#the goddess of time powers might be op in that department

[ind1exo]

Not going to lie, if Ted were to actually choose not to go to the academy (assume to have happened in the unhappy ending even though I never seen it), she could just use her Goddess of Time powers to go back in time and make righter choices to make sure Ted does decide to stay at the academy. Same can be said for the other unhappy endings.

One of my only issues with this route is that there was zero indication of Liz actually developing feelings for Ted. 🤦‍♀️ Usually she'd realize herself that she has feelings for someone but I didn't see that happen here. After Ted confessed to her, that's when we got that indication like what-

Hmm, that's funny. It's almost as if this is the happy ending. 🤔

We should all get ourselves a bestie like Amelia. 💗🧡

[roswelldetails]

RNM 2x08 - Say It Ain't So

EPISODE SUMMARY:

JAMIE CLAYTON GUEST STARS — Despite promising Liz (Jeanine Mason) that he’ll take things easy with his new heart, Max (Nathan Dean) sets out to find Cameron after learning that she’s gone missing. Michael (Michael Vlamis) grows concerned about Maria (Heather Hemmens) after a surprising discovery about her family history leaves her vulnerable. Elsewhere, ready to move on, Alex (Tyler Blackburn) goes on a date with Forrest (guest star Christian Antidormi), and Rosa (Amber Midthunder) makes a decision about her future. Rachel Raimist directed the episode written by Eva McKenna & Christopher Hollier (#208). Original airdate 5/4/2020. 

DETAILS:

Rosa's secret identity:

"...Cousin Rosalinda from Arizona. My mom married a minor league baseball player, but when he got relocated to a team in Florida…"

"Okay, you know what, let's just go with, they're dead."

This is a Twilight reference.

Rosa about the Mean Girl's art in the cave:

"That reminds me of Stephen Powers before he sold out."

Stephen Powers is a former street artist who went commercial. Some examples of his older work here:

Other examples of his newer, more commercial work here:

By the way, speaking of the cave:

And this is some fabulous visual storytelling right here:

Max is working at the Wild Pony. Temporarily, of course.

"Turns out debt collectors don't care if you've been half dead in a glowing pod for a few months."

So much for the headcanon that Max "I've been driving the same car since high school and am a homeowner before 30" Evans is good with his money. 😆 Debt collectors don't show up that fast… not that I know from experience or anything.  😳 *backs slowly away*

Iris refers to the cave as the go to hang spot for all the artsy weirdos. So it isn't like it was specifically Rosa's cave/hidden spot.

It's the first time we've seen this particular cave other than in 2008 flashbacks.

Iris Sanchez & Rosa Ortecho. Flower, Mexican family name. 😭 The hint is there!

Also 👀 from:

The iris earned its name from the ancient Greek Goddess Iris, a messenger to the gods who was thought to use the rainbow as a bridge between heaven and earth...these flowers were named to honor the Rainbow Goddess and bring favor upon the earth.

Mimi made Maria take back the necklace.

"She said that it was too late for her and that I needed it more."

Michael has seen the necklace before, but he didn't know what the flower was when he fixed the clasp and returned it to her in 1x10.  It was 1x11 when they learned of the existence of the anti alien pollen. Michael reminds us:

"I know this flower.  Its pollen has a paralytic effect on alien abilities."

Once Maria takes it off, she can name every card Michael pulls from the deck.

Maria lists off a bunch of necklace facts from past episodes that fandom has previously noted...

Her powers were heightened when Michael had the necklace in 1x10. 

She wasn't wearing it when Noah invaded her at the gala.

And she wasn't wearing it at Woman As Warrior in 2x02 when she sensed that Isobel was pregnant.

"Kyle said you aren't an alien."

Fact. Kyle did say that.  It doesn't mean that it's a fact that Maria doesn't have alien DNA in her though.

Kyle determined that her blood doesn't carry the alien protein that's in the Pod Squad and Rosa. He is making an assumption that the protein is tied to being an alien.

He said he ran other tests, but the results would take longer to come in. 

Also, just a personal theory, what else do Rosa and the Pod Squad (and Noah) all have in common? They all spent significant time marinating in a pod full of goo. Rosa (10 years), Pod Squad (at least 50 years), Noah (60 years). Kyle has not studied any samples of alien biology from an alien who didn't spend time in pod goo. It's possible the protein is related to the pod goo, moreso than the alien biology. Again, just speculation on my part.

Maria confirms that her mom started getting sick when she was 18, just after she passed the necklace on to Maria.

"If this prevents you from having more episodes, it probably stops the neurodegeneration process too. It's not kryptonite, Maria. This is preventative medicine. Keep it on."

In 2x06 it was established that in addition to Sanders' place being a junkyard and a mechanic/auto shop, they also do tow truck service.  Now that comes into play again as Michael was hired to bring Cam's car back to Roswell for the investigation into her disappearance.  He brought it to the junk yard first though to give Max and Liz an hour to check the car for clues before the sheriff's department comes to collect it.

