#Asian Boxing Confederation

[hartshorn-and-isinglass]

My Closet Is A Mess And Musings On A Union Samurai

I usually skip this episode on my rewatches because the sheer density of the chaos makes it too distracting to have on in the background, but I'm running out of Ghoul Boys content to keep me company through The Horrors of Cleaning, so rock n' roll buckaroo!

On a pedantic historical note, I should mention that there were quite a few more Asian Americans involved in the Civil War than Ryan assumes, both Union and Confederate. And not just Chinese, but Japanese, Indonesian, Filipino, and Thai immigrants. As ever, the anglicization of a lot of men's names obscures their nationalities unless it's explicitly mentioned in the same documents. Good luck figuring out that surnames like "Pierce", "Dardelle", or "Marshall" belong to Chinese dudes if no one bothers to mention it...

To boot, 'Asian' as a race didn't really exist back then, and a lot of East Asians, South-East Asians, and Pacific Islanders were awkwardly shoved into the boxes of "black", "white", or "mulatto" depending on how they were perceived in a given part of the U.S. If you're curious about how that played out, check out the paper "'Mulatto, Indian, Or What': The Racialization Of Chinese Soldiers And The American Civil War" by Angela He.

In other words, an Asian dude rolling up to a bunch of Confederates going "konichiwa motherfuckers, you murdered my family, now you're gonna die" is not as historically far-fetched as it seems. Even better, there's documentation of one probable samurai joining the 1st New York Cavalry so feel free to add Ryan on a horse with a sword to that scenario.

#buzzfeed unsolved #Asian American history #Ryan Bergara #american civil war #I'd kill to see Ryan & Shane go Confederate ghost-hunting with Atun-Shei #shout-out to the NPS for putting out all these great history resources BTW #the construction of east & west

[8bitbabii]

Things that annoy me (pt.4): Racists.

I don't understand people on the internet whose entire purpose is to reply or write hateful shit about black people. Imagine being so infatuated and obsessed over a race you supposedly hate. Imagine having that much hate in your heart that every time you wake up, you go online to talk about how much you hate us. It sounds like the opposite, sweetie. Sounds like someone is harboring insecurities that they're not ready to talk about.

I honestly don't get it.

I don't get racists in general. No one chooses to be born a certain skin color or "race". Imagine you're a white person and you go on about how much you hate black people, but then complain when black people speak about racism...??? What? A white man created the concept of "race" in the first place. Yet, you're mad because you hate it when black people address it? I promise you that black people do not think about white people as much as white people think about hating black people. And yet, somehow you're always in our business. Always coming in our spaces. Always looking at what we're involved in. And yet you hate us? Where's the logic in that?

These are the same people who will scream that they're not racist or that not all white people are racist, but then actively put black people into a collective box rather than seeing us as individual people.

Listen, just because some bum stole something or someone who happens to be black is doing something criminal doesn't reflect on me. I didn't do that shit and last I've checked, we're all our own people. So, why is it that you're awarded some level of individualism, but I'm not? Now, if I said every white person is a confederate flag toting, Hitler worshiping, skinhead racist then you would say I'm wrong (also, I would be a hypocrite because I am literally married to a white man who isn't like that).

If I generalized all Asians as being cat and dog eating human calculators, you would call me racist. But, it's okay to do it to me just because I'm black? I know a lot of these racist "accounts" are just engagement bots and that's why I don't even bother engaging with sites like Twitter because that's all it's filled with since Elon Musk bought it. The same man that whines about free speech suppresses any speech that doesn't follow a white supremacist/alt-right ideology. Who would've guessed?

But, a lot of these racists are real people who use the anonymity of the internet to spew hate speech and hateful ideologies because they don't face immediate repercussions for it. At the end of the day, we're literally all just people surviving on a fucking rock flying in space. The only reason why racists act the way they do is because it gives them purpose in their otherwise mundane and empty lives. It makes them feel better than someone or a group.

There are stupid people in EVERY race. It doesn't matter who you are. There are also a plethora of black people who are equally just as tired of crime regardless of race. Stop being so fucking closed-minded and grow up. Seriously.

#my post #ranting #rant post #ramblings #things that annoy me #tw racsim

[differentharmonycreation]

Bangladesh national football team

 The Bangladesh national football team is the accepted national football team of Bangladesh and is controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation and became a member of FIFA in 1974, admitting the Bangladesh Football Federation was no more hammered as far as 1972. Bangladesh was elected to the AFC Executive Committee in 1982–1986 and 1998–2002. The current Executive Committee was democratically named in accordance with every bill accepted by the AFC  and under every direct supervision of FIFA & AFC,  October 2020. Bangladesh's 

The national team debuted in 1973 and has yet to qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals. They were broken in the first round of their only Asian Cup appearance to date in 1980;  Bangladesh is one of two South Asian communities that certify The country's best results have abode at every South Asian matched where we won the 2003 SAFF Championship and were gold medalists at the 1999 South Asian Games. Bangladesh was one of the growing Asian clubs in the 1980s and early 1990s.  in the shadow of the country's national cricket team. This is primarily due to the under-allocation of commercial funds and a discrepancy in technical abilities[2][3] So far, football remains a popular sport in Bangladesh but cricket remains the most popular sport in the country. [4] 

Origins (1933–1972) Football. Thus, in 1933, in a cramped tin apartment in Paltan Maidan, Dhaka, the Dhaka Sporting Association, also known as  DSA, was established In the completed England's Islington Corinthians has well-traveled the world headlining their football in every country they have visited. On  November 22, 1937, the team well-traveled to Dhaka to meet DSA XI. Dhaka Bengals handed Corinthians their first beating as DSA XI defeated Corinthians 1-0 in their clash. Most of the players were students from Dhaka University. Thousands were captivated to see England lose on the pitch that day. As they left, the opposition acceptable beating by declaring: “I've heard a lot about the Bengal tiger!  I saw it aforementioned age“[5] 

The first instance of the Bangladesh national football team was the emergence of the Shadhin Bangla soccer business during the 1971 abolition battle They toured all up India and helped fund the acting authority of Bangladesh by altruistically all the prize money they earned by betraying appearance events during their circuit After Pakistan captured independence on  March 26, 1971, a de facto national team called every Dhaka XI was active the following year. Appeared in India's Bordoloi Trophy  (1973-1984)

Photo of Islington Corinthians and Dhaka XI  in 1937 

In the early 1930s East Bengal introduce many tournaments and it was conspicuous that the Bengalis were kind of better at football. Thus, in 1933, in a limited bucket box in Paltan Maidan, Dhaka, the Dhaka Sporting Association, also known as  DSA, was established In every former England's Islington Corinthians accept well-traveled the world headlining their football in every country they have visited. On  November 22, 1937, the team polished to Dhaka to meet DSA XI. Dhaka's  Bengals allow Corinthians their early loss as the DSA XI defeated Corinthians 1-0 in their boldest of the players were students against Dhaka University. Thousands were charmed to see England lose on the field that day. As we larboard, the opposition's allowable defeat by declaring: “I've heard a lot about the Bengal tiger! This time I saw it!"[5] 

The archetypal case of every Bangladesh national football team was the emergence of the Shadhin Bangla soccer business during the  Liberation War in 1971. They toured complete of bygone India and helped fund the provisional authority of Bangladesh by altruistic all the prize money they won playing show games during their circuit Following Pakistan's independence on  March 26, 1971, a de facto national team called the Dhaka XI was active the following year. The team won a much-anticipated home friendly against Mohun Bagan and also finished runners-up at the Bordoloi Trophy in India. 

Foundation (1973-1984) 

Bangladeshi Football Federation (BFF) was founded on 15 July 1972 by Md. Yousuf Ali, the country's former Minister of Education and Culture. The BFF became a representative of the AFC in 1973 and FIFA in 1976. The newly formed federation selected Dhaka XI administrator Sheikh Shaheb Ali as arch of the first official national club along with Zakaria Pintoo, who also already educated Shadhin Bangla's club at the liberation, was appointed captain. In July 1973, Bangladesh was invited to aid in the Merdeka Cup held in Malaysia with Pintoo in the  national team opening bill counting Shahidur Shantoo, Motaleb, Nannu, Nazir, Dilip Barua, 

Ashraf, Farukh, Abdul Hakim, Sharif, Md. Kaikobad , Enayetur Rahman, Kazi Salahuddin, Pratap, Sunil Krishna, Firoj and Nowsher.[11] 

On  July 26, 1973, the Bangladesh football team played its first aggressive game, defeating Thailand 2-2 in the Merdeka Cup.[12] Enayetur Rahman, along with second goalscorer Kazi Salahuddin, scored the country's first international goal. After a dilemma, the game ended in a penalty shootout in which Bangladesh lost 0–1. On  August 13, 1973, after compatible their tour of Malaysia, the team played a friendly bout in Singapore and entire their early win by defeating the hosts 1–1. 0, thanks to Nowsher's ambition In August 1975, Bangladesh was again invited to battle in the Merdeka Cup 

 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Players were declared around it all along their disconcerting contest

Bangladesh national football team

 The Bangladesh national football team is the accepted national football team of Bangladesh and is controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation and became a member of FIFA in 1974, admitting the Bangladesh Football Federation was no more hammered as far as 1972. Bangladesh was elected to the AFC Executive Committee in 1982–1986 and 1998–2002. The current Executive Committee was democratically named in accordance with every bill accepted by the AFC  and under every direct supervision of FIFA & AFC,  October 2020. Bangladesh's 

The national team debuted in 1973 and has yet to qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals. They were broken in the first round of their only Asian Cup appearance to date in 1980;  Bangladesh is one of two South Asian communities that certify The country's best results have abode at every South Asian matched where we won the 2003 SAFF Championship and were gold medalists at the 1999 South Asian Games. Bangladesh was one of the growing Asian clubs in the 1980s and early 1990s.  in the shadow of the country's national cricket team. This is primarily due to the under-allocation of commercial funds and a discrepancy in technical abilities[2][3] So far, football remains a popular sport in Bangladesh but cricket remains the most popular sport in the country. [4] 

Origins (1933–1972) Football. Thus, in 1933, in a cramped tin apartment in Paltan Maidan, Dhaka, the Dhaka Sporting Association, also known as  DSA, was established In the completed England's Islington Corinthians has well-traveled the world headlining their football in every country they have visited. On  November 22, 1937, the team well-traveled to Dhaka to meet DSA XI. Dhaka Bengals handed Corinthians their first beating as DSA XI defeated Corinthians 1-0 in their clash. Most of the players were students from Dhaka University. Thousands were captivated to see England lose on the pitch that day. As they left, the opposition acceptable beating by declaring: “I've heard a lot about the Bengal tiger!  I saw it aforementioned age“[5] 

The first instance of the Bangladesh national football team was the emergence of the Shadhin Bangla soccer business during the 1971 abolition battle They toured all up India and helped fund the acting authority of Bangladesh by altruistically all the prize money they earned by betraying appearance events during their circuit After Pakistan captured independence on  March 26, 1971, a de facto national team called every Dhaka XI was active the following year. Appeared in India's Bordoloi Trophy  (1973-1984)

Photo of Islington Corinthians and Dhaka XI  in 1937 

In the early 1930s East Bengal introduce many tournaments and it was conspicuous that the Bengalis were kind of better at football. Thus, in 1933, in a limited bucket box in Paltan Maidan, Dhaka, the Dhaka Sporting Association, also known as  DSA, was established In every former England's Islington Corinthians accept well-traveled the world headlining their football in every country they have visited. On  November 22, 1937, the team polished to Dhaka to meet DSA XI. Dhaka's  Bengals allow Corinthians their early loss as the DSA XI defeated Corinthians 1-0 in their boldest of the players were students against Dhaka University. Thousands were charmed to see England lose on the field that day. As we larboard, the opposition's allowable defeat by declaring: “I've heard a lot about the Bengal tiger! This time I saw it!"[5] 

The archetypal case of every Bangladesh national football team was the emergence of the Shadhin Bangla soccer business during the  Liberation War in 1971. They toured complete of bygone India and helped fund the provisional authority of Bangladesh by altruistic all the prize money they won playing show games during their circuit Following Pakistan's independence on  March 26, 1971, a de facto national team called the Dhaka XI was active the following year. The team won a much-anticipated home friendly against Mohun Bagan and also finished runners-up at the Bordoloi Trophy in India. 

Foundation (1973-1984) 

Bangladeshi Football Federation (BFF) was founded on 15 July 1972 by Md. Yousuf Ali, the country's former Minister of Education and Culture. The BFF became a representative of the AFC in 1973 and FIFA in 1976. The newly formed federation selected Dhaka XI administrator Sheikh Shaheb Ali as arch of the first official national club along with Zakaria Pintoo, who also already educated Shadhin Bangla's club at the liberation, was appointed captain. In July 1973, Bangladesh was invited to aid in the Merdeka Cup held in Malaysia with Pintoo in the  national team opening bill counting Shahidur Shantoo, Motaleb, Nannu, Nazir, Dilip Barua, 

Ashraf, Farukh, Abdul Hakim, Sharif, Md. Kaikobad , Enayetur Rahman, Kazi Salahuddin, Pratap, Sunil Krishna, Firoj and Nowsher.[11] 

On  July 26, 1973, the Bangladesh football team played its first aggressive game, defeating Thailand 2-2 in the Merdeka Cup.[12] Enayetur Rahman, along with second goalscorer Kazi Salahuddin, scored the country's first international goal. After a dilemma, the game ended in a penalty shootout in which Bangladesh lost 0–1. On  August 13, 1973, after compatible their tour of Malaysia, the team played a friendly bout in Singapore and entire their early win by defeating the hosts 1–1. 0, thanks to Nowsher's ambition In August 1975, Bangladesh was again invited to battle in the Merdeka Cup 

 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Players were declared around it all along their disconcerting contest

[stateofsport211]

South Korea & Switzerland Followed Portugal & Brazil's R16 Lead in Epic Fashion

A Recap of Groups G & H of the 2022 FIFA World Cup

South Korean players celebrated with fans as soon as they found out they made it to the Round of 16 (📸 Getty Images via 90min)

The last two groups commenced with the two simultaneous matches of Group G, where South Korea took Portugal and Uruguay took Ghana, respectively. For the latter, the scars of 2010 were put into the spotlight, where it ended the Uruguayan penalty after the penalty shootout, which was preceded by Luis Suarez’s red card as he tried to save the potential conceding with his hands (thus, a handball) as if he was the goalkeeper. 12 years later, in the press conference leading up to this match, Suarez stated that he would not apologize for that handball, and about the penalty, it was the executor's responsibility.

