#russian and dean have potential but i would have to . sit. and think about it for a bit there's too much on my mind

[raydianbluesandhues]

WAIT OH YEAH and the inky marshalls too. i think dean inky and russian (why were they given that name.) inky are gay but thats just me

oh the marshalls! i have. some thoughts

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so the marshalls.

I like to think that, for a while, Comrade was handling Prisma by himself. The only marshall that was with him at the time was Von, and even then Comrade was the one pulling all the strings. Von only gave him advice and nothing more than that

even though. I do believe Von was involved with the creation of the Blanc cult and played a major role in it. Also gave Comrade the idea for the Papa Blanc persona because let's be honest I don't think Comrade would think of that on his own

With the growing threat of Blob approaching him I do believe Von also gave him the vague idea of rigging the election to win it (albeit unfairly)

Essentially Von was his right-hand man up until that point, where after the attempted coup at the Senate he knew he had to step up his game

I do believe it was at this point that the Hypno Ray was under construction, and he needed to focus on that instead of constantly being in the limelight and controlling things directly. So he gave directions to the Marshalls and basically gave them control over different parts of Raydia

Dean Inky, for example, has control over the college.

Dean Inky I think has a very... soft personality. he seems like the nicer one out of the marshalls and he isn't exactly a fan of his fucking house being VANDALIZED. He was literally inside his house!!!! watching these students go apeshit (reasonably) and he did NOT want to get involved (good for him tbh)

but I think he isn't really taken seriously and he didn't really. get a lot of help because Comrade was doing something else entirely and he was just surrounded by these revolting college students

Skier and Arctic Inky are brothers. Arctic is very monotone and tends to keep to himself a lot, dislikes talking to people. probably autistic

Skier is much more extroverted and very confident. he knows his self-worth he does try to get his brother to loosen up a bit to no avail, he does care for him though, and helps him out since I think Arctic has a tendency to just. not fucking do it if it's too much for him

we already know about Von

Cowboy Inky oh my god. He def has that cowboy accent,,, and is probably VERY loud. he will NOT stop shouting he needs to SHUT UP. He has no volume control. he's appeared in a few ads (which is based on him being in an ad in one of the extra de Blob cutscenes) and outside of being a marshall he probably does advertisements on the side

Knight Inky... honestly i don't have much for him other than he's very violent. he's all about fighting and bloodshed and all that stuff. it's honestly quite scary but it impressed Comrade enough to have him be the one mapping out the battle plans

Russian Inky. yeah idk why he has that name either but I don't have any name ideas either. he's quiet and observant, not an inky of many words. when he does speak it's to correct someone or to state his own opinion. or to insult you.

i think he views Dean as weak because he got his ass beat by college students, but he's a lil sympathetic because he was on his own. i don't think Dean has his own troops, unlike literally everyone else. Russian feels sorry for him

there may be something there but I do think they'd be too busy to really pursue anything

[onlyonekenobi]

if they take it out the bedroom what’s it look like to u

okay first of all i one hundred percent think they have protocol and covert (mostly non-verbal) signs for when they're in public so jot that down (russian to the altar cas-hand-on-dean-lower-back i am looking directly at you) one of the things is definitely for I Saw You Being A Brat Just Then, And Don't Think We Won't Talk About That Later >:)

outside of that though i don't think they'd like risking being exhibitiony, esp in vanilla spaces- i think those little secret things would be exciting enough for them. k*nk spaces would potentially be a whole different ballgame, dean would Love getting to visibly and publicly Belong to Cas

but for non bedroom/non sexual other house scenarios? hoo boy:

4lw was so right to have dean kneeling in the kitchen. that's literally his turf this is the dean thesis

also i think at some point dean has to just sit in a chair in the kitchen while cas makes HIM dinner and dean just has to sit there and he's not allowed to move or speak and he just has to Let Him he has to accept the act of care AND he can't micromanage it. horrible <3

dean tied to a chair in the living room forced to watch a sappy movie and then listen to cas list off all the things he loves about him and repeat them back to him

Cas Hand Feeds Dean While Dean Is At His Feet. Regularly.

dean makes one too many jokes about "i could be a top" so cas sits him down on the couch and puts on disco music and tells dean he can turn it off when he ties a perfect line of single column knots up cas's arm. dean is suddenly harrowed to realize he has actually never not once paid attention

cas giving dean a cash allowance and waiting on a bench outside while he sends dean into ~the store~ to buy........... clothes........... or.................. activity enhancers......... of his choosing. similarly, cas telling dean they're going to split up and sending dean with a list to go grocery shopping while he knows CAS is in ~the store~ but does NOT know what he's buying

and yeah them just....... just constantly keeping watch of and doing little things for each other, gauging the other's moods and needs, cas always knowing when to put his hand on the small of dean's back to ground him, dean coming up next to/behind cas and standing with his hands casually behind his back with the front of his left shoulder brushing the back of cas's right shoulder to ground HIM.........

[caslikescoffeeandfreckles]

Do you have fic recs of your favorite destiel fics? I haven't read destiel give in a while and since I can not leave the house I might as well read some and I only trust you for recs

I am honored??? That someone values my opinion???

You didn’t specify any tropes so I just dug through my AO3 bookmarks and picked my favorites lately. They vary by length and rating so just make sure you check the tags for each one before you start reading!

1) La Hantise by @wanderingcas

Summary: Castiel’s mother dies, leaving him the family home that sits abandoned on the moody coast of Maine. He’s forced to return to the past ghosts of his trauma, as well as meeting the mysterious and nomadic Dean Winchester. Dean offers to help Castiel fix up the house so he can sell it, which quickly becomes problematic as Castiel begins to develop feelings for Dean; especially when details of Dean’s troubling past come to light.

This is a story about the sea, second chances, and two broken, forgotten people building a love between them while restoring a broken, forgotten house.

Note: I love Sam!! She’s a wonderful writer and her current project is an infuriating suspenseful maybe ghost story???? maybe not??? WHO KNOWS! But Dean and Cas are well-written and both have very interesting backstories. Definitely recommend!

2) While You Were Sleeping

Summary: A Destiel version of While You Were Sleeping! Castiel is alone and floundering. He has a crush on one of the passengers who passes through his subway station every morning. When the man gets pushed onto the tracks, Cas saves him. But when they get to the hospital there's a mix up and Cas finds himself engaged to a complete stranger. Enter, the rest of the family, including big brother Dean. How will Cas navigate the relationship with his supposed future in-laws? What will he do when Sam finally wakes up? And why can't he stop thinking about Dean?

Note: this was such a sweet read, just enough angst with a satisfying ending

3) Not a Bad Thing

Summary: In which Bela makes a bet that Castielle can't have a one night stand. Castielle proves her wrong, of course, and wins the bet, but then she ruins it all when she asks the girl to spend the night.

Note: this is a femslash AU which are really hard to find but I LOVED this one so much I scarified by already limited sleeping time

4) Undercover Boyfriend

Summary: Two men, one lie, and a whole bunch of trouble.

Castiel Novak’s in serious trouble. His sister’s destination wedding in Mexico filled with several days of activities, is in only two days. And everyone expects to meet his underwear model Alpha boyfriend — the one he invented. Now Cas has to produce a half-naked hottie or suffer the worst humiliation of his life. But Cas just doesn’t date those kinda guys! Or even know any for that matter.

Undercover FBI agent Dean Winchester’s cover is blown and he needs to disappear fast. When he ducks into a bar he runs into Castiel, a comic book artist, one very hot, but geeky Omega. And as luck would have it he just happens to be looking for an Alpha.

Could they be the solution to both their problems? Or will trouble find them on the sandy beaches of Mexico?

5) The Purrfect Catch

Summary: Alpha Dean Winchester is surprised to see a newspaper ad written by his neighbor, Omega Castiel Novak, requesting potential Alpha mates. The challenge is simple on the surface: the Alpha who can obtain the single key from Novak cat’s neck, will be Castiel’s new mate. The cat spends a good amount of time lounging on Dean’s porch, though Dean’s half convinced its only for the snacks he feeds him. Dean isn’t the kind of Alpha Castiel wants, but at least Dean can enjoy watching Alpha after Alpha chase after the feline in the hopes of winning Castiel’s heart.

Note: this is one of my new favorites! I really love this trope and I’ve reread it several times!

6) What Greater Gift

Summary: Story idea: The most wanted woman in town has announced that she’ll only marry the one who can open her front door with the key around her cat’s neck. Many men try to hunt the cat down, chase and trap it, but to no avail, the cat is simply too quick, smart and clever, and always finds a way to evade and avoid them.

You are the first one to figure out the obvious: Do not chase the cat. The cat is befriendable. Get the cat to trust you, to genuinely enjoy your company, and you can hang out with the cat. You may eventually be allowed to touch the cat. The cat will freely let you take the key.

Note: this is the same trope as #5 and I’ve reread is several times too!!

7) The Ed Sheeran Effect

Summary: Dean and Cas—inseparable best friends since sixth grade—find themselves dateless only weeks before their high school prom and eventually come to the realization that the only option left is to go together. Wanting to give his fresh out of the closet best friend the date of a lifetime, Dean pulls out all the stops and soon discovers what he's always felt towards Cas is a lot more than friendship.

Note: I’m not usually one for long form high school AUs (they remind me too much of my students) but I really latched onto this one

8) Poisk Istiny (Finding Truth)

Summary: A rival family is stealing the Patricolo Family’s Boston shipments and collecting a neat payday five hours away on the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Their Don, Dean Winchester, is wary about reaching out to a long-time New York ally. The Russian Bratvas do things differently. The young Pakhan, Castiel Krushnic, is hard-nosed and violent and while violence is mainstay in any underworld family, this boss has a special flair for it. It leaves an uncomfortable taste in Don Winchester’s mouth.

Encouraged by his Consigliere, Bobby Singer, he finally relents. The Pakhan is quite different from what he was expecting. Dean learns the man’s secret by accident and decides to keep it to himself. They have bigger fish to fry as they discover traitors in both of their organizations while their enemy ups the stakes for each of them. After members of each family are kidnapped, the stakes get even higher.

Betrayed from within leads to exposing long held secrets and when long denied desires are unleashed it puts each of them on a path that will change their lives forever.

Note: THIS ONE IS SO GOOOOOOD. Cas is a total badass I would die for him and I love the way he and Dean bond just fuck yes all around

Hope you like any of these! If not, just let me know what kinds of fics you like and I can try to find more specific ones for you!

[wordstrings]

Inbox dump 

(brace yourselves, I’m including the timestamps because these have been sitting forever and you may literally forget ever having sent one of these because they’re from so long ago 😬)

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Anonymous said: March 11th 2014 *Clears throat* Non-canon verse, uni AU probably *strums guitar and takes a deep breath* DUEEEEE TO A COMPUTING errORRR, dean and gabe are stuck as roomatesssssssss, whilesamandcascanbestucktogethertoo that'snotaneccesitybutitwouldbegreaaaaaaaaattttttttt, and veeery soon it turns into something of a friendship BUT THEEEENNNN dean fights with saaAAAM and gabe is like "dude stop being so upset" aND FLUFF HAPPEeeeeeEEEEEEeens! *stands up and bows* tyvm for accepting debriel though like omg <3

I’ve been rewatching some of Supernatural seasons 5 and 6 this past weekend, and it reminded me how much I love and miss Gabriel. I still maintain that Debriel is a super-underrated ship. The manic-chaos potential is *muah*. (see: #Debriel)

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Anonymous said: August 7th 2018 psst... light back tickles while cuddling in bed are pure™ and wholesome™

Good shit good shit good shit

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Anonymous said: September 19th 2018 I love science and go to public seminars as often as I can. I walked in to the most recent one (which I had picked at random), and it was on the science of tickling. There were demonstrations. There were hand gestures and finger wiggling. There were in depth descriptions of the anatomy and physiology behind ticklish spots. It was legitimately your Amateur Production’s fic, and I was Kevin. Worst of all it was 2 hours long. I think I died during it and my soul was sucked into hell.

Uhhhhhh where can I get a copy of the slide deck?? Asking for a friend. (see: #series: Amateur Production)

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Anonymous said: September 23rd 2018 your art skills have me shook in the best possible way

aaaahh thank you! Fun fact: I went to art school and even took illustration as a concentration area but I’ve hardly drawn anything for like ten years. When I do draw, it’s usually because there are feelings that I don’t wanna do words about. (see: #strings does art)

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Halo!anon said: September 27th 2018 A small, sinful part of Castiel had the urge to gloat. It was somewhat dampened by the fact that Dean was still under the impression that being abducted is peak romance."I can't believe you went out of your way to set up our second date!" He'd squealed, as Castiel tightened his restraints. - little excerpt of a sequel to Date Nights with Demons i had planned for months but abandoned. halo!anon

Your demented version of Demon!Dean is so entertaining 😄 (see: Date Nights with Demons)

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Anonymous said: November 6th 2018 Aaaaah your Gabriel / Kali drabble was adorable, I can't help but love seeing our mighty archangel reduced to a mass of giggles, and you write Gabriel so so well <3. I love your writing your stories always brighten my day ^^

It’s so rare for him to let his guard down, isn’t it? But when he does, he has a grand old time of it. :) (see: this drabble)

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sarah-lou-who said: November 8th 2018 1/4 Boo! The ghost of my online presence in the community is peeking its head in because I need help. I don’t have a platform or following to sound an alarm, so I’m using my platonic tumblr wife’s platform and following for me, because that’s what platonic tumblr wives do. Right? Anyway, I’m very actively fixated on Attack on Titan atm. You know this very well. You also know my predicament. I seem to have exhausted the entire supply of tickly AoT content I’m interested in that exists currently. 2/4 So, if you’re willing to publish these for me, I’m crying out into the vast TFB lands hoping that there’s someone out there to answer the call. I am in desperate need of tickly AoT content. I don’t know if anyone around here writes for it much these days. I haven’t found anyone. And I know beggars can’t be choosers, but it can’t be helped; I really only care if Eren is involved. Even better would be Levi, but I haven’t found ANYTHING involving him, so I feel like asking for that is futile. 3/4 I digress. Even after all this time I can’t keep my asks less than 50 parts long. So my goal here is that someone, somewhere, will by chance come across these, and be able and willing to either write fic of the tickly variety for Eren and/or Levi from Attack on Titan, or direct me to someone who can, if they know a person who knows a person who knows a person. (Sidenote, hi anyone who still remembers me! It’s Sarah, the more ticklish half of Leerah. I’m doing good and I miss you!) 4/4 (I hope you’re all doing well!) Thank you for letting me take advantage of your devoted followers, Strings! Love yaaa!!!

Ah, my platonic tumblr wife Sarah returns! (Digitally, anyway. Reality-wise, we hang out all the time and it’s probably very rude of me to have not published this ask for so long!) I keep teasing her that she has a Type, and that is dark-haired sulky badass who’d probably make a wicked ‘ler – AoT Levi, SPN Cas, FMA Roy, etc. So anyway, if anyone knows of somewhere I can point her to find the content she’s (still) craving, lmk!

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Anonymous said: October 23rd 2019 I’m sorry if this is invasive in any way, but how is Sarah doing? I’ve been absent from Tumblr for a couple years and I see that her blog is now deactivated. I was just wondering if she’s doing alright and if she’s still around here on a different blog maybe?

See above! She doesn’t have a TFB community blog anymore, but she’s doing well. We’re quarantine buddies and helping each other out a lot. Very kind of you to ask! <3

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Anonymous said: December 2nd 2018 Hi, sorry to bother you but do you know what happened to prodigal-anon’s blog? It seems to have been deleted. Sorry again if you’ve been asked this before

No worries, friend! Here’s an answer for you!

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Anonymous said: December 13th 2018 I LOVE THE LOOPY SERIES! I love it so much, is there any chance you’ll be doing a part four? I’d give anything to see Cas and Dean tickle each other, it would be so cute 😍

Despite all evidence to the contrary, I haven’t entirely stopped writing... and Loopy 4 is one of those unfinished pieces that has seen a few additions lately. :) I’ve learned not to make promises about when something might get finished and posted, but I genuinely do believe this may be one of the first things that shows up once I’m ‘back in the game.’ Stay tuned... (see: #series: Loopy)

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Anonymous said: January 1st 2019 No no no you can't just stop there! I need more fluffy destiel with tickles and kissing! Pretty please?

I believe this is in response to Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight. Don’t you worry, anon – Dean and Cas are not done being fluffy on this blog!

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1832wasalongtimeago said: January 25th 2019 Hi I just wanted to pop in and say the Maintenance series is amazing!! The second part was doing things to my poor heart I’ve read it like 5 times already. You’re such an amazing writer and thank you fo writing for us!

I’m very flattered, but I can’t take credit for the Of Maintenance series ��� that’s the lovely work of ask-flip-frost! It does things to my poor heart, too, so you’re in good company. :)

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Anonymous said: January 26th 2019 Sam Winchester can take a lot of things. The one thing he CAN'T take? Someone using baby talk on him when he's being tickled. He collapses into a puddle of helpless giggles faster than a house of cards in a stiff wind.

Precious Sammy just needs to laugh and be held, doesn’t he? <3

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Anonymous said: May 17th 2019 Thor needs tickles. So. Damn. Much.

Oh this was from right after Endgame came out. Thor did make me feel some sads there. :( Poor bab.

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Anonymous said: July 25th 2019 hi! i’ve read your wonderful fics forever but i’ve never really sent anything like this before so i don’t really know what to say.. but i had a destiel tickly thought and really wanted to share it with somebody, so here goes i guess- dean is taking too long in the shower so cas decides to use his mojo from the other room to speed things along. and listens to dean’s echoey laughs through the door. that’s all. sorry if this is weird! okay bye have a good one

This is not weird and I may have delayed in telling you any of my feelings about it but I definitely have a doc somewhere that has some vague notes about how I’d like to write this because I like it!