Max is smart too, in his own way. He quickly identified that "Agent Powell" was driving a rental car and that her gun wasn't government issue. 

However, it's only when he sees her tattoo (which Cam told him about in 1x07) that he confirms that she's actually Charlie Cameron!

(10 points to fandom!)

Max & Liz's conversation with Charlie is mostly just reminding us what we know about Charlie and Jenna's relationship. 

Liz indicates that Jenna had been looking for Charlie for months.  Charlie responds that she didn't want to be found (both things we learned in 2x04 through Cam's discussion with Jesse Manes.

Max indicates that Jenna thought that Charlie hated her, a call back to us first learning about Charlie and the matching tattoos in 1x07.

"I worked on a controversial project a while back. A lot of dangerous people want to know what I know."

(Again, stuff we learned in 2x04).

They learn through Cam's text history that she was looking for Jesse Manes (which we already knew, because...2x04).

"I'm just a guy standing in front of a tourist trap asking a history buff to shoot him with high velocity paint."

Tongue-in-cheek reference to the movie Notting Hill.

"So, you're cool playing war? Doesn't bring anything up?"

"Oh, yeah, my PTSD triggers are a little more complicated. Suffice to say, this war zone is the only place that my family actually got along when I was a kid."

"Yeah, some of my old platoon buddies actually play in leagues."

"I didn't know that you served."

"Yeah I wouldn't go bragging about it to a guy with a Purple Heart. I might have googled you."

New information… both that Forrest served, that he looked into Alex (which could be innocent OR sketchy…).

And of course this is the first open discussion about Alex's PTSD issues.

Cowboys versus aliens paintball… Alex is the cowboy, so Forrest must be the alien.

The call that interrupted Forrest's attempt to kiss Alex was from the hospital. Hence why Alex goes there to see Jesse.

"Look, if I had a little lucky charm that could stop people like Noah from messing with me, I would have that surgically implanted into my décolletage."

Have to admit, I wasn't sure what décolletage meant, so in case anyone else isn't familiar: 

"These abilities are a part of me. I'm not gonna just throw away the chance to learn about who I am. That make sense to you?"

"Yeah, actually, it does."

"You've gotten stronger this year, right?  Can you teach me to train? Learn how to control it all?"

"Look, it took a lot of practice before I could do anything without puking and guzzling acetone to kill the pain.  And you can't practice, because according to Kyle, every time you do it eats your brain."

"Look, I'll stop before it goes that far, okay? I know the signs. Besides, if you help me, maybe I can help you. There must be something that you want to know about your future."

"What about my past?"

Max meeting with Jesse at the Crashdown. This is super interesting because it's the first time Max has sat down, face to face, with a hostile human who knows he's an alien. 

"My uncle used to bring me here. That was back when it catered to a more civil clientele. People who actually respected the history of this town."

This is likely foreshadowing what's to come next week, based on the promo pics released.

Again, similar to the scene with Charlie at the junkyard, much of this exchange between Max and Jesse is just reminding us of stuff we learned in 1x04.

"The last time I saw her she came to me with questions about her sister.  And I told her that the people most interested in Charlie's device were a black ops group based out of Los Alamos. They're called Deep Sky. This is their logo. Paramilitary. And I told Jenna that what she was getting into was gonna be dangerous. But apparently she didn't listen.

Note: in case any of you are unaware, in Los Alamos there's a US DOE lab that has a long, sketchy history of weapons development.  Makes perfect since that it's where a paramilitary organization interested in Charlie's research would be based there.

The Deep Sky Logo

I compared this to a number of screenshots of alien symbols (like the ones we saw in Jim Valenti's letters in 1x12) and there were no matches.

However, fandom has already noted that the logo matches Trevor's ring in 2x06 (see that episode's details post for the photo).

"Charlie Cameron's mind is a unique specimen. Kind of like you. And there's always someone in the shadows waiting to crack those open."

"What did you do to Jenna?"

"I told her the truth. Which is more than you ever did. You're kind of a wolf in sheep's clothing, aren't you?"

"And what are you? Do you feel like a hero? All those people you tortured, all those people you killed. Turns out none of them were an enemy.  They were refugees. So you're not just a murderer, you're a failure."

"Yeah, I know. I am. But I tell you, something shifted in my brain when I had the stroke.  All the hate's gone out of me. All the fight. Caulfield is over and my son Flint has been reassigned. Look at me. I can barely walk."

Liz and Charlie in the car:

"Waitressing's really got to blow when you've grown a fully functioning heart muscle in a lab.  Or are you not the same Elizabeth Ortecho who co-authored a 2013 paper on cellular reprogramming? Some people build model trains; I do my homework.  Your boyfriend seems more like the train type."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"We've discovered new worlds and changed the course of mankind from a microscope. Should I go Netflix and chill with my boyfriend or stay in the lab, architecting the future?"

