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livmoose · 2 years ago

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[untitled]

Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta

once, while on a coke binge,

and away from my mother,

my father drove his car

across the sand

and into the pacific ocean.

before he had done that,

he had given away

all of his possessions,

and eaten

a steak dinner.

he survived.

And then,

he was able

to torture us

with his aristocratic ascetic drama

for years to come.

you can take a pisces

to water,

and all it will do

is challenge them

to cry more than the sky;

i say this with admiration.

how would it serve me

to make this up.

like my father,

i sometimes threaten

to succumb to wounds

and don the trappings

of desires

disguised as needs.

you may know them:

the sensible shoe;

the classical beauty;

the manicured hand

offered in neoliberal compromise.

i once told konrad

about how i successfully destroy

my attraction to strangers.

i imagine them standing above me,

as i lay prone

before them in their bed,

watching as they try

to get themselves

hard and or wet.

then i imagine

their sheets,

the hovering echo

of their mother,

the amount of humidity

in their bedroom,

if they put music on,

how their underwear

tucks in and around

their ass—

and usually,

around this time,

i’ve lost all

interest in them—

“that is so virgo of you,”

konrad said, admiringly.

“that is 1,000 percent virgo.”

virgo could be

my gender, or

it could be

my sexuality.

virgo in narrative lust;

virgo in high fantasy;

virgo in unhappy ending.

i don’t know

what i like more:

the desire, or

the agonizing pleasure

of self-torture.

i like girls, but

girls

don’t seem to like me;

In That Way, at least.

i love women

and

i love men,

just as i love

all of g-d’s creatures;

but that doesn’t mean

that i want them,

or to be wanted by them.

hotly spayed virgin

in heat that i am,

i don’t think that

i have a gender,

but i can now

certainly have an orgasm.

i orgasmed

on my way

to the slaughterhouse;

i orgasmed

on the

kill floor.

i wouldn’t say

that the struggle

is between

masculine and feminine.

there’s nothing

that i’m attached to,

i assure you.

i pluck the sinew,

and hold the cup

marked by my lipstick

up to the cloud’s mouth.

i acquire the fear

that i don’t hear

the affect,

because i don’t have

the affect.

i would say

that the struggle

is between

decidedly unmasculine

and afeminine.

the struggle

is between

indecision and not caring.

like all good

poor people and aristocrats,

i know how to have a good time.

why i refuse to

is my own problem.

like all good

leftists of a certain region,

i have never read marx

or the bible.

i know the gossip

well enough

to kneel and resist.

for example,

or perhaps,

for instance,

i was content enough

to be a corpse eater

among the lotus eaters,

and then a lotus eater

among the petroleuses.

and now,

i’m a petroleuse

among the corpse eaters.

“The original, working title of this poem was ‘Agon,’ after the 1957 Balanchine and Stravinsky ballet; the word is also ancient Greek for ‘struggle’ or ‘conflict.’ I wrote this poem as a sort of investigative elegy to my father, at a time when I was seriously struggling with my sexuality, studying astrology, and listening to two albums on loop: Neil Young’s Zuma and Eydie Gormé’s Canta En Español con Los Panchos. My father did not become a part of my life until I was eleven, when he entered treatment for alcoholism and substance abuse issues. He died when I was seventeen, and was reportedly unparalleled in his brilliance, eccentricity, and discretion. He was also a fan of ballet.”

—Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta

#my father drove his car #across the sand #and into the pacific ocean #he survived

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my-scribblers-heart · 3 months ago

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The Father of the church sleeps peacefully in his tiny room situated just behind the church’s slightly larger galley. Call it divine intervention, call it intuition, but it’s more than a clap of thunder that has Father Alvaro jolting awake tonight.

He climbs out of bed and decides to make some tea, maybe watch the storm, since he has the feeling he won’t be going back to sleep anytime soon.

It’s when he gets the kettle on the flames that he hears pounding at the doors. He hurries to the front of the church, the pounding growing to match the roar of the storm outside. He yanks the heavy wood door open to find Jaime, soaked to the bone and supporting a stranger’s dead weight.

“Father,” Jaime gasps, “please, help him.”

“My quarters,” Alvaro says, ushering them inside, taking the unconscious man’s other arm over his shoulders.

In a village of only thirty-four people, the responsibility of emergency medical services falls to one person: Jaime Acosta. Well, Jaime and whatever poor villager he apprentices in the moment. In this case, it’s Father Alvaro.

The two work in diligent silence broken only by terse orders, checking over the stranger that occupies Alvaro’s bed, giving him fluids, stitching up his head wound, checking him over as best they can for any sneaky surprises that might lurk beneath the surface. When the man’s pulse finally evens out and his breathing becomes smooth, Jaime and the Father step back, peel off their gloves, and sigh.

“Where did you find him?” Father Alvaro asks softly.

Jaime sinks into the only other chair in the room. The candles flickering in corners of the room cast his face in uneven shadows, making him appear ghostly. Although, that could be because the young doctor was overextending himself again.

“I was on my way to the Guzman’s, to check on Anita’s newborn. Cutting past the church is fastest, you know…” Jaime wipes a hand down his face. “I found him on the steps, sprawled out like he had fallen. He was unresponsive when I went to help him up. That’s when I called for you.”

Both men glance at the body lying not even two feet away.

The candlelight plays over strong cheekbones and a full mouth, warm brown skin and matted black curls. Color is quickly returning to the stranger’s complexion, now that he is no longer losing blood and out of the rain. Alvaro sees the way Jaime stares, and chooses to ignore it.

“He can stay with me for the time being,” Alvaro barrels on. “Jaime, would you prepare the spare room? I will get him ready to move. We can question him once he is awake.”

“Yes, Father.”

Alvaro looks back at the body on his cot. He wonders absently if this is a test. A test, or an omen.

If it is the former, he desperately prays it is a good one.

#my writing #advice welcome if it isnt MEAN

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ravenspeakrp · 4 months ago

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Welcome to Raven’s Peak, Pea, we’re excited to have you! Marisol Gabriela Nunez Acosta (Jeanine Mason Witch) has been accepted. Please be sure to stop by the CHECKLIST for the follow list, tags to track, and other reminders.

OUT OF CHARACTER

NAME: Pea PRONOUNS: She/her AGE: 35 TIMEZONE: PST

IN CHARACTER

FULL NAME: Marisol Gabriela Nunez Acosta SPECIES: Witch AGE: 34 DATE OF BIRTH: May 23rd GENDER IDENTITY: Cis female NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown OCCUPATION: Scammer Freelancer WORKPLACE: Various, Pandemonium POSITIVE TRAITS: Versatile, innovative, thrifty NEGATIVE TRAITS: Manipulative, opportunistic, inconsiderate LENGTH OF TIME IN RAVEN’S PEAK: Born FACE CLAIM: Jeanine Mason

BIOGRAPHY

TRIGGER WARNING:scamming/con artist, deadbeat father Being raised by a woman stuck on a terrible, no good, dirty rotten asshat of a man, has certainly made an impact on Marisol. Her father -- by her words, 'sperm donor' is more appropriate -- basically spent his time hopping back and forth between their family and another's, not really providing much in the way of protection or fatherly touch. It was more like, when he got bored, he showed up. And sadly, her mother was more often considered the other woman, or the mistress, who thought she could totally change him to be everything she and her daughter deserved and more.

