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tomorrowusa · 1 month

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Bad news for Republicans: violent crime is down across most of the US.

Donald Trump and far right media want people to believe there is a massive crime wave sparked by hordes of bloodthirsty migrants charging in waves across the southern border. In fact, the spike in crime which began with Trump's botched response to the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

To hear the latest version of Donald Trump’s “American carnage” narrative of a country lost without him, you would think law-abiding citizens are cowering in their homes or stockpiling weapons to deal with a massive crime wave that’s due to illegal border crossings caused by various nations emptying their prisons and by leftist “Soros-funded” prosecutors gleefully opening our own penitentiaries. The idea of an ongoing crime wave is incorporated into all sorts of MAGA rhetoric, including claims that prosecutors pursuing cases against Trump in New York, Atlanta, Florida, and Washington, D.C., should instead be frantically trying and jailing predators who are cavorting on the streets. The alleged threat of murderous “animals” who entered the country illegally has been crystalized by Republican agitprop about the tragic death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered while jogging, allegedly by an undocumented Venezuelan migrant. But graphic, horrifying anecdotal evidence does not an actual crime wave make. And the more we learn about what’s actually happening in our major cities, the clearer it is that the surge in violent crime that did occur during the COVID-19 pandemic continues to subside. The COVID crime surge largely ended in 2022. Then the incidence of murder and other violent crimes dropped significantly in 2023, according to preliminary federal data, as CNN recently reported:

Fact check: Trump falsely claims US crime stats are only going up. Most went down last year, including massive drop in murder

To the degree that migrants are involved in criminal activity can now be attributed to Trump's blockage of border security legislation in the House by his spineless minions on Capitol Hill.

Bipartisan border deal hits legislative wall as Republicans say they will block bill

Republicans are now officially the owners of border chaos – not the solution to it.

Back to the featured article...

[W]hen a long upward trend in crime during the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s — a true crime wave — finally came to an end, then dramatically reversed. The current numbers are beginning to show that we’re more than likely in a long period of stable (and, by past standards, relatively low) crime rates that were briefly interrupted by the many dislocations the pandemic caused in American life (and police effectiveness). So the myth of a deadly threat to Americans stemming from liberal policies on the border and in the justice system is mostly just that. Perceptions of public safety, of course, aren’t always in line with objective reality, and violent crime is horrifying even if it’s not as prevalent as law-and-order demagogues suggest. An October 2023 Gallup survey that coincided with growing evidence of dropping crime rates showed 77 percent of Americans agreed there was “more crime” in the country than in the previous year.

Spectacular crime stories are always going to grab headlines. If it bleeds, it leads has been one of the mainstays of American journalism for centuries. You'll never see a headline in the NY Post like Murder Rate Plummets!.

One thing that is often overlooked is that the "long upward trend in crime during the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s" mentioned in the article came to an end in the 1990s during the Clinton administration.

For ideological reasons, Democrats have been too restrained about publicizing their own law and order successes. As with the 1990s, another drop in crime is taking place under a Democratic administration – despite GOP attempts to exploit individual incidents of crime.

Donald Trump himself is a "one man crime wave".

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#dropping crime rates #law and order #crime #murder rate #donald trump #american carnage #trump border chaos #trump covid-19 spike in crime #trump administration's botched response to covid-19 #trump is a one man crime wave #republicans #election 2024 #vote blue no matter who #Youtube

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mariacallous · 6 months

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Moments before the kickoff of the 118th United States Congress in January, incoming GOP leaders ripped down Nancy Pelosi’s post-insurrection magnetometers, which had stopped at least one Republican, Representative Andy Harris of Maryland, from entering the House floor with a handgun. The first meeting of the House Natural Resources Committee, held on February 1, devolved into partisan vitriol as Republicans reversed an explicit ban on members bringing firearms into their hearings. Soon, AR-15 pins started popping up on rank-and-file lapels. Then, two weeks later, a bill was introduced to make the mass-shooter-approved AR-15 the “national gun of the United States.”

This may be Joe Biden’s Washington, but the US Capitol appears to be, once again, under the firm grip of the gun lobby. With repeated threats of federal government defaults and shutdowns consuming Washington throughout 2023, little attention has been paid to specific agency-by-agency spending proposals, including a House Republican proposal to zero out funding for gun violence research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That effort, part of a House appropriations bill, was postponed after Congress passed a short-term extension to fund the federal government into early next year. But that doesn't mean it won't return then, with powerful Republican lawmakers painting the CDC's research as overtly partisan.