Both matches started with intensity, where Ricardo Horta scored an early goal at 5', thanks to his volley in the penalty box range to give Portugal the lead 1-0. Meanwhile, the VAR was involved in checking the event preceding Jordan Ayew's chance, where Sergio Rochet brought down Mohammed Kudus. It was declared a penalty, where Rochet denied Andre Ayew the chance to score.

After several notable chances, including where Mohammed Salisu cut a potential goal shot from Darwin Nuñez, there came two goals one after another from two different matches: First, Uruguay secured their lead after Nuñez's strike to the box was left unresponded by the Ghanaian defense for their 1-0 lead. Then, South Korea equalized their position 1-1 with a goal from Kim Young-Gwon, benefitting from the ball rebounded to Cristiano Ronaldo and hence the mis-pass, and fired it right away to the goal net. To continue the scramble, Giorgian de Arrascaeta scored at 31' after a working volley executed right after several passes to him. Both teams hung on until the end of the first half, some with several remarkable chances that could turn things around, for example, Portugal with their precision.

Somehow, the second half had both teams also hanging on. They had their chances, especially after Kamaldeen Sulemana and Osman Bukari was substituted in. Portugal also controlled their ball possession, but no chances were maximized. A foul in the Uruguay v. Ghana match was examined by the VAR, where the Uruguayan appeal did not make it through for a potential penalty. On the other hand, Hwang Hee-Chan scored a late goal in a response to Son Heung-Min's pass in 91', strengthening the South Korean advancing position in the standings with a 2-1 lead turned victory against Portugal.

Having finished their match earlier, South Koreans waited for the last 3 minutes for the final standings to take effect:

The final standings of Group H (📸 FlashScore)

...where the Ghanaian victory was not enough for them to pass Uruguay, hence ensuring the South Korean qualification to the Round of 16 due to the "who scored more" part in the tie-breaker, where they scored 2 more goals than Ghana.

With this advancement, they became the third Asian country (after Japan and Australia, the latter because of their confederation being on the Asian side instead of the Oceanian) to qualify, as well as making it possible for the representative of all continents to advance, while there are more Asian representatives than the South American. However, the story did not end here yet.

Last Minute-Qualification Again... and A Legendary Red Card to End Group G

Vincent Aboubakar was handed an indirect red card after his celebration (🎥 Kan 11 via Reshet 13 Live Stream Feed)

Competing with Group H in terms of intensity, Group G had Serbia v. Switzerland and Cameroon v. Brazil as a closing to the group stage. The former had another factor involved, particularly because of several players having a Kosovar-Albanian background, such as Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka. Either way, here is how the match went.

Serbia v. Switzerland started more aggressively with an early chance from Breel Embolo just 30' in from the penalty box, when it was saved at the end. The goal party started when Xherdan Shaqiri secured the lead for Switzerland in 20', before it was equalized by Aleksandar Mitrovic's header in 25'. Both teams counter-attacked each other until there were two additional goals from both teams: Dusan Vlahovic at 35' benefitting from the Swiss mis-pass for his shot, and Embolo himself at 44' with a smooth finish to the goal post.

While the first half of Serbia v. Switzerland went dynamic, it was not the case with Cameroon v. Brazil, where both teams had their chances, but nothing got converted. In this case, Brazil had more on-target chances, which did not get materialized at the end. It was not until near the end of the match, where Vincent Aboubakar's header helped Cameroon to be the first African team to defeat Brazil in the World Cup at the beginning of the injury time, at the expense of him being sent off with an indirect red card after his celebration. On the other hand, Switzerland's quick start enabled them to score even earlier, where Remo Freuler scored the goal at 48' after completing the passes from Embolo and Shaqiri, where the latter clipped a ball atop of Ruben Vargas previously.

Both Switzerland and Serbia held on to the 3-2 scoreline by the end of the match. Brazil also had their chances, but they did not materialize at the end. By the time the final whistle blew, the standings stood as follows:

The final standings of Group G (📸 FlashScore)

Brazil maintained their status as the group winner because of them nailing the goal difference, before Switzerland advanced because of their victory. However, the previous loss against Switzerland and the draw against Serbia was not enough for Cameroon to advance, even though they won against Brazil in the third match. Hence, Brazil will face South Korea and Switzerland will face Portugal in the Round of 16, which matches will be held in Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

This match marked the end of the group stage, which means the commencement of the Round of 16. With no one having a perfect point in the group stage (9), the field is wide open. A draw would mean an extra time and penalty shootout to settle them all, when needed.

#fifa world cup 2022 #fifa world cup #world cup qatar 2022 #football news #football updates #group stage #knock out stage #world cup #qatar 2022

[noro-noro-noro]

the foryst part of my dream was about exploring some kind of desert jungle area. similar to sumeru but it was more desert with jungle on the edges of the valley. we were there with a second group of people just trying to survive but we didn't get along with them? we started building shelter by stacking big logs against the side of a tree. there was a small river sparkling blue nearby. so all in all despite the heat not too bad!

2nd? dream. I dreamed about writing down this part 3 or 4 times. I was some kind of superhero. not great at it - think like Hancock from forever ago the movie with Mr Dwayne the rock. I could big jump (not flying) and super strength people knew of me & the media didn't like me too much, but I had a devoted following or smth, & lived in a version of my dad's house modified to be a futuristic mansion. I had a butler like Alfred batman. I hadn't done anything heroic for a while so I had faded from public memory.

there was some kind of terrorist strike or something where a bunch of kids & my gf were taken prisoner and held for ransom unless I (???) or something. might not have even been me responsible for the random it could have been the government. time was running out & I was trying so hard to find the kids until the camera had like a flicker of red and blue on the side - there was a big confederate flag being taken down that briefly crossed the line of sight - they were in the school. the American military rolled up with tanks and girl captain America, but she was actually all about media attention & did not care for casualties, much to my dismay. I mean like it's literally kids. why are you endangering the lives of children. anyway she focused on the other things attacking the city while I tried to get the kids out by knocking that section of the building down before the others could react. the kids ran and scattered everywhere - to parents, into emergency vehicles, into my House, etc etc. safe! for now.

one of the kids had some information bc 5 children were still missing - they were taken somewhere else for something special. I found out from him horrified that some of the children had bombs placed in them so they would explode & kill the rescuers, but it was too late - the news was now overrun with the mass deaths. my next goal was to find those last 5 kids - I told the surviving kids to make themselves at home - my house was heavily fortified.

except from the bottom. the basement was not sealed to all outside things bc the architects assumed nobody would be able to phase through solid rock. but the kids who has been experimented on & brainwashed could! I had gone out to find the ringleader & confronted him, & he zapped me with some kind of slow bea.m & revealed that he was this dude named Zack thati had gone to highschool with. why was he doing this? back when I was famous I had a lot of money from something specific and when I distanced myself from it (I legit think it was like Roblox boxing) and uninstalled, I left all my winnings money in the uninstall package. & I was like what. all this for like...1,000,000 robux??? it's not even yoirs & tried to hit him but I was still in slow time

while we were confronting, there was a kid in the basement who got killed by the warp kids that weren't human anymore. not the kid I had got close to doe info, but an Asian girl holding a suitcase of important info - the other kids were like the ghosts of horses or something & they were armed. as thy went upstairs the other kids were able to take the weapons and kill the horses with limited CASUALTIES.

meanwhile the guy I was talking to showed me that other members of his group were also oellle I knew in highschool. & I was like this is legit so stupid & then my butler teleporter me back home like "the kids are in danger" & I fought off the ghost invasion handily & then checked the camera records & it was more people from my anatomy class

#dreams

[widelyvision]

Dubai Asian boxing: So far no visas for 20-member Indian team | Boxing News - Times of India

Dubai Asian boxing: So far no visas for 20-member Indian team | Boxing News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: India’s participation in this month’s Asian Boxing Championships in Dubai looks doubtful as its 20-member team hasn’t got the visas, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) secretary said on Monday. The competition is scheduled to start on May 21. The Indian team includes 10 women boxers. “The Indian men and women’s boxing teams haven’t got visas to travel to Dubai. We are, however,…

View On WordPress

#Army Sports Institute #Asian Boxing Championships #Asian Boxing Confederation #BFI #Boxing Federation of India #olympic games

[onlyhindinewstoday]

Coronavirus outbreak Asian Boxing Championship in India postponed by a year to 2021

Coronavirus outbreak Asian Boxing Championship in India postponed by a year to 2021

भारत में नवंबर-दिसंबर में होने वाली एशियाई मुक्केबाजी चैंपियनिशप को कोविड-19 महामरी से जुड़ी स्थिति के कारण अगले साल के लिए स्थगित कर दिया गया है। मुक्केबाजी महासंघ के महासचिव जय कोवली ने मंगलवार को यह जानकारी दी। एशियाई मुक्केबाजी परिसंघ (एएसबीसी) की कार्यकारी समिति की सोमवार को ऑनलाइन हुई बैठक में यह फैसला किया गया। एएसबीसी की कार्यकारी समिति के सदस्य कोवली ने पीटीआई को बताया, ”महामारी के…

View On WordPress

#ASBC #Asian Boxing Championships #Asian Boxing Championships 2021 #Asian Boxing Championships Postponed #Asian Boxing Confederation #Coronavirus #covid-19 #Hindi News #Hindustan #News in Hindi #Sports News #एएसबीसी #एशियाई मुक्केबाजी चैंपियनशिप #एशियाई मुक्केबाजी परिसंघ #कोरोना वायरस #कोविड-19 #खेल समाचार #हिन्दुस्तान

[thegiftedoneishere]

Major League Baseball is scheduled to hold its 91st All-Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta on July 13—the first time in 21 years the league’s annual showcase is to be played in that city. But pro baseball should extend Atlanta’s All-Star drought, and other sports should avoid scheduling their own signature events in Georgia, to show Republican state lawmakers that their latest efforts at voter suppression are unacceptable.

In the past, major sports organizations have forced other states to reconsider infringements on their citizens’ rights, and that kind of pressure is sorely needed in Georgia now. Last week, Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, signed an elections bill that President Joe Biden has described as “Jim Crow in the 21st century.” The law imposes new voter-identification requirements for absentee ballots, limits the use of ballot drop boxes, and hands state officials more power over local elections. Even before the legislation passed, many voters of color in Georgia faced hours-long queues at the polls. Making those waits even more arduous, the new law bans giving food and water to people in line to vote.

It’s bad enough that the new law furthers the “big lie”—the baseless election-fraud claims that former President Donald Trump and his associates made before, during, and after the 2020 presidential election. The Georgia law also is an obvious attempt to intimidate and discourage voters of color, who helped clinch Biden’s narrow victory in November, elected two Democratic U.S. senators in January, and gave the Democratic Party full control of Congress.

In the days after the election bill passed, the Major League Baseball Players Association’s executive director, Tony Clark, indicated that players might support moving the yearly summer classic in response. “Players are very much aware” of the new law, Clark told The Boston Globe. “As it relates to the All-Star Game, we have not had a conversation with the league on that issue. If there is an opportunity to, we would look forward to having that conversation.” Meanwhile, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who is Black and Asian American, already has said that he would consider passing on the opportunity to manage the National League team in the All-Star Game because of what’s happening in Georgia.

Civil-rights activists have discouraged a comprehensive boycott of Georgia, because such an action could harm vulnerable families and undermine the Black economic base in the state—most notably in Atlanta, a city that has been ripe with opportunity for people of color. Bernice King, the daughter of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., tweeted: “Please stop the #BoycottGeorgia talk. That would hurt middle class workers and people grappling with poverty. And it would increase the harm of both racism and classism.”

But more targeted actions could help, and this is where athletes and sports leagues could be particularly influential. When major sports organizations have taken a stand for civil rights, they have been able to achieve substantive results. The NFL moved the 1993 Super Bowl out of Arizona because the state refused to enact a paid holiday honoring King. The NBA moved its 2017 All-Star Game out of North Carolina because of a state law demanding that transgender people use public bathrooms and locker rooms matching the sex on their birth certificate. For almost 15 years, the NCAA banned South Carolina from hosting championships because the Confederate flag flew on statehouse grounds.

In each case, those states backed down. Major sporting events are powerful motivators because they provide a significant economic boost and a badge of prestige for host cities. Conservative politicians who willingly ignore civil rights and other social-justice issues may listen when their stubbornness jeopardizes their standing in a sports-obsessed culture. Some fans might support Georgia’s new law now, but that support could be severely tested if the law winds up costing the state the All-Star game or other big events.

Could officials in Georgia be persuaded by such arguments? Keep in mind that Atlanta has become an extremely attractive destination for major sporting events because it has favorable weather, excellent transportation links to the rest of the country, and the headquarters of many potential corporate sponsors. If not for the global pandemic, the 2020 Final Four would have been played in Georgia’s capital city. The Super Bowl was held there in 2019, as was the College Football Playoff semifinal. The PGA Tour’s Masters Tournament is in Augusta every year.

By moving the All-Star Game to another city, Major League Baseball could show an overdue commitment to social progress. Despite how much pro baseball celebrates Jackie Robinson for breaking the sport’s color barrier in 1947, MLB doesn’t exactly have a reputation for taking a strong stance on racial issues. Last year, MLB was the last among the major professional sports leagues to speak out after George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. When another wave of protests hit the sports world following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, several MLB teams postponed games to acknowledge the racial reckoning sweeping the country. But the league brass had difficulty coming up with a unified response involving every team.