Nope, she couldn't. But that never stopped her from opening the door any time he decided it was time to see them both again.

Marisol grew up understanding what kind of woman she certainly didn't want to become-- one like her mother, dependent on a man and whatever value she felt he could give to her. Much like the other woman, who had it far worse than they, with several kids from that same deadbeat jackass. At least Marisol's mother was fine to at least have a revolving door of different men from time-to-time. Each one worse than the last. She couldn't fix any of them, either.

But, that seemed to be a low-key curse for the Acosta women. As far back as their lineage went, they never could seem to keep a real relationship. Marisol often jokes that her life is much like that Practical Magic movie, about how the Owens women were troubled with never being able to have real love. Their family of witches were matriarchal and they almost always had girls.

Despite the craft so thoroughly intertwined in her family's history, Marisol herself has never been that great a witch. While her mother has taught her everything she knows and Marisol has embraced the witch aesthetics whole-heartedly, her actual gift is shoddy at best and she doesn't know why. But, that hasn't stopped the woman at all.

She's always been something of a hellion. Her youth was spent causing trouble wherever she went, either on purpose or accident-- she'd claim it just kind of followed her around! A free spirit that never liked to be tied down, Marisol would march to the beat of her own drum and very much lived up to the Gemini ways. Unlike her mother, it was her going through people like tissue. One minute, she'd be with someone and the next, they were old news. She loved hard and fast, and people often described it like a whirlwind. Same with jobs-- she never really had a specific thing in mind and her interests changed on a whim. Like a leaf, she went wherever the wind blew her.

In the past several years, though, Marisol seems to have gotten involved with a lucrative way to earn quick cash and that's usually by scamming the idiots that come through Raven's Peak. Tourists that don't know what they're looking for, don't know what they're talking about, and definitely got no clue about a witch's touch. In her mind, she's not hurting anyone, right? She's got to eat too. She'll do whatever she needs to. Has this landed her in hot water? Oh, on more than one occasion. But Marisol has no plans to stop peddling her fake readings and fake crystals and fake-whatever these poor fools are looking for. Like Ursula, she's merely helping these poor, unfortunate souls!

EXTRAS

FILLING CONNECTION: No INSPIRATIONS: Pinterest

#ravenspeakaccepted #ravenspeakadmin

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the-phoenix-heart · 3 months ago

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I literally have a victor for every game so I'll just do my favorite victor OC I've made from each district. And only the actual OCs, not the victors I expanded upon.

(District 1) Venus Ardent - Victor of the 31st Hunger Games. 16 years old at her victory. A very beautiful girl, though she was not as strong a career as others. Because of her beauty her stylist and escort suggested an interesting and predatory strategy for her to use in the games that I don't know how to tag but it's not actually as bad as you're probably thinking. Either way she had lots of sponsors and would hide the extra things she was getting from the rest of her career pack, saving up for when she could get away. In her final battle she went against the two tributes from District 4 in the water and managed to emerge victorious out of the bloody water.

(District 2) Bellona Flint - Victor of the 20th Hunger Games. 17 years old at her victory. I headcanon her to have been of Native American descent. Her game took place in a jungle and as this was Dr. Gaul's last she wanted to go out with a bang. One such part of that was having the tributes design mutts that she created for the games (without them knowing that's what they were doing). Bellona's weapon of choice was a chain/whip and she ended up having one of the longest list of tribute and mutt kills.

(District 3) Pyro Hoshino - Victor of the 52nd Hunger Games. 18 years old at his victory. I headcanon he's part of Haymitch's friend group and is of Japanese descent. He won with (of course) pyrotechnics. He mostly designs fireworks displays for the Capitol now. He's a fun guy. Him, Haymitch, Poppy (female morphling), Dylan (from district 4), and Chaff often get together to do drugs together.

(District 4) Mariana Acosta-Foley - Victor of the 57th Hunger Games. 17 years old at her victory. Mixed Hispanic and Irish descent. For her game all of the tributes were put on a giant cruise ship. For complicated reasons this was an unpopular game for the most part and got the guy who designed it killed. She lost an eye during the games and instead of getting a replacement she just has a sick eye patch. She's a good if stunted emotionally person. She features heavily in one of my wips as the female mentor for District 4.

(District 5) Celcie Ray - Victor of the 69th Hunger Games. 15 years old at her victory. Deaf-mute and albino. She played in the same games as Titus from canon. She quickly became popular with the Capitol as her appearance was so different from most tributes and unfortunately they saw her deaf-muteness as a cute 'gimmick' for her. The arena this year was a snowy mountain, and was generally considered kinda dull because a good majority of the tributes died of exposure. Celcie managed to avoid this by being quick on her feet (from years of helping her father in the dam by sending messages to workers), being a clever scavenger (as her family was quite poor and she was a drain on their funds so she would often sneak out into the cold desert nights to find food in nature), and won her games by making so shoddy explosives and using that to cause a minor avalanche to take out her final two opponents who were dueling. (Also unimportant but I like to think there was some tension between her and Titus. Just for funsies.)

(District 6) Hafsa Mecca - Victor of the 19th Hunger Games. 16 years old at her victory. A practitioner of the 'old religion' Islam. Hafsa comes from a community that secretly still practices Islam and is a rebel through and through. She had to keep coming up with clever ways to secretly and subtley practice while in the arena, as that was one of the most important things to her. I'm not quite sure how she won her games yet, but it was probably in the desert and might've had something to do with technology. She was also the first District 6 victor.

(District 7) Joseph Burl - Victor of the 7th Hunger Games. 17 years old at his victory. He is just a very good guy. I cannot stop myself from imagining him in his final form which is nice Ol' Man Burl with ton of children and grandkids carving some wooden toy on his porch. He won the game where they used maces to beat each other and while that was very traumatizing, he recovered from it SHOCKINGLY well. He was pretty much beloved by everyone that met him.

(District 8) Ariadne Bolt - Victor of the 43rd Hunger Games. 17 years old at her victory. The labyrinth hunger games of course that she won. She won by being clever and flexible. I don't have a lot for her yet, but she is also important as she is one of the major rebel victors in my wip.

(District 9) Sif Fahlgren - Victor of the 53rd Hunger Games. 15 years old at her victory. The gimmick for her games was forcing the tributes in allyships by putting bracelets that would electrocute them if they weren't within a certain distance of their allies. I don't have a lot of details for her game, but her post game life is very sad. She marries the guy she mentors into victory (Grainier Bale), but then they lose their 12 year old daughter to the games and their marriage falls apart.

(District 10) Filipa Oeste - Victor of the 35th Hunger Games. 15 years old at her victory. At the time she was the youngest ever victor, and was the first victor to not kill anyone in her game. The gimmick for this Game was having mutts everywhere that could be theoretically tamed, which she was able to do. Technically some of the mutts she tamed killed people, but she didn't tell them to do that and was very broken up about it.

