#to be clear i have no idea how many votes he won by

[queer-book-character-tournament]

I have a confession. I have 4 other Tumblr accounts. I used them to vote for neil in the neil vs andrew divorce poll. So the people saying neil won by 4 votes are wrong, they WERE both equally tied. I feel really guilty for that im sorry but also love wins? Aha

[haveagarbageday]

Defeated \\ Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Jenson Button

summary: Charles and Oscar both fall in love with you, and they do their best to impress you. But you're not interested, and eventually they find out why.

additional info: Mercedes!driver!reader. Jenson won the vote, so here we are. No happy ending for Charles and Oscar. Anyway, I'm like a dog with a bone, I'm not letting that Webber idea go. So expect a story where Oscar loves reader, but he finds out she's with Mark.

warnings: age gap

After the whole adoption joke, the friendship of Charles and Oscar reached a new stage. Sure, they had been friends before, but this shifted the dynamic in the direction of something better, something based on mutual respect. They helped each other, they kept in touch outside race weekends too–to the point Oscar was often invited to family dinners since everyone took that joke far too seriously–and everything was great in general.

That’s until the beginning of the 2025 season. Mercedes announced your arrival the year before, but you were just another rookie, someone they didn’t know that well. But then you scored some precious points on your first race, and you kept up this exceptional performance, eventually challenging your teammate for higher positions. This caught their interest, although they weren’t alone. Many drivers looked at your twenty-two years old self as a little sister, someone they wanted to protect from the sport’s toxic environment.

But these two didn’t see you as a sister, far from that. They had a soft spot for you after getting to know you better, and without ever discussing it, they both started to flirt with you in their own ways. Oscar decided to befriend you first, giving himself the chance to talk to you even when you weren’t in the paddock together, he invited you to hang out with him, and he always made sure to sneak a few sentences that hinted at his intention into your conversations. Charles was more straightforward with his compliments, whether it was related to your driving or the way you looked that day, and he even brought you small gifts, always saying he just happened to think of you when he saw them.

They both noticed what the other was doing, which led to a cold war between the two of them, slowly poisoning their relationship, although they didn’t let it show. They kept talking on the race weekends, they didn’t unfollow each other on social media, but the tone of their conversations became a lot colder. But one day they decided to talk about this, and even though neither of them said it out loud that this was the reason for their meeting, deep down they both knew they had to discuss what they should do.

As they were sitting in the secluded corner of a café back home in Monaco, just a day before they were supposed to head to their next race weekend, Oscar let out a long sigh and took a sip of his coffee and looked over at the door when someone walked in. He wanted to figure out how to bring you up, how to shift the conversation about the upcoming race to you, about the situation they found themselves in.

But Charles seemed to be a step ahead of him, because he cleared his throat to get his attention, then went, “You like her, don’t you?”

The Aussie nodded, a small smile unintentionally creeping on his face at the thought of you. “I believe you feel the same,” he said after a short break.

“What’s not to like?” the fellow driver asked, and the younger man across from him nodded once again in agreement, muttering true under his breath. Charles unexpectedly let out a troubled sigh and leaned back in his chair, a hand now resting on the back of his neck. “I don’t know about you, but she keeps me at arm’s length. It’s like I’ve been friend zoned.”

Oscar’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “You too? I thought she was acting like this because she chose you,” he admitted.

His friend watched him with narrowed eyes, his brain in overdrive as he thought about the possible reasons. Did you have someone? Were you focusing on your job instead of looking for a relationship? It must be the latter, after all you had once told him you wanted to survive your first year without any kind of drama. You also said you were using Oscar as a reference point, because he managed to exist in this world with his private life mostly kept private.

“I wouldn’t be here if she chose me. I would spend every free moment with her, but she’s just not interested. What do we do now? I don’t want to forget her, I don’t know if I could,” he said.

The McLaren driver licked his lips and looked down at the cup in front of him. “Me neither. But what if we have no choice? We can’t force her to choose between us,” he began, stopping for a moment while he thought. “What if our attempts are futile and she wouldn’t pick either of us in the end? Maybe it’s time to admit we have no chance.”

Charles let out a laugh as he shook his head. “You can give up if you want, but I’ll keep trying.”

Despite their little competition being perfectly fine until now, Oscar felt the need to set some rules, just so their chances were even. He suggested the other man to tone it down a bit, to stop trying to buy your love with gifts, because those meant a lot to you, you had told him that yourself before. It’s not that he wasn’t ready to shower you with things your heart desired, he just didn’t think it was fair to manipulate you like this. But the Monegasque only laughed at this and said maybe it wasn't him who had to tone it down, maybe it was Oscar who had to step up his game.

Either way, you still didn’t show any interest in them, not romantically at least.

On one race weekend Jenson Button showed up, being there for Williams, but spending some time with Sky Sports too, doing interviews with a few of the drivers. Oscar was waiting for his turn not far from them, watching as you answered the questions with that big smile on your face, and he couldn’t help but smile himself, because it made him fall in love with you again.

Then he heard Jenson go, “I heard you felt a little sick this morning. Do you think it could affect your weekend?”

Your eyes widened, clearly surprised by the question, but it only lasted for a second, because you were quick to respond as calmly as you could. “I’m fine, maybe it’s just some dehydration, I’ll drink more, and I’ll be good as new,” you said with a small smile forced on your face.

After a few more questions it was a wrap for you, and you began to walk away, but Jenson excused himself and went after you, probably to apologize for bringing up your health problem when you hadn’t talked about it yet. As you said, it wasn’t serious, maybe there was no reason to mention it. Now, Oscar didn’t want to eavesdrop, he usually respected other people’s privacy, but neither of you noticed he was nearby, and you began to talk in a normal voice that made it impossible for him not to hear it without walking away.

“What the fuck was that? We agreed, everything that happens behind closed doors stays there,” you hissed angrily.

The Aussie had his suspicions, but maybe he was wrong, maybe it was just his imagination running wild. But when Jenson let out a sigh and raised his hands in defense, he knew his first instinct was right. “I thought we agreed that you would go to the medical center to figure out what this is. You said you didn’t, what was I supposed to do?” he asked.

You let out an incredulous laugh. “So what, pressuring me on air was the best you could come up with? I’m fine, I already told you, let’s just drop this.”

Jenson took a step closer to you, his hand slowly reaching out to touch you, but he changed his mind last minute. “All right, you’re right, it wasn’t fair. I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you tonight. How does that sound?” You watched him for a few seconds, then nodded. “Good, we’ll discuss the details later. Be a good girl until then.”

After you waved him goodbye and left, he returned to his place in front of the camera, and Oscar was finally told it was his turn. But after seeing this? There was no way he could keep his cool while talking to him, or at least it would take a lot more effort than usual. Now he knew why you weren’t interested in either him nor Charles, and this broke his heart. From all the people around them, you seriously had to pick someone so much older than you? Someone you couldn’t openly date?

In the afternoon, he sent a text to Charles, asking for an emergency meeting in the evening, and so now the two of them were sitting in his hotel room with a bottle of booze and two glasses in front of them. Oscar told his friend everything he had heard and seen that day, and they both became absolutely depressed, hitting the rock bottom by the end of the story. They tried to figure out what to do now, but they agreed that exposing your relationship would have been a terrible move, and they didn’t even feel like intervening.

“Do you think she loves him?” Charles asked with a sigh as he looked up at the ceiling.

Oscar shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, she was smiling so brightly, especially when she was talking to him. And Jenson brought up her sickness because he was worried about her, so maybe it’s a mutual feeling.”

Silence fell between them as it became obvious that they had no chance, not before either you or Jenson got bored of the other and broke up. Once they emptied the bottle, Charles stood up and said goodnight, deciding to go back to his own hotel room to get some proper sleep so he could focus the next day. “My heart is already broken, I don’t want my car to be broken too,” he told Oscar before leaving. It was painful, yes, but maybe they would have a chance to fight for you. Maybe one day you would realize that being in a relationship you could openly talk about was much better.

[bamgyw]

right, so he won.

we tend to be cynical and laugh him off, but it’s so painfully clear and scary how this ignorant fucking narcissist cosplaying as the poor man's idea of a wealthy man could become president of the united states—not once, but twice.

a man who seems barely literate, whose statements have been nothing but blatant, poorly constructed lies, yet he’s secured power. again. and while i can’t fully predict the implications, i know they don’t look good.

i fear for american citizens trapped in a dystopian neoliberal state where food is made of plastic and a lack of money can cost you your life on a hospital gurney.

i fear for europe, also scarred by fascism and blindly following the united states. every week for the past year, our prime ministers have appeared on television, warning us to prepare to defend our values in coming wars, most, if not all of which, are initiated by the u.s.

i fear for the palestinian people, undergoing a fucking genocide at the hands of israel—a state powered by the immense machinery of the american arms industry. if the u.s. withdrew its support, israel would be forced to stop. they're nothing. a flimsy geopolitical construct fuelled by pure evil. but like israel, the united states is a settler colony, built on the displacement, massacre, and erasure of the people who originally lived there. they both justify their actions as a divine mission for the land they claim was promised by god. imperialistic bullshit.

i fear that palestinians have lost their last glimmer of hope and the faint promise of a two-state solution that even kamala harris claimed to defend. flawed and half-hearted as it was, it at least held the possibility of a ceasefire.

i fear for trans and racialized people in the united states, who have become primary targets of brutal, baseless hate speech, a rhetoric now normalized among more than half the american electorate.

i’m not going to take the easy route—the classist one—and say that a bunch of uneducated rednecks voted for another uneducated redneck.

truth is, we’re living in unsafe times, and that fear makes us vulnerable to hoaxes, propaganda, and manipulation. education was supposed to be the antidote—the tool to help us see when politicians are lying, when a vulnerable group is scapegoated for society’s problems. and yet, here we are, repeating history. it’s been less than a century since world war II, and a fascist has been voted into power.

i don’t know why i felt the need to go off on this tangent, but this issue is global, and it’s genuinely terrifying. i don’t trust our politicians. it feels like being abandoned by a parent—the state, which is supposed to protect us, leaving us to fend for ourselves. we've seen that with hurricane milton, with the floods in valencia.

many of us have never had to experience extreme poverty or coexist with death, so it’s easy and fun to live blissfully unaware. but we’d better hope it stays that way. and i also hope that instead of letting our fear turn into paralyzing anxiety, we can make the effort of turning it into determined, militant anger.

and yeah… that’s about it, i think. there’s a lot i haven’t mentioned, a lot of people, a lot of rights lost today. but i haven’t slept. i’m really tired. gonna sleep bye.

[mistydeyes]

fake hypochondriac

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hypochondria

hy·​po·​chon·​dria noun

excessive concern about one's health especially when accompanied by imagined physical ailments

summary: If an apple a day, keeps the doctor away then what keeps a pharmacist away? Whatever it is, Ghost wants to eradicate it. This man's small crush will send him to extremes. A sequel to "a panacea"

pairing: Ghost x pharmacist!Reader

warnings: medical/pharmacy terminology, medical inaccuracies, swearing, depiction of wounds, fluff, and flirting

a/n: by popular vote, ghost's sequel won! don't worry though, price's will be coming real soon ;)

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The unit had been a buzz about your work as a pharmacist officer. From clearing Gaz’s congestion to the ridiculous bandage you gave to Ghost, they simply would not stop talking about you. Soap even tried to convince the doctor that he needed to visit you for a malady of reasons but your colleagues were smarter than that. You had to give it to him, the fake food coloring blood applied to his stitches was a nice touch. It became a running joke in the medical wing. Some of your closest work friends even gushed about how the men would talk about you as if you had discovered the secrets to eternal life.

