#that was for me to draw one of the United States presidents | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

genderqueerpositivity · 5 months ago

Text

I absolutely cannot wait for this election cycle to be over because genuinely what the fuck. I keep drawing parallels to the 2016 election because there are just so many similarities, but what I haven't said much about yet are the ways in which things are worse.

Having the majority of people I know or randomly encounter be Trump supporting Republicans is absolutely wild now, because sometimes they will just drop the most unhinged comments you could possibly imagine into casual conversation as if they're simply commenting that the grass is green or the weather is nice today, and every time it gives me this bizarre sensation like I am somehow the one living in a different plane of reality.

The Democrats are intentionally bringing undocumented people into the country and giving them drivers licenses so they can vote in the upcoming November election, and unless Donald Trump wins and is allowed to carry out his mass deportation plan the United States will never again have a Republican Christian president.

Joe Biden has been using the US military to release chemicals into the atmosphere for the past four years which have the ability to affect the weather in order to trick the American public into believing that climate change is real.

The attack on Donald Trump at his rally was rally a plot enacted by The Deep State, a secret group of powerful liberals who are running the country behind the scenes, and they don't want Trump to win in November because he is too powerful for them to control.

Joe Biden was replaced by a secret identical body double when he allegedly had Covid several weeks ago, and the double is the one who really dropped out of the election, gives all of his speeches, and does all of his interviews now for him.

Those are just the ones I heard last week.

And the reactions I get when contradicting these wild takes range from rage to mocking to a bizarre persecution complex. In 2016 and even in 2020 I was able to have a lot of productive conversations with many people who disagreed with me greatly on major issues, and that is largely not happening this time. If I dare to disagree, they turn to anger, attack me personally, or cry immediately that I'm denying their right to free speech. When bringing up my actual lived experiences with certain issues, I've been dismissed immediately as emotional and brainwashed. There is no room for discourse or discussion anymore, it has broken down.

I know that we've been going out of our way to call them weird, but we're not really talking about fringe weirdo conspiracy theorists anymore, we're talking about your neighbors and my coworkers and your aunt and the guy behind me in line at Aldi. These people are everywhere, they're 100% serious about believing in this shit, and they're voting Republican in November come hell or high water, truth be goddamed.

You know, the lives of millions and millions of women, LGBTQ+ people, undocumented people, and other marginalized peoples are at stake in this election but it feels increasingly like reality is at stake too.

"Alternative facts" sounded outrageous seven years ago...now they've made it a way of life. Unless we can correct course, and rapidly, it isn't going to get better.

#op #politics #us politics #i am in red state hell

387 notes · View notes

starkeysmuse · 26 days ago

Text

Good Graces | 01

Rafe Cameron x Princess!Reader | series masterlist.

summary; Being the son of the President of the United States came with its fair share of responsibilities, but none as infuriating as this. To secure his father's re-election, Rafe Cameron was forced to spend weeks under the same roof as the Princess of England. Diplomacy, they called it. Torture, he thought. The last thing he needed was a spoiled royal ruining his summer. But between gala events, unexpected conversations, and stolen glances, Rafe realized the line between hate and attraction was thinner than he'd ever imagined.

warnings; no smut. reader is two years younger than rafe. english is not my first language. the images are for the aesthetic. 'forced marriage au' by @rafecameronssl4t inspired<3

author's note; this is my first series!!! hope you liked it, reblogs and comments are appreciated<3

The presidential ballroom was impeccably decorated, a display of luxury that Rafe found unnecessary and pretentious. He leaned against one of the high columns, watching the political and royal elite move like chess pieces on a board. Ward has talking to the King, your father, about something he wasn't paying attention and didn't bother to pretend to care about.

The ride over had been torturous enough. For the thousandth time, Ward lectured him on how to behave in front of the Royal Family, reminding him—again— not to embarrass him in front of "the most powerful allies we could ever have."

Now, as he stood there, arms crossed and mind elsewhere, he saw you enter to the ballroom. Your entrance was impossible to ignore, your dress shimmering as if the stars themselves had been woven into it. Everything about you was poised, practiced and perfect, from the tilt of your chin to the way you greeted the room with that ever–diplomatic smile.

When your gaze finally met his, your expression shifted slightly, and an eyebrow arched. You approached with purpose, the polite smile on your face as cold as the champagne being served.

"You should bow", you said, your British accent cutting through the noise around them.

Rafe didn't move, instead crossing his arms tighter. "And why would I do that?"

"Because I'm royalty" you replied matter-of-factly, through your smile remained polite.

"And I'm the President's son" Rafe shot back, his tone dry. "I'd say that makes us even, wouldn't you?"

Your smile tightened ever so slightly, but you didn’t back down. “Are you always this charming, or is it just when you’re forced to interact with people far more important than you?”

"Only when those people are wearing a crown and an attitude." he countered, smirking.

Before you could retort, a voice interrupted.

“Ah, there you are, Rafe!” Ward’s tone was overly cheerful, drawing both your attention. “Why don’t you and the Princess take a photo together? A perfect opportunity for the press, don’t you think?”

You exchanged a quick, reluctant glance with Rafe, silently agreeing on one thing for the first time: this was going to be a long night.

Rage groaned internally, but this well-practiced fake smile was already in place. He extended an arm toward you in mock politeness, his smirk sharp enough to cut glass. "After you, Your Highness. Don't want to break royal protocol now, don't we?"

You rolled your eyes, but your own diplomatic farcade never faltered. "How thoughtful of you, Mr. Cameron."

As you both moved toward the photo backdrop, flashes from cameras already began to light up the room. Rafe leaned in slightly, lowering his voice so only you could hear. “Smile big, Princess. The world’s watching.”

“I'd rather choke and believe me,” you replied through gritted teeth, “I’ve been smiling through worse company than yours.”

The photographer barked instructions as if posing next to someone you couldn’t stand wasn’t awkward enough. “Closer, please! Let’s see some warmth!”

Rafe, ever the troublemaker, slipped an arm lightly around your waist. “Anything for the press,” he muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

You stiffened at the gesture, your eyes shooting daggers at him. “Get your hand off me before I make you regret it,” you hissed quietly, though your face maintained an air of perfect grace for the cameras.

“Relax,” Rafe replied, his grin widening. “I’m just playing the role your family paid for.”

“Paid for?” you echoed, your smile faltering for just a fraction of a second.

“Sure. Isn’t that what this is? A transaction? You play nice with us so my dad looks good, and in return, we keep your little kingdom relevant.”

Your eyes narrowed dangerously, and for a moment, you wondered if anyone would notice if you stabbed him with your heel. “Your arrogance is truly astonishing.”

“And your entitlement is truly exhausting,” Rafe shot back, his voice just low enough to keep your verbal sparring private.

“Perfect!” the photographer called out, breaking the tension. “You two have such natural chemistry. Just lovely.”

You stepped away from Rafe the second it was socially acceptable, smoothing down the fabric of your dress as if even proximity to him had somehow wrinkled it.

“I need a drink,” you muttered under your breath.

“Make it a double,” Rafe quipped, already heading toward the bar.

A few minutes later, you found yourself stationed next to Rafe at a small table as your families chatted about alliances, trade agreements, and other topics that seemed infinitely dull. You weren’t listening, of course. You were too busy internally debating whether it was worth the scandal to excuse yourself entirely.

Rafe, meanwhile, was stirring the ice in his glass with a look that screamed disinterest. His posture was casual, legs stretched out slightly under the table as if he were deliberately trying to take up as much space as possible.

“Enjoying yourself?” you asked, your tone dripping with sarcasm.

“Immensely,” he replied, taking a sip of his drink. “I especially enjoy sitting through conversations about ‘strengthening ties’ and ‘mutual benefits.’ Thrilling stuff, really.”

“Perhaps if you paid attention, you’d learn something,” you countered, keeping your voice neutral as possible.

“Perhaps if I wanted to listen to lectures, I’d go back to college,” he shot back.

You arched a brow. “Ah, yes. How could I forget? The prodigal son of the President, gracing the Ivy League with his presence. Did you even finish?”

Rafe’s smirk returned, though this time it was edged with something more genuine. “Touché, Princess. I did, actually. But I guess the finer details of my resume didn’t make it across the Atlantic.”

“Oh, I’m sure the tabloids covered it thoroughly,” you said. “Right next to your exploits at frat parties and your extensive collection of speeding tickets.”

He chuckled, leaning back in his chair. “You’ve done your homework. Impressive.”

“Unlike you,” you shot back, taking a sip of your champagne.

“Touché again,” he said, tipping his glass toward you in mock admiration. “You’re sharp. I’ll give you that.”