"No offense, but if it's true that you've been in prison and in hiding, it does not seem like you've seen much of the inside of a lab either."

"I went too far.  I thought I was building something with real value. The thing is, anything that has the potential to create real change, it scares people. And anything that scares people is inherently dangerous no matter what your intention is."

"You could start over. Get a new identity, work at a research university."

"I've done extraordinary things. Everything ordinary is ruined now."

More exposition that we already know as Max catches Charlie and Liz up on what he learns from Jesse.

"He said Cam is headed to Los Alamos to investigate a group called Deep Sky. Does that mean anything to you?"

"No. Let me reach out to some of my military contacts, do some recon. Give me a day, we'll go from there."

Liz and Michael, in the lab, on The Science:

"I'm looking for the sample of yellow pollen."

"The stuff I swept off the floor after throwing it at Noah? I don't know. I didn't see it while we were packing up."

"Well it was here a few months back.  Did I miss an experiment where it grew legs and a fondness for the outdoors?"

"Could have been accidentally thrown away. Sample was too oxidized to be of much use, and I've been trying to get my hands on fresh flowers, but it's impossible. I think they might be extinct. Why are you freaking out?"

"Because I have a math problem. There's only one flower in Maria's necklace, but there are two DeLuca women and apparently the flower is the key to preventing their illness. This is everything from the Caulfield drives and the experiments done on Maria's grandmother. A lot of it was lost in a lab fire in the '80s, but…"

"I'll take a look."

(Aside… 👀 Lab fire in the '80s. I have a feeling that's more foreshadowing.)

"I just want you to see if anything done could be undone. I don't want you to, like, Dr. Frankenstein it. The experiments were very bad."

"My days as an alien scientist are officially over."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"'Cause it's hard not to think about the far-reaching implications of this kind of research. You don't get sick on this planet. If I could figure out why, I could eradicate all illness."

"But you can't. Because that would expose us."

"Which I would obviously never do. It's over."

Arturo's text to Liz:

Have you seen our little mouse?

"Rosalinda" is late for her first shift.

Isobel and Maria go to Michael's trailer and Isobel shows Maria the newspaper clip of Michael's mom to try to trigger a vision.

"It's not working. And I don't feel great going through this stuff without Michael knowing."

"Why not? One day this palace might all be yours."

"It's not working.  I have a business to run, and you need to go Instagram something."

"Says the social media revitalizer. Listen, word to the wise, every time Max saw Liz in a skirt and tried not to pop a bulb, he wound up setting off a fire alarm. Everytime I push myself too hard, I miss time, or wind up accidentally realizing that my mom still thinks about her ex-boyfriend Rocco, like, in vivid detail."

"Okay, where are you going with this?"

"Effort doesn't equal control. So if you want to do this you're gonna have to embrace your inner ice queen and let it go."

"I'm not great at letting things go."

"Yeah, I know.  That's hard…"

Maria's vision:

Triggered by a t-shirt hanging in the trailer.

Louise is hanging laundry

Walt runs up to her and gives her a little windmill with her name on it. (Initially I thought her name was pressed or punched into the metal, but on second viewing, it looks like it might be puff paint or something similar.)

Walt runs off to find Nora and Louise goes back to hanging laundry.

After the vision Maria's nose starts bleeding.

Max goes after Charlie to stop her from turning herself in.

I wonder if his tire screeching action guy driving is supposed to be emphasizing to the audience that he's not being as cautious as he should be? 

Deep Sky said that if Charlie "...wasn't at Sutter's grain depot by 11pm, that they would torture (Cam) to death."

Charlie heard on the call:

A train rolling by

A demonic laugh

And somehow that's enough for Max to magically know exactly where Cam is.

Alex and Jesse at the hospital:

"Hey, they said that you mixed whiskey with your medications.  That's not like you."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I mean, you're my father. I can't seem to shake you."

"Yeah. I failed."

"Yes. But in what way specifically?"

"Uncle Tripp. I let him down. I never could figure out what he needed of me. And tonight I went to the bunker.  And I keep trying to crack the code."

"Liz said that you spoke to Max Evans. She said that you were half decent to him. Is that what this is about?"

"One of them killed Tripp, you know."

"An alien? Yeah. Then he hunted them. He dragged them to a torture chamber. I'm not surprised one of them…" 

Jesse slams his cane.

"He was the best man I ever knew.

Jesse tries to stand and falls into Alex, then continues to walk away.

The location that Deep Sky is holding Cam looks like a rodeo or horse arena or racetrack with a big grandstand.

There are nearby train tracks, and a warehouse where a mechanic repairs old carnival rides.

As Max and Charlie are scoping out the area you can hear both sounds softly in the background.

The sniper was watching and shooting at them from the grandstand.

Charlie is shot in the leg.

"Let me go get her."

"No. Deep Sky wants me alive. Your brain is worth considerably less to them which means it'll be splattered all over the dirt."

(Oh the irony...confirming that Charlie doesn't know that Max is an alien.)

