#something something people say they care and then put their vote with the camp that wants me dead.

[neverendingford]

.

[merakiui]

Hey Mera! Today's Friday the 13th and I couldn't help but wonder, do you have some thoughts for any serial killer (insert twst chara) for the day? 👀

personally thinking of sk Floyd with the lake theme surrounding Jason Voorhees, being the final girl when your group of friend decided to have a little camp out nearby the cursed lake.

but you know, sk Azul (persumed dead) coming back for revenge after being bullied and "drowned" in the camp lake is also a delicious thought....

AAAA sk twst thoughts!!!! Sk Floyd and Azul....... both of those ideas are so delicious,, being the final girl who is no match for these obsessed killers. >_< they're going to have you one way or another. Whether that's speared on a knife or his cock. :)

Omg but sk Rook is also a yummy thought!!! Maybe you're a horror writer trying to get out of a writer's block, and there's Rook who is so obsessed with you and your books. Your biggest fan, one might say. He decides to help give you inspiration by throwing you into the plot of a typical slasher film, only this one isn't just confined to the page. >:D Rook terrorizing your town and you've no idea what's going on, but people around you are dying in brutal ways and the killer seems to be getting closer and closer to you as the days pass. orz

And sk Cater!!!! Cater who wants to go viral so badly, but nothing seems to be working. So he decides to become a masked killer who livestreams all of his kills. :) he starts with insignificant people. It draws in some views, but nothing will get the view count up quite like a bigger target. Someone that people actually care about. Maybe you're a public official or a celebrity. In any case, lots of people adore you and now here you are, stripped naked and bound like a pig, and Cater's having his audience vote on which ways he should play with you first.

Sk Idia....... something something very messed up plot where he's running an experiment to see how much mental exhaustion and stress a person can endure before they inevitably break. Cold, detached STYX Idia......... putting you through the worst hell of your life and to him you're merely Human Test Subject #57. >_< there's no chance of escaping, and even if you do manage to miraculously break out of your cell and slip past the robots Ortho will stop you. He can quite literally control all of the surveillance and other high-tech security on his own, so bringing you back to Idia is no issue at all! :D omg what if,,, Idia but it's that one sleep experiment creepypasta....... I think Idia should be used for more unethical science concepts. He can be so frightening when he's clinical.

[selkies-world]

Something something, Trump's vice saying that they need to execute people who don't support Trump, something something, Trump banning abortion & reproductive health care & birth control, something something, Trump saying Puerto Ricans just multiply and have lots of babies, something something, Trump being funded by Elon Musk, something something, Musk openly stating that the economy will suffer because Trump will give him free reign to have his Meta wetdream come true at the expense of the entire country, something something, Trump wanting to put transgender kids in "homes" away from affirming parents & wanting to have transgender adults "imprisoned" or put into "homes" or "camps", something something, Trump & Putin & Farage, something something, Trump & the big red button, something something, does nobody else remember Trump threatening Nuclear War with Russia & China & North (?) Korea over petty or racist things BEFORE RUSSIA THREATENED THE WORLD WITH NUCLEAR WW3 IF WE INTERVENE AND STOP RUSSIA INVADING UKRAINE, something something, Trump's supporters seeing him as the mesiah and saviour and King David and other god-like personas rather than a deeply flawed and power-hungry man with mental health issues who is not fit to run one of the biggest and most powerful and influential countries in the world, something something, leaving disabled and chronically ill people to die or suffer without medicare, something something, making it illegal to miscarry (& probably to have a stillbirth), something something, didn't somebody say it'd be okay under Trump to euthanize people who can't / won't contribute to the industrial capitalist society? Something something, Trump saying he wants the generals Hitler had, something something, the Nazi Euthanasia Programme (T4, I think?), something something, look in a history book and tell me what happened to the Jews & blacks in Germany when they were taken to centres & divided into those who could provide labour (& who were taken to concentration camps to becomes slaves and endure torture) and those who could not provide labour.

Look in a history book, and you will see that WW2 started in the 1930s, but there were signs of it coming on the 1920s. There was a build up, there was a gradual inclination towards it, and it was that inclination which put Hitler in power - before that inclination happened, he was the leader of a very unpopular party whom nobody paid much attention to. There were signs, there were bridges crossed, there were decisions made, there were votes won and there were more and more slippery steps to take before Germany announced war in the 1930s. And throughout all of that time, it was the minorities, those who would suffer the most just for existing, who felt the pressure first while the rest of society began to celebrate Hitler. It was these people who were growing uncomfortable with the fact regular education had been replaced by swastikas in schoolbooks, and with Hitler being featured in children's rhymes as a friendly father figure to guard over them all - and more so with the fact this was mandatory for every child to learn, and that teachers had two choices: teach children what Hitler wanted them to learn, or lose their jobs, in the best case scenario.

WW2 didn't just 'happen' in the 1930s; it was already being created in the 1920s.

We know this. We also know that we can match Trump's movements almost exactly to the steps taken by Hitler in the late 1920s & early 1930s. We know where this path leads, because we saw it before. We know where this path leads, because we have been down it before. We know where this path leads, because we were swept along by the current last time it happened.

It hasn't even been 100 years since WW2 began. It hasn't even been 100 years since the Holocaust; there are people who survived it who are still alive today.

It hasn't even been 100 years since the world went through what was perhaps the worst war in human history, to date.

Please do not make the world go through it all again. Because this time, there is different technology, different threats, and I promise you, it will not be the victory you want.

I know you're angry at the world. I know you're hurt, hurt to the point of being numb. I know you're tired and I know you're scared. I know you're scared of the unknown, which is why you might not be sure about voting for Kamala. Better the devil you know, and all that. But, America, I promise you, if you vote for Trump on Tuesday, you will damn your country, your people, and the rest of the world, to Hell. This election isn't happening in a vacuum - none of your elections have. Did you know that the UK celebrated when Obama legalised gay marriage? Did you know that multiple countries now celebrate 2 pride months, June and July, since Trump changed when the USA would celebrate it last time he was on power? Did you know that Scotland, Ireland and Wales study your civil war and your resistance and your wars of independence as intensely as we study the French revolution? Did you know that when JFK was assassinated, there were memorials and vigils held in multiple countries? Did you know that the global variation of English, AKA Globish, is more strongly influenced by US-English than British English, Australian English or Canadian English? Did you know that people who barely speak English can sing country songs word for word, with an American accent? Did you know that up until 2016, a lot of people in other countries saw the USA as the land where dreams come true - a whole country with the magic of Disneyland, where anyone can become anything, where the wildness is still free and where there are sights and sounds found nowhere else in the world? Did you know how influential you, your people and your country is to the rest of the world?

You're not voting in a vacuum, because the USA doesn't exist in a vacuum. I know you're scared - you know this election is important. I know you're hurt, because you haven't been listened to in the past, and Biden betrayed your trust, and you have no reason to vote blue this time around because you don't think Kamala will keep her word. I know you're reluctant to vote for her because she isn't openly stating that she will help Palestine; but the truth is that she and Biden have been trying to negotiate a ceasefire between Isreal and Palestine for a while now, while Trump has been in frequent communication with the leader of Isreal and has been encouraging the genocide to continue. This is what he does without the backing of your country behind him; what do you think he would do with the power of the Whitehouse backing him, when nobody can tell him no, when he will be seen by many as being above the law? Do you really believe that he'll save you, or anybody but himself, when push comes to shove?

Maybe Kamala isn't a Saint. Maybe her rule won't be perfect. Maybe it won't give you back the America you remember from your childhoods, and maybe she won't give us back the America we imagined your country to be. But she will save the planet from desolation, she will protect your people, she will protect your land, she will offer a chance for us to survive the climate crisis, and she will protect your sisters, daughters, wives, mothers, aunts and grandmothers.

If an 8 year old girl is raped by a neighbour, does she deserve to die in labour? Does she deserve to live with the changes forced on her body for the rest of her life, before it was ready? Does her mother deserve to watch her daughter go through that? Does her father deserve to watch his little angel suffer like that? Or does that little girl deserve a doctor who is allowed to save her life and what's left of her childhood?

Trump will condemn that little girl to death if she carries the baby to term and isn't provided the best medical care available. Trump will have that girl imprisoned if she has a stillbirth or miscarries. Trump will have that girl and her family imprisoned if she tries to have it aborted. Trump will condemn that girl for the rest of her life, due to something she had no control over and did not want or deserve. And he will say it's alright, maybe even good, that she suffered like that, because it's what she deserved. He will make up lies about her and her mother and her father. He will make them all into monsters for the rest of your people to hate, condemn and mock.

Kamala will save that little girl's life. Kamala will give that mother her little girl back, safe and healthy. Kamala will give that father his little angel back for him to protect.

Please, America. Please vote blue on Tuesday. Please vote for Kamala. Please vote for Harris. Please. Please, please, please.

Voting BLUE doesn't mean that you're saying "I agree with everything Kamala says, and I think she is a Saint, and I think she's going to save the world, and I think her plans are perfect."

That isn't what you're saying, if it isn't how you feel.

Voting BLUE means that you're saying "I disagree with Trump, and I don't want to turn the USA into the West's Russia, and I don't want to lose everything I know to the third world war, and I don't want to subject the USA to another civil war," because I promise you, that is what he will do if he gets your vote.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

There is 58 years between the first plane flight, and a human going to space.

Technological advancements happen very quickly, so yeah that argument is mute. Even if you believe Santos Dumant was the first person to do it, that's still 63 years between his flight and a human going to space.

Also I'm not sure in which universe is democracy a widely American concept.

Even before Ancient Greece in the Vajjika Republic in 6th century bce India is widely considered to be the first example of a democratic Republic.

Also democracy is literally only in Republic City, which didn't have real democracy until the end of Book 1, and the earth kingdom who was suffering under a bad case of fascism. And Queen Hou-Ting, what ever godamm name was, sucked dick and was a terrible ruler.

The water tribes kept their chiefs, they just get to vote on it. The northern water tribe chiefdom is hereditary. The fire nation kept their firelord

Korra did not spread democracy everywhere, unlike where you claim they forced it.

Poor earth kingdom citizens, they must miss being a selfish queen who never did anything to help them, and let theives go wild, and then the facist dictator, who put people into concentration camps.