The conversation, sharp and biting as it was, didn’t go unnoticed. Across the room, Ward exchanged a glance with the King, who raised an eyebrow as if to say, Is this really going to work?

STARKEYSMUSE — do not plagiarize, translate or copy my work.

dividers by @cafekitsune

242 notes · View notes

lapdogchase · 3 months ago

Text

ok story before bed time. everyone gather around

you are me at age 13. you are an 8th grader who just realized he likes girls and recently had a gender crisis in the home depot lighting aisle. it is november of 2016, and trump has run for president for the first time. you are watching the map change over your dad's shoulder. you aren't really sure how it works yet but you are seeing a lot of red on there and you are very frightened. you just found out you have free will, like, last year, and you are only beginning to grasp the gravity of the situation- the situation being the united states of america in general- and it already is looking very bad.

when you wake up in the morning your dad tells you trump has won. he's too happy about it. you're skipping breakfast to make the bus in time. the sun's barely risen, btw, but you are 13 so you have little to no autonomy or rights, so you are in the fluorescent-light torment-nexus they call a "middle school" by 7:45am on the dot.

you see your friend as you're walking to your homeroom. he's a fellow gay emo middle schooler, he sucks, and he really likes to guilt-trip you into skipping class to hang out with him by telling you he's going to kill himself if you don't. you have other qualms with him, but this illustrates enough. he says hi, you say hi, there is a sort of thick dread in the air despite barely anyone in the building being old enough to vote and most everyone completely baffled by the concept of the "electoral college."

he asks how you're feeling. you say bad, and he agrees.

he looks you in the eyes and puts both his hands on your shoulders. he says, "don't worry about gay marriage. they can't get rid of it."

you don't say anything; he doesn't give you a chance to.

"i ran into the senate at subway yesterday and i asked them. and they said trump can't repeal gay marriage."

you do not know much about the government. you are not quite sure what a senator is. however, you know there are one hundred of them. you also know that the only subway in your little corner of maine is very small- there's, like, three booths to sit in. only a few people can even get in line to order at a time. you were born recently but you are able to draw some conclusions here:

1) there is absolutely no way that subway could fit 100 people inside of it at all,

2) there is no reason that the entire senate would be in a little town in maine the night after the election,

and 3) this guy is making shit up again, more than anyone's ever made shit up in their life.

you say, "okay. that's good." you are aware that gay marriage is not the only thing to be worried about, here. you are aware that this guy lies recreationally and it is not worth arguing the matter.

"isn't that great?" he asks. it is not great.

you go to homeroom and you do not stand for the pledge of allegiance (you never stand for it again). you go to pre-algebra. you listen to my chemical romance instead of paying attention. you go to english class, you go to study hall, you go to lunch. you go to social studies and your teacher lets you and your other gay friend (who doesn't suck and in fact you have crush-adjacent feelings for them) sit out in the hall to talk about the election, because you asked nicely. they do not try to tell you that they ran into the entire senate at subway.

you think about this interaction several times a month through the next two election seasons. you are a 21 year old man and you are still thinking about this. you are still imagining ways the entire senate could cram themselves into this tiny subway. you regularly share this story with new friends because you just cannot stop fucking thinking about it. he ran into the entire senate at a tiny little subway in maine at 7 in the morning. and they said gay rights were safe forever.

#text #If anyone wants to guess who the second gay person who doesnt suck is you get exactly one guess. Deep sigh #personal

118 notes · View notes

warrioreowynofrohan · 3 months ago

Text

This is one of the best articles I’ve seen yet on Trump, Trumpism, and the upcoming election. It’s directed at the right and centre-right (whereas most tumblr posts on this are directed at the left), but it’s saying – with detailed analysis and evidence – exactly what needs to be said, to everyone. This is not a normal election. How you vote this November determines whether you ever get the chance to vote in a democratic election again. This is not a game. Fascism is not a buzzword or a rhetorical device to hurl at anyone and everyone you disagree with. It is real, it is dangerous, and Trump is openly running on a fascist platform.

There are only two sides in this election: those who want the United States to be a fascist dictatorship and those who do not.

I live in Canada. I do not want to live next to a fascist state (especially since the Comservatives here are way ahead in the polls and their leader gives every sign of wanting to cozy up to Trump).

Please, stop this while you still have a chance.

Today we’re going to look at definitions of fascism and ask the question – you may have guessed – if Donald Trump is running for President as a fascist. Worry not, this isn’t me shifting to full-time political pundit, nor is this the formal end of the hiatus (which will happen on Nov 1, when I hope to have a post answering some history questions from the ACOUP Senate to start off on), but this was an essay I had in me that I had to get out, and working on the book I haven’t the time to get it out in any other forum but this one. And I’ll be frank, some of Donald Trump’s recent statements and promises have raised the urgency of writing this; the political science suggests that politicians do, broadly, attempt to do the things they promise to do – and the things Trump is promising are dark indeed.

Now I want to be clear what we’re doing here. I am not asking if the Republican Party is fascist (I think, broadly speaking, it isn’t) and certainly not if you are fascist (I certainly hope not). But I want to employ the concept of fascism as an ideology with more precision than its normal use (‘thing I don’t like’) and in that context ask if Donald Trump fits the definition of a fascist based on his own statements and if so, what does that mean. And I want to do it in a long-form context where we can get beyond slogans or tweet-length arguments and into some detail.

Now the response from some folks is going to be anger that I am even asking this question and demands for me to ‘stay in my lane.’ To which I must remind them that the purpose of history and historians is, as Thucydides put it, is to offer “an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the understanding of the future, which in the course of human affairs must resemble if it does not reflect it” (Thuc. 1.22.4). This is my lane. Goodness knows, I’d much rather be discussing the historical implications of tax policy or long-term interstate strategy, but that isn’t the election we’re having. And if hearing about these things that happened is unpleasant, well, Polybius offers the solution: “men have no more ready corrective of conduct than knowledge of the past” (Plb. 1.1.1). We must correct our conduct.

The author, Bret Devereaux, lays out the history of the rise to power of Hitler and Mussolini and draws out the lessons

What I want to note here are two key commonalities: First, fascists were only able to take power because of the gullibility of those who thought they could ‘use’ the fascists against some other enemy (usually communists). Traditional conservative politicians (your Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham types) and conservative business leaders (your Elon Musks) fooled themselves into believing that, because the would-be tyrant seemed foolish, buffoonish, and uneducated that such an individual could be controlled to their ends, shaped in more productive, more ‘moderate,’ more ‘business friendly’ directions. They were wrong; many of them paid for their foolish error with their lives (Victor Emmanuel III paid for it with his crown). Mussolini and Hitler would not be ‘shaped,’ – they would be exactly the violent, tyrannical dictators they had promised to be – to the total and utter ruin of their countries.

Note that these men were not exactly subtle about what they wanted to do. Mein Kampf is not a subtle book. But they both knew how to promise violence to their followers while prevaricating to their temporary allies; be wary of the fascist who promises violence in his rally speeches but assures you that, if you just give him power, he won’t hurt anyone (except the people you don’t like) – because it is a lie, of course.

Second: once these fascist leaders were in power it was already too late to stop them. Precisely because fascists had no respect for democratic processes and the rule of law – things they had declared openly in seeking power – once in power, they were unconstrained by them and swiftly set about converting all of the powers of the government into a machine to keep them in power. And the conversion from democracy to dictatorship was remarkably swift, in Italy, Mussolini marched in October of ’22, rewrote the election rules in November of ’23 and by December of ’24 had effectively dropped even the pretense of democracy; just two years. Hitler was faster: appointed chancellor in January 1933, by March of that year he had suspended constitutional protections and ruled by fiat; just three months.

The time to stop an authoritarian takeover of a democratic system is before the authoritarian is in office, because once they are in power, they will use that power, to stay in power and it becomes almost impossible to remove them without considerable violence (and difficult to do even with considerable violence).

That, however, creates a tricky situation. With most political ideologies, voters can adopt a strategy of judging by outputs: “if you don’t like the current government’s policies, let these other fellows here have a go at it and see if they do better. If not, you can always vote them out next time.” But with fascists and other authoritarians there may not be a next time and this strategy fails: by the time the actions of the fascists make it clear they are dangerous, it is too late to vote them out.

This is why it is important to listen carefully to what fascists say and what they promise and most importantly to take their threats of political violence and authoritarianism seriously.

