#we are so back. six months since ive made a flag

[gloaming-sometimes]

butch bear || femme bear || butchfemme* bear

combo flags for butch, femme and butchfemme* bears! i suppose it is "geared towards" genderqueer/multigender/ect gaybians and sapphilleans, however these flags can be used by anyone who self identifies as butch/femme/butchfemme and as a bear this flag is for you :)

*when i say butchfemme i mean anyone who is butch and femme, whatever that means to the individual. the butchfemme i used in the title can be replaced with femmebutch, futch, or any other terms for this identity.

image descriptions in alt text!!

[wyn-n-tonic]

Golden, Like Daylight -- Part I

Word Count: 1,314 Warnings: PTSD. Drug use. As always, if I forgot anything, please message me and I will amend this warning ASAP. Note: In my head canon, Frankie has a daughter, I write a bit about this. I understand talking about babies can be triggering or people just don't like kids but it feels weird to say, "Warning: Baby." Feels a bit ominous. Like, it's not a vampire but just... ya know... be warned. Updated Author's Note (5.7.21): This is not a reader insert. At the time of writing this, I wasn't comfortable writing in the second person nor did I feel as though it was appropriate for what I wanted to explore in this series. This series is my absolute baby and it means so much to me. Thank you for reading. 

MASTERLIST | PART: I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX

It comes like lightning in the night, cracking through the tree of his spine heavy with years of hurt.

The first time he was tear gassed in the chambers at boot camp.

That time he crashed the chopper, losing twenty-something men all twenty-something years old. Men… they weren’t men. They were babies, he was a baby.

He remembers the time he had a panic attack in the jungle, squeezing involuntarily on… a kid, not the target.

He remembers the woman’s wail, “¡Mi hijo! ¡Mi bebé!”

My son! My baby!

He killed her baby.

“I killed the baby!” He’s up but his heart’s somewhere else, outside his body. It’s beating so fast he can’t even feel it anymore, not sure if he feels anything anymore and then—

Cool hands on his feverish back, he’s so hot she feels like ice and he sighs contentedly. Marrying the coldest girl in all of Texas had its perks. Her fingers wind into his too long curls at the base of his neck, her lips on his shoulder as she shushes him with a kiss.

“Come back to me, Francisco, you’re safe.”

“But I—“ he’s stuttering. Fuck.

“It wasn’t your fault,” her arms curl around his chest and she’s scooting closer to him now, pulling him into her as hard as she can, “None of it was your fault, it’s okay.”

“How can you say that?” The tears come like wildfire as he chokes out, “How can you hold me like this? Like I’m not a monster?”

Her arms pull tighter against his torso, he didn’t know that was possible. He doesn’t know how this is possible, how he deserved this. This woman, this love, this family she had made for him.

“Baby, listen to me,” her voice is hard and warm, honeyed whiskey to his aching ears. Splintered mind. Broken body.

He nods his head in the dark, whispering a soft, “Yes,” around a lump like coal burning through his neck.

“You are not a monster. The things you did, the things you saw, the horror that was inflicted upon you was not your choice. When you put the flag on your shoulder, Francisco Morales, you gave up autonomy in your decisions. You represented men who played chess with your life and you made it out. You made it out and they threw you away when you needed them the most but I’m not going to. Our daughter is not going to. You are not a monster, baby, and we will get through this together.”

“Luna,” he breathes. His girl, his perfect little girl, “Where is she? Is she okay?” He’s still panicked.

“She's in her crib, baby,” her lips press softly to his shoulder again, “Do you want to go see her? Wanna go make sure she’s okay with me?”

He’s nodding again, untangling fingers from hers to swipe at his cheeks quickly. Afraid, every day, that this tear or that will be the one that changes her mind, changes her heart.

She lifts herself, holding steady to his shaking body the whole time. As if he’s the rock that the storm of her life batters against and not the other way around. Her hands find his and she’s lifting him too. His balance is unreliable, he never lets her go, trailing along the hallway to the baby’s room.

It’s quiet, peaceful. His happiest place, painted like a sunrise. He wanted it that way, clouds around her cradle, his baby growing up in the heavens. He remembers the first time he ever went up there, like it was the first breath he ever took. All rising pinks and melting blues.

He wanted her to feel that freedom from the very beginning. —————

He was so fucking scared when she came into this world.

He was afraid of marring her innocence with his past. He didn’t want his traumas to manifest upon her upbringing, the way his father’s had his.

That first cry shattered his heart but when she wrapped her tiny hand around his finger, he was whole again.

They named her Luna, because he could always find the moon above the clouds. Could always find his way home.

That’s when he started using again. His fear of fatherhood choke holding him, undoing all his hard work. His therapy, his group therapy, his NarcAnon. He promised himself it would just be once.

Just to get through the day, Frankie.

And it turned into…

The week.

The month.

Six.

Next thing he knew, he was flying high and fucking up. Nose bleeds and slurred words, too fast movements and too fast reactions. He was randomly selected for a drug test.

His license was suspended. He was grounded, under review pending cleanliness of a piss test.

That’s when Leah snapped. His patient, strong wife. She’d said things here and there about his use. Argued about money, “Where's it going, Francisco?” The name she uses when she’s calling him back to her, pulling him into her or, like now, close to killing him. Eyes wide with anger and fear at watching her family fall apart because of the actions of one man.

“I'm not going to beg you to get clean. I am telling you,” the tears streaking down her face, voice raw with contained rage bubbling to the surface, “You were able to do it by yourself once, so get your shit together. Or I swear to god, Francisco Morales, I will walk out that door.”

His eyes haven’t left hers the whole time and he knows she’s serious. She promised she wouldn’t leave a man actively working against his ghosts, she’s soothed more sleepless nights than anybody should’ve, but she never promised to stay through active drug addiction. Could not. Would not bring her daughter up in a home dusted in white powder.

He nods, “okay,” lifting his hat from his head and he is pouring buckets. He’s coming down from earlier but he knows he’s gonna need more soon. And another after that. So on and so on until—

He sees the door slamming on an empty home, shocked still with the future his actions will lead him to.

“I’ll find a meeting tomorrow.”

Her glare bores deep, “you’ll find a meeting today, Frankie.”

He bites his lip, not daring ask for another hit to get through til then.

“Francisco!”

The world comes back into focus. How long had he been staring at everything and nothing? His eyes find hers again and his voice is weak as he says, “My stash is in the box with my dog tags and medals, my first pilot’s license.”

“I know.”

He’s nodding again, of course she does.

“The withdrawals are going to start soon, how should we handle this?”

She crosses her arms, pain stitched through every feature of her face, “I think you should stay with Benny and Will for a while. Until you’re clean.”

So he did.

One week goes by and he sweats with a restlessness he’s sure will bust the very seams of his being.

Two weeks and all he wants is sleep, even with the nightmares.

Three weeks and, Jesus fuck, he’s hungry.

Four weeks and the depression sets in, deeper than he’s experienced since he first started getting help back in civilian life.

Five weeks and he’s… not cold anymore. He doesn’t sweat. He doesn’t feel anything, he can’t concentrate on anything.

Can’t focus on Benny’s shitty fight lessons. Doesn’t even listen when Will practices that fucking speech like he hasn’t given it a million times already; to cadets, to soldiers, to the mirror. The only things he can think about, the only things he cares about, are still too far away.

Leah, Luna, the sky.

He needs all three to be whole.

To be Frankie.

A desperate man aching to be complete and to provide again.

That’s how Santiago Garcia found him.

TAG LIST: @greeneyedblondie44​ @justanotherblonde23​ 

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Stories, Tales & Facts (Part 1.) (Sriracha, Part 36.)

Series description: A problematic college student gets the worst summer job of the ‘83 - Jim Hopper, the Chief of police in your hometown will have you as his secretary since his old lady Flo has two months lasting holiday. It was agreed so Hopper could let you far away from all the trouble.

Part Summary: Hopper was about to speak up about his past - from where his trouble had started to where it ended just before few weeks. But you didn‘t know how much shit he was through.

A/N: Let‘s face it. This chapter contains huge spoilers for Hopper‘s which is completely named in novel Darkness on the Edge of Town. So it should be at least partially cannonical.

Word count: 3.8 K

Tagging:  @nemodoren​, @creedslove​, @missdictatorme, @ysljordy​

Master list: H E R E

The next morning, you had woken up pretty early in the morning. At least, you fell asleep - Hopper was awake the whole time, just staring into the ceiling before he got out of the bed to eat something, make you a coffee and breakfast. Which made you smile a bit. He was still as thoughtful as he was before.

But you didn‘t even let him take a short breath before you asked the first question of the day.

“So, you said there‘s a lot.” - You mumbled and gave him a look as you sat down, gently pulling a bit away from him. - “That means you have to start from the beginning. Every tale has a beginning, the middle, and an end. Do you understand that friends don‘t lie?” - You asked Eleven‘s most favorite sentence. This sentence was bugging Jim off a lot back in the day. When you told him the sentence, you made him feel a bit better. It was a thing so known and nice.

“If you want to start from the beginnin‘ of my trouble, we will go way down back to the sixties.” -  Hopper told you honestly. At that, you chuckled.

“Jim, I already know that you were in Vietnam. That isn‘t anything new.” - You told him ironically. At that, he looked into your face.

“You know that I was there once. Wrong. I was there twice. The first time, it was in ‘62.” - Jim told you straight in your face. At that, your breath hitched in your throat. He was... Eighteen. He was fucking eighteen when he first was transported to that hell. - “And for your information, I went there voluntarily. Nobody asked me to go.”

You were looking him into the eyes. The questions in your eyes were completely vivid. Your lips were just opening and closing as you tried to tell him something back, but nothing hit your tongue.

“You don‘t understand how was it like in here back in the sixties. I didn‘t know what to do here, I was kinda... Lost. You‘re a psychologist, you should know what I was feelin‘. I wanted to feel like I‘m useful, not like I‘m just spendin‘ my life in the biggest asshole in the USA.”

“Then I went back for turnus number two in ‘68. After that, I met Diane. And believe or not, I was really happy with her. Not too long ago, in ‘71, Sara was born. And we left for New York, but you already know what I‘ve been doin‘ in there.” - He said without explaining to you any further.

Yeah, you‘ve heard that story already. How he was the big detective in Brooklyn‘s sixty-fifth district and how he went after something he called the card-murders, He almost killed a man back then. After that, Sara had died and Diane left him. Except for the Vietnam news, you hadn‘t known about any of that, you knew about everything. But the biggest shockers were just coming your way.

“I was hurt. Hurt. And then you came by and for a small while, everything seemed to be right. I felt good about myself for a time. That was when Will Byers disappeared." - Hopper took a deep breath, giving you a look. - "Promise me that no matter how crazy everythin' seems to be, you'll believe me. I won't ever make up anythin' like this. You promise?"

That was when you got quiet again, only drinking coffee while eating the mashed eggs he had prepared you. - "Friends don't lie. Tell me and we'll see how crazy this seems to be."

So Hopper did as you wished and told you about the November of '83. About Eleven, Papa, and the Lab. He didn't leave out a single detail. Jim didn't leave out any gore, he told you all about what Eleven can do, which was the first thing you weren't able to come around.

"Jim, she's a normal kid. I had raised my daughter for more than just a week. If there would be any red flags, believe me, I would notice." - You said a bit more aggressively than you anticipated. But you were sure that Jim is just fucking around with.

“You remember that one time we had a fight in the cabin and I fell flat on my ass? You thought I just lost balance.” - He told you rather seriously and you uncomfortably shifted into a different position. How would you be able to forget that argument? You were yelling, screaming, crying that night until Eleven came out of her room. - “Blood was drippin' out of her nose, which made you worried, remember?” - Jim whispered and you needed to look away for a second. You haven't noticed a single weird thing about your baby, she was just a normal, twelve-year-old girl when you met. But it all checked in, according to what Jim had told you.

After that, Jim proceeded to another part of the story - explaining why Will was getting worse and worse (that was because of a thing called the Mind Flayer), which you had noticed, what happened with the veins under Hawkins, the Demodogs, what Steve Harrington did which resulted in him and children being best friends, which you also knew. In detail, Jim described what happened underneath the Lab and that Eleven went to see Terry Ives, her biological mother. In the middle of the story, you had to take a short break to think about everything and to have another cup of coffee.

You started crying when you finally got to know what even happened to Joyce's Bob. You didn't believe a thing Jim said, it was so surreal, but you finally got an explanation. It didn't mean that the explanation would make you satisfied, but it was a piece of information with which you could fill the blanks you had in your head. He was eaten by some fucking Demogorgons, whatever that thing was. You had an idea of how did the monster look - once, you played D&D with the kids and something like that was in the game.

And when the Russians came to play, you couldn't understand anything anymore. You were just sitting there, listening to Hopper talking about Starcourt mall being invested with Russians living in an underground base. At the same time, the Mind Flayer got Billy Hargrove, that son of a snake who was Max's brother. It was literally - Mind Flayer got him. Because of the beast, the boy was dead. Jim didn't know that Billy was dead, but then you told him with a terrified expression.

When Jim finished Billy's part of the story, he proceeded to tell you what happened to him. The events happened to both you had met at one point - the moment when Eleven got out of the mall. Each one of you was there - you were hugging El in front of the mall while Jim and Joyce were trying to blow up the massive generator under Starcourt. That was the moment he had presumably died. That was something which Dr. Owens had come up with since they didn't find a single clue that Hopper had died in the generator room. For Hopper to have some time to catch some breath, Owens had decided to pronounce Hopper dead for the time they were searching for him - he found himself being in Russia, working in a gulag. He told you about how he had got out and contented Owens again, Sam helping him back into Indiana so Hopper could start a search for you once again. And because he was in such mental and physical state when he came back, he was taking Tuinal again.

You were back to the square one. Hopper was taking drugs, he was a stranger and on top of that, he was lying to you for almost three years in a row, which was quite impressive. You were slowly getting fed up and mad when you realized that three years, basically thirty-six months, every time something unnatural happened, every time some monster appeared, he figured out some lie to tell you. He was wrapping you in a silver lining after silver lining, again and again. Which had blown you away.

It was almost midday when he had finished - you were preparing some lunch so Hopper would have to eat something. You were just cooking some meat with vegetables, while Hopper let you get your mind sorted.

"I think that the drugs made something to your brain, Jim." - You snorted all of a sudden. It was one of your typical, ironical snorts. You put the potatoes into the oven, put your elbows over your chest, and looked at him. - "Because a single word of what you've said... These are all illusions and hallucinations. If you plotted all of this the six months you were God knows where it's really impressive. Hands down to you, my dude, you got me in the first half."

Jim looked at you. You weren't even crying. But... You cried when he told you what happened to Bob, you believed him, right? If you wouldn't believe him, why would you cry?

"And bringing almost everyone into that, the kids, Joyce, Steve, Bob, Powell, and Callahan... Dear Lord, you even put it onto a precise timeline. You are sitting here, in front of me, looking me dead in the eyes, telling me... All of this, expecting me to believe. Oh, God, James Hopper. You have disappointed me." - You put your palms on your hips, turning away from him with a burst of unbelieving laughter.

"You don't believe me? Fine, let's visit Mike and ask him. Ask Harrington about it. Even that Henderson boy would tell you that this is the truth. Not enough? Fine, Imma take you to the Lab. I will show you everything. Imma ask Nancy Wheeler to give me the photos of Demogorgon." - Hopper stood up in front of you, having his faces just inches from yours. His face was deadly serious and for a second, you thought about if you had poked some sensitive spot or what did you even do. You thought he went mental in the last six months.

"I hadn't told you because the government would be after you and if somethin' happened to you or her... I mean... Anythin'... How would someone like me even come across losing his loved ones? Once again?" - He took your shoulder to his palms, making you look into his eyes.

"In New York, a special agent of a secret state organization named Gallup showed me, how easy is for someone to disappear in a manner of an afternoon. And I'm sure that he would make Diane and Sara disappear the same, just as he told me he would in case I wouldn't want to cooperate with them in the Card murders case." - Hopper shook your shoulders, making you furrow a little.

James wasn't aggressive at that moment, no, he was just making you listen. And not just to register information that was coming out of his mouth. He wanted you to listen to what he was saying with the tone of his voice. It was really important for you to understand. But he was shaking your body as if you were a rag doll.

"And I know that if I would tell you a single thing of what have I told you just now, they would make you disappear, maybe they would deport you into the Russian hell I was in, they would get rid of you just like that." - One of his fingers snapped, making you even more scared than before. Your heard was pounding loud and quick, you almost didn't hear a word he had told you.

Was he serious? Was some secret state services spying on you and him, on your home, even your family perhaps? You haven't noticed a thing. Nobody ever had followed you, your phone wasn't monitored, there weren't any weird guys or women in your neighborhood. Ever. But... Jim seemed kinda serious, which made you gasp for air.

"I couldn't do that because I love you. And trust me, Tuinal didn't cause any of the things I've just told you. I'm not shittin' you, I'm not sayin' weird shit, it's just how it is." - Jim slowly let go of you, letting you step away from him as you started to panic again, covering your mouth with your palm. It wasn't the usual panic attack, this was... You were horrified.

It was hard to believe since what he had told was straightaway King-novel fanfiction shit. Hardcore eighties sci-fi and horror at its best. But... What would you do if Hopper had a chance to prove each of his points? What would you do then?

A fucking creature from which crawled another dimension was getting your girl, who had telepathic abilities by the way, and her friends in danger. And your fiancé was there both times, trying to keep your world and family safe.

"Look at this from my point of view, Jim. This is... Wild. This is more than fucking wild. Even if it would be a work of your imagination, which would be kinda incredible when I think about your imagination, it still would be wild. But you told me that there is... Proof, right? You can show me, that what you said?" - You asked again, pushing him away from the stove to continue with cooking the lunch.

"It is slightly illegal and can be called a trespassin', but I can show you everythin'." - Jim nodded and lit up a cigarette, taking one out of the pack you had there. You knew that you'd have to open up the window since both your mom and your dad were non-smokers. They wouldn't be very glad if they'd somehow find out that you or James smoked inside.

"I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and I'm willing to go there... Whenever your damn Lab even is. But if it turns out to be all just one big lie, I swear to God, Jim. You're on thin fucking ice and if that ice breaks under you..." - You rose your eyebrows, looking out of the window. Jesus, you were torn apart into two halves - one wanted to believe him, you wanted to believe Jim so, so, so fucking bad. You were still in love with him, which was undeniable.

In the end, you lived together for... About two years? You couldn't even count it since Hopper was disappearing rather frequently and was gone... For sometimes a week, something three months, sometimes half a year. It was hard to establish how much time from those three years, two and a half years specifically, you had a normal relationship. Were you even in that phase? In the phase of having a normal relationship?

The other half inside of you was fucking sure that Jim had gone insane. Because using shit from D&D, tying up all the people you knew into the story, telling you that it always happened only when you weren't around... Jesus fucking Christ. You took in another deep breath and lit up a cigarette too, trying to keep your head straight. You were shaking. Your muscles were spasming and letting go at a pace so fast that your body was burning up.

After serving Jim the lunch, you both dressed up to be at least warm and able to move in the winter outside. Jim had taken your dad's splitters along with an old flashlight and put them on the backseat while he made you sit behind the steering wheel. You were a bit nervous, which was leveling up adequately with your inability to start the car.

"God fucking damn it, this dumb old car, I swear." - You mumbled under your breath when the engine didn't want to start working. Without further ado, Jim got off the car and opened up the hood, looking inside of it. He still had the same expression had when he was trying to start your car. Your car was a moody machine, especially in winter. Hopper breathed out a bit of fog on his fingers, trying to warm them up before he started to play with the cables.

