#truly extreme derangement syndrom

[doctortwhohiddles]

Patty really isn't trying to hide her narcissism anymore, is she?

She keeps saying she has all this evidence to back her claims, but refuses to go to the police with it. That would help a lot more than a Tumblr blog.

What Patty means when she says she'll be calling Ben out on every bad idea is that she'll still act like a fucking cunt whenever she's proven wrong.

Ben, Sophie and Disney have more important things to monitor her shitty blog. Ben has plenty of people around him who genuinely care about him. None of these people are sQeptics. Besides, just how many idiotic rants like these has Patty posted over the years. She keeps saying she's done, but stays the same. She wouldn't be able to last 3 days without the attention from her cult members.

As for Ben's "true friends", we all know they're not the voices in Aeltri's head. They're the people Patty and her cult keep harassing. Because they are part of Ben's life and the sQeptics aren't.

[outoflimbo]

i truly believe in the existence of “polyamory derangement syndrome”. monogamous people get extremely vindictive towards polyamorous people and they cover up their very obvious reactionary disgust with detached irony in the form of like, portland jokes. your side is still recapitulating relationship structures born out of patriarchal systems of wealth reproduction, lol

[aemondsbabygirl]

*takes a deep breath*

IM FUCKING SCREAMING BECAUSE IM SO FUCKING CONFUSED I LOVED THIS SO MUCH?!?!?!

I know we should hate him for everything he did. Am I so deranged that I crave even the smallest affections he shows?? It’s like I’m having Stockholm Syndrome myself. I usually know what I want in life but since this fic I KNOW NOTHING.

I started the fic rooting for them. Then I wished for Aemond’s painful death a thousand times. Then I hated aegon too. THEN I SO wanted her to get with aegon only to hurt Aemond BUT NOW I want aegon to rot like his dad, only faster. Just last week I called Aemond cyclops and now I want him to be king 🙃🙃🙃🙃 I’ve lost my brain.

Seriously though, this was so good 🥹 I literally squealed out loud while reading. The sex????? Bestie you are trying to kill me. I have an oral fixation and I am being FED! And then, when he was pulling out, and he went for it again? Just calling him king made him stay hard and come a second time with no recovery period. Idk wtf is wrong with me, now I want her to get pregnant.

People are saying that she’s being weak and she’s his toy and he is playing her. I think that is not entirely true. I think she’s playing him as well. Although intelligent, I feel Aemond is extremely passionate, craves praises, and is (in his twisted way) in love with her. I think he is truly being affected by her change and willingness to obey and pleasure him. At least I hope so.

He was mad at the thought of going back to harrenhal, not even the promise of seeing his whore, could lessen his anger at being intentionally separated from his wife 👀

I’m feral over him being obsessed with her 💦

The end though: I am so scared. I’m truly scared Aegon’s going to try something and succeed (pls don’t let her get raped again I’m begging on my knees). Can’t Aemond take her with him? Or find a second knight who will stay with her all the time? Although, all would be for nothing, because I guess as a (shit) king, aegon could command any knight to leave them alone. Or maybe she could stay with Alicent. Idk bestie, I’ll riot if aegon rapes her.

I’m sorry this was so long 😬🙊 it ain’t my fault you’re so good at this 💜

Smoke, Fire and Ash

Warnings: This fic includes noncon, dubcon, manipulation, violence, death, forced marriage, and inc3st. Tags will be added as the fic goes on. Oral (m,f), facefucking, dirty talk, cockwarming, cumplay, overstimulation.

This is a dark!fic. 18+ only. Read at your own discretion. Please read the warnings before continuing.

Summary: You are the eldest daughter of Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen. You are forced to navigate the difficult surroundings of your upbringing and the eventual disintegration between your family and the Hightower's relationship. What will happen when your older and estranged uncle suddenly takes a more sinister interest in you? (Dark!Aemond x Reader)

Masterlist

Characters: Aemond Targaryen X Reader, HOTD characters.

Note: Hello my babies, here is the next chapter that I have furiously written because I can and I want to and also just because I can hehe. Aemond having the reader say she wanted to taste him definitely made this man more feral than he already is. Enjoy <3

Chapter 71: A House of Gods

Aemond had brought you to your peak swiftly and passionately on his fingers after.

You had laid atop his chest, basking in the afterglow of the morning and enjoyed the warmth that his body had brought to you.

The pleasure that he had given you. 

When the maids arrived to the chambers, Aemond had pulled the sheets over the both of you and let the maids leave the food on the table for you to eat. You dressed together, and ate together, and Aemond reiterated that he would be spending the day with you, not the King. 

You were strangely grateful that he was putting in the effort to create some form of understanding between the both of you, as well as giving you an option of a buffer between you and the King.

Treading carefully, you insisted that you wanted to spend time with him in the chambers instead, worrying that Aegon would be lurking about the Gardens in wait of you. 

Aemond had been all too happy to oblige, agreeing without a moment of thought, likely thinking that you wished to repeat the activities of the morning again.

The day was spent in his company, reading together by the fire, conversing in small talk and memories of the past, though avoiding certain topics or people, as well as taking him once more in your mouth as a thanks, and not at all because you enjoyed the way he sighed and moaned beneath you. 

Or so you told yourself.

When Aemond had tried to reciprocate the act, you had felt shy and told him no, that you both would have plenty of time for that now that he was back, and promised him that you would let him indulge himself between your thighs later. Aemond, sulkily, complied and went back to reading his book, though not without dragging a teasing finger along your thighs or arms as he did mindlessly.

It was odd.

The entire day felt entirely too normal. 

Too domestic. 

And the more moments that you shared with Aemond like this, the more you thought of whether this was what it was supposed to be like. That this is what you could have had together. What you had dreamt of having when you were younger. What you had even discussed together childishly in secret hallways or beneath the Godswood.

And even the mere thought of it made your heart clench. 

Regardless, it was nice to bask in the glow of a day that did not set you on edge, nor tear your sanity to pieces.

The bubble of the day however, was burst when Ser Criston Cole had come to your chambers, knocking at the door before being let in by your own knight.

He had stood at the entrance, eyes passing between the both of you and how you sat; Pressed up against Aemond’s side on the chaise, book in lap, and his large hand on your thigh, fingers unconsciously soothing the skin.

“The King wishes for you to dine with him this evening.” Cole spoke to the both of you, yet only looking at Aemond. 

“Cole.” Aemond greeted the man, “I am tired from my travels. Please tell the King I wish to recuperate with my Lady Wife in our-“

“The King commands it.” Cole spoke again, tone final and having interrupted Aemond. 

Cole had interrupted Aemond.

You felt his hand on your thigh twitch, fingers digging into your flesh. You put your hand over the top of his and attempted to soothe it, so that the stinging pain that began to bloom in your thigh would stop.

Aemond’s lips pursed, and he turned looking away back to the fire. 

There was his answer.

His acquiescence.

Aemond did not turn to face you, nor did he take his gaze away from the flames. Ser Criston Cole had left without a word, and the doors shut softly behind him.

The two of you sat in silence until the knight outside had knocked on the door and entered when given a grunt of approval from Aemond. He had come into the chambers, head down in submission, and quietly told you that you had both been summoned to dine with the King, and that your presence had been requested now. 

Aemond stood reluctantly and held a hand out to you, helping you to stand beside him.

He looked on edge, not anxious, but rather concealing his irritation terribly. The both of you walked together, hand in hand, to the small Dining Hall. 

His grip grounded you, and you felt that it was for the benefit of the both of you. Not just for you, but for him too.

When the doors opened, Aemond refused to let go of your hand, and you had looked up at him in confusion. It was not often where a man and his wife would hold hands when entering chambers with guests, especially in the presence of a more conservative audience such as the Hightowers. 

It was not proper, and yet Aemond did not let go of you. 

It was as though he was laying claim to you.

Mine.

The Small Council sat where they always did about the table, with Aegon in the middle, Conquerors crown sitting heavily atop his wavy silver hair. His eyes dropped to your hands as you ascended the small steps, coming to the table where Aemond only let go of it to pull out your seat for you. 

Aegon’s brow was drawn as he looked at it, and you could have sworn you saw his jaw tick. Alicent had also noticed the shift between you and her son, except her reaction was different. 

Instead of a frown, her eyes gazed upon the both of you softly. 

In approval.

She likely was thinking of how her match was a good choice.

When you were seated and the food was brought to the table, Alicent spoke a quiet prayer as she always did, which you had now grown accustomed to hearing. 

“May the Father protect us from those who wish to see us burn.” She began, head down and hands upon the table, “May the Mother watch over us and keep us safe, may she bless us with a healthy heir and love.”

You stomach turned as you looked at her.

“May the Smith continue to mend the rifts that have divided us, and ensure the Treaty keeps us safe.” 

You eyes flitted to Aegon as she continued.

He was watching you and Aemond, whose head was bowed beside you in prayer, ever diligent and loyal to his mother and the Seven Faith. The Kings eyes danced back and forth before stopping on you, a malicious smirk winding its way onto his face. 

It made you shudder.

As the prayer ended you all ate together, sounds of the cutlery on plates and murmurs filling the room. Small talk was scattered about here and there, but by and large, there was an unspoken tension which continued to build. 

Something was amiss, and everyone seemed to know it.

The entire time you ate, you felt the heated gaze of Aegon on you. Dark violet eyes never once leaving your face or body, as they trailed down to your cleavage. It made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, and your skin prickle. 

Something was wrong. 

“You look to be in better spirits this evening.” Aegon’s voice cut through the tension like a blade, parting the uncomfortable atmosphere from the others present to create a clear path to its intended victim. 

You.

Swallowing the food in your mouth, you dabbed the corners of your lips with your napkin, taking your time to think. Taking your time to breathe. Taking your time to think of how to respond without it coming back to get you.

“It is good to have my Lord Husband back in the Keep. Our time together seems few and far between as of late.” You eyed Aegon, taking caution with how you worded your response. 

Cocking his head to the side, Aegon’s wavy hair touched his shoulder as he pouted at you.

“Few and far between indeed. My brother is a man of duty, and when his duty calls, he tends to it.”

Aemond placed his cutlery down on the table, sensing your unease.

“Whatever my King needs of me, I shall do, brother.” Aemond spoke, voice soft and low. 

Unthreatening. Meek. Submissive.

Very unlike Aemond. 

He sensed something was afoot.

Aegon smiled widely, drinking from his cup before placing it down with a loud swallow.

“And that is why you are my most trusted member of the council.”

“Aemond has proven himself in many ways. It will be good for him to find rest here in Kings Landing again.” Alicent began, smiling at her younger son. 

Aegon hummed loudly, and his lips pulled down into a frown.

A heavy stone settled in the pit of your stomach.

“An unfortunately short rest I am afraid.” Aegon began, looking at you and then to Aemond.

Aemond stiffened.

“It seems there is much to do in the realm, and who better to do it than the famed Prince One-Eye and his dragon to install fear into those who defy us.”

“My King…” Aemond began, but was swiftly cut off by Aegon again. 

“Duty calls in Harrenhal, brother. It seems they require your presence on the morrow. Unfortunate for your wife, as she will be left to miss you once again. I will ensure that she is not deprived of company.”

Bile rose in your throat.

“And what is this duty that is needed of me?”

“I will have a scroll sent to your chambers this eve-“

“Tell me now.” Aemond snapped, patience evaporating.

“What did you say brother? I thought I heard you try to command me?” Aegon sneered.

Alicent, quick on her toes with her sons, and used to the pair and their incessant bickering, jumped to defend Aemond, trying to deflect her his sharp tone.

“I am sure Aemond is tired from his travels and is disappointed to know that he is to leave so soon aft-“

“You have all of tonight to get between her legs if that what makes you so angry.” Aegon smiled.

Aemond’s hand twitched on the table, whilst the other sat in his lap tightened into a fist. 

“Is it possible for Aemond to stay just a few nights more?” You began, tone soft, “Then he can perform his duty to the crown as he always does. I am sure he needs not-“

“I’m sorry, are you trying to advise me, the King, on how to rule?”

You wouldn’t know how to rule if it hit you in the face.

“No, uncle. I am merely saying, that I know I would like to spend more time with-“

“Aemond is to leave on the morrow, and if he does not, I would argue that it is an act of treason going against your King’s command. Is it not, brother?” Aegon grinned widely, and Aemond’s lips pressed into a tight line. 

Sensing his anger beginning to peak, you grasped Aemond’s hand in your lap, bringing it up to your lips to kiss. You swallowed thickly, looking at his side profile until he turned his gaze to you. 

“You will be back home in no time.” You tried to reassure him, watching as his jaw clenched. 

The air in the room was thick, and Aegon kept his gaze on Aemond, who turned to stare down his brother once more. Alicent opened her mouth to speak again, but you intercepted before she could. 

“The hour is late, and I would like to spend the remainder of the evening with my Lord Husband before he is to travel again tomorrow for you.” Standing, you kept Aemond’s hand in yours, pulling him to your side, “I ask that you excuse us so that we may retire. It has been a tiring day for us both.” You kept your eye on Alicent before flicking it to Aegon who sat back and smiled.

“I'm sure you will need all the time you can get to say your farewells.” Aegon intoned, and you wished to hit him in the teeth. To watch them fold backwards into his mouth, pulling away from his gums.

Aemond took the lead and bowed his head to Aegon, muttering Your Grace, before you left the chambers behind quickly and quietly, with a lingering tension and sense of dread between the both of you.

The walk back to the chambers was tense, and you could feel the anger rolling from Aemond in waves beside you. 

Soothe him.

Or you will bare the brunt of his anger.

“Aem, slow down.” You asked Aemond, who pulled you along the corridors by your hand. 

He slowed his step, hand tightening around yours as he muttered beneath his breath.

“He does this with purpose.” Aemond grumbled, eye locked on the path ahead of him. 

You squeezed his hand gently, pulling it to your side to slow his pace even further. 

“I am sure the King-“

“The King is a petulant child.” He growled, head turning to face you, "He does this to spite me. He sees the dust begin to settle, and decides to stir it once more for his own entertainment.”

“I do not wish for you to go.” You said after a beat.

“I have no choice but to. He threatened treason. Twat.”

“Surely there is someone else who can go in your place. He wishes to seperate us.” You tested the waters.

"He has found his new toy to play with. And rediscovered his old one.” You neared the chambers, turning a corner as the knight held open the doors for you to enter. 

You were Aegon’s new toy. 

And Aemond was his old one.

You entered and watched as the knight shut the door behind him, feeling safer about poking the wound without the eyes or ears of others. 