Which is not to say that everything on the right is fascism (just as not everything on the left is its own authoritarian variant, communism). Ronald Reagan was not a fascist, nor was George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush or John McCain or Mitt Romney. They were conservatives within the liberal tradition (again, ‘liberal’ here in the old Jefferson-Locke-and-Washington sense). Most Republicans today are not fascists, although a distressing number appear ready to repeat Franz von Papen’s mistake of assuming they can achieve their goals through an alliance with fascists. Only the devil wins such a devil’s bargain.

How is one to tell the difference? Listen to the things they promise to do and understand that they make speak out of both sides of their mouth: promising violence to one audience and then toning down their rhetoric to another. But politicians speaking from within the tradition of liberty don’t need to speak that way because they don’t promise violence in the first place.

Listen for the promises of violence, the promises to suspend press freedoms, the promises to persecute political adversaries and when you hear them believe them.

I strongly recommend reading the whole article, as the author goes on to lay out two of the more common definitions of fascism and analyze, point-by-point, how Trumpism fits them.

There is a reason why some Republicans, even some of the people who were in Trump’s inner circle in 2016-2020, have jumped ship now. The Republicans who are willing to vote for Kamala aren’t doing it because she’s conservative – they’re doing it because they’re anti-fascist. It would be deeply ironic if people on the left who have been calling themselves anti-fascists for the last eight years proved to be less so than those Republicans. This may be one of the most crucial moments in American history. Take it seriously.

#politics #us elections #donald trump #trumpism

68 notes · View notes

cecilysass · 7 months ago

Text

Why I Think The X-Files Isn’t Really As Much About Watergate and Governmental Conspiracy As Everyone Claims, Maybe Including CC

This one’s really nerdy, get ready.

Media covering the X-Files has always emphasized how much the show capitalizes on a post-Watergate worldview, a paranoia about government and belief in high-level conspiracy. I think CC signed on to this interpretation entirely. So much so that he sure kept on feeding those conspiracy plot lines in the mytharc—even when every other plot line was going hungry.

So much so that in the revival, he really created a problem for himself, which the media picked up on. Government conspiracy nuts in 2016 no longer were hot sensitive 90s guy outcasts like Mulder or quirky cuddly little nerds like the Gunmen. Government conspiracy nuts in 2016 were media savvy right wing commentators manipulating the masses, getting presidents elected through willful misinformation. The revival series tried to address this head on with Tad O’Malley, a character who represented this new development. But it was definitely a sticky issue: the sociopolitical context of the original show was gone. Was the show relevant any more?

I would argue yes, or at least it could have been. I would argue that the interpretation of the XF as a show primarily about conspiracy at high levels of power and governmental manipulation is a flawed one to begin with. I think this take makes the show way too thematically narrow, limits it, and obscures the show’s more important appeals.

In the 1990s, media coverage of the show almost always mentioned Watergate the historical event. Sometimes coverage discussed how Watergate was directly referenced on the show (Deep Throat, meetings in parking deck, CSM and Diana both living in the actual Watergate), but also Watergate’s specific effect on creator Chris Carter, who specifically cited it as a formative event. Often it was claimed that the show’s popularity with audiences was rooted in post-Watergate suspicion of government.

I think this could have been true generally speaking, although I always thought it somewhat overestimated the impact of Watergate on the XF’s target audience. Consider that in 1997 many in the key 18-49 demographic would not even remember Watergate especially well, or at all. If you were 30 in 1997, you were 6 when the story broke in 1973. I’m sure that could have left a mark on you, but I also think it might have been something that simply left a much bigger impression on Boomers the age of Chris Carter himself.

Me? I was in college in 1997, and I was nonexistent / unborn during Watergate. So I didn’t remember it, and it held no personal significance in my worldview regarding the United States. I don’t think it ever would have occurred to me to trust that the government was telling me the truth all the time, and I wouldn’t ever be shocked to learn I was being intentionally misled. As a late Gen Xer growing up in the Reagan administration with post-Watergate ideas floating in the air, I just assumed the worst from the get-go.

So I admit: sometimes the earnest speeches from Mulder and Scully about the Truth and being lied to from men in power and a government we purport to trust seemed a little repetitive and obvious to me. It’s taken me a while to realize that these speeches are voicing something very specific and historically real, the furious indignation of Boomers that we can’t trust our institutions. I think I felt like, yeah, okay, okay, I get it. I never had the same kind of trust in institutions to lose in this respect, but this was a major betrayal for people my parents’ age.

All of this to say, I don’t think that the conspiracy worldview and the appeal of the paranoia about government was a big part of the draw for me. I’m not saying it wasn’t for many or even most others. But my instinct about storytelling is that that is a little too abstract or bloodless of an appeal to really hook most viewers anyway. Like, you might be interested in conspiracy to get you to watch initially, sure, but that’s probably not going to keep you watching for years. And it’s really not going to be enough to motivate you to tune in to a revival series in the 2010s.

So what was the big hook for viewers? You’re probably expecting me to say MSR, and if so, I’m going to surprise you a little. I do think that was part of it for some percentage of viewers, but I think it is more complex than that.

I think the show tapped into a late 20th century urge for individuals to become part of something greater than ourselves. Something we might think of as numinous or transcendent. Maybe something meaningful and good (like a quest for truth) — or maybe something that will look down and judge us, for good or ill. Something that means that we are not lonely in the universe. This puts X-Files squarely in an overall 1990s angels and aliens otherworldly trend.

(Personally, and this could be an only me thing, but I can never quite separate out Tony Kushner’s Angels in America and The X-Files in my mind; Angels debuted on Broadway the same year X-Files first aired, and I was exposed to both at about the same time. They’re both about apocalypse and personal crisis and the end of the millennium and the transformative power of authentic relationships with others. I could do a whole thing on this.)

The desire for transcendence is the part of the show that is summed up by Mulder and Scully watching lights together in the sky, by Mulder’s wonder at seeing ships or aliens, by the entire notion of “I Want To Believe,” by the idea expressed in the last episode of the original series that both Mulder and Scully share—that the dead aren’t lost to us, that “they speak to us as part of something greater than us - greater than any alien force.” Mulder says to Scully that if “you and I are powerless now, I want to believe that if we listen to what’s speaking, it can give us the power to save ourselves.” There’s definitely a part of the show that is about little lonely human beings finding how they fit in a big, unfeeling universe.

The show's interest in conspiracy figures into this. Because after all, what are conspiracy theories but reassurance that there is some meaning behind everything after all? That there is some powerful system running the show, even if that system might be kind of evil. A grand organized secret an individual can actually uncover, rather than a bunch of random haphazard incompetence and chaos. I think this is part of the show's interest in transcendence, but only one part.

And there’s also part of the show that’s about a hero who is wracked with loneliness and alienation — and then two heroes who are wracked with loneliness and alienation—finding a kind of salvation in Truth, in Justice, in Trust, in Partnership, and, ambiguously, Love. (Sometimes Mulder sounds more like a 19th century Romantic hero than anything else.) This makes it a little allegory about late 20th century individualism and alienation and desire for meaning and authenticity and connection with others.

I think what appeals to people emotionally in the show is that part of us that wonders: is there a universe that pays attention to me? Is there anyone who listens to me and who really, really knows me? Does anyone besides me care what is true and what is a lie? Will I find those who are lost to me and repair the parts of me that are broken? Is there anyone who would give up their life for mine?

I think that the desire to connect with others is a really basic human drive, and it’s most obviously foregrounded in the show the Mulder-Scully partnership. Even romance aside, we see from the first episode that these are two people with distinct worldviews who want to communicate, who see something in one another, who are hungry to be understood by one another. They ultimately see the other person as someone who reflects and affirms who they are. The partnership is definitely the emotional hook of the show, whether you see that as a romantic ship or not, and it thematically echoes the show’s overall themes of wanting there to be more in the universe.

When the show was at its most emotionally devastating, it was one or both of its protagonists losing a relationship or connection that was important to them, or it was their frustration that their efforts were not meaningful on a larger scale: grief over a loss, a coverup that meant Justice wasn’t served or Truth was concealed.

When the show’s moments were most emotionally triumphant, they were always moments of overt connection, usually between Mulder and Scully, both more dramatic (“you’re my touchstone”) and subtle (reaching out to take a partner’s hand in Pusher or Field Trip). When there were moments of triumph concerning the government conspiracy, it felt more allegorical, like information (Truth) getting free, not progress made in specific governmental reform or anything.

(And honestly, the moments of triumph against the conspiracy were pretty few and far between. We left the original run of show with the protagonists on the run, pretty sure there was going to be an alien invasion in coming years that had been facilitated by complicit human conspirators, so this conspiracy thread of the plot apparently didn’t even seem like the most important and emotionally satisfying story to resolve.)

