#last incendiary post for today i promise

[stardust948]

Incendiary incorrect quotes

Ozai: We provide a calm atmosphere here.

Zuko: *bruised and unconscious*

Katara, in the middle of a panic attack: I've never been more stressed in my whole life.

@roslynwrites

#incendiary #incendiary incorrect quotes #atla #zutara #ozai #zuko #katara #source: ??? #incorrect quotes #atla incorrect quotes #zutara incorrect quotes #last incendiary post for today i promise

[popolitiko]

Shirley Sherrod’s story about her work with Roger Spooner, second from left, was the subject of a post on the Web site of Andrew Breitbart, third from left, that led to Ms. Sherrod’s dismissal by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who has offered her a new job.

This article is more than 11 years old

White House forced into U-turn over Shirley Sherrod race row

This article is more than 11 years old

Ed Pilkington in New York @edpilkington Wed 21 Jul 2010 20.42 EDT

The White House has been forced to make an embarrassing U-turn after it appeared to have acted rashly in approving the sacking of a senior black official who was being targeted by a controversial rightwing blogger.

The Obama administration had initially supported the decision of Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, to force the resignation of Shirley Sherrod after a misleadingly edited version of a speech she gave in March caused outrage on the internet. The edited clips, put out by Andrew Breitbart of the conservative site BigGovernment.com, who has worked with the leading rightwing blogger Matt Drudge, gave the impression that Sherrod had boasted about having discriminated against a white farmer 24 years ago.

But when the full footage of the speech was released hours later, it became clear that she was recounting the story as a parable for why every poor person deserved to be helped equally, whatever their race.

In the wake of the full tape becoming available, the White House said the case should be looked at again. Vilsack, who initially had said his department had a "zero tolerance for discrimination", also made a startling volte face, promising a "thorough review to ensure to the American people we are providing services in a fair and equitable manner" and offering Sherrod another job in the department.

Last night he went further, saying he had extended his "personal and profound apologies for the pain and discomfort that has been caused to her and to her family over the course of the last several days." He added: "A good woman has gone through a very difficult period, and I will have to live with that for a very long time."

Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs also grovelled last night, saying: "A disservice was done. An apology was owed. That's what we've done."

Despite such apologies, the damage had already been done with the White House and a key department having acted in haste to force out of office a senior black woman at the whim of rightwing pundits.

To make matters more politically incendiary, it became clear that Breitbart had put together the edited clips in order to hurt the NAACP, America's largest civil rights organisation. The NAACP last week locked horns with the Tea Party movement of disaffected rightwingers, accusing it of tolerating bigotry. Breitbart has admitted he put out the Sherrod video to "show you that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones".

As the furore swirled, Eloise Spooner, the wife of the white farmer in question, came to Sherrod's defence, saying: "We probably wouldn't have our farm today if it hadn't been for her."

Sherrod said she was ordered to resign by Vilsack's deputy, Cheryl Cook, while she was on a long drive, and was even ordered to pull over on the side of the road and send in her resignation by Blackberry.

The saga also embarrassed the NAACP, which was also over-hasty in judging Sherrod, telling Fox News that it repudiated "racists in our ranks". After seeing the full video, it said it had been "snookered" into misinterpreting her views.

By the end of the day, Ms. Sherrod had gained instant fame and emerged as the heroine of a compelling story about race and redemption.

Official comments about Sherrod

That same evening, the President of the NAACP, Benjamin Jealous, posted a tweet saying that his organization was "appalled" by Sherrod's comments.

The following day, the USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack released a statement explaining his agency's actions and suggested that Sherrod's statements as shown damaged her effectiveness at a time when USDA was working to improve its previous civil rights abuses.

Pretty much everyone else had egg on his face — from the conservative bloggers and pundits who first pushed the inaccurate story to Mr. Vilsack, who looked stricken as he told reporters he had offered Ms. Sherrod a new job. “This is a good woman, she’s been put through hell and I could have and should have done a better job,” Mr. Vilsack said, as he conceded that he had ordered Ms. Sherrod’s firing in haste, without knowing that the video clip, from a speech she gave to the N.A.A.C.P., had been taken out of context. He said that he had acted on his own, and that there was “no pressure from the White House.”

[sdwolfpup]

I have finished reading all of the Smut Swap fics!! I’ve still got Summer Exchange fics to finish (not to mention at least half, if not more, of the chillfest), so I’m feeling accomplished for once. Heh. Anyway, here is my list of recs. Just short blurbs for each one because there’s a lot of these so it will be long as it is. In no particular order except very vaguely the order I read them in and even then I did some jumping around.

Thrust Exercises - canon AU where Jaime and Brienne have known each other for a long time because Selwyn brought him to Evenfall. It’s their wedding night, and Jaime Has A Plan to make sure his new, eager wife enjoys their bedding. The smut is hot but what especially sticks out to me is how full of AFFECTION this fic and the characters are. It’s a wonderful mix.

Second Chances - modern AU, Jaime/Brienne/Addam. Brienne and Jaime are happily together, Jaime and Addam have a history of casual hookups, and this time they want Brienne to join. She is more than happy to do so. Great history between all three, incredible sexual tension, and Brienne is an active and eager participant in this delightful trio.

Diplomatic Relations - post-canon where Jaime and Brienne are very happily married and go around Westeros (for work) having noisy sex (for pleasure). A really fun and very sexy read. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Nights Avoiding Things Unholy - modern AU where Jaime and Brienne had an unexpected hook-up in the breakroom at work and now three weeks later, they’ve barely even talked. At a work event, they spark against each other until they catch fire in a scorching-hot scene in an empty office. The imagery is...A LOT. And even with all the heat (of which there is PLENTY), it’s clear there’s more simmering under the surface for these two. I hope the author is considering a sequel. And a prequel. I’m open to all the -quels for this.

what is dark in me illumine - modern AU where Brienne is an ethics professor (!!!!) and Jaime is a demon exiled to earth (!!!!) and their sexual tension is U N R E A L. There is a scene in this fic that is in, as I have dubbed it, the Horny Trinity of JB scenes. (The scene from Astolat’s Pretty where he rubs his thumb down his cock is the second, and the third part of the trinity is in the next fic in this list!) This fic is bananas good -- the world-building is incredible, the language is fantastic, and the sex is incendiary. Jaime and Brienne’s joy in each other comes through so strongly, too. I cannot throw enough superlatives on this boat. I would also love to read more of this in whatever form the author would provide.

Hush - modern AU where Brienne is a researcher in the far, cold North (think the Arctic) and Jaime is a pilot and they have lots of INDESCRIBABLY HOT SEX. This is the third leg of my Horny Trinity, and it involves a blowjob and a belt and it made my life a little better having read it. As with the other recs in this list, the sex is amazing but the connection is superb. They clearly adore each other, beyond just the physical attraction, and I found myself smiling a number of times. (Count this as a third request for more of this universe.)

Apart, Together, Together Apart - post-canon fic where Jaime is in the Kingsguard to protect Tommen and Brienne is the Evenstar. They’re lovers, separated by distance and duty, and Jaime is visiting Tarth for seven days. They make the most of it. I have thought about this fic SO MUCH since I read it; I’ve been keeping myself from re-reading since I wanted to finish a first run through, but now that I have I think this might be my first. Each day is so lovingly handled, not just with sex (which they don’t have every day), but their quiet joy and devotion to each other. This fic is full of tenderness and a little melancholy and a lot of love.

Can’t Get Close Enough (To You) - This is a modern AU where Jaime and Brienne are a happy couple invited to vacation with their friends, and when Brienne has a surprise for Jaime on their last day, things get a little out of hand in a VERY sexy way. The characters are so cute in this, and their connection is so clear, and the ending is really fun. I can’t believe this is the author’s first fic; it’s a fantastic start. I’ll never let you go (if you promise not to fade away) - This is a space AU where Jaime and Cersei are alone on a ship in the galaxy and they bring mechanic Brienne onboard. JBC is a trickly threesome to make work, especially when Jaime and Cersei are still twins, but using Cersei as the narrator and emotional throughline here works unbelievably well. Every part of the triangle gets time, and Brienne becomes a way for Jaime and Cersei to even work out their complicated relationship without feeling like she’s just filler; they both adore her and for good reason.  This fic is only 2.5k and yet it does SO MUCH. It’s incredibly good.

Getting Lost In You - modern AU where Jaime and Brienne are a wonderfully happy couple who are spending a lazy Sunday morning in bed. This is almost entirely sex, but the history and love between them are so rich, it adds a wonderful dimension to this fic. The whole thing has a delightful, hot glow.

Today Will Die Tomorrow - canon AU (or I suppose post-ADWD canon!) where Jaime and Brienne come together just before the Long Night. The author uses jumping back and forth in time to parcel out the moments of intense hotness and sweetness in a perfect mix. Their language is gorgeous, there are some beautiful emotional punches scattered throughout, and the sex is fun AND tender AND sexy.

we used to wait - modern AU where Jaime and Brienne are in Harrenhal on the same negotiations but for different companies. This author’s style is FANTASTIC the descriptions are spare but so vivid, the feelings are restrained but so intense, the sex is so hot and so emotional. A truly marvelous story.

The Waters and the Wild - modern AU where Jaime is a prince and Brienne is in his Kingsguard. They crash and have to walk their way to safety. The author gives us hints of their backstory as we go - they knew each other in the armed forces, they had a super hot affair - and we get to see them realizing that all of the weight of those feelings are still there, waiting to be acted on. Good thing they’re alone together for a few days. The waterfall scene in this is VERY GOOD.

And! I’ve already rec’d this once but it’s well worth doing it again: the fic written for me, Good Night, My Love. A modern AU where Jaime and Brienne are camping, and we discover they’ve had sex once before and now are in a tense, desperate limbo about where to go from here. Jaime is besotted with this Brienne and so am I, and the way they slowly circle around and into each other through each of the nights is so lovely. I adore this story!

#jaime x brienne fic recs #spotlight saturday #jaime x brienne #long post #i tried to keep it short but these are all so good!!!!

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 25, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

A year ago today, 46-year-old George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis as then–police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. As bystanders begged Chauvin to get up, a teenage girl walking by had the presence of mind to video what was happening. Thanks to that girl, Darnella Frazier, we all could hear Floyd telling Chauvin, “I can’t breathe.”

Floyd’s murder sparked more than 4700 protests across the nation that popularized both the idea that policing must be reformed and the concept that American systems, starting with law enforcement and moving to include housing, healthcare, education, and so on, are racially biased. In the past fourteen months, support for the Black Lives Matter movement among white people has jumped 5%, fueled mostly by younger people.

And yet, the rate of deaths at the hands of law enforcement officials has not changed, and Black people are three times more likely than white people to die at the hands of law enforcement even though they are 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed.

In April, a jury convicted Chauvin of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He will be sentenced in June.

After the jury convicted Chauvin, President Joe Biden promised Floyd’s family that he would deliver a police reform bill. Today he and Vice President Kamala Harris met with Floyd’s family privately in the Oval Office for more than an hour, but the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act has not become law. The act bars the use of chokeholds and makes it easier to prosecute police officers, but lawmakers have been unable to compromise over so-called “qualified immunity,” a federal doctrine established in 1967 by the Supreme Court that protects officials—including law enforcement officers—from personal liability for much of their behavior while they execute their professional duties. Members of both parties, though, say a deal on the measure is in sight.

Today we learned that the Manhattan district attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., has recently called together a special grand jury to hear a number of cases, including whether to indict former President Trump, other people in charge of running his company, or the Trump Organization itself. That a grand jury is considering whether a former president committed a crime is unprecedented.

It also suggests that Vance believes there is evidence of a crime. There appears to be a focus on whether the Trump Organization manipulated the value of real estate to make it seem more valuable when trying to get loans against it, and less valuable when listing it for tax valuations. Investigators are also looking at compensation for Trump Organization executives.

Vance began to investigate in 2018 after Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to making hush-money payments for Trump and to lying to Congress.

The former president also responded today to a lawsuit filed by Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who in March filed a lawsuit against Trump; Donald Trump, Jr.; Alabama Representative Mo Brooks; and Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani for inciting the insurrection of January 6. Trump’s lawyers asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that the president has “absolute immunity conveyed on the President by the Constitution as a key principle of separation of powers." The memo is the usual political attack we have come to expect from Trump, but it’s interesting: his claim that he enjoys absolute immunity leaves the rest of the defendants out in the cold.

On January 22, just two days after President Biden took office, Lincoln Project founder George Conway published a piece in the Washington Post noting that Trump’s frantic efforts to stay in office might well have been “a desperate fear of criminal indictment.” Trump needed the protection of the presidency to avoid the fallout from his connections with Russia; the Ukraine scandal; and bank, insurance, and tax fraud. Conway noted that refusing to prosecute ex-presidents would undermine the rule of law because it would place them above the law: they could do whatever they wished as president—including trying to overthrow our democracy—knowing they would never answer for it.

Trump, of course, has refused to admit he lost the 2020 election. Today, he issued a statement suggesting that all potential prosecution of him would be political, saying that he was “far in the lead for the Republican Presidential Primary and the General Election in 2024.”

Trump’s memo also suggested he had a First Amendment right to say whatever he wished about the 2020 election, but in January, criminal law professor Joseph Kennedy of the University of North Carolina School of Law pointed out that while Trump’s speech might have been protected, he had a legal duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, a duty that meant he should have immediately told his supporters to stop what they were doing on January 6. His supporters breached the Capitol shortly after 2:00 p.m., and he did not ask them to leave until 4:17, in a video that was itself incendiary.

Meanwhile, the “audit” of 2020 ballots in Maricopa County hit another pothole when the Pennsylvania-based technology company in charge of running the recount refused to renew its contract, which expired on May 14, the day the process was supposed to be done. Wake Technology Services Inc. was subcontracting under Cyber Ninjas. A different technology company has taken over from Wake TSI.

The Nevada Republican Party has its own troubles. It recently censured Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican, charging that she had failed “to investigate election fraud” in the 2020 election. Recently, one of the people who claimed to have voted for that censure said on a podcast that he is a member of the far-right Proud Boys. He said he and about 30 of his friends had been urged by state Republican leaders to step into the political fray on the side of the former president and were, he claimed, the deciding votes on the censure. Republicans in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, and in Washoe County, which includes Reno, are now trying to clean the Proud Boys and their ilk out of the party, while Trump loyalists are now trying to purge the party of anti-Trump people.

As of today, 50% of adult Americans are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and on May 24th, the seven-day average of new cases was the lowest it has been at any point since last June. But those numbers are driven by the vaccinated part of the population. Among those who are unvaccinated, the rate of disease and death is estimated to be as high as it was in late January.

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#racism #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #George Floyd #corrupt GOP #criminal GOP

[written-rebellion]

Perfect Distractions

A/N: whew! Lots to say, lots to make up for! I hope you’re all still here? After a whole lot of life happenings, I finally set a hard deadline for myself to get this done and here it is (on my 23rd birthday no less, bc that’s exactly the type of motivation I need)

First of all, I’m so so sorry for leaving so suddenly and for so long. The short of it is a very bad mix of family tragedy, extra stuff at work, and then a quick health scare made finding time to write this year veerrryyy difficult. But I’m back!! And I promise, even if we can’t ever make it back to that 2 posts a week schedule (I mean, I’ll try my best!!!), I won’t abandon this story completely. I love it so much, I have so much still planned, and hopefully *peers out* if you’re all still here with me, you love and miss these lovesick dorks too. 

And thanks so much for the messages and comments in my absence too! They meant everything to me <3 

And so in true fanfic community fashion, and because I do believe you’ve all waited long enough: Enjoy this ~3K, mostly smut chapter as my apology. Also, the first bit is taken from a prompt by @mo-nighean-rouge about guys and their girlfriend’s scrunchies, so enjoy that too!

And thank you all again, for not giving up on me!

Claire’s probably not drunk, Jamie only knows one dance, and as always, the facts of this fanfic are contrived specifically to make fluffy university/modern-day au scenarios. Please let me know what you think!

Part One: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] | Part Two: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Three: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Four: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Five: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Six: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Seven: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Eight: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Nine: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Ten: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Eleven: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Twelve: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [ Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Thirteen: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Fourteen: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] Part Fifteen: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Sixteen: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Seventeen: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Eighteen: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Nineteen: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Twenty: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Twenty-One: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Twenty-Two: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Twenty-Three: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4]

Part Twenty-Three: Timing | Chapter 5

“You’re like—really bad at this, huh?”

“I’m trying no’ to step on yer toes.”

“Ohhh,” Claire giggled, “Is that why we’re dancing on the off-beat?”

“Och, aye.” Even in the dim light of the hotel’s reception hall, he could already see the effects of her last few drinks painting her face in faint dustings of pink. “And it doesna help that ye’ve drank a bit more than I have.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, not disproving his statement in the slightest.

“I’m not drunk.”

“Never said ye were,” he chuckled, nuzzling her cheek with his nose. “Though, ye’re skin’s a bit warm, lass. Are ye alright?”

“It’s these damn curls. It’s too bloody hot!” She sighed, stepping out of his arms to reach up and shake out her hair but losing her balance in the process.

He rushed to steady her, laughing shamelessly all the while – and even more so when he saw her thoroughly displeased expression.

“I’m fine,” she said before he could even open his mouth.

He nodded, definitely believing her as he released her waist and put his hands up in good faith.

With a great deal more care this time, she gathered her hair up and away from her neck with a huff.

Poor wee thing.

With little more than a flick of his wrist, he was holding out a hair tie to her.

She blinked once. Twice.

“What is that?”

“Christ lass, how much have ye had?”

A moment to enjoy her pout at him.

“No, I know what it is. Why do you have one, I mean.”

It was his turn to blink at her then.

“I always carry one for ye, ‘round my wrist in case ye need it.”

More and more, her reactions – or in this case, lack thereof – did nothing to refute his overall judgement of her inebriation. It was a full 9 seconds of a genuinely blank, only slightly baffled, expression; he counted.

“You what—?”

She shook her head, seemingly gathering some semblance of coherence as she cupped his cheeks with both hands and kissed him.

“You—” She tried again. “—are a god amongst men, James Fraser.”

He chuckled, his hand skimming the back of her neck as he returned the kiss in thanks.

“Shall I help ye wi’ that, mo chridhe?”

