#the way that being arrested and charged with a crime can destroy your entire fucking life especially if you are a minority

[magdaclaire]

the fact that the grand majority of felons in the united states are unable to vote sends me into a rage like no other

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf

Ok, so I’ve tried and tried several times to get this posted, we’ll see if this is the time it goes through. Half the reason why this review series has slowed down is not just the multitude of real life stuff I have to deal with, but also Tumblr just refusing to work with me and deleting my posts. I also can’t save my work else where due to Tumblr messing up the formatting. It’s been a frustrating mess and so far no one @staff​ has come up with a tech solution or work around. 

Summary: Rapunzel helps to rebuild Old Corona, (after its near destruction from the Black Rocks) which will become the permanent home of Red and Angry, who have returned to Corona to settle down. However, she begins to notice strange footprints around the area, as well as the livestock becoming more unruly and fearful. The group comes across a monster hunter named Creighton, who explains to the group that the area is being stalked by a werewolf, who possessed one of Corona's citizens. Aiming to save this person rather than kill them, Rapunzel sets out to find who it is. 

When Was This Decided?

No seriously, when was this decided? It’s a pretty big leap go from ‘the rocks makes various towns inhabitable’ to ‘let’s rebuild!’ What’s changed here? Cause the rocks haven’t been removed and Rapunzel failed in her mission to nullify their power. In fact the rocks were not only reawaken in the second season finale but shown to be under the power of someone who’s intentions were made unclear to the heroes.

So I ask again; who thought this was safe thing to do now? What provisions have been made to accommodate the rocks? They blocked the well, remember, and destroyed the fields; how are the people getting food and water? 

And most importantly why wasn’t the audience informed beforehand? When you change up the status quo in a story you need to provide just cause to the viewers. I legit thought I had accidently skipped an episode when I first watched because this plot point was not set up properly.  

Why Were They Ever Left Alone to Begin With?

In a story where neglect is a central theme and motivating factor for all the main characters, it is super tone deaf to have those same characters perpetuating neglect themselves. The decision to live on their own should not be left up to Angry and Red because they are children. Children are not mature enough to provide for themselves neither emotionally nor physically and when placed in situations where they have to do so it psychologically damages them. Which the series already showcased with Varian so why is this suddenly deemed ok? 

This Completely Undermines the Past Two Seasons

The entire conflict of the past two seasons was the rocks forcing people out of their homes. Eugene was made an orphan from them, Varian lost his entire support group because them, they drove out the Saporians from their encampment which prompted them to invade Corona, and Rapunzel and company spent an entire year on the road trying to find a way to stop them from spreading supposedly. 

All of that has now been flushed down the drain with this decision. And its super insulting to watch because it’s the writers telling us that we’ve wasted our time caring about this plot for two years. You don’t resolve major conflicts off screen and without explanation; it’s lazy!  

Also Where Is Varian and Quirin During All This?

This is not only their home and legal charge, but it’s also the ending to their ongoing story, and they’re not even here in a silent cameo. 

Wouldn’t Quirin be overseeing the rebuilding of his town? Wouldn’t Varian be using his skills to find workable engineering solutions for them, fulling his season one goal of saving his home and making his village better with his inventions? Also wouldn’t Edmund want to catch up with his brother and help out now that he’s here? 

In fact not a single person who actually lives in Old Corona is to be found in these opening shots. 

Oh, But We Do Get Earl

Earl might be from Old Corona, or he might not be. We’ve literally never seen him before. The artists had to create a brand new character model for this character, the writers had to write new lines for him, and the casting director had to hire an actor and have him record these lines for only less than a minute of screen time, never to be seen again. Even though they legit had shepherd models already to go from season one that they could have used. It’s a waste of resources and a prime example of the mismanagement going on in this show. 

It’s Too Late In the Series to Waste Time On a New One Off Villain

Speaking of a waste, Creighton might have more story reasons to appear in this episode than Earl does but her inclusion is still a poor decision. The show already has an overabundance of villains, so many in fact that they shipped the bulk of them off in season two, and this is the final season; the season where we should be wrapping up plots and minor characters stories not kicking off new ones.

Taken on her own Creighton isn’t a bad character presa, she works for the episode, but when we could have gotten a resolution to Caine’s, Hector’s, or the Disciples’ story arcs instead it highlights how misused the series assets are. 

All This Lore Will Be Forgotten In Just a Few Episodes Time

We finally get like some magical rules and backstory only for future episodes to ignore it from here on afterwards. Red can turn into a werewolf whenever she pleases, night or day, with little explanation as for why.  

Just Arrest Her Rapunzel

You’re the acting queen. You have the power and the right to arrest or even merely detain someone who is threating your citizens and refuses to leave. In fact it’s kind of your job. You don't even have to throw her in a dungeon if you thought that too cruel. Just lock her up in a nice room somewhere in the castle until you’ve sorted out the mess yourself. 

The series wants to treat Rapunzel as the underdog when she isn’t, and her failure to wield her power effectively doesn’t make her look ‘nice’ it just makes her look stupid and grossly incompetent. This is a conflict that didn’t need to have happened and Rapunzel let it happen.  

Oh, So Now Y'all Riot

You didn’t complain when the king orphaned children with his crack down on crime. You rolled over as he dolled out overly harsh punishments to poor people who committed minor offences. You gleefully went along with the royals as they  scapegoated a child for their mistakes, even as they endangered your homes.  And ya’ll sat on your asses while invaders pulled off a coup and enslaved you. 

But this is what you get mad over? A rumor about a mythical creature existing that your princess has zero control over. Seriously? 

Man, I hate the townspeople in this show. 

Pointless Dream Sequence Is Pointless

This scene tells the audience nothing new and just wastes screen time. 

This Is the Wrong Lesson to Focus On Rapunzel

We do not tell the 12 year old to unload their phycological issues onto their baby sister!

You’re telling me parents were involved in writing this show? What the hell!?

Rapunzel you are the adult here. At 20 now you should be more adept to handle listening to the deep seated emotional traumas of a little girl than a fucking 10 year old! And if you’re not, or don’t want to, then it’s your job to find another adult who will. 

That’s the core problem with this entire episode. It treats Red’s and Angry’s problems as some eternal issue that they need to work out and not as the inherent failure of the adults around them that it is. 

It is neither Red’s nor Angry’s decision on weather or not they get live on their own. Nor is it their responsibility to be each other’s therapist. Yes, a change in living arrangements is always stressful and for children with abandonment issues it can be hard to readjust, but that’s when you need to step it up and deal with the problem; not shove it off onto the kids themselves! 

Monty Is Useless

Is this all Monty is good for? Being a red herring in ridiculously simple mysteries? Is this why we wasted a whole episode introducing him back in season one? Really?

Why Are We Still Treating Old Corona As Being Separate from Corona Itself?

Look, I get that it’s a joke, but it’s a joke that highlights how poorly thought out the worldbuilding is in the series. Is the Coronan government in charge of Old Corona or not? If so then you can just make those lease laws yourself as the acting regent Eugene. If not then Frederic shouldn’t have had any say in the matter of relocating Old Corona’s citizens nor putting a child outside of his jurisdiction under arrest.

But more importantly this is a just a repeat of that vague level of responsibility Rapunzel has for people who live off the island. She can’t order a whole village to be rebuilt while simultaneously claiming that she bares no accountability for Varian and Quirin’s problems in season one. 

Replacing Guns with Crossbows Isn’t the Safe Option That the Censors Think It Is

I find it kind of amusing that censors will ban showing a 17th century blunderbuss but allow it to be replaced by a weapon that is still mass produced today and can be bought in any Walmart across the country. Like I’m a major advocate for gun regulation in real life, but even I have to find this to be a bit silly. Crossbows aren’t some fantasy weapon. People still own and use them. But it would be seriously hard to get ahold of a working antique firearm.  

Seriously This Is How the Girls Have Been Living and the Adults Haven’t Done Anything About It Until Now?

I feel like I’m beating a dead horse by now, but it’s so engrained into the episode I have to keep bringing it up. The show itself is visually telling us that Red and Angry can’t keep living this way, but it never wants to call Rapunzel and the other adults out for not rescuing them from this life sooner. 

So All This Tells Me Is That Rapunzel Could Have Easily Checked Up On Varian In Painter’s Block, But Didn’t.

Remember they’re right next to Old Corona; meaning that Janus Point is also right next to Old Corona. Meaning that Rapunzel could easily have checked up on Varian right after Painter’s Block and choose not to. With each passing episode Rapunzel has less and less excuse for her behavior in season one. 

Yeah Remember that Plot Point That Wound Up Being Entirely Irrelevant to the Story?

In jokes don’t cover your ass when you make poor writing choices. Quite the opposite in fact as all you’ve done is remind the audience of all the various dangling plot threads that you will fail to follow up on. The disciples plot goes no where and serves no purpose, and it should not have been introduced as this big important thing if you weren’t going to do anything with it. 

Nice Idea, Poor Execution

I’ve heard fans of this episode tell me that they enjoy it because of this scene with Red. If you’re a naturally introverted person or neurodivergent and have trouble communicating at times then Red’s speech here can strike a cord. Which is cool; I’ll never deny someone’s feelings and if a piece of media speaks to you on a personal level for whatever reason that is great. What I’m here to discuss though is story structure and whether or not the story’s themes are presented well in context of what it’s set up. 

The conflict here does not work from a pure structural standpoint because it’s a surface level deflection of the real issues. Red’s problem isn’t that she is being ignored, it's that she’s been abandoned. Now communication issues can arise from that abandonment and feeling heard can be step forward in working those issues out, but Red’s central trauma isn’t going to be magically fixed by people ‘listening’ to her, i.e. being granted whatever she wants, but by providing her with a real home and with a real guardian to look after her. 

Because what Red wants on a surface level is harmful to her, and the reasons why she wants what she wants needs to be addressed more so than then sedating her angry outbursts in the moment. This is treating the symptoms not the cause.

So What Is or Isn’t Real About the Curse?

Once again, we finally get some actual lore and rules for magic and the writers are already throwing it away during the same episode they are introduced. I now have as little context for how the wolf curse works within the Tangled world as I did before the episode started. 

This Is Sweet, But Once Again Context Brings It Down.

So just to reiterate, this a surface level resolution to the conflict of the episode that doesn’t actually address anything. It might feel like an appropriate ending but only if you ignore the fact that Red and Angry are orphans who’ve been abandoned but the adults. 

Angry apologizing here to Red does not solve any of their problems, especially since Angry, as a child herself, is not responsible for her sister’s behavior, feelings, nor well being. That falls to the adults and they fail to address Red’s core issues and their own failings to her in their apologies as well. Not to mention that the very next scene undermines any optional progress that could have been made here. 

Listening to Someone Does Not Mean Giving Them Whatever They Want

This does not fix anything. Red and Angry are still left to live on their own without any real supervision. Giving them a big play house is not providing for them, it’s spoiling them. Would you let all the other orphans in the local orphanage roam free without an adult to take care of them? No!? Gee I wonder why? Could it be because letting a 12 and 10 year old raise themselves is a very stupid idea? One that will potentially damage them later in life assuming that they don't get themselves killed in the meantime. 

Moreover this is yet another example of the series overall problem with not understanding that compromise and resolving conflicts does not mean rewarding the characters at the end with everything that they want without having them work for it. That’s not how life works and it’s not how good story telling works. 

This Is Beyond Irresponsible

No! Bad Show! Bad! 

You do not get to pretend that negligence is the same thing as compromise. Yes I know Eugene said to come to him when they have a problem, but as demonstrated by this very episode children do not always know when to ask for help nor can they always find it when needed, that is why parents exist!  

Nor does the show get a free pass for turning it’s main characters into child abusers who neglected three minors multiple times now. Even when they themselves are victims of that same abuse!

How utterly blinkered do you have to be to not see the problem here? 

It’s the Return of the Pointless Parallels

Let me count the ways for how stupid this is. 

Red and Angry’s conflict has no impact on the on going narrative. Even with them now being reoccurring characters they still manage to contribute nothing to the future storylines involving Cass. 

Neither Rapunzel nor Cassandra learn anything from Red and Angry’s spat; Rapunzel because she refuses to acknowledge her own flaws and Cassandra’s not even here for any of it. 

The sister’s dynamic between Raps and Cass is not well established and the writers mange to piss all over it by series end because of gay baiting and poor writing. Therefore relying on lazy parallels to other siblings in the show to bolster this connection falls flat.  

Red and Angry’s argument has nothing in common with Rapunzel and Cass’s current fighting. One is about abandonment issues and the other is about shallow validation. Trying to tie these two themes together actually winds up undermining both conflicts. 

Red and Angry are children. Rapunzel and Cassandra are not. That very much matters. 

Red and Angry didn’t drag innocent people into their petty bitch fight and endanger them because they wanted to feel special. 

This Makes Zero Sense

I don’t know; she looked pretty happy during Crossing the Line. 

She was also able to control the rocks just fine then, so what happened? 

Not to mention soon after this Zhan Tiri is telling her she needs some sort of incantation to control the rocks, despite being able to already control the rocks.... 

It’s almost as if the writers are full of shit and don’t actually know what they’re doing. 

So Are We Remembering the Burnt Hand or Not?

Does the hand matter or not? Is it ever a motivating factor in what Cassandra decides to do? Is her waning control over the rocks connected to her burnt hand; even though having a burnt hand is what allowed her grab the moonstone in the first place? Did the moonstone heal the hand? Does Raps singing the healing incantation later on heal it? Does Cass have a forever burnt hand? 

Who the fuck knows! 

Not the writers that’s for sure, cause it never comes up again. 

Don’t introduce plot points and then not resolve them. That’s writing 101 guys. 

Wait if she needs the incantation to control the rocks and the angry thing is a lie, then how the heck is she controlling them just now? Make up your dang mind show! 

I swear I lose brain cells whenever I have to rewatch the evil Cassandra plot. It is so dumb  you guys.... so, so dumb. 

Conclusion

It’s not the worst thing ever but series has far better episodes on offer than this one. Even in a season as suck ass as season three. 

So there’s praying that this review posts this time and if you enjoy my writing and would like to support me in my projects feel free to leave a tip on my Ko-Fi. Thank you. 

https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #19- Ambulon and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

We got a major reveal at the end of last issue, and now it’s time to put the rest of the pieces together so we can finally understand the mystery that is the Ultra Magnus situation.

So back when Magnus’ seemingly lifeless body stole a shuttle, fucked off into space and landed on the moon, Tyrest was there to greet him.

And by “greet him”, I mean punch through the windshield and carry him bridal style, as if he weighed no more than a baby bird, into his moon base.

Pharma did his thing with his crazy new hands, Magnus was saved, and he woke up shortly after his lifesaving operation. Then Tyrest punched Magnus in the face, because fuck the healing process. He’s an engineer, not a doctor, he doesn’t deal with the SOUL and FEELINGS or anything like that.

In the here and now, Rodimus is still trying to comprehend the fact that his SIC isn’t dead, and is also actually another, much smaller guy with a mustache. Minimus Ambus attempts to explain just what the hell is going on, and we get back to our flashback.

After some good old-fashioned face violence, Tyrest showed Magnus around the place, specifically the terminal he’d set up for his on-the-fly, real-time law amending. With how many war crimes the Cybertronian race has committed in the last several million years, I’m sure it was needed.

Dang, wonder who pissed off Big Brother.

Magnus is more concerned about how it is exactly he isn’t dead right now, and also why his boss looks like a swiss cheese party platter.

Turns out that Tyrest isn’t actually mad at Magnus, just disappointed. He went and read his diary while the operation was happening, and in the 18 months that the Knight Quest has been running, Tyrest has deemed the work done to be unsatisfactory. Instead of arresting criminals, Magnus had been handling infractions so minor, most people wouldn’t have even noticed them. Tyrest doesn’t know where he went wrong.

Well, Tyrest, it was probably the anxiety that manifested itself as OCD, because you picked someone without factoring what the end of the war might do to them. Magnus needs structure to flourish, and if he cannot find it, he will make it himself. I mean, look at all this:

No wonder he was struggling on the chaos engine that is the Lost Light.

Still, Tyrest wants nothing to do with someone who’s cracked under the pressure (lack of pressure?) and the deal was that Magnus only got to be Magnus if he did what Tyrest wanted. Tyrest divests him with the literal push of a button.

Good grief, he’s naked!

As Minimus Ambus mourns over the loss of his stature, both literal and position-wise, we get back to the present, in a double-page spread no less, as Minimus tells everyone about the storied history of the Magnus Armor. Ultra Magnus was originally an actual person, but then he died, and Tyrest was kind of bummed out about that, so he decided to make up a lie (lying, while perhaps morally dubious is not illegal, so he’s allowed to do that) that Magnus faked his death, and then built the armor. There were at least a few wearers of the armor prior to Minimus, some of who were even known by the other crew members. Whenever someone got offed, their hand would spasm and press a recall button in their palm, which would bring the Magnus Armor, and the dead body inside, back to Tyrest.

You can tell he’s still real shaken up about losing the Magnus Armor, because he’s truncating his words. Poor guy.

Minimus asks what exactly happened after he got stabbed, seeing as he was too busy dying to really pay attention to the Overlord plot. Rodimus tells him it’s been handled. Brainstorm jumps in, wanting to know about the other things on Minimus’ resume, which leads into Minimus revealing the fact that he is a Point One Percenter, and something known as a Load Bearer. Load Bearers circumvent that niggling little issue that we saw presented in the “Shadowplay” arc, where spark strain due to not being able to handle a different frame type would outright kill you. Minimus doesn’t have that problem.

Tailgate wants to know how exactly it is that Minimus isn’t dead, seeing as he was clearly on his way out prior to his grand theft auto. Tailgate may have a personal interest in that sort of information, what with still being terminal and all.

Everyone’s real handsy this issue.

Minimus lets Tailgate know that Tyrest’s medical equipment is off the hook, and we get a reminder that Tailgate’s got basically a day left to live. Harsh, Roberts.

Back in Minimus’ flashback, Tyrest sort-of apologizes for punching him in the face, and laments on the loss of one of his greatest Enforcers of the Tyrest Accord.

Oh, so you DID know that this was a possibility, and instead of ordering your subordinate to go make that follow-up appointment with the only therapist on Cybertron- which, while being borderline sectioning, would have at least kept Minimus from sending emails to Rodimus about how he was spiraling- you just let it happen. The Vector Sigma pulse wave went all over the galaxy, there’s zero possibility you didn’t hear about the end of the war before Magnus loaded up on the Lost Light and didn’t call for a year and a half.

Anyway, so Tyrest’s got a new Enforcer lined up, seeing as he’s going to retire the Magnus Armor after all the shenanigans Minimus got dragged through while wearing it. Let’s see what we’re working with.

I thought we were supposed to have separation of church and state, what the hell?

In the present, Rodimus has questions, mainly about why there are so many people in this prison cell. Minimus admits that he asked to be put in here, to try and prove Rodimus and friends’ innocence on the charge of harboring a criminal, by recording their conversation and proving that they had no idea what SKIDS deal was.

Yep, Skids did a bad, and Tyrest wants him in jail.

Minimus also drops the bomb that everyone else in this cell is going to get he death penalty for that whole “crimes against creation” thing. I mean, all Tyrest has to do is wait for a little while and Tailgate will be dealt with, no sweat.

Minimus pulls a device out of his hip compartment, uses it to disrupt the electro-bars of the cell (it’s cool, he was an undercover cop for this whole thing and can therefore break out of prison without it being a crime), and goes to have a chat with his boss about all the weird new stuff he’s shoved into the Autobot Code in the last year and a half. Rodimus doesn’t really want him to leave, but there’s no time for that, because the cell just got a little more full.

Uh oh, Swerve’s badge has gone missing again. Rung, why don’t you slap yours on his crotch, that way Minimus won’t try to murder him when he gets back?

While this is happening, Whirl and Cyclonus are standing on the rim of a smelting pool, absolutely not having a dick measuring contest.

Luna 1 said Bi Rights.

There’s a structure built over the pool that looks an awful lot like living quarters, but is probably actually a prison that violates the Geneva convention. Whirl suggests they find some weapons and go hog-wild, but Cyclonus is more concerned about finding something. When Whirl asks what in the hell he could possibly be looking for in this sort of crisis, Cyclonus turns into a moody teenager.

Well, at least he’s respecting Tailgate’s wish to keep his looming demise under wraps. Not that Cyclonus tells anyone anything anyway.

Over in the Luna 1 medibay, Ratchet is being subjected to having his very fucking soul threatened with a paring knife. Pharma’s having what probably an inappropriate amount of fun, especially since he’s realized that Ratchet took his goddamn hands after the shitshow that was Delphi.

It turns out that every single piece of tech that Ultra Magnus ever repossessed is floating around on Luna 1, even the stuff that really ought to have been destroyed. This is why they were able to save Magnus from certain death at the start of the issue. Somehow I’m not surprised that Tyrest kept all those toys for himself. Corruption of an authority figure? In my Cybertronian Justice System? It’s more likely than you think.

Some of the little art quirks in MTMTE are added in by Milne- see Brainstorm holding any handgun ever if you’d like an example- but I know for a FACT that Pharma humping Ratchet’s headless body was specified by Roberts.

Ratchet, unimpressed and likely mildly queasy by the display going on before him, proposes that Pharma’s afraid of failure, which is why he hasn’t taken his hands back. Pharma disagrees, and a wager is set to see who the better doctor is- winner gets to keep the hands.

Over with the fly boys, alarms are going off in a deserted building, as Whirl struggles to open a door with his claws. Cyclonus takes over on door duty, and asks why Whirl hasn’t gotten his shit fixed yet.

Whirl’s worried that if he gets help for his trauma, he’s going to lose a huge part of himself as a person, and then where will he be? Of course, he says it in a much more Whirly fashion, full of vitriolic self-blame, but reading between the lines is fun. Whirl fires the “let’s get into each other’s personal issues even though both of us hate talking about ourselves and also each other” missile right back at Cyclonus. He wants to know about Cyclonus’ facial situation.

Cyclonus doesn’t like this question.

Then he gets stabbed with a sword.

Back with the docs, it’s apparently much later, as Ratchet’s just woken up from surgery and has a body again. He gets up from the operating table and finds that Pharma’s gone ahead with setting up their gentleman’s wager.

First Aid seems less than pleased with the current situation. Ambulon’s arms are long as hell in this panel, and he doesn’t seem entirely present in the moment. Maybe he’s practicing Rungian Re-Experience Therapy.

Pharma wants to cut both of the boys in half to see who can put the pieces together back the fastest. Ratchet tries to deescalate the situation, because he’s usually pretty good at it, but Pharma’s set on using his chainsaw attachment on someone today.

Ratchet attempts to console his coworkers, saying that their Springer-on-Pova treatment be over soon, and they’ll get a nice lollipop at the end for being such brave little robots.

Then Pharma cuts Ambulon in half, in a way that Ratchet hadn’t accounted for.

We’re gonna need a little more than some bandaids and a kiss to make it feel better for this one. It’s amazing what censorship laws will let you get away with when the blood isn’t red.

Speaking of blood, Cyclonus is more or less okay with being stabbed, because Whirl did him a solid and chopped his assailant in half- lengthways- with a super sweet sword he found in the armory they just opened up. Cyclonus pulls the blade out of his midriff and we finally find out what happened to the Circle of Light.

Back in the prison cell, Perceptor’s been given the job of doctor, even though Rung, Swerve, and Chromedome are all here and at least somewhat closer to being general practice doctors than our science sniper.

Seems like Swerve filled everyone in on the situation on the Lost Light off-panel, which is good, because they’ve been in the dark up to this point.

Chromedome hypothesizes that the reason Skids is a wanted man has to do with that mysterious gun he was holding when he fell out of the sky all the way back in issue #2. This is the point where Skids wakes up from his stabbing and admits that this is probably what happened, even though he still has no recollection of ever stealing the gun or even it existing up until he entered the story, but he apologizes for the trouble anyway.

Shh.  Someone’s coming down the corridor. It’s Star Saber, and he’s brought yet another prisoner to stuff in this cell.

And there’s something else. Can you hear it?

Is… is that music?

Are those the beginning synth riffs of “Tainted Love" by Soft Cell?

Over with Minimus, we’re treated to a taste of Tyrest’s personal brand of disinterest, then get a quick run-down of the birds and the bees. The forging process is a little more convoluted than originally implied, needing Primus to send out a pulse wave through Vector Sigma in order for the Hot Spots to be ignited.