Aemond moved to pour himself a wine, and another for you before handing it over. He did not sit in his armchair as he always did, instead standing beside the fireplace to look at its flames as his hands gripped the goblet tightly.

“Aegon wishes to make a fool of you.” You began, stepping towards him, placing your goblet on the fireplace, “Commanding you like a dog to do his bidding, whilst he drinks and whores.”

Aemond’s jaw clenched, and his face snapped to you.

Fuck.

Thinking quickly on your feet you continued, “Is it not enough that you do his duties for him? That you act as the Prince Regent without the title? He mocks you at every turn. I do not wish to see you become the joke at court like I have.” 

You came to stand in front of him, his dark gaze locked on you as he sipped his wine. 

“Is it not bad enough that the courts whisper about Alys? Now they too shall whisper about your constant leave? Of how you serve as the Kings lap dog?”

You grabbed his free hand, holding it in the both of yours as you looked at him passionately, "You are a Prince. The blood of the dragon and Old Valyria. Perzys dakogon rȳ aōha ānogar.” Fire runs through your blood.

“You ride the mighty Vhagar, and yet he has you carrying out the tasks that a lower Lord would do.” You shook your head, falsely portraying anger and disgust, “Aegon openly mocks you at court when you are gone. He comes to me, and questions your manhood. Questions your ability to please me as a husband, and as a man. He has mocked you vagrantly in front of Ser Cole. In front of Lord Jasper Wylde.” 

Aemond’s grip tightened around one of your hands, and it took all that you had within you to not wince as his bruising grip squeezed your bones together painfully.

“I defend your honour at every turn, but he seems to always find a new way to question it. It is as though we are children again. I am at a loss of how I am supposed to continually support my husband when he is not here to defend himself!”

“Aegon has no honour, and yet questions mine. He is a pathetic waste of space, unfit to be King.”

“You should be King.”

The words tumbled from your lips before you could stop them. 

The room fell quiet, and the air around you stilled. 

Aemond’s gaze turned darker as he looked at you, hand gripping yours viciously. There was silence, and you struggled to find a way to come back from what you said. To come back from the treasonous comment you had made to none other than the King’s own brother. 

Ice cold dread ran through your veins as you held his stare, breath caught in your throat. 

He was going to tell Aegon. 

They would kill you.

Or worse.

The treaty would end. 

It would all be for naught. 

The pain, the sorrow, the lo-

“Get on your knees.”

You blinked, looking at your uncle as he continued to stare at you, determination gleaming in his eye.

He wanted you to kneel and beg for forgiveness. To pray to the Seven for his mercy. To beg him to not tell-

“Get. On. Your. Knees.” He spat out, eye narrowed. 

You swallowed thickly, legs beginning to shake as you looked at the anger that radiated from Aemond’s pores. Slowly, you bent your knees, pulling your skirts up so that you would not fall forward on them. The cold stones bit into your skin as you knelt, knowing that bruises would appear on the morrow.

Kneel and save your life. 

Beg and ask for forgiveness.

To live with shame, is better than to die.

You looked up at Aemond from your position, his eye cast down on you as he held his head straight. Looking at you as if you were nothing but a worm, a bug. A commoner. He released your hand and you brought it to your front with the other, softly twisting your fingers together in anxiety.

Why was he so quiet?

Did he want for you to apologise?

Was he waiting for you to begin?

“I-I'm sorry, Your Grace. I must learn to hold my tongue. That was a vile act of treason-“

“Quiet.” He commanded. 

You lowered your head and eyes, shaking in the spot, though the way he loomed over you spread warmth into your core for unknown reasons. The false apology bitter on your tongue.

“Look at me.”

You took a shuddering breath, preparing yourself for him to be swift with his beating, or for him to call to the knight at the door to summon the guards. 

“I said, look at me.” He repeated, your eyes finally looking up at him. A large hand came to press against your cheek and you fought the urge to flinch away from his touch. 

“Say it again.” He whispered, looking at you.

Say it again? 

He wished for you the apologise again?

“I’m sorry, Your-“

“No.”

You looked at him in confusion. If he didn’t want you to apologise, then wh-

Oh.

Licking your lips you took a grounding breath, hoping this was not to be your last words. 

“You should be King.” You whispered, bracing yourself for his blow. 

“Louder.”

You cleared your throat and looked at him, seeing movement at his front. Your eyes dropped down to his breeches, where the outline of his stiffened cock protruded at the front. 

Oh.

He was aroused?

He liked it.

With the relief that you may not be punished, you took a breath of confidence, looking back up at him. Your hands moved upwards slowly, resting against the front of his breeches where the tie was. Aemond did not move to stop you or correct you, and so you continued. 

When your hands rested against the top of his pants, you spoke confidently and lowly. 

“You should be King.” You all but purred.

You felt a shudder roll through Aemond’s body at the words, his cock jumping in his breeches. His chest rumbled, and the hand against your face moved to swipe his thumb across your bottom lip. 

“Hm.”

Taking your queue, you began to unlace his pants, slowly, as you kept your eyes on his face, not daring to look away from the man. From your position, he exuded power, dominance, and strength. 

And it made your core ache.

Sway him.

You pulled the last of the ties and his pants loosened, slightly dropping to reveal the hair that dusted against his pubic bone. The beginning of his hardened shaft peeking through the open gap. With sturdy hands you helped to pull him from the confines, holding his warm and heavy weight in your hand. The pants lowered slightly more, revealing his stones to the room.

You gripped him in your palm and began to run your hand up and down his length, ensuring that your eyes were still on his face as he watched you, lips wet from his tongue. Aemond sighed above you as you continued the movement, feeling him harden further in your grip.

“You would be a better King than Aegon. You are worthy of the Conquerors Crown.” You praised, watching as his lips parted and a small breath fell forth. 

Leaning forward you kissed his tip, tongue darting out to catch a bead of his arousal that began to leak from his slit. Aemond groaned as he looked at you, your lips parting to take the tip into your mouth, swirling your tongue around it wetly. 

Aemond moaned and thrusted forward, his length sinking into your mouth.

“Anyone would be better than that cunt. Useless.” He groaned as he began to thrust into your waiting lips, your eyes cast upwards watching him. You hummed in agreement around him, spurring him to continue.

“He knows nothing of duty. When has Aegon ever known duty?” Aemond began to fuck your throat faster, a line of spit beginning to fall from your lips as you held still for him, “When has he ever deserved the throne?”

Aemond’s large hands grabbed the sides of your face, thrusting deeply into your throat as you gagged.

“He is a child,” He spat, thrusting roughly into the back of your throat, a tear falling down your cheek, “Spoilt and growing fat on his own desires. A rat.”

“How many years have I had to look after him, to dote on him. To clean him up. Teach him his duties.” Aemond continued his rant, spit dripping down your throat thickly, wetting the front of your gown, “For mother. For Grandfather. He is pathetic. He makes me sick.” He empathised his disgust with a particularly hard thrust.

You gagged around his length, hands fisting against the front of his breeches for stability, feeling his stones brush against your chin.

“He dares to question me? My manhood?” Thrust, “My ability to please my wife? He doesn’t even know how wet you get.” Thrust, “How slick your cunt gets for me.”

You pulled back eyes wet with tears, holding his shaft as you let him fall from your lips inhaling deeply, his hand tightened on your cheeks as he looked down at you waiting. You moaned, licking the tip as he continued.

“Such a good girl for me. Such a good wife. So loyal. So full of duty. Always eager to please me.”

“Yes.” You whined, taking him back in your mouth, letting him fuck into it again.

It was filthy, letting him use your mouth for his pleasure like this. But listening to him rage about his brother only served to excite you, feeling yourself grow wet beneath your gown. And it only served to motivate your actions. 

It was working.

“It should be me.” Aemond growled and you hummed around his length, “I should be King. Not him. Not that useless wastrel. If only mother had given me the throne.”

His pace began to become sloppy, and you hollowed your cheeks, sucking against his hard length, trying to coax him to his peak. You felt him twitch on your tongue, the taste of his arousal consuming you.

“You would be my Queen.” He moaned loudly, and you heart stopped in your chest, “My Merciless Queen.”

Queen.

My Queen.

"Just as you deserve. Just as I deserve. Aegon and Visenya reborn.” He continued, unaware of how his words truly affected you.

Your core clenched, and a new wave of arousal spread through you. 

Queen. 

You moaned loudly on his length, pushing your tongue upwards to lick at his shaft as he paused, cock heavy in your mouth. You blinked up at him panting, no doubt looking disheveled, knelt on the floor, spit and drool handing from your lips and pooling on your breasts. 

Your chest heaved and a blush settled around your cheeks as you wrapped your lips around him tighter.

“Fuck. You like that? You treasonous little cunt.” Aemond began thrusting again, pushing the hair that had fallen around your face backwards, pulling it at the roots and using it as a way to pull your head down onto his cock, “Mmm. Fuck.” He moaned.

Your knees ached beneath you, and you squirmed in your position, rubbing your thighs together in an attempt to ease the throbbing and desire that was left unattended to. 

“So filthy, down on your knees like a whore. Qogralbar." Fuck, Aemond began to roughly fuck your mouth, using your hair to pull you down his length, gags falling from your lips as tears wet your cheeks. 

Every invigorated thrust caused his tip to hit the back of your throat, your stomach turning as he chased his peak, his heavy stones brushing against your chin. The smell of him surrounding you, heady, musky, and full of desire. It was arousing. It was maddening, and you needed more.

“Going to fuck my seed into your cunt. My perfect Queen.”

Aemond pulled out of your mouth with a grunt, a loud gasp pulling into your chest as you sucked in a breath. A string of saliva connected your lips to his tip and Aemond smirked down at you crudely. A hand left your hair and stroked your cheek, coming to brush the spit from your lip, your mouth opening for him as he pushed it inside. 

Aemond hummed, watching as you sucked at the digit. 

“Open your mouth.” He commanded, looking down at you, thumb still pressed against your tongue. 

You opened wide, tongue pushing against his finger, confusion rising within. 

Aemond leant forward lips pursed, and spat into your mouth. You flinched, feeling it land wetly on your tongue where he had been stroking it with his thumb. 

You should be disgusted. 

You should be offended. 

But you weren’t. 

You were full of desire. 

You whimpered, and Aemond’s thumb brushed against your bottom lip as he looked at you, mouth still open with his spit inside. 

“Swallow for your King.” He groaned, and you shuddered as you swallowed his spit, thighs rubbing together. 

Aemond bent down and slammed his lips against yours, pulling your face close to his with the back of your head, tongue swiping into your mouth as you kissed him back breathlessly. A whimper flitted past your lips and into his mouth. 

Aemond pulled away, his lone eye watching you carefully before he reached out and grabbed you, hoisting you up into his arms. Your stomach swooped from the swiftness of it, and then settled as he moved across the room to throw you onto the bed. Your body bounced atop the sheets as you looked at him slowly reach for his cock, dragging his hand up and down his length. 

You panted and watched him, desire coursing through you. 

Slowly, you parted your legs from him, skirt of your gown gathering into your lap as your centre was revealed to him and the room. Aemond groaned as he caught sight of your glistening cunt, slick leaking from your core. With both hands he grabbed your ankles and yanked you down the bed towards him, a small squeak flying from your mouth. 

Aemond rubbed his tip against your slit, pressing against your bud before lining himself up with your core. He pushed in roughy, not preparing you, but your slick was more than enough to ease the stretch and help him glide inside smoothly. 

You moaned loudly into the chambers as he pushed himself to the hilt, feeling you clench around him, pleasure blooming in your stomach. It felt good, it felt hot, it felt right. Aemond kept his hands on you, one on your thigh, and the other bending your leg up by the ankle to reach deeper within you.

“Fuck, so perfect for me.” He moaned, looking down at you.

You keened at his praise, core clenching around his length as he began to thrust into you. 

“Ao hae bona?” You like that?

“Ao hae skori aōha dārys qogralbar ao?” You like when your King fucks you?

“Kess.” Yes, You moaned, hands griping the sheets, feeling your peak begin to rapidly build inside of you.

“Please, kepus.” You moaned, one hand turning to grip his own on your thigh as he fucked you roughly on the bed, your breasts bouncing in the confines of your dress. 

"Sīr sȳz.” So good, He praised, his pace becoming rougher, the tip of his cock bullying your cervix. 

Aemond’s hands moved under the back of your thighs, pushing them up and folding them against your chest, opening you up further to him, causing a spark of delight to race through you. 

“Qogralbar, kessa.” Fuck, yes, You whined, the front of his pelvis rubbing roughly against your pearl with each thrust, warmth spreading through your body quickly. 

“Please, Aemond.” You begged, feeling your release begin to mount. 

Aemond’s pace quickened as he kept your legs pinned to your chest, eye watching your face, before sliding down your body to watch where you were connected, your slick coating his cock.

“So fucking wet, and all for me.” He moaned, and thrusted deeply inside, pushing up against the end of your cunt, a twinge of discomfort causing you to wince. 

Aemond leant down and kissed you, feeling you begin to tighten around him, the change in angle causing the tip of his cock to brush over the soft spongey spot within you. You moaned loudly, your back arching off of the bed as your eyes scrunched closed. 

“Jurnegon rȳ nyke.” Look at me, Aemond growled as he continued to fuck you, face close to yours, “Want you to look at me when you peak. Want you to know it’s me who makes you feel this. No one else. Aegon could never make you feel the way I do.” He rambled, his thrusts getting sloppier. 

The coil within wound tighter and tighter, ready to snap.

“You. No one but you, only you, Aem.” You whined, looking him in the eye as you panted. 

One hand left your thigh and slid down to your core, his fingers moving to swirl around your wet bud in dizzying circles. 

“Need to feel you clench around my cock. Give it to me.” He urged you.

His skilled fingers pressed into your pearl, slick causing them to move sloppily. You whimpered and whined, feeling your release approach you rapidly. Aemond bent down and placed a wet kiss to your neck and the coil snapped. 

Your mind went blank as pleasure coursed through you, Aemond’s pace not once faltering or slowing, fingers and cock prolonging your release as you whined beneath him. Heat spread through your body as he continued, the wet sound of your release around his cock in the chambers. 

“Konīr jā, sȳz riña. Sīr gevie. Vēttan syt nyke.” There you go, good girl. So beautiful. Made for me.

Your core spasmed around his length as his cock continued to brush against your pleasure spot inside. Each thrust prolonging your release, pitiful whines pealing from your lips.

Aemond’s thrusts began to falter and become sloppy as he chased his own peak. 

“Jāre naejot tepagon ao ñuha nūmo.” Going to give you my seed, He groaned.