“No, no, I’ve got it,” she said over his insistence otherwise, pushing away from him and wobbling slightly on her heels.

Resigned and as irretrievably smitten as ever, he stepped around and let her back prop against his chest, steadying her by the waist as she tied her hair up.

The lights hanging above them changed into a soft blue haze as the raucous swing faded into something far gentler.

“Oh, we can do this one!” Claire said suddenly, turning in his arms and urging him to start swaying. Jamie, like so many other times since he met her, gladly let her lead.

He snaked his arms around her waist, sliding over the soft fabric hugging her hips as she smoothed her own hands past his shoulders and, tucking her head under his chin, draped her arms down his back.

She was right, it was no more a dance than the drunken stupor some of the bride’s relatives had already fallen into. Though just a touch more romantic, he supposed.

He held her close, feeling the calm rise and fall of her chest against his, as even and relaxed as it was right before sleep. Wholly vulnerable and entirely safe, just like he always felt with her.

A laugh floated above the music from across the room where Jamie could see Willie and his new bride feeding cake to each other. The fairy lights delicately hung around the hall cast the newlyweds in a soft glow and Jamie felt like he was watching the end of a movie, except that he knew – had countless childhood memories – with the leading man.

Willie was the youngest of his extended cousins, just a year younger than Jamie himself, and Jamie easily recalled the image of a much smaller, pudgier version of the groom stumbling to catch up with Rupert and Angus as they jaunted around the grounds of Lallybroch every summer.

Jamie didn’t know the bride though. As frequently as their childhoods intersected, he and Willie were never close enough to share much about their personal lives save the informal summer catch-up. Willie had met her at school in America; a point well-discussed, if discreetly, by nearly every relative he’d spoken to today, plus Jenny whom always swears she’s not a gossip immediately before proving herself wrong.

She seemed lovely though, with a big laugh that filled the room and – as far as Jamie could see as he held Claire and watched the dessert table – lit up Willie’s eyes like the child Jamie remembered. Of course, the Mackenzies were steeped in tradition and no stranger to gossip, he mused, whether it be a foreign girl marrying the clan’s youngest son or—

He stopped himself too late and swallowed the thought the same way he reigned back the tension that rushed to his fist

—or a lifelong farm boy marrying the clan’s only daughter.

He flexed his fingers and opened his palm onto the small of Claire’s back, pulling her closer to erase the tension completely.

Not that it mattered in the slightest, but he did wonder whether to expect the same kind of discreet – or even brazen – disdain from the Mackenzies for Claire if—

When—

Then an entirely different thought supplanted and overrode everything else.

She moved against his chest slowly, then pushed back to look up at him and only then he realized he had said her name out loud.

---

He was staring at her again, in that unnerving way that presented his thoughts to her, his emotions, just past a veil of inscrutability. Like he himself wasn’t sure he wanted her to know the sheer depth of whatever storm was brewing behind his blue eyes.

More often than not, she wasn’t on the receiving end of this mask. At least, not without pretense. The last time she could really recall not being able to divine his thoughts was their anniversary spent huddled under a blanket in the estate’s backyard.

“What is it?”

“I—” He wet his lips, swallowed, and Claire watched carefully. Watched how his eyes looked straight at hers, and yet seemed as though they were seeing so much more than what was right in front of him.

She waited, 8 full bars of music before he chuckled and shook his head. His warm hand at her back pressed their bodies together and he flexed his fingertips into her skin as his head bent to her ear.

“Ye look absolutely stunning in that dress, mo chridhe.”

Something inside Claire deflated, but she smiled nevertheless as her shoulders released some unwarranted tension.

“Finally found your words, have you?” she said, butting his nose with hers.

“Aye, I have.” He lowered his voice to a soft rumble that Claire could feel pressed up against his chest. “I lost them for a moment, in that mystery of a bra ye’re wearing.”

She stifled a giggle into his shoulder.

“I’m serious, Sassenach,” he went on. “Just how in hell is it holding everything together?”

“Double-sided tape, and a prayer?” she offered, pulling back slightly to peer up at him from under her lashes, and lowering her tone to match his. “Of course, you’re welcome to find out for yourself.”

She felt his repressed groan travel up to his throat, and saw vestiges of that same sentiment in the narrow and quite incendiary glare he gave her.

Now it was her turn to wet her lips.

Then the spell was broken. He tutted at her, tilting his head to one side slightly as if sizing her up.

“’Such a shame, lass,” he tutted at her, “As drunk as ye are—”

“What?” She blinked at him. “No, I told you I’m not drunk, Jamie.”

“Aye, ye are,” he insisted with a shrug. His voice was casual but his eyes, Claire could see, were sending her a different message entirely. “It’s really too bad but, I guess we’ll have to get ye back to the hotel room, aye? As soon as possible.”

Understanding bloomed as quickly on her face as his air of aloofness dissipated. 

“Well,” she said, trying in vain not to mirror his wide grin. “I suppose if you think so.”

“I do,” he said softly, squeezing her hand in his.

In 30 minutes’ time, they had made their obligatory rounds of congratulations and goodbyes, narrowly avoided Jenny’s insinuating remarks, and piled themselves into a cab.

And 25 minutes after that, Claire had Jamie pressed into a hallway wall with her fingers systematically mussing his once perfectly groomed hair.

“Sass—mm—Sassenach!” he struggled between her relentless lips. “We havena—gotten to the room yet.”

He had been right, goddamn him. Claire was just tipsy enough to feel uninhibited. Her blood was boiling, and she couldn’t find it in herself to give two shits about any guests that might decide on an after-midnight stroll through the hall.

She bit his lower lip and revelled in his groan, lathing it over with her tongue as one hand left his hair and travelled downward to untuck his shirt.

He caught her wrist and pulled gently on her hair, making her whimper in protest. 

“Ja—Ah!”

Claire suddenly felt her feet leave the ground as Jamie threw her bodily over his shoulder.

“Jamie! Jamie, put me down!�� She was dangling over him helplessly and began to pummel her fists into his back and kick her legs to no avail.

“Keep still, lass,” he laughed, pressing a quick kiss to the fabric-covered arse situated right next to his cheek. “Or ye’ll kill me ‘afore we get to the room.”

“Likely!”

She wriggled against him all the way to their door, finally stilling as she heard the telltale beep of their key-card lock.

Achingly slow, Jamie let her slide down his front and they both inhaled sharply when her leg brushed up against the length of him.

One breath.

The click of the door handle.

Another breath.

Then the world turned on its axis and Claire found herself pressed into the other side of their door, her eyes only briefly taking in the sight of their hotel room before they closed in rippled pleasure as Jamie sunk his teeth into her collarbone.

“Christ,” he murmured into her skin as his lips travelled lower. “I’ll have to go to confession for all the thoughts I had of ye during the ceremony.”

His stubble scratched at the soft skin between her breasts and she arched into him, turning any remark she might have had for him into a sweeping gasp.

Her arm rose to tug at her straps, but Jamie caught her wrist and pinned it to the door just above her head, pressing himself harder into her as his knee slid between her legs.

“No lass. Keep it on.”

The deep rumble of his voice shot straight to her core and she rocked shamelessly onto his insinuating knee. That familiar ache between her legs was getting more urgent by the second and she knew it could take one quick turn of her heel to have him on the floor, hers to ride. But—

“I have to—Wait—” She gasped, at war with herself as she pushed Jamie back by the shoulder.

Jamie came back up immediately, searching her eyes for whatever was wrong, but she shook her head.

“You did want to see how this bra works, and I’d much rather have it off anyway.”

She wiggled her hand until he released her wrist and took one step back, his other hand never leaving her waist as he watched her pull the straps down past her chest.

“You’ve gotta untie the—”

He understood and began loosening the ties between both pads. Slowly, methodically. She watched his brow furrow as he mentally worked out the strapless, backless contraption for himself.

The strings came loose, and Claire heaved a full-chested sigh of relief. One that quickly turned into a squeak as Jamie’s finger lightly traced the outline of the pad.

The curious quirk in his eyebrow suddenly felt all the more erotic as he closed his eyes, bent his head to the side of one breast, and slowly pulled at the adhesive, lathing the irritated skin with his tongue as more and more of it was revealed to him.

Now Claire’s breath came in short spurts. Her head fell back, and her hands came up to thread in his hair as he massaged and kissed and nuzzled his way across her chest.

Finally, he peeled off the last bit of adhesive, stopping to give the contraption one last look before casually tossing it over his shoulder. Then, very gently, he replaced the straps at her shoulders and pressed a delicate kiss to each.

A gesture Claire would otherwise find heartbreakingly sweet, had his previous work not rendered her heaving and near-sobbing with her heart pounding loudly in her ears.

When he at last came up to meet her eye, two equally molten stares dared each other to move.

“I told ye I wanted to take ye in that dress.”

She rose on her toes, closing what little space they had left between them to butt her nose against his.

“So take me then.”

His mouth was on hers in an instant, her head thudding softly against the door as his whole body enveloped her, consumed her like the fire she’d willingly walk with him into.

The heat of his palms felt like it was searing through the fabric as his hands skimmed up her thighs, bunching the dress up around her hips. With few words but so much more between them, she kicked off her heels to wrap her legs around his hips.

Lightning darted through her as she rubbed against his hard length on her ascent, and Jamie groaned into her hair. Very much liking the sound, and more so revelling in the knowledge that he was as helpless in her arms as she was in his, she pressed her back into the door and rolled against him again.

His jaw clenched, his fingers pressing into her hips as he took long and measured breaths, and Claire was elated, alight with renewed desire.

And very likely as intoxicated as he’d thought she was. Not that she’d admit that to him.

In a flurry of moans and blind stumbles, she felt her back finally hit the mattress as her legs dangled off its side. Jamie’s hands on her hips pulled her closer to the edge, once again bunching up the dress, and she was lost in a haze until she felt the tickling of Jamie’s hair and stubble against her inner thighs.

“Fuck,” she swore as Jamie ran one finger down her panties. He hooked that same finger under the cloth and pulled at it slowly.

“You should be off to confession after this as well, lass,” he chuckled, nuzzling his nose and chin back up her legs.

“Oh shut up and—” The last of that sentence was lost in a gasp as his tongue prodded gently against her inner folds. His hand, which had since been drawing meaningless patterns on the back of her knee, travelled up to spread her legs further apart just as he pressed the flat of his tongue onto her core.

Her hips bucked up off the bed then with a sharp groan and she could feel the bloody bastard smirking as he brought his other arm down across her waist to keep her steady.

Her teeth were nearly puncturing her bottom lip as she tangled her fingers into Jamie’s hair and pulled.

Placing a kiss just under her navel, he rose up to quirk an eyebrow at her.

“Ready, I’m—” she started, trying to speak and refill her lungs at the same time. “I need you. Now.”

The look he gave thoroughly erased all her hard work as her breath rushed out of her again. He stood straight, eyes never leaving hers, as he made quick work of his belt.

“Ye dinna have any idea what you look like right now,” he said, voice thick with feeling.

The more pragmatic side of Claire’s mind – wherever it was at the moment – could take an easy stab at the thought; dishevelled and sloppy, and in an alarming state of undress. But she knew – and frankly, could see – Jamie’s mind was decidedly somewhere else.

“Spread out like that, Sassenach.” She could feel the deep timbre of his voice leaving goosebumps up her arms. “Waiting for me, wi’ yer hair all mussed and yer chest heaving—Christ—I’d gladly burn in Hell just for the privilege of seeing ye’ so.”

She inched herself further onto the bed as he finally bent to join her, pulling away just slightly as he leaned in to kiss her.

She smirked.

He rumbled.

“Tease.”

In less than a breath, she was lost in insistent lips and warm, roaming hands steadily making their way downwards until, like all her cells converging onto a fixed point, she felt his thick cock press into her.

“Mmmgh—Jamie!”

Instinctively, she hooked one leg around his hip and gasped greedily for air as he buried his head into her neck.

She draped her arms over his shoulders, dancing to the only choreographed rhythm she knew Jamie had memorized, a timing and movement he could never get wrong as he answered every twist and curve and grind with his own. Keeping in time with a single heartbeat shared between them. 

Moans and sighs accented their growing crescendo, higher and higher as he pushed in deeper, faster, until Claire crested. Her back arched off the bed, feeling weightless and shapeless, if only to better mould her body to his as she shattered around him and carried him off with her.

By the time Claire opened her eyes again – minutes or hours after – Jamie was peacefully snoozing beside her, his lips in a wide smile that tugged sharply at her heart. With eyes firmly shut, he reached, found, and tucked her neatly under his chin with a content hum.

“Jamie…?” she whispered. One bold hand came up to smooth down his hair, all the while waiting for his eyes to open.

When they didn’t, Claire snuggled closer into him, pressing a soft kiss at the base of his neck.

She hadn’t forgotten, even through the haze of alcohol and everything that followed.

“Jamie?” she tried again, louder, to no response.

It wasn’t the first time he’d stared at her like that, back at the reception, though she hoped the next time he did, it would be the last.

She smiled, comforted in the fact that whenever it happened to be, it was one of the few things in her life that was inevitable. She could – and would – safely let the tide deliver her there with the utmost faith in its certainty.

“It’s already a yes,” she said softly, into the night, “all you have to do is ask.”

[End of Part 23]

Read Part 24

#outlander #outlander fanfiction #outlander fanfic #jamie x claire #perfect distractions au #wr writing #;nsfw #my bday present to myself is finally getting this done #((and also materialistic things too but who's counting?))

[furtho]

Playlist 2019

Music posted on furtho.tumblr.com during 2019:

23 Skidoo’s Just Like Everybody, biting post-punk collage

A Certain Smile’s Original Replacement, sweet janglepop balladry

Adrianne Lenker’s Abysskiss, wistful folk sadness

Ai Yamamoto’s Going Home (Excerpt), super-quiet ambient minimalism

Altered Images’ See Those Eyes, bittersweet pop perfection

Al Usher’s Lullaby For Robert (Bogdan Irkük remix), lovely downtempo house re-imagining

Ampersand’s I’m Still Waiting, homemade indie tune

Anemone’s Sunshine (Back To The Start), kitchen disco-friendly pop

Anne Clark’s Our Darkness, lost classic proto-technopop from 1984

Aphex Twin’s T69 Collapse, twisting, twitching, frantic electronics

Asilomar’s Shimmer And Faded, spacious-but-warm Californian dreampop

Aster More’s Bought It, sweetly fuzzy indiepop

Asuna’s Sea Above, Chubby Plane, Sky Below, blissed out longform drone

Beatnik Filmstars’ Apathetic English Swine, trashy Bristolian garage rock ‘n’ roll

Ben Chatwin’s Coruscate, oddly delirious ambient

Bernard Grancher’s Fluxion Des Mollesses, homemade electropop with echoes of acidity 

Biff Bang Pow!’s Someone To Share My Life With, quietly impassioned cover of TV Personalities gem

Black Channels’ Two Knocks For Yes, longform collage on suburban hauntings

Blue Tomorrows’ Sound Of Moving, echoing, downtempo dreampop

Body Type’s Palms, energetic back-and-forth indie tune

Brambles’ Salt Photographs, quietly exhilarating modern classical

Brian’s Turn Your Lights On, big ecstatic I’m-in-love indie

Broadcast’s Before We Begin, glorious space age girl group pop

Buzzcocks’ Promises, lo-fi video for punk pop gem

Celer’s Rains Lit By Neon, drifting ambient drone

Chris Child & Micah Frank’s Debris Of The Days, dusty ambient folk chimes

Cloud Babies’ Dear Moon, too-fragile ballad from Kyoto duo

Corpse Factory’s Party Girl, “lo-fi mountain gloom rock from Thomas, West Virginia”

Cosey Fanni Tutti’s Tutti (edit), pulsing, joyful electronics

Cristina Quesada’s Hero, super-cute classic indie discopop

Darren Harper’s Slow Reveal, sweetly understated ambient 

David R Edwards’ A Novel For Lazy Readers - An Antidote To The Headache Of BBC Radio 4, bleakly comic spoken word

Dayflower’s Sweet Georgia Gazes, Lightning Seeds-style indie jangle

Death Cab For Cutie’s Northern Lights, appropriately big-skied indie

Dedekind Cut’s The Crossing Guard, foggy, distant ambient drone

Depeche Mode’s A Pain That I’m Used To (Jacques Lu Cont remix), gripping, propulsive dance mix

DJ Downfall’s To Bring You Joy, heartbreaking vocodered robotpop

Edgar Froese’s Epsilon Of Malaysian Pale, classic prog ambient 

Edward Artemyev’s Dedication To Andrei Tarkovsky, expansive late Soviet-era modern classical soundtrack

Emily A Sprague’s Piano One, quietly glitchy minimal piano

Emmanuel Witzthum’s Book Of Shadows, thoughtful modern classical

epic45′s Kaleidoscope Days, haunting, woozing post-rock dreamscape

Flaüta’s Pensar Mucho, lo-fi bedroom indie from provincial Argentina

Flying Fish Cove’s Sleight Of Hand, ramshackle but uplifting guitar pop

For Against’s Don’t Do Me Any Favors, catchily confident indie jangle

For Tracy Hyde’s 櫻の園, sweet-voiced shoegaze pop

Franziska Lantz’s Run For It, experimental minimal techno

Gabe Knox’s Lo Spettro, languid electronic pastoralism

Gavin Bryars with Philip Jeck & Alter Ego’s The Sinking Of The Titanic (1969-), spine-tingling long-form modern classical

Geotic’s Actually Smiling, blissful warm house

Grand Veymont’s session for La Souterraine, Radio Campus, Paris, stunning live longform pastoral drone

György Ligeti’s Poème Symphonique For 100 Metronomes, live avant garde performance - great for fans of clicking noises

Harae Nagoshi’s Case1, glitchy piano pastoralism

Hatchie’s Sure, big open indie tune

Hazell Dean’s Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go) 12″, thrilling 80s hi-NRG pop

Heartsease’s Blurs, drifting ambient sadness

Help Stamp Out Loneliness’ Pacific Trash Vortex, uptempo hooky indie with charismatic vocal

Hood’s Houses Tilting Towards The Sea, languid post-rock pastoralism

International Teachers Of Pop’s After Dark, anthemic, booty-shakin’ electropop

Jane Weaver’s Slow Motion (Loops Variation), dreamily melancholy synthpop

Jonteknik feat Malte Steiner’s Fernsehturm (iEuropean remix), glistening electro modernism

Kasper Marott’s Keflavik, beautifully, er, constructed house

Kenji Endo’s Curry Rice, charming snapshot of Japan’s underground folk boom of the late 60s and early 70s

Kevin Drumm’s A Puddle On The Floor, spine-tingling minimal drone

Kirill Mazhai’s Love Theme, hazily warm ambient drone

Komputer’s Skyskrapers, downtempo bleep-pop balladry

Kraftwerk’s Antenna, rare video of the electronic classic from 1975

La Boum Fatale’s Walls (Instrumental), warmly glitched-up technopop

Laveda’s Dream. Sleep, distant echoing dreampop

Listening Center’s Meridian, brisk synthpop experimentalism

Lives Of Angels’ Imperial Motors, lost classic of catchy post-punk drum machine pop

Lowfish’s Live In San Francisco, forty minutes of gorgeous funky electro

Lunar Vacation’s Blue Honey, sweet and fragile indie

Magazine’s The Light Pours Out Of Me, captivatingly gloomy post-punk

Malish Kamu’s Birds, ethereal minimalism from south-western Russia

Marble Index’s Love Talking To Boys, 1999 take on synth-driven post-punk

Marie Davidson’s Work It, funky as fuck minimal technopop 

Martha & The Muffins’ Echo Beach, irresistible new wave classic

Martial Canterel’s You Today, frantically catchy minimal synth

Mary Jane Leach’s Bruckstück, breathtaking modern choral

Memoryhouse’s The Kids Were Wrong, catchily polished indie

Meter Bridge’s It Was Nothing (Rodney Cromwell remix), blistering disco’d up electropop remix

Mick Trouble’s Shut Your Bleeding Gob You Git, bracingly ramshackle punk pop

Mode Citizen’s Sex & Steel (The Dark Robot remix), pounding sequenced electro remix

Moving Panoramas’ Baby Blues, exhilarating piece of kind of Alvvays-esque indie 

My Robot Friend’s Sex Machine, hopeful in lyrical theme, bleepy minimal wave in terms of sonic stylings

Naps’ Bad Vibrations, exciting indiepop from much-missed (by me) Florida outfit

Naw’s Still Breathing, looping electronic experimentalism

Night Hikes’ Avila, “you’re the only one who ever made my coffee right...”