Then the pulse waves started to slow down, Nova Prime had a little freak out, and cold construction was invented to prevent the Cybertronian race from becoming an endangered species.

Minimus of course knows all of this, because he, like basically half of the cast of MTMTE, is old as shit. What he DOESN’T know is that cold construction isn’t managed the way that anyone thought that it was, because there was a government coverup going on about the whole thing. You don’t splice sparks to make a new one, you use the Matrix to create new life.

I know, it’s crazy.

Tyrest was on the team that fiddled around with the Matrix until it started spitting out robot zygotes, and he’s now convinced that they bled the Matrix dry. Nobody tell him what happened to the thing after the war ended.

Wait. If the pulse waves have stopped, and the Matrix is busted beyond repair, doesn’t that mean they can’t make any more Transformers? Once they finish up on their stockpile of sparks, that’s it. No more. The Transformers are a protected species now, we’ve got to treat them like giant pandas.

One of his team members stole the Matrix and hid it in the black market, so its strange, mystical baby powers could never be used again. Except someone obviously found it later on, because we have half of it on the Lost Light. Minimus isn’t sure why any of this is actually relevant to the current situation, or why Tyrest feels guilty about pulling a Eugenesis Fulcrum and finding out where babies come from.

Tyrest is convinced that by draining the Matrix, his team somehow corrupted it, and all the sparks made by this corrupted Matrix are straying further and further from Primus. This is why Rodimus and friends have been charged with crimes against creation- some of their party were created in a way that predisposes them to crime. Or so Tyrest thinks.

I thought we were supposed to have separation of church and state, what the hell? This is still the same guy who was appointed as Chief Justice by the space pope because of his levelheadedness, right?

Yes, actually, but this sudden flip in priorities and personality has been induced by the guilt he felt during the Aequitas trials. Tyrest turned to self harm to deal with the weight of it all, and one day tried to go for what in most species would have been a suicide, by drilling with his drill fingers into the spot between his eyes. Instead, he most likely gave himself a lobotomy and became a religious zealot, fully believing that the gods are real, and he can go visit them by using his super-cool space portal.

Outside the moon base, Whirl and Cyclonus have freed the Circle of Light, and everyone’s ready to kick some ass. Both the fly boys have found themselves a Great Sword to play with, further cementing Cyclonus as our replacement Drift. Rodimus will be so thrilled.

Dai Atlas, the leader of the Circle of Light, tells our boys that there used to be a lot more of his group, but a lot of folks ended up being used to build Legislators.

Hm. I’m sure that’ll never be brought up again, and won’t paint future events in a much darker light. Nope. Absolutely not.

Cyclonus thinks that they need to get a move on, because if that sort of horrific shit can happen to the Circle of Light, it can also happen to Tailgate and the others. He does specifically name Tailgate in his dialogue, but it’s not like he actually cares about the guy, right? Feelings are for nerds.

Then the Legislators show up and it’s party time.

Wonder how that’s going to work out for you, Whirl.

Back with Tyrest, it’s revealed that Tyrest’s plan has a small snag- only people completely absolved of their guilt can go to Cyberutopia to hang out with Primus and the gang, and Tyrest is feeling awful guilty. Not about his weird space-eugenics thing, but about inventing cold construction. Now, how in the world is he going to handle this?

By committing a genocide.

Minimus is, understandably, not a fan of this plan. Tyrest had anticipated that the Universal Killswitch wouldn’t be universally appreciated, and has some of the new law come into play.

And that’s a series wrap on Minimus Ambus! Let’s give him a hand, folks!

[arlakos]

Marinette’s list of Parisian Warcrimes (Or why I need to vent about all the bad stuff Marinette has done)

Yeah, I’m doing this.

People be talking on Tumblr about why Marinette is the best character in the show and talking shit about every other character, from Adrien so I think I'll do what I do best and piss off people.

 You want another Adrien salt Fic about why he’s a stalker to validate your sensitivity to everything that triggers you?

 You want another AU where Chloe goes full-on villain and asshole mode so that you can be just another Astruc stan?

 Do you want another Lukanette fanfic because Luka is the ‘Better Adrien’ even though all he does is play a guitar?

TOO BAD! THIS TIME WE BE DOING SOME MARINETTE SALT AND WE GOING IN HARD! WE ARE GONNA BE RUNNING THIS BLUE HAIRED GIRL INTO THE GROUND THE SAME WAY THE FANDOM TREATED THE OTHER CHARACTERS!

THIS IS PAYBACK FOR ALL THE SALT FICS THAT HAVE BEEN FORCED TO SEE THAT DON’T EVEN BOTHER TO USE NATURAL LOGIC!

(And I'm gonna love every bit of it)

So without further ado, Marinette is sentenced to be salted on the following charges:

Having a planner that tracks Adrien's every location/activity so she can stalk him at all times and actively uses (Stormy Weather).

Using her powers to prevent Adrien from dancing with another person (yes, even if that person is Chloe) (Bubbler)

Stealing Adrien's phone (Copycat)

Reading other peoples letters, even if they did throw it in the garbage (Dark Cupid)

Abandoning Paris (Ladybug Origins) (Yes I know people are going to be angry at me especially for this one, but if Everyone gives shit for Chat Noir for doing the same thing in Syren, then Ladybug gets it as well. No double standards on this post)

Literally destroying Max’s hopes and dreams by beating him in a game entering a tournament just so that she could be with Adrien. I don’t care who was better in the game or won, Marinette had no prior interest in the tournament and even knew how much Max wanted to enter, yet still done it anyway the second she realized Adrien was there. Yeah, others will say its cute that she wanted to be with Adrien, but if she really wanted to spend time with him, all she had to do was, you know, ASK LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!!! (Gamer)

Ladybug not listening to advice on where the akuma is all because she didn't like Chloe. who made a small lie before to her. Yeah Ladybug, someone making a little lie to save themselves embarrassment is really valid enough of a reason for their opinion and advice to be worth nothing. And it caused another akuma, good for you. (Antibug)

Oooh, a big one...Marinette stalked Lila and Adrien pretty much all day, under the guise of ‘not liking liars’ (yeah right) and once she had a ‘valid’ excuse to pretty much ruin Lila’s chances of wooing Adrien (whether or not she had an actual chance is irrelevant) she transformed into Ladybug and ABSOLUTELY EMBARRASSED HER AND HUMILIATED HER right in front of Adrien, when she could have just pulled her aside and just told her off in private and quietly so that she wouldn’t do it again. When Adrien questions her says she did it with the excuse of ‘not liking liars’. (Volpina)

Not telling Fu who the book belonged too when questioned on where she got it. I get that this was an excuse to prolong the shows run time, but if you were going to bring this up in the show and pretend that what Marinette did wasn’t a big deal, then they shouldn’t have added it in the first place. (The Collector)

Not bothering to tell her grandmother the truth and sneaking off to hang with her friends. (Befana)

Ladybug leading on Chat Noir. If she really didn't want to go, she could have just outright said No and be done with it, instead of just a ‘maybe’. (Glaciator)

Ladybug Literally not telling Chat Noir about the Guardian or where the hell all these heroes are coming from. There was literally no excuse, Adrien didn’t need to wait ‘until he was ready’, he literally became a hero the same time as Ladybug, it wasn’t like he was ‘the new guy’ and Ladybug was ‘the more experienced one’. I can give this to Fu as well, but I still feel that Ladybug should’ve told him regardless from the get go, she trusted a man she hadn’t properly met until 1 season later more than her own partner who stuck with her since day one. (Syren)

Taking pollen away from Chloe... yeah this really doesnt count. I just simply liked Chloe’s face in Malediktator when she saw Pollen again.

Talking shit about Chloe behind her back then acting all friendly to her as Ladybug when she needed her to become Queen Bee. Not really bad, it's just incredibly rude. (Maledictator)

Again, the same shit as Stormy Weather, instead of being punished for having the planner that details every bit of Adriens day to day activities, she gets rewarded by the writers. Not so much a Marinette crime as it is and ASS-truc crime. (Troublemaker)

Snooping through Marcs Private book, annoying him when he wanted to be isolated, and just straight up not having Marc give him the script himself. She could have tried just bringing Marc to Nathaniel and showing him the script together. (Reverser).

Making a lie about organizing a party when she definitely didn’t plan one. Yes, even if she was going to do it afterwards and planned to make the pastries herself for the party. She really is a hypocrite when she comes to lying, even though that’s a personality trait the writer's press is the reason why she hates Lila. (Season 2 Finale-Catalyst and Mayura).

Sabotaging Kagami’s attempts at being with Adrien. (Animaestro)

Marinette telling her Grandpa that rice bread is better than wheat bread. Anybody who has tasted bread would say otherwise. Although to be fair I blame Tom for this and this isn’t really as bad as the others (Bakerix)

Marinette throws Chat under the bus by pretending she loves him and leaving him to face Tom when the entire thing was her fault. I know she did it to protect her identity, but it still was an ass thing to do, and Chat found Marinette in her own house, Marinette could have used any excuse, including but not limited to, baked goods. (Weredad)

Marinette... LITERALLY... TRIED TO BREAK INTO ADRIEN’S HOME... ALL BECAUSE LILA WAS THERE...if the fireman was smarter than most other characters in the show he could’ve literally called the cops on her, leading to her getting arrested and Gabriel (or even Adrien) filing a restraining order against her. That and she steals Juleka’s bike. Not cool dude. (Oni-Chan)

Marinette not making it very clear to Chloe that she can’t get the miraculous back under any circumstances due to her exposed identity, especially after Chloe claims she’ll need them again. (Miraculer)

Marinette sneaks into the boy’s party despite wanting bro time, all because she wanted another botched attempt to confess to Adrien. (Party Crasher)

THAT CREEPY SCENE WITH THE ‘ADRIEN WAX STATUE’. I dont want to talk about it. You know which one I'm talking about. If you don’t, thank god, but IF YOU THINK THAT WAS CUTE IN ANY WAY OR THAT ITS ADRIEN FAULT BECAUSE HE STOOD STILL, YOU NEED TO GET YOUR HEAD CHECKED. (god i still have nightmares) (Puppeteer 2)

Not really a crime, but talking literally all the miraculi when you only needed a few. What would happen if she screwed up and Hawkmot got all the miraculous, or lost a few for the Akuma to obtain? (Kwamibuster)

Marinette (or Lady Noire) being an absolute dick to Misterbug during the entire time they were fighting Reflekdoll, insulting Misterbug for misusing his power when she does the same thing and claiming Misterbugs usual job is ‘easy’. Yeah...no. Fuck you Lady Noire, go eat a cataclysm to the face (Reflekdoll)

Marinette sabotaging Friendship day for Kagami just because she didnt want the latter to see Adrien.. at all. (Ikari Gozen)

Claiming Adrien is a good guitarist when Luka is an actual one. Not a crime, just dumb (Desperada)

Giving a Miraculous to Adrien when she can’t even control herself around him and could be distracted (Desperada)

Being too cute in that picture Marinette and Adrien sleeping together on the train. Yes i know this isn’t a crime, i do like some stuff about her, i just think the pic is really cute. (Startrain)

(Look at it, they’re adorkable. Awww....)

(Wait, aren’t I supposed to be salty?)

NOW, for the biggest crime of them all...

Literally not confessing to Adrien even once. Aside from the fact its turned the ‘romance part’ of the show into a joke, Marinette not telling Adrien the truth already or lying about her feelings is the reason we have the ‘Marinette is just a good friend meme’. No wonder he thinks you are ‘just a friend’. THAT’S ALL YOU HAVE BEEN TELLING HIM. 

My evidence? EVERY SINGLE EPISODE!!!

...

Ahhhh. Much better.

Well, now that I have successfully gotten rid of all that anger and salt and manifested it into a physical memento of my anger for this show and its main character, I’m going to relax while people get mad and triggered that I insulted the ‘Perfect Marinette’ and leave me angry messages. For all those that listened and don’t hate me or even agree with what I have said, thanks for reading my large amount of vented writing. I hope you have a pleasant day.

Let's hope for season 4 of Miraculous to be better now that Zag is back. The fandom knows we don't need another salty season.

[countryshitposts]

You’re Shooting Your Bullet The Wrong Way

Interlude

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of rape and assault

-

Name Guide:

Daehan Minguk- South Korea

Daehan Imsi- Korean Provisional Government

Daehan Jeguk- Korean Empire

Nabi- Colonial Korea, belongs to @redffeather

-

America was leaning on her chair as she silently observed the goldfish swimming in circles on her desk, her eyes glancing at her charging phone every second, as if she couldn’t wait to entertain herself with the advantages of technology that has been plaguing humanity since the very start of the world. She then stares back at the goldfish who was listlessly swimming, no life and no voice in the world, as the water makes soft currents following the goldfish’s swimming.

Quiet stretches over her office, her eyes going back and forth from the goldfish to her phone, trying to focus on one or the other, not wanting her thoughts to plague her mind like it did last night. Her mind had vomited up thoughts out of nowhere after her escapade with Japan two days ago; she can still feel his soft lips on her own, the way he had wrapped her arms around her in a rather warm and loving embrace, and the way he had defended her when she can defend herself against those assholes.

She touches her bruised eye, which was from a hit by Russia that night.

Russia corners America on the alley walls, before she could even continue. She glares up at his icy blue eyes, flaring with anger as fire and ice coexisted. She could smell his breath lacing with vodka, his eyes kindling with loathing for her. The taller man presses his face against hers, and now his breath is hard to get rid of. She glimpses at the now passed-out Japan, and she realises she needs to apologise to him once he regains consciousness again.

“You’re really a nuisance”, Russia growls, as his fingers dig deep into her wrist, while she tries to squirm from his grasp. Before she could respond, however, his lips crashes into hers, as . America’s eyes widen in surprise, his hard and dried lips making contact with hers, as she has no power to stop him, the taste of his mouth lingering on hers.

Of course she doesn’t think about that bastard; she’s thinking of Japan once again, who tells her she can have a break from her duties, with that kind smile and grey eyes showing how sincere and lively he is, and she can only smile back. He makes her feel something… warm deep inside her, a feeling she has never experienced before unless it was completely crushed by her own soul. A thousand feelings had crept up to her that night, as if his lips had given her another thought, to continue this sharing of warmth as if it was her own.

Goddamn it, she has been thinking of Japan lately, especially after that night where he took on a few punches for her sake.

(She misses those warm arms wrapping around her body like she was something.)

Her conscience wants to go back to Japan’s home though, but she stops herself.

It’s time for her to take a break from her fake job, away from everyone else, away from Japan and his family, because they’re all slowly driving her crazy.

She hears a knock on her door, and she tells them to come in.

Canada peeks his head from the door, his green eyes sweltering with anger; America spots him sporting a black eye as well. She smiles back at him, standing up to welcome his brother with open arms.

“Finally home”, she says, as Canada makes his way to her desk, also sporting a few bruises here and there. She frowns, as if she finally notices the predicament her brother was in. “What the hell happened to you?”

Canada averts his gaze, gazing sourly at the windows where they find Philip plucking at red dahlias and Vietnam shaking her head as she silently watches her coworker with a grief-stricken face. He looks back at his sister again, a smile on his face, as if he had not been scowling and wishing to murder someone right now.

“Prostitutes”, he says simply, before opening the window and poking his head out. “Philip, Vietnam, I need you to gather our officers in the meeting room. I have an announcement to make.”

His sister raises a brow, “What kind of announcement?”

He gazes darkly at Philip, his kindly green eyes turning into murderous poison, his pupils aiming at one of his officers, wanting to shoot the golden ring Philip has on him a few days ago. Canada ignores his sister’s question as he marches out of her office, as if she had never been there in the first place, a ghost to all ghosts.

Canada - for the day - takes the lead of the meeting, which was a hard push of pride for America herself, who was now seated quietly at the front desk, as her brother stands silently, glaring at everyone around him, his green eyes that used to host kindness and friendliness replaced with a burning rage that destroys and sets the forests of green into a blazing colour of red and orange. America stares at him with a worried look, because he has never been in a horrible mood before, except for those times she or her other brothers purposefully threw out all his pornos.

Then America notices his glare lighten as he looks at her, then picks up again when he glances at India.

Vietnam loses her patience first, “What are you waiting for, Canada?”

That seems to snap him out from his trance, as he clears his throat and starts to talk about why he’s been making a face all day. “So a few days ago, I was absent from work due to collecting intel from clients of one of Teikoku’s brothels.”

He once again glares at India, who glances away, as if he had done such a deathly sin to get Canada fuming with rage. He collectively gazes at a few officers, shooting a wary look at Philip, who was biting his lip, his dark blue eyes on Canada, as if he had found out a dangerous secret that was once exclusive to his and only his is now being broadcast to the entire world, before he glances down to look at the pattern of the table.

“I met a few colleagues of Teikoku, some unidentifiable faces of corrupt officials and businessmen, and some…” Canada looks around the entire room once again. “Very, very familiar people.”

From the corner of America’s eye, some of the officers are giving each other furtive glances, knowing what was about to come while the others were busily staring at Canada with confusion, as if it wasn’t possible for any gold-hearted warrior to be bribed with the promises of money and lust so that they can shield this horrifying secret away from the others who have come to search and find those kinds of secrets.

Canada smirks a little, as he steps on the table America specifically told him not to step on, but now is not the time as he, without hesitation, yanks India’s plaque from his uniform, and the man just stares back at his superior, meanwhile Canada was bending down and taking Bangladesh’s identification as a police officer, then Brazil, then Columbia, Ecuador, and Indonesia, all of them looking ashamed of themselves, as Canada glares at them, one by one.

He shakes his head despondently, before he finds his voice once again. “These officers don’t deserve to even be called as such. If they are this easy to manipulate, then we can’t trust them at all to do a good job. So, I’m firing them.” He turns to America for permission, and she looks at every single one of her - former - officers.

She can feel anger and justice growing deep inside her, as she continues staring at those who gave in to Teikoku’s promises and words of glory and fame, all for them to stop controlling their lusts and keep this whole secret from the entire department; they were supposed to be catching and arresting crime, but in the end they become criminals themselves, taking advantage of their higher position in power. She stares at every single one of them, anger amplifying like a raging fire, as she stands, commanding authority to all.

“They can’t even do their jobs properly”, she answers, narrowing her eyes to almost everyone of them, “so I’ll say this: if you can’t keep it in your motherfucking pants and decide to turn to more illegal methods of fucking, you ain’t fit for a position like this. Get out of my sight.”

Canada nods as he scowls at those whom he took away their privileges from, “You heard her. Get out.”

The fired officers take their leave, never looking back at the others who remain in their seats, who were all looking around, as America slowly sits back down, anger vanishing, and now left with an awful migraine, probably her bruise two nights ago.

Canada once again glares back at Philip, who was toying with the red dahlias he had plucked from the outside, ring shining, before stalking out of the room, then followed by his siblings.

-

“What the hell happened to your eye?”, Canada asks a while later, as he and his siblings were now lounging on the front desk as the others were on their lunch break. America subconsciously puts a hand over her eye, as she munches on the burger her brother gave to her.

“Russia”, America simply replies with a shrug.

“Russia? How did he do that?”, Australia asks from behind them, having finished a phone call from Villers.

America scowls. “Kissed me right in the lips. Then hit me.”

New Zealand looks up from his lunch with a raised brow, but his eyes scream outrage. “Asshole. How did you and Russia encounter?”

America shrugs, her mind trying to go back to that night but instead of Russia in her mind threatening her it was Japan’s soft lips pressing against hers. She immediately goes red at the thought, trying to disregard those churning feelings inside her as she keeps her face serious and not look like an enamoured teenager because that’s now what she is. She has a life now.

“Japan decided to go to a bar in the middle of the night”, she replies, “to ‘make me feel better’, I guess. And then I realised that Russia is one of the bartenders there and Jesus fucking Christ, was he horrible at it. Assholes decided to harass me but Japan beat them unconscious. Then he passes out from drinking too much.”

Canada tilts his head. “That was a wild fucking night. I, meanwhile, was being tied up by girls in the brothel because they think I kidnapped one of them. Shanghai, I think?”

America gives him a look, “I found her, by the way. Didn’t know you’d let a prostitute of someone as perverted as Teikoku leave without guidance.”

Her brother had the right to look sheepish. “I thought she would’ve ran to the police station.”

His sister shakes her head, “Found her in Daehan Imsi’s home. You know, the uncle of the guy we’re risking our lives for. He was very defensive when I called her a prostitute and one of Teikoku’s toys.”

Aussie sighs, “Why would you even say that with no hesitation nor remorse?”

New Zealand snickers lightly, “She’s always been blunt, no need to call her out more.”

Canada stretches his arms to the back of his head. “So America, did you find any more clues about what the hell Teikoku’s been doing?”

She immediately slaps herself internally; she was so busy taking care of Koku that she forgot about her assignment entirely, knowing she shouldn’t have come back empty-handed, but she remembered what Russia had told her before he had the nerve to hit her square in the face.

“Russia said something about Soviet Union trying to date Ost”, America says, before blanching- Soviet was a decade or more older than Ost, even older than Koku had ever been, meaning this age gap was even worse than the latter’s, but that doesn’t make it any better.

Aussie’s face sours, his eyes narrowing as he calculates Soviet and Ost’s age, “But Ost is fifteen and Soviet is- NOPE I’m not thinking about it!”

The others also look just as disgusted as their brother, who had almost dropped his cup of coffee out of sheer shock,

“What a creep”, Canada states, frowning, “exploiting a young teen like that. We need to do something, quick.”

“‘Creep’ isn’t even the word I’m looking for”, New Zealand replies, looking sick in the stomach. “That’s full-on pedophilia.”

“I’m wary of Soviet”, America says, “just as I’m wary of Teikoku and Weimar.”

“Didn’t you say on a phone call Weimar put something on your and Koku’s stew?”, Aussie asks as he takes a sip from his coffee mug. “Because that’s some fucked up shit, man.”

“Very fucked up shit”, Canada supplies.

“Really fucked up shit”, New Zealand adds.

“It’s Weimar’s dad, I’m sure of it”, America says. “Who the fuck puts their dead dad’s remains in a stew and expect people to turn cannibal?”

Canada shrugs, “Apparently Weimar. But we don’t have enough evidence that he murdered his dad. Remember; there’s no more body because he made people eat it.”

Kiwi nods thoughtfully, “A horrifying way to get rid of evidence, but still quite effective.”

“But what does Soviet want with Ost?”, Aussie asks out loud, as they come back to that messy subject. “We already know that she and Koku are going to get married, whether both parties like it or not.”

“To enrage Teikoku?”, America suggestively replies, “the letter Soviet gave to him seems to think it.”

“I don’t know, but it can’t be good.” Just then, Aussie’s phone rings and he picks up and answers it, his eyes lighting up and his lips curving to a bright smile, which means, “Ah, Villers!”

Everyone instinctively groan and sigh- the lovebirds are once again calling each other. America can feel herself subtly get reminded of the fact that she is now reaching her thirties (she technically is in her thirties but don’t correct her) but it seems that no one is interested in her or she hasn’t found the right person yet. Or maybe she didn’t seem to think no one would like her that way- there was this charming man back when she was fifteen who gave her a drink, but she passed out and ended up in her room barren.

And with child.

Aussie hangs up with a “Love you too babe!” (it makes America sick) and turns to stare at his siblings who were all victims of his damned monologue to his fiancee. He gives them all a huge smile, “Villers said she’s going to meet all of us in the park.”

Canada scoffs, “What, she organised a picnic for all of us?”

“She really did”, Canada says a few minutes later, mouth agape, as Aussie helps Villers set up the picnic table while she hums and kisses her fiance on the cheek, earning a chuckle from him.

New Zealand shakes his head fondly, “Never underestimate Villers.”

As the picnic table is settled, Villers and Aussie takes a seat on the far end of the table as the others take a seat with them.

America huffs a laugh as she looks at Villers, green eyes twinkling, “We already had lunch when you called us- you didn’t need to cook food for all of us!”

Villers laughs softly, a simple breeze to the harsh winds that strike fear in everyone’s heart. She was quite a warm lady, always caring more for others than herself. It is what made Australia so in love with her, and at the same time wanting to be like her in every single way. She was such a sweet dame, a lovely person with sharp wit and tongue, but that doesn’t mean she is going to let people step all over her as if she was just a doll.