Overall, pro baseball has struggled to attract Black players and fans and address a long history of entrenched, systemic racism in the sport. Today, just 8 percent of MLB players are Black, down from 18 percent in 1986. At the start of last season, three teams—the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Kansas City Royals—didn’t have any Black players. Pro baseball has only two Black managers, one of whom is Roberts, who is just the second Black manager in MLB history to win a World Series.

Although baseball’s past record on race can’t be excused, becoming the first pro sport to cancel a major event in Georgia would give some meaning to MLB’s otherwise empty statement last June pledging to “be better” on racial issues. Baseball can be the first to lead the way with a targeted boycott, but every league should now consider Georgia off-limits for major sporting events. Those who undermine democracy shouldn’t be rewarded for their pernicious efforts to disenfranchise people of color.

#the atlantic #jemele hill #voter suppression #voter acces #boycott #it’s time

[rametarin]

It’s not a fun position to be in.

I’d like to clarify, again. I’m not an ethnonationalist, ethnoseparatist, white supremacist, or any of those things. I actually quite dislike them. That’s WHY it makes me mad to see overpolicing of white people or whiteness as inherently oppressive and bad, and anybody else as inherently oppressed and good.

They enshrine and put it into words and ideology that white people and other people exist and should exist on two different levels of society, and their preferred solution is to disestablish one as not existing because races and race-culture doesn’t exist, while empowering everybody else, and pretending that’s not hypocrisy. And since they later updated what they define as racism, technically, it no longer is.

You have to understand. When I was coming up in the late 80s/early 90s, the discourse on race was simple: For anyone to consider themselves by their race first, was to be a racist. The highest tier racists were Nazis, the next step beneath them were KKKlansmen, and then loosely affiliated neo-nazis beneath them, then ‘vaguely white supremacist and hostile towards non-English speakers, brown people and Asians’ people that weren’t loud, screaming hate mongerers came next. But, for a person to think of themselves separate or of themselves or their families as a member of an extant community defined by their race and background, was to be a racist. And that was socially taboo/faux pas.

At least, for white people. Of which in the US, they are/were the majority (even today) and the conversation was deliberately just broadbrush to assume it applied to white people by default.

It did not, however, apply to “oppressed minorities,” conveniently. So, if you were black, or your community/heritage didn’t speak English and wasn’t a “white country” (Latin American, basically) you could be as insular and think about the welfare and integrity of your own little microcosm and diasporic ethnostate that you wanted. One need only look at media and entertainment in the 90s geared towards keeping that spirit of separatism in the American black community to see that double standard. But it was justified and defended by, “We need this, we are under threat of racists, klansmen and hostile Southern confederate-sympathetic gentlemen every day of our lives.

And as vaguely progressive people in the 80s and 90s, yeah, we conceded that roaming bands of horrible southern monster-men were probably a thing black, Hispanic, Indigenous North American and Asian people worried about a lot and had to deal with constantly. Since the news made damned sure to publish every single instance of a hate crime against a minority, and later public school would hold special sessions to talk about such a horrible thing.

Always white-on-somebody-else, always seguing into conversations about how prevalent white supremacists and white supremacism, the actual confederate flag and [your choice of specific and purpose made white supremacist club/militia symbol here] used to be, and in many ways, still was.

At the time, common public discourse was not, “the United States is memetically a white supremacist oppressive shithole based on the very culture and roots, it’s just there are a lot of suppressive, hateful, bigoted people, most of them are in the majority demographic, and most of them are male.” The US was not considered, “white supremacist/racist” by default.

And on paper, taking the moral high ground on racism meant implicitly that you hated racial discrimination, in theory, in all forms. That included favoring people for their real or perceived racial background as well as disfavoring. So preferential treatment to hiring practices were as taboo as preferential treatment for hate crimes.

In practice, many of the same Woke Folks that today said one thing but applied it only to reprimend white people, do so today while saying, proudly, “you can’t discriminate or be racist against white people.” But at the time, they feigned, “just hating racists” to ignore any such racism, bigotry or intolerance from any other group towards whites. They might, however, recognize it if, say, black people did a hate crime towards Asians, but they did so begrudgingly. They HATED having to proactively come out and police that as racism and declare it as such, because they wanted the discourse to evolve into, “it’s ONLY and EXCLUSIVELY racism when it’s white-on-others, because ONLY whites can be racist.” But that wouldn’t be for another 25+ years.

Even that stupid, safe, classic, “haha stupid insecure white man; there’s no such thing as Reverse Racism!” line? That’s a save.

Privilege Theory existed back then, you know. it was published in the late 80s, and the radicals had been using it unofficially for decades before then. But it was a radical school and in deep, and only peeked its head out to try and make cultural headway the way radicals try to make anything radical the mainstream. It just so happened that academia at the time and society at large was not willing to accept that permutation to the racism discourse or dialog. “All white people are racist and racism is an intrinsic quality of white people, nobody else can be” was tested, like a spank on the ass.

And it almost blew the illusion. So, they ran damage control and hid for a while, putting out feelers only for those so deep down the rabbithole or so gullible they’d accept that. And they gaslight anybody that experienced dealing with a radical asshole that said shit like that by saying, “oh that’s just Patty. She’s a meaningless extremist and has no power.” Or, “Haha are you really going to take that anecdote as signs progressive people are all like that bro? omg come on. XD.” Or, “You must have misunderstood her. I know how progressivism and anti-racism can seem when you’ve been raised your whole life by society and the media to think white people are by default superior, so any taste of equality feels like you’re being singled out and discriminated against. :^)”

But the fact is, “haha there’s no such thing as ‘reverse racism’“ had two endings. If you mentioned you experienced someone saying, ‘only whites could be racist and nobody else can be,’ you’d hear either:

1.) “lol no. They were just confused. Racism is the discrimination of anybody on the basis of race! So calm down, the established definition applies to all. :^)”

2.) “there’s no such thing as reverse racism, because racism is the phenomenon of the white supremacist power structure lording and oppressing People of Color. You cannot be racist to white people if you are black, Indigenous or Hispanic, because you have no privilege and no centuries worth of oppression. Cry more.”

Way back in the day we’d SEE these glaring contradictions. And in truth? Most of us hated racism, so we stomached the glaring, disjointed bullshit. But, we ALSO grabbed up that anti-racism stick and BEAT the privilege theorist types subversivelyu hijacking the culture over the head with that anti-racism, too. You wanna claim you hate something because it’s, “racist,” AKA, involves race in the cricteria of something at all? FINE. You’re also going to hate affirmative action and when people come down on the side of not-white people specifically because they’re not-white. You will ELIMINATE race from consideration in any aspect of secular modern civic society and private enterprise and protect everybody equally on the basis of being a person. And any instance that is not the case we’ll come down on you with all the heavy handed spite we see and experience of you fuckers coming down on us, showing us off on soap boxes and sacrificing us on the altars of public socialization to shame and belittle us for the bigotry of generations passed.

You want to hit me with that stigma and smear me as some sort of white supremacist because I object to a thing, dismissing my objection and chalking it up to white supremacism? Then by god I’m going to point out the hypocrisy in the supposed “progressive far left” and their tolerance of anti-semites like Farrakhan, their tolerance towards the polygamy, misogyny and religious fundamentalist patriarchy in Islam, and how non-white communities act and think the same way to protect their own respective ‘brands,’ and the only people you seem to go after for these crimes are the white ones.

Which was fair. After all, we all just, “hate racism :^)”, right? So if you’re going to be an aggrandizing asshole and make a big to-do about castigating a lowbrow joke as a “teachable moment” that involves making every progressive woman hypersensitive and reject men based on how taboo something is to say, then that lack of forgiveness and hypersensitivity and the results of that intolerance will also apply to YOU, god damnit.

But the supposed “progressive” people would not stop. Anti-”racism” was their new toy, aka, their stick to choose their targets and seem absolutely morally right for doing it, and they were going to play that social tool down to the hilt. They did not like being beaten at their own game by being flagged and forced to acknowledge glaring instances of hate crimes in the news when groups of roaming black men found and randomly beat up gentile whites and Jews. They did not like being forced to acknowledge those. So they’d object and scowl at the people bringing them up, like, “Why are we discussing the hate crimes of black men specifically?! You have a problem with black men!?”

Because remember, they were playing the defacto ‘whites are considered default Americans’ to the hilt when it suited them, and using it against people in the discourse suited them. You could talk about generic hate crimes that appear on the newspaper, because those were just regular hate crimes. Their mentality was, if you brought up hate crimes of Asians or black people, then clearly you were just a white man motivated by spite and insecurity to even be tabulating those in the first place, and that meant your opinion and point should be disregarded. You horrible anti-black/Asian racist.

So, please bear in mind, my case is not that white people are in any way better than anybody else. I don’t think that. But by god, in an era when the supposedly progressive, far-leftist, “woke” people are running around saying Europe and North America and Australia are by default white supremacist “cultures” that need “dismantling and replacement,” and simultaneously declaring, “white people do not exist,” and “there are no ‘white countries,’ just cultures and nations without race’ while ABSOLUTELY enshrining that EVERY country in Africa, even ones that are majority Semitic or Arab, are in fact, “black countries.” Or Asian countries being Asian. Or North America as still belonging to the native inhabitants and unjustly stolen land.

I absolutely abhor the doubletalk, I absolutely abhor the mentality that ONLY white people doing things is a problem. I hate that something ISN’T a problem when another group does it, but it’s JUST an issue when white people do it.

I want consistency. If people are going to enshrine and respect the existence, difference and integrity of a black culture in the USA, that is, a culture that exists purely because the people in it have black African features and characteristics and aren’t too “light skinned” to be part of it, and in an era supposedly trying to “get over” race and racial identity, tolerate that from everybody BUT white people, tolerate the idea of a, “chocolate New Orleans” but openly say New Hampshire or Maine being so majority white is an actual problem, then yeah, I’m going to expect one of two things:

1.) The woke/progressives actively discourage black Americans from considering themselves a separate or distinct culture from mainstream America. They stop secluding and culturally isolating themselves in their own hearts and minds and just be fellow countrymen.

OR

2.) They acknowledge, enshrine and respect the fact whites do have their own specifically white cultures of which other races cannot be part of, they’re a distinct people that have their own communities and need their own communities to remain white.

They will do neither and would prefer if white people just disappear. The same sort of disappearance that they see as so disgusting and horrible if it were to happen to literally any other group of people on planet Earth.

When a Chinese immigrant arrives to the US, takes a wife (we’ll just assume white in this instance) and miscegenates, people later chalk this up to, “being colonized in a white supremacist pressure cooker culture.” And mourn how his kids and grandkids, “wash away his culture and background with every generation.” Instead of growing the Chiense-American community. They talk about him like he was enslaved and colonized and his culture eliminated from the American fabric by some schmoozing, destructive white plague cutting it down.

They talk about white Americans like we’re just originless, rootless vermin, and no such distinctness or integrity is to be respected. If we treated other groups in the US the way we treat white people that talk about their background, distinct cultures and etc., we’d be denying them any identity but mainstream American identity. If we treated black Americans that way, we’d be calling them black supremacists every time they wanted to have any sort of civic or educational or societal or community meeting to talk about blackness and the struggles of being black.

It’s just.... absolutely disgusting and frustrating, dealing with the hypocrites, the double standards, and the people maliciously using social justice values to sell policies and top-down application of cultural values the way used car salesmen try and sell people lemons. I dislike them.

I dislike that if a white person talked about their background or group the way a black person in the US does, they’d be called out for their insularity and eurocentrism in a heartbeat, shut down, deplatformed, become an effigy of conversation about, “the growing tide of white supremacism in America.” When all they’d do is take someone like DL Hugely or Cedric the Entertainer or Bernie Mac, and make it, ‘white ethnic’.

Imagine having your racism and in-groupcentrism excused because, “THAT’S PART OF YOUR CULTURE,” and immune to criticism or critical thought. But then, that’s exactly the mentality foisted on us by dialectic materialists and Marxists.

My preferred solution to all of this isn’t to respect white community or white sovereignty or white identitarianism. My preferred solution is the complete dissolution of race as a culture or background in the New World whatsoever. The Old World, you have indigenous cultures and communities across Europe, Africa and Asia that should NOT be expected to “mix” themselves up and out to where the indigenous featues and characteristics are marginalized or ‘bred out.’ That’s where they MAKE those people. But the New World is 100% different. Space should be 100% different.

But I’m also not going to accept, “well only half of us should kill ourselves.off :^)” either. While other communities across the Western World insist on having their communities and insular, demographically concentrated, demographic-culturally-conscious people respected and accommodated, I’m going to expect parity. And not an equality that uses privilege theory ow considers population size being disproportionate as, “they need it more than you.” No. You want to respect peoples, “cultures,” and consider black a culture in the US, then by GOD you will also respect and acknowledge those of European extraction as their own culture in the US. It’s all or nothing, you don’t get to single out one group as not existing or irrelevant and say, “race doesn’t exist” one minute, and then go on about how blackess, cultural and genetic, are “very real things that affect people very much and very really.”

These people would throw public money and social services at immigrant communities, hoping they demographically grow, maintain integrity and spread their numbers- preferably to red states, where they can start turning them purple, or blue. But they’d balk and consider it racist colonization if a white community moved to Niger or Chad and did the same for their own community interests. They’d call that racial supremacism and soft apartheid.

And I absolutely hate all of this.

[the-awkward-outlaw]

Second Chances - Ch. 13

The Sweetheart Tree

Warnings: fluff (so much fluff!), angst, smut

Word Count: ~8200

You’ve been at Clemens Point with the gang for a few weeks now. Dutch has gotten quite involved with the two most prominent families in Rhodes, the Grays and the Braithwaites. You’ve learned, via information brought by Arthur, that the sheriff Lee Gray is a drunkard and quite soft-minded. Easy enough to fool. The Braithwaites, as reported by Hosea, are a much tougher sell. Their matriarch, Catherine, is an older woman with multiple sons. According to Hosea, back during the war, they were heavily involved with the Confederate troops, and the ending of the war with the Union win hit them hard, turning them to sell illegal amounts of moonshine in order to keep up their name. The Grays had already taken many efforts in order to shut down their alcohol business, but with little impact on the Braithwaites. 

