#you got enough people to conspire against the government :3

[caffeinatedopossum]

People that hate polyamory are honestly the weakest link

[papirouge]

Some of my family in Korea were texting me about what the Israeli embassy there did and they are losing their minds that they’re losing the information war

They first sent a letter to the Green Party (one of the political parties there who stood up for palestinas but repeating “from the river to the sea”) in English, addressing the wrong party then claiming that the phrase was illegal when 1. why was this copy and paste letter in ENGLISH when they’re in Korea 😭 2. The phrase isn’t illegal there, that’s some American bs law and 3. The letter wasn’t properly written so the Green Party leader ripped up that letter live

And then there was that propaganda video the embassy release then deleted when they tried to warn Koreans of how awful Palestinians are, when we’re very aware of the real history we have of women and children being taken and beaten. We don’t need fake propaganda saying “what if this was you”, we have the violent history of comfort women that is very recent. But the Israeli embassy didn’t care to learn about that.

This is so embarrassing but also cruel. They didn’t care to write a supposedly important letter in Korean while being the embassy IN KOREA then try to feed actual Koreans fear propaganda of something that actually happened to us,

lmao they're so dumb This is so disrespectful and embarrassing. How does an ambassador don't even speak the language of the country he's working from?? 💀 Ripping that letter live was such a power move lmao I had no idea Korean Green party was savage like that 👀

Yeah Israel is definitely losing the information war, and the more they're freaking out about and desperately try to pull out more and more nonsensical stunt, the deeper their grave is gonna be 💀

I feel like those people got so used to the "that's antisemitic!!" card to be enough to shut down any contradiction or criticism of their government, that they're seriously taken aback and fail finding onto any other argument that doesn't resort to guilt ripping or emotionalism. Unfortunately, their awful behavior blown on the embers of a lingering antisemitism and NGL they are having a field day on social medias rn And no, their profil aren't the queer leftists Zionists LOVE pointing fingers at when it comes to explain the rise of antisemitism (last time I checked, it was "libertarian"/rightoid Elon Musk who allowed such opinions to be allowed out in the open - not some lgbt activist okay?)

I mean, look at how confused Zionists are whenever we tell them we are also against the Hamas lol

or when CHRISTIAN tell them to keep our name out of their mouth and stop using us as props against the Islamist menace, because they are the biggest Jesus haters (FYI at least Muslims acknowledge Jesus as a prophets so they're unlike to cuss him out like religious jews do on the regular) Authentic Christians are as much against Islam as they are against Judaism - who are, as a reminder, a cult that doesn't acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah and hated him so much they conspirated to have him crucified. None of that happened because of Muslims (who didn't even exist yet) so I reaaaally recommend the Christians thinking judaism is Christianism biggest ally against islamist to read the Bible.

[tanadrin]

Notes on some Rare Economic Systems (That Do Not Work)

1.

A little more than two hundred years ago, the state of Kezaria was rapidly changing, but straining against a patchwork of antiquated laws supported by a corrupt government. The Kezarian parliament was filled with representatives of rotten boroughs, its aristocracy refused to endorse any kind of political reform, and its population was moving from the countryside to the cities as enclosures on the one hand and the growth of the urban economy on the other conspired to convert the country from an agrarian economy to an industrial one. Eventually, protests broke out which threatened to become a real revolution. Terrified of the consequences of such a revolution, the State Council of Kezaria forced through a series of reforms that included, among its provisions, a regular cash disbursement for the relief of the poor. As all this happened before Speenhamland, a prejudice against such a program had not yet been established in Kezaria, and the State Council was desperate for anything that would keep the government from being overthrown.

Incidentally, it worked, and though initially considered a minor provision, direct poverty relief became a cornerstone of Kezarian government. As the country moved further in a socialist direction–now through gradual reform aided by democracy, rather than revolution or the threat of revolution–this provision was expanded, and eventually enshrined in the Kezarian constitution. But some thinkers still considered the economic system fundamentally unjust; redistribution, they said, was not enough. It was still possible that wealth should be unequally amassed, that the resources of each citizen should be too different in magnitude, and therefore some would have unelected power over their fellows; and a state that was a democracy worthy of the name should make all its citizens equal in matters of money as well as law. And so in due course, all income *outside of* the Kezarian basic income was banned.

This is the Kezarian system as it stands today: each month, an account in every citizen’s name is reset to 2,000 Kezarian lions–although the lion no longer functions as a true currency, the name is retained for the sake of historical continuity. The lion may be spent, but not accumulated: an excess of lions, as well as a dearth, is wiped out at the end of each calendar month. As accounts may be held only by natural persons, no business has a single swan (the Kezarian cent) to its name, except what its managers and executives might pool of their common monthly resources. Transaction taxes are very high–as much as 20 or 30 percent of any purchase–in order to keep the lion in circulation, but nobody much minds, as they are not really losing any money in the long run.

The inconvertibility of the lion means that, naturally, tourism is nearly nonexistent in Kezaria, and all imports must be purchased by the state and imported using its foreign currency reserves. But the Kezarians seem content with their system, for they can look around at their neighbors and friends and politicians–all the people who *really* matter, after all–and be confident that no one is doing much better, or much worse, than them.

2.

Miskando is perhaps unique in the world for being a modern, industrialized, and prosperous gift economy.

Miskando has few laws, not because its people are of an especially libertarian bent, but because informal rules in Miskandese culture to an unusual degree. Whereas the British have no need of a written constitution, because convention governs their parliament so strictly, the Miskandese have little need of written laws, because contravening the rules of polite society is unthinkable. Such behavior puts one in the same category as a child, imbecile, or foreigner; and if you truly do not know how to behave in a given situation, well, Miskandese bookshops do a brisk trade in manuals of etiquette, and the most popular section of the newspapers is invariably the one given over entirely to advice columns.

The commercial storefront in Miskando is in fact an evolution of the private home; as such, there isn’t a strict distinction between “house” and “shop,” and one observes the niceties of calling on a friend or acquaintance when one enters a shop, even if the proprietor is totally unknown to them. If you need something–a new hat, perhaps, or a week’s worth of groceries–the custom is that you wander into a shop and look about for a little while. The shopkeeper or the clerk will ask you if they can help; you must refuse at least once. When they insist (as they invariably will), you will begrudingly admit that there are one or two things you might want, and after a little back-and-forth and some polite chit-chat about the weather, you will gather the items on your list, enquire after your interlocutor’s health and the health of their children, and then depart.

The provision of services, even complex ongoing services, is furnished in much the same way. A bilateral relationship must be carefully cultivated between members of two different firms; as a rule, favors are exchanged, rather than contracts being made, and are never quite repaid fully: to do so would be to formally disobligate someone, and thus to end your relationship with them. This is seen as a terrible snub when it occurs between individuals, and when it occurs between businesses is usually due to one party incurring the other’s greatest displeasure

.Outsiders attempting to do business in Miskando have generally found the process bewildering, even those from politeness-heavy societies. The Miskandese, for their part, have adapted fairly well to commerce with other nations; after all, if they have need of hard currency, they usually have a friend who owes them a favor that they can ask.

3.

In Gharat, all money is in the form of immense bronze pillars.

Long ago, it is said, the people of Gharat exchanged certain standardized, useful goods, like knives or wool cloth, whose value was widely agreed upon. These eventually gave way to the ancient Gharat knife-currency, a chunk of bronze of a fixed weight whose resemblance to the older medium of exchange was only passing. The real value was in the metal itself; and because of its weight, large amounts of these heavy pieces were often bound together to prevent theft.

One day, a thoughtful merchant had the bright idea of simply melting all his bronze into one enormous mass, which he could simply leave outside his house–after all, it was impossible to steal. Many others began to follow suit, and some began to craft the displays of their wealth into more elaborate shapes, and eventually, the tradition of the bronze pillar currency was enshrined. It didn’t matter that it couldn’t be transported; after all, the metal wasn’t *used* for anything anymore–the Gharati had by this time moved on to iron tools. And (so the Gharati held) assiduous recordkeeping meant that it was always widely known who owned what pillar, even if the pillar in question happened to be three provinces over.

The centralization of the Gharati nation in the 18th and 19th century and the codification of Gharati customary law necessitated the establishment of a centralized record of ownership of the pillars; and it was eventually discovered, to the horror of the nation’s leaders, that the records of ownership were, in fact, a contradictory mess. They *could*, perhaps, be sorted out, and the spurious claims distinguished from the genuine ones, but to do so would be to devastate the wealth of the nation: multiple ownership of the same pillars more than quintupled the country’s GDP, with some particularly contested pillars being owned by as many as fifty people. Perhaps they could keep the situation a secret; but if word ever got out, they feared, there would be chaos and riots as a result.

The solution came from Gharati religious law, which had always been rather more concerned with metaphysical matters over practical ones. One object, the scriptures said, might really be two, depending on how you look at it; so the Gharati lawmakers simply proclaimed all claims of ownership that had existed on a certain date, a few years previous, to be valid; and any *appearance* that one pillar might be owned by more than one person was, in fact, an illusion of the material world. Really, these were multiple pillars that happened to be superimposed on one another. They might *literally* be made of the same particles of metal, but they were *conceptually* distinct. There was some grumbling when this was announced–but no one wanted to risk losing the lion’s share of their net worth overnight, so it was quickly accepted.

Yet despite proposals, the Gharati have never made the shift entirely to a pillar-backed paper currency, or to a fiat currency entirely. After all, they say, money ought to be something *real.* A bronze pillar has mass and heft; and thus, it is possible to imagine, it had real value. To abolish the system entirely would simply turn the idea of money into a farce.

4.

Clasimarion is, its inhabitants say, the most perfect place of liberty to have ever existed–even if they are all slaves.

The island of Usvasaari was settled by Tiravec peoples from the south, who founded the city; Clasimarion was a prosperous trade republic in its middle years, but declined as the mercantile empires around it grew, and its once-vaunted navy was unable to secure its trading rights by force. When the Third Bull Government was overthrown, a new order was proclaimed. The constitution consisted of a single line: “The forceful interference with an individual or their property may be met with force.” The state was abolished; henceforth the Clasmain common law of property was supreme.

Despite the cynicism of foreign observes, Clasimarion did *not* immediately collapse into anarchy. No warlord rose to power, no neighboring state invaded, and, for a little while, life continued much as it had before, without the burden of taxes or unnecessary bureaucracy. The former merchant-lords of the city managed their holdings without outside interference now, and any petty squabbles that might result in violence between their private mercenary corps did not interfere with life in the rest of the city.

This state lasted about thirty years. One day, a certain Orsil San, the last of an old Clasmain family now living abroad, discovered that according to ancient Clasmain law, his quintuple-great-grandmother had at one time owned all of the northern peninsula of Usvasaari, the very land on which Clasimarion was built. What had been thought freehold title, converted to allodial title at the time of the revolution, was in fact only on an indefinite lease to the government; and, the deed said, should the institutions of that government be dissolved, ���all land, chattels, movable and immovable goods, and any other right of property within that domain, not held by persons outside it, shall revert to the San family."

This meant that all Clasimarion was the property of one man. And worse: because Clasmain common law had never abolished the condition of slavery (though it had been centuries since it had been practiced), and that slaves could not own property, all of the *inhabitants* of Clasimarion were his property as well, to dispose of, with absolute rights, as he wished.

And Orsil San did wish. He sold the deed to an overseas company, a fortune-cookie company called Voystaykan & Son, and retired to a dissolute life that ended when he fell off his yacht and drowned. Voystaykan sent a delegation to Clasimarion, contracts in hand, and all of the most eminent jurists of the city agreed with doleful solemnity: Orsil San had the right, and the contracts were valid. To rebel, to attempt to rescind the contract, to appoint a parliament or king to change the law, would be an intolerable violation of the constitution, an affront to the most deeply held principles of liberty. The entire city submitted without a fight, and became the property of the newly-rebranded Voystaykan Company.

The Company is not cruel. It knows that morale is important to get the most out of its property. The people labor by day, singing their work-songs and shanties, and they retire in the evening to adequate meals within their barracks. They have their games and celebrations. Life in Clasimarion is well-ordered, and peaceful. But the will of the city’s managers is an iron law. The CEO of the Company, like a distant god. The company’s property may supplicate before it; they may beg and plead and weep, but the law of that country is clear: they are objects of another’s rights, not agents of their own. They may hope, and they may dream; but their labor does not cease, and their fate is not their own to determine. And they may gaze out over the cold waters that surround Usvasaari, but they cannot leave. For what would they be then, but thieves stealing themselves away? To do so would mean that they despise that most important right of all, the right to property. It would mean that they hate justice and law and liberty above all. And whatever else it may be, Clasimarion is free.

[derkastellan]

BattleTech: The Star League - an exercise in advanced Fridge Logic

“I’ve considered “BattleTech: Star League” an all-time great sourcebook. It tells the origin story of the whole BattleTech universe up until the First Succession War. It also explains the full story behind General Kerensky’s Exodus, a major plot point repeatedly referred to in books, finally detailed. 

Back then when I got the book originally in the 90s I might not have really known that this was a setup to follow up with the Clan Invasion era of BattleTech. Or maybe I personally got it after that had already been launched. When it was released in 1988 the timeline shifted into the Fourth Succession War and there had been release referring to that mythical Star League.

Some books don’t fare as well when being re-read decades later, and “The Star League” is not an exception, though I have to admit I might be applying impossibly high standards...

Don’t think about it too hard

One talks of “fridge logic” when you set a piece of fiction aside, go to the fridge, and realize that the inner logic of the work does not quite add up. The point of fridge logic is that it is sufficiently convincing to keep you absorbing a piece of fiction but you might end up taking it apart later.

I’ve also been re-reading the Warrior Trilogy by Michael A. Stackpole and reminiscing about “Heir of the Dragon”. While Stackpole’s novels about the Fourth Succession War lay out a template for other BT novels, they also skew the setting heavily, completely upend its balance. “Heir to the Dragon” contrives as hard as it can to construe a War of 3039 that restore the setting balance long enough for it to persist until the events of 3050 - the Clan Invasion. In hindsight that book is full of fridge logic it seems unfair to call out “The Star League” but here I am.

It’s any author’s prerogative to time situations to maximize drama, to have events happen in a convenient way, to maximize the impact of a work of fiction. If there is too much of that with events happening all-too-convenient, we talk about a “deus ex machina.” The authors of “The Star League” (SL from now on) were trying hard to avoid that and to have a string of logical-seeming events follow like pearls on a chain. But when you look too close, it all comes apart...

Setting and world design can often become subservient to requirements of the plot. As I said, SL tries hard to avoid that, but it doesn’t quite accomplish it. The events I will focus on are the Periphery Uprising and the Amaris Coup (also names of chapter headings). These are part of the climax and are supposed to explain the downfall of the marvelous Star League itself.

What is needed?

The SL was the most advanced golden age of mankind, but the standard setting of BT in the 80s was an era of technological decline and petty scuffles. The challenge for the authors was to explain not only the rise of such a realm but describe its fall in a way that the downward spiral seems inevitable.

The original realm at the heart of human-occupied space, the Terran Hegemony, had to vanish through the course of events because the map of 3025 existed long before the map of 2781. For this to happen it was not enough to let a line of royal succession end, a whole realm had to collapse. Also, the end of the SL had already been blamed vaguely on treachery and so the story of that treachery had to be set up.

Furthermore, the fall from glory was a great opportunity for memorable drama, the end of a golden age, after all, and the preclude for centuries of war. 

There was only one problem: the SLDF.

The Star League Defense Forces were not only the most advanced but also basically the biggest fighting force in the BT history, led by brilliant General Kerensky. You cannot set that up and then hand-wave your way out of that setup. But the authors kind of did.

The basic plot points of the Periphery Uprising

The Periphery realms are exploited by the Inner Sphere lords and businesses for their own gain, resentment builds.

The ruler of the SL dies, orphaning his son. General Kerensky is named Protector of the Realm and the young lord his ward, but circumstances pretty much prevent the general from executing any of these duties.