“I think it may have a political component, and that's my concern,” Representative Robert Aderholt, an Alabama Republican, tells WIRED. He’s known as a cardinal on Capitol Hill because he chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, which is tasked with producing the nation’s largest domestic funding measure, including control of the CDC’s budget, each year.

The powerful appropriator isn’t thoroughly versed in the gun violence research his subcommittee is trying to defund, but Aderholt is skeptical anyway. “If it were just honest, innocent research, then I wouldn’t have a problem,” Aderholt says. “But I have some concerns with the way that it’s being handled under this administration.”

Thing is, no one really knows what story the CDC research will tell. It’s only been around for three years after nearly a quarter-century of congressional prohibition under the 1996 Dickey Amendment, which essentially barred the CDC from examining the roots of the uniquely American scourge of gun violence.

“This is about public health,” Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the labor committee, tells WIRED. “We haven’t had it for 20 years. Think about all the research that was done about seatbelts and prevention. So I think about what’s happening with the uptick in gun violence, which is unbelievable … we need to do the research to help us be able to prevent that.”

In 2018, lawmakers upended the Dickey Amendment, explicitly clarifying that the will of Congress is for the CDC to research the contemporary weaponization of America. But federal dollars—which, contrary to GOP concerns, are still strictly forbidden from being used to promote gun control—didn’t start flowing to researchers until 2021. Democrats have pushed for $50 million annually to research America’s second-leading cause of death for people 18 years old or younger. (The first is motor vehicle accidents, which Congress devoted $109.7 million to research in the 2022 fiscal year.) But for the past three years, they’ve only been able to squeeze $25 million a year—split between the CDC and National Institutes of Health—out of Republican senators.

With more than 39,000 gun-related deaths so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, America’s on pace to endure another record-setting amount of carnage by year’s end, which you wouldn’t know from the giddily gun-friendly mood on the House side of the Capitol. “I think the Republicans are just nuts on this, you know, the extremes,” Mike Thompson, a Democratic representative from California, tells WIRED. Nuts or not, Republicans control the House.

Even through the tears stemming from America’s recent uptick in gun violence—including homicides, suicides, and mass shootings—the past three years have been an exciting time for researchers in this space, because when the federal government leads, university research follows. The two-plus decades drought has rippled through academia.

“People weren't going into this field because you couldn't make a career in it,” Andrew Morral, who runs RAND Corporation’s Gun Policy in America Initiative, tells WIRED. “It’s the kind of thing where it takes a fair amount of research before you start getting believable findings. I mean, you can have a study or two that show something, but in social science, it's very hard for one or two studies to persuade anyone.”

Morral is also director of the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research, which is philanthropically endowed with $21 million earmarked for firearm violence prevention research. A few years back, he led a conference with “30 to 100 people.” At the start of the month, when they held their annual meeting in Chicago, there were 750 attendees, including some 300 presenters whose studies ranged from how “guns provide access to sources of life meaning” for some Floridians to whether there’s any correlation between heat waves and shootings.

“A lot of new questions are being asked and new ways of looking at things—this just wasn't possible five years ago,” Morral says. “There [are] people coming into the field now, and that's what the money is doing. It's making it possible to get this field launched. There's a lot of low-hanging fruit here, but it's going to take a lot of research to start getting persuasive findings and it's starting to happen.”

In the wake of horrific mass shootings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, last year, before the GOP recaptured the House, Congress passed the sweeping Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), aimed at improving the nation’s background check system, stymieing gun traffickers, protecting domestic violence survivors, and enhancing mental health services in local communities and schools from coast to coast.

The measure includes billions for mental health, $250 million for community violence intervention programs, and $300 million for violence prevention in the nation’s schools. It also recognizes the federal deficiency in school safety research by creating a Federal School Safety Clearinghouse, envisioned as a repository for the best “evidence-based” research for keeping violence off American school grounds.

That best-practices clearinghouse for schools was a GOP-sponsored provision that made it into the BSCA, but, as WIRED reported last summer, studying gun violence wasn’t a part of negotiations on the measure aimed at curbing gun violence. This latest effort by House Republicans to effectively bar the CDC from researching gun violence has social scientists worried about the real-life consequences of turning off the federal funding tap again. The two Senate Republicans who negotiated the BSCA aren’t worried.

