#the United States has repeatedly come out to deny it

[thehiddenworld]

Tiktok banning

They are trying to take TikTok away because of all the other counties protesting and fighting their government to overturn them. 

They are wanting to take it away because of the others trying to overthrow their government in which we can to if we don't agree with them or like the way they are doing.

They are trying to censorship everything that is going on so we cannot see anything but want us to trust them. They are scared of the power of TikTok not just TikTok but all of us. 

We see how other countries are going and we see how we are going and they are scared to lose control and power.

It's all about control and fear. They take out TikTok we will not know anything else is going on because of it just like times before TikTok, just like with the trails derailing, the chemical plants burning and so much more. We did not know anything was going on until we came across it on tiktok.

They don't have a problem with China owning nor running it, they have a problem with the world being shown then what else are they hiding from us? What do they want us to not believe in? 

[umormalik61]

Eight bombs exploded six, and top investigative reporters found out the details of the US bombing of "Nord Stream"

[jr0vj0t3if]

[starillusion13]

TRUST ME NOT

Pairing: Bf!(boss unit except one) x f!reader

W.C: 9.1k

Genre: Fluff, Mafia, Angst

Warnings: keeping secrets, innocent reader(?), mafia deals, murder, blast, tracking device, spying on someone, anonymous mail, tying up with rope in basement, unconcious, feeling sorry, sad, regrets, forgiveness, lots of kissing, anniversary surprises lol, getting shot, mention of blood(not detail) idk what to add anymore

1 month late birthday gift to @mymoodwriting sorry🥀

Network: @kvanity-main

🎀 Your anniversary was supposed to be held in a month.

The excitement was brightly visible on your face and you had a lot of arrangements to make. Going out to different stores and contacting some very important people who all are of potential help in some urgent scenarios. It's been five years since you were in a relationship with the mafia gang, NCT. Yeah, some people won't believe you if you say that you are the secret girlfriend, because your appearance and attitude is far from the ruthless behavior of the bosses--- your boyfriends.

The first one to notice that you were busy was Jungwoo, as he is the one who doesn't go out of the house often. His hacking job lets you both to spend more time with each other and well, this makes him throw cocky looks to others. You have told him repeatedly not to tease others because of that, but who is he to listen to?

You have almost planned everything for the upcoming day, obviously keeping it a secret from them. And this made Jungwoo suspicious of you. Earlier he was ignoring your weird attitudes and your now and then excuses to go out but one day when you were out for a long time, he followed your location. Well, he tried to but he couldn't track it.

How the hell is that even possible?

Now, he can't obviously charge you for messing up with the tracking device as you aren't aware of any of these. So, he decided to talk this out with his gang members.

"Are you sure of the suspicion?" Taeyong asked with a dark look. He was already tired with the day and now one of his members is sitting in front of him with a doubt. He glanced at the rest of the members across the room but they all were pretty much similar attentive to the hacker like him. He sighed and urged him to speak more.

The hacker nodded and proceeded, "she is acting differently and when I asked her last week. She was in a hurry to reply as if she would spill secrets if she spoke more than necessary."

"Maybe she is tired. You know her café has a lot of work." Mark stated and Jaehyun nodded his head in agreement. They know very well how dedicated you are to your work and something that might be keeping you busy these days.

Jungwoo shook his head, "No. The surprising fact is that she is barely available at the cafe."

"Then where is she going every morning?" Winwin asked and glanced at him from the corner of the room. And this caught everyone's attention.

Jaehyun remembered his interaction with you from two days back over the call.

"When I asked to pick her up from the cafe, she denied and told me about having extra hours but ended up coming home by riding someone else's car. As far as I know no one from her cafe owns that car." he stated and looked around.

"What? And you are telling me now?" Taeyong banged the table with his fist making the ones sitting near to him to flinch. Doyoung licked his lower lips and ran his fingers through the hairs. He was still putting in the pieces together and hoping that whatever they were thinking should not be the actual case.

Are you hiding something from them?

Or are you planning for something to destroy them?

Mark put his phone beside him on the sofa, "Dude, don't think like that. We must be wrong somewhere. Don't doubt her for anything."

"You are not suspecting her for anything right?" Winwin looked at his leader expectantly who in return just poked his cheek with the tongue and turned towards Doyoung.

"Tell everyone to keep a closer look on her." he said and looked at everyone, "all of you will see what's the matter with her. If she is not going to the cafe and not talking with us that much. Then we should find out what's the matter that she is suddenly acting so differently."

"But-"

"Mark, don't argue with me now."

No one spoke anything after that. Four of them left the room, leaving the leader with Doyoung. The latter's eyes followed how frustratingly the leader was brushing his hairs back and sighing.

"I know, you are not doubting her like the way you are showing your anger."

The leader rested his elbows on the table and held his head with his palms, "I don't want to blame her for anything. I trust her so much but I want to know what's up with her. I love her so much, Doyoung."

Doyoung walked towards him and patted his back comfortingly, "we all love her, Taeyong. If she ever betrays us then nothing can hurt us more than that."

"I don't want to hurt her. She is precious to me. I want all these to be just a misunderstanding."

"She is not betraying us. We will just find out what's the matter with her and then everything will be fine."

The latter just nodded and tears fell from his eyes similarly like the one standing.

.

.

"Where are you going?" Jungwoo asked as he saw you hurrying towards the door. You were smiling all the way down the stairs while looking at the phone. His eyes were staring at you with curiosity and adoration. When he repeated the question again, you glanced at him away from your phone and raised your brows.

"Uh..I..somewhere...do you need something?"

"No. But where? Do you want me to go with you?"

"No!".

He was taken aback by your sudden scream, "what? Why are you shouting?"

You awkwardly laughed and brushed your hairs, "I'll be off to the place and will return quickly. Don't worry."

As soon as you took a turn, someone grabbed your forearm and made you turn around. The turn was so sudden that you almost lost your balance on your heels, "What the hell! Jaehyun?"

"It's late afternoon. I don't think you are going to the cafe right now. Your workers told me that you will be there in the evening. So where to now?" His tone was low and demanding.

His grip was firm and you glanced at the hold then at his face. He had just showered after returning home. The others were not there yet and these two were only at the house so you decided to leave without them noticing you but it's not the case now.

"Hey, I'm just going to meet someone." you smiled at the end of the sentence.

"Who? Let me take you there."

You held his wrist to take off his hand from yours, "No, it's okay. I can go there alone. He will be just a few blocks away and......and then everything is fine."

"he? Y/n, who is this person? Do I know him? Have any of us seen him before?"

"Oh my jealous baby, Jae. Come on, don't think like I am a child. And you don't have to know everyone."

He stepped closer to you, tugging your hairs behind your ears before holding your hands and smiling down at you with a soft look, "I just care for you too much, Y/n. I don't want anyone to hurt you. Please be safe out there as you know your life is always at risk because of us...and dont hide anything from us."

You couldn't hear the last words but you smiled at him, "I will be safe. I promise."

He leaned forward to peck your lips and then planted a soft kiss on your temple. Jungwoo came up behind you and hugged you, nuzzling his nose in your neck inhaling the recently applied perfume, you smiled at the tingling sensation. He whispered, "if you can't keep yourself safe. Then I will kill everyone who will hurt you."

You grabbed one of his hands and brought it to your lips, planting a kiss, "I know. I am always safe with you all."

.

.

.

You were safe. Your preparations and secrets, everything was safe. Only two weeks left and you couldn't contain your excitement. Skipping steps towards the flower shop, you were greeted by the familiar man holding a rose in his hold and smiling endearingly at you. Your smile widened brightly and a soft laugh escaped your throat when he kneeled down in front of you, "A rose for my queen." He extended his hand towards you and you took the flower from his hand.

"Oh please shut up, Wooyoung."

He again stood in front of you and smoothed his blazer and pants. The look was stating that he was on his way for the meeting but still his playful nature and his childish laugh was not setting right with his appearance.

"Why? I can call you anything."

"Just wait until I tell this to my boyfriend." you chuckled while looking around the flower shop, "Where is the owner?"

You never used your boyfriend's name in front of anyone, always referring to some silly names or simply 'my boyfriend'. No one has ever seen your so-called boyfriend but they know you always have the adoration while speaking of him—- of them.

"I don't know about him. Hey! Why are you asking for the owner when I'm here?" He whined and you shook your head in disbelief with the attitude.

"How old are you? And I need him to choose some exact flowers for the decoration and a perfect perfume to give my boyfriend." you smiled at the thought of surprising them with everything. He nodded with a pout and stood by your side while you were staring at some beautiful bouquets, "Is your boyfriend nice? You can tell me if you have any problems. You have said he lives outside this country but if he turns out as a cheater. I will show him hell."

"Of course, Wooyuong. There's nothing to worry about. I am fine and he is a very nice man. Maybe someday you can meet him and also, I'm doing all these preparations for our anniversary."

The owner just entered the door and greeted you both when the other one smiled at you before exiting the door.

.

.

.

One week left for your anniversary.

"So, I was right. She is going to this shop almost every day and according to Winwin, our enemy's last location was this shop."

They couldn't believe the pictures and the tracking location of the devices that were showing on the very big screen displayed in front of them. The undercover spy has clicked the pictures of you meeting with a young man well dressed up in a suit and you were hugging him with a smile, also in another picture, you were receiving flowers. The different gestures between you both were assuming that there was a deeper bonding than they can think of. Everything was pretty much fine until the call list and tracking device of yours and their enemy matches exactly.

"Jungwoo, have you gone to this shop before?" Taeyong asked when he placed himself on the sofa.

The hacker shook his head, "no, I never bought anything from there. I thought she knew the owner of the shop, that's why she is going there but it turned out she is meeting the owner of the device who is apparently our enemy. We need to find who is the owner. Winwin even followed her one day and guess what? They were planning for a big event and also went on a date."

"A date?" Mark had a confused look on his face.

Jungwoo nodded and Jaehyun continued, "yeah, she is meeting these certain people every often and that's why you can't find her in the cafe. And this one person is very common."

"That's Wooyoung, a member of the gang, Ateez. the shop owner is his best friend, just for cover." Winwin started from beside Doyoung who quickly turned towards him in surprise.

Taeyong scoffed in irritation, "So that's him? He blew our basement? I was so sure that somebody leaked our plan when we were having the mission in a different state and look, he took that advantage to attack on our base."

"And you think?" Doyoung raised a brow.

"She...she told him?" Taeyong didn't even want to say it but still he did. He blamed you. He doubted you. There was no other option left other than suspecting you with their recent events going on around them. He curled his fingers into a fist, suppressing the anger and hurt.

Mark leaned back into his chair, "we must be wrong somewhere. Or things have not been placed in the correct way."

"No. When I told Jungwoo for the first time, neither me nor him believed this but after one week of research. We are sure that she is involved with this." Winwin himself didn't want to believe what he was voicing out.

His own voice was betraying him. Was your love for them just a facade to destroy them in the end? Were you playing with their feelings? What? NO! This can't be, you are not like that. He couldn't convince anyone, maybe he was not even trying to convince anyone. No one was ready to believe that you were planning something worse behind their back, just to destroy them to get in with a man. The man who is apparently their enemy's gang member.

Mark stood up. A sad look visible on his face, fighting back the urge to cry in front of them. He couldn't hear more about suspecting you. Even if you are wrong, he still wants to see you and love you. His gaze shifted from the leader towards the large wide window, the setting of the sun was visible, "our anniversary is in almost 10 days. I hope we won't be doing something to ruin the day."