Stefan Amaris, the leader of the Rim Worlds, conspires with other Periphery governments to ultimately achieve independence.

He befriends the future lord of the SL, a lonely minor and orphan. He proceeds to manipulate the young lord and gain influence over him.

A tense stand-off between the SLDF and Periphery rebels develops, including terrorism against the SLDF.

Suddenly 50 full mech divisions of fighting force appear that have been secretly built up and end up destroying almost as many divisions of SLDF forces scattered throughout the periphery. (There’s roughly 100 divisions of the SLDF in the periphery according to the book.) Where they cannot defeat the SLDF directly they drop prohibited nuclear bombs and move on.

[EDIT: To put this number into context: “ At its peak prior to the Clan Invasion, the AFFC represented the largest single military since General Aleksandr Kerensky took most of the Star League Defense Force beyond the Periphery, with over 268 BattleMech regiments.” (from: sarna.net) In the BT universe, according to the same source, a division is made up of 3 brigades, and a brigade of 3 regiments. Even if we assume that only 1 out of 3 brigades in a division is a mech brigade - after all a tank division does not consist entirely of tanks! - we still might be contemplating 150 mech regiments - a bit less than the Draconis Combine at the beginning of the First Succession War. Supposedly the Draconis Combine was involved in providing those mechs. Would they supply as many as they have themselves out of pure greed??]

Meanwhile Amaris’ Rim Worlds are suspiciously peaceful and the young lord calls in Amaris’ troups to protect the Hegemony as more and more troops of the SLDF leave it to fight in the Periphery Uprising.

In the final act, Amaris personally murders the young ruler, abusing his trust, and lets his troops enact a coup, almost completely overcoming the unsuspecting local forces (which they outnumber 2:1).

These are the events that earned Amaris the “honorific” the Ursurper and the events that follow see the destruction of the Hegemony in the liberation campaign, ending with a drive for freeing Earth itself and killing Amaris.

Why it doesn’t work

The bigger a conspiracy is the more likely it is that somebody talks. Supposedly the conspiracy involved...

the governments of all four periphery realms,

the members of dozens of independence movements spread over 1,000s of light years,

the militias and their many thousands or more members,

the personnel of half a dozen major merchant companies,

most of the military of the Rim worlds,

the members of those 50 divisions, and

their mercenary company trainers.

We are supposed to believe that the SL intelligence services were not capable to undermine a conspiracy numbering in the millions, that nobody went rogue, nobody talked. None of the Rim Worlds soldiers ever got drunk and said too much to a local during a night of debauchery of any kind. Nobody ever went to the authorities.

Not only that, all these people either enlisted in the plan or kept quiet for money. 

The SL is concerned where certain shipments of battlemechs are going but cannot squeeze it out of a single crew member even though they know who handled the shipments.

Amaris explicitly betrays a major independence movement but everyone else sticks to the plan.

There is enough black money moved around to fund not only the independence movements, but 50 divisions of battlemechs and more. The equipment is bought, so is the silence of those transporting it, and finally these people are trained in the Deep Periphery for years - which means building bases to host them on unsettled worlds beyond realm borders, requiring a constant stream of resources to sustain them.

Nothing of that left a trail for SL intelligence to follow?

We’re talking sums of money probably equivalent to the budget for the SLDF because these troops have to be created anew. In other words, vast amounts. How do the governments change their spending unnoticed? The SL does not do basic accounting? [EDIT: According to sarna.net the SLDF at its peak fielded 125 battle mech divisions. This is the result of 1 1/2 centuries of military spending. The Periphery governments are supposedly capable of creating 40% of that force on-the-fly with a training program hosted by a few mercenary units. How can you effectively train so many soldiers, especially to fight as large formations, without having an organization to match the SLDF or a major house military? It’s doubtful any Inner Sphere lord could match this feet - because they never have. If this was easily possible, why not double your own forces “in secret?”]

And here’s the worst part: It is established that the periphery is actually being exploited by the Inner Sphere for their own gain, so this major spending comes while essentially massive amounts of riches are funneled away anyway, in times of exploitation.

Does this really make sense? Do people take part in a scheme that takes a decade to unfold, including five years of separation from loved ones for many of them? Can the personnel of 50 divisions really be hidden in the ranks of staff of half a dozen transporting companies? 

(Also: Take for example the American War of Independence. Roughly a third of the people of the Colonies were Loyalists. Even in occupied populaces resenting their occupiers you would have some people actively collaborating with their oppressors. Even more - many periphery worlds owe the SL for either being settle-able or for making their lives a lot easier through things like cheap water purification technology...)

More fridge logic

Other facts that have been established:

The SL has entrenched its troops in fortifications in the periphery.

The SL doctrine for fortifications is to enable troops to strike from hidden exits, not to lock itself in or simply concentrate its forces.

The prime fortifications of the SL, “Castles Brian”, are under mountains and underground with many tunnels and hidden exits.

So, can the rebels simply drop nuclear bombs on these guys “and move on?” 

They can’t. These devices don’t raze mountains. Also you need a delivery vehicle. These fortifications should have had anti-air defenses, but even if not or if ineffective against the chosen delivery vehicle, they are still hidden behind tons and tons of rock.

The popular image of nuclear bombs is of an all-destroying force but this is not accurate. Militarily the stopping power of a nuclear bomb has been established and for use against armored forces like tank divisions the actual kill zone is rather small - like a third of a mile in diameter if I remember correctly. Take then into account that battlemechs are better armored and secured also against radiation than modern armored vehicles and they can even be made to operate in the vacuum of space. (And space and radiation go together...)

Furthermore, given that terrorist strikes have been an tactic mentioned within the same pages I’m covering here, including suicide attacks and a localized nuclear strike, which SLDF commander would not spread his or her forces to the best of their abilities to avoid vulnerability?

Thinking this further, the SLDF is operating in enemy territory - these people are bombing their own land. So they just blow up a few megatons next to their own population centers? Ignore the fallout on civilians that are entirely their own population?? 

It quickly becomes clear that this “tactic” is more a plot device than anything. These rebels are so unscrupulous and amoral, they can resort to things the SLDF wouldn’t do and therefore best it easily. This supposedly explains away all the advantages the SLDF enjoy - their stockpiles, technological superiority, fortifications, advanced training and doctrines, even the many years of actual combat experience.

The same plot device is used in how Amaris’ Rim Worlds troops eliminate resistance in the Hegemony. Now there’s less inhibition to use such weaponry given these are not their home worlds. But the other conditions still apply - especially since many of the Hegemony worlds explicitly have Castles Brian, and many several. 

And regular plot convenience

Other things like the automated defense systems of the Hegemony were simple plot convenience, there to be ironically used against those that hoped to enjoy their protection. This helps explain the bloody and protracted campaign need to win the Hegemony back.

The Amaris Coup’s basic design depends on many things - including...

the greed of the Inner Sphere lords completely clouding their self-preservation. After all they sell materiel to staff 50 mech divisions when originally the presence of a single mech battalion in one periphery realm was almost a casus belli. 

the continued cooperation and secrecy of all participants during the decade where Amaris unfolds his plan to win Richard Cameron’s confidence. What was the backup plan if that wasn’t possible?

the complete lack of anyone else caring even a little about Richard Cameron, like Kerensky doing his actual duties during this time period, especially given the fact that he’s supposedly meticulous, dutiful, and virtuous without measure.

the administration of the Hegemony not developing the least of initiative.

that the Kerensky reforms made the SLDF so dependent on his leadership he couldn’t delegate this duty to anyone else. What kind of genius makes themselves unreplaceable and traps themselves in a situation where they cannot serve their duties?

that nobody notices Amaris deploys double as many soldiers to the Hegemony than he originally stated. So nobody noticed the extra beds, extra meals, extra vehicles, extra battlemechs? Did half of them hide in the toilets and get their half-meals shoved under the door? These troops were housed on Hegemony territory and supplied by the Hegemony administration. How do you pull off such a sleight-of-hand?

We’re actually closing in on “deus ex machina” quick. Yes, such big plots are often contrived. But there is a measure, and if you look closely, this book does not come together as well as it seems.

Conclusion

Just as Kerensky’s Exodus, it’s best not to think too hard about how all of this is even possible or all unravels. It’s both disillusioning and concerning that this is still one of the best setting books I have ever read. For all its flaws it creates really a lot of good lore and has an engaging plot.

This is kind of what to expect when the broad strokes are already made and somebody has to fill them in. Kerensky’s Exodus or the sudden fall of the SL were outlined, and filling in the gaps makes kind of clear that this was a tall order. The book mostly succeeds, even. It just has to perform a few sleights of hand too many to get there...

[PS and foot note: I’m currently reading also bits of “BattleTech: Explorer Corps”. When reading about ComStar Primus Simms’ visions I noticed that in the BT universe if somebody has visions they are usually accurate and plot-relevant, linking plot elements without apparent cause. In “The Star League” one Cameron predicts the end of the Terran Hegemony, for example. Such visions usually revolve around elements whose meaning is clear in hindsight, like Simms’ seeing “visions of monsters” who really are the symbols or emblems of invading Clans. If we add Stackpole’s foray into a mystical duel between mech warriors defying scientific explanation (in the Warrior Trilogy between Yorinaga Kurita and both Kell brothers, Patrick and Morgan). From this we can conclude that deep down the BT universe has a supernatural element.]

[deathbyvalentine]

Dreams

Dream #1

There are three types of magic. Mirror, self, blood. Mirror is done by copying the abilities of someone else, mundane or otherwise. You can never be original. Everything you are is a mimic of someone else. Self magic is internal. You can only effect yourself. Transform, disappear, become stronger or weaker, taller or smaller. You’re both the magician and the assistant. Blood magic naturally caused the most suspicion. You bled and imposed your will on the world, reality bending, other people no obstacle, nothing more than dolls. It hurt you but it could hurt others more.

Will was the most important part of magic. You had to know what you wanted. Internalise the desire so deeply it became like a second heartbeat. That type of surety took practice. A lot of it. It was why children could be so dangerous. All of the desire with none of the planning. They felt things so strongly. Usually adults could have that trained out of them.

It usually fell to families to teach their children, especially as it tended to be hereditary. Not reliably, not one hundred percent of the time, but enough that it was a trend. Of course, if you weren’t a Superior and you ended up with a kid that was, well, things got messy for you real quick. It wasn’t like the population knew about them. Only the government. So what usually happened was a tragedy, followed by some men in black suits showing up at your door and telling you your kid now belonged to them, legally. They could send you letters, time to time, but they probably wouldn’t. 

The government said it was for safety purposes and they were mostly right. What they didn’t mention was how it was a hell of a recruitment scheme. 

____________________________________________________

Dream #2

The school was like nothing she had ever seen before. The stone was light and sandy, giving it a clean and bright look. There were turrets and archways, stone carvings and gardens overflowing with garish flowers. She touched the petals of one, making sure that they were real. The petals felt like velvet underneath her fingertips. It had been years since she had seen them. The camp grounds were all grey concrete and chainlink fences rattling in the wind.

Cora clicked her fingers at her from up ahead, impatient as she always was. Abigail hurried to keep up, her new shoes clickclicking on the pathway. Everywhere, there were students in smart blazers, reading, talking, sharing food. Many turned curiously to watch her passage and she felt her cheeks begin to burn under their scrutiny. She could see her fumbled introductions already, her instant marking of herself as an outsider.

Back at camp, it was easier. They were all outsiders. They were all weird and lacking in various people skills. Tina preferred to chew the end of her ponytail rather than have a conversation. Ellie stared at her shoes. Kitty giggled madly whenever she got nervous which was frequently. Maybe this was why she had been picked. Best of a bad bunch. Not that she had wanted to be picked. They had not only had to threaten her, but Tina as well. It was for Tina’s sake she had agreed - she couldn’t bare to see her with another split lip.

She went over the briefing one more time in her head. The elites were those in the drama club. They were clever - she would have to keep up with them. They liked reading, especially the classics and Gothic romances. They didn’t socialise with those outside the group so she would have to integrate herself quickly and efficiently. The ringleader was Alistair. He had black hair and blue eyes, a short stature. He was very possibly a genius. He didn’t play well with adults or those he perceived as rivals. He liked lacrosse, Oscar Wilde and pistachio ice cream. He was posed to inherit the company from his father well, soon. His father had been sick for some time and couldn’t have much longer left. But he hadn’t inherited it yet, which begged the question what exactly had he been funnelling money into?

Privately Abigail thought it was likely to be some teenage boy thing - girls or cars or a gambling addiction. But The Network didn’t want to take that chance so here she was, being lead to the central office to pick up her student welcome pack. A boy opened a door for her and she bowed her head, his proximity alarming. Even more so when she raised her eyes and realised it was exactly the boy she was meant to be observing. A moment of electric eye contact and he was gone, out the door, leaving Abigail blinking in his wake.

______________________________________________________

Dream #3

The sounds of the forest mixed with the sounds of the sea. Twigs cracked, animals moved through thick leaves and waves crashed against the rocks below. The rocks were a mixture of natural and ancient stone bricks abandoned by over ambitious builders. Once, there was meant to be a castle here. If you broke cover from the trees without tumbling down the incline, you could get a little more light, the moon reflecting off the shifting sea. Inside the forest though, it was almost pitch, the leaves conspiring with each other to keep the moonlight out. Occasionally a fragment would make it to the path and sit, stubbornly illuminating its patch. 

The path lead to a house that had been abandoned for more years than it had been occupied. There was no glass in its window frames, no furniture in its rooms. Only some old ashes and the smell of salt prevailed, the wind carrying in the occasional leaf or misguided insect. The roof had holes in it, letting in rain and the cries of the lonely seagulls above. In short, it was a perfect place to hide. Nobody came here and nobody loved it.

She knelt in the centre of the room, flensing knife clenched tightly in a fist. In smooth, practiced motions she ran it down the length of the bird, stripping feathers from it with alarming ease. The feathers wouldn’t be wasted. The chest ones would be stuffed into her coat to help keep her warm. The flight ones, spectacular in the common way pheasant feathers inherently are could be sold at markets for noble’s pretty hats. She doubted they would buy them if they knew they came from so uninteresting a bird as a pheasant but a key feature of the nobility was not knowing where anything you adored came from. She worked like this for some time until something unexpected made her head jolt up, cat-like eyes narrowing.

She heard voices. Bandits, most likely. Who else would know about this little ruin? She had no time to hide herself or her work. Standing with the small knife presented boldly, she waited to defend her prize. 

__________________________________________________

Dream #4

Their wedding day had been uneventful. It had rained, as they knew it would, making the town hall steps slick with water. Their relatives had held newspapers over their heads as they threw the handfuls of rice. Pigeons had fluttered over and begun pecking at the grains. Luckily Lucy had decided to wear a hat that day, protecting her fine blonde pin curls from being utterly ruined. And of course, the entire Shelby clan had worn their flatcaps, so all in all, they got off pretty lightly.

They had ran off, hand in hand, laughing. They would be expected at the Garrison later for the reception, a party for the ages. Tommy Shelby finally married! But for now Lucy wanted to steal a few minutes of him just for herself, before she had to share him with the entirety of Small Heath once more. They walked until they had reached their destination. A small food van, with a tarp making a veranda, white plastic chairs and tables sheltering under it. They had met here, when they were teenagers. She had been still growing into her new height and form, graceless but with the future promise of grace. He had been as intense then as he was now. She had felt his eyes on her from across the queue. His look had been enough to make her cheeks hot. 

Now look at them. They shared a skin full of chips, picking companionably at them as they chatted, legs tangled underneath the table. Inspecting his face he definitely looked content, if not relaxed which was really all she could hope for. She had long since given up trying to make him switch off, but she could maje him wind down a little.