Night Sports’ Substance, joyful disco-y synthpop

Nonconnah’s Driving Away For The Last Time Without Looking Back, determinedly lo-fi folk drone

Nov3l’s To Whom It May Concern, infectious modern post-punk jangle

Okonomiyaki Labs’ Blue Toast (edit), mischievous experimental bleepery by Japan-based former Pale Saint

Palais Schaumburg’s Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt, Neue Deutsche Welle post-punk angularity

Part Timer’s Nothing Changes, restrained modern classical vignette

Patrik Fitzgerald’s Tonight, acoustic punk poetry from back in the day

Pelopincho’s Puchos, exuberant two-chord indie from Argentina

Petrichor’s Petrichor Ten, charming minimal electronic sketch

Pet Shop Boys feat Example’s Thursday, scintillating hooky electropop

Piano Magic’s Dark Secrets Looking For Light, bleak post-rock balladry, as you may have inferred

Remington Super 60′s The Highway Again, luscious laidback jangle

Rico Loverde’s He’s A Wiardo, oddly funky electro experimentalism

Riton & Kah-Lo’s Fake ID, rough-around-the-edges funky house

Robert Rental & The Normal’s Live At West Runton Pavilion, incendiary live experimentalism from the lo-fi synth pioneers

Robjn’s Suburban Temple/Feel This Way (Corwood Manual remix), hauntological glitchpop, complete with captivating video

Rose Elinor Dougall’s Fallen Over, pleasingly brief loved-up pop

Roxy Girls’ Interjections, energetically catchy punk pop  

Ruby Jaunt’s Jeune, haunting electronic indie

St Etienne’s Carnt Sleep, lovesickness + insomnia = popdub heaven

Saariselka’s Void, charming blend of ambient and folk Americana

Sector One’s Can Machines Be Sad?, delirious post-Kraftwerk synthpop

Six Microphones’ Overture & Part 1, minimal ambient experimentation

Slow Pulp’s New Media, melodic post-punk twang

Sobs’ Girl, tuneful indie jangle from Singapore

Spread Eagle’s Palatine Hill, distant, foggy Glaswegian indie

Stan Tracey Quartet’s Starless And Bible Black, extraordinary jazz tune inspired by Under Milk Wood

Steve Reich’s Come Out, ground-breaking tape loop experimentation

Sugar World’s Sad In Heaven, perfect rough-and-ready indie jangle

Surf Friends’ Outdoors, relentlessly upbeat guitar pop

Suicide’s Touch Me, can’t-break-the-spell synthpunk hypnotism

Susumu Yokota’s Grass, Tree & Stone, hypnotic cut-and-paste ambient by the late, great Yokota

Telefon Tel Aviv’s The Birds, hypnotic electronic glitch rock

Teleman’s Rivers In The Dark, winning melodicism from under-rated popsters

The Adverts’ The Great British Mistake, lost gem by punk legends

The Autumn Teen Sound’s Telegraph, Casiocore cover of OMD hit

The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness’ Close The Doors, laidback indie jangle

The Flirts’ Passion, trashy disco from early 80s New York

The Juan Maclean’s What Do You Feel Free About? (Man Power remix), driving techno-disco to get your party started

The Leaf Library’s Hissing Waves, lovely pastoral post-rock

The Screamers’ 122 Hours Of Fear (live at the Target), thrilling late 70s synthpunk

The Silicon Scientist’s Sinister Street, notably un-sinister vocoder-driven synthpop

The Slits’ Typical Girls, spiky post-punk pop

The Twin Roots’ Know Love, warm and soothing reggae deliciousness

The Wannadies’ You And Me Song, quiet-loud-quiet-loud indie classic

Thistle Group’s High, bittersweet solo tape loop experimentalism from New Zealand

Tiny Magnetic Pets ft Wolfgang Flür’s Radio On (Alice Hubble remix), dreamy electronics topped off with spoken word by ex-Kraftwerk legend

Tremelo Ghosts’ Paradise, sweetly lo-fi indie folk

Tvärtom’s Iltariennot, melancholy Finnish indie jangle

Utro’s Где-то там, hypnotic indie drone from Motorama spin-off act

VDOF’s Zooming In I Can Clearly See Your Heart Has Got Aliasing Issues, confident minimal electronic debut

Viktor Timofeev & Simon Werner’s Sphynx Cats Nuzzle, spookily experimental spoken word

Walt Thisney’s Shadows, delightful modern classical sketch

Will Burns & Hannah Peel’s Moth Book, charming blend of electronics and spoken word

William Doyle’s Millersdale, wide-eyed ballad inspired by the housing estates of England

Window Magic’s From Here Flows What You Call Time, pastoral found sound collage

Yazoo’s Midnight, killer-sweet electropop ballad

Yoshio Machida’s Synthi #04, whistling, gurgling, oddly pastoral electronic experimentalism

****************

The playlist for 2018 is here. The playlist for 2017 is here. The playlist for 2016 is here. The playlist for 2015 is here. The playlist for 2014 is here. The playlist for 2013 is here.

#folk #ambient #indie #indiepop #experimental #acoustic #electronic #synth #synthpop #electropop

[eroticcannibal]

Please stop telling people to “just do CBT”

CBT, like medication, can be valuable and life-changing to an individual. And like medication, it can also be devastating if it’s not the right treatment to you. It seems a lot of people seem to think that because it’s accessible and you can get free PDFs online, that it’s safe to just hop on any post and tell complete strangers to try it.

That is dangerous and irresponsible behavior. 

CBT is suited to those who are having trouble specifically with their thought patterns around things that do not justify those kinds of thought patterns, to the point where it impacts their life. CBT is not suited to just anyone having problems with their mood or anxiety or their thought patterns. And yet it is frequently pushed on people by strangers, by doctors (because it is relatively quick and cheap, thanks capitalism!), even forced on patients who aren’t suited to the treatment, causing worsening situations, even trauma. 

I can’t link to any of the wonderful conversations I’ve witnessed in private groups by those harmed by CBT, unfortunately. To summarise, I have seen fair comparisons to ABA, gaslighting, victim blaming, brainwashing, neglectful parenting that dismisses the feelings of the child (have fun with that one if that’s the source of your problems), grooming the patient to be receptive to coercion and institutional abuses, But from my own perspective as someone who had to stop CBT before I killed myself as a result of it, HERE is some highlights of the more damaging parts of a typical CBT workbook (and there's some great contributions in the notes). For those with issues caused by abuse or oppression or other situational factors, CBT becomes gaslighting. CBT is routinely weaponized against the oppressed and the abused, when our understandable reactions make others uncomfortable. CBT is used to make us into “good victims”, who don’t hurt or cry or complain or blame anyone. CBT is a therapy that can sever the connection between a person and themselves, it can be compassionless and cold. Not to mention that CBT inherently shifts the blame for feelings and behaviors entirely onto the individual rather than acknowledging the true role of triggers. 

In addition to this, CBT and how it is implemented is not only criticized by those harmed directly by it, but by professionals too. 

“this model appears to confuse the symptoms (i.e., negative self concepts) of depression with its cognitive causes...  In many cases, clients' appraisals and reports of their negative or distressful experiences are quite rational, realistic, and accurate. For example, their experiences of sexual or physical abuse at the hands of another or the tragedies of their loved ones have left enormous scars in their life. In such circumstances, cognitive-restructuring exercises, with their emphasis on reframing reality and not on changing it, do not deal with the true problem...  research has shown that positive self-evaluations may be dysfunctional and maladaptive...  the self-focused cognitive model puts a strong emphasis on examining the association between negative thoughts and mental dysfunction, but it has not answered the question of why individuals choose to focus on their negative attributes when the positive evaluation of the self is more accurate. “

“ Opponents have frequently argued that the approach is too mechanistic and fails to address the concerns of the “whole” patient...   the specific cognitive components of CBT often fail to outperform “stripped-down” versions of the treatment that contain only the more basic behavioral strategies... patients with major depression improved just as much following a treatment that contained only the behavioral strategies and explicitly excluded techniques designed to directly modify distorted cognitions... “

“Some critics argue that because CBT only addresses current problems and focuses on specific issues, it does not address the possible underlying causes of mental health conditions, such as an unhappy childhood...  CBT focuses on the individual’s capacity to change themselves (their thoughts, feelings and behaviours), and does not address wider problems in systems or families that often have a significant impact on an individual’s health and wellbeing. “

“ Seek a therapy referral on the NHS today, and you’re much more likely to end up, not in anything resembling psychoanalysis, but in a short series of highly structured meetings with a CBT practitioner, or perhaps learning methods to interrupt your “catastrophising” thinking via a PowerPoint presentation, or online...   CBT doesn’t exactly claim that happiness is easy, but it does imply that it’s relatively simple: your distress is caused by your irrational beliefs, and it’s within your power to seize hold of those beliefs and change them...    Our conscious minds are tiny iceberg-tips on the dark ocean of the unconscious – and you can’t truly explore that ocean by means of CBT’s simple, standardised, science-tested steps...  Examining scores of earlier experimental trials, two researchers from Norway concluded that its effect size – a technical measure of its usefulness – had fallen by half since 1977...  For the most severely depressed, it concluded, 18 months of analysis worked far better – and with much longer-lasting effects – than “treatment as usual” on the NHS, which included some CBT. Two years after the various treatments ended, 44% of analysis patients no longer met the criteria for major depression, compared to one-tenth of the others. Around the same time, the Swedish press reported a finding from government auditors there: that a multimillion pound scheme to reorient mental healthcare towards CBT had proved completely ineffective in meeting its goals...

 A few years ago, after CBT had started to dominate taxpayer-funded therapy in Britain, a woman I’ll call Rachel, from Oxfordshire, sought therapy on the NHS for depression, following the birth of her first child. She was sent first to sit through a group PowerPoint presentation, promising five steps to “improve your mood”; then she received CBT from a therapist and, in between sessions, via computer. “I don’t think anything has ever made me feel as lonely and isolated as having a computer program ask me how I felt on a scale of one to five, and – after I’d clicked the sad emoticon on the screen – telling me it was ‘sorry to hear that’ in a prerecorded voice,” Rachel recalled. Completing CBT worksheets under a human therapist’s guidance wasn’t much better. “With postnatal depression,” she said, “you’ve gone from a situation in which you’ve been working, earning your own money, doing interesting things – and suddenly you’re at home on your own, mostly covered in sick, with no adult to talk to.” What she needed, she sees now, was real connection: that fundamental if hard-to-express sense of being held in the mind of another person, even if only for a short period each week.“I may be mentally ill,” Rachel said, “but I do know that a computer does not feel bad for me.”...    

In the NHS study conducted at the Tavistock clinic last year, chronically depressed patients receiving psychoanalytic therapy stood a 40% better chance of going into partial remission, during every six-month period of the research, than those receiving other treatments...  Alongside this growing body of evidence, scholars have begun to ask pointed questions about the studies that first fuelled CBT’s ascendancy. In a provocative 2004 paper, the Atlanta-based psychologist Drew Westen and his colleagues showed how researchers – motivated by the desire for an experiment with clearly interpretable results – had often excluded up to two-thirds of potential participants, typically because they had multiple psychological problems...  Moreover, some studies have sometimes seemed to unfairly stack the deck, as when CBT has been compared with “psychodynamic therapy” delivered by graduate students who’d received only a few days’ cursory training in it, from other students...  But the most incendiary charge against cognitive approaches, from the torchbearers of psychoanalysis, is that they might actually make things worse: that finding ways to manage your depressed or anxious thoughts, for example, may simply postpone the point at which you’re driven to take the plunge into self-understanding and lasting change. CBT’s implied promise is that there’s a relatively simple, step-by-step way to gain mastery over suffering. But perhaps there’s more to be gained from acknowledging how little control – over our lives, our emotions, and other people’s actions – we really have?...        

Many neuroscience experiments have indicated that the brain processes information much faster than conscious awareness can keep track of it, so that countless mental operations run, in the neuroscientist David Eagleman’s phrase, “under the hood” – unseen by the conscious mind in the driving-seat. For that reason, as Louis Cozolino writes in Why Therapy Works, “by the time we become consciously aware of an experience, it has already been processed many times, activated memories, and initiated complex patterns of behaviour.”...  This doesn’t mesh well with a basic assumption of CBT – that, with training, we can learn to catch most of our unhelpful mental responses in the act. Rather, it seems to confirm the psychoanalytic intuition that the unconscious is huge, and largely in control; and that we live, unavoidably, through lenses created in the past, which we can only hope to modify partially, slowly and with great effort.  “

“ after completing low-intensity CBT, more than one in two service users had relapsed within 12 months.”

“ the overwhelming majority of CBT still operates through Becksian principles of normalisation, fitting a governmental agenda of producing good, quiet, working subjects who contribute to the economy and shut up. “

“To make this analysis, let’s imagine you are a therapist who is given the task of providing therapy for Ariel Castro (the recent accused kidnapper and rapist) to help him deal with suicidal thoughts over being universally hated and most likely condemned to a life sentence or the death penalty. Now think about the absurdity of doing CBT in this situation; that is, analyzing his negative thought patterns to help him deal with his one-sided thinking so he can better adjust himself to his (not so nice) life conditions.

Even better, imagine you’re given the task of providing therapy for Dr. Joseph Biederman (the key promoter of children’s Bipolar diagnoses) who perhaps is dealing with a severe depression related to negative public opinion regarding the enormous damage his work has done to tens of thousands of children (unfortunately his depression is a made-up scenario). Again you have the assigned responsibility to use CBT to help him see beyond the “negatives” in his thought patterns to find the “positives” in his career in order to help relieve his depression so he can get on with his work with great enthusiasm.

And even more controversial, let’s say you have the task of providing therapy using CBT for President George Bush several months after he launched the Iraq war; imagine for a moment that he has become quite depressed related to the growing mass demonstrations and the grief displayed by the parents of dead American soldiers coming home in coffins on a daily basis. Your job is to help him overcome his depression so he can get back to being The Commander In Chief...

CBT, being part of the “idealist” school of thought, tends to sever the relationship between the specific nature of the material conditions in the environment that gives rise to a person’s thoughts, and leaves it up to the interpretation of the listener (often a therapist) to determine whether or not the environmental source of those thoughts was actually traumatic or oppressive or more positive and humane. “

[Let me be clear, this is not me saying that CBT is bad, should never be used, or that it can’t be helpful to you. If it works for you, use it. It is the attitude that damn near everyone has, laypeople and professionals alike, that it’s a magic fix it that works for everyone, that I am challenging here. I’ve had issues with professionals not believing me recently when I expressed that I was unwilling to go through CBT again because it is a danger to me, because “oh it’s just changing how you think, that can’t be dangerous!”. Recommending particular treatments without a complete understanding of someone’s situation and without the proper clinical knowledge is dangerous, and when it comes to CBT it happens all the time. Recommending CBT without considering situational factors is dangerous, and it happens all the time.]

#Word of God #long post

[recommendedlisten]

It’s been awhile since Recommended Listen has done one of these, but back by popular (content) demand, the weekly Best of the Rest column has returned to highlight the rest of the week’s great music you should know. Leading into it, Massachusetts DIY scene favs Future Teens and Dump Him both tried to figure out ways to move forward while Big Thief are proving to be unstoppable with their creative genius. The return of Vivian Girls is arguably being enjoyed more so the second time around, Chelsea Wolfe’s natural instincts are giving us even more reasons to appreciate her dark art, and NYC post-punks Bodega continue to live up to the promise of being shiny new models. Meanwhile, Field Mouse succeeded at finding meaning in everything as modern punk scene cult hero Chris Faren searched for his within a screen. There’s a lot more to cover here, so let's get down to the music business.