All joking aside, in all your years here, people had called you pet names and made small attempts at flirting but you always had your main goal on your mind: provide the best care so they can stop bothering me. However, one man caught your eye. No one would ever know that the masked man who wore a star bandaid was the one who stole your heart.

Of course, you’d never want anyone to have to constantly come visit you on the pretense of needing medication but you valued the time spent with him. Somehow he ended up needing every single vaccination. From pneumococcal to typhoid, you wondered if you should tell him that these were all voluntary.

Little did you know, he made every effort to miss the optional clinics and went straight to you upon his return. Your soft touch and even softer laugh were like music to his ears. He didn’t know how many people were graced by your presence like this but he tried to make himself the most memorable one.

His younger self would have laughed at his antics. His mother used to say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Even though you weren’t a doctor, he would cut down every apple tree and burn every pie if it meant seeing you daily.

One day, Soap gave him an idea. The team was ending another debriefing with Laswell and making conversation as they left the room. “I wish I could visit the lass but all she does is either give me my meds or gives her whatever you call recommendations” Soap groaned as he lugged the large number of building layouts and files in his arms.

“Pharmacological and non-pharm recommendations, Sergeant” Price corrected. “You better learn their terminology, they didn’t go to school and experience those muppets at the local chemist’s for nothing.”

That was it, Ghost would ask you for some silly non-pharm recommendation like Gaz had and keep coming up with new ailments to keep visiting you.

The plan was in place, following the lunch rush he walked to the medical wing and made his way to the pharmacy.

You stood in the back, answering yet another phone call from a doctor. “As I said before, you need to find out what their reaction is to penicillin and other beta-lactams. I don’t care if they say they have a true allergy, you know anaphylaxis is the only indicator. And no, I’m not ordering something off the formulary just because your patient says they were sneezing after a bout of amoxicillin. Just call me back after you spoke to them and if you really need it, then you know where to reach me.” With that, you slammed the phone down and let out a groan. You knew pharmacology was no doctor's favorite subject but this was antibiotics 101.

Your technician came around the corner, “Captain L/N, is everything alright?”

“You know we’ve been working together for what 2 years now? I’m just Y/N especially back here in this phone call hell.” you laughed as you sat down in your chair. “I’m alright, just another medic trying to get me to order something off the formulary for kicks”

“Well Y/N, there is someone here to see you. Just a soldier complaining of a sore throat. He says the doctors won’t prescribe anything because they haven’t observed anything wrong.” Your tech responded before disappearing amongst the shelves to fill some incoming scripts.

You made your way to the front where you were surprised to see Lt. Riley wearing a face mask (although still with the ghost print). Even though he had been coming for months now, live vaccines had to be spaced out by 28 days, you had not seen his face fully. His eyes were trained down and you noted his surprisingly light eyelashes. He still had the ever-present eye black and you wondered how he kept his lashes so pristine. If it was a mascara or a brand of makeup remover you needed to know!

“Simon,” you spoke in a cheerful voice. By now, you were on a first-name basis. It only took one tuberculosis skin test for him to encourage you to call him by his name. To be fair, when you held his arm gently to measure the area he would’ve told you anything.

“You aren’t due for any vaccinations you know. You’ve cleared me out! I’m sure the doctors would think I’m sticking you for my pleasure and your pain.” you joked. You were teasing but you knew there was no way he was here for yet another immunization.

“Not this time, love. I’ve got this tickle in my throat. It hurts when I swallow and I swear Soap saw my tonsils angry and inflamed,” he replied.

“And the doctor didn’t diagnose you with bronchitis or call for your tonsils to be removed?” you questioned. It wasn’t unusual for them to miss anything but you were realistically unable to prescribe anything to him.

“Well let me take a look. If you want to head over to the vaccination area then you can take your mask off. I’m sure you are familiar with where it is.” With that, he nodded and walked toward the designated area. He appreciated your kindness and that you valued his privacy.

You let your technician know where you’d be and they waved you off saying they could handle the onslaught of soldiers if it came to it.

As you entered the corned-off area, you saw Simon there, fiddling with his mask. You didn’t understand why he was so nervous, how could someone so well acquainted with violence be nervous of a flashlight and quick examination?

“Don’t worry, I’ll sure to be quick. I just need you to remove your mask and open up wide,” you explained and fished in your pocket for your pen light. To any recruit, they would’ve made a cheeky comment to your command but Simon obliged to your ask.

As he lowered your mask, you couldn’t help but admire the man in front of you. He was gorgeous. He looked like he was carved from a model like some Greek deity. His face was adorned by various silvery scars that looked painted on a portrait with metallic paint. His jawline was sharp and his lips were blush pink with an even sharper cupid’s bow. You made sure not to ogle for too long and began your assessment.

As you pointed your flashlight, you examined his throat and tonsils, trying to find if the doctor had missed anything. But when you saw no redness and his lymph nodes weren’t swollen, you didn’t know what to say.

“Hm, well good news and I guess bad news but I’m not seeing anything here. I’m not sure what to tell you but I wish I could help” you said in a defeated tone. You looked saddened by your lack of discovery and this made Simon want to scratch his whole plan.

“But,” you began, as he put on his mask, “my grandparents would always say ‘Y/N, all you need is to get some good rest and have a cup of tea with lemon’” you explained, trying your best to impersonate your best old person voice. Simon chuckled at your attempt. God, you really knew how to brighten someone’s day, and who could not love your sweet, grave voice?

“Sorry to take your time, love, but I’ll be sure to let you know,” he said and stood up before giving you a thankful look.

“The pleasure is all mine, Simon. I try to do what I can for one of my favorite patients,” you replied. You were laying on the flirting hard, something you would lie in bed cringing about later.

With that, he walked out of your little bubble and went about his day. You watched his muscular ass figure exit as you too returned to your day.

Although you thought you had cured him with some good advice, you were visited every other day for the next few weeks as he still had the same complaint. You had recommended everything following each checkup. From spoonfuls of honey and thyme lollies to encouraging hot showers and steam therapy, you were out of options. By what seemed like his 10th visit, you were prepared to march him down to radiology and make sure that this wasn’t some terrible looming illness.

“Still having that sore throat, huh?” you questioned as he walked through your doorway. He nodded in agreement and you picked up the landline. “I’m making a quick call, we’ll get this sorted out.”

“Hi, this is Captain. L/N. I have Lt. Riley here and he has been complaining of a sore throat for weeks. Is there any way the lab could run a throat culture as well as some blood work for me?”

And that’s how Simon ended up in the doctor’s office with a cotton swab down his throat and multiple needle pricks to his veins. He should’ve picked something more benign like reoccurring IBS but then again he might have ended up with a finger up his ass instead of the swab.

Two days later, you received a notification that the results were in. To your dismay, the results showed nothing. The swab was negative for every infection and his blood cell counts were all within normal range.

Frustrated, you told your tech you’d be back and walked your way to Cpt. Price’s office.

You knocked on the closed door hoping not to disturb the man. His baritone voice echoed into the hallway as he told you to enter.

“Hi Captain, sorry to bother you,” you said noting the mountain of paperwork on his desk as well as his extinguished pile of cigars. “But I was wondering if you had noticed anyone else in your unit with a sore throat. Lt. Riley has been coming to the pharmacy for a few weeks now and no one can figure it out.”

“Not that I know of. We haven’t run drills either so I know our quiet Ghost isn’t necessarily screaming at the recruits. He hasn’t come to me either with any complaints,” he explained and leaned back in his chair. He knew that Ghost was wasting your resources so he decided to let you in on a secret.

“As their commanding officer, you know I highly value the word of my men. But I do remember during my school days, that boys would tend to lie about an illness just to get sent to the infirmary and eventually home,” he explained. “It’s no secret that some soldiers, even Ghost, show a fondness for you.”

You blushed at his response, you couldn’t imagine that of all people, the stoic Ghost had a schoolboy crush on you. Hell, you hated your school nurse and always dreaded going to the doctor. You went days before telling your mom that you might have broken your finger during recess (you can still remember her rushing to the emergency room the minute she saw your bruised and puffy finger).

“I’ll talk to him the next time he comes in, which I hope he doesn’t,” you said, “thanks for the advice. And don’t forget, I always have a pack of nicotine gum for you if you ever decide to quit.” He chuckled and politely shooed you away. As you shut the door, you shook your head as you heard a lighter flick and smelled the familiar scent of a cigar.

Right on schedule, Simon came strolling into the pharmacy. You had just finished chatting with Soap and chastised him for yet another antibiotic prescription. This time it was for an infected foot wound after forgetting to change his socks and wading in still, grimy water during a mission.

As Soap gave you a cheeky smile saying he’d be back, Ghost tried to suppress his jealousy. Why did Soap have to be blessed with a purulent foot wound instead of him? Maybe he’ll try that one next.

“Ah Simon, I’m heading out to lunch if you’d like to join. I’m presuming it’s still the throat issue so I can check it out after.” You said and reached into the fridge under the counter to grab your food.

You made sure to lock up the pharmacy and lower the protective barriers, you couldn’t let anyone access the “good stuff.” Your tech said their goodbyes as they went to the mess hall for some warm food.

It was the dead of summer but today was surprisingly balmy. You knew there were some tables outside so you pushed the exit door and sat down on one side. He sat opposite you as you opened up your salad and half sandwich.

“So, can I tell your story?” you said before taking a bite. He nodded watching you intently.

“There was a time I broke my finger during recess and didn’t tell my mom for the next 3 days. You should’ve seen her face when I revealed my oozing, bruised ring finger. The thought of missing school and recess was devastating so I hid it like a child.” you explained and held up your left hand showing how your ring finger was slightly askew compared to the others. He laughed heartily, which made you also laugh in return.

After wiping some tears from your eyes you went on, “And that’s why my mom was so shocked when I got my MPharm. She always tells my dad that she doesn’t understand how someone so adverse to doctors went into healthcare.”

“We all have our weird obsessions, plus you are a natural,” he said and was almost at a loss for words as you smiled back at him, the sun hitting perfectly on your face and dancing in your hair.

“Anyways, I told Captain Price that story and he had such a different experience. He said that as a young lad, he and his mates would do anything it would take to get into the infirmary and home. I couldn't believe kids were so smart and had the forethought to plan something like that!”

Ghost knew where this was going. He also received notification that the tests came back clear of any illness. He knew the jig was up but couldn’t run away from the confrontation.

“Now, I’m not debunking your mystery illness, Simon. But I just wanted to talk to you privately and ask if there was anything else that you haven’t told me?” You asked and knew you had got him hook, line, and sinker. His eyes glancing around and his sweaty palms were confirmation of your theory.

He took a few moments to answer and you both sat in silence. You finished the remainder of your food and wiped your hands neatly as he stroke the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“I guess I was just finding an excuse to talk to you,” he began to explain and you could see his extremities begin to grow flush. “I, uh, didn’t know how to so once I ran out of excuses with the shots, I decided to fake a sore throat,” he sheepishly replied.

With his confession, you couldn’t help but laugh. And laugh you did. Hard. It took you a minute before returning your composure.

“You know that the other soldiers can just have a regular conversation with me. I don’t bite and I swear I’ve talked Gaz’s ears off about pollen and flowers. I just feel bad now for making you undergo all those tests,” you said gently placing your hand on top of his.