The peace was short-lived. A taxi pulled up across the street and out came Ada, cello case clutched in her arms. She didn’t notice them. In the window of the taxi, another woman sat. She was older by some margin, possessing expensive lipstick and golden curls that tumbled from her head like Rapunzel’s. Lucy felt Tommy’s attention sharpen like a knife beside her. Ada leant down to the window and kissed the woman, making Lucy’s heart lurch in surprise. It wasn’t the fact it was a woman. It was the fact not a single one of them had known about her. Ada straightened and the taxi pulled away. Before she knew it, Lucy had stood up, placing a hand on Tommy’s elbow and whispering in his ear ‘woman’s business, I’ll take care of it’ and marching over to wrap an arm around Ada and hiss angrily at her. Another day like any other.

_______________________________________________________

Dream #5

It was the day the ships came in. The sky arcing above them was so blue it made your eyes water, not a single cloud daring to mar it. The red containers stacked one on top of the other reached up towards it but ultimately failed, only carving out a small section of it for its own. 

The first ship was huge, as all of them would be. Its hull was painted black, the upper decks the traditional white. It towered above them, the workers standing on the brick dock to look up, shielding their eyes from the sun with a hand. The ropes trailed like tentacles from a jellyfish and they surged forward to grab hold of as many as they could. Slowly, one by one they were siezed, and then the real work began. They took (very almost in sync) steps forward, struggling with every single one. The ship, reluctant, began to move down the canal towards its final docking destination. 

Occasionally a man would lose his footing and plummet into the canal. They would be safe, if they were smart. If you kept hold on the rope you could float along, dragged by the ship until the job was done and you could be rescued. Let go and you risked being sucked beneath, trapped by the mound of metal, hopelessly drowning.

______________________________________________________ Dream #6

The fields either side of the path were lush, spotted with daisies and lazily humming bees. It was a hot day and the cool entrance of the forest beckoned. She wouldn’t be the only one taking refuge in there today. She imagined deer, geese, dogs all lying together and sleeping in the shade, protected by the trees. She hoped to join them soon, but first...

Every few steps along the path she discarded a jewel. Emeralds as big as her finger, rubies glistening like fresh beads of blood. Pearls a thousand miles from the sea, diamonds crystal clear. They formed a candy trail that she left peter out before she reached the treeline. What she was hoping was the guards persuing her would become distracted. Why chase a highway woman on a hot day when they could retire with the profits reaped from these stones? If she was really lucky, they would bicker with each other, each wanting more than his fair share.

Everybody won. She got to escape the noose and they got to retire from a thankless job. She was practically a philanthropist. 

_______________________________________________________

Dream #7

It was a peaceful place. The path followed the route of the river, curling next to it like its more solid twin. Each stone in the river seemed to be a perfect grey oval, overlapping neatly with the ones around it. Jess wondered if the monks had shaped them too, arranged them. Everything here despite being natural felt arranged, perfected. The bushes were trimmed into circles. Flowers bloomed in groups of three. The gate (the only manmade item in this section) had no moss growing on it. There were no dead leaves, no wasps, no fallen petals.

The monks were almost as pristine. Their robes were shining white, broken only by a blue-grey stole and belt. The robes reached just above the line of grass, not quite touching the blades. Their hair was cut to the same length, a short sharp buzzcut. They didn’t speak above whispers and bowed every time they came close to one of the visitors.

In short, it creeped Jess out.  ______________________________________________________________

Dream #8

Once upon a time, the sky might have been a colour other than orange. It might have gotten dark and light in a way that made sense rather than seeming entirely dependent on mood or whim. The ground may have been something other than a washed out yellow. Maybe. If it ever had been, nobody could remember it. It had been too longer ago.

Cynthia woke up this morning with only one eye, right in the middle of her forehead. She sat around the fire glumly, torn between letting her fringe hide the new development or not hindering her ability to see. It was a shame - she had been hoping for vampire. Ironically, none of us had really seen cyclops coming but we did know vampires were rare. 

“Cheer up.” Said Frances. “At least you don’t have to hunt for razors.” She was mostly being facetious. Only the most insecure of the werewolf girls bothered to shave. It was the end of the world and there were no boys to make fun of hairy legs or unibrows. And even if there was, well, they could rip them apart now, without even blinking. 

Cherie whined, her voice high and droning. Wouldn’t surprise me if she ended up being a harpy. She was convinced it was going to be siren. Wouldn’t bother me, we could dump her in the green lake and be done with it then. “When am I going to change?” “You’re only thirteen.” Frances said patiently, leaning down to tighten the laces on her paws. “You’ve got ages yet. Unless you’re an early starter and that’s okay too.” She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Tilly. Tilly had been hideously embarrassed when her transformation had came on at fourteen. She’d mostly gotten used to the beak now but still flushed when her age was brought up. “Cynthia, wanna come with me to high school?” The place had mostly been picked clean of anything useful and was little more than a ruin. Tins and pudding had been the first to go, lipstick and padlocks the next. But Frances had got into her head and idea about learning chemistry so she could make lights that didn’t need a battery, and just glowed. Preferably without giving us radiation poisoning but I got the sense she wasn’t all that fussy. 

I put my bowl and spoon on the floor, stretching. My teeth bit into my lower lip, making me wince. “I’ll come with you. I wanna see if the gym has any mouth guards left.” Frances nodded approvingly and swung her backpack on effortlessly, as though it weighed nothing at all. Her biceps bulged and I admired them, not for the first time. She made it easy - most t-shirts didn’t contain them anymore. 

“Time for adventure.”

[yobaba30]

More than a few people have been bothered by my consistent skepticism about the good faith of most Never Trump conservatives. If any of them had abjured 40 years of insane Republican economics, and 40 years of weaponized bigotry, and 40 years of vote-tampering under the color of law, and if any of them had evinced a desire to change American conservatism from a profitable poisonous grift to an actual governing philosophy that didn't require a Thorazine the size of a manhole cover, I'd have felt differently.

(To be fair, Max Boot came as close as anyone to fulfilling this checklist, and people like John Weaver tried gamely to hold onto the party's sanity for it.)

But, through it all, I had the sense that most of them were more concerned with damage to the brand than with the damage to the republic. This was a revelatory weekend for people who believed as I did. Let's go to the videotape.

First, Erick Erickson dropped this bunker-busting dungbomb at the Resurgent.

Some of my concerns about President Trump remain. I still struggle on the character issue and I understand Christian friends who would rather sit it out than get involved.

Wait for it.

But I also recognize that we cannot have the Trump Administration policies without President Trump and there is much to like. President Trump delivered on tax reform. He delivered on regulatory rollbacks. He delivered on undermining Obamacare. He delivered on moving the embassy in Israel. He delivered on withdrawal from the Paris Accord. He delivered on withdrawal from the Iranian agreement. He delivered on shifting American foreign policy focus to the Western Hemisphere to deal with Venezuela, Cuba, and other hotspots. He delivered on solid executive appointments, including to the judiciary.

Grab all the pussy you can as long as more of the wealth gets pushed upwards. Conspire and collude with thuggish autocrats as long as I can maintain control over every woman's ovaries. So Ryan Zinke can steal everything in Interior that isn't nailed down? The Eighth Commandment can take a seat while we carve uranium out of the Grand Canyon. What's three dozen indictments compared to hearing Justice Brett Kavanaugh's pronouncements for the next 30 years? Render unto Caesar the crooks that are Caesar's.

Moving along, we find that the briefly unemployed Never Trumpers who have clustered at The Bulwark  have found a new plutocrat to love.

Which brings us back to Howard Schultz. He may not know how much a box of Cheerios costs, (hint: $3-$4 for an 8.9 ounce box) but at the moment, Schultz occupies an almost unique position among presidential candidates: the rational center.

In case it's eluded these lost and wandering conservative knights errant, the "rational center"—indeed, the center itself—has been moving under their feet this whole time. Senator Professor Warren's wealth tax is polling in the 70s, and it's polling in the high 50s among declared Republicans. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 70 percent top marginal rate also is very popular. So, naturally, the response has to be to support a wealthy buffoon who wants us to call billionaires "people of means." If that's the "rational center," let's all buy oversized shoes and red rubber noses.

And, finally, there was a very weird episode over the weekend from Steve Schmidt, who also has signed aboard the S.S. Venti Dipshit. From The Daily Beast:

Things were tense. Schmidt had said that he wouldn’t be involved in any presidential campaign, but that he would be leading a 501c4 dedicated to building a third party movement funded by Schultz, “movement” being the key word in their mind. He gave no heads-up to Jordan and Levine about Schultz’s announcement.  Schmidt railed at having to defend himself on his podcast with a stream of curses a source present in the studio said consumed six minutes. Told that listeners were castigating him for joining an effort that could help re-elect President Trump and that he owed them answers, Schmidt finally settled down enough to take about 30 minutes to answer questions from Jordan, normally his co-host, and Levine, the executive producer.  

Levine asks about the 70-percent marginal tax rate proposed by Warren that Schultz called ridiculous. “Yes, ridiculous, confiscatory, anti-growth,” Schmidt says. That prompts Levine to ask the question that evidently hits a nerve. “Will Derek Jeter or another athlete not hit another home run because they’re going to get taxed at 70? What’s the economic behavior that he thinks is anti-growth, other than his own pocket?”     “This is bullshit,” Schmidt exclaims. “I’m not doing this.”  “Steve, you’ve got to answer the questions,” Levine says. “I’m not,” and with that Schmidt slams down his headset and abruptly ends the interview. He threatened legal action against the studio if the interview airs, according to a source involved in the discussion. When his legal threat failed, he offered to buy the recording, according to the source. The studio refused.

Those deeply afflicted with the prion disease that has eaten away the higher functions of the Republican Party thought they'd found a way to stop it, but Never Trumpism has proven to be the ideological equivalent of anti-vaxxers. The disease rages on.

Steve Schmidt is dead to me.

[bountyofbeads]

Stone-Cold Loser https://nyti.ms/2S85c83

Roger Stone, who was arrested in a dawn raid at his home in Fort Lauderdale, has long been fond of the Somerset Maugham line that Florida is a "sunny place for shady people."

"Just as Nixon went down in history as a disgrace to the office of the president, so now will Stone go down as an accomplice to enemies of the republic," writes Eric Caine from Modesto in a comment on @MaureenDowd's column, "Stone-Cold Loser."

"Stone-Cold Loser"

By Maureen Dowd | New York Times Opinion | Published Jan. 26, 2019 |

Posted January 27, 2019 |

WASHINGTON — Roger Stone has always lived in a dog-eat-dog world.

So it was apt that he was charged with skulduggery in part for threatening to kidnap a therapy dog, a fluffy, sweet-faced Coton de Tuléar, belonging to Randy Credico, a New York radio host.

Robert Mueller believes that Credico, a pal of Julian Assange, served as an intermediary with WikiLeaks for Stone. Mueller’s indictment charges that Stone called Credico “a rat” and “a stoolie” because he believed that the radio host was not going to back up what the special counsel says is Stone’s false story about contacts with WikiLeaks, which disseminated Russia’s hacked emails from the D.N.C. and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.

Stone emailed Credico that he would “take that dog away from you,” the indictment says, later adding: “I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die (expletive).”

As the owner of two Yorkies, Stone clearly knows how scary it is when a beloved dog is in harm’s way. When he emerged from court on Friday, he immediately complained that F.B.I. agents had “terrorized” his dogs when they came to arrest him at dawn at his home in Fort Lauderdale.

The last thing Stone posted on Instagram before his arrest was a video of a terrier, with a high-pitched voice-over, protesting, “Roger Stone did nothing wrong.”

Always bespoke and natty, living by the mantra that it’s better to be infamous than never famous, Stone looked strangely unadorned as he came out of court to meet the press in a navy polo shirt and bluejeans.

As the master of darkness who had been captured in darkness stepped into the bright light of Fort Lauderdale, he was his usual flamboyant, unapologetically meretricious self. He proclaimed his innocence, flashed the Nixon victory sign and reiterated the old saw from his mentor, Roy Cohn, that any attention is good attention.

But it fell flat. Being Roger Stone had finally caught up with him.

He has always said Florida suited him because “it was a sunny place for shady people,” borrowing a Somerset Maugham line. But now the cat’s cradle of lies and dirty tricks had tripped up the putative dognapper. And it went down on the very same day that Paul Manafort — his former associate in a seamy lobbying firm with rancid dictators as clients, and then later his pal in the seamy campaign of Donald Trump — was also in federal court on charges related to the Mueller probe. Manafort’s hair is now almost completely white.

One of Stone’s rules — along with soaking his martini olives in vermouth and never wearing a double-breasted suit with a button-down collar — is “Deny, deny, deny.” But his arrest for lying, obstructing and witness tampering raised the inevitable question about his on-and-off friend in the White House, the man who is the last jigsaw-puzzle piece in the investigation of Trumpworld’s alleged coordination with Russia: Is being Donald Trump finally about to catch up with Donald Trump?

Stone, who famously has Nixon’s face tattooed on his back, is the agent provocateur who is the through line from Nixon, and his impeachment, to Trump, and his possible impeachment.

As Manafort said in the 2017 documentary “Get Me Roger Stone,” Trump and Stone “see the world in a very similar way.” And that way is theatrical and cynical. Do whatever you have to do to get what you want; playing by the rules is for suckers.

In 1999, when I went on a trip to Miami to watch Trump test the presidential waters, Stone orchestrated Trump’s Castro-bashing speech to Cuban-Americans. The bodybuilding, swinging strategist, christened “the state-of-the-art sleazeball” by The New Republic in the 80s, said he was “a jockey looking for a horse.”

Stone, who was mixed up in Watergate at the tender age of 19, “made the transition from the Stone Age of dirty tricks to today,” as David Axelrod puts it.

He watched Nixon rally the silent majority with a law-and-order message and racial dog whistling. He helped Ronald Reagan create Reagan Democrats.

For decades, believing “past is prologue,” Stone urged Trump to be the successor to those pols, revving up angry, white working-class voters who felt belittled or scared of “the other.” It would be so easy to divide and stoke resentment, as Stone and Trump proved when they inflamed the birther controversy against Barack Obama.

“Hate is a stronger motivator than love,” Stone told the documentarians. “Human nature has never changed.”

The tribal tensions in America made Stone’s favorite tricks easier than ever; he didn’t have to operate in the shadows. He wore a T-shirt with Bill Clinton and the word “Rape” at 2016 campaign rallies. As Stone boasted in the documentary, his “slash-and-burn” tactics “are now in vogue.”

Trump has had periods of estrangement with Stone. In 2008, in an interview with The New Yorker, he called the strategist “a stone-cold loser,” a state Trump himself has been relegated to this past week, courtesy of Nancy Pelosi.

Stone will not go gently. When he is asked about the tattoo of Nixon, he says he got it to remind himself, “A man is not finished when he is defeated; he is only finished when he quits.”

At the moment, though, dogged by Mueller, Stone and Manafort are the dog’s breakfast. The pair has given practicing the dark arts a bad name.