Arthur returns in the afternoon, closely followed by a heavily-sweating Dutch. They had left earlier that day to go with Sheriff Gray on a job in order to better earn the Grays’ trust. You see Arthur hop off of Artemis and Dutch walk up to him, speaking words and patting him on the shoulder. You can’t hear anything they say to one another, being over with the other girls doing laundry. You see Dutch walk away from Arthur, a proud smile on his face. Arthur looks after him curiously, then he spots you. His face splits into a massive grin and he walks quickly over to you. You put down your sewing tools and meet him halfway. He pulls you into a bone-crushing hug.

“Ah, I missed ya, darlin’,” he says.

“Arthur, you only saw me this morning. You’re acting like we ain’t seen each other in days.”

“What? So I can’t miss my girl for even a few hours?” he says playfully.

You lean back from him and grin. “Well, if it’s any consolation, I missed you, too.”

Sean struts back, huffing. “You two!” he snides jokingly. “Always wrappin’ ‘round each otter! If it gets any hotter ‘tween the two of you, we’ll soon have ‘noder Jack runnin’ round!” 

He walks away, chuckling, but it’s enough to turn your face red. Of course, no one else in the camp knows about you being infertile, and you certainly hope none of them know about what Arthur did to you in the woods a few days ago. 

Arthur drops his arms, rubbing his neck awkwardly. “Damn it, Sean,” he says. 

“He knows how to ruin a moment, that’s for sure,” you smile.

Lenny strolls past you. You can tell he’s just come off of guard duty. He pats Arthur’s shoulder briefly.

“Hey Arthur, when you get a chance, I need to talk to ya about somethin’.” You can tell by the grin on his face it’s something he’s proud and excited about.

“Shoar,” Arthur says, his hands going to his gun belt. “What is it, kid?”

Lenny looks around, almost as though he’s nervous about anyone overhearing. He looks at you, then shrugs his shoulders. He beckons for you and Arthur to follow him, taking you to the edge of the lake. He turns to you, the glint in his eye sharper than it was before.

“I was talkin’ to some of the colored folk in Rhodes,” he says hurriedly. “They said there’s a gang of fools in the swamps east of here who seem to think the war never ended.”

“The Civil War?” you ask. You hardly know much about the Civil War yourself, being from Blackwater and coming around long after the war was won. 

“Yeah,” he says. “Apparently it’s still ragin’ in these fools’ minds thirty years later. But word has it these fellers are also weapons dealers. Sounded like they might be sittin’ on a decent pile of cash.”

Arthur looked at him optimistically, his hand running over the scruff on his face. “With nothin’ but a bunch of crazies guarding it, huh?” he says. He nods his head. “Well, sounds like it might be worth takin’ a look.”

Lenny grins wide and hurries over to the horses. Arthur turns to you.

“Can I come?” you ask, hopeful. 

“I don’t know, darlin’,” he says, patting your shoulder. “Probably gonna be dangerous. Might be gettin’ shot at.”

“All the more reason for me to come,” you say. You’re determined not to be left behind while Arthur tries to get himself killed again. “You already know I can handle a gun. I can hold myself during a gun fight, I’ve already been in a few.”

He sighs then nods. “A’right, fine. But you have to promise to do everythin’ I say, no arguin’, ya got it?” 

You nod your head once, feeling proud. He leads you over to the horses, then hands you a carbine repeater, instructing you to put it into your saddle. 

“I know all ya got is that shotgun,” he explains as you mount Rannoch. “That only works well in close range. Most likely, we’ll be shootin’ from a distance.”

You nudge your calves into Rannoch, urging him to follow Lenny’s horse. He calls back to you and Arthur. “Fellers in town said they’re holed up in a big ol’ mansion called Shady Belle.”

You follow the boys out of the trees and onto the main road. During the ride, you hear Lenny and Arthur talking about how differently people judge others in the South, particularly towards colored people. It’s something you’ve thought little about yourself. During your childhood, Blackwater had its fair share of colored people, mostly Mexicans and Native Americans, sometimes Asian workers from the railroad being built out west would come by. African Americans, however, were few and far between. You have noticed since arriving in Lemoyne that there are quite a bit more of them, not that it makes much difference to you. 

After several moments of cantering down the road, the scenery begins to change slightly from the hot, dry orange dirts of Rhodes to thick, dark mud. The trees grow mossy, the air becomes thicker. Lenny leads you both down a heavily overgrown road. Far ahead in the distance, you see some sort of building. 

“We should hide the horses here,” he says, heading a few yards off the trail and hopping off. You and Arthur follow his lead. “You got a scoped rifle, Arthur?” he asks.

Arthur pulls the sniper rifle he had used during the job you had done with him and John to steal the sheep in Valentine. You grab the carbine he had given you. On either side of the trail sits a crumbling stone wall. It had obviously been part of a grand estate a long time ago. Near it lies a slightly crooked sign saying “Shady Belle”. 

You and Arthur hide behind the wall on one side of the path, Lenny behind the other. Arthur looks through the scope on his gun, pointing it ahead of him. You stand behind him and peak around him, placing your hands on his shoulders.

Ahead you can see a large mansion sitting on a large plot of land, a broken and empty fountain in front of it. Thirty or forty years ago, this house must have been a grand and extraordinary place, home to a wealthy family. Now ivy crawls the dirt-spattered walls and columns, most of the windows have broken panes. You make out near the brown river a slightly crumbled gazebo near a large tree. Between the fountain in front of the house and the wall acting as your cover, there’s several barracks made of sandbags. Had this place once been a battlefield during the war? 

On one side of the house, near an old shack, sit several tents. Men walk around them, going around the piles of crates. You see a large carriage, two draft horses already hooked up to it. Several men stand around it, piling boxes into it. Arthur starts to point out areas of the most interest, including a gatling gun on the upper porch of the house and several boxes of dynamite near the front door. He and Lenny come up with a plan for him to shoot the dynamite.

Arthur begins counting down from five. You take your spot close to him, making sure the carbine in your hands is loaded. He reaches one and he fires his gun, which is followed by a massive explosion. You hear several men start to yell, the sound of them shooting back. Lenny dashes out from his spot and goes to the sandbags, yelling at them. You’re about to join him when Arthur pushes you back. 

“Hold on, there’s a guy on the gatling!” he says. 

You can hear the gatling gun fire out multiple rounds quickly. Arthur aims and fires, the gatling gun goes silent. He swings the scoped rifle onto his shoulder, pulling off his Springfield rifle. “C’mon,” he says.

You follow him quickly out into the open. You dart behind a barrack and then look up over it, pointing your gun. You fire it at several men, most of them going down. You and your companions fight the Raiders for several minutes, occasionally moving closer to the house as more of them fall. 

The fighting ends as quickly as it began. You wipe your forehead with the back of your hand, looking around at all the dead men. 

“Let’s look around,” Lenny says. “Gotta have their guns or cash stashed around somewhere.”

You and Arthur begin searching the camp. You peak into the last tent, finding nothing. You’re beginning to wonder if the weapons might be inside the house itself when Arthur calls you and Lenny over. He stands in the carriage that the Raiders had been loading. He opens a box and pulls out a handsome rifle. He inspects it and then hands it to you.

“Here,” he says. “Why don’t you keep that one?” 

You take it from him and look over the bolt action rifle. You aim it quickly, making sure the sights on it is accurate, then swing it over your shoulder. Lenny and Arthur sit down in the front, you sit on the box behind Arthur. He flicks the reins, guiding the horses away from the crumbling mansion. 

Arthur guides the horses out of the thick trees and onto the main trail. Suddenly three riders show up.

“Hey, what’re those fellers doin’ with our wagon?” one of them says. He points his gun at Arthur, ordering him to stop. Arthur pulls the horses to a halt, you shift your hands over your new rifle, preparing for another fight.

“We just had some business dealings with your partners there,” Arthur says cheekily. 

“No colored man be stupid enough to go near our place!” another one shouts. “Kill ‘em!”

“What about the girl?” the last one asks. 

“Kill the men, keep the girl,” the first one says. Arthur whips out his rifle and shoots two of the men quickly, Lenny takes down the third. They had been so quick you’ve only begun to stand up. The men fall off their horses, dead. Arthur flicks the reins again, carrying on. He reaches back and pats your shoulder as you sit down, making sure you’re alright. 

“Guess we out of the woods now, so to speak,” Lenny says, throwing his rifle over his shoulder.

“You did good, kid,” Arthur says. 

“I know Sean’s been bringin’ in a lot lately,” Lenny says. “I just wanted to have something to show.”

“Sean’s a loud mouth and a braggart,” Arthur says flatly. “Don’t worry about what he does.”

“I like him,” Lenny says.

“Well, I do too, against my better judgment. But just you worry about you, a’right? Me and Dutch, and everyone else who counts, we notice. We know what you do for this gang. Keep it up and you’re gonna start seeing things change for you.”

Arthur guides the wagon back to camp, pulling it to a stop near the hitching post. As Lenny stands up, Arthur stops him, offering his hand. “I always enjoy riding’ with you, kid,” he smiles. 

Lenny thanks him and hops off the wagon. You get up and start pushing the box of rifles to the edge with some difficulty. Lenny sees you struggling and comes up.

“Don’t worry about that, Y/N,” he says, approaching the back. “Might as well leave ‘em there, be easier to sell. I’ll take care of ‘em.”

You shrug your shoulders and hop out of the wagon. “You did good,” Lenny says, patting your shoulder.

“You, too. Y’know how to fight real good, Lenny,” you say. He offers you a wide grin. 

You spot Arthur standing near the draft horses, patting a large dun. He gestures for you to follow him. He leads you to Pearson’s fire, scooping out some stew and offering it to you. When you both have your dinner, you go and sit on the banks of the lake, watching the sun set into the firey water. When your stew is gone, you remain sitting there with Arthur, his hand wrapped around yours. 

A few days have gone by since the raid on Shady Belle. You lie in Arthur’s cot, the blanket draped over you. Someone shakes you awake. You crack open your eyes; it’s still nearly dark. Arthur hovers over you. 

“Darlin’, you awake?” he asks.

“I am now,” you groan. You turn over, wanting to go back to sleep. He pats your shoulder again. 

“Will you come with me, sweetheart?” he says. You look at him, furrowing your brows. “Come see the sunrise, darlin’. They’re somethin’ else here.”

With some complaining, you swing your legs up and start putting on your boots. Arthur smiles widely the entire time.

“Glad to see you’re so awake already,” you grumble at him, standing up.

“We’ll get ya some coffee, how’s that?” he says, taking your hand. He walks you through the camp, stopping at Pearson’s fire to pour you a cup. He hands it to you and leads you on. He takes you to the eastern edge of camp, overlooking a cove. The sun hasn’t yet risen, but the horizon above the trees on the opposite shore is turning from blue to pink.

You yawn heavily, drinking your coffee quickly. You turn Arthur to face you so you can bury your face into his chest. “Wake me when it comes up,” you mumble into his shirt. You feel and hear him laugh as he wraps his arms around you. After a few moments, he pats your back gently.

“Look, darlin’.”

You open your eyes and see the sun rising, the sky turning various shades of orange, and red. A few wispy clouds spatter the sky, their forms burning to gold. It really is a beautiful sight.

“Okay, you’re forgiven for getting me up so early,” you say. His chest rumbles again as he chuckles. 

After a while, he takes your hand and starts taking you back into camp. Bill, Lenny and Karen stand around an empty wagon.

“Morgan!” Bill yells to him. 

Arthur looks at you. “I’ll catch up with ya in a minute, darlin’.”

You nod and let go of his hand, going into camp alone. You head over to your shared tent, strapping on your gunbelt and grabbing your hat. Arthur walks quickly over to you, holding a folded black coat in his arms. 

“What’s going on?” you ask.

“Ah, Karen, Bill and Lenny wanna hit up the bank in Valentine. Say it’s unfinished business.”

“Can’t they take John or Charles?” you plead. You’ve been hoping to go on a hunting trip with Arthur.

“I wish, but they say they want me there. When I get back, you and I can go.”

He trades his green shotgun coat for the old, faded black duster, positioning it over his shoulders. You see Karen walk through camp in a fancy magenta dress. Arthur kisses you quickly before heading out. 

“Be careful!” you call to him. He waves at you, hopping onto his horse and running through the trees after the others. 

You spend the next couple of hours doing chores, but you’re so pent up you decide to head out on your own for a bit. You mount Rannoch and head out of camp, surprised that no one tries to stop you. You guess they’re all too busy waiting for Arthur and the others to take too much notice of you. 

When you reach the main trail, you almost turn to go into Rhodes, but then you change your mind. This state is too muggy and warm for your taste. You crave the sight of mountains and thick pine forests again. You head north towards the Heartlands. 

Within a relatively short time, you spot in the distance Emerald Ranch. You head towards it, needing to stop at the Fence to sell a few things. You hitch Rannoch and walk over to Seamus, the man who runs the discrete operations. You trade a necklace, two bracelets and a couple of rings with him, coming out $30 dollars richer. You thank him and are just about to head out when you hear two men on the other side of the road discussing a wagon. 

“Supposed to be here later today!” one of the men says excitedly. 

“Didn’t you order that only three weeks ago?” the other says. 

“Sure, but the catalog promised speedy delivery! Paid premium for it, too.”

“What was it again? A pistol?”

“Yeah! Gold double-action revolver! Been wantin’ one since I was a boy.”

“How’d you know it’s gonna be here today? What if the wagon’s late?”

The man speaking about the revolver pulls a paper out of his back pocket. “Got a letter from the stage company. Said they have a delivery from Annesburg, then they’re comin’ to Emerald Ranch. This company don’t mess around neither. They get things done quick.”