“I do see what you mean though. If I had a doctor as handsome as you, I would have every illness, injury, and question under the sun.” You couldn’t leave him thinking you didn’t reciprocate your feelings. With that, it was your turn to blush.

“It’s rather childish isn’t it?” He said as he gently caressed your other free hand. “Sorry for wasting your time.”

“How about you make it up to me with dinner? I can show you that there’s more than just textbook knowledge to me” you offered, “I know a surprising amount about languages, I can flirt with you in 10 different ones.”

“It’s a date, gorgeous. I’m all ears for anything you have to say,” he said and you both looked like lovesick teens, “As long as you keep this a secret. You know the doctors would never believe me if I actually got sick.”

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After months of dating, you revealed a secret. “After I spoke to Price, I had a suspicion to check your medical record. You know I could see you never went to the doctor right? You never logged any visits for your alleged sore throat.” You said jokingly and lightly punched his shoulder. “I just can’t believe you roped everyone into it. I can have a normal conversation, babe.”

He laughed at your reveal and kissed the top of your forehead. “I just wanted to make sure your university course load prepared you for anything.”

[raptorific]

I saw your post re: the silver lining to Biden stepping down. I felt relieved to remember that Trump is now the only incoherent old guy in the race. However, the relief quickly subsided when I remembered that Hillary was very well-spoken and polished, if not quite as young as Harris.

Harris fortunately doesn't have quite the same baggage as Hillary, so I'm hoping that will make the difference. What do you think?

*I realize this could sound like I'm trying to agitate, and I'm not, so no need to post if you don't want to.

So, apologies in advance, because I foresee a lot of Words happening in my response here. It's worth getting into because I feel like a lot of what you're bringing up are legitimate fears but also coming more from a place of Anxiety than from an actual pattern forming

First things first, to be clear, my post about Biden stepping aside did not highlight a silver lining in otherwise bad news. Biden stepping aside has been an objective boon to our chances of securing the White House in November. I wasn't saying "this is bad news, but look on the bright side," I was saying "that dread you're feeling is misguided, because this is, in its entirety, good news."

To your point about Hillary Clinton being well-spoken and polished: that's true! She very much was! However, crucially, the 2016 election was not one characterized by a debate over how polished or articulate the candidates were. The reason this can be considered a "shit the bed" moment for Trump is because of a factor that is present in this election, that was not present against Hillary Clinton: in this election, he spent all his time and energy selling himself as the younger, healthier, less senile of the two candidates, and now he's without his primary selling point in the eyes of this election cycle's electorate.

Now, Trump is actually showing signs of severe mental decline while Biden only shows signs of "a speech impediment" and "being over 80" and on a physical level Biden is very obviously much more healthy than him, but nonetheless, through a series of lucky breaks and crafty rhetoric, he was able to sell the public on the idea of Biden being some sort of Corpse Puppet. The reason why that matters is because he successfully sold voters on the concept "someone who is old, who can't get through a sentence, is not fit to be president." That narrative wasn't a factor in 2016, and it is in 2024.

The other important factor to remember about 2016 is the context in which that election happened, and why the dirty tricks and bigotry leveled at Hillary by the right actually worked on the public. Specifically, at the time, we were coming off eight years of a black president, a historic first, who the republicans had spent years and years trying to oust or otherwise discredit, and who was poised to come out of office as a fairly well-respected figure.

Voters have a tendency to view white men as, for lack of a better term, "Default" or "Normal" with no modifiers. Many of the people who voted for Trump were people who had, in reality, no specific problem with a black president, but felt that after eight years it was time to get back to "Normal." They saw Clinton, another huge Historic First as the would-be First Female President, and a lot of them said "no thanks, we just had a president who's African-American, we don't want to switch to one who's Woman-American, let's reset back to a Normal-American (read: White Man) before we do any more Progress, otherwise it'll feel like the world is changing too fast."

There's obviously other factors at play. I'm not denying Clinton had other problems as a candidate, but an overwhelming amount of why she lost was rooted in the electorate's misogyny, and their desire to return to a status quo of a white man-- almost any white man-- with no other Identity Categories, as president. It's why I do think Joe Biden would've handily won the 2016 election, had he chosen to run, but I'm not here to play the what-if game.

It's also worth mentioning, at this stage, that most of the country actually was okay with having a Woman President, and, specifically, with having Hillary Clinton be that woman president-- she received more votes than Trump by the millions-- it was only due to the system-rigging done hundreds of years ago by slavers that he was allowed to become president despite the will of the voters.

So, the reason why this matters: voters tend to like a change, to a certain extent. Barack Obama was largely able to win election in 2008 specifically because he was a young, handsome, charismatic black candidate, who stood in stark contrast to his opponent, an older white guy who just kinda seemed like a redux of the bumbling old white guy everyone already hated as President at the time. Trump won largely because of a pendulum swing away from Historic First Barack Obama being the status quo.

Right now, we've been governed by two Old White Guys for the past eight years, one from each major party. In the 2016 climate, a Historic First, electing a Something-American, was scary and intimidating to a lot of voters. This year, in 2024, we're playing a different ball game: Donald Trump is selling More Of The Same (old white guys who've been in all the elections for the past eight years and who both come across somewhat bumbling) while Kamala Harris is selling a refreshing change of pace (a younger Black and Indian woman who is visibly competent, intelligent, charismatic, and let's not downplay the effect this has on the electorate, attractive).

I maintain that running a female candidate in 2016 was, unfortunately, a political miscalculation. I think that if it had been two straight, christian white guys, the election would've been made about the issues and it would've gone to the democrats. Novelty was a liability for a candidate in 2016. In 2024, "more of the same" is a liability, and novelty could prove the greatest blessing.

Hell, look at how excited people got when Biden dropped out, and suddenly people had something election-related to pay attention to other than "BREAKING NEWS: ELECTION STILL COMING IN NOVEMBER, PROBABLY WILL GO BAD."

To your point about the baggage with Clinton: an important thing to understand is that the Republicans identified her political ambitions as early as the 1980s, and started drafting their "Running against her for President" playbook as soon as Bill was president. They were ready to take her down in 2000 when they worried she'd run, and in 2008 when she was a frontrunner for the nomination, and then finally managed to use it in 2016 when she actually was the nominee. Trump lucked into a showdown with, to re-use a recent analogy, an enemy whose Kryptonite he happened to have inherited.

The misogynist attacks on Hillary Clinton largely worked because they had been thoroughly seeded over the preceding 30 years. Many people, even democrats, really didn't like Hillary, for reasons both Fair and Unfair, and a lot of the people who voted for her were, as the cliche goes, holding their nose and voting blue. A lot of the median swing voters fell hook, line, and sinker for the GOP attacks on her, and either stayed home or voted for the other guy.

As I mentioned in my previous post, they don't have much of a playbook for Kamala Harris. They've done zero preparation for the possibility of her presidential run because they thought they wouldn't have to worry about her until 2028, if at all. They've tried "she laughs weird" but it doesn't really work because people are finding it endearing and because their guy does everything weird. They've tried "she's a childless cat lady" and that offended everyone's casually conservative step-parents and lost them a bunch of support. Trump's campaign has been tripling down on bolstering support of their small but vocal Base, by hammering down on the idea that she's a "far-left radical" but that's just a page out of the playbook they use for everybody, and doesn't really play with anybody who isn't already voting for them.

And, I already hear people typing to remind me not to forget this, they have tried the racist angle, painting her as a "DEI hire" and an "affirmative action vice president," or even claiming she's ineligible to serve because her parents were immigrants. Firstly, again, they're borrowing a failed page from their anti-Obama playbook for that last one, and second, the actually competent republican strategists have been begging the public-facing parts of the party to please stop attacking her on the basis of race and gender, for one simple reason:

Mask-off racism loses you votes. It's why Trump always has to pretend like he cares about "black jobs" and that his problem with immigration is that "Mexico is sending us all their bad hombres" rather than admitting that his problem is just that the people immigrating are Mexican at all. It's why top Republicans spent the past 16 years talking about birth certificates and constitutional eligibility for Obama, instead of just calling him slurs.

You can win voters by saying "we're okay with a black president, but the Democrats are breaking the rules by letting this guy in particular be president, it's not about him being black, it's about him being ineligible." You don't win voters by saying "keep the white house white." The people who that second thing would work on? Already voting republican 100% of the time.

Which is another important reason to have hope here: in 2016, the Republicans were still maintaining the (objectively false) pretense of not being racist. I don't think anything's changed about the Republican party between the Nixon era and today except that now, they say the quiet part loud. They've spent the past eight years systematically eliminating the power-players who maintain the Not Racist masquerade and replacing them with people who will actively say overtly, unabashedly racist shit without pretending it's about something else. It's why the republican strategists keep begging people not to attack her on the grounds of race: it will lose them voters.

That's more or less the short version of my summary of why I think 2024 will go differently than 2016. I hope I'm right. I'm right about a lot more stuff than I'm wrong about, but I'm also wrong about a lot of stuff, so I might not be. Nothing's over until it's over. If you don't want to see a repeat of 2016, go make sure you're registered to vote, and then on Election Day, go vote for Kamala Harris. Either she, or Donald Trump, will become the president at the end of this year. There is no third option that is mathematically capable of happening. If you are legally eligible to vote and physically capable of doing so, voting for Kamala Harris is the only action you can take (including inaction) that can prevent Donald Trump from taking over the country and doing away with any semblance of US Democracy altogether.

We can win this. With all of our help, we will win this. Doomerism on the left benefits nobody but the right. People being genuinely excited from now until November might actually translate into electoral victory.

[pokepollsters]

Best Pokémon Protagonist Tournament- Stats Breakdown!

After many weeks of voting, we concluded that Tumblr's favourite Protagonist is Akari- but we still have a lot of other data to sift through that we can learn from! Read more to find out about the most and least popular matches, the averages, and maybe most importantly- who won the biggest sweep?

As usual, let's start with the total number of votes across the whole tournament. This time it was 15,433 votes over 25 matches for an average 617 votes per match- slightly lower than our last tournament (20,353 total and 727 average) but still the second most popular tournament we've run. If you include the preliminaries, however, the total number of votes increases to 21,204 over 35 matches and 1 tiebreaker- an average of 589.

Next up, a look at the average votes a contestant brought in- who was a bigger draw than the others? Who inspired the most enthusiastic voting? When we rank them, this is how it stacks up:

Hilda- 494 (2,472 votes across 5 matches)

Akari- 461 (2,304 votes across 5 matches)

Dawn- 374 (1,868 votes across 5 matches)

Serena- 330 (989 votes across 3 matches)

May- 328 (1,641 votes across 5 matches)

Rosa- 319 (958 votes across 3 matches)

Hilbert- 315 (631 votes across 2 matches)

Red- 314 (629 votes across 2 matches)

Gloria- 310 (930 votes across 3 matches)

Lyra- 308 (617 votes across 2 matches)

Kris- 278 (278 votes in 1 match)

Leaf- 248 (248 votes in 1 match)

Ethan- 234 (234 votes in 1 match)

Selene- 223 (223 votes in 1 match)

Lucas- 209 (209 votes in 1 match)

Rei- 189 (189 votes in 1 match)

Juliana- 155 (155 votes in 1 match)

Elio- 139 (139 votes in 1 match)

Nate- 125 (125 votes in 1 match)

Brendan- 112 (112 votes in 1 match)

Chase- 109 (109 votes in 1 match)

Calem & Elaine- 103 (103 votes in 1 match each)

Victor- 88 (88 votes in 1 match)

Florian- 80 (80 votes in 1 match)

Through this ranking, we can get a general idea of the top ten (according to our voters anyway), and yes, as we all observed in the tournament, the girls are far more popular! 80% of the top 10 are ladies, and only 2 men are in the top half at all- 3 if you include Ethan sitting in exactly the middle.

