#quick note that it is a GOOD thing that trump's attempts to have his sentencing halted have been unsuccessful

[thatswhatsushesaid]

i'm not a politics blog and i will never be a politics blog, but 1) i DO love disco elysium, and 2) this is honestly what it feels like checking the news every day right now

[ohwereusingourmadeupnames]

True Pleasure

Pairing: Peter Parker/Tony Stark (Starker) Rating: Mature (M)  Notes: I saw this post by @ironandspider and couldn’t help but take a whack at it. I was immediately inspired.  Summary: 

“Being vulnerable is the the only way to allow your heart true pleasure.” 

They’d been dating for a few weeks the first time Peter was startled awake by Tony’s thrashing next to him. His heart slammed against his chest for a moment, Peter willing his eyes to adjust to the darkness around him. It didn’t occur to him that Tony was having a nightmare until he started to make little whimpering noises. Sucking in a breath, Peter scotched a little closer and wrapped an arm tightly around Tony’s middle.

He used a little more of his strength than he usually allowed himself to ground Tony to the bed – his other hand ran along the top of Tony’s head, his fingers brushing the soft locks off of his forehead.. Keeping his voice level, he spoke up. “Tony – baby, wake up. You’re having a nightmare.” Peter repeated that same sentence a couple of times before Tony gasped awake, his eyes widening for a moment – the look in them wild. Recognition settled over him after a few dozen heartbeats, his rigid body relaxing a little bit.

“Pete?” Tony questioned, his voice small, the tone the slightest bit broken. Peter could feel the thump of his heart against the inside of his arm – it felt like a hummingbird trying desperately to get out of a cage. His hand was shaky when he reached up to place it on Peter’s cheek.

Leaning into the touch, wanting to do whatever he could to provide Tony with a little bit of comfort, Peter nodded, a soft smile sliding across his lips. “Yup, Peter Parker at your service. Neighborhood Spider-Man, boy genius, snuggle bug extraordinaire.” He wiggled his eyebrows while he spoke, his lame attempt to break the tension in the air exactly that – lame.

It seemed to work, though – Tony broke out in a laugh, the sound genuine and deep, the rumble familiar now that Peter took the time to pay attention. Nuzzling further into the hand on his cheek, Peter held Tony tightly, the older man slowly coming out of the hazy dream state. Fingers turning his face told him Tony was feeling a bit better, the lips on his a little on the desperate side. Peter sunk into the kisses and gave back as good as he got until Tony tired himself out. There was heat pooling in the center of his belly, but sleep called to him more.

He kept Tony in his arms, the man pressed tightly to his chest – Peter stayed awake and watched him until he fell asleep. His eyes were sleep heavy, but it felt important to make sure Tony didn’t fall back into that same dream before he let himself rest. Tony held all of his feelings in, it wasn’t all that surprising, the night finding them and bringing them to the forefront. The least Peter could do was be there and have warm arms to tumble into.

Before falling asleep, Peter pressed a soft kiss to the back of Tony’s neck, his nose burying itself in the downy hair there. He drifted off to the sweet smell of oranges and smoky goodness.

The next morning, Peter woke up to an empty bed. Frowning, he rolled over and got himself into a sitting position and off the warm mattress. He slipped on his boxer briefs from the night before and the black button down he took off of Tony, then slipped out of the room. Most mornings, they lounged in bed and mumbled to each other about the day, how they were going to spend it – when they’d see each other next. Peter figured Tony was still smarting from the night before, so he stumbled into the kitchen cautiously.

Tony was slumped at the small table by the window in his kitchen, a full cup of coffee still sitting in front of him. Checking the pot, Peter figured it had to be a couple hours old. He made quick work of getting rid of the cold stuff and putting a new pot on. The kitchen started to smell like fresh brew in the matter of minutes – his mouth watered at the thought of the stiff caffeinated beverage hitting the back of his throat. Leaving Tony’s black, Peter fixed his with a splash of milk and a sugar cube.

He replaced Tony’s mug without much fanfare, the older man relinquishing his grip without an ounce of fight or resistance. The mug went into the sink, then Peter took his first blissful sip of the elixir of the god’s, a sigh leaving his lips.

“Don’t you have class this morning?” Tony asked, his voice gruff from disuse and lack of sleep. He finally looked up from the place in the distance he’d been staring into. Their gazes locked – Tony’s normal happiness to see him clouded by whatever was occupying his mind. Peter tried not to take it personal, his brain more than aware of what it was like to wake up in a panic.

Shrugging his shoulders, Peter took another sip of his coffee – if he let himself formulate an answer, he might not sprout off and worsen the situation. “Yup – Biochem with Shrev.” Lifting up his coffee cup in salute, Peter walked out of the kitchen and back into the bedroom. He turned on the shower and drank the rest of his morning brew leaning against the counter, enjoying the way the hot water steamed up the bathroom.

By the time he climbed out of the shower, Tony was back in the bedroom. He felt the older man’s eyes roam over him as he walked into the room. Peter kept a hand on the knot of his towel as he rummaged through his backpack to pull out the spare clothes he kept there. Giving Tony a soft smile over his shoulder, Peter went back into the bathroom to finish getting ready. The guilty pleasure of using the man’s aftershave kept him from being bogged down by Tony’s edginess.

Peter shouldered his bag and took a look around the room to make sure he didn’t miss anything in his new morning routine around the Stark penthouse. Satisfied, Peter walked up to Tony, who’d been leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom since he came out and pulled him into a hug – strong arms wrapped around him, drawing him close. “I’ll see you in the lab later.” With a chaste kiss to the older man’s forehead, Peter turned and walked out.

It felt weird, leaving with things hanging in the air like that – but Peter refused to let Tony’s bad dream the night before be something that came between them. He understood not liking to be vulnerable – his nights were frequently haunted by dreams that chased him and didn’t relent. It was one-part embarrassing and one-part frightening – being so bogged down in something that only waking up could cure. So, he endured it, the way he felt for Tony trumped all of the weirdness that coursed over him throughout the rest of the day.

Walking into the lab later, Peter was enveloped in a tight hug – Tony obviously not giving a damn about the other people idling around. Tony tucked his face into Peter’s neck and sighed, his breath warm against his sensitive skin. “Missed you,” he mumbled, the tone of his voice soft, the words as much of an apology as the current situation called for.

“Me too, Tones,” Peter replied, his arms wrapping around Tony’s hips. They shared a quick kiss, then separated. The rest of the day was spent sharing shy smiles across the table and brushing hands while passing each other things just because they could. It cemented what he thought earlier that day – this, his thing with Tony, it meant more – the world, maybe.

----

A couple months later, Peter jumped awake to the sound of Tony’s shout. It must have been enough to wake the older man up, too. His “shit” harsh, forced out of his chest like it was punched right out of his gut. Turning over, Peter was surprised to see Tony looking right at him. “Oh, Pete. Thank fuck,” Tony gasped out, his sweat soaked hands reaching out, the few inches between them obviously feeling like billions of miles away.

Peter went willingly, his sleep clogged mind more than willing to cling to the warmth of Tony’s body. “It’s okay, Tones. I’m right here,” Peter mumbled, his voice scratchy – the entirety of him trying its best to cling to sleep. He laid flat against the mattress and pulled Tony toward him, his arm pulling him into his side so there was no space left between them. Tony placed his head on Peter’s chest, the hairs of his goatee making the skin tickle slightly.

Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s pec, his lips trembling slightly. “Don’t let go for a while, okay?” Tony whispered, his head tilting up to look at Peter.

Their eyes caught and even through the fog of sleep, Peter understood what was happening. Tony was putting a foot on the throat of his vulnerability – he was opening the door for Peter to take him from the darkness and hold him close until they were out of it. Beaming, Peter leaned down to press a kiss to Tony’s sleep mused hair. “You’re safe with me, baby.” Peter tightened his arms – he needed the closeness in that moment, too.

Fingers skimming over Tony’s skin lightly, Peter started to talk, his voice low – the intention to be soothing. “Do you remember that afternoon a couple of months ago that I was running late, so you came and picked me up from campus? I can still remember walking out to see you leaning on the Audi like you owned the place. When I close my eyes, the way you looked in that moment is something that pops into my head first thing. You looked like you were at peace.”

Somewhere in the space of his little soliloquy, Tony drifted off – his breath evening out against Peter’s chest. Smiling, he pressed another kiss into Tony’s hair and relaxed into the pillow beneath him. He kept his grip tight, the thought of space between them too much, even in his exhausted state. Tony trusted him – it was important for him to continue to prove he deserved it.

Waking up with the steady weight of Tony against his chest made him grin – now this was the way he wanted to wake up for all the days to come. He luxuriated in the feeling of having Tony pressed against him this way for a while – his brain steadily coming into a more wakeful state as the minutes passed. Tony started to stir right around the time Peter finally felt like he could keep his eyes open and attempt to be a functioning person for the rest of the day.

The feeling of Tony rolling on top of him made him gasp, the shift of the older man’s weight from his side to his center making him press up a little. “Morning,” Tony said with clarity, his eyes not nearly as hollow as they usually were after a night where the dreams wouldn’t let him go. Gripping Tony’s hips, Peter let his fingertips stray over the naked skin there.

“Morning, Tones,” Peter replied, his lips quirked in a sleepy grin. They were quickly occupied a moment later – Tony kissed him with determination, the energy in the press of his lips a lot for so shortly after waking up, but beautiful, nonetheless. Peter leaned into it easily – he was just happy that Tony wasn’t bogged down by the things in his head that he couldn’t escape.

A while later, Peter got out of the shower to find a coffee cup on the counter, the smell of it making his mouth water. His cheeks were a little sore from all the smiling he’d been doing throughout the morning and he’d only been awake for 45 minutes or so. He ran a towel through his wet hair while sucking down some of the coffee in his mug, the caffeine doing wonders for his sleepiness.

Tony was in the kitchen when he walked out with his backpack – the older man flashing him a soft smile over his shoulder. “Do you have time for breakfast?” Tony asked, his eyebrows quirked in typical Tony Stark fashion.

Flashing a glance over at the clock on the fancy stove, Peter shook his head – “I have to get to class. Want to meet for lunch instead?” He placed his backpack on the island, Peter wanting his hands to be free to pull Tony to him. The older man came willingly, his arms settling around Peter’s neck without a second thought.

“Sounds good – I’ll order Thai, or something.” Tony leaned in until their foreheads were pressed together, his breath ghosting Peter’s lips. “I love you,” he whispered after a while, his nose brushing against Peter’s. “I love you.”

Peter let the word wash over him, hearing them for the first time made him want to melt into a puddle of goo. Beaming, he pulled back a little, both hands cupping Tony’s cheeks. “I love you too. So much.” There wasn’t any hesitation, both men leaned in until their lips were connected – the touch like a current, electricity and energy flowing so easily between them.

It would have been so easy to get caught up in the dizzying tension in the room, but Peter knew they both had shit to do, so he stepped away with a final brush of their lips. “I’ll see you in a little while.” Grabbing his bag, he kept his body turned towards Tony as he walked out, eyes desperate to be on him until he wasn’t in sight any longer.

Luckily, Peter was nearing the end of his semester, so both classes standing in the way of lunch with Tony were jam packed full of things he needed to pay attention to. The time flew by – before he knew it, he was walking into the penthouse to the sight of Tony in one of his three-piece suits, the vest unbuttoned, and the tie loosened. That look never ceased to drive Peter crazy – the older man well aware of that fact.

Hearing him, Tony turned around, his face breaking into a smile. “Pete – just in time. Food is on the coffee table in the living room.” Tony narrowed the space between them and gripped Peter’s hand, their fingers tangling easily. “I got a couple extra orders of that shrimp you like.”

Peter ate his weight in Thai food and found himself slumped against the back of the couch. Tony was leaning heavily into him, his neck rolling from side to side. “Here,” Peter said, turning a little bit on the couch until Tony was sitting between his legs. “Lean back a little, I’ll get that knot in your shoulder.” Peter recognized the gesture – Tony got bunched up when he was stressed. The last time it happened, his neck and upper back were useless for a handful of days.

Instead of waiting for it to get worse, Peter dug into the group of muscles spanning across his upper back and shoulders. Tony undid his tie and the first button on his shirt, the man tilting his head a little further towards his right shoulder, exposing more skin as he did. “Your hands feel amazing,” he mumbled after a few minutes of Peter kneading muscle and skin. “So good, Pete.”

Preening at the compliment, Peter doubled down, his hands now eager to make Tony feel good, not just better. By the time he felt Tony’s shoulder slump with the release of the knot holding his muscle bellies captive, Tony was letting out little sounds of contentment, his eyes closed and head lolling loosely against Peter’s shoulder. He let his lips trail up Tony’s trap and across the side of his neck – his skin warm from the way Peter’s hands worked him over. “Okay?” he asked when he got to Tony’s ear, his words spoken right against the shell of it.

Tony didn’t answer verbally, he simply nodded his head, his hands reaching back to grab at Peter’s. He ended up holding Tony between his legs for a while, the older man content to simply lean back and soak up the heat from Peter’s increased body temperature.

Later that night, Tony led Peter to bed by the hand, their bellies full of the simple pasta dish they made in the kitchen together. Tony wasn’t the greatest sous chef, but he looked cute in an apron and genuinely wanted to be a distracting help. They sipped on wine and talked about Peter’s lab final at the table after the food was long gone. Tony’s eyes were warm when they took him in, the man’s posture relaxed and carefree – truly open, probably for the first time ever.

Eager fingers undressed him; the trail of Tony’s lips followed by the tantalizing scratch of his well-manicured goatee. Peter let his eyes fall closed, his jaw falling open from the greatness of it. He got carried away by the reverently passionate touches, Tony obviously on a mission to take him to pieces. The symphony of their moans made it hard to figure out where one started and the other began.

When Tony handed him the lube and laid himself out on the sheets, Peter let out a noise of surprise. Their sex life was amazing – Tony knew so many things about sins of the flesh. There wasn’t a single thing they did together that Peter didn’t love. Yet, they never tread into this territory before. Gripping it tightly, Peter stared into Tony’s eyes. The swift knock to the gut the look on Tony’s face hit him with almost made him double over. The purest of trust was reflected in whiskey colored eyes, Tony’s head nodding to the unspoken question Peter posed.

Sliding in for the first time, Peter let out a breathless shout, his body falling against Tony’s. Strong arms wrapped around his middle to keep them flush together. Peter let his head dangle between his shoulders, his forehead resting against a stubbly cheek.

“Please,” Tony moaned, his hands pulling Peter even tighter against him.

Turning his head, Peter pressed a kiss to Tony’s lips, his hips shifting.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

[harper-clarington]

U Is Smart, U is gay, U is important || hsquared

Where: Pop’s When: Wednesday, November 28 Warnings: overconsumption of milkshakes, a gay in denial, harper being a manipulative demon Word Count: 4,494 words

Harper in italics, @northsidehunter​ in bold

Harper was tired of her twin evading the truth about what was going on with him and Sebastian. What part of no secrets was difficult for him to understand? In the back of her mind, she acknowledged that she was also keeping a secret when it came to her...encounter with Roman Lynn in his room. But that was different. She wasn't hiding anything. If he asked she'd be honest...but she'd been a darling sister and cleaned up the evidence so it's not like there was anything to worry about anyways. The real focus here was her brother and the fact that watching him and Sebastian dance around each other was exhausting. That was why she'd managed to coax him into going out to Pop's for a milkshake and some good ol' fashioned twin talk. And now they were sitting in a cozy booth in the corner of the diner, across from each other and far away from everyone else that they wouldn't be overheard, and Harper was going to wring the truth out of him if it was the last thing she did. "So.....big brother, how have you been?"

Hunter made a mental note to himself to strangle the hell out of Sebastian for drunkenly slipping the truth of their little .. thing -- he most definitely wasn't prepared to speak up, even to Harper, especially since it has only been a couple of days since their first fuck. There were still other unspoken feelings that he wanted to address -- not to Sebastian, but to himself. He should have seen it coming when Harper cornered him in the hallways, asking (begging) to accompany her to Pop's. Hunter could never say no to Harper, really, even though he had an unsettling hunch at the back of his mind that Harper wanted more than just a milkshake. She knew, he could see it, and she wanted details -- but he still found himself lying (evading, mostly) at every question she threw him.

Hunter leans back against his seat, his eyes on the glass of milkshake they were currently sharing. "Good." He answers simply, his face straight. To be honest, he had no idea why he was keeping this facade up -- Harper was his wombmate, they told each other everything, but for some unknown reason, the topic of Sebastian was something Hunter was .. Hesitant on opening up about. "You?"

Harper raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment for the time being. Getting information out of her brother was sometimes a slow and calculated game, one that she was well-versed in by now. You couldn't force things out of Hunter — he was too stubborn for that.  So Harper was going to go for slow and steady until Hunter cracked. "I am....as well as can be expected considering everything with Bri," she said, honestly. It was true. Her best friend's disappearance was weighing on her, but she'd been trying her best to drown it out with shopping and fucking and anything else she could do to get her mind off it. 

 She leaned forward and took a sip of their shared milkshake, before pulling back and putting her chin on her hand. "Can I please get a little more than 'Good'," she asked, sweetly. "We spent nine months in a womb together and you're really going to talk to me like we're complete strangers? I'm kind of hurt, Hunt, not going to lie."

His eyes dart back up to her, and he nods solemnly. Sebrina and Harper were close — just as close as he and Sebastian were; even though she refused to show it, Hunter knew that she wasn’t taking the news well. 

 He stays silent, the gears in his brain turning and whirring to formulate a response that didn’t sound too guilty or suspicious. “I have an essay due by Friday,” he starts with a smile, taking a sip after Harper. “1000 words, and I’m only half-way finished.” This definitely wasn’t the answer Harper wanted, but hell — Hunter didn’t care.

Harper nodded, reaching out to grab the cherry off the top of their milkshake. She popped it into her mouth and sucked on the fruit, waiting to see if Hunter planned on elaborating. It didn't seem likely so she swallowed and then fixed him with an unimpressed stare. 

"1000 words is really not that bad," she insisted. "You've got plenty of time. What's it about?" She murmured, deciding to let Hunter think he'd knocked her off his tail. She'd return to Sebastian when the time was right. He'd told her the truth after all, so she had their texts as a trump card if it really came down to it.