“How was the kindergarten, Villers?”, America asks as she dines in with the others, and the woman’s eyes brighten like stars.

“They’re all so brilliant and talented and kind!”, she replies with a soft smile on her face, as she looks at Aussie shyly. “It makes me wonder if I would have kids someday.”

Aussie instantly goes red, as the others laugh and clap him on the back.

America laughs, “Glad to hear that. So, have you guys planned when the wedding will be?”

“When you get a boyfriend”, Aussie jokes, and America playfully throws her fork at him, lodging into the table as everyone laughs.

“Asshole!”, she exclaims. “Don’t be so smug that you’re getting married!”

“Literally everyone here is jealous you’re gonna get married first”, Canada says, as he shoots a look towards Kiwi. “What about you and Luxembourg, huh?”

Kiwi blushes with embarrassment, “Shut the fuck up about him!”

Once again, everyone in the table laughs, before they start eating the marvelous wonders of Villers’ cooking.

While America’s brothers are making absolute shits out of themselves in the park, America and Villers were sitting under the tree, the both of them enjoying its shade from the sun. She likes the sun sometimes, but not when it makes her all hot and bothered and gives her a sunburn just from staying under it for too long. Then again, it was a great source of warmth in the cold mornings, and a light that will vanish during stormy days and winter, when the sun was not confident to shine on those who he had saved.

From beside her, Villers sighs, her golden curls shining from the hints of sunlight peeking playfully from under the leaves. She looks on at Aussie with a small smile on her face, as she subconsciously pats her belly, as if something was growing in there other than the digestion of food. Her eyes sparkling from joy morph to one of sadness, her smile faltering as it crumbles.

America frowns, “What’s wrong, Villers?”

Villers looks back at America, her eyes shining with an undefinable sadness that she had never seen in the woman before. “Can you keep a secret?”, she says through hushed lips, and America hesitantly nods.

“Why?”

Villers takes a shaky breath, as her eyes show an intense sadness that even America herself never thought she’d harbring. “Today, I went to the pharmacy to get a pregnancy test after I complained of morning sickness to Aussie.”

Her friend’s eyes light up excitedly, “Are you pregnant?”

Villers holds back a sob, as she turns back to Aussie and the others, laughing and muttering gibberish. “I wish I was.”

America cosies next to Villers, “What’s wrong?”

Her friend was trying not to cry, as she sniffles a little, “I was so excited when the pregnancy test flashed positive. I thought me and the love of my life are going to have a kid.” She buries her head on America’s chest, while America wraps an arm around her comfortingly, her golden hair glowing with sadness, as if it obeys its master’s emotions.

“In fact, I was proven wrong by the doctors”, she says between sniffles. “They said I can’t bear a child. That I’m too infertile. I don’t think Australia would want me anymore after I break the news to him that I can’t have children. H-he wanted us to have a big family, you know.”

America stares at her sadly, as she lifts Villers’ face up so their eyes can come face to face, Villers stormy blue eyes full of sorrow and sadness in contact with America’s determined and comforting eyes.

“Villers, where did you get the idea that Australia would leave you?”, America asks softly.

She looks away, back at Aussie sadly, “No one likes an infertile woman.”

America sighs, shaking her head, “Now where did you find that? We ain’t in the fifteenth century anymore, where every single asshole would want their wives and daughters to crank out more babies. This is the modern world, and Australia will never leave you just because you can’t bear his children.” They stare at each other’s eyes once more. “So don’t say shit like that, alright?”

Villers nods hesitantly. “O-okay. But please keep this a secret.”

“I will, you have my word.”

“Oi Villers, look at what Aussie got himself too this time!”, comes New Zealand’s voice, and Villers immediately wipes her tears as she and America run towards the stream.

As America and Villers finally reach the stream, America almost chokes just from laughing. Australia was battling with a few frogs defending their eggs that were a few feet near Aussie. From the corner of her eye, Villers cracks a smile before she instantly laughs as a toad jumps on her fiance’s face, making him fall down the stream, splashing him even more.

“Filthy vermin!”, he shouts as he tears the amphibian apart from his face, as he turns to glare at his laughing siblings and fiancee. “I could’ve used your help, ya know.”

“It’d be better laughing at ya”, Kiwi replies between laughs.

“How did you even manage to get into a fight with frogs?”, America chortles.

“Well, whatever the reason, I think he needs help.” Without waiting for another beat, she approaches the fight scene as loads of frogs are now climbing on Aussie’s body, as he kicks and swears at them to get off. As Villers approaches, his mood suddenly brightens, as his fiancee brushes the amphibians off him gently, before kissing him in his damp stream-filled lips, and he reciprocates, his hands on her waist.

Then Aussie presses his body onto her even more, deepening the kiss and making Villers gasp.

“Get a room!”, Canada bellows from above them, as Aussie immediately breaks the kiss, with the woman in his arms looking dazed and lovestruck all over again.

He gives his older brother the bird as the others laugh, going back to the picnic.

(Somewhere, in America’s heart, she is overcome by the fact that she also dreams of looking at someone with lovestruck eyes.)

-

Shanghai dreams of a hundred hands tearing her clothes apart, bit by bit, faces mangled and distorted beyond recognition, just faces looking absolutely delighted to finally get their filthy hands on her like it was the end of the world. Their voices were like smoke in her nose; forever bothersome and polluting her lungs and mind, dirtying her soul and damaging her heart into tiny little pieces.

Then one of the hands finally tears the last layer of her clothes, and with a blood-curdling scream, they were all upon her like rats finding food.

“Shanghai!”, a voice from a distance echoes throughout her mind, but all she sees are hands everywhere, controlling her moves and body forever and ever.

She feels someone’s hand land on her shoulders, and she kicks the person away from her, her shaking body trying to guide her away from the trespasser, but all she could find are walls, walls, walls. They surround her, torment her with their solid boundary, knowing there is no escape between them and the man in front of her. She screams and shouts with all her might, loudly, hoping someone will help, but no one does, no one really does.

“Shanghai”, the voice says with a grunt, as she hears footsteps advancing towards her- there is no hope but to crawl into a fetal position and sob into her arms, knowing the inevitable was coming.

But no one kisses her in the cheek and whispers an inappropriate comment in her ear before pinning her down to the bed. But he was still there, waiting, watching.

She hears him sigh, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have startled you. I will be leaving you now, but if you ever change your mind, you can come out and have breakfast with me and Minguk.” She lifts her head from her lap, as she stares at Imsi’s back leaving her.

Shanghai remembers anything, and she immediately stands, “Wait.”

Imsi looks back at her with a questioning look. “Would you like to eat breakfast with us?”

Shanghai nods hesitantly. “O-okay.”

Breakfast was a quiet affair with Imsi and Minguk; Imsi encourages her to eat more as he reassures there will be a lot to feed the family. She cautiously takes a bite of her food, still paranoid it might be drugged, but as her tongue tastes the properties of the meat Imsi had cooked, she immediately eats her entire food from her plate. From the corner of her eye, Minguk was glaring at her suspiciously- it seems that he still has not got over his suspicions of her being a robber.

“Samchon”, Minguk starts as he takes a bite of his breakfast, “when is she going to leave?”

She stops eating to look at Imsi expectantly, who drops his fork and is now glaring at Minguk.

“Minguk, where are your manners these past few days?”, Imsi asks, “because she will not be leaving unless she is now well.”

“I can leave now”, Shanghai pipes up, her eyes never leaving Imsi, at how easily he defends her than his own blood, “I feel fine.”

Nephew and Uncle stare at her- one with victorious eyes, the other with an unreadable look.

“Are you sure?”, Imsi asks with a concerned tone, too genuine to be considered fake. “You had bruises on your body the last time I saw you.”

She was taken aback at how he cares for her, as if she was just a family member to him, as if she is measurable to his nephew who seems to certainly be attached with. Shanghai hesitates, not sure if she should go out in the real world and risk being caught by Teikoku and his guards and being put back in the brothel (although she will be reunited with Nanjing and Ryukyu once again), so perhaps the safe move is no move.

She turns back to Imsi, “I don’t think I’ll be going for now.”

Suddenly, they hear someone drop their fork violently, with Minguk locking himself in his room, closing the door with a bang. Imsi shoots up from his seat, glaring daggers at the locked door.

“Dangsin-ui maeneoneun dangsin-eul tteonassseubnida!”, he bellows at him in Korean, grumbling before sitting back down, toying uselessly with his food, a dejected look plastered on his face. Shanghai knows it is her fault that drove Minguk away from the dinner table, so she brings herself to comfort the man who had blessed her with a home.

“Joesong haeyo”, she apologises in Korean, which turns Imsi’s attention from his rebellious nephew to her, his eyes wide with surprise and fascination.

“You speak Korean?”, he asks with a growing interest, his mouth curving to a smile. “Because you speak quite well.”

Shanghai nods, feeling flattered at the fact someone had complimented her language skills- this skill has faded over time, as the only vocabulary she knows in the brothels is playing the lowly seductress and screaming into the sheets as she tries to dream of a life where she and her sisters in the brothel are living in a paradise that no one else will touch.

“Gamsahabnida”, she replies shyly, “I was a translator and knew a large number of languages back then.”

Imsi looks quite fascinated, as he completely forgets his food to turn his interest to her, but no lust nor desire evident in his face. “A job as a translator sounds really nice! I’ve mastered a few languages because I was quite curious, and also because I have no interest in making friends back then.”

Shanghai is taken aback about how blunt and honest he is about why he had learned a dozen languages in his lifetime, just because he didn’t want to make friends back then. She remembers that she was quite social, when her entire life was still a whole empire, and not the vast disorganised city states that her life came to be now. There was a hint of sadness and loneliness in his eyes, as if he regretted not making friends in his old life.

She doesn’t know how to respond, and she simply nods to the beat, “Ah, interesting.”

Imsi shrugs, as if this was no big deal and there are other ways to get over his loneliness. “What other languages do you know?”

Shanghai thinks for a moment- she certainly had not practised all of the languages she learned, and she feels like she has failed herself in overcoming her pain these past few years and never developed her old interests since her only interest was now to survive.

“I don’t know if I still remember some of them”, she replies hesitantly, “French, Swedish, Portugese, Russian, Italian, German, Danish, and Dutch.”

Imsi’s eyes light up, impressed. “I’ve… never even mastered that many languages. I mean, I know Chinese, French, Spanish, Russian and German, but that’s it for me.” He smiles at Shanghai shyly, as if he is starting to make a friend after all these years hiding in books, getting lost in each page like he was inside a story rather than the real life where he is living and breathing and suffering.

Shanghai shyly smiles, once again feeling flattered at the compliment. She can feel an unnecessary but determined friendship growing at the both of them, their feet being planted at the soil as roots start to grow overnight, and in the morning a flower blooms in the gardens.

(After breakfast, she remembers that she is still wearing Imsi’s shirt, so she tries to give it back to its rightful owner while he is washing dishes- for some reason he feels uncomfortable at a woman taking a shirt off in front of him and tells her she can keep it.)

Minguk is out for school and Imsi is in his office, well, working, leaving Shanghai alone, lounging around the home with a bored expression on her face. She looks at all of the books in the bookcase- she had read almost everyone of them, but it doesn’t hurt to reread the same fictional words once again, so she gets up and examines the books that she feels she had not fully stemmed out, not fully fleshed out and fully studied.

She chooses Stranger in a Strange Land- she remembered thinking it was rather bizarre, and never gave it another chance, but she decides she’ll take a closer look at it today, knowing she will regret opening the book’s covers. As she takes a seat on the sofa, she inhales the scent lingering in her shirt; it belongs to Imsi, and it still belongs to him. Whenever she smells it, she can feel a sense of calm in her, as if Imsi is there comforting her wherever she is, she will be reminded that Imsi is there to shelter and secure her.

She makes herself relax a little, once again smelling Imsi’s shirt - damn his cologne is enchanting yet comforting too - as she starts to read the book.

A few hours passed, and she had now finished the damned thing, and now she wishes to take a break from reading. Shanghai hears someone in the kitchen, and she turns to look at Imsi, busily making himself a drink.

“Hello”, she says, which shocks him a little, almost making him drop his drink.

He awkwardly smiles at Shanghai, shifting uncomfortably, “Is there something wrong?”

She shakes her head, “Nothing. How is your work?”

He averts his gaze, scratching his head, before looking at her again, “Well, I’ve been struggling at something, and I am pretty sure you have the knowledge to help me.”

Shanghai tilts her head, “Me?”

He nods, “You’re smarter than I’ll ever be. I can see it in your eyes.”

She cannot help but scoff at the way he says it, an old spark rekindling inside of her. “A boy assumes he can see my wit inside my eyes.”

Imsi gives her a small smile. “Well, you’re already doing it right now.”

Her eyes widen, as she realises what she had just said to the man in front of her. She stiffens, thinking that he is offended at what she had said, but he simply chuckles.

“I mean it, you know.”

Shanghai looks into his eyes, so genuine it hurts her. “I know.”

A few minutes later, Shanghai’s body is - uncomfortably - pressed up against Imsi’s, highlighting a few curves on her purposefully. Imsi looks neither interested nor aroused, but more uneasy and awkward, like he doesn’t want someone’s body making contact with his like this. She feels puzzled at the fact he is not giving in to her advances- many men who had been vulnerable to her wiles will have already taken their shirt and pants off just at the sight of her. He doesn’t seem to be caving in yet.

“Wow- I never thought about it that way.” He taps on the keys on his keyboard, as Shanghai points at something on the screen, purposefully pressing her body even more into his.

“Like that. The police sometimes can’t be trusted- they can be as corrupt as any government official. The problem of corruption is like a rot in the core.”

“It is something depressing, yet real at the same time”, Imsi agrees, as he leans further away from Shanghai. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

She blinks a little before realising he’s serious, then sits on his lap, with him grunting in both shock and awkwardness. “No, Shanghai, get a chair for you to sit in.”

“Oh… okay.” Once she gets herself a chair to sit on, she accompanies Imsi with his work, pointing out a few mistakes and suggesting a few words to enhance the vocabulary of his presentation, with the man thanking her profusely every time she points out something is wrong with his document.

Shanghai unconsciously buries her face in Imsi’s shirt sometimes- whether it be the shirt she is wearing or the shirt Imsi is wearing; it seems to have a calming effect on her, like she was standing on a rose garden as butterflies snack on the pollen in each blooming flower, paying her no mind as she roams around the gardens, wondering if she can always be there, if she can still find this in a place where she is in peril.

Once she is now helping Imsi edit and proofread the document, she can feel her stomach groaning and moaning, knowing that hunger is an old enemy she has to face.

(In the brothels, Teikoku had only given her and the other workers a formidable amount of food, but in the end she only eats little of it and gives most of her food to the younger girls who are more in need of food than she ever will be.)

“We’re finished”, Imsi says as he stretches his arms over his head, a smile on his face. “Wanna celebrate by going to the malls and buying food? I’ll pay, of course.”

She bites her lip; on one hand, she wishes to explore how much has changed while she was stuck in the brothels like a dead woman inside her coffin. But on the other, Teikoku will know she has escaped his clutches and now he’s hunting her down like a dog. She shakes her head, a little rapidly, making Imsi a little concerned.

He nods, understanding. “All right, I’ll just make lunch for all of us.”

That is one thing that can make her nod, as she follows Imsi out of his office.

She submissively waits for him to finish cooking, her arms on her lap, eyes on the table, biting her lip with a clear vengeance, now tasting copper in her mouth. There is a thick but comfortable silence, enveloping the both of them, only to be broken by Imsi’s singing, which was calming her down the same way Imsi’s scent is.

“I like the way you sing.” That statement makes Imsi jump, as he looks back towards Shanghai with a flustered look.

He gives her a lopsided smile, “Thanks. I rarely sing since my voice is crappy- Minguk’s the better singer, but thank you.”

She shyly smiles at him, “You’re welcome- you should sing more.”

He laughs, which was surprisingly pleasant to her ears, as he goes back to his work. “Your voice is quite melodious too.”

Instead of being flustered with the compliment, her smile falters as a dozen memories come and try ruin her mood.

“Your voice would be more beautiful if you scream for mercy.”

“How much will it take for you to sing for me?”

“You’re nothing but a slut and a whore.”

“I…”, she blinks back to the present, her body shaking and quivering, tears clouding her vision.

“Shanghai?”, a tentative voice asks, and she looks up at Imsi, who’s now done with what he was cooking. “Are you all right?”

She slowly stares up at Imsi, whose face was once again full of concern and worry. She nods, a little more shakily.

“Did… I say something that triggered your past?”

The way he says it, like he cares more about her welfare than his own, makes her want to reveal the truth about herself even more.

She simply nods.

She feels someone carefully wrap his hands around her. “I… I’m so sorry.”

Instead of fighting and pushing him away from her, she slowly accepts the embrace, burying her face into his chest, the smell of roses enthralling her.

(Lunch was also just as quiet as breakfast, the only thing that is different is the hot weather around the house.)

“Why is she still here?”, Minguk asks as he arrives home, taking his shoes off and putting his bag on one of the sofas, glaring hard at Shanghai, who is once again fidgeting in her seat. Imsi looks up from his work to glare at his nephew, but it is more tiring.

“Minguk, please”, he sighs, “give her some respect. She is more than just a suspicious individual.”

He groans as he goes to his room to sulk, closing the door behind him.

“I really should have left a while ago, then”, Shanghai says softly, sighing sadly. “I’m sorry, again.”

“It’s okay. Minguk is never really fond of visitors. Don’t worry, once he gets to know you better he’ll warm up on you.”

Shanghai nods, knowing Minguk not trusting her easily is reasonable and she would not trust the family if she wasn’t so desperate in hiding herself from Teikoku. Speaking of which, she should think of a plan on how to get her friends - no, sisters - out of the brothel, wanting nothing but to see Teikoku dead at her feet. She wants to know if she could sneak inside of the brothel once again, and meet the officer who had freed her so that he and she would break her sisters out, away from the life of exploiting their bodies and into a life together, forever and ever.

She looks back at Imsi, who is once again doing his work.

“Do you like working?”, she speaks up.

He looks at her with those dark brown eyes, a hint of grieving and sadness in them, “Yeah. I really like working. It helps me relax, to be honest.”

Shanghai tilts her head, “There are other ways to relax, so why choose working as a way of relaxation?”

He gives her a small look that does not hint indignance or irritation, but the sadness in his eyes grows larger, too much that she worries he might succumb to it. “It’s the only way that can keep my mind distracted, long enough for me to help the inner workings of my brain relax. When I’m doing nothing, I think of horrible thoughts.”

She can feel her interest perk up further, as she leans further from the couch. “What kind of horrible thoughts?”

He didn’t say, which is good, because if he did say anything then that means she must say something about her in return, which was bad.

The thing about Imsi is that he gives himself away more often than keeping to himself; just the other day he was busily talking to himself in a torn bathrobe, almost looking a decade old, pacing back and forth, dark hair that is usually kept wild and not that kept. He was muttering about how it was the day where ‘she’ went missing, where ‘she’ was taken by ‘him’. When Shanghai fully comes out of her room, he stops pacing around and gives her a small but awkward smile.

“Why are you wearing a filthy bathrobe?”, she asks.

“Why are you awake at 5 in the morning?”, he replies, before shrugging. “A force of habit, especially today.”

(The first thing she learns about Imsi is that he answers her question honestly- a little too vague but he had made things clear: he can’t keep secrets of himself.)

The next day, she had gotten up early once again, a nightmare shaking up her very core (she couldn’t remember what it was about but she knows men were touching her again), and Imsi was there, with a glass of water and a concerned expression on his face. He was like a doctor, that man… too much of a doctor.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah- no, not really.” She tries to lie, but she does a complete 180 and tells him how she really truly feels, as if his genuinely concerned voice and worrying expression is enough to break the ice between them and to enter a favourable friendship.

“Bad dream again?”

She nods, choking back a sob, feeling her insides twist and churn with melancholy and grieving. The past will always catch up to her, no matter how many times she runs from the past and into the present like it was a human being, hunting her, catching her and succeeding ultimately, as the past forces her to watch the painful memories of her and her sisters being placed in the brothel, one by one, nothing else really mattering.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She doesn’t answer, because that is what always happens- she ignores his worried face as she closes her eyes, trying to remember what Nanjing and Ryukyu looks like; even the others who didn’t have the luck to be here with her, free but confined in the house.

(The second thing about Imsi is that he doesn’t seem to leave someone helpless or crying or sobbing or shouting or basically having bad feelings. And that also applies to himself. He’ll comfort every single one of them until they are free from sadness.)

Shanghai surprisingly wakes up not from dreams the next day, but from shouting.

She peeks her head out of the door, the sounds of the voices growing louder. It seems Imsi was berating Minguk again. For what, she doesn’t know.

“You shouldn’t have been wearing it while asleep!”, the sound of Imsi’s voice somewhat calming her down, but it is an octave too high for her liking, and she hopes to herself that she wouldn’t face an angry Imsi in the future.

“I forgot to take it off and that’s it, samchon!”, she could just feel Minguk rolling her eyes, because he has that energy (who’s to say he’s doing it now?).

And now she can also feel Imsi shaking his head disappointedly. “Minguk, I’m sorry to say this but you won’t be wearing your binder today.”

A pause, then-

“What the fu- samchon please! I have a tutor coming today and I’m not wearing anything other than my binder!”

Imsi just clicks his tongue, “Minguk, I know you, but sometimes you go overboard with wearing your binder. Please, for your sake and mine. I just want what’s best for you.”

“Why do I feel like what’s best for me isn’t the best?”, Minguk asks through sniffles, which is something out of the ordinary, as it seems that the boy with no feelings actually has and just has the difficulty in explaining them.

“I’m so sorry, Minguk. But you were having trouble breathing in your sleep. I love you, your mother loves you, your brother loves you.”

And now Minguk is full-on crying, rain coming down in a dry terrain, with Imsi whispering comforting and soothing words in his ear.

She meets the tutor soon enough, his presence in the same room as her making her blood run cold. He reminded her of him too much so to consider escaping. She drops her books from shock when he enters the house, looking all damp and cold from the rain outside, as a rundown of memories start torturing her, from the cold and wicked grin, the crimson red eyes swirling with madness and the cold, always cold hands pinning her to the walls or bed, as she stops squirming and just disassociates.

“Teikoku?”, she had said in a small voice, as he turned to look at her, with clear grey eyes, a parting storm.

Not Teikoku.

But enough to make her feel vulnerable and helpless again, and now Imsi knows who she truly is, but defends her in every single way against America, who is spitting out the real truth; that she was a dirty whore who was too far away from home.

“You don’t like me anymore, do you?”, Shanghai asks after dinner time, as Imsi carries out a tray of teacups and a teapot standing tall and proud in the center. He sits down from across her and tilts his head.

“Why would you say that?”

“Because…” she chokes a little, looking away from Imsi. “I’m a whore.”

He shakes his head. “No. No you’re not. No one is a whore first. You are a brilliant woman who had been unfortunately taken by Teikoku like the bastard he is. So no, you’re not a whore, and don’t you ever call yourself that.”

“You seem to have a lot more confidence in me than myself.”

He meets her eyes, sad and defensive, “It’s what I do, to make everyone feel better. I love them for what they are, I hate them for what they are.”

“But why like me rather than hate me?”

“Because it will kill me to hate someone like you.”

(They talk about how green tea is their favourite flavour of tea right after.)

Imsi treats her the same way he treats her after the incident; always giving her a second look, treating her as a functioning object rather than a broken one - thankfully - and Minguk seems to be giving her a chance as well. Imsi seems to love hearing her talk, hearing her ramble more and more about the general public and politics and opinions with no break in her voice; as if he was more invested in hearing her voice than his.

And that was - in her point of view - enlightening her. He does not treat her as a toy meant to be broken, rather than someone who needs help and is helping her in the most discreet of ways, but he still is accompanying her through some hard times.

“I like you”, she says one day, as Imsi types in his laptop, and he looks up, his face tinged with red.

“I like you too”, he replies, softer and silent. “You’re a good friend.”

She nods, “You are too.”

He snorts, “I’m a crap friend. I’m never good for anything.”

“But you helped me overcome my fears- not all, but some.”

He gives her a small smile, “It’s what I do; help people feel happy and confident about themselves.”

“Do you feel confident?”

He doesn’t answer for a long time, before saying,

“No.”