CC wrote a NY Times piece addressing the changing landscape on conspiracies in 2021, discussing why he was skeptical of a new UFO report. He was perceived as having the authority to write this because he created a show that quintessentially addressed government conspiracies about visitors from space.

But for me, the question of whether the government was hiding evidence of extraterrestrial life was really not the main takeaway from TXF. At least no more than the question of whether there needed to be an investigation into the undue influence of witchcraft in Scotland was my main takeaway of Macbeth.

I do acknowledge that I may have been in the minority. Maybe this is not how most people felt. But I also wonder if sometimes the urge to make the show primarily about political paranoia became a distraction from what it did best—these larger, more universal themes. I wonder if that is partly what was so frustrating about the storytelling of the revival.

#meta #x files meta #watergate #conspiracy #chris carter #x-files revival #x files revival #angels in america #angels #aliens and ufos

124 notes · View notes

strugglingyetvibing · 10 days ago

Text

Exploring the new White House website

A few nights ago, I saw a post from @willgrahamscock which mentioned that the U.S. Constitution had been removed from the official White House website. This is true, and led me to go to the White House website to see what it looks like in the first few days of this new administration.

I ended up doing a bit of a deep dive on the site, and I documented what I found in a reblog of the original post. The lovely @481boxboxbaby (from whom I reblogged the post) suggested I put the information into a new post in hopes that the information could reach a broader audience. So, below is everything that I could find on the new administration's website as of Wednesday, January 22, 2025. I've edited some of my wording and formatting, as well as adding information about the site's landing and home page, but the information from the original reblog is the same. You can find my original reblog here.