Hunter kept his eyes fixated on the glass, absentmindedly stabbing the thick concoction, “A Tale of Two Cities — we have to summarize it. I’ve finished reading it a couple of nights ago, I suppose I’d be able to finish the whole thing by tonight.” 

 The topic about Sebastian seemed to have dissipated, but Hunter kept his guard up. Harper wasn’t going to give up this easily; she was a Clarington, after all.

Harper hummed in acknowledgement. "Dickens isn't too bad. Let me know if you need a second pair of eyes. I'm happy to read it over."  She reached out to grab her brother's wrist, stilling his hand on the straw, and shot him an amused smirk. "Is there a particular reason you're attempting to murder a perfectly good milkshake?  Has the dairy done something to offend you somehow?" 

 She withdrew her hand and drew a heart on the condensation on their milkshake glass instead as she considered her brother's tense posture. This whole thing was really bothering him, it seemed. She just couldn't understand why he wouldn't talk about it so that she could help.

Hunter smiles, pleased. “I’ll hand it to you after dinner, then.” He was about to take another sip, when Harper’s hand takes his, and he looks up at his sister with an unreadable expression. He hadn’t even realized it. She was clearly trying to draw a specific answer out of him, but Hunter will not budge. “The consistency is thicker than usual,” he shrugs, “I’m not a fan of it.”

Harper nodded, perfectly happy to help Hunter out with his assignments if he needed her to. She furrowed her brow and took another sip. The milkshake tasted perfectly fine to her, just the same as their usual Pop's fare. "If it's bothering you that much, we can tell them. I'm sure they'll make as another," she replied, already raising her arm to flag down some of the waitstaff.

Hunter gently pulls her arm down with a shake of his head, “You don’t have to,” he says, “It’s just a milkshake. I wouldn’t want them to go out of their way to make us another one, I can live with this.” He stirs the milkshake a little more with his straw, before sipping again, just to prove a point.

Harper sighed, shaking her head but lowering her head. "Alright, alright, if you say so," she muttered. She leaned down and took a sip out of her straw as well. "It tastes fine to me though." 

 She tilted her head to the side, smiling softly. "You know Blaine right? Blaine Anderson. Wears bowties and always has too much gel in his hair?" Hunter’s head perks up at that, and he nods, a little confused at the quick subject change. “Yeah,” he answers, slowly, dropping his straw back into the glass. “I’ve talked to him a couple of times. What’s up with Blaine?”

Harper shrugged, smiling into their shake. "Oh, nothing. He's just really sweet, that's all. I kind of want to get to know him better," she let the sentence drag out for a second, absently stirring the milkshake between them.  "I think Sebastian likes him so I figured I'd make an effort."

Hunter almost freezes, and his eyes widen slightly as a nasty, unfamiliar feeling settled in his chest. He chews down his bottom lip, leaning down to take another sip of their milkshake — a long, dragging sip, a shitty attempt to freeze his brain. “That’s good, Blaine’s nice,” he said, hating the way the words choked out of his mouth. Harper steamrolled on, eyes fixed on Hunter's face. "Yeah...I mean Seb's been flirting with him but he flirts with everyone so it's kind of hard to tell if it's going to go anywhere," she murmured. "But I mean it'd also be a nice change of pace for him to be committed for once. I think Blaine'd be good for him," she said, waving her hand as she spoke. “Of course Sebastian flirts with everyone, it’s in his nature,” Hunter snaps, taking his straw and hastily swirling the shake, “Good for him if he decides to settle down — Blaine’s sweet, I can’t imagine anybody else perfect for Sebastian.” His tone was slightly hostile, but his words were true, somewhat, because Blaine was, indeed, a genuinely nice person. If Sebastian liked him, then good.

Harper raised an eyebrow, hiding her smile behind her hand at Hunter's tone. She knew she was pushing a lot of her brother's buttons, so ideally he'd fess up soon. But Harper was patient, she would wring what she wanted out of him. "I mean...I don't know if I'd say perfect, that's kind of a big jump. But they'd certainly be cute, don't you think?"

Taking a deep breath, Hunter sets his straw down, leaning back against his seat. He absolutely hated the thought of Sebastian and Blaine together, however cute they may be. “Harper, do I look like I give a shit? They can — go fuck, or whatever, I don’t care. Sebastian can do what he wants.”

Harper raised her hands in a placating gesture, looking down at the table. "Cool your jets, Hunter. I was just making small talk about our good friend," she said. "If there's something else you'd rather talk about, go right ahead, or you can just continue to attempt to burn a hole through the table with the sheer force of your glare."

“I’m not glaring,” he forces a smile, “I’m happy, see? I’m happy for Sebastian and Blaine.” He falls into silence for a couple of moments, trying to calm the bubbling feeling of contempt in his stomach — he and Sebastian weren’t exclusive fuckbuddies, and Sebastian had every right to sleep with whoever he wanted, but how come he was so against the idea of Sebastian dating?

Harper snorted. "You look ecstatic," she snarked. "Again, I don't think there's anything to be happy for yet, but I mean, like you said it doesn't matter either way," she mused. "We should find dates too though...it'd be fun to go on like a triple date or something...ooooh, we could go bowling! That's fun with more people." She pulled out her phone and opened up a text, with no intention of actually sending it. "I'm gonna ask Blaine if he likes bowling."

Hunter reached out in an attempt to snatch Harper’s phone, “No, what the fuck — stop that. I hate bowling.” It was a lame excuse, because Hunter was pretty good at bowling, but he’d rather not go on a triple date; six people was a crowd, and Hunter hated crowds. Yes, that was it. “You’re not dragging me into this.”

Harper giggled and raised her arms over her head and away from her brother, still tapping away. "You're coming. We can do something else. Maybe a movie? I really want to see Bohemian Rhapsody? Or something you'd rather do?" She sent the text, making sure the volume on her phone was on and Hunter could hear the sound, even if she wasn't actually sending it to any real number.

"I have far more important shit to do," Hunter says quickly, looking up at her phone helplessly. "Or, we could go together, just the two of us. Sebastian and Blaine don't have to come with us," although his tone had slightly turned sour at the mention of their names, Hunter nods approvingly at his own suggestion. "Twin bonding. How's that sound?"

Harper shook her head, scrunching her nose up and sliding her phone back into her pocket. “No, that’d be mean. Sebastian’s our friend and he needs us right now with everything going on with Bri. Besides we twin bond all the time. Hell we’re doing it now.” She waved her hand between them to emphasize her point. “I don’t understand. You’re usually more then down to hang out with Sebastian and you just said you like Blaine so what’s the problem?”

Letting out a sigh, Hunter's eyes dejectedly dart back up to meet Harper's. "It's just -- God, fine, what do you want to hear?" This conversation clearly wasn't going anywhere, and Harper's questions about Sebastian and Blaine were really fucking annoying.

Harper rolled her eyes. "I want to hear the truth. From you." She fiddled with the straw, fixing her brother with a glare. "This line of conversation is clearly bothering you. And as you probably know, Sebastian told me you two finally consummated your years of sexual tension so I don't know why you're being so cagey instead of just talking to me."

Hunter was back to swirling the milkshake, avoiding Harper’s gaze. It wasn’t bothering him, not at all. “It’s not,” he voices out his thoughts, sounding a little too petulant for his liking. Harper caught him — he can’t really lie to Harper anymore; not when she knows about his little hookup with Sebastian. “It’s weird,” he says, taking another sip of his milkshake, “It’s Sebastian. My best friend.”

Harper stilled his hand on the milkshake again, and instead pulled it down to the table so that she could lace their fingers, hoping the movement would ground him. "What's weird? That we're talking about Sebastian dating someone else or that the two of you hooked up?"

Hunter pauses, Harper’s question weighing down on him; what was weird? Hooking up with Sebastian wasn’t weird — in fact, it was almost natural, ”I — I don’t know,” he says, completely at a loss.

Harper tilted her head, rubbing her thumb over the top of Hunter's hand comfortably. "Well...what was it about this whole thing that made you so hesitant to talk to me about it in the first place?" She pursed her lips, trying not to feel offended since she knew Hunter was working through his own stuff. "We're usually so forthcoming with one another." “It’s Sebastian,” he says again, as if that was enough of an explanation for Harper. “He’s .. Different, I don’t know — we’ve known each other since we were babies, it’s..” He stops, “I don’t know.” He huffs out a frustrated sigh, “I’m sorry, I — it just felt like I had to keep .. This to myself until I’ve straightened my thoughts out.”

Harper shook her head, smiling gently at her twin. "Don't be sorry, Hunt. I just want what's best for you and if that's Sebastian, I'm happy for you," she explained. She withdrew her hand, not wanting to overwhelm him. "Can I be very blunt or is that going to scare you off?"

He manages a smile back, grateful for his little sister’s support. “It’s hard admitting it, you know? You’re the first person I’ve told — even though Sebastian doesn’t seem to have a problem announcing it to the world.” Hunter braces himself for the worst. “No, I’d rather you tell me straight-up. What is it?”

Harper snorted. "I mean has he ever been subtle about anything ever?" She wondered aloud.  She shot her brother a sympathetic smile. "I'm just going to give you my thoughts, and they might help you straighten yours out and they might not." She took a breath. "I really don't think this is just a fuck or a friends with benefits situation for you...yeah you've known Seb since we were all dorky infants, but that's not why this is all..." she waved her hand in the air abstractly. "...confusing. I just think you're finally opening the floodgates to a lot of feelings you've both been fighting for some inane reason and it's overwhelming you. Is that right at all or do I need to fuck off?"

Unbeknownst to himself, a small, fond grin makes its way across his face, and he looks down at his milkshake, looking almost shy, “He could have tried — Sebastian said he’d keep quiet about it, but I should have known better.” He was grazing his thumb across the back of Harper’s wrist, which had stopped the moment his sister’s words came crashing down on him, like a pile of bricks. “I..” The words get caught in his throat, and he huffs out a disbelieving laugh. “Feelings. The last time I’ve talked about my feelings was when I broke up with Natalie.” Harper shook her head, sympathetically patting him on the arm. "I still don't understand the decisions that went into that when both of you are still in town, but that's neither here nor there," she muttered, taking another sip of the shake, frowning as she noticed they were nearing the bottom. "I think that's your problem. You should talk about them more. It'll get that constipated look off your face," she joked. "So," she waved her hand in the air again. "How do you feel when you're with Bas?"

"That's a talk for another time, I suppose." Hunter squints. He'd rather not think about Natalie as of the moment -- they, too, had fallen in a similar arrangement, despite having ended their relationship on ..  Emotional terms. "Constipated. Really." Hunter scrunches his nose, a little offended, but Harper wasn't the only person who had told him that. "With Sebastian? Happy." That was one way to put it -- he could elaborate; he might, if Harper asked, but he was one hundred percent sure that he wouldn't be able to shut up if he did so. "Do you want to order another milkshake, Harp? The chocolate-flavoured one?"

Harper nodded, it wasn't the time to talk about that relationship now. Though it might be if Natalie and Sebastian didn't stop trying to maim each other over social media, another talk about her brother getting his beaus under control might be necessary. "Yes. You look like something very unpleasant is lodged up your ass," she snorted, before finishing off the milkshake. "Chocolate would be nice," she replied, before turning back to the topic at hand. His feelings. "What kind of happy? Same kind of happy you feel with me?" She prodded.

After calling a waitress over to order a glass of chocolate milkshake, Hunter found himself instinctively shaking his head at Harper's question with a laugh, "No, it's .. Different.. He's different. It's hard to explain." He reaches out for Harper's hand again, taking it and squeezing it. "Don't get the wrong idea, I love you; you're still my number one. Sebastian -- is Sebastian." He waves his other hand vaguely, trying to get his point across.

Harper shot him a broad smile, happy at the reassurance even though she hadn't been worried about that for even a second. "Duh, I better be," she joked, squeezing his hand back. "But try — to explain, I mean. Sebastian being Sebastian to you means something different than it does to me," she explained. "To me, he's a friend, an ex-dance partner, a karaoke duet king and the best person to gossip with. What's he to you?" What was Sebastian to him? A good fuck -- no, he was more than that. They had set some ground rules, though, they had promised each other to keep things between them strictly platonic, feelings-wise. "He's my best friend. A person I can blindly trust." Hunter grins, "He's egotistical, quite a handful when intoxicated, and is ridiculously high-maintenance, but.." His features soften, "I like .. Maintaining him, if that makes any sense."

Harper wondered in Hunter realized the literal hearteyes he was making at the moment but she thought it best not to mention it. Instead she tried for another angle. "Is...do you want to be the only person maintaining him? I mean you didn't seem very happy about the idea of Blaine doing the same when I mentioned it to you earlier," she explained, just as the waitress placed a new milkshake in front of them.

His jaw tightens at the mention of Blaine, “Maybe .. Maybe I was just being selfish,” Hunter answered slowly, though it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself, rather than Harper. He takes a small sip of the chocolate milkshake. “Blaine — Blaine’s great. He’s a great guy. Nice, patient, intelligent, fun to talk to. They’d be good together.” Harper didn’t miss her brother tensing up all over again, so she tread carefully. “I don’t think it’s selfish to want to have someone to yourself if they’re ok with it too,” she said, running her finger along the top of her straw. “Blaine is great. You’re naming all sorts of characteristics that are lovely but I don’t know if you...are being totally truthful here.”

"I'm being truthful about Blaine," he retorts -- it was true, Hunter genuinely liked Blaine. It was the thought of Sebastian and Blaine dating that put him off. He looks up at Harper, face hesitant. "Does -- does Sebastian actually like Blaine?" He asked tentatively, "He .. Never brought it up. Not that he has an obligation to."

Harper reached over to squeeze Hunter's hand again, intertwining their fingers. "I don't actually think he wants to date him or anything...just that he's cute," she said softly. "Seb's not exactly the commitment type, is he?" For some reason, Harper's consoling words didn't help. "Yeah -- yeah," he huffs out a humourless laugh, "He's not. Neither am I." A lie. He'd dated Natalie for 2 years. "Which, you know, is a good thing, because it makes things less .. Complicated."

Harper rolled her eyes. Hunter had such a tendency to not really see himself for who he really was at all. "You dated Nat for like two years," she pointed out, leaning in to take a sip of their shake. "It's not really complicated. Either you're two bros helping each other out or it's more than that and you should re-evaluate whether this whole thing is going to end up hurting someone or not."

Hunter chews down on his bottom lip, "I -- whatever." Natalie was the longest relationship he's ever had, and admittedly, there were times where he missed her, fleeting moments where he wanted her back, but Hunter wasn't one to impulsively act out on his emotions. "Sebastian and I have already talked about it. We .. Won't let it jeopardize our friendship. You could say that we're just 'bros helping each other out'," he says with a shrug, "That's that. I guess."

Harper reached out to poke her brother in the cheek, shaking her head at his naivety. "Listen, I don't mean to be the person that poked holes in well-laid plans but you guys can 'talk' all you want, but if someone is or does catch feelings that all spirals. And if feelings are involved, it's better to be honest about them sooner rather than later. That's how you preserve the friendship."

Resisting the urge to swat Harper's hand away in a fit of petty annoyance, Hunter leans back against his seat, his face twisted in a small frown. "That won't be a problem," Hunter said, faltering a bit and he immediately hated the uncertainty that laced his voice. "Because feelings aren't involved. He's -- he's my best friend. Sure, we've crossed a boundary, and there's no going back, but.. There's .. Nothing to worry about."

Harper sighed. There was only so much prodding a sister could do without outright spelling things out for her brother and she was worried if she did, he'd have a fit, so she erred on the side of caution. "If you say so, brother dearest. I'd just be careful if I were you." She took another sip of the shake. "Anyways, if this is all fine and dandy, I still don't understand why you tried so hard not to tell me. I'm your sister not your  warden. W're supposed to talk to each other about stuff." "Because it's weird," Hunter protested, "It's Sebastian," he says again, as it that explanation in itself would help Harper comprehend the complexity of the situation. He leans close, taking a long sip of the chocolate shake, "I know. I'll -- be more open about .. Him. This whole situation in general, even though there's nothing much to talk about. He's just my best friend. Whom I find attractive."

Harper shrugged, not particularly convinced. “I mean he is attractive. But anyways, if you do feel like the situation is spiralling, I am here for you, you know? Through anything. Even the weirdness.” She reaches out to squeeze Hunter’s hand again. “But really there’s no need to worry about him dating anyone else, if you ask me.”

He shoots her a small, grateful smile, squeezing her hand back. “Thank you,” he says sincerely. “It’s — I don’t know why it’s frustrating me so much, trying to .. Wrap my head around this.” His brows furrow, “Also, I’m not worried about him dating anyone.” "It's not something you need to figure out right now or even today. But it's something you should probably try to work out eventually, either with my help or on your own. It'll give you some sort of peace of mind and it'll help you navigate your arrangement with him better," she suggested, releasing his hand after one last squeeze. "Okay, Hunter," she replied, not convinced in the slightest but not wanting to cause a fight.

His frown only deepens a little at her dubious tone, but he doesn’t say anything else. He takes one last sip of the shake, before drawing back. “We should get going, unless you’d want to stay for a third glass?” He teases with a grin, “Though, you’re going to need to wear yourself to a shadow dancing the calories off.”

Harper scrunched up her face, offended. "I dance away enough calories for a day of indulgence, thank you," she muttered. "But yes, let's go. The rabble are starting to trickle in." She nodded her head to one of the other tables — it had been empty before they got there but was now brimming with South Siders.

“Of course, just don’t get carried away.” After waving the waitress over and paying for the milkshakes, Hunter slides out of the booth, wrapping a protective arm around Harper as he glanced at the rowdy group in distaste, “Dregs,” he said simply with a shake of his head, stepping out of the diner and walking back to his car.

[sinrau]

“So I ask you to do me a favor. Suburban women: will you please like me? Please. Please. I saved your damn neighborhood, OK? The other thing: I don’t have that much time to be that nice. You know, I can do it, but I gotta go quickly.” — President Donald J. Trump

Welcome to the Countdown Journal. There are 20 days until Election Day and then 78 until the Inauguration.

Let’s start with this: The president retweeted a story suggesting that Barack Obama had Seal Team 6 murdered. And it hardly made a ripple in the news cycle, three weeks before the election.

As Bill Kristol notes in this morning’s Bulwark, “Deviancy has been defined so far down that President Donald Trump’s retweet at mid-day Tuesday was barely noticed.”

After all, what’s new? And who cares?