Here’s the best of the rest from the week of August 11th, 2019…

Antagonize - Slip Death EP [Triple B Records]

The last time I saw Aaron Bedard, he was being showered in balloons and kids walking all over each others’ heads as part of the final bow of Bane, the seminal melodic hardcore band who very much helped make the New England hardcore scene what it is today. Bedard returned to the stage a year ago with a new band called Antagonize, and after throwing down some demos and promos, they’ve released their debut EP Slip Death on the great Boston hardcore label Triple B Records this past week (label leader Sam Yarmuth designed its cover art much like he did for the vinyl reissue of the 2001 Bane classic Give Blood.) Bedard’s intensity has not slowed down with the passing of time either. In fact, it’s become exponentially more confrontational as he and the band thrash through fast, visceral existentialist dread. Throw them on a bill with the likes of Fury, Fiddlehead, Turnstile, or any of the countless names coming out of the Triple B roster right now, and Antagonize -- and Bedard -- know exactly what the scene needs at this moment.

Slip Death by ANTAGONIZE

Charli XCX feat. Sky Ferreira - “Cross You Out” [Atlantic Records]

On September 13th, Charli XCX will release her long awaited “proper” third studio effort Charli. Between years of experimental EPs and one-off singles, it’s been awhile since we heard her target her vision for mass consumption with major label approal, and she’s bringing some of music’s most intriguing voices into the fold with her to get that across. We already heard her team with Lizzo on “Blame It On Your Love” and Christine and the Queens for “Gone”. Its latest preview “When You’re Not Around” is one for Twitter pop fandom, however, as it sees Charli XCX joining forces with Sky Ferreira on the A.G. Cook-produced track. The two artists have been heralded as pop music’s most underrated creators for the better part of this decade, so to hear Charli and Ferreira’s paths cross seamlessly into this digital slowburn as they put the collective shit they’ve dealt with personally over the years behind them is a fitting way for it to happen.

Code Orange - “Let Me In” [WWE Music]

At least weekend’s WWE Summerslam, rebooted horror heel Bray Wyatt returned after months of being kept off screen in action with a brand new character persona called the Fiend that saw him evolving from the creepy bayou cult leader of previous and into a psychotic children’s program host who turns into a deranged monster wearing a mask designed by horror film makeup legend Tom Savini. In helping get this new terrifying character’s image over with the crowd and viewers watching was Code Orange, one of the most exciting bands in hardcore and metal going right now, who reinterpreted Wyatt’s old theme “Live In Fear”, a sinister, swampy piece of occult rock originally recorded by Mark Crozier, under its new name “Let Me In” and making it into their own heavy pummeling likeness, adding layers of deeper darkness to Wyatt’s Fiend character in the process. This isn’t Code Orange Kids first foray in soundtracking WWE superstars' themes, as they backed Incendiary’s Brendan Gorrone live as goth anti-hero Aleister Black made his way to ring during NXT Takeover Brooklyn III. Now that Black is on the main roster, inevitably he will cross paths with the Fiend at some point, making you wonder where Code Orange's loyalty will lie...

The Highwomen - “Highwomen” [Low Country Sound / Elektra Records]

The Highwomen -- a.k.a. the country songwriting supergroup of Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires, and Natalie Hemby -- are one of the most exciting things to happen to country music this year. On September 6th, they will release their eponymous debut album, and to date, the foursome have proven themselves quickly to be working flawlessly as a well-woven collective where nothing remotely resembling an ego outshine the other in its first coupling of singles “Redesigning Women” and “Crowded Table”. It’s latest is a goosebump-inducing sunset song that hears each member sharing a piece of the narrative that tell a greater story about their ability to overcome all and any hurdle. “We are the daughters of the silent generations / You send our hearts to die alone in foreign nations,” their voices collect in its final moments. “They may return to us as tiny drops of rain / But we will still remain/ And we’ll come back again and again and again.

Miranda Lambert - “Bluebird” [RCA Nashville / Vanner Records]

Beyond the Highwomen, Miranda Lambert is now joining the highly anticipated of new Nashville releases with her seventh studio effort Wildcard, due out on November 1st. Her last effort was the excellently crafted post-divorce catharsis The Weight of These Wings, but judging by the sounds of WIldcard’s first single “Bluebird”, Lambert is getting back to her old high jinks of sorry not sorry whip-smart lyricism and folding them into cool, flawless country-pop. “And if the house just keeps on winning / I got a wildcard up on my sleeve / And  if love keeps giving me lemons / I'll just mix 'em in my drink,” goes its chorus. Lambert’s undefeated streak will likely continue with this as well as her tour behind the LP, which sees her bringing along her Pistol Annies sisters, Maren Morris, and Ashley McBridge along for the ride on select dates for her Roadside Guitars and Pink Guitars tour, kicking off in September.

Octo Octa - “Can You See Me?” [T4T LUV NRG]

Back in July, Octo Octa, the electronic dance outlet of Maya Bouldry-Morrison, dropped “Spin Girl, Let’s Activate”, the leadoff single from her forthcoming third album Resonant Body, set for release on September 6th. The listen was fully in motion with a bright luminosity radiating from with Bouldry-Morrison she says was inspired after a year of tremendous change and personal growth. That expanded energy extends even further in its subsequent listen “Can You See Me?” in which she allows emotions to overflow onto the soundboard through an empath in samples vocals and a cosmic tidal of synth arpeggios running through whichever cracks in its constant break beats they can find. It’s invigorating, and both as a measure of her art and being, there’s really no avoiding Octa Octa’s presence being made known here.

(Sandy) Alex G - “Southern Sky” / “Near” [Domino Records]

Rocket was a very special album in the prolific catalog of (Sandy) Alex G, though it wouldn’t be a surprise if the experimental indie pop wunderkind’s new album House of Sugar, set for release on September 13th, bests it in its own way. So far, we’ve heard the warped and rickety storytale standout “Gretel” and the earnest ode to a friend and place passed on “Hope”, and this past week, he introduced two more in “Southern Sky” and “Near”. The former, which includes an animated video by frequent visual collaborator Elliot Bech, is a country-stained sigh featuring Emily Yacina that hits a similar backwoods bliss that “Bobby” did two years ago, while the latter retreats to pinbacked repetition, wonky loops and samples that warp the canvas with Alex Giannascoli’s signature smeared fingerprints. (Sandy) Alex G will also be touring extensively behind the effort starting this October, with dates featuring the likes of Tomberlin, ARTHUR and Corey Flood.

Taylor Swift - “Lover” [Republic Records]

The last we heard of Taylor Swift was her divisive post-pop call-out Reputation, and with its tinge of industrial bangers and stadium-translating success, it’s safe to say it aged better than what anyone expected upon release. Her new album Lover is on the way next week, and so far, two of its early singles have been absolute dogshit while the other was just so-so. In the streaming era, it comes no surprise that there will be 18 tracks total on the album, which means there’s bound to be some duds. Hopefully they’re more like it’s title track, though. Jack Antonoff seems to be one of the few people who knows what to do with making Swift sound like a breath of fresh air in spite of her missteps in this lash-batting late night bar crawler that is the Jekyll to Swifty’s drunken Hyde. She really could have reverted full-on back to country-pop and easily gotten away with it...

Queen of Jeans - “Only Obvious to You” [Topshelf Records]

The surprises within Queen of Jeans’ sound are unraveling themselves quickly, but in subtle gestures leading up to the dreamy Philly indie-pop band’s release next week of their sophomore effort If you’re not afraid, I’m not afraid. So far, they’ve delivered a devastating blow to the ego in doo-wop form with "U R My Guy” and searched for a way out of a dead end relationship on “All the Same”. “Only Obvious to You” steps away from pastel lights and balloon grandeur, leaving plenty of room fordark space in between two warm bodies for the distance to hit hard. “Love will fuck you over hard,” Miriam Devora repeatedly reminds herself in the listen’s closing moments, and in the listen’s video shot at Philly Pride, they want to do their community a solid by letting it be known that no matter how you love, pain is pain, and your feelings are valid, too. This autumn, they’ll be mending broken hearts on the road alongside tourmates From Indian Lakes.

Whitney - “Used to Be Lonely” [Secretly Canadian]

Someone in Whitney’s camp had to have intentionally planned to have the Chicago country soul duo’s sophomore effort Forever Turned Around be released at the final breaths of summer and the cusp of autumn’s cupping season on August 30th, because “Used to Be Lonely” is the kind of listen that tugs at the heartstrings of both the, uh, lonely and not so lonely, in a way that will make those with someone feel warm gratitude to have someone by their side, and those who don’t romanticize about the day it happens to them. Its accompanying visuals, directed by Austin Vesely, are on point just as well, as it captures a budding romance developing at the kind of midwestern country fair in a small town you’d hit up some weekend in September when you could use a slice of simplicity in your life of how even the most humble moments can feel extraordinary if you’re sharing them with the right person. If not, Whitney will bring it to you when they roll through your city this autumn.

#the best of the rest #songs #antagonize #charli xcx #sky ferreira #code orange #the highwomen #miranda lambert #octo octa #(sandy) alex g #taylor swift #queen of jeans #whitney #new music &amp; videos

[jlalitac]

Freedom, Humanity and Democracy

Thai Democracy was stolen 6 years ago by the currently military government. 

What led to Thailand’s 2020 protests

A timeline ; while a full account of what led to 2020 protests would go back nearly a century, here are the events and incendiary episodes that led to today from the past six years of military rule.

2014

Bangkok Shutdown : The year opened with whistle-blowing protests paralysing Bangkok in response to a political amnesty bill. Organisers from the opposition from the military to intervene. 

Coup XII : Army chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha staged a coup to ‘restore stability’, suspended the constitution and granted himself absolute power. He said democracy would return within a year.

Martial Law : Protests against the takeover grew creative after public gatherings were banned. Soon, the Junta had forbidden eating sandwiches and  reading George Orwell’s 1984. Activists, journalists and former politicians were taken into secret detention for ‘attitude adjustment.’ 

Corruption : 'Restoring stability was replaced by rooting out corruption' as reason to remain in power. Nepotism, graft and scandal ensued as Prayuth filled his cabinet with checkered figures, some of whom refused to even disclose their assets. The millionaire general struggled to explain his own wealth.

2015

Hard Time : The military regime framed the monarchy as being under existential threat, and August saw a record number of lese majeste cases. One man got 30 years in prison, while a Chiang Mai woman received a 28-year sentence. Their offenses? Facebook posts.

Single Gateway : After the junta's bid to controle online speech was refused by all major internet firms, it looked to reroute all traffic through a single gateway it would control. Netizens rose up, Anonymous attacked its infrastructure, and the authorities backed off again.

Rajabhakti Park : An early spending scandal came after the army skipped normal processes to spend 1 billion baht on a monument to past kings. Leaked details exposing unusually high costs invited accusations of graft. Complaint-filing activists were arrested. The army said it looked into the spending and found nothing wrong.

2016

Facebook : Eight people involved in producing social media content criticizing or satirizing the authorities were seized from their homes in dawn raids. Dubbed the "Facebook 8," two were later convicted and served brief jail sentences.

Super Cyberlaw : Revision of a controversial cyber crime law sold to the public as dialing back its abuse actually resulted in an even broader and vaguer law that gave the Junta cover to prosecute speech and retaliate against critics. It would also replace the lese majeste law in cases of royal defamation.

Rama X Ascends : Vajiralongkorn took the throne after the death of long-reining and revered King Bhumibol. He quickly placed the palace's vast wealth and portions of the military under his personal control and changed the constitution after the public had approved it.

Promises, Promises : As the years went by, the Junta's broken election promises became almost a running gag. Every few months, a new date was set only to be set aside. Hopes ran high in 2017 - everything would go "according to plan," a Junta spokesperson said. They didn't.

2017

Expensive Toys : With the military in power, it went on a massive buying spree, acquiring new fighter jets, tanks, weapons systems, armored carriers and, most infamously, several submarines from China.

Dismantling Democracy : Icons to the 1932 Revolution which ended absolute monarchy were secretly dismantled or destroyed. Most notably, a small scuffed brass marker commemorating its start vanished overnight and was replaced with one hailing the monarchy.

Vanishing Critics : Anti-monarchist and fugitive Wutthipong "Ko Tee" Kochathammakun was living in exile in Laos when he was reportedly abducted by armed men wearing hoods. A body later turned up in the Mekong River that DNA confirmed to be his.

Jailed for 'Sharing' : Activist Jatupat "Pai Dao Din" Boonpattararaksa was sentenced by Khon Kaen provincial court to two years and six months behind bars, guilty of insulting the monarchy and cyber crimes after he shared a BBC Thai biography of Vajiralongkorn. King 

2018

Dem Watches : Observers noted in a year-end photo that Deputy PM Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan wore one helluva expensive watch. Armchair detectives went back and found different ultra luxury timepieces worth millions on his wrist in many photos. He'd never mentioned them among his assets, leading to an investigation which cleared him he famously of wrongdoing as I declared he'd "borrowed" them from a dead friend.

Art Under Attack : A street artist painting under the name Headache Stencil said he was hounded by security forces after they painted over his mural about Deputy PM Prawit's watch scandal.

Cave Rescue : Despite being criticized for mismanaging a rescue that was pulled off thanks to foreign volunteers, Thailand's government received good press for the resoundingly successful rescue of 12 footballers and coach trapped in a cave.

Black Panther : A powerful construction tycoon became another icon of impunity after he was apparently caught red-handed eating a poached big cat inside a wildlife sanctuary along with a number of other dead, protected animals. Despite intense conviction, public pressure and a a Premchai Karnasuta has yet to spend time behind bars.

2019

An Election! : Going into the first vote since early 2014, Gen. Prayuth's ongoing rule was fait accompli under the new constitution, which solidified military rule by handing it the senate. Gerrymandering and Rewritten election rules did the rest. 

Nothing Changes : After a delay of 45 days, the military proxy Palang Pracharath Party came to power with the help of the military-controlled senate. Hopes for reform were pinned on the new third-place Future Forward Party and its progressive leader. 

Future Blocked : The Future Forward Party's charismatic leader was denied his seat in parliament based on a technicality: He'd once had shares in a company that printed in-flight magazines, and media owners cannot run for office.

2020

No Future : One of the last straws for those frustrated by years of military rule came when Future Forward was summarily disbanded by a political court. Denied any avenue through the system, its young supporters soon launched the largest rallies in years - just as a new virus was arriving from Wuhan, China.

IMDB Scandal Shadows : Years after accusations that PM Prayuth Chan-o-cha was tied up in Malaysia's massive IMDB scandal, the allegations were resurfaced by the Future Forward Party in the Parliament. Thailand had jailed a whistleblower, and the junta was accused of doing so as part of a "dark alliance" to protect Malaysian PM-turned Najib Razak, who was convicted in July 2020.

It's just ‘ flour ' : A key player in Prayuth's cabinet turned out to have spent four years in Australian prison for smuggling heroin. The regime said laws preventing ex-cons from serving didn't apply; he insisted the heroin was just "flour" and survived.

Eternal Emergency Decree : Conditions that defined five years of junta rule were reinstated with the stroke of a pen when Prayuth declared a state of emergency granting sweeping powers to enact curfews, limit travel and censor the media. It has remained in place months after the outbreak faded.

COVID Strikes : An economic force that once led the region only to be surpassed by its rivals, Thailand's outlook by July fell to last place in ASEAN and all of Asia as lockdown measures smothered growth which had already been languishing. Painful times led to a surge in the already- high suicide rate.

Another Critic Abducted : Pro-democracy activist-in-exile Wanchalerm Satsaksit was abducted near his apartment in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He's thought to be the latest in a series of dissidents murdered on orders from the kingdom's highest authorities.

Protests Erupt, Taboos Teeter :  Massive crowds of between 10,00O to 20,000 people converged on the Democracy Monument to call for the government to step down and the constitution to be rewritten. Decades of longstanding taboo were shattered when campaigners issued 10 demands calling for royal reforms.

#6imag001w.1

[news-lisaar]

[kylecassidy]

Tumblr tells me that today is the 8th anniversary of me signing up for tumblr. So, here's a thing I wrote 3 years ago today, which I think is one of the truest things I've written, so here it is again. (Also, shirt has found a new home.) Go Ahead & Make A Resolution, But Make it One You Can Keep I've been reading a lot of year-end laments from people on the Internet, and I've been hearing it at the gym too. People whining that Our Refuge is going to be filled with NEW YEARS RESOLUTION AMATEURS and we won't be able to get a rowing machine for a week until they all pull calf muscles and go drown their sorrow in cheeseburgers and things return to normal. I almost have some sympathy for people who are complaining out of selfishness because they don't want the gym to be crowded, but I'm left baffled by people who just sit at their laptops wailing "YOU'RE GOING TO FAIL! DON'T BOTHER STARTING!" So I wanted to say; there's nothing wrong with a New Years Resolution -- or any resolution. But for a resolution to work, you need resolve, which is a difficult thing to maintain. I want to recommend the interview I did with Hanne Blank a year ago this month. Hanne's the author of (among many other things) The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise & Other Incendiary Acts. In the interview Hanne says that when you promise yourself you're going to try something*, pick a reasonable number before you give up -- she suggests 100 days. If you're going to go to the gym, go to the gym for 100 days (this doesn't mean you get a three month membership, go three times and stop, it means you walk through the door and get on the exercise bike and you ride it 100 times) and this counts for taking French lessons too -- or whatever your promise to yourself is. Because the truth is you won't learn French in a week, and you won't lose 10 pounds in a week, though it's possible you will read Moby Dick in a week, so plan realistic time according to your desired result. If you go to the gym 100 times something will happen and it probably won't be insignificant, that's true for 100 French lessons too, c'est vrai. Also, I think it's also ok to have magic be a part of your plan. I believe in magic. Or at least I believe that talismans can be powerful if you let them. And I have a talisman that worked for me that I want to give away. I recently came across this photo of myself from Readercon 2012 and thought what a long, slow trip it's been, and how it was motivated by magic things and kind people.