This will be long, but I hope some find this helpful! And thank you to Alex (the author of the original post) for bringing this up!

~~~

Firstly, here is the page on the White House's website that used to house the U.S. Constitution: link

If you would like to read through the Constitution, you can do so here (through the Constitution Center) and here (through the National Archives). The Constitution Center hosts an interactive version of the Constitution that breaks the document down into more manageable bite-sized chunks. This could be easier to read for some people, especially considering the language of 1787 (when the Constitution was written) is quite different to the language of 2025. The National Archives and the Senate (linked at "when the Constitution was written") both house plain text versions of the document, allowing for more straightforward reading. It might also be easier to use screen readers on these versions, but I don't know for certain.

As for the White House's website (which you can find here), there are three sections: "News," "Administration," and "Issues." These will be detailed below, as most information falls into these categories.

However, before even entering the site, a video is presented to the user. It is approximately 35 seconds long (according to my stopwatch), and is a compilation of clips of President Trump, the White House, fighter jets, and other patriotic imagery with music playing in the background. The music can be described as 'inspirational,' and is akin to what one might hear in a superhero film trailer. Please note the music is not "Hail to the Chief," (the piece most often attributed to the United States President) the "Star Spangled Banner," (America's national anthem) or Americana in genre, but a more 'generic' composition. The video ends with a line drawing of the White House with the words "The White House" and "President Donald J. Trump" on top of the drawing. The background is black and the drawing and text are white, which helps emphasize the American flag flying at the top of the White House.

Once the video is over, the final image just sits there. If the user clicks on the video, it replays. In order to exit out of the video, the user must click the "X" button in the top right corner. There is a volume muting button in the top left corner. The video starts out muted, and the user must opt in to hearing audio. Both buttons can be clicked at any point in the video. The video also times out after a few minutes of ending and redirects the user to the home page. Once the user exits the video, they cannot find it again for an unknown (to me) amount of time. If you wish to see the video without being on the White House's website, you can find it here. That link takes you to an article from The Independent that details the video as well as a few other changes to the White House website that I don't mention here.

Once the user exits the video, they are taken to the home page of the site, where they are greeted with an image of President Trump accompanied with the text "America is Back." There is a little blurb underneath along with President Trump's signature and an image that resembles the eagle within the presidential seal, but is not the full presidential seal. Scrolling down, the user can see navigational options that will take the user to see "Executive Actions" or "News." Please note that "Executive Actions" will take the user to "Presidential Actions." These pages are the same, despite being labeled two different things. More information on "Presidential Actions" is below.

Below the navigational buttons is an overview of "The Administration," including images, names, and titles of President Trump, Vice President Vance, First Lady Melania Trump, and "The Cabinet," in that order. Clicking on the images will take the user to biographies of the listed individuals. More information on "The Administration," including what "The Cabinet" means, is below. Please note that Second Lady Usha Vance is not present in this home page line up, but is present in the full "The Administration" section of the website.

Below the Administration section is an image of President Trump and text reading "Our Priorities," as well as a blurb briefly identifying what those priorities are. A button takes the user to the "Issues" portion of the website, information about which is listed below. Below the priorities is a call to provide the user's email to "Stay in the Know." Inputing an email will most likely sign the user up for promotional emails from the administration.

The last thing seen on the home page is a section titled "About the White House." This section has three options to explore: "The White House," "Camp David," and "Air Force One." Each section briefly details each listed subject. The White House page gives a brief history about the building and some fun facts about it. The Camp David page provides a very brief history about the location. The Air Force One page provides a history and information about the moniker "Air Force One" as well as the aircraft that currently carries the name. This page has, by far, the most information out of the three sub-pages, and is the only one to have photographs of the subject. The Camp David page has the least amount of information, and the White House page is the only one to have a bulleted list of 'fun facts.'

The only way to navigate to these three pages is by accessing them from the home page or by searching for them in the search function. As of writing, there is no option to get to these pages by the navigation tab on the left hand side of the website. However, upon searching "Camp David" in the search function, I was able to find a page titled "About the White House." It leads to the three sub-pages described above, and is set up similarly to the "Administration" page detailed below. Please note this page cannot be accessed from the home page, and was only found via the search function.

Once the user is finished with the landing page, home page, and "About the White House" pages, they have the option to view "News," "Issues," or "Administration."

The "News" section outlines actions the President has already taken. These mostly consist of the executive orders that have been signed since January 20th, however more items will be added as the President takes further actions. These will fall under the four subheadings, "Remarks," "Briefings & Statements," "Presidential Actions," and "Articles." If I had to guess, "Remarks" will be tidbits from the President himself about the various issues he'll cover (think of them like official tweets or Trump's version of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chats), "Briefings & Statements" will probably be more official tidbits that could be labeled something like "From the Office of the President," and would be more 'professional' in tone, "Presidential Actions" will be any more executive actions the President chooses to take (this is where his current executive actions are listed), and "Articles" will cover all of the above, like a 'catch-all' bin. Upon looking into the links, the "Articles" page takes you to the same place as the "News" page, essentially making them one and the same.

The "Administration" section shows official photos and short biographies of President Trump, Vice President Vance, First Lady Melania Trump, and Second Lady Usha Vance, in that order. Clicking on their names and/or photos takes you to a page with a more thorough biography of each person. Listed underneath the Second Lady's photo and mini biography is a listing for "The Cabinet." The photo is of the White House, likely due to the cabinet consisting of multiple people (most of whom have not yet been confirmed), and the description simply describes what the cabinet does. Clicking on this name/photo takes you to a page listing out each of the President's cabinet picks along with short biographies on each pick. There are no photos of the individuals listed, and there are no further biographies to read aside from what's listed on this singular page.

For clarification, the positions the President has nominated someone for (and who he has nominated) are as follows:

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (Lee Zeldin)

Administrator of the Small Business Administration (Kelly Loeffler)

Attorney General (Pam Bondi)

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (John Ratcliffe)

Director of National Intelligence (Tulsi Gabbard)

Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Russ Vought)

Secretary of Agriculture (Brooke Rollins)

Secretary of Commerce (Howard Lutnick)

Secretary of Defense (Pete Hegseth)

Secretary of Education (Linda McMahon)

Secretary of Energy (Chris Wright)

Secretary of Health and Human Services (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.)

Secretary of Homeland Security (Kristi Noem)

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Scott Turner)

Secretary of the Interior (Doug Burgum)

Secretary of Labor (Lori Chavez-DeRemer)

Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) - sworn in as of January 21, 2025

Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Doug Collins)

Secretary of Transportation (Sean Duffy)

Secretary of the Treasury (Scott Bessent)

United States Ambassador to the United Nations (Elise Stefanik)

United States Trade Representative (Jamieson Greer)

I realize this is a long list, but it's worth checking out, as these people, if confirmed, will be the leaders of the most influential departments in our government.

Please note: The above list does not include the President's suggested Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE is listed under his executive orders in the "News" section and does not explicitly mention Elon Musk, whom the President has said would run the department. That executive order can be found here.

Finally, the "Issues" section defines the issues that the Trump-Vance administration will attempt to tackle while in power. While I won't outline every item (you can read them here), the sections are as follows:

Make America Safe Again -> This is where they list border security initiatives

Make America Affordable and Energy Dominant Again -> This is where they mention withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord and the inauguration promise to "drill, baby, drill"

Drain the Swamp -> This is where the President lists his executive orders and wishes to revoke Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives

Bring Back American Values -> This is where they outline intent to only recognize make and female identities as well as renaming "American landmarks" to "appropriately honor our Nation's history"

There is nothing else on the website of the White House. No establishing federal documents, no Constitution, no further information on how the executive branch of the government works. The only other things present on the website are at the bottom of the website, in which they list the address of the White House as well as links to their Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages as well as copyright and privacy information. These things exist on the footer of the website, and are present on every page on the site. There is a navigation tab, but it will only take you to "News," "Administration," or "Issues."

One final thing to note is about the website's privacy page. Upon quick inspection, there was nothing to note - the site posed usual privacy information about data the site does and does not collect. However, there were multiple times the page mentioned "contacting us," and there was a very specific mention of a "'Contact the White House' form," which is nowhere to be seen on the rest of the site. This form is specifically listed under the header "Information You Give Us," which makes sense to outline that such a form will require the user to volunteer information so the White House can respond to the form.

Please note, there is no such "Contact the White House" form to be found on the current administration's website. In this privacy policy, the URL of WhiteHouse.gov/Contact/ is provided as a way for users to contact the White House about various things, including questions about the privacy policy. This link does not work, and will send the user back to whitehouse.gov because there is no way to contact the current administration through the White House website. Every invitation for users to contact the White House on this privacy policy page is redirected to the home page, denying users the ability to message the administration.

Take this information for what you will, and please go read the site for more detailed information, especially on the administration's cabinet picks and administration goals. Knowing who is in power and what they will work to do will help prepare for various actions taken in the future or various statements that could be made.

I know this was a lengthy post, but information is key, especially in an era in which information can be so easily changed and/or misconstrued by all sides of the political spectrum. Things are already changing within the first day of the new administration, and it is incredibly important to be informed and prepared.