You head off towards Rannoch, thinking quickly. You dash off down towards camp, hoping you can find someone fast enough to do this job with. You’ve never robbed a wagon or a stage before; you don’t know the first thing about it. When you get to camp, you see Artemis, Arthur’s giant warhorse. 

You hitch Rannoch next to her and jog into camp, looking for him. He approaches you from Dutch’s tent, looking sweaty but untouched. 

“There ya are!” he says. 

“How’d it go?” you ask. 

“Fine, just fine. Had to shoot our way out of Valentine again.” 

You put your hands on your hips, getting ready to shout at him again. He puts his hands up. “Don’t worry, sweetheart! Bill, Lenny and Karen were with me the whole time! I was never alone.”

“Well, good. Now, if you’re not too tired, I have something for you.”

He grabs your hand, walking with you towards the horses while you explain the wagon you’d heard about. When you finish, he rubs his chin thoughtfully.

“Well, what do you think?” you ask. “Delivery wagons often have lots of goods. Could be profitable.”

“Sounds like it might be worth the effort,” he says. “‘Sides, I been meaning to teach ya how to rob wagons and stages for a while. Just didn’t want to do a bank stage to be your first. But delivery wagons are easier. Less guarded.”

Strauss suddenly walks over, looking agitated. 

“Herr Morgan,” he says quickly. 

“Herr Strauss?” 

“I need a favor of you involving a debt.”

Arthur starts shaking his head. “I told ya, Strauss. I ain’t doin’ that no more!” 

“Please, Herr Morgan, it’s involving that family Micah vent after.”

Arthur glared at him. “What? Micah end up stealin’ half your money?”

“No, no. Turns out he beat the lender to death, but never retrieved the money. So now, naturally, the debt is on his wife.”

Arthur shakes his head again. “No, I ain’t doin’ yer dirty work no more, Strauss. Ask any of the other fellers here. Or have Micah do it again.”

“And have him kill the whole family?” Strauss says, looking shocked. “No, Herr Morgan. Dead debtors don’t have a good habit of paying. Besides, none of the others have your… vigor.”

“Strauss, I ain’t doin’ this anymore! How many times I gotta say it?!”

“Just this last one, please? I’ll give you 10% more.”

Arthur sighs heavily, brushing his hand over his chin.

“Fine. But this is the last one, Strauss. From now on, if ya start lendin’ money out, someone else can beat it out of ‘em.”

Strauss sniffed loudly. “If that’s what you have decided, Herr Morgan, then so be it. Thank you again.”

Strauss turns to leave without even giving you a glance.

“I thought he was a snake when I first met him,” you say. “Now I know he’s a snake.”

“Yeah, ain’t exactly shoar why Dutch picked him up.”

He hops on Artemis as you mount Rannoch. The two of you gallop up into the Heartlands and past Emerald Ranch. You’re not too familiar with what’s east of Emerald Ranch, so Arthur takes the lead. He takes you northeast, stopping on a small slope looking over a T-intersection in the road. In the distance, you can hear the roaring of the Kamassa River.

“Wagon will probably stop through here,” Arthur says, putting a black bandana over his face. You realize you don’t have anything like that, and you’re just about to ask if he has a spare when he hands you a green one. You tie it quickly around your head, hiding most of your face. You tip your hat slightly to shade it better. 

“You got that new rifle I gave ya?” he asked.

You pull out your bolt action, pointing the barrel towards the sky. He nods approvingly, grabbing his Springfield. 

You both wait patiently for nearly a quarter of an hour. You’re starting to worry that maybe you missed it when you hear the sound of several horses coming your way from the direction of the river. 

“Get ready, sweetheart,” Arthur instructs. “Just follow my lead, and don’t use names! If you need to address me, call me Mr. M.”

You agree and take a deep breath. Coming around the bend in the trail, you see a wagon driven by four large horses. On the stage is a driver and one other man beside him, holding a rifle. 

When they get closer, Arthur kicks Artemis into action. You make Rannoch follow her, holding on tight to your rifle.

Arthur shouts, pointing his Springfield at the driver. “Stop the damn coach!” 

You follow his lead and point your rifle at the man accompanying the driver. The driver pulls the stage to a stop and they both put their hands up.

“We got nothing important in here, mister!” the driver yells. “We’re just a delivery wagon!” 

“Get off the damn wagon!” Arthur shouts. The two obey him and hop off, standing beside the trail. Arthur dismounts Artemis and approaches the wagon. 

“Keep an eye on them, miss,” he says to you. You aim your gun at the two men, watching them carefully. 

Just as Arthur is about to hop into the back of the wagon, you see the driver’s companion point his rifle at his back. You shoot your bolt action, the bullet striking the rifle and knocking it from his hand. The two men scream and bolt off into the trees. 

Arthur turns and watches them run. He tips his hat up slightly and puts his hands on his hips. “That was pathetic,” he says, pulling off his bandana. You do the same.

“I think you mean easy,” you say, hopping off Rannoch. 

You climb into the wagon after Arthur and start going through different boxes and chests. He pulls out a gold double-action revolver with a white handle. You see the barrel and trigger of the gun have been delicately engraved, a doe carved into the white handle. 

“That’s a fine pistol,” he says. He hands it to you. “You should have more than just yer sawed-off.”

You take it and admire the gun, then smile. You’re sure this is the same gun those two fools in Emerald Ranch were talking about. 

“We can get ya an offhand holster next time we’re in town,” Arthur goes on as he searches through more crates. You place the pistol into your satchel and search with him. By the time you’re finished searching, you both come up with several items of jewelry, some liquor and cans of food, horse supplies, and even a case of gold leaf dishes. You haul your ill-gotten gains onto the horses and dash away from the scene before anyone can find you.

“Should we head to Emerald Ranch and sell these?” you ask.

“No. Let’s give it a few days. Pretty soon people will hear the delivery wagon’s been robbed, folks will be lookin’ for anyone selling these things.”

You nod your head, figuring Arthur knows best about this sort of thing. He turns to you, holding his loot to you.

“Darlin’, I gotta take care of that thing for Strauss. Will you take this back to camp?”

“You want me to come with you?”

He looks at you, his face has grown dark. “No, sweetheart. I don’t want ya to see me like that. I’ll meet ya at camp.”

You nod sadly, taking his loot. “Arthur, promise me this’ll be the last one.”

“I promise.”

He kicks Artemis into a canter, heading west towards Valentine. You watch him for a moment, feeling like your heart is about to break for him. You can tell he hates the work; beating and scaring people for a few bucks. 

You arrive back at camp and donate several pieces of jewelry, some liquor and cans of food to the camp. Dutch watches you and nods approvingly when you finish. You wish you could think of something to give Arthur to lift his spirits. You’re sure he’s going to be miserable when he returns. You would be, after all, were you in his shoes. 

You sit on your shared cot and pull out your journal, running your fingers fondly over the stamped leather. You open up to a blank page and do your best to draw an image of Copper, his dog. You spend a long time on it, trying to get the shapes and shading just right. After a while, you tear the page out, wishing it was better and that you had Arthur’s skill. You fold it neatly and put it on his pillow for him to find later. You walk over to the campfire and sit down, joining Javier and Sean in a song. 

After nearly an hour, Arthur returns, hitching Artemis next to Rannoch. You watch him walk over to his tent, but then he disappears from your view. If you had been there, you would’ve seen him open the drawing and stare at it for several moments, a gentle smile creep over his face. You would’ve also seen him take the drawing and pack it into a small box you had never seen before, one that held his most valuable possessions, including his mother’s ring. 

He plops down on the log next to you, draping an arm over your shoulders and pulling you into a hug. 

“Thank you for the drawin’, darlin’,” he says, kissing your temple.

You’re a little surprised at how bold he’s being. He’s rarely this affectionate with you in front of the others, especially when Sean’s around. You can feel yourself blushing.

“You’re welcome,” you say. 

Uncle sits down on the chair by the fire and starts singing, Javier strums the tune in his guitar and Sean joins in. After a line or two, Arthur starts up as well. Once again, you don’t know the words, so you just listen.

They finish their song with a bout of laughter, Sean carries on the longest. When he stops, he turns to you. “Now why don’t ya ever join in, Ms. Y/L/N? I don’t think I’ve ever heard ya even hum a tune before!”

You blush, taken a bit by surprise. “I don’t know any of these songs.”

“What?” he says loudly. “That’s ridiculous. I come from across the pond in Ireland, and I’ve heard them songs! Me da…”

“Not with the da again!” Arthur groans, his arm sliding down so his hand settles on your hip.

“Fine! Fine, I’m just sayin’ how come ya never heard t’ese songs before?”

You shrug your shoulders. “Where I come from, my family wasn’t very musical.” 

That’s a lie. Your mother used to sing all the time when she was working. You used to sing, too, when you were really happy. You haven’t sung since your grandmother died. Since joining the gang, you’ve found yourself humming more often, but never singing. Besides, the last person you want to sing in front of is Sean MacGuire. 

“Oh, come on!” he says, holding his arms up and out. “I bet ya know a few songs!”

“Well, go on, then,” Uncle says, taking a swig from his beer bottle. You blush harder as Charles sits down, pulling out his harmonica. 

“Seriously,” you say almost pleading. “You don’t want to hear me sing. My cousin heard me humming once and said she was surprised all the animals in a ten-mile radius weren’t dead.”

“Yeah, well, yer cousin was a real piece o’ work,” Arthur says. “Sounds like she needed a good kick in the rear, ya ask me. Now come on. I bet ya have a nice voice.”

You put your face in your hands, terrified. What you had said about your cousin mocking you was true. You had been humming one time while trying to teach her how to garden. She had demandingly asked you to stop, saying your voice was the most hideous thing she’d ever heard. Ever since then, you’d lost all confidence in your singing abilities. 

“Tell us,” Sean says. “Name a song y’know and I bet Charles or Javier knows da tune! They’ll start you off just fine.”

You bite your lip again. The pressure from the others is growing, and you know they won’t let up until you sing, even if you don’t want to. You remember a song your grandmother taught you when you were young. It’s short, but you always liked it. You look over at Charles and Javier, doubting either of them will know it. 

“Either of you know the Sweetheart Tree?” you ask tentatively.

Charles shakes his head, but Javier smiles. “Ah, I think I heard that one being played by a street beggar playing for money! Does it go like this?” he plays a few lines on his guitar. 

You nod your head. “That’s the one!” 

“Well, go on then! Prove your sour ol’ cousin wrong!” Sean yells. 

You take a deep breath and stare at the grass, flickering yellow and white with the reflections of the fire. You hesitatingly begin.

They say there’s a tree in the forest

A tree that will give you a sign

Come along with me

To the Sweetheart Tree

Come and carve your name next to mine

Your voice begins to grow in strength as you go on, caught up in the tune of Javier’s guitar and the memories of your grandmother, when you were young, happy and innocent. You’re surprised you remember it so easily as you move to the last bit.

They say if you kiss the right sweetheart

The one you’ve been waiting for

Big blossoms of white will burst into sight

And your love will be true evermore

You finish, the last note carrying on a bit. Javier does a fancy strum on his guitar before letting it go silent. The men around the fire sit silent for a few seconds before Sean’s face splits into a wide grin.

“Where’s your cousin live, Y/N?” he says.

“Why?” you ask.

“‘Cause I’d like to give her a good kick in the pants meself!”

“If ya think yer voice is bad,” Arthur chuckles. “Ya got impossibly high standards, sweetheart.”

You blush as Uncle jumps in. “I once heard this lovely maiden sing in a show. Sung some silly song about how great Saint Denis was. Think her name was Robin… something. Think she was Polish. Anyways, her voice was good and real nice, but everyone could tell she had training. I don’t think I ever heard someone untrained sing that well.”

“Oh my God,” you say, putting your face into your hands again. You definitely regret singing in front of them now. The praise is almost worse than the pressure. You hear Charles laugh briefly before he starts playing a tune on his harmonica. You’re glad he’s playing, the others are starting to hum along with him. After a few moments, Arthur gently squeezes your hip.

“C’mon, darlin’,” he whispers. “Come with me.”

He takes your hand and leads you off towards the water of the lake. You think he’s going to start talking to you when you reach the shore. Instead, he pulls you into a tight hug, burying your face into his chest. You feel his cheek rest on your head. You don’t mind this, not at all. He smells familiar; comforting. You fold your arms around his waist. 

“This is nice,” you mumble. “But what’s it for?”

“Just because I can and I want to, a’right?” he says quietly. After a moment, he adds in. “I’d love to hear ya sing more.”

“You’re sweet, Arthur, but you’re a bad liar.”

He takes your shoulders and pulls you away for a moment. “Ain’t lyin’ to ya, love. I ain’t never lied to ya. I don’t think you realize how beautiful you are and how much I appreciate ya.”

You blush and look down, biting your lip. You want to believe him so bad, this man who has had a profound effect on your life and you love so deeply, but you can’t shake the nagging voice in the back of your head. The one that keeps telling you that you’re impossible to love.

“Give it time, Arthur,” you mutter. “Eventually, you’re gonna get tired of me. I’m used to it, though, so don’t worry about hurting me.”

His finger comes up under your chin, pushing your face up gently so he can stare into your eyes. 

“I ain’t never gonna get tired of ya,” he says sadly. “I wish ya could see how wonderful ya are. Everyday I’m with ya, I love ya more and more.”

He leans down and kisses you gently, his hand settling on your back, his other one behind your neck. He pulls away and whispers in your ear. “I’m gonna tell ya everyday how beautiful you are until you finally believe it, then I’m gonna keep on tellin’ ya. I love you, Y/N.” 

You feel your eyes sting with tears. You press your forehead into his, looping your arms around his neck. He kisses your forehead and then pulls your head into the crook of his neck, his arms nearly crushing you with how tight he holds you as you listen to the steady beating of his heart. 

You stare off into the water, watching the reflections of the moon break apart and shatter on its surface. You can still hear the others from the fire talking, the sound of Javier’s guitar mingling among their voices. Somewhere in the trees, a lone owl hoots. You could stay like this forever.