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Anonymous said: August 6th 2019 Anhhgff your Good Omens tword fics are so cute snvfddf i never knew I needed that of my favorite husbands till now😳😍

I know, right?! They’re just dying to be dropped into every fluffy situation. (see: #Good Omens)

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Anonymous said: July 25th 2019 Poking my head in to say hello, hope you’re doing well still! I just got into Good Omens and I absolutely loved your fic! (I watched the show first because my book was taking too long in the mail lol) Also, the other week I somehow talked myself into making a tfb blog, after all these years of almost doing so before chickening out (this ask isn’t from it because I just hopped in here briefly in a private phone browser to say hi, it’s literally just august-anon though) ~August!Anon

August!anon, I’m always so happy to see you stop by! Tagging your (not-so-new anymore) blog so everyone can check you out: @august-anon​

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hey-teenblog said: August 4th 2019 I love your fanfiction very much! They give me a lot of pleasant emotions. And most importantly, they, saturated with tenderness and love, gave me to accept myself as lee!! sorry for my english, i'm russian Love you 😘❤️

I will never tire of hearing things like this! Thank you for telling me. “Saturated with tenderness and love” is a such wonderful compliment about my writing – thank you very much! No need to apologize for language differences; I’m always impressed with anyone who manages to pick up English because it’s bonkers. 

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Anonymous said: August 23rd 2019 Hi! Just found this blog and wondering some basic info. ** What fandoms do toy write for? ** Do you accept prompts? ** Do you write reader insert fics? Thank you lovley ❤️

Anonymous said: August 29th 2019 Do you write tickle fics for bnha?? Asking for a friend 👀👀

The only fandoms I have reliably been able to write for are Supernatural and Good Omens – but even Good Omens is a rookie player here. Supernatural is my main jam, and Destiel is my favorite flavor. I don’t do reader inserts, but I’m always “accepting” prompts. I just haven’t written many of them for quite a long time now, so you’re welcome to drop them as long as you’re okay with them collecting dust. (see: this selfsame post)

My About/FAQ page is very dusty right now, too, but there might be some useful tidbits in there for you.

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Anonymous said: November 12th 2019 okayokayokay. Have you watched Lucifer? It's on netflix, it's great, so much emotions and pining. (Also, y'know, reg. Luci stuff. He runs a club. Bad jokes. It's great.)

I haven’t, but it’s on my Netflix watchlist, so I’ll get there eventually! I saw a gifset once where he actually did the thing I see in winged fanfic all the time, where there was gunfire and he sheltered someone he cared about with his manifested wings. And honestly, that was the deciding factor for me.

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Anonymous said: November 16th 2019 Oh Man U listen to Critrole as well! Nice! Campaign 1 was awesome but also heartfelt and really gut-punching at points. Who is your fav so far, anyone you aren’t fond of? (& Out of interest do you have any tickle related thoughts on the main crew or upcoming Fics we can look out for? As you said it’s tumbleweeds out here for this fandom’s tickles and I’ll take anything really 😂!) Hope u enjoy!!!!!

It’s STILL tumbleweeds out here and it’s making me crazy! My heart belongs to Vax primarily, Percy secondarily. I don’t really have cohesive thoughts or headcanons about anything, unfortunately. I do have this one mental picture that keeps coming up that I keep wanting to see art of (who knows, maybe I’ll commission somebody someday?) – of ridiculous brute Grog just lifting Vax straight up in his arms and gettin’ wiggly with his fingers while all Vax can do is laugh and pry and kick while absolutely nobody helps him.

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Regarding #series: Accessor:

Anonymous said: August 31st 2015 I would like to see accessor!verse cas using feathers on Dean!!! and NIBBLES and RASPBERRIES and TEETH and TONGUE and WOWWWWWW

ME TOO, FRIEND. It’s been aaaaages since I published anything new for the Accessor AU, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been going back to my unfinished docs every once in a while to add a few lines here and there. ;) 

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Anonymous said: October 29th 2016 Prompt: Cas is put in charge of getting a treaty with a neighboring country that shares a lot of the same customs, including Accessories, with certain... twists (think Bracelets AU) and treats their personal slaves (like Accessories) like people (listening to opinions, giving proper care, etc.). The foreign diplomats keep bringing that up and talking to Dean. Cas isn't sure he can make it though the diplomatic proceedings. Also, he might be having improper thoughts about that custom and Dean...

I’m posting this here, but I’m definitely keeping this filed elsewhere because it’s FANTASTIC.

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Halo!anon submitted: June 4th 2018 I can’t help but imagine how tickling must play a part in other aspects of society in the accessor ‘verse, besides the sessions between master and accessory. So here’s some imagines and headcanons, with a touch of worldbuilding. (Warnings, besides the usual for this AU: death mention, reference to past trauma.)

- Among the high class, during parties and other celebrations, it’s seen as a common courtesy to string up one’s personal accessory in the center of the room and let the guests entertain themselves with them. Lord Castiel never does this with Dean, much to his fellow nobles’ disappointment; the mere suggestion had Dean quaking as things he’d rather forget came back to bite him.

- Every so often, a petty criminal(the poor man’s accessory, if you will) is placed in stocks in a small town’s square and left at the mercy of the very people they used to menace. What happens next usually involves honey, some sheep, and plenty of begging. A guard stands by to warn people, “No hurting, only tickling. Everyone please wait your turn, they’re not going anywhere any time soon.”

- Certain monastic healers perform tickle therapy as a treatment for anxiety, stress, and other “diseases of the soul”, as they call them. Balthazar himself proposed the idea, because of course he did. The rich usually indulge in this kind of therapy secretly, due to its undignified nature. Some contemplate the possibility of training accessories to tickle in the future, but it’s still a big taboo.

- Every town has a folktale about a tickle monster. Curiously, many of them involve controlling plants and attacking through dreams. The southern communities still have a giggle remembering that one time six years ago when Michael offered to hunt down one such monster and came back with Crowley, a sleazy drunkard with a fetish and a dream, sitting in a cage and wearing a mask.

- The Masters sisters, Lillith, Meg and Ruby, have a long history with law enforcement. Their favorite pastime is snatching unlucky merchants off the roads and tickling them into coughing up everything they have. Everyone is sure they had a hand in Fergus"Crowley" Macleod’s untimely demise by ferocious attack hounds, but they’re very good at covering their tracks. They’ll help you cover up your tracks too, if you’re a friend- ask Bela Talbot.

I might make a second part if I get any more ideas. I hope you enjoyed this! -Halo!anon.

I am very fond of you indeed, Halo!anon. These are so creative!

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hypahticklish submitted: July 24th 2018 Accessor!Ideas:

~ Gabriel leads a furious rant regarding Prince Lucifer/Sam to Castiel, relating back to perhaps dealings he has directly had with the Prince between their two unstable-yet-truced Kingdoms. Castiel relates with similar views shared by Gehenna’s councilor(s).

~ Dean and Sam BM where the audience learns more about their homevillage. Dean starts it after a rather morose remark from Sam and ends with Sammy smiling and stealing my heart.

~ Balthazar helps Sam in several ways: 1) Learns the Sam was originally a psuedo-Advocates apprentice, as well as herbalist nephew when Sam identifies the components to some salves/medicines he’s making (he had been explaining what he was doing in an attempt to spare himself being attacked like the first couple times) 2) Calls Sam out on being intelligent and making a recklessly stupid choice by selling himself to find Dean. 3) Removes Lucifers mark. And maybe perhaps: 4) Allows Sam to assist in his own healing/medicine making under his careful observation, feigned as needing two sets of hands to do correctly and his assistant was running an errand, to assess his skills. 5) Offer he work in the hospice under him, apprenticing, should Gabriel allow his intelligence not go to waste. It’s not what Sam really wants to do/learn, but it’s better than doing nothing.

~Dean officially thanks Castiel for saving Sam. I’m talking full feels, single man tear sorta thing. And Castiel says “there was never another option” and then its schmoopy sweet with the kisses and the tickles and the Cas saying he loves Dean back!!!!!!!! swoon.

~ Kali!Likes!Sam’s!Spirit! Give me a dinner scene with Gabriel, Kali and Sam where hes holding his own in a diplomatic conversation with them when he nearly crosses a line (maybe something classist? Making it clear that Cas and Gabe are the exception to his experiences) and she says “I like this ones fire. He reminds me of you, my love.” *grabby hands*

~ Prince Lucifer sends a message to Gabriel requesting (threatening) his Helpmate be returned to him for a handsome reward. Sam somehow sees letter and gets spooked because DRAMA. Gabriel responds to Lucifer with the Chief Advocate equivalent of “Fuck Off”

You, my friend. YOU. All these feelings about Sam? Top-notch, and I shall be borrowing them, yes I shall.

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Regarding #android!Cas:

hypahticklish said: January 23rd 2016 Android!Cas deciding today is the DAY. Dean has been teasing him lately that he likes these strange sensations that have him using all his back-up generated power to not accidentally break Dean's bones and challenging him with that cocky smirk and relaxed confidence. Android!Cas practicing during time while Dean rests with holding objects with similar density to the human wrists with enough gentle force that they neither fracture or slip from his grasp. Android!Cas surprising Dean by turning the tables and pinning his wrists over his head while settling himself on Dean's thighs. Android!Cas not necessarily tickling at first so much as just touching like he had been wanting to so as to catalog how his best friend feels with his new technology. Android!Cas feeling that bubble of FEELS in his chest as he listens to Dean swear at him with positive physical actions negating his harsh words, growing more amused as the bubbling giggles begin. I love Android!Cas 

Anonymous said: January 23rd 2016 Android!Cas figures out his own strength comes in handy for more than just retaining himself during tickle fights. When he surprises Dean, Dean tends to squirm and fight back a little (even though he told Cas to get him back as part of the experience), so Cas uses his strength to gently hold Dean down while ticking him. Dean's never been held immobile before so it's a new experience for him, but he ends up liking it. Cas notices how Dean relaxes into his hold after a minute or so. Cas doesn't fail to use this knowledge about Dean, coming up with teasing words and methods of ticking to make Dean all squirmy and giggly, taking special notice of how light tickles effect Dean even more than most other touches, using that specially designed soft brush meant to gently clean Cas' delicate computer chips.

Anonymous said: February 17th 2016 I'm joining in on the Android!Cas thing, if not too late. Perhaps Android!Cas has detachable parts, like a foot, and Dean is a jerk and runs off and hides with it all the while tickling it and making fun of Android!Cas's increasingly desperate attempts to get it back.

Y’all, careful deliberate curious determined ‘ler Cas is LIFE. And, reserved confused helpless adorable ‘lee Cas is also life. Detachable and extensible parts are probably key to both of these things.

---

Regarding current personal circumstances:

Anonymous said: January 14th 2020 I pray that you’re able to find peace during this difficult time. You are loved more than you will ever know. I know it’s hard to believe, but there will come a time that you are thankful for this experience, because it will have turned you into the person you are truly meant to be. Be strong and be hopeful. Keep your faith and keep knowing that you are going to be okay. Don’t let this dark time destroy the magnificent light inside of you. Sending you so much love

Anonymous said: January 17th 2020 I’m so sorry you’re struggling. Hang in there! We’re all here for you!

Anonymous said: February 11th 2020 all my love, thoughts and prayers are going towards you right now. also wanted to just drop a little thank you note in your inbox for all the light and joy i've found in your fics over the years. im sitting half way through my first year at uni currently but ive been a fan of yours since early highschool and i feel like ive almost grown up with your writing and fanfics in a strange way, so thank you so much for that. sending all my love to you once again- you are so strong x

I love you all so much.

[whatdoyouthinkmyjobis]

Hunters on the Hellmouth

masterlist

first chapter

previous chapter

AN: Based on events in BTVS 7.19 “Empty Places.” Some gore and death. Major feels. Here’s a cheat sheet for keeping track of the Potentials.

Chapter 37: The Bodies

Giles thought his heart would explode with happiness and turn to ash all at once. The smell of the ocean blew in through Buffy’s open window as they buzzed down the highway. The sun blazed above them turning the grass and water painfully bright.

When she’d asked to come with him to pick up a couple of Potentials in LA, Giles couldn’t suppress his smile. He’d taken the scenic route to give them more time together. Family time.

Despite all of his attempts at conversation, Buffy had been silent for the first hour.

“Would you like some music?” he asked.

She nodded.

Giles pushed a few buttons, but these rental cars always confused him, every company wanting to make their radio more distinct and impossible. Smiling faintly, Buffy leaned forward and pressed a button. The radio came to life with Led Zeppelin. Buffy punched the button so hard, it popped off.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “Maybe not music.”

He nodded, watching out of the corner of his eye as Buffy pulled her sweatshirt tighter and sank into the seat. “At least the damnable insurance will be used this time.”

Buffy reached out, taking his hand in hers. Giles wanted to slam on the brakes. To sit in this moment in the sun with his surprise daughter for maybe the last time and just enjoy life. He drove on, fingers entwined with Buffy’s.

After a few minutes, she sighed. “I don’t want to fake smile. I don’t want to lie. Not with you.”

He was happy to hear it, and gave her fingers a quick squeeze.

“But I can’t talk about it now.” She stared out at the highway ahead of them in silence.

As they entered city limits, still far from the airport, Buffy asked, “Would you wait for me?”

“Wait for you?”

“I was going to catch a bus from the airport. I, uh, need to see someone.”

Of course. This quiet trip hadn’t been about family time at all. She wanted to see Angel; for what purpose, Giles didn’t dare guess. “I am sure I can busy the Potentials with lunch.”

He glanced at her quickly, her shoulders slumped with the weight of the world, her eyes without spark. “Buffy, I hope seeing him helps.”

Karen swerved but still hit the pothole squarely, causing her old Neon to spit out her CD in protest. “Fine,” she sighed, tossing the disc in the passenger seat. She wasn’t in the mood for N*SYNC anymore. Not since she had hit Sunnydale.

Sunnydale was abandoned. Not a graffiti-riddled, broken glass, run down sort of abandoned. Rather a ghost town, like one of those stories about robots carrying on after a nuclear explosion. The sprinklers went off on the overgrown lawns. The lights were on in the abandoned stores. The traffic signals blinked between red and green, though no one was around to stop or go.

For years, her Watcher, Penny Seaward, had told her the Slayer was in prison. “Uncontrollable, that girl. Faith murdered a man in cold blood. Now we all must pay the price.” But Karen wasn’t going to sit back and let people get hurt because the Slayer was an idiot. After all, she was a Potential, so she had every right to keep San Francisco safe from vampires. In the last two years, she’d killed two dozen vampires and one demon all while balancing school and work.

Truth was, Karen often thought of herself as The Slayer.

Four days ago, she went out to patrol Golden Gate Park, where she ran into four...creatures. Manlike beings with their eyes branded shut, yet still able to see, dressed as monks and carrying curved daggers. She ran, got the drop on two of them and ran again. Her muscles were burning by the time she ran into a cute mounted police officer who was more than happy to give her a slightly surreal ride home.

After Officer Cutey McHorserider dropped her off at her apartment, she found a letter from her Watcher. “Karen, Run. Something old and evil has risen up, and it’s trying to wipe out the Slayer line. You need to get to Sunnydale. Buffy Summers is there. She can help you. I will try to distract these demons, then rejoin you in Sunnydale. Love always, Penny.”

The letter told her so little, yet spun her world upside down. Had the monsters in the park killed Penny? If Buffy Summers, the previous Slayer, was still alive, who was Faith? And how could Buffy, a rebel Slayer who’d shirked her duties to run off with her vampire boyfriend possibly be of any help?

After a tense morning of driving, Karen finally pulled up in front of the small white bungalow. With its windows and doors covered in weird graffiti it was lively compared to the rest of the town. At least, it was loud enough inside that Karen had to knock a few times before a small girl with short curly hair framing her face opened the door.

“Buffy Summers?”

The girl scoffed like someone had just confused her for Sharon Osbourne. “God no. I’m Ju. Who are you?”

Karen peeked inside, where a tangle of girls stared back at her. Many were too young to be roommates, and they clearly weren’t related. They must be -- “Karen Zhào. Potential.”

“Andrew! Dawn! We got another one!” Ju shouted back into the house. “Welcome to the lunatic asylum,” she grumbled before going back to the girls sitting on the living room floor.

Karen steeled herself and walked inside. Her fellow Potentials draped themselves across the floor as if sitting required an excruciating amount of energy. Every one of them had dark circles under their eyes and bruises on their arms. One girl held an icepack against her head.

A petite blonde in her early twenties, dressed in flares and a trendy slashed tee, trotted down the stairs. She looked like she ate worry for breakfast. “Giles didn’t bring you. Who are you?”

“Uh, Karen Zhào. I drove down --”

“You drove?!” she said with obvious delight.

“From San Francisco. My Watcher told me to get to Sunnydale because Buffy Summers was here, but I’m kind of confused because she had also told me Buffy died two years ago.”

“I’m Buffy, and she wasn’t lying,” the blonde replied, nonchalantly.

While Karen tried to process that this slip of person was the dead rebel Slayer, two tall, handsome men in their late twenties arrived with crates of apples and oranges.

“Eat up, girls!” cheered the shorter one. He smiled at Buffy while the Potentials mobbed the food.

He looked at Buffy with an adoring radiance undercut by pleading desperation. Buffy barely acknowledged him. Karen wasn’t sure if the man was in the doghouse, or if the doghouse would be an improvement.

