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#CIA recruitment video
bear-of-mirrors · 1 year
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zepskies · 11 months
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Break Me Down - Part 1
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Pairing: Soldier Boy/Ben x Female Reader
Summary: You’re a private investigator by trade, but now you happily sit at a desk — leading a surveillance team at Supe Affairs. After managing to end Homelander in New York, Soldier Boy escapes custody. You are recruited for the manhunt, joining Butcher’s team.
Truly, you joined the S.A. for the right reasons. But after you become his accidental hostage, Soldier Boy will break down every single one of them…
💚 Break Me Down Masterlist
Word Count: 5,200 Warnings: Some male skeeviness lol.
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Part 1: The Game Begins
Two months ago…
You and M.M. continued to pour over all the records that the CIA had been able to pull on Soldier Boy.
This had been your life for the past month: locked in one hotel room after the next, up to your eyeballs in research. Or pounding the pavement in the sweltering summer of Brazil, on any whisper of Soldier Boy.
Right now it was the former. You all were piled into M.M.’s room, as it was the only one with a kitchen.
You smiled at Frenchie and thanked him when he offered you a steaming mug. At least you would finally get to experience Brazilian coffee.
You hiked a foot on the table where you and M.M. were working and sipped carefully; the mug was filled to the brim. Your companion eyed your pajama-clad leg, which only encroached an inch or two into his space.
“Excuse the fuck outta me,” said M.M. “Can you not?”
You briefly looked up from the (completely fabricated) biopic you were reading on Soldier Boy. “Hmm?”
M.M. gestured to your bare foot on the table. “Hello? What, were you raised in a fucking barn?”
With an amused smile, you lowered your leg. “I’m cramping up. We’ve been at this for six hours.”
“And counting,” Hughie said with a tired sigh. He and Annie had just come from scoping the local tourist spots and dive bars in the city. It wasn’t for pleasure though. You all had arrived in Brazil last night on a rumor that Soldier Boy had been spotted at a club a couple of days ago. 
Annie heaved a sigh as she dropped into the seat next to you. She stole your paper fan on the table and tried to dry the sweat on her face and neck. You smiled and passed her your bottled water as well.
You and Annie had been “work friendly” at Supe Affairs. Now you felt like she had accepted you the most readily into the group. She seemed genuinely interested in who you were as a person as well.
Though you tried not to give too many personal details about your life, she had a way of disarming you, getting you to open up with her genuine willingness to listen. 
You were friendly enough with Hughie and Kimiko as well, and you could also admit, you liked M.M. He was a straightforward man (and fun to tease with his anal idiosyncrasies). You got the most done with M.M. by your side. And watching him with Frenchie was pure entertainment. 
Overall, you felt respected by them, even if you knew you weren’t as close as the rest of them seemed to be. You just hadn’t been on the team long enough. 
The only one who mostly ignored you was Billy Butcher.
Butcher didn’t want you on the team. He’d made that pretty clear from the beginning.
What had his words been? Oh, yeah.
She’s a fucking amateur. Won’t last thirty seconds if, heavens for-fuckin’-bid, she encounters an A-lister like Soldier Boy. 
You knew he considered you dead weight. But as Grace had told him, her track record speaks for itself. 
No, you weren’t former SAS, like Butcher. You weren’t CIA, or any other military alphabet soup. But if there was one thing you knew how to do, it was tracking people down.
You were currently flitting through Soldier Boy’s sham career: the shitty music videos, the starlets, the ticker tape parades, and what precious little there was about his beginnings: about “Ben.” 
You did find out that his family was from Hartford, Connecticut, and stupidly rich too. You found his parents’ names to go along with that. 
And then it was a hop, skip, and a jump to him being unveiled as Soldier Boy.  
“That is curious,” you murmured. 
“Curious about the world’s most infamous granny fucker?” Butcher remarked. You slid him a wry look. 
The fact that he tried to erase his past is interesting,” you said. “The details that aren’t here are just as important as the ones that are.”
Butcher hesitated a second, an ice-cold beer poised to his lips. He tipped it toward you in acknowledgement. “On that, we actually agree.”
“What do we know about his real life? Before he became Soldier Boy,” you asked.
Butcher sat down across from you and shaded in the details he knew, mostly about a disappointed father. 
“Didn’t get enough hugs as a lad,” he surmised. 
You suspected he was understating the truth. If there weren’t that many recorded accounts, pictures, or footage of Soldier Boy’s parents and home life, then he didn’t want people to know. 
Interesting, you thought. Eventually Butcher got up to run down another lead that came in via text from Grace. Frenchie came back from the kitchen and saw how intently you were staring at your computer screen, eyes rapidly scanning. 
“Ah,” Frenchie said, gesturing between you and the departed Butcher with a hand that held three alfajores cookies. “I see the same anal tenacity that fuels Monsieur Charcutier.”
You raised a brow. “My tenacity is for the case, not Soldier Boy.”
This wasn’t a vendetta for you. This was just business.
“For money,” M.M. correctly guessed, but his eyes held no judgment. “Been there.”
You sighed, smiling a little. Yes, you were doing this for money. They didn’t need to know anything more than that. 
You liked this team well enough, but this was a job. The way you protected your family, and yourself, was by not talking about them.
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That night, Frenchie’s ordered “package” arrived, courtesy of Grace. It was a healthy dose of Novichok gas—perhaps one of the only substances on Earth that could put Soldier Boy into a peaceful sleep. 
Well, you didn’t know if it was peaceful, exactly. But he’d be asleep. That was all any of you cared about.
“At least it’s in proper containment this time,” M.M. said, examining the large cannister. Annie peered at it over his shoulder. 
“I don’t know. My shitty perfume case seemed to hold it just fine,” she quipped. 
You smiled from your usual seat at your computer. Annie came over with a sandwich for both of you. It was from the café down the street, and you’d been meaning to try it. Every time you stood out on your hotel room’s balcony, you could smell fresh bread and smoked meats coming from the café. 
“Oh, yeah. How’s your sister?” Annie asked around a mouthful of sandwich. “She’s in college now, right?”
She had a good memory. Annie had heard you on the phone with your sister before you all left last month. You’d said one last goodbye, knowing it wouldn’t be safe to talk once you were locked into this mission.
While you were reluctant to answer Annie’s question, the others seemed distracted in the kitchen, fighting over who ordered chorizo and who ordered steak on their sandwich. 
Still, you lowered your voice, even as a proud smile graced your lips. “She got into Julliard.”
Annie grinned and set her food down to give a little clap. 
“She starts in the fall, so a few months,” you added.
“Aww, you’re glowing with pride,” Annie teased. And you laughed, but it was true. You wouldn’t hide that you were very proud of your little sister’s accomplishments. 
“She’s worked hard, and she deserves it,” you said. Though your eyes dimmed. “I just wish I could help her celebrate…she’s on my case for taking this job.”       
Quite simply, she worried about you. You were good at your job, but you were still human. She’d seen you come home banged up and bruised more often than you cared to admit…
Annie gave you a knowing look. “If you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to. I’m sure you can get other jobs—”
“Getting into school is just the beginning,” you said. “She’s got four years to go. Then her master’s. Hell, her doctorate if she wants.”
“There are scholarships…”
“It’s not enough,” you said with a sigh. It’s never enough.
“All right, lads,” Butcher said. He wiped his mouth with a napkin as he read off his phone. “The new Strongest Cunt in the World has been spotted. Suit up.” 
“Where’re we going?” you asked, closing up your laptop. 
Butcher shot you a wink. “Colombia.”
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While on the private plane, you were the only one still awake as you continued to watch the archival footage with your Airpods in. Reel after motherfucking reel of Soldier Boy. 
You really were starting to get sick of his smug face. He was clearly a good actor, if nothing else. 
Then you came across the Russia files. 
Part of you didn’t want to watch. You knew exactly what they were, and you didn’t want to see anything that would make you sympathize with him in your mind…
And yet, your father’s training was ingrained in you—like fingerprints on your skin. Like a vice grip around your throat. 
Everything is relevant, always. Even if it isn’t.
…That, and maybe your own insatiable curiosity won out. 
So you steeled yourself with a breath, and you hit the play button. 
Gradually, your eyes widened. 
You had seen awful things—as a private investigator at your father’s firm, and at Vought. 
You had filled your quota of blood and death. And you had already seen the footage of Soldier Boy blasting a tower full of people in New York with the nuclear power now housed in his chest. 
You also knew what he did to M.M.’s family. But after watching several minutes of Soldier Boy's torture, hearing his struggle, his outbursts of rage, the ragged gasps for breath, the clawing, traumatized sounds...
It was like stereo between your ears, and it was...too familiar. Too much.
So you finally turned it off, closing your laptop with an unsettled breath of your own. 
And you were unable to sleep that night.
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When you all finally arrived in Colombia, you and the team surveyed the wreckage in the casino.
It was a fucking blood bath.
As you stepped carefully through the wreckage of bodies and gambling chips, you looked for clues. Anything that might tell you about what Soldier Boy was doing here (though you could guess), and however unlikely, where he might go next. 
You were disheartened to find the body of a young woman. Her big blue eyes were vacant, her blonde hair caked with blood from a head shot. On further inspection, you found a small room key in her hand. 
With a sigh and a gloved hand, you took the key. You also closed the girl’s eyes. 
You kept looking while the others had fanned out in the opposite direction. When you came across a small table that wasn’t turned over or splintered into fragments, you raised a brow. There was a napkin pinned to the top with a steak knife. 
You yanked it out and examined the flimsy napkin. Noticing that you’d found something, Butcher came over to your side. He was much taller than you, fairly looming over your shoulder. You angled the note toward him. 
Try harder.
S.B.
It was more than just a taunt. 
It was the beginning of a game. And it made you smile. 
“What the hell’re you smiling about?” Butcher asked. 
“I like it when they’re cocky,” you replied. Butcher shot you a sideways glance, one that said you were maybe more deranged than even him.
“All supes are cocky bastards.”
You eyed him with a teasing grin. “On that, we actually agree.”
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True to Grace’s word, she provided you all with the full extent of the CIA’s resources. While Butcher tracked down the hotel of the room key you found, you and M.M. were able to tap into any and all local street cameras and map out the likely points Soldier Boy had hit in this city—and where he could be going next.  
According to the hotel manager, Soldier Boy had paid for a month’s stay, but hadn’t checked out after coming back for some of his belongings. The security cameras had caught him leaving his hotel room with a few men—armed ex-military types, and possibly his new entourage. 
But the trail ended there. 
Over the next two months, Soldier Boy continued to be one step ahead of you in the chase. 
Though his movements were calculated (disappearing like a coil of smoke whenever you caught his scent), he seemed to be taking an extended vacation surrounding strip clubs, casinos, and other likely destinations for sex, drugs, and money. 
And he’d evaded capture after hitting at least three banks on his way out of the U.S. alone.
At the current crap motel of the week, you shared the couch with Kimiko and Hughie while you surveyed traffic cameras.
“What’s the likelihood that he’s even still in Colombia? In South America, even?” Hughie asked. It was a good goddamn question.
“We have agents covering every major port and air hanger,” M.M. said. “If he wants to escape the continent, he’s gonna have to fight his way out, or rent a dingy and float his motherfuckin’ ass across the Atlantic.” 
“I wouldn’t put anything past him,” you remarked. “What connections does he have?”
It wasn’t the first time you’d asked that question, but it was the first time you got a straightforward answer. 
“Who knows,” said M.M. “He’s an ancient fuck.”
“Who killed all his old friends,” Hughie supplied.
“Well, his team, to be fair. I don’t think he ever had friends,” Annie said. “...Plus his old girlfriend.”
“What a spectacular bonfire that was,” Butcher dryly quipped. 
Nice, you thought, heavy on the sarcasm. 
You sighed. Clearly, you all would have to be prepared for anything.
When you weren’t pouring through surveillance, you took to the streets with Annie, playing the part of American tourists. 
“Soldier Boy don’t know who the fuck you are,” Butcher had reasoned. He’d then pointed at Annie.
“Her fame as Starlight can get you two into whatever bar, club, or fuckhole that might’ve let him in. She’ll park it at a table, attracting attention. Meanwhile, you’ll circle around and look for him.”
It was actually a sound plan, and you could be a decent actor yourself. This wasn’t the first time you’d adopted a role to find your target, and on this mission, it probably wouldn’t be the last.    
Well, a week later, the plan worked. You and Annie encountered a woman at a bar who waited tables at a nearby club, in Medellin. She’d served Soldier Boy just last night. 
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Medellin was considered the party city of Colombia, and for good reason. 