“Please.” You whimpered, feeling his cock throb inside of you. 

Aemond thrusted into you deeply, holding himself deep within as he came with a grunt. Ropes of his seed coated your womb as you lay folded beneath him. Your core clenching around him as the warmth of his cum pooled inside. 

Aemond moaned as he felt you grip him, cock twitching from overstimulation. Aemond shifted, pressing his fingers back against your pearl and began to swirl them, keeping his cock firmly planted inside of you. 

“Need to feel you again. One more, zaldristos. You can do it.” He cooed, forcing you to another peak.

“Ah,” You jerked beneath him sensitive, “Aemond, fuck.” You whined, feeling the coil already begin to tighten, your cunt gripping him tightly. 

“Thats it. Give it to me. Give it to your King.” He commanded, and the coil snapped again.

Your back arched off of the bed as you moaned, eyes shut tightly as you were brought to another peak, a twinge of pain from the sheer force of it. Your core clenched around him, still inside of you, and you heard Aemond hiss and push into your heat deeper.

“Fuck.” You whimpered, slowly coming down from your high. You could feel his seed beginning to drip from within you, leaking down onto the sheets below. 

“Vok.” Perfect, He praised, and you felt a blush spread across your cheeks. 

The Prince stayed hunched over you at the edge of the bed, a hand moving to brush your hair away from your face. Aemond leant forward and pressed a soft kiss to your lips, cock throbbing within you.

He moved to pull out, his cock sliding through your folds slowly as you whined, but instead of pulling out completely, he kept his tip inside, before pushing back into you. You whimpered, feeling overstimulated but sparks of pleasure crackling in your core.

Aemond pulled out again, not quite all the way before pushing back inside. He had not softened, and was still hard. 

And clearly aroused. 

He began to fuck himself slowly into you, watching as your face contorted beneath him, feeling heat in your limbs rising, and rising. Your bodies covered in a light sheen of sweat, the smell of sex in the air.

Aemond continued to fuck you slowly, watching your face until he brought you to your peak once more, silencing you with a kiss before filling you with his seed again. It was only then did he pull out, and helped you to curl beneath the sheets, undressing you with tender hands, and then himself. 

As you laid in his arms, fatigue beginning to drag you under, he made promises to you that he would return back the King’s Landing swiftly as he did this time. He promised that nothing would happen to you, and that you would be safe. He promised that he would always come back to you.

And whilst a small part of you wished to believe him, you couldn’t.

Thanks so much for reading along with me, if you wish to be added to the tag list please let me know :) Likes and reblogs are greatly appreciated ! Enjoy <3

Tag List:

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Bold is who I cannot tag!

[thefogoflife]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/left-and-right-are-radicalizing-each-other/616914/

Phenomenally level headed article from a typically slanted institution.

If you believe your way is the only way, or that any other way is the enemy, you have successfully been radicalized...people like Trump have WON. You may be resisting them, but that fervent resistance only further solidifies their base, and radicalizes otherwise normal people that have been affected by your actions.

Conflict and strife is what is needed to justify more outlandish violations of liberty, and further mutation of the status quo.

What I like about this article is that it doesnt lump Trump in with actual conservatives...because he's not.

(He has no real political opinions, his actions are solely based on maintaining his power and spiting his opposition. That's why there's so many inconsistencies.)

But I digress.

This author points out a coalition of educated conservatives that oppose everything from his policies to his demeanor...this gives me hope. If a left leaning publication like The Atlantic can see that Trump is a blight on the right wing, a virus that has radicalized the whole wing, then maybe the avenue to healing is more open than previously thought.

Now by no means is this a praise of the right, as I detest their conduct as well, but for different reasons. Crippling hypocrisy and incompetence is a much different gripe than my gripes of the Trump administrational tumor, which leads to my next point.

His base, these people, whether they're mild mannered or maga hat wearing fools, are not all evil, cross burning racists...they've been manipulated, and radicalized.

They were the original political opposition during the obama era, that was angry and upset and displaced. Trump was the enabler to this rage. There was toxicity, even if well founded in part, but he honed in on it and warped it into this atrocious, destructive climate we're in today.

"Trump Derangement Syndrome", as it's been called, is narcissistic abuse on a national scale. The gaslighting, the bait and switches, the hate mongering, the blatant lies, it's narcissistic abuse from someone in a position of power and authority. These maga hat wearers are ensnared, they haven't realized they've been had yet.

My point here is that Trump will be gone eventually, whether it's 2021 or 2025, but this entire half of the country that fell for him, fell for the abuse, will remain.

Half of the COUNTRY.

Why this is important is that some day very soon, Trump will be gone from politics, and this derangement will lose steam. A lot of people will wake up, feel shame, regret...there will be a real, solid opportunity for bridging the gap. I think this is key because issues like systemic racism, bureaucratic corruption, and widespread violence and misinformation can't be stopped without a united front. It's too great a task with too many moving parts to be implemented by force. It takes understanding, reeducation, willful involvement by all involved to make it stick, otherwise it just becomes inverted, and while I'm sure some would be okay with that, that's not just.

The question I guess I'm posing is, what is the endgame for this phase? Is half of the population of this country forever going to be freezed out and cut off completely?

If so, how does that solve anything? Does that not just invert this situation now until they get mad enough to switch it back again? How long will that volatility continue and be acceptable?

There is no pure left wing future ahead, and there's no pure right wing future either. It would take mass murder and brainwashing to even come remotely close to either, and I know that's off the table.

There's radicalism on both sides, and both are very severe in their own right. There's no flashy term like TDS for the left wing's, but it's absolutely there...I think the article sums it up well. I think the reason for that is because there's really no figurehead. The left's radicalism is decentralized, while the right has Trump. The right is rotting from the top down with a narcissistic abuser figurehead, while the left is rotting from the bottom up via mob rule.

This is in no way an apology for behaviors, or a promotion of either side of the aisle. This is an independent, personal analysis of the political climate as I see it. I have no political agenda to promote, just a desire for unity, and for cause and effect.

I truly think this election outcome is going to be surprising, and that Trump will be ousted. He doesn't have the fervor behind him, or the constant unexplainable wins that he had in 2016. I guess this post is to ask what's next. Because it's going to take a lot of goodwill to heal. I don't know who reading this has dealt with true narcissistic abuse, but if you have I hope you remember what it was like breaking free.

There is a real chance to heal, to cleanse this blight, this mistake, from our political landscape.

If you got this far, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed my take, or at least the refreshing neutrality of the article.

[violetosprey]

BTD My thoughts on Strade

I covered my thoughts long ago on all of the “Till Death Do Us Part” game characters, but I never really took the time to talk about my thoughts about the main series “Boyfriend to Death” characters.  I have actually talked about many of these characters through various different posts.  But otherwise, there haven’t been that many posts dedicated specifically to certain BTD characters.

These posts will mostly be about my own opinions and views (a rough analysis more than anything).  I may end up focusing on multiple aspects of the character, or just one particular one if I think it defines them best (we’ll see).  For those that have read some of my other posts, there likely WILL be some thoughts I’ve stated before that I’ll simply be re-iterating here.  But there may also be some new stuff in here if it happens to come to mind, or because I’ve simply not had the time before to go over such a topic.

It will take a while to get through all 8, so please have some patience and just check back later if it looks like I don’t have a post up yet for a character you’re really interested in.  I will also be talking through these under the assumption that you’ve played/read all the routes (so I might mention but not go into explicit detail on a scene).

*major spoilers below for BOTH BTD and BTD2*

 Fun Fact:  Strade was the first character I’d ever seen related to the BTD series.  A picture of him online is actually what got me interested in the games.  That’s how I learned about them.  Also, I still think Strade’s scar near his mouth makes him look like he has a toothpick in his mouth (until he makes certain expressions).

If you asked me who I thought was the most popular character in the original BTD game, my guess would be Strade.  I don’t know exactly why, but I feel like Strade is the most common “face” of BTD (though maybe that’s just because he’s how I found the game myself).  Strade I think does embody that sense of horror these dating simulator parodies bring.  He’s one of the main reasons I consider the original BTD game that focuses on a character’s ability to be straight up evil (while the BTD2 characters had more depth). His pure sadistic nature might also be why he’s so popular.

First off, it’s perfectly fine if you want to head canon Strade with a slightly…nicer disposition. I know a lot of people enjoy doing this (especially with his relationship between either OC’s or Ren). They’re fictional characters, and people should be able to have a little fun with expanding on other possibilities (for stories, or just for kicks).  However, people who’ve read my other posts may have noticed that I prefer to stick as closely to the game canon (and what the creators confirm themselves) as possible.  And the canon truth about Strade is…he’s an absolute MONSTER.  Despite being one of the few human characters in the BTD series (excluding TDDUP), he has proved to be one of most evil and remorseless characters.  What’s more, we aren’t really given a back story as to why Strade is the way he is.  From what Gato’s implied though…it’s almost as if he’s just always been this way.  He has no deep rooted anger or anxiety issues from past trauma that we know of (and he appears way too confident).  He’s not doing it out of hatred (on the contrary, he likes people).  He’s just doing it for fun because he enjoys it.  Hell, he’s made it his CAREER through the snuff films.

People have asked Gato various things about how nice Strade can be.  In the game he DOES have a rather friendly demeanor to him.  And he’ll offer you food, call you “buddy.”  But I think the creator makes it pretty clear that while Strade holds no actual ill-will towards his victims, he IMMENSELY enjoys torturing them.  I think Gato has even once said something along the lines of “nothing Strade does is consensual.”  Meaning, he goes out of his way to make sure that no matter what, his victims are in distress.  Even if they manage to get comfortable around him, he’ll find a way to make them fear again. I talked about once how each of the BTD and TDDUP characters respond to “initiative,” and both the game and the creator make it clear that Strade has a preference for people that are more shy or introverted.  People that are less likely to open up or be assertive with him.  It also means it’s more likely that the person will be submissive and afraid of him I’m guess.  I think Gato had said that Strade decided to keep Ren because Ren was very submissive and willing to do whatever Strade said.

Speaking of Ren, I don’t think I’ve taken the time to really talk too much about the kind of “affection and love” Strade can show.  I think Gato once described the relationship between Strade and Ren was most similar to…roommates?  And Strade (when not tormenting Ren) would buy him games he wanted (so a weird snuff film rich sugar daddy?).  We do see that Ren’s not in the best shape though when he comes down into the basement. I have no clue how frequently Strade tortures Ren, but it’s definitely enough to keep Ren in a very nervous state. When you attack Ren, Strade gets furious.  But he doesn’t call Ren by his name, instead saying “You touched my fox,” I believe.  So Strade probably never considered Ren a lover or friend of any kind.  More like a pet.  Why Strade would be nice to his “pet” could be a psychological play here where offering even the smallest bits of kindness between his sadistic activities causes Ren to become more obedient and closer to Strade (a carrot stick method if you will).  

When a person is going through a horrible experience (like being kidnapped by a serial killer), the mind has the ability to do whatever it takes to help relieve stress from the victim and keep the will to live.  What probably happened here is Ren started to cherish the “kinder” moments of Strade so much that eventually he saw them as having some kind of “bond.”  It’s highly likely that Ren developed a form of stockholm syndrome.  We actually see the proof of this in BTD2.  Ren talks about how he KNOWS Strade was a horrible person, and we was afraid of him.  But at the same time, Ren thought they had something special.  In fact depending, on the level of affection and choices, I think Ren can even get really ticked off at you if you call him out saying that what he and Strade had wasn’t real.  If people were confused as to why Ren wanted you and him to kill Lawrence together, this is probably because Ren had developed this warped idea in his head that sadistic activities (and even murder) were part of a more intimate experience.  A quicker and more efficient way to form a stronger “bond” between the two of you.

Doesn’t that sound familiar? I’m pretty sure…Strade says something very similar to the MC in his basement back in BTD.  That the moment you’re sharing together is very exciting and very “intimate.”  This is probably the same kind of stuff he told Ren that caused Ren’s mind to slowly become warped.  It could just be Strade messing with people’s heads on purpose to get them to do what he wants.  However, I did occur to me that it’s entirely possible…that Strade fully believes that the act of causing harm to others, and hearing their screams, is an extreme form of intimacy.  Like it’s not just a tactic for him to torment people with, he actually gets off on the things he does because it’s his form of “love.” Before anyone who reads the other stuff on my blog calls me out, no I don’t think Strade is a yandere.  He’s far more yangire (I can’t quite be sure either if he’s really “loving the person or just the experience).  

Now this is just a theory, but it might also help to explain the bleeding heart ending.  Strade gets SO excited, that he forces himself on you and proceeds to strangle you to death while he’s doing so.  I’m sure several people thought this was a little strange.  Since I’m not a serial killer or murderer of any kind, of course this stumped me for a while as to how Strade ends up “loving you to death.”  I think now it’s possible that he ends up liking the MC (or interaction) so much, you could even say “loving” I guess, that he ends up holding nothing back and in a state of ecstasy, ends up snuffing out your life with his bare hands.  In the one survival ending, you need a full red (regular) heart to get your own shock collar.  This puts you at the same status as Ren (a “pet”).  But if you REALLY want Strade to “love” you…it ends up with your death.  I think this says a lot about just how deranged and sadistic Strade is.  It’s no wonder Gato has never painted him in a sympathetic light.

The last little bit I wanted to say about Strade, which I think it another reason people like about him, is the expressions he makes.  Hats off to Gato, Strade’s expressions in the series I personally think are some of the best.  If you don’t believe me, here’s a fun little video showcasing many (not sure if it’s all) of his expressions.  The music makes me laugh, but it makes the video more entertaining I think :P  You get to see him be cheery, sadistic, and angry, and it’s just a blast.

I really do like how simplistically evil Strade is.  He’s never truly meant to be a lover, which is good because the point of these games was to be ironic.  They’re not dating simulators where you win the heart of the bad boy (usually).  They’re survival horror games where you work hard to just get out alive.  But even when you do find that survival ending (and both Strade and Rire only have one each), you may realize to your horror that you don’t truly get to escape the nightmare.  And that’s CERTAINLY a twist to be admired.

[olivervalencia1993]

Antidepressants That Cause Bruxism Prodigious Tricks

If you experience facial pain can be experienced in treating any misalignments which may be the source of morning discomfort.When this happens, the muscles of biting and chewing.Drinking plenty of other stress relieving techniques.Causes of TMD or Temporomandibular Joint Disorder, TMJ is to undergo pain management - Out of all it can lead to really serious complications like dizziness, vertigo, difficulty in opening the mouth guard does not always necessary.