“Fresh fruit?” Buffy said to the taller one. “Where’d you find that unicorn?”

“I’m resourceful,” replied the shorter one, smiling like he wasn’t being ignored.

“Hey! Hey! Bringers!” shouted a girl by the window.

In a flash, the whole crew flooded out of the front door. Across the street, four of those strange monks Karen had fought back home were -- Oh God -- they were dropping bodies on the sidewalk. Then in a flash of metal -- CRACK! SLASH! CRUNCH! -- the Potentials killed three of the monks. The fourth ran down the street with a Potential in pursuit. Thwack! Thwack! She landed two throwing stars in its back before it rounded the corner.

“Lara! Come back!” shouted an African girl who seemed a little older than the rest of the teenagers.

The Potential with the throwing stars, Lara, glared back at them, then up the street before slowly returning to the crowd.

A stone-faced girl with blue hair and a sweet-looking girl with large blue eyes pulled their blades from the bodies.

“You guys are pretty good,” Karen said. “I fought some of these guys the other day. Not easy.”

Blue Hair raised an eyebrow. “And you lived? At least you’re not green.”

“Mine were armed, too,” said Karen with a shrug. She wasn’t about to let any of these amateurs condescend to her. But why weren’t these monks armed?

Buffy and the two men pushed through the crowd. “Move or you’re helping with body duty!” snapped the shorter one. The crowd parted.

“We should go after them,” said Lara with a thick Russian accent. “How many have we killed these last two weeks?”

“We’ll discuss it later,” Buffy said. “First, the bodies.”

Under the scarred Bringer corpses lay two bodies. Both had their throats slit. A mother and her young daughter.

The shorter man drew a sharp breath at the sight of the two blonde bodies. “Jo?”

“Caleb,” corrected Buffy.

The first body had arrived two weeks prior, delivered at night by some vampires. It was a teenage boy. Throat cut, but no sign of a vampire bite. The next morning, Bringers brought an old woman in the same condition. They weren’t food; they were calling cards.

Through a combination of beating up vampires for information and the Winchester’s detective skills, they had learned that the priest who Cloé claimed had killed the girls at St. Agnes’ was Father Caleb Mitchum. Shockingly, he was a real priest. Less surprising, he’d been moved from parish to parish for over a decade, never lasting anywhere longer than a year.

After the first day, the Potentials, itching for a fight, started to pick off the messengers. They burned the Bringers’ bodies. The victims, they buried, which was more dignity than Caleb’s victims had gotten in the past.

Every town he’d moved to, girls went missing. Sometimes their bodies were discovered months later. Sometimes only pieces turned up. No suspect was ever named.

Without a word between them, Buffy and Dean had set off alone to bury the latest pair of bodies. She didn't particularly want to be alone with Dean, but she needed her hands to help lay these victims to rest. Buffy tried to avoid thinking about the smallest body wrapped in a sheet in the trunk of the Impala, but she couldn’t stop seeing her anyway. Maybe two years old. A mop of golden curls. This was the first child Caleb had delivered, and Buffy suspected neither of the victims were local. He’d killed that woman for a reason.

“Who was Jo?” Buffy asked.

“Another hunter.” Dean white-knuckled the steering wheel.

“To you,” Buffy clarified. She knew that Jo back in Dean’s world had died. She was one of the names memorialized in a tattoo of those he blamed himself for. The dead he couldn’t let go of.

“Another hunter,” he replied.

“Did you--?” Her throat seized up as she pictured the blonde girl again. Did you have a child with her? But no. Couldn’t be. He wouldn’t have kept that from her.

“No, we weren’t together,” he said. “Not at all. Family friend. Ambitious kid. Died on my watch.”

This was always his story. Maybe it was true. But if it was, why would Lucifer tell Caleb to find her doppelganger? Buffy wouldn’t ask again. After all, she had her own secrets to keep.

They had recently discovered that Caleb was holed up in an old monastery turned winery on the edge of town. With its thick walls and narrow windows, it was the perfect place for hiding Bringers and vampires. But they’d been slashing and staking Caleb’s minions for weeks. How many could be left?

Buffy knew the Potentials weren’t ready. They’d gotten pretty good, but there would be casualties. But if they, the Chosen and Near-Chosen, did nothing, more people would die anyway. Innocent people.

She couldn’t sit around while Caleb was still alive.

It was morning when Buffy and her rag tag army -- Potentials, hunters, a Watcher, a witch, a construction worker, an ex-demon, an ex-vampire, an unemployed principal, and Buffy’s baby sister -- descended on the winery. The front doors were already open -- waiting. It was dark inside, and she suddenly thought of those deep sea fish with dead eyes and nightmare teeth that lured smaller fish into their mouths with a small, bobbing light. She felt like a small fish.

Willow and Ella quickly began setting up a field to keep any demon reinforcements from joining the fray. Everyone watched the two redheads work. Some muttered prayers as they mentally counted down the seconds until they’d enter Caleb’s lair.

Cas, now would be a great time to make an appearance, Buffy offered the air before steeling her nerves.

Buffy entered first. The Potentials followed her closely. Racks of massive wine barrels -- one rack straight down the middle -- forced them to split up. Buffy motioned to the shotgun-toting Winchesters to each take a side.

Her crew divided, squeezed in a narrow space, with objects to hide behind at every turn. Her brain screamed Trap! But another night at home meant more bodies in the morning.

A high pitched wzzzz! Bianka dropped her crossbow, smacking her bloody neck and the small knife buried inside. As she fell, a gunshot rang out.

“Bringers!” Dean shouted.

The room exploded in a whirl of fangs and blades, flying bolts, vampire dust, and blood splatter. With one swift blow, Buffy decapitated two vampires. A bolt whizzed over her head, nailing a third.

Two cries peeled from the back of the room. Vampires had circled behind them and were preparing to feast on Ju and Nitika cowering by the door.

“Grace! Sophia! Spike! Cover the front!” Buffy commanded as she swung up on the racks, cutting her way through Bringers on her way to the back of the group.

With a swift kick, she knocked three barrels off the stack, their BOOM startling the vampires into letting the girls go. She kicked another barrel, pinning a vamp. Ju, bloody and furious, staked the trapped one. Buffy killed the other. Ju shook Nitika, and the girl slumped, lifeless.

“Get moving!” Buffy barked. She scurried to the top of the dividing row and found a Bringer. She waited as he whirled and flared his blades, watching the rhythm, and gutted him when he bared his stomach mid-display.

Below, on the other side, Dean shielded Maya, her face covered in blood. He put a bullet in a Bringer’s skull.

Sam had switched to an ax, and he and Betje worked through the crowd of vampires with berserker fury.

In the back, one vampire had Mio’s arms pinned behind her while the other went in for a bite. The girl headbutted him and kicked the biter back. Before Buffy could jump into the fray, Xander and Dawn swept in and helped Mio kill both vampires.

Buffy ran down the stack of barrels and leapt off at the front of the room where Caleb stood smirking at the bloodshed. Next to him stood Buffy’s mother.

“You know,” said her Not-Mother in a disapproving tone, “had I arrived in any other town, met any demon before I met Spike, I wouldn’t have cared about you at all. After all, what can one girl do against the onslaught of Hell? You’re not that special, my dear.”

“Did you run out of fingers to count on, Lucifer?” Buffy retorted over the clatter of weapons.

The Potentials started to break free from the confines of the aisle. They flooded the open space at the back of the building, cutting down everything in their path.

Buffy’s mother morphed into Angel. Buffy bit her tongue.

A scream rang out and was cut short. Buffy kept her eyes on Caleb.

The priest prowled towards her with an oily confidence. “The slut thinks she can win this.”

“She thinks Dean can win this.” The First corrected.

“Are we going to fight or patronize each other?” Buffy asked as she and Caleb slowly circled each other. “Because I am itching to break in these ass-kicking boots.” 

Again, Lucifer changed his visage, this time turning into a familiar blonde. She had a narrow chin and big brown eyes, long, shiny hair like Buffy’s. Jo. Her grey t-shirt was soaked in blood, her guts spilling out.

“This fight is a rerun of one the Winchesters already lost. It’s when Dean lost her,” Lucifer said, pointing to the face of the girl he was wearing. “You won’t die as quickly. You are familiar with the definition of insanity, aren’t you, Buffy?

“Slayer or not, your bodies are blood and bone. So fragile, oxygen rusts you out if you don’t kill yourself with fast food first. But you’re a blowfly compared to most humans. Buzzing. Stinging. Nagging.”

“Slappable,” added Caleb.

“Short lived.”

“Then I’ll get to the point,” Buffy said, plunging her sword through Caleb’s heart.

He did not fall. He did not bleed. He smiled, pleased, and pulled it out by the blade.

Buffy tried to sweep Caleb’s legs out from under him, but he was too fast, skipping over her with delight. “Weaponless and alone,” he scoffed. “But why would I kill you when I could, say, kill her?”

Two Bringers stepped forward with Grace pinned between them. She squirmed, stomped his feet and tried to headbutt him, but he slit her throat.

Buffy lunged at him. A crowd of Bringers blocked her path. She elbowed one in the face, snatching its blade and hacking through the monks.

Caleb sank deeper into the crowd.

I don’t want to kill you yet. Jo’s voice twisted through Buffy’s head like whispers in a quiet room.

Dozens of vampires streamed in from grates in the floor. Some of the barrels popped open to reveal more Bringers. The girls were bloody, lagging. Someone screamed.

I want you to watch. To suffer.

Caleb wrapped his hands around Vi’s head and snapped her neck.

You’ll die in the end. Everyone Dean Winchester loves dies. He will abandon you as God abandoned me.

Buffy plunged a stake into a vampire as she worked her way back through the crowd. “Turn back!” she cried. “Get out!”

Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t help you, of all people?

Dawn was directing Potentials back toward the entrance when Caleb grabbed her by the throat.

Buffy’s heart stopped. She pushed through the crowd, now a writhing wall of blood and steel. Dawn kicked the priest. She couldn’t scream. Buffy pulled a short knife from a Bringer’s body and hurled it at Caleb. It sank into his neck, but he did not flinch. He smiled back at her through the throng of bodies and plunged his thumb into Dawn’s eye.

You can’t protect anyone.

A muzzle flash and Caleb reeled back, one side of his face covered in buckshot. Sam wrapped his arm around Dawn and helped her toward the door.

Buffy dusted three more vampires blocking her path before jumping on top of the barrels again. A knot of girls was stuck at the end of the row. They were blocked by bodies and barrels. Buffy ran to the end of the row and shouted, “I’ll hold them off! You climb!” Sophia, twirling her double axes with deadly precision, refused to leave her side. They cut through one, two, five vampires while Shakti, Kate and Wook climbed to safety.

“Buffy? Buffy!” Dean shouted somewhere behind her.

She turned for a second -- only a second -- to answer him and in that second, Sophia screamed. A vampire had gotten ahold of her. She chopped off its hand, but two more grabbed her. Then three. A hoard dragged her back into the building. Then they began to feast.

Buffy couldn’t save her. Couldn’t save any of them. She ran out to the crowd of bloody Potentials, a few dead Bringers at their feet. Willow, Giles and the others were busy attending the injured and loading Robin’s school bus. “Is this everyone?” she asked Spike.

“Sophia?”

“Dead.”

“Then these are your survivors.”

“Fuck this!” shouted Dean, storming toward his car. Moments later, he returned with two gas cans. He splashed the fuel all over the base of the building and doors. He flicked his lighter and set the trap ablaze.

Buffy sat unblinking, staring at the wall of the hospital, seeing nothing. She was crusted with blood, none of it hers. All of it hers.

Dawn did not want to see her.

Bianka, Grace, Violet, Nitika, Leticia, and Sophia -- all dead. Over half of the Potentials bleeding from knife wounds or bite marks. A few broken and dislocated bones. Kimberly was missing part of a finger. Rachel had taken a blade so deep to her leg, the bone showed.

Then there was Dawn. Dean, Xander and Giles had driven the more severely injured to the hospital. With only five nurses, one doctor, and a janitor working as an orderly, understaffed was an understatement. They said they wouldn’t leave town until everyone else did.

Buffy told them to leave tonight.

Xander and Giles were visiting Dawn, trying to calm her down, leaving Buffy and Dean alone for only the second time in weeks, the first being when they had buried the bodies the day before.

Dean couldn’t believe that she wanted to attack Caleb. “You think you can just waltz in there and stab stab, the big bad wolf is dead? That’s suicide! Caleb will eat these girls alive.”

“Then tell me your brilliant plan,” she had said coldly.

He didn’t have one. What he had were two dead bodies in his trunk -- a child and a woman unfortunate enough to look like Jo Harvelle.

“If we don’t move soon, the girls will go after him on their own. Hell, Lara’s already tried! Besides, Caleb is just a man. A totally creepy serial killer, yes, but still human. And the only play we have right now is knocking down Lucifer’s lieutenants.”

Dean had considered the chasm between them, widening exponentially each day since Cloe’s suicide, and wondered if he could make the jump. “You’re gonna kill him? Kinda out of line with your code, isn’t it? Sure you’re ready for that?”

“Don't talk to me like I’m some up-and-coming new kid! We can’t wait this out!”

He would have gladly killed Caleb for her. “I wasn’t--”

“You have no idea what I’m going through right now!”

Didn’t he? For nearly a year, angels had been moving him through time, threatening the people he loved -- hell -- giving him advanced stomach cancer. “I’m sorry I’ve been so busy trying to keep Michael, God’s number one groupie, from crawlin’ up my ass to get a feel for what it’s like to be a fucking Girl Scout troop leader!”

He regretted the words as soon as they had left his lips, but she was already lost to him. He could see it in the tension in her body as she turned away from him, looking at her ruined city flashing by the Impala. As they fought their way into the winery, he kept wondering if those would be their last words. But now they were in the same quiet, dim room.

His voice was soft, pleading. “Dawn will be --”

“Don’t.” She didn’t even look at him.

“I was just --”

“You can’t make this better, Dean. You can’t fix this. People are dead. Dawn’s lost an eye. Anything you say will only make it worse.”

Dean understood. The last thing he’d ever wanted was to suck other people into this angelic pissing contest. And because of him, because he’d been selfish and stayed, Dawn had lost an eye. Because of him, the women he loved would lose more people she loved. As always, his love brought destruction.

The evening sun lit up the city at a sharp angle, twisting familiar shapes. Everything was bathed in light or shadow. There was no middle. As Giles drove the Summerses home, the stop lights and flickering neon of the businesses shut off.

Sunnydale was lost.

The moment they pulled up to the house, girls started streaming out the front door.

Buffy said in a tired, resigned voice, “Get back inside! Sunset is --” Someone shoved her and she fell to the driveway, tiny pebbles stinging her palms. Buffy looked up and saw Betje, her clothes covered in dried blood, her usually stoic face wild with rage.

“What the fuck was that?” Betje shouted.

“That was losing,” Buffy said, getting back up.

“That was slaughter! Why did we not burn the place to begin with? Maybe then Sophia would still be alive!”

“I’m sorry about your friend --”

“I do not want your pity. I fought with that girl across Europe trying to get to safety, and because of you, she is dead!” Betje spit in Buffy’s face.

Buffy slapped her, the blood on her palms smearing over Betje’s cheeks. Sophia’s death wasn’t her fault. Was it? Betje lunged at her, her hands around Buffy’s throat as they tumbled on the lawn. Buffy kicked her off, sending her flying and knocking over several other girls.

Buffy felt arms around her stomach. Hands on her arms. Dean voice growling in her ear, “You are better than this.” She could have broken his and Sam’s hold easily, bloody noses as parting gifts, but she didn’t want to hurt him. That was part of the problem.

Some of the girls had circled around Betje, whispering and casting sharp glares Buffy’s way. Willow, Xander, Anya and Robin stayed on the porch looking relieved to not be involved. Dawn stood by the car; her one good eye fixated on the lawn as if considering whether or not it needed a mow. Giles looked annoyed.

Keisha stepped forward, her eyes only briefly resting on Buffy. Normally quietly confident, she’d never been so wary, so tentative in the months they’d known each other. “We were talking while you were at the hospital and --”

“You screwed up, Buffy!” blurted Dani, gleefully.

They could hate her all they wanted, but they were in over their heads if they thought they could do better. “What was your big play against Lucifer, huh, Dani? Wow me.”

“It is not about beating Lucifer. It is about staying alive,” said Betje. “Something you do not seem concerned with.”

“Not concerned?!” Buffy dug her nails into her bleeding palms to keep from slapping the girl again. “Do you think I let fifty girls into my home because I was lonely? Do you think this is summer camp? Staying alive is the entire reason you’re here!”

“And you can’t wait to get us out, can you?” sneered Kate. She had a black eye and split lip. “Always shoutin’ at us. Tellin’ us when to sleep an’ what to eat an’ where we can’t go. We’re only allowed to be safe if we stay lock step with you.” Several girls nodded in agreement.

“She hides in her room!” shouted a voice from the back.

“She disappeared for a whole day!” added another.

“It was not a good plan, Buffy. You know that.” Lara’s arm was in a makeshift sling.

Buffy did know. Dean and Sam had been unable to stop Lucifer. She could do nothing but knock off each second-in-command as they rose up. Her fingers were turning blue in the dyke.

“Bad plan or not, you weren’t even helping,” sniped Dani.

Buffy felt as if she’d been slapped. “You’re joking.”

“I saw you up on top a those barrels like you was ‘managing,’” said Rona, using a nasally voice for managing. “Fightin’ off fuckin’ vampire on my own while fearless leader fails to lead.”