In HISTORY leaps in technology have happened fast. In a STORY you need to be careful not to make the whole thing feel like it's set in a different universe - and when we go from rudimentary industrialization, some of which is openly treated as a PROBLEM by the original's shows narrative because nature's worth and it's key role in keeping balance are a central theme in several episodes, all the way to Ford 1s everywhere, big ass factories that would obviously cause a lot of polution, lightningbending going from rare to something common that is used to give everyone electricity, all because the writers wanted to change the aesthetic from Meiji Era Japan to Prohibition Era New York, I'm gonna say that shit went a bit too far.

I didn't say americans invented democracy, I'm saying it's very common for american writers to push their own way of life as the only correct one, because there's literally over a century of the government spreading propaganda about "The american dream" and "the american way of life" to EVERYONE, including people in the USA, where the writers were raised - which is why the city that is supposed to represent the all four nations suddenly goes from "Very obviously east asian" to "Very obviously USA stuff that was never present in the old show." The character of Korra isn't running around saying "The US is inherently better", but the show very much is by making the symbol of balance and harmony so PAINFULLY american.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Bryke or anyone involved in the making of Korra was actively trying to make propaganda, they were just influenced by it and repeated some of it without even realizing it - and so did you with the bizarre leap in logic of "If you criticize the way americans, knowingly and unknowingly, tend to push their way of life as the default/superior one in stories, that means you think the fascist villain had a point/is not that bad"

If you like Korra as a show, including the whole concept of Republic City, that's fine. It's none of my business. But as someone who literally had to study American propaganda pieces and the long lasting influence it had in media, there is NOTHING you or anyone can say to me that will convince me that is not a reflex of propaganda that breaks the world-building that had been very coherent and consistent in the previous show. Either deal with that, or block the tags/my blog.

[lucifers-horror-harem]

Cheering You Up Headcanons

Hey all! I decided to write some soft headcanons this time around! Plus, I added a new boy, Travis Hackett from The Quarry! I know hes not exactly the same as my usual roster of horror slashers and villains, but I love him and this is my blog soooooooo I don’t care lol Also thank you to the people who voted for the 3rd character, Otis! I really like using the poll option to see what people are interested in seeing, I might have to use it some more when I’m stuck between choices :)

Freddy Krueger:

As much of an asshole Freddy can be, he’s fully capable of toning himself down if you’re looking upset. But if he’s in a particularly antagonistic mood, the signs you’re upset will fly past him entirely until you go off on him, whether it’s crying or yelling at him for being such a dick. 

Freddy isn’t the kind to comfort you with his words, his love language tends to trend towards acts of service rather than sappy throw-away lines. He’ll never admit it, but ultimately he feels a smidge guilty for causing you more upset. So he’ll begin his scheming on a way to make it up to you.

Luckily for you, Freddy has his dream world, and he can make anything possible in your dreams. Freddy will hit you with just about everything he’s learned about you since knowing you. Do you like fancy romantic dinners? You’ve got the best seat in the house. Want to travel to places you wish you could afford? He’s got a first-class ticket to get you there. Just want a simple night in? He’s got you covered.

In all honesty, it would be a shock to see him put this much work in. Especially when half of the time you weren’t even sure he listened to what you were saying. Freddy not only listens to you, but he remembers everything. He just doesn’t like you knowing how much he truly cares. He thinks it makes him look too soft.

He’d get truly cocky as he soaks up the praise and affection you give him for such a sweet surprise. Freddy acts like it’s not a huge deal at all, and it wasn’t like he had to put much thought into it. You’re just so easy to please, he insists. But deep down even his cold black heart can feel a little something just from seeing your smile. As he lets you have your fun, he can’t help but smile to himself while watching you.

Travis Hackett:

While Travis might be awkward about expressing his emotions too freely, he’s more observant than he lets on. He’ll listen to everything you have to say, and figure out what you need based on that. He’ll let you rant and rave if you're venting until you finally let it out of your system, or he’ll hold you tightly if you’re an emotional wreck in need of comfort. And if it’s something he can take care of, well, he’s not above solving the issue himself.

Above all else, Travis makes sure you’re safe and comfortable. You mean more to him than he could ever put into words, and he’d do anything to see your smile. Even if he has a hard time expressing it, you can tell just how much he cares by the way he looks at you with adoration and softness you rarely see from him. He’s a brick wall to damn near everyone, but once you crack inside you’ll find he’s a bit of a sap. 

The next day, he’d tell you to cancel any plans you have for that night. If you ask, he’ll simply grunt and ask you if you trust him. Obviously, you do, so you let him continue his planning.

That evening, he’ll drive you to a secluded area of the Hackett property where no one will bother the two of you. When you get there, you’ll find he’s already set up camp, and you can’t help but feel a smile pull on your face. Don’t make too big a production out of it, or Travis might get too flustered. As it is he’ll keep fidgeting and rubbing the back of his neck as he insists it’s no big deal, that he uses this campsite so often that he just keeps these things here. Suuuuuure. 

He finds the outdoors peaceful and relaxing, much of his best memories took place in the vast expanse of wilderness that fell in the Hackett property, and he hopes that perhaps you’ll feel just as calm surrounded by nature. Maybe create some new memories too.

You’ll have a front-row seat to the sunset falling below the trees, reflecting over everything in sight and giving the forest a soft orange hue. And as night begins to fall, you sit by the campfire that Travis had kept up past dinner time, looking up at the stars as they shone more brightly here than anywhere else you had seen before. 

When the fire finally dies down, Travis will have you pulled to him on a blanket as you look up at the stars together and speak softly to each other as you begin to feel sleep pulling at you. Before you both fall asleep and get bit by all the mosquitos, Travis will make sure he carries you to the tent before finally settling down for the night, his arms wrapped protectively around you.

Otis Driftwood:

Otis isn't exactly the best choice if you're wanting a traditional cheering-up session. In fact, he might even complain if you pester him too much. "Can'tcha go bitch to Baby or something, I'm doing some important fucking shit here!" He'd probably shoo you along without so much as another glance your way.

After a while though, Otis will come around to the fact you need him. It's way easier for him to provide sexual affection, but genuine kindness is a bit out of his repertoire. But, after mulling it over for a while (as well as getting ripped a new one from Baby), Otis will try his best to be whatever you need.

He likes it best when all you need is for him to just exist in the same space, not needing him to provide a solution or answers. It's easy for him to just be a shoulder to cry on, that way he can't say all the wrong things like he tends to do. 

Otis also loves it when you need to have a good vent session. He'll hype you up, telling you that yeah, that guy was a motherfucker and maybe someone should do something about it. Maybe it's good if you don't let that get too far because Otis gets an itching for revenge at the drop of a hat just to make you happy. 

He also likes taking you on drives to calm you down. While he doesn't like to drive if he's too worked up because he's prone to road rage, he finds drives to be something that eases his mind when his thoughts are too scattered. And he's happy to share them with you, just so long as you don't become a backseat driver. Hell, if you ask nicely, he'll stop at whatever roadside spots you see. He’d even stop for ice cream if you’re being good.

[sappho114]

Genuinely gobsmacked that I saw someone I follow on here call not voting, or at least putting pressure on the democratic party, "single issue voting" and implied it was a lesser of evils and harm reduction.

I know some people are callous and ignorant and nasty but how can you think you're a good person if you ignore all of the everything else. Such a white middle-class mindset if all you see is a single issue, never mind being completely ignorant of electoralism at all. YOU are the single issue voter, bitch. YOU are the unreasonable little fuck.

Palestine deserves our advocacy because American money, American politics, and American munitions are directly responsible for all of it. It is not only condoned but encouraged daily by the same people these cunts want us to vote for. If you disagree with that, then you disagree with that. Just say it - don't be a coward and pretend like you care about their lives. Just fucking say it with your chest: its all a performative game to you. You only care so long as it doesn't potentially impact you.

Because let's face the facts, these people are also the same sorts who have no time, advocacy, or attention to any of the numerous imperial terrors that the democrats - or k harris specifically - have sown in only the past four years. All of which the current nominees had their hands in. Is it single issue voting if I don't want someone to be president when they've been ghoulishly and comically evil in regards to border policies, migrant concentration camps, reproductive rights malaise, LGBT+ rights, and for not enabling or encouraging but actively creating the new pandemic of militarized policing by using the National Guard to abuse, kill, and maim citizens that you don't agree with? These seem like more than one issue, all of which are perhaps adequate reasons to utilize one's electoral right and responsibility (as you see it) to vote for a candidate who has their interests or the country's interests in mind.

Like, sure, you can sit there and be an absolute dumbfuck and write off Palestine because you are a bad person but the unfortunate truth here is that by just voting for the people who make things worse - red or blue, same team different colors! - you're just another idiot who is choosing to crouch behind the curtain like every other ghoulish system-fellating moron who just doesn't have the guts to be uncomfortable for the five fucking minutes it takes to pressure Democrats into doing something, anything, other than rapidly whirlpooling into fascism.

If you hold those opinions you are simply uneducated politically, academically in history, socially, and you are letting your comfort mean more to you than actual people's lives - yourself included, because you're SO willing to let a million canaries die as long as you can go about your day without being challenged or feel complicated.

Every single civil rights advocate who was assassinated by the US government has quotes about how you people do this, too. Like, you are aware that you're that shade of person right? The white moderate, the quasi-liberal, the fucker who won't even acknowledge the knife is there. And don't think people didn't see you play pretend and immediate discard the BLM movement just as quickly as it went out of vogue because you were "tired" from COVID, not because you actually cared about black people.

Where was your advocacy and attention during Trump's first presidency? Why did it stop when the blue team switched into his chair and made so many things worse? Because that's your team?

All you need to do is shut the fuck up, to stop telling people to not feel for others, advocate for others, or adhere to their own moral codes. Nobody needs to know that you're a big coward pissbaby who is turning into the next ghoulish sycophant like Pete Bootychug and his ilk, gleefully wiping your brow of any and all social responsibility the moment you decide that voting for the Minnesotan police state guy and the woman who loves genocide and hates migrants get in office.

You can, and should, just fucking shut up if you want to vote so badly for them and do nothing else.