Butcher had cleverly found your “disguise” for tonight, though you hadn’t liked the smirk on his bearded face when he gave you the shopping bag. 
It turned out to be a semi-legal black leather dress, along with thigh-high boots possessing a sharp heel. Annie’s dress was just as short, and gold. With her blonde hair and shimmering makeup contrasting your black dress and smokey makeup, the two of you looked like night and day. Light and dark. 
While Hughie manned surveillance in a rented van, parked outside the club, the rest of the team had found strategic points to cover in the club: M.M. was at the bar. Frenchie and Kimiko had found a table to watch the area in front of the stage, while Butcher was somewhere clinging to the shadows. 
You followed Annie into the club. Once they’d recognized her as Starlight, they’d let her right in, and you by association. You didn’t envy her fame, but you could admit, it had some perks.
Inside, the club was dark and loud, and packed with people and streams of colorful light bouncing off the walls. This isn’t going to be easy. 
Both of you scoped the area subtly before joining M.M. at the bar. 
Well, you two found your own opening further down. Sitting next to him would be too obvious.   
You subtly pressed a finger to the communicator in your ear while Annie ordered drinks. 
“It’s gonna be hard to find my own ass in here,” you said to the team. You scanned the place and noticed an entire second and third floor. “This place is huge.” 
“Then get crackin’, love,” Butcher’s voice reached you. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes, but you did take the vodka martini Annie offered you. 
“Ah, you beat me to it,” a man said, his richly accented voice hovering near your ear. You turned your head and had to lean back a bit. You were met with blue eyes, tan skin, and an attractive smile. The man tipped an imaginary hat, letting his shoulder-length dark hair dip into his eyes. 
“Good evening, mi vida,” he said. “I was gonna buy you a drink, but I see you’ve got one. Mind if I finish my beer with you?”
Inwardly you wanted to sigh, but you gave a flirtatious smile to keep up appearances. “Sure.”
“Where are you from?” he asked, and with a more teasing smile. “I’m having a hard time placing your accent.” 
You affected a giggle. “Oh, really? You mean I don’t have a massive, neon sign over my head that says, ‘American Tourist?’”
“Well, maybe not neon,” he joked. “I’m Antonio.”
“I’m Jess,” you lied, shaking his hand. He turned it over and pressed a kiss to the back of your hand. Annie raised a brow behind you, but she sipped her drink.
Antonio must’ve been a local. His dark blue buttoned-down shirt, jeans, and boots were more casual than the obvious tourists with their flashing finery. And by his accent, you could guess that he was at least Latino. Colombian, most likely.
You were able to subtly dodge the question of exactly where you were from. And the two of you flirted for a few minutes while you continued to survey the people passing by, scanning the gaps between bodies.
When Antonio finally asked you to dance, you agreed. It would get you further into the club with a better excuse than walking around aimlessly. You turned to Annie.
“Catch you later?” you asked. She tossed you a wink.
“Yeah, girl. Have fun!”
You smiled and let Antonio lead you to the dance floor. You discreetly used every movement to your advantage, looking beyond your dancing partner to continue your search. If Soldier Boy was here, you would find him.
“He’s not here,” said Antonio. It actually managed to jerk you out of your focus.
“Who?” you asked, feigning confusion.
“Whoever you’re looking for that isn’t me,” he said, injecting a fair bit of charm into his voice. 
You actually felt your face warming up at that. The way he was looking at you now, there was very little doubt as to what he wanted. His grip on your hips tightened. 
Part of you was getting impatient with this part of the game, but at the very least, he was a good dancer. He pulled you effortlessly through the cumbia, Colombian salsa dancing, even if he was starting to sweat on you. 
Now, you could almost swear someone was watching. Though it might’ve been the sweat dripping down your spine, you felt that strange prickle on the back of your neck.
Well, besides Annie. You knew she was keeping an eye on you from the bar, as were Frenchie and Kimiko as they joined a poker game in the far corner, away from the dance floor.
Your gaze continued to flit through every corner of the room between spins and the movements of your feet and your hips. 
When Antonio’s hands started get a bit too familiar with the curve of your ass, you took his hands and used them to spin yourself. He brought you back in tight. A bit too tight.
“Come on, baby…” he whispered in your ear.
And you felt his hand slide up the inside of your thigh. He even had the audacity to try and slip past the lacey front of your underwear.
That’s when your patience snapped. 
You grabbed his wrist and “accidentally” drove your heel into his foot. With precision you felt it land between two vertebrae. 
The girlish yelp he made brought a flicker of a smile to your lips, but you covered it with a doe-eyed look and many bumbling apologies. 
“Oh, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”
He all but shoved you as he limped away, cursing you in Spanish. You’d taken four years of it in high school, and you still only caught half of it.  
Hiding your smile, you walked away and pressed a discreet finger to the comm in your ear. 
“The stage front is clear. Scoping the back.”
“Wait for me,” Annie said. She was still sitting at the bar. “I think you broke that guy’s foot.”
“He had tenacity,” Frenchie remarked.
“All balls and no brains, as usual,” you muttered. “Stay there and look shiny, Annie. He’s less likely to recognize me, but he might come out to play if he spots a familiar face at the bar.”
“She’s right,” Butcher said to Annie. “Stay where you are.”    
You made your way to the bathroom and scoped the hall. There in the privacy of the shadows, you adjusted the gun holster on your thigh. It was a miracle Antonio hadn’t felt it. 
Not that a gun would do much against Soldier Boy, but you didn’t feel right without it. 
Then you kept moving and dodged various couples making out (and more) on your way upstairs.
“Going up,” you informed the team quietly. The second floor was a series of rooms, none of which you wanted to pop in on without an invitation.
After you made it to the end of the hall, you turned a corner and noticed a door hung open a crack. Sliding it open, you found a wall of music there to greet you.
And that wasn’t all.
Inside was a room of people drinking and drugging and generally doing things to one another. You didn’t want to go in, but you wouldn’t put it past Soldier Boy to get caught up in a mass orgy. 
You walked through the room, only taking in what you needed to with your eyes. 
Focusing on the far wall, you saw a leather chair by the window, with a still smoking cigar laid to rest in an ash tray on a small table. Your head tilting with interest, you went over to the table and found another hand-written note. 
Once again, you sighed. “He’s not here, guys. He bounced.”
Once you all regrouped with Hughie outside the club, you handed the note to Butcher with a grimace.
“You have a love letter,” you said. And Hughie too.
With a wry brow raise, Butcher looked down at the scrap of paper.
Butcher, you’ll die first. Then the cum-guzzler. 
S.B.
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That night at the hotel, after you'd showered and peeled off that ridiculous dress, you poured over the Soldier Boy files again.
You hadn’t touched the Russia ones since that first night, but you knew you were missing far too much. In order to anticipate his moves, you needed to understand how he thought.
You couldn’t do that if you didn’t even have the full picture of who he was. And the movies, the silly music videos, even the exploded skyscraper and Homelander’s death—none of it told the full story of Ben. 
It didn’t tell you what he wanted. What he cared about. Why he was playing cat and mouse instead of just taking his stand, like his soldier persona would’ve demanded of his pride.
Or maybe that pride's just like everything else: a well-crafted costume.
A knock at your door jolted you out of your thoughts. 
You got up to your feet, briefly looking down to make sure you were decently dressed (you supposed pajama shorts, a bra, and a tank top would suffice). You grabbed your gun and checked the peephole before you answered the door with a smile.
It was M.M. with a mug of tea for you. “I knew you’d still be up, killin’ those files. It’s almost morning, you know.”
You accepted the mug with a warmer smile.  
“Aw, you do care,” you quipped. He rolled his eyes. 
You laughed a little. “Seriously, thank you.”
He pointed at you.
“Go to sleep,” he said. You raised two fingers to your temple in salute. 
“Sir. Yes, sir!” you joked. Really, you appreciated his concern. After hearing many a story about his daughter Jennine, and seeing how the rest of the team respected him, you knew that he was a good man. 
And thanks to him and Annie, you were actually starting to feel like part of this team.
After you wished him goodnight (or good morning, at this rate), you closed the door to your hotel room, followed closely by your laptop. 
You took out your phone, silently contemplating what time it would be in New York right now.
Well, it would be very early in the morning. Still, you thought it was worth a try, since you had the time.
You dialed your sister, Luisa. While it rang, you remembered just how thin these hotel walls were. So you stepped out to the rickety balcony. Jeez, hope it holds my weight throughout this call.
When your sister eventually answered, she murmured your name sleepily in confusion.
“Hey, sorry for waking you up,” you said, feeling bad. 
“It’s okay.” She yawned. “I should be up soon anyway. Got 8 am classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
“Ech. Screw that shit,” you teased. 
“You’re the one sweating balls in South America.”
“I’d rather be drowning in my own sweat than listening to some old bag drone on for eight hours,” you volleyed back, and leaned against the balcony’s railing, even as it creaked suspiciously with your weight. 
“You, my friend, are uninspired. You mean to tell me mosquitoes and drug cartels are better than Mozart?” your sister asked incredulously. Her sleepy voice was starting to lose some of its gravel as you two fell into familiar bickering. 
“Wow, way to type cast. Not all of South America is about drug-running,” you pointed out. 
“Aren’t there, like, entire shows about people shoving cocaine up their ass to get from Colombia to Miami?” Luisa asked. 
“…Yes, but that’s not the point,” you said with a giggle. “And good guess. I’m actually in Medellin right now.”
“Are you supposed to tell me that?”
“Not really, no, but I don’t think you’ll sell me out to the cartels,” you joked. Or to the Russians, your mind added. That thought made your lips twist sourly. 
“Anyway, are you okay? How’s school, really?”
“It’s good, sis. You know I’m good. I’m worried about you,” she countered, and you could hear the concern in her voice.
“You know me. I’m always good,” you replied with good humor. The silence on the other line told you that you hadn’t been quite convincing enough. 
“When do you think you’ll come home?” she asked.
For what seemed like the hundredth time that night (or morning), you sighed. “That’s hard to say.”
The answering silence told you even more about your sister’s thoughts, and you felt guilty for it. 
“I’m happy just knowing you’re doing so well. With school, starting your adult life, doing your thing,” you added.  
“You need to start thinking about yourself,” she told you.
“What do you mean, Lou? I’m fine.”
It was Louisa’s turn to sigh.
“You know, I was so proud of you when you decided to leave Vought," she said. "When you finally got out from under Dad. When you started working at Supe Affairs…you seemed happy, like you were finally proud of yourself too.”
Emotion started to burn behind your eyes. Part of it was probably sleep deprivation, but you heard the sincerity in your sister’s voice.
She just knew you so well. And she wasn’t lying there—what she’d said was all true of you. However, after the joke that was Victoria Neuman running Supe Affairs, you didn’t know what you could trust anymore. 
Maybe not even your own judgment. 
“But I really wish that you’d consider more than just your work,” Luisa said. “Like a hobby. Take a painting class. Go to karaoke, like we used to do in grade school after Choir practice. You have such a beautiful voice! Like Grandma’s was.”
“I’ll leave the performing to you, Lou,” you said with a chuckle. She was serious, however.
“Work isn’t everything,” she reminded you. Now her voice was firm. “You should go out with your friends. Go out with Annie! Rub shoulders with her celebrity friends.”  
“Right.” You huffed a laugh. You’d been around plenty of famous supes while at Vought. You’d ran down the leads and tracked down the criminals, just for the supes to swoop in and “save the day.” You did the grunt work, and they claimed the credit. 
You’d had enough of “celebrities” to last you a lifetime. 
“Maybe then you’ll—and let me not shock you here—meet someone,” Louisa said. “And finally put an end to that goddamn dry spell. What's it been, like three years?” 
“All right, all right.” You held up a hand of surrender, even if she couldn’t see it. You were grateful she couldn’t catch you blushing. “That’s enough about my non-life, thanks.” 
You shook your head. Embarrassment actually clawed inside your belly. 
Yes, it had been a while since you’d actually been with anyone, relationship or otherwise. You just didn’t have time to have a life, you’d reasoned. Working at Vought had been grueling, and your hours at the S.A., while better, were still demanding.
…Still, you could appreciate that your work-life balance left much to be desired. And that was on you. 
Case in point, you were on this job.
You tipped your face heavenward, letting the sunrise spill some warmth on your face. 
“But…I hear you, okay?” you replied with your eyes closed. 
“You do?” she asked suspiciously.
“Yeah. When I get back, I…I’ll work on it, okay?” you said. “I love you.”
“Love you too, sis. I should probably get going, but…please be safe.”