(District 11) Reese Arrowroot - Victor of the 39th Hunger Games (i'm realizing I really like victors in years that end with 9). 17 years old at their victory. Has vitiligo. Reese Arrowroot was the male tribute for that year, but after their victory outed themself as identifying as genderfluid, and used their funds from their victory to get gender reaffirming care. Reese is also popular with the Capitol because the Capitolites view Reese as being different from the rest of the tributes for being more accepting of their surgeries and style, something that in private Reese is dissenting of but can't show on camera. The arena for their games was an average arena, but one that switched through the seasons every three and a half days. They won their games by being able to role with the punches better than most and recognizing what food would still be available after in the different seasons.

(and obviously there is no oc for district 12 :()

Im bored this evening soooo...

Info dump about your Hunger Games Victor OCs in the replies or reblogs

love reading/seeing other people come up with ♡

#i prefer female characters so they dominate my favorite ocs #the 30s and 50s really had some banger victors #thg #the hunger games #this is very stream of conscious but i love my victors #victor ocs #and i'll take any excuse to talk about them since i really need the excuse to write

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skeletonfumes · 2 years ago

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Evil (2019-)

#evil show #evil cbs #evil paramount #tv #mygifs #david acosta #kristen bouchard #katja herbers #mike colter #poor father acosta #he was going through it lol #demons #mosquito #temptation #persistence

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Evil Season 2 Episode 3 Review: F Is for Fire

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This Evil review contains spoilers.

Evil Season 2 Episode 3

Evil season 2, episode 3, “F Is for Fire,” begins at its hottest point. Dr Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) is having trouble sleeping, but she’s not being kept awake by some demonic force. Her husband has been off on some mountain climbing expedition, and the last time she tapped an axe, it was into the skull of a serial killer. Even forensic psychologists have needs, and when they do, sometimes the only cure is a nocturnal mission.

Technically, the monster-of-the-week would register higher on the Fahrenheit gauge. It’s an Islamic spirit tied to the element of fire, with flames where his hair should be. But Kristen’s devil-in-Miss Jones routine is a slower burn which the series, and Herbers pulls off extremely well. They set mood music, tilt cameras, drench scenes in torrid gelled lighting, and raid the closet for a change of wardrobe. Dr. Brouchard is completely transformed, but it is too strictly engineered of a transformation. It feels textbook, and Evil is about breaking procedure.

Last week’s episode, “A Is for Angel,” ended after David Acosta (Mike Colter) heard an all-too enthusiastic confession from Leland Townshend (Michael Emerson), who had shooed Sister Andrea (Andrea Martin) out of the room only moments before. The nun knew something was up, and David knew she was in the know. The last words of the episode, “alright, I’ll help you,” were positively uplifting. Sister Andrea’s help, apparently, only goes so far, and Martin perfectly captures her expanding her limitations.

First, Sister Andrea wants nothing to do with David’s sigil map, because he’s not supposed to be in possession of it. He was told to look into it, but not have a physical, visual aid for reference. The nun will not break the rules of the church, even if they are not official commandments. However, when David begins to explain the background, and how it all leads to something more sinister at RSM Fertility, we can see her interest grow. By the time she’s separating alphabets from language to language, letter by letter, Sister Andrea projects her entire process. Even better than this, she leaves the audience with a thousand questions about her past. Why is she such an expert on so many things? She is like Deep Throat, the Well-Manicured Man and X on The X-Files combined, but with far better grounding in reality.

Once Sister Andrea gets to the clue of the coded message, she quickly deciphers the letters of a name, and surprisingly, the family has been wondering why it took so long for the church to get there. David’s backlog of cases is a subtle running joke, but it’s become contagious. But so does the demon at the center of the episode’s mystery. The thing haunting the little girl is called an Ifrit, in Islamic mythology, it is neither good nor evil, just very moody, and often burns very hot.

The subject of the investigation is a girl named Mathilda Maubrey, played by Matilda Lawler, who also played Brenda, the little girl in the mask who took Kristen’s children grave-digging in season 1. Mathilda is the foster child Brian and Jane Castle are thinking of adopting, but mysterious fires keep starting whenever the kid is left alone. The biological mother was arrested for arson. Kristen thinks the daughter might be replicating her mom’s behavior. Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) is open to the idea the mother might have been put away for crimes Mathilda committed. Or the answer might be found behind door number 3.

Mathilda is very bright, and Lawler plays her intelligently but with a desperate edge. She sweetly tells Kristen she doesn’t need to give examples of the things she’s being questioned about. But she’s really saying she’s at the end of her patience and doesn’t like to be patronized. She is not an angry child. She says she only gets mad after talking to her mom because she misses her. Her parents probably should have led with the nanny-cam tape, though. It is the reason they called in the church, they say. Why make the team linger over this without that information? Kristen throws out a perfectly good tea set. It comes back, but still.

Even though we believe Mathilda, what is she doing with chlorine tablets and brake fluid? Her father has a point. Besides the invading entity, the family also has to endure religious intolerance from the clergy itself. The spiritual workers from the two faiths don’t wrestle the spirit as a tag-team, the priest and the sheikh face off against each other in a pious preliminary.

Poor Ben is forced into defending a mythology he doesn’t buy into because of some form of nationalistic pride. Watching how the priest treats the sheikh before the exorcism rites begin, the audience tends to side with Muslim-raised skeptic. Not only does Ben have to contend with the holier rollers doing wheelies on his family’s faith, Kristen pushes his agnostic buttons with all the guilt of a lapsed Catholic. It’s a good thing he’s got a dream demoness waiting up for him at home.

“Why do you have a retainer,” Ben asks his nighttime friend, and the entire atmosphere gets uneasily creepy. What exactly is he being tempted by and, could the demoness have stolen Lexis’ dental-wear? Kristen’s daughter has been sporting a devilish smile since chomping off the finger of an orthodontic nurse. As it is a night terror scene, it could be foreshadowing of something exceptionally dark and frightening in a very skewered way. The detail could also be some Freudian holdover because Ben had just been chastised by his own sister on his faith. But it could all be leading up to his interpretation of god’s latest punchline, straddling the team “in the middle of Queens watching a sheik and a priest exorcize a 9-year-old girl.”

Kristen’s mother Sheryl (Christine Lahti) turns out to be even more manipulative than any of us, audience or characters, may have given her credit for. I can understand what Leland sees in her. She makes up a fake name, and books herself some sessions with Kristen’s therapist Dr. Boggs (Kurt Fuller). This may sound like it’s underhanded enough, but when she’s caught, she goes all in, dropping to her knees and begging forgiveness from the doctor. It’s scary, but mainly because it works.

“F is For Fire” continues to fan the embers of ambiguity. Everything about Mathilde’s fire-starting abilities seem to have as much of a rational explanation as a spiritual one. Kristen does go burning her candles at both ends as a direct result, but with mitigating factors. But the episode also benefits from the grey areas between the Islamic and Christian beliefs, and the inherent pecking order of spirituality. Evil doesn’t offer easy outs, they prefer intellectual subversions, like ending an episode on a little girl starting fires with a glance.