The words hit them altogether. Anniversary...they have bought a lot of gifts for you and they have arranged a trip for all of you to spend time together.

He turned around and Taeyong closed his eyes, heaving a sigh. Everyone was in disbelief and fighting whether they should blame you or...or what? There's nothing to think about anymore.

"Hey!  you all here?" your cheerful voice broke the silence. The atmosphere was already tense inside the house but your presence was making it worse. To your oblivion, they shared glances between them when Jaehyun noticed some things in your hold. His jaw clenched at the sight and he stepped towards you.

"Who gave you this?"

You furrowed your brows before looking down and then a smile cracked on your face. Everyone noticed the shift in expression when you held the flowers tightly, "Um...someone. A friend?"

"Friend." he scoffed and glared at you. His expression surprised you and then when you looked around the room, you noticed others were looking at you with no emotions visible. It felt so distant as if you were missing something. But what's even the matter? Mark was standing on the first step of the stairs, when you caught his eyes, there was a hurt look— the look of betrayal.

"Mark-" the young boy didn't wait to hear you when he abruptly turned around and ascended the stairs, without even looking back at you. What happened?

"Where were you?" Doyoung asked with folded hands above his chest, supporting himself against the table. His dark and sharp eyes staring at you, waiting for a quick reply.

"I...I went to the cafe."

"You were not there. Don't lie. Just tell me exactly, where were you?"

Taeyong darkly chuckled, "of course to meet her friend. Right? So, had fun on the date?"

"Date?"

Jaehyun turned to him, "don't pretend that you don't know. You went on a date with your little friend, right?"

You shook your head when Jungwoo pointed at your large plastic bag, "what's all these?"

You tried to hide it behind your back only to get yanked away, "why are you hiding it?" He glared at your action.

"What's wrong with you all?"

"What's wrong with you? Are you planning something behind our back?" His words hurt you. No, it shocked you. Are they doubting you for something?

The phone in your pocket started ringing and when Jaehyun didn't loosen his grip on you, you snatched your arm away and glared at him. Fishing out the phone, you held it to your ear and greeted the person. Before walking towards your room, you snatched away the plastic bag from him and no one protested but watched you going away.

No one moved from their places but only Winwin followed you behind.

.

.

.

Three days have already passed since that day.

You didn't talk with anyone normally. Everytime, they would be looking at you accusingly or asking you some weird questions about why you were hiding things from them.

but , there was nothing to hide in the first place---- except for the celebration.

Only one week left and when you just wanted to go out finally to arrange the last things of the preparation. Doyoung blocked your way.

"You are not going anywhere."

"Huh?"

Jaehyun came up behind you and harshly pulled you to a particular direction, "your game is over, y/n. Just give up now. You can't hide anything from us now."

The other one walked just closely behind you, gun in his hand. "I can't believe you that after the things we did, only for you to betray us."

"Please Jaehyun...Trust me. you must be wrong somewhere. I am not hiding anything. I promise." Your voice was broken yet he was not glancing at you but dragging you towards the stairs. The grip on your wrist tightened when you tried to pull your hand away. The wrist was burning from his harsh grip.

There were two uncoordinated footsteps from behind you both and when the youngest of them spoke up, you glanced at them. Mark was trying to stop the leader from stepping forward but the latter was just fuming and when he caught your glistening eyes, he sent a glare at you.

"please..." you whimpered when he took the turn and stopped at the first step of the stairs. He inhaled sharply and glared at you before glancing at the leader.

"take her downstairs." He simply ordered and the latter nodded.

Mark held Jaehyun's other hand, "No. Don't. Please, we should listen to her. We must be wrong somewhere. Please don't take her there."

But he dragged you down, stumbling over a few places but he didn't care. No one cared at the moment. As if your voice was not even audible to their ears.

You have never been to this place before and the dark, dimly lit room with a damp smell was making churn in your stomach. The others were already present inside the room and their focus was on you— the helpless figure. He harshly pulled you towards the chair behind the interrogating desk and made you sit on it. Your head turned towards each one of them, no one was having any sympathy for you. Maybe they had but trying not to show it.

"Why are you doing this? Please get me out of here." tears were flowing down your cheek. Before you could wipe off your tears, Jungwoo gripped your wrist and tied them to the armrest. Winwin took away the phone from you and placed it on the table. Taeyong placed himself on the chair across from you and stared at your tied up form. Doyoung stood beside him, palm resting on the head of the leather chair.

"So, from where should we begin?"

You remained quiet. Not because you didn't want to talk but because you didn't know what to say. Mind still processing the situation and why they all were keeping you tied up like a criminal. Do they not trust you?

You stared at him with silent tears falling from your eyes. Jaehyun and Jungwoo stood beside you on both sides, neither of them speaking anything and not even looking at you. Only glancing now and then.

"How do you know Wooyoung?" the leader asked the first question and leaned forward on the table.

"Wooyoung?"

Doyoung tilted his head to the side, "yes. Even that day he gave you those flowers. Having good times with the enemy. Right, y/n?"

"Enemy? He is my old friend from university."

The leader was not buying your words, "our enemy is your friend now. Since when are you against us?"

"What are you saying, Taeyong? I would never. I..." you were almost spilling the secrets but held back the words that were about to come out from your lips, "we just recently reunited at the flower shop. He was just...helping me out with something."

"Helping you out to chalk out a plan to kill us?" Winwin offered you an option for your choice of words. You shook your head at him and returned to face the leader. He didn't have any emotions for you. No more those endearing smiles and caring eyes looking at you but a strong and accusing eyes blaming you for everything.

"No, it's not like that."

"There's no point in you lying on our face. You can't fight back, y/n. There's six of us and only, you alone."

You parted your lips and tried to shift forward when Jungwoo held you back. You raised your head to look at him but he just avoided your eyes. Does he hate me so much?  "You all should understand this. I am alone, I can't do anything to harm you all and... I can never think of hurting any of you."

"Don't pretend to be the innocent one like always." Jaehyun spat at you. "It was all a facade to make us trust you. To make us weak for you so that you can easily break into our life and destroy us from the core."

"Jaehyun..." you whispered his name but a long silence followed your longing gaze on him. How could he blame you like this? They never used such a tone with you.

"He is correct. It was only you who knew about our absence for a whole week from the city and during that exact time, Ateez attacked our warehouse. Isn't this a coordinated plan?" Taeyong was irritated with each word coming out of his mouth.

"And you think I told him?"

Winwin caught your attention, "of course. The enemy whom we were tracking has his every location around you. His every location was colliding with yours. The flower shop belongs to them and it's just undercover to hide their spies in that busy street. Your activity was very frequent during the time of the blast."

"It must be a coincidence...I am not aware of all these." you plead to them for mercy but none of them were convinced. It all seemed as an act to break away from them and to run to their enemy for help.

"We thought that too but you have a deep connection with him. Even keeping your meet-ups a secret from us. Don't think of us like fools."

"Mark, you are a fool. All of you are foolish to think of me going against you. He is just my friend and we were just hanging out after some arrangements and if I knew he was the menber of a gang, I would never have spoken to him. But...but he won't hurt me or any of you. He doesn't even know you all are my boyfriends."

"Because for your benefit. So that you can go on dates with him." Jaehyun scoffed at the end of the sentence.

Taeyong slammed his hand to gain your attention back on him. His eyes were raging and he was fuming with anger. You flinched at the sound and scaredly turned towards him when he spoke up, "Now tell me, what do you want from us?"

You shook your head and bit your lips to prevent yourself breaking down more.

"I said speak up, y/n!"

Your broken voice and hiccups echoed the room, "I...I want n-nothing. I just want......your love."

"Shut up!"

"Jaehyun, keep quiet." Doyoung shushed the tall man beside you but you were already hurt too much. You were exhausted after crying so much, the unfamiliar and confined environment was suffocating you. You just wanted to get out of the place and run away, far away and hide from them. You were scared to say anything anymore or they could have done something more.

"You are going to stay here unless you are willing to tell the truth." Taeyong said and stood up to turn towards the door.

You shook your head frantically to not to leave you there. But no one minded your scared form. You were nothing more than a liar to them.

"Please listen to me..."

Jaehyun grabbed your cheeks, his fingers digging into your flesh, "you are only going to speak the truth or else shut your mouth." he harshly jerked your head to the side.

One by one everyone left the room except the one who was almost standing silently since he came here. He stayed back inside the room. When you noticed his gaze on you, there was a hurt look like that day.

"Why did you do this?"

"I did nothing."

He looked up at the ceiling and then at you, "then please confess the truth. I can't see you like this."

"I'm telling you the truth, Mark. he is just my friend. I didn't help him with anything."

Doyoung came back to the room to find the younger one standing at the door. He informed the younger one to stay with you, not to leave you alone down in the basement. He nodded his head in acceptance. You don’t know if It was because they told him to stay behind out of love or they think you could try to run away from them.

Mark actually wanted to stay with you though. He just can't leave you alone.

Doyoung stepped inside the room to take the phone from the table. When he came in sight of your vision, you looked away to avoid him. He waited for a moment but left the room eventually when you didn't look at him.

"Mark, don't get swayed by her?"

They had some whispering conversation outside the door and you zoned out to think about the day, how you were so excited to finally wrap the different gifts for them and then prepare the last arrangement because this last week was supposed to be spending time with them together. But everything went down the hill.

When Mark returned inside the room, he saw you sleeping on the chair uncomfortably. He stepped forward and tugged your hairs behind the ears to have a clear look of your face. You looked so peaceful but your face was stained with sweat and tears. He caressed your soft skin and tears fell from his eyes, he was sorry to you. He untied your wrists and pulled you on his lap on the floor. Resting your head against his chest, his fingers stroked you and he lulled you to sleep.

"I'm sorry, y/n."

.

.

.

The next two days were just you refusing all the foods they offered and you were getting weak. Even if they didn't hurt you physically, but their words, their hatred looks and their harsh and hurtful touches with their accusing tone was enough to break your every inch.

Doyoung didn't let you stay in the basement but kept you locked in his room. He promised his leader that he won't let you escape the house.

Just before the two days of your anniversary, they got an email from someone. It was labeled with a secret code so when they clicked on it, they found out that it was from someone unknown. They have sent some confidential documents. Jungwoo didn't waste any time before clicking open it only to get a shock. Everyone scooted closer to him.

'How is Y/n? Suspecting her now? Oh, poor girl. Don't worry. I will kill her soon anyways. '

There were all the details under the small links. Whatever they saw was right but the actual explanation to their assumption was what you were saying, not how they interpreted earlier. Wooyoung was just your friend, nothing more and he didn't have any intention to harm you or others. Ateez didn't even attack their base.

Then who is this person?

Is he alive?

Jaehyun threw the glass away in frustration.

"Where is this shit? I will kill him."

Winwin quickly followed some images, "the dreamies are trying to track the id. Hyuck is currently scanning the codes. but... I don't know why this person wants to kill her."

"I'm not leaving her alone for any more second."

Doyoung jogged towards the room only to find you sleeping beside the window stool. Taeyong followed him closely behind and he noticed the dried tears on your face and the other one was quick to pick you up in his arms, "y/n, look at me. You don't have to be here anymore. I'm taking you out of this place. I'm so sorry."

Your breathing was so faint and it scared him.

He peppered your face with kisses, you were so weak and exhausted. There was no reply from you and he shook your body again.