Clickenzee to embiggen! The Magnum Connection The gym kind of sucks, at first it especially sucks and eventually you get to this weird place where if you don't go you feel bad, like some weird drug that makes you hurt but you want it anyway. I can't explain it, but anyway, in between the "whee! I'm going to join the gym and lose ten pounds, let's go shopping for outfits! and "I haven't been to the gym in six days and I'm going freaking crazy! there's a lot of "why did I do this? this freaking blows" -- and those are the days that people stop going, and once you stop going, you don't really ever go back and your new years resolution is over. In the early days of my experience with The Gym I realized that I'd never seen the last episode of Magnum p.i., a show which I enjoyed in my youth but didn't have a TV when it ended. So one afternoon I thought, "I'll just watch that on Netflix" but then I thought "Well, I shouldn't just watch the last episode because I won't know what's going on, I'll watch the last season". So I started watching the last season at the gym while I rode the exercise bike and this was perfect. Because I really enjoyed the show, and it was 43 minutes long, which is a good workout and I was motivated to go back every day to see another episode because there was the goal of the Last Episode just X gym days away. And then a funny thing happened. I started posting about my Magnum p.i. watching to Twitter and Facebook (because it's easier with the mobile app to post to them than it is to Livejournal (I mentioned this to them years ago)) -- anyway, people started to get excited about it. And there was much conversation back and forth about Magnum and my going to the gym and then every day I felt an obligation to people who were following along vicariously so I'd do updates about the Magnum p.i. episode I was watching.... And then a crazy thing happened. People on the Internet started sending me stuff -- random strangers who'd been following along started sending me Magnum p.i. shirts, because somehow it had gotten that interesting. So now not only was I watching TV and working out BUT I HAD MAGIC CLOTHES, clothes made out of love & support and trust. And that was a big turning point. Once I had the magic-shirt of weight-loss I felt I couldn't stop. Clickenzee to embiggen!! I finished the last season of Magnum p.i., and then I went back to season 1 and started from the beginning. By the time I got to season 4 I'd lost a lot of weight and my heart and lungs had gotten stronger and I was able, for the first time, to run. That burned more calories faster and, well, we all know what happened from there. So, I have this magic shirt, it's made of love and support and trust and motivation and I lost 40 pounds while wearing it and I want to give it to you because it's helped me as much as it needs to and it needs to help someone else. I will wash it first. So drop me an email, or post in the comments about how a magic exercise shirt will help you with your goal. Best story by next Friday gets the shirt. This magic shirt can be yours And if you want, you can keep it for 12 months and then give it to someone else who needs it. That's often how magic things work best. Anyway, have a swell day. (* btw "something" doesn't necessarily mean weight loss -- you can be whatever size you want, it just happened to be one of my personal goals. This applies to writing a novel or going to Europe or whatever your resolution might be -- pick your goal, look for the magic, and find the thing that makes you work towards your goal every day.) EDIT: It's 2015, if you're reading this now because it's getting shared a lot, the shirt found a home. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't start something. Finish something. Be fierce. Find magic.

[justasmallbloginabigklainefandom]

The Great ATOG Reread; Grey part 9

Part 8 ended on a kind of cliffhanger? I just had to stop myself from continuing, but here I am. I read all the remaining chapters today and I’m, as the kids say, shook. 

I once again read 7 months long fic in four days. 

Anyway, since this is the end of this verse, thank you for reading my mumbling.

Chapter 29

Oh god, they have fucked up. Oh god they have fucked up so badly, to get to here, how could they get to here?

Aftermath. Draxie and BB are discussing Ghostly, and Blaine is once again realising what he’s done. I can’t really blame him, since he had a lot on his plate too. This entire fic was heavy because as a reader, you saw how helpless they both felt.

Kurt thinks he’s dying. Blaine doesn’t want him to die.

Normally it’s Blaine who thinks he’s about to die, but then again, problem 1 has been happening for a long while.

To no one’s surprise, the Phalanx rollercoast is making a lot of rounds today (especially with what’s waiting for them).

He has no fear of forever if 'forever' just means that they're both ghosts now.

Blaine’s thinking about solidity. He’d forgotten that Kurt had given him some sense of solidity, and now he wants to do the same for Kurt. Kurt thinks Blaine’s wasting his time. Kurt’s about to die, so why stay?

But why leave?

So while Blaine’s out looking for that sense of solidity, Kurt’s problem 3 is kicking his ass. The Ghost of New York City has started to become a stranger to Kurt, or is it the other way around? Fuck knows.

It’s time to leave.

UNLESS AGENT SYLVESTER HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THAT BECAUSE KNOCK KNOCK MOTHERFUCKER, TERRORIST!

People should realise that it doesn't matter if it's day or night, this city is always haunted. The Ghost lingers in its concrete and metal and glass, the Ghost is the memory of why you don't fuck with New York City. So long as the Ghost does exist, he's never letting it be known that New York is open to attack. No time even to change his underwear. That is how much he loves his city.

Time for probably the most horrifying moment in the entire fic.

You know, I love the Flash. It’s one of the reasons I started reading this fic. I thought “hey, superheroes aren’t as bad as I thought” because of the Flash. Fuck, Flash, I owe you.

Why am I telling you this? Because I stumbled into the CW DCTV verse without any knowledge about these comics. You can do the same for ATOG/Grey. You can read it without having to watch glee, but you will miss references and some depth.

(Small Flash season 2 spoiler ahead) When Jay introduced Caitlin to his Earth-1 döppelganger, he told her he’s called Hunter Zolomon. (End spoiler)

I moved on. I knew something had happened, but I moved on until I later googled the name, but if you see reaction posts and videos of diehard DC fans, you see people losing their shits. They got that reference, I didn’t.

And the same thing is happening right now.

The Ghost - looks at him. Phalanx stares back and sees incomprehension in the Ghost's eyes on his for a long second before it breaks, before something else surfaces, some awful realisation as the Ghost squeezes his hand and whispers heavy and sick, "Oh god." "Oh - oh god what, he - they knew? They knew, they had us in files? When did they -" The Ghost presses his hand and says in a fast stumble, "Phalanx they've known - I thought you knew, I thought we - I thought we just weren't - I thought you knew -"

Remember how I used to think Sebastian was a bad plot device? The first time I read this, I yelled: “I TAKE IT BACK HOLY FUCK I TAKE IT BACK” because I really did not see it coming. And he emotionally destroyed every single one of them with one sentence.

"So we have the full team, isn't that exciting?" Sebastian says brightly. "I've been reading about how pathetic you all are for so long, it's almost like I've actually been despising you in person the whole time. So you must be Noah Puckerman, just to clarify, Noah, no-one ever will see you as anything but a monster, because that's what you actually are. And Artie Abrams! Who will never spend a day of his life not dependent on someone else! And you must be Brittany Pierce, and I'm sorry to tell you Brittany but you never will understand because you actually are exactly that stupid, and that is all everybody else thinks about when they look at you. And your delightful partner Santana Lopez -" Cheer Girl, face white, is holding Incendiary's arm, far too tight for Incendiary to get at him; Incendiary is whispering under her breath, not even blinking, "Fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you -"

"- I'm afraid abuéla will never think of you with anything less than stomach-turning revulsion again for as long as the evil old bitch lives, Santana. Which means that she's Quinn Fabray, and, Quinn? You will never see her again, because why the hell would they ever let someone like you fuck up her life?" Quinn is pale but silent. Only her fists at her sides shake, a little. "Sam Evans is the one who worked for the mob, so I'm sure he knows exactly what he has to remember when he can't sleep on a night because really an awful lot of blood paid for what he is now. And that brings us to -" "- no no no -" Phalanx whispers as Sebastian's eyes land on his, and the Ghost's hand is hurting his. "Blaine Anderson, Blaine," Sebastian leans a little forward to speak down to him, as Phalanx's every sense jars, "he never will forgive you, because you stood by and let that happen to him, and you're the selfish asshole who walked away whistling from something he has to remember every step he'll ever take." no no no no no he'll throw up Sebastian straightens his back, and looks at the Ghost, who stares back, silent and still and head held high, and eyes fixed on his. Sebastian says, like it's a joke, "Kurt Hummel." The Ghost breathes out, only a little hard, through his nose. Phalanx can see the way it shifts his chest. Unmasked in front of everyone he stands there still, not afraid, shoulders back and jaw set solid, and holds Phalanx's hand, and keeps his eyes fixed proud on Sebastian's, and if Sebastian has known his whole life to pick through the worst parts the way he did to them - Sebastian curls his lip. "Maybe you should just be grateful that anyone can look past your face and want to fuck you instead of crying 'rape' all the time."

As a reader, you know some of those people, but as a glee fan, you understand the pain they’re going through right now. I tried making Lloyd read this, since he’s also into the hero trope, and I know he won’t feel the same. I won’t have to fight to throw up. Again, some stories are ATOG only, and it’s just Sebastian showing off that he knows who they are.

But Quinn.

Santana.

Brittany.

Jesus Christ. Why does this have to happen to them? To make matters worse, a) Wade and b) Sebastian is a super who copies other supers.

Sebastian makes you sick. He’s sick. Fuck. How he uses the desperation of a man begging for his lover’s life, only because Sebastian doesn’t agree with the way he’s living his life. The Ghost once told Phalanx after the entire “oh shit I can kill people” thing started, that he’s seen people beg for their lives and how awful it is to see them lose their last glimpse of humanity.

I guess the Ghost never thought he would end in a similar situation, because he’s not losing his shit while begging for his life, but while begging for Phalanx’s life. Phalanx is dying. AGAIN. 

The Ghost knows terrorists. He knows he can’t risk it, because they’ll shoot him without a second thought.

And sure, Mercedes Jones, actual superstar, saves him some time, but it’s still too late.

The haunting grips every muscle in a tight, cold hand. Oh, he thinks, as the fists on his muscles let go, as his body folds into the dark. Oh, I know this feeling . . .

Chapter 30

puckzilla! \o/

Really?

The Ghost knows his powers like no other, and sure, this sucked, but he’ll get over it. He knows haunting. He owns haunting. For now, all seems okay. He and Phalanx are out of the crossfire, and with Mike and Agent rent besides them, it’s time to take a fucking breath.

Only.

Phalanx has different ideas.

"Um," Blaine says, and fiddles with a compartment on his utility belt, and then opens it. "I'm - not just kneeling because I'm concussed, you know."

Fuck glee 5x01, this is a dream proposal. Sure, it is a bit random, but this isn’t like the shit they pulled in canon glee. This time, it’s not rushed, or stupid, or shit writing. This is love.

This is Blaine offering Kurt solidity.

And yeah, Kurt is still trapped in the mindset of problem 1. He can’t have it, so why bother, but Blaine doesn’t give a flying fuck about problem 1 right now. Sure, Kurt might be dying and sure, their days together might be numbered, but he still wants to spend those last remaining days by his side.

"I want," Blaine says quietly, since Kurt isn't arguing anymore, since the fight is dumbed in Kurt, "to be your husband for every second I can get. I want to know that. I want something to hold on to, whatever else happens, something to be sure of. I want you to have that too. I want you to know that I love you, I want you to actually understand it, everything you do I want you to know that I love you while you're doing it. I want you to actually believe it. I know sometimes it's like you - it's like you understand it but you can't really feel it but, Kurt, you're a miracle to me, I feel it, I always will, whether you believe in it or not, I just, I just wish you knew that I'm in awe of you, that you're my hero and you always will be and I'll never be ashamed of that, you're the best part of my life. I wish you knew that you're allowed to want this from me because I want to give it to you. I want you to remember and trust in that every day, that I love you, I do, whatever else happens, anything, nothing will ever break this, not ever, I'll love you until I'm dead. And I'll try to make you believe it, I'll work at that, if you'll promise to try to believe it." He turns the ring in his fingers, twitches his smile a little. "I believe in ghosts," he says. "And I'm not afraid of them. I think it's - beautiful, that some things can stay. I would - like." Little breath, the way his chest expands, Kurt knows his body better than his own and he feels that breath in his own fluttering, aching ribs. "I would like to be the thing that the ghosts believe in, maybe."

(Really, fuck glee)

And everything is right in this world.

Until, of course, it isn’t. Mike, Sebastian, and to Phalanx’s dismay, Wade are entering the room. Sebastian is after the Ghost, and he’s willing to kill. The Ghost is not in the mood.

"You want me dead or you want my powers." he says, looking Sebastian steady in the eye and the Ghost might be the one looking through a mask but the mask is who he is, there's no lie in him, all the strength he's got is his. "So come and get me."

He once told Agent Sylvester he’s tired of playing games.

Boo, asshole.

While Sebastian is chasing after the Ghost, Phalanx is left alone with Wade. And wow, Phalanx is fucking terrified. Sure, he’s been shot, he’s been hurt, he’s been drugged, he’s been beaten, but no one has fucked him up as much as Wade did and he didn’t even come near Phalanx.

Again, whereas I got why Wade was upset, he was really frustrating. Rachel is never willing to listen, and so is Wade. He took his own stupid conclusions from a conversation that’s not comparable to the usual conversations the Ghost and Phalanx have about this matter.

Wade felt alone.

Just like that one super did. You know, the one that caused a major wankfest on the internet. Sometimes I wonder if they’re the same person.

But is this really the solution? I get that he didn’t want to be alone anymore, but is joining a group of fucking terorrists who don’t even care about him the solution? Is he less alone now? No. Of course not, but still, Wade chose this.

I like that Phalanx and Wade got to talk normally. I love that sometimes compassion and a good conversation can help people. Wade is afraid of Phalanx, Phalanx is afraid of Wade, but in the end, they have nothing to be afraid of.

"I needed you to be distracted," Wade says, still turned towards the corner. "I needed you to all . . . I gave everyone's mind exactly the same suggestion, all I do is nudge, it's you who -" "How was that the 'same suggestion', what 'suggestion' - ?" Wade stares at him, almost like he's afraid of him (He's afraid of him?) and says, "Something that would never happen." Phalanx stares back. The thing in his throat feels like wet old rope, too long knotted to ever come undone. Something that would never happen. Something that would never . . .

Relief.

It’s one of the best feelings ever. Phalanx get the confirmation that, yes, he would never do this to Kurt.

Because of that relief, Phalanx finally finds the strenght to see Wade for who he really is: Unique. Phalanx realises why the Ghost, from all people, has seen Unique from the beginning. And because of that, Phalanx can do it too.

The tension disappears and both Phalanx and Unique see each other for who they really are. Unique sees Phalanx, a man who is always willing to help her, and Phalanx sees Unique, the confident woman she is.

It’s okay.

It’s all finally over.

Except, in this verse, you know it’s not.

"Top story," the newsreader is saying, as Phalanx can only slowly make himself understand what Unique has just told him, "'the Ghost of New York' has been unmasked as Mr Kurt Hummel, twenty-four, we are unable to reach Mr Hummel for a statement but we'll bring the news as it breaks, 'Phalanx' has been unmasked as his partner, Mr Blaine Anderson of -" Mike has dropped to sit in the desk chair at the computer, like he can't hold himself up anymore. And when this sinks in, Phalanx thinks desperately through the welling, swelling confusion inside, the numbness of his inability to grasp something still in the process of growing too big to be contained, when this sinks in, when it does, I'll feel just as horrified as him, won't I . . . ?

Just like Mike, I felt like I couldn’t hold myself up anymore. Just like what Wade (now Unique) made Phalanx see... I knew it was coming and still, I felt like I was punched in the gut. That’s an understatement.

The Ghost is unaware of the fact that his worst nightmare has come true, and luckily so, because he needs to take Sebastian, what a bag of dicks, down. It’s interesting how Sebastian seems afraid of fear. 

The Ghost... all he needed was love and the solidity of the ring on his finger.

The solution was so simple. 

And just like Phalanx, that doesn’t make his struggles and pain unvalid. This must’ve been some of the worst months of his life, and even though all the pain goes away in less than five minutes, the pain will not be forgotten. 

Sebastian will never understand love the way the Ghost does. The Ghost knows now that Phalanx has shown hims what love means. To Sebastian, love is a prize, an object, you can win. 

But he’s about to loose.

You realise that you're gay, in this world, and you're afraid. Your powers come in and all you feel towards them is fear. Everything is secret, everything is scary, everything is shadows and you on your own - But you can embrace it, the Ghost thinks as he takes his silent step and Sebastian spits, "He only wants you because you're the only guy even more pathetic than he is, he only wants you because at least next to you he gets to feel like a man for once -" You can embrace it. You can embrace it second-hand, you can pass your power on to other people until you see how not-scary it is because it saved them. You can embrace it by following superhero blogs and feeling your stomach flutter, someone like you, until you know what you want to do too. There are lots of ways to come to terms with and embrace the part of you that will never be normal but still is you, is still the same gift that life is, all the same. Or you can embrace the fear.

He’s paranoid, and yet, the Ghost feels a bit of sympathy for him because he is the Ghost of New York City and that is what he does.

And really, after everything Sebastian has done to him and Phalanx, he is not fucking around.

At some point in his life, Kurt has believed every single word that Sebastian is saying right now. But when Sebastian's eyes hit the Ghost, the paler shape in the dark and Sebastian's blanched face freezes, he doesn't believe a word of them. He understands now the fear those lies are built from, he knows that fear is easier than the truth, it is so, so hard to swallow the fear down and reject a lie for what it is when the lie is so huge and the truth is only a ghost, the promise of a presence, something so intangible and so important. Fear will always be so, so much easier than the ethereal, invisible, untouchable truth.

Chapter 31

It’s over.

But it’s not.

The Ghost just thinks it’s over.

. . . it never is simple. God, he knows that, the Ghost lives in the grey spaces; it never was his single decision to put a mask on and help people that led to this. It was Blaine in Ohio ashamed and afraid, it was Karofsky dealing with his own agony by inflicting it on the only person he felt he could, it was Kurt's dad deciding to love Kurt whatever happened - it was Kurt's mom gone and Kurt taking care of himself, and his father, and never asking why he had to - it was Kurt's powers dormant in his child-body, Kurt learning the world before he learned himself - it was this world, this world that forces you into the confines of the tick box test, this world denying Kurt all of his grey spaces, this world chipping away at him and everyone else from the moment they came bewildered and afraid into it. It's a boy! means an entire life already chosen, and is not a statement of fact, Kurt knows that. It's a threat. The world looks at him every day and wonders why he can't live up to what he ought to be. He has to live every day of his life knowing what some people would do to him to 'teach him a lesson' when he already knows all of it, really, he really, really does.

The Ghost slowly starts putting the pieces together. Jesse, Tina’s show, Schuester... it’s all connected. Even though he and Phalanx were a bit occupied with their problems, they still wouldn’t have gotten it. Oh, how clever Sebastian was.