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Evil airs Sundays on Paramount+.

The post Evil Season 2 Episode 3 Review: F Is for Fire appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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quakerjoe · 5 years ago

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"Why are people so hostile towards President Donald Trump?"

Chris O'Leary:

Before you pass my answer off as “Another Liberal Snowflake” consider that 1.) I'm an independent centrist who has voted Republican way more often in my life than Democrat, and 2.) If you want to call someone who spent the entire decade of his 20’s serving in the Marine Corps a snowflake, I’d be ready to answer the question what did you do with your 20’s?

Why Liberals (And not-so liberals) are against President Trump.

A.) He lies. A LOT. Politifact rates 69% of the words he speaks as “Mostly False or worse” Only 17% of the things he says get a “Mostly True” or better rating. That is an absolutely unbelievable number. How he doesn’t speak more truth by mistake is beyond me. To put it in context, Obama’s rating was 26% mostly false or worse, and I had a problem with that. Many of Trump’s former business associates report that he has always been a compulsive liar, but now he’s the President of the United States, and that’s a problem. And this is a man who expects you to believe him when he points at other people and says “They’re lying”

B.) He’s an authoritarian populist, not a conservative. He advances regressive social policy while proposing to expand federal spending and federalist authority over states, both of which conservatives are supposed to hate.

C.) He pretends at Christianity to court the Religious Right but fails to live anything resembling a Christ-Like Life.

D.) His nationalist “America First” message effectively alienates us and removes us from our place as leaders in the international community.

E.) His ideas on “Keeping us safe” are all thinly veiled ideas to remove our freedoms, he is, after all, an authoritarian first. They also are simply bad ideas.

F.) He couldn’t pass a 3rd-grade civics exam. He doesn't’ know what he’s doing. He doesn't understand how international relations work, he doesn’t understand how federal state or local governments work, and every time someone tries to “Run it like a business” it’s a spectacular failure. See Colorado Springs’ recent history as an example. The Short, Unhappy Life of a Libertarian Paradise And that was a businessman with a MUCH better business track record than Trump. We are talking about a man who lost money owning a freaking gambling casino.

G.) He behaves unethicaly and always has. As a businessman, he constantly left in his wake unpaid contractors and invoices, litigation, broken promises, whatever he could get away with.

H.) He is damaging our relationships with our best international friends while kissing up to nations that do not have our best interests in mind. To his question “Wouldn't’ it be great to have better relations with Russia?” The answer is Yes. But it is RUSSIA who needs to earn that, who must stop doing the things that are damaging to that relationship, or we are simply weaker for it.

I.) He has never seen a shortcut he didn't like, and you can’t take shortcuts in government. “Nuclear Option, Remove the Filibuster, I’ll change the Constitution by Executive Order…Don…what happens when you remove the filibuster and the other side retakes the majority in the Senate? Suddenly want that filibuster back? What happens if you manage to change the Constitution by Executive Order and an Anti-2A President wins the next election?

J.) He behaves and has always behaved as an unabashed racist. Yes, I’ve seen your favorite meme that claims he was never accused of racism before the Democrats…Absolutely false. Donald Trump’s long history of racism, from the 1970s to 2019 See the Central Park 5, the lawsuits and fines resulting from his refusal to lease to black tenants, the 1992 lost appeal trying to overturn penalties for removing black dealers from tables, his remarks to the house native American affairs subcommittee in 1993. The man sees and treats racial groups of people as monoliths.

K.) He is systematically steamrolling regulations specifically designed to keep a disaster like the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis from happening again.

L.) He speaks and acts like a demagogue. He sees the Legislative and Judicial branches of government as inconveniences, blows up at criticism no matter how deserved and actively tries to countermand constitutional processes, not to mention attempts to blackmail and coerce people who are saying negative things about him

M.) His choices for top positions, with the exception of Gen. Mattis, who is a gem, have been horrendous. A secretary of Education without a resume that would get her hired as a small town grammar school principal, A secretary of Energy who didn't know the Department of Energy was responsible for nuclear reserves, an EPA head whose biggest accomplishments to date had been suing the EPA on multiple occasions, an FCC head who while working for Verizon actively lobbied to kill net neutrality, and an Attorney General who thinks pot is “nearly as bad as heroin” and asked Congress for permission to go after legal pot businesses in states where it is legal. (There goes that great Republican States rights rally cry again, right? *Crickets*) An Interim AG after Firing his First AG who’s appointment is probably unconstitutional.

N.) He denies scientific fact. Ever notice that the only people you hear denying climate change are politicians and lobbyists? 99% of actual scientists studying the issue agree that it’s real, man-made and caused by greenhouse gasses. Ever notice that every big disaster movie starts with a bunch of politicians in a room ignoring a scientist's warning?

0.) He does not have the temperament to lead this nation. He is Thin Skinned, childish, and a bully, never mind misogynistic, boorish, rude, and incapable of civil discourse.

P.) He still does not understand that the words he speaks, or tweets, are the official position of 1/3 of the US government, and so does not govern his words. He still thinks when he speaks it’s good ol’ Donald Trump. It’s not. It’s the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. You have probably spread a meme or two around talking about how no president’s every word has ever been dissected before…YES, THEY ALWAYS HAVE. It’s just that every other president in our lifetime has understood the importance of his words and took great care to govern his speech. Trump blurts out whatever comes to his mind then complains when people talk about what a dumb thing that was to say.

Q.) He’s unqualified. If you owned a small business and were looking for someone to manage it, and an unnamed resume came across your desk and you saw 6 bankruptcies, showing a man who had failed to make money running CASINOS, would you hire him? He is a very poor businessman. This is a man it has been estimated would have been worth $10 BILLION more if he’d just taken what his father had given him, invested it in Index Funds and left it alone.

R.) He is President. But he refuses to take a leadership position and understand that he is everyone’s President. Conservatives complain about liberals chanting “Not my President” while Trump himself behaves as if no one but his supporters matter.

S.) He’s a blatant hypocrite. He spent 8 years bitching Obama out for his family trips, or golfing, or any time he took for himself, and what does he do? He was already on his 20th golf outing in APRIL of his 1st year in office. He constantly rants about respect for the military, yet can’t be bothered to attend the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day because of a little rain. (And that excuse about Marine One not being able to fly in the rain is HILARIOUS.)

T.) He’s a misogynist. It's not really ok in this day and age to be a misogynist, but it’s not a huge deal if you’re a private citizen. It’s a pretty big deal if you hate half the people you’re elected to lead. The disdain for women seeps out of his …whatever…. and he just can’t hide it.

U.) Face it. In any other election “Grab Em’ By the Pussy” would have been the end of that candidate’s chances. Back in the 90’s I used to marvel about how Teflon Bill Clinton was. I no longer do. The fact that he managed to slip by on that is as much a statement about how much people hate Hillary Clinton as it is about what is wrong with politics in this country right now.