"She must be unconscious. Let's clean her up and let her rest for a while. When she wakes up, I will feed her." Taeyong offered him.

They both nodded and exited the room. Promising to themselves that they won't ever let you be in this sort of situation again.

When they appeared in front of the others, they saw your unconscious body in his hold. Their hearts clenched at the sight, the pain striking through their body.

How could they just blame you and act deaf ears to your pleadings?

"I'm coming with you." Mark approached him and took you in his arms before going towards his room with Doyoung trailing behind him.

Taeyong ordered Jungwoo and Winwin to contact Dreamies for further discussions about the situation and let others disperse to their respective activities.

No one was willing to leave your side but they had no option other than waiting for you to get consciousness. But Jaehyun quietly walked towards your room to take a glimpse of you.

He was hesitating to enter the room but eventually stepped inside and found them inside the bathroom. They were carefully looking after you.

"Is she okay?"

His sudden voice made the two males turn their head towards him, "of course she is. We are here to keep her safe."

After a while, you were dressed in a pair of comfortable top and loose pants. Mark carefully tugged you in the bed before sitting beside your sleeping figure and caressing the hairs, Doyoung sat near your legs and Jaehyun kept his distance from the bed.

"Let her rest for a while. Taeyong will bring her the food."

They all left the room but Jaehyun went near to you and caressed your head, kissing your temple he whispered, “I’m so sorry, love.”

After a while when you woke up, only to find Taeyong sitting by your side with medicines and food placed on the table that he pulled beside the bed. Your head was spinning a bit but still he helped you sit up and placed the pillow behind you to make you comfortable. Before you could say anything, he caressed your head and smiled at you, following a kiss to the side of your head.

"I'm sorry, Y/n. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I was so wrong about you."

You remained quiet and just observed how he lifted the bowl from the table and stirred the soup, tasting a spoonful and turning towards you with a spoon.

"Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"y-you are not mad at me anymore? Please trust me-"

He put the spoon back into the bowl and placed a finger on your lips, "I trust you. Y/n, I love you. I'm regretting treating you like that. It hurts you a lot to see us blaming you for something you didn't do. But I promise you, you will never have to be like this again. I will make this up to you."

"Really? And others...Are they?"

"they are equally sorry, y/n. we just couldn't help but think all that......why were you at the shop though?" he quickly asked you the thing that was still bugging his mind.

"Um...you will know soon. It's a secret." You expectantly stared at him to see his reaction but he just smiled when he brought the spoon to your lips. You quickly parted open your lips to taste the spoon and hummed in the wonderful warm taste. It melted on your tongue like you were melting under his touch.

"I won't ever hurt you."

"I know, Taeyong. You have so much responsibility but I think I made you scared going out here and there. But trust me it's a good secret, nothing to worry about."

"Can't you tell me now?" he pouted and blinked at you.

"No. Then what's the point of the secret?"

"Is this about-"

Someone entered the room and he was quick to sit on your other side and hugged you from the side.

"I'm so sorry baby. Please forgive me. I don't want you to stay away from me." he nuzzled his face in the crook of your neck and your fingers entangled with his hairs when he leaned to your body more. Taeyong was still making sure to finish the soup and shook his head at the boy clinging onto you.

"Hey, Mark. It's okay. I was just shocked with you all behaving like that." You said slowly and he nodded, muttering a flow of apologies. The leader wiped your mouth when you finished the food and handed you the medicine to take but when you refused it. Both of them tickled you and joked around and ended up with Mark holding you down on the bed and the oldest one putting inside the medicine and handing you the glass.

Three of you spent some time together before Taeyong left when he caught a call from Jungwoo and he hugged you before pressing a long and soft kiss on your temple then hurrying to take the call. Where you and Mark ended up cuddling together.

"That night..." he was spooning you while your back was pressed against his chest and his one leg was flung upon yours. His fingers were playing with yours when you both were watching the screen displaying a movie.

You hummed in response, "you made me sleep on your lap. I woke up from a nightmare but I felt so secure with you. Thank you."

"I love you. I love you so much baby."

"I love you more, mark." You turned around and cupped his face. Your eyes searched for a particular emotion before pressing your lips to his. He was surprised by your move but when you tried to pull away your face, he held the back of your neck and pulled you closer, making the kiss rough and passionate. Both fighting for dominance but still enjoying the power of each other. You smiled and squirmed when he slid his hand under your tee. His kisses traveled down to your jaw and sloppily kissed your cheek. Admiringly, watching each other, he dipped his head down and bit the soft flesh of your neck, he groaned when you moaned his name. When he hooked a finger with the band of your shorts, you held his wrist.

He quickly stopped his actions and looked at you, cupping your cheeks and shock visible on his face. You chuckled at his reaction and he worriedly asked you, "Is there something wrong?"

It's not like you haven't done this before with him but there was something for which you wanted to wait.

"Can you wait for one more day?"

"Before our anniversary?"

You nodded and he smiled before pecking your lips.

"Of course, I can."

.

.

.

The day before the celebration. You asked them if you could go out. They felt as if they did something wrong that you were taking permission like a child. You bit your lips and stared at them when they were all similarly staring back at you.

Taeyong broke the awkward moment, "I think someone should speak."

"You did just now."

He glared at Jaehyun, who looked away holding back his laugh. The others snickered and you laughed loudly. All of their attention turned back at your standing figure in an elegant knee length dress.

"You all can go with me."

"We?" Winwin asked you and you quickly nodded.

"So?"

They all looked at each other before agreeing and stood up. The one that was hesitant to come near you was Jaehyun. When they all walked towards the door, conversing and joking among them, he remained at the same place. He felt someone entangled a hand with his and when he looked down at his side, you were smiling brightly at him.

"Let's go, my prince."

"Y/n...you.."

You pulled him towards the door. But he was staring at you like a lost man, who knew nothing other than the directions you would give him. He smiled when he noticed the dress you were wearing was the one he gave you on your birthday last time.

"I'm trying to forget about that day so please don't remind me."

He stopped in his track and you turned towards him, "what happe-"

He pressed his lips to yours. He was laughing between the kisses when you were trying to say something. He pulled apart and you glared at him before looking at your appearance on the phone screen.

"you ruined my lipstick."

"I would have ruined you but it's okay coz it's just the lipstick for now."

"Jae..." you groaned but he grabbed your chin softly and other hand quickly went up , a finger wiping away the smudged out portion and then patted your cheek with the clean fingers.

"you look beautiful like always."

Doyoung came back and pulled you both towards the car.

The car ride was fun. Except for Jungwoo clinging onto your side ans asking you the same question repeatedly, "why can't we know the secret now? Please, y/n."

"I am surprised all of you are in a gang."

Taeyong chuckled, "don't add him. He doesn't do anything other than hacking and intruding other's business from his private place."

He scoffed in reply, "at least I keep company with our girl. Right?"

You nodded. It's not like they were not serious with their job. When the work mode is on, you wouldn't even match the people who are the same with the ones you are currently laughing with. Even you get scared. Okay, last time you really got.

Arriving at the mall, you quickly got out of the car to make a quick call with your friend. You told her to receive the perfumes and flowers from the shop tomorrow morning and keep them in the café. You wanted to celebrate your anniversary at the café and your friend was helping you to get all the orders ready for tomorrow so that today, you can spend your day with the boys.

You bought a lot of things, some necessary and some unnecessary. Jungwoo was with you and others went off to other places.

"you are buying us gifts but not letting us buy for you."

"tomorrow."

"Why? I can buy it today. Wait, I can buy for you everyday."

"Don't show off." You turned around to look at the dress when he picked one from the other row and handed it to you, "wear this tomorrow. This is so perfect."

"are you serious? Do you know my size?"

He smirked and bent to whisper in your ears, "I know every inch and curves how they would fit them and how it would be easy to rip off."

Your eyes went round and you hit his arm when he burst out laughing, "Jungwoo!"

You snatched the dress and walked towards the trial room and when you put on the dress, it seemed like it was the one for you. As if They will marry you tomorrow. Marriage...

Jungwoo knocked at the door and when you opened it, he pushed you inside and locked the door behind.

"what happened?"

"I don't want others to get to see you before me." his gaze moved and his breath hitched. You were looking more beautiful than he projected an imagery picture of you in the dress in his mind.

He pecked your lips and then your temple, "you look like mine. I love you, y/n."

"Always yours. I love you so much Jungwoo."

Done with the things you wanted to buy. Jungwoo went to where Jaehyun was and you were alone walking through the newborn section and smiling. You picked up a pink baby wrap towel and someone back hugged you.

"why are you buying this?" his deep voice sent a shiver down your body.

"I am not buying...just watching... they are so cute. Look at this, Taeyong."

He pressed a kiss on your cheek, "We can someday when we will have a baby."

You turned around when his arms dropped down, "it will be soon."

He smirked to see the excitement on your face, he tugged your hairs before raising a brow, "so am I getting the hint to spend some time with me and then we can expand our family. You and I and our daughter."

"you want a girl?"

"I'm fine with both but to have a girl. I love the idea of mini you running around the house and us all chasing her around."

You hugged him tightly, "I love you, Taeyong."

"I love you too, my princess."

"Wait for tomorrow, please."

"Of course."

.

.

You all went home after almost buying the whole mall and Jaehyun was casually showing off and showing smirks that he brought the costliest items. Oh boy! How wrong he is. He should just see the expenses of Taeyong. Winwin whispered to you that he would be sleeping with you because both of you haven't spent a night together. You agreed quickly.

After the dinner when you were going towards the room, Winwin asked you to go with him to the garden and of course, you would.

"So why are we here?" you were staring up at the sky while sitting on the outdoor swing with him by your side.

"I'm sorry." He muttered quietly.

"I know."

He turned towards you and shook his head, "don't forgive us so easily, y/n. we don't deserve it."

"Then don't say sorry. Stop reminding me about that. Think about tomorrow and let us enjoy the night."

He caressed your head, " you are the sweetest one. The innocent one in our life and I don't want to hurt you but still I did."

"And I forgive you."

He sadly chuckled and pulled you closer, "Can you tell me the secret for tomorrow?"

You stared at him and waited if he wanted to say something but when he didn't, you kissed his cheek and smiled, "No. You have to wait."

"Are you planning a surprise? For us?"

"Maybe...or something more than you can expect."

He furrowed his brows when you caressed his cheek softly, "see...you are the innocent one now."

"really?" he grabbed your neck and pulled you in for a hungry and deep kiss. You were laughing and clutching his shirt. His other hand was caressing your back and hands, melting you under his control. He pulled apart and started panting for air.

"And now?"

"still the innocent." As the words left your mouth, he swept you in his arms and turned round and round. Both of your laughs echoed in the garden.

"I love you...I love you...I love you, My innocent girl."

"I love you too, my innocent boy."

Your teasing made him tickle you in his hold and you laughed out more.

Taeyong was watching you from his balcony with the wine in his hand. He was smiling ear to ear seeing you so happy.

He would keep you safe till the end.

.

.

.

Finally THE DAY.

Winwin woke you up, calling out your name lightly and keeping you close to him. He peppered your face with kisses and you were giggling all the way when he scooped you in his arms and took you to the bathroom to get ready. You looked at the mirror and felt so happy, quickly did your morning routine before running down the stairs to greet your boys. But you could only find Doyoung at the table preparing the plates and decorating it with the final touch.

The house looked amazing.

"Don't tell me you all did this within a night."

"Then What do you think? You were blind to not notice it till yesterday?"