She can feel something in her that turns her into a fiery woman she once was back then. “Je bent een zelfverzekerd persoon.” She never thought she still has the expertise to talk in a language she had never exercised in the brothels, but it seems that her skills have just been pressed aside into her mind as she thinks of ways on how to survive.

He stares up at her, failure in his eyes. “Tu no sabes eso.”

Shanghai snorts, “You say that I am a smart person- so of course I know if you’re confident or not.”

Imsi stares back at the keyboard, despondent. “I’m a failure.”

“Why?”

“I just am.”

Maybe that is what hurt her about Imsi the most.

One day, Imsi and Shanghai are now in the backyard, sipping tea on the porch as she stares at the butterflies that are ravaging the peonies.

“Tell me more about her.”

“Who?”

“Nabi.”

“You know her.”

“I know her only as one of us, but not as a mother.”

Imsi nods, getting her drift. “Nabi was… sweet and kind. She’d get flustered and red at any kinds of comments, she’s always there to comfort either me or my twin brother. The one who’d become her husband one day. She is also quite fragile, but we don’t use that much to our advantage. Jeguk was quite protective of her, like any husband who loves his wife very much. Especially at how young she gave birth too.”

“How old was she when she gave birth to her sons?” Nabi talks about her sons all the time when she and the others are being left alone by men who prey on them; she seems quite attached, like Nanjing is to Taiwan.

“Sixteen.” He says it so simply, like it is no surprise that Nabi had borne two sons at a young age.

Shanghai’s eyes grow wide, “Sixteen?!”

“An accident in my brother’s part, really; when he found out she was pregnant he underwent an anxiety attack since our father wanted him to continue our legacy. In the end I told him who he would choose if our dad is out of the picture, and he chose Nabi. They were inseparable, those two.” There was a hint of sadness, and now Shanghai is thinking of Nabi and her husband holding hands… Nabi cradling her children while singing a lullaby… Nabi, being full and rich of life.

She wants to know what happened to Nabi when she was happy. When they were all happy.

“How did your dad react?”

Imsi shakes his head. “Not good; he and Jeguk argued and disowned my brother.”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s fine.” He doesn’t look fine, as his eyes are clouding over with memories once again, memories of a life where everything was easier and that everything was fake but real, nonetheless. There was a searching in his eyes, wanting to see the person that completes his heart once again, as brothers, as friends in a lifetime. He wipes a stray tear that escaped away from his face, as he turns to smile at Shanghai, wanting to forget that he is indeed sad at how his life had turned out more than he will ever reveal. “More tea?”

She nods. “More tea, please.”

They enjoy the afternoon together, just the two of them.

-

dangsin-ui maeneoneun dangsin-eul tteonassseubnida- your manners have left you

Joseong haeyo- i’m sorry

Gamsahabnida- thank you

je bent een zelfverzekerd persoon- you’re a confident person

Tu no sabes eso- you don’t know that

[clexa--warrior]

Hey, Have You Heard About This Coronavirus Thing? Crazy Shit, Right? (Ferret/Shower Cap)

History texts depicting this period will read like deranged Choose Your Adventure books written by sadists; no matter how frantically you flip backwards, you just can’t seem to find the page when you still had the option to vote for the really smart lady with the email server. Anyway, join me for a quick news round-up, it won’t take long, and when we’re done, I give you permission to run away to join a roving Thai monkey street gang.

(As always, find this post WITH nifty news links here: http://showercapblog.com/hey-have-you-heard-about-this-coronavirus-thing-crazy-shit-right/)

For those of you just waking up from a Rip Van Winkle nap, the United States is facing a massive, coast-to-coast, health crisis, whose tragic consequences have exploded exponentially because our Idiot Manchild President really believed, in that churning campground septic tank he calls a mind, that protecting his personal approval ratings by understating the problem was more important than the health and safety of the American public. I don’t know what you can call that but murder. On the one hand, it’s weird to say “wow, the President murdered a bunch Americans through boneheaded, unforgivably selfish, neglect,” but we already saw him get away with precisely that crime in Puerto Rico, so here we are.

Now, I have come to expect malice from the federal government under Hairplug Himmler, but sometimes their capacity for raw, senseless, evil still shocks me. This is my way of saying that, until they got fucking caught, the Department of, and Someone Should Slap the Word Out of Their Filthy Mouths, Justice attempted to remove CDC fliers offering potentially life-saving information regarding the coronavirus from...immigration courtrooms. My God. What a small but potent horror. Feels like the work of an ambitious intern in Stephen Miller’s office, doesn’t it? Trying to impress the boss? Just a sinister little trick, to spread a little more pain, a little more misery, a little more death in an already vulnerable, and whatta-coincidence-nonwhite, community? Fuck these awful, awful, people.

It seems President Liposuction Clinic Dumpster has been calling up leading Taliban terrorists on a secret U.S. kill-or-capture list, presumably to trade tips n’ tricks on how to undermine the USA at home and abroad. Now, negotiating with these murderous dirtbags is a big diplomacy no-no (and of course Donnie Dotard got rolled anyway) but in all honestly, if I had access to a secret kill list contact sheet, I’d probably give in to the temptation to make some prank calls. “Is your refrigerator running? Yeah? Are you sure it’s not a FLEET OF DRONES ABOVE YOU RIGHT NOW?”

For Jeff Sessions, the wages of sin turned out to be a faceful of Trump-branded fecal matter, as the Candycorn Skidmark, whose campaign Ol’ Beauregard embraced way back before fascism was cool in conservative circles, endorsed his opponent in the coming Alabama Senate runoff. How must it feel to have been the very fellow who flipped the switch on the Rube Goldberg/Mousetrap Board Game device that destroyed America, and to watch the machine work its destructive magic for years, only to realize it’s also got one special crotch punt in store for just you personally. I’d feel bad for Bilbo Bigot, if it he weren’t, y’know, one of the very worst people alive.

Alex Jones got arrested for drunk driving, and, upon his release, got right back to work selling...sigh...selling some bullshit toothpaste that he’s telling the rubes magically cures the coronavirus. Authorities are cracking down on Jones and fellow charlatan Jim Bakker over their odious snake oil peddling enterprises, but I don’t know what’s more shocking and disappointing to me, that there are such vile fuckwads in the world, who seek to profit off the fear of the misinformed during times of crisis, or that said fuckwads have so many blind, willing, disciples?

Speaking of fuckwads, Ron Johnson seems to have backed down, for now at any rate, from his quest to stage a show trial for Hunter Biden in the U.S Senate. And that’s awesome and all, but never forget how ready, how eager, RoJo has been, to corruptly manipulate the vast powers of the government for his democracy-stomping Turdlord’s political benefit. Ron is the kind of fellow you’d have found stamping documents outside trains bound for Dachau.

But yeah, I suppose the big story is still that coronavirus thing. Great choice on evolution’s part, the way symptoms don’t necessarily manifest right away, so we can spread that shit around without knowing we’re even infected. Anyway, I made sure to thoroughly disinfect tonight’s blog before posting, and medical professionals inform me that though the virus can linger on plastic and metal surfaces for as long as days, it cannot survive on a poo joke, so please rest easy, knowing you can safely consume this content in comfort. Unless you're reading it next to somebody with the coronavirus, but that's on you, kid.

The Shart Administration has actually slowed progress in this crucial fight, by classifying high-level coronavirus meetings, because they’re more worried about congressional oversight of their crimes n’ fuckups than they are about OUR LIVES, and y’know what, I do believe I’ll be voting Democrat this November.

And of course, many conservatives are more concerned with blaming the virus on the Chinese than preventing its spread; by gum, there’s no need to abandon yer principles, even when your ineptitude is getting countless folks sick and/or killed! “We may be a cabal of dangerously incompetent assclowns, but let none forget that we are also RACIST assclowns!”

With the stock market finally catching up to the rest of the world in noticing a pudding-brained twit had inexplicably been placed in charge of the most powerful nation in history, Pumpkin Spice Pol Pot oozed into the Oval Office for a prime time speech, and if his goal was “fuck up the entire world as much as humanly possible in ten short minutes,” then he succeeded beyond his wildest imaginings.

It was a speech that completely failed to reassure, instead reminding the world that this drooling manbaby, this bathtub drain hair clog in an ill-fitting suit, truly is President of the Entire United Fucking States, and not only is he light years out of his element but he’s probably spending most of his time practicing his “the world is ending, you have to go out with me now” phone call to Salma Hayek rather than pursuing desperately-needed solutions.

Despite being on teleprompter, with the text of the fucking speech right fucking in front of him, Dorito Mussolini somehow managed to catastrophically misrepresent his own administration’s policies, dropping one more cartoon anvil on the stock market’s already-throughly-bludgeoned ballsack. This is, of course, on top of nonsensical non-solutions like banning travel from Europe, when the virus had already had weeks to spread throughout the country thanks to presidential bungling and neglect.

For 73 years, this cretin has somehow never encountered a problem he couldn’t lie, buy, or bully his way out of, but COVID-19 doesn’t care how much money your daddy gave you, little man. And may I say, on behalf of the thousands who are about to become sick, fuck you. Fuck you eternally with a rusty shovel, for daring to take on such an important job without the skills, temperament, or character to execute its duties. Asshole.

In contrast, Smilin’ Joe Biden gave a speech of his own; calm, collected, solemn, and filled with concrete steps to address the problems facing the nation. And America collectively went, “Oh right, it’s actually highly abnormal to have a gibbering, rectum-mouthed, dolt for a President, and we can actually have a decent, competent, one again! Soon!” It was like leadership porn. I got aroused.

Meanwhile, our already-hopelessly-overmatched Golf Cheat in Chief is multitasking, lobbing missiles at Iran-backed militias in Iraq. I’m just hoping the buttons on his desk are clearly labeled, y’know? Or at least that there’s somebody hanging around who can tackle him before he bombs Seattle and launches 500 respirators at Tehran.

So, um, in the midst of this once-in-generation shitstorm, I guess Sarah Palin dressed up in a bear suit to perform “Baby Got Back” on a reality television program. I’m not a religious person, honestly, but I’m increasingly open to the idea that there is a God, and that s/he’s been on a meth bender since mid-2016.

Social distancing is the zany new anti-dance craze sweeping the nation as we all do our damndest to not get sick and die! As a result, public gatherings are getting called off left and right. March Madness, MLB, NBA, PGA, SXSW, Broadway...personally, I don’t think I fully appreciated the scope of this crisis until I saw the XFL shut down their season. Like, are we even America anymore without one billionaire’s sad attempt to reboot his once-failed vanity project?

As sensible organizations all over the world made painful but obviously necessary sacrifices to, y’know, slow the spread of a deadly disease and save lives, naturally the Velveeta Vulgarian was among the last holdouts, canceling his precious hate rallies only grudgingly, because the safety of even his own fervent base is secondary to the sugar rush of their rageful cheers, filling, if only for a moment, that empty space within him where most people have a soul.

Now more than ever, I am brimming over with gratitude that we took the House back in 2018. Thank god there’s a little leadership, a little accountability, a little common frickin’ sense in Washington now. And thank god for Katie Porter, one of the standouts in a freshman class packed with absolute ass-kickers, cornering the CDC chief into exercising his legal authority to make coronavirus testing free for every American. Imagine if Kevin McCarthy were running the House right now. He’d be fleeing from reporters, in mismatched loafers, trying to sell the public on a bill bailing out nothing but Trump University and Marm-a-Lago.

Well, the Emperor of Hemorrhoids finally buckled and declared (acknowledged) a state of emergency over the coronavirus, which is admittedly a pleasant change from his previous “do everything I possibly can to help the fucker spread” position. We’re still woefully behind, and god only knows how deeply the virus has penetrated while the doddering old bastard diddled and dawdled, but the good news is, the President of the United States finally moved his bloated ass out of the road so we can get to work cleaning up his mess, which is, I suppose, as close to an act of kindness as he’s come in his entire misspent, treacherous, life.

In the middle of today’s press conference, Vice President Mike Pants paused to give Boss Turdworm a rhetorical handjob seemingly designed to last through an entire 14-day quarantine. Jeeeeesus. Mikey Hairshirt was a man once. Not much of one, to be certain, but at least he didn’t have to worry about the possibility of bored schoolchildren pouring salt on him, which would of course prove swiftly fatal in his current state.

A reporter asked Government Cheese Goebbels, “Hey, if you’re not too busy fellating yourself over fucking up slightly less than you’ve been fucking up for weeks, why the fuck did you close down the pandemic office, you nation-wrecking clod?” and he whinged that the question was “nasty,” before reiterating his refusal to take responsibility for the things that are, objectively, his fault. I truly do not understand how this trembling coward’s approval rating isn’t 0%

So Nancy Pelosi spent the week trying to hammer out an emergency bill with Steve Mnuchin, but Republicans naturally balked at many necessary measures. It’s a tricky spot for the GOP; they can’t risk the mass-extermination of the underpaid labor/consumer force that keeps their donor class filthy rich, but doing anything to improve working folks’ lives is just instinctually anathematic to them. But at the time of posting, it does appear as though a deal has been reached, let’s hope no spray-tanned morons fuck it up, right?

In conclusion, I am sick of typing the word “coronavirus,” and you are sick of reading it, so let’s let’s all retreat to our quarantines for the weekend, okay? Enjoy the solitude! Read that novel you bought back in college! Watch that 425-minute Russian film set in a fish cannery! Hey, you can even peruse the archives at showercapblog.com if you feel like reliving just how the fuck it all came to this! Anyway, if you don’t hear from me for a bit, fear not, I’m turning production of this blog over to Jared Kushner, I’m sure he’ll figure it out.

[whatznewz]

Anonymous Has Joined The Fight

After a recent video uploading on Facebook from the famous Anonymous, the “Black Lives Matter Movement” has a new ally.

By now we might’ve all heard about it: the group of hacktivists known as Anonymous has joined the #blacklivesmatter movement and protests that are occurring in the present day.  Who are they?  Where are they?  What are they? How are they going to help the movement against the American police and military forces?                                                                                                      

Let’s rewind all the way back to 2003.  A website by the name of 4chan, basically a cruder version of Reddit, was semi-popular.  This website, however, did not require its users to form an account, so everything was anonymous and people could generally post what they wanted without any backlash due to not having a designated username.  The anonymity of the website is perhaps what sparked up the given name Anonymous.

Originally, they started as a trolling group, a sort of joke.  Things that the group of trollers started to do in the beginning included sending unpaid pizzas to houses, posting humiliating information about public figures or other 4chan users, DDoSing different websites (method used to take down websites from the inside), and occasionally prank calls or private chats on other networks.   In 2008, what was meant to be a private video of Tom Cruise praising scientology made it online.  It was suspected to be uploaded by the trolling anonymous users that originated from 4chan.  When the video was taken down, the anon users seemed to have been angered.  This started a wave of trolling against the organization that had taken the video down.  This provoked protesting outside of the Church of Scientology.  However, the protesting eventually calmed down and the anon users went back to their regularly scheduled trolls.

Essentially, this “group” of hackers isn’t really an organized group.  While there is technically a team of anonymous hackers, they only make up a very small percentage of the people that continue to support the group and hack for similar causes to that of Anonymous.  

In the past they’ve hacked their way through recognition with some controversial issues like “Operation Tunisia” (2011), “Operation DarkNet” (2011), “Operation Russia” (2012), and many other big activism events throughout the years of 2010-2012.  This form of activism can prove to be very powerful when a group of people is experiencing social injustice and needs something to be done. ______ The infamous Guy Fawkes mask that can has been used as a sort of face for Anonymous originates from the comic and movie adaptation V For Vendetta.  V For Vendetta, summarized, follows the story of a young woman who is “rescued from a life situation by a masked guy known as ‘V’.” (V For Vendetta (2005) - Plot Summary - IMDb).

Guy Fawkes, however, is not fictional.  Fawkes is a historical figure who had attempted to blow up Parliament (1604) in hopes of destroying the British government and instating catholic domination.  He failed at his mission, but perhaps this act of rebellion is what inspired Anonymous to wear the Guy Fawkes mask.

In addition to the mask and the movie, Anonymous also has their own slogan: “Knowledge is free. We are Anonymous.  We are Legion.  We do not forget.”

As far as we know, Anonymous communicates through 4chan (though I would not recommend searching the website), image board wiki forums, and IRC networks.  Although Anonymous claims to not have any set leaders and, like I mentioned before, has only a small group of legit Anonymous hackers, it does have a way of targeting specific organizations all at once.

For example, a wide-range of people have strong opinions on something that’s unjust in the world.  If the subject at hand seems to have a big enough impact on the world, Anonymous has stepped in to reveal classified files, expose authoritative figures, or to hack their way into private institutions (may it be the government or a corporation) to fix the problem or assist people in their activism. Because of their efficiency, they are considered a legitimate threat to the government or shady companies. ______

Anonymous is back?

Recently, on May 28th, the Anonymous Facebook account posted a video regarding the recent events of George Floyd’s death, the unfair power of Minneapolis police, and the protests that are now happening all over America. In the video, Anonymous said the following:

“Greetings citizens of the United States.  This is a message from Anonymous, to the Minneapolis Police Department.  

“Police brutality and murder is a widespread problem in the United States, which has undoubtedly infected nearly every jurisdiction in the country, but the Minneapolis Police Department is among the worst and has a horrific track record of violence and corruption.  This week’s brutal killing of George Floyd, which has sparked protests and national outrage, is nearly the tip of the iceberg in a long list of high-profile cases of wrongful death at the hands of officers in your state.  In fact, in the past two decades, 193 people have been killed by police in Minnesota.  

“In recent years, we have seen numerous high profile killings in the area, including the deaths of Jamar Clark, Philando Castile, Justine Damond, Thurman Blevins, and Brian Quinones.  These are only the cases to catch the headlines., where videos or other evidence proves that the police are lying.  Sadly, in the vast majority of police killings, the only one left alive to tell the story is the officer who took the person’s life, and thus the cycle is able to continue because none of these murderers ever face any justice for their actions.  This travesty has gone on for far too long, and now the people have had enough.  

“In the most recent case of George Floyd, the blatant disregard for human life exhibited by the officers is undeniable and all evidence that has been released so far has shown that Floyd was being entirely compliant with the officers, which contradict earlier claims from police that he was resisting arrest.  Furthermore, our initial investigation of the offending officers has revealed a criminal pattern of violence on the job.  At least two of the officers involved in Floyd’s arrest, Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao, have a history of on the job shootings and excessive force complaints.  The Star Tribune reported this week that Chauvin, the officer most directly responsible for Floyd’s death, has been involved in numerous on the job shootings where suspects were killed.  There were four officers on the scene at the time of the incident, one who kept the gathering crowds away, and three who were forcefully holding Floyd down.  Onlookers warned the officer that he was crushing the man to death, but none of the police on the scene seemed to have any concern for Floyd’s condition.  You may have fired these officers to save face, but it is obvious that this type of behavior is condoned, if not encouraged within your police department, as it is in others.  Officers who kill people and commit crimes need to be held accountable just like the rest of us, otherwise, they will believe that they have a license to do whatever they want.

“You will claim that this is the work of just ‘a few bad apples’, but what of the officers that stand by and do nothing while they commit offenses against the people they encounter, and the police departments like yours who refuse to prosecute these criminals as they would one of the citizens that they are sworn to protect.  

“People have had enough of this corruption and violence from an organization that promises to keep them safe.  After the events of the past few years, many people are now beginning to learn that you are not here to save us, but rather, you are here to oppress and carry out the will of the criminal ruling class.  You are here to keep order for the people in control, not to provide safety for the people who are being controlled.  In fact, you are the very mechanism that elites use to continue their global system of oppression, and the world is finally starting to wake up to this, and they are becoming increasingly angry every time they see blood needlessly spilled without consequence.  

“These officers must face criminal charges, and officer Chauvin especially should face murder charges.  Unfortunately, we do not trust your corrupt organization to carry out justice, so we will be exposing your many crimes to the world.  We are Legion!  Expect us.”

As you may be able to see, this is not any form of a warning to the Minneapolis Police Department and the government, but more of a declaration of action.

Over the weekend, the Minneapolis Police Department and the city were both kicked offline, but it’s undecided yet whether this was an accident or the work of Anonymous.  Real records of President Trump’s past with sexual assault of a child has been “leaked” by this hacktivist group.  I say “leaked”, because these reports were actually shown to the public years ago, but still kept quiet by supporters of Trump.  Additionally, names of other police brutality victims have also been released to the public by the hand of Anonymous.  Lastly, police radios have been reportedly hacked in the midst of protests and riots, playing either polka music or “Fuck the police”.

Overall, Anonymous joins the fight against police brutality and black social injustice, and the protesting continues.

________________________________________________________________

Follow for more news and send requests for updates on current events.  Check the next post for pictures on this article.

[thenuanceddebater]

On Police and Arrests

I made a post last night where I got on my soapbox and yelled at people for their incorrect belief that you can legally resist a so-called “unlawful arrest.” That’s wrong, remains wrong, and I don’t regret doing so. But it does bring-up an interesting conundrum: What CAN you do in a situation where you think you are being unlawfully arrested? How can you avoid those arrests?

I’m not going to be able to give you an answer that can satisfy you. What I have to say is... depressing and likely upsetting. But it’s also true. The only way that you can avoid being arrested is to avoid putting yourself in a position in which you can be arrested. And that’s kind of impossible to do. So, really, you can’t avoid being arrested. Not if the police really want to arrest you. 

Under the Fourth Amendment, an arrest, as a “seizure” of a person, requires both probable cause and a warrant. Probable cause meaning that the police need to have a “reasonable basis”, predicated on evidence, to believe that a crime has been committed, and the person they are seeking to arrest was the perpetrator. The warrant is basically a restatement of the probable cause requirement, as you need probable cause to obtain a warrant, and then a restriction on the persons who can be arrested (just the person on the warrant.) Alternatively, in certain situations police can rely on so-called “exigent circumstance exceptions” to the warrant requirement  fora search or seizure. This means that in specific situations, generally when there is some kind of risk associated with allowing the suspect to go free, police can make an arrest without a warrant and just with probable cause. Some of these circumstances include:

When evidence of a suspected crime is under imminent threat of being lost or destroyed 

When police officers are in hot-pursuit of a suspect

When there is a possibility that the suspect will flee or evade capture prior to a warrant being obtained 

When a person is in need of assistance (usually can’t arrest based on this one, but can enter a dwelling without a warrant)

When entry or arrest is required to prevent harm to another person or the community as a whole. 

Again, these are questions of law that a court will review. In order for an exigent circumstance to apply, the officer in question needs to support their determination not to get a warrant with facts from the case in question. If the judge agrees, then the warrant-less search or seizure was constitutional. If not, then it was unconstitutional, and it’s likely to result in an acquittal or the suppression of evidence uncovered from said search or seizure. 

This is all to say that by the time that police are deciding whether or not to arrest you, it’s not just a spur-of-the-moment decision. Or at least it shouldn’t be. The police should have a reasonable basis to arrest you, and a warrant or exigent circumstance to do so. Nothing you can say or do will prove your innocence at this point. This is why I, and pretty much every attorney I’ve talked to about this, advise you to (1) not talk to the police (save for to invoke your right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment) and (2) not consent to anything that the police want to do. Make them dot their “i”s and cross their “t”s. Because if they fuck up, then you have a much better chance of avoiding charges. But that’s avoiding CHARGES. Not avoiding arrest. Charges are the stuff that send you to prison after a trial or a plea bargain. Arrest is what happens before you’re formally charged. No lawyer can help you avoid arrest (unless there’s some kind of immunity deal, or you consult a lawyer who informs you that you were likely going to break the law and you don’t) once the police have enough evidence to arrest you. A lawyer can stop you from being sent to prison. 

And now you want to say “but TND, I shouldn’t be getting arrested! I didn’t do anything wrong! Isn’t there anything I can do or say that will stop me from being arrested!?” The answer is not legally. If you want to resist arrest, you might get away and avoid arrest for the time being. However, if the police decide to track you down, you will eventually be arrested, and for charges that are more likely to stick. If you try and flee, you’ll likely be tracked-down at some point. If you leave the country, you’d better go somewhere where there is no extradition treaty with the US an lie low. But the hard truth is that even if the police are totally mistaken and you’re 100% innocent, you can absolutely still be legally arrested. Unless you can prove that the police knew or should have known you were innocent (and not “well, the evidence for my innocence was far more convincing than the evidence for my guilt” kind of knew. I’m talking like “I had an alibi, 10,000 witnesses, DNA evidence excluded me, etc. and all they had was a hunch” kind of knew), you can’t prove an unlawful arrest. Instead, the police can argue (and will successfully argue) that they were wrong, but “operating in good faith.” Which is to say that you were innocent and likely should not have been arrested, but they thought you were guilty and there was at least something there to support them. 