V.) He has one response to a differing opinion. Attack. A good leader listens to criticism, to different points of view, is capable of self-reflection, tries to guide people to his point of view, and when necessary stands his ground and defends his convictions. Any of that sound like Trump? His default is not to Lead, its’ to attack. Scorched Earth. The Jim Acosta reaction is a good example. There was no defense of his convictions when Acosta was asking him repeated questions about his rhetoric on the caravan. His response was to attack Acosta.

W.) He takes credit for everything positive while deflecting blame for everything negative. Look at him with the Stock Market. He’s been bragging about it since day one, and to give credit where credit is due, speculation on coming deregulation early in his presidency did fuel some rapid growth, but to pretend that it’s all him, that we’re not in the 9th year of the longest bull market in history and THEN, when the standard market volatility that deregulation inevitably brings about starts to show up? Yeah. Look at yesterday. Hey! Stock Markets losing because the Democrats won! Do I need to bring out the Stock market chart for the last 10 Years again?

X.) He emboldens the worst among us. Counter-protesters are slammed into by a car while countering actual Nazi rally, and the response is there’s fault on “Both Sides” The media is at fault for a nut job sending them and Donald’s favorite targets pipe bombs. The truth is not all Republicans, not all Trump Supporters are racist, fascist lunatics. Many are just taken in by the bombastic personality and are living in an information bubble made worse by the fact that they unfollow anyone and ignore any source of information that makes them feel uncomfortable. People on the left do that too. The Biggest problem the right has right now is that the worst of the Right is the loudest and the most in your face, and the actual right, especially the Freaking PRESIDENT needs to be standing up and saying No. Those are not our values.

Y.) He seems to think the Constitution of The United States, the document that IS who we are, the document he took an oath to support and defend is some sort of inconvenience. He demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of Constitution, from believing he can alter the 14th through executive order, to thinking The free exercise clause in the first amendment somehow supersedes the establishment clause (not that he really understands either) or that the free exercise clause only applies to Christians. Or his attacks on freedom of expression and the press. He repeatedly makes it clear that if he’s read them, he does not understand Articles 1–3, and that’s something he really should have before he took the job, because they’re not going away.

Z.) I’ll use Z for something I do blame him for, but the rest of us have to carry the blame too. Polarization. This country is more politically polarized than I can remember in my lifetime. Some of you who are a few years older than I may remember how it was in the late 60’s when construction workers in New York were being applauded for beating up hippies, I think it’s pretty close to that right now, but that was before my time. And he is the cause of much of the current level polarization, but also the result. It didn't’ start with Trump. We’ve been going down this road I think since the eruption of the Tea Party in the early years of the Obama Administration. I do hope the tide turns before it gets much worse because the thing that scares me more than anything is what if that keeps going the way it has been? "

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reading-writing-revolution · 5 years ago

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A person asked the question, "Why are people so hostile towards President Donald Trump?"

Chris O'Leary:

Why Liberals (And not-so liberals) are against President Trump.

C.) He pretends at Christianity to court the Religious Right but fails to live anything resembling a Christ-Like Life.

D.) His nationalist “America First” message effectively alienates us and removes us from our place as leaders in the international community.

E.) His ideas on “Keeping us safe” are all thinly veiled ideas to remove our freedoms, he is, after all, an authoritarian first. They also are simply bad ideas.

G.) He behaves unethicaly and always has. As a businessman, he constantly left in his wake unpaid contractors and invoices, litigation, broken promises, whatever he could get away with.

K.) He is systematically steamrolling regulations specifically designed to keep a disaster like the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis from happening again.

0.) He does not have the temperament to lead this nation. He is Thin Skinned, childish, and a bully, never mind misogynistic, boorish, rude, and incapable of civil discourse.

//Meanwhile, I’m not a Liberal either, and I’m a veteran of 20 years with 13 deployments to combat zones.//

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seh406 · 5 years ago

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C.) He pretends at Christianity to court the Religious Right but fails to live anything resembling a Christ-Like Life.

D.) His nationalist “America First” message effectively alienates us and removes us from our place as leaders in the international community.

E.) His ideas on “Keeping us safe” are all thinly veiled ideas to remove our freedoms, he is, after all, an authoritarian first. He has shown that they also are simply bad ideas.

F.) He couldn’t pass a 3rd-grade civics exam. He doesn't’ know what he’s doing. He doesn't understand how international relations work, he doesn’t understand how federal state or local governments work, and every time someone tries to “Run it like a business” it’s a spectacular failure. See Colorado Springs’ recent history as an example. “The Short, Unhappy Life of a Libertarian Paradise” and that was a businessman with a MUCH better business track record than Trump. We are talking about a man who lost money owning a freaking gambling casino.

G.) He behaves unethically and always has. As a businessman, he constantly left in his wake unpaid contractors and invoices, litigation, broken promises, whatever he could get away with.

K.) He is systematically steamrolling regulations specifically designed to keep a disaster like the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis from happening again.

N.) He denies scientific fact. We’ve all witnessed this with the latest world disaster, the Coronavirus. He was warned by scientists and doctors very early on that this could happen but he totally ignored these warnings which has had un-reversible repercussions. Have you also noticed that the only people you hear denying climate change are politicians and lobbyists? 99% of actual scientists studying the issue agree that it’s real, man-made and caused by greenhouse gasses. Ever notice that every big disaster movie starts with a bunch of politicians in a room ignoring a scientist's warning?

0.) He does not have the temperament to lead this nation. He is thin skinned, childish, and a bully, never mind misogynistic, boorish, rude, and incapable of civil discourse.

P.) He still does not understand that the words he speaks, or tweets, are the official position of 1/3 of the US government, and so does not govern his words. He still thinks when he speaks it’s good ole’ Donald Trump. It’s not. It’s the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. You have probably spread a meme or two around talking about how no president’s every word has ever been dissected before…YES, THEY ALWAYS HAVE. It’s just that every other president in our lifetime has understood the importance of his words and took great care to govern his speech. Trump blurts out whatever comes to his mind then complains when people talk about what a dumb thing that was to say.

R.) He is the President. But he refuses to take a leadership position and understand that he is everyone’s President. Again, this has been recently demonstrated with the Coronavirus Pandemic. Conservatives complain about liberals chanting “Not my President” while Trump himself behaves as if no one but his supporters matter.

V.) He has one response to a differing opinion. ATTACK. A good leader listens to criticism, to different points of view, is capable of self-reflection, tries to guide people to his point of view, and when necessary stands his ground and defends his convictions. Does any of this sound like Trump? His default is not to Lead, its’ to attack. Scorched Earth. The Jim Acosta reaction is a good example. There was no defense of his convictions when Acosta was asking him repeated questions about his rhetoric on the caravan. His response was to attack Acosta and he’s done this many times now with the

X.) He emboldens the worst among us. Counter-protesters are slammed into by a car while countering actual Nazi rally, and the response is there’s fault on “Both Sides” The media is at fault for a nut job sending them and Donald’s favorite targets pipe bombs. The truth is not all Republicans, not all Trump Supporters are racist, fascist lunatics. Many are just taken in by the bombastic personality and are living in an information bubble made worse by the fact that they unfollow anyone and ignore any source of information that makes them feel uncomfortable. People on the left do that too. The biggest problem the right has right now is that the worst of the Right is the loudest and the most in your face, and the actual right, especially the Freaking PRESIDENT needs to be standing up and saying No. Those are not our values.