"If anything goes wrong, call Liz. No doctors."

Max does shoot the sniper!

And then uses his powers to knock out the power (and instantly feeling it in his heart when he starts to use his powers!!!!!!) which, as @angsty-aliens very eloquently pointed out, is absurd because there was a big red lever that would have done the same thing. *facepalm*

Cam on her kidnapping:

"The last thing I remember is this weird sound. It made the hairs on my arm stand up. And this bright light, and the pain in the back of my neck like you wouldn't believe."

Cam's burn is fractals.  Like Liz's burn from Max's powers in 1x03. Top is Liz's fresh burn in 1x03, bottom is Cam's not-so-fresh burn in 2x08. Keep in mind, we don't know how long Cam was missing for.

Rosa and Iris at the "art show".

"So you said you're from Roswell?"

"Oh, I was from Roswell.  I got out and went to art school as soon as I graduated. I work for an artist now. I help her run her gallery. Yeah, I used to want to be a painter, but then I realized I loved curating art way more than I ever loved making it."

👀 I wonder what this says about Rosa's internal motivation. If Iris is the life she wishes that she had, does she not want to be a painter? Or is that her internal insecurity rearing its head.  Like, she can't even dream about that possibility because it's what she really wants above all else.  Which is why Iris then motivates her to paint and prove to her inner self that she is an artist? 

Speaking of which, here's Rosa's painting from the episode. Mucho gracias to @rosaortecho for giffing it for me since it wasn't cap-able in a single shot.

Iris's assessment of Rosa's art:

"This piece is you outrunning your demons. This is amazing. That's what you have to do.  You have to capture them and rattle the cage.  This is art. This is what you're meant to do, Rosa!"

Rosa's hallucination starts to fall apart as they dance.  She starts coughing and having trouble breathing.

"Your star sign's just out of whack."

Play on lyrics from God of Wine by Third Eye Blind, which was heavily referenced in 1x02. 

The direct quote is "your star sign's out of whack" and the next lyric is "a fraudulent zodiac"

Which, of course, is what Rosa had written on her hand before she died in 2008 and is a reference to Ophiuchus, which was Noah's zodiac obsession.

And then Liz finds her overdosing in the cave. 

The coughing in Rosa's hallucination was from smoke inhalation.  Because while passed out she started a fire with her powers.

Feels like a good time to point out that it's the same cave that she died in back in 2008, and she would have died there again if Liz hadn't found her. 😭

At the hospital Rosa tells Liz that she wants to go to rehab, but she knows she can't since she can't control her powers. 

Liz gives her Maria's necklace to borrow since it will suppress her powers and allow her to go to rehab.

Alex and Forrest at the Wild Pony:

"I still have my dad's voice in my head telling me that being seen with a man in public is an embarrassment. To my name and my uniform."

"Well, there's nothing like a dad voice to mess up a perfectly good date."

"It's also just that...I mean, Roswell's so conservative. This bar is filled with cowboys. If you want to go someplace private…"

"Look, I like you. But I don't want to climb into somebody else's closet."

"I cannot tell you how badly I want to be done with this frickin' closet."

"But you're not. And that's okay. Really. Listen, if that voice in your head ever shuts up, give me a call. Because between you and me, making out with a hot guy in public is only made hotter when it pisses off all the bigots and homophobes."

Charlie took off and left a note for Jenna. According to Jenna it says she's gonna disappear again and not to look for her.

Arturo is taking Rosa to a rehab center that Kyle set her up with "a few hours away".

Max tells Liz "let's go home." So… did she move in with him??

Liz says no though.  She says she has to open the diner and cry alone.  But instead she goes to the secret lab.  

Both Max and Liz were evading the truth a little bit here.  Liz didn't tell Max that she wanted to go to the secret lab.  Max didn't tell Liz that his heart did wonk out after using his powers and he did overdo it going after Cam. Bad Echo!!

Liz goes back to packing the secret lab up initially, but then her eyes fall into the Caulfield folders, and she stops. 

She unpacks her stolen equipment (genetic sequencer?), puts on her lab coat, and sits down to start reading the file.

Isobel brings Michael beer as a peace offering, since she's coming to admit that she helped Maria trigger a vision.  She thinks Michael will be mad, but he isn't because he and Maria already worked it out.

So Isobel tells him about the vision and seeing Louise, and specifically about Walt giving Louise the windmill. 

Michael immediately reacts, goes to a shelf, and grabs a similar windmill.

Turns out Walt is Sanders.  He pulls up in his car and Michael immediately confronts Sanders.

"It was you. You're Walt. You're the little boy in the photo.  You knew my mother."

And Sanders nods.

10 more points to fandom.

Max goes to Charlie's hotel to confront her about turning herself in to Deep Sky.

The windmill in both scenes. Until I put this together I didn't think they were the same one (because Louise's name isn't on Michael's. But other details (like the word weight on one of the legs) are the same.