If you have any questions, please do let me know. And if you've made it this far in this post, thank you. Please keep reading and learning. It will only help you grow.

#us politics #white house #donald trump #jd vance #white house website

38 notes · View notes

manorpunk · 10 months ago

Text

1️⃣

In the White House press briefing room in the year 2069, the presidential lectern was alight for the first time in decades. On the dais, hidden behind thick blue curtains, a series of lenses came to life, powered by thrumming machines the size of cabinets. In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea, The light from the lenses reflected along an array of precision mirrors, engineered down to the nanometer, reflecting and warping the light, directing every beam to a spot just behind the lectern. A shimmering orb of color began to grow and take shape. It was a hologram, the first of its kind in quality and fidelity, but needing time to form. With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me… The hologram grew, like a multicolored egg, until it took the shape of a body - a woman’s body, thin but not too thin, tan but also pale, tall but not too tall or too short, a work of perfection as delicately engineered as the machinery that created it. The Mary Jane shoes, the pleated skirt, the puffy blouse with Juliet sleeves. The cherry-red hair with a big white bow on top. The baby blue eyes with little white five-pointed stars for pupils. For better or for worse, the USA’s decades-long interregnum was drawing to a close. As He died to make men holy… With a thrum of light, the hologram was now displaying at one-hundred percent fidelity. The first president of the American League, a rough and discordant coalition of states that had emerged from the fall of the United States federal government, newly embodied with vague and untested powers in the transition out of provisional government, was an anime girl vtuber. Let us die to make men free, While God is marching on! She smiled. It was a wide, sharp smile, like the letter v, brimming with barely-concealed pride, the smile of someone who was always up to mischief, but never too much. She turned her head, letting the cameras see it from every angle, waving and winking as the booming chorus of Glory, Glory, Hallelujah faded into the background. “And we’re back, folks!” she said. Her voice was light and airy, like a rich pastry or a strong dose of anesthetics. “In case you’ve been living under a rock for these past few years, I’m Sunny Roosevelt: winner of Miss Vtuber North America 206X, named ‘America’s Cloth Mother’ by the GLN Worldwide Weekly, and now, your president!” The ‘living under a rock’ comment wasn’t a rhetorical gesture; a non-negligible amount of people in the former USA had spent the past few years under some form of rock, whether that was an apocalypse bunker, abandoned basement, or literal rock. “Folks, I know it’s been a rough couple decades for America. There was mass infrastructure failure, natural disasters, zombie COVID, falling real estate prices, and I’m pretty sure most of Florida’s still underwater. But that - ends - here!” she thumped her fist on the podium. “Because I love America. I love America so much I am kissing America with tongue. To all my loyal voters, followers, and subscribers, my promise to you, now that I’m here…” her eyes narrowed and slanted sharply as she gripped the podium and leaned closer. “...big things are coming.”

#finally wrote an introduction for Sunny that I'm satisfied with #heaven is falling #sunny roosevelt

110 notes · View notes

clownsgirlghost · 4 months ago

Note

yo can you draw 34th united states president dwight d. eisenhower that would be sick

I LAUGHED SO LOUD U HAVE NO IDEA

(i started to draw it the second i got the ask.)

also sprunki since thats my shit rn..

this is deadass one of the most randomest ask i have ever seen, its insane man.

u lowkey remind me of that one dude who would commission people to draw white american women buying bread💀😭

holy shit, tho ur for now on one of my fave ask's person ever, love you man <3

ALSO! really sorry it looks like that, i could have done much better but this is the first time i draw realistic digitally😔.

#sprunki #incredibox sprunki #sprunki incredibox #art #artists on tumblr #im crying #what is this ask #this is insane #realistic #fanart #president #dwight d. eisenhower #like 😭😭😭

40 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 9 months ago

Text

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in Georgia in the South Caucasus in recent weeks to protest a controversial proposed new law that many fear, if passed, would be the death knell of a once-promising young democracy and drive the country firmly into Moscow’s orbit.

The “foreign agents” law would require organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence.” It is modeled on similar legislation that Russia enacted in 2012 and has used to cast independent media and civic society groups as doing the bidding of foreign governments and to crack down on dissent.

Georgia has been convulsed by bouts of street protests in recent years over the proposed law and other actions by the ruling Georgian Dream party that critics fear could consolidate its power and draw the country closer to neighboring Russia, a deeply unpopular move in the former Soviet nation where an overwhelming majority of the population supports joining the European Union, according to opinion polls.

Georgia was offered long-awaited EU candidate status by the bloc last year, which could be placed in jeopardy if the foreign agents legislation is adopted. In a statement last month, Brussels’s diplomatic service urged the country’s leaders to “adopt and implement reforms that are in line with the stated objective of joining the European Union, as supported by a large majority of Georgia’s citizens.”

On Thursday, Georgia’s ambassador to France resigned in protest over the proposed legislation, becoming the first senior official from the country to do so. “I no longer see my role and resources in this direction: the move towards Europe,” said Gotcha Javakhishvili in a post on social media.

The law was first introduced in February 2023 but was quickly withdrawn in the face of massive street protests in the capital, Tbilisi. It was then reintroduced in April of this year. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who is independent of the Georgian Dream, has promised to veto the legislation if passed, but her veto would likely be overridden by the government’s parliamentary majority.

“It seems clear to me, anyway, they have made a decision to go the path of one-party rule, of shutting down basically all checks and balances on executive power, and this Russian law is the last instrument that they need to put in place,” said Ian Kelly, former U.S. ambassador to Georgia.

The protests this time around are markedly different from earlier iterations, though—but not because of the demonstrators or their demands. What makes the latest round of unrest different is the level of violence and intimidation meted out against protesters and civil society as well as the government’s apparent determination to pass the law, which is due for a final reading on May 13, despite the public outcry and condemnation from the European Union and the United States.

Security forces have used water cannons, rubber bullets, and tear gas in a bid to disperse crowds of demonstrators in the capital, Tbilisi, while protesters have reported being violently assaulted by groups of men dressed in black in what they say appear to be premeditated attacks.

In recent days, civil society activists, journalists, and their relatives have reported receiving menacing phone calls from anonymous callers threatening them in Georgian and reciting their home addresses in an apparent bid to intimidate them, said Eka Gigauri, executive director of Transparency International Georgia. Gigauri said she had received dozens of calls from unknown numbers in recent days but declined to answer them.

On Wednesday evening, four government critics, including two members of the United National Movement opposition party, were attacked by unknown assailants outside their homes and in the street. Overnight on Wednesday, posters featuring the faces of prominent civil society activists, journalists, and opposition politicians branding them as enemies of the country and foreign agents were plastered near their homes and offices across the capital.

“What happened during these two days is just an unprecedented level of targeting,” said Eto Buziashvili, a former advisor to the Georgian National Security Council based in Tbilisi.

In 2019, when police used water cannons, rubber bullets, and tear gas to disperse protesters, it sparked a national outcry and further protests calling for snap elections and the resignation of the interior minister, Giorgi Gakharia.

Now, accusations of more sinister tactics are afoot as the role of the unknown assailants dressed in black has drawn comparisons to pro-government thugs known as titushki who were allegedly paid for by the embattled government of Viktor Yanukovych to cause disruption and attack protesters during the Ukrainian revolution in 2014, Buziashvili said.

After a 2003 uprising known as the Rose Revolution, Georgia embarked on a dizzyingly ambitious reform program under the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili, who was then a darling of Washington’s. He sought to stamp out corruption and put the country on a firmly Western trajectory, tilting it away from Moscow, which fought a short but shocking war with Georgia over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008.

Saakashvili was imprisoned in 2021, accused of abusing power while in office. His supporters see the charges as politically motivated.

The Georgian Dream, established by the eccentric Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, came to power in 2012 promising a less confrontational approach to Moscow while paying lip service to the country’s aspirations to join NATO and the European Union.

Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Moscow in the 1990s, served as prime minister for just over a year, stepping down in 2013, but has widely been viewed as the one still calling the shots behind the scenes as the Georgian Dream has undermined the country’s hard-won democratic gains and poured salt on the relationship with the United States.

“The person who seems to be driving all of this is Bidzina Ivanishvili,” said U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaking about the foreign agents law.

In October, the Georgian government accused the United States Agency for International Development of trying to foment a coup in the country.

The Georgian government’s claims echo similar allegations made by Moscow over the years that have accused Washington of pulling the strings in a series of pro-democracy uprisings in the former Soviet Union known as color revolutions, including in Ukraine.

“I think it’s Russian disinformation. It’s a deliberate effort by Russia to stoke divisions in the country,” said Shaheen, who has a long-standing focus on Georgia.

On April 29, in a rare public address infused with conspiracy theories, Ivanishvili—who formally serves as the party’s honorary chairman—depicted the country as wrestling for its independence against shadowy, unnamed foreign forces, describing Georgia’s nongovernmental organizations as a “pseudo-elite nurtured by a foreign country.”

Although Ivanishvili’s personal wealth is equivalent to roughly a third of the country’s gross domestic product, he is “borrowing from the Orban and Trump playbook, highlighting how the urban elite is running counter to Georgian traditional values,” Kelly said, referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and former U.S. President Donald Trump.

In March, a senior member of the Georgian Dream announced a raft of constitutional amendments cracking down on LGBT rights and banning any public efforts to promote same-sex relationships, echoing Russia’s “gay propaganda” law passed in 2013.

In the April speech, Ivanishvili explicitly referenced parliamentary elections set to be held later this year as a motivation for reintroducing the foreign agents law and the anti-LGBT legislation, noting that it would force civil society to “expend the energy” ahead of the vote, saying it would leave them “weakened” and “exhausted.”

Kelly criticized the Biden administration for not taking more concrete steps to deter Georgian politicians from pursuing the legislation. “Right after April 29, they should have started the first round of imposing costs, and the really easy one is, ‘You’re not welcome to get a visa,’” he said.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller condemned the violence against protesters on Thursday and called for a “full independent and timely investigation,” but Kelly said that such statements don’t go far enough.

“It’s useless. It’s worse than useless,” he said. “I don’t know if they really take us seriously.”

76 notes · View notes

mysteriouslytransparentwitch · 7 months ago

Note

Hello Mysterious, I hope all is well and continues to improve with you.