The next morning, Arthur wakes you up earlier than usual. He greets you with a cup of coffee. 

“Mornin’, sweetheart,” he says as you take it, rubbing the sleep from your eyes.

“Mornin’, Arthur. What you getting me up so early for?”

He smiles and sits down next to you. “Just thought we should go out on a huntin’ trip. Just you and me. Felt like we ain’t done that since we left Horseshoe Overlook.”

You sip your drink, the heat waking you up. “Sounds good. Where you thinkin’ of going?”

He sits a moment and thinks. “Well, why don’t you decide? We could go somewhere ya ain’t been before.”

You pause, remembering your dream from last night. You can remember seeing a large valley with purple flowers, rimmed by thick pine forests and misty mountains cloaked in snow. Ever since Arthur had taken you to Big Valley, you’ve been dreaming of it more often. You suggest going there again.

“I know we went a few weeks ago, but…” you pause. “It was so beautiful. I wouldn’t mind going there again. To be honest, I’ve missed the forests of West Elizabeth.”

He takes your hand and smiles. “That’s a’right. We can go there. Well, get ready and let’s go.”

You quickly finish your coffee and get up to start packing up some supplies. Just as you and Arthur are picking up cans of food from Pearson’s wagon, Hosea walks towards him, smoking his pipe. He greets you fondly before turning to Arthur.

“I have a job for you, Arthur,” he says.

“What is it, Hosea?” he asks.

“We’re going to sell that moonshine you got from the Greys back to where it came from.”

“And where’s that exactly?” 

“The Braithwaites.”

Arthur laughs. “You always had a knack for huckling people, old man! I’d love to do this with ya, but I already promised the next couple of days to Y/N here.”

Hosea nods with a wide smile. “I understand. Well, unfortunately I think you’re the only man suited to help me with this. Dutch has got John on some other job. I’ll wait for ya to come back.”

He pats Arthur on the shoulder and walks away, coughing slightly. Arthur chuckles.

“That man with his schemes.”

“If anyone can pull off something like that,” you say,” It’s Hosea.”

You both finish packing up your provisions and mount your horses before riding into Rhodes. Arthur leads you to the train station and buys two tickets to a place called Wallace Station, which he says isn’t too far from Big Valley.

You only have to wait a short while for the train to arrive at the station. Arthur boards it behind you and you take a seat next to a window. 

“I’ve never ridden a train,” you admit.

“Seriously?” Arthur asks, almost disbelieving. You nod. “Well, they’re certainly a lot quicker and more comfortable than ridin’ on a horse.”

He drapes an arm over your shoulder as the train begins to move. You’re amazed by how quickly the land slides past you. You watch for a while as the outside world changes from the orange and bright greens of Lemoyne to the soft greens and blues of New Hanover. The swaying of the train is beginning to make you feel tired. You turn and rest your head on Arthur’s shoulder, falling asleep against him.

After a while, he wakes you up, whispering that you’ve arrived. You open your eyes and look outside, spotting thick pines and willow bushes. You almost leap up, desperate to get into familiar territory again. Arthur laughs as he follows you outside. 

You step out onto the gravel of the train tracks, then spot Rannoch coming towards you. He neighs happily and you dash up to him, petting his nose fondly. 

Arthur mounts Artemis. “Well, let’s go. Big Valley is just over that rise there.”

You do as he tells you, patting Rannoch on the neck, and follow him. You trot through the trees, breathing in the intoxicating scent of pines, sage and earth. How you’ve missed it! 

You break out of the trees and step into the sunlight, drinking in the view of Big Valley with the little stream winding its way through the grass. You look at Arthur, who’s smiling at you.

“What?” you say.

“Nothing,” he says. “You just look happy.”

“I am. This is wonderful, Arthur.”

The next few hours, you both wander the valley and the surrounding forest hunting game and finding herbs. You even find a chest, buried beneath the surface of the soil, with an old arrowhead inside. You pocket it. 

As evening begins to fall, a dark storm begins to roll over the valley, threatening lightning and buckets of rain. You look up at the black sky just as Arthur approaches you, throwing a coyote pelt over Artemis. 

“You wanna head into Strawberry? Get a hotel room?” he asks. 

You look at him. “You sure? It’s not like this is the first storm we’ve slept in a storm.”

“I know,” he shrugs his shoulders. “Well, you decide.”

You look up again. The sky really doesn’t look friendly and the wind’s picking up, the temperature dropping horribly fast. 

“Yeah, alright. Let’s go to Strawberry.”

You canter alongside Arthur, heading into the rustic town settled around the river. Arthur leads you over to the saloon and buys you dinner, ignoring your protests with a smirk. When you’re done, he leads you over to the hotel and buys a room and a bath. You look at him curiously.

“Just gonna take one before bed,” he explains.

You walk up the stairs with Arthur, your eyes raking over the beautiful architecture. Arthur takes your hand and kisses it before heading off to the washroom. 

You head into your shared room. There’s a single bed, but it’s fairly large. A nice change from sharing the single cot. A few lanterns light the cozy room. You look out the window and see the rain has started to come down in icy sheets. You sit down on the bed, staring out the window.

While Arthur’s in the bath, you find yourself imagining being in there with him, which takes you back to that day in the trees when he had touched you. You find your face growing warm at the memory, along with other body parts. You suddenly feel like you want to take things further, even though you’ve really no idea how to do it. The only time you’ve ever done it was with your husband, and he’d forced himself onto and into you every time. You remind yourself that Arthur would certainly be different.

Arthur walks into the room, his hair damp, bringing the smell of soap and water with him. 

“Hey, sweetheart,” he says. 

You say nothing, biting your lip instead. You decide to just show him what you want to do instead since your voice doesn’t seem to want to work. You walk up and kiss him deeply, your hand going over the back of his neck. He hums before pulling away.

“What was that for?” he asks quietly. 

“I want…” you start to say, trying to figure out how to tell him. “I want you, Arthur.” Your other hand slides down his chest, trailing down his stomach and then finding the bulge of his pants. He takes in a sudden breath when you squeeze him gently. 

“Ya shoar?” he asks gently. You nod and kiss him again. 

“Let me know if there’s anything you don’t like, honey. I want ya to enjoy this.”

“I’m with you,” you mutter against his lips. “I think I’m going to enjoy this just fine.”

He suddenly starts walking you backwards towards the bed. You feel his hands start unbuttoning your shirt, gently pulling it off you before moving down to your pants. You help him, stripping off your boots until you stand in front of him wearing nothing but your undergarments. 

Your hands move to him again, pulling off his coat, vest and ripping the buttons of his shirt to expose the red union suit beneath it. Within moments, that’s all he’s wearing. He approaches you and kisses you deeply. He reaches to you and lifts up your chemise, taking it off your body. He breaks the kiss to look down at your naked chest. You blush as he stares. 

“Beautiful,” he mutters as he kisses you again. He starts kissing down your jaw, to your neck, your collarbone, making his way down until his lips find your nipple, making you suck in a deep breath. He guides you down onto the bed as he kisses and licks your sensitive tip. His hand finds your free breast, massaging it with his fingers. You groan when he gently pinches your nipple with his teeth, your hands tangling into his hair. 

After a moment, his free hand moves down your stomach, leaving goose bumps in his wake. He pulls down your bloomers, making you blush again. You lie completely naked under him. He stops kissing you and looks at your body. 

“Like I said, beautiful,” he smiles.

“I can’t wait to see how handsome you are,” you moan; you're breathing heavy already.

“I don’t know if I would use that word to describe me, but I’ll humor ya.”

He’s just about to start unbuttoning his union suit when you sit up and grab his hands. “Let me show you how handsome I think you are,” you whisper. He lowers his hands and stands up straight. You start opening his union suit, kissing every new inch of exposed skin. By the time you get to his lower half, his head’s tipped back as he groans. You undo the last few buttons, allowing his length to spring out. You can’t help but stare at it. It’s longer and thicker than your husband’s was, with a large single vein running down it. You take it in your hand and squeeze, causing him to growl. You feel it grow harder, so you start pumping it until it’s throbbing. 

Arthur suddenly grabs you by the shoulders and pushes you down on the bed. A wild look has come in his eyes, one you’ve never seen before. You feel a bit worried for a moment, but then you start to relax when he starts kissing your neck again. His hands run down your body, over your hips and then down to your thighs. His hand reaches into your slit, finding you wet. 

“That’s about right,” he moans into your ear. 

His hands move to your thighs, gently pulling them apart. He hovers over you, planting one of his hands beside your shoulders. With the other, he guides his cock to brush against your entrance, teasing you.

“Arthur,” you moan. “Please.”

“Just wanted to make shoar yer ready, darlin’,” he whispers in your ear before kissing just below your ear. He suddenly sinks his length into you all the way to the hilt, filling you and making you gasp. You put your hands on his back, trying to hold onto him. He stays still for a moment, sitting inside of you before he finally pulls back and then slams into you. You start raking your nails across his back, which he doesn’t seem to mind. He winds his hand into your hair, his lips finding yours again as he thrusts himself into you. 

He leans up slightly, grabbing one of your knees and pulling it up, throwing your leg over his shoulder as he pumps into you.

“Mm, Arthur,” you moan.

“I love those sounds you make,” he growls. His hands squeeze your hips, causing you to buck up into him. You plant your hands onto his chest, running your hands through the hair there. 

His right hand suddenly leaves your hip, sliding down to your folds where he finds your core. He starts rubbing your clit, sending jolts all the way down to your toes, causing them to curl. He chuckles as you groan loudly, your hands sliding down to his hips and squeezing. He starts moving his fingers faster, bucking into you more wildly. Something starts growing in your chest, moving down into your ribs and then stopping in your stomach.

“Arthur,” you growl. “Please, more!” 

He chuckles again, his deep laugh pushing you further. “As you wish, darlin’.” 

He presses his hand harder into you, pumping his length deeper into you. That warm feeling in your stomach travels down between your legs, exploding and setting your nerves on fire. You gasp and yell out, your hair plastered against your neck as your feet curl against his back. 

“That’s my girl!” Arthur growls. He rides out your waves, pumping himself harder into you. He leans back down and kisses your neck again, his bucking becoming more wild and less rhythmic. He groans loudly as you feel him throb inside you hard several times, his seed spilling into you. 

You both lie there as his length begins to grow soft inside of you, his body relaxing on you, gasping for breath. After a moment, he gently pulls himself out of you and rolls over onto his back. You close your legs, feeling colder without his body on top of you. You roll over and curl into his side; his arm draping over you as you lay your head onto his chest.

“Mm, Arthur,” you say quietly as your hand tangles into his hair. “That was great.”

He kisses your forehead. “Glad I could be of service, ma’am.”

You lie against him, feeling suddenly exhausted but satisfied. He pulls the blanket over you both as the rain hammers on the roof. His hand settles across your back again, drawing light circles into your skin, sending you into a deep sleep. 

#red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 #rdr2 fanfic #arthur morgan #arthur morgan x reader #arthur morgan x female reader #arthur morgan x oc #arthur morgan x reader smut #nsft #Van Der Linde Gang #r* games #rockstar games #i'm awkward #second chances #please forgive my horrible nsft scene!

[aus-wnt]

Pressure mounts for Matildas' Olympic qualifiers in China to be moved

Sydney Morning Herald By Vince Rugari 

Pressure is mounting on international sporting bodies to move the Matildas' Olympic qualifiers away from China altogether due to increasing fears over the coronavirus outbreak that is now impacting multiple cities and provinces.

Australia's Group B matches against Taiwan, Thailand and China were originally scheduled to be held in Wuhan, the city where the deadly virus originated, but were last week shifted to Nanjing.

But with transport in China heavily restricted, Lunar New Year celebrations overshadowed and several sporting events in the country now being postponed or cancelled as authorities attempt to deal with the outbreak, the Australian players' union has questioned how the Matildas could be asked to adhere to the current schedule.

Ante Milicic's team is currently in camp in Sydney and scheduled to depart on Tuesday, with talks ongoing between officials from Football Federation Australia, the Asian Football Confederation, FIFA and the IOC.

As of Sunday night, there was no official word that the qualifiers would be shifted. Australia's first match is on February 3 against Taiwan, with the top two teams in the tournament to qualify for Tokyo 2020.

The AFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Football Federation Australia declined to comment, saying the scheduling of Olympic qualifiers was a matter for the AFC and IOC.

Professional Footballers Association chief executive John Didulica said it was an "incredibly challenging situation" for the players.

"It's a critically important tournament and, as elite athletes, they need to remain mentally focussed on being at their best," Didulica said. "Given the current circumstances, however, and the inherent and growing risks, it's difficult to see how in good conscience the Matildas, and other athletes as well as support staff, could be asked to travel and compete as scheduled.

"We know there's a lot of proactive work happening behind the scenes and we are relying on FFA and the AFC – and even the IOC and FIFA where needed – to exercise sound judgment by prioritising both the players' health and the integrity of the qualification process."

The coronavirus outbreak has claimed more than 50 lives, infected nearly 2000 people and is presenting significant logistical challenges around other football matches and sporting competitions in China.

The Matildas' qualifiers were one of two Olympic-related events due to be held in Wuhan over the coming months. The other, the Asian/Oceanian boxing qualifiers slated for March, were on Saturday moved to Ammam, Jordan.

#AUSWNT #Matildas #Olympic Qualifiers #WOSO

[startupheretorontoweb01-blog]

Hello From Toronto - Exploring Chinatown and Kensington

In all my explorations of Toronto over the last few years I have learned that in addition to numerous world-class sights and attractions, Toronto has many lesser known nooks and crannies that are full of history, interesting stories and anecdotes. One of the best people to learn from about the twists and turns of Toronto's history is Bruce Bell, a well-known author, playwright, actor, standup comedian who is also a passionate historian and has become one of Toronto's most well-recognized history experts.