[hadesoftheladies]

alright, some misogynist and ableist goons on this site keep bothering me about my jkr post because they cannot fathom the fact that calling out bias doesn't necessarily equal endorsing. so i'm going to be super nice about it and put all the facts here for the fact-enjoyers.

let's go over the claims made against jkr by testerical twitterheads, because everything to do with trans politics regarding jkr is just extremist white liberals reaching.

Claim: JK Rowling is friends with Matt Walsh. False!

Claim: JK Rowling is friends with Kellie-Jay Keen. Ambiguous! (She has agreed with Kellie-Jay Keen on several issues and advocated for her based on false allegations about nazism concerning Kellie-Jay Keen. Men-rights activists made shit up about her endorsing nazi salutes at her women's campaign. also, JK Rowling has agreed with many people whose politics she does not wholly endorse, like matt walsh. agreeing with someone on an opinion or fact, does not mean you agree with their politics.)

Claim: JK Rowling denies the Holocaust. False! (For proof, see this thread. JK Rowling does not DENY that the Holocaust happened, but that trans people were specifically targeted by the Nazis. Some argue that this makes her a Holocaust denier based on some German article, but I find the term muddies the water. It can be an offense, a grievous one, to deny the Nazis did something when they did, but calling JKR a Holocaust denier makes people think she doesn't believe the Holocaust happened when she absolutely does.

Additionally, the topic as to whether trans people were explicitly targeted by Nazis has had a fair share of scholarly debate. They may have faced some measure of harassment, but being specifically targeted is also a reach considering how little historical evidence we have of transvestites being outrightly persecuted, at least, to anywhere near the same degree homosexual, black or Jewish people were. Cross-dressing certificates were legal in Nazi Germany, for example, and I have found no record of a transvestite suffering things like forced sterilization. This article briefly mentions a German author who thought that the Nazis would finally take care of "the transvestite problem" because now they could be sent to concentration camps and castrated there, but there is still no record of any transvestite having undergone such a thing. Furthermore, of the examples of transvestites that were taken to concentration camps, both of them were homosexual, so it would be more accurate to say they were targeted for being homosexual, especially when you look at why they were arrested. On the other hand, some transvestites ended up in concentration camps, but it was likely due to the fact that they were Jewish rather than trans.

It is also very significant that in the German Republic, transvestites had permits while homosexuals did not!

JKR might be denying that they burned trans books. Unfortunately for her, she is wrong. Transvestite research WAS targeted by the Nazis. Again, not much is known about transvestites during this time and I have found no solid numbers. It most definitely didn't happen on the same scale as what gay, lesbian, Jewish or Roma people were suffering through--and why would it, transvestites weren't a large population, also i have found no record of transvestites being forced to wear pink triangles, like homosexual men were--, though gay men and transvestites seemed to get more leniency if they were "Aryan." )

Claim: JK Rowling directly funds government suppression. (Which government? Source? I'll make an assumption and guess that you're referring to her 1 million pound donation to the Better Together anti-Scottish independence campaign? Yes, she has. But she respects the opinions of those who disagree with her on the subject. She's also donated to the Labour Party, which is more centre-left politically.)

Claim: JK Rowling has financially supported groups that repress Scotland's right to independence. True! (She also voted "No!" on Scottish independence).

Claim: JK Rowling is gunning to be a Neo-Nazi. False! (She has not expressed any explicit Nazi views! Please tap the source to see what Nazi views actually are! JK Rowling has been explicitly leftist in her politics and anti-racist.)

Claim: JK Rowling is a fascist. False! (She does not identify as fascist and does not have any explicit fascist views. Unlike the people burning and trying to ban her books, which contain very little of her politics.)

i don't worship JKR, i don't even agree with a good chunk of her politics. especially when it comes to her sympathy for israel. she's a millionaire white woman, and i am a born and raised african middle-class person. we won't have many politics in common. but unlike you lot, i don't need to be misogynistic or ableist in order to disagree with a woman. resorting to misogyny, ableism, racism or homophobia just because you hate someone is still misogyny, ableism, racism and homophobia. i wouldn't call a transperson the "t-word" even though i don't profess their gender faith. because i recognize that using the "t-word" on a trans-identified person that's done or said disgusting things like, idk, andrea long chu or hunter schaffer (are these your leaders? seriously?), saying that word will still hurt trans-identified people who didn't do or say those horrible things unnecessarily.

see what i did there? i read things up for myself, added sources from people i disagreed with politically, discussed the valid history of people who i disagree with without resorting to dehumanizing language, and called out the celebrity you lot think are "my hero" without being a hypocrite!

class dismissed.

now fuck off you rancid misogynists and go back to snivelling about how righteous you are to your echo chamber.

also, radblr girlies feel free to reblog or link this for all the anti-jkr posts that make any of these claims or keep trying to bait you with this braindead discourse to save yourselves the effort. love you and muah! :)

[hello-nichya-here]

Do you think Lula might try to patch things up with Israel considering the rally that just happened in Brazil?

Let's make one thing clear here: the rally was not pro-Israel. Not really. The flags had a pentagram instead of the star of David, and people in said rally were saying shit like "We support Israel because they're CHRISTIANS like us."

The rally was really about a bunch of useful idiots that sympathize with fascism and straight up neo-nazis (some of which were friends with or direct descendents of the actual nazis that fled to Brazil after WWII, including the monster JOSEF MENGELE himself) who support the wanna-be dictator, and sadly Brazil's former president, Jair Bolsonaro, PRETENDING to give a shit about the Israel situation solely because Lula finally grew a pair of balls and called out the genocide against palestinians - and thus the supporters of Bozo the clown are now trying to use that as an excuse to impeach him, as yet ANOTHER attempt to ignore the results of the elections in which Lula defeated the fucker in 2022.

There's video recording of Bolsonaro (who has never been shy about wanting to turn Brazil into a dictatorship again and actually said the words "I'm pro torture, and this country won't be fixed until at least 40.000 people are dead") full on saying "We can't allow the elections to happen, otherwise I'm gonna lose."

The police tried to prevent people in the northeast region of Brazil (where nearly everyone is pro-Lula) from voting, to try and tip the escala in Bolsonaro's favor. They STILL claim Lula's victory was a fraud.

Finally, on January 8, 2023, his supporters tried staging a coup, fully inspired by the shitshow the USA had when Trump lost (and something that Bozo the clown had ALREADY said he wanted his supporters to do were he to ever lose an election) by invading government buildings. They stole and destroyed lots of valluable art-pieces - lots of which were from jewish people that either fled from nazi Germany before they were sent to concentration camps, and some that actually BEEN in said concentration camps.

And this was not a case of "Maybe they just didn't know what it was", not fully at least, because like I said, Bolsonaro's supporters have VERY strong ties to the nazis. They have done the sieg heil in his homage, say Brazil should have a nazi party, and have tried to make schools say the holocaust never happened. Some of Bolsonaro's ministers have also said shit like "Brazil's economy won't get better until we get rid of all the jews" and a fucker actually copied one of Hitler's speeches, on camera, wearing a nazi-inspired uniform, with one of Hitler's favorite classical pieces being played in the background.

As for Bolsonaro, the slogan he chose for himself "God above everything, Brazil above everyone" is clearly inspired by "Deutschland über alles" (Germany over everything). After his victory in 2018, SBT, one of the TV channels that supported him the most, used the slogan "Brazil - love it or leave it" which the dictatorship Brazil was under used for 21 years as a not so subtle threat to exile people who opposed them (and exile was the KIND fate they could be given, considering the people tortured daily in prison, or full on murdered).

So no, I don't see Lula trying to patch things up with Israel to try and win the support of these people, because they don't actually care about Israel. This was an anti-democracy rally, filled with nazis, and if they were to rise to power again, and not destroy themselves from the inside like they did during the pandemic, it would be the worst case scenario as it'd mean one less government calling Israel's genocide against palestinians AND a bunch of antisemites in power trying to make their own reich, putting all the jewish communities of Brazil in danger.

Remember folks: Israel does not represent all the jews in the world, no matter how much it desperately tries to pretend that it does. Calling it out for commiting genocide is not antisemitic, and supporting it does NOT mean making sure jewish communities will be safe - as you could see, in my country's case, it could mean nothing but a stepping-stone in making said communities the targets of actual nazis, pushing them to exile or something way, way, way worse.

[thelastharbinger]

Really, Extremely Annoyed at all the liberals right now, doubling down over people's necks, saying shit like, "You said you wouldn't vote for biden, now you have no excuse! Vote blue no matter what!" as if his fucking VP doesn't also have a hand in the ongoing genocide????? And we're all just going to pretend she doesn't like to play prison guard/cop???? Like she wasn't also reigning down armed national guards on student protesters and subway stations earlier this year????

The hard pill to swallow here is: liberals truly do not have the stamina, grit or work ethic required to stand ground on what it would actually take to change this country, and as a result Dems wind up self-cannibalizing. I don't know how to emphasize that you all are literally standing in your own way.

If liberals Really, Truly cared about the values they purport to stand behind, everyone in the "vote blue" camp would be looking at the fascism and corruption present within their own party with severe contempt, and putting in the work to galvanize for another candidate option. It really is as simple as that. Not saying it doesn't take time and effort, but if we all are in agreement that a certain candidate does not align with our values, we can look to the side and say "Hey, there actually is someone who fits our ideals! Let's organize around them!"

The difference between liberals and leftists is that a liberal will tell you to vote for the lesser of two evils while a lefty will inform you that we will continue to reproduce evils every time because the primary function of our institutions is to serve themselves. And while a liberal will shout for reform because they think the other option is too extreme, a leftist will tell you abolishment (the oldest tool for liberation we have) is the only freedom path.

The reason a third party candidate can't win is because yall won't galvanize for them. Liberals would rather punch down other leftists for rightfully calling out that the ones with the defeatist mentality are all of YOU, who blame the failures within our political system on literally anyone else but yourselves while remaining indignant on operating within it.

Your lack of imagination is what will kill us all in the end, not our refusal to participate in the shams of an empire that is currently crumbling. WE are the ones operating from a place of hope that the political system we have can be entirely uprooted and replaced with something resembling a truer democracy. Not just voting blue every time, hoping that it will save us, when we already know it won't.