Buffy drew a sharp breath to respond, but Ju, her neck bandaged from the vampire bite jumped in first. “Nitika died crawling over the pile of rubble you made blocking the door.” Her face was pale and slick with tears. “She could have gotten out, waited for us to finish, but those barrels were blocking the path.”

“You say you’re saving us,” began Karen, “but if I hadn’t nailed that vampire with the crossbow, you’d be dead and one of us would be the Slayer.”

“That would be better,” said Dani, darkly.

“Whoa!” shouted Dean, getting between Buffy and the Potentials. “You talk a big game kid, but you’ve had your ass in class all this time. You ain’t got no idea what hell she’s going through.”

Neither do you.

“Maybe not, but Faith Lehane does,” said Karen.

Buffy was stunned by the out-of-nowhere suggestion that she and Faith were on the same level. She would have laughed if she didn’t feel like crying.

“Who’s Faith?” asked Maya.

The gossip made Dani look like a child hopped up on candy. “She’s the real Slayer. Buffy did die, after all.”

A murmur of surprise rippled through the girls, and Dean, who she’d never told about Faith, gaped at her in disbelief.

If they wanted to think she wasn’t the real deal, fine. “Sorry, but she’s in prison for murder. You brats are stuck with me.”

The girls exchanged knowing glances, some with tears, others with smirks. Keisha was pushed forward again.

“Buffy, I don’t know you, and you’re probably a different person without all this Lucifer stuff going on, but...we decided you have to go.”

“You’re kicking me out of my house?”

“It’s my house too,” said Dawn. “They’re right. You’re not yourself.”

Bile rose in her throat. Her sister, too?

Giles added, “Perhaps the stress is getting to you. You wouldn’t have made those mistakes even a few weeks ago.”

Even Giles. Giles who believed in her more than anyone else. Giles who she’d trusted with one of her most stressful experiences. He thought she was broken.

“You can’t be serious.” But she knew they were. “What, are you going to put Dani in charge?”

“No,” said Betje. “Dean.”

Dean’s face was a mixture of shock and indignation. “No, no, no. This ain’t my circus.”

“You set the building on fire!” Betje encouraged. “We should have done that in the first place.”

Buffy didn’t want to hear him defend her again. She didn’t need defending or a highlights reel of her failures. She needed sleep. While they argued, she sneaked into the house.

Throwing some clothes in a backpack, she uncovered a purple bag and three books, long forgotten Slayer gifts from Robin Wood. The same Robin Wood on her front lawn nodding along to the idea that she was a failure.

Maybe she was. Even so, she was the only Slayer there. She tossed the bag and books into her duffel and left out the backdoor.

next chapter

[lemonsorbae]

*this list is updated frequently. last updated 06/21/19.

This is a compilation of my absolute favorite DeanCas fics of all time, they are fics I have and will read over, and over, and over again. They are the crème de la crème, the cream of the crop, the golden ticket of DeanCas fanfiction, my friends. 

Please enjoy.

-organized from lowest word count - highest 

♦ put your hands on my waist by: casfallsinlove (2,182 ♦ M)

Summary: Dean is sitting at the window seat in their dark bedroom, the one that opens onto the fire escape. He must be cold. He's wearing nothing but boxers, miles and miles of lovely bare skin exposed to the cool breeze drifting in. If he is, he doesn't seem to care. 

♦ okay_cupid by: orange_crushed (4,591 ♦ T)

Summary: "The dating thing?" Dean frowns. "Online dating is for weirdos. Robots. Dudes hanging out in their basements."

"You hang out in your basement."

"I have an air hockey table down there,” Dean says, icily.

♦ Love Lab by: youaresunlight (5,385 ♦ M)

Summary: When Dean sees the flyer for a research study offering $75 to participants, he doesn’t think twice before signing him and Cas up. The problem, of course, is that it’s a romantic couples study and while Cas is his roommate and best friend, they are very much not in a relationship.

♦ No Strings by: lastknownwriter  (6,201 ♦ T) 

Summary: Casual sex, no strings attached; it seemed like the perfect offer…

*fic removed by author. please contact author for PDF.  

♦ Going Postal by: captainbarnes (6,771 ♦ NR)

Summary: Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak became pen pals because of a school assignment, and they tried not to get attached to one another. They really did. Sort of. Barely.

♦ the earth around me by: casfallsinlove (7,419 ♦ M)

Summary: “I’m running away,” Dean blurts and fuck, it feels good to say that out loud.Cas blinks at him over a box of cod liver oil. He plants it unceremoniously on the floor and pulls off his creased Walgreens apron.“I’m coming with you.”Okay then.

(In which Dean and Cas run away together and learn how to be free.)

♦ Something Unexpected by:cloudyjenn (7,671 ♦ NC-17)

Summary: Mr. Novak is Dean’s principal. Dean would like him to be more.

*journal has been deleted -- i do not have a copy of this pdf. if you do, and wouldn’t mind sharing, please hmu.

♦ Don’t Panic by: deans1911 (8,991 ♦ E)

Summary: Dean is a Secret Service agent. Castiel is his ex-KGB handler.

*removed by author.

♦ Astrophysics and Tea ‘Verse by: casfallsinlove (10,363 ♦ E)

Summary: Wherein Dean (who owns a bookstore) and Cas (an astrophysics grad student) have been best friends since they were kids, NASA nearly screws things up, and tea is mentioned far too often. 

♦ Chili Peppers by: justanothersong (12,707 ♦ T)

Summary: Dr. Winchester hears an off hand comment from one of his students and find himself browsing a website dedicated to rating university professors. He’s not surprised by his rating — but is a little miffed to see the department chair has an even better one. Clearly, something needs to be done about this.

♦ Today, your barista ‘verse by: orange_crushed (13,601 ♦ T)

Summary: "Is that-"

"My number," says Dean, because he's a fucking champion, he's cool, he's collected, he's Captain Smooth of the USS Smoothtania, that's right. He is definitely not leaning against the counter for moral support. Cas doesn' looked seduced or impressed, though. He does not look like a dude who just met Captain Smooth and wants to ride the loveboat. He looks puzzled.

♦ It's Always the End of the World Somewhere by: scaramouche (21,126 ♦ E)

Summary: The status quo is this: Dean is the popular captain of the football team, and Castiel is the off-kilter nobody who doesn’t so much as breathe the same air as Dean. Then senior year happens and the status quo is shot to smithereens.

♦ Shortskirts 'verse by: twentysomething (22,377 ♦ E) 

Summary: So, they’re in high school, and then they’re in college, and it’s mostly not about Taylor Swift, except when it is 

*This fic is available to registered AO3 members only.

♦ Shut Up (Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is) by: kototyph (23,970 ♦ E) 

Summary: Dean's done some pretty stupid things, but getting drunk-hitched in Vegas to a colleague he barely knows might just take the cake. His surprise husband, Castiel, is a little weird but likable despite that, and Dean figures they’ll go back to Boston, get a quiet annulment, and go their separate ways.

Six weeks later, he’s still married to one of the strangest, most genuine and definitely most dangerously lov-- likable guys he's ever known. Dean doesn't know why or really even how it’s happening, but it’s getting harder and harder to remember that he has divorce papers to file. 

♦ Asunder by: rageprufrock (23,817 ♦ E) 

Summary: Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:6) 

♦ An Exercise in 'Worthless' by: beastofthesky (26,547 ♦ M) 

Summary: "I mean, you’re–” He gestures at Cas, in his neat oxford shirt and nice pants. “–and I’m a high school dropout who tattoos for a living.” 

Wherein Dean makes a hefty living as a tattoo artist who owns the space next to Gabriel's cafe. Sam attends the local university. When Gabe's cousin comes to live with him while starting grad school at Sam's university, Dean thinks for sure that all his negative karma's coming to bite him in the ass because Cas clearly has a thing for Sam. No one would ever choose him over Sam. That's just logic.

♦ The Way The War Was Won by: deans1911 (39,084 ♦ E)

Summary: Dean and Cas are buddy cops faking a marriage for the benefits and tax breaks. Except for the part where Dean’s sort of actually in love with his partner and doesn’t realize it yet. 

*removed by author 

♦ Unlimited Potential by: lastknownwriter (45,237 ♦ M)

Summary: Dean Winchester has it all: perfect grades, popularity, the brightest future. He knows exactly who he is and exactly what he wants.

And then someone unexpected shows him how very much he doesn’t.

*fic removed by author. please contact author for PDF.  

♦ The Laundromat ‘Verse by: ozonecologne (48,940 ♦ M)

Summary: Dean runs a laundromat. The punk kids come to him for all their clothing repair needs.

That includes their bad boy ringleader, Castiel.

A collection of ficlets.

♦ Your Heart Makes by: schmerzerling (51,884 ♦ M) 

Summary: Castiel is directionless, depressed, and working in one of the worst possible places to be so—Disneyland Park. Seeing hundreds of excited people every day, trying to smile for the customers, and dealing with the fact that his infuriating brother Gabriel is so readily capable of every park job he throws himself into makes Castiel feel like he could barely manage to keep his head above the foot of water in the “It’s a Small World” canal that he oversees. 

All of that changes when the universe sees fit to put him in a Disneyesque love story opposite the handsome animator in the window on Main Street who doesn’t care about Castiel’s lethargic lack of idealism—so long as he can make caustic Cas come to appreciate every attraction in the park. But life isn’t a Disney fairy tale, and even though an easy out and a happy ending are what Castiel seeks, he’ll begin to wonder if the happiest ending isn’t really an ending at all. 

♦ Thunder & Angels by: pm_lo (54,263 ♦ E)

Summary: Castiel’s family owns the shoddily-regulated coal mine where John Winchester works, so Dean storms Cas’s mansion, demanding answers from the drugged-out trust-fund kid. In exchange for his help repairing the mine, Cas demands Dean live with him for three months and give Cas a shot at seducing him by allowing him one kiss a day.

♦ Grotesque by: lastknownwriter (58,314 ♦ E)

Summary: Deep in the heart of the bayou, a winged creature has paid a long and lonely penance for a tragedy history has forgotten. A fateful storm and a soldier pure of heart are about to change his world. A Dean/Castiel Beauty and the Beast AU.

*fic removed by author. please contact author for PDF.  

♦ Highwaymen. by: orange_crushed (66,389 ♦ M)

Summary: Dean closes his eyes. He is under a blanket in his memories, fabric pulled up under his chin and his face pressed near to hers on the pillow. His father is asleep, snoring slightly, hands loose and expression happy, curled around her on the other side. She's speaking in whispers. He knows that she was already pregnant then, that Sam was on his way into their lives, even though he'd had no idea what exactly that meant at the time. He can almost see her face still, warm and orange in the light of her lumoscircling their heads like a firefly, but every now and then she blurs in his vision, like a lost thread of consciousness, something half-remembered. Bit by bit, he's losing her.

♦ Past, Present by: lastknownwriter (83,867 ♦ E)

Summary: When bar owner Dean Winchester meets Castiel Novak, he is only trying to be friendly to the lonely professor; he never expects to fall in love. When a tragic accident inadvertently erases the life they’ve built together, will they be able to find each other again? Or will Dean be left with the memory of a love he couldn’t save and a heart hardened by a simple twist of fate? 

*fic removed by author. please contact author for PDF. 

♦ Freefall by: lastknownwriter (128,542 ♦ E)

Summary: The most exciting kindergarten teacher Dean Winchester’s life ever gets is when he plays mechanic in his uncle Bobby’s shop on the weekends.That is until a birthday party goes tequila-nova and he trips into a one-night stand with an incredibly hot firefighter named Castiel. Dean’s life gets a lot more exciting after that.

*fic removed by author. please contact author for PDF.

♦ For All You Young Hockey Players Out There, Pay Attention  by: thursdaysfallenangel (143,594 ♦ E) 

Summary: Dean Winchester knows two things about hockey, two things his dad made sure he knew. One, hockey is a guy’s sport, and two, hockey is family. Hockey meant Sam and Bobby and Benny and Victor and Gabriel and hell, his entire team. So when Victor gets traded, Russian-star-turned-new teammate Castiel Krushnic becomes a threat. As much as Dean hates him for that, the longer he sticks around, the more he begins to threaten that first rule too. Dean’s been taught his whole life that those who play hockey should not be captivated by deep accented voices and the way a guy handles his stick, so how the hell is he supposed to justify what he’s starting to think about Cas? All Dean wanted at the beginning of the season was to win, and now all he wants to do is figure out how he feels about Cas and how to deal with it without ruining his career and tearing his family apart. 

*if any of the links don’t work/are wrong, message me, if you need a PDF of any of the fics listed, please contact me. i have copies of them all. *if you are an author and do not want your work being distributed, please message me.

[D/C Rec List Master Post] [all DeanCas recs] [fic rec tags] [more fic rec lists]

[image original source]

[godidymos]

https://www.veteranstoday.com/2018/09/25/the-secret-history-of-9-11/

Investigations

The Gordon Duff Files

The Secret History of 9/11

Investigations

The Gordon Duff Files

The Secret History of 9/11By

Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

-September 25, 2018

Editor’s note: This is a reprint from 2016 of a recap of an investigation done between May 5, 2014 and June 2015 by select members of a combined team including but not limited to:

Gordon Duff of VT/Adamas

Ian Greenhalgh of VT

Dr. James Fetzer

Jeff Smith of VT and the International Atomic Energy Agency

Dmitri Khalezov of the Soviet 12th (Nuclear) Directorate

Jim W. Dean of VT/Adamas

Dr. Kevin Barrett

A working group from the University of California at Los Alamos/Sandia National Labs

Colonel’s James Hanke and Eugene Khrushchev

Sources within the FBI and Russian Naval Intelligence

Michael Shrimpton

and substantial works by journalists such as Wayne Madsen and others. Sorry if I am not adequately inclusive.

…by Gordon Duff with Jeff Smith and Ian Greenhalgh

[ Editor’s Note: We have another update from VT’s 9-11 A-team on the ongoing tragedy of 9-11, the reprehensible failure of our governmental, security, legal and press organizations to not be savaging the 9-11 commission fairy tale.

The real perpetrators are still out walking around, knowing they have a tried-and-true successful template in their pocket to redeploy at a time of their choosing in an updated fashion. The anomalies of 9-11 just scream out at you, yet our entire security structure seems to have been struck dumb by a secret space weapon.

Not one official with any standing at all, has challenged VT’s 9-11 reporting. That includes mass media, which, to date, has not put in one call “to learn more”, and perhaps revisit their own coverage, or should I say coverup.

But they are not all to blame, as America’s institutions have stood down on 9-11 en masse, which gives the public some cover, because they would tend to think that if the commission report really were a fraud, surely some important groups would be screaming about it.

But Gordon has the perfect answer to that. It’s one of his favorite lines, “Welcome to how the world really works.” We know VT readers care, so we will hang with you to the end on this, our end or theirs… Jim W. Dean ]

_____

– First published … October 5, 2016 –

For the first time in nearly a year, a 9/11 investigator has revealed highly classified information on the real events of 9/11, not a terror attack, but rather a nuclear attack on the United States, not a surprise at all, but one the US had expected, one predicted by a former American president and one purposefully ignored by President Clinton and quite probably facilitated by George W. Bush, who certainly empowered the cover up.

As early as 1996, insiders including former President George H.W. Bush, knew America was susceptible to nuclear terrorism. This was “The Sum of All Fears” just as depicted in the film, stolen nukes, planted beneath an iconic target, but those involved were certainly not terrorists.

LET’S BE PERFECTLY CLEAR, WERE ONE TO WATCH TODAY’S NEWS AND NOT SUSPECT THAT THE US CREATED AND HAS RUN AL QAEDA SINCE THE ONSET, ONE MIGHT BE OPERATING WITH SOMETHING LESS THAN A FULL DECK OF CARDS.

What changes things now is that, with the override of Obama’s veto by congress last week, Saudi Arabia can be sued for complicity in 9/11. There is and has been evidence of Saudi Arabian involvement, even in the limited false narrative published in the 2005 9/11 report or the supposed missing “28 pages.”

Real reports also show Mohammed Atta, the former Egyptian security officer, then with Saudi intelligence, to have been an operational planner operating from his rented apartment in Fort Lee. Where the cover-up hits home is that Atta was under surveillance by a team tasked with investigating nuclear terrorism against the US.

This team, originally headed by FBI special agent John O’Neill and later by FBI special agent Mike Dick, which was to include nuclear weapons specialist Jeff Smith, was centered in Fort Lee, New Jersey, not just to watch Atta but to watch Atta and his accomplices, which included Israeli teams who used a safehouse only blocks away.

This is the subject of the real investigation and the records of this, seized by the Department of Homeland Security, and held for release after 50 years, tell a wider story, one that involves Israel deeply at every turn, along with traitors in the Pentagon.

What we can do now is open doors for legal counsel going after Saudi Arabia. Without what is here, no counsel will be able to even be denied documents outlining witnesses and evidence that, according to the popular fictional narrative, do not exist.

If you want to cash in as the only reason to go to court, by all means, sue Saudi Arabia. But if justice is desired, go after Israel and go after its friends. We have all their names and everything required to show their complicity.

Here is what is now added to the narrative, not the official narrative, but the one based on the 2003 investigation. The following information is from the US Department of Energy Preliminary Report on the Events of September 11, 2001:

The buildings destroyed at the World Trade Center were demolished using nuclear devices brought into the US through Teterboro Airport, according to the DOE report. Investigator’s statements say that “there were no customs-only passport forms to be filled out by the flight crews. There was never any physical inspection of baggage or aircraft. “

Able Danger investigators tracked the devices through the airport and maintained surveillance of all involved until the records were seized by orders of Michael Chertoff.