The story of how I met Bruce is also quite intriguing: my brother, who happens to live in Austria, was reading a German travel magazine that was featuring a story about Bruce, so he called me up and said that there is this guy that is doing all these neat walking tours through Toronto and that's how I connected with Bruce - through a European detour. Over the past couple of years I have taken two of his tours, covering the downtown area and featuring a culinary exploration of Toronto's famous St. Lawrence market. I have always enjoyed the experience and wanted to do another tour with Bruce for a while.

Well, I figured it was definitely time for more entertaining and informative explorations of Toronto; this time it was going to be Chinatown-Kensington, one of Toronto's most vibrant and fascinating neighbourhoods. So I called up Bruce and said let's do another tour. To share the experience I brought out six of my friends and we met yesterday at 6:30 pm at one of Toronto's modern architecture icons: the OCAD Building at 100 McCaul Street, just south of the University of Toronto campus. The OCAD Building, I call it the "gift box on stilts", is part of the 2004 redevelopment of the Campus of the Ontario College of Art & Design. The Sharp Centre for Design has a unique "table top" structure which has quickly become one of Toronto's most recognizable landmarks.

We met in the Butterfield Park area, surrounded by the stilts holding up the table top of this extraordinary building. From there we headed west into a green space that features Toronto's oldest house: "The Grange" was built in 1817 for D'Arcy Boulton Jr., a member of one of early Toronto's most prominent families who owned about 2000 acres of land in the area. The classical mansion reflects the British architectural traditions of the 18th century. Today, the Grange is owned by the Art Gallery of Ontario and is in the process of being renovated and integrated into the AGO's Frank Gehry-led redesign.

After leaving this park we walked north on Beverley Street which features several yellow-brick mansions of some of Toronto's most pre-eminent families, the "Family Compact" - the true power brokers of the early 19th century. Families such as the Cawthras and others owned huge tracts of land in what is today's downtown Toronto. The Bolton family even owned a private racetrack near the intersections of Dundas and Beverley and many formal social occasions were celebrated on their enormous estate. We also passed by a former hotel which dates back to 1822, one of the very few hotels left from that era which today is a men's residence.

Our stroll took us westwards on Baldwin Street, a street with a mix of imposing mansions, historic apartment buildings and narrow Victorian homes with attractive architectural details and amazingly intricate woodwork. Bruce stopped at a mansion of one of Toronto's most influential historic figures: George Brown (1818 to 1880) was a Scottish-born Canadian journalist, politician and one of the Fathers of Canada's Confederation. He was also the founder and editor of the Toronto Globe newspaper which today is known as the Globe and Mail.

Bruce enlightened us that George Brown was an important figure in the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses that allowed African slaves to escape from the United States to Canada in the 19th century. Ironically, as much as George Brown supported the cause of freeing black slaves, he remained a staunch anti-Catholic. Bruce elaborated that while the United States was characterized by an ongoing conflict between Blacks and Whites, early Canada's conflicts mostly unfolded between Protestants and Catholics. Bruce added that in 1880 George Brown was shot by one of his former employees at the Globe newspaper, a certain George Bennet who had been fired from his job for drunkenness. Although George Brown only suffered a leg injury at the time he died about 6 weeks later from the wound.

Just a few steps further west we saw the mansion of Robert Baldwin, a member of the Parliament of Upper Canada and a key public figure around the time of the 1837 uprising of the Toronto population against the entrenched British power structure. The unsuccessful Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 was an uprising against the British colonial government, particularly about the issue of land allocation. Most of the land in and around the old City of York was owned by the "Family Compact", a group of extremely wealthy Anglican conservative families that represented Canada's elite at the time. Robert Baldwin was instrumental in establishing Responsible Government, which advocated increased independence from Britain and self-government for Upper Canada.

We had finally arrived on Spadina Avenue, the expansive north-south artery that is the centre point of Toronto's Chinatown. This historic neighbourhood, one of three Chinatowns within Toronto's city boundaries, is centered around Spadina and Dundas and is the largest Chinese shopping area in the city. Old Chinatown is actually one of North America's largest, not surprisingly as Toronto features the second largest Chinese population in Canada after Vancouver.

Recent years have seen a migration of Chinese immigrants to the suburbs which has led to the closure of some of the local restaurants. Many former Chinatown residents, originally from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong have moved outside the City's boundaries and the void has been filled by many ethnic Chinese people from Vietnam. As a result an increasing number of store signs are now in Vietnamese, in addition to the well-established Chinese stores.

Goods sold include fruits and vegetables, meat and seafood, low cost clothing and general merchandise, all of which are sold at very reasonable prices. Recently there has been a noticeable local increase in Latin American immigrants, testament to the fact that Toronto's demographics continue to be in flux.

The same story applies even more to Toronto's Kensington area, roughly bounded by Spadina Avenue, College Street, Queen Street and Bellevue Avenue. As Bruce explained, it is one of Toronto's most ethnically diverse and eclectic neighbourhoods and has been attracting immigrants from different countries of origin for the last 130 years or so. Originally the Denison estate, the Kensington area became a residential area for Irish and Scottish immigrant labourers. The small working-class houses in this historically inexpensive area have been inhabited by successive waves of immigrants from different places. From 1910 onwards, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe as well as some Italians started to stream into the area. The entire Kensington area became known as "the Jewish Market", and about 60,000 Jewish residents lived here in the 1920s and 1930s who worshipped in about 30 local synagogues.

We stopped at the Minsker Synagogue at 10 St. Andrew Street, home of the Congregation Anshei Minsk, Toronto's Downtown Synagogue. Construction of the synagogue commenced in 1922 and was finally completed in 1930. As a result of the out-migration of many of the Jewish residents from Kensington, today it is one of the few synagogues still in active operation in downtown Toronto.

Captivated by the colourful and unusual variety of stores we walked through narrow streets filled with a jumble of vintage clothing stores, bakeries, restaurants, shops selling anything from fish, cheese and meat to dry goods and assorted merchandise. At about 7:30 pm most of the stores had closed or were in the process of closing, but the diverse and unusual storefronts and murals illustrate the Bohemian flavour of this area. Bruce pointed out numerous favourite hangouts: places such as Cob's Bread, Graffiti's Bar and Grill, My Market Bakery, the Chocolate Addict and many other unique nooks and crannies illustrate the free-spirited character of this unusual neighbourhood. At the intersection of St. Andrew and Augusta we stopped to admire a "half a house" that was attached to some flat-roofed houses and the complex was then capped off on the other side by another "half a house".

One of the most poignant symbols of Toronto's multi-ethnic mixing is a restaurant called the "Hungary Thai", an eatery that surprisingly combines European and Asian culinary traditions originating in Hungary and Thailand. There is no better area than Kensington Market to come face to face with Toronto's culturally diverse makeup. Today's Kensington features residents and merchants from all over the world, including people of Latin, Caribbean, European and Asian origin.

Southwest of Augusta Avenue we turned onto Bellevue Square Park, a green space that is frequented by a very Bohemian crowd of people, representing some of Toronto's artists and counterculture. Kensington Market is one of the few areas that features Cannabis cafes and products, and there is a distinct marijuana culture that pervades the area, particularly on Bellevue Square Park. The northwest end of the park features a statue of Al Waxman (1935 to 2001), a Toronto actor who starred in a popular television series "The King of Kensington" and was involved in numerous charitable organizations and events. Bruce pointed out that Al's wife Sara is immortalized on a bench right next to the statue in a carving that says "Sara loves Al".

Right opposite the Al Waxman statue at the corner of Bellevue Avenue is another relic from Kensington's Jewish history. The Kiever Synagogue on Denison Square was built in 1912. Its twin towers are crowned with Stars of David which give it a distinct middle-eastern or Byzantine feel. Although many Jewish residents have left the Kensington area over the last few decades to move further north in the City, the Kiever Synagogue continues to be active and to offer religious services every Sabbath as well as educational services to the remaining Jewish population.

We proceeded southwards on Augusta Avenue until we reached Queen Street. At the corner of Augusta and Queen we stopped and Bruce made us aware of one of the emblematic statues guarding the entrances of Kensington: an oversized cat prancing on a globe, an appropriately offbeat symbol of this colourful neighbourhood.

Across the street Bruce pointed out the former Alexandra Park public housing complex that has been renamed the Atkinson Housing Co-op. Bruce explained that this residential complex was a major urban planning mistake and had become one of Toronto's most crime-ridden areas. In 2003 the former Alexandra Park became Canada's first public housing complex to be converted into a tenant-managed, non-profit housing cooperative, a move which has greatly improved the safety in this area.

At the intersection of Dundas and Queen Streets, right in the heart of Chinatown, Bruce stopped again to show us the Art Deco Victory Theatre, a former vaudeville theatre. He also explained that this theatre had at some point morphed into the Victory Burlesque, home of famous Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous burlesque dancer who became known for putting the "tease into striptease".

The history of the Spadina area is colourful indeed. Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe settled in the area from 1832 onwards, but major immigration got into full swing in the 1890s. Many of these poor Jewish immigrants had little language skills and began to work in low-paying jobs in the garment factories that had sprung up near Spadina.

Numerous Jewish delicatessens, tailors, cinemas, Yiddish theatres, synagogues and other political, social and cultural institutions developed in the area. Indeed, as Bruce pointed out, Spadina Avenue became the centre of the Garment District which still survives on a much smaller scale today - even today there are numerous fashion and fur stores that sell their merchandise to the public at wholesale prices. Bruce also elaborated that many of the buildings and warehouses became gradually higher, a direct result of the invention of the Otis safety elevator which made it feasible to carry out industrial manufacturing on higher level floors.

Our group then stopped at the Glen and Paul Magder Fur Store which was a pioneer in reforming Toronto's Sunday shopping laws by staying open on Sundays, despite heavy fines. Right around here we also got to admire the former location of a theatre owned by the parents of Mary Pickford, the famous Toronto born-actress, "America's Sweetheart" who became Hollywood's biggest star of the Silent Era. Together with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford was a cofounder of United Artists film studios.

We then walked east on Queen Street which features a whole stretch of eateries, restaurants and eclectic bars and taverns, including the Rivoli, an extremely popular bar, restaurant and pool hall. At the Horseshoe Tavern Bruce explained that many famous music acts of Toronto, including Blue Rodeo, got their start at this tavern.

Incidentally this was also a favourite hangout for the notorious Boyd Gang, a 1950s gang of bank robbers led by Edwin Alonzo Boyd. The gang garnered a lot of media attention due to its sensational actions, including bank robberies, jail breaks, liaisons with beautiful women, gun fights and daring captures. Two of the gang members were captured and hanged for the murder of a policeman in 1952 while Edwin Boyd, by then a Canadian folk hero, was sentenced to eight life terms plus twenty seven years concurrent. He was paroled in 1966, relocated to British Columbia and died in 2002.

Just steps further east is the "Friendship House", where Russian refugees were taken in, it is also the centre of the Communist League of Toronto and the former location of the 1980s television series "Street Legal".

A few steps east is a series of Victorian townhouses that, as Bruce explained, were owned by two sisters who had had a serious falling out. Although the buildings were symmetrical in appearance the sisters did their best to modify the architecture to ensure that each of their sides would look different from the other sister's property. Bruce pointed out a couple of former vaudeville theatres, explaining that in the era before cinemas and podcasts, almost every city block had one or more of these theatres which were popular entertainment spots for the locals.

At the Corner of Queen and Soho is the Black Bull, a decades old hotel and tavern that features a spacious outdoor patio. Bruce explained that in the 1800s Toronto's city limits extended to Peter Street, and the tavern housed in this building was the last tavern on the way out of town. This was at a time when a horse and carriage ride to Niagara Falls could take two days, so a final watering hole on the outskirts of town was important.

Another significant Toronto landmark rose up impressively in front of our eyes: Toronto's CHUM City Building, the main studio complex of CTV Globemedia. The building houses City TV and its famous Speakers Corner video booth (which allows members of the public to voice their opinions on any topic), Cable Pulse 24, MuchMusic, Star! and the Fashion Television Channel. Its 1914 Neo-Gothic terra cotta façade make it an instantly recognizable landmark in downtown Toronto, and the news truck with the turning wheels that is built into the eastern façade make it a real icon of the downtown core.

Well, our informative and https://startupheretoronto.com  entertaining Chinatown-Kensington Tour had come to an end. Bruce, with his dramatic abilities, was able to educate us and entertain us at the same time, introducing us to historically significant parts of the city that we had never seen or simply walked by without noticing.

[dweemeister]

2018 Movie Odyssey for-fun awards

With the 2018 Movie Odyssey in the books, but the 2018 Movie Odyssey Awards themselves delayed until next week (Sunday, January 6), here is the penultimate tradition for the year. This is a collection of for-fun honors and dishonors for the 250+ films that I saw in their entirety this calendar year.

Actor I wanted to smack most in the face: Sydney Greenstreet, The Woman in White (1948)

Because when I read the book earlier last year, there was nothing I wanted to do more than smack Count fucking Fosco in the face. Almost all of the dudes in Braveheart (1995) were the runners-up.

Best experience in a packed theater: A Quiet Place (2018)

Because everybody went along with the film - nobody dared make a noise. :P

Best fight scene AND sing-off: “Marching Through Georgia” v. “Dixie”, which precipitates into the saloon brawl, Dodge City (1939)

That post-War tension between Union and Confederate veterans, though...

Best film title: A River Runs Through It (1992)

It only really makes sense by the film’s closing scene.

Best individual cue from an original score: “Battle on the Ice” by Sergei Prokofiev, Alexander Nevsky (1938, Soviet Union)

Best last line, that, well, isn’t quite a last line: “Bolt the door, Maria,” from The Heiress (1949)

Best lyrics passage from an original song: “Charade”, music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, Charade (1963)

Fate seemed to pull the strings; I turned and you were gone. While from the darkened wings, The music box played on.

Best moment: The ending to The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Best movie dad: Josh Hamilton, Eighth Grade (2018)

“...why would you think you make me sad?... Being your dad makes me so happy, Kayla. You don’t know. You don’t know how happy you make me. It’s beyond anything. I can’t describe it to you... It’s so easy to love you. It’s so easy to be proud of you. I really mean that.”