"Kick it." - He looked at you with his eyebrows risen. You did as you were told and turned the engine key, making the engine yell loudly. You would be lost in the winter when it wouldn't be for Jim. Nobody except him and your dad had the skill to start that old crap. Jim sat back to you with a shit-eating grin, making you grin as well.

You were driving while he was telling you where to take a turn and where you should drive in the woods. Not too long after that, you were parking the car near an old facility which seemed to be empty and abandoned for quite some time. The snow was reaching up to your waist and thighs, so it was quite hard to even get in front of the Lab. The glass door were shattered, from squatters or someone like that you assumed, so getting wasn't too much trouble either.

That was when you saw it - blood on the ground and walls. That made you cover up your mouth and hope that you won't throw up.

"That's where Bob had died. Owens had to leave the place so quickly they barely packed everythin'." - Jim said behind you quietly in a mourning voice. That made you stand up. There was no body, but the tracks of blood, even if someone was trying to cover them up with paint, were still visible. - "You doin' good?" - His palm gently patted and then smoothed your back, making you a bit more comfortable. Tears were coming up to your eyes again when you watched the spot.

As you told, you didn't know Bob that well - you knew that man only from Jim's and Joyce's stories and from meeting him less than five times. But the man was a genuine good person. That was why you were so fucking moved by seeing the exact spot where he... Passed away. Or where he was eaten to death. Dear God.

When you nodded, Jim took you further into the facility. The windows were shattered so the ice-cold winter evening wind was howling through there, the walls were graffitied, but to your surprise, some of the lights were still working.

Documents marked as super-secret were scattered in the ground, even if most of the text was blacked with a marker. There was a lot of equipment left behind, medical and research tools just scattered around on the ground and in the empty rooms. Jim really meant what he told you; the government basically made Owens clear the building in two days - which was why there was all the stuff still here. Owens only packed the necessities, pushed them into three loaded military trucks and left the place as if nothing ever happened there. Or that was at least what Murray was telling.

It maybe was looking scary, but it still wasn't anything unusual. It was just the vibe of the place that was off. Until you tripped over something. Before you fell into the ground, Jim caught you, but your eyes widened in realization. You tripped over a pile of bones. Something had died and rotted there.

But it was too small to be an adult human bones. First, when you squated, took a paper from the ground to cover your fingers, you thought that maybe it could be bones of a child. But when you picked one up and looked at it closely, your breath hitched once again. Back in your day on highschool, you studied medicine and anatomy a lot, since you didn't know if you want to be a normal doctor or a psychologist when you grow up. You liked to have a back up plan and medicine was quite interesting as well. So you knew how human bones should look like; you once even saw some.

But that structure, shape, the color... Nothing seemed to be even close to how should human bones look like. First, you thought that maybe, it could be some animal bones of an nimal which was dragged there or tried to escape to safety - you would be sure since veterinary medicine wasn't really you thing.

Then you noticed it. It just hit your eyes - small spikes on the bones. You knew that birds had their bone structure practically full so they could fly... But an animal with spikes on their bones? No. Any known animal had spikes on its bones as far as you were informed.

"This... Jim..." - You gasped for air and put the bone back on the pile. Slowly, the things he told you about Bob, these Demogorgons and shit... It seemed to be more and more real with each passing second.

"We ain't endin' here." - Jim told you and led even further into the facility; specifically under it. You needed to take a few staircases which were quite long, but you were at least one or two levels under the surface of land. The door was locked with a chip reader, so Hopper just broke in after a few tries.

That was where the shit got wild. Some lights were working, some were just lighting up just to go dark in the next second, flickering and making the atmosphere darker and darker.

You were in something that could be called an observation station with a few machines. There was a monitor that was showing something when it was working, a lot of buttons and a microphone. A wheelchair was thrown on the ground just few feet away from you. The place was giving you chills.

On your left, something like a decontamination chamber could be seen, the automatic door now being opened and not powered by the electric circuit.

"Where are we, James?" - You asked in a whisper, being really unnerved at that second. Jim didn't respond, the only thing he did was that he walked further in.

So you followed him.

[tagathaofwoodsbeyond]

[Prompt] I could.. Give you a massage? If you want?

Modern au bbys

Idk if this is common but at my high school we had this class called sports medicine. Basically you'd learn about being a doctor and specifically, dealing with sports injuries. And during games, they would patch up any injuries (or keep them okayish till professionals arrived).

Tedros is The Football Boy Of 2018™

Aggie signed up for forensic science and got put in sports medicine, where she has to go to every. Single. Game.

------

Aggie pulled her legs up towards her in her chair, freezing as she heard the cheap plastic squeak, before continuing. She had been to countless football games and they still made no sense to her. She'd started recognizing faces, but none of the rules.

Hort sat next to her, listening to Ravan's sixth attempt to try and explain the game over the last two months. She was pretty sure he had understood half way through the second explanation, but neither of them were good at flirting, so this was all they had.

Chaddick, the big burly guy with the weird eyebrows, was chasing one of the other team guys, who maybe had the ball? She usually figured it out with context clues, with how massive a lot of these guys were. Tedros was four inches taller than her and she was one of the tallest girls in their tiny school.

There was some tackling, and now they were lining up again, but closer to where they had tackled other-team guy. Wack.

Tristan, the little redheaded guy who changed in the bathroom instead of the locker room cause of Aric, was the one that threw tje ball, like most times. He threw it to Tedros, and Tedros ran, and ran, and he looked like he was going to get to the goal area. There were guys behind him but he seemed like he was gonna make it-

Shit.

She unwound her legs from her Modern Gargoyle™ position as Ravan and Hort ran to the field. The guys had tackled him, and everything was okay, till someone realize how fucked up his leg had twisted. Ravan lifted his weight and Hort tried to help drag him, mostly just making sure his messed up leg didn't touch the ground.

They got him onto the yellow carrier they used, the one Hort would use as a sled down hills when the games were slow, and carted him inside the school while Coach Castor called a hospital.

Hort checked Tedros for signs of a concusion while everyone else... Just sort of stood around. They couldn't exactly wrap it up. Ravan tried to ice it but Tedros had screamed bloody murder, so after Hort had given a 'maybe' to Tedros having a concussion, Hort and Ravan left. Agatha stayed behind, in case anyone needed anything.

Mr. Pollux looked at Agatha for a moment after a heated whisper debate with Coach Castor. "Can you drive?"

Agatha nodded. "The schools probably going to have to pitch in on his medical bills since SOMEONE decided to put Tedros in despite his recent injury. Ambulances are quite expensive, and he can probably wait a little bit."

Tedros tried to object, but he wasn't quite making sense. Either Hort had given him some crazy heavy painkillers or he was just super out of it. Maybe shock? Who freaking knew. Definitely not Agatha.

They ended up loading him into her prius, agathas bag and folded up lawn chair sitting in her front seat as Pollux sat on top of the 'Carrying-Tedros-Board' and held Tedros' injured leg off the seats. He was kind of bleeding, and her mom had helped her clean the inside of her car like a week ago, so broken football boy or not, she was keeping the seats blood free, Pollux's khakis be damned.

-----

After the initial struggle of shoving Tedros back onto the board, now with less arm stength than a corndog between her and Pollux, sitting in the waiting room was somewhat uneventful. Tedros' legal guardian, Mr. Merlin, didn't pick up his phone, so they couldn't leave the hospital, even as Castor spammed Pollux with texts about driving home by himself. Agatha thought about the odd situation of two of her teachers living together to distract from the... Legitimate worry she felt for her classmate.

He had made fun of her in freshman year, but so had Sophie, and she was her best(and only, at the time) friend. Sophomore year they had been in the same chemistry class, and forced to do three different projects together before they began to actually enjoy eachothers company. They never hung out outside of school, but he was pretty funny, once you dug through the layers of secret self loathing projected as arrogance and a need to Please.

Pollux answered questions about Tedros' medical history for the doctors aa best he could after having his medical records forwarded to him by the school. Agatha texted Hort, looked at weird ten second clips on YouTube, and overall just twiddled her thumbs as they waited for any news. Tedros wouldn't die, but it could still be something serious. What if he could never walk? What if they had to cut off his leg? Agatha considered the options as a nurse walked up to the pair and said they were allowed to see him now.

Pollux had to leave, since Castor had coms to pick him up, and Agatha still questioned everything about that situation once she slipped into the room.

Tedros had a giant cast on his leg, and an IV for fluid, but nothing to spectacular. He turned to her and grinned a sort of hazy smile, like he wasn't quite sure who she was, just glad he had company.

"Hey there buddy. How are you feeling?" Agatha spoke slowly, sure that Tedros' mind was covered in a painkiller fog. She patted his wrist and he looked down at it, almost surprised that he still could feel things.

"I'm doing good... Very good. How're you?" Agatha bit back a laugh. Still trying to be polite.

"I'm doing just fine. Did they tell you what happened?" Agatha leaned a little bit, legitimately curious as to what had happened. She couldn't ask the nurse, seeing as she had left the room after letting Agatha in.

Tedros looked up as if he was questioming life's grestest question. "I think I broke my thigh bone. Like, the super big and strong one." Agatha nodded along to what he was saying even as he trailed off, mumbling.

"Well that's good to hear. Is there anything that still hurts?" Tedros considered the question again.

Tedros shook his head no, the same placid smile as before. He closed his eyes and layed down, seemingly drifting off to sleep. Wait, shit, did he have a concussion? She pressed a nurse call button and asked.

She looked through Tedros' sheet. "No, no concussion. He can sleep as long as he'd like." Agatha looked down at Tedros, glad she hadn't woken him before calling the nurse. It felt weird. Something in her heart felt.. Warm.

Wack.

----------

Agatha visited the hospital every day that week to check up on him. She'd tell him what was going on at school, update him on the rumor mill surrounding what had happened, etc. The only reason he was still at the hospital was because of some internal organ damage, nothing to do with the leg, so he was starting to grow a bit restless. He'd ask her how the guys on the team were doing, even how the sports medicine group was doing. She would show him dumb youtube crap on her phone, play songs she knew he wouldn't like but she enjoyed so she forced him to listen, and pull out countless videos of her cat. Without noticing, in a week Agatha and Tedros had gotten surprisingly close.

So after finally exchanging numbers, and two weeks after Tedros was discharged, they decided to meet up outside of school.

They met at the Arby's™ that Beatrix and Nick worked out, and walked to Tedros' house. He didn't live in the mcmansion she expected, but a rather sweet suburban house. Three bedrooms, worn in furniture, pinterests idea of the dream life. But there were little red flags as she went.

Tedros's room, the kitchen, and the bathroom looked like the only rooms anyone actually lived in. The magazines left on the coffee table were coated in dust and about six years old. She couldn't tell which room was his parents and which was the guest room, since both were equally barren, with a moderately nice bed that looked like it hadn't been used in years, a dusty nightstand, and absolutely nothing else. Ominous as f u c k.

They hung out in Tedros' room, messing around on his computer, seeing what trick shots they could make on his walls with a foam basketball, and just generally shooting breeze. Tedros would be able to play again senior year, but for now he was stuck with crutches and a key to the schools secret elevators.

"How much does it still hurt?" Agatha asked. She was kind of curious how much he could've healed in the three weeks since he'd been injured.

"My leg doesn't ever really hurt, it's just annoying to tie a trash bag around everytime i bathe. I still get weird flashes of pain around my chest, but they said it'll be gone by December. My shoulders been killing me though."

Agatha cocked her head. She hadn't remembered anything about his shoulders. "What happened to them?"

Tedros shrugged, then tried to play off the slight wince. "Apparently lying in bed for a week straight messes up your shoulders. I'll probably be fine? It's just not fun right now."

Agatha nodded, and considered. She couldn't really help with intestinal damage, or broken bones, but she knew how to deal with tense muscles. Would it be weird? Would he be uncomfortable? Would SHE be uncomfortable?

Yes to all of the above. But she really didn't do anything in sports medicine besides wrap sprained wrists and ankles, steal icey hots, and give massages to people.

"I could.. Give you a massage?" As soon as she said it she regretted it. She sounded so fucking weird. Abort mission, abort mission.

"Really? I think that would help a lot." Tedros turned kind of awkwardly until his back faced Agatha.

She took a deep breath and got started.

[wherebonesareburied]

You know. You're taking no accountability for your role in any of this. I should be the one pissed off or annoyed you tried to manipulate me by telling me you weren't feeling good and were staying in and then tried to make plans with Sam behind my back. Ever since that guy did what he did youve too been acting different too. You never even took the time to consider how different youve been treating me. You pushed me into a position where i had to badically beg for time with you. As you prioritized everything else. Dating, him, countertops, etc. When was the last time you initated the plan making? All i was doing trying to remain on the same status quo i wasnt asking for anything more than what we had already been doing. We were on a good rotation when was the last time you even reached for the check? More and more like im treating you like a girlfriend? Good! Cause someone had too! I showed exactly how youre supposed to be treated. You experienced a great trauma this year you were hurting ..hell you still are....so what did i do? What i always do which is try to fix it. Because i care about you.

And it killed me to know you were sad. You said conversation are different from six month ago? Why is that? Its not do to me its due to what you changed and made available for us to talk about. You cannot even bring yourself to be honest with me about how you feel or whats going on in your life anymore. Youre acting too embrassed even to me the person whod be the last person to judge you. You went from talking to one or two word text. All of this just amplified my feeling that something was wrong. So what do i do i apologize when i did absolutely nothing wrong. i bought you things because i know materials are your love language. I tired to plan you the greatest 35th birthday because i cared and wanted you to feel special. I did all this for you not to be with you. Cause my friend was hurting. I called you nicknames so youd know mean something to someone. That you mattered.

We've been texting everyday for the better part of our entire friendship thats isnt new. I tell you i love you because i do in all ways. You say if it were up to me id want to see you multiple days a week you are wrong. Id want to spend everyday with you for the rest of forever. That tells me you never truly understood. You dont know whats its like for someone to be the first person you think about when you wake up or last thought before you go to bed. Whats its like to love a child that isnt yours. To have someone change a perspective of your life that you thought you were so sure about. To want someone to have the best life possible. To have someone's happiness tangled into your own. For every decision of your own life you take into consideration how it may effect thiers. To make choices because you believe it will benefit them. To be all in on someone with no regrets. To believe someone is worth it. I truly hope you someday find that again. I hope someday you realize the red flags in men are not a sign that an amusement park is there. I hope someday your glasses prescription allows you to see what real love is. I guess parts of me was still hoping the impossible would happen despite the fact you couldnt see me. I guess i just wished someday you would.

You didnt ask for me to fall in love with you nor did i ask for it either but i prioritized our friendship over how i felt. I watched you put your hand in the fire till it smoldered and still tried to care for it. Till this day you still choose to play with matches. I dont believe i can activity watch you hurt yourself by giving this guy another chance. He is gonna hurt you again because he taught you to accept his behavior. He has manipulated into believing he's changed. Convinced you if you got rid of me that you guys could work. You been pushing me away for awhile and ive been swimming against the current trying to fight it now youre asking me to give up. Youre asking me to get out the water while you swim with sharks. I know change is hard and starting new is hard. I know how easy it is to just believe the lie. I will respect your request even if it kills me because this is what you believe will make you happy.

You say you want changes and thats fine. Things will be different now. I will always love and be your friend but the amount which im active in your life will be determined by how much you feed our friendship. You dont have to worry about me anymore. I am done. I am done chasing you. I done making a fool of myself. Holding on by hoping someday the impossible will happen. Every atom in me wants to fix this because our friendship feels broken but i have to accept that while i have been acting different i am not the one who broke it. This isnt for me to fix. So put me away put me back in the cupboard. We can still hangout as friends grab food, drinks, and etc. We can still talk about anything. The difference will be i will move as you move. I will simply be matching your energy.

See you later,

Bryant

[patriotsnet]

How Do Republicans Feel About The Wall

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/how-do-republicans-feel-about-the-wall/

How Do Republicans Feel About The Wall

Half Of Republicans Believe False Accounts Of Deadly Us Capitol Riot

How do Hispanic Americans truly feel about the border wall?

7 Min Read

WASHINGTON -Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event that left five dead and scores of others wounded. His supporters appear to have listened.

Three months after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to overturn his November election loss, about half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists trying to make Trump look bad, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.

Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that Novembers presidential election was stolen from him due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans think he should run again in 2024, the March 30-31 poll showed.

Since the Capitol attack, Trump, many of his allies within the Republican Party and right-wing media personalities have publicly painted a picture of the days events jarringly at odds with reality.

Hundreds of Trumps supporters, mobilized by the former presidents false claims of a stolen election, climbed walls of the Capitol building and smashed windows to gain entry while lawmakers were inside voting to certify President Joe Bidens election victory. The rioters – many of them sporting Trump campaign gear and waving flags – also included known white supremacist groups such as the Proud Boys.

DANGEROUS SPIN ON REALITY

They Just Come For Show

The four House Republicans were unfamiliar with the history of the fight over Santa Ana.

It was not addressed by the Border Patrol agents who led the morning excursion. And by the time E&E News connected with Chapman, the delegation had departed the refuge for a briefing on Border Patrol activities at the local headquarters of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Later, when asked whether Westerman thought the environmental impact of installing a wall at Santa Ana and in other refuge areas was a necessary sacrifice to stop the flow of illegal immigration, the lawmaker said it didnt sound unreasonable.

One hundred and fifty feet kind of sounds like what the right of way would be on a levee, but I dont know, he said. Obviously, if youre going to build a wall, theres going to be clearing. And from what Ive seen, stories Ive heard about human trafficking, the rapes, the deaths yeah, I think its worth building the deterrents.

At the National Butterfly Center a 100-acre nature preserve that was also exempted from having a border wall built on its land in the same 2019 spending package Executive Director Marianna Trevino Wright said she thought the GOP lawmakers were ignorant by choice.

I think they have no idea, Trevino Wright asserted. They come just for show. Theyre not interested.

The real litterbugs, she contended, were the officers with Border Patrol.

There’s Something Happening Here

But he uses a different touchstone: Occupy Wall Street, the left-leaning anti-establishment movement that blossomed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

“This is Occupy Wall Street Part 2, but this time it is on their turf, and there are real financial consequences,” he said. LeGate, who received a $100,000 Thiel fellowship to drop out of college and start a company when he was 18 years old in 2013, has been watching the WallStreetBets Reddit discussion for several years.

He said he is seeing increasing frustration and anger, which is exploding in the Covid pandemic era and it is bringing together the traditional political left and right.

“People were willing to take a risk on Trump and now they’re willing to take a risk in the markets,” he said. “A lot of people just want to see the world burn right now, and they’re enjoying watching it happen.”

He said he’s already seeing people on the WallStreetBets Reddit page looking for new targets and there are two themes. First, they’re looking for highly shorted stocks where big hedge funds might have a lot of leverage. And second, they’re looking for nostalgia plays to bring back the companies from their youth. That’s why Nokia, Blackberry and Blockbuster are all getting attention.

Border Walls In The Middle East

One major proof of concept that Republicans supporting a Mexican border wall cite is the success of similar walls in the Middle East. For example, walls along the Israeli-Palestinian border reportedly cut down illegal immigration between the countries. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who is also the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, stated that he was impressed with a system of fences he had inspected along the Israeli border with Palestinian territories. Johnson stated Im always looking for best practices. Its been incredibly effective. They had thousands of illegal immigrants; its down to the teens.