You reached near the table and when you went to pick up a pancake, he swatted your hand away and you whined.

"Let others come. No eating before greeting."

"No greetings to you."

You turned around and folded your hands above your chest, he chuckled and with slow steps went behind you and snaked his arms around, resting his head on your shoulder.

"Happy Anniversary, My love." He kissed your shoulder, the deep round neckline of the dress gave him access to your soft flesh. Your hairs were tied up and he kissed the crook of your neck and his teeth grazing the skin and licking the jaw, "I love you, y/n."

"Doyoung, I love you. Happy Anniversary."

He turned you around to kiss you. His kisses are always soft and takes his whole time to devour the moment. Just like now, he didn't care what others will see but he just wanted to show you his love for you.

You were smiling all the while but the sweet moment got interrupted by the one who could enter the place without any sound but to disturb you both, he purposely made sounds.

"Did I interrupt something?"

"Yes. My love life." Doyoung spat at him and groaned but didn't let you go when the other one laughed and came near you.

You pulled apart from the kiss and looked at Taeyong. The other one was back hugging you and nuzzling his nose into your neck.

Taeyong cupped your cheek, "happy anniversary, princess."

"Happy anniversary girl's dad."

"Huh?"

"Nothing." You laughed out and noticed Jungwoo and Winwin entering the place when one of them muttered a quiet happy anniversary to you because he was always shy in front of others but the other one had to make it dramatic.

"Everyone. Present here. Wait two are missing."

All of you were watching his stupid act, standing on the chair. He craned his neck to look at the stairs and waited for a few seconds before Mark and Jaehyun walked down with bright smiles on their faces.

"Okay here we have Mark and Jaehyun. Then We have Winwin at the table. Mr. Taeyong and Doyoung with our special girl, y/n." He stepped forward to you and took out a flower and kissed it before extending it to you, " a token of love for my precious soul."

"Thank you. Happy Anniversary to my dramatic love."

"Happy Anniversary, y/n." He pulled you away from the one hugging you and stepped towards the table.

You sat between Jaehyun and Mark and they both greeted you following with a smile and soft kiss. Doyoung cut a piece of the pancake and brought it to your lips. You chuckled and quickly ate it.

"Are these all for me?"you asked them.

"Yes. All for the special one." Mark excitedly said and kissed your cheek.

Winwin cleared his throat from across the table, "so what should we do today?"

"Give her the gifts."Mark proposed the idea but you quickly shook your head.

"No not now. My surprise is still left."

"Wait. Yeah, the secret. So tell me." Winwin happily nodded and stared at you.

"No. Get dressed. We are going to my cafe and then everything will be revealed."

"Promise?"

"Of course, Doyoung."

They all quickly dressed up in some denims or leathers but of course they were looking fine individually. You couldn't take your eyes from one of them. Are you even matching with them?

You looked down at your dress and Jungwoo grabbed your shoulders to face them.

"How is she looking?"

The moment their gaze fell on you, everyone stopped, everything was still, a look of adoration and love painted across their faces. They approached where you were shyly looking away when Jungwoo was keeping you in place.

"You look like my queen, love." Taeyong took your hand and kissed the back of your hand. Jaehyun kissed the side of your head and pulled you towards him, "well, we have something more to say but let's go to the cafe first."

"Then let's go."

It didn't take much time to reach the destination but as soon as you stepped inside the door. You started to feel nervous and that did get noticed by them. They were mesmerized by the wonderful decoration that you did and planned for the day. Somewhere, they felt sorry to even blame you for keeping secrets for this. Doyoung didn't leave your hand when you were showing around the details you organized which perfectly matched all six of their likings but the moment they came across the pink box with a letter on top of it. You stopped them.

"Wait!"

They all turned towards you.

"There's something I want to tell you."

Taeyong smiled at you, "go ahead."

"No. First you gave me the surprise and then I did so now it's your turn to tell me first and then I will. How about this?"

Mark smiled and approached you, hugging you from behind and then you noticed Taeyong pulling out a box from his leather jacket.

"Woah! What's that?"

"It's-"

“Y/n!”

“Y/n!”

"Y/n!"

You knew your friend's voice and when you heard her screaming from outside, you ran towards the door and pushed it open.

The boys shouted out your name but you didn't listen and searched for your friend outside the cafe.

There was no one.

No one on the silent and peaceful afternoon street. You felt weird because you were so sure that you heard your friend call out for you so many times.

Are you hearing things?

You felt someone watching you. You looked in each direction but you couldn't see anyone. The boys already exited the cafe.

"Who was there?" Winwin asked while looking around.

"I heard my friend calling for me."

"Then where is she?"

"I don't know."

Doyoung stepped in front of you and held your wrist, "let's go inside. Maybe she was fooling around."

You nodded and turned around with them.

But the moment you took a step.

All of you heard a gunshot.

What happened?

"Ah...D-doyoung."

"Y/n!"

As soon as they saw you, blood was flowing out of your chest. You got shot? Who shot you? They frantically looked around but there was no one in their sight. Doyoung sat on his knees when he felt your limp body leaning on him.

"It's okay, y/n. I will save you. Just wait for a while. We will take you to the hospital soon."

He held your hand when Mark was searching for a way to stop the flow of blood. But his mind was not working and processing the things to do.

The day started with so much joy and love but suddenly what just happened?

Both of the men by your side were scared. Scared to lose you. You were fighting back the urge to seep into sleep but clutched his hand tightly to stay awake. Mark was repeatedly telling you to keep your eyes open.

"Baring the car. Do it fast." Taeyong pushed Jaehyun towards the car but you weakly called out their names and asked them to come to you.

"Just take her to the hospital. Now!"

"Mark. No...I-i don't think I can make it."

"No no y/n. You can." He pressed your hand, which was clutching your chest.

"Taeyong, tell me what you wanted to say. Please"

"Let's go to the hospital."

you shook your head and looked at Winwin, "Can you bring me the pink box? please..." you coughed. Jaehyun already went to bring the car and you were clutching Doyoung's hand tightly. tears escaping your eyes even though you didn't want to cry. Winwin jogged inside the cafe and quickly he picked up the note and the box and wasting no more time, he went towards you.

"Get inside." Jaehyun opened the door for you all.

"Taeyong, tell me please."

he was hesitant to tell you at that moment but wasting unnecessary time means risking your life more. your breath was heaving and Mark was trying his best to keep you awake. Winwin approached the scene and when you noticed him, you weakly smiled at him.

But Taeyong pulled out the black box from his jacket and opened it. your glistening eyes blinked slowly, everything was blur, you could feel a small thing placed on your palm. Taeyong took your hand away from Doyoung's shirt.

you brought the thing closer to you.

It's a ring.

before you could say anything. you all entered the care. you were still looking at the ring. When Jungwoo noticed your fixed gaze on the ring and your grip was about to loosen. He curled your fingers and held your fist tightly. 

Taeyong held back his tears and weakly said from the passenger seat, "we were going to ask you to marry us. A proposal ring."

you heard them. you wanted to say a lot of things but you couldn't. you wanted to say something else at the moment.

"Winwin, give the box to Taeyong." he was quick to follow your words. Jaehyun was often glancing at you from the rear mirror and to the front. their base hospital is a bit far away and they couldn't risk you reaching there so whatever problem they have to face, they were going to if they had to go to the city hospital.

Winwin kept the note in his hand and it was shaking in his hold. 

"trust me...i love you......" you weakly whispered but the one holding you heard it.

"Y/n...y/n...don't close your eyes...please..hey stay awake."

you didn't open your eyes.

nor you were clutching his hand.

"y/n..."

"drive faster!" Taeyong almost shouted at him.

Mark hesitatingly asked, "what's inside the box?"

Taeyong stared at it for a while and then when he opened it. A tear dropped inside the box. Jaehyun's breath hitched and looked at you but your eyes were closed. 

"Y/n...baby..."

aren't you going to smile at him? atleast for the last time.

Congratulations! It's a girl.'

Mark snatched the box from him and his eyes went wide. he urged the other to open the note and there it was, you have ranted everything like always and in the end,

'I collected some flowers for each day after I got the news of pregnancy. I could tell you earlier but I wanted to say it on a special day. I am not hiding anything from you except this. Just trust me. I want to give it to you all as a surprise.'

Jungwoo brought your hand to his lips to plant a kiss.

Doyoung pressed a kiss on your temple, "I trust you."

Are you just going to leave them now?

They won’t trust anything anymore when you didn’t even say the final goodbye.

Note: please I want to thanks to people for reading and reblogging. Reviews are always appreciated. Spread love not hate. If my favoritism is showing with some members then please try to understand oz they are my bias.

Taglist: @mymoodwriting @justhere4kpop @anyamaris @yeoobin @icchyi @jwnghyuns @piratequeen-queenofgames @dinonuguaegi @oreharuuu @hwanring @sanwifesstuff @kiwiisnthereoops @kiwiraccoon @hyuukah @kazscara @aceofspadesbiofalltrades @nvdhrzn @meowmeeps @vtyb23 @haechansbbg

[open!]

[beardedmrbean]

Cats have more freedom than women in Afghanistan, Hollywood actress Meryl Streep has said in an appeal to the international community to stop the Taliban's repression.

Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the actress pointed out that even animals had more rights now in Afghanistan following increased restrictions on women.

In response, a Taliban spokesman said they "highly respected" women and would "never compare them to cats".

Streep's comments come after the Taliban government last month introduced a new set of "morality laws".

Among other things, these rules state that women's voices can no longer be heard in public and that they are not allowed to look directly at men they are not related to by blood or marriage.

The measures add to a litany of restrictions that the regime has imposed on Afghan women and girls since returning to power three years ago.

Women have to completely cover their faces and bodies when leaving their homes. Women and girls are also prevented from going to schools, parks, gyms and sport clubs. There are restrictions on the type of work that they are allowed to do.

"Today in Kabul a female cat has more freedom than a woman. A cat may go sit on her front stoop and feel the sun on her face, she may chase a squirrel in the park," Streep said on Monday at an event to raise awareness of Afghan women's rights at the UN headquarters in New York.

"A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today because the public parks have been closed to women and girls by the Taliban.

"A bird may sing in Kabul, but a girl may not in public. This is extraordinary. This is a suppression of the natural law.

"The way that this culture, this society has been upended, is a cautionary tale for the rest of the world," said Streep, who called on world leaders to "stop the slow suffocation" of Afghan women and girls.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who attended the same event, said Afghanistan "will never take its rightful place on the global stage" without educated women and women in employment.

In response to Streep's remarks, a Taliban spokesman said that "none can deny women the rights which Islam has given them".

"We highly respect them in their role as mother, sister, wife. They are [an] essential part of [the] family and society but we never compare them to cats," Suhail Shaheen, the head of the Taliban's political office, told the BBC.

He added that currently hundreds of thousands of women work in various government ministries and as entrepreneurs.

Western countries, led by the United States and the European Union, have condemned the new laws, but the Taliban has defended the edict saying it is in accordance with Islamic Sharia law.