“Always,” you promised.
After you hung up, you finally opened your eyes. 
That prickly feeling was back, almost like you were being watched.
You scanned around, but your human eyes didn’t find anything out of the ordinary in the sunshine pouring in between the rows of buildings. 
In fact, you didn’t see a damn thing that wasn’t supposed to be there.
So you clutched your phone to your chest, letting out a deep breath. Then you headed back inside.
But mere feet above you, if you had only looked up to the roof, you would’ve seen a hunter lazily eyeing his prey.
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AN: Ok! So a little bit slow in this chapter, but it’s all important setup.
In the next chapter, the reader meets Soldier Boy:
You laid a hand on his chest, fingers spreading between the open buttons, and felt his warm skin. 
He glanced up at you with another challenging tilt to his head. What are you gonna do now?
You met that challenge, boldly leaning down to press a kiss against his lips.
Keep Reading: PART 2
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Series Masterlist
Soldier Boy Masterlist
Main Masterlist
Series Tag List:
@deans-spinster-witch @this-is-me19 @waynes-multiverse @pallographsunspot @samanddeaninatrenchcoat @spalady26 @spnwoman @wirdbeimaufhebengebunden @syrma-sensei @muhahaha303 @123passwort @xoxovienna @magnificentnightmarehadi @lollag0w0 @globetrotter28 @nancymcl @ashbatz @yvonneeeee @fckinel
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reality-detective · 6 months
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⚠️⚠️⚠️ EXCLUSIVE LAURA LOOMER INVESTIGATION⚠️⚠️⚠️
I have conducted an investigation and I believe that for the sake of National Security, public interest and now my own personal safety I need to immediately release and publish what I have uncovered about the United States Government’s involvement in recruiting violent American Nazis, White Supremacists, and domestic terrorists and turning them into mercenaries and confidential informants in Ukraine to fight against Russians and kill civilians. Upon their return to the US, some of these Nazis are now engaging in perpetuating hate crimes and other felonies in the US, and they appear to be protected by our government from serving prison time, have received delayed prison time, and even reduced prison time. As many of you saw, this weekend I stumbled upon a Nazi rally in Altamonte Springs, Florida where I encountered 50 Swastika flag waving Nazis affiliated with “Blood Tribe” and “Goyim Defense League” (GDL). One of the individuals in attendance who I filmed at this rally on 9/2/23 is a US Citizen and Nazi named Kent “BoneFace” McLellan. At the rally, he was Seig Heiling while screaming SLAVA UKRAINE. His whole entire body and face is covered in tattoos, including many Nazi tattoos. As I have exposed, he is a Nazi who has traveled abroad to Ukraine to fight in the Ukraine-Russia war. He is an American citizen who was recently given Ukraine citizenship. I have overwhelming evidence that Nazis who are being backed by our government have not only murdered civilians overseas, but they have also been engaged in war crimes. In the case of Kent “BoneFace” McLellan, who resides in Florida, he is a Nazi, a domestic terrorist, and a violent felon who was arrested in Florida in 2012 by the FBI. He was put on the US terror watch list, and then in 2014, he was recruited by the CIA, and the DOD reportedly paid for him to travel to Ukraine in 2014 to join “Right Sector”, and then the Nazi Azov Battalion in 2022, which our taxpayer dollars are now unfortunately funding. Upon his return to the US circa 2022, I have discovered via my investigation that McLellan received a US Army Expeditionary Medal for his “services” in Ukraine. My investigation has uncovered Social media posts he posted in which he posed for a picture, in Ukraine while wearing an Azov Battalion uniform, next to the dead body of a civilian. The image, which I sent to a forensic analyst for verification, has been authenticated. Why is the Joe Biden Regime funding Nazi death squads in Ukraine with US taxpayer dollars? I received a phone call from Kent BoneFace McLellan at 1am last night after someone leaked my personal cell phone number to him, and after he was seen saying “we have a visual on Loomer” on a HAM radio he is not licensed to operate. He published that video to his Twitter account and tagged me. During the phone call I had with McLellan last night, he gave me confessions of various crimes. Here is the evidence of what our US government is doing in Ukraine. These are WAR CRIMES. I have a responsibility to share this damning information I have uncovered with the world.
You Decide 🤔
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inqilabi · 2 years
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could you please elaborate on the whole "postmodernism is funded by the CIA" thing? started looking into it online and in mainly coming across the US getting involved in french postmodernism bc they thought it would weaken marxism. is this what you are refrering to, or is there even more to it?
yes it was the CIA funding French postmodernism and then bringing it to their ideology to the US. It did weaken Marxist movements, that was the aim. The CIA was funding journals, magazines, research institutes, press junkets, movies, art, radio shows, academics - any and all aspects of thought generation and consciousness. They also funded leftist groups with postmodern base because this ideology takes away precisely what’s beneficial about Marxism: which is the unrelenting focus on class. Postmodernist focus is on never really knowing the true nature of anything, never being able to ever be precise enough to describe oppression or name the group oppressed (like women). I have a video here of that DSA convention where they’re trying to get shit done but can’t because clapping is disruptive to those with hearing sensitivities. It’s inclusion of the few to the point of disruption to the masses which is the point.
You can listen to this Gabriel Rockhill lecture. At some point he talks about how Foucault was literally preventing French actual radicals from protesting. Like Foucault came at a time when French working class was rising up. And he was going around in these circles talking about structures and institutions, but then dissuaded them from protesting. This lecture was a bit boring at times because it’s specifically all about the French stuff if I recall.
this is another one talk by Gabriel Rockhill, I’ve yet to listen to this one but I think this one includes the American & full CIA context.
You can also read Saunders book on The Cultural Cold War. Which doesn’t Specifically use the word postmodernism, But it describes the ideologies what I would consider to be postmodernism. He describes how CIA recruited, created & funded an anti-communist left. Meaning they promoted a left that was anti-capitalist anti-imperialist but made sure that this anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism was in the abstract. Basically aesthetics & vibes only. This worked hand in hand with FBIs killing of leaders and movements that were actually revolutionary. This cultural aspect was funded by congress for cultural freedom which CIA openly talks about funding anti-communist left
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magalorian · 7 months
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AND THE FUCKING NAZIS SUPPORT JOE BIDEN, they actually state that in a video.
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bdfightclub · 1 month
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I would love to see your SF headcanons, if you'd ever want to share.
Earthrealm Politics & Culture in the MK Universe
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Ask and ye shall receive! Thank you so much for letting me vent about this! For anyone who doesn't know, I'm writing a story with a focus on Special Forces and the Black Dragon, told from my OC's and Kabal's POV, so a lot of these fall into that world, but for the most part, this is what I see happening in Earthrealm pre- and post-invasion
Politics
There are special intelligence committees both within the US government and the UN to address the handling of "otherworldly affairs," but they are not publicly known until the Outworld Invasion happens
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The Outerworld Investigation Agency was created (but kept secret) to investigate anomalies that pop up all around the globe. Some of the cases the agency investigates would be naturally occurring interdimensional portals, beings, or creatures that pose a threat to the security of Earthrealm and locating dangerous artifacts that undesirables would love to get their hands on
Much like CIA black sites, I imagine there would be holding sites for the earth-born superpowered criminals (like Kabal and Tremor), interdimensional creatures, and interdimensional people. One of the aforementioned sites that makes an appearance in TSS is known as Blackrock Detention Center. It's technically run by the CIA, but there are many Red Dragon agents secretly employed there who take advantage of the inmates for medical experiments or recruitment opportunities. It's treated like a myth and is disguised as a disease research center. Sonya knows about the corruption and is working behind the scenes to expose it because even though the prisoners are dangerous criminals, she feels they are owed dignity and the right to reform. Unfortunately, the CIA doesn't want their secret getting out, so they make it near impossible for her to do so and even go so far as to threaten a dishonorable discharge in the interest of "national security." Only one inmate (my OC) has made it out, and it was so the government could cover up their involvement in a political incident that would have sparked World War 3
The NSA and CIA, as well as many other foreign intelligence agencies, are responsible for launching disinformation campaigns when something supernatural happens. An example would be a YouTube video being uploaded of Tremor manipulating the Earth. The video was immediately taken down. Any journalists that try to expose things like this are disposed of either by being discredited or assassinated, depending on which government is dealing with them
Once the invasion happens, everything becomes a shitshow, for lack of a better term. Conspiracy theorists are vindicated, people panic, and corporations pounce on the opportunity to make a quick buck off of the disaster by inflating prices on necessities
New policies would have to be put in place regulating the use of magic, relics, or other such weapons. One side of the aisle would be advocating for Outerworlder rights while the other would be launching fear campaigns aimed to dehumanize them and "send them back where they came from"
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Culture
It wouldn't be America if we didn't exploit a tragedy and turn it into a spectacle. I imagine corporations would start lobbying for the right to do business in other realms. Whether that's taking advantage of Outworld's labor force or trying to sell their goods there, it won't matter. A whole new market would open up, it would stimulate the economy, and no matter how unethical it would be, congress would have to allow them to jump on that opportunity
I also imagine social media would explode. New dance challenges would pop up on TikTok Storytimes on Youtube would feature YouTubers being assaulted by Outworlders in some way that never actually happened. Influencers would try to vacation to other realms to promote their brands
Action movies starring beefy actors taking on Outworld monsters would become the new MCU. PrPropagandailms promoting the exploration of the other realms would emerge
Crappy novels starring forbidden romances between Earthrealmers and Outworlders would become overnight bestsellers. The languages of the other realms would be added to Duolingo and other such apps
New fashion trends would pop up "inspired" by the other realms. This would include makeup, hairstyles, and clothing.
Restaurants would also start serving dishes from other realms. (No one tell the vegans or vegetarians what the Tarkatans eat)
Real estate would take off with corporations trying to buy up as much land as they can get their hands on so new apartment complexes or cookie-cutter neighborhoods would infect the beauty of the other realms. (After all, Earthrealmers and Outworlders alike need a place to live so they can get to their cushy amazon warehouse job in the Dead Woods)
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callmetippytumbles · 2 months
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tagged by @gardenoblues
Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPs.
Tagging: @therulerofallpotatos @realmermaid333 @the-strangest-person @suchaladyy @wincestation
WARNING: THERE MIGHT BE SMUT YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO CAST YOUR EYES ON.
Random WIPs
Wyler YOU-Cursed Yarn Store
This is fic that is kind of combining a prompt about a cursed yarn store I saw on the discord. I started to combine it with another fic I have been thinking about that has elements of YOU. I think having Tyler be an obsessive stalker and a hyde being at the root of the murders would add interesting characterization for Tyler within this prompt. This is an everyone is all grown up adult AU. This is just an outline right now. No actual fic for this exists yet.
YOU - Wyler AU Outline
Yep its the outline for a YOU fic I was thinking of but no cursed yarn store. I did an outline to get it out of my system but I don't think this one will ever come to pass since the outline is very much a shoehorn Wednesday's characters into YOU character archetypes and storylines which didn't feel right. Some aspects of this may make it into the Cursed Yarn Store story but this project on its own will probably not be developed further. I like taking some of the themes of YOU like stalking, obession etc and exploring those but I don't want to force the stories together more than that.
Wyler Nocturne ExFiles AU Outline
Kind of what it says on the tin. This is the outline for a fic idea that is a mix of a video game called Nocturne and The Ex Files. It's basically an AU where an adult Wednesday gets recruited to work for a clandestine department of the CIA that specifically investigates crimes and bizarre occurances that involve outcasts and the supernatural. Tyler is also recruited to this unit. Of course they are made to be partners and they have to investigate cases together. Hilarity ensues. It obviously takes aspects of the Mulder/Scully relationship as well as the supernatural elements from The Ex Files and Nocturne. The fic will have a kind of episodic format where every 4-5 chapters make up 1 episode. There are 4-5 episodes total and 1 fic (with all of the chapters) is equal to one season. This is also still a outline. I have a lot more research to do before I can even think of starting to write anything more. If you are going to put Ex Files as an influence of your fic, a show that is a big influence on shipping culture in general let alone the actual Mulder/Scully ship itself; I feel like there are certain notes that you have hit to get that influence right. Since my understanding of the relationship aspect is so distant for me, I have to study up. If I can get my shit together, this really could be a fun one.
Dick2Bomb Wyler hate sex fic
Kind of started as a drabble inspired by some quotes on the discord server. Kind of is a one off set in same world as the Nocturne/Exfiles fic. Was supposed to just get the smut out of my system for this fic while everything else came together, but didn't get too far in the scene. This is kinda in limbo.