"There's one piece of history about Roger Stone that never gets enough press, Ms. Dowd. That is, Roger Stone was involved in the "recount" in Florida and swinging it to George W. Bush. Specifically, he was behind a political group attacking three Democratic state Supreme Court justices threatening Bush's possible victory: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/07/11/fla-may-fine-gop-figure-for-2000-recount-actions/af72ec6a-082e-4292-913c-f8ed14c2fc62/?utm_term=.9e4d3fc6c5f3 These sleazy political operatives, from Lee Atwater to Karl Rove to Paul Manafort to Roger Stone on the Right have been getting away with this disgusting behavior for decades. Trump is a direct result of this cancer. Lock them all up." V of LA

"The ghost of Nixon past still haunts us. Just when you thought it was safe to trust our democracy, we get the Nixon salute and see his face on Stone’s back, just not quite low enough, in my opinion. The president was bad enough, but now it looks as though he’s merely the apex of a vast pyramid scheme so vile and full of duplicity that only Betsy DeVos could fully appreciate it. But it’s clear that the president didn’t accomplish his takeover on his own. He was socially promoted to a position higher than he could have ever reached without dirty tricks, lies and conspiracies galore. If today’s events aren’t disgusting enough, we’re even picking up echoes of Roy Cohen. There’s even a faint whiff of Joseph McCarthy that you can just make out while watching the nightly news. It recalls a time when powerful people weaponized fear and ignorance, and nearly turned us into animals at each others throats. We can only hope that people who voted for the president were among those fearful of going broke during the government shutdown. You can talk to people all day about why an unread, crotch-groping narcissistic moron is not a good candidate for president of the United States, but until they feel it in their guts, and their wallets, they’ll never fully understand. Do we have your attention now? Have you taken note of the sleazy, lying manipulators who manufactured this presidency with your help? Mueller might undo some of the damage, but it's up us not to let it happen again." gemli of Boston

"Imagine assembling a clown show of Trump, Junior, Jared, Manafort, Bannon, Stone, Flynn, KA Conway and some sideshow characters like Carter Page and Papadopoulus. Deliver some memorable campaign promises for America's future like "Lock her up" and "Build the Wall", while encouraging mobs to beat up reporters. Toss in a few surprise tapes about assaulting young women. Then openly conspire with Russian intelligence to interfere in the US election while being watched by the FBI, CIA and 6 European country intelligence services. And make plain as day efforts to relieve sanctions on Russia, support the pro-Russian cause in Ukraine, make over 100 contacts with Russian government officials during the campaign and transition and attempt to set up a secret communication channel through the Russian Embassy that US intelligence cannot monitor. Even after all of this, the chaos and the soaring deficits of the first two years of the Trump Administration, around 40% of Americans still think he is doing a great job. Based on personal experience working in all 50 states, I don't believe that part of the population is going to change much. But we need to take back the government on behalf of future generations and do it soon." Look Ahead of Washington

"Like Trump, Roger Stone is a man with no redeeming qualities and no morals at all. Cohen and Manafort as well. They admire and emulate the tough guys of organized crime without actually BEING those tough guys. But the Russians working for former KGB agent Putin are those tough guys, and that's who the phonies chose to do business with. Stone is blustering but he's counting on a Trump pardon, not realizing 3 things: 1) Trump WILL throw him under the bus. A pardon is unlikely. 2) A Trump pardon means he cannot use the 5th Amendment to keep from testifying--meaning he must tell the truth or face contempt or perjury charges. 3) He will still be liable to state charges, and the new NY AG would love get him in her cross-hairs. Stone is finished and doesn't even know it!"Dad of 2 /NJ

"Roger Stone is a truly mean-spirited figure. No wonder he, like Trump, his soul mate if you will, were proteges of Roy Cohn. One thing is certain, nobody is going to feel sorry for Stone, Manafort or any of Donald Trump's merry band of mean, vindictive misfits. Once our national nightmare is over, it will take a long time to heal, if we ever can. Because Stone and Trump poked the racist beast of a certain segment of the nation, unleashing virulent emotions, conservative-fed conspiracy theories, and disdain for truth, fact checking, and critical thinking. The president, a man who doesn't read, aligned himself with a man who did but used his reading to polish his dark arts, and tries to make ignorance seem cool. As a result, they got an entire political party to totally overhaul its thinking on foreign policy goals, belief in climate science (indeed, belief in any science) and even, I venture to say, the biggie: immigration. Trump, egged on by Stone, has done more damage to our politics, rule of law, and views of government than any foreign invader could have. Stone, more than Trump, grasped an essential truth: the worst damage a country can undergo is from within."Christine McM of Boston

"If Stone and The Donald have used "revving up angry white working-class voters" as a tactic to win elections, one wonders whether they are themselves authentic racists or whether they believe in nothing but power for its own sake. Are they "merely" impersonating bigots or are they true believers? Either way they represent a pestilence that needs to be driven out of the body politic, and yet if they're being disingenuous with respect to their own feelings about white supremacy (a disease that normally infects only the feeble-minded) one wonders how they manage to live with themselves. Can one ever attain enough wealth and power to compensate for the loss of one's soul? Perhaps it's a moot point but I somehow can't get past it."

Stu Freeman of Brooklyn

"No Stone left unturned, no creatures hiding under rocks. Spring IS coming, the flowers will bloom, the stench will dissipate, the gloom will dissolve. Thank you, Mr. Mueller." Stu Freeman of Brooklyn

Phyllis Dalmatian of Kansas

"Stone is Johnny two-face: he threatens to harm a security dog then uses his own two dogs' reaction to his early-morning arrest as proof of the FBI's perceived heavy-handed tactics. He trumpets his dedication to "the truth" while lying (all his life) and throughout the Mueller investigation--threatening former criminal associates if they cooperate with--i.e. tell the truth to--the feds. He professes patriotism while working in league with his country's greatest adversary to undermine an American presidential election. It is no wonder anyone this duplicitous should be an acolyte of Richard Nixon and a life-long driving force in the Republican Party. That's the way the GOP grows its alleged leaders--by rewarding them for wrecking American values without demonstrating any consciousness of guilt. "CMary of Chicago

"Concerning stones method of arrest, he merely found out how it is to be treated by law enforcement in many zip codes in this county, no sympathy whatsoever."No Party of FLA

"Why is it so many Americans believe whatever they are told? People like Trump and Stone commit crimes and lie in plain sight and many of our countrymen lap it up like duck soup. Was it growing up in the era of Disney and Spielberg that has made so much of the public susceptible to political special effects? "Of course President Obama is a Muslim, my TV said so." You can't fool all of the people, but you certainly will have no trouble fooling half of them. These remain dangerous times."Socrates of NJ

" Looking back....as you do in this piece....there is really only one question “Was your desperate focus on stopping Hilary from being elected worth it?”

David Martin of Paris

"Meanwhile, Trump can't stop telling us about women in vans with duct tape on their mouths. Perhaps his past is catching up with him involuntarily." Jerry Summer of NC

Another day, another Trump associate is arrested... What was that you were saying about HRC's emails again, Ms Dowd? Nick Adam of Mississippi

[aion-rsa]

TV’s Most Stressful Episodes From Battlestar Galactica to The Handmaid’s Tale

https://ift.tt/3CrdYm2

Warning: contains spoilers for Battlestar Galactica, Chernobyl, Line of Duty, Ozark, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Knick, Lovecraft Country and Succession.

Considering that most of us watch TV to relax, it’s remarkable how many shows leave us adrenalin-flooded, with hearts beating like hummingbird wings. It’s TV characters’ fault; those guys never know when to stop. They’re always attempting a hostile takeover of the family firm, escaping a race of murderous cyborgs or trying to dismantle a totalitarian regime. It’s exhilarating but exhausting behaviour. And the better a drama is, the more invested we are in its characters, so the more we care when they put their life on the line. That means more fingernails chewed, more faces clawed in horror, and more nervous foot-tapping while we should, by rights, be melted into our sofas like… all the chocolate melted into my sofa.

Forget slow TV, canal boat travelogues and laundry-folding background series, these are the TV episodes that left us in need of some quiet time in a dark room listening to whale song. Add your own suggestions below.

Succession Season 1, Episode 6 ‘Which Side Are You On? 

Succession is a brilliant show populated by the richest and most terrible people you could ever wish to spend time with – hell, the patriarch of the family at the centre of this capitalist nightmare, Logan Roy (Brian Cox) has the catchphrase “Fuck Off!”. But this episode, the sixth of season one, is the most Succession-y episode of the lot, and therefore the most anxiety-making. In this episode Kendall Roy’s push to get the board of Waystar to stage a vote of no confidence to remove his father from office comes to a head. Attempting to sway enough board members without alerting Logan to his plans, he’s on a knife edge from start to excruciating finish. Meanwhile this ep has some of the greatest subplots of all time. Logan goes to visit the actual President of the United States who can’t see him because of a threat to security – Logan is obsessed that he’s been snubbed. Tom decides to take Greg out for a ridiculously decadent evening which involves eating a whole deep-fried rare songbird as part of the tasting menu, while we know that Greg has actually had to eat already in an awkward meal with his austere Grandfather, who’s in town specifically for the vote. Also there is an actual terrorist threat. It all culminates in a horror show of lateness, betrayal, disaster and a lot of ‘fuck offs’. Brilliant, tense telly. We love it. RF

Battlestar Galactica Season 1, Episode 1 ‘33’

While Syfy’s (at the time Sci-Fi Channel) superb reboot of Battlestar Galactica technically began with a two-part miniseries, “33” is the show’s first proper episode and it’s amazing. “33” catches us with Battlestar Galactica and its fleet of the last human beings in the universe being pursued across the reaches of space by Cylons. But the Cylons, ever-proficient machines that they are, have found a fool proof way to track down the fleet wherever they are in the universe…every…33…minutes. This episode is a perfect introduction to the themes of the series and the stresses its characters will endure. It’s hard not to empathize with the terror of the exhausted fleet as they face an existential threat every 33 minutes on the dot. AB

Line of Duty Series 3, Episode 6 ‘Breach’ 

Series three was the crossover point for Line of Duty, when it went from thinking crime fan’s drama to a show watched by everybody and their dog (it’s huge with dogs. They love all those flashing blue lights). The series three finale was the show at its most thrilling, specifically in the 10 minutes that followed the sending of a now-famous text message: “Urgent exit required.” That text was sent by ‘The Caddy’, a corrupt police officer and lifelong organised crime gang member who’d framed one of our heroes for murder. Mid-interrogation, The Caddy realised that he’d been rumbled and so alerted his criminal fraternity. They broke him out of HQ and into one of the most tense street chases on TV, courtesy of director John Strickland. Gunfire, shots taken from moving vehicles, cars spinning, people leaping in front of flying bullets, a woman in her mid-thirties being forced to do cardio… Sunday nights on BBC hadn’t been this stressful since that presenter broke that fifty grand vase on The Antiques Roadshow. The culmination of a multi-series arc, it was heart rate-racing TV – the sort of finale that makes you stand up and jog on the spot until your husband tells you to sit down, you’re scaring him. LM

Kitchen Nightmares Season 6, Episode 2 ‘Amy’s Baking Company’

The formula for Kitchen Nightmares (based on the British series Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares) is a simple one. Renowned chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay enters into a failing restaurant, yells at the owners and staff for a little bit, then some lessons are learned and business turns around. To say that the infamous Amy’s Baking Company episode of Kitchen Nightmares doesn’t follow this formula would be putting it lightly. This is a stressful episode of television because our hero Gordon Ramsay comes across two genuine sociopaths. Amy’s Baking Company (or ABC) is an Arizona restaurant owned by husband and wife team Amy and Sami Bouzaglo. When Gordon first enters the premises, everything seems relatively normal. But it’s not long before he discovers that Sami is a former mobster who steals tips from the servers and threatens to fight several customers a night and Amy is a bug-eyed fire demon from hell who sees enemies and conspirators around every corner. While it’s usually cathartic to watch Gordon yell at delusional small business owners, this episode has viewers praying Gordon will escape Arizona with his life intact. AB 

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The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3, Episode 13 ‘Mayday’

You could pick almost any episode of The Handmaid’s Tale as one of TV’s most stressful watching experiences; relaxation is not this show’s vibe. Set in a dystopia where the most dreadful things happen on so regular a basis it’s genuinely a wonder to get between two ad breaks without somebody being de-tongued or stoned to death, it’s a contender for the most stressful drama on TV. The series three finale is a particularly tense watch because the stakes are so high. Heroine June has decided to hit the brutal theocracy of Gilead where it hurts – right in its kids. She’s got the word out among resistance channels that she’s getting the children out. Bring her a child of Gilead (all of whom were either stolen from their birth parents and forcibly adopted by members of the ruling elite, or born as a product of state-sponsored rape that is the Handmaid system) and she’ll put it on a plane to Canada. What makes it particularly stressful is that when the kids start coming, they keep coming, and coming. Far more than June had allowed for. With Gilead’s thug soldiers going house to house down the street and a constant threat that somebody could betray her at any minute, June has to think and act fast. A terrifying night-time escape, a heavily patrolled airfield and 86 children to herd and keep quiet… my blood pressure’s up just remembering. LM

The Knick Season 2, Episode 10 ‘This Is All We Are’

Thanks to its dim lighting, superb early 20th century set dressing, and gallons and gallons of blood, surgical drama The Knick is always a pretty stressful viewing experience. Its series finale, “This Is All We Are” is particularly intense though. Through 20 episodes, cocaine (and then heroin)-addicted surgeon John Thackery (Clive Owen) has performed countless gory procedures. When his bowels begin to fail (due to the aforementioned) drugs, there is only one person he trusts to perform the corrective surgery on himself: himself. And that’s how viewers are entreated to the sight of our protagonist cutting open his own guts and playing around inside. That, combined with the usual finale stressors, make for one hell of a stressful episode. AB

Lovecraft Country Episode 1, ‘Sundown’

The first episode of this excellent horror drama is also one of the best and the most stressful. Setting out its stall early on, the show follows Atticus (Jonathan Majors), his uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) and friend Leti (Jurnee Smollett) as they travel into the Jim Crow South in 1950s in search of Atticus’ father. Racism is pervasive from the off but the final act of this ep sees the three racing to cross county lines before sunset to avoid the barbaric ‘sundown’ law that prohibits people of color from being out after dark and the racist sheriffs who want to enforce it. It’s a madly stressful car chase against the actual sun and even though the gang just about makes it, the law men pursue them into the woods to lynch them anyway. Fortunately, just in the nick of time a Shoggoth (many eyed, sharp-toothed killing machine) arrives increasing, but levelling out, the peril. It’s a smart, thrilling, break-neck episode that makes it clear that gore and death are definitely on the table and that monsters come in many forms. RF

Chernobyl Episode 5, ‘Vichnaya Pamyat’

Clearly, watching Chernobyl is a stressful experience. Unless the real-life nuclear disaster drama were very badly made, there’s no way it wouldn’t be. Craig Mazin’s five-part HBO series is extremely well made, which makes it extremely stressful and very involving. The first episode, in which Reactor 4 of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant explodes, unfurls like a fast-paced sci-fi thriller. In it, we see the true version of events that will go on, over the course of the next episodes, to be minimised, lied about and suppressed by a Soviet government determined not to let any chinks appear in its flawless façade, whatever the risk to its people. We meet the key players – those who will lie about the explosion, and those who will tell the truth at dire consequences to themselves. It’s in the final episode though, that crushes all the air from your lungs. In it, Jared Harris’ chemist character Valery Legasov lays the blame for truth suppression and the subsequent endangerment of life squarely at the government’s feet. Legasov does the right thing despite knowing it will cost him everything. Watching it feels like witnessing a man get buried alive. LM

Ozark Season 3 Episode 9, ‘Fire Pink’

Heartbreak is stressful, no? The sensation of one’s heart being squeezed hard, steadily, for 62 minutes, until the point that it breaks, is anybody’s definition of stress. That’s exactly what season three Ozark episode ‘Fire Pink’ does, thanks to Tom Pelphrey’s performance as Wendy Byrde’s tragically unstable younger brother Ben. When an All-American family the Byrdes start laundering international drug cartel money in secret, the key word is ‘secret’. Loose lips sink ships, and just when the Byrdes really can’t afford to fuck up, enter: Ben. He doesn’t mean any harm, but off his bipolar meds, he also can’t be trusted to keep quiet. In ‘Fire Pink’ Ben makes one slip-up after another and his every attempt to right those wrongs only digs him and the Byrdes in deeper. As the hour unfurls, we watch Wendy fight inwardly against what she knows to be true: Ben is just too great a liability and something has to be done. It’s a remarkably stressful hour, involving a speed boat escape, a stomach-dropping appearance from the cops, a road trip, a diner and a phone call. And it’ll break your heart. LM

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The post TV’s Most Stressful Episodes From Battlestar Galactica to The Handmaid’s Tale appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[newstfionline]

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Moms are hit hardest with camps and day cares closing again (Washington Post) Sarah Mordecai just got the phone call that no parent wants: Her son was exposed to covid at day care. She had to pick up her two children immediately and prepare to quarantine. Mordecai and her husband scrambled to swiftly rearrange their schedules to be home with their two kids, ages 1 and 3. They worry the entire rest of the year could be a series of emergencies like this where the kids get exposed and the whole family is back on lockdown. Panic is setting in among America’s 46 million parents of children under 12 as plans for in-person day care and schooling are getting disrupted yet again from the rise of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus. While children do not tend to face the worst complications from the virus, they do get sick and spread the virus, which can close down camps, school and day care for weeks. All of this is happening just as many employers are demanding workers return to the office. When children have to stay home, the burden typically falls on moms. Some economists are warning the United States may be on the verge of a massive second wave of women dropping out of the labor force if the delta variant of the coronavirus cannot be stopped.