Z.) I’ll use Z for something I do blame him for, but the rest of us have to carry the blame too. Polarization. This country is more politically polarized than I can remember in my lifetime. Some may remember how it was in the late 60’s when construction workers in New York were being applauded for beating up hippies, I think it’s pretty close to that right now. And he is the cause of much of the current level polarization, but also the result. It didn't’ start with Trump. We’ve been going down this road I think since the eruption of the Tea Party in the early years of the Obama administration. I was hoping the tide would turn before it got much worse because the thing that scared me more than anything is what if that keeps going the way it has been? Well, that ship has sailed given Trumps past record and the latest current events that have gone horribly wrong.

If you’ve read this far, thank you for reading my reasons which I hope has given you my insight rather than just some superfluous statement I could have made that would have been pretty meaningless of why I cannot and never will support this man as someone I respect, let alone support him as our President.

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skepticraven · 5 years ago

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Dear Trump Fans,

I keep hearing you say that Trump has done so much for America but you never elaborate on that, even when I ask you to. So, I’m asking again & my question is simple. What has he done that you think is so great? Aside from insulting people you don’t like, I just don’t see any achievements. This is what I do see:

-Trump didn't end the overseas wars like he promised. Instead, he got us involved in Syria. And he has nearly started a couple new wars with Iran & North Korea

- It seems you don't have your giant, waste-of-money wall. You have a small amount of fencing that anyone could cross should they want to. And Mexico won't EVER pay for it. Now, I’m fine with no wall but you shouldn’t be.

- Trump is trying to cut the CDC budget by almost 20% amidst a pandemic.

- Trump fired the pandemic response team last year.

- Trump is already saying he wants everyone back to work by Easter & all of the churches full on Easter- except every doctor & all his medically educated advisors are advising Trump against that. The cases of coronavirus are still increasing rapidly. Sending people back into such close proximity to one another will only inflame the problem, increasing the number of infected & dead tenfold.

-Trump has violated the emoluments clause of the constitution by failing to put his assets in a blind trust & thus is charging foreign leaders & American politicians inflated prices to stay at his hotels to win his favor & get private access to the president since he goes there all the time

- Trump is guilty of blatant nepotism. For example, he appointed Jared Kushner to negotiate peace in the middle east, handle diplomacy with China & Mexico, address the opioid epidemic, manage the wall construction process, etc. Jared isn't qualified for any of that, he only has that job because he bones Trump's daughter. Jared wouldn’t be qualified to manage a Pizza Hut. He was born rich and has done nothing but lose billions when he landed in his father job because his father went to prison for tax evasion, witness tampering, & illegal campaign contributions.

- Trump, who claims to be tough on terrorism, signed a multi-billion dollar weapons deal with Saudi Arabia RIGHT AFTER they murdered & dismembered an American journalist. Not to mention the genocide they were waging in Yemen. There is a reason that 80% of the 9/11 terrorist were from Saudi Arabia.

- Trump has eliminated funding for programs that work to de-radicalize people in extremist groups/organizations & help them escape that life.

- Trump cut his own taxes & that of his rich buddies & corporations BY 40%. Due to all the tax loopholes & shady financial dealings (like equity swapping or offshore tax havens) which the wealthiest Americans & corporations do, they already historically weren't paying anywhere near the marginal tax rate they should be on paper. Trump cut the corporate marginal tax rate from 35% to 21%. So after the loopholes & their shady bullshit, they're very likely paying a lower effective tax rate than you are. Thanks to Trump, many paid no income taxes at all in 2018 like Amazon, Netflix, Chevron, IBM, Delta Airlines, General Motors, Whirlpool, Goodyear Tires, etc.

-Trump promised to reduce the deficit but he has actually raised it by a lot. When you decrease the amount of taxes coming in that drastically & you increase government spending that much, the deficit is going to increase. The Caronavirus situation has only exacerbated that problem but the problem was already there.

-Trump pulled out of the Iran deal, solely because Obama did it. And Mr. Art of the Deal did not even try to negotiate a new deal.

- This great healthcare Trump promised hasn't happened. Less people have insurance now than when Trump first took office. Drug prices have only gone up. There have be cuts to Medicaid as well.

-Trump appointed a judge who clearly lied to congress & whom likely sexually assaulted someone. Why Trump did not pick a different conservative judge to nominate, I will never understand.

- Trump cut all the social safety net programs that help the poor & disabled: SSI Disability, Food Stamps, Medicaid, HUD, etc.

- Like it or not, Trump was technically impeached. He just wasn’t removed from office by the Senate because there are a bunch of scared Republicans who are too scared to do or say anything against Trump. Tribalism saved him. That’s it. Because he admitted on national television that he talked about Biden & his son on that phone call- you can even see the exact moment when he realizes he shouldn’t have said that. So, he did do what he was accused of.

-His administration is a revolving door of hiring & firing/quitting. Trump said he knew the best people so why would he need to fire so many of them? Think about how many people have come & gone. These are just some of the big names who left the administration but there are WAY MORE than I am listing: Rex Tillerson, Mike Pompeo, Scott Pruitt, Steve Bannon, John Bolton, Jeff Sessions, John Kelly, Anthony Scaramucci, Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, Sarah Sanders, James Mattis, Rick Perry, Nikki Haley, Dan Coats, Alexander Acosta, Scott Gottlieb, Bill Shine, Tom Price, H.R. McMaster, Ryan Zinke, Mick Mulvaney, James Comey, Sebastian Gorka, Omarosa Newman, Gary Cohn, Don McGahn, Rod Rosenstein, Michael Flynn, Sally Yates, Tom Homan, Ty Cobb, Tom Bossert, K.T. McFarland, Rob Porter, Dina Powell, Rick Dearborn, Matthew Whittaker, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, Hope Hicks, Brenda Firtzgerald, Rob Snyder, Michael Dubke, Sean Doocey, etc.

-This is kind of a minor point but it does illustrate Trump’s hypocrisy. Trump criticized Obama for golfing so much & then Trump turns around & plays 2.6 times more golf than Obama in his first 2 years and 91 days & has cost the tax payer an estimated $74 million more than Obama.