Some - Tyclay One Shot
If I could work out the smut for this one, this is almost done. This is actually a what if scenario where I kind of play with the idea what would happen if Bianca and Tyler were to interact more in that scene where Bianca gets Wednesday's snood in the Weathervane. Like what would happen if they were more flirty. I really wanted an excuse to write more for Bianca and kind of let her exist as a central romantic protagonist paired with someone who can truly see her.
Yours, Mine and Ours
A Wyclay fic that is named after that song that took over the tikytoks for like an entire season. It starts out more as a Tyclay fic but changes when Wednesday shows up and both Tyler and Bianca express an interest in her. Some is actually an alternate first chapter for this fic. This is essentially a series of strung together one-shots that kind of explore how these people interact with each other. There isn't an actual ending or a big scenario where everyone comes together. Just more a meandering exploration of how their relationships intertwine and overlap. If I were to finish writing out everything outlined, I would just publish that and leave it.
Left for Dead fic
This is another fic that started out as a Wyler discord prompt fill, I wrote an outline for it, then...*nothing*
The story takes place basically assuming that Tyler does help Wednesday escape, Laurel gets what she wants from Tyler and leaves him for dead. Wednesday finds him. Hilarity ensue. This story jumps all over the place time wise. Like all over. Some chapters are pre-canon, some chapters are in canon, some are well outside of the story.
Wyler TBN Bodyguard AU
Discord Prompt Fill...(I am sensing a theme here)...That I outlined but didn't develop further. The general premise of the prompt is that Wednesday needs a bodyguard because her family is in danger but Wednesday doesn't want one because she feels she is capable of handling any threats by herself. So she arranges to get rid of all of the ones her parents get for her until Tyler comes along and of course she cannot get rid of him. Hilarity ensued. I think the initial framework for this fic was there, it was just the details that I couldn't workout without extensive research and planning. The main blocker was definining the villain and crafting the mystery that is on the peripheries of the story was just not coming together in a way that I liked. It didn't help that I decided that my little Bodyguard AU story had to have a theme where everyone's fatal flaw was tied into how they deal with the past (Wednesday refuses to let go, Tyler is so determined to redeem himself he cannot engage with the present, and Morticia romanticizes her past so much she is constantly trying to relive it). This is a story that I think I have to level up my writing overall to write it but if I did it would be good. If I didn't enjoy bumming around with my free time so much I could work on this. Though my free time is kind of shrinking everyday because of all of the stuff I have to do this year. There is a speech I wrote for Tyler in this fic that lowkey needs to be repeated almost verbatim in Wednesday Season 2. Y'all have to ask me about that one.
Untitled Essay/Thesis/Dissertation on Bad Boys
This started as a conversation on discord after reading tornadodream's fic All the Punches I'd Throw in the Name of Someone I Don't Even Know. Me and a couple of other people were marveling at how well Hyde!Tyler was executed and how much precision it takes to craft that is both romantically viable but still a credible threat to the lead. My feelings about this particular thing was becoming so strong that I started an essay that is essentially what makes a "good" Bad Boy figure. I think I just had too many other things to do that day so after I got the initial thoughts down when I had to change focus, this got left in the dust. I should get back to it though. Reading it over, I feel like I wasn't too far from wrapping it up. I should get on that.
A.B.O. Fic WIPs
All of these WIPs are related to an A.B.O. fic I have been working on here and there for about 6 months now. Each document is a separate chapter and while some of the chapters are at least completed first-drafts, others have yet to be written. While I feel like if I start working on the early chapters and preparing them to publish I feel like I could finish the series, I also don’t want to start posting anything until everything at least has a first draft. (I would feel bad for leaving people without a resolution if I just posted the parts I have.) The general premise for these fics are that during the events of Season 1, Wednesday (an omega who hasn't presented) and Tyler (an alpha who keeps both his alpha and outcast status a secret) are inextricably attracted to one another and affect each other deeply on a biological level but circumstances and what happens between them pretty much keep them from getting together. They have a chance meeting again 10 years later and the attraction/chemical biological urges are still there, but because their past is unresolved they feel unable to give in to what they want: each other. Each chapter has a past section (read: reframing canon events in this story) and a present section how the past is influencing their behavior in the now, primarily the resistance to give into their desires.
ABO Wyler Fic - Preamble
Was the first chapter of the fic, now definitely just where a combo version of a past pov section for Tyler that combines both their first meeting and that kiss in the Weathervane. Definitely other than the notes on the POV, this will not be in the final fic.
ABO Wyler Fic - Alternate Preamble
Currently this is the actual first chapter of the fic. Past part, Tyler being in Nevermore for the Rav'N. Present part, Tyler being in Nevermore again as a caterer for a alumni fundraiser, Wednesday is forced to attend by her mother. They end up seeking refuse in the same closet. Chapter end.
ABO Fic - Preamble - Morticia
Morticia POV section where she waxes poetic on the nature of fate. May be a seperate opening chapter, may be the intro to chapter 1.
ABO Wyler Fic - Chapter 1
Fun fact: This is definitely not the first chapter anymore. It's more like Chapter 3. This has smut gallore. The past part is Wednesday's perpective on how that kiss in the Weathervane is what makes her present as an omega and she goes into heat. This is immediately followed by her learning about Tyler's lies and betrayal. In the present Wednesday experiences her first heat since that time after being so close to Tyler again. Tyler is also dealing with going to rut poorly and they decide to hookup to get through their heat/rut but nothing more. Need to finish the actual smut part of this chapter.
ABO Wyler Fic - Chapter 2
Was also at one point Chapter 1, pretty sure it's 2 now. Past part: Wednesday's and Tyler's first meeting at the Weathervane from Tyler's perspective. Present: Tension quickly builds in that closet when that attraction and biology bring them together again.
ABO fic - Kiss Heat
This file is kind of a dumping ground for two past sections. One that I have yet to add (Tyler's POV on what happened at the Weathervane that night/what happened the next time they met up). The other I think I reworked or took out entirely.
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naturalrights-retard · 6 months
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STORY AT-A-GLANCE
According to the official narrative, on September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda carried out four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks against the United States, killing 2,750 civilians in New York City, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 airline passengers whose plane crashed in Pennsylvania
The 9/11 Commission Report was published July 22, 2004, but 28 pages of the report detailing the role of Saudi Arabia remain classified
Evidence suggests the Saudi government may have been involved in the 9/11 attacks, but the U.S. government, FBI and CIA covered up the connection
Two of the 9/11 hijackers — Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar — were Saudi nationals whom high level sources claim were recruited into a joint CIA-Saudi intelligence operation. The CIA refused to share information about the recruits with the FBI, thereby preventing the FBI from launching a criminal investigation that could have stopped the terrorist plot
Other evidence points to an even more sinister possibility, namely that U.S. authorities not only knew about the potential for an attack beforehand, but were part of it
September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda carried out four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks against the United States, killing 2,750 civilians in New York City, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 airline passengers whose plane crashed in Pennsylvania.1 At least, that’s what we’ve been told. But is that really what happened?
The video above is a five-minute rapid-fire summary by investigative journalist James Corbett of the official narrative and the main problems with the "terrorist attack" narrative.
In 2016, Corbett published a "9/11 Suspects" video series in which he dissected the alleged attacks and reviewed potential suspects. Four years later, he re-released the series as an hour-long documentary,2 embedded below for your convenience. As noted by Corbett in the documentary:3
"9/11 was a crime. This should not be a controversial statement, but given how 9/11 was framed as a terrorist attack or even an ‘act of war’ from the very moment that it occurred, it somehow is. If we lived in a world of truth and justice, 9/11 would have been approached as a crime to be solved rather than an attack to be responded to ...
Like a prosecutor trying to bring down a mafia kingpin, it is unlikely that such an investigation would start by bringing the suspected mastermind of the plot to trial.
Such a vast and intricate operation would be picked apart from the outside, starting with people on the periphery of the plot who could be forced to testify under oath and who could provide leads further up the ladder.
As more and more of the picture was filled in, the case against the inner clique who ran the operation would begin to strengthen, and, gradually, more and more central figures could be brought to trial.
We may not live in a world where such a criminal investigation is taking place, but we are trying the crimes of 9/11 in the court of public opinion ...
Over the course of The Corbett Report’s existence, I have looked at many figures who no doubt feature more prominently in the 9/11 plot itself from an operational standpoint: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Larry Silverstein, Dov Zakheim, Paul Bremer, Richard Armitage.
[In the documentary] we will look at some of the other suspects in that crime; not ringleaders or masterminds, not even people who were likely to know about the plot ahead of time. But those who helped cover up those crimes for the real perpetrators."
Characters featured in Corbett’s film are former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman, executive director of the 9/11 commission Philip Zelikow, former CIA case officer Robert Baer and general Ralph Eberhart.https://www.corbettreport.com/?powerpress_embed=35215-podcast&powerpress_player=mediaelement-videoVideo Link
Was Saudi Arabia Involved?
As noted by Corbett, it took President Bush 441 days to establish a commission to investigate the events of 9/11, and even then he didn’t do it willingly. Bush reportedly resisted the idea of conducting an investigation, and even asked Senate majority leader Tom Daschle to limit Congressional inquiries.
Commission chairman Thomas Kean also later stated the commission members felt they’d been "set up to fail," as the investigation was underfunded and rushed. Curiously, Zelikow, the executive director of the commission, had also authored the Bush administration’s 2002 national security strategy, which included the use of a "preemptive war" strategy against Iraq, which would seem a rather severe conflict of interest.
The 9/11 Commission Report4 was published July 22, 2004, but to this day, 28 pages of the report detailing the role of Saudi Arabia remain classified. In April 2016, the editorial board of the New York Post called on then-President Barack Obama to declassify the sealed pages, stating "America deserves the truth about the Saudis and 9/11." According to the New York Post:5
"As early as 2003, a U.S. official who’d read the pages told the Los Angeles Times they linked ‘direct involvement of senior Saudi government officials in a coordinated and methodical way directly’ to the terrorists ...
Paul Sperry has been writing in The Post about this for over three years, reporting that Riyadh’s involvement ‘was deliberately covered up at the highest levels of our government.’ Federal investigations were quashed and leads ignored ...
Riyadh actively funded al Qaeda and other Islamist extremists for decades — officially stopping only after they turned on the Saudi kingdom. How many of the perfidious princes kept it up anyway?
Only the 9/11 commissioners have dared pursue that question. The rest of official Washington shied away, for fear disclosure would threaten the US-Saudi relationship."
In another 2016 New York Post article, Sperry wrote:6
"... the kingdom’s involvement was deliberately covered up at the highest levels of our government. And the coverup goes beyond locking up 28 pages of the Saudi report in a vault in the U.S. Capitol basement. Investigations were throttled. Co-conspirators were let off the hook.
Case agents I’ve interviewed at the Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Washington and San Diego, the forward operating base for some of the Saudi hijackers, as well as detectives at the Fairfax County (Va.) Police Department who also investigated several 9/11 leads, say virtually every road led back to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, as well as the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles.
Yet time and time again, they were called off from pursuing leads. A common excuse was ‘diplomatic immunity.’ Those sources say the pages missing from the 9/11 congressional inquiry report ... detail ‘incontrovertible evidence’ gathered from both CIA and FBI case files of official Saudi assistance for at least two of the Saudi hijackers who settled in San Diego ...
‘The Saudi ambassador funded two of the 9/11 hijackers through a third party,’ [former FBI agent John] Guandolo said. ‘He should be treated as a terrorist suspect, as should other members of the Saudi elite class who the U.S. government knows are currently funding the global jihad.’"
At Least Two 9/11 Hijackers Were CIA Recruits
Even more disturbing is the declaration7 of Donald Canestraro, an investigator with the Office of Military Commissions, the legal body overseeing the cases of 9/11 defendants, who in July 2016 launched an investigation into the possible involvement of both the Saudi Arabian government and the CIA in events leading up to 9/11.
According to Canestraro, at least two of the 9/11 hijackers — Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar — were Saudi nationals who had been recruited into a joint CIA-Saudi intelligence operation. Hazmi and Mihdhar also lived with an FBI informant.
Canestraro's declaration confirms previous suspicions that the CIA knew far more about the hijackers than they admitted,8 and may in fact have been working with them at the time of the attacks. As reported by The Grayzone:9
"When originally released in 2021 on the Office’s public court docket, every part of the document was redacted except an ‘unclassified’ marking. Given its explosive contents, it is not difficult to see why: as Canestraro’s investigation concluded, at least two 9/11 hijackers had been recruited either knowingly or unknowingly into a joint CIA-Saudi intelligence operation which may have gone awry.