House Republicans Propose $10 Billion For Trumps Border Wall

House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a plan to provide $10 billion for President Donald Trumps border wall with Mexico, a bill unlikely to clear the Senate but which could fuel a shutdown fight in December.

Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul said his panel will vote on the legislation next week. The bill also would add 10,000 more border patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers, tap the National Guard to patrol the southern border and target people who have overstayed visas.

Now that we have a partner in the White House who has made this a top priority, its time to send a bill to President Trumps desk so we can deliver the American people the security they have long demanded and deserve, McCaul said in a statement.

The bill represents Republicans opening salvo in both the looming year-end government funding fight and high-stakes negotiations over undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

It almost certainly wont pass the Senate, where at least eight Democrats would be needed to clear a 60-vote threshold.

Partisans Approve Their Partys Approach To Shutdown Negotiations Disapprove Of Other Partys

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 76% approve of how Trump is handling shutdown talks, including 50% who say they strongly approve of Trumps approach. In contrast, just 4% of Democrats approve of Trumps handling of the negotiations, while 93% disapprove .

The overall pattern is similar in views of Republican leaders in Congress: 69% of Republicans approve of their partys leaders handling of negotiations, while just 10% of Democrats approve.

And while about seven-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners approve of the way Democratic leaders in Congress are handling the shutdown negotiations, just 11% of Republicans say the same.

Republicans Pray For A Border Crisis To Bring Biden Down

Joe Biden and his programs are popular. Republicans cant lay a glove on him. So theyve settled on immigration as the way to drag him into the mud.

Guillermo Arias/Getty

Republicans are crazy about immigration. No, really. The issue makes them loco. Just listen to the things theyre saying. Many of them have lost touch with reality.

Or maybe Republicans are crazy like a fox. The GOP seems to have once again pinned all of its hopes for retaking powerin this case, by winning back control of the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections and possibly regaining seats in the House of Representativeson the immigration issue. If either of those things happen, Republicans will be in decent shape to try to retake the White House in 2024.

President Joe Biden has only been in office for about 60 days, and Republicans who want to attack him and his administration dont have a lot of material with which to work.

Thats what some of the current fearmongering over the situation at the U.S.-Mexico borderabout half of itis all about. The other half is made up of good ol fashioned nativism and racism. Thats one reason why Republicans act like the prospect of what could turn out to be 100,000 would-be refugees from Central America mostly women and children is the end of Western civilization as we know it.

Here we are again. And the same Republicans who were quiet and subdued when former President Donald Trump confronted this same problem now cant stop talking about this being a crisis.

Republicans Spent Two Years Resisting Trumps Border Wall What Changed

Since the government shutdown 25 days ago, Republicans have largely defended the need for a border wall. While there appear to be some cracks in support, most are standing by the presidents insistence on funding.

As recently as September, The Washington Post described it this way:

The same Republican lawmakers who rushed through the tax bill Trump wanted, confirmed his first Supreme Court pick and are fighting to defend his second, and have remained largely deferential amid multiple scandals, have taken a far different approach when it comes to one of Trumps most memorable campaign promises deeming the wall to be impractical, unrealistic and too costly.

Most GOP lawmakers didnt come right out and say that, of course.

Instead, for the first two years of Trumps presidency, GOP lawmakers avoided the wall debate completely. In September 2017, USA Today took on the laborious task of surveying every member of Congress to determine their position on Trumps wall. At the time, the White House was requesting $1.6 billion to begin wall construction. The survey found that just 69 of the 292 Republicans in Congress said they supported Trumps funding request. Three outright opposed it, but the majority avoided answering the question directly.

Shortly after Trumps inauguration, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham , Trumps onetime nemesis turned close ally, told Politico that the border wall is probably not a smart investment.

Every Congressperson Along Southern Border Opposes Border Wall Funding

How would Republicans build Donald Trump’s wall? BBC News

Nine congressional representatives serve the districts that line the 2,000-mile southern border. They are men, women, freshman politicians and Washington veterans. The Democrats among them span liberal ideologies, while one of them is a Republican.

But they all have one thing in common: each is against President Donald Trump‘s border wall.

Last week, the House of Representatives passed a multi-bill package that provided funding for federal agencies and reinstated Department of Homeland Security appropriations without offering any new border wall funding. All nine of the politicians serving in districts along the border voted in favor of the bills, which were an effective rebuke of the Trump administration’s request for $5.7 billion in border wall funding.

“It’s a 4th-century solution to a 21st century problem,” said Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat and one of the lawmakers along the southern border who voted against funding the wall.

Gonzalez doesn’t oppose border security. He said, “Nobody wants stronger border control than me.” But he’s against adding to the existing border wall because he doesn’t “think it brings real border security and it comes at a major cost to taxpayers,” the lawmaker said Tuesday in a telephone interview with CBS News.

“At the time I thought we were going to be able to have a reasonable conversation,” Gonzalez said. “I had no idea it was going to get this crazy.”

Everybody Look What’s Going Down

Holmes believes the key to understanding the power of this new movement is the gamification of investing melded with an anti-elite fervor. Sticking it to hedge funds and potentially making a lot of money is, simply, fun. And if you believe its also the right thing to do, and thrive on the engagement of a community of like-minded traders, so much the better.

“When things really get going is when the fun meets the purpose,” Holmes said. “This is the perfect storm of those two.”

His warning to Wall Street is: understand this. Be willing to scrutinize yourself. This not going away, and it is probably bigger than you think.

“People need to take the time to understand the social dynamics of this. What are the problems that have created this class of retail investor who seek to completely destroy your industry, and how do you remedy that?” Holmes said.

Holmes said he has spent the past decade watching American politics turned inside out. An earlier generation of politicians spent their time raising money at country club ballrooms from hundreds of donors writing $500 or $1,000 checks.

But now they spend their time on the internet raising money from millions of donors making $5 and $20 contributions. In politics, the retail money turned out to be bigger much bigger — than the institutional money. And that’s driven massive political spending inflation: the big Senate campaigns that once cost $15 million now cost $100 million.

There’s Battle Lines Being Drawn

But what explains that nostalgic impulse in the midst of a revolution? It is the same emotion that animated the MAGA movement which, after all, stood for make America great, again. It is a desire to return to an earlier time that the members of the movement remember as better than today.

“There’s a feeling I sense across society that people want to go back to a simpler time,” LeGate said. “No one likes Covid. People don’t feel the economy is fair. Everything looks better in hindsight.”

And he argues that efforts to regulate trading will feel to Reddit traders more like suppression, and could fuel more anger.

“If someone on Main Street loses half their portfolio in a day, nothing’s going to happen. But if a hedge fund does, they literally stop the trading,” he said. “I myself question whether this is really about protecting the individual investor or protecting the hedge fund.”

Public Disapproves Of How Shutdown Negotiations Are Being Handled

Most Americans offer negative evaluations of the way that the nations political leaders in both parties Donald Trump, Democratic congressional leaders and Republican congressional leaders are handling negotiations over the shutdown.

Overall, just 36% of the public approves of how Trump is handling negotiations over the government shutdown, including 23% who say they strongly approve. About six-in-ten disapprove of Trumps approach to the negotiations, including 53% who say they strongly disapprove.

Views of how Republican leaders in Congress are handling shutdown negotiations generally parallel evaluations of Trump. Six-in-ten Americans say they disapprove of the way Republican congressional leaders are handling negotiations, while just 36% say they approve. However, fewer Americans characterize their views of GOP leaders handling of negotiations as strong approval or disapproval than say this about the president.

Public views of Democratic leaders handling of the shutdown talks are somewhat more positive than views of Trump or GOP leaders. Still, more disapprove than approve .

Intensity Of Trumps Support Increases

Also in the poll, 46 percent of voters approve of President Trumps job performance, which is consistent with the other NBC/WSJ polls over the past year and a half.

But other numbers in the survey his strong job approval ticking up to its all-time high, his positive rating jumping to its highest level since after his inauguration prompts GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies to call this Trumps best NBC/WSJ poll in three years.

Still, 49 percent of all voters say they are very uncomfortable about Trump when it comes to his re-election bid in 2020.

Thats compared with 43 percent who are very uncomfortable with Sanders, 36 percent with Warren and 35 percent with Biden.

Klobuchar: Trump’s Actions Are Like A ‘global Watergate’ Scandal

Today, as Democrats in the House of Representatives move toward bringing articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, with the next Judiciary Committee hearing of evidence set for Monday, few Democrats are still clinging to the hope that Republicans will reach a breaking point with Trump like they did with Nixon.

“I really don’t think there is any fact that would change their minds,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC News.

Why? Two key changes since Nixon: a massive divide in American political life we hate the other team more than ever before and a media climate that fuels and reinforces that chasm, powered by Fox News on the Republican side.

Himes said he was “a little stunned by the unanimity on the Republican side,” especially among retiring lawmakers who don’t have to worry about surviving a GOP primary had they gone against Trump. “We’re in a place right now where all that matters to my Republican colleagues is the defense of the president,” he added.

No Republican congressmen have said they support impeachment. In the Senate, the entire GOP voted to condemn the impeachment inquiry, except for three moderates: Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The three have stopped short of saying they support Trump’s impeachment, however, and it would take at least 20 Republican senators to vote to convict him in a Senate trial for removal to succeed.

What Do Republicans Believe In

Do all Republicans believe the same things? Of course not. Rarely do members of a single political group agree on all issues. Even among Republicans, there are differences of opinion. As a group, they do not agree on every issue.

Some folks vote Republican because of fiscal concerns. Often, that trumps concerns they may have about social issues. Others are less interested in the fiscal position of the party. They vote they way they do because of religion. They believe Republicans are the party of morality. Some simply want less government. They believe only Republicans can solve the problem of big government. Republicans spend less . They lower taxes: some people vote for that alone.

However, the Republican Party does stand for certain things. So I’m answering with regard to the party as a whole. Call it a platform. Call them core beliefs. The vast majority of Republicans adhere to certain ideas.

So what do Republicans believe? Here are their basic tenets:

Questions Ahead Of The Democratic National Convention

Andrew Redleaf, founder of the hedge fund company Whitebox Advisors, has been a Republican donor in the past. He gave to the campaign of 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney. He calls himself a libertarian conservative who favors free trade and immigration.

This year, he’s given money to the Lincoln Project, a group of conservative never-Trumpers who are running scathing ads against the president in swing states.

“I’d like there to be a right-of-center, limited-government party … which is not the Trumpist Republican Party,” Redleaf says.

Redleaf is wary of Democrats and has no particular affection for Biden.

But the former vice president is a known commodity on Wall Street and is widely seen as a more centrist, acceptable alternative to more liberal Democrats who ran for president, such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Biden has also been a top recipient of financial industry money for decades as a senator from Delaware, home to financial and credit card companies.

“He’s not somebody that the industry is particularly afraid of,” Bryner says. “So I think that we would see them kind of hopeful that he would be a more moderating influence, whereas Trump can be quite unpredictable.”

Widening Party Divide Over Expanding The Border Wall

El Chapo financing Trump border wall is a yes vote: GOP lawmaker

Public views of a U.S.-Mexico border wall have changed little over the past three years. But the partisan gap has widened, as Republicans have become more supportive of a border wall, while Democratic support has declined.

Currently, 58% of Americans oppose substantially expanding the wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, while 40% favor the proposal.

Since early 2016, roughly six-in-ten Americans have opposed building or expanding the border wall .

Yet partisan differences are now wider than they have ever been. Today, 82% of Republicans and Republican leaners favor substantially expanding the wall along the U.S-Mexico border. Over the past year alone, Republican support for expanding the border wall has increased 10 percentage points . Over the same period, the share of Democrats who favor expanding the U.S.-Mexico border wall has declined from 13% to 6%.

Conservative Republicans and Republican leaners overwhelmingly favor expanding the U.S.-Mexico border wall . Moderate and liberal Republicans are somewhat less supportive .

Overwhelming shares of both liberal Democrats and conservative and moderate Democrats oppose expanding the border wall.

As in the past, opinions about expanding the U.S.-Mexico border wall are divided by race, education and age. Whites are more than twice as likely as blacks or Hispanics to favor expanding the border wall.

Why Do Republicans Behave The Way They Do

Why are the Republicans so mean-spirited when it comes to the poor and so indulgent when it comes to the rich?

Why are the Republicans so mean-spirited when it comes to the poor and so indulgent when it comes to the rich? Thats the incessant question as posed by liberals today about the partys now enacted tax reform. Not only does the bill include another attack on Obamacare, but it provides the pretext the need to reduce deficits to go after other long-held goals, the end of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. 

The answer should be obvious by now. Republicans behave as they do because they can get away with it! Its no more complicated than that. 

Contrary to liberal opinion, Republican politics isnt out of the mainstream provided we push the clock back sufficiently. A political economy without social services and entitlements is in fact the default position of the capitalist mode of production from its inception. If recent comments from Republican Sens. Orin Hatch and Charles Grassley sound like characters from a Charles Dickens novel their barely disguised contempt for the working poor that should come as no surprise. Such attitudes were almost de rigueur for ruling elites in capitals long ascent. The constant refrain of the rich Why should we be taxed to pay for the education of the children of the irresponsible poor?  explains why public school education became a widely accepted norm only in the 20th century. 

How Dems aided and abetted

What Republicans And Democrats Have In Common On Wall Street Regulation

The Democratic and Republican parties disagree on most major issues. When it comes to Wall Street, however, it’s a mixed bag. Take the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

Democrats believe the bill has reined in the type of out-of-control behavior that led to the near collapse of the banking industry in 2008 and prevented a similar crisis. Republicans have criticized the legislation calling it “the Democrats legislative Godzilla.” They feel the financial regulations have made it too difficult for small lenders and community banks and has indirectly slowed the growth of small businesses. 

Regulation of the financial services industry has been a major issue not only in the current presidential election but in house and senate races. Democrats believe that the electorate largely sides with them that banks have overstepped and that they can use their position to win votes and take back the Senate. Republicans currently hold a majority 54 votes. Because of gerrymandering rules, Democrats will have a tougher time retaking the House.  

Dodd-Frank was intended to increase transparency and accountability in the financial services industry and to protect consumers. Among other things, the bill created a new consumer protection agency and standards for a number of common financial services products. 

A Shift In Immigration Thinking

Representative Luis Gutierrez of Illinois is one of the Houses most outspoken Democrats on immigration reform, and she understands this shift, and believes it is essential. Lives are at stake and the lives of Dreamers are more important to me than bricks, Gutierrez said. If advocates would reject any money for Trumps wall in exchange for freedom and legalization and eventual citizenship for the Dreamers, I understand their choice, but for my part, I would lay bricks myself if I thought it would save the Dreamers. For me, the very real attacks on legal immigration are far greater threats than bricks and drones and technology on the border.

This shift has also led Democratic views on a border wall to soften in general. As Trump has become less demanding, Democrats have begun to consider what type of barrier, and what size, they would be willing to agree to if push came to shove. The 2,000 mile wall that Democrats had feared would be a looming symbol of America turning inward on itself is becoming something closer to the 2006 plan; some new barriers, some new monitoring technology, and that is somewhat agreeable to Democrats, especially if they can garner support in other arenas in exchange for it.

[sweet-xoxo-thatcares]

Fuckin Shit Show

That fucking happy ass unicorn that I thought looked like Jay, fucking tricked me. Fucking Clown.

I thought that since she just asked and was still being nice, pleasant, and communicative with me about spending time together then it meant that there's no way she was just tryna use me and be manipulative....noooo

The fucking happy ass unicorn told me that she wouldn't get angry if I was to end things with her just because of distance.

The true culprit mark was when I said "Lies, we both would" assuming she cared about me and was attached like she said she was and I was too. I thought it was safe to attach to her because she was happy and was saying she already could see us moving in together.

Red Flag: this was day 4 of us just talking and I knew it had been a whole fucking year since I had any type of romantic attraction to somebody and I was put my cards in too deep, thinking she was really here for me. I got caught up. And that was my bad.

I assumed since she said she was autistic, had all this trauma she told me about, and was waiting on disability to approve her or not...I thought why not? But I tried to break it off by saying we could be just friends, because overall...I couldn't see myself marrying someone who didn't want kids, was really pushy about speeding up the courting phase so we could start dating ASAP Rocky (also red flag) and then another thing...I was dead sure I wasn't ready to come out to my parents and tell them that the person I was thinking about living with and dating within less than a year, was actually a transfemme who's suicidal, a former drug and alcohol rehab patient, has depression and anxiety, scoliosis, and had been assaulted multiple times, so they have ptsd and paranoia, and sometimes can not go to sleep at all because of what happened to them.

Its like I felt so bad for this girl, plus she had things that I haven't found in common with other people. Our love languages were similar, we both had anxiety, hyper sexuality, and separation anxiety from dealing with childhood trauma. She was also kicked out and had got into with her mom, which she has cut off connection with because she did allootttt of awful shit to her....wayyyy worse than my mom. There was sexual, mental, emotional, and physical abuse, she was an alcohol bully towards her to make her get drunk early, ran her over, she was absolute fucked up mother to have. Crazy psychopath.

She said she wouldn't tell anyone her trauma unless we were actually dating which was fine. But I guess me telling her what happened to me with my mom and me getting kicked out, reminded her of her mother. We both are bipolar and have bipolar moms. So it felt great but also sad that we had to go through those hardships just for us to bond.

And she was into buds, video games, and some of my sexual interests. Yea if she wasn't a manipulative, angst who wanted to basically get back to living in an apartment with any black girl they found on the internet who would agree to doing that....living with each other and dating each other within less than a week....

She probably would have fell in love all over again. Cause lets be real if I found out the woman I dated for a year, lived with and fell in love with passed and I'm 4 months later single, horny, and missing her...of course I would be desperate if I couldn't talk to my family like that and had to live with my grandparents.....Athena wanted out of her living situation and wanted to get back to what she had with somebody else she loved.

I told her my rule for myself is to not move in with somebody unless I'm serious about being with them long term and its been a year or more of dating. Like only if I could see myself marrying you, then yea we living together. Athena didn't like that.

But you gotta be smart with dating and I'm glad I put my foot down and didn't just do whatever she said just because she had been through so much shit and now couldn't even afford to live her own life.

Bad example of what I would want to live with though...she doesn't plan on learning how to drive like I am, she doesn't want to pursue a serious career at home, and she thinks that just paying for the food with her eat card would help handle the utilities and cable and internet and cellphone bills that I would probably have to pay for....since she's still waiting on Disability to approve her after they told her she gotta wait "six months" to start getting in money.

I think us both sexting each other cause we were really starting to feel each other on THE 2ND DAY must have really teased her about us waiting to have sex. Because she did say, I should be on birth control in case we do start having sex. I wanted to, too, but looking back it would have been more hot if we could have done it raw...so maybe thats why I agreed and actually scheduled a gynecologist appointment

AND WTFFF IVE BEEN SCARED TO GO THE OBGYN FOR YEARS AND SHE MADE ME FEEL LIKE I WAS DOING THIS TO SAVE OUR RELATIONSHIP, AND WE WEREN'T EVEN TOGETHER YET!!!

WTF. So my dumbass is still going, its scheduled in October, and no I don't want to go cause I don't like strangers fisting and discovery channeling my pussy like that unless I'm getting a gold medal or a lollipop after. Les just be honest...IM AFRAID I MIGHT CUM FROM EXCITEMENT AND NERVOUSNESS IF SHE HITS THE RIGHT SPOT AND THEN MY PUSSY IS GONNA GRIP THE DOC'S HAND,

I WONT BE ABLE TO LET GO BECAUSE MY PUSSY IS ALREADY TIGHT AND IM LEAKING EVERYWHERE

SORRRY but this is exactly why I don't want a guy doctor inside of me for a visit, but then again I gotta find a female I wouldn't be sexually attracted to, but nice looking enough to where she's friendly and gentle with me. Cause Im sensitive and I clench up down there when I get scared.