Of specific note, the top 3 are indeed our medal winners, though Hilda and Akari are swapped in position- and we're about to see that same phenomenom in the next list. And poor Florian sits at the bottom, only 80 votes to his name, proving beyond a doubt that the girls are more popular when his counterpart who wears the exact same outfit sits several places higher in 17th.

Okay! On to average vote share. When comparing our contestants, who- on average anyway- took home the biggest proportion of the votes within their matches? And yes, I've already given you a little spoiler about our top two.

Hilda- 68.7%

Akari- 67.7%

Gloria- 64%

Dawn- 60.1%

May- 56.8%

Rosa- 56.4%

Hilbert- 54.3%

Lyra- 53.4%

Serena- 52.5%

Red- 44.7%

Leaf- 42.9%

Kris- 42.4%

Lucas- 40.9%

Rei- 38.7%

Ethan- 35.3%

Selene- 35.2%

Elio- 29.4%

Nate- 21%

Chase- 19.7%

Brendan- 19%

Elaine- 17.9%

Victor- 17.8%

Calem- 17.2%

Florian- 16.5%

Juliana- 16.1%

With a few notable differences, this list is largely similar to the last- in fact our top 10 are identical, albeit with the rankings shifted around a bit. Dawn loses her 3rd place spot to Gloria, and Red is barely hanging on to the 10th spot, but he's still there!

As I mentioned before, Hilda tops this list, not Akari- it seems increasingly clear that with how popular she is, only Akari could've beaten her for that gold medal! Down at the other end though, Florian manages not to be last, this time only losing to his female counterpart- perhaps the girls aren't always popular after all? But it's hard to argue against the same proportion of boys in the top half as before- only 2 (with that coveted middle spot now going to Lucas instead of Ethan).

Now time for my one and only graph! I think it's nice to have some data in a visual form, but I try and keep the important stuff in text form so it's easy to read and more accurate. But here's our lovely pie chart of what proportion of the total tournament votes each contestant got.

Last but by no means least, it's time for individual match stats.

The most voted on match was Round 1: Match 8, Juliana vs Hilda, with 964 votes- just shy of 1,000. Closely following behind it was the finals, with 939 votes. On the other end, the least voted on poll (outside of the preliminaries, which had on average lower votes anyway) was Round 3: Match 3, May vs Gloria, with 483 votes. With only 3 votes more at 486, was Round 2: Match 7, Florian vs Hilda.

Individually, the person to gain the most votes in a single poll was Hilda, once again in that Round 1 match where she got 809 votes! Poor Florian in his Round 2 match got only 80 votes, however- the least in a single match.

The last thing we always look at is margins. For the closest match this competition, we look to Round 2: Match 3, Red vs Lyra. While it shares the exact same 4.6% margin as the final match did, the vote margin was smaller, with only 30 votes separating them (compared to 43 in the finals).

And now- the biggest sweep. Here we specifically look at margins, not votes, but in this case it's one and the same. The match we keep mentioning- Round 1: Match 8- ended in a huge 67.8% margin, or 654 votes. Hilda may not have won the gold in the tournament porper, but she absolutely swept the competition in these stats, and earns herself a spot in the biggest sweep hall of fame.

After all that, we're finally finished. Thank you so much for sticking around through this competition, and I can't wait to see you back here again soon for the next one! Currently a poll is up to decide what that tournament will be, so don't forget to vote and share it, and we'll be back with more polls very soon!

[pop-punklouis]

i’m sorry but the people who were in blue state echo chambers being so throttled and surprised by trump having so many votes makes me feel like i’m living in a simulation where the fuck were you guys the past four years?? he’s only gotten stronger and his followers have only gotten more spiteful. insane takes to be like “idk how he won when kamala had every advantage.” I DO? because the democratic party does nothing but underestimate republicans and yell at each other in an echo chamber.

i mean, yeah. put simply….. yeah.

those who are not anywhere near red states or red areas that hold his supporters and never had to face them on a daily basis and see their ideologies in real life and experience how fanatic and driven they are of course were surprised. i think there is so much to be said about echo-chamber territories and mindsets within the democratic party and its voters because it’s quite clear to me that the third party votes, this time, did not hinder the election. even republicans didn’t hinder it. which is shocking i know. they came out in the same goddamn numbers they always come out in. it was the democratic vote that just. collapsed. point blank. undecided voters just stayed home or voted against kamala. a portion of our own democratic voters became silence voters and lied in polls while voting for trump. and the party just. failed. having an impeccable grassroots movement means nothing when it comes to this kind of election. putting out a near perfect campaign the last three months means nothing when it comes to this kind of election.

the democratic party failed to utilize funds and resources here in a way that republicans always do. we didn’t do! shit!!! we didn’t target the right audiences. that was apparent with how the stats showed kamala having the highest blue favors in the wealthy and educated markets while failing spectacularly when it comes to lower-middle class and poor communities. we didn’t ride hard enough on certain policies that could’ve swayed our voters instead of wasting time on this delusional “conservative republican woman” demographic we funneled billions of dollars into only for them to not give a single fuck and vote for trump like they always do. we didn’t bring any dimension outside of biden for her campaign so a lot of people just completely attached her to biden and his presidency. we didn’t prime her for this because we allowed biden to stay in for as long as he did which only hurt her chances more. we completely ignored regular states and focused solely on battle ground states which fucked us on both fronts with voter turnout. we did not lock-in with smaller, liberal media outlets and keep a constant message going through them as the year wore on.

we didn’t do a lot of things, and the lack of even a close tie (let alone a fucking blowout like some people thought) should make every person in the democratic party take a very long pause and try to understand why this happened and why it happened so jarringly. democrats have relied on the same old mantra for three election cycles now, and “not being bad like that other guy” isn’t cutting it anymore. it isn’t swaying votes. celebrity endorsements only further create the narrative that democrats are for the wealthy elite. the unwillingness to step on anyone’s toes and vocalize real ideas for change that affect these lower demographics and how that will occur only breeds less voters and less voting confidence. the democratic party just needs a hard reset. that’s the biggest thing i’ve learned the past 24 hours. the democratic party needs to build up from the ground because what we’re doing is not working. it’s not connecting. and for biden to have done better than kamala in a lot of key voting demographics, that should tell you something about the state of our party and the country right now (besides america hating women and hating black women etc.). it’s just unfortunate and sad and bleak, but like you…. it doesn’t surprise me. it horrifies me but it doesn’t surprise me that trump pulled out a win here. republicans did everything in their power to win this election, and they did. the democratic party did not do that. we have got to become more likable and accessible and approachable. or nothing will ever change for this party. and that’s sad, because we have so many amazing people in this county who want to do good and spend their lives trying to fight to make america a better place to live- including those in the democratic party. we're just not resonating anymore and people are tired.

but i mean clouds are white. the sky is blue. it's not anything others haven't said before.

[seeingteacupsindragons]

Perhaps some of you remember that time I wrote up an entire essay for the TVTropes forums to get William cemented as a Magnificent Bastard because you literally have to get fictional characters vetted by people who care an absurd amount about this to add them to the trope page.

I am now back on my bullshit, and just got Albert confirmed (Louis is in the works, but the voting looks good for him so far). I did his write up today and it should be up later this week? I enjoy the short version as well.

And now:

The Work

Moriarty the Patriot is a (very loose) retelling of the Sherlock Holmes stories combined with James Bond set in the late 1800s, focused on Professor James Moriarty and exploring his motivations.

The Character

This post is to open a discussion specifically on Albert James Moriarty, older brother of Professor Moriarty (who we already confirmed) and one the Professor's Co-Dragons. Albert is the original "Moriarty" family member biologically who took the other two in as children, and is the leader of MI6 for most of the series.

Why Is He a Bastard

I mean, he kills his own younger biological brother and his mother by hand and then arranged for the entire rest of his family and servants to die in their sleep in a fire. So like. Is that enough?

He also took two orphan kids in, then basically said, "Hey, in exchange for getting your little brother heart surgery he needed to live, help me murder like so many people. Kthx."

He tends to come off colder than either of his brothers, which is sort of impressive since they're all murderers.

I like Albert, but he's certainly a bastard.

But Not That Bad?

Much like his brothers, Albert is trying in a very fucked up way to improve society by murdering people he thinks are making society worse. He is...trying to help in a Pay Evil unto Evil sort of way.

Honestly, Albert is the Moriarty brother who gets the least amount of sympathy from fans, although this shifted a fair amount after it was revealed he has severely untreated OCD, which is a massive contributing factor to his need to eliminate the hypocrisies of all these abusive nobles who keep going to Christian churches. But it's not like most people with OCD are murderers, so there's a limit to how far this Freudian Excuse is going to take him.

Is He Charming/Magnificent

Albert is, according to an official Japanese fan poll, the second most popular character in the series (second to the protagonist of the series, who won by a landslide). This seems to track from the interactions I've had with people. So people are charmed by him.

Albert is also in the series pretty much assigned to "socialization" on behalf of everyone else. He doesn't seem to really like it very much, but he gets along with people rather well. According to his official character profile, he's still getting asked out and courted even after losing his title and going to prison for the murders, so apparently people are really into him.

He also has a similar flair for the dramatic to his younger brother. This is absolutely a man who is going to revel in elaborate schemes and acting a part. While he often asks his brother to arrange details and plans, he always shows up to convince people that he's just so worried about his kidnapped brother, please help him, and oh, gasp, people have died, how tragic.

But Is He Brilliant?

This, I think, is a key factor in Albert's case here: Most of William's subordinates are very subordinate to him. It's made clear that William expects all of his crew to be able to think and plan for themselves and make their own decisions, but the series doesn't always take time to show that off for everyone. Albert does get that time.

Albert often sees opportunities before he engages William for a plan to make it work. Manipulating Mycroft Holmes into getting MI6 created so he could lead it was Albert's idea, and he executed the plan (and he leads MI6 when it's not doing Lord of Crime business), even if William came up with many of the details to help him out. Albert is the one who sees the potential in Adam Whitley and brings the topic up to William.

Also, Albert was the first person to bring William's dreams of killing nobles and creating a brighter world into fruition and set it into a tangible, real path. He and William are frequently tagged as the only two who originated the entire plan.

Albert is a brilliant opportunist and an excellent man to have making sure everything goes off without a hitch, even if the details of getting things done aren't really his forte.

He's brilliant.

What About His Competition?

Most of the nemeses in the series are focused on William, and Albert is his subordinate. Basically none of Sherlock or Milverton's attention ever splashes Albert's way. The person he really engages with in a competitive dance with is...Mycroft Holmes. And while Albert doesn't exactly win, neither does he lose to Mycroft. They come to a couple of agreements and passes to work together and watch to make sure the other isn't getting in their way.

Verdict:

Yes.

[wisteriariaa]

You know at first I was sad and scared but now I’m just really fucking angry. I hope that every single person who voted for that orange felon who had no fucking decent policy to stand on never experiences another day of peace. I hope that the shitty things that YOUR precious president does rocks your shit. I hope his shitty economic plan bleeds you dry. I hope that one day you wake up and realize “oh shit I voted for the wrong person” and you did. I hope it haunts you for the rest of your life that you voted for an incompetent moron for whatever inexplicable reason you conjured up in your brainless head. I hope it hits you and I hope it hurts.