In 1996, Alec Station [a special CIA unit tasked with tracking the activities of Osama bin Laden] was created ... The initiative was supposed to comprise a joint investigative effort with the FBI. However, FBI operatives assigned to the unit soon found they were prohibited from passing any information to the Bureau’s head office without the CIA’s authorization ...
In late 1999, with ‘the system blinking red’ about an imminent large-scale Al Qaeda terror attack inside the U.S., the CIA and NSA were closely monitoring an ‘operational cadre’ within an Al Qaeda cell that included the Saudi nationals Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar. The pair would purportedly go on to hijack American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11.
January 15th, Hazmi and Mihdhar entered the U.S. through Los Angeles International Airport ... Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi government ‘ghost employee’ immediately met them at an airport restaurant. After a brief conversation, Bayoumi helped them find an apartment near his own in San Diego, co-signed their lease, set them up bank accounts, and gifted $1,500 towards their rent ...
Bayoumi alleged his run-in with the two would-be hijackers was mere happenstance... The Bureau disagreed, concluding Bayoumi was a Saudi spy, who handled a number of Al Qaeda operatives in the U.S. They also considered there to be a ‘50/50 chance’ he — and by extension Riyadh — had detailed advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks ...
A Bureau special agent, dubbed ‘CS-3’ in the document, stated Bayoumi’s contact with the hijackers and support thereafter ‘was done at the behest of the CIA through the Saudi intelligence service.’ Alec Station’s explicit purpose was to ‘recruit Al-Hazmi and Al-Mihdhar via a liaison relationship,’ with the assistance of Riyadh’s General Intelligence Directorate."
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FBI-CIA Coverup
According to high level sources that spoke to Canestraro, it was highly unusual for Alec Station to recruit human assets. The unit consisted of CIA analysts whose job it was to collect intelligence on Osama bin Laden and warn policymakers about his activities. Alec Station was not equipped to handle covert operations.
Moreover, if the CIA had recruited or even was just monitoring Hazmi and Mihdhar in the U.S., they were likely in violation of the CIA’s charter, as they’re not allowed to carry out operations on U.S. soil.
CIA case officers within Alec Station also admitted to other violations, such as directing field officers — over whom they had no legal authority — to carry out tasks for the unit. In the aftermath of 9/11, both Alec Station and the FBI suppressed investigations into the unit’s operation to recruit Hazmi and Mihdhar.
One key takeaway from the Grayzone’s extensive writeup about this affair is that the FBI could have stopped Hazmi and Mihdhar, if only the CIA unit had actually shared information with the FBI, as it was supposed to, as the FBI had already linked the pair to Walid bin Attash, another al-Qaeda terror suspect. As noted by Grayzone:
"Alec Station’s tireless efforts to protect its Al Qaeda assets raises the obvious question of whether Hazmi and Mihdhar, and possibly other hijackers, were in effect working for the CIA on the day of 9/11.
The real motives behind the CIA’s stonewalling may never be known. But it appears abundantly clear that Alec Station did not want the FBI to know about or interfere in its secret intelligence operation.
If the unit’s recruitment of Hazmi and Mihdhar was purely dedicated to information gathering, rather than operational direction, it is incomprehensible that the FBI had not been apprised of it, and was instead actively misdirected."
A question then arises. Had Alec Station gone rogue? It’s unlikely, considering no Alec Station member has ever been punished for the intelligence failures that allowed 9/11 to occur.
Was It an Inside Job?
As bad as all of that may seem, other evidence10 points to an even more sinister possibility, and that is that U.S. authorities not only knew about the potential for an attack beforehand, but that they were part of it.
In other words, it may have been a false flag event, orchestrated to justify the implementation of the Patriot Act, which brought with it massively increased surveillance and reduced freedom, and the launch of the war in Afghanistan.
Just how and why did World Trade Center building 7 collapse? No planes struck it, and it wasn’t on fire. Speaking of fire, more than 3,000 architects and engineers have gone on record saying fire, even if fueled by jet fuel, couldn’t possibly cause a skyscraper to collapse into its own footprint, let alone a skyscraper that was undamaged.
According to Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth,11 the evidence clearly points to the three buildings being destroyed by explosives placed at strategic locations within the buildings, which means they had to have been planted well beforehand.
Was it pure coincidence that war games and terror drills were being conducted that very same day, allowing air defenses to be circumvented? Was it also pure coincidence that whatever hit the Pentagon vaporized the budget analyst office and its contents, which was trying to figure out where $2.3 trillion of the Pentagon’s budget had disappeared to?
And what’s the likelihood of finding an undamaged passport on the streets of New York City, identifying one of the hijackers, when the plane and the entire building had been turned to ash?
These and many other questions have been asked by 911truth.org,12 which today, 22 years later, is still working to get answers. You can delve deeper into these questions on 911 Truth’s Case for Complicity page.13 The Journal of 9/11 Studies14 is another resource. It’s a peer-reviewed electronic-only journal that covers any and all research related to the events of 9/11.
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applbottmjeens · 5 months
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bellegraves couple bullshit
Anna likes to use Phillip's credit card. Not for the Gucci store, but to go to the Asian supermarket/Costco to buy groceries and stuff in bulk. He always insists on carrying the bags of rice in spite of his knee lmao. (Of course this doesn't mean she's above dragging him to Sephora)
Phillip likes old movies. They watched Roman Holiday and he swears that a young Audrey Hepburn resembled his mom when she was younger.
Phillip always complains about how he wished he would've recruited her before Laswell did when she was discharged for not acknowledging Farah Karim's ULF as a terrorist group, (thank God the CIA cleared her of that.) And how she would've thrived in the Shadow Company at the time. Anna argues she probably wouldn't be with him if she was working directly under him that way.
The two of them like to nap together. Alot. When they say they "sleep" together, they mean sleeping together. He's gotten so used to having her just lying ontop of him he struggles to sleep without some weight over him.
When Graves was trying to win her back while she was casually dating Tommy's father, he wrote her literal letters. Handwritten letters that were one way or another "Please take me back". She has them in a box.
Anna genuinely expected Graves to dip as soon as he learned she was pregnant with another man's baby. Him insisting on helping her was part of what convinced her to forgive him, and to eventually join the Shadow Company.
She will STILL annoy him with her random unfiltered questions and thoughts.
"How do you think dinosaurs have sex?"
"Let me finish my coffee before I even consider answering that, Annie."
Anna is amazing at karaoke but only sings when she's drunk. There's a video of her on his lap singing at a karaoke booth with friends where he's just smiling and watching her all smitten.
Anna has tried to explain "not too sweet" as an Asian compliment to Phillip thousands of times. He still doesn't get it.
Anna cannot wrap her mind around the amount of churches needed in one place in the entire state of Texas.
They had a legitimate argument over the Spurs or the Warriors (NBA Teams) being better. Graves was this close to banning blue and gold in the household.
There's an entire folder of photos in Anna's phone dedicated to Phillip's dog being cute. Her favorite is a clueless Graves using the dog as a pillow while he scrolls through his iPad.
They forget about the age gap sometimes. Well, she does. Sometimes he uses her "immaturity" as an excuse to take charge/be right.
Anna has taken Phillip to the Philippines before. She had to convince him not to adopt every street dog/feed every askal he saw on the road. He left a rose on the memorial of her grandmother Isabella.
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1americanconservative · 7 months
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I have conducted an investigation and I believe that for the sake of National Security, public interest and now my own personal safety I need to immediately release and publish what I have uncovered about the United States Government’s involvement in recruiting violent American Nazis, White Supremacists, and domestic terrorists and turning them into mercenaries and confidential informants in Ukraine to fight against Russians and kill civilians. Upon their return to the US, some of these Nazis are now engaging in perpetuating hate crimes and other felonies in the US, and they appear to be protected by our government from serving prison time, have received delayed prison time, and even reduced prison time. As many of you saw, this weekend I stumbled upon a Nazi rally in Altamonte Springs, #Florida where I encountered 50 Swastika flag waving #Nazis affiliated with “Blood Tribe” and “Goyim Defense League” (GDL). One of the individuals in attendance who I filmed at this rally on 9/2/23 is a US Citizen and Nazi named Kent “BoneFace” McLellan. At the rally, he was Seig Heiling while screaming SLAVA UKRAINE. His whole entire body and face is covered in tattoos, including many Nazi tattoos. As I have exposed, he is a Nazi who has traveled abroad to Ukraine to fight in the Ukraine-Russia war. He is an American citizen who was recently given Ukraine citizenship. I have overwhelming evidence that Nazis who are being backed by our government have not only murdered civilians overseas, but they have also been engaged in war crimes. In the case of Kent “BoneFace” McLellan, who resides in Florida, he is a Nazi, a domestic terrorist, and a violent felon who was arrested in Florida in 2012 by the FBI. He was put on the US terror watch list, and then in 2014, he was recruited by the CIA, and the DOD reportedly paid for him to travel to Ukraine in 2014 to join “Right Sector”, and then the Nazi Azov Battalion in 2022, which our taxpayer dollars are now unfortunately funding. Upon his return to the US circa 2022, I have discovered via my investigation that McLellan received a US Army Expeditionary Medal for his “services” in Ukraine. My investigation has uncovered Social media posts he posted in which he posed for a picture, in Ukraine while wearing an Azov Battalion uniform, next to the dead body of a civilian. The image, which I sent to a forensic analyst for verification, has been authenticated. Why is the
@JoeBiden Regime funding Nazi death squads in Ukraine with US taxpayer dollars? I received a phone call from Kent BoneFace McLellan at 1am last night after someone leaked my personal cell phone number to him, and after he was seen saying “we have a visual on Loomer” on a HAM radio he is not licensed to operate. He published that video to his Twitter account and tagged me. During the phone call I had with McLellan last night, he gave me confessions of various crimes. Here is the evidence of what our US government is doing in #Ukraine. These are WAR CRIMES. I have a responsibility to share this damning information I have uncovered with the world.
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theculturedmarxist · 1 year
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II has been available for less than three weeks, but it is already making waves. Breaking records, within ten days, the first-person military shooter video game earned more than $1 billion in revenue. Yet it has also been shrouded in controversy, not least because missions include assassinating an Iranian general clearly based on Qassem Soleimani, a statesman and military leader slain by the Trump administration in 2020, and a level where players must shoot “drug traffickers” attempting to cross the U.S./Mexico border.
The Call of Duty franchise is an entertainment juggernaut, having sold close to half a billion games since it was launched in 2003. Its publisher, Activision Blizzard, is a giant in the industry, behind titles games as the Guitar Hero, Warcraft, Starcraft, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Crash Bandicoot and Candy Crush Saga series.
Yet a closer inspection of Activision Blizzard’s key staff and their connections to state power, as well as details gleaned from documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that Call of Duty is not a neutral first-person shooter, but a carefully constructed piece of military propaganda, designed to advance the interests of the U.S. national security state.
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Military-Entertainment Complex
It has long been a matter of public record that American spies have targeted and penetrated Activision Blizzard games. Documents released by Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA, CIA, FBI and Department of Defense infiltrated the vast online realms such as World of Warcraft, creating make-believe characters to monitor potential illegal activity and recruit informers. Indeed, at one point, there were so many U.S. spies in one video game that they had to create a “deconfliction” group as they were wasting time unwittingly surveilling each other. Virtual games, the NSA wrote, were an “opportunity” and a “target-rich communication network”.
However, documents obtained legally under the Freedom of Information Act by journalist and researcher Tom Secker and shared with MintPress News show that the connections between the national security state and the video game industry go far beyond this, and into active collaboration.
In September 2018, for example, the United States Air Force flew a group of entertainment executives – including Call of Duty/Activision Blizzard producer Coco Francini – to their headquarters at Hurlburt Field, Florida. The explicit reason for doing so, they wrote, was to “showcase” their hardware and to make the entertainment industry more “credible advocates” for the U.S. war machine.
“We’ve got a bunch of people working on future blockbusters (think Marvel, Call of Duty, etc.) stoked about this trip!” wrote one Air Force officer. Another email notes that the point of the visit was to provide “heavy-hitter” producers with “AFSOC [Air Force Special Operations Command] immersion focused on Special Tactics Airmen and air-to-ground capabilities.”
“This is a great opportunity to educate this community and make them more credible advocates for us in the production of any future movies/television productions on the Air Force and our Special Tactics community,” wrote the AFSOC community relations chief.
Francini and others were shown CV-22 helicopters and AC-130 planes in action, both of which feature heavily in Call of Duty games.