So what if the president of the United States brought to prominence an insane conspiracy theory that his predecessor, Barack Obama, arranged for four Americans to be killed at Benghazi to cover up an even bigger intentional blood-sacrifice of Navy SEALs—which in turn covered up the fact that Osama Bin Laden was still alive. Since it was a body-double who was in fact killed in 2011.

Or at least I think that’s the story Trump was amplifying. You’ll forgive me if I got some twists in the plot wrong.

Anyway, what’s the big deal? It’s just Trump being Trump. The important things were happening elsewhere, in the back and forth between Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett and various senators on Capitol Hill. That’s what serious conservatives were focused on. That’s what’s going to make a difference. If crazy tweets are the price we pay for an originalist justice, these people tell us, then it’s well worth it.

Speaking of crazy. Olivia Nuzzi reports that America’s Mayor “was in Philadelphia sounding like Livia Soprano.”

After claiming that Democrats used the pandemic to take away gun rights, which did not happen, he mentioned the McCloskeys, the couple who wielded guns on the porch of their St. Louis mansion in front of Black Lives Matter demonstrators who were passing by. Giuliani claimed, falsely, that the protesters had yelled, “ ’We want to rape your wife! We want to rape your wife! We want this for reparations! This is number one for reparations! Biggest house here! Reparations!’” He added, “Nobody knows this, but at the time, their daughter was upstairs under the bed because she was afraid they’re going to come in and they’re talking about rape and they’re going to rape the wife and they’re going to find the daughter.”

None of that was true.

And now we learn that Trump has chosen Rudy and Jay Sekulow to run his post-election operation. What could possibly go wrong?

How is Trump’s final act playing with women? Not well, apparently.

A reporter from the Economist who watched the focus group:

Easy questions. On balance, Amy Coney Barrett is doing as well as could be expected in the kabuki-theater hearings over her nomination. Senators bloviate and ask questions she won’t answer. She doesn’t use notes. We know how it ends.

But the thing about easy questions is that they are easy.

Questions like: Can the president unilaterally move the date of the election? The easy answer is no, he can’t. That requires an act of congress. It’s the law.

ACB’s answer:

“Well, Senator, if that question ever came before me, I’d need to hear arguments from the litigants and read briefs and consult with my law clerks and talk to my colleagues and go through the opinion-writing process,” she said. “So, you know, if I give off the cuff answers, then I would be basically a legal pundit, and I don’t think we want judges to be legal pundits. I think we want judges to approach cases thoughtfully and with an open mind.”

Here’s another one.

I’m not not a lawyer, but shouldn’t a constitutional “originalist” believe that the constitution requires a peaceful transfer of power? And that the founders kind of thought it was important? When did that become “political controversy”?

And, then there was this question about voter intimidation. “Sen. Amy Klobuchar brought up efforts by President Trump to get his supporters to the polls to observe voting activity and asked Judge Amy Coney Barrett if under federal law it is illegal to intimidate voters at the polls. “

“I can’t characterize the facts in a hypothetical situation, and I can’t apply the law to a hypothetical set of facts.”

She continued: “I can only decide cases as they come to me litigated by parties on a full record after fully engaging precedent, talking to colleagues, writing an opinion, and so I can’t answer questions like that.”

Easy answer: it is against the law to intimidate voters, and as a judge I believe in upholding the law.

Why is this so hard? (And, yes, that is a rhetorical question.)

Well, how about that. Biden says that he is “not a fan of court packing.”

“I’ve already spoken on — I’m not a fan of court packing, but I don’t want to get off on that whole issue. I want to keep focused,” the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee said in an interview with Cincinnati’s WKRC.

We are now free to get back to Hillary’s emails.

Not with a bang or even a whimper. “‘Unmasking’ probe commissioned by Barr concludes without charges or any public report.”

Or, as Tim Miller puts it in today’s Bulwark, “Another ‘Deep State’ non-scandal goes down the memory hole.”

Guess we can close the file on that one.

William Barr has quietly ended the probe into the supposed “unmasking” scandal which was only opened as fan service for Republican elected officials and conservative media in the first place. (Trump had suggested to Maria Bartiromo that the perpetrators be given 50 year sentences on Fox.)

I suspect that Barr had hoped that maybe, with a little luck, his investigation might snare somebody in some tangential wrongdoing. Or be able to do some strategic leaking. Or at least keep the issue open until after the election.

Alas, the president’s lawyer daddy struck out. Again. Thus bringing to a close a matter that—in a saner world—would have been the stupidest fake scandal in decade.

Romney sort of goes there. I blame myself a bit for this, because the other day I highlighted Keith Olbermann’s deranged rant. But I was just taking a cheap shot, not attempting to weigh the comparative insanity of the two sides of our political divide.

Which brings me to Romney, who put this out yesterday:

My thoughts on the current state of our politics:

This is good, sort of. This is the strongest denunciation of Trump’s toxic crackpottery from any Republican. (It may be the only one?) But what caught the most attention was Romney’s suggestions that there was some rough moral equivalency between comments by the president of the United States and a washed up sports guy on a YouTube video.

Both were bad. One has the nuclear codes.

So, unfortunately, this falls into the category of:Meant Well, But Actually Missed the Point.

Mitt Romney doesn’t want that to be his epitaph.

A final off-ramp for the GOP establishment?

As I mentioned on yesterday’s podcast, Politico’s Tim Alberta suggests that the GOP might still break with Trump… after the election. If the election is a blowout, he writes, “and Trump is flinging wild accusations about wide-scale fraud and deep-state conspiracies to take him down, Republicans will be forced to choose a side.

“They will either stand with a battered soon-to-be-former president whose days in office are numbered whether he likes it or not, or they will stand with the democratic norms that have guided the nation for 244 years.”

I suspect that he’s at least partly right. Some members of the GOP Old Guard might be willing to tell Trump to go. But Ted Cruz? Josh Hawley? Marco Rubio? Nikki Haley? Lindsey Graham? Forget about it.

Instead, backing Trump is more likely to become the new litmus test of tribal loyalty.

Foxconn turns out to be a massive boondoggle. Who knew?

Oh wait.

Something for the bedwetters. We’ve seen way too much hope and optimism lately, so I wanted to pass on this piece from Thomas Edsall, who warns that Biden is not yet out of the woods.

Here are some of the things causing anxiety among Democratic partisans, particularly political professionals.

One way to measure voter enthusiasm is to compare voter registration trends for each party. A Democratic strategist who closely follows the data on a day-to-day basis wrote in a privately circulated newsletter:

Since last week, the share of white non-college over 30 registrations in the battleground states has increased by 10 points compared to September 2016, and the Democratic margin dropped 10 points to just 6 points. And there are serious signs of political engagement by white non-college voters who had not cast ballots in previous elections.

But, but, but… Biden is now leading in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Arizona and the Economist Forecast gives him a 91 percent chance of winning the election. The FiveThirty Forecast has Biden at 87 percent.

The RealClearPolitics average now puts Biden’s lead at 10 points.

There are 20 days to go.

Quick Hits

Ok, sorry about the downer item above. As an antidote, make sure you read this piece by Mona Charen in today’s Bulwark.

We devote a lot of mental energy to things that are going wrong or could go wrong. It’s human nature. As the sociobiologists teach us, our ancestors were not the ones who heard a rustling in the grass and figured, “Eh, it’s probably nothing.” We are descended from the ones who said “ What the hell was that? Could be a cobra. Better run the other way.” Vigilance is our default mode.

But seven months after the start of this plague, we shouldn’t lose sight of the things that went more right than we expected for two reasons: 1) gratitude is good for the spirit and the soul, and 2) we must guard against catastrophizing.

Nicholas Grossman in today’s Bulwark:

Leaders, especially in law enforcement positions, can counter the president’s effort to stir up voter intimidation by making it clear they’ll prosecute election-related crimes, as Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford did after the debate.

Police should prepare for the possibility of armed intimidation at polling places. And concerned citizens should prepare for the unlikely, but not impossible, scenario in which some police are overwhelmed — or choose to look the other way — by being ready to calmly, peacefully escort any intimidated voters into polling places.

Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection recommends documenting what you see—if uniformed militia show up, photograph or take note of any insignias��and offers fact sheets on the relevant laws in 50 states, which you can find here.

Cheap Shots

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Deep Thoughts

Josh Kraushaar in the National Journal:

Republicans are now bracing for a punishing Election Night, resigned to losing the presidency, alarmed that Democrats will pad their House majority, and growing increasingly concerned that Chuck Schumer will be the next Senate majority leader. Most are hoping for a mere blue-wave election, rather than a potential tsunami that would wipe out some GOP members of Congress in reliably red states and districts. “He’s losing older Republicans over COVID,” said one alarmed senior Republican strategist. “They take their health seriously, and they see the nonsense out of the White House and it’s off-putting.”

So today’s column is something of a scorecard that will indicate just how bad the Election Night environment will be for Republicans. These are all races that, in normal times, should be fairly safe seats for the Republican Party. But they’re shaping up to be uncomfortably close. If Democrats win even one of these four races, it’s a sign of a big blue political wipeout.

A Tsunami of Trumpian Crazy

[itshistoryyall]

Part Two: Well, We’re Here Now

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Here, we have to start with what we can recognize as a proverbial snowball rolling down a hill. Essentially, we have the Catholic church establishing a precedent for getting rid of people who were problematic for them by placing some trumped up charges on them, executing them in a way that makes an example for others whilst simultaneously encapsulating the attention of the commoners, and then carrying on as if they had every justification for making a scene like your mom at a restaurant when they bring out the food and it’s cooler than expected. You can only imagine the out of control spiral into unadulterated chaos that followed, and that, my friends, is known to history as the European Witch Trials (ßthe snowball that is now much larger than when it began rolling at the top of that hill). A few quick notes before we power through this—at this time we can see a multitude of “assassination conspiracies” popping up against one king or another, against the Pope, or against high ranking church officials/the nobility. A bishop is executed for heresy and attempted assassination of Pope John XXII via sorcery, others were arrested with similar charges attached to the very public executions, and ultimately you start to see sorcery, idolatry, and heresy all becoming somewhat synonymous. A few decades later, as we near the central part of the 1300’s, we see the Black Death beginning to rear its ugly head and as fears, tensions, and misinformation mount, people start seeing conspiracies everywhere they look. In 1340 when people start getting grossly sick and some inquisitions start popping up. Spearheaded by the Church, the united heresy combat forces (henceforth known as UHCF—I just came up with that it’s not, like, a term historians use) went out and, as Jesus commanded,

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…” Matthew 28:19-20 (King James Version).

 You know what that means (*insert eyebrow waggle here*), of course, they set out to rid the world of anything deemed “heresy” by the Church and that, most certainly, was up for personal interpretation. The reason we hear about these inquisitions getting such a bad rap is because people were genuinely afraid that any action they took might be mistaken for heresy, and without a clear definition of what that entailed they were most certainly right to be afraid. It’s important to highlight a bit of “Inquisition Era” timeline here—in and around 1100 the Catholic Church had, by its own definitions, all but eliminated heresy (whatever that actually means, we may never know), and they did so predominately without harm to those who stood accused. This “era of peace,” we’ll call it, ended around the 12th century when we start to see a spread of some opposing Christian ideas that were not specifically Catholic, and that couldn’t be tolerated. To nip that in the bud, we had some inquisitions come around checking things out. This process usually included, but was not limited to questioning, interrogation, arrest, imprisonment, and torture.

As a general rule, torture was, at least, publicly frowned on in Europe while other countries typically had a death sentence for heretics. As previously mentioned, in the 12th century that all changed when a tiny little papal bull, similar to a public decree, was issued by the not-at-all ironically christened Pope Innocent IV (I, quite frankly, can NOT believe that there were three others prior to this pope who were also called “Innocent” it’s just so god damn pretentious that it physically makes my skin crawl…I digress). The bull allowed torture in 1252, and by 1256 inquisitors who used this form of extracting information were promised absolution by the Church. So, to recap, we have this widespread knowledge of public executions of some of the most prominent figures in the medieval world (like that one guy in charge of the Knights Templar that predicted the deaths of a king and a pope in a non-awkward way that had no bearing on whether or not people believed in the supernatural, I’m sure), the establishment of an anti-heretic police force with little to no oversight and the ability to torture folks at will, and panicked people afraid that if the plague didn’t take them the inquisitors surely would.

To make matters worse, a new papal bull (pesky, those public decrees, I’ll tell ya..) issued around 1450 verified that witchcraft, heresy and a religious group called the Cathars were one in the same which gave them license to prosecute them as heretics or witches without just cause. Without going into too much detail about this, it’s important for you to know that the Cathars called themselves, “the good Christians,” and celebrated a twin deities that represented the God portrayed in the Old Testament, and the other represented the God of Judaism who was a bit synonymous with Satan, or either fathered, seduced, or created Satan (it’s a bit confusing, but that’s what happens when intolerant Christians try and convert believers of other religions to Christianity by way of removing what they originally believed and then replacing it with a more favorable and sort of similar Christian Approved™ bible story—i.e. pagan Ireland, Scotland, or literally any pagan religion in history). You should also know, Cathars essentially saw gender as meaningless and believed in the idea of reincarnation between genders which rendered normal gender roles and other “gender exclusive ideas” as basically useless to them. You can draw your own conclusions about why a male-dominated medieval world run by a religion known for its historical mistreatment of women, wouldn’t have received this idea well.

To reign this all in a bit, we’ve only moved a few centuries away from the establishment of Thomas Aquinas’ rules when we hit a milestone in the 15th century. Occasionally, the Church holds councils to decide on, debate, or discuss church matters, and one such event took place from 1431-1437 called the Council of Basel. Some historians suggest that while a bunch of old men were sitting together talking about stuff for six years that they may have gossiped amongst themselves (as silly men are want to do), and that this may explain the correlating witch trials that coincided with these same dates. It is only about 300 miles from where the council was held and the location of the first trial so you can see how this conclusion is easily drawn. AND NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, it’s time to talk about our first round of witch trials.

The Valais witch trials named so because of its location in Valais in one of the oldest ecclesiastical territories that lies in the southern part of the country separating the Pennine Alps and the Bernese Alps. This region was French and German speaking and that’s important because the German word for witch is hexen, which is where we get the idea of a witch’s hex today, and although we can see an occasional and sporadic burning of witches throughout the 15th century, this marked the first time we see a large-scale systematic persecution for peoples accused of witchcraft/sorcery. It’s also important to point out the lack of accounts that we have during this time period, in part this is due to a general hatred for inquisitors who were in charge of keeping records, and later when the accusations included less heresy and more witchcraft we often see occasions of inquisitors being attacked and records being sabotaged or altogether destroyed. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t blame them, but it makes this part of history a bit more difficult to sus out, and a lot left up to really good detective work or wherever your imagination can take you (this is basically my favorite part). So, that was a long-winded way of saying, a lot of this next part is gonna be me doing my best to make this make sense, and to draw concise and enlightening conclusions that you can read and hopefully learn from (I know I am!).

So, what do we know here? We know that the main record of these trials comes from a guy named Johannes Fründ of Lucerne who was a Swiss clerk of the court, and his account is thought to be the, I won’t say accurate, but more likely only usable document to have an account of these events, though, severely lacking as they were written in the middle of the trials and with only 17 years before they ended. The trials began in the southern French-speaking part of Valais and then spread to the northern German-speaking part where we see a following expansion into the French and Swiss Alps, Savoy, and further into the valleys of Switzerland. It took place a solid fifty years before the witch trials started in Europe, and while the total number of victims is still unknown to us, the estimated death toll is an estimated 400 total men and women. When these accusations began to take place, the duchy of Savoy was recovering from a tumultuous civil war between the noble clans, and in August of 1428, seven delegates representing the districts in Valais insisted that the authorities investigate some supposed instances of witchcraft. If three or more people accused someone of witchcraft or sorcery they were to be arrested, questioned, and made to confess. At a time when torture practices were acceptable forms of interrogation you can see how that might have inspired a few people to confess to being witches without much prompting, but those who refused to do so were tortured until they did. What we know about the victims is that they were more likely women than men, but a significant portion of men were also executed, they were all peasants that were not specifically described as well-educated, but some were. Very few of their names were recorded, and they were not likely elderly as most of them withstood immense torture before they died.

The victims were accused of quite an array of magical experiences including flying, invisibility, removing an illness from one person and issuing it to another, curses, lycanthropy, conspiracy to deprive Christianity of its power, and the most famously known, conspiring with the Devil. These pacts that the witches supposedly entered into with the Devil included trading their souls, paying him taxes, renouncing Christianity, and halting all confession or church-going in exchange for supernatural abilities or an education in the magical arts. Those accused of these crimes were tied to a ladder with a bag of gunpowder hung around their necks, and a wooden crucifix in their arms and then burned alive, others were decapitated first, and even more were tortured to death but were nonetheless burned at the stake for good measure. Now here is where we can see a bit of a conspiracy emerge. Recall from earlier, my mentioning that clergy and nobles alike used witchcraft as an excuse to get rid of people, and just ruminate on that as I tell you that the property of these deceased and accused only passed to their families if they could swear that they were unaware of the sorcery. If they could not prove that, then the land passed to the noble who paid for the execution of these accused. I don’t know about you, but sounds sus to me. This particular genocide is unique to other witch trials in that almost as many men were executed as women, and that leads me to believe a few things: first, that the men were landowners and the nobility wanted the land they were on (would love if a map was available to see this progression, but alas, it has been lost to the sands of time), and two, this wasn’t about gender, but more about the crybaby nobles who were upset that they lost some things during the recent civil war and needed a hobby. It’s not a good look, and it certainly wasn’t without its consequences.

[showingthroughtome]

Lemon Meringue

a story about pastries, panini’s, pasta, pie, and the boy who knew how to cook them.

a oneshot i wrote for allison for last years summer fic exchange that i dont have on my tumblr 

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Cooking was hard. So. Damn. Hard. A complex art only few could master.

Or at least that’s how Pearl saw it. At the age of 26, the only “meals” she could successfully make were a bowl of cereal, a warmed up pop tart, or a mixed salad with a generous amount of ranch dressing. Nearly every dish she tried to make that needed a fire to cook ended up charred black. She didn’t really mind it though. The General Tso’s chicken from Double Dragon was magnificent, and they delivered, eliminating the need to leave her one bedroom apartment and face the shame of entering the same establishment 3-6 nights a week.