“People misuse research every day,” Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, tells WIRED. The other Republican who had a seat at the head table for last summer’s gun negotiations is one of minority leader Mitch McConnell’s top lieutenants, John Cornyn of Texas—a leading contender for replacing the ailing GOP leader in the Senate—who shrugs off CDC gun violence research. “I don't think there's any shortage of research in that area,” Cornyn tells WIRED. But he bifurcates gun violence research from gun violence prevention. “We haven't been able to figure out how to solve all the crimes. Basically, we've tried to deter them, we've tried to investigate and prosecute them, but we haven't been able to figure out how to prevent them. So that's the basic problem, I think.”

Democrats agree. They also say the reason for that “basic problem” is clear: The CDC—through the chilling effect the federal prohibition had on academia over 24 years—has failed to foster a robust research environment to accompany America’s robust gun culture. But Democrats aren’t looking to pass reforms this Congress. Sure, they want to. But the House is barely performing at its normal rate of functional-dysfunctionality these days (just ask newly-former House speaker Kevin McCarthy). Senate Democrats are willing to have a gun violence prevention debate, but as of now, many say there’s no reason to try and debate House Republicans.

“They're not writing bills that are designed to pass the Senate in order to get signed by the president. They're literally throwing red meat to the fringe on every conceivable issue. That's just not serious,” Senator Chris Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat who was at the center of last summer’s gun reform negotiations, tells WIRED. “At some point, they're going to have to figure out how to pass a bill with us, but they haven't reached that space yet.”

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 9 months

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By Kirk Swearingen

In the face of what seems like endless gun carnage in the U.S., Republican politicians call for more mental health funding even while withholding it. Not only are there now more guns than people in this country, many Republicans and the right-wing media continue to profit by leading people, especially younger men, to despair.

They're projecting their own unexamined mental health issues on others. As Salon's Amanda Marcotte has often pointed out, for Republicans it seems that every accusation is a confession.

When Donald Trump and his confederates claim that Democrats cheat in elections, that's what is known as a tell, since cheating at elections is precisely what they themselves are trying their best (or worst) to do.

When Ivy League–educated Republicans attack the liberal "elite." When Trump Republicans profess outrage about the "Biden crime family." When the malignant narcissist who formerly occupied the White House claims that liberals (whom he claims are "socialists," "radicals" or "Marxists") are out to destroy the country. Every accusation is a confession.

So Republican politicians and their media allies call for more mental health spending as a supposed solution to the gun violence crisis, one suspects that's a reflection of their own mental strain in championing an absurd interpretation of the Second Amendment and steadfastly ignoring the fact that people in other large Western nations have issues with mental health too, but for some reason don't shoot each other, or themselves, nearly as often.

Many men who vote Republican, it seems, are too focused on propping up their fragile masculinity to seek help in any case. (It might make them look like "betas.") Far too often, a right-wing man gets so worked up about a perceived threat to his manliness that he goes on a shooting rampage with assault-style weapons, which the Supreme Court has helpfully explained is every American's God-given right, under the twisted logic that there was no "history or tradition" in the 18th century of prohibiting high-powered firearms that hadn't been invented.

So many American conservatives live in a seemingly incessant state of fear — about books and experts and science and liberals and immigrants and independent women and people of color and people with different sexual preferences or gender identities — that it's no wonder they appear mentally and emotionally unhealthy. Then there are the evangelical and fundamentalist Christians who form the most reliable MAGA Republican base: Their alleged belief in Jesus Christ has become so warped they now perceive their savior in the person of our twice-impeached, four-times-indicted ex-president. None of this signals a group of well-adjusted human beings. The HBO series "The Righteous Gemstones," a dark comedy about shallow, grifting televangelists stunted and spoiled by wealth, has to work hard to outdo what we see at Trump rallies.

Come on, it's not like we weren't warned about all this. Remember Trump's infamous 2016 response to Hillary Clinton: "No puppet, no puppet … You're the puppet!" Did that sound like a mentally well-adjusted adult? Or an adult of any kind? How about this lovely Mother's Day greeting, earlier this year. Who defends themselves against allegations of criminal actions by saying, "I'm a legitimate person"? Who frequently posts in all caps on social media, flinging incomprehensible accusations at political opponents?

As for anti-"woke" warrior Ron DeSantis, his campaign against Trump appears to be a spectacular failure, even as he apparently mimics Trump's fragile ego, accompanying vindictiveness and bizarre obsession with manliness. Like "personality" Tucker Carlson's 2022 special on "The End of Men," DeSantis' anti-Pride video was pretty darned homoerotic.