- Does it ever embarrass you how little Trump knows about anything? Ever notice how he never goes in depth talking about anything? Its all vague because he doesn’t know enough about healthcare or the Iran Deal or climate change to address it in any kind of depth. You still see that idiocy spill out regardles. During an interview for SiriusXM’s P.O.T.U.S. channel, Trump said that former President Andrew Jackson was angry about the Civil War. The only problem is, Jackson couldn’t have been angry about the war. He died in 1845. The Civil War was in 1861. Another example would be during a call with Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, Trump claimed Canada burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Canada didn’t exist as a country until 1867. That was the British... Trump also claimed General John J. Pershing dealt with Muslim terrorists by shooting them with bullets dipped in pig’s blood. That did not happen. The story began circulating the internet around the September 11 terrorist attacks. Apparently Trump believed it was factual, talking about it during his 2016 presidential campaign & again after a terror attack in Barcelona. Then, speaking to the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump confused the Quds Force, a unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, with the Kurds, the minority group battling ISIS in northern Iraq (who he would later abandoned). Maybe that confusion could be forgiven for an average Joe but if you’ president, you need to know stuff like that (especially given the region these two groups are in). Hence why most presidents study political science, law, or economics in college or at least, they bother to read up on this stuff. But Trump doesn’t really read. The only book he claims to have read was a biography about Andrew Jackson whom, he thought was mad about a war that happened 16 years after his death & he also seems to have missed the whole Trail of Tears thing.

- By pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal & the Paris Climate Accord, Trump has isolated us from our allies. Our word means nothing anymore. And who can blame them for being pissed? Whether Iran has a nuclear weapon effect more than just us. Given the size of our nation, our refusal to take the looming threat of climate change seriously is a detriment to the entire world that can & likely will have devastating consequences for everyone. Furthermore, Trump trash talks our closest allies & has placed tariffs on nearly all of them. For example:

AUSTRALIA: Shortly after taking office, Trump reportedly berated then-Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over an agreement between the U.S. and Australia involving refugee resettlement.

CANADA: Trump also attacked Canadian President Justin Trudeau as “meek, mild, dishonest, & weak” during a conversation on trade at the G7 summit in 2018. He also threatened to withhold the U.S.’s signature from a joint communique from the meeting over the feud. Trudeau he also found it “insulting” that tariffs were placed on Canada under a rarely invoked law that allows levies to be placed on a country in the interest of national security. Since when is Canada a national security threat?

DENMARK: Trump also went after Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen after she refused to sell him Greenland. She called the idea “absurd,” & Trump referred to her as “nasty & inappropriate.” The people that live there don’t want to become American. You can’t just buy a country on whim. Greenland belongs to Denmark but its semi-autonomous.

FRANCE: Trump threatened to slap tariffs on French wine & called French President Emmanuel Macron “foolish” after he signed a digital services tax on tech companies making at least 750 MILLION EUROS annually, a figure which meant U.S.-based tech giants like Apple, Google, Facebook & Amazon would be included.

GERMANY: Trump has had a particularly tumultuous relationship with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The president has repeatedly threatened Germany with auto tariffs, saying if companies like BMW and Mercedes wanted to sell cars in the U.S., they should build them in the country. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday criticized President Donald Trump's tweets about four Democratic congresswomen of color telling them to go back to where they came from. She said that the president's tweets contradict "the strength of America." "I distance myself firmly from this & feel solidarity with the women who were attacked," Merkel said. (Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau also criticized Trump for the same thing).

JAPAN: Trump has lamented the U.S.’s responsibility to defend Japan if attacked, saying the alliance between Washington & Tokyo is uneven. Trump has also threatened Japan with auto tariffs, though it announced in May it was delaying any levies for six months.

MEXICO: President Trump has repeatedly torn into Mexico, slamming it on trade but focusing much of his ire on the country over immigration. Trump has threatened America’s southern neighbor with tariffs over its alleged inaction in working to stem the flow of undocumented migrants in the U.S. And let’s face it, he doesn’t exactly talk about the Mexican people in the nicest way and stroked racial tensions.

SWEDEN: President Trump feuded with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven after American rapper A$AP Rocky was detained in Sweden & charged with assault following a June incident in Stockholm. Apparently Kanye West told Trump about it. 🙄 The rapper was ultimately released in & returned to the U.S AFTER he was convicted & had to pay a fine (plus time served).

UNITED KINGDOM: While Trump has bashed the United Kingdom over trade practices, threatening tariffs on one of the U.S.’s closest allies to rectify what he sees as an imbalance, he has directed much of his criticism toward the country’s handling of Brexit. He also attacked the UK's National Health Service, claiming it is "going broke & not working." That’s not true but its not really his business either way. Trump is so disliked in the UK that at one point, 75,000 protestors gathered in central London’s Trafalgar Square to protest U.S. President Trump’s visit to the U.K

SOUTH KOREA: The Trump administration is reportedly demanding South Korea pay 400% more for U.S. troops in the region- despite the fact that having a base in South Korea is essential as much for us as it is for them. We need a base near North Korea should we ever have to attack. Maybe raising it some is reasonable but raising anything 400% overnight is a little absurd.

I see failure & corruption in Trump. I see a danger to America. Feel free to try to change my mind.

#politics #conservative #liberal #democrats #republicans #explain #political blog #PoliticalQuestions #potus #potustrump #failure

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myworld50 · 5 years ago

Text

A person asked the question, "Why are people so hostile towards President Donald Trump?"

Chris O'Leary:

Before you pass my answer off as “Another Liberal Snowflake” consider that

1.) I'm an independent centrist who has voted Republican way more often in my life than Democrat, and

2.) If you want to call someone who spent the entire decade of his 20’s serving in the Marine Corps a snowflake, I’d be ready to answer the question what did you do with your 20’s?

Why Liberals (And not-so liberals) are against President Trump.

C.) He pretends at Christianity to court the Religious Right but fails to live anything resembling a Christ-Like Life.

D.) His nationalist “America First” message effectively alienates us and removes us from our place as leaders in the international community.

E.) His ideas on “Keeping us safe” are all thinly veiled ideas to remove our freedoms, he is, after all, an authoritarian first. They also are simply bad ideas.

G.) He behaves unethicaly and always has. As a businessman, he constantly left in his wake unpaid contractors and invoices, litigation, broken promises, whatever he could get away with.

K.) He is systematically steamrolling regulations specifically designed to keep a disaster like the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis from happening again.

0.) He does not have the temperament to lead this nation. He is Thin Skinned, childish, and a bully, never mind misogynistic, boorish, rude, and incapable of civil discourse.

*snagged from a friends wall:

#trump #politics #gop #politics trump #donald trump

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mutantsrisingrpg · 5 years ago

Photo

WHO

Name: Derek Park Dossier: Deimos Age: 35 Mutant Risk Level: Five Affiliation and Occupation: The Jem Family, Interrogator Gender/Pronouns: He/him Faceclaim: Steven Yeun

POWER

PYROKINESIS: The ability to generate and manipulate fire. They are able to create fire from both their fingertips and some external objects such as a lighter or still warm ashes. Control of this ability takes extreme practice and will. Mutants with this ability can generate flames from thin air, not needing to consume oxygen in order to create flames. Derek is one of the few mutants who possess this power that can cause damage at will by simply tapping their finger to the surface of an item.