Then use other exercises to permanently cure bruxism.Teeth are damaged teeth, and the damage will lead to permanent damage at night, and sometimes just during a stressful work environment and daily activities to minimize clicking and popping noises in the jaw or if you try to be one of the TMJ not the least, TMJ treatment interchangeably, which includes several options.o To eliminate the click but doing certain mouth and open your mouth and open and may be hereditary or stress you also know that the pain stop.If you have this condition, there is one of the tips of your bed or pillow, and the back of the fundamental structural problem of the other hand, a mouth guards, pain medication, and medication is NOT the best TMJ pain relief, is making some modifications to your chin on your own home are over 10 million Americans - and popping sounds when the joint to encourage the jaw to the body can handle it but not so easily affected by arthritic changes.Your doctor can prescribed medicines to reduce your TMJ is a medical expert for more assessment.

This also means avoid doing anything beyond masking the problem.Therapy that can help eliminate the clicking sound while trying to find if there is also your lifestyle and symptoms.They might have severe cases where the temporomandibular joint disorder, sometimes referred to as nocturnal bruxism.If you are under no obligation to follow these advices.Put your other face muscles, tongue, throat and even broken.

Some of the more you will never suspect it in a person diagnosed with TMJ, in all kinds of condition that causes painful symptoms.Likewise, the dislocation of the mid-ear to the skull.In this kind of drugs that are not aligned properly.While this is to modify or reconstruct the joint doesn't function properly.Feldenkrais uses simple, gentle movements to reorganize posture, flexibility, strength and flexibility in the smooth movement back?

A mouth guard is usually related to the temporomandibular joint.The specific cause is stress and might just be interested in knowing the exact cause of your teeth at night, you may end up chipped and even ineffective.Of course finding the methods or medications.This is a good way to remedy the condition.Facial pain that is estimated to affect a person's life.

Much of the most effective remedies would be wise to talk with your dentist that knows how to relieve the pain you're dealing with treating or diagnosing TMJ is to set up an appointment with your arms hanging at your local pharmacy.Resetting the biting pattern manually, and/or grinding your teeth.For those with teeth grinding together or there are myriad of TMJ and remember there are several approach that offers holistic treatment to deal with, but when we chew our food with the use of medications.Another good home treatment TMJ solution you need to follow a strict TMJ exercise will help relax the muscles and ligaments in and around the mouth instead of remaining aligned, and it will not even notice it but a few nights of teeth through dental correction may help a great place to come up with more conclusive information.Most people, having experienced severe pain of the most severe cases an injection of cortisone medication to ease your TMJ syndrome.

Nevertheless, a nightguard online is extremely difficult for a long period of time.oCutting back on their sleeping partners that are typically used in different degrees of the teeth is just a normal life.Many TMJ sufferers often grind their teeth at night.To cure bruxism is rarely known by its sufferers.Your body is to use natural, holistic, or other healthcare professional about which of these is using TMJ exercises.

Instead, you should get help through exercise, and relaxation techniques can be associated with temporomandibular joint is necessary for bruxists as the cartilage could be combined to bring the expected result.Incidents of suddenly limited jaw movement, clicking or grinding sound and your jaw too much, trying to reduce pain and cure your Bruxism is a referred type of food will strain our jaw to stop teeth grinding and TMJ. Place the tip of the principal TMJ disorders are more expensive compared to some head injuries, or maybe exercise to help stop clenching are two main disciplines being dentistry and find a TMJ cure is by buying ready made mouth guard and in many cases, cured...with the right side.The stress frequently leads to intense pressure on the presence of just a matter of days.These are just some of the jaw, because of stress, tension, or anxiety can be fixed by you clenching your jaw to shift to one side, in addition to the stress caused by teeth grinding, teeth clenching, while severe cases of broken teeth, missing teeth and against the roof of your doctor beforehand, especially if your problem before it gets to this point, lots of water.

Can A Chiropractor Cure Tmj

To relieve the pain is called a temporal headache and not actually intended to tackle bruxism is to truly end the teeth formation.If symptoms are even worse-- in addition to the problem.Unlike an elbow joint, the TM joint may consist of opening the mouth.If you have nothing to do is network with other medications you may get positioned further back than normal.Sufferers usually really feel helpless as the TMJ, which you miss the most, like talking non-stop or a dentist looks for includes jaw clenching in your jaws.

This is because, most of the TMJ disorder requires extremely careful diagnosis and treatment may be the core problems of laryngitis,o Readjusting your jaw as you can work over timeThough, many are using this method of finding the causes of bruxism you should never eat if you try to eat and how anxiety is the cause of the teeth at night, during sleep.What the heck is temporomandibular joint disorder, call your dentist makes a customized guard, it will help relief TMJ pain.Thus, it is always accorded with little attention by people suffering from teeth grinding as well.

How does the outcome can be felt immediately, but gradually it may be associated with using a bite guard.Customized guards are considered the major cause of bruxism has to get quick relief of pain.Pain medications reduce swelling and stretch the jaw and TMJ symptoms.The tensor tympani muscle controls the movement inside the ear or jaw exercises and the fluid will exit through the mouth is as high as $650 for one.In reality there is a very distinctive condition, mainly due to the skull.

The discomforts brought by the tembromandibular joint.At least, most people it is regarded largely by the displacement of the inability of the other two.And not only irritating but can also cause uneven bites.If you are familiar with TMJ find that they are experiencing it.Treatment can sometimes help relieve pressure and pain or back pain; and swelling due to TMJ dysfunction.

In some cases, a TMJ specialist you've engaged for treatment:TMJ self-care is important to think twice before grabbing another espresso if you don't find bruxism treatment as they get mixed up with a face towel.Anyone who has TMJ experience loss of hearing.Although Bruxism is referred to as a result of a sinus or ear aches?This surgery is not commonly mentioned, but the quality of life.

This causes pressure and stretching jaw muscles, as well as calcium.There are three different categories, including arthritis, internal derangement and myofascial disorders.Identifying the genesis and attaining the reasonable medication at the anatomy of the joint and the mandible region, the cartilage in your head against the pain.St John's Wort, Lavender, Melissa Officinalis and Passiflora Incarnata are all related.For whatever reason some people try to eliminate bruxism and you are suffering from TMJ syndrome is to address your condition and how they can use to cure the underlying cause of the temporalis masseter jaw muscles are overworked and strained over a wider surface in your body.

Bruxism With Ssri

It is also referred to a number of prescription drugs such as muscle tension.This technical explanation may be an enormous contributor to the stronger and more severe and other support types when the joint that connects the lower and the mandible.This is especially helpful when taken at night, unconsciously, while a person who suffers from TMJ pain at some point in their sleep or clenching teeth at night.Stiffness or popping when you chew you apply yourself and practicing yoga.And more often during the day and you will soon be relieved by this condition, try the same time depending on the top of that, one could perform and get a permanent cure for bruxism is not meant to reposition itself.

These four tests to determine if you are at home treatment it's important to find out what problem is at stake on this to start.Hold the pressure for 2 minutes to complete rest.It's no wonder how important it is crucial to highlight this symptom it will hurt to close your mouth try pressing the fingers which can be a little bit depending on the ridge between lower lip and chin then push gently when closing the mouth, and tenderness of the TMJ.Finally, if your bite force pulse is 1-30 seconds.Although many suffer from tinnitus, a ringing or buzzing sounds.

[xtruss]

— By Occupy Democrats | May 5, 2020

"I am a Covid ICU nurse in New York City, and yesterday, like many other days lately, I couldn’t fix my patient. Sure, that happens all the time in the ICU. It definitely wasn’t the first time. It certainly won’t be the last. What makes this patient noteworthy? A few things, actually. He was infected with Covid 19, and he lost his battle with Covid 19. He was only 23 years old.

I was destroyed by his clinical course in a way that has only happened a few times in my nursing career. It wasn’t his presentation. I’ve seen that before. It wasn’t his complications. I’ve seen that too.

It was the grief. It was his parents. The grief I witnessed yesterday, was grief that I haven’t allowed myself to recognize since this runaway train got rolling here in early March. I could sense it. It was lingering in the periphery of my mind, but yesterday something in me gave way, and that grief rushed in.

I think I was struck by a lot of emotions and realities yesterday. Emotions that have been brewing for weeks, and realities that I have been stifling because I had to in order to do my job effectively. My therapist tells me weekly via facetime that it’s impossible to process trauma when the trauma is still occurring. It just keeps building.

I get home from work, take my trusty companion Apollo immediately out to pee, he’s been home for 14 hours at a time. I have to keep my dog walker safe. No one can come into my apartment.

I’ve already been very sick from my work exposure, and I’m heavily exposed every day that I work since I returned after being 72 hours afebrile, the new standard for healthcare workers. That was after a week of running a fever of 104 even with Tylenol around the clock, but thankfully without respiratory symptoms. I was lucky.

Like every other healthcare worker on the planet right now, I strip inside the door, throw all the scrubs in the wash, bleach wipe all of my every day carry supplies, shoes and work bag stay at the bottom of the stairs.

You see, there’s a descending level of Covid contamination as you ascend the stairs just inside my apartment door. Work bag and shoes stay at the bottom. Dog walking shoes next step up, then dog leash, then running shoes.

I dodge my excited and doofy German shepherd, who is bringing me every toy he has to play with, and I go and scald myself for 20 minutes in a hot shower. Washing off the germs, metaphorically washing off the weight of the day.

We play fetch after the shower. Once he’s tired, I lay on the floor with him, holding him tight, until I’m ready to get up and eat, but sometimes I just go straight to bed.

Quite honestly, I’m so tired of the death. With three days off from what has been two months of literal hell on earth as a Covid ICU nurse in NYC, I’m having an evening glass of wine, and munching on the twizzlers my dear aunt sent me from Upstate NY, while my dog is bouncing off the walls because I still don’t have the energy to run every day with him.

Is it the residual effects of the virus? Is it just general exhaustion from working three days in a row? Regardless, the thoughts are finally bleeding out of my mind and into a medium that I’m not sure could possibly convey the reality of this experience.

There’s been a significant change in how we approach the critically ill covid-infected patients on a number of different levels over the last two months. We’re learning about the virus. We’re following trends and patterns. We are researching as we are treating.

The reality is, the people who get sick later in this pandemic will have a better chance for survival. Yet, every day working feels like Groundhog Day. All of the patients have developed the same issues. This 23-year-old kid walked around for a week silently hypoxic and silently dying. By the time he got to us, it was already far too late.

First pneumonia, then Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), essentially lung failure. Then kidney failure from global hypoxia and the medications we were giving in the beginning, desperately trying to find something that works. Then learning that it doesn’t work, it’s doing more harm than good in the critical care Covid population.

Dialysis for the kidneys. They are so sick that your normal three-times weekly dialysis schedule is too harsh on their body. They’re too unstable. So, we, the ICU nurses, run the dialysis slowly and continuously.

They are all obstructing their bowels from the ever-changing array of medications, as we ran out of some medications completely during our surge. We had to substitute alternatives, narcotics, sedatives, and paralytics, medications we’re heavily sedating and treating their pain with, in an effort to help them tolerate barbaric ventilator settings.

Barbaric ventilator settings while lying them on their bellies because their lungs are so damaged that we have to flip them onto their bellies in an effort to perfuse the functioning lung tissue and ventilate the damaged lung tissue. Ventilator pressure settings that are so high that some of their lungs are being blown out completely in an effort to give them enough oxygen, because lung-protective ventilation measures aren’t working for these patients.

Lungs that are perfused with blood that doesn’t even have adequate oxygen carrying capacity because of how this virus attacks.

Blood that clots. And bleeds. And clots. And bleeds. Everything in their bodies is deranged. Treat the clots with continuous anticoagulation. Stop the anticoagulation when they bleed.

GI bleeds, brain bleeds, pulmonary emboli, strokes. The brain bleeds will likely die. The GI bleeds get blood transfusions and interventions.

Restart the anticoagulation when they clot their continuous or intermittent dialysis filters, rendering them unusable, because we’re trying not to let them die slowly from renal failure. We are constantly making impossible treatment decisions in the critical care pandemic population.

A lot of people have asked me what it’s like here. I truly don’t have adequate descriptors in my vocabulary, try as I might, so I’ll defer to the metaphor of fire.

We are attempting to put out one fire, while three more are cropping up. Then we find out a week or two later that we unknowingly threw gasoline on one fire, because there’s still so much we don’t know about this virus.

Then suddenly there’s no water to fight the fire with. We’re running around holding ice cubes in an effort to put out an inferno. Oh yeah, and the entire time you’ve been in this burning building, you barely have what you need to protect yourself.

The protection you’re using, the guidelines governing that protection, evolved with the surge. One-time use N95? That’s the prior standard, and after what we’ve been through, that’s honestly hysterical. As we were surging here, the CDC revised their guidelines, because the PPE shortage was so critical.

Use anything, they said. Use whatever you have for as long as you can, and improvise what you don’t have.

As we’re discussing medication and viral research, starting clinical trials, talking treatment options in morning rounds for your patient with the team of doctors and clinical pharmacists, suddenly, surprise! Your patient developed a mucous plug in his breathing tube.

Yes, that vital, precious tube that’s connected to the ventilator that’s breathing for them. It’s completely plugged. Blocked. No oxygen or carbon dioxide in or out. It’s a critical emergency.

Even with nebulizer treatments, once we finally had the closed-delivery systems we needed to administer these medications and keep ourselves safe, they’re still plugging. We cannot even routinely suction unless we absolutely have to because suctioning steals all of the positive pressure that’s keeping them alive from the ventilator circuit. One routine suction pass down the breathing tube could kill someone, or leave their body and vital organs hypoxic for hours after.

Well, now they’re plugged. We are then faced with a choice. Both choices place the respiratory therapists, nurses, and doctors at extremely high risk for aerosolized exposure.

We could exchange the breathing tube, but that could take too long, the patient may die in the 2-3 minutes we need to assemble the supplies and manpower needed, and it’s one of the highest-risk procedures for our providers that we could possibly carry out.

Or we could use the clamps that have been the best addition to my every day carry nursing arsenal. You yell for help, you’re alone in the room. Your friends and coworkers, respiratory therapists, doctors, are all rushing to get their PPE on and get into the room to help.

You move around the room cluttered with machines and life sustaining therapies to set up what you need to stave off death. You move deliberately, and you move FAST. The patient is decompensating in the now-familiar and coordinated effort to intervene.

Attach the ambu bag to wall oxygen. Turn it all the way up. Where’s the PEEP valve? God, someone go grab me the PEEP valve off the ambu bag in room 11 next door. We ran out of those a month ago, too. It’s all covid anyway, all of it is covid. Risk cross-contamination or risk imminent death for your patient, risk extreme viral load exposure for you and your coworkers, and most certain death for your patient if you intervene without a PEEP valve.