Plus, being able to cook sounded scary - being able to function like a real-life grown-up sounded boring. And Pearl prided herself on not being boring. Sure she was nearing thirty and lived alone with her two puppies, but she also had a kick ass job, a job that left her with stories to tell at every party and jokes to make with every new encounter.

Five days a week, Pearl had the luxury of working at a flower shop. Maybe to some that didn’t seem like the most exciting thing in the world, but the particular flower shop she was head florist at was in the heart of London. Every kind of person imaginable walked through those doors requesting an arrangement to be made - ex lovers, adulterous husbands, secret admires, widows, widowers, proud parents, even the occasional love sick spouse. She saw them all, and knew all their little anecdotes.

Still, she had to admit that even though she could pair the perfect group of flowers to make a beautiful bouquet, she could never cook an egg just right - she’d either cook it too long and burn it to a crisp, or pull it off the heat too early and have it runnier than anyone would like. It was her biggest weakness - not being able to cook for herself.

And her family didn’t let her forget it. At every family gathering, when it was time to make their dinner, nearly everyone joined in at poking fun - her parents, her brothers and sisters, her aunts and uncles. All of a sudden, the family jokes centered on Pearl and her inadequacy.

“Oh no! Keep Pearl away from the stove! She might accidentally turn the burners on and get everything extra crispy.” They’d mock.

“Don’t let Pearl handle the ladle. I don’t know how, but I’m sure she’d ruin the entire meal.” They’d laugh.

It didn’t bother her much, not after it started happening at every holiday since she first attempted to make a meal. It was old news to her. No surprise rushed through her at the joking.

But what did shock Pearl was the gift her twin sister gave her that year for her birthday. Instead of the simple Complete Collection of Films starring Julia Roberts she so nicely requested, she got a plain envelope containing a slip of paper, on it held the details for a four session cooking class. At first glance, Pearl laughed and tried pushing the paper back into her sister’s hand. Her sister wasn’t having that, standing up and moving away, staring her down with a playful smirk. Pearl could just tell by the look in her eyes that it wasn’t a joke, that maybe her sister had expected her to “grow up” a little. Somehow, Pearl just knew she’d be going.

Every phone call they had for the three weeks leading up to the beginning of the Saturday cooking classes, Pearl tried to get her sister to say it was okay if she didn’t go. Her pleading only lead to a stronger case for the opposing argument.

That’s why, in the middle of July, Pearl was clutching a coffee in one hand and a rumpled envelope in another, pacing outside of a bakery. She didn’t think she needed the classes. She didn’t think she needed to put on an apron and learn how to make pasta or casseroles or bread. The only reason she was there was because her sister had paid for them, they were non-refundable, and maybe if she learned how to make a pie she wouldn’t have to spend so much money at restaurants for dessert.

—

It made sense that she was the last one to walk in. Why wouldn’t she be? She was the one who took time contemplating if she should even enter the building, looking in the glass door to see the people gathering, making her seven minutes late.

“Oh, hello!” A man with brown curly hair and wearing a red apron greeted as Pearl finally opened the door and a bell chimed. “Are you here for the class?”

“Ummm,” Pearl knew there was no going back after her answer. If she said yes, the next two hours of her life would be consumed by measurements and chopping and simmering and listening to some teacher tell her how to combine all of that to make a dish. But she didn’t know how to explain away her presence so she nodded, “Yeah.”

“Sick!” The man exclaimed. “Just find an empty counter and we’ll start.”

Pearl took note of the fellow students - three older ladies, probably in their late thirties/early forties, and two men, both well over fifty. Even in this company, they left one of the two front counters empty, leaving Pearl with no option other than to sit directly in front of the instructor and beside one of the ladies.

“Sorry I’m late.” She apologised to everyone while sliding onto the stool.

“No worries. I just finished in the back myself. I had a run in with a pesky soufflé that just wouldn’t go right.” The man, the instructor it seemed, patted down his apron and took a place at the front counter, the one facing the others.

From her spot, she finally had the chance to observe the man without having her staring seem weird. He looked young - younger than her for sure. As he organised his things, he almost looked nervous but at the same time he looked right, covered in flour and hair pulled up into a messy bun, clearly telling the truth about the cooking incident.

“Alright.” He clapped his hands, more to gather his thoughts than to grab everyone’s attention. “First I guess I’ll introduce myself and tell you a little about me.” He said, then looked around to make sure everyone was okay with that. Pearl saw a few nods out of her peripheral vision. “Okay then. I’m Harry Styles. I’ve just recently graduated culinary school and began working as assistant head baker here at Lilly’s Bakery. Lilly is a real nice lady.” Harry smiled, and Pearl couldn’t help but notice how nice it looked. It was the kind of genuine expression of feelings that not even a grump like her could pretend wasn’t special. And dammit if it didn’t have her feeling a little bit less hesitant. “I don’t know if we should go around and introduce ourselves one by one or just get right into the cooking. This is my first class so-”

“Normally that’s how it goes.” A lady from the back interrupted. “It’s polite to learn everyone’s name in the kitchen.”

“We’ll start with you at the front then.” Harry gestured to Pearl. Something about him was so carefree. Pearl had been around him for less than five minutes but still, some lady cut him off mid sentence and his beaming happiness stayed clear on his every feature the entire time.

“Hi. I’m Pearl.” She tried to sound excited. But, truth be told, she just wasn’t like Harry. She wasn’t unhappy per se, or had any problems with the people around her. She was simply at her baseline where friendliness was never her strongest skill.

“What do you do?” Harry was quick to ask, taking her blank gaze as a sign that he’d have to question her if he wanted to know more.

And because her job was where her pride resided, she had no problem lighting up. “I’m a florist.”

“That so cool.” He instantly responded. “I’ve never met a florist before.”

“Must not have been a very good boyfriend then.” She jokingly suggested, watching his eye squint a little at her insinuation. It was just a proven fact that good boyfriends or girlfriends get their loved ones flowers. It made the relationship that much sweeter.

He was opening his mouth to come back at her when Pearl’s neighbor spoke up. “Aw, he looks like quite the lovely young man.”

“I very much am.” Harry’s chest puffed out underneath the apron he wore like a badge of honor, like a Superman emblem was sewn front and center. “No one’s ever complained about my desserts before. They make excellent gifts.”

“Mhmm. Sure they do.” Pearl was sure. But not really. Because flowers trumped whatever kind of cake he could make any day, and she was willing to bet money. The emotion behind a well crafted bouquet held so much more than a few sugary treats.

After a small stare down, Pearl ended up cracking a smile, turning her gaze to look at the lady next to her so everyone would just move on.

Her name was Jill. She was a housewife who wanted to learn to be more technical in her cooking, to impress her family just that little bit more.

Maxine was a doctor who was nearly as quiet as Pearl.

Kathy was the one who had interrupted Harry earlier, but it turned out that she was also in the medical field, a first responder who loved to take classes when she had time off just for some normalcy. During Kathy’s introduction, Pearl couldn’t keep herself from turning her head in Harry’s direction, especially since she felt like she could feel his eyes on the back of her head. Though, she turned around to find him paying all his attention to Kathy.

Pearl played it cool, and didn’t look away from neither William nor Matthew as both men introduced themselves. They were actually good friends that were sent there by their wives so the ladies could have some alone time with the men out of their hair.

“I’ve kind of laid these classes out so that they are set up by the sequence of meals in a day.” Harry drawed everyone’s attention back to the front of the class, back to what they came to do. “As it goes, we’ll start with a breakfast favorite - croissants! And we’ll make them from scratch.”

The idea of learning how to make a light fluffy pastry that Pearl often loved to slather in butter didn’t sound too bad to her. Maybe even convenient. And Harry was already talking a mile a minute about the layers of dough and butter they’d be making and kneading then rolling out before she could even shrug in acceptance. Before she knew it, ingredients were being handed out and all six students were following along to Harry’s simple instructions.

First they were activating yeast with warm water, then adding just one cup of flour to that. All the science that Harry was explaining about what they were doing and what they would do, went right over Pearl’s head, probably everyone else’s too. But whenever he looked up from his mixing bowl, she smiled and nodded like she knew what was happening to the gluten.

Harry pulled out six pre made mixtures he had left sitting so they wouldn’t have to wait for the dough to rise in class, cutting down waiting time. Next they got to do the “fun stuff” - kneading the dough with their hands. Which probably would be a lot more fun if Pearl had remembered to take off her mood ring and kept it from getting embarrassingly covered in dough. Everyone around commented on her rookie mistake, even good ol’ Matthew in the back, who had probably never seen a ball of sticky dough before either laughed about what an “amateur move” it was. Harry reassured her it would all come out of the nooks and crannies of the flower design once it properly dried, holding back his smug grin at Pearl’s genuine frown.

Moving on to the next step of incorporating the big block of butter while rolling the dough in a square-folding method, Harry walked around to each person to offer up assurance. Apparently this was the most important step so that the croissants would end up having millions of layers and that distinctive lightness.

It had Pearl completely stumped. Every time she rolled out her dough, it just came rebounding back, not all the way but enough to aggravate her. And even more so that she had to keep doing it wrong since Harry came to her last.

“Why do you look so defeated?” Harry noted, approaching her counter and seeing her nearly slumping in her stool, half attempting to get the dough to stay.

“It won’t go right.” She dropped the rolling pin and huffed an exaggerated breath.

“That’s because you’re not putting in any effort.” Harry rounded her counter and stood by her side, grabbing her rolling pin and with one strong motion, the dough stuck - or more than it did for her. “You have to put a little muscle behind it.” He rolled again, elongating the dough before finally folding it over and turning it to start again, just like the recipe required. “Here! Try it with more force.” He handed her back the pin and encouraged her to stand up.

Pearl sighed and went for another go, using a little more of the strength she knew she had. Still it rolled back more than it was supposed to.

“Like this.” Harry spoke, and next thing she knew, he had both hands over hers, hip to hip with her, and rolling at her dough together. From an outsider’s perspective, she knew they looked like damn fools - straight out of a cheesy movie where the guy used this moment to lay a smooth pick up line on the leading female character. Something slightly off putting, but not so much that it kept the shiver from running up their spines.

The generic moment they were sharing didn’t stop her from letting him help her, and once she got it and the dough had clearly been rolled enough and Harry didn’t let up his grip, she had to turn away to hide her face because somehow she felt like she was blushing.

To redeem herself, she had to say something, anything to distract Harry from her quickened breath. “I didn’t see you doing this with Jill.”

“Jill is better at this than you.” Harry spoke evenly, right into her ear. It wasn’t a whisper but rather a mumble, smooth and confident. “They kind of all are.” He held on for a second more, then stepped away to catch her scorned expression.

“Hey!” She whined. “That’s not conducive to a learning environment.”

“Sorry, new teacher.” He placed a hand over his chest indicating he was talking about himself, leaving yet another flour handprint when he moved it away.

—

She couldn’t or wouldn’t dare tell her sister that she didn’t hate the class. It would give her too much satisfaction. So when her sister called that night, she shrugged and said, “I didn’t burn the croissants.”

—

That whole not-burning-things didn’t last long, not even through the very next class. In her defense, Pearl got all the way to the end before she completely and utterly turned her panini into a lump of charcoal. She wasn’t sure why, maybe it was the text message she got from her sister, or maybe it was the distracting force that was Harry chopping vegetables up with the other ladies. They were all going for healthy while Pearl threw some chicken she successfully cooked and a handful of shredded cheese on two slices of bread.

Harry was being charming, shamelessly flirting with the ladies, making them laugh and gleam with a certain aura older women always got around young men. Anyone would’ve been distracted by the scene… Well, apparently not Matthew or William, because while they produced two beautiful, edible dishes, a stench wafted through the room. Pearl automatically knew the burnt smell was her doing without even lifting the press. She unplugged it and gave up.

“Awww, honey.” Kathy sympathised, placing her knife down and walking over to Pearl. “Come join us.” She grabbed for her wrist. “We’ll start over.”

Pearl shuffled to the guidance of the wise woman and avoided eye contact with everyone.

“I personally hate these presses.” Harry randomly spoke up without moving from his task at hand. “They’re a bit temperamental so they can really mess you up.”

The ladies nodded, probably also trying to make Pearl feel alright about what happened, and began discussing how all these new appliances were trying to out do a simple pot and pan - the backbone to cooking in their opinion. Harry agreed wholeheartedly. Pearl slowly began to help put her second attempt together.

And that one turned out better, completely edible. Though, that was probably due to Harry’s constant vigilance that he tried to hide from across the counter. Pearl didn’t fail to notice how he was the one to lift it at just the right moment, prompting Pearl to turn it off and scrape the panini from the hot plate.

“You need some help cleaning that one up?” Kathy offered her assistance to Pearl as everyone was filing out of the small bakery, motioning towards the poor, burnt panini press.

“No, thanks.” Pearl stood up and slide her phone into her back pocket. “I was just waiting for everyone else to finish up since I figured it would take a little extra elbow grease.”

Kathy nodded. “I spotted a Brillo pad back there. Take that to the burnt cheese and it’ll lift right off.”

Pearl took that in as she finally peeled the press open to see it completely covered in blackened cheese. She smiled and began her walk to the sink, waving goodbye to the last lady.

She was elbow deep in soapy water, scrubbing the metal, cursing the world when she heard someone approaching. She knew who it was just by the chuckle she heard.

“Ha ha ha. Pearl can’t cook. I get it.” She knew she was being self deprecating. She knew she was feeling sorry for herself. But it was better she got it out so Harry’s teasing would just seem redundant.

“You just lose attention easily, I think.” Harry made his way next to her, leaning a hip on the counter and staring her down. The stare wasn’t intimidating, or creepy, but there was something behind it. Like he was studying her, perhaps.

And since Pearl wasn’t one to turn away from anything, hence the cooking class she was attending even though she hated the art, she stared back and slowly replied, “Ya think?”

Harry’s eyes dropped a little to her lips, lingering for a second too long, watching the smirk slide onto them.

“Need help?” He coughed, and looked away to the soapy water.

“Wouldn’t want you to work too hard.” She teased, turning away from him. Pearl was proud of herself for the obvious effect she had on the young man. She knew she was beautiful - not in a cocky way or in a way that left her using it as a weapon, but in a way that allowed her to run around this world confidently and with a poise attitude. And if that let her trip up a cute boy or two, she didn’t mind, not really.

“Okay.” Harry sounded taken aback, as if the fact that she stared at him in that way and then didn’t fall weak at the knees was completely bizarre. He hopped on the counter next to her, and even though it was a little clumsy, he spoke with a smirk in his voice. “I’ll stay right here and admire the view then.”

Pearl rolled her eyes and kept scrapping at the pan with her metal sponge, blowing at her wispy hair when it fell in her way.

Slowly she was getting it clean. After about 10 minutes, and minimal comments from Harry, she was drying it off and wishing to never see it again.

“But you’re learning a lot from my class, right?” Harry concluded as he followed Pearl to the exit, needing to close up shop once everyone was gone.

“Oh tons.” Pearl stopped near the register so she could face him. One thing about Pearl was that if she was going to take a jab at someone, she preferred it said to their face. “Like how to burn something like a panini in a panini press. Or how to clean said press after.”

Harry shook his head. “Again, it’s your attention span, not my lessons.”

“Maybe I’m just in a distracting environment.”

Pearl raised her hands to gesture towards the bright pink walls with tiny little cupcakes on them, or the displays of cakes towards the storefront. Harry got another idea though, puffing his chest out just that much more, biting his bottom lip to suppress (or possibly highlight) his grin.

“I do look good in an apron, don’t I?” He patted down his body, covered by the red, messy apron, so sure in his flirtation that Pearl almost felt herself enjoy it. She definitely liked flirting, that wasn’t in the question. She just didn’t like to be the one to get flustered first and grin like an idiot.

“Eh, I don’t think it was the apron.” Pearl contested.

“Yeah, but it was me so it’s still a win on my part.”

Pearl rolled her eyes while shaking her head, “Don’t flatter yourself.”

“How could I not be flattered when someone like you almost destroys an appliance because of my apron?”

Pearl didn’t know much about Harry, but she was starting to grasp bits and pieces of who he was.

“You’re a dick, you know that?” Pearl was tempted to crush his foot with the heel of her boot for insinuating such false things.

“Next class I’ll make it up to you.” Harry leaned in closer and attempted to charm, seeing himself as being on a roll. “I won’t give the other ladies any attention just so you won’t overcook your spaghetti.”

“Spaghetti?” Pearl perked up. Halfway because she loves pasta. Halfway because of the change of topic.

“We’re doing a classic spaghetti and meatball.”

“I don’t hate the idea.” She stepped one step closer to the door.

“Yes! Point for Harry!” He exclaimed, fist in the air.

And with that, she’s out the door, trying to shake the flutters the dorky, cocky, flirty boy gave her.

—

At work that following Monday, she arranged six bouquets for varying funerals, three to be sent off to a hospital, and one with a note that said “if you could just love me again, everything else would fall into place”.

The only saving grace of such a sullen work day was the fact she had packed her own lunch - a panini with chicken and tomato.

—

The spaghetti was boiling, and everything was going fine. For once, Pearl didn’t feel on constant high alert near a pot of roaring water. She was able to be like everyone else and listen to Harry’s instructions on how to shape the meatballs just right without having to keep one eye on the pasta.

She was feeling confident. All she had to do was cook the meatballs - making sure they weren’t too raw, or too well-done. Then she’d place them on top of the noodles she strained, and cover it all with the sauce she had already made. She wasn’t sure, because maybe it was all a fluke, but she figured it didn’t taste too bad.

So the pressure was really on to cook the meatballs just right. She was just staring at them - or through them into another realm where cooking wasn’t like learning trigonometry - when Harry approached her.

“You ready to cook those or are you still trying to win this staring contest?” He grinned when Pearl broke her concentration to glare daggers at him. “Op, you lose!”

Add that to the list of things Pearl was discovering Harry was: goofy, always trying to get a laugh, cheeky more often than not.

She rolled her eyes, because what else could she do at the boys brightness, and tried a pleading smile of her own.“Ehhhh, see, I’m thinking maybe you can cook them for me?”

“And why would I do that?” Harry looked shocked at her offer, as if it wasn’t obvious that she killed all the food she touched, as if he couldn’t see the hesitance in her eyes.

“Um, maybe so I won’t burn them and ruin all the hard work I’ve put in for the day?” The slip of that honest question made Pearl realised her front - the one that said I don’t give a fuck about this class - was actually just a front. Somewhere along the way, she started to care if she could actually be able to replicate any of this in the real world, away from all the other students and the young teacher who was better than his years should’ve allowed.