"You think Deep Sky needs to have Jenna by the throat to kill her? Okay, the only way that I can protect her is from the inside."

Then the "abduction scene" happens.

It mirrors what happened to Jenna in 2x04, only to Max and Charlie.

MUSIC:

1.  Hole "Celebrity Skin"

2.  Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real "Die Alone"

3.  Shelly Fairchild "Worry No More"

4.  Marc Danzeisen "Some Things Last Forever"

5.  Joey Sykes "Sign Of The Times"

6.  I AM ORFA "Like That Look"

7.  Danny Ayer "Set Us Free"

8.  Hamish Anderson "Trouble"

9.  OMC "How Bizarre"

10.  Muscadine Bloodline "Movin' On"

11.  Little May "Hide"

[libertarianbarbarian]

Where I stand and why

WHERE AND WHY I STAND THE WAY, I DO

   FACTS

  -https://www.theasatrucommunity.org/sumarsdag-blot

-Odin,

Sky Father,

Highest of the Gods in Asgard,

From Mimir’s well you drank

For knowledge and wisdom,

A clear vision within,

A clear vision without.

Lord of Life and Death,

On Yggdrasill

Which spans all worlds, all life,

You hung in self-sacrifice,

And learned the sacred mysteries,

That do pierce the veil of all creation.

Mysterious and powerful are the ancient runes –

That you grasped unto yourself

And penetrated their deepest depths.

    OPED-WARNING

             Oh boy. Here we go, this is probably where I’m going to lose a shit ton of followers. So here goes nothing! I’m a follower of both Asatru and Odinism. This means that I am Norse Pagan. I follow Odin, Freya, and Thor. To my Christian followers just so you know I don’t overtly hate you, no I don’t follow a guy with horns, no I haven’t been to a mental institution…and not I don’t hear voices telling me to blow up churches…only on Sundays. Just a joke! Not a manifesto! Oh, God’s someone’s going to find this and try to use this out of context I know this. Ok here we go with the rest of the blog.

           So it’s well known at this point that I served in the United States Army at this point…if it isn’t…well now you know. I went through some things while I served, some good some extremely bad, it kind of comes with the territory. I was a “faithful” non-denominational Christian at the time I raised my right hand to enlist.

           I can’t really say I knew what it meant if I’m being sincere with you dear reader. I can say that I had been through a lot in my life, yes. I would pray endlessly, read my bible endlessly. I knew the old testament, the new testament like the back of my hand. Everything I said and did I tried my hardest…nothing. I can’t name one time that the “Lord and Savior” would personally send me a sign or let me know he was there for me or speak to me through his text’s.

            I then began to fall off the “band wagon” so-to-speak. This was well into my career as a soldier. I was a democrat, part of the liberal hive mind that began to eat away at the culture that is not around our youth that is my age now. It wasn’t until after I was discharged from service, thanks Obama, that I had my very first real religious experience and was horribly misguided by it.

           So the religious part, this is the juicy part haha! I just got discharged from the Army due to the massive draw back in funds that President Obama had in the department of defense. They were kicking people out for practically any reason they could instead of getting rid of equipment…that’s just what they do. When they discharge you, they send you to your home of record, mine just happens to be good old Kankakee, Illinois…kind of a shitty small ghetto town south of Chicago, not the worst place I’ve lived but not the best I’ve lived either.

           I was recently married to an honestly crappy woman, just had my first son and I had no job, or prospect of getting one living in my father’s half of a duplex again. Great beginning to my twenty second year of life, right? If you answered yes, I, just have no words for you right now.

           One day I’m beating feet on pavement doing what I can putting in paper applications to every brick and motor I can in town when it begins to down pour around me. Fucking great. Automatically I’m angry at everything around me, I’ve been out there for about three hours and I’ve got couple hours more, it’s July in Illinois and the sun was just shinning and you just want to randomly dump rain on me God?

          ��It took a moment, but I realized that I was completely dry. Everything around me was, what was getting soaked. Looked at the pavement under my feet dry. Three feet over, soaked, and still getting poured on. Oh, that’s fucking weird…but maybe there’s something to this God thing after all. Took him long enough after all. So it was then, being the Midwesterner that I am, I look up in to the sky and yelled “Hey if you’re going to keep me dry. How about you, and Jesus Christ get me a fucking job to?”

           Now I know if you’re Christian, and you’re reading this you’re going to tell me, “That’s not how God works Mr. Barbarian.” I know that! He never worked that way! Especially not in my case. But it was me having a bitter moment, and I KNOW, you Christians definitely have your bitter moments too! So “You is without sin cast the first stone”.

           I don’t know why, but in that moment, something told me to look for a reply, but nothing came. So, standing there I started joking around. Being the dork, I am I had an extensive knowledge of all the ‘myths’ of gods past from ancient cultures of our ancestors. “Ra?” nope, “Zeus?” nope. “Odin?” that’s when it happened, my general jackassery almost had caused me to miss the two very large noticeable ravens fly over my shoulders then land in front of my feet then turn to face me quietly.