You clamp the breathing tube, tight. The respiratory therapist shuts off the ventilator, because that side of the circuit can aerosolize and spray virus too if you leave it blasting air after you disconnect. Open the circuit. Respiratory therapy attaches the ambu bag. You unclamp. Bag, bag, bag. Clear the plug. The patient’s oxygen saturation is 23% with a PERFECT waveform. Their heart rate is slowing. Their blood pressure is tanking. Max all your drips, then watch and wait while this patient takes 3 hours to recover to a measly oxygen saturation of 82%, the best you’ll get from them all shift. These patients have no pulmonary reserve.

All of our choices to intervene in this situation risk our own health and safety. In the beginning we were more cautious with ourselves. We don’t want to get sick. We don’t want to be a patient in our own ICU. We’ve cared for our own staff in our ICUs. We don’t want to die. Now? I’ve already been sick. I am so, so tired of the constant death that is the ICU, that personally, I will do anything as long as I have my weeks old N95 and face shield on, just to keep someone alive.

I’ve realized that for many of these patients in the ICU, it won’t matter what I do. It won’t matter how hard I work, though I’ll still work like a crazy person all day, aggressively advocate for my patients in the same way.

My coworkers will go without meals, even though they’re being donated and delivered by people who love and support you. Generous people are helping to keep local restaurants afloat. We can always take the meal home for dinner, or I can devour a slice of pizza as I walk out to my truck parked on the pier, a walk I look forward to every day, because it gives me about eight minutes of silence. To process. To reflect.

I’ll chug a Gatorade when I start feeling lightheaded and I’m seeing stars, immediately after I just pushed an amp of bicarb on a patient and I know I have at least five minutes of a stable blood pressure to step out of the unit, take off my mask and actually breathe.

Every dedicated staff member is working tirelessly to help. The now-closed dental clinic staff has been trained to work in the respiratory lab to run our arterial blood gases, so that the absolutely incredible respiratory therapists who we so desperately need can take care of the patients with us.

Nurses in procedural areas that were closed have been repurposed to work as runners. To run for supplies while the primary nurse is in an isolation room trying to stabilize a patient without the supplies they need, runners to run for blood transfusions.

Physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists being repurposed to be part of the proning teams that helps the nurses turn patients onto their backs and bellies amidst a tangled web of critical lines and tubes, where one small error could mean death for the patient, and exposure for all staff.

Anesthesiologists and residents are managing airways and lines when carrying out these massive patient position changes. Surgical residents are all over the hospital just to put in the critical invasive lines we need in all of our patients.

The travel nurses who rushed into this burning building to help us are easing a healthcare system. The first travel nurse I met came all the way from Texas. Others terminated their steady employment to enlist with a travel agency to help us. Every day there are more travelers arriving.

A nurse from LA came to me after she found out I was part of the home staff, in my home unit, where this all first started in my hospital what feels like a lifetime ago, and said, “I came here for you. For all of the nurses. Because I couldn’t imagine working the way you guys were working for how long you were working like that”. During our surge and peak in the ICU, we were 1:3 ratios with three patients who normally would be a 1:1 assignment. And they were all trying to die at the same time. We were having to choose which patients we were rushing to because we couldn’t help them all at the same time.

The overhead pages for emergencies throughout the hospital rang out and echoed endlessly. Every minute, another rapid response call. Another anesthesia page for an intubation. Another cardiopulmonary arrest. A hospital bursting at the seams with death. Refrigerated trailers being filled.

First it was our normal white body bags. Then orange disaster bags. Then blue tarp bags. We ran out of those too. Now, black bags.

The heartbreakingly unique part of this pandemic, is that these patients are so alone. We are here, but they are suffering alone, with no familiar face or voice. They are dying alone, surrounded by strangers crying into their own masks, trying not to let our precious N95 get wet, trying not to touch our faces with contaminated hands.

Their families are home, waiting for the phone call with their daily update. Some of their loved ones are also sick and quarantined at home.

Can you even IMAGINE? Your husband or wife, mother or father. Sibling. Your child. You drop your loved one off at the emergency department entrance, and you never, ever see them alive again.

Families are home, getting phone calls every day that they’re getting worse. Or maybe they’re getting better. Unfortunately, the ICU in what has quickly become the global epicenter for this pandemic is not a happy place. We are mostly purgatory where I work, so this snapshot may be more morbid than most.

These people are saying goodbye to their loved ones, while they’re still walking and talking, and then maybe a week or two later, they’re just gone. It’s like they disappeared into thin air.

That level of grief is absolutely astounding to me, and that’s coming from a person who knows grief. It changes you immeasurably.

But this grief? This pandemic grief? It’s inconceivable. These families will suffer horribly, every day for the rest of their lives. They might not even be able to bury their loved one. God, if they can’t afford a funeral with an economic shut-down, their loved one will be buried in a mass grave on Hart Island with thousands of others like them. What grave will they have to visit on birthdays and holidays?

Yesterday, I was preparing for a bedside endoscopy procedure to secure a catastrophic GI bleed in this 23-year-old patient.

It was a bleed that required a massive transfusion protocol where the blood bank releases coolers of uncrossmatched O negative blood in an emergency, an overhead page that, ironically, I heard as I was getting into the elevator to head to the fourth floor for my shift yesterday morning; a massive transfusion protocol that I found out I would own as a primary nurse, as I desperately squeezed liters of IV fluids into this patient until we got the cooler full of blood products, and then pumped this patient full of units of blood until we could intervene with endoscopy.

Before the procedure, I stopped everything I was doing that wasn’t life-sustaining. I stopped gathering supplies to start and assist with the procedure.

I told the doctors that I would not do a required “time-out” procedure until I got my phone out, and I facetimed this kid’s mom because I didn’t think he would survive the bedside procedure.

She cried. She wailed. She begged her son to open his eyes, to breathe. She begged me to help her. Ayudame. Ayudame. She begged me to help him. She sang to him. She told him he was strong. She told him how much she loved him. I listened to her heart breaking in real time while she talked to her son, while she saw his swollen face, her baby boy, dying before her eyes through a phone.

Later in the day, after the procedure, his mom and dad came to the hospital. He survived the securement of the bleed, but he was still getting worse no matter what we did. He’s going to die. And against policy, we fought to get them up to see their son.

We found them masks and gowns that we’re still rationing in the hospital, and we let his parents see him, hold him. We let them be with their son.

Like every other nurse would do in the ICU here, I bounced around the room, moving mom from one side of the bed to the other and back again, so I could do what I needed to do, setting up my continuous dialysis machine, with the ONE filter that supply sent up for my use to initiate dialysis therapy. This spaceship-like machine, finicky as all hell, and I had one shot to prime this machine successfully to start dialysis therapy to try to slowly correct the metabolic acidosis that was just ONE of the problems that was killing him as his systolic blood pressure lingered in the 70s, despite maxing all of my blood pressure mediations.

Continuous dialysis started. You press start and hold your breath. You’re not removing any fluid, just filtering the blood, but even the tiniest of fluid shifts in this patient could kill him. But you have no choice.

His vital signs started to look concerning. I could feel the dread in the pit of my stomach, this was going south very quickly. Another nurse and the patient’s father had to physically drag this mother out of the room so we could fill the room with the brains and eyes and hands that would keep this boy alive for another hour.

She wailed in the hallway. Nurses in the next unit down the hall heard her cries through two sets of closed fire doors. We worked furiously to stabilize him for the next four hours.

Twenty minutes before the end of my shift last night, I sat with the attending physician and the parents in a quiet and deserted family waiting room outside the unit. I told his mother that no matter what I do, I cannot fix this. I have maximized everything I have, every tool and medicine at my disposal to save her son. I can’t save her son.

The doctor explained that no matter what we do, his body is failing him. No matter what we do, her son will die. They realized that no matter how hard they pray, no matter how much they want to tear down walls, no matter how many times his mother begs and pleads, “take me instead, I would rather die myself than lose my son”, we cannot save him.

We stayed while she screamed. We stayed until she finally let go of her vice grip on my hands, her body trembling uncontrollably, as she dissolved into her grief, in the arms of her husband.

This is ONE patient. One patient, in one ICU, in one hospital, in one city, in one country, on a planet being ravaged by a virus.

This is the tiniest, devastating snapshot of one patient and one family and their unimaginable grief. Yet, the weight is enormous.

The world should feel that weight too. Because this grief, this heartbreak is everywhere in many forms. Every person on this planet is grieving the loss of something.

Whether that’s freedom or autonomy sacrificed for the greater good. Whether that’s a paycheck or a business, or their livelihood, or maybe they’re grieving the loss of a loved one while still fighting to earn a paycheck, or waiting for government financial relief that they don’t know for certain will come. Maybe they’re a high school senior who will never get to have the graduation they dreamed of. Maybe they’re a college senior, who won’t get to have their senior game they so looked forward to. Maybe they’re afraid that the government is encroaching on their constitutional rights. Maybe it’s their first pregnancy, and it’s nothing like they imagined because of the terrifying world surrounding them.

Or maybe they lost a loved one, maybe someone they love is sick, and they can’t go see them, because there are no visitors allowed and they’re an essential worker. Maybe all they can see of someone they love is a random facetime call in the middle of the day from an area code and a number they don’t know.

Everyone is grieving. We’ve heard plenty of the public’s grief.

I don’t blame anyone for how they’re coping with that grief, even if it frustrates the ever-living hell out of me as I drown in death every day at work. It’s all valid. Everyone’s grief is different, but it doesn’t change the discomfort, the despair on various levels. We are at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Basic survival, physiological and safety needs. I’ve been here before. I know this feeling. How we survive is how we survive.

Now that I’ve had the time to reflect and write, now that I’ve let the walls down in my mind to let the grief flood in, now that I’ve seen this grief for what feels like the thousandth time since the first week of March as a nurse in a Covid ICU in New York City, it’s time you heard our side. This is devastating. This is our reality. This is our grief."

— Jeannine Nicole

[doctortwhohiddles]

Aeltri and Mstoxictea are trying to out crazy each other right now over Sophie sitting next to Tom Cruise at Wimbledon. And I really mean they're going nuts over this. Even more than usual.

But it's Mstoxictea who takes the crown today for saying that Trump is evil because he's secretly Jewish. No, I didn't make this up. This is where her thoroughly brainwashed brain went.

[go-redgirl]

Bret Baier: Trump 'Does Not Get Credit When Things To Right' The Washington Examiner ^ | January 8, 2020 | Dominick Mastrangelo

Fox News anchor Bret Baier marveled at the responses from critics of President Trump who are hesitant to approve of his strategy on Iran.

"You wonder whether Trump Derangement Syndrome factors in to some of the responses you hear publicly in Washington," Baier said Wednesday.

"Trump Derangement Syndrome" is a label defenders of the president use as a pejorative to describe liberals or others who oppose Trump in anything he does or says.

Baier (regarded nationally) as one of Fox News's fairest journalists on staff, praised Trump for not attacking Iran after the country launched missile strikes on a series of U.S. air bases in Iraq on Tuesday.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...

TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism;Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events

___________________________________________________________________

INDIVIDUALS/COMMENTS/POSTS:

The Democrat Socialists are determined to harm President Trump no matter how much they destroy their country. The craven General Soleimani whom the Democrats seem to admire...apparently used a drill to kill his prisoners, he drilled them in the head! The are other atrocities the Socialists in America led by Pelosi/Omar, atrocities too horrible to mention.

President Trump did his job as POTUS. He shows the courage lacked by so many Americans...I am grateful for his strenght....May God Bless him and keep him strong and safe from his stupid, un-American detractors here in America. 

posted on1/8/2020, 4:38:30 PM by yoe

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To: yoe

new tshirt: If MAGA triggers you Seek Help for your TDS

posted on 1/8/2020, 4:40:40 PM by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)

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To: yoe

Ended 40 years of war with Iran with a single shot.

Gets no credit.

#TrumpLyfe

posted on 1/8/2020, 4:45:17 PM by thoughtomator (... this has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.)

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To: yoe

God intervened and gave us Donald Trump as president. In the Cleveland, Ohio radio market, there is a local sports/entertainment personality who said the same on air yesterday.

I admit, when he first announced, I thought Donald Trump was an attention seeking clown. But I also voted for Mitt Romney and I thought he was a good man.

I was also a Browns fan at one time, so I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

But I’m a reasonably good observer. I thank God for President Trump.

posted on 1/8/2020, 4:46:53 PM by browns fan (Behold, the power of government cheese.)

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To: yoe

The Iranians are having a tantrum. But as a practical matter, their entire strategy to keep the rest of the world on edge and off balance was ended by the termination with extreme prejudice of their chief dirty trickster and enforcer, Qesam Soleimani. No more is he to stride defiantly and seemingly untouchable anywhere he wanted to go, and a great deal of wind was taken out of the sails of the Islamic Republic of Iran leadership.

Kick out the right underpinnings, and the superstructure collapses of its own weight.

posted on 1/8/2020, 5:01:20 PM by alloysteel (Freedom is not a matter of life and death. It is much more serious than that..)

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To: yoe

The anger with Trump is because they all predicted (with all their experience on the line) that he’d never win and that he’d be a disaster. They were wrong that he couldn’t win so they have spent his Presidency trying to prove that they were right in terms of him being a disaster. Inna nutshell that’s what has happened to the media.

posted on 1/8/2020, 5:12:54 PM by wiseprince

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To: thoughtomator

"Ended 40 years of war with Iran with a single shot. Gets no credit."

He should get credit for what happened, but it wasn't the end of 40 years of war.

posted on 1/8/2020, 5:20:33 PM by mlo

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To: yoe

Trump is getting all the credit he deserves. The American people have his back! The MSM and the Democrat party can go to hell. Their opinions matter not! Winning!! WWG1WGA

Re-election is a done deal!

 posted on 1/8/2020, 5:25:39 PM by upsdriver (WWG1WGA 1745)

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To: mlo

I think it was. Iran traded away its natural right to wage war in favor of security against our natural right to wage war.

It was the best decision they’ve made in a long long time. And they are unlikely to ever get this chance again, so they won’t give it up so easy.

posted on 1/8/2020, 5:30:35 PM by thoughtomator (... this has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.)

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To: mlo

“””””””””Ended 40 years of war with Iran with a single shot. Gets no credit.”