Harry kind of seemed fed up with her self deprecating ways. He was there to see her burn a glorified cheese toastie, but that didn’t cause him to lose faith in her, causing him to sigh and place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “That’s not going to happen, Pearl.”

“How do you know?” She genuinely wanted to know.

“Because you’re going to focus on what you’re doing.” He let his hand drop from her. “And if not, I’ll be here to turn the fryer off before they crisp up.”

Pearl exhaled a large breath, then turned the pan on, waiting for the oil to heat up just enough. It started to hardly crackle, and one look at Harry assured her it was time to place the meat in the pan. She watched diligently, not looking away when she wanted to, when Maxine and Jill were making jokes or when Matthew and Kathy complimented each other’s dishes. She stood and watched, turning the meatballs when the underside browned.

About five minutes later, she pulled them off the fire. They looked done, though she could cut into them and find the insides still raw and be completely disappointed in herself.

“What do you think?” She held the pan out to Harry. He kept his hands still behind his back, not saying a word but giving a reassuring head nod. “Alright? Cat got your tongue?” Pearl teased as she turned back to the noodles.

With great finesse, she placed a tongs-worth of pasta onto the plate, then the meatballs, then a generous ladle full of robust tomato sauce. Finally, now that she could, she looked around the room to see everyone else done and enjoying their food. It felt good to be done too, even if she took longer than everyone else. This crowd didn’t really care about that kind of thing anyway, too busy talking about the 80’s or like, the Great Depression or something.

“Well then?” Harry nudged her elbow with his own, gesturing with his eyes to the spaghetti and meatballs.

“Alright, alright.” She picked up the fork, going straight in, cutting a meatball in half to find the inside wasn’t still pink, but browned all the way through. Placing a bite inside her mouth, with equal parts of all the components, it wasn’t an unenjoyable experience. Dare she say, it was even good.

“Shit.” Pearl let out once her mouth was no longer full. “That isn’t half bad. Taste it?” With excitement, she handed off her fork to Harry.

He took no pause in eating some, nodding along as he chewed. “Not half bad at all, Pearl.”

At that point she just couldn’t help it, too giggly and impressed with herself to hold in the squeal that was destined to be released. And then, out of fucking nowhere, she was wrapping her arms around Harry’s shoulders for a celebratory hug. Harry was quick to respond, laughing so pleasantly and holding her middle tight, barely lifting her feet from the ground.

Off to the side, where the other students sat, loud clapping and whistling sounded. Pearl backed out of Harry’s arms, her grin not leaving even if she felt like it should’ve. Pearl wasn’t one to feel shame - not for successfully cooking something and definitely not for hugging someone when she wanted to.

And if the rosey cheeks and dimples Harry was sporting was any indication, he wasn’t one to feel it either.

—

“Where is everyone?” Pearl questioned, entering the bakery that was completely empty except for Harry, who was sitting on his stool, going through what looked to be a recipe book.

He looked up and smiled. “The guys rescheduled for next weekend, Maxine got called in for work, Jill had to take her son somewhere, and Kathy got sick. They’ve been calling throughout the week and dropping like flies.” Something about his face read disappointment, but then a shrug of the shoulders washed that away.

“Aw, that’s sad.” Pearl puffed her lip out, thinking about the four older, lovely people she had grown a distant but unique bond with over the last month. “I won’t see them again.”

“I’m sure you will. The next time you take one of my classes will be a perfect time.” Harry closed his book and rounded the counter, standing next to Pearl.

Pearl shook her head. “I’m not so sure there will be a next time.”

“Is that right?” Harry faked offense, to which Pearl nodded with a straight face. “Well I think you’ll change your mind after today.”

“Oh? And why’s that?”

“Pie.” He said, lifting up a pie pan in one hand and a rolling pin in the other.

And that was something she could get behind, definitely one of the main reasons she convinced herself to go to this class in the first place. She couldn’t keep a bland expression at the concept of her being able to make her favorite kind of dessert. When he told her what kind they’d be making, she tried to pretend she wasn’t jumping for joy on the inside.

Side by side, Harry talked her through each step of the pie making process. They started with a crust, mixing the ingredients slowly as to not make it too crumbly. Once it was just combined, Harry urged her to use her hands to flatten the dough before rolling it out. This time she didn’t need Harry to cheekily wrap his arms around her so it would go right, it just did on it’s own. With much care, she carefully put the pie crust into the pan and into the oven to bake it while they made the filling.

That part was a little more complicated. It required heating lemon juice, zest, dry ingredients, and water in a saucepan until it boiled. Once it did, she had to “temper” the eggs and pour them into the mixture. After a little bit, it thickened and Harry made sure she pulled it off of the heat. She poured that into the crust Harry had removed from the oven, and then all that was left was making the meringue.

That required whipping four eggs until they became foamy. Harry kept warning her to get the “peaks” just right so they would brown in the oven. She kept telling him to do it himself if peaks were so important to him. He didn’t, and shut up as she kept whipping.

Before she even realised it, Pearl’s first pie was browning in the oven and they were cleaning up the mess. Together, it didn’t take too long.

The pie was done quicker than she had assumed it would take. And Harry was cutting slices out of her first lemon meringue.

Again, that anxiety of it tasting awful washed over her, but after one bite, she had to pat herself on the back. Sure it wasn’t the best pie this world had ever seen, but she was impressed. And just like before, Harry did a slow nod after taking a bite, probably something he learned from his teachers at culinary school.

“Well, the meringue could’ve been stiffer.” Harry judged through his bite of pie. “Other than that, not bad.”

Pearl caught the innuendo, even if it wasn’t meant to be one.

“Oh, the peaks weren’t stiff enough for you?” Pearl questioned from the other side of the counter, watching the boys eyes lower to pie that sat between them.

“Not quite.” He barely moved his head left to right.

“Do you flirt with everyone you teach?” She let her hips rest against the bench of the counter, not being able to resist the look in her cooking instructors eyes - something that said he couldn’t resist the look in hers.

“I try, but the other ladies weren’t as receptive.”

“I’m not receptive.”

“Then why are you leaning in?” He moved his eyes down her body, her body that was nearly bent over to be closer to him even though the counter was in the way.

Pearl coughed and backed off, noticing that maybe she was being a little too forward, that maybe she wasn’t thinking everything through. “You’re a little too young for me, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?” Harry backed up too, but just to walk around the counter and get even closer than before, and with nothing obstructing his path this time. “There is no way you’re that much older.”

Pearl rested her hand on one hip. She wasn’t for sure they had a huge age difference, but she knew she had a few years on him. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-two.” He said without taking a beat.

“I’m an entire high school experience older than you.” Pearl exclaimed. Four years didn’t seem so much to her, not really, but normally boys younger than her didn’t even appear on her radar and here she was fixated on the rough red lips of this one.

“Oh god, four years.” Harry placed one hand over his mouth, acting like he said a curse of some sort and regretted it dearly. “Should I call life alert now?”

And then Pearl was laughing, fed up with his smart mouth, but simultaneously enjoying the way it looked when he cracked some dumb joke.

“Shut up.” She demanded, pushing him away by the shoulder.

“No seriously, I wouldn’t want you to break a hip and not be able to get help.” He recovered lost ground, inching closer and joking all the while. “Maybe we should look up those automatic chairs that can ride you up a flight of stairs. Do you have stairs in your flat?” Pearl wouldn’t dignify that with a response. “But seriously, Pearl.” Harry shook his curls. “Four years is nothing at our age.”

“I don’t know.” Pearl pretended to think it over. Really, she kind of made her mind up when he started bringing up her hips. “I’m quite the cougar, aren’t I?”

“I’m not opposed.” Harry took a step.

Pearl grabbed at the sides of his apron, holding them just to have something in her hands. “I bet you are, culinary master.”

“I’m glad Jill isn’t here to hear you talk so dirty.” He murmured with a playful grin.

“The sad thing is, that probably is dirty talk to you.” Pearl kept her volume low, matching his as they moved just that much closer, now so close they could almost taste the pie on each other’s lips.

Harry shrugged, unashamed for who he was, licking his lips like a tease. Pearl couldn’t hold it back any longer, the curiosity too intense to play this game. She slotted their lips together in one quick movement.

Harry tasted just like she imagined - sugary and tangy, equaling out to be just right. It was intoxicating in every sense of the word, making her feel so high she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop. Good for her, Harry didn’t seem to want to slow down any more than she did, sliding his tongue slowly into her mouth when she let her lips part invitingly, sliding his hands underneath the bottom of her shirt to better grip her hips.

Pearl took that as a sign for wanted closeness so she pushed her body flush against his, wrapping her arms around his neck. A moan escaped her involuntarily when Harry hooked her knee around his body and sat her on the flour covered bench. That action alone was enough to drive her crazy, making her yearn for a taste of every part of Harry’s skin.

She was nipping at his collarbone, untying his apron - the damned thing that could only look so good on a beautiful boy like him, when Harry stopped her hands. “Maybe we should… cool it?”

“Cool it?” She whispered out between warm bites.

“Yeah. Sex at the place that I work and the counter I make cupcakes on isn’t quite up to health code.” That fact looked physically painful leaving Harry’s reddened mouth.

As much Pearl didn’t really want to stop, she knew they had to, or at least for now.

“So then where would it be acceptable, culinary master?” Pearl smirked, hopping off the counter and skimming her hands up his torso, then around his waist, retying his apron so he could retain that last little bit of professionalism.

He tangled their fingers together and whispered, “Follow me.”

[keywestlou]

MORNING STEW #5

Morning Stew time once again! I got caught up in the Virginia race and sex items and wrote about racism and sexism 2 days in a row. Catch up time now.

Two days of notes shared in no particular order.

Squeaky Fromme. Remember that name? She was part of the Charles Manson cult/family back in the late 1960’s. She did not participate in the Sharon Tate murders, however.

Squeaky spent 34 years in jail for attempting to assassinate President Gerald Ford. She was released August 14, 2009.

Why is she of significance to my blog? When released, she went to live at 6772 Benton Road, Marcy, New York, with her boy friend Robert Valdner. He had pled guilty to a manslaughter charge in 1988.

Marcy is next door to my home town Utica. They actually adjoin.

I wonder how many know she lives there.

Marcy is a tiny town. Around 8,000 people. In a Wikipedia listing of Marcy under Notable People, 2 are named. One is Squeaky.

How a town gains fame!

A huge crowd sunday at Hot Dog Church. Close to 200, I would estimate. The crowd to celebrate Nancy’s 60th birthday. An Age of Aquarius party.

Many dressed for the occasion. In the hippy style of the day. Many men in attendance in honor of Nancy’s birthday. They too were dressed. What is good for the goose is good for the gander on such occasion.

The Back Bar, Side Bar and inside rooms were packed. People dancing in between people standing and talking. Everyone having a good time!

Donna and Terri in attendance. Terri sang a couple of songs. Blew everyone out! Donna was dressed as she probably did back when. Looked fantastic! Black pants and blouse. White bandanna around her forehead.

Nancy is very well liked. Helpful to all. All the time. This past year has been a bad one for her. A double mastectomy and then a fall resulting in a broken wrist. May all the bad things be behind her and her future years illness free.

Knew many. Including Laurie, Ingrid, Lynda and Bob. Pam, too. I had not seen Pam in a year. She had a heart attack near the time we last met. Everything fine now! God bless her!

John telephoned from the Chart Room. Someone wanted to see me. Would I come over? Eventually did. Glad I did. Met a terrific couple. Michael and Carolyn. Both extremely interesting.

Presently hail from New Mexico. Michael aka Michael Norviel an artist. His works locally show at the Art Gallery at 830 Caroline.

They have been visiting Key West for years. Michael actually lived in Key West in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. He was 8-14 years old at the time. His Dad a contractor working for the Navy.

Michael is 80 and Carolyn 75. Both young and vital.

Michael still paints. Carolyn is retired from a most interesting position. She worked years at the University of New Mexico. A fundraiser. Her job to bring in the big dollars. We shared many stories. I was a big donor at one time at Syracuse. She knew all the tricks surrounding fund raising. I learned many by being the one solicited.

Chatted with another couple sunday night after Michael and Carolyn left. I am ashamed. I failed to write their names in my note book. Whatever, another great couple. I had met them the night before, also.

Visiting From Syracuse.

The husband into Presidential libraries and the like. He had visited Hemingway House earlier in the day. He was the one who told me about Squeaky Fromme living in Marcy.

Last night was Dueling Bartenders. Terri guest performer. What a voice! Joined with Rick Dery, a volatile combination.

Liz, Josephina, Mary, Myra, and Donna enjoying the evening. As well as the other Mary.

I had never met Myra before. She came over to thank me for being so kind to Liz. Whenever I see Liz, I hurry over to her and give her a hug and kiss.

Liz  is moving on. Now in a wheel chair. They let her sit on a bar stool. However, she must be picked up and placed thereon as well as lifted when returning to the wheel chair.

I met Liz 3 years ago. She was vibrant. We hit it off immediately. She 2 years older than me. Her mind sharp. Liz in her other life had been Dean at 2 law schools and the head of the Law Boards for years. A big time legal career!

We dated for a while. Dinner at Berlin’s and the like. She would prepare lunch or dinner for me at least once a week. Her culinary skills outstanding. Knew her wines.

Always a good time!

Now, she barely talks. In and out of the hospital frequently.

Such is life.

Met Teresa and Sam from southern Illinois at the bar. Corn and soybean farmers. I got into China, the tariffs, cash flow, etc. Teresa surprised me. She said they were not hurting. Their production was selling. No change.

It was difficult for me to follow. I suspect how and who you sell to or through has something to do with it.

Teresa and Sam have been coming to Key West for 25 years. They are renting a condo at Truman Annex for a month.

They have a son and daughter. The son is in business with them. The daughter in investments with Edward Jones. Plus 4 grandchildren.

Mary and I had dinner afterwards at La Trattoria. Tiffany bartending. Tiffany and I have known each other for 25 years. Amazing!

I enjoyed spaghetti with oil and garlic. So much for love making afterwards. Mary went to Virgilio’s and I home.

A measles update.

Mother does NOT always know best. Measles were eliminated 20 years ago. But…..

The epidemic is world wide. In the U.S., in certain areas. Generally where a large number of parents exempted their children from inoculations.

Washington is one of the States experiencing an epidemic. A particular County a large number. Clark County. Fifty three infected. Mostly children. One in 4 overall. Forty percent of them kindergartners.

Clark County parents had gone to court and received exemptions from the law requiring children prior to beginning school to have certain inoculations. The grounds for exemption had to be religious or personal beliefs.

One physician said that letting a child go unvaccinated against measles is like dropping a lighted match into a can of gasoline. The explosion/fire spreads rapidly. How an epidemic begins.

Big time in El Paso last night! Trump and O’Rourke speaking at different places. Close however. At one point, Beto’s group marched across the street to where Trump was speaking.

Numbers in attendance important to Trump. He was in a building holding 6,500. He claimed 35,000 there to hear him.

O’Rourke in a park. Police estimated 7,000. Trump said 600. Even dropped the number to 15 at one point.

I give them a tie as to numbers. As to content, not even close. O’Rourke came out way ahead.

Bum Farto, where are you?

Farto was the Key West Fire Chief back in the mid 1970’s. Highly successful. Besides protecting the populace from fires, ran drugs and hookers.

He was arrested and tried in Federal Court. Found guilty of 3 drug violations.

On the day he was to be sentenced, he left home in his car. Never to be seen again. Disappeared! Did not make it to court. No one sure what happened to him.

Some believe he disappeared Jimmy Hoffa style. Others believe to this day he is lying on a beach somewhere with a beautiful young lady next to him having successfully avoided paying his debt to society.

I close with the lovely Judy Blume.

The world knows Judy Blume. Successful author. Wrote books for young ladies/teenagers initially. Many. Her books have sold in excess of 80 million world wide and have been translated into 30 languages.

She is up there with Hemingway and Tennessee Williams.

Judy now a Key West resident. She and her husband own Books & Books in Key West.

I make mention of Judy today because it is her birthday. She was born this day in 1938. Happy birthday, Judy!

Almost forgot. One last item. My podcast show this evening. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Join me at 9 for a quick interesting half hour. Listen to me rant and rave about this and that. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!

MORNING STEW #5 was originally published on Key West Lou

[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/crash-course-anti-semitism/

A Crash Course on the True Causes of “Anti-Semitism”, part II: the hunt for anti-Semites

[This article was written for the Unz Review]

First, anti-Semites everywhere!

It has been over a year since I wrote an article entitled “A Crash Course on the True Causes of “Anti-Semitism “. I tried to illustrate how the kind of ideology and worldview of what ought to be called Rabbinical Phariseeism but is, alas, usually referred to as “Orthodox Judaism,” results in an inevitable hostile backlash from those whom this ideology and worldview even deny the status of “human being.” Today, I want to do something a little different: look at a political tactic which appears to give Jews a very desirable position but which in reality places them all at risk: the use of the accusation of “anti-Semitism” on practically anybody who dares to be critical of anybody and anything Jewish. The following recent headline on RT was what inspired me to discuss this issue:

Trump accused of anti-Semitism over claim Soros funds ‘elevator screamers.’

I won’t take up space here by quoting the article at length so please check it out on the original RT page. Here is just a short excerpt:

Critics of US President Donald Trump were quick to accuse him of anti-Semitism over a tweet claiming that women accosting senators over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh were paid by liberal billionaire George Soros. “The very rude elevator screamers are paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad. Don’t fall for it!” Trump tweeted on Friday. “Also, look at all of the professionally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others. These are not signs made in the basement from love!” Outrage ensued, obviously. ThinkProgress, the media arm of John Podesta’s Center for American Progress think tank, immediately accused the president of anti-Semitism. A Slate editor chimed in, calling Trump’s words an “anti-Semitic dog whistle.” And a staff writer for The Atlantic called it a “conspiracy theory that a rich Jewish boogeyman is making women claim to have been raped and assaulted.”

I have no idea why the RT reporter wrote that outrage ensued “obviously,” but let’s first note that none of those who accuse Trump of anti-Semitism makes any effort to explain why exactly Trump’s words are anti-Semitic.