But yea, I called Athena a fake ass for that reason, cause after the rose colored glasses...and having me think she would really wait a year for me in order for us to move in, she definitely lied about that too. Cause she said yes and that she be willing to do anything to make it work long distance until we got to that point.

And as soon as I mentioned living together would be a step towards marriage, me possibly being bipolar just like her because I sometimes have anger issues, and then me saying I wish you lived closer...

Must have triggered her autism and her ptsd flags about her mom...

Idk, but yea I fell for it, but at the same time it was because she was too good to be true in comparison from the Jay I just ran away from...and its been a year....but it still feels like I just left 2-3 months ago. And that's so weird to me.

Athena. Scam. Mentally Psychotic. But aye, crazy attracts crazy...

[statetalks]

How Do Republicans Feel About The Wall

Half Of Republicans Believe False Accounts Of Deadly Us Capitol Riot

How do Hispanic Americans truly feel about the border wall?

7 Min Read

WASHINGTON -Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event that left five dead and scores of others wounded. His supporters appear to have listened.

Three months after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to overturn his November election loss, about half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists trying to make Trump look bad, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.

Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that Novembers presidential election was stolen from him due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans think he should run again in 2024, the March 30-31 poll showed.

Since the Capitol attack, Trump, many of his allies within the Republican Party and right-wing media personalities have publicly painted a picture of the days events jarringly at odds with reality.

Hundreds of Trumps supporters, mobilized by the former presidents false claims of a stolen election, climbed walls of the Capitol building and smashed windows to gain entry while lawmakers were inside voting to certify President Joe Bidens election victory. The rioters – many of them sporting Trump campaign gear and waving flags – also included known white supremacist groups such as the Proud Boys.

DANGEROUS SPIN ON REALITY

They Just Come For Show

The four House Republicans were unfamiliar with the history of the fight over Santa Ana.

It was not addressed by the Border Patrol agents who led the morning excursion. And by the time E&E News connected with Chapman, the delegation had departed the refuge for a briefing on Border Patrol activities at the local headquarters of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Later, when asked whether Westerman thought the environmental impact of installing a wall at Santa Ana and in other refuge areas was a necessary sacrifice to stop the flow of illegal immigration, the lawmaker said it didnt sound unreasonable.

One hundred and fifty feet kind of sounds like what the right of way would be on a levee, but I dont know, he said. Obviously, if youre going to build a wall, theres going to be clearing. And from what Ive seen, stories Ive heard about human trafficking, the rapes, the deaths yeah, I think its worth building the deterrents.

At the National Butterfly Center a 100-acre nature preserve that was also exempted from having a border wall built on its land in the same 2019 spending package Executive Director Marianna Trevino Wright said she thought the GOP lawmakers were ignorant by choice.

I think they have no idea, Trevino Wright asserted. They come just for show. Theyre not interested.

The real litterbugs, she contended, were the officers with Border Patrol.

There’s Something Happening Here

But he uses a different touchstone: Occupy Wall Street, the left-leaning anti-establishment movement that blossomed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

“This is Occupy Wall Street Part 2, but this time it is on their turf, and there are real financial consequences,” he said. LeGate, who received a $100,000 Thiel fellowship to drop out of college and start a company when he was 18 years old in 2013, has been watching the WallStreetBets Reddit discussion for several years.

He said he is seeing increasing frustration and anger, which is exploding in the Covid pandemic era and it is bringing together the traditional political left and right.

“People were willing to take a risk on Trump and now they’re willing to take a risk in the markets,” he said. “A lot of people just want to see the world burn right now, and they’re enjoying watching it happen.”

He said he’s already seeing people on the WallStreetBets Reddit page looking for new targets and there are two themes. First, they’re looking for highly shorted stocks where big hedge funds might have a lot of leverage. And second, they’re looking for nostalgia plays to bring back the companies from their youth. That’s why Nokia, Blackberry and Blockbuster are all getting attention.

Border Walls In The Middle East

One major proof of concept that Republicans supporting a Mexican border wall cite is the success of similar walls in the Middle East. For example, walls along the Israeli-Palestinian border reportedly cut down illegal immigration between the countries. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who is also the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, stated that he was impressed with a system of fences he had inspected along the Israeli border with Palestinian territories. Johnson stated Im always looking for best practices. Its been incredibly effective. They had thousands of illegal immigrants; its down to the teens.

House Republicans Propose $10 Billion For Trumps Border Wall

House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a plan to provide $10 billion for President Donald Trumps border wall with Mexico, a bill unlikely to clear the Senate but which could fuel a shutdown fight in December.

Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul said his panel will vote on the legislation next week. The bill also would add 10,000 more border patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers, tap the National Guard to patrol the southern border and target people who have overstayed visas.

Now that we have a partner in the White House who has made this a top priority, its time to send a bill to President Trumps desk so we can deliver the American people the security they have long demanded and deserve, McCaul said in a statement.

The bill represents Republicans opening salvo in both the looming year-end government funding fight and high-stakes negotiations over undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

It almost certainly wont pass the Senate, where at least eight Democrats would be needed to clear a 60-vote threshold.

Partisans Approve Their Partys Approach To Shutdown Negotiations Disapprove Of Other Partys

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 76% approve of how Trump is handling shutdown talks, including 50% who say they strongly approve of Trumps approach. In contrast, just 4% of Democrats approve of Trumps handling of the negotiations, while 93% disapprove .

The overall pattern is similar in views of Republican leaders in Congress: 69% of Republicans approve of their partys leaders handling of negotiations, while just 10% of Democrats approve.

And while about seven-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners approve of the way Democratic leaders in Congress are handling the shutdown negotiations, just 11% of Republicans say the same.

Republicans Pray For A Border Crisis To Bring Biden Down

Joe Biden and his programs are popular. Republicans cant lay a glove on him. So theyve settled on immigration as the way to drag him into the mud.

Guillermo Arias/Getty

Republicans are crazy about immigration. No, really. The issue makes them loco. Just listen to the things theyre saying. Many of them have lost touch with reality.

Or maybe Republicans are crazy like a fox. The GOP seems to have once again pinned all of its hopes for retaking powerin this case, by winning back control of the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections and possibly regaining seats in the House of Representativeson the immigration issue. If either of those things happen, Republicans will be in decent shape to try to retake the White House in 2024.

President Joe Biden has only been in office for about 60 days, and Republicans who want to attack him and his administration dont have a lot of material with which to work.

Thats what some of the current fearmongering over the situation at the U.S.-Mexico borderabout half of itis all about. The other half is made up of good ol fashioned nativism and racism. Thats one reason why Republicans act like the prospect of what could turn out to be 100,000 would-be refugees from Central America mostly women and children is the end of Western civilization as we know it.

Here we are again. And the same Republicans who were quiet and subdued when former President Donald Trump confronted this same problem now cant stop talking about this being a crisis.

Republicans Spent Two Years Resisting Trumps Border Wall What Changed

Since the government shutdown 25 days ago, Republicans have largely defended the need for a border wall. While there appear to be some cracks in support, most are standing by the presidents insistence on funding.

As recently as September, The Washington Post described it this way:

The same Republican lawmakers who rushed through the tax bill Trump wanted, confirmed his first Supreme Court pick and are fighting to defend his second, and have remained largely deferential amid multiple scandals, have taken a far different approach when it comes to one of Trumps most memorable campaign promises deeming the wall to be impractical, unrealistic and too costly.

Most GOP lawmakers didnt come right out and say that, of course.

Instead, for the first two years of Trumps presidency, GOP lawmakers avoided the wall debate completely. In September 2017, USA Today took on the laborious task of surveying every member of Congress to determine their position on Trumps wall. At the time, the White House was requesting $1.6 billion to begin wall construction. The survey found that just 69 of the 292 Republicans in Congress said they supported Trumps funding request. Three outright opposed it, but the majority avoided answering the question directly.

Shortly after Trumps inauguration, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham , Trumps onetime nemesis turned close ally, told Politico that the border wall is probably not a smart investment.

Every Congressperson Along Southern Border Opposes Border Wall Funding

How would Republicans build Donald Trump’s wall? BBC News

Nine congressional representatives serve the districts that line the 2,000-mile southern border. They are men, women, freshman politicians and Washington veterans. The Democrats among them span liberal ideologies, while one of them is a Republican.

But they all have one thing in common: each is against President Donald Trump‘s border wall.

Last week, the House of Representatives passed a multi-bill package that provided funding for federal agencies and reinstated Department of Homeland Security appropriations without offering any new border wall funding. All nine of the politicians serving in districts along the border voted in favor of the bills, which were an effective rebuke of the Trump administration’s request for $5.7 billion in border wall funding.

“It’s a 4th-century solution to a 21st century problem,” said Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat and one of the lawmakers along the southern border who voted against funding the wall.

Gonzalez doesn’t oppose border security. He said, “Nobody wants stronger border control than me.” But he’s against adding to the existing border wall because he doesn’t “think it brings real border security and it comes at a major cost to taxpayers,” the lawmaker said Tuesday in a telephone interview with CBS News.

“At the time I thought we were going to be able to have a reasonable conversation,” Gonzalez said. “I had no idea it was going to get this crazy.”

Everybody Look What’s Going Down

Holmes believes the key to understanding the power of this new movement is the gamification of investing melded with an anti-elite fervor. Sticking it to hedge funds and potentially making a lot of money is, simply, fun. And if you believe its also the right thing to do, and thrive on the engagement of a community of like-minded traders, so much the better.

“When things really get going is when the fun meets the purpose,” Holmes said. “This is the perfect storm of those two.”

His warning to Wall Street is: understand this. Be willing to scrutinize yourself. This not going away, and it is probably bigger than you think.

“People need to take the time to understand the social dynamics of this. What are the problems that have created this class of retail investor who seek to completely destroy your industry, and how do you remedy that?” Holmes said.

Holmes said he has spent the past decade watching American politics turned inside out. An earlier generation of politicians spent their time raising money at country club ballrooms from hundreds of donors writing $500 or $1,000 checks.

But now they spend their time on the internet raising money from millions of donors making $5 and $20 contributions. In politics, the retail money turned out to be bigger much bigger — than the institutional money. And that’s driven massive political spending inflation: the big Senate campaigns that once cost $15 million now cost $100 million.

There’s Battle Lines Being Drawn

But what explains that nostalgic impulse in the midst of a revolution? It is the same emotion that animated the MAGA movement which, after all, stood for make America great, again. It is a desire to return to an earlier time that the members of the movement remember as better than today.

“There’s a feeling I sense across society that people want to go back to a simpler time,” LeGate said. “No one likes Covid. People don’t feel the economy is fair. Everything looks better in hindsight.”

And he argues that efforts to regulate trading will feel to Reddit traders more like suppression, and could fuel more anger.

“If someone on Main Street loses half their portfolio in a day, nothing’s going to happen. But if a hedge fund does, they literally stop the trading,” he said. “I myself question whether this is really about protecting the individual investor or protecting the hedge fund.”

Public Disapproves Of How Shutdown Negotiations Are Being Handled

Most Americans offer negative evaluations of the way that the nations political leaders in both parties Donald Trump, Democratic congressional leaders and Republican congressional leaders are handling negotiations over the shutdown.

Overall, just 36% of the public approves of how Trump is handling negotiations over the government shutdown, including 23% who say they strongly approve. About six-in-ten disapprove of Trumps approach to the negotiations, including 53% who say they strongly disapprove.

Views of how Republican leaders in Congress are handling shutdown negotiations generally parallel evaluations of Trump. Six-in-ten Americans say they disapprove of the way Republican congressional leaders are handling negotiations, while just 36% say they approve. However, fewer Americans characterize their views of GOP leaders handling of negotiations as strong approval or disapproval than say this about the president.

Public views of Democratic leaders handling of the shutdown talks are somewhat more positive than views of Trump or GOP leaders. Still, more disapprove than approve .

Intensity Of Trumps Support Increases

Also in the poll, 46 percent of voters approve of President Trumps job performance, which is consistent with the other NBC/WSJ polls over the past year and a half.

But other numbers in the survey his strong job approval ticking up to its all-time high, his positive rating jumping to its highest level since after his inauguration prompts GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies to call this Trumps best NBC/WSJ poll in three years.

Still, 49 percent of all voters say they are very uncomfortable about Trump when it comes to his re-election bid in 2020.

Thats compared with 43 percent who are very uncomfortable with Sanders, 36 percent with Warren and 35 percent with Biden.

Klobuchar: Trump’s Actions Are Like A ‘global Watergate’ Scandal

Today, as Democrats in the House of Representatives move toward bringing articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, with the next Judiciary Committee hearing of evidence set for Monday, few Democrats are still clinging to the hope that Republicans will reach a breaking point with Trump like they did with Nixon.

“I really don’t think there is any fact that would change their minds,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC News.

Why? Two key changes since Nixon: a massive divide in American political life we hate the other team more than ever before and a media climate that fuels and reinforces that chasm, powered by Fox News on the Republican side.

Himes said he was “a little stunned by the unanimity on the Republican side,” especially among retiring lawmakers who don’t have to worry about surviving a GOP primary had they gone against Trump. “We’re in a place right now where all that matters to my Republican colleagues is the defense of the president,” he added.

No Republican congressmen have said they support impeachment. In the Senate, the entire GOP voted to condemn the impeachment inquiry, except for three moderates: Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The three have stopped short of saying they support Trump’s impeachment, however, and it would take at least 20 Republican senators to vote to convict him in a Senate trial for removal to succeed.

What Do Republicans Believe In

Do all Republicans believe the same things? Of course not. Rarely do members of a single political group agree on all issues. Even among Republicans, there are differences of opinion. As a group, they do not agree on every issue.

Some folks vote Republican because of fiscal concerns. Often, that trumps concerns they may have about social issues. Others are less interested in the fiscal position of the party. They vote they way they do because of religion. They believe Republicans are the party of morality. Some simply want less government. They believe only Republicans can solve the problem of big government. Republicans spend less . They lower taxes: some people vote for that alone.

However, the Republican Party does stand for certain things. So I’m answering with regard to the party as a whole. Call it a platform. Call them core beliefs. The vast majority of Republicans adhere to certain ideas.

So what do Republicans believe? Here are their basic tenets:

Questions Ahead Of The Democratic National Convention

Andrew Redleaf, founder of the hedge fund company Whitebox Advisors, has been a Republican donor in the past. He gave to the campaign of 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney. He calls himself a libertarian conservative who favors free trade and immigration.

This year, he’s given money to the Lincoln Project, a group of conservative never-Trumpers who are running scathing ads against the president in swing states.

“I’d like there to be a right-of-center, limited-government party … which is not the Trumpist Republican Party,” Redleaf says.

Redleaf is wary of Democrats and has no particular affection for Biden.

But the former vice president is a known commodity on Wall Street and is widely seen as a more centrist, acceptable alternative to more liberal Democrats who ran for president, such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Biden has also been a top recipient of financial industry money for decades as a senator from Delaware, home to financial and credit card companies.

“He’s not somebody that the industry is particularly afraid of,” Bryner says. “So I think that we would see them kind of hopeful that he would be a more moderating influence, whereas Trump can be quite unpredictable.”

Widening Party Divide Over Expanding The Border Wall

El Chapo financing Trump border wall is a yes vote: GOP lawmaker

Public views of a U.S.-Mexico border wall have changed little over the past three years. But the partisan gap has widened, as Republicans have become more supportive of a border wall, while Democratic support has declined.

Currently, 58% of Americans oppose substantially expanding the wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, while 40% favor the proposal.

Since early 2016, roughly six-in-ten Americans have opposed building or expanding the border wall .

Yet partisan differences are now wider than they have ever been. Today, 82% of Republicans and Republican leaners favor substantially expanding the wall along the U.S-Mexico border. Over the past year alone, Republican support for expanding the border wall has increased 10 percentage points . Over the same period, the share of Democrats who favor expanding the U.S.-Mexico border wall has declined from 13% to 6%.

Conservative Republicans and Republican leaners overwhelmingly favor expanding the U.S.-Mexico border wall . Moderate and liberal Republicans are somewhat less supportive .

Overwhelming shares of both liberal Democrats and conservative and moderate Democrats oppose expanding the border wall.

As in the past, opinions about expanding the U.S.-Mexico border wall are divided by race, education and age. Whites are more than twice as likely as blacks or Hispanics to favor expanding the border wall.

Why Do Republicans Behave The Way They Do

Why are the Republicans so mean-spirited when it comes to the poor and so indulgent when it comes to the rich?

Why are the Republicans so mean-spirited when it comes to the poor and so indulgent when it comes to the rich? Thats the incessant question as posed by liberals today about the partys now enacted tax reform. Not only does the bill include another attack on Obamacare, but it provides the pretext the need to reduce deficits to go after other long-held goals, the end of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. 

The answer should be obvious by now. Republicans behave as they do because they can get away with it! Its no more complicated than that. 

Contrary to liberal opinion, Republican politics isnt out of the mainstream provided we push the clock back sufficiently. A political economy without social services and entitlements is in fact the default position of the capitalist mode of production from its inception. If recent comments from Republican Sens. Orin Hatch and Charles Grassley sound like characters from a Charles Dickens novel their barely disguised contempt for the working poor that should come as no surprise. Such attitudes were almost de rigueur for ruling elites in capitals long ascent. The constant refrain of the rich Why should we be taxed to pay for the education of the children of the irresponsible poor?  explains why public school education became a widely accepted norm only in the 20th century. 

How Dems aided and abetted

What Republicans And Democrats Have In Common On Wall Street Regulation

The Democratic and Republican parties disagree on most major issues. When it comes to Wall Street, however, it’s a mixed bag. Take the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

Democrats believe the bill has reined in the type of out-of-control behavior that led to the near collapse of the banking industry in 2008 and prevented a similar crisis. Republicans have criticized the legislation calling it “the Democrats legislative Godzilla.” They feel the financial regulations have made it too difficult for small lenders and community banks and has indirectly slowed the growth of small businesses. 

Regulation of the financial services industry has been a major issue not only in the current presidential election but in house and senate races. Democrats believe that the electorate largely sides with them that banks have overstepped and that they can use their position to win votes and take back the Senate. Republicans currently hold a majority 54 votes. Because of gerrymandering rules, Democrats will have a tougher time retaking the House.  

Dodd-Frank was intended to increase transparency and accountability in the financial services industry and to protect consumers. Among other things, the bill created a new consumer protection agency and standards for a number of common financial services products. 

A Shift In Immigration Thinking

Representative Luis Gutierrez of Illinois is one of the Houses most outspoken Democrats on immigration reform, and she understands this shift, and believes it is essential. Lives are at stake and the lives of Dreamers are more important to me than bricks, Gutierrez said. If advocates would reject any money for Trumps wall in exchange for freedom and legalization and eventual citizenship for the Dreamers, I understand their choice, but for my part, I would lay bricks myself if I thought it would save the Dreamers. For me, the very real attacks on legal immigration are far greater threats than bricks and drones and technology on the border.

This shift has also led Democratic views on a border wall to soften in general. As Trump has become less demanding, Democrats have begun to consider what type of barrier, and what size, they would be willing to agree to if push came to shove. The 2,000 mile wall that Democrats had feared would be a looming symbol of America turning inward on itself is becoming something closer to the 2006 plan; some new barriers, some new monitoring technology, and that is somewhat agreeable to Democrats, especially if they can garner support in other arenas in exchange for it.

source https://www.patriotsnet.com/how-do-republicans-feel-about-the-wall/

[i-am-adlocked]

Tagged by @randombiochemist​. Ghad, you know I’m a sucker for these things.