Was he?

"Dad." he says, and sniffs, and dabs his eyes off a little, balls the tissue in his hand as he takes a little breath. "Blaine asked me to marry him." Silence, for a second. Kurt can hear the news still on in the background on his dad's end, the murmur of some voice through the TV. His dad says, "What'd you say?" "What do you think I said?" "Like any of us ever know what you're gonna do about anything, Kurt." "I'm not stupid." He sniffs his breath in again, and squashes the used tissue into an empty belt compartment. "I said yes." "Good. I'm glad. I'm happy for you both." "You're coming to my wedding." "You couldn't keep me away." "So stay away from the windows and don't let anyone in." "Jesus, Kurt."

Of course, they’re up against Will Schuester, probably the most pathetic man ever. While Kurt and his father are fighting for who gets to put his body in front of that gun, Schuester fucking misses.

He misses.

Oh my god.

His dad is safe, Carole is safe, Finn and Rachel are safe, Mike and Tina are safe, and now people want to speak to the Ghost.

It’s sickening. It’s awful. Just like the Ghost, you cannot believe that people want to use the Ghost like this. And these are the people that you should trust.

It quietens in him, and he lowers his hand, and he speaks only softly because how much he means the words makes them heard. "Don't you ever dare bring anything like this to him. He's not that kind of soldier. He protects people. He shields people. He doesn't take orders, he does what he knows is the right thing to do. Don't you ever dare even try to make him into a weapon too."

You’ve seen the Ghost angry before, but he always has some way to stay calm and collected. Not now. He’s high key losing his shit.

The Ghost is in a vulnerable position, but then he sees Agent Sylvester and for the first time he gets what’s been happening and she’s been doing to him.

'Use your power wisely'. She didn't say powers. She said . . . It's not enough for them to be afraid of what he might do. He's very small, compared to them; he doesn't even know how huge they might be. But he has more power than just walking through walls now and then and his breath leaves him slowly, and that woman really might be the best and worst thing that ever happened to him.

Those people might be the big scary men, wearing expensive af suits, but never ever underestimate Sue Sylvester. No matter what version of Sue Sylvester you get, never fucking underestimate her.

Because those men don’t know him. Neither does Agent Sylvester, but she knows enough to see that the Ghost is one of the smartest people in the world.

He finally stares up at her, and she shrugs. He spits into the basket again, takes a tissue from his belt to wipe his mouth distastefully and drops it in the trash. "You," he says, slowly, a whole different sort of nausea spiralling heavily up from this realisation, "you've been manipulating . . . me, and Phalanx, and that team - and those men, your employers, the US government -" "Yup."

By the way, how is Phalanx doing?

I guess he’s somewhat okay.

Honestly, to Phalanx it’s all a bit confusing. His family is safe, but it’s not the same. Burt Hummel tried to throw himself in front of a shotgun to protect his son, but Phalanx’s parents?

They’ve never cared.

Phalanx, Blaine, cracks his eyes open, looks wearily up at him. Cooper's grinning. He looks across at his parents - sitting on opposite sides of the aisle, heads down, paying no attention, and he thinks . . . He doesn't know what he thinks. He doesn't think that they know what they think. His dad seriously just couldn't seem to get it, was still asking when this would be over when the plane touched down, like his son's being unmasked as a superhero is inconvenient but it'll blow over soon enough, and Blaine . . . Blaine knows, knows that this is the rest of his life now. He lifts a hand but doesn't touch the mask on his face, because he remembers that he's not wearing it. He unpeeled it in front of his mom. She looked back at him like she didn't understand any of it any more than his dad.

It’s so sad, honestly. They do love each other, but it’s more obligatory love. It’s more “oh well, we’re family so we love each other” love. Phalanx sure as fuck is relieved to see that his parents are safe, but if it were the other way around, would they feel the same?

Like... Burt Hummel tried to take a bullet for his son.

Mr. Anderson doesn’t seem to notice that something’s wrong, even though the US Government is holding them.

"I'm never going to be a physical therapist, am I?"

This is also the first moment where Blaine realises that his old life is dead. He no longer is Blaine or Phalanx. He’s both.

Yes, life is fucking shitty at this moment, but Kurt problem 3 just fucking disappeared.

Chapter 32

("What did you say?" Blaine had said urgently, and Kurt had looked so tired with the mask off, drained almost beyond sense as he mumbled, "I think I quoted The Wire at them.")

Just as Kurt, Blaine is fucking livid. How dare those people try to use Kurt like that.

Also, as a reader, something interesting happens. I just wrote that Kurt problem 3 is fucking gone. During most of the fic, you see Kurt, Blaine, the Ghost, and Phalanx as four different people. That stops.

Kurt is the Ghost.

Blaine is Phalanx.

End of story.

Even with their masks on, they are Kurt and Blaine.

It’s time to keep on living. Their secrets are out and everyone’s waiting for them to say something. The media are cruel and gross.

Don’t get me wrong. I fully agree with Meryl Streep that the press is the best thing that has ever happened to us and that we need to protect it (now more than ever since the US has a president that makes up a fucking terrorist attack in Sweden, and when Sweden tells them nothing has happened, he calls them liars), but that’s politics and business and economics.

This is showbizz, and let’s face it, showbizz media have always been ugly. Kurt and Blaine’s old lifes no longer exist. From now on, they only live for the media/public’s gaze and entertainment.

They have to continue living like this, and they start with the safe house. People are being contacted. Kurt is overjoyed that Robbie, Sophie, and Chandler are so kind. And yes, his aikido teacher knew.

Blaine, on the other hand, feels like he’s got hit in the face because of Paul.

Well. Fuck him.

Kurt’s adjusting. Like... he’s on the news and so is Blaine. Like I said, media are vicious. They’re trying to dig up as much as they can find so that they can use it for their own popularity. Even other people turn their backs on Kurt and Blaine in the hope of those fifteen or thirty minutes of fame.

His life really is just too surreal to deal with, sometimes; Mercedes Jones just invited herself to his wedding.

He realises that some good things have happened. Mercedes Jones has found her self-confidence, and to Kurt’s biggest surprise, the team mates are his friends. 

He leaves his phone, goes through to check on his lover, his fiancé, his partner. He's just waking in the bed as Kurt ghosts through the door, stretching out on his side in the sheets, eyes closed and face happily screwed up with the bliss of being in bed, and Kurt can't stop the smile, no mask in the world could hide that smile. In the dim Blaine's made of muted gold, in the dim his skin looks coffee-warm and he looks across, smiles for Kurt, and Kurt's thumb touches the ring to his skin. Eight million souls in this city, and he is the luckiest one of them all.

And.. problem 1 is done with too. They don’t understand what has happened, but do they have to? It’s over. That’s all that matters, and Kurt finally feels the relief Blaine felt when the Ghost jumped of that building.

Life really goes on. They go out to do their fucking jobs and well... can you blame them? Sure, people are reacting differently towards them and it bothers them, but they’re still superheroes. Nothing has changed.

Same goes for fandom, and my love for Ghostly cause HOLY FUCKING SHIT. HER MOM DIED AND THEN.. BB... AND.... I CRIED WHEN BB CAME OUT OF THAT TAXI AND I JUST????

Ghostly understands them like no other.

They return to you from the grave, the heroes at the heart of our fandom. They are now truly ghosts. What they have faced is loss, not just death but murder; they didn't ask for this outing, they did everything they ever could to avoid it. They face every uncertainty of loss and grieving. Their old life was murdered, everything they knew and lived is killed. Their *selves* are dead and yet they remain, as we the living do after each death - they are the gray murdered ghosts standing shocked on their own graves - and what I ask you for fandom from what shallow depth of my exhausted heart I can scrape down to right now is just *compassion*. Their lives are over, and they still have to live. The world bears down on them. They will have no privacy for their grief, no sacred space of the mourner for what they have lost, they have every news station in the country and half of them in the world tuned in to dismembering the corpses of their old lives and dangling the pieces from their gibbets. Grieving is *hard*. It hits you *hard*. I don't doubt that they're being strong, but I respect their right to feel weak under this onslaught. They were never our dolls. They were always those two young men - my god, barely more than children, we always knew and never could really face that fact (Blackbindings informs me that they're older than she is; Blackbindings, my angel, everyone is older than you are) - they were always real people, themselves, just themselves, doing what they could. If you could never view them as truly human before then *please* try to do it now. Their lives are being hung, drawn, and quartered by salivating journalists for *our* consumption, and we're supposed to be on *their* fucking side.

Damn Ghostly, back again with those dolls.

Please. If you won't do it out of compassion then do it because you *know* what we owe them: respect them. Give them their space. Let them breathe, and be. Don't greedily gobble down every butchered piece of them that the blood-maddened media will serve to you. Remember that to those who can make money out of it they will only ever be *things*. To us they are people; people who don't deserve to be turned into dolls, people we have no entitlement to own, everything they ever gave us was a gift. The only entitlement at work here is their entitlement to your respect. You do owe them it. They are as mortal and human and beautiful as any of us: *let them be that*.

(Sorry for that meme usage)

Let them be human, in this moment. Let them be not superheroes, not symbols, not dolls, not angels. Just let them be human, so they can put themselves back together again, after all that's been broken these last few days. Let yourself be an angel, for once. Be a bearer of quiet wisdom. See what it feels like to actually be on their side.

Sure, as a die-hard Spring Awakening thing, the ‘become an angel’ thing kind of freaks me out, but you get what she means, because from all people in this Earth, there are only three people who fully realise that Kurt and Blaine’s old lives have died and don’t matter anymore, never to come back: Kurt, Blaine, and Ghostly.

And yes.

Nice things do happen.

She says, "Are you wearing a-" He blinks, and her eyes are stunned on his finger, and he cups the ring protectively close in his other hand and says, "He, um, he, asked." When she screams there's a thudding scramble from outside and Blaine bursts in, shields a shocked green flicker crowding the room, the front door bangs open and three armed agents race through, and Kurt holds her arms as she hugs him by the head and he's not crying, he's laughing.

Rachel gives them another reality check: life has ended. You need to start anew, and since she’s Rachel, she demands that they let her help. The mail... it kind of freaks me out? Sure, good stuff happens like the Make-A-Wish thing and children sending drawings, but it fucks me up that Cheerios and Calvin Klein want to sponsor them.

Like I said, the media are important, but the showbizz ones are disgusting.

"Cheerios want to sponsor us." "What? I am not wearing an advertisement on my cloak. Oh my god Leviticus does not say that, if you're going to send hate mail at least do the reading." "Calvin Klein want to know your waist size." "What? Why?" Rachel shrugs a duh. "So they can send you lots of free underwear and then tell everyone that superheroes wear their stuff?" "Well they can mind their own damn business on my waist size." Kurt snaps back. Then Blaine sees the hesitation in him, because free stuff is a bit of a pull, but then Kurt takes the letter off Rachel and dumps it in the 'shred' sack anyway.

Not only this, but the tabloid stories have started. Juicy gossips about sex and life are happening, and there’s nothing they can do about it except for calling a lawyer. Really, their lives no longer exist for them. They’re for the entertainment industry now.

There’s only one way to make them shut up for now.

Rachel.

See, you are useful after all.

There's a dark-eyed boy on his laptop in the corner, but otherwise the coffee shop is empty and strangely calm, a lull in the world's air after all the rush and worry out there. And there, in the doorway in front of the man behind the counter, they fade into sight, quite slowly, two young men, holding hands, the shorter smiling hopefully, the taller looking the man behind the counter in the eye from underneath a nervously cocked hat. The young man on his laptop looks up, and smiles. Mr Conti wipes his hands off on his apron, and puts his proud-beaming head high. "What did I tell you. Leave the cape a night, bring a boy. Always welcome!" Their hands squeeze and hold, and from under the shadow of the hat, he gives him the smallest and most perfect ghost of a smile.

Chapter 33

You guys ever watched Avatar: The Last Airbender? There’s this episode where they recap the entire show, and it’s done in such a wonderful format. The characters are going to see a play about their own lives.

This is also a wonderful format, because who’s been there through all the hell, and fic, and fanart, and wank, and h/c, and BNF, and Dat ass, the fanmixes... fandom.

Oh fandom.

The first time I read this, I was kind of shocked to see that there’s been a time-jump, but it’s so brilliant.

It’s so weird people on the internet call them Kurt and Blaine now.

KH: He liked it. BA: I put a ring on it.

BLESS.

Since like everyone got unmasked all at once given That Photo leaking, that's l to r Blaine, Joy, Vanessa, Emily, and Kurt, or as we previously knew them, Phalanx, Draxie, She Who Must Not Be Named, Blackbindings, and the Ghost, all smiling, all happy <3

All wedding happiness aside, it’s so great to see how much they have progressed in five years. Kurt and Blaine have grown, and the fandom has too. Sure, it’s probably still wanky af, but that’s fandom. Draxie, BB, Ghostly... they’re all happy, and that means a lot to me. Draxie has kids! BB and Ghostly are together! BB is a professor! Ghostly writes!

KH: You got shot! BA: - I had completely forgotten about that. WHAT FUCKING LIFE DO YOU LIVE THAT FORGET GETTING **SHOT** JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

Really, the beginning is all fun and games, but the fact that they’re somewhat forced to do this is so sick. Just like Rachel, the whole world is about to find out what has traumatised them so much... it led to this. 

I love that after the interview aired the guy totally did get back in touch with him and now they're BFFs again, it was just one of the most 'uhhuuuhhhhhh ;____;' things…

This makes me happy though.

But. Fuck.

Not even Burt Hummel knew.

I respect him so much for saying that it's not easy. Because it would have been so easy for him to give the same narrative of 'I'm a survivor, I'm a fighter' but instead he tells his *own* truth which is 'I still live with it, it never wrecked me yet and I love my life now but yeah it's difficult'. People want sexual assault victims to fit into a box that would make it easier for the rest of us to deal with it, like fitting sexual assault perpetrators into a box so it's only obviously *evil* people who do it so we don't have to deal with actually 'normal' people doing it, but they're always really just people and it's *difficult*.

When all that is gone, time for more light hearted stuff.

BA: I was a fan. I am a fan. I'd been following him on the internet for - there is no non-weird way to explain this, Kurt stop - He's almost hysterical, I know some of it's release of tension but a lot of that is just 'MY BOYFRIEND IS MY BIGGEST FAN CANNOT STOP LAUGHING' I fucking love that he's one of us ;_; The fact that one of the biggest superheroes in the country turned out to be an epic geek must have done *so* much for so many kids reading comic books on their own . . . Just like the Ghost of New York turning out to have serious opinions on cravats and hair care meant so much to so many queer kids out there <3 BA: I have a blog. The four most beautiful words in the entire interview XD

JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL.

I guess it's the best we could have expected of fandom that people did hold off for a whole two weeks before someone outed his blog and the entire internet swarmed on it. And then like, he didn't go near the thing for a month because why would you. But I love that without any wanring or fanfare he just started using it post photographs of his boyfriend like 'yeah we all know why you're really here look at how pretty he is!! <3' and to chat about life in NY like it's no big deal. And now it's the best way we have to remember that they're *them*. cause the news might be all hostage situations and bank heists and supervillains and bomb threats but he just blogs 'Kurt made waffles best morning ever!! \o/' and you kind of get what their lives actually are to *them*, now <3

Oh yes.

BA: I still think 'what would the Ghost do' whenever I don't have a clue. KH: Blaine . . . BA: What? KH: Half the time he panics and looks for you.

OH MAN.

I AM LIKE THE FANDOM RN.

Speakin of them...

The first and only time he actually looks at the camera, for all of half a second Blaine keeps making eye contact with it like he wants *us* to feel included, Kurt looks like he just really can't. I know he's more used to it now but my god, back then, I mean we always thought he was *shy*. He has fucking PTSD. He was *terrified* of us. a lot of the way the media pulled them apart then was just sick He's scared of people judging him, not listening to him, just *judging* him. We really could have hurt him, when this happened, I'm so glad for all the people who *were* on thier side. Every minor thing about them got dragged out like it was some great psychological proof of something, the way people talked about them *like they couldn't hear it*, it was *grotesque*. I actually dumped friends over that, and I still think I did the right thing. They still deal with it now. They do so with really just remarkable grace, all things considered <3

Yeah kids, y’all fucked up.

I think for the most part phandom behaved really well. They tended that shrine outside their building and got into a lot of fights defending them online from everyone else, and actually once the Ghost's history came out I think some of the conversations about how we'd been using his image all along really did help people *think* about stuff I pulled a couple of dubcon pieces of fic after that, it just sat really bad with me. Been thinking about that ever since. he's trying to protect him. he knows how hard all this is on kurt and he's trying to protect his boyfriend from *us*. that really made me realise how powerful what we do is, we can hurt *superheroes* with this, we have to make sure we do it right :/ I love that phandom actually is really protective of them. The only public photograph there's *ever* been of them kissing was some long range pap shot through a window and it never gets reblogged, you just never see it, because everyone knows that was fucking wrong and neither of them would be OK with it. You know someone's not really a *fan* if they're OK with that.

I think that Kurt and Blaine did the right thing by outright showing that sometimes fandom’s entitlement is problematic. They all know by now that Blaine is amongst them, so they can’t pretend they don’t know that it doesn’t affect them.

Ghostly has told them so many times, but fandom always kept putting it aside. “They won’t see it anyway”

Well knock knock, y’all, Blaine’s seen it all for almost seven long ass years. He knows what you guys can do. He’s the press guy for a reason because he knows how to deal with it, since he basically lived in that fandom. 

Ghostly has told them. And now Kurt and Blaine have too.

BA: . . . sometimes when you're really engrossed in a book or your sewing machine I leave the mustard out of the fridge just to make you pay attention to me. omg I LOVE his face there BLAINE TELL ME YOU DO NOT DO THAT BLAINE THE MUSTARD IS SRS WE DO NOT JOKE ABOUT LEAVING THE MUSTARD OUT BLAINE, *WHY*

(I love this little running gag that started in ATOG)

In this interview, Kurt and Blaine show the world who they are. They basically tell others to fuck off with the showbizz, because this is Kurt and Blaine. That’s it. They’re just two guys who love coffee.

They have lives, and friends, and families... they’re just two guys. This was just a wonderful chapter and I really started tearing up at the end of it. They mean so much to the fandom, how crazy it might seem. 