As for all the people who made the correct choice yesterday especially women, queer people, people of color, trans people, poor people, etc, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that this country hates the idea of you being happy and able to survive and just the fact that you exist SO MUCH that millions upon millions of people would rather vote for a piece of shit with zero qualifications then someone who, while incredibly flawed and worthy of criticism, would have been a step in the right direction.

But I don’t feel bad for all the shits who voted for him. I hope you feel every shitty thing he’s going to implement and I hope you feel it hard. And let’s make something very clear. That man is YOUR president, not mine. Unlike some bottom feeders on this planet who had a big meltdown in 2021 I will accept that he won this election, that much is true. But he’s not my president. He’s not going to do anything good for me or my friends or all the other disenfranchised people in this country. He is the president of himself, his rich buddies, and the cultist morons who voted for him. And even then he only cares about what his cultists can do for him and nothing else.

How are you idiots going to defend him this time when he inevitably starts fucking up? How are you going to defend him when his presidency ends up killing and hurting people? How many people have to struggle and suffer and die before you realize you fucked up? Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe you don’t care. Honestly that’s the scariest thing I can picture happening. Just not caring about human suffering because at least you get cheaper eggs! FUCKING GOOD FOR YOU

[darkmaga-returns]

Sumantra Maitra

Nov 13, 2024

“Ithink Trump may be one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretenses,” Henry Kissinger said in 2018, in one of his last major profiles in a major newspaper. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that he knows this, or that he is considering any great alternative. It could just be an accident.” 

I was thinking of the quote when I toured New York with my visiting parents a few months back and our taxi driver, an elderly Chinese-American gentleman, was arguing how New York would turn red for the first time in a generation and vote for Trump. When asked about whether he worries about a trade war with China, he argued that, one, it is nothing compared to millions of criminals having free run of the cities of the United States, and two, that a real war with Russia is far worse than a trade war with China. Trump ended up earning 44 percent of total New York votes, with unthinkable swings in the working-class areas of Bronx and Brooklyn. Trump even won a precinct in New York’s Chinatown/Two Bridges neighborhood by 51 to 48 percent. 

Political analysis is a funny job, as given the nature of our trade (and the personal stakes, in my case), it is usually a combination of clearing out your own biases as much as humanly possible in a field that remains, despite many liberal cries, not a science, but an art. But when a man destroys the most common myths of political analysis, then he has to be considered at least close to Kissinger’s idea of a major figure in history. Trump broke every single nugget of political wisdom one might have held dear, including those of his supporters. 

[queervegancryptid]

I really can't believe this happened. I worked so hard just to survive this long, and I really let myself hope. Under the cut just because this got long.

I don't mean to say I'm mad that my preferred candidate didn't win, although I am mad about that because of what the guy who won has done and promises to do in the coming years.

I'm disgusted and disappointed in my country in a way I never thought I would be. To me, that's been the real gut-punch. I was prepared to be angry and frustrated and worried. I was prepared for the electoral college to give it to him, or for SCOTUS or Congress to hand it to him, or for there to be shenanigans after the election like there were last time he was in office.

I was not prepared to confront the fact that he might win and that we'd know in less than 24 hours. That he would win the popular vote in addition to the electoral college. That's what really gets me about all this. I thought we were better than this. I feel like he cheated, but we'll probably never know.

And I think believing he cheated is my brain's way of grasping at straws, trying to rationalize or explain things somehow. Because that makes more sense than trying to wrap my head around the idea that he won legitimately. That a majority of voters hate women and Black women in particular so much they'd rather have a fascist windbag who admires Hitler and has a boner for Putin. Fuck out of here with that bullshit.

But that does seem to be reality. So I have no choice but to figure out a plan to handle it. I don't know what that looks like yet, but I'm probably not going to be safe in the state of Florida anymore.

And I'm done pulling punches on social media. Anybody on my feed posting shit like "we can disagree and still be friends because I'm a mature adult," implying that anybody who's upset about the situation is just being a whiny pissbaby and needs to stop being dramatic, is getting told about themselves.

I'm not framing it as a personal attack. I'm just going, "look, you may not realize how you sound." Tactfully, I mean. And it worked in at least one case; a girl I went to high school with posted something like that, and I let her have it. But I made it clear that I wasn't attacking her, just illustrating how things like this make people feel right now.

Turns out, one of her sons is bi and trans, a teenager, and she's getting herself educated on gender-affirming care and doing her best to support him. What I said got her attention, so she decided to take the post down because "if it makes [me] uncomfortable, it probably would make [her] son feel uncomfortable, too." She didn't vote for Trump, and I didn't assume anything one way or the other, and I made that clear, too.

Basically, I was confrontational without being a dick or assuming she had malicious intentions or anything else about her. And it started a conversation. Maybe I can give her some advice or suggestions for how she can help her son. She's my age, and we grew up in the same rural town, but I got out and went to college. I got lucky. And I learned a lot about myself and had to educate myself on being trans, among many other things. She might have questions I could answer. This is good. I'm not responding today, because I just can't right now, but the point is, sometimes people really don't know how they're coming across right now. So don't just assume anything. But don't take any shit, either.

Now I'm making myself sad wondering if he'll ever get to go to pride. I never was able to. Now maybe neither of us ever will.

This is fucking hard. I've never been scared like this before. I don't know what to do.

[mariacallous]

I wrote about the results of the English local elections for the Spectator today, and looked at how Labour was defying some of the cliches about centre-left parties.

The left assumes that their leaders will betray the noble cause because they are evil or weak and allow themselves to be corrupted by capitalism.  Their moral failings lead them to abandon left-wing policies. 

In their own way Conservatives agree. Even when they are defeated at the polls, they want to believe they have won the battle of ideas. Centre-left parties will abandon radical policies when they learn the hard way that Margaret Thatcher was right when she said that the “facts of life are conservative”.

But that’s not what is happening with Keir Starmer’s Labour party, as I explain below….

Labour people are used to defeat. Before every election they wonder if the Tories will defy expectations. Real votes are not the same as opinion polls, after all, they say. 

And yet ever since Boris Johnson broke his own lockdown rules, disastrous performances for the Tories in opinion polls have been replicated by disastrous results in real elections. We are only beginning to grasp the consequences of an inevitable Tory defeat.

Not all the results of the 2024 local elections are in by any means, but come on now. At the time of writing, Labour has taken the Blackpool South parliamentary seat. Conservative support collapsed by 32 per cent. 

This was not a one off. As the unstoppable electoral stats machine, Rob Ford, professor of politics at Manchester University points out, Tony Blair achieved four swings of 20 points or more from the Conservatives when he was opposition leader. Starmer has now achieved five – including four of the five largest swings ever recorded in British political history.

Barring divine intervention by a Tory god, Labour will win the next election. And that knowledge is making Labour more left-wing than many Westminster correspondents acknowledge. 

The gains of the Green party in the local elections and Muslim boycotts of Labour candidates because of the party’s pro-Israel stance may not have had a great impact this time round. But it is easy for any clear-sighted Labour politician to see how left anti-Labour forces might build in the future.

As a result, Starmer is not following the Tony Blair playbook of appeasing conservative opinion, or at least he is not following it to the letter. Here are a few examples of his thinking that deserved more notice than they received.

Last week, the New Statesman reported a political rumour that Labour would carry on with the government’s plans to deport asylum seekers to the corrupt, militarist and quasi-dictatorial Rwandan state, which have outraged liberal opinion. ‘We cannot just come in, tear it up and have nothing to put in its place,’ an anonymous adviser told the magazine. 

All the criticism shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper and shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock have poured on the waste of public money Rwanda has prompted was to be forgotten, apparently. 

The only template modern Labour leaders have for winning an election is the punitive strategy of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in 1997, and it seemed they would follow it again in 2024. Readers old enough to remember the 1990s will recall an arms race on crime and asylum policies, as Michael Howard and Tony Blair outbid each other with gimmicky authoritarian stunts.

Today, the Blairite model of refusing to allow Labour to be outflanked on the right would have mandated accepting deportations to Africa. Nothing of the sort happened, however. Keir Starmer thought it worth his while to personally crush the story. ‘I don’t think it will work, I know we have to stop the boats and I want to get going with our plan on day one,’ he said. ‘What I’m not going to do is flog a dead horse.’

The Greens, the SNP, and whatever Corbynite movement emerges after the next election would all use a U-turn on Rwanda to attack Labour, and you can see the political damage that would flow from changing course. 

But to highlight the political threat is to miss a wider point. Most Labour politicians are not ‘desiccated calculating machines’ to use Nye Bevan’s putdown of Hugh Gaitskell. They do not just weigh electoral consequences. They believe the Rwanda policy is a cruel stunt, as does Keir Starmer. That is why it will die with this government.

We are moving into a new Britain where the old calculations do not apply. Ever since the Brexit referendum of 2016, all who criticised right-wing populism were dismissed as elitist fools who did not understand the beliefs of ordinary, honest people. Now that right-wing populism has failed so utterly it is no longer even popular, new concerns will dominate. The attitudes of renters, young home buyers, Muslims, and the supposed out-of-touch progressives will matter.

Another episode from earlier this week made my point for me. The Financial Times claimed that Labour was about to unveil a weakened package of workers’ rights. Its promises to deliver higher sick pay, end employers’ use of  ‘fire and rehire’, and reverse anti-strike legislation would be watered down or forgotten, apparently

The story tallied with the easy, fashionable view that Starmer’s Labour will say and do anything to win, and with Margaret Thatcher’s rather complacent Tory assumption that ‘the facts of life are conservative,’ and Labour must follow conservative policies when it is in power.

Starmer blew both assumptions away. He categorically denied the FT story saying, ‘We will not be watering down the New Deal for Working People’.

The biggest test for Labour is yet to come. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has gone into full Liz Truss mode and has pushed forward unfunded cuts to National Insurance. On the one hand, Hunt and Sunak, have been politically naïve: by saying they want to abolish NI they have allowed Labour to engage in the populism of the left and claim that the Conservatives are threatening the state pension.

But eventually Labour will have to declare whether it will accept the huge spending cuts Hunt’s uncosted proposals will necessitate. In 1997, Gordon Brown accepted the incredibly tight fiscal programme Ken Clarke left him. Better to do that, he reasoned, than allow the Tories to hang the ‘tax raiser’ label around Labour’s neck in the general election campaign.

Do not be shocked if shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves refuses to do the same. Instead she may well point out that Hunt is trying to play a trick and say that she will not go along with the charade, and nor should the voters.

If you look ahead to 2025, you can see a Labour government under attack from the left by the Greens and Corbynistas, from Scottish nationalists in the SNP and English nationalists in the Conservative party. To hold the centre ground, it must treat all its opponents with equal seriousness.

The idea that it will only make concession to conservatives, that it will give ground to them on asylum, human rights, workers’ rights, public spending, and indeed Brexit, because Labour has no other choice is a delusion born of the long years of Conservative rule, which I can say with certainty, are now over.

[aquadraco20]

To be clear I am a progressive who voted for Harris. This post is my attempt to understand why people voted for Trump, who I despise and think is a threat to many people.

Obviously the results are a shock for a lot of reasons, namely that so many people are willing to ignore all the negative aspects of Trump to the point of wanting him to have the single most powerful position in America, and to literally put the lives of their friends, family, and neighbors at risk.