Also, keep in mind that “I didn’t do anything wrong” has a caveat. It actually means the following: “To the best of my knowledge, I did not do anything wrong.” That can mean “I actually didn’t do anything wrong” or “I didn’t intend to do anything wrong” or “I didn’t know that I did something wrong” etc. All three of these mean different things in regards to whether or not the arrest was lawful. It’s entirely possible that you did in fact do something wrong, and just didn’t know it. But, ignorance of the law is not an excuse (or a mistake of governing law defense does not hold water in court). So even if you really believe that you did nothing wrong, the arrest still might be lawful. 

And now you might say “but hold on TND. I’m a bit more educated on this topic than the average bear, and I KNOW for a fact that what the police did initially was illegal/ unconstitutional. Doesn’t that matter at all!?” The answer there is it depends. It’s possible that if police got information that would normally lead to an arrest in an illegal way that the arrest could be considered to be unlawful and the evidence will suppressed and the charges will be dropped. However, it’s also possible that the police either had or uncovered a different fully legal path to get to that information, and thus the fact that they also got it in an illegal way doesn’t really matter. Or, it’s possible that too much happened in between the illegal action and obtaining the information that they are using to actually arrest you so that exclusion doesn’t apply. Again, these are legal arguments that lawyers should consider or make. Not stuff for you to throw at the police when they come to arrest you, OR a reason for you to resist arrest. 

No legal argument is going to get you out of an arrest. No action that you can perform is going to get you out of an arrest. Nothing you say to the police when they come to arrest you is going to get you out of an arrest. Resisting arrest might work temporarily, but will not permanently get you out of an arrest. There is no real way to not be arrested. Now will the charges stick? That is the real question. 

TL;DR (but you really should): There is no real way to completely ensure that you will not be arrested. The most you can do is (1) not talk to the police and (2) make them get warrants/ paperwork/ explain themselves. That doesn’t stop arrest, but it does help with charges. Also, get a lawyer. 

[kneesheee]

unity

warnings: major character death|betrayal

If Sapphire had to be honest, there wasn’t many things she expected to be waiting on her when she returned to Riverdale. Her friends? The Serpents? Expected. Penny Finally Fucking Gone? Expected. FP’s son in charge of the Serpents? Expected but not until he was an adult.

Her brother dead and never coming back?

Entirely unexpected.

She could feel Sonja’s hand slip from hers as the shock settled in. Their brother. Their big brother was gone. “Hermano, despierta,” she demanded. Already her eyes were clouding with tears. “Despierta. Joaquin, wake up. Please. Please.”

But he wouldn’t, and her tears spilled over.

“No.”

“No.”

“No.”

“No”

“NO!”

She could feel the pressure in her chest grow as she desperately tried to breath all the while huge ugly sobs escaped her. “Hermano, please. You can’t leave me!”

She reached for his body and she felt no warmth. His skin was cold to touch and so quickly the grief inside of her turned to rage.

Joaquin was hers and she’ll make them pay. She’ll make them all pay.

After all, no serpent was left for dead and a serpent never betrays their own.

But what’s betrayal when there’s no serpents left?

--

Sapphire and Sonja walked through the halls of Riverdale with their heads held high. They each wore shades to cover their red rimmed eyes and were surrounded by a group of security guards. Each of them had their respective gang affiliated paraphernalia and tattoos covered. No need for people to wonder why a Ghoulie and Serpent Former Serpent were together.

Standing inside the protected circle with them with Stone Enterprises’ and Stone Industries’ own lawyers. It took a lot work and a lot of non-legal dealings to acquire footage of certain Serpent members leaving the woods and were last to see her brother alive. Fuck, the Serpents’ legal help. She’s going make sure that they’ll never have scale to slither on.

“Getting rid of the Serpents gives the Ghoulies a good leg to stand on,” Sonja comments offhandedly. She cares nothing of what happens to either gang. She wants vengeance. She wants to see everyone involved with her brother’s descent into realm of death held responsible. And she was responsibly hanging them over a building by their small intestines then who can blame her?

Sapphire snorted and hissed, “I don’t give flying shit. They killed my brother.”

They made it to the room where the Serpents had taken to hanging out. Sapphire had only just barely managed to suppress the snarl at seeing them lounging around so casual. Like they hadn’t been the last ones to see her brother before he was killed. To her, they were just as guilty as the murderer. Especially after she recognized the slicing of skin where his serpent tattoo had once been.

They all tense up at the sight of all the armed guards walking into the room. Sweet Pea, her dearest beloved and first love even rose up to his full height. As much as she loved Mama and Grammy Sweets and the triplets, she will see that he falls face first. Knock him down to her height.

“What’s going on,” FP’s boy questioned. She saw the old pictures of FP and the boy could’ve been his clone. Too bad that her love for her leader will not stop her from tearing his son into pieces.

Sapphire and Sonja stepped out the circle. Recognition immediately filtered through Fangs (her little murder puppy), Toni (her best friend), and Sweet Pea (her first and only love).

“Saph,” they all breathed and the others in the room with them looked on in confusion. Those who had not been a part of the gang before Sapphire left to follow her brother.

“It’s Miss Stone to you,” she snapped without bothering to hide the pure and righteous fury in her voice. They flinched away from her. Good. They’d do right to fear her. “Can someone tell me the laws of the Serpents?”

Her eyes flickered around the room even looking at FP’s boy but even he had enough sense to not make eye contact with her. It mattered not. She was going to end them all.

“There are many but the main six? One: No Serpent stands alone. I know you all like to think that I abandoned FP when he was arrested for that shitcase with the Blossoms, but I stood with Joaquin since no one else did. I stood with my brother. “

She made she sure to clearly enunciated her association with him for the ones that didn’t seem to understand.

“Two: If a Serpent is killed or imprisoned, their family will be taken care of. Again, I took care of my family since no one else decided to. And it has been a week since my big brother was fucking murdered and this is my first time seeing any fucking serpent!”

Sonja calmly laid a hand on her shoulder, but Sapphire could feel her shaking. Could feel the anger coursing through her body.

“Three: You cannot hurt one of your own.”

She held up one finger.

“Four: No Serpent is left for dead.”

She held up another.

“Five: A Serpent never betrays his own.”

She held up another.

“And yet, despite knowing these fucking laws, my brother was still hurt. He was still left for dead. And he was still betrayed!”

She was screaming so loud that she was sure the students’ around the faculty heard her. Her gaze shifted from around all of them. Fangs was the unlucky one to catch her gaze first. “You know, he called us. The whole time he and Archie were making their little plan while in juvie. He called us and told us what was going on. And I told him to stay. He should’ve been informed us of what was going on and that I’d have him out there before the next day was over with. The next day came and no one could tell me where my brother was until he called me himself to tell me how he had to save your ass, Edward. And you held him down while this poor excuse of a fucking leader cut the tattoo off his arm.”

Fangs flinched back from the anger, hurt, and grief in her voice. He didn’t even care that she spoke his real name. He hurt her, and she was damn sure going to make sure he knew it.

“He betrayed us first, Saph!”

Sapphires gaze whipped towards Sweet Pea and her lips pulled back into a snarl. “Korran, you have no leg to stand on with me. That’s my damn brother you’re talking about you oversized pea brain oaf! And it wasn’t a fucking betrayal! I heard that it was over some stupid ass Goblins game or whatever the fuck you idiots are playing! My brother is dead! That makes you either murderers or accessories to the crime. So, which is it? Tell me! Either way, the Serpents are fucking done for. This whole fucking town is done for.”

FP’s son stood and stalked over to her as if he imitated her. She could laugh. He didn’t understand the danger he was in just by being in her mere presence and he decided he was going to what? Scare her into indulging him?

He stopped right out of her reach. Smart boy.

“What do you mean the Serpents are done for?”

She pushed the shades from her eyes, so he could see the rage in them. “Exactly what I said. Everything from the mortgage down to the sugar packets and anything owned or operate by Serpents members officially and legally belong to me. And I’m going to get it all back.”

Sapphire stared right at Sweet Pea as she stated, “Which includes Sweet Pea’s family store. Includes the trailers. Includes half the land of Riverdale. Includes the Whyte Worm. The jackets on your bodies even the damn tattoos on your skin. It was MY money that paid for it and since it was my brother that paid for YOUR actions, I’m going to let you know exactly what happens when you mess with Sapphire Stone.”

“You can’t do that,” one of the people in the room argued. She let the growl escaped her, “Fucking watch me.”

Toni slowly walked towards her. Timid and slightly scared. It wasn’t how she usually was. It was actually completely out of her character, but she knew how Sapphire was when she got angry. And anger and grief don’t mix well together. Neither did the wild look in Sapphire’s eyes. But she had to try to appeal to Sapphire. She couldn’t destroy the Serpents. They were family.

“Sapphire come on. What happened to the six law? You know, ‘In unity, there is strength’. We’re family. Quin meant a lot to us too. We need to stick together.”

If it wasn’t for Sonja’s sudden arm breaking grip on her, Sapphire would’ve clocked her fist into Toni’s face. “I know my family and you’re damn sure not a part of it. Keep that same unified energy though when I’m burning the Serpents to the ground. You’re gonna need all the strength you can get.”

She snapped her fingers, “Fri, you’re up.”

Sonja and Sapphire watched as one of their many lawyers stepped forward and handed over the paperwork to Fangs and Sweet Pea and Jughead and Toni.

“Edward Fogarty, Korran Swelton, Forsythe Jones III, Antonia Topaz, you have been served.”

Sonja swallowed down her grief and rage as she looked upon the four serpents that her cousin counted as friends and allies. “You may not understand the severity of such documents considering that you previously attended Southside High and believe me, I know how fucking shitty that school was. And this current school teaches you nothing and lets you all sit around playing dumb ass board games where you go out and murder innocent people- “

“Sonja,” Sapphire stated easily reeling her back in. Sonja refuse to think about how it felt to see her brother’s body so lifeless and cold.

She cleared her throat, “The purpose of those papers basically states that you are not allowed within fifty of feet of Sapphire and I or any of our family. You are not allowed at Joaquin’s funeral. Fortunately for you, Legal has put through a set of check and balances which will allow you to continue staying in your homes. No worries, though, you still will not be able to come near us. This information will be dealt out to all Serpents and their family members. There’s probably more, but Saph and I wanted to personally see your faces when you realized that we won’t have any more your shit.”

She could feel her fist clenching, “You took our brother from us and now we will take your lively hoods.”

Sonja watched with a sort of detachment as three of the Serpents in question immediately tried to plead with her cousin.

“Come on Saph, you cannot do this.”

“Can’t we come to some sort of understanding? You’re better than this.”

“Joaquin wouldn’t want this!”

It wasn’t only because their head of security stepped into Sapphire’s path that kept her from flying at Sweet Pea’s head. What did he know of what Joaquin wanted? He basically killed him.

“I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I may have fought with Quin a lot, but you once you laid a hand against him, it was time to face ME. And for my brother, I’d do anything. I hope you rot in hell.”

“You’d be wearing the crown,” she heard FP’s boy mutter.

“You shall hope not because I’ll never give you peace whether in life or death.”

--

“It’s not the memories inside my head that drive me crazy. It’s the new memories without that push me over the edge.”

Sapphire and Sonja stood over Joaquin’s grave. Everyone else had left the gravesite and the workers had stepped away to give them some privacy. In each of their hands they held onto the jackets that gave them their statures amongst the south side community. That made them the whispers of the night and at one point had them on opposing sides so deep with hatred they refused to sleep in the same house. But they united under a common force. The Serpents killed someone they claimed as theirs and the cousins will not stop until they have justice. In this, a Serpent and a Ghoulie stand together.

“We will raze this town to the ground,” Sonja spot into the air round them. Her gaze lifted and her connected with the small crowd standing at the edge of the graveyard. Even from a distance, she could tell they were Serpents.

Sapphire didn’t even glance their way as she kept her gaze on the coffin holding her brother captive. Keeping him from her. Taking him from her.

Sonja glanced away.

They lye their jackets on top of the bloodied jacket that Joaquin owned.

When they straightened up, Sapphire still refused to acknowledge the crowd instead running her eyes over area around them. Her gaze though always returned to the coffin.

“In unity, there is strength.”

[whimsically-ominously-auspice]

Truth tomb

There is no such a thing as Natalie White.

That was the faux girl that he was set up to kidnap.

He was calling her name to see she was around.

You can tell he's looking for her in the drive thru.

The girl at the store was a decoy.

We don't identify those that do "crimes" in the form of domesticated disturbances during the fight for justice which has no end and we Decided to use flames of Victory.

So whether she did or did not set the fire I will not say. It looks like a girl legally shopping to me.

Can't arrest someone for that can you?

If she was the girl that set the fire no matter my disappointment in her job to protect the area, it's my job to protect her.

You could arrest me but you'll never find proof I've ever even met her nor that i do everything from memory on my own and shit is done in confidential working conditions that are protected by law and will never be revealed.

There will be no legal end to arson from the CIA. If you can't overlook it, we will tell you what you want to hear and right in front of your face do what we're gonna do without your permission.

If some upper level court wanted to take it in and sue or whatever crap they want I am sure they Wil be persuaded to shut the fuck up and see that there's other ways to rule and order than they believe.

We are fully prepared for that and God will be the guiding witness and you aint met my mommy. So trust me. She can rule a court room.

We have no issues.

Whoever set the arson whether it be this person legally purchasing items or someone else entirely

I assure you they're no longer in Atlanta, Georgia.

Furthermore there's other counties with very big armies and military that understand our progress is in the form of appearing to be domestic terror

And they are fully prepared to take in our CIA Agents to protect them and will WWIII in full blast with the United States of America government and legal service.

They believe in the citizens of America and they believe we can create peace.

I think fully if the owner refuses to press charges and no one is harmed then we shouldn't have an issue.

In this particular case we have quite the legal arguments in court seeing how Zone 5 up and quit.

And so if for any other building which a government decides it's arson. It isn't.

It is making a statement. In a legally binding contract with the owner of the building.

In what world is it simply okay juat to use a bucket tractor to dismantle a building?

In many places even in cities like NYC and,Chicago, TNT is used to bring down an infastructire legally in close proximity to other buildings

We use simple fire.

So if you so happen to educate yourselves in how buildings are legally destroyed and approved you'll see that while arson is a label, it isn't quite the description of the destruction unwanted that is caused by arson.

A simple look through business registration and land deeds will be able to show you with some effective detective work that I am indeed the owner of that particular Wendy's.

As I have stated before, real arson under the strict definition of arson is being done without the permission of building owners of buildings by the white supremacy and other domestic terrorists.

This is not the case. Its the simple clearing of a building to make way for a park.

Had it happened any other day than that night and it was announced before hand, a different perspective would be seen by the general public and government

Hearing about it after makes it feel different than hearing before.

But i assure you, it was scheduled to be demolished.

We just so happened to celebrate life and begin demolition that night Rayshard Brooks was killed in the process of an active crime.

Most businesses owners don't announce their every decision nor action regarding businesses.

That's our right. Our right to privacy and our right to own and run businesses

Just as we all have the right to own and run our own personal lives.

And so celebrate life

Don't be kidnapped.

So yes the time, in conclusion, to write the arrest warrant was simply a waste of time

Atlanta PD is already short staffed

Don't waste your time chasing a ghost.

[qqueenofhades]

i know you [i walked with you once upon a dream]: six

Post-1x16 canon divergence. When Lucy Preston, a history professor at Stanford University, is visited by a strange man who tells her that her entire world is a lie, she is drawn into a mystery more dangerous than she could have dreamed, and a hunt for a past she can’t remember. But who, or what, is she going to find – or lose – along the way?

chapter five/AO3

“You know,” Wyatt says grumpily, trying to shift to get some slack in the ropes. “If you actually wanted to convince me that you were onto – whatever you think you’re onto, I’m still not sure – there were way better opening moves than attacking me in the dark, making me look at some journal supposedly claiming that we’re time travelers who may have inadvertently destroyed the world but don’t remember each other, and tying me to a chair. Just, you know. Throwing that out there for consideration.”

“And your point is?” Flynn remains unmoved. “You’d have contacted your friends back at Homeland Security if I hadn’t. I can’t have you doing that, Wyatt.”

His prisoner glares at him. “Excuse me? Did I miss the part where we’re on first-name terms? That’s Sergeant Logan to you.”

“Oh, yes. How foolish of me to forget. When you’ve been overpowered, taken into custody, and otherwise sent it – what’s your term, FUBAR? – the most important thing is that I address you by your rank. I’ll keep that in mind.”

There is an evil silence as both men stare each other down. It’s a little past dawn, and Lucy has been allowed to venture cautiously to the café around the corner in search of food (Flynn taking advantage of her absence to force Wyatt into his present confinement, as he has a feeling that she would have objected if she was around). Her picture could be on the news by now, in which case someone might recognize her and call the cops, but Flynn is counting (unwisely, perhaps, but what else can he do?) on the fact that it won’t be. After all, the last thing Rittenhouse wants is a lot of attention on the case, missing posters printed up, questions asked, investigations opened. As far as they’re concerned, they’ve already handled the problem by sending Sergeant Logan here to get her back with minimum fuss or mess. Then are likely to clap them both into indefinite detainment in some black site, intensively debrief them about what they do or do not remember, extort them for information, blackmail them into compliance, and whatever other nefarious schemes they have in mind. Flynn is doing the pair of them a considerable favor by keeping them away from that. It is not his fault that they don’t appreciate it. As fucking usual.

“Lucy,” Wyatt says after a moment. “What do you want with her?”

Flynn tips a shoulder in half a shrug. “Why do you ask?”

“Because the version of events I got was that I needed to rescue her from some crazy criminal mastermind who probably had her chained in a dungeon. The crazy and criminal parts were clearly accurate. But, well.” Wyatt hesitates. It must be apparent to even his keenly penetrating butter knife of a mind that this is not a typical kidnapper/hostage situation. “As far as I can tell, you really think you need her. Or something from her.”

Flynn shrugs again. “It’s in the journal. She decided you should read it.”

“I meant the non-insane version.”

“There is no other version.” Flynn regards the younger man coolly. “You don’t remember, but you didn’t like me much before either – ”

“Wow, really? Shocking.”

Flynn grits his teeth, but elects to ignore that. “Still. By the end of things, we had. . . I won’t be so optimistic as to call it an understanding, but it was something. I’m not trying to make you understand for the dubious pleasure of your company alone, Wyatt. I need your help.”

Something flickers in Wyatt’s blue eyes at that, but it’s hard to say what. “You have a funny way of asking for it.”

Flynn makes an impatient gesture. “You think I don’t know how ludicrous this sounds? Don’t you think I wish there was another, simpler, ordinary explanation? I’m well aware I have to literally pound it into your head. But if you don’t believe me, at least believe Lucy. I have a feeling that’s easier for you.”

Wyatt has been about to say something else, but at that, he abruptly goes quiet. At last he says, “You didn’t hurt her, did you? To. . . convince her, or whatever?”

Flynn mulls a smart remark, such as the answer he gave this same man in ’54 to this same question, but if the only point of agreement they have is Lucy, the only chance he has of getting through to him, that might not be the wisest course of action. Yes, and you’ve always been so concerned with that before, Garcia. Finally he says, “No. I won’t say I was a saint about it, or anything, but I didn’t hurt her.”

Wyatt glances at him sidelong, still not trusting him but clearly wanting to believe him for whatever inexplicable reason – well, inexplicable only to him, as Flynn knows full well why. The silence stretches on again, less combative and more contemplative, until the door scrapes open and Lucy steps through, attractively flushed and windswept, clutching a bakery bag. At the sight of them, she stops short and frowns. “Why is he tied to a chair?”

“Good question,” Wyatt says. “I’m with her.”

“We had to talk,” Flynn says stubbornly. Decides it would probably be counterproductive to remind them of Washington 1972, as that is where this happened before, though they might be starting to remember. “Without him trying to do something stupid. This seemed easiest.”

“Look, if I don’t check in with HQ soon, they’re going to get suspicious. This was supposed to be a fairly routine mission anyway, hostage extraction and recovery, and if I don’t – ”

“Why did they send you by yourself?” Flynn interrupts. “Normally it would be a whole squadron of you Delta Force dicks, wouldn’t it? Sending a single operative has to be dramatically against policy. Didn’t you have the least suspicion that they might be setting you up?”

Wyatt once more starts to say something, then stops. The best he can come up with is, “Paris is a modern city, not a war zone. If it’s something that can be handled by one plainclothes agent, instead of a whole conspicuous strike team in body armor, there’s plenty of reason and precedent to run it solo. And as I said. I do have backup, and I can contact them.”

“I wouldn’t,” Flynn says lightly. “If I were you.”

“Let me guess.” Wyatt rolls his eyes. “You were the kid who did not play nice with others in school.”

“That’s beside the point!” Flynn stands up abruptly, barely remembering to duck so that he doesn’t thump his head on the side of the garret roof. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“Considering that this is my negotiating position, do you really think I can make an actual decision? That you’d just whisk me in here, explain your cracked ideas, and I’d shrug and say, ‘sounds legit, let’s get started?’ I need to get Lucy home before something happens to her, whether or not you mean it! You’re a wanted terrorist. They have half the security agencies of the entire federal government looking for you, probably more! What are you going to do, let her catch a few bullets for you? Jesus Christ! Have you thought this through at all?”

Despite himself, Flynn flinches. He knows that his methods have been, to say the least, morally questionable and strategically slapdash, but he has had to think on his feet the entire time, and he is certainly not about to let Wyatt Logan throw a spanner in the works now. He turns away, rubbing his chin, until he’s further startled by the feeling of a hand on his arm. Lucy’s hand, in fact. “Garcia,” she says in an undertone. “He’s right.”

It’s Flynn’s turn to be at a loss for words. He can feel Wyatt watching them, plainly sensing that this is likewise an unusual exchange for a captor and a captive, where Lucy evidently thinks that she can talk him around to her way of doing things. She is not entirely wrong, as it of course happened before with rather unsettling ease, in that cellar in Washington D.C., but they’ll never know if her plan to destroy Rittenhouse would have actually worked, because he was the one to pull the rug out from it. Accidentally, but still. It occurs to Flynn that they could pay another visit to Ethan Cahill and see if he still has those files, or anything else useful he forgot last time, but he knows that he won’t. After all, they were never there in 1954, so Cahill never met them, never was convinced to lead a double life as the mole within the operation and compile evidence on their crimes. Even if he did, Rittenhouse would be well prepared for another attack on that front. They clearly remember what happened, or at least some of them do. Must have safeguards built in somehow, ways to make sure they track changes to reality, from the moment they commissioned a time machine and decided to start meddling around with the fabric of the cosmos. Probably moved to protect all the members arrested in the previous timeline, change details and erase charges and manufacture new identities, just in case.

For a moment, Flynn feels utterly overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task, the fluid and amorphous and indestructible nature of this enemy – lop off one head, a hundred more grow in its place. He’s almost unspeakably exhausted. Couldn’t Wyatt and Lucy just have let him blow them all up, instead of being irritatingly self-righteous about the whole thing? Murder, however dubious its morality, is undoubtedly effective. They’d be dead too – he’d be dead – but right now, that doesn’t seem to matter very much. It’s not like he’s doing a damn lot of good.

And yet, he thinks, before he can stop himself. If he had, Lucy would be dead too. And somehow, despite everyone he’s killed (who, he supposes, he now hasn’t killed – but that doesn’t feel like vindication or atonement), that feels like the one that could never be forgiven. He asked God for absolution. If he stood for divine judgment with that on his conscience, he would not receive it, and he would fully deserve that. He’d be done for. Damned.

What if He led you to me?

Flynn grimaces again, trying to chase out the memory of how his heart turned over when she said that, how it was nearly exactly a blinding light from the heavens. He kept asking for a sign, a miracle – what else did he want than a strange woman appearing who somehow knew him, claiming she was from the future, giving him a journal, and telling him about a time machine? He’d thought that was the answer, the guidance: use it, kill them, take vengeance. And of course, he was completely wrong. Lucy was the gift, the sign, the miracle. She was right before him the whole time, and he’s never even known until it’s too late.