NAME:  Allysa, pronounced as “Ol-is-a”, yeah like “All is a ___” A few years ago, I’d go out of my mind if other people found my name, but my pseudonym of “CA Hawkins” slowly seeped into Allysa D. 

I can’t say my last name because I am the only one in the world with this name with this surname. There’s about 20 people with my last name in my country alone and all of them are my relatives, but it’s seriously not that hard to find me. I’m a bit loud in the Internet nowadays.

NICKNAME: Allysa or Oli to my friends. “Gurl” to my sister. My second name to my relatives other than my sister.

GENDER: Biologically female, identifying as female.

STAR SIGN: Capricorn.

HEIGHT: 5′2 ½. That’s actually tall in my country. 

TIME: Right now, as I write this, it’s 9:27pm. I shall update when I finish this thing. Update, it is now 10:15pm and I shall click “Post.”

BIRTHDAY: Eight of January! I have the same birthday as Stephen Hawking and Elvis Presley, and when I was five, I had a crush on both (before I knew they were old men, shut up), and even so, I thought I would be both scientifically smart and artistically brilliant. Obviously, I was neither.

FAV BANDS; FAV SOLO ARTIST(S); SONG STUCK IN MY HEAD: Bands: Coldplay, Radiohead, IV of Spades, and more. Solo: Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Adele, Miley Cyrus, Fleurie, and more. Stuck: Smokestacks by LAYLA.

LAST MOVIE I WATCHED: The Greatest Showman (which would have been the fifth time I watched it as well, but #NoRegrets).

LAST SHOW I WATCHED: Two nights ago, I binge-watched “Santa Clarita Diet.” Ghad, I love that show, and it made me hungry. Okay, that makes me sound like a psycho, but Sheila’s enthusiasm over eating made me crave for a burger.

WHEN DID I CREATE MY BLOG: I had a blog around 2011, when Sherlock just came out. Things were all gen but I was already shipping Adlock by then. By 2012 and Irene finally showed up, I shipped hard. By 2015, I had death threats for shipping Adlock so hard. As a 16-year-old, I deleted my blog, and made a Tumblr exclusively for Adlock on June 2, 2015 to show my haters, they ain’t gonna win against me.

LAST THING I GOOGLED: “Harry Potter sent to alternate universes abuse fic” shut up

DO I HAVE ANOTHER BLOG: For me alone, it would be theoneallysa.wordpress.com but I seldom use it and I think the last post was made last year. Co-blogs would be bucketlost.com where my older sister posts about what we did when we travelled around Europe (just the two of us). I was the photographer in this blog.

DO I GET ASKS: No. Or rather, very rarely. Like, once or twice a year.

WHY I CHOSE MY URL: To show my Adlock haters that I am not fazed by them hating my yacht. This is also to stand for my yacht and all the members in it who are being attacked. I will so fucking fight for yall gals, but I also won’t hesitate to put you back in line. I don’t want members of the yacht attacking others.

FOLLOWING: Oh I’m just following 217 people. Most of them Adlockers or Harry Potter blogs that post a lot of text post. I’m more of a text-post kind of gal, despite my usual posts of GIFsets and all that crap. I love metas or text posts with memes. There will be days that I will hoard a lot of Tumblrs for the hell of it.

FOLLOWERS: I feel like an arsehole for never thanking my 2,621 followers, but I just don’t know how to thank them without bursting in tears.

AVG HOURS OF SLEEP: About 3-4 hours of sleep. Both intentionally and naturally. I’ve had this sleeping pattern since I was about nine years old. I remember just lying in bed and getting restless because I can’t bloody sleep. Although, yesterday, I slept at 5pm and I woke up today at 12 noon. So that’s 19 hours of sleep. Go big or go home, that is my motto.

LUCKY NUMBER(S): I don’t know about luck, but I am fond of the number eight, six, and thirteen. In day-to-day life, or like visual patterns, I prefer three and five.

INSTRUMENT(S): Piano (self-studied, one-month with our glee club maestro, then self-study). Voice (two-year training, same maestro as above). Violin (two-days training before I got frustrated and my sister took it instead).

WHAT AM I WEARING: Right now? Er, brown shorts, silver shirt with elements of dull scarlet, and a dark scarlet jacket. Even though I’m at home, I do like matching clothes.

DREAM JOB: To be a good wife and mother. If you dare tell me I should be going out and get an actual job, then you have no idea how tiring being a housewife can be. Ask my mother. With future kids that will have MY bloodline? You bet my arse it’s going to be a full-time job. By then, I would have saved up a lot of money from working in a desk job whilst also performing in the theatre from time to time.

DREAM TRIP: You have no idea how much I want to go to Peru and just see a random llama. Before, I would say Paris and London, but my sister and I went to a Europe trip last year (we didn’t go to London btw) and it’s amazing and all but I want to go hiking next. Although, I also want to go to back to Rome, and visit Greece as well. My sister and I do back-packing, and just AirBnB. We always get mistaken as locals, especially since we learn the language before heading to a country.

FAV FOOD: Boi, my love for McDonald’s Cheese Burger and Fries right now. I’m craving. Also, Coca-Cola, oh boi.

NATIONALITY: YAH GURL BE WAVING MY PHILIPPINE FLAG RIGHT NOW YAH BOI

FAV SONG RIGHT NOW: Smokestacks by LAYLA.

SEXUALITY: I am still confused between asexual and bisexual. I don’t want to be touched and I hate physical contact because of my not-too happy childhood, but also I find both boys and girls beautiful, and if there are people I like, goddamn will I be flinging myself to them... Demisexual. I think I’m demisexual. 

HOGWARTS HOUSE: CAW CAW EAGLES YAH RAVENCLAW WOOPITY WOOP WOOP

FAV ANIMALS: EVERYTHING UNDER THE BIOLOGICAL FAMILY CANIDAE

DOG OR CAT PERSON: CANINE ALL THE WAY, my sister is too much of a feline lover.

BLANKETS YOU SLEEP WITH: A thick blanket as well as placing two pillows on top of me for added weight.

WHY YOU GOT A BLOG: I’ve been on Tumblr for years before I had an account, then I got fed-up so I made one in 2011. Then I made this one to fight haters of Adlock.

TOP (3) FAV CHARACTERS: Harry Potter. Sherlock Holmes. Leo Valdez.

NO. OF POSTS. 3,519. Mostly reblogs lmao.

POKEMON TEAM: I’m sorry. I don’t watch Pokemon because my older sister and older cousins (who were living with us at the time) didn’t let me watch TV when I was a kid so I just never bothered.

FAV COLOUR: I’d say Black but black is a hue, not a colour. In fact, it is the absence of colour so I ain’t saying black. I was a sucker for Glaucous in aesthetics and stuff, as well as Navy Blue. Nowadays, I have also taken a liking to red. It compliments my skin colour well, as well as my personality.

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Er, a bit complicated.

LIPSTICK OR CHAPSTICK: They feel weird so neither. But if I had to choose, Chapstick cos my lips are so chapped, I can’t even.

LAST SONG I LISTENED TO: Smokestacks by LAYLA. I’m editing a vid.

TOP (3) SHOWS: Sherlock, Doctor Who, and Mythbusters.

TOP (3) SHIPS: Adlock (Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler) R11ver (River Song and the Eleventh Doctor) Leyna (Leo Valdez and Reyna Ramirez)

BOOKS I’M READING: I’ve been reading a lot of novel-length Harry Potter fics right now. I’ve related to Harry Potter a lot. Before, I always related to Sherlock, but finding out about his familial relationship, I found out I was more Mycroft (never good enough) and Eurus (crazy violent kid) than a Sherlock.

TAGGING: To anyone who wants to do this.

@musical-chick-13 @thank-you-for-being-with-me @antarktica @sentimentalgenius @addignisherlock 

[haught-at-waverly-place]

answer all of them

answers under the cut! only doing this cause im that bored

200: My crush’s name is: no one 199: I was born in: 1996198: I am really: bored197: My cellphone company is: wtf who cares?? 196: My eye color is: green/blue 195: My shoe size is: 6.5194: My ring size is: idk small 193: My height is: smol 192: I am allergic to: cats and all of nature in the spring and summer 191: My 1st car was: an hhr or as i liked to call it a poor mans hearse190: My 1st job was: an in home care taker aka i cleaned elderly peoples homes189: Last book you read: god i dont read188: My bed is: my best friend 187: My pet: is the loml 186: My best friend: she lives too far away tbh 185: My favorite shampoo is: i use old spice 2-in-1 like the basic bitch i am184: Xbox or ps3: ps3??? what year is it the switch is where its mfkin at 183: Piggy banks are: dope af 182: In my pockets: nothing cause im a broke bitch 181: On my calendar: nothing cause im a boring bitch 180: Marriage is: cool good on everyone who is married to their best friends 179: Spongebob can: new spongebob can die cause its garbage 178: My mom: is the best 177: The last three songs I bought were? who buys songs? 176: Last YouTube video watched: air crash investigations (dont ask) 175: How many cousins do you have? idk 174: Do you have any siblings? one sister 173: Are your parents divorced? nah 172: Are you taller than your mom? nah 171: Do you play an instrument? i used to play the violin and guitar but not anymore 170: What did you do yesterday? tried not to die [ I Believe In ]169: Love at first sight: idk maybe? 168: Luck: sure 167: Fate: yeah sure 166: Yourself: hahahahahahahahahahahahaha no 165: Aliens: fuck yeah 164: Heaven: ehhh no 163: Hell: no 162: God: not really 161: Horoscopes: lowkey160: Soul mates: every one has one 159: Ghosts: kind of 158: Gay Marriage: nah why would gays want to get married 157: War: war is p stupid 156: Orbs: wtf is an orb??155: Magic: no [ This or That ]154: Hugs or Kisses: kisses 153: Drunk or High: drunk 152: Phone or Online: online 151: Red heads or Black haired: black 150: Blondes or Brunettes: brunettes 149: Hot or cold: cold 148: Summer or winter: winter 147: Autumn or Spring: autumn 146: Chocolate or vanilla: vanilla 145: Night or Day: night 144: Oranges or Apples: apples 143: Curly or Straight hair: curly 142: McDonalds or Burger King: mcdonalds 141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: this is dark chocolate erasure and i will not stand for it 140: Mac or PC: mac 139: Flip flops or high heals: neither both are garbage for the feet 138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: im already sweet and poor sooooo137: Coke or Pepsi: where is my dr. pepper representation 136: Hillary or Obama: obama 135: Burried or cremated: cremated id like to go out in a burnin glory even if im already dead 134: Singing or Dancing: singing 133: Coach or Chanel: neither 132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: who are you people 131: Small town or Big city: big city 130: Wal-Mart or Target: im a lesbian so target obviously 129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: neither 128: Manicure or Pedicure: pedicure only cause they message my feet and legs 127: East Coast or West Coast: west coast 126: Your Birthday or Christmas: xmas cause snow 125: Chocolate or Flowers: chocolate 124: Disney or Six Flags: disney 123: Yankees or Red Sox: neither who cares about baseball [ Here’s What I Think About ]122: War: men bein garbage 121: George Bush: why? 120: Gay Marriage: hell yeah we got it 119: The presidential election: we might as well have elected a crackhead 118: Abortion: let women get them safely so they dont fucking die its that simple117: MySpace: jesus is it 2006 again 116: Reality TV: its trashy but ill watch it cause im trash 115: Parents: love your parents kids (unless they are abusive) 114: Back stabbers: are awful just like maybe dont stab people in the back literally and metaphorically 113: Ebay: ive literally never used ebay in my life 112: Facebook: its p garbage i barely ever use it 111: Work: capitalism has killed workers and quality work 110: My Neighbors: they are there 109: Gas Prices: i havent gotten gas in like 2 months so like idk 108: Designer Clothes: why are they all like so ugly??107: College: stressful and only vaguely worth something 106: Sports: fun to play but boring to watch. i only go to sporting events for the alcohol 105: My family: is v dope and i love them 104: The future: stressful and i hate thinking about it [ Last time I ]103: Hugged someone: last night it was my dad 102: Last time you ate: last night lol 101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: probably back in december with my best friend 100: Cried in front of someone: oooof all the time 99: Went to a movie theater: like 2 wks ago 98: Took a vacation: january i went on a cruise 97: Swam in a pool: last summer i think 96: Changed a diaper: uhhh never…. 95: Got my nails done: god way back in high school when i thought i was straight 94: Went to a wedding: last friday! 93: Broke a bone: 3 wks ago haha 92: Got a peircing: i havent gotten a piercing since i was like 6 91: Broke the law: uhhh i plead the fifth 90: Texted: i texted my mom like 40 mins ago [ MISC ]89: Who makes you laugh the most: myself 88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: my dog shes so cute 87: The last movie I saw: spiderman into the spiderverse 86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: a vacation to see my aunt in indiana 85: The thing im not looking forward to: going back to school 84: People call me: uhhh my name? 83: The most difficult thing to do is: rn? pretty much everything 82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: never 81: My zodiac sign is: im a leo 80: The first person i talked to today was: my mom 79: First time you had a crush: first time i remember was freshman yr of college 78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: my mom 77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: i dont remember 76: Right now I am talking to: nobody im a lonely bitch 75: What are you going to do when you grow up: hopefully something to do with neuropsychology 74: I have/will get a job: 73: Tomorrow: wtf does this even mean 72: Today: or this one 71: Next Summer: and this one 70: Next Weekend: and even this one 69: I have these pets: a golden retriever mix 68: The worst sound in the world: 67: The person that makes me cry the most is: hahaha myself 66: People that make you happy: my family and friends 65: Last time I cried: yesterday 64: My friends are: amazing wonderful people that i love 63: My computer is: my lifeline 62: My School: is small but good 61: My Car: is a lesbian wagon that looks like i live in it 60: I lose all respect for people who: cheat on their s/o 59: The movie I cried at was: i dont usually cry during movies 58: Your hair color is: confusing kind of blonde also kind of brown 57: TV shows you watch: she ra, killing eve, grey anatomy too many others to list 56: Favorite web site: youtube 55: Your dream vacation: to go to germany 54: The worst pain I was ever in was: idk maybe my post surgery foot pain 53: How do you like your steak cooked: medium rare the only way a steak should be eaten 52: My room is: always a disaster 51: My favorite celebrity is: taylor swift 50: Where would you like to be: idk 49: Do you want children: noooo 48: Ever been in love: yes i have 47: Who’s your best friend: we aint naming names on here 46: More guy friends or girl friends: girl friends45: One thing that makes you feel great is: playing with my dog 44: One person that you wish you could see right now: A43: Do you have a 5 year plan: god no i dont even have a 5 hour plan 42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: nah 41: Have you pre-named your children: nope40: Last person I got mad at: myself39: I would like to move to: somewhere other than where i am now 38: I wish I was a professional: at being not depressed [ My Favorites ]37: Candy: bottle caps or ritter sports 36: Vehicle: subaru wrx hatchbacks with a wide body kit are b nice 35: President: who tf has a favorite president 34: State visited: oregon or washington 33: Cellphone provider: who has a fave cell provider???32: Athlete: none31: Actor: idk like chris pratt or something 30: Actress: rn jodie comer 29: Singer: hayley williams 28: Band: paramore 27: Clothing store: h&m 26: Grocery store: target 25: TV show: law and order svu 24: Movie: princess mononoke 23: Website: youtube 22: Animal: red panda 21: Theme park: disneyland 20: Holiday: halloween 19: Sport to watch: none they are all hella boring 18: Sport to play: softball 17: Magazine: none i dont read 16: Book: i dont read books cant concentrate for that long 15: Day of the week: idk saturday 14: Beach: ive been to a beach like 3 times and i barely remember them 13: Concert attended: paramore after laughter concert last summer 12: Thing to cook: cooking stresses me the fuck out so i dont have a favorite thing to cook 11: Food: pasta!! 10: Restaurant: uhhh i dont really have one 9: Radio station: its 2019 who listens to the radio 8: Yankee candle scent: i dont really use candles 7: Perfume: i dont wear perfume 6: Flower: peach roses probably 5: Color: red 4: Talk show host: i dont watch talk shows they are all boring 3: Comedian: john mulaney or iliza schlesinger 2: Dog breed: corgi 1: Did you answer all these truthfully? hahahahaha

[junker-town]

NFL playoffs Panic Index 2019: Another Super Bowl for Patriots, sorry

There’s a weird coincidence that favors New England. Plus, are the Chiefs going to disappoint again? Is Dallas’ defense too much for the Rams? When does the Eagles’ luck run out?

Welp, looks like it’s going to be another Super Bowl win for the Patriots.

That was locked up Monday night when Clemson torched Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship with a 44-16 win.

For four straight years, the Crimson Tide and the Patriots have alternated championships. The Patriots won Super Bowl 49 after Ohio State won the championship in January 2015. Then the Broncos won Super Bowl after Alabama won it all in 2016.

Then it was the Patriots in 2017, and Alabama in 2018.

So you can probably guess what the blowout loss for the Crimson Tide means. It’s Tom Brady time, no matter how much you’re sick of him,

Panic index: Whatever blood oath Nick Saban and Bill Belichick made so they’d have alternating titles had to have an expiration date, right? Brady is 41 now and his statistics in 2018 were closer to the league average than the top of the passing leaderboards. If the Alabama-Patriots curse is going to end — and it has to at some point — this looks like the year it’d happen.

The Chargers don’t look like the Chargers, which is bad news for the Patriots

On Sunday, the Chargers won because they came through in the clutch. This was an entirely un-Chargers way of doing things in the postseason.

Los Angeles had every chance to choke their Wild Card win over the Ravens away. Six different Charger drives sputtered out in Baltimore territory, but Michael Badgley stepped up to calmly drill five field goals despite the swirling winds of the Chesapeake Bay, and set the franchise’s postseason record in the process. A punishing pass rush sacked Lamar Jackson seven times. And when Jackson rallied to set up a potential game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter, the LA defense was there to snuff that out and deny the home crowd a happy ending.

It was an encouraging win, light years away from the 2013 postseason loss that saw the team shrug disinterestedly while falling into a 17-0 hole against the Broncos. Or the Chargers’ 2009 loss to the Steelers that saw Philip Rivers take an early lead before falling into a double-digit hole in the fourth quarter. And definitely not the 2010 team that watched Nate Kaeding botch three field goal attempts in a 17-14 loss to the Jets.

Tom Brady and the Patriots had no trouble handling the old, cursed-from-above Chargers. In 2007 they dispatched a 14-win San Diego team thanks to a Brady interception on fourth down. In 2008, New England took advantage of terribly-timed injuries to Rivers, Antonio Gates, and LaDainian Tomlinson to improve to 18-0 on the season.

But last weekend’s grinding, consistent win suggests these Chargers are built for more and unaffected by the dizzying highs of postseason football. Playing on the road didn’t rattle Rivers’ team, and the cold of Maryland in January didn’t stop it either. This Los Angeles team found a way to bully the Ravens and put up 23 points against their top-ranked defense. Now we get to see what it can do against New England and its 21st-ranked unit.

Panic index: Then again, Alabama lost college football’s National Championship Game, which clears the runway for another Patriots Super Bowl win. New England has never won a world championship the same season as the Crimson Tide. Instead, the two teams have traded title celebrations each year since 2014.

Are the Chiefs haded for another January collapse?