When the nuclear investigation moved to Fort Lee, there had been in place a federal multi-agency task force probe into Mafia gambling operations there. It was this investigation that Mike Dick and Jeff Smith took over, surveillance on Atta, on the airport nearby and on the Israeli teams.

The destruction of Building 7 was the result of nuclear devices installed in 100 gallon Halon fire extinguishing tanks placed throughout the complex under a fire prevention equipment upgrade program, according to the US Department of Energy report.

The Teterboro airport’s security company, as of 9/11/2001, waived through illicit cargoes of all kinds.

Donald Trump and the Clinton’s used Teterboro extensively and never had their aircraft examined nor passengers subjected to customs.

This is the new information of use only to those who know the truth behind 9/11.

_______

The Story Begins:

Back in May 2014, VT received files from the real 9/11 investigation by the US Department of Energy. For those who are unaware, the DOE manufactures nuclear weapons under the innocent guise of a public utility sounding name.

Working with them, beginning on 9/12, was the International Atomic Energy Agency, part of the UN, whose investigators were in New York at the United Nations that fateful day. They picked up their Geiger counters, donned their yellow hard hats and their “Con Ed” (the power company for the City of New York) ID badges and yellow vests and began tracking the ionizing radiation signatures and taking soil samples.

Abel Danger documents on Israeli nationals arrested on 9/11. The Florida connection is the Jeb Bush connection.

Deep Background

The story began as one of nuclear proliferation, allegedly by Israel, ignored by the Clinton administration. You see, during the warming of relationships between the US and Russia, START (Strategic Arms Limitations Treaties) agreements forced the US to dismantle thousands of nuclear warheads.

The ones that came apart first were those that were oldest with plutonium cores that had converted to dangerous levels of PU240. These weapons were taken out of stockpiles, based on the date of manufacture of the cores. There were multiple reasons for this:

Oldest manufactured, most plutonium decay

Cores manufactured together would be removed, numbered and stockpiled for potential remanufacture, predicated on core from the same lot (i.e. “May 2, 1984 HANFORD 7”) representing a reserve ready to reconfigure and return to service.

You see, these lists, which cores matched which, fell into hands of an American ally, Israel. Then the cores began to disappear from the Pantex disassembly and storage facility in Amarillo, TX, not randomly, but in matched pairs, confirmation that these secret lists had been compromised, or had been asserted by our source, that Tom Countryman, who had access to the lists, had turn them over to Israel.

Former US President, George Herbert Walker Bush, from his offices on Memorial Drive in Houston TX, hired a team of investigators to look into what William Jefferson Clinton would not, perhaps because of his compromised position vis-a-vis Monica Lewinsky or some other shortcoming.

Bush hired CIA agent Roland Carnaby and Physicist and IAEA inspector Jeff Smith. Aiding them was John Wheeler III, a White House consultant and, with the FBI, John O’Neill.

Carnaby is dead, shot by police during a Houston traffic stop. Smith, with VT today, is under gag order by the secret Houston 9/11 grand jury, that sits on so much evidence, created by Michael Chertoff and John Ashcroft, tasked by Bush (43) with ending any potentially fruitful 9/11 inquiry.

John Wheeler was found in a Delaware trash dump and John O’Neill died on 9/11.

“Add to all these signs, the molten metal in the footprints of WTC 1, 2, and 7 that for three months could not be extinguished by water or daily soil changes as it consumed concrete, steel, glass, office combustibles. The increasing incidence of radiation-only cancers from residents is another tell-tale sign of a nuclear “event.” There were also aerial photographs of steam “upwellings” that were pouring out of street gratings two and three blocks south of the WTC, or Ground Zero.“Then there is the extraordinary high temperatures (800-1,300º F) of the WTC’s surface heat after 9/11. It was recorded on September 16, 2001 by NASA’s thermal-sensitive cameras in aerial photographs shot at 6,500 feet. Those data were reflected in the unusually lengthy period—September 11 to December 19—it took for extinguishing the pools of molten metals in basement levels of all three skyscrapers. In fact, the hottest surface places recorded on the “Pile” by September 16 were WTC 1 (1,376º F), WTC 2 (1,1340º F), and WTC 7 (1160ºF).”

“STEEL TOES WOULD OFTEN HEAT UP AND BECOME INTOLERABLE. THIS HEAT WAS ALSO A CONCERN FOR THE SEARCH-AND-RESCUE DOGS USED AT THE SITE. MANY WERE NOT OUTFITTED WITH PROTECTIVE BOOTIES. MORE THAN ONE SUFFERED SERIOUS INJURIES AND AT LEAST THREE DIED WHILE WORKING AT GROUND ZERO.”

“Instead of heat subsiding within a week, as is generally the case for major fires, the astronomically elevated heat levels remained for three months.” Cleanup vendor Bechtel Corporation—with 40 employees at the Pile—issued this comment about working conditions:“The debris pile at Ground Zero was always tremendously hot. Thermal measurements taken by helicopter each day showed underground temperatures ranging from 400ºF to more than 2,800ºF. The surface was so hot that standing too long in one spot softened (and even melted) the soles of our safety shoes.”

Continued…

The Houston-based team hired by GHW Bush began tracing missing nuclear pits, now numbering over 300. They found massive record keeping discrepancies between military decommissioning records and DOE transfer records. None matched or even came close. Most records were gone.

More than a thousand pits may have disappeared, but 350 is the confirmed number reported to former President GHW Bush by his investigators in 1998. They were traced as having left the Pantex facility in refrigeration trucks, where they were transferred to a fertilizer plant in West, TX.

In 2013, this facility suffered a catastrophic accident.

During the investigation of the missing pits, Jeff Smith traced them through the Port of Houston to the Canary Islands and to the African nation of Mauritania, where they were stored in an iron mine controlled by South African extremists working closely with Israel.

These same South Africans, in 1975, signed a treaty with Israel to develop weapons. On September 22, 1979, they exploded their first nuclear weapon off St. Edwards Island south of Capetown. They also developed extensive biological and chemical warfare weapons under the guidance of a Dr. Woulter Basson, a cardiologist, who developed some of the most dangerous biological weapons known to man.

South Africa developed 10 Hiroshima-type (gun type) nuclear weapons until the program was dismantled, beginning in 1991, supervised by Dr. David Kelly and his young assistant, David Cameron. Kelly was later found dead of suspected suicide, and Cameron was found, even more mysterously, ruling Britain as prime minister.

This “ratline” is one long used by “Lord of War” Victor Bout, photographed below with VT columnist Dmitri Khalezov (former Russian nuclear investigator) in the background.

This is how nuclear arsenals in a half dozen or more non-nuclear states like Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and South Korea came into being.

One of the investigators had been in New York for some time. He was living in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

The original team had been headed by John O’Neill, who had been tasked with hunting down Osama bin Laden but, in doing so, had stumbled on something very different going on, something he learned while working in Yemen. We believe he learned that bin Laden had been traveling in and out of the US, something we have confirmed, and that up to 9/11, bin Laden was actively employed by the CIA.

There are no active records of O’Neill working with Able Danger in Fort Lee, other than our direct contact with his coworkers on that assignment who claim he was forced out, publicly accused of misplacing classified information, later recovered.

Questions survive, such as why was there no attempt to deal with the nuclear threat? There had been a story passed around during the late 1990s that Israel had been storing nuclear material, perhaps even weapons, at its consulate in New York. In 2007/8 this storybegan moving around the internet but never in relation to 9/11.

This we do know

We know that specialized nuclear devices suitable for use in this type of scenario had been designed by a team at the Los Alamos National Laboratories, weapons that left little or no residual radiation unless, as was the case after 9/11, water was poured onto ground zero to cool the massive underground fires caused by melted steel mixed with liquefied granite in the form of magma, which persisted until January 2002.

We have not been able to confirm this team as being part of the nuclear conspiracy but we have confirmed that the team leader was a primary proponent of the absurd “nano-thermite” theory of detonation.

We also know that a grand jury seated in Houston actively silences all involved in Able Danger, that being the very few who survived the series of “accidents” and other mishaps. All are under threat of imprisonment for violating the Patriot Act if information revealing US government complicity in 9/11 is revealed.

A key and highly confirmed aspect of this story is the ravaged American nuclear arsenal. That documentation is “out there” as is evidence of the use of nuclear weapons by Israel, the US and others on almost two dozen occasions since 1945, according to top level sources at the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Continue to more background on Fort Lee and this trip to the other side of the mirror:

…by

Gordon Duff and Jeff Smith, Editors

________

“Down the Yellow Brick Road Once Again”

Fort Lee, New Jersey played a key role in 9/11. We are mapping out, using Google Earth, some of the incidents involved in presenting a rational response to the cover up, both the government version and the amateur “aftermarket” B-grade version. If you haven’t watched the entire video, please do that now.

George Washington Bridge

All major roadways in and out of New York were to be destroyed on 9/11. It was these teams, brought in from Israel that included the Mohammed Atta group, confirmed as directly tied to both the CIA and Egyptian intelligence, that were under surveillance by a combined task force that coordinated with local law enforcement.

So, when thousands of pounds of explosives were placed inside the cable anchorage, teams were dispatched to disable these devices as soon as the attack at the World Trade Center began.

Simultaneous to the cutting of the cables, a massive truck bomb, as described in CBS and CNN news reports and police radio intercepts, was to explode (as heard, police reported this truck did explode), taking down the roadway supports, thus dropping the bridge “like a rock,” into the Hudson River.

Downing Building 7, Hiding the Nukes

How to hide a nuke in a high rise building: make it look like a Halon fire extinguisher tank.

The Tunnels

Both the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels were to be demolished on 9-11. We have only one arrest confirmation from the Manhattan side. NYPD roadblocks at the Lincoln Tunnel chased down a van that did a quick turn-around to avoid arrest. Two suspects were arrested with weapons and a truck filled with explosives.

Police commissioner Bernie Kerik, recently released from prison, was on the scene with his personal Counter Terrorism Squad to take custody. They were never seen since.

Local Terror Cells Role

In place local assets, some with direct connections to the Ukranian “Kosher Mafia” or

1. Vehicles for hauling explosives

2. Access to Transit Authority facilities, vehicles and personnel for planting explosives

3. Cooperation with local condo/co-op security assuring unfettered access to rooftops

The Able Danger investigation, years later, staff gutted by Clinton blackmail cutbacks, tracked a major terror operation to Fort Lee, New Jersey. There they found the CIA, Mossad and Saudi Intelligence pulling together operational teams, moving vans, “art students” and even a few “dancing Israelis”….

The “dancer/art student” groups had a variety of tasks on 9/11, among them. All but one team were returned to Israel after visiting Saudi Arabia. This was the alleged “bin Laden family” that Bush ordered a special plane for.

There were no bin Laden family members in the US as Osama bin Laden had been on the official terror list for many years by 9/11, a story in itself:

Offloading nuclear weapons at Teterboro

Transporting nukes to Ground Zero locations

Preparing truck bombs for George Washington Bridge, Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and GWB cable vault

Planting jammers on buildings on exhibit one to block Port Authority dispatchers and first responder radios

Plant explosives on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge where the cables are anchored, in order to collapse the bridge

Coordinate with Mohammed Atta and his group with Saudi intelligence

Of the 3 jammers locations shown below, two of those planted were recovered by the FCC and are held in evidence in Houston, Texas awaiting the “waiting until hell freezes over” Grand Jury to reconvene on Able Danger and 9/11.

Many remember the stories about how fire department radios didn’t work and how new radios would have taken care of the problem. This is the real reason for the radio problems.

The locations on this map were supplied by Jeff Smith who worked at the surveillance safe house and at the FBI office shown above. The safe house on Tom Hunter road was strategically placed to keep track of the Mossad “art student” rental further up Tom Hunter Road and across the street.

Mohammed Atta lived at 215 Main, four blocks over, within easy walking distance of the Israeli facility, the jammer targets and the bridge. He was across the parking lot from the Port Authority (220 Bruce Reynolds Road) which was within a “golf shot” of the FBI investigation offices.

It was the Port Authority that chose the security company that runs the Teterboro Airport, that waved through the cargos containing the nuclear devices for not only the trucks under the twin towers but those in the halon extinguishers that took down building 7 as well.

The real purpose of the 9/11 attack was much more than taking down the World Trade Center. Imagine New York City, the WTC “evaporated,” the George Washington Bridge sitting in the Hudson, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels flooded, hundreds drowned and the city entirely cut off and in full panic mode while police and fire radios were jammed.

Were other attacks on Washington foiled as well? The White House or Capitol Building targets? Could martial law have been declared? Worse?

In the end we got the Department of Homeland Security. This reminds me of the Len Deighton book, SSGB, a fictional tale of Britain’s Scotland Yard, working for the German SS after Hitler’s successful invasion of the UK. We got the DHS after losing a war with AIPAC. You just can’t make this stuff up!

________

VT requests that the officers who arrested the Israeli “suspects” with the “thousands of pounds of explosives” (CNN) or who were captured “as the van exploded” come forward.

We also ask that all the witnesses of the 2nd plane that was allowed to fly out of the US that day come forward, to confirm that it carried the “exiting” Israeli team, including the above mentioned ones who were caught. We know who authorized the plane to leave, a key aspect of the operation, including the NY City law enforcement officials who performed some magic tricks that day.

________

Fort Lee

Fort Lee is the real staging ground for 9/11. It was chosen for a good reason. News reports from 9/11 have been eliminated from archives, lists of terrorists caught then released at the orders of New York City and White House officials and flown out of the country are gone. Police who made the arrests, recorded above, are under gag order.

Moreover, a vast support network involved in the preparation, planning and support of the 9/11 attacks, including the many unsuccessful attacks, not only are enjoying their freedom, some are among the most powerful Americans.

As stated, 9/11 begins in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

The “condo and co-op” community there is the home of one of the largest and most politically powerful “Israeli first” groups in America including key members of the notorious organization, JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, reputed to be more influential than PNAC (Project for a New American Century) and far more militant.

AN EXAMINATION OF JINSA SHOWS IT TO BE ORGANIZED IN CELLS LIKE A TERROR GROUP.

Is it a surprise that the George Washington Bridge, Fort Lee’s primary landmark and the “view” sought by the residents of the highrises chosen for planting the radio jammers, was scheduled for a dramatic demolition on 9/11 with hundreds of commuter vehicles slated for the bottom of the Hudson River?

Fort Lee Mafia

Since the 1930s, Fort Lee has been a “mob town,” with the beginnings of “Murder Inc” and the Albert Anastasia gang and Joe Adonis. It all began when New York Mayor LaGuardia threw the mob out of New York. The new George Washington Bridge provided a home for the mob in Fort Lee with gambling clubs lining the Palisades on both sides of the GW Bridge.

The fall of communism saw Russian/Ukranian organized crime come to New Jersey, settling in Fort Lee (see Appendix I). The Taiwanchik-Trincher group is an amalgamation of Israeli/Ukrainian/Cypriot gangs operating illegal gambling operations throughout the United States with ties to the Romney/Bain financial group. From an indictment in Manhattan federal court:

“The Taiwanchik-Trincher Organization (the “Organization”) was a criminal enterprise with strong ties to Russia and Ukraine. The enterprise operated a high-stakes, illegal sports gambling business out of New York City that catered primarily to Russian oligarchs living in Ukraine and Russia. Between 2006 and April 2012, the enterprise laundered approximately $100 million in proceeds from their gambling operation in Russia and Ukraine through shell companies and bank accounts in Cyprus; and of this $100 million, approximately $50 million was subsequently sent from Cyprus into the United States. Once the money had been transferred to the United States, it was either laundered through additional shell companies or invested in legitimate investments, such as hedge funds and real estate.

The Taiwanchik-Trincher Organization operated under the protection of Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, who is known as a “Vor,” a term translated as “Thief-in-Law,” that refers to a member of a select group of high-level criminals from the former Soviet Union. Tokhtakhounov is also under indictment in the Southern District of New York for his alleged involvement in bribing officials at the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Tokhtakhounov is a fugitive and is still being sought.”

Further Reading – Background Articles

Breakthrough: Video Case for War with Israel over 9/11

Suppressed/Classified: America’s Secret Thermobaric Nukes

Blockbuster: Wikileaks Suppressed, Mossad Ran 9/11 Arab hijacker terrorist operation

Breaking: 9/11, Filling in the Map, Tracing the Nukes

Debunking the 28 Pages, Top Secret 9/11 Document Revealed

9-11 Revelations continue, Humiliating the victims, Dancing on their Graves

The Problem with Cold Fusion and How small can a Nuclear Reaction Be?