           ‘There’s no way’ I thought to myself. Odin, the guy that has one eye? The God that is all about laying and slaying, keep in mind fellow Odinist’s I didn’t know much back then, is trying to reach out to me of all people? “Oh yeah whatever! If you’re really trying to talk then make it make the sky light up with lightening, then!” I continued down my path of jackassery. And as soon as I finished my statement the sky lit up with bright pink lightening.

           Right away I began to delve in to research into what this could mean. I found that there was a resurgence of the old Norse ways. That I wasn’t the only one the Norse God’s were coming to. It was now called Asatru, or if you were specifically following only Odin, then Odinism. Later, I found that I was also being called upon by Freya, goddess of love and warriors. And Thor…no not Chris Hemsworth, god of storms, war and fertility.

           Oh no, I wrote this because of Odin. This is where the big show begins…Gods I’m long winded. Odin is the All Father, kind of like the Zeus of the Norse Gods if you will. But when it comes to what he’s the god of, well he has A LOT under his belt! One of the main things he’s the god of is knowledge. And in some respects, he’s kind of like the Christian God.

           Odin won’t just give you knowledge. You must fight for it, you must find it, you must understand it. If you were to say, here something on the news from CNN well awesome! Ok, where did it happen, then go check out the local news from that area, see what the local news says, check the interviews of the locals to see what they say and relay it to the facts of the news story and see how well it holds up. That is something my religion tells me to do. That is something my God, Odin, says is honorable and something he admires.

           He also admires fighting. Now I know what you may be thinking, fighting? So just start beating the crap out of people? That seems a little vicious! No, those of us who believe in Asatru, and Odinism actually look at fighting or “battle” in a different light than you might think. It would actually be better described as “fighting for what you believe”.  Like I do now. I believe that the media needs to stop grandstanding for one political party and report the facts. I believe that big tech needs to stop censoring one political party or those it doesn’t agree with and allow all points of view, whether they agree or not. I will fight for what I believe, here on the internet, or in the senate, or in office if need be.

           So yes. I am following a religious crusade…not the Christian kind, so Muslim’s are safe. The kind where I seek knowledge, the kind where I will be the every-man that tries to understand your point of view and find commonality. The kind that will fight for what I believe in peacefully. I will accept the wanderer with a homely attitude because one day it might be my God Odin that comes walking through my door and it is our belief that we should always present the homeless wanderer with the best of our food, our chair, and bed as well as conversation and knowledge.

           This is why I am the Libertarian Barbarian.

[cripbitch-blog1]

Disabled Trump Supporter Drowns In Toxic Sludge Made of Internalized Ableism

A flashback punched me in the gut this morning when I read the op/ed in Time.com, “I’m a Woman with a Disability who Voted for Donald Trump. Here’s Why…” by the culturally “assimilated” Melissa Ortiz. I recalled my first months assimilating to living in Austin, Texas in the summer of 1999.  I moved to this red state as a newly minted Edinboro University graduate with a hot commodity B.A. in English literature (paid for by Federal student loans), and started applying for that first “real job” which would make my parents proud and ultimately pay the government back with interest.  

Poor as poor could be, I existed thanks to a monthly Social Security Income check for $700 combined with credit card debt and meager savings (the Social Security Administration only allows recipients to have up to 2k in savings). I lived in a rent-reduced Section 8 apartment complex for the elderly and disabled. I got to my job interviews via the city’s accessible public transit system made possible by a recent mandate (ADA) to make public buses accessible. My power wheelchair was bought and my body, which sat in that power wheelchair, was dressed by a Personal Care Attendant (PCA) paid for by the State of Texas Department of Health and Human Services. While I didn’t have the words WELFARE RECIPIENT or SYMBOLIC EMBODIMENT OF ENTITLED or PRODUCT OF PROGRESSIVE AGENDA SOCIALISM tattooed on my forehead, I might as well of had these tats at the time because for some folks, the markings were obvious.

And there I was, on a 100 degree day in the summer of 1999, sitting and steaming myself in the odor of sweat and poverty at a bus stop in downtown Austin, waiting on the #37 to take me within walking distance of my one-bedroom accessible abode, when I saw out of the corner of my eye a small, shiny new, minivan parking nearby. Minutes after parking, a slick ramp slowly unfolded out of the side door and dropped gently to the sidewalk with a tap.

Almost two decades ago, assistive technology like a ramp van with hand controls did not come cheap or easily. To me, the idea of driving a van of my own existed in science fiction novels and shows like Star Trek.  When a woman, instead of a wide-eyed alien, pushed herself out of the shadows of the air-conditioned van, my mouth dropped open. This woman represented everything to me - freedom, independence, power. She instantly transformed into my hero, my mentor, my far into the future Facebook BFF…

I pushed my power joystick forward, ditched the chance at catching the next bus, and drove toward this professional looking and wheelchair using goddess with the magic carpet ride glimmering in the heat behind her.