In those past five years, they’ve done so much for this world, and this is just like the last chapter of ATOG where people finally thank them for it. You realise how much they can do. Idols aren’t just some obsession. For some people, they’re the reason they’re alive.

And yes, you should thank them for that. We love them for that. I guess that fandom gets that like no others. I was kind of crying while reading their stories, but of course, I ended up laughing. Why?

he belongs with puckzilla :(

Chapter 34

"Sheet," she greets them with. "Mop."

I love you, Agent Sylvester.

"This way. Pleasant journey?" "You don't care," the Ghost says, Phalanx walking easy at his side after her. "No I don't." she confirms, striding on ahead of them. Five years on, they still don't really know how to navigate life under the unpredictable aegis of Agent Sue Sylvester.

You now get Kurt and Blaine’s POV of the last five years (not the musical), and it’s a bit different to them than to the fandom.

Five years on almost to the day that Blaine asked Kurt to marry him and Kurt, unpredictable, unimaginable Kurt, the man whose existence remains a mystery and miracle to Blaine every single day, said yes. Five years since they became Kurt-the-Ghost-Hummel, Blaine-Phalanx-Anderson, five years since their masks became a matter more of symbol than of safety. Five very long years of late nights and busy days, because they mean too much to people to ever be allowed to just be themselves, now; five years of all the politics of being super and gay in America today, five years of interviews and campaigning and photographers never leaving them alone and never being able to bring themselves to say no to charity work, five years of the tabloids and Twitter almost more dangerous to them than supervillains, five very long years in which they've worn each other's rings and never doubted their decision, not once, because the possibility of death every single night - and a slip of metal on the finger to confirm what actually matters - really keeps their priorities on their minds.

Like I said, their old lives are dead.

This is life now.

Let’s make the most of it, eh?

Three years ago, the night that both Blaine and Burt Hummel had been waiting for ever since they both found out that the person underneath that cloak was Kurt. Three years ago the night that they got separated but they knew what they were doing, they weren't panicking, Phalanx didn't rush to be back at his side. Three years ago that they interrupted a gang fight, and the Ghost found that the only thing he had to put between a fourteen year old kid and a gun was himself.

So much has happened in five years. The Ghost has been doing it for 12 years now, and Phalanx for 7. 

"You could have told me," was the first dry cracked thing he managed to whisper out, while Blaine stroked his cheeks, and watched his face from so urgently close, his still-here husband, alive in his hands. "What, angel?" he'd whispered back. Kurt swallowed, awkward with difficulty, and mumbled, "Being shot hurts." and then his breath of a laugh kicked him into a cough and Blaine told him not to and wanted to cry.

Yeah, life is weird, but everyone’s somewhat okay. They’ve managed to make it work. Their families are protected, their friends are working, the complex still exists.

He's Kurt's press guy. Even when he thinks he can't he still handles it, for him. When Kurt needs it, he always finds enough strength to still be his shield.

And family... it’s important. They’re about to find out why.

This marriage, and he knows it, is the best and most solid thing in both of their lives, those rings on their fingers trail the ghosts after them everywhere they go of the things they can never forget, the thing they can never forget, that nothing else can ever mean more to them than the other does. Blaine wants Kurt to haunt him forever. Blaine wants him to haunt him until they're both ghosts, nothing less will ever satisfy the hunger in his heart for him, the always-way he every day needs him, the ever ever ever of the after that he needs . . .

So many quotes, but they all matter.

Family.

Matters.

"Julio," Kurt says, very quietly. Blaine has to swallow down something so sore to say, because he does know that someone has to say it, "We ought to talk about this." "Mm," Kurt says, shifting his arm to hold Julio more securely to his chest. Both of them already know that that's all the talking about it that they'll ever do.

Kurt and Blaine... and Julio.

It’s right.

It all feels so right, like wow fuck. Kurt’s a different man now, and different enough to even talk to Will fucking Schuester of all people. But just like Incendiary all those years ago, the Ghost knows people need to talk sometimes.

Will looks back at him, face very still. Kurt wonders how many times someone has genuinely thanked that man, in his life.

Julio.

He’s theirs.

Rewind such little time and it was him and Blaine, dressing in their costumes, summoned to the complex for something almost inevitably dangerous and draining. Rewind such little time and he was marrying him, love of his life, making the two of them a we, forever. Rewind such little time and he watched him from underneath a dark hood, so afraid of what trust might cost him, so afraid of how that man could hurt him, so afraid . . . Rewind such little time and he was just a boy, alone, with no idea what he was doing except the things he had to do. Now he looks up and Blaine is looking down at them, hand on Kurt's shoulder just in case - he always trusts him to ghost him if he needs it - and the way he's looking at him. At them. At Kurt and Julio. At Kurt and their baby.

I am very emotional about this, okay.

Most grandparents get some warning. They know about the pregnancy, adoption is discussed, they get some warning. Kurt never does what's expected. Burt knows he could take his time but like hell he's going to take his time, he's a grandparent, just like that, his son is a father. Only thing he stops for on his way to the airport is the toy store; it's still a few hours before he's finally driven to that creepy base of theirs by agents, kind of nervous now, anxious, he remembers doing this in a hospital, waiting for the first glimpse while she gritted her teeth and snarled the scream and squeezed his hand so tight that his bones still remember it .

KURT SINGING BEATLES.

Biology couldn't make Kurt love that baby more.

I guess that this touched me the most. As someone who’s adopted and also spent a lot of time today thinking about adoption (I blame the wonderful girls of the Hearing Verse: Mei, Maddy, and Li), this just hit me a lot.

"We called Santana because we want him to grow up knowing Spanish and neither of us are fluent, and she yelled at us a while about how we can't just adopt a baby without thinking about it but then she went quiet and hung up I think to tell the entire rest of the team so they might all turn up tomorrow, we don't really know what's going to happen, we kind of - I put a statement out for the internet, we just went into a baby-bubble, he's really full-on, I think we'll kind of get more time to do other things when Kurt can stop needing to watch him sleep all the time like that? Because then we could sleep which would be -" he starts yawning again - "- amazing -"

Same for this, okay. It means so much to me that Kurt and Blaine still want to give Julio some connections with his past and his culture. Yeah, I tried learing Chinese, and I gave up, but it is so nice knowing my parents gave me that option in the first place (and I’m thinking about picking it up again).

And just like that, the story ends. In the best way possible, it ends with the internet.

A photograph of his back, hood down, head turned just slightly to the little dark baby's head tucked to the cloak over his shoulder. Only his eye in the mask watching the baby's face is visible; it's still obvious how he's smiling. Paternity leave. We'll let you guys know when we're back when we have half a clue ourselves. The family is very, very, very, very, very happy :) Blaine touches his back as he climbs into bed, sees the tired cracking of his eyes and kisses him on one to make him close it before it opens, and gets the lamp; and all around them, unheard in the silence, unseen in the dark, the ghost of the internet roars.

I know, judging from rainjoy’s long author comment, that some thought this ending was not what they expected and that it’s kinda heteronormative, but I agree with rainjoy.

Why do only straight people get happy endings like this?

Why are happy endings like this automatically seen as heteronormative in the first place?

The ending is quite open, because you really do not know what’s going to happen next. The Ghost and Phalanx are unpredictable and the story ends on a high note, but on an open one too. 

Another thing I liked from the author’s note is that rainjoy admits that there’s no given reason for Kurt’s problem 1. Just like Kurt and Blaine, you will never find out why this happened.

But just like Kurt and Blaine, you make peace with that.

I could say more about that author’s note, but really, all of that has been said before by me. This story... just... holy shit.

I wish I could find the words to describe this. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Grey is the only fanfic I call literature.

I want to be more elaborate, but I can’t. Maybe, after all this not toned-down stuff, I should just use the words of the fandom: OMFG I CANNOT EVNEJ FC I M CRTINGG????? PLS SEND HELPPP

#lb 2017 #the great atog reread #i feel dead inside #lb reading #atog grey

[thisdaynews]

How Peak TV Prepared All of Us for the Impeachment Hearings

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/how-peak-tv-prepared-all-of-us-for-the-impeachment-hearings/

How Peak TV Prepared All of Us for the Impeachment Hearings

Yes, it’s true, we’re living in a time of short attention spans and reality-show screaming matches, exploited by a president who measures success through the lens of TV ratings. But these televised hearings also come at a time when television has conditioned viewers to do much more than passively watch. The serial shows that fill the broadcast, cable and streaming channels—the phenomenon known among critics as Peak TV—have sprawling casts and rich dialogue, sympathetic antiheroes and complex storylines. They actively train viewers in feats of unprecedented engagement, driving a passionate fan ecosystem online, promising big payoffs if everyone can just sit through the slow parts.

So maybe TV hasn’t ruined us for politics, after all. Maybe, instead, it’s been preparing us for precisely this moment. That may even offer one explanation for why Trump supporters are likely to stick with him through the coming weeks: Nobody ends up winning our sympathy more than a Walter White or a Don Draper.

***

“Peak TV,” a term coined in 2015 by FX network chairman John Landgraf, referred to the dark underbelly of the Golden Age of Television: a glut of scripted programs across a growing list of networks, which Landgraf predicted would someday lead to a Darwinian winnowing-down. The challenge Landgraf named is, essentially, the same one some impeachment skeptics have raised: With so much competition for eyeballs, how can any new show gain attention, let alone traction?

One answer is to create the kind of rich, immersive series Landgraf’s network has specialized in, from “The Shield” and “Nip/Tuck” in the early aughts to challenging hits like “Sons of Anarchy,” “The Americans” and “American Horror Story.” These shows are kin to HBO’s groundbreaking dramas, from “The Wire” to “Game of Thrones” to “Watchmen;” AMC’s “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad;” ambitious network hits like “Lost.”

Nothing on that list is designed for casual viewing; watching a Golden Age show is a commitment, and following the byzantine plotlines requires both a healthy memory and a body of background knowledge. Sometimes, the media and fans create an online apparatus to help viewers keep it all straight. Often, episodes are followed by a flurry of recaps and podcasts and online conversations. And despite all the talk of Americans’ micro-attention spans and celebrity crushes, the serial drama shows no sign of fading. In 2018, there were nearly 500 scripted series across the TV landscape, and the crash Landgraf fears hasn’t yet come to pass.

It all represents a massive shift in viewing habits since the Watergate era, when there were three major networks plus PBS, and, of course, no livestreaming opportunities over a yet-to-be-invented internet. In 1974, interest in the Richard Nixon impeachment hearings was high—because of civic interest, to be sure, but it couldn’t have hurt that there wasn’t much else to watch. Some 70 to 80 percent of Americans reported that they tuned in for all or some of the hearings.

Over the years, TV audiences splintered as cable channels proliferated. There’s still no shortage of (or shame in) cheesy, easy, or mindless entertainment: “NCIS,” “America’s Got Talent,” and “The Masked Singer” earn some of the highest network ratings. But there’s also ample proof—in the recordbreaking viewership of “Game of Thrones,” in NBC’s willingness to invest in a sitcom about philosophy, in the growing audience for Hulu’s dystopian “Handmaid’s Tale”—that Americans will also flock to long, slow TV that requires their full attention.

So it shouldn’t be a big surprise that, by today’s scattered standards, the Trump impeachment hearings have done more than all right. About 13.1 million people tuned in to the midday programming across six major networks last Wednesday, when Ambassador Bill Taylor and George Kent testified; 12.73 million watched Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch on Thursday; another 13 million watched on Tuesday afternoon. (For reference: midday network soap operas draw 2 to 3 million viewers apiece, and “The Ellen Degeneres Show” draws about 4 million.) And while Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing drew an even more robust 20 million viewers across the networks, it’s worth remembering that the Kavanaugh hearing was a dramatic one-day affair, full of highly emotional testimony about allegations of sexual assault and alcohol—not the intricacies of the foreign service and national security apparatus.

“I think sometimes we don’t give the public enough credit” for paying attention to today’s impeachment process, says Arthur Sanders, a political science professor at Drake University who specializes in how media shapes public opinion. As the hearings continued, he predicted at the start, day-to-day viewership would ebb and flow, but interest would stay high.

That’s a sign, not just of civic engagement, but of stamina the public doesn’t often need to exercise, at a time when political scandals appear and disappear like fireflies on a summer night. Indeed, impeachment has been one of the first truly binge-worthy opportunities of the Trump era, and everything slow-burn TV has been preparing us for.

Peak TV has proven that viewers are perfectly capable of accepting that plot needs to be tempered with exposition, and the impeachment hearings fit this mold precisely.It’s fair, in retrospect, to think that the first day of hearings, featuring sober diplomats Taylor and Kent, laid the groundwork for more dramatic testimony to come—and it’s fair to wonder if Sondland’s testimony would have packed the same punch had it not been already established how the players fit together. The questioning from members is easier to follow when the action rises and falls, and there’s enough lawyerly case-building to counterbalance agitated rants from Reps. Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan.

The hearings have also given us a chance to latch onto quality characters, from fiery inquisitors like Jordan, Rep. Elise Stefanik and Rep. Sean Maloney to understated diplomats and civil servants like Yovanovitch and former top Russia adviser Fiona Hill. (Sondland, with his incendiary opening statement and his string of one-liners, seemed to view himself as a star player in a rollicking dramedy.) There have been a steady stream of viral moments when viewers collectively gasped, as when Yovanavitch reacted to Trump’s real-time tweet or Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman demanded that he be addressed with his military title. ( Ryan Murphy, when you create the inevitable miniseries, please cast John Hodgman as the Vindman twins.) And those characters have also been deployed in efficient, creative ways; like the president in “The West Wing,” who sometimes functioned as more of a symbol than a player, Trump has made an occasional high-impact cameo with a midday statement or a Twitter rant.

Like dialogue crafted in a writer’s room, the rhetoric sometimes manages to soar. There have been speeches about the value of America and truth that might as well have been penned by Aaron Sorkin: Vindman reassuring his Soviet-Union-born father that he won’t be punished for telling the truth in the United States, or Hill recounting the career opportunities the United States afforded a daughter of poor English coal miners. The members of the House Intelligence Committee seem to understand, implicitly, how to wring out those moments, or at least prep them for memes and sharing. On Tuesday, Maloney asked Vindman to re-read a dramatic part of his opening statement, presumably so that viewers who tuned in late could still experience the thrill.

Whether the public’s high attention will change public opinion is another question. As Sanders points out, the most engaged viewers are likely the most partisan: The most popular network for viewing the first week of hearings was Fox, followed by MSNBC, and those channels amounted to 43 percent of the TV viewership. Still, history suggests that, if people keep watching, their views could shift in one direction or another. With the Watergate hearings, public opinion changed in stages over time, as viewers followed the plotline and lost faith in Nixon. During the 1998 Bill Clinton impeachment hearings, Clinton’s public approval ratings actually rose as proceedings went on; Sanders says the public increasingly thought, “‘He had an affair, he probably lied about it, people lie about affairs all the time, so why are we going to remove him from office for that?’”

That’s clearly the outcome Trump is hoping for, and the conclusion Republicans are pushing. Their best hope is that casual viewers see Trump, if not as a lovable rogue, then at least as one of those prestige TV antiheroes. Those kinds of characters are what make serial dramas so intriguing; what draw people in; what make a series last. But from Stringer Bell to Jaime Lannister, the antiheroes tend to get their comeuppance in the end. And viewers are fine with that, too.

Read More

#Foreign #hearings #impeachment #Politics

[gyrlversion]

Leadsom tells May to demand Merkel supports a proper Brexit

Andrea Leadsom defied Theresa May and signalled a new Brexiteer revolt today as she urged the Prime Minister to use a trip to Berlin to demand a ‘proper Brexit‘.

The Commons Leader said Mrs May should tell Angela Merkel to make the EU re-write the Brexit divorce deal and tear up the Irish border backstop.

Following the first hammering of her deal, Mrs May asked the EU to reopen the deal to change the backstop – a provision designed to avoid a hard border in Ireland even if UK-EU trade talks fail – and was rebuffed.

Mrs Merkel herself has repeatedly said the deal, negotiated over the past two years, cannot be renegotiated. 

But Mrs Leadsom went rogue today and insisted she had heard ‘rumours’ the German government might finally be prepared to budge at the 11th hour.

Downing Street dismissed the plea as Mrs May’s spokesman said the PM ‘set out in her statement to Parliament last week that the EU has repeatedly said it cannot and will not reopen the withdrawal agreement’.  

In a further escalation of a Brexiteer revolt, Trade Secretary Liam Fox wrote to Tory MPs to insist a permanent customs union with the EU would be the ‘worst of both worlds’. 

The Government is in talks with Labour on changing the political declaration outlining the permanent trade deal amid claims she could concede a customs union. 

The day was capped with a huge Tory rebellion on Mrs May’s proposed second delay to Brexit.

There were 97 Tory votes against the plan to delay Brexit until the end of June, with an early escape if the deal passes. Another 80 MPs – including Mrs Leadsom and Dr Fox – abstained as the measure passed 420-110 with Labour votes.

As the revolt broken out in London today, Mrs May travelled to Berlin and Paris to beg for help as she asks for a second delay to Brexit. 

Andrea Leadsom (pictured in Westminster today) defied Theresa May and signalled a new Brexiteer revolt today as she urged the Prime Minister to use a trip to Berlin to demand a ‘proper Brexit’

The Commons Leader said Mrs May should tell Angela Merkel (pictured greeting Mrs May in Berlin today) to make the EU re-write the Brexit divorce deal and tear up the Irish border backstop

Ahead of the showdown, Mrs Leadsom said: ‘What I think would be fantastic if Angela Merkel will try to support a proper UK Brexit by agreeing to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement.

What is a customs union and what could happen if we are in one after Brexit?

The customs union has emerged as possibly the last crucial battleground in the political war over Brexit.

The customs arrangements could decide the fate of the overall deal – as the UK has already said it will ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. 

But it has proved a major bone of contention for Brexiteers, with many publicly and privately voicing their fury at it. 

The are furious that adopting one would keep us far too closely aligned with Brussels but without any say over our international trade policy.

What is the EU customs union?

The customs union allows the EU states to exchange goods without tariffs, and impose common tariffs on imports from outside the bloc.  