I need yall to move beyond the two-party system because the impending revolution depends on it.

I need yall to start acting like you hate your two main options, like you say you do, and literally do anything about it.

[meret118]

Agricultural workers, about three quarters are immigrants and probably about half of them are undocumented. Meat packing is probably between 30 and 50 percent undocumented immigrants. So the whole food supply chain is reliant on people who are going to be rounded up and put in camps.

. . .

That’s the reality. Whether people will grasp that, I don’t know, but they certainly will grasp that Trump said he was going to bring prices down and instead they’re going up. His two big policy goals, policy obsessions, are deporting immigrants and tariffs. Both of those are going to do a lot to raise prices of food and some other things, but the most immediate flashpoint is going to be grocery prices.

Sargent: We face a bit of a communication problem as well in the following way: As you said, Vance is at the forefront of arguing that immigrants are taking American people’s jobs, but that’s actually a proxy argument. It’s Trump MAGA’s way of saying something else but in a more respectable sounding set of tones, right? Trump is clearly communicating with the MAGA base the idea that immigrants are bad, that they’re destructive, that they’re destroying the culture from within, that they’re poisoning the blood of the U.S. They need to be able to soft pedal that to swing voters, right? Because swing voters don’t like the talk about blood dilution and blood poisoning—it’s a white nationalist at its worst. So they try this other argument about jobs. We try to rebut it on the substance, but they’re communicating something else under the surface, aren’t they?

Krugman: Well, it depends on the audience. A lot of Latinos voted for Trump believing that he’s going to reduce the cost of living. They’ll presumably be really shocked when it turns out that he does the opposite, and also when people they know get rounded up, which is going to be another thing that they haven’t really taken on board. For Trump, clearly it is not that he really is concerned that immigrants are taking American jobs. For him, it’s all really blood and soil. And he doesn’t really care whether they’re legal or not. It’s just they’re scary Brown people basically.

. . .

We turned to various kinds of private sector independent measures of inflation, many of which were originally developed by economists in places like Argentina, where manipulation of the data was standard so they developed their own ways to measure. We’re going to be having to do that. My guess is by sometime next year, we’re going to be having to look at proxies for what’s actually happening to the economy, possibly for what’s actually happening to crime, because the official numbers are going to be corrupted.

Sargent: Yeah. And you’re going to see the corruption of information to carry out a large-scale demonization campaign against immigrants as well. We already saw Trump campaign pretty relentlessly on this invented idea of migrant crime, which is absolutely a despicable notion. If we were to generalize about another group that way, no one would tolerate it. But because it’s immigrants and because it’s Trump, everyone just shrugs. We’re going to see government information being corrupted in order to create a bigger impression of migrant crime. I’m talking about people at the agencies flagging particular crimes, and then the White House press operation blaring it out. Something like that.

. . .

But what will happen eventually is that—I don’t quite know how it will work because crime data are initially supplied by local police agencies, but the FBI summaries of that will probably be corrupted quite soon.

Just in general, if what we are actually going to be seeing is inflation, quite a lot of inflation, we’re going to be seeing enormous pressure to report that, first of all, things were worse. The retrospective description of what America was like in 2024 is going to bear no resemblance to the actually pretty good state of the nation right now. Also, we’re going to be seeing a lot of pressure to not admit things that are going wrong.

. . .

Sargent: Yes. You can actually see another alternate scenario as well. Let’s just imagine for the moment that Trump doesn’t actually get that far with deportations because he is going to face serious resource constraints to doing that—blue state governors resisting uses of the National Guard and so forth. Meanwhile, we’re poised for a period of growth. The Biden investments are spurring major new green manufacturing projects across the country. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that Trump is going to take credit for all of that, and say that his anti-immigrant agenda is producing this boom. That seems like a really undesirable situation politically. What do we do?

Krugman: This has happened before, right? Not so extreme as this one, but Obama laid the foundations for a pretty strong economy during Trump’s first term. Bill Clinton basically balanced the budget, preparing the ground for George W. Bush to blow it on tax cuts. It’s a recurring theme.

. . .

It seems to me there’ll be some legal problems with trying to repurpose military funding. Look, the last thing I want to do is be at all complacent. I think we’re looking at a terrible situation. I just wonder if they are going to run into some trouble.

Krugman: What is this thing you call legal obstacles? It’s not clear to me that rule of law is going to apply at all in the years ahead. It’s very likely that they’ll just find ways to do it. Of course, the costs are ... If you try to do these draconian policies in any remotely humane way, they’re very expensive. Well, the obvious next sentence follows, right? If you’re really prepared to be quite brutal, and basically build tent cities in the desert, maybe not so expensive.

. . .

Sargent: A big open question is: How willing people are going to be to break the law to carry out the Trump-Miller agenda? We really are in a situation where people are actually being recruited expressly for that. You have Steve Bannon and Kash Patel and people like that out there essentially saying, If you’re willing to push the envelope, we want you. And by push the envelope, they mean carry out illegal orders.

Krugman: Yeah. Just bear in mind that a lot of what may happen, beyond the deportations, may not require government actions. If you want to intimidate people, you don’t necessarily have to send in the military, which might refuse to obey orders. You can just do ... January 6 was basically tacit permission for MAGA extremists to go and do stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised to see quite a lot of that happening as well.

[itneverendshere]

I’m a Brazilian girl that lives in the us for college and it’s fucking 3:34 am and I simply don’t know what do to I’m in despair I called my mom and balled my eyes out because I’m scared for my fucking life. Not only mine but for every woman, lgbtq+, people of color, immigrants because we’re fucked, simply fucked. Every single person and I repeat E V E R Y single person that is not a rich old man is completely fucked. And I feel heartbroken and devastated but at the same time I feel the most pure rage because people are allowing this regression to happen, they allowed to go back 100 years of progress for what? FOR WHAT? Right I just need to say something for the people who voted for this obliterated sociopathic of man:

If you’re a woman that voted for this monster, just know that if you get raped, you will be forced to deliver the product of it. If you are pregnant and your life is at risk because of it, you will die because you won’t be able to get an abortion. If you have pregnant and the fetus has a condition that it will not survive you will have to go through the pregnancy knowing very well that your baby won’t survive. If you have a miscarriage you not only will have to report it to Trump’s Federal Government and might be prosecuted for it, even if you have to control of it. If you are pregnant and suffer from a accident you will be refused medical care for the simple fact that the medication that would need to take to survive will affect your pregnancy and guess what if you don’t die but miscarry you might be prosecuted for it.

If you’re a legal, illegal, has families that are immigrants, friends with one know that he plans on putting y’all in fucking detention camps, separate families, mass deportation. And if that happens to anyone you care about, I hope that you live with the guilt that this is YOUR FUCKING FAULT.

If you’re a lgbtq+ that voted for him, your protection, right to live the way you are will be repealed from you. If you’re a trans person in the military you will be banned from it just for the simple fact that you’re transgender. Know that after today your life will be at risk and that if something happens to you, you will not be able to fight it

If you are a POC that voted for Trump just know that with the police immunity, now more than ever horrific scenes like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many others, will not only happen more frequently but the difference is that now no matter how much you protest, you scream for help and justice YOU WONT GET NOWHERE BECAUSE YOU FUCKING VOTED FOR SOMEONE THAT WILL PROTECT THE CRIMINALS SCUMS TO GET AWAY WITH IT.

I’m sorry for the rant but I needed to get this off my chest. I also have so much to say but I can’t not even process right now and put in enough words what I’m feeling rn

I feel every single word of what you’re saying.

this isn’t just political, it’s a matter of humanity and basic rights. to think these decisions could rip away the autonomy, safety, and dignity that so many people fought tooth and nail to secure over generations is devastating💔

i completely understand what you’re describing, that feeling of pure, righteous rage. it’s really scary to think about being stripped of agency, especially as a woman, especially as an immigrant, especially in a country where people are supposed to be free and protected???

to watch this regression happen because of one man, one agenda, and those who enable it, it’s devastating. the thought that basic human rights are on the line for anyone who isn't in that tiny, privileged demographic.....absolutely insanity.

people who look away or deny it are in for a harsh wake-up call if this continues. it’s especially painful because there's innocent people who don’t want to just sit around and wait for that to happen. again, what you're feeling is so valid. it’s not okay, and no one should have to scared for simply existing.

if you ever need anything we're all here to let you guys vent, it's not much but i hope it helps a little <3

[drumpfwatch]

The Final Plea: Trump's Gone Full Hitler

Originally I was going to write this huge, multi-part essay about how Trump is bad and how Project 2025 is evil and how he’s definitely going to do it but I don’t need to. Thanks to Trump’s big stupid mouth, and his recent dive into dementia-driven madness, I think I have something that any sane person can’t hear without being worried about.

Trump says immigrants are 'poisoning the blood of our country'

This? This is unacceptable. He is literally saying the exact same thing about immigrants that Hitler did about the Jews.  If you have any moral fiber whatsoever, this should be the thing that gets you to see Trump for what he is. A fascist.

“But,” you say, “what if he’s just talking? He obviously doesn’t believe that! They’re just words!” And with all do respect I do not fucking care. There are only two possibilities here: either Trump is an actual honest to god fascist who legitimately sees the “pure blood of the American people” being threatened by the existence of brown people who want to breed us out of existence, or he knows his fan base does and is happy to rile them up with this kind of talk. And at the end of the day, that is a distinction without difference.

This sort of rhetoric breeds anger and violence, and keeps him nice and distant. He can claim that all he did was tell people to protest “peacefully and patriotically” ignoring the two months he spent before that lying and riling them up. Stochastic terrorism at its finest, on display at its worst on January 6th. It’s funny how many republicans I can encounter who can identify, say, Alex Jones’ rhetoric as inflammatory and inciting but immediately shut their brain off when Trump starts doing the exact same thing. 

Honestly the fact that he’s cultivated a following like that should’ve told you all you needed to know in the first place. No other President’s fan base has attacked a federal building and interrupted government actions about their candidate losing. No President has been so butthurt by a loss that he shot over 60 frivolous lawsuits off that were all pretty quickly defeated because his people wouldn’t tell the lies they told to you under oath. You don’t get that kinda crazy by accident, you cultivate that.