Best movie family member, non-parent: Bette Davis, All This, and Heaven Too (1940)

Best movie mom: Anne Revere as Mrs. Araminty Brown, National Velvet (1944)

“There’s a time for everything. There’s a time for having a horse and the Grand National; for being in love; having children, yes, even for dying. All in proper order at the proper time.”

Best one-line kill: This moment from The World Is Not Enough (1999)

Best on-screen friendship: Pete and Elliott, Pete’s Dragon(1977)

Best use of dog poop as a plot device: Roma (2018, Mexico)

And I think it should win Best Picture!

Best use of non-original music: this Cantonese cover of “Material Girl” from Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Best use of testicles as a plot device: Pom Poko (1994, Japan)

It was that kind of year, kiddos!

Best vocal performance: Judy Garland singing “But Not For Me” from Girl Crazy (1943)

Biggest disappointment: Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)

Fans of the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan didn’t tell me about the blackface and the exoticism of tropical Africa! C’mon, guys!

Biggest surprise: Charade (1963)

Was not expecting this movie to be as good as it was! Certainly, as many people write, it is the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made.

Biggest (unpleasant) surprise: That ending to Hereditary (2018)

One particular shot gave me the worst feeling ever - a sinking one - in a theater.

Eye-gouging un-achievement in animation: The Wacky World of Mother Goose (1967)

Forgot what happened an hour after I left the theater: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Greatest discovery (actor): Ganjirô Nakamura, Floating Weeds (1959, Japan)

Greatest discovery (actress): Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade (2018)

Greatest discovery (director): Lee Chang-dong, Burning (2018, South Korea)

I had never seen any of his films before!

I seem to be the only Asian-American who despised this: Bao (2018 short)

I thought it let the mother - who was showing signs of emotionally abusive and possessive behavior - off very lightly, with nothing for her to learn.

Instant, shameless tearjerker: The ending to Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)

Shadow? SHADOOOOWWWWW.....

Kick-ass moment: Mission: Impossible -- Fallout (2018)

The whole darn movie. Seriously.

Most awkward title drop: A View to a Kill (1985)

Just click the darn link! It’s the cherry on top to maybe one of the worst 007 villain performances ever, all thanks to Christopher Walken.

Most narrative (and literal) twists and turns: In Search of the Castaways (1962)

What the actual...?

Most stressful significant other: Alex Honnold, Free Solo (2018)

Not-so-prophetic film title: The NeverEnding Story (1984)

That movie flew by so quickly, I barely noticed there was any movie in it!

Presidential election of 2016 flashbacks warning: The One and Only, Genuine Original Family Band (1968)

As much as I adore Walter Brennan impugning “Reeeee-publicans”, anyone who loses the Electoral College despite winning the popular vote has got my sympathy.

Spends half the movie referring to themselves as their own name: The title song to Hans Christian Andersen (1952)

I get it already... your name is Hans Christian Andersen!

Tears. Ugly tears: Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

Do I have to explain any more? I was one of Mister Rogers’ neighbors!

Worst parent (I’m retiring this category after this year, because there’s no topping this): Thanos, Avengers: Infinity War

Worst use of non-original music: “California Girls” from A View to a Kill

Oh good god no.

The 2018 Movie Odyssey Awards will be up -- hopefully by the end of the night!

#2018 Movie Odyssey Awards

[bracerubber8]

He Additionally Went Up A £12

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The NHL announced it made not the right call in disallowing what will have already been the Buffalo Sabres’ tying goal when you look at the final moment of a 2-1 reduction to your New York Rangers. He glides across the grass and has velvet feet, but their shoes tend to be equally capable of dispatching with venom on objective - just ask Spurs. At best, three of a youthful starting XI, begins for Mauricio Pochettino whenever his part head to Everton in the first-day associated with season and additionally they enhanced dramatically once the match wore on, pulling an objective right back from lively half-time alternative Erik Lamela and virtually snatching a draw. With all the Brighton vs Tottenham match postponed on Sunday, it provides a great captaincy choice (two fold points), with a-trip to Arsenal to check out through the week. While this isn't exactly a deal, Walmart is offering an excellent possiblity to grab one of these VR headsets for $100 lower than the second best option. Utilizing the singing out of the way allow the dancing start or even more a case of jumping down and up into the best our juke box could possibly offer. Because of the lies of her boss Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (aka Val, who is apparently piecing together a deadly staff for nefarious functions), Yelena blames Clint for Natasha's demise and is completely for blood. The Cavaliers are out to stop a four-game streak of losings home. The Cavaliers tend to be a solid 7-point preferred up against the Hokies, according to the newest college football odds. Consequently, soccer in Australian Continent is governed by a national board FFA (Football Federation of Australia), that is a member of Asian Football Confederation. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) terminated the final five tournaments when you look at the qualification period when it comes to Olympics. Inspite of the loss, they got a solid performance out of little forward Gordon Hayward, who had 31 things and seven helps as well as five rebounds. Virginia Tech have claimed five from their final six games against Virginia. As 먹튀폴리스 was six he got a set of football boots, he started playing baseball as a result of them, at their amateur career he became regular person in his hometown club Malmo FF. The present analysis seeks to examine the connection between sociocultural, administrative, legal/regulatory, financial/economic, technical/technological barriers with all the entry of Primary Football League Clubs into the stock market. The Kraken have actually played only two games as the state person in the National Hockey League and have now currently acquired their very first victory. The riveting story of four men--Larry Doby, Bill Veeck, Bob Feller, and Satchel Paige--whose improbable union regarding the Cleveland Indians into the belated 1940s would shape the instant postwar period of Major League Baseball. Cristiano apparently earns 12 million EUROS a-year because of the Spanish giants and has now obtained a few major private and staff accolades such as the Golden Boot and La Liga. How he made Leipzig a top European staff. An aliquot of 1.0 mL of dissolvable protein had been placed on the top the line and following the sample had entered the gel sleep, it was eluted with 0.02%custom made Restaurant Furniture switch Tufted Velvet eating Chair (HD463). BushingandCustom Approved Original Design Wire Harness Security Cable Seal Cable Tie 1.8mmshow the gel chromatographic separation of soluble necessary protein with Sephadex G-Automatic Horizontal Roll Film Pouch Making herbs / Milk / Coffee / Salt / Flour / Coconut Powder Pouch Packing Filling Machine.Motorcycle Intake Manifold Carburetor software Connector Joint Motorcycle components, and another peak at 45 mL not shown inHaivol high-voltage 12/20kv Cold Shrinkable 3 Cores Indoor Terminal Kit (Applicableof cable crosssection 400), for peptides lower than 3000 Da.Deep Hole Drilling Machine(Condell et al.,1993) . 2019 latest Design Ultralight Portable Folding Hammock, M.M.; Diefendorf, E. J. and Marmer,W.N.(1991),Laboratory Rubber substance Two Roll Mill Open Mixing Mill Machine-inducing representatives. Tayyab, S.,Qamar,S., and Islam, M.(1991), Size exclusion chromatography and dimensions exclusion HPLC of proteins. Dieleman, S.H.(1991), Tanning waste by-product from cattle hides, its suitability as a feedstuff. Collivgnarelli, C. and Barducci, G.(1984), spend recovery through the tanning industry. Nozaki, J. (1996),Zinc-Alu Stone Look Aluminum Honeycomb Composite Panel.SMC Manhole Cover for Industry and Business Meters. 2019 Newest Design Ultralight Portable Folding Hammock,M.M.; Diefendorf, E.J.; Thompson, C.J.; Brown, E.M., and Marver, W.N.(1996), Extraction of value-added byproducts through the treatment of chromium containing collagenous waste generated within the leather-based industry. Virginia dropped to Pitt 48-38. Virginia's reduction came to exist despite a quality online game from QB Keytaon Thompson, which punched in a single rushing touchdown as well as getting 11 passes for just one TD and 126 yards. Meanwhile, the Hokies came up short up against the Miami (FL) Hurricanes a week ago, falling 38-26. Virginia Tech's beat came to exist despite an excellent game from QB Connor Blumrick, which passed for just two TDs and 39 yards on 11 attempts as well as picking right up 132 yards on the floor. Inside their last matchup (2018), Michigan went into Evanston greatly favored, dropped behind 17-0 and scored 20 unanswered points in order to avoid a devastating reduction. Virginia scored very first but ultimately lower than the Pittsburgh Panthers in their particular matchup a week ago. This thirty days in Sports Reference: a month-to-month e-mail number for followers or hefty users of this website that recounts most of the changes and improvements we've produced in the last thirty days. Activities Mega-Events have now been an element of the modernization associated with the western and its own Macro-Social Changes since the mid-19th century. These plastic bags tend to be later on used as a part of everyday everyday lives by the majority of the customers. ‘There’s some adaptation to that, there’s a certain version towards the league, you’re perhaps not gonna get the goals and helps numbers everywhere near in our league, you are within the Bundesliga,’ he said. He does not require much space to obtain a go faraway from beyond the arc, and he’s additionally an extraordinary flooring general. It doesn’t just involve regular oil modification or maintaining fluids at specific levels but in addition calls for periodic assessment, rebuilding, and restoration or replacement for the worn-out components. The eluents used were: mobile period A: buffer answer of 0.2 mol/R1 High Pressure one or two Ply Steel Wire Braided Rubber Oil Hose, pH 3.25., mobile stage B: buffer option of 0.01 mol/18V Li-ion Battery Cordless Electric Impact Wrench, pH 7.40. Post-column temperature ended up being 1300C with all the absorbance reading at 570 nm.

#먹튀폴리스 #토토사이트

[worldticketsandhospitality]

Qatar World Cup: Methodical South Korea pick apart Iraq in resounding FIFA World Cup qualifying win

South Korea used similar preparatory lineups to beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iraq in a series during their FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. However, the Taeguk Warriors have shown that they can win matches in a variety of ways, demonstrating that they can win matches in a variety of ways.

Fans from all over the world are called to book World Cup Tickets from our online platforms WorldWideTicketsandHospitality.com. Football World Cup fans can book South Korea Football World Cup Tickets on our website at exclusively discounted prices.

South Korea defeated Iraq 3-0 at Thani bin Jassim Stadium in Doha, with three separate players scoring (local time). During the final Asian qualifying round for the FIFA World Cup 2022, it was South Korea's fourth win in six games in Group A. South Korea had had a 1-0 triumph over the UAE at home last week, a game in which the Koreans hit the woodwork three times.

South Korea tried 22 shots and caused havoc in the aggressive zone all matches with the high burden. They played with exact abandon. Against Iraq, though, South Korea was far more systematic initially. With the opponent’s situation up a low block, South Korea patiently approved the ball around to get Iraqi players to bite and change out of position.

When that didn't happen, South Koreans just took what their opponents gave them without compelling the matter. It also had the added advantage of conserving players' energy. They had made a long trip to Qatar over the weekend, and the same 11 players who had fore-checked so violently against the UAE couldn't have been at the full asset in this one.

Their patience paid off in the initial goal by Lee Jae-sung in the 33rd minute. The midfielder was the recipient of a botched shot effort by Kim Jin-Su on the left side of the box. The arrangement started with Son Heung-min moving a quick through ball to learn the full-back Lee Yong and leave the Iraqi protectors scrambling.

The goal providing a measure of retrieval for Lee Jae-sung, who had been unprotected to cyberbullying last month after a high turnover that led to Iran's equalizer in a 1-1 draw in Tehran. Lee had an additional gaffe in the 13th minute beside Iraq, rotating the ball over in his own box, and respired a sigh of respite when Ibrahim Bayesh lost the target. The aim was Lee's major for South Korea since March 2019.

Iraq began to assert itself additional in the second half, and South Korea bullied the additional space that solved up as a result. Son once over was in the center of it all for the second goal. It was his first pass that led to forward Cho Gue-sung's accidental deep in the box, and Cho over up drawing a penalty against Ali Adnan. For more to know about FIFA World Cup Packages Click here

Son took the consequence himself -- doing it twice after Jeong Woo-Yeong encouraged into the box before the shot -- converting it for his 30th international goal in his 96th match. It was at that very stadium that Son had got his first goal for the national squad in 2011 at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup. Son is currently tied for sixth on the South Korean all-time goals list and be seated four lids from the joining to the Century Club.

And a few minutes later, Son helped Jeong become his first international goal. Son danced his way into the box and passed on a shooting chance to find Hwang Hee-chan on the left. Hwang then moved the ball toward Jeong to his right, as the 22-year-old surely shot it home to make it 3-0.

South Korea had completed 529 passes beside the UAE but this is an illustration of a much dissimilar method, they had well over 400 just in the first half beside Iraq, en route to implementation 687 passes. South Korea head coach Paulo Bento praised his players for creating changes and improving their overall play in the second half.

I think it was a fair wind, he said at his post-match press conference. We had additional problems in the first half than in the second half. In the second half, we were more violent with the ball and we used the space late the opponent self-justifying the line in a good way. South Korea well to 14 points after six competitions, two back of Iran in the group.

With the UAE in a reserved third at six points, South Korea and Iran are fake locks to defend the two automatic berths out of Group A. But Bento wasn't prepared to celebrate yet, saying he was previously thinking about the next two competitions in January and February. We are not yet in the FIFA World Cup, he said. We must keep trying to recover our process and it's what we're going to do in the next exercise camp.

We are offering tickets for FIFA World Cup 2022 admirers can get FIFA World Cup Tickets through our trusted online ticketing marketplace. Worldwideticketsandhospitality.com is the most reliable source to book Qatar FIFA World Cup Tickets and FIFA World Cup Packages Sign Up for the latest Tickets alerts.

#SouthKoreaFootballWorldCupTickets #FIFAWorldCupTickets #QatarWorldCup2022Tickets #FootballWorldCupTickets #FIFAWorldCupPackages #QatarWorldCupTickets #WorldCupTickets