits like breakfast, meditation or exercise. However, this doesn’t mean you should be getting less sleep, as we discussed above sleep is extremely important for a successful day.11.The Pomodoro TechniqueThe Pomodoro Technique can help you smash through distractions and get things done in frequent, short bursts. When faced with any large task or group of tasks, break what you need to do into short, timed chunks(called “Pomodoros”) that are broken up by short breaks. This helps to train your brain to focus for short periods of time and increase your productivity while you work. The chunks are normally 25 minutes and taking 5 minute breaks in between. After 4 pomodoros you should take a longer 20 minute break. There are many apps available to help keep you in time so choose one that works for you.12.Write a Daily JournalJournaling is relaxing and helps you better understand your thoughts. Sometimes we have so many thoughts going through our head, we start to lose control of how we feel. Putting those thoughts and emotions down on paper makes them more manageable as well as decrease stress. However, it can be tough to get into the habit of writing in a journal every day and that’s where the The 5 Minute Journal comes in. Recommended by Tim Ferriss, the 5 Minute Journal helps you create a daily mindfulness practice that will help you be more intentional and thoughtful throughout the day.13.Structured ProcrastinationThis idea may seem a little counter-intuitive but hear me out. The idea behind Structured Procrastination is simple: put off doing your most important work by doing tasks of lower importance. Marc Andreesson mentions how he hates doing phone calls and gets lots of work done when he puts off making phone calls. Doing these tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher up on the list. With this sort of task structure, you can still get stuff done while indulging your hedonistic procrastinating habits.14.Make your BedMany people cite making their bed as a fundamental way to start the day, from Tim Ferriss to Navy Seal Admiral William H. McRaven. The reason making your bed is such a great way to start your day is that it gives you a feeling of accomplishment first thing in the morning. Having already completed a task, you will have the momentum needed to accomplish the rest of your daily goals. Additionally, once you arrive home, no matter what happened during the day, you will always have a ready-made bed to fall on to.15.Get off Social MediaEveryone loves to have a quick browse of Instagram or Facebook, but did you know that this is killing your productivity? Studies show that most people check their phone approximately 47 times per day. And us younger users? Well, we tend to check it 86 times a day. Our addiction to social media costs the economy 13% of total productivity, causing us to do less work throughout the day. This is why Sean Parker, founding President of Facebook, says he is Sean Parker, the founding president of Facebook, broke the omertà in October last year, telling a conference in Philadelphia that he is “something of a conscientious objector” to social media. Social media isn’t all bad but if you’re wasting time on it, being distracted and taken out of flow then rethink your habits.

[qarajhcreations]

Tales of Catacrach, Strange Journal (Hraldon Refuge)

(written in Draconic, the handwriting is old but very delicate)

Journal entry #1

I have discovered four strange, wooden dolls. At first glance they looked like children’s toys, but the markings carved into them suggests something else. They don’t appear magic per say, but I will certainly have to research more into this.

Journal entry #3

The carvings are not magic, however, I do believe I have seen similar markings elsewhere. After conferring with the esteemed Jorka Gredels, he too agreed that the markings had use, he suggested part of a ritual, which seems possible as many early summoning magics used runic-like carvings to spell out or enhance the magic used.

Journal entry #4

Jorka have found some tomes on how to build magic mirrors, and to my joy, he handed them to me. Jorka said the mirrors were used as a way of long-distance communication, but due to their size, fragility and how difficult and expensive they are to build, only very few of these mirrors remain intact, at least to his venerable knowledge.

Could this mean that the dolls have a use in the same manner, as in messaging across Fellmir?

Journal entry #10

I’ve tried almost everything, every word for activation in Draconic, even a few in Infernal. Nothing. No shimmer of light, no reaction. How does it work? Jorka suggested asking the resident alchemist. I don’t think I even know who that is in this place. It’s only been a month, with my research, I can’t be expected to know anyone here.

I asked the quartermaster as my dinner was brought up. The resident expert on alchemy is some Elven woman, but he said she went into the forest about six days ago. I shall await her return.

Journal entry #18

It’s been more than two months, and the Gnome that considers himself our “leader”, have sent out some mercenaries to search for the Elf. Now I either have to wait for a new, and potentially unskilled, alchemist to arrive. Or I’ll be forced to give up researching these dolls and their markings.

But I won’t give up, this could be a breakthrough. I’ll be known as the one to reinvent long distance communications to Fellmir, I’ll have my seat at Abhelm’s Golden Tower, as I deserve it.

Journal entry #29

Finally, I got to get something out of the markings. The revelation came to me in my sleep; I had been overthinking it, and slept poorly, it must have been in the early hours of morn, when a voice of confidence, not my own, spoke the activation word; “Talk”, in the common tongue. I rushed out bed, collected all the dolls on my study. And as I said “Talk” in common, the markings lit up, and the dolls seemed to hum. I could hear them whisper, like a small, almost silent wind between them.

Journal entry #30 (the hand-writing seems more shaky from here)

I heard the whispers all trough my sleep. The dolls suggest I leave this place, they do not feel safe. I need them, I cannot prove my theories without these dolls. But I cannot let the others on to what I’ve found, this is MY research... The Gnome would take the credit for himself, what does he know? He’s busy running money in for himself, looking over the shoulders of the apprentices for ideas to steal. Well, soon my wealth will surpass his.

Journal entry #31

With the help of the dolls whispering, I have crafted a letter that tasks me to go south, to Ezolder, to assist with some apprentice’s exam there. I handed it to the Gnome, telling him about the story I’ve crafted. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to care one bit, perhaps because I have not been producing valuable research for him. I’ll begin packing the most required at once.

(Added, in common)

When I think about it, I don’t need anything else than these dolls, they’ll tell me what to do, and my magic can surpass all dangers.