The Chiefs ... in January. We’ve seen this show before, plenty of times. The franchise has only been to a conference championship once since winning Super Bowl IV in 1970. More recent disappointments under Andy Reid include last year’s embarrassing loss to the Titans in Kansas City, narrow losses to the Steelers and Patriots the two years before that. The most painful one of all has to be the Colts’ dramatic comeback from a 28-point deficient in the 2014 Wild Card game to win 45-44.

This year’s Colts look really good, riding a five-game win streak (and 10-1 since Week 7) into this game. Indianapolis owes a lot of those wins to a tough defense, one that was 11th best at keeping opponents from scoring in the red zone during the regular season. The Colts have the fourth best run defense, according to Football Outsiders DVOA.

It’s the kind of defense that could cause problems for the Chiefs offense. But don’t take our word for it:

Not to be a wet blanket but the Chiefs aren’t making all these ridiculous plays in a single game in the playoffs. Lol. Fun to watch today. Good team win!

— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) December 30, 2018

The Chiefs defense will have its hands full with the Colts offense too, especially Indianapolis’ offensive line.

Panic index: There’s hope. The Colts defense ranks 20th against the pass, in DVOA. That’s something the Chiefs have managed to do pretty well, in case you hadn’t noticed. But this is the playoffs. It’s going to be tough to score at will. And if it turns into a shootout, the Chiefs can hang with the best of them.

Kansas City may have found some resiliency this season too. Andy Reid’s team won a couple of grind-it-out slugfests against good defenses, including a Week 14 OT win against the Ravens. Maybe it’s a new kind of January in the Chiefs kingdom.

The Eagles’ magic has to run out at some point, right?

A month ago, we left them for dead. Now the Eagles have won four in a row and are back in the Divisional Round again. We’re still not sure how, other than Nick Foles being a witch, of course.

But while that underdog swagger fueled them to a surprising Super Bowl win a year ago, these aren’t those same Eagles. And this isn’t the same NFC as it was last year.

For starters, the Saints have been the best team in the NFL for most of the season. The Eagles held that title last year.

The Eagles also don’t get to play this month in the comfort of the Linc, in front of their sometimes-adoring, sometimes-jeering fans. They survived in Chicago, but next up is the Superdome, a whole other beast — one that chewed them up and spit them out, to the tune of a 48-7 thrashing — less than two months ago.

The Eagles have changed somewhat since that Week 11 disaster, but are they really THAT different? Can Foles’ January juju turn a 41-point loss into an NFC Championship-advancing win? In one of the hostile environments in the NFL? A place where Drew Brees and Sean Payton have never lost during the playoffs?

How many more times can they win by the skin of their teeth — or by the graze of a hand and a double doink missed field goal?

The expiration date on all this good fortune is Sunday in New Orleans, right?

Panic index: Wellll, this is matchup that pits one team that seems to have nothing but luck on its side against another that was ousted in the playoffs in one of the worst ways possible a year ago.

We’re not sure we want to tempt fate and count Foles out, either. The last time these two teams played, Foles was on the bench. It’s not unprecedented for a fluky backup to dominate in New Orleans either. Ryan Fitzpatrick did it in Week 1 when the Bucs left the Big Easy with a 48-40 win, one of the most inexplicable games of this entire season. The Fitzmagic supply was eventually exhausted. But maybe it died so that Nickmagic could live.

The Cowboys defense should frighten the hell out of the Rams

It’s a good thing the Rams had a bye last week. That should have given Sean McVay and his team plenty of time to study tape of the Cowboys, especially that Week 13 win over the Saints. Dallas has the kind of defense that can suck the life right out of the high-flying Rams offense, forcing Jared Goff and Co. to have to try to beat them at their own brand of low-scoring, grinding football.

Two things the Cowboys do well are a red flag for the Rams. First, Rod Marinelli’s group is one of the best at stopping the run. They choked out Seattle’s league-best rushing attack last week, holding them to just 73 yards on the ground. Los Angeles is 2-3 when defenses hold them to fewer than 100 rushing yards in a game.

And then there’s the Cowboys pass rush. Their 39 sacks this season put them squarely in the middle of the pack, but they were very good at getting pressure, something they did on nearly third of the time when an opposing quarterback dropped back to throw. It’s a group led by Demarcus Lawrence, but the entire unit (Tyrone Crawford and Randy Gregory each have more than a dozen QB hits this season) can make life hell for opposing passers.

Rams coach Sean McVay on Cowboys' defense: "You see why DeMarcus Lawrence is on the franchise tag, because he's an elite rusher and you certainly feel his presence. They're a great defense and extremely well-coached. Really sound. Similar to kind of what we said about Chicago."

— Brandon George (@DMN_George) January 7, 2019

The Rams lost that game against the Bears, 15-6.

Panic index: No question about it, the Rams are going to have their hands full against the Cowboys defense. However, they have a defensive weapon of their own, Aaron Donald. Nobody harassed quarterbacks more frequently than the assumed Defensive Player of the Year. He’s impossible to block. That could be a problem since Dak Prescott’s having the worst year of his career against pressure.

Is it possible this game could end up being a defensive battle?

[180abroad]

Day 122: Edinburgh, Part 1 (Castles, Whisky, and Football)

Today we discovered one of my favorite capital cities in all of Europe. The historic core of Edinburgh is divided into two halves--the elegant Georgian New Town, built in the Georgian style and reminiscent of Bath, and the brooding cobblestoned Old Town. The Old Town is perched on a sloping, mile-long mound of volcanic rock jutting dramatically up out of the ground. And at the peak of the rock is Edinburgh Castle--our first stop of the day.

We started the day slowly, enjoying our complimentary breakfast and trying not to spill absolutely everything. At least, I was having to try.

We took an Uber up to Castle Hill and walked up to the Edinburgh Castle. It was cool to finally see Edinburgh as I was expecting: dark, brooding, and charmingly magical.

The view was only mildly spoiled by the large stands being erected outside the castle for the annual Royal Military Tattoo--a massive series of drum corps performances held throughout the month of August as part of the larger Edinburgh Festival.

The castle was crowded, but not nearly as crowded as some other places Jessica and I have been to (*cough* Versailles). The line moved quickly, and soon enough we were through the main portcullis gate and into a large courtyard overlooking the New Town.

We took the free half-hour tour that introduces visitors to the main sites of the castle as well as some of the most important events in its history.

We learned that nearly all of the castle dates from the 1500s or later, which is why it looks fancier and more like a fairytale castle than the older, more utilitarian Norman castles we saw in England. The castle complex is much older than that, but it was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt during the wars between England and Scotland. For example, when Scottish freedom fighters lead by Robert the Bruce retook the castle from the English in the 1300s, they razed it to the ground rather than risk letting it fall back into English hands.

The only building that predates this destruction is St. Margaret’s Chapel, which dates back to the 12th century and is actually the oldest building in all of Edinburgh. Whenever the rest of the castle was destroyed, the chapel was always respectfully spared.

The chapel is named after St. Margaret, an Anglo-Saxon princess who fled England after the Norman invasion. She ended up marrying King Malcolm III of Scotland and teaching him Christianity. The chapel holds some beautiful–if small–stained glass windows, including one of William Wallace attacking an English flag.

Outside the chapel is Mons Meg, the largest cannon of the medieval world. It could fire a 330-pound shot over two miles. Edinburgh Castle is actually famous for its collection of cannons. It was one of the first castles in Britain to be heavily fortified with cannons.

Another, much more modern cannon is the One O'Clock Gun, which we could see looking down from Mons Meg. The One O'Clock Gun is fired every day at--you guessed it--one o'clock in the afternoon. This was originally done to help ships docked in the harbor keep accurate time. In other ports, time would be noted by a signal flag, but the Firth of Forth gets so foggy that ships wouldn't be able to see flags from shore.

The reason the gun is fired at one o'clock instead of the more usual noon is a perfect example of stereotypical Scottish frugality. It's so that they only have pay for one shot every day instead of twelve.

From our vantage, we could also see a special cemetery just for soldiers' dogs, perched on a small ledge below Mons Meg.

At the peak of the castle complex is a beautiful crown of three magnificent buildings: the Royal Palace, the Great Hall, and the Scottish War Memorial.

Inside the palace, we got to see the Scottish crown jewels as well as the legendary Stone of Scone, upon which the British coronation chair is placed every time a new monarch is crowned.

The palace was started in the mid-1400s under James IV, and it was extensively expanded and remodeled over the following centuries.

We got to see the small dark room where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI--who would also grow up to become James I of England, paving the way toward the official formation of the United Kingdom one hundred years later.

The castle's Great Hall dates back to 1511 and was also built for James IV, who was killed just two years later in battle against Henry VIII of England. It is famous for its beautiful wooden roof and currently holds a modest but well-presented collection of medieval arms and armor.

The National War Memorial is much newer than the other two buildings. It was built after World War I in the style of a Gothic chapel. It honors every Scottish regiment that has seen combat since the outbreak of WWI, and the names of every fallen Scottish soldier are penned in the monument's rolls of honor.

Inside the central chapel, a verse from the Book of Wisdom carved in large letters across the walls:

The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God. There shall no evil happen to them. They are in peace.

Even after all of the memorials we've seen so far, I still got a little choked up reading that.

We also saw the remains of my dad’s tower.

His tower isn't very good. It's mostly in ruins now, but at its peak it stood a hundred feet tall--taller than the Tower of London. The original tower was one of the buildings destroyed by Robert the Bruce in the 1300s. In the 1400s, it hosted a Game of Thrones-esque gathering called the Black Dinner, where two nobles were denounced as traitors by being symbolically served a black bull's head for dinner. The ruined foundations of the tower were rediscovered in 1912, and during WWII it was used as a hiding place for the Scottish Crown Jewels.

After a quick lunch at the castle cafeteria, we visited the undercroft, which features a museum on how the castle's lower levels have been used for military prisoners over the centuries.

We learned that these vaults were used to hold American sailors captured during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The jailors recorded them as pirates instead of POWs, which meant that they didn't have to be given as much food.

We also learned that prisoners would earn money by making handcrafted goods. They would start by carving the bones from their meat, then trade up to wood that they could craft into decorative boxes.

Finally, we toured through the Scottish National Military Museum. It briefly but enjoyably covers the military history of Scotland from the late middle ages up through the 20th century. We saw traditional weapons and uniforms–including kilts, of course–from throughout these different time periods.

Scottish culture has an interesting place in British military history. Scotland and England were bitter enemies throughout much of the medieval period, and after the Jacobite rebellions of the 1700s, Scottish culture--and Highland culture in particular--was ruthlessly suppressed. Young Scottish boys were pressed into military service to prove their loyalty in the thickest fighting that the English officers could find for them. And they did so well that over time, the Scottish regiments became some of the most feared and respected in the world.

We enjoyed Edinburgh Castle so much that we ran out of time to see the rest of Old Town and the Royal Mile that runs down its spine. Luckily, this was only the first day of our week in Edinburgh, so we'd still have plenty of time to explore this magical city. And we did have time for one more stop.

Right outside the castle is the much-hyped Scotch Whisky Experience. My dad I and were a little hesitant at first, since it is extremely touristy. But after mulling it over in the gift shop we decided that it was just something we had to do. Jessica–a dedicated wine and cider girl–was just along for the ride. And we are so glad that we did.

What we really wanted was a chance to sample some good, representative whiskies from the different whisky regions of Scotland. I’m fairly familiar with Islay whiskies (the smokiest, most “challenging” of the Scotch whiskies), but I wasn’t as familiar with the other varieties. I only knew for certain that I don’t like Glenfiddich, a mass-produced single-malt from the Speyside region.

I had arrived in Edinburgh with just two goals to achieve before we left: to have tried at least one whisky from all the other regions of Scotland, and to find a whisky that Jessica actually likes. The tour–while just as touristy as we expected–was also surprisingly informative, and I’m happy to say that we accomplished both of my goals.

The tour starts with a “barrel ride,” much like the ride in the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, which takes you through a multi-media presentation of how Scotch whisky is made. Next, a guide gives a succinct and helpful lecture on the different Scotch whisky regions and what their distinctive characteristics are:

Lowlands–Light, grassy, and citrusy.

Highlands–Floral, spices, and possibly peat smoke.

Speyside–Fruit, nuts, and spices.

Islay–Strong peat smoke and sea salt.

Campbeltown–Moderate peat smoke, sea salt, and spices--like a milder hybrid between a Highlands and an Islay whisky.

The lecture didn’t cover it, but many experts also define an Islands region, which covers all of the Hebridean distilleries not on Islay. They tend to have a fiery, smokey, salty flavor--similar to Islay whiskies but less peaty.

Next came the tasting. Almost. We entered a room with a large tasting table and were given a short presentation on blended whisky. Blended whiskies used to be classier than single-malts, and the quality of modern single-malts is largely due to the technological innovations driven by whisky blenders.

The lectures finally over, we were given the chance to taste one of six whiskies–a single malt from any of the regions or a blended whisky. My dad and I are already familiar with Islay whisky, so we wanted to try as many of the others as possible. I chose Campbeltown, my dad chose Highlands, and Jessica chose Speyside. The only one left out was the Lowlands (not including Islay, which we were already well acquainted with).

And as it turned out, each of us chose our favorite. I loved the Campbeltown (though not quite as much my favorite Islays), I liked the Highlands, and I disliked the Speyside. Jessica liked the Speyside (yay!), didn’t mind the Highlands, and hated the Campbeltown. My dad liked all of them, but he liked the Highlands best of all.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Our drams poured, we entered the next room to have the tasting itself. And it wasn’t just any room–it holds the largest collection of unopened Scotch whisky bottles in the world.

Our guide gave us a quick demonstration on how to taste whisky, then let us to it. Unlike wine, there’s no wrong way to drink Scotch.

And we got to keep our glasses--the first of many during our stay in Scotland.

After the tour, we were able to go to the tasting bar and buy a sample of Lowlands whisky to finish the checklist. I got a dram of Glenkinchie, Edinburgh's local distillery. It was tasty, but I didn’t like it as much as the Campbeltown or Highlands. My dad ordered Jura Seven Wood, which was surprisingly sweet–we dubbed it "flaming cotton candy." I liked it more than my dad or Jessica, who aren’t the keenest on sweet drinks.

Down in the gift shop, we were able to see the Scotch whisky tasting wheel that my dad had found an image of years ago. All of Scotland's single-malt distilleries are listed on the wheel according to their signature flavor profile. Appropriately, the shop also has a stunning selection whiskies to purchase.

Looking back, by far the most impressive part of the collection is the number of sample-sized mini-bottles you can get. Back in the States, you can usually find mini bottles of the biggest brand, but not much more. You can find a lot more in a typical Scottish gift shop. But in the whisky experience, you could get a mini bottle of almost any whisky they had on the shelf.

We gathered up a good haul of bottles to try later. The most notable pick proved to be Auchentoshan 12, a Lowlands whisky made near Glasgow using triple distillation, like Irish whiskey. When we first heard that from our bartender, Jessica’s interest was immediately piqued. Much like we were hoping for, it combined the rich flavor profile of Scotch whisky with the smooth, light body of Irish whiskey.

Finally, we had found a Scotch that Jessica loved!

Another notable pick was Glenfarclas 105, a cask-strength whisky made by the same distillery that made Jessica’s sample dram. Our bartender had recommended it to me after I mentioned that I didn’t like any of the Speysides I’d tried so far.

Glenfarclas 105 is apparently very highly regarded in the whisky world, but to the three of us it tasted like flaming battery acid. Even cutting it in half with water made it only barely tolerable.

The World Cup semifinal between England and Croatia was starting in a little less than an hour, so we went looking for a pub to have dinner and watch the game. It turned out to be surprisingly difficult. We went to three places before we found one that had TVs, seating, and food.

At least the view was good while we walked around like idiots. Seriously, though, Edinburgh's Old Town is spectacular. With levels up on levels of buildings towering above and winding away below, I felt like I had fallen into a storybook.

We ended up at a gastropub called the Last Drop. And if you’re thinking the name is about drinking, you’d be wrong. Apparently, the place is located on the site of the old city gallows, where convicts would get the last drop of their lives, so to speak. The walls gleefully illustrate the point.

The food was good, the drinks were good, and the game was good. Croatia ended up beating England, which was fine by us and better than fine by the Scottish patrons.

After admiring the sunset illuminating the castle, we caught a bus back home and headed pretty much straight to bed. Tomorrow would be an early morning for a bus tour of Loch Lomond and Stirling.

Next Post: Loch Lomond and Stirling Castle

Last Post: To Scotland

[agentcalliope]

canon compliant as of 4.15.

i.

It aches—the wound on her leg aches.

 Except she knows that there’s nothing there, on her skin, here in the Framework. She takes off her clothes and sits on the floor of the shower. She sits there, fingers pruning and water running cold, and she stares at her leg. The mark of the knife doesn’t exist, at least not in this world. But the cut is deep, and her thoughts cut deep. She inhales and exhales and inhales and exhales and soon the water is too much and it’s too much to swim towards the surface.

 (She has to remind herself that she’s not at the bottom of the sea, not on another planet, but in another reality. And her injuries are still real. The wound on her leg from the Fitz but not Fitz is definitely real. The pain remains even though the cut doesn’t. And Jemma knows that it’s a wound like the others; those that become scars both outside and in.

Because she wakes up with a start every morning, gasping for air with the impression of his hands on her throat. And when she wakes up back in reality the wound on her leg will throb and when she looks it’ll be there.)

 Daisy rushes in and meets her on the floor.

“Jemma, Jemma are you okay?” She wraps her arms around Jemma and holds her close, holds her tight. “Where does it hurt?”

Everywhere.

They stay like that for a while, the water rushing over the both of them, Jemma clutching Daisy and Daisy clutching her back.

“We’re gonna save him,” Daisy whispers, stroking Jemma’s hair. “We’re gonna save everyone.”

(But a part of Jemma thinks she left pieces of herself at the bottom of sea, and that it’s too late to save her.)

 ii.

It aches— listening to Coulson as he spews words of hate.

 Daisy tenses besides her, her hands becoming fists, and she narrows her eyes. “Let’s go, Jem,” Daisy leans over to whisper into Jemma’s ear, eyes locked on Coulson. “I want to leave.”

Jemma’s about to respond when Coulson catches sight of them, and smiles.

They both freeze.

 “Hey girls! Isn’t it such a beautiful Saturday?”

“... Yes. It is.” Jemma manages to say as Coulson reaches over to hand them two of his brochures, each decorated with the slogan: Inhuman Intolerable, report suspicious activity.

 If Jemma feels queasy at the notion, holding this vile piece of paper in her hands, she can’t imagine how Daisy feels.

 And Daisy, as always, tries to deflect with humor.

“Aw, man!” She laughs and slaps Coulson’s arm lightly. “I thought those brochures were gonna be advertising a Caribbean cruise!”

Coulson’s smile falls, and Jemma senses that it’s time to leave.

“Inhumans are a plague on humanity!” Coulson shouts at them, drawing in stares from people passing by. “This is no joke! How dare you joke about something as serious as a disease corrupting our world?”

 She pulls Daisy away, and they both don’t utter a sound until they’re back in their seedy motel room, and Daisy starts to cry.

“It’s my worst nightmare,” Daisy laments. “It’s changing all over again.”

(Jemma rubs Daisy’s back, and doesn’t add that the worst is yet to come.)

 iii.

It aches— May being the very thing she despises.

 Daisy’s asleep when Jemma begins to ruffle through the brochure, and that’s when she sees it. Melinda May, Director of Hydra, the brochure says, and Jemma’s surprised that it’s taken them this long to find out.