The B-61, the more Usable Nuke

VT Nuclear Education: North Korea Fission-Fusion (Hydrogen bomb) Device Claim Doubted

The Secret of America’s Doomsday Waste

VT Nuclear Education: The History of Nuclear Weapons Design 1945 to 2015

VT Nuclear Education: The Uranium Hydride Bomb

VT Nuclear Education: Subcritical and microfission explosives

VT Nuclear Education – Freon and the Hohlraum

The Secret Nazi role in Building the Atomic Bomb

How the Nazi A-Bomb Worked

VT Nuclear Education: Critical Mass

VT Nuclear Education: Laser and Nuke Weapon Calculator

VT Nuclear Education: Germany

9/11 Science: Craters and Explosive Damage

Neutron Bombs and Other Toys

NEO: Building Nuclear Case Against Saudis

VT Nuclear Education: The Secrets of EMP Weapons

VT Nuclear Education: Explosive Properties of Reactor Grade Plutonium

Nukes on Yemen, Confirming Proofs: Yield Estimation from Illumination Time

Nukes on Yemen, Confirming Proofs: Introduction to Nuclear Operations

Nukes on Yemen-Confirming Proofs: Calculating Nuclear Blast Yield from the Flash

How Israel Was Busted Nuking Yemen

Saudis Have Israel Nuke Yemen for Them

VT Warning of EMP Plot Confirmed by Guardian

VT Nuke Education: Thorium Warnings

VT Nuclear Education: CIA/Iran Trial and more disclosure

NEO – CIA Torture Report Ties Cheney/Bout to 9/11 Nukes

The DOE Defends Nuclear 9/11

Too Classified to Publish: Bush Nuclear Piracy Exposed

Nuke Cancer from 9/11 Revealed

9/11 NUKE DEMOLITION PROOF: Firefighters Radiation Cancers “Off the Scale”

Doc Submitted By Russian Intel

Constructing the Nuclear Child

VT Nuclear Education Series

Nuclear Education Series: Dimona Classified

VT Nuclear Terrorism Education Series

VT Nuclear Education: Undeniable Proof of 9/11 as a Nuclear Event

VT Nuclear Education: As the Hammer Drops

VT Nuclear Education: Mossad/N. Korea Links, MOX

Nuclear Roundtable: America’s Nuclear Arsenal

Officials Cite “Thermo-Nuke” in 9/11 Demo

VT Nuclear Education: Fission Based Thermobaric Weapons

IAEA investigators: Audit reveals US, not Iran the Problem

VT Supporting Material on 9/11, Nuclear Physics and Disclosure Issues

Encyclopedia of Domestic Assassinations (The First 1%)

VT Nuclear Education: Anti – gravity

NEO – Mini Nukes and M16: The Economy of War (must read)

VT Nuclear Education: Nukes in Iraq, Confirmation UPDATED

VT Flexing Its Nuclear Muscle (must read)

Nuclear 9/11 Revealed: Theories and Disinformation, the Misguided and the Inhuman (must read)

VT Nuclear Education: Tactical Nuclear Warfare (must read)

VT Nuclear Education: Early Reactors

IAEA investigators: Audit reveals US, not Iran the problem (must read)

VT Nuclear Education: History of Mini-Nukes (must read)

VT Nuclear Education: Answering the Hype (must read)

VT Nuclear Education: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Atom Smasher (must read)

VT Nuclear Education: LENR Neutron Distribution

Einsteins Theory on Magnetic Buoyancy

VT Science: Fuel Cell Technology

VT Science: The Farnsworth Fusor

VT Science: HAARP

Fusion: Junk Science For Rubes

NEO – Nuclear Threats Enter the Mainstream (must read)

VT Science: NASA’s Low Energy Fusion VooDoo/DooDoo

The Connection Between Aurora and Black Triangles (Redux)

Jeff Smith on Upcoming Able Danger Leak

VT Nuclear Education: Japan

VT Nuclear Education: Detonations and Deceit

9/11 Hokum: Deconstructing Christopher Bollyn and Steve Jones

Why are the Commanding Generals being Sacked?

Appendix I

List of recent Fort Lee organized crime convictions:

“Twenty-eight defendants in this case have pled guilty and two have entered into deferred prosecution agreements. The defendants who have pled to date have agreed to forfeit, in total, more than $68 million. The following defendants have pled guilty, and have been sentenced or await sentencing:

Bryan Zuriff pled guilty to gambling charges on July 26, 2013, and was sentenced on November 25, 2013.

William Barbalat pled guilty to gambling charges on August 14, 2013, and was sentenced on December 16, 2013.

Kirill Rapoport pled guilty to gambling charges on August 16, 2013, and was sentenced on December 19, 2014.

Edwin Ting and Justin Smith pled guilty to gambling charges on September 4, 2013, and were sentenced on January 21, 2014, and January 6, 2014, respectively.

Dmitry Druzhinsky and David Aaron pled guilty to gambling charges on October 4, 2013, and were sentenced on April 18, 2014, and February 14, 2014, respectively.

Alexander Zaverukha pled guilty to gambling charges on October 10, 2013, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 1, 2014.

Nicholas Hirsch pled guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud on October 16, 2013, and was sentenced on February 25, 2014.

Anatoly Shteyngrob pled guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering on October 17, 2013, and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 10, 2014.

Yugeshwar Rajkumar pled guilty to gambling charges on October 18, 2013, and was sentenced on March 25, 2014.

Stan Greenberg pled guilty to conspiring to commit racketeering on October 22, 2013, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 2, 2014.

Arthur Azen pled guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering and conspiring to collect extensions of credit by extortionate means on November 5, 2013, and was sentenced on April 9, 2014.

Hillel Nahmad pled guilty to gambling charges on November 12, 2013, and was sentenced on April 30, 2014.

Vadim Trincher pled guilty to conspiring to commit racketeering on November 14, 2013, and was sentenced on April 30, 2014.

Eugene Trincher pled guilty to gambling charges on November 14, 2013, and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9, 2014.

Anatoly Golubchik pled guilty to conspiring to commit racketeering on November 15, 2013, and was sentenced on April 29, 2014.

Illya Trincher pled guilty to gambling charges on November 15, 2013, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8, 2014.

Ronald Uy pled guilty to structuring financial transactions on November 25, 2013, and was sentenced on March 27, 2014.

Moshe Oratz pled guilty to gambling charges on December 3, 2013, and was sentenced on April 9, 2014.

Michael Sall pled guilty to interstate travel in aid of an unlawful activity (illegal gambling) and Jonathan Hirsch pled guilty to gambling charges on December 4, 2013. Sall was sentenced on April 18, 2014, and Hirsch is scheduled to be sentenced on May 9, 2014.

Noah Siegel pled guilty to gambling charges on December 5, 2013, and was sentenced on April 10, 2014.

Molly Bloom pled guilty to gambling charges on December 12, 2013, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 2, 2014.

Alexander Katchaloff pled guilty to gambling charges on January 16, 2014, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 20, 2014.

Donald McCalmont, John Jarekci, a/k/a “John Hanson,” and Abraham Mosseri pled guilty to making a fraudulent tax statement, to failing to file a tax return, and causing a financial institution to participate in a lottery related matter, respectively, on January 24, 2014, and are scheduled to be sentenced on May 29, 2014, May 28, 2014, and May 21, 2014, respectively.

William Edler and Peter Feldman entered into deferred prosecution agreements on April 11, 2014.

Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York City Police Department, and the Internal Revenue Service.

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Harris M. Fischman, Joshua A. Naftalis, Peter J. Skinner, and Kristy J. Greenberg of the Violent and Organized Crime Unit are in charge of the prosecution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Wilson of the Office’s Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Unit is responsible for the forfeiture aspects of the case.

[demondean-for-kingofhell]

If You Only Knew

CHAPTER 8: INTERROGATION

INFILTRATION || WITNESS || INHIBITIONS || MANIPULATION || EXPANSION || SUSPICION || INCARCERATION 

Dean practically burst into the room adjacent to the interrogation room, where the one way glass showed a calm and collected Sam Winchester. “How long has he been here?” He asked the younger agent, who jerked his gaze away from their criminal and back to Dean.

He hastily grabbed a file and nearly dropped it, fumbling with the damn thing until Dean almost ripped it out of his grasp. “Uh…almost four hours, sir.”

“Anybody talk to him yet?” He took the file once it was handed to him, setting his coffee down to flip through the manilla folder.

“N-no, sir. Waiting for you. As ordered.” The agent’s eyes went back to the one way glass.

“He’s tied, Agent. No need to be so nervous.” He tried to give the man a sympathetic look but he didn’t think he quite nailed it.

With a sigh he turned and stepped into the hall, then twisted the doorknob and straightened his back before entering the interrogation room. “Sam Winchester….you’re a hard man to track down. Dean tossed the file onto the table between them before taking a seat.

“Isn’t that the point though?” Sam only grinned at him, reaching for the file. “May I?”

“Sure.” Dean shrugged, pushing it closer to him. He’d made sure there wasn’t anything that would blow Y/N’s cover beforehand, though you were in there. “Knock yourself out.”

Sam flipped through the pages slowly, a smirk on his face. “Wow, you got the hots for me, Smith? There’s enough pictures in here to build a shrine with.” his grin darkened into a menacing smile. “Or fuel an obsession.”

“Nah, I just can’t decide which one I’m gonna release to the media when we bring your entire operation down. And all that that implies.” Dean leaned back in his chair, arms crossed to keep himself from strangling the man.

“You sound so sure,” Sam mused, eyes still on the photos as he flipped through them. “You got a nice, high security cell waiting for me at the Super Max?”

“Nope.” Dean popped his lips on the ‘p’, grinning hard. “Just a nice, deep hole in the ground.”

“Mm. That hurts. Your greatest conquest. Your Mona Lisa. You’re gonna bring me down and not even keep me on display? You don’t want to set an example?” He barked out a laugh, grabbing one of the photos and lifting it up. “How long have you been chasing me?”

Dean’s lip curled involuntarily. Far too long. “Trust me, you’ll be an example. But you don’t have to be around for it.”

“Oh, you’ll be a hero, no doubt.” Sam allotted. “But what about everyone that I help out? Ya know…charities and foundations are so underfunded sometimes…”

“What?” He tried to sounds more exasperated than anything.

“Oh, you weren’t aware. I see. I donate to charity. Just like everyone else.” he shrugged a shoulder carelessly. “Well, most everyone else. Half of what I make every month goes to a charity or foundation. And trust me. It’s a lot more than you realize.”

“The fact is…that your gifting ways don’t change anything. And if I had enough evidence I’d have you behind bars. Hell, might be even sooner than you think. You might as well confess now. Save all the chasing I’ll have to do. Stop wasting my time. I’ve got much more important shit I’d like to focus on.”

“I know the law. You can’t hold me here without evidence of a crime for more than 24 hours. Have I committed some crime? Got any photos of me at a drug deal? A murder? Jaywalking?” he tried hard to control his smile. “What’s funny is…you keep me in here and think I’ll slip up. That I’ll get so frustrated that I give something away.” he leaned forward, glaring at the agent. “Good. Fucking. Luck.”

Dean stared back at him, until the photo between Sam’s fingers finally caught his attention. Y/N. Son of a bitch.

“See something you like agent?” He studied the picture. “I bought her that dress. The first night we went out.” he flipped it around so Dean could see it better. “We’re gonna disappear, Dean. You’ll never find us. So maybe now’s a good time for you to stop the chase.”

Dean fumed, unable to say a word about Y/N because it would surely blow her cover. Just the thought of Sam’s hands on her….

Sam’s eyes flickered back to the pile, his satisfied smirk disappearing. “You had a tail on us…even in Barcelona?”

“I see you everywhere you go Sam. Why did that surprise you?”

“Because only three people knew where we were going on that jet. And one of us wasn’t even on it.” He thought about Castiel. The deal with the Russians that went south. Kate. Sofia. Though Sofia hadn’t even known they were going to Barcelona. “You’re done, Smith. Got it? I will fucking end you! Both of his fists hit the table so hard it shook, hate in his eyes as he stared at Dean. “When I’m done with you you’ll be begging me to kill you.”

Dean was rattled by his sudden show of anger, but he remained unaffected on the surface. “Bring it on, Sammy. We’ll see who wins this war.” Dean gathered up the papers and photos, standing.

“Yeah, we will.” Sam snarled at him, deft fingers grabbing up a photo of Y/N in Barcelona. “Oh, hey. You mind if I keep this? It’s a great shot. You really gotta give me the name of your photographer.”

Dean snatched the photo from him and shoved it into the folder, grabbing his coffee and turning for the door. “Enjoy the rest of your eighteen hour shift, dirtbag. You won’t be leaving this room.”

“Have a nice day, Agent.” Sam drawled, giving the man a dazzling smile.

Dean had to lean against the opposite wall once he was back in the hallway, taking a few deep breaths through his nose. Fuck, he’d just let Sam use Y/N to get under his skin. And he now had two more potential problems. He knew about Novak or he knew about Y/N.

He had to get to the hospital.

As promised, Sam was back to see you the next day. “Hey,” you beamed at him, much better off than you had been the day before. You were actually sitting up in the bed, and the pain meds were needed less frequently. Your heart fluttered in your chest when you saw the state of him. Unshaven, in the same clothes as yesterday. “Baby, what happened?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle, Katie.” he didn’t waste any time coming to you and wrapping you in a gentle hug, taking a seat in his previously vacated chair. “Once the DEA let me go I came right back here.” he gave you a cavalier grin. “I think Agent Smith is into me.”

Even though he looked a little worse for wear he could still make your heart flutter with one stupid smile. You gave him one of your own, opting to tease him. “Well, he’d be stupid not to be.”

He laughed, taking your hand and brushing his lips across your knuckles. “So, when do you get to leave? Wanna take you home and spoil you.”

Your smile faltered and your hand tightened in his. “Uh…that’s the thing. The doctor says I’m good to go tomorrow, and I heard the agents talking.” A quick pause. “They’re taking me into custody.” You held up your free hand, still cuffed to the bed. You knew you’d be processed, but only because the agents had told you. Dean had insisted it was to protect your cover.

“What?! On what charges?” he was instantly pissed, hard eyes gazing into yours. “Tell me!”

You jumped, just the volume of his voice enough to scare you. “Uh…they had a whole list. Possession of illegal firearms, intent to distribute. Conspiracy to commit terrorism.” That was the big one.

“Okay, just…” he held his hands up, silently begging you to stop. “I’ve got a guy. He can get you out of this.” He started to relax, now that he had a plan in place. “You trust me, right Katie?”

“Of course.” You answered immediately. “With my life.” You weren’t even trying to placate him, you meant every word of it. You trusted Sam more than you’d ever trusted anybody else in your life. Sure he was the bad guy. Everybody was a little bad. Sam just didn’t leave his locked away. He was good to you, and that was all that mattered.

“Good, baby. I’m gonna get you out of this. Then we’re gonna run away. Somewhere where nobody will find us.” He whispered the last words almost reverently.

His desperation made your heart beat a little faster, your breath catching. “Sam? What’s wrong?”

He was silent for a minute, his eyes focused on the far wall, but unseeing.

“Sam!” You wanted to shriek at him, but managed to keep your voice down. “What the hell is going on?”

He jerked, as if you were pulling him from a deep thought. “Look, Katie. I’m not gonna lie to you. We have a pretty honest relationship, and I owe it to you. “The DEA is…they’re getting too close for comfort. If any of the few people I have left flip on me…I’m going down.”

Your gut twisted and you squeezed his hand, wondering where the hell he was going with this.

“I didn’t care before…but I can’t lose you. I can’t drag you down with me, or let you get killed in a gunfight.” he let out a heavy sigh. “So either…I leave you behind and you go back to being a…friggin’ phone sex operator, or we run.”

This wasn’t happening. This was Sam. Ruler of his empire, who could make the oceans bend to his will, was…running away? This had to be more serious than he was letting on.

“Katie…?” he kissed your hand, and you suddenly got the suspicion that he was trying to keep from climbing into the bed with you. “I’m not gonna force you to stay, or to leave. This has to be your decision. But I need it now.”

“No! I wanna go with you, Sam! I don’t want to be without you…please! Don’t leave me?” You moved over, the tortured look on his face made you want to comfort him. You winced when pain seared through your chest but patted the mattress. “C’mon, get up here. Let me hold you.”

He didn’t need told twice, carefully folding his tall frame into the bed with you, your head against his chest.

He didn’t say anything for a few long seconds, though you could almost hear the gears turning in his head. You didn’t want to push him. He would speak up when he wanted to. “It’s gonna be okay, Sam. We’re gonna get out of this mess.” You felt the resolve, heavy in your chest. “If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll get you out of this.”

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[haydennation]

Return Engagement

After taking a break from making movies Hayden Christensen is back. He’s a partner in a new production company, just finished shooting his first movie in three years, and in November sees the launch of a menswear collection for RW&CO. By David Livingstone (Fall 2013) It’s a trick performed by the Ontario countryside: It makes people disappear. You can go for miles driving by houses without catching sight of anybody in them.  On an afternoon in late July, riding through Uxbridge Township, which is just an hour or so outside Toronto, even the houses vanish as you travel over a narrow, hilly highway walled on either side by jubilant trees that have obviously benefitted from a rainy summer. But human society comes back with a big bang when, turning onto a dirt road, you approach a big barn and encounter a hive of big-town types. A photographer, someone from his agency, the stylists, the publicists, the marketers, all busy making arrangements for the next day, when they will shoot the campaign for a collection of menswear produced by RW&CO., in collaboration with Hayden Christensen.   It would be easy to think that Christensen, famous for the two Star Wars prequels in which he plays the character who becomes Darth Vader, has really gone over to the dark side now that he’s become involved in fashion. But he navigates his way around two crews--the second being a smaller but equally urbane bunch from Men’s Fashion who have come to take his picture for our cover—without fuss or affectation. The barn belongs to Christensen. He built it on property that he bought almost seven years ago and he thinks of it as “a way for me to try and do something sustainable, sort of a back to basics and good for my soul.” And apparently he has one, which is evident in his eyes and those of his dog, who never leaves his side.