Weekend of fear looms for Californians in face of wildfires (AP) People living in the scenic forestlands of Northern California found themselves facing a weekend of fear as wildfires threatened to reduce thousands of homes to ashes. The Dixie Fire that incinerated much of the gold rush-era town of Greenville threatened more than 10,000 buildings in the northern Sierra Nevada. It had engulfed an area larger than the size of New York City. It was the largest current wildland blaze in the nation and the third-largest in recorded California history, according to the state Department of Fire and Forestry Protection. Wind-driven flames destroyed dozens of homes and most of Greenville’s downtown on Wednesday and Thursday, and also heavily damaged Canyondam, a hamlet with a population of about three dozen people. The fire reached Chester but crews managed to protect homes and businesses there, officials said.

Two arrested in alleged plot to kill or oust U.N. ambassador from Myanmar (Washington Post) Two men have been charged with conspiring to injure or kill Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, who had denounced the military coup carried out in his country earlier this year and expressed support for a pro-democracy movement. Their alleged scheme involved tampering with the foreign diplomat’s car tires so the vehicle would crash and was allegedly an effort to force the ambassador to resign or be killed, according to an account from an alleged participant cited in court papers filed in federal court in White Plains. While the Justice Department did not name the special envoy in court filings, that post is held by Kyaw Moe Tun, whose public denunciation of the coup helped fuel a protest movement opposed to the junta. Myanmar’s military leaders responded to Tun’s speech by trying to oust him from his post in New York and charging him with treason. But he continued to be recognized at the United Nations and cast a vote on behalf of his country in June in favor of a resolution condemning the military takeover. After the vote, Tun reemphasized his desire for the United Nations and the international community to take the “strongest and most decisive action against the military” that had seized power from his country’s elected civilian government.

Ranks of Mexican poor swell to reach nearly half the population (Reuters) Mexico’s poverty rate grew to nearly 44% at the end of last year, government data released on Thursday showed, worsened by an economic slump as the coronavirus pandemic led to steep budget cuts, business closures and layoffs. Some 3.8 million more Mexicans fell below the official poverty line in 2020 to reach a total of nearly 56 million, compared with the end of 2018 when President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office on a pledge to prioritize the needs of the poor. Mexico’s population of about 126 million is the largest among Spanish-speaking countries, second only to Brazil in Latin America.

Argentines stream through city streets to press for more jobs, food (Reuters) Tens of thousands of Argentines took to the streets of Buenos Aires on Saturday to protest over poverty and a lack of jobs amid a lengthy economic crisis that has only deepened with the coronavirus pandemic. Organisations working with the unemployed and leftist groups led the protest that started at a church to the west of the Argentine capital where thousands of pilgrims travel each year to pray at the shrine of San Cayetano, the patron saint of work, whose feast day is Saturday. It ended in the Plaza de Mayo, a massive square in front of the seat of government where protests habitually take place. Protests also took place in other parts of the country, including in Argentina’s second city of Cordoba and the western city of Mendoza. A total of 19 million people, 42% of Argentina’s population, was classified as living below the poverty line in the second half of 2020 and unemployment at present stands at 10.2%.

Vaccine passes in Europe spur the pandemic’s second wave of protests (Washington Post) When French President Emmanuel Macron announced a mandatory health pass last month — requiring vaccination, immunity or a recent coronavirus test to access trains, restaurants and other venues — pharmacy worker Agnès Biblot felt an immediate impact in the eastern French city of Nancy. Within days, interest in getting vaccinated surged. But at Biblot’s pharmacy, the enthusiasm took a sudden and unexpected hit. On July 24, panicked staffers and pedestrians had to take shelter behind the shop windows, some of them struggling to breathe through the tear gas that floated in the air. Outside, a small group of protesters attacked and dismantled a coronavirus testing site that had been set up in a tent. They attempted to shatter a window of the pharmacy. On Saturday, France’s Interior Ministry said more than 230,000 people joined protests across the country against the restrictions, which are set to take full effect Monday. Some of those demonstrating work in industries directly affected by new government policies: nurses who oppose a vaccine mandate for health-care workers, and restaurant employees who object to being asked to enforce health pass requirements. The protesters also include people who express more generalized exasperation, who say they have had enough of what they characterize as government overreach.

Blaze sweeps through Athens suburbs in fifth day of Greece wildfires (Reuters) Flames swept through a residential town outside Athens overnight as wildfires burned across Greece for a fifth day on Saturday, and hundreds of people were evacuated by ferry from the island of Evia east of the capital. The fire on Mount Parnitha on the outskirts of Athens has forced the evacuation of thousands of people since late Thursday, with emergency crews facing winds and high temperatures as they battle to contain its spread. Wildfires have erupted in many parts of the country amid Greece’s worst heatwave in more than 30 years, tearing through tens of thousands of acres of forestland, destroying homes and businesses and killing animals. Temperatures have been over 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) all week. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking after visiting the main fire control centre in Athens on Saturday, called it a “nightmarish summer.”

Afghan war has entered ‘deadlier and more destructive phase,’ UN says (CNBC) The U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan on Friday said the war in the country has entered a “deadlier and more destructive phase” and questioned the Taliban’s commitment to political settlement. This comes after Afghan civilian casualties climbed to more than 1,000 in the past month, and as the Taliban continues to achieve territorial gains in Afghanistan. On Friday, the Taliban captured its first provincial capital, Zaranj of the Nimroz province, since launching its offensive. The group also killed the Afghan government’s top media officer in Kabul on Friday, just days after attempting to assassinate the country’s acting defense minister, according to The Associated Press. The Taliban is also in control of large rural areas of Afghanistan, and is now challenging Afghan security forces in several large cities.

Tokyo Olympics cost $15.4 billion. What else could that buy? (AP) The official price tag for the Tokyo Olympics in $15.4 billion, which a University of Oxford study says is the most expensive on record. What else could those billions buy? The ballpark figure for building a 300-bed hospital in Japan in $55 million. So you could put up almost 300 of these. The average elementary school in Japan costs about $13 million. For that price, you get 1,200 schools. A quick search finds a Boeing 747 is priced at roughly $400 million. Voila: 38 jumbo jets for the cost of the Tokyo Olympics. The point is, Olympic Games are costly and may bump aside other priorities. In fact, several Japanese government audits say the real outlay for the Tokyo Games is even more than the official figure, perhaps twice as much. Olympic costs have been dissected in a study by the University of Oxford, which found that all Games since 1960 have had cost overruns averaging 172%. Tokyo’s cost overrun is 111% or 244% depending on which cost figure you select. So why did Tokyo want the Olympics? Why does any city? German sports economist Wolfgang Maennig said the Olympics offer little economic boost. So any value must be elsewhere. He has often likened the Olympics to throwing a big party for your friends and overspending, hoping they go away happy and remember you fondly.

Australia borders: Citizens living overseas could be ‘trapped’ if they return (BBC) Australians living overseas could be “trapped” in Australia if they return, after the nation’s government tightened its border rules without notice. Since March last year, the country has banned its citizens from leaving the country as part of its Covid strategy. That restriction has not previously applied to Australians who usually live in other countries. But they will now need to apply for an exemption for outbound travel—in line with rules for other Australians. Australia’s tough border rules have been controversial. Critics say this change—in effect from 11 August—will further punish families and deter citizens from returning. Australia already has a weekly limit on incoming travellers and bans foreigners from entry unless they have an exemption. Its policies are among the strictest globally. While the closed-border policy has been mostly supported in Australia, many have also criticised its impact on citizens. The BBC has been told of cases in the past year where Australians have been unable to leave to care for sick or dying loved ones, or to retrieve their children from relatives.

A Look Back At The Very First Website Ever Launched, 30 Years Later (NPR) On August 6, 1991, the first website was introduced to the world. And while perhaps not as exciting or immersive as some of the nearly 1.9 billion websites that exist today, it makes sense that the first web page launched was, well, instructions about how to use it. It launched at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, where it was created by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. Berners-Lee created the web for the same reason a lot of us visit websites today: to make life just a little bit easier. And so in 1989, Berners-Lee proposed the idea for an information management system to his managers at CERN. The system would use hypertext to connect documents on separate computers connected to the Internet. At first, the managers’ response was something along the lines of cool, but no thanks. But when Berners-Lee returned with a new-and-improved proposal a year later, the computer scientist was granted permission to work on the project. By 1991, it was ready to launch. Berners-Lee had developed HTML, HTTP and URLs—the building blocks for creating websites. And so, with the creation of a single web page, the World Wide Web was born. And it’s grown quite a bit since then. There were 10 websites by 1992, 3,000 websites by 1994 (after the W3 became public domain), and 2 million by the time the search engine Google made its debut in 1996.

[lokischocolatefountain]

An Act of Political Sacrifice

Part:  (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

Fandom: Hamilton (Modern AU)

Pairing: Alex x Eliza

Rating: PG for swearing 

Word count: 1,239 words

Warning: Historical inaccuracies for the sake of convenience, Philip is a baby, adultery, angst

Summary: Elizabeth Hamilton, with a wonderful career, loving husband, and a child, is satisfied in life. How does she handle it when her husband who could never be satisfied pulls the rug out from under her, destroying everything she held close to her heart?

Eliza Hamilton stayed as far away as she could from politics, making her the silent member of every family gathering, and mandatory social event that she had to attend with her husband. She kept to herself, shoving food in her mouth whenever it was expected of her to give an opinion, or excusing herself with a pretend call from work, initiated by her sister Peggy at her request. 

She has always been able to politely decline to give an opinion on her family's political doings when in the company of others. Even her social media was void of any political statement, be it her own, a retweet, or even a like. The most political she has even been in public eye was her celebrating the newly introduced healthcare bill, a tweet she drafted very carefully along with Angelica, to be free from any word that could cause controversy. 

Since childhood, she built for herself, a very distinct identity beyond her highly politically involved family. She loved that she was the black sheep in her family of politicians and those who aspired to be one. Growing up with her father in the Senate, mother in the federal court, and sisters who both aspired to be the first female president of the country, she still wished to be a doctor. 

After decades of successfully avoiding being the talk in the political world, she was finally in the spotlight on 25th August 2017, still silent, not just out of choice, but shock. Tears in her eyes, crying two year-old in her arms, the whole world waited on Elizabeth Hamilton to make a public statement. Did you know, Mrs. Hamilton? 

The news had come out an hour ago, but she didn't know until her sister Angelica had messaged in the sisters' WhatsApp group that he would be there as quickly as time would permit. I will cut him up as soon as I'm there, Liz. She just sent three laughing emojis in response. It's just another stupid rumor. Peggy had rushed into her clinic, demanded that all her appointments be canceled for an hour, and enveloped her older sister in a bone-crushing hug. 

"He confessed to it in an article," Peggy whispered cautiously, looking like she was ready to console the victim of the news headline she was holding up on her phone. 

The only sound in the room came from her son who had strapped his barbie to an airplane, running around her office with the toys lifted over his head. 

"I'm sorry," Peggy said, taking her hand in hers and giving it a squeeze. 

If she had been thinking clearly, she wouldn't have looked his name up on google. Headlines, all from credible news organisations, just minutes from each other, were on her screen. Every word in the article she opened looked like they were competing to see who'd tear her apart first. 

The Reynolds Affair- An Act of Political Sacrifice? 

Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton has released a statement, revealing shocking details of his year-long affair with Maria Reynolds in response to accusations against him for embezzling government funds. 

He was formerly accused of having colluded with James Reynolds, a convict, for seeking financial gain by appropriating the government's reserves. In an incredibly detailed response to reports of the accusation, Hamilton writes that he did have connections with Reynolds, but that his rivals had hypothesized unacceptably, the nature of his crimes. 

"My real crime is an amorous connection with his wife, Maria Reynolds, for a considerable time with his knowledge. I had frequent meetings with her, most of them at my own residence when my family was away," he writes. 

The affair began in the summer of 2016 when Hamilton says he was lured into a trap by Maria Reynolds who pretended to be a victim of domestic abuse in need of financial help. He transferred an amount of $750 to her account. 

The affair continued for weeks before Hamilton received an e-mail from her husband James, who accused him of ruining his family. He proceeded to threaten the Secretary to reveal the details of his misconduct to his wife of eleven years, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton and 'requested' a small payment.

 Hamilton writes, "It was only then that I knew they were both conspiring together to extort money from me. I paid a sum of $31,000 in different instances. I have a clear record that proves me innocent. I never spent a cent that wasn't mine. I have reasons for shame, but treason will never be one of them. I have revealed every bit of information that the people of this country have the right to know. Any further information is only for myself and my family to discuss." 

When asked whether it was worth revealing scandalous information regarding his personal life to free himself from speculations of treason, Hamilton called it "An Act of Political Sacrifice." 

She slammed the laptop shut, and got up swiftly, sending her chair backward to hit the wall behind her. Little Phil, startled by the noise, ceased playing to look at his mom and aunt. Eliza managed a smile to convince him and mostly herself that everything was alright, but her pretense crumbled quickly when a tear slipped through, making her pain known. 

A loud knock on the door grabbed her attention. A man in scrubs entered, fidgeting with his pen. 

"Dr. Hamilton, shall I call in the next patient?" 

"What?" She raised her eyebrow in confusion. 

"Miss Schuyler asked me to push back the appointments for an hour," he reverted his eyes to a glaring Peggy. 

She sighed, rubbing her temples. 

"Peggy, could you take Phil to mom's? Tell her I'll pick him up at 9 tops." She knew her kid enough to know he would ask too many questions she wouldn't be able to handle now. It would also serve as an excuse for her to go to her parents rather than her own place. 

"Are you sure? You could come with us," Peggy persuaded. 

"I have a job, Margarita," she said before signaling her colleague to send in the next patient. 

"Call me if you need me, alright?" Peggy picked her nephew up, answering his questions about taking him to the duck pond near Grandma Schuyler's home.

 Eliza washed her face thoroughly as though it would wipe off the shame it held, and then her hands before being seated in her chair, putting up a friendly smile for the scared kid who anticipated an injection. 

It was 10 when Eliza had no patients lefts to attend. On a normal day, she would ask Terry to stop granting appointments after 7 so that she could go home to her husband and baby. The thought of her baby gave her a heartache. She had never gone as long without calling up her mother to check on him. He must be asleep. Her mother hadn’t even called the front desk to ask when she would be back. Her phone was locked up in her table drawer as always and she didn’t have the heart to get it out when she heard a string of notifications.

In an empty building with nobody to put up a brave face for, Eliza finally broke down in a corner of her office. Her knees were drawn closer to her body, her hair a complete mess, she looked exactly the way the photographer stood by her window wanted her to. 

[adventsys]

so some basic info because we honestly don't know much. This is in no particular order.

Every character has 3 canon lives, meaning each person can die canonically— the death has to be supported by lore or be dramatic enough to count into the storyline— a total of three times. The only exception to this rule seems to be Dream himself, who has died at least twice already, canonically.

Speaking of Dream and dying, he has a book that can revive people from the dead, past their canon expiration dates. He did this for Wilbur, who had died 3 times previously, and is now on his fourth canon life because of Dream. He is the only character who has been revived like this so far. Wilbur has three names amongst the community: Alivebur (pre-3), Ghostbur (post-3), and Revivebur (post-revival).