Even if Trump himself were a good guy (he’s not), and had no intention of putting immigrants in camps (which he already did), his base - those lunatics he counts on to commit insurrections for him - are more than happy to do the dirty work. 

But how do I know that? Because they already have. After Trump broadcasted the story about Haitian Immigrants eating dogs and cats, those places supporting them received bomb threats. Bomb threats that would continue for two days and be followed by the homes of those immigrants being vandalized. Threats so serious and numerous the children needed police protection just to go to school. Haitian immigrants who are there legally, by the way. Haitian Immigrants who were invited to Springfield, by Springfield, to take up jobs that the white folk there are apparently too good for. Jobs that benefit the community. These are people who have already suffered immensely and now they have a target on their back because of a bullshit racist story that isn’t even true. That’s right, the person who started this whole mess admitted they made the whole thing up! But the MAGAts don’t care, and neither does Trump, because he keeps spewing this god damned lie. 

Why? Why would he do that? Why push this fake story so hard? Because Trump wants to scare you into voting for him, and whether or not he actually holds to the Nazi Propaganda of the Great Replacement, he is absolutely fine with all the suffering it’s causing as long as it helps build up the Fear Wave he’s hoping to ride into the White House on. 

It’s the same reason he keeps lying that we’re in the worst crime wave of all time, ever, when crime is the lowest it’s been in 50 years. There is no migrant crime wave because migrants are, as a whole, less likely to commit crime. 

That’s why I say if you have any moral fiber what so ever, you’d have dumped him. You’re willing to sacrifice the wellbeing of over 70% of the population of women, blacks, LGBT people and other minorities on the altar of Trump, and for what? 

No, really. For what? The economy?

Trump only cares about the economy in as much as it helps him. That’s why the man who promised to drain the swamp of financial corruption appointed the freaking CIO of Goldman Sachs as his Secretary of the Treasury. No, it’s not because Mnuchin knew what he was doing, he had never worked with public funds once in his life. It was because he knew how to get rich people more money. That’s why the only thing that benefited from him was the stock market. Which, by the way, is doing even better under Uncle Joe. Every other measure of wealth indicated hard times for the middle class specifically. The unemployment rate, the deficit, housing prices and more. All of these things were worse under Trump.

Now, I understand that the economy is complicated. A whole bunch of things affect it and not every bad thing that happened under Trump was his fault (in the same way that not everything that happened under Biden was his either). COVID in particular really screwed everything over, and while he didn’t exactly handle the crisis well he didn’t exactly manufacture the disease for funsies either. That said, if Trump gets to take responsibility for the $1.00 gas prices that happened during lockdown because people weren’t driving all that much, then he also gets to take on the responsibility of the hundreds of thousands of jobs that were lost because of it too. 

And that’s the crux. If Donald Trump were truly actually good for the economy, there’d be no room to equivocate. A healthy economy raises all ships, and his did not. That’s what you’re willing to summon at that altar. Mediocrity.

Besides, we know for a fact that some of the things he specifically did were bad. Those tariffs on China hurt American manufacturing arguably more than they hurt China. After all, tariffs end up being a tax on the consumer. All those promises he made to rebuild and protect American industries? He never did any of that, because that would require tax money and empowering workers, and his rich friends really don’t like either of those things. I know, a politician lied, truly a shocker! But if he actually gave a damn about the poor and working class, if he actually cared about the economy, he would’ve done something besides making his merchandise in China. But he doesn’t care about the working class except for how he can abuse them to get what he wants out of them. Every Trump Supporter who isn’t directly working for him is, in his mind, a gullible mark who exists purely to be a tool. Trump does not care about you.

And, you know, even if it were true - that Trump were great for the economy - you know who was? HITLER. While he was chancellor Germany had a 100% employment rate! Of course that was partly because they kicked all the Jews and women out of their jobs and had the unemployed men take them over, but that’s still a pretty impressive success. He also generated an astounding amount of wealth for his people by fueling his Wehrmacht and invading other countries. It was this stability he offered, contrasted with the horrific death of the Papiermark after the First World War, that allowed him to get enough people behind him to seize power. Because most Germans didn’t actually want to exterminate all Jews, but they did want to buy a loaf of bread for less than a bajillion dollars and were willing to look the other way for the sake of that.

Now, I’m not saying Trump is Hitler, or that we’re in as equally perilous a situation. 1920s Germany was 1920s Germany, Hitler was Hitler and there will never be another monster like him. But Trump is his own monster, and whatever color his soul is, whatever he actually believes, he has surrounded himself with people who are all too eager to commit treason in his name. 

Literally, is that worth it to you? What price could possibly be worth putting the worst thing to happen to American Human Rights since Dredd-Scott into office? What good does he bring that are worth the continued strength of our democracy? What policies has he enacted that make supporting him worth it? The death of Roe v Wade, the Muslim Travel Ban, the decreasing enrollment of minorities due to the peeling back of affirmative protections, the encouragement of book banning, the aggressive attacks on free press that accurately report on his crimes? The violent use of police to silence peaceful protests? The Supreme Court that gave him the powers of a King while stripping power from other branches?

Or maybe you’re excited for what he plans to do! Like restoring the Alien and Sedition Acts to evict migrants. You know, those horrible blights upon our country? The ones that allowed us to imprison innocent Japanese citizens in camps just because they were Japanese, or allowed the government to restrict the free press because it didn’t say what they wanted it to? Don’t pretend that he won’t, or that he can’t. It’s happened before so it can happen again, and now that the guard rails are gone, there’s no stopping him. This country has done darker things under better presidents than he, and if you think the lackies he’s going to staff as much of the government as he can with are going to stop him this time, then you are a gullible tool. 

That’s right! If Trump’s in office, expect, at the very least, rigged trials against his opponents, terrifying police oppression of non-violent protests and crimes! So many crimes! Crimes from Trump! Crimes from his friends, his family, his loyal mooks! Crimes for everyone! Crimes that are immediately pardoned - or even pardoned beforehand! How exciting! And if he does even part of what is in Project 2025 - which he’s very likely to - then expect wonderfully horrible stupid things like total federal bans on birth control, females getting arrested for crossing state lines while pregnant and teachers being put in jail for calling their student “Sam” instead of “Samuel” because their parent never signed a permission slip for that. 

This is not hyperbole, this is not conjecture of a potential future, these are things that have already happened because of Trump, and things he has said he was going to do. Do you believe him? Because it’s the one thing I believe him on, because he did them all before and people like Trump only ever get worse.

What reason do you have to support this man? Do you think Harris is going to be worse, somehow? Harris, the most pliable politician we’ve had in decades - for better or worse? What, is she gonna let the woke mob take over America? The woke mob that barely exists? How terrible, people might have to treat Transfolk with the respect they deserve! Truly, a nightmare! 

For the record, no one has been arrested for any trans discrimination law. Because most of those laws simply add transpeople to the list of people who are considered valid targets for discrimination/hate crimes. So if you weren’t planning on burning down a transperson’s house or denying them a job because they’re trans, you don’t have to worry about being arrested/fined for not liking transpeople. You’re allowed to be a bigot in your own house, just like bigots always have been, that hasn’t changed. I promise no one’s going to arrest you for deadnaming and misgendering a trans person. The fact that people won’t LIKE you for doing that, well, that’s a problem you just have to deal with if you really believe in free speech, now isn’t it? 

What other reasons are there to think Kamala is worse than Trump? Do you think she’s a Marxist? I’ve heard people call her that before and it’s fucking hilarious to me because it displays either a profound ignorance of what Marxism is, a profound ignorance of who she is, or both. Yes, Kamala’s dad was a Marxist. He also barely talks to her - Kamala refers to their relationship as “strained but cordial,” - in part because his daughter is an avid participant in the free market. If you want to know who's a Marxist, you ask a Marxist. And if my experience has taught me anything, it’s that most of the Marxists don’t like Harris at all.

Of course people like Jordan Peterson have twisted the meaning of the word around so hard that it doesn’t mean anything anymore anyway. I’ve heard people call DEI initiatives Marxist because they don’t like it when people don’t agree with them? Because they don’t understand that calling an action racist doesn’t mean the one who did it was racist? Look, this stuff is complicated and I’m not going to litigate it right now, but the whole point of DEI isn’t to brainwash people into believing white people are all secretly evil. It’s meant to spread awareness so that people don’t accidentally say stupid, hurtful stuff because not everyone has the time of day to research the entire history of racism in America. The more important point here is that whatever you wanna call it, it’s not Marxism just because both Marx and your DEI speaker both get mad at you for disagreeing with them, and no one is teaching Critical Race Theory to children in school.

But to be clear - if we define Marxism as “extremely to the left,” she’s not. Entire progressive cultures are furious that Joe stepped down because Kamala turned her back on them. They felt they had a chance with Joe, but they definitely don’t think they do with her. A lot of leftists are disappointed in her. You should’ve seen how pissed they got when she said she’d appoint republicans to her cabinet. Anyone putting her in the same category as Angela Ocasio-Cortez or Bernie Sanders is either ignorant or malicious. Conversely, if by Marxist you mean  the economic system by which the means of production are owned and controlled by the working class and that profit thereof is evenly distributed amongst all beneficiaries, be it at the company level or the governmental level, Kamala Harris does not believe that, never has, and probably never will. The PACs who back her campaign are way too interested in continuing the status quo to let her do that. 

And that’s what this is about, isn’t it? I’ll admit it, Kamala Harris may be a change in the Democratic Party, appealing to patriotism in ways the democrats haven’t in a long time, breaking with certain party lines where it’s convenient but she’s not ever going to completely contradict party orthodoxy, not at this point. She chose Tim Walz instead of Josh Shapiro like the party wanted her to, but she didn’t choose, say, Bernie Sanders or even Pete Buttegig. She still plays the system, and at this point I think both sides can agree the system is broken. 

And hey, Trump does offer a new system! But that new system is fascism, and if that’s what you want, then, well, I guess I can’t stop you. But if it’s not what you want, if you want to guarantee American democracy will prosper as democracy, vote for someone else. And if you want that vote to matter, vote for Kamala.