By itself, the idea of celebrity fashion may be more specious than soulful, but Christensen brings plausibility to the enterprise. When I first met him in April at the Montreal headquarters of RW&CO (a division of Reitmans), he was going over samples of the 20 piece collection due to arrive in stores across Canada on November 7. He never pretended to be a designer, but he did lay claim to a point of view. Referencing the double breasted overcoat, at 249, it represents the top end of the line, which starts at 20$ for a peaked wool cap—he speaks of it as ”a favourite cut.” And that’s not promotional jive: Christensen has been in such coats both onscreen and off. In a 2009 movie called New York, I Love You, he wears one on the streets of Manhattan, walking next to co-star Rachel Bilson. He wore another one in May on the streets of Cannes with Bilson, his girlfriend, at his side. Not only consistent, Christensen is also specific in his taste. In the RW&CO showroom, he and Joe Fezzuoglio, the merchandise manager for menswear, discuss the placement of pockets and buttons. Attention is paid to the way the hood sits on the hoodie and the precise degree of twist in the seams of trousers in stretch cotton. “I’ve always had a real interest in design,” says Christensen, explaining why he chose to work with RW&CO. “I have a passion for it. I’ve spent a lot of time designing pieces of furniture and plans for houses.” The claim too is supported by facts. Inside the barn in Uxbridge, Christensen maintains a large workshop equipped with all the tools for working with wood. It’s being used as a facility for the restoration of Christensen’s second farm, which is located about 10 minutes away and includes a 19th century house and a barn for animals, among them sheep that, since Christensen acquired them, have inspired him to stop eating lamb, in the same way that his pet pot-bellied pigs have persuaded him to give up pork. Even when that workshop becomes a wardrobe department, Christensen appears quietly content. From his collection hanging on a rack, he makes choices easily, and dresses without need for tips from fashion professionals. Comfortable in the clothes, Christensen has been less content with the fit if his career. Talking about its highlights, he describes the Star Wars movies as life changing and cites Life as a House-which won him nominations for Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards—as the film that informed him of the medium’s potential. Christensen was 19 when he made it. Today at 32, the Vancouver born actor still believes that “filmmaking is really an endeavor that has incredible possibilities,” but he adds that there are also “lots of misses.” Feeling disenchanted, he stepped away from the business for a few years. But having not released a movie since 2010, Christensen says, “Now I’ve got the itch again. I want to have real control over my future. Sometimes as an actor, you can feel a little like a prop. I’m trying to get involved with projects where I can contribute more than just my acting services.” And so it was at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Christensen was way more than a wayfarer in a great double breasted coat with a beautiful companion. (Assuming they’re talking about Rachel here?) .He, his older brother Tove and their Russian partners announced the launch of Glacier films, a film production and finance company with offices in Los Angeles, Toronto, and Moscow. Earlier on the day of the cover shoot, Christensen had flown in from New Orleans, where he had been filming American Heist. A Glacier production directed by Sarik Andreasyan, a Glacier partner, it’s a remake of The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery, a 1959 film noir starring Steve Mcqueen. Mcqueen, Marlon Brando, James Dean—Christensen has been compared to them all, but it’s not easy to name an actor, past or present, that he is exactly like. “It’s hard to place him,” says film critic Jason Anderson, who points to Shattered Glass, a 2003 movie based on the story of Stephen Glass—a disgraced journalist who presented fiction as truth—as perhaps best representing the “nervous energy and intensity” of which Christensen is capable. In contrast, his foray into fashion provides an opportunity to witness at his most cordial and compliant. He praises the RW&CO team for being “unusually nice people.” About working with them, he says, “It’s been a real pleasure for me, because for some reason, these guys really trust me.” Watching Christensen in action on set, it’s understandable why they would: He’s as nice as they are. What’s more difficult to figure out is how he manages to be the centre of attention and yet seems almost as invisible as those people unseen in their houses on country roads.

[christianworldf]

New Post has been published on Nehemiah Reset

New Post has been published on https://nehemiahreset.org/news/national-news/national-government-news/democrats-hope-mueller-gives-credence-to-their-claim-of-an-unlawful-trump/

Democrats hope Mueller gives credence to their claim of an unlawful Trump

House Democrats are hoping Robert S. Mueller III illuminates potential obstruction of justice by President Trump and gives credence to their claim of an unlawful president for millions of Americans who will decide on Trump’s political future.

Mueller’s much-anticipated testimony Wednesday is a pivotal moment for congressional investigators, holding promise — and peril — for Democrats as they finally get their chance to question a reluctant witness about his nearly two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the president tried to derail the inquiry.

Democrats expect Mueller to describe in detail at least five of 10 episodes of possible obstruction that the former special counsel laid out in his report, which found insufficient evidence to show a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the election and reached no conclusion about whether the president tried to block the probe.

Democrats, however, are divided on what they hope to get out of the long-awaited day of Mueller speaking to Congress and a nation. Ninety-two Democrats favor impeachment of Trump and consider Mueller’s testimony their best shot at moving public sentiment toward ousting the president. Party leaders, reluctant to pursue an inquiry, are hoping the hearings inflict enough political damage to Trump to undermine his reelection bid in next year’s election.

During a recent closed meeting, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) argued that all Democrats need to do is let Mueller talk — particularly given that less than 3 percent of the country has read the 448-page redacted report, she said.

“I’d like to have a level of calmness — no drama — regarding the Mueller presentation,” Pelosi told her colleagues, according to an individual in the room who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss internal talks. “The very fact that he is presenting is what we want, so many more people will be aware of the charges that are in the Mueller report.”

Democrats do not expect major revelations from Mueller, who will testify for three hours before the House Judiciary Committee and two hours before the House Intelligence Committee. They expect his answers to be short and curt, and have crafted questions that they hope will elicit a narrative from Mueller of a president committing illegal acts who would have faced prosecution if not for Justice Department policy forbidding the indictment of a sitting president.

[Mueller, House panels strike deal to delay hearings until July 24, giving lawmakers more time to question him]

Mueller’s team wrote in the report that it was bound by that policy from deciding or alleging — even privately — that Trump had committed a crime.

“We don’t need anything dramatic from Robert Mueller,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee who favors impeachment. “We just need him to highlight the main parts of his report because it’s such a damning report — and then we win.”

Clearly feeling the pressure of the moment, Democrats have been practicing. Over the past few weeks, members of both committees have been holding one-on-one prep sessions, with aides playing Mueller and forcing lawmakers to respond to different scenarios, such as a reticent Mueller or a combative Mueller. Several lawmakers have had multiple sessions.

Privately, Pelosi has cautioned Democrats not to get carried away in their questioning, as overreach and grandstanding would undermine their goals for the hearings.

Democrats will be in the spotlight for their performance as much as Mueller. Academics, lawyers and former White House counsel John Dean, a key player in Watergate, have hardly created a ripple with their testimony. Congressional investigations have produced no blockbuster revelation seen as damaging to Trump, complicated in part by White House resistance to their inquiries.

At the same time, the party’s liberal base has grown increasingly frustrated with what they see as ineffective oversight of the president.

“I think people recognize that this is a very important moment in our oversight responsibilities,” said Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.) when asked about the nervousness among Judiciary Committee members.

The two panels have taken the unusual step of coordinating their questioning. Judiciary Committee Democrats plan to focus on possible obstruction of justice, while members of the Intelligence Committee are intent on getting answers about Russia’s contacts with the Trump campaign.

“We are operating under the expectation that most American citizens have not had a chance to read the paper report,” said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the Intelligence Committee. “And then we’ll have questions for him that go beyond the report . . . we don’t recognize any limitations, there are none in law or statute or policy, and the attorney general has disregarded them anyway.”

Over the nearly two-year investigation, the special counsel charged 34 people, including 26 Russian nationals, and secured guilty pleas from seven, including several high-level Trump campaign and administration officials. The investigation concluded in March, and the Justice Department in April released the office’s report documenting its work.

[Mueller complained that Barr’s letter did not capture ‘context’ of Trump probe]

Democrats argue that in his public statements, Attorney General William P. Barr mischaracterized the report as more favorable to Trump than it was meant to be, and have prepared to push back on the impressions he created.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), a member of the Intelligence Committee, wants to know “which relationships were so compromised that they still present security risks to the United States, even if they’re not criminally prosecutable.” Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), who sits on both committees, wants to know why Mueller didn’t push to interview Trump for his investigation and why he said he could not exonerate the president on obstruction. 

On the Republican side, lawmakers see the hearings as an opportunity to bolster their case that the report cleared the president, while demanding a reckoning from Mueller for an investigation they argue was biased from the start.

“There’s been a lot of concern about, you know, how this whole two-year trek got started and how things were done,” said Rep. Douglas A. Collins (R-Ga.), the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. “At the end of the day, the report showed no collusion conclusively and no charge of obstruction. . . . We’re just going to say: Why did we get put through this?”

Republicans also have been practicing. Some, including Trump ally Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), have studied videos of Mueller’s congressional testimony from when he was FBI director, to better understand his moves. Judiciary Republicans recently held a closed mock hearing for their members. 

“Robert Mueller is the LeBron James of using 300 words to say absolutely nothing,” Gaetz said, a reference to the basketball star.

Republicans plan to highlight Mueller’s finding that he could not establish a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia; anti-Trump text messages discovered on the phones of two of Mueller’s agents by an independent watchdog; and allegations that a salacious, unsubstantiated dossier authored by Trump’s political adversaries triggered the probe.

The strategy holds potential promise with the GOP base, but also peril if lawmakers attack Mueller, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who has had a distinguished career serving both Republicans and Democrats. Yet that’s exactly what Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) suggested he might do with his five minutes of questioning. The Trump ally has a self-published book titled “Mueller Unmasked,” and he plans to raise those allegations.

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has also tried to discredit Mueller’s testimony in advance, accusing Democrats of feeding Mueller “helpful phrases.” In fact, no Democrat on the committee or aide has had direct contact with Mueller, according to a panel aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.

Privately, some Republicans acknowledge that they have to strike a balance, calling into question any adverse findings about the president but also ensuring that they don’t appear too partisan in criticizing Mueller.

“The biggest risk that exists is that my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle overreach and attack Bob Mueller, who was someone with a history of being a war hero, law enforcement professional, a patriotic American,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a Judiciary panel member. “But the likelihood is, my Republican friends cannot help themselves, because they never miss an opportunity to bend over backward to please Donald Trump.”

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[duaneodavila]

Trump, Tax Naked

To cut to bare bones, there are three kinds of Trump supporters: those who fully appreciate what a vulgar, amoral ignoramus he is, but will pretend not to notice as long as he gives them things they want, such as conservative judges, and those who are too blinded by the game show host myth that he’s some billionaire genius who knows stuff*. The former are cynics, willing to sell their souls, so there’s nothing to be done to dissuade them from supporting Trump.

But what of the true believers? Is there anything that can shake them out of their mindless backing of a man who says windmills cause cancer? Maybe if he was revealed not merely as a rapist, a liar and moron, which is already clear, and reconfirmed almost hourly, but a fraud.

What if his tax returns showed that the one thing, the key to his myth, that distinguishes Darth Cheeto from the unemployed guy with three hungry kids, was a lie? What if it turned out that Trump was no billionaire, but a guy hanging on financially by a thread, scamming the public by attributing a billion dollars worth of good will to a name, without which would put his empire deep in the fiscal toilet?

When the Democrats took the majority in the House, and thus the chairs of committees, it was anticipated that they would go hard and fast at the IRS to get Trump’s tax returns, the ones he refused to reveal during his candidacy. Law didn’t require disclosure, but norms since Nixon did. Somehow, he managed to pull off the miracle of keeping his “rich guy being audited” returns a secret, which might have made sense to the willfully clueless but no one else.

Yet, there was a surprising hole in the subpoenas being issued by House committees, as the tax returns seemed suddenly forgotten. Until now, as House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., has requested six years of personal and corporate returns from the IRS. It’s not that the law doesn’t provide for the subpoena of tax returns. It does. It’s that the justification for the demand can’t be “we hate this guy and want to use his tax returns to prove he’s a fraud.”

But Neal sent the letter with this explanation.

Seriously? That’s the best excuse they could come up with?

“This request is about policy, not politics; my preparations were made on my own track and timeline, entirely independent of other activities in Congress and the Administration,” Neal said in a statement.

Neal said that the decision to request the returns was in the interest of ensuring “the accountability of our government and elected officials. To maintain trust in our democracy, the American people must be assured that their government is operating properly, as laws intend.

Heartwarming as those empty platitudinous crap may be, they had three months to come up with a reason that could pass the smell test, and this is the best they could do? Unfortunately, “we really hate this guy and want to reveal him as a phony” isn’t a justification to demand his tax returns, even if it would be more than sufficient for many Americans.

The question isn’t whether presidential candidates should be required by law to disclose their tax returns, their business interests, the accouterments of their life that had become the norm and was considered mandatory. It should be law, but it wasn’t. It should have precluded his winning, but it didn’t. Notably, it’s still not law. Yet, anyway.

But does the reason proffered by Neal suffice?

“Congress must have a legitimate legislative reason for accessing the returns,” Keith Whittington, a professor of politics at Princeton University, told ABC News. Whittington predicted that Congress could identify valid reasons to examine a sitting president’s tax returns, but obtaining Trump’s tax returns from his years as a private citizen “might be a little more complicated.”

One sound argument could be that tax returns were needed to ascertain whether there has been a violation of the Emoluments Clause, that Trump has used his office to enrich himself from foreign governments. There is no shortage of evidence to support such a claim, regardless of whether the interpretation of the reach of the Emoluments Clause is correct.

“A fishing expedition into the president’s taxes could open up politically motivated efforts to divulge others’ taxes, at the price of privacy,” Harold Krent, Dean of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, told ABC News.

Krent suggested a narrower approach: “I would think that the House would be better off seeking particular returns as part of a larger investigation into the flow of Russian money, payments of hush money, etc., in order to cabin the precedent,” he said.

Bear in mind, if disclosure of tax returns became available as a purely political tool, it would cut both ways.

Congressional Democrats have the “potential to shoot themselves badly in the foot,” [Iowa law prof Andy] Grewal said, pointing out that ninety percent of legislators don’t share their tax returns. Trump could use the same tax code provision to peek at their filings, he said.

This effort to get their hands on Trump’s tax returns could end up, like to many other efforts to “get” Trump, backfiring. But then, they don’t want just the returns during his presidency, which might carry a better rationale but would be inadequate to humiliate the fraudster who passed himself off as a billionaire. By extending the demand to his pre-presidency returns, however, they have reached beyond any legitimate justification and into the realm of pure partisan politics.

There is a good chance this valiant effort will open up the next round of court battles over the sufficiency of the justification, which will make Trump look like the victim of hateful Dems trying to abuse their power as we roll into the 2020 presidential campaign. But even if it succeeded, it would create yet more TrumpLaw.

“Weaponizing the tax code for political purposes sets a dangerous precedent,” [Texas Republican Rep. Kevin] Brady told reporters last week. “Because if Democrats or any party can abuse their power to rummage through the tax returns of the president, what will stop them from abusing that power in the future frankly to target any individual American that they see as a political enemy?”

And what will stop the Republicans from doing the same, as every Dem in Congress, or who runs for president, will surely realize?

*Within this group of dolts and crazies are those who see Trump as the Great White Hope to restore America to its former glory as a white, Christian nation.

Trump, Tax Naked republished via Simple Justice

[ntrending]

Could you qualify to be a full-fledged astronaut?

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/could-you-qualify-to-be-a-full-fledged-astronaut/

Could you qualify to be a full-fledged astronaut?

Becoming an astronaut isn’t for everyone. Robb Kulin recently became the first astronaut candidate in 50 years to drop out of NASA’s astronaut training program, and though it’s tempting to focus on the challenges and stresses he must have faced at NASA, former astronauts emphasize that this isn’t about one candidate who just couldn’t cut it.

“I don’t want to speculate about any specific astronaut,” says Chris Hadfield, a Canadian Air Force pilot and astronaut on three separate missions to space. “But it’s not like someone was taking a course and they just couldn’t hack it and they quit.”

Hadfield says this is exactly what the candidacy period is all about. It’s a time to evaluate whether this is something you truly want to do and where NASA has an opportunity to evaluate if you’re really the right person to do it. Being an astronaut isn’t just a job, he explains, it’s a life of service in a demanding field—it’s who you are. It’s relentless, and largely devoid of glamour, full of long hours and homework every night for decades. Naturally, he says, that’s simply not for everyone. And that’s why the candidacy period is important. “I think it’s a really healthy way to do business because it gives people a graceful way to change their mind. I think the process has worked exactly as it’s supposed to.”

“Robb was picked out of 18,500 people because he’s great,” says Cady Coleman, a chemist, U.S. Air Force officer, and a NASA astronaut on the Space Shuttle Columbia and the International Space Station. “I would imagine he’s making a good decision because that’s why we picked him.” The life of an astronaut simply isn’t something everyone wants. “I used to never be able to imagine why anyone would ever leave the agency or turn down the opportunity to fly, but there are different things that go into that decision,” she says. “You have a right to have a life as well, and not have people judge that.”

The Houston Chronicle broke the news of Kulin’s resignation on Monday. His resignation was confirmed by NASA, which said he would leave the program officially on Friday, August 31. NASA spokesperson Brandi Dean told the Associated Press that the Administration could not discuss the reasons for his departure without violating privacy laws.

For those who do want that life (or at least think they might want it), there are certainly plenty of challenges. It’s a long path replete with extensive, endless training and constant learning. Here’s roughly how it goes:

The basic requirements

Things have improved since the early Mercury missions, when astronaut candidates were drawn exclusively from the military and subject to mind-bending tests. Though astronauts come from multiple backgrounds, there are some essential requirements that you simply have to meet.

Have a bachelor’s degree in engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics (from an accredited institution).

Have at least three years of professional experience related to your field of study, or have at least 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft.