[Sidebar: I know, “anti-Semitism” is a misleading and basically meaningless notion. In this article “What is Antisemitism” Michael Neumann how this already ambiguous and misleading concept became fundamentally meaningless (he concluded his analysis by saying “the real scandal today is not antisemitism but the importance it is given”). I will be using this term only because it is so widely used by Jewish organizations to discredit pretty much all those who dare to express a critical thought.]

Think Progress simply tweeted this: “Trump tweets out anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about George Soros.” Here we have a classical double-whammy: anti-Semitism, of course, but also a “conspiracy theory.” We will come back to this conceptual pair.

But first, the basics.

Is there any doubt at all that Soros sponsors all kind of protests in many different countries including the USA?

Let’s check the hyper-politically correct and doubleplusgoodthinking Wikipedia and see what we find there. In the 6th paragraph of the introduction to Soros’ entry, we see the following sentence:

“Soros is a well-known supporter of American progressive and American liberal political causes, to which he dispenses donations through his foundation, the Open Society Foundations.”

Really?! Not only does Wikipedia unambiguously state that Soros is sponsoring various US progressive and liberal causes, but he has also even created a special foundation to do that. Does this entry mean that Wikipedia is also part of an anti-Semitic campaign and is spreading conspiracy theories? Did Trump not say precisely the same thing as Wikipedia when he tweeted about “screamers are paid professionals” and “professionally made identical signs? Paid for by Soros and others”? It sure looks to me that Trump and Wikipedia are saying the exact same thing, yet one gets accused of being anti-Semitic while the other is left in peace. Why? Besides, what Trump said is really something which is common knowledge and which is not even denied by Soros himself. Even better, the “elevator screamers” themselves don’t even deny it either.

And yet, in spite of that, the Daily Beast says that “Trump goes full conspiracy nut” while the Deputy Washington Editor of The New York Times, Jonathan Weisman tweeted that “I’m sorry but the “Soros is paying them” trope from the president of the United States is … wow” and then proceeded to plug his book (((Semitism))) Being Jewish in American in the Age of Trump. That book was enthusiastically endorsed by The Washington Post: (“a passionate call to arms”), the Jewish Book Council: (“Could not be more important or timely”) and the inevitable Bernard-Henri Lévy: (“It would be wonderful if anti-Semitism was a European specialty and stopped at the border with the United States. Alas, this is not the case”).

Wait!

How do you go from “professional elevator screamers” to anti-Semitism?!

Trump says something which is both undeniable and actually undenied, and that somehow makes him a conspiracy nut and an anti-Semite and that, in turn, is supposed to suggest to us that Jews are in great peril in the USA (“call to arms” + “could not be more important”).

Does that make any sense to you at all?!

Trump is accused of being an anti-Semite because he had the nerve to actually openly state an undisputed fact. More specifically, Trump is guilty not just of stating an undisputed fact, but of stating an undisputed fact in reference to a Jew (hence the specific accusation of anti-Semitism and not of some other form of crimethink). But since Wikipedia and Soros himself pretty much say the same thing as Trump, albeit in a more educated way, what is the problem?

Setting aside the fact that Trump has proven to be the best shabbos-goy the Likud ever had (just his move of the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem was an act of truly abject servility to Israel), let’s deconstruct what is really going on here.

I submit that for all the official propaganda, everybody knows that free speech in the AngloZionist Empire is strictly limited: in the European colonies by means of fines and incarceration and in the USA by means of political hysterics. The methods are different (no First Amendment in Europe!) but the goal is the same: to smear, discredit and eventually silence the crimethinkers.

Let us look at two examples:

Next, anti-anti-Semites everywhere

First, check out this article about “conspiracy theories” in which the author writes: (emphasis added)

The term “conspiracy theory” is used to describe any theory that attempts to characterize observed events as the result of some secret conspiracy. The term is often used dismissively, implying that the theory is implausible. Although conspiracy theories (particularly aimed at Jews and Bankers) date back hundreds of years, the earliest usage of “conspiracy theory” does not always have this connotation, although the theories are quite often dismissed in other ways. Usually, it’s simply a way of identifying the theory from other theories – as in “the theory that happens to have a conspiracy.”

Therefore, since discussing Jews and Bankers is a typical “conspiracy theory” and since the term “conspiracy theory” is often used dismissively, implying that it is implausible, it is therefore implausible that Jews and bankers would have any special political or historical importance. But if this is so implausible, why are such theories particularly aimed at Jews and bankers and not at Buddhists and bakers? Where is the logic here?

The second example is from an article entitled “Holocaust denial and 9/11 “Truth”: Two crappy tastes that taste crappy together” which clearly states: (emphasis added)

Holocaust denial fits into the 9/11 “Truth” movement hand-in-glove. Think about it. Whenever you see claims by 9/11 Truthers that there was some sort of “conspiracy” to bring down the World Trade Center towers, who is inevitably part of the conspiracy in the paranoid vision of the “Truth” movement? Well, there’s usually the U.S. government, but almost invariably the Mossad is said to be involved. Yep, the Jews.

This is interesting. Let’s assume that 9/11 truthers mostly think that Israel was involved in the 9/11 false flag (I certainly believe that!), how does that in any way imply that “the Jews” did something wrong or, even more so, the denial of the so-called “Holocaust”?! Furthermore, how does reaching the basic and inevitable conclusions implied by high-school level Newtonian physics about WTC 7 in any way indicate that somebody is paranoid? Maybe the label of “paranoid” ought to be applied to everybody not trusting the government?

Would it not be much more fitting to apply the term “paranoid” to those who manage to jump from “paid elevator screamers” to anti-Semitism or from doubts about 9/11 to Holocaust denial? I think that the paranoid nutcases are the anti-anti-Semites who are constantly doing two very dangerous things:

1) strenuously denying obvious and well-known facts

2) accusing anybody capable of critical thought of being an anti-Semite

Make no mistake, those still capable of critical thought will challenge the official narratives about 9/11 or about the “Holocaust”. I would even argue that any good and interesting history book will always be revisionist, at least to some degree. Good historiography should always challenge widely accepted beliefs, should it not?

In a mentally sane and politically free society challenges to the official 9/11 conspiracy theory (because, make no mistake, the official fairy tale about 9/11 is quite literally a “conspiracy theory” and a most unlikely and most implausible one!) or to the official narrative about the “Holocaust” should be treated just like the “no moon landing” or “flat earth” or any other theory which should be discussed on its merits and not treated as a form of egregious and evil crimethink. Alas, as we all know, this is far from being the case today.

Personally, I don’t blame “the Jews” for this state of affairs, if only because I don’t even use a category like “the Jews” which I consider to be meaningless. However, I do lay the blame for this situation on organized Jewry; that is, the main Jewish/Zionist organizations who by their constant efforts to place such utterly ridiculous limits on free speech (and even free thought!) create a world in which two main camps struggle against each other:

First, the doubleplusgoodthinkers who are fully zombified by the mass media and who have fully internalized all the characteristics of the doublethink Orwell described in his book 1984: these brainwashed zombies can fully accept and believe two mutually contradictory things with no cognitive dissonance whatsoever.

Second, the crimethinkers who dare to doubt the official views about any topic and who, once they realize that they have been lied to about almost anything which matters, distrust and even challenge those ideas which are the most widely and systematically propagandized.

Of course, this state of affairs is bad for non-Jews, but it is even much worse for Jews because it creates an extremely dangerous mechanism: by rabidly enforcing such outrageous limits on free speech, Jewish organizations are profoundly alienating all those capable of independent thought. Even worse, once they start doubting one thing, e.g., the official narrative about 9/11, they inevitably wonder if they have been lied to in another matter, e.g., the “Holocaust.” In fact, what this pressure to conform to the official doxa of the day, the Zeitgeist if you wish, results in, is what I would call a “chain reaction of doubts,” including very unreasonable doubts. Let me give just one example:

After having read many books and articles about this topic, I find it extremely unlikely that the Nazis used gas chambers or crematoria in any large numbers. I would never presume to say that this “never” happened, but I personally don’t believe that this happened in any large numbers (this is why I consider the word “Holocaust,” which means “all/whole-burning,” a very misleading term). I also believe that the (quasi-obligatory) figure of 6 million is a vast exaggeration. Why? Because I read a lot about it, from both sides, and, frankly, the “revisionists” have much stronger arguments, both factual and logical.

However,

There is also no doubt in my mind at all that the Nazis were genocidal maniacs and self-worshiping racists who butchered millions of totally innocent people, including a very large number of Jews. I just believe that most of their victims were either murdered by the SS Einsatzgruppen or starved to death in various concentration camps (including many smaller, lesser known ones). Is that really less evil than using gas chambers or crematoria? I sure don’t think so. Neither do I think that four, three, two or even “just” one million murdered innocent is much better than six million. I know that there are many others out there who came to similar conclusions. But the problem is that there are also those who, once they began having doubts about gas chambers or crematoria, then decided the entire narrativeabout the “Holocaust” was one big lie and that no Jews at all were targeted or murdered by the Nazis.

My personal observation is that the vast majority of those who come to such a (completely unwarranted) conclusions are, indeed, Jew-hating folks who want to whitewash the Nazis and who would gladly parrot any inanity as long as it is somehow anti-Jewish or pro-Nazi. Not very smart, for sure, but it is nonetheless true that their hostility towards anything Jewish or their sympathies for the Nazis did not come out of nowhere but are a reaction to what they feel is the toxic and oppressive power of “the Jews” over their countries or society. Replace the “the Jews” with “Jewish and Zionist political organizations,” and they have a point, don’t they? One quick but honest look at US or French politics will immediately and easily confirm this.

Conclusion: anti-Semitism is something artificially kept alive

It seems to me that Jewish/Zionist organizations are apparently dead-set on creating as many enemies as possible or, at least, to alienate as many thinking people as possible. I can see how a rabid Zionist would find such a situation helpful for the Aliyah, but is it really good for the Jewish people? I very much doubt it.

The same goes for the mindset which makes any criticism of Soros or of Jewish bankers into a manifestation of anti-Semitism? Again, great for the Aliyah I suppose, but it is good for regular Jewish people? What about applying the label of “nutcase” to all those who dare to question an official theory? In the bad old days of the Soviet Union quite a few “dissidents” were declared suffering from “slowly-progressing schizophrenia” (вялотекущая шизофрения) by “official” psychiatrists and the “free and democratic world” was outraged (in spite of the fact that quite a few of these dissidents truly were suffering from mental issues). Is that profoundly different from placing the label of “nutcase” on somebody expressing doubts about an official theory?

What Jewish/Zionist organizations are trying to impose on the rest of the planet is a blanket immunity from any criticism for all Jews (except the “self-hating” ones, of course!) combined with a grim determination to crush anybody daring to oppose such plans.

The chances that most of the world will ever accept such mental shackles are virtually nil. What is much more likely is that the resistance to such efforts will grow, no doubt reported to the public as an “emergence of a new anti-Semitism” or something equally vapid. And at the end of the road, there will always be a powerful backlash against those who started it all. So what is the point?

I am left wondering whether all these Jewish/Zionist organizations are staffed merely by incompetent people, or whether creating more, not less, anti-Semitism might not be the *real* goal of these organizations.

Whatever may be the case, anti-Semitism is not something which “just exists.” It is something which must be rekindled over and over again. Left alone, it would just fizzle out.

The Saker

[cold-war-essay-blog]

Creative thinking, active reading and effective writing essay

The definition and the component part of inventive thought functioning, entery intimacy and in force(p) piece in the life of quite a little.\n\nEssay Questions:\n\nHow is seminal sagaciousness defined? How is ima separateative idea assorted from stereotype idea? What atomic number 18 the gathers of officious agent meter recital? How does useful typography helps pack in their daily life?\n\n thesis Statement:\n\n oil-bearing idea is slightly intimacy that endlessly set asides room for good; fanciful designateing is the unfeigned effect of occupation solving, which is so vital in the lives of contemporary honey oilwealth and in the melodic phrase world.\n\n \n fanciful persuasion, ener arse aroundic rendering and efficient piss verb to each oney endeavor\n\n \n\nT fitting of content:\n\n1. Definitions of fanciful persuasion, dynamical voice voice see and potent piece of music.\n\n2. Benefits of separately apt itude.\n\n3. Skill-ch whollyenges.\n\n4. Skill-application.\n\n \n\n5. closing curtain\n\nIntroduction: Definitions of inventive view, prompt education and utile piss verb andy. integrity of the peculiarities of a gentleman hit that has non been reproduced by the computers is germinal theorizeing. The term imaginativeness has non been short defined yet. hitherto the studyity of battalion see to it fictiveness as the qualification to see things in a vernal and unusual panache and hornswoggle red-hot unmatched firmness of purposes for various occupations. inventive opinion is a remove opposition to the stereotypical opinion, which is characterized by the lack of choices pervert inquisitive achievable solutions and by the tendency to attempt diverse problems the uniform agency with appear whatsoever innovations. creativity converts the work stunned of persuasion into a winning do fall go forth and helps to find unsanded ways out of old problems. Nevertheless, imaginative persuasion should non by either content be connected to the brain of a soulfulness1. yeasty intellection is commonly delineated by germinal insights. jibe to Robert Harris m each creative break withs occur when solicitude is shifted from one rake of a problem to another. This is both(prenominal) condemnations called creative insight[1]. creative thinking is something that ceaselessly provides room for advantage; creative thinking is the true onus of problem solving, which is so vital in the lives of contemporary lot and in the trading world.\n\n productive thinking is likewise associated with lively interpret. ready schooling secular is several move higher than prevalent drill. This is primarily referable to the concomitant that sp righteousnessly translation converts an nondescript reader into an agile thinking scholar and prevents a soul from automatically deprivation with pages without apprehe nsiveness anything. quick instruction graveld dynamic thinking and quick thinking is a premise of creative thinking. Basically verbalise what prompt enforce does it helps concourse to cogitate their attention and think more or less interpretations and interrelations of the text they view as vindicatory read [2]. alive(p) practice session requires unbroken training by dint of nurture the contents of the newss. What it does it forms a tender base for the arrange work of the dissolventes of analysis, tax write-off and evaluation. Reading and composing swallow incessantly been watertightly colligate to for each one other. So, as the combat-ready variant appe ard in regulate to give the trump out of the wreak of education in effect(p) typography appe ard to admit the opera hat out of the process of indite. telling compose is a combination of typography skills utilize in dress to gain certain(p) goals. terrible-hitting makeup inclu des diverse considerates of roots such(prenominal) as all types of proposals, reports, letters, emails, memos and many others. in effect(p) writing whole caboodle for the get under ones skinment of an cleverness to be persuade even in written form. owe to utile writing a psyche is able to find a face-to-face flair of writing which scat the some acceptable and productive for him. Being no-hit in sound writing means to know the take into account tone for each active kind of communications and eliminated e genuinelything extra from the writing products. telling writing whitethorn be withal viewed as the provide or a consequence of active reading as active reading re spick-and-spans the vocabulary and teaches inhibit tones of communications. Therefore, twain, active reading and in force(p) writing ar phenomena that ascend creative thinking. 2. Benefits of each skill. Each of the mentioned in a higher place skills and all of them together do mould certain acquires for their owners. It goes without saying that creative thinking helps to find wonder on the job(p) solutions of modal(a) problems. wizard of the major benefits of creative thinking is that is solely contradicts the standard particular thinking. As invigorated creative ideas continuously seem weird to the pile close to a soulfulness with creative thinking depart be more(prenominal)(prenominal) socially independent and will have a higher self-esteem. seminal thinking is too the key to unloose from numerous existing solutions-stereotypes and cultural traditions, creating something raw qualitatively natural. notional thinking decreases the mortals apprehension level, due to the fact that it eer finds explanations to all the unknown and eery things it faces. Therefore, a mortal psychologically becomes more confident. Creative thinking unbrokenly brainstorms the forefront, which generates immature ideas. Among the nigh strategic qualities of crea tive thinking Robert Harris outline major ones: generative, face ups for new possibilities, finds a suspended popular opinion change, is publicationive alone always has an answer, recrudesces the right brain, works through visual images and associations producing novelty [1]. Creative thinking as well goes through certain analytical stages, which altogether produce the craved final unique solution2.\n\nActive reading also mystifys evidential benefits for its possessor. For instance, the notes that be required to be taken era actively reading keep up the soulfulnesss concentration and taking into custody of the culture flow, creating a arrangementatic system of knowledge. Active reading and its tips such as underlining and highlighting, noting key words, noting stack questions to the text and stupefy final summaries, converts the process of simple reading into the process of learning which is the synonym of active reading. Active reading trains the memory and the ability to realize strong intellectual connections in the midst of the in coifion that is existence discriminated. Active reading teaches a mortal to pick on the nose what he ask to know without taenia at redundant details in a preferably short arrest of cartridge holder. Therefore, active reading may be also viewed as a time gripment technique. It objurgates the knowledge priorities and helps the reader to find out the emergencyed teaching in the most productive manageable way.\n\n effectual writing as it has been mentioned sooner helps to find a definite style for the generator. Nevertheless, it far not the only benefit sound writing brings. It goes without saying that powerful writing implies the utility of knowledge in capitalization, spelling, grammar, punctuation, abbreviation, and others. The other fully grown ones are the undermentioned: helps to sell ideas, eliminated jargon, eliminated supererogatory phrases or sentences which do not chew ove r and affect the potential difference issue [4]. good writing helps to make the final writing visually sympathetic to the respondent. Similar to active reading, rough-and-ready writing is very steadying in the feeler of the ability to fixed goals and to achieve simply the use uped resolution and no other. The pen will benefit from knowing how to set a topic, a thesis and the format of a apt(p) paper. Both active reading and effective writing are knowing to make a soul victorful creating creative thinkers.\n\n3. Skill-challenges.\n\nEach skill is a subject to definite challenges that a individual onerous to learn them may experience. As the outstrip way to prove the challenges is by providing brainy examples, the causation ventures to provide his humble opinion on the topic. It is common knowledge that flock in their absolute majority lack immersion and persistence when it comes to fashioning something until the end. They seek for fast-relievers. Achieving s uccess in the handle of active reading, effective writing and accordingly creative thinking do toss certain challenges that need to be discussed.\n\nCreative thinking requires perpetual work of vagary and so the full-usage of the resources of the brain; creative action mechanism requires elusive work. It is very herculean to turn off the deprecative thinking with all its convergent, reasoning and judgment-based nature. Creative thinking is visualization and not words, still each psyche is so use to speaking that it is hard mediocre to consider .As this is the primary contour under which creative thinking will stick work the author considers it to be the biggest problem he faced while nerve-racking to think creatively. other hard thing in creative thinking is to understand that each single problem has not just a solution and also several possible ways out any situation. The author considers that in put in to develop the willingness to hit and find new ways the person needs to practice through do himself do the things that he has always through one way another modernistic and creative way. Of course of instruction it is hard to leave alone about the constitution types, because it will be much easier for a person with an out-of-door type to develop creative thinking owing to their nudity to the world somewhat and their ability to perceive and combine the information obtained from it. An internal person would be more critical and therefore have less opportunities to add creative thinking to his public life.\n\nActive reading and effective writing require persistence but the speed of their culture in the mind of a person completely depends of the individual peculiarities of the person. For instance, the author of the paper needs flying results in regularize to stimulate himself for foster work. Disorganized people desperately need to learn how to manage their time and to get results rather quickly. So active reading and effecti ve writing are designed to help such people to learn how to manage their time and be boffo at kinfolk and curiously at work. The major difficulties with creative thinking, active reading, and effective writing are that they need unending training. It is very outstanding not to stop. The writer had a standardised problem and coped with it through reading books and working on the material that he considered to be highly interesting.\n\nFor instance, in commit to develop creative thinking he apply the technique of playacting put a problem in person or drawing its scheme, in aver to create a epideictic presentation of the problem. The author also seek the technique of public lecture aloud with himself religious offering diametric solutions from the sides of different imaginary personages.\n\nSo, the main(prenominal) way to pass the challenges of creative thinking is to consciously defy efforts to show originality and bring forth new ideas. Active reading and effective writing are the division of persistence and constant repetition.\n\n4. Skill-application.\n\nEach of the listed preceding(prenominal) skills is a guaranteed time-management tool. all(a) one-third of them are easily apply in everyday life both in in the flesh(predicate)izedized and pro spheres. The best(p) part that atomic number 50 be taken from all these skills is that they create the base for a hyper-successful career for any person who is able to apply sufficient efforts in order to improve. Creative thinking, active reading and effective writing are the skills that take people away from the stock(prenominal) and boring ideas, away from the standard look at things and lead towards original solutions. Creativity is the quality that is represented I each of these skills and it is creativity that makes the process of thinking fascinating!\n\nConclusion: This skills piece of tailnister be right-hand I own(prenominal) life. For instance the family does not have adequ acy income to buy that cypher furniture they adage in the line yesterday. If they posses creative thinking they put forward make the best out of their old furniture: they can cay it, draw something on it, change it is some other way. Another example that may be given is the way the dishes are cooked in the house. If they are make only according to the expression it is very hard to talk about anything like creative thinking, but if the family conducts experiments with their food, trying to invent a new dish that is a fresh sign of creativity. Active reading and effective writing can be helpful, too. well-nigh people have lots of books in the house, but when you start asking them what was in this or that book they fail to answer clearly, knowing the strategies of active reading would have made the answers of these people more clear and intelligent. The same thing with effective writing which in personal life can be used in order to write different petitions, invitations or p ersonal letters. There is no wander that some invitations are made so with child(p) that the guest king even not come. These «domestic» applications of these three skills may create a wonderful base for personal happiness.\n\nTheir application in the sphere of professional growth would be irreplaceable. Creative thinkers have always been the most valued workers on any enterprise. A person with a non-standard approach to everything makes a difference for any form and especially for those that deal with advertise goods. A person that can read and what is more significant can understand books connected with his professions may become the best choice for the adjoining appointment of the authorities. Effective writing gin its turn may convert an ordinary employee into a true psychologist that can always achieve the result he pauperisms.If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Looking for a place to buy a cheap paper online? Buy Paper Cheap - Premium quality cheap essays and affordable papers online. Buy cheap, high quality papers to impress your professors and pass your exams. Do it online right now! '