The Taliban has also said they are trying to change the education system to more closely align with Islamic principles, and have repeatedly promised that women would be readmitted to schools once those issues are sorted. To date, however, there has not been any movement.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Radley Balko at The Watch:

Here’s a sentence I never imagined I’d need to write: It would be a bad idea for the U.S. to go to war with Mexico. And yet here we are. The thing about a candidate as historically dangerous, impulsive, and incompetent as Trump is that he routinely proposes stuff so off the wall that it would tank virtually any other campaign. But because of this, some of his nuttier ideas are overshadowed by everything else he does. In a previous post, I looked at one of these under-the-radar ideas — Trump’s catastrophic promise to deny federal funding to any school that requires kids to be vaccinated. Today, we’ll look at another — the Trump/Republican vow to bomb or invade Mexico. Trump has repeatedly threatened that, if elected again, he will bomb drug cartels and fentanyl manufacturing facilities in Mexico. He has also proposed sending assassination teams or special forces units into the country. He vowed to take these actions with or without the consent of the Mexican government. The Mexican government has been pretty clear about where it stands on this: They would not consent. So let’s be clear about what Trump is proposing: He’s proposing an invasion of Mexico. Which means he’s a proposing a war with Mexico.

Trump’s history with this threat suggests we should take it more seriously than the typical bluster he spouts during one of his campaign rally monoglogues. Rolling Stone reported last year that even then he had already asked his advisors to assemble a “battle plan” to enact shortly after he’s elected. He also reiterated his promise in an interview he and running mate JD Vance did with Fox News last month (Vance is also all for it). The origin of the war with Mexico idea dates back to the end of Trump’s first term, when, in response to rising fentanyl overdoses, he attempted to designate drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, despite the fact that they don’t fit any reasonable definition of a terrorist. He apparently thought this would allow him to bomb the cartels as if they were ISIS cells. It turns out that it isn’t that simple. You can’t simply call people “terrorists” and immediately start bombing the countries where said “terrorists” are operating without first consulting with the leaders of those countries. Mexico’s president promptly and resoundingly dismissed the idea. This apparently irked Trump enough to take the position he advocates today: Just bomb them, anyway.

[...] Destructive, counterproductive policy that treats foreign lives as disposable has long been the hallmark of U.S. overseas drug interdiction. We’ve funded the extra-judicial execution of drug offenders in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. We partnered with South American governments to shoot down suspect drug running planes without regard to the possible loss of innocent life — that is, until the policy claimed the lives of a U.S. missionary and her daughter. In Panama, the CIA (specifically, George H.W. Bush) propped up and facilitated the drug-running operation of brutal dictator Manuel Noriega. When Noriega was no longer useful for fighting communism, the U.S. then indicted him for said drug running, then (specifically, George H.W. Bush) invaded and bombed his country. We killed hundreds of Panamanian citizens in the process.

As for Mexico itself, in the mid-2000s the U.S. incentivized the country’s government to enlist its own military in the drug war. That policy toppled some cartels, but also spawned destabilizing turf wars and violence as rival factions vied to replace them. The winners then and the military have since been fighting for nearly two decades. The death toll is now approaching half a million people. When asked about the carnage, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton basically said in 2011 that tens of thousands of dead Mexicans was a price the U.S. was willing to pay to keep harmful drugs away from Americans. (It did not keep illicit drugs away from Americans.) The arguably most destructive U.S. overseas anti-drug program was Plan Colombia, Bill Clinton’s drug eradication program that poisoned farmland, fostered rampant corruption, and pushed that country into a civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people. This too did not keep illicit drugs away from Americans.

[...]

It will backfire

Even drug cartels have a code. They go out of their way to avoid harming U.S. law enforcement, and they don’t target U.S. citizens. When underlings have violated this code, or when U.S. citizens have suffered collateral harm, the cartels have bent over backwards to make amends. The last thing they want is to bring the full force and weight of the U.S. government upon themselves. This of course doesn’t excuse the times drug violence has harmed American citizens. We should naturally seek justice in those cases. But while what Trump is proposing won’t end the illicit drug trade, it will create an existential threat to the current cartels. It will back them into a corner. Cartels avoid U.S. casualties because they want to remain in operation. If they know the United States is sending its military to kill them, there’s no incentive to adhere to the code. They’re likely to lash out — against U.S. law enforcement, U.S. citizens, possibly U.S. politicians.

[...]

Mexico isn’t our enemy

Depending on how you measure it, Mexico is either our first, second, or third biggest trade partner. Any military action taken without consent of the Mexican government would bring most of that trade to a screeching halt. That risks about $855 billion in annual commerce. It would threaten millions of jobs, particularly in California, Texas, Louisiana, and the industrial Midwest. When Trump threatened to completely shut down the border during his first term, economists warned it would result in a shortage the goods from Mexico, including computers, cars and car parts, gas, chemicals, and produce (goodbye avocados!). Mexico is also a big consumer for U.S. agriculture. So corn, soybeans, poultry, pork, and dairy farmers would also take a hit. We’d also see major interruptions in supply chains that flow through Mexico. When the Border Patrol shut down just one official crossing in San Diego for just a few hours in 2019, businesses in that city lost $5.3 million. All of this economic damage would come in addition to the calamitous economic effects of Trump’s other disastrous campaign promises, like across-the-board tariffs and mass deportations.

Radley Balko perfectly describes why going to war with Mexico is a reckless and costly idea.

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Sean 'Diddy' Combs: The Allegations

Diddy, 54, whose real name is Sean Combs, made a grovelling public apology this week after a horrifying video emerged showing him kicking and beating his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura. But the clip is just one part of a torrent of severe allegations to have hit the billionaire New Yorker with an already chequered past.

On Monday, his former bodyguard Roger Bonds alleged that he’d seen the rapper punch other women. This follows police raids on the three time Grammy award winner’s two US mansions in March and a lawsuit from record producer Lil Rod Jones in February alleging the star had sexually assaulted him. Diddy denies all allegations against him.

Parker, the former lead detective in the Rap Intelligence Unit who investigated Combs in 1999 over a nightclub shooting, has compared the allegations to the case against convicted paedophile Epstein. While the investigation remains in its early stages, he also revealed that another possible similarity with Epstein was that other big celebrity names could soon be dragged into the case.

Mr Parker also offered a fascinating insight why the raids at the music mogul's mansion might have been so intense. He said: “The reason it was Homeland Security who carried out the raids was that the allegations against Diddy included sex trafficking across the US, across state lines, and overseas."

On Monday Combs’s former bodyguard Bonds told Talk TV’s Piers Morgan that he’d seen the rapper strike his former girlfriend Kim Porter.

He alleged: “I saw him inside the car grab her up, I saw him smack her.” Actress Kim, who shared three children with Combs, died in 2018 from pneumonia aged 47.

Model Crystal claimed in a lawsuit on Tuesday that when she’d gone back to the rapper’s New York studio in 2003 he demanded she join him in the bathroom. There, it is alleged, Combs forced her head towards his crotch and forced her to perform oral sex.

Another associate who has come out against Combs is record producer Lil Rod Jones, who worked on the rapper’s The Love Album for a year. He claims to have video footage which shows illegal activity and his lawsuit alleges that his former boss repeatedly groped him. It also states that on February 2 last year Lil Rod woke up naked in bed with a pair of prostitutes and Combs after being drugged. The 73 page lawsuit, which asks for £23 million in damages, mentions the rapper giving “laced” alcohol to children and associated people consorting “with underage girls and sex workers.”

Natania Reuben also claimed that it was P Diddy who pulled the trigger when she was hit by bullet fragments outside Club New York in Manhattan in 1999.  “I was a victim. I got shot in my face,” she said. 

Combs denies all the allegations against him.

[davekat-sucks]

Honestly the rhetoric of “Japan isn’t a perfect place” is so hollow at this point because of how obvious Japan’s societal problems are. Yes, Japan does have low birth rates, yes Japan has a harsh and unforgiving work culture, yes Japan does not have a society that reaches out to or discusses mental health of its population, creating a drive towards the growing hikikomori culture where you just stay inside your house all day and ROT. And finally, yeah many Japanese people do not like immigrants, immigration, or foreigners. This is a mix of European tourists being inconsiderate of their culture (it’s getting so bad tourists are getting banned from some districts of Japan for repeatedly taking pictures of geishas even though there are signs with visual clues of stick figures taking pictures of a geisha with a BIG CIRCLE WITH A SLASH THROUGH IT and this also applies to even simple stuff like ignoring the painted rows for getting on trains in a filed line, and a lot of little cultural divisions that you gotta learn before stepping into Asia’s biggest cultural exporter.

Of course, it’s not just the tourists, Japan also hates immigrants mostly because of the continuous cloud of Japanese nationalism that remains in the nation even after the war, which at best preserves landmarks and iconography of old imperial Japan (the naval flag hasn’t changed since 1868, even though the rising sun flag is now associated by Americans, many Chinese mainlanders, and Southeast Asians as a flag of oppression and war crimes since WWII, unless your Thailand, because Japan let Thailand keep their king and even join the Axis powers as an independent state) and at worst racism against Koreans and Chinese people that denies the terror at unit 731 and the massacre of Nanking.

Finally a lot of societal pros and cons of Japan come from 2 things:

1. America is Japan’e sugar daddy, it raised the country from rubble after WWII and created an economic miracle that modernized it so fast that by the 1980s it was developmentally ahead of countries like Italy and France.

2. Japan is dominated by one party since WWII and it only lost that majority for about 4 years after the economic crisis in 2008. It was Shinzo Abe that got the party’s grip on Japan, and economic state, back in the groove.

So Japan is a complex society with many people, a long history, complex politics (did you know Japan is one of the only countries in the global north to have a communist party represented in its parliament?) and it has problems, very human, and some of it does stem from the free-market Conservative politics of the country, and some of it was practices and cultural norms translated to the modern day.

The issue is the phrase “Japan ain’t a paradise ya know” does not address any of this, it more or less just attacks a superficial belief that people who like anime and complain about “wokeness” in western media like anime because anime generally does not explore or address social movements or political philosophy that deals with LGBTQ rights, racism, economic inequality, social justice, or political theory compared to modern american media which has integrated many more openly queer main characters and usually fights a villain who is a megalomaniac aristocrat who wants to get rid of some “other” to return society to “the good old days” and take power as this “great man” which must do what the unwashed masses could not stand up to. The assumption is since anime, and generally in genres like slice of life and shonen (and even beyond the scope of anime, tokusatsu) does not cover topic of modern political and social climate, it’s because Japan doesn’t have to deal with these issues, and is to the anime viewer, a harmonious, enriched, and bountiful society where there’s no crime, no poverty, and everyone is proud to be Japanese and accepts their place in society no matter how trivial their job or position in their community is.

The thing is: NO

Many popular anime and cartoons in Japan can cover modern social issues or political philosophy, it’s just that not all of it is going to get so popular that it gets dubbed or shipped to translation publishers like Crunchyroll or Viz media. The other thing is some Japanese media can cover older or more personal struggles in their works, it can get popular, and that’s alright! Not every piece of media that avoids talking about modern issues is anti-woke! Sometimes a fine story is a fun break from reality, a way to ease your stress from a day at work.

I think when people say “Japan isn’t a paradise you think it is” I think they’re saying that Japan has active movements that fight for more modern political causes like LGBTQ rights and economic reform, and that inevitably, they will win. Some courts in Japan are already considering same-sex marriage to be a right. That’s great.

The thing is, what the nu-fan is also saying is that the pressure of the American audience, and the growing progressive movement in Japan will reform the production and distribution of Japanese media that will introduce a new wave of authors, writers, and even animators who will be more woke than any previous generation of Japanese artists that preceded them.

And when Japan’s media landscape goes woke, where will you turn to to “escape the nu-fans” South Korea?

As if there’ll be 2 Koreas within the next decade.

🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵

Then there's Western companies that are trying to ask JP creators to change, edit, and censor their works in order to fit the standards for Western audiences. If they don't try to persuade them, they do it in more subtle ways through localization without their knowledge. And they will take that advantage that the creator will be fine with it because most don't understand English or Western culture. Sites like Pixiv that is limiting US and UK NSFW content because they don't wish to change the rules for other countries for a site that was exclusively made for Japan. It's why people are starting to accept AI translations as a new way to translate anime/manga/video games over localizers like Crunchyroll. I also think there is a difference in addressing Japanese's political and society issues over policing their media and having to alter it in order to make a quick buck. It's just as bad as Disney removing one gay reference since it isn't part of the big plot to get dem Chinese bux. At least stuff like Apex Legends is having some balls to not LGBT+ shit for Saudi Arabia release without fear of losing money or being killed.

[usafphantom2]

Don Campbell was an SR 71 crew chief, and he received a letter from my father in 1989. His son, Don Campbell Junior, found this file and sent it to me. This is what my father wrote about the SR 71 when he was trying to save the program. He talked to the Senators individually. At one point, Dad tried to give away the SR-71s to the New York National Guard, which almost worked until General Welch shut it down. Dad was in a car with a New York senator discussing saving the SR-71s. When Dad offered all of the SR 71 to New York. The Senator was so excited. Dad said he nearly jumped out of the car!!

The US Air Force plans to terminate all SR 71 strategic reconnaissance operations by September 1989. This move is taken as a cost-saving measure but ignores the unique mission capabilities of the SR-71 and its key role in the US intelligence system. The SR-71 directly supports all levels of intelligence nationals, strategic and tactical. It has an all-weather day-night capability and remains the fastest high and fly aircraft in the world.

It’s a modern sensor suite exemplified by the (ASARS) the advanced synthetic aperture radar system enables it to gather high-resolution imagery through clouds, and in periods of darkness, its high operational altitude, along with the long-range Capability of its sensors enables the SR 71 to image denied areas without actually overflying them. It is frequently tasked to cover target areas inaccessible to other reconnaissance systems and to provide fast reaction coverage of crisis areas such as Nicaragua, Libya, and the Persian Gulf. Its advanced defense system will protect the SR 71 against surface and air-launched threats well into the next century. Its survivability has been repeatedly proven during deep penetration missions into high-threat environments in the face of defense budget strength the SR 71 is a good bargain. USAF investments and SR 71 systems and support are paying off. The fleet is modern and up-to-date sensors and operating systems are state of the art.

There are now more spare engines in reserve ready to fly at any point in the history of the program. Over 400 million worth of spare parts plus an additional 200 million of bond stock are capable of supporting the SR 71 operations for years to come. The cost of an SR 71 Wing is roughly the same as the cost of an F 15 Wing.

The SR 71 has no peer.

Its contributions to peacetime reconnaissance requirements of the nation remain essential. It is also needed to meet.. pre- and post. SlOP intelligence mission requirements.

Its continual operation until a replacement reconnaissance system is fully operational is mandatory.~Butch Sheffield

Congress was lied to by the Pentagon Generals by saying there would be a new SR 71 it’s been 35 years we still haven’t seen it. There is no Aurora. That was a myth. The Generals lied to Congress about how much it cost to run the program Isn’t lying to Congress against the law?

Their “fighter pilot mafia” left the United States Air Force with a vacuum during the Persian Gulf War. If they had the SR 71 like they did during the Vietnam War they could’ve easily found their targets. I wonder how many men had to die in that War because there was no SR 71 to give the fighter pilots, their target. This paper was written before the Persian Gulf War.

I cannot change the past, but I can change the public perception that the SR 71 was canceled because we had something better and because the cost was too high. It has been proven that the cost of not having an SR 71 was too high .~Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[vote-democrat-president-congress]

Smith recounts these facts to establish Trump’s motive and intent on January 6

December 5, 2023 (Tuesday)

A new filing today by Special Counsel Jack Smith in the case United States of America v. Donald J. Trump for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election shows Smith’s office establishing that Trump has a longstanding pattern of refusing to accept election results he dislikes.

As early as 2012, the filing notes, Trump baselessly alleged that voting machines had switched votes intended for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. In the 2016 campaign he “claimed repeatedly, with no basis, that there was widespread voter fraud,” and publicly refused to commit to accepting the results of that election. This pattern continued in 2020, but in that election he took active steps to seize power.

The filing introduced information that Trump, an agent, and an unindicted co-conspirator tried to start a riot at the TCF Center in Detroit as vote counting showed Biden taking the lead. As Josh Kovensky of Talking Points Memo points out, this scheme sounds much like the Brooks Brothers Riot of 2000 that stopped vote counting in Miami-Dade County in Florida. Roger Stone was a participant in the Brooks Brothers Riot; in 2020 he was working to keep Trump in office.

Smith’s team shows how this pattern continued to play out in the 2020 election, with Trump urging supporters like the Proud Boys to back him, falsely asserting that the election had been stolen, and attacking former supporters who denied that the election had been stolen. The pattern has continued until the present, with Trump calling those who were found guilty of offenses related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol “hostages” and claiming they were “treated horribly.”

Smith recounts these facts to establish Trump’s motive and intent on January 6, but his identification of a longstanding pattern indicates it would be a grave mistake to think Trump has any intention of campaigning fairly or accepting any result in 2024 other than his return to the White House.

New House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who has endorsed Trump for president and was a key organizer of the congressional effort to keep Trump in office, has promised to release all the surveillance footage from the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Trump supporters insist that the full tapes will reveal that the attack was not as bad as the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol showed. Johnson said that the tapes must be shared publicly for “transparency.”

Today, Johnson supported Trump’s message about January 6 when he said that he was making sure the faces of rioters are blurred in the surveillance footage. "We have to blur some of the faces of persons who participated in the events of that day because we don't want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ [Department of Justice] and to have other, you know, concerns and problems," he said. Johnson’s spokesperson quickly walked back the comment, saying Johnson meant to say that faces were blurred to prevent “all forms of retaliation against private citizens from any non-governmental actors.”

Also today, Kash Patel, who served on Trump’s national security team and is widely expected to return in a second Trump administration, expanded the authoritarian threats Trump people have been making to include the media. On former Trump ally Steve Bannon’s podcast, Patel promised that the Trump team would fill government positions from top to bottom with loyalists and would use the Department of Justice to go after those perceived to be Trump’s enemies.

“We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media,” Patel said. “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections—we’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.”

Yesterday, former representative Liz Cheney (R-WY), who is promoting her new book, Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, called out Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) for his continuing hold on military appointments that kept more than 450 routine promotions from taking effect over the past ten months. Tuberville claimed his refusal to permit the nominees’ confirmations was an attempt to change Pentagon policy of permitting leave for service members in states that ban abortion to obtain abortion care elsewhere. But on NPR yesterday, Cheney wondered: “Why is Tommy Tuberville doing that? Is he holding those positions open so that Donald Trump can fill them?”

Today, under great pressure from members of his own party who worried the Democrats would change the rules to weaken the power of the Senate minority, Tuberville released his hold on most of the nominees. The Senate promptly confirmed 425 of them.

Still, Tuberville retained holds on 11 officers of the most senior rank. According to congressional reporter for Punchbowl News Andrew Desiderio, the positions left vacant are commander of Pacific Air Forces, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, Air Component Command for the United States Indo-Pacific Command, commander for Air Combat Command, the head of the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program, the head of Northern Command (which defends the United States and coordinates defenses with Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas), the head of the U.S. Cyber Command, vice chief of staff of the Army, vice chief of staff of the Air Force, vice chief of Space Operations, and vice chief of Naval Operations.

Last night, Cheney explained to political commentator and television host Rachel Maddow exactly what a second Trump presidency would look like, Cheney said: "He would take those people who are the most radical, the most dangerous, who had the proposals that were the most dangerous, and he will put them in positions of supreme power. That's a risk that we simply cannot take."

Mark Joyella of Forbes took note of Maddow’s introduction last night, in which the host stressed the importance of protecting democracy. She began by emphasizing how much she and Cheney disagreed about everything in politics, so much so that it was as if they were on different planets at war with each other.

Maddow made that point, she said, because “in civic terms, in sort of American citizenship terms, I think it's really important how much we disagree. It's important how far apart we are in every policy issue imaginable. It is important that Liz Cheney is infinity and I am negative infinity on the ideological number line. It's important because that tells you how serious and big something has to be to put us, to put me and Liz Cheney, together on the same side of something in American life.”

The Rachel Maddow Show was the most watched news show on cable television last night, with 3.15 million viewers. The Fox News Channel’s show Hannity, hosted by personality Sean Hannity, had just under 2 million viewers.

It seems clear Americans are waking up to Trump’s threats to stack the government with loyalists, weaponize the Justice Department and military, deport 10 million people, and prosecute those he perceives to be his enemies in politics and the media. Interviewing Trump tonight, Hannity tried to downplay Trump’s statements about his authoritarian plans for a second term by getting him to commit to staying within the normal bounds of a president should he be elected in 2024. The first time he was asked, Trump sidestepped the question. So Hannity asked again. “Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” he asked.

“Except for day one,” Trump responded.

Source: Heather Cox Richardson 

[ye-olde-sodor]

Hurt (A DC au fic) (Tw warning)

Hey all! Ths fic is a bit darker than what I usually post, so please read with caution! It isn't over the top dark and it has a happy ending so I included the ttte tags. Tw warning for depression and death mention! Angst but with a happy ending!

______________________________________________________________

Gordon sighed as he backed into the old shed at Vicarstown. He bid his crew farewell, and he let his weight sink into the old rails below. The shed was old and dilapidated, completely void of any comfort, but he didn't feel like running all the way back to Tidmouth. It was a miracle that he was even moving at all.

It had been years since Scott had sailed to America. After a change in politics left his tour unfunded and bankrupt, everyone had feared for the worst. Sure enough, to his utter horror, one of Scotts trailing wheels was delivered to Doncaster from America, and the nation fell into mourning.

The United States had repeatedly denied sending the wheel and scrapping Scott, but all of the evidence was pointing to the painfully obvious. Out of everything, it was the blatant denial of any wrongdoing that truly got under his metal plating. He fumed just by the thought of it.

Worst yet, the family had begun to finally tear away from it's surviving members. For whatever reason, Scott had made the young, inexperienced Mallard the family matriarch over him or even Spencer...and gave the majority of the money to him.

Did he feel betrayed? Of course he did, anyone in his wheels would feel hurt and bitter by that. Did he feel jealous? Name me a time where Gordon wasn't jealous. But above all else...he was in agony.

The sounds of his screams upon hearing the news still haunt the inhabitants of Sodor...several months after the wheel was first brough to Doncaster. Outrage and a need for vengeance fueled him in a mighty burst of pure fire. In a matter of moments, he became a raging inferno accompanied by the shrilled shrieks of the phoenix, only for the cold and bitter misery to arrive and smother that once mighty flame just as quickly.

That same fury nearly took hold of him again when Mallard swiftly left the funeral service to attend to Scott's will. How dare he abandon his only family to "deal with the necessities"?! Would it have killed him to pay his respects to the engine he claimed to view as a mentor? His predecessor, a father dare one say?! Like with the last burst of fury, however, it was quickly drenched in a water known as despair. As Gordon thundered down the line back home, he felt nothing but the numbness of depression.