You don’t need to post this ask,but I just wanted to express my thoughts on the expansion of the far right across the world, in relation to your last post about France and Macron.

1. Putin

2. Trump and GOP

3. Elon Musk

4. Nigel Farage

5. Marie Le Pen

6. Venezuela president Maduro Moros, plus Argentina’s president Milea.

7. Canadian conservatives now far right party.

8. Corporate right wing media in Europe, North America across the globe.

9. Money, laundered, bit coin or otherwise.

10. War in Ukraine.

All ten are connected, with the source being Putin. He’s been involved since 2015 when he stole Russia’s state money and the oligarchs money. He’s rumoured to be the richest man in the world at one point, and what better use of that resource than to fund a world in your vision of the future??? What we’re witnessing today are the dying throes of this evil heinous collaboration. Putin was very much behind the Conservative Brexit movement in Britain and behind Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. Not to mention putting trump in the White House. Those were his successes. Putin desires the dissolution of the EU and NATO, a united Europe. Trump was espousing those wishes when he was ‘President’. Elon and Trump are his voice in the west. Maduro was pushing to start a war in South America for oil rich land in Guyana, and was blocked by Blair and Clinton recently. The Guyana president visited Britain when all diplomacy failed on his part. I’m originally from Guyana so I was paying attention to those moves.

Putin has been funding far right causes all across the world for at least a decade now. And he should be reaping the rewards of his hard work. But sadly, no.

The media companies don’t mind the marriage and getting in bed with Putin to consummate the unholy alliance. Money is money is money. Let it rain. They don’t even draw the line at promoting his blatant propaganda as they are doing right now in bashing Biden in the US. The US citizens have to wake up and make the right decision on November 5th.

Yes I believe you when you say Macron will have a fight on his hands in November. It will be directly as a result of the upcoming US elections and its results. All are connected. Sow doubt and fear in France, bring violence to the fore. See??? this could happen to you in the US, a civil war…. But what would you have Macron do?? Submit to the far right and plunge Europe into a proper World War 3? IMO Le Pen will always do as Putin asks, she is his wh*** he just has to say the word and she will obey. And proximity to Russia is also a factor in this. Again as in the US the media is heavily involved too. Right now they are flirting with WW3 in Ukraine. My guess is that war won’t end until after November 2024. A LOT of decisions will be made after November 5th. Just my opinion and observations. Thanks for listening.

I sincerely think that Macron and Lepen are ready to sell the French system for money. I'm serious this time. The complicity of journalists is beginning to be revealed. I can only see an explosion of the 5th republic.

I sincerely believe that the financial system wants the skin of the population. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, you know me.

There's too much of a weird connection. We talk again about links and traffic with Kadafi (Libya)

I need to sit down seriously and look at my cards

38 notes · View notes

late-to-the-party-81 · 9 months ago

Text

Who vibes for Vibranium?

AN: Have a little short and sweet, sort of cracky Stucky sexual shenanigans story. Enjoy!

Beta’d by @metalbvcky but all errors are my fault.

Likes are loved, reblogs are golden

Mood board by me and dividers by @firefly-graphics

Join my tag list here

Master list | Stucky Bingo Master List

Summary: Steve likes to be indulged. It's a good thing Bucky likes to indulge him. Even if he's a thieving little big brat sometimes.

Relationships: Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers

WC: <1k

CW: AU: Not Canon Compliant, teasing, suggestive dialogue, Super-Soldier sexy shenanigans, discussion of impact play, discussion of bondage, Steve Rogers is a little shit, Soft Top Bucky Barnes, Bratty Bottom Steve Rogers, Fade to Black.

Bingo Fills and Challenges:

@stuckybingo I4 - Vibranium

“Come on, Buck. It’ll be fun.” Bucky pulled a face at Steve’s wheedling tone. He wasn’t convinced.

“Fun? Just sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.”

Steve sidled up to him, wrapping his arms around Bucky’s waist, looking into his eyes and doing his best Little Shit ™ pout. “Don’t you miss being able to hold me down. Like really stop me from moving.” Steve nuzzled into Bucky’s neck and Bucky let out a huff.

“I miss it,” Steve continued, letting his teeth scrape over Bucky’s throat. Bucky closed his eyes and tried to think of the Presidents of the United States. “I miss feeling all helpless under you.” Steve’s fingers slipped up under the back of Bucky’s shirt and started to draw light patterns over his skin, making him shiver. “One vibranium arm can only do so much and I can’t work out a way for you to use my shield to help.”

“Steve,” Bucky cautioned. “This isn’t really a conversation about informed consent if you’re trying to get my dick to make the decision and not my brain. It’s cheating.”

Steve raised his head with a grin. “Is it working though?”

Bucky rolled his eyes, knowing he’d already lost the fight. “You’re such a punk, you know that?”

“But I’m your punk, and you love me.”

“Unfortunately so,” Bucky agreed. “Now, if you wanna do this, first you gotta hand ‘em over.”

Steve let go of him and practically skipped across their apartment. How a 6”2’ supersoldier could move like that Bucky didn’t know, but he couldn’t say it wasn’t stimulating to watch. It was also kinda cute, the way that Steve was getting giddy at the thought of doing something ‘kinky’.

As two queer guys who’d grown up in the 30’s, neither were strangers to things that were nowadays termed as kinky, but no matter how long they’d been together, and how many different things they’d done, Steve was always enthusiastic, as though it was his first time, every time.

When Steve returned from his little sojourn into his study, he was practically vibrating - ha! - with energy and he passed over his new toy with a grin.

“Do I even wanna know where you got these from?” Bucky asked. Of course this was the question that made Steve look a little embarrassed. His neck flushed pink and his left hand came up to brush over the hair at the back of his head.

“I - uh - may have found them in the cache of recovered HYDRA hardware that Fury keeps in the upstate warehouse.”

“Steve Rogers,” Bucky let out, teasingly. “Are you telling me that you - the great and righteous Captain America - stole these Vibranium handcuffs?”

Steve startled “No! Not stole. Just - umm - borrowed.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow and Steve had the good grace to look slightly cowed. “I mean - we might give them back?”

“If they help me beat your ass without struggling to keep you still they are definitely not going back,” Bucky retorted, failing to get the right tone of authority into his voice.

“You promise?” Steve asked slyly and Bucky shook his head in mild disbelief at his bratty boyfriend.

“The fucking audacity,” he said to no-one in particular, and then “Get in that bedroom, Rogers and strip. You’re getting ten for your cheek, and if you aren’t ready when I get in there, then it’s an extra ten.”

“Oh no,” cried Steve with faux despair. “Whatever shall I do?”

“Nothing, if these work.” Bucky took a step closer, drawing himself up to his full height, despite that being two inches less than Steve’s. It had the desired effect though - science might have taken Steve out of his little body, but it hadn’t taken the memory of being in that little body out of Steve. Steve shrank down, now reacting to Bucky’s domineering aura. “You’ll do nothing except cry those sweet tears as I turn your ass red because you won’t be able to get away from me. You won’t be able to stop me. Now - do I have to tell you again? Get in there and strip.”

Steve turned, scurrying into the bedroom as fast as he could with his cock doing its best impression of a flagpole between his legs.

Smiling to himself, Bucky looked at the cuffs, inspecting them and working out how they opened and closed. The last thing he wanted was for them to get stuck, even if the thought of Stark being mentally scarred for life having to come and help remove them was amusing as hell.

“Time to see if these work,” he muttered to himself, before calling out “Ready or not, here I come.”

Over an hour later

“Yup,” Bucky said with a smile as he stretched out. “Those definitely work.”

Steve groaned and buried his head into Bucky’s side, while lying on his stomach. “My ass is on fire,” he complained.

Bucky sniggered. “Quit your whining, you big baby. You only have yourself to blame. And you’ll be all healed up in an hour. Two, tops.”

As Steve huffed against him and threw an arm across his stomach, Bucky picked up the cuffs from where he’d deposited them after removing them from Steve’s wrists. He turned them over in his hands, pondering.

“I wonder,” he said, “if we got a metal footboard whether these would magnetise strongly enough to it that I could use them to keep your legs apart…”

Steve let out a moan that wasn’t entirely one of despair. “Buck, let me recover before you start trying to turn me on again.”

With a smile still on his lips, Bucky leant over and places a kiss to the top of Steve’s sweaty head.

“Love you, punk.”

“Love you too, jerk.”

Tag list: @christywrites, @alexakeyloveloki, @doasyoudesireandlive, @galactusdevourerofworlds, @crayongirl-linz, @mightstill, @nicoline1998enilocin, @km-ffluv, @wheezy-stucky, @kmc1989, @kombatfather1796

#stucky #stucky fanfic #steve rogers x bucky barnes #steve x bucky #stucky bingo

53 notes · View notes

dynamitegun · 6 months ago

Text

You know how Ashley's entire arc in ME1 revolves around her family being ostracized by the Alliance for her grandfather's actions during the First Contact War? (This is the part of the date, where they go to the bathroom and never come back, btw)

I always felt the scapegoating of General Williams was especially horrible because he was thrown into an unwinnable battle. The Turians gained orbital superiority over Shanxi, and began striking anything that put up resistance.

Faced with either complete destruction, starvation or capitulation, an entire colony of civilians under his care Gen. Williams made the choice to surrender.

And apparently putting innocent lives before some pigheaded sense of honor? Paria for the rest of his life. Hell Ashley claims he'll go down in history beside Benedict Arnold (Who betrayed the infant United States to England during the AWI*) and Vidkun Quisling (The Nazi puppet leader of occupied Norway during WW2) when asked about his reputation.

*It's slightly my complicated then that but now isn't the time

He made a tough decision and people didn't like the outcome.

But the reason I bring this up is because I've always draw parallels with Shanxi being besieged and another battle that it reminds me of.

Bataan.

If you've never heard of it? So long as you're not Filipino or American I can't blame you. In those darkest days after the U.S entered WW2 an entire American army was to find itself fighting a forlorn hope on the Bataan peninsula 30 miles west of Manila after the Japanese invaded the archipelago.

For three months the American and Filipino forces fought a delaying action, waiting for reinforcements that were never to arrive. Bombed day and night as their guns fell silent. Artillery crashing down on them as their stomachs grew lighter from hunger. Day by day they were pushed backwards until almost completely out of supply and men having been fought to near exhaustion, their officers made the difficult choice to surrender.

That fell to Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright, highest ranking officer left in the Philippines. Before his meeting with his Japanese counterpart, in telegram to President Roosevelt he explained his reasoning. I want to highlight a phrase he used that I think word for word describes Williams position perfectly.

"There is a limit of human endurance and that limit has long since been passed."

Something we're all familiar with as Mass Effect fans is having to make hard choices as a leader, that sometimes there isn't a 'Right' answer. Yet hidden in the lore of ME1 is probably one of the hardest choices in the series that we have nothing to do with.

But we understand.

#Mass Effect #fandom showerthoughts #ashley williams #First Contact War #randomly bringing up ww2 #Not really sure where this goes in the second half #but i wrote it so im posting it #no refunds

27 notes · View notes

darkmaga-returns · 27 days ago

Text

Vice President Kamala Harris stumbled while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance on the Senate floor during the swearing-in ceremony as the 118th Congress convened.

It comes after Harris faced a decisive defeat in the 2024 presidential election to President Donald Trump.