Along with the right-wing cable news machine profiting by actively diminishing the mental acuity of its viewers, "manfluencer" grifters like Andrew Tate, selling "alpha male" misogyny to lonely, insecure young men, have made fortunes encouraging them to become misogynistic white nationalists — essentially mini-Trumps, but with actual muscle tone (not just in risible fantasy). It's good to see some mentally healthy young people fight back with satire.

When a serial liar and hatemonger like Trump remains the choice of a large majority of Republican voters even after two impeachments, an ever-growing count of felony indictments and an ongoing attempted coup; when voters send deeply unserious, dysfunctional or delusional individuals to Congress as their representatives; when fascist-fanboy Governors like DeSantis and Greg Abbott model their states after authoritarian regimes and deploy stochastic terrorism to put marginalized populations at risk of violence, is it any wonder that ordinary citizens feel permanently on edge, in a state of chronic existential dread?

But the right won't give up — I don't mean on issues of principle or policy, since it doesn't have any, but in its crusade to "own the libs," take rights away from people who are not like them and enforce theocratic minority rule. In fact, that mean-spirited crusade is the basis of the right's tribal identity. As Adam Serwer of The Atlantic famously pointed out some time ago, the cruelty is the point:

“Taking joy in that suffering is more human than most would like to admit. Somewhere on the wide spectrum between adolescent teasing and the smiling white men in the lynching photographs are the Trump supporters whose community is built by rejoicing in the anguish of those they see as unlike them, who have found in their shared cruelty an answer to the loneliness and atomization of modern life.”

As I reread those lines, I think back to the cheering and laughter of the Trump supporters during CNN's pathetic "town hall" rally for Trump in May, as he turned in his typical shameless performance of lies, bluster, bullying and whining. Here's a suggested campaign slogan: "Trump 2024: Come for the Lying, Stay for the Crying." As Salon contributor Mike Lofgren has observed, the GOP's "heart of darkness" has moved beyond just whining; They want retribution, payback for all the real or perceived slights they have suffered, and they believe only their cult leader can deliver it.

Brian Klaas, a professor of global politics at University College London, writes that we end up with bad people in power so often for three main reasons: power acts as a magnet for corruptible people (often "Machiavellian narcissists, perhaps with a dash of psychopathy thrown in too"); holding power tends to corrupt people; we tend to give people power for the wrong reasons.

"Corruptible people are disproportionately drawn to power, disproportionately good at wriggling their way into it and disproportionately likely to cling to it once they've got it," Klaas notes. We can fix this, he argues, by fixing our political system, recruiting better candidates and instituting real accountability for wrongdoing. Good systems, he says, attract good people. Fighting corruption is an integral part of the Democratic Playbook published by the Brookings Institution. A political system dominated by money, "dark" or otherwise, is not working.

Most politicians would not entertain the thought that they are mentally unwell. They are simply playing the game; looking to gain advantage in any way that works and is not blatantly illegal (with some notable exceptions. But does that kind of Machiavellian behavior, part of the "dark triad," suggest a well-functioning mind and spirit? We too often shrug at politics, accepting the narrative that it's just a game. But it's not; it is freedom or tyranny, dignity or subjugation, life or death.

Those who dehumanize their political opponents by referring to them as enemies and who call teachers, librarians and parents "groomers" have mental health issues far exceeding those of young people struggling with questions of sexual orientation or gender identity. Men who work to limit women's autonomy over their own bodies, or for that matter conservative women who punch down to bolster their fragile status have serious issues to work on and should quit afflicting them on the rest of us.

To be fair, a great many of us in America face our own mental health issues across the political spectrum. More of us, almost certainly, should seek the counsel of friends and professionals. We are chronically depressed and lonely. Political polarization has separated friends and family members from each other. The religious right has embraced an evangelism of intolerance against other people whose mental and emotional struggles they don't understand. While Republicans play-act as defenders of the working class, they labor tirelessly to drive working people deeper into lives of endless labor and debt servitude.

As the late, great American novelist Kurt Vonnegut would have said, about this and about his currently banned books: "So it goes." I don't think he meant to indicate cynical acceptance, more like an acknowledgment of humanity's deep history of stupidity and intolerance — and the need to carry on nonetheless. So we work diligently to maintain our own sense of self, our fragile balance, our purpose and our will — even in a country where, far too often, the inmates are running the asylum.