She wonders if she should shake Daisy awake-- shake Daisy awake from whatever dream she’s having and show her another nightmare.

Jemma decides it can wait until morning.

 “Well, there was a time we thought she was Hydra. Guess it’s true now,” Daisy says, after a long silence, crumpling the brochure in her hand and throwing it to the ground.

God, Jemma had forgotten about that. How could she not? So much has happened, so much has changed, that she has forgotten that there was a time when even May couldn’t be trusted.

Daisy leans back in her chair and sighs, running her fingers through her long hair.

“We’ll deal with May later. We gonna do Fitz today?”

“Let’s go.”

 iv.

It aches— Fitz not being Fitz.

 When she and Daisy find him there’s another woman on his arm, and she looks like she fits there. They walk down the street towards the café where Daisy and Jemma sit and as they come closer, Jemma’s heart begins to pound and her eyes narrow.

 The woman laughs at something Fitz says.

“Oh, Leo!” she croons, stroking his arm. “You’re hilarious!”

Fitz gives her a dazzling smile, and doesn’t even look twice at Jemma and Daisy.

Daisy frowns.

Jemma seethes.

“Should we talk to them?” Daisy speaks in a low voice, opening her menu and pretending to mull over the choices.

“No.” Jemma replies. “I don’t want to talk to them at all.”

 Daisy lets it go.

And when they’ve gone, when Daisy grips her arm and softens her gaze, and whispers I’m sorry,

Jemma’s not sorry at all.

She’s angry.

 (Angry and seething and jealous that he remembers nothing and she remembers everything.)

 v.

It aches— watching Mack and the little girl play.

 They had found Mack at the mechanic shop, the girl holding his hand, and followed the two as they got on their bikes and rode to the the park.

“Shit.” Daisy says, watching Mack chase the little girl around.

“Shit.” Jemma agrees, as the girl taps Mack lightly and he falls dramatically, pretending to be hurt but laughing as he goes down to the ground.

“Maybe… maybe she’s just a kid he’s babysitting?” Daisy whispers, as Mack envelops the girl with his eyes and his smile and his love into a fierce, adoring hug.

Jemma whispers back.

Of course it isn’t.

 (Because this is what was supposed to be hard, finding their people and getting them out. Coulson hates Inhumans, May’s the bloody director of Hydra, and Fitz remembers nothing. The easy part is that’s not who Coulson and May and Fitz are supposed to be. But Mack; Mack has a kid. He has a good, happy life full of love and contentment. And Jemma and Daisy are going to have to rip him away from his little girl.

And they’re going to have to live with that.

 iv.

The jealousy aches, but so does knowing that in a world where she doesn’t exist, Fitz is happy.

In a world where she doesn’t exist, in a world where he remembers nothing, Fitz doesn’t have that hardness in his eyes that’s been there ever since she fell from the sky, since she pulled him up from the bottom of the sea, since she left him and crushed him and made him bear her weight.

(I could never hurt you, Jemma. LMD Fitz said to her.

But I always hurt you, Jemma realizes.)

 “What do you mean?” Daisy demands, rushing towards her and taking her hands in hers.

“Daisy--”

“Are you kidding me? You wonder if he’s happier without you? You weren’t there when he was struggling to speak, struggling to move on. I was. I saw. He fell apart without you. You weren’t there when he was tearing the world apart trying to find you for six. Fucking. Months. I was. I saw. You think he’s happier without you? You can’t possibly imagine his--”

“What about me?” Jemma sobs, ripping her hands away and burying her face in them. “What about me, what about me, what about me?”

 (The wound in her leg pulses, the cut in her cheek throbs, and the hole in her heart expands.)

 “I’m sorry,” Daisy utters. “I know what it was like for him, because I was there. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you.”

Jemma wraps her arms around Daisy and Daisy embraces her back.

 “Any world that has Fitz and Simmons, but not Fitzsimmons,” Daisy whispers, “Isn’t a world at all.”

 iii.

May being the very thing she despises aches, especially when she’s so good at it.

 The crowd cheers and applauds, little children waving flags and adults grinning and murmuring to each other.  

Daisy and Jemma exchange glances before both looking back atMay, with her fist in the air.

“She’s a great director.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“CALVARY! CALVARY! CALVARY! CALVARY!” People chant, their fists also rising in the air, voices becoming muddled until it sounds like one great voice chanting a name that, in their world, Melinda May loathes.

 (From on top of the platform, May smiles.)

 ii.

Coulson spewing words of hate aches, but not as much when he’s not.

They’re in the library when they find him, surrounded by children on all sides, peering through his glasses at the book he holds in his hands.

“Can you imagine?” Coulson reads, his voice trailing upwards at the end of the questions and all the children lean in closer to hear him.

“A world without pain? Without suffering? What a truly beautiful world that would be.”

(But would that even be a world at all?)

“Mr. Coulson?” A little boy raises his hand.

“Yes, Tommy?” Coulson smiles. “Do you have a question?”

“I’m scared. About the… Inhumans. What if the Calvary can’t stop them?”

“It’s okay to be scared, Tommy.” Coulson reassures him, touching his cheek and then turning to look at all the other children.

“Everything will be okay as long as we work hard and we work together. The future will be bright. You’ll see.

 (In this world, Coulson still manages to make anyone feel better.)

 i.

It aches when it’s Daisy that finally breaks.

 “It’s all too much!” Daisy screams, throwing her hands in the air. “How are we supposed to figure this all out? We have to tell them that the world they’re living in isn’t real? How the fuck are we supposed to do that?”

She kicks a chair over and then crashes onto the bed.

Jemma doesn’t even flinch.

“Why can’t it be easy?” Daisy cries, clutching her head in her hands.

 “Because,” Jemma whispers. “When has it ever been?”

 (They both have so much to bear, but at least they don’t have to bear it alone.)

[patriotsnet]

How Do Republicans Feel About The Wall

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/how-do-republicans-feel-about-the-wall/

How Do Republicans Feel About The Wall

Half Of Republicans Believe False Accounts Of Deadly Us Capitol Riot

How do Hispanic Americans truly feel about the border wall?

7 Min Read

WASHINGTON -Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event that left five dead and scores of others wounded. His supporters appear to have listened.

Three months after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to overturn his November election loss, about half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists trying to make Trump look bad, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.

Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that Novembers presidential election was stolen from him due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans think he should run again in 2024, the March 30-31 poll showed.

Since the Capitol attack, Trump, many of his allies within the Republican Party and right-wing media personalities have publicly painted a picture of the days events jarringly at odds with reality.

Hundreds of Trumps supporters, mobilized by the former presidents false claims of a stolen election, climbed walls of the Capitol building and smashed windows to gain entry while lawmakers were inside voting to certify President Joe Bidens election victory. The rioters – many of them sporting Trump campaign gear and waving flags – also included known white supremacist groups such as the Proud Boys.

DANGEROUS SPIN ON REALITY

They Just Come For Show

The four House Republicans were unfamiliar with the history of the fight over Santa Ana.

It was not addressed by the Border Patrol agents who led the morning excursion. And by the time E&E News connected with Chapman, the delegation had departed the refuge for a briefing on Border Patrol activities at the local headquarters of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Later, when asked whether Westerman thought the environmental impact of installing a wall at Santa Ana and in other refuge areas was a necessary sacrifice to stop the flow of illegal immigration, the lawmaker said it didnt sound unreasonable.

One hundred and fifty feet kind of sounds like what the right of way would be on a levee, but I dont know, he said. Obviously, if youre going to build a wall, theres going to be clearing. And from what Ive seen, stories Ive heard about human trafficking, the rapes, the deaths yeah, I think its worth building the deterrents.

At the National Butterfly Center a 100-acre nature preserve that was also exempted from having a border wall built on its land in the same 2019 spending package Executive Director Marianna Trevino Wright said she thought the GOP lawmakers were ignorant by choice.

I think they have no idea, Trevino Wright asserted. They come just for show. Theyre not interested.

The real litterbugs, she contended, were the officers with Border Patrol.

There’s Something Happening Here

But he uses a different touchstone: Occupy Wall Street, the left-leaning anti-establishment movement that blossomed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

“This is Occupy Wall Street Part 2, but this time it is on their turf, and there are real financial consequences,” he said. LeGate, who received a $100,000 Thiel fellowship to drop out of college and start a company when he was 18 years old in 2013, has been watching the WallStreetBets Reddit discussion for several years.

He said he is seeing increasing frustration and anger, which is exploding in the Covid pandemic era and it is bringing together the traditional political left and right.

“People were willing to take a risk on Trump and now they’re willing to take a risk in the markets,” he said. “A lot of people just want to see the world burn right now, and they’re enjoying watching it happen.”

He said he’s already seeing people on the WallStreetBets Reddit page looking for new targets and there are two themes. First, they’re looking for highly shorted stocks where big hedge funds might have a lot of leverage. And second, they’re looking for nostalgia plays to bring back the companies from their youth. That’s why Nokia, Blackberry and Blockbuster are all getting attention.

Border Walls In The Middle East

One major proof of concept that Republicans supporting a Mexican border wall cite is the success of similar walls in the Middle East. For example, walls along the Israeli-Palestinian border reportedly cut down illegal immigration between the countries. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who is also the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, stated that he was impressed with a system of fences he had inspected along the Israeli border with Palestinian territories. Johnson stated Im always looking for best practices. Its been incredibly effective. They had thousands of illegal immigrants; its down to the teens.

House Republicans Propose $10 Billion For Trumps Border Wall

House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a plan to provide $10 billion for President Donald Trumps border wall with Mexico, a bill unlikely to clear the Senate but which could fuel a shutdown fight in December.

Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul said his panel will vote on the legislation next week. The bill also would add 10,000 more border patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers, tap the National Guard to patrol the southern border and target people who have overstayed visas.

Now that we have a partner in the White House who has made this a top priority, its time to send a bill to President Trumps desk so we can deliver the American people the security they have long demanded and deserve, McCaul said in a statement.

The bill represents Republicans opening salvo in both the looming year-end government funding fight and high-stakes negotiations over undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

It almost certainly wont pass the Senate, where at least eight Democrats would be needed to clear a 60-vote threshold.

Partisans Approve Their Partys Approach To Shutdown Negotiations Disapprove Of Other Partys

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 76% approve of how Trump is handling shutdown talks, including 50% who say they strongly approve of Trumps approach. In contrast, just 4% of Democrats approve of Trumps handling of the negotiations, while 93% disapprove .

The overall pattern is similar in views of Republican leaders in Congress: 69% of Republicans approve of their partys leaders handling of negotiations, while just 10% of Democrats approve.

And while about seven-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners approve of the way Democratic leaders in Congress are handling the shutdown negotiations, just 11% of Republicans say the same.

Republicans Pray For A Border Crisis To Bring Biden Down

Joe Biden and his programs are popular. Republicans cant lay a glove on him. So theyve settled on immigration as the way to drag him into the mud.

Guillermo Arias/Getty

Republicans are crazy about immigration. No, really. The issue makes them loco. Just listen to the things theyre saying. Many of them have lost touch with reality.

Or maybe Republicans are crazy like a fox. The GOP seems to have once again pinned all of its hopes for retaking powerin this case, by winning back control of the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections and possibly regaining seats in the House of Representativeson the immigration issue. If either of those things happen, Republicans will be in decent shape to try to retake the White House in 2024.

President Joe Biden has only been in office for about 60 days, and Republicans who want to attack him and his administration dont have a lot of material with which to work.

Thats what some of the current fearmongering over the situation at the U.S.-Mexico borderabout half of itis all about. The other half is made up of good ol fashioned nativism and racism. Thats one reason why Republicans act like the prospect of what could turn out to be 100,000 would-be refugees from Central America mostly women and children is the end of Western civilization as we know it.

Here we are again. And the same Republicans who were quiet and subdued when former President Donald Trump confronted this same problem now cant stop talking about this being a crisis.

Republicans Spent Two Years Resisting Trumps Border Wall What Changed

Since the government shutdown 25 days ago, Republicans have largely defended the need for a border wall. While there appear to be some cracks in support, most are standing by the presidents insistence on funding.

As recently as September, The Washington Post described it this way:

The same Republican lawmakers who rushed through the tax bill Trump wanted, confirmed his first Supreme Court pick and are fighting to defend his second, and have remained largely deferential amid multiple scandals, have taken a far different approach when it comes to one of Trumps most memorable campaign promises deeming the wall to be impractical, unrealistic and too costly.

Most GOP lawmakers didnt come right out and say that, of course.

Instead, for the first two years of Trumps presidency, GOP lawmakers avoided the wall debate completely. In September 2017, USA Today took on the laborious task of surveying every member of Congress to determine their position on Trumps wall. At the time, the White House was requesting $1.6 billion to begin wall construction. The survey found that just 69 of the 292 Republicans in Congress said they supported Trumps funding request. Three outright opposed it, but the majority avoided answering the question directly.

Shortly after Trumps inauguration, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham , Trumps onetime nemesis turned close ally, told Politico that the border wall is probably not a smart investment.

Every Congressperson Along Southern Border Opposes Border Wall Funding

How would Republicans build Donald Trump’s wall? BBC News

Nine congressional representatives serve the districts that line the 2,000-mile southern border. They are men, women, freshman politicians and Washington veterans. The Democrats among them span liberal ideologies, while one of them is a Republican.

But they all have one thing in common: each is against President Donald Trump‘s border wall.

Last week, the House of Representatives passed a multi-bill package that provided funding for federal agencies and reinstated Department of Homeland Security appropriations without offering any new border wall funding. All nine of the politicians serving in districts along the border voted in favor of the bills, which were an effective rebuke of the Trump administration’s request for $5.7 billion in border wall funding.

“It’s a 4th-century solution to a 21st century problem,” said Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat and one of the lawmakers along the southern border who voted against funding the wall.

Gonzalez doesn’t oppose border security. He said, “Nobody wants stronger border control than me.” But he’s against adding to the existing border wall because he doesn’t “think it brings real border security and it comes at a major cost to taxpayers,” the lawmaker said Tuesday in a telephone interview with CBS News.

“At the time I thought we were going to be able to have a reasonable conversation,” Gonzalez said. “I had no idea it was going to get this crazy.”

Everybody Look What’s Going Down

Holmes believes the key to understanding the power of this new movement is the gamification of investing melded with an anti-elite fervor. Sticking it to hedge funds and potentially making a lot of money is, simply, fun. And if you believe its also the right thing to do, and thrive on the engagement of a community of like-minded traders, so much the better.

“When things really get going is when the fun meets the purpose,” Holmes said. “This is the perfect storm of those two.”

His warning to Wall Street is: understand this. Be willing to scrutinize yourself. This not going away, and it is probably bigger than you think.

“People need to take the time to understand the social dynamics of this. What are the problems that have created this class of retail investor who seek to completely destroy your industry, and how do you remedy that?” Holmes said.

Holmes said he has spent the past decade watching American politics turned inside out. An earlier generation of politicians spent their time raising money at country club ballrooms from hundreds of donors writing $500 or $1,000 checks.

But now they spend their time on the internet raising money from millions of donors making $5 and $20 contributions. In politics, the retail money turned out to be bigger much bigger — than the institutional money. And that’s driven massive political spending inflation: the big Senate campaigns that once cost $15 million now cost $100 million.

There’s Battle Lines Being Drawn

But what explains that nostalgic impulse in the midst of a revolution? It is the same emotion that animated the MAGA movement which, after all, stood for make America great, again. It is a desire to return to an earlier time that the members of the movement remember as better than today.

“There’s a feeling I sense across society that people want to go back to a simpler time,” LeGate said. “No one likes Covid. People don’t feel the economy is fair. Everything looks better in hindsight.”

And he argues that efforts to regulate trading will feel to Reddit traders more like suppression, and could fuel more anger.

“If someone on Main Street loses half their portfolio in a day, nothing’s going to happen. But if a hedge fund does, they literally stop the trading,” he said. “I myself question whether this is really about protecting the individual investor or protecting the hedge fund.”

Public Disapproves Of How Shutdown Negotiations Are Being Handled

Most Americans offer negative evaluations of the way that the nations political leaders in both parties Donald Trump, Democratic congressional leaders and Republican congressional leaders are handling negotiations over the shutdown.

Overall, just 36% of the public approves of how Trump is handling negotiations over the government shutdown, including 23% who say they strongly approve. About six-in-ten disapprove of Trumps approach to the negotiations, including 53% who say they strongly disapprove.

Views of how Republican leaders in Congress are handling shutdown negotiations generally parallel evaluations of Trump. Six-in-ten Americans say they disapprove of the way Republican congressional leaders are handling negotiations, while just 36% say they approve. However, fewer Americans characterize their views of GOP leaders handling of negotiations as strong approval or disapproval than say this about the president.

Public views of Democratic leaders handling of the shutdown talks are somewhat more positive than views of Trump or GOP leaders. Still, more disapprove than approve .

Intensity Of Trumps Support Increases

Also in the poll, 46 percent of voters approve of President Trumps job performance, which is consistent with the other NBC/WSJ polls over the past year and a half.

But other numbers in the survey his strong job approval ticking up to its all-time high, his positive rating jumping to its highest level since after his inauguration prompts GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies to call this Trumps best NBC/WSJ poll in three years.

Still, 49 percent of all voters say they are very uncomfortable about Trump when it comes to his re-election bid in 2020.

Thats compared with 43 percent who are very uncomfortable with Sanders, 36 percent with Warren and 35 percent with Biden.

Klobuchar: Trump’s Actions Are Like A ‘global Watergate’ Scandal

Today, as Democrats in the House of Representatives move toward bringing articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, with the next Judiciary Committee hearing of evidence set for Monday, few Democrats are still clinging to the hope that Republicans will reach a breaking point with Trump like they did with Nixon.

“I really don’t think there is any fact that would change their minds,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC News.

Why? Two key changes since Nixon: a massive divide in American political life we hate the other team more than ever before and a media climate that fuels and reinforces that chasm, powered by Fox News on the Republican side.

Himes said he was “a little stunned by the unanimity on the Republican side,” especially among retiring lawmakers who don’t have to worry about surviving a GOP primary had they gone against Trump. “We’re in a place right now where all that matters to my Republican colleagues is the defense of the president,” he added.

No Republican congressmen have said they support impeachment. In the Senate, the entire GOP voted to condemn the impeachment inquiry, except for three moderates: Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The three have stopped short of saying they support Trump’s impeachment, however, and it would take at least 20 Republican senators to vote to convict him in a Senate trial for removal to succeed.

What Do Republicans Believe In

Do all Republicans believe the same things? Of course not. Rarely do members of a single political group agree on all issues. Even among Republicans, there are differences of opinion. As a group, they do not agree on every issue.

Some folks vote Republican because of fiscal concerns. Often, that trumps concerns they may have about social issues. Others are less interested in the fiscal position of the party. They vote they way they do because of religion. They believe Republicans are the party of morality. Some simply want less government. They believe only Republicans can solve the problem of big government. Republicans spend less . They lower taxes: some people vote for that alone.

However, the Republican Party does stand for certain things. So I’m answering with regard to the party as a whole. Call it a platform. Call them core beliefs. The vast majority of Republicans adhere to certain ideas.

So what do Republicans believe? Here are their basic tenets:

Questions Ahead Of The Democratic National Convention

Andrew Redleaf, founder of the hedge fund company Whitebox Advisors, has been a Republican donor in the past. He gave to the campaign of 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney. He calls himself a libertarian conservative who favors free trade and immigration.