Yet Call of Duty collaboration with the military goes back much further. The documents show that the United States Marine Corps (USMC) was involved in the production of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty 5. The games’ producers approached the USMC at the 2010 E3 entertainment convention in Los Angeles, requesting access to hovercrafts (vehicles which later appeared in the game). Call of Duty 5 executives also asked for use of a hovercraft, a tank and a C-130 aircraft.
This collaboration continued in 2012 with the release of Modern Warfare 4, where producers requested access to all manner of air and ground vehicles.
Secker told MintPress that, by collaborating with the gaming industry, the military ensures a positive portrayal that can help it reach recruitment targets, stating that,
For certain demographics of gamers it’s a recruitment portal, some first-person shooters have embedded adverts within the games themselves…Even without this sort of explicit recruitment effort, games like Call of Duty make warfare seem fun, exciting, an escape from the drudgery of their normal lives.”
Secker’s documentary, “Theaters of War: How the Pentagon and CIA Took Hollywood” was released earlier this year.
The military clearly held considerable influence over the direction of Call of Duty games. In 2010, its producers approached the Department of Defense (DoD) for help on a game set in 2075. However, the DoD liaison “expressed concern that [the] scenario being considered involves future war with China.” As a result, Activision Blizzard began “looking at other possible conflicts to design the game around.” In the end, due in part to military objections, the game was permanently abandoned.
From War on Terror to first-person shooters
Not only does Activision Blizzard work with the U.S. military to shape its products, but its leadership board is also full of former high state officials. Chief amongst these is Frances Townsend, Activision Blizzard’s senior counsel, and, until September, its chief compliance officer and executive vice president for corporate affairs.
Prior to joining Activision Blizzard, Townsend spent her life working her way up the rungs of the national security state. Previously serving as head of intelligence for the Coast Guard and as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s counterterrorism deputy, in 2004, President Bush appointed her to his Intelligence Advisory Board.
As the White House’s most senior advisor on terrorism and homeland security, Townsend worked closely with Bush and Rice, and became one of the faces of the administration’s War on Terror. One of her principal achievements was to whip the American public into a constant state of fear about the supposed threat of more Al-Qaeda attacks (which never came).
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Before she joined Activision Blizzard, Frances Townsend worked in Homeland Security and Counterterrorism for the Bush White House. Ron Edmonds | AP
As part of her job, Townsend helped popularize the term “enhanced interrogation techniques” – a Bush-era euphemism for torturing detainees. Worse still, Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, the officer in charge of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, alleged that Townsend put pressure on him to ramp up the torture program, reminding him “many, many times” that he needed to improve the intelligence output from the Iraqi jail.
Townsend has denied these allegations. She also later condemned the “handcuff[ing]” and “humiliation” surrounding Abu Ghraib. She was not referring to the prisoners, however. In an interview with CNN, she lamented that “these career professionals” – CIA torturers – had been subject to “humiliation and opprobrium” after details of their actions were made public, meaning that future administrations would be “handcuffed” by the fear of bad publicity, while the intelligence community would become more “risk-averse”.
During the Trump administration, Townsend was hotly tipped to become the Director of National Intelligence or the Secretary of Homeland Security. President Trump also approached her for the role of director of the FBI. Instead, however, Townsend took a seemingly incongruous career detour to become an executive at a video games company.
Enter the War planners
In addition to this role, Townsend is a director of the NATO offshoot, the Atlantic Council, a director at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a trustee of the hawkish think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a group MintPress News has previously covered in detail.
Funded by weapons companies, NATO and the U.S. government, the Atlantic Council serves as the military alliance’s brain trust, devising strategies on how best to manage the world. Also on its board of directors are high statespersons like Henry Kissinger and Conzoleezza Rice, virtually every retired U.S. general of note, and no fewer than seven former directors of the CIA. As such, the Atlantic Council represents the collective opinion of the national security state.
Two more key Call of Duty staff also work for the Atlantic Council. Chance Glasco, a co-founder of Infinity Ward developers who oversaw the game franchise’s rapid rise, is the council’s nonresident senior fellow, advising top generals and political leaders on the latest developments in tech.
Game designer and producer Dave Anthony, crucial to Call of Duty’s success, is also an Atlantic Council employee, joining the group in 2014. There, he advises them on what the future of warfare will look like, and devises strategies for NATO to fight in upcoming conflicts.
Anthony has made no secret that he collaborated with the U.S. national security state while making the Call of Duty franchise. “My greatest honor was to consult with Lieut. Col. Oliver North on the story of Black Ops 2,” he stated publicly, adding, There are so many small details we could never have known about if it wasn’t for his involvement.”
Oliver North is a high government official gained worldwide infamy after being convicted for his role in the Iran-Contra Affair, whereby his team secretly sold weapons to the government of Iran, using the money to arm and train fascist death squads in Central America – groups who attempted to overthrow the government of Nicaragua and carried out waves of massacres and ethnic cleansing in the process.
Republicans for hire
Another eyebrow-raising hire is Activision Blizzard’s chief administration officer, Brian Bulatao. A former Army captain and consultant for McKinsey & Company, until 2018, he was chief operating officer for the CIA, placing him third in command of the agency. When CIA Director Mike Pompeo moved over to the State Department, becoming Trump’s Secretary of State, Bulatao went with him, and was appointed Under Secretary of State for Management.
There, by some accounts, he served as Pompeo’s personal “attack dog,” with former colleagues describing him as a “bully” who brought a “cloud of intimidation” over the workplace, repeatedly pressing them to ignore potential illegalities happening at the department. Thus, it is unclear if Bulatao is the man to improve Activision Blizzard’s notoriously “toxic” workplace environment that caused dozens of employees to walk out en masse last summer.
After the Trump administration’s electoral defeat, Bulatao went straight from the State Department into the highest echelons of Activision Blizzard, despite no experience in the entertainment industry.
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Trump stands with then-CIA Chief Operations Officer Brian Bulatao at CIA Headquarters, May 21, 2018, in Langley, Va. Evan Vucci | AP
The third senior Republican official Activision Blizzard has recruited to its upper ranks is Grant Dixton. Between 2003 and 2006, Dixton served as associate counsel to President Bush, advising him on many of his administration’s most controversial legal activities (such as torture and the rapid expansion of the surveillance state). A lawyer by trade, he later went on to work for weapons manufacturer Boeing, rising to become its senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. In June 2021, he left Boeing to join Activision Blizzard as its chief legal officer.
Other Activision Blizzard executives with backgrounds in national security include senior vice president and chief information security officer Brett Wahlin, who was a U.S. Army counterintelligence agent, and chief of staff, Angela Alvarez, who, until 2016, was an Army chemical operations specialist.
That the same government that was infiltrating games 10-15 years ago now has so many former officials controlling the very game companies raises serious questions around privacy and state control over media, and mirrors the national security state penetration of social media that has occurred over the same timeframe.
War games
These deep connections to the U.S. national security state can perhaps help partly explain why, for years, many have complained about the blatant pro-U.S. propaganda apparent throughout the games.
The latest installment, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, is no exception. In the game’s first mission, players must carry out a drone strike against a character named
The latest installment, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, is no exception. In the game’s first mission, players must carry out a drone strike against a character named General Ghorbrani. The mission is obviously a recreation of the Trump administration’s illegal 2020 drone strike against Iranian General Qassem Soleimani – the in game general even bears a striking resemblance to Soleimani.
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The latest Call of Duty game has players assassinate a General Ghorbrani, a nebulous reference to Iranian General Qassem Solemani, pictured right
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II ludicrously presents the general as under Russia’s thumb and claims that Ghorbrani is “supplying terrorists” with aid. In reality, Soleimani was the key force in defeating ISIS terror across the Middle East – actions for which even Western media declared him a “hero”. U.S.-run polls found that Soleimani was perhaps the most popular leader in the Middle East, with over 80% of Iranians holding a positive opinion of him.
Straight after the assassination, Pompeo’s State Department floated the falsehood that the reason they killed Soleimani was that he was on the verge of carrying out a terror attack against Americans. In reality, Soleimani was in Baghdad, Iraq, for peace talks with Saudi Arabia.
These negotiations could have led to peace between the two nations, something that the U.S. government is dead against. Then-Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi revealed that he had personally asked President Trump for permission to invite Soleimani. Trump agreed, then used the opportunity to carry out the killing.
Therefore,, just as Activision Blizzard is recruiting top State Department officials to its upper ranks, its games are celebrating the same State Department’s most controversial assassinations.
This is far from the first time Call of Duty has instructed impressionable young gamers to kill foreign leaders, however. In Call of Duty Black Ops (2010), players must complete a mission to murder Cuban leader Fidel Castro. If they manage to shoot him in the head, they are rewarded with an extra gory slow motion scene and obtain a bronze “Death to Dictators” trophy. Thus, players are forced to carry out digitally what Washington failed to do on over 600 occasions.
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A mission from “Call of Duty: Black Ops” has players assassinate a hostage-taking Fidel Castro
Likewise, Call of Duty: Ghosts is set in Venezuela, where players fight against General Almagro, a socialist military leader clearly modelled on former president Hugo Chavez. Like Chavez, Almagro wears a red beret and uses Venezuela’s oil wealth to forge an alliance of independent Latin American nations against the U.S. Washington attempted to overthrow Chavez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro, multiple times. During the sixth mission of the game, players must shoot and kill Almagro from close range.
The anti-Russian propaganda is also turned up to 11 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). One mission recreates the infamous Highway of Death incident. During the First Iraq War, U.S.-led forces trapped fleeing Iraqi troops on Highway 80. What followed was what then-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell described as “wanton killing” and “slaughter for slaughter’s sake” as U.S. troops and their allies pummeled the Iraqi convoy for hours, killing hundreds and destroying thousands of vehicles. U.S. forces also reportedly shot hundreds of Iraqi civilians and surrendered soldiers in their care.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare recreates this scene for dramatic effect. However, in their version, it is not the U.S.-led forces doing the killing, but Russia, thereby whitewashing a war crime by pinning the blame on official enemies.
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A mission in “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” has players recreate the infamous highway of death
“Call of Duty, in particular, has been flagged up for recreating real events as game missions and manipulating them for geopolitical purposes,” Secker told MintPress, referring to the Highway of Death, adding,
In a culture where most people’s exposure to games (and films, TV shows and so on) is far greater than their knowledge of historical and current events, these manipulations help frame the gamers’ emotional, intellectual and political reactions. This helps them turn into more general advocates for militarism, even if they don’t sign up in any formal way.”
Secker’s latest book, “Superheroes, Movies and the State: How the U.S. Government Shapes Cinematic Universes,” was published earlier this year.
Game Over
In today’s digitized era, the worlds of war and video games increasingly resemble one another. Many have commented on the similarities between piloting drones in real life and in games such as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Prince Harry, who was a helicopter gunner in Afghanistan, described his “joy” at firing missiles at enemies. “I’m one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think I’m probably quite useful,” he said. “If there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we’ll take them out of the game,” he added, explicitly comparing the two activities. U.S. forces even control drones with Xbox controllers, blurring the lines between war games and war games even further.
The military has also directly produced video games as promotional and recruitment tools. One is a U.S. Air Force game called Airman Challenge. Featuring 16 missions to complete, interspersed with facts and recruitment information about how to become a drone operator yourself. In its latest attempts to market active service to young people, players move through missions escorting U.S. vehicles through countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, serving up death from above to all those designated “insurgents” by the game.
Players earn medals and achievements for most effectively destroying moving targets. All the while, there is a prominent “apply now” button on screen if players feel like enlisting and conducting real drone strikes on the Middle East.
U.S. Armed Forces use the popularity of video games to recruit heavily among young people, sponsoring gaming tournaments, fielding their own U.S. Army Esports team, and directly trying to recruit teens on streaming sites such as Twitch. The Amazon-owned platform eventually had to clamp down on the practice after the military used fake prize giveaways that lured impressionable young viewers onto recruitment websites.
Video games are a massive business and a huge center of soft power and ideology. The medium makes for particularly persuasive propaganda because children and adolescents consume them, often for weeks or months on end, and because they are light entertainment. Because of this, users do not have their guards up like if they were listening to a politician speaking. Their power is often overlooked by scholars and journalists because of the supposed frivolity of the medium. But it is the very notion that these are unimportant sources of fun that makes their message all the more potent.
The Call of Duty franchise is particularly egregious, not only in its messaging, but because who the messengers are. Increasingly, the games appear to be little more than American propaganda masquerading as fun first-person shooters. For gamers, the point is to enjoy its fast-paced entertainment. But for those involved in their production, the goal is not just making money; it is about serving the imperial war machine.