“Hi! Your van is wonderful! Wow!”

The Goddess rolled her eyes, sighed with a push of her wheels in the direction of her destination, and ignored me. But I couldn’t let her go, so I tried to make eye contact and asked, “How did you get it?”

Her head spun around like that kid from the Exorcist and she spat words of green pea soup at me.

“I got a JOB and PAID for it.”

And then she sped up and rode into the sultry stinky night.

All hopes of peer-to-peer support and mentorship squashed, this future Trump supporter wheeled away leaving me covered in a sludge of shame. I didn’t have words to label her reaction and my embarrassment at the time, but this, I’ve since realized, was one of my first adult encounters with ableism and internalized ableism dished out by a peer with a disability.

When a fellow cripple, who should get the struggle, puts you in a place of feeling shame for assumed entitlement, it hurts more than when able-bodied politicians, family, friends, employers, etc. do it. The sludge from the Temporarily Able-Bodied (TAB) washes off more easily. Most people with disabilities realize what people without disabilities don’t. TABs don’t comprehend how difficult and expensive it is to live life with a disability when most housing and transportation isn’t available or accessible (Hey, Uber, I’m talking to you). TABs don’t understand that due to this Americanized expectation for perfection, how limited job, social, and professional advancement opportunities are for the disabled (our unemployment rate is twice that of the TAB). And TABs definitely don’t get that every disabled person I know would happily trade a life of poverty for a life of potential and privilege if it were easy to do just that. Not once in my 39 years have I ever encountered a crip who proclaims, “I love, love, love living in extreme poverty and taking from the tax payer!”

It was naive of me to think that this woman would not want to mentor me or help a crip sis out. It was naive to think that she didn’t laugh, but rather did a fist pump when she heard the condescending saying, “The Only Disability is a Bad Attitude”. In 1999, the Trump supporting cripple didn’t know she’d exist yet. Hell, Texas’s very own Governor, Greg Abbott (deemed by disability activists as the “Anti-Gimp”) had only been collecting his $14,000 per month in damages for the accident that caused his disability for a little over a decade. It would be years before he would take high office and vote to cut spending for Texas children with disabilities and mental health supports because if he could do it (with 10 million+ in damages) we could do it! It would be years before I realized that internalized ableism slices so deep that wounds caused from it never heal. These crusty wounds are filled with foul ooze that contaminate all it touches. Internalized ableism is toxic sludge inching over the treads our wheelchairs leave; it made its way to my bus stop on that very hot summer day in 1999; and it oozed into Time.com today.

Speaking of today. Today, thanks to this big and complex government that at one point in my life qualified me as disabled enough to receive income, housing, healthcare, and vocational rehabilitation assistance, I now am a full-time employee of the state of Texas and pay income taxes that fund all the programs I once used and a few I still use. I now pay property taxes because I’m a home owner. I get to work every day because I drive my own modified magic carpet ride with hand controls. And I’m proud to pay the government back while I still am physically and mentally capable enough to work a job. I’m happy to pay interest on my student loans just like millions of Americans. I quite enjoy knowing that my tax dollars fund healthcare for people who can’t afford health insurance and need medical equipment like I use. What comes around should and does go around.

And I won’t be ashamed as my disability progresses and I need to go back to that system no matter how much the people who run it try to shame me for needing it. The people who dish out the sludge, who ignore our worth despite imperfection and our struggle, who proudly cast their vote for politicians who would rather we didn’t exist or assimilate to a culture of ableism and subtle genocide, will continue to exist and thrive in the Time of Trump. And all I can do is this:

I can be there for the young woman at the bus stop on the hot day who compliments my van and asks me how I got to this place of temporary privilege. I can smile and write down a name or two of someone who once helped me. I can offer her a ride home if I’m able. I can tell her to never be ashamed because most of us have been there and those who haven’t will probably get there someday.

[megacircuit9universe]

Wake Up and Smell the (Ro) Java

TUE OCT 22 2019

So... I think I’m starting to see where things may be going here, with Trump’s impeachment, the impending 2020 elections, and the information imparted by the bot who (according to my theory) composed the Bear Stearns Bravo message that Pronunciation Book presented on 9-24-2013.

Two entries ago I talked about how, “Dalton,” anagrammed to, “Donal T,” and that “Bear Stearns Bravo,” anagrammed to, “Arab Voter Base NSR,” with the NSR in that anagram standing for, “Northern Syria Rojava.”

Okay, so, back in the present, even though House Democrats are building an iron clad case against Trump for extortion of Ukraine, holding back badly needed military aid (that was already approved by Congress) to try and get President Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden... Congressional Republicans are still heavily resisting the legitimacy of the Impeachment Inquiry.

However...

Republicans have now all become fairly outspoken about Trump’s pulling out of Syria... calling it a disgrace, and a huge mistake that will have consequences for decades to come... on par with pulling out of Vietnam.

And they’re right about that.