I've been thinking about this a lot and talking to people a lot and reading what I can to make sense of it all- why did Kamala lose and how can we prevent this from happening again?

I heard two big reasons,

1. Kamala did talk enough about how she was going to achieve her goals and the scope of her goals was too narrow and

2. America wasn't ready for a woman to be president.

But another thing I've been thinking about is social media and algorithms. We unknowingly created echo chambers for ourselves.

This means we developed the false belief that more people were going to vote for Kamala, and we didn't even get the chance to entertain the priorities of people who thought voting for Trump was a good idea.

So when the polls came in and said it was 50/50, we didnt believe them. When the results came in, people were claiming that Trump cheated (very plausible), ballots weren't being counted and people couldnt vote because of bomb threats. And to be clear, all of these things did happen. But they still dont make up for margin that trump won by. If our perspective was correct, Kamala wouldve won by a landslide and all these things wouldnt have made that much of a difference.

People are upset because everything is so expensive, and trump took advantage of that and made a scapegoat. Things are expensive because immigrants are taking people's jobs, or that we're spending too much on regulation and climate action, or that we're too reliant on importing things from China. And his plan was to deport immigrants, cut regulations, and impose tariffs.

This is a plan. It's a very flawed plan, but his followers dont realize that its corporate greed and monopolies that are keeping prices high, and its easier to listen to a guy who is a charismatic talker and believe what he says, because hey, this guy is rich and he's been in business for years, and it's easy to hate people who you dont feel connected to and blame them for your problems than to research every claim he makes and realize that things are super complicated and difficult to solve, especially when congress keeps getting in the way.

There's a lot of lies but also some half truths, but people are overworked, underpaid, tired and angry. They dont have the time and energy to research all the things he talks about. They just hear that he's going to make things better for you (white, cis, hetero) people and he's going to get rid if the people who make you feel uncomfortable, and he's saying all the hateful things that the uneducated, frustrated, and fearful side of you thinks but cant say outloud without pushback and he gets away with it. He survived a gunshot. People say he committed crimes and sexually assaulted people but he still walks free so he must be innocent because cops are good and the criminal justice system is functional and only bad guys like drug dealers and thieves go to jail.

And purity culture!! The dems are all about pronouns and womens rights and if you don't do something correctly than someone's going to dig up something you did and cancel you and now you cant watch Rosanne on tv anymore. So if you feel like you cant do anything right and the beliefs that you had for years are suddenly wrong and now theirs all these people giving themselves titles that you dont understand, you aren't going to feel a connection or even care about these people. You might even think they're crazy, or being manipulated, or that taking away their rights is actually good for them.

All the moreso when Trump and his cronies and his media paint these people, who you dont understand, don't care about, and never interact with are painted that way, and then backed up with more half truths and lies.

Trump supporters have been brainwashed, and nonvoters and moderate white men were pulled to trump by he least offensive policy ideas.

So how do we fix this? Well, if its safe to do so, we need to start talking to people about reproductive health care, and what being a trans kid actually involves. And we need to learn more about the topics that trump supporters think are important, like the economy and immigration, and we need to talk to our family, friends, and neighbors about them.

I'm not saying that democrats need to sacrifice their beliefs and move to the right. But we do need to leave our echo chambers and talk to people or this will only get worse.

[inkedeye2345]

Got on the wrong foot Pt.8

Oh no! Rise Leo x OC

Info: so as you guys (some of you) know I put up a poll if my oc should become spider women and you guys are mean af cause some of you put (no Kai so STFU and go to sleep) and that sh#t got 42.3 votes… and for (yes Kai now go get some sleep) and that got 57.7 so ya she will stay as spider woman from now on so this is how it will go Kyle will start going to school with April cause she’s human she…she really isn’t a mutant plus Donnie forced her cause he said it’s for her own good so when she goes to school she will be F#CKING lonely butttt she’ll have April by her side,when she sees there dad (Draxum) she didn’t see the spider In her food and boom plus idk if Leo will be on here so just sit down grab your snacks and enjoy reading this

WARNING:cussing,bullying,and spider…a bit of Donnie forcing Kyle to go to school Kyle’s pov: Donnie was giving me a lecture about me going to School I mean I’m already high IQ why would I need “school” I look at Donnie and see him glaring at me “did you get all of that or do I need to restart” I shake me head no

“Then what did I say…?” I fucked up he knew I fucked he why is he grinning at me!? “That I should…move out?” He slaps his head “groan…you have to got to school-“ “no” his eyes widened “what the fuck do you mean NO!?” I glare at him making sure to let him know I’m not go-

TIME SKIP

I felt hands about to grab me and I was asleep is this person stupid I grab its hand and threw him to the wall “ow nice one mi amor” I turn the lights on and see Leo my eyes widen I go up to him and got on bit on the knees and made sure if he wasn’t injured he’s a turtle he has a shell but he’s still my boyfriend I have to care and I do

“sorry Leon i thought you were a intruder” he shakes his head “it’s okay amor I just came in cause don is telling me to had wake you up for…jail” I look at him with a straight face I get up and hold on to my bed I see him stand up and pull me “come opn amor it’s time to go to school!” I shake my head “no!” I see Mikey come in and Leo explains to him why I’m stuck to the bed

after Mikey Raph came in and they won and told me to change and so I did I wish I didn’t have to go to fucking school it’s going to suck ass there even with da-…Draxum there

(Let’s just say she went shopping to hot topic 👍) these were the only clothes that look normal for me I come out of my room and see April she ran up to me and we both hug once we let go I see Donnie and hugs me this wasn’t like him he hates hugs something’s up

“Donnie?” I heard him hum and then let go I had another idea I hug him again and but a paint bomb on his back and pink colored since that’s the only color that Mikey gave me I let go of him and he pats my head I look at Leo

I peck his cheek and waved goodbye to everyone and watch me and April walk away “why are you giggling so much girl do you like School that much?” I look at her “nope just wait” I put my fingers up I went 3…2 until the last finger goes down 1 there was a big BOOM! And heard Donnie yell “KYLEEEEEE!!!!” I grab Aprils hand as we both run to the surface

TIME SKIP

we got to the school and there were so many people April got me the principals office and signed me in and shit i really wasn’t paying attention once we got out we went to math this shit was to easy I looked at April and she’s just playing with her pencil “it’s really boring here” she looks at me “girl have you never been in a school” I shake my head no

she sighs and I heard the teacher clear her throat “miss…Kyle is it why don’t you solve this problem on the board since your to busy talking to April” I shrug my shoulders and went up and looked at the problem (I’m to lazy to put one and to do one so I’m a lazy mother fu-) i solved the problem and explained it like the teacher asked and sat back down after that class we had different more periods from April

When the bell rang we went to lunch I met up with April as we walked to the cafeteria and I saw Draxum I was about to excuse to not go but it was too late “ah!, Kyle my daughter come here!” April looks at me and I could see that she’s holding in her laugh I groan and turn around to Draxum with a smile and walk up to the counter “hey drax-“

“It’s dad or father to you.” I look around me to see if anyone was looking I lean towards him and whisper “pls don’t embarrass me in front of these new people!” He didn’t understand a shit I said did he… he shakes his head and pats my head after that me and April look at our meal

“this looks like shit April how do you survive” it looked like dog shit “trust me school gets worse” I groan and my head hit the table I felt like there was something crawling on my hand I looked up and I see a black and green spider

it’s fangs dug down on the back of my hand I hit the spider and see it fall on the table “you okay?” I could see Aprils concern I nod my head yes I rub the back of my hand where the bite is it starts to sting as I hiss

what was this thing wait…will this bring the voices back no no no no NO I need to see Donnie no- “hey Kyle you okay we can go home if you want” I nod my head as we head back

TIME SKIP

When we got back to the layer I felt arms wrap around my waist “hola amorrrr!” I felt him grab the hand and I hiss a bit also making me back away “sorry Leo but I need to take care of something where’s Donnie” he raises his non existing eyebrow and looks at the hand I’m hiding “he’s in his lab where else?” I peck his lips “thx hon” I run straight to Donnie’s lab

“Donnie I need help” I knew he was paying attention to his work so I left I then started to sweat like crazy and started to feel dizzy I started bumping into the walls as I try to get to my room as soon as I got there I took everything off she’s,jacket,shirt,and pants and I lay down my eyes started to close and then it was pitch black…

TIME SKIP

I start to open my eyes as I get up and look down to see what time it is but I couldn’t find it until I looked and my hand and saw my phone stuck to my hand I tried to take it off until I try to stay calm and it falls I get up and touch the wall and my hand gets stuck I then put my foot on the wall

I find out I can stick to the wall and ceiling as I got down I put my clothes back on and went out I felt like something was on tope of me or coming at me and I turned around to catch a skateboard!?

I look to see who threw it and that person was Raph and he ran up to me to see if I were okay “sis you okay did I hurt you!?” I shake my head and ran in Donnie’s lab “don?” He looks at me “oh hello dear sister what may I do for you?” I breath in and out “soiwenttoschoolandididwhatyousaidbutatlunchwithapriligotstungbyaspideranditwasgreenandblack andidkwhattodonow!” (What she said:so I went to school and I did what you said but at lunch with April I got stung by a spider that was green and black and idk what to do now!)

as I rambled about it he didn’t waist time to take test on me and he came back to me “well the results are in and you are half spider half human” my eyes widen “so I am going to grow arms LIKE ANGLE DUST!?!?” He looks at me with a wtf face “scoff no you just have spider senses,you have abilities to stick to things,shoot webs out of your wrists,night vision,and creating force field”

I groan after some time of processing this and I see Leo “hey hun can we maybe…cuddle?” I fiddle with my fingers and I felt myself sink in the couch I look at Leo and he lays his head on my chest until Donnie came up to me “evening, sister I made you something that Mikey helped with and we hope you like it”

I felt Leo sit up and Mikey hands me the box and I open it to see my death sickles and a suit I see a note and opened the note

(hello dearest sister we know that you don’t have your death sickles anymore so we made you new ones and we made you a suit so you can fight with better techniques we hope you like them. -Donatello Hamato -Michelangelo Hamate -Leonardo Hamato -Raphael Hamato)

I look up at Donnie and smile “thx don I’ll go try this on…” I get up and go to my room to put the suit on

(I’m so sorry if one of the creators of this drawing is seeing this so pls forgive me and I’m sorry by the way pretend the white is green and the rest is black)

after some months I got the hang of my abilities with my death sickles until I get better at this thing I’ll be better than any other spider person but I’m the only one here but I asked Leo don Mikey and Raph for nicknames but they were all bad no offense

but I know for a fact I’m not alone on this I have my boyfriend Leo my friends and my dad I know I got this but I’m scared now I have more responsibility’s I can’t do this alone I need help I need someone to help with this I’m not capable of doing this I can’t take care of New York alone I kept on telling myself I can’t do this but I remember

I remember that I have them they can help I’m not alone I don’t have to be alone in this…I have something’s to protect and those are my people and New York and I know that whatever’s coming we’ll be ready…

(hello guess WHOS back back again so when I put the poll up i waited for a week for you guys to answer so that was my only week break so I was inspired a bit not that’s much but I was inspired by the song Oh No! By MARINA and the spider women thing is because I was watching all the spider man movies and that gave me an idea cause I didn’t have any ideas so I’m going to knock the f#ck out have a good day/night god bless you beautiful people byeee💙)

⬆️ ⬆️

This is the spider This is kyles that bites her Logo but take the Pink off and replace It with green PREVIOUS NEXT

[linagram]

[ 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚕 ]

the first trial is over and eiji and miki have a lot to say about it! they're going to talk about this trial's results, everyone's mvs and murders and also show that the prisoners are not the only people here who will change as the trial continues.

also, as i said before, even though the first trial has ended, everyone will still act like their "t1 versions" in the future posts until the second trial begins. there will be some changes though, like maybe for example someone will start acting more confident or quiet than usual.