Her hand is still on his arm. His gaze flickers down to her. He wants to tell her that, remind her that she said it, but then, he’s always tried telling Lucy things, and he’s still not sure if it ever worked. She seems slightly more inclined to believe him this time, even without her memories, but he doesn’t know if that’s anything to do with him, or just her innate sense of things being off, that unerring intuition that she can’t quite shut off no matter how hard she tries. He’s forgotten that she has to learn it all, that she can’t just skip from A to C without going through the process of B. Theoretically, he supposes, that means being patient with her. Possibly even trying, once more, to do things her way. But that always takes longer, and he does not know – ironically, as it has always been the one thing uniting them, its twists and turns and tears, its possibility and impossibility alike – if they have enough time.

Flynn tries to get hold of himself, to banish the heat and unsteadiness in his stomach. He wishes that Lucy wasn’t looking up at him like that, with that imploring intensity and unconscious belief. Lorena already thought that he ran off to have a torrid affair with her, and it is far closer to the mark than Flynn ever wants to admit – emotionally, at least, if not physically. If he’s wondering if God did in fact lead him to a woman who is not his wife, if there have been moments late at night when he has conjured the ghost of her to keep him company – telling himself it is only so he does not tarnish Lorena’s memory with this sordid quest – then there’s no way to be entirely safe about this. Lorena isn’t a memory anymore, but she is missing. If that is Flynn’s fault, for even remotely thinking he might have feelings for someone else, he’ll be the one to kill her this time. Not Rittenhouse. He can’t. He can’t.

He pulls away from Lucy, harder than he means to. “No,” he says harshly. “Wyatt helps us, or I put a bullet in his head.”

Both of them stare at him with coldly apparent distaste. Lucy steps back from him with a jerk, as if she was deluding herself to think that she ever had a chance of appealing to his better nature, and Flynn informs Wyatt that he will now make a call and tell his bosses back in the States that everything is fine and he has the situation under control, that he has Lucy safe but needs a few extra days to sort everything out. “And,” he adds. “I know all the code words that mean you’re being held hostage and need them to send a strike team in. Use any of them, and. . .” He cocks his gun with a pointed thunk. “Get the picture?”

Wyatt continues to stare at him loathingly. It’s unclear if he’s all that fussed about threats directed toward him, and Flynn supposes that the more effective maneuver might be to aim it at Lucy instead, but the thought of pointing a gun at her, even by accident, gives him slight heart failure – he still remembers what it felt like to look up and see her on the other end in 1780, standing between him and John Rittenhouse. Besides, he’s just told Wyatt that he didn’t hurt her, and he can’t quite stand to prove that a lie now, just like everything else. He keeps the gun where it is, and tosses Wyatt’s phone at him with the other hand. “Call.”

With the bonds having been loosed just enough to allow Wyatt to do this, he hesitates a final moment, looks between Lucy – who is white-faced and clearly silently pleading with him to cooperate and not be hurt, that they’ll think of another way out later – and Flynn, and then grudgingly does as ordered. With the muzzle of Flynn’s gun trained on him, he makes a brief call back to base. Says exactly what Flynn told him to, and nothing else. The people on the other end seem to buy it, and he hangs up with a further black look. “There, asshole. Now what?”

“We need to find some way to contact Rufus Carlin.” That would be far easier than trying to smuggle a wanted terrorist, a missing college professor, and a Delta Force soldier through U.S. customs and border patrol one more time – Flynn is good, but not that good. Get in touch with Carlin on some pretext. Tell him he’s won a prestigious science award, something like that. Get him to fly out here, join them, and find somewhere with comparable capabilities to Mason Industries. The only place Flynn can think of is the CERN facilities in Geneva, Switzerland, home of the Large Hadron Collider, the cutting edge of experimental particle physics. How they will get in there, well, Flynn isn’t to that part of the plan yet. But if there is anywhere in the world that can fix a broken timestream, it’s that, and Rufus will probably love the chance to play around with it. If he doesn’t hold too much of a grudge for being effectively deceived and kidnapped and coerced into it, that is, but Flynn doesn’t think that is terribly important.

“Right,”  Wyatt says coldly. “Because he’s the other one of the Time-Traveling Three Musketeers? I don’t even know what you want with him.”

“That’s for the best.” Flynn is tired of arguing with these people, explaining himself, trying to make them understand. He calculates in his head. It’s only a bit over five hours to drive from Paris to Geneva, and they’re still in the Schengen area, so they should not be asked for any ID crossing the border. The flight is shorter, but they’d have to present passports, so that’s out. He can definitely get his hands on a car, legitimately or otherwise, so the biggest problem would be controlling Wyatt between here and there (he is welcome to ride in the trunk, if he feels like causing more trouble). And if there are any police blockades set up on the outskirts of the city, looking for certain escaped suspects, that could be dicey. If worse comes to worse, though, Flynn will deal with it. How he intends to do this is probably predictable.

It takes further wrangling, threatening, and general bare-knuckles diplomacy, but the three of them finally pack up and depart their impromptu lodgings. With Flynn promising to make Wyatt very much regret it if he tries an escape, they march down the stairs and out into the alley. There is a flower delivery van parked nearby, which Flynn considers, before deciding that it is a bit too whimsical for this particular mission, and besides, the business would definitely have a GPS tracker or something in it, report it missing quickly. Instead, he angles for an inconspicuous, beat-up Renault, the kind of thing that its owner might be secretly relieved to have stolen, use the insurance money to buy themselves a decent new ride. Wyatt is forced into the back seat, while Lucy pauses, clearly considers getting in with him as an act of solidarity, then decides on the passenger seat so she can keep a better eye on Flynn. She sits with precision, hands folded in her lap, and he can feel her anger cold in the air around her. He deserves it. Richly, in fact.

He gets behind the wheel, takes out his picks, and manages to gun the car to life, pulling out and turning around. He checks the gas tank – a little over half full, that will at least get them some of the way, though they’ll probably have to stop at some point. Keeps an eye on Wyatt in the rearview mirror; his hands are still tied, but if he decides to do something rash, ambush Flynn while he’s driving, it will be bad. Flynn, however, thinks that Wyatt won’t risk crashing the car with Lucy in it, and in fact is going to have to count on that. Well, then. This should be a fun family road trip for everyone.

It’s still early, and while there seem to be a few more cops out than usual, nobody notices them. Flynn keeps to a normal speed despite his instinct to floor it and clear out of here as fast as possible, eyes flicking back and forth in case flashing lights start swarming up from any direction. He turns on the radio, trying to see if there’s any news of traffic backup or police checkpoints on any of the ring roads, but the hosts seem to be too busy complaining that Sarkozy actually threatened to return to politics the other day. It’s south on the A6 as far as Mâcon, then a short jaunt east on the A40, across the Swiss border and into Geneva. Assuming nothing stupid happens, they could be there in time for a late lunch.

They make it out of Paris without incident, though the silence in the car is almost physically oppressive. Lucy passes the bakery bag back to Wyatt, who fishes a croissant out awkwardly. Flynn is hungry too, but he has a feeling that he is going to have to suck it up and suffer. He has an absurd urge to make conversation, do something to pass the time, but that is clearly going to get him nowhere. He concentrates on the road instead. One day when they remember, they’ll thank him for this. Or be twice as determined to arrest him, who knows.

It’s a fairly uncomplicated drive to Mâcon, where they have to stop for gas. This is tricky, as a restroom break is also in order, and Flynn doesn’t want to let Lucy and Wyatt too far out of his sight. As they pull into the service station, he warns, “I’ll let you get out, but talk to anyone or tell them who you are, and – ”

“Right. You’ll shoot them.” Wyatt gives him a black look. “Or otherwise do something to hurt them for being in the way. Don’t worry, we’ll mind our manners. For now.”

This is not the most encouraging utterance in the world, but Flynn has to take what he can get. He removes Wyatt’s bonds and allows them out, then fills up the tank, keeping an eagle eye on them as they go inside. Wyatt can’t speak French, so his options for blowing their cover are more limited, but Lucy does. Flynn obviously does not want to shoot up a gas station full of innocent people, as that would provide a giant flashing beacon for their location among other drawbacks, and besides, he’s starting to run low on ammunition. He has a few more clips to spare, but he wants to save it for Rittenhouse, not this. If they try to call his bluff, he’ll have to think of some way to get around it, but that’s the thing about them. They’re good people. They’re not going to risk hurting bystanders, even if their own necks are on the line. The opposite, in fact, of him.

At any rate, Wyatt and Lucy both return to the car without incident, though their expressions speak volumes about how they feel in doing so. Flynn reminds himself that the older couple in the campervan one pump over were probably not, in fact, looking at them too long, and pulls out. As they merge onto the A40, Wyatt finally speaks. “So. What the hell are we doing in Switzerland? Trying to rob one of their banks? Major cuckoo clock heist?”

“No.” Flynn has to hit the brakes as someone cuts him off, growls a curse, and decides that while he could shoot this miserable villain, he won’t. How magnanimous of him. “I told you, we’re trying to fix the broken timeline. That’s why we need Rufus, and CERN.”

“Right,” Wyatt says. “Because this definitely looks like saving the world.”

“I don’t care if you believe me or not.” Flynn cares, of course he cares, he cares so much that it twists his guts in knots – that he should give any proportion of a shit of what Wyatt Logan, Master Sergeant, remotely thinks about him, but he does. “Maybe you can occupy yourself usefully, and read the journal, eh? I’m not going to explain everything to you twice.”

Wyatt shifts his weight angrily, making Flynn wonder if it was a mistake not to tie his hands again. “Jesus, you’re such a dick.”

“Never said I wasn’t.” Flynn raises an eyebrow. “But I’m not lying.”

Wyatt shoots a glance at Lucy, as if to judge if there’s any chance she’s actually buying any of the mounds of bullshit Flynn is shoveling on them faster than they can possibly dig out. “Okay,” he says after a moment, tersely. “Let’s presume for argument’s sake that you actually are trying to do the right thing. Why are you doing it like this?”

“Because I have to!” Flynn hits the wheel in frustration. “The only other people in the world who can remotely help me are you three, and the government is crawling with Rittenhouse, who want all of us dead! Maybe not you, Lucy, given that your father is so important to them, but – ”

Lucy goes stiff. “What are you talking about? My father’s dead. Henry Wallace, he died almost ten years ago. Lung cancer, the same as. . .” Her voice cracks, ever so slightly, but she recovers. “Same as is happening to Mom.”

“No.” Flynn could, he supposes, do this more tactfully, but he can’t help the urge to throw stones at her glass house, to see if anything at all cracks and breaks through, makes her remember, does anything. “Your father’s name is Benjamin Cahill. He is a high-ranking member of the secret society I told you about, Rittenhouse. Wallace never was your father. Your mother lied to you.”

“I beg your pardon?” Lucy stares at him, white to the lips. “Why on earth would you say something like that?”

“Why would I make it up?” Flynn hopes she won’t start crying, even if Lucy is not, at least usually, a crier. Then he would want to pull over and comfort her, and that would be no good at all. “You knew it, or you used to. The same as you, Wyatt, used to know who killed your wife.”

That, to say the least, gets a reaction. Wyatt snaps forward so fast he might give himself whiplash. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I told you the name of Jessica’s murderer, just as I promised. Not that it’s going to do you any good now. You and Rufus stole the Lifeboat to make sure he was never born, but it didn’t bring her back.” Flynn changes lanes, thinking it might be wise to be near the shoulder if Wyatt makes a lunge at him. “How do I know that, huh?”

“Do you think this is funny?” Wyatt stares at him with a look of such sheer hatred that Flynn, for a moment, almost recoils. “Stabbing us both in our weakest spots like this? For what, sadistic pleasure? Is that what you want? To hurt us just for the fun of it?”

“I want you both to know the truth.” Flynn isn’t sure what part of that was unclear, but trust Wyatt to miss the point. “Ugly as it is. Do you want to remember? Do you want to know what I’m talking about when I say all this? Then why don’t you try?”

“Try what?” Wyatt explodes. “To concentrate hard enough to join you in your sick little delusions? You know, I get it. I do. You’re a fucking psychopath.”

“No, I’m not!” It’s Flynn’s turn to roar back, as he jerks the car over onto the shoulder and puts on his flashers, as he doesn’t feel up to driving and having this argument at the same time. “I’m not! I’m trying to help you! Help you both! Now go on, if you don’t care about any of this, about what I’m saying, about her. Here’s your chance. Get out of the car right now. Walk away, Wyatt, if that’s what you want, what you believe. I’m not going to stop you.”

“Except with what?” Wyatt sneers. “A .45 caliber to the back of the head?”

Flynn whirls around, holds up his gun, and clicks the magazine out of it, letting Wyatt see that it’s unloaded. “There. Unless you think I could throw it at you hard enough to kill you. Go on. Hitchhike back to Paris, fly back to San Francisco and your empty, unfulfilled life, if that’s what you want. Far be it from me to stop you.”

Wyatt’s eyes blaze back at him, and for a moment Flynn wonders if they are going to have to take this outside, literally. Then, choking on his umbrage, Wyatt says, “No. I’m not going to leave Lucy here with you.”

“And why not? Why is that? Why do you keep having to convince yourself that you don’t know her, that she’s just the woman you were sent to rescue? What is it about her that’s keeping you here? If it’s nothing – go.  You keep insisting it’s nonsense. Prove it.”

There is another, even more hideous silence. Then Wyatt says, “I hate you.”

“So the usual, then?” Seeing that he does not appear to be getting out of the car (unfortunate, really) Flynn pulls back into traffic and accelerates. “Let me know if you change your mind. I won’t be sad to get rid of you.”

Wyatt mutters something probably unrepeatable under his breath, but they make it to the Swiss border without further incident, though the air in the car could probably light a cigarette on its own. As Flynn hoped, they cross without being examined too closely, and drive down into Geneva, beautiful with its glimmering blue namesake lake and distant snowcapped mountains. It’s midafternoon, and Flynn wants to find somewhere to set up base – he considers one of the omnipresent bed and breakfasts, but decides that they will probably be safer in one of the big hotels downtown, where there is a constant traffic of foreigners and tourists and no special attention will be paid to them, which they might get at a smaller establishment. He parks the Renault in a side street and leaves it there, supposing he’s lucky that they didn’t break down on the autobahn, and takes Lucy’s arm by reflex, which she permits (though not without a chilly look warning him that all has not been forgiven). With Wyatt trailing sullenly a few paces behind, they walk into the bustling financial district, and Flynn picks a hotel near the Gare de Cornavin. Not bank-breakingly expensive, as he’s not made of money, but he also does not intend to stay in a total dive, and he keeps a lookout as they walk into the glittering glass lobby. He has a credit card and passport under a false name, the one he used to get out of America, but if they’ve picked up on that alibi, this could turn unpleasant quickly.

As usual, however, Homeland Security is not nearly as smart as they think they are, and Flynn manages to book a standard suite with two bedrooms, as he does not intend to let his hostages/grudging co-conspirators/whatever they are come and go entirely without supervision. He doesn’t think they’re going to leave at this stage, but he’s also not going to make a foolish mistake and blow everything to hell, and as he can feel the clerk’s eyes on them, perhaps sensing that there is not exactly an air of harmony and amicability about these three harried travelers, he says to Lucy, “Looking forward to our sightseeing, honey?”

Lucy starts, but a faint smile touches her lips almost despite herself, which she can’t quite bite away before Flynn sees it. He doesn’t know who the clerk thinks Wyatt is, in that case, and doesn’t particularly care. He accepts the key cards, says apologetically, “We had a stressful trip,” takes Lucy’s arm again, and strides off across the floor to the elevators. They ride up to the suite and swipe inside, as Flynn shuts the door, deadbolts it, and makes an only slightly sardonic gesture. “Probably want to freshen up, don’t you?”

“How thoughtful,” Wyatt mutters, clearly sensing that this is a thinly veiled pretext to get them out of the way while Flynn does who-the-fuck -knows-what, but also just as clearly feeling the effects of their eventful past few days. He hesitates a final moment, then goes into the bathroom and shuts the door. Once they hear the water start to run, Flynn heads for the phone.

“What are you going to do?” Lucy asks, catching him off guard. “With Rufus Carlin?”

“I’m going to convince him to travel here.” Flynn is an accomplished liar, as it comes with the territory working in intelligence and having to concoct cover stories and plausible explanations at the drop of a hat, and he is confident of his ability to get Rufus’ butt on a plane, if nothing else. Especially if he pays for the ticket and sends him something on official-looking email letterhead. “After that, it’s up to him if he wants to make it easy or difficult.”

“Why don’t you just not be such a. . .” Lucy searches for a word to encompass the full extent of his character flaws, and finds nothing sufficient for the job. “If you really want to do the right thing, why do you keep going about it the wrong way?”

“Who says it’s wrong?” But it’s a feeble deflection, as Flynn can’t quite meet her eyes as he says it. “You can thank me – or criticize me – later.”

“I think kidnapping, extortion, threats of gross bodily harm, and the at least strongly implied possibility of murder might fall under that heading,” Lucy says levelly. “Not even to mention whatever you think you were doing with claiming my dad isn’t my dad, and that you know who killed his wife, or – ” She stops, rubbing her eyes. Quieter, she says, “Is that what you want, like he thinks? To hurt us?”

Flynn can take all the sneering accusations Wyatt wants to dish out, but this stings in a way he wasn’t prepared for. He looks up at her, almost wounded that this is what she thinks of him, though he has to grimly admit that he has given her more than good reason for it. “No,” he says. “That’s not what I want.”

Lucy studies his face with a searching expression, until he almost wants to turn away from the intensity of that regard, knowing too well what she is seeing. At last, she sucks in a little breath, wets her lips, and nods once, as if making a decision that she hopes she doesn’t regret. He senses that she won’t stop him from calling Rufus, but she’ll keep a close eye on whatever he does afterward, and doesn’t know whether to appreciate this interference or not. The air is charged between them the same way it was in the car, but differently this time, until Flynn is aware of a decided difficulty in catching his breath. No. This is absolutely not happening. He forbids it.

Still. It’s too hard to tear his eyes off hers, to reach for the phone, to get himself under control as he prepares his lie. He’ll have to go down to the hotel business center to buy the plane ticket and send the email, and Wyatt and Lucy might run then, but if they don’t want to know the truth, fine. To hell with them. He’ll do this alone. He’s used to that.

Flynn sits down and picks up the phone. Dials, and waits. Can feel Lucy watching him for a moment longer, until she finally turns as well, and goes.

--------------

Rufus spends most of the overnight plane ride scribbling equations on the back of the tiny napkin they gave him with his equally fun-size pack of crackers and wondering if this would be a good time to bring up his theory that the world might be ending. He runs out of room on the napkin fairly quickly, so he has to express his genius on the barf bag instead, and then when he has covered both sides of that in complicated squiggles (watched quizzically by his seatmate, who is clearly hoping that he is not planning a hijacking – Rufus heard the story of the professor detained for doing math on a plane, which some panicky white person mistook for Arabic) the SkyMall catalogue. He’s not sure he’s really worked anything out, and he doesn’t give himself much more than a pounding headache. But when Dr. Asher Thompkins calls from the European Organization for Nuclear Research, better known as Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire or CERN, the largest particle physics lab in the world and Geek Valhalla for someone of Rufus’s interests, says they’ve taken notice of his outstanding work at Mason Industries and have an urgent issue for him to consult on, you kind of just pick up and go.

Idly, Rufus hopes Jiya will be impressed by this, as he didn’t exactly get a chance to tell her before he left; Dr. Thompkins sent him a fully paid plane ticket for a departure that evening, San Francisco to Geneva, connecting through Frankfurt, and an email on CERN letterhead with the address of the downtown hotel where he is supposed to meet them. It briefly crosses Rufus’ mind to wonder why they don’t want to meet him at the lab, but there are probably interview formalities and access issues and whatever else to work out before they let him stroll into the middle of their secured research facility.  He’s brought a portfolio of his major projects from Mason Industries, so they know he’s not fresh off the turnip cart, including his schematics for the Lifeboat and his questions about the paradox of the Mothership’s apparent simultaneous use/non-use prior to its destruction. Also, of course, the space-time continuum’s notably fragile state. Maybe they’ve picked up the same thing on their observations, and are assembling a nerd squad to run intervention before it gets any worse. Rufus wouldn’t exactly mind. Saving the world could definitely get him laid. Not, of course, that his interest is entirely so ignoble.

Rufus dozes on and off until they land in Frankfurt, and he has just about enough time to grab a coffee and donut and type out a casual email to Jiya on the airport wifi, before boarding his flight to Geneva. He did inform Connor Mason that he had to take a quick trip, but for some reason, didn’t tell him exactly where he was going. Rufus isn’t even sure why, and the more he’s searched for a reason, the more he hasn’t found one. He just didn’t want to, and he can’t explain it more than that. Connor has enough on his plate with Agent Neville and the rest of his minions swarming the lab, and every time Rufus considered it, it felt – well, wrong. He did fill him in on the disturbing implications of the Mothership data, and Mason promised that it would be forwarded to the appropriate higher-ups, but this. . . he can’t, for some reason. Rufus doesn’t know. It’s dumb. Hopefully he’ll come back with an answer, and it will all be moot.

He is yawning and jetlagged by the time he lands in Geneva sometime the next morning, hoping that Dr. Thompkins will be prompt about the initial meeting, and he can crash and recover before he’s expected to be smart. He gets the high-speed train from Cointrin International into downtown, looking around interestedly; he hasn’t really had the chance to do much traveling, and this is only the second time he’s been out of the country – the first was the London international science competition that he won in high school, the one Connor sponsored him in. Something about that briefly catches at him, but he ignores it.

Rufus gets off at the central train station, navigates through the commuter crowds, double-checks the address, and crosses to the hotel across the street. He thinks this is the one, and wonders if he should switch his comfortable sweats, the clothes he wore for a long-haul international flight, for something a bit more respectable. Dr. Thompkins is not expecting a disheveled bumpkin, after all. His voice on the phone sounded almost familiar, though Rufus doesn’t know why – European accent of some kind, not surprising, considering that he works here. Maybe they’ve crossed paths at some conference or event.

Rufus ducks into the hotel bathroom, pulls a pair of clean jeans and a smart jacket out of his suitcase, changes, washes his face, pops a breath mint, and decides that he looks more or less respectable. He heads into the lobby and glances around for anyone who might be an eminent scientist, trying to anticipate what kind of questions he’ll be asked. Nothing he can’t handle, but it would be nice to have had some time to prepare. He doesn’t want to screw this up. Or –

“Mr. Carlin?”

Rufus turns around eagerly, ready to science their faces off, to prove what a worthy choice he was, to earn Cool Boyfriend cred, to do whatever –

And freezes.

He recognizes the tall, dark, sharp-dressed man striding toward him, from the briefing session with the bigwigs at Mason Industries. The name that he blurted out and didn’t know how he knew it, until he suddenly realizes what is going on here, what has actually been happening all along, and feels a freezing wave crash over his head. The smart thing to do would be to run for it, but Rufus’s feet remain rooted to the ground. Until the man reaches him, holds out one hand for a friendly shake, and with the other, presses a gun to his side, warning him not to do exactly that.

“Good morning, Rufus,” Garcia Flynn says. “Please, come with me.”

[wetrumpfeed]

Afternoon MAGAthread: YOUR WEEKLY PRESIDENTIAL RECAP!

HAPPY SATURDAY SUPER ELITES!

This is u/Ivaginaryfriend here and I'm back with a recap of last weeks winning! If you happened to miss any past recaps you can catch those here!

Sunday, June 2nd:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Trump Delivers Remarks at the Ford's Theatre Gala

President Trump Delivers Remarks Upon Departure

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

The Democrats are doing nothing on the Border to address the Humanitarian and National Security Crisis! Could be fixed so easily if they would vote with Republicans to fix the loopholes.

People have been saying for years that we should talk to Mexico. The problem is that Mexico is an “abuser” of the United States, taking but never giving. It has been this way for decades. Either they stop the invasion of our Country by Drug Dealers, Cartels, Human Traffickers.... ... ....Coyotes and Illegal Immigrants, which they can do very easily, or our many companies and jobs that have been foolishly allowed to move South of the Border, will be brought back into the United States through taxation (Tariffs). America has had enough!