But I now believe they are also telegraphing, to Trump, to his supporters, to the Democrats, and to the general public that this is the issue they are comfortable removing him over.

In other words... if there were some way for the Syria matter to make its way into the final counts of impeachment, before the Senate holds their trial... they just might convict him.

The clearest bellwether on this is Lindsey Graham, who in the space of one week, both publicly castigated Trump for pulling out of Syria, but then today, defended Trump for tweeting that the impeachment inquiry was a, “lynching.”

Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, did not have anything to say about the, “lynching,” tweet, but did pen an op-ed in the Washington Post this past week condemning the decision to get out of Syria... after saying last week that he would not try to delay any Senate Impeachment hearing if it came to that.

So, my theory here is they want their own, face-saving excuse to convict Trump in the Senate when that Democratic Impeachment gets done in the House.

They want there to be a count of Impeachment having to do with grave incompetence in foreign affairs... such that it threatens national security.  Call the charge what you will... dereliction of allies... gross military endangerment... all that matters is the language be acceptable to die hard Republican voters who do not wish to think of themselves as giving in to the Democrats.

So, what this would look like is... the House handing over counts of impeachment which include, say, obstruction of justice, obstruction of Congress, emoluments violations, and... reckless military incompetence.

Then, all or most of the GOP senators can exonerate Trump on the first three counts, but just enough of them can convict him on that final count, for Trump to be removed... yet still allowing them to go to their home states to campaign, and say, “I vehemently opposed what the Democrats were trying to do, but when it came to the one count of military incompetence, all I could think of were those brave Kurdish soldiers who helped us defeat Isis, and how Trump betrayed them.  And now, as you see... Isis threatens us once more!”

Now, I’m not saying this is how it will all play out.  All I’m saying is, this is how the GOP currently would rather it play out.

They hate Trump just as much as the Democrats, for the most part, but they’d like a face-saving excuse to convict and remove him... and Syria is that face saving excuse... if it can be shoe horned into the counts of impeachment... not specifically... but symbolically in some generalized charge of incompetence they can spin to the public as being about Syria.

Clearly, they should be (and probably are) as worked up about Trump abandoning the Ukrainians, as they are about the Kurds, but... politically they can’t do that, because... well the Democrats beat them to that one, and now it looks bad to side with Democrats.

Billy Bob Trump supporter doesn’t care if Russia is trying to take over Ukraine, because Putin is white.

What does Billy Bob fear?  Isis!  They’re Islamic!  They’re brown, and they worship a different god!  Also... that name, “Isis,” is the name of a female Egyptian goddess... and what do Trump supporters hate more than brown people?.. Women!

Okay, so... I think that’s the GOP plan of the moment, but... this current shit storm is only one month old.  And in those four weeks... holy God has it picked up steam!

We have no idea where we’ll be by the time the actual impeachment trial gets underway.  Thanksgiving and Christmas are staring us in the face.  The Iowa caucuses will happen right after that... and the bombshells have not stopped falling... either from the inquiry, or from Trump himself, making one horrible decision after another as he slowly unravels.

Trump chose, randomly, to pull out of Syria in the days AFTER the whistle blower scandal and impeachment inquiry began.  It came out of nowhere, and never needed to happen... just like the tariffs on China... which was the last thing (inverted yield curve) that threatened to turn the GOP against him.

What I’m saying is, as more damning testimony comes out of the House inquiry on the Ukraine scandal (and it keeps getting worse, and swallowing up more of his cronies every day) Trump himself is probably going to continue making moves that shake his powerful defenders (in the corporate sphere, Congress, and even the SC) to their core.

He tried it just before the weekend, in fact, by announcing he’d hold the next G7 summit at his Doral Florida hotel and golf course... but was force to walk it back a few days later... as he was forced to walk back his threats of higher tariffs on China (at least for the moment).

But he can’t walk back the troop withdrawal from Northern Syria.  

And he’s likely to make more desperate, self defeating moves like that, which cannot be reversed, or waved away, as this shitstorm progresses at breakneck speed.

We could well see a day, in the very near future where Republicans cannot even pretend to be giving him the benefit of the doubt about anything anymore. 

And, as with Nixon, it’s gonna come down to the GOP power base telling him, “resign, or we’ll remove you.” 

And Trump will refuse, because he’s on the hook for state crimes in NYC that will put him in jail, and he’s got nowhere to flee into exile.

Such a standoff could get extremely ugly... with GOP Senators and conservative SC Justices having to side with House Democrats in a big hurry to convict him in the middle of the night, and swear in Pelosi, so that she can take over command of the Military and Justice Department, in order to do battle with a small army of armed mercenaries protecting Trump in his bunker.

 That doesn’t even sound crazy anymore, after all we’ve been through with this asshole over the past three years.

So, while in this moment, in late October of 2019, the GOP is still daydreaming that they might be able to find some face-saving way to neutralize Trump... they need to wake up and realize, the time for that is over.