Feature photo | Illustration by MintPress News
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doctorstethoscope · 2 years
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Yes, Mr. President || The True Story
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art by @multiverse-mxdness
if you saw me post this yesterday and then delete it bc it had a typo no you didnt <3333
story summary: Scandal! AU– your mentor, David Rossi, has recruited you to make Senator Aaron Hotchner the next President of the United States. Once described as a political nun, the Senator helps you see that maybe you can mix business and pleasure.
Read previous chapters of this fic here!
contains: discussion of terrorism, guns, hostages and bombs
wordcount: 2.4k
“She just released six hostages,” the CIA director, Sally Langston, explains to President Hotchner. “SSA Beene is on the ground coordinating the FBI response, and he has an update for you as well.”
“We’ve got half a dozen snipers in place, Mr. President,” Cyrus explains over a video feed into the situation room. “If we can get a clean shot, we’d like to take it. On your orders, of course.”
Aaron grinds his teeth. He’d much prefer for her to come out peacefully, without the use of force, but there are innocent lives at stake and he worries that he doesn’t have the time for moral qualms.  “If we take the shot, what are the chances that the bomb goes off?” 
“Given the type of bomb… if her hand is on the detonator, we like our odds,” Beene says. 
The President swallows heavily. “Take it,” he says, spitting the words out as if it would make them carry any less gravity. 
“That’s a go, Agent Beene. Prepare your team,” Director Langston says. 
In Congressman Struthers’ office, tensions are just as high. 
“This was a mistake,” Mary rants as she paces, her thumb far too close to the detonator for your liking. “We shouldn’t have released the staffers.”
“They were scared, Mary, and they weren’t a part of this. They were kids, just like Chris,” you remind her, appealing to her humanity, or what was left of it. “It was the right thing to do.”
“Then why don’t we have the file?!” She asks angriily, her whole body shaking with the intensity of her emotions.
“I’m a member of Congress, and it takes me weeks to get a document I’ve requested. Even longer if it’s classified,” the congressman pipes in. “You’re making much quicker progress than I usually do, that’s for sure.” 
Your phone rings, and it’s Derek. You answer it immediately.
“You okay?” He asks. 
“Fine. What did you find out?” You ask in turn, all business. You’re not fine, of course, but there’s no time to get into any of that. 
“They’re gearing up for something out here,” he explains gravely. 
“Something, like, potentially bringing up the file?” You ask hopefully, knowing full well that that’s not what he means. 
“Not unless the file looks like a sniper,” he confirms your fears. “They just went into the building.” 
“How many?” 
“Four, it looks like,” he answers you. 
“Plus however many they have outside,” you theorize, and then the stomping of boots pulls you out of your train of thought. 
“Mary,” you say, hanging up on Derek as soon as you realize what’s happening. “Mary, you need to stay calm.” 
“They’re testing me,” she says, drawing up the blinds. “Why are they testing me?” Do they think I won’t do it?” She says, brandishing the detonator in the window, and that’s when you see the red laser dot square in the middle of her forehead.
++++
“Mr. President, we have a visual through the window,” Agent Beene reports to President Hotchner. 
“A visual on who, exactly?” He asks. 
“We believe it to be Mary Nesbit, but we’re not yet confirmed,” he explains. “Locked in on the target, and ready to engage on your orders.” 
“Absolutely no shots fired until we’re certain we’ve got the assailant, understood?” He demands. 
“Yes, Mr. President. A team is also headed into the building to see if they can get Ms. Nesbit to come out peacefully. We’re prepared to show you the visual we have from the window.” 
“Alright. Go ahead,” he says, and the protector turns on, showing a grainy image of the side of the Capitol building, and a shadowed woman with a bulky vest on. The hand holding the detonator raises. 
“Mr. President, on your order!” Beene barks out, and it no longer sounds like a request. Aaron is just about to say the word when he’s sure he’s having some sort of panic induced-hallucination, because your face appears in that window, reaching out towards Mary.
“Everybody stand down, now!” The President barks. “That’s a civilian hostage in the window, stand down.” 
“What in God’s name is she doing in there?” Rossi asks, and the President realizes he’s not hallucinating. His stomach lurches. 
“Somebody get me a line into that room. Immediately,” Aaron says, masking his grave concern with a seething tone.
“Mr. President, a word,” Rossi says, gesturing towards the door, and the President follows him into the hallway. “You cannot speak with her,” he says in a resolute whisper.
“Like hell I’m not,” Aaron argues, nostrils flaring. “She could have been killed in there.”
“Which was stupid and careless, and we will now all do our level best to not blow her up. But you will not call her, because there is no way your presidency survives if the two of you share a headline for the third week running.” 
“Share a headline? Are you listening to yourself?” Aaron asks incredulously. “Get me a line into that room, Rossi, and consider brushing up your resume while you’re at it.”
“Mr. President,” Director Langston says, poking her head into the hallway. “I hate to interrupt, but we have a line into the Congressman’s office set up for you.”
When Aaron walks back into the room, he realizes what a bad idea this was. He needed to talk to you, but he hadn’t considered he’d be doing so in front of a room full of people. He steadies his jaw and strides in, calling your name into the speakerphone. 
“I’m here, Mr. President,” you say, and he can tell that you’re trying to sound strong for him, sound professional to cover for him in this room full of people, and he hates it. 
“How are you doing, is everyone okay?” 
“The Congressman and I aren’t harmed. Mary only wants her son’s file.” You explain. 
“We’re working on that, I promise you,” he says, trying to infuse every ounce of comfort he could into the professional declaration of facts. “It’s difficult.” 
“Respectfully, Mr. President, I really need you to make it less difficult.” Your voice breaks in the middle of your sentence, and Aaron thinks he’s about to burst down the door to the Capitol himself. 
“I know, Ang–I know,” he catches himself. “Would she like to speak to me about the situation? If I assured her that we were working on it—”
“Mr. President, I really can’t advise—” Sally starts, but he silences her with a hand. 
“No. She doesn’t want to speak to anyone. She says I have to hang up now.”
“Alright. We need you to stay calm in there. Try not to let yourself get too anxious— think about that place in Vermont we saw on the campaign trail, okay?” He says, a desperate edge to his covered half-truth. 
“Yes, Mr. President. I have to go.” 
++++
“Did you know that my son hasn’t even been buried?” Mary asks you and the congressman. “None of the funeral homes would even take him, because they think he’s a terrorist. He’s still at the city morgue.” 
“Let me make another call, Mary, this isn’t over yet. We’ll get you that file,” you assure her, pulling out your cell phone and dialing the one person in the city who almost certainly doesn’t want to hear from you.
“I just saw your face on the news, what the hell are you doing?” Joey asks when he picks up on the first ring. “Does your fixing extend to terrorism now?” 
“This one wasn’t exactly a choice, Joseph, the C4 just fell into my lap,” you spit out through gritted teeth. “I need a favor.”
“Well, you know, call us old fashioned, but over here at the Department of Justice, we do our very best not to aid and abet terrorists,” he scoffs.
“The FBI raids a suspected terrorist’s apartment, kills a man, and the investigation is sealed, no questions asked. When questions are asked, a team of lawyers, sixteen Freedom of Information Act requests, and an inquiry from a member of Congress are all ignored. This is what’s happening in America right now, under your watchful eye. If that feels right to you, if that feels like justice, go ahead and enjoy a power lunch at Le Diplomate. If not—”
“Understood.” Joey cuts you off. “I’ll see what I can do. Stay safe in there, okay?” 
“Work fast,” you implore him.
“One hour,” Mary warns. “Your guys have one hour left, and then I blow us all to bits.” 
“Mary, we really can’t rush this. Declassifying documents—” 
“One. Hour.” 
+++++++
The phone rings with three minutes left on the clock. You’re so relieved that your knees almost buckle when you stand to answer it. 
“Here we go,” you say with a deep breath, more to yourself than to anyone else as you answer the phone. 
“Is everyone in there still okay?” Aaron asks. 
“Yes, Mr. President,” you answer. 
“Good. I’m standing here with David Rossi, Joseph Rosen, and Director Langston of the CIA. What I’m about to tell you is classified information,” he explains. “For your own safety, I need you not to respond to what I’m about to tell you, can you do that for me?” he says, and while he’s trying to remain neutral, you can hear the covered desperation in his tone.
“Yes,” you answer plainly. 
“Mary is right,” he confesses. 
“I’m sorry?” You say, your voice breaking. 
“Chris Lawrence was not a terrorist. Chris Lawrence was CIA. He infiltrated the Al-Qaeda network at the highest levels and brought other CIA operatives into the organization as fake recruits. Chris Lawrence was an American hero, perhaps one of the greatest heroes our country has ever had, but you cannot tell his mother that,” he explains to you.  
“You can’t tell anybody that, because if you did, the 57 men and women that he recruited, who’s very lives depend on maintaining their undercover identities as enemies of the United States— they would be tortured until they died, and a decade’s worth of intelligence gathering would die with them,” he underscores. 
“Chris Lawrence was killed by the FBI because they did not know his true loyalties, and that….” Aaron concedes a pregnant pause “was a terrible mistake. But it made him a martyr to Al-Qaeda, and a hero to the United States. I am so sorry that his mother will never know the truth, but 57 lives depend on it. There are 57 other American heroes whose names their country will never know, and it’s our job and our duty to bring them home alive. Do you understand?” 
“No,” you answer honestly.
“No?” Aaron repeats, aghast. 
“But thank you, for the true story,” you say, loud enough for Mary to hear.
“You absolutely cannot tell her the true story,” Aaron commands.
“Don’t make me do this to her,” you whisper, turning your back on the mother who’s intuition was going to land her in a federal prison. 
“57 of our bravest assets, is the truth worth their lives?” He reminds you. 
You take a deep breath. “I have to go now,” you tell the President. 
He calls after you by your full name, as if you were a child. You hope he says it again in front of you, and not just at your funeral. “Do not hang up, I need you to acknowledge—” Aaron yells after you, but you drop the phone back onto the receiver. 
When you turn around to face Mary,  she’s practically beaming. “That was the President,” she smiles. “What did he say?” 
You take another deep breath and swallow heavily. “Mary, I am so, so sorry.”
Her face falls in an instant. “No. No,” she cries. “No.” 
“Your son was a terrorist,” you explain.
“No! No he wasn’t!” She continues to interject. 
“He was a high level Al-Qaeda operative, higher than they wanted to make public,” you lie, and she collapses to her knees. “That’s what was in the file, that’s what was classified,” you explain, kneeling in front of her on the floor and holding her head in your hands as she continues to cry. “I am so sorry. I’m going to see you through this, Mary. make sure you have the best defense possible. Our work isn’t done, you’re still my client,” you assure her. “And now it’s time to go, okay? This starts with us all walking out of here, safely.” 
“Okay,” Mary sniffles. “Okay, I’m ready,” she says. 
The Congressman goes first, heading towards the door where they’d heard FBI agents camp out earlier. 
“This is Representative Struthers,” he shouts. “We’re coming out peacefully.”
“Nice and slow, one by one, hands raised,” An agent instructs, opening the door. 
The Congressman is closest to the door, and he follows orders, stepping out at a glacial pace until given the go ahead to move faster. 
You turn and look back at Mary, give her a reassuring nod. “It’s going to be okay.” 
She smiles. “I guess now that I’m a terrorist, too, my son won’t be alone at the morgue,” she says, shoving you through the door and slamming it shut. 
++++++ 
“Mr. President, we have a visual on the hostages and Mrs. Lawrence leaving peacefully, if you’d like to watch,” Rossi informs the President, and the projector kicks up again. Congressman Struthers leaves without incident, and Aaron breathes a sigh of relief when he sees you, still unharmed. He’s no sooner let all the air leave his lungs when he sees Mary shove you out the door, and even worse– you turn around and try to force your way back in.
“No, Mary! Mary, open the door!” You yell. 
“Pull them out,” Aaron instructs, trying to stay calm.
“Ma’am, we need to move,” An agent tries to guide you away, but you continue gripping at the handle to the locked door. 
“Get them out of there!” Aaron yells. He watches as an Agent manhandles you— physically picks you up and starts to carry you out, but then there’s an explosion, and the feed cuts out. “Someone talk to me!” He barks, somewhere between a growl and a yell, turning into the comms device. It’s all static. 
tagging: @arsonhotchner @shyhotch @dadbodhotch11 @call-me-mrsreid @angelfxllcm @the-modernmary @rousethemouse @skyler666 @gspenc @wheelsupkels @ashhotchner @mintphoenix @infinite-tides
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estherdedlock · 2 years
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I admit it: I still don’t know what “Dark Academia” is. I’ve been deep into this for almost a year and I’ve watched all the video essays about it and looked at all the moodboards and read all the quotes and I still could not give you a quick, “elevator pitch” summary of what it is.