Now here he was, sitting in a cold abandoned shed near Kildane, barely living but so far from death. His eyes felt sunken, and his smokebox door felt heavy. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought that his own face would come clean off its hinges, landing onto the ground with a sickening thud and disintegrate into dust.

His entire frame felt weak and brittle, but it still stood firm and strong under his weight. He had lost all of his energy and his sense of importance and high regard. He stopped taking the express since the day the wheel arrived and has been pulling filthy goods trains ever since.

His once proud and royal blue paint had become covered in soot, grime, and various other stains. His eyes were red from countless tears and sleepless nights, hindering his performance even more. Dark circles under his eyes accompanied the redness, further showing his deterioration and lack of self care.

To list every agony that Gordon is suffering through would take years. Gordon had become a fallen star, a star of which that was rapidly falling apart as we speak.

As he sulked in the crumbling shed, the low bellowing of a diesel had become audible. It's proud motor seemed to echo across invisible valleys as it approached. He shifted his eyes to look in the direction of the noise to see who would dare approach such a dilapidated structure. To his surprise, he recognized the large Warship.

"10? What are you doing here?" Gordon spoke weakly.

"I was just gonna ask you the same thing." he replied in an equally stunned voice. "This is usually my shed."

Gordon's weight shifted under the rails again. "Oh. I'm sorry...I can leave if-"

"No no, it's fine." 10 interrupted. "I'm just surprised is all. You can stay here, I'll just park beside you."

He did as he promised, and carefully backed into the shed, sitting on top of the rails to Gordon's left. Gordon heard a door open and quickly closed. Out of the corner of his eye, he could spy the mechanical arm of 10's driver speed away after bidding his engine farewell. Apparently he knew that the two were about to have an intimate conversation.

"How are you holding up?" The large engine asked cautiously.

At first, Gordon was hesitant to answer. Truth be told he wasn't well at all...but at the same time he didn't want to hinder anyone else and have them worry more about him more then their work. Fortunately, 10 already knew the answer, and spoke Gordon's mind on his behalf.

"About as well as you can?" he spoke gently, as not to come off as condescending.

"You and I both now how much it hurts," Gordon began. "To lose a sibling...but to lose someone who was guaranteed survival."

Gordon trailed off, tears already beginning to form in his eyes. For the first time in years, he felt weak. His eyes began to soften as he let himself show such a powerful emotion in front of what is supposed to be his replacement, his rival even. He had already let his emotions erupt before, so it would've been hypocritical to hide them anymore.

"There is no greater pain then that." he finished through tears.

10 remained silent, and respectfully allowed the other engine to sob. His tears streamed down his face and began to pool onto his buffers and the ground below. The rails slightly sunk into the now wet soil, a result of the ground underneath it being disturbed.

10 had never seen such a thing before. An engine sobbing in front of another was unheard of on the Mainland, so to see such raw emotion from someone so uptight...why he couldn't explain the feeling even if he could.

"And the worst part of it?" Gordon went on shakily. "It isn't even over yet."

"What do you mean?"

Gordon thought for a moment and decided that he could no longer bare the weight of his dilemma any longer. As soon as he composed himself as best as he could, he looked at the warship.

"Promise me you won't speak of this. To anyone. What I'm about to tell you must stay between us."

"I promise." he spoke carefully, surprised at how trusting the engine was being to him. Then again, anyone in Gordon's position would've been grasping for any sort of comfort. Even if his better judgement wouldn't allow it.

"It's Scott's will," Gordon explained weakly. "Ryan is convinced someone tampered with it in Mallard's favor. Everyone on Spencer's side of the family is convinced that there isn't any evidence for such a claim. Now Ryan and his siblings are up in arms against his."

10 was suddenly intrigued by what he was being told. He'd heard of stories about forgeries, especially during his time as a bounty hunter. He suddenly found a source of hope, that his past might finally prove useful.

"Why would he think that?" he asked respectfully.

"Mallard got a majority of Scott's finances and properties. The rest of it went to Spencer and his half of the family, myself and Ryan."

"That does sound weird...What's Mallard doing now?"

"I'm not sure, I haven't spoken to him since the funeral." he said. "Or anyone for that matter...you're the only person I've talked to about this."

Diesel 10 was stunned. Astonished even, more so then he was before. It was already bizarre enough to have someone like Gordon vent to him of all engines, but to have him be the only person to vent about his feelings to? Why, he didn't know what to feel! Honored? Prideful? Destressed? Concerned?

Gordon's eyes had finally dried, with the last tear falling into the puddle below him. He looked at the diesel with red, burned eyes. "I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm completely lost."

"Y'know you really shouldn't be taking all of this on your own," 10 spoke abruptly. "Why don't you talk to the other steamies? Or even Hatt? Can't you get advice from him?"

Gordon nearly had a stroke at the suggestion. "You can't just...ask your controller for legal advice! It's improper!"

"Y'know what else is improper? Not talking to the people who can help you." He said sternly but gently. "Believe me, you don't ever want to make that mistake. It's how you end up making mistakes that you can't fix."

Gordon suddenly understood what the Warship was referring to. He had known about the Warship's past, as did most of the island, but he was the only one who truly understood his upbringing. To be robbed of your original purpose only to be thrown into a new one, and to have it end up for the better or for the worst of you. It doesn't take a genius to know who ended up where.

Gordon respected him, in a turn of events. Was 10 at one point resentful of Gordon's own privileges? He would've been a fool to deny that. Did he eventually overcome this prejudice and turned into one of the islands most reliable engines? Yes, but it's hard to believe that an airport of all things could've been the catalyst for such a change in demeanor.

Either way, Gordon couldn't help but see himself in the Warships position. Gordon was sent to Sodor after being an excellent engine at Doncaster...and he felt betrayed by the decision. He liked where he was, his family was there, why did they take it away from him? Was he not good enough? Over time, he grew to love his new home and job, but it took many years for him to heal from the sudden changes and hurt feelings.

10, meanwhile, had the misfortune of being sent for scrap with the rest of his siblings, only to be salvaged by some lunatic who gutted his cab and installed a massive hydraulic claw into it. He spent years hunting down the engines that had fled their railways...but would return with a broken husk of an engine trailing behind him.

Almost all runaway engines are stored in sheds until their crews can find a proper sanctuary, but without proper maintenance and a lack of movement after so much time...The warship became less of a bounty hunter and more of a corpse collector.

The more he thought about it, the more Gordon realized just how much they understand each other. The two were so similar yet so very different. It practically scared Gordon.

Looking at the mighty Warship now, it's virtually impossible to tell that he went through so much. He cares for those around him, and he's been a gentle giant for years now. He's went through years of pain and torment and yet here is smiling and working hard as if it had never happened!

As Gordon thought more and more about 10, and how he managed to pull through in the end gave him a newfound sense of hope. While not nearly enough to overpower his grief yet, it gave him a head start.

"I...I'll see if I can get the chance to talk to him." Gordon spoke, having found his strength. "He is a rather busy man after all."

"If he really cares about you steamers like his kids," 10 replied, "Then I bet he'll make time."

Gordon was taken aback by the phrase. "You don't really believe in that little rumor, do you?"

It was a lighthearted joke on the island's part, but 10 believed it to be fact. After all, this was the Hatt family we're talking about. The very same family that would gladly break the law just to keep a steam engine from being scrapped.

10 chuckled lightly, "That was a rumor?"

"Depends on who you ask." he replied cheekily. While his mood was lifted, he knew it would be a long time before he truly felt better. This wasn't, however, meant to discourage the smaller steps…as he could already see a flicker of hope at the end if a ling tunnel.

"Hey, there we go!" 10 smiled. If he had arms, he would've placed one of them around his friend for comfort and encouragement. Alas, he was stuck with only his words. In any other case, he would've used his claw, but that would've damaged the already weakened shed.

Suddenly, the Warship had an idea.

"Say, I think we can squeeze the two of us in my shed back at home base."

Gordon cocked an eyebrow at the suggestion. "Oh? what about-"

"It's only a short drive, maybe 15 minutes tops. If we leave now we can-"

"10, what about our drivers?" Gordon interrupted with a slight laugh.

The Warship blushed as the realization had dawned on him. While it was quite the blunder, if he acts quickly, he can fix it.

"I mean we could always leave a note!"

…or not.

Gordon let out a long needed laugh, and it wasn’t long before the warship joined in as well!

The two allies would’ve laughed the night away if weariness didn’t overcome them. As the two settled their weight ontop of the old rails, Gordon felt a small warmth build in his firebox, and he allowed a smile to form as he drifted effortlessly to sleep.

[thoughtlessarse]

Nigeria has gotten billions in U.S. security assistance, even as its counterterrorism campaign has a massive civilian death toll. A Nigerian airstrike this month on a village in the country’s northwest killed 33 people, according to four residents and a local traditional leader. It is the latest in a long-running series of attacks on civilians by the government of Nigeria, one of the United States’ closest allies in Africa and the recipient of billions of dollars in U.S. weapons and military assistance. The April 10 attack, the latest errant strike in a Nigerian counterterrorism campaign against militants and “bandits,” came as villagers prepared for Eid prayers marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. “Arriving at the scene, I saw children, men and women … were killed and trapped inside the collapsed buildings that were hit by a bomb,” Lawali Ango, the traditional leader of Dogon Daji village, told Reuters. (A Nigerian military spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, denied that civilians were killed in the April 10 strike.) “The pattern of Nigeria’s military operations resulting in civilian casualties is deeply troubling,” Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., told The Intercept. “One of the biggest factors contributing to violent extremism is security sector violence against you or someone you know — so we’ll likely see the reverberations of this civilian harm for years to come unless there’s justice and accountability.” Between 2000 and 2022, the U.S. provided, facilitated, or approved more than $2 billion in security aid, including weapons and equipment sales, to Nigeria, according to report by Brown University’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies and the Security Assistance Monitor at the Center for International Policy, a Washington think tank. Over that time, the U.S. also carried out more than 41,000 training courses for Nigerian military personnel. The U.S. has repeatedly raised the subject of civilian casualties with Nigeria’s government. Earlier this year, in the wake of an attack that killed more than 120 civilians, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly discussed the issue with Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu.

continue reading

Does anybody listen to Biden? Israel doesn't and nor does Nigeria.

[jr0vj0t3if]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

December 5, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

DEC 6, 2023

A new filing today by Special Counsel Jack Smith in the case United States of America v. Donald J. Trump for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election shows Smith’s office establishing that Trump has a longstanding pattern of refusing to accept election results he dislikes. 

As early as 2012, the filing notes, Trump baselessly alleged that voting machines had switched votes intended for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. In the 2016 campaign he “claimed repeatedly, with no basis, that there was widespread voter fraud,” and publicly refused to commit to accepting the results of that election. This pattern continued in 2020, but in that election he took active steps to seize power.

The filing introduced information that Trump, an agent, and an unindicted co-conspirator tried to start a riot at the TCF Center in Detroit as vote counting showed Biden taking the lead. As Josh Kovensky of Talking Points Memo points out, this scheme sounds much like the Brooks Brothers Riot of 2000 that stopped vote counting in Miami-Dade County in Florida. Roger Stone was a participant in the Brooks Brothers Riot; in 2020 he was working to keep Trump in office. 

Smith’s team shows how this pattern continued to play out in the 2020 election, with Trump urging supporters like the Proud Boys to back him, falsely asserting that the election had been stolen, and attacking former supporters who denied that the election had been stolen. The pattern has continued until the present, with Trump calling those who were found guilty of offenses related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol “hostages” and claiming they were “treated horribly.” 