[d2kvirus]

Dickheads of the Month: November 2017

As it seems that there are people who say or do things that are remarkably dickheaded yet somehow people try to make excuses for them or pretend it never happened, here is a collection of some of the dickheaded actions we saw in the month of November 2017 to make sure that they are never forgotten.

Starting off with the low-hanging fruit that is the Tory party, we had Chancellor Philip Hammond state that there are no unemployed people in the UK - which was news to the 1.6m unemployed people in the UK.

Then we had Jacob Rees-Mogg exercise the remarkable double standard of being one of the 313 ministers who voted that animals are not sentient and cannot feel pain - then within a week stated that bullfighting was cruel and should be banned.  In other words, it's cruel when Spaniards butcher a live animal for their entertainment, but it isn’t when a fox is torn to pieces for the entertainment of the landed gentry - the landed gentry who happen to not just be a core part of the Tory vote, but a fair number of their MPs as well.

On top of that we had serial fuck up merchant Boris Johnson manage to add five years to the prison sentence of a British national currently incarcerated in Iran by not reading the dossier on the charges that  Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was facing and issuing a statement where he managed to confirm those same charges in a few short seconds, which the Iranian authorities promptly used as proof.  Add to that his so-called apology where he blamed everyone but himself for the situation where he even had the gall to say “I’m sorry if...” his comments had caused distress, as if you have to be thin-skinned to not want to spend an additional five years in jail because a Foreign Secretary cannot do his job correctly.

And of course, it would be remiss of me to not mention Priti Patel, who when it was discovered that she’d snuck off to Israel to have discussions with Israeli ministers without the government’s knowledge or approval, attempted to lie her way out of it by claiming it was a holiday.  Having refused the clear opportunity she was given to resign, she scuttled off to Uganda while her assistant had to cop the flak in Parliament while a few supporters thought it was wise to issue threats that she would cause a lot of damage if she was sacked that didn't in any way look like an attempt at blackmail.  She was promptly recalled from her trip to Uganda and bluntly told to offer her resignation. 

Making a second appearance on the list, once more we have Jacob Rees-Mogg as it emerged that he had a meeting with Steve Bannon to discuss a potential election campaign along the lines of the one Bannon masterminded for Trump.  This missed two obvious issues, namely how Rees-Mogg isn't Tory leader, and the fact that the Tories already ran a campaign remarkably similar to the one Bannon used for Trump - for Zac Goldsmith’s losing Mayor of London campaign.

Frontman of one of the most overrated bands of all time Morrissey covered himself in glory when mouthing off in defence of Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey and looking like a complete bellend in the process - and then, having been called out for his bellendedness, flounced off saying he would never do another print interview ever again.

In the wake of the Texas church shootings, noted far right bumblefuck Peter Sweden demanded that people stop trying to politicise the tragedy just because a white middle class American shot and killed 25 people.  They obviously failed to comprehend that it wouldn’t take long before people would unearth his earlier tweets where Peter Sweden was politicising mass shootings when it fit his anti-migrant agenda.  Luckily several dozen people helpfully pointed this out to him.

The producers of Newsnight did a superb job of lying to the British public by airing a clip which they claimed was Jeremy Corbyn responding to the autumn Budget - but it was soon unearthed that what they had done was edited in a clip from a completely unrelated debate from several months previously, which eagle-eyed viewers were quick to point out to them.

Also at the BBC, we had Andrew Neil getting into a Twitter spat when somebody told him he had got his facts hopelessly wrong in a report about the German elections.  Neil attempted the lamest of lame duck comebacks, saying the person he was in the spat with had not been paying attention to the German media’s coverage of the story...because he didn’t take five seconds to check that the person he was debating with was not just a political blogger from Germany, but also a member of their Green party.

A quite remarkable amount of dickheadedness emanated from Electronic Art and their handling of Star Wars Battlefront II.  Not only did they push the loot box agenda so much further than any other developer has, to the point that progression was a painfully slow process for people who didn’t pay to unlock characters such as Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker (with it taking an estimated forty hours of play to unlock each character) and when they removed the loot boxes due to the massive backlash they didn't rejig the system which meant everyone playing it now had to grind like nobody’s business, but things really got absurd when their initial defence for these practises was to blame the Star Wars lore for it.  And that’s not to mention the features that were available on the first Battlefront that aren't in Battlefront II.

The Twitter user who posts under the name Educating Liberals did a fine job of making their Twitter handle fair game by claiming that today’s generation would claim that Charles Manson was a misunderstood civil rights leader, a sentiment which led to all manner of “So true” sentiments in response.  One slight problem with that theory: it was neo-Nazi groups holding up Manson as a misunderstood civil rights leader who was framed by the corrupt system.

On the subject of Manson, there’s also every single person who confused Charles Manson with Marilyn Manson.  Good luck every single one of you claiming you were “reeling in” people who thought you were genuine...

Angry game developer Andrew Watt did so much to boost his future prospects by deciding the reason that Steam terminated his account had nothing to do with him posting asset flipped games and being abusive to Steam users who were critical of said game, but all because Youtuber SidAlpha brought his shady behaviour to wider attention - which justified a campaign of stalkerish behaviour such as posting impersonator Twitter accounts, abusing Youtube’s report systems to claim SidAlpha had violated his privacy, and enlisting the help of fellow headcase and career suicide enthusiast Alex Mauer to assist him in his endeavours.  

On the subject of people who amply demonstrate the grossly overused term “snowflake” is far more suited to them than the people they rant and rave about, The Daily Mail responded to Paperchase pulling their sponsorship with the paper after a wave of criticism by accusing the Stop Funding Hate campaign of “bullying” - even though you can choose from so many Mail front pages from the past eighteen months as an example of bullying.

Some mutually assured dickheadishness from Superdrug and Zoella for selling an advent calendar of beauty products that only lasted for twelve days then charging £50 for it - even though the combined total for the products contained within the calendar was £20.

And last but by no means least, we have Donald Trump who managed to outdo his usual dickheadishness by causing a minor diplomatic incident with both the UK and the Netherlands by retweeting Britain First material, and followed that up by harassing a mother from Dorset because he doesn’t even know what Theresa may’s Twitter handle is before harassing her to his army of mindless apes.

[everettwilkinson]

GOP MULLS MOORE PROBLEM — TRUMP heads home — SESSIONS floats Clinton special counsel — REBECCA BERG joins CNN, JIM COMEY signs with Washington Speakers Bureau — ELI STOKOLS and ELENA SCHNEIDER engaged

PRESIDENT TRUMP is on his way back to Washington after 12 days in Asia. He’ll stop in Hawaii. On Thursday, he comes to the Hill to speak to the House Republican Conference, timed to their vote for tax reform. The press charter is scheduled to land at Andrews 5:40 a.m. Wednesday.

— TRUMP, speaking on Air Force One, addressed the three UCLA basketball players arrested for theft in China: “The basketball players, by the way — I know a lot of people are asking — I will tell you, when I heard about it two days ago, I had a great conversation with President Xi. What they did was unfortunate. You know, you’re talking about very long prison sentences. They do not play games. He was terrific, and they’re working on it right now. And hopefully everything is going to work out. And I know they’re very grateful because they were told exactly what happened.”

Story Continued Below

Good Tuesday morning. THE SENATE ON ROY MOORE… — “Moore expulsion idea splits Senate Republicans,” by Seung Min Kim and John Bresnahan: “Senate Republicans are escalating their demands for embattled Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore to leave the race, including a growing faction calling for him to be expelled if he wins next month. But some senior Republicans are wary that the chorus of anti-Moore sentiment from Washington will only embolden Moore and his supporters. … Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, chairman of the [NRCC], raised the specter of expulsion in a Monday statement. Later, retiring Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona told reporters he would support Democrat Doug Jones over Moore and that expelling Moore should remain on the table.

“But other top party leaders weren’t as quick to embrace the idea of expelling Moore from the chamber, which has been attempted but not completed in well more than a century and could raise serious questions about the Senate defying the will of voters. Other Republicans fear the precedent of booting a senator who hasn’t violated any Senate rules or is not facing criminal charges.” http://politi.co/2yZiIlK

**SUBSCRIBE to Playbook: http://politi.co/2lQswbh

— THE WHITE HOUSE … NYT’s Jonathan Martin and Sheryl Gay Stolberg: “Publicly, Mr. McConnell, appearing at a news conference in Louisville, said he was ‘looking at’ drafting a write-in candidate for the Dec. 12 special election. Privately, Mr. McConnell was doing more than merely looking. One idea being discussed, first brought up by two different White House officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, would be for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to run as either a write-in candidate or to be appointed to what was his seat should Mr. Moore win and be immediately removed from office.

“Mr. McConnell is supportive of the idea and discussed it on Monday in a telephone call with Vice President Mike Pence that was chiefly about the Republican tax overhaul proposal, according to party officials briefed on the call. Mr. Sessions remains popular among Alabama Republicans, but his relationship with Mr. Trump has frayed since he recused himself from the investigation of the role that Russia played in last year’s presidential campaign.” http://nyti.ms/2morPqi

— THE PARTY COMMITTEE … “The Republican National Committee Hasn’t Yet Dumped Roy Moore,” by BuzzFeed’s Henry J. Gomez: “About a dozen national party staffers are on the ground in Alabama, handling field organizing duties for next month’s special election between Moore and Democratic nominee Doug Jones, an RNC official told BuzzFeed News. A spokesperson declined to comment when asked if the RNC’s investment was being reevaluated in light of another woman coming forward to accuse Moore of sexually assaulting her in 1977, when she was 16.” http://bzfd.it/2yZk2VU

— THE MOST RECENT ALLEGATIONS, from Gabe Debenedetti in New York. http://politi.co/2htQmER

NOTES ON MOORE …

— SOME COMPLICATING FACTORS WITH PUSHING MOORE OUT: Early votes and absentee ballots that have already been counted are irreversible. So if you’ve voted for Roy Moore, you can’t change your vote.

— HOW MUCH WOULD A WRITE-IN CAMPAIGN COST REPUBLICANS? A write-in campaign is tricky. The GOP will have to run some ads or spread the message somehow that voters should write in someone — perhaps Jeff Sessions — instead of voting for Moore. But it runs the risk of splitting the Republican vote, and handing the election to Doug Jones, the Democrat.

— WHY JEFF SESSIONS MAKES SENSE. Air time is cheap in Alabama, and Sessions has high name ID. If Trump gets behind him, that could make a big difference.

— IF SESSIONS TAKES THE LEAP, WHO DOES TRUMP CHOOSE AS ATTORNEY GENERAL? Trump has a very aggressive legislative agenda, and if he needs to choose a new attorney general, that will take time and political capital. To get a new attorney general confirmed with minimal pain, Trump would have to listen to McConnell’s suggestions about who can get through the chamber easily.

— EXPULSION IS HARD — BUT CAN IT BE WORTH IT POLITICALLY? Expulsion takes a while. It’s tricky. The Senate hasn’t expelled a member in more than a century. But is there an argument to be made that Republicans would be better off electing Moore, expelling him and getting Alabama’s Republican governor to appoint another GOP senator? That way two Republicans don’t split the vote. And Republicans get to actually take action to expel someone whose behavior they say they find abhorrent.

— … BUT, BUT, BUT: If the Senate has to expel Moore, it could tear the party apart even further and embolden Steve Bannon in his war against incumbents. And it could look like the Senate is subverting the will of the voters.

BY THE WAY … REMEMBER — NOVEMBER was supposed to be all about tax reform. Republicans don’t want to be talking about whether their Senate candidate in Alabama had an unusual interest in high school girls.

CARL HULSE’S “ON WASHINGTON” — “Past Sex Scandals Show McConnell Is Willing to Take a Tough Line”: “Senator Mitch McConnell has a well-documented history of showing little tolerance for sex scandals that he fears could tarnish the image of the Senate and his party. He was a major force behind the effort to push out Larry E. Craig, the Idaho Republican arrested at the Minneapolis airport in 2007 in an undercover sex sting. And he was the chairman of the ethics committee when Senator Bob Packwood, the powerful Oregon Republican, resigned in 1995 under threat of expulsion after he was accused of sexual harassment.” http://nyti.ms/2iT6ikk

EDITORIAL ON AL.COM — WEBSITE FOR THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS, PRESS-REGISTER (MOBILE) and THE HUNTSVILLE TIMES — “Our view: Roy Moore grossly unfit for office”: “Roy Moore simply cannot be a U.S. Senator. Even if his party and many of its adherents still think it possible, it is unthinkable — for his state, and his country.” http://bit.ly/2ieYl9H

NEW POLITICO/MORNING CONSULT POLL — “Poll: Moore should quit Alabama Senate race,” by Steven Shepard: “A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows voters nationally find the allegations against Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore credible — and a majority thinks Moore should drop out of the race. The poll — which was conducted prior to the most recent allegations against Moore leveled by Beverly Young Nelson, who said Monday that Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 16 years old — found 59 percent of voters say they considered the original allegations against Moore outlined in a Washington Post article last week very or somewhat credible. Just 17 percent say the allegations are not too credible or not credible at all. The remaining 23 percent don’t know or have no opinion.

“There are partisan differences in national views of the Moore allegations, but even among Republican voters, more find the allegations credible than not. Nearly half of GOP voters, 49 percent, say the accusations against Moore are at least somewhat credible; just three-in-10 say they are not too credible or not credible at all.” http://politi.co/2jpLc0Q

****** A message from Chevron: We’re piloting a program that uses drones to keep an eye on Chevron wells, tanks, and pipelines—all to keep DOERS and what they’re doin’ safer. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2zOnTVE ******

A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME — @gdebenedetti: “Moore is already a 2018 issue >> • O’Rourke — Cruz challenger in TX — has sent nonstop $ emails about him (just now: ‘We deserve better than a Senator who will stand by an accused child predator’) • Kaine also hitting opponent over support (‘Sexual abuse is not a partisan issue’)”.

— @jaketapper: “How many high school yearbooks have you signed since you graduated high school?”

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP — “Gadsden locals say Moore’s predatory behavior at mall, restaurants not a secret,” by Anna Claire Vollers in AL.com: “Roy Moore’s penchant for flirting with teen girls was ‘common knowledge’ and ‘not a big secret’ around Gadsden, according to some area residents. … [Blake] Usry, who was a teenager at the time, remembers seeing Moore at the mall often. ‘He would go and flirt with all the young girls,’ he said. ‘It’d seem like every Friday or Saturday night (you’d see him) walking around the mall, like the kids did.’