Eiji: Guard 002.

Eiji: Guard 002, can you hear me?

Eiji: Miki, wake up!

Miki: Huh?..

Miki: O-oh, s-sorry! I was listening, I swear!

Eiji: It's fine, you dozed off only for a minute. But make sure to get enough sleep next time. I don't want you to fall asleep in the middle of something important.

Miki: ".. Is this how Eiji-san shows that he cares about me?"

Miki: O-okay! Sorry, can you repeat what you said earlier?

Eiji: Sure.

Eiji: So, the first trial is officially over. We have everyone's verdicts written down and I've already told all prisoners about our decisions.

Miki: .. They already know?

Eiji: Yeah. Some reactions were.. very fun to watch, haha.

Miki: .. Eiji-san, are you enjoying all this? I just want to know.

Eiji: Well..

Eiji: To be honest, not really.

Eiji: There's too many prisoners who have been voted innocent. I wish I could punish more of them..

Eiji: You're good at making me change my mind though. But just so you know, if any of those prisoners decide to show who they really are and end up hurting themselves or others, that's gonna be on you.

Miki: ...

Eiji: It doesn't mean that I'm blaming you for saving so many prisoners. I just hope you understand how important your decisions really are.

Miki: .. Y-yes, I understand.

Miki: I'm just looking at the list right now and..

Miki: It's not like I regret voting any of them innocent, of course, but..

Miki: I think I've just realized something.

Eiji: Hm? What is it?

Miki: Never mind.

Eiji: *sighs* You're acting weird today. You really should go and get some rest after we're done with this.

Miki: So why are we here anyway?

Eiji: I just wanted to discuss everyone's verdicts, that's all. It would be nice to go over them one last time.

Miki: .. Sure.

Miki: But is it okay for me to just sit here and listen to you while you talk? I.. don't have much to say about our decisions.

Eiji: Really, I thought that you will be a lot more excited since you've saved almost all prisoners.

Eiji: Haha, it's almost like you won or something.

Eiji: But okay, I'll gladly do the talking part. The very first prisoner has been voted guilty, so I'm more than happy to discuss it.

Eiji: A narcissist who's okay with doing anything to protect his reputation, even killing someone..

Eiji: Prisoner 001, Miyagawa Akio.

Eiji: Yeah, this guy definitely deserved to be voted guilty. Him claiming that it was his victim's fault for being more popular than him just made my blood boil.

Eiji: Just how heartless do you have to be to say stuff like that?

Miki: W-well, Miyagawa-san is young and emotional, so I think it's natural for him to blame everyone but himself..

Eiji: He blamed not only his victim, but even his own accomplice.

Eiji: .. To be honest, I find that part really interesting.

Miki: Why?

Eiji: You see, at first I thought that it was a classic case of "Well, it was my idea, but I wasn't the one who did it, so it's not my fault!"..

Eiji: But think about it. Right when we made it clear that he's gonna be judged for his crime, it's like he panicked and immediately mentioned that he had an accomplice. What a way to betray someone who was important to you.

Miki: But.. maybe Miyagawa-san's accomplice wasn't that important-

Eiji: They were.

Eiji: I wanted to check it for myself, so that's why I called them "stupid enough to follow his orders". He tried to protect them and said that they were loyal enough to follow his orders instead. He also became even more nervous when I asked if he liked them.

Miki: .. Hey, Eiji-san, may I ask something?

Miki: Why did you say that Miyagawa-san was a "terrible boyfriend"?

Miki: Do you think that Miyagawa-san and his accomplice were in a relationship?

Eiji: I have no idea who would fall for someone like him, but.. who knows. Some couples like to do everything together, even commit murder.

Eiji: But to be honest, I just said it to see his reaction.

Eiji: You were worried about him and you didn't want to vote him guilty at first, but I've managed to convince you after we watched his video and realized that we can't defend someone like him.

Miki: I think his video showed his accomplice as well and.. I think Miyagawa-san saw his accomplice as his only hope. They were the only person who stayed with him no matter what.

Eiji: I find it interesting that his video had very dark colors until that one figure appeared. If Akio's life was so nice until his rival started becoming more popular, why would his video look like that?

Miki: M-maybe he actually didn't like being popular-

Eiji: If that was the case, he wouldn't kill that guy. There must be something else.

Eiji: Ah, I remember the colors becoming dark again after that figure was executed by him. At first I thought that it's just supposed to show that the boy is dead now, but now I think it means something different.

Miki: .. How did Miyagawa-san react to his verdict?

Eiji: He was shocked at first, but then he laughed and said that I must be joking. When I confirmed that it's not a joke and showed him the results, he just stood there and didn't say anything. His eyes became more empty after that.

Eiji: .. Later that day I was told by other prisoners that he lost consciousness and they couldn't wake him up.

Miki: !

Miki: *stands up* Is he okay??

Eiji: He spent a whole day like that and he's still weak, but whatever, he's gonna be fine.

Eiji: I'm still gonna punish him, don't worry about it.

Eiji: A girl who thought her classmates laughed with her, while they actually laughed at her..

Eiji: Prisoner 002, Hanasaki Aimi.

Eiji: We have voted her innocent, but seriously, I thought you're gonna try harder to defend her.

Eiji: Did you find her video suspicious?

Miki: No, no, not at all, it's just..

Miki: .. I still don't get it.

Eiji: .. You don't know if she killed her classmates or someone else, right?

Miki: *nods*

Eiji: Her video doesn't show anyone else except her classmates, so of course, it's only natural to suspect that they were her victims.

Miki: But.. would someone like Aimi-chan be able to kill all of them?

Eiji: I want to say that you never know how dangerous someone can actually be, but it's surprisingly hard for me to figure her out.

Miki: Didn't she say that "it wasn't her classmates"?

Eiji: She actually said that it wasn't "one of her classmates".

Eiji: I find the way she said it very interesting.

Eiji: Also, that last part of her video confuses me a lot.

Eiji: She takes a nap, wakes up in a completely different place and sees some kind of creepy mask. What does that mean?

Miki: .. I feel like this place reminds me of something, but I just can't describe it.

Eiji: Are you saying that you've been there before or-

Miki: I-I think I've seen it somewhere, but it was in a much better state?..

Eiji: !

Eiji: Please, try your best to remember it. We still remember everything that happened to us before we came here, so seeing these murders in the news, hearing about them or even personally knowing the prisoners or their victims would make a lot of sense.

Miki: O-okay!

Miki: How did Aimi-chan react when you told her she's innocent?

Eiji: Her eyes lit up, she smiled and thanked me for "being so kind to her". She even called me and you her friends.

Miki: I'm so happy to hear that.. Aimi-chan really does deserve better.

Eiji: But for some reason, when I started to walk away, I noticed her not smiling anymore and looking.. confused, maybe?

Eiji: It's like she actually expected us to vote her guilty.

Eiji: He wanted to save someone he loved, even though they never asked him to save them.

Eiji: Prisoner 003, Ishizu Shun.

Eiji: *sighs*

Eiji: .. Innocent.

Miki: Eiji-san, we've already talked about this.

Miki: I don't want to sound mean, but.. Ishizu-san really is a bit weird.

Miki: Wait, no, he's not weird, he's just.. he's a very emotional kind of person!

Miki: Imagine what could happen if we voted him guilty..

Eiji: We have to judge them based on their crimes and not their personality, remember that.

Miki: .. I didn't judge him based on his personality.

Eiji: Huh?..

Miki: If we voted him guilty and he got punished, it would be impossible to make him tell us more about his crime. He would probably just forget about it again..

Miki: And to be honest, I didn't understand his video at all.

Eiji: .. You sounded really confident just now.

Miki: D-did I? Sorry..

Eiji: Don't apologize. You're really starting to act more like a guard.

Eiji: But yes, his video was very confusing. I think I'm starting to understand what's going on in his head.

Eiji: He doesn't have any kind of memory condition, he's just good at making himself believe that his life is better than it actually is and making himself forget all the bad things that have happened to him.

Eiji: .. I find something about his video very interesting. So you know how he always says that his ex was so important to him, right?

Eiji: .. Then why do we never actually see her in his video? We've seen Aimi's classmates and she claims that she loved them, but why do we never see Shun's ex? All the photos and messages are blurry and her face is hidden when she finally appears.

Eiji: And we can't say that it's because Shun associated her with something bad and tried to forget what she looked like, he remembers what her new boyfriend looked like perfectly fine.

Eiji: Also, Shun is actually not as loyal as he claims to be, because.. well..

Eiji: Because of Kei. And because of what he said during his interrogation. Just how did he make multiple women fall in love with him?..

Miki: How did Ishizu-san react to his verdict?

Eiji: He looked relieved and thanked me, he said he was happy to hear that we realized that his intentions were pure and that he really is innocent.

Eiji: .. His smile looked creepy though. Also, something about his reaction bothers me.

Eiji: .. Why didn't he say anything about his ex? What about him "doing it for the sake of love"?

Miki: Maybe he was just so happy to hear the news that he.. forgot about her?

Eiji: Considering how "forgetful" he is.. yeah, most likely.

Eiji: The one who sees herself as guilty, but still ends up being forgiven by everyone.

Eiji: Prisoner 004, Chiba Naomi.

Eiji: .. We really voted her innocent, even though she herself has confessed that her victim was a child.

Miki: W-well, what if she lied to make herself look more guilty-

Eiji: I don't think it was a lie. Her whole video was school-themed and it ends with her seeing an empty desk and crying.

Eiji: .. I think it's obvious that her victim was one of her students.

Miki: But maybe she felt sorry for them? Maybe she didn't want to kill them, maybe it was an accident-

Eiji: Did you listen to the lyrics? In one part, she repeatedly says that she hates someone so much she'd be okay with killing them.

Eiji: .. I'm pretty sure she's talking about her victim.

Eiji: It's so obvious, I'd say that her crime is the most boring one here.

Miki: But imagine if we voted her guilty.. we would basically give her what she wanted, don't you think?

Eiji: What do you mean?

Miki: Voting her innocent can be counted as a punishment too.

Miki: I really didn't want to vote Chiba-san guilty, because she's such a nice person, but the thought of her killing a child still scares me.

Miki: .. I just want to see what she will do now that she knows about her verdict.

Miki: I hope to see her change, in a good way, of course.

Eiji: Speaking of that. She was shocked to hear about her verdict and she said that we "really are just like them".

Miki: Does she mean the people who forgave her for her crime before she came to Milgram?

Eiji: I think so.

Eiji: But I swear I heard her laugh quietly when I walked away.

Eiji: The man who committed so many horrible crimes, but still smiles and laughs more than any prisoner here.

Eiji: Prisoner 005, Sanada Kei.

Eiji: ... *laughs*

Miki: Eiji-san, is everything okay?..

Eiji: *still laughs* I-I'm okay, i-it's just..

Eiji: We.. we did it. We voted him guilty.

Eiji: He deserved it. He deserves to be punished, he deserves to die for his sins..

Eiji: I'm just.. so happy..

Miki: ".. Kei-san is very pretty though. His beauty will definitely be ruined after Eiji-san punishes him."

Miki: "Wait, what am I thinking??"