Technoblade is a pig and an anarchist, who created the Syndicate. The Syndicate contains currently roundabouts 6 members or so. I'm not too sure on the number, but it definitely includes Techno, Philza, Nikki, Ranboo, and Captain Puffy.

L'manburg was a city founded by Alivebur and Tommy, and attempted to gain independence from the rest of the SMP for some reason. It didn't really work out. They (Tommy, Tubbo, Alivebur, and others) went to war against Dream and crew. Eret betrayed them in the process and that's where Alivebur and co lost their first(?) canon lives, in the Final Control Room.

Tommy is obsessed with music discs. Dream took the music discs from Tommy after the first war. In exchange for Tommy's second canon life, Tommy got his discs back. Or something. L'manberg also became free then or something? Not really sure.

Later, Wilbur realized that he was ruling L'manberg unjustly so he held an election, which he won. However, Quackity and Jschlatt pooled their votes together, beating Wilbur and Tommy. After Jschlatt became president, he had Wilbur and Tommy exiled, and he changed the name to Manburg because he didn't want any Ls. In the process of being exiled, Wilbur loses another canon life.

War of Manburg ensues in some time, and at the very end, Wilbur decides to blow up (L')Manburg, even after winning. Technoblade helps out by releasing a couple wither bosses in the area. Techno also kills some people and I think he kills Tommy canonically there or something. "If you want to be a hero Tommy, then DIE LIKE ONE!" comes from this point in the timeline, after his Theseus monologue. While the explosions are happening, Philza kills his son, Wilbur, with Will's own sword, and Will loses his third canon life.

Skip a bit of time, Tubbo becomes the new president of New L'Manburg and at the behest of Dream, exiles Tommy once more, who in the coming months, is abused and manipulated by Dream repeatedly, and Tommy almost gives up his final canon life. (Tommy was exiled because he vandalized George's house with the assistance of Ranboo.) Tommy eventually— after almost giving up on life— leaves the place where he was exiled and goes to find Technoblade's base: the base of the one person who he believed strong enough to protect him.

Technoblade finds Tommy in his basement and the two become co-conspirators against L'Manburg; TB hates government, and Tommy wants his discs (again. For the third time). TB raises a dog army in the sewers under L'Manberg, and under Tubbo's bee house. Eventually TB shows Tommy his secret vault (before Philza, mind you. That is an important detail, which shows how much he trusts Tommy at this time) and elaborates on his plan to destroy L'Manburg once and for all. (He has walls and walls of wither skeleton skulls.) This is where the quote, "WELCOME HOME THESEUS" comes from.

Later, Tommy and Techno go to L'Manburg to check on the dogs. They find out that the Community House has been destroyed (by Captain Puffy? Dream? Ranboo? One of them. I never was too sure about who did it). Dream blames it on Tommy, and it isn't a pleasant time. Tommy tries to convince Tubbo that it wasn't him, they get in a scuffle, and Tommy betrays Technoblade for the disc that Tubbo owns, even though Technoblade was very much willing to kill all of them for Tommy's sake. In response to the betrayal, he accelerates his plans and allies with Dream.

By the end of the week, Technoblade, Philza, and Dream (and Ranboo maybe, I don't remember) all go to L'Manburg and blow it up down to bedrock, killing Tommy, Tubbo, etc. in the process many times. This is, with the assistance with hundreds of dogs (most of whom were killed by Sapnap). This day is considered "Doomsday," and it's the day L'Manburg was a country no longer. Do note that no one lost canon lives this day.

Uhhhh... some stuff happened, Dream got killed by Tommy twice (canonically) in his base, and then was arrested by the majority of the SMP, and put into prison. A couple months pass and Technoblade gets put into there as well, as a ploy by Quackity, who hates both Technoblade and Dream.

Three months later, with the remote assistance from Philza, Technoblade escapes prison via ender pearl stasis chamber. Dream hides in his cell and Awesamdude (the prison warden) and Quackity, both think that both prisoners escaped. Sam soon finds Dream, but instead of doing anything bad, he offers to help Dream out in regards to Quackity, because he's getting really sick and tired of Quackity's BS and the torture of Dream.

oh and there was also a big egg that could corrupt minds at one point, and that was happening around Doomsday. It corrupted the minds of Puffy (temporarily), BadBoyHalo, Antfrost, and Ponk (I think?). The egg is immune to explosives and mining. It may or may not have also corrupted FoolishGamer recently, so that's probably a thing that might have something become of it.

and that's all I remember. -Charl

Okay, so I'm kinda curious abt the Dream SMP, so just like fact dump about it in the notes! Tell me about it! I wanna learn!

and hope to god we don't get any fictives

[alexsmitposts]

The Murdering of Julia Assange Julian Assange is being slowly murdered by “Her Majesty’s Prison Service” at Belmarsh prison in the south-east of London. The prison is notorious for holding people who have never been charged with a crime indefinitely. It is also called the British version of Guantanamo, and, typically used to detain so-called terrorists, thus called by the British police and secret service and aped by the British MSM and establishment. Terrorists that become terrorists by continuous and repeated accusations, by media propaganda, but not necessarily by fact. Remember, if a lie is repeated often enough it becomes the truth in the minds of the braindead listeners. Its indoctrination of the public to demonize somebody or a group of people, or a country, who could become dangerous for the empire’s vicious and criminal endeavors. That’s what they are doing with Julian Assange. Exactly the same principal is applied, though on a different scale, against President Putin and against Russia and China. And it seems to work in a brainwashed-to-the-core, western society, ran by their spineless European US-vassalic leadership. Yes, what is happening to Julian Assange could happen to any journalist who reveals the inconvenient truth about the empire and its minions’ criminal machinations, any journalist – or non-journalist, whistleblower, for that matter – anyone who dares standing up to the AngloZionist atrocities may end up in Guantanamo or Belmarsh which is considered a Type A prison for adult men, meaning, a “serious” prison, where “dangerous” detainees are held for as long as Her Majesty’s Prison Service considers necessary, and prisoners treatments are held secret and include torture. Julian Assange’s case goes even farther than breaking all the rules of “democratic” free speech. The way he is treated is a serious infraction on Human Rights. The US and British governments intend to silence and punish a champion of free speech, torturing him for the world to see, and especially as a deterrent for would-be whistleblowers and other free-speech advocates. Julian Assange has been condemned to a ‘temporary’ prison sentence of 50 weeks for jumping bail, when he sought and was granted refuge in 2012 in the Ecuadorian Embassy. And why did he jump bail? Because he was about to be extradited to neofascist Sweden, who acting in the name of Washington, accused him with phony rape and sexual misconduct charges, from where he would have most likely been extradited to the US – where he might have faced a kangaroo court and a fake trial with possible death sentence, or indefinite incarceration at Guantanamo. That’s why he jumped bail and why he escaped to the Ecuadorian Embassy, because western injustice was already then played out with false propaganda, for everyone, but the blind and indoctrinated, to see. Rafael Correa, then President of Ecuador, saw the truth behind it all and granted Julian asylum, and later gave him Ecuadorian citizenship – which in 2018 was revoked by Correa’s traitor and fascist successor, US-implant, Lenin Moreno, who, as a reward, it is said, got an IMF loan of US$ 4.2 billion to help the government carry out its neoliberal economic reform program, meaning undoing much of the social programs of improving economic equality for the Ecuadorian population, implemented during the Correa presidency. Well, how sick can that be? – Unfortunately, acting pathologically or even psychopathically in today’s world is fully accepted. It’s the new normal. This means, we are living in an almost-terminally ill, corrupt and utterly brainwashed society – to be precise, western society. “Almost-terminally” means that there is only dim hope of healing for the utter lack of conscientiousness of western society. Hope of western people’s awakening is fading, as it is sliding ever deeper into a bottomless abyss. Julian Assange was first accused by Washington of fake charges of computer hacking and conspiring to defraud the United States. In fact, what this is all about is the 2010 publication by Wikileaks of the infamous video that circulated the world a million times, depicting the purposeful, malicious ‘collateral killing’ of harmless civilians by the crew of a US Army helicopter – and of other data of atrocious acts of the US military revealed by Chelsea Manning, and published by Wikileaks. Chelsea Manning has been and is herself serving prison sentences. Despite the fact that this little video has been seen around the world probably by more than a billion people, nobody went on the barricades – on an endless mass-demonstration – to stop the rogue-state and killing machine United States of America from committing its daily and deadly crimes. Nobody. And the killing goes on. And Washington is doing its utmost to silence every future revealing of their atrocities, by silencing Julian Assange, and intimidating any potential future truth-revealer. They have now 50 weeks, while he is hidden away in a British Guantanamo-like prison, to slowly kill him on behalf of and as a little favor to Washington, so he doesn’t have to be extradited and the US is spared being exposed to the kangaroo trial that Julian would otherwise receive. If he dies a “natural” death in a British prison, Trump may wash his bloody hands in innocence, and those in Congress who want to send a CIA squadron to murder Assange – I kid you not they are not ashamed to openly say so – will also be able to whitewash their criminal and bloody minds. Nobody will ever know what really happened behind Her Majesty’s prison walls. – There will be some flareups in the media – and then all quiets down. As usual. The Wikileaks founder will be gone – and all potential whistleblowers and truth-seeking journalists will be on their guard. Objective achieved. In the meantime and to reach that objective, Julian is most likely being tortured, possibly physically and psychologically. Julian Assange has suffered “prolonged exposure to psychological torture”, the UN’s torture expert, Nils Melzer, said in a BBC interview, and urged Britain not to extradite Assange to Washington. According to retired USAF lieutenant colonel Karen Kwiatkowski, he may have been doped with psychotropic drugs, like 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, known as BZ that produces hallucinations, mental confusion and memory loss. This may have been the reason, why he was unable to speak clearly, and to participate in a Swedish Court hearing – and had to be transferred to the hospital wing of Her Majesty’s Belmarsh prison. One of the few pictures that emerged at the time of his transfer to the hospital was one of a zombie. Let’s just hope that I‘m totally wrong with this scenario – and that people’s pressure (at this point it would be a miracle) will prey Julian loose from the lethal fangs of the empire and it’s minions. The Western world keeps looking on – worse, they even support Her Majesty’s Prison Service, to which Julian Assange is subjected. They largely applauded the brutal British arrest of Julian Assange, when the police dragged him out of the Ecuadorian Embassy into a van and off to preventive custody, and hours later he was convicted to 50 weeks on a phony charge for jumping bail. What can be said – is not better said than by Paul Craig Roberts, “If the world stands for the US / UK / Swedish judicial murder of an innocent man, the world does not deserve to exist another second.” – Amen.

[gamerszone2019-blog]

What Cyberpunk Red Can Teach Us About 2077: Johnny Silverhand, 4th Corporate War, And More

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/what-cyberpunk-red-can-teach-us-about-2077-johnny-silverhand-4th-corporate-war-and-more/

What Cyberpunk Red Can Teach Us About 2077: Johnny Silverhand, 4th Corporate War, And More

Cyberpunk 2077 can’t come soon enough. After years of waiting, the highly-anticipated first-person action-RPG’s release date was confirmed for April 16, 2020, at E3 2019. While that’s still a little while away, we’re fortunate in that he fine people at R. Talsorian Games have released the jump start kit for Cyberpunk Red–the latest edition of the tabletop RPG franchise that Cyberpunk 2077 is based on called Cyberpunk 2020.

Cyberpunk Red acts as a sequel to Cyberpunk 2020. It’s set in-between the events of the tabletop original and the upcoming game. If you do the math that’s 57 years unaccounted for, so that’s a lot of new details about the Cyberpunk universe being revealed here.

Below you can find all the biggest new lore, history, and character tidbits. You’re welcome to watch the video version above.

Table of Contents [hide]

Story Background

Before we really dig into Red, let’s dive into a bit of background from the Cyberpunk 2020 creator himself, Mike Pondsmith. In a previous interview we conducted with the famed creator, he described Cyberpunk’s world as such:

Cyberpunk 2077 is based in the world of tabletop RPG, Cyberpunk 2020.

“The 2020 world is a fusion of many types and elements of the overall genre. And it’s about a combination of technology gone wrong but being used by people in novel ways up against large megacorporations, powerful people, and powerful forces, governments, etc that are all conspiring to keep people oppressed and stomped on.”

While you can create any sort of Cyberpunk city or setting you’d like in the tabletop RPG, the books and the upcoming game focus on Night City, an urban sprawl between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

As Pondsmith said, corporations (are mostly) calling all the shots and doing what they can to keep the people oppressed. While governments still exist, they rarely pose much of a threat to the corporate overlords.

The lack of government regulation has left the megacorporations free to start conflicts on a whim with little repercussions. These wars have been dubbed the “Corporate Wars,” and typically end in lots of bloodshed.

The 4th Corporate War

Cyberpunk Red takes place in 2045 after the Fourth Corporate War, a bloody conflict started in 2021 by Aquacorps CINO and OTEC and later escalated by Militech and Arasaka. As different corporations aligned with either Arasaka or Militech, an all-out war was waged between different corporations across the planet. The megacorps rolled through countries, broke international laws, and hired private armies to do their bidding.

The 4th corporate war inevitably ended with the death of over half a million people.

In an attempt to put an end to the war, Johnny Silverhand aka Keanu Reeves and the Solo (hit-man) Morgan Blackhand led an attack on the Arasaka headquarters in Night City. During the raid, a small nuclear bomb was detonated and leveled most of Night City, killing over half a million people. Despite knowing that the bomb was supplied by Militech, the US president put the blame on Arasaka and nationalized Militech. The increased pressure reduced Arasaka to a Japan-only corporation for the next ten years.

Due to the combined efforts of Miltech and national armies, the 4th Corporate War was put to an end.

Welcome to the Time of the Red

The end of the 4th Corporate War ushered in the Time of the Red. So why is it called Cyberpunk Red? Well due to the mass destruction and radiation from the 4th Corporate War, a “red pall hangs over the skies worldwide.” However, the radiation isn’t that big of a threat because most people living in this universe already had radiation filters installed in their bodies.

Cyberpunk Red is named after the red skies that filled the world after the nuclear destruction at the end of the 4th corporate war.

With major cities in shambles, people have been reclaiming the once-abandoned towns and settlements throughout the country. As you’d expect, bandits and other questionable types roam the wilds. Most people who venture beyond the cities stick with armed nomad caravans.

Meanwhile, in 2030, sweeping reconstruction projects take place across the world. Especially in Night City which had its city center leveled. However, in the interim, the city outskirts and districts less affected by the bomb have become overcrowded.

By 2045 the first Mega Building is erected. These are huge buildings designed to safely house as many people as possible. V’s apartment in the 2077 gameplay reveal demo is located in a Mega Building. As the narrator says in the video, these apartment buildings have everything one could possibly need and typically form micro-societies within Night City.

In 2045, Night City’s NCART subway system has also seen better days. While it’s still functional, flooding is a common occurrence and it gets delayed frequently. According to Red’s world book, “City planners are working to raise a majority of the track into a new monorail configuration, but that will take time and money the city doesn’t have.” Something tells us this monorail system will be completed by the time 2077 rolls around.

The NET

To kick off this new era, the NET as we know it, or rather as we’d know it from Cyberpunk 2020, has been wiped out. Originally you were able to travel the world and into space via the NET, but the infrastructure that allowed for that kind of freedom had been destroyed. After the 4th Corporate War, Netrunners had to physically jack in to local networks if they wanted access.

The Time of the Red introduced city-wide networks called DataPools.

Based on what we’ve seen of Cyberpunk 2077, We’d imagine this localized NET infrastructure is still present in the 2070s. As we saw in the 48-minute gameplay reveal, once V jacked into the Maelstrom gang’s network, she had access to the entire hideout.

However, in the Time of the Red, Netrunners had to own a set of fancy VR goggles called Cyberdecks if they wanted to jack in to a network. Based on what we’ve seen of Cyberpunk 2077, either you don’t need a cyberdeck to hack or they aren’t nearly as bulky as what’s described in Red.