But they also prevent countries from striking deals outside the union on their own.

Theresa May has repeatedly made clear that the UK will be leaving the customs union, while Labour says it wants to replicate it but without being in it.

How would that work? 

Some MPs and the Labour leadership have raised the idea of creating a new customs union with the EU.

This could be looser than the existing arrangements, but still allow tariff free trade with the bloc. 

Labour’s alternative plan also suggested that it would also be possible to be in a customs union and influence EU trade deals.

However this is against EU law and the party  has not explained how this would work.

Many Eurosceptics believe it is impossible to be in a union without hampering the UK’s ability to strike trade deals elsewhere.

They also complain that it would mean accepting the EU’s ‘protectionist’ tariffs against other parts of the world in areas like agriculture.

The most high profile of these is International Trade Secretary Liam Fox – whose job would be pointless if we were in a customs union.

The PM has also ruled out this option but there are signs that she is wavering as she seeks a way out of the current Brexit chaos engulfing Westminster.

‘There have been rumours over the weekend that some senior members of the German government would be willing to do that in order to get Theresa May’s deal across the line.

‘If we could get the prime minister’s deal over the line because the EU have decided to support measures on the backstop then that would be the best possible outcome.’

But ahead of the talks German EU minister Michael Roth played down hopes of a shift from Berlin. He said: ‘It’s groundhog day again. 

‘Unfortunately I have to say that the conditions the European council has decided on in its last meeting have not been met. This means time will run out on 12 April.’ 

He added: ‘Of course the EU continues to be willing to talk, there is also a letter by the prime minister, May.

‘We will very carefully have to look at this letter. We are finally expecting substantial steps in the right direction. So far absolutely nothing has changed.

‘Of course we are also thinking about such a deadline extension, including a long extension of the deadline, but this also has to come with very strict criteria.

‘For example, it cannot be that there are speculations without an obligation of the British side to also partake in the European elections. Therefore we are in a very frustrating situation and the EU has to finally also take care of issues of the future.

‘We might also have to give the British side time so they can finally be clear about what they actually want. Apparently the very late talks with the British opposition have not led to any progress whatsoever either.’

In March, the EU formalised new ‘assurances’ on how the backstop would work, attaching two new documents to the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated by the EU’s Michel Barnier and UK officials. 

But the papers were not enough to convince Attorney General Geoffrey Cox to change his legal advice there was a risk the backstop could last forever if trade talks falter.

The backstop effectively ties the UK into the EU customs union between the end of the planned two-year transition period and the start of a permanent trade deal. 

Brexiteers hate it because they fear it will be the basis of that trade deal – meaning no post-Brexit trade deals – and it will be impossible to leave if trade talks fail.

The DUP also say the protocol creates a border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland because the province would have to stay inside additional single market rules.

In a further escalation of a Brexiteer revolt, Trade Secretary Liam Fox (pictured yesterday in Downing Street) wrote to Tory MPs to insist a permanent customs union with the EU would be the ‘worst of both worlds’

The second Brexiteer intervention today from Dr Fox came in an incendiary letter to the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs.

It comes ahead of renewed talks between Mrs May’s deputy David Lidington and shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer today on a possible cross-party consensus.

Talks are thought to be focused on whether a form of customs union could be acceptable enough to both parties to pass the main Withdrawal Agreement with Labour votes.

But in a letter revealed by the Telegraph, Dr Fox told Tory MPs: ‘We would be stuck in the worst of both Worlds, not only unable to set our own international trade policy but subject, without representation, to the policy of an entity over which MPs would have no democractic control.

‘This is something that Labour do not presently seem to understand. As I said at the meeting, in such a scenario the UK would have a new role in the global trading system.

‘We would ourselves be traded. As the famous saying in Brussels goes, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.’

Mrs Leadsom’s intervention will be widely seen as manoevering ahead of the expected Tory leadership race.

She lost out to Mrs May almost three years ago after a scandal over remarks to a newspaper that she would be a better PM because she was a mother. 

Mrs Leadsom’s intervention will be widely seen as manoevering ahead of the expected Tory leadership race. Rivals (from left) Tom Tughendhat, Penny Mordaunt and Matt Hancock were also out today at event for the Onward think tank 

What is the Irish border backstop and why do Tory MPs hate it? 

The so-called Irish border backstop is one of the most controversial parts of the PM’s Brexit deal. This is what it means: 

What is the backstop? 

The backstop was invented to meet promises to keep open the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland even if there is no comprehensive UK-EU trade deal.

The divorce deal says it will kick in automatically at the end of the Brexit transition if that deal is not in place.

If effectively keeps the UK in a customs union with the EU and Northern Ireland in both the customs union and single market.

This means many EU laws will keep being imposed on the UK and there can be no new trade deals. It also means regulatory checks on some goods crossing the Irish Sea. 

Why have Ireland and the EU demanded it? 

Because Britain demanded to leave the EU customs union and single market, the EU said it needed guarantees people and goods circulating inside met EU rules.

This is covered by the Brexit transition, which effectively maintains current rules, and can in theory be done in the comprehensive EU-UK trade deal.

But the EU said there had to be a backstop to cover what happens in any gap between transition and final deal.  

Why do critics hate it? 

Because Britain cannot decide when to leave the backstop. 

Getting out – even if there is a trade deal – can only happen if both sides agree people and goods can freely cross the border.

Brexiteers fear the EU will unreasonably demand the backstop continues so EU law continues to apply in Northern Ireland.  

Northern Ireland MPs also hate the regulatory border in the Irish Sea, insisting it unreasonably carves up the United Kingdom. 

What concessions did Britain get in negotiating it? 

During the negotiations, Britain persuaded Brussels the backstop should apply to the whole UK and not just Northern Ireland. Importantly, this prevents a customs border down the Irish Sea – even if some goods still need to be checked.

The Government said this means Britain gets many of the benefits of EU membership after transition without all of the commitments – meaning Brussels will be eager to end the backstop. 

It also got promises the EU will act in ‘good faith’ during the future trade talks and use its ‘best endeavours’ to finalise a deal – promises it says can be enforced in court.

What did the legal advice say about it? 

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said even with the EU promises, if a trade deal cannot be reached the backstop could last forever.

This would leave Britain stuck in a Brexit limbo, living under EU rules it had no say in writing and no way to unilaterally end it.  

  The post Leadsom tells May to demand Merkel supports a proper Brexit appeared first on Gyrlversion.

from WordPress https://www.gyrlversion.net/leadsom-tells-may-to-demand-merkel-supports-a-proper-brexit/

#Entertainment News

[global-news-station]

NEW YORK: A noted Indian journalist says he holds Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “militaristic approach” responsible for the increasing killings in occupied-Kashmir, and blamed him and his Hindu nationalist party of now exploiting the deaths of paramilitary soldiers in Pulwama for political gains ahead of the national elections.

Hartosh Singh Bal, a seasoned journalist, wrote in an article published in The New York Times Sunday that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has governed India and been part of the local government in occupied Kashmir as well, thus controlling India’s policy approaches to the “disputed, conflict-torn region,” reported the APP.

“Mr Modi embraced a militaristic approach and shunned a political process involving dialogue with people in Kashmir,” Bal wrote in the op-ed.

“Consequently, the number of civilian and security personnel killed in the region have increased, and a growing number of young Kashmiris, like Adil Dar, the 19-year-old, joined militant groups,” he said.

Read: Complete shutdown being observed in occupied Kashmir today

The Indian journalist wrote: “These are inconvenient facts for Mr Modi, who has continually attacked India’s opposition parties for being soft on terror and compromising national security. As the deaths of the soldiers come three months before a general election, an honest evaluation of Mr Modi’s failed policy should have led to him to being held accountable.

“Such questions, naturally, receded into the background in the immediate aftermath of the Kashmir bombing, in a national outpouring of grief. Before those pertinent questions would return to the national conversation, Mr Modi spun the bad news to his advantage by turning the grief into an emotive and prolonged commemoration of the deaths of the soldiers.

“As Indian television networks followed the coffins of the slain troops draped in the Indian flag on their final journey home, Mr Modi’s party directed its senior leaders to attend the cremations, which were telecast live. The funerals became occasions for patriotic avowals, some genuine, some orchestrated, as politicians sought to ensure they were part of the frame.

“Mr Modi ratcheted up the rhetoric against Pakistan and suggested that India would retaliate militarily. ‘Security forces have been given complete freedom, the blood of the people is boiling,’ he said.

“On social media and television networks, retired military generals, such as G.D. Bakshi, echoed Mr Modi’s words and described the bombing in Kashmir as an act of war. ‘They started it but we will finish it,’ he said.

“The venerable Cricket Club of India, a colonial institution founded in 1933, decided to do its part by draping a portrait of Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, which had been put up to honor his cricketing feats in the last century.

“The mourning took on a more sinister note as gangs of young men started parading the streets of many Indian cities, including New Delhi, shouting slogans directed at Pakistan and ‘anti-nationals’ — the preferred term of the Hindu nationalists for perceived foes and undesirables ranging from liberals to Muslims.

“Several Hindu nationalist affiliates of Mr Modi’s party led a campaign that targeted students from Kashmir studying in educational institutions across India. They managed to extract promises from a few colleges that they would not admit Kashmiri students,” he wrote.

“Mr Modi and his party seem to be working on a template of exploiting calamitous deaths that they have used before. In February 2002, soon after he took over as chief minister of the western Indian state of Gujarat, a train carrying Hindu religious volunteers was allegedly set on fire in the town of Godhra by a group of Muslims. Fifty-nine people died.

“Mr Modi ensured the bodies of the dead were taken to the Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state, and paraded through the city. Violence broke out soon after. Hindu mobs fueled by incendiary rhetoric from leaders of organizations affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, targeted homes and businesses owned by Muslims. Over a thousand people were killed, over 700 of them Muslims,” he recalled.

Also read: Sikhs in India open their doors for Kashmiris; offer them food, protection

“Mr Modi is at his political best with an electoral campaign run on sectarian and polarizing themes. Before the attack in Kashmir, he was facing an opposition campaign dominated by questions about unemployment being the highest in 45 years and distress in Indian villages. His party had already lost state elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, partly as a result of an acute farm crisis in India.”

“In 1999, I was working as a reporter in the northern state of Punjab. I covered the cremations of soldiers who had died in Kargil in the war between India and Pakistan. Each body draped in the Indian flag was accompanied by a soldier from the fallen man’s unit, he recalled, adding “Those men were angry with the government and willing to speak on record with their names and ranks about being been sent to battle in the icy Himalayan mountains without proper equipment to shield them from the cold and the snow.”

When I wrote their stories, my editors refused to publish them and argued that it was not the time to report such things because they were damaging to the ‘national interest,’ he recounted.

The post ‘Modi’s “militaristic approach” responsible for occupied-Kashmir deaths,’ Indian journalist writes in NYT appeared first on ARYNEWS.

https://ift.tt/2U4ongU

#World News

[funnythingshere0-blog]

It's not just the economy, stupid: Trump and Turnbull know it too well

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It's not just the economy, stupid: Trump and Turnbull know it too well

“Well, we have the greatest economy in the history of our country. But sometimes it’s not as exciting to talk about the economy.”

Trump thought it was more exciting to talk about the 15,000 troops he’d ordered to the Mexican border to halt an “invasion” by immigrants.

Illustration: Jim PavlidisCredit:

More exciting to talk about how they might shoot the caravan heading for that border in the event that one throws a rock: “We will consider that a firearm. Because there’s not much difference.”

More exciting to threaten an end to the centuries-old constitutional right to birthright citizenship, which he mocked as “ridiculous”.

And when his party officials proposed that they finish the campaign with ads celebrating the economic “Morning in America”, Trump instead endorsed an untruthful ad demonising immigrants as cop-killers, an ad so incendiary that US TV networks refused to air it.

“They argue it’s ‘morning in America,’ but in their ads, it’s not morning in America,” a San Francisco University political scientist, Ken Goldstein, told USA Today long before the final phase of the campaign. He’d picked up a strong theme of attack ads and negativity in Republican ads earlier and wider than the final abortive effort. In American politics, the phrase about morning recalls the campaign of Republican hero Ronald Reagan, optimist.

But Trump, demagogue, wasn’t content with economic good news. He conjured fear and hate as well.

On the other side of the world, literally as well as figuratively, was Malcolm Turnbull. He had to accept that presiding over an economic boom was insufficient for him to hold the prime ministership.

The former prime minister set out the basics during his appearance on the ABC’s Q&A show on Thursday: “The economy was strong. It’s one of the things I’m most proud of. When I became prime minister, I said I would deliver economic leadership.

“In the 2016 election, I campaigned on delivering jobs and growth. And we delivered both. Record jobs growth. The strongest jobs growth, in fact, in our nation’s history. Strong economic growth – the envy of the developed world.”

The booming economy wasn’t enough for US President Donald Trump or his base.Credit:AP

Australians generally scoff at the notion that their country could be successful, but Turnbull was not making it up. The British magazine The Economist last month published a cover story on Australia under the headline: “Aussie Rules: What the World Can Learn from Australia.”

It said that Australia’s economy “is arguably the most successful in the rich world. It has been growing for 27 years without a recession – a record for a developed country. Its cumulative growth over that period is almost three times what Germany has managed. The median income has risen four times faster than in America. Public debt, at 41 per cent of GDP, is less than half Britain’s.”

Yet here was Turnbull, forced out of the leadership by his own party in the midst of this success. How could they? He professed to be baffled. He shouldn’t have been.

Economic good times have been insufficient qualification for prime ministers to hold their jobs and for governments to hold power in Australia for a decade now.

Beginning in 2007, every prime ministerial coup, every electoral loss in Australia has taken place against the same backdrop of economic success. Until Australia casually discarded the Howard government, the voters had rewarded every postwar government that presided over good economic conditions.

Malcolm Turnbull on Q&A.Credit:ABC

But the longer the boom runs, the less credit governments seem to get. You need to be 45 years old to have any adult memory of a recession in Australia. The median age of an Australian is 36. Economic growth just seems to be automatic, even inevitable.

Economic growth was a golden thread that bound the people to their governments. For the last decade it has remained a credential but a threadbare one. It is necessary but insufficient for political success, even in the most economically successful country on earth. It’s the political paradox of Australia’s prosperity – the more it gets, the less appreciative it feels.

So what happened in America? Trump, it seemed, was responding to the needs of his hardcore supporters, his so-called “base”. A Democrat pollster, Celinda Lake, explained that voters in the president’s blue-collar base “are less likely to think the economy is doing better. The economy doesn’t do anything to energise their base,” she said. Trump promised to bring back the factories and the jobs in rustbelt America. He hasn’t.

So he hit the xenophobia button hard and his “base” responded. He kept their loyalty in the midterms. But this came at a price.

“The problem is Republicans have a good story to tell in the economy, but the Republican with the largest microphone only wants to go on these rants about immigration,” a veteran Republican adviser, Mike Murphy, told The New York Times. In the process, he was “managing to offend every swing voter in the country”.

And these were the voters, notably suburban women, who had supported Trump two years ago but turned against his party this week. As a result, the Democratic Party today controls the House. So the appeal to hate and fear kept the Republican base but lost the centre.

If Trump had accepted Paul Ryan’s advice, would the Republicans have done better? We’ll never know.

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And in Australia? Scott Morrison now confronts the same puzzle that Turnbull confronted. The economy is humming along but the government is behind in the polls. Even further behind than it was under Turnbull.

What should he do? Do as Trump did and hit the xenophobia button? Some among his party’s right-wing realm will urge him to.

But Australia is a very different place. Voting in America is optional.

A US political campaign has two tasks – first it has to win over a voter to political candidate, and then it has to motivate her to actually take the trouble to go to a polling booth on election day. Always a Tuesday, incidentally, to make it even more inconvenient.

That means campaigns need to reach deep into the viscera of the voter. To grab their deep fears or passions, their most powerful hopes and their hatreds.

An Australian campaign has but one task. To win over a voter. Because she’s going to vote in any case. It’s compulsory to turn out to vote. There’s no need for extremes.

Indeed, as the American midterm experience shows, extremes aren’t necessarily guaranteed to succeed even in that country because they can offend as easily as they can inflame. In Australia, an extreme American-style campaign is not only unnecessary. It would most likely backfire badly.

So what can an Australian conservative prime minister do? Is there a way to harness economic success to pull a political wagon? The longtime Liberal polling guru Mark Textor says that for economic prosperity “to have meaning, you have to contemplate its loss. They say in the movie industry you need to have tension. If it’s all love, there’s no tension. If there’s no tension, there’s no drama, if there’s no drama, there’s no memorability.”

The standard shtick is for the Liberals to pretend that a Labor government will ruin the economy. Turnbull ran this one on Q&A: “My concern was to keep Labor out of government and to keep a strong Liberal government in power that was able to deliver on the economic growth, the jobs, the opportunities that I’d promised.”

Yawn. No one believes this tired routine, former prime minister. Labor held power for six years under Rudd and Gillard. The economy continued to thrive. So it has to be something else.

Textor’s advice: “You have to focus on an issue that has meaning. If you want to wedge both Labor and One Nation, you have to have a retail economic issue. The best way to do that is on tax because the Coalition has a good record on tax and tax reform.”

He means personal income tax cuts. He doesn’t mean the $10 a week that Morrison offered in his last budget. He means something bigger, aimed at the middle income bracket inhabited by swinging voters. “Taxation cannot be an ideological issue – it has to be an issue of personal relevance and direct impact.”

And if Labor immediately neutralises it, by matching it, as their would surely do? “Then you have a real tax argument,” Textor tells me. “It’s what Liberals should be about.”

Of course, to offer a reasonably big tax cut would be costly to the budget, and that would immediately jeopardise Morrison’s promise to return the budget to surplus. How to square that circle?

Morrison could consider a broader plan of tax reform that would allow him to improve the whole system – abolish some tax concessions for special interests so he could offer tax cuts for the people, for instance. That was something Turnbull was too frightened to try. That could be exciting.

Peter Hartcher is the political editor and international editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a Gold Walkley award winner, a former foreign correspondent in Tokyo and Washington, and a visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy.

Source: https://www.smh.com.au/national/it-s-not-just-the-economy-stupid-trump-and-turnbull-know-it-too-well-20181109-p50f53.html