The Wall is under construction and moving along quickly, despite all of the Radical Liberal Democrat lawsuits. What are they thinking as our Country is invaded by so many people (illegals) and things (Drugs) that we do not want. Make America Great Again!

NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION, NO NOTHING! “What the Democrats are trying to do is the biggest sin in the impeachment business.” David Rivkin, Constitutional Scholar. Meantime, the Dems are getting nothing done in Congress. They are frozen stiff. Get back to work, much to do!

I never called Meghan Markle “nasty.” Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold! Will @CNN, @nytimes and others apologize? Doubt it!

Peggy Noonan, the simplistic writer for Trump Haters all, is stuck in the past glory of Reagan and has no idea what is happening with the Radical Left Democrats, or how vicious and desperate they are. Mueller had to correct his ridiculous statement, Peggy never understood it!

Mexico is sending a big delegation to talk about the Border. Problem is, they’ve been “talking” for 25 years. We want action, not talk. They could solve the Border Crisis in one day if they so desired. Otherwise, our companies and jobs are coming back to the USA!

Democrats can’t impeach a Republican President for crimes committed by Democrats. The facts are “pouring” in. The Greatest Witch Hunt in American History! Congress, go back to work and help us at the Border, with Drug Prices and on Infrastructure.

Hearing word that Russia, Syria and, to a lesser extent, Iran, are bombing the hell out of Idlib Province in Syria, and indiscriminately killing many innocent civilians. The World is watching this butchery. What is the purpose, what will it get you? STOP!

Kevin Hassett, who has done such a great job for me and the Administration, will be leaving shortly. His very talented replacement will be named as soon as I get back to the U.S. I want to thank Kevin for all he has done - he is a true friend!

BIG NEWS! As I promised two weeks ago, the first shipment of LNG has just left the Cameron LNG Export Facility in Louisiana. Not only have thousands of JOBS been created in USA, we’re shipping freedom and opportunity abroad!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Elon Musk Schools Fake News Media

Daily Beast Says Facebook Helped Them Dox Trump Supporter | Breitbart

FAKE NEWS - Look how they subtly try to manipulate the way you think .

Fucking bitch says Dems need to take "kill shot" on Trump, then acts like she didn't realize what she was saying. ABC leaves it in show. DECLAS is about to expose her traitor dad. Lock them all the fuck up.

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Message straight from the White House

Last time I posted this it caused a massive triggering, and we were invaded, and it was eventually downvoted to 0 from 300. Round 2, let's do this.

"Progress" in Europe

👌🏻

Tim pool vs msm

Monday, June 3rd:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Individual to a Key Administration Post

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

.@SadiqKhan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as Mayor of London, has been foolishly “nasty” to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom. He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me...... ... ....Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job - only half his height. In any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit. Landing now!

Thank you! 🇺🇸🇬🇧

China is subsidizing its product in order that it can continue to be sold in the USA. Many firms are leaving China for other countries, including the United States, in order to avoid paying the Tariffs. No visible increase in costs or inflation, but U.S. is taking Billions!

Just arrived in the United Kingdom. The only problem is that @CNN is the primary source of news available from the U.S. After watching it for a short while, I turned it off. All negative & so much Fake News, very bad for U.S. Big ratings drop. Why doesn’t owner @ATT do something?

I believe that if people stoped using or subscribing to @ATT, they would be forced to make big changes at @CNN, which is dying in the ratings anyway. It is so unfair with such bad, Fake News! Why wouldn’t they act. When the World watches @CNN, it gets a false picture of USA. Sad!

London part of trip is going really well. The Queen and the entire Royal family have been fantastic. The relationship with the United Kingdom is very strong. Tremendous crowds of well wishers and people that love our Country. Haven’t seen any protests yet, but I’m sure the.... ... ....Fake News will be working hard to find them. Great love all around. Also, big Trade Deal is possible once U.K. gets rid of the shackles. Already starting to talk!

Russia has informed us that they have removed most of their people from Venezuela.

As a sign of good faith, Mexico should immediately stop the flow of people and drugs through their country and to our Southern Border. They can do it if they want!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Now THAT is a FLOTUS.

CNN is one giant meme...

Facts You Won't See on CNN

Judge tosses House Dems' lawsuit over Trump's use of emergency military funds for border wall

BREAKING: California state bar moves to suspend Avenatti's law license, saying he poses 'substantial threat of harm to clients or the public'

The Democrats Don't Even Try to Hide it, They HATE America

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

The Trump balloon surveys the carnage that is part and parcel of daily life in Sadiq Khan's London

How Her Majesty looks at Meghan Markle vs how she looks at President Trump.

POTUS Keepin' an Eye on Fake News while Peepin' the Queen's Trinkets

The floor is the FALSE SONG OF GLOBALISM

Tuesday, June 4th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Individual to a Key Administration Post

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump's Visit to the United Kingdom - Day 1

President Trump Participates in a Press Conference with the Prime Minister of UK & Northern Ireland

President Trump Participates in a Business Roundtable

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

#USStateVisit🇺🇸🇬🇧

President Trump Participates in a Press Conference with the Prime Minister of UK & Northern Ireland

Thank you @Theresa_May!🇺🇸🇬🇧

Can you imagine Cryin’ Chuck Schumer saying out loud, for all to hear, that I am bluffing with respect to putting Tariffs on Mexico. What a Creep. He would rather have our Country fail with drugs & Immigration than give Republicans a win. But he gave Mexico bad advice, no bluff!

Washed up psycho @BetteMidler was forced to apologize for a statement she attributed to me that turned out to be totally fabricated by her in order to make “your great president” look really bad. She got caught, just like the Fake News Media gets caught. A sick scammer!

#USStateVisit🇺🇸🇬🇧

Plagiarism charge against Sleepy Joe Biden on his ridiculous Climate Change Plan is a big problem, but the Corrupt Media will save him. His other problem is that he is drawing flies, not people, to his Rallies. Nobody is showing up, I mean nobody. You can’t win without people!

I kept hearing that there would be “massive” rallies against me in the UK, but it was quite the opposite. The big crowds, which the Corrupt Media hates to show, were those that gathered in support of the USA and me. They were big & enthusiastic as opposed to the organized flops!

Just had a big victory in Federal Court over the Democrats in the House on the desperately needed Border Wall. A big step in the right direction. Wall is under construction!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Never forget what they did to this family, as they will most assuredly do the same to yours.

'Coward of Broward' police deputy arrested for inaction during Parkland mass shooting

ICE planning large-scale deportations that 'will include families'

BBC and uk politicians heads explode in- 3-2-1 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 link in comments

Trump destroys Sadiq Khan - Mayor of London 🔴 Press Conference

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

MAGA 2020

Yes, we do lay out a red carpet for our favourite world leader and no, liberals you can’t stop us!

Absolute truth

Beef Status : Roasted

Then I said... "Because You'd be in Jail"

Wednesday, June 5th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Three Nominations and One Withdrawal Sent to the Senate

President Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the Prime Minister of Ireland

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

.@FLOTUS Melania and I send our deepest condolences to President Reuven Rivlin and the entire State of Israel upon the passing of Mrs. Nechama Rivlin. Mrs. Rivlin represented her beloved country with grace and stature. We will miss her along with all those who knew her.

Could not have been treated more warmly in the United Kingdom by the Royal Family or the people. Our relationship has never been better, and I see a very big Trade Deal down the road. “This trip has been an incredible success for the President.” @IngrahamAngle

House Democrats, fresh off a Republican victory against them (in Federal Court) on the Wall, keep asking people to come and testify regarding the No Collusion Witch Hunt. They are very unhappy with the Mueller Report, especially with his corrective letter, & now want a Do Over!

If the totally Corrupt Media was less corrupt, I would be up by 15 points in the polls based on our tremendous success with the economy, maybe Best Ever! If the Corrupt Media was actually fair, I would be up by 25 points. Nevertheless, despite the Fake News, we’re doing great!

“House Republicans support the President on Tariffs with Mexico all the way, & that makes any measure the President takes on the Border totally Veto proof. Why wouldn’t you as Republicans support him when that will allow our President to make a better deal.” Thank you @GOPLeader

As we approach the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, we proudly commemorate those heroic and honorable patriots who gave their all for the cause of freedom during some of history’s darkest hours. #DDay75

Immigration discussions at the White House with representatives of Mexico have ended for the day. Progress is being made, but not nearly enough! Border arrests for May are at 133,000 because of Mexico & the Democrats in Congress refusing to budge on immigration reform. Further... ... ....talks with Mexico will resume tomorrow with the understanding that, if no agreement is reached, Tariffs at the 5% level will begin on Monday, with monthly increases as per schedule. The higher the Tariffs go, the higher the number of companies that will move back to the USA!

#DDay75thAnniversary #DDay75

“The President has received glowing reviews from the British Media. Here at home, not so much. MSNBC Ramps up hateful coverage and promotes conspiracy theories during Trump’s trip to Europe.” @seanhannity The good news is that @maddow is dying in the ratings, along with @CNN!

A big and beautiful day today!

Heading over to Normandy to celebrate some of the bravest that ever lived. We are eternally grateful! #DDay75thAnniversary #DDay75

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Just Donald Trump wearing Winston Churchill's bowler hat

POTUS showed his dominance over the rest of the world leaders.

Youtube has banned a respected history channel for "hate speech." Thanks, Vox.

Guilty until proven innocent for the Samaritans

WINNING: Judge approves more than $6 billion in border wall funding

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Celebrate

Ouch

Don't Hate the Straight

A baconator is in order

The GEOTUS finger point

Thursday, June 6th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Proclamation on National Day of Remembrance of the 75th Anniversary of D-Day

President Trump Delivers Departure Remarks

President Trump and The First Lady Participate in the 75th Commemoration of D-Day

President Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the President of the French Republic

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

#DDay75thAnniversary

So sorry to hear about the terrible accident involving our GREAT West Point Cadets. We mourn the loss of life and pray for the injured. God Bless them ALL!

Today, we remember those who fell, and we honor all who fought, here in Normandy. They won back this ground for civilization. To more than 170 Veterans of the Second World War who join us today: You are among the very greatest Americans who will ever live! #DDay75thAnniversary

To the men who sit behind me, and to the boys who rest in the field before me: your example will never grow old. Your legend will never tire, and your spirit - brave, unyielding, and true - will NEVER DIE! #DDay75thAnniversary

Just signed Disaster Aid Bill to help Americans who have been hit by recent catastrophic storms. So important for our GREAT American farmers and ranchers. Help for GA, FL, IA, NE, NC, and CA. Puerto Rico should love President Trump. Without me, they would have been shut out!

#DDay75thAnniversary

John Solomon: Factual errors and major omissions in the Mueller Report show that it is totally biased against Trump.

“Mueller’s report was pure, political garbage!” @SeanHannity

#DDay75thAnniversary #DDay75

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

President Trump hugging Russell Pickett, 94, the last survivor of Company A whose young men led the Omaha Beach charge on D-Day. Private Pickett was just 19 years old; 96% of A Company suffered casualties within the first 30-45 minutes.

We had our heads chopped off by a blunt knife screaming for our mommies and reddit scrubbed every mention of our story because they are globalist muslim shills

Trump Administration and Taiwan announce $2+ Billion deal for Taiwan to purchase over 100 M1A2 tanks, 1600+ Javelin & TOW anti-tank missiles and 250 stinger missiles. MSM frets about “angering” an increasingly aggressive China

Our President over in France taking time to shake every WW2 veterans in attendance hand and they love him and Melania

Call to action: time to report vox for violations of TOS on YouTube!

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

VOX burn books

Saw this hilarious sign and knew exactly where to post.

Jihad Barbie has a tax problem.

My nephew is in the ROTC group presenting the VP Pence with the flag in full WWII Uniform!! So damn proud 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Friday, June 7th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Proclamation on Flag Day and National Flag Week, 2019

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Video

Video

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our great @VP Mike Pence!

China is subsidizing its product in order that it can continue to be sold in the USA. Many firms are leaving China for other countries, including the United States, in order to avoid paying the Tariffs. No visible increase in costs or inflation, but U.S. is taking in Billions!

Nervous Nancy Pelosi is a disgrace to herself and her family for having made such a disgusting statement, especially since I was with foreign leaders overseas. There is no evidence for such a thing to have been said. Nervous Nancy & Dems are getting Zero work done in Congress.... ... ...and have no intention of doing anything other than going on a fishing expedition to see if they can find anything on me - both illegal & unprecedented in U.S. history. There was no Collusion - Investigate the Investigators! Go to work on Drug Price Reductions & Infrastructure!

If we are able to make the deal with Mexico, & there is a good chance that we will, they will begin purchasing Farm & Agricultural products at very high levels, starting immediately. If we are unable to make the deal, Mexico will begin paying Tariffs at the 5% level on Monday!

Democrats are incapable of doing a good and solid Immigration Bill!

For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!

Heading back to D.C. Many great things are happening for our Country!

Dow Jones has best week of the year!

I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico. The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended. Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to.... ... ....stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States. Details of the agreement will be released shortly by the State Department. Thank you!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

MN investigation shows Rep. Omar filed EIGHT YEARS of false tax returns

[Timeline] Spygate - or how the US intelligence tried to depose a duly elected president

FBI Vault released Part 33 of their Hillary "She belongs in Jail" Clinton investigation.

BREAKING: State Department releases the following statement outlining the agreement between the U.S. and Mexico

Judicial Watch: FBI Docs Show Notes about Meeting with Intelligence Community Inspector General about Clinton Emails are ‘Missing’ and CD Containing Notes Is Likely ‘Damaged’ Irreparably - Judicial Watch

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Nervous Nancy (D)

Sand from Omaha Beach is used to make the names on white crosses more visible

BIDEN THE BITCH...can be swayed to change his opinion by ALYSSA MILANO....😂😂😂😂. What a pussy. Maybe he’ll flip on the HYDE ruling again tomorrow. 👌🏻

POTUS and FLOTUS

These young women admiring POTUS. 2020 is in the bag folks!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Saturday, June 8th:

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

While the reviews and reporting on our Border Immigration Agreement with Mexico have been very good, there has nevertheless been much false reporting (surprise!) by the Fake and Corrupt News Media, such as Comcast/NBC, CNN, @nytimes & @washingtonpost. These “Fakers” are Bad News!

Brandon Judd, National Border Patrol Council: “That’s going to be a huge deal because Mexico will be using their strong Immigration Laws - A game changer. People no longer will be released into the U.S.” Also, 6000 Mexican Troops at their Southern Border. Currently there are few!

Mexico will try very hard, and if they do that, this will be a very successful agreement for both the United States and Mexico!

MEXICO HAS AGREED TO IMMEDIATELY BEGIN BUYING LARGE QUANTITIES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT FROM OUR GREAT PATRIOT FARMERS!

Nervous Nancy Pelosi & the Democrat House are getting nothing done. Perhaps they could lead the way with the USMCA, the spectacular & very popular new Trade Deal that replaces NAFTA, the worst Trade Deal in the history of the U.S.A. Great for our Farmers, Manufacturers & Unions!

Everyone very excited about the new deal with Mexico!

I would like to thank the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and his foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, together with all of the many representatives of both the United States and Mexico, for working so long and hard to get our agreement on immigration completed!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Ted Cruz with the reckoning—This will not end well.

Mueller put the public at risk through Nader

HUGE: @RealDonaldTrump Takes Border Crisis Head On; Bruce Ohr Gets $28k Bonus in Middle of Spygate Abuses; Muller Report Fails; And More Clinton Email Docs Go Missing. Massive Judicial Watch Update!

Trump Deal with Mexico Likely Ends Catch-and-Release, Defunds Cartels

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

When you don’t understand how President Trump negotiated a successful Mexico border deal without sending pallets of cash

Finally found the Bolsonaro vs. the Commie Reaper meme I’ve been looking for since last year.

Gillette be like:

WEEEW LAD!

Without further ado, some tunes to get you jamming through all this winning:

Light

True Feeling

Swing Tree

Wait A Minute!

Chasing Colors

MAGA ON PATRIOTS!

submitted by /u/Ivaginaryfriend [link] [comments]

[robgrayofficial]