Along with a series of localized networks, the Time of the Red introduced city-wide networks called DataPools. These can be accessed in one of two ways: Through a Data Term or cell phone-like device called an Agent. From what we can tell, local networks rarely interface with these DataPools.

Data Pools are essentially the internet if it was localized to a city. You can message people, share information, buy stuff, and research things, i.e. Facebook, forums, Amazon, and Wikipedia would all exist within the Data Pool. It’s also home to something called PopMedia, which is described as an “entertainment and news programming created by independent producers instead of MegaCorps.” According to the world book, it also boasts an “ungodly amount of trash.”

Chances are, your primary communication device in Cyberpunk 2077 will be your Agent. In Cyberpunk Red, Agents come in three forms: Basic, Expensive, and Luxury. Agents can do pretty much anything a modern phone can do. Though, it is possible to reprogram an agent to act as a surrogate lover and purchase other complementary cybernetic enhancements to suit various needs…This sounds like a Cyberpunk 2077 sidequest waiting to be written.

Living in Red

Life in the Time of the Red can be difficult. Wars break out over fresh food so most people’s diets consist of Kibble and other synthetic foods. Even then, those meals aren’t always cheap. It’s hard to say what meals will look like in 2077, but considering Night City seems to be a bit more stable in CD Projekt Red’s RPG, we bet the food options will be a bit more diverse. After all, we do see someone eating with chopsticks in the reveal trailer. However, it’s still unclear if you will need to manage your hunger or if it’s just a means to recoup a bit of health like in The Witcher 3.

With the public transportation system constantly on the fritz, cars were your most reliable way of getting around during the Time of the Red. And while fancy cybercars did exist, they were expensive and hard to drive unless you were cybered up. Fortunately, good old fuel-burning cars are still kicking during Red.

The AV-4 is described as “the closest thing to a science fiction jet-car.” One of these popped up in Cyberpunk 2077’s debut gameplay.

While cybercars might be rare, Cyberbikes aren’t. These things can run off alcohol or water and are definitely present in 2077. In fact, during this year’s behind closed doors demo at E3 we got a glimpse of V riding a Yaiba-Kusanagi cyberbike.

Two other vehicles Cyberpunk Red mentions are the F-152 Aerogyro, which is basically a one-man helicopter, and the McDonnell Douglas AV-4. The AV-4 is described as “the closest thing to a science fiction jet-car.” These can reach speeds of 350 miles an hour and are typically reserved for corporate big-wigs and trauma teams. We’d say that the aircraft we see at the beginning of the gameplay reveal is one of these. Considering CD Projekt Red has said that you probably won’t be able to pilot flying cars or vehicles, we think it’s safe to say that transportation technology won’t make too many advancements before 2077. However, we bet we’ll see more cybercars.

And of course, one of the most important things for any cyberpunk is their style. CD Projekt Red released a series of images teasing some of the various styles. However, clothing does more for a cyberpunk than net them clout on the street. Depending on how much you’re willing to spend you can find jackets with built-in portable chargers, clothing that adjusts to the temperature, bodysuits that can change colors and textures, and undershirts that can harden into body armor. Hopefully, when 2077 comes out you’ll be able to give your netrunning ninja assassin a bodysuit that lets her cloak herself as she breaks into a corporate headquarters.

The People of Red

But what about Johnny Silverhand and Morgan Blackhand? Well, they should be dead. But if you’ve seen the E3 2019 trailer, it’s clear that Johnny is alive…at least in some form.

According to the Cyberpunk Red timeline, there are rumors that Johnny Silverhand’s body was found in cold storage in a body bank under the wreckage. This is just wild speculation but we hope you get to recover Johnny Silverhand’s body at some point during 2077.

Is Johnny Silverhand still alive in Cyberpunk 2077?

Morgan Blackhand, on the other hand, is rumored to be covertly working for President Kress and the US Government. We’re not sure exactly how could play a role in 2077, but based on the gameplay reveal you can pick Morgan Blackhand to be one of your character’s role models.

Source : Gamesport

[deniscollins]

An Overloaded Ferry Flipped and Drowned Hundreds of Schoolchildren. Could It Happen Again?

If you were an employee of cargo-handling company or truck driver, what would you do if you knew employees of other cargo handling companies lied about the weight of their cargo, increasing the likelihood of a cargo ship sinking: (1) remain quiet, (2) inform federal regulators, (3) something else, if so, what? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision? 

The promises came too late for the overloaded South Korean ferry, too late for the 250 students who drowned when it capsized on a school trip to a resort island.

All South Koreans could do was watch, heartbroken, the desperate videos from students sending last messages to their families as cold waves filled the ship. “Mom, Dad, I love you,” one boy said in a video recovered from a phone.

But as a stunned nation took stock after the Sewol ferry disaster, people hoped it might not be too late to make sure this could never happen again: Officials had promised to finally take on a national culture that often puts profit over people.

Now, five years later, the ships ferrying thousands of South Korean commuters and travelers every day are still vulnerable to cheating and corruption. The Times visited two major ports, interviewed inspectors and Coast Guard officials, and spoke with maritime safety experts. This is what we found:

Officials have worked hard to improve maritime safety, adopting new regulations and tougher penalties for people who violate them.

But rule breaking appears widespread, with the government making limited headway against an industry in which safety is still often an afterthought.

Crucial new measures to prevent ships from being overloaded are often sidestepped. The Coast Guard has uncovered cheating at almost every step of the cargo-weighing process.

The government itself has declined to require changes at ports that experts say would dramatically increase safety by making it easier to catch cargo cheaters. Officials rejected the fixes as too costly.

One maritime safety expert put it bluntly: “They haven’t learned the lessons of the Sewol disaster after all the sadness and national trauma.

THE PROBLEM

A Culture of Venality

The Sewol sank because of greed.

Renovations by the owner, and approved by regulators, made the ferry more profitable, but also dangerous. Extra berths made the ship so top-heavy that dockworkers said it would lurch badly when loading or unloading.

On the day the ferry sank, April 16, 2014, shippers had loaded twice the legal limit of cargo on its decks. Not only did the ship’s crew lie about the total weight of its cargo, crew members failed to properly secure the cars, trucks and shipping containers to the decks. Some were tied down with ropes, instead of chains — or not secured at all.

Corrupt regulators, bought off by fancy dinners and travel, allowed the unsafe ship to sail. Had inspectors taken the time to board the vessel, it would have been hard to miss how grossly overburdened it was.

The cheating at every level created a perfect storm. When the Sewol made a sharp turn while fighting a strong current, the badly balanced ferry began to keel over. The poorly secured cargo started sliding across the decks, forcing the ferry further onto its side.

The ship soon capsized. More than 300 people were killed. Only 172 passengers made it off alive.

The disaster enraged, and traumatized, the nation. The country’s leaders vowed to write new laws and rules to improve safety at sea, and to do battle with the culture of corruption that courses through the country’s companies and safety agencies.

“I will make sure that all this sacrifice was not for nothing by removing the layer after layer of corruption that has accumulated over the years, and by making South Korea a safe country,” vowed the president at the time, Park Geun-hye.

WHAT WE FOUND

Improvements, but Wrongdoing Goes On

The government lived up to its promises to pass new laws and rules that cover everything from how thorough inspections need to be, to the maximum age of ferries, to the training of crews to better deal with emergencies on the high seas.

The penalties for lawbreakers have been stiffened, and prosecutors have cracked down hard when violators are caught.

What has proved much harder to fix is the pursuit of profit at all cost and an often casual disregard for safety — problems that have long been blamed in South Korea not only for shipping disasters but also for building collapses and hospital fires.

Maritime investigators continue to find pervasive wrongdoing, especially by the employees of cargo-handling companies and by truck drivers who lie about the weight of their cargo.

“We have made a lot of changes and improvement since the Sewol incident,” said Park Han-seon, who coordinates research on maritime safety at the Korea Maritime Institute. “But what the country still needs is a safety culture where business managers put safety before profit.”

And while the government has taken aim at business practices, victims’ families have accused it of failing to set its sights on officials’ own culpability in the ferry disaster. The families are angry that senior government officials did not end up in jail, especially for the botched rescue effort.

The Coast Guard was both late to the scene and woefully unprepared to help when it finally got there.

In April, the families called on the authorities to investigate former top officials, accusing them of failing to order an evacuation of the passengers in the early hours of the disaster and over accusations that they conspired to impede investigations.

“We know who killed our children, but we are not able to punish them,” said Jang Hoon, who lost his 17-year-old son.

Mr. Jang believes the country will become safer only if top officials realize they can be held criminally accountable for their actions.

WHAT WE FOUND

Cheating at Every Step

If the Sewol had not been so grossly overloaded, experts say it most likely would have made it to its destination, Jeju Island, off the southern coast.

As part of the flurry of new regulations, truckers are now required to have their cargo weighed at government-licensed stations. The problem is that some shippers and truck drivers have already found ways to evade this safeguard.

On Jeju Island, officials have found cheating at almost every step in the cargo-weighing process. Last year, the Coast Guard covertly watched trucks going into Jeju Harbor for two weeks. It found 21 drivers who it said illegally added more cargo near the harbor without returning to a weigh station in order to save time and money.

But the truckers were not the only ones flouting the law.

The Coast Guard also found that officials at two government-licensed weighing stations had issued certificates to at least four drivers without even weighing their trucks. And in 2017, Coast Guard investigators found that a cargo-handling company official had fabricated more than 1,400 weight certificates.

Despite the alarming findings, Coast Guard officials said there was no ongoing investigation into weight cheating on Jeju Island ferries. The agency, they said, does not have enough investigators.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries told The Times it was fighting the cheating by conducting random checks on trucks going onto ships in major ports. Last year, the ministry reported, the spot checks of 117 randomly selected trucks using mobile measuring equipment found no cheaters.

But the limited scale of such checks, along with the Coast Guard’s troubling findings on Jeju, raise disturbing questions on how widespread, and dangerous, cargo weight-cheating might be.

Im Nam-kyun, a professor at Mokpo National Maritime University in South Korea, said that a few truckers lying about their cargo might not make a vessel overloaded, but that cheating was risky.

“What if many trucks cheat on their cargo at the same time and the extra cargo is loaded on an upper deck?” Mr. Im said. “What if the ship is hit suddenly with high waves and its cargo happens to slide? Problems that won’t normally cause trouble can combine to make a ship capsize in an extraordinary situation.”

The ample evidence of cargo cheating found in even limited investigations “is proof that South Korea remains insensitive to safety,” he added, calling on the Coast Guard and inspectors to carry out random spot checks more often. “What they are doing right now amounts to little more than window-dressing.”

WHAT WE FOUND

Improved Inspections. Ignored Recommendations.

In the wake of the Sewol disaster, it became clear that South Korea faced two major problems with inspectors.

One was a glaring conflict of interest: Inspectors were paid by the Korea Shipping Association, a lobbying group. Inspectors reported feeling pressured to turn a blind eye to safety problems or risk being reassigned to distant ports.

In addition, the rules governing inspections were so lax that many inspectors simply eyeballed ships from shore to see if they were overloaded, a practice that left them vulnerable to being fooled. That’s what happened with the Sewol: Most of its ballast water — which would have helped balance the ship — had been drained so that it wouldn’t appear to sit too low in the water to inspectors on shore.

Inspectors now work for a company overseen by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and are required to board ferries to check their seaworthiness. During recent visits to Jeju and Incheon, a port west of Seoul, The Times witnessed inspectors doing just that, sometimes when they did not know they were being observed.

“Before the Sewol incident, we were not required by law to visit the ship for inspection,” said Jeong Han-gu, who supervises inspectors at that port in Incheon. “Even if we wanted to, we often didn’t have the manpower or the time to do it.”

The government has also increased the number of inspectors to 142 from 73, and inspectors say they feel much freer to cite shippers for safety violations. In 2015, the Oceans Ministry added another layer of safety by dispatching maritime supervisors to ports to oversee the on-site inspectors.

But on the critical issue of cargo cheating, even an army of honest inspectors would be hamstrung by the fact that they do not have equipment to independently weigh trucks right before loading.

In the months after the Sewol’s sinking, safety experts advised installing that equipment at the docks. But the government dismissed the recommendation because of the cost, lack of space and the fear of slowing down loading.

And despite the improvements that have been made, corruption still appears to be leading to deaths on South Korean ships.

Three years after the Sewol sank, a South Korean-owned cargo ship, the Stellar Daisy, went down after reporting flooding in a cargo compartment. Only two of its 24 sailors were saved. Prosecutors recently indicted six officials of the ship operator, saying they ignored severe corrosion to save their company money. They also indicted an official with the government-licensed inspection company that performed a structural check, saying he did not adequately inspect the ship.

What company did the inspection? The same one that gave the risky renovations on the Sewol passing grades.

The Takeaway: Changing laws is a lot easier than changing culture.

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

The completion of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election was widely portrayed as a turning point in Trump’s presidency. But so far it’s had little effect on his approval rating.

As of Monday night, Trump’s approval rating was 42.1 percent and his disapproval rating was 52.8 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight’s approval rating tracker, which is based on data all publicly-available polls. Those numbers are little changed from where they were – 41.9 percent approval and 52.9 percent disapproval – on Saturday, March 23, the day before Attorney General William Barr issued a four-page letter on the Mueller report to Congress. (The Mueller report itself has not yet been released to the public or to Congress, although Barr has pledged to release a redacted version of it by mid-April.)

Trump’s approval rating is little changed since the Barr letter

Trump approval and disapproval ratings in FiveThirtyEight polling average

Date Event Approve Disapprove March 1 Start of last month 42.0% 53.3% March 21 Day before Mueller report filed to Barr 41.6 53.1 March 23 Day before Barr letter released 41.9 52.9 April 1 Current 42.1 52.8

While I’d urge a little bit of caution on these numbers – sometimes there’s a lag before a news event is fully reflected in the polls – there’s actually been quite a bit of polling since Barr’s letter came out, including polls from high-quality organizations such as Marist College, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, Quinnipiac University and the Pew Research Center which were conducted wholly or partially after the Barr letter was published. Some of these polls showed slight improvements in Trump’s approval rating, but others showed slight declines. Unless you’re willing to do a lot of cherry-picking, there just isn’t anything to make the case that much has changed.

In writing about the Barr letter just after it came out, I ducked making any sort of prediction about its effect on Trump’s numbers, saying it might or might not approve his approval ratings. Truth be told, if I were forced to put money on one side or another, I’d probably have expected them to improve by more than a few tenths of a percentage point.

With the benefit of hindsight, though, maybe this shouldn’t have been any sort of surprise. There are at least six reasons for why you might not have expected to see much of a change in Trump’s numbers. Here they are – note that these aren’t mutually exclusive and aren’t listed in any particular order of importance.

Reason No. 1: The Muller report itself hasn’t been released, so voters are reserving judgment.

Let’s start with the obvious. In every poll, overwhelming majorities of the public — typically on the order of 80 percent — think the entire Mueller report should be released for public consumption. Relatedly, most voters don’t think that the four-page letter that Barr published is an adequate substitute: A Washington Post-Schar School poll found that just 28 percent of the public thought Barr had released enough material against 57 percent who thought he hadn’t.

Reason No. 2: Trump’s approval ratings have been bound within an extremely narrow range, so this is par for the course.

As my colleague Geoffrey Skelley pointed out last week, the range of approval ratings for Trump has been exceptionally narrow. Excluding the first week of his presidency when there weren’t many polls to choose from, his approval rating has never been higher than 44.8 percent or lower than 36.4 percent in our average. Major news events such as Trump’s decision to fire FBI director James Comey in May 2017 and the government shutdown in December 2018 and January 2019 have moved his numbers, but only by 2 or 3 percentage points at a time. Other stories that were the subject of extensive news coverage, such as Trump’s reaction to the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August, 2017, had little discernible effect on his ratings.