Harris is now continuing to fulfill her duties as her term draws to a close, now largely in a ceremonial capacity.

On Friday, she presided over the swearing-in of new senators and representatives as the 118th Congress convened.

This is a standard function for the sitting VP, who also serves as president of the Senate until the expiration of their term.

However, the event, meant to be a ceremonial display of unity and tradition, quickly turned awkward when Harris struggled to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

As she stood on the Senate floor to guide the assembly through the patriotic ritual, Harris fumbled through the lines of one of the nation’s most iconic statements.

“Join me in pledging allegiance to our flag,” Harris began, pausing slightly.

“I pledge allegiance to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands…”

10 notes · View notes

trohmantics · 3 months ago

Text

Where My Demons Hide pt 2; chapter one

Masterlist

Italics represents Korean

Pairing: BTS × Named female character (poly)

Genre: Zombie apocalypse, horror, found family-ish?

Rating: MATURE; MINORS DNI

Warnings: Each chapter will have blood, death, and weapons in them. Triggers will be noted in each chapter. In this chapter, Skyler draws a weapon on JK, cursing, begging, just a mention of past child abuse.

REQUESTS: OPEN

A/N: it's taken a little longer than I anticipated, as I had surgery. Thankfully I'm now on the mend and back to writing! Just as a warning, the timeline and ages of BTS aren't entirely accurate. This is set in present day, COVID never happened, but the outbreak starts like COVID. BTS are between 24-29, with Skyler being 24.

As always, constructive feedback is always appreciated! Feel free to send me questions, theories, drabble requests, etc.

****Emergency Presidential Announcement****

The screen shows the president behind his desk, visibly upset and shaken. The room was dim, the American flag backdrop looking hastily hung. The room itself seemed in disarray, and the few visible people seemingly paying it no mind, similar looks as the president evident on their faces.

The camera slowly zoomed in, capturing the look of defeat in the president's face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, possibly to steady himself, before looking back at the camera.

“My fellow Americans, I come to you tonight with an urgency that I have never felt before. A darkness has spread across our great nation and the world, a darkness I never imagined could manifest in such a horrifying form. A highly contagious virus, originating from a research facility overseas, has escaped containment. Initially, it was believed to be a flu-like illness, but we were wrong—so tragically wrong. As we tried to contain it, we discovered a little more about it. A few days ago, it started turning the infected into something inhuman, something monstrous. It spread rapidly through direct contact, and even air in some cases. Countries once regarded as our allies are now battling for survival, their militaries reduced to mere shadows of their former selves. We received reports of mass casualties and chaos in cities across the globe—from London to Tokyo, from Berlin to Moscow. Nations have fallen, one after the other, succumbing to this unprecedented horror. Here in the United States, our military bravely engaged in containment efforts, but they too were overwhelmed. Major cities have become battlegrounds, while rural areas fall victim to panic and despair. We have lost our way. I stand before you now to share that, despite our best efforts, we are no longer in control. This is not a moment for false hope. There is no miraculous vaccine on the horizon, no hero rising to save us. My heart is heavy as I convey to you that we have reached a point of no return. The government can no longer guarantee your safety. We cannot shield you from what is out there anymore.”

The president’s voice cracks, tears welling up in his eyes. He looks directly into the camera, the weight of his words hanging heavily in the air before continuing.

“I urge you—please, take this time to say goodbye to your loved ones. Hold them close. Tell them you love them. Share memories. Share comfort. If you believe, pray; pray for your families and friends, and pray for all of humanity. For the reality we face is one that few can endure. We are on the brink of something unimaginable. I can only express my profound sadness for all that we are losing and for all that has already been taken from us.”

The screen splits, one side with distressing images of chaos: panicked citizens, military troops overwhelmed, infected individuals staggering through the streets, the flickering lights of cities succumbing to darkness. The screen returns fully to the president, now visibly breaking down, struggling to maintain composure.

“Please, in these final moments, remember the good times-the laughter, the love. Know that you are not alone, even in this despair. As we face the end, know that my thoughts are with you, my fellow Americans.”

Suddenly, a loud crash is heard off-camera and the president’s expression shifts from sorrow to terror. The broadcast begins to flicker and distort. Screams echo in the background, and the camera shakes violently. The president stumbles back, eyes wide with fear, before the transmission is abruptly ended.

The screen goes black, power shutting off. A chilling silence fills the air, broken only by distant sounds of chaos—snarls of the infected, sirens, screams, and the distant roar of flames.

_______

Four months. Four months since that final broadcast. Four months since civilization collapsed. Four months of doing whatever it takes to survive.

After society collapsed, Skyler spent a week in her apartment, rationing her canned goods and bottled water. Eventually her resources started to run out, causing her to leave safety and stealthily make her way to town, where she found an abundance of weapons, clothing, and freeze-dried food. There was also a lot of survival gear.

Despite all the racism and sexist attitudes she received for being half Korean and a woman, Skyler had never been more thankful to live in a small conservative area as she had been in that moment.

Now, four months later, she was miles away from the area. She hoped if she could get to her grandparents farm, where she would have all the tools and resources to survive on her own, that she would flourish. Maybe, if she was lucky, she would also find her younger brother there. She wouldn't get her hopes up, though.

Skyler pulled her shoulder length brown hair into a low ponytail so her hair would stay out of her face. The last thing she needed was to have a blindspot. She pulled on her hunting clothes as well as her steel toe waterproof boots.

She secured her crossbow across her back, and kept two pistols with silencers in their holsters. She also had a machete she kept on her right side at all times, and a few knives in her bag for skinning/scaling, gutting, and cutting meat.

She finished getting dressed, and her items together. She was running low on food, and she knew there were a few outdoor stores in this new town where she could scour in hopes of food and supplies.

She was grateful to find a small secure building to use as a hideout for a few days before continuing on.

___

Skyler's journey to the outdoor stores was unsuccessful. Two were burnt down, and the third was crumbling, zombies stalking the area. She was disappointed, but decided to look somewhere else to get a few days worth of supplies.

She stayed in the shadows, succeeding in avoiding the zombies as she found a small store.

It looked to be old, one that probably existed there longer than she had been alive, and was in what most would deem a poor area. It would most likely have the necessities and no more. It definitely wouldn't have the survival gear that she was hoping for, but she could at least get some food and a few bottles of water until she could find somewhere with survival items.

It was easy to get in, no locks or blockages. After a quick sweep, Skyler found that it was all clear.

She began putting non-perishable food in her pack, attempting to steer away from cans as they take up too much room and are heavier. She stuffed her bag with small packets of tuna and chicken, jerky and other dried meats, and meat sticks. She also grabbed a few ramen packs that she knew she could eat dry.

Skyler headed to the back, kneeling to look at options for water, thinking of maybe grabbing a few larger bottles, when she just barely heard the front door close. Her pulse quickened, and she was on high alert, searching for anywhere she could exit unseen.

Luck was not on her side.

While kneeling, she could just make out black hair over the tops of the shelves. She heard heavy breathing, as if whoever came in was finally able to breathe. She and the unknown person were silent and unmoving for what felt like hours, before they started to slowly move.

Skyler slowly moved, staying low to the ground, leaving her bag. She didn't want to, but if she couldn't scare whoever it was away or agree to go their separate ways peacefully, she would have no choice but to kill them. Humans were just as dangerous as the dead these days.

Both silently moved through the store, Skyler catching up enough to see that the unknown visitor was a young man with shaggy hair, and a tattooed sleeve. She quietly readied her crossbow.

He stopped at her pack, head tilting slightly, as Skyler pressed the top of the loaded bow into his back and retreated a few steps. The young man stiffened and quickly raised his hands, chest heaving in fear.

“Turn around.” Skyler instructed, her voice not wavering.

He stood still for a moment, before slowly turning.

The first thing Skyler noticed was his eyes. While they held fear, she noted in another time they must have been lively and full of happiness.

She noted a lip ring on his lower lip, and paired with the tattoos he would have looked intimidating, if not for his boyish looks and fear in his eyes.

“I mean no harm! I was just- we ran into a small horde and I got separated from my friends!”

Skyler stared at him in disbelief. Of all the people for him to run into, he runs into someone who can speak Korean?

Should she be willing to speak to him, help him in his little quest? He seemed friendly despite the fear, and it would be easy to help. Besides, Skyler is so lonely…

On the other hand, if she helped, he could be a hindrance. He didn't seem to have any weapons or supplies, and fending for someone else as well as herself could lead to her demise. Besides, what would happen if they found his friends? Best case she walks away, all alone again.

While arguing the pros and cons of speaking his native tongue and helping, he took her silence as not understanding him.

He tried speaking in broken English.

“I.. not bad? Just, alone? No, lost! Friends away from-”

“Shut up.” Skyler interrupted, startling herself with how standoffish she was being. Bow slightly lowering. “I don't know what the fuck you're saying. You,” she pointed at him and then the door, “Need to leave. Now.”

“I don't.. I not mean? No hurting you! Just need help find friends! Monsters ran me here.” He said desperately. “You know BTS? I'm Jungkook!”

Skyler looked him up and down, sure, she had heard of BTS on the radio before the outbreak, she didn't live under a rock. However, she never looked into them, only ever hearing one or two songs on the radio.

“Who the fuck is BTS?” Skyler said, still trying to get him to leave. “Look dude, I don't care who you are. You need to get the fuck out. Now.”

She grabbed the shoulder of his shirt and moved him in front of her, pushing him towards the door.

Jungkook dropped to the floor bowing and holding her pant leg, sobbing and begging in a mixture of broken English and Korean.

“Please! I just…I need help. Please help me. Don't put me alone. I'm alone and I miss my brothers! Please, I don't want to die.”

Skyler's heart stopped and she seemed to forget how to breathe as she took in the scene in front of her. Instead of seeing Jungkook, she was back in the past, to her brother begging her not to leave him alone with their abusive parents, pleading to take him with her when she was made to leave the final time.

She left out a shuddering breath and turned her head, blinking back the hot tears that formed in her eyes. She put the bow on her back, and slyly knelt down to grab Jungkooks hands, helping him stand again. She dropped his hands as soon as he was fully standing.

He looked at her with wide, fearful eyes, ready to have to go alone.

Skyler scanned his face, her heart clenching every time she thought of leaving him behind. She took another deep breath, slowly letting it out. She couldn't trust him fully, but she could try to help him. Maybe she would just need to keep a distance, in case he dies or wants her gone if they find his friends.

“I'll help you”

#zombie apocalypse!au #bts zombie au #bts imagines #min yoongi imagines #kim seokjin imagines #kim namjoon imagines #jung hoseok imagines #jeon jungkook imagines #kim taehyung imagines #park jimin imagines #bts poly au #poly!bts #ot7 × reader

14 notes · View notes