You have the right to vote for whoever you want. I can’t stop you, and I won’t. This essay doesn’t exist to deny you that right. But I want everyone who reads this to know that if Trump wins, his track history shows that he’s going to do the terrible things he says he’s going to do, especially now that he’s kicked out all the people who would stop him and has perfect immunity.

Or maybe not. Maybe he won’t. Maybe Trump will have a miraculous change of heart, realize that he actually has a responsibility when wielding all that power, tell the Supreme Court to reverse their decisions on immunity and tell the people behind Project 2025 to go eat bricks instead of pretending like he hasn’t heard about it for the 500th time this week. Maybe every one of his previous actions was just part of some super-uber-complicated 4D Chess game with the Deep State of The They™ that totally exists and is actively trying to evilly keep him out of power so the evil space lizard jews can continue to drink the blood of sexually abused orphans and destroy things with natural-disaster making space lasers. 

And maybe I’ll win every single state lottery on the same day with the same numbers.

I feel like a crazy person, sometimes. It seems so strange to be staring down the loaded gun of a dictatorship, but history tells us this is how it always goes. But we have a chance to stop it this time. And hey, maybe I’m wrong about all of this. It wouldn’t be the first time. But I’d like to think I’ve grown up from my foolish days believing every conspiracy theory I found online, and feel that I’ve brought sufficient evidence to the table. Trump has done nothing but lie, be stupid, and step on whatever is in his way to get what he personally wants, damn the consequences. And at the end of the day, people tend to do more of what they’ve done, except occasionally more. So ask yourself, before you check that box, what has Trump done? In what ways has he helped this country and in what ways has he hurt it? And are you willing to risk more, or worse, of that harm? And if so, for what? Whose wellbeing are you potentially putting on that altar? Because if I’m right, and he wins, I did warn you.

[the-hedgerow-house]

Excerpt of Chapter 1: Ad Terminum

Here's a snippet of the first chapter of "The Hedgerow House" to whet your appetite with; Y/N POV writing:

Satisfied with what you did manage to scalp off your worn tennis shoes, you took a look around for an indicator of where the festival was going to be; vaguely, you recalled someone in the cafe where you’d heard about the sign up saying it was up in the old campgrounds, deep in the woods where the town’s lights wouldn’t interrupt the ambiance, but where that actually was you had no idea. “Summer camp” wasn’t really your thing growing up, even if it was technically just a four day weekend behind the library. Too many kids from school you didn’t feel like being in close quarters with, uninterrupted, for days at a time.

Taking a guess you weren't up far enough, you pointed your toes uphill and began to march, pondering the other details of the event you remembered from the cafe poster. Any other year, you might have passed up on the endeavor simply because the effort wasn’t worth it, but upon seeing the theme that had been voted on, you felt a glimmer of true excitement. For the first time in five years, they’d passed on the milquetoast ‘harvest’ and ‘pumpkin patch’ themes and dove back to the true root of Eerie Fest: actually being scary.

This year, they picked The Hedgerow House.

More of an urban legend than a scary story, there was hardly a teen or college freshman in the county who didn’t know about that macabre place–it was the main reason the campground had been so sought after this year. There was an old multi-story lodge on the property that was being decorated to resemble the forbidden building of legend, with the decor and spooksters–the nickname for the costumed actors–being assigned a role as one of the denizens of the house itself. Supposedly, the goings-on of The Hedgerow House were the stuff of nightmares that only the most versed and prolific of horror fans would appreciate, from missing persons to mutilations, cult activity, inhuman creatures and enthusiastic cannibalism; each telling of the house was a bit different yet all claimed to be true. They couldn’t possibly water down this theme! Your excitement for a truly awful, memorable, unsettling Eerie Fest experience was all you wanted. To participate in something you actually cared about.

You were already called a monster by enough people in town, it only made sense to finally cash in on that title.

A rapid beeping struck your ear out of the blue, startling you from your thoughts. What was that? Reaching for your earbuds, you felt a bitter hand of worry grip your neck. One of them was gone! How? When?! Turning to look down the path, the worry grew into a near panic. How in the world could you find your lost headphone in this mess!?

You had to try, or that incessant beeping would continue as the paired headset tried to sync up again and again, fruitlessly. Muttering swears at your own misfortune, you trudged back to approximately where you cleaned your shoes, finding the mud scrapes relatively easily. The beeping stopped as you did, meaning the damn thing was hiding out somewhere nearby; it was bright white, so it should stand out pretty well against the dirt and leaves–right?

Even if it did, that didn’t spare you the time it took to rifle through the masses of plant matter, feeling the wet odor of decaying plant life cling to your sleeves and seep under your nails. Three–five–ten minutes later, it finally turned up, somehow nestled safely under the very root you’d used to clean your shoes. For a moment, you swore it hadn’t been there before, but you were too relieved to find it to question whether your eyes were playing tricks or if the forest had mischievous critters hiding around every bush that enjoyed your misery. Cleaning it off, you put it back in your ear–cold! Ugh.

You rose from the ground, losing hope you’d get to sign up on time at all at this rate.

The ground shifted.

Sopping leaves skid over each other, taking your foot with them with a crunch as gravel and twigs gave way. Your knee burned, taking the brunt of the slide you unwillingly found yourself having. Everything went pear-shaped as you landed with a whump on your back at the foot of the hill, staring up at the gray autumn sky between the treetops. Taking a slow breath, a guttural curse wound its way out of your throat.

“FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!”

Carefully, you sat up, wincing; the pain was mild, mostly just bumps and a wicked rug burn thanks to your jeans greeting the hillside with too much enthusiasm, but your pride hurt the most. How in blue blazes did you manage to fall down the damn hill so easily?!Coming outside was a mistake, you decided, peeling your wet backside off the leafy ground with all the grace of a newborn horse. Home was sounding better and better by the minute, but as you peered up at the way you came, you found this side to be the rear of the hill–and that it was overgrown with tall grass wherever the hillside itself hadn’t crumbled away into muddy shelves between gnarled roots. There was no way to climb back up without a ridiculous amount of struggle, enough so that you briefly contemplated just going to the campground anyway to spare yourself the hassle of walking around to flatter ground.

[crimsonfluidessence]

Prompt 30: Amity

"Do you think anyone's going to show up?"

Esredes crossed his arms and leaned against the banquet table, looking around the large, rented out ballroom. In its current, mostly empty state, it felt as if he were in a very bright labyrinth. "Because if they don't, this is going to be. A lot of food to give away. Did we send out enough invitations?"

“Of course I do." Elouan replied. "I think everyone will. We sent all the invitations we could, nay? Besides, people care. If there’s something you’re in or—or involved with, they’ll come. You mean so much to people; why celebrate alone when we can celebrate with friends, nay?”

Elouan was the only member of the planning team who wasn't actually a harrier. Otherwise, behind him, Dione, Vette, and Heilyn were busy cooking with Vette, Mythirel, and Maylis doing a lot of the setup, Rae, Marcelloix, Marchand, and Artorias were put to work having to move things in, Rae using the help of his Titan egi and reminding Esredes those things can actually pick up matter. And that was it, his entire planning team for the feast, versus around thirty to forty invitations sent out.

"But we're essentially faking a holiday, for all they know." Esredes said, putting his hands on his hips. "Friends' Day Feast, ugh, it sounds more stupid the more I say it out loud. I should've come up with a better name. Why did my name win the vote."

“I guess any holiday can be fake if you think like that,” he mused, head cocking aside. Elou flashed a gentle smile. “A holiday’s a holiday if people believe in it. So why can’t this one be just as real as the others? It doesn’t have to be Starlight, it can be—smaller. Celebrated by people close to you. And Friends’ Day Feast isn’t dumb! It is very, um…on-the-mark? Is that the saying? Because it is about friendship and faith and trust, right? Like back—back when the dragons and people were friends, kind of like how we’re trusting each other again.”

"We're not exactly trusting each other again, man and dragon." He remarked. "But I see your logic. If you stretch it enough, I guess maybe it is a decent coverup for the Saint Day Feast. I just hope the rest of the team can keep quiet about what this actually is. There's no guarantee a loyalist won't show up."

They couldn't celebrate the holiday at the camp, not really. They couldn't afford to overindulge on food out in the wilderness. When it came around each year past the war's end, it was usually a private movement celebration. And Esredes would still help do that, but this year he was trying something different. What if they put on the feast for a public audience, pretending it was for something else? The loyalist friends Esredes wasn't out to would get to be exposed to their world without knowing it, and Esredes could use it to make them let down their guard later and accept they weren't the monsters. How could they be, if they put on fun events with food? Sometimes it was that easy to get someone in.

“But we’re getting there, aye? It will take a while, sure—and maybe can’t be like it was. It could get close to it, though,” he hummed, head nodding. Elouan smiled loosely towards his friend. “I think they’ll be quiet. To be trusted and—and help here, they’d know by now to not share what they shouldn’t share. People like being trusted and don’t want to break that trust, most of all with you. If there is one, maybe they’d not know. Maybe seeing so many people will—will get to them, too. Start thinking about how, how this new era of ours isn’t that bad.”

Esredes opted not to correct Elouan on just how many people were perfectly happy to break trust with him. Instead he turned his head towards the empty ballroom and sighed softly. "I sure hope so," he offered. "That'd really make this entire ordeal worth it."

It was half an hour to the time sent on the invitations. Thanks to the strict coordination of himself, Vette, Heilyn, and Mythirel, it looked as if the team had managed to get everything in place, even if Mythirel was being extremely blunt and sparing not a single drop of honey, even worse than Heilyn usually was. It certainly made the others shrink away and stay on task, especially Marchand, who he was pretty sure was terrified of Mythirel. Now the blue banners were hanging down by the entrance and above the banquet buffet tables, the blue tablerunner was straightened into place, and the orchestrion was playing the censored Ishgardian version of what they'd adopted as a traditional song of the feast. Could something be a tradition in three years? Debatable, but Esredes would say yes.

"Okay, everyone." He said. "Act natural and normal. Pretend Friends' Day Feast is important to you. People are due to start arriving any moment now."