Now, I think Dark Academia is pretty easy to define when you’re talking about clothes, movies, or decor. I could probably put together a Dark Academia moodboard in five minutes, any of us could. But when it comes to books...that’s where things get cloudy. It seems to me that Dark Academia reading can pretty much be anything that gives you those DA feelings, however you define them.
So with that said, here are a couple of books I’ve read recently that could be categorized as Dark Academia. Some spoilers ahead, too.
* * * * * *
The first is Olivie Blake’s "BookTok sensation,” The Atlas Six, which is generally touted as pure, unequivocal Dark Academia. If you like DA, you’ve got to read this book, or so people say.
I’ll admit I’m only halfway through it and I went and spoiled myself on Goodreads to find out if the second half was going to be better than the first. It doesn’t appear that it will be, but I think I might slog through it anyway. 
The setting is the magical Alexandria Society, where, once every decade, six potential new initiates are brought together to compete for lifetime membership.
I’ve seen TA6 compared to The Secret History here and there but there is literally no similarity at all. To me, this is not even Dark Academia. One of the characters even says to the new recruits: “This is not a school, and I am not your teacher.” And he’s right! It’s really more of a Survivor-type competition, where only five of the six will make the cut. It happens to take place in a library-ish setting, but Blake doesn’t seem interested in creating a broody, academic atmosphere. Quite the opposite, actually. Just a few chapters in, there’s a long, Jason Bourne-style action sequence in which the initiates have to fight a black ops team of trained assassins from the CIA, MI6, and Chinese intelligence. I don’t think you could get less Dark Academia than that! (It’s also a scene that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, because several of these characters just shouldn’t have these kinds of combat skills, even with magic, but whatever).
Most of the rest of the book is scheming. At least, the first 170 pages or so have essentially been nothing but scheming, with the characters trying to suss out each other’s skills, strengths, and weaknesses to form alliances. There are a great many internal monologues and a lot of hinting about people’s powers...you know, a lot of If they knew what she really was, what she was capable of... That sort of thing. This gets pretty annoying after a while. Just frigging tell me already. Most of the characters are quite flat. My favorite so far is a bit player, an amoral grifter of a mermaid who can bubble up through the plumbing. But I suspect I’m not going to see much more of her.
The book does boast one of the worst sentences I’ve ever read:
“Libby’s brow remained annoyingly lost to the span of her forehead.”
What does this mean? I think the author is trying to say that Libby raised her eyebrows to express exaggerated disbelief, but I’m honestly not sure. I know this book was originally self-published, but I don’t think an editor touched it before the traditional publisher re-issued it this year. The author actually has a weird obsession with Libby’s forehead in general, specifically, her bangs (or “fringe” -- the book is full of Britishisms, even though the author is American). In fact, Libby’s bangs seem to be her primary personality trait. Anyway, that’s all I have to say about The Atlas Six.
* * * * * *
The next book is The Holy Innocents, by Gilbert Adair. This book has an odd backstory because Adair wrote two different versions of it. He published the first in 1988. In 2003, it was made into a movie starring Eva Green, The Dreamers (and yes, I discovered this movie via Dark Academia moodboards because I’m just that garbagey sort of a person). Then, Adair rewrote his own book to function as a novelization of the movie and published it as The Dreamers. The one I read was the 1988, pre-movie, original version.
About two-thirds of this book was a dark, broody, aesthetic trip. A 19-year-old Californian, Matthew, goes to France in 1968 to study film. There, he meets two passionate and pretentious movie buffs, the 17-year-old twins Guillaume and Danielle. He winds up living with them in the great gloom of the Parisian apartment owned by their father, an eccentric poet. The lodgings are so expansive that the kids have their own, isolated wing of it called le quartier des enfants. All sorts of things are going on in le quartier des enfants. So far, so Dark Academic!
The twins’ parents go out of town, leaving the enfants to their own devices. That’s when things get really freaky. Imagine this: If Richard Papen moved in with Charles and Camilla and they completely cut themselves off from the rest of the world up in that attic apartment. For a while they just sit around in front of a roaring fire, listening to old records and acting out their favorite bits of Greek tragedy. One thing leads to another and then...they all start fucking. I mean, they’re all fucking. A lot. It’s very filthy but also very atmospheric and aesthetic and dark, dark, dark.
The book gets even darker and more aesthetic when the erotic teenage trio decamps to Normandy for a stay in the decaying château owned by the twins’ clueless grandmother. This unfortunately didn’t last long enough. Upon their return to Paris, shit gets even weirder. I use the word “shit” deliberately. There is literal shit involved.
Adair invests a lot of energy in hinting, repeatedly, that these kids are going to keep descending into a hell of their own making until something truly terrible happens. What happens is that things get pretty gross. I began wondering if I was just reading some guy’s sex fantasies about polyamorous teenagers.
Then, in the last 20 pages or so, The Holy Innocents becomes a completely different book! The kids are roused from their surreal sex fugue by the student uprising of May 1968! They rush out into the streets to man the barricades Les Miz-style! It’s one of the biggest, whiplash what the fucks I’ve ever encountered in a book.
I understand that the movie (and I suppose, Adair’s novelization of the movie) diverged quite a lot from the original novel, and I can see why. This isn’t really a novel at all. It’s more like a lengthy short story with no real beginning, middle, or end. A series of atmospheric, erotic vignettes that seem to be leading to some great personal cataclysm. The last thing I expected was a sudden burst of 1960s youthquake activism.
So, Dark Academically speaking, I can recommend about the first two-thirds of The Holy Innocents, for the atmosphere, provided the sex doesn’t put you off. The last third, I’d say...proceed at your own risk. And maybe not on a full stomach.
Ugh, I apologize for the rambling length of this. I’m afraid I’m avoiding other things that I’m supposed to be doing.
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orossii · 1 year
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often times western leftists who are inclined toward strongly identifying as a ‘radical’ are far more interested in a feeling of superiority over everyday people than they are at truly getting to the root of things. the appeal for them is self-righteousness and a desire to feel persecuted. they have no respect for themselves, their community, their country, or humanity in general. they sequester themselves in communes, insular friend groups, and online spaces all made up of other people that share in their utter contempt for other human beings
there they can lament how stupid and brainwashed everyone but them is, how the general populace is too backwards and oblivious to expend energy on, and thus only direct their attention toward other alienated college students and professional managerial class types who can leverage woke politics for personal gain. they’re disconnected from the day to day struggles of everyday people because they only associate with their fellow over-educated navel-gazing wannabe “global citizens” of the neo-conservative variety
they’re oblivious to how the vacuum left by their often self-imposed cultural isolation (amplified by an addiction to drugs, tv, video games, social media, and/or porn) makes them easy targets for the cult-like, anti-intellectual tendencies cultivated by the ruling class via the media and academia. the cia is using identity politics in its recruitment ads now. it’s time to go back to the drawing board
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milkwithginseng · 11 months
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WIP Wednesday
I've been on on a roll with this '50's Bond story so here's another snippet. Tell them you like No Time to Die without saying you like No Time to Die 😄 hopefully I can make the plot make more sense.
‘Whatever happened between us was a long time ago, I’ve put it behind me. I’m here in a strictly professional capacity, James. This is far bigger than just you and me.’
James looked into her big, brown eyes outlined expertly outlined with mascara, eyes he hadn't gazed upon for fourteen years. How much had changed, and yet how little. ‘Okay then, Phoenix. Tell me.’
‘As I sure you’re no doubt aware, when it looked like the tide was turning for Germany in the War several top-Nazi officials jumped the sinking ship. Some of the scientists were recruited by the CIA to work for the US government, as part of Operation Paperclip, most notably the rocket scientist who produced the V2 bomb, Werner von Braun. Now he’s making videos teaching children about rocket flight at Disneyland. But there were others who haven’t courted the limelight, ones who went into exile. South America, Argentina mostly. Among them was a geneticist. 
‘Everyone is talking about space being the next frontier, that these same ICBMs that hold atomic bombs could be used to put mankind on another planet, if we don’t blow ourselves up before then. They’re so busy looking at the skies they aren’t looking closer to home. Two years ago, a couple of your very own scientists, Crick and Watson discovered the structure of DNA. The building blocks of life itself. What could someone do if they were able to harness that power?’
‘You think it could be used as a weapon?’
‘It’s not hard to imagine. Create a bio-toxin that could wipe out whole crops or even entire races. It might even be possible to breed a stronger, more resilient soldier. Never mind what that would do for the proxy wars between America and the USSR. It would make you a god.’’ 
Bond sighed, ‘Phoenix, I think you read one too many comic books as a child.’ 
‘Don’t patronise me, James.’
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libertariantaoist · 10 months
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Here is your daily roundup of today's news:
News Roundup 5/17/2023
by Kyle Anzalone
US News
The far-reaching effects of America’s War on Terror may have contributed to the deaths of some 4.5 million people, according to new research by Brown University’s ‘Costs of War’ project. While many of the fatalities were the direct result of violent conflict, indirect causes such as economic collapse and food insecurity have taken a far greater toll. The Institute
Russia
The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) will adopt a prohibition on restarting oil imports from Russia, according to the Financial Times. The “highly symbolic” ban falls well short of the total export embargo proposed by Washington. The Institute
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have agreed to host a delegation of African leaders to discuss a potential peace plan for the conflict in Ukraine. AWC
Germany on Saturday announced its largest package of military aid for Kyiv worth $2.95 billion, Berlin’s largest since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. AWC
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Britain Monday and secured pledges for more military equipment from London, including air defense missiles and long-range attack drones. AWC
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has privately plotted major attacks inside Russia while pledging publicly that his forces won’t use Western-provided arms to target Russian territory, The Washington Post reported on Saturday. AWC
The Washington Post deleted a portion of an interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, where he accused the paper of helping Russia by posing a question about information contained in leaked classified documents. AWC
The Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday said Ukrainian forces have already used British-provided long-range Storm Shadow missiles in attacks on the Russian-controlled Donbas city of Luhansk. AWC
The last massive aid package Congress authorized for Ukraine has about $6 billion left, which is expected to be used up by mid-summer, POLITICO reported Monday. AWC
Warsaw received its first shipment of US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), manufactured by Lockheed Martin, and announced plans to deploy the launchers near the country’s shared border with Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave. The Institute
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, dismissed claims made by The Washington Post that he offered Ukraine Russian troop positions in exchange for a Ukrainian withdrawal from Bakhmut, calling the report “laughable.” AWC
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization conducted war games aimed at tracking and eliminating submarines. The 12-nation exercises were the alliance’s largest ever military drills simulating underwater warfare. The Institute
Russia’s military said Tuesday that it hit a US-made Patriot air defense system in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with a hypersonic missile, which was later confirmed by a US official. AWC
Kiev officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Cyber Defense Center on Tuesday. Ukraine’s flag was raised at the headquarters of NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Tallinn, according to a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry statement. The Institute
On Monday, the CIA published a video on YouTube and Telegram urging Russians to contact the agency in an effort to recruit intelligence assets inside Russia. AWC
China
A high-level Chinese envoy is set to begin a trip that will bring him to Russia, Ukraine, and several other European countries as Beijing hopes to broker a ceasefire to bring an end to the fighting in Ukraine. AWC
Beijing says on 1/5/2021 the US conducted an antisubmarine operation about 100 miles from Hong Kong. When Chinese forces attempted to seize some American equipment, Washington destroyed it. SCMP
On Tuesday, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) responded to US plans to provide Taiwan with $500 million in unprecedented military aid and reports that said hundreds of US troops have been deployed to the island, warning it will “firmly crush attempts at external interference.” AWC
A US envoy said Monday that the US and the Federated States of Micronesia have agreed to extend a strategic pact that will allow the US to maintain military access to the Pacific Island nation. AWC
President Biden has canceled planned visits to Papua New Guinea and Australia to focus on the debt ceiling debate that’s ongoing in Washington, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday. AWC
Middle East
European countries are pressing Biden to resume talks with Iran about reviving the nuclear agreement. WSJ
The US military says it’s looking into reports that it killed a civilian in a recent airstrike it launched in northwest Syria. AWC
The Cradle reported on Tuesday that the US and Syria have been engaged in secret, direct negotiations in the Omani capital of Muscat. AWC
Read More
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