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grigori77 · 7 months

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My Halloween movies of 2023

Yet again Spooky Season has come and I'm about to kick off my annuel scary movie marathon! This year it's pure horror, too, no real sci-fi or comedy (at least not REALLY) in the mix, just pure scare fests, so it's liable to be a little heavier than usual ... but like always, anyone who wants to have a crack at following me along, I'm gonna be starting tomorrow night and continuing on until the night of the 5th (I know, well over TWO WEEKS of spooky cinema!), so feel free to tag along ...

Apostle

Firestarter (2022)

The Fury

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Lifeforce

Animal

Dragonslayer

Night Teeth

Stung

Velvet Buzzsaw

Nope

Fright Night

The Empty Man

Let Us Prey

Superdeep

Season of the Witch

Fright Night, Part II

American Carnage

Army of the Dead

Hellraiser (2022)

Super Hybrid

Hope you have as much fun as I plan to ...

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whatstruthgottodowithit · 1 year

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The Girl He Left Behind [Part Twenty Two]

Fandom: American Actor, RPF, Elvis Presley, Elvis Movie 2022

Pairing: Elvis Presley x Original Female Character

Characters: Elvis Presley, Addison Goodwin, Gladys Presley, Vernon Presley, Minnie May ‘Dodger’ Presley, Red West, Sonny West, Gene Smith, Billy Smith, Original Female Characters, Colonel Tom Parker, Billy Smith, Marci Cunningham, Steve Cunningham, Jerry Schilling, Mary Jenkins, Alan Fortas, Marty Lacker, Original Male Characters, Mona Goodwin, Joe Goodwin

Word Count: 3000 // Rating: Mature

Summary: When Elvis returns home to Graceland from the Army he’s followed by the headlines ‘The Girl He Left Behind’ but what the media don’t know is that Priscilla wasn’t the first. No, that title belongs to someone Elvis will never forget.

Tags/ Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Graceland, Poverty, Friends to Lovers, 1950s Elvis, Bad Parenting, Surprise Surprise the Colonel Is a Colossal Prick, Parental Loss, Grief, Fun Fairs, Kissing, Vaginal Sex, Oral Sex, Movie Nights, Arguing, Tension, Denial of Feelings, Age Gap Romance, Underage, Addison is 17 Elvis is 22, Guilt, Betrayal, Extortion, Blackmail, Jealous, Army Elvis, American Draft, US Army, Lying, Time Shift with Elvis moving to Memphis, Flashbacks, Caught

Notes: I hate the colonel.

LINK TO ALL PARTS // AO3 LINK // PINTEREST LINK

@girlblogger2002 @sania562 @caitlin1996 @literally-just-elvis-fics @notstefaniepresley @artlesson8892 @18lkpeters

Elvis was nervous. He couldn’t help it. Last night he had been sure he was doing the right thing but after talking with Addison in the cold light of morning he wondered if he might have messed up. Now he just hoped that whatever fire he had started he would be able to put out.