“Jason Nelms, who now lives in Tennessee but grew up in nearby Southside, was a regular at the mall when he was a teenager. He recalled being told by a mall employee that they kept watch for an older guy who was known to pick up younger girls. … [Greg] Legat, now 59, said an off-duty Gadsden police officer named J.D. Thomas told him about various people he should look out for when he was working. This was around 1981, and Thomas worked security at the mall. One of the people was a pickpocket, he said, while another was someone prone to pick fights. One was Roy Moore. ‘I asked him, “What did he do?”’ Legat recalled. ‘He said, “If you see him, let me know. I’ll take care of it.”’ http://bit.ly/2zWFrz1

— “Locals Were Troubled by Roy Moore’s Interactions with Teen Girls at the Gadsden Mall,” by Charles Bethea on NewYorker.com: “This past weekend, I spoke or messaged with more than a dozen people — including a major political figure in the state — who told me that they had heard, over the years, that Moore had been banned from the mall because he repeatedly badgered teen-age girls. Some say that they heard this at the time, others in the years since. These people include five members of the local legal community, two cops who worked in the town, several people who hung out at the mall in the early eighties, and a number of former mall employees. (A request for comment from the Moore campaign was not answered.)” http://bit.ly/2AHG24A

HOW BREITBART IS FRAMING THE MOORE RACE — “Breitbart editor: Moore scandal ‘represents so much beyond one race’,” by Jason Schwartz: “The editor of Breitbart News says the Alabama Senate contest ‘represents so much beyond one race,’ and that his reporters will continue to investigate the claims made by the women who have alleged that Republican nominee Roy Moore assaulted or pursued relationships with them as teenagers.

“‘We admit our biases,’ Breitbart Editor in Chief Alex Marlow said. ‘I’ll tell you that we would like to see a populist, nationalist, America first conservative get elected.’ ‘There are so many people who want Judge Moore to not become the senator from Alabama, and it’s not just Democrats, it’s the Republican establishment, it’s the media establishment,’ he said. ‘And what happens in Alabama, either side is going to use it to claim momentum heading into 2018. It’s a hugely significant race.’” http://politi.co/2zXmn3B

CONGRESS POLICING THEMSELVES — “Congress yet to act on flawed anti-harassment system,” by Elana Schor: “Senators in both parties are touting their move last week to require sexual harassment training for all members and aides. What they don’t mention is that many Senate offices already required training or were moving toward it — and that their vote did nothing to reform a system for handling complaints that critics say deters victims from coming forward. Now, some lawmakers are fighting to ensure that the Senate’s unanimous approval of mandatory training doesn’t make further reforms harder by offering political cover to members who would prefer to move on. Bipartisan talks on an overhaul of the Capitol’s harassment policy, which critics in and out of Congress say is stacked against victims, remain in their early stages.” http://politi.co/2iTo2wh

ANOTHER SPECIAL COUNSEL? — “Sessions raises specter of special counsel on Clinton and uranium,” by Josh Gerstein: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions is raising the possibility of naming a new special counsel to investigate potential wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation, according to a letter the Justice Department sent Monday to House Republicans. … ‘The Attorney General has directed senior federal prosecutors to evaluate certain issues raised in your letters,’ Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said in the letter obtained by POLITICO and sent to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), among others.

“‘These senior prosecutors will report directly to the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, as appropriate, and will make recommendations as to whether any matters not currently under investigation should be opened, whether any matters currently under investigation, require further resources, or whether any matters merit the appointment of a Special Counsel,’ Boyd added.” http://politi.co/2AJABSL … The letter http://bit.ly/2zWPS5v

PENCE WATCH — “Pence’s health care power play: The vice president is driving a White House agenda dominated by the conservative, anti-regulatory policies he embraced as Indiana governor,” by Adam Cancryn: “Vice President Mike Pence is exerting growing influence over the American health care system, overseeing the appointments of more than a half-dozen allies and former aides to positions driving the White House’s health agenda. On Monday President Donald Trump nominated Alex Azar, a former Indianapolis-based drug executive and longtime Pence supporter as HHS secretary. If confirmed, Azar would join an Indiana brain trust that already includes CMS Administrator Seema Verma and Surgeon General Jerome Adams. “Two of Verma’s top deputies — Medicaid director Brian Neale and deputy chief of staff Brady Brookes — are former Pence hands as well, as is HHS’ top spokesman, Matt Lloyd. Yet another Pence ally — Indiana state Sen. Jim Merritt — is in the running to be White House drug czar.” http://politi.co/2AH3AXt

TROUBLE IN PARADISE — “GOP megadonor Adelson publicly breaks with Bannon,” by Alex Isenstadt and Josh Dawsey: “Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, the GOP’s most prominent megadonor, is publicly breaking with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon over his efforts to oust Republican incumbents in 2018. ‘The Adelsons will not be supporting Steve Bannon’s efforts,’ said Andy Abboud, an Adelson spokesman. ‘They are supporting Mitch McConnell 100 percent. For anyone to infer anything otherwise is wrong.’ The public pronouncement comes about a month after Adelson met with Bannon in Washington. …

“The former White House chief strategist appeared before the Zionist Organization of America’s annual dinner on Sunday night. ZOA is heavily funded by Adelson. … Bannon had been slated to introduce Adelson and his spouse, Miriam, at the event, according to a copy of the program. The Adelsons, however, did not make it to the event, one person close to the couple said — in part because Adelson was concerned that appearing publicly with Bannon would be seen as a tacit endorsement of his efforts.” http://politi.co/2zWLh3x

WHAT EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT — JULIA IOFFE in The Atlantic, “The Secret Correspondence Between Donald Trump Jr. and WikiLeaks”: “Just before the stroke of midnight on September 20, 2016, at the height of last year’s presidential election, the WikiLeaks Twitter account sent a private direct message to Donald Trump Jr., the Republican nominee’s oldest son and campaign surrogate. ‘A PAC run anti-Trump site putintrump.org is about to launch,” WikiLeaks wrote. ‘The PAC is a recycled pro-Iraq war PAC. We have guessed the password. It is ‘putintrump.’ See ‘About’ for who is behind it. Any comments?’ (The site, which has since become a joint project with Mother Jones, was founded by Rob Glaser, a tech entrepreneur, and was funded by Progress for USA Political Action Committee.)

“The next morning, about 12 hours later, Trump Jr. responded to WikiLeaks. ‘Off the record I don’t know who that is, but I’ll ask around,’ he wrote on September 21, 2016. ‘Thanks.’ The messages, obtained by The Atlantic, were also turned over by Trump Jr.’s lawyers to congressional investigators. They are part of a long—and largely one-sided—correspondence between WikiLeaks and the president’s son that continued until at least July 2017. … ‘Strongly suggest your dad tweets this link if he mentions us,’ WikiLeaks [messaged Don Jr. on Oct. 12, 2016], pointing Trump Jr. to the link wlsearch.tk, which it said would help Trump’s followers dig through the trove of stolen documents and find stories.

“‘There’s many great stories the press are missing and we’re sure some of your follows [sic] will find it,’ WikiLeaks went on. ‘Btw we just released Podesta Emails Part 4.’ Trump Jr. did not respond to this message. But just 15 minutes after it was sent, as The Wall Street Journal’s Byron Tau pointed out, Donald Trump himself tweeted, ‘Very little pick-up by the dishonest media of incredible information provided by WikiLeaks. So dishonest! Rigged system!’ Two days later, on October 14, 2016, Trump Jr. tweeted out the link WikiLeaks had provided him. ‘For those who have the time to read about all the corruption and hypocrisy all the @wikileaks emails are right here: http://wlsearch.tk/,’ he wrote.” http://theatln.tc/2yALp4l

— @DonaldJTrumpJr: “Here is the entire chain of messages with @wikileaks (with my whopping 3 responses) which one of the congressional committees has chosen to selectively leak. How ironic! 1/3” http://bit.ly/2ADgR2n … http://bit.ly/2ieQYPI … http://bit.ly/2zJubTK

— “Pence denies knowing about Trump Jr. WikiLeaks contacts,” by Matt Nussbaum: “‘The Vice President was never aware of anyone associated with the campaign being in contact with Wikileaks,’ said Pence’s press secretary, Alyssa Farah, in a statement. ‘He first learned of this news from a published report earlier tonight.’ Pence was asked in October 2016 if the Trump campaign was ‘in cahoots’ with WikiLeaks as it released droves of damaging information about Hillary Clinton. ‘Nothing could be further from the truth,’ Pence responded at the time.” http://politi.co/2id4FP0

THE JUICE …

— JAMES COMEY has signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau. From the release announcing his signing: “With candor and humility, Comey addresses the critical issues on everyone’s minds and explains why, in spite of everything he’s seen and experienced, he remains optimistic about the future of our country.”

— REBECCA BERG is now a CNN political reporter. Video of Wolf breaking the news on the “Situation Room” http://bit.ly/2zIEIOK

— JOE BIDEN on Colbert last night – clips http://bit.ly/2hBD6BT … http://bit.ly/2zX2ucR … The full interview http://bit.ly/2zX9tTj

–FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The “Not One Penny” coalition is launching a national ad buy against the tax reform bill. The ad is airing on English and Spanish-language stations starting Tuesday and running through Nov. 21. The ad http://bit.ly/2jq2jzY

–FOR THE RECORD BOOKS — “President Trump has made 1,628 false or misleading claims over 298 days,” by WaPo’s Glenn Kessler, Meg Kelly and Nicole Lewis: http://wapo.st/2AFnPEe

PHOTO DU JOUR: Beverly Young Nelson, the latest accuser of Alabama Senate Republican nominee Roy Moore, shows her high school yearbook allegedly signed by Moore, at a news conference, in New York on Nov. 13. Nelson says Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 16. Moore denies the allegations. | Richard Drew/AP Photo

ISAAC DOVERE talks with FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY BILL PERRY for the latest “Off Message” Podcast: “Stop counting on Mattis and Tillerson to stop nuclear war, former Defense Secretary Bill Perry tells Isaac, as Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday holds a hearing on Trump’s first strike authority. Mattis and Tillerson are a ‘stabilizing influence,’ Perry said, but with this president, ‘I’m not really comfortable with anybody.’ ‘In a five or six or seven-minute kind of decision, the secretary of defense probably never hears about it until it’s too late. If there is time, and if he does consult the secretary, it’s advisory, just that,’ Perry explained. ‘Whether [the president] goes with it or doesn’t go with it—[the secretary] doesn’t have the authority to stop it.’” http://politi.co/2yDfLTx

ON THE WORLD STAGE — “Protesters Jeer as Trump Team Promotes Coal at U.N. Climate Talks,” by NYT’s Lisa Friedman and Brad Plumer in Bonn: “The Trump administration made its debut at a United Nations conference on climate change on Monday by giving a full-throated defense of fossil fuels and nuclear energy as answers to driving down global greenhouse gas emissions. … [E]ven before the Trump team could make its case, the panel was disrupted for more than 10 minutes by scores of chanting and singing demonstrators. The protesters then walked out, leaving the room half empty. Throughout the remainder of the presentation, audience members shouted down and mocked White House officials who attempted to explain away President Trump’s stated view that global warming is a hoax.” http://nyti.ms/2yAEgko

FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT’S “WOMAN” PROBLEM – POLITICO’s new “Women Rule” investigation package dives deep into the world of federal law enforcement, which has an enormous gender gap. The Border Patrol has the fewest women represented in its workforce, totaling just 5% of its agents — a lower percentage of women than the United States Marines (8%) and all active-duty military branches overall (16%). Though the Border Patrol has tried to recruit and retain women, such efforts have largely failed. Find out why in the latest investigative package. http://politi.co/2hqDXS9

FOR YOUR RADAR — “House declares U.S. military role in Yemen’s civil war unauthorized,” by Gregory Hellman: “In a rare exercise of its war-making role, the House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly passed a resolution explicitly stating that U.S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen is not authorized under legislation passed by Congress to fight terrorism or invade Iraq.

“The non-binding resolution adopted 366-30, does not call for a halt to the American support but publicly acknowledges the Pentagon has been sharing targeting information and refueling warplanes that Saudi Arabia and other allies are using to attack Houthi rebels in a conflict that is widely considered a proxy war with Iran — and a humanitarian disaster. It states, in part, that U.S. military operations are only authorized to fight Al Qaeda and other allied terrorist groups in Yemen, not Shiite Muslim rebels.” http://politi.co/2yZkzqE

****** A message from Chevron: This is a story about energy, safety, and some truly high-flyin’ doin’. We’re piloting a program that uses drones, HD imaging, and thermal mapping to help keep a close eye on Chevron wells, tanks, and pipelines—all to keep DOERS and what they’re doin’ safer. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2zOnTVE ******

OOPS — “Trump Judicial Pick Did Not Disclose He Is Married to a White House Lawyer,” by NYT’s Matt Apuzzo and Mike Schmidt: “One of President Trump’s most controversial judicial nominees did not disclose on publicly available congressional documents that he is married to a senior lawyer in the White House Counsel’s Office. The nominee, Brett J. Talley, is awaiting a Senate confirmation vote … to become a federal district judge in Alabama. He is married to Ann Donaldson, the chief of staff to the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II. Mr. Talley was asked on his publicly released Senate questionnaire to identify family members and others who are ‘likely to present potential conflicts of interest.’ He did not mention his wife.” http://nyti.ms/2yADHXO

— “A Trump Judicial Nominee Appears To Have Written About Politics On A Sports Website And Didn’t Disclose It,” by BuzzFeed’s Zoe Tillman: “One of President Donald Trump’s federal court nominees appears to have written posts for years on a University of Alabama sports fan website — including posts about gun control and immigration — and didn’t disclose the writings on his Senate questionnaire. … Many of BamainBoston’s posts are about sports. But some address politics and other nonsports subjects. On Dec. 17, 2012, a few days after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, BamainBoston posted, ‘My solution would be to stop being a society of pansies and man up.’ … According to TideFans.com, user BamainBoston joined the site in March 2005, and has published 16,381 posts.” http://bzfd.it/2mohLNT

ANDREA NEWMAN’S RETIREMENT PARTY — Pool report: “Over two dozen Members of Congress joined Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian and many others last night at a reception in honor of Andrea Newman, who retired this summer as Delta’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs after a 22-year career in the airline industry.”

SPOTTED at “Meet the Press”’ inaugural film festival last night (which featured 16 short political docs) at the Landmark Atlantic Plumbing Cinema: Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell, Joy Reid, Pete Williams, Kristen Welker, Katy Tur, Kasie Hunt, Steve Kornacki — pic of Chuck and Andrea http://bit.ly/2zHbMGY … Ben Rhodes, Jen Palmieri and Reggie Love at Pete Souza’s talk and book signing for “Obama: An Intimate Portrait” last night at 6th and I.

ENGAGED – ELI STOKOLS, WSJ White House reporter and an MSNBC contributor, proposed to ELENA SCHNEIDER, campaign reporter for Politico. The couple met at Politico, where Eli previously worked. Eli emails us: “On Elena’s birthday, which was last Tuesday, I asked her to pack a weekend bag. Days later, on a 109-year-old boat, floating down a canal in Amsterdam, I fumbled around in my pocket and got down on one knee. When we got our bearings again, we verified: she’d said yes. A rainbow slid down out of the clouds behind some old, crooked Dutch houses. It was magic.” Instapics http://bit.ly/2zVOyzN … http://bit.ly/2yZvzo0

WEEKEND CIVIL CEREMONY — Patrick Wilson, former Pence legislative director and Cummins lobbyist, to Jason Geske, a professional staff member on the House Homeland Security Committee who previously worked for former Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and the NSA, on Veterans Day at the Hay-Adams. “The couple met in the travel section of KramerBooks and Afterwords in Dupont Circle.” Pic http://bit.ly/2iS4cBq

SPOTTED: former Sen. Mark Kirk, Mike Platt and his wife Jennifer, Ian Steff, Paul Mandelson, John Avlon and Margaret Hoover, Toby Harnden, Jeni Healy, Matthew Bravo and wife Summer, Jeff Farrah, Brett Quick, Will and Noelle Hubbard, Jason Gorey and Lauren Ehrsam, Jonathan Murphy and his wife Emily, Timothy R. Obitts and his wife Krista, and Alexandra Wich.

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Bradd Jaffy of NBC News (hat tip: Erika Masonhall)

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Liz Jarvis-Shean, head of global public affairs at Airbnb, former director of global communications at Tesla and research director in the Obama White House and for Pres. Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. How she’s celebrating: “My boyfriend and I celebrated over the weekend, having a lazy morning, then going for a hike in our favorite open space preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains that earned us burgers and beers at the Alpine Inn in Portola Valley. As for tonight, we’re using my birthday as an excuse to try a new restaurant and continue our pursuit of the best soup dumplings in Bay Area.” Read her Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2iePfcW

BIRTHDAYS: Condoleezza Rice is 63 … Valerie Jarrett … Prince Charles is 69 … P.J. O’Rourke is 7-0 … Peter Lattman … Jonathan Landman … Ben Rhodes … Francis J. Kelly, managing director and global coordinator of public affairs at Deutsche Bank … William Black … WaPo’s Paige Winfield Cunningham … John Lockett … GWU political scientist Sarah Binder … John Jameson … Sally Sterling of Spencer Stuart’s education, nonprofit and government practice (h/t Jon Haber) … Politico’s Lauren Lanza and John Lockett … former Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Tex.) is 61 … Joshua Friedlander of the Brunswick Group … Sarah Holbrooke … Bill Larson … Vanessa VandeHey, “a diehard Packers fan who keeps the Speaker’s Office running day in and day out” (h/ts Jordan Dunn and Jessica Cameron) … Kate Coyne McCoy … Ed Reno … Ashley Yehl …

… Rachel Noerdlinger, managing director at Mercury … D.C. native Tony Powell, “Washington photographer of the stars” (h/t Ben Chang) … Lana (Volftsun) Fern, founder of White Light Strategies … Madeleine Weast, press secretary for Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) (h/ts Melissa Brown and Sophie White) … Tommy Schultz, national comms director for the American Federation for Children and a Romney alum … Julia Renée Nonis … Jacob Freedman, senior director at Albright Stonebridge … Rob Gulans … Tricia Miller Klapheke … Airbnb’s Josh Meltzer … Michael Collier … Mark Gyorfy … Taylor Griffin, press secretary for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi … Daniel Alders

****** A message from Chevron: This is a story about energy, safety, and some truly high-flyin’ doin’. We’re piloting a program that uses drones, HD imaging, and thermal mapping to help keep a close eye on Chevron wells, tanks, and pipelines—all to keep DOERS and what they’re doin’ safer. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2zOnTVE ******

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