And arrive they did. In the next few minutes, Marie, Xavierre, Nostrada and Kotaide, Fuyu, Kainen and Azarah, and Trosta all made up the first wave of early arrivals. Esredes took on the task of greeting each one of them, smiling to each. "Hi, hi, thank you for coming to the Friends' Day Feast. I'm glad to see you here. Help yourself to the food, socialize, and dance around the room if you'd like. We'll be having games as the afternoon goes on." He'd been memorizing this spiel all day. Xavierre already knew from his sister, but he was pretty sure Trosta and Nostrada caught on immediately to the true purpose of the event from the looks in their eyes, to which he just smiled and nodded. For Nostrada, he gestured back at the table and told him to help himself. That boy ate so much Esredes was still convinced it was a medical condition. Hopefully there'd be any leftover for all those arriving on time.

Esredes didn't know how many to expect right as the event started, but sure enough, a small crowd of people ended up making their way through the doors. Of all people, he hadn't expected Jude to be the first person on time, the young man walking right through the doors and then stopping to regard Esredes. "Esredes." He said.

"Jude." He responded.

These two greeted each other like this a lot, nowadays. It was still awkward for Esredes to talk to him, truth be told. They'd spent quite a while apart and Esredes was still getting used to the idea he wanted to be friends again and wouldn't leave with another outburst. "Thank you for coming," he offered to him. "Uh- help yourself to the food, socialize, and dance around the room if you'd like. We'll be having games as the afternoon goes on."

By the time he'd finished this brief interaction with Jude, Flavien, Victor, Judie, and A'leigh had all come in behind him. Esredes smiled and waved to the first three, his beloved typical components of nights out with his lowborn circle of friends, but put on an extra coat of paint to his smile at A'leigh. In truth, he didn't know if him and A'leigh were friends or not. He would personally say no- a relationship that formed entirely on an atonement complex was hardly one at all. Even if Leigh had, against all expectations, wanted to keep him around after the truth came out as the last connection to his deceased brother and put the past behind, he figured it was the only reason he tolerated his presence. "...Thank you for coming." He repeated to A'leigh. "Help yourself." And he left it at that.

Following him was Adel, who Esredes could spot before they even came through the door, emerging with their usual enthusiasm as they greeted Esredes wholeheartedly. Adel was certainly a character, an unlikely one but a character nonetheless. He'd befriended the Inquisitor despite all odds of such a thing when the Elezen was content to protect him against other Inquisitors and not put on a pity party about their actions. Perhaps the two of them were ignoring things by having a relationship at all, but so was Esredes by knowing loyalists at all, really. So he smiled at them and made some light jabs before they took their place at the banquet table besides Nostrada. Esredes prayed to Shiva now they made enough food after all.

Cammie said hello next, a young Temple Knight and Hospitalier Esredes mentored in an unofficial sense. She was accepting of his true nature now, that wasn't a problem- instead Esredes worried more about her ability to socialize at an event. So he greeted her and encouraged her to go talk to people, and watched as she went to join Azarah and Kainen. Well, Azarah could do the heavy lifting in that group, maybe.

Two people he hadn't expected to show up followed- Crescens, the wandering Triple Triad champion of the Gold Saucer who'd been showing him he actually had potential in the card game, and her boyfriend Rossignol, who Esredes... had certainly met. He greeted them both and ushered them onward, turning to greet the next trio of guests who brought a bright smile to his face. It was Clover, her daughter N'theya, and their former ward Teagan, who he'd been friends and associates with for a long time now. He shared a brief hug with Clover as N'theya immediately wandered over to the dessert table, and asked both her and Teagan how things were going. Once they joined the party, the door space was quiet for a few minutes...

And then more people showed up. Quincy apologized profusely for being a few minutes late, citing an appointment at the clinic, and Esredes had to reassure the young man it was fine and no one cared if you weren't at a big event on time. Evianne and Astraea arrived at about the same time without any fanfare, and he said his hellos to both. Alastor came next, and that prompted Evianne to move on quickly. Esredes could only guess he was late because he found a rock on the side of the road and tried to shove it in his mouth, but there were half a dozen other possible reasons the airheaded Miqo'te came late, and he could only speculate.

Mizzie was next, and as he often did, he came with a new tale of what unusual and wild occurrence had happened to him last week that rest assured, the conjurer had recovered from. Esredes greeted him and thanked him for coming, and in turn got questions about what Ishgardian holiday this was.

"Ah, it's... not. This is just a special event being put on." Mizzie knew about his true nature, but he was not about to explain the truth in front of earshot of people. But the explanation was enough for him, and he moved on.

But someone he hadn't expected to show up followed him- the man whose first name was not Mercer but for some reason insisted everyone called him by his surname. Esredes liked Mercer- he was a lowborn who was well-reasoned without taking peoples' shit. Him and Esredes found a lot in common with each others' thought process. He just hadn't expected him to show up, not that it was unwelcomed. Mercer chatted to him about how he was doing for a minute before Esredes had to move on to the next guest, Magdelaine. The older, motherly Inquisitor apologized and cited her knee as the reason she was late, but from the way she smiled at him Esredes could tell she suspected what was truly going on immediately, and that it made her all the happier to be here. The bigger question was who she'd end up talking to.

Perhaps she should've been an omen for the next person who made Esredes blink in surprise. Alvere came through the doors in his usual heavy fur coats, his hair as much of a disaster as always. "Alvere." Esredes said. In truth, he hadn't sent him an invitation. The cover was a Friends' Day Feast, and they were coworkers, acquaintances, but not friends. And yet somehow he'd found his way here anyhow. Was it a problem? Eh, he decided not really. He said hello and motioned him onward. Alvere had regained more than enough of his conscience to not make a problem of Esredes' activities by this point, and the man needed to get out more.

Speaking of Inquisitor who needed to get out more who Esredes forgot to invite, Mikhail showed up next, causing Esredes to blink up at him as well. Mikhail outdid Alvere for being an awkward associate. They used to know each other, as Temple Knights, they were in the same chapters together, until the man left for the Inquisition. And though he quit before Esredes' network came into existence and was left a pathetic and sad mess, Esredes would not want to relive their post-war reunion for anything.

Still, he had a right to be here, despite everything. Esredes smiled at him, said his hellos, and directed him to Marie and Judie. From there he'd manage somehow, he hoped.

After that, the doorway laid silent. Had everyone besides those to trickle in found their way? Well, then maybe Esredes could turn around and see how the mingling was going. Perhaps now it was time for-

The doors flew open, and Rusty came in, bellowing out a hello to all and causing a lot of heads to turn his way. And Esredes was reminded once again the large Roegadyn had adopted this need to outdo every dramatic entrance of his at each event. He sighed to himself.

The doors were silent after that, but the orchestrion was playing a sanitized, censored version of one of the songs they'd invented together in camp with full force. Esredes turned his head now to observe how the event was going. A quick headcount lead him to quickly realize there were about forty people in the room. He'd expected twenty at absolute most, good gods. And thankfully for his fears, people had managed to mingle. Maylis, Vette, Magdelaine, and Evianne were all caught in a conversation he could only imagine was gossip. Flavien was teasing Marchand as he was the usual nervous and awkward wreck he'd become since casting off his fake persona and joining their ranks. Mikhail stood near them awkwardly, about as he expected, but soon enough Judie was annoying both of them. Typical Judie. Kainen, Mizzie, Trosta, and Alvere were all managing even with their socially stunted awkwardness to hold conversation with Cammie, Astraea, Fuyu, and Marie. How interesting for that to happen.

Esredes watched and observed the conversation taking form. Oh, he was a military leader, not so much an event host... but as he checked his list, it did seem like it was going well so far. He smiled.

As the spirit of the party swelled within him, he went between mingling and playing host, trying to address everyone in the party at least once the best he could, but something lingered in the back of his mind. The most prominent rule of Ishgardian parties was that a fight would happen if allowed. Of all the parties he’d been to, he’d seen maybe a quarter have some kind of fight or injury. Why, the man supporting his counseling business by funneling money through his arrogant partner had thrown a book at him once at a birthday party, and that hadn’t even been in Coerthas.

Marcelloix put a hand on his shoulder and remarked that he looked tense. Esredes surveyed the landscape- Adel, Mikhail, Alvere, Trosta, Maggie, and even Jude were here, each existing as themselves despite all odds.

“…I just worry about the possibility of conflict.” Esredes said. “We’re treading dangerously close with this idea.” The idea which was his. Right.

Marcelloix patted his shoulder. “I’ll keep an eye out, boss. Nothing happens under my watch.”

Esredes managed a smile back. “…Thank you.” He offered. 

As the party continued, no conflict brewed. The noblewomen had all taken to dancing together or with a man they dragged along. Vette even pulled Esredes into a dance, as she always did, and a small crowd cheered them on, threatening to turn his face red. He was never good about handling this much positive attention, and this had never happened to him before the fall. There were balls, he danced with noblewomen he forgot by the end of the week- but never had he been the center of attention.

Oh Shiva, this was what his life had turned into, hadn’t it? Despite the hopelessness of the end of the war, here he was, dancing to the swelling music with one of his most trusted friends, who gave him that happy look in her eyes she always did, the look of someone who made you their world and you never quite knew how to feel about it. And between the cheering and the aether bond between them swelling with positive emotion, the anxiety melted away.

The party games went by well- last time he’d seen pin the tail at a party, the blindfolded had somehow managed to walk entirely across the way and pin it on him just standing there instead of the target. Hoarhounds were hounds of Halone- the loyalists wouldn’t suspect the theming. Esredes stood by and watched Alastor completely fail to even hit the paper, reminiscing about Fenrir as he eyed the drawing.

Nostrada, Jude, Mikhail, Mizzie, Azarah, Dione, and Verdant all failed miserably. Cammie and Kainen did all right. Maylis, Vette, and Trosta got close, Alvere managed the foot, and Adel somehow managed to pin the head instead. Incredible. But it looked like everyone was having fun, so the experiment was a success thus far.

Maybe it was all going to be fine, and he worried for nothing. Esredes should have known better by now those were famous last words.

“Esredes,” Heilyn began with his big loud mouth, “now that we’re all here, why don’t you give a speech about Ysayle?”

Esredes blinked, and his blood turned to ice. All the eyes on the room turned onto him. “I- ah- who, now?” He tried. Shit. Gods-damn it, Heilyn, why did he always have to do this?