Whilst Addison headed to the market with Mary he’d promised her he’d try and get another couple of hours sleep but instead he’d asked for his Daddy to invite the Colonel over to talk. Now he was pacing around his living room wondering what he was going to say to the man or more to the point wondering if he was even going to show up. Elvis hated feeling as if he was in the wrong but the way Addison had seemed so worried when he had gotten home last night had made him doubt whether he was doing the right thing. ‘Where is he?’ Elvis grunted kicking the edge of the fireplace with his toe. ‘He’ll be here,’ Vernon said glancing towards the door. ‘Would it kill him to be on time,’ Elvis grumbled. ‘I don’t think you’re in any position to criticise do you?’ came a familiar voice as the Colonel appeared moving into the room and slipping into his mother’s chair as if it was his own home. Elvis moved to sit on the couch, his daddy at his side. ‘Thanks for coming Colonel,’ Vernon said, ‘can I get ya anything?’ ‘No,’ the Colonel said, ‘thank you, Vernon.’ ‘Colonel, look I’m sorry okay-’ Elvis started but the Colonel didn’t appear to be listening to him. He didn’t even let him finish before he dropped a wad of heavy newspapers on the coffee table before Elvis’ eyes. ‘ELVIS THE PELVIS BELONGS IN THE JUNGLE’ ‘ELVIS ENCOURAGES CARNAGE ON HOME TURF’ ‘HAS ELVIS FINALLY GONE TOO FAR?’ ‘And plenty more like it. Not to mention the segments on talk shows and the chatter on the radio,’ the Colonel said, ‘but what do I know.’ ‘Colonel I’m sorry okay? I get it,’ he said, ‘and whatever we need to do to fix this I’ll do it, okay?’ ‘And if that includes things you might not like?’ the Colonel said sceptically leaning forward. Elvis shared an uneasy look with his father. ‘Like what?’ Vernon asked. ‘Keep a more wholesome image,’ the Colonel said making Vernon’s eyes narrow. Elvis’ didn’t though. They didn’t need to, he knew exactly what he was trying to say. ‘You mean Addison,’ he said. The Colonel shrugged. ‘No,’ Elvis said adamantly shaking his head but the Colonel merely continued. ‘This is the scandal that broke the camel’s back,’ the Colonel said, ‘to risk adding fuel to the fire could do irreparable damage.’ ‘We’re not splitting up. I can’t do it. It’s non-negotiable,’ Elvis said. The Colonel stared at him blankly before he pulled a cigar out of his jacket pocket and lit it allowing Elvis’ refusal to linger in the air. ‘Okay. So, she’s non-negotiable. Am I to take it you want to marry this girl?’ he asked tilting his head and narrowing his eyes as he watched Elvis, searching his face as if he was anticipating the boy was going to lie to him. ‘I do,’ Elvis said earnestly. He glanced at his daddy who smiled at him, albeit weakly. ‘And how do you propose you’re going to support her?’ the Colonel asked taking another drag of his cigarette. The question took Elvis off guard as he baulked, ‘how will I support her? Look around.’ ‘And when there’s no work to be had because you’ve driven everyone away? You’ve already scandalised them with your gyrations, you’ve upset people with your race records and now you expect them to just accept you when you shack up with a girl you…bought,’ he said, venom dripping off the word. ‘Bought?! I never-’ Elvis protested loudly, anger flooding through him as he watched the old man sitting there unbothered. He had no idea what he was going on about. ‘But you did pay her mother off,’ the Colonel said cutting him off and making Vernon’s eyes bulge as they both realised what he had meant. ‘That’s different and you know it,’ Elvis said angrily. How could he dare insinuate that Addison coming to live with them had been something seedy? That he had paid Mona off as some way to get Addison to fall in love with him. He hadn’t done it to make her love him. He had done it because he loved her. ‘It’s not what’s true it’s what they’ll believe,’ the Colonel reasoned, ‘look, all I want is for you to be happy. And whilst I can see that Addison makes you happy, I can’t ignore the fact that your relationship will cause problems for your image. We need to rebuild and…and if you are not willing to let her go the only other way I can think is…drastic.’ ‘What is it?’ Elvis asked, his voice thick. The Colonel and Vernon shared an uneasy look one that signalled to Elvis he was missing something. That notion was reinforced as his father sighed and leaned towards him so he could reach for something in his back pocket. He produced a wad of folded papers, a solemn look on his face as he offered them to Elvis to take. Elvis glanced at both men before he took it out of his Daddy’s hands and unfolded it. The words leapt out at him from the page bringing with them a wash of fear. SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM - ORDER FOR REPORT TO INDUCTION To Elvis Aaron Presley, Graceland, 3764 Highway 51 South, Memphis TN. Greeting: You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United states, and to report At Rm 8A38, Fort Chaffee Joint Manoeuvre Training Center, Fort Smith, AR 72916 On January 20th 1958 at 0900 He scanned the letter trying to digest the words on the page but they wouldn’t go in. He couldn’t believe it. ‘Draft papers?’ he asked finally tearing his gaze away from the letter in front of him to look at the Colonel who remained stoic. All it took was one look at his Daddy to realise that this was no joke. They were serious. ‘They came yesterday morning,’ Vernon said, ‘we thought we were better off waiting till your show was over…’ ‘How does this fix anything?’ Elvis asked failing to see how shipping him off overseas would help in any way. If anything he figured sending him away to be some other country’s problem would do nothing but hinder his career. Wouldn’t they just forget about him? ‘It alters your image. Instead of the outspoken rocker, you become a loyal and devoted servant of our nation. They cut your hair, you wear the uniform, and they forget all about your problems. By the time you come back, your fans will have missed you so much they’ll be clambering to buy your latest album, movie execs will long to cast you in their latest flick and you’ll be the all-American boy your current critics can’t help but like,’ the Colonel said. Elvis watched as he explained, his voice light as though he was telling him about the plot of a new movie he had signed him up for. Yet nothing about this deal felt light. ‘How long?’ Elvis asked nervously. His father’s gaze fell to his lap as the Colonel shifted nervously in his seat. It was the first time he had seen him falter. ‘Well,’ the Colonel said, ‘that’s to be-’ ‘How long?!’ Elvis repeated in a stern voice. ‘Two years,’ the Colonel said quietly. ‘God damn it,’ Elvis said throwing the papers down on the coffee table and standing up so he could pace though he didn’t have much room to given that the living room was now being taken over by the extravagant Christmas tree they had put up a few days before. ‘But we aren’t at war and I’m sure they’ll be lenient with you given your status…it’ll be over before you know it,’ the Colonel said. Elvis scoffed and walked away from the pair resting his arm against the fireplace as he watched the fire inside flicker and crackle before his eyes. Neither Vernon nor the Colonel spoke instead they watched him trying to process everything that had been laid on him in such a small amount of time. Elvis’ head was swimming. He was trying to piece it all together but he still couldn’t see the vision the Colonel had. Would it really change how people saw him or would he just fade into oblivion? He supposed the Colonel had a point. If there was one thing his country prided itself on it was patriotism so it wouldn’t hurt his image. Not to mention if he didn’t comply, if he used his celebrity status to get out of it that would surely be the end of his career altogether. And what use would he be then? People relied on him. It was more than just him he had to think about. But two years. Two years in a foreign country without his family, without Addison, it seemed too much to bear. Still, if he had to. If there was no other way; to save his relationship, his family, his career. He’d do it. He just had to be sure that he’d keep all of that. He turned to look at the Colonel trying to force down the nerves from his voice as he spoke, ‘Addison. Where does she fit into all of this?’ ‘Well, when you come back she’ll be of age. The distance will give us enough time to spin a narrative. Friends who didn’t realise how much they cared for one another until forced apart by circumstance and then if by that time you still wish to marry her so be it,’ the Colonel said. ‘What about my ‘availability?’ Elvis said dubiously, ‘I thought you said the key to record sales was making girls believe it could be them I’m singing about. Having a wife doesn’t exactly support that.’ ‘Well, I imagine your fans will be so happy to have you home they’ll be more lenient about having you off the market. And as I said, two years is enough time for us to warm them to the idea,’ the Colonel said. Elvis closed his eyes. The more the Colonel explained it the less it seemed like the end of the world. It wasn’t ideal, sure, and it wouldn’t be easy but he knew the alternative wasn’t a path he should go down. If all it took was two years of playing soldier for him to get back to doing what he loved with the people he loved around him he’d do it. But as he opened his eyes he spied a picture on the mantle that made his blood run cold. His mama. ‘Daddy,’ he said looking at Vernon, ‘does mama know about any of this?’ ‘We’ve spoken about it,’ Vernon said uneasily. ‘And?’ Elvis asked feeling his heart beat quicker in his chest. Vernon seemed to think of his answer carefully before he spoke, signalling to Elvis that his mother had not taken the news well. All his life she had worried about him, some of it unnecessarily, yet now she had a valid reason. ‘And she’s not exactly thrilled but she agrees it’s for the best,’ he said. ‘And you?’ Elvis asked. Vernon looked at his son with a sad smile. ‘I think the Colonel makes valid points,’ he said. Elvis nodded. ‘Fine,’ he said bitterly, ‘but if I’m doing this I’m doing it on my terms.’ ‘Of course,’ Vernon said though the Colonel didn’t say anything, his gaze questioning as if he was awaiting Elvis to lay out his terms before he agreed to anything. ‘I get to tell Mama, properly. I mean I know she already knows a little but I want to sit her down and tell her myself.’ ‘Sure,’ Vernon said, ‘whatever you want.’ ‘Addie too,’ he said, ‘she hears about this from me only okay?’ ‘Whatever you say,’ the Colonel nodded. ‘And I don’t wanna be some patsy they all make fun of. The guy who sings to the troops but disappears when times get tough. If I’m going to do this I’m going to do it properly you understand? No special orders, no pulling strings,’ Elvis said. Again the Colonel nodded as he shuffled out of his seat and stood up so he was face to face with Elvis. Elvis allowed him to put his hand on his shoulder though it wasn’t a comfort of any sort for either of them. ‘You’ve made the right decision son,’ he said with a small smile before he walked away leaving Elvis alone with his father. Once he was out of sight Elvis flopped down into the chair beside Vernon with an almighty oomph. He was exhausted though he supposed having a day of your world being turned upside down could do that to a man. He didn’t look up for a moment, instead staring back at the fire he had been watching before, as a million thoughts whizzed through his mind. ‘You okay son?’ Vernon asked after a moment. ‘Would you be?’ he asked looking at his father with a sigh. ‘S’pose not,’ his father said pulling out his cigarette case from his pocket followed by a match. He offered Elvis one and although the boy turned it down he watched as Vernon sparked up, taking a long initial drag with a look of relief on his face as the nicotine hit his tense system. ‘Do you really think it’ll be okay?’ Elvis asked quietly making his father sigh. ‘Who knows? But I think you gotta do what you think is right in the moment,’ Vernon said, ‘and this, well, it feels like the right thing to do.’ ‘And Mama?’ Elvis asked. Vernon smiled sadly. ‘We’ll figure it out,’ he said, ‘it won’t be easy.’ ‘Yeah, neither will getting it past Addie,’ he said grimly. Vernon offered him a look of sympathy. He wondered how she’d take it. His mother he could predict. She demand he didn’t go or cry but Addison he couldn’t weigh up. He just hoped she wouldn’t pull away. Shouting and crying he could take, her pulling away from him would crush him. He knew why of course. She’d had nothing but hurt in her life and now he was adding to it, something he had endeavoured never to do. He just hoped she understood it wasn’t through choice. If there were any other way, one that would protect them both he’d do it. ‘Well you better get to thinking,’ Vernon said pulling him from his thoughts. He looked at his father confused for a moment before he heard movement in the kitchen and the sound of chatter. Addison and Mary. The pair were back from their run out to the market. As he heard laughter come from that direction an ache formed inside of him. ‘Wish me luck,’ he said pushing up off the chair and past his Daddy. He walked to the kitchen though he didn’t go in straight away, the door was ajar which allowed him to peek through. She had her back to him, unloading things from their bags onto the counter as she chatted away with Mary about what they were going to make for Christmas dinner, excitement laced through her voice as she talked. As he listened to her Elvis felt the ache inside him worsen as though someone was holding his heart in their hand and squeezing every time he heard her laugh. He fell back against the wall for support which caused the door that had been just ajar open a little wider with a squeak. ‘If that’s one of those damn boys fishing around for snacks before I’ve even unpacked I swear to God,’ Mary called craning her neck to see who the culprit was. Elvis ducked inside holding his hands up. ‘Just me,’ Elvis said as he came to stand behind Addison trapping her in between the kitchen island and himself. She turned for just a moment, smiling at him before she went back to pulling things out of the bag in front of her. ‘Ah, I suppose it’s a different kind of sugar you’re after huh?’ Mary chuckled as she took items from where Addison had placed them. ‘Mary,’ Addison chastised as a red flush ran up her neck. Elvis chuckled. ‘She’s not wrong,’ Elvis said turning her around to face him, his hands pulling her to him by her waist, ‘good time at the market?’ ‘Fine, busy though,’ she said placing her hands on his chest. ‘Christmas rush,’ Mary said, ‘everybody loses their damn mind over one day.’ ‘Oh come on,’ Elvis said, ‘it’s the best time of the year.’ ‘I forgot how much you love Christmas,’ Addison giggled. ‘Don’t you?’ Elvis asked reaching to move a strand of hair from her face. ‘I guess,’ she said, ‘it’s always been me and my dad. Just quiet y’know?’ ‘Well then I can’t wait to show you how it’s done,’ he said leaning in to kiss her. She allowed him to but then she pulled back far too soon for his liking, moving to help Mary once more. He watched her move around the kitchen, a wealth of sorrow inside him. It wasn’t fair. They had just gotten right. She was settled, happier than ever and he was going to ruin it. Plough through her life like Mona did. Leave her as Joe had. The guilt was crushing. He had to tell her at some point, he knew that, but not right now. If he had to throw a grenade into their life he was at least going to give her something happy to look back on until they were reunited. He’d tell her after Christmas.

#my writing #elvis #elvis presley #elvis presley x oc #elvis x oc #elvis fic #elvis presley fic #the girl he left behind #Addison goodwin

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