HAPPY SATURDAY SUPER ELITES!This is u/Ivaginaryfriend here and I'm back with a recap of last weeks winning! If you happened to miss any past recaps you can catch those here!Sunday, June 2nd:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump Delivers Remarks at the Ford's Theatre GalaPresident Trump Delivers Remarks Upon Departure🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:The Democrats are doing nothing on the Border to address the Humanitarian and National Security Crisis! Could be fixed so easily if they would vote with Republicans to fix the loopholes.People have been saying for years that we should talk to Mexico. The problem is that Mexico is an “abuser” of the United States, taking but never giving. It has been this way for decades. Either they stop the invasion of our Country by Drug Dealers, Cartels, Human Traffickers.... ... ....Coyotes and Illegal Immigrants, which they can do very easily, or our many companies and jobs that have been foolishly allowed to move South of the Border, will be brought back into the United States through taxation (Tariffs). America has had enough!The Wall is under construction and moving along quickly, despite all of the Radical Liberal Democrat lawsuits. What are they thinking as our Country is invaded by so many people (illegals) and things (Drugs) that we do not want. Make America Great Again!NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION, NO NOTHING! “What the Democrats are trying to do is the biggest sin in the impeachment business.” David Rivkin, Constitutional Scholar. Meantime, the Dems are getting nothing done in Congress. They are frozen stiff. Get back to work, much to do!I never called Meghan Markle “nasty.” Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold! Will @CNN, @nytimes and others apologize? Doubt it!Peggy Noonan, the simplistic writer for Trump Haters all, is stuck in the past glory of Reagan and has no idea what is happening with the Radical Left Democrats, or how vicious and desperate they are. Mueller had to correct his ridiculous statement, Peggy never understood it!Mexico is sending a big delegation to talk about the Border. Problem is, they’ve been “talking” for 25 years. We want action, not talk. They could solve the Border Crisis in one day if they so desired. Otherwise, our companies and jobs are coming back to the USA!Democrats can’t impeach a Republican President for crimes committed by Democrats. The facts are “pouring” in. The Greatest Witch Hunt in American History! Congress, go back to work and help us at the Border, with Drug Prices and on Infrastructure.Hearing word that Russia, Syria and, to a lesser extent, Iran, are bombing the hell out of Idlib Province in Syria, and indiscriminately killing many innocent civilians. The World is watching this butchery. What is the purpose, what will it get you? STOP!Kevin Hassett, who has done such a great job for me and the Administration, will be leaving shortly. His very talented replacement will be named as soon as I get back to the U.S. I want to thank Kevin for all he has done - he is a true friend!BIG NEWS! As I promised two weeks ago, the first shipment of LNG has just left the Cameron LNG Export Facility in Louisiana. Not only have thousands of JOBS been created in USA, we’re shipping freedom and opportunity abroad!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Elon Musk Schools Fake News MediaDaily Beast Says Facebook Helped Them Dox Trump Supporter | BreitbartFAKE NEWS - Look how they subtly try to manipulate the way you think .Fucking bitch says Dems need to take "kill shot" on Trump, then acts like she didn't realize what she was saying. ABC leaves it in show. DECLAS is about to expose her traitor dad. Lock them all the fuck up.🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Message straight from the White HouseLast time I posted this it caused a massive triggering, and we were invaded, and it was eventually downvoted to 0 from 300. Round 2, let's do this."Progress" in Europe👌🏻Tim pool vs msmMonday, June 3rd:TODAY'S ACTION:President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Individual to a Key Administration Post🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:.@SadiqKhan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as Mayor of London, has been foolishly “nasty” to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom. He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me...... ... ....Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job - only half his height. In any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit. Landing now!Thank you! 🇺🇸🇬🇧China is subsidizing its product in order that it can continue to be sold in the USA. Many firms are leaving China for other countries, including the United States, in order to avoid paying the Tariffs. No visible increase in costs or inflation, but U.S. is taking Billions!Just arrived in the United Kingdom. The only problem is that @CNN is the primary source of news available from the U.S. After watching it for a short while, I turned it off. All negative & so much Fake News, very bad for U.S. Big ratings drop. Why doesn’t owner @ATT do something?I believe that if people stoped using or subscribing to @ATT, they would be forced to make big changes at @CNN, which is dying in the ratings anyway. It is so unfair with such bad, Fake News! Why wouldn’t they act. When the World watches @CNN, it gets a false picture of USA. Sad!London part of trip is going really well. The Queen and the entire Royal family have been fantastic. The relationship with the United Kingdom is very strong. Tremendous crowds of well wishers and people that love our Country. Haven’t seen any protests yet, but I’m sure the.... ... ....Fake News will be working hard to find them. Great love all around. Also, big Trade Deal is possible once U.K. gets rid of the shackles. Already starting to talk!Russia has informed us that they have removed most of their people from Venezuela.As a sign of good faith, Mexico should immediately stop the flow of people and drugs through their country and to our Southern Border. They can do it if they want!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Now THAT is a FLOTUS.CNN is one giant meme...Facts You Won't See on CNNJudge tosses House Dems' lawsuit over Trump's use of emergency military funds for border wallBREAKING: California state bar moves to suspend Avenatti's law license, saying he poses 'substantial threat of harm to clients or the public'The Democrats Don't Even Try to Hide it, They HATE America🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:The Trump balloon surveys the carnage that is part and parcel of daily life in Sadiq Khan's LondonHow Her Majesty looks at Meghan Markle vs how she looks at President Trump.POTUS Keepin' an Eye on Fake News while Peepin' the Queen's TrinketsThe floor is the FALSE SONG OF GLOBALISMTuesday, June 4th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Individual to a Key Administration PostPresident Trump and First Lady Melania Trump's Visit to the United Kingdom - Day 1President Trump Participates in a Press Conference with the Prime Minister of UK & Northern IrelandPresident Trump Participates in a Business Roundtable🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:#USStateVisit🇺🇸🇬🇧President Trump Participates in a Press Conference with the Prime Minister of UK & Northern IrelandThank you @Theresa_May!🇺🇸🇬🇧Can you imagine Cryin’ Chuck Schumer saying out loud, for all to hear, that I am bluffing with respect to putting Tariffs on Mexico. What a Creep. He would rather have our Country fail with drugs & Immigration than give Republicans a win. But he gave Mexico bad advice, no bluff!Washed up psycho @BetteMidler was forced to apologize for a statement she attributed to me that turned out to be totally fabricated by her in order to make “your great president” look really bad. She got caught, just like the Fake News Media gets caught. A sick scammer!#USStateVisit🇺🇸🇬🇧Plagiarism charge against Sleepy Joe Biden on his ridiculous Climate Change Plan is a big problem, but the Corrupt Media will save him. His other problem is that he is drawing flies, not people, to his Rallies. Nobody is showing up, I mean nobody. You can’t win without people!I kept hearing that there would be “massive” rallies against me in the UK, but it was quite the opposite. The big crowds, which the Corrupt Media hates to show, were those that gathered in support of the USA and me. They were big & enthusiastic as opposed to the organized flops!Just had a big victory in Federal Court over the Democrats in the House on the desperately needed Border Wall. A big step in the right direction. Wall is under construction!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Never forget what they did to this family, as they will most assuredly do the same to yours.'Coward of Broward' police deputy arrested for inaction during Parkland mass shootingICE planning large-scale deportations that 'will include families'BBC and uk politicians heads explode in- 3-2-1 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 link in commentsTrump destroys Sadiq Khan - Mayor of London 🔴 Press Conference🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:MAGA 2020Yes, we do lay out a red carpet for our favourite world leader and no, liberals you can’t stop us!Absolute truthBeef Status : RoastedThen I said... "Because You'd be in Jail"Wednesday, June 5th:TODAY'S ACTION:Three Nominations and One Withdrawal Sent to the SenatePresident Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the Prime Minister of Ireland🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:.@FLOTUS Melania and I send our deepest condolences to President Reuven Rivlin and the entire State of Israel upon the passing of Mrs. Nechama Rivlin. Mrs. Rivlin represented her beloved country with grace and stature. We will miss her along with all those who knew her.Could not have been treated more warmly in the United Kingdom by the Royal Family or the people. Our relationship has never been better, and I see a very big Trade Deal down the road. “This trip has been an incredible success for the President.” @IngrahamAngleHouse Democrats, fresh off a Republican victory against them (in Federal Court) on the Wall, keep asking people to come and testify regarding the No Collusion Witch Hunt. They are very unhappy with the Mueller Report, especially with his corrective letter, & now want a Do Over!If the totally Corrupt Media was less corrupt, I would be up by 15 points in the polls based on our tremendous success with the economy, maybe Best Ever! If the Corrupt Media was actually fair, I would be up by 25 points. Nevertheless, despite the Fake News, we’re doing great!“House Republicans support the President on Tariffs with Mexico all the way, & that makes any measure the President takes on the Border totally Veto proof. Why wouldn’t you as Republicans support him when that will allow our President to make a better deal.” Thank you @GOPLeaderAs we approach the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, we proudly commemorate those heroic and honorable patriots who gave their all for the cause of freedom during some of history’s darkest hours. #DDay75Immigration discussions at the White House with representatives of Mexico have ended for the day. Progress is being made, but not nearly enough! Border arrests for May are at 133,000 because of Mexico & the Democrats in Congress refusing to budge on immigration reform. Further... ... ....talks with Mexico will resume tomorrow with the understanding that, if no agreement is reached, Tariffs at the 5% level will begin on Monday, with monthly increases as per schedule. The higher the Tariffs go, the higher the number of companies that will move back to the USA!#DDay75thAnniversary #DDay75“The President has received glowing reviews from the British Media. Here at home, not so much. MSNBC Ramps up hateful coverage and promotes conspiracy theories during Trump’s trip to Europe.” @seanhannity The good news is that @maddow is dying in the ratings, along with @CNN!A big and beautiful day today!Heading over to Normandy to celebrate some of the bravest that ever lived. We are eternally grateful! #DDay75thAnniversary #DDay75SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Just Donald Trump wearing Winston Churchill's bowler hatPOTUS showed his dominance over the rest of the world leaders.Youtube has banned a respected history channel for "hate speech." Thanks, Vox.Guilty until proven innocent for the SamaritansWINNING: Judge approves more than $6 billion in border wall funding🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:CelebrateOuchDon't Hate the StraightA baconator is in orderThe GEOTUS finger pointThursday, June 6th:TODAY'S ACTION:Proclamation on National Day of Remembrance of the 75th Anniversary of D-DayPresident Trump Delivers Departure RemarksPresident Trump and The First Lady Participate in the 75th Commemoration of D-DayPresident Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the President of the French Republic🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:#DDay75thAnniversarySo sorry to hear about the terrible accident involving our GREAT West Point Cadets. We mourn the loss of life and pray for the injured. God Bless them ALL!Today, we remember those who fell, and we honor all who fought, here in Normandy. They won back this ground for civilization. To more than 170 Veterans of the Second World War who join us today: You are among the very greatest Americans who will ever live! #DDay75thAnniversaryTo the men who sit behind me, and to the boys who rest in the field before me: your example will never grow old. Your legend will never tire, and your spirit - brave, unyielding, and true - will NEVER DIE! #DDay75thAnniversaryJust signed Disaster Aid Bill to help Americans who have been hit by recent catastrophic storms. So important for our GREAT American farmers and ranchers. Help for GA, FL, IA, NE, NC, and CA. Puerto Rico should love President Trump. Without me, they would have been shut out!#DDay75thAnniversaryJohn Solomon: Factual errors and major omissions in the Mueller Report show that it is totally biased against Trump.“Mueller’s report was pure, political garbage!” @SeanHannity#DDay75thAnniversary #DDay75SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:President Trump hugging Russell Pickett, 94, the last survivor of Company A whose young men led the Omaha Beach charge on D-Day. Private Pickett was just 19 years old; 96% of A Company suffered casualties within the first 30-45 minutes.We had our heads chopped off by a blunt knife screaming for our mommies and reddit scrubbed every mention of our story because they are globalist muslim shillsTrump Administration and Taiwan announce $2+ Billion deal for Taiwan to purchase over 100 M1A2 tanks, 1600+ Javelin & TOW anti-tank missiles and 250 stinger missiles. MSM frets about “angering” an increasingly aggressive ChinaOur President over in France taking time to shake every WW2 veterans in attendance hand and they love him and MelaniaCall to action: time to report vox for violations of TOS on YouTube!🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:VOX burn booksSaw this hilarious sign and knew exactly where to post.Jihad Barbie has a tax problem.My nephew is in the ROTC group presenting the VP Pence with the flag in full WWII Uniform!! So damn proud 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸Friday, June 7th:TODAY'S ACTION:Proclamation on Flag Day and National Flag Week, 2019🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:VideoVideoHAPPY BIRTHDAY to our great @VP Mike Pence!China is subsidizing its product in order that it can continue to be sold in the USA. Many firms are leaving China for other countries, including the United States, in order to avoid paying the Tariffs. No visible increase in costs or inflation, but U.S. is taking in Billions!Nervous Nancy Pelosi is a disgrace to herself and her family for having made such a disgusting statement, especially since I was with foreign leaders overseas. There is no evidence for such a thing to have been said. Nervous Nancy & Dems are getting Zero work done in Congress.... ... ...and have no intention of doing anything other than going on a fishing expedition to see if they can find anything on me - both illegal & unprecedented in U.S. history. There was no Collusion - Investigate the Investigators! Go to work on Drug Price Reductions & Infrastructure!If we are able to make the deal with Mexico, & there is a good chance that we will, they will begin purchasing Farm & Agricultural products at very high levels, starting immediately. If we are unable to make the deal, Mexico will begin paying Tariffs at the 5% level on Monday!Democrats are incapable of doing a good and solid Immigration Bill!For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!Heading back to D.C. Many great things are happening for our Country!Dow Jones has best week of the year!I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico. The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended. Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to.... ... ....stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States. Details of the agreement will be released shortly by the State Department. Thank you!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:MN investigation shows Rep. Omar filed EIGHT YEARS of false tax returns[Timeline] Spygate - or how the US intelligence tried to depose a duly elected presidentFBI Vault released Part 33 of their Hillary "She belongs in Jail" Clinton investigation.BREAKING: State Department releases the following statement outlining the agreement between the U.S. and MexicoJudicial Watch: FBI Docs Show Notes about Meeting with Intelligence Community Inspector General about Clinton Emails are ‘Missing’ and CD Containing Notes Is Likely ‘Damaged’ Irreparably - Judicial Watch🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Nervous Nancy (D)Sand from Omaha Beach is used to make the names on white crosses more visibleBIDEN THE BITCH...can be swayed to change his opinion by ALYSSA MILANO....😂😂😂😂. What a pussy. Maybe he’ll flip on the HYDE ruling again tomorrow. 👌🏻POTUS and FLOTUSThese young women admiring POTUS. 2020 is in the bag folks!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸Saturday, June 8th:🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:While the reviews and reporting on our Border Immigration Agreement with Mexico have been very good, there has nevertheless been much false reporting (surprise!) by the Fake and Corrupt News Media, such as Comcast/NBC, CNN, @nytimes & @washingtonpost. These “Fakers” are Bad News!Brandon Judd, National Border Patrol Council: “That’s going to be a huge deal because Mexico will be using their strong Immigration Laws - A game changer. People no longer will be released into the U.S.” Also, 6000 Mexican Troops at their Southern Border. Currently there are few!Mexico will try very hard, and if they do that, this will be a very successful agreement for both the United States and Mexico!MEXICO HAS AGREED TO IMMEDIATELY BEGIN BUYING LARGE QUANTITIES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT FROM OUR GREAT PATRIOT FARMERS!Nervous Nancy Pelosi & the Democrat House are getting nothing done. Perhaps they could lead the way with the USMCA, the spectacular & very popular new Trade Deal that replaces NAFTA, the worst Trade Deal in the history of the U.S.A. Great for our Farmers, Manufacturers & Unions!Everyone very excited about the new deal with Mexico!I would like to thank the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and his foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, together with all of the many representatives of both the United States and Mexico, for working so long and hard to get our agreement on immigration completed!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Ted Cruz with the reckoning—This will not end well.Mueller put the public at risk through NaderHUGE: @RealDonaldTrump Takes Border Crisis Head On; Bruce Ohr Gets $28k Bonus in Middle of Spygate Abuses; Muller Report Fails; And More Clinton Email Docs Go Missing. Massive Judicial Watch Update!Trump Deal with Mexico Likely Ends Catch-and-Release, Defunds Cartels🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:When you don’t understand how President Trump negotiated a successful Mexico border deal without sending pallets of cashFinally found the Bolsonaro vs. the Commie Reaper meme I’ve been looking for since last year.Gillette be like:WEEEW LAD!Without further ado, some tunes to get you jamming through all this winning:LightTrue FeelingSwing TreeWait A Minute!Chasing ColorsMAGA ON PATRIOTS! #robgray

[aridara]

So, @wolfsaturn never bothered to give me an answer to the question I gave him in this thread:

The problem with your reasoning - “Black people commit more crimes, therefore they are targeted more by the police” - is that it doesn’t have any sense of proportionality. If Black people commit twice the amount of violent crimes than white people, I expect that Black people will be arrested for violent crimes twice as often as white people - maybe twice and a half. But more than five times? Ten?

Come on, give me a cutoff. What would be enough for you to consider it evidence of racism?

...which means that they seem to believe that, since Black people commit more violent crimes than white people (even tough that’s highly dubious), then ANY amount of violent response is appropriate. I don’t have to explain why that belief of them is fucked up.

So, here’s what I’m gonna do: I’m going to go through all of their “points”, post this, wait 24 hours, and then block them.

I’ve never claimed that the violence came from “Soros’ minions”, but whatevs.

Here so you can understand the Difference between the two, cause I know you are having difficulty.

Protest Riot So there is no longer any confusion on what I meant.

Ah, so this was not about people who cause vandalism for vandalism’s sake. Glad to see that you admitted it, so that we can move on.

Why yes, I do admit that BLM caused riots. They had to - like the Civil Rights Movement had to. Becaue they were being literally killed.

All this even after the fact that they found Brown to be in the wrong.

You’re mixing up “Not Guilty” with “innocent” here, buddy. Wilson couldn’t be condemned because the jury didn’t find enough evidence to erase all reasonable doubts of his guilt.

But here’s an interesting fact: the police’s version was proven to be false on multiple issues. Here’s some of the lies, and what turned out to be the truth.:

Brown was stopped because he stole candy >> The “robbery” victim did NOT call the police; Brown was stopped for jaywalking.

Officer Wilson did not use any profanity when telling Brown and Johnson to use the sidewalk >> Officer Wilson did use profanity when telling Brown and Johnson to use the sidewalk.

Brown injured Officer Wilson >> Brown did not injure Officer Wilson.

Brown assaulted Wilson in an attempt to take his gun. Wilson claims that the gun was holstered before the assault. >> This was proven to be false, as it would’ve been impossible for Brown to try to wrestle Wilson’s gun from his hands if it wasn’t in Wilson’s hands.

Brown was 35 feet away from Wilson >> Brown was more than 100 feet away from Wilson.

Brown had an injury to his hand, probably caused by the struggle. >> The claim is highly suspect, as it came out from the “official” autopsy done after 75 days from Brown’s shooting.

CLAIM 1: The unjustifiably violent episodes during BLM protests are not caused by BLM as a whole, but by individuals - often strangers to BLM itself.

Prove it.  Prove they had no involvement.

And this bit right here completely destroys any “innocent until proven guilty” bullshit you may ever spew. Because you sure as fuck haven’t waited until a full trial to condemn the entire BLM movement.

So, congratulations: any paragraph where you’ll try to use the “innocent until proven guilty” bullshit to silence a public discussion will be automatically dismissed.

Once again back to that article you linked to yet still haven’t read. First off it is the opinion of one man, that 70% of people in the riots were from out of town. No actual stats, just opinion.

False statement. The writer took that statistics from the police’s data on the arrests done at Ferguson.

It then goes on to say, that FUCKING SOROS MASTERMINDED IT ALL!

You claimed that Soros paid BLM in order to deliberately attack the police for no reason. Not to mention that you claimed that without a trial resulting in a sentence that condemned Soros.

Again: your “innocent until proven guilty” bullshit won’t work.

Black people are 3 times more likely to be killed by the police than white people. UNARMED black people are 5 times more likely to be killed by the police than unarmed white people.

Already explained why that is.

No, you haven’t. Even if we believe that black people commit twice the amount of violent crimes than white people, we could* expect black criminals to be shot at twice the rate of white criminals.

(*: Except that violent crimes has no correlation with

Less than 1 in 3 black suspects killed by the police were both suspected of having committed a violent crime, and suspected of having a weapon.

Why were they killed? Stories behind each one. Stats don’t lie but are very misleading without full knowledge of all information involved.

The fact is that only 1 in 3 black suspects who were killed by the police were both suspected of having committed a violent crime and armed. The other 2 were either suspected of NON violent crimes; or they weren’t armed. Either way, it casts suspicion on the shooting and, most importantly, it usually requires an investigation to check whether the shooting really was justified or not. Which is at absolute odds with the fact that only 3% of police shootings were investigated.

Ah a report about how police are mistreating so many black people… in a predominantly black area. [Ferguson]

It’s pretty clear that you haven’t even bothered to glance at that report. Have a summary:

African American amount to 67% of Ferguson population.

They account for 85% of all vehicle stops in Ferguson.

They account for 90% of citations.

They account for 93% of arrests.

Even after controlling non-race variables (such as the reason the vehicle stop was initiated), African Americans drivers were stopped twice as much as White Americans, buth were found in possession of contraband 26% less than White Americans.

Even taking in account the differences for the reason why the vehicle stop was initiated, African Americans are more likely to be cited and arrested.

African Americans are also more likely to receive multiple citations in the same stop. From 2012 to 2014, FPD issued four or more citations to African Americans on 73 occasions, but issued four or more citations to non-African Americans only twice.

FPD appears to bring certain offenses almost exclusively against African Americans. Considering Ferguson’s crime rates, that’s literally impossible without the presence of racism.

African Americans accounted for 95% of Manner of Walking in Roadway charges.

African Americans accounted for 94% of Manner of Failing to Comply charges.

Africans Americans are more likely to get a speeding charge - significantly more (+48%) when radars or lasers are not involved.

Nearly 90% of documented force used by FPD officers was used against African Americans.

In every canine bite incident for which racial information is available, the person bitten was African American.

African Americans are 68% less likely than others to have their cases dismissed by the court, and are more likely to have their cases last longer and result in more required court encounters.

African Americans are at least 50% more likely to have their cases lead to an arrest warrant, and accounted for 92% of cases in which an arrest warrant was issued by the Ferguson Municipal Court in 2013.

Available data show that, of those actually arrested by FPD only because of an outstanding municipal warrant, 96% are African American.

The investigation indicates that this disproportionate burden on African Americans cannot be explained by any difference in the rate at which people of different races violate the law.

Oh there are so many black people in prison… OMG this must mean they are in there unjustly! But you can’t assume that the people in there are innocent!

Considering that the amount of convictions against black people are massively disproportionate in relation to the actual crime rates of Black people, and considering that the majority of those wrongly convicted are black, I DO assume that racism is involved.

But you’ve all but admitted that, as long as Black people “commit more crimes” (read: are convicted more) than white people, then it doesn’t matter how much Black people are charged, arrested, convicted, or shot.

“In New York, an average of 10-11% of stop-and-frisk searches are done on white people, while 53-56% are done on black people. Nearly nine in ten stopped-and-frisked people are innocent.” I’m sure the fact that they are dispatched in high crime areas in NYC doesn’t play a part in that. Probably because of who you’ll find in those areas more. BLACK PEOPLE!

Prove it. Especially since those statistics are NYC-wide.

“24% of black people had force used against them by the NYPD, compared to only 17% of whites.” Now off the bat, oooorrrr did some put up a struggle and resist arrest?

Orrrrrr you forgot that’s 24% of the entire Black population of NYC.

You’re claiming that 530.000+ of Black people resisted arrest? When “resisting arrest” is a charge decided solely by the police officer?

I mean really, all it is is statistics but no meaning behind it but the one you place on them.

Where are the FACTS!

War on drugs? Well I do admit this was a plan of the government to hold back minorities, especially those of African and Mexican heritage. I am adamantly against prohibition, and understand a lot of minorities would be left free if they legalize some drugs/ But man it’s still illegal. Just like stealing, and murder. Don’t be upset because you can’t stop breaking the law.

Fun fact: most of the biggest drug dealers (we’re talking cocaine and heroine, not marijuana) were - and still are - white.

Yet the police didn’t ever think to target white people more than black people.

Also: tell me ONE case where a BLM protest resulted in someone being hanged.

Lynching though it tends to end in a hanging, does not necessarily involve a hanging. An officer shoots a poc, rather than wait for the results of the case other poc gather to protest the death.

Yeah, no. You have no idea what lynching is.

Then again, it happens quite often that bigots call any protest the oppressed do - no matter how pacific - “violent” or “lynching” or “offensive”, or, or, or. I’d ask you “What, exactly, would be a way of protesting that you would approve?”, but since you believe that protesting an unjust shooting is exactly the same as hanging someone yourself, I already know that the answer will be “I don’t approve them protesting period”.

LOL ^^^Funniest thing I heard all day^^^ That is our Judicial system to you? Dude, without evidence a person IS innocent! That isn’t silencing the masses, it’s protecting them. I’m not trying to silence discussion of the case, I’m just saying that a group that rallies together and starts protesting something they don’t have all the facts to is ignorant. Not only that, it has been known to sway judgment of juries, and put pressure on judges.

In other words, no protesting or talking about the case until the verdict comes out? Yeah, no. Again: you don’t believe this is a penal trial, otherwise you’d speak only when the judge calls you. You don’t believe that you shouldn’t speak of guilt until the verdict, because YOU sure as fuck haven't waited the verdict to claim that Soros caused a riot. But you are trying to silence a discussion that you don’t like.

Again: all paragraphs about “innocent until proven guilty” will be dismissed.

You are insinuating that EVERY shooting of an unarmed person was because of brutality. Prove it.

I don’t have to prove a claim that you made up.

You are insisting that because so many poc are being shot that it must equal racism. Prove it.

The evidence is that, even taking in account crime rates and whether the suspect was violent or not, the numbers STILL don’t match up.

Any paragraph where you keep ignoring this will be istantly dismissed, since for you, as long as black people keep being convicted for more crimes than white people, then any amount of arrests, fines, police brutality, convictions, and police shootings will be acceptable.

I don’t have to provide evidence, the trial of the officer that shot him provided it all to show that brown was in fact leaning in the car reaching for the gun.

Except that A. that was possible

only if Officer Wilson already extracted the gun

, which means that he lied in court; and B.

Brown was shot after he ran away, at a 100+ feet of distance

.

Everyone thinks thats [the Brock Turner verdict] a bogus outcome. But that’s what happens when plea deals are made for less violent crimes.

This right in: rape is a less violent crime.

I think maybe YOU should read the fucking article you illiterate little prick.

I’ve already pointed out the many, many, many problems with that ruling.

Also: what about White-on-White crime? Did you know that more than 4 in 5 white murder victims were killed by another white person?

Prove it!

Here ya go. 81% of white murder victims were murdered by white murderers.

The white community acknowledges white criminals, and condemns their actions. the black community is quick to rally behind their criminals.

Citation needed for “rally behind criminals”. Make sure it’s statistical evidence and that is enough to go against evidence that they do care about intra-community violence.

Besides Explain the fact that black people commit crimes towards white people at a higher rate.

Because A. poverty is correlated with higher crime rates; B. the legal system is massively racist (see the above); and C. “Black people commit half of all violent crimes” is bullshit.

Your claim is that it is police brutality, now fucking PROVE IT!

The proof is that: A. Black people are disproportionately targeted by police shootings; B. Such disproportion cannot be explained by “suspect was armed/unarmed”; C. It also cannot be explained by “suspect was suspected of having committed/not having committed a violent crime”; D. It also cannot be explained by “Black people commit more crimes, therefore the police is more wary of black criminals”. We DO know that police brutality (including police shootings) are NOT correlated with violent crime rates; so, when you say “Black people commit more crimes, and that makes the police more vary of black criminals”, what you’re actually saying is: “This only happens to black people. White crimes don’t make the police more vary of white people. I, in no way, will ever admit that what I just implied is evidence of racism”.

[Sterling] was a criminal, and though it was unknown at the time of the justified shooting that he was a criminal, he was reported to the police to have been threatening a civilian with his gun that he should never have had in the first place due to his MANY charges against him for violent actions some of which he had illegal firearms.

Except that, again, the police officers didn’t even know who he was, didn’t know that he already had charged against him, didn’t know that he had no right to carry a gun (by the way: citation needed that he couldn’t have a gun).

Not to mention that they tazed him multiple times and they (yes, they; there were at least two officers) were sitting on top of him at the time of the shooting. And they shot him dead - not at the arm, despite requiring the same effort and reaction time. So: what do you think happened?

The policemen weren’t able to prevent Sterling from reaching for his gun, because Sterling had magical Black super-strength and was capable of shrugging off multiple tazer shocks and having at least two men on top of him. The policemen had no choice but to shoot him dead in order to stop him.

The policemen were so incompetent, they weren’t capable of stopping Sterling from reaching for his gun, despite the fact that they were literally on top of him, and despite the fact that Sterling was tazed multiple times. The policemen shot Sterling dead, without bothering to aim for the arm or the shoulder.

Sterling was unable to reach for his gun. The policemen shot him dead anyway.

OH? The black men in that picture seem to be alive. You gotta look for them but they are there lol

Different case different officers different reasonings behind doing what they did.

They literally shot at the police with shotguns.

Cutting repeated bullshit - we already know that you istantly assume that any Black person shot dead by the police was guilty with no trial... more lies about Brown... a bullshit video...

MLK wanted intelligent hard working men and women of color to be treated as equals, not the people that are placed on pedestals by BLM protesters.

MLK wanted to build up the black community, not tear it down.

Don’t invoke the name of MLK, he would be embarrassed by you.

Yeah, no. He knew full well that “asking nicely” doesn’t work:

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied.

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness"--then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."

[...] I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured. [Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963]

Not to mention that MLK was blamed for riots, looting, and violence, he endured government subversion, and in the end was assassinated.

It doesn’t matter how polite Black people are towards racists. The racists still murderously hate Black people.

Cutting more bullshit... more accusations that either BLM or Soros caused vandalism and violence for the sake of vandalism and violence (again: so much for “wait until the verdict”)... more Occam’s Big Paisley Tie* about the 70% of vandals being from outside Ferguson and outside the protest... more of the usual “Black people commit more crimes, therefore it’s just right they’re being fined/arrested/shot at more than white people no matter how disproportionately”... OBPT* about unarmed people getting shot... more “Stop protesting”.

...Aaaaaaand that is all. You get 24 hours to write whatever bullshit reply you want, and then you get blocked. Bye.

*: “Occam’s Razor” is a principle, attributed to William of Occam. When someone uses “Occam’s Razor”, it means that, for any given question, they assume that the answer is the one that requires the fewest assumptions and doesn’t have enough contrasting evidence to be shot down.

“Occam’s Big Paisley Tie” is when someone, when asked whether Act X constitutes oppression (for example: racism) or not, would rather select every single answer, no matter how improbable, that allows them to deny the existance of the oppression; than admit that such an oppression exists.

Example: A: That salesperson ignored me in favor of that white guy who just cut before me. That’s the fourth time by now. B: Are you sure that salesperson didn't ignore you because he just didn't see you? A: Yes. I called him when the first guy cut me off, and he told me to wait. Then it happened again. And again, and again. B: Well, maybe he was just having a bad day. A: ...What does this have to do with anything? B: Are you certain he heard you? A: ...Yes. Again: he told me to wait. Twice, in fact. B: Did you really try to get his attention? A: .........YES. B: Maybe he didn't realize you needed help. A: I told him! B: I'm sure it's not that he was being purposefully rude. A: And this matters how?! The fact is, I’m here, and he just let four other people cut in before me! B: Maybe he’s hard of hearing. A: Of course. That’s why he doesn’t have any problem hearing other customers. Not to mention that HE TOLD ME TO WAIT. HE CLEARLY SAW ME. B: Have you considered that maybe you had an unfriendly look on your face? A: What?!? B: You know how your face gets when you're not smiling. A: .........Really? That is your explanation? And that doesn’t make him an asshole how, exactly?!? B: Then I don't know—there has to be some explanation you just didn't notice.