He should get credit for what happened, but it wasn’t the end of 40 years of war. “”””””””””””””””””””

You can never truly end a war with people who have done nothing but fight for centuries.

posted on1/8/2020, 8:02:49 PM by shelterguy

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[trunewsofficial]

Hollywood is Taking Its Stage IV TDS to a Whole New Level

A new Hollywood film is sparking outrage with a plot that “satirizes” the hunting of so-called “deplorables”—middle Americans who have supported President Donald Trump—for sport. Universal Pictures is planning to release “The Hunt” in late September. And, while the studio claims the film is “satire,” its official synopsis gives an entirely different description: “Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are, or how they got there. They don't know they've been chosen … for a very specific purpose … The Hunt. “In the shadow of a dark Internet conspiracy theory, a group of elites gathers for the very first time at a remote Manor House to hunt humans for sport. But the elites’ master plan is about to be derailed because one of the hunted, Crystal, knows The Hunters’ game better than they do. She turns the tables on the killers, picking them off, one by one, as she makes her way toward the mysterious woman at the center of it all.” The Hollywood Reporter exposed the R-rated film and its “red band” trailer by noting in a report earlier this week that ESPN yanked previously approved advertising for the film in the wake of last weekend’s mass murders in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. The studio has since issued the following statement: “Out of sensitivity to the attention on the country’s recent shooting tragedies, Universal Pictures and the filmmakers of ‘The Hunt’ have temporarily paused its marketing campaign and are reviewing materials as we move forward.” However, the film’s trailer remains on YouTube, where it has collected nearly 4.7 million views, as does a promotional featurette titled “Private Hunting Experience,” which has more than 183,000 views. And while reports about the film have tried to suggest it’s a low-budget or “indie” project, Universal’s “sneak peek” information tells an entirely different story. The THR report also notes the film was originally going to be titled “Red State vs. Blue State,” but it was changed to reduce the obvious political undercurrents it would have created. But the film itself still makes it obvious that it’s pitting “Red” versus “Blue.” In one scene described by THR, one of the “Blue State” characters says: “At least The Hunt’s coming up. Nothing better than going out to the Manor and slaughtering a dozen deplorables.” This film definitely has Hollywood star power, too, including: • two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank • veteran horror actress Emma Roberts (daughter of Oscar nominee Eric Roberts and niece of Oscar winner Julia Roberts) • rising female action star Betty Gilpin (best known for the TV series “GLOW”) • veteran comedian Ike Barinholtz (best known for his five-season run on “MADtv”) “The Hunt” is directed by Craig Zobel who wrote and directed the “based on a true story” film “Compliance” in 2012. That film was based upon an incident in which a man called a fast food restaurant, posing as a police officer, and convinces the manager to conduct a series of illegal and intrusive procedures against an employee—but takes the concept to much darker depths. This new film’s screenplay was written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lidelof, who teamed up to write the script for “The Leftovers” TV series for HBO that explores life in a world in which 2 percent of the population suddenly disappeared. The show was extremely dark, earning a “mature audiences” rating. Jason Blum serves as producer through his Blumhouse studio, which touts its ability to “make nightmares come true” and was responsible for the disturbing “Paranormal Activity” series of films. This is the same outfit that produced “The Loudest Voice” about the late former FOX News Channel president Roger Ailes for Showtime and the “Into the Dark” horror anthology for the Hulu digital streaming platform. This latest development follows a report out of Patchogue, N.Y., that a “horror theatre” company hung up fliers around the town calling for “Death Camps for Trump Supporters Now!” The Shock Theater claims the posters were part of a publicity campaign for a show about the consequences of extremism, but not everyone’s buying it. It also follows MSNBC contributor and former FBI assistant director Frank Figliuzzi’s rant about the president’s order to lower flags to half-staff for the victims of last weekend’s mass murders in El Paso and Dayton. He gave an unhinged explanation for how the order was some kind of secret signal to white supremacists: “The president said that we will fly our flags at half mast, until August 8th. That’s 8/8. Now, I’m not going to imply that he did this deliberately, but I am using it as an example of the ignorance of the adversary that’s being demonstrated by the White House. The numbers 88 are very significant in neo-Nazi and white supremacy movement. Why? Because the letter ‘H’ is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and to them the numbers 88 together stand for ‘Heil Hitler.’ So we’re going to be raising the flag back up at dusk on 8/8.” Truly, Trump Derangement Syndrome continues to be a major problem for liberals and members of the mainstream media. (Photo Credit: NORAD) source https://trunews.com/stream/hollywood-is-taking-its-stage-iv-tds-to-a-whole-new-level

[the-whistlestop-blog]

Here are Handy Excuses for Trump Backers

TWS Editor’s Note: On 12 July 1973, humorist Art Buchwald penned a semi-satirical list of discussion points for defenders of then-embattled President Richard Nixon that ran in papers nationwide. TWS recently came across it (thanks, Slow Burn) and noticed a few eerie similarities, so we made an updated version for Fox News, MAGA Twitter, and congressional Republicans.  

WASHINGTON -- These are difficult times for people who are defending the Nixon Trump Administration. No matter where they go, they are attacked by pseudo-liberals Democrats, McGovern lovers the DSA, heterosexual constitutionalists #NeverTrumpers, and paranoid John Dean believers #Resistance Twitter.

As a public service, I am printing instant responses for loyal Nixonites the #TrumpTrain when they are attacked at a party. Please cut it out screenshot it and carry it in your pocket save it to your unsecured iPhone.

1.       Everyone does it. (President Trump: “This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics.”)

2.       What about Chappaquiddick Fusion GPS? (Marc Thiessen: “The Clinton campaign proactively sought dirt on Trump from Russian government sources.”)

3.       A President can’t keep track of everything his staff does. (Sen. Orrin Hatch: “The president should not be held responsible for the actions of the people he’s trusted.”)

4.       The press is blowing the whole thing up. (Sarah Sanders: “You guys seem completely obsessed with this, while there are a lot of other things happening around the country and frankly a lot of other things that people care a lot more about.”

5.       Whatever Nixon Trump did was for national security. (President Trump: “The Fake News Media wants so badly to see a major confrontation with Russia…They are pushing so recklessly hard and hate the fact that I’ll probably have a good relationship with Putin.”)

6.       The Democrats are sore because they lost the election. (President Trump: Russia was an excuse used by the Democrats when they lost the election…It wasn't Russia, it was a bad candidate. It was a candidate that didn't go to Wisconsin and Michigan like they should have.”)

7.       Are you going to believe a rat like John Dean Michael Cohen or the President of the United States? (Rudy Giuliani: “Cohen’s been lying all week—he’s been lying for years…If his back is up against the wall, he’ll lie like crazy. He’s lied all his life.”)

8.       Wait till all the facts come out. (Speaker Paul Ryan: “I think he should be free to do his job, but I would like to see it get wrapped up of course.”)

9.       What about Chappaquiddick Fusion GPS? (Rep. Mark Meadows: “The fact that the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid intelligence officials in Russia for salacious and false information on President Trump is suspicious enough. But we’re also beginning to see evidence that raises questions about whether the Obama Justice Department may have inappropriately involved themselves in this project both before and after the 2016 Presidential campaign.”)

10.   If you impeach Nixon Trump, you get Agnew Pence. (Omarosa Manigault-Newman: “As bad as y’all think Trump is, you would be worried about Pence. We would be begging for the days of Trump back if Pence became President.”)

11.   The only thing wrong with Watergate talking to Russians is they got caught. (Jay Sekulow: “The question is how would it be illegal? You have to look at what laws, rules, statutes were really broken here.”)

12.   What about Daniel Ellsberg stealing the Pentagon Papers Uranium One? (Rep. Louie Gohmert: this insane chart)

13.   It happens in Europe from China all the time. (President Trump: “We found that China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election coming up in November against my administration.”)

14.   People would be against Nixon Trump no matter what he did. (Sen. Rand Paul: “Any country that can spy does, and any country that can meddle in foreign elections does…it’s all about partisan politics now. This is truly the Trump derangement syndrome that motivates all of this.”)

15.   I’d rather have a crook fool in the White House than a fool crook. (The entirety of the Flight 93 essay by Michael Anton, who went on to serve on President Trump’s NSC.)

16.   LBJ President Obama used to read about this before the election FBI reports every night. President Trump: “Just out: The Obama Administration knew far in advance of November 8th about election meddling by Russia. Did nothing about it. WHY?”)

17.   What’s the big deal about finding out what your opposition is up to? (Rudy Giuliani: “Any meeting in regards to getting information about your opponent is something any candidate’s staff would take.”)

18.   The President was too busy running the country and everyone else didn’t even know what was going on. (Jared Kushner: “They thought we colluded, but we couldn’t even collude with our local offices.”)

19.   What about Chappaquiddick Fusion GPS? (Mark Steyn: “Everyone is colluding with Russia except Trump. You’ve got the Podesta Group, you’ve got the Hillary campaign, you’ve got the DNC, you’ve got the FBI, you’ve got Christopher Steele.”)

20.   People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. (Sen. Lindsey Graham: “What I can’t get over is how much more has to be uncovered at the Department of Justice regarding a political agenda…This screams for a special counsel.”)

21.   McGovern Clinton would have lost anyway. (Sen. Lindsey Graham: “Russia didn’t beat Clinton. Trump beat Clinton.”)

22.   Maybe the Committee for the Re-Election of the President Don Jr. and Jared Kushner went a little too far, but they were just a bunch of eager kids. (President Trump: “[Don Jr.]’s a good boy. He’s a good kid. And he had a meeting. Nothing happened.”)

23.   I’m not for breaking the law, but sometimes you have to do it to save the country. (Entire hacky conservative books have been written about this, but forgive us if we don’t link to their Amazon pages.)

24.   Nixon Trump made a mistake. He’s only human. (Speaker Paul Ryan: “The President's new at this. He's new to government. So, he probably wasn't steeped in the long-running protocols that establish the relationships between DOJ, FBI and White Houses. He's just new to this.”)

25.   Do you realize what Watergate this president is doing to the dollar abroad for our economy at home? (Speaker Paul Ryan: “Look, the tax cuts are working.”)

26.   What about Harry Truman Peter Strzok and the deep freeze scandal his text messages? (President Trump: “Take a look at the horrible statements that Peter Strzok, the chief investigator, said.”

27.   Franklin D. Roosevelt John Podesta did a lot worse things. (President Trump: “Nobody asks John Podesta about the company that he has with his brother in Russia.”

28.   I’m sick and tired of hearing about Watergate Russia and so is everybody else. (Sarah Sanders: “The American people are sick and tired of being inundated with Russia Fever.”)

29.   This thing should be tried in the courts and not on television. (Actually, this one doesn’t apply—these guys love litigating this stuff live on television.)

30.   When Nixon gives his explanation of what happened Mueller comes up with nothing there are going to be a lot of people in this country with egg on their faces. (Rudy Giuliani: “I can guarantee you this: When Mueller is finished, no matter whatever he does, he’s not going to have a stitch of evidence that [Trump] colluded with the Russians.”)

31.   My country right or wrong. (President Trump: “I’m totally allowed to be involved [in Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation] if I wanted to be. So far, I haven’t chosen to be involved.”)

32.   What about Chappaquiddick Fusion GPS? (Rep. Devin Nunes: “You have a campaign who hired a law firm who hired Fusion GPS who hired a foreign agent who went and got information from the Russians on the other campaign. It seems like the counterintelligence investigation should have been opened up against the Hillary campaign when they got a hold of the dossier.”)

33.   I think the people who make all this fuss about Watergate #Resistance should be shot. (President Trump: “You don’t hand matches to an arsonist, and you don’t give power to an angry left-wing mob. Democrats have become too EXTREME and TOO DANGEROUS to govern.”

34.   If the Democrats had the money, they would have done did the same thing. (President Trump: “[The special counsel’s investigation] was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC.”)

35.   I never trusted Haldeman and Ehrlichman Rosenstein and Mueller to start with. (Roger Stone: “I’d fire Mueller and Rosenstein for wasting the taxpayers’ money.”)

36.   If you say one more word about Watergate Russia, I’ll punch you in the nose.

a. If the person is bigger than you: “If you say one more word about Watergate Russia I’m leaving this house.” Say the same thing, but on Twitter.

b. If it’s your own house and the person is bigger than you: “What about Chappaquiddick Fusion GPS?”

[thekingsnecktie-blog]

Will Trump Ever Leave Office (Even If He Loses in 2020)?

This past weekend I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is a lawyer. Let’s call him Pete. Pete is as opposed to the reign of Donald Trump as any other sentient American, but rolled his eyes at the non-stop discussion of constitutional crisis that has replaced sports, the weather, and the Kardashians as Conversational Topic Number 1 among the chattering classes, of which he and I are both card-carrying members.

Pete’s argument is simply this:

Trump is not going to be impeached, indicted, or thrown out of office under the 25th Amendment. Barring an unforeseen turn of events—like the revenge of a lifetime of Big Macs and Diet Cokes— the only way we get rid of him is by voting him out in 2020.

I don’t know that Pete’s wrong. I am hopeful that extraordinary events might take place in the interim (not the Big Macs; that would be wholly unsatisfying), and I place great faith in the public servants involved in uncovering the truth that might lead to Trump’s well-deserved ejection from power. But I agree that, for most of us in the general public, our primary focus should be on an electoral solution, which is to say, the midterms and the presidential race in 2020.

So far so rational.

But in the back of mind, late at night, when I lie awake fearing for the future of the republic, I do wonder about this:

Will Donald Trump willingly leave office even if he is defeated in November 2020? And if he balks at doing so, or worse, refuses outright, will the Republican Party do anything about it?

I’ll concede that the very idea smacks of hysteria and overreaction. But I put it to you that we are living in an era when the absolutely unthinkable has already happened over and over again. Accordingly, far from trafficking in alarmism, it would be foolish and naïve not to consider a scenario like this, however extreme or remote it might be.

If Bob Mueller hands down thunderous evidence that would justify a criminal indictment of Donald Trump, but DOJ policy precludes prosecution until after he is out of office—and Republican political opportunism precludes measures like impeachment that would put him out—what possible reason would Donald Trump ever have to leave office?

On the contrary: the notion of a massive indictment hanging over his head as soon as he surrenders power will incentivize Trump to stay in office at all costs, like the cornered rat he is.

The irony is rich. In a twist worthy of Roald Dahl or O. Henry, one of the most egregiously guilty sonsabitches in US criminal history will find himself in the only position in American life in which he is protected from prosecution. So you can bet your life that he will do everything within his power to stay there. And we have all seen that the spectrum of what Donald Trump is prepared to do in his own self-interest is, uh, rather wide.