Laughter erupted in the room. Esredes felt his face heat up. “Oh, he really didn’t know, did he? Don’t tease him too hard,” Magdelaine said to the crowd.

Esredes looked around at everyone’s attention on him. “You… you all knew?”

And indeed, everyone seemed to be aware of what had been left intentionally unsaid until now. Well… almost everyone. A certain duskwight looked about with nearly as much confusion as Esredes, meeting his eye with a shrug. “What’s so funny?” Marchand asked, clearly not nearly as aware of the joke as the others.

“Oh, Esredes…aye, of course!" Elouan said. "Why wouldn’t we, nay? I love and care about you so much, just like you must have about her, aye? And, and I want to care about her just as much as you do. She’s important to you. Can we hear about the Ysayle you knew? I’m right here—I’ll be right here for you, always!”

"She deserves at least a few words I think! If not more!" Alastor says with a few little flicks of his ears. "I had a lot of respect for her, and I think she'd want to be remembered well and nicely."

"Never got to meet her. I'll always regret that." Heilyn said. "Would have done some good to talk to someone who actually cared and wasn't some insane bastard hell bent on fire and vengeance. She did good. Good for us all. That should be acknowledged I think."

"It.. would be nice to hear.. only if you are feeling up to it, Esredes.." Fuyu nervously smiled, voice quiet among the others.

Rae simply nodded and gave a gesture with his hand indicating that Esredes should go on. He held up the Carbuncle sitting in his lap as well and nodded its head. "Carby agrees as well."

Alvere said nothing, but he was smiling. When Esredes looked over at him, he gave a very slight nod.

Seraphiaux fidgited slightly as he speaks. Unsure if he's even allowed to on this topic given... everything in the past. "She... she was there for you when I wasn't. The sibling I couldn't be. You deserved her being like a sister and she deserved you being like a brother and caring about her, and... and I... I don't think I have the right to say it but she'd like a kind word. I think."

Nostrada clapped. "Speech!" He said. He kept clapping and repeating this, until most of the others joined in with him.

In the background, Mythirel loaded an entire new set of orchestrion tracks into the device. The uncensored version of the music began to play, each lyric being sung softly about the hope which kept Her people going towards a better tomorrow. As the crowd kept chanting for him to do a speech, Esredes felt himself tearing up.

He turned towards the stage at the back of the hall, and ascended the steps, standing stiffly and firmly at the edge. He drew in a deep breath.

“…I want to thank each and every one of you for coming.” He began. “From the bottom of my icy heart, it means everything to me that you came. That I can look out upon this gathering of people from all walks of life, and see them all getting along in coexistence… well. I think she would have liked to see this.”

He put a hand on his heart, the audience silent. “What to say about her… I’ve said a lot about her in speeches like this in the past. Above all else, she was but one of us once. She lead a simple existence with the people of Falcon’s Nest, unaware that one day, her heart would change Coerthas and Dravania forever.”

Despite the tears that threatened to well up, he smiled. “And despite the moniker she took up, that was what allowed her to succeed. Her heart and her strength of character. Ysayle was a dreamer who believed the best in people even when she had no reason to. Hopeless and disparate as my people were, we were drawn in by her light. By her optimism and hope beyond what anyone dared to dream. And because of her dream,” he looked over the crowd, and smiled warmly. “I got to meet all of you.”

“If not for her dream, none of us would be gathered here today. Her dream gave me the strength to reach out to everyone like me and offer a hand in a new form of unity. Whether that was by asking you to join us years ago, or by daring to talk to you when I knew you might think the worst of me and being pleasantly surprised, I don’t regret any of it.” He paused to inhale a breath. “A lot of you in this room never got to meet her. You haven’t seen the light in her eyes that kept her pressing forward even when the risk of the movement’s oblivion and the demise of everyone in Coerthas weighed down heavy on her. You haven’t seen it, but you can feel it in the air around you. This, what we’re experiencing right now, is her hope. The love of a simple girl for the world around her and the people in it, regardless of origin or alliance. She once believed everything she did was Saint Shiva speaking through her, but the truth of it is that Shiva inspired her to be her best self in the same way she did all of us.” He looked around. “I know not all of you follow her, but we’ve chosen to make a life philosophy from her courage for good reason. Ysayle was the first to recognize that embodying her bravery- to rise above fear and hate, and instead see the humanity in something that looked monstrous- was the only way to truly end a war. I’ve taken this lesson she showed me to all of you I’ve met since the war ended, even to those of you I may have seen as an enemy if things were different, and further still to Garlemald and back, and in it all,” he shut his eyes. “I know I’ve continued something important.”

He opened his eyes again. “Regardless of your personal beliefs and what you think of Shiva’s people, you all came here. And I think that is what Ysayle would have wanted. She dreamed of a world like this, where people came together and accepted none of us are perfect, but we are all trying to do good in this world. The idea of this feast is to imitate the sort man and dragon had when they first forged a nation together. So too are we here today trying to forge a new Ishgard, a true Ishgard, one that will look out and care for all of her people. And at the end of the day, Shiva is a saint under Halone’s gaze. I believe- no matter what any of you personally do- that both of them smile upon this. And I can’t thank all of you enough for making it possible to make someone I love dearly happy all the way from the aetherial sea.”

The tears spilled over, and he curled his hand into a fist on his chest. “The name I came up with to hide this was stupid.” He continued. “But I still think it applies to what is going on. Ysayle would have wanted all of us to be friends, if not by bond, in spirit. A-and… And I just…”

He shut his eyes, the best way to end the speech eluding him as tears kept flowing. Yet when he dared to open his eyes a few moments later, everyone’s expression seemed to be that of a silent understanding. And so despite the tears, he smiled.

“I love all of you.” He said. “And I’m so glad you came.”

With that, he bowed and went off the stage. Applause filled the room and within moments he was swarmed by people asking if he was okay, some offering hugs, comforting touches, or words of encouragement. It was overwhelming, but in this moment, he was all right with being overwhelmed, because a warm feeling burned in his chest like an inferno.

Friendship. True and steady, trusted friendship. That was what he had all around him, despite the odds, despite being a lesser being and one of the most hated people in all of Ishgard. That was what Ysayle meant, wasn’t it? That everyone could find a way forward?

Esredes shut his eyes and embraced the people around him in a hug. A soft laughter escaped him, and before he knew it he couldn’t stop. Joy, pure and unfiltered joy, seized his every muscle and forced him to keep laughing as it cascaded him like a waterfall.

Here in this very room, he’d found the way to walk past the end. Together with the people who made each and every day worth it. And that was worthy of celebration.

[thetardisisnotourdivision]

Is it just me who's seriously worried about the fact that they're not even imprisoning the migrants in a secure, safe, on-land building, but on a boat? I have a horrible feeling about where this is going. They're literally imprisoning people who just wanted to be safe and live better lives, and on a boat, no less, which feels at best like a cruel joke ("they come over here in boats" rhetoric) and at worst feels like a setup for a horrific "tragedy"... I genuinely wouldn't put it past the Tories at this point to do something like that, and the scry thing is how many people would be unbothered. One of my mum's friends, who has always been generally left-wing, the other week said something about immigrants being WORSE than ACTUAL CONVICTED CRIMINALS. It's scary how easily people are falling into this trap, I've said it once and I'll say it again; it's terrifying how many parallels there are between modern Britain and Nazi Germany. THIS IS FASCISM. First prosecution, stripping them if their human rights, then "rounding them up" and putting them in camps. We know where this goes. We know what comes next. WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN.

It frustrates me how powerless I am - I can't even vote yet, so here I am desperately shouting into the void on Tumblr, hoping that someone with some semblance of power and influence will read this. Even without the "migrant issues", this country is falling to fascism - I've just started questioning my gender and I'm terrified by the new laws being put in place. Up and down the county, more and more people are in danger, are vulnerable, homeless, struggling, in poverty, in the town I live in - a very white, very middle-class town, so you can imagine what it's usually like (there's like four churches too, whatever you're picturing as the average citizen before the cost of living crisis is probably accurate) - people are having to shut off rooms in their houses and sleep in their living rooms because there's mould or damp or other things that are making their children ill. This country is in chaos, people are dying, there are fucking fascists in government and yet STILL PEOPLE INSIST THAT THERE'S NO POINT VOTING ANYONE ELSE IN. Let me tell you now - Starmer might not be great, but at least he's not a fascist - and his party are a thousand times better than the Tories. This country is falling apart.

If you live outside the UK, you might or might not know all of this. It's awful. It's chaos here, there's basically Nazi's in government and no one gives a shit. There are a few people who quietly talk about where this is heading, how we've seen this before in every genocide in history, but nobody else seems to care. We have a whole generation of people starving, unable to afford to live, and no one cares. Innocent people looking for a safe place to live are being forcibly imprisoned - their children are being stripped of any sort of comfort DELIBERATELY - for the crime of fleeing danger.

I don't know. I really don't know. I've forgotten what my point was. I hate this country. I hate these fuckweeds in government who think they can do what the fuck they like. I hate it I hate it I hate it. And I hate that there's nothing I can do.

[docholligay]

I’m not gonna spend too much time with the inners here, mostly because I don’t care and secondly because that is most assuredly not what this was voted on for, but I do take it as a moment to talk about where I think Stars falls down for me personally.

I say for me personally because I could see how other people would really like this moment, of all them in perfect sync, doing the same motions, going through the same drama.

But for me personally, if we are now entering HBO original series: Doc Holligay’s Sailor Moon, I would do this a totally different way, because it’s such a chance for real character moments. They could have Mako pounding on the side of the phone thing, Ami tensely dialing and redialing, Rei calling through the operator, because she’s sure that’s a secret back way in, Usagi saying some children’s luck charm under her breath.

Given my space and time, I would go so far as to have Rei camped out in front of the place, Minako trying to seduce someone because she thinks they have tickets, Ami trying to hack into Japanese ticketmaster, etc. So for me this could be something where we get to see someone the details of each of the inners, those tiny things that make a character tick, because not every person reacts to this sort of stress in the same way. And that’s part of the fun of putting all your characters in the same situation, is you can see how they all handle something silly and egregious like trying to get concert tickets.