A lot of this is because of extremely high partisanship. If the overwhelming majority of Democrats disapprove of Trump’s performance no matter what and the overwhelming majority of Republicans approve of it no matter what, there isn’t much room for his numbers to swing around. But it may also be because Trump generates so much news that voters already have a lot to weigh. One additional story — even one that voters paid quite a bit of attention to1 — isn’t likely to tip the scales that much.

Reason No. 3: Voters don’t necessarily see the Mueller report as exonerating Trump.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that only 29 percent of Americans — mostly Republicans — thought that “information available so far from the Mueller report” cleared Trump of “wrongdoing.” Meanwhile, 40 percent of Americans said it did not clear Trump, while 31 percent weren’t sure.

That ambivalence seems appropriate given the scant and somewhat confusing details available to the public so far. One of the few direct quotes from the Mueller report in Barr’s letter said that the investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” But another directly quoted passage, apparently referring to whether Trump obstructed justice, said that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

Other polls have tried to tease out a distinction between whether Trump was cleared of colluding with the Russian government, and whether he was cleared of obstructing justice. They found a slightly larger shift in public opinion on the collusion question — something consistent with the sections of the Mueller report that Barr cited, which gave Trump a cleaner bill of health on collusion than obstruction. At the same time, there are lots of ambiguities that the public has to wrestle with, such as whether Mueller’s finding that he “did not establish” that the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia is the same thing as clearing Trump, especially given the variety of previous reporting on alleged ties between Russia and associates of the Trump campaign.

It’s also possible — indeed, inevitable — that some voters are reacting in a partisan way. That is to say, Democrats are reluctant to revisit their priors on collusion (and Republicans on the possibility of obstruction). Nonetheless, taken in the aggregate, the public’s measured response seems fairly appropriate given what is known (not that much) about the Mueller report so far.

Reason No. 4: The public’s expectations for Mueller’s findings were modest, and consistent with what they’ve learned so far.

People don’t like to admit they’ve changed their minds to pollsters, so what were the public’s expectations for the Mueller report before it was filed?

There are several polls that asked voters about their expectations; unfortunately, none of them are all that recent, and they have somewhat inconsistent findings:

A HarrisX poll in September 2018 found that 39 percent of voters thought Mueller had “uncovered evidence of the Trump campaign colluding with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign,” compared with 36 percent who did not and 25 percent who were not sure.

A Suffolk University poll in December 2018 had 46 percent of the public saying that “Trump associates” had definitely colluded with Russia in 2016, compared with 29 percent who said definitely not and 19 percent who were not sure.

A Quinnipiac poll in July 2018 found that 39 percent of voters thought Trump had colluded with Russia as compared to 48 percent who did not. On a separate question about whether the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia, 46 percent said yes and 44 percent said no.

There are some wording differences in these polls — and only the HarrisX poll asked about the Mueller report’s findings specifically. Still, taken as a whole they reveal a fair amount of ambivalence and uncertainty about where Mueller would land. The data doesn’t particularly square with the idea, popular in critiques of how the media covered the Russia story, that there was a single dominant media narrative about Trump and Russia.

Reason No. 5: The Russia investigation isn’t a big priority for voters.

In addition to not seeing the Barr letter as hugely informative, most of the public didn’t care that much about Russia in the first place. A Gallup poll taken in October 2018 in advance of the midterms found that the Russia investigation ranked last in importance among 12 issues that Gallup asked about, with 45 percent of voters saying it was very important or extremely important to their vote for Congress. By comparison, 80 percent of voters said that about health care, the top-ranked issue.

Views on the importance of Russiagate were highly partisan: 66 percent of Democrats2said it was very or extremely important, as compared to just 19 percent of Republicans.3 That helps to explain why Russia got so much coverage on MSNBC and CNN, which have largely Democratic audiences. At the same time, if (a) only partisan Democrats cared very much about Russia and (b) those Democrats have plenty of other reasons to dislike Trump anyway and (c) they aren’t likely to be persuaded by the Barr letter besides that, you can see why the end of the investigation hasn’t moved the needle much in terms of Trump’s overall approval.

Reason No. 6: The public largely doesn’t trust the White House on Russia, and the White House’s attempts at spin may have backfired.

Given that the mainstream media headlines were initially quite favorable for Trump, it could have been a moment for the White House to demonstrate more magnanimity than usual, and to improve trust by appearing eager for the release of the full Mueller report.

Instead, as is often the case, the White House’s strategy in the wake of the Barr letter seemed largely aimed at pleasing their base and dunking on Democrats rather than winning over swing voters. Trump claimed that he’d had a “complete and total EXONERATION” when the quoted sections of the Mueller report explicitly did not exonerate him from obstruction claims. He and Republicans were sometimes cagey about how much of the Mueller report should be released, with Trump at one point seeming to suggest that the White House might as well not bother to release the Mueller report since Democrats wouldn’t believe it anyway. All of this came against a background where, according to a Suffolk University poll conducted last month before the Mueller report was filed, only 30 percent of the public had a lot of trust in Trump’s denial about collusion, as compared to 52 percent who had little or none.

And as we discussed on our podcast this week, the White House also picked some odd, unpopular issues to pivot toward. Another White House-led attempt to repeal Obamacare could be a political gift to Democrats, who won 75-23 in last November’s midterms among the 41 percent of voters who ranked health care as their top issue. The White House even found itself embroiled in a controversy about its proposed budget that would cut federal funding for the Special Olympics, the sort of thing that would sound like an April Fool’s Day joke if it wasn’t real.

Trump can still breathe a huge sigh of relief that the indictments are apparently finished, and that the Mueller report4 didn’t conclude that he’d colluded with Russia. As I wrote last month, that removes a considerable amount of downside risk from Trump’s portfolio. But he also hasn’t realized very much political upside from the investigation’s end so far.

[bountyofbeads]

If Trump Were Tony Soprano… https://nyti.ms/2Ht45vA

Excellent take on the dopler gang of characters that is so outrageous that it would be turned down in Hollywood. #LockHimUp #LockThemAllUp #TheResistance #TrumpCrimeFamily #TrumpCrimeSyndicate #Mueller

If Trump Were Tony Soprano…

The gang that couldn’t conspire straight.

By Gail Collins | Opinion Columnist, New York Times | Published Jan. 25, 2019 |

Posted January 27, 2019 |

EXCERPT 👉👉Moving on. The biggest news in the Mueller indictment was its charge that somebody told “a senior Trump campaign official” to contact Stone about any “damaging information” that WikiLeaks might have about the Clinton campaign. And that Stone reported back about stuff that just might be coming out in the near future.

Who do you think that Somebody could be? A person with receding hair and a taste for ultralong ties who recently kept the government shut for more than a month for no good reason whatsoever? Your guess is as good as mine.

And which senior campaign official do you think Somebody told to contact Stone? The former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, since convicted of financial fraud? Former campaign adviser Rick Gates, who pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I.? Former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, formerly in prison for lying to the F.B.I.?

How about lawyer Michael Cohen, now sentenced to three years in prison for lying to Congress? If Trump and the gang were a Sopranos remake, Cohen would be “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero, who turned on Tony after being busted himself.

Really, there’s so much talent there, it could have been anybody.

Stone and Trump go way back. They were introduced about 40 years ago by their good mutual friend Roy Cohn, the guy who gave us the McCarthy witch hunts. Trump still burbles about how great Cohn was. And he enthused to a documentary interviewer that Stone is “a quality guy” who “always wanted me to run for president.”

Can’t get a better recommendation than that. Stone has a talent for identifying presidential talent — he’s got a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back. He was partners with Paul Manafort in a Washington lobbying firm that specialized in representing the most terrible dictators on the planet. If you had a million dollars, a need for support from the United States government and a small problem with torture, rape and terrorism, these were the guys to see.

(A third partner, Charlie Black, said that when reporters called him to ask if Stone was the connection between the Trump campaign and Russia, he replied, “With all due respect, Roger couldn’t find Russia on a map.” As always, when we’re considering possible crimes committed during the 2016 campaign, the best defense of Trump and his associates is that they were too dumb to be capable of plotting.)

“I’m proud of the job I did at Black Manafort and Stone because I made a lot of money,” Stone told those documentarians, getting right to the point.

Stone’s political career almost came to a crashing end in 1996 when he ran into a scandal that forced him to resign from the Bob Dole campaign. (The candidate was touchy about headlines like “Top Dole Aide Caught in Group Sex Ring.”) Stone blamed the story on a lying, disgruntled former employee. Later, he admitted that it was true, and explained that he needed to deny it because “my grandparents were still alive.”

But no matter, he would go on triumphantly to organize a wild protest that stopped the recount of votes after the Gore-Bush election in Florida. Or maybe not. Stone bragged that he was the guy who staged one of the most spectacular assaults on the democratic process in recent history, but there was competition for the title.

And then on to Donald Trump. He and Stone had worked on his political career for ages. (Although Stone doesn’t take credit for Trump’s Obama birther campaign, he’s said that he didn’t discourage the idea.) The two men parted company in 2015 — Stone claimed he’d quit because he was dismayed by Trump’s “provocative media fights.”

But then next thing you know we’re in 2016, and they’re pals again. Those Clinton campaign emails are stolen and released. According to Stone’s indictment: A “high-ranking Trump campaign official sent a text message to Stone that read ‘well done.’”

That would be a memorable moment. Not often when “well done” comes up in connection with the Trump crew.

How about lawyer Michael Cohen, now sentenced to three years in prison for lying to Congress? If Trump and the gang were a Sopranos remake, Cohen would be “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero, who turned on Tony after being busted himself.

Really, there’s so much talent there, it could have been anybody.

Stone and Trump go way back. They were introduced about 40 years ago by their good mutual friend Roy Cohn, the guy who gave us the McCarthy witch hunts. Trump still burbles about how great Cohn was. And he enthused to a documentary interviewer that Stone is “a quality guy” who “always wanted me to run for president.”

Thoughts from the public :

“It’s my mess. All my choices were wrong.” —Tony Soprano Trump won’t come to this conclusion until it’s much too late."NA of NYC

"What self-respecting criminal uses a middleman with a fluffy therapy dog? Perhaps Mr Stone is aiming for an insanity plea."

Common Sense Advocate of CT

"And Reagan, the subject of fawning adoration by folks of different political stripes, like some writers at this paper, who brush aside the union busting of the PATCO air traffic controllers, and Washington's airport is named after him. To be sure I am not the first to point out that Reagan was another celebrity politician much like Trump but I will remind you of that fact. Will Trump be venerated sometime in the future like Reagan (Iran Contra , rule of law issues)is today. The main difference is now incompetence, get Gov't off our back ,dismantling of Gov't agencies and double dealing deceit is in plain sight. We sure do love us some TV star politicians, a recipe for ... well now it's even more scary than it was then, the bombing starts ten minutes. Deja Vu all over again."

John Mc of FLA

"We the people are restless with all this mess, but Robert Mueller is steadfast. That in itself is a lesson to be taken seriously." MIMA of Ny

"If Trump was Tony Soprano ... with his talent for picking great lawyers like Cohen and Guiliani he'd be serving so much time in prison that his ridiculous ties might be in fashion by the time he got out. The sad truth is that the only reason a career white collar criminal like Trump isn't serving time is because in this country we rarely bother to investigate financial crimes and when we do, the punishment usually just a slap on the wrist (See Trump University). One fun example: A few NYT reporters without subpoena power were able to reconstruct years of tax fraud by Fred and Donald Trump just by looking and not a single person was surprised that (a) they did it and (b) it was easy to uncover. Put another way, if Tony Soprano had Trump's "talents" he would have been whacked by episode 3 in the first season. "LT of Chicago

"The Republicans haven't changed since the Nixon era. They've just learned how to do their dirty tricks so that it's much harder to get them. We as a country have to wake up." Nova yos Galen of CA

"Thank God Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner are still alive. There is no doubt that they could write and produce a movie and Broadway version of this story. Kind of a political version of "Blazing Saddles" crossed with "The Producers. It is all laughable until you remind yourself that this buffoon is the POTUS and that he is surrounded by a cast of characters that rival those around Tony Soprano. The next election cannot come soon enough." Judy of Canada

"One is the company they keep. Trump's associates have proven to be criminals, traitors, liars and all-around sleaze. The indictments and prosecutions of so many who helped get Trump to the White House dispels any sense that he ever was 'cthe candidate of law and order.' Even now, as Trump trash-talks Michael Cohen and his family, it raises an obvious question about why Trump was close to him for so long. "NM of NY

"Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Lee Atwater. Carl Rove. These guys are the heart and soul of today’s Republican Party. How can decent people be Republicans?" Pat Choate of AZ

"It used to be with these types of characters that everything was done behind closed doors, with hushed tones and away from the spotlight. The media was shunned at all costs. Now with this new breed, they LOVE the spotlight, and treat any media as a tool to promote a certain image or message. They deny, deny, deny of any involvement whatsoever and then go on the attack against anyone that says otherwise. Then the next stage is to obfuscate and change the message. If they are caught and indicted, then the lawyer speak comes out. They split hairs and parse every word, verb and adjective. What they were doing was not what they were charged with precisely. What they said was not what they charged with precisely. They play the game right up to the point that the judge or jury decides that aye, they did say what they were charged with, and aye, they did do what they were charged with. Mueller is disregarding all of the flamboyant acts and sound bites, and just doing his job. - following the law wherever it may lead. Today it lead to Mr. Stone." Funky Irishman of Atlanta

"The criminal behavior of Nixon and the thuggery of Joe McCarthy are alive and well in the persona of Roger Stone and his compatriot, and fellow traveler, Donald Trump. Both are excellent examples of the rot and treason that permeates the GOP. 76 indictments under Nixon, 26 under Reagan, 16 under George W and now 18 under Trump and growing. Quite a record. How many indictments under Obama? Zero." LVG of Atlanta

"Just think what Trump voters will tell their children and grandchildren in future years: "Johnny and Susie, I want you to know that we were proud to cast a ballot for the most criminal Presidency in the history of the United States; there were more indictments, convictions and basic lawbreaking in the Trump Administration than in any other Administration before or since." "Now it wasn't easy listening to all those guilty verdicts, but all those Trump criminals were fighting for great causes...white supremacy, oligarchy, kakistocracy, theocracy, voter suppression...all the things that Make America Great." "You have to remember that those were different times in America...what with all those 'Mexican rapists' and other imaginary bogeymen being force-fed to us by Archbishop Hannity, Cardinal Limbaugh and Sister Coulter...fear and loathing was sweeping 40% of the country...the other 60% of the nation was perfectly fine relaxing and enjoying evolution, tolerance and modernity...all clear signs of the Devil." "Donald Trump and his felonious staff were trying to protect us...so we didn't mind that that our democracy was privatized and subcontracted to Russian security services...who understood security better than the Kremlin, right ?" "Anyway, Donald's heart was always in the right place, and we're proud of all he accomplished for us...even though he, his campaign staff and his son had to go to federal prison for treason, conspiracy and fraud." "We'll always love Trump" Sad." Socrates of NJ

"You can almost feel the slimy tentacles of all the players in this president’s game, slithering into every crack and crevice, reaching across continents and into deep pockets, groping with the same gusto and foul delight as the president might with some aspiring ingénue. Shutting down the government can be viewed in two ways. It can be the heartless ploy of a petty, ego-driven megalomaniac, heedlessly throwing people out of work just to squeeze the Democrats. He didn’t expect Nancy Pelosi to squeeze back, or have any idea just where she’d squeeze. It can also be viewed as the end of the president’s party, if not his entire Party. This administration has a reek about it. Kennedy called to mind Camelot. With this president, it’s more of a camel lot. So if you’re tempted to tour the ruins in the future, watch where your step. But you can feel that the end is near. You can see why it’s taken so long for Mueller to piece together the workings of this criminal enterprise. And, just like the end of the Sopranos, you can begin to imagine that with no warning, with no fanfare and with no possibility of a remake, the screen will just go black."

Gemli of Boston