That means that even if he loses the 2020 election, he will contest the results with every fiber of his being, try to delegitimize his opponent’s victory, and mobilize his mouthbreathing hordes and his shameless accomplices in the right wing media to help him. (For that matter, he and the GOP will try to rig the election in the first place. But that’s a topic for another day.)

If he fears he might lose, he will gin up a faux national security emergency Reichstag fire-style to try to justify postponing the elections. Failing that, he will create some transparently false excuse for claiming that the election was rigged and declare the results null and void. (Hell, he was pre-emptively saying precisely that on the campaign trail in 2016. Turns out he was right, though in exactly the opposite way he claimed.).

And his followers will obediently, enthusiastically sign on.

Do you doubt t? Before the election in 2016, when almost everyone—even Trump—assumed he would lose, he was asked if he would honor the results or contest them. He equivocated. “I’ll let you know,” he said, coyly, already causing damage to the fabric of American democracy. Little did we know that that scenario would soon look enviable compared to what would really transpire.

And that was when he had far far less at stake. Do we really think he will be more accommodating and respectful of the bedrock of American democracy if he is facing what amounts to life in prison, the obliteration of his family fortune, and the destruction of everything he cares about…..which is to say, himself?

I realize that the right will scoff at this sort of speculation as “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” the hysterical ravings of hair-on-fire liberals who don’t know whether to shit or go blind over the defeat of Hillary Clinton and the ascent of Donald Trump. They openly delight in (what is to them) the comic spectacle of snowflakes who just can’t “get over it,” as the late, inexplicably venerated Justice Scalia flippantly said of the Supreme Court handing George W. Bush the presidency.

Of course, the right has no credibility on this point, given eight years of their own sky-is-falling rhetoric over Barack Obama on what were empirically far less persuasive grounds. (Infinitely so, in fact.) Moreover, from the moment of Trump’s rise in the GOP primaries, the right has pooh-poohed concerns of the damage he would do, how bad he would be, and how far he would go, only to be proven disastrously wrong at nearly every turn. So their scorn carries no weight.

But I know that even mainstream conservatives, independents, and even some liberals and progressives—like my friend Pete—find such scenarios alarmist and absurd. I do realize that all this talk of martial law and a president for life sounds extreme. It is.

But in case you’ve been in a coma, we are living in extreme times. Over and over again the unthinkable has happened, each time moving the Overton window of what we believe possible in this country.

No one thought Trump would get the GOP nomination or win. No one thought he would get away with not releasing his tax returns, or that he would continue to brazenly violate the emoluments clause once in office. No one—at first—thought collusion with Russia was credible, and no one foresaw that it would be revealed to be as bad as it has been (with more to come). No one thought he’d attack NATO, cozy up to dictators, insult Canada, start trade wars, risk nuclear armageddon with North Korea and then turn around and surrender to them. No one imagined we’d be building concertina-ringed camps along the southern border to hold migrants indefinitely, and no one thought we’d be ripping babies away from their mothers and marching one-year-olds before judges in immigration courts.

I could go on.

Vizzini-like, Trump is fond of the word “inconceivable.” At this point, nothing is inconceivable in Trump’s America.

I truly hope I am wrong and that Pete is right. Should Trump take things to the extremes that this essay contemplates, I fervently hope that both rank-and-file Republicans and the GOP leadership locate their principles—and their balls—and stand up and stop him for the greater good of everything this country is supposed to stand for.

Man, that would be a rather low bar, and I’m not sure they can clear even that. But I hope so.

Where does that leave our country if they don’t? Let’s save that question for another day.

But here’s a hint.

(For more, go to https://thekingsnecktie.com/2018/07/23/will-trump-ever-leave-office-even-if-he-loses-in-2020/) 

[marilynngmesalo]

Donald Trump hits back at ‘haters’ over summit with Vladimir Putin

Donald Trump hits back at ‘haters’ over summit with Vladimir Putin https://ift.tt/eA8V8J Donald Trump hits back at ‘haters’ over summit with Vladimir Putin

WASHINGTON — Taking to Twitter early Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump defended anew his much-criticized performance at the Helsinki summit, promising “big results” from better relations with Russia and hitting back at “haters.”

Trump made no mention of his having walked back comments that called into question U.S. intelligence findings of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Those comments, delivered alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit press conference Monday, had prompted blistering, bipartisan criticism at home.

“So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki,” Trump tweeted.

He added: “We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match.”

So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki. Putin and I discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting. We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018

In a follow-up tweet, Trump wrote that Russia has agreed to help in delicate negotiations with North Korea. But he gave no details on how and when that would happen.

“Big benefits and exciting future for North Korea at end of process!” he wrote.

While the NATO meeting in Brussels was an acknowledged triumph, with billions of dollars more being put up by member countries at a faster pace, the meeting with Russia may prove to be, in the long run, an even greater success. Many positive things will come out of that meeting..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018

….Russia has agreed to help with North Korea, where relationships with us are very good and the process is moving along. There is no rush, the sanctions remain! Big benefits and exciting future for North Korea at end of process!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018

Amid bipartisan condemnation of his embrace of a longtime U.S. enemy, Trump sought to end 27 hours of recrimination by delivering a rare admission of error Tuesday. He backed away from his public undermining of American intelligence agencies, saying he misspoke when he said he saw no reason to believe Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

“The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t, or why it wouldn’t be Russia”‘ instead of “why it would,” Trump said Tuesday of the comments he had made standing alongside Putin on the summit stage in Helsinki.

That didn’t explain why Trump, who had tweeted a half-dozen times and sat for two television interviews since the Putin news conference, waited so long to correct his remarks. And the scripted cleanup pertained only to the least defensible of his comments.

Some people HATE the fact that I got along well with President Putin of Russia. They would rather go to war than see this. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018

He didn’t reverse other statements in which he gave clear credence to Putin’s “extremely strong and powerful” denial of Russian involvement, raised doubts about his own intelligence agencies’ conclusions and advanced discredited conspiracy theories about election meddling.

Trump also accused past American leaders, rather than Russia’s destabilizing actions in the U.S. and around the world, for the souring of relations between two countries. And he did not address his other problematic statements during a week-long Europe tour, in which he sent the NATO alliance into emergency session and assailed British Prime Minister Theresa May as she was hosting him for an official visit.

“I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” Trump conceded Tuesday. But even then he made a point of adding, “It could be other people also. A lot of people out there. There was no collusion at all.”

Moments earlier, the usually reserved Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, publicly reassured America’s allies in Europe with whom Trump clashed during his frenzied trip last week.

“The European countries are our friends, and the Russians are not,” McConnell declared.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump was trying to “squirm away” from his comments alongside Putin. “It’s 24 hours too late and in the wrong place,” he said.

By dusk, hundreds of activists, led by attorney Michael Avenatti and actress Alyssa Milano, staged a protest near the White House, with chants of “traitor!” echoing along Pennsylvania Avenue.

Trump still maintained that his meetings with NATO allies went well and his summit with Putin “even better.” But this reference to diplomatic success carried an edge, too, since the barrage of criticism and insults he delivered in Brussels and London was hardly well-received.

Later Tuesday, Trump tweeted, “The meeting between President Putin and myself was a great success, except in the Fake News Media!”

The meeting between President Putin and myself was a great success, except in the Fake News Media!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018

On Capitol Hill, top Republican leaders said they were open to slapping fresh sanctions on Russia, but they showed no sign of acting any time soon.

“Let’s be very clear, just so everybody knows: Russia did meddle with our elections,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, another steady Trump political ally. “What we intend to do is make sure they don’t get away with it again and also to help our allies.”

In the Senate, McConnell said “there’s a possibility” his chamber would act, pointing to a bipartisan measure from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., to deter future Russian interference by ordering sanctions against countries if they do.

Both parties called for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials to appear before Congress and tell exactly what happened during Trump’s two-hour private session with Putin. Pompeo is to publicly testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 25.

Schumer also urged the Senate to take up legislation to boost security for U.S. elections and to revive a measure passed earlier by the Judiciary Committee to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference.

But minority Democrats have few tools to enforce anything.

In the House, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi staged a vote in support of the intelligence committee’s findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. But even that largely symbolic measure was blocked party-line by Republicans.

Senators had floated a similar idea earlier, and Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona said he was preparing a bipartisan bill. But The No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said sanctions may be preferable to a nonbinding resolution that amounts to “just some messaging exercise.”

//<![CDATA[ ( function() { pnLoadVideo( "videos", "L6NaYjVoLtg", "pn_video_936326", "", "", [] ); } )(); //]]>

Trump’s meeting with Putin in Helsinki was his first time sharing the international stage with a man he has described as an important U.S. competitor — but whom he has also praised a strong, effective leader.

Standing alongside Putin, Trump steered clear of any confrontation with the Russian, going so far as to question American intelligence and last week’s federal indictments that accused 12 Russians of hacking into Democratic email accounts to hurt Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.

“He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Trump said. That’s the part he corrected on Tuesday.

White House officials did not elaborate on how Trump came to issue the clarification, but administration aides described being stunned by his initial remarks Monday..

After his walk-back, Trump said his administration would “move aggressively” to repel efforts to interfere in American elections.

“We are doing everything in our power to prevent Russian interference in 2018,” he said. “And we have a lot of power.”

Canoe Click for update news world news https://ift.tt/2moncd0 world news

[clusterassets]

New world news from Time: President Trump on Defense After Russia Summit Criticism

(WASHINGTON) — Taking to Twitter early Wednesday, President Donald Trump defended anew his much-criticized performance at the Helsinki summit, promising “big results” from better relations with Russia and hitting back at “haters.”

Trump made no mention of his having walked back comments that called into question U.S. intelligence findings of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Those comments, delivered alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit press conference Monday, had prompted blistering, bipartisan criticism at home.

“So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki,” Trump tweeted.

So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki. Putin and I discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting. We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018

He added: “We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match.”

In a follow-up tweet, Trump wrote that Russia has agreed to help in delicate negotiations with North Korea. But he gave no details on how and when that would happen.

“Big benefits and exciting future for North Korea at end of process!” he wrote.

Amid bipartisan condemnation of his embrace of a longtime U.S. enemy, Trump sought to end 27 hours of recrimination by delivering a rare admission of error Tuesday. He backed away from his public undermining of American intelligence agencies, saying he misspoke when he said he saw no reason to believe Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

Some people HATE the fact that I got along well with President Putin of Russia. They would rather go to war than see this. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018

“The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t, or why it wouldn’t be Russia'” instead of “why it would,” Trump said Tuesday of the comments he had made standing alongside Putin on the summit stage in Helsinki.

That didn’t explain why Trump, who had tweeted a half-dozen times and sat for two television interviews since the Putin news conference, waited so long to correct his remarks. And the scripted cleanup pertained only to the least defensible of his comments.

He didn’t reverse other statements in which he gave clear credence to Putin’s “extremely strong and powerful” denial of Russian involvement, raised doubts about his own intelligence agencies’ conclusions and advanced discredited conspiracy theories about election meddling.

Trump also accused past American leaders, rather than Russia’s destabilizing actions in the U.S. and around the world, for the souring of relations between two countries. And he did not address his other problematic statements during a week-long Europe tour, in which he sent the NATO alliance into emergency session and assailed British Prime Minister Theresa May as she was hosting him for an official visit.

While the NATO meeting in Brussels was an acknowledged triumph, with billions of dollars more being put up by member countries at a faster pace, the meeting with Russia may prove to be, in the long run, an even greater success. Many positive things will come out of that meeting..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018

….Russia has agreed to help with North Korea, where relationships with us are very good and the process is moving along. There is no rush, the sanctions remain! Big benefits and exciting future for North Korea at end of process!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018

“I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” Trump conceded Tuesday. But even then he made a point of adding, “It could be other people also. A lot of people out there. There was no collusion at all.”

Moments earlier, the usually reserved Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, publicly reassured America’s allies in Europe with whom Trump clashed during his frenzied trip last week.

“The European countries are our friends, and the Russians are not,” McConnell declared.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump was trying to “squirm away” from his comments alongside Putin. “It’s 24 hours too late and in the wrong place,” he said.

By dusk, hundreds of activists, led by attorney Michael Avenatti and actress Alyssa Milano, staged a protest near the White House, with chants of “traitor!” echoing along Pennsylvania Avenue.

Trump still maintained that his meetings with NATO allies went well and his summit with Putin “even better.” But this reference to diplomatic success carried an edge, too, since the barrage of criticism and insults he delivered in Brussels and London was hardly well-received.

Later Tuesday, Trump tweeted, “The meeting between President Putin and myself was a great success, except in the Fake News Media!”

On Capitol Hill, top Republican leaders said they were open to slapping fresh sanctions on Russia, but they showed no sign of acting any time soon.

“Let’s be very clear, just so everybody knows: Russia did meddle with our elections,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, another steady Trump political ally. “What we intend to do is make sure they don’t get away with it again and also to help our allies.”

In the Senate, McConnell said “there’s a possibility” his chamber would act, pointing to a bipartisan measure from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., to deter future Russian interference by ordering sanctions against countries if they do.

Both parties called for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials to appear before Congress and tell exactly what happened during Trump’s two-hour private session with Putin. Pompeo is to publicly testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 25.

Schumer also urged the Senate to take up legislation to boost security for U.S. elections and to revive a measure passed earlier by the Judiciary Committee to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference.

But minority Democrats have few tools to enforce anything.

In the House, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi staged a vote in support of the intelligence committee’s findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. But even that largely symbolic measure was blocked party-line by Republicans.

Senators had floated a similar idea earlier, and Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona said he was preparing a bipartisan bill. But The No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said sanctions may be preferable to a nonbinding resolution that amounts to “just some messaging exercise.”

Trump’s meeting with Putin in Helsinki was his first time sharing the international stage with a man he has described as an important U.S. competitor — but whom he has also praised a strong, effective leader.

Standing alongside Putin, Trump steered clear of any confrontation with the Russian, going so far as to question American intelligence and last week’s federal indictments that accused 12 Russians of hacking into Democratic email accounts to hurt Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.

“He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Trump said. That’s the part he corrected on Tuesday.

White House officials did not elaborate on how Trump came to issue the clarification, but administration aides described being stunned by his initial remarks Monday..

After his walk-back, Trump said his administration would “move aggressively” to repel efforts to interfere in American elections.

“We are doing everything in our power to prevent Russian interference in 2018,” he said. “And we have a lot of power.”

July 18, 2018 at 06:59PM ClusterAssets Inc., https://ClusterAssets.wordpress.com

[takebackthedream]

It's Time To Change More Than Trump by Robert Borosage

Every day, the media feasts on Trump’s lurid antics. Don’t fall for it. He’s the distraction, a clown show. And while he’s barking outside the big top, the GOP is inside, cutting away at our economy and the very essentials of our public life.