This year, he’s given money to the Lincoln Project, a group of conservative never-Trumpers who are running scathing ads against the president in swing states.

“I’d like there to be a right-of-center, limited-government party … which is not the Trumpist Republican Party,” Redleaf says.

Redleaf is wary of Democrats and has no particular affection for Biden.

But the former vice president is a known commodity on Wall Street and is widely seen as a more centrist, acceptable alternative to more liberal Democrats who ran for president, such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Biden has also been a top recipient of financial industry money for decades as a senator from Delaware, home to financial and credit card companies.

“He’s not somebody that the industry is particularly afraid of,” Bryner says. “So I think that we would see them kind of hopeful that he would be a more moderating influence, whereas Trump can be quite unpredictable.”

Widening Party Divide Over Expanding The Border Wall

El Chapo financing Trump border wall is a yes vote: GOP lawmaker

Public views of a U.S.-Mexico border wall have changed little over the past three years. But the partisan gap has widened, as Republicans have become more supportive of a border wall, while Democratic support has declined.

Currently, 58% of Americans oppose substantially expanding the wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, while 40% favor the proposal.

Since early 2016, roughly six-in-ten Americans have opposed building or expanding the border wall .

Yet partisan differences are now wider than they have ever been. Today, 82% of Republicans and Republican leaners favor substantially expanding the wall along the U.S-Mexico border. Over the past year alone, Republican support for expanding the border wall has increased 10 percentage points . Over the same period, the share of Democrats who favor expanding the U.S.-Mexico border wall has declined from 13% to 6%.

Conservative Republicans and Republican leaners overwhelmingly favor expanding the U.S.-Mexico border wall . Moderate and liberal Republicans are somewhat less supportive .

Overwhelming shares of both liberal Democrats and conservative and moderate Democrats oppose expanding the border wall.

As in the past, opinions about expanding the U.S.-Mexico border wall are divided by race, education and age. Whites are more than twice as likely as blacks or Hispanics to favor expanding the border wall.

Why Do Republicans Behave The Way They Do

Why are the Republicans so mean-spirited when it comes to the poor and so indulgent when it comes to the rich?

Why are the Republicans so mean-spirited when it comes to the poor and so indulgent when it comes to the rich? Thats the incessant question as posed by liberals today about the partys now enacted tax reform. Not only does the bill include another attack on Obamacare, but it provides the pretext the need to reduce deficits to go after other long-held goals, the end of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. 

The answer should be obvious by now. Republicans behave as they do because they can get away with it! Its no more complicated than that. 

Contrary to liberal opinion, Republican politics isnt out of the mainstream provided we push the clock back sufficiently. A political economy without social services and entitlements is in fact the default position of the capitalist mode of production from its inception. If recent comments from Republican Sens. Orin Hatch and Charles Grassley sound like characters from a Charles Dickens novel their barely disguised contempt for the working poor that should come as no surprise. Such attitudes were almost de rigueur for ruling elites in capitals long ascent. The constant refrain of the rich Why should we be taxed to pay for the education of the children of the irresponsible poor?  explains why public school education became a widely accepted norm only in the 20th century. 

How Dems aided and abetted

What Republicans And Democrats Have In Common On Wall Street Regulation

The Democratic and Republican parties disagree on most major issues. When it comes to Wall Street, however, it’s a mixed bag. Take the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

Democrats believe the bill has reined in the type of out-of-control behavior that led to the near collapse of the banking industry in 2008 and prevented a similar crisis. Republicans have criticized the legislation calling it “the Democrats legislative Godzilla.” They feel the financial regulations have made it too difficult for small lenders and community banks and has indirectly slowed the growth of small businesses. 

Regulation of the financial services industry has been a major issue not only in the current presidential election but in house and senate races. Democrats believe that the electorate largely sides with them that banks have overstepped and that they can use their position to win votes and take back the Senate. Republicans currently hold a majority 54 votes. Because of gerrymandering rules, Democrats will have a tougher time retaking the House.  

Dodd-Frank was intended to increase transparency and accountability in the financial services industry and to protect consumers. Among other things, the bill created a new consumer protection agency and standards for a number of common financial services products. 

A Shift In Immigration Thinking

Representative Luis Gutierrez of Illinois is one of the Houses most outspoken Democrats on immigration reform, and she understands this shift, and believes it is essential. Lives are at stake and the lives of Dreamers are more important to me than bricks, Gutierrez said. If advocates would reject any money for Trumps wall in exchange for freedom and legalization and eventual citizenship for the Dreamers, I understand their choice, but for my part, I would lay bricks myself if I thought it would save the Dreamers. For me, the very real attacks on legal immigration are far greater threats than bricks and drones and technology on the border.

This shift has also led Democratic views on a border wall to soften in general. As Trump has become less demanding, Democrats have begun to consider what type of barrier, and what size, they would be willing to agree to if push came to shove. The 2,000 mile wall that Democrats had feared would be a looming symbol of America turning inward on itself is becoming something closer to the 2006 plan; some new barriers, some new monitoring technology, and that is somewhat agreeable to Democrats, especially if they can garner support in other arenas in exchange for it.

[fan-fiction-book-club]

Surprise

WARNING:  THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SURPRISE.  IF YOU HAVE NOT READ IT, THEN YOU WILL NOT GET TO FULLY EXPERIENCE THE SURPRISE...I’M SORRY YOU HAD TO SEE THAT...

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, hi!  How are you wonderful people that have come to visit me at my beautiful side blog here?  Pleasantries aside, a little backstory about this particular fic.  Yes.  You read that right.  It’s one of my own design.  I’m going to be honest.  I panicked and couldn’t find anything for this month’s fic, so I was a self promo whore and here we are.  

But I had to write something for Yurio’s birthday.  It was the first of March and he is truly my son and I love him.  If I had to relate to one person in Yuri on Ice, it’s definitely Yurio.  He’s my level of bitter and angry and equal parts adorable.  Therefore, he’s me in a nutshell.  And I squeal a little inside over his cuteness.  He is my little squishy angel.  Why is everyone in in Yuri on Ice so squishy and cute?  Like...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!

....Sorry.  You know it’s bad when Sherlock busts up book club because I’m being a spazz.  Now, onto the actual story!

Let’s take a moment to talk about Yakov.  Yakov, we know him, we love him.  He’s a cranky, bitter, old man.  Like Yurio will be once he gets older.  And where does he get that from?  Yakov.  Let’s keep that in mind as we read along.  

I want to be a fly on the wall now that Yuri and Victor are living together and practice on the same rink.  I like to think that Victor is still sort of Yuri’s coach and his coaching always turns into them being adorable together and never getting anything accomplished and that pisses Yakov off to no end, not to mention makes Yurio dry heave in the corner.  

I also love that in the back of Yurio’s mind, he still thinks about Yuri coming to him, asking him about doing quads.  I bet that’s one of those things that keeps the fire in his belly lit.  And so, our sweet little bean begins his practice with Yuri’s EROS ROUTINE.  And I’m just...

 And only one thing can make his eros routine any better is the source of his eros.  Let’s throw in Otabek! 

It’s enough to get Yurio to bite the ice because my son is a huge dork and doesn’t know how to process his feelings for Otabek.  And all it took was his voice to make him completely distracted.  And Yakov’s blood pressure goes up, but not so much.  Remember when I told you to keep Yakov’s disposition in mind?  That’s Yurio’s first red flag there’s something going on.

The actual first red flag was Otabek showing up out of the blue.  Otabek always tells Yurio when he’s coming.  But now, he shows up and takes Yurio out to see Moscow.  And I melt a little inside because it’s basically a date for those two.  And that makes me so happy.

Now, I need to do a little explanation here.  The story of the Machine.  It’s a true story.  I highly suggest listening to it because it’s an absolute roller coaster from beginning to end.  And it happened in Moscow in 1995, way before Yurio was born.  The Reader’s Digest version?  This guy accidentally takes Russian classes in college thinking they’re Spanish and sticks through it, so his teacher can get her masters degree.  When he takes Russian IV, they went to Russia and he accidentally ended up joining the Russian mafia under the name “The Machine” because the only phrase he could think of in Russian was “I am the Machine.”  Therefore, he became known as the Machine.  What does that have to do with Yuri on Ice?  Absolutely nothing, but I think it’s a fantastic story that everyone needs to hear at least once in their life.

I LOVE that Otabek still calls Yurio a soldier.  But not just any soldier.  Because of their new relationship status of six months, He’s Otabek’s little soldier.  And because we can’t have nice things, Yuri’s Angels come in and screw us all over.  So much for Yurio and Otabek’s date.  However, it does end up with them back at Victor and Yuri’s.  Not the first time Otabek’s saved him from his fans.  Probably not the last.  

Can we take a sec to think about Otabek putting Yurio on his shoulders to get the house key?  And Yurio being a smol?

Because I think about that on a regular basis.  And Otabek giving him shit for it made me giggle like a little girl.  I can’t even begin...Now that I’m done gushing about my child, let’s gush about his boyfriend.  Otabek yells at Yurio for cursing.  And I, for one, find that adorable.  Along with Yurio wanting to mainline Red Bull.  I know that feeling all too well.  

But there’s a line in here that needs to be addressed.  Because I have a feeling that Yurio has stayed with Yuri and Victor a time or two and has seen some shit.  Some shit he didn’t necessarily want or need to see.  Some shit that makes this:

...Look like this.

And my little angel goes like:

My poor baby...Ahem.  Back to the story and no more overkill on the GIF usage.

Because we’re about to get some Yurabek cuddles and I love it.  They’re having a moment because practice wore poor little Yurio out and all he wants is some warm snuggles with his boyfriend in the guest room.  The way I wrote this scene out sounds so relaxing.  Also, Otabek’s personal fulfillment being Yurio’s success makes me feel so warm inside.  Because he knows how much winning gold means to him.  And that makes me happy.  I can see Otabek being the one to set himself on fire just to keep Yurio warm.  No one else, but he’d do it for Yurio.  

Let’s put their love aside for another couple that I can’t help but gush over.  Victor’s birthday party.  We always hear that whole horror stories of getting drunk at the office Christmas party.  And since Victor’s birthday happens to be on Christmas, I figured his birthday would be a nice stand-in.  That’s what happens when we see both Victor and Yuri drunk at the same time.  And Russia declares a state of national emergency.   That’s one of those things that we don’t need to talk about...

But now, Yurio starts piecing things together.  He’s going to vent to Otabek about the day feeling off and weird and that there’s something going on, but he doesn’t know what.  And when he comes to the conclusion he’s being paranoid, Otabek tells him he loves him for that very reason.  And again, I become a puddle.  This entire story is good old fashioned fluff and full of moments like that and gahhhhhhhhhh...

Let’s talk about Yuri.  Not Yurio.  We’ve talked about him this whole time.  We’re going to talk about our little sexy pork cutlet bowl that we can’t help but love.  Yuri Katsuki is a tiger mommy.  I can guarantee it.  When it comes to his adoptive son, he is a tiger mommy.  He wants to see Yurio grow and protect him with every fiber of his being.  Honestly, I can’t blame him.  For the next ten minutes, Yuri’s going to bitch at Otabek for falling asleep with Yurio.  Why?  Because that doesn’t fit into his plan.  That’s right.  Why do you think Yuri and Victor skipped out on practice that morning?  They’ve been busy with other things.  

And Otabek struck fear into Yuri’s heart.  Because not only is Yuri protective of his son, but Otabek is just as protective of his boyfriend.  Love has many different faces...And we see two of them right then and there.  But, because Yurio is an impatient little shit, Otabek had to fake a phone call with his coach about next season.  Which evolves into a little bit of trash talk from both sides.  Which ends up into some cuddles in Otabek’s back while they go back to his hotel.  

Now, the fun part.  SURPRISE!  Happy birthday, Yurio!  Everyone knew but him.  Otabek was just the distraction for the day.  Not that he minded much.  It was a day with Yurio.  He’s not complaining.  However, Yurio being sandwiched between his dads was an unwelcome surprise.  And all he wanted was cake and his boyfriend.  He didn’t want the surprise party.  But deep down...since Yurio is kind of a little diva whether he wants to admit it or not, he’s not going to say no.  It’s like the banquet when he said he got “dragged” into a dance off with Yuri.  No way in hell.  He looked way too willing in those pictures.  Phichit’s an excellent camera man.

Speaking of the selfie queen!  Yuri, God bless him, found the champagne again...And he’s reeeeeeeeally drunk.  Unfortunately, Victor stepped outside for a minute for whatever reason.  Yuri’s getting all nostalgic about when they met and all that happiness.  We all know how that went.  And Yurio’s ready to drive his foot in Yuri’s back again.  And Yuri slips back into speaking Japanese and tells him he loves him.  

I’m sure you’re wondering.  Lumi, how the hell does Phichit the selfie queen fit into this?  Well, friends, because Yurio doesn’t have Victor to pawn Yuri’s drunk ass off on, he turns to Phichit.  And Phichit is more than happy to take him.  Bless.  Bless the selfie queen.  

And now, the night has began to wind down and the birthday boy has had enough, so they go back up to Otabek’s hotel room and go sleepy-by.  And all is right with the world...

[datingadviceonreddit]

And we had a amazing time. I (m25) matched with someone (f28) on Tinder six days ago and really hit it off over texting. I get a decent amount of matches but often feel exasperated that no one seems to want a real, deep conversation.We moved to WhatsApp pretty quickly because the length of our messages were starting to break the app. On Boxing day we had a real deep conversation about what we liked out of intimacy and sex and were on exactly the same page. We are both six months out of serious relationships and are happy, confident people but want that sense of attention, depth and connection you can only have with an intimate partner. That its as much about the emotional and mental feeling as it is physical. We text about it until 2am and it really turned both of us on. We agreed to meet the following evening and so began my longest ever first date.Her photos on tinder were visibly badly taken but when she turned up, Holy God. (She later told me the bad photos were deliberate so she didn't catch guys just after her looks) Greek goddess. Deep brown eyes, expressive, engaged body language. Yes please. We had a few drinks and talked, a red flag however is she was still getting text messages from her ex.An important disclaimer here; her ex has borderline personality disorder and serious depression. I.e. Still messages her saying if you don't talk to me ill cut myself, etc. Heavy shit. Her business, not mine. I'm a trainee mental health counsellor so I accept we all have baggage and we had talked at length about our mental health too. So I was cool with it, she is visibly "over" him but understandably still quite fragile. She said outright she found me attractive because I'm very stable and mentally tough. So yes getting fucked up messages from your crazy ex on a first date (and her reading the messages) is weird and a red flag, but I decided I was OK with it. She showed me some of the messages and asked me for. Y professional perspective, and we had a really good conversation about psychology. Again, her deal, not mine and nobody needs to decide if you want a serious relationship after one date.Back on topic. We go to the second bar. Far less awkward. She gets the message and her phones goes away and stays away. It's a metal bar and I discover that she loves that mind if music and we're singing all the lyrics to Metallica. We start to really flirt, innocent touches etc. I decide I want to kiss her. Bar closes. We go outside, she asks where my place is. I knew from our texts that going home with her on a first date was a possibility but I hadn't had time to clean my apartment. I kind of suggested she get an uber home but she gave me "the look" and I kissed her. Fuck it, life is short, I'm six months out of a serious relationship and I just want to be intimate with someone. I feel comfortable with her. Neither of us are drunk. We go to my place and I make her wait outside whilst I blitz my flat for two minutes. She is friends with someone I work with so I had been "verified" as not a serial killer, she said otherwise she wouldn't have gone home with me first time.We had both said we like sex slow and intimate. So it was probably about 4am until any clothes came off, but a LOT of making out and cuddling in my bed. I lit some candles, brought in my vinyl player and we made out to Pink Floyd, because all romance is made better by a David Gilmour guitar solo. In between, we talked about anything and everything. Just a feel good connection. We started to get naked and just helped each other relaxed. At 5:30am we decided to sleep for a bit, woke up sometime the next day, more making out, I went out quickly to get coffee and food for us. Felt great coming back to a beautiful Greek woman naked in my bed. I've been missing intimacy a lot. It just felt good. Lots of laughter.We decided to take a shower together and only then things get really sexual. She touched me and I made it clear I wanted her. After the shower I went down on her. As a woman she is quite complex and needs to be made to feel really relaxed and comfortable, but is also very sensitive, so I made an effort to try and learn what she needs. She felt great. We had talked the whole time about having sex but also that we both might not feel ready etc. There was no pressure or expectation. Just two human beings giving each other attention.By late last night we were still in bed together. She had put a lot of effort into making me feel good, went down on me (I know I shouldn't compare but oh my god, SO much better than my ex).At one point I went down k and her and she signed that she wanted me to make love to her, and but because I was being cautious about what she might not be ready for I didn't pick up on the signal. She said she wanted a guy to take the lead because she had been fed up of her doing everything with her ex, but admitted she was bad at communicating how she wanted to be treated. I said in that case I'm going to tie you to this bed and do whatever I want to you, and we had a great time making out, but when I went to give her oral she pushed me away saying she was too sensitive. I went back to making out, then tried again, same thing. Me not understanding that not all women need cunnilingus before penetration assumed I was doing something wrong, then tried to have sex with her with a condom but couldn't sustain an erection due to being quite nervous (also didn't help I had spent hours 24 hours with an erection and hadn't come - I can't orgasm through foreplay alone). She was really understanding and we went back to cuddling and it was cool.As we laid together she looked deep in though and I casually asked her what she was thinking about. She's a very direct kind of person and is probably too honest about things, then again the connection we had, we had already talked about most of our previous partners and life, the great memories and the traumas (I'm the son of an abusive heroin addict, it was a two way street). We had also talked about exclusivity and she said she didn't like talking to other guys because the connection between us (just over text) was so great. I told her it was her business and I'm not the jealous type, she's free to live her life, just don't tell me about other guys. She saw a tinder notification my my phone and said she felt a little jealous, I said I found that cute. I think it's obvious we will want something exclusive if we keep seeing each other.Anyway, she said without thinking that she was worried that she would date me then no longer feel attracted to me and that she would only see me as a friend, as it had happened with other people. I was a little upset by that and told her I thought it was a silly thing to say. It's naturally to think privately about someone but you don't tell them what you're thinking, (I didn't tell her this but obviously I'm thinking about her ex and whether she would be a good partner, etc). Because of the chemistry we had been enjoying I was a little bummed and she saw this and apologised with those big, brown eyes. She said she actually liked how I reacted because it showed I liked her. I said I did and then she got on top of me. The moment became quite emotional for both of us but also intimate and erotic and we ended up having unprotected sex. Let's say she didn't just see me as a friend. It felt fantastic and my neck today is covered in love bites. However, she is not on birth control (I didn't cum inside her, not that's an effective method) and we both said that had been stupid, neither of us liked using condoms but we agreed if we were going to keep seeing each other we would need to find an alternative. She left a couple of hours later as she is flying to see family today and needed to have proper sleep and pack, so I called her a taxi at 2am. Since waking up we've been texting and they chemistry is still there. I've broached the subjective of the emergency contraceptive pill and made it clear we need to be more sensible next time. She's genuinely listened and we're discussing options, being adults about it.I have no idea where this will go, or whether I even want a serious relationship or see her as a viable long term partner. 2020 will be extremely busy for me and I'm not sure if I want the investment, but I'd love to have an exclusive, reliable partner who feels the same way and wants to come and spend time with me and make love to Pink Floyd. Ive met her once but that chemistry is great. I do like her. She very obviously likes me. We'll just see how it goes and enjoy the ride. That's the story of my 29 hour first date.Very long post with no actual question, just felt like sharing! via /r/dating_advice