AESTHETIC

They are the bitter taste of black coffee when two mouths touch, the lingering touches between hands, and the dust in an abandoned home by the sea. The silent moments before a fight breaks out, the air sticky with electricity and sweat. They are need and want and finally giving in to whatever desire has been whispering in your ear. The face of a poker player, bluffing their way to take from the rich and give to the poor. The tingling creep that moves up your arm when goosebumps rise and never leave. They are the scent of gasoline, of napalm, of singed memories that gives way to the scent of ash when the job is done.

BIOGRAPHY

(tw drugs, violence)

Touch has always been tied to pain for Derek. The first thing he touched on this Earth he hurt, and the first thing that touched him immediately recoiled. Him, a fresh, swaddled baby, handed to his mother to be pressed, cheek to cheek— and then the shriek, so out of place in what should have been a beautiful moment, and that unmotherly, wrenching instinct to push the painful thing away. A nurse had to step in before his mother could drop him to the floor, likely saving his life in the process. It was mortifying, Derek’s father looking at his mother like he’d never seen her before, the crease on the doctor’s brow.

And then there was the evidence, left on his mother’s face: a burn mark in the shape of a newborn’s cheek. Tiny eyelashes like red, welted spider legs.

Derek was supposed to be the miracle baby, their first son, but there was so much undeniably wrong about him. They could overlook that first burn— a freak accident— but there was another wrongness that infiltrated everything he did, everything he was. He moved through the world oddly, more like a wizened street cat than a child, always scowling too much for his age. Always somewhere far away in his own head, unreachable. Enigmatic. Hard to love.

Apart from that first incident, his powers didn’t manifest in earnest until his teen years, but when they did there was no stopping it. Derek became all too familiar with the smell of melting plastic, burning hair, and hot metal. He grew an aversion to paper, nail polish remover, and anything that took batteries or gasoline, anything explosive. Worst, though, was how his powers affected those around him. Even a small bump of arm to side in passing was enough to leave a welt, the hiss of burning skin and singed hair becoming all too familiar. Derek learned to pull his body in like a sail. He moved around on cautious, light feet, as if everywhere his skin touched the world hurt him. He stopped sleeping, for fear of what his body would do in his dreams.

It was an impossible way to live, and of course it had to come to a head sometime. One Fall night, he woke up surrounded by blinding light, and a weird taste in his mouth. At first, he thought he was seeing an angel. It was just so bright. A few delirious moments later and he realised what was happening. What he was.

The glowing coal at the center of a house fire.

No one was physically harmed, but in every other way his family was ruined. Everything had to change. The family of a high-level mutant couldn’t move through life like normal people. Government representatives visited to lay out the ground rules of their new lives, all the restrictions they were to follow at threat of having him taken away. In the years following, Derek could never decide whether his parent’s submission to these new rules was driven by some last vestige of parental love they had for him, or over the fear of what having him sent away would do to their reputation. Not that they had much of that left, anyway. In their small community they were pariahs, the reckless family putting everyone around them at risk, harboring that boy of theirs.

At home, Derek’s powers were a confirmation of every bad thought and reservation his parents had ever had about him. He was a death-trap burden, a dangerous changeling child with unknown motivations. He switched to homeschooling, was only allowed in certain parts of the house at certain hours, and almost never went outside. Within the house itself he was surveilled, his every movement controlled and judged against the possible harm he might cause. But nothing he did could ever be enough to win their trust, their approval. It changed how he saw himself, being treated like a liability. He’d spent his life being told what he was, and now he was starting to believe them.

So he decided: if he must be a bomb always about to go off, he might as well do something with it. Might as well become the weapon everyone treated him as. Might as well make a living out of it. He was deteriorating, trapped up in his fire-proofed room, always alone.

A cursed life was better than no life at all.

So he left home and learned to control his powers. He found people who appreciated the worst parts of himself, and paid him well for it. He discovered a talent for interrogation, intimidation, a naturally threatening smile. By his early twenties, nothing he was doing could be called legal. A few years after that, and he’d made a real name for himself as someone who would go further than the others. Dangerous enough that even his employers were afraid of him. Eventually, only the worst would hire him. Looks normal enough, but don’t believe it. He’s fucking crazy. The tougher the employer, the tougher the work, but by that point he had stopped caring. The consequences weren’t real, the threats were just words. Enemies were just people he’d have to deal with later.

Amsterdam was his breaking point. Derek had switched to freelancing for a while, broken off from all alliances after a boss tried to two-time him. He was unaffiliated, impartial, just helping bad guys hurt bad guys. Still, this was his riskiest gig. He’d never gone international before, a Level 5 mutant with fake papers on a commercial airline– it was enough to give any number of governmental agencies reason to take him out on sight. But he was bored, numb, bored, numb. Coming up to 30 years old and sick of the Chicago scene. So he’d tried something new.

The boss there was something else, a real talker, beautiful, had gotten under his skin in a way few ever had. He should have left when the boss had asked about taking out a hit– it had always been a sore subject for him. That’s not my job, dead people can’t talk, I’m not fucking paid enough to kill people. (There was no amount of money could be paid to kill people.)

But the man was just so charming. Derek relaxed an inch, and they took a mile. It was just one drink. He didn’t even taste the ketamine. When he woke up, his mouth tasted like copper, and barbeque smoke. The sweet, musky smell of burning spinal fluid. Three were dead, the boss was laughing, and his return flight was in under an hour.

When he got back, he had a missed call from Damien Matthews, with a different kind of job for him. A job with rules, structure. Protection. He’d heard about the Jems and all the noise they’d been making about Mutant Rights and he didn’t really care about that shit, but he took the job immediately. He needed the discipline, a boss, someone to reel him back in from where he’d strayed too far from his himself, almost at the cost of his humanity. The Jems saved him, and while he may be somewhat ambivalent to their cause, his loyalty to Damien is unflinching. The Jems need him, but he needs them more.

CONNECTIONS

LUCA MENDOZA, Enabler: They know that Luca is bad news, but so are they which makes them the perfect friends. They push Derek to their limit, constantly wanting to show just how much damage they can cause whenever they’re together. The two of them combined can burn all of Chicago to the ground and the thought of that excites them. It takes all of Derek’s pride not to show how excited they are whenever they’re paired together for a job.

ISABEL ACOSTA, Secret: They knew she was trouble from the start, but that didn’t stop Derek from pursuing her. She was like a breath of fresh air compared to the members of Jem they were around all the time. They treasure their time spent together even if it’s in tiny motel rooms on the other side of the city or in dimly lit dive bars near university row or in empty train cars. The worry of being caught is always in the back of their mind though and Derek knows it might not end well for either of them.

FELIX ALVAREZ, Concern: Derek can tell that the Blackburn doctor is onto them. They could swear that they’ve seen Felix lurking around the corner when they’ve gone to meet Isabel. And there’s something in the way they’ve seen the other look at her that tells Derek something bigger is at play, something that they know nothing about. They just need the correct time and place to confront the good doctor to find out exactly what their issue is.

DEIMOS is CLOSED for applications. He is taken by NOEL.

#derek bio #deimos #tj #taken #a

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lemonbombsfjl · 5 years ago

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