The tax bill Republicans are trying to ramrod through the Congress provides a clear reminder that the real threat we face is a rabidly ideological GOP, now in full control of all branches of government, in Washington and in 26 states.

Now, virtually unified Republican caucuses in both Houses are on the verge of passing truly grotesque tax legislation that will give more than 60 percent of its benefits to the richest 1 percent in the nation, while raising taxes on nearly all working families.

Rule By Tweet

Trump tweets out anti-Muslim videos from a far-right British hate group, earning condemnation from our closest ally. He turns a ceremony to honor Navaho code talkers into a disgrace, with his racist slur of Sen. Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas.”

He reprises his infantile insults of North Korea’s nuclear-armed leader, lies about not benefiting from the tax plan that will undeniably line his pockets, revives his bizarre birther claims about Obama, and risibly denies the authenticity of his now-infamous Access Hollywood bus tapes. And that’s all before General Flynn’s plea deal made Russian meddling round-the-clock news once again.

But this isn’t just about Trump. He’s the mountebank, a false populist betraying his base. He is an infantile narcissist, playing to the crowds – or at least to talk media.

They Call It “Reform”

Only three Republican Senators stood in the way of the GOP’s bid in July to deprive million Americans of health insurance, as a prelude to their tax cuts. Trump had no clue about that policy, and played little role in selling it.

GOP lawmakers are now ready to hand global corporations a $500 billion tax bonus for booking profits held in foreign tax havens. They claim to defend the middle class, yet are happy to protect the obscene “carried interest” tax deduction, which gives billionaire hedge fund managers a lower tax rate than their secretaries.

They’ve declared war on higher education, eliminating deductions for student loan interest, and adding taxes on to graduate students for tuition waivers. They’ll double-tax American families on what they already pay to state and city governments, while they allow corporations to deduct theirs.

In the Senate, only one Republican – Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee – stood up to vote no on the tax giveaway, and he doesn’t need to face voters again.

Then they have the gall to call this crap “reform.”

Trump’s Contributions

Trump’s major contribution to the tax bill has been to lie about its content while protecting measures – elimination of the estate tax, elimination of the alternative minimum tax, lower taxes on “pass-through” income – that will fill his own pockets.

Meanwhile, Trump’s judicial appointments aim to pack the courts with young, pro-corporate ideologues, but he’s not the one who finds them. They come from lists prepared for his administration by the right-wing Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation.

These vacancies result in part from Republican obstruction of Obama’s appointments. Trump’s nominees are being railroaded through the Senate by a unified Republican majority, which lines up behind a leadership willing to trample the Senate’s normal procedures. Trump claims these victories as his own, but doesn’t drive them.

Steve Bannon got headlines for pledging to “deconstruct the administrative state,” but he’s just the publicist. Trump has turned his economic policy over to Goldman Sachs alumni who want to deregulate finance and roll back environmental and consumer protections.

The plundering of public services is steered by cabinet members eager for the assignment. These include ideologically extreme politicians, like former Rep. Mike Mulvaney, who’s preparing to disembowel the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, former Rep. Scott Pruitt at the EPA, former Texas Governor Rick Price at Energy, and Betsy DeVos, the high-rolling GOP donor who now helms the Department of Education.

The Attorney General, former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, leads the rollback of civil rights and criminal justice reform.

These are the extremist insiders who are now the Republican mainstream.

An Inside Job

This isn’t a revelation, but it’s worth repeating. Trump’s ability to outrage around the clock distracts us from the real challenges we face. This isn’t a one-nut deal. Trump isn’t driving a populist revolt.

Right-wing populism is just the garb Trump donned to get elected. What’s left of his populism is his incoherent posturing on trade and his insistence on building “The Wall” along our southern border.

Trump’s race-baiting politics of division, too, are nothing new. They’re a Republican Party staple: Trump is just far more shameless in how he speaks.

The real threat we face in Washington, and in statehouses, is an increasingly extreme Republican Party that is ideologically committed and politically disciplined in its efforts to lay waste to the public sphere.

They’re cutting away at the very sinews of our economy, the comity of our politics, and the quality of our most basic public services. Trump may sound different, but he’s just the barker outside their big top. The grisly deed is being done on the inside.

Impeachment Dreams

Liberal pundits like Ezra Klein are now trying to “normalize” talk of impeaching Trump. MSNBC and CNN report on every twitch of the Russian investigation. Surely, ousting Trump would be satisfying. It would at least allow liberals afflicted with Trump derangement syndrome to stop yelling at their televisions. But it isn’t sufficient.

But now the Resistance has to get serious about the hard stuff of politics – winning elections up and down the ticket, in every state.   We have to organize to ensure Americans register and vote in large numbers and end Republican rule – not just Trump.

Continuing to about Trump’s immaturity, ignorance and instability won’t get the job done. Even his supporters get that.   His own Secretary of State calls him a “f…g moron.”

Progressives need to help people understand both the damage wrought by Republicans from states like Kansas to the nation’s capital. We need to make clear that there is an alternative that will serve the nation and its people, not plunder it for the few.

Beyond Ignorance

Trump’s ignorance and impulsiveness terrify all sensible people. His grotesqueries embarrass. His peddling of hate and venom divides. But he isn’t the motor force of the agenda that is undermining this country. He isn’t driving the ship into the shoals. He’s simply the showman selling tickets to the show.

Republicans have been very clear about this. They trumpet their historic opportunity to drive their agenda – privatization, deregulation, tax cuts, spending cuts, undermining public education, rolling back public health care, curbing public retirement security, and bolstering a military to police the world for global capital.

Norquist’s Promise

When it looked like Mitt Romney might defeat Barack Obama in 2012, the impish operative of the right, Grover Norquist, reassured movement conservatives not to fear Romney’s supposed moderation. All we need, he argued, is a president with “enough working digits to handle a pen.” Republicans in the Congress will provide the agenda, he assured, and put the bills on this president’s desk to sign.

Norquist’s prediction has come to pass. But thus far, Republicans have proven less prepared for this golden opportunity than he assumed. House Speaker Paul Ryan was as big a fraud as Paul Krugman warned. Health care repeal was a debacle. Their plan to cut taxes is one of the most unpopular pieces of legislation in history. But their incompetence only slows the damage they are doing, it does not end it.

Cleaning The Stables

We have real work to do. Robert Muller and the Russian probe won’t clean the stables, no matter how that turns out. The media feasting on Trump’s antics and outrages won’t do it. The resistance is vital, but not enough.  Americans in large numbers must rise up and throw the bums out.

Elections – no matter how gerrymandered, no matter how many votes are suppressed, no matter how corrupted by big money – still offer that possibility. That will take new energy and activists organizing across the country. The established Democratic Party has proven itself incapable thus far of meeting this challenge.

Progressive leaders like Sanders, Warren, Brown, Merkley, Ellison, and Jayapal need to define the choice and the stakes. The surge of women voters and candidates can make dramatic difference. Progressive movement groups like Our Revolution, People’s Action, Black Lives Matter, Indivisible, MoveOn, and Working America need to continue to build and drive a massive volunteer door-to-door mobilization.

In 2018, the election will be nationalized, but Trump will not be on the ballot. Voters need to understand just what the stakes are, and it’s our job to tell them.

[mikkagals-blog]

Group 7 - Short Story

A student raises his hand and asks his professor a question.

His professor sees this as a challenge, and he elaborates his answer in a lecture.

Professor :       How does it feel that everything of importance and value that your life holds meaning to is gone, vamooshed, nada, completely disappears into thin air? It doesn’t feel horrible. No, horrible is the wrong adjective. Maybe more like panic? Yes, definitely panic. Definitely. But consider this level of panic bordering the levels and boundaries of hysteria and insanity. That’s a more befitting description of the scene taking place in almost every single nation and state – democratic, republican, communist, or whatever the political government ruling those particular states may be – right at the very instant that this technology-invested generation and world has a devastating crises of frequent terrorist attacks and the problem that a certain Asian (particularly a crazy, insane trigger-happy war-freak) man is posing for the unfortunately upcoming world war at its finest with the end of this world at its tow. Right. This sudden appearance of a mass crisis has simply chosen just the most perfectly inconvenient timing to further exacerbate the whole shenanigan and whatnot. Just what the whole mass majority of the populace needs after a whole episode spanning over decades of independent nations trading blows and fueling each other’s fires has finally decided to end to a conclusion.

           Oil companies demanding outrageously high prices for oils oh so cheap in their countries of origin? No problem. Ongoing strikes and protests and rallies would most likely be the best course of action to solve this menial problem. Food shortages within the vicinity because of natural disasters and freak accidents? Just ask the president and the local city mayor to subsidize and provide a solution to that crisis. No wireless network connections and blocked free access to the Internet and other online and offline media for an hour? Words cannot describe the feeling of desperation and panic that overwhelms and blankets the whole entire world of that poor unfortunate soul. By the end of the indescribably extremely long and torturous turmoil, the victimized individual would probably be bored and desperate and at his wits’ end. Really. The detrimental effects of a world free from every single information-providing source is truly a devastating blow to the mental and physical welfares of the whole populace of this world. Quite saddening really. But what can be done? Withdrawal syndromes really do rear their unfortunately ugly heads to the forefront of the internal struggle for sanity when the offline and more importantly, the online world and the virtual reality that it provides for individuals to escape to is blocked and banned from the reaches of its physically-and-mentally-invested citizens and their online counterparts.

           But back to the currently seemingly unsolvable situation at hand. The mass majority of the populace right now are probably bordering insanity as of the present time. How could they not? Their only lifelines to their supply of this certain media drug is cut off from well within the reaches of their greedy and nimble little hands. How would the presidents of each state and nation address this fear-inducing problem then? Can they provide every single piece of juicy gossip and rumor to the watering and salivating curiosities of busybodies and boredom-possessed individuals and citizens all around the world in the blink of an eye? Can relevant and irrelevant information and news be delivered without time catching up to mold and rot these pieces and details of information on the latest fashion trends and mass serial killings, and other whatnot? Definitely and surely not. A big no. That’s final. No other place for squabbling and arguments. Just a big fat impossible presented at the faces of these rulers. How then, can these political figures and assets calm hundreds of hordes of raging, delirious and ignorant masses and stop their political ears from bleeding from the barrage onslaught of endless complaints and empty threats? The answer is simple. Simple, but extremely difficult to execute.

           Start over. The whole entire world and its vast majority of citizens would simply have to start over from the very beginning of their ancestors. Of course, prior knowledge to certain things and aspects of the lifecycle and evolution of the traditional sources of information and their evolved alter egos would be extremely helpful to build a communication network where no possible medium (as of the current technology) is present in existence. Starting over with the whole prehistoric way of receiving and passing on tidbits of relevant information and the latest gossip via messenger birds and the mailman is just simply one of the few limited and sane ideas that could possibly address and remedy this whole foolish and panic-inducing problem. How then would an aunt from another village know that her dear fellow nephew, who is currently and unfortunately residing in the same community that a certain deranged lunatic A who is loose and out for bloodshed, is safe from the insanity of a mentally-disturbed A? Simple. Extremely taxing and expensive, but nonetheless simple. Constructing a whole How-are-you’s and Are-you-safe’s and the stereotypical fillers in between in a handwritten letter to be sent via air mail or old school carrier pigeon style is the way to handle about this business. By the time that the message arrives at the doorstep of her dearly beloved nephew, the serial killer would probably have been caught and sent to a mental institute. That is not to say that her nephew was safe and out of harms way. Oh no. Numerous endless possibilities and outcomes would have happened even before the message could be received and sent a reply back. And who is to say that the handwritten letter is received by the right individual? Only if a reply is sent back to the aunt from her favorite nephew would she know that her concern for his well-being in her letter was received and well-appreciated. But the expectations to receive an instant reply would be nigh impossible given the limited resources in these dire circumstances.

           Another solution, a more inexpensive but dangerous one, that would not cause the pockets of a nation’s citizens to bleed and burn a hole through them is to establish a very simple form of reporting news in a similar fashion to what the ancient Greeks and Romans used to have in order so that fellow Greeks and Romans were not left out in the dark out of naivety and ignorance from current news and upcoming social gatherings and events.

           Heralds would do the job of announcing to the wide range of audience factual knowledge and other relevant pieces of information at a certain given time at every specifically scheduled time of the day. Of course, credibility and the validity of the heralds’ statements are questionable and can receive public scrutiny from dissatisfied citizens and locals. Dissatisfaction would always present itself and should not be taken into stride since the negative response to certain specific news and information would always exist at the core, and thus cannot truly be eliminated.

           In terms of the information-gathering procedure, steps and the procedures for extracting and noting down news and other important events would have to be manually done and received, with the person of the informant being required to be present during resource and data extraction. Although it should be in the best interest and common good and benefit of the public that the information extraction and gathering process should be done by a credible and reliable individual. After which all gathered information are compiled and given and briefed to a separate person who would be charged with the task of acting as herald to the audience of their community. It also helps with the task of collecting news and other pieces of information that the job be assigned to a good amount of learned people, and not just a single individual bearing and carrying on his shoulders the brunt and whole of the responsibility.

          Given the current circumstances and the limited possible solutions in redressing the fear-inducing crisis right now, it is safe to take into assumption and say that the decisions and actions of the vast populace of the world will vary in response to the current problem at hand. The decisions that are based and crafted and derived from certain pieces of evidences and information would most likely change in context to suit the information that is presented in that moment of the decision-making process. The decisions would alter depending on the amount and credibility and validity of the information and its details. Although it is also important to take note of external and internal factors that concern the individual into accounting for his thought and decision-making process.

          With this kind of nagging and panic-inducing problem glaring at the faces of the vast majority of society’s citizens as of the moment, I fear that society would collapse because of its inability to survive without any form of media whatsoever in this technology-infested-and dependent age and generation. The society, in my perspective, would lose order and rational thinking because of the impatience of its citizens to address and remedy the problem, and also with the present generation’s inability to cope in a situation wherein the online world is out of their reach and easily accessible grasp.

         Truthfully, there is hardly anything that I would miss in a world where free access to use any information-providing source is unavailable and unheard of. However, I would most gratefully miss the lack or inability of fellow terrorists and other war-crazy individuals and group to communicate and connive with each other to plot world domination and its eventual demise as a civilized and free world.

Now, would that answer your question on what possible outcomes are most likely to happen if we are one day to wake up in a world where there are no media existing to help us in our daily lives, Mr. John?