Miki: We still don't know anything about his crime though. Isn't it a bit unfair to vote him guilty only because of his past?

Eiji: .. But you've agreed to vote him guilty though. By the way, why did you even do it?

Miki: .. I did it for you, Eiji-san.

Miki: I knew that I wouldn't be able to change your mind because you hate Kei-san so much, so..

Miki: Even if I did vote him innocent, we would get a 50/50 result. What would we even do after that?

Eiji: .. You did it for me?

Miki: *nods*

Eiji: .. Haha, you still have a lot to learn. That's a weird reason to vote someone guilty.

Eiji: Do you have anything to say about his video?

Miki: It was very confusing. Maybe even more confusing than Ishizu-san's video.

Eiji: You're right. We don't have any information about his victim too.. or victims.

Eiji: Did he kill his friends? Did he kill the person he had kidnapped? I don't know.

Eiji: How many victims did he even have?

Miki: .. Eiji-san, do you remember the "hint" Kei-san gave us?

Eiji: What are you talking about?

Miki: "Five".

Eiji: .. Huh.

Eiji: We'll have to come back to that later.

Miki: Does Kei-san know about his verdict?

Eiji: He does. When I told him everything, he laughed and said that "I'm not better than him even though I want to believe I am".

Eiji: .. I hate him so much.

Eiji: But later I saw him talking to Shun and Eiko and he looked a lot more nervous than before. His hair was more messy than usual and he kept biting his nails and looking around. I heard him say that he misses someone a lot.

Eiji: Well, I couldn't care less.

Eiji: Be careful when you lie to her, because after that you may end up lying in your own grave.

Eiji: Prisoner 006, Yoshioka Eiko.

Eiji: .. Listen, I had my reasons.

Miki: I just think Yoshioka-san isn't that bad? Her video has scared me a lot, but I still think we have to learn more about her crime before we judge her.

Eiji: Y-yeah, I agree.

Eiji: But she killed someone just because they weren't good enough for her..

Miki: Not just good enough, but "perfect".

Miki: But maybe she was actually the victim and it really is that man's fault for manipulating her?

Eiji: .. M-maybe.

Miki: Eiji-san, you don't look happy with this verdict.

Miki: By the way, why did you even agree with me? Why did you vote someone like Yoshioka-san innocent?

Eiji: Well, I didn't want her to think that I voted her guilty just because I wanted to "have more power over her"..

Miki: Ah, so you remember what she said that last time.

Miki: I guess now she will think you voted her innocent only because of her looks-

Eiji: NO, I DID NOT!

Miki: You agreed to vote her innocent so quickly though-

Eiji: Again, I had my reasons!

Miki: S-sorry..

Miki: What did Yoshioka-san say about her verdict?

Eiji: She looked completely uninterested at first, but then she smiled and..

Eiji: She said "Wow, so you really did fall in love with me, huh?"..

Eiji: Maybe I should have voted her guilty, this woman is annoying as hell.

Eiji: Someone who's too young to be in a place like this, but not too young to kill his own adoptive mother.

Eiji: Prisoner 007, Yano Asahi.

Eiji: .. I still think we should have voted this kid guilty. He's obviously just a spoiled brat who doesn't know his place.

Miki: ...

Eiji: .. I'm sorry. I forgot that you two are most likely related.

Eiji: But you have to agree that this kid is-

Miki: His personality isn't the best, but if he really is my brother.. then I understand why he turned out this way.

Miki: May I ask why you voted him innocent, Eiji-san?

Eiji: .. I want to learn more about his crime, that's all.

Miki: This might be a weird question, but did you vote him innocent for me, just like I voted Kei-san guilty for you?

Eiji: Guard 002, you and me are completely different. I would never do that.

Miki: .. *smiles* I see. Thank you.

Eiji: Why are you thanking me.. Anyway, I don't get what he meant by his mother's "weaknesses".

Eiji: How did he even manage to kill an adult woman?

Eiji: The video makes it look like she died while they were eating something, so maybe he poisoned her, but how would someone as young as him do that?

Miki: I don't know. I have no idea where he could find information about poisons and all that..

Miki: .. Wait a second.

Miki: Weaknesses.. him killing someone while they were eating..

Miki: .. I think I know what we should ask him next time.

Miki: How did he react to being voted innocent?

Eiji: Ugh.. He said something like "Of course, I would be voted innocent, I'm literally a child!"

Eiji: But I think he actually was scared of getting a guilty verdict, because he looked kind of relieved.

Eiji: She claims it was self-defense, but her murder is not as simple as it seems.

Eiji: Prisoner 008, Maruyama Yurika.

Eiji: Guilty, huh? Still can't believe you've actually agreed to let me punish her.

Miki: .. I just think that her video is too scary. And I still don't understand how her crime went.

Eiji: Same. Her video is one of the weirdest ones.

Eiji: Her video has very bright colors in the beginning and it looks like everything is alright, she doesn't look stressed or anxious at all.

Eiji: But then everything suddenly changes and it looks like she's being followed and attacked by her stalkers.

Eiji: .. But if she just wanted to protect herself, why do we see her torturing them? And I swear I could hear her talking to someone while she did it.

Eiji: And I also don't get the last part of her video.

Miki: .. M-maybe she also had an accomplice?

Miki: And I think we can say that if that's the case, they really were in a relationship because of that last part. Or Maruyama-san had feelings for them.

Eiji: But who would "team up" with her? Didn't she say that she had no one to rely on-

Eiji: ...

Eiji: Oh.

Eiji: I think I know who she could ask for help.

Miki: I wonder how Maruyama-san has reacted to being voted guilty.

Eiji: .. She didn't take it well.

Eiji: She tried to attack me actually.

Miki: !

Miki: Eiji-san, are you okay? I didn't know, please tell me if you're hurt-

Eiji: I'm fine, the prisoners can't do anything to us, remember?

Eiji: But the fact that she was okay with doing that shows that this woman is more dangerous than we thought.

Eiji: Even though he's a murderer, he claims that he was the real victim.

Eiji: Prisoner 009, Kuroki Riku.

Eiji: .. You felt sorry for him, didn't you?

Miki: I did. He literally cut himself to make us forgive him. Even if that was him trying to manipulate us, it shows that his mental state is not good.

Miki: I'm afraid he would hurt himself even more if we voted him guilty.

Eiji: You're too kind to be a prison guard.

Miki: "And also I just had to forgive a pretty boy who likes me back."

Miki: "Even though he lied to me.."

Eiji: His video shows him being a victim, but that last part..

Eiji: I get chills every time I see it.

Eiji: Just what could it possibly mean?..

Miki: .. Remember what he said about that boy's death? "It was his fault. It was so selfish of him to do something like that.."

Miki: .. I think we both know what happened.

Eiji: !..

Eiji: If that's the case.. we should have never voted him innocent.

Miki: Why did you agree to forgive him though?

Eiji: I didn't want him to do something bad to himself before I punish him. I didn't want him to ruin my fun.

Eiji: When I told him that he's been forgiven, he looked more happy than ever before. He said that he will make sure to pay you back for saving him.

Miki: P-pay me back?..

Miki: Hehe..

Eiji: .. You look too excited. Calm down.

Eiji: And finally..

Eiji: The self-proclaimed "most scary and dangerous criminal in this whole prison".

Eiji: Prisoner 010, Himura Reina.

Eiji: We both agreed to vote her innocent almost immediately after her interrogation.

Eiji: I still can't forgive her for her sins, but from what we've seen in her video, it's obvious that she wasn't a serial killer.

Eiji: She did rob people, she beat them up, she did all that stuff, but we haven't seen her actually killing someone.

Eiji: She wants to be voted guilty so badly, even I find it weird.

Miki: Until we learn more information, she's innocent to me.

Eiji: And I just voted her innocent because I wanted her to keep living while knowing that she will never be able to run away from her own sins.

Eiji: When I told her everything, she couldn't believe it. She thought it was a joke, just like Akio, but then she laughed and said that "everything is going according to one of her many evil plans".

Eiji: But when I started to walk away, I could hear her punching a wall and just asking "Why?" many, many times.

Eiji: .. That's all for today.

Eiji: That was something. This trial was full of surprises.

Eiji: But still.. I wish I could punish more prisoners.

Eiji: All of them deserve to die. Every single one of them. All of them deserve to suffer for what they have done.

Eiji: So.. Why do we have only three guilty prisoners?

Eiji: It's almost like.. I was in the wrong or something..

Eiji: Hey, Guard 002, they're criminals, right? So they deserve to be punished for their crimes, right?

Eiji: .. Guard 002? Miki?

Miki: .. Hehe..

Miki: I've saved them. I've saved so many of them.

Miki: Seven out of ten prisoners have been voted innocent.

Miki: They know that. They know that they're now safe.

Miki: And that means..

Miki: They owe me, right? They have no other choice but to depend on me and hope that I will save them again.

Miki: And the guilty prisoners will beg me to forgive them now..

Miki: .. *laughs*

Miki: Eiji-san, don't you think the second trial will be even more fun than this one?

═════════•°• ⚠ •°•═════════

The first trial is over. Thank you for participating!

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

“The double snub merely reinforced what has become common sense: The voting bodies of awards shows routinely ignore groundbreaking Black or brown artists in favor of seemingly apolitical white ones. Harry’s House is pretty good — catchy, dreamy, and solidly built. But it’s not about anything except himself. Beyoncé’s Renaissance and Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti are odes to specific communities and histories; they have cultural allegiances and political points of view. They are more interesting and adventurous because of it. But when it comes to the Grammys, the palatable neutrality of an album like Harry’s House, which is raceless only in the sense that it operates in a white, Western tradition without saying so, always wins.”

I thought this Buzzfeed article made some interesting points about Harry, Bad Bunny and Beyoncé’s albums.

I didn't think it was that insightful anon. There were lots of one liners that showed that this was the sort of culture writing that I don't enjoy. If you're going to make an argument that something should win based on artistic merit, it's very unwise to preface that with an argument . I also found describing Harry's claim that there was no best in music 'lacklustre' a deeply weird potshot - in an article that can't even chose which of two albums they thought was best. And an indication of how unserious they were.

But I also think I disagree with the basic argument - or think it's simplifying in an unhelpful way. I think that music that builds on a particular culture and makes the artist's relationship to that culture and the world clear can be incredibly powerful. But there are all sorts of ways that artists have related to themselves and the world. This article comes pretty close to stan logic of 'these people are making art right therefore they're the best'

I think the role of the self and the world in art and the role that race plays into the sort of album that people can make and get recognised for - are both far more complicated than this article suggests. As someone who mostly listens to political music and evaluates music through politics - I would still strongly object to the idea that "But it’s not about anything except himself" is a legitimate criticism of an album. Many people have made great albums that fit that criteria. (Incidentally I also don't think it's true - one of my criticisms of Harry's House is that it is not sufficiently about himself - and that how keen he is to make his music opaque).

I also think the ommission of Kendrick Lamar from this argument is very odd. If you're going to talk about the great albums that are probably better than Harry's house why would you leave it out? Except to make an over simplified argument.

I think it should be taken as an obvious truth that Harry won over Beyoncé and Kendrick and Bad Bunny because of his race (although the role of language needs to be highlighted as a separated and related issue). I have no problem with the idea that Bad Bunny or Un Verano Sin Ti are better than Harry's House. Or that one of the reasons they are better because they engage with cultural influences in a way that is very specific. But I think the argument tries to generalise beyond that - and that's where it loses me.