Be able to pass the long-duration physical exam, which includes having 20/20 vision (either naturally or through corrective surgery or lenses), having blood pressure below 140/90 while sitting, and being between 62 and 75 inches tall (to fit in the spacesuits).

Many astronauts come from academic backgrounds and earn advanced degrees—Master’s or PhDs—in their fields. Some have even been medical doctors on top of all that. Many come from a military background, having become pilots already.

But it can also take a healthy dose of good timing to make it into the program. “When I applied, I was a material scientist and they picked a few other material scientists in that group. Then they didn’t pick another material scientist for years,” says Coleman. “What if I didn’t apply until two years later? I would have been the same person with the same qualifications, but I probably wouldn’t have been picked.”

The candidate program

Selection to become an Astronaut Candidate—or “AsCan” as they’re lovingly called—is competitive. The number of applications varies a lot per cycle (they don’t open every year), but thousands of people apply for what ends up being anywhere from one to two dozen candidates in a class.

Once you’re in, you have roughly two years of classes and homework all designed to prepare you for potentially going to space. You go through survival training. You learn how to operate a space suit. You go up in the Vomit Comet, the plane that flies parabolically to give you a few minutes of low-gravity experience. You learn Russian—a crucial skill given how many Russian astronauts you’re likely to share time with on the International Space Station.

“Physically you have to be in reasonable shape,” says Hadfield. “Somehow that gets exaggerated in the media though. The real question is how do you do mentally, and can you perform and function under very difficult, demanding scenarios. That’s the job.”

“In terms of the training, I would say that the space suit stuff is physically the hardest,” Coleman says. “But I also think there’s a lot to be gained in figuring out what you do well and what you don’t, because you still have to do them.” She notes that space suits were mostly designed a long time ago, which means they weren’t really intended for people of a smaller stature, which women tend to be on average. That made the basics of operating one harder for someone like her, and that meant preparing a lot mentally in advance so that when she was training in the suit she could focus on the physical demands rather than the mental side.

And then there’s the family side of things. The candidacy program is a long time to be mostly away from your loved ones. Coleman commuted between her home in Massachusetts and NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas for 24 years to maintain her job and her family. “There are things you struggle with,” she says, “But I really loved it.”

It’s also during this time that you work out, as Robb Kulin and every other candidate does, whether you really want to do this. “Even during the week of selection, as you go through panel interviews and medicals at Johnson Space Center, we stress heavily that you should go talk to everyone,” explains Hadfield. “Go talk to the other astronauts. Make sure you understand the actual nature of the work so that you’re not just starry-eyed.”

The actual space part

After roughly two years as an AsCan, you technically become an astronaut but there’s still no guarantee that you’ll get to space. Astronauts wait years to get assigned to a crew, during which time they continue learning new skills and training in difficult scenarios. “Even though you may have made it through the whole process,” Hadfield explains, “it isn’t until the engines shut off as they push you into orbit that you have any assurance at all that you’re going to fly into space.”

Some astronauts wait a decade or more to get assigned. Others move through the process more quickly. It’s all part of the continual preparation that goes into life as an astronaut. “It’s not glamorous,” says Hadfield. “It’s not how it’s represented in movies and comic books. On the flip side, though, it’s a fantastic job. It’s immensely alluring, it’s so incredibly challenging, and it’s new for the human species. There’s a great fascination and joy in the job.”

“I think a lot of us feel a great responsibility to live up to the privilege that we’ve been given,” says Coleman, “and I say that more in a proud way than in a pressure way.” You become part of something bigger, a mission that’s much greater than any one person. Everyone is giving up different things to be a part of that mission, she explains, but that doesn’t mean she wants people to look at astronauts as being far away from anything they themselves could do. “It’s easy to talk about how amazing we are,” she says, “but I do a lot of talking to women and young people and the last thing I want to do is have them think ‘this probably couldn’t be me’.”

But that’s not to say it’s not fun and surreal to really be there. “As a chemist, getting paid to fly, to learn survival techniques, having someone describe the space station systems as if you’re going to live there because you are, that’s amazing,” Coleman says. “I remember for the first few weeks we’d all look at each other on Fridays and say “we got paid to do this. I really do miss it.”

Written By Sara Chodosh

[investmart007]

WASHINGTON | Trump assails Mueller following Times report

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/mFxfoV

WASHINGTON | Trump assails Mueller following Times report

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pressed his criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller on Monday, accusing Mueller’s team of “enjoying ruining people’s lives” and “looking to impact the election.”

Trump’s tweets followed a New York Times report that the White House general counsel, Don McGahn, has been cooperating extensively with the special counsel team investigating Russian election meddling and potential collusion with Trump’s Republican campaign.

Over the weekend, Trump insisted his general counsel isn’t a “RAT” like President Richard Nixon’s and accused Mueller’s team of “looking for trouble.” He contrasted McGahn with John Dean, the White House counsel for Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Dean ultimately cooperated with prosecutors and helped bring down the Nixon presidency in 1974, though he served a prison term for obstruction of justice.

“The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type ‘RAT,'” Trump wrote Sunday, misspelling “counsel.”

“But I allowed him and all others to testify – I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide …” he wrote.

On Monday he called Mueller “disgraced and discredited.”

“Anybody needing that much time when they know there is no Russian Collusion is just someone looking for trouble,” he wrote.

“They are enjoying ruining people’s lives and REFUSE to look at the real corruption on the Democrat side – the lies, the firings, the deleted Emails and soooo much more!”

Dean, Nixon’s White House counsel and a frequent critic of Trump, tweeted Sunday that he doubts the president has “ANY IDEA what McGahn has told Mueller. Also, Nixon knew I was meeting with prosecutors, b/c I told him. However, he didn’t think I would tell them the truth!”

Trump’s original legal team had encouraged McGahn and other White House officials to cooperate with Mueller, and McGahn spent hours in interviews.

Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump didn’t raise executive privilege or attorney-client privilege during those interviews because his team believed — he says now, wrongly — that fully participating would be the fastest way to bring the investigation to a close.

“The president encouraged him to testify, is happy that he did, is quite secure that there is nothing in the testimony that will hurt the president,” Giuliani said.

McGahn’s attorney William Burck added in a statement: “President Trump, through counsel, declined to assert any privilege over Mr. McGahn’s testimony, so Mr. McGahn answered the Special Counsel team’s questions fulsomely and honestly, as any person interviewed by federal investigators must.”

Giuliani, in his interview, also acknowledged that the reason for the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer, arranged by Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr.,

was that they had been promised dirt on Trump’s 2016 Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

“The meeting was originally for the purpose of getting information about Clinton,” he said, adding that the Trump team didn’t know that Natalia Veselnitskaya was Russian — even though emails later released by Trump Jr. show that she had been described as a “Russian government attorney.”

Giuliani also tried to make the case that having Trump sit down for an interview with Mueller’s team wouldn’t accomplish much because of the he-said-she-said nature of witnesses’ recollections.

“It’s somebody’s version of the truth, not the truth,” he said, telling NBC: “Truth isn’t truth.”

By ANNE FLAHERTY and JILL COLVIN, Associated Press

[currentbdnews]

https://ift.tt/2IyJdlU White House counsel Don McGahn not a ‘rat’ like Nixon’shttps://ift.tt/eA8V8J Trump: White House counsel Don McGahn not a ‘rat’ like Nixon’s For update news visit All Bd Newspaper

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Donald Trump insisted Sunday that his White House counsel isn’t a “RAT” like the Watergate-era White House attorney who turned on Richard Nixon, and he blasted the ongoing Russia investigation as “McCarthyism.”

Trump, in a series of angry tweets, denounced a New York Times story that his White House counsel, Don McGahn, has been co-operating extensively with the special counsel team investigating Russian election meddling and potential collusion with Trump’s Republican campaign.

“The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type ‘RAT,”‘ Trump wrote, misspelling the word “counsel,” as he often does. “But I allowed him and all others to testify – I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide……”

The New York Times said it stands by its story.

Dean, a frequent critic of the president, was the White House counsel for Nixon during the Watergate scandal. He ultimately co-operated with prosecutors and helped bring down the Nixon presidency in 1974, though he served a prison term for obstruction of justice.

Dean tweeted Saturday night in response to the Times story: “Trump, a total incompetent, is bungling and botching his handling of Russiagate. Fate is never kind to bunglers and/or botchers! Unlike Nixon, however, Trump won’t leave willingly or graciously.”

He added Sunday in response to Trump’s tweets that he doubts the president has “ANY IDEA what McGahn has told Mueller. Also, Nixon knew I was meeting with prosecutors, b/c I told him. However, he didn’t think I would tell them the truth!”

Trump’s original legal team had encouraged McGahn and other White House officials to co-operate with special counsel Robert Mueller, and McGahn spent hours in interviews.

Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump didn’t raise executive privilege or attorney-client privilege during those interviews because his team believed — he says now, wrongly — that fully participating would be the fastest way to bring the investigation to a close.

“The president encouraged him to testify, is happy that he did, is quite secure that there is nothing in the testimony that will hurt the president,” Giuliani said.

McGahn’s attorney William Burck added in a statement: “President Trump, through counsel, declined to assert any privilege over Mr. McGahn’s testimony, so Mr. McGahn answered the Special Counsel team’s questions fulsomely and honestly, as any person interviewed by federal investigators must.”

Trump on Sunday continued to rail against the Mueller investigation, which he has labeled a “witch hunt.”

“So many lives have been ruined over nothing – McCarthyism at its WORST!” Trump tweeted, referencing the indiscriminate and damaging allegations made by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s to expose communists.

“Study the late Joseph McCarthy, because we are now in period with Mueller and his gang that make Joseph McCarthy look like a baby! Rigged Witch Hunt!” he later wrote.

//

Giuliani, in his interview, also acknowledged that the reason for the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer, arranged by Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., was that they had been promised dirt on Trump’s 2016 Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

“The meeting was originally for the purpose of getting information about Clinton,” he said, adding that the Trump team didn’t know that Natalia Veselnitskaya was Russian — even though emails later released by Trump Jr. show that she had been described as a “Russian government attorney.”

Giuliani also tried to make the case that having Trump sit down for an interview with Mueller’s team wouldn’t accomplish much because of the he-said-she-said nature of witnesses’ recollections.

“It’s somebody’s version of the truth, not the truth,” he said, telling NBC’s Chuck Todd: “Truth isn’t truth.”

Todd appeared flummoxed by the comment, responding: “This is going to become a bad meme.”

// from https://ift.tt/2L6ULtW https://ift.tt/2PkkDWt

[marilynngmesalo]

Trump: White House counsel Don McGahn not a ‘rat’ like Nixon’s

Trump: White House counsel Don McGahn not a ‘rat’ like Nixon’s https://ift.tt/eA8V8J Trump: White House counsel Don McGahn not a ‘rat’ like Nixon’s

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Donald Trump insisted Sunday that his White House counsel isn’t a “RAT” like the Watergate-era White House attorney who turned on Richard Nixon, and he blasted the ongoing Russia investigation as “McCarthyism.”

Trump, in a series of angry tweets, denounced a New York Times story that his White House counsel, Don McGahn, has been co-operating extensively with the special counsel team investigating Russian election meddling and potential collusion with Trump’s Republican campaign.

“The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type ‘RAT,”‘ Trump wrote, misspelling the word “counsel,” as he often does. “But I allowed him and all others to testify – I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide……”

The New York Times said it stands by its story.

Dean, a frequent critic of the president, was the White House counsel for Nixon during the Watergate scandal. He ultimately co-operated with prosecutors and helped bring down the Nixon presidency in 1974, though he served a prison term for obstruction of justice.

Dean tweeted Saturday night in response to the Times story: “Trump, a total incompetent, is bungling and botching his handling of Russiagate. Fate is never kind to bunglers and/or botchers! Unlike Nixon, however, Trump won’t leave willingly or graciously.”

He added Sunday in response to Trump’s tweets that he doubts the president has “ANY IDEA what McGahn has told Mueller. Also, Nixon knew I was meeting with prosecutors, b/c I told him. However, he didn’t think I would tell them the truth!”

Trump’s original legal team had encouraged McGahn and other White House officials to co-operate with special counsel Robert Mueller, and McGahn spent hours in interviews.

Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump didn’t raise executive privilege or attorney-client privilege during those interviews because his team believed — he says now, wrongly — that fully participating would be the fastest way to bring the investigation to a close.

“The president encouraged him to testify, is happy that he did, is quite secure that there is nothing in the testimony that will hurt the president,” Giuliani said.

McGahn’s attorney William Burck added in a statement: “President Trump, through counsel, declined to assert any privilege over Mr. McGahn’s testimony, so Mr. McGahn answered the Special Counsel team’s questions fulsomely and honestly, as any person interviewed by federal investigators must.”

Trump on Sunday continued to rail against the Mueller investigation, which he has labeled a “witch hunt.”

“So many lives have been ruined over nothing – McCarthyism at its WORST!” Trump tweeted, referencing the indiscriminate and damaging allegations made by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s to expose communists.

“Study the late Joseph McCarthy, because we are now in period with Mueller and his gang that make Joseph McCarthy look like a baby! Rigged Witch Hunt!” he later wrote.

//<![CDATA[ ( function() { pnLoadVideo( "videos", "jLS1XEQ0TWE", "pn_video_983271", "", "", {"is_mobile":""} ); } )(); //]]>

Giuliani, in his interview, also acknowledged that the reason for the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer, arranged by Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., was that they had been promised dirt on Trump’s 2016 Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

“The meeting was originally for the purpose of getting information about Clinton,” he said, adding that the Trump team didn’t know that Natalia Veselnitskaya was Russian — even though emails later released by Trump Jr. show that she had been described as a “Russian government attorney.”

Giuliani also tried to make the case that having Trump sit down for an interview with Mueller’s team wouldn’t accomplish much because of the he-said-she-said nature of witnesses’ recollections.

“It’s somebody’s version of the truth, not the truth,” he said, telling NBC’s Chuck Todd: “Truth isn’t truth.”

Todd appeared flummoxed by the comment, responding: “This is going to become a bad meme.”

//<![CDATA[ ( function() { pnLoadVideo( "videos", "bHbBHwKeR4w", "pn_video_575727", "", "", {"is_mobile":""} ); } )(); //]]> Canoe Click for update news world news https://ift.tt/2MBfHOE world news

[investmart007]

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. | Trump calls Russia probe "McCarthyism at its 'WORST'"

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/mOw9mL

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. | Trump calls Russia probe "McCarthyism at its 'WORST'"

BRIDGEWATER, N.J.— President Donald Trump insists that his White House counsel isn’t a “RAT” like the Watergate-era White House attorney who turned on Richard Nixon, and he is blasting the ongoing Russia investigation as “McCarthyism.”

Trump, in a series of angry tweets, denounced a New York Times story that his White House counsel, Don McGahn, has been cooperating extensively with the special counsel team investigating Russian election meddling and potential collusion with Trump’s Republican campaign.

“The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type ‘RAT,'” Trump wrote, misspelling the word “counsel. “But I allowed him and all others to testify – I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide …”

The New York Times said it stands by its story. Dean, a frequent critic of the president, was the White House counsel for Nixon during the Watergate scandal. He ultimately cooperated with prosecutors and helped bring down the Nixon presidency in 1974, though he served a prison term for obstruction of justice.

Dean tweeted Saturday night in response to the Times story: “Trump, a total incompetent, is bungling and botching his handling of Russiagate. Fate is never kind to bunglers and/or botchers! Unlike Nixon, however, Trump won’t leave willingly or graciously.”

He added Sunday in response to Trump’s tweets that he doubts the president has “ANY IDEA what McGahn has told Mueller. Also, Nixon knew I was meeting with prosecutors, b/c I told him. However, he didn’t think I would tell them the truth!”

Trump’s original legal team had encouraged McGahn and other White House officials to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller, and McGahn spent hours in interviews.

Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump didn’t raise executive privilege or attorney-client privilege during those interviews because his team believed — he says now, wrongly — that fully participating would be the fastest way to bring the investigation to a close.

“The president encouraged him to testify, is happy that he did, is quite secure that there is nothing in the testimony that will hurt the president,” Giuliani said.

McGahn’s attorney William Burck added in a statement: “President Trump, through counsel, declined to assert any privilege over Mr. McGahn’s testimony, so Mr. McGahn answered the Special Counsel team’s questions fulsomely and honestly, as any person interviewed by federal investigators must.”

Trump on Sunday continued to rail against the Mueller investigation, which he has labeled a “witch hunt.”

“So many lives have been ruined over nothing – McCarthyism at its WORST!” Trump tweeted, referencing the indiscriminate and damaging allegations made by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s to expose communists.

“Study the late Joseph McCarthy, because we are now in period with Mueller and his gang that make Joseph McCarthy look like a baby! Rigged Witch Hunt!” he later wrote.

Giuliani, in his interview, also acknowledged that the reason for the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer, arranged by Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., was that they had been promised dirt on Trump’s 2016 Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

“The meeting was originally for the purpose of getting information about Clinton,” he said, adding that the Trump team didn’t know that Natalia Veselnitskaya was Russian — even though emails later released by Trump Jr. show that she had been described as a “Russian government attorney.”

Giuliani also tried to make the case that having Trump sit down for an interview with Mueller’s team wouldn’t accomplish much because of the he-said-she-said nature of witnesses’ recollections. “It’s somebody’s version of the truth, not the truth,” he said, telling NBC’s Chuck Todd: “Truth isn’t truth.”

Todd appeared flummoxed by the comment, responding: “This is going to become a bad meme.”

By JILL COLVIN ,  Associated Press