Smith recounts these facts to establish Trump’s motive and intent on January 6, but his identification of a longstanding pattern indicates it would be a grave mistake to think Trump has any intention of campaigning fairly or accepting any result in 2024 other than his return to the White House. 

New House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who has endorsed Trump for president and was a key organizer of the congressional effort to keep Trump in office, has promised to release all the surveillance footage from the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Trump supporters insist that the full tapes will reveal that the attack was not as bad as the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol showed. Johnson said that the tapes must be shared publicly for “transparency.” 

Today, Johnson supported Trump’s message about January 6 when he said that he was making sure the faces of rioters are blurred in the surveillance footage. "We have to blur some of the faces of persons who participated in the events of that day because we don't want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ [Department of Justice] and to have other, you know, concerns and problems,"  he said. Johnson’s spokesperson quickly walked back the comment, saying Johnson meant to say that faces were blurred to prevent “all forms of retaliation against private citizens from any non-governmental actors.” 

Also today, Kash Patel, who served on Trump’s national security team and is widely expected to return in a second Trump administration, expanded the authoritarian threats Trump people have been making to include the media. On former Trump ally Steve Bannon’s podcast, Patel promised that the Trump team would fill government positions from top to bottom with loyalists and would use the Department of Justice to go after those perceived to be Trump’s enemies. 

“We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media,” Patel said. “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections—we’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.”

Yesterday, former representative Liz Cheney (R-WY), who is promoting her new book, Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, called out Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) for his continuing hold on military appointments that kept more than 450 routine promotions from taking effect over the past ten months. Tuberville claimed his refusal to permit the nominees’ confirmations was an attempt to change Pentagon policy of permitting leave for service members in states that ban abortion to obtain abortion care elsewhere. But on NPR yesterday, Cheney wondered: “Why is Tommy Tuberville doing that? Is he holding those positions open so that Donald Trump can fill them?”

Today, under great pressure from members of his own party who worried the Democrats would change the rules to weaken the power of the Senate minority, Tuberville released his hold on most of the nominees. The Senate promptly confirmed 425 of them. 

Still, Tuberville retained holds on 11 officers of the most senior rank. According to congressional reporter for Punchbowl News Andrew Desiderio, the positions left vacant are commander of Pacific Air Forces, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, Air Component Command for the United States Indo-Pacific Command, commander for Air Combat Command, the head of the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program, the head of Northern Command (which defends the United States and coordinates defenses with Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas), the head of the U.S. Cyber Command, vice chief of staff of the Army, vice chief of staff of the Air Force, vice chief of Space Operations, and vice chief of Naval Operations. 

Last night, Cheney explained to political commentator and television host Rachel Maddow exactly what a second Trump presidency would look like, Cheney said: "He would take those people who are the most radical, the most dangerous, who had the proposals that were the most dangerous, and he will put them in positions of supreme power. That's a risk that we simply cannot take."

Mark Joyella of Forbes took note of Maddow’s introduction last night, in which the host stressed the importance of protecting democracy. She began by emphasizing how much she and Cheney disagreed about everything in politics, so much so that it was as if they were on different planets at war with each other. 

Maddow made that point, she said, because “in civic terms, in sort of American citizenship terms, I think it's really important how much we disagree. It's important how far apart we are in every policy issue imaginable. It is important that Liz Cheney is infinity and I am negative infinity on the ideological number line. It's important because that tells you how serious and big something has to be to put us, to put me and Liz Cheney, together on the same side of something in American life.”

The Rachel Maddow Show was the most watched news show on cable television last night, with 3.15 million viewers. The Fox News Channel’s show Hannity, hosted by personality Sean Hannity, had just under 2 million viewers. 

It seems clear Americans are waking up to Trump’s threats to stack the government with loyalists, weaponize the Justice Department and military, deport 10 million people, and prosecute those he perceives to be his enemies in politics and the media. Interviewing Trump tonight, Hannity tried to downplay Trump’s statements about his authoritarian plans for a second term by getting him to commit to staying within the normal bounds of a president should he be elected in 2024. The first time he was asked, Trump sidestepped the question. So Hannity asked again. “Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” he asked. 

“Except for day one,” Trump responded.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[beardedmrbean]

A complaint has been filed against Russia at the UN, accusing the Russian air force of deliberately attacking a hospital in opposition-held northern Syria five years ago.

It is being brought by a Syrian man, backed by human rights groups, whose relatives were killed in the attack.

Russia launched an air campaign in support of Syria's government in 2015 that helped turn the tide of civil war.

It has repeatedly denied that Russian forces have deliberately targeted hospitals.

The UN’s own investigation into the conflict has documented widespread possible war crimes, including indiscriminate bombing by Russian and Syrian forces.

But so far, apart from a handful of cases in Europe against Syrian asylum seekers alleged to be former members of the Syrian military or its intelligence services, there has been little accountability.

The particular case brought at the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva relates to the bombing of Kafranbel Surgical Hospital in Idlib province on 5 May 2019.

A little-known clause in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - to which Russia is a party - allows individual citizens to bring cases.

Detailed evidence presented to the UN committee suggests the hospital, which was busy that day, was bombed four times in the space of 20 minutes.

During this time flight spotters in the area, the evidence claims, saw a Russian fighter jet taking off from Russia’s Hmeimim airbase, 60km (37 miles) to the west.

The evidence also includes an alleged audio recording of the pilot’s communication with Russian ground control, confirming targets had been successfully hit. The times of the communications match those of the strikes captured on video by people on the ground in Kafranbel.

Two brothers at the hospital, the cousins of the Syrian man who has brought the case to the UN, were killed.

The deliberate targeting of a medical facility is, under international law, a war crime. Human rights experts say such attacked have regularly occurred during the Syrian civil war and other conflicts.

Three other Syrian hospitals were reportedly hit by Russian planes on the same day in May 2019.

Health facilities have also come under in Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza.

The Open Society Justice Initiative, the organisation backing the complaint, believes it is significant because, it says, “it is the first time Russia is held to account… over violations committed in Syria”.

But the UN Human Rights Committee, although it can hear cases like this one brought by individuals, cannot prosecute. That is the job of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Neither Russia nor Syria are parties to the ICC. Though the UN Security Council, the only body which can refer them to the court, has repeatedly been asked to act, Russia has vetoed attempts to prosecute violations in Syria.

What the committee’s 18 members elected by UN member states can do is issue a decision on whether the attack on Kafranbel hospital was a violation of international law.

It can also issue Russia with recommendations on how to ensure accountability, including launching a criminal investigation, or paying compensation to victims.

Human rights groups point out that in many cases of war crimes or crimes against humanity, the perpetrators are never brought before a formal court. But they say recognition, by a body like the UN committee, that violations have taken place, is at least some measure of justice.

And if this complaint is upheld it could, rights groups argue, serve as a form of deterrence for future attacks on medical facilities.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

David Lurie at Public Notice:

It is no coincidence that, as his 2024 presidential campaign comes to a close, Donald Trump is both coming out as an overt fascist and presiding over a Republican Party suffused with conspiratorial antisemitism. Fascism and anti-Jewish bigotry have been integrally linked since the 1930s. Over the past several years, Trump has so successfully remade the GOP as a fascist political party that a leading “mainstream” Republican governor greeted the recent news that Trump is a secret admirer of Adolf Hitler as a non-event, offhandedly declaring on CNN that it’s “baked in” to his appeal While Trump has declared himself to be the “protector” of the Jewish community at a time of rising antisemitism, he’s also spent the last eight years regularizing antisemitic conspiracism within the GOP and welcoming Jew haters and other bigots into the party. In recent days, Trump, along with his cronies and followers, are making their extremism and bigotry more overt. This is particularly true where their rhetoric about Jews is concerned.

Trump recently railed that Jewish Americans are “cursed” and warned that Jews will bear “a lot of blame” if he loses the presidential election. He has also more than suggested that his support of Israel’s current government requires the quid pro quo of political support from Jewish American voters. Many of Trump’s more devoted followers are even more explicit in their antisemitism. Long before he was also outed as a Hitler fan, Mark Robinson (who gained the GOP nomination for governor in North Carolina with Trump’s enthusiastic support) was an open and notorious antisemite who traded in Holocaust denial. Marjorie Taylor Greene — one of Trump’s favorite House members – recently voted against a bill concerning antisemitism out of concern that the statutory language denied Jews’ purported responsibility for the death of Jesus. And during last week’s Madison Square Garden rally — intended to send Trump’s “closing” campaign message to the nation — the same “comedian” who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” also “joked” about Jews’ supposed stinginess with money.  

Antisemitic conspiracism is now so common in “mainstream” Republican rhetoric that it often goes unnoticed.  Last week, for example, GOP Rep. Tim Burchett spoke of the “money changers” in Washington — invoking a longtime favorite trope of antisemites — without even raising the eyebrows of a CNN interviewer.  More insidiously, and with the encouragement of Trump and his cronies, antisemitic conspiracies — often focused on wealthy Jews, like George Soros, a Hungarian-born Jewish Holocaust survivor and one of the world’s most successful hedge fund managers — have become central to “mainstream” GOP political rhetoric. None of this should be surprising, given the history of Trumpism.

The dogwhistles get louder

Donald Trump is a committed bigot at heart, and his worldview is deeply rooted in racism and religious stereotyping. His hatred and fear of non-European immigrants has been on open display since he announced his first presidential candidacy in 2015 in a “speech” laced with vitriolic rants about Latin American asylum seekers. Trump’s lifelong derision of Black Americans is never far from the surface, and has been starkly displayed in his now habitual dismissal of Vice President Kamala Harris as “stupid” and “low IQ.” Like many barstool bigots, Trump has also long exhibited a set of reflexive stereotypes regarding Jews, who he claims to admire even as he repeatedly characterizes them as money-hungry connivers. No wonder that Trump bonded on the subject of Jews with neo-fascist ideologue Steve Bannon, who managed the final stretch of Trump’s 2016 campaign.

[...]

In recent years, Soros and his son, largely through their Open Society philanthropy, have devoted considerable resources to projects in the United States focused on issues like voting rights, civic engagement, and alleviating racial disparities in the justice system — initiatives Republicans revile. In addition, Soros has been a major contributor to Democratic candidates for office. So it was not difficult for GOP “thought leaders” like Tucker Carlson and Bannon to convince “mainstream” GOP politicians to join Trump and Orbán in demonizing Soros and mainstreaming an American variant of the “great replacement” theory. By 2018, Republican leaders, including Kevin McCarthy, were enthusiastically disseminating propaganda that — much like Bannon’s 2016 “Jewish bankers” commercial — accursed Soros, sometimes together with other (frequently Jewish) “globalists,” of being part of a shadowy cabal directed at undermining the nation by “buying” elections. The next step was to join the neo-Nazis in accusing the “globalists” of systematically ushering hordes of Latin American asylum seekers into the nation to “replace” white Americans with fraudulent votes. The fact that this imported version of the European neo-fascist theory was factually baseless, patently racist, and unmistakably redolent of antisemitism initially made some GOP “leaders” hesitant to fully endorse it. But that hesitancy quickly melted away as Trump made the conspiracy theory a staple part of his messaging. Now the “great replacement” theory — much like the claim that January 6 was a “love fest” — is a familiar component of GOP political rhetoric and is regularly invoked during Trump’s rallies and on Fox News shows.

Donald Trump’s campaign has long trafficked in antisemitic themes.